Time for the usual end of year stats, because 2015 results might be done (and I might have cleaned it up.) I’m still relying heavily on KrisZ finding posters and I can’t really believe I’m still typing them all in, but here were are.
Those +numbers indicate the number of shows I’ve added to those years this past year, or removed due to duplication. It never ends.
I tracked more shows in 2015 than I did in 2012 and 2013 combined. That’s a lot of typing, and also probably a lot of typos. At the same time, it’s a fraction of all the shows that take place. There are plenty of promotions not putting up a poster where anyone on the internet can find them, and there’s plenty of people putting up other content but not giving a date; it hurts every time I find a YouTube upload and can’t put a date to the match. Also, none of the Season 2 Lucha Underground tapings are included in this, as I’m not posting them until the shows completely air. All data is flawed and this is definitely data.
I’ve put a big chart of all the people I tracked and had matches (2477 luchadors) in this Google Doc. As usual, it’s split up by which roster they were on during the year: if they were on multiple rosters, they’ll show up multiple times. This is a dumb way of doing this, but it’s the dumb way I’ve been doing for years.
Fujin & Raijin/CMLLCMLL Elite (SUN) 02/07/2016Arena México [+LuchaTV, CMLL, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Artillero & Cholo b Centvrión & Fly Warrior
2) Amapola & Dalys b La Jarochita & Rossy Moreno Rudas took 2/3.
3) Fujin, Heddi Karaoui, Raijin b Dinamic Black, Fuego, Metaleón Foreigners took 2/3. Fujin & Raijin win in their Arena Mexico debut when Karoui submitted Fuego.
4) Puma & Tiger b Golden Magic & Tritón Cats took 1/3. Tiger still wants a shot at Golden Magic’s IWRG Juniors championship (which he’s now challenged for in two other promotions – here in Elite and in CaraLucha.)
5) Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas b Juventud Guerrera, Super Crazy, Volador Jr. Peste Negra took 2/3. Volador beat Negro, but Casas snuck back in to help his team win. The hair matches challenges were made, as usual.
6) Cibernético, La Máscara, Mephisto DQ Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Máscara Dorada Caristico had Mascara beat in La Mistica, but Mascara’s mask came off in the process and Tirantes DQed Caristico. Caristico wants a singles match with La Mascara, and proposed a new Sky Team trio with himself, Angel de Oro and Dorada.
With Elite, Mascara/Caristico has a 50/50 chance of happening. That’s better than usual, because it doesn’t involve an apuesta challenge. This was an all rudo night. Here’s a list of every result Caristico has had in Arena Mexico this year:
01/01: [CMLL] lost when he accidentally fouled Rush
01/03: [ELITE] lost when Negro Casas pulled his mask
01/08: [CMLL] lost when Rush turned on him
01/10: [ELITE] WON on the Canek return show
01/15: [CMLL] lost when La Mascara helped Rush cheat to win
01/17: [ELITE] lost when La Mascara helped Rush cheat to win
01/24: [ELITE] WON but only because La Mascara fouled and pulled his mask for the DQ
01/31: [ELITE] WON but only because the Ingobernables were DQed for excessive violence
That is a little weird. That is a long way to go for a singles win over La Mascara. The whole empty challenge thing seems like part standard lucha libre behavior and part Elite actually wanting to do some of these matches but still holding out up hope for TV before moving forward. The booking of expected lead draw Caristico remains hard to figure.
Fujin and Raijin had masks to show off, as if they were designed to originally be worn by them for this character. It’s strange they ended up masked. Namajague and Kamaitachi had success as masked luchadors and it gave CMLL an easy midcard apuesta match to tack onto a big show. The difference for those two prior characters is they were unseen by CMLL eyes before they came to Mexico. Neither man wrestled on the FantasticaMania tour, while Komatsu & Tanaka were going to be booked for every show (and their new names were listed in the press release mentioning those matches.)
