Month: December 2018

Not much news today. I don’t see any IWRG results from any of the usual sources; I think +Lucha might have decided to take a deserved weekend off. There are no shows tonight because of New Year’s Eve. You’d think lots of social drinking and lucha libre would be an obvious mix. Maybe next year.

There are interesting things coming, they’re just a little away. NJPW has announced the FantasticaMania lineups on January 6 in recent years. That’d mean seeing them around 11 pm CT Saturday night. AAA has a year-opening press conference next Monday morning. They’ve done it a few years in a row now, so I guess it’s a tradition to hear about big (possible) plans for the rest of the world and a TripleMania main event (which may no longer be Park/Wagner.) AAA will probably reveal the lineup for at least the Mexico City AAA TV taping and maybe more. AAA is airing this year’s TripleMania in the Wednesday Lucha Capital timeslot this week. I think AAA would like to go back to running Lucha Capital the following Wednesday if a Facebook deal can be done, and that might be an announcement as part of next Monday’s press conference.

There’s a couple CMLL shows before those announcements. CMLL is not streaming tonight. They will stream tomorrow at the holiday 5 pm start time with some curiosities. Akuma & Camorra are widely expected to lose to Yago & Hijo del Signo in the rudos apuesta match. The Akuma/Signo preview match was not good, and none of the other matches were positive. The recent low water mark for these January apuesta matches was the Soberano & Star Jr. versus Cholo & Ramstein from Three King’s Day 2015, where Ramstein appeared to have no business being in the ring (either due to injury or other reasons), the match went atrociously poor, and Ramstein wrestled once more to show his face before disappearing from CMLL forever. I suspect that is what will happen again here – Camorra seems to have friends in the right places to get a hair match payoff that benefits no one but himself, but might just vanish after – but the concerning thing is most of the people in that really 2015 match are higher regarded than those in the 2019 one. It is CMLL, so there will be plenty of chances for other disasters, but this could be one of the best matches of the year.

The top matches could be better. Caristico and Penta got generally strong reviews for their match on Friday. The match on Tuesday won’t have many surprises but should still get a great reaction. Caristico and Ultimo Guerrero have had less Arena Mexico singles match than you’d expect – this will be the 7th, including 1 for Elite – for two guys who were among the biggest names in Caristico’s defining years. Caristico has won all the matches but one (a semi-final in a Universal tournament where Caristico crashed and burned on a dive), though it feels like Guerrero is the favorite in 2019.

There are high hopes for Dragon Lee, King Phoenix and Penta versus Cuatrero, Forastero, and Templario as well. The rest of the card has Hijo del Villano and Hijo de LA Park part of the fourth match, a women’s trios match and an opener that might be better than the apuesta match. The show starts at 5 pm on Tuesday and it should air on YouTube; no sign of a last-minute iPPV this time around.

Puebla has Volador/Sanson. Guadalajara has Terrible scheduled to defend his title against Diamante Azul, but no one’s quite sure what will happen.

Arena San Juan has the MexaWrestling vs Lucha Memes show with Flamita/Horuz & Audaz, Caristico and Dragon Bane vs Aramis, Arkangel Divino, and Toxin. Naucalpan has an all cage match show. I’m not sure if either will live, but both figure to turn up on +LuchaTV eventually. There are AAA staffed shows in Arena Lopez Mateos and Arena Neza.

The next news post won’t be until late Monday, if not Tuesday.

I was at the first show at the New Arena GALLI in Melrose Park, which turns out to be a cut-out area in an indoor soccer facility. (Lucha Libre shows and indoor soccer buildings seem to go hand and hand.) The area they were in was a little tight and seemed smaller than the space they had at the since-closed Villa Park location. I wonder if they might move it around to a different part of the building in the future. They filled the area they had, with Bandido being the popular outside attraction for the night.

I filmed the Bandido vs DJZ vs Isais Velasquez vs Gringo Loco main event. The match was pretty good. They switched it from a tag match, probably to set up the finish they were doing, and money was thrown in after the fact. It’s likely a better version will turn up at some point: there were at least seven different cameras filming the show in some official capacity. I only recognized Wrestling with Unicorns, someone else was filming the show with a drone.

The post-match talked about a four-way cage match; I haven’t been around GALLI since the Rey Fenix/Aeroboy match so I was a little bit lost. GALLI explained it on Facebook: on 01/20 it’ll be Aero Boy vs Gringo Loco vs Bandolero vs Skayde Jr., mask on the hair on the line in the cage, though it’s actually promoter Carlos Galli’s hair instead of Gringo Loco. Rey Fenix will be back on the show, though he’s not listed on the poster yet.

