Month: February 2017

CMLL (MON) 02/27/2017 Arena Puebla [CultIcon, El Popular]
1) París & Zaeta Roja b Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr.
2) Millenium & Robin b Espíritu Maligno & Policeman
Straight falls. Espiritu & Policeman broke up during the match.
3) Fuego, Oro Jr., Stigma b Arkángel de la Muerte, Canelo Casas, Puma
Puma replaced Okumura
4) Ephesto, Hechicero, Mephisto b Johnny Idol, Máximo Sexy, Stuka Jr.
5) Volador Jr. b Euforia [lightning]
6) Carístico, Rush, Valiente DQ Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
Caristico replaced Misitco, Valiente replaced Dragon Lee. UG fouled Rush.

Show doesn’t sound like it was that good (and yet I’ll watch it tonight anyway.)

Arena Puebla had the blue canvas, the same that’s been used in Arena Coliseo. Literally the same one; I think they made it for the Retro show, and have moved it to Puebla since that show makes TV and Coliseo no longer is taped. (Coliseo had an old looking unlogo blue canvas this past week.) Arena Mexico got a black canvas, with the connection of both being the Victoria sponsorship disappearing. Losing Victoria would hurt; they’re owned by the same people who own Corona (and just wanted to switch which brand they were promoting), so that’s a long time sponsor who might be going away.

CMLL says Mistico was hurt in his match with Cavernario on Sunday and will be out for the moment. Caristico replaces him yesterday and tonight. CMLL didn’t address the Dragon Lee disappearance, and he’s still listed tonight.

Today, CMLL has a show. They definitely do. Uh huh. The main event – Caristico, Dragon Lee and Rey Cometa versus Cavernario, Felino and Negro Casas – could be good if they give it time, but there’s no sure sign of that. Semimain might also be good, Guerrero Maya, Johnny Idol, Stuka versus Hechicero, Ripper and Vangellys – but there’s not a lot of excitement to it. The lightning match is supposed to be Esfinge vs Okumura, who knows what’ll be now. Oro Jr., Stigma and Triton take on Cancerbero, Raziel and Skandalo in the tercera. The minis have Acero, Electrico, Stukita versus Mercurio, Pequeno Olimpico and Pierrothito. All those matches might be good, have people who are not good, and have no particular interest in them. The show will open with Bengala & Marvel versus Camorra & Coyote.

Culticon previews this show, which airs on CMLL’s YouTube channel at 7:30pm.

Guadalajara has the Diamante Azul versus Yoshi Tatsu match you didn’t know you wanted.

CMLL never put up the CMLL’s second minis cibernetico.

The Crash 03/25 announcements

The Crash announced the Young Bucks vs Daga & Rey Mysterio on their 03/25 show. That match should be great. Daga having a great match with the Young Bucks would probably be very helpful for his US indie aspirations.

The Crash says they’ll have the Young Bucks vs Rey Mysterio & Daga on their 03/25, and announced DJZ, Bobby Lashley, Robbie E and Brooke from Impact Wrestling. The last two don’t seem like they work a lot of outside dates. Robbie wrestled in AAA in the past when they were with Impact, and that’s probably what’s happened here. The Crash hasn’t announced anything with Impact (like they have with a California indie to split the cost of brigning in wrestlers), but they’re operating like they’ve got a deal.

One thing is up in the air is The Hardys as The Crash Tag Team champions. The Hardys announced they’re done in Impact Wrestling effectively immediately, and the Wrestling Observer expects they’re going to WWE and probably soon. The belts are meaningless themselves and The Crash can just crown new champions, but a reason they were champions was to do a tag match with Penta & Rey Fenix. It might have to occur on the 03/25 show if it’ll happen at all.

El Tijuanense talked to Flamita about his The Crash Cruiserweight championship reign. Flamita say he’s got no problem defending against Famous B, would like to face Mexicans like Laredo Kid and Fenix, and still wants to go against Extreme Tiger when he’s healthy. It’ll be a while before he gets to those, though he does seem open to the idea of defending the title while in Japan.

Daga and Garza are also working the FULL show the week before in Tijuana. If that stays that way, that shows the independence of those guys to work in the same venue as The Crash for another promotion.

