En busca de un Ídolo, Halloween back in Perros del Mal, Volador/Mascara, trios champs keep their title

CMLL (MON) 04/16/2012 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger, Dinámico, Tigre Rojo b Akron, Ares, Arissma
tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Hooligan, Loco Max, Nitro b Dragon Lee, Pegasso, Stigma
Nitro & Hooligan replaced Arkangel & Skandalo. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Marcela b Princesa Sugheit [CMLL WOMEN]
Seconds were Dinamico & Akron. Sugheit took the first with a motocicleta, Marcela won the second wiht a double amrbar, and Marcela won the third with a Michinoku Driver.
4) Black Warrior, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Ephesto, Misterioso Jr., Vangelis
Tecnicos took 1/3. Delta & Guerrero Maya beat Vangelis & Misterioso with a double camel clutch.
5) Diamante Azul, La Máscara, La Sombra DQ Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Volador Jr.
Diamante Azul’s debut here under that name. Volador attacked Mascara early. Tecnicos took 2/3, Volador fouling Mascara in the last to set up a singles (non-title) match next week.

CMLL (TUE) 04/17/2012 Arena Queretaro [Ciudad y Poder]
2) Maligno I & Maligno II b Fire Fighter & Sangre de Dragon
Malignos took 2/3.
3) Chica Ye-Ye & Dragon de Oriente II b Dance Boy & Soldado Diabolico
Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Rush & Ursus DQ Rey Bucanero & Terrible
Rudos took 2/3. Terrible got annoyed at Rush and fouled him.
5) Atlantis, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Drabek I, Drabek II, Perro del Ring [MEX TRIOS]
Atlantida took falls 2/3, winning with all their finishes in the third, and keeping the titles.

Halloween quit the Perros del Mal after their show last month, along with the rest of the Familia de Tijuana and seemed angry about how the promotion had treated him. He had continued appearing on AAA shows as part of the group, explaining it as fulfilling his agreed upon dates and proving his willingness to work for anyone, but just not wanting a close tie to Perros del Mal. Plans change: Perros del Mal and Halloween have announced they’re back together. There’s not even an attempt at explanation – he’s “happy to be where I wanted to be”, which sure seems to be the same place he was unhappy to be last month. I’d guess Halloween was give an ultimatum – either publicly join back with the Perros or no more AAA bookings – but that’s just a guess. The latest Wrestling Observer says Mascarita Dorada was given an ultimatum – either AAA or TxT – and says he went with AAA, so maybe the same happened here. And maybe it doesn’t really mean much, because Dorada is still listed on all sorts of TxT shows.

CMLL held one of it’s regular press conferences today. The big item was a new tournament for youngsters – the third in about two months, if you’re counting – called “En busca de un Ídolo”. This one’s akin to last year’s Forjano un Idolo, trading the size of the competition for a bigger scope in what counts. 8 luchadors will wrestle in lightning matches on Tuesdays and Fridays) with the winners getting points. Luchadors will also be judged by a panel, who will give points based on their character, their personality, the charisma, and how much the public responds to them. There will also be an internet voting competent for more points, held thru their new website: enbuscadeunidolo.com. Matches will air on Cadena3; this is the new reality show they mentioned on Tuesday. The matches will also likely be uploaded to the internet, as was done with Forjando un Idolo.

(CMLL.com itself has gotten a new coat of paint. It looks like it’s still a work in progress and some stuff is just old content that is just easier to fine – the oudated roster list is actually a few years old, but couldn’t be easily found on the old version – but it’s easier to get to everything you need from the front page. I really hope the “Redes Sociales Oficiales” link goes local soon; it’s so easy to create believable fake Twitter accounts to cause trouble (ESPN fell for a fake Dave Meltzer twitter this morning!) and it’s so dumb that every promotion hasn’t done this already.

The luchadors in the tournament are tecnicos Titan, Triton, Dragon Lee and Diamante, and the rudos are Puma King, Euforia, Polvora, and Niebla Roja. The tecnicos will be coached by Atlantis & Franco Colombo, while the rudos will be guided by Ultimo Guerrero & Tony Salazar. The judges will be referee Tirantes, announcer Miguel Linares, Maximo, and Negro Casas. Wrestlers will earn 20 points for a win, 10 points for a draw, and zero for a loss. The articles say the judges can add up to 40 more points, so it’s probably a 10 point score from each judge. By those numbers, it’s more important to impress the judges than to win. There is no indication of how much the poll results are worth. The tournament begins on the 04/27 Friday Arena Mexico show.

It’s not clear how long the tournament will be; the schedule on the site has four weeks of matches but says “month one”. It appears tecnicos only face rudos in those four weeks, so maybe three weeks of intra-band matches, and a final on the last week. It’s unclear what happens if one of the judges is not available (working Guadalajara or elsewhere), but they could easily swap someone else in.

