Month: April 2015

Promoter Carlos Maynes passed away yesterday from a heart attack yesterday. He was 71. Maynes was one of the people who ran the Lucha Libre Independente/UWA promotion, probably the most attended promotion in the world at the time of it’s peak. He took over as lead promoter when his uncle Francisco Flores passed away thru the end of the promotion. He’d been running Arena Queretaro since 2005; Tercera Caida interviewed him there last year.

AAA returns to taping TV for the first time tonight in Tapachula, Chiapas. It’s their first TV taping in 27 days. It may not be by design, but AAA’s mimicing the taping patterns of Lucha Underground: they’ll tape a month’s worth of shows over the course of the weekend, and then disperse again for a few weeks. Tonight is also AAA’s first taping that’s simoly a taping in nearly 2 months. They’ve had the Rey de Reyes disaster and the two tapings which became partly Perros Aguayo tribute shows.

Maybe that’s where the interesting things on this taping start: Pentagon Jr. & Joe Lider, tag team champions and members of Perros del Mal, will team in the semimain tonight. It’s probably most likely they’ll just stay wearing the Perros del Mal gear until something else comes along, but we might have a better idea of what’s next for them after this show. They face Myzeziz and Drago, who seems to be doing OK after having his wrestling career come to an end last night. The other 2v2 match on the show is Angelico & Jack Evans vs Cuervo & Scoria, the first in what looks to be a summer long series between those two teams.

The most meaningful matches on tonight’s show are likely to be the two triangle matches. Fenix, Electroshock, and Hijo del Fantasma face off for one spot on the second Mexican team in the World Cup, while La Parka, Texano and Cibernetico face off against another. Both matches have current rivials (Fenix/Fantamsa + Parka/Cibernetico) likely to cost each other the match, leaving the third wheels (Texano, Electroshock) as the favorites.

The main event is El Patron vs Cage, and the one thing we’re sure about is it won’t be the last time they face. The ticket page for Verano de Escandalo says Alberto el Patron will face Brian Cage, which is exactly what you’d expected on this cycle of TV. The title is not mentioned, but presumably would be on the line. The preview also says the rest of the card will be announced in two weeks. Tickets are running 180 to 1680 pesos ($12 USD to $109 USD).

CMLL’s press conference turned out to do very little to do with the in-ring product, but instead focused on some promotional tie-ups. The one that was talked about later is a children’s short story contest called “A 2 de 3 cuartillas”, partnering with the national council for the arts and the national institute of indigenous languages. The contest open to kids from 7 to 12 (split in half for two different age groups), with the deadline until the end of July and the winners announced in September. The stories have to be link to CMLL luchadors in some way. The winner gets a tablet, four passes to any show, an autographed masks, and more gifts and books, with various runner up prizes.  The winning stories will be put together and illustrated for a book in 2016 and the authors will be honored at the Anniversary show. Everyone who sends in a story will get a CMLL luchador photo sent back as thanks.

Guerrero Maya, Delta, Blue Panther, Brazo de Plata and Monito were the luchadors involved in the promotion, but maybe the most interesting name was “Directora de Relaciones Culturales del CMLL” Gala Lutteroth. I didn’t know CMLL had a director of cultural relations, but it would explain some of the things they’ve done in the last year (the Dia del Muertes shows for example). I do know it’s rare to see a Lutteroth actually in a public role with CMLL, the owners of the company included.

There’s also a Mistico commercial promoting it, which will probably be a staple on TV for the next couple months.

There’s a ticket giveway for Cara Lucha’s show on Saturday. There’s also an Atlantis promo.

The press release for the AAA/Santo/Victoria press conference mentions there will be some sort of ticket giveaway to the Lucha World Cup. The method and amount of tickets is not said. The World Cup page is posting photos of all the announced participants, starting with Myzteziz, Alberto el Patron and Rey Mysterio Jr. I like how Rey’s team lists his hair wins against Rocco Valente, Vulcano, Tony Arce and CM Punk, because it lets me imagine CM Punk as part of the Destructores. Lucha World Cup also announced Lucha Underground referee Marty Elias will be part of the show.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

RobViper has a music video of 01/02/15 CMLL

ChilangaMask added Ciber Punk & Garrobo Punk vs Arez & Belial vs Iron Kid & Aramis to their 05/17 Coacalco show.

SuperLuchas looks back at Gory Guerrero winning the NWA Welterweight Championship,a fter it seemed he had already won it three weeks prior.

