Month: January 2009

01/18 AAA TV Results (Guanajuato )

thecubsfan

AAA TV (SUN) 01/18 Parque de Beisbol de Guanajuato [Ovaciones, AAA: 1 & 2, 4 5]
1) Billy Boy, Cinthia Moreno, Oriental b Fabi Apache, Gran Apache, Mari Apache
2) Rio Bravo, Tigre Cota, Tito Santana II DQ Aerostar, el Ángel, Laredo Kid
3) Alex Koslov, Rocky Romero, X-Pac vs Jack Evans, Teddy Hart, Zorro
4) Chessman, Killer Clown, Psycho Clown, Zombie Clown b Cuervo, Escoria, Espíritu, Ozz [MEX ATOMICO]
5) Abismo Negro, La Parka Jr., Mesias b Black Abyss, Electro Shock, Konnan

2009 AAA TV Chart
Projected Air Date (#874)
Mexico: 01/25
US: 02/14

AAA’s not gotten around to posting full results, but Arturo Rivera’s column in Ovaciones today goes thru the card sufficiently. May have to edit later on.

La Parka Jr. replaced Gronda in the main event, which is fine by me. The idea is AAA’s side is now stronger with Abismo back and Mesias on their side. tecnicos won and Black Abyss got strechered out thanks to Mesias.

There’s some angle with Konnan, AAA, and money issues I don’t quite understand. But I’m just forewarning you of vignettes and promos.

Psycho Clown pinned Ozz for the title change. Arturo has the win total at 260. Chessman & the Psycho Circus are the 17th Champions. Chessman is champion for a third time. Unless there’s a big surprise under one of the masks, it’s the first championship any of the Circus has one. It’s also the first team of Clowns to win these championships, despite previous Payaso teams being top contenders for extended periods. Dark Family/La Secta held the championship for nearly 20 months with zero successful defenses.

Only mention of the tercera is that DMex won.

I think new rudo Billy Boy won the opener (busting open Gran Apache) and it sounds like he ran in the second match to get a piece of Laredo Kid (maybe also, to get himself a new feud), ripping up Laredo’s mask for the DQ.

01/25 AAA TV Lineup (Salamanca)

thecubsfan 5 Comments

AAA TV (SUN) 01/25 Gimnasio Lazaro Cardenas de Salamanca
1) Mascarita Divina, Mascarita Sagrada 2007, Mini Charly Manson vs Mini Abismo Negro, Mini Histeria, Mini Psicosis III
2) el Ángel, Gato Eveready, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Killer Clown, Psycho Clown, Zombie Clown
3) Aerostar, El Elegido, Laredo Kid vs Decnnis, El Brazo, Pirata Morgan
4) Abismo Negro, Gronda II, Súper Fly vs Black Abyss, Teddy Hart, Zorro
5) El Mesias, La Parka Jr., Silver King vs Electro Shock, Joe Lider, Nicho el Millionario

2009 AAA TV Chart
Projected Air Date (#875)
Mexico: 02/01
US: 02/21

Waiting for AAA to put up last night’s result to see if there’s any continuity.

Some odd teams. The main event kinda teases two title matches which would be different. Not good, but different. Speaking of different, we have the possibility of Teddy Hart vs Gronda II, a dream match. Actually, I think that’s supposed to set up Gronda vs Zorro, which only works of Zorro eliminates Gronda.

Pirata/Elegido looks to be still on, Clowns may be continuing their winning streak, and they may yet get to that Mini Abismo/Mini Charly title match.

Next Taping
01/31 Chalco, EdM

2008 CMLL Records

thecubsfan 1 Comment

In my continuing efforts to inflict math and statistics where it clearly does not belong, I bring to you the 2008 Win % Leaderboard. This year, I’m going to break it out by current promotion, although all matches are counted regardless of where the wrestler had them.

As usual, these numbers are my best efforts at recording announced cards and results, but obviously many lineups never make the internet. Of those that do, I’d say that the majority of results are posted; newspapers weekly post lineups for buildings like Arena Olimpico Laguna in Gomez Palacio and Coliseo Fraternidad in Veracruz, but only occasionally do results turn up. Even if they do, I do miss things and make mistakes. This is my best guess based on the knowledge I have, but the margin of error number is quite up there.

