Inferino en el Ring, AAA in Xalapa, Sombra vs Nakamura, Veneno vs Emo Extreme

IWRG (THU) 07/18/2013 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), IWRG]
1) Power Bull b Kiuby
Tiny Kiuby’s less than successful return. One fall.
2) Alan Extreme & Bugambilia b Freelance & Mr. Leo
3) Imposible, Picudo Jr., Spartan b Black Terry, Golden Magic, Saruman
Straight falls when Saruman turned on his partners again and feuded with Golden Magic.
4) Apolo Estrada Jr., Danny Casas, Heddi Karaoui b Emo Extreme, Extreme Tiger, Veneno
Emo and Veneno had problems and turned on each other by the end of the match. Danny Casas appears to have Radioactivo’s pants.
5) Eterno, Súper Nova, X-Fly b Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II
FdT took 2/3, Nova sneaking in a foul on Trauma II and X-Fly & Eterno beating Trauma I.

Tonight is CMLL’s Infierno en el Ring, a show built around a 10 man cage match. There are possibly good matches on the undercard, and they’ll push at least one feud to get people interested in shows going forward, but it’s largely about the cage match and the outcome.

Shocker, Negro Casas, Blue Panther, Averno, and Rush are completely safe. They all can be brought back again down the road for much bigger singles matches. Rey Bucanero is unlikely to lose; my impression is the apuesta match Diamante Azul & Bucanero teased for Arena Puebla was them trying to make something happen, but not a plan that got pushed off. It’s too quick into the Revolucionarios for Rey Escorpion to suffer a major loss, so he seems safe as well. That leaves three decent possibilities:

Maximo:  if CMLL wanted to turn Rush 100% rudo, the best way is betraying the last man left defending him. Rush could leave Maximo behind in the cage to lose, or he could beat himself and walk off a rudo. Maximo’s also noticeably grown out his hair, still the easiest way to spot a hair match loser. Still, this would require a lot of guys changing sides or opinions on the rudo side; it’s something that would be easier done in a promotion built around singles matches. A rudo Maximo teaming with a rudo Rush might be better for both of them.

Brazo de Plata: is Brazo de Plata. He has been in cage matches, he has escaped from cage matches. It’s usually early, with many people helping him escape, and they’d likely do the same deal tonight. It’s actually been two years years Brazo de Plata last lost his hair in CMLL, a long stretch for him. CMLL’s been less eager to put him in apuesta matches this decade.

Mr. Aguila: pretty clearly was going to lose his hair to Shocker this past April before whatever happened happened. Super  Porky has the rep as an apuesta match loser, but has a better CMLL winning percentage than Mr. Aguila. Aguila’s had three apuesta results in Arena Mexico – mask loss to Ultimo Guerrero, hair loss with Damian to Bucanero & Tarzan Boy, hair loss again to Rey Bucanero. Aguila is billed as an international star and is good when motivated, but he’s not really treated any more of the star than the other Invasors.

I still lean towards Aguila, though I’m less certain about who’s going to beat him. Maximo and Aguila would be the finish with the most possible drama, so it’s the best possible outcome I can root for.

I have no great feel for the turnout out today. CMLL’s hyped the cage match as strong as they’ve hyped any of the cage matches (and generally seem to be building up Friday night big matches a lot stronger than in years past.) The cage match in Arena Puebla did surprisingly well, but the most recent cage match in Arena Mexico did nothing special.  Ticketmaster says the first ring (the closest rows) are all sold out, and you’re way back in the fourth ring if you want to get to buy four tickets. I will guess 9,000 only because I feel I’ve got to make a guess, but I put no weight on it.

CMLL Gaceta has their preview of the show. No lineup change mentioned this time. Rush says Shocker and Negro Casas have targeted him because the only way they can revive their careers is facing Rush. Rush is against everyone (including Maximo) and everyone is against Rush. There will be a Chica Vuelta, Vuelta dance performance. Or maybe two.

Mistico, Averno, Mephisto and Super Porky are also scheduled to be working a Tinieblas FULL show in Mexico City tonight. That show starts at 8pm. If I was CMLL, I would want the guys in the main event cage match in their building way ahead of time. Mephisto is in the CMLL tercera and the FULL tercera, so I’m not sure it’s even possible for him to work both with leaving early from one or arriving late for another.

