Month: January 2009

CMLL on Fox Sports #110 (01/10)

thecubsfan 1 Comment

taped 01/02, 01/04; as usual, thanks to ripper.

Still in the Blanca turn. Turns, especially out of the main event, usually mean weeks of lame matches and this was certainly fitting the mold.

Robert and I disagree on Puma/Azteca. I say this in the recap too, but I believe enough that I want to repeat it – either Skandalo/Angel de Oro was (surprisingly) enjoyable, or someone decided to keep faith in the project despite the early returns. This was bad. They may have better matches someday, they may have had better matches the next day, but that doesn’t make this any less bad.

Even putting aside the fan reaction – fans don’t want to give it a chance – most of the guys are coming off not as future stars but as guys who need a lot more time. This time, I think they had more blown spots than minutes shown. This is about as long as the Lagunero bit went, but perhaps they knew things would get better the next week.

Sagrado, Valiente and Mascara Sagrada made it threw a match as a team without anyone dying (that was their fault, anyway – Marcela would be proud of Terrible’s dropkick on Sagrada.) Still, I don’t know if you really want to trust Sagrado to be the solid, safe part of a trio. On the other side, Texano & Terrible are rounding into a fun team that needs to get to do something more.

01/25: UWE, notes, lineups

thecubsfan 4 Comments

UWE (TUE) 01/20 Arena Queretaro [SuperLuchas #299]
1) El Blanco & Galaxy b Mr. Rebelde & Rey Azteca
2) Lola Gonzalez & Rossy Moreno b Martha Villalobos & Pantera Surena
3) Danny Boy, Falcon, Mano Negra b Aguila Venezola, Roberto Paz, Rocky Santana
4) Solar I, Super Astro, Ultraman DRAW Black Terry, Scorpio Jr., Shu el Guerrero
5) Canek & Villano IV DQ Canek & Mil Mascaras

Dos fouled Canek for the finish. The legends have to be protected on the legends show, I guess. All three UWE shows get major coverage in SuperLuchas.

Today, SuperLuchas is reporting the next big show for this group will be an eight man mask/hair cage match on 02/14 in Arena Lopez Mateos. Participants are Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras, Canek, Villano V, Scorpio Jr., Villano III, Shu el Guerrero and Mano Negra.

Elsewhere in SuperLuchas #299, the cover story is an interview with Dr. Wagner Jr. Wagner explains the announced AAA booking isn’t the only one – he wants to work with all groups, so he’s going to start working AAA spot shows. Wagner specifically says no TV tapings, at least for the time being.

Freelance is also in the magazing, saying the Box Y Lucha article which had him challenging Mascarita Dorada and Bam Bam was mostly invented by the Box Y Lucha article.

Vanguardia talks to Hijo del Faraon, who sees Dr. Wagner Jr. was what he’d like to be, but without all the conflicts with promoters.

In an interview with Al Filo del Ring, El Hijo del Solitario makes it clear he’d love to face Santo in a mask/mask match if Perro Jr. doesn’t want to step up. Solitario makes it clear not just by saying it, but by proclaming El Santo was overrated and El Hijo del Solitario is in fact the true greatest wrestler of all time. Learn something new every day.

El Siglo de Torreon writes the Is WWE’s TV going to kill lucha libre?. Stuka and Euforia say no.

Ovaciones article is just confirming CMLL will be apart of the Lucha Libre Expo this May. The Expo had previous announced as much.

DTU has video of Hermanos Traumas saying they’ll be on their next show (in Queretaro, sometime in February.)

Zorro and Alex Koslov wrestled for a show called 12 corazones.

SuperLuchas looks back at Perro Aguayo vs Nikozuna.

Over on LuchaWorld, Robert watches LLAzteca #58 and IWRG 09/27/07. There’s also KrisZ’s news update.

