Month: March 2015

There’s not much news left at this point.

This week’s MLW Radio didn’t include Konnan, of course, but Court Bauer mentioned he had talk to Konnan in the last couple of days. There’s been a criticism directed at Konnan for moving Perro after he was injured. Court relays that Konnan, in that moment, believed Perro had been only knocked out and was trying to revive him. Konnan wasn’t even thinking about a neck injury. “In that moment” is the key – it’s much easier to have to think things thru when you already know the outcome and can watch it on infinite loop, it’s a lot a harder when a person you care about has just suddenly fallen unconscious right in front of you. Konnan did the best he could in the moment, and nothing he could’ve done would’ve changed the outcome.

That’s the problem. Everyone’s understandable very emotional about the situation and wants to direct that emotion at something. The Rey stuff is just utter garbage and blaming Konnan is just as misguided. It’s a situation where people want to, need to, find something the doctor did wrong or the commission did wrong so all that emotion can go towards them. There are a lot of problems with lucha commissions and doctors, but, from what we know what right now, there’s no medical treatment which would’ve stood much of a chance saving Perro once he was hurt. There’s a lot of problems with extreme wrestling and criticism of wrestlers taking too many big risks. That’s just not what happened here. This was a man falling out of the ring, and falling into the ropes, two things which have been done since the start of wrestling, things that could’ve easily have happened in a safe sterile WWE match or a 40 year old ring on a dirt floor in the tiniest show in Mexico.

Perro’s death just appears to be a freak accident that could’ve happened any time, any where, and nothing about the context of the rest of the world really mattered. It’s a completely unsatisfying answer. It’d be so much better if there was just someone or something we could just get angry at, and maybe new information will come out in the next few days to give us that. This answer we have today doesn’t give us a solution so we can go on believing (pretending) this sort of thing won’t happen again. Unless you’re willing to ban lucha libre – and there are columnists asking for that today – it’s going to remain just dangerous enough that this danger exists. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again for a long time, but everyone lives with the knowledge that it might again some day.

The one missing piece is the state of Perro Aguayo’s neck prior to the match. There’s been speculation that maybe he had neck problems, but no one close to him has come out and said Perro had neck issues. It might be that no one does. Neck examinations, as part of actual medical exams to license luchadors, would be a nice forward step no matter the circumstances, but it seems unlikely to happen unless someone close to Perro specifies that as the issue.

The funeral service is happening as I write this. It looks like there’s a massive amount of people who could not even getting in. There are people covering it with more detail; Info_AlanR has pictures and video from the ceremony.

Silver King led a tribute to Perro Aguayo Jr. at a show in Satillo. Silver King talked about all those he had lost – Perro, his old tag partner Texano Sr., his father among them. Gronda XXX noted to the reporters that if everyone knew how many injuried wrestling had caused him, no one would ever want to do it.

Matt Farmer has a look back at Perro Aguayo Jr.’s career.

Cronicas and Leyendas looks back at Perro Aguayo Jr. breaking the Leyenda de Plata trophy in 2004. That was really the moment where he became the Perro del Mal character he’d be known as for the next ten years. That incident introduced the personality, that match where he utterly destroyed poor Rey Bucanero set up the wrestling style. SuperLuchas reprints it’s article naming Perro as wrestler of the year in 2004, right when that ascension was happening and just before the Perros del Mal name become official.

Other Links

Black Terry Jr. has a ton of photos from Sunday’s ChilangaMask show.

CMLL has highlights of Dos Leyendas.

Segunda Caida continues it’s Hechicero review with a Monterrey trios.

A show in Veracruz is listed as being taped for TV – in Japan. Because it’s a main event Japanese trio (Kamaitachi, Dowki, Hanaoka) and probably not because it’s actually airing.

Muneca de Plata wrestled in the main event of a mixed trios match in Puebla; she replaced Goya Kong and appears to have wrestled unmasked. A Tiffany led trio won.

Perro Aguayo Jr.

A funeral mass will be held tomorrow at 10 AM in Guadalajara. The public is invited, but are asked to have respectful behavior (no autographs, no pictures.) The line of fans and friends taking part tonight appears to have remained long well into the night. At the wake, Perro Aguayo Jr.’s mother thanks the public for their support. Perro Sr. was at the ceremony. He did not speak to the public. Reports say Perro will be cremated.

