IWRG, blurred referees, borrowed logos, occasional things about lucha libre

IWRG (WED) 02/15/2017 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, The Gladiatores]
1) Araña de Plata b Shadow Boy
2) Avisman b Odín
Odin was not listed on the poster
3) Diablo Jr., Douki, Hip Hop Man b Alfa, Black Dragón, Omega
4) Demasiado, Diva Salvaje, Nigma b Leo, Mike, Rafy
Moved down a spot. Exoticos want a trios title shot.
5) Diablo Jr. b Emperador Azteca
Moved up a spot. Diablo Jr. replaced Ak47. Money thrown in.
6) Cerebro Negro, Demonio Infernal, Relámpago b Apolo Estrada Jr., Eterno, Heddi Karaoui
Eterno faked a pin, but Demonio Infernal simply pinned him and got the win. Eterno did seem to have his shoulder up at two.

The Psicosis/Super Crazy vs the Hardys match will air tonight Impact Wrestling, but with an alteration. Marty Elias was referee for the match, Marty Elias is under contract to Lucha Underground, so Lucha Underground sent TNA a legal notice saying they couldn’t use Marty Elias on their TV. This is a repeat of what happened with Hernandez in 2015. This time, TNA decided to air the footage, but blur Marty out. On his podcast, Konnan says Jeremy Borash asked him about which guys were LU guys to not shoot them, but he just blanked about the referee. He says LU sent cease and desists to himself and his partner in the Crash, to TNA and to Anthem.

I watched that match – recap is below – noticed it was Marty and it didn’t even occur to me that LU would have a problem, but of course they did. On that recent MMM show appearance, EVW talked about not being concerned about guys leaving AAA, only being concerned on them being ready for his show and not appearing on another US TV show. Given the timing, he probably had this specific situation in the back of his mind in hindsight. The Crash had a second referee on hand, but seemed to be using Marty for the segments where a bilingual referee would be help – he was there for AR Fox/Flamita, the big angle with the debuts, and the main event. The match airing tonight was four minutes long, probably the second referee could’ve handled it, but I’d bet The Crash was so focused on making sure Fenix, Pentagon, etc. weren’t on TV that they didn’t even think about the referee.

Anyway, maybe someone on AAA or LU’s legal team can also work public relations, since they seem to have an unending supply of money for one and none for the other. They may have more legal work now anyway: the logo for the La Llave de Gloria talent search contest appears to be a color switched version of the logo for Arizona’s Lucha Libre Pro promotion. That logo’s turned up elsewhere – Arena Vidal uses it too – but there’s actually an article by the original artist saying specifically he created the logo for Lucha Libre Pro.

This may not be something AAA did themselves – Roshfrans or Record could’ve had someone search “lucha libre logo” and done the work – but they’re aware of it now. It’s be bad in normal sequences, but  it’s incredibe for a company also being aggressive protecting it’s copyright. AAA’s argument about the Penta & Fenix names (as best we can surmise, since they’re not talking about it) is the new names/looks Penta & Fenix have come up with are not sufficiently different from the IP AAA created and owned. I don’t know if that’s correct, but I do know they’re on the exact other side of the argument by using this logo. Can’t have it both ways.

A bunch of Lucha Underground people, including Rey Mysterio, Johnny Mundo and Taya, will be at Chicago’s C2E2 expo on April 23rd for a Lucha Underground panel. I believe they announced one of these last years and then canceled it. Both Dorian & EVW will be on the panel, maybe they can discuss Netflix. Maybe it’ll be on Netflix by then. (Not a guarantee. It’ll still be more than a month before they’re on TV.) Maybe I’ll go. I’m not in a LU mood right now, have to think about it later.

Leo Riano’s column claims Vampiro was officially introduced to the AAA wrestlers as a part of the staff on Saturday. Vampiro’s been said to be around AAA for months, and I thought the story was he had recently quit. Maybe they convinced him to come back? Riano’s column is as carrying water for AAA as ever: when he mentions the LU/Netflix story, he’s careful to only name people on the show who are on good terms with AAA. He also says Villano III said, on Riano’s radio show, that he hopes his sons can debut in Arena Mexico at Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.

DTU says they running Arena Aficion on Friday 03/24. There’s a few usual people announced. The poster is Japanese themed and hints at international involvement. The poster also has a +Lucha logo on it, and this would fit as the promotion’s next iPPV.

