Month: September 2009

Pulling the lucha votes for discussion. After no one getting in last year, six got in this year and five were dropped, which should help clear up the ballot. You have to have 60% to get in. For Mexico, that meant 45 votes, which means there are 75 votes from Mexico. That astounds me, because often it doesn’t seem like the internet has even 75 people who want to talk about lucha libre. I’m always confused by this, but I think that means 75 people voted for any lucha candidate. The one it’s done has some issues, but that’s another post.

64% KONNAN (up 16%)
47% Dr. Wagner Sr. (down 1%)
40% Dr. Alfonso Morales (down 5%)
35% Blue Panther (up 10%)
31% Villano III (up 9%)
27% Karloff Lagarde (up 8%)
20% Dr. Wagner Jr. (first year back on the ballot)
19% Atlantis (down 16%)
11% Vampiro (down 4%)

under 10%
Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero – off the ballot, and hopefully UG gets a solo shot on the ballot at some point.

Rey Misterio Jr. is grouped in with the US ballot and received 56%. Still not in, but closer and would expect to be in next year.

Added to the ballot next year
– Perro Aguayo Jr. (much too soon, but you’re eligible after hitting 15 years)
– Cien Caras (should be in if I understand history right, and I may not)
– Cibernetico (no, but a good loud argument could be had on the relative merits of Vampiro and Cibernetico)

My thinking is Blue Panther is never going to get in if he didn’t get in the year he dropped his mask. The Anniversary show happening right after ballots are casted doesn’t help much, but there’s probably not another big run coming, and his only shot is a big rediscovery of his work. Atlantis & Vampiro have a long way to go and not much left of their careers to do it, so they’ll be there until they slide off. There’s a gap in research (or loud, pervausive arguments) for the cases of Lagarde, Villano II and Dr. Wagner Sr. Someone will write them someday, and they’ll get in shortly after. I don’t know what to make of Dr. Morales, and I know Dr. Wagner Jr. is very much in play right now, based on how AAA does with him on top.

El Santo would be 92 today.

In an interview with Refomra (reposted on SML) Manson repeats what he’s said elsewhere. He says AAA would not negotiate with him, and Chessman may leave too. AAA is quoted as knowing nothing about any of this. I bet they do now!

Other rumors floating around
– Goddess to AAA. She hasn’t wrestled in CMLL since the women’s cage match in GDL.
– Rey Bucanero to AAA. We get this one every few months.
– Pirata Morgan to AAA, with the idea that he’d be half trainer/half wrestler and bring along his sons. This may be related to the one above.
– Oriental (and Super Porky) to CMLL

Porky’s already appeared on TV saying he’s coming back, so I think he’s coming back. (What’s with no Ras de Lona this week, BTW?) Goddess to AAA seems likely, as does Oriental to CMLL (though, that’s more of a question because he’s not the first guy who’s left AAA to try and get to CMLL and most haven’t made it; I think he’s a safer bet then some.) Wait and see on the rest.

CMLL (SUN) 09/20 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Principe Dylan b Nocturno
2) Angel (GDL) & Saturno b Acertijo & In Memoria
3) Metal Blanco & Palacio Negro b Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno
4) Astaroth b Fraile de la Muerte [mask]
5) Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Metro b Dragon Rojo Jr., Nosferatu, Sangre Azteca
6) Héctor Garza, La Sombra, Shocker b Mephisto, Terrible, Texano Jr.

Fraile de la Muerte is 36, 10 years a wrestler, and originally from San Juan de Dios. Blanco & Negro, who’ve won this match two weeks in a row, challenged the Truenos for a shot at their tag team titles. Not on the schedule, but it sounds like they’re getting it.

Fuego en el Ring has photos of the Tuesday show, but no results. Looks like Satanico yanked Hierro’smask.

CMLL (MON) 09/21 Arena Puebla
1) Policeman & Sauron b Crazy Black & King Jaguar
2) Metálico, Molotov, Starman b Apocalipsis, Ramstein, Tiger Kid
3) Pequeño Olímpico, Shockercito, Último Dragoncito b Pequeño Damian 666, Pequeño Violencia, Pequeño Warrior
4) Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto b Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra, Toscano
5) Jushin Liger, Shigeo Okumura, Yujiro b Blue Panther, Héctor Garza, Místico

Okumura filled in for Natio, and Mini Olimpico and Shockercito were in for Bam Bam and Mascarita Dorada

CMLL (TUE) 09/22 Arena Mexico [ESTO]
2) La Nazi, La Seductora, Yezca b Lluvia India Sioux Zeuxis, Lady Apache, Marcela
4) Euforia, Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca b Máscara Dorada, Sagrado, Stuka Jr.
5) Héctor Garza, Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra b Felino, Heavy Metal, Negro Casas

Negro tried wearing the wig thru the match, but got it pulled off by the tecnicos at the end of the first fall. Hector pinned him for the win.

