Month: August 2015

CMLL (TUE) 08/18/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Gallo, Magnum, Vaquero Jr. b Furia Roja, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
2) Canelo Casas, Disturbio, Metálico b Hombre Bala Jr., Omar Brunetti, Súper Halcón Jr.
Omar wiped out Metalico with a tope, but Disturbio & Canelo beat Halcon & Bala.
3) Amapola, La Seductora, Zeuxis b La Vaquerita, Marcela, Silueta
Rudas took 2/3
4) Atlantis b Ripper
Atlantis won clean in the third
5) Mr. Niebla, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero b Dragon Lee, La Máscara, Volador Jr.
The returning Niebla beat Volador via foul. La Mascara replaced Mistico (TV appearance?), Niebla Roja replaced Negro Casas (still injured).

Mr. Niebla’s ‘break’ was just two weeks this time. Mistico was posting photos of him on a TV show, so that might have been the reason he missed on Tuesday. Omar & Metalico are matched up again next week so they’re still feuding despite not being involved in the finish.

Negro Casas is listed in Arena Mexico tomorrow and in Puebla on Monday, but he said he’s out one more week.

IWRG FILL (WED) 08/19/2015 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), Estrellas del Ring, Mano a Mano, The Gladiatores]
1) Diosa Atenea & Sexy Girl vs Lady Drago & Lilith Dark
2) Acero, Adrenalina, Guerrero 2000 b Blue Monsther, Omega, Voltar
3) Aramis b Yoruba, Aeroman, Enigma, Voraz
Aramis beat Aeroman. Good match.
4) Alas de Acero, Aramis, Araña de Plata, Chapulin, Fresero Jr., Kanon, Shadow Boy, Sniper b Atomic Fly, Espada De Plata, Fly Star, Galaxy, Keiser Drago, Marduck Jr., Salchichita, Toxin Boy[Copa Higher Power]
FILL (Alas de Acero) vs ZEUS (Toxin Boy). Aramis is listed as working twice. Arena de Plata beat Toxin Boy with a legdrop, though team Zeus claimed Toxin Boy kicked out before three.
5) Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, Eternus b Atomic Star, Canis Lupus, Eterno and Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Pikachu [losers advance]
Debut of Eternus. Eterno was annoyed by someone using something so close to his own name and went after him the match, but it was Eternu’s team which escaped the match
6) Atomic Star, Canis Lupus, Eterno b Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Pikachu [mask, capitans mask]
Atomic Star and Pikachu were drawn as captains. Both teams were brawling outside and almost all got counted out, but Eterno sent Atomic Star in the ring just in time. Pikachu was unmasked as Marco Antonio Guillen Soto, 30 years old, 8 years a wrestler, from Naucalpan. He’s the same Pikachu who was wrestling here as that name and Guizmo from 2009-2012.

Pickahu was a cult favorite back when he was a regular. It’s likely he’s been working as some other character; that’s been the trend for mask losses on the lesser Naucalpan shows.

There’s not a lot of follow up to the mask/match match announcement. It seems to have caught everyone by surprise. There no sign of any plan of this match happening this year until August 5th, when CMLL totally changed a Friday night main event and put Atlantis & Sombra together in what would end up as the first build towards this match. CMLL seemed content to stick with Thunder and Ultimo Guerrero in the main event until that point, and were even still building towards that match on the same week as Sombra/Atlantis started

