Tag: recap

This should be the last one of these. There’s still a full show recap left but I’ve got all the matches that were up from this year. Except, more matches from 1995 are slowly going up on therealfredo’s YouTube. Maybe I’ll go back and add another part later on. There was no real reason to this than to learn by engaging in a weird portion of completism so I’m not sure if it matters either way.

Felino, Negro Casas, Satánico beat Atlantis, Lizmark Sr., Vampiro
(CMLL @ 10/06, 17:33, ½, ok, dataintcash)

A straight falls clean submission win for the rudos is strange. The match itself is fine, feeling very long in the first fall and never building towards anything maybe because of the format. Negro Casas appeals for a foul off a headbutt. A headbutt to the skull. It doesn’t work.

Atlantis, Canek, Lizmark Sr. beat Emilio Charles Jr., Head Hunter I, Head Hunter II
(CMLL @ 10/13, 10:35, 2/3, ok, aztecpride004)

This is one of those matches where they spent two minutes doing in-ring introductions and then cut to a Head Hunter putting Lizmark in a neck vice mid-fall. It doesn’t get much more exciting. The Head Hunters don’t seem eager to do much at all, but a Canek slam of one still gets a strong reaction. The finishing sequence of each tecnico doing a top rope move and Head Hunter I having to get up after and take another seemed ill-conceived.

Apolo Dantés beat Miguel Perez Jr., hair vs hair
(CMLL @ 10/13, 17:15, 2/3, ok, Roy Lucier CMLL)

This worked for the crowd and didn’t feel like something you’d need to see in 2020. It felt like it almost wasn’t going to work for anyone; the fans weren’t reacting to Dantes at all until the end of the second fall, or at least it wasn’t coming through on TV. It felt like these two were miscast. I couldn’t get over that Perez is a fearsome foreign heel who’s using a cartwheel moonsault as a finish. Dantes didn’t come over strongly as a personality as tecnico, though he was clean in executing his moves. An inverted version of this match taking place in Puerto Rico might’ve been much better.

El Dandy, El Hijo Del Santo, Héctor Garza beat Black Panther, Blue Panther, Fuerza Guerrera
(CMLL @ 11/03, 19:09, 2/3, ok, aztecpride004)

What Happened: This Black Panther is the eventual Black Warrior.

Review: He’s not really Black Warrior though because he does a dive to the floor that’s not a tope – what’s even the point. He seems surprisingly green for a guy who’s been bouncing back between both promotions for the last few years. I’m uncertain if it was Black Panther or an over-enthusiastic Hector Garza responsible for Garza’s hard fall out of the ring, but it does derail a promising match. The Fuerza/Santo interactions are good and Garza has a nice out of control tornillo in the third.

Bestia Salvaje, Kahoz, Satánico beat Héctor Garza, La Fiera, Shocker
(CMLL @ 11/18, 11:15, ½, ok, Roy Lucier CMLL)

This one doesn’t pull me in that much – it’s basic build to the two apuesta matches coming out of this. The tecnicios get well destroyed but not in a particularly remarkable fashion.

Atlantis, Canek, Héctor Garza beat Dr. Wagner Jr., Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000
(CMLL @ 11/25, 12:38, 1/3, ok, aztecpride004)

Just a normal TV match, albeit a well-received one. The lingering impression I get from these is Hector Garza should’ve been the biggest star in CMLL. The crowd reacts to him hugely for the win and he looked great in getting that win. WCW just changed the entire arc of his career.

Corazón De León, El Hijo Del Santo, Último Dragón beat Emilio Charles Jr., Negro Casas, Satánico
(CMLL @ 09/15/1995, 14:55, 2/3, good, Roy Lucier CMLL)

What Happened: There is confetti and balloons because this is Independence Day eve, though it should be because we’re getting Santo & Casas again. Casas is wearing orange trunks and it could not be weirder to see him in something other than black or very occasional white.

Review: Another heated Santo/Casas match, with the two bringing it against each other. Their chemistry is great, and Casas is taking wild bumps to get it over. The crowd is into it too, elevating this entire thing. Corazon de Leon still has moments where he and his opponents are on different pages and the cameras totally miss the foul finish. Dragon gets in a lot of height on a handspring elbow right before it.

