Friday night results, loaded Three King’s Day CMLL card

CMLL (FRI) 12/30/2016 Arena México [CMLL, CultIcon, thecubsfan]
1) Hijo del Signo & Metálico b Flyer & Robin
17:24. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Pegasso, Star Jr., Tritón b Nitro, Sangre Azteca, Virus
13:52. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Rey Cometa b Sagrado [lightning]
7:36, Cometa winning with a standing Spanish Fly
4) Blue Panther Jr., Drone, The Panther b Kráneo, Olímpico, Ripper
14:42. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Ángel de Oro, Marco Corleone, Stuka Jr. b Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible
12:55. Tecnicos took 1/3.
6) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas
10:58. Tecnicos took 2/3. Cavernario replaced Mr. Niebla on Tuesday.

Big looking crowd from what we could see on Claro, but they never did the big sweeping pan camera shots normal for a 10,000+ show. It didn’t look that occupied in the upper levels when we could see them, which – along with some social media searching and rash judgments based on crowd shots – suggests this was a heavy tourist crowd in for the weekend to have fun. They got a fun show: tecnicos won just about everything, and the last couple matches were especially crowd pleasing. CMLL’s ability to draw tourists is an advantage over every other promotion in the world and it helped them last night. Not much happened, but not a lot needed to happen.

It does leave CMLL in a weird situation where the worst two attendance numbers in this couple weeks stretch appear to be last Sunday’s big show and possibly this upcoming Sunday’s show. Like last week, tickets prices are more expensive for the Sunday show than usual. Tickets are 180 to 680 for Maximo/Mascara (which aren’t moving much), compared to 50 to 250 for the following Sunday. They’re also more expensive than next Friday’s CMLL card, which is a bonkers lineup. I usually save the lineups for later, but this is the biggest thing going on today.

CMLL (FRI) 01/06/2017 Arena México
1) Estrellita, La Vaquerita, Marcela vs Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis
2) Rey Cometa vs Cavernario
3) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs Negro Casas, Puma, Tiger
4) Volador Jr. vs Mephisto
5) La Máscara & Rush vs Marco Corleone & Máximo Sexy
6) Valiente vs Último Guerrero
7) Atlantis, Carístico, Mistico vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja

Informa said this show, on Three King’s Day, would have rematches from the best of 2016. I didn’t believe them. They aired the promo last night hyping those matches. Still didn’t believe them. I am looking at the actual lineup right now. Still a little unsure! No, really, this is a card unlike any thing CMLL has done. Three singles match on a non-tournament show, seven matches entirely, just a show where they did all star matches instead of just trying to fill dates for undercard wrestlers, this is unlike anything I’ve seen out of CMLL ever. It’s going to be one of the best Friday night shows CMLL runs all in 2017; only Anniversario and Dos Leyendas have a sure bet to beat it. I have no idea if this is a one off holiday idea, or if it’s the annual attempt to experiential in the first quarter of the year before giving up the rest of the time, or if it’s something more. I just really hope next Sunday does well because I want more like this.

(To beat up the poor dead horse a little more, this is a much better card than either of the two Sunday holiday shows at a cheaper price.)

I’d suspect those singles matches will be one fall matches just to fit them all in. Or they’ll be effectively one fall matches. Not going to be too bothered by Casas, Puma & Tiger not getting their tag title shot because I’d rather see the Panther rematch again. I’d rather see Cometa/Cavevernario again too and I’d hope they’d set up a title match. They probably won’t: this’ll be the last Friday show before the FantasticaMania crew head to Japan. Those FantasticaMania lineups will come out early this same morning, so Friday’s going to be a busy day.

Maybe connected to all of this, maybe not: Leo Riano’s column talks about hopes for 2017, and mentions Sofia Alonso is now in charge of CMLL marketing. I’m guessing Paco Alonso’s daughter, but it’s not said.) He hopes she’ll be part of “modernizing” the company. (This is not the same Alonso/Lutteroth family member who’s been part of their cultural projects.) I’m not sure how much to make of this, because titles for children of business owners sometimes can be pretty important sounding and not amount to all that much, but Paco Alonso passing administration of his lucha libre company down to his children sounds like a logical end game. We just don’t know when it would happen. Maybe just one more thing to keep an eye on in 2017.

Maximo says he’s nervous going into Sunday’s match with Mascara 2000. He notes the Dinamitas wrestled a very different style than he did today, and hopes his cardio will give him an edge. CMLL has not said if Sunday’s show will be streaming. NJPW says they’ll have it streaming, and CMLL’s streamed every time NJPW has so far. I suspect CMLL is concerned that the stream will hurt attendance and isn’t going to advertise it, but it’ll still be broadcast tomorrow.

DTU talks about their 2016, says they plan on doing more iPPVs in 2017.

CultIcon finishes up his top 50 luchadors of the year list.

In Reynosa, Perfil was declared the best luchador of the year by Panther Promociones. The mask match between Imagen II and Magnifico was the best match of the year.

A new arena is opening in San Luis Potosi on Sunday with X-Fly in the main event.