Mistico was out of action just long enough to prevent him from retaining the lead in total wins this year. Blue Panther took the recorded win total with 97, and Mistico was just behind at 93. That’s 93 more than Carrona had; he went winless on the year.

As you might expect, Mistico winning a lot meant Averno & Mephisto did not. Averno nosed out both his partner and Ultimo Guerrero for the ‘victory’, getting 84 losses. UG and Mephisto each had 83, Guerrero nearly repeating as leader of this category. Of those with at least 10 decisions, mini Celestial had the least losses, 4.

Of those who with 10 decisions or more, it was Mascarita Dorada who had the best winning percentage. He won 82% of matches, a distance ahead of the two women (Dark Angel at 77% and Lady Apache at 76%) who tied Mistico for the lead last year. This is fairly predictable; both the top tecnicas and the top tecnico minis almost all go over unless they’re doing an angle, which isn’t often, and really not at all for Dark Angel this year. Mistico was right behind at 73%.

Worst winning percentage is obviously Carrona at 0%. Of people who are a little bit more regular, Pequeno Warrior clocks in at 19% and Vangelis is at 24%. Misterioso at 31%, which just goes to prove (something.)

The most matches wrestled, in Mexico and maybe all over the world, was Ultimo Guerrero. Last year, it was 313 matches. This year, it was ‘only’ 228. I’m not sure if that means he’s wrestling less, CMLL is running less events (less regular spots shows in Arena Queretaro, Aficion, and Neza, plus not working with IWRG or AULL) or if I’m just missing more. Sombra is second at 213, fooled by Atlantis at 202, Mistico at 197 and Averno at 189. Matches in Chinese bars are not included.

The full list is below. Read More

01/19: Sinaloa, Coliseo

thecubsfan 4 Comments
new champs/MT
new champs/MT

CMLL Furia Blanca (SAT) 01/17 Cancha German Evers, Mazatlan, Sinaloa [Noroeste]
1) El Conquistador, Forcado Mazateleco, Serpiente Marina b Brujo Mayor, Marakamis I, Marakamis II [hair, mask]
2) Dragon Rojo Jr. b Mictlán
3) La Sombra & Volador Jr. DQ Terrible & Texano Jr.
4) Mark Corleone & Shocker b Mr. Niebla & Negro Casas

In the semifinal, rudos fouled and unmasked the tecnicos. Dragon Rojo got away with a foul in his singles match. Trios match (actually 2nd on the card with another unlisted match previously) was everyone’s hair and mask vs everyone else’s hair and mask. Brujo Mayor lost his hair, and Marakamis I and II were revealed to be Francisco Dia hernandez and Jose Hernandez.

CMLL (SUN) 01/18 Arena Coliseo [Ovaciones]
1) Molotov & Trueno b Artillero & Súper Comando
2) Arkangel de la Muerte, Pólvora, Skandalo b Angel Azteca Jr., Angel de Plata, Astro Boy
3) Mascara Dorada, Máscara Púrpura, Sagrado b Felino, Misterioso II, Virus
4) Dos Caras Jr., Mark Corleone, Toscano b Hooligan, Terrible, Texano Jr.
5) Místico DQ Black Warrior

After the main event DQ, Warrior challenged for a shot at Mistico’s National Light Heavyweight championship or the CMLL Middleweight championship. Hooligan replaced Lizmark Jr in the semifinal, which saw Dos beat Terrible. Angel de Plata looked good in his debut, still lost.

El Occidental also writes about last night’s trios title change. Not only did La Mascara get Atlantis clean with his finish (mind boggling), but Hijo de Fantasma blocked Negro’s castia and cradled him for the other pin. I had no idea this was ‘Put The Young Tecnicos Over Strong’ week but it seems that way.

El Sol de Cuatala previews tonight’s Arena Puebla title match. Forgetting the meta bits about frequency of title changes and future directions, the story here is pretty simple: when last we saw Sombra, he was having trouble using two arms, and if you want to retain a wrestling championship, the ability to use both your arms helps tremendously. (For the sake of this story, the match in Sinola didn’t occur. Or he was hurting and it wasn’t mentioned.) Can Sombra endure thru the pain to keep the NWA Welterweight Championship, or will Mephisto strike back for the rudos? That sounds like a poll.

