Lucha Worth Watching: Gran Alternativa Final

Templario/Ultimo Guerrero vs. Flyer/Volador Jr.  CMLL 5/18/18

ER: Huge, bloated, overkilled Arena Mexico main event, which was the match the crowd was amped to see, that totally delivered with some huge spots, and two excellent performances from the two younger guys. If the point of the Gran Alternativa is to come out of it with a couple of stronger young guys, then they nailed it. Templario and Flyer put on two really tremendous performances, and the crowd responded excitedly to them. Flyer took some major tumbles here, and some big time bumps on hard surfaces. It wasn't just him taking big bumps to the floor and hitting a dive, it was him taking all of this big UG power offense, getting bounced off the mat on a middle rope powerbomb, taking the big reverse suplex off the top, just taking a lot of body damage on the mat and floor. Templario is one of my new favorite guys who I don't think I even saw until late 2017. He's got a lot of nice flying spots, but also a lot of great power offense. I guess you can say the power/flyer combo reminds me of a younger Hechicero? He's really great at catching flyer spots, has cool press slams kind of spots, catches and swings Flyer into the barricade, but then can hit a big springboard move of his own. Volador really allowed Flyer to shine, and when he did start breaking out big spots he did them to complement Flyer, and UG did the same thing with Templario. Volador following up Flyer's big Asai moonsault to the floor with his own massive rana to the floor just makes Flyer look at his level, and the fans responded as such. We get a ton of ridiculous but fun kickouts, but if you're going to do overkill, have fun with it. And with the fans flipping out for every kickout, everybody in the ring looked like they were having a ball.