Today in AAA vs The Crash Drama

Arturo Rivera had a couple of rants on Facebook, which R de Rudo noticed. In one, he said the idea that AAA was ever trying to trademark The Crash was false, because there’s no value in the name. He also tried to imply Konnan’s working illegally in Mexico. In another post, he says Robreto Figueroa is angry at him because Rivera compared Figueroa to a rat on a radio show. Arturo apologizes – to the rats. He’s angry at Figueroa for going to TripleMania on AAA’s invite/flight and ending up negotiating a deal with Konnan while saying he was sticking with AAA.

Later on, possibly unrelated, Konnan went off on Joaquin Roldan as a proxy for all the Roldans (since the other two blocked him.) Konnan’s accusing AAA of sending IMPI (trademark) officials to stop Rey Fenix from wrestling under that name. He says AAA owns Brian Cage, Rey Mysterio and Hayashi money, and all the wrestlers money from the iPPVs and PPVs. And he says AAA wrestlers were working in the US without correct work visas (so tourist visas).

That last bit has been somewhat publicly acknowledged by LU officials; they haven’t mentioned the tourist visa part, but mentioned the reason Taya and Daga and others missed weeks of Season 3 tapings is because MGM would no longer allow them to use people without work visas. If anyone had been caught using a tourist visa, the wrestlers could’ve been kicked out of the country – at worst, they could be banned from the US for years like Mike Bailey currently is – and there might have been some penalty for LU itself.

(The visa issues messed up the very first LU taping, causing them to rebook the entire episodes thru Aztec Warfare 1. It’s unbelievable that would be allowed to be an issue again when it was such a colossal mess up the first time, but it obviously wasn’t done right.)

AAA & those people would know their money issues, but all those guys working with The Crash and not working with the AAA seems to confirm they’re not happy with AAA. (It does suggest that AAA could fix those problems somewhat if they just paid people what they thought they were owed – it’s unclear if AAA doesn’t think they need to, or just doesn’t have have the money.) The IMPE story is really wild; IMPE’s own site says AAA’s trademark requests have not been approved, and I’m not clear on how a trademark official could stop someone from having a wrestling match – but Mexico works in weird ways, and Konnan’s been consistent with his belief that there are people in the trademark office doing things on AAA’s behalf.

Meanwhile, 126f noted that, in Alberto’s most recent interview with +LuchaTV, Alberto’s position on AAA was “I do not much like the people who work for the company, inside or outside the ring.”  That’s harsher towards AAA in other interviews (though more honest.) Alberto’s getting handed a Rebelion shirt at the first opportunity. He says he’s got agreement work more three more dates for the Crash but he’s been busy on the dates they’re running so far. The funniest Alberto subplot is referenced here – Alberto wants to work Arena Mexico at least once again, but CMLL has no interest in paying what Alberto wants.

Oscar Garcia Jimenez, AAA’s lead graphic designer for the last eight years, mentioned on Facebook that he’s no longer with AAA. That post makes it sound like it wasn’t his decision. Graphic designer is probably too narrow of a description: he was the guy who designed their poster and artwork, but he also created the looks for characters like Drago and Taurus. AAA is a small business so he was handling a lot other roles; I think the last time his name came up in the news was the Ludxor/Nino de Ebano injury story, when there was an dispute about which person cause Ludxor to miss a doctor’s appointment. You would’ve seen Oscar on TV as the guy doing the haircuts for the last few years. I’ve seen him at the AAA offices and he was always friendly. I’m sure he wouldn’t remember this, but he’s actually one of the first lucha people I met in Mexico – we were at Super Astro’s restaurant, and Oscar and Cibernetico just happened to stop to say hi to Astro. It’s a pretty stunning moment when you’re walking around and you just run into people who work for AAA in the first hour you’ve been in the country.

The timing of this in relation to the La Llave de La Gloria logo issue makes it seem like they’re related. I don’t really know anything here, but I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve been thinking it had to be Record or Reforma who stole the logo, because AAA had Oscar and the little I knew of Oscar, I was pretty sure creating a new logo would’ve been something he would’ve been excited to work on. I’ve enjoyed his work in AAA and I hope he gets to do more of it somewhere else. Meanwhile, AAA has a small office, and it seems like it’s getting smaller all the time.

Other News

El Rey sent out a press release with Lucha Underground’s schedule for March. Long story short, someone did the math and realized they could just air all of season two and the first half of season 3 if they started airing four episodes a week for a while. It’ll be four episodes a week for a while, and then cut down to two episodes a week for about the same amount of time if they’re still planning on the May 31st return date.

