Day: December 5, 2008

PERRO (SUN) 12/07 Sala de Armas de Ciudad Deportiva
1) Black Spirit, Súper Nova, Turbo vs Black Thunder, Cerebro Negro, Head Hunter I
2) Ayako Hamada & Esther Moreno vs Martha Villalobos & Rossy Moreno
3) Intocable, Rayman, Super Crazy vs Damián 666, Mr. Águila, Olimpico
4) Cibernetico, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, LA Park vs ?, ??, Dr. Wagner Jr.

Or maybe something other lineup. They didn’t really make it clear. There’s still no announced TV for this group. There are scattered independent shows over the next few weeks (Monterrey’s the big one), but there doesn’t seem to be a set schedule or a regular tour. They’re just another independent promotion with access to the biggest possible names.

From what I’ve read, one of the problems for indy guys is that they’re not as easy to reach. If you want to try and book Mistico, you can call CMLL’s office, you don’t need Mistico’s number. If you wanted to booked LA Park, you need to network with people until you get his number. The best case for this group is becoming that booking office where you can get a hold of all these sorts of people (for a cut of the booking fee), but I don’t see this coming together to be a relevant promotion in itself. NWA Mexico’s put on similar shows with names (though not as many as here at the same time) and seems to have fizzled out. You’ve got to be on TV to be relevant and no announced TV deal concerns me.

It’s too much to be this pessimistic before they even have a chance to run the show, but that main event doesn’t look like a lineup of guys who are going to be throwing into make this work. Ciber, Park and Wagner have found a lot of success by looking out for themselves and will be elsewhere when the better offer comes. Everyone else is here because they have nowhere else to be (in Olimpico’s case, it looked like he wanted to be anywhere but that press conference.) This is not a solid foundation, and there’s no grand plan unveiled to make me think that this is more than a few months of shows.

I hope Turbo and Black Thunder look good in the opener and get some press. I hope Black Spirit is good or gets good quickly. The tercera might be fun, might be a mess. And they will absolutely be shooting an angle in that main event (with the el Toreo overtones of the press conference, Cibernetico vs Dr. Wagner Jr. for the UWA Heavyweight Title seems teased). But I kinda expected more than this.

Is pointless to talk about matches we’re never going to see? I think so.

CMLL (SUN) 12/07 Arena Mexico
1) Hijo del Faraon & Tony Rivera vs Apocalipsis & Holligan
2) Pequeño Damian 666, Pequeño Halloween, Pequeño Warrior vs Nino de Acero, Pequeno Ninja, Pequeño Olímpico
3) Mascara Dorada, Máximo, Valiente vs Felino, Heavy Metal, Sangre Azteca
4) La Sombra vs Ephesto [NWA WELTER]
5) Blue Panther, Dos Caras Jr., Toscano vs Black Warrior, Misterioso II, Ultimo Guerrero
6) Héctor Garza & Místico vs Averno & Mephisto [CMLL TAG]

This’ll probably be the best show of the weekend – every match has a chance to be good – and likely the most attended because of the prices and the size of the building. CMLL judges itself by how many people are in the building, so they’re liable to be happy, but I suspect they’ll be as or more interested in how much they hurt the Perros show and who gets more press.

Based on the feud, the tecnicos should win the main event, since the rudos have dominated them. Based on the direction of the promotion (as best as one can be determined), the rudos should win to cement their new status and give CMLL a ready made storyline for when they feel like starting things up in the spring (tag rematches all over the place.) I’ve waffled back and forth on this and I think I’m leaning towards new champs (the best thing you can do to elevate a guy is make him the forth in a Mistico vs Averno/Mephisto match) but I may change my mind three more times.

Semimain has no hype and probably should, since we’ve got the storylines of the Laguneros against Panther as well as Toscsano facing UG after turning tecnico. (Dos is just here. Probably thinking he had better things to do.) I’d love if this match ended with a clear direction – the end of the Laguneros concept, something with the Guapos vs the Guerreros, maybe even the end of the Guerreros – but I’m not holding my breath. It’s likely just to be a match, a match that ends on DQ via rudo foul.

Sombra vs Ephesto should be a Sombra showcase and I refuse to consider any other possibility.

Both three matches are just the usual stuff. I suspect all the guys on the left side winning, and it’s still funny they changed the opener just to get ‘bigger stars’ on the show. I hope Sangre Azteca isn’t being set up join Pesta Negra here, because he’d be no better off there.

