CMLL held a press conference to announce the teams for this year’s En Busca de un Idolo tournament. (I’ve posted this press conference here.) All matches will air on Terra, and possibly on TV. CMLL didn’t mention a specific TV deal this time.
The separate group Leaders and Trainers seem to be combined into one roll. Negro Casas and Virus will each take care of a team, as they did last year. The teams were determined by picking colored ping pong balls out of hat. Naturally, the four people with black ping pong balls ended up with Casas and the ones with the balls went with Virus.
Team Virus
Guerrero Negro Jr.
Hechicero
Star Jr.
Super Halcon Jr
Team Casas
Barbaro Cavernario
Cachorro
Dragon Lee
Soberano Jr.
Casas has a very young quartet.
JCR said everyone will fight everyone. In past years, that’s meant the entire group faced off each against each other the first three weeks. It sounded like he said this time all eight guys will have matches against each other in the first round, which would add another month to this tournament, but I may have misunderstood. Otherwise, the format appears to have stayed the same from last year: lightning matches on Tuesday and Friday, with judging, decisions and public voting (via enbuscadeunidolo.com) making up the points. They haven’t updated the website yet, so they may have made other quiet changes we won’t know about until they post the rules.
The judges will be Tirantes, Shocker, Mr. Niebla and a fourth judge which will change for every match and will not be known until the match happens. (That sounds to me like they’ll just be grabbing whoever will be free on those days, rather than pulling someone from all Tuesday Guadalajara shows until June.) Tony Salazar will be a consultant for both teams, maybe replacing Jose Luis Feliciano in the occasional role of overseer of this tournament, but appearing in far more skits.
Not a lot more announced here. They announced that the Arena Coliseo Anniversary show will be on 04/06 and the Arena Mexico announcement will be on 04/27.
Nothing’s been announced, but Maximo/Escorpion is the feud they’ve been running on Sundays. Last year’s Arena Mexico Anniversary show appeared to have a plan of Mr. Aguila versus Shocker, only for Shocker to get casted on La Isla instead. They did the hair match when he came back, and replaced it in April with Rey Cometa and Namajague. There doesn’t seem like any thing specifically set up for that spot this year, but we might start seeing something this Friday.
Maria del Angel passed away yesterday. She suffered a stroke on Sunday, while at a show in Arena Jalisco in Guadalajara where she was to be honored. Maria del Angel, usually a ruda, was part of the large wave of luchadoras in the 80s when the ban on women’s wrestling in Mexico City was lifted. Maria doesn’t appear to be one of the bigger stars of that group of women – I can’t find an apuesta match for her, she got a few title matches but never won them – but the women who broke that barrier were treated as stars for a time. Maria worked in both UWA and CMLL; I believe the Mexican luchadors for a while were booked through the leader of the women’s group, instead of directly by the promotions (similar to what was done in the US), so it was whoever the group of women were working with that moment. Maria was married to Bestia Salvaje, who passed away in 2008.
CMLL (MON) 03/24/2014Arena Puebla [Porra Fresa]
1) Black Tiger, Star Jr., Tigre Rojo b Espiritu Negro, King Jaguar, Siki Ozama Jr.
2) Astral, Asturiano, Eléctrico DQ Blue Center, Espíritu Maligno, Saurón Straight falls, Espiritu fouling Asturiano. Apuesta match challenges followed.
3) Stuka Jr. b Virus [lightning] Total mat match, except Stuka won with the splash.
4) Felino, Puma, Tiger b Black Panther, Blue Panther, Cachorro double armbar on Panther to win it.
5) Kráneo, Morphosis, Ripper b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja Invasors attacked the Guerrero and ripped their masks, then took falls 1/3 to win clean.
6) Volador Jr. b Mephisto Mephisto and the Invasors passed each in the aisle and had words. Two quick falls, a long third fall, then the Invasors came back out, distracted Mephisto and set up a Volador win. Invasors attacked Mephisto (and Volador in some reports), with the Guerreros running out of the save.
