MLJ: 2010: Mistico Interlude 3: Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles

 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles 2010
taped 2010-01-22 @ Arena Mexico

As best as I can tell, this parejas increibles tournament was on the same night as the Garza /Ultimo Guerrero title match, so I'm going in circles, but at least I know where I am. It was also the first of the yearly tournaments. This is definitely one of those cases where I wish I knew Spanish better because Rey Bucanero was a guest on commentary and not only would I have wanted to known how the usual announcers reacted to what was going on but he'd be interesting too, having just had matches with Mistico.

Averno/Mistico vs Ephesto/Euforia

3:07 in

I'm assuming that Euforia was already a junior member of GdI but for tournament lucha I'm not going to do the legwork to figure it out. Averno and Ephesto were stablemates (I think). It's interesting that they had to field a rudo/rudo team. I'm only looking at Mistico's matches here, but Maximo and Niebla were teamed too and that sounds pretty fun.

Mistico and Averno came out with matching gear, which meant Mistico had Averno's colors and the horns on his mask. Averno's mask had some of Mistico's elements in it. This came as a pretty big surprise to the crowd as they'd been feuding forever. Mistico was still slapping the crowds hands though and he worked pretty straightforward as a tecnico here. He did his usual stuff with Euforia, flips, headscissors, armdrags in, back and forth. Averno and Ephesto worked together well and I imagine they were having fun with it. It ended with a pause in the action and handshake attempts by Ephesto and Euforia. Averno screwed Ephesto with a kick and the devil's wings. Mistico dodged the cheapshot and locked on La Mistica and that was the win.

Post match Averno and Mistico were pumped but there was nothing too suspicious. There was some mild booing though.

Averno/Mistico vs Volador, Jr./Terrible

Here's the turn. I think the earlier match set it up very well actually, because there was just enough weirdness in the Averno/Mistico team to make people wonder, to make them uncomfortable. It set the tone for this.

Terrible was a stablemate of Averno too. More importantly, Mistico and Volador, with Sombra, were a trios called the Super Sky Team at this point. They had certain parts of their act honed together and that shined through early. They moved in tandem to hit their respective opponents with two big dives. Shortly thereafter Volador would hit a Spanish fly on Averno to pin him and then Mistico would take advantage of a distraction to knock Terrible into Volador and roll him up.

This left Volador and Mistico and they immediately bounced off the ropes and did tandem backflips. Instead of setting up a long back and forth, Mistico speared Volador and started punching him and working over the mask. He started taunting the crowd now, going full on rudo. Voladar fought back and did some mask pulling of his own. They had a pretty heated chop fest and bounced off the ropes again. This time Volador first stumbled and then was full on tripped by Averno. Mistico was tripped by Terrible a moment later which allowed Volador to go for La Mistica, but Mistico blocked it and fouled him huge for the win.

I could have done without the Terrible trip which sort of muddied the waters but in general this was a pretty dramatic and effective turn. The fact it came almost immediately after they did some tandem movements was visually striking. Post match, they pounded on Volador some more and everyone yelled at each other on the mic. Notably, Mistico ended it by tossing beer on Volador.

Averno/Mistico vs Atlantis/Mascara Dorada

4:48 in

This was the semi-finals and Atlantis was sporting his white tecnico mask. Mistico had taken off his shirt during the post-match of the quarter-final so the only way to tell Averno from him easily was the body type; Averno was a little bulkier. Atlantis was sort of a sentimental favorite here, almost by default.

There was more mask-ripping and heeling by Mistico but the real story of the match was just how well and thoroughly Averno and Mistico worked together. My favorite moment was when they both faked a dive and did the Mistico pray-pose together to huge boos. Ultimately, Atlantis made his comeback and Dorada hit a really nice dive to take Mistico out. One Atlantida later and this branch of the tournament was over.

I think they probably should have put Averno and Mistico over in the entire tournament if they wanted to really get over the turn but what they did do over the night was pretty effective. It was all tournament lucha, short, flashy, not all that deep, but the overarching story of the turn was quite well played out in and out of the ring. The crowd was hugely into it, especially after the foul.