lucha indies: Elite, The Crash (with Rey Fenix), Chairo 5, DTU

ELITE (FRI) 09/23/2016 Arena Neza [Kronosport, SuperLuchas]
1) Shaolin & Solaris b Mini Sharlie & Pequeño Warrior
2) Diamante (CMLL) & Imposible b Neza Kid I & Rocky Lobo
Rocky Lobo was stretchered out.
3) El Hijo De Amo De Los 8 Angulos, Hijo de LA Park, Zumbi b Heddi Karaoui, Herodes Jr., Samoano
4) El Bandido, Golden Magic, Último Ninja b Hijo De Dos Caras, Karonte Jr., Magno (Chihuahua)
Rudos were positioning themselves as a new trio (Los 2 Karontes) even despite the loss.
5) Rey Escorpión DQ Cibernético [Liga Elite]
Upset (maybe with cheating.) Cibernetico wants a rematch, Escorpion wants a title match.
6) Carístico b Xtreme Tiger [Liga Elite]
money thrown in

This already aired on TV, I already put it up, but I still haven’t watched much of it. They did frame the hard camera to hide all the empty seats, but the other shots weren’t as successful. I’d guess they’re not coming back to the building any time soon. Octagon Jr. getting stuck with the “Amo De Los 8 Angulos” name is fitting.

The Crash (SAT) 09/24/2016 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California [+LuchaTV, 126f, thecubsfan]
1) Arkángel Divino, Black Boy, Rayo Star b Black Danger, Tiago, Último Maldito
Black Boy replaced Danny Limeight on 09/11.
2) Bestia 666 b Titán (CMLL)
3) Bárbaro Cavernario, Puma (CMLL), Tiger (CMLL) b Mr. Maldito, Tony Casanova, Zarco
4) Willie Mack b Dragón Lee (CMLL), Laredo Kid, Hijo De Dos Caras, Mr. 450, Extreme Tiger [Copa The Crash]
Extreme Tiger & Mr. 450 were bumped down to this match on 09/11
5) Rey Fénix (LU) DCOR Máscara Dorada
6) Alberto el Patrón & Jeff Cobb DQ La Máscara & Rush
Tiger & 450 were moved down, La Mascara replaced Rey, and Alberto replaced Teddy Hart on 09/11.

I was at this! It was alright, maybe good, though not the blow away show the lineup might have suggested. Crowd seemed 75-80% full, short of the sell out expected for an Alberto return but still a pretty good house at reasonable prices. The opener had cool spots but so much sloppiness. Bestia/Titan was a good match that didn’t read the building well; they were going to cheer Bestia and they did a match expecting Titan to get cheered. The CMLL rudo team in the tercera was excellent and outshined their opponents enough that they did actually turn the crowd in their favor. The six way was the best match on the show. Fenix & Dorada was more a very special exhibition than a high level intense match between the two, with the match ending after a suplex to the floor (and a very slow 20 count.) Fenix & Dorada wanted ot keep fightning and the referee wouldn’t let them, which only makes the promotion look terrible. Rush worked hard in the main event, but others didn’t and the finish was (predicitably) a low blow and dropkick to the ref. I’m glad we went and the show as good, but I’m not sure if it was totally worth the extra effort to get there.

Fenix announced his new name of Rey Fenix and his departure from AAA at the The Crash. MasLucha has video of his post show interview. Both Fenix’s appearance on this show and leaving AAA had been known for a while (to the point where it was a bit strange The Crash just didn’t announce it themselves in the days before the show.) For what it’s worth, Fenix has been telling people that missing TripleMania was AAA’s fault and the problems with him and AAA started before that. I’d expect he’ll continue to be billed as simply “Fenix”  in the US, and “Rey Fenix” only in places where he might be in trouble with AAA for using the name in Mexico. Rey Fenix is getting enough work outside of the Mexico that I don’t think he’ll be wrestling in Mexico regularly, but will pop up on the super-indies.  The terms of his breakup with AAA are unknown – others who believed they’ve left AAA have been later told they couldn’t appear on other TV, so I wouldn’t necessarily expect Fenix to show up in Elite or even CMLL any time soon. (CMLL’s pay scale doesn’t fit for Fenix unless he has other dream matches he’d like, but eventually doing selected dates in Elite could make sense.)

