CMLL (SAT) 04/29/2017Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Bengala & Sensei b Camorra & Cholo Camorra & Cholo were originally announced, then repalced by Apocalipsis & Inquisidor on the website, then actually wrestled and lost anyway.
2) Cancerbero, Disturbio, Raziel b Astral, Sangre Imperial, Star Jr.
3) Amapola, Reyna Isis, Tiffany b La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Marcela
4) Luciferno, Mephisto, Sam Adonis b Blue Panther, Johnny Idol, Titán Brazo de Oro was honored before the match.
5) Diamante Azul, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr. b Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys
A show.
CMLL (SUN) 04/30/2017Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Leono & Príncipe Diamante b Cholo & Espíritu Negro 12:42. tecnicos took 1/3. Espiritu Negro’s first match here since August.
2) Pegasso & Starman b Hijo del Signo & Metálico 11:25, tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Hechicero, Misterioso Jr., Virus b Drone, Esfinge, Fuego 15:36. rudos took 1/3
4) El Gallito & Microman b El Perico Zakarías & Mije 13:00 one fall match, with Gallito and Microman winning in the (re)start of the micro division.
5) Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Volador Jr. 8:14. Rudos took 1/3, winning cleanly.
6) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico DQ Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero 9:13. Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Euforia unmasked Caristico.
The micros match was a success: the match was fun, they did much more than you’d expect, and there was a huge crowd for the Kid’s Day show. If anything, they should’ve had it later in the night, because it was really tough to follow the show they put on. Kid’s Day itself (and the discounted tickets with it) were a reason this drew well, but it seemed like they drew over 10,000 fans for a show where the only match really promoted was the micros. It was tough to figure out exactly how much they drew, CMLL never turned on all the lights, but they did sweeping shots of the crowd to show off a lot of people in the upper reaches of Arena Mexico. They’re taking this match to Guadalajara on Tuesday and that probably won’t be the last time we’ll see it. It may lose something if they do it too often, but it’s probably won’t be the last match they have.
Ending the show with a DQ mask pull was odd. Niebla Roja toned down his disagreements with his partners after the first few moments of the match, allowing them to have a main event that more fit Kid’s Day. The crowd was into everything the entire show, even the not so good first couple of matches. It felt like more like the old Mistico days than even the large crowds of other shows, with an audience more willing to cheer the tecnicos and boo the rudos than the group that shows up for the Anniversary show.
Mr. Leo won a four way elimination match over Freelance, Daga and Centvrion in Gimnasio Hercules for Kamicazes del Ring. Daga wasn’t actually pinned, leaving the match with a knee injury. He made no mention of the knee injury on Twitter, so it’s probably not much.
AAA changed every match on the card, came up with stipulations which weren’t promoted before hand and ended the show with everyone in the building running in. Most every change could’ve been explained prior to the show, but AAA is doing it because they think it’s working and because they can.
The mixed tag team titles had been a useless championship for years, and ceased to exist over a year ago without anyone missing them in the meantime. There’s no real use necessity in bringing them back, but AAA has seemed to love Big Mami even before the creative change and she’s still featured as the star of pretty much every match she’s in, so maybe they have some plan here.
Vampiro’s making a lot of decisions that seem to backfire. The big storyline of the first season of Lucha Underground was Vampiro revealing himself to be the evil mastermind behind Pentagon, and Vampiro again revealing himself as Actually Evil is definitely in play here.
Those air dates are nearly a month away. All the changes and activity makes it hard to remember what happened when, more so when the show with it isn’t going to air for weeks. It’ll be that way for a while: AAA TV this week says the 05/20 Contla taping is still on, so every taping won’t air for at least three weeks for the foreseeable future. We should get that Contla taping as soon as Monday, given we already have the taping after it.
CMLL (FRI) 04/28/2017Arena México [CMLL, Culticon, ESTO, thecubsfan, Wrestling With Words]
1) Eléctrico & Fantasy b Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico 15:05. Tecnicos took 2/3
2) Estrellita, Metálica, Sanely b Dalys, Marcela, Zeuxis [Relevos Increíbles] 9:33. Team Estrellita took the match in straight falls, the last when the Dalys/Marcela/Zeuxis team fell apart. Dalys & Zeuxis attacked Marcela after the match.
3) Soberano Jr. b Sansón [Copa Junior Nuevo Valores, final] 18:33. Tecnicos took 1/3. Soberano won the tournament.
4) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Valiente b Hechicero, Kráneo, Ripper 13:24. Tecnicos took 2/3. Before the match, Brazo de Oro was honored with a moment of applause.
