Month: July 2014

Sombra/Shocker, manta rays

thecubsfan 1 Comment

Today’s CMLL show is headlined by La Sombra versus Shocker in a singles match. The same match took place in Puebla not long ago; I don’t recall seeing any reviews, but it’s got 3 Thumbs Up on YouTube. (Everything gets Thumbs Up on YouTube, it’s a self selecting viewership.) CMLL still needs to come up with things to do to build up Juicio Final in three weeks, and a finish that sets up a title match next week – either for the tag titles or for one of Sombra’s belts – seems to be the most advantageous.  Rush and Casas meet directly in the semimain and likely will be involved in the main event. Blanca & Marcela face off in the tercera and it also wouldn’t be a surprise to see Seductora and Sugehit be involved.

Earlier this week, I wrote Rey Escorpion was out due to a stinger. That was a bad translation. Rey Escorpion is out of action due to being stung by a manta ray. A) How does that even happen? B) Dragon Rojo needs to convince some tecnico to switch to a Manta Ray gimmick ASAP.

AAA’s annual pilgrimage to the Basílica de Guadalupe will take place August 13th, the Wednesday prior to TripleMania. The recent El Rayo, Vida de Lucha on that SLP’s promotion own pilgrimage was pretty good.

There’s a legends show tonight in Arena Queretaro with Los Dinamitas taking on Fantasma, Canek and Villano IV. The press conference include discussion from the original Rey Cometa and Furia Dorada about returning to those name for the night; they became Dragon de Oriente I and II in 1989.

LuchaWorld has a KrisZ’s news update.

Segunda Caida reviews a disappointing match with big names from a DragonMania. My description does not narrow it down.

Princesa Blanca & Seductora talk about their careers before their double apuesta match.

Lucha Libre In Japan

07/10 Stardom: Dr. Wagner Jr. [O], Mayu Iwatani, Kairi Hojo b Black Tiger [X], Takmui Iroha, Koguma

Lineups

IWRG (WED) 07/16/2014 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sky Ángel vs Atomic Star
2) Payaso De Plata & Payaso Extremo vs Anubis Black & Matrix Jr.
3) Imposible & Metaleon vs Rayan & Spartan
4) Diva Salvaje, Golden Magic, Relámpago vs Canis Lupus, Danny Casas, Eterno
5) Fuerza Guerrera vs Veneno, Dr. Cerebro, Apolo Estrada Jr.

Main event is a four way.

indy (FRI) 07/25/2014 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Brillante & William Rock vs Demonio Rojo & Évola
2) Mystique & Princesa Ahy Leen vs Estrella Explosiva & Star Fire
3) Leo & Omar Brunetti vs Jocker & Sádico
4) Sky Kid & Smaker vs Demonio Maya & Ráfaga
5) Gallo, Solar I, Super Astro vs Cavernario, Cesar Dantes, Scorpio Jr.
6) Hijo De Dos Caras, Mil Mascaras, Sicodelico Sr. vs Canek, Negro Navarro, Rey Bucanero

The lineup for the Mil Mascaras show. Hijo de Dos is close to a third the age of his partners. Dos Caras, Rayo de Jalisco Sr., Tony Benetto and Ringo Mendoza will also appear.

07/11-12 lucha times

thecubsfan 1 Comment

box.

Still no sign of any CMLL show on TV Mexiquense.

== AAA ==

AAA-Televisa: Part 1 from Xalapa. No official preview yet, so I’ll guess minis, mixed trios, and Angelico/Electroshock/Fenix vs Fantasma/Mascara/Pentagon. That actually looks decent when I look at the match order but not when I look at who’s in them. Alas.

== CMLL ==

FOX2: moved to 9:30 AM on Sunday, a slot no one expecting the show will be able to find it unless they scroll thru the programming guide to find it. This is by far the least reliable schedule show in CMLL’s array of shows and yet the one where all the angles intended to draw big crowds are put. It makes no sense, especially now that it’s a Fox Sports 2 show. The Friday night shows really should be airing on Cadena3, unless that would require CMLL Production giving up control (announcing and otherwise) and that doesn’t seem in the cards. They’d still do better by putting the Friday night matches on 52MX and leave the random GDL matches too this show.

If you can find it, this show will air Indeseables versus Niebla, Caas, Shocker, Guerreros vs Atlantis, Titan, Valiente and Terrible vs Blue Panther.

52MX: the Malefico/Stuka title match, a Ultimo Guerrero vs Atlantis match, and a match with Negro Navarro, Solar and Gran Guerrero.

Claro: build to the Arena Coliseo Tag title match, build to Volador/Dragon Rojo

C3: Atlantis, Rey Cometa, Valiente vs Dragon Rojo, Euforia, Polvora

TVC Deportes (Puebla):

Lucha Azteca: En Busca de un Idolo cibernetico, Indeseables & UG vs Atlantis, Niebla, Shocker

Terra Sunday: the Arena Coliseo Tag title match, Volador/Dragon Rojo

== Other ==

Noches de Coliseo: More Mr. Nice.

