taped 2013-11-29 @ Arena Mexico Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Shocker vs Euforia, Tama Tonga, Último Guerrero: A by the numbers to continue a by the numbers feud. Crowd did boo strongly after UG beat Atlantis with Atlantis’ own move, but otherwise weren’t into this feud. The mask match actually needs to be a while away, because they’ve got do something to heat it back up at this point. Everything else was competent if unmemorable.
Mr. Aguila
Mr. Águila vs Psyco Ripper, Volador Jr., Mistico, Valiente, Máscara Dorada, Kráneo, La Máscara, Blue Panther, Morphosis in a cibernetico match: an Estatas del Aire trios for the first half (and not a good one), and then Volador overcoming the odds for unclear reasons. Announcers did their best to downplay the turn and re-frame it as the rudos being forced to fight each other. It was not accidental editing mistake, it’s a plan. Aguila is in the bottom five of luchadors in CMLL on some nights. This was one of those nights. There are better cibernetico and probably will be better ciberneticos in a couple weeks.
CMLL (WED) 01/01/2014Arena Mexico [CMLL]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico b Acero & Aéreo
2) Puma, Raziel, Sangre Azteca b Pegasso, Sagrado, Sensei Rudos took 1/3, despite being DQed in the second for excessive violence
3) Súper Halcón Jr. b Hombre Bala Jr., Dragon Lee, Oro Jr., Stigma, Robin, Guerrero Negro Jr., Canelo Casas, Black Panther, Hijo del Signo, Cachorro, Herodes Jr. [Copa Jr.] Elimination order went Robin (Hijo del Signo), Herodes (Dragon Lee), Dragon Lee (Cachorro), Hijo del Signo (Super Halcon), Oro (Guerrero Negro), Black Panther (Stigma), Stigma (Canelo Casas), Cachorro (Super Halcon), Hombre Bala (Guerrero Negro), Guerrero Negro (Super Halcon), Canelo Casas (Super Halcon).
4) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b La Máscara, Máximo, Valiente Peste Negra took 1/3.
5) Mephisto b Atlantis [MEX LH] Mephisto came in as champion and took 2/3 to keep the title, the last with a Super Devil’s Wings. Seconds were Sangre Azteca & Valiente. Third defense.
In a world where legends routinely book/demand finishes with a dozen different outs to protect themselves, Atlantis appears to have lost completely clean, even taking a rough move to finish it.
No real idea how the tercera worked out in terms of quality. It appears Black Panther’s sons are actually tecnicos but worked on the rudo side here, though maybe they’ll clear that up eventually. They are not calling him “Dragon Lee La Nueva Era”, which is just disappointing. If Canelo Casas is the son of a non-wrestling Casas family member, how did he get into this tournament? It’s not Copa Nieto or Copa III. (It also scarcely matters. )
IWRG (WED) 01/01/2014Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr)] ***IWRG 18th Anniverasry Show***
1) Emperador Azteca & Sky Ángel b Fulgor I & Fulgor II
2) Dragoncito De Oro & Mini Rey Cometa b Mini Dr. X & Mini Jocker
3) Bombero Infernal, Centvrión, Dr. Cerebro b Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo, Tupac Amaru Jr. Tupac Jr.’s debut. Cerebro beat Diablo.
4) Alan Extreme, Golden Magic, Veneno vs Canis Lupus, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Oficial AK47 Canis Lupus replaced X-Fly. Tecnicos took 1/3. Veneno and Alan beat Canis and AK-47 for the win.
5) Cien Caras Jr., Súper Nova, X-Fly b Lizmark Jr., Vampiro Canadiense, Villano IV Turned out to be Lizmark Jr., not Sr. X-Fly replaced Pirata Morgan. Rudos actually ran out and attakced the tecnicos from the last match (X-Fly & Super Nova still feuding with Alan & Veneno) and the main event tecnicos made the save. Tecnicos took the first, but the rudos took the last two, with Cien foul on Vampiro in the third.
Turnout was better than usual, though not as much as the double apuesta match next week. There was a previous Tupac Amaru, who wrestled in the 70s and 80s. The new one has very identifiable tattoos (assuming I have the right guy.)
Rey Lobo took Super Brazo‘s hair in Arena Neza yesterday. There’s no photo of Super Brazo bald, and it’s unclear if he actually got his hair shaved. Freelance and Neza Kid appeared in the same match at the same time, so someone in Neza has access to a cloning machine (or they gave the gimmick to someone new.) Attendance seemed to be good, better than non-tribute shows have done in the building of late.
Psycho Circus beat Consejo in Arena Lopez Mateos on their New Year’s Day show. Eterno is listed as wrestling in the undercard, which would be his return to action (and sooner than expected, it may just be an oversight.)
WWL indeed has dates for 2014: 03/07 in Arena Xalapa, 03/08 in Plaza de Toros el Pinal in Teziutlan, Puebla, and 03/09 in Plan Sexenal. Carlito, Chavo Guerrero, Sabu, Blue Demon Jr., Hijo de Dos Caras, Sicodelico, Monster Pain, Los Mamitos, Zumbi, Skayde and Zeuxis are listed as appearing. Those are AAA taping venues and WWL’s worked with AAA in the past,but getting CMLL’s Zeuxis for these shows suggests they won’t be working with AAA this time.
Porra Fresa estimates Arena Puebla as being around 80% full for Stigma/Camorra, which would be around 2200 tickets.
