Day: March 22, 2009

Abismo Negro (1971-2009)

thecubsfan 40 Comments

A very brief story on noroeste says Abismo Negro has passed away. LMDLL’s RFC is also reporting his death, which is enough to cause me to believe it (though there’s a small hope this may be a hoax.) Edit: RFC found another person who’d confirm it. That’s the end of the hope.

The complete noroeste story:

El luchador profesional, Abismo Negro, murió esta madrugada en el municipio de El Rosario al parecer ahogado en el río. Su cuerpo fue encontrado esta tarde. Al parecer el luchador iba con rumbo a la Ciudad de México cuando decidió bajarse en este municipio; las autoridades ya investigan el hecho.

Translated:

The professional wrestler, Abyss Black, died this morning in the town of El Rosario allegedly drowned in the river. His body was found this afternoon. Apparently the fighter was heading to Mexico City when he decided to stop in this town, the authorities are already investigating the incident.

The last time we heard about Abismo Negro, is when he didn’t make the show Friday night in Madero. This would’ve been Sunday morning. Abismo certainly had his personal issues take over his life the last few years, though we have no idea if this has anything to do with those.

Abismo Negro was one of only three remaining wrestlers in the company who were on the debut show in May of 1992. (Octagon and Jerrito Estrada are the others, and Pepe Casas and Tirantes were two of the referees on that show.) Abismo was debuting as Winners at that point, and is a rare wrestler who’s succeeded under two different gimmicks; it’ll may only now be publicly acknowledged Winners became Abismo.

The Abismo Negro gimmick is as identifiably a part of AAA as any. A lot of that is owed to Antonio Pena’s design, but a significant credit must go to man under the mask, who made the character larger than life. Abismo was a top rudo for AAA at many points during his run, so much so that he gained fan following (which caused at least one ill advised tecnico turn) and cross over work on other Televisa shows.

The mask of Abismo Negro is a symbol of AAA. It’s already scheduled to live on as part of the anime later this year, and the video game for next year. Abismo was scheduled to be a big part of the US Tour the next two weeks. I don’t know what they can do with that gimmick now – I think Black Abyss has to disappear for a while (and probably come back as something else), and I think no one can appear as Abismo Negro for a good long time, but I don’t what we’ll think about all this in two weeks. The Abismo Negro name will never go away thanks to those who worked to make it mean something, but I don’t think even the open minded AAA fans would accept anyone else under that mask maybe for years to come.

Edit: 907am – Noroeste has updated it’s story with details of Abismo’s death. In usual Mexican newspaper fashion, this article includes a picture of Abismo’s body, as they found it.

It sounds as though (for whatever reason), Abismo Negro had a panic attack on a bus,  ordered the bus driver to stop near the river, sent a text message to his wife that he was lost in the mountain,and walked in. The theory is he got knocked out by a waterfall and drowned from there.

Let me see if I can get this straight: Abismo is believed to have had a panic attack, ordered the driver to stop (driver later reported the incident to the authorities, which caused the search for him), wandered off, text messages his wife that he was lost in the mountain, and was found in the river.

03/22: IWRG, Toreo, Mistico, Wagner, Juvi, Dos Leyenda, lineups

thecubsfan 7 Comments

IWRG (SAT) 03/14 Arena Xochimilco [SuperLuchas #307]
1) Mixteco Jr. b Goleador
2) Galactik & Miss Gaviota b Avisman & Vampiro Metalico
3) Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro b Multifacetico, Trauma I, Trauma II
4) Solar I, Super Astro, Ultraman Jr. DQ Arlequin, Hijo de Pierroth (IWRG), Pierroth II
5) Mascara Ano 2000 Jr. b Scorpio Jr. [Rey del Ring]

New champ. Scorpio had MA2K Jr. done in a half crab, but both he and the refree were distracted by Hijo de Pierroth (Mascara’s second) beating up Multifacetico (Scorpio’s second) on the outside. Scropio let go, Mascara snuck in a foul and pinned him for the win. DQ in the semimain was for Pierroth II yanking Solar’s mask.

