Rush & Terrible won the tag team titles, though with a foul on Volador to do it.
Atlantis was honored for his 35th Anniversary. All the wrestlers wrestled in their mask for a traditional match. Money was thrown in after. Atlantis Jr. & Hijo del Atlantis appeared with Atlantis prior to the match.
Carístico and his partners didn’t get along, though it wasn’t played up a lot. They had a standoff post-match, but the camera shot the crowd instead.
Thoughts:
doomed
The main event worked as the show ender on a big show. There was a simple story of Los Ingobernables just being a little bit better in form as a team than Valiente & Volador. One team crashed into each other on a dive, the other successfully distracted the referee for a foul. The match itself tried to bridge the two different styles; this wasn’t quite the athletic display of other Volador big matches, nor was it the brawl Rush has been doing with LA Park. Terrible still seemed nervous taking the big Volador moves, but it and the Spanish fly on Rush went OK. The crowd made this feel like a big match, taking the matchup from good to something more borderline.
The legends match was a perfectly fine match – so much better than usual CMLL legends match. Including Último Guerrero feels like cheating, it brings the average up so much. Still, Fuerza Guerrera and Mascara 2000 also worked well off the técnicos too. This might have been Mascara’s best performance of the year, or at least the one where he felt least out of place. Fuerza taking backdrops in his sixties is crazy. The rudos were able to work thru the técnicos usual spots, and there was never a sad moment where they were failing at them. Rayo seemed to wrestle an out-sized portion of the match, but it means less Octagon and a little less Atlantis and that was fine. Everyone got what they wanted out of this and it didn’t overstay their welcome.
The fourth match was primarily a técnico showcase. They were so focused on the técnicos doing neat moves that they didn’t really have time for the técnicos to feud among themselves and they went out of their way to ignore after the match. This wasn’t the most they could do, but plenty to impress a crowd which seemed more willing to cheer the técnicos on this show. It was notable to see Gran Guerrero catching the big diving headscissors to the outside. These matches used to go out of their way to keep Gran Guerrero from being in those positions and now he was in the center of them.
Audaz comes at it from a different direction
Dalys matches continue to look like a cold repetition of match practiced many times, and a single match exposes that style more. The match had plenty of action but was short because they were running thru their prescribed spots at a fast pace, and didn’t think to do anything in between. Both women also reacted to the moves when they expected them to be happening, not when they actually did. The style did have a lot more moves than expected for a women’s match, but those weren’t performed well. La Jarochita’s big spot is her facewash running boot to the face, but her kick and Dalys’ face didn’t come close to each other. Jarochita’s suplex looked good, and she didn’t have much more offense to go wrong, because Dalys seemed to take 70% of the match. It’s unusual to control so much of a match and still win, but that’s about where the women’s division is right now.
The segunda was better fun than it looked on paper. Kawato and Star Jr. have been working together enough that they have some chemistry and a lot of spots to do. (Star Jr. could use something other than a cutter though.) Universo did more basing for Audaz in this match than their lightning match, and they could hide the errors better in a trios match. Fuego was way over and Okumura also existed. The third fall went long and the crowd seemed antsy for them to get on with the parts of the show they came for, but the action was still good. This was closer to being great than OK.
The opener got a lot of time, more than usual, and it allowed us to see more of the técnicos than usual. The absurdly long first fall lost my interest a bit, but surely allowed the Atlantis photo session to go on a bit longer. It got better in the second fall once the técnicos finally got their comeback and picked up the action. The wrestling wasn’t clean. Metálico took Principe Diamante’s to end the second fall really nicely, though only after he and Diamante got lost on the spot to set it up, and after he lost Astro on a headscissors. Super Astro has an advantage on most of these rookies of late by being able to do his father’s spots, which are still recognizable but still seem fresh since he hasn’t been wrestling regularly in a long time. Astro is talented him, but it’s helped him stand out in a way Principe Diamante hasn’t gotten to yet.
