October 24, 2018 – luchablog

Lucha Underground 4×20: Seven to Survive

October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 thecubsfan

Matches

Jake Strong won a Seven to Survive match to become Gift of the Gods champion (33:02, good)

02:30 Dante Fox backslide Hernandez
07:15 Jake Strong anklelock PJ Black
13:10 Aerostar plancha from the top of a pallet Big Bad Steve
17:04 Jake Strong anklelock Aerostar
28:51 Dante Fox Foxcatcher King Cuerno
33:02 Jake Strong anklelock Dante Fox

Status Check

Champion: Marty the Moth (1 defense)

Gift of the Gods: Jake Strong (0 defenses)

Trios Champions: Reptile Tribe (Kobra Moon, Daga, Jeremiah Snake) (2 defenses)

Died This Season (15): Jeremiah Crane (casket), Fenix (casket/lifeforce absorbed), Mr. Pec-tacular (sacrificed), Cortez Castro (sacrificed), Máscarita Sagrada (murdered by Rabbits), Vinnie Massaro (sacrificed), Pizza Guy (sacrificed), Vibora (beheaded), Mala Suerte (sacrificed) , Saltador (sacrificed), Benji the Agent (murdered by Ricky), Angelico (implied to have been murdered by Ricky), Catrina (fell off a roof), Joey Wrestling (sacrificed), Jack Evans (sacrificed)

Resurrected (2): Jeremiah Crane/Snake, Fenix

Developments

Dante didn’t get a lot of help being caught tonight

One match does not make a busy episode. It may have been an important one.

Jake Strong continued his dominance, remaining undefeated and winning the Gift of the Gods championship. Dante Fox came the closest to winning but lost to the anklelock. Both Fox and PJ Black had their ankles snapped by Strong. He tried to snap Aerostar’s as well, only for Cuerno to make the save. Cuerno helped Aerostar away from the ring as well, hinting at some friendship between them.

That would play into the other vignette of the night. Johnny Mundo, training on the rooftop for his match with Matanza as you do, when he was interrupted by a visitor. Aerostar told Mundo he stood no chance fighting Matanza on his own. Mundo felt he had no choice but to do so. Anyway, Aerostar wasn’t going to be a lot of help given how he got beat tonight. Aerostar wasn’t talking about himself and signaled for a friend – Drago flying in with the Gauntlet. Mundo wasn’t interested in either Drago or the gauntlet. They intimidated him into trying it on anyway, and Mundo immediately felt “like a god.” Mundo seemed thrilled with the new power. Both Drago & time traveler Aerostar seemed unsure if this was a good idea but also seemed like they had no choice.

It was left unsaid how the gauntlet got from King Cuerno’s hands to Aerostar & Drago. However, King Cuerno did hint at Aerostar hiding the gauntlet way back in episode 2.

Note that PJ Black getting his ankle snapped would seem to take him out of being involved in either Taya or Mundo’s matches in the next two weeks. Also, from a timing point of view, Matt Striker made a point to state that the “title shot must be asked for and announced in advance” concept has been permanently dropped from the Gift of the Gods championship. Strong can cash in with no advance notice, as Marty did to Pentagon Dark and Pentagon Dark did prior to Prince Puma.

Ultima Lucha 4/Remaining Matches

4×21 (Ultima Lucha 4 week 1/Halloween)
three way trios title match
Taya Mundo vs Ricky Mundo
Son of Havoc vs Killshot in a mask versus mask match

4×22 (Ultima Lucha 4 week 2/two hour special)
Dragon Azteca Jr. vs Fenix in a 2 out of 3 falls match
Mil Muertes vs the Mack in a death match
Johnny Mundo vs Matanza Cueto
Pentagon Dark vs Marty the Moth Martinez in a Cero Miedo match for the Lucha Underground Championship

Thoughts

This had one match. I thought the match was alert. I thought other show long matches were better. Even though this one had seven people, it felt more obvious they were stalling it out to make it the full hour. King Cuerno just standing and waiting for Dante Fox & Jake Strong to stop selling was designed to fit with his character, but also came across like they were trying to find a way to kill 90 seconds. It worked to get some people moreover – Steve got more of a reaction for the series of wrench spots than the much cooler stuff he’s done – but it was disappointing as a match. Multimen matches work better when they take advantage of having so many people. What this was instead was a series of moderately paced singles matches.