The Invasors helping Volador get a win makes no sense if you think about it for two seconds. CMLL explains this Invasor aggression by saying “it appears the Invasors are regrouping to gain ground.” They have no ground to lose, guess they might as well as trying gain some. There’s a lack of actual regrouping, as you’ll see in the lineup. I like also how that CMLL written article comes up with a quote where Niebla Roja says he has no idea why this feud is happening. That’s compelling.
photo by Alexis Salazar/CMLL
CMLL (TUE) 03/25/2014Arena México [CMLL]
1) Apocalipsis & Inquisidor b Bengala & Leono
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Molotov, Sensei b Artillero, Espanto Jr., Súper Comando
3) Pegasso, Stigma, Stuka Jr. b Kamaitachi, Sangre Azteca, Virus Stuka beat Virus (again)
4) Cachorro, Cavernario, Dragon Lee, Guerrero Negro Jr., Hechicero, Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. b Black Panther, Canelo Casas, El Rebelde, Espiritu Negro, Flyer, Herodes Jr., Metálico, Oro Jr. [cibernetico] Busca de un Idolo determination match. Winning 8 moved onto the tournament, starting next month.
5) Averno, Ephesto, Tiger b Máximo, Mistico, Super Porky Rudos took 1/3, Averno pulling Mistico’s mask for the win. Averno wants a title shot against Mistico.
Guessed right on Mistico/Averno! Possibly better than Mephisto/Mascara.
Terra kicked off it’s second year of coverage of this En Busca de un Idolo tournament by airing the qualifying cibernetico. This seems like a late decision; the announce on Terra’s site list it at just before 5pm CT. I didn’t see that article until 11ish, so no recording here. If only I had access to a real time method of communication which would’ve informed me of such events. (I’ve probably returned from self-imposed exile by the time you read this.) They’re running a press conference today to introduce everyone – I don’t expect much news but will update if needed.
The eight for the tournament seem good enough, if not exactly what I wanted. Hechicero made it, so fun times ahead. Having both Cavernario & Soberano sets up an invalidation of Gran Alterantiva, but they haven’t done much with that as it is. I think this is a big deal for Star Jr., who doesn’t seem set up to get a lot of chances in CMLL but has a great breakout chance in this tournament. I really don’t want to see Guerrero Negro Jr. doing pointless Canadian Destroyers, but I guess they won’t be in the openers now. CMLL may think they’re helping Dragon Lee by putting him in this tournament, but it probably won’t end well for him.
CMLL (TUE) 03/25/2014Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Esfinge b Rey Trueno
2) Demus 3:16, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito b Astral, Eléctrico, Último Dragoncito Rudos took 2/3.
3) Gallo, Leo, Starman DQ Camorra, Sádico, Shigeo Okumura Tecnicos took 2/3. Camorra beat Leo with a foul in the first, got caught doing the same in the third.
4) Blue Panther, Sagrado, Valiente DQ El Cuatrero, Sansón, Universo 2000 Debuts in this build for Cuatereo and Sanson. Tecnicos took 2/3. Cien Caras accompanied his sons, and ran in to attack Blue Panther in the third fall.
5) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Atlantis, La Sombra, Volador Jr. Rudos won in straight falls when Sombra & Volador didn’t get along. Usual mask vs hair challenges.
6) Rush DQ Shocker Rush took 1/3, the last when Shocker was DQed for excessive violence.
Those top four finishes were DQ, DQ, teammates attacking each other, DQ. All the goofiness had some reason to exist (except for the Cien Caras one), but they collided badly on this show.
Sunday’s Arena Coliseo opener has now been turned into a trios match, with Aereo & Pequeno Warrior added.
CMLL (MON) 03/31/2014Arena Puebla
1) Paris, Robin, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Ares, Guerrero Espacial, Hechicero
2) Asturiano, Eléctrico, Último Dragoncito vs Blue Center, Espíritu Maligno, Pierrothito
3) Stigma vs Boby Zavala [lightning]
4) Averno, Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Niebla Roja vs Kráneo, Morphosis, Mr. Águila, Olímpico, Ripper [cibernetico]
5) La Sombra & Volador Jr. vs Mr. Niebla & Negro Casas
Free win for Niebla & Casas! Olimpico versus Gran Guerrero is a battle for the ages, but the Invasors seem outgunned here. Stigma vs Zavala should be fun, and it looks like Asturiano versus Espiritu Maligno is an actual feud. HECHICERO.
CMLL (TUE) 04/01/2014Arena México
1) Bengala & Flyer vs Akuma & Ramstein
2) Acero, Astral, Pequeño Halcón vs Demus 3:16, Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico
3) Metálico, Oro Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
4) Pegasso vs Hechicero [lightning]
5) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Boby Zavala, Misterioso Jr., Pólvora
6) La Sombra, Mistico, Tritón vs Averno, Mephisto, Puma
Another good looking show. Main event should be interesting. Hechicero prepares for two months of lightning mach with one which won’t air. Metalico didn’t make the tournament but gets a rare tercera.
