Month: October 2018

indy (SAT) 10/27/2018 Arena Lopez Mateos [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), R de Rudo]
1) Explosivo & Murciélago b Dankar & Fuerza Vallenta
2) Baronessa & Lolita b Chik Tormenta & Ludark Shaitan
3) Demus & Pasion Cristal b Ángel Del Amor & Jessy Ventura
4) Heddi Karaoui & Zumbi b Francois Montanez & Pierre Montanez
5) Estudiante Jr., Hijo del Solar, Ricky Marvin b Hijo del Fishman, Trauma I, Trauma II
6) Canek, Mano Negra, Solar I b Máscara Año 2000, Negro Navarro, Scorpió Jr.

Let’s start with something dumb: they had a lucha libre show in an MMA Octagon. It’s an all tag match show, which turned out to mean the other team members had to stand vaguely near their corner and couldn’t get involved unless tagged in. Until they are, just because

I’ve watched too much of this to get a sense of it. The main event tries to do the same match they’d do in a normal ring, which goes about how you’d expect for the first set of relays. Once it speeds up, you’re treated to Solar doing bounces off invisible ropes because they have no interest in doing anything but their normal match. The semimain is more intense but still kind of the same: this isn’t an attempt to UWFi or some lucha libre hybrid shoot style wrestling, this was closer to a wrestling show where the ring just didn’t show up but they found a MMA cage laying around. The semimain ends with a mask pull spot because that’s what they’re doing. Everyone involved in those two matches lacked either the creativity or interest to try to do something different, which makes for some funny visuals but a depressing lack of mental effort.

This show drew badly. They didn’t advertise any match, which hurt. But the gimmick probably hurt too, and anyone who paid to see this show probably thought they were getting something different than this. I suspect that fourth match is worked differently than the rest but I probably will never make an effort to find out.

CMLL (SUN) 10/28/2018 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Fantasy & Pequeño Olímpico b Kaligua & Shockercito
Kaligula (debuted back in July) replaced Stukita (in Texas.) Fantasy replaced Pequeno Nitro. Olimpico/Fantasy took 1/3.
2) Eléctrico, Hijo del Signo, Yago DQ Akuma, Camorra, Súper Astro Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Straight falls. Camorra unmasked Yago this time.
3) Blue Panther Jr., Drone, Rey Cometa b Disturbio, Kawato San, Universo 2000 Jr.
tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. b Okumura [lightning]
Maya win with a Sacrifica Maya in almost 8
5) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Titán b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
tecnicos took 1/3.
6) Cavernario, Rey Bucanero, Terrible b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente
Rudos took 1/3, Bucanero using a foul on Niebla Roja to get the win.

CMLL promos: Yago, Camorra, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Bucanero, and Niebla Roja. Yago/Camorra sounds marginally better than Signo/Camorra, but I wonder if they’re headed to a prelim cage match instead. Rey Bucanero declared himself “el sugar daddy de lucha libre”, which feels like it’s been taken by Wagner already.

That finish seems to set up Rey Bucanero & Niebla Roja as the Sunday Dia de Muertos show next Sunday. It’ll probably be streamed, though CMLL usually doesn’t announce Sunday streams until an hour or so before time.

Instead of Saturday Coliseo show, CMLL wrestlers participated in a nearby Dia de Muertos parade. CMLL posted photos here.

Star Black won the Occidente Heavyweight Championship in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. He had given up the Welterweight championship back in August. He won it from Furia Roja, who appeared to have won the championship from Diamante Azul to set up a mask versus hair match, only Azul left for France before it happened. Furia Roja made zero defenses. The undercard set up a 10 man cage match for next week.

Today’s Arena Puebla show is one hour later than usual because of Daylight Savings Time. That is the only interesting about the show. The main event has the family of La Bestia del Ring, Rush and Mistico taking on Caristico, Diamante Azul and Ultimo Guerrero. They seemed to be setting up Mistico vs Caristico (maybe with partners last week.)