It’s not perfectly clear where this leaves Fenix with LU, but my belief is nothing changes there. As best I know, Fenix totally wants to keep working on LU and the same other way, but LU has threatened that if anyone quit AAA, they would also lose their LU bookings. Sexy Star quit AAA in the middle of season 3, but was allowed to continue working on LU 3 and never appeared to be written out. Fenix’s season 3 storyline does wrap up in the finale of the season in a way where he could exit the series without leaving anything hanging, but he’s one of the characters most associated with the show and it’d be very noticeable if he was gone. (He’d also be under contract for at least 4 more seasons, according to the original deal.) My understanding is Fenix is listed as working some of the mystery Lucha Underground events scheduled for next month (but not all of them – might just be one.) Unless that changes, I think AAA’s threat will simply only be a threat.

Sharlie Rockstar & Ciclope beat El Gio & El Junior on the DTU show Saturday in Arena Coliseo San Ramon. (Full results.) Tony Iron & Rey Infierno beat Angel o Demonio & Ovett in an upset, which seems to be setting up a hair match between the two (maybe next time they’re in Puebla.) The undercard was changed around, which is normal. One of the original matches was Drastick Boy versus Lucky Boy. Lucky Boy didn’t end up appearing. Lucky Boy is also AAA’s Venum – or was AAA’s Venum, it’s still unclear (though showing up here as scheduled would’ve made it seem like he was done in AAA.)

DTU is holding a three day seminar from November 11-13 in Tulancingo. Satanico, Skayde and Negro Navarro will be teaching wrestling classes, Jose Manuel Guillen will be teaching communication skills, Jesus Zuniga will be talking about “the code of a champion” and a bunch of wrestlers will talk about traveling internationally. (Flamita’s listed among them, so he’ll be back in Mexico by November.)

DTU also announced Rey Fenix will be on their annual big show in December. Rey is in small letters, Fenix is in big ones. They’ll also have a show on 10/08 in Tulancingo.

Lucha Memes (SUN) 09/25/2016 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), R de Rudo, thecubsfan]
1) Araña de Plata, Atomic Star, Black Dragón, Demonio Infernal, Dragón Fly, Fireman, Kanon, Lilith Dark b Astrolux, Baby Star Jr., Black Metal, Ciber Punk, Garrobo Punk, Tekilita, Tonak, Zafiro (Chihuahua) [Torneo FILL]
2) Arez, Belial, Impulso b Keira, La Magnifica, Lady Maravilla
3) Alberto Dos Rios, Caifan, Hechicero b Black Terry, Solar I, Virus
4) Trauma II b Tiger
must win via el Pozo or Casita
5) Alas de Acero, Aramis, Iron Kid b Ángel de Oro, Drastik Boy, Ronnie Mendoza
6) Último Guerrero b Dr. Cerebro
ref stop after UG powerbombed Dr. Cerbero on the floor
7) Freelance, Mike Segura, Sádico b Dragón Lee, Rey Cometa, Titán (CMLL)
Sadico suffered a knee injury.
8) Volador Jr. b Rey Horus

I thought this was the best complete show we saw on the trip. Nothing was terrible or pointless; it’s problem might have been having so much good stuff that crowd got tired (or tired of a certain style) by the end of the show. There were a lot of people on this show, and – in something different than most shows of this type – almost everyone actually showed up as scheduled. The only one who didn’t was Sharlie Rockstar, and the promotion (and Sharlie) announced it ahead of time and announced a sub ahead of time. I think that might have really helped them out: the crowd might have spent the match annoyed if Tiger had just shown up out of the blue, but instead completely threw themselves into the match and it made for the best experience of the night. It might have been Tiger’s best singles match ever (if only because he rarely gets big ones like this.)

