Month: April 2019

The Crash (SAT) 04/13/2019 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California [@JorgeGCRR, TJ Sports, Zona Ruda]
1) Dinámico & Tiago b Terror Azteca & Unicornio
Terror Azteca replaced Unicornio
2) Torito Negro, Toto, Xperia b Animal, Demencia, Silver Star
win via foul and mask pull. Rematch set up for the next show.
3) Craven, Fresero Jr., Mr. Iguana DQ Star Boy, Viento, Zarco
win via foul
4) Carlito & El Mesías b Trauma I & Trauma II and Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja
Carilto beat Trauma I. Traumas want a 2v2 match with the Chavez.
5) Rey Horus b Titán, Flamita, Adam Brooks, Black Danger
Great match. Black Danger was the mystery wrestler. Rey Horus won then challenged Austin Theory to a title match.
6) Bestia 666, Hijo del Fantasma, Mecha Wolf b Cuatrero, Forastero (NGD), Sansón
Hijo del Fantasma was the mystery wrestler and newest member of Rebelion Amarilla. They challenged NGD to face them in Arena Mexico. Horus was again teased as joining the group.

Show sounded like it was pretty good, though attendance was noticeable down. Might have helped to announce Hijo del Fantasma in advance but might have not been possible; there were other people in consideration for that spot. Fantasma talked about his debut. They left the fans with the impression Rebelion would be coming to Arena Mexico soon, but didn’t say it for certain and have teased it in the past.

Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero, Flamita, Bandido, Fenix and Penta were all announced as appearing on the next show, May 4th. Those last two suggest that AAA hasn’t gotten that exclusive Mexico contract with the Lucha Brothers yet. Neither has a next AAA date announced.

CMLL (SAT) 04/13/2019 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia b Acero & Aéreo
rudos took 1/3
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi b Amapola, La Seductora, Metálica
Tecnicas took 1/3.
3) Magia Blanca, Pegasso, Stigma vs Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Universo 2000 Jr.
Magia Blanca’s return to injury. Rudos took 2/3.
4) Audaz b Tiger [lightning]
Audaz won via casita despite the crowd cheering for Tiger.
5) La Bestia Del Ring, Luciferno, Shocker b Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano
Shocker’s return. Rudos took 1/3.
6) Atlantis, Valiente, Volador Jr. DQ Cavernario, Euforia, Último Guerrero
Cavernario replaced Cuatrero (Crash). Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when UG fouled Volador.

Magia Blanca is happy to be back. Audaz talks about his win.

CMLL (SUN) 04/14/2019 Arena México
1) Inquisidor & Metálico b Arkalis & Robin
Rudos took 2/3
2) Dalys, Pauline Lanut, Tiffany b Estrellita, Kaho Kobayashi, Princesa Sugehit
Rudos took 2/3. Pauline is a Nitro trainer from France. CMLL spelt her last name (Laout) wrong.
3) Drone, Rey Cometa, Stigma b Sagrado, Sangre Azteca, Virus
Tecnicos took 2/3
4) Flyer, Titán, Tritón b Dark Magic, Kawato San, Vangellys
Tecnicos took 2/3
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Kráneo b Ephesto, La Bestia Del Ring, Mephisto
Kraneo replaced Diamante Azul. Tecnicos took 2 (Bestia DQ for mask pull on Junior) and 3
6) Terrible © b Valiente [MEX HEAVY]
Terrible takes 2/3 to retain. 4th defense, first not scheduled against Diamante Azul.

Terrible and Valiente talk about the title match. It is so strange that CMLL had someone to edit clips of the match as part of the promos but don’t see any value in putting the match up entirely. Also that Valiente lost a national title match one day and will get a world the match the next day.

MLW’s mention of the Gladiatores: Liga de Campeones de Lucha Libre tournament confirms the ideas of weight classes in the tournament in some fashion. It should be exciting to see how quickly that goes wrong.