Dante really wasn’t getting much help getting caught

The Aerostar dive spot was great. Dante Fox looked great, even when he was killing himself again. The show opening up with clips of the Hell of War reminded me of how much momentum he had at that time. He took advantage of the new set as much as anyone has all season, and the crowd was immediately back behind him. The same crowd hated the idea of Strong beating him when it was teased early, and when it became obvious it was going to happen later. I guess the good news is the strong push of Strong has turned him into a heel that people are very into booing; I just don’t know if they’ll stick around to hope he gets beat.

Getting the gauntlet back into circulation is quietly a big deal. If you’re a person who was still watching after three seasons, there’s a good chance you had some interest in figuring out what the Order was about, what the Seven Tribes were out, what happened with that gauntlet. All that stuff has been mostly dropped this season, maybe because they couldn’t literally afford to follow up on it. Lucha Underground at it’s best was a great wrestling show that had some weird sci-fi mythology to it, and it’s had less of both of those this season. Catrina being killed off in a green screen deal didn’t live up to the heights of Cage splattering some guy’s head. Fixing the wrestling might be as ‘simple’ as getting visas started soon and settling on a roster, but there’s other things that need fixing.

CMLL Puebla: 2018-10-08

October 24, 2018October 23, 2018 thecubsfan

Recapped: 10/14/2018

Matches:

Asturiano, Lestat, Rey Samuray beat Guerrero Espacial, Joker, Rey Apocalipsis
(17:19 [7:21, 6:00, 3:58], 1/3, n/r,VideosOficialesCMLL)

Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany beat La Vaquerita, Lluvia, Marcela
(11:32 [6:57, 2:27, 2:08], 2/3, n/r,VideosOficialesCMLL)

Diamante Azul, Kráneo, Volcano beat Felino, Hechicero, Templario
(16:01 [6:51, 3:04, 6:06], 2/3, n/r,VideosOficialesCMLL)

Flip Gordon, Michael Elgin, Mistico beat Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Shocker
(11:20 [4:59, 1:51, 4:30], 2/3, n/r,VideosOficialesCMLL)

Volador Jr. © beat Cavernario for the NWA World Welterweight Championship
(16:25, 2/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Barbaro Cavernario grounded octopus (3:45)
Volador Jr. backcracker (1:16)
Volador Jr. Canadian Destroyer (11:23)

What happened:

Volador retained his title over Cavernario

Thoughts:

Cavernario versus Volador is definitely another Cavernario versus Volador match. They did all the moves, with maybe one more than usual at the end, and then they did them well. It’s just tough to remain interested in the same match being replayed for different audiences. This one had more playing to the crowd to get reactions and some Tirantes involvement, which seemed to play better for the crowd than it did to me. I’d recommend some earlier version of this match over this one, but you won’t be disappointed if you have to see every version of this match. This was much better than the one last month.

CMLL Tuesday results, LU, ROH

October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 thecubsfan 2 Comments

a music performance last night in Arena Mexico

CMLL (TUE) 10/23/2018 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, The Gladiatores]
1) El Coyote & Grako b Bengala & Leono
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Robin b Akuma, Espanto Jr., Hijo del Signo
A rare straight falls wins for the tecnicos. Rudos argued a bit post match.
3) Magnus, Stigma, Súper Astro Jr. vs Cancerbero, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
Raziel was announced (which would’ve been his return from injury), but was replaced by Nitro. Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Blue Panther Jr. b Universo 2000 Jr. [lightning]
Blue Panther won with a fujiwara armbar in 9:08.
5) Felino, Máscara Año 2000, Rey Bucanero b Blue Panther, Kráneo, Volcano
Rudos took 2/3
6) Carístico, Stuka Jr., Titán b Cuatrero, Euforia, Último Guerrero
Tecnicos took 2/3.

