April 27, 2019 – luchablog

AAA on Twitch: 2019-04-26 (Mexicali)

April 27, 2019May 6, 2019 thecubsfan

Recapped: 04/27/2019

Matches:

Black Destiny beat Skalibur, Fantastik, Rayo Star, Drake, Genio del Aire to win the EMW Middleweight championship
(5:53, Black Destiny top rope Canadian Destroyer on Skalibur, good, 00:21:00)

Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa beat Jonathan & Lady Maravilla
(9:06, stereo middle rope splashes, ok, 00:37:18)

Hijo del Tirantes & Chik Tormenta beat Faby Apache & Taya
(8:59, DQ; Hijo del Tirantes faked foul, 00:56:28)

Hijo Del Vikingo beat Golden Magic, Villano III Jr., Flamita in a Number One Contenders for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
(16:39, great, 01:16:13)

medical stop Villano III Jr. (8:57)
Flamita superbomb Villano III (11:57)
Hijo del Vikingo inverted 450 splash Flamita (16:39)

Daga & Taurus beat Brian Cage & Laredo Kid
(11:01, Taurus Rosa Driver Laredo Kid, good, 01:43:18)

Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Australian Suicide, Daga, Jack Evans
(11:35, Mocho Cota Jr. splash Australian Suicide, good, 02:06:36)

La Parka, Psycho Clown, Puma King beat Chessman, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr.
(17:53, Psycho Clown torito Rey Escorpion, good, 02:26:53)

What happened:

After about 8 minutes of the main event, Taurus arrives to take out La Parka with a spear, which leaves La Parka injured and out of the match. Laredo Kid runs in for the save and takes him out with a dive. Poder del Norte attack Lareod and take him out. Vikingo shows up with a stick but the numbers get the better of him, and they all quickly brawling to the back. Murder Clown shows up next and – much like happened six weeks ago in Sinaloa – he substitutes for La Parka’s place in the match. Kross shows up about 16 minutes in, pulls Puma King out, and powerbombs him thru a table. It really doesn’t matter, because Psycho beats Rey Escorpión clean a moment later with a torito and Puma celebrates with this team. Puma is in the middle of challenging Kross to a singles match when Texano attacks him from behind. Taurus comes back out to help and is now wearing a Rey Escorpión shirt. Escorpión and Taurus come over to the announce desk later to scream about. Konnan points out that makes him a new Mercenario.

Killer Kross replaced Daga, who moved into Guevera’s spot in the next match. Daga is anti-Perros del Mal but using the Perros del Mal music. For AAA reasons, Jesus Zuniga introduced the Poder del Norte trios match before the Taurus tag match. Poder del Norte came out seemingly randomly to distract Laredo Kid at the finish. Vikingo makes the save after the match, and it sets up a trios title match.

The cruiserweight match was temporary stopped just about 9 minutes in when Hijo del Villano suffers a right shoulder injury. It is treated with grave seriousness, though it also looks like it might have been a work.

The mystery person is never given a name but is someone wearing Averno’s gear and mask. It becomes quickly clear it is Hijo del Tirantes, and Faby unmasks him by about six minutes in. Hijo del Tirantes has Faby Apache seemingly defeated with a Devil’s Wings, but holds up the count. Faby immediately gets up and cradles him, but referee Copetes holds up the count for no apparent reason. (It is possible Chik Tormenta was supposed to grab him from outside the ring; Copetes turns to her to react to nothing we see.) Hijo del Tirantes fakes a foul to draw the DQ.

Jonathan does not keep up with the show, because he seems wrongly concerned when Maravilla starts flirting with Niño Hamburguesa. Big Mami is rightly concerned. Again, Niño Hamburguesa & Big Mami are almost enough to win despite Hamburguesa refusing to hit Maravilla, but Mami is violently annoyed with Hamburgesa’s refusal to hit the woman who definitely is not her girlfriend. Hamburguesa checks on Maravilla after the match, so Big Mami fakes a fainting spell to get attention instead. Hamburguesa catches her, but then dumps her off on Jonathan and carries Maravilla off.

A video from Drago (who is in Australia) airs before the match, announcing he has to give up the EMW Middleweight Championship due to being so busy elsewhere. This was the championship he was originally to defend on the previous taping in Tijuana.