Three theories

1. Thunder is unable to wrestle for longer than they expected and they needed something else. No one’s explained what’s going on, but he’s still not back in the ring and still not scheduled on anything (except the one Guadalajara card a month from now, but that can be changed.) At the same time, there are always other options CMLL can come up with which aren’t Sombra or Atlantis losing their masks. They wouldn’t do well, but Thunder/UG wasn’t going to do super.
2. Either Atlantis or La Sombra is leaving CMLL immediately. Atlantis has more than earned a retirement (and has said in the past that he’d retire if he was unmasked.) La Sombra had a WWE tryout in the past, and wouldn’t need to keep this mask before going there. There’s no news about any new association with him and WWE, this is just examining every possibility, and Atlantis seems like the type not to suddenly announce he was retiring.
3. CMLL either wants or needs the gigantic gate they’ve gotten from the last two Anniversary show. Atlantis/Sombra might be the only match they have right now which could do that gate (Maybe some combination with Rush.) CMLL making decisions because they want to make the most money possible does not seem like CMLL, and it doesn’t explain why they only decided to do that at the last second – it’s not like they just figured out Thunder/UG wasn’t going to be big, I’d hope – but having that one big night pays for a lot of 10% turnout Tuesday shows.

The third possibility fits with the sudden return of LA Park & Dr. Wagner Junior. If CMLL and those guys can continue doing business, that’s two more gigantic gates down the road. Good business really the only reason to bring them back. Businesses making decisions to create better business should seem like normal operations, but this is unusual for the home of low overhead and long lived grudges. Maybe they’ll return AAA’s calls after Park & Wagner are done.

I’m going to be the angriest person ever if they change this match.

CMLL posted video of the press conference here.  It seems like all their livestreams are now just getting quickly archived on the website soon after they’re completed. LuchaWorld has a recap.

KronoSport has a photo of the mask versus mask contract. It looks like a contract!

LA Park said on CMLL Informa that he would debut next Friday, the same day as Wagner. Announcing their returns at a press conference made the most sense, but it would’ve been hilarious if next week’s poster just showed up on the website with Wagner & Park’s names on it. We would’ve been confused for days. LA Park said there was a betting poll on when he’d leave CMLL last time.

AAA announced another Ring & RockstAAArs Hard Rock Hotel show for September 13 in Riviera Maya. These have been TV tapings in the past; it’s not explicitly said this one will be, but I’d imagine so. It’d fit in as the 09/19 TV. Hopefully only one week, because it’s usually only four matches and the shows are packed with filler when they run them over two weeks.

Tornado Negro II took Chico Che’s hair in Tijuana.

Black Terry Jr. has footage of Trauma I being stitched back together after his match with Pagano.

RobViper has a music video of 04/03/15 AAA.

Segunda Caida reviews Lucha Underground episode 37.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

SuperLuchas look back at shows on August 19th has a great confusing story. On August 19, 1956, Monterrey’s Rolando Vera defeated El Santo for the NWA Middleweight Championship in something that reads like a career making win. Except, a few days later, the Mexico City commission invalidated the title change, declaring Santo was too tired from defending the title three times that month and Vera had previously lost in two previous challenges so he shouldn’t have gotten a third. They tried to give the title back to Santo, but Santo said no. They held a rematch in Mexico City two months later, where Vera won the title officially. I need to know more about that, but it reads like a ‘Dusty finish’ decades before Dusty.

Drago is doing an autograph signing on August 29th in Los Angeles, adjacent to his appearance in PWG

Aero Boy is headed to Chicago on September 13th.

Super Comando shows off his La Bazooka hold.

Nino Hamburugesa talks about his match in Puebla.

Rayo de Jalisco said his fellow wrestlers told him he should go for 25 years of wrestling and then retire. He notes he’s still around after 40. I think they were right.

A short film on SLP’s Rayo de Plata won an award.

ChilangaMask says it’s going to start using movie themes for shows. (They might have been kidding.)

Lady Apache will be named Queen of the Firefighters. Lucha libre is weird.

La Sombra, the winner of the 81st Anniversary show, will put his mask on the line against Atlantis, the winner of the 82nd Anniversary show, in a mask versus mask match in this year’s Anniversary show. The two signed a contract for the match at a CMLL press conference this afternoon. There were no other stipulations or other luchadors involved or even teased to be involved, in a straight one on one match.

