Month: June 2016

CMLL (FRI) 06/03/2016 Arena México
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Fujin, Okumura, Raijin b Fuego, Pegasso, Tritón
Rudos took 2/3. Triton was stretchered out after taking a German suplex from Okumura.
3) Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis b Estrellita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit
4) Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr., Titán b Cavernario, Felino, Mr. Niebla
Tecnicos tok 1/3. Cometa & Cavernario feuded, fought after the match, and signed for a title match next week.
5) La Máscara b Pierroth
straight falls. Pierroth was DQed for unmasking Mascara, Mascara unmasked Pierroth and cradled him for the win. Mask match challenges followed, but nothing was made official.
6) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Valiente b Negro Casas, Shocker, Último Guerrero

I didn’t watch this show yet, but the fourth match sounds like it’s worth checking out.

The 07/01 show was officially announced as an iPPV. They’d been hyping it like one for the last couple weeks. No price is up on cleeng yet. They’re hinting Pierroth/La Mascara or even Cavernario/Cometa in a hair match could happen on that show, but nothing has made official.

Triton’s injury was taken seriously (and it’s not one of the moves they normally use a stretcher for), but there’s no particular mention of it in the recap. He’s next known to work on Monday.

MARTINEZ (FRI) 06/03/2016 8105 Campo Bowie West Blvd, Benbrook, Texas [+LuchaTV, CMLL]
1) Peligroso ?? Súper Brazo 2000
2) El Pulgas b Mini Laredo Kid
3) Violento Jack b Arez
money thrown in
4) Ronnie Mendoza b Último Ninja
Good match. Arez attacked Ultimo Ninja after the match to set up their own 1v1.
5) Low Rider & Mystique b Chik Tormenta & Silver Tiger
sets up a Low Rider/Silver Tiger mask vs hair and Mystique vs Chik Tormenta hair vs hair (between masked luchadoras) on July 15th.
6) Laredo Kid b Flamita, Aerostar, Séptimo Dragón
Laredo beat Aerostar. Aerostar took a strong blow to the eye from Laredo Kid, but was back on Twitter afterwards. Good match, money thrown in.

This show sounds like it was pretty good. There’s a very short clip of Aerostar’s dive in the main event here. The group is in Houston today, with Aerostar & Laredo vs Flamita & Ultimo Ninja.

No big catchup news from last night’s World Cup. Mathews noted he didn’t even have a headset; they didn’t have producer or director for the English team either, so I guess that’s not a surprise. (That seems to be the same thing they’ve done before, and what NJPW’s done on their shows.)

AAA’s recap lists the winner of the main event as “Aztec Dragon”, so that’s apparently the name we’re supposed to know Rey Horuz by. That’s even though the on-screen graphics had him listed as “Dragon Azteca” and he did interviews on Thursday as “Dragon Azteca” and a day later he’s still being listed as Dragon Azteca on their Twitter. I would assume 99% of the people who bought that iPPV watch Lucha Underground or are at least aware of his name is supposed to be Dragon Azteca. You look minor league when you don’t spend just 15 seconds explaining why you’re not calling the guy by his normal name, and they’re investing a lot of this in to looking major league. This one of those things that I feel is symbolic of greater issues with how AAA does things (see Pentagon Jr. saying they were doing 1 fall no time limit matches in an interview on Wednesday) but is really still kind of a minor issue.

They’re all off today, with the next show tomorrow afternoon in Mexico City.

Tonight’s Coliseo show has La Mascara, Euforia, and Niebla Roja vs Atlantis, Diamante Azul and Angel de Oro. The previews is over the top in hyping the matches.

Stuka Jr. says Ultimo Guerrero was working with a knee injury in their title match.

Segunda Caida reviews Hechicero vs Virus.

Aeroboy talks about his mask versus hair match with Black Terry next weekend.

Lineup

CMLL (FRI) 06/10/2016 Arena México
1) Robin & Star Jr. vs Akuma & Metálico
2) Pegasso, Soberano Jr., Stigma vs Disturbio, Skándalo, Virus
3) La Vaquerita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, Tiffany, Zeuxis
4) Kráneo, Pierroth, Rey Escorpión vs La Máscara, Shocker, Terrible
5) Cavernario © vs Rey Cometa [MEX WELTER]
3rd defense
6) Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Cavernario/Cometa should be really great. Sky Team versus Guerreros in the main event, with Pierroth/La Mascara dumped to the fourth match.