The semimain (NGD versus Flyer, Stuka and Valiente) and tercera (Esfinge, Kraneo, Stigma vs Hechicero, Templario, Malayo) could be good if everything breaks right. The opening local matches have less hope. It may be a quick show, with only five matches and the main event seeming set up not go long.

AAA TV (SUN) 10/28/2018 Gimnasio Miguel Hidalgo, Puebla, Puebla [AAA, Lucha Central, MedioTiempo (Copa), MedioTiempo (Main), thecubsfan, Voices of Wrestling]
Heroes Inmortales, 2018
1) Faby Apache © b Scarlett Bordeaux, Starfire, Keyra [Reina De Reinas]
7:14. 3rd defense (2nd on TV) when announced. Faby pinned Starfire. Lady Shani appeared to ask for another title shot.
2) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana b Mamba, Máximo, Pimpinela Escarlata and Aerostar, Angelikal, Drago 
8:46. Poder de Norte replaced Suicide/Guerrera/Puma on 10/18. Angelikal replaced Laredo Kid (moved up.) Mocho Cota beat Angelikal with a Spanish Fly. Monster Clown attacked Aerostar after. The Drago/Aerostar breakup was talked about but nothing was done with it.
3) Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. © b Bandido & Flamita and DJZ & Laredo Kid [AAA TAG] 
11:04. 7th defense (5th on TV) when announced. Texano beat DJZ with was meant to be a flaming lasso shot. Laredo Kid replaced an injured Andrew Everett, who did appear.
4) Pagano b Kahoz, Chessman, Hijo Del Vikingo, Súper Fly, Parka Negra, Hijo del Fantasma, Espectro, Averno, Niño Hamburguesa [Copa Antonio Pena] 
19:30. Australian Suicide moved up to replace Hijo de LA Park on 10/08, but then did not appear. Same with La Mascara, Dragon Bane and La Parka. The latest versions of Kahoz (Ultimo Maldito) and Espectro (Black Danger) appeared. Pagano beat Hijo del Fantasma. Miedo Extremo & Ciclope attacked Pagano after the match.
5) Murder Clown & Psycho Clown b Killer Kross & Monsther Clown [recap] 
11:47 Match was changed from LA Park/Psycho vs Kross/Murder, then a domed cage was added the day of the show. Monster Clown tried escaping thru the gap at the bottom of the cage, but was told that was not legal. Order of escape was Murder Clown, Killer Kross and Psycho Clown, after he did a splash from the top of the cage. Aerostar attacked and unmasked Monster Clown after the match.
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. b Jeff Jarrett [hair] 
13:37. Tirantes was supposed to be referee, showed up in a neck brace to hurt to referee, and Vampiro replaced him with Copetes – who still worked rudo. Wagner eventually attacked him. Karen Jarrett and Rey Escorpion got involved. Blue Demon earlier helped out Wagner and offered to be his second, only to unsurprisingly betray Dr. Wagner. Psycho Clown made the save and Wagner used a guitar shot to win. Jarrett got his head shaved in the ring.

Show was no better than an average TV taping in quality with a lot more gimmicks, and totally dependent on caring about the Wagner/Jarrett main event. I didn’t really care. The fans who came to this show cared most about the main event, but the fans who came did come close to filling that building. The lights were turned low on the show, but it was not hard to spot near empty upper level sections. AAA hasn’t tweeted out the usual photo of a full looking building yet. Gimnasio Miguel Hidalgo is listed as a 4,000 seater. Prior to last year’s TripleMania, Dr. Wagner & LA Park were linked in my mind as stars at about the same level. It seemed like Wagner was a bigger star after losing his match at TripleMania. The results suggest that’s a wrong assumption: crowd (more in CMLL than AAA) has done well when things are centered around LA Park and not well when AAA has gone with Wagner on top.

