(Vanguarida) An employee of AAA, Daniel Chavez Benitez, passed away Monday when a tire on the van he was driving exloded, the car started to roll, and things got worse from there. Eight other people were injuried in the accident. Benitez and many of the others were selling merchandise at Rey de Reyes.
CMLL (SUN) 03/16 Arena Coliseo
1) Artillero & Súper Comando b Kid Tiger & Molotov
2) Mascarita Dorada, Pequeño Olímpico, Último Dragoncito b Mr. Aguilita, Pequeño Damian 666, Pequeño Halloween
3) Máscara Púrpura, Máximo, Mictlán b Euforia, Nosferatu, Virus
4) Sagrado, Último Dragón, Valiente b Mascara Ano 2000, Olímpico, Sangre Azteca
5) Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Volador Jr. DQ Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero
Tecs won first fall clean. Second fall came down to Volador and Ultimo and Ultimo faked a foul. Volador knew he was screwed, so he brilliantly took off his own mask and threw it at Ultimo before the referee turned around. Rafa el Maya saw Ultimo selling a foul, saw Volador with his mask off, and had no idea what to call, so he asked the fans! Fans told him Ultimo yanked Volador’s mask, and that was the decision. This sets up the singles match next week, guaranteed not to have a clean finish.
One bad dive by Purpura took out both him and Nosferatu in the third match. Both were helped to the back before the end of the match.
Marco Rivera, who’s been pretty accurate about these things, says TripleMania will be 06/13 in Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City. Besides the link over on the right side there, KatoKungFu posted photos from Rey de Reyes at el Martiente. Chavo Guerrero looks a bit rough.
In Reforma (via Jazzo), Fabian el Gitano apologizes for being a bad wrestler. No, really! He says he’s rededicated himself to improving, dropping his other job as a stripper to spend more time training. It sounds like he was asked to do this if he wanted to keep getting booked. I hope it works and he didn’t drop the wrong job.
(superluchas) Televisa’s always strange Wrestler of the Year ballot has Perro Aguayo Jr. (fair enough), Rey Misterio Jr. (strange – not even the year you’d pick if you were picking based on people outside of Mexico) and Abismo Negro (inexplicable given how much time he’s missed.)
Ovaciones has no results from last night’s action, but they do have an extended interview with Crazy Boy. Crazy lays out his vision for DTU again (trying to give spotlight to lesser known talent and different styles, not trying to compete with CMLL or AAA or IWRG or AULL.) He mentions the previously announced 04/04 DTU show, and also throws out the planned carded for their 05/04 show at the Lucha Libre Expo:
DTU (SUN) 05/04 Centro Banamex
1) Dark Zinder & Hoit vs Dance Boy & Money Pack and Black Fire & Ragde
2) Angel O Demonio vs Amo de la Noche, Talaxys
3) Aero Boy, Kaientai, Nightmare vs Lord Byron, Pesaddila, Violento Jack
4) A Star From ROH & Crazy Boy vs Joe Lider & Someone From The US
CMLL (MON) 03/17 Domo de la Feria de Leon [Am.Com.Mx]
1) Nitro, Skandalo, Virus b Carta Brava, Máscara Púrpura, Mictlán
2) Grey Shadow, La Sombra, Máximo b Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto
3) LA Park, Místico, Negro Casas b Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero
Mistico got Ultimo with a small package in the main event. They fought again after the match and Mistico got in La Mistica
CHIKARA’s King of Trios DVDs, which included Pantera, Skayde and Incognito, is now for sale at Smart Mark Videos.
CMLL (THU) 03/20 Arena Neza
1) Molotov & Trueno vs Calígula & Méssala
2) Bam Bam, Pequeño Olímpico, Último Dragoncito vs Mr. Aguilita, Pequeño Damian 666, Pequeño Halloween
3) Felino, La Sombra, Leono vs Arkangel de la Muerte, Dr. X, Nitro
4) Alex Koslov, Místico, Negro Casas vs Averno, Damián 666, Mephisto
indy (SUN) 03/23 Arena Coliseo Monterrey
1) Metalico (Monterrey) & Mini Gato Volador vs Mariposa Monarca & Mini Hator
2) Aguila Rela & Huesos vs La Furia & Negro Casas
3) Angel del Amor, Genocida, Turbina vs Pancho Tequila, Rey Infernal, Tonina Jackson
4) Golden Boy, Huracan Ramirez Jr., Ultraman Jr. vs Espanto Jr., Jaque Mate, Simbolo
5) Hator vs Aventurero [FILL MIDDLE]
Noticas Oaxaca profiles local wrestler Guerrero Estelar.
