Day: October 9, 2018

CMLL (MON) 10/08/2018 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Lucha Central, Notimex]
1) Guerrero Espacial, Joker, Rey Apocalipsis b Asturiano, Lestat, Rey Samuray 
Rudos took 2/3.
2) Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany b La Vaquerita, Lluvia, Marcela 
Amapola replaced La Comandnate. Rudas took 2/3.
3) Diamante Azul, Kráneo, Volcano b Felino, Hechicero, Templario 
Tecnicos took 2/3. Diamante Azul remains not part of Gorilas del Ring
4) Flip Gordon, Michael Elgin, Mistico b Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Shocker 
tecnicos took 1/3.
5) Volador Jr. © b Cavernario [NWA WELTER] 
Volador took 2/3. First defense.

Volador & Cavernario was along the lines of their previous matches, just a little bit less. No barricade for Volador to dive over this time.

Tonight begins the two-week process to determine a new CMLL Heavyweight Championship. Marco Corleone has not wrestled since March. He has changed his Twitter name to “Mark Jindrak.” There are no retirements in wrestling because everyone comes back from retirements, but he seems to be done.

CMLL will determine a new champion with a different style tournament. Tonight will be a twelve man cibernetico. Sides will probably be set by battle royal. It’ll be elimination rules until the final two. The crowd will boo when they don’t get that final decision like they do every time CMLL does this. Those last two will have a full singles match next week.

Ranking the contenders
People who could actually win the belt: Rush, Ultimo Guerrero, Diamante Azul, maybe Kraneo
People who could just make the final: Terrible, Shocker, Volcano, Rey Bucanero, Blue Panther Jr., Gran Guerrero, Valiente, Euforia

That’s everyone. Rush & Ultimo Guerrero could go to the final next week against each other, or against anyone who’s not in their group. There’s no programming reason it can’t happen, since those guys routinely face rudos and tecnicos. There just may be common sense arguments against putting Shocker, Bucanero or Volcano in a long singles match. (Shocker did miss his last match, but the preview CMLL sent out still lists him, for what it’s worth.)

The case for Kraneo is part Universal tournament math (maybe they need another champion for some reason so Rush & UG can’t win) and part “what if Diamante Azul needs to go back to Japan?” Azul has always seemed like the guy CMLL would like to win this championship and have not done only because of his time away from the company. Terrible already has the national heavyweight title and probably won’t get to win both. I am ready for Euforia, the heavyweight champion, but I’m not sure most people would be ready for that.

The main event has NGD versus Dave Finlay, Flip Gordon, and Caristico, a unique main event. Drone, Guerrero Maya, and Triton face Sagrado, Tiger, and Universo in the tercera. The first two matches are the usual mix of a couple of promising wrestlers with others who will make sure the matches won’t be any good. The show will air on CMLL’s YouTube channel at 7:30pm.

Lucha Libre AAA posted a new interview with El Apache. He’s talking about Ni Tu Ni Yo, the lucha libre movie coming out this week. Apache apparently helped train the actors on lucha libre. It’s startling to see him, and it’s hard to ignore how ill he looks.

NJPW announced their Power Struggle tour, which will include Soberano and Volador in their Super Juniors tag team tournament. It’s a round robin style this year, preventing the CMLL team from crashing out in the first round like every other year. Everyone faces each other, and the top two advance to a final on 11/04. The schedule looks like this:

10/16: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs ACH, Ryusuke Taguchi [SJ TAG]*
10/17: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Tiger Mask & Jyushin Thunder Liger [SJ TAG]
10/19: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr., Ayato Yoshida vs Toa Henare, Chris Sabin, KUSHIDA
10/20: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Chris Sabin & KUSHIDA [SJ TAG]
10/22: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [SJ TAG]
10/23: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr., Ren Narita vs Shota Umino, Tiger Mask, Jyushin Thunder Liger
10/26: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SJ TAG]*
10/27: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs SHO & YOH [SJ TAG]*
10/28: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr., Toa Henare vs Ayato Yoshida, Chris Sabin, KUSHIDA
10/29: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr., Jyushin Thunder Liger vs Shota Umino, Chris Sabin, KUSHIDA
10/31: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Robbie Eagles, Taiji Ishimori [SJ TAG]
11/01: Soberano Jr., Volador Jr., Ren Narita vs Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask, Jyushin Thunder Liger
11/03: ???

The starred matches are airing live on NJPW World. The other tournament matches will be uploaded as VOD later on.

Desperado & Kanemaru are the current junior tag team champions. SHO & YOH are most likely the next champions. They could win this tournament and hold of the title match until 01/04, or someone else could win (or beat the champs) and get a title shot in between. CMLL says Volador & Soberano are returning on 11/04, so they’re probably appearing on the final show even if they’re not in the top two.

