Day: October 20, 2018

Angel de Oro wins Copa Halcon Suriano as part of Blue Panther celebration, Macizos invade AAA, Rey del Inframundo

thecubsfan 1 Comment
Rush wins

CMLL (FRI) 10/19/2018 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Lucha Central, Marca, MedioTiempo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
Blue Panther 40th Anniversary
1) Pegasso & Stigma b Cancerbero & El Coyote LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE OCTUBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
9:57. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Diamante Azul, Mistico, Valiente b Dark Magic, Felino, Negro Casas LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE OCTUBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
9:06. Straight falls.
3) Ángel de Oro b Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr., Templario [Copa Halcon Suriano] LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE OCTUBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
24:57. Eliminations went Espanto Jr. (Blue Panther Jr.), Black Panther (Misteiroso), Luciferno (Stuka), Blue Panther Jr. (injury stoppage after he slipped, fell from the top rope on a cameraman when trying a dive a couple of minutes prior), Misterioso (Niebla Roja), Stuka (Dragon Rojo), Templario (Angel de Oro), Niebla Roja (Dragon Rojo), Dragon Rojo (Angel de Oro) leaving Angel de Oro as the winner. The former Stukita, who is now Halcon Suriano Jr., presented Angel de Oro with the trophy.
4) Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Euforia, Panterita del Ring b Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE OCTUBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
14:30. One night return for Black Warrior. Ephesto returned to his Panterita del Ring character for one night only, and Blue Panther & Mascara 2000 wore their old masks. Sofia Alonso gave Blue Panther a plaque for reaching 40 years of wrestling.
5) Cavernario, Rush, Terrible b Carístico, David Finlay, Penta 0M LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE OCTUBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
13:24. Rudos took 1/3. Rush beat Penta clean with the Rush Driver.

The Blue Panther related parts of the show were good, the rest was utterly skippable. Blue Panther Jr. says he’s OK.

CMLL interviews: Stukita/Halcon Suriano Jr., Angel de Oro, Los Dinamitas, Blue Panther’s team, and Blue Panther’s family.

Pressroom interviews include The Gladiatores’ videos of Stukita/Halcon Suriano Jr., Angel de Oro, Blue Panther, and all the Laguneros., and +Lucha’s videos of Negro Casas & Felino singing, Mistico, Stukita, Angel de Oro, Los Laguneros, Blue Panther’s kids, Black Warrior, and Los Ingobernables.

CMLL spent a lot of Fridays early in the year focused on tournaments, and the crowds were nothing special. CMLL spend the middle portion of the year on feuds – Rush/LA Park most notably, others as well – and the crowd were up. CMLL is back to being a tournament focused group: Gran Prix to start the month, another cibernetico here, another cibernetico next week, plus the heavyweight one on a Tuesday.

Sanely talks about the changing role of women in lucha libre, which seems weird for someone who’s been in lucha libre for not that long. To her defense, this seems like the only thing peope who talk to luchadoras ask and they’re forcing everyone to give quotes to fit into the story they’ve already decided on.

Sangre Imperial’s sister (not one of the luchadoras) passed away.

AAA TV , ELITE (FRI) 10/19/2018 Arena Naucalpan [AAA]
1) Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Starfire b Faby Apache, La Hiedra, Vanilla
Starfire beat Faby Apache, again building towarsd the title match.
2) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana b Ciclón Ramírez, Golden Magic, Jack Evans
Tito Santana was shaken up after Jack didn’t much catch him on a dive.
3) Aerostar, Bengala, Hijo Del Vikingo b Emperador Azteca, Imposible, Metaleón
Metaleon replaced Demus (wrestled in New York on Santo’s show instead.) Monster Clown randomly attacked Aerostar after the match
4) Joe Lider & Pagano NF Laredo Kid & Taurus
Ciclope & Miedo Extremo attacked Joe Lider & Pagano. The match ended without a finish. Pagano challenged Los Macizos to come to Juarez for a match
5) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown b Electroshock & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.
Psycho beat Electro with a casita. Rey Wagner was bloodied by his son. AAA won the show, 3-1-1

The semi-main had the one big angle of the night (unless you’re really into Monster Clown versus Aerostar.) Rey Wagner continues to focus on getting his son over in their matches. That main event is the only one I’ve seen before, though the undercard sounded good.

