Niebla Roja shaves Rey Bucanero, tecnico Cage?, missing Fenix, Lucha Capital Week 4

CMLL (SAT) 11/17/2018 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Akuma & Espanto Jr. b Príncipe Diamante & Robin
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Estrellita, La Seductora, Metálica b Avispa Dorada, La Jarochita, La Vaquerita
Estrellita replaced Tiffany. Rudas took 2/3.
3) Átomo, Gallito, Microman DQ Chamuel, El Guapito, Perico Zakarías
tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Chamuel fouled Microman.
4) Blue Panther, Drone, Volcano b Ephesto, Luciferno, Vangellys
Tecnicos took 2/3, with Drone picking up the win hours after his father passed away. Hombre Bala was remembered after the match.
5) Dark Magic, Hechicero, Terrible b Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Titán
Rudos took 1/3. Terrible pinned Stuka and challenged for a title match.
6) Rush DQ Volador Jr.
Rush took 1/3, faking a foul in the third for a DQ.

CMLL put up the moment of applause for Hombre Bala. Stuka & Terrible talked about their pending title match. It’s weird to have the national heavyweight champ challenge for the world light heavyweight title but CMLL is weird. Rush also talked about his win.

CMLL (SUN) 11/18/2018 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Hijo del Signo & Yago b Akuma & Camorra
Straight falls. Mask/hair vs mask/hair challenges followed.
2) Átomo, Gallito, Microman b Chamuel, Guapito, Perico Zakarías
3) Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Titán b Felino, Luciferno, Vangellys
tecnicos took 2/3. Hombre Bala was remembered after the match.
4) Carístico, King Phoenix, Penta 0M b Ciber, Gilbert el Boricua, The Chris [Relevos Increíbles]
Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Diamante Azul & Valiente b Rush & Terrible © [CMLL TAG]
Tecnicos took 2/3 to win the titles. Diamante Azul snuck a foul on Rush. Diamante Azul & Valiente become the 40th champions. Rush & Terrible lose the titles after zero successful defenses.
6) Niebla Roja b Rey Bucanero [hair]
Niebla Roja took falls 2/3.

Niebla Roja talks about the hair win. Rey Bucanero talks more about Hombre Bala, who was being cremated at the same time as this match was going on. Diamante Azul & Valiente talk about their tag win. Ciber & Gilbert seem unbothered by another loss.

This didn’t stream; the only video record of it will be clips on Informa. Niebla Roja beating Rey Bucanero is no surprise. Azul & Valiente winning the tag team titles is a bit of surprise. CMLL did seem very hungry to get a tag team belt on Diamante Azul for years when Shocker & Negro Casas were the champions, so there’s some build to this. I expect the same complaints about CMLL not doing anything with the actual tag teams they have to still be valid since Diamante Azul & Valiente don’t seem more likely to defend the titles. Even the Rush & Terrible team seem like it was underutilized; tag title defenses would’ve been better than most of the Rush singles matches.

There are now 18 champions – or 16 plus Dragon Lee (island) & Electrico (really still a mini) – if CMLL is planning to run the Universal tournament. They’re running out of time.

AAA TV (SUN) 11/18/2018 Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua [AAA, Lucha Central]
1) Centinela, Mr. Alfa, Villano III Jr. b Rey Puma, Syrus, Vip 
6:45. Aereo was scheduled but missed the show due to injury. All others had qualified for the match. Villano III pinned Syrus to win. VIP attacked his partners after the match.
2) Lady Shani, Starfire, Vanilla b Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Zafiro 
8:39. Zafiro replaced Scarlett, who Vampiro says did not make the show due to situations out of their control. Lady Shani beat Lady Maravilla with a spinning Gori Special. Keyra and Shani both declared they’d be the next AAA Reina de Reinas champion, then got into a mask pulling brawl that had to be broken up twice.
3) Angelikal, Hijo Del Vikingo, Laredo Kid b Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana 
8:57. Hijo del Vikingo beat Tito Santana with an imploding 450 splash.
4) Joe Lider & Pagano b Cíclope & Miedo Extremo 
13:44. Pagano beat Ciclope with something like a Spanish Fly into a table on fire. Ciclope & Miedo feigned mutual admiration before attacking Lider & Pagano again.
5) Mamba, Máximo, Murder Clown b La Máscara, Monsther Clown, Rey Escorpión 
9:25. La Mascara beat Maximo via foul. Maximo challenged LA Mascara to a hair match in January.
6) Brian Cage, La Parka, Psycho Clown b Blue Demon, Hijo del Fantasma, Texano Jr. 
11:04. Earlier in the show, Psycho & Parka protested teaming with Demon. They were interrupted by Fantasma, Texano and Konnan. Fantasma called them unprofessional for not teaming with Demon, said he’d beat Drago at Guerra de Titanes, and said he’d get the mega title after Cage beat Fenix. Cage was not happy with this, and was eventually attacked by the rudos. Psycho & Parka thought about it and made a save. Blue Demon attacked them. Cage & Demon changed sides in the main event and Cage appears to be a tecnico going forward. Cage pinned Texano with a F5 after Demon fouled Psycho. Those two fought to the back after.