KrisZ and El Pancracio both has great obituaries.  The Gladiatores, who produced a lot of Perros del Mal content for the internet once they took off as their own promotion, thanks Perro Aguayo Jr. for working with them. Los Colisenos talks about Perro’s CMLL career, in usual fashion.

There were tributes to Perro Aguayo Jr. at every lucha libre show this weekend. Lucha Underground had a tribute to him before Saturday’s show. If the Observer report is accurate, it sounds so emotional that it’d be understandable not to want to show it. There will definitely be some acknowledgement. CMLL held a moment of applause on Saturday and at Sunday’s show in Arena Mexico. Black Terry Jr. posted video of the one at the XMW show, where one of the Perros del Mal championships has recently been disputed. Extreme Tiger spoke to the crowd before a similar moment in Coacalco. He was honored on Saturday’s DTU show. He was honored on AULL’s show in Mexico City. Puerto Rico’s WWL had a moment for him. There was applause for Perro in Monterrey. Many US and Japanese wrestlers posted messages on Twitter expressing their sympathy.

Joaquin Roldan said Rey Misterio has his and AAA’s full support and decried the sensationalism in the reporting of this story.  R de Rudo talks to Myzteziz, who calls Perro a great rival and a great friend.

Jeque Mate offered sympathy for Rey Mysterio Jr.. Jeque Mate was in the ring when Oro died, and says fans chanted “asesino” (murder) at him for the next five weeks. It died down, but he’ll never forget it. Like everyone else, Jeque does not think Rey is at all fault. Heavy Metal wrote a Facebook post also noting that any luchador could see Rey had nothing to do with what happened.

Dr. Mario Garcia Orozco, who the article lists as friend of the Aguayo family, says the cause of death listed on Perro Aguayo’s certificate is “traumatismo a nivel de columna cervical y que esto produjo lesión medular” (translates to “trauma to the cervical level which caused a spinal cord injury”.) He calls it an accident and urges not rush to judgment on the medical team.

Super Nova missed tonight’s IWRG show, due to injury. He instead appeared on Televisa Deportes show La Jugada talking about his injury and the conditions at the Tijuana show. I haven’t seen the show, but all the usual Mexico Sunday sports wrap up shows were discussing the situation. Atlantis appeared on TV Azteca in a similar segment.

Nova was the (silly) person who took a double spanish fly thru a table/wood to the floor. He did make it to the back, but perhaps was still hurt. The Tijuana commission has claimed 2 or 3 other wrestlers were hurt on the show, and he’d be one.

Gerardo Velázquez de León, the man in charge at TVC Deportes, wrote lucha libre should be banned after seeing the Perro Aguayo Jr. video. Lucha libre is not going to be banned. It’s also not going to be back on TVC Deportes any time soon.

There’s so much content on the internet about this – sites that don’t cover lucha libre including articles, sites that do writing nine. It’s been all over TV. Some of that attention will switch to whatever viral thing happens on Monday, but it’s going to remain a Mexican national story for a while. All that attention is going to put pressure for something to do be done, even if everything was truly done properly to begin with. There are going to be changes, and there’s no telling what they’ll be at this point.

Homenaje a Dos Leyendas

The results are a few posts down, though you can guess the basic results if you care about this subhead at all. Dragon Lee/Kamiatachi was said to be the best match, and the main event was pretty good.

The semimain, the Guerreros vs Ingobernables match, pushed a Rush/Thunder match for the second straight week. Rush keeps talking about wanting mask. Thunder has a mask. Thunder also is not someone who belongs in a singles match (and flinched as much as anyone in taking Rush’s corner dropkick in recent memory.) A Rush/Thunder feud would be an interesting test of Rush’s drawing power from an academic standpoint, but a struggle in pretty much every other way.

I haven’t gotten an attendance estimate; this whole show just stopped mattering within hours of taking place, so no one’s really thought much about it. The pictures seemed to indicate they drew less the show last year, though not sure how much left. Anything between 8 and 11,000 would seem credible to me.

NJPW’s website is shocked to find out their young lion was in Mexico all this time. Kamaitachi should be expected to be around the rest of the year, even unmasked. He had a big head of hair, which would seem to suggest another apuesta match to come. No one on his level comes to mind to face him. (Someone book Kamiatachi vs Negro Casas.)

As expected, there are YouTube videos floating around of people recording the movie screen while watching H2L in a theater. The one I’ve seen was awful quiet, as if there weren’t many people in that theater.