The promoter of the AAA TV taping in Los Mochis says they have all the permits they needed and everything is worked out for that show to happen.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

CMLL (FRI) 04/12/2019 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, Ovaciones, Record]
1) Akuma & Espanto Jr. b Príncipe Diamante & Robin 
10:21. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Black Panther, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. b Hechicero, Pólvora, Vangellys 
10:58. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Terrible b Dragón Lee, Niebla Roja, Valiente 
10:51. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Soberano Jr. & Tritón b Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Carístico, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Titán [Torneo Increible de Parejas, seeding battle royal] 
3:26
5) Carístico & Mephisto b Flyer & Forastero [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f] 
4:48
6) Euforia & Guerrero Maya Jr. b Ángel de Oro & La Bestia Del Ring [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f] 
5:54
7) Cavernario & Titán b Blue Panther & Máscara Año 2000 [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f] 
6:31.
8) Sansón & Soberano Jr. b Rey Bucanero & Tritón [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f] 
4:40
9) Carístico & Mephisto b Euforia & Guerrero Maya Jr. [Torneo Increible de Parejas, quarterfinal] 
4:45.
10) Cavernario & Titán b Sansón & Soberano Jr. [Torneo Increible de Parejas, quarterfinal] 
6:06
11) Cavernario & Titán b Carístico & Mephisto [Torneo Increible de Parejas, semifinal] 
11:08.
12) Volador Jr. b Gilbert el Boricua 
10:24. Volador took 1/3, the last by faking a foul.

Cavernario & Titan won by having some strong matches and should guarantee a great match for the final in two weeks. The back and forth in the block final was well done, especially the finish. It was helped a lot by that match getting more time than any other match on the show. Cavernario avenged his title match loss to Caristico and this feels like part of a continued elevation for him.

Gilbert and Volador have normal (for them) promos after the main event. In the media interviews, Volador says that Gilbert isn’t that good while Gilbert complains about not getting that match with Ultimo Guerrero. Titan & Barbaro Cavernario are fired up after winning this block. Akuma & Espanto Jr. want to form a team with Espiritu Negro.

No AAA TV this weekend. Some shows of note:

• The Crash in Tijuana has Rebelion Amarilla (Bestia, MechaWolf and a surprise partner) against NGD. There’s also a five way announced with Flamita, Titan, Rey Horus, Adam Brooks from Australia and another surprise person.
• Sunday CMLL Arena Mexico has a Terrible versus Valiente in a CMLL Heavyweight title match. A title change would be a surprise.
• IWRG has a Copa FILL with their students taking on Hip Hop Man’s students. Internet TV Deportes has been quietly streaming any IWRG they tape on their YouTube, so maybe check there if you’re interested and if +Lucha isn’t already doing it.
• ROH is taping TV tonight, so that won’t stream but will turn up later. They’ll be back on HonorClub tomorrow night with Caristico vs Bandido vs PJ Black vs Flip Gordon and Rush vs Soberano.
• DJZ finishes up in GALLI (and maybe on the indies entirely) Sunday night. I’m planning on going to this, but the weather is looking like it might be terrible getting there.

Fenix missed last night AAW show due to visa issues. He may not be appearing again in the US until that gets sorted out.

MexaWrestling/Lucha Memes 05/01 “Battle of Naucalpan” en Arena Naucalpan:

• Lady Flammer vs Silueta
• Virus vs Jonathan Gresham
• other Mexa Wrestling wrestlers: Arkangel Divino, Septimo Dragon, Templario, The Tiger, Bandido, Rey Horus
• other Lucha Memes wrestlers: Arez, Komander, Audaz, Ultimo Maldito, Laredo Kid, Jonathan Gresham

The Tiger replaces Hijo de Canis Lupus on the show.

Sexy Dulce won her debut MMA fight a unanimous 30-27 decision. She looked dominant in the bout, but I’m not knowledgable enough to know if it was because she was fighting someone who also had no experience or if she’s good at this.  They held it off to the end of the television broadcast, and most of the fans had left by the time she got into the cage. There’s no immediate word if she plans on fighting again. She is scheduled to wrestle in Acapulco for the KAOZ women’s championship tonight. It surprises me she would take that booking so close, but she did wear a KAOZ logo on her gear last night and people seem to expect her to be there. I assume she’s winning the title from Tiffany if she makes the match.

This has nothing directly to do with that fight, but Alberto looks so much happier working at Combate Americas than he has in wrestling in a long time. I hope that works out for him and he doesn’t wrestle again.

Azteca’s Los Protagonistas says they’ll have news on a new AAA wrestler on Tuesday. I don’t know how important this is.

Ayako Hamada will be signing autographs this Saturday at Solar’s store and says she’ll have an announcement about returning to her wrestling career soon.

An interview with Hidalgo’s Drastico.

