Máximo, Místico, Shocker vs Atlantis, Jushin Lyger, Último Guerrero – Yea, so this was definitely better than the Guadalajara one, though the being the right match for the right crowd helped. This was just a trios to get everyone on the card that they needed to get on the card, doing the spot show match, and the crowd was actually pretty excited for Infierno en el Ring.
SuperLuchas actually caught up with the Dr. X fans. My theory was they were Dr. X family members, and they were under the belief he was losing his mask in this match, but the interview said they were just super Dr. X fans from Zacatecas or some place.
CMLL (TUE) 07/27 Arena Mexico [CMLL, @cmllmagazine]
1) Robin & Trueno b Disturbio & Semental
2) La Seductora, Princesa Sujei, Seuxis b Dalys la Caribeña, Lluvia, Marcela
3) Euforia, Raziel, Shigeo Okumura b Diamante, Pegasso, Rey Cometa
4) Hijo del Fantasma, Sagrado, Strong Man DQ Histeria, Jushin Lyger, Olímpico
5) Héctor Garza, Terrible, Texano b La Máscara, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada
Rudos winning the main events sets up a title match for next week.
Lyger fouled Fantasma for a DQ in the semimain.
Okumura replaced Virus.
Cesar has a really great post about How To Buy Tickets At Arena Mexico (and not from the ticket scalpers.) There’s pictures and trips and such, but it appears the important lesson is “go buy it from a music store that has a Ticketmaster hookup in advance, or at least realize there are ten different windows and you don’t have to stand in line for the most visible one.” It does seem like CMLL could use someone(s) standing outside the ticket windows, navigating people to shorter lines so they’re not as tempted to go to resellers.
AAA sent out a bunch of press releases to sites yesterday. The one which seemed to grab the most attention was AAA promising a surprise to help fight back against Legion & Los Perros at tonight’s taping in Toluca. The implication is it’ll be someone jumping sides or debuting in AAA, though my best guess is it’s simply Mesias returning to TV to set up the trios match for Verano de Escandalo.
Heavy Metal’s match is actually his return after being powerbombed thru a table by Electroshock. It’s tough to know what bits are actually supposed to be injury angles in AAA.
187 is going to take out Hernandez and Konnan, blah blah blah. Possibly more relevantly, this press release Chessman’s injury is being attributed to 187 laying him out, just as they did Kenzo Suzuki. Accuracy!
AAA will be covering the taping on their Facebook account, and I’ll have a results post sometime tonight or tomorrow.
Remember the odd Traumas vs Negro Navarro & Paranoiko match, where Paranoiko walked off for reasons which were not particularly explained? Video has turned up that clues us in on an expected explanation. Keep scrolling down in that thread for a great, and similar, incident with the Traumas and the Gemelos. The Dinastia Navarro have a reputation for being, uh, demanding.
In other gossip from the Expo, but without the fun video evidence (so far), the WON reports AAA and Perro Aguayo Jr. are on shaky terms after Perro Jr. “showed up in bad condition and was slurring his words when he did the mic work during the [show ending] angle.” To defend Perro Aguayo Jr., I’ve felt the same way after sitting thru a complete AAA taping. I get commercial breaks, Perro might have indulged in adult beverages or something to cope.
Also, X-Fly challenged Vampiro to a fight.
That sentence needed to stand alone. Halloween & Damian are in AAA no matter whatever else happens, but everything else with the Perros is iffy.
The WON also the actual reasons AAA moved Verano de Escandalo from Monterrey was due to increased protection fees from drug cartels in the area. Every entertainment group has to pay up or risk being messed with (which makes one wonder about that shooting outside Arena Coliseo Monterrey a while back), and there’s not the same level of issues elsewhere.
Mascara Magica will protest his hair loss to the Guadalajara commission, angry they restarted the match when he cheated, but not with the tecnicos did. Metal Blanco says all that matters is they got the win.
The organizers of the Lucha Libre Expo says they’ll be back next year. Attendance was 6,547 for Friday (blamed on rain and “other factors”), 9,365 for Saturday, and 9,486 for Sunday for a total of 25,398.
Fuego en el Ring has the bio stats for Bestia 666, Damian 666’s son who debuted on the last Perros taping.
Super Crazy tells SuperLuchas that he was eventually paid what he as owed from EAW.