Neither Hugo nor Vampiro is around. I didn’t catch an explanation. Jesus Zuniga replaces Hugo for most of the show, with Konnan kicking him out and taking over for the last two matches. Konnan starts doing impressions of Hugo’s catchphrase, which is funny the first couple times but as much not the dozen or so that follow.

The May 2^nd Elite show was promoted.

Thoughts:

The main event had at least seven run-ins and was chaos, though better than usual La Parka main event chaos. He wasn’t really involved much when he was around. Chessman wasn’t much good either, but the waves of people getting involved kept a long match more fun than a standard match would’ve been. Murder Clown does well in técnico offense runs, which still seems weird. Psycho Clown was good as usual. Puma vs Kross is a weird use of both those guys but better than the no use they’ve been on.

The semi-main wasn’t good enough to overcome being a rudo versus rudo match where the two teams didn’t have much reason to fight. (They really needed to come up with a reason, even if just for one night.) It’s tough to have matches just for matches sake when you get this late into an AAA card and have seen just about everything. There was some iffy-ness here – Jack Evans didn’t have a strong night – through the Poder del Norte being a machine helped make this at least worthwhile. This was not bad by any means but it may be one working better out of context on its own because it didn’t have much of one on this show.

The 2v2 match was about doing a big man Cage/Kross standoff, which got a little reaction. Taurus & Laredo Kid were the more interesting pair. Cage & Laredo worked well for a makeshift team and Taurus destroying people is always fine. The Rodeo Driver on Laredo looked especially brutal. There finish of Laredo Kid diving onto people who just showed up at ringside was a bit cheesy but the match they’re setting up should be as good fun as always. Not sure when they’re going to do all these matches though.

The four ways stupendous, strong use of elimination rules to give some great chaotic action early and a good back and forth at the end. All four men had strong nights. Golden Magic had a positive night, looking on point with his flying before being powerbombed out of the match. Villano III Jr. was fighting out of his experience class and fitting in fine before his demise. Flamita had one of his best individual showings in AAA, really making the ending series with Hijo del Vikingo really come together. His offense looks great and he probably is the only one in this match with the experience to lean into the Vikingo reaction and switch to leaning more rudo at the end to make the finish a bigger deal. This Flamita is a luxury as an extra midcard person in AAA. I have no idea how long he’ll be happy just working the middle of the card matches, but he’s so the right guy to work the AAA young guys who have only faced each other so far, and I hope we get more of him and Vikingo somehow. The Villano injury bit derailed the match and there was a double cutter spot that was quite bad, but the match entirely is something you should go out of your way to see.

The (mostly) women’s match was fine, though it couldn’t help but think it would’ve been better with an actual fourth woman. Tirantes wrestles and was fine as a base, but he didn’t do much early. Chik Tormenta looked impressive with what was basically a showcase for her, but it limited the match. It also meant nonsense to end it. The finishing sequence is very unsatisfying, with Hijo del Tirantes passing up a deserved win for an undeserved win for no particular reason. Faby and Taya was fine, though it didn’t seem like Taya was hitting well with everything.

The mixed tag story needs to move on to another chapter already. Hamburguesa & Mami aren’t as fun right now and they’ve been hitting the same beats with this for three months. It doesn’t even really make sense right now: Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa are actually so dominant, they win when Hamburguesa is not even trying half the time. Lady Maravilla has definitely been successful in seducing Hamburguesa but she’s still losing every match so it seems like a dumb plan. There’s drama but no movement and everyone is looking silly (and not the good kind of silly) by standing in the same spot. Jonathan was fine but I think I came away glad he was being used in this match rather than replacing anyone in the opener.

The opener was almost a replay from Tijuana, with Skalibur taking Jonathan’s spot. It seemed less frantic than that match. Everyone got a moment early on without a rush or without as much time as the last match. The last minute or so was just typical Baja California lucha libre insanity, where the AAA cameras couldn’t totally capture it but it would’ve been tough for anyone. Drake finally got caught on a dive and it didn’t end up going any better for him. Genio del Aire remains super smooth in everything; in another era, he’d be under some weird Antonio Pena gimmick and working openers every year for a year. Skalibur is a crazy person.

