06/09: Arena Mexico, GdR

CMLL (FRI) 06/09 Arena Mexico Results [alexis, ocampo, ovaciones]
1) Mini Damian 666, Mini Halloween, Mini Violencia b Mini Fantasy, Mini Olímpico, Último Dragoncito
2) Amapola, Princesa Sujei, Rosa Negra b Diana la Cazadora, Lady Apache, Mima Shimoda
3) Hijo de Lizmark, La Mascara, Lizmark Sr. DQ Averno, Mephisto, Tarzan Boy
Mephisto got called for a foul for the loss. Post match, Mephisto took Lizmark’s mask and showed it off a dangerous amount.
4) Hiroka b Marcela [CMLL WOMEN]
Hiroka is the 10th champion, winning with a fisherman’s buster. 1 fall; Ovaciones says “15 minutes”, Ocampo says “9:32”. This is a surprising title change.
5) Damian 666, LA Park, Misterioso II DQ Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Mr. Niebla
Looks like the brawl (slightly toned down) continued; LA Park came to the ring with a chair, but not to play air guitar. In the third fall, Wagner had a pin, but Misterioso yanked the ref, and that no good LA Park faked a low low to get the win.
6) Heavy Metal, Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero b Atlantis, Black Warrior, Ultimo Guerrero
Ultimo was carried out, and was challenged to a LH title match next week by Rey.

GdR (which looks like it’s been moved to 11/10c for good without informing anyone): both from 06/04 Coliseo
Máximo b Loco Max [hair]
Hector Garza, Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Terrible b Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo de Lizmark

Catching up…

Lucha Times: Both slots on Gala have been bumped up to three hours. Even though the AAA episodes aren’t next in line (in fact, they went backwards last week to catch the Atlantis/Santo match they missed the first time), that sure seems like a sign they’re going thru them.

Saturday should be a taping from 02/03. Rudopolis said this was a good show. Sunday might be the first AAA of the recent set, but I’m not sure. For your edification, I’ve put together a AAA yet to air on Galavision list, like the CMLL one. You’ll note that we’re only 4 months behind there.

GdR has lost whatever pattern it had. One would hope the hair match it had, but who can say? By the way, whenever I send out this DVD, y’all are going to just love how the audio has managed to be messed up on my recording for both shows. I do have a recap for the show two weeks ago up, but I haven’t mentioned it; I’m hoping to race thru last week’s show tonight, and I’ve heard nothing but bad things about it.

Digression: Anyone notice the color order on the GdR page? Ignore the newest ones. The things you do when you’re bored and strange.

Database wise, I restored the shows by arena index and I’ve been adding names here and there to the rosters (though I should probably add pictures) – I’m thinking of adding stuff for the regular undercards in Guadalajara/Puebla/Moneterry, since reports seem pretty consistent, but it’ll weight down those drop down boxes of wrestler names.

I’m not sure what I should be tackling next; got ideas, but not time to do them all, and there’s some stuff (*cough*recaps*cough*) not getting done again. If there’s something I hinted I might do and you’d really be jazzed to see it, feel free to

MAYBE I’ll answer my e-mail?

06/09: Mexico preview

I don’t got much.

CMLL (FRI) 06/09 Arena Mexico
1) Mini Fantasy, Mini Olímpico, Último Dragoncito vs Mini Damian 666, Mini Halloween, Mini Violencia
2) Diana la Cazadora, Lady Apache, Mima Shimoda vs Amapola, Princesa Sujei, Rosa Negra
3) Hijo de Lizmark, La Mascara, Lizmark Sr. vs Averno, Mephisto, Tarzan Boy
4) Marcela vs Hiroka [CMLL WOMEN]
5) Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Mr. Niebla vs Damian 666, LA Park, Misterioso II
6) Heavy Metal, Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero vs Atlantis, Black Warrior, Ultimo Guerrero

In Ovaciones, Bucanero vows to destory the Guerreros, starting tonight. He specifically insults Atlantis, saying he’s a medicore fighter who doesn’t know if he’s a tecnico or rudo and is scared to lose his mask. Rey’s going to teach him what being a complete wrestler is, starting tonight.