El Pancracio and MedioTiempo has more details about Hijo del Santo’s statements the other day. Santo says he’s in perfect health, might have a retirement tour, doesn’t want to retire until his son is ready to wrestle, and doesn’t know when that will be (but wants his son to finish college first.) El Pancracio quotes Santo as saying there’s been talks about him returning to Arena Mexico (not just him bringing it up out of the blue), but also has him saying “if the public want it and I get a good deal” he’s do it. The good deal part has usually been the problem.
AAA TV (SAT) 02/06/2016 Auditorio Bentio Juárez, Cuautitlán, Estado de México [AAA]
1) Lanzeloth, Mini Charly Manson, Mini Psycho Clown b Dinastía, Mascarita Sagrada, Octagoncito Lanzeloth filled in for Mini Abismo. Charly beat Sagrada with a package piledriver.
2) Australian Suicide & Fireball DQ Parka Negra & Súper Fly Parka Negra replaced Daga. Tecnicos won by DQ when Daga ran in anyway and threw a chair at Suicide’s head, cutting him open.
3) Aerostar, Drago, Fénix b Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Zorro Tecnicos won and asked for a trios title shot. Zorro said no (no no)
4) Daga & Taya b Bengala & Faby Apache and Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Lady Shani [AAA MIXED TAG, #1 Contenders] In a segment at the start of the show, Daga announced he’d be replacing Fantasma (injury). Pentagon interrupted, unhappy fellow Perros del Mal were coming for his title and promising not to take it easy on them should they won. They did: Faby beat Shani, and Daga submitted Bengala to the metaleon for the win. They face Pentagon & Sexy Star (at least that’s how AAA announced it) on 02/19.
5) Averno & Chessman b Joe Lider & Pentagón Jr. In a surprise, Averno & Chessman defeated Pentagon. Pentagon & Lider had problems after the match.
6) Blue Demon Jr. b Dr. Wagner Jr., Garza Jr., Taurus [Rey de Reyes, semifinal] Wagner appeared in the opening segment to take issue with Pentagon Jr’s claim he’d win Rey de Reyes. Psycho Clown interrupted him, not to talk about Rey de Reyes, but to demand a singles match with Wagner tonight after Wagner cost them the match in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera. Wagner declined, saying he already had this match. Psycho Clown joined the announcers for this match instead. Taurus eliminated Garza Jr., Wagner beat Taurus, and Blue Demon Jr. beat Wagner after Wagner hit everyone with a chair, Psycho hit Wagner with a chair, and Demon gave Wagner Devil’s Wings for the win.
Air Date: 02/13 & 02/20
Blue Demon’s back, so Blue Demon wins. The finish sounds a lot like the finish on Guerra de Titanes, where Dr. Wagner gets the certain visual win before losing the match. It’s the finishes that happen when you bring in Dr. Wagner. It’s the problem with this Psycho Clown/Dr. Wagner feud they’re trying – either Psycho will just lose the Latin American title to Wagner, or Wagner will lose in a way that won’t mean much. It’s what’s he’s been doing for a decade. Demon’s pretty much the same, and Taurus taking his first pinfall to one of them illustrates the change in philosophies happening right now.
Anyway, it does start to give us a Rey de Reyes card.
03/11 Tampico
Texano Jr. vs Mesias for the AAA Heavyweight Championship – lock
Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Psycho Clown for the AAA Latin American Championship – likely, maybe actual main event
Aerostar, Drago, Fenix vs Zorro, Cuervo, Scoria for the AAA Trios championship – likely
Rey de Reyes final (Demon vs other 3 block winners) – lock
probably something with Suicide and Daga
probably a mixed match
That’s six, so it might be it. The recap implies the trios title challenge is a follow up of that same trio winning the CHIKARA King of Trios back in September. That match sounded like it went well last night and should be good on the show.
It doesn’t look the tag title match is on at the moment with Lider & Pentagon losing and having issues. It’s not exactly my favorite use of Pentagon to have him losing in those matches, but anything that pulls him away from Lider can’t be all bad.