[poll=17]

If we go back to remembering about the meta aspects to this match, there’s a weird conclusion I reached last night: CMLL might actually have a plan. They surely did have a plan the second half of 2007 or what plan they did have was done once Perro and Mistico got hurt, but these titles changes, the new factions, even the lightning matches and last night’s Warrior/Mistico match, I think they’re all about laying the groundwork and putting the pieces in place to something greater than usual. Once the holiday season ended, they started going loud at pushing stuff like Mistico/Volador/Sombra as a trio (instead of just rotating around tecnicos) and quieter but just as strong with other stuff (the new trios champs winning matches both in GDL and Mexico in the past two weeks to lead up to this title change.) I don’t think it’s all coincidence or accident when you have guys like Negro Casas losing clean in meaningful matches. I also really have nothing but circumstantial proof (and hope!) that CMLL has figured out 2009 in advance. Or maybe it’s just every time I have a super sized Mountain Dew, my mind goes strange places, I come up with strange ideas, and I don’t get nearly enough sleep.

FWIW, and only because I like pointing this out: Mephisto is listed as 90kg on the wiki (CMLL has him at 92!), Welterweight limit is 78. That’s some rough weight cutting. (Sombra’s listed at 80kg in the wiki and doesn’t even get a profile on CMLL.com. Also, they have Felino as a tecnico.)

Black Terry Jr. has a lot of photos from Thursday’s IWRG shows, and notes that someone was taping it for broadcast somewhere. They appear to be off TV Azteca, so perhaps they’re back on TVC Deportes (though usually you could tell with them easily in the past and it’s not that clear here.)

Looks like Friday’s El Toreno Requim Show at Arena Neza filled the building, again. This concept appears to be working. No results (and sounds like the internet guys were kicked out of ringside by SuperLuchas, who sponsored the show, and the internet is raging about it), but next show here was announced as 02/13, with Hijo del Perro Aguayo & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Hijo del Santo & Blue Demon. That’ll do some business.

AAA did finish their website makeover – it looks like the old website, organized and colored a little better, but maybe there are more changes on the inside. There’s still some bugs. If you go to the roster page for tecnicos, nothing’s there, and the only way to see a wrestler profile is to go page by page until it randomlly comes up, because there’s no particular order to it. (Cibernetico’s profile is still there if you’re careful. As is Charly’s.) They’ve also added a section for Dos de Tres, but have no content. Still no store, which seems dumb. The RSS feed does work this time, so thanks for that. The video section is not updated since Alas de Oro, but the top banner features Juvi, who’s been rumored to be back here soon.

Ohtani’s Jacket has his picks for the Tapatia awards, which we’ll be starting a little bit later this month.

SuperLuchas looks back at Signo vs Texano for the UWA Light Heavyweight Championship.

Blue Demon Jr. rallies against lucha libre on TV being too much of a circus and too much high flying, not the good fight on the mat. He says his NWA Mexico show will be different, so I guess he better inform, like, his entire undercard.

01/18: GDL (new Trios champs), IWRG, Coliseo

thecubsfan 2 Comments

CMLL (SUN) 01/18 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [MT: main (w/picture of new champs), semifinal]
4) Angel de Oro & Volador Jr. b Rey Bucanero & Satánico
5) Héctor Garza, Hijo de Fantasma, La Máscara b Atlantis, Rey Bucanero Negro Casas, Último Guerrero [CMLL TRIOS]

Hector Garza, Hijo de Fantamsa and La Mascara are the 20th CMLL Champions, winning back the belts they lost in August. Hector is now a five time champ, but this is the first time he’s won it back with the same team. Rudos go from controlling 6 of 8 of the major CMLL championships to half and half in the course of two days. Didn’t see this one coming at all. Negro teaming with UG and Atlantis was a forced situation and didn’t really help anything, just got Negro more into the mix when it came to the TNA stuff. I don’t mind this change, especially if we’re eventually heading to a Hijos del Averno or Poder Mexica contesting these belts.