Titan & Cavernario win the incredible pairs tournament, AAA in Mexicali, ratings, “CMLL vs The Crash”

April 27, 2019April 27, 2019 thecubsfan 1 Comment

I could believe V3 Jr. got hurt here, but he kept going for minutes after

AAA TV (FRI) 04/26/2019 Plaza de Toros Calafia, Mexicali, Baja California[AAA]
Attendance: 6500
1) Black Destiny b Skalibur, Fantastik, Rayo Star, Drake, Genio del Aire[EMW MIDDLE]
5:53. A video aired with Drago giving up this title before the match. Black Destiny beat Skalibur with a Canadian Destroyer.
2) Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa b Jonathan & Lady Maravilla
9:06. Jonathan replaced Black Danger. Tecnicos won despite Hamburguesa refusing to hit Maravilla. Mami tried fainting to get attention from Hamburguesa after the match but he still walked off with Maravilla.
3) Chik Tormenta & Hijo del Tirantes DQ Faby Apache & Taya
8:59. Hijo del Tirantes, under an Averno mask, was the mystery wrestler. He faked a foul for the DQ after Copetes did not complete a three count for Faby Apache.
4) Hijo Del Vikingo b Golden Magic, Villano III Jr., Flamita [AAA CRUISER, #1 Contenders]
16:39. An elimination match, though that wasn’t clear to anyone except the people in the match at first. Villano III Jr. was eliminated thru medical stopped (shoulder injury, may have been an angle). Flamita beat Villano III with a superbomb, then was defeated by Hijo del Vikingo by a reverse 450 splash. Vikingo gets a shot at the Cruiserweight Championship (Laredo Kid) at some point, though there is another one these scheduled for Sunday.
5) Brian Cage & Laredo Kid b Killer Kross & Taurus
11:10. Killer Kross was moved into this match (Daga bumped up). Poder del Norte distracted Laredo Kid into a loss to Taurus. Vikingo made the save post match. Poder del Norte want another trios title match.
6) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana b Australian Suicide, Daga, Jack Evans
11:35. Daga replaced Sammy Guevara. Poder del Norte beat Suicide after a Cota splash.
7) La Parka, Psycho Clown, Puma King b Chessman, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr.
17:53. Taurus ran in and speared La Parka, who left the match with an arm injury. Laredo Kid, Hijo del Vikingo and Poder del Norte all got involved, with Murder Clown replacing Parka in the match. Killer Kross also put Puma King thru a table but Psycho beat Escorpion with a torito anyway. Puma challenged Kross to a singles match, but the rudos attacked Puma before he could finish. Taurus joined in and was said to be the newest Los Mercenarios.

This show was good, with the first and fourth match being the ones to seek out. This was a better version of the Tijuana show. The main event set up Puma vs Kross, which is odd since Kross is among those who will be at Impact on Sunday and not on the next AAA TV show. There’s no date for when Vikingo is getting his title shot (and it isn’t listed on the next five shows.)

There’s no update on Villano III Jr.’s status. It was serious at the time but the injury didn’t make sense from the shot he received. Maybe it was something that happened earlier, but we’ll see what happens with him on Sunday.

AAA is back on Sunday at 7 pm Mexico City time. The scheduled card – Laredo, Psycho, and Puma vs Rey Escorpion, Texano and Taurus main event – looks pretty strong. I’m suspicious they may move people around with La Parka & Villano III Jr. having been injured and Sammy Guevera not around. It still looks like worthwhile if not vitally important.

The AAA/Lucha Central/SuperLuchas rating story

SuperLuchas says the viewership for the 04/19 AAA on Azteca 7 was 772,140 viewers. Lucha Central had previously stated it was 5.4 million viewers and has stuck with that number despite the counter story. SuperLuchas reporting suggests the past week AAA ratings were around that much lower number (and the CMLL numbers are lower than that.) Both Record’s Leo Riano (in a column in Record) and AAA themselves (at the Cain Velazquez press conference) have talked about getting AAA’s show was closer to 5 million. SuperLuchas fact-finding on what other shows get makes me think they might have the right set of numbers. At the same time, it is incredible for someone used to US numbers to see a claim that the highest rated show in a country in a week only get around two million viewers. My takeaway is probably not to trust any of these numbers unless I can prove them myself.