LG Lucha Memes (SUN) 07/10/2016 Arena Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz
1) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
2) Marcela vs Keira
3) Máximo vs Demasiado
4) Alas de Acero, Aramis (Estado de México), Iron Kid (Estado de México) vs Diamante Rojo Jr., Ojo De Halcón Jr., Silencio Jr.
5) Black Terry vs Poseidón
6) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Totem I & Totem II

full card for Lucha Memes people being brought to Veracruz.

ELITE (THU) 06/02/2016 Arena México [+LuchaTV, CMLL,SuperLuchas]
1) Ciclón Ramírez Jr. & Robin (CMLL) b Luzbel & Tanque Infernal
2) El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Karonte Jr. bBandido, Hombre Bala Jr., Jinzo
The mystery luchador was the debuting Bandido.
3) Argos, Magnus, Rey Escorpión b Ángel de Oro, Golden Magic, Último Ninja
Golden Magic was stretchered out after taking Rey Escorpion’s package piledriver.
4) Bobby Lashley b Xtreme Tiger [Liga Elite]
Easy win for Bobby. Lashley is now 2-1, Tiger is 1-3.
5) Fuerza Guerrera & Último Guerrero b Atlantis & Octagón
Rudos took 1/3 clean. Hijo del Octagon accompanied his father to the ring, and the rudos went after his mask. Hijo del Octagon said he’s going to continue with this name even though Octagon Jr. is not around by that name any more.
6) Carístico b Máscara Dorada [Liga Elite]
Caristico is 3-1, Dorada is 2-2. Money thrown in.

Liga Elite standings!
9 Caristico (4 matches)
6 Atlantis (3)
6 Volador Jr. (3)
6 Bobby Lashley (3)
6 Mascara Dorada (4)
4 LA Park (2)
3 Rush (2)
3 Xtreme Tiger (3)
3 Ultimo Guerrero (3)
1 Cibernetico (3)
0 Negro Casas (1)
0 La Mascara (2)

The playoff chances are updated; Dorada & Tiger are doing worse than the points suggest, since they’ve had far less matches than everyone else.

Elite has promoted both Liga Elite matches as airing today, so they’re going back to running once a week. Hopefully the second Thursday goes better than the first, because the photos the official account was taking of their show looked dire last night. (It looked a little bit better on other angles, but not great.) Changing days again was going to be a hard adjustment, but they also didn’t do a great job of promoting the change.

Bandido looks like he’s an indie luchador, but it’s unclear which one.

Tonight’s the Lucha World Cup first round in Puebla. The show is listed as starting at 8:30pm. As of the time I’m writing this, we still do not know any first round matchups. Those were decided on the morning of the show last year and I held off posting hoping they’d turn up again, but no luck so far. I’m sure matchups would help sell a tournament better, but this is not something either AAA or CMLL seems to believe.

You can still buy the iPPV. It’s now $25. (The old price was a mistake.) The show will be on VOD for at least 10 days if you buy it. Josh Mathews and Hugo Savinovich will be the English announcers, though I’m not sure they’ve made that clear. AAA’s really not replaced Court Bauer with anyone who can spend a lot of time promoting these shows in English, and it’s shown in the hype for this show – I think the English language promotion has basically been a few social media posts on Lucha Underground and TNA accounts. You’re reading a lot of it if you’re following the people into it (and the Japanese Twitter seems pretty active), but the anticipation for this year’s tournament seems a lot less than last year’s.

That could just be an internet bubble thing, but it doesn’t look super promising in Mexico either. There seems to be a lot of ticket giveaways for the Lucha World Cup . There were a lot last year too, but I’m concerned how this is going to do with the bigger field, running in Puebla, not not having draw of Rey, Myzteziz and Alberto teaming for the first time. It’s tough to tell how many tickets have been sold on the Superboletos site; the front rows seem mostly filled, but the cheap tickets are all without seat locations. Expanding to a second place, at a venue they don’t normally run, was always going to be a challenge. The Lucha World Cup is being mentioned a lot on TV, but AAA hasn’t hit it nearly as hard as I would’ve thought.

