Guerrero Maya Jr.beat Misterioso Jr.in a lightning match (7:41, Gori Special, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Atlantis, Flyer, Stuka Jr. beat Luciferno, Máscara Año 2000, Mephisto (10:25 [4:19, 1:20, 4:46], 2/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero beat Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. (13:44 [4:47, 2:23, 6:34], 1/3, great, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Akuma & Signo are disqualified in the first for putting on a two man tapatia on Camorra. Camorra rips Yago’s mask in the second, really making it unusable. Yago really has no choice but to take Akuma’s mask to cover up, though that also ends the match. Apuesta challenges followed.
Thoughts:
Signo regretted the dive immediately
The main event was a strange occurrence of a Friday night match on a Tuesday night main event. It looked like it was just going to be a simple but crowd pleasing match, but they found an extra gear. It never felt like a really big match, just one where everyone was really sharp at what they were doing and doing more than I’ve seen on this Monday/Tuesday shows of late. Templario figures to be facing Soberano a lot – he’s in this trio for these matches because Euforia can’t be – and is handling wrestling him and this elevation to a top spot without a problem. He and Gran Guerrero had another moment of really good teamwork here. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja looked much better than they did in Puebla the night before, and the match was fun all the way to the end. A rare treat for putting up with the shows; I might be overrating this because of the show where it is happening, but I think it’s worth people’s time.
The tercera would be recommendable if the rudos weren’t so lame. Crowd at least liked it. Nitro doing a Destroyer and making no effort to catch on a dive was right. Credit to Audaz for making something up when Sagrado completely forgot how to take his finish. I wish it was physically possible for the técnicos to do some other spot off the apron beside a headscissors but it appears it is not possible.
The rudo/rudo feud was energetic if not exactly exciting. Signo offers a willingness to hurt himself on a tope and not much more. Camorra offers less. There really wasn’t a lot of time or opportunity to do a lot in this match but Yago & Akuma didn’t look as interesting as they have had in normal matches. I have little hope for this blowoff match.
La Parkita, Mini Psycho Clown, Solaris beat La Parkita Negra, Mini Monster Clown, Mini Murder Clown (10:08, Mini Psycho Clown Canadian Destroyer Mini Monster Clown, good, 00:18:25)
Chica Tormenta, Demus, Toxin beat Chicano, Vanilla, Villano III Jr. (14:55, Demus Driver on Chicano, good, 00:39:51)
Keyra & Lady Maravilla beat Faby Apache & Lady Shani (9:29, DQ Lady Shani [Lady Maravilla fake mask removal], good, 01:05:21)
Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly beat Australian Suicide, Golden Magic, Jack Evans (10:14, OGT double three-man powerbomb Golden Magic, good, 01:45:31)
La Parka, Pagano, Psycho Clownbeat Electroshock, Rey Escorpión, Taurus (17:08, Psycho Clown casita Taurus, ok, 02:08:01)
What happened:
the only person allowed to brutalize people in a Faby Apache match is Faby Apache
Elite won the first two matches. AAA won the last three to win the series. The announcers called it the “Ultima” confrontation, though they may have just meant the last one in 2018.
Rey Escorpión stole Psycho Clown’s mask post-match for no real reason. They’d be feuding during the match.
Hades seconded Samoano & Tonga again and seems to be their permanent manager, so that wasn’t just a dark match fever dream.
Thoughts:
Yep.
The AAA main event followed the normal formula for those matches. La Parka did some comedy, Pagano blew spots, Psycho Clown looked good. It didn’t hold my interest as the 12th straight match I’d watched but seemed about average for that spot. Rey Escorpión messing with Psycho Clown after the match felt more like Rey Escorpión doing something on his own than any angle, but we’ll see.
The semi-final was about where I got overwhelmed about how many things were going on at once at lost track a bit of what I was happening in front of me. This seemed like another good action match with weird sides. The OGT worked like rudos even though they were the home team. That made for the more exciting match, with the “Elite” team breaking out a lot of flying against a good team of bases, even if it didn’t make a lot of sense in the overall show narrative. I liked some of the other matches more but this was still enjoyable.
flying Tonga
The fourth match was well over expectations. Myzteziz & Vikingo are clearly trying to make very match special. It was really the Samoanos who were much better than they’ve been in any other match, peaking with a giant Tonga dive sequence at the end. They came across strongly and Hades did well with her couple of interference spots. Samaono hasn’t done much to be taken seriously to this point, but they might be able to get something of the unit. Halcón and Emperador were fine for what they were asked for. Crowd booing Myzteziz Jr. for existing is not a good sign. He did win them back over when he did a cool move a moment later.
