Month: February 2015

LI (THU) 02/26/2015 Arena Aficion [Estrellas del Ring, Funcion Estelar]
1) Magnetico & Tarkus b Crazy Boricua & Mascara Virual
2) Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano Garcia b Bala De Plata, Carta Brava Jr. (IWL), Tom Mix Jr.
3) El Fantasma, Heavy Metal, Veneno DQ Histeria II, Máscara Año 2000, Tyson la Bestia
Tyson La Bestia replaced Mr. Mexico.
4) Negro Navarro © b Solar I [FMLL MASTER]
Navarro kept the title.
5) Canek, Mr. Jack, Octagón b Black Terry, Fuerza Guerrera,Triturador
Triturador (?) replaced Shu (which meant the point of the match was no longer there.) Canek & Octagon attacked Mr. Jack after the match. Crowd did not like the match.

The idea of the main event was Mr. Jack and Shu el Guerrero now hate each other so much that Mr. Jack would team with Canek, but that doesn’t quite work if Shu doesn’t show. The ring had a big advertisement for Rock & Road Music Group, a music booking company.

CMLL (FRI) 02/27/2015 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Leono & Molotov b Hijo del Signo & Metálico
2) Blue Panther Jr., Dragon Lee, The Panther b Kamaitachi, Puma, Tiger
Tecnicos took 1/3, the first by DQ and the last with Dragon Lee beating Kamaitachi.
3) Ángel de Oro & Atlantis b Rush, Marco Corleone, Máximo, Stuka Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Blue Panther [natl pi, seeding battle royal]
4) Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. b Blue Panther & Felino [natl pi, 8f]
5) Máximo & Terrible b Dragón Rojo Jr. & Niebla Roja [natl pi, 8f]
6) Rush & Shocker b Marco Corleone & Thunder [natl pi, 8f]
7) Atlantis & Último Guerrero b Ángel de Oro & Hechicero [natl pi, 8f]
8) Máximo & Terrible b Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. [natl pi, quarterfinal]
9) Atlantis & Último Guerrero b Rush & Shocker [natl pi, quarterfinal]
10) Máximo & Terrible b Atlantis & Último Guerrero [natl pi, semifinal]
11) Ephesto, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero b Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr.
Terrible distracted Tirantes and Bucanero fouled Volador for the win.

Tournament went the way everyone thought it would.

Tonight’s CMLL Coliseo show has Guerrero Maya & Delta vs Misterioso & Sagrado for the Arena Coliseo Tag Team championship. All the champions have kept their belts on these Saturday shows and this seems like it’ll go the same way. El Grafico interviews Guerrero Maya Jr., who says Hechicero & Barbaro Cavernario have been their toughest challenge so far.

AAA has another big house show today in Arena Neza. Scheduled main event is Alberto & Mesias vs Electroshock & Texano Jr.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

ChilangaMask has a show in Puebla’s Arena Coliseo San Ramon today, with Segura & Freelance vs Asturiano & Pegasso as the top match.

Notimex has an interview with Dragon Lee & Kamaitaichi about the mask match.

CMLL’s fourth part of their El Faraon history piece.

+LuchaTV has an interview with Alberto el Patron.

The LyC 03/15 main event will be a cage match.

SuperLuchas writes about Canek & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Strong Kobayashi & Bufalo Allen from a past February 27th and Santo, Demon & Mil Mascaras vs Ola Blanca from a past February 28th.

DJ Spectro writes about Lawrence de Arabia being unmasked, Hermano Dean I being unmasked and the Hulk being unmasked.

Diario Oaxaca has an interview with Vuelo Espacial.

A Polish site has an interview with Tinieblas Jr.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 03/06/2015 Arena México
1) Robin & Sensei vs Canelo Casas & Metálico
2) Flyer, Hombre Bala Jr., Tritón vs Boby Zavala, Sangre Azteca, Virus
3) Delta, Dragon Lee, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Kamaitachi, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
4) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Valiente vs Felino, Pólvora, Rey Escorpión
5) La Máscara, La Sombra, Rush vs Negro Casas, Thunder, Último Guerrero
6) Rey Bucanero & Volador Jr. vs Máximo & Terrible [natl pi]

Original Ingobernables are back together in Arena Mexico. Almost as heartwarming, Rey Escorpion and Polvora are back together. Dragon Lee & Kamaitachi should not be as far down in the third match unless CMLL’s setting up another H2L in the matches above them.

Triton handles the video promo.