Maximo & Volador would like to keep teaming and challenge for the tag titles.

CMLL results

CMLL (FRI) 03/20/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Brillante & Meteoro b El Piraña & Satara
2) El Gitano, Gran Kenut, Thunder Boy b El Alteño, El Tapatío, Índigo
3) Exterminador, Furia Roja, Sádico b Frezzer, Javier Cruz Jr., Leo
4) Flash I, Flash II, Forastero b El Cuatrero, Ráfaga, Sansón
5) Gallo, Omar Brunetti, Pepe Aguayo DQ Gran Eku, Jocker, Maléfico
Exterminador & Sadico ran in for the DQ. Xavier Cruz & Leo made the save, setting up a cage match for next week.

Cage match is what was expected here once the run-ins started. It doesn’t figure to draw anything special, but establishing that big matches will happen on the non-DF shows can be helpful.

CMLL (SAT) 03/21/2015 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Pierrothito b Último Dragoncito
2) Hijo del Signo b Molotov
3) Okumura b Oro Jr.
Okumura replaced Canelo Casas; recap notes Okumura is on a lot of these shows.
4) Raziel b Starman
5) Cancerbero b Stigma
6) Misterioso Jr. & Pierroth b Fuego & Tritón
7) Dragon Lee, Mistico, Valiente DQ Ephesto, Kamaitachi, Mephisto
Perro Aguayo Jr. was honored before the match. Kamaitachi fouled Dragon Lee and took his mask.

CMLL (SUN) 03/22/2015 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Bengala & Metatrón b Camorra & Espanto Jr.
2) La Comandante, La Seductora, Tiffany b La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi
3) Dragon Lee, Fuego, Pegasso b Boby Zavala, Okumura, Virus
Dragon Lee won, defeating Virus. Dragon Lee challenged Virus to a title match. Virus did not respond.
4) Kráneo b Super Porky [lightning]
Perro Aguayo Jr. was honored before the match. Kraneo won, and Kraneo & Mije celebrated with a victory dance.
5) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Titán b Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Rey Escorpión
Titan replaced Dragon Rojo (injury)
6) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Mistico DQ Euforia, Mephisto, Negro Casas
Negro Casas pulled Mistico’s mask for the DQ. Mistico demanded a singles match.

Didn’t sound like either singles match was for sure next week, but Mistico/Casas sounds more likely for next week and Virus/Dragon Lee for some weeks down the line.

Other Results

DTU (FRI) 03/20/2015 Autolavado VM, Tulancingo, Hidalgo [Funcion Estelar]
1) Mazicito vs Veguetita
2) Dany Latino b Rey Capricornio
3) Loquillo b Masivo, Imperio Negro, Génesis
Genesis was a surprise wrestler. No idea if it’s the ex-CMLL one.
4) Cíclope & Miedo Extremo b Jimmy & Kevin
The Masizos won with heavy chair usage.
5) Jonathan Gresham b Lanzeloth, Drastik Boy, Atrikus
Hormiga was listed but not in the match. Non-title, but Gresham won again. Crowd liked his match this time.
6) X-Fly DRAW Crazy Boy
Crowd did not like this ending in a draw.
7) Histeria II, Paranoiko, Psicosis II b Black Fire, Rocky Lobo, Slayer Pack
Vipers continue their DTU success.

The Vipers have won a lot here.

DTU (SAT) 03/21/2015 Gym Hercules Moderno, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [Tercera Caida]
1) Leo, Rafy, Teelo b Jimmy, Kevin, Tony
2) Lokillo b Angel Jr., Psique
Angel Jr. replaced Alas de Acero
3) Black Fire & Slayer Pack b Alas de Acero & Chicano and Artikus & Lanzeloth
Alas de Acero replaced Hormiga.
4) Jonathan Greshman © b Drastik Boy, Rocky Lobo [DTU AI]
Gresham used the ropes to win. Gresham threatened to take the title back to IWA-MS.
5) Crazy Boy & Rey Capricornio b Cíclope & Miedo Extremo
Good match.
6) Psicosis b X-Fly, Ovett
No Angel o Demonio, so it was a triangle match with Psicosis winning. Continue build to the cage match.

Kind of want to go to IWA-MS if they actually hold a DTU title match. I am the only person this applies to, and it’s mostly for the novelty.

