Month: July 2015

En Busca de un Idolo round two, Myzteziz rudo?, AAA in Colombia

thecubsfan 1 Comment

Tonight starts the second part of En Busca de un Idolo. The first set of matches is broken up by the first round standings: Guerrero Maya (first) versus Boby Zavala (second) and Esfinge (third) faces Disturbio (fourth). Less matches means every outcome is more important. Maya & Zavala still feel like the favorites, but Esfinge has a reasonable chance and anything is possible after the weirdness at the end of the first final. The match quality should generally improve just by dropping the four who were eliminated.

CMLL’s preview of the show focuses on the excitement of Thunder versus Ultimo Guerrero. ESTO talks about Boby Zavala and Disturbio about their careers. Terra will also have a minis trios match and the return of Rey Cometa in the segunda.

“Will Myzteziz become a rudo?” seemed liked it was going to be a conversation among fans going into TripleMania. It’s instead an onscreen storyline. +LuchaTV has video of the confrontation. Apolo Valdes mentioned trhe tecnicos were on Rey’s side and the rudos liked the idea of Myzteziz joining them. Myzteziz told R de Rudo that being a rudo in his blood – his father was a rudo – and he’s going to do what it takes to win. Myzteziz claimed Rey Jr. was great in the US and Myzteziz was great in Mexico, and Mexican wrestling is clearly better than US wrestling so it’s obvious who’s the better luchador. Both men claim Perro Jr. would be behind them. Myzteziz said Perro would be an angel in his corner. Rey talked about replacing Perro in his feud with Myzteziz and maybe giving his mask as a gift to Perro Sr.

This confrontation seems like something done to put an edge on the Rey Mysterio/Myzteziz match up. It also seems like it was done to pull attention away from whatever happened with Alberto and Myzteziz.

AAA officially announced next week’s shows in Bogota, Colombia. The cards differ from the ones Colombia’s government office posted, with matches changed around on every show. Elegido is added to all shows, Mini Abismo Negro replaces Mini Psicosis, and Hijo del Fantasma works the first two shows with Hijo del Pirata replacing him on Friday and Saturday (to give Fantasma plenty of time to get back for TripleMania; AAA could’ve done that for other people if they wanted.) Saturday night has a Aerostar versus Machine Rocker singles match, which should be outstanding.

TKD writes about the 07/19 Chilanga Mask show and other notes on his weekend trip to Mexico City.

Segunda Caida reviews La Máscara, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs. Bárbaro Cavernario, Negro Casas, Shocker

SuperLuchas looks back at Alfonso Dantes.

LV reviews 07/21 CMLL C3 and 07/10 CMLL Azteca

Voices of Wrestling has their Lucha Underground review and the latest Suicida Slate.

There will be a benefit show to Ringo Mendoza on 08/14 in Mezcala, Jalisco.

Dalys wants a title shot against Marcela.

Channel Guide Magazine interviews Rey Mysterio Jr.

Lucha Libre in Japan

07/30 NOAH: TAKA Michinoku b Super Crazy [GJHL] – Crazy falls to 3-2.

Violento Jack & Ciclope take on The Brahmans on 08/02 in a match entitled “OH! On The Verge of Closure Tokyo Desert Men Homeless Death Match”. OK.

Lineups

Cara Lucha (SAT) 08/08/2015 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) ? vs ??
2) Keira & Ludark Shaitan vs Felina Metalica & Krazy Star
3) Kilvan & Yoruba vs Akuma & Demus 3:16
4) Rayo Star & Sky Man vs Magnífico I & Magnífico II
5) Jinzo vs Toxin, ??
mystery luchador is from CMLL
6) Bestia 666, Damián 666, Halloween vs Dragon Lee (CMLL), Rey Hechicero, Último Guerrero

Main event is weird. There’s a least at 5% chance everyone just beats up Dragon Lee at some point. Undercard looks good. No idea who the mystery guy will be.

