CMLL (FRI) 03/18/2016 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO]
Homenaje a Dos Leyenda 2016, Lizmark & Salvador Lutteroth
1) El Cuatrero & Sansón b Oro Jr. & Soberano Jr.
21:05, rudos took 1/3.
2) Ángel de Oro, Rey Cometa, Titán b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
10:27. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Dragón Lee, Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente b Fujin, Kamaitachi, Okumura, Raijin
16:38. Team Mexico took 2/3.
4) Rush b Máximo Sexy [hair]
15:00. Pierroth and Super Porky were seconds, with Pierroth first appearing as if he was Rush to allow Rush to attack from the crowd. Rush was DQed in the first for attacking the referee. Pierroth interfered in the third fall, and he and Porky were thrown out. Rush survived three kissed and won clean with the double underhook piledriver Rush Driver.
5) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Súper Porky b Cibernético, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero
8:06. Tecnicos took 1/3, the last when Cibernetico and UG started hitting each other on purpose and then not on purpose. They brawled after the match, and decided on a singles match next week.
6) Volador Jr. b Negro Casas [hair]
Seconds were Mephisto and Flyer, with no other Casas getting involved. Volador took 2/3, with the usual quick two falls and a long third fall with a lot of near falls. Volador won with a reverse headscissors.
Show was pretty good, with only the opener really underperforming expectations. Apolo Valdes had the building as 80% full; it looked a less than that on video, but they were definitely above 12000.
Rush suggested strongly that Pierroth would be part of the Ingobernables, which sounds like a terrible idea. They are teaming up next week. Cibernetico/UG is the other big news from the show – that’s a match at least as big as the two hair matches they ran tonight, and maybe big enough to run an Anniversary show around.
Maximo talks about his defeat, and Volador talks about his win. I’m sure the Rush video is coming soon and he’ll be a great mood.
Sunday is the one year anniversary of the accident which took Hijo del Perro Aguayo’s life. The match was on the 20th, and he passed away in the early hours of the 21st. Perro Aguayo Sr. made his first public statements about his son’s death to Record; he’s been quiet and out of the public eye the whole time. There have been strong rumors he was suffering from the damage of his in-ring career and his family were protecting him from those issues being exposed. The interview points in that direction, and says the death of Perro Jr. has hurt Perro Sr. a lot. Perro’s only quoted a couple time, but the most striking: “I gave my life, my effort, and everything I had to lucha libre, and lucha libre took away what was most important to me, my son.”
AAA posted a video tribute to Perro as part of their TV show, mentioning a longer one would be coming on YouTube. I believe AAA & MasLucha posted information about a mass in his honor on Monday, but i can’t find the information about it.
Hijo del Santo writes about his memories of Perro Sr.
Lucha Underground Season 2 has aired less than one-third of their episodes, but Lucha Underground Season 3 taping gets underway this afternoon in Boyle Heights. These are episodes which will be taped until mid May, but El Rey has said will not air until 2017. It’s a little strange they’re in a hurry taping, though it would seem to save them money from having to tear down and set up the set. It also means we may have more information on a few of the strange situations around AAA. There’s three people who would just make news by wrestling or not wrestling
- Sexy Star. She may be telling people she’s retired from wrestling and going into boxing, but she was also wrestling an indie show in Tennessee with other AAA luchadors last weekend. My impression is AAA doesn’t want her part of this show and her wrestling in the tapings would mean either that’s changed, or AAA doesn’t have the power to block people who’ve quit their company. She’s quite likely a test case for others.
- King Cuerno. He’s who I (and smarter people than me) have suspected as being the unidentified AAA/LU who wants out of his deal according to WON. (In a a later answer to an audio question about the situation, Dave Meltzer said the unnamed person was trying claim a breach in their contract to leave – so the contract length would not be part of it and it could happen immediately.) Cuerno is strangely missing from the Rey de Reyes lineup and would probably have no problem getting a WWE deal – either a short term one as part of the Cruiserweight Tournament, or a long term one as part of NXT – if he was free from other commitments.
- Dr. Wagner Jr. He’s more likely to stick around with AAA in Mexico if he’s being used in LU – not just for the TV’s added payday, but the hope that exposure on this show will help him get booked even more in the US. Psycho Clown versus Dr. Wagner appears to be a big feud for AAA, but AAA needs a happy Wagner for that.
That’s beyond the normal bit of new people being added and others disappearing, though the relatively short distance between the two seasons might mean less turnover. (There were a handful of familiar and not familiar names who had a dark match or two near the end of season 2.) The first episode in the last two seasons has had a huge match, set up a big plot for the rest of the season, and generally been one of the hotter episodes of the season. Might be the same for season 3.
One person who won’t be at the Lucha Underground tapings, at least on Saturday, is Cage. He’s working a show in Texas instead. Many LU luchadors were booked for this show, but everyone but Cage was replaced. Interestingly, Elite’s Caristico was one of those added. Cage has another booking of note: he’s working the 03/30 ELITE Wednesday debut show against Rush. That’s the first Lucha Azteca taping. It appears Cage is part of the Liga Elite show and would be working regularly in Elite. It suggests Cage is done with AAA, and it also looks like LU is OK with their luchadors working an opposition promotion to AAA, which would suggest AAA has limited to no control of who works with LU. (That would mean Sexy Star is safe.)
There are other people associated with AAA who are whispered to be on that 03/30 Elite show. You know how I’ve kept mentioning how Wednesday might be crazy with Aztec Warfare and Rey de Reyes? I don’t know if we’re getting an Elite news conference on that day too, but it would fit and it might also have an effect on AAA.
In actual lucha libre shows and not political intrigue, ChilangaMask is Sunday! The added ACH/Lio Rush match adds a nice match to the card, and is the second foreigner match with Raymond Row versus Masada. You can see the full lineup here.
I’m on a very short time limit today; please forgive me if I’m neglecting something important
AAA’s TV episode is already up, the second half of the Toluca show.
LuchaWorld has a recap of this week’s Informa.
El Espectador has a pretty indepth piece on the history of lucha libre in Colombia.
Joe Lider says he’s going to win the tag team titles because he also wins the tag titles.
Adictos al Deportes looks back at the history of lucha libre and TV Azteca.
Black Terry Jr. has highlights of new lucha libre exhibit.
Lineups
CMLL (FRI) 03/25/2016 Arena México
1) Aéreo & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
2) Estrellita, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi vs Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany
3) Ángel de Oro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Hechicero, Luciferno, Pólvora
4) Carístico, Marco Corleone, Súper Porky vs La Máscara, Pierroth, Rush [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Cibernético vs Último Guerrero
6) Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
This is Cibernetico’s first singles match in CMLL. He’s been better in CMLL, but it feels like something they wouldn’t do without a reason.
Besides Ciber/UG, the two trios matches follow up on the hair matches. Maximo doesn’t wrestle, but his friend Marco and his father Porky do, while Caristico returns to Fridays to continue his pique with Caristico.
Hechicero returns again, maybe.