IWRG (SUN) 07/15/2018Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Atomic Star & Death Metal b Ángel Estrella Jr. & Shadow Boy
2) Aramis & Mexica b Hijo del Mosco X-Fly & Lunatic Xtreme Mosco & Lunatik did not get along
3) Ra-Zhata, Shil-Kah, Teelo b Leo, Mike, Rafy
4) Cerebro Negro & Dr. Cerebro b Freelance & Relámpago
5) Danny Casas, Hijo del Alebrije, Imposible b El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Trauma I, Trauma II Impossible pinned Medico.
6) Ovett b X-Fly [hair] Extreme match with syringes. Lunatik Extreme helped out Ovett. X-Fly needed medical help for an eye injury after the match, and got his hair cut after.
Streaming was back this year, maybe because both +LuchaTV and InterneTV/AYM were both allowed to do it alive. +LuchaTV has the better pictures but the streaming seemed to buffer a lot. AYM showed more of the show, though they inexplicably went to a break for the entirety of the second match. None of this was advertised ahead of time and who knows if it’ll happen again.
Cuartero and Angel de Oro meet once again tonight in Arena Puebla, one of two Chavez brothers versus NGD title matches in two days. Cuatrero and Angel de Oro had never had a singles match before Cuatrero won the CMLL middleweight championship in January. Cuatrero has won all four of their matches so far, including Angel de Oro’s mask. That probably won’t change tonight, but it still should be a good main event.
The semi-main probably won’t be as good. Los Ingobernables face Atlantis, Caristico, and Euforia, in what was appearing to set up an Atlantis/Rush match last week. The tercera has Dragon Lee, Stuka, and Valiente versus Forastero, Sanson, and Hechicero, which might be a good match if they feel up to it. Local Puebla idol Policeman teams with Kawato & Okumura and Drone, Star, and Stigma in another possibly good match. The show opens with Espiritu Maligno, Fuerza Chicana and Rey Apocalipsis and Milenium, Robin and Tigre Rojo Junior. It’s only a five-match show, which should allow the main event to get plenty of time. The show will air at 9pm on CMLL’s YouTube channel.
This decision seems like it’s been coming for a while. Puma was the youngest person ever to win a mask match at the Anniversario show in 2012. He’s been stuck at roughly the same place for the six years since. He, as well as Tiger and the Panthers, have been having some of the best matches in CMLL over the last couple years. They have seen little benefit from it. Puma’s gotten some opportunities to wrestle in the US over the last year plus. He seems to have liked them, and I think you’ll be seeing him working north of the border more often now. (BOLA weekend, and the springboard PWG has been for indie wrestlers, is going to be a huge factor in how his career goes from here.) Puma will probably still be wrestling in Mexico – and maybe AAA if he can show up without signing a contract in a similar bit to Zeuxis on the ELITE show – but I think this move out of CMLL is about trying to see what the world has to offer rather than just shifting over to any promotion full time.
This seems worth trying for guys at Puma’s level even if there’s no guarantee this is going to work. Wrestling in the same level for years and decades in CMLL tends to kill luchador’s motivations to care. (If only US indie work was an option when Sangre Azteca was good.) CMLL seems willing to take people back if they leave on good terms, and doubly so if they have about a half dozen family members working there. Puma’s father Felino tried something similar to this in 1999, jumping to AAA to join brother Heavy Metal. It didn’t work out, but he was still able to jump back to CMLL six months later and keep his spot. Puma has a little bit of a buzz with some work in the US, and is still young enough to even get a WWE look. He’s got an opening to take this sort of chance, and it makes the sense to try it. People who watch CMLL regularly are going to miss him, and Tiger is really going to miss him, but it’s easy to understand why Puma’s taking this shot.
Lineups
CMLL (SAT) 07/21/2018Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Retro vs Camorra & Cholo
2) Shockercito, Stukita, Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Universo 2000, Pierrothito
3) La Jarochita, Maligna, Princesa Sugehit vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica
4) Audaz, Niebla Roja, Tritón vs Forastero, Hechicero, Sansón
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs Mephisto, Shocker, Terrible
Back running here this week. Maybe no program happening if they’re off in two weeks.
