Month: August 2016

CMLL (FRI) 08/19/2016 Arena México [CMLL, CultIcon, thecubsfan]
1) Flyer & Star Jr. b Canelo Casas & Espíritu Negro
15:40: Tecnicos took 2/3
2) Esfinge, Hombre Bala Jr., Pegasso b Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
14:38. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Zeuxis b Estrellita [lightning]
6:43. Zeuxis submitted Estrellita to a caballete
4) Bobby Z, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys b Kráneo, Ripper, Súper Crazy
12:41. Bucanero’s team took 1/3, reversing a cradle on Super Crazy. They both said they’d win their hair match afterwards.
5) Pierroth, Rey Escorpión, Rush b Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy [Relevos Increíbles]
10:04. Ingobernables took 1/3.
6) Ephesto, La Máscara, Mephisto b Dragón Lee, Mistico, Valiente
8:51. Rudos took 1/2, the last when La Mascara pulled Dragon Lee’s mask and rolled him up.

CMLL’s on cruise control to the 09/02 show, doing the start of build up finishes you’d expect. It’s more notable what they didn’t try to do; there’s no sign of a significant 09/16 match on the horizon. They might not want to distract from the first show, but it’s looking more like the second show will have a tournament or other trophy competition than a second apuesta match of note.

The rest of this weekend is full of shows of note. I feel like I may have written too much about shows of which we may never see, but I might as well do it one more time.

• CaraLucha returns tonight to Arena San Juan, with a main event of Flamita vs Xtreme Tiger. Centvrion & Fly Warrior face Dragon Lee & el Bandido in the semimain, and usual partners Rayo Star & Sky Man have a match for the Mucha Luchas Suprem championship.
• CMLL’s weekly Saturday show has Mistico, Blue Panther and Stuka Jr. against Mr. Niebla, Ephesto and Rey Bucanero in the main event.
• NJPW’s Super J show takes place late tonight/early tomorrow morning Central Time, with a Caristico, Volador and Titan versus Gran Guerrero, Euforia and Ultimo Guerrero main event.
• Lucha Memes debuts in Mexico City on Sunday, with Dragon Lee versus Freelance, Rey Cometa versus Suicida and Virus vs Alberto Rios
• ChilangaMask has an odd collection of matches, including Terrible versus Juventud Guerrera, Xtreme Tiger vs Laredo Kid vs Jason Kincaid, and Ares (Aken) & Impulso vs Dave Crist & Jason Gory.
• MDA in Monterrey holds their second of two anniversary shows with oddly designed main events: Atlantis, Dos Caras and LA Park take on Ciafan, Canek & Rush, as well as father son team Mistico & Pierroth versus La Mascara & Silver King.

Argos, Dr. Karonte Jr. and Caristico beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero and Ultimo Guerrero in Cuernavaca by DQ. Looks like a full house. The DQ set up Euforia/Gran Guerrero vs Argos/Karonte on the next show.

RIOT announced a 09/10 show, Riotmon, in the usual location of Arena LLF in Monterrey.
1: Mascara Dorada vs Ultimo Ninja
2: Los Delicuentes (Galactor & Furor) vs Larry Miranda & Dulce Kanela

DTU has a 09/11 show in Poza Rica, Veracruz.

Celebrity Apprentice premiers on NBC in January. That’s the other show Lucha Underground executive producer Eric Van Wagenen appears on, and Melissa Santos was said to have a role on the show. All the episodes  (except the finale) were said to have been taped in between Lucha Underground seasons 2 and 3, so it wouldn’t seem to affect any Season 4 schedule.

Cult Icon compares LA Park and La Parka.

Lineup

CMLL (FRI) 08/26/2016 Arena México
1) Sensei & Starman vs Disturbio & Sangre Azteca
2) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, The Panther vs Fujin, Okumura, Raijin
3) Soberano Jr. vs Hechicero [lightning]
4) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero vs Golden Magic, Sharlie Rockstar, Súper Crazy
5) Pierroth, Rey Escorpión, Rush vs Máximo Sexy, Shocker, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico vs La Máscara, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

A dream team of tecnicos against strong rudos (should Casas be there) and La Mascara in the main event. Los Ingobernables team up for the second straight week in the fifth match. Maybe they can do a battle to decide who owns the name on 09/16. The Elite guys make a return in the third match, and Soberano versus Hechicero is a good lightning match for both guys. Second match is the 10th Panthers/NJPW match already.