Apolo Dantés © beat Corazón De León for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship
(CMLL @ 09/19/1995, 18:27, 2/3, great, Roy Lucier CMLL)

What Happened: Apolo Dantes is apparently using a Garth Brooks song as entrance music. (This is what Shazam tells me, I don’t know music except to know that’s weird for lucha libre.)

Review: Jericho’s best match I’ve come across from this CMLL year so far. There are still moments of him being out of step, but they’re overcome by the moments where they’re both feeling it. The Jericho suplex to the floor is insane by 1995 standards and would feel crazy in a 2020 match, and then he takes another hard fall a moment later. (Maybe the top rope superplex actually hurt the most though.) Dantes takes big bumps like he does for the bigger guys, but he also has some good offense when he has someone to work with. I can’t totally justify this grade, this was sometimes random violence as the Silver King/Apolo Dantes match. It did feel like it hung together and they got more drama out of the last few minutes.

Miguel Perez Jr. beat Silver King, hair versus hair
(CMLL @ 09/22/1995, 16:21, 2/3, great, Roy Lucier CMLL)

What Happened: This appears to be a three-week build for an Aniversario apuesta. It doesn’t seem to be an issue in crowd interest. Maybe the general Puerto Rico/Mexico feud is causing the crowd care.

Review: This is a brawl featuring running guys into posts early, which is fine for an apuesta match. It feels like it could be something more when Perez pulls out a fancy spot to win the second fall like the two guys would have a great technical match if given the chance. And then the third fall is just that – they throw out the brawl parts and just have what would’ve been their version of a title match when Silver King was champ a few minutes prior. It’s a lot of action, its Silver King looking impressive, it’s Miguel Perez keeping up until he gasses out around Silver King’s tornado DDT. It’s still weird this is an Aniversario main event, but it’s still a pretty strong last half of the match. It would’ve been nice if the finish looked better. Or if Zuniga had realized it was a three count and didn’t shout it about it being only two for a moment. Can’t have everything. I don’t really understand the booking here; it feels like something happened where CMLL was moving on from Silver King far sooner than needed.

Negro Casas beat El Hijo Del Santo
(CMLL @ 09/29/1995, 13:45, 1/2, great, Roy Lucier CMLL)

It really is Santo’s fault Casas beats him up, they were having a nice technical match until Santo posted Casas. The resulting blood drove them both crazy and broke this down into an ugly brawl in the best fashion. Casas & Santo conveyed complete distaste for each other, two guys who couldn’t stand to share the same ring, set out on destroying each by the end of the match. The violence gets over the feud so well. This was already a great reborn feud and feels like an all timer in this video. The referee decisions make no sense at all. Casas should’ve been disqualified two minutes before Santo was, and there’s no great reason to DQ Santo. It also only matters in deciding how high to rank this match; it was a success in every meaningful way.

Pierroth Jr. beat El Boricua mask versus mask
(CMLL @ 09/29, 12:29, 2/3, ok, Manny Kusanagi)

What Happened: Video quality is not good and the sound seems to be a few seconds behind the action.

Review: Pierroth defending the honor of Mexico against Puerto Rico feels like an odd choice. Not as odd as El Boricua repeatedly pulling up Pierroth in a mask versus mask match, the dumbest possible thing a person could do. Pierroth mostly takes move and lays dead on the mat for far too long, since all Boricua can think to do is do a move and pull him up at two. Pierroth is about as sympathetic as a slug. This video on this one is not good, but it sounds like the crowd is still into it anyway, rooting for Pierroth without him giving them much a reason. I was mostly hoping to see an amusing Pierroth fiery tecnico comeback and never really get it. He’s not still trying rudo tactics despite being the cheered guy. He’s just an underdog babyface who sneaks out a couple falls for the win.

Máscara Año 2000, Miguel Perez Jr., Universo 2000 beat Apolo Dantés, Emilio Charles Jr., Pierroth Jr.
(CMLL @ 10/06/1995, 15:44, 2/3, ok, aztecpride004)

This match features Vampiro running in the match in street clothes to attack Miguel Perez for reasons not immediately clear. They had wrestled last week so maybe it was set up but they would never wrestle again; Perez is facing Apolo Dantes in a hair match the next week to wrap up his stint here. Maybe it could’ve been to distract as Emilio Charles got stretchered out, but Emilio is getting strechered out to emphasize Perez’s senton. (Announcers says Charles fractured his rib; he’d wrestle next week. I’m going to watch that match so maybe we’ll find out if he has rib tape.) Beyond my confusion at Vampiro doing Vampiro things, the Perez led rudos pretty much crush the Dantes led rudos. It’s a chaotic brawl, a hard destruction of Dantes before his hair match with Perez, not strong on its own.