IWRG FILL (WED) 08/05/2015 Arena Naucalpan
1) Blue Metal & Voltar vs Vampiro Metálico & Vardeus
2) Alfa & Omega vs Adrenalina & Guerrero 2000
3) Blue Monther, Hijo del Alebrije, Super Jack vs Araña de Plata, Magnum 44, Power Bull
4) Aeroman, Dragon Fly, Kanon vs Atomic Star, Matrix Jr., Rey Terco Jr.
5) Alas de Acero, Aramis, Eterno vs Espada De Plata, Keiser Drago, Oficial 911
FILL (Eterno) versus Gym Zeuz

No cibernetico this week, but another show with mostly trainees.

lucha TV preview for week of August 1st

thecubsfan

20150730

  • On LocateTV, Lucha Underground is listed as a 1 hour episode followed by Cutting Crew. This is obviously wrong; El Rey sometimes has filler lineup information for the following month and that might be going on here. *(Their website also doesn’t have anything listed for August.) This could all just be fixed on Sautrday, but you may want check you’ve got both hours covered.
  • CMLL Azteca will air the Rey Escorpion versus Ultimo Guerrero hair match this weekend, which should be pretty good.
  • AAA has one last big Cage/Alberto angle to set up their match.
  • I don’t think I’m around tomorrow to record CMLL on Terra, so no Rey Cometa return for me.
  • This is a week of CMLL singles matches: 52MX gets Lestat/King Jaguar, C3 gets Polvora/Angel de Oro and Puebla Live will have Volador/Sombra.
  • 52MX catching up to the ‘live’ show means it’ll go up on the internet, one way or another.
  • I have no idea what’s going on with FULL.

luchablog presents the Lucha Underground marathon

thecubsfan

(this got too long: if you don’t want to read, just click here.)

The discussion of Mysterious Luchador Underground Luchador In A White Hoodie continued this morning on Twitter. Chris DeJoseph, as he does from time to time, gave us a clue.

We all assumed the guy Dragon Azteca saved in that season opening fight was the not-yet-Prince Puma. We all may have assumed wrong.

Right here, I’d like to point you to a legal video of the first episode to take a look at it yourself. I can’t. I know of no way to actually check out episode 1. The Lucha Underground YouTube show has matches and highlights (like a clipped version of that opening fight), but no full episodes. The full Unimas shows are on uvideos, but not all of them and not episode 1. Last time this came up, when Black Lotus first met Dragon Azteca, I snuck the clip on YouTube so people could rewatch it. I could do that again, but I’m sure it’s not the only moment from the past that’ll be referenced on Ultima Lucha, and there’s just no way to catch up with many old episodes you’ve missed. This is not really my problem, and this is definitely not really DeJoseph’s responsibility (and I’m not meaning to throw this back at him, it’s just an easy example), but it’s an issue.

DeJoseph – I think it was on the Like Father, Like Son podcast- mentioned the show was written with the idea of being binge-watching friendly. Binge watching allows you to do something like wait 8 months for a whole bunch of episodes to air, jump in first episode, and watch them all. There are seasons of TV shows sitting on my DVR just waiting for me to do that, and I think it’d work just as well with this one. Unfortunately, El Rey is not doing a marathon of Lucha Underground episodes to allow people to do that leading to the final. (I asked, in typical annoying fashion, and they didn’t reply.) This seems a shame to me. I hold nothing against the other programming they have, but nothing which airs on that channel couldn’t be skipped for the day and a half it’d take to run all thirty eight hours so far. (In a perfect world, it’s nothing but The Lucha Underground Channel from now until Wednesday.) Instead, they’ll only air the prior two episodes – and then who knows if/when it airs again the week after. The 37 episodes in 37 minutes video is really good, but it’s most useful as a reminder for people who saw most of it already. There’s not as much for people who’ve jumped in; the announcers will definitely tell you what’s happened, but it’s not as good as seeing it.

You really shouldn’t ask people to do things you’re not willing to do yourself. I am willing to run a marathon of Lucha Underground, but no one has entrusted me with the programming department of a cable station quite yet. However, the DMCA hasn’t yet to justifiably take away my internet access, so there are still other methods of getting things done.