AAA (THU) 02/26/2015 Arena Naucalpan [Tercera Caida]
1) Ludxor & Venum b Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Kronoz
Debut of Kronoz, who’s been hanging out with Electroshock & Hijo del Pirata in vignettes since the start of the year.
2) Argenis, Niño Hamburguesa, Octagoncito b Carta Brava Jr., Daga, Mini Psycho Clown
3) Australian Suicide & Faby Apache b Dark Scoria & Taya Valkyrie
Hijo del Tirantes helped the rudos during the match, but Suicide still beat Escoria
4) Parka Negra, Pentagón Jr., Zorro b Drago, El Elegido, Jack Evans
Elegido & Zorro replaced Fenix & Fantasma.
5) Blue Demon Jr., El Patrón Alberto, Fénix b Chessman, Hijo del Fantasma, Texano Jr.
Alberto’s first match in this building since September 2007 (when he also teamed with Demon!) Fenix and Fantasma added to this match. Tecnicos took 2/3, Alberto beating Texano to win.

Looks like a sellout. Enrique and Oscar have a post show audio interview with Alberto and an earlier preview of the Gimansio Juan de la Barrera show. They pointed out how AAA tends to have big surprises in Juan de la Barrera, which also points towards a Rey Jr. appearance.

AAA has a taping tonight in Queretaro, which should be pretty busy. Most of the Rey de Reyes lineup is still very unclear, they’ll obviously need to have a card if they’re holding a press conference on Tuesday, so a lot of matches has to go sorted out tonight. The main event is Brian Cage’s debut in the promotion, opposite Alberto. TV has strongly teased Cage challenging for Alberto’s mega-championship, and tonight’s show should indicate how quickly they’re getting to that match. The full main event is Alberto, Fenix, and Myzteziz vs Cage, Fantasma and Pentagon Jr., which should also continue the Fenix/Fantasma rivalry.

Fenix/Fantasma is one of two matches we actually know for Rey de Reyes. The Rey de Reyes final is the only other match announced for Rey de Reyes, and that’s Texano and Three Other People. Bengala is good, Machine Rocker is good, Murder Clown is also in this match, and none of them appear to have a chance in this match. There’s a lack of drama in the outcome but this could turn out to be a pretty good match if they get Murder Clown out of the way early.

A bigger mystery for this show is in the fourth match, where the odd pair of Hijo del Pirata & Joe Lider take on Drago and a surprise luchador. The only rumor for the surprise has been Flamita, who worked a dark match here last year and has been recruited by the promotion to come in full time. Flamita was said to be returning to Dragon Gate next month, but has yet to be announced for any shows. (That may not mean anything : Flamita left Dragon Gate as a surprise so would figure to return as a surprise.) The show also includes a couple of promising matches to open the card, and a Hell Brothers vs Jack/Angelico/Parka match.

CMLL’s already announced the big matches for their March major show, and now are just attempting to make people to care about them. That effort makes Maximo & Terrible the favorite to win the second block of the Incredible Pairs tournament, to set up a final against fellow H2L main eventers Rey Bucanero & Volador. None of those matches sound good or actually sound like something that would make people more interested in the feud, but it is how CMLL usually sets up things. Rush returns to action for the first time since November, but may only wrestle for about 3 minutes today depending on his team with Shocker goes. They do have a change to advance if they can keep it together, as do Atlantis & Ultimo Guerrero, but this field has a majority of Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. team where it’d be a surprise if they made it out of one round.

The actual main event has the Sky Team versus Ephesto, Mephisto and Rey Bucanero, which should be a showcase for the new tecnico champions. Dragon Lee and Kamaitaichi are in a great looking segunda which has absolutely no chance of airing on TV. CMLL’s packages on El Faraon have been well done, but it’d be nice to see them build up the main event matches on the show as strongly, and tonight’s trios match alone should give them enough to for a long highlight package.

LuchaWorld has a recap of this week’s CMLL Informa and KrisZ’s news update.

Segunda Caida reviews last week’s Lucha Underground and more Lucha Haku.

Llaves y Candados have announced Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Ninja, Mr. Aguila, Laredo Kid, Axel and Heroedes Jr. on their 03/15 show.

ChilangaMask has announced Virus vs Avisman for a new 04/12 Coliseo Coacalaco show. Background on Jason Gory, wrestling on the upcoming 03/22 Coliseo Coacalco show.

Estrellas del Ring has reports from press events for 03/14 Vamper Revolution and 03/15 Lucha Libre Boom, both of which have a CMLL vs indy theme.

+LuchaTV has highlights of last week’s DTU show: Los Nerds vs Porros, Black Fire & Slayer Pack vs Draztick Boy & Rocky Loco vs Violento Jack & Aero Boy and Sagrado, Crazy Boy, Pesadilla, Hacker vs Joe Lider, Paranoiko, Ciclope & Miedo Extremo.

