Elite returns (again!), Volador/UG advance, Oro/Cuatrero at H2L, AAA in Toluca

CMLL (FRI) 02/02/2018 Arena México [CMLL, Culticon, thecubsfan]
1) El Coyote & Templario b Astral & Eléctrico 
11:37. rudos took 2/3. Electrico was hurt winning the second fall and did not finish the match.
2) Audaz, Pegasso, Rey Cometa DQ Kawato San, Misterioso Jr., Virus 
14:19. Tecnicos took 1/3, the last when Virus fouled Audaz.
3) Diamante Azul & Valiente b Niebla Roja, Blue Panther, Soberano Jr., Mistico, Volador Jr., Titán [natl pi, battle royal] 
2:08
4) Gran Guerrero & Niebla Roja b Blue Panther & Sam Adonis [natl pi, 8f] 
5:17
5) Mephisto & Mistico b Hechicero & Soberano Jr. [natl pi, 8f] 
6:01
6) Último Guerrero & Volador Jr. b Cavernario & Titán [natl pi, 8f] 
4:36.
7) Diamante Azul & Pierroth b Rey Bucanero & Valiente [natl pi, 8f] 
2:45.
8) Mephisto & Mistico b Gran Guerrero & Niebla Roja [natl pi, quarterfinal] 
5:57.
9) Último Guerrero & Volador Jr. b Diamante Azul & Pierroth [natl pi, quarterfinal] 
4:33
10) Último Guerrero & Volador Jr. b Mephisto & Mistico [natl pi, semifinal] 
7:41.
11) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Carístico DQ Cuatrero, Euforia, Sansón 
9:30. Straight falls. Angel de Oro, Cuatrero & Sanson replaced Marco Corleone, Euforia and Terrible on Friday, so Cuatrero was there to foul and unmask Angel de Oro after the match. Angel de Oro challenged Cuatrero to a mask match.

Angel de Oro & Cuatrero being suddenly moved into the main event to continue their feud and ending with mask challenges means it’s about 95% likely they’ll be the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas main event in March. CMLL’s probably announcing it Thursday. This is a deceleration that CMLL saw Gran Guerrero & Niebla Roja as a success, because this will be nearly as hard a sell.

The tournament was not good. The word “predictable” gets a bad wrap. This was predictable, predictable is still good if it’s something you want to see to happen. Fans did want to see Ultimo Guerrero & Volador Jr. win in the end, and didn’t care much about the rest of this – some excitement with a surprise team at least making that final batch would’ve helped. Mephisto & Mistico provided a good block final, only after a lot of blah matches with guys wrestling in the usual uncreative tournament fashion.

Maybe there’s a big shakeup coming in the other block. Likely, Volador & Ultimo Guerrero will have a very good win over whomever comes out of it, and CMLL will hint about those two meeting on the Anniversario show.

The first two matches were the more interesting ones, which is an odd thing to say about the CMLL show. Kawato showed promised but needs more time. Audaz & Virus are eventually going to have a rather good singles match. Templario is very good.

Getting the H2L main event is pretty big. It was not even the biggest news of the night. ELITE is once again returning to Arena Mexico. Elite did say they were coming back in February. I didn’t believe them. I don’t think anyone believed them. They’ve had so many lives already:

• 2014-2015: “All Elite”, running all of the CMLL arenas at least once with a vague tournament idea and random foreigns
• late 2015-March 2016: now as Elite, with the Domingos Elite concept of CMLL vs Elite matches in Arena Mexico on Sunday.
• March – August 2016: Elite with the Liga Elite tournament and midweek Arena Mexico shows, though the exact day of the week would keep changing as they tried to find one which would work. This is the Azteca TV era.
• September – November 2016: Elite leaves Arena Mexico, still has Azteca TV, but no better crowd. They look to be done when the ‘season’ is abruptly halted.
• (most of 2017: vague teases of an imminent return which never happens)
• December 2017: the Street Elite concept, the idea that they’re purposefully running smaller buildings to take the lucha libre straight to the people. These are said to be TV tapings despite no cameras being seen recording these shows. The run three shows, the ring breaks on one shows, and they’re gone again.
• February 2018 – ???????: back again on Saundays

The 2016 Arena Mexico run is the most well thought part of their run. That’s when most of the good matches took place, that’s when they were easiest to watch. I believe the Sunday run of shows was the one where they had the best attendances, so it makes sense to try that again if you’re going to try this at all.

There’s not much word on TV at this point and Elite’s a believe it when you see it situation anyway. CMLL posted videos promoting Cibernetico and Caristico. The Twitter also tagged Extreme Tiger, Golden Magic and Hijo de Dos Caras, so it’s the usual crew, and it looks back to that old concept of CMLL/Elite combined shows. The CMLL Sunday cards are coming out Tuesday-ish of late, so we’ll know more then and maybe this gets explained at the press conference.

@KingRafles12 on Twitter says he’s heard the legend to be honored this year at Homenaje a Dos Leyendas will be Mil Mascaras. That’d be a very sensible choice.