I’m running a Lucha Underground marathon here on Taima.TV. It’s been running for a few days just to see if it works (and it seems like it does as long as someone’s in the channel.) I’m going to restart it at the first episode in a few minutes, and it’ll go thru all the other episodes (and repeat) from now until Ultima Lucha part 2. Maybe you’ll watch it all, maybe you’ll just pop in for a few minutes of random episode, but it’ll be there if you want it. The total run time is about 28 hours, so it’ll repeat quite a few times between now and then.

The feed runs until Ultima Lucha starts again, or until the takedown notice. As soon as it goes down, it’s really going down: I’m disappearing the videos once this is over. You still need to watch the show and buy the DVDs when/if they come out, this isn’t meant to compete with any of that. It’s just an opportunity you take one more look back until it all it comes to an end.

This is not the perfect solution for catching up either – it’s a lot closer to being a silly Marty the Moth solution than a Pentagon Jr. killer app – but people who want to see specific episodes might want to try clicking on the episode names. Whatever you’ve watched or will watch, I hope you’re excited for UltimaLucha by the time it airs by next Wednesday. I’m sure it’ll be worth your time.

(Episode 2 is in Spanish, because reasons.)

TripleMania XXIII lineup (Rey Mysterio Jr. versus Myzteziz, August 9th)

thecubsfan
@luchalibreaaa

AAA TV (SUN) 08/09/2015 Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
TripleMania XXIII
1) Dinastía, Drago, Goya Kong, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Daga, Mamba, Mini Psycho Clown, Sexy Star
2) Averno, Chessman, Cibernético © vs Angélico, Fénix, Jack Evans and Hijo del Fantasma, Pentagón Jr., Texano Jr. [AAA TRIOS]
3) Blue Demon Jr. & La Parka vs El Mesías & Electroshock
Blue Demon 30th anniversary match
4) Villano III, Villano IV, Villano V vs Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
retirement matches for Villano III & Pepe Casas
5) Alberto el Patrón vs Brian Cage [hair]
6) Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Myzteziz
dream match

Air Date: live, on PPV in Mexico, United States and Canada and on iPPV at http://internetvluchalibreaaa.com/. It should make up the 08/22 and 08/29 TV shows, though that seems a little fast. It wouldn’t be a big surprise if they were bumped back a week.

The lineup was officially announced at a press conference today, though the English site had posted the full card before they got started. They started the press conference by announcing one match would be a cage match, but then never announced which one. Alberto & Cage weren’t at the press conference, but it seems like that would be the match to have a cage. It’d play off the roughly five billion different interference and referee spots in their last match, not that people don’t get involve in cage matches all the time in AAA. The press conference also announced Hijo del Perro Aguayo would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, with his family there to honor him.

The noteworthy moment of the press conference was a Rey & Myzteziz back and forth, with both guys getting testy as their match draws nears. Myzteziz said he would have no problem drawing from his ‘dark side’ to beat Rey, while Rey said he’d show who was the original and who was the copy. AAA has an imbalance of tecnicos and rudos on top. They need to elevate someone or turn someone, and it doesn’t look like they’re elevating all those guys in the segunda. The next ten days are going to include a fair bit of speculation of a Myzteziz rudo turn.

Myzteziz was asked about Alberto’s Twitter comments, but declined comment. Alberto’s deleted most of his posts (though it turns out Storify keeps deleted Twitter messages!)

As it turns out, the Alberto/Cage match is the only matches built off TV matches. Rey/Myzteziz have the face to face interviews. Villanos and Clowns have those just for the internet. Everything else is just made up on the spot. It feels like there were multiple, sometimes very different TripleMania cards and they didn’t decide which one would be used until late. Something with Jarrett seemed to have been planned, then unplanned. Just as recently as last week, Dr. Wagner Jr. versus Blue Demon Jr. was thought to be happening on this card. (The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions this match too.) It’s a show that should do well if they do a lot of press for the main event. The World Cup was similarly disconnected from everything else going on and it did well because they got people to buy in to the concept too, and this is an easier concept.