We still don’t have a return date for Elite, but everyone still believes it’s coming back in March. CMLL included; a card in Sinaloa this past week was changed so Golden Magic and Mistico wouldn’t be in the same match, with CMLL not wanting their luchador in the same match with Elite’s Magic.

Trauma II explained his disappearance: he had a leg injury and was in a cast for some time. He’s not 100% but recovering quicker than he thought.

ESPN Lucha Libre has interviews with Mistico and Cibernetico. No real breaking news but fine enough mainstream profiles.

Psycho Clown beat Joe Lider & Pagano (and the other clowns) in a three way in Arena Xalapa. Local report says money was thrown in.

Box Y Lucha 3273 has Diamante Azul vs Pierroth on the cover.

DTU has a poster for it’s 03/24 Arena Aficion show, and announced Ayako Hamada will be appearing. They’re also teasing a Dragon Gate tryout to come.

An indie – not sure which one, but doesn’t seem like an existing group – is running on 04/02 in Coacalco. Matches include Rey Cometa vs Suicida vs Arez.

Penta Zero M faces Matt Riddle on 04/03 in New York.

Octagon, Atlantis and Juventud Guerrera work the 04/15 PWR show in Santa Clara.

What Culture Pro Wrestling released the first round matches for the Mexico block of it’s World Cup on 04/30. As expected, Caristico has been quietly removed from the card. Juventud Guerrera replaces him. Drago is matched up with local El Ligero, so they could eliminate him from the tournament while avoiding him wrestling one of the ex-AAA guys. That seemed to work out for AAW.

This article on the FULL press conference from last week mentions they’re planning on running Monterrey, Queretaro, Puebla, Toluca, and San Luis Potosi with the Alberto del Rio Distromania shows. (Maybe it was mentioned elsewhere?) That might one couple week tour to each location.

LuchaWorld has the latest edition of their podcast and this week’s Poster-Mania.

Segunda Caida resumes reviewing Lucha Underground Season 3, appears to be unaware of how much Sexy Star they still have to watch, I’m darkly entertained.

Wrestling With Words has a review of Friday’s CMLL show.

+Lucha has a new edition of Usted queria lucha?, with a meeting of the Pentagons. They’ve also got a new edition of their podcast with Psycho Clown, Veneno and referee 19 y 1/2.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 03/06/2017 Arena Puebla
1) Hijo de Centella Roja & Vega vs El Malayo & Guerrero Espacial
2) Black Tiger & Espíritu Maligno vs Hijo del Signo & Policeman
3) Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Stigma vs Canelo Casas, Sangre Azteca, Virus
4) Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Bobby Villa, Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Carístico, Dragón Lee vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
6) Rush vs Último Guerrero

Including Elite, this is the 6th singles match between Rush & Ultimo Guerrero in the last 11 months. Ultimo Guerrero has won every single one of them. They just did this ten days ago in Coliseo, where UG won by DQ. CMLL desperately needs to give different people chances in main events; they’re in the same place as AAA was a couple years ago, where they’re going to be hurting for star power if the handful of people they have on top are injured or leave.

This at least the second time they’ve moved Espiritu Maligno to the tecnico side, and last time it was for a short term hair program. It’s about that time to get a hair match in Puebla, and they’ve liked to run their own Homenaje a Dos Leyendas shows in the recent past.

IWRG (SUN) 02/26/2017 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), The Gladiatores]
1) Alfa b Death Rider
Death Rider’s debut (doesn’t appear to have wrestled anywhere with that name prior)
2) Shadow Boy b Atomic Star
3) Demonio Infernal & Hip Hop Man b Black Dragón & Dragón Fly
straight fall win
4) Apolo Estrada Jr. b Relámpago [super libre]
Apolo wants a title match, Relampago said OK
5) Black Terry & Diablo Jr. b Chicano & Veneno © [IWRG IC TAG]
Chicano & Veneno lose on first defense since winning the titles in September. Dany Casas cost them the title, attacking rival Veneno with a chair. Chicano challenged Danny to a hair match.
6) Herodes Jr. b Hijo De Dos Caras © [IWRG JUNIORS]
Herodes won on straight falls. Dos was DQed for hitting the ref by mistake in the first, lost lean in the second. Dos falls on second defense, first since August. Dos wants revenge.
7) Negro Navarro, Pantera, Pirata Morgan, Solar I, Villano IV b Danny Casas, Imposible, Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Mr. Electro, Trauma I [Copa High Power]
Electro beat both Pirata & Solar during the match, while Trauma & Navarro went to double pin. Match came down to Pantera & Electro. Electro seemed like he was going to win, but Hip Hop Man ran out and threw a drink in Electro’s face to cost him the match. Hip Hop Man told Electro that his career is over because no one wants him in their company, then challenged him to a singles match.

