July 19 Chilanga Mask

Finishing up my series about the July 18-19 trip to Mexico, this post will cover the last of three shows that we attended, the Chilanga Mask show.

Chilanga Mask
July 19, 2015, 2pm, Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México

The nominal start time was 2pm, but as BTJr. mentioned to me for planning purposes, the show always starts a about half-hour later, and this was indeed the case here; I have the first match starting at 2:37pm local time.

1) Dragon Fly b Ironía, Hijo del Ángel
The opener was a three-way elimination match, the tone of which was set quickly by a Brillo Dorada roughly 30 seconds in. This was a really fun spotfest and did a perfect job of opening the show. Ironía was first eliminated, and then Dragon Fly won with a top-rope suplex on Hijo del Ángel. I have the match lasting just under 10 minutes, and it was a fun 10 minutes.

2) As Charro, Toxin Boy b Dragón Celestial, Electro Boy
Very good match. My lasting memory of this is how Dragón Celestial's head brutally hit the turnbuckle upside down towards the end. Ouch

3) Dorado Jr., Sangre Fría Jr., Reggae Boy b Fulgor I, Fulgor II, Iron Kid
This was another good match, though unfortunately for it, sandwiched between two better matches, so it tended not to stick out. Dorado Jr. pinned Fulgor I after three German suplexes.

4) Dr. Cerebro, Caifán b Trauma I, Trauma II
As you might expect, there was a lot of good matwork here. Unfortunately for me, seven hours of sleep in the previous 48 combined with a satisfying paella lunch were beginning to force me into an intermittent food coma during this match, so I probably saw only about half of it live. This might have been the best match of the show; I need to rewatch it. Money was thrown into the ring.

5) Pantera I b Aero Boy
Short match (about 7 minutes) that felt like a perfectly fine, if unremarkable, lightning match.

6) Impulso, Juana la Loca b Freelance, Mike Segura; Aramis, Alas de Acero
The six-team tag tournament was split into two blocks, and this block A was a mindbogglingly nutty match that saw lots of craziness, including a shooting star press to the outside. Crowd ate this up. This was confusing live, but the match format was per-team elimination, not first pin wins. Juana la Loca pinned Freelance after a Canadian Destroyer, after which there was extended brawling outside the ring, causing Aramis/Alas to be counted out. I'm not sure how much of this was work or shoot, but it seemed like someone was legitimately unhappy for some reason. No idea why.

7) Ophidian, Silver Ant b Saru, Teelo; Emperador Azteca, Psycho Kid
OK match, perhaps better out of context than live, but the crowd (and I) had trouble caring for this after the absolutely nutty spotfest that was block A.

8) Ophidian, Silver Ant b Impulso, Juana la Loca
Impulso and Juana ran in immediately after block B to start the tournament final. Another OK but unremarkable match. The tag tournament format really worked against Chilanga Mask here, because all the fun was in block A, which set a tone for the tournament that block B and the final couldn't live up to. After said block A, the crowd was not particularly caring for the Chikara guys, and especially not two matches with them.

9) Ray Rowe b Bárbaro Cavernario [submission]
Coming in, I was skeptical that the submission-only format would really work. I don't think it hurt the match too much necessarily, but it felt like it would have better to dispense with the stipulation since it wasn't really explained and these two have no history together. It ruins some of the fun if Cavernario can't get a near fall after his imploding springboard plancha or if there's no threat of a countout after his Cavernario Splash to the outside.

This match went about 15 minutes and was only OK live. If I were watching on video, I probably would rate this lower, because the match felt like one of those that I would find tedious if not there in person.

Overall

The Chilanga Mask show was good overall, but was really hurt by the top of the card. Hypothetically speaking, if the show had stopped after the first six matches, it might have rivaled the Cara Lucha May 30 anniversary show as one of the best shows top to bottom that I had seen live this year.