July 12, 2017 – luchablog

CMLL Puebla: 2017-07-03

July 12, 2017July 11, 2017 thecubsfan

Recapped: 07/04/2017

All matches aired live from Arena Puebla, 07/03/2017

Matches:

Asturiano, Black Tiger, Meyer beat El Malayo, Fuerza Chicana, King Jaguar
(13:35 [6:38, 2:41, 4:16], 1/3, ok)

Marcela beat Dalys in a lightning match

(7:56, Michinoku Driver, ok, via: VideosOficialesCMLL)

Soberano Jr., Stigma, Titán beat Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
(12:22 [5:49, 2:59, 3:34], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Espíritu Maligno beat Ares in a hair vs hair match (14:37, 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Ares double amrbar (2:04)
Espíritu Maligno seated nudo (2:56)
Espíritu Maligno alejandrina (9:37)

Diamante Azul, Valiente, Volador Jr. beat Kráneo, Mephisto, Ripper
(12:20 [6:10, 6:10], 1/2, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Pierroth, Rush, Último Guerrero beat Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible

(10:18 [2:21, 3:47, 4:10], 1/3, below average, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

The Fake Sombra – or a different one – was with Rush & Pierroth as with Friday. This time, the announcers didn’t shy away from identifying him, going the other way and definitively saying this was the real La Sombra we had seen for a while. The actual Manny Andrade traveled back to his hometown during the rest of the week and then went back to NXT. Since the idea is this is the real Sombra, the Fake Sombra went away too, at least until the next NXT vacation.

Diamante Azul wore a half Metro mask, though the announcers just referred to it as something from his past. (Metro was a sponsor , and maybe “was” is the reason it didn’t get named.) Kraneo fouled Volador for the DQ, something that went nowhere even though they were on opposite sides again the following week.

Both men came to the ring wearing their old mask for the hair match. Tirantes slow counted during the match, even at one point in the third fall where Ares appeared to pull Espíritu before the finish. Ares got his head shaved in the ring, and threw some of it at Espiritu.

Misterioso attacked Soberano at the start of their match, but fooled around and got cradled by Soberano at the end. Misterioso still took Soberano’s mask after the match.

Dalys came thru the crowd to attack Marcela to start the match. It helped her control Marcela for the first three minutes of the match, but she still ultimately lost to Marcela’s tapatia. Marcela challenged for a title shot next week.

Thoughts:

There wasn’t much reason to expect a lot out of the main event, given who was involved. They delivered on less than that. Rush & Pierroth only seemed to be interested when they were doing the Sombra angle, and not into the match at all. Rey Bucanero was doing the most on each team, but there wasn’t much to be had with the other guys. Shocker didn’t seem keen on taking the corner dropkick with his messed up jaw. This was a waste of time.

The semimain wasn’t much, an easy night for some guys who’ve had long days lately. Volador’s schedule probably caused this to be an off night for him, but it’s not like he was holding back this one. It was inactive and tedious, especially during the rudo controlled second fall. Diamante Azul easily slamming Kranoe was one of the more impressive things he’s done. His tope was not.

The hair match was a disappointment. The feud has been badly done, but Arena Puebla talking them into it seemed likely and there waas a big crowd there. They just didn’t come across as caring that much, and the match was just a collection of moves with no meaning. They built it around a surprising amount of dives, especially Ares doing more here than he’s done in the entire feud to this point, and those looked good, but it didn’t feel like it was going anywhere before the finish. Tirantes slow counts were really annoying on this show, and he just takes over the match for a couple minutes in the early with them and with arguing with both guys. I think it’s an attempt to get head for a match that isn’t really getting one – if the fans are booing him, at leas they’re making some noise – but it doesn’t get that reaction and it felt like the moment to check out on this match.

The lightning match was technically but the crowd did not seem to care about it at all. They did the things sort of bits that should make for an exciting match, and had more believable near endings than typical for a lightning match. The crowd just didn’t seem all that into it. Dalys moved way to the side on Marcela’s corner dropkick. I wouldn’t want to take it either.

This tercera got better as it went along but not so much that it felt totally watchable. It was really just the Soberano show, with him and Misterioso working their feud pretty well. I hope they’re actually heading to the match because their interactions have gotten better as they’ve gone along. Sagrado remains really good, both at talking the fancy offense and doing little things for the tecnicos.

