Day: March 12, 2014

great match roundup, week of 2014-02-22

thecubsfan 1 Comment

Great/Excellent Matches
AAA on Televisa: 2014-02-22
taped 2014-02-09 @ Centro Civico Nueva Aragon, Ecatepec, Estado de México
Angélico, Australian Suicide, Jack Evans vs Chessman, Daga, Pentagón Jr.: EXCELLENT.

Shows Watched But Nothing Made The List
CMLL on Fox Sports (Mexico): 2014-02-22
CMLL Guerreros del Ring on 52MX: 2014-02-22
CMLL on CadenaTres: 2014-02-22

Matches To Watch Later

IWRG Zona XXI: 2014-02-23
taped 2014-02-16 @ Arena Naucalpan

Hijo De Dos Caras vs Hijo del Lizmark, Trauma I, Súper Nova, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Hijo del Fishman, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Fresero Jr. [La Rebelión de Los Juniors<]/a> – I doubt this is any good but I want to watch in anyway.

Mephisto keeps title over Mascara, GDL beats Peleton, Dallys/Estrellita

thecubsfan 2 Comments

CMLL (MON) 03/10/2014 Arena Puebla [Claudia Rodriguez (Facebook), Periodico Enfoque, Porra Fresa]
1) Akrón, Fuerza Chicana, Hechicero b Black Tiger, Flyer, Meyer
2) Asturiano, Milenium, Soberano Jr. b Espíritu Maligno, Espiritu Negro, Toro Bill Jr.
3) Misterioso Jr., Sangre Azteca, Virus b Pegasso, Rey Cometa, Sagrado
Virus beat Cometa.
4) Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto b Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr.
Mascara Dorada replaced Thunder. Porra Fresa notes this made the match much better. (Yes.) In the third, Mephisto beat Mascara Dorada, Volador beat Mephisto, referee got distracted, Mephisto snuck back in and dropped Volador, and Averno took advantage for the win. Tecnicos demanded a rematch.
5) Marco Corleone, Máximo, Rush DQ Euforia, Shocker, Último Guerrero
Shocker fouled Rush for the DQ.

Rush is going to take a lot of fouls until the 21st. Maybe then too.

photo by Alexis Salazar/CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 03/11/2014 Arena México [CMLL, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Stukita & Último Dragoncito b Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
2) Canelo Casas, Disturbio, Guerrero Negro Jr. b Dragon Lee, Metatrón, Oro Jr.
Canelo Casas pulled Dragon Lee’s mask.
3) Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. b El Rebelde, Hooligan, Sangre Azteca
4) Atlantis, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Misterioso Jr., Pierroth, Vangellys
Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Diamante Azul, Máximo, Titán b Cavernario, Herodes Jr., Rey Escorpión
Tecnicos took 2/3, Maximo kissing Rey Escorpion.
6) Mephisto b La Máscara [MEX LH]
Mephisto is champion. Seconds were Brazo de Oro & Mephisto. Mephisto took the first with a half crab. Mascara won a quick send fall with a mercedora. CMLL recaps says Mascara was about to win with the mercedora, Mephisto escaped, a fan ran around the ring (!?!?) and Mephisto beat Mascara with his own hold to keep the title. Fifth defense.

There’s no photo of the fan run-in. It’s unclear in the recap if it’s was part of the match – but it’s hard to get to the ringside area as a fan and they probably wouldn’t mention if it wasn’t staged. (This would be a no doubter if there weren’t unplanned fan intrusions on AAA shows, but CMLL usually has things more locked down.)

