08/05 AAA TV Lineup (TripleMania)

AAA TV (SUN) 08/05/2012 Arena Ciudad de Mexico
1) Fabi Apache, Fenix, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Dark Dragon, Mini Charly Manson, Sexy Star, Yuriko
2) Octagón, Semental, Texano, Toscano vs La Parka, Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
3) Electroshock & LA Park vs Jeff Jarrett & TNA wrestler TBA [seconds hair]
Park & Electro represent Joaquin. Jarrett and partner represent Dorian.
4) Chessman & Juventud Guerrera vs Extreme Tiger & Halloween and Joe Lider & Psicosis and Jack Evans & Teddy Hart [relevos suicidas]
losing team meets in the next match with hair or mask (Tiger) on the line. Psicosis will put his hair on the line.
5) Loser A vs Loser B [hair, mask]
6) El Mesías vs el Hijo del Perro Aguayo [AAA HEAVY]
Mesias is the champion
7) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Máscara Año 2000 Jr. [mask]
Silver King will second his brother, though Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. was also at the press conference. Mascara Ano 2000 will second his son.

air date: uh, get back to me on that. No clarification on PPV.

or we could just get the lineup today, that’ll be okay. Lineup via MT.

For a show featuring three apuesta matches, this doesn’t seem as big as TripleMania should be. Wagner & Mascara has been booked perfectly, but MA2K Jr. is nearly as badly cast as Dragon Lee. And the title match has been hampered by Mesias being out of action for the last couple months.

Still, the top two should be enough to carry it. And they’ve got plenty of TV left to help it.

Chessman & Juvi were added to the relevos suicidas match. This is great news, because it means no Vampiro match. It is a random team; Daga & Juvi makes more sense given current angles, and it’s strange they’d bother to do the Daga turn and not continue it here.

Other notable people missing: Cibernetico, Zorro and Hector Garza. Drago has gone from being given a good introduction to bieng lost in the shuffle, so it’s not as big a surprise. I’m really surprised at least two of those guys aren’t on team Roldan (and Electroshock is!) and that it’s a pairs match. Maybe they didn’t want to do another atomicos, but something like Jarrett/Abyss/Chessman/Garza vs LA Park/Electroshock/Cibernetico/Zorro would’ve wedged a few more people on the card. Maybe things will change after Friday’s taping, but they rarely do.

Semental, who couldn’t really get a fair shot in CMLL, makes the TripleMania lineup. That was a good move by him. Octagon & Consejo team by the “we can team up whoever we want” rule, but that and the opener are just getting people on the card matches. Speaking of turns that have gone nowhere: where’s Mari Apache? Something got lost along the way.

Sagrado is new king of the West, Nitro & Sangre Azteca in France, Pequeno Nitro

CMLL (TUE) 07/10/2012 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Espectrum & Ráfaga b Black Metal & Metatrón
2) Barbaro Cavernario, Malefico, Virus b El Divino, Esfinge, Sensei
Malefico & Divino were not originally listed. Virus beat Sensei.
3) Amapola & La Comandante b Luna Mágica & Silueta
4) Sagrado b Shigeo Okumura [OCCIDENTE LH]
Okumura came in with the belt. Seconds were Barbaro & Divino. Okumura won the first with a powerbomb, Sagrado tied it up with a quebradorda, Sagrado won the match and the title with a moonsault in the third. Okumura falls on his third defense.
5) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Super Porky DQ Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto
Mephisto blatantly fouled Atlantis in the third, then took his mask for good measure.

Sagrado is happy to win his first individual championship. He says his next goal is winning the bodybuilding contest in November.

AAA held a press conference for TripleMania at Ciudad de Mexico. It does not appear they announced much that wasn’t already known. No full lineup. It does seem the title match is Perro vs Mesias, no one else involved. My guess is we get a full lineup early next week, after this weekend’s Toluca taping.

French language site has an interview with Nitro & Sangre Azteca about their careers. Some nice tidbits here: Sangre, Ricky Marvin, Fugaz and Sombra de Plata were nicknamed the Fantastic Four when they were having great opening matches in 2000. Nitro says his change of character from Fugaz was because the people in charge thought he was more of a rudo personality and Pierroth was looking for another man in his group. Sangre explains he likes being a rudo better because the rudo leads the action and the tecnico is forced to react. Nitro likes it because the rudos tend to work together and are more of a team, while the tecnicos are trying to steal the spotlight from each other.