MLW announced they’ve signed Gringo Loco to a contract, following him appearing on their Cicero and Miami tapings. MLW deals tend not to be exclusives, just the first right to book if there’s a conflicting date, so he’ll probably be around on other shows as well.

Puma King celebrated the new year in Japan; he’s still around DDT for a while longer. He posted a message that seemed to sum up his year: “The only thing you can not recover is time. It’s better to repent for what you did than to live thinking of what you could’ve done.” This seems like solid advice I should take if only I had any of idea of what I to do. I’m jealous of those who figured it out.

Today concludes the 15th year of writing this site. I started in 2003 after doing writing about CMLL TV for a couple of years prior. It became this daily maniac thing around 2006 and has become a distressingly large portion of my life since. I made a point to take some days off this year. Having accidental days off, where I wrote but it didn’t get posted for WordPress weirdness, and having no one seemingly notice made it clearer that the whole enterprise as is not as vital as I like to imagine it is. Relaxing and taking an easier route is something I’ve had a hard time grasping so far; maybe next year.

Thanks for reading. I hope you all have gotten something out of the site. In a very tiny niche, I get a lot of attention for writing something that almost no one actually reads and some benefits from it. I also get to be an anonymous weirdo most of the time, and that’s something I’m pretty comfortable being. I do not know what 2019 will bring, but I hope this site will continue to be worth your time.

(I will be deleting any praise in the comments. Get out of here with that.)

Tijuana’s EMW (AAA allied) says their next show is February 1st.

Interviews with Pachuca’s Pumara, Guerrera Isis and Poetico.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 01/05/2019 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Leono vs Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
2) Estrellita, La Maligna, Sanely vs Amapola, La Comandante, La Seductora
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Drone vs Nitro, Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Flyer vs Pólvora [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Ephesto, Felino, Hechicero
6) Atlantis, Carístico, Valiente vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Diamante Azul nowhere to be found (and Carisitco working a lot of shows) suggests he’s really missing more than a weekend of shows. The Fantastica Mania shows are going to be interesting but I’m not sure what it’ll look like back in CMLL during those two weeks.

CMLL (FRI) 12/28/2018 Arena México [Claro, CMLL, ESTO, Lucha Central, Ovaciones, The Gladiatores]
1) El Coyote & Grako b Arkalis & Oro Jr. 
2) Estrellita, Lluvia, Marcela b Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany 
3) Audaz, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Kawato, Okumura, Vangellys 
4) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Titán DQ Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Terrible 
straight falls, weird finish
5) Dragón Lee, Místico, Volador Jr. b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón 
6) Penta 0M DQ Carístico 
Caristico tossed his mask to Penta.

Arena Mexico drew an unexpectedly large crowd for this show. I guess there was more juice left in Pentagon versus Caristico than I thought (or maybe they would’ve sold out the place if they had done it sooner.) CMLL’s largest crowds have been on special occasions and big matches between CMLL wrestlers and outsiders. They haven’t done these crowd with CMLL versus CMLL matches on normal shows.

CMLL (SAT) 12/29/2018 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Apocalipsis & Cholo b Bengala & Sonic
rudos took 1/3.
2) Angelito, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Disturbio, Pólvora, Universo 2000 Jr. b Black Panther, Pegasso, Rey Cometa
rudos took 1/3.
4) Metálica b Princesa Sugehit © [MEX WOMEN]
Surprise title switch, with Metalica taking falls 2/3 to become the 20th modern champion. Princesa Sugehit falls on her 6th defense. Metalica wins the title in her first ever title shot.
5) La Bestia Del Ring, Máscara Año 2000, Shocker b Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano
rudos took 1/3.
6) Carístico, Titán, Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
Caristico replaced Dragon Lee mid-week. Titan replaced Diamante Azul. Tecnicos took 2/3, the last by DQ when UG fouled Caristico. Money thrown in.

CMLL posted a video of an ecstatic Metalica with her new belt, in the aftermath of the biggest win of her career by a fair margin. Metalica winning is a shock in a division that could use a shock. We have Metalica as 24 on the luchawiki, and I’m not sure when the last time a Mexican woman that young has won the title. (Zeuxis is close, but a couple years older.) I need more time to do research because the answer at the moment seems to be “never”. Metalica was one of the better indie luchadoras when she was mainly competing outside of CMLL and has seemed one of the better young luchadors but hasn’t had a great or really notable match. If they were going to make someone, Metalica makes as much sense as anyone, but we’re not going to know if this is going to work for a while. Then again, recycling the same people in the same positions sure wasn’t working.

