AAA-Televisa: The second half of Ecatepec – opener, Chessman/Daga/Pentagon vs gringos, Rey de Reyes qualifier
== CMLL ==
FOX: Gran Alternativa final, Estetas vs Guerreros, and maybe one more match to round out time.
52MX: They’ve only been showing two matches, so maybe the title match and the tercera from GDL (Zavala/Camorra/Sangre vs Stigma/Stuka/Triton)
C3: Trios title match.
TVC Deportes (Puebla): Volador vs Mr. Aguila, Marcela vs Tiffany, TRT vs Marco/Rush/Thunder
Lucha Azteca: Gran Alternativa, Block B, only shorter.
Terra Friday: Azul vs Terrible, Marcela vs Dallys in trios, minis, an opener you probably should skip
Terra Sunday: Delta vs Zavala, Averno/Dragon Rojo/Mephisto vs Mascara/Marco/jailbird Sombra
== Other ==
IWRG-AYM Sports: maybe Wednesday’s show, maybe last Sunday’s show, maybe this Sunday’s show? I’m guessing Wednesday. They’ve already aired a show with 4/5 from Sunday, and are airing one this moment with 1/2 from Sunday (so Oficials vs Alan/Veneno may just not turn up, or they may just repeat the whole thing Sunday.)
Noches de Coliseo: Angel Justicero vs Vaquero Romo?
IWL: on week? One guide says they air Tuesday at 12:01 AM (give or take a minute), another doesn’t list them at all. They’ve been airing reruns for a while, though.
Nothing this week from traditional TV. The last two days of FantasticaMania fit in this week. I didn’t do normal recaps for them, but I’d have Mascara Dorada vs Volador as excellent and Rush vs Nakamura as great, though I’m not as sure about that.
I forgot about FantasticaMania for the last week of shows, but there’s nothing I’d put there from Day 1 and it doesn’t sound like I need to watch Day 3. I do have Day 2 sitting around and will give it a look later on.
Shows Watched But Nothing Made The List
AAA on Televisa: 2014-01-25
CMLL Guerreros del Ring on 52MX: 2014-01-25
CMLL on CadenaTres: 2014-01-25 – I didn’t have anything as standout great, but every single match on this show was good
CMLL on Fox Sports (Mexico): 2014-01-25
Matches To Watch Later
Didn’t see anything this week
IWRG (WED) 02/19/2014Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), The Gladiatores]
1) Matrix Jr. b Galaxy Galaxy’s first match since July (injury?)
2) Mini Black Abyss & Mini Rockerito b Dragoncito De Oro & Mini Multifacetico Debuts for Mini Black Abyss & Rockerito.
3) Amazona, La Sádica, Zurdog b Atomic Star, Cristal, Emperador Azteca Atomic Star replaced Maiden, who would’ve been debuting here.
4) Alfa, Dragón Celestial, Fulgor I, Imposible, Omega, Power Bull, Seiya, Sky Ángel DQ Aztlán, Cheyene, Destino, Jorge Kebrada, Kanon, Onix, Prodigio, Vertize [Copa High Power] Rematch. This time, it came down to Fulgor and Kanon. Fulgor twisted Kanon’s mask, Kanon couldn’t see, kicked wildly, and fouled the ref. Referee DQed Team Skayde and gave Team FILL the win. Again, thew inners would not accept the trophy that way, so they proposed a 4 students & Skayde vs 4 students & Black Terry match.
5) Eterno, Fuerza Guerrera, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000 b Máscara Púrpura, Relámpago, Súper Nova Rudos took 2/3, Eterno beating Super Nova with a Styles Clash for the win. Eterno challenged Super Nvoa for one of this belts.
Eterno vs Super Nova and Skyade/partners and Terry/partners both sound like fun matches. Attendance was regular for the first Wednesday show.
AAA’s big press conference today turned out to be a deal with Mexico City Sports Department to run Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera regularly. AAA announced they’d run 12 shows in the building and run lucha libre classes there as well. AAA will help with other Mexico City sports projects, including the city marathon. A special mask was presented for that marathon with more to come.
This is 12 shows in 2014 alone. That’s a lot of shows for a building that size, and a lot for Mexico City. Counting TripleMania, AAA has run about 2-3 taping a year in Mexico City proper, with a few just outside the city. I wouldn’t expect all 12 to be tapings; this would be the easiest way to bring back the AAA Fusion concept, but that’s not the TV show they’re focused on launching. I’d expect most shows will take place on the same nights as CMLL shows. CMLL should be pushed by this to improve their shows, but don’t often react that way. This is a great deal for Mexico City fans and the Mexico City luchadors; the new hotel deal is nice, but being able to get back to your own bed a few more times is even better.