Van Nuys, California indy wrestler Super Mojado was written about in a write story.
San Fransico’s Hotel del Arts has a Casa de Luchador. (thanks to Robert Lamb)
PressPeru wries about a woman trying to push for more women’s wrestling in her home country.
Site notes: This week’s AAA recap and the CAN52 recap are done and will be turning up the next two evenings. FSE lost a fall due to the game going long, so I’m just going to wait for the reair and take care of it next week.
News will be abbreviated on Friday and I do not figure on being around for PBP of the PPV. I’ll probably due the same open thread as the Rey de Reyes and catch up when I get a chance. I’ll chime over my iTouch if I end up some place with wireless.
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It’ll be interesting to see AAA run Sports Palace. That’s an OCESA venue, who does the WWE tours in Mexico. I wonder if WWE will protest?
Has anyone picked up on that 6/13 date yet? Come guys. What’s odd about it?
Nice photos from Rey de Reyes.
No Corona logo on the ring canvas. I wonder if that is because the bullring is a Carta Blanca venue? I know Solidaridad and Coliseo are Carta Blanca venues, but AAA has always been allowed to do what they want with their own ring. But I can’t remember the last time Corona didn’t have AAA’s
canvas.
Some upper level seats are empty. So RdR didn’t sellout, but it’s still a big crowd, and should be one of the biggest gates in company history.
Yea, Friday, head to head. Will CMLL notice?
AAA almsost never does a major show on a Friday.
SKY has always done their major Lucha PPV’s on a Friday.
I wonder if there’s a connection here? I believe the report in WON that AAA will be on PPV. I just don’t believe a PPV can be on SKY and available in the US. Televisa just does not believe in sharing.
Telemundo, Televisa in Content Deal
Laura Martínez — Multichannel News, 3/18/2008 10:58:00 AM
Mexican television, long dominated by the duopoly of Grupo Televisa and TV Azteca, is about to welcome content from an unlikely third player: NBC Universal’s Telemundo.
After a lengthy negotiating process, Telemundo signed a programming agreement with Grupo Televisa to distribute original programming in Mexico. The deal, announced earlier this week, includes thousands of hours of Telemundo programs such as telenovelas, news and sports to be broadcast in Televisa’s Channel 9. Financial details were not disclosed, but the deal includes distributing Telemundo content in Mexico across multiple platforms, including broadcast TV, pay TV and digital.
Effective April, Televisa’s Channel 9 will broadcast more than 1,000 hours a year of Telemundo original programming. In addition to the broadcast platform, Televisa will distribute a new pay TV channel to be launched later this year by Telemundo featuring the network’s branded entertainment and news content.
According to a joint statement, Televisa will provide distribution for the pay TV channel in Mexico, including its satellite platform Sky and cable system Cablevision, reaching over 2 million households at launch. The license agreements for Televisa’s Channel 9 and the new pay TV channel will have an initial term of 10 years, respectively.
The agreement comes after a long effort by NBCU to establish a foothold for Telemundo in Mexico. It also is a victory for Televisa, which in 2006 made a failed attempt to buy Univision and is seeking to get out of a long-term contract to provide programming to Telemundo’s rival in the U.S., Univision.
Notice they specify channel 9 which airs almost five hours of Lucha a week. It also says Telemundo will provide more than 1,000 hours of programming a year. That’s about 20 hours of programming a week. This could have an effect on Lucha. Can’t wait to see.
“Fabian el Gitano apologizes for being a bad wrestler. No, really! He says he’s rededicated himself to improving, dropping his other job as a stripper to spend more time training. It sounds like he was asked to do this if he wanted to keep getting booked. I hope it works and he didn’t drop the wrong job.”
You will never hear of any American wrestlers (read: John Cena) doing this now will you?
Bad or Good?
I think it would be good for Lucha if AAA goes to two-hour format. Lots of Mexicans in NYC tell me they watch an hour or two on weekends, but just can’t spend three. I agree.
What about the WWE? What role will they play?
I kind of like the 3 hour format of AAA. At first it was terrible but I’ve gotten used to it. If they move to two hours, it would only be in the US?