 

Héctor Garza, La Fiera, Último Dragón beat Felino, Kahoz, Mocho Cota
(Arena México @ 07/14, 12:29, 1/3, ok, dataintcash)

Hector Garza in a match without Satanico! This happens for a few weeks, made me think there was a Japanese tour going on. He and Felino move quick together. Garza gets to do a bit more athletic stuff, or at least athletic stuff that doesn’t involve a huge bump off a Satanico attack. The rest of the match is about normal TV stuff. The second fall ends early when Roberto Rangel, and apparently only Roberto Rangel, hears Ultimo Dragon give up. It does work out in the end, Kahoz beating up Dragon so badly that his easy win gets overturned as a DQ. I’ve explained this to myself as CMLL having Kahoz do rudo stuff to heat him up before he starts his feud with Shocker the next week but no idea if it’s true.

Bestia Salvaje, El Brazo, Emilio Charles Jr. beat Héctor Garza, La Fiera, Negro Casas
(Arena México @ 07/21, 11:03, 1/2, ok, Kozmic Trooths)

Brazo sort of plays the role of Satanico here, as he heads to his own hair match with Garza in two weeks. Garza bleeds so much in the second fall. He looks half-dead, the referees are justified in trying to pull Brazo off of him. Brazo isn’t going to have the hot brawl that Satanico would provide, but Garza’s selling makes it feel like he’s a serious threat beyond. The other rudos nicely destroy the other tecnicos to keep them away. This is not a conventional great match but it is a great job of selling that apuesta match. My sense is it probably wouldn’t be good but I’m still disappointed not to bale to see it after that.

Bestia Salvaje, Felino, Ray González beat El Dandy, Negro Casas, Último Dragón
(Arena México @ 08/11, 14:01, 2/3, ok, Roy Lucier CMLL)

This match has a lot of action but also Ray Gonzalez giving El Dandy a piledriver, pulling him up before three, and then putting him in an abdominal stretch for the submission. I can not recommend a match with that sequence. The third fall finish gets screwed because Gonzalez is so unused to CMLL that he stops covering at two, and then blames Roberto Rangel for it. Dragon & Casas work a tag team briefly here and I wish that’s something that existed for an extended period of time. This was the best Ultimo Dragon’s looked in one of these trios.

Dr. Wagner Jr., Felino, Ray González beat El Dandy, Héctor Garza, Último Dragón
(Arena México @ 08/18, 15:29, 1/3, ok, dataintcash/ Roy Lucier CMLL)

What Happened: I watched Roy’s version, to just watch one file. That was dumb of me. The dataintcash’s version has sound for this match.

Review: Ray Gonzalez is better in this one but the match surrounding his feud with Dandy isn’t much. (Gonzalez make sure to stay on Dandy for an extra beat is amusing.) This is another feud that seems to be setting up a hair match but again is setting up a title match, then Gonzalez is gone forever. It is the most interesting stuff with El Dandy so far. I think there’s been more “pulled him up at 2” spots in this group of matches then I’ve seen in the last three years.

Atlantis, El Hijo Del Santo, Vampiro beat Emilio Charles Jr., Foreign Exchange, Satánico
(Arena México @ 08/18, 15:06, 1/3, good, Roy Lucier CMLL)

What Happened: The scene of Hijo del Santo returning to Arena Mexico after three and a half years away is nice. It made me think about what that would look like if it happened now.

Review: [good] Any time you can add El Hijo del Santo to your promotion, you should probably do it. It may end in court but the fights will be pretty good until then. Santo’s existence brings out some strong energy from Satanico determined to get on the front page of the magazine while unmasking the legend. It brings up the match with everyone working hard. Foreign Exchange’s gear still is bad but he sells so much for everyone in this trios; he understands what his role is here and goes with it.

