What happened: Monster Clown & Murder Clown betrayed Psycho Clown, who was figuratively and literally badly burned. Faby Apache got locked in a room (which turned out not to be so locked.) Aerostar & Super Fly kept the tag titles.
What was good: I liked the ladder match and had not a lot of use for the rest. I realized AAA main events are going to mostly be Psycho Clown getting beat, making a brief comeback, and then getting screwed for the next year straight (after happening for most of the last six months), and it is good that I realized that but not good for wrestling action.
Where can I watch it: It’s on AAA’s channel.Read More
CMLL (SAT) 10/29/2016Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Acero & Fantasy b Pequeño Universo 2000 & Pequeño Violencia
2) Cancerbero, Canelo Casas Robin, Raziel b Artillero, Hijo del Signo, Inquisidor
3) Metálico, Sangre Azteca, Skándalo b Oro Jr., Pegasso, The Panther Rudos took 1/3.
4) Kráneo, Ripper, Sam Adonis b Blue Panther, Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr. Only fall tecnicos won was by DQ (Ripper fouled Panther twice, referee only called it on the second one.)
5) Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible b Diamante Azul, Stuka Jr., Valiente Terrible pulled Diamante Azul’s mask and pinned him, setting up a singles match for next week
Not a themed show, regular turnout, will air who knows when.
CMLL (SUN) 10/30/2016Arena México [CMLL]
1) Acero, Astral, Stukita b Demus 3:16, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia tecnicos took 1/3
2) Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., The Panther b Misterioso Jr., Morphosis, Tiger Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Dalys, Tiffany, Zeuxis b La Jarochita, Lluvia, Silueta Rudas took 2/3. Losers were dragged to hell starting with this match.
4) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone b Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible Tecnicos took 2/3
5) Último Guerrero b Rush UG took falls 2/3 to win again.
I haven’t seen this show, and I heard different takes on the main event. It does sound like the shows were better than normal non-Friday streaming, though not anything extraordinary. Attendance was good, much more in the cheaper seats. I don’t know if three (or more) shows in a week is a great idea, but CMLL obviously needs to come up with some other themed shows during the year. If you hype a show (or shows) as a big deal and then you run the show, people tend to show up, it’s amazing.
CMLL’s also not aired the dance numbers on these shows. The idea is probably they don’t want to get blocked on YouTube, as the Anniversary show did, but the idea doesn’t really make any sense. The Friday show was on Claro, not YouTube. It’s not like Claro is going to turn off the feed at any point, at least on purpose. The other shows do air on YouTube, but they don’t enforce copyright in real time – it’s possible the VOD will disappear later on, but CMLL could always put up edited versions later on. CMLL must be bothered by what happened with the Anniversary show that they’re being more cautious than they need to be.
(I suspect this is why CMLL is now airing the commercials as part of the video instead of shooting the screen – once they realized they’d have to figure have to some videos that way not to show what’s going on, they might as well do all of them.)
Titanes del Ring (SUN) 10/30/2016Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr)]
1) Kanon, Lilith Dark, Voltar b Los Independientes, Gym Coacalco, Dragonmania four way trios match between four schools. The team representing Gym FILL won.
2) Cerebro Maligno b Canario, Niño De Cobre, Black Dragón Fly Warrior missed the match (didn’t make it over from IAP in time?). Cerebro beat Canario.
3) Eterno b Dinamic Black Dinamic Black replaced Bandido. Money thrown in.
4) Araña de Plata, Atomik Star, Lady Maravilla b Fly Star, Keira, Toxin Boy Los Insanos (Plata’s team) pulled the Kamikaze’s masks for the win.
5) Golden Magic b Metaleón, Emperador Azteca, Imposible, Chicano
6) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo DQ Cíclope (DTU), El Gio, El Junior (DTU), Ovett Team DTU was DQed for using light tubes.
7) Freelance & Sádico b Centurion & Látigo and Arez & Impulso and Alas de Acero & Iron Kid Freelance & Saidco beat Arez & Impulso
8) Wotan b Caifan, Black Terry, Canis Lupus Wotan snuck in a foul on Canis Lupus. Mask/hair challenges followed.
9) Extreme Tiger b Dragón Lee, Rey Horuz, Aramis Dragon Lee replaced Rey Fenix (injury, appeared to apologize about not being there and said he’d be out 3 or 4 weeks). Lee beat Aramis with the Dragon Driver.
Not a lot of details on this one; a lot of stuff looks good, though only Eterno/Dinamic Black is mentioned as being good in the +LuchaTV recap and I bet the main event will look good when I see the highlights. Black Terry Jr. highlights = not AYM. This show had a crazy collection of indie stars and yet it looks less full than the Chairo/Lucha Memes shows. This didn’t seem pushed with anything more than the poster, which is probably not enough now.