Probably the biggest help the Lucha World Cup can get is in mainstream media coverage, and it’s tough to have a good feel of that while I’m outside of Mexico; there seemed to be a lot of press there, but not a lot of it’s surfaced in places I’ve been looking. At the press day, Dragon Azteca Jr. acknowledged the Mexican fans probably know him better as Rey Horuz. Johnny Mundo said the Mexican and Japanese teams are the best opponents in the world, but his Lucha Underground team is a little bit better. Team TNA was amusing, with Eli talking about the respect he had for lucha libre while Tyrus suggested Dr. Wagner Jr. may actually be a gringo hiding his identity under a mask. Here’s a Dario Cueto interview I’m linking just because Dario Cueto is wearing a hat.

CMLL has it’s usual Friday night show tonight. The big match is La Mascara versus Pierroth, which has the potential to be anywhere from OK to one of the worst matches of the year. It’s a little bit suspicious CMLL would do the singles match if they’re planning on coming back with it soon in a mask versus mask match.

That’s technically the semimain. The actual main event is Atlantis, Marco, Valiente versus Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero and Shocker (who may be involved in that singles match.) Rey Cometa and Cavernario continue feuding in the tercera; Cometa teams with Stuka & Titan against Niebla & Felino.  The best match of the night might be the second match, with Triton, Fuego & Pegasso versus Okumura, Fujin and Raijin. There’s also mini and women’s matches on the show.

CMLL’s show starts at it’s normal Friday night time of 8:30pm and should stream on Clarosports.

Kamicazes del Ring is running a debut show on 06/11 in Coacalco

1: Caifan vs Trauma II vs Herodes Jr.
2: Alas de Acero, Iron Kid, Aramis vs Mike Suicida, Rey Cometa, Freelance
3: Corsario Negro, Drako vs Metaleon, Emperador Azteca
4: Keira vs Skadi

(The success of Chilanga Mask/Lucha Memes has led to a lot more super-indies, which is good for fans but might flood the market.)

Flamita versus Aeroboy is happening on San Diego on June 25.

The lineup for lucha libre shows in London on 07/01 & 07/02 includes Silver King, Zumbi, Juvi, Magnifico II, Magno, Lady Apache, and Chik Tormenta. The poster lists both “Santo Jr.” and “Tempestad”, who should be the same person.

Masked Republic/Viva La Lucha is running a show in San Diego on 08/13, with Rey Mysterio, Johnny Mundo, Nicho, TJP, Teddy Hart and others.

Arena Xalapa shows are moving to a 6pm start time, so everyone can get leave at 9 and avoid the violence.

Lineups

RIOT (SAT) 06/11/2016 Arena Femenil, Monterrey, Nuevo León
1) Kamikaze & Kratoz vs Dulce Kanela & Larry Miranda
2) Belial vs Drastik Boy
3) Violento Jack vs Byron, Tony Rodríguez
4) Sammy Guevera vs Dralion
5) Arez vs Ronnie Mendoza
6) Erick Ortiz vs Rico Rodríguez

Full card for the Empalme Strikes Back.

AAA TDL (SAT) 06/18/2016 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Osiris, Pumita, Rey Destella vs Deirus, Pequeño Magon, X-Boy
2) Ludxor & Venum vs Dark Scoria & Estrella Divina
3) Fireman, Kalibus, Shadow Boy vs Delirio, Kaiser Dragón, Lintera Venegas
4) Australian Suicie & Pimpinela Escarlata vs Ricky Marvin & Taurus
5) Eterno & Fresero Jr. vs Halcón 2000 & Sky Ángel and Hunter Dragón & Karma and Crazy Romance & Dark Killer
6) Aerostar & Fénix vs Pentagón Jr. & Texano Jr.

Saturday night is a different night here, but the Thursday night show they tried seemed OK. Werd the AAA guys are working second match.

