Day: January 21, 2015

Lucha Underground 1×11: Last Luchador Standing

thecubsfan 1 Comment

the results

Cortez Castro [O] & Mr. Cisco (w/Bael) b Mascarita Sagrada [X] & Pimpinela Escarlata (4:47, flapjack/frontcracker combo)
Pentagón Jr. b Súper Fly (5:10, package piledriver)
Sexy Star b Mariachi Loco (3:49, small package)
King Cuerno b Drago (11:23, ten count) [falls count anywhere]

the developments

Big Ryck appeared after the Crew’s match, declaring anyone who stood in his way would get beat up. The Crew shared a glance about this and attacked Ryck with his back turned. Ryck’s eye was burned by his own cigar. A later skit revealed Dario had paid The Crew off to attack Ryck, upset he’d failed to win, and they were now his henchman.

superkick party

Vampiro interviewed Cage, who was arrogant and didn’t want to wait in line for a title shot – he wanted one now.

Mystery woman was glimpsed so quick during the Pentagon/Super Fly match that I’m not sure we were supposed to even notice here. She was wearing a Lucha Underground crew shirt instead of her usual outfit, and the announcers didn’t acknowledge.

Announcers pushed Super Fly/Pentagon Jr. as two midlevel guys looking to get to the top and spent the match speculating about what Pentagon needed to get to the top. Pentagon Jr. declared Chavo not a legend, but a fraud for turning on him, but he knew of a real mentor who’d help him get to the next level. (On the tapings, Pentagon was said to have asked for Vampiro to be his mentor, but that was edited out.)

flecha de la infierno

No plot line in Sexy/Mariachi. Maricahi & Super Fly were clearly the lesser important people in their matches, but both got significant offense (more so Super Fly)

Drago survived a Thrill of the Hunt off the apron thru a table to the floor. Cuerno ultimately beat Drago by tying him down in the corner, holding onto the ropes as the referee made the 10 count. Striker pushed this as the end of the feud, though Vamp said Drago would one day get his revenge

the questions

  • When will Cage get his shot?
  • Who is Pentagon’s mentor?
  • What’s next for King Cuerno & Drago?
  • why do you chant WHAT at a show in 2014?

stray thoughts

thrill of the hunt

Saying this is the weakest show of the run so far is too hard, but it’s the one where I was least into the matches. The main event was somewhat the opposite of Fenix/Prince Puma. King Cuerno continues to fight purposefully slow and the pauses for 10 counts reduced the pace farther. They went to the 10 count near falls almost right away, and it didn’t really get going until the end. They didn’t tease a repeat of last week’s Drago dive. The Thrill of the Hunt thru the table would’ve been enough to end it for me, but they did the rope tie bit instead. It sort of looked goofy and sort of protected Drago, a sort of trade off. This is definitely one where some people are going to feel very different about the match and it was good by any means, but not quite at the level as the other main events for me.

The opener was maybe the most fun match, with the Crew bumbling well for Pimpi & Sagrada before taking the wins. The other two matches, even in the anyone can win Temple, were a bit obvious in the outcome and the matches weren’t great enough to make up for it.

Matt Striker’s picks for the best women wrestlers ever were Trish Stratus, Lita, and Fabulous Moolah. Matt Striker’s nerd skills failed him there.

Fans were so annoying doing the WHAT chants during Big Ryck’s speech.

Sexy Star won clean without help, which shots a hole in my point from a couple days ago. It was a rare match with no story, but maybe that was the story.

Dragon Rojo/Niebla Roja, Cuerno/Drago and more Lucha Underground

thecubsfan 3 Comments

CMLL (TUE) 01/20/2015 Arena México [CMLL, Notimex]
1) Metatrón & Robin b Akuma & Camorra
2) Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito b Shockercito, Stukita, Último Dragoncito
3) Misterioso Jr., Raziel, Sagrado b Blue Panther Jr., Starman, The Panther
Starman replaced Dragon Lee on Monday.
4) Zeuxis b Estrellita [lightning] (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Zeuxis submitted Estrellita to the caballette
5) Ephesto, Felino, Hombre sin Nombre b Delta, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr.
Rudos took 1/3.
6) Euforia, Hechicero, Niebla Roja b Blue Panther, Dragón Rojo Jr., Titán
Rudos took 2/3. Niebla Roja beat Dragon Rojo and demanded a title shot.

Inevitable Roja/Rojo feud starting up.

CMLL.com’s recap is listed as written by Bibiana Barradas. That’s Estrellita’s real name and this is probably part of her responsibilities as part of the press department. Still amusing to see her write about her own match, declaring something along the lines of “Zeuxis has definitely won the feud – or maybe it’s just beginning.”

CMLL (TUE) 01/20/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [@conjuarez]
2) Flyer, Magnus, Star Jr. b Demonio Maya, Évola, Ráfaga
3) Virus b Magnum, Arkángel de la Muerte, Cancerbero, Puma, Tiger, Esfinge, Gallo, Leo, Omar Brunetti [cibernetico]
DF vs GDL. Virus defeated Magnum to win.
4) La Máscara, Super Porky, Valiente b Kráneo, Rey Bucanero, Terrible
5) Marco Corleone b Shocker

Everyone from Guadalajara loses their singles matches in Guadalajara of late.

Tonight’s Lucha Underground has a King Cuerno vs Drago last man standing match. It’s the finale for their feud, at least for now, and said to be one of the best matches during the first set of the tapings. They’ve also officially announced Super Fly vs Pentagon Jr. and Sexy Star vs Mariachi Loco, and there was one more matches taped for this show.