This is really happening. I’ve been skeptical of this actually happening, and was expecting some sort of angle to interrupt the press conference. Instead, they just simply signed the contracts. There’s a month for CMLL to change their minds, but the tickets go on sale tomorrow and it would be a significant backlash if they changed the main event after putting the tickets on sale. (Ticket prices have not been announced, but expected to be sky high.)

La Sombra is the favorite to take Atlantis mask. It would be more a certainty if anything about this makes sense. It’s clear CMLL was not planning on doing this match until two Fridays ago, when the feud was suddenly started in the main event of the show. The historic nature of the match will mean another huge gate, though putting this together cold at the last second with no TV for the feud seems like it’s going to hurt it a little it.

This would’ve been a big news conference even without the Anniversary main event. Dr. Wagner Jr. and LA Park are returning to CMLL. Dr. Wagner Jr.’s return was announced on a video (he’s in the US) and as taking place next Friday. LA Park appeared for an interview, but did not have a return date. Park said he hoped it’d be soon, so he could help fill all the empty buildings. Park did seem to have a program, as he said he was coming to CMLL to get at Rush. Rush & the Ingobernables have been feuding with LA Park on the indy shows, and LA Park said he was bringing the indy to CMLL. Wagner & Park are part of CMLL officially – this isn’t another All Elite situation. They’re probably on the Anniversary show, though it wasn’t said.

Dr. Wagner and LA Park were kicked out of CMLL seven years ago. It appeared they had a lot of disagreements with CMLL management, but a singles match between them at the 75th Anniversary show which turned into an out of control brawl appeared to be the breaking point in the relationship. Both eventually ended up in AAA, where they drew well but also completely annoyed management (and were completely annoyed by management.) LA Park seemed to get on the ‘never again!’ list for AAA too, but Wagner was on the World Cup show and was in talks with them to work TripleMania. Given it’s Wagner, he probably was talking with AAA the same time he was talking to CMLL. It’s unclear what changed to cause CMLL to bring them back; it’s possibly some combination of Wagner/Park’s demands going down as indy work has dwindled, and CMLL realizing it’s lack of marketable main eventers when Rush/Sombra/Niebla/Shocker/Casas were all out via suspension or injury at about the same time.

The big idea has to be LA Park versus Rush in an apuesta match sometime down the road; maybe the 83rd Anniversary show, since they’re running out of big masks. There’s no telling if LA Park and CMLL will make it that long without wanting to kill each other, or if they can get LA Park to agree to an apuesta match without changing how much he’s wanting at the last second. Park & Wagner stand up for themselves a lot stronger than other luchadors, but dealing with them can be like playing with fire. This may not work out well – it almost certainly will not end with everyone happy! – but it’ll definitely be interesting.

That’s pretty much all the news, though it took about forty minutes to get there. Guerrero Maya Jr. & Boby Zavala were confirmed as the En Busca de un Idolo finalists. (There was talk about the winner going to Japan, there was no talk about the winner’s title shot.) The bodybuilding contest was announced for November 25th, with La Mascara apparently involved this year. There’s a good chance of that airing on YouTube. A lot of time was spent talking about a CMLL branded lottery ticket. And that’s it.

No talk about the Universal championship, no talk about Naito coming in. No mention of what else might be on the Anniversary card. It’s a one match show, but that’s seems to be the way of big shows in Mexico City – a dream match or two on top, and they might not even mention the rest of the card. There might be other things added – the Dalys/Angel feud looks dropped, but that Shockercito/Demus feud might be noteworthy – but they’re selling this show entirely on seeing Sombra or Atlantis be unmasked.