El Toreo (WED) 03/18 Arena Lopez Mateos [SuperLuchas #307]
1) Sombra Escarlata & Spider Boy b Mr. Flama & Sol de Oriente
2) Azabache Negro, Rey Cobra, Sismo b Black Man II, Falcon, Flecha (Skayde)
3) Romano Garcia b Danny Boy [hair]
4) Robin Hood Jr. & Super Panda b Epitafio & Terry 2000
5) Canek b Cibernetico [#1 Contenders, UWA HEAVY]
6) Dos Caras Sr., Killer Jr., Sicodelico Sr. DQ Villano III, Villano IV, Villano V

Mil was supposed to be in the main event, but was angry about something – I think the article says about not being in the main event, which doens’t make sense – and walked out of the building before his match (walking in front of the crowd to make sure they knew he showed.) Doesn’t look like this bit is drawing sell outs any more, at least not this night. Villano V yanked Dos’ mask for a DQ.

It took Cibernetico being accidentally hit by his second (Killer Jr.) and being fouled by Canek for him to lose here. That’s actually not as much as I’d thought.

Again, fighting between the seconds (Robin Hood Jr. and Rocky Santana) allowed Romano to sneak in a piledriver on Danny Boy for the win.

SuperLuchas #307 also has a big interview with Mistico. Besides the usual “I’d like to face whoever win the mask match” bit, Mistico also notes that when he was in Japan and CMLL did a Sombra/Volador vs Averno/Mephisto tag title match, it was a poor house. Mistico wants more people to be stars, but feels he should get more credit for how much he means and how hard he works. Mistico feels like he’s winning the crowd back little by little this year (though that didn’t seem to be case Friday night.) This interview is totally worth going out of you way to read for yourself.

IWRG (THU) 03/19 Arena Naucalpan
5) Dr. Wagner Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, Zatura b Hijo de Pierroth (IWRG), Mascara ANo 2000 Jr., Oficial 911

Give him credit – Dr. Wagner indeed made this show. The usual trend for guys who join one of the big 2 is to promise they’ll still be doing all their independent bookings when the press is there, and then quickly bail on them. (Silver King and Super Porky come to mind.) Lots of respect for Wagner if he’s breaking that tend.

Coincidentally, Wagnermania has Wagner cutting a promo on website commenters critical of him joining AAA. Dr. Wagner Jr. is a YouTube shooter, which can only mean the world is coming to an end. The Gladiatores have their own interview with Dr. Wagner about current effects.

Didn’t occur to me last night, but there was no Wagner angle on Friday’s AAA taping despite one being obviously set up in Madero. AAA is now listing Wagner’s self promoted shows, which are now using AAA talent.

The other news not exactly mentioned on luchalibreaaa.com is a backstage incident with Juvi, at least if you’re willing to believe his story in Record. “The leader of the Mexican Powers” (that’s what the article says) tells Record that he went out for his match, and came back to find his bag filled with human waste. Juvi went to Jack Evans to accuse him of doing it, when Konnan attacked him and Jack joined in. Juvi claims he’s got a broken nose, and bruises on his face and body.

This is surely the same story Lizzy Valentine is referring to on her mySpace page when talking about leaving AAA. This is also all Juvi’s side of the story, and his history of telling tall tales makes it really hard to take anything he says at face value – there’s definitely more going on here. (FWIW, Jack was in Juvi’s match, and still in the ring when Juvi escaped the cage, so Juvi really could really stand to improve his sleuthing abilities.)

However, the general public (and the press) are probably going to be unaware of Juvi’s history and this story looks really bad for AAA if it gets picked up in more places. It really depends on how far the story gets, but it’s tough to spin the leader of the wrestlers taking part in a two on one mugging and there’s probably some public punishment coming if this gets taken seriously. Also, whomever gave to okay to hire Juvi back inside the company (not Konnan!) is probably not too thrilled with it going so bad so quick.

Short term, Juvi’s done in AAA. I’d assume Ultimo Gladiador takes his spot in the cruiserweight tournament. Ultimo Gladiador seems to be a good dude, but no one’s been as quite as fortunate with absences as he has in AAA – he got started their with Crazy Boy’s injury and has gotten to hang around and better spots because of Juvi’s flakiness (and Super Crazy not coming in.)

Dos Leyenda follow up stories:

– Villano V says he never even considered he was going to lose, and was hoping to main event a third straight anniversary show. He vows to continue fighting.