Lineup

CMLL (FRI) 04/19/2019 Arena México
1) Arkalis & Halcón Suriano Jr. vs El Coyote & Grako
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Princesa Sugehit, Tae Honma vs Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis
3) Rey Cometa vs Kawato San [lightning]
4) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis Jr., Carístico vs Forastero, Hijo del Villano III, Sansón
5) Cuatrero & Místico vs Último Guerrero & Volador Jr. and Rush & Vangellys and Niebla Roja & Terrible and Atlantis & Negro Casasand Gran Guerrero & Valiente and Hechicero & Stuka Jr. and Audaz & Templario [Torneo Increible de Parejas, semifinal]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f]
7) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f]
8) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f]
9) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f]
10) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, quarterfinal]
11) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, quarterfinal]
12) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, semifinal]

Volador & Ultimo Guerrero are the favorites. They do lose some times, and Cuatrero & Mistico are listed at the same level. This is your periodic reminder that CMLL lists Rush as a tecnico. Hechicero & Stuka want to feud so badly and will be out in the first round unless something weird happens.

Rey Cometa versus Kawato San is the ultimate test to see if Kawato’s dive catching has improved. Tae Honma makes her debut that was announced months ago; she was training lucha with Mr. Cacao and Violento Jack. I can’t find it now, but I believe it was said she’s going to be around for only a couple weeks, not as long as Kaho has been.

FILLM (SAT) 04/20/2019 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Príncipe Bengala vs Eddy Omega, Orión Rakner
2) Chamuel & Guapito vs Gallito & Microman
3) Candy Swing & La Jarochita vs Felina Metálica & Quimera
4) Black Terry & Gallego vs Drako & Fly Star
5) Satánico & Wotan vs Hijo del Fishman & Romano García
6) Atomik Star vs Baby Star Jr., Toto, Rey Abadón [hair]
7) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Alas de Oro, Alas De Plata, Diamante [MEX TRIOS]
11th defense

A rare CMLL title defense on an indie.

Today begins the 9th annual Parejas Incredible Tournament. There will be eight teams of one rudo and one tecnico in a single elimination tournament block this week and another eight next week. (Matchups are determined by a dumb battle royal.) The winners of each block face off on April 28th, which will also be the anniversary of the opening of the Arena Mexico building.

The idea of rudos and tecnicos teaming together seems like a CMLL favorite. It is the only tournament CMLL has remembered to run every year. CMLL one night tournaments have generally been better of late, though there is still a lot of matches which are just there and don’t serve any purpose. The purpose of this tournament is like the Universal one which just concluded: CMLL occasionally uses it to set up upcoming big matches and occasionally just spotlights top stars. It is a long way away from CMLL’s Anniversario show, but there’s also no obvious main event for that show yet.

There are some obvious teams who will not be part of the final. Euforia & Guerrero Maya, Rey Bucanero & Triton, Flyer & Forastero, and Blue Panther & Mascara 2000 have only a small chance of advancing a single round, much less advancing past that. Barbaro Cavernario & Titan would be a popular fan pick and Angel de Oro & La Bestia del Ring would justify recent booking, but both would surprise picks to win tonight’s part of the tournament. It is likely to come down to either long time rivals (and short time amigos) Caristico & Mephisto or recent rivals Sanson & Soberano. I lean towards the veterans to win, as they have the most possibilities for next week.

CMLL’s gone towards having the tournament matches close up the show recently. Tonight, they’re scheduled to have Volador vs Gilbert el Boricua go on last. That’s a problem, not just because Volador’s overexposed and Gilbert’s much diminished. Their match will be the twelfth on the show, with eleven chances for something to go long. A reason CMLL stopped having a match following a tournament block is they almost always were rushed to get through them to finish up the show when they wanted. Volador/Gilbert would be better as a single fall match tonight, because it is likely to get under ten minutes, and something that goes one fall eight minutes is a lot preferable than two minutes, two minutes, four minutes of a normal CMLL structure. I wouldn’t have a lot of faith on this match working on a typical situation and I think they’re put in a no-win one here.

Dragon Lee finishes up in Mexico for a while in the tercera, teaming with Niebla Roja & Valiente against Terrible, Negro Casas, and Gran Guerrero. Hechicero again will miss commentating, teaming with Polvora & Vangellys against Stuka, Rey Cometa, and Blue Panther. Robin teams with Principe Diamante – first streaming appearance in two months – against Akuma & Espanto to open the show.

CMLL on Friday night returns to airing at 8:30 pm CT on Marca & Facebook. I’ll probably stream it on YouTube.

