top six stories of the last two weeks

  1. Texano Jr. announced he was leaving CMLL to join the Perros del Mal. This follows the Hector Garza and Mascarita Dorada departures. The Perros have teased they’ll have another person jumping from CMLL on the Perros anniversary show (and plenty of names have been rumored.) Much like Garza, Texano showed up for CMLL after his departure was announced, placing 3rd in the top division of their bodybuilding competition. Unlike Garza, CMLL’s actually somewhat acknowledged Texano’s departure – Tiger will take his place in TRT.
  2. After teasing Blue Panther vs Negro Casas since June, CMLL held a press conference to announce their hair match for 12/16. By the time they signed the contract, it was Blue Panther vs Felino. CMLL’s subtly set up a possible tag match change with Negro Casas & Shocker getting involved. CMLL seems to have backed away from the last week with promos and promotion focusing exclusively on Panther & Felino.
  3. AAA’s announced Mesias & Jeff Jarrett for the Heavyweight title, LA Park vs Dr. Wagner for the Latin American title for their 12/16 Guerra de Titanes show. Mascarita Dorada will also have his first match back.
  4. At the only AAA TV taping of the fortnight, LA Park attacked Dr. Wagner Jr. continued to feud. El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. was introduced as his father’s second for the title match. Jack Evans continues to get surprise pinfalls on Perro Jr. TNA superstar Gunner debuted to go for a bounty on Mesias. Mesias was too hurt to wrestle, so we believe Gunner made some nice money. Nicho and Lider continue to feud to set up a match on Guerra de Titanes. Super Fly is back to push via violent beating.
  5. Shocker announced his new group of Metro, Titan (ex-Palacio Negro) and Triton (ex-Metal Blanco). They are feuding with Atlantis’ group (as rudos), after stealing their group name. Meanwhile, there’s another Triton very unhappy his name is not just his name.
  6. CMLL’s annual bodybuilding contest took place on 11/24. Winners were Picudo Jr. (students), Pequeno Olimpico (mini), Dark Angel (women, six years in a row despite a really bad fall two days prior), Soberano (beginners), Electrico (intermediate), and Valiente (advanced). Last year’s “Mr. CMLL” Rush was at the show but did not participate.

Other news

  • Dragon Rojo defeated Jushin Lyger for the CMLL Middleweight Championship, largely due to Ultimo Guerrero’s help. Lyger seems to be looking for a revenge match.
  • Also: La Mascara beat Averno for the NWA Middleweight Championship. Averno is still trios champion and hanging around in limbo. And Ayumi beat Marcela for the CMLL’s women title in Japan.
  • Argos & Drago had injuries that should’ve kept them out for the year, but turned up back in the ring.
  • CMLL will be sending, Valiente, Atlantis, Mascara Dorada to NJPW’s 01/04 Toyko Dome show, and Sombra, Maximo, Volador, Mephisto, Okumura, Diamante, Mascara Dorada, Rush and Misterioso to the FantasticMania show.
  • People who kept their titles: Super Nova (Perros LH), X-Fly (Perros Extreme), Pantera (Rey del Ring), Dragon Rojo & Ultimo Guerrero (tag), Virus (CMLL Super Light). Probably Pierrothito too.
  • Apolo Estrada, Shocker, and Stuka all won various ciberneticos to celebrate the Mexician revolution
  • AAA’s Quien Por Pinta La Corona wraps on 12/03.
  • DTU’s Hormiga says his mask vs hair match with Violento Jack at DTU’s anniversary show will also be his retirement.
  • LA Park doesn’t trust anyone, including Que Monito.

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10 thoughts to “top six stories of the last two weeks”

  1. I hope instead of discussing how terrible business is Steve takes some time to put over how awesome AAA has been this year. Too much negativity on the recent shows! (Yes I am aware me saying that is hilarious)

  2. @Rob: I saw your positive CMLL tweet.

    But seriously, what has been so great about AAA this year? The Konnan/Dorian storyline is average and if Americans followed AAA, they would complain about all the mic work the two do on television EVERY WEEK. Both need to disappear from television for some time. Even Vince and HHH know when to not overexpose themselves.

    The Perros vs. Circus feud is something I hope we don’t see more of in 2012. Wagner meant little in 2011. Neither did LA Park. I enjoy AAA minis and women’s stuff. I think CMLL is so bad they make AAA look genius. 2010 was a better year for AAA IMO.

