April 13, 2018 – luchablog

CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-04-13

April 13, 2018April 26, 2018 thecubsfan

this went better for Triton than Esfinge

Recapped: 04/13/2018

Matches:

Flyer & Oro Jr. beat Espanto Jr. & Templario
(10:02 [3:37, 2:14, 4:11], 2/3, ok)

Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora beat Lady Maravilla, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit
(12:35 [4:26, 3:15, 4:54], 1/3, ok)

Esfinge, Titán, Tritón beat Dragón Rojo Jr., Kawato San, Okumura
(15:13 [5:04, 3:42, 6:27], 2/3, good)

Negro Casas went to a time limit draw Soberano Jr. in a lightning match
(10:00, good)

Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. beat Euforia, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
(11:02 [4:41, 1:53, 4:28], 1/3, good)

Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo beat La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible in a relevos increíbles match
(11:15 [5:14, 6:01], 1/2, ok)

What happened:

Sugehit thought she had submitted Seductora, let go, and got taken down and pinned when Seductora had both feet on the middle rope. The two agreed to a hair/hair match.

Thoughts:

Rush can be lazy, and Rush can also spend a main event selling big for new técnico Kraneo. Kraneo was going to be the star of the match because the booking was all about him, but Rush took him seriously and made the goofy dancing come off as a threat to one of the top guys in the promotion. The match itself didn’t amount to much, and I’m not sure this is the greatest first feud for the new Los Ingobernables, but the Kraneo/Rush stuff was a lot of fun.

The semimain was an easy match, they really didn’t do anything they normally don’t, but what they did worked well and the crowd was into it the whole way. The ordinary for these guys is pretty spectacular. Euforia and Volador were matched up thru the match and fantastic together. Euforia was too big to be a welterweight championship contender, but he’s perfect as a Volador in these trios matches to do everything Volador wants to do without a problem.

The lightning match lived up to expectations, maybe exceeded them a bit. I was surprised to see Soberano pull of the Fosbery flop dive in this one, and he didn’t seem to be holding back that much of his flying. (The moment where he briefly teased the Fire Driver scared me, because Casas migth be crazy eough to take it.) Casas forced Soberano to actually lock up and do more mat wrestling and Soberano did fine. The escape from the certain doom of the scorpion into a tapatia was smoothly done. Just like the time limit draw with Angel de Oro Jr., Soberano didn’t seem to understand the time was running out on his match and lacked the urgency you need in that moment, but this was otherwise pretty good.

The tercera was a tremendous success. The técnicos looked like a great team, spectacular and well organized. Triton was trying all of his hardest spots and pulling them off perfectly (while also pulling up his pants a million times.) Titan did some different stuff with him and made it work. Esfinge survived not being caught at all on a dive to have his usual match, with some team spots with Triton. This was the best Dragon Rojo’s looked in his most recent return, not as much with impressive offense as some really good timing and reaction moments. Kawato’s trying to do more than he did at first, with some not great results at times. This trios match was much better than matches which opened the show, closer to being great than to where they were at.

The Seductora/Sugehit feud is the Zeuxis/Sugehit match from Pura Raza, just even more focused on throwing drinks at each other and nothing else. Sugehit has to work slower for Seductora to keep up, Seductora isn’t especially great at brawling. The things in their favor are the fans genuinely like Sugehit and will easily get behind her comebacks. Amapola & Marcela was fine. Maravilla’s big técnico run ending with a hair pull because she and Dalys couldn’t get it right was disappointing. Not as disappointing as CMLL doing this feud when they have hundreds of better options.