La Aficion has an interview with Dragon Dorado, the winner of the Octagon talent search contest in Veracruz who wrestled on the Octagon/FULL show a few weeks. He is the luchador who you may remember as Vengador Radioactivo, when he won a similar NOAH talent search (but never made it to NOAH), then returned back to Veracruz. He explains here that he wanted to stay in Mexico City, but the promotion he was working with only offering him 500 pesos a week ($25 USD) and that wasn’t enough for him to stay. His dream was to somehow get back to Mexico City and winning the Octagon reality show did that. Now his goal is to defend the honor of the Octagon name by winning Penta el 0M’s mask. Dream big, I guess. He’d also like to go to WWE.

RobViper has a music video of the 04/27/16 ELITE show.

Diamante Azul wants an apuesta match with Rush, probably is not getting it.

Lineup

CMLL (TUE) 02/21/2017 Arena México
1) Bengala & Metatrón vs Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
2) Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante, Starman vs Canelo Casas, Espanto Jr., Hijo del Signo
3) Princesa Sugehit, Sanely, Skadi vs Reyna Isis, Tiffany, Zeuxis
4) Fuego, Rey Cometa, Stigma vs Puma, Sansón, Tiger
5) Máximo Sexy, Mistico, Titán vs Cavernario, Mephisto, Negro Casas
6) Volador Jr. © vs Ephesto [NWA WELTER]
14th defense

Main event is really happening. Volador’s going to win that main event and it’s just another opponent for him to beat, but they could’ve easily done better. Any one of the rudos in the fifth match would be a bigger match and probably better match. Even if CMLL’s felt they’ve over done Volador/Mephisto and Volador/Casas and is saving the next Volador/Cavernario match for another day, they could just go down another match and use any one of the rudos in the fourth match too and have a better match. Tiger would get more out of being in a main event with Volador and losing than Ephesto. If you’re not going to give those guys a shot on a Tuesday show that’s not going to draw big anyway, when are you going to give them a shot?

Fourth match looks a lot of fun anyway.

If Espanto Jr. wrestles, it’d be first match since suffering an injury on a baseball slide in November. He stands a good chance of getting a win with Diamante on the other side.

CMLL (TUE) 02/21/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino & Gallo vs Évola & Exterminador
2) Eléctrico, Fugaz, Shockercito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Nitro, Relámpago
3) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Silueta vs Amapola, Dalys, Metálica
4) Dragón Lee, Esfinge, Stuka Jr. vs Bobby Villa, Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs Pierroth, Rush, Yoshi Tatsu

Yoshi Tatsu arrived last night. They’re not exactly putting Tatsu in a lot of helpful situations. Bobby Villa officially listed under his new name.

Fugaz teams with the minis after getting in the minis title match. In theory, that could be a preview to the eventually title match (and Electrico/Pierrothito would make the most sense.)

BARACAL (SAT) 03/11/2017 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Ángel Del Amor & Mr. Leo vs Centvrión & Violencia Jr.
2) ? & Trauma I vs Herodes Jr. & Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
3) Hijo de LA Park & Hijo De Octagon vs Hijo del Fishman & Silver King Jr.
4) Mr. Electro & Silver King vs Dragón Lee & Pierroth
5) Rush vs LA Park

Rush vs LA Park, at the site where Park had some of his crazy brawls with Dr. Wagner. Semimain seems like a waste of Dragon Lee.

G21 (WED) 03/29/2017 Arena Querétaro
1) Adroide & Galáctico Dragón vs Bacter & Hades
2) Ángelus, Destello, Low Rider vs Gremlin, Maremoto Jr., Speed Demon
3) Atómico, Dragón De Oriente I, Dragón De Oriente II vs Juventud Rebelde, Lince, Maremoto
4) Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II © vs Kastigador, Mr. Electro, Vengador [IWRG IC TRIOS]
fourth defense at time announced
5) LA Park, Rey Fénix (LU), Sharly Rockstar vs Daga, Garza Jr., Penta Zero M

The Rebelion leaving AAA have given LA Park all sorts of new indie opponents.

Negro and Trauma I are feuding in Naucalpan right now, but still trios champs. Trauma II is advertised on this show, and on for the ChilangaMask anniversary show that month. (He might be the mystery guy on the BARACAL show too.) He hasn’t been listed in a match since October.