The only outlet that reported a Pequeno Nitro & Aereo contract signing yesterday, Kaiser Sports, has an interview with Pequeno Nitro hyping it up. (Not sign of an actual contract.) Pequeno Nitro’s valid point is Aereo is way too new and not good enough to be getting into a mask match. Pequeno Nitro is more concerned with holding up high the name of the Tuareg than Aereo. Since Nitro himself won’t be back from France in time, Pequeno Nitro hopes to have Arkangel in his corner, or one of the other Tuareg.  The article says this is the first of “a series events for the Pequeno Estrellas”, so perhaps Luchas 2000 dream match will still happen. Pequeno Nitro also repeatedly refers to Nitro as “mi padre”. Nitro & Pequeno Nitro being father and son would be something that’s never been revealed before, but it’s said in such an off hand way that he probably just using padre as short for ‘padrino’ (mentor/guy who started him out.)

They also talk to Aereo, who is equally surprised this match is happening so soon. Aereo says this issue started in the ring all the way back in the Bicentennial minis tournament, when he beat Pequeno Nitro in the cibernetico. Aereo says the issue has it’s origins from his first days in CMLL, when Aereo thought about joining the rudo side but was put off by treatment he got from guys like Pequeno Nitro. Aereo figures Nitro’s overconfidence will led to his demise.

Apolo Dantes says the road outside of Arena Coliseo Guadalajara is under repair, which means the TV truck can’t get in, so that’s why their show has been in repeat the last month. That is probably hurting attendance as well. The repair work should be done in two weeks.

Rob has highlights of 11/25/11 CMLL.

Links

Lineup

CMLL (TUE) 07/17/2012 Arena Mexico
1) Bengala & Metatrón vs Ramstein & Zayco
2) Aereo, Astral, Eléctrico vs Demus 3:16, Pequeño Nitro, Pierrothito
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Super Halcon Jr., Triton vs Hijo del Signo, Namajague, Shigeo Okumura
4) Sagrado vs Niebla Roja [lightning]
5) Felino, Puma King, Tiger vs Blue Panther, Hijo del Fantasma, Rey Cometa
6) Diamante, La Máscara, Marco Corleone vs Euforia, Rey Bucanero, Rey Escórpion

That’s the first time Felino and those two sons have teamed up in Arena Mexico. Tiger did not like Felino & Puma last time we checked. This is the most obviously booked match for El Luchador yet (which suggests the Puma King/Rey Cometa feud may turn up there.)

Diamante & Euforia in the main event. Maybe Titan will get on the card if Metatron can’t show. It’s no prize for someone win to right to be in the main event if everyone else gets to do it too (and, unlike Titan, they’re actually in the main event.)

Rey Escorpion feuds with (other) Mascara, Loco Max, Santo canceled, Puebla lucha licensing

photo by CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 07/10/2012 Arena Mexico [CMLL]
1) Camaleón & Soberano Jr. b Camorra & Cholo
2) Titán b Inquisidor [lightning]
Titan replaced Angel Azteca and won in 8:57
3) Dalis la Caribeña, Dark Angel, Lluvia b Lady Apache, Mima Shimoda, Zeuxis
Zeuxis and Mima return from Japan, lose.
4) Cancerbero, Puma King, Raziel b Fuego, Rey Cometa, Triton
run won via Puma foul on Cometa
5) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr. b Niebla Roja, Pólvora, Vangelis
tecnicso took 2/3
6) Ángel de Oro, La Máscara, Máscara Dorada DQ Euforia, Mr. Niebla, Rey Escórpion
Escorpion pulled off Mascara’s mask in the second (when he had Euforia in the campana) and the third (when Mascara was on the top rope.) Mascara challenged him to a singles match.

Titan replacing Angel Azteca is silly. Titan requiring 9 minutes to beat Inquisidor is insane. That one should’ve gone exactly as long as it took to for Titan to flip to the apron, give Inquisidor the stunner, and land his rope flip moonsault. The greater CMLL problem where everyone is on the same level, just happen to be booked in different matches on that specific day, is probably a bigger problem than CMLL not living up to stipulations. Still, Titan should be on about the same level as Hijo del Fantasma after winning the En Busca de un Idolo tournament, and there’s no way Fantasma is wrestling in a random segunda. (They would’ve bumped Fuego or Triton down.) There’s no way Euforia would’ve been used in that match instead of Inquisidor. I hope the gym membership is solid.