Am.com.mx has a story on Morelia luchador Orion. The only local wrestler this site seems to cover is Guerrero Universal, though usually without full lineups or context, and Orion is one of his students who’ve been wrestling in Arena Jalisco.
100% Lucha is running shows today and Sunday, where admission is free with donated canned food. Came close to doing a 100% Lucha recap this week, but probably will be doing the recent CMLL off Fox instead.
Pierko el Boricua was spotted wearing his mask again in Arena Aficion.
Juvi singing. I’ve told you all you need to know, you’re either in or you’re out.
Lineups
LIMEX (SAT) 07/31 Teatro al Aire Libre Carlos Colrado
1) Aguila & Tristar vs Angel Guardian & Legendario Extremo
2) Aguila Tapada & Impostor Macabro vs Mr. Zebra & Super Pinocho
3) La Parkita & Mascarita vs Calaquita & Espectrito de Ultratumba
4) Super Muñeco, Super Pinocho, Super Raton vs Canek Jr., Coco Amarillo Jr., Coco Blanco
indy (SUN) 08/01 Arena Azteca Budokan
1) Rey Neza & Skyderman vs Golden Bull & Quinto Elemento
2) Genesis & Mini Oriental vs Dr. Jenkins & Mini Apache
3) La Chola, Rossy Moreno, Tiffany vs Flor Metalica, La Italiana, Vanelly
4) Cocolores, Gran Alebrije, Ultraman vs Histeria II, Monsther, Skándalo
5) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Huracan Ramriez, Oriental vs Charly Manson, Mr. Águila, Olímpico
Hyped as first unmasked match for Oriental (though we know he already wrestled unmasked in Texas.) First in his home building, I guess. Mostly an Invader show, which makes Skandalo working the semimain interesting.
CMLL (MON) 08/02 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger & Stigma vs Sauron & Siki Osama
2) Dalys la Caribeña, Marcela, Silueta vs Amapola, Seuxis, Yeska
3) Fuego, Metro, Stuka Jr. vs Euforia, Pólvora, Virus
4) Blue Panther, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca
5) Místico, Rotoporky, Shocker vs Charly Manson, Héctor Garza, Psicosis
More Mistico/Psicosis in the main event.
I now believe they brought back the Arena Coliseo Tag Team Titles and then did nothing with them as an elaborate way of being annoying. Got to respect the long game. That tercera might be setting up a title match for the next Fan Appreciation show, but it’s more likely to be for the Mex Trios titles.
Is Silueta starting as a DF regular after losing her mask? That’s a new one.
Stigma, getting matches in back to back weeks, was interviewed in Luchas 2000. He’s yet another member of the Robles/Paniaco/Mar family, though who exactly he’s related to isn’t said. The interview makes it sound as if he’s a Puebla regular rather than a DF CMLL guy; he’s been training with Police Man and Toro Bill Sr.
CMLL (TUE) 08/03 Arena Mexico
1) Horus & Trueno vs Cholo & Zayco
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Metálico, Molotov vs Durango Kid, Puma King, Tiger Kid
3) Diamante, Fabián el Gitano, Rush vs Cancerbero, Euforia, Raziel
4) Hijo del Fantasma, Máximo, Sagrado vs Charly Manson, Histeria, Universo 2000
5) La Máscara, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada vs Héctor Garza, Terrible, Texano Jr. [CMLL TRIOS]
Fan Appreciation show, which is why they’re doing a title match. It’s not a good time to be doing it, with a title tournament going along.
No word on how a trios title change would affect the Universal tournament, which probably means we don’t have to worry about a title change. CMLL would have 15 champions – La Mascara (scheduled for the 08/06 block) & Sombra (could win this week’s block) would be out of titles, Terrible would have one. Or maybe my old theory about the Tuesday, Friday and Sunday shows being booked individually by people who have absolutely no idea what’s going on the other shows is actually slightly accurate.
Kinda hoping they were done with Universo. Guess not. Also returning is Guerrero Maya (actually, on Sunday); he’s been MIA for most of July.
