CMLL Universal Block B, Elite, T. Panther & Misterioso to ROH

Tonight’s CMLL Anniversary show has the second half of the Universal tournament. After Valiente shockingly won the first block, the second block is open. It’s hard to believe Ephesto & Luciferno are doing anything, but Dragon Rojo and Rey Bucanero are about the same level of Valiente. It’s hard to imagine Rey Bucanero versus Valiente as the main event of an important Friday show, but next week’s show will probably be as much about the Dia de los Muertos pageantry as the wrestling.

Still, let’s drop those four just for simplicity’s sake. It leaves:

• Atlantis: is Atlantis, is the reigning Universal champion. Atlantis versus Valiente is an odd match, but Atlantis in a main event singles match would feel like a singles match.
• Dragon Lee: would’ve been a logical finalist in a lot of scenarios to continue the momentum off the mask match, but is also an odd fit as a Valiente opponent. It would be an interesting match, but not one CMLL usually does.
• La Mascara: the only rudo with a great chance of winning, a natural opponent of Valiente, and the usual bit of a big mask loser winning something almost as big soon after to ‘prove’ he still has it. Valiente/La Mascara would not be a stellar main event most times, but would work best this year.
• Volador Jr.: can easily shift back to being a rudo for the night, has the story of being a trios title partner with Valiente, either he or Rush is the biggest name who hasn’t won this tournament yet.

La Mascara makes the most sense, but Valiente won last week and he definitely did not make the most sense. At this point, you hope La Mascara simply makes the block final, so he can have the long singles match against either Dragon Lee or Volador.

The rest of the show is a random assortment of tag matches, some looking better than other. Euforia, Niebla Roja and Ultimo Guerrero versus Marco Corleone, Maximo and Rush in a match seemingly designed only for Rush to turn on his partners. The women are in the tercera, with Estrellita, Marcela and Sanely facing Amapola, Dalys and Metalica. The best undercard match will likely be the Friday night debut of the Junior Dinamitas as a trio, with Cuatrero, Sanson and their cousin Forastero taking on Blue Panther, The Panther and Esfinge. The show will open with a minis match, as seem to be happening frequently. This one is Electrico & Ultimo Dragon against Demus and Pequeno Olimpico.

The show airs at 8:30pm on ClaroSports.com. This is not a NJPWWorld broadcast.

Elite, in Arena Lopez Mateos, has a unique main event: Caristico vs LA Park in a cage match. Singles cage matches are rarity in lucha libre. Elite did one a few months ago with Teddy Hart and Extreme Tiger, which wasn’t as interesting as it sounds. Nothing in Elite is as interesting as it sounds of late, and the only question is how LA Park will put together a tremendously screwy finish in this environment. Blue Demon Jr. versus Rey Escorpion is the semimain, which sounds equally likely for a controversial finish. The quality of matches in Elite have dropped a lot in the post-CMLL era, and really the shows haven’t been as good since the international tournament.

The undercard doesn’t look especially good: Cibernetico & Sharlie Rockstar vs Mr. Aguila & Zumbido; Golden Magic & Bandido vs Argos & Hijo de Dos Caras; Zumbido, Emperador Azteca, Hijo de LA Park vs Karonte Jr, Imposible, Diamante (maybe the best one?); and Rocky Lobo & Pantera (maybe Hijo?) versus Tanque Infernal & Luzbel. Four or five matches from the show will air on Saturday on Azteca.

Elite held a press conference in Toluca yesterday to promote it’s 11/04 taping. The article mentions the original card, which can’t be correct: Flamita keeps being advertised even though we know for sure he’s wrestling in Dragon Gate the night before. (I guess it’s not physically impossible, but it’s tougher than Caristico’s double shots.) This time, Marcos Medina was introduced as the Elite representative. He shows up previously as connected to memorable failures ENESMA and EAW (two rings!)

We don’t know if/where Elite is taping next week, yet.

AAA is not taping this week. They’re off to Japan tonight or tomorrow, for the Star Battle show. AAA’s posted the updated lineup for the show on their site, acknowledging the Hijo del Fantasma for Jack Evans and La Hiedra for Faby Apache changes.

There’s a temporary Rey Mysterio museum in Tokyo as part of the promotion for the show.

Earlier this morning, on NJPW’s show, Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi advanced to the semifinals of the Super Junior Tag Tournament, defeating the team of Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger. Taguchi pinned Liger. A match earlier, Beretta defeated Angel de Oro to give RPG Vice a win over Angel de Oro & Titan. These matches aired on NJPW, I haven’t seen them, but it sounds like there was nothing extraordinary on the show. The next show to air will be on 10/23, the same day as the AAA Star Battle show. On the NJPW show, Titan & Liger take on Taiji Ishimori & ACH, and Tiger Mask & Angel de Oro face Taguchi & Fuego. The next stage of the tournament is on 10/30, where Taguchi & Fuego face the same RPG Vice.

The Panther & Misterioso Jr. will represent CMLL in Ring of Honor in their Survival of the Fitness tournament on 11/03 & 11/04. It’s a two day tournament: a bunch of singles matches on day 1, then a multiman match with the winner getting a title shot on the second night. That suggests they’ll probably just have the two work against each other on day one, and then the winner will likely come up a little short of that title shot.

Misterioso & the Panther have worked a lot in trios and even had a lightning match, so they should be fine enough in a singles match and either guy could get in a few spots and then get beat in the multiman fine. My issue with these picks, like Angel de Oro, is I want it to be a reward for people who are working hard in CMLL and are going to be the best CMLL has to offer and that’s not what they’re doing at all. It’s just names who’ve worked FantasicaMania and I should stop ranting about this every time. I don’t like the idea of just picking random people but, if they keep bringing CMLL people in often, eventually it’s going to be the right people.

Today’s Bauer and Pollock show includes Court Bauer says WWE may have interest in La Mascara & Rush. WWE being interested in top guys in another promotion isn’t that much of a surprise, though it’s always different when it comes to Mexico. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise with Rush; whenever Meltzer says someone is the best (whatever) in wrestling, someone in WWE perks up, and Rush has been called the best rudo in wrestling for a while. (So, of course, he’s set up to be a tecnico tonight.) There were rumors about WWE having interest in La Mascara around the mask match and back in the spring. Rush has previously said he didn’t have interest in WWE, but people say all sorts of things.

The 10/16 Arena Jose Sulaiman (Monterrey) AAA show had a scheduled main event of Psycho Clown, Monster Clown, Murder Clown against Pagano, Nicho and Damian. That doesn’t make any sense. What they did instead was have Pagano lay down so the Clowns could pin him in the first fall and all the clowns attacked Psycho to send him out of the match. Pagano sat out the match that point, allowing Nicho & Damian to tie up the match, then Psycho Clown came back in the third fall, followed by the AAA tecnicos, to disrupt the main event and end it without a finish.