Day: July 19, 2009

Important Note! Mil Mascaras 73, not 67, and quite the worker. Also, I haven’t been on the forums since Thursday, but I did catch an episode of Backyardgains. Cesar is wrong, that show is the most boring thing ever invented. Trying to get a broken wireless USB adapter to work was far more compelling. For fun, try and figure how much of this stuff was supposed to go up on Friday.

Fuego en el Ring previews the Guadalajara mask cage match this Sunday earlier today, which runs against the AAA show there. They do short bios on all the competitors, which is neat. It makes sense that they interview the CMLL stars as they come thru, because more people will care and they’ve got far more to talk about, but because I’m a lucha geek, I prefer the articles about the local guys. It’s not like I’m going to get that info elsewhere.

Al Filo del Ring talks to TVC Deportes announcer Carlos Hernandez on the effect of TV on lucha libre attendance (he thinks it helps!),

Local administrator says Arena Aficion is struggling, but will not be shut down. There had apparently been rumors to that extent. Too much wrestling on TV and economy are blamed. The building appears to have lost it’s CMLL affiliation in February, and it’s tough to promote locals as people you have to see if the only way people know about them is if they’re coming to the shows already.

WagnerMania says the ad in this week’s Box Y Lucha for official Wagner products is a fake and unauthorized.

Cibernetico will appear as a villian on the El Pantera TV show.

Noti Cine has the trailer for Argentina’s 100% Lucha movie.

Ohtani’s Jacket likes the Santo vs Panther rematch even less than the original.

Looking ahead to Friday, Cesar notes Shocker won the NWA LH title just a week after he lost his mask and wonders if one of the two guys is getting a big makeup win in advance of their big loss.

SuperLuchas #323 has UFC, X-Law and Shocker on the cover. There’s a interview with Santo inside, who says he’d be open with working with AAA in the future, and his problem is less with Paco Alonso (because he doesn’t care about wrestling) and more the unnamed people who actually run the promotion.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update, the newest Slammin’ Stan episode, plus Robert on CMLL Sin Piedad 08/29 and IWRG TV 09/08/08…

The return of IWRG TV! And randomly over on PWT instead of via Fredo! This was clearly a case of something looking way better on paper than it ended up being in reality much like I’m sure the CMLL Puebla shows will turn out.

and then, LuchaWorld also has Robert on FSE 06/29, 07/06/08 and CadenaTres 05/24/08, as well as KrisZ’s Saturday update.

One more lineup:

CMLL (SUN) 07/26 Arena Puebla
1) Pequeno Nitro, Pequeño Universo 2000, Pequeño Warrior vs Espiritu Maligno, Mr. Rafaga, Sauron
2) Fabian el Gitano, Leono, Rouge vs Euforia, Hooligan, Loco Max
3) Policeman vs Centella de Oro [hair]
4) Blue Panther, Mascara Dorada, Sagrado vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto
5) Hijo del Fantasma, La Mascara, Shocker vs Naito, Shigeo Okumura, Yujiro
6) Hector Garza vs Ultimo Guerrero

This is the 56th anniversary show. Garza/UG is a NON-title match. Policeman/Centella de Oro met last year, with Policeman winning, so thi sis the big rematch. “Rouge” is the new wrestler debuted on Ras de Lona a couple weeks ago, and fits perfectly with those other two themeatically. That spelling seems wrong. Rouge means the makeup to redden your cheeks, Rogue means theif or mischievous. CMLL actually lists the mini versions of the local rudos in the opener, but I’m assuming that’s just a weird typo and CMLL isn’t making minis of Puebla wrestlers quite yet.

One more thought on Rouge: CMLL seems to be bringing in lots of people, but many of them aren’t lasting long. Hijo del Sicodelico seems to be one and done, and Rene Guajardo Jr. hasn’t been seen since the end of May.

Did AAA end up going only 2 hours, or was that a listing issue?

