Month: June 2006

CMLL (TUE) 06/27 Arena Coliseo Results
1) Polvora, Vaquero b Espiritu Maligno, Karisma
2) Kronos, Leono, Trueno b Caligula, Jeque, Messala
3) Apocalipsis, Hooligan, Ramstein b Oro II, Stuka, Tony Rivera
4) Blue Panther, Lizmark, Satanico b Emilio Charles, Hijo de Pierroth, Pierroth
Pierroth wants a rematch next week.
5) Averno, Mephisto, Ultimo Guerrero b Dr. Wagner, Heavy Metal, Negro Casas
Ultimo pulled Wagner’s mask and covered him.

CMLL (SUN) 06/25 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara Results
1) Flama, Fraile de la Muerte b Golden, Virgo
2) Destroyer, Valentin Mayo b Idolo, Nube Roja
3) Leon Blanco, Rey Tigre, Tigre Blanco b Danger, Super Maquina, Toxico
4) Magnum b Gallo
5) Hijo de Lizmark, LA Park b Mascara Ano 2000, Universo 2000
6) Blue Demon Jr. b Mr. Niebla [IWAS LH]
Demon won clean

Luchas 2000’s cover has highlights from the weekend.

I believe Virus lost to Katsuhiko Nakajima today in the AJPW Juniors League. (Updated standings.) He’s got one more match versus Masada to get any points.

Univision’s board has approved a sale of the network to Texas Pacific Group, and not Televisa, as had been speculated.

Why You Should Care: Univision also owns Telefutura and Galavision. Televisa supplies a lot of programming to both networks, including lucha libre. There was some thought (from Dave Meltzer, but seemingly pointed out to him by other sources) that if Televisa were to buy Univision, it’d lead to lucha being on that over-the-air network.

The opposite happened, and just reading that news, Televisa sounds quite unhappy. It also sounds like this isn’t yet a done deal, so it’s too soon for definite statements about what will happen. However, it’s not too soon to speculate on what could happen.

5 completely baseless guesses

#1: Televisa continues selling programs to Universion, though they’re resentful and bitter and there are occasinonal problems; lucha is slightly affected

#2: Televisa dramatically reduces the amount of programming it shares; lucha disappears from the US except for CAN52.

#3: Televisa pulls out completly from Univision. Not only is lucha toast, but if they pulled enough shows out, Galavision and Telefutura probably both wouldn’t survive; you can only rerun things so many times.

#4: Televisa pulls out from Univision and reaches a deal with Telemundo. Lucha may show up on over-the-air or may not be included.

#5: Televisa pulls out completely from Univision – and goes it themselves in the US, running a version of one (or all) of it’s Mexico TV channels on US Digital Cable. (If CAN52 can do it…) Even one Televisa digital channel would probably mean both lucha shows, and up to date airings at that.

I truly have no idea how this will turn out, but I’ll point out the #4 guess sounds great, but probably would take a while to happen. And that’s the key – the effect of this sale won’t be felt for a while. This sale will change things, but I wouldn’t expect any changes any time soon.

This article @ Marketing Medios has some similiar thoughts about where Televisa goes from here.

We have no CMLL main event this week. Sometime on Monday, CMLL and LA Park realized he was booked elsewhere on Friday, and elsewhere is actually more important. (Fine planning there.) As of right now, they’re just dropping the main event and keeping the card as is.

Guerreros del Ring magazine has a photo of LA Park, all ready with a Wagner tomsbtone. He’ll have to save that for next week.

Averno and Volador Jr. got out of the hospital Saturday and were cleared to go by the CMLL doctor, so they’ll be good to go for Friday at least, and probably before.

CMLL (MON) 06/26 Arena Puebla Results
1) Ares, Mr. Rafaga b Black Center, King Jaguar
2) Astruiano, the Tiger, Tigre Rojo b Fuerza Chicana, Furia Chicana, Siki Ozama
3) Cerebro Negro, Kraken, Negro Navarro b Mr. Mexico, Skandalo, Toro Bill Jr.
4) Heavy Metal, Lizmark Sr., Negro Casas b Averno, Hombre Sin Nombre, Mephisto
5) Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Mistico b Pierroth, Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrero
not sure about the main event.

CMLL (SUN) 06/25 Arena Coliseo Results
1) Flash, Valiente b Polvora, Vaquero
2) Leono, Starman, Tony Rivera b Loco Max, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr.
Stuka filled in for Arkangel
3) Fabian el Gitano, Mascara Purpura, Oro II b Canek Jr., el Hijo del Pierroth, Hombre Sin Nombre
Mascara Purpura filled in for Brazo de Oro, and was singled out by Ovaciones for being reckeless not just with his own health, but everyone else’s.
4) Blue Panther, Brazo de Oro, Satánico b Emilio Charles Jr., Misterioso II, Pierroth
Brazo de Oro replaced Porky; I guess even if Porky is willing to work out his dates, they wouldn’t want him working TV.
5) Mistico, Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero b Atlantis, Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrero
After the match, Mistico introduced a member of the music group “Caña Real”, which has a song about Mistico on their upcoming CD.