AAA TV (FRI) 02/02/2018 Salón Rojo del Club Toluca, Toluca, Estado de México [AAA]
1) Big Mami & Lady Shani b Ashley & Faby Apache
Shani beat Ashley, who was yelled at for losing by Faby post match.
2) Niño Hamburguesa b Dave The Clown
3) Joe Lider & Mr. Águila b Histeria & Psicosis
4) Angelikal, Hijo Del Vikingo, Lanzelot, Máscara de Bronce vs Australian Suicide, Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
Argenis appeared before the match, limping noticeably and apologizing for not wrestling on this show, while vowing to be back in the ring before Rey de Reyes. OGT & Suicide tried to attack him, and Argenis held them off with his sword (!) before the tecnicos made the save. Mascara de Bronce replaced him in the match. Angelikal, looking more Mistico than ever, pinned Averno with a torito in a surprise outcome.
5) Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, La Parka b Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana [AAA HEAVY, #1 Contenders]
Wrestled as a trios match but with the last minute added stipulation that the person getting the pin would get a shot at Wagner and his title. Carta Brava Jr. was one step from being one step from being heavyweight champion, only OGT distracted him and Parka got the win.
6) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Hijo del Fantasma b Texano Jr. & Villano III Jr.
Tirantes came out to be the referee, only for Vampiro and (frail seeming) Villano III to throw him out. Copetes replaced him. Wagner betrayed Fantamsa and walked out on him, then Copetes got taken out and Tirantes ran in to help Texano and make it 3 on 1. Bengala made the save, and Fantasma got the win over Villano III with the Thrill of the Hunt.
7) Psycho Clown & Vampiro b Dr. Wagner Jr. & Rey Escorpión
listed as a mystery match and said to involved Clown & Wagner. Monday prior to the show, local press reported it was a three way match with Vampiro. Actually ended up a tag match with Rey Escorpion (and Wagner being friendly to the tecnicos.) Vampiro was stretchered out after slowly running into the post, and then the stretcher people accidentally dropped him. Mascara & Maximo ran in for the save and Psycho got the win. Match was billed as Twitch exclusive (so maybe not on either TV show), though Psycho still bled heavily. Maximo & Mascara had early appeared to declare they were 100% AAA.

The full show is on Twitch, and I should work on adding those links to the database next week. Bernardo Guzman replaced Hugo Savinovich as Twitch/Space announcer. Either Hugo’s being flown in just for the big shows or they just wanted him there to help kick it off.

This was a show building to Rey de Reyes, and the atomicos is really the only notable match to watch. Bengala & Tirantes are obviously going to be involved with Hijo del Fatnasma & Texano all the way thru their mask match, and there’s a good shot one or the other is taking a big loss at some point. The old school AAA bit would be Bengala losing his mask or especially Tirantes losing his hair instead of living up to the Texano/Fantasma stipulation. The way they keep making Bengala & Tirantes as important as the other two suggests there’s some switch coming up.

The main event was announced as exclusive to Twitch, which I guess means it’s not airing on either TV show. They had enough matches to skip it. They should also skip it because it was fairly poor, a house show match worked at minimal effort by everyone except Psycho Clown. Maximo & Mascara making the save feels like something which still should air on TV in some form.

Next week’s show is in Aguascalientes. La Parka winning a title shot for that show is the closest AAA’s come to acknowledging Johnny Mundo will not be there, since the current advertised main event is Wagner & Psycho vs Mundo & Hernandez. It’d be fair if AAA announced a new lineup this week, though every bit of recent history suggest they will not. Parka vs Wagner sounds like a bad match, and one where Hijo del Wagner might once again try and and fail to change the outcome to the match.

AAA on Televsia is surprisingly airing the Lucha Libre World Cup today, which means Space is actually getting Guerra de Titanes first over Televisa. Space will get the trios title four way, the Parka street fight, Faby/Shani and Lanzelot/Suicide this week, and Fantasma/Texano, Wagner/Mundo, and Psycho/Escorpion next weekend.

Record has a photo shoot with the Alvarados.

On DTU’s show last night, Crazy King & Halloween lost the main event three way tag match to Los Masizos, then Halloween challenged Crazy King to a DTU title match. DTU also officially announced a show with Freedoms & GCW participation on 03/16 in Cuernavaca.

Today’s notable shows include RIOT’s latest show, where no one has been officially announced for the show except Sammy Guevera. DTU runs in Arena Coilseo San Ramon, which has a more active YouTube channel then other places they’ve been at this weekend. ANCLA has a Keyra & Lady Maravilla vs Zeuxis & Marcela match, which could be pretty good and should make someone’s YouTube channel.

Today also has Cruz del Silencio’s 10th anniversary show in Morelia, which is featuring hearing impaired wrestlers from all over the world. Monitor Expresso talked to Cruz del Silencio’s mom about about her son wrestling. She’s gotten a bit used to her son getting beat up in the ring, though it sounds like her daughters have not.

Tomorrow’s shows include what might be the last regular CMLL Sunday show for a while (a totally regular show) and IAP in Ecatepec with a Demus versus Fuerza Guerrera main event.

The Crash announced the Lucha Brothers for the 04/01 New Orleans show.

Segunda Caida watches Chico Che vs Motocross & some random CMLL with Tiffany & Mr. Niebla.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 02/09/2018 Arena México
1) Magia Blanca & Magnus vs Hijo del Signo & Yago
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis
3) Carístico & Euforia vs Atlantis & Mr. Niebla and Rush & Terrible and Marco Corleone & Shocker and Ángel de Oro & Cuatrero and Dragón Lee & Sansón and Forastero & Stuka Jr. and Blue Panther Jr. & Máscara Año 2000 [natl pi, battle royal]
4) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, 8f]
5) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, 8f]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, 8f]
7) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, 8f]
8) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, quarterfinal]
9) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, quarterfinal]
10) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, semifinal]
11) Diamante Azul, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Kráneo, Último Guerrero

Caristico & Euforia are matching pieces with Ultimo Guerrero & Volador and they can do more Caristico & Volador hatred, so they’re the heavy favorites.

It’d be a great idea to give Angel de Oro & Cuatrero some wins before their big match. CMLL didn’t try that last time, so I wouldn’t count on that this time. And Mr. Niebla is tough to count on.