This show sounded like it was better than usual. Blue Panther Jr. talked about his win. I am suspicious Hijo del Signo may be flipping to the tecnico side eventually and that two fall loss is part of it.

Main event seemed to be the prelude for Titan/Cuatrero as the 11/06 main event. ~~Cuatrero is already set for a singles match on 11/02, and CMLL booking someone in two singles matches in the same week is exactly we’d expect for them~~. Edit: Sanson is the Rey de Inframundo and I confused the two Dinamita brothers. Titan may be more of a concern. I’ve only seen the Monday show so far, but Titan’s hand was strongly wrapped and he didn’t seem fully recovered.

CMLL (TUE) 10/23/2018 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Neutrón, Principe Daniel, Vaquero Jr. b Difunto, Guerrero de la Muerte, Mr. Apolo
Difunto replaced Gran Kenut. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Mercurio, Pequeño Violencia, Relámpago Azul b Acero, Aéreo, Micro
rudos took 1/3.
3) La Comandante, Metálica, Tiffany b La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Skadi
rudas took 2/3.
4) Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Pólvora b Esfinge, Rey Cometa, Tritón
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Valiente b Cavernario, Furia Roja, Terrible
Furia Roja replaced Rush (flight issues). Tecnicos took 2/3.

Rush talked about the flight problems on Twitter. He appears to have landed just as this show was ending.

Lucha Underground tonight is episode 20 of the season, the last before Ultima Lucha 4

Jake Strong vs King Cuerno vs Dante Fox vs PJ Black vs Big Bad Steve vs Aerostar vs Hernandez in a seven way match for the Gift of the Gods.

Lucha Underground hasn’t announced any other matches. Lucha Underground each season has at least one episode with just one match. This is probably that episode for this season.

The preview also teases something with Johnny Mundo preparing for Matanza. The best bit I can think of would have Rey Mysterio – who feuded with both Mundo & Matanza to end last season – somehow give Mundo some advice to go full circle. Not thinking that’s possible, but the “what happened to Rey?” question is still sitting out there to be resolved.

There’s another question from last season that I think got resolved last week, though only if you’re were paying attention more than I was. (Casey from the MMM Show figured it out for me.) I think it’ll be explained sometime in the next three episodes and it is a spoiler, so I’m going to just write it up on pastebin and you can skip if you want to wait until it airs. There’s only three episode, so it shouldn’t be long to get answers anyway.

El Rey will air a Lucha Underground marathon on Halloween. They’ll air the first episode of this season at midnight eastern, and run thru every episode until airing the first episode of Ultima Lucha 4 at the normal time. Airing Ultima Lucha on Halloween isn’t quite convenient, and I hope they repeat that episode the following week as they did with the July 4th show.

AAA announced Scarlett Bordeaux will appear on Sunday’s Heroes Inmortales show. She’s probably the mystery woman in the four way title match (though Taya is teasing some surprise too.)

The 11/24 AAA at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera show will be broadcast, though the recap of the AAA/Gemesa press conference says “it will be announced later through what means”. That sounds like it might not be Twitch. Tickets for the show will be given away, probably thru the game app, and not sold.

+LuchaTV has an interview with Mr. Niebla. I have not watched it myself, but it sounds like he doesn’t come off great about his alcohol issues, claiming he’s only had a drunken incident in a match one time (not true) and saying that he’ll no longer drink before matches but he’ll keep drinking otherwise.

Ring of Honor announced CMLL related matches for their 11/04 show

Both are part of their Survival of the Fittest tournament, where the six winners of the first round match-ups move on to a match for a Ring of Honor title shot. In theory, one CMLL wrestler could move on for variety sake but neither look like strong bets.

11/04 is the same day as Flamita/Pac and Bandido/Dragon Kid on Dragon Gate, so it’s a busy day for lucha libre matches on other people’s paid subscription service.