Main event storyline makes total sense to me: as a fellow foreigner, Hip Hop Man doesn’t understand why Mexicans think Mr. Electro is so great either.

AYM never aired the Wednesday IWRG show. Not sure if they’re skipping it, or if they’ll air it tonight instead of this show.

AAA’s site lists them running Arena Naucalpan on 04/14, a Friday. No matches are announced yet.

Tonight’s Arena Puebla show has a Volador singles match, though probably not as big as other Volador matches. It’s his first ever singles match with Euforia, but it’s also ‘only’ a lightning match, a ten minute time limit match. It’ll probably be mostly like the third fall of a singles match, and they might be setting up for a bigger singles match next week.

The actual match was announced to be Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja & Utlimo Guerrero against the Munoz trios of Rush, Mistico and Dragon Lee. However, the poster the Arena sent out has Valiente in Dragon Lee’s spot. Dragon Lee has that odd booking in Guadalajara last night and isn’t on any shows this week, so maybe he’s just going home for a few days. Just to be weirder, CMLL’s since updated the main event to list Caristico, Rush and Dragon Lee as the main event team. Who knows. Mistico is off Tuesday’s show from Arena Mexico too, with Dragon Lee replacing him.

The rest of the card is OK and less than OK stuff. Johnny Idol, Maximo and Stuka take on Ephesto, Mephisto and Hechicero in the fourth match. Fuego, Oro Jr., and Stigma have to face Arkangel, Canelo Casas and someone else. Okumura is still listed on the poster even though CMLL’s update has him out for at least a week. That’s the usual communication issues. Millenium & Robin take on Espiritu Maligno & Policeman, and Paris & Zaeta Roja fight the Batallon de la Muerte in the opener. The show airs on CMLL’s YouTube channel at 9pm.

Vice Spain has a story on Angelico living in Mexico.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 03/04/2017 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala, Leono, Sensei vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Grako
2) Astral, Príncipe Diamante, Sangre Imperial vs Akuma, Artillero, Inquisidor
3) Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Puma, Tiger, Virus
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
5) Carístico, Marco Corleone, Valiente vs La Máscara, Pierroth, Rush

Matches 3 and 4 look good, though it’s hard not to miss how close they were to doing that trios title match (which is never ever happening.)

CMLL (SUN) 03/05/2017 Arena México
1) Flyer, Magia Blanca, Starman vs Grako, Hijo del Signo, Metálico
2) Estrellita, Princesa Sugehit, Sanely vs Reyna Isis, Tiffany, Zeuxis
3) Pierrothito vs Shockercito [CMLL MINI]
vacant title (Astral moving up divisions.) Winner becomes 14th champion. Pierrothito would become a 2 time champ, Shockercito a first time winner.
4) Ángel de Oro, Marco Corleone, Volador Jr. vs Rey Bucanero, Sam Adonis, Terrible
5) Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Mistico vs Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero

Sam Adonis is back and higher than usual, though it’s unclear if it’s a change or just a blip because of the women’s and mini’s matches. I suspect Pierrothito is going to win the title match but it doesn’t feel certain.

CMLL (SUN) 03/05/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Micro vs Guerrero de la Muerte
2) Avispón Negro Jr. & El Yaqui vs Carlo Roggi & Destructor
3) El Divino & Javier Cruz Jr. vs Demonio Rojo & Gran Kenut
4) Kempo Dragón, Sky Kid, Smaker vs Mr. Trueno, Príncipe Kisho, Rey Trueno
5) El Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Explosivo, Omar Brunetti, Star Black

The DF guys returning to Sundays was a one week thing, but the Nuevo Generacion Dinamitas stick around and are seem set up for a trios titles defense soon. Kempo & Kisho are back in again from Sinaloa.