CMLL (TUE) 08/18/2015 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Acero & Último Dragoncito b Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Universo 2000
Acero & Aereo was originally announced, Angelito was listed in Aereo’s place in the preview, and Ultimo Dragoncito ended up in the match.
2) Leono, Metatrón, Molotov b Espanto Jr., Espiritu Negro, Inquisidor
3) Okumura, Puma, Tiger b Oro Jr., Pegasso, Stigma
4) Cavernario, Felino, Rey Escorpión b Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Tritón
Rey Escorpion didn’t get along with his partners.
5) Valiente b Hechicero
Hechicero used the ropes to beat Valiente in the first, but Valiente took 2/3 to win.
6) Ángel de Oro, La Sombra, Marco Corleone b Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
Kamaitachi was listed in for Vangellys in the preview, but Vangellys wrestled anyway.

Great “Nuevo Valores” main event.

CMLL has a press conference today to announce the CMLL Anniversary match at noon CT today. It’ll be streamed live on CMLL.com (probably via YouTube.) I have no idea what they’re going to do now. I very much doubted they were going to do Atlantis versus La Sombra in a mask match with no one else, but they only really done that feud and aired a video which seemed to explicitly be teasing that match. They’re not really teasing anything else; Ultimo Guerrero mentioned he still wanted the match with Thunder on C3, but that’s all the talk that match has gotten. It doesn’t make sense to do that Sombra/Atlantis on six weeks of build but sometimes wrestling promotions do things which appear to make no sense.

(C3 was also entertaining for the announcers passing along hot gossip on what they heard the main event would be: Ultimo Guerrero versus La Sombra versus Thunder versus Marco. Marco?!?! No offense, Marco. That show was entertaining in almost no other way.)

It’s a press conference, so they’re compelled to talk for 45-60 minutes. They should announce the En Busca de un Idolo final, which will be Boby Zavala versus Guerrero Maya Jr. unless they struggled counting to an absurd degree. They like talking about upcoming title matches, and there’s one on Sunday and Monday. They like talking about people going to or coming form Japan, so Naito’s trip to Mexico City should be mentioned here if it’s really happening. They should announce the Universal tournament if it’s happening before the Anniversary show, but who knows.

AAA has an online store! It appears to ship to the US! I’m amazing/confused, though this being a project of the AAA English side would make sense. Shirts are $12.27, shipping adds a couple more dollars. Some of these t-shirts were the ones being sold inside the arena at Arena Ciudad de Mexico, though the Blue Demon shirts are notably missing. If you try this, let everyone know if it actually works.

The KDNA promotion announced they’re hosting an AAA TV taping on 09/20 in Arena Jose Suliman (the former Arena Solidaridad). They have a roster poster with Mundo & Cage – they probably wouldn’t include those two unless they were on the card, but I’d guess they have a lot of people on that poster who won’t be on the card.

Atlantis, when talking about all the feuds he’s got going on the same time, notes many people have wanted to destroy him but no one has done it so far.

Mini Charly Manson, who hasn’t been on TV much this year, has been winning bodybuilding contests. He notes is tough to stay in good shape for wrestling and bodybuilding.

Black Terry Jr. has highlights of Ultimo Guerrero & Hechicero vs Caifan & Avisman ChilangaMask. The promotion was very happy about the words Jose Luis Feliciano said about the promotion.

LuchaWorld has MamaLucha results and KrisZ’s news update.

Segunda Caida reviews Hijo del Santo versus Negro Casas from September 1995.

Lineup

CMLL (SAT) 08/22/2015 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy vs Pierrothito
2) Magnus vs Súper Comando
3) Soberano Jr. vs Arkángel de la Muerte
4) Tritón vs Hechicero
5) Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Pólvora & Rey Escorpión
6) Rey Cometa vs Mephisto
7) Ángel de Oro, Rush, Stuka Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja

A show of interesting matches, though it might be a bit rushed with a lot of people also working the Tragdeias show the same night.

