Day: April 29, 2015

Lucha Underground 1×25: The Way Of The Drago

thecubsfan
every GIF is in slow motion this week because reasons

the matches

Fenix b Killshot (5:58, Fire Driver)
Vinny Massaro NC Argenis, Famous B, Ricky Mandell (0:13, match stopped when Texano attacks all four)
Hernandez [O] b Cage & King Cuerno [X] to become #1 contender (4:55, Inverted Powerslam)
Prince Puma b Drago (spinning sit down piledriver, 10:28)

the developments

Dario Cueto was a busy man on a busy show. He opened the show by explaining to the Crew that he was unhappy with their failure to get the easy trios championship win, then led them into the secret room in the temple where the monster Matanza is caged. Dario introduced the unseen person in the cage as his brother, and threatened feeding the Crew to him should they fail him again

Dario also did his usual bit of riling up the two men in his main event. He ran into Drago in the bathroom once again, feeling Drago should thank him for the opportunity. He encouraged Puma, in the lockerroom, to not be concerned about Drago’s status and only try to win the title. Dario was walking away when he ran into Hernandez. They two talked in earshot of Puma, with Hernandez saying he didn’t care about Puma but was annoyed to be fighting Cage and Cuerno in a three way when they’d likely work together against him. Dario solved that by making it a #1 contenders match, giving reason for Cage & Cuerno to fight for themselves.

Hola Marty

Dario also was bugged by Marty “the Moth” Martinez, lurking outside the temple and begging for a chance to fight inside it. Dario was not impressed by Marty or his nickname (“the Moth is my spirit animal!” and turned him down. Marty determinedly stormed the three way match anyway, only for Cuerno to obliterate him with a dropkick. The distraction did help Hernandez put away Cuerno for the win.

Dario’s influence was felt even when he wasn’t seen. The four way was all the victims of Pentagon Jr. (except for Super Fly), put together for Dario’s amusement. The match barely got started before an angry Texano destroyed everyone, then demanded the mystery fan from last week come back next week and face him.

There was no obvious story to Fenix and Killshot, just the new guy getting a moment in a singles match.

Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc talked to Vampiro in a sit down, but mostly talked over each other and Vampiro. The championship win hasn’t fixed their relationship issues much (though Havoc & Angelico seemed to be getting along better), but they’re determined to fight together to keep the titles. Fighting might be very difficult for Ivelisse for a while, as she had a sizable cast on her leg. She insisted she’ll fight when the time comes.

almost had him

Puma defeated Drago to retain the title for the fifth time, but not without Hernandez getting involved for the third straight time. Hernandez was definitely on Puma’s side the last time, but the running shoulderblock he did in this match looked meant for either or both guys. Puma moved, Drago didn’t, and Puma very reluctantly took advantage to win after what had been a Great match. Konnan, at ringside and encouraging Puma, didn’t seem to have any problem with what had happened but also didn’t necessarily to be in league with Hernandez (who quickly disappeared.) Puma apologized to Drago. Drago walked out of the ring arena to a loud Thank You Drago chant, then ran into Dario one last time. Dario stared at Drago, who warned Dario “we will meet again” before stepping out the exit – and appearing turning into flame and flying away.

thoughts

Fenix versus Killshot was just ok. I saw more of the weakness in Killshot that other people have pointed out. A lot of stuff he doesn’t just doesn’t look as sharp as it should. Fenix’s had better matches with other guys on this show, and isn’t the go to guy to get great matches out of other people.

the end of Drago

This show was all into getting behind Hernandez, as they’ve been behind Cage & Mil Muertes when they were the big bad in Prince Puma’s way. The three way was pretty close to an exhibition for Hernandez’s moves and facial reactions to his moves, the main event turned on his involvement and even Puma’s skit backstage was about their lack of relationship.  Hernandez was not a guy I was looking to see and two big matches ending with near-random third party interference leading to the outcome was not so great. More ridiculous was Striker and Vampiro’s overplay about Drago’s wrestling career being over if he should leave this match: when the story is all the Mexican guys are from AAA where they also wrestle, and when Striker emphasizes how there’s wrestling all over the place, it’s hard to understand why being kicked out of one promotion would end your career. It’s not as hard to understand why being kicked out of this particular promotion would mean a lot for Drago, and I wish they could’ve adjusted that emphasis instead.

Really enjoyed the match itself though. Prince Puma didn’t seem all that bothered about ending Drago’s career and dominated a big chunk of the early going, but Drago rallied enough and they had a real big believable near fall on the inverted huracanrana (plus the submission was pretty good.) Puma’s title matches have all been very good and this was no different. Drago pretty obviously said he was coming back, so it’s just a matter of how well they do it.

The four way was nothing, but Texano’s fired up promo after was really good. He even spoke English at the end. The smaller moments were very good this week: the Crew reacting to the monster, the trios champions not getting along except for agreeing that they’re going to get along enough keep the titles, and pretty much everything with Dario.

 

Verano de Escandalo offical, LU preview, AAA & Santo not friends, new CMLL champ

thecubsfan

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.)