The women’s match turned into the usual extremely hard-hitting match expected from this quartet. Keyra launching into Shani with the corner dropkick and then getting unexpectedly obliterated by Faby Apache was brutal and perfect for this match. Faby & Keyra had a brief sequence of murdering each other that was stupendous. Everyone fought hard for how long it lasted. This was good in a different way than the match the other matches prior to it on the card. Lady Maravilla shows infinitely more personality in AAA, coming across strongly on her post-match promo. AAA missing the finish was a bit hilarious but at least they showed the it in the replays.
a big day for Villano IIIs
The segunda had a lot of action and some errors, as might be figured with a match running as long as it ended up with some inexperienced people. There was one sequence with Demus, Chicano and Villano III Jr. that had some embarrassing botches, but most of the action held up. Chicano did some amazing things and had some weaker moments; he seems to be going a 100 MPH to try to make an impression and get on these shows regularly, which might not be to his benefit. Vanilla had a solid match, which seems notable when it comes to her, and got crushed by the Elite team a couple times. Villano III’s new look is cool and he had a mostly good match. Toxin made a positive impression. Demus’ finish looked killer.
The opener was interesting for the weirdness of a lot of these people finally existing. Mini Gronda moved better than either of the other two Grondas and doesn’t really fit the gimmick besides dressing up in the look, but that’s fine. The rest was a lot more comedy than in most AAA matches, and it came off well as a chance of pace. The new crew of minis can wrestle well enough that it’s not just a reliance on comedy to get thru everything. These minis worked as something different though not something I need to exactly see on every taping.
CMLL (TUE) 12/25/2018Arena México [CMLL, Ovaciones, thecubsfan]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Universo 2000 10:39. Tecnicos took 2/3
2) Átomo, Gallito, Microman b Chamuel, Guapito, Mije 14:56. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Hijo del Signo DQ Akuma [lightning] 5:24. Camorra ran in to attack Signo, Yago ran in to attack him, and Camorra unmasked Yago. Promos to talk about next week’s apuesta match.
4) Templario, Tiger, Virus b Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso 14:14. Rudos took 1/3.
5) Hijo del Villano III, Mephisto, Villano IV b Atlantis, Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr. 11:08. Rudos took 1/3.
6) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Carístico, Dragón Lee, Valiente 10:22. Rudos won in straight falls, UG sneaking in a foul on Caristico. Caristico challenged him to a title match next week.
CMLL promos including Ultimo Guerrero pointing out he was supposed to have this singles match with Caristico weeks ago, Caristico wanting a mask versus hair match if he wins, Dragon Lee happy to be back, the Villanos and Atlantis Jr. talking about that feud, and Akuma & Camorra and Signo & Yago discussing next week’s very unanticipated match.
No apparent angle out of the women’s relevos increible (so maybe it was odd because those just happened to be the people available.) This will be the fourth straight Terrible/Diamante Azul match for the national heavyweight championship.
CMLL (TUE) 12/25/2018Arena Puebla [CMLL]
1) Hijo de Centella Roja, Meyer, Robin b Black Tiger, Espíritu Maligno, Inquisidor tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Drone, King Jaguar, Star Jr. b Cancerbero, Perverso, Raziel Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit b Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany tecnicas took 2/3.
4) Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys b Audaz, Kráneo, Volcano rudos took 1/3.
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón DQ Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. NGD took 1/3, Tirantes DQing Volador in a “Polemica” decision. Seemed to set up some match for next week but wasn’t clear.
CMLL didn’t post results from the holiday Puebla show last year, so it was a little surprising to see them show up last night. They weren’t very clear about the main event finish or what it set up for next week. None of the usual newspaper sources covered the show. TV Azteca Puebla covered the show and usually airs it at 10pm on Wedneday, but I’m not sure if it’ll stream on their Facebook site like some of their other live programming.
