Don’t forget: Tuesday’s CMLL show will start at 5pm CT (2.5 hours early!) for Labor Day. It’ll get done before it usually starts
The only micro match to air this week will be the Puebla match, unless CMLL gets into a surprise mood and airs the Sunday show.
I have Caristico/Dragon Lee as airing on Azteca this week. I think that would be a bad idea. Still seems likely.
Recapped: 04/22/2018
Matches:
Magnus & Robin beat Akuma & Metálico
(9:45 [3:55, 2:38, 3:12], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Eléctrico, Fuego, Pegasso beat Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Nitro
(14:19 [3:19, 3:49, 7:11], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
the dumb battle royal went 4:36
Magia Blanca beat Reyko in a torneo Nuevos Valores eighthfinal
(3:47, top rope michinoku driver, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
El Coyote beat Fugaz in a torneo Nuevos Valores eighthfinal (3:43, cristo, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Príncipe Diamante beat Maquiavelo in a torneo Nuevos Valores eighthfinal
(4:54, cavernaria, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Principe Daniel beat Príncipe Odín Jr. in a torneo Nuevos Valores eighthfinal
(6:23, crucifix cradle, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Magia Blanca beat El Coyote in a torneo Nuevos Valores eighthfinal
(4:02, super michinoku driver, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Príncipe Diamante beat Principe Daniel in a torneo Nuevos Valores quarterfinal
(3:17, fisherman’s suplex, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Magia Blanca beat Príncipe Diamante in a torneo Nuevos Valores semifinal
(5:22, super Michinoku Driver, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Diamante Azul, Mistico, Niebla Roja beat Felino, Mr. Niebla, Rey Bucanero
(10:57 [2:35, 2:12, 6:10], 2/3, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Dragón Lee vs Mephisto
(17:03, 2/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Magia Blanca advanced to the final of the Nuevo Valores tournament.
Thoughts:
Dragon Lee/Mephsito was the usual big Mephisto match, built around near finishes and long pauses. The big moves didn’t look quite as sharp as usual. Dragon Lee couldn’t do his Spanish Fly modification well with the bigger man, Mephisto’s attempt at doing Flamita’s Retardor move didn’t go great, the finish seemed messed up almost to the point that they should’ve gone for another move. (I thought that’s what happened with the double stomp, but it turned out not to be the end of the match.) This is good and got the crowd by the end, but doesn’t give you anything special from these guys. I watched this after Dragon Lee got hurt, and watched it wondering if there was an obvious sign. Outside of the tape wrap on his right knee, there’s no sign of what’s coming.
Nuevo Valores thoughts
I couldn’t think of much to write about the segunda match. It was alright. Disturbio winning with a technical move seemed to amaze everyone, including Disturbio. Pegasso fits in better in these matches than Friday ones.
The opener was nothing special. Magnus & Robin got to be a team, but didn’t do any team stuff outside the stereo senton finish. It was mostly their standard match with a less time, and with Metálico doing less comedy than usual. Crowd really didn’t care about it.
AAA announced the Verano de Escandalo card yesterday. Well, they announced some of the Verano de Escandalo card yesterday:
AAA TV (SUN) 06/03/2018 Plaza de Toros La Monumental, Monterrey, Nuevo León
1) ? & ?? vs ??? & ????
2) ? & ?? vs ??? & ????
3) Drago vs Sammy Guevara, Aerostar, Australian Suicide, ? [AAA HEAVY, #1 Contenders]
4) La Máscara, Máximo, Pagano vs ?, Juventud Guerrera, Texano Jr.
5) Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana [hair]
6) Hijo del Fantasma & Psycho Clown vs ? & ??
7) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Rey Mysterio Jr., ? [AAA HEAVY]
There’s less mystery people spots than in Tehuacan, though less complete matches. The only match fully announced for the show is a hair match between the two teams who were supposed to have had their last match at Rey de Reyes and then have just continued fighting sense. There’s no explanation of why they’d be having a hair match. The poster text indicates it’s multiple people, likely the entire team, who has their hair on the line.
It is possible for Rey Mysterio Jr. to be both AAA & The Crash heavyweight champion by the end of this show. Mysterio isn’t listed by the The Crash as defending his title there before this point. Rey Wagner’s big feud was with his son, but that’s seems to not be present on these upcoming cards and wasn’t really getting over. Mysterio’s likely working TripleMania if he’s working Verano de Escandalo, and it’s probably more dependent on if he wants to work a singles match or something else.