XMW (SAT) 03/21/2015 Gimnasio Gloria, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [@TKD_117, Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Estrellas del Ring]
1) Draego b Centella, Azgar, Smaker, Dragon, Hahastary, Anuro, Ekuz
2) Kilvan, Shadow, Yoruba b Chicayeye, Core, Rayo Star
La Resistence vs Okama Power. Core & Rayo Star replaced exoticos Demasiado & Estrella Divina.
3) Disturbio b Mr. Leo, Tanque Infernal, Principe Diamante, Toxin Boy, Obscuro, Metaleón, Magnetico, Luzbel
Disturbio pulled Toxin Boy’s mask and rolled him for the win.
4) Metaleón b Guerrero Mixtico Jr., Big Boy, Legendario
Bonus match. Metaleon replaced Guerrero Mixticos.
5) Arez, Fly Metalik, Impulso b Electro Boy, Emperador Azteca, Imposible
XMW vs IWRG.
6) Arkángel de la Muerte b Wasson, Tornado
Arkangel replaced Virus and beat Tornado.
7) Fly Warrior & Valiente b Fly Star & Skayde and Centvrión & Okumura and Belial & Hechicero (CMLL)
Valiente did appear, despite some drama earlier in the week. Excellent match.
8) Demoledor © b Toxico, Hellspawn (Chile), Wotan [XMW HEAVY]
Toxico beat Demoledor for the win.

Chilanga Mask (SUN) 03/22/2015 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México [TerceraCaida, TKD]
2nd Anniversary Show
1) Draego b Astro Rey Jr., Dragón Celestial, Electro Boy, Emperador Azteca, Freelance, Mike Segura, Toxin Boy, Fly Warrior
Aerial Assualt. Kriminal Boys were added to the match. Very good match.
2) Impulso b Jason Gory
Impluso won with a figure four leglock (!!)
3) Herodes Jr. b Violento Jack
Not nearly as hardcore as would be expected.
4) Mr. Maldito & The Platino b Trauma I & Trauma II
Mr. Maldito, eliminated, snuck back in to foul Trauma II. Crowd like the Tijuana pair.
5) David Star, Keira, Latin Dragon b Arez, Belial, Chik Tormenta
JT Dunn & Kimber Lee were supposed to be in this match, but replaced by Latin Dragon and Chik Tormenta (with some changes to sides.) Keira accidentally removed Belial’s mask, but the referee decided to let the match continue. Latin Dragon won with a piledriver variant on Arez.
6) Negro Navarro b Fulgor I
7) Guerrero Maya Jr. b Black Terry, Rey Hechicero, Aero Boy
Hechicero out first by DQ for pulling Maya’s mask. Aeroboy submitted Terry. Maya submitted Aeroboy for the win.
8) ACH b Extreme Tiger
Great match. ACH won with a double German suplex. Money thrown in. Extreme Tiger led the match in honoring Perro Aguayo Jr. Show was held up because so many people wanted ACH autographs.
9) Masada b Pagano

Completely full crowd, as usual for these shows. ACH/Tiger sounds like the standout match with other good matches.

A Thursday tag match between Canek, Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero and Dr. Wagner Jr. ended with everyone disqualified at once.  It looks like a finish where no one wants to lose and so everyone is protected, but it seems more and more to me like this generation of luchadors believes this sort of controversial finish is what the fans wanted to see. Which is another level of delusion.

Other Links

A 87 page picture book about exoticos is being sold on Payhip for only 25 Mexican Pesos. It won’t take US Dollars, but that’d be about $2 US.

Rob has a music video of 11/25/14 CMLL.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update from Friday.

SuperLuchas has looks back to shows on March 20th and March 22th.

Aerostar explains he did the dive from the top of the light tower at Rey de Reyes specifically because the show was postponed twice and he wanted to make it to the fans. He’s not the only person who had that thought on that show, though his act was the most dramatic.

Dr. Alfonso Morales column mentions AAA TV producer Raul Villarreal suffered a double foot fracture in the AAA bus accident.

Proyeccion Luchistica returns with a magazine style update on some recent shows.

CMLL announced Shocker & Estrellita are in Costa Rica for a show today, which is perhaps why Estrellita missed H2L.

