Day: December 23, 2011

IWRG (THU) 12/22/2011 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Estrellas del Ring, The Gladiatores]
***39th Arena Naucalpan Anniversary***
Attendance: 2400
1) Gemelo Fantastico I, Gemelo Fantastico II, Imposible b Astro de Plata, Astro Rey Jr., Tritón
Gemelos win in straight fall, continuing their hot streak.
2) Alan Extreme, Apolo Estrada Jr., Avisman b Centurión, Multifacético, Saruman
Quick match. Apolo defeated Multifacetico with a hand on the ropes. They were both bleeding by the end, and challenged to a hair match for 01/01.
3) Carta Brava Jr. b Dinamic Black [IWRG IC Light]
Carta Brava took 2/3 to win the title. Dinamic Black hurt his hip in a dive in the third fall, which played into the finish. Said to be a great match.
4) Eterno b Golden Magic [IWRG IC WELTER, WWS WELTER]
Golden Magic was IWRG champ, Eterno was WWS. Originally promoted as unification match, but both titles may be kept now. Eterno took falls 2/3 to win the IWRG title, winning via top rope styles clash. Another well regarded match.
5) Canis Lupus, Head Hunter I, Hernandez b Pantera, Texano Jr., Tony Rivera
Negro Navarro was replaced by Hernandez, who earlier had said on Twitter he was in Mexico on vacation and to catch up with old friend Head Hunter I. Tony Rivera replaced Toscano, who can’t seem to make it to any IWRG show he’s scheduled. Rudos took 1/3, with Lupus again challenging Pantera for a Rey del Ring shot.
6) Oficial 911 & Trauma II b Oficial AK47 & Trauma I [relevos suicidas]
Originally teased as Oficials vs Traumas in a double mask match, but instead was announced in this style. This portion was a single fall to the finish. Neither team felt much like working together, even to the point of the Oficals breaking up Traumas holds, even their partners. Both Traumas and Oficials faced off at points in the match. 911 took out Trauma I with a chair shot to eliminated him, then both Oficials attacked Trauma II. AK47 eventually hit his own partner by mistake, and Trauma II rolled up AK47 for the win.
7) Trauma I DQ Oficial AK47 [mask]
This was a three fall bout, with the previous wrestlers as seconds. Majority of the crowd backed the Traumas. In the first, 911 hit Trauma I with a chair shot again, and AK-47 gave Trauma a Devil’s Wings for the win. AK-47 missed a top rope move in the second, and Trauma I submitted him to a inverted figure four. Both men bleed in the final fall. 911 pulled out ref El Grillo on a near fall. Grillo was distracted later by both seconds, allowing AK-47 to drop Trauma I with a martinete. AK-47 covered, and Grillo counted the pin even while a doctor had already slid in the ring to check on Trauma I. AK-47 was declared the winner for a minute or so before Grillo saw the condition Trauma was in, deduced AK-47 must’ve given him a martinete, and overturned his own call for the DQ. Fans were massively unhappy when it appeared AK-47 was going to win via the martinete, throwing garbage at the ring, and were okay with the over turned finish. Oficial AK-47 is Mario Pardo Villagómez, from Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, 26 years old, 7 years a luchador. Trauma I, stretchered out with a destroyed mask, still managed to dedicate the win to his mom and the fans.

Better or worse finish than Sin Piedad? Lucha libre programmers appear to agree that business is created by controversial finishes, not people actually beating each other. (Better irony here of an Oficial being brought down for breaking the law.) Still, this show reads as big as either of the big two promotions from last week.

81hvs has cell phone video of the final minutes of the main event and post match. Black Terry Jr., who’s other videos youcan find linked up there, was among those dodging projectiles at ringside during the fury over Oficial AK-47 being awarded the win. It’s as riotous scene as you’ll see in Arena Naucalpan. The match will air this Sunday night on TVC Deportes (they’re skipping ahead.)

IWRG is sort of done for the year. There’s a Wagner Promotions show next Sunday (that uses IWRG talent and championships), and the building takes next Thursday off. Maybe next Sunday too, because there’s no mention of it on their site (which would mean Apolo/Multifacetico wouldn’t be until the 8th.) They’ll definitely be back on Thursday 01/05, as their Three Kings day kids show.

