This is somewhat me organizing my plans and somewhat asking for help. It’s long and boring and not a lot about lucha libre. Not everything can be the Lucha Underground spoilers (but I hope this too is posted elsewhere without attribution!)
Day: October 6, 2014
Ninja Turtles debut with win, Lucha Underground
IWRG (SUN) 10/05/2014 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Dragón Celestial, Imposible, Saruman b Anubis Black, Araña de Plata, Atomic Star
2) Apolo Estrada, Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo b Emperador Azteca, Golden Magic, Veneno
money thrown in.
3) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo b Canis Lupus, Eterno, Hip Hop Man, Oficial 911
Debut of the latest Tortugas Ninjas (Ninja Turtles). 911 had a Mini Oficial with him. Ninja took 1/3, the last with Rafy submitted Eterno.
4) Cien Caras Jr. & Demon Clown b Hijo De Dos Caras & Hijo de Máscara Año 2000 [relevos suicidas]
Demon Clown attacked Dos Caras before the match. Cien and Mascara saw this and decided they weren’t going to fight each other and made saves for each other. (Great programming.) Dos beat Cien leaving Demom 2 on 1. Dos & Mascara bumbled their way to a loss, Demon splashing them both. Cien tried to break up the pin but was too late.
5) Hijo De Dos Caras © b Hijo de Máscara Año 2000 © [IWRG IC HEAVY, IWRG Rey del Ring]
Mascara dominated the match but Dos got the win and became double champ. Second heavyweight defense for Dos and he won the Rey del Ring title for the first time. Los Piratas ran out to attack Dos, with the tecnicos making the save.
6) Black Terry, Máscara Sagrada, Pantera DQ Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr.
moved to the main event. Tecnicos took 2/3. Hijo de Pirata tried to sneak in a foul on Sagrada in the third, but a ref eventually caught him.
They didn’t take away Dos’ title, they gave Dos a second title! I hope it works out fantastic for everyone but strange to give a title to a guy who’s already no showing your shows and probably will get (absurdly) scooped up by one of the big two at some point.
Ninja Turtles are 1 and 0.
Black Terry Jr. has highlights of Flamita, Mike Segura, Terry 2000 vs Super Nova, Sadico, Yakuza and a three way tag match from Arena Lopez Mateos last night. He’s also got a lot of pictures from the show.
There are highlights from last night’s Lucha Underground taping on this Instagram.
The Lucha Underground tapings wrap up next weekend. It’s one weekend shorter than planned, due doubling up on the last two Saturdays. They’ll have enough episodes to last thru January 7th, assuming no weeks are skipped, and so the plan is to resume taping again back in January.
Chris DeJoseph of Lucha Underground was interviewed on the MLW Radio podcast.
– DeJoseph was working as freelancer in Los Angeles and declared he was done with wrestling forever after leaving WWE. He was offered an opportunity to talk to people who had ideas for a (then unknown to him) wrestling project and, since he was freelancing, he really couldn’t turn down a conversation. The Lucha Underground people liked that he was from WWE (which was the only wrestling the non-AAA people really knew) and liked that he was already local. DeJoseph liked the freedom he gets with the project.
– DeJoseph is called the booker of the project and is writing storylines inside the greater universe already set up. He made sure to note he gets input (and seeks out input) from veterans like Konnan and Vampiro and the wrestlers. There are ideas he didn’t get a chance to use in WWE or came up with after WWE which he’s gotten to use here.
– The production people are not originally wrestling people – some come from reality TV, some have worked on Robert Rodrgiuez’s movies – so they’ve been some teaching them how to shoot wrestling properly. DeJoseph worked in reality TV after leaving WWE and feels one of the reasons he was picked was his knowledge of his both and his ability to help transition people to wrestling. He’s got a ton to do at the shows, noting he’s never been busier, but also notes it’s not as all consuming as working for WWE/Vince.
– DeJoseph wanted to have Latino talent involved and didn’t realize how few latino talents had be on a national stage until he started looking around. Ivellise, as a latina who had been on Tough Enough which had some of the same production people, was high on the wishlist for those reasons. Another obstacle against bringing people in were writers & wrestlers skeptical about Lucha Underground’s promises (based on past promises/failures by other promotions) and wanted to wait and see. DeJoseph has got people in mind for bringing in for Season 2 (which he was very hopeful of happening.
– internet hot topic “should men and women fight in wrestling” was brought up. They will on Lucha Underground, with DeJoseph citing video games (Mortal Kombat) and movies (strong women in Robert Rodriguez films) as examples that people expect to see it.
– Other notes: He’s high on Sexy Star, Prince Puma, Fenix (“a new Rey Misterio”) and King Cuerno. They’re not concerned about going up against TNA on the second hour of their first show, feeling they’re completely different products. “When at all possible”, matches will not be broken up by commercial breaks. The matches will have many styles, though lucha libre will be a big part of it. He seemed very impressed by their video packages (which we haven’t seen yet.) Nothing to do with anything, but he’s a big fan of Kaiju Big Battle.
LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news report.
Rob has highlights of 06/20/14 Puebla. Was Joe Lider being mean to Nino Hamburguesa the start of his rudo turn??? (probably not)
Segunda Caida watches a bad El Hijo del Santo y Damian 666 vs Blue Panther y Super Parka match
Lineup
CMLL (SUN) 10/12/2014 Arena México
1) Bengala & Star Jr. vs Cholo & Inquisidor
2) Estrellita, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi vs Amapola, La Seductora, Zeuxis
3) Cachorro, Pegasso, Tritón vs Boby Zavala, Puma, Tiger
4) Astral © vs Eléctrico [CMLL MINI]
Astral’s first defense
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Super Porky vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
6) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Máscara Dorada vs Felino, Negro Casas, Shocker
They’re really setting up a Diamante Azul/Shocker match! That’s going to be awful. There’s not a lot great here except 3/4.
CMLL (SUN) 10/12/2014 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Dr. Frezzer vs Satara
2) El Brillante & Virgo vs Demonio Rojo & El Yaqui
3) Sky Kid vs Magnum
4) Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Leo vs Acertijo, Évola, Jocker
5) Goya Kong & Marcela vs Dalys & Tiffany
6) Mephisto © vs Valiente [MEX LH]
ninth defense, third straight against Valiente
Mephisto and Valiente will keep having this title match until they have it right.