Sammy Guevera debuts on this show – maybe. I mean, he’ll be on this show, but he may be in AAA before this: he could be on the Tehuacan show, and there’s two taping in between that one and this one for him to show up. Guevera being here suggests Aro Lucha’s talked about TV tapings won’t be happening the first week of June. I know other people who’ve worked for Aro Lucha are expected on this show and in the mystery spots on previous tapings.
Teddy Hart is notably not listed on either of these cards. Given his nature – he’s pulled shenanigans on shows near be a couple times over the last two months – it’s probably good to list him as a mystery person even if he is booked. It’s actually maybe best not to book Teddy Hart at all in 2018 and use the money/opportunity on a guy you can actually trust.
This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter confirms Konnan is back as AAA booker. Vampiro is still with the company as an agent. That doesn’t seem like a long turn sustainable situation but is anything with AAA is ever that long term? Konnan hasn’t appear in front of the crowd in Impact on the tapings either, so maybe him only showing up in a video in Tijuana was simply he doesn’t feel he’s ready to be in front of a crowd yet.
Aerostar suffered an injury last night on the Impact tapings. It sounded serious at the time. He was on Twitter this morning treating it like nothing happened, just noting he was going home. I hope that means he’s fine.
The WON also says Vince Russo is not involved with Aro Lucha. There’s no other details. Vince Russo’s past negative comments about minorities in wrestling came up when he started with Aro Lucha and more so after their funding campaign started. I wonder how Aro Lucha feels about Konnan going back to work for AAA – I suspect they don’t have a problem with it, or they would’ve done something to block Guevera or others.
CMLL (WED) 04/25/2018 Deportivo Penoles, Gustavo A. Madero, Distrito Federal [+LuchaTV, Estrellas del Ring]
1) Arceus, Magnético, Tiburón b Crazy Man, Demasiado, Maquiavelo 
2) Yago b Magnus, Ulises Jr., Pequeño Olímpico, Star Jr., Magia Blanca, Luzbel, Tanque Infernal, Mercurio, Eléctrico, Príncipe Odín Jr., Cholo, Grako
Yago, who wasn’t originally listed in the match, beat Magnus to win. Bam Bam was among those advertised for the match who didn’t actually appear.
3) Dalys & Tifany b Demasiado & Muñeca De Plata
4) Brazo Cibernetico Jr., Brazo De Oro Jr., Brazo de Platino, Robin b Cancerbero, Flyer, Raziel, Tyson La Bestia
5) Diamante, Diamante Azul, Drone, Stuka Jr. b Kawato, Metálico, Okumura, Templario
Metalico replaced Tiger
This was a show honoring Brazo de Oro that might have been put on by the family. Lot of a no-shows for a Wednesday show that wasn’t announced long ago; Tiger gets singled out in the main event only because I generally gave up tracking the changes after the main event. No Guerreros were booked. Super Porky was there, using a walker. Kraneo has been talking about Brazo de Plata returning to the ring, but that seems like the nice public face they’re keeping on the situation.
Chico Temindo has changed his name to Atomo, probably because Chico Temido is a double entendre.
Also on the show, Kraneo & Mije revealed the reason for Mije’s disappearance a couple years ago was injuries from getting hit by a motorcyle. I had always guess it was an in-ring injury and that’s why they were lighter with him when he returned, but it was probably because he was still recovering. Kraneo said they didn’t mention it because social media isn’t helpful in those situations. I think he’s probably right, though there would also maybe be a well supported GoFundMe or the like if it happened to someone equivalent in the US. Alfredo has more notes from the interviews in the Lucha Report.
RO Wrestling in 05/05 in (Ex) Salon Citlali
RIOT has Riotmania on 05/26 in Arena LLF
Lucha Central posted the Laredo Kid vs Hijo del Vikingo vs Ultimo Ninja vs Hijo de Dos Caras match from the most recent Revolucha show.
A reported made a rude comment about Juventud Guerrera returning to AAA under a video on his channel, and got a death threat from Guerrera’s girlfriend Setsuko back. The big mistake is reading or writing comments on YouTube videos.