LU 1230 (SUN) 10/30/2016 Traders Village, Houston, Texas [Prowrestling, PWPondering]
1) Paul London b Marty Martinez
2) the Mack b Garza Jr. Crowd largely didn’t know Garza Jr.
3) Johnny Mundo b Drago [nunchuck] hyped as a Gift of the Gods match, but Mundo declared that it wasn’t on the line because the belt was being displayed in a glass case. Taya helped Mundo win, but Drago got revenge post match.
LU 300 (SUN) 10/30/2016 Traders Village, Houston, Texas [ProWrestling.net, PWPonderings]
1) Matanza b Cage [LU CHAMP]
2) Ivelisse b Taya, Saltador, Joey Ryan Ivelisse beat Joey Ryan. Saltador is the checkboard guy associated with Paul London from the trailer.
3) Pentagón Dark b Mil Muertes [Devils Day Death Match] Vampiro started off the show by announcing this as a Devil’s Day Death Match before his doctor confronted him, saying it was bad he was involved in violence. Vampiro almost choked the doctor before Mil attacked Vampiro from behind. He came back to help Pentagon win. Pentagon was swarmed by fans on the way back.
No Ultimo Ninja – LU fans got Matanza instead and were probably pretty OK with that trade. I think “Vampiro’s doctor” was Chris DeJospeh – he was definitely there, but I haven’t seen a photo of hte doctor.
Both Lucha Underground shows look well attended. I can see a few empty seats, but I can also see tons of people crowded around outside the “arena”. People on Twitter were saying they were turned away from noon show because it was full. It’s a much bigger setup than last week – maybe 800 people each show? The Houston Chronicle has photos.
Maximo took Demasiado’s hair on the Chairo/LG show in Xalapa, as expected.
As Charro took Black Man Jr.’s match in the IAP show.
Tonight’s Puebla show – well, the truly most important thing about tonight’s Puebla show is if you’re watching it in the US or any place else that didn’t switch clocks, it’s one hour later this week only. That’s 11pm Eastern, 10pm Central in the US. (If you live in Japan, it’s one hour later until spring. Sorry!) The Sky Team is in action, that’s normally really fun, but there literally was a CMLL show yesterday and there literally will be another CMLL show tomorrow, maybe you should get your sleep and catch up on this later. If you’re up until 1AM watching CMLL and they do a rushed 9 minute match, you will be very sad.
Anyway, the main event is the Sky Team facing La Mascara, Euforia, Gran Guerrero in a trios title match. This would be a really compelling challenge if CMLL could’ve bothered to book Niebla Roja or Ultimo Guerrero instead of La Mascara – Mascara’s not going to be bad, but the odds of a split faction team winning the trios titles is very low. The only way it happens is if CMLL suddenly decides the Sky Team needs to die. There was no suggestion of that on Friday. It still should be a fun match, maybe even a great one if they give it time and effort, but the drama isn’t what it could be.
Semimain has the Maximo, Rush and Pierroth as a trios match, so that’s going to be a waste of 20 minutes until they get onto the finish, and then maybe they’ll set up something with either those guys or the Marco, Shocker and Vangellys opposition. The Panther family teams up to face Sagrado, Misterioso, and Okumura; it’s the last match in Mexico for Misterioso & the Panther before they head off to ROH for a couple of days. Everyone’s favorite vampire Lestat rises on Halloween to team with Black Tiger & Flyer against Raziel, Cancerbero and King Jaguar. Lestat was involved in the continous King Jaguar/Black Tiger/Policeman drama before he disappeared last year, so maybe there’s a storyline coming there. The opener is Arkalis, Meyer and Zaeta Roja vs Malayo, Espiritu Maligno and Policeman. Zaeta Roja’s usual good, but the opener is not a great place to be good.
The show will air on YouTube and CMLL.com, one hour later than usual.
US women’s promotion SHIMMER announced Sexy Star/Dulce Sexy will appear on the 11/12 & 11/13 tapings. On a business level, this kind of makes sense to me: we’ve seen Fenix, Pentagon, Drago and Aerostar help draw crowds and draw in those might not otherwise check out typical indie promotions, there’s logic in trying the same thing with Sexy Star to see if it’ll work with her. SHIMMER may make money off photos and such, regardless of what she adds in the ring – and if it doesn’t work, that’s the life of an indie promoter, you take the best gambles you can and sometimes they don’t work. On a personal level, I laughed out loud when I saw this announcement, just thinking about how badly she may get exposed on this show, and then was borderline offended that the first luchadora was Sexy Star – not the people who’ve had a history of great matches, not younger people who could gain a lot from the experience, but someone who I watched for years and years without ever seeing a great match out of her. Sexy Star is on Lucha Underground, so a fanbase (and likely even a programming department) largely oblivious to Mexican wrestling might actually know her and it’s sound business decision, but it’s so unjust at the same time.