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico b Cavernario, Mephisto, Negro Casas 12:18. Tecnicos took 2/3.
6) La Máscara b Volador Jr. 13:41. Mascara took falls 2/3, the last with a campana, and held up a banner honoring his father after the match.
This wasn’t the best CMLL show but it was a memorable one. La Mascara is super professional for wrestling in the main event and making it his way thru it fine. The Copa Junior did what it was intended to do.
Lucha Memes MDA (FRI) 04/28/2017Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), R de Rudo]
1) Alas de Acero, Aramis, Iron Kid b Baby Star, Dragón Fly, Galactar
2) Titán (CMLL) b Rey Horuz
3) Negro Navarro b Zack Sabre Jr.
4) Black Terry DQ Rush Rush was DQed for using a martiente
5) LA Park b Súper Mega
MDA was the one who uploaded most of the matches; as ever, I’m caught between being happy we get to see the matches complete at all and confused why they don’t do it a way they can profit and expand off it if they’re going to do it at all. I haven’t seen it yet. Opinions seem to greatly differ on the Navarro/ZSJ match – either just OK or one of the best matches of the year. Attendance seemed down, more so in the expensive seats. Might have been the day change or all the other shows going on for Kid’s Day.
CMLL’s Coliseo show tonight has Diamante Azul, Dragon Lee, Volador Jr. against Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero and Volador in the main event. While there’s not many big indie shows the rest of the weekend, it’s still the biggest weekend of the year in terms of small and local indie shows celebrating tomorrow’s Kid’s Day holiday.
CMLL (FRI) 05/05/2017Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Starman vs Arkángel de la Muerte & Espíritu Negro
2) Estrellita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis
3) Ángel de Oro vs Ripper [lightning]
4) Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Bobby Villa, Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora
5) Dragón Lee, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
6) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone vs La Máscara, Pierroth, Rush
This doesn’t look promising. Main event is more Ingbornables versus Diamante Azul. Semimain is Niebla Roja having problems with his partners – this might actually be the the turn, it’s the right time. Fourth match looks like the best on the show.
Women’s match is back to normal, and maybe we’ll find out if they’re doing Marcela versus Dalys or Marcela & Sugehit vs Dalys & Zeuxis any time soon. Espiritu Negro being listed in the opener is unlikely, even less likely he’ll be there.
La Máscara beatVolador Jr.(13:41 [1:20, 1:44, 10:37], 2/3, good)
Volador backcracker 1:20
Mascara double knee smash 1:44
Mascara campana 10:37
What happened:
Soberano
La Mascara wrestled the main event and won, defeating Volador cleanly with la campana, in a match taking place only hours after his father Brazo de Oro passed away. The promotion remembered Brazo de Oro with a moment of applause before the match. La Mascara tearfully held up a banner to honor his father to end the show.
Soberano Jr. defeated Sansón to win the Copa Junior Nuevo Valores 2017.
Marcela, Dalys & Zeuxis fell apart in the second fall of their match, with friendly fire incidents leading to Dalys & Zeuxis attacking their tecnica partner. No challenges were made after, so it’s unclear if this starts another cycle of Dalys/Marcela or if it’s a tag feud (with Sugehit?)
Thoughts:
pretty sure Sanson teleported
The main event is hard to evaluate as a match itself. It wasn’t really the emotional match or La Mascara one night técnico performance you might have expected of the situation, but something not that far off from what they might have done had there nothing else gone on. La Mascara did vow to be not an Ingobernable but a Mosquetero de Diablo tonight, and did his best to live up to it. He still wore the breakaway pants, but fought tougher and more serious than usual, especially when he attacked Volador hard from the start. It kind of turned into a usual Volador as it went on. Mascara still did more than he usually does in these matches, which might have happened anyway because it was a Friday main event, but felt like a bit part of the moment. The match felt professional, but it also felt understandable like their hearts were totally into it – they did the match because that’s what Brazo de Plata would’ve wanted, but their minds weren’t in it. They made the right call to have La Mascara win and win clean, and made the best of a tough day.
this worked well
Soberano & Sansón felt appropriate as the end of a young stars tournament. There were moments which didn’t go smoothly and maybe some ideas that could’ve been thought out better, but the potential of these guys was obvious and they wowed the fans with their athletic activities. After the usual sped thru falls, they went back and forth for a long time in the final fall. Soberano’s big moves looked bigger, but Sansón did well to be there right with him to catch and to get in his own offense. This feels like a match we’ll see again, and another achievement in a big 2017 for Soberano.
