Bam Bam shaved, Perros defeat XPW, Damain to retire as soon as he’s done having matches

CMLL (SUN) 08/21/2011 Arena Mexico [Cesar, CMLL, Record]
1) Sensei & Soberano Jr. b Camorra & Zayco
2) Ángel de Plata, Diamante, Metro b Euforia, Puma King, Tiger
Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Pequeño Halcón & Pequeño Maximo b Pequeño Olímpico & Shockercito [eightfinal, losers advance]
Pequeno Halcon may have switched to being a rudo; it’s not very clear. A battle royal determined seeds. Olimpico & Shockercito argued after their loss.
4) Aereo & Pequeño Nitro b Bam Bam & Pierrothito [eightfinal, losers advance]
5) Eléctrico & Mercurio b Astral & Pequeño Violencia [eightfinal, losers advance]
Electrico and Mercurio danced together to the ring.
6) Pequeño Universo 2000 & Último Dragoncito b Fantasy & Pequeño Warrior [eightfinal, losers advance]
7) Pequeño Olímpico & Shockercito b Bam Bam & Pierrothito [quarterfinal, losers advance]
Bam Bam and Pierrothito faked an argument to sucker their opponents into a sneak attack. Fine idea, but they still lost.
8) Fantasy & Pequeño Warrior b Astral & Pequeño Violencia [quarterfinal, losers advance]
9) Astral & Pequeño Violencia b Bam Bam & Pierrothito [semifinal, losers advance]
10) Pierrothito b Bam Bam [hair, final]
Bam Bam missed on the guillotine legdrop and Pierrothito beat him to keep his own mask.
11) Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero b La Máscara, La Sombra, Rush
UG replaced Aguila; this should’ve been an easy build to Tuesday’s title match with Aguila/Rush, but not so much.

La Catedaral says the tournament was mixed, with some poor performances, but better than the previous year’s cage match.

PdM MEXPW (SAT) 08/20/2011 Central del Refacciones, Tultitlan, EdM [Estrellas del Ring, Estrellas del Ring (2), La WagnerMania, Mi Lucha Libre (1-4), Mi Lucha Libre (5), Mi Lucha Libre (6), R de Rudo, Record, SuperLuchas, The Gladiatores]

1) Dinamic Black b Alan Extreme, Dragon Fly
2) Drastik Boy & Tribal b Dinastía & Konami
3) Celestial & Cósmico b Mini Talisman & Mr. Aguilita
4) Dr. X-Treme, Ek Balam, Peligro b Black Fire, Tony Rivera, Zumbi
5) Lolita b Sexy Star
Stripping match; the loser of each fall had to lose a piece of clothing. Lolita won 2 falls to 1, and Sexi briefly lost her top at the end. She covered up before (most) could see anything.
6) Bestia 666, Damián 666, Halloween, X-Fly b Carnage, Hommeless Jimmie, Kaos, Supreme
Bloody weapons match all around the junkyard. Bestia dived off a high place. Damian beat Supreme, powerbombing him on light tubes and a legdrop. After the match, Damian complained Supreme had not defended his XPW championship, so Damian had nothing left to prove, was suffering from numerous injuries, and was going to retire. The Perros (Perro Jr. included) and the fans convinced him to do one final match: an electrified cage match versus Supreme for the XPW title. Damian noted he has “several commitments” left to AAA and other groups, but will retire after that match.

Though a lot of the articles seemed to be reporting Damian retired here, but he only said he’d retire after this match with Supreme (which doesn’t have a date) and after he’s done working elsewhere (he’s still AAA trios champ, and half the point of turning Nicho was supposedly to do something with Nicho/Halloween/Damian as a unit.) Damian’s also the guy who appears to be the guy responsible for keeping Perros del Mal promotions together, so he’s still going to be around lucha libre regularly regardless. Lucha libre retirements generally mean going from wrestling many times a week to wrestling a few times a year. I suspect that’s where this one is heading, but Damian’s retirement may still be many months off.

A lot of people covered this show! This promotion is very over among people who write about lucha libre on the internet (in Spanish, anyway.)