As a fan, I wish the third and fourth matches weren’t happening. The Parka/Demon/Mesias/Electro crew will work hard because of the show, but everyone’s going to work hard for this show and there’s better matches which could’ve been made. I’d be happy if the Villanos/Psycho Circus match is only bad, I’m more concerned it’ll be sad. They’ll be allowed to wear their masks, so that’ll help. The WON revealed Villano III’s recent health problem was a stroke and he’s not expected to be able to do much in this match. Hopefully they go short enough that no one notices, but it’s also a situation where the Psycho Circus should win and no one is going to want to see the Villanos lose. (Maybe Villano V defeats Psycho Clown to continue that issue.) Both of these matches are also really going to be tough for casual people checking on the show on PPV.

I like the other matches on this show. Rey Mysterio Jr. versus Myzteziz is going to be an incredible moment that’ll transcend the match itself, and the match itself could be pretty good. Cage versus Alberto should get the crowd and have some good moments, and maybe they’ll learn from what didn’t work in their last match. It’d be cool if the midcard guys got actual storyline at TripleMania, and if Cibernetico got trapped in the a closet, but the guys in the trios match will not let it be anything less than great. And the opener has a pretty good lineup for that sort of thing; it’s great to see Daga instead of other people who could’ve gotten that spot, Sexy Star will play off Goya well, and Dinastia and Mamba will both do crazy things on an opener.

I totally forgot about Sexy Star possibly being the woman to face Goya Kong in the opener. Mostly it’s because she hasn’t been around – this is her first AAA TV match since Verano de Escandalo. She’s hasn’t been working house shows much either; the London show was her first known match in two months. The WON mentions she’s not going to be working with AAA as much going forward and AAA will be trying out more women because they feel they need new faces. (That doesn’t sound particularly promising for Sexy Lady and La Jarochita, who work many house shows but are never used on TV.)

The WON also mentions Dave Meltzer himself was asked to do the English language PPV but turned it down. He thinks Striker or Mike Tenay would’ve done a better job, but isn’t sure if Tenay was asked (might have not bothered since his TNA deal would’ve made it impossible.)

I’ll be at this show and will have more on it before and after it takes place.

Jalisco triumphs over Naucalpan, Rey Cometa return

thecubsfan
photo by Black Terry Jr.

CMLL (TUE) 07/28/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Joker & Relampago b Explosivo & Nautilius
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Disturbio, Maléfico b Flyer, Furia Roja, Oro Jr.
Furia Roja replaced Magnum, but that didn’t work out at all. Rudos took 2/3.
3) Hijo del Signo, Nitro, Okumura b Magnum, Magnus, Tritón
Magnum replaced Esfinge. Nitro’s first match in Guadalajara since Christmas 2013.
4) Blue Panther Jr., Gallo, Super Porky b Kamaitachi, Morphosis, Olímpico
Kamaitachi replaced Pierroth on Friday. Gallo replaced Blue Panther on the day of the show. Blue Panther Jr. is apparently fine after whatever caused him to miss his last En Busca de un Idolo match.
5) Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible b Blue Panther, Mistico, Volador Jr.
Rey Bucanero replaced Vangellys, Blue Panther replaced Diamante Azul. Shocker beat Mistico using the ropes.

So many subs. No one who worked last week’s main event ended up working this week’s show.

IWRG FILL (WED) 07/29/2015 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Estrellas del Ring, The Gladiatores]
1) Blue Metal, Canario, Vaderus b Demonio Imperial, Sexy Girl, Skanda
2) Charly Boy, Guerrero 2000, Magnum 44 bChicanito, Vampiro Metálico, Voltar
No word on how Chicanito feels about Chicano disappearing back to Chihuahua again.
3) Adrenalina, Centella Oriental, Hijo del Alebrije b Estrella Oriental, Matrix Jr., Pluma Negra
4) Acero, Aeroman, Black Drago b Power Bull, Royer Boy, Troll
Estrellas del Ring lists Trolly in the match, but it was sadly only Troll (replacing Rey Tercero Jr.)
5) Draego, El Brujo, Omega (Jalisco), Principe, Rayman, Roberto Paz Jr., Rudy Santana,Smaker b Alas de Acero, Aramis, Araña de Plata, Atomic Star, Chapulin, Electro Boy, Fresero Jr., Kanon [Copa Higher Power]
FILL (Eterno’s class) versus Arena Jalisco (All Carrillo). Rayman won with a foul on Fresero Jr. when Carrillo distracted the referee. Eterno said he was willing to go to Guadalajara for revenge and both teams fought after the match.