The rest of the show didn’t have a lot to it. I thought the semimain was good, but only barely so with some rough moments and the spark missing from similar matches. Dragon Lee and Negro Casas’ extended fight atop the turnbuckle to set up the finish was the most fun part of the match. The crowd liked the fourth match, a comedy heavy trios which smartly brought the crowd back up from the Brazo de Oro tribute, more than the one with all the flyers in it. It didn’t do as much for me, but it definitely achieved it’s purpose. The women’s match was just a strange setup to restart the one main world feud which never seems to end. I’d say the setup hurt the match, but those matches are just about the same whoever is on which side. The opener was the usual minis opener deal.
CMLL (TUE) 04/25/2017Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Martes de Glamour]
1) Joker & Sádico b Sky Kid & Smaker Sky Kid was hurt on the finihs.
2) Mercurio, Pierrothito, Relámpago Azul b Acero, Cosmos, Último Dragóncito
3) Pegasso, Rey Cometa, The Panther b Forastero, Puma, Tiger
4) Carístico, Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy b La Máscara, Pierroth, Sam Adonis tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Rush b Diamante Azul Rush snuck in a foul on Diamante Azul
Usual show in Guadalajara. It’d be nice if the third match (first TV match) slipped thru this week, but it’s unlikely.
Volador Jr. versus La Mascara was scheduled to be tonight’s Arena Mexico main event. It’s not been announced if La Mascara will still wrestle following his father’s death, but it’s probable he will not wrestle. Traditionally, Mexican families spent the day with the body of the deceased, but whatever La Mascara decides is the correct decision. The fans would be understanding with any substitution and any of the three rudos in the semimain could be elevated to the main event. It’s going to be an emotional night whatever happens in the main event; Brazo de Oro was a fixture and still active around Arena Mexico and many people wrestling or otherwise part of the show knew him well.
As it stands, the semimain will be Mephsito, Negro Casas and Barbaro Cavernario taking on Caristico, Dragon Lee and Mistico, which could be an exceptional match. Valiente, Marco Corleone and Diamante Azul take on Ripper, Hechicero and Kraneo in the fourth match.
The Copa Junior comes a conclusion tonight with a the son of Euforia, Soberano Jr., taking on the son of Cien Caras, Sanson. Soberano seems headed to a big match with Misterioso sometime in the next few months and could use a win her to put him more in the spotlight before that oppurtinty. On the other hand, CMLL’s been behind the Nuevo Generacion Dinamitas since they’ve debuted, and for good reason, so Sanson can’t be ruled out from pulling an upset.
The second match is an unusual relevos incredibles match. CMLL running a relevos incredible match itself isn’t new, we’ve seen about what seems likes hundreds with Los Ingobernables the last few years. It’s not done as much in the women’s division, because hardly anything is done in the women’s division. The teams are Zeuxis, Dalys & Marcela against Metalica, Estrellita and Sanely. These lead to either to someone changing side, or a makeshift team having some issue leading to a match. There’s been no hint of someone switching teams yet. Marcela and Dalys could have problems to lead to another match, but this seems like an extra effort to do a match they’d run with no setup anyway. It’s possible also a stipulation just to do a stipulation.
The opener is Electrico & Fantasy versus Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Nitro. The match was listed that way on the poster, but the show preview CMLL sent out to it’s media partners had Demus instead of Nitro. It’s fixed on CMLL’s site; I suspect Demus was originally in the match before he quit, and someone neglected to make the change after he left.
Lucha Memes also has a rare Friday night show, Chairo 10 at Arena Naucalpan. There’s a good sounding opening trios, but it’s really built around four matches that each could’ve main evented any indie show. CMLL’s Titan faces Rey Horuz/Dragon Azteca. Rush fights Black Terry. LA Park creates some sort of havoc with Super Mega. And, in the match that’s gotten the most attention, Zack Sabre Jr. makes his Mexico debut by facing Negro Navarro. The previous Chairo cards have been more along the lines of 7-9 matches with some singles and some tags; it’ll be an worth watching to see if the different style or day changes how the show does.
Sabre/Navarro reads like a great exchange of holds match on paper. My concern about the match is the quality of Navarro’s matches vary with how highly he thinks of his opponents – if he doesn’t think or know much of his opponent, it may be quick and one sided. Navarro sounded interested in wrestling if not totally familiar with him on +Lucha’s podcast, and hopefully we’ll get the match everyone wants to see here. Navarro mentioned a hope to use this match to get more international bookings, and a good performance here could help with that.