Taya & Daga were announced as facing Pentagon & Sexy Star at the Queretaro show, so either that’s still the plan or they haven’t coming up with a new one. When all the stuff was going on with Sexy Star giving up her title, Taya posted a message of five laughing emojis. That’s another Twitter post that’s been deleted. It sure seems like Sexy Star was told she was losing the tag titles to Taya and her partner and was very unhappy about it. (It may be about Taya, but it also may just be Sexy not liking the idea of losing to anyone – like Demon & Wagner, that’s not something she’s done a lot.) Whatever it is, AAA’s still advertising the match – though they were still advertising Fantasma at this show and didn’t say anything until it started.
PW Insider says Konnan was at the taping. It’s strange he wasn’t in the Sociedad segment to start the show, which had a hole without Fantasma being around. (Maybe the story they’re telling is the breakup happened because Fantasma and Konnan weren’t around to fix it?) Konnan hasn’t said anything on Twitter since promising that press conference. The creative changes without him are being more apparent – the signature booking trope of the prior era, strong giant rudo stables, seem to be going away. La Sociedad lost three members on the first taping, this tapings had two different moments suggesting the Perros del Mal were breaking up. They’ve gone down the road and turned around before – the last time Lanzeloth made TV also had Joquin Roldan ending La Sociedad forever three years ago – but everything else makes it feel like it may take this time.
That PWInsider article brings up the Mysterio situation and more money issues. The reports says AAA wrestlers who worked in Lucha Underground were paid thru AAA, with AAA taking a cut of their money. (This is similar to how AAA works with most outside promoters.) PWInsider says AAA was taking a “sizable” cut. For season 2, Lucha Underground started paying the AAA luchadors directly, but AAA has been pressuring those luchadors to kickback the same cut to AAA. The AAA/LU crew see it as their money they shouldn’t have to give back. It’s enough that those affected are thinking of leaving AAA, only the concern is they’d lose their Lucha Underground spots – everyone loves Lucha Underground, there’s no problem there.
The report doesn’t say those leaving AAA would go to Elite, but Elite’s been going after everyone in AAA already and are the obvious alternative location.
PWInsider says AAA has ownership points in Lucha Underground, but not creative control. That seems apparent from the different products they present, but it does appear AAA has at least some input over who gets brought in from their side; there’s people debuting in season 2 who are only doing so after agreeing to work with AAA. AAA’s not going to be able to job someone out in LU for not paying them, but the concern about not being able to work LU without AAA seems very legitimate.
It does feel a bit like something’s going to break soon – but if you hadn’t know there was drama behind the scenes, last night’s taping seems a normal build to a PPV.
CMLL (FRI) 02/05/2016Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Astral & Eléctrico b Demus 3:16 & Pequeño Olímpico 14:29. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis b Estrellita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit 11:33. Rudos took 2/3.
3) Boby Z b Stuka Jr. [lightning] 6:29. Zavala won with a kick following a powerbomb.
4) Blue Panther, La Máscara, Titán b Luciferno, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys 13:32. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Dragón Lee, Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy b Kamaitachi, Terrible, Último Guerrero 10:29. Tecnicos took 2/3. Lee beat Kamaitachi as part of the finish, but did not issue a title challenge (yet)
6) Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Volador Jr. b Cavernario, Mephisto, Negro Casas 8:30. Tecnicos took 1/3. Casas faked a foul to draw the DQ in the second, and Volador actually fouled him and got away with it to take the the third. Volador challenged for a hair match again, Casas walked out again.
Not advancement in any feud – Casas & Volador are in a holding pattern and Dragon Lee/Kamaitachi weren’t even that – and no must watch match for me, but an enjoyable Friday night show from top to bottom. CMLL had a bigger than usual crowd and they were very into the show, which helped a bit. It’s not clear why the crowd was up; Dorada’s return was the only notable thing on the show, but the crowd din’t particularly react to him (and there were other people who seemed more over.)