(This is, in a nut shell, the usual ROH/FM complaint too: I want all the international opportunities to the people who work hard and have good matches. I know that it never going to be that way, but not enough to stop getting annoyed when it doesn’t.)
As much as I disliked the last episode, Sexy Star is probably the biggest lucha triumph of the Lucha Underground creative crew. They’ve definitely helped guys like Pentagon, but half the battle with those guys was just getting them out there where people could see what they do. Sexy Star’s the opposite, she would’ve been exposed if she was thrown out there with no support, and needed some storytelling and good match making to cover up for her weaknesses. Sexy Star has her fans, and would not if LU hadn’t done well for her. Though, I think we’re going to get a measurement of exactly how well they’ve done with her rather soon.
CMLL (SAT) 11/05/2016Arena Coliseo
1) Flyer, Leono, Sensei vs Artillero, Grako, Inquisidor
2) Princesa Sugehit, Sanely, Skadi vs La Seductora, Metálica, Yeska
3) Blue Panther, Drone, Rey Cometa vs Hechicero, Ripper, Vangellys
4) Diamante Azul vs Terrible
5) Carístico, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
Main event looks like a lot of fun! Drone finds a way to get booked. And yet another women’s match.
Yeska (sometimes Yesca) was part of a batch of young women who debuted in late 2008 and early 2009, after the CMLL women’s division got going again. Zeuxis & Lluvia eventually stuck as full timers. Others, like Crazy Star, Estrella Magica and Star Fire, just disappeared after a time and have wrestled a bit on the indie scene. Yeska stopped being used in CMLL in 2010 and just vanished for four years – maybe she was starting a family or injured or just not interested in wrestling. She never had any success in CMLL and didn’t show improvement, so that would’ve made sense. Her name shows up in 2014 a couple times, and then returns for a handful match of matches this year. Two of those matches are with Reina Isis on Toryumon shows, so this is probably an Arkangel student – his name’s coming before as recruiting indie women when REINA needed people.
Yeska might only be getting booked because Isis is still in Japan and CMLL needed another body. But that match isn’t going to be any good with or without here, and there are dozen of men who don’t seem to be getting booked who could have a better match. There’s also a bunch of women who could probably get that same spot and do well with it – perhaps Yeska has improved leaps and bounds after not wrestling for years, but there are people Metalica was/is working with on the indies who I’d bet on. (Not just a young person – a vet who knows what they’re doing could’ve been helpful, there are some very green people in that match.) It could also be that Yeska’s not getting paid very much for this date – or is losing money on it, because paying for training classes is part of the deal – and people who are actually good aren’t going to take that deal. That’s a bigger problem with the CMLL set up.
Terrible hasn’t done anything remarkable in years at this point, except occasionally powerbomb Titan very hard, but Azul beating him still would feel wrong.
CMLL (SUN) 11/06/2016Arena México
1) Eléctrico & Último Dragóncito vs Demus 3:16 & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Oro Jr., Soberano Jr., Star Jr. vs Disturbio, Sangre Azteca, Skándalo
3) Estrellita, La Jarochita, Lluvia vs Amapola, Tiffany, Zeuxis
4) Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Valiente vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja
5) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy vs Felino, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero
A show. With a women’s match, because what show doesn’t have a women’s match. There’s a tercera that used to be here but maybe not again. I miss Puma.
CMLL (SUN) 11/06/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Micro vs Guerrero de la Muerte
2) Black Sugar & Capitán Cobra vs Destello & Quca
3) El Yaqui & Reycko vs Carlo Roggi & Mr. Apolo
4) León Blanco, Neutrón, Smaker vs Espectrúm, Exterminador, Rey Trueno
5) Frezzer, Gallo, Omar Brunetti vs Pitbull I, Pitbull II, Sádico
First appearances for the Pitbulls since June 2015. They were feuding with Exterminador & Malefico, and then just disappeared. Might have been one of the programming changes.
ELITE (FRI) 10/28/2016Domo del Deportivo Plan Sexenal, Distrito Federal [+LuchaTV, R de Rudo, SuperLuchas]
1) Belial & Impulso b Ciclón Ramírez Jr. & Mr. Leo Ciclon Ramirez replaced Hijo del Pantera
2) Emperador Azteca & Heddi Karaoui b Imposible & Metaleón
3) Hijo De Dos Caras, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Karonte Jr. b El Bandido, Golden Magic, Zumbi money thrown in
4) Chicano (Puerto Rico) & Mr. 450 COR Cibernético & Taurus (ex-AAA) Mr. 450 pinned Taurus and Cibernetico got counted out (and blamed the ref for counting too fast.) The Puerto Ricians are going as “Los Ilegals” – Chicano was the masked El Ilegal in AAA.