There was no specific mention of AAA having building exclusivity, but they promoted it as “the official headquarters o f AAA.” My guess is TxT and the other smaller events who’ve run in that building will have to find some place else to go (Plan Sexenal?) AAA seems to be running classes for it’s luchadors in Star Gym, and I’m not sure if those classes would move over to Juan de la Barrera, or if those would be different classes entirely.
The building deal is a big deal for AAA, but not the biggest deal for long. Last night’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported Sin Cara would be at Friday’s show and he’d be the mystery person with Psycho Clown, Texano and Psicosis in the Rey de Reyes qualifier. Sin Cara showing up on Friday is no longer a big secret – both Marislea and Joaquin tried to evade the question when asked at yesterday’s press conference, but couldn’t help cracking a smile – but giving away his first match without promoting it is more of a surprise. (Tickets are still available; this strategy seems like a mistake if if they don’t sell out.)
If Sin Cara’s in the qualifier, he’s definitely winning in to put him in the final with Perro Aguayo Jr. and two other people who do not matter as much, no offense. That’s probably your TripleMania main event right there – if AAA gets Perro to agree to lose his hair to Sin Cara in August, then they can sit on their hands for the next 6 months and still sell out Arena Ciudad de Mexico.
The WON also reports La Sombra’s “vacation” was actually CMLL pulling him from shows for working the Sin Cara Gym show, according to Sin Cara. The report says all CMLL wrestlers were told not even attend the show – Sin Cara says La Mascara & Rush had to back out of attending because of the warning. The Sin Cara quotes sound like they were taken from an interview, but I haven’t seen one. Guessing it was a magazine. There’s no explanation of how Magnus – who everyone seems to think was the guy under the Astro Boy mask – was able to work on the show without getting in trouble. (Magnus actually seems to be working more often of late.) SuperLuchas mentions Tony Salazar was also at the show.
In non-Sin Cara news, the WON mentions AAA wants to get Blue Demon under contract; he’s been working a per date schedule to this point. Mesias is said to be out for a month more, which makes him iffy at best for Rey de Reyes. And there was a push to get guys in better shape and prohibit wrestling in t-shirts starting in Spring; there’s a lot of guys who are wearing shirts would would have to make changes quickly. Some of those guys in t-shirts are top guys, which makes me skeptical that’ll actually be enforced.
The WON also mentions Rey Misterio Jr.’s contract comes up in two months. He’s obviously a great fit for the AAA US project, giving them a very recognizable US name to anchor the group. Like Sin Cara, there’s no question AAA would find some way to get him under contract if he became available. WWE hasn’t invested much with Rey since his latest return from injury, but this is going to be a test case to see how concerned WWE is about AAA.
SuperLuchas posted a report two days ago saying El Hijo del Santo’s neck condition is worse than thought and he will retire at the end of the year. This report says surgery would end his career, so he plans on resting for six months, wrestling twice in August and November (maybe in Tijuana and Palacio de los Deportes), then getting the surgery. The report is unsourced, which is unusual for SuperLuchas and Santo, so I held writing this expecting him to confirm this in his Record column. Instead, he didn’t reference it. Maybe it’ll come out at next week’s film premier instead. The idea that Santo would retire isn’t too far off from his original statement, but there are specific ideas about how many matches and locations I hadn’t seen previously. It does explain why he’s been visibly traveling so much, having obviously not had the surgery on the schedule he originally stated. The article says Santo would manage his son and open a wrestling school, which sounds like a more realistic goal than starring in films. I’m sure we’ll hear more about this in a few weeks.
In talking about their trio title win, Negro Casas says “it was not planned for us to win as a trio.” What an odd thing to say. Felino and Niebla talk too, but Casas is all over how this proves he’s going to beat Rush when it comes to it. Kcidis draws a victorious Peste Negra.
Octagon vs Fuerza Guerrera has been added to the WWL show in Mexico City. Octagon appears to be booking his own scheduled outside of AAA.
CMLL (TUE) 02/25/2014Arena México
1) Flyer & Oro Jr. vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
2) Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma vs Espiritu Negro, Guerrero Negro Jr., Hijo del Signo
3) Starman vs Hechicero [lightning]
4) Rey Cometa, Sagrado, Super Porky vs Misterioso Jr., Pierroth, Vangellys
5) Atlantis, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Cavernario, Herodes Jr., Mr. Niebla
6) La Máscara, Máximo, Tritón vs Averno, Boby Zavala, Mephisto
Main event Triton & Zavala! I totally forgot Triton was a Gran Alternativa runner up until I was working on this year’s tournament for the wiki. Zavala won last year and has gone slightly up. New Peste Negra is back together after the old one just won the trios titles, which makes CMLL sense. Fourth matchup doesn’t seem right at all. Third is a good exhibition for Hechicero that no one will see.