We probably won’t get to see that straight up comparison in AAA again soon. It appears LA Park got the big win at TripleMania, fell out with AAA after it, and now is being replaced by Blue Demon. It’s LA Park, so he could be back in six months and still do the match with Wagner, but they’re obviously setting up Blue Demon in his place. I do not think the drop off from LA Park to Demon is as big an issue as Wagner as the opposition.

Colombia’s La Republic interviewed Dorian Roldan about the AAA tour of Colombia. Not a lot new and maybe one thing misunderstood – the interview ends with Roldan being quoted as saying they’re bringing 90 luchadors to Colombia, which doesn’t sound possible – but Roldan again says they plan to run 10 shows in Mexico. They’re looking to meet Colombia wrestlers while they’re in the country, who would be used on those shows.

The El Planchitas column isn’t on their website yet, but they posted a screen grab of it on Twitter. The actual news is Konnan’s blamed for LA Park no longer being in AAA, with those two disagreeing on booking ideas. I don’t think Konnan & Park have seen eye to eye for a long time – Park was noticeably not working Crash when Konnan was working there and every other indie guy was there. That also makes it more likely that LA Park will be back for TripleMania next year, since it seems like those decisions are made by Dorian Roldan and Marisela Pena no matter who’s in charge of the day to day creative and Park doesn’t seem to have an issue with them.

Anyway, this is down here because the big story isn’t really about AAA, but about +LuchaTV and Estrellas del Ring. The column notes they have 360K and 180K subscribers on YouTube respectively, and then “reveals” they’re not actually covering these shows for the love of lucha libre but to make money on the video they put up. El Planchitas says +LuchaTV makes between 35K to 570K pesos ($1,750 to $28,000 USD) per month on their channel, while Estrellas del Ring makes 25K to 415K pesos per month ($1,200 to $20,000 USD). Those are really big ranges, and I was curious to as where those numbers came from, since that data is usually kept private. My guess is someone used a service like socialblade, which guesses at incomes based on view counts. It’s not very accurate. For my main channel, they have me making between $218 and $3,480 a month. YouTube is paying me $0.00 because they’ve decided I used too much content of other people’s (which is true!) – but even when they were, I don’t think I’d ever approach the low total on that estimate. What’s going to happen now is indie promoters and wrestlers are going to shake down +LuchaTV and Estrellas del Ring for the money they see in those big totals, not accepting that those aren’t real numbers.

The column goes in hard against both +LuchaTV and Estrellas del Ring, saying people didn’t know making money was their motive and they’re not paying anyone for the matches or the buildings so they’re ripping the wrestlers and the promoters off. I find this thought really dumb. If wrestling promoters and wrestlers did not understand people were putting video up on YouTube to make money, it is on them for being so ignorant about the business they are in. And a lot of lucha libre promoters seem to not much about the wrestling business, so I’m sure some are surprised and we won’t be seeing any more +LuchaTV or Estrellas del Ring or anyone else at a few shows for a while. I’m also certain that if those promoters wanted to make that YouTube money themselves, they could hire a film crew, edit video, post it in a timely manner, and promote it after the fact. I’m also sure almost no promoter is going to do that, because most of them can barely bother to upload an image of that week’s show to Facebook. Few promoters in Mexico are interested in doing the same work that’s commonly done by promotions of the same size in other promotions – +LuchaTV and Estrellas del Ring exist not because they’re cheating promoters or wrestlers, but because the wrestlers and the promoters have been cheating themselves by not keeping up with the rest of the world.

I hate – and this is specifically as a person who has spent and will spend a lot of time putting lucha libre content to the internet – is acting like it’s all no cost to do and shouldn’t be worth any value. It’s hard work. It’s cost money. It’s takes some learning and so much time. I’m not a fan of an Estrellas del Ring’s channel because of the editing, and +LuchaTV drives me up the wall by posting highlight video after highlight video with no date or context to the point where videos are impossible to follow unless you’re a crazy person with a database of lucha libre shows. Yet I’m absolutely sure they deserve every dollar they get from YouTube. And if someone thinks they don’t deserve them, they should try to earn those dollars themselves instead of shut it down. That column is bad and is emblematic of the backwards thinking that has limited both lucha libre promotions and most certainly the wrestlers who work for them.

