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.
