CMLL (TUE) 11/13/2018 Arena México [CMLL, The Gladiatores]
1) Arkalis & Robin b Apocalipsis & Inquisidor 
tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Cancerbero, Espíritu Negro, Metálico b Magnus, Oro Jr., Star Jr.
rudos took 1/3.
3) Stukita b Kaligua [lightning]
Kaligua slipped and crashed on a Brillo Dorada and Stukita won quickly after.
4) Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. b Kawato San, Misterioso Jr., Okumura
Tecnicos took 2/3. Black Panther’s swinging kick is being called the Boomerang kick.
5) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano b Dark Magic, Ephesto, Hechicero
Tecnicos took 2/3.
6) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Niebla Roja b Euforia, Rey Bucanero, Shocker
Rudos took straight falls. Rey Bucanero & Niebla Roja feuded and set up their hair match on Sunday.
My understanding is the early matches were so bad that they killed people’s willingness to care about the later matches, but it also may have just been a normal Tuesday show.
CMLL (TUE) 11/13/2018 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Black Sugar, El Rielero, Tigre Blanco b Bobby Black, Frezzer, Ráfaga
Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Príncipe Diamante, Star Black, Súper Astro Jr. b Furia Roja, Príncipe Odín Jr., Sangre Azteca
tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Pólvora, Sagrado, Universo 2000 Jr. b Pegasso, Stigma, Tritón
Rudos took 2/3.
4) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Audaz, Flyer, Titán
NGD took 1/3.
5) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Valiente DQ La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible
tecnicos took 2/3. Rush unmasked Diamante Azul to set up a singles match next week.
If you are the person who likes Diamante Azul: Hi, hope you’re doing well, and you’re getting a lot of Diamante Azul coming up. Diamante Azul & Valiente challenge for the tag titles on Sunday, Diamante Azul vs Rush in Guadalajara on Tuesday, Diamante Azul versus Ultimo Guerrero sometime soon on a Friday.
There are promos from Rey Bucanero and Niebla Roja to build up this hair match. This has been coming since 10/28, mostly on the Sunday show. I wonder if it feels like it’s out of nowhere for most people.
CMLL announced a 2×1 tickets deal (except for the numbered ringside rows) for the next week at all of its venues. This is a Buen Fin deal, Mexico’s take on the US “Black Friday” holiday. The deals are being honored at every building from now until next Tuesday, and there should be bigger than usual turn out at those shows.
Electrico was honored by his university.
Tonight is episode 3 of Lucha Capital. It’s the last of the first phase matches, and they are weird.
- Taya vs Australian Suicide
- Keyra vs Mascarita Sagrada
- Texano Jr. vs Nino Hamburguesa
- Fenix vs Golden Magic
This tournament is still at the point where a single win or a single loss doesn’t mean a lot. It gets more meaningful next week. Fenix has been very busy and very great of late, so there’s a lot of hope for that match. I have no idea about anything else.
A medium length reminder of the Taya situation (or maybe this is three paragraphs you can skip): Taya’s last match in AAA was her April 21, 2017 street fight against Ayako Hamada in Tijuana. Taya won the Reina de Reinas championship from Hamada, wasn’t on lineups for a few weeks, and missed a June 19th taping due to injuries in a car accident. The story after this point is AAA (probably Vampiro) asked Johnny Mundo to bring the Reina de Reinas championship to the June 30th show so they could take publicity photos of it. A day later, with the title now in hand, AAA declared the championship was vacant (and gave a variety of conflicting explanations.) Taya and Johnny criticized Vampiro on Twitter and elsewhere for lying to them and being an office stooge. This was some unclear mix of being truly upset and using that unplanned situation for their own benefit, much like the recent Austin Aries deal. On a July 16 show in Monterrey, Vampiro explained Taya had refused to come to Monterrey to defend it on a show she had not been advertised for and declared the title vacant.
