Day: June 9, 2016

IWRG (WED) 06/08/2016 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Fireman & Omega ?? Demonio Infernal & Guerrero 2000
2) Aramis & Dragón Fly b Avisman & Hip Hop Man
Avisman replaced Adrenalina
3) Emperador Azteca b Imposible
Good match. Emperador Azteca wants another shot at Imposible’s title.
4) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo DQ Factor, Rayan, Spartan, Spector
Tortugas took 1/3, the last when Spartan got caught unmasking Leo (after he got away with it in the second fall.)
5) Apolo Estrada Jr., Canis Lupus, Eterno, Relámpago b Freelance, Hijo del Alebrije, Rafy, Zatura
Apolo, Canis and Eterno said they’d have a new partner, but came out without a fourth match. Freelance, subbing for Ultraman Jr., pointed that out. Eterno said they always have a surprise, and Relampago took off his jacket to reveal a Insoportable shirt. Rafy ran out to even the sides. Apolo beat Rafy after Rafy’s mask was ripped up in the match. The rudos kept attacking after the match and the rest of the Tortugas made the save, challenging the Insoportables.

Relampago was a rudo and actually Apolo & Eterno’s partners back in September when those two announced they were forming this group, but he hasn’t been around in six months so no one remembers that. Emperador previously got a title shot against Imposible in August of 2014, nine defenses ago.

Elite has it’s second Thursday show tonight. The two Liga Elite matches are Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero, a famous matchup happening one more time, and Negro Casas vs Cibernetico, a first time singles meeting of luchadors who started in the UWA promotion. Casas, Guerrero and Cibernetico are currently in the bottom four of the overall standings; they should probably win, just in case that means anything.

The semimain has Angel de Oro & Golden Magic getting a chance to team with Caristico against Diamante Azul, Rey Escorpion and – well, that last one isn’t clear. The poster lists Mr. Niebla, who appeared to no-show CMLL Informa last night. The preview sent to ESTO has Mephisto in that spot, which is a surprise given how he looked on Monday. Maybe it’ll change again before it takes place tonight. Mephisto’s injury, and the title match not happening, was not mentioned on last night’s Informa show.

Flamita makes his debut, teaming with Titan & Rocky Lobo against Argos, Tiger & Puma in what should be an excellent match, but in a spot that’s not normally aired. New luchador Bandido, who’s almost certainly a current indie luchador under a new name, teams with Fuego & Dinamic Black to take on Fresero, Eterno and Luzbel. (These shows moving to Thursday means Eterno can now work both the Wednesday IWRG show and the Elite shows, so he may show up more often.) The opener is a women’s tag, Marcela & Estrellita vs Keria & Lady Maravilla. Marcela seem to like working with Keira on indie shows and this might be the first of many appearances for her.

Keira & Lady Maravilla and Flamita talked about their debuts today.

As Roberto Figueroa first reported, AAA announced Verano de Escandalo is postponed. No makeup date or location was announced. AAA never put tickets on sale, never advertised a single match for the show, and probably had a good idea they were postponing the show for quite a while but didn’t want take away from the Lucha World Cup.

In it’s place, AAA announced three tapings new around Mexico City:

06/16 Naucalpan (Arena Naucalpan)
07/03 Ecatepec (Centro Civico)
07/08 Mexico City (Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera)

AAA ran the make up Guerra de Titanes show in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera, so that makes sense as the makeup Verano de Escandalo as well. It’d also mean AAA will run three ‘major’ shows in Mexico City in three months (LWC, Verano, TripleMania), though I’m not sure how major Verano is going to be.

And I still really don’t know what’s going to fill up Arena Ciudad de Mexico what what AAA has built up right now. Maybe thinking about a build up is the wrong idea: there was no build up to Rey Mysterio and Myzteziz until they announced it last year, and maybe some other match will similarly be pulled from nowhere. That strategy did seem to hurt the quality of the match a lot (and there’s definitely a case that Cage/Alberto was the bigger deal), but AAA drew well and that may be enough for them.

At any rate, running three shows in the general area just a couple months before TripleMania for them is way out character for them. Those are the safe venues: Naucalpan and Ecatepec are smaller venues easy to fill and Mexico City is their ‘home’ building, but it means they either needed buildings on short notice or are having problems selling tapings to other promoters.

The Naucalpan lineup should be out at any moment. It’s happening next week, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be promoting this show. You probably shouldn’t even be reading this sentence, I should’ve edited this whole section out and put it in the Naucalpan lineup post because the lineup is out. (I didn’t edit it out, uh oh.)

CMLL is now listing the 07/01 Gran Prix iPPV as $15 USD. That’s pricey for the Grand Prix, which hasn’t come off as important as they’ve tried to sell it. It is a fine price if they add Cavernario/Cometa, but not so much if they add Pierroth/La Mascara.

WWC announced Demus 3:16 will be working on their June 25th show. His opponent isn’t named, but I’d bet it’s the return of Mascarita Dorada (though it’s possible he’ll have a new name again.) Demus & Pierrothito worked as Dorada’s touring opponents before he went to WWE and would figure to resume that role.

Chris DeJoseph hinted it won’t be a long break between the end of Season 2 and the start of Season 3 of Lucha Underground. My guess had been they’d be off from Ultima Lucha 2 in July until next January, but perhaps not.

