Recapped: 2020-01-20
Matches:
Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Douki & Kanemaru
(7:12, Fuego armbar Douki, ok)
Tiger Mask beat Tiger
(6:52, Tiger Suplex, ok)
El Audaz, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Euforia, Luciferno, Namajague
(8:05, Flyer legdrop Luciferno, good)
Bushi, EVIL, Takagi beat Dulce Gardenia, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Uemura
(11:30, Takagi pumping bomber Uemura, good)
Negro Casas, Okumura, Último Guerrero beat Kojima, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr.
(10:49, Negro Casas casita Stuka, ok)
Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © beat Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Titán for the Mexican National Trios Championship
(14:39, Catapult Dinamita Angel de Oro, good)
Carístico © beat Bárbaro Cavernario to keep the NWA World Middleweight Championship
(16:06, Caristico La Mistica, great)
Thoughts:
Caristico & Barbaro Cavernario had the most all out match of the tour, something fitting of the main event. They changed the flow around from Mexico, with dives piling onto each other for effect. Cavernario seemed bugged by a boot that won’t stay tied, but it didn’t seem to affect the match outside of one awkward pause. Cavernario put real pressure on Caristico, Caristico made a well-timed comeback, and they didn’t push the match too far. This worked fine as the tour ender.
The trios title match was a little bit disappointing. It didn’t feel like it was building at any point, just going back and forth through the moves. The offense was cleanly performed, but it lacked big moments before the finish. The physical abilities of the NGD are obvious but the mental part of it stands to be improved.
The fifth match had good moments but not a great rhythm. It was moments from previous matches in the same match but not all that connected. It was nice to see Negro Casas to pick up a win. Maybe he’ll be back next year, but he at least got to celebrate one more time if it’s the last time.
Dulce is over but struggled in the ring a bit more than usual. There were a couple of noticeable slips in his early run. It didn’t really matter much, the Japanese crowd I in love with the kiss spots. The second half of the match was built around those and Uemura hope pin spots, and it got over huge. It may not be what you want if you’re looking for something with more substance but these six got a lot of comedy out of it.
The Audaz trios match was a surprisingly strong comedy match. The rudos showed some great buffoonery, making fools of themselves to help the tecnicos look good. Audaz himself showed more comedy timing than usual in between doing some of his best flying. Flyer & Maya were sold, even the referee got involved but the real credit was to Luciferno, Euforia, and Namajague willing to be silly for the sake of the match.
CMLL’s Tiger started off hot against Tiger Mask. He had trouble building on it, which was consistent with the rest of the tour. Some of that might have been Tiger Mask preferably a slower pace; it definitely ended up slower. Tiger could use deeper and more varied offense if he’s to get more single match chances. His best work in CMLL has been basing for flyers and he didn’t really get to do a lot of that here, but he’s got to show more if he’s going to advance.
Taguchi/Fuego had one more enjoyable opener. They varied their bits, playing off what they had done in the last few matches, though it wasn’t materially different than what they had done before. It got the crowd going, serving its purpose, but maybe not needed to watch later unless you really love this team. DOUKI wrestled about 90% of the match for his team.