Lineups

IWRG (THU) 01/29 Arena Naucalpan
1) Imperio Azteca vs Comando Gama
2) La Parkita & Mascarita de Oro vs Espectrito I & Espectrito II
3) Jack, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro
4) Chico Che, Freelance, Pendulo vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
5) Multifacético, Zatura, Zumbido vs El Hijo del Solitario, Tetsuya, Toxico AAA

IWRG (SAT) 01/31 Arena Xochimilco
1) Eragon & Rey del Espacio vs Avisman & Mixtecio Jr.
2) Fenix & Jack vs Anticristo Jr. & Nemesis IWRG
3) King Dragoncito, La Parkita, Mascarita de Oro vs Espectrito I, Espectrito II, Mini Killer
4) Freelance, Multifacético, Zatura vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
5) Scorpio Jr., Tinieblas Jr., Zumbido vs Fuerza Guerrera, Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000

This is supposed to be a TV taping for Azteca.

CMLL (SUN) 02/01 Arena Coliseo
1) Ángel Azteca Jr. & Sombra de Plata vs Calígula & Méssala
2) Fabián el Gitano, Leono, Tony Rivera vs Bronco III, Hooligan, Loco Max
3) Máscara Púrpura, Mictlán, Stuka Jr. vs Arkangel de la Muerte, Shigeo Okumura, Virus
4) La Máscara, Marco Corleone, Toscano vs Atlantis, Heavy Metal, Lizmark Jr.
5) Blue Panther, Dos Caras Jr., Héctor Garza vs Black Warrior, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

IWRG (SUN) 02/01 Arena Naucalpan
1) Eragon & Fenix vs Avisman & Nemesis IWRG
2) Jack, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Anticristo Jr., Fantasma de la Ópera, Xibalva
3) Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro vs Chico Che, Gemelo Fantastico I, Gemelo Fantastico II [EdM TRIOS]
4) ?, Capitán Muerte, Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000 vs Nueva Corporacion

Main event is confusing – there must’ve been an angle this week that I don’t know about yet. It’s listed as an Atomicos, but only three guys on one side are listed. I assume the Corp is Veneno and Other People. The old Corporacion was Scorpio Jr., the Cerebros, Pantera, Black Tiger and Veneno. Probably not Black Tiger this time.

01/24: Mexico, lineups

thecubsfan 65 Comments

CMLL (FRI) 01/23 Arena Mexico [Ovaciones, superluchas, ESTO]
1) Sombra de Plata & Starman DQ Calígula & Méssala
2) Hiroka, Princesa Blanca, Princesa Sujei b Dark Angel, Marcela, Sahori
3) Pegasso b Súper Comando
4) Flash, Stuka Jr., Valiente b Euforia, Okumura, Virus
5) Blue Panther, Dos Caras Jr., Héctor Garza b Averno, Lizmark Jr., Mephisto
6) La Sombra, Místico, Volador Jr. b Heavy Metal, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

The angle of the night was the semimain. After the tecnicos cruised to another win (Hijos del Avenro are losing a lot, even for them), Villano V ran out and destroyed Blue Panther. Remmeber how Blue Panther got to wear his mask for the campaign against domestic violence photo? V5 felt much disrespect by Panther putting his mask back on, even just for a moment, and has decided he wants Panther dead. Between this, and Tuesday (when V3 was making hair match challenges to Panther), it looks like there’s more Panther/Villanos stuff on the way.

Lizmark Jr. did wrestle, which is always worth noting, but even more so since SoloLuchas put up an article talking with Lizmark Jr. about how he was going to be out six months. Very specifically, in the third paragraph, SoloLuchas says Lizmark will miss this show and undergo surgery. He obvious did wrestle, so who knows about the rest of the story. SoloLucha is fine for results, fine for indy interviews, but for news, it’s been awful lately.

SuperLuchas has Mistico winning the main event with a martinete on Mistica Negro. That’s not La Mistica! That’s also vastly illegal but shhhh.

Okumura replaced Nosferatu. Blanca beat Marcela again, which leads to a title match next week (though ESTO and Ovaciones think it’s a hair match.) No word on the DQ in the opener. I’m going to pretend it was for a closed fist.

Arturo Rivera’s column today talks about the AAA tour of the US (confusing Las Vegas with Los Angeles as the last tour stop) and talks about Super Crazy maybe appearing at Rey de Reyes.

indy (SUN) 01/25 Gimnasio el Ranchero [el siglo de torreon
1) New Warrior vs Camorra Jr.
2) Jerry Brown & Principe Halcon vs Dark Saint & Depredador (Laguna)
3) Halcon Suriano Jr., Piel Canela, Sexy Libra vs Dulce Paola, Gatubela, Junior Halcon
4) Sexy Piscis vs Piloto Negro [ECW MIDDLE]

Sexy Piscis is listed at the champion. Suddenly, I can see the commission points about trying to regulate titles here.