Dragon Lee versus Canelo Casas is not quite Rush versus Negro Casas

@acogdl/instagram

CMLL (TUE) 03/11/2014 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [@acogdl]
1) El Brillante & El Divino b Demonio Rojo & Exterminador
Exterminador replaced Sadico. Tecnicos took 1/3. Brillante was hurt and helped to the back.
2) Leo b Black Metal
Leo won with a counter dropkick.
3) Sky Kid & Smaker b Artillero & Súper Comando [OCCIDENTE TAG]
Smaker & Sky Kid are champions and took falls 1/3 to keep their titles. Second defense.
4) Amapola, Dalys, Princesa Sugheit b Estrellita, Goya Kong, Lluvia
Rudas took 1/3, Dallys beating Estrellita.
5) Negro Casas, Puma, Tiger b Black Panther, Blue Panther, Cachorro
Rudos took 1/3.
6) Marco Corleone & Rush b Shocker & Terrible
Terrible replaced Rey Bucanero. Rudos took 1/3, Shocker using the ropes to beat Rush again. Tecnicos demanded a rematch.

Super Comando & Artillero have been teaming since 2005, almost exclusively as a tag team, and this was their first title match in CMLL. (They held the Queretaro tag team titles for a while, some how.) Give them a couple more shots, they’ll get it.

AAA has an article explaining their ExperienciaAAA tickets (800MX tickets, 200 more than front row, $60 US) – it’s a VIP deal with early entry, autograph opportunities, and a chance to get close to the Rey de Reyes Sword going to the winner of the tournament. The article mentions AAA plans to do this for every major show.

Big Mama finished third on the Mexican version of the Biggest Loser, losing 29 kg (64 lb) in three months. That’s impressive.

Rob has highlights of 01/01/14 CMLL

Segunda Caida reviews a trios from 03/09 IWRG.

Rey Escorpion requests less tongue kissing from Maximo.

Shocker says Rush reminds him a lot of himself when he was younger, but Shocker now has the experience edge.

Zorro says he’s going to win Rey de Reyes. Zorro may be right.

Jinzo is still thrilled to win the NOAH tryout, is unsure when he’ll actually be going to NOAH, and mentions his disappearance from wrestling was just him taking a break.

A story on an 11 year old helping sell souvenirs outside Arena Coliseo Guadalajara.

A preview of Sunday’s Guerra de Leyendas show at Arena Jalisco de Guadalajara.

Lineups

CMLL SANCHEZ (SUN) 03/16/2014 Arena Neza
1) Atomic Star & Rey Neza vs Black Lancer & Motocross
2) Dragol & Seya vs Imposible & Zumbido Jr.
3) Arkángel de la Muerte & Hooligan vs Chakamol & Neza Kid
4) Coco Rojo, Coco Verde, Cocolores vs Broke the Clown, Dave The Clown, Rothen Clown
5) Mistico & Tritón vs Averno & Mephisto

This is where Averno is supposed to be on Sunday, for what it’s worth.

CMLL (TUE) 03/18/2014 Arena México
1) Bengala & Flyer vs Akuma & Cholo
2) Angelito, Astral, Stukita vs Demus 3:16, Mercurio, Pierrothito
3) Dragon Lee, Pegasso, Star Jr. vs Canelo Casas, Hechicero, Puma
4) Tritón vs Sangre Azteca [lightning]
5) Diamante Azul, Fuego, Rey Cometa vs Boby Zavala, Misterioso Jr., Pólvora
6) Cavernario, Felino, Mr. Niebla vs Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., La Máscara

Mr. Niebla returns! The Canelo Casas & Dragon Lee feud is a thing, though Canelo Casas has a couple of ringers.

CMLL (TUE) 03/18/2014 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Virgo vs Demonio Maya
2) Black Metal & Esfinge vs Cancerbero & Raziel
3) Gallo, Leo, Starman vs Camorra, Sádico, Shigeo Okumura
4) Estrellita vs Dalys [MEX WOMEN]
Estrellita is champion. Fourth defense.
5) Atlantis, La Sombra, Super Porky vs Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
6) Marco Corleone & Rush vs Shocker & Terrible

Odd for Dalys to get a title match right before she (might) lose her hair.

