Day: December 17, 2014

Lucha Underground 1×8 (2014-12-17): “A Unique Opportunity”

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The Matches

Cuerno arrow tope

1) Fenix won a ten man single fall match with a sit down piledriver on Prince Puma (10:47); Big Ryck, Drago, King Cuerno, Mariachi Loco, Mascarita Sagrada, Pentagon Jr., Son of Havoc and Super Fly were also in the match.

2) Mil Muertes won a 10 man battle royal
Elimination Order
– Famous B (0:47, by Pimpienla Escarlata)
– Ricky Mandell (1:29, by the entire Crew)
– Pimpinela Escarlata (1:54, by Mil Muertes)
– Sexy Star (2:51, by Chavo Guerrero)
– Cortez Castro (4:21, by Johnny Mundo)
– Cisco (4:26, by Chavo Guerrero)
– Bael (4:37, by Mil Muertes)
– Chavo Guerrero (7:01, by Chavo Guerrero)
– Johnny Mundo (10:58, by Mil Muertes)

3) Mil Muertes beat Fenix (5:45, flatliner)
Mil Muertes earned the 20th and last spot in Aztec Warfare
Fenix will be the 1st enterant in Aztec Warfare

The Developments

Fenix wins!
  • Drago & Cuerno fought in their match, as did Sexy Star & Chavo. Everyone in the opener repeatedly stopped fighting to take out Big Ryck, who did not have his men with him for the first time.

  • Konnan, furious over Puma losing the opener, declared he might drop Puma as a protege if he failed to take advantage of another big opportunity.

  • Bael is a member of the Big Ryck/Castro/Cortez “Crew”.

  • Dario Cueto was wearing sunglasses to hide a black eye from last week’s attack by Mundo. There were no other references to the attack or any retribution for it. Mundo, Puma and some of the Crew were bandaged from last week’s ladder match.

  • The Mystery Woman was seen watching the first two matches, but no new information was shared about her.

German suplex of doom for Chavo
  • Another Cage vignette aired, though with a completely different tone. This week’s Cage vignette was a positive push the limits message more akin to Strong Man’s Twitter feed.

  • Dario Cueto said he would debut the Aztec Warfare match on the 01/07 show and it would determine a champion. Dario Cueto shows off a new belt. It has an ordered set of entrances, and will have 20 people involved but nothing else was explained. The field was implied to be the same 20 as seen in these matches.

  • Dario visited his caged ally, saying it wasn’t time to let him out yet. Dario was afraid his ally would destroy the belt if he touched it. Dario’s Key was implied to be the thing keeping the monster in the cage.

19 GIFs from the show are here.

Thoughts

anti-air uppercut

The opener was great and made it hard to follow everything else. It was a nothing but action match with a lot of that. There were parts which looked too much choreographed – everyone stopping fighting to take turns hitting Big Ryck was a bit much – but the crazy high spots were enough to make it work. This was a secret showcase match for Son of Havoc, who got to do more high spots in this match than in his four previous matches combined. Mascarita Sagrada also won the crowd over with his antics. Finishing sequence between Puma and Fenix went well and Konnan being angry after Puma lost big matches back to back weeks makes a lot of sense.

They really need to advance Mystery Woman’s story. Everyone else gets a little bit more to their story most every week, and they haven’t even given Mystery Woman a name yet.

The battle royal was a battle royal and went longer than I needed to see it. Bael was treated as a notable mystery last week but his presence was tossed out like we all already knew who he was. (It would’ve been tough to even know which guy was Bael if he didn’t happen to have gear with a a giant “B” on them.) They really needed at least 15 seconds of explanation. This was a WWE feeling match, both with Mundo doing his Royal Rumble elimination scares and the announcers dropping WWE names during the broadcast (William Regal, Fit Finley, HBK). I understand the idea is not to be afraid to mention other places but it felt like too much.

flatliner

Fenix and Mil Muertes didn’t click as well as I’d hope. I don’t know if I was just not as interested after the battle royal. I don’t think the stips helped either – the little information we had about Aztec Warfare made it sound like the Royal Rumble (in another WWE-ish moment), and everyone knows the guy in the last spot of the Royal Rumble rarely wins the thing.