Corazón De León, El Hijo Del Santo, Último Dragón beat Emilio Charles Jr., Negro Casas, Satánico
(Arena México @ 09/08, 9:52, 1/2 DQ, 9:52, Roy Lucier CMLL)

Negro Casas kicking his ancient rival El Hijo del Santo in the head repeatedly then demanding his partners lift Santo back up to kick him more is fine professional wrestling. This turns more angle than a match, the personal issue being reborn after years apart, and the angle is powerful. This match moves at rapid speed before the beating goes over powers everything. It’s another one that makes you want to see where this is going.

The Puerto Rician invasion in CMLL starts in this group of matches. Puerto Rico and Mexico both call it lucha libre but the style differs a bit.

Apolo Dantés, Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. beat Dos Caras, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Vampiro
(Arena México @ 06/09, 13:04, 1/3, ok, Kozmic Trooths)

Heat building exercise to set up next week’s match, with the rudos holdings the tecnicos down for what felt like forever to get that reaction. Apolo probably didn’t need to bleed for this one; he still gets the best of Rayo in the end, maybe save the blood for the time where Rayo is actually going to win. Gran Markus’ gear makes him look massive, and Vampiro looks impressive being able to get him up for a slam. Wagner and Vampiro work a lot better here than they have in other matches.

Apolo Dantés beat Rayo de Jalisco Jr. in a Number One Contenders Match for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship
(Arena México @ 06/16, 7:51, 1/3, ok, Kozmic Trooths)

Do you like people pulling each other up on pins, communicating they don’t really care about the title shot they’re going for? This is for you. Apolo & Rayo fight like an apuesta match is coming up, not a championship one. It feels like either we’re missing an apuesta match from this time period or plans took a big left turn. Rayo has enough horrendous looking moments to get the crowd to boo him and won’t stay down for the (weak) finish; Vampiro seems like the superior Dantes opponent at this point.

Dr. Wagner Jr., Foreign Exchange, Miguel Perez Jr. beat Atlantis, Dos Caras, Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
(Arena México @ 06/23, 12:35, 2/3, ok, rnrwrassling)

Video Note: Usually there’s not too much difference between the two uploads for this error and I just grab at random. This one is up twice but is much better on Alfredo’s rnrwrassling channel.

The Puerto Rico crew show up more often in CMLL for the rest of the year, though I haven’t really checked to see how we actually see them. Foreign Exchange (Jose Estrada) is fine, though his gimmick feels like an unsuccessful attempt to create an AAA feeling character. The day-glow green and purple mix do not hold up well. Wagner shows more charisma than recent matches and they tease Wagner & Atlantis’ faces to the crowd to get a reaction, but the match isn’t much.

Silver King beat Apolo Dantés © for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship
(Arena México @ 06/23, 13:53, 1/3, ok, rnrwrasslin)

a Silver King backdrop driver in the middle of the second fall which makes me wonder how Apolo Dantes has a functioning neck. (I think he did eventually get neck surgery, though maybe not just for this.) Silver and Dantes sit on the mat, talk for a moment about it, and then life just goes on. It’s so weird. This eventually turns good – it actually ends just as it really starts getting good – but it is a lot of collection of ideas with no real focus. The backdrop drive exists like the long figure four rolling spot, feeling like something one of them (Silver King) saw on a VHS and wanted to use but didn’t really have a purpose. Silver seems so physically talented in this match, doing a moonsault escape into a superkick as pretty as Fenix does in 2020, but there are other parts of his game that are not present. He comes off as the more impressive wrestler than Apolo and Dantes win doesn’t feel totally earned.

There’s a nice touch here where seconds Texano and Arkangel are both wearing personalized gear for the guys in the match. The fashion question I’m most curious about is how Apolo Dantes ended up winning the heavyweight title while wearing El Hijo del Santo’s boots. They were Santo silver and had his eye hole logo on them. Santo is still in AAA at this point.

Head Hunter I & Head Hunter II beat Silver King & Texano © for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship
(Arena México @ 06/30, 11:00, 1/3, ok, Alex Marin)

There are edits in most of these matches. An edit makes the third fall particularly hard to follow: one of the Headhunters gets eliminated off-screen. The commentators mention the match being 1v1, but it’s never shown until the replays after the match. The finish is the Head Hunters pulling an illegal switch, which doesn’t seem particularly illegal unless you have that knowledge.