CMLL (TUE) 05/31/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Martes de Glamour]
1) Mágico & Magnum b Kempo Dragón & Príncipe Kisho
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Oro Jr., Robin, Vaquero Jr. b Akuma, Espanto Jr., Joker
Tencicos took 2/3.
3) Eléctrico, Fantasy, Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Universo 2000, Pierrothito
Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Ángel de Oro, Esfinge, Valiente b Cavernario, Furia Roja, Sagrado
Tecnicos took 2/3, Angel de Oro beating Cavernario.
5) La Máscara, Shocker, Terrible b Máscara Dorada, Rush, Titán
Rudos took 1/3, Mascara sneaking in a foul on Rush.

The easy guess is Furia Roja is booked higher to feud with Esfinge – they’re booked against each other next week too – but it doesn’t appear they’re feuding so far. They don’t seem to be working especially against each other in the pictures.

IWRG (WED) 06/01/2016 Arena Naucalpan [The Gladiatores]
1) Orión b Atomic Star
New Orion? Old Orion? No idea.
2) Ángel Guerrera & Aramis b Adrenalina & Lilith Dark
Debuts of luchadoras Angel Guerrera & Lilith Dark.
3) Anubis, Imposible, Peligro b Dragón Fly, Emperador Azteca, Hijo del Alebrije
New Anubis and Peligro’s? They have Fuerza Guerrera looking masks and are going by Los Bravos.
4) Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro b Freelance, Hijo de Máscara Sagrada, Zatura
5) Apolo Estrada, Canis Lupus, Demon Clown, Eterno b Factor, Rayan, Spartan, Spector
Demon Clown is the surprise new Insoportable. Straight falls.

Elite returns to action tonight in Arena Mexico. The two Liga Elite matches are as different as can be: Carstico versus Mascara Dorada is a battle of equally matched flyers, while Xtreme Tiger versus Bobby Lashley are two very different guys, something they’re billing along the lines of David versus Goliath. The middle tag match is another reunion of Atlantis & Octagon vs Fuerza Guerrera & Ultimo Guerrero. Octagon’s first return to Arena Mexico and team up with Atlantis seemed to be a big deal one year ago, but they’ve done quite a few times now. (It will be the first time they’ve done it on TV though.)

Angel de Oro, Golden Magic, and a new tecnico Ultimo Ninja take on Argos, Magnus and Rey Escorpion in the really good tercera which might only air in highlights. The expectation is the matches will still air this Friday night, but we won’t know for sure until it the advertising. We also don’t know if they’re going back weekly, now that I think about it.

Octagon and Hijo del Octagon were doing interviews promoting the show, which seems to confirm Hijo del Octagon is the mystery guy in the segunda tonight (teaming with Hombre Bala Jr. and Jinzo against a trio of evil doctors.) I’d think they’d promote that if they believed it was a big deal, but maybe they’re keeping it quiet as to avoid negative attention. The latest story is Hijo del Octagon retired from his criminology career because Octagon convinced him wrestling in Arena Mexico is more important. Octagon says the biggest advice he’d give to his son is to have humility and he hopes they can team together next week.

Today’s Media Day for the international people who are part of the Lucha World Cup. I haven’t seen photos of Rey yet, but pretty much everyone else. There will probably be a lot of interviews coming out before tomorrow’s show. MedioTiempo posted a Taya interview from last week, who’s proud to be representing her company.

I did a preview of the Lucha World Cup over for Voices of Wrestling. There’s a lot in there. Since I wrote that, it seems like AAA’s changed a few things. A very nice looking belt with all the participating logos on. They’re saying the winner gets the belt,  which doesn’t quite make sense if there are men’s and women’s winning trios – maybe it goes to the person who is declared best luchador? Also, Pentagon Jr., in an interview with Televsia, said the matches are one fall with no time limit this year, instead of the overtime bit from last year.

El Economista, which seems to be frequently covering the business of AAA, says the Lucha World Cup drew 16K last year, and hopes to draw 25K between both shows. (The WON mentioned tickets for Friday night show in Puebla are going slow.) If they hit 25K, it’d be around a 18.2 million MXP gate (close to $1 million USD, a target number for AAA since CMLL beat them to that.)