The ladder match show was actually taped after this one, so Dario and Puma were selling injuries they didn’t quite yet. This was also the least WWE-feeling bit, as guys actually visibly the damage from a ladder match the day after.

I don’t think Aztec Warfare will be exactly a Rumble. Lucha Underground always seems motivated to do something a little different. Maybe it’ll be weapons involved, maybe it’ll be other types of eliminations, but there surely will be a twist. And it might be the only match, since a 20 man elimination match. I wish we didn’t have to wait two weeks to see it.

top six stories of the last two weeks

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  1. AAA ended their year by crowning El Patron Alberto as champion, ending the two year reign of Texano Jr. That match and Aerostar unmasking Super Fly were the biggest and best matches on the show, both delivering on the stories they’d told to that point to the crowd’s approval. The undercard was more of a preview for 2015: Pentagon Jr. & Joe Lider won the tag team titles to set up Myzteziz & Fenix as challengers, the women continue to have pull apart brawls, and an unexplained angle led to Cibernetico showing up about 3 minutes after his match ended. (His team did not win.) TripleMania was arguably the best AAA show of the year, but Guerra de Titanes was not far behind. AAA’s TV backlog means this won’t air until January, though it did air on PPV (but not iPPV.)
  2. CMLL did not run a Year End Show in 2013. CMLL ran a Year End Show in 2014, an Infierno en el Ring cage match. 2013 was better. Felino lost his hair to Rey Bucanero in a finish that was not surprising, not interesting, and not any good. CMLL’s year end shows have been notoriously poor in recent years (the last good one was in 2009), but this was still bad by any standard. Bucanero was immediately thrust into a feud with Volador Jr., who could mean in an unimpressive match in 2015.
  3. Octagon, who earlier said he quit AAA to go his own way, is now claiming he was unfairly fired by AAA and is suing for back pay. Octagon is not suing for his own name, saying he owns it and AAA tried to take it away from him. (AAA’s continued to make merchandise deals with an Octagon like figure on it, but have said they’re Octagoncito items.) Octagon has gone to every gossip show who will have him to talk about this the last couple of weeks, while AAA has said nothing.
  4. CMLL’s not done much on it’s Friday night shows, but has put together much better main events on it’s less attended Tuesday shows. Virus kept his lightweight title over Dragon Lee, and Guerrero Maya & Delta kept their tag team titles over Cavernario & Hechicero. Both are reported to be great matches, but it’s unclear why these matches are happening on Tuesday while CMLL’s bigger shows are not good. (It’s totally unclear why CMLL does anything.)
  5. Lucha Underground continued to produce very good shows to a small audience. They’re taping in January, though they’re also not announcing the tape dates until January.
  6. El Patron Alberto added ROH matches to the wide array of promotions he’ll be working for in 2014. There are reports he’s been contacted by Bellator as well. Alberto’s said to have not actually signed with Lucha Underground yet, but is still expected to be there in January.
  • CMLL announced they’d run shows of young wrestlers and trainees on Saturdays in Arena Coliseo. CMLL announced the debut show, which had the same people CMLL books on pretty much every show. No explanation.
  • CMLL moved their Sunday Guadalajara shows to Fridays. They did not announce this – the cards were just listed as Friday suddenly, with people who were actually already booked in Arena Mexico. CMLL then threw together an unimpressive card with people actually available to work a Friday card (the move was appeared to be a surprise to the people who book these shows) but actually did OK attendance because it was a holiday. There’s been no explanation of the move nor any particular promotion for it
  • Ramstein & Cholo, masked rudos who’ve been stuck in the opening match forever, are now feuding with rising stars Star Jr. & Soberano Junior. CMLL’s held an apuesta match with opening match wrestlers in January the last few years, and these four may be this year’s finish.
  • Marco Corleone was knocked silly when the top rope snapped and hit him hard in the back of the head. It looked bad, and ended his singles match with Terrible, but he was fine and wrestling again the next day.
  • Syuri won CMLL’s Women’s Title from Marcela in Japan.