  3. Keith, you know the readers of this blog have a hard on for the undercard guys, and AAA has been mixing it up in the midcard in an interesting fashion, so the repetition at the top of the card is given a free pass.
    I think sometimes people forget that CMLL runs a plethora of shows at a variety of places, and that despite moving at what seems like a snails pace, when you reflect over a long amount of time, just as much stuff happens as in AAA. For example, look how much of a push Guerrero Maya got over the past year… He went from a sporadic segunda guy to working an occasional main event.

  4. The mere fact that AAA had feuds that ended with payoffs should automatically put them ahead of CMLL. But if you want a list…

    – Introducing new undercards like Fenix/Dark Dragon who tore shit up for months and by year-end were working midcard matches with bigger stars.

    – Perros/Clowns feuding for months and having three matches that meant something headlining major shows.

    – Turning Zorro tecnico.

    – The creation of Drago who will be a major player and a charachter AAA can use for years to come.

    – Heavy Metal/Electro Shock best of 5 ending with one of them going bald.

    – Mini Clowns introduced to freshen up mini’s division.

    – The killer angle when the Mini Clowns showed up.

    – Super Fly getting turned on. (hopefully will set him up for a good run in 2012)

    – Mesias/Park feud that led to the epic Triplemania match preceeded by the epic SLP trios match.

    – Decnis moving from random Militia member to member of the Maniacos.

    – Octagon/Parka turning rudo which will inevtiably set the stage for Park turning tecnico.

    Oh shit… wait… CMLL accidentally elevated Guerrero Maya Jr. over the course of 7 months so that trumps everything I just wrote. The same Guerrero Maya who worked the 3rd match out of 6 matches 2 weeks ago on Friday. ~ELEVATION! I guess Nikita’s totally unbiased viewpoint also erases the fact from existence that Maya’s push was completely accidental as Dragon Lee got hurt or he was going to win that FdI block. Maya just lucked out that his girlfriend/friends got him the online votes where he had the bonus point over Metal Blanco.

    But let’s not let facts get in the way of Nikita implying all of us have such hard-ons for young guys doing flips in opening matches that we have ignored CMLL’s amazing progress this year. *giant ass eye roll*

    You’ve never seemed like one to accept facts so I doubt anything I wrote will get through to you anyhow. By the way – how’s your theory that CMLL is still going to run a mask match this year working out for you?

    @LLL: The top card stuff was garbage for the longest time and anything involving the TNA nobodies still is. Roldan (either one of them) is a terrible TV charachter and Konnan is just as annoying since he always makes the tecnicos look stupid. But hasn’t that always been a staple of AAA? The upper card sucks but you ignore it b/c the rest of the show is so good. Look back at people jizzing themselves over AAA’s early days. All you hear about is the great undercard stuff and nothing about the main events with Jake being stoned, Psicodelico being immobile or Cien Caras being past his prime feuding with Perro Aguayo when Fishman wasn’t around to do nothing.

    Of course I’m sure those people were too busy getting hard-on’s for Rey Jr. to notice how terrible AAA really was if we are to believe Nikita’s 100% unbiased view of the world of Lucha Libre.

    AAA has had a spectacular year b/c none of these great undercard matches, fun new wrestlers or mixing/matching of talent was going on in 2010. It was just ho-hum for most of the year. AAA has progressed… rapidly, in fact, over the past 2 months especially. Meanwhile CMLL has regressed to the point some people are saying they will die soon. I find that laughable but the mere fact people are suggesting that should easily tell you which promotion has made the most of 2011 and which promotion has fucked over their fans to the point the hardcores you used to see every week in the front row aren’t even attending shows.

  5. Rather than take the trollbait, I will just point out facts that I apparently do not pay any attention to…

    Keith asked a question of why AAA is being considered to have a great year, because he thinks the promos and Perros/Clowns have been repetitive, etc. I said that AAA is being credited for having a good year, in general, because for the first time in a handful of years (Since Pena’s death?) they are doing fun stuff with the undercard, which is mostly the highflyers. Is anyone really going to argue that AAA is chock full of fast paced high-flying main event matches?

    I also pointed out the CMLL has probably done just as much with their midcard, but it isn’t as easily seen because there is so much CMLL to be seen.

    To be honest, I think that is what CMLL’s primary problem is, and I do not see a way that they will fix it. CMLL has a business model that is built on live event attendance, and in turn the talent is paid off of the gate. Due to a variety of reasons that I don’t feel the need to explain, there are becoming more and more entertainment options in Mexico (along with a strong new competitor in the market with the WWE), and CMLL is still running Arena Mexico three times a week, GDL and Puebla twice, along with spot shows. They are also keeping god knows how many guys on the payroll so they can run all these shows and fill all of the television time. AAA doesn’t have that burden – they run enough live events to fill 52 weeks of television (via single or doubling up tapings), and everything else is pretty much spot shows, or the big PPV events. From Pena’s death up until 2010’s Triplemania, AAA was boring and repetitive. Sure, there were bright spots, but I am talking in generalities. I would not hesitate at all to say that CMLL has been really boring for quite awhile now either, but I don’t know an exact point to look at for when they became stale.

