Rob and I back to talk about lucha libre things going on right now. We’re both excited for FantasticaMania, I force Rob to talk about Guerra de Titanes, he tries to get me to make an actual decision about WrestleMania plans, I complain too much about Lucha Underground and indies promotion as well. The podcast is about 90 minutes, which is not something we’re purposefully aiming for but works out nicely.
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CMLL (TUE) 01/17/2017 Arena México [CMLL, SuperLuchas]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro 
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Cancerbero, Nitro b Magia Blanca, Robin, Sensei
Rudos took 1/3.
3) Sagrado, Tiger, Virus b Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma
Rudos took 1/3.
4) Rey Cometa b Puma [lightning]
Cometa won with a code red in over 7 minutes.
5) Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Vangellys b Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Johnny Idol
Rudos took 1/3.
6) La Máscara, Pierroth, Shocker b Blue Panther, Diamante Azul, Valiente
Rudos took 1/3. Pierroth got in a foul on Blue Panther and La Mascara unmasked Diamante Azul.
The only thing I’ve seen from this so far is Cometa/Puma, which was a good seven minute sprint that you wish went fifteen. The rest of the card sounds like it went to form. Nothing that happened in the main event is going anywhere because the Ingobernables are off next week.
In Guadalajara, Dragon Rojo defeated Angel de Oro to keep the CMLL middleweight championship.
In Arena Aficion, La Hechicera lost her hair in the four way match with Super Fly, Joe Lider and Big Mami. They did announce Daga would lose his hair instead of Joe Lider if Lider lost, since Lider just lost his hair two weeks ago in Neza. However, much like Lider’s hair loss in Neza, there’s no photos of Hechicera bald. There’s a shot of someone using scissors on a part of her hair backstage, but no sign she lived up to the stipulation. People pointing out the Lider situation eventually caused him to shave his head, and maybe that’ll happen again here, but ou’re a sucker if you believe an apuesta bet on AAA show.
ROH announced Volador Jr. would be on their 04/01 show, with Dragon Lee. n
Panama’s LXN promotion announced Rey Mysterio Jr., Negro Casas, Caristico and Dalys for their 03/18 show.
Wrestling streaming service FloSlam put up a press release, noting they’re missing lucha libre programming on their network and announced they were adding Pro Wrestling Revolution out of northern California and Lucha Future out of the UK. PWR has been running iPPVs on FiteTV, usually with a couple big lucha names (Caristico’s their current champion) and locals. Lucha Forever is using a lot of familiar (and talented) wrestlers from the UK scene, some who trained at the lucha school in London, but not anyone who would be considered primarily a luchador and appear to be running a normal indie card. (Lucha Forever swears their name will make sense when they run their first show.) Calling Lucha Forever something that fills a lucha libre gap is dumb: no one who looks at their lineup will believe that, it distracts from the actual good matches they’re promising, and it’s just generally patronizing. PWR is a good first step to having some lucha on the service.
The press release says it’s a multi-show deal, and it sounds like it’s only a deal for shows from this point forward. I’d be more interested if it included the back library too. PWR’s first show will be on 02/25 with Ultimo Dragon vs Vaquero Fantasma and Ultimo Panda vs Kikutaro.
What Culture Pro Wrestling announced they’re running a Pro Wrestling World Cup. Tournaments to qualify two wrestlers will be held in seven countries, including Mexico. There’s no indication of when this would happen or who would be involved, but the press release says each countries’ tournament will be held in that country, so they’d be planning on coming to Mexico City.
RIOT 03/04 in Arena LLF in Monterrey with “Show Me The Money”
1: Sammy Guevara vs Jack Evans
2: Dulce Kanela vs Larry Miranda
3: Los Kamikazes del Aire (Aramis, Iron Boy, Alas de Acero) vs Los Mismos de Siempre (Kamikzae, Kratoz, Erik Ortiz) – that’s going to be a crazy match
Fly Warrior is in the US for a couple months, based out of New Jersey.
Fenix, Psycho Clown and Magno are wrestling in New York on 02/18. Psycho Clown is a rare AAA luchador getting US bookings solely off his AAA work and not Lucha Underground.
Billionaire Carlos Slim yesterday announced a plan to launch new TV channel “Nuestra Vision” in the US in 2017. They’re planning on being Mexico focused and using programming from channels like ClaroSports. ClaroSports airs CMLL, but others (LATV) may already have the rights to those shows in the US.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and the return of Kurt Brown to the podcast.
CultIcon has a preview of Guerra de Titanes.
Hijo del Fantasma challenges Garza Jr. to do something, anything new in their title match on Friday. This is a strong Fantasma promo. I think I actually care about both the title matches at Guerra de Titanes, if only that I’d be upset if they went the wrong way.
Pentagon Jr. tells Taya to stay out of the title match on Friday.
Aerostar is holding a poll to decide if he should leave the cage on Friday, or stay in and try to get an apuesta match with Super Fly. I think he’s staying.
Arena Mexico is among the places you should know in a tour of Doctors neighborhood of Mexico City.
Lineup
IWRG (SUN) 01/22/2017 Arena Naucalpan
1) Cadilac vs Keshin Black
2) Omega vs Adrenalina
3) Freelance vs Aramis, Araña de Plata, Demonio Infernal, Black Dragón
4) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs Killer Jr., Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro, X-Fly
5) Dragón Fly, Emperador Azteca, Veneno vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Heddi Karaoui, Herodes Jr.
6) Golden Magic & Mr. Electro vs Pirata Morgan & Pirata Morgan Jr.
7) Imposible vs Relámpago [IWRG IC MIDDLE]
Listed as without referee. 5th defense for Impossible.
Main event gets back to where they were two weeks ago, though I’m not sure how the match will finish without referee. (There probably will be a referee.) A frustration with IWRG was building around the not-great heavyweights when they had Imposible, and they’ve actually done a lot with Imposible this month.
AYM has only been airing the top 4, so we may not get the five way match unless +Lucha posts it. (They should!)
CMLL (TUE) 01/24/2017 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Pequeño Universo 2000 & Pequeño Violencia
2) Flyer, Metatrón, Star Jr. vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Canelo Casas, Hijo del Signo
3) Fuego vs Skándalo [lightning]
4) Pegasso, Stigma, Tritón vs Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus
5) Ángel de Oro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Ripper, Sam Adonis, Vangellys
6) Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible
Of all the people flying back from Japan, it’s old man Atlantis and Stuka who have to work the first day back. (Or everyone else is stuck taking the shuttle to Guadalajara.) This card isn’t much better than the others, with a some matches which might be good but nothing that looks great and definitely some things that look bad. That minis opener is close to the worse one they can throw out there.