Lucha Underground Season 1 & 2 will disappear from Netflix US on November 15th. That’s exactly 20 months after it was added to the service, so it’s probably simply a contract expiring and not being renewed. It sounded like this was the expected outcome when Netflix seemed to pass on Season 3. It’s possible that Lucha Underground may take all four seasons to a different service, but having to take it a different service was clearly not the original or ideal plan.

Last night in PWG:

  • Puma King defeated Flamita & Rey Horus in a three way
  • Hechicero lost to Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Bandido defeated Fenix in an outsanding match.

Jeff Cobb also picked up the PWG championship. I think Los Angeles will be seeing Bandido versus Jeff Cobb sometime in the next few shows.

Ni Tu Ni Yo, the lucha libre themed movie that premiered last week, grossed just under $250K USD in its first week in Mexican theatres. That made it sixth for the week, fourth among new releases, and second among Mexico focused films. IMDB says it was estimated to cost around $1,350K USD, and they’re not going to make that back in the theatres.

A photo gallery of people training for the new Titanes en el Ring program.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 10/26/2018 Arena México
1) Príncipe Diamante & Star Jr. vs Misterioso Jr. & Sagrado
2) Drone, Fuego, Pegasso vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Okumura, Pólvora
3) Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Esfinge, Audaz, Black Panther, Tritón, Flyer, Cuatrero, Forastero, Templario, Virus, Kawato San, Tiger [Rey del Inframundo, #1 Contenders]
winner faces Sanson next week
4) Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja vs Cavernario, Dark Magic, Negro Casas
5) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

We can kind of guess in advance that nothing is going to happen outside of the cibernetico, since the focus will be on the Dia de Muertos theme the following week and not any of the rivalries. Which makes that last match less interesting than it looks on paper. Terrible might have some greater role on those shows; he was interviewed in the Dia de Muertos press conference as if they had some match announcement, and then just didn’t announce a match.

Dark Magic is the new Thunder. CMLL desperately wants the tall guy with attractive abs.

Soberano would be the obvious opponent for Sanson, but Soberano’s still going to be in Japan. Flyer might be the replacement. Audaz is the match I think people want to see. I don’t think he gets to win this yet. Guerrero Maya might have more chance than usual to win this, since a guy doing an anicent native character might be a really good it for a traditional Mexican celebration.

CMLL on Marca: 2018-10-19

thecubsfan 1 Comment
Panterita del Ring

Recapped: 10/19/2018

Matches:

Pegasso & Stigma beat Cancerbero & El Coyote
(9:57 [4:33, 2:58, 2:26], 2/3, below average, 00:00:00)

Diamante Azul, Mistico, Valiente beat Dark Magic, Felino, Negro Casas
(9:06 [4:05, 5:01], 1/2, ok, 00:16:55)

Ángel de Oro, beat Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr., and Templario to win the Copa Halcon Suriano
(24:57, good, 00:34:43)

  1. Blue Panther Jr. fujiwara armbar Espanto Jr. (5:28)
  2. Misterioso Gori Driver Black Panther (5:28)
  3. Stuka Jr. torpedo splash Luciferno (9:18)
  4. ref stop Blue Panther Jr. [injury] (10:05)
  5. Niebla Roja inverted campana Misterioso (14:16)
  6. Dragon Rojo grounded octopus Stuka Jr. (14:51)
  7. Angel de Oro casadora Templario (16:05)
  8. Dragon Rojo Dragon Bomb Niebla Roja (19:31)
  9. Angel de Oro huracanrana Dagon Rojo (24:57)

Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Euforia, Panterita del Ring beat Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
(14:30 [5:18, 2:59, 6:13], 2/3, good, 01:13:34)

Cavernario, Rush, Terrible beat Carístico, David Finlay, Penta 0M
(13:24 [2:39, 3:52, 6:53], 1/3, ok, 01:50:46)

What happened: 

proof Misterioso can do a dive

Penta was defeated Rush cleanly with a Rush Driver, and need to be stretchered out. He was fine on Twitter later.

Like with the Negro Casas anniversary, Sofia Alonso gave Blue Panther a plaque for reaching 40 years. Blue Panther’s family – except Junior, see below – came out to pose with him for a photo. This included the not-yet-debuted Hijo del Blue Panther, who wore a white Panther mask.