CMLL (TUE) 04/01/2014Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino vs Évola
2) Black Metal, Esfinge, Metatrón vs Canelo Casas, Disturbio, Hijo del Signo
3) Dark Angel, Estrellita, Silueta vs La Comandante, Tiffany, Zeuxis
4) Leo vs Camorra [hair]
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Titán vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero and Black Panther, Blue Panther, Cachorro and Cuatrero, Sanson, Universo 2000
Cuatrero & Sanson stick around here. Fuego en el Ring had a brief interview with them, where they mention they’re being taught mostly by Universo 2000. They are doing the Leo/Camorra hair match after all. It seems like doom for Camorra, but Leo is 0-1 in hair matches. Comandante is back from Japan.
Shocker lost his hair for the first time in the main event of Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. Rush got the big win and said he wanted to finish things with Negro Casas next. Marcela defeated Dalys in a women’s hair match where Dalys was said to take quite a beating. Dalys would like a title shot anyway. Neither of those two outcomes are that surprising; the biggest upset was CMLL’s March show apparently outdrawing AAA’s March show. Atlantis continued his domination in the annual incredible pairs tournament, winning for the fourth time in five years, this time with Euforia. Maximo & Rey Escorpion fought with each other instead of Atlantis’ team and seem likely to have a hair match this summer. Cien Caras was honored (which appeared to be the favorite part for long time fans), and his two soon to be debuting sons were introduced. This show was the first CMLL Friday night show not to air at all since August 30th. CMLL and Terra spent the week avoiding answering questions about the status of the broadcast all week, until CMLL finally off hand mentioned on Facebook the show wasn’t airing about 60 minutes before bell time. This upcoming Friday’s show is back on the Terra website, so it appears it was a one time plan to not give away the major show for free and force everyone to come to the arena to see the show, only no one knew this until much too late to actually go to the show.
– La Parka won his fifth Rey de Reyes tournament in the main event of the show the same name. Steve Pain lost his hair in the dome cage match and the two champions who showed up (Daga and tag champs Angelico & Jack Evans) kept their titles in four way matches. The show was notable for who didn’t show: Elegido (????), Juvi (foot injury), and Blue Demon (maybe trying to get US residency.) Demon was scheduled to defend the Latin America championship, and almost definitely keep the Latin American championship, but challenger Chessman defeated Villano IV instead with the idea of doing Chessman/Demon some other day. Attendance seemed down from the year before, which was blamed on the cloudy skies. The plan for making this an iPPV, never officially announced, did not happen.
– Mistico La Nueva Era oddly didn’t appear as billed in the scheduled main event the Friday before Dos Leyendas. Sin Cara claimed his replacement was pulled for being drunk, Mistico claimed he doesn’t like to drink, the listing of him on the show was an internet typo and wasn’t at the show at all. It didn’t appear to be an internet typo at all, but maybe it Mistico actually wasn’t scheduled since Volador replaced him to kick off the latest Sombra/Volador feud.
– The AAA/El Rey show will start taping in August to air in September…or that’s just the current plan, according to the Wrestling Observer.
– Chilanga Mask’s first anniversary show had a bloody main event of Aero Boy, DJ Hyde, Masada and Kaientai in a death match. Aeroboy won, and was invited to the CZW tournament of death. Like with Rey de Reyes, important people didn’t make it – the Young Bucks were scheduled for a three way tag but missed the show for unclear reasons. CMLL’s Rey Cometa, also supposed to be in that tag match, ended up booked in Arizona instead, and was replaced by Mascara Dorada as part of two special singles matches.
Sin Cara continues to be weird and not to wrestle much. At least one those should change about a month from now, beginning with shows in late April and early March. Shows in that timeline Sin Cara previously dismissed as fake are now being promoted by the same Sin Cara as real. (It appeared to be a WWE no-compete issue.)
Oficial AK47 lost his hair to Tony Rivera in IWRG’s annual loser advance cage match show Guerra de Golfo. The rudos had been trying to cost Black Terry the match but were foiled and were forced to face each other instead. Skayde, who had been wrestling here with his mask, wrestled the match unmasked.
Super Nova won a title in Naucalpan.
Stuka won a title in Guadalajara
Mephisto kept his title in a La Mascara in a battle of campanas.
Estrellita keep her title in Guadalajara, the start of a very bad week for Dalys.
