Month: August 2019

I’m off to Monterrey tomorrow morning, so regular service may be disrupted thru Sunday.  I will not be streaming the Friday night CMLL show this week.

CMLL announced the field for the 08/30 Gran Prix yesterday.

• Matt Taven (ROH)
• Kenny King (ROH)
• Jay Briscoe (ROH)
• Mark Briscoe (ROH)
• Mecha Wolf 450 (The Crash)
• Oraculo (The Crash)
• Luke Hawx (The Crash)
• Big Daddy

It’s Mexico vs US/Puerto Rico this year with no other countries involved. Big Daddy is better known as Big Daddy Yum Yum from a famous (infamous?) match with Tenzan Kojima in NJPW in 2015. He was wrestling around Mexico City at the end of May and early June randomly and must’ve impressed someone in CMLL at that time. It’s a random inclusion, but it’s a random field.

The Briscoes have been very good in CMLL the few matches they’ve been here. Same with Mecha Wolf. (Same with Adam Brooks, but he seems to be back in Australia and CMLL isn’t paying for flights from Australia apparently.) Matt Taven has a lot of history in CMLL. The rest are just random names to the CMLL audience. Kenny King is in his second Gran Prix but didn’t have much of a roll in the first one. Hawx & Oraculo are not known in the US and the matches Big Daddy was working weren’t exactly big ones. The star power seems much less than the last two versions. On the other hand, those last few shows were built around the patriotism of the occasion and maybe it doesn’t matter who they are. (And maybe it helps that they’re all American or American adjacent at this moment.) This is not a lineup that interests me as a fan but it may draw all the same.

It also doesn’t really matter if it interests me as a fan because I will not be able to see it live anyway. CMLL mentions, at the end of their announcement, the 08/30 show will not stream live on any platform. If it’s anything like the last few times, they’ll actually stream it to their YouTube channel on a private stream and then unlock it a bit after midnight CT that night. CMLL could’ve done this show on PPV but there attempts at PPVs have been such a disaster in recent past that I’d guess they’ve given up on the concept entirely. This also heavily hints the Aniversario show will not be airing live for similar reasons.

Tickets for the Aniversario show go on sale Monday at 11 AM. Tickets (which never include the cheapest areas) run from 483 to 2352 MXP including fees. The low side matches last’s hair match, the high end is the same as the Niebla Roja/Gran Guerrero mask match though a little less than last year. You can see the recent prices here; my takeaway is La Mascara got robbed in the price for his mask. I think it’s about what you’d expect for a Ciber/UG match.

Ciber and Ultimo Guerrero went around and around on CMLL Informa about that match, with nothing really resolved. Ciber wants a fair title match (specifically no referee Edgar) before he’ll agree to a hair match. Ultimo Guerrero wants Ciber to agree to a hair match before he’ll commit to putting the title on the line again. The closest they got to a conclusion was Ciber seemingly agreeing to a match where both their hair and the championship was on the line, though that still wasn’t definite. They’ll be back at it again on Friday. There’s space for another singles match between the two on the Gran Prix show and maybe that’s the time to make the announcement of the hair match.

There was no mention of Kawato at all on CMLL Informa, not on the Gran Prix announcement or in the Okumura interview. It sure seems like he’s not wresting in CMLL because he’s not in Mexico now, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. The NJPW Super J Cup is this weekend and I guess there’s a chance he might show up there instead. (On the other hand, the other recent NJPW rookie sent elsewhere has vanished for months, so there may be some other story.)

That Super J Cup starts tonight in Tacoma, Washington. CMLL matches:

• Rocky Romero vs Soberano Jr. in a first-round match
• Caristico vs BUSHI in a first-round match
• YOH vs Dragon Lee in a first-round match

The winners of the Soberano & BUSHI matches face-off in the next round in San Francisco on Saturday. Dragon Lee faces the winner of Ryusuke Taguchi & Jonathan Gresham. The losers will still be in tag matches, and will also wrestle on the 08/25 finals show on Sunday in Los Angeles. Dragon Lee is the only one of the three who stands a chance of going far, though Caristico likely is at least advancing one round. There’s not a lot of attention on these shows; NJPW not streaming these shows live (and giving no specific date when it’ll be available on VOD) has dampened the enthusiasm for them. It’s like the RIOT shows I’m going to – they should be a lot of fun to experience live but might just get lost in the mix by the time they show up.