Mucha Lucha Toluca (SUN) 08/28/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Príncipe Pantera Jr. vs Duck Black Jr.
2) Diva Virtual & Sexy Violeta vs Ice Ángel & Pink
3) Alas de Acero & Iron Kid vs Boomerang & Fuego Jr.
4) Astro, Rey Piscis, Súper Caló Jr. vs Resplandor, Resplandor Jr., Scorpió 2.0
5) Hijo De Octagon, Hurcan Ramírez Jr., Máscara Sagrada Jr. vs Histeria, Monsther, Scorpió Jr.

Not on IWRG’s site, but is on the promotion’s website and makes a little sense – IWRG’s probably thrilled to rent out the arena rather than put on a show against TripleMania. This is a Toluca promotion and a government sponsored free show.

Tonight kicks off a busy weekend in lucha libre, and a stretch of big shows over the next fifteen days. Tonight, AAA tapes tehri final TV show prior to TripleMania, and CMLL has it’s second to last Friday night show before it’s Anniversary show. The three most well known super-indie promotions, Cara Lucha, ChilangaMask and Lucha Memes, are all running shows this weekend. Elite returns to running this Sunday, though many people who might work that show are instead working the previous scheduled MDA anniversary show in Monterrey. IWRG also has a show.

It starts tonight in Arena Mexico, where CMLL is two shows away from their Anniversary show. La Mascara and Dragon Lee continue to face off in trios matches leading to their mask versus mask matches. Dragon Lee teams with his brother Mistico and Valiente, while La Mascara partners with Mephisto and Ephesto. Dragon Lee won the last one, and has been on the winning side the last couple weeks.

The other 09/02 feud continues in the fourth match, where Rey Bucanero teams with Bobby Z & Vangellys against Super Crazy and Invasors Kraneo & Ripper in a rudos versus rudos match. Crazy was portrayed as a tecnico up until last week. Maybe we’re heading to a Dragon Lee & Rey Bucanero versus Super Crazy & La Mascara match next week.

CMLL also has another major show in four weeks, and we have no idea what’s happening there. Perhaps something will come out of the semimain, where the dormant Rush versus Maximo & Marco Corleone feud is revived. Rush teams with his fellow Ingobernables (?) Pierroth & Rey escorpion, while Atlantis is the third tecnico. Rush previously took Maximo’s hair in March and it’d be way too soon to go back for that again, but I guess Rush versus Marco or Marco versus Pierroth are possibilities. I don’t really know.

Three other matches round out the card. Estrellita and Zeuxis meet in a lightning match; they’ll be on opposite sides of the women’s opener on 09/02. Los Canceberos take on Pegasso, Hombre Bala Jr. and Esfinge, who’s been absent from Arena Mexico for the last month but wrestling often around Jalisco. Flyer & Star Jr. take on Canelo Casas & Espiritu Negro in the opener.

Cult Icon also previews the show. It’ll air at 8:30pm on CMLL’s YouTube channel. It’ll also air live on NJPW World, but will only be available if your IP address registers you as living in Japan. (There’s no reason to get around it this week, but it becomes slightly useful next week – Claro doesn’t keep the show for VOD – and very useful the week after that if they do it.)

AAA tapes tonight to Auditorio Benito Juarez in Veracruz. That’s the location of their first show, 24 years ago. Tonight, it’s the site of their last show before TripleMania. The main event sets up the last angle for the show, where the winner of a Psycho Circus/Los Fronterizos cage match will get to decide the referee for the Psycho Clown versus Pagano mask versus hair match. Psycho Clown has lost literally every single match in this feud and tonight does not figure to by any different. Hijo del Tirantes is the likely referee pick.