– Ultimo Guerrero wants Villano IV to finish the Villanos off. UG credits Blue Panther with coming up with the idea to use the toque universal to pin Villano in the end, and goes as far as dedicating the win to Panther.

– ESPNDeportes restates the point that Villano IV is and will be the last masked Villano standing; they’ve told their sons to create their identities and not take their names (just as they did with their father Ray Mendoza), so there’ll be no Villano VI coming.

– Televisa Deportes picture comes along with tons of pictures

– I was wrong – Accion indeed has video of this match tonight. If ever one needed to understand the difference between the two promotions, this was a good two minutes for you – CMLL had a huge match decided by an abdominal stretch cradle, and this was followed by Chessman/Mesias in a cage using light tubes, and walking above the cage on barbed wire cords. Are they really both promoting the same lucha libre?

Box Y Lucha posted a truck load of articles Friday morning, none of which I saw until much later because Google Reader decided not to show new articles in half my feeds. (I think I fixed it, but who knows. As always, if I miss something worth reading, let me know.) There’s so many of them, I’m not going to write as much about them, but that doesn’t mean they’re not interesting.

They’ve got La Parka Jr. telling LA Park to get over it already and complaining about not being nominated for the the Televisa luchador award (he thought the idea was for the nominees to just be Mexican)

Dos Caras Jr. explaining his teased rudo turn was resolved off camera (everyone’s friends again, hooray), Axel talking the end of his CMLL sting much like in his SuperLuchas interview, Dark Angel talking about her trip to Japan (and not TNA, yet), Star Fire talking about her short career so far (totally wins me over in one interview, I’m a sucker), Sombrita and Mascara Dorada talking about the Puebla cage match, and Juanito Diaz, lightweight champion of the 60s. There’s also columns on Solar/Negro Navarro, Villano III on backstage fights (how timely!) and history pieces on Angel Azteca. Plus, a couple look back at Ultimo Guerrero‘s career, as if teasing a major change this past Friday.

An editoral in El Siglo de Torreon complains about the quality of libre referring. For some odd reason, they don’t think referee Viruta getting caught in the moment and doing a top rope plancha onto the wrestlers shows much impartiality.

LuchaWorld has Robert on the 12/08-9 and 12/15-16 CMLL MVS Shows, as well as KrisZ‘s news update.

Lineups

IWRG (THU) 03/26 Arena Naucalpan
1) Garra de Aguila vs Keshin Black
2) Galactik & Mascara Magnifica vs Carta Brava Jr. & Mixteco Jr.
3) Fantastik, Freelance, Turbo vs Black Terry, BLack Thunder, Capitan Muerte
4) Head Hunter I, Head Hunter II, Veneno vs Arlequin, Hijo de Pierroth (IWRG), Pierroth II
5) Fuerza Guerrera vs Oficial 911 [IWRG IC WELTER]

911 lost, will get a title shot. OKAY. Turbo and Black Thunder appear to have become regulars here (as much as anyone who’s not a core guy is a regular.)

IWRG (SAT) 03/28 Arena Xochimilco
1) Garra de Aguila vs Comando Negro
2) Eragon & Latin Brother vs Carta Brava Jr. & Vampiro Metalico
3) Mascarita Sagrada & Octagoncito I vs Espectrito de Ultratumba & Piratita Morgan
4) Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro
5) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Universo 2000 vs Hijo de Pierroth (IWRG) & Mascara Ano 2000 Jr. [relevos sucidas]
6) ? vs ?? [mask]

Actually, I’m taking a leap and assuming they’re doing the final on this show, but the tag match is solicated as a relevos suicidas. Pretty clear favorite to lose of the four.

CMLL (SUN) 03/29 Arena Coliseo
1) Rayo Tapatio I & Rayo Tapatio II vs Cholo & Zayco
2) Dark Angel, Marcela, Sahori vs Amapola, Princesa Sujei, Rosa Negra
3) Hijo del Fantasma, Mictlan, Sagrado vs Ephesto, Lizmark Jr., Terrible
4) Blue Panther, Dos Caras Jr., Mistico vs Heavy Metal, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

Been racking my brain all day, trying to figure out what the bonus match is. There’s no feud that I can think of – the show two weeks ago has little to do wtih the today’s show (thanks to all the subs.) One of Bam Bam, Pierrothito, Sombra or Sangre Azteca is probably defending their title here, if it’s at all being set up tonight. Feels like it could just be a typo.

