Month: May 2018

AAA has a strange TV taping tonight in Pachuca’s Arena Aficion. There’s been a lot of new people and different storylines added over the last couple tapings, linked to Konnan coming aboard. Most of those are not present on this show, and it looks like something fitting a lot closer to the shows earlier this year.

The main event is the notable exception. Hijo del Fantasma and Psycho Clown had issues on the previous taping, leading into both being part of the four way mask match at TripleMania. Fantasma’s since been teasing a return to the rudo side, and even appeared as a surprise at an AAA house show last weekend to cost Psycho Clown a match. They team again tonight against current AAA tag team champions Rey Escorpion & Texano, who should get a simple win.

The semimain is Pagano vs Murder Clown. There’s a story here – Pagano blamed Murder Clown for his injury at the end of 2017 which put him out for months, Murder Clown has attacked Pagano in Monterrey & Tehuacan – but this also looks like a match that’ll be a challenge to be any good. Same goes for the fifth match, Histeria & Psicosis versus La Mascara & Maximo, which wasn’t very interesting when it took place on the last taping. This is a good moment to note AAA may just change all of these matches again, and not do the pointless rematch.

The fourth match brings back the LA Park & Dave the Clown feud, with Cuervo, Scoria, Joe Lider and Parka Negra rounding out the match. Most of these wrestlers haven’t been featured the last couple of tapings and aren’t on Verano de Escandalo either. The La Parka/Dave feud hasn’t been any good, but AAA’s always focused on giving Parka something to do.

The first three matches are all titles match (which shows what AAA thinks of these titles.) Australian Suicide defends the Cruiserweight championship against Lanzeloth, in a rematch of a really good match from January. This will be Suicide’s first TV appearance in a couple months because of the reality show. Faby Apache defends the Reina de Reinas championship against Ashley. It should be good, but it also doesn’t make much sense for Ashley to be getting a title shot after Faby pinned her on the last show. Big Mami & Nino Hamrbuguesa probably defend the Mixed Tag Team championship against La Hiedra & Villano III Junior. The tecnico team were the champions at least check, but AAA first mixed up these teams, then listed the rudos as champions, so I don’t know what’s going on here. This was a feud that was getting steady TV time late last year, and disappeared the last few months.

Lucha Central previews this show. AAA’s Twitch broadcast begins at 9pm CT, with the first match a few minutes later. VOD will be available for subscribers to the channel. It should go up on AAA’s YouTube starting June 30th.

There’s still one mystery spot left on Verano de Escandalo’s current lineup. Zona Ruda, citing rumors and some common sense, points out that match includes Mamba and Mamba & Keyra keep building up a match without explaining where it’s going to happen. Keyra would fit in with the other people coming in, it’s a solid theory. Keyra is listed as working in Neza on Saturday but nothing right now for Sunday.

The Gladiatores posted an interview with Black Danger, who’s excited for his AAA move.

There’s not a lot new on Rey Fenix. The WON had a lot of the same stuff as yesterday. +LuchaTV has a brief interview with Rey Fenix (not clear from when) where he talked about every luchador wanting a chance to wrestle in Arena Mexico. The Crash posted a note saying Rey Fenix will still be appearing on their June 16th show. Everyone assumes Penta is coming as well. Penta hasn’t confirmed it, but has hinted about news soon.

My guess is CMLL has a press conference next Wednesday to talk about this situation and other news. It’d be a good idea to make any big announcements before the World Cup swallows up Mexico’s attention for a couple months.

Lucha Libre KDNA, the Monterrey promoter for this Sunday’s Verano de Escandalo, wrote on Facebook that Konnan was definitely going to be on the show Sunday, and that Fenix, Penta and Daga would be coming with him either on that show or later on at TripleMania. Penta will be in the Toronto area all weekend for Impact TV tapings, including an indie show on Sunday. Fenix is not on that show but I think he’s got a booking elsewhere. Not sure about Daga, but I wouldn’t tune on Sunday expecting to see any of them.

In an interview with Marca, Mistico says the fans were not behind him at first, but his work won them over. I’m not sure that second part has exactly happened but it’s a good story.

DTU’s 05/17 show is now up on Powerbomb.TV.