IWRG (SUN) 06/25 Arena Nauclapan Results
Compeltely reshuffled.
1) Comando Gama b Golem
2) Bacteria, Macho II b Kid Tiger, Sibelus
3) Panterita, Star Boy, Vertigo DQ Cyborg, Fantamsa de la Opera, Xibalva
Panterita and Fantasma are heading to a title match.
4) Felino, Pantera b Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro
Cat team wants and gets a shot at the tag team titles next.
5) Blue Demon, Shigeo Okumura, Terrible DQ Brazo de Plata, Pantera, Sagrado
Demon low blowed Niebla, refs didn’t notice, Porky low blowed Demon, refs noticed. Porky’s working out his pre agreed upon dates, but this wasn’t one listed; maybe they just swapped dates on him to get him in sooner.

AAA (SUN) 06/25 Arena Coliseo Monterrey Results
1) Crazy Demon, Rey Venum b Guerrero Griego, Mercurio
2) Iron, Virtual X b Ben Hur, Ricky Banano
3) Nygma, Picudo, Silver Cat b Alan, Billy Boy, Decnis
4) Elegido, Estrella Dorada Jr., Oriental b Kaoma Jr., Monje negro Jr., Rey Infernal
5) Brazo de Plata, Corazon de Barrio, Pimpinela b Antifaz, Electorshock, Shocker

Super Luchas has cover shots of both La Parka/LA Park feuds. Those Super Lucha also pages have a picture of Nieto del Santo; he looks like a kid, and I’m sure he’s out there just to establish ownership of the name.

Speaking of, El Hijo del Santo posted on box y lucha. No news, but I do love him talking about having received a Palm from his wife and kids and having not really used it. I so know that person. (Actually, that might be 75% of people who get Palms as a gift.)

The LA Daily News has a good article about Lucha Va Voom. One line stuck out:

As one of the stars, Cassandro can get thousands of dollars in the white envelopes handed out to performers after the show. Entry-level fighters make around $100 per fight and top-level talent in Mexico earns millions annually.

That’d be nice if it was true, but I got a feeling it’s not.

This Arizona Central article (which appears to be a syndicated one) about Nacho Libre includes this paragraph:

The art of wrestling is taught at the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Council of World Wrestling) in Mexico City by experienced wrestlers. For approximately $30 per month, you can learn from the best, develop your own character, and experience Mexican popular culture like few others have. For more information, call 011-5255-5588-1569 or visit www.cmll.com.

There’s totally got to be a “if they let you” in there. It sounds way too easy.

Nacho Libre lost more than half of it’s weekend gross this week, but it was still good for $12mil on the weekend. It’s at $52mil total and cost $35, so money for everyone! It’ll probably be killed next week by Superman.

Lineup notes
– Arena Mexico has Park vs Wagner for the UWA Title. It also has Kenzo Suzuki and Marco Corelone in separate matches.
– Mistico’s working two shows on at least Tuesday and Thursday.
– This week’s AAA taping is on Friday. The following 07/07 next taping has Brazo de Plata and Extreme Tiger (listed as Tigre Extreme) in about the same spots as the mystery guys on this taping.
– No cards for Wednesday (typical) and Saturday (not) for whatever the reason.

Read More

Accion highlights
CMLL: semimain event trios fun. Atlantis has green gear now. They highlight Ultimo doing the powerbomb/delayed feet on the ropes.

AAA: La Parka vs Muerte Cibernetica from Triplemania, though they list him here as “Mascara”. Everyone and their moms got invovled. Finish saw Sect pull out (don’t call me) Hijo de Tirantes, but Tirantes recover to count it. There probably was a wrestling move involved, who can say. They do show the unmasking.

BTW, Box Y Lucha (probably among others) has a cover shot of the unmasked Muerte Cibernetica.

Virus’s stint in AJPW’s Jr. Singles League (which should be read as “AJPW doing a small scale version of NJPW’s Super J”) started today with a loss to Takemura. His next tournament match is on 06/28 vs Katsuhiko Nakajima, and his final match (only 4 people per block) is on 06/30 versus Masada. I’ve got a chart that’ll be updated thru out the tournament, because that’s what I do.

FWIW, and IIRC, the way the AAA TV show ended was the way it was supposed to end; it wasn’t as much a tournament as two trios matches. And the Grand Traitor was never actually revealed on this show after the build. Fine story effort all around. I got about 1 hour thru the show this weekend, and I hope to kill the recap off tommorow.

You can find Coliseo results at the usual place, but I’ll wait till Monday to cover that. I suspect that tommorow’s update will be a bit late.

As promised, I’ve uploaded the Reyes del Air match:
hxxp://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=6E6740B843417B5A
(fix the link to get it)

I’m gonna post this at DVDVR, and I wouldn’t expect the link to work for more than a day or two. And, honestly, the more I think about and compare it to last year’s, it’s not really that special. It’s a good match, but doens’t live up to last year fest.

At the same time, it’s a lesser collection of talent; last year’s had Ricky, Volador, Virus, Misterioso and even Alan Stone all in big roles, and none of them were around or used here.

There’s also guys that would’ve helped both years – Averno, Sangre, that kid with the silver mask – who weren’t used. They did better last year, and they could’ve done better with this one.