This weekend is probably the last really interesting weekend in lucha libre of the year, but also one of the biggest. AAA’s final major show, Perro’s first show, and CMLL’s Counter Programming show (DF edition). Plus, IWRG’s running an anniversary show on Sunday, and AULL’s El Toreo’s show should probably be not have been as lost in the mix. Might as well take a look at the big three.

AAA’s Guerra de Titantes (Saturday, Orizaba, Veracruz)

1) Joe Lider & Nicho el Millionario vs Jack Evans & Teddy Hart [AAA TAG]
2) Alex Koslov, Rocky Romero, X-Pac vs Cuervo, Escoria, Ozz
3) Alan Stone, La Parka Jr., Octagon vs ?, Kenzo Suzuki, Rellik
4) Latin Lover vs Konnan
5) Mesias vs Zorro [AAA HEAVY, ref Charly Manson]
6) Pirata Morgan vs Súper Fly, El Brazo, El Elegido, Electro Shock, Super Porky [cage, mask, hair]

It doesn’t feel like AAA hasn’t followed on their promise of one Mexico City show a month, but they’re surely happy this one was far outside the city. Makes it a bit easier to compete for pesos.

This is not one of AAA’s stronger shows. The main event is three midcard feuds tacked together to get them all on the show, and because they (rightly) don’t think any of them means anything on their own. The AAA Mega title match gets a hard sell on the TV leading into this, but the title doesn’t mean much to drawing and neither does this particular match up or Charly Manson as a referee. This show lives or dies based on the drawing ability of Latin Lover and how well the Konnan Takeover angle has interested the fans. This is a referendum on the current direction of the product; the Cibernetico storyline elements are out, the Apache storyline elements are out, every match is now Legion vs AAA to some degree.

If you’d like to make an attendance guess, their website says the bleachers sit 6850 and the floor has room for 1500 more, so that’s 8,350 total.

My instinct for the main is a tecnico win to send everyone home happy. The nagging problem is no obvious way for Super Porky to not lose this match. I’m not sure AAA remembers this, but they just ran a multi-week angle this week about how impossible it was for Porky to climb out of a cage, adn then it took three people helping him and a ladder for him to actually do it. Even though it wouldn’t work with the story, Porky’s lost plenty of hair matches before and is still Porky. I also wonder if maybe Super Fly hasn’t hit bottom yet, and ends up with no mask so he’s differentiated between the other Air Force guys. I still lean towards rudos losing, but it’s not cut and dry.

Odds of losing, best to least
1) Brazo – it’d have to come down to him and Porky, and maybe some last minute added win by pinfall rule
2) Pirata Morgan – of the three feuds here, this seems to be the one working the best (may change my mind after seeing the chain match)
3) Super Fly – don’t have a good feeling
4) Electroshock – it really would be a joke for him to lose his twice in 3 months
5) Super Porky – having him not-retire, then lose his hair would be cruel to a comedy tecnico?
6) Elegido – may lose his mask, but not here

Having Charly Manson be referee for the title match should mean something. I still like my original theory: this was booked as Chessman vs Cibernetico, things occurred, but they kept Charly anyway. With these two, it doesn’t mean much. Either Charly refs it fair but we have some subtle build of Mesias/Charly and Zorro/Charly (both which should still be months away) or Charly does the shock rudo turn and gives Zorro the title. The tecnico side is weak and can’t afford to lose Manson, and Konnan’s bullying of the refs should finish with someone standing up to him. This looks like Zorro getting a visual pin, but Charly refusing to count due to something illegal and awarding the match to Mesias by DQ. (Will Konnan allow a title switch by DQ?)

With no Sergio Mayer involvement on the TV tapings, Konnan’s must be the surrogate for him and is here to give Latin Lover his win back. I’d be very surprised with any other outcome.

There’s no hype or interest in the Legion’s mystery man. Which doesn’t mean they won’t send a lot on it, it just doesn’t mean it makes sense to speculate about it. Ovaciones has restarted the Corelone rumors, though I’d figure he’d end up in DGM if he showed up here.

Speaking of, DGM vs Dark Family means a little more since the rudos are in the Legion. As before, this should be part of a big push for Dark Family to follow up on their turn, but the priority here is DGM so they should surely win. This clearly is the best chance at a good match on the show.

If Jack & Teddy don’t win the tag team titles this time, don’t you have expect they’re not coming back in ’09? This is the third straight major show with them getting a shot, and if they won’t finally give them the tag team titles now (over a team that has nothing going on), then I’m not sure when they ever would. Maybe they can lose because of DGM stuff, but I’m thinking they’ll finally win the titles here.