I suspect Dragon Lee would be in Volador Jr.’s place if he was not trapped on the island.

R de Rudo has an interview with the Fuerza Guerrera family. The story at the Fuerza Guerrera 40th Anniversario show is the two new kids had been training just for a few months. The story now is they had been training for over a year in secret before debuting. I like this idea that Fuerza Guerrera booked a show to honor himself but didn’t even know who the surprise wrestlers were going to be. They were asked about Juventud Guerrera’s (negative) comments and said they didn’t want to talk about him or give him any attention.

A report on Arena Juarez, a Ciudad Juarez venue now open for lucha libre, mentioned they have room for about 500 people. It’s mostly a boxing building, with it being open for lucha libre only on Sundays. They feel they have an advantage over the (many) other arenas in the arena because they have better conditions (air-conditioned!)

Villano III was remembered at a lucha libre expo in Cuernavaca.

+LuchaTV has a new edition of their podcast.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Segunda Caida reviews Pentagon Jr. vs LA Park from MLW.

Lineups

CMLL (SUN) 10/14/2018 Arena México
1) Bengala & Leono vs Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
2) La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Skadi vs La Comandante, La Metálica, La Seductora
3) Tritón vs Tiger [lightning]
4) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Stigma vs Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Stuka Jr. vs Felino, Hechicero, Pólvora
6) Ángel de Oro, David Finlay, Mistico vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto

Mention Skadi and she turns up again. This would be her first CMLL match in a year, since suffering a bad leg injury in a match against Zeuxis in Arena Coliseo. She’s shown up a handful of times in the last couple months on indie shows, though not much.

IWRG (SUN) 10/14/2018 Arena Naucalpan
1) Ángel Estrella Jr. vs Death Metal
2) Shil-Kan vs Leo
3) Hijo del Alebrije vs Hijo de Canis Lupus
4) Diablo Jr., Freelance, Multifacetico 2.0 vs Capo del Norte, Capo del Sur, Demonio Infernal
5) Metaleón, Pasion Kristal, Rafy vs Fantasma de la Ópera, Pitbull, Último Gladiador
6) Hijo De Dos Caras, Relámpago, Toscano vs Herodes Jr., Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Hijo de Sangre Chicana
7) Dragón Bane © vs Aramis [IWRG REY DEL AIRE]

Dragon Bane and Aramis in a title match could be one of the best flying matches of the year.

About nine years ago, I wrote a post:

I’d like to share the lucha libre video I’m getting off 52MX (Guerreros del Ring – Ras de Lona is already available), TeleFormula (if IWRG airs next week!), AYM Sports (if anything ever airs in the right time slot), and whatever else turns up. I’d like to do it in some way that’s painless for me and you, but I don’t know what it is.  I am taking suggestions.

This was the start of offering full lucha libre shows on this site. I was already putting some video up on DailyMotion at that point, and I was adding it via download. The regular Tuesday posts started soon after. I’ve put one up pretty much every week. It appears I was using megaupload at first and ended up at successor mega at the end. It’s a nice full circle.

It’s also the end. With Lucha Azteca apparently being canceled, I will no longer be putting up video for download. I’ll still be putting up Guadalajara video when it’s possible to record it (which it turned out not to be this week.) You can download it off YouTube if you like. Should something else turn up, I may reconsider it. It’s increasingly unlikely that some lucha libre airs on TV in the US without having streamed live on YouTube or gone up later. There’s not a need for this anymore. There probably hasn’t been any need for a while. It’s been inertia carrying it along. Lucha Azteca getting canceled was enough to finally cancel this feature too.

All three channels mentioned in that 2009 post are still airing lucha libre, though it’s come and gone from TeleFormula and AYM. CMLL is also airing on Mexicanal, which aired a couple of San Luis Potosi lucha libre shows in the past. All of the current shows appear to airing matches which are already streaming on official and semi-official sites and would cost me $20/month to check to see if we’re missing anything. That’s not worth it to me. It feels like we’ve won anyway. The goal to start was to make lucha libre more accessible for everyone. It’s now easier to watch these shows than I could’ve imagined a decade ago. There’s still issues, trouble spots, and missed chances, but I can’t fix any of those with a DVR.

to be clear

• Guadalajara is still going up on YouTube when I can get it to actually record (not this week). I’ll try to mention it on Twitter when it goes up, but you can also just subscribe to the channel.
• I’m still planning on streaming CMLL shows which it’s convenient for me and until CMLL complains
• the only thing really changing is this Tuesday morning post is going away.