Black Terry has been working occasional shows in Arena Jalisco, so Eterno’s threat of revenge is probably an already planned date. It sounds like there’s another FILL show next week.

Black Terry Jr. has a montage of phantom cam shots of the main event.

CMLL Informa didn’t really have much in the way of news (as usual!) but did announce the show would be moving from Terra to YouTube. The YouTube stream has worked without issue the last two weeks and it appears to have been CMLL doing it themselves. Terra requires their people to come to the venue (and apparently satellite and weird delays some weeks.) The only reason to stay with Terra is if Terra had been paying for the show and this seems like a pretty good sign they were not presently.

En Busca de un Idolo remains on Terra. It seems a safe guess all CMLL live programming will end up on YouTube, but their may be issues. Some luchadors were using different music in Puebla than they do in Arena Mexico, which could be a music rights issue and they might not want to change it elsewhere. It could also just be Puebla not having the right music on hand.

Rey Cometa returns to the Arena Mexico ring for the first time this year on Friday. Cometa says his right knee injury was to a ligament and a meniscus. Cometa says he suffered the injury while training on FantasticaMania tour, not in the ring. That must’ve been a chaotic tour, with Cometa, Triton and Mr. Niebla all having issues. Cometa is going to start teaching lucha classes in Arena Queretaro during the week.

Speaking of people with other jobs, Camorra got his sports science certification. Also, Arkangel was at the same lucha libre documentary premiere as Shocker a week or so ago.

Dylan Zero wrote up a good preview of TripleMania. He also links to an English subtitled version of the first Cara/Cara face off between Myzteziz and Rey Misterio Jr. The English isn’t perfect but it helps a lot.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

SuperLuchas looks back at Mil Mascaras vs El Halcon, mask versus mask.

Guanajuato luchador Electrolisis broke his knee in a match when the fans threw rocks into the ring and he slipped on one trying to perform a move.

King Jaguar feels his win over Lestat this past week in a trios match proves the whole thing with him losing his mask was a total fluke. Sound reasoning, maybe they should give him back his mask.

The strange team of Mistico, Dr. Wagner and Mr. Niebla defeated Damian, Halloween and Mortiz in Tecate, Baja California. It looks like they swapped Mortiz and X-Fly (moved to Pagano/Nicho semimain)

There was some tie in between Nike Women and CMLL at Arena Mexico last night.

An article about a mask maker (El Japones) in Guanajuato.

Lucha Underground (1×38, Ultima Lucha, Part 1)

thecubsfan
why not?

matches

Cage defeated the Mack in a falls count anywhere match (7:42, curbstomp thru a concrete block, GREAT)

Trece, Barrio Negro, Siniestro de la Muerte [O] defeated Angelico, Son of Havoc, Ivelisse [X] (c) to win the Lucha Underground Trios Championship (6:19, pinfall, OK)

Drago defeated Hernandez in a Believer’s Backlash match (8:46, top rope splash, good)

developments

I’d hate to be that wall

Black Lotus related story book-ended the show. The show began with Lotus revealed to still be in a cell, working out in preparation of freedom it doesn’t look like she’ll ever get. Dario Cueto checked up on her, and relayed quite a bit of plot. Lucha Underground isn’t the first experience his family has had with combat sports: his father made his money in underground fightning, using Matanza “the Monster” Cueto as his fighter. Dario also claimed it wasn’t Matanza who killed Lotus’ parents, but Dragon Azteca himself. (Black Lotus’s father led a triad in Hong Kong, who were at war with Dragon Azteca’s mercenaries, and set this all up for the irony of using one enemies’ daughter to kill another.) Lotus seemed like she might believe Dario’s story.

Dragon Azteca showed up at the temple to close the show, but was prevented in from a mystery man in a white hoodie. (The white hoodie guy was taller than Dragon Azteca and appeared to be light skinned.) Dragon Azteca blamed himself for Lotus being captured, White Hoodie told him Puma had freed Lotus once and could do it again, but Dragon Azteca said Puma had other things to do now. White Hoodie offered to do it himself, but Dragon Azteca insisted on doing it himself. The White Hoodie warned ‘the prophecy’ said Dragon Azteca would die if he entered the temple. Dragon Azteca said he may die, but “El Dragon Azteca” would never die.