5) LA Park b Xtreme Tiger [Liga Elite]
6) Rey Escorpión b Carístico [Liga Elite] Escorpion had his face painted up as if he was on the Dia de Muertos shows and won with the Aguijon Mortal. Escorpion wants a title match and Caristico accepted backstage.
Rey Escorpion picked up the clean win on Caristico a few weeks back and again here; something’s clearly coming, it’s just a matter of Elite getting there. People who’ve watched the show said the third match is really good. Attendance did not look good for this show.
Bandido, Golden Magic and Zumbi defeated Cibernetico, Sharlie Rockstar, and Heddi Karaoui on an Elite show in Cuernavaca on Thursday. It was a DQ win; Cibernetico fouled Bandido, then fouled the referee. Cibernetico seem to be attacking the referee in all his matches. Bandido’s brother Magia Blanca worked in the undercard; he hasn’t shown up on Elite tapings, but perhaps he’s also left CMLL.
DTU (FRI) 10/28/2016Arena Neza [+LuchaTV, DTU, Estrellas del Ring, Kronosport]
1) Erwin & Irving b Masizito & Porrito
2) Diva Salvaje, El Exótico, Yuriko b Moria, Niño De Cobre, Ovett Ovett replaced Lokillo
3) Princesa Sugehit & Zeuxis b Lady Maravilla & Zuzu Divine
4) Charly Madrid & Oscar Sevilla b Hormiga & Neza Kid and Mike Segura & Sádico money thrown in
5) Gallego & Mr. Cóndor DQ Jimmy & Kevin The referee helped the Diabolicos beat the Nerds. They made hair match challenges for DTU’s 9th Anniversary.
6) Aero Boy & Drastik Boy b Dragón Rojo Jr. & Pólvora Aero Boy & Drastick Boy beat the CMLL team in a good match.
7) El Gio & El Junior b Halloween & X-Fly and Cíclope & Toxico Diva Salvaje & Yuriko challenged Ciclope and Ovett after the main event.
I don’t believe DTU has announced when/where their 9th Anniversary show is happening in December, but they’ve obviously got a card in mind for it; they’ve gone from directionless to a lot of matches being hinted at. (That probably needs to end up on a streaming service.)
NJPW released the CMLL list of wrestlers for the FantasticaMania tour at intermission of their show this morning. (Fuego & Taguchi lost on that show, falling in the semifinals of the tag tournament.) The CMLL 16 luchadors going are:
Tecnicos: Atlantis, Mistico, Volador Jr., Máximo Sexy, Dragón Lee, Titán, Stuka Jr., Blue Panther Jr., Soberano Jr.
Rudos: Último Guerrero, Euforia, Ephesto, Cavernario, Hechicero, Okumura, Raziel
Blue Panther Jr., Soberano Jr., Ephesto and Raziel are all debuting, with Panther Jr. coming one year after his brother and Soberano being on the same tour as his father. The NJPW video still does not list the extra date CMLL mentioned, which makes me think that maybe a show just got canceled.
FantasticaMania usually features a lot of CMLL title matches, especially on the Tokyo shows. Atlantis, Volador, Maximo, Dragon Lee, and Ultimo Guerrero are all current singles champions, and Hechicero would be one too if he wins on Tuesday. (The timing of when CMLL would’ve said OK to the list of people and when this title match was announced match up interestingly.) I’d still bet that Volador versus Kushida or whoever is junior champ at that time closes out the tour, but maybe there’d be another Volador singles match earlier. Kamaitachi turning back up to face Dragon Lee seems like a possibility. Ultimo Guerrero and Cavernario having big matches seem pretty likely too. There’s no team title being carried to Japan, but there’s still time for Raziel & Okumura to suddenly challenge the Panther & Guerrero Maya or something.
The next step is finding out those matches, but that’s a while away – we usually don’t get them until a couple weeks before the tour, in early January.
Cancerbero isn’t going to Japan with his long time partner, but he did win a multi-activity competition over Flyer, Tiger, Robin, Forastero, Raziel and Soberano. They were all doing an appearance at the Granja Las Americas theme park, climbing rock walls and shooting paint guns and riding in cars as part of a marketing tie up. No video, but there are photos. Cancerbero beat out Soberano and Flyer for first overall.
