CMLL Universal tournament begins, AAA in Puebla, DTU versus X-LAW

DTU (THU) 06/29/2017 Arena Aficion [+LuchaTV]
1) Erwing & Irwing b Billy & Hard Boy
2) Toto b Príncipe Cometa, Voldemort, Astrolux, Pardux, Black Metal, Drolux, Rey Kingston
3) Camuflaje & Tony Iron b Aero Boy & Hormiga
DTU vs X-LAW. Tony Iron & Camuflaje are new members of X-LAW (which also included Halloween, ANgel o Demonio, Pesadilla, Dragon Yuki, Gio and Junior.) Camuflaje challenged La Hormiga to a title match.
4) Dragón Yuki, Gio, Junior, Pesadilla b El Exótico, Jimmy, Kevin, Príncipe Cometa
5) Crazy King b Markus Crane, D-Pólux Jr., Moria, Tiburón
6) Ángel o Demonio & Halloween b Paranoiko & Tóxico and Corsario Negro Jr. & Ovett
The other X-LAW members helped Halloween & Angel O Demonio won, then attacked Ovett & Corsario Negro Jr. after the match.
7) Cíclope & Miedo Extremo b Jimmy Lloyd & Matt Tremont
said to be very good match. Markus Crane & Crazy King both got involved. Miedo Extremo needed five stitches after the match.

About the usual turnout and changes for a DTU show. Super Mega & Mike Segura are the two notable names who were listed but didn’t end up appearing. +LuchaTV was at this show so we might see this on their channel. DTU is Queretaro tonight, with the GCW trio of Matt Tremont, Markus Crane and Jimmy Lloyd take on Ovett, Paranoiko and Toxico in the main event.

Both AAA & CMLL are active tonight. AAA is running it’s (about) annual June Puebla taping, while CMLL kicks off their own yearly Universal tournament.

CMLL’s Universal tournament usually goes to one of the top stars of the promotion. Last year, it went to Valiente, who was treated as a top star for a few months and then returned to being Valiente. It does make it more uncertain who’s got a chance this time, since CMLL has shown more people are in contention (and it matters even less.) In this block:

Normal finalists: Volador Jr., Negro Casas, Dragon Lee, Valiente
Outside Chances: Shocker, Hechicero, maybe Angel de Oro
No: Luciferno.

Another way to look at it

Good Idea For Three Matches Tonight: Volador Jr., Negro Casas, Dragon Lee, Hechciero
OK Idea For Three Matches Tonight: Valiente, Angel de Oro
Still No: Lucifierno
please no don’t do it this would be bad for everyone: Shocker

This could be a fun series of (short) matches if CMLL plays it out nicely, but it’s dependent on how much CMLL in in denial Shocker. He still gets a reaction of people recognizes him, and CMLL hasn’t moved him off the top matches, but he’s struggling back fro his latest injury and was already greatly diminished by prior injuries. CMLL should be aware that putting Shocker in multiple matches is bad for him and bad for them, but they’re doing a Pierroth/Vangellys feud so I’m not sure how much they care about bad matches. Today’s also is the Copa Bobby Bonales, and that should be the thing Shocker wins

The undercard has good matches, though some things are going to have to be cut short to fit everything in. The semimain is Misterioso, Pierroth, and Rush versus Vangellys, Rey Bucanero and Terrible, which seems like something that should go two falls to build up that hair match in two weeks. I wonder if Misterioso still remembers when Pierroth & Rush buried him and Sagrado for being lazy. (The CMLL preview slightly references that.)

The rest is rivalry-less trios which all have some promise. Atlantis, Blue Panther and Gran Alterantiva winner Soberano take on Dragon Rojo, Mephisto and Sam Adonis, which seems like Soberano’s reward for winning the tournament. The second match has the great combo of Guerrero Maya, Rey Cometa, Titan taking on Polvora, Ripper and Virus, who’s won six of his last seven matches. The opener looks extraordinary for that position, with Drone teaming up with the Panther and Pegasso against the Nueva Generacion Dinamitas.

The show will air on ClaroSports and probably on Facebook. Hopefully it’ll air complete, I think we’ll all be frustrated if it starts late again and we miss that opener. I want to go on Twitter and ask them to make sure to start the feed on time this week, but I don’t think I can do it without sounding annoying.

AAA taped tonight in Puebla. Like all shows, we have a card and an expectation that none of the matches will happen as listed. It’s going to be more of a problem than usual, since the show was hyped locally around three singles matches (Psycho/Pagano, Mesias/Wagner, Mundo/Texano). None of those matches make sense with current AAA storylines.

I made a dumb mistake a couple days ago: I said Johnny Mundo wouldn’t be on TV for months, but he’s listed on the TV taping tonight. I guess I could still end up being correct – Mundo hadn’t mentioned the AAA show as of this morning – but AAA at least has him scheduled for tonight.

The undercard makes a little more sense than the main event: Poder del Norte is supposed to face the Aerostar/Drago/Raptor, and that match is actually supposed to happen based on what they said up on the last show. There’s not telling about the rest. The show is listed as starting at 9pm, and we probably won’t get notes on the show until about 40 minutes later. AAA’s a month ahead on taping, and these matches won’t start airing until 07/29. Maybe there should be an expectation of some TripleMania announced since the card will probably announced before the following taping airs, but that’s not the way AAA has worked this year.

PWInsider has a report saying Drago & Hijo del Fantasma are allowed to appear on Impact because AAA hold the rights to their characters, any character AAA hold the rights to can appear on Impact, and Lucha Underground had nothing to do with the deal.

This report, which seems sourced from Lucha Underground production, does not fully make sense. It’s not “AAA” who owns the rights to Drago in the US, AAA gave those rights to “Lucha Libre FMV”. That parent company owns all the AAA LU names and all the LU names the same. It’s in the US trademark search and not hard to find.

If the only issue is who has the rights to the character, then Ricochet or Sami Callihan or anyone should’ve been allowed to appear on Ring of Honor or NJPW’s US show under their non-LU characters. Both have indicated on Twitter that they were told no to showing up on TV elsewhere, because the actual human beings can only work on TV for LU. This sure seems like AAA & LU rewriting contracts to their own advantage. I’m open less cynical explanations.

This is generally unimportant, since LU & AAA can do what they want to do and disadvantaged LU wrestlers will probably just continue to try to wait them out because it’s too costly to fight legally. Maybe important is I’d assume Impact would like to have AAA officials at Impact to promote the international partnership – if Dorian Roldan is there, we’ll probably get at least one good story of him and Konnan “reuniting.”

Penta & Fenix are missing this weekend’s Defy shows, after Penta was mugged on the way to the airport. His visa was taken in mugging, so he can’t travel until that’s resolved. Penta is listed as wrestling on the Arena Neza show on Saturday and the Crash show on Sunday.

The Crash announced they’re running in Torreon soon.

AJPW officially announced Caristico, Sam Adonis and Diamante will appear on their 08/19 Lucha Fiesta show. Caristico will also hang around to appear on their 08/27 show.

Diamante Azul says he’s aiming to win the Gran Prix and the heavyweight championship while in Mexico. He says his (three) children are going to come visit Mexico for a couple months.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Segunda Caida watched CMLL June 16