Said to be a pretty good show, with fans liking the second match and the sixth match for very different reasons. Weird way to end it, if Bestia is still meant to be the challenger for Rey Mysterio’s title. The Crash didn’t mention Rey Mysterio for the next show.
California based Jacob Fatu is the newest member of the Rebelion Amarilla. Lacey Lane is leaving the group. They said she was going to WWE in the in-ring farewell, then realized backstage they weren’t supposed to actually say WWE and were less specific. It is hard not to notice there was no similar farewell to Garza Junior even though the idea was he’d be going soon. Whatever’s going on, his trip, seems to be on hold.
The biggest news was the 8/03 show announced. Terrible, Stuka, Titan, Dragon Lee from CMLL are in, as well as the British Strong Style trio of Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, and Trent Seven. One match has been announced:
That should be good. Again, the irony here is if The Crash got a streaming deal ages ago like many have been asking for, they’d never be able to vanity book WWE UK wrestlers who probably won’t mean much to their bottom line bring in exciting wrestlers like Pete Dunne. Good luck at watching it. These guys are available because they’re starting a US tour the next day (and are going to be rush to make that first show, so that would be the early for them going on early if that happens.)
Mexa Wrestling (SAT) 07/14/2018Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México [+LuchaTV, Carxyus, Estrellas del Ring, The Gladiatores, TJ Sports]
1) Auzter & Fulgor I b Medieval & Pumita Auzter replaced Fulgor II
2) Lady Pink & Lilith Dark b Chica Pantera & Lady Cat and Kelly Star & Reina Oscura
3) Terremoto, Tromba, Yoruba b Baby Star, Príncipe Aéreo, Tyson La Bestia
4) Rossy Moreno b Marcela said to be a controversial finishnot explained
5) Baronessa & Mystique b Metálica & Reina Dorada
6) Lady Flammer b Chik Tormenta, Lady Maravilla Flammer beat Tormenta
7) Keyra DQ Mary Apache Mary pulled Keyra’s mask to pin her, but was DQed. Lady Maravilla asked for the next chance to end Keyra’s undefeated streak.
Crowd was pretty good considering this was a women’s show featuring few of their regulars. Main event is why we can’t have nice indie things; Mary Apache is probably not going to lose bookings by being pinned by Keyra so Keyra can continue her undefeated streak, but Mary probably feels differently about that. They seemed to move onto Marvilla/Keyra next. Mexa says their 08/04 card (with start time?) will be out Monday.
CMLL (SUN) 07/15/2018Arena México [CMLL]
1) Camorra & Grako b Bengala & Leono rudos took 1/3.
2) Astral, Starman, Súper Astro Jr. b Apocalipsis, Espíritu Negro, Hijo del Signo tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Sagrado, Templario, Virus b Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Titán rudos took 1/3.
4) Rey Bucanero b Felino [lightning] Bucanero submitted Felino (replacing Dragon Rojo)
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón tecnicos took 2/3.
6) Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto DQ Carístico, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr. rudos took 1/3, the last when Mephsito fake a foul from Volador
Post more promos: Rey Bucanero (talking about his win) and Volador Jr. (having a bad week!) CMLL is taping these shows like normal – you can see the footage in those promos – but haven’t been posting them anywhere. My guess is the announcers aren’t free or interested in working on Sunday and CMLL can’t imagine putting up shows with no commentary.
There is a little bit of luck. Both the 07/01 (with the missing trios title change) and 07/08 (with nothing in particular) will be airing on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. The trios title match will air early on 07/17 and will be available for VOD. Those shows typically were blocked outside of Japan, and now are blocked just in Mexico – so everyone in the world except the home fans who missed that show will be able to see that title change (if they pay 999 Yen.) Maybe Sundays shows are airing on one of the cable networks, except everything else airing on cable network is streaming. I don’t get it.