AAA TV , ELITE (TUE) 12/25/2018 Gimnasio Benito Juárez, Cuautitlán, Estado de México [AAA, thecubsfan]
1) La Parkita, Mini Gronda, Mini Psycho Clown vs La Parkita Negra, Mini Monster Clown, Mini Murder Clown 10:08. Mini Psycho Clown pinned Mini Monsther Clown with a Canadian Destroyer. Debut of Mini Gronda and debuts/returns? of Mini Murder Clown & Mini Monsther Clown.
2) Chica Tormenta, Demus, Toxin b Chicano, Vanilla, Villano III Jr. 14:55. Demus Driver on Chicano.
3) Keyra & Lady Maravilla DQ Faby Apache & Lady Shani 9:29. Lady Maravilla tossed her mask to Shani to draw a DQ. Maravilla declared that after such a clean win, she deserved a title match. Shani indicated she’d accept any challenge.
4) Halcón 78 Jr., Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. b Emperador Azteca, Samoano, Tonga 9:32. Vikingo reverse 450 splash Emperador Azteca.
5) Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly b Australian Suicide, Golden Magic, Jack Evans 10:14. OGT powerbombed Golden Magic twice for the win.
6) La Parka, Pagano, Psycho Clown b Electroshock, Rey Escorpión, Taurus 17:08. Psycho Clown pinned Taurus with a casita to give the win to AAA (3-2). Rey Escorpion pulled off Psycho’s mask post match.
The better of the two streaming shows even with nothing must see and really of being no consequence. Everything is pretty watchable as long as you’re not on hour five straight of watching lucha libre.
The announcers closed the show by talking about it being the final AAA/Elite show. I think they meant in 2019. Still, AAA did finally win of these so it would be time to move on. The crowd was good for this show, both in numbers and reactions, but the distinction between AAA & Elite wrestlers is very thin at this point. The concept worked well for this show – giving a show that had no real purpose otherwise a narrative to exist – so I don’t expect it’ll ever go away, but I think interest in AAA itself is going to be the draw and not the “promotion rivalry”.
Next AAA tapings (believed to be airing on Twitch, though it has not yet been officially announced):
01/19 in Mexico City
01/26 in Ciudad Madero
02/08 in Mazatlan
02/10 in Tepic – announced locally late last week.
There were so many other shows on Christmas Day. A common theme is a lot of those people double/triple booked ended up just not working all of those shows. (This is similar to that overcrowded August date.) Hades/Hahastary made the 2pm CAR The Crash show and the AAA TV taping, but guys like Mr. Electro and Golden Magic were listed in multiple places at the same time and it was never going to happen. The CMLL people more often did so, but even that was far from perfect. I don’t know that i have full results from anything because they’re so scattered, but some things of note
Rush has not wrestled in Arena Mexico since December 7th and he’s not on the most recent set of lineups. Rush didn’t wrestle anywhere in CMLL on Christmas (the only other notable names to not be booked were Titan & Fuego) and he isn’t on the cards announced the last few days. There are rumors he and CMLL may be having issues, but he’s also clearly been on vacation for part of that time. This is something worth keeping an eye on but I don’t know if there’s anything to it at this point.
The LLB/Lucha Memes show had the Imposible/Stuka title match changed to Imposible/Flyer. That’a downgrade. Imposible kept the title. They teased a Multifacetico/Multifacetico mask match (shrug) and did some stuff with the MexaWrestling feud. Luchadors representing that promotion offered Los Kamikazes del Ring to join them after they won a multi-team trios match, though it didn’t seem like Aramis and crew were going to take them up on it. That reads like the best match on paper but reviews were scarce. Turnout seemed to better at least
The FILLM/Arena San Juan main event sounds as if it didn’t go well, with Corsario Negro Jr. picking up a knee injury. A Euforia/Fresero Jr. singles match led to a Mr. Iguana run-in and a challenge for a tag match with Soberano.
The Arena Lopez Mateos show seemed to get the most messed with by people not being there. The Caristico/Dragon Lee vs Cibernetico/Penta main came off (Penta fouled Caristico). The semimain had an entire trios team not be there. The Golden Magic, Flamtia, Emperador Azteca vs Sadico, Dragon Bane, Imposible match ended up as Flamtia & Sadico versus Cerebro Negro & Super Comando somehow.