The opener was more aggressive than usual, probably because it was a big show, but the energy didn’t translate into an interesting match. It was a few more action but not much stood out and it still came off as slow at times. Doing the dive tease and having both guys slide out instead just sort of made everyone look dumb, as usual. Every fall ended with a top rope move and only Black Tiger’s senton at the end looked good.

Atlantis out 4 months, AAA planes, new Rebelion, Cueto Cup round 2 begins

July 12, 2017July 12, 2017 thecubsfan

Revolucha The Crash (SUN) 07/09/2017 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [Lo Mejor de Lucha Libre, LuchaMania Monterrey]
1) Guerrero Vida b Mr. Iguana, Psiclope
2) Chamaco Gurrola & Mini Hator b Jerrito Estrada & Mini Bengalí
3) Erika Sotelo, La Chocolata, Larry Miranda b Black Thunder, Golden Boy, Rey Demonio Jr.
4) Demus 666 b Arez, Rico Rodríguez
no Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. (injury) so they just had a three way instead
5) Damián 666 & Zorro DQ Cibernético & Sharlie Rockstar
Zorro seems to be wrestling thru a neck injury (he’s often seen in a neck brace.) Garza mocked him for it before the match. A cheese grater was used in the match. Zorro & Damain had issues and the referee inexplicably gave Zorro the win by DQ. Penta made teh save post match.
6) Daga b Bestia 666, Último Ninja, Sammy Guevara
no Willie Mack.
7) Garza Jr. & Penta 0M b La Máscara & M-ximo
Garza wasn’t helping Penta much and tried to walk out, but Daga & Zorro attacked him. Ultimo Ninja helped out his cousin and the Alvarados. The referee was taken on multiple times, and promoter Roberto Figueroa ended up counting a pin for Pentagon. Garza announced he was going to create a new Rebelion with Ultimo Ninja, while Figueroa showed a video of Rey Mysterio saying he was coming to Monterrey to help get revenge on Garza. Garza attacked Figueroa.

Said to be a good turnout for this show. If they’re running with with this angle, the original La Rebelion would’ve existed for six months before completely changing. Maybe they’ll do a match for the name.

CMLL (TUE) 07/11/2017 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Nitro & Pierrothito
Pierrothito replaced Mercurio.
2) Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante, Robin b Hijo del Signo, Metálico, Sangre Azteca
straight fall win for the tecnicos! Sangre Azteca replaced Nitro.
3) Estrellita, Sanely, Skadi b La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica
tecnicas took 2/3. Comandante replaced Tiffany.
4) Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Pólvora b Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa
Rudos took 2/3
5) Valiente TLDRAW Gran Guerrero [lightning]
they went the full 10 minutes
6) Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible b Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja

The lightning match sounds like it went well; they’ve been the better parts of this show of late. No in-ring stories on the show otherwise.

A (foreign appearing) female fan flashed the cameras after the main event, which the announcers reacted with some amusement. (Amapola suggested they needed more police.) CMLL’s production was doing their usual bit of showing the same woman numerous amount of times and she had a little premeditated revenge. She was high fiving people around her after they cut away. CMLL could get a strike on YouTube for nudity, and might end up taking down that show before that happens.

Atlantis told Record he will be out four months recovering from knee surgery. That means Atlantis will miss the Anniversary show. (CMLL’s billing this as his first miss, but they forgot to book in 2011 and once before.) Atlantis vs X seems to be the CMLL emergency plan for that show, but it’ll have to be something else this year.

The Diosas del Ring will have a dance number as part of Friday’s show, which means we’ll be seeing highlights of something (Sunday’s cibernetico?!?) instead.

Volador beat Carsitico last Friday in Acapulco for Cholo de Tijuana’s middleweight championship. Histeria distracted Caristico and Volador pulled Caristico’s mask to set up the win. Caristico.

Ultimo Guerrero notes he’s won 2 Gran Prixs and 2 Universal titles and is aiming for three of both.

AAA held a press conference late Tuesday night. While it focused on Dr. Wagner, Psycho Clown and their TripleMania match, it seemed more like they were pushing the vacation packages for the show after it stronger – they were there to show off the special Dr. Wagner & Psycho Clown painted planes, with the luchadors in pilot outfits. They also shows off this year’s Panini albums, which will be focused on Dr. Wagner versus Psycho Clown. AAA is full invested in that match; we out here might be concerned that Wagner will back out at some point, but AAA is promoting it will full confidence it’ll happen.