Tercera Caida has highlights of Mr. Jack vs Rey Hechicero, Lokillo vs Drastick Boy vs Pesadilla, Canek, Octagon, Heavy Metal vs Mascara 2000, Fuerza Guerrera and Fuerza Negra, Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs Hijo del Solitario, Scorpio Jr., and Cien Caras Jr., and Miedo Extremo vs Paranoiko vs Crazy Boy vs Halloween and interviews with Hechicero, Canek, Crazy Boy, Guerrero Maya Jr., Blue Panther and Aeroboy challenging Rey Horuz to a match on the Guadalajara Chilanga Mask shows.

Segunda Caida watched more early 2015 CMLL highlgihts.

LV has reviews of this week’s AAA and CMLL on Fox

Voices of Wrestling reviews this week’s Lucha Underground.

CMLL (TUE) 04/28/2015 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Acero & Fantasy b Pequeño Universo 2000 & Pequeño Violencia
2) Canelo Casas, Disturbio, Hijo del Signo b Flyer, Magnus, Oro Jr.
Disturbio replaced Arkangel. Rudos took 1/3. Magnus and Flyer had problems in the third fall leading to their loss.
3) Nitro, Okumura, Sangre Azteca b Hombre Bala Jr., Starman, Súper Halcón Jr.
4) Princesa Sugehit b Narumiya © [CMLL-REINA INTL]
Sugehit took falls 1/3. Narumiya falls on her first defense. 9th Champion.
5) La Máscara, La Sombra, Stuka Jr. b Felino, Pólvora, Rey Escorpión
Ingobernables refused to work with Stuka, as always, and stole the win after he landed the splash on Escorpion.
6) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Dragon Lee b Negro Casas, Shocker, Vangellys
straight falls. Atlantis & Panther challenged for a tag team title shot.

Can you name all the female title holders in CMLL?

CMLL Women: Marcela
Mex Women: Zeuxis (out until September, will be stripped of the title in August)
CMLL-REINA International: Princesa Sugehit
CMLL-REINA International Junior: Silueta

Four different titles is insane. Repeating the same “Japanese women comes to Mexico, loses the title” is weird, especially since a good bunch of fans probably think it’s the same woman.

Magnus has teased turning rudo before. Being a tecnico is getting him nowhere.

Sky Team kept the trios titles last night in Guadalajara.

Dorian Roldan announced Verano de Escandalo would take place 06/14 in Arena Monterrey with Rey Mysterio. That’s the date and location Copetes mentioned a few weeks ago. They’ll probably be announcing it on TV this week.

There’s supposed to be a CMLL press conference today, though it’s not been mentioned outside of CMLL Informa. I’m going to be otherwise occupied around the time it wraps up. I’ll post something this afternoon if there’s news. They have a lot of CMLL Informa level topics to discuss without actually creating news: the Reyes del Aire tournament on Friday – TGR, the two title changes (Sugehit, Reyes del Aire), two title matches coming up (tag titles, Cavernario/Titan), Naito coming in – that they could go thru an hour without really announcing anything if they wanted to do that. It seems pointless to do a press conference with no news but it can’t be ruled out.

The two news items to look for:

• is there a big show coming up on 05/24 as opposition to the Lucha World Cup? CMLL’s thrown hints of feuds, but hasn’t focused on any single one, which could mean it’s cage match time.
• WILL CMLL announce anyone (besides Mascara Dorada) as headed to NJPW’s Best of Super Juniors tournament next month? That lineup announcement is usually made at intermission of NJPW’s early May show – it takes place this Sunday, but perhaps CMLL will get to reveal something a few days ahead of time. There are a bunch of guys who I’d like to see leave CMLL for a month so they can get something to do

Today’s Lucha Underground episode is #25 “The Way of the Drago.” Matches taped for this episode:

• Fénix vs Killshot
• Argenis vs Famous B vs vs Ricky Mandell vs Vinny Massaro
• a #1 contender’s match (changed during the show, this vignette spoils it, and the preview for next week gives away the winner)
• Drago vs Prince Puma (c) for the Lucha Underground Championship, where Drago is banned from the temple if he losses. (Dario has another chat with Drago)

I’m assuming Sexy Star defeating Pentagon has caused all his victims to heal at once, as if a magical spell was broken in a fairy tale.