CMLL (SAT) 02/25/2017 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Artillero, Camorra, Cholo b Leono, Marvel, Sensei
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Metálico, Nitro, Virus b Astral, Príncipe Diamante, Starman
Rudos took 1/3. Astral is now 0-3 in the main division.
3) Princesa Sugehit b Zeuxis © [MEX WOMEN]
Sugehit took 2/3, the last by satellite armbar (La Sombra), to win the championship. She’s the 19th modern champion, and this is her first singles title in CMLL (though she’s held the REINA title too.) Zeuxis falls in her 8th defense, fourth straight against Sugehit, after a two year run.
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther b Ephesto, Felino, Luciferno
Felino replaced Mephisto. Tencicos took 2/3.
5) Atlantis, Máximo Sexy, Mistico b Cavernario, Euforia, Mr. Niebla

Any CMLL title match, really any title match, should be an obvious thing to record in some format and put on CMLL’s YouTube channel. In this case, it looks like all we’re going to get is this clip of the finish.

Zeuxis losing her championship again at least opens the door to her heading to the WWE. Other international wrestlers are starting in April, Zeuxis has tried out with them in the past, and she’d fit with the upcoming women’s tournament they’re running. (Even if she’s only going for the tournament, this fits the pattern of Mascara Dorada losing his title before going for the Cruiserweight tournament.) Zeuxis has been at a WWE tryout in the past, but she’s given no indication of leaving for WWE (and seemed to shoot down the idea when it came up before the cage match.) It’s simply something to keep in mind for about the next six weeks at the point.

126F has extended highlights Daga & Rey Fenix vs Ricochet & Rey Horus; I didn’t watch the whole thing, so I’m not sure how much was edited out. They also have video of Rey Mysterio’s surprise appearance and him joining La Rebelion.

The Crash announced the Young Bucks and Bobby Lashley for the March 25th show. The Bucks are interesting because they’re ROH/NJPW contracted wrestlers who are wrestling in Mexico for someone other than CMLL. On the other hand, CMLL doesn’t run Tijuana or anywhere near it themselves, and CMLL hasn’t shown any outward interest of using the Young Bucks.

The Jarretts were joined by an Impact Wrestling/Fight Network official. The Impact logo was among those shown on the screen before the show, but it didn’t seem like any formal deal was announced in front of the crowd. Bobby Lashley working their next show suggests they’re at least on good terms, and it’s probably just a matter of time before that deal does get announced. Hayashi, who has been running the AAA operations in Japan (setting up the Star Battle show last year, getting people and promotions to come over for the Lucha World Cup) and also is a mask/costume maker, was also there and apparently with The Crash now. There’s benefits for the Crash to have these relationships, and not having them hurts AAA quite a bit. It’s not impossible for AAA to run a Lucha World Cup without these alliances, but it’s suddenly become a lot more difficult and would look very different than years past.

Rey Mysterio and Zorro being added to La Rebelion takes it from “the hot young stars of lucha libre” to “anyone who’s upset with AAA”. (If you bought a shirt three weeks ago, it’s already outdated.) I, and I think others, were hoping for La Rebelion to be this tight nit faction that actually works as a group and feuds with other people and other groups. Instead, it’s going to be closer to what Los Perros del Mal turned into at points, an sprawling unfocused group of whoever would look cool with a t-shirt. The Crash is booking a PWG style of whatever dream matches they can book with minimal storylines anyway, so I suppose it doesn’t matter much, but it already feels more like a (optimistically) a movement or (pessimistically) a fashion line than a wrestling group. At this point, they might as well go even stronger this direction: add a dozen more people to the group and make the promotion itself La Rebelion if that’s going to be the big name.

 

At tonight’s Arena Coliseo Monterrey show, Rey Mysterio was announced for The Crash show on 04/09. Sexy Dulce also ended up with Zorro & Garza Jr. by the end of the main event. It’s not clear if she too is a member of La Rebelion, but it appeared to be heading that way.

CMLL (SUN) 02/26/2017 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Arkángel de la Muerte, Sangre Azteca, Skándalo b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Oro Jr.
Rudos took 2/3.
2) Blue Panther, Johnny Idol, Titán b Felino, Gran Guerrero, Luciferno
Tecnicos took 1/3. Titan replaced Blue Panther Jr. and Gran Guerrero replaced Tiger on Monday with the addition of the singles match.
3) Shockercito b Último Dragóncito, Fantasy, Aéreo, Reycko, Demus 3:16, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Relámpago, Pequeño Joker [cibernetico, CMLL MINI, #1 Contenders]
Pequeno Relampago & Reycko (Guadalajara) and Pequeno Joker (Puebla) debuted. Acero was first out, beat by Joker. Shockercito beat Demus to advance to next week’s final against Pierrothito.
4) Mistico b Cavernario
replaced a Angel de Oro/Stuka/Titan vs Gran Guerrero/Niebla Roja/Vangellys match on Monday. Mistico took 2/3, the last with La Mistica
5) Marco Corleone, Valiente, Volador Jr. b La Máscara, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero

Cavernario’s big win streak lasts one show, but so it goes.

