AAA/ELITE lineup announced, Soberano keeps title over Titan

 

CMLL (MON) 06/25/2018 Arena Puebla
1) Espíritu Maligno, King Jaguar, King Rocker b Meyer, Millenium, Tigre Rojo Jr. 
Rudos took 2/3.
2) Astro, Asturiano, Stukita b Joker, Mercurio, Saurón 
Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Amapola b Princesa Sugehit [lightning] 
Amapola won cleanly and challenged Sugehit to a title match next week. Sugehit accepted.
4) Felino, Puma, Tiger b Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Esfinge 
La Familia Felino took falls 1/3. El Egipcio was honored after the main event.
5) Soberano Jr. © b Titán [MEX WELTER] 
Soberano took falls 2/3 for his 4th defense. Titan worked a bit rudo during the match. Money thrown in.
6) Flyer & Volador Jr. DQ Templario & Último Guerrero 
Tecnicos took 2/3, the last by DQ when UG fouled Volador. Those two agreed to a singles match next week.

The main event was very good, though more storytelling and less spot after spot like you might have been expecting. It’s worth watching.

Today’s CMLL show has some mikdly promising matches with nothing special to them. Brothers Dragon Lee & Mistico team up with Flyer against the odd combination of Euforia, Forastero and Negro Casas in the main event. OneAtos Style face Dragon Rojo, Luciferno, and Polvora in a possibly good semi-main. Hechicero and Felino have their first ever singles match in the weekly lightning match. The opening matches aren’t too interesting except for Yago’s outfit. Lucha Central has a preview of the show. It’ll stream at 7:30pm on CMLL’s YouTube channel.

CMLL announced three people will be awarded Copa Bobby Bonales on Friday. This is a  sometimes annual award handed out by Daniel Aceves, Olympic wrestling medalist, and son of luchador Bobby Bonales. It’s something of a lifetime achievement award. They originally handed out one a year, when they remembered to do it, and then expanded it two a year by making Marcela the first female winner (alongside Volador) last year. Three is a further expansion; Rob guessed they may have added one to honor Arkangel and that would make a lot of sense. They may explain more on CMLL Informa.

AAA/ELITE

AAA & Elite announced their combined show at a press conference today.

AAA TV , ELITE (SAT) 07/21/2018 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Faby Apache, La Hiedra, Vanilla vs Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Zeuxis
Team AAA (Faby) vs team ELITE (Zeuxis)
2) La Máscara & Máximo vs Trauma I & Trauma II
Team AAA (Alvardos) vs Team ELITE (Traumas)
3) ? & Aerostar vs Hijo de LA Park & Taurus
Team AAA (Aerostar) vs Team ELITE (Taurus)
4) Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. vs Golden Magic & Laredo Kid
Team AAA (Texano) vs Team Elite (Magic)
5) Joe Lider & Pagano vs Jack Evans & Teddy Hart
Team AAA (Pagano) vs Team Elite (Jack)
6) Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Fantasma, Psycho Clown vs ?, Electroshock, LA Park
Team AAA (Wagner) vs Team Elite (Park)

World of Warcraft is sponsoring the show, as they did with the December Juan de la Barrera show. In keeping with the game, AAA will represent the Horde (wearing red) and ELITE will represent order (wearing blue). They’re encouraging the fans to support their favorite promotion by wearing those colors. It may end up as a sea of red. This was billed as the first of a run of shows, and World of Warcraft will also be part of TripleMania.

ELITE was presented as a separate promotion. ELITE owner Ernesto Santillán appeared and was treated as an equal to Dorian Roldan. It’s tough to take that completely seriously seeing as ELITE is not running any shows, and the press mostly deferred to Roldan during the press conference. “Mr. Electro” was introduced at the press conference under that name but is using the AAA trademark “Electroshock” on the poster. The same thing with Taurus, name changes that only matter if AAA is in charge.

The main event missing person is a big question. Dorian was asked about Rush, and said he’d like to be able to use Rush but it won’t be Rush. Three of the four TripleMania main event luchadors are in the match, so Penta would make a lot of sense. It’d be weird if they had Penta on this show and didn’t just advertise him. The mystery man in the third match looks like Drago’s spot, and Drago hasn’t wrestled since suffering a shoulder injury at Verano de Escandalo. They may not be sure if he’ll be back by this time.

Zeuxis said she wasn’t going to AAA. She’s technically correct; she says she’s working as part of ELITE and has not signed a contract with anyone. Anyone who can work on AAA TV without having to sign a contract to AAA is in good shape.