In related news which may or may not matter:

• El Rey’s only other original show on the air right now, the Cutting Crew, has been moved from it’s spot following Lucha Underground to Monday nights. That seems odd.
• Someone left the door open at the Temple. It looks like most things were already moved out to storage between seasons. That building is rented out to different productions and LU may just not be renting it at the moment.
• Univison’s up front (upcoming show announcements for advertisers) is set for May 12. Univison owns Unimas and part of El Rey, so any news about Lucha Underground staying on those networks or moving to Univison itself may be made in about two weeks. That date seems likely to be a hard deadline for Unimas/Univison decisions sine they’ve got more original programming to sort thru. El Rey could wait longer, and the international pickups they’re hoping for could come at any time or not at all.
• On the Last Real Heels podcast, executive producer Eric Van Wagenen said his similar role with the Apprentice is not the hold up to taping more Lucha Underground episodes, because he’s got no shooting dates for that yet either. (It’s a fuzzy ‘whenever Trump has time to do it’ situation.) They’re on break because El Rey wants the show to be a normal TV show with season finale and a break and coming back for a season premiere a few months later. The quote on the season status:”We haven’t decided for sure when our season premiere will be. There’s still working out approvals for season 2, we’re not 100% approved, but I’d say the chances are pretty good. Like the rest of us, I’m waiting for the formal pickup and the formal announcement, and I’m hoping that will be soon, but we’re going to play a bit of a waiting game.”On other names, Van Wagenen said he’s not involved with the negiotations to get Rey Misterio Jr. but would like him to be part of season 2. They’ve wanted to use Myzteziz for a while, but he’s been too busy in Mexico to get him in long enough to work out a storyline. Van Wagenen and the hosts all agreed that it would be awesome if Steve Austin could be talked in to showing up – that would be awesome.

Victoria had a presentation last night to promote it’s summer long El Dia del Luchon lucha libre campaign. As noted before, luchadors are appearing on 50 bottle caps and 8 bottles as part of the sponsorship deal. The company brought out Blue Demon Jr. and Hijo del Santo (wearing his belt, of course) at one point, then brought out many AAA wrestlers to promote their part in the campaign. Hijo del Santo had a scripted lining saying all luchadors were friends, but the vibe was the opposite. Despite standing in the same ring together, AAA and Hijo del Santo tried their best to ignore each other’s existence, even on social media: Santo took a photo of himself framed to include the Victoria official but none of the AAA wrestlers, while AAA equally made sure not to include Santo in any of their photos. (Perhaps the silver lining is by getting this awkward meeting out of the way, Santo’s presence won’t be required at the similarly sponsored Lucha World Cup.) CMLL wasn’t there; it was said they’d be part of the campaign at a later point.

Santo told the media that he’s been given the green light by many doctors and if he gets one more from a doctor in the US, he’ll be going to wrestle in the UK in July. That’s one of the July lucha shows which has already been announced (where Magno was already announced!), and runs opposition against AAA wrestlers being brought into the UK at the same time.

There’s a show on 05/03 with a Alan Stone & Intocable vs Rayman & Silver King in a relevos suicidas. I guess Silver King is losing his mask again and just ignoring it the next day.

LV reviews this week’s CMLL 52MX and CMLL c3.

Segunda Caida reviews 04/18/15 PWR and Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero vs Negro Casas & Hijo del Santo, which I think might be the one on the first full CMLL show I ever watched.

Chilanga Mask has added Psycho Kid vs Latin Dragon to the 05/17 Coacalco show.

Mascara Dorada’s latest NJPW match is on DailyMotion

Rey Apocalispis & Toro Bill Jr. talk about their new tag team.

Niebla Roja talks about Reyes del Aire.

Tigre Hispano is opening an ice cream store on 05/09, with a Hijo de Dos Caras autograph signing.

Sombra has a new t-shirt.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 05/03/2015 Arena Naucalpan
Festival de Mascaras
1) Atomic Star vs Magnum 44, Dragón Celestial, Hip Hop Man, Electro Boy
2) Leo, Mike, Rafy vs Leonardo, Miguel Angel, Rafael
3) Golden Magic, Guerrero Maya Sr., Veneno vs Apolo Estrada Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Imposible
4) Pantera I, Pantera II, Solar I vs Canis Lupus, Eterno, Negro Navarro
5) Chicano, Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo De Dos Caras vs Black Tiger III, Cien Caras Jr., Hijo de Máscara Año 2000

Annual show with people wearing masks they already lost (so like every day for Black Tiger and Pantera II.) They’re supposed to give away the masks to the fans at the end of the show, and the kids get in free. The main event needs some Kenshi Kabuki.

The Panteras haven’t teamed or even been on the same show since Pantera I returned to the ring a couple of years ago. Pantera II indicated he wasn’t happy with his former partner, but the reasons behind that were not made clear.