Keith – You can’t say RdR wasn’t sold out b/c you see empty seats up top in the photos that are up. Odds are the few people up top just ran down to get a closer look like happens at all events.
Not only is Bestia Salvaje not doing well health wise but Felipe Ham Lee is reportedly suffering badly as well.
AAA @ 3 hours is perfect. CMLL is the show that always needs to be 2 or 3 hours and never 1:30 due to them having way too much padding to a short show as it is.
Tuesday ColiMex results are up on cmll.com and looks like they’re trying to make next Tuesday an event worth attending!
Fabian is not THAT BAD. He’s MUCH improved over his 2004/2005 IWRG work and there are at least 5 guys I can name off the top of my head that are worse than him in CMLL alone. Leono, Mictlan, Perrito, Luna Magica & Trueno. Done.
PPV gonna be on radio? Anyone w/ a link?
Cons of moving to 2 hours would be women matches would disappear,Aero Star would disappear,Billy Boy would disappear,mini’s would disappear for good,Gran Apache would probably disappear.
Pros of moving to 2 hours would be less Clown matches.
I’m all for keeping 3 hours.
People in the US is only used to main events. They would cut Raw down to 1 hour if they can(maybe I would watch Raw again if it was 1 hour like it was in the old days,LOL)
But the commercial breaks are out of control. They have a entrance and then BAM a 5 minute commercial break.
If an event, any event, is sold out, how can fans move down? A sold out event wouldn’t have empty seats to move down to. Still, it was a solid crowd at US ticket prices.
Last time I checked, Grupo Estadio W was not streaming.
but that’s in the USA, over here the commercial breaks are in between matches (including entrances) which is great since it allows time to go buy more beer, unlike CMLL which has a break every 5 minutes (even with only an hour and half).
“If an event, any event, is sold out, how can fans move down?”
Because they all bunch together as close as possible. I’ve seen it a billion times.
RFC says AAA didn’t sold 5% of the tickets, because of logistics (the screen obstructs part of the bleachers).
In soccer games, I’ve heard that the authorities don’t allow that 5% to be sold to prevent accidents, so it was a sold out after all, I had some doubts about them pulling it since it was too expensive, and there was no stip match.
I had no idea WWE is running that building on 5/23 and 5/24,two and a half weeks before Triplemania. Do you think AAA is doing this to hurt WWE ticket sales?
Triplemania is going to sell regardless.
Sellout should not be a subjective term. But with Lucha Libre, and a building with some general admission seating, it always will be. But the empty seats I saw weren’t in the same area as the production cuts for the ring entrance.
I’m sure WWE will have something to say about AAA running so close to their dates at Palacio.
Sellout can mean many things. Every Leaf game has been sold out this year but the five times I’ve gone, I saw tons of empty seats. People just didn’t come. I used to go to Jays games where schools would get group tickets and the place would be packed but there’d be tons of empty seats up top since all the kids snuck down low and were sitting two to a seat or in the aisles or standing to see the game in the 100 level. I’ve been to RAW events (I know… I used to be a sick man) where it was announced as a sellout but there was a huge section blocked off for cameras and production equipment. Sellout doesn’t have to mean “every seat in the building sold, everyone sitting in their assigned seat.”
Such negativity towards AAA lately… why is that?
I agree. Sellout can be bent and twisted to have different meanings. Especially in a business where people tend to exaggerate.
I will admit, most people would disagree with me on the AAA duration argument. I like two hours, but most people think three is better. Heck, they’re even starting to edit out the wrestlers walking to the ring, and go right to the in-ring intros for some prelim matches. So I lose that argument.
I don’t think I’ve been negative towards AAA at all. I think people here have been. Especially towards Konnan. We all know I love the women. I’ve praised the Abismo vs. Niebla feud. I get a laugh out of Konnan and Roldan. I’ve also praised the Halloween vs. Chessman feud, and I know people have disagreed with me on that point. I’ve also been very positive on Zorro, even though people disagree, and think he’s both better as a tecnico, and not main event heel material.
I don’t think you hate AAA. I think you confuse people by saying WWE will takeover Mexico(I know you scare me,LOL).
Konnan has a big ego but one thing about Konnan is that he is a good booker and is sincerely trying to help AAA. CMLL wish they had someone like Konnan backstage to help out at this point. Konnan is not as bad as Vince Russo who turn me away from TNA.