IWRG (SUN) 08/23/2015 Arena Naucalpan
1) Aramis & Voltar vs Magnum 44 & Vardeus
2) Kaving & Ultraman vs Avisman & Imposible
3) Diablo Jr. 1 & El Hijo del Diablo vs Hijo del Pantera & Pantera [super libre]
4) Danny Casas, Eterno, Veneno vs Negro Navarro, Oficial 911, Oficial AK47
5) Súper Nova vs Golden Magic
6) Canis Lupus, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Pagano vs LA Park, Trauma I, Trauma II

Pagano main events here, and is also facing Nicho once again in Arena Neza. The sense I have is he’s actually working as a draw, so at least someone’s making money.

CMLL (TUE) 08/25/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Explosivo & Reycko vs Évola & Relampago
2) Estrellita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Omar Brunetti, Stigma, The Panther vs Metálico, Okumura, Sangre Azteca
4) Blue Panther, Rey Cometa, Valiente vs Felino, Negro Casas, Shocker
5) Marco Corleone, Super Porky, Volador Jr. vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Mr. Niebla

Mr. Niebla back, and right back in the main event without his partners is strange.

CMLL (TUE) 08/25/2015 Arena México
1) Bengala & Robin vs Apocalipsis & Espanto Jr.
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Shockercito vs Demus 3:16, Mercurio, Pierrothito
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Starman, Súper Halcón Jr. vs Cancerbero, Nitro, Raziel
4) Dark Angel vs Zeuxis [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Fuego, Tritón vs Cavernario, Rey Bucanero, Terrible
6) Máximo, Mistico, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Kamaitachi, Último Guerrero

Titan versus Kamaitachi sounds like fun, as does Dark Angel versus Zeuxis. That’s a first time ever match.

CMLL (SUN) 08/16/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Rey Halcón & Star Black b El Chakal & Relampago
2) El Divino, Frezzer, Javier Cruz Jr. DQ Black Sugar, Demonio Rojo, El Yaqui
Yaqui fouled Freezer. The two agreed to a mask match next week.
3) Furia Roja, Joker, Sádico b Neutrón, Vaquero Jr., Virgo
Furia Roja beat Neutron
4) El Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Draego, Nautilius, Omar Brunetti
Draego’s debut in this building. Sanson beat Omar.
5) Pepe Aguayo b Rayman
Pepe was DQed for excessive violence in the first, but took the second and third (by unseen foul) to win.

Pepe seemed to do one of those off screen turns. Yaqui & Freezer are indeed having their mask match next week.

FULL (SUN) 08/16/2015 Arena Solidaridad [LuchaMania Monterrey]
1) Gran Shakira b Shakirita
2) Mini Bengalí & Mini Difunto b Mini Hator & Tequilita
3) Chocolata & Ultima Sombra b Orquídea Negra & Sexy Piscis
4) Chamaco Gurrola, Mr. Nice, Panthro b Genocida, Monje Negro Jr., Silver Star
5) El Divo, Hijo de Mascara Sagrada, Lady Apache, Mascarita Sagrada b Guapito, Hator, Rossy Moreno, Scorpio Jr.
Lady Apache b Rossy Moreno
6) Fuerza Guerrera, Pirata Morgan, Silver King b El Hijo de Aníbal, Hijo De Dos Caras, Octagón
Fuerza fouled Octagon
7) LA Park, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Tinieblas Jr. b Dr. Wagner Jr., El Hijo del Solitario, Máscara Año 2000
LA Park pulled Wagner’s mask for the win. Many challenges followed.

In theory, this airs on the FULL show some point soon – but the FULL show hasn’t been on the air the last two weeks, so maybe that’s not possible.

CMLL (MON) 08/17/2015 Arena Puebla
1) Fuerza Chicana, King Jaguar, Metálico b Star Jr., Tigre Rojo Jr., Zaeta Roja
Rudos took 1/3
2) Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany b Dark Angel, Estrellita, Lluvia
tecnicas took 2/3
3) Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus b Blue Panther Jr., Rey Cometa, The Panther
Cancerberos took 1/3 in the best match on the show
4) La Máscara, Máximo, Super Porky b Kráneo, Olímpico, Ripper
Usual Porky match. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Atlantis, Mistico, Volador Jr. b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 2/3. Atlantis beat Mephisto clean to set up a title match next week.