Pierrothito’s been around since the start of the CMLL minis division (over 25 years ago). Shockercito has been around for 15 years. To the best my knowledge, this will be their first CMLL singles match. It won’t be their first Arena Mexico singles match – they had one on the DragonMania show last year – but CMLL rarely having singles matches with minis means two people who’ve had hundreds of tag and trios matches against each other have never just faced one on one.  Pierrothito’s one of the leader of the division, training a lot of the newer minis, and seems like the favorite to win. Shockercito has never won a singles title and would be a fun champion.

Record, a co-sponsor of La Llave de la Gloria, has a two page fold out section on Saturday’s La Llave de la Gloria section. They say 110 people were part of the first tryout. There were about 80 people who wrestled matches, so that would suggest they eliminated people along the way. Taylor Wolf, a Chilean who’s been wrestling around Mexico State, was among the Mexicans and two Japanese who tried out.

I didn’t pick up on this, but the reason only half of the AAA La Llave de la Gloria matches were on Periscope was because the other half was on Facebook Live. Group 1 includes Villano III Jr., Broken Clown, IWRG/Neza luchador Balack, but it was people I couldn’t identify who looked the best. Group 4 has the Mini Pentagon (who even wins with a super Destroyer) and other minis; it’s shaky but picks up in the last 80 seconds. Group 6 falls apart as the video picks up; you’re really dependent on which person you’re assigned to work with in these and the big guy here is kind of tanking the other guy. Group 8 was shown by one of the Record reporters covering the show, with Douki and Hanaoka in it (and maybe of the Nerds?) All of these are just about five minutes long and seem to be most of the matches; you have about 60 seconds to get yourself over, which means lots of big spots and hurrying. Astrolux is still the best person I’ve seen, but there were other people who looked good too. AAA says the winners will be published on Wednesday (which might mean in Record.) I have no idea how many winners there will be or what winning means at this point; they’ve explained very little about this concept oonline.

The missing portion of the La Llave de la Gloria contest are women. It had to be an intentional, I’m sure women have signed up, but maybe they’re just grouping them all together for the second tryout. There were almost no exoticos. There were plenty of people who could pass for minis, though no one really Mascarita Sagrada size. Vampiro, excited as he’s been constantly since starting this public role, says he saw at least 30 different people who caught his attention. He says 35 in the Record piece. Villano III Jr. said there were about five worth being on TripleMania. I think he might be closer.

AAA posted this week’s TV episode. The 03/31 taping scheduled for Tampico has been moved to Neza. Tampico is where the canceled 2015 Guerra de Titanes was scheduled, and I believe they’ve had one more taping missed since then. At leas they got the change early on, but I suspect the security situation in Tampico remains a big problem.

RobViper has a music video of 06/02/16 ELITE.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update.

LigerFever has a recap of the latest Podcast Boom

Lineup

IWRG (WED) 03/01/2017 Arena Naucalpan
1) Black Niko, Pequeño Orquidea, Puma King (Iwrg) vs Bambino, Lady Dragón, Zatan X
2) Celestial Boy, Dinamik Kray, Haziel vs Águila Enmascarada, Black Puma, Keshin Black
3) Águila Oriental, Fireman, Omega vs Atomic Star, Keiser Drago, Power Bull
4) Kanon, Leo, Mike vs Blue Monsther, Picudo Jr., Vórtize
5) Araña de Plata, Alas de Acero, Black Dragón, Shadow Boy, Alfa, Aramis, Skanda, Adrenalina vs Neza Kid, Lunatik Extreme, Fandango, Tromba, Lunatik Fly, Lunatik Boy, Black Warrior Jr., Quetzal [Torneo FILL]
Torneo FILL 57, Gym FILL (Black Terry) vs Gym Deportivo Miguel Hidalgo (Freelance)

 

Back to trainee shows, with an interesting main event. Freelance is a skilled wrestler but also one who does dives to crazy places and team of crazy people should be fun. Neza Kid being involved is fun – often that’s Freelance under a mask, but it’d be a great trick for him to do that while also standing at ringside. It’s probably his son, who’s Neza Kid whenever Freelance is also booked.