Speaking of 11/04:

MDA in Arena Coliseo Monterrey on 11/04:

That’s probably the whole show.

LuchaWorld has the latest Poster-Mania and the latest Lucha Report.

There’s a week of lucha libre exhibitions and lectures in Torreon starting today.

Lineups

CMLL (SUN) 10/28/2018 Arena México
1) Shockercito & Stukita vs Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Akuma, Camorra, Súper Astro Jr. vs Eléctrico, Hijo del Signo, Yago [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Blue Panther Jr., Drone, Rey Cometa vs Disturbio, Kawato San, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Okumura [lightning]
5) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente vs Cavernario, Rey Bucanero, Terrible

The lightning match has Camorra & Hijo del Signo on opposite sides. They were feuding a couple Fridays ago. There’s an odd number of rudos/tecnicos in the match even for a relevos increibles, unless someone (Signo) is already thought of being a tecnico.

Stukita sure is working a lot of matches still as Stukita.

IWRG (SUN) 10/28/2018 Arena Naucalpan
1) Flayman vs Ángel Estrella Jr.
2) Chef Benito & Toto vs Death Metal & Sairus
3) Black Shadow II & Shaolin vs Razha-Ta & Shil-Ka
4) Black Dragón, Dinamic Black, Eragón vs Demonio Infernal, Lunatic Xtreme, Picudo Jr.
5) Metaleón, Tortuga Leo, Tortuga Mike vs Fantasma de la Ópera, Rayan, Spector
6) Aliado de Dios, Mutlifacetico 2.0, Toscano vs Capo del Norte, Capo del Sur, Pitbull
7) Danny Casas, Imposible, Mr. Electro vs Cuervo (Puerto Rico), Hijo de Canis Lupus, Último Gladiador

That’s a lot of matches. Cuervo/Dos Caras goes nowhere, like a true IWRG feud. The real next important show here is the 11/01 one.

I’ve pretty much given up keeping track of tecnicos and rudos in IWRG this year. Maybe that’s something to fix before the end of the year.

AAA on Twitch: 2018-10-19

October 24, 2018October 23, 2018 thecubsfan

Recapped: 10/21/2018

Matches:

Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Starfire beat Faby Apache, La Hiedra, Vanilla
(6:24, Star Fire headscissors cradle Faby Apache, good,00:10:22)

Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Ciclón Ramírez, Golden Magic, Jack Evans
(11:16, Mocho Cota Jr. Spanish Fly Ciclon Ramirez, ok,00:37:50)

Aerostar, Bengala, Hijo Del Vikingo beat Emperador Azteca, Imposible, Metaleón
(9:00, Aerostar Springboard frontcracker Impossible, good,00:57:42)

Joe Lider & Pagano and Laredo Kid & Taurus did not have a result
(11:35, ok, 01:21:05)

Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown beat Electroshock & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.
(18:40, Psycho Clown casita Dr. Wagner Jr., ok,01:49:16)

What happened:

I think this was a planned spot, because the guy is trying to give him the foam hand early, but why would you plan this spot

In an earlier in-ring interview, Hijo de Wagner and Rey Wagner got into a fight. The younger Wagner got the best of it, Electroshock ran in for no particular reason to help, and Psycho Clown came thru the crowd to run them off. The bit seemed to only exist so Wagner and Wagner could tease a singles match.

Ciclope & Miedo Extremo showed up as Lider & Pagano seem close to winning the semi-main. Miedo Extremo tries to give Pagano a Spanish Fly thru a table and a light tube, but the table just tips over instead. Laredo Kid adds a splash, which seems like it might be for the pinfall, but the Macizos pull Laredo off the pin and break the light tube that didn’t break in the table spot over Pagano. Laredo Kid decides he’s no longer interested in covering or this match entirely, and he and Taurus bail. No DQ is called. Time is as of the run-in, when the match essentially ceases to exist. Ciclope and Extremo destroy Pagano & Lider with light tubes, making sure they bleed a lot, then taunt them on the microphone by saying they’re the best extreme wrestlers. Pagano challenges them to a match in Juarez.