This was not the athleticism of the Silver King/Apolo Dantes match, but a much clearer story. The Cowboys have trouble dealing with and surviving the Head Hunters huge size, and it’s a big a moment whenever they can manage. (Silver King got a bigger reaction for slamming both Head Hunters then he got for his backdrop driver in the last match.) This era of CMLL apparently requires rudos to cheat to win so these do as well, but Silver King & Texano can barely deal with their size in a fair battle. It’s simple and effective.

La Sombra, Solar I, Solar II beat Damián el Guerrero, Guerrero del Futuro, Guerrero Maya
(Arena México @ 07/14, 17:27, good, 2/3, Kozmic Trooths)

A lot of what I’ve come across has been either main event blow-off matches or trios with some strangeness in the finish to build to those blowoff matches. This is instead a professional midcard match, very well done. It wouldn’t feel out of place in 2020, with a lot of technically sound wrestlers working hard. I’m not sure I’ve actually seen this previous La Sombra in action, and he looked good. He’s a bit more aerial than the Solars but similarly smooth, coming off like an earlier version of Guerrero Maya Junior. The actual earlier Guerrero Maya and Guerrero del Futuro are good foils for the tecnicos. Damian el Guerrero does not come off well, trying for acrobatic ideas he can’t really pull off. This might be a great match with just one more solid wrestler, but it’s still pretty good with who’s in there.

Astro Rey Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Emilio Charles Jr. beat Corazón De León, Shocker, Silver King
(Arena Coliseo @ 04/14, 9:54, good, rnrwrasslin)

Short match moving at a fast speed all the way through, leading to some nice aggressiveness by the rudos and lots of energy. Maybe too much energy, since Shocker’s dive went very wrong. The balance of the match was strong, with Silver King looking like the best guy and Corazon again looking rawer than I’m used to seeing him. It’s weird to think about Shocker, Mephisto, and Chris Jericho crossing paths.

Satánico © beat Héctor Garza for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship
(Arena Coliseo @ 04/25, 12:04, 1/3, ok, decadas80s90s2000)

A true technical match between the two, which is much different than the rest of their rivalry. Its fine, it plays into the viciousness they apply holds, but it’s not the most effective use of them. The ending ref bump looks bad and the idea is muddled. The announcers react like Satanico’s cheated but it doesn’t look that way.

Último Dragón © beat Bestia Salvaje for the NWA World Middleweight Championship
(Arena Coliseo @ 05/23, 8:16, 2/3, good, Roy Lucier CMLL)

This is heavily cut down, but still quality action from what we get to see. It’s not a natural match-up but they build well to Dragon’s highspots and Salvaje is unafraid to throw himself around dramatically. Bestia Salvaje taking back bumps from the top rope to the hard CMLL mat probably didn’t help his career. This is well into the period where the crowd goes nuts every time a tecnico tries a top rope move in a title match.

Pantera © beat Great Sasuke for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship
(Arena México @ 05/26, 6:47, 2/3, good, rnrwrasslin)

Another match edited down highly. The crowd reacts like it’s one of the best match they’ve seen, and what we get is at least good. Sasuke & Pantera didn’t seem to be working well together early – the first fall finish takes a couple of tries because Pantera didn’t seem eager to go up for it – but the back and forth of the last half is well done. The match comes off as a bigger deal than the previous two ones.

Apolo Dantés, Pierroth Jr., Pirata Morgan beat Dos Caras, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Vampiro
(Arena México @ 05/26, 12:44, 1/3, ok, rnrwrasslin)

A long way to go to see Apolo Dantes fake a foul. Dantes role in all these feuds is to be the bumping somewhat comedic foul to the limited tecnico heavyweight roster. He does well in that spot, but it limits the range of matches he’s going to have. This is another one where Dos Caras might be good but is the third most important tecnico on his team. I wonder if there were Toreo fans upset their guy was given so much in CMLL.

Héctor Garza, Pantera, Último Dragón beat Bestia Salvaje, El Brazo, Kahoz
(Arena México @ 06/02, 13:59, 1/3, ok, rnrwrasslin)

Sometimes I think there might just be about 18 people on the CMLL 1995 roster but that’s just how the uploads go. This has a really long first fall and two other falls that don’t amount to much. Pantera comes off as the best guy on his trios team, and evil Brazo is a good foil for all. The match ends when the rudos can’t make it back in after a triple dive spot, which is something they ought to try more often.