In other issues of weird CMLL booking – Rey Escorpion beat Black Warrior, and has since been kicked out of his group, shuffled off to the side, and is getting DQed in every match. He’ll almost certainly lose to La Mascara – instead of Mascara Dorada, who he was feuding with last week – if they get to it (because the world was demanding another La Mascara singles match.) Meanwhile, Black Warrior is the revitalized leader of new trios champs. Was that supposed to work that way?

Espectáculos Del Cuadrilátero and Periodico Digital write about a press conference in Puebla to get luchadors licenses. The actual numbers are interesting stats – there’s 16 gyms averaging 100 wrestlers each, but only 120 luchadors total are currently licensed – but other places have not had much success in actually getting enforcing the license. Psicosis (CMLL), Asturiano and Centella de Oro spoke for the wrestlers, and the real story was there. Oro has been a local star for the last decade, but hasn’t been seen since the beginning of March (in the Loco Max/Virus feud.) At this press conference, Centella de Oro explains he’s retired.

La Copa got an interview with Loco Max, about his CMLL departure. He has nothing but good things to say to CMLL, but says being in independent allows him to be booked more often and not be blocked by different vetoes. Loco Max feels he’s making the best decision for his family.

I’d assume we’d see Loco Max on the next TxT show, since the veto mention seems a direct reference to Hijo del Santo, but it’s been a while since there’s been one, right? They’ve been running them every four-five weeks this year, which would mean last week as the July show, but there’s no July show and no mention of an August show yet. They’ve skipped months, that’s nothing on it’s own, but add on El Hijo del Santo mentioning his TVC Deportes show has been canceled. (Santo is now on YouTube instead and says he hopes to return on a new channel.) That show (at least partly) existed to hype the TxT show; one thing may be related to another. Or maybe they just ran out of people for Santo to interview.

MSNBC has an article about Super Tarin’s promotion, who’s results pop up from time to time but clearly are running more shows we don’t hear about. The story talks about free, outdoor shows with the wrestling ring in the street, focusing on the poorer neighborhoods, according to the story. Big Mama make an appearance! There’s accompanying photos as well.

Annoying criticisms: The lead of the article says they’re running shows for people who can’t afford $22 tickets; outside maybe the biggest shows of the year, you can get into any AAA, CMLL or IWRG show at a lot cheaper than $22. (Though it’s not as convenient as wrestling by your house.) Also, how does one normally charge for tickets for wrestling in a public street? It’s in the street, you can’t exactly stop people from watching. These shows are usually paid for not by tickets, but by festival organizations or a restaurant promoting it’s opening or some other sponsorship deal, though that may not be the case with these shows. But cool pictures!

Juvi held a press conference to hype his Super X show this weekend. He, and the women in the bikini contest, also appeared on Tercera Caida. Octagon is replacing Intocable on the card, so Fuerza Guerrera will fight Octagon once more.

Rob has highlights of CMLL 06/22/12

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Bill has highlights of 07/07/2011 IWRG.

Links

Lucha Libre in Japan

07/11 NJPW: Captain New Japan [O], Bushi & Maximo b Jado, Gedo [X], Tomohiro Ishii 

Lineup

CMLL (MON) 07/16/2012 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger, Lestat, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs King Jaguar, Policeman, Siki Ozama Jr.
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Metatrón, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Puma King, Raziel
3) Ángel de Oro, Máscara Dorada, Sagrado vs Misterioso Jr., Niebla Roja, Vangelis
4) La Máscara, Rush, Super Porky vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto
5) Terrible vs Shocker [CMLL HEAVY]
Terrible is the champion.

Figure Terrible keeps the title here.

CMLL (TUE) 07/17/2012 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Sky Kid & Virgo vs El Hippie & Sádico
2) Robin & Sensei vs Demonio Maya & In Memoriam
3) Black Metal, Gallo, Smaker vs Olímpico, Pólvora, Sangre Azteca
4) Rush & Shocker vs Mr. Águila & Volador Jr.
5) Atlantis vs Mephisto

A match!