Konnan has more of a big mouth than a big ego.
WWE is a threat to become dominant in Mexico. Even Konnan has said this, and it has to be taken seriously. WWE has done big gates in Mexico off a basic cable station. That basic station, 52MX, lost SKY, so we’ll see if that hurts future WWE shows.
My complaint that AAA is three hours weekly comes from conversations I’ve had with people and my own experiences. A lot of the younger Mexicans in the US just aren’t going to spend three hours of their only day off watching three consecutive hours of Lucha. One guy was telling me that he saw the Billy Boy saga on Sunday, but little more because he had to much to do after working another sixty-hour week.
As in dominant what do you mean? I think this is where you confuse people. WWE does only a few shows in Mexico per year so how dominant can they really be? AAA and CMLL is not going to lose fans over a company that does a few shows per year.
WWE already runs more shows per year in Mexico City than AAA.
WWE could do much better on television, but they are loyal to MVS, and content with 52MX. If WWE tried, I bet they can get better tv coverage, at which point, they’d easily have as many viewers as AAA or CMLL.
WWE does charge too much is they plan in running with frequency.
I’ve always thought WWE should consider Arena Monterrey as a must on their Texas tours. Monterrey on Friday, Laredo on Sat, Dodge Arena Sunday, Raw in San Antonio, Smackdown in Corpus.
WWE won’t be a dominant force in Mexico simply because they can not provide enough shows to do so, CMLL/AAA/Indies probably run more shows in two weeks than WWE does the whole year, the demand for Lucha Libre can’t be satisfied by WWE unless they drop the USA and Europe/Asian markets and double their dates… which they won’t. TV tapings are just the tip of the iceberg.
How many times does WWE run MSG in New York City? Once a year? RoH runs NYC about five times a year. But WWE is still the dominant force in this market by far. WWE can still be the most popular group since they rely on PPV, merch, video games, DVD’s, and other ways to make money. Number of house shows is not the only way to measure success.
I can see WWE running 20 shows a year throughout Mexico by 2010. Maybe more. They’ll never run as many shows as AAA and CMLL, but that won’t stop them from being just as popular as the established Lucha groups. As pay tv expands in Mexico, so will WWE’s popularity.
I heard they’re running Queretaro. I think the Domo in Leon would’ve been better. Oh well.
So then you don’t understand what’s the difference between lucha libre and pro wrestling, in lucha people want to see their guys live, they don’t care won’t buy DVDs and the rest of the merchandising will be piracy produced.
Well, that’s not a question of understanding Lucha vs. “pro wrestling” as much as understanding the Mexican culture of piracy.
But to say that lucha people want to see their guys live, while WWE is going to sell 70,000 tickets to Mania again this year, confuses me. Any form of entertainment will have a portion of it’s fanbase that wants to see their stars “live”. AAA. CMLL. WWE.
Lucha. Pro Wrestling. It’s not like the two are completely different forms of entertainmet.
Wrestlemania isn’t sold out. Is WWE on Televisa? If they aren’t, they won’t top CMLL or AAA.
WM isn’t sold out. But they’ll still get 70,000. I don’t think AAA and CMLL have been in the “stadium act” category in years. WWE has been doing WM at stadiums for years now.
Lucha Libre is not interested in “stadium act”, fans want to be close to their guys, I’ve seen families turned away because there are no more lower level tickets (even first rows), although upper deck are still available, in a stadium it would be worse.
Quoting WWE corporate
Net Revenues
December 31,
2007
December 31,
2006
Live and Televised Entertainment…. $ 82.3 $ 72.7
Consumer Products ….. 35.3 23.9
Digital Media……11.9 11.0
WWE Films……….3.1 –
They make most of their money through live shows and tapings (and PPVs). They wold need to do the same over here to “take over”, and they won’t unless the business in the US crumbles.
Part of the success for WWE in MVS is that they air the ppvs for free, but, would the guys watching it (probably through illegal dishes as well) be willing to pay 40 dollar to watch them?
PPV’s and house shows are totally different categories.
I think WWE could eventually charge for the PPV’s. Only reason they don’t do PPV now is because MVS isn’t doing PPV.
Let’s see how WWE does in May in Mexico.
Live and Televised Entertainment includes both house shows and PPVs.