CMLL (TUE) 02/25/2014Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Metatrón & Smaker vs Demonio Maya & Exterminador
2) Astral, Shockercito, Último Dragoncito vs Demus 3:16, Mercurio, Pequeño Warrior
3) Cachorro, Fuego, Stuka Jr. vs Cancerbero, Maléfico, Raziel
4) La Sombra, Rush, Titán vs Negro Casas, Shocker, Último Guerrero
5) Marco Corleone vs Euforia
Euforia vs Maroc should be a site. Tercera is usally the TV match and looks good. Fourth should be interesting too.
10-21 Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Rey Escorpión for the CMLL World Trios Championship (Puebla) – very good, borderline great, probably a great if I saw it earlier in the year or (more definitely) if the anniversary match wasn’t already on the list. Místico was better in this match in points, but but the trios title defense from the Anniversary just felt like a more epic match. This one ended a few minutes before I was ready for it and didn’t break out much new, just did what they usually do very well.
top rope ‘rana for the win
11-03: La Sombra vs Volador Jr. (Puebla) – A three fall match where they weren’t very interested in the first two falls, and where the third fall was just dives and kicking out of finishers. The downside of CMLL singles matches were way there were many with no story except for guys doing big moves so the other guy could kick out for about seven minutes, and this is strongly in that group. There was no build to them kicking out, and there was a lack of drama as they did the kickouts – there’s no struggle to do the moves, they’re always going to be set up for the next trademark move, though at least there was a moment where Sombra was able to hit two moves in a row. It’s numbing often and it was numbing here.
Rush dropkicks for everyone
11-11: Negro Casas vs Rush and Shocker (Puebla) – GREAT. A video game threeway in terms of involvement; this wasn’t one of those matches where one guy sits out for a minute while the other two have a normal, but all three guys getting involved frequently. It was the right style for this matchup, which needed to be a brawl and stayed that way the whole way. Shocker was up to the challenge of the other two, and kept up with their intensity. Match was shorter than I’d like but it was good action for the time. Rush’s pose just before the foul was hilarious.
easy spider German suplex
11-17: Aero Boy, Astro Rey Jr., Titán (CMLL), Latin Dragon, Magnifico (Chilangamask) – Finally, science proves an unblocked chair shot to the head is less painful than a Canadian Destroyer, so everyone can just stop doing unblocked chairs shots to the head now. (I’m not sure “cumulative damage” exists in Mexico, quiet.) This was truly a secret Titan/Aeroboy/Latin Dragon three way with guest appearances from the other two. Elimination matches are fun and all, but the logical person in me wants everyone to switch to one fall to a finish for multiman matches so everyone can do all the pinfall break ups they want without looking like they don’t understand the rules of the match. Also, people who really don’t want to get pinned will no longer have to take weird countout eliminations. If I could actually write about the match itself for a second, it was a fun multiman match with exactly what you’d want out of a match like this – big moves and some dives. It was good with all five guys but the three man back and forth was the best stretch. I’d want to see a Titan/Aeroboy match after seeing this, which is good since they did one of those.
Arez gets crushed
11-17: Rey Cometa vs Impulso, falls count anywhere [Chilangamask] – Rey Cometa had Impulso scouted! Get your knees up on his big dive to the outside and win (and hurt your knees, but a win is a win.) I liked the stuff in the ring even though it was their dives which were the bigger selling point; the experienced major promotion guy came off as such, and Impulso looked good just for being able to hang with him. The chops in here where fierce, as was Cometa’s reversal of the satellite armbar into a Michinoku Driver. Good match.
not sure who took the worst of it
11-17: Belial vs Ricky Marvin – EXCELLENT. Belial had no chance at winning this. Ricky Marvin knew this, Belial knew this this, everyone on the crowd knew this was a mismatch. Still, Belial wants to win this, so he surprises Ricky to start and goes after him hard until Ricky stops him and slows him down. Belial gets in a few more shots, but Ricky out does him every time is more frustrated at the referee for not ending this than by anything Belial can do. Belial just continues to survive, then throws bombs every chance he gets, bombs the crowd believes once or twice might actually finish the international star. Belial pushes Ricky farther than he thought he would have to go on this day, and so Ricky has to murder him at the end. It was a good way to die.
