Leyendas Inmoratles may have the remaining matches of the 02/15 show, or maybe they’ll skip Hijo del Canek vs Mr. Jack completely.
Noches de Coliseo may be airing, but it may be airing later on Sunday night/Monday morning than I’ve been checking. Will keep trying.
CMLL (TUE) 03/17/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Demonio Maya & Relampago b El Divino & Reycko
Rudos took 2/3.
2) Leo, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. COR Artillero, Ráfaga, Súper Comando
tencicos took 2/3, with the rudos unable to return after a triple dive spot.
3) Goya Kong, Princesa Sugehit, Silueta b Dalys, Reyna Isis, Tiffany
Oficial CMLL of Tuareg valet Reyna Isis, who’s been wrestling on indy shows. Tecnicas took 1/3.
4) Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
Sky Team took 2/3, Mistica on UG and backcracker on GG.
5) Negro Casas & Shocker © b Marco Corleone & Rush [CMLL TAG]
Shocker and Casas took falls 2/3. In the third, Rush fouled Casas to beat him, but Shocker rallied back to beat the other two including a foul on Marco. Shocker & Casas’ fifth defense, all versus Ingobernable teams. They danced after their win.
They aired clips of Isis’s debut and the tag title match on Informa. Hard to tell much about them. Video of the dancing.
IWRG (WED) 03/18/2015 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Estrellas del Ring, IWRG]
Torneo FILL XL
1) Adrenalina, Chicanito, Vardeus b Guerrero 2000, Soldado De La Muerte, Último Caballero
2) Aramis, Chicanito, Shadow Boy vs Magnum 44, Mercenario De La Muerte, Vampiro Metálico
Chicanito worked twice, replacing Zumba. Mercenario replaced Anubis Black.
3) Alas de Acero b Black Angel, Black Drago, Voltar, Muerte Infernal
Acero beat Drago to win.
4) Freyser, Payaso Extremo, Picudo Jr. b Blue Monsther, Galaxy, Marduk
straight falls for the side with more experience.
5) Atomic Star L Metaleón, Avisman, Electro Boy, Alfa, Omega, Sky Ángel, Power Bull, Toxin Boy, Komachi, Atomic Fly, Fly Warrior, Kasier Drago, Skiller, Mini Zumbido, Fly Star, Super Pinocho 3000, Mara Salvatrucha, Mr. Zebra, Centinela Azul, Tigre Nahual, Gato Aladana, Vengador Galactico, Manchas [cage, mask, hair]
Demoler Xtreme was listed on the poster, but Oficial 911 said Fly Star would take his place on Monday. Hard to follow match with that many people in the cage. Listed as 24 people, but both recaps only list 22 names (Atomic Fly from Gym Zeus and Super Pinocho 3000 not mentioned) – possibly just an oversight. This IWRG match’s convoluted rules required all to be in the cage for 10 minutes, the first 18 could escape normally, and the last six had to defeat someone before escaping for it to count. Last six were Mancha, Gato Aldana (suffered leg injury), Electro Boy, Toxin Boy and Atomic Star, with Kriminal Boy Toxin Boy giving Atomic a martinete and taking his hair.
Good crowd for the round numbered show, though it sounds like the main event was unwatchable. Black Terry Jr. has video of fans freaking out after the cage match, plus slow motion of a dive gone wrong.
IWRG also announced Ricky Cruz would be returning for their 04/05 Rey del Ring show. Cruz is a past winner. He also wrestler here as the masked Ricky Cruzz (two z’s), one of the least mysterious masked men in history. He’s been around Chicago recently, having won the GALLI title in the last couple of weeks.
Lucha Underground notes
This week’s Wrestling Observer says the people working on Lucha Underground are pretty much under the impression they’ve been picked up for a second season, even though it hasn’t been officially announced. They’ve received orders for episodes beyond the 39 originally planned. LU people are usually quick to knock down false negative rumors about the company; they’ve said nothing about this, but probably couldn’t confirm until whatever announcement is made.
Lucha Underground has been promoted as El Rey’s main show – but it’s also the only series airing new episodes. (The network announced a new cast member for From Dusk Till Dawn; it’s in production, but no season 2 date appears to have been announced.) The Variety article suggested El Rey management was staying the course and not making major shakeups, which pretty much requires them to keep Lucha Underground going. At the same time, that story and the Austin based SXSW festival would’ve been great times to announce the second season pickup. Maybe there’s a better time for it.
The WON repeats the same story on Rey Mysterio Jr. with Lucha Underground: everyone figures he’s signing here, but they haven’t yet put pen to paper. This seems like the same thing as the renewal; they’re just waiting for the right moment to announce it (and my guess remains that the right moment will be Saturday at about 7pm PT.)