Other News

Zorro Plateado Sr. passed away Saturday. He was a Santo-like character in northern Mexico, famous in the 60s and 70s.

Mistico resumed the role of WWE’s Sin Cara this weekend. His suspension ended this past week.  SmackDown tapes Tuesday in Calgary, and maybe we’ll have an idea of what the plans are for him, Incognito and the Sin Cara character.

AAA announced their upcoming taping schedule

09/01: Toluca
09/11: Silao (Guanajuato; I’m unfamiliar with this city, but apparently it has a big regional airport)
09/16: Puebla

AAA was also in San Luis Potosi to promote that stop in the Quien para la Corona talent search contest. It takes place on 09/03 and 09/04.

The Ecos de Occidente column in this week’s SuperLuchas mentions Mictlan was recently hospitalized for a kidney ailment.

Rob has video of Kung Fu with nunchucks, Mascara Purpura as Rey Azteca, Valente Fernandez taking a head rattling fall, Los Bucanero clearly being fouled, young El Dandy in action, a tremendous blade job, and Los Fantasticos being fantastic.

CMLL in Japan

08/20 REINA:
1) Hiroyo Matsumoto b La Afrodita
4) Ray b Mia Yim [CMLL REINA IJH, sf] – Ray vs Seuxis still seems the lock for a final. They’ve made a point of Seuxis mentioning Ray in her Ras de Lona interviews.
5) La Comandante [O] & Dama de Hierro b Yumiko Hotta [X] & Mima Shimoda

Links

• Al Filo del Ring is closing down, citing disinterest in lucha libre nowadays (too many people who don’t know much more than hitting people with light tubes.)
• DTU has a busy first week of September, with shows in Arena Queretaro and Guadalajara’s Arena Roberto Paz.
• Vaneli talks about her start in lucha libre; she was just taking other classes at the gym and decided to try lucha libre.
• SuperLuchas #427 has Alberto del Rio. I’ll be surprised if anyone doesn’t have him on the cover this week.

Lineups

IWRG (THU) 08/25/2011 Arena Naucalpan
1) Dragon Fly & Tritón vs Gemelo Fantastico I & Gemelo Fantastico II
2) Bugambilia del Norte, Centurión, Hijo del Pantera vs Comando Negro, Dark Devil, Keshin Black
3) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro, Oficial Spartans vs Angelico, Dinamic Black, Golden Magic, Pantera
4) Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Ray Mendoza Jr., Trauma I vs Black Terry, Durok, Machín

Are the Temerarios tecnicos? That would explain  a lot. Other team is “Los Juniors”.

IWRG (SUN) 08/28/2011 Arena Naucalpan
1) ? vs Dark Devil
2) Astro de Plata Jr. & Astro Rey Jr. vs Carta Brava Jr. & Picudo Jr.
3) Centurión, Hammer, Multifacético vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo
4) Dinamic Black, Golden Magic, Veneno vs Decnnis, Súper Fly, Tito Santana II
5) Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Kortiz, Ray Mendoza Jr., Villano IV and Bestia 666, Damián 666, X-Fly and Black Terry, Durok, Machín [mask, hair, cage]

Card subject to change! X-Fly just lost his hair.

CMLL (FRI) 08/26/2011 Arena Mexico
1) Camaleón & Enrique Vera Jr. vs Apocalipsis & Bronco
2) Ángel Azteca Jr., Ángel de Plata, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Nitro, Skándalo
3) Dragon Lee, Sangre Azteca, Stuka Jr. vs Nosferatu, Shigeo Okumura, Virus
4) Hijo del Fantasma vs Misterioso Jr. [lightning]
5) Atlantis, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Rey Escorpion, Último Guerrero
6) Héctor Garza, La Sombra, Shocker vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Texano

Top two are rematches after all, just with Sombra replacing Angel de Oro.

Hijo del Fantasma has a bad track record in lightning matches:
2010-02-05: won by DQ when Rey Bucanero pulled his mask
2010-02-26: lost and dropped on his head by Mephisto
2010-05-14: lost to Averno via foul and mask pull.
2011-02-04: lost to Olimpico, offical curse starting point

Nosferatu is sure getting booked a lot.