CMLL (FRI) 01/17/2014 Shinkiba 1st Ring, Tokyo, Japan [Keeping the Spirit Alive, NJPW, Strong Style Spirit]
***CMLL NJPW FantasticaMania 2014***
Attendance: 300
1) Fuego, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. b Shigeo Okumura, Taichi, Taka Michinoku
Cometa Spanish Fly on Okumura. Taichi & Taka acted as if they were going to invite Okumura into the Suzuki army, but turned on him instead.
2) Mephisto & Vangellys b Máscara Dorada & Titán
Mephisto pinned Titan after Devil’s Wings. Mephisto said he’d do the same to Mistico tomorrow.
3) Rey Escorpión b Máximo [CMLL LH]
Rey Escorpion keeps the title via Aguijon Mortal. Seventh defense.
4) Mistico & Rush b Niebla Roja & Último Guerrero
Rush Driver on Niebla Roja. Mistico said he’s preparing 100% for tomorrow’s title match.
5) La Sombra TLDRAW Volador Jr. [lightning]
expected time limit draw, with the two flying around the arena before hitting the ten minute mark. They both asked for five more minutes and were told no. They kept fighting anyway, Volador climbing in the balcony area of the building to dive onto Sombra. Stuka led the other tecnicos out to finally break up the fight. Volador declared this a win and proof he was better than Sombra. Sombra said he was done with Volador and onto Ultimo Guerrero – and then wants to fight Tanahashi, Naito, Nakamura and Makabe.
Sounds like another fun show. 300 is about a sell out in this building. Wish there were good 300 seat buildings to run lucha libre in Mexico.
That’s not the last CMLL show in this particular building this weekend; it’s also the site of the Marclea/Ray title match I completely forgot about until REINA posted the press conference this week. That show, being promoted by Ray, is on Sunday at 5:30 (a few hours after NJPW/CMLL’s show ends.)
I’ve posted a full schedule of the start times for this weekend’s internet shows here. A lot of content!
Tonight’s AAA show brings back to Perro Aguayo/Cibernetico feud. It’s their first match after Perro went back (or stayed?) rudo back at Guerra de Titanes. The Naucalpan crowd has always been pro-Perro, so he, Texano and Daga will probably get the cheers tonight against Cibernetico, Mesias and Fenix in the main event. Semimain has Psycho Circus vs La Secta. Tercera has the Mexican Powers vs The Infierno Rocker. There’s a Joe Lider talking about the match and he doesn’t acknowledge there’s a mystery wrestler in the match. That’s normally strange, but pretty consistent with the build of this match. I don’t think the surprise is meant to be a big deal, and it’s definitely not being treated like one. AAA will be posting results on Twitter and Facebook.
Tonight’s Arena Mexico show is based around this week’s omnipresent Atlantis/Niebla rivalry. It’s not a super attractive Terra broadcast, with the segunda match – Pegasso, Sagrado, Triton versus Misterioso, Puma, Virus – looking like the best of what we’ll see. Terra broadcast begins at 8pm CT with the pregame interview – should be some work to come up with stuff to talk about this week – and the matches start at 8:30.
CMLL’s next FantasticaMania show takes place Saturday evening in Japan and early Saturday morning for those of us in this hemisphere. The big matches are Mistico challenging Mephisto for the Mexican Light Heavyweight Championshp (which promises a title change) and Rush versus Nakamura (which promises violence and maybe the best match on the tour.) This show and Sunday’s are both in Korakuen Hall and include a few more NJPW talents than the previous shows. Both will be on uStream for $15USD or 1500 Yen. (198 pesos to 191 pesos – you save a little bit using the ustream.com/njpwjp channel.)
I was originally going to run a chat tonight for the Saturday early morning show, but it makes more sense to do it with the Saturday evening (Sunday noon in Japan) show. That’s normal people hours, so we’ll reschedule to them. I still plan on doing live results for Saturday and I’ll be around Twitter as well.