Lucha Central has been reporting AAA & CMLL ratings for weeks. No disrespect meant, but no one cared until the Young Bucks were invoked. This really shouldn’t have been about the Young Bucks anyway – they were not promoted for the TV show, they were barely part of it coming out, Psycho Clown was the draw for the live crowd and probably for the TV crowd. It got signal boosted over the pasts weeks because of those names and is getting mocked now because of those same names. This is an AAA story here because a gap of five million people is a pretty big difference in how we view the importance of the Azteca7 deal, but 99% of the internet is talking about has no idea about the show beyond the idea the Young Bucks were on it.

(I pushed the number too, but more because AAA having that many more viewers than WWE was unbelievable, not AEW. And apparently, it was unbelievable.)

The people on Twitter really need AEW to run a show already so they can war over that rather than everything else tangentially related to it. It is tribal warfare at this point and any logic or sense seems abandoned in favor of trying to score meaningless points. Everyone is mental.

CMLL (FRI) 04/26/2019 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Lucha Central, Marca, Ovaciones, PubliMetro, R de Rudo, Record, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
Arena Mexico 63rd Anniversary
1) El Coyote & Grako b Sonic & Súper Astro Jr.
15:23. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Tae Honma b Amapola, La Comandante, La Seductora
10:32. Straight falls, Amapola again getting DQ-ed for excessive violence on Kaho.
3) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Tritón b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
9:51. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Valiente b Hechicero [lightning]
9:24. Valiente submitted Hechicero
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000 b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.
18:32. Mascara snuck in a foul to beat Niebla Roja.
6) Bárbaro Cavernario & Titán b Último Guerrero & Volador Jr. [Torneo Increible de Parejas, final]
23:03. Barbaro Cavernario & Titan took falls 2/3. Volador & UG had problems in the third fall and Guerrero attacked Volador after the match.

CMLL promos: Titan & Barbaro Cavernario, Ultimo Guerrero, Dinamitas, Copa Bobby Bonales winners, Valiente, Atlantis & trio, Marcela & trio, and Grako & Coyote.

Media room interviews: Barbaro Cavernario & Titan (Box Y Lucha, +LuchaTV) Ultimo Guerrero (Box Y Lucha, ), Dinamitas (Box Y Lucha, +LuchaTV), Copa Bobby Bonales (Box Y Lucha, +LuchaTV), the Atlantis trio (Box Y Lucha, +LuchaTV), Amapola (+LuchaTV) and the tecnicas (Box Y Lucha, +LuchaTV)

The main event was better than I thought, though short of the top tier bit. The eliminations come really fast, something the AAA elimination match handled out a lot better. The opener was solid, the fifth match was better than expected and Valiente/Hechicero was pretty good.

If you spend a single moment thinking about who wins Copa Bobby Bonales, it is a wasted moment. The winners are happy and it does not matter at all. At least WWE manages to get an extra ticket selling event out of their Hall of Fame.

Guerrero Maya & Stuka take on Bandido & Flip Gordon tonight at 5 pm CT as part of the 2019 NWA Crockett Cup, available on iPPV. That’s the first round in a tournament to decide new NWA Tag Team Champions. I’d be surprised if either team won the titles but it should be fun getting there anyway. I’ve heard there’s an NWA/lucha libre announcement coming soon that is going to to have people talking.

Kid’s Days shows start tonight; there’ll be a lot of street or local festival lucha libre shows with no particular lineup or promotion. The bigger shows include IAW returning to Gimnasio Hercules with an Arez, Aramis, Iron Kid, Latigo, and Dragon Bane five-way match. IWRG also has an Aramis & Imposible tag title defense against Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus on Sunday. Kaoz is also running Sunday, though those shows haven’t been turning up as any more than clips.

