IWRG (WED) 02/19/2014 Arena 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.
LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update and a recap of 02/01 AAA.
Rob has highlights of 12/03 and 12/10 CMLL.
This week’s Tercera Caida has Cibernetico and a late arriving La Parka as co-hosts. The behind the scenes video is also up.
Eric R reviews Uprising: Lucha Libre from 02/1/14 and is going to their show this weekend!
Gallo talks about his feud with Arkangel.
La Mascara & Cachorro will be on the Turiluchas bus this Friday.
Videonemesis has a 40 minute interview with El Dandy about his career and retirement tour.
This Sunday’s Arena Vidal show will raise money for the local Red Cross, who’s ambulances are breaking down.
Report on Arena Fusion’s anniversary shows press conference.
Hijo del Santo talks about training to wrestle with Blue Demon.
Bio of Nuevo Laredo luchador Maravilla Lopez.
Lineups
CMLL (TUE) 02/25/2014 Arena 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) 02/25/2014 Arena 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.
Discover more from luchablog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
the monthly show deal might be pretty big news although we don’t know its details, the Gov. is th biggest money spender and it could be they (like Nayarit did) have bought the shows in full and they’ll be free or the gov expects to make a profit from these shows…
maybe el Todo x el Todo had that deal before? ITOH, it could be AAA taking the risk there (or have a local promoter, who would have shown at the press conference), although it sounds unlikely, or at least the DF gov. is lending the place for free or something(??), else, no need to make a press conference and say they’re partners, it might have something to do with Hijo del Fantasma and his dad, in Tercera Caida Hijo said CMLL wanted to start charging the comision for the examaining of lucha prospects in Arena Coliseo, so they went elsewhere – the lucha training lessons and the DF administration being associated with AAA might be a way at getting back at CMLL, we’ll get an idea if Silver King shows up and no one asks him to take off his mask now O_o
FUSION show being back could be in the works (Ciber and Parka Jr in Tercera Caida might mean something), but it would be better if AAA ran 6 match cards, with 2 being for FUSION and 4 for the main show since the FUSION shows didn’t seem to draw that good (only seen about 10 of those shows so I don’t know if they picked up later), it could be better if they make a new show that airs live on the internet, they need to show they can run live shows (like CMLL does with Terra) to build some goodwill and then charge for the iPPVs
With the press conference, the mask deal for the marathon and the lucha libre classes, AAA seems more like a building tenanted where the other ones were just renting for a night. There probably is some deal for getting 10 (or 12) shows at once, but I think AAA really wanted to run this building for logistical and nostalgic purposes. They wouldn’t have put a big show in Tepic or any taping in Guerrero Negro if they weren’t paid for, but I’m pretty sure AAA wanted to be here for at least few shows this year and it evolved into a much bigger deal. I think you may be onto something with the idea of moving the licensing tests to that show.
My impression on the cause/effect on Fusion is unhappiness between TVCD and AAA led to the end of the Fusion tapings, instead of the other way around. Fusion shows never did draw, even at the end – there may not be enough good there to be worth investing more into it.
I think it’s much more likely we’ll see a steady amount of Dark Matches (which could use a fancier name – AAA Internet Fan Exclusives or something) than the return of Fusion.