“CMLL Guerreros del Ring”, the first b-show they added in late 2005 as part of CMLL’s strategy to sell as much (cheap) TV as possible, is now airing on Mexicanal in Mexico & US. I can’t find if it’s still on 52MX. The show was airing CMLL Puebla matches last time as a few weeks ago, so this would be more interesting for the move than the content. Meanwhile, 52MX is now an over the air channel, though as a digital subchannel not available everywhere. It’s 6.4 in Mexico City.
Kraneo & Mije appear in a video updating on Mije’s status (he’s doing OK) and making sure to put the blame on no one for the injury spot on Tuesday.
In post-show interviews on Friday, Atlantis said his sons Atlantis Jr. and Hijo del Atlantis may start wrestling at the end of 2018 or early 2019. Atlantis Jr. is the one wrestling secretly as Tiburon. Hijo del Atlantis has kept his identity secret if he’s wrestling already. That timeline has changed often so I wouldn’t put it in stone.
CMLL did a great job of honoring Atlantis, even with them cutting out his entrance because of the dance number. Atlantis did his part too, looking better than usual in a better than expected legends match. There was nothing suggesting Atlantis/Fuerza was going to happen in September, and Fuerza is not on next week’s card.
That sort of led viewers to believe that LA Park might make a surprise appearance in the main event, especially when the match came down to Rush & Volador. Instead, Terrible helped Rush cheat to a title win. Maybe they’ll defend it against Hijo de LA Park & LA Park? Terrible’s having a pretty successful year.
Dragon Lee & Mistico kept up the tension with Carisitco despite getting the win.
This show appeared to have a giant turnout. Those there said it was close to being full, which is something that only happens at the Anniversario show in recent years. CMLL still didn’t show the crowd all that much.
Next week’s lineup:
CMLL (FRI) 07/20/2018Arena México
1) Príncipe Diamante & Súper Astro Jr. vs Espanto Jr. & Yago
2) Lluvia, Marcela, Mistique vs Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis
3) Esfinge, Titán, Tritón vs Kawato San, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Cuatrero vs Mephisto [lightning]
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Penta El Zero M
6) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Ciber the Main Man, Scharly Rock Star, The Chris
Klan Kaoz is probably winning their way to a trios title shot. Semimain may set up a singles match, depending on everyone’s schedule.
Puma is off Tuesday’s CMLL show, replaced by Universo 2000 Jr.
AAA TV (FRI) 07/13/2018Auditorio General José María Arteaga, Querétaro, Querétaro [AAA, Lucha Central]
1) Gremlin, Speed Demon, Vengador ?? Homicida, Kastigador, Lince match not shown on stream.
2) Dragón Bane, Lady Maravilla, Starfire b Arez, Chica Tormenta, Keyra Lady Maravila beat Chik Tormenta with a Spanish Fly in Tormenta’s debut.
3) Carta Brava, Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana b Arkángel Divino, Hijo Del Vikingo, Joe Lider
4) Dinastía, Lady Shani, Niño Hamburguesa b Australian Suicide, Faby Apache, Parka Negra Shani pinned Faby – the first time Faby’s been pinned all year on TV. Faby went after Shani after the match. Taurus again showed up to attack an Apache enemy, spearing Shani.
5) Jack Evans, Juventud Guerrera, Taurus b Aerostar, La Máscara, Máximo Jack Evans made his return as a surprise wrestler. La Mascara & Maximo had issues after the match and a vignette before the match. Mascara doesn’t think Maximo is taking things seriously and may be going rudo.
6) Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly b Golden Magic, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr. Golden Magic was the surprise wrestler for his team, but unwanted and attacked repeatedly by his partners (and Samoano). They essentially gave up the win by attacking Magic, allowing OGT to win. Earlier, OGT saved La Parka from a MAD attack, then explained they were doing it to defend AAA and not Parka
7) Hijo del Fantasma & Jeff Jarrett b Pagano & Psycho Clown Fantasma beat Psycho Clown after a guitar shot in a match which also saw Juventud Guerrera and Hijo del Tirantes get involved.