IWRG (LAS/AYM): Seems like the Myzteziz show is not airing, and this will be Sunday’s show with Hijo del Dos vs Hijo de Mascara.

top six stories of the last two weeks

thecubsfan
  1. CMLL announced the Negro Casas vs Rush hair match would finally take place on 08/01. There’s also a women’s double apuesta match, but it’s the men’s match which should draw one of the bigger crowd of the year.
  2. El Rey’s AAA lucha libre show will debut on Wednesday, October 8th
  3. The first of three AAA tapings took place in Queretaro on the 27th. One match was announced for TripleMania: Daga putting his Cruiserweight championship on the line against Aerostar, Bengala, Fenix (who’s own Fusion championship will be unified out of existence) and Daga’s usual allies of Steve Pain and Eterno. Jeff Jarrett and Electroshock battled in the main event and have talked up the possibility of a hair match for TripleMania, for some reason.
  4. TripleMania will be on iPPV – maybe. The TripleManiaTV.com website is advertising the iPPV. It’s being done by a company with no known iPPV history, and AAA hasn’t promoted the iPPV. The price of the iPPV is also ever changing – it’s gone from $8 to $1 to $15 to $13.
  5. Meanwhile, CMLL and/or Terra quietely canceled the Friday night broadcasts. The braodcasts came to end right after the annual internet-exclusive En Busca de un Idolo tournament concluded, which suggests it might have in the works for a while. Despite that, neither CMLL nor Terra actually said anything about the show being canceled until CMLL was questioned about it the following week. (CMLL promoted a new television show as a sort of replacement, but it doesn’t seem to actually exist yet.)
  6. AAA’s second taping took place in Xalapa, and added Taya Valkyrie vs Faby Apache for Faby’s Reina de Reinas championship for TripleMania. (It’ll be the first women’s title match ever at TripleMania.)
  • CMLL’s main feud continues to be centered around the Indeserables (or the Ingobernables if you’re Sombra) versus Shocker, Mr. Niebla and Negro Casas, part of the Rush/Casas rivalary. Atlantis & Ultimo Guerrero continue to feud as a tease to being the Anniversary main event, but it’s still uncertain if/when it’ll happen.
  • After Dragon Rojo beat Rey Escorpion in an everyone versus everyone cibernetico, Escorpion and Polvora turned on Rojo in their matches. Rojo has decided to switch to the tecnico side. This was a lot quicker transition than usual, so much so that they still have Rojo main eventing as a rudo this Sunday.
  • AAA ran a third TV taping as part of resort weekend vacation package. Nothing of note happened on the show. AAA’s since announced they’re taking the next two weekend off from taping, returning on 07/27. That show will have to set up the TripleMania matches for the top guys, since many of them have nothing and the card will be announced prior to the next taping.
  • Puebla regular Asturiano defeated Pequeno Black Warrior in Arena Puebla. Warrior announced he was leaving CMLL after the match.
  • People who won titles: Dr. Cerebro, Malefico
  • People who kept titles: Estrellita

AAA to debut on El Rey on October 8

thecubsfan 5 Comments

Not kidding.

El Rey held a press conference as part of the summer Television Critics Association press tour. Among the announcements was a new Wednesday night of “original unscripted content”, to start on October 8th. AAA is one of two hours of programming.

The title of the show is “Lucha: Uprising”, though it’s noted in the press release to be a working title. (It’s not far off the name Pro Wrestling Revolution uses for their TV show.) There’s no mention of how many episodes, while the companion show (about eccentric barbers) is listed for an eight episode run. Here’s the blurb in that press release

Long a fan of Lucha Libre, a Mexican franchise that has an 85% market share on television, El Rey is banking on American television viewers being drawn in by the high-flying antics and colorful world of freestyle wrestling.  Each week “Lucha: Uprising” (WT) will bring drama, excitement and action as the masked heroes and villains battle it out in the ring for wrestling supremacy.  The weekly, one-hour series from the producers One Three Media serves as a foundation for a new sports entertainment business, with which Burnett has partnered with El Rey Network, its founder, Robert Rodriguez, Lucha Libre AAA, FactoryMade Ventures and Antonio Cue Sanchez-Navarro.

I don’t know where 85% of market share comes from but I really would like to know.

There’s not much else new here, not even an air time. Still, finally getting a start date for the show is a pretty big deal. This seems to point even stronger towards AAA will starting taping on this show right after TripleMania. AAA won’t need to tape again in Mexico for nearly a month and they’ll be able to completely focus on the US. (Some may suggest they’ve already pretty much been focusing on the US and that’s why the Mexico product has been doing a lot of coasting this year.)

Being on Wednesday is pretty important too. There’s wrestling programs on every other day week, but this gives AAA a night to themselves. That’s a good start.