CMLL actually remembered to put over the guy who’s in a big match later that week, a nice surprise of competency. This match too had competency and some bigger than usual moves to end, but it was clunky at times. The técnicos lacked some urgency in their movements. This felt more like the fifth run thru of the day rather a battle. There are worse openers.

a catalog of the 2003 AAA matches being streamed on Twitch

April 13, 2018July 7, 2018 thecubsfan 5 Comments

AAA made good on a promise to use their Twitch channel to stream older content when they’re not running live events. They’ve largely been running two playlists of events in the down period. One runs thru 2011 and 2012 events, interesting because some of the same names are around today. Another playlist shows matches from 2003 and 2004. That one’s intriguing because those years largely aren’t available on YouTube or elsewhere. There’s matches in that playlist which probably haven’t been seen since since they’ve been aired. There’s even a few matches which appear to never have intended to air at the time, which were just stuck on a VHS tape and uploaded now because why not.

You have to be a AAA Twitch subscriber ($5/month, or free for one channel if you’re an Amazon Prime customer) to see the old content. Even if you do, it’s really hard to navigate: the AAA playlist stream are normally stored usually in 48 hour files, with no particular labeling on what aired, much less when they aired during the stream. Twitch’s player is great at streaming live video and not much good at jumping around the timeline to see what’s there. It’s a lengthy and tedious research project to be able to figure out what’s actually aired and when. Lucky for you, length and tedious research projects are apparently things I enjoy doing. What follows is a list of 2003 matches, and links to when they aired, similar to what I’ve done with YouTube links.

Some warnings before you get started. You must be a AAA on Twitch subscriber or these links will be totally be useless to you. These links are all from streams in March. I’m not 100% sure if the Twitch videos eventually disappear, but I suspect to be the case. That means, at some unclear point in the future, these links might stop working. It should still be useful as a guide to what AAA might have in their archive and might stream at any time. AAA unsurprisingly is missing significant bits and pieces from 2003; I was surprised they had as much as they did, but there are key moments missing if you’re hopeful to watch it complete.

And, maybe most important, watch 2003 AAA complete may drive you mad. If you think AAA has too screwy finishes in 2018, you want to stay clear of this stuff. 90% of the matches I went thru seemed to have a some sort of controversy with the finish, including the opening matches with people who weren’t even getting feuds. A three way rivalry between the referees (AAA’s Hijo del Tirantes & Pepe Casas & maybe Fresero versus AAA rudo Tirantes Sr. versus LLL rudos Piero & Copetes) overpowers action at time. This would be a good year for AAA to go thru next time they need footage of Antonio Pena, because he’s all over shows feuding with Cibernetico, while La Parka seems to be only lesser involved with the man he’s about to unmask. (In something very 2018, Pena also chimes in during matches to explain what’s supposed to be going, though they had not yet perfected box technology.) This show has a lot of Latin Lover, a lot of Heavy Metal, and a lot of Electroshock & Lady Apache as couple with Electroshock slowly joining the tecnico side. It also includes a few LLL episodes, a sort of nWo heels doing an WWE like brand split to create a second TV show to get out from underneath Televisa’s control. That too seems familiar in 2018. It really doesn’t have a lot of matches that’ll get stars, though it has enough stars to get strong reactions from crowd thru the year.

I’d do this again for 2004, but I’m kind of holding out for AAA to put the whole year out before trying and it’s not close to being up. Maybe they’ll fill in some of the 2003 blanks before then. You can find the current 2003 list after the break. Read More

tecnico Kraneo & Soberano/Casas tonight, Alberto’s latest excuse

April 13, 2018April 13, 2018 thecubsfan

Kraneo returns to the tecnico side for the first time in eight years on tonight’s Arena Mexico show. He teams with Atlantis & Diamante Azul against Los Ingobernables (Rush, Terrible and La Bestia), who he turned against last week. It seems like a feud was just a way to move Kraneo to the other side, and we’ll find out if there’s any more to it tonight.

The match where there’s more likely to be something going on is the second match, where Sugehit and Seductora are on opposite sides of the trios match after Seductora stole a win two weeks ago. Seductora is not much important normally and the level of ruda who only gets cheating wins if they’re being set up for a match, and we know there are shows that will need big matches coming. CMLL’s holding a press conference next Wednesday, so tonight’s a good time to making the expected the hair/hair challenges.