This was a good show and a full building. I didn’t notice it was a nearly an all rudo night until putting this together. Tecnicos did win the fourth match, but Shani was about cut in half by Taurus’ spear. OGT are effectively tecnicos now without doing the turn (because they’re still going to be wrestling the same way, just with a few more Super Fly flips.)
There wasn’t much good progression towards TripleMania, unless you want to count La Parka/Konnan or Jarrett/Vampiro as good ideas. Jeff is going to be sad when he finds out Vampiro is retired and never to wrestle again. As it stands, it looks like Jarrett won’t appear again on AAA TV until TripleMania, so whatever they’re doing with him will be revealed at a press conference instead. That was fine for last night because it kept the focus on Fantamsa and he looked great in winning the main event.
La Mascara & Maximo have been dead in the water since about 10 minutes after arrival in AAA. Mascara going rudo and feuding with Maximo may not be better, but it couldn’t be much worse.
The stream opener is another one worth going out of your way to see. I have not seen a lot of Chik Tormenta but I think this was the best match I’ve seen with her in it.
Tonight, The Crash has Penta vs Bestia in a cage, as part of a show honoring Blue Demon Jr. for the round number of 33 years in wrestling. The Crash invited fans to bring weapons to put in the cage. If Bestia is facing Rey Mysterio for the title next, he should be winning this. The undercard includes a Daga vs Matt Riddle match and ACH vs Rey Horus vs Rey Fenix. The Crash may also have more on their teased alliances with CMLL & Progress Wrestling.
Both AAA & CMLL drew big crowds and loud to their TV tapings Friday night. Neither had the big events I was expecting, though there still was some news.
The biggest thing to actually happen was Rush & Terrible becoming tag team champions in CMLL. The title match came down to Rush and Volador. Volador had an apparent win off a Spanish Fly, Terrible pulled Edgar away from the pin, Rush fouled Volador, and then covered him for the win. No challenges followed.
No challenges was actually the big news on the CMLL night. The Atlantis tribute proceeded like a normal nostalgic lucha libre match, with everyone wearing their masks and doing their old spots and nothing in particular after. Atlantis got Ultimo Guerrero up in the Atlantida for the win. There was no special interaction between him and Fuerza Guerrera, nothing that would suggest a mask match was coming. LA Park & Rush still seems the most likely option, because CMLL continues to present no other options.
AAA presented a lot of options for TripleMania matches, though nothing seemed more than idea. A mid-show MAD segment going nowhere (but getting a lot of crowd reaction) was interrupted by La Parka, who challenged Konnan to a fight. That didn’t go well for Parka, who was beaten up by the MAD members on hand until OGT (as defenders of AAA) made the save. Later, a taped Jeff Jarrett promo threw out the idea of taking Vampiro’s hair. Vampiro himself was only seen on the show once, wearing a neck brace in his usual box segment, and having a phone call with a mystery person. That went nowhere on this show, but might be picked up on the ELITE show next week.
The two surprise people on this show were ELITE people, or at least will be ELITE people next week. Jack Evans made his official return, teaming with Taurus and Juventud Guerrera to beat Aerostar, La Mascara, and Maximo. (Both that match, and a pre-taped vignette, showed La Mascara getting frustrated with Maximo. Mascara’s clearly going rudo by the time TripleMania ends.) Later, Golden Magic was the surprise partner of Rey Escorpion and Texano Jr., only for those rudos to repeatedly attack Magic during the match. OGT took advantage to win.
Nothing new was really set for TripleMania yet, but the two matches that are set got some attention. Lady Shani earned a rare pin over Faby Apache in their trios match, only to be taken out via Taurus spear after. It remains unclear why Taurus is helping Faby. Hijo del Fantasma used Jarrett’s guitar on Psycho’s head to win the no disqualification main event (where Juventued pretty much worked the match for Jarrett, in the same way Teddy Hart & Jack Evans would for Konnan during his last in-ring days.) Fantamsa is full a rudo going into the mask match.