This might have been the first TDN taping, but I’m curious about that whole show now. There are TV listings out now for February 14th, when the show is first supposed to air, and there’s no CMLL show listed. There is a sports magazine show doing a hour on lucha libre. I believe that’s a repeat of something that’s aired before, but maybe it’s not and maybe TDN was just filming footage for that show and not planning on airing a weekly show? That would be a very uninteresting outcome. It could just be the schedule is wrong.
Next Friday’s show is still listed as airing ClaroSports.com. It’s always a week by week thing, but there was no sign it was going away any time soon last night.
AAA has a TV taping tonight in Cuautitlán. It’s an interesting card. The main event is Rey de Reyes qualifier which doesn’t look especially good (Wagner, Demon, Garza and Taurus) but will probably tell us a lot about what that show is going to look like. There’s a three way tag match where no one’s quite sure what’s on the line, but it should be a good match given the people involved. The three opening matches all have great promise as well.
No one’s really talking about the lineup today! It’s all about the latest drama with AAA. Pro Wrestling Sheet reported Rey Misterio is out of AAA because they haven’t paid him for all the dates he was working for them. It reads like a dispute over which dates Rey is getting for: Rey is saying the contract calls for him to be paid for every day he’s with AAA and not home, and the implication is AAA has decided some of those days don’t count. The WON had been saying for a while that there was a money issue between AAA and Rey, and money issues are never about being paid too much. AAA hasn’t said anything about this.
The Pro Wrestling Sheet leaves it as an open question if Rey will be returning. From watching AAA, it definitely seems like they’re moving on with no expectation of him (and Mundo and others) being brought back any time soon. Rey’s last appearance in AAA was being helped from the ring in Arena Neza in December. It’d be a shame if that was his last appearance in AAA, but it seems like it might be the case unless the issues get fixed.
Lucha Underground is a separate entity and would not be directly affected by Rey’s issues with AAA. However, we know he’s also had problems with them (over being able to do the Combate Americas appearances), there was never any public mention of the length of his contract, and whatever issues he’s having might allow him to get out early similar to Alberto. My hunch is Rey’s going to end up back with the WWE on a part time schedule as soon as he’s legally allowed to make that deal.
Sexy Star ended up deleting her Twitter message saying she was giving up the AAA Mixed Tag Titles. No idea if that means she’s going thru with the program.
This week’s AAA TV confirmed Rey de Reyes is March 11 in Tampico.
Rossy Moreno says she was surprised to be invited back to Arena Mexico and thought her brought Oriental was playing a joke when he told her Elite wanted to bring her in. She’s proud to be back this Sunday after 20 some years (even she doesn’t seem to know when she last wrestled there) and hopes her entire family will soon be back.
Hijo del Santo annually makes a trip to his father’s grave on the day of his passing, and follows with a few words to the press. It didn’t seem too newsworthy this year, but Hijo del Santo did say he would be open to returning to Arena Mexico if the people wanted. If Hijo del Santo is really going to retire this year, and Elite is going to continue running Sunday shows with whomever they want, it seems like an easy decision. It’s never easy with Hijo del Santo.
IWRG (WED) 02/10/2016Arena Naucalpan
1) Osiris vs Aramis
2) Fireman & Galaxy vs Acero & Troll
3) Dragón Fly, Freyzer, Kanon vs Adrenalina, Atomic Star, Picudo Jr.
4) Emperador Azteca, Pantera I, Veneno vs Oficial AK47, Violencia Jr., X-Fly
5) Diablo Jr. I, El Hijo del Diablo, Imposible vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Canis Lupus, Eterno
The main feud takes the main event. AK47 back for the first time since November.