I threw together a schedule for all these shows, and I’m relatively sure I got the time zones. It’s a lot of CMLL lucha in a short time, plus the nice bonus of AAA returning to action. If you’re going to cut things out, it’s a halfway decent week to skip the Terra broadcasts.
Mistico I posted a photo of himself, where he’s added a lot of muscle weight. All he posts on Twitter is about going to the gym and going to eat, maybe that’s all he’s been doing. Adding muscle on a beat up body is almost never a good idea. In probably related news, Apolo Valdes hears Mistico I will have a big announcement in upcoming days.
This week’s WON mentions AAA is intersted in bringing in US indy stars, with the names Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards (both who now appear to be with TNA), ACH, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish mentioned as people they’re known to have interested in. I assumed it’s for the US show, but that’s not actually said.
Hijo del Santo’s column is about the Huracan Ramirez character, talking about the movies, Daniel Garcia, and the current guy who’s been showing up in TxT. (The current one was in the hospital with liver issues at Christmas, but is doing better.) Santo says the current guy – “took over in 2001, 18 years of experience, son of a luchador” – has worked hard before becoming the latest Huracan Ramirez and is bringing dignity back to name. Santo also says there were 22 offical and cloned Huracan Ramirez inbetween Garcia and the new one. I have no idea how he came up with that number, but it’s a believable one.
El Sudcalifornia has a story on the AAA TV taping in Guerrero Negro. It’s there as part of a 60th anniversary celebration of the local salt company, among a group of activities for families, and will be completely free to attend. The promoter also says an advertising agreement has been signed with AAA.
This week’s Tercera Caida included an interview with El Dandy. The after the cameras video is also up.
Rob has highlights of this past year’s TripleMania.
Guerrero Maya is giving away a mask in paper El Grafico. Fuego en el Ring has an interview with him.
WWL announced the Clown Corporacion will be added to their March DF show. On Twitter, they mentioned Zeuxis is off the card.
Chilanga Mask added Kaientai vs Masada vs Aeroboy vs a mystery CZW wrestler to the 03/23 show. (This guy has a guess on the mystery person.)
Arena Coliseo Papa Milo in Nuevo Laredo opens tonight. Sangre Chicana and wrestlers from this arena read to kids yesterday. This article has a bio of local main eventer Silver Tiger (a Black Tiger/Silver King fusion) who’d like to go to CMLL.
Tercera Caida is now holding a ballot for match of the year (on the right side.)
There’s a benefit show this Saturday in Rio Bravo.
Lineup
DTU (SAT) 02/01/2014 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Benji Maverick, Gremlin, Kastigador, Vengador vs Aramanis, Energy, Hellboy, Lanzeloth
Queretaro vs DTU
2) Arkangel Divino, Artikus, Kalibus vs Jhonky, Mr. Maldito, Pequeno Cobra
3) Slayer Pack vs Fly Warrior, Septimo Dragon, Hacker [DTU AI, #1 Contenders]
winner gets a shot at Jinzo’s title
4) Crazy Boy & Pesadilla vs Ángel del Misterio & Black Fire and ? & Príncipe Halcón and Chica Ye-Ye & Hormiga [#1 Contenders, DTU TAG]
listed as winner gets a shot at DTU’s tag team titles; champions are unknown
5) Aero Boy & La Magnifica vs Drastik Boy & Keira
6) Cíclope, Miedo Extremo, Onita Santana vs Ángel o Demonio, Ovett, Paranoiko
7) Flamita & Rocky Lobo vs Kaleth & Violento Jack and Jinzo & Rey Celestial
Main event will use two count pinfalls instead of three.
Full card for opening day show. Confused by the tag team #1 contenders match. Way back in 2008, there was a Crazy Boy/Ultimo Gladiador vs Jack Evans/Teddy Hart vs Aeroboy/Violento Jack match for DTU titles, where results never turned up. The last team is the only team together, and Violento Jack & Aeroboy would probably have been letting people know they were tag team champions for six years if they had won. I dunno. (Also, odd the #1 contenders match is not even the top tag team match on the show. Not even the third top.)