XMW (SAT) 03/11/2017 Salón Citlalli, Ecatepec, Estado de México
1) Black Shadito & León Dorado vs Astrolux & Black Metal and Joseph Alonzo Jr. & Vinnie Scarpone
2) Ludark Shaitan vs Kaho Kobayshi
3) Nygma, Picudo, Silver Cat vs Kronoz, Terremoto, Torny and Dalton Brag, Romeo (Chile), Taylor Wolf
4) Metaleón & Mr. Leo vs Hermano Calavera I & Hermano Calavera II
5) Titán (CMLL) & Tritón (CMLL) vs Centvrión & Látigo and Fly Star & Fly Warrior and Douki & Low Rider [XMW TAG]
6) Wotan vs Tóxico DF [XMW EXTREMO]

XMW shows have really good tag matches and a hardcore main event, and this is about the same.

CMLL (FRI) 02/24/2017 Arena México [CMLL, Culticon, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, R de Rudo, thecubsfan]
1) Cancerbero & Raziel b Robin & Star Jr.
12:19. Rudos took 1/2.
2) Esfinge, Soberano Jr., Tritón b Bobby Villa, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
17:07. Rudos took 2/3. Bobby Villa replaced Okumura (cervical injury)
3) Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr. b Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
14:57. TGR took 1/3.
4) Ángel de Oro b Dragón Rojo Jr. [lightning]
8:08. Angel de Oro won via mecedora
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone DQ Pierroth, Rush, Yoshitatsu
7:29. Rudos took 1/2, the last when Diamante Azul angrily ripped off Pierroth’s mask. Rush attacked Atlantis after everyone else had left.
6) Cavernario & Volador Jr. b Último Guerrero & Valiente [natl pi, final]
21:08. Cavernario & Volador took falls 2/3.

The main event was excellent, and will be on many list of best lucha libre matches of the year. It was a match of giant spots, and an exciting final stretch. The show exceeded expectations overall. The big with Rush & Atlantis after the semifinal looked like a very designed spot (Edgar was holding Atlantis in place to give him a excuse for still being there and not being able to defend himself); at least today, they’re going somewhere with that.

They also announced Homenaje a Dos Leyendas will be available as a pay VOD, but only after it airs. It should be a within a day after, but they tried that for the Anniversary show and had problems with music rights. (CMLL thinks they’ve fixed the problem by taking out the dance numbers, but really any one of their entrance songs could trip YouTube’s content monitoring software in a bad way; don’t be surprised if there’s another delay.) No price was mentioned.  That Anniversary show is still up, though you have to dig to find it, and it cost $3USD. No price was announced for H2L, but it’ll probably be the same.

CMLL says Okumura will be out about 10 days.

CMLL’s press conference yesterday was indeed a sponsor deal, announcing a deal with BOING fruit drinks. The BOING logo had been on the barriers for a month, this was just formalizing it. BOING has been sponsoring AAA, and might still be, and they did the same campign here of imagining the luchadors as fruits. Marco as a pineapple got a commercial last night, my favorite is the Dinamitas as angry grapes. Sofia Alonso was the CMLL representative for this, as she was when Mexico City opened the lucha libre exhibit at Metro Guerrero station. That’s the sort of stuff her father Paco Alonso hasn’t liked to do in the past.

CMLL tonight has Cavernario, Euforia and Mr. Niebla versus Atlantis, Maximo and Mistico in the main event. The big match is the tercera, a title match between Zeuxis and Princesa Sugehit. I think a title match is possible, though far from certain.

The Crash is back tonight in Tijuana, with a Blue Demon, Garza, Zorro vs Brian Cage, Eli Drake and Jeff Jarrett main event. Brian Cage has been talking for weeks about how he feels Sam Adonis ripped him off with the Trump idea, so I suspect he’ll be going all in on that idea tonight. That match doesn’t interest me much, but some of the rest of the show does. Rey Horuz & Ricochet taking on Daga & Fenix could be outstanding. The fourth match, Bestia, Juventud and Laredo Kid against Mascarita Dorada, Willie Mack and Zumbi (in for Jack), could also be pretty good. There’s a barbed wire match with the Compadres (Violento Jack & Aeroboy) against Nicho & Masada, a rematch with the local guys, and Flamita & Septimo Dragon in the opener, provided Flamita hasn’t left for Japan yet. The last show was not streamed, and I suspect we might not be getting streamed shows going forward if they’re saving the footage for their own TV (or YouTube show). I’ll let you know on Twitter if anything turns up. Fancams have been showing up on YouTube pretty quick.