The Lucha Underground ratings are not usually very interesting to me, but it’ll be mildly interesting to see if there’s an obvious effect from an NXT Takeover event running against it. It’s the first time this season that’s happened – the previous Takeover was on a Friday – and there seems to be less discussion of LU than usual as a result. (It was a good episode if you missed it!)

Eric reviews last night’s Lucha Underground episode.

LigerFan has a recap of Pirata Morgan’s interview with Elisa in four parts: one two three four. He says he took was in the ring five days after he had the operation to remove his eye.

Mr. Aguila talks about his trios match on the debut Kamicazes del Aire show.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 06/12/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Dragón Fly & Omega vs Demonio Infernal & Vampiro Metálico
2) Sonic & Zatura vs Shao Lee & Violencia Jr.
3) Freelance, Relámpago, Súper Nova vs Argos, Golden Magic, Killer Jr.
4) Apolo Estrada Jr., Canis Lupus, Eterno vs Mr. Águila, Trauma I, Trauma II
5) Máscara Año 2000 Jr. © vs Mr. Electro [IWRG IC HEAVY]
2nd defense

More Mr. Electro. Relampago turned rudo last night, after this card was released. Sonic & Shao Lee are new names here.

CMLL (TUE) 06/14/2016 Arena México
1) Metatrón & Sensei vs Akuma & Camorra
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Magnus, Starman vs Canelo Casas, Espanto Jr., Nitro
3) Fuego, Pegasso, Stigma vs Fujin, Okumura, Raijin
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs Bobby Z, Euforia, Vangellys
5) Dragón Rojo Jr. © vs Guerrero Maya Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE]
14th defense. First TV defense since February 2015.
6) Máscara Dorada, Súper Porky, Titán vs Kráneo, Rey Escorpión, Ripper

Dragon Rojo very quietly broke the record for longest CMLL Middleweight title reign in February. I guess it could come to an end here – the length has been more about CMLL ignoring the title than Dragon Rojo getting a lot of big wins – but Maya having his own belt makes a change unlikely. Maybe this will get Dragon Rojo some momentum again.

Matches 3 & 4 could be good, making for a better Tuesday card than usual.

CMLL (TUE) 06/14/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Magnum & Neutrón vs Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno
2) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Skadi vs Amapola, La Comandante, Tiffany
3) Ángel de Oro, Esfinge, Tritón vs Furia Roja, Hechicero, Sagrado
4) Marco Corleone, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Máximo Sexy, Mistico vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Terrible

Furia Roja & Esfinge continue to be matched up.

Lucha Memes (SUN) 06/19/2016 Arena Naucalpan
Chairo 4
1) Aeroboy, Demasiado, Keira vs Brole, Mini Multifacético, Prayer
2) Black Terry & Dr. Cerebro vs Guerrero Maya Jr. & Virus
3) Alas de Acero, Aramis, Iron Kid vs Hombre Bala Jr., Soberano Jr., Star Jr.
4) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Hechicero & Último Guerrero
5) Alberto Dos Rios, Corsario Negro Jr., Drako vs Arez, Belial, Rey Cometa vs Fly Star, Titán (CMLL), Toxin
6) Caifan vs Mephisto © [CMLL WELTER]
first defense
7) Freelance vs Impulso [hair]

Full card for this show. With AAA taping on Thursday, that means a) IWRG probably isn’t running any shows next week and b) Arena Naucalpan will probably sell out two straight shows.

This sounds like a really good card, but you may not be able to see it unless you go to the building. Video recording, outside of +LuchaTV highlights, will not be permitted. It was inevitable someone would try to do that, but it’s disappointing for us who either would have to spend hundred of dollars (and a couple travel days) to see it, or not see it at all. (Though, it’s not really for us, it’s for the people who are a metro ride and bus ride away. Still, it’s too bad a middle ground can’t easily be found.)

MDA (SUN) 06/19/2016 Arena Coliseo Monterrey
1) Extreme Boy & Última Sombra vs Gato Fantasma & Gemelo Muerte
2) Galactar & Quinto Elemento vs Gallardo & Tekilita
3) Epydemius, Ninja Jr., Obsesión, Último Ninja vs Golden Magic, Lince, Metaleón, Tormento
4) Dragón Lee (CMLL) & Laredo Kid vs Flamita & Mr. Elektro
5) Hijo De Octagon & Octagón vs Fuerza Guerrera & Juventud Guerrera
6) Dos Caras Sr. & Mil Máscaras vs Canek & Sangre Chicana Jr.

Main event ages are 65, 73, 64, and 64. Canek actually turns 64 on the day of the show, so he’s the youngest guy on the card. He also looked terrible at the Lucha World Cup.

Hijo de Octagon is working semimains, and there’s no chance he would’ve been brought to Monterrey for this card before, which is why you take that gimmick. This turn of events is great news for Octagon himself, since now he’s got a tag partner who can do most of the work who won’t over shadow him (and Octagon probably gets most of the pay.)

Dragon Lee’s obviously not working the semimain. Mr. Elektro is a weird fit there, but he seems to be booked in workrate indie matches. Facebook commenters seem to think he’s a great wrestler, and I’ve seen that sentiment elsewhere too. I don’t get it – at least it’s never come across on TV like Electroshock was having great matches – but there seems to be that belief out there.

The third match looks really good and is a continuation of the story they’re telling on these shows, but is unlikely to air unless they skip over one of the top matches.