WWE programming will be back on over the air TV. Imagen Television, the replacement for Cadena3, will air one hour version of RAW & SmackDown on Saturday. It’d wrap right before AAA usually starts. FOX otherwise has the WWE TV deal and everything currently airs on that channel.

WWE also announced they’ll be back in Arena Ciudad de Mexico on 12/01 (Saturday). As that article notes, there’s usually multiple Mexico cities announced at once, but only this date has been announced so far. WWE’s US schedule does not have any shows listed for that weekend, so it’s likely WWE’s got more to announce.

Dulce Garcia (Sexy Star)’s next boxing match is on 06/09.

El Sol de Leon has a bio of Black Shadow.

Lineups

HOLL (SAT) 06/02/2018 USC Galen Center, Los Angeles, California
1) Pierrothito vs Mini Rey Mysterio
2) Canek Jr. vs Fishman Jr.
3) Bestia 666 & Sam Adonis vs Ocelot & Tinieblas Jr.
4) Hijo De Wagner & Rey Wagner vs Hijo de LA Park & LA Park
5) Trumposo vs Rey Mysterio

They’ve announced this show match by match only on Facebook. They may be more matches: Zumbi, Chik Tormenta, Huracan Ramirez Jr., and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. are shown on the poster too. On the other hand, Sam Adonis wasn’t on the poster and he’s still on the show.

Trumposo was Aaron Aguilar on previous tapings. The match should be fine but feels like a waste of bringing in Mysterio. It’ll absolutely get a reaction, but a lot of people will get that reaction against someone doing a Trump gimmick and you could’ve done something more with Rey. Also a little interesting they’re doing the main event with “Trumposo” instead of just using Adonis in that spot. Minis match looks pretty promising.

Tickets for this show are discounted on Goldstar. They’re doing a free meet and greet before the show as well.

CMLL PURA RAZA (SAT) 06/02/2018 Gran Recinto, Tlalneplantla, Estado de México
1) ? vs ??
2) Gallito Tapatío & Microman vs Chamuel & Mije
3) Lluvia & Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys & Reina Isis
4) Audaz, Hechicero, The Panther vs Francois Montañes, Jean Montañes, Pierre Montañes
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Espanto Jr. & Templario
6) Carístico & Mistico vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Mephisto

Hechicero Pro returns on short notice and not as many interesting matchups as last time. The french submission brothers are strange opponents for Audaz & Panther. The semimain could be good if Espanto Jr. twists his ankle walking to the ring and Templario wrestles the match on his own.

CMLL (MON) 06/04/2018 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja vs Espíritu Maligno & Sombra Diabólika
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Espanto Jr., King Jaguar, Policeman
3) Estrellita & Marcela vs Tiffany & Zeuxis
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Tritón vs Kawato San, Okumura, Puma
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto [MEX TRIOS]
5th defense
6) Felino, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Titán [Relevos Increíbles]

When Zeuxis said she was working until 06/04, it somehow didn’t click that she literally meant this Puebla show.

Trios title match has been set up the last few days, and not so well. Relevos Increibles are common place right now, but this is a rare one without Rush or the other Los Ingobernables involved. Soberano & Volador are champions, so it’s possible this is a way to set up Titan challenging one of them for a tecnico/tecnico match. Or maybe it’s Cavernario. Or maybe it’s nothing.

CMLL (TUE) 06/05/2018 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Black Sugar, El Alteño, Micro vs Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga, Sádico
2) Pegasso, Stigma, Vaquero Jr. vs Akuma, Grako, Metálico
3) Difunto vs Frezzer [lightning]
4) Diamante Azul, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Cavernario, Furia Roja, Shocker
5) Carístico, Kráneo, Último Guerrero vs Mistico, Mr. Niebla, Rush

Main event seems headed to Caristico/Mistico.

Diamante Azul missed last week’s show, with Niebla Roja challenging Furia Roja instead. Either they’re switching back to Azul in the feud, or they’re on autopilot.

Guadalajara rarely gets lightning matches – you’d have to go back to 2015 to find a Tuesday one – so there’s probably something happening there as well.