AYM Sports has an article about 10 top inmortal moments in AAA.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 03/27/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Explosivo vs El Piraña
2) El Tapatío & Meteoro vs Demonio Rojo & Relampago
3) Metatrón & Virgo vs Pitbull I & Pitbull II
4) Esfinge, Gallo, Magnum vs Great Eku, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
5) Omar Brunetti vs Pepe Aguayo, Javier Cruz Jr., Jocker, Maléfico, Leo, Sádico, Évola [hair, cage]

There’s a non-zero chance they brought Pepe Aguayo (Perro’s uncle) back to lose. He absolutely can not lose that match.

CMLL (SAT) 03/28/2015 Arena Coliseo
1) Leono vs Cholo
2) Robin vs Akuma
3) Soberano Jr. vs Metálico
4) Star Jr. vs Nitro
5) Tritón vs Arkángel de la Muerte
6) Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther vs Sangre Azteca & Tiger
7) Ángel de Oro, Fuego, Mistico vs Misterioso Jr., Ripper, Sagrado

Like Okumura, Misterioso is a Sabado Retros veteran.

Next week, the first of April, is traditionally the Arena Coliseo Anniversary show with a big card. There’s been no sign of that at all so far. Guess it’s always possible that Virus vs Dragon Lee gets moved to here.

CMLL (SUN) 03/29/2015 Arena México
1) Robin & Sensei vs Apocalipsis & Camorra
2) Acero, Shockercito, Último Dragoncito vs Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Universo 2000
3) Goya Kong, Marcela, Syuri vs Dalys, La Comandante, Tiffany
4) Dragon Lee, Dragón Rojo Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Hechicero, Kráneo, Virus
5) Mistico vs Negro Casas
6) La Máscara, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Ephesto, Mephisto

There’s no earthly reason to put Mistico & Negro Casas in the semimain. None. There’s also no reason to keep listing Dragon Rojo when no one expects him to be wrestling yet.

Toryumon Mexico (SUN) 03/29/2015 Domo del Deportivo Plan Sexenal, Distrito Federal
1) Chapulin vs Chokma
2) Lady Boricua & Lluvia vs Reyna Isis & Xena
3) Fiero & Íkaro vs Daisuke Hanaoki & Douki
4) Hijo de Kendo, Kendo, Super Ciudadano vs El Patan, J.c. Navarro, O.t. Fernandez
5) Pantera I, Shocker, Último Dragón vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Euforia, Rey Bucanero

This is listed as Copa Yamaha, which used to be a tournament but now appears just to be a name.

CMLL (FRI) 03/20/2015 Arena México
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, 2015 (El Faraon)
1) Dark Angel, Goya Kong, Marcela b Amapola, Dallys la Caribeña, Tiffany
straight falls. Goya Kong replaced Estrellita.
2) Hechicero, Vangellys, Virus b Blue Panther Jr., Stuka Jr., The Panther
Rudos took 1/3.
3) Mistico, Titán, Valiente b Bárbaro Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas
Tecnicos took 1/3, Mistica on Negro Casas
4) Dragon Lee b Kamaitachi [mask]
Dragon Lee took falls 2/3. Kamaitachi was unmasked as Hiromu Takahasi, 25 years old, 4 years a luchador, from Tokyo, Japan.
5) Euforia, Thunder, Último Guerrero DQ La Máscara, La Sombra, Rush
Straight falls. Ingobernables were DQed first for excessive violence, and second for Rush unmasking Thunder.
6) Máximo & Volador Jr. b Rey Bucanero & Terrible [hair]
Tecnicos take 2/3. Maximo avenges his hair loss to Terrible & Texano from four years ago and is now 2-2 in Arena Mexico hair matches. Volador Jr. wins an apuesta match in Arena Mexico for the first time. This is Terrible’s second straight hair match loss after winning his first five. Rey Bucanero loses an apuesta for the fifth time overall.

El Faraon was honored before the fifth match.

Next week’s lineup

CMLL (FRI) 03/27/2015 Arena México
1) Astral & Eléctrico vs Demus 3:16 & Pierrothito
2) Flyer, Soberano Jr., Stigma vs Cancerbero, Canelo Casas, Raziel
3) Delta, Dragon Lee, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Kamaitachi, Negro Casas
4) Titán vs Vangellys [lightning]
5) Atlantis, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible
6) Marco Corleone, Máximo, Rush vs Rey Escorpión, Thunder, Último Guerrero

Normal news service will return on Sunday. I’ll update the posts if there is any new information.