Bucanero cheats Stuka, AAA La Llave a la Gloria, Elite announces vague plan to do something

CMLL (SUN) 02/05/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Domingos Familares]
1) Quca b Avispón Negro Jr.
Quca took 1/3.
2) Cosmos & Johnny Dinamo b Destello & Destructor
tecnicos took 2/3
3) El Alteño, El Divino, Reycko b Carlo Roggi, Demonio Rojo, Thunder Boy
Alteno replaced Nautilius. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Mágico, Magnum, Vaquero Jr. b Difunto, Maléfico, Rey Trueno
Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Frezzer & Furia Roja DCOR Joker & Sádico [super libre]
hair match challenges followed (setting up a double hair match next week.) Joker & Sadico appear to be the crowd favorites of the two rudo teams.

Difunto is a new name here (and does not appear to be the Monterrey one.) He did the Espectro entrance, being brought to the ring in a coffin and rising from the dead. It’s more pageantry and a bigger spot than locals usually get here (and interesting that they’re trying things at all.)

CMLL (TUE) 02/07/2017 Arena México [CMLL, SuperLuchas]
1) Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico b Acero & Aéreo
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Oro Jr., Pegasso, Starman b Canelo Casas, Hijo del Signo, Metálico
Starman’s first match since October. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Cancerbero, Sagrado, Virus b Blue Panther Jr., Stigma, The Panther
Cancerbero replaced Skandalo. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Hechicero, Misterioso Jr., Vangellys b Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Soberano Jr.
Soberano replaced Johnny Idol on Friday. Rudos took 1/3.
5) Rey Bucanero b Stuka Jr.
Stuka worked despite being injured the day before (and was the better guy in the match.) Bucanero took 2/3 used the the ropes to get the pin.
6) Carístico, Máximo Sexy, Volador Jr. b Felino, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero
Tecnicos took 2/3. Mr. Niebla replaced Negro Casas on Friday

It sounds like Stuka put on a one man performance in his match and that might be worth watching.

A recap of Dragon Lee’s recent matches in NJPW ends with a mention that Lee will be there more frequently in upcoming months. My guess that he’d be going to NJPW full time looks wrong, but it seems like he’ll be going back whatever happens on Saturday’s title match. Shueisha also has a two part interview with Dragon Lee about his feud with Takahashi. Dragon Lee admits he has no idea if he’ll win or not in their title match this weekend, but guarantees it’ll be interesting.

AAA, Roshfrans and Record announced La Llave a la Gloria, a talent search competition. Aspiring luchadors, 15 to 45, can send in their information by February 22, and will get to participate a tryout on February 25. The winner will participate on TripleMania. (I’d assume that means a match, but it’s worded in a way where it could just be waving to the crowd as part of a sponsor segment.)

This is similar to the Quien Pinta Para La Corona AAA talent search in 2011 and 2012. That one was more nationwide search, where they held events at various cities around the country, with the best being invited to Mexico City for the finals, and one women, man and mini would win. The 2011 winners were La Magnifica, Daga and Dinastia (with Samuray del Sol/Kalisto and Lucky Boy/Venum two of the notable runner ups.) The 2012 winners were La Jarochita, Saturno and Rey Celestial. That first year went better than the second year, but I’m skeptical how much this helped AAA actually find talent. Daga was known to AAA, known to anyone who followed Mexican wrestling, and actually appeared on TV (as Rocco) in between qualifying for the finals and winning the whole thing. He was getting picked up by AAA win or loss. I don’t know that he was in the competition as a ringer, but he wasn’t found by the talent search. You could say the same thing about Dinastia, who was a regular in DTU while they were working with AAA, had already had a Japan tour, and is a relative of Super Crazy; he is great, but he was not some undiscovered gem who would’ve only been found by this contest. La Magnifica wasn’t around AAA much – I believe she left wrestling to have a child soon after the competition, and then wasn’t much booked much when she came back. The second group of winners didn’t do much better, with only Jarochita being booked even semi-regularly. (You have to look hard for the Saturno and Rey Celestial AAA TV bookings.) The success of this competition is probably dependent on which high level indie talent they get to participate.