CMLL (FRI) 02/12/2016Arena México
1) Bengala & Robin vs Espiritu Negro & Inquisidor
2) Fuego, The Panther, Tritón vs Puma, Tiger, Virus
3) Dragón Lee, Guerrero Maya Jr., La Máscara vs Boby Z, Hechicero, Kamaitachi
4) Valiente vs Euforia [lightning]
5) Marco Corleone, Rush, Thunder vs Cibernético, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Mephisto, Negro Casas
Main event is a rematch from last night, keeping Volador/Casas going.
There’s no real reason Rush & Marco should be teaming with Thunder, except CMLL got tired of booking Dragon Rojo & Polvora in that match every week. Cibernetico versus Thunder would be epic lucha libre action, a true treat for fans of mat wrestling.
Second and third matches seem like they could be quite good.
What happened: Volador cheated to defeat Negro Casas after Casas had done the same. Volador still wants that hair match, but Casas refuses to even discuss it.
Mascara Dorada made his first appearance in Arena Mexico in a year.
Kamaitachi also returned, losing again to Dragon Lee in the semimain. No title match was teased.
What was good: Most of the card. The first couple matches didn’t quite make the cut for me, but weren’t that far off and everything else was enjoyable. There’s no MOTYC on this show but it was one of the better Arena Mexico shows from top to bottom in a while.
CMLL (TUE) 02/02/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Akuma & Bengala COR Demonio Rojo & Mr. Trueno Akuma was listed a surprise tecnico, though he was there in the original poster and not a sub. Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Trueno couldn’t return after an Akuma tope.
2) Mercurio, Pierrothito, Relampago b Cosmos, Shockercito, Stukita Rudos took 1/3.
3) Esfinge, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. b Fujin, Okumura, Raijin Tecnicos took 1/3, Stuka beating Okumura. Debuts for Fujin and Raijin.
4) Rush b Kráneo Rush beat Kraneo (and Mije), taking falls 2/3 clean.
5) Máscara Dorada, Máximo Sexy, Volador Jr. DQ Ephesto, Euforia, Mephisto Tecnicos took 1/3. Rudos dominated the first fall, but Maximo snuck in a kiss on Euforia to set up the win. Euforia fouled Maximo in the third.
Maximo & Euforia are matched up again this week, so that might be a program. Really hope Rush/Kraneo turns up. Really hope Mije is still in one piece.
Mascara Dorada’s return tour comes to Arena Mexico tonight. He teams with Mistico & Volador against Cavernario, Mephisto and Negro Casas. That match should continue the Casas/Volador issues. Volador was teasing a big surprise, while Casas had Puma & Tiger helping him out last week – neither seems involved this week, but perhaps there will be something notable at the end of the show. Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi are back at in the semimain, with Maximo, Marco, Terrible and Ultimo Guerrero rounding on the trios. The rest of the card looks solid if not extraordinary. There’s no Thunder, thankfully. There’s five Fridays after this show and before Dos Leyendas, and things will probably be advancing towards the matches for that show.
This show will air on Clarosports.com at 8:30pm CT. CMLL was previously airing their Friday shows on about a week delay. If that’s still the plan, this is the first TDN show (and then it’s a good sign it’s still airing on the internet as far as that is concerned.)
“I renounce the [Mixed Tag Championship], to me it’s worthless, I’ve had it for so many years and never have defended it, the only result is mismatched pairs will fight in an eliminator to face Pentagon and me, I’m not interested in this belt, so I will not fight anyone to defend it, I’ll gift it, end statement.”
Sexy Star later emphasized that she’s not quitting AAA. Pentagon Jr. posted a message last night along the lines of “I’ll still defend it!” and then deleted it soon after. AAA hasn’t said anything about this publicly.
The mixed tag title was supposed to be part of the two AAA TV tapings this month. The eliminator on Saturday has Fantasma & Taya vs Bengala & Fabi vs Shani & Pirata, and the winner would have faced on February 19th. The most likely outcome is Sexy Star is going to do exactly what she says, and hand over the titles to the winners – that’s about what AAA just did with the men’s tag titles.