The Arena Coliseo Liger farewell show is now up on NJPW World. That’s the last missing one from the weekend. I heard it was interesting but haven’t seen it yet.

The first match for the Aniversario show has been determined. Dalys won a CMLL Women’s Championship chance by winning the Universal tournament. She’ll get that match on 09/27. Marcela is the current champion, though she’ll be defending the championship on 09/15 in Japan against a challenger to be named. Dalys will get the title match no matter who ends up as champion. Dalys is also announced as facing Tae Honma on that 09/15 show, Marcela & Dalys are also booked on the 09/15 Fukumenmania show.

Silueta replaces Vaquerita on Sunday’s show.

Marca has quotes from Okumura, Felino and Ultimo Guerrero, though nothing too noteworthy. The CMLL Wednesdays press interviews included Mano Negra Jr., who says he’s been training for six years for a debut. He still hasn’t had it, outside of Arena Coliseo Guadalajara.

Angelico & Jack Evans vs Private Party has been added to the AEW All Out show on 08/31. That may be the full show, so any other AAA involvement would probably be in the women’s battle royal (where 11 people are yet to be announced.)

CMLL matches announced for the ROH Global War Espectacular tour

09/06 Detroit

• Volador Jr., Triton vs Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia

09/07 Chicago

• Volador vs Matt Taven for the ROH Championship
• Rush vs Barbaro Cavernario
• Triton, Caristico, Stuka Jr. vs Jeff Cobb, Jonathan Gresham, Jay Lethal

09/08 Milwaukee

• Briscoes & Barbaro Cavernario vs Bandido, Tracy Williams, Mark Haskins

All matches will air live on ROH’s streaming service. Rush and Cavernario have only faced in a singles match once, with Rush winning in Guadalajara back in June. (The match was on YouTube but is now private.) That sounds like a promising match, though Rush’s matches have tended to be one-sided in ROH. ROH seems like they’re loading up that Chicago show in hopes of drawing from the audience that has supported lucha libre shows in the area.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions Dragon Lee is currently booked for the ROH show in Las Vegas, the same night as the Aniversario.

As a ticketholder for the AAA NY show, I’ve still received no update on the status of my ticket. I’m sort of seeing it as a sunk cost and rather hang around to find out how the ticket change is handled at this point. If you are looking for a refund, it looks like contacting the Garden might help get one.

SuperLuchas looks back at Villano III’s career. He passed away one year ago yesterday.

Mamba and Angelito broke up a couple of months ago.

Lineups

CMLL (SUN) 08/25/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Amperaje & Temerario vs El Jabalí & Fúnebre
2) Baron Blanco Jr., Fantástico, Luminoso vs Capitán Cobra, Quka, Reyko
3) Black Sugar, Neutrón, Paladin vs León Blanco, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
4) Difunto, Joker, Star Black vs Maléfico, Paymon, Vaquero Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Hechicero, Pólvora, Templario vs Audaz, Esfinge, Tritón

A rare all CMLL DF main event on a Sunday show. Those guys are probably working the sponsored show on Saturday and staying the extra day. Neutron – still appears to be the same Neutron you may recall – is feuding with Leon Blanco among other issues here.

CMLL (TUE) 08/20/2019 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, The Gladaidos]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro b Angelito & Fantasy 
Rudos took 1/3.
2) El Coyote, Grako, Nitro b Magia Blanca, Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante 
Rudos took 1/3.
3) Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa b Okumura, Sagrado, Virus 
Tecnicos took 1/3, though Rey Cometa was hurt in the finishing sequence when he missed an apron diving headscissors.
4) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano b Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys 
tecnicos took 1/3
5) Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Soberano Jr. b Dark Magic, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas 
tecnicos took 2/3
6) Carístico DQ Terrible 
Caristico took 2/3. Terrible pulled Caristico’s mask off for the DQ.

CMLL promos include Negro Casas & Mr. Niebla suggesting a (somewhat unaware) Dark Magic might joint Peste Negra because he fits half of that name and Terrible being proud of his loss. The main event was better than the finish sounds. Cometa seemed in pain as he was stretchered out, though we’ve seen a lot of people be stretchered out and be back quick.