There’s some talk about plans for 2017. Victoria continues to be interested in taking it to Japan, while Dorian Roldan says he’d prefer to US. (Mexico is fall back if neither works out.) My hunch is they’d be able to better make sponsorship deals in the US, but AAA and the other promotions involved have such low visibility that they’d need to do an amazing marketing campaign to draw even close to the same fans they’d get in Mexico. Japan fans seem more likely to give the shows a shot. Wherever they end up, the local country will end up with more teams (presumably the Mexico Legend team gets replaced by another home team.)

AAA’s big plan for the future is South America, starting with a return to Colombia in 2017. They say they’re about 40% along.

Apolo Valdes gives his thoughts on the Lucha World Cup lineup. It’s pointed out there – and it’s something Mary Apache emphasized in her interview – that the general fan’s belief is the Japanese women are always true fighters and the Canadian and Americans are just beautiful people who aren’t skilled.

SuperLuchas says Volador & Rush were recommended to WWE by Sombra as possible signings and WWE has interest in them. That’s not a surprise: it’s Sombra’s greatest rival and his greatest teammate who are both big stars in the prime of their career at a time where WWE is aggressively looking at bringing people in. It’d be a bigger news story if WWE was NOT looking at those guys (and probably others), but this lends some credibility to the story, and MLW mentions WWE had a talent scout in Mexico recently.

The SuperLuchas theorizes Volador could lose his hair to Rush at the Anniversary show and head off to WWE from there. That’s still possible, but it seems CMLL’s moved far away from that match in the last five months. Rush vs La Mascara seems an unlikely write off for Rush too; maybe only be concerned if Atlantis starts feuding with someone.

The interesting part of the article, to me, was Sombra and Volador were considered for the Matadors gimmick at one point. It’s unclear how close it got, though it would explain why two Puerto Ricians were doing a Mexican matador gimmick. That was a long time ago and Sombra seems set up better for his debut.

LA Park will replace Volador Jr. on June 19th in Merida. That’s the same day as NJPW’s next PPV, where Volador would appear if he won the BOSJ (still possible!) but he’s still listed on North American other shows before that date. Those would have to start changing too.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says Ring of Honor is trying to bring in “a major CMLL star” for their 07/16 show in Philadelphia.

Expo Mascaras is going to Zapopan for two shows on June 18 & June 19th, including an AAA spot show on that Saturday.

 

LG Promotions/Lucha Memes in Arena Xalapa on 07/10
1: Black Terry vs Poseidon
2: Marcela vs Keira
3: Maximo vs Demasiado
4: 10 person locals match with mystery people

Eric and Voices of Wrestling have reviews of last night’s Lucha Underground.

Barbaro Cavernario talks about his match with Black Terry on the next CaraLucha show.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and the latest top 10 rankings.

Flamita promo for his appearance in Cleveland’s AIW on June 17th.

Short video interview with Hechicero.

Lineup

IWRG (SUN) 06/05/2016 Arena Naucalpan
Festival de Mascaras, 2016
1) Dragón Fly & Geo vs Atomic Star & Enigma
2) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs ?, Diablo Jr., Imposible, Panterita
3) Mega, Omega, Súper Mega vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
4) Danny Casas, Hijo del Alebrije, Veneno vs Golden Magic, Negro Navarro, Trauma II
5) Trauma I vs Danny Casas, Mr. Águila, Canis Lupus [cage, semifinal]
6) Máscara Año 2000 Jr. vs Mr. Electro, Hijo De Dos Caras, Toscano [cage, semifinal]
7) ? vs ?? [cage, mask, hair, ? CHAMP]

The annual Festival of Mascaras show is usually filled with old wrestlers who come back wearing their masks for one time. (In that vein, Ultraman will appear but not is not listed as wrestling.) There’s some of that on the undercard with the 2nd/3rd matches, but the main bit is all the heavyweights who’ve been feuded in separate cage match. It’s loser loses hair, mask or title, which usually means someone’s (Mascara 2000 Jr.) is losing their title.

No idea why Danny Casas is listed twice. Maybe Demon Clown is in the cage after all.