Kendo is teaching seminars this week in Chicago.

Olimpico, when not making rare CMLL appearances, is cooking for his own crepes restaurant.

A restored El Santo film will air in an El Paso film festival on Thursday.

Over on Estrellas de Lucha Libre, Miguel Reducindo writes about the future of CMLL minis.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 11/03/2018 Arena Coliseo
1) Leono & Sonic vs Cholo & Espíritu Negro
2) Astral, Magnus, Príncipe Diamante vs El Coyote, Metálico, Príncipe Odín Jr.
3) Fuego vs Okumura [lightning]
4) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., El Audaz vs Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Universo 2000 Jr.
5) Kráneo, Titán, Volcano vs Ephesto, Felino, Luciferno
6) Atlantis, Diamante, Niebla Roja vs La Bestia Del Ring, Shocker, Terrible

The Arena Mexico shows are getting Dia de Muertos themed. Coliseo is getting Bestia del Ring.

CMLL (FRI) 10/26/2018 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, Marca]
1) Misterioso Jr. & Sagrado b Príncipe Diamante & Star Jr. 
Rudos took 2/3.
2) Dragón Rojo Jr., Okumura, Pólvora b Drone, Fuego, Pegasso 
Rudos won in straight falls.
3) Templario b Guerrero Maya Jr., Esfinge, Audaz, Black Panther, Tritón, Flyer, Cuatrero, Forastero, Virus, Kawato San, Tiger [Rey del Inframundo, #1 Contenders] 
Rudos vs tecnicos. Elimination order: Kawato San (by Triton), Black Panther (Virus), Tiger (Audaz), Triton (Forastero), Audaz (Cuatrero), Virus (Flyer), Guerrero Maya (Templario), Forastero (Esfinge), Flyer (Cuatrero), Cuatrero (Esfinge), Esfinge (Templario), leaving Templario as the challenger to Sanson next week.
4) Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja DQ Cavernario, Dark Magic, Negro Casas 
Cavernario unmasked Mistico. Straight falls.
5) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Valiente DQ La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles] 
Rush fouled Caristico.

CMLL promos: Caristico, Los Ingobernables, Barbaro Cavernario, Mistico, Angel de Oro, and Niebla Roja, and Templario. Both Ingobenerables and Cavernario are fine with their disqualifications. Caristico & Mistico want singles matches.

Press room interviews: Templario (The Gladiatores)

I watched part of this show while at another wrestling show – a sad commentary on myself – but not enough to really get a sense. The cibernetico sounds like it was the best match and maybe the only really good match. It might a better match after the fact without the creeping dread of Esfinge winning a cibernetico and getting a big match next week. I’m really surprised CMLL did teases to singles matches in the final two. My sense is there were more blown spots than usual in the early matches, with the opener being especially poor.

Templario isahead of Audaz in the battle of the 2018 rookies. It’s not without reason – good basing rudos are in shorter supply in CMLL than good flyers – but it still was a bit surprising to see it happen.

CMLL & NJPW released the list of luchadors for the 2019 FantasticaMania tour (01/11 to 01/21)

• Atlantis
• Místico
• Caristico
• Volador Jr.
• Dragón Lee
• Titán
• Ángel de Oro
• Soberano Jr.
• Flyer (NJPW debut)
• El Audaz (NJPW debut)
• Atlantis Jr. (first match!)
• Último Guerrero
• El Terrible
• Gran Guerrero
• Bárbaro Cavernario
• Sansón
• El Cuatrero
• Forastero (NJPW debut)
• Okumura
• Templario (NJPW debut)

NJPW’s preview confirms Atlantis Jr. will be making his official debut on this show. (At least under that name; he’s snuck in a few shows as Tiburon.) He won’t be wrestling in Mexico prior It seems like they’ve got big expectations for him if they’re giving him this tour as his debut.

