I should’ve reminded you of this earlier: the Super Junior Tag Team Tournament starts early Friday morning (Central) on NJPWWorld. Maybe I’ll watch it later. For what it’s worth, this week’s CMLL Friday show is not on NJPW World. They’re back next week. Not sure why they pick some weeks and not others.
AAA starts the post-Heroes Inmortales show (so we don’t know exactly which matches will air.) You may have to wait one more week for the thrilling return of Dizzy.
The Lucha Underground preview also mentions a visit from Congressman Delgado and Rey asking for a favor from Dario.
CMLL (TUE) 10/18/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [+LuchaTV, Martes de Glamour]
1) Espectrúm, Furia Roja, Ráfaga b Explosivo, León Blanco, Magnum Magnum and Furia Roja were added to the match. Rudos took 2/3.
2) Canelo Casas, Grako, Sangre Azteca b Bengala, Frezzer, Leono Grako’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara debut. Bengala & Leono replaced Starman (MIA) & Sensei. Canelo Casas replaced Furia Roja (moved down). Rudos took 2/3.
3) Nitro, Puma, Tiger b Oro Jr., Soberano Jr., Stigma Rudos took 1/3, Nitro giving Oro a piledriver (and Oro stretched out.)
4) Blue Panther, Esfinge, Johnny Idol b Bobby Z, Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora Tecnicos took 2/3, Panther beating Dragon Rojo to set up a title match. Dragon Rojo said it’d be a honor to defend against Blue Panther.
5) Mr. Niebla, Shocker, Último Guerrero b Dragón Lee, Máximo Sexy, Rush Rudos took 1/3. Shocker snuck in a foul on Rush.
Panther/Rojo is set up for next week, and Shocker/Rush are the main event trios match too.
No CMLL show this Saturday. It didn’t occur to me that we never got a lineup. It’s another boxing show. Hopefully that means Lucha Retro catches up a week when they get this far, but they’ll probably just air a repeat.
Lucha Underground listed main events for the Phoenix shows on their Facebook page. The noon show has Johnny Mundo versus Brian Cage in a Falls Count Anywhere match. The 3pm show has Pentagon Dark versus Mil Muertes in a No DQ match with Vampiro as ringside enforcer. Drago, Jack Evans, Ivelisse, Taya, Mariposa, Aerostar, and Son of Havoc are listed as also appearing. Paul London is headed to WXW this weekend, which means Vampiro’s probably the main guy in charge of the wrestling part of the LU shows. This week’s WON says Vampiro’s official AAA position is “Head of Talent Relations”, so I guess he’s in that in-between luchadors and the Roldans role Jack Evans noted was missing. Speaking of, Jack Evans was added to the 11/04 AAW show in Chicago. Jack appearing on the LU shows means he’s still in OK with that company, whatever his current AAA status is.
There’s nothing yet for 10/30 in Houston or 11/05 in San Diego/Escondido, but I’d suspect they’ll follow the same template: noon/3pm shows, main events announcers, other matches not (but probably 3-4 total). None of this was mentioned on the TV show, or even on the social media accounts during the show. That seems bad, but not entirely unexpected at this point. They are not doing the best possible job at promoting, no change there.
El Rey & Lucha Underground are also asking for short fan video (from US people only), talking about why they like any of one of the five best LU episodes they’ve picked. The five they’ve chosen are Grave Consequences 1, Trios Champions (the tournament final), Ultima Lucha 1, Aztec Warfare 2 and No Mas. Those are fine picks. The fine print says these videos will air a Lucha Underground on/around November 29th (and also the “prize” for winning is they’ll just air your videos.) November 29th is a Tuesday, kind of an odd day for a marathon, especially when Thanksgiving is the more obvious pick just a few days before, but From Dust Till Dawn is finished up at that point so El Rey has space to fill.
Ring of Honor’s daily update mentions Dragon Lee will return to the promotion for his TV Title shot on the 12/02 Final Battle PPV. Also, two luchadors who had not previously appeared in Ring of Honor will be part of their annual Survival of the Fitness tournament on 11/03 in Arlington, Texas and 11/04 in San Antonio. The CMLL participation has gone up from occasional appearances to every weekend ROH runs after the Dragon Lee/Kamaitachi match.
I disagree with this concept of just having so many different CMLL luchadors appear; they need to concentrate on a few people if they’re hoping fans will get into any of them. It may not be ROH’s decision, but it’s not helping the concept for people to show up once and then perhaps not again for a long time. It’s great Angel de Oro got over, but it doesn’t help if he’s not seen again for six months.
Ring of Honor has their 10/14 Chicago Ridge show, with Angel de Oro vs Kamaitachi vs ACH vs Nick Jackson, on video for $15.
Rey Orion, a 24 year old Monterrey luchador who wrestling in Arena Coliseo Monterrey as recently as a month ago, has passed away. No mention of what happened. Edit: Publimetro reports Rey Orion passed away in car accident.
Imagen Televison, the over the air successor to the cadenatres network, finally launched this past week about a year after the old network went off the air. They’re not airing lucha, but it’d be a logical landing point for the Tuesday show.
Puebla’s annual lucha libre expo (4-6 indie lucha libre shows over a weekend) will be 12/12 & 12/13 at Polideportivo Puebla Sur.
Lineups
LB (SAT) 11/26/2016Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Dragóncito De Oro, Súper Pincohito, Toto vs ?, Bracito De Plata, Felinito
2) Ram El Carnero vs Dragón Bane, Ojo De Halcón
3) Demente Extreme vs Makabre, Eterno, Brian Villa, Mike Segura, Draego, Freelance, Wily Banderas, Toxin Boy, Atomic Star, Fly Star
4) Atm, Carta Brava, Cerebro Negro, Fantasma de la Ópera vs ?, Arez, Belial, Impulso
5) Halloween & X-Fly vs Cíclope & Paranoiko and Ángel o Demonio & Ovett
6) LA Park vs Masada
LA Park vs (US) Masada, OK. This being a Halloween themed card on November 26th is the weirder thing.