Delta & Maya defeat Cavernario & Hechicero, DTU in Arena Aficion

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DTU (TUE) 12/16/2014 Arena Aficion [DTU (1), DTU (2), DTU (3), DTU (4), DTU (5), DTU (6)]
1) El Junior, El Nene, Kalibus b Concord, Concord Fly, Corazon Latino
2) Ángel o Demonio, Artikus, Rocky Lobo b Jimmy, Kevin, Ovett
Malkriads interfered to cost the Nerds the match.
3) Cíclope & Yuriko b Chica Ye-Ye & Violento Jack
Ciclope declared he’d win his title back in Arena Lopez Mateos
4) Aero Boy b Drastik Boy © [DTU AI]
New champion!
5) Black Fire & Slayer Pack b Crazy Boy & Niño Hamburguesa [DTU NEXO, semifinal]
Fire & Pack advance to face Rocky Lobo & Jinzo in the tournament final on Saturday.
6) Colmillo Blanco L Miedo Extremo, Crazy King, Jorge El Intruso, Ursus, Dance Boy, Paranoiko, Hacker, Amo de la Noche, Talaxys, Príncipe Halcón, Siniestro [mask, hair, cage]
Principe Halcon took Colmillo Blanco’s hair after Ciclope interfered. Full list of participants unconfirmed.

Aeroboy’s first Alto Impacto title reign, and the third title change of the year (Jinzo->Septimo Dragon->Drastick Boy->Aeroboy) Tercera Caida has a lot of highlights of the DTU show and this should air there (though maybe it’ll take a week to catch up.)

I think Black Fire & Slayer Pack are winning the DTU NEXO tag team titles, and where else are you going to get DTU title match predictions.

photo by Alexis Salazar/CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 12/16/2014 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Bengala & Sensei b Apocalipsis & El Rebelde
2) Aéreo, Fantasy, Shockercito b Mercurio, Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Universo 2000
3) Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Starman DQ Cholo, Metálico, Ramstein
Cholo & Ramstein fouled Star Jr. & Soberano Jr and pulled their masks.
4) Blue Panther Jr. b Sangre Azteca [lightning] (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Panther Jr. nudo lagunero in 6:34
5) Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. © b Bárbaro Cavernario & Hechicero [Arena Coliseo TAG]
Tecnicos took 1/3 to keep their titles. Third defense for Maya & Delta. They won clean, though the crowd favored the challengers and booed the result. Guerrero Maya Jr. still wants his super libre match with Hechicero.
6) Rey Cometa, Super Porky, Valiente b Ephesto, Hombre sin Nombre, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 2/3.

All tecnico wins. Semimain sounds really good, as expected. It seems to take everyone two tries to win the titles and it would not be a surprise to see Cavernario & Hechicero get another shot come this spring. Meanwhile, Guerrero Maya is doing a wonderful job of building up a match in CMLL that only ChilangaMask will actually book.

Today’s Lucha Underground has pretty much everyone in action. There will be two 10 person matches, an elimination match and a battle royal, and Lucha Underground has just enough people to fill out those matches. (They appeared to be surprises on the show, but they’ve been advertising them all week so it doesn’t feel spoiler-ish.) Blue Demon is not back, but the guys who Mil Muertes obliterated do return. There’s a teaser up – it appears to be the elimination match even though there’s a battle royal graphic.

The Lucha Underground Twitter reminded people they’re off for the year after today’s show, then back for 31 shows. We knew that, but it never occurred me until now that means they’re running all the way to August 5th if things go right. The original schedule had them taking off the summer, but then it got nudged back a little bit and the holidays causing them a skip a couple episodes stretches it out more. The plan is to run 40 episodes a year, and they might have simply a 6-8 weeks before starting up again.

I totally missed this, but go watch this match from IWRG (should start around 6:40). Look way into the background, and then be surprised as AYM does some accidentally good camera work as Toscano starts to attack fans. Nothing seems to come of this.