Blue Demon Jr. mentioned he’ll be on Lucha Underground’s tapings on Sunday. Chris DeJoseph said Bengala is debuting this weekend. That should be great. These tapings start with the May 27th episode, so it’ll be quite a while before you see him, but they continue to work their way thru the AAA roster. I’m assuming they’re saving Machine Rocker for the season finale cliffhanger. Or maybe he’s Matanaza! (“Deleted scenes” of random AAA wrestlers being locked in the cage and interacting with Dario Cueto would possibly be the greatest thing ever.) The WON also mentions LU is interested in Sonjay Dutt; that’s usually prelude to a dark match appearance. They’re already taping vignettes for this weekend’s shows (Black Lotus is still alive), so the Rey de Reyes delays probably has juggled their scheduled as well.
Other News
The Observer also confirms what was suspected: the outside Mexican team scheduled for AAA’s international trios tournament was originally planned to be a CMLL team, and Paco Alonso turned it down as always. The surprise is it wasn’t AAA who reached out, but Victoria beer, the sponsor of the red mat in both promotions.
CMLL & AAA worked one show together, the Padrismo show in 2000. That show was put together – more “forced to occur” – by TV company Televisa. It couldn’t happen the same today, since CMLL is no longer on Televisa and seemingly not bothered by it. Victoria seems to be the biggest sponsor for both companies, but even they could not get Paco Alonso to budge. Outside of the Mexican government intervening, there will never be a CMLL vs AAA show as long as Paco Alonso is still in power in CMLL. A few matches might continue to sneak below the radar, but anything more is impossible.
AAA is said to be reaching out to AJPW, TNA and ROH for teams. I’d guess those who Alberto faced in ROH will get strong recommendations (someone should talk to ACH while he’s there this weekend.) TNA is an odd pick continue the sometimes tortured relationship with them and AAA, but those wrestlers are likely very available with the lack of shows they’re running. AAA could bring in the guys they want without going thru the office, probably. (I hear that Tigre Uno is a nice flyer.) AJPW is not a promising pick, but they’ve had a relationship with AAA in the past and probably still do as long as Kenzo Suzuki is there – he figures to be part of this. People on Twitter brought up Ultimo Dragon, Atsushi Aoki, Go Shiozaki among other possibilities. All three of those men have been in AAA prior.
Estrellas del Ring previews the entire ChilangaMask show for the card this Sunday. Plenty of good matches. It looks like Kimber Lee is out of the mixed trios, with Keira switching sides to team with Latin Dragon & David Star and Chik Tormenta taking her place with Arez & Impluso. +LuchaTV also has Negro Navarro talking about his ChilangaMask match with Fulgor.
Quick Links
LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update for Wednesday and a recap of last week’s TerceraCaida.
A recap of the Casanova show with Virus vs Silver Star and Caifan vs Wotan.
Silver King vs Humberto Garza Jr. is set for 04/05 in Monterrey, with Garza avenging his son (Ultimo Ninja.)
The Tortugas Ninja determine which turtle is sitting out their trios match with Los Nerds.
Black Terry Jr. has highlights from DTU’s Neza show of Indystrongibles vs Los Nerds and the three way tag title match.
Volador says he’s been training hard for his hair match. Kamaitachi sees Friday as another step in his goal of being the best ever wrestler in the history of Arena Mexico, and talks about the difference in following lucha in Japan (late night TV) and Mexico (children coming up to you.)
SuperLuchas looks back at March 18, 2005, with the Perros vs the Dinamitas in a hair match.
Voices of Wrestling has a review of last night’s Lucha Underground. There’s universal praise for the Grave Consequences match; if you can’t get the show, you should make sure to check it out when it’s posted on the YouTube channel.
Pentagon Jr. has a new shirt. He probably didn’t ask Lucha Underground for logo permission, so get it while you can.
CMLL has Stellar Moments from two weeks ago.
The Good Friday Arena Coliseo Guadalajara show (April 3rd) will be moved to Sunday. There’s more freedom to do those sort of changes when they’re not bringing in DF luchadors.
Think Progress does the usual What Is Lucha Libre article, but somehow ended up in Oaxaca’s Arena Pepe Cisneros for it.
MedioTiempo is doing another mask pick ’em tournament, this time with CMLL wrestlers. Blue Demon was the most picked on the AAA one.
DJ Spectro looks back at Ray Mendoza vs the Ape Man in a proto-MMA battle.
Lineups
CMLL (TUE) 03/24/2015 Arena México
1) Metatrón & Molotov vs El Rebelde & Espanto Jr.