That’s an issue. Getting notable/capable luchadors to participate a tough situation in the current AAA climate. The first comments on Facebook (since deleted) were people joking about how sending in your character name to AAA means AAA is going to trademark them all. (I don’t think they’d do it for all of them, but there’s no mention of that issue that’s at the top of everyone’s minds – there’s no real long legal section like you’d normally see for a contest.) Beyond the name issue, I think there’s word out among the top indie guys that AAA is not a place where you want to be tied to at the moment, given what’s happened with La Rebelion and others leaving. If you’re an indie luchador who has the talent or name to make it someplace, The Crash or even Elite are still out there to aspire to join. They may not being better more successful than AAA in the long run, but they don’t have the baggage AAA does at this moment.

I have no doubt AAA will have a lot of people at this tryout on the 25th, because you might as well give it as shot if you’re a lower level guy just who doesn’t have a name and really wants to make it in a main promotion. The higher end talent who might have given this a try a few years ago seem less likely to give a shot. AAA really does only need 1 really great person to make this a success, but they also have to find and select that one person, and their own recent AAA additions haven’t been strong selections. An AAA who’s added Dave the Clown and Big Mami in 2016 may not make the greatest pick in 2017. If I was AAA, I’d follow that model from 2011 and “encourage” a safe pick to sign up so AAA knows they’ll have someone they like at the end, but I’m not confident about AAA’s ability to make a good safe pick right now.

Ideally, AAA makes contact with a lot of new promising people, because they could use a lot of new wave of people to make people forget about the wave of people who are going out the door. The problem is what AAA really needs more is new big stars, and a reason people are leaving are because of AAA’s inability into making people big stars in Mexico. The past years of this competition didn’t help with that either, Daga and Dinasita didn’t advance much more from the day they joined AAA to where they ended up in 2017. They’ll have to do better with the next group.

+LuchaTV had a new EN+CARADOS podcast, including an interview with Zorro. Zorro said he left AAA for his own reasons, separate from La Rebelion, but they seem to come from the same place: he was frustrated with his spot in AAA for a while and wanted to try something else. He told Joaquin Roldan he was leaving after the taping in Toluca, and Joaquin was surprised. Zorro says he planned on working his announced dates but it sounds like that won’t happen now that the word is out about him leaving. He hopes Scoria & Cuervo get a good new partner to replace him because they deserve it. I’m not even sure who would that be out of the current roster.

Zorro’s departure from AAA also comes up in Leo Riano’s column, who mentions Zorro was getting the same run around as Garza (promoters asking for him were told he wasn’t available), and is certain Marisela Roldan didn’t know anything about this. Riano’s trying to protect the Roldans as innocent, but he’s actually making them seem clueless about what’s going on in their own business. It also comes off as though the person in charge of bookings spot shows is much more valuable than the luchadors, since they keep going and he isn’t.

Elite resurfaced with an image promoting a Night of Champions. (I’ll give you until the end of this paragraph to remember who are the Elite champions.) There’s no date, there’s no location, there’s really nothing at all to go on, but it’s the first time Elite’s said anything in about month and a half. They did tag Azteca7 in their tweet, for what it’s worth. Bigger indie shows for early March are starting to be announced (see below), so Elite probably ought to have that date/location stuff worked out by now if they’re really running in late February, as Golden Magic mentions on the +Lucha podcast. Elite seems to wait until the last minute to announce things so maybe not having hard info yet means it’s business as normal.