AAA seemed like it had the better matches, but both shows were pretty good. I’ll have the normal recaps of both over the weekend. I may add timestamps to this later on tonight.
AAA
00:10:39Dragón Bane, Lady Maravilla, Starfire vs Arez, Chica Tormenta, Keyra 00:28:37Arkángel Divino, Hijo Del Vikingo, Joe Lider vs Carta Brava, Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana 00:54:48Dinastía, Lady Shani, Niño Hamburguesa vs Australian Suicide, Faby Apache, Parka Negra 01:13:59Aerostar, La Máscara, Máximo vs Jack Evans, Juventud Guerrera, Taurus 01:35:27Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly vs Golden Magic, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr. 01:56:43Pagano & Psycho Clown vs Hijo del Fantasma & Jeff Jarrett
Tonight’s a pretty big night in 2018 lucha libre. There’s been a lot of busy nights lately. The two big shows are still to come. Tonight’s shows will reveal a lot of what’s going to happen on them. The biggest match of CMLL’s year is still fuzzy. It should be a lot clearer after tonight’s Arena Mexico show. AAA has their main event and just needs to figure out pretty much everything else while also getting over a feuding promotions concept.
CMLL’s Anniversario takes place two months and one day from tonight. There is no official main event. It’s not unusual for the match to not be signed until later, yet the match is still normally pretty clear this far in advance. CMLL’s made it pretty clear on the shows itself that Park/Rush is the match fans should want to see at the Anniversario. Everything outside the shows – Park’s comments about CMLL not offering more matches, Dorian Roldan’s skepticism that Rush/Park would happen this year most prominently – shrouds that same match with an uncertain haze. The strongest reason to believe Park/Rush is the CMLL Anniversario match is CMLL hasn’t really teased something else viable at that level as main eventing the show. Dragon Lee, Caristico, Mistico, Fenix, and Penta all have thrown around a challenge. None seem that serious, most wouldn’t make sense losing, and few possible matchups would mean more than LA Park vs Rush. It’d probably have to be something along the lines of an Atlantis mask match to satisfy people, but he doesn’t have a proper opponent and CMLL hasn’t teased anything.
Enter Octagon & Fuerza Guerrera. Octagon and Fuerza Guerrera have been feuding since 1991. They feuded in EMLL, they feuded when it became CMLL, they feuded in AAA, they’ve feuded in the indies post AAA, and the feud has popped up on legend’s appearances back in CMLL. They’re always three weeks away from the match, which just never actually seems to happen. Both men are decades past their prime, but forever stuck in a feud mostly sustaining by nostalgia. Neither man has ever gotten the offer they wanted to lose their mask. There may not be a price for Octagon at the moment, while his issues with AAA over his name and identity go on. Fuerza was probably designed to be the loser of this feud way back in 1991, and probably has done better for himself never settling for something lesser. At least until now. 64-year-old masked man Fuerza Guerrera has to know his career is close to ending and ending at any moment. He also has to know that the prices for big mask matches is rising; he’s surely aware of what his old partner Dr. Wagner was said to have earned last year.
Fuerza Guerrera is back in CMLL tonight facing Atlantis at another Anniversary show. This one honors Atlantis himself, with a trios match also including Octagon, Rayo de Jalisco, Ultimo Guerrero and Mascara 2000. It’s going to draw a big crowd, the sort which may not return until another big Atlantis match. If CMLL is doing Atlantis versus Fuerza Guerrera in a mask versus mask match (or something with Octagon also involved to honor that feud), CMLL is going to run a finish to build towards it tonight. If nothing happens then LA Park versus Rush is a lot closer to being real. Either way, CMLL’s September plans will be a lot more clear by the time the semi-main ends.