CMLL (SUN) 12/30/2018 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Leono & Robin b Inquisidor & Príncipe Odín Jr.
tecnicos took 2/3.
2) La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica b La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Maligna
Rudas took 1/3.
3) Nitro, Sangre Azteca, Virus b Black Panther, Drone, Magnus
Nitro replaced Sagrado. Rudo stook 2/3.
4) Titán b Felino [lightning]
Titan beat Felino with a casita
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Atlantis, Shocker, Valiente
Rudos took 1/3, Shocker replaced Diamante Azul but didn’t really want to be a tecnico and betrayed his team.
6) Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr. DQ Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero
Caristico replaced Dragon Lee on Wednesday. Tecnicos took 2/3. UG unmasked Caristico to end the main event in a DQ for two straight nights.

Diamante Azul seems to have vanished (gone to France?) without CMLL being aware. That makes for some replacements for the last two nights. It also makes for a serious problem for Tuesday, where Diamante Azul is scheduled to challenge Terrible for the Mexican National Heavyweight championship. It’s going to be tough to send a sub when there are two other shows going on. I suspect local Furia Roja will get the shot instead.

I think they’re doing better building up Caristico/Ultimo Guerrero than the apuesta match, but they have much better material to work with.

CMLL Guadalajara did not post results tonight, but +Lucha mentioned Smaker lost his mask to Gran Kenut. Smaker is Alejandro Ramos Garcia, 27, 13 years a wrestler. Difunto helped Kenut won the match. Smaker made TV a handful of times in 2014/2015 when the 52MX Guerreros del Ring was showing Guadalajara matches.

Sofia Alonso has a five-minute recap of the year in CMLL that’s pretty complete. I think I saw people upset Okada & Naito appearing didn’t get a mention, but not much else was. (There is a noticeable edit when it appears Alonso is about to talk about the Anniversario match early on.) I’m just impressed someone in some sort of ownership role in CMLL seems aware of everything that happened in CMLL this year, which seems so much different than the previous years.

CMLL also has text look backs at July, August, and September.

La Parka’s column in Record says AAA is deciding between three matches for the main event of TripleMania. That’s a remarkable change from this year’s TripleMania ending with AAA stating LA Park vs Dr. Wagner would definitely headline the 2019 TripleMania. I’m not sure the other possibilities would be any more aesthetically pleasing: Wagner/Blue Demon and Konnan/Vampiro loom as possibilities.

Diaro Basta talks to the people in the CMLL New Year’s Day Apuesta match. Signo & Yago are under the belief that a win would launch them to “luchas estelares”. I believe they are mistaken.

Laredo Kid will replace Flamita on the 01/18 PWG show. Flamita is still on the New Year’s Day MexaWrestling show. Caristico sent in a promo to assure that he will also still be on the show even though he’s main eventing Arena Mexico at a show starting a half hour earlier. MexaWrestling says that show will feature a surprise debut and a farewell.

Violento Jack says he’s planning on staying in Japan “indefinitely”, or at least thru December 2019. Jack points out that an independent wrestler in Mexico has to deal with promoters not paying what they promised, events being canceled at the last moment and poor hotel stays, and he had not had those issues wrestling in Japan. Violento Jack was recently included in the top 10 of the ShuPro Wrestling Gran Prix fan voting for the best foreigner, the only Mexican wrestler to be included.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update, including an update on Tinieblas and Garza.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 01/04/2019 Arena México
1) Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Gran Guerrero, Templario
2) Titán vs Tritón [lightning]
3) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
4) La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible vs Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo
5) Dragón Lee vs Cavernario
6) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.[MEX TRIOS]
7th defense

This is not the best of the previous year card CMLL’s done in this spot the last few years. It’s a good substitute, with an unexpected but likely strong main event and a really great semi-main. Youth are getting a spot at top and some of the familiar names are working the midcard spots instead. The first two matches probably won’t be worked like the normal first couple of matches.

There are no hints of anything special for the 01/06 Sunday show, which is strange. Maybe a surprise is coming.

Penta 0M debuted in CMLL on June 29th. He ran in as a surprise, attacking Caristico. It took CMLL six months to get a singles match between the two. Tonight’s CMLL match will be hot because it has two of the bigger stars in Mexico facing off for the first time in Arena Mexico, though it still feels like CMLL missed the peak of the feud. This will be the fourth singles match they’ve had, after one in The Crash and two in Arena Neza. Caristico has won two of those, and one went to a draw. Caristico is the home team luchador here and seems like the favorite.

The lineup looks better than the last couple of shows, which have underperformed. Dragon Lee being back helps; his match with Mistico & Volador against NGD may be better than the main event. The rest of the show fits with the averageness of those recent Friday night shows. Atlantis, Diamante Azul & Titan taking on Terrible, Rey Bucanero and Hechicero doesn’t seem a great mix. Kawato, Okumura, and Vangellys versus Guerrero Maya, Flyer, Audaz is a standard “almost” promising CMLL match of 2018.