The 05/02 Elite/Gladiadors show will not stream live. Or at least not officially, since there will be a dozen people in the crowd filming it anyway.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 05/03/2019 Arena México
1) Magnus & Oro Jr. vs Akuma & Grako
2) Avispa Dorada, Kaho Kobayashi, La Jarochita vs Amapola, Dalys, Reina Isis
3) Soberano Jr. vs Mephisto [lightning]
4) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Adam Brooks & Mecha Wolf 450
5) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Cuatrero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
6) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible

CMLL promoted “CMLL vs the Crash” during the show Friday night. This led people to reasonably start speculating on the many people who’d be seen on the show, including the wrestlers. Everyone expected a few different matches of people. In the end, it is regular Mecha Wolf and guest wrestler Adam Brooks, no more. CMLL would’ve been better just letting it be a surprise, and people who watch CMLL would’ve been better off expecting the minimum. That match is still more interesting than anything else going on this show.

Speaking of expecting the minimum: Titan & Cavernario celebrate their win by getting the week off. No follow up to Volador/Ultimo Guerrero. No follow up to Niebla Roja/Mascara 2000. Amapola/Kaho is the important CMLL feud.

CMLL on Marca: 2019-04-26

April 27, 2019April 27, 2019 thecubsfan

Recapped: 04/26/2019

Matches:

El Coyote & Grako beat Sonic & Súper Astro Jr.
(15:23 [6:55, 3:20, 5:08], 1/3, ok)

Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Tae Honma beat Amapola, La Comandante, La Seductora
(10:32 [6:16, 4:16], 1/2 DQ, below average)

Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Tritón beat Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
(9:51 [4:56, 1:30, 3:25], 2/3, ok, )

Valiente beat Hechicero in a lightning match
(9:24, Valiente legtrap armbar, good)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000 beat Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.
(18:32 [5:33, 5:22, 7:37], 2/3, good)

Bárbaro Cavernario & Titán beat Último Guerrero & Volador Jr. in the Torneo Increible de Parejas final
(23:03 [5:59, 2:42, 14:22], 2/3, great)

What happened:

Titan & Barbaro Cavernario won the tournament. Volador & Último Guerrero had problems late in the match, culminating in UG powerbombing Volador on the floor. It did not directly lead to the results, though Guerrero attacked Volador after the match.

Mascara snuck in a foul on Niebla Roja for the win.

Amapola once again was disqualified for excessive violence, this time for choking on the ropes.

Thoughts:

I was all set to give up on this when they got to the very predictable Guerrero Special finish. The match was good but lacked in any creativity to that point, just going thru the motions of a normal match. It picked greatly after that point, going back and forth well before it descending into an unexpected breakup angle. Cavernario & Titan came across as the equal of Último Guerrero & Volador even with the break up issue, getting the clean wins at the end. This match was more dramatic in those last half dozen minutes than it was exciting.

The técnicos showed out by the end of the semi-main with some big dives. The match wasn’t too harmed by Mascara 2000 subbing in for Sansón, though it still wasn’t at the level of the recent Tuesday matches with him staying out of the way. Mascara 2000 getting involved with an angle seems a poor use of time.

Valiente and Hechicero just went for all big moves all the times and pulled off lots of big moves. It was almost a bit of disappointment that the finish was just a normal submission hold, underwhelming compared to people flying around for big moves. Valiente’s moonsault looked incredible for the brief moment where it didn’t look like it was going to happen. There was one corner spot where Hechicero seemed to slip and both were frozen for a moment, but the rest of the match looked pretty nice.

Atlantis and son continue to produce solid if not spectacular matches. Triton seemed toned down than usual teaming with them. Hijos del Infierno are an equally not an exciting team. This was mostly a route to get to the father and son winning at the same time and they got to that ending.

skinny dudes are no match for Mascara 2000

The women’s match finish was lame – they haven’t figured out a way to do a satisfying DQ finish for unmasked women still. Kaho and Amapola have some chemistry in the little time they work together but I have no idea what a three fall match between them would look like. Tae Honma got to do a dive in Arena Mexico and seemed thrilled. Seductora was an odd pick to work with her most of this match.

Sonic & Super Astro were a fun team in a match that had some spotty moments. My theory is Sonic can do some cool stuff if he had good bases to work with. These were not the right bases. Coyote & Grako are getting very slowly, very small better. Demus is missed, though I bet Demus doesn’t miss working CMLL openers. Sonic does take big bumps that his body probably isn’t going to hold up long doing. I hope they find a way to do something with him first.

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