CMLL (TUE) 08/20/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Baron Blanco Jr., Luminoso, Vaquero Jr. b Mr. Trueno, Ráfaga, Rey Trueno
Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Cancerbero, Difunto, Raziel b Halcón Suriano Jr., Pegasso, Star Black
Rudos took 1/3
3) Dulce Gardenia, Esfinge, Tritón b Disturbio, Pólvora, Universo 2000 Jr.
tecnicos took 2/3
4) Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr.
Rudos took 1/3, with Mephisto challenging Volador to a title match.
5) La Bestia Del Ring, Místico, Rush b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
Los Ingobernables took 2/3, the last with Rush unmasking and fouling Sanson but getting away with it.

CMLL is booking Caristico, Mistico and Volador singles match on a rotation against different rudos. They probably need more tecnicos to cycle in but they don’t quite seem to do it.

CMLL officially announced Dalys & Marcela wrestling on the 09/15 show in Japan.

CMLL will be announcing the Rest of the World team for the Gran Prix today. There are been no real hints about who will be on it. One big set of questions going in are if Kawato San will be on that team and if they explain what’s happened to him either way. (I have no idea.) It’ll be news if there are other NJPW wrestlers involved since they’re running their own show in England that day. I’d expect there’ll be more ROH wrestlers but no one’s been announced outside of maybe Kenny King. CMLL has gone in odd directions before so there’s no guessing what they’ll do this time.

Ciber & Ultimo Guerrero are also announced for Informa, so there’s an outside chance they might agree to their hair match today.

Cain Velasquez officially announced he’d be on the AAA shows in New York & Los Angeles. If you purchased a ticket for MSG, have you heard anything from Ticketmaster about the show being moved? I have not yet, maybe it was lost in a spam filter somewhere, but the website still lists the ticket with MSG seating.

Alberto, doing interviews for Saturday’s Nacion Lucha Libre show in Ecatepec, said his promotion is weighing two different US TV deals. That seems unlikely, but perhaps he can leverage the Combates Americas deal in some way to get a spot. Alberto acknowledged Bandido won’t be on the show as listed (he’s working ROH; Alberto claims Bandido’s also signed with Nacion, which definitely is NOT true.) He says they’ll have someone as good or better in his spot but doesn’t say who. He also feels like they’re not competing with CMLL or AAA but on a higher level competition with LigaMX, NBA and NFL. Alberto’s connection with reality appears shaky.

Arez & Latigo are headed to back to OWE in September. They’re running in Japan for a couple of shows on 09/08 and 09/12. Arez is only working the 09/12 show (he’s working on 09/08 in Puebla.)

Wotan, who’s no one’s idea of technical wrestlers, says trainers need to prepare their students better before letting them debut.

+LuchaTV is airing the MexaLevel God Level show tonight. That show had Traumas vs Simbolo/Golden Magic on top, and a Jack Evans vs Aramis vs Arkangel Divino vs Pumita match. (Results here.)

A report on the Titanes en el Ring relaunch show.

Coacalco luchador Kraven passed away last Sunday.

Segunda Caida writes about Hijo del Santo’s match in New York.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Lucha Talk has its latest episode.

Lineups

CMLL (SUN) 08/25/2019 Arena México
1) Leono & Retro vs Cholo & Yago
2) La Maligna, La Vaquerita, Sanely vs Amapola, La Comandante, Tiffany
3) Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Dark Magic, Misterioso, Vangellys
4) Blue Panther vs Rey Bucanero [lightning]
5) Atlantis Jr., Kráneo, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Hijo del Villano III, Mephisto
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Terrible

Nothing much notable here.

MDA (SUN) 09/08/2019 Arena Naucalpan
1) Chef Benito & Chicanito vs Mexica & Neza Kid and Celestial Boy & Shadow Boy and Shalom & Spider Fly
2) Alas de Oro, Alas De Plata, Tromba vs Fly Warrior, Iron Kid, Puma de Oro
3) Freelance vs Astral
4) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Imposible vs El Divo & Sádico
5) Argenis vs Aeroboy vs Dragón Bane
Jack Evans was briefly listed in this match.
6) Jack Evans & Pagano vs Penta 0M & Rey Fénix [HOG TAG]
Dr. Wagner was briefly announced, then replaced by Jack Evans hours later.

Dr. Wagner Jr. was on this card and now is not on this card. Did AAA pay him to come over to work the AAA TV taping instead? It is hard to escape the fact that Pagano, Penta, and Fenix are all working this show and not on that AAA TV taping. If Penta & Fenix do end up signing with AAA, it’s going to mean AAA offering than seem to be for normal TV tapings.