Champs took the first fall with double Atlantidas. Tecnicos won the second fall, and then the match clean in the third fall, La Mascara getting Atlantis with la campana. Yea, read that again, it’s hard to believe. Champions did not argue, but just walked out after the loss.

Volador and Angel de Oro got a bit of an upset win themselves in the semifinal. After the match, Volador challenged Satanico to a mask vs hair match. This offended Bucanero – how dare Volador challenge his old mentor! – and Rey is giving Volador a shot at the CMLL Light Heavyweight title instead. I would not bet against any challenger right now.

IWRG (THU) 01/15 Arena Naucalpan [Al Filo del Ring]
1) Halcon 2000 b Epidemia
2) Eragon & Galactik b Anticristo Jr. & Avisman
3) Fenix, Freelance, Goleador b Demony, Fantasma de la Ópera, Nemesis IWRG
4) Trauma I, Trauma II, Zatura b Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
5) Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro b Barba Roja, Capitán Muerte, Pirata Morgan Jr. [EdM TRIOS]

Champs took the second and third to retain. Zatura bled a lot, but his team got the win and they’ll get a title shot next week.

CMLL (SUN) 01/18 Arena Coliseo [Universal]
5) Místico DQ Black Warrior

Warrior fouled Mistico and then pulled his mask. Gotta cover all the bases.

El Siglo de Torreon talks to Ultimo Guerrero about the beginnings of his career. His father brought him to lucha libre shows from the time he was very little – he says he’s been told he first started talking and walking when at them – and Mano Negra inspired him to become a wrestler. He wrestled locally for five years as Flanagan before going to Mexico City on his own dime and not much more than that. He was a complete unknown and slept on the floor of the Fuerza/Panther Gym at nights and worked for Fuerza Guerrera during the days.

The same newspaper also talks to the Torreon box y lucha comission, who wants to create offical belts. There’d be heavyweight (98 kg and up), light heavy (80-97), middle (71-79), welter (65-69), light (60-64) and feather (59 and down), as well as tag team and trios. Nothing good can come of this! The commission’s ideas is that they’re hold tournaments involving qualtity (and licensed!) wrestlers and hold a hard line about how the titles are defended so the titles retain more credibility than the random belts that float thru here. The ideas is the titles would start here in May. The article also notes less than 10 of the estimated 160 local wrestlers have bothered to renew their licenses.

Rotavio de Queretaro has an interview with Arkangel de la Muerte, who explains the origin of his name. His career as Mr. Cid was not going anywhere and he was thinking off retiring, but suffered an accident that put him in a coma for a week. While in the coma, he saw an angel, and decided that was a gimmick work trying. Arkangel feels he’s getting close to the end of the career – the young people are pushing him – but he’s still like to go back to Japan again, as well as go up to Canada to teach (which was planned at one point apparently. The Dragon Gym affiliate that’s no longer in existence?)

WagnerMania posted video of the tag team title match from Friday and the latest WagnerMania show.

LuchaWorld has Robert looking back at AAA 07/1/07 and GDR 8/4 and FSE 8/5/7. There’s also KrisZ’s news update.

Lineup

IWRG (THU) 01/22 Arena Naucalpan
1) Halcon 2000 vs Comando Gama
2) Eragon & Miss Gaviota vs Anticristo Jr. & Avisman
3) Chico Che & Goleador vs Demony & Xibalva
4) Freelance, Pendulo, Zatura vs Tetsuya, Toxico AAA, Veneno
5) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro vs Trauma I, Trauma II, Zatura [IWRG IC TRIOS]

I refuse to predict title matches. No good can come of it!

CMLL (SUN) 01/25 Arena Coliseo
1) Rayo Tapatío I & Rayo Tapatío II vs Apocalipsis & Ramstein
2) Fabián el Gitano, Hijo del Faraon, Leono vs Arkangel de la Muerte, Pólvora, Skandalo
3) Máscara Púrpura, Máximo, Mictlán vs Felino, Vangelis, Virus
4) Blue Panther, Hijo del Fantasma, Toscano vs Black Warrior, Lizmark Jr., Negro Casas
5) Dos Caras Jr., Mark Corleone, Shocker vs Atlantis, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero

This is…not particularly interesting.