The show is simply listed as airing on TV. The usual image for Televisa is conspicuously missing, but they also didn’t announce any deal with Azteca or anyone else. They may have just wanted to focus on selling tickets for the live event at this point. The show will air on Twitch.

Santillán was asked about the CMLL/ELITE deal falling apart. He claimed CMLL has never told him why they stopped the deal. Dorian was asked about Rush possibly being the mystery man. He did a similar speech he’s done at other times, saying it would be better for everyone to get along and it’s only egos getting in the way. It’s a speech he wouldn’t need to make if CMLL had agreed to work together. They wouldn’t be running a AAA/ELITE show if CMLL was an option. Wagner’s comments about quitting after Verano de Escandalo were brought up, and Roldan explained it as just one thing Wagner said, but he’d still be working his scheduled dates.

More

Rey Mysterio Jr. was announced as a pre-order bonus character in the newest WWE 2K game. Dave Meltzer said Mysterio has not signed with WWE as of yet, but everyone expects it to happen eventually. The really important thing to remember is that game is never any good but people talk themselves into buying it every year.

Related: Bestia 666 wants Rey Mysterio Jr. to agree to a title match on the next Crash Tijuana show or ELSE. (Or else Mysterio ends up going back to WWE without having a chance to lose the title, probably. Once he’s signed, he’s probably not losing a title match.)

Hechicero says indie wrestlers should only be allowed to wrestle in CMLL if they really deserve it, and if they’ll increase the box office.

Lucha Memes in Coliseo Coacalco (Chairo Bill Vol. 4) on 07/22

• Lolita vs Keyra
• Aaron Sykes & Helio Guerra (DFW) vs Dr. Polux Jr. & Murcielago Plateado (G21)

A class on lucha libre and literature will start in July in Mexico City.

 

Puma & Barby respond to Tweets in their lastest video.

Segunda Caida watches the AAA Tijuana opener match

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

+LuchaTV has a new edition of their podcast.

Let’s Taco ‘Bout Wrestling has an interview with Gringo Loco about his career.

Lineups

IWRG FILL (WED) 06/27/2018 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fly Tiger, Príncipe Dragón, Vortrex vs Águila Oriental, Canibal, Chico Bestia
2) Dranzer, Puma de Oro, Rey Picazo vs Acero II, Ciber Punk, Voltar
3) Celestial Boy, Cheff Benito, Chicanito vs Biosfera, Dinámico, Kraken
4) Ángel Oriental, Black Puma, Black Shadow Jr. vs Adrenalina, Carnicero, Power Bull
5) Ángel Estrella Jr., Tortuga Mike, Toto vs Death Metal, Picudo Jr., X-Fly
6) Atomic Star, Black Dragón, Guerrero 2000, Hijo Del Mosco X-Fly, Kanoan, Lunatic Xtreme, Mexica, Shadow Boy vs Eligor, Flayman, Gallo Colorado, Hijo del Zumbido, Meza Kid, Pandemónium Jr., Quetzal, Shalom
Gym FILL (Black Terry) versus Gym Zaetas del Ring (Freelance)

We haven’t seen many trainee shows lately. We also haven’t seen Black Terry even in the mentor lately. Good to see boht.

CMLL (SUN) 07/01/2018 Arena México
1) Arkalis & Leono vs Espíritu Negro & Grako
2) Lluvia, Maligna, Princesa Sugehit vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. vs Felino, Puma, Tiger
4) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Kráneo vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
5) Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr. © vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero [CMLL TRIOS]
11th defense, 5th versus some combination of the Guerreros, first in Arena Mexico in 16 months.

The trios title match and the third match make for this a pretty good card (which probably won’t air.)

IWRG (SUN) 07/01/2018 Arena Naucalpan
1) Chicanito vs Atomic Star
2) Chico Che, Mexica, Shadow Boy vs Antar, Demonio Infernal, Kronoz
3) Demasiado, Diva Salvaje, Pasion Kristal vs Leo, Mike, Rafy [lumberjack]
4) Aramis vs Freelance [IWRG Rey del Aire]
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus, Hijo del Alebrije, Relámpago vs Cerebro Negro, Eterno, Savage
6) X-Fly vs Ovett [super libre]
7) Penta 0M, Trauma I, Trauma II vs El Mesías, Emperador Azteca, Imposible

Penta has appeared a few times in Arena Naucalpan since leaving AAA, though never before for just IWRG. I wonder if he and Mesias are doubling up in the area because both would seem to be able to get more than IWRG usually pays for top guys.

Aramis is Rey del Ring champion, they’re calling the title match Rey del Aire, and I think IWRG may have gotten confused at what their title is called.