Month: March 2019

CMLL (SAT) 03/30/2019 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro b Acero & Aéreo
rudos took 1/3
2) Avispa Dorada, Lluvia, Sanely b La Metálica, La Seductora, Tiffany
tecnicas took 1/3, though CMLL says Avispa had a rough landing on her dive to Metalica at the end of the match.
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Flyer b Sangre Azteca, Universo 2000 Jr., Vangellys
Sangre Azteca replaced Polvora. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Príncipe Diamante, Valiente, Volcano DQ Felino, Máscara Año 2000, Negro Casas
Principe Diamante replaced Valiente (moved up.) Mascara 2000 replaced Shocker. Tecnicos took 1/3, the last when Casas fouled Kraneo.
5) Soberano Jr. © b Templario [MEX WELTER]
Soberano took falls 2/3, the last with a Fire Driver. 6th defense
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Valiente b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
Valiente replaced Mistico.

Templario and Soberano talk their title match, and Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. hype next week’s show Ovaciones was wrong, CMLL now says next Saturday is their Arena Coliseo Anniversary show.

CMLL (SUN) 03/31/2019 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Magnus & Sangre Imperial b El Coyote & Grako
tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Amapola, La Comandante, Reyna Isis b La Jarochita, Mystique, Skadi
rudas took 2/3.
3) Shockercito © b Pierrothito [CMLL MINI]
Shockercito took falls 2/3, the last with a reinera, for his 5th defense
4) Blue Panther, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Kawato San, Luciferno, Tiger
tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Dark Magic, La Bestia Del Ring, Máscara Año 2000 b Ángel de Oro, Flyer, Niebla Roja
straight falls?
6) Atlantis Jr., Carístico, Volador Jr. b Mephisto, Negro Casas, Terrible
Mephisto replaced Shocker (who missed both matches this week.) Tecnicos took 1/3, Atlantis surprising with Terrible with a huracarrana.

Shockercito celebrated his title defense. Have we considered the possibility CMLL is trying to improve Mascara 2000’s rating as a wrestler by surrounding him with some extremely challenging partners? I can’t think of another reason that match happened. Whatever the deal was with Atlantis Jr. disappearing for a few weeks obviously isn’t slowing down his march of victories upon his return.

PWInsider posted a list of talent expected for the AAA press conference on Thursday. I’ll save you a link: AAA wants to get anyone with AAA affiliation who is working in New York on WrestleMania weekend on that press conference. If they’re not there, it is probably just a matter of being unable to rework their travel plans in time (and having to rework travel plans can tell you a little bit about the lead time here.)  I was thinking of reworking my flight because it seemed very important to try to get into a AAA press conference at MSG (assuming I’m allowed in!) but then I found out the change fee was $200+ and it was suddenly not very important to me. You can all let me know what happens. Or just make things up, it’ll be hard to tell at this point.

Cain Velasquez admitted to ESPN Mexico Digital that he could not name a single AAA luchador. Velasquez does know he has to learn a lot and says he’ll look for the best trainers in Mexico & the US. This is why I have trouble believing the original comments were part of a plan – there’s not much here that suggests anything else has been planned out. There’s also an article where Velasquez predicts a luchador will one day cross over and do well in MMA.

Velasquez on the card is going to drive interest and sell some tickets. Blue Demon Jr. and Dr. Wagner Jr. is going to drive interest and sell some tickets and might also be dramatically good. I would like the next TripleMania match to be announced just to be something that is good in line with the rest of AAA’s TV though, even if it is not going to drive interest or sell tickets.

Canal Space posted one of their occasional AAA documentaries, “La Vida de Lucha“. It appears to be exactly what it says, various people talking about the life of being a luchador. El Mexicano is in there mentioned as an AAA trainer; that’s what everyone figured when he showed up on some spot lineups but AAA doesn’t mention their trainers much. There’s also a Dr. Maligno in there who looks like indie wrestler Golden. A lot of the footage feels like it may be from last year but they do have a vignette with an Eclipse who looks like a lot like the Eclipse Vengador Jr. from Rey de Reyes so maybe not.

 

The Friday AAA show in Arena Queretaro was said to be a full house, which would be about 2000.

The Crash on 04/13 in Auditorio de Tijuana

• Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, and TBD vs NGD
• Carlito & Mesias vs Los Traumas vs Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja
• Rey Horus vs Adam Brooks vs Flamita vs Titan vs ?
• Los Haraganes vs Xperia, Torito Negro, Toto
• Triple Amenaza vs Mr. Iguana, Fresero Jr., Craven – new

A story on a lucha libre school in Paraguay.

