UG/Stuka & Panther/Skandalo in Mexico, LU preview, LWC

CMLL (TUE) 05/17/2016 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Demus 3:16 & Mercurio b Aéreo & Último Dragóncito
13:32. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Canelo Casas, Metálico b Flyer, Metatrón, Robin
15:51. Rudos took 1/3. Metatron replaced Star Jr.
3) Soberano Jr. b Sangre Azteca [lightning]
8:23. Soberano won via small pacakge.
4) Blue Panther Jr., Oro Jr., The Panther DQ El Cuatrero, Sansón, Skándalo
11:31. Straight falls, with Skandalo feuding with Panther and unmasking him in the second fall.
5) Bobby Z, Mephisto, Vangellys b Blue Panther, Dragón Lee, Guerrero Maya Jr.
14:39. Rudos took 1/3.
6) Máscara Dorada, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero
11:17. Tecnicos took 2/3. Ultimo Guerrero bullied Stuka, Stuka beat him in the end.

This show died in the first hour and never really recovered. Skandalo losing his mask to The Panther as a retirement makes some sense on paper, but I’m not sure I’d like to see that two month feud. There wasn’t much of an indication they’re going that way, CMLL just has no real reason to do a Skandalo feud except for him to lose his mask right now.

Ultimo Guerrero has a championship and Stuka makes as much sense as a challenger as anyone, but there were no challengers. Like Monday night in Puebla, the main eventers just got out of there as quick as possible without saying anything.

There is no ELITE show today. They’ve moved to Saturday, at least for the moment. Today, Press Conference Wednesday, would make sense for an ELITE press conference to explain what’s going on, but there’s no sign of one happening.

Today’s Lucha Underground episode is “Crime and Punishment”, the 17th of the season. Matches on the show

• Daga vs Kobra Moon vs Mascarita Sagrada vs Argenis
• Marty the Moth vs Killshot (teased by this extra promo)
• A Gift of the Gods match

There’s a preview vignette that starts to address the Cage/Chavo issue over who has a Medallion.

Over at Roster Resource, they list all the Lucha Underground luchadors sorted by tiers of importance. There’s no one they rank in tier one in a match tonight. There’s only a couple people in tier two. This show features the a lot of the bottom half of the roster by any measure, with people who’ve only lost feuds or haven’t been put in them. It doesn’t mean the show will be bad – people given opportunities usually do pretty well on Lucha Underground – but it’s interesting to see if the ratings reflect the lack of star power or if the week to week variance is shown to be more random noise than actionable information.

Eric has a preview of the show.

Rey Mysterio & Johnny Mundo were at the Univision upfront yesterday, taking photos with invitees. Univision owns 5% of El Rey and they appeared to be the (sole) representatives from the channel, but there was no news about the channel. Univision itself announced a deal with Netflix, but maybe not the one you’d expect: the TV network will be airing Netflix’s originals Club de Cuernos (soccer drama) and Narcos (drug drama) after they’ve aired on Netflix. Mysterio’s been doing press for Lucha Underground all week: this twitlonger post has links to his interviews with ESPN & SI.

AAA announced the third women’s team for the Lucha World Cup: a Team Canada, with Taya, KC Spinelli and TNA’s Allie. “TNA’s Allie” actually appeared with that name for the first time a few minutes after she was announced on the team; she debuted with the new name on last night’s TNA show, and is better know on the indies as Cherry Bomb. (She’s married to “TNA’s Braxton Sutter”, also better known as Pepper Parks, and it’s possible he’ll end up on one of the men’s teams.) Spinelli, like Taya, is a Lance Storm trainee who appeared on the World of Hurt reality show and has wrestled in Canada and in the US for women’s promotions.

Seven of the twelve teams are now complete. It seems like the LWC strategy is to announce a new name or trio every evening to keep people talking about it. Tonight would be a good night for the US people from Lucha Underground or Rey Mysterio’s team.

There’s also an AAA interview with Fabi Apache talking about wanting new challenges and the tag titles being that challenge.

TNA announced Tigre Uno/Extreme Tiger has signed a new contract. There’s no details. There’ are reports TNA is trying to sign their wrestlers to exclusive contracts, which might mean he’d be prevented from working ELITE or elsewhere in Mexico. It wouldn’t be in Tiger’s interest to sign a deal like that – he’s working a lot more in Mexico than he is in TNA due to their limited schedule – so there must be something else going on.

Psicosis II/Ripper took Infector’s mask in a cage match in Estado de Mexico on Sunday.

Caristico, Negro Casas and (a) Hijo del Rey Misterio defeated Rush, Mr. Elektro, and Fuerza Guerrera in Monterrey by DQ, when Rush unmasked Caristico. The DF trio of Flamita, Metaleon, and Golden Magic beat the northern trio of Laredo Kid, Ultimo Ninja and Ninja Jr., and the two teams fought post match suggesting a rematch. The Arena Coliseo Monterrey matches are airing on about a two week delay, so those matches may air the weekend of May 28th, but it’s always subject to change with Monterrey.

LuchaWorld has an interview with Oriental.

Apolo Valdes writes about intergender wrestling.

Llaves and Candados say they’re back on 06/26 in Monterrey. They’re teasing Rush versus Konnan Big, without using either name.

Casandra talks about her title defense this weekend.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 05/22/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Astro & Rocket vs Galaxy & Hip Hop Man
2) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs Diablo Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Emperador Azteca, Hijo del Alebrije
3) Dinamic Black vs Cerebro Negro
4) Imposible © vs Freelance [IWRG IC Light]
Imposible 13th defense
5) Danny Casas, Hijo De Dos Caras, Ultramán Jr. vs Electroshock, Fuerza Guerrera, Toscano

Electroshock is listed under his AAA name, which is probably a mistake. Ultraman and Fuerza haven’t been here for a while. Imposible has been here for a while, and is giving Freelance a second chance in a row. Tercera is a prelude to a title match if Dinamic Black can win.