2) Goya Kong, La Vaquerita, Skadi vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Pegasso, Súper Halcón Jr. vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Okumura, Virus
4) The Panther vs Misterioso Jr. [lightning]
5) Blue Panther, Super Porky, Tritón vs Boby Zavala, Hechicero, Luciferno
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., La Sombra, Stuka Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas
Dragon Rojo mentioned he’d miss Tuesday’s show on his Twitter, and later explained he’d suffered a pectoral injury that’ll keep him out a couple weeks. CMLL, who does not care about falsely advertising matches, promptly listed him for next Tuesday’s show.
At any rate, Felino continues his role of being the not good guy in every possible good match. There’s definitely ways to get a good match of the top two matches, but not the way everyone’s set up. Panther gets a singles match against a guy you don’t want to see in a good match. That women’s match looks like it could be a struggle.
FULL (THU) 03/26/2015 Gimnasio Agustín Millán, Toluca, Estado de México
1) Iron Kid & Sangre Felina vs Fuego Jr. & Resplandor Negro
2) Saru & Sucesor vs Luzbel Jr. & Tanque Infenral
3) Ángel Del Amor, Marabunta Jr., Rey Piscis vs Boomerang, Fulgor I, Fulgor II
4) Lady Apache & Reyna Dorada vs La Diabólica & Rossy Moreno
5) Hijo De Dos Caras & Máscara Sagrada vs El Hijo del Medico Asesino & Rey Bucanero
6) Gronda, Marco Corleone, Tinieblas Sr. vs Cien Caras Jr., Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Pirata Morgan
TV taping – so Gronda’s showing up in both Leyendas Inmortales and FULL, assuming this TV actually starts. Would be cool if the Fulgors made TV (and Solitario & Tinieblas getting involved in the post match on the last show suggets they might.)
DTU Sanchez (SUN) 03/29/2015 Arena Neza
1) Galactico Dragon & Lokillo vs Psique & Speed Demon
2) Artikus, Lanzeloth, Rocky Lobo vs Jimmy, Kevin, Tony
3) Black Fire & Slayer Pack © vs Gemelo Fantastico I & Gemelo Fantastico II [DTU NEXO]
4) Broken Clown, Dave The Clown, Rothen Clown vs Pandemonium, Pandemonium Jr., Xibalba
5) Cíclope & Miedo Extremo vs Drastik Boy & Septimo Dragon and Belial & Impulso
6) Psicosis vs Histeria II, Ángel o Demonio, Ovett, Fantasma de la Ópera, Carta Brava, Crazy Boy, Pesadilla [cage, hair, mask]
Follow up from this weekend’s show. So many lucha cage matches this month. None of them any good, but so many of them. Semimain may be fun.
AAA TV (WED) 03/18/2015 Auditorio Benito Juárez, Zapopan, Jalisco [AAA, internetv, MT (main), MT (RdR), MT (rest), R de Rudo, SuperLuchas]
Rey de Reyes, 2015
Show began with a tribute to Irma Osorno, and the show was dedicated in her honor.
1) Ludxor & Venum b Carta Brava & El Apache
Bonus match 1. Ludxor pinned Apache after a top rope armdrag and a splash in about 10 minutes. Good match.
2) Faby Apache, Mascarita Sagrada, Pimpinela Escarlata b Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Taya Valkyrie
Bonus match 2. Pimpinela cradled Mini Abismo after the usual Hijo del Tirantes attack. Fantasma, Pentagon and Joe Lider immediately beat up the tecnicos after the match. Pentagon threatened Rey, while Fantasma said he’d beat Fenix.
3) Bengala, Drago, Súper Nova b Daga, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Súper Fly
Drago defeated Hijo de Pirata with mist in the eyes and his usual cradle (Dragon’s Tail on Lucha Underground).
4) Hijo del Fantasma © b Fénix [AAA CRUISER]
Great match, with Fantasma surviving Fenix’s Fire Driver and using it himself for the win. Fantamsa’s third defense. Fantasma insisted on handshake after the match, but Fenix wasn’t down with it. Fenix accepeted – only for Fantasma to attack him a few seconds later. Dorian, Konnan, Taya and Perro came to the ring to brag and congratulate Fantasma. The rudos eventually started to attack the tecnicos again, and Rey Jr. appeared to make the save. Announcers were sure Rey was joining the Fenix/Myzteziz team.
5) Blue Demon Jr. b Villano IV
Replaced a canceled Alberto del Patron vs Brian Cage match. An echo of their match from last year, though they seemed to get more time and had a slow start as a result. Their punching woke the crowd back up. Both men bled and brawled. Demon submitted V4 for the win. They challenged each other to another match – a mask one – someday. Money thrown in.