Poder del Norte/tecnicos was good, the hardcore match was a spectacle and everything else was alright. The hardcore match seemed to burn out the crowd for a while but they came back in the main event. They didn’t write out Scarlett, but her absence was still strange. The post-match angle in the women’s match felt like it built up Keyra versus Shani stronger than any match. (La Hiedra, Faby Apache and Scarlett are supposed to be in the match.) Maximo specifically asked for a hair match on 01/01. That was understood to mean Juarez, but Maximo also asked for a hair match in Arena Neza Saturday night so who knows for sure. If it is really happening on New Year’s Day, it ought to be announced soon. Cage becoming a tecnico seemed a bit random but might be step one in a bigger plan.

AAA put up this week’s TV show, covering the Merida show. Just like last week’s show from Cancun, it’s the entire taping in one week. Just like last week’s show, one match was cut. Just like last week’s show, it was the match that featured AAA Megachampion Fenix which was cut. It is weird that the mega-champion hasn’t been part of the show since TripleMania – but then I thought to go back and check, and realized the TripleMania title match was cut from TV too. Fenix’s last AAA match to make YouTube, his only AAA match to make that TV show, is the Aguascalientes three-way with Fenix, Flamita, and Bandido. (He did appear on Lucha Capital, and will be in at least two more matches there.) Being cut from one show might just be a weird meaningless choice. Being cut from all the shows can’t be an accident.

After Fenix was skipped on TV last week, it was mentioned to me that AAA might be downplaying Fenix because they were very upset about the dive that took out Marisela Pena at TripleMania. That dive was probably not fun to get hit by, but I dismissed the idea that AAA would put their personal feelings that far ahead of doing business. They did out aside their feelings to bring back Fenix in the first place. Maybe I’m just wrong! Something is obviously wrong. Whatever the problem is, there’s limited use in having Fenix be champion if you’re not going to put him on TV, and the idea of having a champion who will have hot matches doesn’t work if you’re not going to book the champion. This was all in my head before tonight’s show, where Cage was flipped seemingly to feud with Los Mercenarios. Cage being a tecnico makes sense if Cage is going to win the title and do the feud with Fantasma instead of Fenix because AAA’s already soured on Fenix. It’d also explain why Cage is getting that title shot instead of the Laredo Kid match that had been set up, as AAA has always been higher on Cage and he’d make more sense to them as a transitional champion. I do not know that Cage is going to win but it seems suddenly very possible.

SuperLuchas has an obituary for Hombre Bala.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update.

Semana writes a positive review of AAA’s show in Colombia.

The return of Argentina’s Titanes en el RIng was postponed.

Lineup

AAA (WED) 11/21/2018 Pinche Gringo Barbecue, Miguel Hidalgo, Distrito Federal
1) Hijo Del Vikingo vs Vanilla
2) Máscarita Sagrada vs Killer Kross
3) Puma King vs Pagano
4) Drago vs Keyra

This is the start of phase 2 of the tournament. Puma is headed to DDT before phase 3 starts, so Pagano eliminating him with a second loss seems a safe bet. I don’t think Kross’ undefeated run is going to end at the hands of Mascarita Sagrada. Vikingo has a loss and Vanilla has a win, so there’s a good bet they’ll reverse that so both are 1-1. I wish it was a better bet for that match to be good. Drago & Keyra are both coming off a loss and the loser is probably also done. This is the first show without a sure great match; maybe the main event will be that, but that’s far frome sure.

AAA also officially announced the 12/08 Arena Xalapa taping. There are a couple of changes. Black Danger & Ultimo Maldito replace Dave the Clown & Villano III Jr. in the second match. The OGT/Poder del Norte match is no longer listed for the trios titles. AAA has not yet announced the 12/02 Aguascalientes Guerra de Titanes card, but they did make some references to matches on that show (Drago/Fantasma, Fenix/Cage)

CMLL (FRI) 11/23/2018 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Súper Astro Jr. vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
2) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Fuego vs Kawato San, Okumura, Universo 2000 Jr.
3) Soberano Jr., Titán, Tritón vs Dark Magic, Luciferno, Vangellys
4) Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Penta 0M
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero
6) Cavernario vs King Phoenix [Leyenda de Plata]

Cavernario versus Phoenix was good last time. Also, last time, the fans were strongly behind Cavernario.

There are so many people in the Mascara 2000 match that the match might actually be good. Templario is unofficially the fourth Guerrero Lagunero. If only there were still tecnico groups for Audaz to join.

Whoever puts together the cards may be under the impression that Penta & Caristico are still feuding, but has failed to communicate that to those people.

Fuego’s best chance of being pushed? Travel to Michigan and wrestle on low-level indies, I think.

Oro being in the opener is obviously subject to change. There’s been no update, which seems like a good thing in this case.

Mexa Wrestling (SAT) 12/08/2018 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Xtabay vs Reina Dorada
2) Diosa Quetzal, Torito Negro, Toro Negro vs Diablo Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Lady Flammer
3) Dragón Bane vs Alan Extreme
4) Brian Villa & Willy Banderas vs Metaleón & Mr. Leo and Fresero Jr. & Mr. Iguana
5) Zumbido vs Diva Salvaje
6) Fly Star vs Demus [hardcore]
7) Rey Horuz vs Arez, Último Maldito, Toxin, Arkángel Divino

No changes from the announced card. Lucha Memes & Lucha Libre Boom announced they’re making their debut in this building a day later with a card called “Nueva Era.” I’m sure they’ll be agressively counter promoting this card, as MexaWrestling and Memes have gone back and forth on scoial media.