Monday’s Mephisto versus Volador Puebla main event ended with the rarest of all possible CMLL finishes – no finish! The Invasors upset the Guerreros in the rudo versus rudos semifinal, then ran in and attacked Volador after what had been a brief match. The Invasors attacked Mephisto as well, and the Guerreros had to make the save.
Some CMLL nights are obviously important, like Friday night’s show. (By the way, our friends at wrestlingdata.com are going with 13,400 as attendance for that show, by the way, which would be far ahead of Terrible/Rush, actually beats the raging inferno that is AAA and Rey de Reyes, and throws into question how important Televisa TV for at least big shows, and now this paragraph really needs a restart.)
Some CMLL nights are obviously important, like Friday night’s show. Some nights are sneakily important. Today is a sneakily important day. Tonight’s show has a Gen14 vs Various Other People cibernetico, where the final eight luchadors advance to strangely important En Busca de Un Idolo tournament. CMLL holds a lot of tournaments which don’t mean anything for the winner, even Tanahashi winning the Universal tournament is not going to mean anything except being listed in a name of winners – we won’t much hear about the incredible pairs tournament for 11 months, they aren’t bring the Gran Alternativa up much. The En Busca de un Idolo has been different treated like the tournament that matters. Most (though not all) got a short term boost of interest just by being in the tournament. Making the field matters, and tonight’s ciberentico determines who makes the field.
The teams are the CMLL Segunda All Stars (name not official) of Canelo Casas, Cavernario, Guerrero Negro Jr., Herodes Jr., Metálico, Oro Jr., Soberano Jr., and Súper Halcón Jr. versus the Generacion 14 team Black Panther, Cachorro, Dragon Lee, El Rebelde, Espiritu Negro, Flyer, Hechicero, and Star Jr. CMLL’s preview of the event says “the final 8” advance into the the En Busca de Un Idolo tournament. It’s not impossible that this stipulation is mean to mean the winning team gets in, but it seems more like it’s just whoever happens to be the final eight moves on (and the match continues to the final, probably to tease an En Busca de un Idolo result.)
CMLL hasn’t been hinting at anything here, so the only way to draw conclusions on what will happen are guessing on usual biases. Canelo Casas, Black Panther, Cachorro, Dragon Lee, Flyer are all related to people high in the CMLL hierachy, and Dragon Lee and Canelo Casas were feuding for a couple of weeks. Herodes Jr., Cavernario are being treated as important people, and Super Halcon Jr. and Soberano are treated as somewhat important people. CMLL may have a different set of criteria for this tournament, but picking eight of those nine would be the closest thing to safe bet in a very unsure situation.
The eight which I’d like to see make the final, without regard to a rudo/tecnico mix, are Cavernario, Metálico, Oro Jr., Soberano Jr., El Rebelde, Hechicero, Black Panther and Cachorro (with Espiritu Negro as the toughest cut), but there are other people who would also make for an entertaining couple of months.
It bears repeating: if Hechicero is in En Busca de un Idolo and CMLL does not dramatically alter the way they run the tournament, Hechicero will advance to the final. The ultimate winner is a CMLL decision, but Hechicero will easily win the judges voting and easily win the fan voting under the system they’ve used the last two years. (CMLL’s changes in how they’ve run their website might mean that fan voting will change, but the judging marks might be alone enough to advance him a long way.) If Hechicero is part of the final 8 and nothing changes, then it’s really seven guys going for the other spot. That’s not a bad thing: Hechicero is skilled enough to be one of CMLL’s guys, but the only part he’s missing are the fans knowing who he is. Two months of spotlighted matches can take care of that.
None of this should be a surprise to CMLL; the people on the inside should know Hechicero will do well, so there’s no reason to include him even this far if that wasn’t the plan. Still, after last Friday, there’s a concern that CMLL is going to make an unpopular decision and going to make it worse for themselves by the timing of the decision. Hechicero being eliminated early by Super Halcon would get a lot of groans now. It would look even dumber a month from now when Hechicero continues to tear it up in trios while young guys have rookie type matches with each other in the tournament.
Today is also the CMLL debuts of Sanson and El Cuatrero, Cien Caras’s sons. Their first match is in Guadalajara and it’s unclear if they’re meant to just be Arena Coliseo Guadalajara or are joining the mass of Mexico City luchadors who’ve debuted since the start of the year
Primera Curerda (via SuperLuchas) says Dark Angel participated in a WWE tryout at NXT back in December. They also claim her recent trip to Chicago included a backstage trip to Raw, which from WWE wrestler Victoria introduced her to various people. They say she was complimented for all the obvious reasons, and for her ability to speak English, Spanish and French, but Dark Angel is still working for the time being. The report says she may get another tryout or a contract.