6) Angélico, Jack Evans, La Parka Jr. b Averno, Chessman, Cibernético
La Parka replaced Blue Demon Jr., but Demon lent a hand (or a chair shot) to beat Cibernetico. Mesias immediately ran out to attack the tecnicos, leaving them destroyed and taking Parka’s mask.
7) Texano b Aerostar and Psycho Clown and El Mesías [Rey de Reyes]
Aerostar got in the dive from the light tower again, but was eliminated first by a Mesias spear. Parka attacked Mesias, leaving him for a Psycho powerbomb to eliminate him. Psycho & Texano had a long fight, playing off their TripleMania match. In the end, Maya stopped counting Texano down on a Canadian Destroyer, then fast counted to give Texano a win.
8) Myzteziz & Rey Mysterio Jr. b el Hijo del Perro Aguayo & Pentagón Jr.
Good match, with Rey looking good in his return. Mysterio and Myzteziz did a couple of double dive spots. Rey beat Pentagon clean with a Canadian Destroyer. No Myzteziz/Perro angle.
Air Date: the iPPV VOD is up now. It looks like it’ll air 03/28 and 04/04, but some matches may be cut.
Enrique and Oscar have an audio review as well.
Show is worth watching, however/whenever you do. I think I’d go good, ok, good, great, great, ok, great, good but I reserve my mind to change my mind later. Rey Mysterio looked healthy and worked great with Pentagon Jr., who going to be a main eventer here for the foreseeable future because he’s so good with both these tecnicos. (Either that, or his performances in Lucha Underground, has also earned Pentagon a lot of mic time he was not getting prior.) The performances were exactly as expected. Even the Villano IV/Blue Demon Jr. match, as slow as they were moving at times, was likely better than Cage/Alberto if Alberto is as limited as believed.
The story of the show is still going to be the delays, the bus accident, and the small crowd. The arena felt between 20-33% full on video and sounded cavernously empty at times. (The post match of the sixth match, where chair shots to table echoed around the arena, felt like a low point.) The fans that were there got into the big matches, making the most noise for Rey Mysterio at the end of a long four hour show, but it was not what it was hoped to be. People were just not willing or able to attend an AAA show for the third time in a week, or one on a Wednesday night. The show was hurt without the energy of a full, or even half full arena. Maybe if this ever happens again, the decision should be to move to a smaller building. May this never happen again.
The problems with this show create a dilemma for TripleMania. AAA announced no TripleMania date, location or match, and didn’t even hint at any of those things – they wanted the focus on Rey Mysterio getting the win in his first match back. Still, the last match they were teasing was Myzteziz & Perro Aguayo Jr. They would easily sell out Arena Ciudad de Mexico, a 20K seat arena, under a normal pricing scale. There are much bigger arenas available in Mexico City, but they are all outdoor venues. Can they now try running a 30-50K seat bullring, risking another rain out? Do they now raise prices to TripleMania as high as CMLL raised their Anniversary show prices? There’s no good answer. (FWIW: If you scroll halfway down this page, it looks like March is actually the driest month in Guadalajara, with a 95% chance of no rain. Mexico City is much stormier during the late summer.)
Wherever TripleMania is held, it’s safe to buy on iPPV. The feed got a little bit iffy during the first half of the Rey de Reyes match, but was completely fine the rest of the night. Even the 3D worked fine, though maybe the mat wrestling section of Villano IV versus Blue Demon Jr. wasn’t the most exciting time to try it. Much like the free show they did, it was simply a live feed of their TV taping stream with no added presentation, but that was good enough.
The show was troubled by the usual quirks of AAA’s booking. There were three heel beatdowns after tecnico wins in the first six matches. Looking back, the first one after the third match appears completely unnecessary. It was just there so the rudos could do promos, the same they could’ve done in backstage at some other point. The Rafael el Maya cheating didn’t fit with the rest of the match, clearly only happening because they wanted a way to protect both guys and weren’t as concerned with it making any sense. (It’s also odd they felt they needed to protect Psycho Clown in that way when Fenix had his finisher kicked out of and then used again him for the loss. Those were two different extremes in definite results on the same show – maybe different people deciding the finish.) There’s nothing new about any of this, it’s the part of the package at this point.
It feels a bit cruel to be critical for this show. This was supposed to be a celebration, it ended up a tragedy. The memorial prior to the show was so sad that it was hard to watch. The show went on, because it had to go on and maybe it was a good distraction. It’s two weeks until the next taping; hopefully the break does everyone some good.