Lucha Memes announced Negro Navarro & Black Terry vs Hechicero & Virus from the last Lucha Memes show will be uploaded to +LuchaTV’s channel. (It’s possible this may be delayed due to Brazo de Oro’s death.) It’s great we’re getting to see that match. It’s disappointing we’re still getting piece meal bits and pieces of shows instead of the full thing. I don’t want to preach about this today, my message doesn’t seem to be getting thru. Tonight’s show should be a good event and I hope it does well.
There’s also an AAA show tonight in Neza – it’s the one with the cool Lego inspired poster – and a special Kid’s show with no advertised matches in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. Today kicks off one of the busiest lucha weekends of the year. The big promotions are running shows, but it’s more about lots of local and small shows aimed at kid’s, many of which inevitable take place at non-traditional locations.
Rey Mysterio was on Jim Ross’ podcast. Pretty much unprompted, just in general discussion about how management should treat wrestlers, Rey brought up and criticized a promotion that was sending wrestlers on fifteen plus hour bus trips to shows. Rey never mentioned AAA by name, but was clearly talking about them. Rey wouldn’t have been asked to go on those bus trips during his return to AAA, but was speaking on behalf of people who probably could not safely say those things. AAA has the roughest travel schedule of any major promotion as far as I know, with no set touring scheduled and people sometimes send from one corner of the country to another, or just stopping back in Mexico City in between. (Christina Von Eerie had a great explanation of what it’s like to work an AAA schedule on a recent edition of Colt Cabana’s podcast.) I know it was reported that AAA recently said they were going to end that practice and start flying people out if it was more than a certain amount of hours, though I’m not sure if they have. Mysterio sounded very down on AAA, which fits him with him being part of the Rebelion. He and Dorain Roldan were doing group interviews last week at C2E2 about Lucha Underground; everyone at LU events is really good at keeping whatever tension there is out of sight for those outings.
Aeroboy will debut in AAW on May 6th. He’s on the ChilangaMask show the next day, so he’s picking up an extra high profile match while in the area.
HUMO (SAT) 06/03/2017Salón Citlalli, Ecatepec, Estado de México
1) Diva Salvaje & Rey Gato vs Novasonic & Piel Roja
2) Sagrado vs Demasiado
3) Paloma Rouse & Zafiro (Chihuahua) vs Mystique & Reina Dorada
4) Skadi vs Tsunami
5) Felina Metálica vs Ludark Shaitan
6) Dalys, La Comandante, Marcela vs Cinthia Moreno, Esther Moreno, Rossy Moreno
The women’s focused HUMO promotion returns on June 3rd with the Moreno sisters against CMLL lucahdoras.
LLP (SUN) 06/04/2017Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Canario, Novasonic, Prehispanic vs Imperio, King, Quetzal
2) Fly Star & Toxin vs Lunatik Fly & Lunatik Xtrem and Kaiser & Osiris
3) ?, Johnny Idol, Pantera vs Apolo Estrada, Rey Gato, Sam Adonis
4) Aero Boy vs Alan Extreme vs Dinamic Black
5) Dr. Cerebro & Hanaoka vs Dick Togo & Douki
Dick Togo was around Mexico for a few weeks in 2012. It’s unclear if he’s hanging out with the Japones del Mal for one match or more. Semimain could be very good.
Brazo de Oro, Jesús Alvarado Nieves, passed away early Friday morning from a heart attack.
Brazo de Oro was the first member of the famous Los Brazos trio, and first of the six sons of Shadito Cruz to start wrestling. He was named after a movie (which his father also briefly used), and the name scheme and the word Brazo became associated with his entire family. Brazo de Oro is remembered as part of that trios, but he first found success as a singles wrestler when he was out on his own (winning Texano Sr.’s hair among others and many local championships), and he and Brazo de Plata were a successful tag team as well. Brazo de Oro was believed to be actual best wrestler and best prospect among the young wrestlers for a time, and Dr. Lucha’s obit for El Brazo mentioned there was serious consideration to leaving him as a single and only having him team with his family occasionally (which could’ve led to a Villano III like career.)