They also mention Heddi Karoui was also at the tryout and may be offered a spot to work on WWE’s new Cruiserweight-only show. This is where the report seems to fall apart: during a podcast just yesterday, Bryan Alvarez asked someone in WWE if there was a new Cruiserweight-only show in the works and was very definitively told no.
CMLL has not utilized Dark Angel as much as they could the last few years (definitely since she got her own deal in Japan, but arguably even farther back), and it would probably be an easy choice to go to WWE if offered. If she goes, the only surprise is how long it took WWE to figure out she’d be a good addition.
Euforia replaces Gran Guerrero in Friday’s title match. That’s for the best.
Maria del Angel is in poor shape after suffering a stroke, according to Lola Gonzalez.
Terra’s said they’ll be broadcasting Sunday’s show – and Friday’s show. No one’s explained what happened last Friday, and the bigger CMLL Friday night shows may end up on Terra in the future, but it may not be a good idea to count on them being there.
CMLL (SUN) 03/30/2014Arena Coliseo
1) Pequeño Halcón & Stukita vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Goya Kong, Lluvia, Skadi vs Amapola, Tiffany, Zeuxis Skadi’s debut, and Lluvia’s first match in DF since July.
3) Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr., Tritón vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
4) Fuego vs Ephesto [lightning]
5) Diamante Azul, La Máscara, Titán vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
6) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Máximo vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Rey Escorpión
Skadi (or Skaði, a spelling which would never make it correctly onto a lucha libre poster) is a Norse goddess “associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter and mountains.” Sounds fun! The luchadora’s names are more creative in general, or at least the ones which make it to CMLL. Skadi’s just turned up in results since January, so either she’s very new or everyone was spelling it a different way. Lluvia is more familiar, but it’s taken her multiple knee surgeries to get back to this point.
My TiVo died again Sunday, so I wasn’t able to record anything that aired on TV that day. At this point, it’s up to Comcast as to when I’ll be able to record again.
I instead attempted to record Multimedios and IWRG via their web feed. Multimedios failed, but I was able to screen record the AYM feed Sunday night. Like last time I tried this, I somehow got the video but not the sound. (The first and last matches had aired previously during the week, so they have sound and possibly better picture.) The SLP show has repeating during the week, and I’ll double up with that if I get the chance.
There were unrelated issues with the Puebla feed; I barely ended up with any of that, and will try to get the replay on Thursday. And Terra did not air on Friday and only aired about two matches on Sunday.
Due to another Fox/AAA overlap, we’re missing the AAA opener. We do have the missing AAA matches from the last couple weekends, off the UTDN feed.
AAA on Televisa: 2014-03-22
taped 2014-03-16 @ Plaza de Toros La Monumental, Monterrey, Nuevo León 1) Daga vs Argenis, Australian Suicide, Súper Flyfor the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship (to be posted next week)
2) Fénix vs Crazy Boy, Joe Lider, Niño Hamburguesa, Ultimo Gladiador, Pentagón Jr., Steve Pain, Eternoin a domed cage match http://www.sendspace.com/file/h9hych
3) Cibernético, Electroshock, Psycho Clown vs Jeff Jarrett, Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Texano Jr. http://www.sendspace.com/file/bb367n
IWRG (SUN) 03/23/2014Arena Naucalpan [The Gladiatores]
1) Hip Hop Man & Látigo b Araña de Plata & Power Bull Hip Hop Man replaced Latigo, Arana de Plata replaced Power Bull.
2) Alan Extreme & Emperador Azteca b Fulgor II & Imposible Alan Extreme replaced Hip Hop Man.
3) Black Terry, Centvrión, Dr. Cerebro b Rayan, Spartan, Tony Rivera Tecnicos took 1/3, Terry using the ropes to beat Rivera.
4) Relámpago, Súper Nova, Veneno b Danny Casas, Oficial 911, Oficial AK47 Tecnicos took 1/3, Veneno feuding with AK47.
5) Hijo De Dos Caras, Máscara Púrpura, Toscano b Canis Lupus, Trauma I, Trauma II Tecnicos took 2/3.
All tecnico wins. Cerebro loses a tooth, Terry loses some blood but both make a second show that day.