Black Terry being Guerrero Maya Sr. is known, but it’s not something that’s been previously acknowledged on one of these shows.

CMLL (MON) 05/04/2015 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger & Paris vs Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr.
2) Lestat, Oro Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Hijo del Signo, King Jaguar, Nitro
3) Dragon Lee, Esfinge, Pegasso vs Hechicero, Kamaitachi, Okumura
4) Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Super Porky vs Kráneo, Morphosis, Ripper
5) Dragón Rojo Jr. vs Rey Bucanero [lightning]
6) Atlantis, Máximo, Rush vs Mr. Niebla, Shocker, Último Guerrero

They set up Marco/Shocker and Maximo/Mephisto matches this past Monday, and somehow end up with Dragon Rojo & Rey Bucanero. OK. This is Esfinge’s first Puebla match and Apocalispis & Toro get to team for two straight weeks.

CMLL (TUE) 05/05/2015 Arena México
1) Bengala & Molotov vs Cholo & Espanto Jr.
2) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Skadi vs Amapola, Dalys, La Comandante
3) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, The Panther vs Disturbio, Tiger, Virus
4) Titán vs Gran Guerrero [lightning]
5) Máximo, Super Porky, Valiente vs Kráneo, Morphosis, Ripper
6) Negro Casas & Shocker © vs Atlantis & Blue Panther [CMLL TAG]
Shocker & Casas’ 6th defense

That’s just about the oldest possible tag team match CMLL could make, as a Nuevo Valores special. Shocker is the young man in the match and there’s people in the previous match a bit older than him. Tercera could be a lot of fun, with Disturbio getting a higher position than usual. We get a Titan singles match! Be careful what you wish for.

CMLL (TUE) 05/05/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino & Meteoro vs Relampago & Thunder Boy
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Súper Halcón Jr., Virgo vs Cancerbero, Joker, Raziel
3) Esfinge, Gallo, Tritón vs Misterioso Jr., Pierroth, Sagrado
4) Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Marco Corleone vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Felino, Niebla Roja
5) La Máscara, La Sombra, Rush vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys

Ingobernables vs TRT! It didn’t take long for them to accidentally team Vangellys back with the two guys that quietly dumped him. Tercera is a rematch.

Lucha Fan Fest (SAT) 05/23/2015 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Sky Fly & Super Terry vs Rey Inmortal & Rey Profeta
2) Broken Clown, Dave The Clown, Rothen Clown vs Dr. Cirujano, Dr. Markus, Enfermero Jr.
3) Koguma © vs Sexy Angel [NEO HIGH SPEED]
4) Leo, Mike, Ray, Teelo vs El Sika, Muerte Infernal, Pancho Cachondo, X-Fly
5) Dos Caras Sr., Io Shirai, Vanely vs Brazo de Oro, Diosa Atenea, Mayu Iwatani
6) Atlantis, Mil Mascaras, Octagón vs Canek, Fuerza Guerrera, Último Guerrero

Evening compliment to the afternoon Toryumon Mexico. Dos Caras working that semimain is weird, but these shows are always weird (and usually accompanied by an autograph signing.)

CMLL (MON) 04/27/2015 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Periodico Enfoque]
1) Espíritu Maligno, Mercurio, Saurón b Asturiano, Meyer, Último Dragoncito
2) Pegasso, Sensei, Soberano Jr. b Policeman, Rey Apocalipsis, Toro Bill Jr.
Rey Apocalispis returned to the main shows from “a major injury”. He and Toro Bill Jr. are going by “El Batallon de la Muerte.”
3) Hechicero, Tiger, Virus b Blue Panther Jr., Stigma, The Panther
4) Dragón Rojo Jr., Máximo, Titán b Bárbaro Cavernario, Ephesto, Mephisto
Maximo beat Mephisto. Maximo’s the world heavyweight champion and challenged for Mephisto’s light heavyweight championship (because all championships mean the same.) Mephisto ignored him.
5) Rey Escorpión, Shocker, Thunder b La Máscara, La Sombra, Marco Corleone
Shocker used the ropes to beat Marco.

CMLL’s recap doesn’t mention the title challenge.