The best rudo in the semi-main is Mascara 2000, maybe? If Hijo del Villano III turns out to be good (he was just fine on Tuesday), he’ll be moved up quick. It is too bad they didn’t move up Sagrado when he still cared.
CMLL (SUN) 12/30/2018Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Inquisidor & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Maligna vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica
3) Black Panther, Drone, Magnus vs Sagrado, Sangre Azteca, Virus
4) Titán vs Felino [lightning]
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Valiente
6) Dragón Lee, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero
That seems like a fun main event which we’ll never see. Maligna makes her return from Japan.
CMLL (SUN) 12/30/2018Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Amperaje, Cosmos, Micro vs Frenético, Paymon, Relámpago Azul
2) El Divino, El Yaqui, Tigre Blanco vs Demonio Maya, Exterminador, Thunder Boy
3) Mágico, Principe Daniel, Sky Kid vs Mr. Apolo, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
4) Joker, Metatrón, Star Black, Vaquero Jr. vs Difunto, Furia Roja, León Blanco, Maléfico
5) Gran Kenut vs Smaker [mask]
That’s not the tag title feud. I guess Smaker is the favorite to lose because he just came back for this feud but it seems strange he be losing to a 35 year old instead of someone younger. This feud is too quick for anyone really to care but it is an actual intriguing match in terms of outcome
Hijo del Villano III, Mephisto, Villano IVbeat Atlantis, Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr. (11:08 [3:23, 2:29, 5:16], 1/3, good, 01:21:30)
Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Carístico, Dragón Lee, Valiente (10:22 [6:05, 4:17], 1/2, ok, 01:42:17)
What happened:
unsafe at any age
Caristico and UG feuded in the main event, with UG sneaking in his heel kick foul for the win.
Atlantis brought out Atlantis Jr. as an introduction. The Villanos were upset about Atlantis upstaging Hijo del Villano III’s own introduction and attacked. Atlantis Jr. was dragged away from security from fighting the Villanos. Villano IV got the clean pin on Atlantis.
Flyer picked up a lower leg injury on his code red to finish Templario. It might have affected his poor performance in the third fall.
Thoughts:
The main event was a simple build-up to next week’s singles match. Hopefully everyone won’t be so focused on their others matches next week and obviously be taking it easy. It was nice to see Dragon Lee in Arena Mexico again but this wasn’t much of a match for him. It wasn’t a lot for anyone.
The semifinal was more energetic than most Atlantis matches, with the angle before the match getting both the crowd and the wrestlers into it. Atlantis Jr. looked like he wanted to fight, which is a good first moment for him. Hijo de Villano III was alright, though he didn’t do much that would’ve caused him to stand out on his own. Villano IV looked great, fighting strong and taking big bumps. I don’t know if CMLL has already decided on a heavy Atlantis/V4 direction or if Villano was simply auditioning for it. It was a good first step either way.
before it went bad for Flyer
Expectations for the fourth match weren’t high – it may be Christmas, but it also still is Tuesday – yet it was still a bit of a letdown. Flyer just went off the rails in his big third fall moment, negating a nice code red earlier. Virus at least did cut him off when he hesitatedon his dive. Templario had some good moments but struggled to put his finishing submission on. No one else really stood out positively.
Signo & Akuma messed up a clothesline spot off the bat and it didn’t get better from there. As an ordinary match, it wasn’t much good. As something to make people care about their mask/hair match next week, it was even worse. CMLL should be embarrassed about this feud.
welcome back
This Micros match was one of the better-executed ones in a while. Everything built up to Microman’s run of offense, and he and Chamuel pulled it off well. Everyone else did fine, and they didn’t overextend themselves. Mije seemed get hurt or be a little off in the third fall and the dive sequence was a little weird, but otherwise this was good fun.
It is possible Acero & Aereo have gotten better wrestling a thousand opening matches. It is possible we will never know as long as they keep wrestling the likes of Pequeño Universo. Aereo’s the better of the two, at least. This wouldn’t have been the opener I would’ve picked for a special Tuesday show but they probably didn’t have a lot to pick from.