Lucha Underground has posted clips from Sexy Star vs Mariachi Loco, a Cage sit down interview with Vamprio, and a Cuerno/Drago feud recap. There’s also another Cage introduction interview that didn’t make TV last week.

Chris DeJoseph was interviewed on the Last Real Heels podcast. The hosts asked if there were any new people coming into Lucha Underground, and DeJoseph mentions Jeff Cobb, Shane Strickland and Willie Mack. Cobb’s been working dark matches and everyone assumed Willie Mack was going to end up here as soon as he parted ways with WWE, but the one-time DTU guest Strickland is a new name. DeJoseph was also asked about other championships, and he said confirmed there would be new ones, but it’d be different than other championships out there – “we’re going to try some things.” Trying some things seems to be working. He also noted they’re selling merchandise at the Temple now, but was unsure when they’d be available elsewhere or when international fans would get to (legally) see the show – that stuff didn’t seem his department but he mentioned he knew it was being worked on. The podcast is about 40 minutes, and you can listen to DeJoseph picking his favorite Lucha Underground match so far.

Sports Pro Media has a long interview with Dorian Roldan talking about the business of AAA. It’s worth reading if you’re even the slightest bit interested in that aspect. The main interview is from October but the information is still current. Cherry picking a few notes:

  • Dorian: “It’s not so easy to always find the talent that can fit in the company. Right now we have 90 wrestlers. We’re trying to reduce that to 80. We think that 90 is too much for us in this moment”. Dorian, when talking about including international wrestlers, says they have 1 South African, 3 Americans, 2 Canadians and 2 Japanese guys. I can’t think of who the Japanese people would be, but he also mentions Japanese people working in Lucha Underground. Am I just blanking on something here? (Alfredo suggests Bengala and Pentagon Jr.)
  • AAA says it’s target market is 55% men/45% women. That’s surprising to me – whenever I look at those stats for my YouTube videos, it’s close to 90/10.
  • and then this series of paragraphs, which may inform the strange TV stories of the last few weeks

A film may also follow but as it sets about expanding its universe, AAA is anticipating changes on home soil as well. Legislation liberalising the Mexican television industry will soon take effect, which should cause a significant expansion of the market.

“One of the biggest problems we have in the Mexican market is that we don’t have so many TV channels,” explains Roldán. “But with all the things that are happening right now, with the new laws that this new government has imposed in Mexico, there will be new players in the next couple of years.”

AAA will seek to capitalise on this by showing the same level of attention to its domestic TV product as it has to Lucha Underground. The expectation is that it will soon be able to command a worthwhile broadcast rights fee in Mexico for the first time. Up to this point, high-profile distribution has been prioritised to drive up sponsorship earnings.

CMLL Informa is on today. No guest list as of yet, but probably people back from FantasticaMania. CMLL still hasn’t acknowledged Mascara Dorada’s new status or Mr. Niebla’s disappearing act, so maybe at least one of those will get talked about. (CMLL just yesterday sent a recap of the tag tournament from Saturday, so maybe neither thing has happened yet in their world.) NJPW mentioned Dorada’s contract officially goes from February 1 to January 31 and FantasticaMania is on for 2016. They usually announce that at the end of the show each year, but maybe the Dorada announcement just trumped it.

CMLL does have the extremely wacky story of KeMonito meeting his father.

Texano Jr. says 2014 wasn’t bad for him, some other people just got lucky.

DTU announced Jonathan Gresham is coming in and facing Drastick Boy. Gresham is said to be a very good technical wrestler, so DTU isn’t the first promotion I’d think of to bring him in, but he should still be good.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Segunda Caida recaps the debut of the CMLL Invasors.

A recap of the Silver King/Hijo del Ninja saga.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 01/25/2015 Arena Naucalpan
1) Alfa & Dragón Celestial vs Dowki & Hip Hop Man
2) Emperador Azteca, Golden Magic, Metaleón vs Ciclon Black, Roller Boy, Tony Rivera
3) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs Liderk, Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Rayan
4) Hijo De Dos Caras, Súper Nova, Veneno vs Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000 Jr., X-Fly
5) Canis Lupus & Eterno © vs Chicano & Danny Casas [IWRG IC TAG]
first defense for Lupus & Eterno

There will be blood. Also ninja turtles.

CMLL (TUE) 01/27/2015 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Universo 2000
2) Flyer, Magnus, Sensei vs Akuma, Disturbio, Espiritu Negro
3) Dark Angel, Estrellita, Princesa Sugehit vs La Seductora, Tiffany, Zeuxis
4) Hombre Bala Jr. vs Raziel [lightning]
5) Fuego, Stuka Jr., Tritón vs Hechicero, Hombre sin Nombre, Pólvora
6) Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Super Porky vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Niebla Roja

Niebla Roja/Dragon Rojo feud continues.

No Cavernario anywhere this week. Maybe Polvora gave up dragging Cavernario away and he’s still hanging onto a guardrail near the Tokyo Dome.

CMLL (TUE) 01/27/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Tapatío & Índigo vs Demonio Rojo & Jocker
2) Leono & Oro Jr. vs Artillero & Súper Comando
3) Esfinge, Starman, Stigma vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Cancerbero, Metálico
4) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Felino, Mr. Águila, Terrible
5) Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

The return of Mistico means the return of trademark symbols that I have to edit out.

Oro Jr. is now lower than Metalico, so that feud went great.