Konnan says AAA has plans to do a reality show to find a new AAA women’s wrestler. The show – which does not have a network or a start date or a place where you can send in your application – is said to have been in the works for months. Konnan says they’re interested in women who are doing judo, karate, boxing or in fitness competitions. No mention of women who are already wrestling. The Apaches would train the wrestlers, and Latin Lover, Gloria Trevi, and Konnan would act as judges (obvious American Idol comparisons made.) Konnan feels like AAA needs to compete better with WWE’s women, because right now they don’t have enough girls to fill a calendar. One more wouldn’t seem to do it, but one would suppose many of the runner ups will also get signed, much like happens in the WWE Diva Search they’re riffing off of here. A couple of the articles mention the Divas Search, and Konnan says the reasons to do this are similar; ratings have gone up (for WWE) when women are used, but these women would be more athletic as opposed to the models WWE goes for.

WWE’s stopped doing the Diva Search, and it’s been noted random segments with their Divas have long stopped generating that ratings bump (at least in the US) that was there in years prior. Over exposure and too many indistinguishable women are thought to be the reasons. Too many anonymous women dilutes the whole effect, but that wouldn’t seem to be a problem AAA, at least the first time thru. There’s really only 6 women on the roster (Fabi, Mari, Estrellita, Sexi Star, Cinthia, and Tiffany), so a new face is going to stand out. On the other hand, the AAA Brain Trust seems completely disinterested in putting women on TV; it is not an exaggeration to say the only women who get on TV are Fabi Apache and Whoever Is Feuding With Fabi Apache. It’s kinda looks like the minis title tournament, a whole lot of effort that won’t mean much unless they’re planning to change the status quo. Having another TV show is good, and maybe it’ll lead to an actual second TV show of wrestling, but I don’t know how much this affects things as far as the show we see weekly. If the show even happens.

Oddity: This interview is said to be from Konnan as he’s filming the voice for his character in the AAA movie. Which is strange, since the AAA movie was supposed to be all voice actors. (And then, earlier this week, AAA posted about Mesias doing his own voice, and the rest being all voice actors. Judging from LuchandoLibre’s article, characters with small parts are being done by the actual wrestlers, but the main Abismo/Octagon/Parka guys are getting voice actors.) It’s also strange this is coming out in a random interview with Konnan and not from AAA, but such are things. I’d only be mildly surprised if this was on TV for weeks and I’m only hearing about it now.

This whole story got a lot more coverage than I’d figured. I wish I had all the links originally, but it was a lot more different takes on the story than the usual one wire copy repeated everywhere. As the article mention, it was a scheduled press event (probably both to promote the upcoming movie and to sell someone on this concept), but they definitely got people interested in the concept.

CMLL (FRI) 07/17 Arena Mexico [SuperLuchas, ESTO, Ovaciones, Notimex, Cesar]
1) Molotov & Starman b Puma King & Tiger Kid
2) Dr. X, Nosferatu, Skandalo b Leono, Pegasso, Rey Cometa
3) Mascarita Dorada b Pequeno Warrior [lightning]
4) Mascara Dorada, Metro, Sagrado b Euforia, Misterioso II, Virus
5) Blue Panther, Maximo, Toscano DQ Black Warrior, Naito, Yujiro
6) Hector Garza, Mistico, Shocker DQ Averno, Terrible, Texano Jr.

Rudos won the first fall of the main event quick, Mistica in the second. In the third, Texano broke up Garza’s pin by hitting him with his bullrope, and nailed Shocker as well for the DQ. Garza, Shocker, Texano, and Terrible all talked of taking their rivals hairs in the cage match. No one brought up titles, so we have a title match next week.

Tecnicos won the first fall of the semimian, and Warrior fouled Panther for the DQ. Panther demanded a hair match with Warrior, so it’s safe to assume he’ll be in the cage match. Maximo was said to be in it now as well, and there was  a mention of a poster billing the cage match as a 14 person affair, which would mean three more people to be announced. Officially, CMLL only says Blue Panther is added in the cage match.

(The problem is, you can put as many people in a CMLL cage match as you want, it’s still a CMLL multiman cage match.)

Mascarita Dorada vs Pequeno Warrior was said to be outstanding. If they’re not airing the cage match show as a regular TV episode, then it might turn up later. Judging from the comments, it does look like they’re saving up matches already. Cesar counts Dorada picking up over 10,000 pesos, about $750 US.