Hechicero, Okumura and Ultimo Guerrero were involved in a nearly as goofy competition: the ROH six man tournament. They wrestled two matches on Saturday’s Ring of Honor taping in Maryland: they defeated Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Kamaitachi in the quarterfinals (in the first week of TV), and lost to the Kingdom in the semifinals (week three or four.) I’m not sure when these episodes start airing. It sounds like Team CMLL did well, and got CMLL chants after their loss. I can’t come up with a time when people have actually chanted CMLL in Mexico, so this seems to be going well.
The Lucha Underground shows in Houston are going on as I’m pecking away at this. There first show was so full that there were people turned away, and the second show was the busier show last week. (Get to to Tamale festival early if you’re going in San Diego.)
Lucha Underground posted a bonus clip Sunday afternoon, setting up a Dr. Wagner Jr. versus Son of Havoc match for this week an d teasing Famous B managing more people.
AAA TV (FRI) 10/28/2016 Lienzo Charro de Los Reyes Ixtacala, Tlalnepantla, Estado de México [AAA]
1) El Apache, Faby Apache, Mary Apache COR Mamba, Mocho Cota Jr., Soul Rocker OGT watched the match from ringside, distracted Faby and Tirantes quickly counted her out.
2) Dave The Clown, Parka Negra, Súper Fly b Aerostar, Máscara De Bronce, Venum The debuting Mascara de Bronce (Gotita de Plata) was the mystery luchador and Venum did appear. Didn’t help – Super Fly powerbombed Aerostar thru a table as part of his victory.
3) Hijo del Fantasma b Drago, Angélico [AAA CRUISER] Drago replaced Jack Evans. The tecnicos asked for this to be made a cruiserweight title match. Fantasma agreed. They used elimination rules this time, with Angelico beat Dragon and Fantasma beating Fantasma to keep the title. Sixth defense.
4) Averno, Chessman, Ricky Marvin b Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Zorro Tirantes helped OGT win and officially is part of the group. Zorro offered them a title match.
5) Monsther Clown & Murder Clown b Daga & Joe Lider and Damián 666 & Pagano Changed from a three way trios to a three way tag (Psycho/Wagner moved to the main event, Pentagon doubled booked in Tijuana.) Rudos just all teamed up and beat up the Perros. The traitor clowns got the win.
6) Psycho Clown NC Dr. Wagner Jr. no finish when Pagano, Murder, Monster and Damian ran in, and Aerostar, Angelico, Daga and Lider made the save. Daga spoke out against the rudos. The TripleMania challenges were brought up again.
Air Date: a good question! This has grown from a one taping show to maybe a two taping one. It’ll definitely start 11/05 and it may be 11/12 (which would bump everything else a week back.)
I mentioned false advertising with Fenix on TripleMania. AAA appears to have done the same here, listing Pentagon in the main event and not telling people he was going elsewhere even as they were sending him to Pentagon. That is no bueno but they don’t seem to be changing it.
As a maybe make up, AAA did Psycho/Wagner – but then didn’t do a finish. This show also had two evil referee finishes and essentially a 4 on 2 handicap match. That can’t have been too fun to watch. In WWE, they might counterbalance this by doing a dark match 5v5 match with everyone in the main event, and Psycho beating Damian or whatever after a few minutes. That’s not how people see wrestling in Mexico, but it’d make for a more enjoyable show. All I can think of is, even before seeing a moment of the card, there’s only two matches which have a chance of being watchable and the rest of looks likes like stuff I’ll want to endure for as little time as possible. This needed a better balance between getting heat on the heels and having actual watchable TV.
We know Gotita de Plata is Mascara de Bronce because Gotita posted a photo of Mascara de Bronce on his Instagram, wrote about it being a new chapter in his career, and then attempted to change his Instagram name to Mascara de Bronce. (As of this writing, he has it as “Mascara de Bromce AAA”; it’s hard out there for a flying goat.) It’s nice to see him get a shot and I like what we can see of the costume, but the name is a little too generic for my tastes.
Aerostar versus Super Fly seems to be on once again. I downplayed the chances of the career vs career matches they were hyping, and you’ll end up right most of the time if you’re cynical about AAA midcard feuds, but it does come off as if they’re going somewhere with this. It should be good.
I bet I’m going to get so annoyed when Tirantes counts out Faby even though Mary and/or Apache are standing in the ring, but it’s an evil referee so it doesn’t have to make any sense. AAA leaning back heavily into the evil referee thing is annoying as a viewer. It’s seems solely part of the the OGT/Apaches/Xinetes storyline (which seems separate from everything else, probably because it’s being produced by those involved), so Tirantes will be normal in the rest of them, but adding the Xinetez now means it’s happening on a third of the card.