The Elite champions, at least check, are Heavyweight champion cibernetico, Middleweight champion Caristico and Welterwegiht champion Bandido. Caristico won the Liga Elite and Michael Elgin won their international tournament, but no idea if those are meant to be defended. I suspect any Night of Champions will include 1 to 3 more titles being randomly added. Zorro might also make sense for this group now, though there’s been nothing hinted along those lines.

Lucha Memes 02/19 in Coliseo Coacalco
1: Totem I & II vs Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako 
2: Ronnie Mendoza vs Hechicero
3: Diva Salvaje & Demasiado vs Baby Star & Black Metal
4: Astrolux vs Demus 3:16
5: Yoshi Tatsu vs Aramis
6: Belial vs Virus – yes! I’m very excited for this one.
Two more matches to come, both of which should be title matches

NPR’s All Things Considered has a story on Sam Adonis and his pro-Trump gimmick. The comments from the Mexican fans make the story for me – they just seem him as a caricature who’s entertaining to watch lose, not someone with actual malice.

ESPN Deportes now has a Lucha Libre section. It’s mostly WWE stories, but it has the Atlantis story from earlier this week (and a Marco one earlier I missed) and might mean more to come.

On Instagram, Rey Fenix talks about his decision to leave AAA.

CultIcon writes about Atlantis vs Sombra.

There will be a benefit lucha show on 02/19 in Texcoco for a local paralympic school.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 02/14/2017 Arena México
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Magia Blanca, Marvel, Sangre Imperial vs Grako, Raziel, Sangre Azteca
3) Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Stigma vs Okumura, Skándalo, Virus
4) Pegasso vs Disturbio [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Johnny Idol, Rey Cometa vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
6) Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Volador Jr. vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto

This is a lesser version of the usual not that interesting Tuesday show, with the tercera and lightning match not as promising as usual. Trios champions against a random tecnico trio again in the main event.

CMLL (TUE) 02/14/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Mágico & Nautilius vs León Blanco & Relámpago
2) Magnum, Príncipe Diamante, Starman vs Cancerbero, Canelo Casas, Difunto
3) Blue Panther Jr., Drone, The Panther vs Cavernario, Puma, Tiger
4) Diamante Azul vs Pierroth
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico vs Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero

Azul/Pierroth happening, and maybe as a test run for running in Arena Mexico later. At least the match before and after are better (and note Dragon Lee is back a few days after the tour.)

AULL (WED) 03/01/2017 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Príncipe Mexica & Tigre De Oro vs Rey Inmortal & Violento
2) Hijo De Ciclón Ramírez, Mike Segura, Súper Astro Jr. vs Holkan, Impulso, Ironía
3) Gallo Tapado Jr., Hijo de Máscara Sagrada, Hijo del Solar vs Hijo de LA Park, Hijo de Zumbido, Hijo del Fishman
4) Golden Magic vs Laredo Kid, Imposible, Extreme Tiger, Sádico
5) LA Park & Rey Escorpión vs Daga & Penta Zero M

Years ago, Arena Lopez Mateos Wednesday shows used to be regular deals. I suspect this one is simply happening because they couldn’t get Penta Zero M on a weekend.

Cara Lucha (FRI) 03/03/2017 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Astrolux & Torito Negro vs Black Metal & Moria
2) Keira & Lady Maravilla vs ? & Chik Tormenta
3) Sky Man vs Saturno [MUCHAS LUCHAS CHAMP]
4) Glen Calavera & Jerry Calavera vs Brian Villa & Willy Banderas and Corsario Negro & Drako and Crazy King & Makabre [super libre]
5) Demus 3:16 & Yoruba vs Black Terry & Toxin [Juventud y Gloria, semifinal]
6) Hijo de LA Park & LA Park vs Black Tauro (Elite) & Daga

An odd main event. Not just for the participants, but, as @vyrassa pointed out on Twitter, this is the same day Alberto & LA Park agreed to a hair vs mask match. As everyone knew, including those two guys, that match isn’t happening.

I can’t get over that the skeleton brothers names are Glen and Jerry.