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.