    AAA improved their product when they cut some dead weight and allowed some guys to shine they weren’t using before. Once those guys became more established, the Perros came in and AAA had a lot of fresh matchups. CMLL is in dire need of cutting dead weight and finding a way to run less/draw more. That is a problem that I do not know if CMLL can fix, as their whole business model is built around running shows.

    My point about Guerrero Maya is that while CMLL’s product may be stale right now, they have actually moved guys up the card. Am I saying Maya is the next Mistico and going to turn business around? NO. But if you go back about a year ago, CMLL has Escorpion, Maya, Triton & Titan, Rush, and Dragon Rojo in positions they were not in a year ago – for good or bad. Sure, AAA has elevated the Clowns and Drago, etc, but that doesn’t mean CMLL hasn’t elevated guys. AAA has had a great 2011, CMLL has not.

    As for a bias, I am admittedly partial to good wrestling. While I certainly like high flying, I enjoy the hell out of a good exchange of holds. My favorite match this year was probably Blue Panther/Negro Casas, and I love every time Black Terry Jr. uploads some kind of Navarro/Solar match. I would rather watch that stuff than wild and crazy brawls. When it comes to “CMLL or AAA”, I am probably more bias towards CMLL because they are more likely to have matches of the type I enjoy. I will not deny how good Mesias/Park was at ‘Mania, but it was still a brawl, and I am going to rank a match like that lower on my own personal scale than Sombra/Averno from the Universal Finals. With AAA showing more quality undercard stuff with the flyers, I have probably watched more AAA this year than before, because they have more stuff I like. But I have probably watched more IWRG or Traumas matches than anything. When CMLL was hot with Mistico in ’06 or whatever and CMLL cards were stacked, I thought the Billy/Apache stuff was the best angle in wrestling. Different strokes for different folks. Nobody has to like the same stuff – and I do not have to like something to admit it is good. I can also like something and admit that most people will think it sucks. That is what makes us human I suppose.

    And wrestling is supposed to be FUN. I come to this blog to speculate about where things are going and to find out about cool matches. Same reason I read PWI when I was a kid. I originally got into lucha because it was on my television and everything about what went on wasn’t all over the internet and it was fun to watch in a vacuum. Sorry if I am ruining anyone else’s experience reading Cubs’ blog because I may post a response with a wild theory or an opinion I may have. I’m sure Cubs would block me if I was being a waste of space. Well, maybe not, Daniel is still allowed to post here.

  6. I agree that the “best of” Metal vs. Electro was smart. But that feud was brutal. Wrestling is supposed to be a work. But those guys really “laid it in hard” with the chairs, guitars, and whatever else they used. It was like watching backyard wrestling.

    Fenix and Dark Dragon are ok. I hope they get better outfits.

    As enjoyable as AAA’s high flyers, minis, and mujeres are, the constant run-ins, excessive use of weapons, excessive blood, too much focus on Roldan/Konnan, demotion of el Elegido who was big time over, weak Zorro turn, and a few other things, make 2011 a forgettable year for me.

    At least CMLL has an excuse. They lost one of the biggest names in the history of the company. Mistico was Arena Mexico and CMLL. That’s tough to recover from.

    I wish CMLL did less television and better television. But they don’t try hard enough to book episodic television. Cable is expanding in Mexico and nets are looking for content. CMLL is the only reliable source for weekly cards with top-level wrestlers. CMLL gets paid for their content and they’re not going to turn down the dollars because they fear saturating the market. You just don’t turn down the money. As long as people are paying, CMLL will continue to turn out more original content than any wrestling company on earth.

  7. CMLL was bad before Mistico left. I’ll give them credit, Mascara, Averno and Volador Jr. have really stepped up as the year has gone on.

    Both companies have horrible Mini divisions I think. AAA has boring mini technicos besides Dorada and maybe Octagoncito. CMLL’s minis seem to have lost faith. Bam Bam should really jump along with Demus.

  8. @Tim: I thought the Volador vs. Mistico feud was ok in 2010. It actually gave birth to the current version of the Mistico mask used in WWE.

    I agree that guys have stepped it up in CMLL. Workrate is rarely a complaint about CMLL and they’re held to very high standards.

    HD Fantasma should jump to AAA because he speaks English.

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