PWR has their first show on FloSlam tonight, with Ultimo Dragon as the guest star. In Mexico, there’s also super indie shows in Puebla and Guadalajara; footage might show up in +LuchaTV or other places.

The first AAA La Llave de la Gloria tryout just wrapped out. They worked out people in the morning, and they broke them into groups for matches later on. There’s a few familiar names, and a lot of people who’s names I’ve seen on indie show posters but have never actually seen. One of the Villano III kids (I think Villano III Jr.) was front and center in one of the tryouts and is the most recognizable names. He’s recognizable to me, in part, because he actually appeared on the dreadful TripleMania I appeared live, coming to the ring after that awful match.

Another person who stuck out is Pentagoncito, in the first class. I believe this is an Mexico State indie guy, but it’s hard to tell because there’s like four or five different Pentagoncitos around. It’s tough to square how AAA can be going after one person for using a Pentagon related gimmick without their authority while giving an opportunity to another person doing exactly the same thing, but there surely must be an answer beyond my knowledge.

The person sticking on in a positive way is Astrolux, who’s been seen a lot in Lucha Memes. AAA showed about half the exhibition matches for the crowd, and the match with Astrolux came off the best in what we saw. Astrolux looked like a star in that match and was interviewed by Record afterwards. He’s young (+LuchaTV said 16, others say 17) and small, but very talented. AAA really just needs a few people who are really good to make this contest work, and he could be that person. The last group included Douki & Hanaoka, the Japanese duo who’ve been around the indies for years and looked as good as ever in their very brief time in.

They had a class of about 10 to start, and then what looked like 40 people (or four classes at once) training later on. It’s gotta be tough to figure out who’s got the most heart when you’ve got 40 people at once, but they gave them more space when they separated them 4v4 matches later on (and maybe those early tests were just to weed out people.) Villano IV was one of the trainers/examiners, so he must still be part of AAA. I did not see El Apache. Hope he’s OK. Vampiro was all over the place, leading everything, with Averno, Chessman, Octagoncito, Mamba, Angelico and Nino Hamburguesa also involved. They did a bit where the AAA luchadors got in the ring with some of the trainees at the end, and then a big group photo at the end. It didn’t seem like they announced winners or people who’d advance, so it may be a while longer before we know about these people (or they may just mention it randomlly.)

AAA’s preview of this week’s episode reveals they’ll air the minis tag match, the Aerostar/Argenis vs Carta Brava/Super Fly tag match, and the Fantasma/Texano vs Mesias/Pagano tag match.

AAA also posted an extended interview with Vampiro about his new job with AAA, La Llava de la Gloria, and more. I suspect sections of this will be this week’s Noti AAA, though probably not the part he mentions CMLL by name. Again, it seems like he goes 12 minutes without actually mentioning a single AAA luchador, which seems like not a great guy for someone who’s in charge of those wrestlers, but he’s selling a dream. He insists he wants your thoughts, positive or negative, to him on Twitter and Facebook. I don’t think he actually wants all of that, but I guess we’ll see.

After I dismissed the March 15th date, AAA and LU’s EVP both said Lucha Underground on Netflix is happening March 15th. I’m just happy to have a date.

Lucha Mexico, the lucha libre documentary available on Netflix that follows around Shocker among others, will be shown for the first time in Mexico City on an upcoming film festival.

Fuego en el Ring has the latest edition of their podcast.

+LuchaTV is back with a top 10 spots of the week.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 03/03/2017 Arena México
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito vs Demus 3:16 & Pequeño Nitro
2) Fuego, Pegasso, Soberano Jr. vs Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
3) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs Bobby Villa, Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora
4) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Titán vs Forastero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
5) Diamante Azul, Máximo Sexy, Valiente vs La Máscara, Pierroth, Rush
6) Volador Jr. vs Yoshitatsu

It’s the traditional singles farewell match to end a NJPW tour, only CMLL forgot to build it up in this building. So it goes. It’ll be Volador’s third big match as the draw in eight days (last night’s match + facing Euforia in Puebla); CMLL really could use more tecnicos to trust in these positions. It’s also Tatsu’s only booking for the week and his last show in MExico.