Mocho Cota, Manuel Cota Soto, passed away yesterday afternoon. He was 62. He’s said said to have died after a fall caused multiple skull fractures (though a brain aneurysm was also mentioned.) Cota’s organs are being donated, as he requested in his will. He’s the second luchador in his family to pass away in 2016, after his son Zayco died in June. Another son, now wrestling as Mocho Cota Jr., has appeared infrequently in AAA this year.
Cota was rudo for EMLL in the 80s and 90s, with short stints in AAA in the 90s. Cota had big hair and only three fingers on his right hand, losing the middle and ring finger in a work accident. The “Mocho” nickname (“cripple”) comes from that injury, but he never came off as a handicapped or limited. He came off as a tough nosed luchador who was out to hurt people as much as win. Cota was NWA and Mexican welterweight champion but, as SuperLuchas notes in their obit, Cota seemed a guy more about crushing his opponents than winning titles. Cota’s major league career ended around 1999, though he would still work northern shows and pop up from time to time. He would occasionally promote shows in his home state of Sonora in recent years, and the SuperLuchas articles mentions Cota was working in AAA’s programming department at some point in the past.
Alfredo has the best obit of Mocho Cota. CMLL and AAA noted his passing. CMLL says they’ll have a tribute to him tonight. There’s a playlist of some of his matches here. DJ Spectro writes about Cota’s introduction to EMLL.
Tonight’s CMLL show has Ultimo Guerrero versus Caristico. There’s nothing on the line, outside of a non-binding resolution to have an apuesta match between the two of them should Ultimo Guerrero Caristico win. It’s not their first singles match since Caristico’s return – that was in Puebla – and it’s not even the first singles match in Arena Mexico – that was on Liga Elite – but it still feels like a better deal than the Sunday apuesta matches to come just because of the names involved. Mistico won this match all the time on his way up, and the quality of these matches contributed to his rise. Since his return, each man has pinned each other once and the Liga Elite match ended in DQ. The mask/hair match seems unlikely to happen any time soon, and feels like many teases of possible Anniversario matches normal to this time of year which don’t end up going anywhere, but the crowd should be into it. Ultimo and Caristico still have great crowd support and there should be a good atmosphere for the main event.
I have a video preview of the main event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyC0YkpkICI&feature=youtu.be
This is a one match show, same as CMLL’s other big shows the next couple of weeks. The semimain is a teaser for the hair match nine days from now, with Maximo & Mascara 2000 on opposite sides of a trios. Marco, Volado, Euforia and Hechicero will try to have a good match outside the obvious issue. The semimain is Atlantis, Stuka and Valiente versus Kraneo, Mephisto and Ripper. Guerrero Maya, Soberano and Titan take on Dragon Rojo Jr., Luciferno and Polvora in the tercera, replacing the women’s trios that’s been in that spot late. The Panther brothers team with Triton, making his Arena Mexico return, against the random combination of Forastero, Okumura and Sagrado. Yet another show opens with a minis match, this time Demus & Mercurio versus Fantasy & Dragoncito.
Dragon Lee will return to Ring of Honor in New York on March 4th. He’ll face Will Ospreay in a first time ever singles match, assuming it doesn’t happen elsewhere first. This is not a TV taping or a PPV, but a VOD exclusive show.
CultIcon previews this sow. It will air as normal on ClaroSports at 8:30pm.
AAA luchadors will be on UnivisionTDN’s Zona Ruda on Christmas Eve. Psycho and Wagner will build up their mask match, while Pentagon, Fantasma and Tirantes will be on another panel.
AAA luchadors worked a private show in Riviera Maya for a group of German travel agents, to promote international tourism to the area.
Rey Lobo Jr. surprised Star Fire with a marriage proposal on TV yesterday. She said yes.
Mr. Niebla says he’s the most criticized luchador.
LuchaWorld has the Lucha Report.
Voices of Wrestling reviews yesterday’s CMLL show.
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Zona Ruda could be a big story or nothing.
As someone asked on Twitter, will it involve groups other than AAA? I agree with Cubs answer but who knows when it comes to Televisa.
I think the story will be whether or not this show airs in the US. If it does that would be great for AAA. After attending the NYC show and seeing how AAA treated it on Twitter and NotiAAA you get the feeling they want to do shows in the US again. Only 200 fans were there but Rodz did so little to promote it.