A lot less plot in the matches, which were just good matches where people won or didn’t win. There’s nothing you need to know from Cage and Mack, besides Mack has a good Stone Cold impression. There’s nothing you’d be surprised by in Hernandez and Drago: the lumberjacks all refused to attack Drago and very enthusiastically attacked an overwhelmed Hernandez. Angelico made his big leap in the trios title match, but the match turned on the stone. Catrina used the mystical power of the stone to raise her team from death (or semi-consciousness), and she used the physical aspect of it being a STONE to whack Ivelisse in the head to set up the win.

Ultima Lucha matches remaining

Angelico flies

Prince Puma (c) faces Mil Muertes for the Lucha Underground championship
Alberto del Rio versus Johnny Mundo
Fenix vs Sexy Star vs Aerostar vs Big Ryck vs Jack Evans vs King Cuerno vs Bengala for the Gift of the Gods
Pentagon Jr. vs Vampiro in a Cero Miedo match
Texano Jr. versus Blue Demon Jr.
(they also taped a battle royal; the commercial for next week indicated it’ll air.)

thoughts

Hernandez takes a shot back at the internet

Cage dropped down a little bit after his really big start. Most of that has come on the two losses to the Mack. This win, and how it came about, should raise him right back up and maybe bring Mack with him. Both guys looked outstanding, destroying each other and any door that happened to be in the way. The beer bash was hilarious and the cinderblock finish looked brutal, and this was a really good start to UltimaLucha.

LU is not most wrestling promotions, so this may be a vast coincidence, but the original story of LU letting Hernandez amicable leaving the promotion after season one made complete sense. Hernandez had a title program, lost to a midcard, and really didn’t have any direction left for him in Season 2. This didn’t have to be it, but it wouldn’t cause any problems if it was it. But then everything had to get messed up.

It’s pretty cruel the match where Angelico, Son of Havoc and Ivelisse won the trios titles also may have ended their reign. Ivelisse still hadn’t gained any mobility back at this point – in real time, she just starting wrestling again this past week – and even limping over to face off against Catrina look like immense struggle. The tornado rules allowed the Angelico dive to happen organically, but it also made this match a harder to take seriously competitive. (The numbers didn’t feel as overwhelming in the ladder match, for whatever reason. It felt like it hard more form to it.)

Hernandez had a really bad day

The Disciples sharp new masks looked great. Striker really emphasized the power of the stone, telling us how Catrina raising the stone raised them up, and Catrina dropping the stone made them drop. He said all this, but we mostly just saw Catrina during it. I don’t mind looking at Catrina, but it was very odd we didn’t see the Disciples actually doing those things (which seemed to be actually happening, but off camera.) I do enjoy the stone as a punching people device.

The strap match is now obviously the end for Hernandez, but it didn’t seem as clear as a ending for him as I had pictured. He still got to look strong, he still got to escape Drago’s cradle, he could’ve come back pointing out he had the numbers way against him (and maybe that inspires him to start a trio or something.) It still does work as an end, and it worked as the match. The lumberjacks did not hold back at all, didn’t seem nervous, and appeared totally dedicated to their job of strapping Hernandez just as hard as they possible could. I don’t know if this match was Hernandez’s idea or someone else’s idea, but Hernandez seemed to pretty much regret the idea after just the first time out. It was some good relief in the match and it set up Drago’s comeback well. I don’t think that match works nearly as well without the lumberjacks out there and maybe that’s a first time ever thing for a lumberjack strap match.

Progression, even sometimes confusing progression, is a welcome sight. I’m not sure who the white hoodie man is, but I’m guessing he’ll end up being the new Dragon Azteca by the time next week is up. Saying the Cueto’s were involved in underground fighting actually weirdly grounds Matanza and this whole storyline more to reality (or at least comic back reality?) more than it has in the past. That’s a good thing. They moved the story far enough along that it feels like they get a good conclusion out of it, though I also suspect it’s something intended to carry into season 2.

Hernandez has to get out of this temple!