indy (FRI) 03/28/2014 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
4) Bestia 666 vs Hijo De Rey Misterio, Inferno, Urzus, Dementor, Tony Casanova, Angel Garces, Animal, Venum Black Jr., Animaniac
5) Bobby Lashley & John Morrison vs Adam Pearce & Chris Masters

So that’s a weird main event. No idea which Hijo de Rey is in that multiman trophy match.

top six stories of the last two weeks

thecubsfan
  1. Rush and Shocker will face off in a one on one hair versus hair match on 03/21 as the main event of Homenaje de Dos Leyendas. Negro Casas had been included in the feud, but had a (worked) shoulder injury the week of the contract signing and it was decided he’d just face the winner of this match somewhere down the road. In reality, Rush versus Shocker is the best drawing match they could make of all the possible combinations. CMLL also announced Dalys versus Marcela in a women’s hair match and the finals of the parajes incriedble tournament for that show, and appear to be building up a trios title match as well. It’s unclear if/when this will air; there’s a rumor Terra will broadcast the whole show but it hasn’t been officially confirmed, and the also rumored TV Azteca show has yet to appear.
  2. AAA also announced their Rey de Reyes card, which surprisingly had very little to do with the TV product they’ve run few months. Built up matches like Psycho Clown versus Texano Jr., Aerostar vs Super Fly, and Faby Apache & Drago versus Sexy Star & Pentagon Jr. (where everyone involved agreed to do the match!) aren’t happening, despite all those people being on the card. The show does have the finals of the Rey de Reyes tournament (Black Warrior vs Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Zorro vs La Parka, three aligned rudos versus one tecnico), Chessman vs Blue Demon for Demon’s title, and a domed cage with the Mexican Powers, Anarkia, and other people pulled in for no obvious reason. The rest of the card has dormant titles being defended in multiman matches with no build, AAA’s standard deal for major shows. There was talk of an iPPV, but does not seem to have come thru.
  3. Octagon, one of the original members of AAA and someone who helped put the promotion together, left the promotion on March 2nd to become an independent luchador. Octagon had written frequently on Twitter about being unhappy in AAA, wanting to be used on TV much more, but it was still a surprise he actually left given his history. Octagon announced the Roldans had given him permission to use the character as an independent and suggested he might return to AAA in time. AAA has not acknowledged the situation outside of removing Octagon’s bio from their website roster.
  4. Sin Cara was listed for many more shows, including a trios in Monterrey in May with includes AAA luchadors and Averno. Averno’s shown up in other future Sin Cara cards too. Sin Cara has said these are all false bookings he’s not agreed to, though there’s some talk they may have actually been agreed to and just weren’t supposed to be announced yet. Averno, still in CMLL, hasn’t said anything about this. AAA announced TV lineups thru mid April, and Sin Cara is not listed as wrestling on any of those shows.
  5. WWL ran a couple more shows in Mexico. It was the usual mix of big names, quiet cancellations (a show in Puebla was quietly dropped, Sabu missing from the shows wasn’t mentioned until days after them), lots of of changes to the card. Both shows drew better than their last outing Monterrey, but fans seemed disappointed with the long shows and billed matches (like Fuerza Guerrera vs Octagon) which didn’t actually happen.
  6. Hijo de Rey Misterio II is no more; the man currently using that name gave it back to Rey Misterio Sr. in a in-ring ceremony on a Tijuana show. The ex-Rey II will now be known as Rey Horuz, while Rey Misterio Sr. introduced a Hijo de Rey Misterio III (the former D’Luxe) as the new person carrying the name. This is going to be vastly confusing to everyone.
  • Sin Cara’s first paid match took place in Tijuana on 03/01. It was a singles match with Black Warrior, and both men looked bad. It didn’t draw anything special either. Both things are concerning, but Sin Cara did get a huge reaction in DF. (Black Warrior also did not impress in his AAA return.)
  • CMLL announcements included a third season of En Busca de un Idolo, where the participants will be determined from a cibernetico on 03/25.
  • A yearly fan interest poll listed Lucha Libre as the fifth most popular spot in Mexico, the same ranking as last year (thought the percentages ticked up a little bit.)
  • Maximo & Rey Escorpion, who’ve been teasing a hair match since Escorpion beat Maximo’s father in their own hair match, reached the finals of the Torneo Increible de Parejas.
  • La Sombra defeated Dragon Rojo to keep the NWA Middleweight Championship in a very good match.
  • Jinzo won a Super Crazy run NOAH tryout and will be headed to Japan, at some point.
  • Mr. Niebla missed a bunch of shows with what was said to be digestive issues, but is apparently returning next week.
  • Friend of CMLL opening match luchador Camaleon posted on Facebook that the tecnico was hit by a truck and hospitalized for a few days, though he’s since returned home.
  • IWRG announced a cage match where Skayde, who’s lost his mask, will be risking the same mask. Others who’ve recently lost their hair get a chance for another hair cut.
  • Gronda II returned to AAA TV, for some reason.