AN IMPORTANT THING: Daylight Savings Time starts Sunday morning in Mexico. It’s a week later in the United States. ALL MEXICO STREAMS WILL BE AN HOUR LATER NEXT WEEK.I forgot about this until Albert pointed it out. CMLL Sunday’s show will start at 6pm CT, Puebla will come on at 10pm CT, Tuesday’s show will be at 8:30pm CT, Friday’s show at 9:30pm – all an hour later. I’m going to have to say this about 50 times in the next week but maybe some people will read this?
CMLL (FRI) 10/28/2016Arena México [+LuchaTV, CMLL, ESTO, MedioTiempo, Sipse]
1) Apocalipsis & Metálico b Bengala & Flyer Rudos took 2/3
2) Disturbio, Okumura, Virus b Oro Jr., Pegasso, Soberano Jr. Rudos took 1/3
3) Estrellita, Marcela, Sanely DQ Amapola, Dalys, Metálica straight falls, with Marcela being KOed after an illegal choke to cause the DQ. Marcela was stretchered out (though it seemed like a worked injury) and gets a title shot out of this. Dalys was the evil god thru the night (along with Valiente and Volador.) Starting with this match, the losers were all taken to hell.
4) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto tecnicos took 2/3
5) La Máscara, Pierroth, Rush b Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero Rush snuck in a foul on UG.
6) Valiente b Volador Jr. [CMLL Universal, final] Seconds were Soberano and Mephisto (Valiente, also back from Hell rather quick.) Valiente took falls 1/3, the last with two Valiente Busters to win.
Valiente said he couldn’t come up with the words to describe what he felt; he seems as surprised by the outcome as everyone else. Just three years ago, CMLL saw Valiente as not being as important Vangellys in the final of that year’s En Busca de un Idolo tournament. Vangellys is currently the fourth man in a three man group. Valiente won the national welterweight title when CMLL wanted to move him up to the midcard. Since then, he’s lost thirteen straight singles title matches, including one just a month ago. There’s overarching story you can tell, about a guy who quit lucha for years because he was going nowhere, then came back to work himself from the very bottom of CMLL to the very top in a place (and a country) where that is extremely difficult to do. However, the microstory is how CMLL used him just three days before this, as a guy who at best comes close to winning but always ends up losing at the end, and with fans mostly accepting it rather than getting fired up about. (Hechicero cheating didn’t seem to get people fired up for Valiente, it just came and went.) If CMLL is committed to make Valiente a top guy, with a specific destination in mind, then this was a great way to destroy those old impressions of Valiente and make people give him another chance to start off that new role. If Valiente continues in his usual near top role, then this is just a waste of tournament and a waste of booking an upset winner. Yes, you’ll have taught people that upsets can happen but, unless there’s strong follow up, you’ll have taught people that it doesn’t matter all that much.
The bitter part is, new guys strongly put in top positions is what we’re always asking out of major lucha libre promotions, this is CMLL doing that, and we’re still unhappy because it’s not the right guy (and they did so by beating a more deserving guy.) I’m not sure what dark horse in the field would’ve been a good upset winner. People would’ve been happy for Rey Cometa winning, but it’s take even more for the fans (and CMLL itself) to see Cometa as a top guy. I would’ve liked Dragon Rojo better, because he’s put in the work in improving his wrestling and his character, but I doubt it would’ve been a generally popular pick. Otherwise, it was just a group of guys who are not very good or would gain only little by an upset run like this – there wasn’t a young guy like Barbaro Cavernario or Titan or even a Rey Escorpion were a series of upset wins would represent a big change.
Three years ago, Valiente would probably have been that guy to represent a big change. He hasn’t been successful as a singles wrestler, but he’s been a trios champion for two of the last three years. He’s best suited for that smaller role, and has slipped in other areas as he’s grown older. His wrestling isn’t as varied and interesting as it used to be. He’s the same OK promo he’s always been. Valiente’s costuming has become polarizing; most people would say it’s for the worst, but he obviously thinks it’s much better. The only major change from the guy who wasn’t considered vital enough to be Vangellys to the guy who beat Volador is his physique, turning into a small ball of muscle. Valiente doesn’t seem to use that muscle in any significant way during his matches – he’s only doing a stripped down version of the same offense he’s always done – but he clearly takes great pride in it and it certainly seems CMLL feels the same. It was hard not to notice both Mephisto and Sobreano wearing Omega Team track pants while seconding the guys in the main event. That same logo has been on Valiente’s gear for the last couple of years. I’m not sure if they have a sponsorship deal with CMLL itself or just the individual wrestlers, but the result of the main seemed like an endorsement of their supplement/steroids products above anything else.