CMLL (TUE) 01/27 Arena Mexico
1) Tigre Blanco & Tigre Metálico vs Camorra & Inquisidor
2) Niño de Acero, Pequeño Ninja, Tzuki vs Pequeño Halloween, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito
3) Mascara Dorada, Metro, Valiente vs Euforia, Nosferatu, Shigeo Okumura
4) La Máscara, La Sombra, Sagrado vs Black Warrior, Dragon Rojo Jr., Sangre Azteca
5) Dos Caras Jr., Héctor Garza, Místico vs Ephesto, Terrible, Texano Jr.

“Tiger” Metalico? METRO? Is this 2005? I hate time travel.

CMLL (FRI) 01/30 Arena Mexico
1) Astro Boy, Hijo del Faraon, Tony Rivera vs Apocalipsis, Inquisidor, Pólvora
2) Felino, Vangelis, Virus vs Máscara Púrpura, Máximo, Rey Cometa
3) Marcela vs Princesa Blanca [MEX WOMEN]
4) Flash, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Euforia, Nosferatu, Virus
5) Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Último Guerrero vs Averno, Mephisto, Villano V
6) La Sombra, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Atlantis, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

Just like Poder Mexica on Tuesday, Mistico/Volador/Sombra try to keep their win streak together. Speaking of together, there are the Laguneros again. Women’s match is taking the place of the now usual lightning match (and should go as long.) Felino working the segunda!

CMLL (WED) 02/18 Auditorio Miguel Barragan de San Luis Potosi [SLP]
1) Mascarita Dorada & Tzuki vs Pequeño Damian 666 & Pierrothito
2) Mictlán & Valiente vs Dragon Rojo Jr. & Virus
3) Dos Caras Jr., Marco Corleone, Máximo vs Heavy Metal, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
4) Místico vs Averno [CMLL WELTER]

This was supposed to be Averno & Mephisto defending the titles against Marco & Mistico. Instead, Mistico will put up his title. They’ve still got three weeks to change this again.

Mascarita Dorada’s crazy multiple rotation spinning headscissors on Mini Damian from a couple months ago seems to have gone viral yesterday, popping up in weird places.

AAA #866 (01/10)

thecubsfan 4 Comments

taped 12/06, part 2 of Guerra de Titanes.

Never seeing Joe Lider & Nicho vs Teddy & Jack will be too soon. Maybe they could change my mind if they had some great matches, but I’m not worried too much about that. Why did they do a prematch promo clearly pushing the “this is the LAST match” when they booked the match to set up another rematch? That’s not a swerve, that’s idiotic.

I’ve been doing a lot of work on dates and tecnico/rudo sides for the database over the last week. Until I set up his start/end dates with AAA, it didn’t occur to me – for all of Rellik’s anger with the company, he was on they for a little over two months. I don’t know if that says something about him, or about how the people who have been there a lot longer feel.

I know every one makes the Batista comparisons to el Padrino and I think I mentioned them too. But…I doubt there are a lot of Batista fans reading this site, but please give that man a little more credit. He’s at least got a presence and a charisma. Padrino is a regular size guy that’s a little better built and completely forgettable over the course of the match. He might as well be working as the Invisible Man for all the impression he makes. I have no idea what AAA sees in him, because there’s nothing there.

Speaking of dumb things – if you have a special referee, he needs to actually be able to do special ref things. Making it a ladder match – which was not previous mentioned, does not fit with the build at all, and does not particularly help either guy – nullifies the importance of having a special referee.

Do they know these ladder matches are bad? And aren’t made better by doing one every single taping? I’m not sure.

You can quickly figure out how long someone’s been watching AAA by how they react to Chessman climbing the ladder to win the title in a match he’s not actually in. You know you’ve watched too long where, in the context of everything else, this seems like a completely credible way to win the championship.

01/23: notes

thecubsfan 6 Comments

Ovaciones‘s got a preview of today’s show. Not a lot issues going into this one. No ESTO preview as I write this.

