Day: April 19, 2019

CMLL Parejas Increibles Block B tonight

thecubsfan

Today’s the second block of the annual Parejas Increibles tournament. Tonight’s tournaments teams

  • Overwhelming favorites: Último Guerrero & Volador Jr.
  • Reasonable alternatives: Niebla Roja & Terrible, Cuatrero & Místico
  • Would be real surprises: Rush & Vangellys, Atlantis & Negro Casas, Gran Guerrero & Valiente, Hechicero & Stuka Jr., and Audaz & Templario

Hechicero versus Stuka Jr. is probably a bigger potential mask match than Gran Guerrero & Niebla Roja and putting those two in the final would be a strong way to set it up for September, but CMLL hasn’t seemed interested in pursuing it. Atlantis & Negro Casas is fun in theory but putting Atlantis in a big match with Titan & Cavernario seems unwise. Audaz & Templario would be huge but they’re lucky to even be included. Maybe I’m underrating Rush’s chances but it doesn’t seem like a great fit of the final either. The interesting thing there is Vangellys mentioned on Informa that he was a sub for Diamante Azul, meaning Rush was originally in this tournament as a rudo and now is a tecnico. Valiente’s chances of winning are best summed up by this article which believes he’s teaming with Ultimo Guerrero tonight.

Ultimo Guerrero & Volador were in the final last year, lost, and had a strong match in that final. CMLL could just do that again. Niebla Roja & Terrible is recent apuesta match participants following up their feud, while Cuatrero & Mistico has one rising star in CMLL. It is still strange that star is not Mistico, though a block win here could turn that around a bit.

The rest of the show is not super interesting, but everything looks solid. Hijo del Villano III & Atlantis Jr. resume their matches in the fourth match, with Angel de Oro, Caristico, Rey Bucanero, and Sanson around them. It is unclear if CMLL is going to do anything beyond the tournament final next week. Running the first Hijo del Villano/Atlantis Jr. lightning match would be interesting, though I’m not sure if they’re ready yet.

I am definitely not sure if the people in this week’s lightning match are ready for each other. Rey Cometa will likely be fired up to do exciting things with Japan eyes on his match and always does a lot of dives. He’ll be doing it with Kawato San, infamous for his inability to catch dives or do much of anything cleanly in CMLL. This is going to be a challenge. This is also about the point where the NJPW visitor starts to get in a focused rivalry. A hair versus hair match with Kawato San & Rey Cometa makes as much sense as anything. On the other hand, Rey Cometa has changed his character around to be an undead spirit and may come a lot closer to the gimmick after this match. It is pretty exciting!

Japan’s Tae Honma debuts in the second match, teaming with Princesa Sughiet and Kaho Kobayashi against Amapola, Dalys, and Reyna Isis. I have no idea how good Honma is or will be in Mexico but that lineup seems like they’re hoping for a good match. Miruhon has an article about Honma’s week so far, which includes training at Arena Rey Bucanero.

Coyote & Grako, who need a team since they actually do team up all the time, face Arkalis & Halcon Suriano Jr. in the opener. The former Stukita seems to take a lot of his own bookings and so isn’t featured much by CMLL. This is his first Friday night match since December 14th. The four guys in the opener are capable of a good match, but just have to put it together.

CMLL airs on Marca and Facebook and I’ll stream it on YouTube as well.

Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

The FILLM show for tomorrow in Arena San Juan, with an NGD trios title defense, has been canceled due to family reasons.

05/04 The Crash

AAA has a TV taping in San Luis Potosi on 07/03. Taya is on the poster, though something this early doesn’t mean much. Also, there’s a Monterrey TV taping coming up in June, but they’ve made a bizarre choice to remove the day it is happening from the poster. You can see the top of either a 2 or a 9 right below the Domingo. Maybe it’s changing, maybe lucha libre is just weird.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

The latest in the Fantasma losing his gym story is he and friends blocked traffic to force a meeting, but still didn’t get to see the mayor. It may happen next week. Fantasma says he doesn’t want the space back, just people to be the general vengeance of seeing someone pay legally.