UG/Cerebro was very good until the sudden finish. We could not see the impact from our side, but it seemed like the people in the match were reacting like it was serious. I was surprised it didn’t take the down the crowd at all (UG’s strong post match promo probably helped), but I think the deal is that was actually the designed ending of the match and it may have been more clearly a planned spot from other angles.

Volador/Horus was hurt by the crowd reaction, and it didn’t seem like they totally trusted the ring after others had slipped earlier. Sadico got hurt in the match just prior taking a Rey Cometa moonsault to the floor and kept trying to talk the doctor until letting him continue, but obviously couldn’t stand on his two feet. He seemed very upset to be missing this chance. One of the Punks in the opener dislocated his elbow on a guillotine legdrop, which was not even in the top 5 of scariest moves in that match. It was pretty good for the Torneo FILLs.

Lineups

ELITE (FRI) 09/30/2016 Gimnasio Benito Juárez, Cuautitlán, Estado de México
1) Hijo del Pantera & Mr. Leo vs Luzbel & Tanque
2) Ciclón Ramírez Jr. & León Dorado Jr. vs Imposible & Peligro
3) Emperador Azteca, Intocable, Toscano vs Decnnis, Mr. Águila, Zumbido
4) Xtreme Tiger vs Cibernético [Liga Elite]
5) Carístico & Golden Magic vs Rey Escorpión & Silver King
6) Blue Demon vs LA Park [Liga Elite]

Elite continues to move around to Mexico State, to a venue AAA taped at in the early 2000s.  Elite’s stopped listed Liga Elite standings but continues to label singles matches as Liga Elite. I wonder who they think they’re fooling (and if it actually is working.)

Caristico listed both here and in Arena Mexico. This has an 8:00 start, a half hour before Arena Mexico. Google Maps has it as an hour drive. Elite would help out Caristico a bunch by moving him to earlier in the card, but this generally can’t keep going like this.

IWRG (SUN) 10/02/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Adrenalina vs Fireman
2) Astro, Black Dragón, Máscara De Ángel vs Demonio Infernal, Skanda, Sombra Metálica
3) Dragón Fly, Hijo del Alebrije, Zatura vs Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro, Killer Jr.
4) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs Devil Rocker, Machine Rocker, Soul Rocker, Tyson La Bestia
5) Bobby Lee, Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Rey Misterio Heredero vs Imposible, Mr. Electro, Trauma II
6) Trauma I © vs Canis Lupus [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense

The rematch should do pretty well.  Fourth match sure is confusing. What we think is happening is there’s been wrestlers in San Luis Potosi using the Rocker gimmicks (apparently sold to them by Picudo, who was originally Devil Rocker) and that’s who is coming into IWRG, but it’s far from clear and probably not accidentally confusing. Tyson la Bestia is a relatively high profile Mexico State indie guy (so I’m surprised I’ve never put him in a profile before.) Mascara de Angel and Sombra Metalica are lesser known indie guys.

LX Lucha Memes (SUN) 10/30/2016 Arena Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz
1) Mr. Invasor & Vengador Radioactivo vs Crazy Man & Dr. Cerebro
2) Payaso Del Terror I & Payaso Del Terror II vs Cosmos & Skayde
3) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Totem I & Totem II
4) Valiente vs Pitufo
5) Poseidón vs Rey Infierno, Mr. Águila
6) Hechicero (CMLL) vs Eslabón Perdido
7) Blue Panther vs Rey Pantera
8) Demasiado vs Máximo [hair]

Second Chairo/Xalapa show, with an exotico hair match and a maestro vs local maestro match. Hechicero is going to be coming here from the ROH taping the night before.

indy (FRI) 11/11/2016 Hacienda Event Center, Midland, Texas
1) Huracán Ramírez Jr. vs Máscara Sagrada Jr.
2) Canek Jr. vs Fishman Jr.
3) Taya vs Sexy Star
4) Fénix (AAA) vs Laredo Kid
5) Cage vs John Hennigan
6) Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Blue Demon Jr.

This is an oddly loaded card (and definitely not by a usual lucha promoter since it’s all singles matches.) As far as I can tell, this is the first time Blue Demon Jr. and Rey Mysterio have been on opposite sides of any match, much less faced each other 1v1.