Stukita appeared before the Copa Halcón Suriano to show his name/mask change to Halcón Suriano. Many of the wrestlers in the match either entered wearing Blue Panther Jr. homage masks or wore all blue in tribute. Most people on the show wore Blue Panther 40 armbands. Blue Panther Jr. took a wrong step on the top rope while trying for a dive, and fell to the floor instead, taking out a cameraman in the process. Panther was put on a backboard and could not finish the match. He did not appear when the rest of the family came out to honor Blue Panther (although whoever has his Twitter account was active.)

Thoughts:

proof Luciferno can do a dive

The main event had the people for a big feud or even a really good match. It was neither, resembling the Tuesday post-big match main event in the effort if not time. There was no great build to anything and not a lot of work. Carístico & Penta had the slightest of issues, maybe on their own to keep the issue going, because it’s obvious CMLL has moved on. Carístico outperformed Penta easy. Finlay actually fit in better than usual but still has no strong purpose. Terrible looked off, both in taking Finlay’s (maybe Stunner?) finish and with Penta’s Slingblades. Cavernario carried most of the work, as usual. Rush beating Penta clean was weird. Rush beating anyone clean is very unlike him. It’s the kind of finish that feels like the end of Penta in CMLL for now, but also makes you wonder why they bothered to bring him back for this in the first place.

The Blue Panther match was more enjoyable for the action itself, and not just the nostalgia like the other similar matches this year. There was no great thematic reason to do a Lagunera versus Jalisco match, but it functioned together better than the all old men versions of these tribute matches. The NGD moved around great and were able to keep Black Warrior & Blue Panther looking reliable. Warrior looked visually much better than Panterita walking to the ring, but Panterita blew him away in the match. He was able to change up his style from what he’s done as Ephesto for years, pulling off some highspots well. (The dive didn’t go well, but the recovery made up for it.) Warrior seemed surprisingly old; his tope at the end would’ve been fine by any standard except his old ones. They gave Blue Panther good moments, he got the win, and everyone went home happy.

The Copa Halcón Suriano was in the same range as the Gran Prix and the heavyweight championship match. It looked like it was going to be better until Blue Panther Jr.’s injury seemed to derail things for a while. The first eight or so minutes of this match was a lot of fun, with people doing more for the occasion. (Misterioso showed a dropkick, pulled off an Asai dive, and went off the top rope!) Blue Panther Jr. was probably supposed to be around for a while, though I’m not sure how long. The end game – down to having the Chavez brothers as the final two left – seemed to play out fine without him being. It was good enough to keep the crowd interested after they showed signs of turning on it without any Panther involved. The last six minutes of Angel de Oro and Dragon Rojo going back and forth was nicely done to build dramatics, and smartly played off the previous eliminations in a way which would’ve been hard to put together on the spot and is atypical for both. It was worked well, with the Angel de Oro submission reversal spot standing out as something not normally done. Dragon Rojo’s moves come off as shakey, but everything, including the double stomp that I hate, worked really well. Angel de Oro comes up well in trios matches all the time and this was a nice solo effort from him. This isn’t a must see, but it’s a worthwhile use of your time.

almost all my notes for GIFs were dives so I stopped making GIFs

The second match was so nothing that I didn’t really grasp it was over at first; it just didn’t process that the técnicos actually won both falls until they went to the Roshfrans commercial. There wasn’t a lot to it. I guess it was fine. What action they did provide was the usual Negro Casas/Mistico bit. Casas did a lot of bumbling, Mistico outsmarted him and beat him with his own move, and the crowd hated it because they just want to cheer for Negro Casas. Diamante Azul & Dark Magic worked a lot together, have no special chemistry, but Dark Magic is a large man Azul can try to throw around impressively and perhaps that’s a reason to exist.

The opener was a nothing match, peaking OK but uninteresting action. Trying to figure out what happened on Exatlon (nearly 1/3rd of the people on the show quit after the plane they were on did an accidental 360 in mid-flight! But not Dragon Lee! And somehow they had replacement people ready to go!) captured more of my action than the match. They didn’t go too far for fancy spots, which made it worse when things didn’t work well. Cancerbero and Pegasso have worked together hundreds of times but were the worst pair, somehow.