Weird stuff going on all over the place.
CMLL
Galavision/Television: In the US, this is pre-empted this week and maybe next week. (And then? Who knows.) They’ve been so steadily cutting back on lucha libre hours over the last 18 months, nothing would surprise me.
For those who do get the show, you get more from Escorpion/Warrior, another Bala/Halcon tag, and Yujiro’s return.
FOX: bumped from Saturday due to Champions League final, but should still have the minis trios match and a grab bag main event.
C3: more Psicosis vs Dorada
52MX: more Dragon Rojo vs Sombra
LATV: the Pequeno Reyes del Aire, well worth checking out if you haven’t seen it already.
GDL: the Estrellita vs Amapola match you’ve been wanting/fearing.
Puebla: gone! Not on the TVC Deportes lineup.
Other
AAA: easiest one yet, the left over from Leon: Argenis/Atomic Boy vs Gran Apache/Tito Santana, Mari Apache vs Fabi Apache, and Consejo vs Wagners. This could be a really fun show.
ACM: Ninja vs Garza vs Elegido vs Toscano
IWRG: the show going on right now, with a Mexico vs Japan cibernetico.
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Galavision recently went through a series of changes. They dumped one director and replaced her.
Sadly things got worse when Televisa and Univision worked things out last year.
Suddenly, CMLL was back on Galavision and the show was not a week late like AAA always was. Whatever airs on Saturday in Mexico airs the same day in the US market on Galavision. That poses a problem for Galavision. They now have to tape the show off satellite, edit it, and have it ready for broadcast within hours. It’s a pain in the ass and the results are ugly as we’ve seen. Imagine if they had AAA too? It’s too much work, for so little reward.
One would think that as the Univision family expands(Galavision, Telefutura, and now Univ. Deportes) there would be more time for Lucha. The opposite appears to be true.
Live sports is the biggest enemy. Univision is acquiring more live rights than ever, for a number of reasons. Being on good terms with Televisa is the main reason. Wanting to stunt growth of Fox Depotes and ESPN Deportes is the other reason.
CMLL lives in their own world.
AAA is the group that has to get back on Galavision. Dorian is a visionary. He’s young and aggressive and has the better product for ratings. AAA has it’s faults, but CMLL is a lost cause when it comes to creativity.
I hope CMLL is off and AAA gets back on.
“Dorian is a visionary.”
No matter what valid points you may or may not have made above – you lose all credibility with those 4 words.
@Rob: There have been some good things under the Dorian regime.
He got Wagner. Did The Parka feud. Improved the lighting a little bit. Aggressively pursues new sponsors. Goes to trade shows seeking new business to expand his company. Got the Regional Televisa deal when he realized Galavision/9 wasn’t going to give him a steady timeslot.
Every promoter does things we disagree with. Dorian seem to know where he wants to take the company.
Galavision is still showing a Santo movie next week, but they’re showing a MLS game instead of CMLL. Didn’t somebody once say those Santo movies were getting the same or higher ratings than lucha?
At least, this is what’s on the DirectTV guide.
@New Talking Wall: They could air CMLL on Sunday every week if they really want to. Galavision seems to think that CMLL has to premiere on a Saturday because of the dated promos. Sometimes they do mention a Saturday house show, but it’s rare. To be safe they air CMLL the same day as it airs in Mexico, simply because they don’t know any better.
CMLL can not air in place of the Santo movies. Too early. CMLL airs in Mexico City and is taped off satellite by the Galavision gods in Miami. They edit the show for broadcast later in the evening. It is frustrating to see old movies getting priority over new content.
@LLL: In a perfect world, couldn’t Televisa just send them CMLL tape when they’re done with post production (Thursday/Friday) and give Galavision plenty of time to edit it and air it whenever they want?
@thecubsfan: I think the problem is that Galavision is going to be sloppy no matter how they get the content.
CMLL itself can be confusing because it opens with no introduction. Usually a lightning match, then the formal introduction. That is so amateurish and not the fault of Galavision.
Last week they did a horrible job of editing the woman’s match. Galavision is going to make mistakes either way. I think it’s always better if the episodes air the same weekend instead of being a week behind. That was the case for years and I think we all hated it.
@thecubsfan: btw- Why does CMLL air the intro after the first tv match? I assume, based on listening to the intro, that they sometimes tape the intro not knowing what the tv opener will be. That’s a stupid reason for formatting the show the way they do.
@LLL: I presume they want to start the show right away with action instead of talking heads, figuring it’ll catch people’s attention better as they flip thru the stations.
@thecubsfan: I am pretty sure it’s because the intro is taped at Arena Mexico on Friday, not knowing for sure what/if a third match will air. Sometimes the opener mentions all three matches, sometimes they just list two.
That’s why the opener on Galavision sometimes has one less commentator then the rest of the show. Commentary is definitely done during the week for the tv opener.
Leave it to CMLL to come up with a good concept, lightning match, which is perfect for the main show, and find a way to not air it.
@thecubsfan: Yes because when I’m flipping through channels and see a Hombre Bala/Super Halcon match I know I’m glued to my seat!:P
It is pretty awful how they’ll air the opener and then the talking heads will talk about “Coming up later today – (insert the opening match)!”
92.7 La Que Buena is saying 4pm start for the Lucha show on Sunday in Queens.
FMLL.net and laboomny still say 1p
I figure the radio ads and ticket giveaways are correct, and someone changed the start time to give everyone more time to get to Queens.