CMLL (TUE) 08/03 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Meteoro & Nocturno vs In Memoriam & Nube Roja
2) Silueta vs Princesa Maya
3) Hierro & Leo vs Exterminador & Máscara Mágica
4) Delta & Valiente vs Shigeo Okumura & Yoshihashi
5) Místico, Rotoporky, Shocker vs Jushin Liger, Mephisto, Negro Casas
The people who last lost apuesta matches here – Silutera, Exterminador, Mascara Magica – all make their first appearance since on this show. None of the people who beat them are on the show.
IWL (FRI) 08/13 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Histeria II & Psicosis II vs Hijo del Cien Caras & Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
2) Ryan Taylor vs the PWG Champion from England
3) Chuck Palumbo vs Charly Manson
One EAW falls, another rises in it’s place. Lineup from here. There’s no PWG champion from England, unless we lost Davey Richards and Washington State in a war I slept thru. Their tag team champions are Paul London and Generico, and either of those doing a British gimmick in Mexico might be hilarious, but I don’t think that is what’s happening here. Maybe it’s Pac? I forget if he was on the poster that turned up earlier for this group.
I can not emphasize this enough: people on this show should ask for as much of your money as possible up front, and make sure you can get your own lodging/flight home if need be. Rule of thumb is if someone’s flying in one guy from the US, then they possibly could have a clue (no guarantee), but if they’re doing more than that, expect disaster. I’ve never heard anyone said a bad word about Chuck Palumbo, but I think they could put Chico Che in the same spot and draw just about the same amount (and the same TV rating), and they’re not paying Chuck Palumbo what they’d pay Chico Che. Even more true with the undercard.
They released a roster to 1up yesterday. There are slightly different rosters for the 360/PS3 version and the Wii(/PSP?/DS?) version. They’re a rare double fail.
Just 3 weeks ago, the official Facebook site for the game posted a roster, which is quite different from the roster linked above. There are 17 guys listed last time who are out of the game – the likes of Alex, Nicho, Teddy, Gladiador. Sorry, Crazy Boy, you’ll have to make yourself in the game. Their Facebook page has since deleted those roster pages (1, 2) from its site, but Google still has a cache of those pages (1, 2). My guess is the people who run the facebook are some PR team that copied a list off wikipedia, and maybe didn’t do the best job of checking to see if the list was actually right. Those pages are dated 07/10, so they probably pulled it a few weeks ago, decided to pretend they never existed, and so it’s just become evident now. Also, people really should stop trying to delete things on the internet, there’s always a copy floating around somewhere.
The other problem is the list of guys who are the PSP/360 version and not the Wii version. Assuming there’s reasoning to have different rosters (maybe they thought the Wii version would sell better with female wrestlers, though that doesn’t explain why Sexi Star wasn’t included), I’d figure the guys to get removed would be the ones who aren’t actually with AAA any more or aren’t on TV. Cut Charly, Psicosis, Gronda and maybe Alan Stone and they’d have the room.
They went a different route, cutting Silver King, Extreme Tiger, Jack Evans, and the guy on the cover of the video game, Dr. Wagner Jr. That is unfathomable, so much so that either that Wii roster is just wrong, or there’s some sort of DLC coming to add those guys very early on. That they left Doctor Wagner Junior out of the AAA video game on purpose with no plans to add him is impossible to believe.
(I’m still pre-ordering the game, when we’re a week or two away and they’re not moving it again, but I’m glad I’m getting the PS3 version.)
Four episodes in, and I’ve already lost my enthusiasm for this show. To be fair, the luchadors did first.
In a world where five of the six CMLL weekly events shows airs somewhere, covering 61% of the matches, you’re going to get repeats, you’re going to get matches which just aren’t as good as other ones, and you’re going to get non essential stuff. Guadalajara seems to hit all three; the top guys tend to take it easy; even if they didn’t, there was a match featuring three of these same four guys on another channel at the same time, and it was much better.
If you’re going to air lucha libre from Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, make it be of Guadalajara. TVC Deportes does a good job with Puebla, pretty much always including the locals match because it’s what make Puebla different than Puebla. I understand why you have to air Mistico if you have a match with them, but the most interesting thing on this show was how Gallo worked with the CMLL guys (pretty good, they made him look like he was on their level), and maybe the second most interesting thing was the video of the tercera (Neutron! Palacio Negro!) airing behind the announcers during their standup. If the semimains are going to be CMLL midcarders who don’t make enough of a different to main event, you ought to be airing the undercard matches of guys who might not be as complete but are working a lot harder.