The HOG titles are the House of Glory tag team championships. Penta & Fenix are already announced as defending these titles on 10/05. I think hopes of Jack Evans & Pagano becoming tag team champions are dim.

CMLL revealed their 86th Aniversario show, their biggest show of the year, will take place on 09/27. That’s later than anyone had anticipated, including the 09/13 date that had been most heavily rumored.

That 09/27 date had been one I’d been ruling out because that’s the same day as Ring of Honor’s next PPV in Las Vegas. That date means Rush will not be on the Aniversario card, because he’s likely to be challenging Matt Taven for the ROH Championship on that day. (ROH dates have priority for Rush under his current deal. The match is not official but was teased as Taven’s next defense on the most recent shows.) CMLL running basically heads up with ROH has to be a disappointment for the US promotion, who were probably hoping to get a few extra regular CMLL viewers interested in seeing Rush in a title match and who are much likely to stick with CMLL’s big show instead.

Ciber the Main Man versus Ultimo Guerrero in a hair match seems like the Aniversario main event. It’s not locked in and there are enough other people floating about that a cage match is still possible. Microman & Chamuel’s feud could end up in a mask match there, though that’s a longer shot. There are no other current midcard feuds that might end in an apuesta match soon. Marcela & Dalys are due to have a title match at some point and CMLL has 20 other titles which might be defended.

CMLL made this announcement in between falls of last night’s CMLL Puebla show and then posted a press release at 10:55 pm. There’s no apparent reason why they had to hurry to get it out in such a less than ideal fashion. Sofia Alonso is a marketing person so she had to know that’s not an ideal way to do it. I’m curious why it was announced without getting a bigger rollout.

CMLL (MON) 08/19/2019 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Lucha Central]
1) Centella Roja, Guerrero Espacial, Rey Apocalipsis b Asturiano, King Jaguar, Meyer 
Rudos took 1/3.
2) El Malayo, Hijo del Signo, Toro Bill Jr. b Arkalis, Meyer, Tigre Rojo Jr. 
Meyer replaced Millenium. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Hechicero, Máscara Año 2000, Tiger b Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Stigma 
Rudos took 1/3.
4) Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Valiente b Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas 
tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Místico, Sansón DQ Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles] 
Straight falls. Mistico tossed his to Soberano to draw the DQ, setting up a singles match after each other.

I’m not sure if Mistico & Soberano fit together as a singles match but it’ll be interesting to see them try. (And interesting that they’re doing this here right after the similar Dragon Lee/Volador match.) Soberano offered to put his title on the line and Mistico said no. That seems weird but Mistico must understand his chance of winning is very low as a challenger in Arena Puebla. I heard Hechicero was good and this was otherwise a normal Puebla show.

Tonight’s Arena Mexico show has the first-ever Caristico versus Terrible singles match. Terrible has done well against some flying opponents so there’s a chance this could be good, though probably different from the Rush/Caristico match.

Not a lot promising from the rest of the show. Soberano & Dragon Lee team up with Atlantis against Negro Casas, Dark Magic, and the returning Mr. Niebla. Niebla says he was injured and he’s back quicker than his recent suspensions have lasted, so he may really have been injured. Kraneo & Volcano partner with Stuka once again against Hechicero, Vangellys and Rey Bucanero. The usual midcarders of Fuego, Rey Cometa, and Guerrero Maya take on Virus, Sagrado, Okumura. Grako and Coyote are reunited after a week apart, teaming with Nitro against Magia Blanca, Oro Jr. and Principe Diamante. The minis open the show. It’ll stream at 7:30 pm.

Guadalajara has Munoz vs NGD.

A CMLL Ladies show has been announced for 09/15 in Tokyo’s Shinkiba 1st RING (via Proresu-Today, via @TheUnderwally) Marcela will defend the CMLL Women’s Championship against Dalys if she is champion at this point. (That might be the title defense Dalys is owed from the Universal tournament.) No other names are announced. This is a different show than the 09/12 REINA show Dalys & Marcela have been announced on. I suspect it may be the same people involved in both. CMLL hasn’t announced anything about this show as of yet.

Vampiro is announced for the 10/18 AAA show in Xalapa. Verano de Escandalo is the following day so he’s likely on that as well.

An interview with La Hiedra mentions she wants to see how far she can go as herself, feeling using part of her father Sangre Chicana’s name would’ve just made her a star immediately.

