AAA: You know, when these episodes air on Saturday afternoon, I can actually recap them on Saturday afternoon. So no Saturday afternoon airing, again, this time for a XMas Parade. Zorro vs Latin Lover, Jack/Teddy vs Aerostar/Angel, DGM vs MPs/Oriental
FSE: preview lists Nosferatu and Stuka and an episode date of 12/21, so this would seem to be the title match from last weekend, plus the HdA vs Dorada/Sagrado/Valiente. This doesn’t actually air until Monday early morning.
52MX: which leaves the women’s trios from Friday and Warrior/Negro/UG vs Marco/Purpura/Toscano
—
CMLL: They’re listed at a full 2 hours, as opposed to the normal max of 1:45. (No need for a futbol lead-in, now.) I’m thinking that might give them enough time for the lightning match to make air, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t.
AAA: 2nd half of the Guerra de Titanes – AAA Tag, Padrino’s debut and Mesias/Zorro.
CMLL (TUE) 12/16 Arena Mexico [ESTO]
1) Angel de Oro & Tigre Blanco b Camorra & Inquisidor
2) Pegasso, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. b Arkangel de la Muerte, Nitro, Skandalo
3) Hijo del Fantasma, Mascara Dorada, Valiente b Ohara, Shigeo Okumura, Virus
4) Sangre Azteca DCO Dragon Rojo Jr. [MEX WELTER]
5) Blue Panther, Dos Caras Jr., Shocker b Black Warrior, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
Only tecnicos won on this show, which created some problems for the title match. Dragon Rojo and Sangre split the first to falls and then had a double countout to end it. CMLL’s news suggests this is leading to a rematch, maybe as soon as next week. This might be a way of moving him towards the tecnico side; it’s an easy way to facing rudos.
Elsewise, not a lot of news. ESTO reports Black Warrior tried and failed to claim receiving a foul from his uncle Blue Panther twice, but was ignored both times. Pegasso and Cometa were universally praised.
There’s photos of the DTU and Ultimo Dragon’s show. No results (at least until the magazines come out), but there’s video and it looks like Ohara beat Dragon for his title in the main event.
AAA confirms KENTA will be working both tapings this week. No match specified.
[poll id=”9″]
This is the new sillyest comment debate, by the way. There are reasons for KENTA not to work the ladder match, but there’s nothing definite that he won’t. If he doesn’t, cards get changed around all the time and he’s not really been announced in a match so it doesn’t make much of a difference. I think KENTA will work the ladder match and life will go on.
There’s an article on SoloLuchas making up a quote from Rey Misterio Jr. about how he invented La Mistica. It’s completely fabricated and I’m not going to link it. I have no idea what the deal is what that site.
El Manana has a profile of local wrestler Street Boy. His favorite wrestlers are Atlantis & Chris Jericho.
I never thought I’d see Tigre Cota again, let alone on an AAA TV show. Anyone remember his amazing CMLL debut match against Oriental where they stiffed the fuck out of each other?
I do not! I think I need to hear this story.
Ohtani’s Jacket watches Sombra vs Ephesto. As soon as DM finally okays Part 1, that’ll be over on my DailyMotion.
I linked to a positive review of this book earlier this month, and decided to check it out last week.
The content on this blog is mostly looking at the bubble lucha libre world from inside the bubble. The World of Lucha Libre looks at the bubble of lucha libre as it fits in with the rest of the Mexican world, by looking at how lucha libre mirrors the morals and social constructs of the culture that spawned it. The preface says the aim of the book is to study lucha libre as a symbol, a subculture, and a performance, and that’s pretty accurate to what’s told.
At it’s heart, The World of Lucha Libre is a anthropological study lucha libre. It draws strength from it’s scholarly origin, showing more extensive research than normally presented in wrestling books. There’s a wealth of information from other books, conversations with those in and around the lucha libre business and her own experience of training to be a luchadora. At times, the information becomes a little overwhelming. Some of the conclusions (made by others as well as the author) will seem over-thought to those who follow lucha and wrestling closer, especially in the early chapters. More often, the book fleshes out idea and concepts I vaguely understood from observing and puts them in a larger context.
This is not a wrestling book discussing great feuds and war stories, or even one focusing on political maneuvers and the reality behind told stories, though the latter gets spotlight from time to time as it illustrates greater points. There’s some information revealed which might be of interest to people who just care about lucha libre for lucha libre’s sake, but it’s not that kind of tell-all book and those reading it for that story might be disappointed. If you’re interested in discussions of how lucha libre’s developmental reflects the influence of Mexico’s long one part dominated government, or why the male wrestlers reflect different aspects of traditional Mexican male roles but the luchadoras do not, or the adoption of lucha libre by neo-pop artists, this is that type of book.
Besides the greater discussion of symbols and reflected morals in The World of Lucha Libre, I really enjoyed the luchador school segments. It’s not just about what was taught or how teaching was done (though that’s interesting too), but what the author noticed was never explicitly taught. Her trainer, Aguila Blanca, is one of the more interesting characters in the book. Irma Gonzalez steals the book with her stories, too, and I feel like I finally have more than a surface understand of “Super Barrio’.
There are moments of iffyness. Pimpinela’s name gets misspelled. There’s access to independents and CMLL, but AAA is only observed from afar and occasionally stigmatized as the corrupter of all. An Antonio Pena interview, even as he was inverted old ideas being explored, would’ve added much. Events of the moment are given more credibility than they end needing in the long run, but that’s always the way.
I hesitate to recommend The World of Lucha Libre to all. I enjoyed it, and it was certainly worth the read. If you’ve read this far, you should understand what you’re getting out of the book and if the greater discussion of lucha libre’s place is something you want to spend time on. I don’t believe everyone reading this blog wants that, and are waiting for me to upload some matches. On the other hand, the DVDVR crew must read this book at some point. This really is the book they’ve been writing for years, and while I don’t know if they’d agree with all the conclusions, I’d love to hear them discuss it.
If you’re interested in The World of Lucha Libre, here’s a link to it on Amazon, if you’d like to give a friend some extra pennies. I’ll be posting (intra-bubble related) excerpts from the book the next few days.