Metaleon replaced Demus – in New York on an Hijo del Santo show instead – but no one’s paying attention and they show Demus’ video instead. Monster clown attacked Aerostar and ripped up his mask post-match.

Star Fire taunted Faby after her win. Keyra might have been meant to do something, but finding a working mic proved to be surprisingly difficult. Faby said she’d be ready for them on 10/28.

Thoughts:

The main event was the usual AAA brawling match, something that wasn’t much special watching it on a screen but seemed a lot more fun if you were in the arena and people were brawling 10 meters from you. It was a match for Rey Wagner to bleed in order to get his son over as a top guy. It didn’t work this time, though Wagner came across less limited than in previous appearances. He’s still not a spectacular worker, but he’s at better than taller than the usual guy stuck in the main event for being tall. Electroshock existed. The crowd loved Psycho Clown and they gave them plenty of Psycho Clown.

Pagano continues on his quest to redefine himself as more than an extreme wrestler, unaware no one actually wants to see that and that he’s not really good at it. Laredo Kid helped a lot; the reverse suplex spot looked really cool and I’m not sure it works with many other people. The upside of a Pagano/Joe Lider team is the guarantee of at least one spot during a match where it’s not clear if they messed something up or that was something they thought was good. It was definitely the “legdrop?/senton?” spot. In no way did it feel like Laredo Kid was headed to a big title match in this one, but I suppose it’s actually not that big. (It’s possible Laredo was actually supposed to get the pin and he really decided not to bother once the light tube spot happened, but it wouldn’t have meant much in the situation.) The run-in was super effective for the match AAA really is building; I may not like Pagano but the crowd sure did and wanted to see that tag match bad.

The Aerostar lead trios match was a lot of fun. It was a fast paced all action match, just never ending 1v1 sequences with everyone working well with each other. Bengala wasn’t always as spectacular as everyone else – the sequence of big moves peaking with a Bengala shoulderbreaker was a bit odd – but he was obviously trying hard to make an impression after not being on TV for so long and he had a lot of crowd support. The new facepaint made it feel like he was still invested in the Bengala character, not just treating it like something he was doing when he couldn’t be Super Nova. Emperdaor Azteca looked stronger than usual, sometimes literally. Imposible’s red/green mask was very evocative of Fuerza Guerrera; in a better world, he’d be playing his junior. The weakest part of this match was the camera switching, causing us to miss parts all of some of the bigger moves. It was an issue all night.

The Poder del Norte match was less than you’d expect given the time and people involved. It just wasn’t very smooth early on, and only got going well for a couple minutes in the end. Ciclon Ramirez appeared to mess up the usual opening roll evasion spot in a way I didn’t know it was possible to mess up. He has looked inconsistent at best in his AAA matches; I think he’s got potential, but it’d be fair to give other people his chances instead. I’ve taken for granted how clean the careta headscissors spot in CMLL. It did not go as well here, with Golden Magic crashing down on the pile. Even the double standing moonsault spot saw Golden Magic land on own head and arm. Jack whiffed on catching Tito Santana on his dive and had an otherwise forgettable match.

Emperador Azteca pulls of this gutwrench easy

The women’s trios was not quite at the level as some of the previous ones. It seemed more a function of time than effort. They really didn’t have enough space to do as much as in the previous matches, though they did add in new stuff. The Keyra/Lady Maravilla double Spanish Fly spot would’ve looked cool if they find a way to get it on screen. Everyone did at least fine and it was a solid build to the title match. There probably should be some realization on the Elite women’s part that they’re going to be facing each other, but AAA wrestlers are not allowed to be self aware. Vanilla has one tornillo spot that didn’t look good, but that seemed like it was more on Keyra for being in the wrong place.

Matches

Status Check

Developments

Ultima Lucha 4/Remaining Matches

Thoughts

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