All the matches from this past Lucha Memes show are on Estrellas del Ring’s channel (in the usual randomly edited form), which makes the bit about not being allowed to see Lucha Memes shows in full harder to understand.
Lucha Talk has a new episode of their episode.
Princesa Sugehit hypes her match with La Seductora.
Electrico talks about being in the Gran Alternativa. We still don’t know who will be in Block B of the tournament.
Psycho Clown spent time with a child who is recovering from burn injuries.
A fashion designer created El Santo inspired clothes.
An interview with Ciudad Juarez’s Junior.
El Siglo de Torreon writes about Blue Demon.
Recapped: 04/16/2018
Matches:
Arkalis, Millenium, Rey Samuray beat El Perverso, Fuerza Chicana, Rey Apocalipsis
(12:34 [5:24, 3:52, 3:18], 1/3, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
El Malayo, Grako, Templario beat Fugaz, Principe Daniel, Reyko
(13:55 [5:56, 3:17, 4:42], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Kaho Kobayashi & Princesa Sugehit beat Dalys & Zeuxis
(13:08 [7:04, 3:09, 2:55], 1/3, below average, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Ángel de Oro, Dragón Lee, Niebla Roja
(12:53 [3:03, 2:27, 7:23], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible beat El Malayo, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
(12:05 [3:50, 4:07, 4:08], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Carístico beat Mistico
(14:54, 2/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Mistico La Mistica (1:50)
DQ Mistico mask removal (2:23)
La Carística (10:41)
What happened:
Malayo worked twice because Shocker didn’t make it to the show. He hasn’t been back on a CMLL show as of two and half weeks later, though he is workig.
Dalys & Kaho are feuding the match, heading to a title match.
Sansón got away with a mask pull on Draogn Lee to set up the win.
Thoughts:
The main event was swung by the emotions brought into the match and expressed by the fans during it. The action itself was neither especially fast or numerous but, because it was between these two people, normal action felt a lot important. Carístico looked the better of the two, showing more on offense and capturing the fan’s attention during the match. Mistico has the personality to pull of being a rudo but not really the style. He had to be the rudo because that’s the way the fans were turning the match, but he didn’t really take over the match strongly like you might want a rudo, and the third fall your turn/my turn stuff was actually an improvement over the last two falls. Even considering they might be able to do more with a second try in Arena Mexico, this doesn’t seem like it’ll be a sure fire great match if they ran it back again. It also doesn’t seem like it needs to be to work. They just need to do something that’s not a disappointment, and this was not a disappointment.
The semimain was competent but not really interesting, and with a worthless DQ finish. Rush actually sort of tried, in that he actually tried to take Malayo’s face off with his dropkick. Rush didn’t think to pin him because no on was really paying attention, and so this fall when longer that it was supposed to. Of course Malayo took the super bomb too. La Bestia’s outfit is silly on it’s own. It’s sillier still paired with Rush & Terrible dressed in Ingobernable t-shirts. Does Bestia understand the look of the group he’s in? It’s unclear. I’d like to imagine this as the start of Bestia being split off from the group but we couldn’t be that lucky.
The four match wasn’t far off being good, but the timing just felt off in a couple places (and really obviously in one spot.) They had the pace of a good match, just missed a little bit. I really like the Dinamtias stomping. It’s very energetic.
The women’s match was sloppy. This is the start of Kaho’s big title shot, and she wins falls with a slow huracanarana and a standing moonsault that doesn’t land right. She’s generally OK otherwise in the match and Zeuxis’ antics are amusing in this match, but this wasn’t overall strong.
The second match featured the Jalisco guys in the next day’s Nuevo Valores tournament. Everyone had a fine técnico showcase run in the third fall and didn’t stand out one way or the other the rest of the match. Fugaz was the sharpest of the three, his huracanrana to win the second fall was nicely snapped off, but it wasn’t an overwhelming margin. Templario was less showy here than normal, so maybe one match isn’t a good way to judge anyone.
CMLL’s lineups normally don’t have enough logic enough to go as far as sending messages. This trios match, with five guys who uprooted their lives to train in Mexico City and made it at least far as a tournament, sure felt like it should be a sign to Malayo. The Puebla rudo sometimes does things I do not like but whoever put together this match thought he was exactly on the level of the people CMLL considers prospects at the moment. I have no idea what Malayo wants out of his lucha libre career, but the universe is telling him to go to CDMX.