CMLL (FRI) 03/29/2019 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Lost in Lucha, Lucha Central, Marca, Ovaciones, thecubsfan, Yahoo!]
1) Akuma & Disturbio b Pegasso & Stigma 
13:22. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Drone b Kawato San, Tiger, Virus 
12:27. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Felino, Rey Bucanero, Templario b Esfinge, Flyer, Tritón 
13:57. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Dragón Lee, Místico, Titán b Cuatrero, Negro Casas, Sansón 
14:29. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Cavernario © b Forastero [MEX LH] 
20:57. Cavernario won falls 2/3 for his first defense.
6) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. DQ Naito, Rush, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles] 
10:18. Naito stopping by on the way to MSG (and Costa Rica.) Tecnicos took straight falls, the second by DQ when Rush fouled Volador. Ingobernables left Caristico and Valiente unmasked as well.

The Los Ingobernables CMLL promo features Naito talking in Japanese for about 20 seconds and Rush & Terrible admitting they had no idea what he just said. Barbaro Cavernario talks about his win. Titan, Dragon Lee and Mistico is this week’s tecnico trio who believes they should keep teaming going forward and challenge for titles who actually will not team up again for three months.

This was a much better show than last week even with the title match not being quite as good as hope. Forastero underwhelmed in a singles match, or at least reminded us that the NGD guys are still young and relatively inexperienced with areas to improve. Effort in the first three matches seemed up, with a general idea that NJPW eyes might be watching. The guys in the top half of the card probably already feel good about their chances of going to Japan but there are always a few bottom rung FantasticaMania spots that a lot of people are hoping to get.

Naito was the CMLL luchador taking photos with fans at Arena Mexico before the show. That’ll cost slightly more next week.

CMLL has two title matches this weekend. Templario challenges Soberano for the Mexican Welterweight Championship on Arena Coliseo’s 76th Anniversary show. Shockercito defends his CMLL Minis Estrellas Championship against forever rival Pierrothito on Sunday’s Arena Mexico show. This is Shockercito’s fifth defense and second against Pierrothito, who he beat to win the title. Neither match is expected to have a title change or be uploaded on CMLL’s YouTube channel.

Pirata Morgan will have a 40 year anniversary show in Arena Neza this Sunday. SuperLuchas interviews him, where Pirata explains the “mejor luchador del mundo” nickname was given to him in 1984 on an Arena Mexico show and he feels that still counts. The two matches people still talk to him about are his hair matches with El Faraon and Vampiro. He’s planning on doing a retirement tour when he’s 60, in three years. He says he imagines doing it like Perro Aguayo did, which means he could still be wrestling when he’s 65.

Other indie shows which may turn up include the debut of the Pro Wrestling Resurrecion on Saturday in Arena Lopez Mateos. The new main event is scheduled to be Ricky Marvin & Super Crazy vs Cuervo & Scoria vs Fantasma & Dos Caras Junior. It was originally a submission match, not sure if still is, not sure why it ever was with those people. Lucha Memes is back on Sunday in Coacalco with the Demus versus Gato de Ecatepec hair versus mask match, where there will be blood. Gato is locally popular but I will be sad if Demus loses to him. Virus versus Flamita, Super Crazy vs Aeroboy, Arez vs Ricky Marvin and Aramis vs Negro Casas are on the card, which figures to turn up on +LuchaTV in a month. Guess there’s a chance the Black Mask show in Tulancingo could turn up too, +Lucha sometimes mentions their results. That has an Aeroboy/Arez match. IWRG has Hijo del Canis Lupus vs Hijo de Medico Asesino title match, and also new tag champs Aramis & Imposible teaming with Ciclon Ramirez against Dragon Bane, Eterno and Golden Magic.

Thursday’s AAA show in Toluca is said to have drawn around 3,000 people. The Myztezyz Jr, Hijo del Vikingo y Drago vs Carta Brava Jr, Mocho Cota Jr and Tito Santana match was said to be pretty good.

This happened at the Arena Big Punch show in Tijuana last night, which sounds like it was a good show.

Lucha Central has TV ratings for CMLL & AAA this past week. CMLL drew 1.1 million viewers, about where it has been the last two weeks of known numbers. AAA drew 3.3 million viewers. They had 4.4 million two weeks ago, so about 25% of their audience has disappeared over that time. It’s still three times as much as CMLL gets but that’s not a good trend.