This tournament format allows the promotion to have an idea who they want to win and the vague idea of where everyone should finish, but makes planning each match labor intensive: you’ve got finishes and judges score and certain to be manipulated polls. It may be a situation where they just tweak things as they go and do a massive catch up at the end, like what happens prior to the Universal tournament most years.

En busca de un Ídolo is the Japan-style league tournament we’ve been asking for this year, with a whole layer of judging on top. Time will tell if that wrinkle adds or detracts from the flavor, and it’s not the top guys to make this hugely important, but there’s some great potential here for fun matches. Euforia, Titan, Triton, Puma King, Diamante all are reliably good (of varying levels, but good.) Niebla Roja has really impressed in his brief debut/return. Polvora & Dragon Lee are the question marks, but they do have their moments. There’s no obvious favorite either; there are reasons some shouldn’t be expected to win, but this is an even matchup with guys on similar levels.

The bios on the site are interesting. Titan and Triton are listed as debuting last year, while Niebla Roja is still given his Angel de Plata start date. That’s consistent with the stories they’ve been trying to tell (they’ve halfway admitted on Niebla Roja but  hold firm on the others.) Euforia is now a 2007 debut, de-aged to his CMLL debut time, to justify his presence. Polvora is still listed as from 2000, and Diamante as 2001.

One of the other items hyped during this press conference was Kid’s Day, taking place 04/29 at Arena Mexico. (See: video promo, awesome Marco Corleone picture as part of his anti-bullying campaign.) No card yet, but the press release mentions La Sombra, Marco Corleone, Ángel de Oro, Ultimo Guerrero, Volador Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Estrellita, Luna Mágica (her return from Japan), Silueta and more. At the press conference, Terrible challenged Marco, Rush, and Maximo to a World Trios Title match; Rush quickly accepted for the team. The impression was that was for the Kid’s Day main event, but it’s not confirmed. (TRT will should lobby for a more advantageous day.) The minis were hyping the show at the press confernece, so figure them having a match as well. Tickets for kids are 1 peso, provided they are with an adult and only with row 16 and back.

The press conference mentions the Japan comings and goings – the Yujiro and Angel de Oro bits that had already been talked about, and a bit more detail about the matches for the REINA first anniversary show. They’d previously announced a Lady Apache vs Princesa Blanca title match, but the big match on the show is a hair match. Last time Comandante was in Japan, she feuded with head of the promotion Yumiko Hotta and later complained about the experience of the trip causing her hair to fall out. This trip, she’ll either defeat Hotta or all her hair will be gone. (Comandante may never come back and Hotta’s runs the place, so it seems like Comandante would be losing – but it’s probably a lot cheaper for Hotta to shave herself.)

Goya Kong debuts for that promotion this weekend.

Rey Misterio Sr., who’s been Tijuana lucha commissioner for no more than a year, has resigned from that position. The post says he’s going to be a promoter and matchmaker from now on.

The Gladiatores has interviews with both Oficial AK-47 and Oficial Factor after their cage match.

Rob has highlights of 03/29/11 CMLL.

Links

• APASCO, the sponsor with the Bulldog logo, seems to be sponsoring the run of big AAA house shows in the next couple months. They’re a cement/building supplies company.
• Interview with Silver King Jr., who wants to use wrestling to inspire people not to go into drug violence.
• Luchadors in Colombia is in trouble due to lack of support and sponsorship
• FdT will be on the next DTU show (05/01)
• Cronicas y Leyendas looks back at Villano III vs Perro Aguayo from 1984.
• Rombe Hueso has a photo intensive look back at Masakre.
• Cookie Jar is still advertising itself as the exclusive licensing agent for AAA in North America, though we haven’t heard much of them of late. (This is probably why Masked Republic is non-North America.)
• Apache will punish Atomic Boy. It’s pretty clear Apache’s spending 2012 coaching up the youngest tecnicos; we’ve already gotten a few of these matches and should expect more.
• TKD has a lucha libre vendor review and advice on what you should look for in choosing a mask.
• This is not me.

Lineups

VO (SUN) 04/29/2012 Rodeo El Jefe
1) Ztizan vs Kansuke
2) Drako vs Latin Star
3) Big Mama vs Lady Pantera, Black Fury
4) Cerebro Negro, Herejía, Rey Krimen vs Destello Negro, Halcón 2000, Heavy Boy
5) Bandolero vs Epidemia [GALLI CHAMP]
Bandolero is champion
6) Shyru Dragon vs Joe Lider, Tony Rodriguez
7) El Hijo de Aníbal & Tinieblas Jr. vs Scorpio Jr. & Super Crazy

Anibal running in on the Daga show leads to a match with…none of those people. The two matches directly underneath are straight built up from that show.