CMLL (SUN) 01/25 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Boomerang & Virgo vs Angel del Mal & Milenio
2) Casanova (GDL) & Leon Blanco vs Ephesto & Toxico (GDL)
3) Dark Angel, Marcela, Sahori vs Amapola, Medussa, Princesa Blanca
4) Mascara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero

Obviously going to be changed to a Bucanero/Volador main event. A women’s trios is rare here, especially with no local woman involved. Wonder if they’re getting a title match next week – that’s be three in three weeks, but also give them something noteworthy for the monthly free show (assuming it’s on 02/01.)

IWRG (SUN) 01/25 Arena Naucalpan
1) Eragon & Miss Gaviota vs Avisman & Nemesis IWRG
2) Chico Che, Gemelo Fantastico I, Gemelo Fantastico II vs Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro
3) Freelance, Multifacético, Zumbido vs Demony, Tetsuya, Veneno

Actual main event TBA.

What I know that I didn’t know this morning

thecubsfan 21 Comments

Well, lucha-wise.

LATV has picked up the Guerreros del Ring episode which used to air on Fox Sports Espanol. Check their website for availability.  Airings are 7pM EST on Saturday and Sunday, and maybe Wednesdays at 11. Your cable guide listing may not have this show listed yet, but it’s there. The hope(/worry) is LATV won’t start airing reruns (as they do for Ras de Lona) or randomly move it around (as FSE did.)

The 52MX version of this show is still only on that channel, which means the minis cage match may be lost to the wind. Unlike FSE, LATV is airing the same episode the same week as airs in Mexico, so this week was the Blanca ruda turn, Euforia/Stuka and Sombra/Volador/Mistico vs Niebla/Bucanero/Warrior, and next week is Warrior/Mistico.

AAA aired a Best of on Galavision (US) today

It wrapped up with TripleMania, clearly part 1 of 2. Besides illuminating that the period just before, thru, and after Rey de Reyes was the company’s creative peak for the year, this means Xalapa and Chilpancingo got one week of tapings each, and Accion was confusing the issue with it’s highlights. I was right when I started guessing, less so after.

They also got their 2h30m timeslot back in the US.

AAA announced their upcoming tapings (last week)

I’m slow. This was on their TV show.

  • 01/25 – Salamanca
  • 01/31 – Plaza de Toros Joan Sebstian, Chalco, EdM

[poll id=”16″]

Next Week’s CMLL Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 01/20 Arena Mexico
1) Ángel Azteca Jr. & Molotov vs Carrona & Cholo
2) Astro Boy, Metálico, Sensei vs Calígula, Hooligan, Méssala
3) Máscara Púrpura, Máximo, Mictlán vs Euforia, Nosferatu, Skandalo
4) La Máscara, La Sombra, Sagrado vs Black Warrior, Dragon Rojo Jr., Sangre Azteca
5) Averno, Mephisto, Villano III vs Blue Panther, Mark Corleone, Místico

Poder Mexica looking to extend their Arena Mexico streak, and since we’re making a deal of it, they stand a good shot. Main event is obvious V3/Panther stuff. Romanos making allllll the way up to the second match!

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

Pesta Negra, actually teaming up. I hope this is another win for this tecnico trio – they may actually be establishing a set tecnico team. Dos Caras going back to dealing with Lizmark is fine for me (except to watch it.) Look, Flash & Stuka fighting Euforia & Nosferatu, a shocking turn of events. Pegasso vs Super Comando could be really good. Does Blanca make the challenge this week?

LATV actually aired a new episode of Ras de Lona this week

Of course, it’s covering everything up to last week’s cage match, but better.

If you ever wanted to know exactly how much the heavyweight title means to this promotion, it’s given a ten second still picture summary, after interviews with Cosmico (third string mini), Sensei (novato! hurt and no one knew!), and Arkangel (theorizing about a tecnico turn.)

Definite proof of Mr. Niebla starts at the 9:34 mark in the first video.

This one features Sangre’s awesome outfit.