YouTube took down RobViper’s channel. He’s not sure what video got copyright strikes; YouTube still hasn’t notified him. When luchablog got similarly killed, it was the Brazil company which owned Terra who issued all the strikes in short order. Best guess is it’s a music violation, but there’s usually no strikes for that. The big problem for us is we lose all those music videos. The big problem for Rob is he had hundreds of subscriptions to obscure channels. If you have obscure lucha libre YouTube channel recommendations, he could use them.

AAA put up the Juventud Guerrera versus Rey Mysterio Jr. TripleMania IV match with each man’s car on the line. That’s a stipulation that should be brought back.

Leon Chino Negro and Monterrey’s Estudiante have passed away in recent days according to Box Y Lucha. Leon Chino had a distinctive mask and is known as one of Hijo del Santo’s mask victories.

Monclova’s Deja Vu lost his mask in a ruleta de la muerte on Thursday in Arena Tigre Padilla to local Black Metal. He is Genario Sanchez, 25, brother of Baby Rap.

An interview with long term San Luis Potosi luchador Break Demon.

Lineup

CMLL (FRI) 04/05/2019 Arena México
1) Magnus & Robin vs Metálico & Sangre Azteca
2) La Jarochita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany
3) Audaz, Flyer, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
4) Hechicero vs Felino [lightning]
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Místico vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
6) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Gilbert el Boricua, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible

This is not strong. I think I’ll be ok missing this live.

The main event feels like CMLL forgot Rush was going to be in New York and just threw La Bestia in his spot instead of rebooking the card.

Semi-main is Atlantis Jr.’s first appearance on a streaming show since February 11th. He did miss a couple of weeks entirely, so maybe there was a minor injury. Cavernario is back here after facing Dragon Lee on Thursday (so don’t expect him to be a MSG surprise.)

Hechicero wrestling on a Friday night means Televisa is out a commentator. Shocker would probably be the replacement if he was around. Maybe Rey Bucanero? Maybe Estrellita?

No Kaho so the finish last week with her and Amapola is just random.

NJPW’s Tetsuya Naito makes his annual appearance in Arena Mexico tonight. It’s part of a weekend trip to the southern part of North America, wrestling for CMLL tonight and Costa Rica’s CWE tomorrow. He’ll team with fellow Los Ingobernables members Rush & Terrible to take on Caristico, Valiente, and Volador in tonight’s main event. Naito’s appearance with BUSHI and EVIL last year was more an event than a match and this may be the same.

The match that looks like a safer bet to be a good match is the semi-main, where Cavernario defends the Mexican Light Heavyweight championship (just go with it) against NGD’s Forastero. The challenger is better in trios matches, but Cavernario always comes thru in big matches. With Naito and extra NJPW attention, this will be a good match.

The fourth match is pretty good too, with Cuatrero & Sanson teaming with Negro Casas against Dragon Lee, Mistico and Titan. Esfinge and Triton add Flyer to their team for the night to take on Templario, Felino and Rey Bucanero. Kawato makes an appearance on a show with extra Japanse attention, teaming with Tigre & Virus against the Panther brothers and Drone. Pegasso & Stigma open up against Akuma & Disturbio.

CMLL starts at 8:30 pm local, which is still one hour later if you changed clocks. There’s only about eight more days of this time issue. CMLL will stream on Facebook & Marca (currently geoblocked but probably not later), and I’ll be streaming it on YouTube. It’ll be up on CMLL’s YouTube later and there’s a good chance Naito’s match will end up on NJPW World in the future.

I will be lost in New York next week so maybe don’t count on a YouTube stream.

Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

AAA will have a press conference (Thursday) April 4th at 11:30 AM at Madison Square Garden. AAA sent out the info to some people in the press but hasn’t publically announced it. It is presumed to be the thing Konnan hinted at on his podcast, an announcement of AAA show to take place in that arena later that year. AAA had plans, known but never formally announced, to run the building last year. At the time, the idea it wasn’t enough time to be ready and they’d hold it off until 2019. That just seemed AAA talk that wouldn’t go anywhere, but 2019 appears to be a year of AAA talking big and then actually doing the big thing.

Last year’s plan was to run on Mexican Independence Day, on September 16th. That’s a Monday this year. My pretty safe guess is they’ll be running on Sunday the 15th. (In no great coincidence, a leak of the WWE schedule reveals they’re planning on running shows in MSG Monday & Tuesday of that week.)

The big question is what will AAA actually be running with? A regular AAA show will be a tough show, and they’re already running their biggest show of the year about six weeks prior. (This MSG plan would explain why TripleMania is earlier than usual.) AAA bringing back the Lucha World Cup idea seems plausible, especially now that they’re working with AEW and other promotions. The 2018 MSG plan included a never-named media sponsor footing most of the bill, and those previous World Cups were sponsor funded events. There was also a stated plan to run the US after running Mexico (where the concept worked well) and Japan (where the concept didn’t work as well), though again no one believed AAA because they’ve been talking about coming to the US forever. The difficulty is going to be getting all the people who might appear on a World Cup show – or really any AAA show – into the country without running into visa issues.