There are two other matches with light implications on TripleMania. Texano Jr. and Pentagon Jr., who were opponents on this week’s AAA TV show, will team this week against Team Trump members Mesias & Hernandez. Texano faces another Trump supporter, Cage, as part of his title match next Sunday. Fenix & Fantasma and Aerostar & Drago are both in the four way tag title match on the big show, and face off in a three way with Daga & Joe Lider. (Jack Evans, who will also be in that TripleMania match, is tonight in Chicago for AAW.)

The undercard is three filler matches trios matches, with a lot of people who didn’t make the TripleMania card. I’d think they were set to be cut out of TV and be put on the internet only, except they’d run out of TV later on. Argenis, Suicide & Bengala taking on the utility rudo crew of Pirata, Super Fly and Dave the Clown. Taya, Lady Shani and El Apache versus Big Mami, Mary Apache and Nino Hamburguesa, which might play on Apache being a referee for Mary’s match. The opener is listed as Gotita de Plata, Lanzeloth, and Venum versus Soul Rocker, Mocho Cota Jr. and a mystery person. That mystery person seems like it should be Herodes Jr. based on recent usage, but Herodes has been so poor again flyers that I’m hoping it’s anyone else.

The show has a listed start time as 8:45pm, which means probably more like 9:30pm after the usual late start and locals dark match. It will air on TV on 08/27 and 09/03. It won’t air live, but there’s usual a few people doing Periscopes during the show if internet quality is good.

AAA is done taping until next Sunday’s TripleMania, and will spend the next week doing publicity for the big show. They do have the annual pilgrimage next Thursday.

AAA said TripleMania would be on iPPV back at their press conference for the event, but have not revealed any more details. It’d might be best to wait until Monday to make any formal announcements, as it’d get lost in the upcoming tsunami of wrestling over the weekend, but it does look like it’s happening. AAA’s iPPV site now lists TripleMania as airing, at 230MXN or $23USD. Note that this same site listed Rey de Reyes, AAA never officially acknowledged it, and then the iPPV was listed as canceled. They got back together for the Lucha World Cup, but the price changed a few times. I would not buy the show until AAA sends out a press release saying it’s on.

1 USD is about 18.5 pesos at the moment, so foreign fans are getting charged nearly twice as much for the same show. Even if it was even, going over $20 USD is a tough sale for a promotion without a lot of buzz and coming of a legendary poor show a year ago. TripleMania is a good lineup, but it’s hard to believe many people are going to buy it, and it’s unlikely AAA believes otherwise based on how little they’ve promoted it. It’ll pick up next week, but it seems completely focused on filling up Arena Ciudadde Mexico and any iPPVs they get are bonus.

The plan was for their to be English announcers, and the flags up top indicate both English and Japanese feeds along with the Spanish ones. There’s no word who that would be, though I suspect Hugo Savonivich will be back based on him doing the promos on TV.

Leo Riano’s column mentions AAA will induct Love Machine Art Barr into their Hall of Fame this year TripleMania. Barr would be the third member of famous Gringos Loco versus Hijo del Santo & Octagon hair vs mask to be inducted, following Eddie Guerrero and Octagon. (Hijo del Santo may be in some day, but probably not soon.) Riano says a second person will also be inducted. You can see the list of those in here. Konnan is a notable omission, but obviously isn’t going in this year. Cien Caras, who headlined the first TripleMania, would also fit.

The same column mentions Sexy Star is planning on boxing professionally before the end of the year, and has an amateur record of 6 wins and 1 loss (so she’s been boxing under the radar for at least a while.)

ROH’s preview for their WrestleMania weekend show says CMLL will be included on their show. It’s so far away that they might not even know exactly who’s going to appear, and more a sign that CMLL wrestlers will regularly or semi regularly appear on ROH’s bigger shows if all stays well.

The Santo Jr. match in Torreon seems to have drawn pretty well, filling the Gimnasio. (That’s probably smaller than the bullring they were originally going to run before reports of rain.) Magnifico II did wrestle in the match judging by that video of the entrance.  There was apparently a rumor that there would be no beer at the show, which the promotion were denying on their Facebook. The Arena Olimpico Laguna show across the border in Gomez Palacio with Atlantis is said to have done as well.