If you share this photo of Omar Brunetti & Gallo on your Facebook wall by Thursday at noon, you can get free tickets to Sunday’s CMLL show. Not sure why they’re using GDL lucahdors for a Mexico City only contest (except “all luchadors are all luchadors”.) There were only 13 people who shared it when I checked today, so your odds are pretty good.

CMLL Informa should be today at 5. Haven’t seen a preview.

LuchaWorld has a recap of 12/06/2014 Lucha Azteca.

DoradaFan has music videos of 10/07/14 and and 10/14/14 CMLL, as well as text lists of his picks for best dives of the year in CMLL and part of his AAA best dive list.

SegundaCaida reviews Héctor Garza, Máximo, Negro Casas vs Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

The second part of AAA’s audio analysis for Guerra de Titanes is up on Soundcloud.

SuperLuchas has an interview with the Ojo de Halcons. Ojo de Halcon Sr. is Junior’s uncle.

SuperLuchas look back at events on past December 17s include an apuesta win for El Santo.

DJ Spectro writes about Gran Hamada vs El Signo and the 1970 EMLL year end award.

Flamita’s latest match in Japan.

Lineups

Pegasso replaces Rey Cometa on the Saturday debut show.

IWRG (SUN) 12/21/2014 Arena Naucalpan
***Arena Naucalpan 37th Anniversary***
1) Dragón Celestial & Metaleón vs Araña de Plata & Hip Hop Man
2) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs Apolo Estrada Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Electro Boy, Imposible
3) Emperador Azteca, Pantera I, Suicida vs Chicano, Eterno, Oficial 911
4) Black Terry & Negro Navarro vs Trauma I & Trauma II
5) Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs X-Fly, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Máscara Año 2000, Oficial AK47, Máscara Sagrada, Súper Nova, Canis Lupus [cage, hair, mask]

Oficial AK47 and x-Fly seem the favorites to lose, but Pirata Sr. or Mascara Sr. aren’t impossible. Just unlikely.

Terry/Navarro vs Traumas rematch.

CMLL (TUE) 12/23/2014 Arena México
1) Bengala & Robin vs Apocalipsis & Camorra
2) Leono, Magnus, Sensei vs Artillero, Canelo Casas, Súper Comando
3) Soberano Jr., Starman, Stigma vs Cholo, Nitro, Raziel
4) Marcela vs Zeuxis [lightning]
5) Fuego, Rey Cometa, Super Porky vs Morphosis, Olímpico, Tiger
6) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Máximo vs Felino, Kráneo, Terrible

Holiday vacations: semimain Morphosis & Olimpico. No Star Jr. or Ramstein in the tercera, but maybe they’ll pop up later.

CMLL (TUE) 12/23/2014 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Reycko & Virgo vs Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno
2) Astral, Meteoro, Último Dragoncito vs Demus 3:16, Mercurio, Pierrothito
3) Esfinge, Gallo, Tritón vs Hombre sin Nombre, Pierroth, Sagrado
4) Blue Panther Jr., The Panther, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Boby Zavala, Mr. Águila
5) La Máscara, Máscara Dorada, Valiente vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Thunder

Semimain might be good depending on which Mr. Aguila shows up.

CaraLuchas (THU) 12/25/2014 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) ? vs ??
2) Kilvan & Yoruba vs Arceus & Rayo Star and Alfa & Omega
3) Emperador Azteca, Golden Magic, Metaleón vs Dinamic Black, Hijo de Clímax, Imposible
4) Andy Boy, Danger King, Guerrero Mixtico vs Apolo Estrada Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Trauma I
5) Súper Nova © vs Trauma II [UWA JLH]
6) Negro Navarro © vs Hechicero (CMLL) [FLLM MASTER]

The start of a deluge of the usual Christmas Day shows. (Don’t count on anything being taped because there’s a lot of places to be.) Main event should be great, semimain was at least interesting when they met in IWRG. Fourth match is listed as Neza Boys versus Gringos and I think Trauma I needs to wear the big USA flag top hat.

Skyman was supposed to be back in the segunda, but is still not able to return. Three months turned out to be a conservative estimate.