The way they’ve set up and followed up on the Rey turn concerns me. Based on the (months?) of vignette lead up to this, and the long term partnership, you need to do Rey vs Atlantis and Rey vs Ultimo feuds. You could work Averno & Mephisto or Tarzan in if you want, but those are the two keys, and the order is important too – the Rey/Ultimo partnership had been enduring and near the top, so you’d figure it for some sort of ultimate rivalary, and it can’t be that and be the set up for an Atlantis/Rey at the same time. Rey needs to run thru Atlantis (probably not for his mask, but the belt would be fine) as build for the feud with Ultimo (again, probably for his title – but title vs title or title vs hair will work) if they’re going to get the most mileage out of this.

When you’re expecting that sort of path, it’s a bit dispiriting to have the breakup happen on a Sunday Arena Coliseo show instead of Arena Mexico – and not even be shown on TV! – and for them to tease doing the first Ultimo/Rey match at a Tuesday Coliseo show of all places. They backed off that (instead, next week there will be a Dos/Ultimo non-title match), and maybe things will get back on track tonight.

I’d expect them to hype the Jucio Final match for about two weeks, so I believe that means it’ll be set up tonight (though they haven’t offically said when the show will be; I’m just assuming 06/23.)

CMLL (MON) 06/12 Arena Puebla Lineup
1) Zigma, Iron, Blue Center vs Karisma, Fuerza Tiger, Murcielago
2) Black Terry, Kraken, Espiritu Maligno vs Lestat, the Tigre, Asturiano
3) Lady Apache, Princesa Blanca, Marcela vs Hiroka, La Nazi, Amapola
4) Mistico, Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero vs Atlantis, Averno, Mephisto
5) Ultimo Guerrero vs Perro Aguayo

Angel del Fuego, who’s wrestled in Arena Lopez Mateos, will be part of CHIKARA’s Young Lion tournament, from 06/23-06/25.

SI.com has an interview with Jack Black. (Thanks to mikeinformer)

The LA Press Telegram an article has an article about the “Lucha Libre: Life Behind the Mask” documentary.

Alexis is celebration the 1 Year anniversary of his CMLL magazine.

06/08: IWRG, title change, long rambling comic book digression

IWRG (SUN) 06/04 Arena Naucalpan Results
very reshuffled
1) Gran Cuchillo, Kid Tiger b Black Stone, Macho II
2) Ave Fenix, Avisman I, Panterita b Black Jaguar, Black Terry, Fantasma de la Ópera
3) Masada, Okumura b Sicodelico Jr., Tony Rivera
4) Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro, Veneno b Cyborg, Magnum Project, Xibalva
Masada and Okumura attacked the Cerebros post match.
5) Damian 666, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Terrible b Mr. Niebla, Pantera, Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
Perros used fouls to win. Rayo wants Perro in a match next week.

Don’t have full results from last Sunday’s AAA TV, but it sounds like there was a title change, and Charly Manson is the new Mexican National Heavyweight Champion.

More picks from the AP Lucha Libre story can be found here (mikeinformer)

Nacho Libre: Q&A with Jack Black and Jared Hess. Jack’s wearing a Blue Demon shirt in the photo (taken some other time, I’m sure), and has a critical evaluation of Latin Lover.

Here’s another good example of what I was talking about below: over on the fwak blog, they’ve got a YouTube video from a FMLL show this past weekend.

Cudahy?!? Talk about a secret society. Finding info on these events is getting harder each month. Plus this time it was held in a part of town I’d never heard of.

I don’t think this is specifically a lucha libre issue – this is exactly how many small indy promotions operate – because lucha libre shows can feature top wrestlers of the genre, making people sure know the when/where about shows pays off bigger.