The rest of the card are matches which could be good but aren’t sure to be. Caristico, Valiente, and Voaldor take on UG, Euforia & Mephisto in the semimain. Negro Casas faces Soberano, a replacement for an originally announced Casas/Adonis match and a first time ever match. Casas versus a young wrestler is usually one of the best matches of the night. Esfinge, Titan and Triton attempt to rebound from Tuesday’s title match loss against Okumura, Kawato and Dragon Rojo. The show opens with Nuevo Valor finalist Flyer 7 Oro Jr. taking on Templario & Espanto Jr.

CultIcon also previews the show. It starts at 8:30pm on Facebook and MarcaClaro’s site – or at least that’s the plan, they’ve been late starting the feed of late. It’ll be up on CMLL’s YouTube channel.

Reporte Indigo has a brief interview with Seductora, who sells clothes when she’s not wrestling. DTU starts a weekend of show tonight in Arena San Juan Pantitlan.

The main event is an incredible pairs match, with Miedo Extremo teaming Rocky Santana versus Ciclope & Mr. Condor. Ace Austin and Isias Velazquez are the foreigners in for these shows, with Velazquez scheduled to face Draztick Boy on this hosw. DTU in a Neza arena means there will likely be many handhelds of the show up on YouTube over the next couple of days.

Alberto told the Sporting News that he missed the Impact vs Lucha Underground show due to family issues. He’s used that line before; he used it last October when he missed a different show, and has used it often in the past in situations where he wanted people to stop asking questions about why he really was missing a show. Alberto had previously told Impact that he missed the show due to illness, and it doesn’t seem like they believed that story either. Alberto also claimed he was going to retire in 2019, after previously saying he was going to retire in both 2018 and 2020.

LA Park says Universo 2000 is again in the hospital in poor health.

Nieto del Santo is making an increasingly rare wrestling appearance on 04/21 in Pachuca. It feels like the brakes have put on his (and Atlantis Jr.’s) debut in Mexico City, which has gone from “a couple months” to “maybe next year”

Vampiro retirement progression (March 2018 edition)

03/22: Vampiro announces he’ll have a big announcement tomorrow about his career in the ring
03/23: Vampiro posts a meme instead.
03/24: Vampiro says “no more TV” after his match with Xalapa
03/25: Vampiro has a “strong feeling” the match in Monterrey will be his last match on TV, but may keep wrestling house shows and hopes to retire at TripleMania
03/26: Vampiro wrestles in Monterrey, says his plan is to retire at Verano de Escandalo in Monterrey next time if AAA lets him.
03/31: Vampiro says he’ll talk to people before deciding when he’ll have last matches
04/09: Vampiro announces he’s had his last match, post medical records of injuries from a couple years ago
04/11: Vampiro says he’s wrestling on Puebla on 04/14, but not on 05/16 in San Luis Potosi because he’ll be retired by then for sure.
04/12: Vampiro says he’s wrestling on 05/16 in San Luis Potosi – NEW!

In other Vampiro news, there’s apparently a Hijo del Tirantes/Vampiro feud going on. Leo Riano’s column complains that the awful rudo referee was kept off a TV taping and wants revenge. I do not recall Tirantes missing a TV taping, but the idea is Tirantes wants to be a wrestler now to face Vampiro. Hijo del Tirantes and Vampiro had a run-in at an Xalapa show last month in a video now on YouTube; Hijo del Tirantes books shows and wrestlers fairly often in his home city so this might have been his idea. I’m not sure it’s a great idea to be building a rivalry between a referee who wants to be a referee and wrestler who doesn’t want to be a wrestler but it’s AAA and maybe it’d mean no more Tirantes as referee.

+LuchaTV has a new edition of Aqui Esta La Lucha.