Missable show, the least interesting since they’ve started the live airings.

Today’s Arena Mexico main event is Marco Corleone, La Sombra and Angel de Oro versus Terrible, Rey Bucanero and Kamaitachi. Kamaitachi is a late sub for Vangellys. Sombra & Marco will probably make Angel’s life difficult. Hechicero versus Valiente in a three falls singles match is the semimain. This is the first one of those Hechicero has had in Arena Mexico; everything else has been lightning and En Busca de un Idolo. It’s not the first time Hchicero and Valiente have met in a singles match; Rey Hechicero beat Valiente in a title match in 2008 in Gimnasio Nuevo Leon.

No lightning match this week. Angelito replaces Aereo in the opener.

CMLL will be on ClaroSports for four more weeks, according to edecan Jaanika. That takes them to 09/11, the week prior to the Anniversary show.

Blue Panther & Thunder were added to the 09/06 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara show, which suggests someone expects Thunder to be wrestling again soon. They replace Gallo and Mr. Aguila (who may have simply been dropped down to another match.)

Heroes Inmortales will take place in Domo San Luis, the same venue it took place last year. AAA’s run the smaller Auditorio Miguel Barragan for TV tapings.

Black Terry Jr. has highlights of Virus versus Dr. Cerbero from the ChilangaMask show. The promotion says +LuchaTV will be putting up the entire Chilanga Mask Naucalpan show on their channel for free on Sunday (probably around 6pm).

Pagano versus Nicho is coming to Arena Neza on August 29.

Violento Jack & Ciclope versus Aero Boy & Miedo Extremo is announced for a DTU show on 09/17 in Arena Aficion. That’s a day where it seemed unclear if there were going to be any shows: it’s Thursday (a typically dead show) and most places are running the day before for the holiday.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update, this week’s PosterMania and results from FPW/Super Boy show.

RobViper has a music video of 04/03/15 CMLL.

DoradaFan put together video of a Reyes del Aire match with Fenix, Magnifico, and Komander versus Laredo Kid, Asterisco Jr., and Rey Astral. The big name guys mostly stay out of the way in the two falls he has, but the young guys show off.

A short article on the family of mask maker Bucio, who are continuing his mask masking business after he passed away a few years ago.

Xena & Ishtar won WWS’s annual rookie/veteran-ish tag team tournament.

SuperLuchas has an interview with Caballlero de la Muerte Jr. 

KrispyKreme had Fishman, Fishman Jr., Mascara Sagrada and Huracan Ramirez Jr. at a press conference to announce special luchador themed donuts.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 08/24/2015 Arena Puebla
1) Angelito, Astro, Asturiano vs Ares, Espíritu Maligno, Saurón
2) Estrellita, Lluvia, Marcela vs La Comandante, Tiffany, Zeuxis
3) Máximo, Rush, Super Porky vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
4) La Sombra, Mistico, Valiente vs Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
5) Mephisto © vs Atlantis
Mephisto’s 14th defense.

Atlantis has held eight different major championships in CMLL but not this one. Mr. Niebla rides again. Rush in the tercera makes no sense unless they’re setting up something else (a Sky Team versus Guerreros? Sombra vs UG?)

AAA Cara Lucha (SUN) 08/30/2015Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) ? vs ??
2) ? vs ??
3) ? vs ??
4) Dinastía & Mini Drago vs Mini Abismo Negro & Mini Charly Manson
5) Goya Kong & Niño Hamburguesa vsCarta Brava & Mamba
6) Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Daga, Hijo del Fantasma, Parka Negra

Cara Lucha’s next big show is on 09/16; this is a change of pace show. There seemed to be issues with AAA luchadors versus indy luchadors matches the previous time AAA came to Arena San Juan, and this time it looks like htey’ll be kept separate.