Left turn: A little while back, in his wrestlingobserver.com news updates, Dave Meltzer (repeating a note sent to him, surely) mentioned a character in Marvel Comic’s Friendly Neighorborhood Spider-Man (#6 & #7) was based on Mistico – a gold version of him, if I remember correctly. I recently had a chance to see these comic books – and I’m still wondering who was supposed to be Mistico.

The story’s really about two lucha themed wrestlers, and Spiderman could probably have been played by any masked superhero, but then, he’s the only one with 4 books, so that’s how it goes. Oddly, they didn’t seem to touch upon Spiderman’s pre-heroic career as a pro-wrestler, which would’ve made it feel a bit more specific.

The rudo luchadore is named El Dorado, and the tecnico is El Muerte (III). At the start of the story, Dorado beheads Muerte II and threatens to kill Muerte III and/or take his soul in ten years time, if Muerte III fails to win the mask of a very important hero of the people in that time. Rather than take on, say, Atlantis, the story flash forwards to ten years later, where El Muerte has bought a huge billboard to challenge Spiderman. (You know, that’s the kind of promotion I’m talking about! We’d all know about that show that way.)

In that ten year stretch, Muerte’s grown from a scrawny teen to a hulking goon. He must’ve been on Olimpico’s fruits and vegetables diet? El Dorado, who is kept unseen till the end of the first issue, is a similarly Canek sized man, walking around in full golden Spanish armor, and has swords. (To do the beheading, you know.) Neither guys resembles Mistico without a funhouse mirror. Spiderman’s the Mistico the guy in Mistico’s spot here; he’s the undersized agile acrobat. (Also kinda like the Spiderman luchadores in Mexico!)

Muerte and Spiderman have their mask match, despite at least Spiderman’s wife (and maybe him too) not understanding the concept of “mascara contra mascara”. Wolverine explains this, because he apparently knows everything and has done everything (I was kinda waiting for the antidote about filling in for Santo in the mask match versus Black Shadow, but alas.) The mask match ends with no one losing their mask (FRAUD!) I believe it was ruled a no contest when a blade (or some sort of pokey thing) popped out of Spiderman and stabbed Muerte with position, and I don’t even care what that’s about.

I believe Issue 6 ended with Spiderman and Muerte in a hospital, and El Dorado using supernatural powers to suddenly appear there, and Issue 7 was just action scenes around the hospital, with Dorado and Muerte having vague superpowers and Muerte and Spiderman eventually running off Dorado – it’s much less lucha at that point.

There’s some lucha touches here that indicate the concept – broad ideas like “passing down a gimmick from father to son”, and some visual stuff (the referee in the mask is wearing suspenders), but I don’t know if they made as strong a lucha libre connection as you’d hope; it wasn’t very distinguishable from any other pro-wrestling story in comic books, except the wrestlers happened to be Mexicans and masked. It’s an attempt at something different, but if you’re looking for lucha libre content, you don’t need to go of your way to get this.

random: It did get me thinking – in comic book worlds, North American superhero-ing tends to go on primary in the US and Canada, because those are the people who are buying English language comic books. This has probably been suggest previously, and it’s a play off Mexican comics which already exist, but someone should explain the void of Mexico/Central American superhero activities by simply stating that luchadores are all authentic super heroes, and they’ve been keeping their corner of the world safe from alien invasions of Guadalajara and the like. (They could speak gravely about a secret Battle of Tijuana they lost – which would explain that city well.) Since they wrestle and fight crime and probably are elected officials, they don’t have much time for world meetings of superhero-types, but they occasionally battle along side heroes from other lands (Ultimo Dragon) – where they might use their power rings and Dragon Cutters and such, the luchadores battle evil with tope con giros and solid mat wrestling.

It’s a thought. Probably more a DC idea?