Sexy Star’s statement doesn’t make complete sense: she seems upset they’ve never done anything with the belt but, now that they want to do something with the belt, she even more upset now and wants nothing to do with it. We don’t know that Sexy Star & Pentagon Jr. were going to lose the championships on the 19th, but that’s definitely the implication from this: Sexy was aware she was going to lose, she didn’t want to, maybe she’s even annoyed about never getting that chance to do something with the titles, and so she’ll give up the title rather take loss on screen.
If I was AAA (and assuming this isn’t some weird shoot angle), I’d be very upset with Sexy Star for airing her issues in this unprofessional manner and messing up the next two weeks of TV, to the point of wondering if this is a person you can put in any more storylines if she’s just going to blow them up. I’m not sure the actual loss was going to be that meaningful – Averno or Chessman costing Pentagon the match to build the other tag title match is the most likely AAA result and there are other ways to accomplish that – but the relationship between AAA & Sexy Star has some serious problems for this to be aired publicly.
Sexy Star is 100% correct that the AAA mixed tag belt has no value. AAA is and has done a terrible job with all their championships. They exist as something to fill out the card if they have room, but it’s nothing anyone talks about trying to win or seems concerned about when those rare title programs aren’t happening. Four of them (Mega/Heavyweight, trios, tag, mixed tag) now have had the champions giving the belts up in recent months. Taya defended her title last four months ago, which is pretty good for an AAA title. Psycho Clown won his belt in August and hasn’t ever defended it. Fantasma hasn’t defended the cruiserweight title on TV since last March, and they’ve started and stopped title feuds for it at least twice. Those three are all people AAA seems to like and wants to feature, but there’s no energy being put into the championship belts they have.
Maybe she eventually is? If Elite talked to La Jarochita about jumping from AAA, they must have talked to literally every single person in AAA. But I don’t think that’s necessarily the issue here. There’s clearly some level of turmoil going on in AAA. Konnan being removed as booker told us that (and Konnan supported Sexy Star’s decision on Twitter.) Creative changes usually led to different people being featured, and unhappiness when those changes are made. There are hints of issues beyond that going on as well, and some new level of unhappiness within AAA at on it. Sexy Star might have just been the first one act on her feelings publicly, and this seems like it may have just been the tip of an iceberg.
The LA Times has a nice article about Lucha Underground. There are spoilers (or at least there are if you know what to look for) and Vampiro makes an appearance as unidentified man in black. Of note, it’s said their most viewed show had 250,000 viewers. No El Rey airing has ever reached that number. Is that a El Rey + Unimas number? Is that just Unimas? (Both would suggest the Unimas viewership was lower than figured; the guess was 250-300K as an average not a peak.) Is that – like calling AAA “Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion” – just something randomly plucked from the internet? I dunno.
Magno has been released from his WWE/NXT deal. He always seemed like a long shot given his age, and there was the weirdness of him wrestling under his mask while they were announcing him under what appeared to be his real name. He rarely was used on their live events, only turning up recently after being there for months. WWE seems to have a “half Noah” policy where they only one of each variety of diversity in NXT at a time, so Sombra coming aboard probably was the beginning of the end for Magno. He’ll probably resume main eventing shows in Ciudad Juarez should be want to continue wrestling. (Although, someone else has been using the Magno name there of late.)
This is the stupidly most important story of the day to me: remember when I was posting ancient Guadalajara results, and I was completely confused by this weird match type called relevos uruguayos? It’s a 2v2 match one person being listed as a wild card, but they never explained the rules or why it’s named after Uruguay. Well, Arena Jalisco is running an honest to goodness relevos uruguayos match this weekend! They even explained the rules: whoever wins the first fall gets the wildcard on their team for the next two falls. That makes the first fall really important! I still don’t know why Uruguay but I at least have part of the mystery solved.
![3a02[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/3a021.jpg)
