12/08 news

Unlike me, Halcon #48 is visible, on time and coherent.
– Eddie signs at the tribute show and the tour in Italy.
– Interview with Mr. Niebla. Mr. Niebla used to wrestle as Batman, you know. He doesn’t explain that, but he does give an explanation the long absence: he was out with with a lumbar disc problem that kept him out for eight months. His knees aren’t too good either. He says he wasn’t interested in going to AAA or elsewhere, because CMLL is the style he likes. Mr. Niebla explains the IWRG Mr. Niebla deal as a him leaving IWRG on bad terms (young and dumb) and it being a bit of a spite move. He won the case in court. This Mr. Niebla considers the span of time where he won the masks of IWRG Niebla and Shocker as his peak.
– Arena Mexico recap, focusing all on the main event. They’ve got pictures (using the CMLL.com photos) of more of their matches, and label the picture with Amapola and the belt as a title she won in Japan. Maybe there was a tournament there?
– Ocampo Eddie Bio, part 3, from ECW to 2003. Again, it’s good, except for quibbles: would Eddie (and Art and everyone else) have still wrestled in Mexico if the economy didn’t collapse. Even in a boom period now, I think if WCW and ECW still existed, contemporary comparables like Mistico would still find better offers outside Mexico. I could be wrong there, though, because I haven’t really thought this out. Ernesto thought out a “WCW should’ve really replaced Eddie with Konnan as lWo head after the car accident and carried that on” scenario, but I’m willing to bet the deal there is the angle was Eddie’s baby, and not anyone elses.
– Interview with Trueno! He’s from Monterrey, 25, and the son of the Trueno I, who got the name from his teacher Rolando Vera. So I guess I should be calling him Trueno II? Satanico and his dad have been his only teachers so far. He debuted on 09/04/98, though he doesn’t remember who he faced. Trueno II joined CMLL because it’s the bestest. Trueno II’s biggest rival is the sport of lucha libre itself!
– News updates say the Black Tiger vs LA Park mask match is 12/25 in Torreon – a Christmas present for us all.
– Interview with Zetta, which is valuable just because we now know how to spell his name. Trainers were Faisan, Franco Colombo, el Hijo del Gladiador – he trained for 5 (FIVE!) years. He’s a big Spiderman fan, but someone’s beat him to that gimmick, so he adopted the colors and a similar mask. He attributes the Zetta name from a tribe in India where it means “protector of the soul.” His debut match was at Arena Coliseo on 04/02/00, in the second match although eh doesn’t remember all the participants. He almost didn’t wrestle, because he’s still studying both psychology and learning the job of an athletic trainer. His current goals are to wrestle again in Japan someday, and just move up the card.
– Post of Rey Bucanero. You’ll have to turn your magazine sideways to view it correctly.
– LLF results – this was a benefit show for a women who got hurt the previous week, with men and women – but they only drew 30 people.
– Rankings! I’ll surely do more of this at a late date. Atlantis is wrestler of the month. They still list Rocky Romero as CMLL Champion, so who knows what’s going on there.
– Column. There was a match during last week’s telethon. They did an angle where it was Konnan, Shocker, La Hechicera, Jerrito Estrada versus Latin Lover all by himself, and if enough people called in to donate money, they could get Latin Lover some partners. People love Latin Lover, so he ended up with Estrellita, Octagoncito and La Parka Jr. Of note, the announcers for this match were AAA’s Arutro Rivera and CMLL’s Dr. Alfonso Morales.
– ending news covers Pierrothito’s triumphant debut match on SmackDown!
(Zetta also is a prefix meaning a Sextillion – 1 with 21 zeros.)

Halcon also posted a diaro.com.mx story about Blue Demon Jr. getting robbed. Demon mentions the hotel interfered with the investigation, refusing entry to members of the police to inspect the room.

Super Lucha #6 cover and other cover are caricature illustrations. Inside, there’s pictures of Villano III, and a group shot of Atlantis, Dr. Wagner, Lizmark Jr. and Dos Caras Jr. I’m not one to point fingers, but I think this cartoons may just be on steroids.

Hope there’s something left for tommorow. Arena Mexico preview if nothing else.

Lucha Times

Saturday: The moment you’ve been waiting for – Groon debuts in CMLL. Surely a match never to be forgotten. In Robert’s review (luchaworld – reg required), he dug the Spectacular moments more than any of the matches – which actually isn’t really all that specific, never mind.

Sunday: So you can’t see Universo vs Halloween for a while longer, but you can see his last big Arena Mexico singles main event where he…uh, lost to Heavy Metal in a match that fell apart. You might understand the cynicism towards the Universo match better. (Added bonus: we’re up to the recaps I’ve actually done! (except for next week))

GdRM: Let it be clear that I’m completely guessing on these, because there hasn’t yet been a pattern established except one Coliseo, one Mexico (and I still haven’t gotten to see last week’s episode), but Angel Blanco Jr’s debut and the Tarzan Boy walkout are likely.

update delayed

This picture is designed to distract you long enough to disguise no update being up. It’s not that I’m passing on the day because Ovaciones did, it’s that I’m still insanely busy. I’ll attempt at something later tonight, providing I do not die in the blizzard passing thru the area.

I like the oval design on the belt; when I was in a spell of using belt photos for a Box Y Lucha thread in some title histories over at the wiki, I saw them for the first time and thought they looked sharp. In fact, till I remember most of the belts have apparently been changed to a new design at some point, I thought about the oval belts and the oval logo, and thought I should start nicknaming CMLL “the Oval” and see if it’ll catch out as a tongue in cheek nickname. It couldn’t be worse than Fred.

Anyway, I think the point is either “the truthfulness of their women’s wrestling push can be determined by their unwillingness to spend the $whatever to buy a new belt” or “holy carp, they just stuck the belt in a closet for a few years and dug it out when they felt like using again, like it’s a bowling ball or a sweater from an aunt.”

Not that my aunt makes be ugly sweaters. And yes, I know there’s far more interesting things than the belt in that picture, but I can’t semi-intelligently comment on the rest.

one attempt at news to salvage this: WWE.com has just announced Tajiri’s going to be leaving the company after next Monday. It sounds like it at least partially stems from a desire to live in Japan full time, but if he ever decides to come back to this continent again, a return stint in CMLL would be fun.