CMLL Martes de Nuevo Valores: 2018-04-03

April 13, 2018April 13, 2018 thecubsfan

Recapped: 04/04/2018

Matches:

Bengala & Oro Jr. beat Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
(11:28 [4:07, 3:10, 4:11], 2/3, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Angelito, Stukita, Último Dragóncito beat Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
(14:30 [5:30, 4:09, 4:51], 2/3, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany beat Kaho Kobayashi, La Vaquerita, Marcela
(12:33 [6:09, 4:09, 2:15], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

The battle royal went 1:50.

Súper Astro Jr. beat Astral in a Copa Nueva Valores eighthfinal
(4:42, top rope reverse tope, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Yago beat Retro in a Copa Nueva Valores eighthfinal
(2:30, indian deathlock and arm trap, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Flyer beat Grako in a Copa Nueva Valores eighthfinal
(5:12, Spanish Fly, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Sangre Imperial beat George Kebrada in a Copa Nueva Valores eighthfinal
(2:33, top rope splash to the back, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Yago beat Súper Astro Jr. in a Copa Nueva Valores eighthfinal
(3:57, reverse armbar, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Flyer beat Sangre Imperial in a Copa Nueva Valores quarterfinal
(1:37, escalera, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Flyer beat Yago in a Copa Nueva Valores semifinal
(6:27, code red, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Ephesto, Mephisto, Mr. Niebla beat Diamante Azul, Dragón Lee, Soberano Jr.
(7:10 [5:06, 2:04], ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

Mephisto attacks Dragon Lee even before the match starts and goes after him the entire match. It’s done in a way as if they’ve had a feud going in. They did face last week but nothing really happened. Mephisto pulled Dragon Lee’s mask to win. They argued post match and Mephisto unmasked him again.

Thoughts:

The main event was nearly a 2v2 match with Mephisto and Dragon Lee having a brawl elsewhere. They were barely involved in that match except for being the actual central focus of the match, with a singles match coming up just as soon as CMLL has time to give them a singles match. The other four were fine in spurts but doing a lot of time killing while the actual important thing happened out of the ring.

On the Nuevo Valores guys

Super Astro Jr. got a good showcase of moves and he and Astral had good chemistry together. I’m guessing that’s why they put astral in this block, but I’m not sure why he was here otherwise. Some of the trademarks were lost on this crowd – there was no reaction to the rope fake – but having a rooting section helped. Super Astro senton in the second match’s was impressive, and he came off as a future star even while losing out early.
Retro got all the moves in for the two minutes he was in the tournament and was fine for just about two minutes.
Grako is a decent prospect who’s still a little sloppy and doesn’t stand out much on his own.
Sangre Imperial could not remember to roll out of the way of a frog splash, and struggled with an armdrag against Flyer. Not everyone is made to be a wrestler.
Kebrada looked like he could move around well and seems to have potential, but it’s hard to get a sense of how much in the little time he got.
Flyer is obviously advanced compared to the rest of this batch, and is just in need of a big match to prove it. Maybe the tournament final will be it for him. He looked good in all three matches he had on this show, with the final having the most to it.
Yago’s remains interesting but needs more regular work to take a step forward. He showed good sense in improvising when the headscissors spots on the outside went wrong, but other spots he hasn’t done (or at least haven’t seen him try) also had problems. Maybe he just needs more ring time. Too much other stuff went wrong to really recommend this match, but they clearly could have one of those given another try.

I find myself skipping writing about the openers not because they’re especially poor, but because I can think of nothing left to write about them. When the minis and the women are frozen in the same amber as the opening card guys, never changing or progressing, it’s hard to come up with something interesting to say. The women’s match is no different, no different than the dozen other Dalys/Marcela matches of this year and longer. Dalys seems to have zero ability to react to something going poorly. Kaho is really tiny but excited to be there and seemingly the only person to notice she beat the champion. It’s ignored by the end of the match, where Dalys simply steps out of Marcela’s hold and applies her own for the win. CMLL desperately needs something new, and doesn’t seem to know it.

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