Volador losing can be chalked up to CMLL’s usual bit of spreading all the big wins around and feeling he just got one. I’m skeptical that’s the best way to make a star. Attendance seemed down this year compared to past Dia de Muertos shows.
LuchaWorld has a translation of +LuchaTV’s interview with Rey Fenix. There’s a lot in there, and you should read or watch the whole thing. Some of the same stories were told on the Highspots interview with Fenix a month or so back too, so you may want to check that out.
The immediate most important part of the interview is Rey Fenix says he separated his shoulder in the CaraLucha match, but is expecting to be back by 11/18 for the Guadalajara Muchas Luchas show and making every date about that. He does not sound too concerned about the injury long term, but is taking care to rest until then.
It’s clear he won’t be going back to AAA when he’s done. Fenix seems to have had issue with AAA with how he was being used, how much he was being paid and how the wrestlers are treated, but the actual breaking point was when he decided to move to San Diego. Fenix did tell AAA, and AAA was angry with him for not telling them and generally moving. The way Fenix told it, AAA’s both sort of cut him off from working for them and threatened him with legal action for working anywhere else. Fenix says he was willing to work both the Veracruz and TripleMania shows, called to ask for travel info, and was never sent plane tickets for either. He says the Roldans would only take to him for a few minutes to allow him to explain what he was doing, but at the same time have gone to lucha libre commissions to try and get Rey Fenix blocked from wrestling (because AAA owns the Fenix name.) Rey Fenix notes he may eventually be forced to change his name yet again.
Rey Fenix does not know where this will leave him with Lucha Underground. He’s hoping to have a meeting with the LU people to discuss things soon. Rey Fenix loves Lucha Underground and very much wants to keep working there, but not if he has to go back to AAA. He’s rather just keep doing the indie traveling he’s doing rather than go back to AAA under any circumstances.
AAA always has their own side to these stories, and rarely actually tells them. It’s possibly, maybe even likely there’s more going on here than Fenix wants to talk about – money is usually the source of problems, but no one in lucha likes to talk about money in public (or much in private.) In a small way, I can feel for AAA here. If one of your employees decides to relocate out of the country without telling you, that’s a bit rude (and in a lot of other industries, maybe grounds to let someone go.) But, if it’s gone down the way Fenix says, and AAA just both cut Fenix off and stopped him from working anywhere else, then that’s crazy. You’ve got to work with people. It sticks out that AAA seems to definitely have worked with Taya in what seems to be same situation. Maybe Taya gave more of a heads up on her move, and Taya’s earned a lifetime of points with AAA for her work (and they’re not going to break ties with her while booking Mundo), but Fenix going forward seems to be as valuable as Taya is, except AAA doesn’t seem to value the relationships the same. Even a part time Fenix is a big help for a promotion short on stars, and AAA’s is currently willing to fly in lots of other people from the US because they need the star power. Maybe a better comparison is Hernandez, who had an ugly break up with Lucha Underground, and still got brought back to be the third or fourth most important guy in Team Trump. AAA got over whatever issues they had there to bring in a guy in a much less important role than Fenix. Flying someone out of the US is an added cost, maybe one not easy for AAA to afford, but there seems to be a larger statement being made about staying in line with AAA or else that’s being made.
Fenix isn’t the first person to complain about the working conditions in AAA. He probably won’t be the last. AAA showcases the giant buses they use take people to TV tapings, but the spot shows are a much less glamorous life. AAA has the hardest schedule of any major league promotion. So many small shows in random locations and rough situations. CMLL has some of that too, but they also have a handful of regular weekly stops; it’s probably not fun to be a bus for a long time to go to Guadalajara, but you know the bus, you know the venue, you probably know the area around the venue, there’s a routine to it. An AAA luchador can go to any city in Mexico on any day of the week in whatever vehicle they happen to have available to send them at that point in time. It’s not even the US indies, where at least you might have the privacy/security of your own car, it’s more public/group transport. You’ve got have to a definite adventurous spirit to want to do it, and I’m sure it seems a lot less attractive once you start comparing it to flying into cities in the US. (When someone eventually writes about the effects of LU, this is going to be one of them – if that show never happens, then those guys never get booked in the US, and they never see the differences between Mexico and US wrestling conditions for themselves.)
If Fenix is telling the truth, that means AAA absolutely and shamelessly advertised someone to appear at TripleMania that they had no intention of actually wrestling at the show. If lucha libre was a commissioned sport, someone probably would be looking into those statements.