May should do better than the previous shows since the public has been starving for the shows after the no December showings and not on TV (save the pirate dishs)
That’s what you meant by dominant. I always thought you meant Mexicans will get sick of AAA and CMLL and just watch mostly WWE. AAA and CMLL is so integrated into the culture that it will be impossible for them to ever fall to the WWE.
Of course we know WWE is the most dominant company in the world and can sell out anywhere but has WWE had a negative affect on Japanese promotions? Not really,the Japs still love their NOAH and New Japan.
So there’s nothing really to worry about.
I worry about CMLL more than ever. If they didn’t inherit their own venues, they’d be in trouble. AAA is a little more creative.
I don’t think WWE will put anyone out of business in Mexico like they did to Crockett and AWA, but WWE will continue to grow in Mexico. Cable/tv is growing, and you’ll have a generation that wants WWE as much as AAA and CMLL. Just check the luchalibre.com boards. That’s a good example of the WWE footprint growing.
Everyone knows PPV’s, tv rights, international tours, and merch are the backbone of WWE. WWE will do $25,000,000 on PPV for Mania.
Categories like PPV, merch, international tours are merely pipe dreams to CMLL and AAA that we read about from time to time. The business models for CMLL and AAA will never change in our lifetime.
CMLL’s strength is real estate. They own their venues, and have tv to promote it.
AAA sells shows to local promoters. Been doing so since day one. That will never change.
……….and WWE continues to expand, diversify, look for opportunites, while CMLL and AAA change very little, if at all, in their day-to-day ways.
luchalibre.com is Univision’s lucha forum, and WWE coverage is minimal compared to lucha libre, which we don’t know if they have access to it.
Lucha Libre is trying to gain ground against soccer, they’ve already ahead of baseball or basketball, so the WWE is not their main concern, while WWE is looking over their shoulders for UFC and competing with the NFL or NBA is not in their cards.
I’ve said it before, I’d love that WWE Mexico thing to happen, mostly for the local prommotions to kick into higher gear, but we’ve heard about it for a long time now, and every time it seems less likely.
The number of responses on univision.com for WWE compared to Lucha Libre is a depressing 3-to-1. More proof that the youthful, internet Hispanic audience is gravitating towards WWE. I realized that years ago, and it might’ve been the first time I realized that WWE would grow in the Latino community.
I don’t want to see WWE hurt Lucha. But we have to look at this realistically. WWE is growing down there.
I don’t know if I’d say Mexicans(Lucha fans) won’t buy DVD’s. They’ve never been given the opportunity to purchase anything good, as both CMLL and AAA don’t own their video libraries, and Televisa(the real owner of CMLL and AAA footage) would rather concentrate on Chavo and RBD DVD’s.
WWE is in a different sub forum from the luchalibre.com which I hadn’t seen.
They’ve released soccer DVDs and they didn’t sell well, even with the pirate market, I’ve asked and they say no one cares for neither lucha nor soccer. There’s no a critic lucha culture, all that matters is who wins, only a few buy them for nostalgia value.
I went through dozens of vendors to get last year’s CMLL anniversary, and the place I bought it, they said they had only got a dozen and still had 7 left…
PPVs and DVDs won’t work until/if the crowd gets educated, if the do AAAMania a PPV for the USA, it’ll bomb bad, why spending good dollars for watching something live if you are used on watching stuff one or two months old anyways?
For the PPV to work, AAA would need to start airing their shows live so that the special events would feel like a must pay thing.
Also, Chavo and RBD DVDs are given for free in prommtions, the piracy prevents Televisa or anyone making money from DVDs.
AAA owns the last 7 years of the video library according to Konnan.
The Chavo and RBD DVD’s do well in the US. They are available in every K-Mart and Wal Mart. Pity AAA and CMLL aren’t. I think Lucha DVD’s would do alright.
Wasn’t Televisa doing exclusive RBD PPV’s on SKY to make money?
I don’t know how AAAMania would do in the US on PPV. If AAA is seen in 200,000 cable homes a week in the US, I would hope they can get 3% or 6,000 buys(including the smart American speaking audience). But it’s retarded for anyone to do a PPV just for one market. The way to make money is through economies-of-scale-make the show available in as many countries as possible.
As far as the video rights, I guess CMLL and AAA could do something on their own with their own commentary. Konnan is probably telling the truth about the videos. It’s sounds much more honest than “12,000 in San Luis Potosi”.