CMLL on Fox Sports (Mexico): 2014-02-15

thecubsfan

 

Herodes is great!

recap

Gran Alternativa, Block B!

Espiritu Negro: Espiritu Negro’s Shocker imitations trust was even more random than what Herodes did earlier. Espiritu didn’t really get to do much else, but he took a couple good bumps and seemed to go up easy for Sh–ocker’s finish. You can’t get much out of this.

Canelo Casas: stood on the apron for a very long time. Never seemed in danger of falling off the apron. Didn’t sell enough for Rush’s shots at first, eventually was hit harder by Rush. Some guys really got the short end of the stick.

topes everywhere

Black Panther: Black Panther also didn’t get to do a lot to do, but worked well with Azul in the little they got to do together. Black looks like a smaller size Azul.

Star Jr.: Star Boy’s whole match here was leading up to one big dive, and he had every single problem on that. That was too. Bad. Another day.

Dragon Lee: Everyone who doesn’t follow CMLL closely must be so confused about there being a Dragon Lee and Místico at the same time. (Was the IP so valuable they had to reuse the name?) Dragon Lee’s dive looks good, the hanging German suplex is going to end badly at some point. I didn’t feel like the original Dragon Lee had a lot of charisma, but this one just seem more like a random guy in a mask.

teamwork!

Hechicero: Hechicero was limited from doing too many crazy moves on the open and Barbaro seemed to screw up a move he was trying in the second, but he still generally set up UG well and bumped for the técnicos. Short tournament matches aren’t really the best use of him right now, and every match was a short tournament match.

Nieblasault!

Barbaro Caveranario: Barbaro and Azul trying to do spots was not the greatest idea; they struggled at the beginning and I don’t think the finish went quite right. There was a messed up spot with Hechicero in the second match, where UG seemed to take Barbaro around and talk to him after it. Barbaro did go impressively out of the ring soon after. Mr. Niebla seemed super motivated to work with him; he barely does the moonsault, but pulled out one to the floor here. Barbaro’s willingness to do the splash to the floor is impressive, but Herodes being eliminated by it was never explained. Barbaro’s win would’ve felt bigger if he actually got it by a countout at the end, but again the rookies played second fiddle to the existing stars.

caverman splash

Herodes: Herodes doing Shocker’s entrance behind him was the greatest thing. Herodes doing a snake dance upon facing Reaper was not bad either. He’s still got to improve on the wrestling part – he almost elbow dropped Reaper in the face to end the first match and his timing with Rush wasn’t great – but he’s good enough on the rest that other people should be able to help. He’s willing to get beat up pretty bad. I don’t know if I really trust the CMLL doctors if they let Herodes, who was in spasms selling the Rush Driver, to wrestle another match on the same show. He didn’t sell it at all in the second match, and they didn’t really play off the two partners being against each other. (Two guys being put on the same team one week and facing each other for the first time the next week is annoyingly familiar.)
match 7 gif: 804