Ovaciones also repeats a bit earlier mentioned in the Observer; NJPW’s intersted in using CMLL wrestlers in March or April. Names mentioned are La Sombra, Ultimo Guerrero, Flash, Stuka Jr. (hopefully they can find an Arena Coliseo in Japan), Valiente, Mascara Purpura (?), Volador Jr. and Okumura.

The Gladiatores has interviews with Piratas Jr. and Terrible Cereberos (Black Terry & the Cerebros) about their feud. They also talk to El Fresero about his retirement.

Judging from Dr. Morales column in Refomra (via dr_landru), the angle in AAA with Konnan and money is the Legion embezzling money from the company for personal use, sending the company towards bankruptcy. So, basically, Konnan’s running AAA out of business (as an angle.)

Also in Reforma (this time via Jazzo) has an interview with Perro Aguayo Jr. He’s disappointed Charly isn’t coming into the group, but would gladly welcome him later because he handled the situation like a professional. Perro doesn’t blame Charly for going back to AAA for more money, he’s upset with ‘other companies who act against us’. He gives credit to Charly for calling them back and letting them know what was going on – unlike Dos Caras Jr., who never called them to explain why he wasn’t on the first show.

There’s been mentions of a Santo artwork special to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his passing on 02/05, and you can see previews and find out more about the artists over at El Santo de Mi Devocion. They’ve got more on the exhibit (actually 02/07) over there as well.

Box Y Lucha has a video interview with Tinieblas about his career. Knowledge to use: Tinieblas likes whiskey.

SuperLuchas looks back at Mil Mascaras vs Temojin el Mongol.

LuchaWorld has Robert on TripleMania 2007 (The Animal!), TripleSEM 2007 (AAA/NOAH) and 74th Anniversary show.

CMLL (MON) 01/26 Arena Puebla
1) Akira & King Jaguar vs Mr. Rafaga & Toro Bill Jr.
2) Asturiano, Black Tiger (Puebla), Centella de Oro vs Espiritu Maligno, Fuerza Chicana, Siki Ozama Jr.
3) Dark Angel, Lluvia, Marcela vs Hiroka, Princesa Sujei, Rosa Negra
4) Mascara Dorada, Toscano, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Terrible, Texano Jr.
5) La Sombra, Místico, Shocker vs Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

No main event yet announced for the 02/07 show. This might be where they run an angle to set something up.

AAA Gonzalez (TUE) 03/03 Plaza de Toros Monumental Arizpe
1) Estrellita & Fabi Apache vs Cinthia Moreno & Tiffany
2) Laredo Kid, Pimpinela Escarlata, Silver King vs Rio Bravo, Tigre Cota, Tito Santana II
3) Dr. Wagner Jr. & La Parka Jr. vs Electro Shock & Zorro

WagnerMania has the poster. Again, until it happens, it hasn’t happened, and there’s no apparent deal to go here full time yet.

AAA #865 (01/03)

thecubsfan 1 Comment

taped 12/06, part 1 of Guerra de Titanes.

This was the good half of Guerra de Titanes, for sure. And that only lasted half the show.

Apaches & Morenos is never not good. It’s also never not head crushing on the finish. It would’ve been nice if it wasn’t clipped up and if the Bily Boy angle was built better, but this is as good as postives come in 2008.

Sect vs DMex was the best DMex since they’ve been here. It’s also like the second. I still think what made Alex & Rocky unique in CMLL doesn’t make them stick out in AAA, but I’m more than willing to wait and give them a chance. More hope there than elsewhere. The Sect hasn’t been beat down bad enough to give up yet, which is nice. I bet that was not the 2008 they though they were getting.

Latin/Konnan was not made for people on the internet to recap. There is some to be gleemed from it – part of Latin’s deal to be here must be “I get to kill everyone” and Konnan does not believe Konnan can wrestle a singles match of any signifcant length (and yet, the post-GdR booking sure seems to point to a singles match between Konnan and Mesias.)

Cage match was the usually worthless bit. Unless they have real big plans for Elegido & Guapito, why not give Porky the win so someone actually wins their feud? The idea of pushing Elegido by having him win the match isn’t really there when he didn’t win it – Brazo lost to Guapito technically, and it’s not like Elegido did anything particular to defeat him. Months of feuding for a comedy finish, yay.