Dragon Lee said he’s going to leave his imprint on the Arena Mexico mat in his mask match. I think he may do that literally. He’s concerned Okumura may try to cheat and help Kamaitachi.

Arena Coliseo San Ramon has Tigre Rojo Jr. putting his mask up against fellow Puebla local Toro de Oro.

Oaxaca luchador Challenger will be honored at a free show tomorrow.

Lineups

IWRG AAA (WED) 03/04/2015 Arena Naucalpan
1) Alfa & Omega vs Anubis Black & Ciclon Black
2) Atomic Star vs Dragón Celestial, Imposible, Alas de Acero, Araña de Plata
3) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs Avisman, Dowki, Hip Hop Man, Liderk
4) Rayan & Spector vs Oficial 911 & Oficial AK47 © [IWRG IC TAG, #1 Contenders]
5) Argenis, Machine Rocker, Mamba, Niño Hamburguesa, Súper Fly, Venum vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Cerebro Negro, Electro Boy, Eterno, Golden Magic, Universo 2000 Jr.
AAA vs IWRG

The main event for this show  was originally listed as a cage match where the loser would lose hair or mask, but the poster doesn’t specifically say that. The poster also says the fourth match is for the tag team titles neither team holds, so the poster may just be wrong.

It better not actually be a cage, but I dunno how Nino Hamburguesa is getting out. Five Match Fighters in the second match should be killer again, though it’d be even better if they moved Machine Rocker and Venum into it for Seven Match Fighters.

After a long wait, Rey Misterio Jr. has been released from his WWE contract. There’s no release on their website, but WWE’s responded to questions by simply saying Rey Misterio is not part of the company any longer. The US promotion announced the parting of ways. Misterio is expected to announce appearances with other promotions immediately, and may have already done so by the time you read this. Rey originally expected to leave WWE in 2014 and had already started to make future plans. He’ll finally be able to act on them now.

Those plans obviously include AAA and Lucha Underground. Deals with those promotions may not be formerly announced for some time, but have at least been informally agreed upon. Lucha Underground did not announce their deal with Alberto el Patron until the moment he appeared in their ring at least in part due to the surprise factor. That may be repeated here, but Rey was intended to be part of that promotion from the start and now will get to be. AAA formerly introduced Myzteziz and Alberto at press conferences to promote events last year. AAA’s believed to have already scheduled a 03/03 press conference to talk about Rey de Reyes (as mentioned in the iPPV announcement) and that would make sense as an reintroduction point for Rey Jr. The Rey de Reyes slogan being “Un Rey se acerca” (A Rey is coming) is an obvious allusion.

Rey’s not expected to wrestle much, if at all. There’s surely some health concerns, but he’s a big enough name where he can command a great fee just for showing up and signing some autographs so he’s probably going to stick to that.. It’s not of the question that Rey may wrestle at a TripleMania, but they’re very likely to be Special Appearance type matches, not singles matches going for MOTY.

This helps Lucha Underground get another recognizable face (well, mask) to both El Rey management and sponsors. (It also probably raises the costs of running the show.) Rey’s story of leaving WWE is harder to drill down to simple sentence than Alberto, but he’s even more well known. Rey’s going to go thru the same whirlwind of demand.

It’s unclear at this point if there is any sort of no-compete included in the contract. It may not be a big obstacle if there is one; Lucha Underground is so far ahead that even a “three month” TV no-compete would still allow him to be on the next set of tapings. Those clauses usually aren’t/can’t be enforced out of the country, so it would have no effect on his AAA appearances.

Rey actually was seen as part of last year’s TripleMania, in a video airing only live (never on TV, but “accidentally” shown briefly on PPV) teasing a return to the company soon. Rey also was inducted into AAA’s Hall of Fame in 2007, but AAA was required by WWE to edit him out of the TV broadcast of the ceremony. (A few clips have snuck thru over the years.) As best I can tell, Rey’s last AAA TV would’ve been on the 08/30/1996 Juan de la Barrera show. His next AAA TV appearance may be in the same building.

The date of Rey leaving WWE had been agreed to for months, sometime after Rey’s last meeting with WWE officials in Buffalo. That date was supposed 02/27 (a late Friday release to bury the news), with the idea that Rey’s side was not allowed to tell leak it out or WWE would go back on their deal. Bizarrely, it appears it was WWE who leaked the news a day early by moving Rey to the Alumni section of their roster. There were a lot of little leaks coming out so WWE might have just decided to be done with it. I’m not sure if this is the last we’ll hear about the parting of the ways – there are not good feelings on either side and more is going to come out about it – but hopefully the early announcement means everyone can just move on quicker.