CMLL (SUN) 04/26/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Meteoro & Star Black b El Piraña & Guerrero De La Muerte
Debut for Star Black and probably a new Guerrero de la Muerte.
2) Capitan Cobra & Mr. Apolo DCOR Mercenario & Mr. Brisa
Debuts for all. tecnicos dove on to the rudos in the third fall, neither team was able to return in time.
3) El Alteño, El Divino, Linterna Verde Jr. b Évola, Gitano, Thunder Boy
4) El Cuatrero, Joker, Sansón b Forastero, Hijo del Calavera, Magnum [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, tournament]
Magnum had Joker beat, but Sanson distracted the referee and Cuatrero turned over the pin for the win.
5) Furia Roja, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Flash I, Flash II, Frezzer [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, tournament]
Sets up a rudo/rudo match in the next round.

I think the Cuatrero/Joker/Sanson team is a slight favorite. Either Capitan Cobra is really old, or he’s a second generation luchador. All those new guys come of as just names on a list, there’s no info on them (or even acknowledgement that they’re new.)

Rudy Reyna passed away Monday morning due to complications from diabetes. LuchaWorld has a great piece about Reyna as one of the first exoticos in Lucha Libre.SuperLuchas, El Pancracio and R de Rudo also have obits.

Pirata Morgan talked to +LuchaTV about his recently deceased brother, El Verdugo.

Fantasma de la Opera’s mother (wife of the original, aunt of Cerebro Negro) passed away.

CMLL’s show tonight in Arena Mexico is headlined by Shocker, Negro Casas, and Vangellys vs Atlantis, Blue Panther and Dragon Lee. They’re hinting towards a Casas/Shocker vs Atlantis/Panther tag title match, but haven’t actually announced anything yet. Tonight’s title match is Princesa Sugehit challenging Narumiya for the CMLL-RENA International championship. Narumiya has a better chance of holding on to her title than Syuri a few weeks ago; it’d be surprise to see two straight Japanese women losing their REINA titles her.

Sky Team defend their trios titles over in Guadalajara against the Guerreros. This should also be a title defense, it’s far too soon for the Sky Team to lose. Marco, Porky, Titan vs Mr. Aguila, Mr. Niebla and Thunder is the semimain match.

Leyendas Inmortales has a (possible) TV taping over in Arena Queretaro. Main event is Canek, Heavy Metal, and Octagon vs Fuerza Guerrera, Psciosis II and Hechicero. There’s a Fantasma vs Mascara Ano 2000 vs Mr. Jack match where mask, hair and title are on the line, so Mr. Jack will probably no longer be champion at the end of the night. Mascara is likely to win it to set up matches with Heavy Metal.

Minor changes on Sunday’s Arena Mexico show: Kraneo in for Ripper, Apocalipsis in for Cholo.

Dr. Wagner Jr. says he’s not working an upcoming show in Puebla, probably the fair show on Thursday.

Black Terry Jr. has highlights of ChilangaMask matches: Epydemius vs Super Mega, Black Terry vs Juana la Loca, and Solar vs Aeroboy.

+LuchaTV has a bad fall for a ninja turtle, highlights of the X-LAW Tag Team championship and Aeroboy & Violento Jack talking about their win.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update and this week’s PosterMania.

CMLL has highlights of the 04/25 show.

SuperLuchas looks back at Angel Blanco passing away 29 years ago yesterday and Rey Bucanero & Tarzan Boy taking Damian 666 & Mr. Aguila’s hair yesterday.

Segunda Cadia recaps Atlantis/Dandy/Dragon vs Satanico/MS-1/Pirata Morgan and Lucha Underground episode 24.

A documentary about Bolivian luchador El Ciclon debuts today in Buenos Aires.

Lineups

IWRG FILL (THU) 04/30/2015 Arena Naucalpan
1) Skanda & Soldado De La Muerte vs Canario & Vardeus
2) Charly Boy, Desgarrador, Guerrero 2000 vs Argus, Borego, Chicanito
3) Alas de Acero, Aramis, Black Dragon vs Black Angel, Magnum 44,Vampiro Metálico
4) Blue Monsther, Fresero Jr., Marduk Jr. vs Galaxy, Kanon, Picudo Jr.
5) Araña de Plata, Atomic Star, Dragón Celestial, Dragon Fly, Electro Boy, Imposible, Power Bull, Shadow Boy vs Atomic Fly, Espada de Plata, Fly Star, Kaiser Drago, Komachi, Mini Zumbido, Skiller, Toxin Boy [Copa Higha Power]
FILL (Black Terry) vs Gym Zeuz (Oficial 911)

Blue Monsther appearance, check. Gym Zeuz got involved at the end of the 39th FILL, was part of the cage match on the 40th show, and get their lightning match on the 41st.