Lineup

CMLL (TUE) 04/23/2019 Arena México
1) Angelito & Fantasy vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Magia Blanca, Pegasso, Star Jr. vs Metálico, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
3) Drone, Fuego, Rey Cometa vs Kawato San, Pólvora, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Flyer vs Templario [lightning]
5) Audaz, Blue Panther, Kráneo vs Rey Bucanero, Sansón, Shocker
6) Carístico, Rush, Titán vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Caristico/Ultimo Guerrero as the Arena Mexico 04/30 main event? A trios title match with a very odd team? A random cibernetico?

Flyer/Templario just happened two weeks ago. (I just watched it this week.) It was fine. It probably shouldn’t be happening again.

How to Watch AAA

thecubsfan 1 Comment

(maybe a series? trying to figure out how to make this work)

updated 2020-02-13

AAA airs TV tapings on Twitch for free. Those shows are (usually) edited into two TV episodes, air on TV, and then those TV episodes are uploaded on to AAA’s YouTube channel.

TWITCH

AAA streams live events on Twitch on an irregular schedule. All live shows are free with commercial breaks for all. Those breaks can happen during matches. A $5/month subscription will give you a commercial-free version and VOD capabilities.

AAA has separate Spanish and English language channels. Both channels now broadcast every live event. The Spanish feed broadcasts a never-ending stream of old AAA TV episodes. The English channel is dormant between events.

There is no set schedule for AAA events. In 2020, they’ve aired on alternate Saturday nights on at 8 pm CT and appear to be staying on that slot for a while to come. It probably won’t stay that way for all year. AAA will mention the show dates among many other dates on their social media. I have also started a Twitter account (@aaanextshow) that focuses only the next AAA show start time. The first match usually begins about 20 minutes after the listed start time and run between two and three hours.

If you pay for Amazon Prime, there is a (complicated) process to get VOD free for a Twitch channel of your choice. It could be either AAA one, though not both. The free subscription lasts for 30 days and does not auto-renew. You can change channels, or even just want until the next time you want to see VOD free.

YouTube

AAA also posts an episode of their show on their YouTube channel most Sunday nights. It includes three or four matches and may include character content not shown on the live stream. The matches are also uploaded individually later in the week.

The YouTube show is always well behind the Twitch live stream. It’s always at least three weeks and can greatly increase during the year. Some matches may be cut from live shows and not-safe-for-YouTube entrance music will be removed or dubbed over.

Facebook

AAA has aired a limited run series called Lucha Capital on their Facebook page. The series usually airs Wednesday nights in the Fall. AAA has said the series will return in 2020 but has not announced a date.

PlutoTV

An AAA stream airs on Pluto TV Channel 218. This airs old episodes of AAA TV similar to the Twitch stream, though they show different episodes at different times. It does not show live events.

Worldwide TV

If you live outside of Mexico, you can not currently watch AAA on your TV. It is not on Galavision in the US and has not been for many years. It is not on any other US-based network.

Mexico TV

AAA airs on three networks in Mexico

  • Azteca7: Friday afternoons at 4:30 pm CT
  • Space: Friday evenings at 6:30 pm CT
  • Multimedios: Sunday afternoons at 3:00 pm CT

Space also airs in many South American countries. Multimedios is available on some US cable systems.

AAA staggers the TV episodes, so each channel is getting a different show each week. Matches will generally air on Azteca7 the first week, Space the following week, and Multimedios (& YouTube) the third week.

WATCH GUIDE

  • Following AAA storylines is a double edge sword. AAA expects you to remember everything that happened and also forget everything when they do too. You need a lot of forgiveness or little investment.
  • no matter what is hyped, the only match guaranteed to actually happen is the main event at TripleMania and even that is only after they’ve done a public contract signing
  • There will be giant evil groups formed. Those first shows will be fun. There will be many more shows. The group will wither away without the good guys doing anything. Accept that going in.
  • Titles are very important when they’re on screen and might as well not exist when they’re off-screen. Personal feuds take precedence.
  • AAA does spotfests and hardcore matches very well. They have no interest in technical matches. They do encourage everyone to have the best match they possibly can, which means the openers are sometimes the best matches for the disregard of their own safety.
  • the underlining theme of AAA is to get the crowd to react. If that is done with a cool move or a satisfying finish, great. If they can accomplish it by a referee refusing to count, that works for them just as well. AAA covets having an internet/worldwide fan base but the product is almost all directed at the live audience. They’re going with what works for those folks and the rest of us are along for the ride.