Recapped: 12/04/2019
Matches:
Hijo Del Vikingo beat Carta Brava Jr., Pagano, Psycho Clown in a tournament semifinal
(Vikingo 450 splash Carta Brava, good, 00:06:58)
Puma King beat Bengala in a tournament semifinal
(11:28, Puma King sitdown powerbomb, good, 00:26:13)
Taurus beat Rich Swann, Willie Mack in a tournament semifinal
(9:21, Taurus Rodeo Driver, good, 00:47:36)
Keyra beat Big Mami, Lady Shani in a tournament final
(11:31, Keyra dropkick to the face, good, 01:08:42)
Hijo Del Vikingo beat Puma King, Taurus in a tournament final
(12:17, Vikingo 450 splash, excellent, 01:35:15)
What happened:
Hijo del Vikingo & Keyra won the 2019 Lucha Capital
Thoughts:
Lucha Capital concluded with a superb final. They had a good story and executed it very well. Taurus was full-on monster, with Puma and Vikingo barely able to stand up to him without working together. It took very big shots to do so, and it felt like a huge thing when Vikingo got Taurus up near the end. Taurus impressively destroyed them all the way; his backbreaker looked killer in both matches, and the double German suplex spot was impressive. Vikingo needing such a big effort to triumph in front of a crowd super excited to seem do so made it the moment even bigger. This was a total success.
The women’s final was a slight step down from last week’s, though still really good in different ways. Big Mami was the star even if she didn’t win, stealing moments of the match and coming off as the overwhelming crowd favorite. Shani went with it, being a little more ruda than usual. The crowd was suitably angry about a pinfall that should’ve been counted quicker and I wish they would’ve just spent a lot more time teasing that win. The finish seemed like something went wrong; Keyra standing Big Mami up to trip her back down for the dropkick may have been Mami finished from doing more.
Taurus/Swann/Mack was the weakest of the three semi-finals and still a pretty entertaining match. Swann deserves credit for surviving that Taurus backbreaker. The whole match was set up for Taurus to look like a monster, with non-regulars Swann & Mack sacrificing a bit to get over the guy who was going to have a bigger match on the show. It is intended to work that way but shouldn’t be taken for granted.
One aspect which had been missing from these Lucha Capital matches has been some urgency. They were frequently hard-worked, but it never felt like the matches meant something. They found that urgency in these matches on this show, with it really the change in tone standing out as frustrated Puma King pounded the mat when he couldn’t put Bengala away. The wrestling was at a high standard too, Puma pulling out some of his bigger offense and Bengala looked more varied while funneling into a long stretch of every move feeling like it meant something important.
The opener was probably not the first time someone’s won with a top rope move following the stacked up superplex but it does seem very rare. It was a nice surprise way of getting Vikingo through while not really taking a win away from Psycho (or even Pagano.) The four people in the match allowed for smoother action than the three ways. Carta Brava and Vikingo were great together, and Psycho clown is weirdly Pagano’s best normal opponent. This match was a hot start to the show.