06/07: Guadalajara, Coliseo, mags

CMLL (SUN) 06/04 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara Results
1) Impostor, Valentin Mayo b Metal Blanco, Thunder Boy
2) Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Exterminador, Idolo
3) Gallo, Kronos, Oro II b Infierno, Magnum, Malefico
4) Brazo de Plata, La Mascara, Volador Jr. DQ Cesar Dantes, Mascara Magica, Toxico
5) Blue Demon Jr., Hijo del Santo, Mil Mascaras b Atlantis, Pierroth, Ultimo Guerrero

There’s pictures from both Nacho Libre stories and the Guadalajara Walk Of Fame opening on the Yahoo News photo wire (Thanks to mikeinformer)

CMLL (TUE) 06/06 Arena Coliseo Results
1) Explosivo, Molotov b Artillero, Zayco
2) Sensei, Starman, Trueno b Jeque, Ramstein, Super Comando
3) Apocalipsis, Canek jr., Hooligan b Metro, Oro II, Stuka Jr.
4) Hijo de Pierroth, Hombre Sin Nombre, Misterioso II b Pantera, Sagrado, Virus
5) Dos Caras Jr., Hijo de Lizmark, Mr. Niebla b Black Warrior, Ultimo Guerrero, Universo 2000
Dos wants another shot at Ultimo’s CMLL LH title.

There seems to be a billion articles about Nacho Libre and I presume they’ll be a billion more between now and the movie, but it seems like they’re all repeats, pardon me if I don’t link them all.

Magazines
– Box Y Lucha #2769’s cover has Misterioso and Garza, and the poster is all Rey vs Ultimo
Super Luchas Grafico #14 features Canek.
Luchas 2000 Special is on famous masks (including Canek’s.)

Arenas de Chicago has updated their site; the Misterio/Canek match looks to be July 23rd now, not June.

06/06: Puebla, Naucalpan, Guadalajara walk of fame


CMLL (MON) 06/05 Arena Puebla Results
1) Espiritu Maligno, Karissma b Blue Center, Iron
2) Amapola, Hiroka, La Nazi b Lady Apache, Marcela, Princesa Blanca
3) Misterioso II, Siki Osama Jr., Skandalo b Batman, Centella de Oro, Tigre Rojo
4) Averno, Black Warrior, Mephisto b Felino, La Mascara, Volador Jr.
5) Hector Garza, Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Terrible b Rey Bucanero, Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrero

IWRG (THU) 06/01 Arena Naucalpan Results
1) Comando Gama b Sibelius
2) Black Stone, Fantasma de la Ópera b Ave Fenix, Kid Tiger
Fantasma beat Ave Fenix with his feet on the ropes, and Ave wants a title shot
3) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Pantera b Misterioso II, Nitro, Hijo de Pierroth
Rudos didn’t get along
4) Masada, Okumura b Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro
Japan cheated to win, which leads both matches this week
5) Canek DQ Dr. Wagner Jr. [IWRG HEAVY]
Wagner got DQed for hitting the ref.

indy (SUN) 06/04 Auditorio Municipal Morelia, Michoacan Results [Cambio de Michoacan
1) Principe Tigre, Rey Halcon, Stigma b Chamaco Lopez, Maixmo Loco, Rey Scorpio
2) Fiero Jr., Kripta, Obituary b Black Shadow Jr., Principe Mercurio, Super X
3) Superman Ricochet b Terro Boricua [UW CW]
4) King Haku Jr. DQ Angel Dorado II [super libre]
It sounds like King Haku Jr. may be Puerto Rician.
5) Huracan Ramirez, Huracan Ramirez Jr., Kung Fu Jr. vs Fuerza Boricua, Jaque Mate, Pierroth Jr.

Tinieblas will do a chat with Box Y Lucha today at 2.

On el Mariente, there’s pictures of the big Arena Coliseo Guadalajara walk of fame opening, including of the HOF plaques.