Euforia took Hijo del Lizmark’s spot. Stuka Jr. worked in Valiente’s, no explanation there. ESTO skips the tercera and mentions “Sioux” in for Rain Lluvia in the women’s match, which I presume means India is back. Edit: No, it’s Zeuxis , I forgot about her.

ESTO says the crowd was sub 1,000.

Today’s true big news: Konnan Big is changing his name to Buffalo. The story they’re telling is Arnold Schwarzenagger owns the name Konan el Barbaro (in Mexico, even!), so he had to change it. He’s got a (music) CD out that he’s promoting, and mentions that he thought about retiring from wrestling, but the public is insistent that he keep on wrestling.

AAA teases Kenzo Suzuki recruiting a new Yakuza member from Japan. He’ll debut on 09/10 and have the match to prove himself. KrisZ quotes Kenzo as suggesting it might be one of KENTA (no), Shinsuke Nakamura (no), Hiroshi Tanahashi (no), Yoshihiro Tajiri (no), and Puma (ding ding ding).

Felino warns Mistico that Mistico isn’t on his level AND he knows how to escape La Mistica, so Mistico better not try to take his mask. Speaking of Felino, CMLL’s subbed him on Sunday’s lineup for Hijo de Lizmark.

An article about support efforts for La Paz, dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane, mentions Tiger Marino’s benefit lucha show.

WagnerMania has a preview of Gran Alternativa. But it looks like they went over the bandwidth limit again, so go read it on box y lucha.

SuperLuchas has info on Juvi’s School of Hard Juice. The other trainers (Negro Navarro, Skayde, Fuerza) sound great, but it is Juvi.

The Gladitores has a video interview with IWRG Rigo. El Pancracio talks to Puebla’s Blue Center. His father was a wrestler, Andres el Salvaje, and Centella de Oro actually unmasked him.

Ohtani’s Jacket watches Perro Aguayo vs Gran Hamada blowoff match from 1984 on handheld and Cassandro/Rudy Reyna vs Matematico/Ninja Sasuke from UWA 1992.

Charly Manson went on Tercera Caida last night and said he had left AAA and wouldn’t be putting his hair up at the Hereoes Inmortales. From reading the recaps and listening to another interview with boxylucharpn), Charly’s leaving for the same reasons everyone else has left in the last two years – not booked enough, not making enough money as a result. In this specific case, the hair match itself was a sticking point; Charly says he didn’t want to put up his hair, which should be understood as Charly not being promised enough to drop his hair.

(Charly noted this was the same situation which lead to Mr. Niebla jumping last year – which is interesting, because the thought at the time was Niebla left because AAA was never going to get to the mask match with Abismo Negro disappearing, not that he wasn’t getting enough for it.)

The Chessman/Charly Manson match was supposed to main event the renamed Antonio Pena Memorial show on Saturday. There’s been no word from AAA about what will happen it’s in place. The title match will surely be in the main event instead, and they can throw someone random from the undercard in the match, but it really won’t adequately replace it.

The problem for Charly now is he doesn’t have a destination. There’s talk about him going to CMLL, but I can’t figure on that sticking. Before the last iteration of his leg injury, when the Hell Brothers were still going, he probably would’ve fit in fine. Since returning, he’s seemed physically shot, working on a leg he shouldn’t be walking on. That’s tougher to hide in standard CMLL matches. It’s not like it was all that hidden in AAA, but the fans had seen him built up as a star long enough, so he had to be just enough like the old Charly Manson for everyone to be happy. (It’s the same pass they give to Octagon & Parka Jr.) Charly doesn’t have that connection with the CMLL fans, or the CMLL office for that matter. Perros del Mal seem like a much better fit – that’s where he was headed earlier this year when he talked about leaving AAA – but they’re still not a long term option and there seems to be dozen of guys trying the same thing.

As Alan noted in the comments, if Charly and CMLL had already made an agreement, he would’ve been better served keeping quiet and just showing up as a surprise in Arena Mexico. (Heck, Charly still says he’s National Heavyweight Champion, and there’s a heavyweight title on the line this Friday…) It might have just been more important to him to get his side of the story out there, but I’d guess he’s got nothing locked in at this point.