GFW/Impact says Alberto is suspended indefinitely while they do an investigation. They’re not taping TV again until August 17th, which is a same night airing show. They have actual live events the weekend of August 5th so it’s possible he could be pulled from those, but announcing a suspension seems more like a PR move for the brand than anything really all that meaningful.

For what it’s worth, Leo Riano’s Record column mentions the stuff we (and everyone else) had about Alberto being on TripleMania with any mention of his issues, and again insists the show is this close to airing on Televisa over the air. (There’s nothing on Record’s site at all about Alberto’s issues, but a lot of their articles don’t seem to be put up on their website.) Dorian Roldan said TripleMania would be on PPV and Dorian’s been right a lot this year when people have said other things, so I’d still assume PPV. AAA’s not said anything about Alberto but, as far as we’re supposed to know, Alberto doesn’t work there.

Today’s Lucha Underground is A Fenix to a Flame, episode 26 of this third season. There are 15 episodes left including this episode. This week begins the second round of the Cueto Cup:

Marty the Moth vs Fenix
Jeremiah Crane vs Taya
Paul London vs Mil Muertes

Marty & Fenix have the issue over Melissa Santos. Taya and others have raved how her match with Crane went. The guide preview says Brenda & Texano will have a meeting, so Famous B’s recruiting isn’t over.

RIOT on 07/29 in Arena Femenil Monterrey
1) Shane Strickland vs Fly Warrior in the first round of the Powerbomb.TV tournament.
2) Muerte Extrema vs Psicotico
3) Low Rider vs Sayrus
4) Erik Ortiz vs Black Terry
5) Kratoz vs Dralion vs Sammy Guevera vs Arez vs Fuego del Sol – new!

Fuego del Sol is a Texas guy who faced Guevara on a Martinez show back in February.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and a new episode of LuchaTalk is up.

+LuchaTV has Vangellys, Mr. Electro and Arez as guests on the podcast.

Psycho Clown & La Mascara beat LA Park & Rey Escorpion on the Brazo de Plata tribute show in Nuevo Laredo when Escorpion betrayed LA Park.

Dalys says Marcela is the only other woman on her level so no one else is worth a title shot, but also she’d like to retire Marcela so maybe we’re moving towards no one getting title shots.

Pierroth thinks Mistico should join Los Ingobernables. I think he already said no, but that might have just been Dragon Lee.

Vangellys says everyone’s tired of Los Ingobernables, and Friday will begin a new era of Vangellys.

MedioTiempo has a sit down interview with Dragon Lee.

Matt B has put together a playlist of that May MDA show, which has gotten released at different times by +LuchaTV. Maybe the Rey Escorpion/Caifan match will turn up today.

Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes will hold a discussion of “Lucha Libre Sin Limite De Sangre” tonight. It’s a photography focused book. Villano V is scheduled to be on the panel.

Punto.MX interviews Mazatlan luchador/mask maker La Gargola, who says lucha libre helped him get over his timidness.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 07/18/2017 Arena México
1) Angelito & Fantasy vs Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Violencia
2) Flyer, Príncipe Diamante, Robin vs Akuma, Arkángel de la Muerte, Metálico
3) Fuego, Oro Jr., Pegasso vs Disturbio, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
4) Johnny Idol vs Vangellys [lightning]
5) Rey Cometa, Titán, Valiente vs Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Shocker
6) Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Mistico vs Cavernario, Rey Bucanero, Terrible

Angelico is back in the opener after 18 months. The story going around is he had previously lied about his age, claiming he was older than he actually was.

CMLL (TUE) 07/18/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Mágico & Micro vs Exterminador & Guerrero de la Muerte
2) Astral, Explosivo, Star Jr. vs Cancerbero, Difunto, Raziel
3) Drone, Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Felino, Puma, Tiger
5) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Volador Jr. vs Pierroth, Ripper, Rush

A three trios is very strange, but probably pretty good given who they’ve got involved.

AAA on Televisa: 2017-07-01

July 12, 2017July 11, 2017 thecubsfan

Recapped: 07/01/2017

Matches:

All matches were from Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, taped on 06/04/2017.