Sexy Star quit AAA in February. She hasn’t missed a Lucha Underground taping, and, at least in front of the crowd, there’s been no indication she’s in trouble with Lucha Underground or will be written out of the company. If anything, the people who write LU have specifically gone the other way, making it clear she’s still very valued to them no matter what happened with her and AAA. Jack Evans worked LU shows last weekend despite being already fired from AAA. I suspect Fenix will have a conversation with Lucha Underground people next week when they’re in San Diego, and he’ll be back in Lucha Underground for Season 4 this year. It seems pretty likely, and Konnan’s said as much, that AAA’s power in Lucha Underground has been reduced to where they can no longer ban AAA wrestlers who are no longer AAA wrestlers. They have money in LU so they have influence, but the impression I get is if the other people want someone to stay enough, they will stay. Fenix is a key part of Lucha Underground for the first three season and I’d suspect he’ll stay that way as long as he’s under contract to them.
My bigger concern is is how this affects everyone else. If AAA truly is trying to block Fenix from working in places in Mexico, then it stands to reason they’d try to force that elsewhere where they have leverage, and the only leverage they really have is taking away Pentagon. I imagine Angelico & Jack will still work their tag stuff even while Jack’s gone from AAA, and I’d imagine Pentagon & Fenix would keep wanting taking their match and their tag stuff around too. Fenix lets slip that he’s booked for PWG in December, and I’ve got a very strong suspicion it’s going to be a follow up to the Fenix/Pentagon versus Young Bucks match from BOLA weekend. Pentagon makes good money working PWG, he makes good money working AAW with Fenix, if AAA tries to block him from working those sorts of places, it’s going to force Pentagon to make his own choice. I don’t think AAA wants it to come to that. I’m sure they want some revenge on Fenix in their heart, but they ought to be thinking with their head and back off before they make it worse.
CMLL’s back in Arena Coliseo tonight – or maybe it already happened, given the pace I’m going. The scheduled main event is Shocker, Terrible and Rey Bucanero versus Stuka, Diamante Azul and Valiente. That sounds not great. CMLL’s preview doesn’t mention Valiente coming is a Universal champ, which make me think it was written Friday and they hadn’t been told Valiente was winning. Drone makes another appearance in the semimain.
Sunday’s CMLL show will air live on CMLL’s stream as part of the Dia de Muertos run of shows. The main event is Ultimo Guerrero versus Rush, which just aired weeks ago on the same CMLL stream. CMLL strongly believes different audiences go to different days of the week and so they can run the same matches on different days without burning people out. They either haven’t realized it’s the same audience watching all these streams, or they just aren’t bothered by that part so much. The only thing which seems safely worth seeking out is the segunda with Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., the Panther versus Misterioso, Morphosis and Tiger.
Sunday has the Titanes del Ring loaded show in Arena Naucalpan. Rey Fenix will not be on it; Laredo Kid replaced him in Queretaro, so maybe that’s the plan here too. I don’t know if this will be taped by AYM (kind of doubt it), but that’s another one where handhelds will probably turn up.
Caristico and Rey Fenix are half of a Lucha Libre Boom main event on 12/08. Caristico & Rey Fenix were supposed to be tag partners in AAA in one of the many 2014-2015 storylines that were just dropped a third of the way thru.
Title matches probably should be higher up. CMLL announced this title match during the show to the live crowd; you’d also think they’d want to have Marcela earn the show in a more impressive way than being choked almost to death. It’s just an odd way to set up a title match.
Main event is a relevos increibles because CMLL’s insistent on Rush being a tecnico even though they never explain it and no one else sees him as a tecnico. Valiente celebrates his big win by not even being booked, though Volador versus Rush should be entertaining. The Hijos del Infierno are together for a second straight week, so maybe there’s something coming up with them. Rey Cometa was taken off shows this week, but perhaps he’ll be back next week. (The women being reduced to a title match means the usually good men’s tercera is back this week, and hopefully for more than just one week.) Stukita and Mercurio are in the opener; Mercurio hasn’t been around since August. Nice to get him back.
Still three weeks behind! Catching up is really not working. I didn’t figure on watching baseball so much, I think. Next week should finish quicker. I already finished AAA’s show for next week and did LU & Claro relatively on time. I have this urge to add CMLL Retro to the rotation and yet not CMLL Guadalajara, and I can’t explain why, and I probably need help.
I’m never going to watch all the indie stuff I want; I’m no longer putting FILL ciberneticos on the list (and may skip the ones I have) unless someone tells me I must watch one, because I can’t watch those without trying to figure out who everyone is, and it turns into a giant sink. The matches can be be fun, and are really useful for discovering unheralded people, but I can watch two or three in the same time. And I don’t have nearly enough watching video time. I haven’t even watched Trauma/Canis Lupus yet, why are you reading my weak lucha takes. It’s November on Tuesday and the fear of never watching everything I want to from this year is strong. At least I’m watching some good stuff.
