IWRG (THU) 05/30/2013 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Power Bull b Atomic Star
2) Alan Extreme, Diosa Maya, Imposible b Cristal, Rayo Tapatío I, Saruman
Straight falls. Alan beat Saruman with a GTS.
3) Apolo Estrada Jr., Black Terry, Temerario Infernal b Centvrión, Chico Che, Golden Magic
Black Terry replaced Tomahawk (over in Evolve.) Golden beat Terry with a 450 splash, but Chico Che missed the big plancha on Temerario on Bombero and was pinned for the loss.
4) Dinamic Black, Trauma I, Trauma II ?? Canis Lupus, Factor, Oficial 911
No finish listed. Rudos took the first, tecnicos took the second.
5) Hijo de Pirata Morgan b Eterno [IWRG IC MIDDLE]
Eterno took the first with a Styles Clash, Morgan submitted Eterno in the second, and took the match and the title with a back superplex. Eterno falls in his second defense. Hijo de Pirata Morgan is the 33rd champion.
Hector Garza was honored before the main event
I don’t know anything – always! – but I suspect this might be the start of Eterno working more with AAA and less with IWRG. He’s look good in his appearances there. Meanwhile, Hijo de Pirata is triple champion – both sets of trios titles here as well as this middleweight championship.
The only picture of the semimain has the rudos standing over the the tecnicos, so they probably won – or the picture was taken from earlier, who knows.
Tonight’s main event features Shinsuke Nakamura defending the IWGP Intercontinental championship against La Sombra. It’s a rematch from FantasticaMania, where Nakamura dropped Sombra with a Bomb-Ye in a pretty good match. This match is Nakamura’s 9th defense. No Mexican luchador has won a IWGP championshp since Mistico’s 3 month Junior Heavyweight title reign back in 2009.
It’s unlikely Sombra wins the championship tonight. There are some NJPW reasons for it – they seem to have a year long plan with Nakamura and this title – and there’s the usual weirdness in how NJPW and CMLL luchadors are used against each other (CMLL can squash the NJPW novatos, everyone else in NJPW beats them), but I mostly think Sombra’s not winning for the same reasons I don’t think Mascara Dorada is beating Negro Casas on Sunday. CMLL realizes it has some young talented stars which they could build around and, instead of protecting and building around them, they just put them in main events to fail. Dorada losing to Negro Casas would be weird, but no weirder than everything that happened with Rush and title belts a few months ago, and really no weirder than Sombra losing to Negro Casas in the first place. Mistico, who is not great but still should be treated like Mistico if they’re going to give him the gimmick, losing to Ultimo Guerrero really made no sense. It’s not just that the results are bad, it’s the matches shouldn’t be happening if those are going to be the results.
NJPW may have asked CMLL just to do a title match with Nakamura while he’s in Japan, and let CMLL pick the person themselves. Sombra’s not the one to sacrifice in this situation, even if NJPW asked for him. Maybe CMLL did get to make that choice – and that’s how it went from Rush to Sombra suddenly? Which still means they’re a little off. Nakamura is only has 12 days left in his tour after tonight and nothing else is in motion; this is surely his only title match.
Nakamura and Sombra should still be an excellent match (and a three fall one, if I understood their Tercera Caida interview correctly), and we’ll be thrilled for Sombra if he wins. And if Dorada wins on Sunday!
The undercard also includes Shocker’s return to Arena Mexico. He teams with Super Porky & Blue Panther versus Rey Escorpion, Mr. Aguila and Averno, where everyone but Escorpion & Shocker were making hair match challenges. That probably means Escorpion & Shocker get to make theirs tonight and are added to the cage match lineup. CMLL’s also probably due a related press conference next Thursday to talk about their June plans.
CMLL Gaceta has their preview of tonight’s show, noting Lluvia’s return. Maybe she’ll actually be back this week! The En Busca de un Idolo matches are Fuego vs Sangre Azteca and Stuka Jr. vs Misterioso (which seems certain to end with a Rosa Driver from the middle rope.)
En Busca de un Idolo totals, thru week 2
171 Valiente
131 Vangelis
113 Hijo del Fantasma
111 Stuka Jr.
———
79 Sangre Azteca
76 Tiger
64 Fuego
61 Misterioso
Those are my numbers; CMLL’s official numbers seems to have mistakes on Fuego and Valiente‘s most recent judging scores. A huge gap has opened up between 4th and 5th, and there might not be much drama next week. Valiente is all but officially thru and it’s going to take great movement for the other three to be in danger. It’s the poll that’s spreading everything out; if you take out those points, Tiger (who gets no votes) is in 4th instead of Stuka and the gap between 4th and 5th is only 9 points. If you went only by the poll, Misterioso would be top 4. His last place standing is a testament to how bad he’s been at everything else.
There was a tribute to Hector Garza on Tuesday’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. The Arena Mexico one on Tuesday night did not have luchadors in the ring, but a tribute video on the big screen. Maybe they’ll do it again tonight.
LuchaWorld has a new podcast interviewing Kevin Kleinrock. I’m not sure I linked to their Hector Garza tribute, but it’s worth checking out.
Rob has a rare early Hector Garza US match and CMLL 10/12/12.
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