AAA also is busy tonight, taping TV in Arena Xalapa. The DF taping in two weeks seems like the next major happening show, but that leaves room for good matches on this show. The main event is another Cibernetico versus Perro trios match, with Mesias & Parka on the tecnico side and Texano & Chessman on the rudo side. The mixed tag team titles are in play; given Halloween’s erratic appearance schedule with AAA and his romance with Mary Apache being ignored for months, there’s a decent chance of Faby Apache & Drago winning the titles tonight. The semimain is Jack, Angelico and Fenix vs Steve Pain, Parka Negra and Pentagon, and could be really good if Parka Negra keeps up with the other give guys. Eita makes his AAA TV debut in the tercera, teaming with the Perros del Mal against the Secta, and the Atomic Boy/Apache feud continues on in the opener.

I’m planning on doing live results and a chat for these shows, though there is a chance I may not be able to start on time. The coverage will hopefully start around 8:30 with the CMLL show, but keep an eye on Twitter for updates. AAA in Xalapa is listed as starting 15 minutes later. We’ll attempt to cover both shows and talk about whatever.

Sombra’s IWGP IC title defense against Shinsuke Nakamura will take place before the next time I write one of these posts. The NJPW iPPV starts at 3AM CT, and the title match should be around 5AM. Nakamura remains the heavy favorite to win the title back for NJPW, especially since Sombra’s not in the G1 and Nakamura can’t get the win in that tournament. It’s not impossible for Sombra to win, and Sombra keeping the title in Mexico would open up interesting possibilities (Sombra vs Rush), but this is another Sombra match where the outcome of the match is less important than the performance he puts in. If Sombra can hang with a top NJPW guy in a big match on a NJPW show, then he may get more of those opportunities down the line.

I had wanted to watch this live, but I’ve got too much going on. I have to choose either watching it or getting decent sleep. I like Sombra, but I like sleep better. It is weird/amusing/sad I’m willing to pay $25 USD to watch a show on my computer (mostly) only to see one CMLL luchador, and CMLL still isn’t offering a way to watch all their luchadors for any amount of money unless I come to the building.

AAA did some clean up on their roster page yesterday. Konnan’s profile, removed when he was storyline fired back in February, is back up and the latest Mascarita Sagrada has gotten his own page. The profiles for long gone Teddy Hart and recently gone LA Park are removed. Dr. Wagner Jr., who was just announced as back on TripleMania, is also gone. A recent WON mentioned Wagner’s status is back up in the air. Wagner’s not any upcoming TV tapings and has only worked one spot show for AAA (last Wednesday in SLP), but he hasn’t worked a lot of shows since TripleMania and hasn’t made any public comments about his status this time around. That’s probably going to change in the next few days – Wagner’s on a LEGEND show tomorrow in Arena Lopez Mateos and a mid-week AAA spot show in Arena Neza.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are introducing a luchador mascot named “D-Backs Luchador.” La Mascara thinks that’s a generic name. There’s lucha promotions around Arizona, and the bio page mentions him wrestling for one of them, so he’s an actual luchador and not an actor in a mask.

Rob has highlights of 12/04/12 CMLL.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Links

• A 22 year old lucha libre promoter in McAllen, Texas putting on free shows for children.
• Rompe Huesos looks back at El Santo.
• Porra Fresa likes the Infierno en el Ring cage match build.
• La Catedral says angry luchadors beating up poor luchadors to get rid of them is a bad idea.
• Bio of Ludark Shaitan.
• Lucha libre press conference looks like a lucha libre press conference.

Lucha Libre in Japan

07/19 NOAH: nothing interesting in results (except maybe for ex-AAA Black Buffalo being in a match with Pesadilla), but they did announce Ricky Marvin would defend the XNL (Chile) World Championship versus Pesadilla on 07/24.

Lineups

Still no lineup for next Tuesday at Arena Mexico.

IWRG (SUN) 07/28/2013 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sky Ángel vs Fulgore II
2) Centvrión, Freelance, Golden Magic vs Alan Extreme, Dragón Celestial, Imposible
3) Extreme Tiger, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Cerebro Negro, Heddi Karaoui, Saruman
4) Dinamic Black vs Oficial 911 [WWS WELTER]
Dinamic Black is champion. First defense.
5) Black Terry, Pasion Kristal, Veneno vs Bugambilia, Fuerza Guerrera, Oficial AK47 [lumberjack strap]
6) Devil Rocker, Machine Rocker, Soul Rocker vs Eterno, Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Súper Nova

Some good matches here (and, on the other side, that lumberjack strap match.) Hope the second match airs but unsure what AYM will do with a six match show.

IWRG also announced the 08/11 show would be the annual Festival de las Mascaras, where older luchadors wear their masks for one night. They plan to honor Pierroth.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.