Máscara de Bronce beat Hernandez
(5:38, bodyscissors cradle, ok)

Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria beat El Mesías & Pagano © and Aerostar & Drago and Australian Suicide & Bengala for the AAA World Tag Team Championship

(8:42, Scoria legdrop Pagano, ok)

Pimpinela Escarlata beat Mamba in a hair versus hair match
(10:48, inside cradle, ok)

What happened:

Mascara de Bronce came out to cash in his title shot against Johnny Mundo to start the show. Johnny Mundo’s music played, but Hernandez appeared instead. Hernandez talked to Arturo Rivera, who translates Hernandez saying Johnny Mundo wouldn’t be here because the wrestlers weren’t any good. Hernandez said he’s take on Bronce himself, if Bronce wasn’t scared. Bronce wasn’t scared, and eventually surprised Hernandez to win a match he was otherwise losing. (The cradle is messed up, but close enough to work.) Hernandez resumes destroying Bronce after the match and walks away with the briefacse.

There’s no attempt of an explanation of why Bengala & Australian Suicide are getting a tag title shot after losing in their last match for the title shot and breaking up. They get along fine during the match, and you’d have no idea there was meant to be a split if you only watched this match.

Pagano accidently dropkicks Mesias during the match thanks to Cuervo, and then Cuervo shoves Pagano into Mesias again which knocks Mesias down. A backcracker and a top rope legdrop later, the tag titles have changes hands again. The técnicos chase Cuervo & Scoria to the back just to get them off screen for the post match.

Pagano looks at the crowd after the match, and everyone else hustles to the back to the back. Mesias, who had been done since Pagnao ran in to him, gets up, and punches Pagano as he turns around to finally break up with hit. Mesias works over Texano with a chair. (Bizarrely, there’s a couple of edits in here cutting to an angle with Chessman, Averno and Mary Apache from last year – it seems like a video editing error.) Mesias his Pagano with a padded chair to the head to cause him to bleed, and punches and stomps him a few times. It’s sold as a devastating thing though we’ve see worse with Pagano. Mesias attacks Pagnao again after he’s put on the stretcher, and he screams at the Juarez fans a lot. Mesias attacks for a third time as Pagano is being taken away.

Mamba and Pimpinela have a 10 second run in before the match where Pimpi looks nervous and Mamba says she’s going to end her repeatedly. Mamba wore a ring jacket with “Gracias Apache” on it before the match, and lost cleanly.

A local celebrity who’s name I don’t understand comes in to cut Mamba’s hair – though with regular scissors. They take Mamba to the entrance to get it shaved (guess they didn’t have a plug near the ring?) Mamba is shaved, not completely bald on TV, though messed up enough that it seems like they’d have to be shaved bald eventually to clean it up.

Thoughts:

The finish of the Bronce/Hernandez match did work, because the crowd wasn’t expecting the upset. It just wasn’t much of a match around it, and it didn’t feel like it ended up doing much for Bronce. It made sense for Hernandez to take a lot of the match for the underdog story, but it was treated as a pointless fluke by Bronce getting laid out rather simply after the match. He got in a few highspots during the match, but Hernandez wasn’t the smoothiest guy for Bronce’s type of offense.

The four way tag match suffered for being a four way match. They were trying to be equitable to everyone, but it came off as guys taking turns during their moves and nothing really mattering except getting out of the way so the next person could take over. There was really no up or down to the match, and nothing that felt like a finish until it was suddenly over. It’s nice Bengala & Suicide picked up a pay day, but they were a distracting presence, they just added to the people who had to get their share and their breakup story being so completely ignored maybe it tougher to take the breakup they were doing here all that serious. Mesias’ attack to Pagano seemed so minor – I’ve got no doubt they’re going to do many times worse stuff than a padded chair shot to each other and still keep going at TripleMania – but they did get people to care about the beatdown at the end because Pagano sold it like he was half dead. It was a little overblown but it seemed like it worked?

The Pimpinela/Mamba match wasn’t much, and that was the intention. Some luchadors go crazy in apuesta matches and that might have been Mamba with a different opponent, but they concentrated on the things Pimpinela could do OK and avoided any embarrassment. They did find plenty of people excited about the finish; I wonder played better to the Juarez crowd, who had seen this feud for the last couple shows played out better than it had been pushed on TV and reacted strongly to the finish. (There was a spot with Pimpinela going after Tirantes, which doesn’t make sense based on his new neutral referee persona, but maybe worked if he’d been cheating her on spot shows.) It could just be they just still love Pimpi. This needed those memories of the past to make it watchable.

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