I’m not going to be attending this press conference. My plane from Chicago takes off about a half hour before this starts. I would’ve come in earlier if I had known this was happening. If someone else wants to pretend to be luchablog, maybe go ahead and try.

Alberto el Patron was out promoting the Combates Americas April Monterrey show yesterday. He told MedioTiempo that his long-awaited MMA fight that was originally supposed to be happening around now is still happening, he just needed more time to prepare. He’s aiming for October in Los Angeles or Las Vegas. Patron says he was originally going to face Cain Velasquez, but Velasques opted to re-sign with UFC instead. He’d be open to facing Velasquez in a wrestling match but says it would be complicated to have a MMA match.

The Christi Jaynes vs Vanilla Vargas vs Lady Flammer match scheduled for the 04/06 MexaWrestling show is off, with both Jaynes and Vargas having late changes of plans that’ll keep them off the card. That’s a tournament match and the promotion hasn’t decided if to put other women in the tournament or have a mixed tag with Flammer.

El Hijo del Santo’s column in El Grafico today is his final for the newspaper. He’s been writing there for five years after leaving Record and is complimentary to the media outlet. It reads like he has no plans to move onto a different paper.

This Entereprenuer bio of Caristico has 10 tips to beat your competition. Caristico says he’s going to retire in about 9 years. That sounds random, but it would be 30 after his debut.

AAA posted Fishman, Jerry Estrada, May Flowers and Villano V vs Winners, Super Calo, La Parka and El Mexicano from TripleMania IV (Ciudad Madero version) on YouTube, following the minis match from that show. The next match on that show is Rey Mysterio versus Juventud Guerrera car match. Copies of that match, unlike the others, exist on the internet but I would post any Rey Mysterio match I have if I was AAA.

The Crash on 04/13 in Auditorio de Tijuana

• Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, and TBD vs NGD
• Carlito & Mesias vs Los Traumas vs Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja
• Rey Horus vs Adam Brooks vs Flamita vs Titan vs ?
• Los Haraganes vs Xperia, Torito Negro, Toto – new

Puma King goes to a hockey game.

An interview with Super Hades.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 04/02/2019 Arena México
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito
2) Metatrón, Star Jr., Súper Astro Jr. vs Cancerbero, Hijo del Signo, Raziel
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. vs Kawato San, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
4) Rey Cometa vs Templario [lightning]
5) Guerrero Maya Jr., Titán, Tritón vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
6) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.

This looks better than usual for Tuesday, as did last week. The lightning match follows up on this past week’s foul, something that’s been suggested for lightning matches since the moment CMLL brought them back.

Metatron is back. You probably didn’t notice he was gone. He last appeared here in February, disappeared until December, and has only been wrestling in Guadalajara since. That suggests an injury but I can’t recall hearing about one.

CMLL (TUE) 04/02/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Amperaje, Cosmos, Micro vs Jabalí, Paymon, Relámpago Azul
2) Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante, Star Black vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Furia Roja
3) Fuego, Pegasso, Stigma vs Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr., Virus
4) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Mephisto, Negro Casas

Dragon Lee/Cavernario build up trios for WrestleCon.

AAA TV (SUN) 04/28/2019 Domo Binacional, Nogales, Sonora [AAA]
1) Faby Apache & La Hiedra vs Chik Tormenta & Lady Maravilla
2) Sammy Guevara vs Jack Evans, Australian Suicide [AAA CRUISER, #1 Contenders]
3) Flamita, Hijo Del Vikingo, Villano III Jr. vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
4) Golden Magic, La Parka, Niño Hamburguesa vs Averno, Chessman, Dave The Clown
5) Laredo Kid, Psycho Clown, Puma King vs Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Texano Jr.

Nothing too huge on this taping. This is the second half of a weekend swing with Mexicali, though Cage & Daga seem not to be part of the second show. Dave the Clown and La Hiedra are added.

Dave will be thrilled his feud with La Parka is back on. Villano III Jr. & Hiedra will be shocked at being tecnicos for a night. The Second match is the new rudo trio already having a match against each other because they did all the tecnicos against each other in Mexicali. This does reveal that the upcoming Laredo Kid defense is a multi-person match, but it usually is.

It looks like the current AAA policy is to announce cards about a month out. That means we should get another lineup next week for Los Mochis if that show is still happening.