MLW Lucha Apocalypto Review - November 10, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Hechicero and Ultimo Guerrero def. Esfinge and Kevin Knight

I'm familiar with Hechicero from the appearances he made in AEW earlier this year, Guerrero is obviously established, Knight is a newcomer to MLW (who previously wrestled for TNA) and I don't know much about Esfinge. This was a well-worked tag team match, but there wasn't anything about it that stood out to me, personally. I would've liked to see Knight benefit from picking up the win for his team, but at least he wasn't the one pinned.

Brett Ryan Gosselin def. Alex Kane in a Chain Match

It's been a bit since MLW's last event, so I honestly forgot that Kane and Mr. Thomas had an issue with Gosselin's group The Rogue Horsemen. Is their issue that personal yet to warrant a Chain match? They were chained together like your typical Strap match, but what we got wasn't all that interesting. It didn't help that we got a cheap finish with Gosselin cheaing to win thanks to an assist from Rogue Horsemen.

MLW World Women's Featherweight Champion Janai Kai def. Persephone and Lluvia in a Three-Way Match

It would've been nice to know a little about Persephone or Lluvia before this bout. Vignettes are one thing, but I'm talking about MLW bothering to build this sort of stuff up in advance on the preceding show, specifically when it comes to people the audience may not be familiar with. They did that at the end of this show, so why not do something similar with the women? Kai was always going to retain regardless, but I would've appreciated the effort. This was a good three-way. Delmi Exo emerged afterward and went back and forth with Kai on the mic. Their feud never seems to end.

Matthew Justice def. Bad Dude Tito Escondido in a Falls Count Anywhere Match to Win the MLW National Openweight Championship

This might be the only Falls Count Anywhere match I've seen where neither competitor entered the ring at any point. That's pretty impressive and it actually made the match more fun. We've seen Justice excel in this environment before against Mads Krule Krugger, though this time he walked away with the win and his first singles title in MLW. This was an enjoyable brawl with an unexpected outcome.

Matt Riddle Saved MLW World Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima From Contra Unit; Riddle and Satoshi def. MLW World Tag Team Champions Contra Unit (Minoru Suzuki and Ikuro Kwon) by Disqualification

Kojima was going to be interviewed in the ring when he was quickly attacked by Contra Unit. Riddle made the save and challenged them to an impromptu match for the tag titles. Kojima already had a meaningless reign as tag champ earlier this year, so thankfully, he and Riddle didn't capture the belts here. This was fine for the time it was allotted, but it was more of an angle to further the babyfaces' feud with the heels.

Atlantis Jr., Star Jr. and Atlantis def. Felino, Magnus and Barbaro Cavernario

Atlantis teaming with Atlantis Jr. was pretty cool. These are all CMLL regulars, so although the crowd didn't have any incentive to see either team win, they were into the action throughout. This essentially served as a showcase for the six stars involved, but it's almost pointless if we don't see any of them again anytime soon. Granted, Cavernario resurfaced at the end of the night, but why wouldn't he have won here?

Donovan Dijak and "Filthy" Tom Lawlor Brawled

Dijak cut a promo running down the roster and Lawlor was one of the people he badmouthed, so Lawlor got up from the commentary desk to brawl with him. This was well done. It was kept short and sweet and effectively set up a match between the two. MLW's brief hiatus has caused Dijak's momentum to stall a bit, but this managed to heat him up again.

MLW World Middleweight Champion Mistico def. Averno and Titan in a Three-Way Match

Mistico has consistently been the best part of MLW over the last year. He's had some great matches, he's been a fighting champion and he's been positioned as a top star on the show. This was a quality match, even though it felt more like a Handicap matchup at times instead of a true three-way. Post-match, Cavernario attacked Mistico and it was confirmed they'll fight for the MLW World Middleweight Championship at Kings of Colosseum in January. I wonder why it's not happening at One Shot next month.

Overall Show

This event was supposed to air late on Saturday night but had to be delayed until Sunday due to technical difficulties apparently. The show-long storyline with Salina de la Renta looking for the kidnapped Cesar Duran before her water broke at the end of the night was just stupid. I don't know who that crap is supposed to appeal to. The rest of the event was solid, but I didn't really care who won most of the matches with very few of them actually feeing significant storyline-wise.

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