Alberto, AAA, Rafa el Maya

As expected, both the MLW show and Wrestling Observer Radio talked a lot about Alberto last night. Some highlights:

The time line is in question. Konnan said WWE had been in contract with Alberto “for a while”, HHH called Alberto within the last week, Alberto named his price, HHH said it was too high, and the deal didn’t get done until Vince got involved. Dave Meltzer also says AAA did not know until Saturday night or Sunday morning, but the deal was “clearly done weeks ago” based on what he heard from people in the company and stuff like Alberto already having a new shirt out. Meltzer says one person knew weeks ago, and Alberto had been the guy planned to beat John Cena on this show for a while. Meltzer says the chances of Alberto coming to WWE increased as soon as Alberto & LU parted ways (which Meltzer says wasn’t a mutual decision); without the Lucha Underground money, Alberto wasn’t making close to he had in WWE and that was going to be the best option. Konnan agrees, saying WWE just offered Alberto a deal a company their size can not match.

I’m guessing Alberto didn’t lose his title at Heroes Inmortales because he probably wouldn’t be thrilled to lose in San Luis Potosi once again, and maybe AAA thought they would have a few more months to work this out. (For his part, Meltzer thought Alberto was going back to WWE, but was thinking more a Royal Rumble surprise.) Alberto was nice to AAA when telling him he was leaving and told them he would be working out his dates, but that’s not for sure – no one know what WWE is going to say. There are conflicts between Alberto’s remaining AAA schedule and what WWE would probably want him to work:

11/02 AAA TV in Reynosa and WWE Raw TV on 11/02 in Denver
11/07 ZZinc in Veracruz and WWE live in Leeds/Madrid
11/15 AAA TV in Juarez; no WWE but they’d be on their way back from Europe
11/19 ZZinc in Leon; no WWE show (break from Europe)
11/20 ZZinc in Morelia; no WWE show
11/21 ZZinc in Queretaro; no WWE show
11/22 ZZinc in Aguascalientes; WWE Survivor Series
12/05 AAA TV Guerra de Titanes (new date, no location); WWE in Augusta & Fayetteville

Konnan said he was headed to Raw in San Diego today to talk with Alberto and see where everything’s at. It seems unlikely Alberto will work in Reynosa or Aguascalientes unless he got an outstanding deal. The Juarez and the other ZZInc shows are plausible; there are logistical difficulties (beyond upgraded plane tickets) for WWE adding people to their European tours. If they can’t add him anyway, he’d be free. The Guerra de Titanes show are opposite normal house shows. If he’s going to be allowed to do any show, it’ll be that one.

The MLW Radio show, especially the first 28 minutes, has a lot more on AAA. It was Konnan first public statement on Caristico leaving; it sounds like Konnan wasn’t happy with the way it went down, but doesn’t feel losing a rudo Myzteziz is a big loss. He didn’t feel like Myzteziz could physically handle making the tecnicos look good, and put the blame on the problems with the TripleMania match on him. Konnan confirmed that TripleMania was the show where Myzteziz and Alberto were being kept on opposite sides of the building, which caused trouble putting together the Rey/Myzteziz match. He says Alberto thought he and Caristico were friends again by their end of their WWE stint – there was an incident where Sheamus was rough with Sin Cara in a match, and Alberto ended up getting in a fight with Shemaus over it – and Alberto was surprised when Myzteziz badmouthed him by telling the lockerroom that Alberto only wanted to have matches against his US friends. (Alberto says this is not true, but it’s going to be interesting to see who wins the Mega title from him – if someone even does.)

In other random notes, Konnan was really proud of Heroes Inmortales and both he and Court Bauer noted they wished that was the TripleMania show. Konnan said AAA isn’t sitting on their hands about the departures and will have a “humongous surprise” that the Mexican fans will like. (I’d guessed this would be a jump, but Alfredo suggested this might be Lucha Underground coming to Mexico – that fits with Bryan Alvarez’s rumor that LU had gotten their funding for season 2 and season 3.) The original Guerra de Titanes main event was to be Alberto vs “Jeff”; guessing that means Jeff Jarrett, leading out of the post-World Cup angle which was quickly dropped. Willie Mack will be in AAA soon; he’s already coming for a few shows (the ZZInc shows?) and will be teaming with Speedball at Guerra de Titanes. Flamita is probably going to be in Lucha Underground, and Mr. 450 impressed in his AAA TV appearance enough to be brought back in the future.

SuperLuchas reminds us they mentioned a rumor Alberto was going to WWE last week and Dorian Roldan shot them down. Oops! They also wonder if Alberto will lose the AAA title as cleanly as John Cena lost the WWE US title to him.

Referee Rafa el Maya also says he’s leaving AAA. He left CMLL after being left off the anniversary show, and it sounds like things were fixed after a meeting during the Elite Lucha Libre show. Maya says he has nothing bad to say about AAA.

CMLL (SUN) 10/25/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Linterna & Rey Halcón b Gitano & Relampago
2) Explosivo & Star Black b Gran Kenut & Mercenario
3) El Yaqui & Nube Roja DCOR El Chakal & Mr. Apolo [super libre]
double countout in the no DQ match. Hair match challenged followed.
4) Omar Brunetti, Pepe Aguayo, Vaquero Jr. b Maléfico, Ráfaga, Sádico
5) El Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Furia Roja, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
Sangre Dinamita won falls 1/3, setting up a title match in the future.

They won’t be doing the title match next week, because that’s the Elite show here.

CMLL Puebla tonight will be an hour later than usual due to the time change, starting at 11pm ET. It’s a one week change. Shocker versus La Sombra main events, with Revolucionarios versus Guerreros as the semimain. The Batillion del Muerte opens the show, so you’ll want to stay up to see their wacky entrance (or just watch it the next day.)

Cadena3 went off the air and was replaced by ExcelsiorTV this morning. Their programming schedule is hard to find and may not be updated, but there’s no sign of CMLL on it. The change over was so quick that things could still change on that.

Caristico believes he made Mistico, Sin Cara and “another name” into big deals, so he can do it again with a four name.

Ricochet was pulled off the 11/14 JAPW show. That’s believed to be the first taping of the new season for a while, though one would expect ticket info to come out soon if that’s a case.

Blue Panther Jr. said he’s off to visit the doctor today, so maybe he missed Friday’s show due to injury?

Black Terry Jr. has highlights of Dragon Lee vs Aramis.

Super Libre’s guests included Rey Trueno, Rayman, and Rush.

Segunda Caida watched Ephesto vs Blue Panther. I sometimes forget that Ephesto is 50 years old, but he moves like it.

Lineups

CMLL (SUN) 11/01/2015 Arena México
1) Aéreo & Angelito vs Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Violencia
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Star Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. vs Canelo Casas, Espanto Jr., Nitro
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Hechicero, Luciferno
4) Blue Panther, Super Porky, Valiente vs Felino, Mephisto, Vangellys
5) Marco Corleone vs Kráneo
6) Atlantis, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Negro Casas, Shocker, Último Guerrero

The second of the Dia de Muertos shows! We feared it was going to be an all Thunder singles match week, but it turns out to be an all Kraneo singles match week. Great! I’m looking forward to Marco and Kraneo and think this card is not so far off from the one they’re putting on iPPV (which is more a complaint about the iPPV card quality.)

No Coliseo show; they’re hosting boxing on Saturday instead.