Estrellita has her first Arena Mexico since July 31st (and her first Friday match since the week before Penta debuts.) She’s had some injury issues this year. She’ll team with Marcela and Lluvia against Amapola, Dalys, and Tiffany. The show opens with Arkalis & Oro Jr. taking on Coyote & Grako.

LuchaCentral has a preview of the show. The show will air on Marca (region-blocked at last check) and Facebook.

CMLL posted April, May, and June in it’s look back at 2018 within hours yesterday.

Dorian Roldan told Record that he hopes to run an AAA show in Madison Square Garden in 2019. This idea first was started this summer (also in Record), Konnan later implied that a media company would be footing most of the bill if it happened, and then it just did not happen. The idea then was around Mexican Independence Day and maybe that’ll be the idea again if it does happen. It still seems like a long shot, though perhaps we’ll hear more about it at the January AAA press conference. Roldan also mentioned more international AAA shows (a tour in Colombia) and workng with more promotions.

This interview with Vanilla mentions the AAA Mazatlan lineup is expected to be known on 01/02. I’d guess the ones before it would be ready at the same time.

Warrior Wrestling announced Dragon Lee will replace Titan on their 01/05 show. Dragon Lee was also advertised for the 01/25 Northeast Wrestling show in Poughkeepsie, New York. I’m not sure if Dragon Lee will reach quite the Penta & Fenix levels of being booked everywhere in 2019, but it’s going to be a busy year for him outside of Mexico.

AJPW announced Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi will appear on this year’s DragonMania.

Diosa Quetzal who became known popular after appearing on reality show Enamorandonos, says she has to fight the perception she’s only a reality TV invented star.

PubliMetro talks to Psycho Clown about their year.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Morelos luchador Fussion won the award for the revelation of the year.

An interview with Monclova’s Zintro.

Lineups

IWRG (TUE) 01/01/2019 Arena Naucalpan
1) Divino, Juan Diego, Kid Jaguar vs Guerrero Palma, Marduk, Taurino and Flyman, Flyman II, Gallito Colorado and Manchitas, Psique, Puercules and Atomic Star, Chicanito, Death Metal [cage]
LLB (Jaguar) vs Gym Zeus (Marduk) vs Zaetas del Ring (Flyman) vs Lucha Memes (Psique)
2) Capo del Norte & Capo del Sur © vs Karaoui & Zumbi and Oficial 911 & Oficial AK47 [cage]
first defense
3) Leo & Mike vs Dinamic Black & Eragón and Ra-Zhata & Shil-Kah and Freelance & Relámpago [cage, #1 Contenders, IWRG IC TAG]
4) Dragón Bane © vs Rey Horus [IWRG REY DEL AIRE, cage]
5th defense
5) Máscara Año 2000 Jr. vs Toscano [cage, hair]

IWRG’s 23rd Anniversary show features every match in a cage and a main event apuesta match that is a bit hard to predict. Not sure any matches benefit from being in a cage and they’re resting a lot on the novelty of being an all cage match show.

CMLL (TUE) 01/01/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Astral, Eléctrico, King Jaguar vs Cholo, Fuerza Chicana, Joker
2) Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Sangre Azteca
3) Átomo, Gallito, Microman vs Chamuel, Mije, Perico Zakarías
4) Atlantis, Titán, Valiente vs La Bestia Del Ring, Rey Bucanero, Shocker
5) Volador Jr. vs Sansón

That’s a first time singles main event (that no one outside of the arena may see.)

The King Jaguar/Perverso issue came and went quick. Now Jaguar is just booked every week for no reason.

CMLL (TUE) 01/01/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Black Sugar, Joker vs Gemelo Pantera I, Gemelo Pantera II, Mr. Apolo
2) Drone, Súper Astro Jr., Vaquero Jr. vs Disturbio, Guerrero de la Muerte, Metálico
3) Esfinge, Flyer, Tritón vs Kawato San, Okumura, Virus
4) Ángel de Oro, Místico, Niebla Roja vs Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Vangellys
5) Terrible vs Diamante Azul [MEX HEAVY]
3rd defense, 3rd against Azul

Will this be the team for Diamante Azul? Will any one care? No, Probably not.

Rush is again not booked on any of the shows. Rush has been taking vacations but he’s also worked in Arena Neza on Tuesday, wrestled in Mazatlan last night and is scheduled to be in Acapulco on Saturday. There is reason to suspect he’s been quietly suspended for 30 days and we won’t be seeing him until around 01/06.

Fuego is also not on these shows and hasn’t been seen since the 14th. Titan missed the Christmas Day shows but is working in Puebla this time around.