In this inexplicable quest to watch all of 1995 CMLL for no good reason, I find myself watching every currently available match on YouTube. That’s just one match from a TV show in some weeks, and no matches some other weeks. I’m hoping I find entertaining forgotten matches, though I’ll likely just find perfectly serviceable TV matches which I’ll never think about again.

Dr. Wagner Jr., Emilio Charles Jr., Satánico beat Atlantis, Héctor Garza, Silver King
(Arena Coliseo @ 01/13, 17:48, 1/3, ok, dataintcash)

Amusing for Garza over bumping for Satanico at times, and Satanico gnawing at his head. Emilio and Atlantis are very good together but they and the Wagner brothers don’t make a big impact. I wonder what we’d think of Silver King if his heavyweight title reign during this time was treated as a bigger deal; all the defenses we know off were in non-TV settings, but he carries himself like someone you’d believe is the best wrestler in the promotion.

El Dandy, Máscara Mágica, Negro Casas beat Bestia Salvaje, Mano Negra, Mocho Cota
(Arena Coliseo @ 01/13, 14:01, 1/3, ok, Kozmic Trooths)

Mano Negra and Negro Casas keep staring at each other like they’re going to have a big fight, and it never really comes together. This match doesn’t really come together in any memorable way.

El Dandy, Máscara Mágica, Negro Casas beat Arkángel de la Muerte, Bestia Salvaje, Mano Negra
(Arena Coliseo @ 01/20, 17:07, 1/3, ok, rnrwrasslin)

An interesting TV match for the story more than the work. Dandy and Casas are not getting along and nearly fight with some instigation by the rudos. Every match I’m used to seeing means one or the other will cost their team the match. This match has Casas & Dandy get it back together and team up to take out the rudos, while the tension is still there after the match. Mascara Magica struggles a bit in his finish win, and Mano Negra’s suplexes are a bit out of control, but it’s effective as building up that issue.

Dos Caras, Héctor Garza, Atlantis beat Dr. Wagner Jr., Emilio Charles Jr., Satánico
(Arena Coliseo @ 01/20, 15:20, 2/3 DQ, good, rnrwrasslin)

A fun TV match. It’s a 1995 CMLL TV episode so Satanico and Garza are feuding heavily. Atlantis & Emilio seem very on in this match too, with a great sequence in the middle. They’re two opposites who play off each other very well. The overturned finish works in the context of the feud.

Emilio Charles Jr., Pierroth Jr., Satánico beat Brazo de Plata, Dos Caras, Héctor Garza
(Arena Coliseo @ 02/28, 13:59, 1/3 DQ, ok, rnrwrasslin)

More Garza/Satanico. Pierroth has some amusing comedic moments, Porky was good, but this mostly TV filler. Garza striking back at Satanico probably works better in the week to week context, but I’m not sure CMLL’s TV was that developed to make that happen.

Corazón De León beat Felino, Último Dragón, Bestia Salvaje, El Dandy, Negro Casas in Copa Campeon de Campeones
(Arena México @ 03/03, 19:52, ok, rnrwrasslin)

• 03:11 COR Bestia Salvaje
• 04:48 Dandy casita Felino
• 11:38 El Dandy sharpshoto Ultimo Dragon
• 14:35 Corazon de Leon cradle blocked Dandy
• 19:52 Corazon de Leon faceslam Negro Casas

What Happened: Dandy and Dragon, by virtue of being NWA World Champions of their weight divisions, get to pick sides. Dandy wins the coin toss and picks Negro Casas. Dragon debates for a while before picking Corazon de Leon. Dandy takes Bestia Salvaje, leaving Felino last. Felino is not thrilled with this sequence of events but moves on.

Review: Back in the day, a CMLL champions of champions match could have only 6 people. (There were still more champions than that but go with the joke.) I remember reading positive reviews of this match a long time ago. It didn’t feel as good as I thought I read; it’s a lot of survivor series like random eliminations until the final two. The Bestia Salvaje countout is one of those comically fast twenty counts that only happen when someone’s got to go. Negro Casas & Corazon de Leon had a lot of tight near falls, but it didn’t feel more intense than a normal match until then. Casas & Dandy working together to take out Dragon’s knee was nice and the concept of picking teams was interesting but it’s not as strong as the names suggest.