Sexy Star returned to the AAA to win the title, which didn’t turn out too well. (Killer Kross also attacked the women for no particular reason.) Sexy Star had left the company over a situation where Sexy Star was unwilling to lose the mixed tag titles in a match with Taya. It might have not been about Taya – Sexy Star has seemingly decided she’s never going to take a direct loss again, at least outside of Lucha Underground – but AAA might have been concerned about putting Sexy Star in the ring with a woman who didn’t like her very much. Except, AAA then did it without realizing it at TripleMania a few weeks later, and that didn’t go well.
This whole situation was a lot of drama that made AAA look like a bad place to work for as a wrestler, and all about a championship that AAA has never treated like a big deal. Trying to patch things back up with Taya was one of the AAA goals for the year, and they’ve achieved it. Taya & Vampiro already had to work together in taping Season 4 of Lucha Underground months ago, so I’m sure they’ll find a way to be professional behind the scenes even while doing some “shoot” bit for the crowd to keep the issue going.
No Scarlett match seems to suggest she’s not in the tournament after all – except, Killer Kross’ pre-match interview seemed to telegraph Scarlett appearing at some point. Fenix, Taya, and Konnan are coming from the Impact tapings in Las Vegas to these shows, and perhaps she’ll be doing the same.
AAA luchadors left this morning for Colombia. Hijo del Fantasma did an interview with Caracol TV to promote the shows.
AAA put up their TV show covering Cancun. They are treating Cancun & Merida as one-week tapings, which should help them catch up a bit. (AAA’s currently so far behind that these shows are no longer available on Twitch.) They aired four matches from the five match show: they cut out Fenix & Psycho Clown vs Brian Cage & Hijo del Fantansma main event. That’s a strange decision.
The recent documentary on Casandro is positively reviewed here.
Monito visited a market in Hidalgo.
An interview with Toluca’s Boomerang.
+LuchaTV has a sit-down interview with Parka Negra.
Lineups
CMLL (SUN) 11/18/2018 Arena México
1) Akuma & Camorra vs Hijo del Signo & Yago
2) Átomo, Gallito, Microman vs Chamuel, Guapito, Perico Zakarías
3) Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Felino, Luciferno, Vangellys
4) Carístico, King Phoenix, Penta 0M vs Ciber, Gilbert el Boricua, The Chris
5) Rush & Terrible © vs Diamante Azul & Valiente [CMLL TAG]
first defense
6) Niebla Roja vs Rey Bucanero [hair]
An apuesta match, a title match, and a trios filled with names oddly arranged sort of counts as a big show. There’s no mention of this airing. There’s always a chance, but wouldn’t plan on it (and it doesn’t actually look good.) The Sunday shows have ended up on NJPW World of late.
Roja is the obvious favorite in the main event. (This might not be the last Bucanero hair match, but there can’t be too many more.) Diamante Azul & Valiente have an actual chance to win the tag titles; CMLL was trying to get the tag titles on Diamante Azul for a while. Caristico & Penta are enemies on Friday and partners on Sunday. Akuma seems to have replaced Espanto Jr.. in the opener feud this week.
CMLL (MON) 11/19/2018 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja vs Black Tiger & Rey Apocalipsis
2) Pegasso & Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Metálico & Toro Bill Jr.
3) Drone, Fuego, Stigma vs Dragón Rojo Jr., El Malayo, Pólvora
4) Dalys © vs Marcela [CMLL WOMEN]
17th defense, 7th versus Marcela
5) Atlantis, Octagón, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Fuerza Guerrera, Mephisto
6) Último Guerrero © vs Sansón [CMLL HEAVY]
first defense
Weird the legends are back in Puebla with no explanation. I wonder if the LA Park run there worked well enough that they wanted to try other people to see if it’ll work. Penta & Fenix haven’t made their way there.
We have Amapola with 25 known defenses of the women’s title, so Dalys still has a long way to go. (Marcela had 12 challenges in that reign.) Dalys’ real big competition this month is the bodybuilding contest on the 28th.