Lucha Memes MDA (SAT) 06/16/2018 Polideportivo del Sur, Puebla, Puebla
1) Fénix So & Siki Osama vs Black Histeria & Prince Dark
2) Arkalis vs Aramis
3) Alas de Acero & Iron Kid (Estado de México) vs King Rocker & Rey Samuray
4) Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako vs Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr.
5) Multifacético vs Templario (CMLL)
6) Blue Panther vs Prayer

Memes/MDA’s annual trip to Puebla has less people than last year’s card but a lot of promising matches. Prayer had a well received match with Virus last year. Rey Samuray & Arkalis get bigger chances than on Monday nights.

Today’s CMLL Informa aired a teaser for (Rey) Fenix (The King) appearing in CMLL soon. There was no date given of when he’d appear, only this trailer.

 

Fenix also posted on Twitter confirming the news.

México.. algo qué decir? @CMLL_OFICIAL #Animo

— REY FENIX👑MexaKing (@ReyFenixMx) May 30, 2018

I’d expect he’s not coming alone. Penta el Zero M teased an appearance in Arena Mexico on the most recent The Crash show and in interviews after. Fenix teases the Rebelion coming in the promo. The possibility of these luchadors coming in to CMLL was first hinted at by the Wrestling Observer recently.

This, as well as the LA Park appearances, suggest the thought process on booking outside luchadors has greatly changed recently. Park, Fenix and anyone else are not expected to be full time with CMLL. They can plenty of their own bookings outside of the CMLL office. CMLL has previously avoided using outside wrestlers on per date bases. The only exceptions I can think of are legend shows, and luchadors brought in thru their partnership with ELITE. There are always rumors of ELITE returning, but this was presented as Fenix coming directly to CMLL.

Fenix and anyone else would be expected to continue working their scheduled date – this might primarily mean some open Friday nights are now filled, but they’d be picking their other promotion to work with. I’d expect they’ll still work Impact if they want to work Impact. AAA is the obvious big question. Fenix & Penta were supposed to work some dates, still have not been announced for anything, but the slow moving MAD angle (Konnan’s still unrevealed) could mean they weren’t planned to come in yet. I know it’s crazy, but I think that deal still might be on. AAA’s not going to have a problem with them working CMLL as long as they’re still working for AAA, and CMLL would be aware of any plans for them to work with AAA before agreeing to use them. Fenix mentions them not coming just to CMLL, and AAA would be another place. Konnan’s talked a lot about wanting a wrestling world where anyone could freely worked anywhere, and this would be two of his friends getting to live that out.

RIOT (SAT) 05/26/2018 Arena Femenil, Monterrey, Nuevo León[LuchaMania Monterrey]
1) Erick Ortiz b Mr. Iguana
Show was delayed due to local power outage about 90 minutes before the show. Ortiz & Iguana volunteered to go wrestle in the dark to keep the fans interest, and did so with cell phone flashlights on the ring for most of the match. Light was restored near the end of the match.
2) Byron & Kaientai b Príncipe Legendario & Psicótico and Azrael & Muerte Extrema
Psicotico & Alberto Dos Rios and Azrael & Muerte Extreme were both surprise teams for the Unamericans, who still won and have a winning steak.
3) Low Rider b Furor
Furor replaced Caifan II (injury)
4) Lady Flammer b Chik Tormenta
5) Aaron Solow & Ricky Starks b Kratoz & Prometeo
Debut of Extra Talente-ed. Prometeo is the former Kamikaze. Kratoz landed a 630 on Solow which seemed to be a three count, but was only counted two. Solow and Starks came back to win.
6) Último Ninja b Bandido (Indie)
good match

The RIOT show was delayed around an hour due to the power outage. They offered refunds to anyone who didn’t want to stick around until someone was able to fix the power issue. I’m told only two people on a date asked for a refund. It was a sell out, the biggest turnout they’ve had. There were a couple people hanging around outside who hadn’t been able to get tickets, and they bought those two tickets as soon as they were refunded.

Sounds like the last two matches were the best two and people appreciated Ortiz/Iguana wrestling in almost no light.

CMLL (TUE) 05/29/2018 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central]
1) Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia b Acero & Aéreo 
2) Akuma, Hijo del Signo, Nitro b Dick Riviere, Star Jr., Starman 
Dick Riviere (France) and Nitro (his trainer in France) replaced Pegasso & Espanto Jr. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther b Dragón Rojo Jr., Kawato San, Pólvora 
Panthers took 2/3. Dragon Rojo suffered an injury on the final dropkick.
4) Fuego b Virus [lightning] 
5) Ephesto, Felino, Luciferno b Stuka Jr., Titán, Tritón 
6) Atlantis, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas 
Tecnicos took 1/3.