Caristico is making his first FantasticaMania appearance since the very first tour. He’s been the top guy left behind to main event Arena Mexico in recent years. Rush will be doing that instead – maybe that also means Rush/Park is going again around that time. In theory, Dragon Lee is off the island in January – I think they’ll give until at least December to find out.

There’s nine different championships which could be defended. Angel de Oro vs Cuatrero seems a lock, since there’s always a rematch from a big CMLL show. (Can’t do the Aniversario show this year.) Cavernario & Titan will be challenging for titles as always. Audaz, Flyer, and Templario are the low men on the totem pole and are least likely to get any big matches.

Estrellas de Lucha Libre points out Rey Bucanero is being advertised for the 01/19/2019 Mr. Cacao/Fukuemanmania show.  Unlike Euforia & Puma King the last two years, he won’t also be on FantasticaMania but he may physically be hanging out at the shows given the overlap timing.

Meanwhile, Volador & Soberano lost their tournament matches to the Suzuki Gun team and to RPG2K, and seem destined to finish last in their tournament. When I joked about a CMLL team finally winning a match in this competition, I didn’t realize it would be the only one.

AAA has a busy weekend. Tonight, the crew is in Tijuana for an EMW show. It’s a TV show style lineup without the TV cameras, and with a few more locals. I have no great interest in the main event hardcore match, but Daga/Puma vs DJZ/Everett, Arkangel/Vikingo/Laredo vs Pain/Taurus/Maldito, the three was tag match and the women’s match would all be matches I’d go out of my way to see if I could actually do that.

Sunday has Heroes Inmortales. It also has a daylight savings time ending, which makes this a 6:30 pm CT start in Mexico and a 7:30 pm CT start. I wrote a long preview for Voices of Wrestling, mostly struggling with the belief that Jeff Jarrett is actually going to lose his hair this time. Something always happens, and there’s nothing happening with this feud – this is the least over Jarrett’s been since he’s come to Mexico. There’s the theoretical build of having Wagner beat Jarrett to set him up for LA Park, but it doesn’t feel like a big win going into it, and it’s unclear what the deal is with LA Park & AAA at this moment (or will be in the next moment.) It’s unlikely 2018 Dr. Wagner Jr. & 2018 Jeff Jarrett can have an ok match on their own, and so this is going to be a cast of thousands running in. This match will be something but maybe not a good something.

The tag title match should be good. The women’s four way should be good, even if they put Scarlett into it. The three-way trios and the Copa should have enough people to keep the action going. But it could be better and could be making the TV more meaningful. It’s instead a card believing seeing Jeff Jarrett & Dr. Wagner in a hair match is all you need to know, and that’s not worked for me.

LuchaWorld has the latest edition of the podcast.

A profile of Zacetecas‘ Artikus.

Hijo del Santo writes about last week’s trip to New York, and a previous trip that didn’t go as well. You’ll be surprised to find out that he was the hero of the story.

Lineup

CMLL (FRI) 11/02/2018 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Súper Astro Jr. vs El Coyote & Grako
2) Átomo, Gallito, Microman vs Chamuel, Mije, Perico Zakarías
3) Ángel de Oro, Audaz, Stuka Jr. vs Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Terrible
4) Atlantis, Hijo de LA Park, Mistico vs Cavernario, Ephesto, Mephisto
5) Sansón © vs Templario [Rey del Inframundo]
6) Diamante Azul, LA Park, Michael Elgin vs King Phoenix, Penta 0M, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

Elgin being back is a genuine surprise. He’s only worked the Gran Prix related shows prior. I assume he’s not in just for one show: maybe they’re doing the Elgin/Guerrero rematch quickly? Maybe Elgin is hanging around to enter the bodybuilding contest.

Semimain is a good matchup that’s also one we wouldn’t normally get. Historically, these sort of annual tournaments (like the Leyenda de Plata) see the champion lose every year.

The micros are usually in costume for these shows, so they have to pull some double duty.

Coyote & Grako have been good in limited appearances, and this might be a really good opener for once.