Edit: SuperLucha says he’s going to Perros del Mal

Still, I’m sure Charly knows all this, and still decided to walk out of AAA (and probably burn that bridge if he doesn’t change his mind before Saturday.) If leaving was the better choice, the situation for him in AAA must have been pretty bad. If someone on the level of Charly Manson is not making enough money in AAA to make it work, what native is? Wagner & Cibernetico, probably, and maybe Parka since he seems to work a ton of shows. I don’t think you can assume anyone else. It’s not as though AAA isn’t paying people – all the foreigners brought in are paid guaranteed money and are all probably doing fine.

(I think it’s worth saying the problem isn’t the foreigners getting guaranteed deals. It’s the Mexicans not ALSO getting those deals, and being treated like second class workers.)

AAA was previously scheduled to have a chat with Charly Manson today. If not for that, I don’t know that they’d address this at all before Saturday, but they kinda have to explain why that chat isn’t happening. Maybe.

Box Y Lucha’s report on Mistico vs Liger says Mistico had one eye closed shut and a loose incisor from the beating Liger gave to him. I believe this slightly less than Alex Koslov’s rally, but there is a great picture of Mistico looking dead on a stretcher. I guess this whole feud happening on the Sunday shows and in Arena Coliseo is a solid tell they’re doing the payoff in Japan; they’d surely run this in Arena Mexico if there was meant to be a big Mistico win in Mexico.

ESTO previews tonight’s show as the first show for Negro Casas without his hair. Lizmark Jr. is still listed on the semimain, even though every magazine had a story on him leaving (the Perros made sure to get it out there, probably to give people a reason to talk about them.)

Fuego en el Ring asked questions and got answers: Shocker says he was assaulted two Saturday’s ago, and that’s why he missed the anniversary show. Let’s look at the timeline:

09/12 (Saturday): Shocker gets attached
09/16 (Wednesday): Shocker wrestles in GDL, no mention of injury or even an incident
09/17 (Thursday): Shocker is pulled from the anniversary
09/18 (Friday): CMLL gives the no-explanation explanation (force majeure), instead of mentioning an injury
09/20 (Sunday): Shocker wrestles, no sign of an injury

To be fair, I’d bet there was an incident on Saturday and I bet that’s why he didn’t wrestle Friday. Just hard to believe it was an injury. There certainly could be a benign reason for missing the Anniversary show, but the odds are against it.

Related: Box Y Lucha (and also ESTO) list the Gran Alternativa lineup with Toscano in for Shocker. I guess the pain from the attack on Saturday will be back on Friday (and then fine when he wrestles on Sunday in GDL?)

AAA talks to the Psycho Circus. They explain the name change: someone else had rights to the name, and you can’t go around using a name you have no right to. (Reads like a shot at ex-AAAs and likely meant that way.) The win streak is said to be 461, and they want it clear that they’ve been top guys (and they have, off TV) but also talk about wanting tougher competition.

AAA also has a poll up about the surprise wrestler for the anniversary Pena show:

– The Animal
– Heavy Metal
– Juvi
– Ken Anderson
– Konnan
– Latin Lover
– Lizmark Jr.
– None of the above
– Vampiro Canadiense

Heavy Metal is still in CMLL (and returning tonight after an absence) unless they know something we don’t know. The Animal! AAA is hilarious.

Fuego en el Ring talks to Fraile de la Muerte about losing his mask and Astaroth about winning it. Fraile de la Muerte is Jesus Zavala, who wrestled under the name for 8 years.

Also, Blue Demon Jr..

CMLL’s YouTube has highlights from the anniversary show: part 1, part 2, part 3. The full show, or whatever of the full show gets aired, still isn’t expected to do that until October or November.

Cesar talks about Lizmark Jr. rejoining the Perros del Mal. I had totally forgotten about Lizmark being in the Perros when they were in CMLL. Didn’t they kick him out? Maybe he can go for revenge.

Box Y Lucha mentions Ringo Mendoza is hoping to have a retirement match this year (he wrestles less than some people who are retired) and Fabian el Gitano is working as a Chippendale.

El Hijo del Santo will host an event at the Durango Central Public Library, a lecture on lucha libre. Villano V is also supposed to be there – are there no vetoes on lectures? (Though it seems the Villanos have escaped those restrictions before.)

Kcidis illustrates Pesta Negra unhappy and is unhappy himself about his work getting pirated (again.)

DTU links the video of their shows on the Lucha Libre Expo.

Luchas2000 488 has Mistico and Negro Casas, and their interview with Lizmark Jr. There’s also an ad for a Perros del Mal TV taping on 10/11 in Ecatepec, though no network is mentioned.

BIX has a podcast with Cassandro and TJ Perkins from Lucha Va Voom show in New York. It sounds pretty good.