Instead, El Brazo completed the trio in 1981, which began as the vicious Los Mosqueteros del Diablo rudos and evolved into a beloved comedy act much later in their career. They were a strong part of the UWA/LLI, and won the promotion’s trios championships three times when it was the most important trios title in Mexico. They also were national trios champions twice. They were a popular act thru the 80s, and among the people featured in rival promotion EMLL when the two groups exchanged talent; their appearances there would’ve been their first national exposure in the US. Brazo de Oro and his brothers also traveled to Japan many times, wrestling tours for All Japan, New Japan, WAR, Michinoku Pro and other promotions as a lucahdor emblematic of the UWA/lucha libre style in Mexico.
Brazo de Oro’s biggest feud was the family feud with Los Villanos. The matches were violent and bloody, a rougher style used by many in the promotion and less so in major lucha promotions today. The rivalry lasted for years (and still gets called back to today) and was heated enough that there were reports of promoters around the country wanting to host the blowoff match. They eventually chose a promoter away from their homebase of El Toreo outside of Mexico City, with the 3v3 mask match taking place in Monterrey on October 21, 1988. The choice of venues and promoters was a mistake: lucha libre rivalries were mostly regional concerns, the match didn’t drew well in Monterrey, and the Brazos claimed they were never actually paid for the mask loss.
Of the three brothers in the primary trio, Brazo de Oro seems like the one most damaged by losing his mask. Brazo de Plata and Brazo were more charismatic luchadors and Brazo de Oro never had the singles success once forecast for him. The trio stuck together even as LLI fell apart, moving to CMLL where they found some success in the early 90s. After a few years, Brazo de Oro turned into the guy with a name who would lose apuesta matches every year or so, first in Arena Mexico and later just about anywhere. CML had a intra-family feud in 1995, with El Brazo splitting from the other two and winning Brazo de Oro’s hair before losing to Brazo de Plata. It seemed to reflect some actual issues between the family members, as El Brazo left CMLL in 1996 never to return and Brazo de Oro remained in CMLL for the rest of his career.
Brazo de Oro remained active thru 2006. I first saw him during those late stages of that career, where he was not much of an exciting luchador and nothing like he had been in his best days, but a name from the past who was kept around to have some experience mixed in with the younger wrestlers. Brazo de Oro announced a retirement around 2006, but of course continued to wrestle from time to time, even being brought back to Arena Coliseo Guadalajara a few times. He would also appear as a corner man for his son La Mascara’s title matches at times, especially early in his career. The last confirmed Brazo de Oro match appears to be a Christmas 2015 match with Brazo de Plata and Robin (filling in for Brazo de Platino) versus Canek, Dos Caras and Mil Mascaras; a lot of Brazo de Oro’s final matches were LLI tribute matches or Villano/Brazo tribute matches. Many of the participants in the match don’t look like they should be still wrestling at that stage, but such is the long lasting popularity of that era of Mexican wrestlers that people will still come out to see them more than two decades after the promotion ceased to exist. Those opportunities to see those wrestlers are shrinking; with also Fishman passing away earlier this month, it feels like those times are beginning to slip away for good.
A 1991 CMLL vignette which frequently gets brought up when talking about Los Brazos. The brothers are having childlike dreams of what they want to be when they grow up. Brazo wanted to be a rock star, Brazo de Oro wanted to be a businessman, and Brazo de Plata dreamed of being Brazo de Plata. The dreams have often been said to be reflection of what they really wanted to be, and Brazo de Oro spent much of his career behind the scenes working on the business of lucha libre. He was part of LLI’s office late in the promotion’s run, then moved over to being the man in charge of wrestler’s union in the CMLL around 1994 when the UWA went rapidly downhill. Last anyone’s said, Brazo de Oro was still in charge of the wrestler’s union, though he’s been also been mentioned as being part of the programming team in the distant past and had appeared as a reserve referee a few times earlier this decade. He likely had other behind the scenes roles.
El Brazo passed away in 2013. Brazo de Plata is now the only remaining member of the famous trio, too hurt to continue wrestling. He hopes for a return, but it’s unclear if it’ll happen. Their brother Brazo Cibernetico/Robin Hood passed away back in 1999. Brazo de Platino and Super Brazo still wrestle on small shows. Brazo de Oro is survived by La Mascara, who’s currently scheduled to main event tonight’s Arena Mexico show. He also appears was at least billed as the father of Brazo de Oro Jr., who wrestled a few shows with Brazo de Oro and continues to wrestle on smaller shows today, but hasn’t been billed as one of his sons in the obits today. The Brazos seemed fond of wrestling, but were also seemed fond (or in need) of making as much money from wrestling as they could, and it was not uncommon for them to license out the Brazo name to non-family members.
CMLL & AAA have already posted condolence message. He’ll be remembered at shows this weekend.