CHOLO! Getting worried about him for a bit. Speaking of MIA guys, anyone seen Mascara Purpura lately? No matches in the last month, since the lightning match in Puebla.

CMLL (SUN) 03/29 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Katana & Malefico vs Angel del Mal & Infierno [Torneo Tanque Dantes]
2) Palacio Negro & Samurai vs Leon Blanco & Thunder Boy [Torneo Tanque Dantes]
3) Boomerang & Gallo vs Acertijo & Mr. Trueno [Torneo Tanque Dantes]
4) Maximo, Sagrado, Valiente vs Black Warrior, Dragon Rojo Jr., Sangre Azteca
5) a replacement for Toscano, Hector Garza, Shocker vs Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Ultimo Guerrero

Toscano’s booked like normal this week, but can’t make any of those shows. Warrior continues to work in GDL. That’s round 4 of the torneo, and I’m sure I’ll do a breakdown of the tournament later (so you know there’s a post coming to skip.)

03/20 AAA TV Results (Madero)

thecubsfan 42 Comments

AAA TV (FRI) 03/20 Centro de Convencions de Ciudad Madero [AAA]
1) Aerostar & Fabi Apache b Cinthia Moreno & Oriental
2) Black Abyss, Histeria, Psicosis II b Gato Eveready, Pimpinela Escarlata, Ultimo Gladiador
3) La Parka Jr. & Marco Corleone DQ Konnan & Silver King
4) Charly Manson, El Mesias, X-Pac b Chessman, Electro Shock, Zorro
5) Billy Boy L Teddy Hart and Nicho el Millionario and Alan Stone and Crazy Boy and Alex Koslov and Laredo Kid and Super Fly and Juventud Guerrera and Extreme Tigerand Escoria and Joe Lider and Jack Evans [AAA CRUISER, dome cage]

This is a bit complicated, but you and me can get thru it together.

Cage match didn’t really make sense to me before as the first part of a tournament, but someone actually figured how to do it. It’s essentially CMLL’s seeding battle royal, except you’re escaping a cage instead of a ring. The added twist here is the last one in the cage is out of the tournament (which is why we’ve got an odd number.) Billy Boy took the fall, which can’t be a big surprise. They have to be doing it on purpose by now.

Skipping Billy, the first guy out faces the last guy out, the second guy out faces the second to last guy out, and so on. That leaves us with second round match ups of:

1) Teddy Hart vs 12) Jack Evans
2) Nicho vs 11) Joe Lider
3) Alan Stone vs 10) Escoria
4) Crazy Boy vs 9) Extreme Tiger
5) Alex Koslov vs 8) Juvi – the surprise, as people wiser than me called, though not yet in D-Mex
6) Laredo Kid vs 7) Super Fly

One can only assume we missed some long team up and horrible break up between Alan Stone and Escoria on AAA Jakked, because every other match up just happens to be between partners – past, present or future.

The Monterrey listing had a four way match for the cruiserweight title, and an article talking about tonight (Sunday’s) matches there gave me the impression this would be yet another HF2 vs HX187 battle, but reading it in tandem with the show report makes it clear that they’ll be two singles matches. The other first round matches will theortically take place when AAA gets back from the US tour.

There were other matches on this taping, too:

– After winning the opener, Aerostar revealed the Apache he wanted to ask out was – Fabi. (Poor Mari!) Billy then showed up to kill both of them. Love is rough.

– Abismo Negro is MIA. Again. Pimpi took his place, and the Vipers dominated on the way to a win, Gato taking the pin. The Vipers must’ve been so thrilled that AAA finally has enough faith in Abismo showing up that the Vipers can return to feud with him, and then Abismo no-shows. Dunno the circumstances of it, but it would seem very defensable for AAA to cut the cord with Abismo at this point.

– No Latin Lover. Marco took his place and his team won by DQ, when Copetes joined the Legion. I almost forgot Copetes was a tecnico. Though he’s not much of a good rudo referee if the rudos still lost.

– Zorro lost clean to Charly.

Next taping is today in Monterrey, and I’d bet LMDLL has results up soon after the show.