CMLL’s video update says Dragon Rojo suffered a concussion on The Panther’s dropkick and will be evaluated. Promos: Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Violencia, Fuego, and Ephesto (who says his son is starting training soon.)

Sure seems like it’s a lot easier to get your friends booked in CMLL than usual. It also seems like CMLL is less concerned with good B-shows than ever. These two things might be related.

CMLL (TUE) 05/29/2018 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Gemelo Pantera I, Gemelo Pantera II, Pantera Blanca Jr. ?? Carlo Roggi, Maléfico, Mr. Apolo
match skipped in results.
2) Marcela, Mystique, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, La Metálica
Mystique replaced Estrellita. Rudas took 2/3.
3) Audaz, Star Black, Stigma b Cancerbero, Difunto, Raziel
tecnicas took 2/3.
4) Furia Roja, Mephisto, Okumura b Esfinge, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.
Niebla Roja replaced Diamante Azul. Rudos took 2/3. Furia Roja snuck in a foul on Niebla Roja for the win. Niebla Roja challenged for a hair match.
5) Carístico, Kráneo, Último Guerrero DDQ Mistico, Mr. Niebla, Rush [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Mistico took fall 1, team Caristico took fall 2, and Caristico & Mistico unmasked each other for the double DQ. Caristico worked as the tecnico.

There was a press conference here to hype an upcoming month of shows. That’s probably why those Sundays shows are suddenly including CMLL DF wrestlers. It might also explain the bits on this show: Caristico vs Mistico seems like it’s coming to Guadalajara soon, and Niebla Roja and Furia Roja in an all Roja hair match seems a definite possibility.

Mystique made an impression on Dalys, or at least on her right eye socket.

On Facebook, Lady Maravilla announced she was leaving CMLL and going independent. (Her statement is set to friend only but has been reposted plenty elsewhere; here’s the copy on her fan club’s page.) Maravilla never mentions AAA by name, but alludes to working for other promotions for dates only, not signing a full time contract.

Lady Maravilla’s name appeared on the Verano de Escandalo lineup on May 12th. Maravilla sent word to friends that it wasn’t true. (That fanclub went strongly with the idea that listing was false and now is just going with this story.) She then worked her already announced matches in Coliseo & Puebla and hasn’t been on a CMLL card since. I’d guess there was some other CMLL show we didn’t hear about that she was waiting to work before announcing this move. CMLL hasn’t acknowledged her leaving like they did with Zeuxis.

Lady Maravilla was in CMLL only ten months, which is maybe a reason they’re not making as much deal with it. She debuted last year in the Copa Natalia Vazquez. Her spot was said to be based in part on a Lucha Memes recommendation, and believed to be first offered to Keyra. She passed on to stay indie, and that seems like the right decision. Maravilla’s best match was her only singles match in that time, a lightning match with Zeuxis. Maravilla was getting about one CMLL booking a week, never a feud, and didn’t seem likely to get anything to do for a while. Like Zeuxis, Maravilla seemed like someone CMLL should be treating as a star in this moment, but would’ve instead had to wait years for the older women to finally decide to leave to get that chance. This is the third departure this year in CMLL’s women division for similar reasons- Silueta seems to have quietly left CMLL with her career also going nowhere. I’d suspect CMLL will not be particularly alarmed, seeing these women as replacement roster filler which can easily be replaced by trainee graduation (Mystique & Guerrera) or bringing back people (Lluvia). The CMLL matches aren’t going to be much good, though.

Women’s matches elsewhere could be good. Keyra, Zeuxis and Maravilla are about three of the four best women’s wrestlers in Mexico right now. (I’d put Faby on the list too.) Keyra & Maravilla are already a team, just find Zeuxis a partner and there’s a match they can take to every indie.

El Grafico has an interview with La Guerrera & Mystique (still with the Mistik spelling.) They’re billed as Arturo Beristain students and say Ultimo Guerrero congratulated them after their first match.

Segunda Caida puts the Gauntlet match from Ultima Lucha 3 on the 2016 MOTYC list. That match was better in person that it came off on TV.

Lost in Lucha watches Texano Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero from 2009.