The more amusing way those 09/14 plans could be set would be the main event if LA Park crashed the Rush/Terrible vs Volador/Valiente tag title main event. It’s also unlikely since CMLL seems not to be booking LA Park while he’s about to headline a show across town next Saturday. A title change does seem in play: Rush & Terrible are the hotter act with the Sky Team seeming to drift apart. The Universal Tournament math favors Los Ingobernabels. Terrible is still national heavyweight champion, so his team winning the tag team belts would reduce the number of champions to 17 – or 16 + 1 inactive Marco Corleone. (Sanson picking up the CMLL light heavyweight belt from Niebla Roja on Tuesday would accomplish the same.) Volador’s match output is predictable in big main events, and he might be tempted to do even more after visibly being frustrated as background player recently.
The main event is the best match on a show that’s got some iffy moments. There’s no great hope for the legend’s match to be any good, nor is anyone expecting good from them. Negro Casas, Cavernario and Gran Guerrero versus Carsitico, Dragon Lee and Mistico looks like a good match on paper but figures to be overridden by Caristico vs Dragon Lee/Mistico issues. No one asked for Dalys vs La Jarochita in a lightning match; nice CMLL is giving other women chances in singles matches, but a Friday night match with no issue is a poor way to do it. Audaz, Fuego and Star Jr. versus Okumura, Kawato, and Universo is a less than ideal mix. Principe Diamante & Super Astro Jr. will attempt to be entertaining around Metalico and Sangre Azteca, who has seemingly wrestled the same match for this entire decade.
CMLL’s show starts at 8:30pm promptly. It’ll be on Facebook and Marca. Neither was blocked last time I checked, and it’d be ideal for me if I didn’t have to stream anything today. Lucha Central has a preview of the show.
CMLL’s sent Atlantis done a lot of media to promote this show: interviews with Marca, Record, Universal, ESTO, Notimex, and Excelsior are the ones I can find without much work. The lucha libre exhibit at the Metro Guerrero station is an Atlantis themed exhibit for the next month, and the unveiling yesterday was covered heavily (CMLL, MedioTiempo, PubliMetro). Rayo talked about pranking Atlantis early in his career. This show has gotten a lot of attention and it will be a big turnout. Atlantis has had no public scandal during this career, is still involved in a big lucha libre at a high level, and is a pretty easy choice to put on a pedestal as a positive representation of lucha libre. He doesn’t really say anything interested, but that’s always a good way to allow people to say only positive things about you. This show is going to have another big turnout.
AAA has a main event that’s pretty well clear. They also have a women’s apuesta match that hasn’t meant anything in the build up, but should still feel like a big match on the day of the show. It’s everything else they need to sort out tonight, in their first taping after a six week (World Cup-related?) hiatus tonight in Queretaro.
It starts at the top, where Jeff Jarrett makes his first appearance as unlikely champion, teaming with Hijo del Fantasma against Psycho Clown & Pagano. Jarrett’s never been much of a multi-dimensional performer in AAA, always leaning heavily into the Ugly American bit, but his in-ring performance was minimal at best in Monterrey. Jarrett as champion may have been a Plan B – there’s decent evidence to suggest Fenix was going to walk out of Verano de Escandalo with the title at one point – but it’s the situation AAA left itself. Tonight’s priority is deciding how they’re going to move forward, how they want to present their most important title at TripleMania, and who should be involved.
Jarrett is a name that English language fans know, but he’d be a negative behind the times figure to those same fans if they see him as a champion of the promotion at TripleMania, even before they see him wrestle. If AAA is playing to the fans in Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Jarrett will probably be fine, and won’t really move the attendance either way. If they’re trying to play to the people on Twitch, to get them to come back for more than one show a year, than Jarrett in a key position is a determinant and they need to make a move in another direction immediately. The way the main event tag match is sent up, AAA may instead be setting up an ugly Jarrett/Pagano title match for TripleMania.