La Catedral’s picks for the best luchador of 2011 sneaks in a very interesting tidbit: Averno was offered the spot as leader of El Consejo and turned it down. This seems plausible, but it’s the only place I’ve heard it. Averno being the third man would’ve been a great coup for AAA. Averno might have run his course in CMLL – there’s now way he’ll have a 2012 there like 2011, even if he still doesn’t get the call to WWE – but he would be gambling AAA will keep him El Consejo and himself on top, or at least the same position he’s in CMLL. Like I keep saying, there’s a lot of people inline for those top spots in AAA and maybe not enough spots to go around. It’s a safer move to stay in CMLL, but there would’ve been great potential in a move.

Yoshihashi’s last known match was 12/12 and he’s not on any lineup. He was always going to go back to Japan to participate on the 01/04 NJPW show, but since there was no climatic finale match (like Lyger, Taichi and No Limit), there was no way of knowing when Yoshihashi was leaving until he was gone. And he’s gone! Hooray! It was a long 18 months, but they are over.

Part of the Yoshihashi problem was he was brought over much earlier in his development than the other recent NJPW young wrestlers. Another part might be that he isn’t much good, though I’m happy to leave that evaluation up to the people who watch that promotion faithfully. Those two issues meant Yoshihashi was really best kept hidden from view before everyone could decide on him. His other problem, though, is it’s pretty impossible to be hidden from view in 2011 (in the ring – people are pretty hidden in the crowd nowadays.) Almost everything makes TV.

I have no recollection of Taguchi, a previous NJPW trainee who was in CMLL for the first eight months of 2005. In those days, the only CMLL shows were the main Televisa show and a Guadalajara broadcast, which you were lucky to even find months later. The 52MX show wouldn’t kick off until the next year. Taguchi made TV only eight times in his CMLL stint. Yoshihashi has been around twice the time, but made television eight times as much. Would we remember Yoshihashi as a particular nuisance if he’d only made TV once a month? Would we remember him at all?

I love watching all of CMLL’s TV to find the good match I might never have expected, and the great match I knew would be good. I hate having to watch all the slop and sleep walking to find the golden nuggets. (Hopefully, by doing it myself, the recaps are saving others from having to bother. Not sure it’s actually working.) It’s great to have all the chances to find something worthwhile, but having all these chance to watch very similar matchups makes the process seem routine and boring. We’ve never had any hard numbers on how many Mexicans watch the non-Televisa show –  I wouldn’t be surprised if it was effectively nil based on how little it’s mentioned online – but if there’s a big group enough who does, they’re likely having the same difficulties with the promotion.

“CMLL TV” is really a diverse group of networks and producers all using CMLL matches to it’s own end and not always on the same page. (C3 inexplicably airing the “Nueva Figura” promos this week is a great example.) It’s tough to tell TV to change when it’s really many different people acting independently. Still, CMLL needs a way to get a hold of their product and make changes – they’re needed here just as bad as they are in the creative side. The correction solution may be less TV or it may just be different TV, but it needs to be better improved TV. Right now, all I know for sure is it’s going to be more TV come 2012, when NFL goes away, AAA moves back to Sunday, and CMLL moves back to two hours, and that’s just going to make this worse.

(Haven’t watched Yoshihashi/Rush yet. May be unwrapping that for Christmas. Again, not ruling out the underlining problem of “Yoshihashi, not a good luchador”.)

There’s a CMLL show tonight. I’m almost sure of it. The new trio of Marco, Maximo and Rush go for 2-0 against the current trios champs, Hijos de Averno. Any time Averno, Mephisto, and Ephsto team, I’m immediately anticipating a trios title program being set up, but maybe that’s more about how rarely all three get to work together. Undercard includes the new TRT also trying to go 2-0.

Links

• La Catedral also has thoughts on 10 top CMLL luchadors.
• Hijo del Medico Asesino‘s Tuesday match in Arena Aficion was said to be his last one there before going to FCW.
• Kcidis sketches Vampiro returning, yet again.
• IWL and DTU are hyping a DTU appearance on IWL’s Christmas show.
• Black Metal produced a short film for YouTube.