CMLL (TUE) 01/07/2014Arena Mexico
1) Metálico & Robin vs Ramstein & Zayco
2) Camaleón, Oro Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Artillero, Canelo Casas, Súper Comando
3) Hombre Bala Jr. vs Raziel [lightning]
4) Negro Casas, Puma, Tiger vs Black Panther, Blue Panther, Cachorro
5) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Shocker vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Euforia, Niebla Roja
6) Rush, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Virus
Still a little vacation weirdness (and some general Tuesday weirdness.) Fourth is family versus family; we don’t know what level Black Panther & Cachorro will end up, but this suggests higher than usual for novatos and throws everything else off. Barbaro returns up all the way in the semimain because there’s no usual third match for him to be in. Second match could be a lot of fun.
There are possibilities for title matches to come out of that main event – it’s rare to see Virus in that spot, and Rush, Titan and Mascara ought to be defending the trios titles at some point – but all of the tecnicos will be in Japan the next week so that doesn’t work.
Ari Romero, Jesus Nunez, and Pedro Septien all passed away
Oficial 911 lost his mask and X-Fly lost his hair in the main event of the Arena Naucalpan 36th Anniversary show. It was the final of a three way mixed partners double apuesta match, with Golden Magic & Hijo del Pirata Morgan getting the win. 911 was the last of the Oficials trios to hold on to his mask.
Negro Casas versus Titan is the surprise final of Leyenda de Plata. The field was missing a lot of usual names (because of vacations or other reason), but neither appeared to be the favorite and Titan was a huge underdog. The final is Friday or the winner faces Volador next Friday, depending on which part of CMLL you’re listening to at that time.
Stigma defeated Camorra for his mask this past Monday. The outcome was no surprise. The show seemed to draw well for the hometown guy getting the big win, despite Camorra being an opening match Mexico City rudo of no significance before this feud. It was Stigma’s second mask win of 2013. He’s still an interchangeable midcard in CMLL Mexico City, but might actually be a local draw in Puebla now.
Mistico hurt his shoulder again in a 12/17 trios title match. The injury was enough to prevent him from rejoining the match until the finish and seemed to be bothering him after the match. That match was Mistico’s last match before a previous scheduled break, and Mistico has yet to reappear. Mistico could be fine and just still on (needed) vacation, Mistico could be hurt and unable to wrestle, Mistico could be anything in between – no one knows, or at least no one’s said anything. Mistico is again the focal point of this year’s FantasticaMania – he was supposed to be last year, but hurt the same shoulder and missed all the shows. NJPW and CMLL have unusually not announced any matches for the shows, but also haven’t warned about any injury.
AAA announced their January/early February taping schedule, in familiar locals of Naucalpan, Toluca and Ecatepec. The Naucalpan taping, on 01/17, has a place keeping card as normal for this time of the year. The tapings are every other weekend, leaving plenty of weekends for any US taping – but still nothing officially has been said about the US group.
DTU’s 6th anniversary show saw Ciclope lose his hair to Rocky Santana, and Kaleth lost his mask to Rey Celestial. Jinzo won the vacant Alto Impacto title, and Angel o Demonio won the Consagrado championship
Ricky Marvin defeated Guadalajara independent luchador Tony Rodriguez in the main event of the latest ChilangaMask card. Fulgor I picked up the Mexico State welterweight championship, while Extreme Tiger defeated Impulso in the semimain event
Besides the Leyenda de Plata, Negro Casas also defeated Volador on a Sunday show. Volador’s been featured since his tecnico turn but doesn’t seem to be meaning much to the turnout yet. The lingering Sombra/Volador issue has been sidestepped for the time with Sombra going on vacation soon after his returning from Japan. This Friday will be the first time they’ve been on the same card together since Volador’s turn.
Flamita lost his third of the Dragon Gate Enter the Triange Gate championship to wrap up his and Rocky Lobo’s long tour with the promotion.
El Dandy announced a retirement tour.
Heavy Metal won the championship of his own promotion.
taped 2013-12-03 @ Arena Mexico Metálico & Molotov vs Disturbio & Guerrero Negro Jr.: below average opener, when it really should’ve been better than usual given who were involved. Metálico and Disturbio didn’t mesh well and the rudos abandoned any pretense of a competition to make the comeback a little easier. Crowd rightfully didn’t care about any of this.
named 3:16 because those are the vertebrates he breaks?
Dark Angel, Estrellita, Marcela vs Amapola, Dalys, Princesa Blanca: Not the best executed match, but an pleasantly ambitious one. Dalys has all sorts of new ideas now that she’s a ruda – she and her sister in law appear to have worked a lot on double teams – and this was one where they were trying a lot of things not all of it actually worked but the effort was strong. It was a more interesting women’s match than most from the last few months, at least.
boost shove!
Blue Panther, La Máscara, Thunder vs Terrible, Tiger, Vangellys: Thunder crossed over into hilariously bad when he botched the one spot he had in the first two falls. The other five guys were fine. Blue Panther versus Tiger would be a good feud for Tiger even if he lost, but it would require CMLL doing non-title midcard feuds. Mascara beat the heavyweight champion, doesn’t really matter.
Thunder has trouble with a suplex
Atlantis, Máximo, Shocker vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Rey Escorpión: quick but more intense match than last week, with a lot of talking back and forth after the match. Rey Escorpion and Máximo seem to be two of the better talkers in the promotion, at Máximo was creative here. Chiquito would definitely be sticking with Escorpion in other places, will be interesting to see if it gets over here. The non-Maximo/Escorpion segments dragged, but they did a better job of building interest to the hair match.
