FantasticaMania wraps up, IWRG, MDA/MAD

Reminder: The Tapatia awards for the best in lucha libre are open thru January 28th.

IWRG (SUN) 01/21/2018 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Leroy & Lunatic Xtreme b Dragón Orus & Shadow Boy
straight falls
2) Demonio Infernal b Odín
Lunatic Xtreme brawled with Demonio post match, setting up a singles match next week.
3) Fly Warrior & Séptimo Rayo DQ Diablo Jr. & Eterno
foul/mask pull for the DQ.
4) Cerebro Negro b Emperador Azteca
Cerebro Negro asked for a title match. Emperador agreed.
5) Black Dragón, Dinamic Black, Dragón Fly b Liderk, Rayan, Spector
straight falls, setting up a title match.
6) Hijo del Pantera, Internacional Pantera, Pantera I b Chico Che, Hijo del Alebrije, Veneno
Pantera I replaced Rokambole Jr.
7) Dr. Cerebro, Trauma I, Trauma II b Bombero Infernal, Rocambole Jr., Villano V Jr.
Rokambole Jr. replaced Imposible. Dr. Cerbero challenged Bombero to a middleweight title match.

That’s two different title matches, Luntaci/Demonio and probably something with the Indy Nation guys set up for next week. (It wasn’t clear who actually got fouled in that one.) That’s a lot for one Sunday show, so maybe it won’t be on one Sunday show.

CMLL NJPW (MON) 01/22/2018 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan [CMLL, Culticon, NJPW, thecubsfan]
Attendance: 1546
1) Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi b Disturbio & Puma
8:52. Fuego beat Disturbio with La Guelaguetza
2) Okumura, Rocky Romero, SHO, YOH b Jushin Liger, Kushida, Star Jr., Tiger Mask
10:59. Okumura beat Star Jr. with the reverse DDT.
3) Cuatrero & Sansón b Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja [CMLL Hermanos, third place]
9:30. Sanson beat Angel de Oro with the Poder Dinamita.
4) Bárbaro Cavernario & Gedo b Atlantis & Hirai Kawato
9:14. Cavernario submited Kawato to his cavernaria in his farewell to NJPW match.
5) Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito b Drone, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr.
8:37. BUSHI beat Drone. Backstage, Volador said he wanted LIJ to come to Mexico so he could get a rematch.
6) Rush b Satoshi Kojima
10:11. Rush beat Kojima with the Rush Driver.
7) Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero b Dragón Lee & Mistico [CMLL Hermanos, final]
18:42. Ultimo Guerrero beat Mistico with the Guerrero Special to win the brothers tournament.

This resembled the first night in Tokyo, with a generally watchable show and a really good match at the end.

Rush/Kojima was about as good as it was going to be, but I don’t think NJPW fans would warm up to the idea of a G1 of Rush matches considering what their standards for those have been. The chair bit is weird. It’s kind has to be a NJPW idea – CMLL doesn’t do normally chair spots because all of their chairs are permanently bolted down and not the folded type. Rush uses chairs (and rows of chairs) on indie shows but probably wouldn’t be doing that spot if NJPW didn’t want it. The heat’s still going to be on him for doing it to the head.

I didn’t notice it was an almost rudo win show until putting this together. Still was a fun show.

Tonight’s Puebla main event is Caristico, Kraneo and Valiente facing Terrible, Rey Bucanero and Vangellys. Terribel fouled Caristico last week, so that’s probably next week’s singles match. The best looking match on the show is Esfinge, Triton and Rey Cometa versus Ephesto, Tiger and Lucifierno, though Cometa missed his last match. Sam Adonis is also scheduled after missing this weekend’s show, so this might be more notable for finding out who’s there.

This will air at 9pm on CMLL’s YouTube channel.

The Konnan, Sexy Dulce, Juventud Guerrera and Kevin Kross faction is named MAD (a play off MDA), and it looks like Zorro might be involved too. It does sound like they got physically involved with Alberto and Wagner. Konnan had been hinting about a project coming in Mexico soon – could be this, could be him just coming in as talent. We’ll probably know by his next podcast, which is debuting it’s new home this week.

The Crash’s takeover on 01/26 will have a La Mascara/Maximo vs Penta/Daga vs Damian/Bestia match for the crowd as a free deal. There’s also a billion logos on the poster from other promotions, so maybe there will be more.

Segunda Caida writes about El Mesias & Electroshock vs Blue Demon & La Parka from 08/09/15 AAA.

There’s a NWA Mexico show scheduled for on 01/27. Fredo found the poster, but I had to look at it multiple times to believe it was actually a 2018 show. The last known NWA show in Mexico was in 2012.

Pesadilla’s headed back to Germany in October.