Pentagon, Fenix, Drago, Aerostar, Fantasma, Taya, La Parka and La Hiedra are advertised for an 09/18 show in Cicero (outside Chicago.)  This is the group

Matt Farmer posted a 1974 letter from the NWA giving EMLL permission to run title tournaments.

Xtreme Tiger talks about his match against Flamita.

Jack Evans talks about his TripleMania match.

Zumbido & Decnnis talk about their appearance in Elite. I’m running low on verbs.

Cross Arm Breaker endures Sangre Chicana versus Cibernetico.

IWRG (WED) 08/17/2016 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), The Gladiatores]
1) Brazo De Oro Jr. & Fly Tiger b Shadow Boy & Último Caballero
2) Dowki, Hanaoka, Yakuza b Adrenalina, Alas de Acero, Aramis
3) Bombero Infernal, Demonio Infernal, Violencia Jr. b Black Dragón, Emperador Azteca, Hijo del Alebrije
4) Dragón Fly b Hip Hop Man
Dragon Fly took 2/3, wants a shot at Hip Hop Man’s Argentina championship.
5) Black Terry b Judas el Traidor [hair]
Judas used the ropes to pin Terry in the first, Terry did the same in the second. Terry submitted Judas in the third. Judas gave Terry credit for being a legend of lucha libre.

Hair match will air this weekend on AYM. If I’m understanding correctly, the fans seem to have realized Dragon Fly is sort of the heroic replacement for Golden Magic and have somewhat rejected him like they did Golden Magic.

Rush definitely seems to believe he was pulled off the anniversary show as part of his suspension for the brawl with LA Park (specifically the bleeding part.) That sort of explains why the build to the Anniversary show was not clear until after Rush finally disappeared. Rush’s bigger point is it proves CMLL doesn’t give him beneficial treatment, since they wouldn’t pull him if they were helping him out like that.

Mr. Niebla won’t be a part of whatever’s going on the 09/16 CMLL show, because he’s booked in Queretaro. So is DJ Z, which makes me hope he might get to other places that weekend. I really liked the idea of Atlantis/Mr. Niebla mask match at the 09/16 show, figuring just because you could draw still pretty well with two week notice on an Atlantis mask match, and maybe you could trust Niebla if you cut the build down to two weeks. It’s not really something CMLL does though.

Diamante Azul hasn’t been around since the end of August, which seemed liked he might have returned to France already. Maybe not (or maybe he’s coming back), since he’s announced for a 10/02 show in Mexico City.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update, including a recap of this week’s Informa. The minis mentioned Angelito is gone. He hasn’t been around since February but was booked so infrequently that I didn’t notice. They said there are 15 minis.

Segunda Caida reviews Villano IV vs Blue Demon Jr. from last year’s Rey de Reyes show.

SuperLuchas notes Axel publically posted a note of support to Santo Jr.

Sexy Star is interviewed in a video. She says her character is still alive in the US, which is accurate.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 08/21/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Alas de Acero & Black Dragón vs Araña de Plata & Guerrero 2000
2) Diosa Atenea, Miss Gaviota, Relámpago vs Diva Salvaje, Judas el Traidor, Lilith Dark
3) Diablo Jr. & El Hijo del Diablo vs Black Terry & Cerebro Negro
4) Chicano, Pantera I, Veneno vs Herodes Jr., Imposible, Toscano
5) Hijo De Dos Caras © vs Máscara Año 2000 Jr. [IWRG JUNIORS]
first defense

Of all the things that are happening this weekend, it makes me sad this is one I know I’ll be able to see. (I won’t, but still.)

Black Terry is now triple booked on Sunday: Chilanga Mask, Elite and IWRG. Alas de Acero is also triple booked: Toluca, Lucha Memes, and IWRG. Aramis has the Toluca, Chilanga Mask, Lucha Memes trifecta.