Mascara 2000 talks about his team with Blue Panther. Sanson talks about teaming with Soberano. Sanson wants to win but wants no part in teaming with Soberano.

Lucha Central had a preview of this show.

Last night, Elite and AAA dropped a poster featuring wrestlers from those two promotions, MLW, Impact, and AroLucha for a show on May 2nd in Fronton Mexico called “Gladiatores: Liga de Campeones de Lucha Libre.” There was no explanation of what this was about, as normal for both Elite & AAA. Lucha Central helpfully advances it a bit: this is stage one of an Azteca7 sponsored tournament. Multiweek tournaments are not good ideas for lucha libre – Azteca should know this from Elite, and even the Lucha Capital tournament went into a bit of nonsense at the end – but everyone no one wants to learn from past problems. This is good news if this means Azteca7 is giving AAA space for more programming and much less good if this is affecting the regular AAA show. The Azteca logo is not on the poster. None of the AAA video partners are listed.

AroLucha has not run an event since February 2018. Outside of a one-post-a-day Twitter account, there’s no indication they’ll run an event again. Almost everyone who was on their initial TV taping has moved onto work for someone else. It is unclear who will represent AroLucha on this show. The common theme here is Konnan works for AAA, works for MLW, works for Impact, worked for AroLucha when it was briefly a thing, and essentially worked for Elite last year since the AAA/ELITE show were all Elite productions. Konnan had a problem last week, with three of those groups running the same time, but it’ll be much easier when they’re all running the same show.

(It is also telling that AAA is propping up the corpses of Elite & AroLucha “Weekend at Bernie’s” style but didn’t think LU was worth the same effort. If the people who supposedly control the talent contracts want to move on, then why are there still contracts?)

AAA is currently scheduled at running five different tapings over nine days, starting on April 26. It is AAA running on a CMLL schedule and there might be the same problems with overexposure. At least this show would seem to have a different talent mix than the rest of the shows, and it is a problem that really only affects the most diehard people.

AAA drew 4.4 million viewers last weekend, while CMLL drew 1.3 million. AAA has crept back up, but they seemed to be solidifying around those numbers.

Sexy Star’s MMA debut is tonight. Her undercard fight is airing on DAZN. She won all her boxing matches and I expect the same here. It’s a combo of training and being put in good positions.

MexaWrestling/Lucha Memes 05/01 “Battle of Naucalpan” en Arena Naucalpan:

• Lady Flammer vs Silueta
• other Mexa Wrestling wrestlers: Arkangel Divino, Septimo Dragon, Templario, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Bandido, Rey Horus
• other Lucha Memes wrestlers: Arez, Komander, Audaz, Ultimo Maldito, Laredo Kid, Jonathan Gresham

RIOT 05/04 (Chicles) in Arena LLF

• Simbolo vs Black Terry
• Caifan II vs Low Rider – it only took them 3 weeks to announce a second match!

Also, Lucha Time announced they’d have Bandido vs Rey Horus on their 05/05 show. Bandido replaces Arez, who’s on the AAA taping instead. Lucha Time doesn’t put up their show and there are not many people bootlegging in Monterrey, so I wouldn’t get too hyped.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Something called Nacion Lucha Libre posted a teaser video last night.

The Gladiatores has a sit-down interview with Pirata Morgan to talk about his life .

The Marvin family are running wrestling clinics for children.

An interview with Antrax 1 and Antrax 2.

Puma King has a video on his trip to WrestleCon.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 04/16/2019 Arena México
1) Príncipe Diamante & Robin vs Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
2) Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Espíritu Negro
3) Blue Panther, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Dark Magic, Kawato San, Pólvora
4) Flyer vs Templario [lightning]
5) Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Hechicero
6) Carístico, Místico, Titán vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

Top two matches could be fun. Sure are a lot of Flyer singles matches lately. Not sure what Polvora did to deserve those teammates.

IWRG (WED) 04/10/2019 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Dinamic Black, Eragón, Kanon b Auzter, Avisman, Fulgor II 
2) Atomik Star & La Heroína b Lilith Dark & Puma de Oro and Lady Cat & Toto  
3) Demus b Fantasma de la Ópera, Carta Brava Jr. (LLB)  
4) Demonio Infernal, Eterno, Lunatic Xtreme DQ Karaoui, Mosca, Zumbi  
5) Diva Salvaje, Mamba, Pasion Kristal b Oficial 911, Oficial Fierro, Pegasus Kid  
6) Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Rokambole Jr., Villano V Jr. b Hijo del Alebrije, Hijo Del Huracán Ramírez, Máscara Sagrada Jr.  
7) Aramis & Imposible © b Capo del Norte & Capo del Sur [IWRG IC TAG]  
first defense

This was the Hip Hop Man benefit show. InternetTV was streaming it without advertising it at all, as usual. +LuchaTV was also streaming it and taking donations for Hip Hop Man. I wish I would’ve known in advance to I could mention it or donate. Instead, it was just a stream popping up with no promotion. So it goes.