The rest of the show is full of mystery, both in what the actual matches will be and what direction they might be going in for TripleMania. OGT, fresh off their win over Poder del Norte, appear to be working as pseudo-tecnicos on the road to 08/26. They face Texano, Rey Escorpion and a mystery man in the semimain. The fifth match also has a mystery spot, probably a MAD member, teaming with Taurus & Juventud Guerrera against Aerostar, La Mascara, and Maximo. Any Taurus/Aerostar interaction in that match would be welcome.
Faby Apache and Lady Shani meet in the fourth match. It doesn’t seem like that feud is going to catch on in a big way at this point, but they’re going to work together a lot the next six weeks. Dinastia, Nino Hamburguesa, Australian Suicide and Parka Negra fill out the match, where seems a little off. Same thing with the tercera, where rudo Joe Lider teams with rising stars Arkangel Divino & Hijo del Vikingo against Poder del Norte. Both Lider & Hamburguesa seem on this card via obligation, and not because they have a defined role or will make the matches better. Poder del Norte will make matches better, and interacting with the young flyers is a good role for them. The segunda has Dragon Bane, Lady Maravilla and Starfire versus Arez, Chik Tormenta, and Keyra. All but Tormenta have appeared on recent tapings, usually in pretty good matches.
Gremlin, Speed Demon, Vengador take on Homicida, Kastigador, and Lince in the locals opener. AAA has left those matches off the stream this year. Might be worth showing it with some of those guys, but wouldn’t count on it.
AAA lists this show as an 8:30 pm start. They’re saying this actually means 8:45. I’d still bet on 9pm and lasting into Saturday morning. Whenever it starts, it will air live and free on AAA’s Twitch channel. It’ll be available for subscribers on VOD as soon as it completes airing. It’ll start to be posted on YouTube on July 28th if the current schedule holds. Lucha Central also has a preview of the show.
Revolution Pro Wrestling (London) announced Soberano Jr. versus Titan for their 08/17 event. That’ll be good. It’s also right in the middle of a Ring of Honor tour of the UK and RevPro is ROH’s local partner. That means Soberano and Titan are likely working that tour, though ROH has not yet announced. (The advancement here is RevPro had not before been using CMLL talent when they were on this tour.) It would be fantastic to see Soberano get another chance after his previous appearance went so poorly.
Ring of Honor did announce slightly bigger news yesterday. They’ll be running Madison Square Garden on April 6, 2019, the night before WrestleMania. Only NJPW & ROH have been announced as participating so far. It’s a pretty good shot that Mexican wrestlers will also be included.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara posted a video with Star Black giving up the Occidente Welterweight Championship. He hadn’t defended it since September 2016, not that ever seems to matter. Star Black is a member of the Rayo de Jalisco family – we’re not exactly sure how – and this could mean he’s got a start date in Arena Mexico.
DTU announced Nick Gage will be coming for their 08/11 show in Arena Lopez Mateos. It reads like he’s in for that one show, not the entire tour. Recent DTU shows should be going up on Powerbomb.TV by the time you read this.
Luchador Huracan Jr. says he’s the real grandson of the most famous Huracan Ramirez, Daniel Garcia, and has the legal right to use the name. However, because there are a billion fake Huracan Ramirez’s, no one believes it, and so he’s changing his name to Principe de Seda. I’m not sure how that helps.
Lineups
CMLL , G21 (WED) 08/15/2018Arena Querétaro
1) ? vs ??
2) Astro Infernal, Iracundo Extrime, Lucifer vs Destello, Galáctico Dragón, Natague
3) Dr. Pólux Jr. & Murciélago Pleatedo vs Gemelin & Speed Demon [QRO TAG]
4) Angeluz Fly, Maravilla Strong, Perro Negro vs Kaoma Jr., Kasitgador, Neitro Del Halcón Negro Jr. and Alex Guajardo, Homicida, Lince
5) La Bestia Del Ring, Pitbull, Terrible vs Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II
6) Dragón Lee, Mistico, Rush vs Daga, Penta Zero M, Rey Fénix
Full card for the Muenoz vs Rebelion show. The Pitbull in the semimain (and on recent IWRG cards), is one of Bestia del Ring’s two brothers.