Los Macizos & Violento Jack’s appearances on upcoming GCW shows in Japan will be streamed as a PPV on Fite TV.

In an interview with +LuchaTV, Zeuxis says she’s in the best moment of her career and will have a surprise soon.

I don’t keep track of the various AAA TV shows at this point but it surprised me to find out Space is now ahead of Azteca in the airing order. It was definitely the other way earlier this year. (And Saltillo is split into two tapings, so everything makes it to YouTube in October.)

+LuchaTV had the latest edition of their podcast. There’s a lot on there. They talk about the Impact tapings a bit, saying Golden Magic got over well and would be used again, but does not have a visa to work in the US. It sounds like Impact may be working on it. The funny story there is Impact was at one point working on Hijo del Vikingo’s visa prior to WrestleMania, then decided it wouldn’t be the expense. Impact direly needs something to get people excited about and Vikingo could’ve been that. As far as Impact tickets in Mexico, the hosts were surprised the ex-ECW people weren’t announced until very late, feeling a lot of people would’ve come to see them had they known.

Big Mami & Nino Hamburguesa got over well on the show. Kevin (ex-Nerd) and Santy Hernandez were also working the shows helping out translating, and I think they got were used as security for an angle.

The AAA matches currently set for Impact’s Bound for Glory according to the podcast.

• a singles match with Dr. Wagner
• a trios match against the Rascalz, though TJP might also be included.

LAX may be working a second date in AAA after the 09/08 Puebla show, though it’s not confirmed. And the 09/29 show in Berwyn will air on +LuchaTV. Hip Hop Man said it’d air live if I understood correctly which surprises me. NJPW can’t figure out how to stream from the US half the time but +LuchaTV/IWRG/PALL/GAW has got it. PALL is looking hard for a Japanese company to partner with.

The final Zona 23 show of the year will be on 10/13.

Pro Wrestling Resurrection has opened their own arena.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 08/24/2019 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) La Guerrera, La Jarochita, La Maligna vs Amapola, La Comandante, Metálica
3) Robin vs Espanto Jr. [lightning]
4) Blue Panther, Drone, Stigma vs Misterioso, Olímpico, Sagrado
5) Dulce Gardenia, Flyer, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Mr. Niebla
6) Místico vs Último Guerrero

The Mistico/UG match does happen, it just happens on Sunday instead of Monday. Dulce already leaping to the semi-main, though there’s really no one except Blue Panther who might normally be in a semi-main (and that Blue Panther may end up as Blue Panther Jr.)

IWRG (SUN) 08/25/2019 Arena Naucalpan
1) Auzter, Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro vs Dragón Fly, Marado, Mosca
2) Atomic Star, Dinamic Black, Eragón vs Ra-Zhata, Shil-Ka, Toshiharu
3) Black Dragón, Demasiado, Relámpago vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Fulgor I, Fulgor II
4) Lady Flammer vs Ludark Shaitan
5) Freelance, Hijo del Alebrije, The Tiger vs Ave Rex, Demonio Infernal, Eterno
6) Hijo Del Vikingo, Máximo, Myzteziz Jr., Niño Hamburguesa vs Dragón Bane, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Ovett, Súper Nova
7) Monsther Clown & Murder Clown vs Trauma I & Trauma II and Apolo & Bram

The Nacion rudos are getting an extra booking (or Nacion found a way to split the flight costs), though this is suspiciously listed as an IWRG/GAW/AAA team up with no mention of Nacion. AAA & Nacion seemed to have a fall out over AAA guys being in Nacion’s TV show, so I guess AYM is considered unimportant TV. (I consider it unimportant TV so seems fair.) The semi-main seems like a set up for some VIkingo/Myzteziz vs Lupus/Bane action. Is Toshiharu a new ninja turtle? I don’t know that canon deeply.

The Crash (SAT) 09/07/2019 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Miranda Alize & Torito Negro vs Terror Azteca & Vipress
2) Ricky Shane vs Flamita
3) Mr. Iguana, Súper Astro, Súper Astro Jr. vs Arandú, Star Boy, Zarco
4) Dan Moloney vs El Mesías vs Ricky Martinez
5) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Cuatrero & Sansón
6) Travis Banks, Trent Seven, Tyler Bate vs Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Rey Horus

Officially a full card. It does seem to rely on Tijuana fans seeing the Fight Club Pro guys (really NXT UK guys) as people to come out and see.