I don’t know who was under the Pegasus Kid mask but the look and the position suggest this is a vet, not a rookie who may have known other people who used that name.

If you were skeptical that Aerostar had actually left AAA, give yourself a gold star. Aerostar popped up on AAA’s Sin Mascara show on Twitch to confirm he was still in AAA, just looking to handle his own international bookings. Aerostar could’ve stated that a lot clearer or cleaned it up quickly on his own after people started thinking he had left. It’s solved now. We need to all agree to ignore this story when it happens again in 2020.

Diamante Azul is out of action for an indefinite time. He was taken out of his Tuesday match due to injury. CMLL’s report says it was actually an injury Azul suffered earlier in the year which got worse. (I’m not understanding exactly what the injury is, but I think it is a groin strain or tear.) There’s no word when he’ll be back, only that it won’t be soon. The tag title match set for Monday will now be Valiente challenging Ultimo Guerrero for the heavyweight title. That means Valiente is challenging for both heavyweight titles in back to back days.

On Keepin It 100, Konnan said he would be interested in working with Tirantes again and complimented his previous work (while noting he hadn’t seen much of Tirantes in CMLL.) It sounds like there’s spot for him in AAA if Tirantes wants it.

CMLL Informa had a little news buried in a show that ran longer than any of their wrestling shows this week. Dragon Lee confirmed what it looked like from the NJPW schedule: Friday will be his last match in Arena Mexico for now. He’ll be in Japan thru the Dominion show on June 9th. (I thought Dragon Lee said he’d be gone for 2.5 months, so maybe it’s even longer than that, or I misunderstood.) This came during a segment with Rush & Dragon Lee talking about the G1 Supercard, where CMLL seemed much more excited about it after how those two guys did. JCR hinting that something similar with ROH & NJPW wrestlers would happen in Arena Mexico. The idea was to make you think it’d be a full show but I’m guessing it’s actually the Gran Prix. Also, Rush said CMLL needs to give his brother Mistico his own character.

Mystique is also headed to Japan for three months, though she’s so irregularly used that it might be half that long for most people to notice.

SoloWrestling interviews Bandido, who believes his next step is making a bigger name in Japan. He notes that CMLL told him they didn’t have any plans for him when he was there. Now he’s wrestling on MSG. Bandido mentions wanting to team with Flamita in ROH if ROH is OK with it.

Shocker’s latest food business is a food truck named Taco Shock. He says it’ll be parked outside of Arena Mexico on days with a show, starting Friday night. Shocker (and various business partners) have previously attempted to run two different restaurants. Shocker says he both needs jaw surgery urgently and also that he plans on wrestling for at least 10 more years. Shocker has not wrestled in a month, though he’s listed on the Saturday show.

AAA’s show on Space is moving to Friday nights. If you are a deranged person, you can watch the AAA show on Azteca, then switch to Space to watch another AAA show, then switch to YouTube to watch CMLL for about 6-7 hours of lucha libre every Friday. Space and Azteca may not be showing episodes at the same rate though.

Telemundo went to WrestleCon, interviewed a lot of people, and mentioned the AAA in MSG show. They mentioned it as happening September 16th, which is pretty close but not correct. I know AAA people were helping out with this so it is slightly interesting it turned up on Telemundo. Only slightly.

LuchaTalk has a WrestleMania weekend wrap up podcast. I think I’m up to having listened to six different fan podcasts of the ROH/NJPW show, everyone’s made the same points and they’ve all made them very strongly.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 04/15/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Asturiano, Oro Jr., Rey Samuray vs El Malayo, Toro Bill Jr., Tyson La Bestia
2) Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica
3) King Jaguar, Magnus, Stigma vs El Perverso, Policeman, Virus
4) Carístico, Místico, Soberano Jr. vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
5) Último Guerrero © vs Valiente [CMLL HEAVY]
3rd defense

Bestia del Ring doesn’t even get booked with the tag title match off. Magnus at least getting to face different guys.