Mephisto keeps title over Titan, LU, AAA in Toluca lineup

CMLL (TUE) 08/07/2018 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores]
1) Acero & Angelito b Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico 
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Cancerbero, Disturbio, Nitro b Astral, Eléctrico, Súper Astro Jr. 
rudos took 2/3.
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Virus 
tecnicos took 1/3.
4) El Audaz DQ Luciferno [lightning] 
Luciferno unmasked Audaz for the DQ.
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. b Ephesto, Hechicero, Mr. Niebla 
Stuka beat Hechicero to set up a title match again. Tecnicos took 1/3.
6) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo b Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Shocker 
tecnicos took 2/3

CMLL promos are Audaz wanting a super libre rematch (probably not) and Hechicero and Stuka again talking up the possibility of a title match. Show did not sound good

CMLL (TUE) 08/07/2018 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) El Alteño, Magnum, Vaquero Jr. b Frezzer, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte
tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Príncipe Odín Jr., Sangre Azteca, Yago b Leono, Príncipe Diamante, Robin
Leono replaced Magnus. Rudos took 2/3.
3) Esfinge, Rey Cometa, Tritón b Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Templario
Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Mephisto © b Titán [CMLL WELTER]
Mephisto took 1/3. 12th defense (last at a small show in April.) Titan’s third challenge in this reign.
5) Matt Taven, Mistico, Volador Jr. b Euforia, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
tecnicos took 2/3.

Mephsito/Titan will air Saturday.

Lucha Underground airs episode 4×9 tonight, “A Match Made in Heaven”. That’s a spoiler. They’ve announced these matches:

• Dragon Azteca Jr. (c) vs Mariposa for the Gift of the Gods championship
• Worldwide Underground (Johnny Mundo, Taya, PJ Black, Ricky Mundo) vs Reptile Tribe (Kobra Moon, Daga, Drago, ?)

Lucha Central has a good theory about who the fourth person could be on the Reptile Tribe team. The preview mentions Mariposa makes a proposal to Antonio Cueto, which could explain why she’s getting a title shot after not having been seen since the first episode. There’s also a mention that Paul London making a sacrifice to the Rabbit Tribe, so it seems a really bad sign for Saltador and Mala Suerte that LU’s Twitter put out photos of them this week. That usually means death this season.

TripleMania is just over two weeks away, and there’s still no full lineup. This is not the latest they’ve gone without announcing a lineup – the Rey Mysterio/Mistico year didn’t reveal the rest of the show until about 10 days before. There’s probably not anything really great on the rest of the show. The four-way match, the Shani/Faby and Fenix/Jarrett matches are the marquee matches, and everything else is usually about finding space for luchadors on the show (plus or minus an Alberto match.) Still: pretty weird not to have a full card, or a formal announcement of it airing on Space, or pretty much anything else. I’m something other than excited to listen to whoever AAA drags in to be the English language announcers, but the existence of such a thing seems like something AAA should have out by now.

The best explanation I’ve heard, and this fits with what I can find, is AAA wants to hold it’s normal press conference to announce TripleMania, only they haven’t been able to find a time to get enough people in Mexico City to make it seem impressive. You’d want some of the main eventers there, but they’re busy on shows. Check out Psycho Clown’s schedule of late:

07/27 Tijuana
07/28 OFF (or more likely we couldn’t find his Saturday booking)
07/29 Ecatepec
07/30 Leon
07/31 Toluca
08/01 Off (but the Fenix match hasn’t been announced yet)
08/02 Aguascalientes
08/03 Mazatlan
08/04 Culiacan
08/05 Nogales
08/06 Guayama
08/07 Pachuca

Psycho Clown is off today but maybe wants a nap after 6 straight days on the road. And it’s just a day: he’s got to be in both Chiapas and Cuernavaca tomorrow, which seems kind of impossible. The AAA TV taping is in Veracruz on Friday, he’s in Arena Azteca Budokan on Saturday and Tulancingo on Sunday. Maybe he, and the rest of the people working those shows, get a moment to breath and the press conference is on Monday?

Lucha libre collector Christian Cymet will be holding an exhibition at Mexico City’s World Trade Center from September 14 to the 16th. They’re going to have a thousand meters of museum space. I have no idea what that actually means, but it sounds like a lot and something worth checking out if you’re going to Mexico City for the Anniversario show.

Dr. Wagner Jr. posted a wonderfully staged video saying he’ll be on Friday’s AAA TV taping in Veracruz.

The Crash on 09/08 in Auditorio de Tijuana

• Penta & Fenix vs Volador & Caristico or maybe it’s a four-way?
• Hechicero vs Daga

AAA posted a sit-down interview with Pagano.

The Gladiatores talks to Super Muneco.

Dorada Fan has a Dragon Bane highlight video.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Lineup

MDA (SUN) 08/19/2018 Arena Coliseo Monterrey
1) Babe Fox & Mini Difunto vs Karares & Mini Laredo Kid
2) Demus vs Mini Hator
3) El Divo vs Trauma II
4) The Tiger vs Karateka Jr.
5) Laredo Kid vs Emperador Azteca (IWRG)
6) Daga vs Rey Horus
7) Hijo de LA Park vs Mr. Electro
8) LA Park vs Blue Demon Jr. [super libre]

Full card for their next show. I like the idea that Blue Demon & LA Park in a super libre match is going to be a lot different than their last one, which includes a garbage cart being used as a weapon and did not end in a DQ.

AAA TV (FRI) 09/21/2018 Salón Rojo, Toluca, Estado de México
1) Faby Apache, La Hiedra, Lady Shani vs Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Starfire
2) Aerostar, Argenis, Niño Hamburguesa vs Ciclón Ramírez, Demus, Emperador Azteca
3) Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. vs Trauma I & Trauma II
4) Joe Lider, La Parka, Pagano vs Hijo de LA Park, Puma King, Taurus
5) Hijo del Fantasma & Psycho Clown vs Electroshock & LA Park

This lineup is a month and a half away, so it’s very subject to change. It’s at least the third taping past TripleMania we know, joining 09/02 in Monterrey, 09/09 in Merida. Only the Merida taping is officially announced by AAA; they had a press conference yesterday in the so they wanted to announce it then. There’s been a taping every weekend, so there’s probably a 09/16? taping we’re missing – or they really are running in Cancun on 09/07 for two tapings in one weekend, and it hasn’t come out yet.

It’s another ELITE vs AAA show, so now we all know Star Fire is meant to be Elite.x Traumas versus the (current) tag champs seems like a fun fight. Demus & Emperador Azteca are making their debut in the second match, at least as far as we know at the moment. A five-match show is odd; this would be the first one of the year, because AAA likes to be able to air 3 matches per TV episode and tapes two episodes per taping. Maybe an extra match is coming.