Audaz/Templario tonight, Bandido goes for PWG gold, DTU

CMLL (THU) 12/19/2019 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México [Estrellas del Ring]
1) Oro Jr. & Robin b Cancerbero & Raziel 
2) Flama Negra & Flama Roja b Torito Negro & Toro Negro 
3) Dulce Gardenia b Kawato San 
Kawato replaced Olimpico
4) Audaz, Black Panther, Star Jr. DQ Grako, Nitro, Virus 
Virus fouled Audaz
5) Dalys & Reyna Isis b Lluvia & Sanely 
6) Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr., Valiente DQ Ephesto, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero 
Rey Bucanero fouled Valiente

No one posted the results, but I did this crazy thing of watching the last 30 seconds of the match and figuring out who won. Not sure if I can keep that up. They did an angle where Olimpico was there but brought in Kawato replace them, which gave them a chance to try the New Year’s Day match early. Kawato & Olimpico left Dulce bloody after, which definitely isn’t happening on 01/01. Attendance looked a little better than last time.

DTU (THU) 12/19/2019 Arena Aficion [DTU]
DTU ONCE
1) Frazzer & Sniper b ? & ??
exhibition/trainees match
2) Destino, Forajido, Uri vs ?, ??, ???
3) Samuray Jr. b Aero Panther, Mandíbula, Dark Power, Fight Panther, Dariux, Drollux, Fly Danger, Dragón Suicide, Vengador Radioactivo
4) Hahatasy, Princesa Azul, Sagitairus, Zuzu Divine b Anarqua, El Malakrari, Hijo Del Power, Kevin
5) Calibus, Kaleth, Mr. Iguana b El Exótico, Moria, Shun Skywalker
Calibus beat Shun Skywalker
6) Black Fire & Tiburón b ? & Fantasma de la Ópera
7) Hard Boy & Paranoiko b Crazy Boy & El Diablo Fly Star and Aborto & Chaneke
8) Penta El Zero M & Rey Fénix (LU) b Aero Boy & Camuflaje

This didn’t end up streaming but will probably turn up later. Turnout seems good. The only takeaway I’ve got here is Ciclope reacting on Facebook to some negative comment apparently made on this show towards him and (now rival) local promotion Lucha Libre Vanguardia. It is noticeable that there seems to be some division between that group and DTU but unclear how serious it is; Aeroboy seems like the only one going between both on a high level.

CMLL last Friday has a fairly pointless show that wasn’t much good. Tonight doesn’t look a lot different. CMLL mistakenly believed they were doing the Bandido/Ultimo Guerrero feud on top, but Bandido’s not around. There are other things going on underneath, but the bigger shows are coming up over the holidays.

The reformulated main event has Diamante Azul, Caristico and Volador teaming with the returning Gilbert el Boricua, Negro Casas, and Ultimo Guerrero. CMLL’s been weirdly bringing Gilbert from time to time in 2019 despite clearly having no plans to do anything with him. Gilbert has passed his time making challenges towards Ultimo Guerrero which UG has ignored, so that’s something to look forward to again.

The semi-main picks up the Angel de Oro/Felino feud. There’s still one CMLL holiday show without a main event (Three King Day, probably celebrated Sunday 01/05) and there’s still this feud. There’s also a frightening chance CMLL carries it all the way over to March. Angel de Oro partners with Titan & Valiente against Cuatrero, Forastero and Felino.

Templario and Audaz were the promising rookies of 2018. We were very excited to see a singles match between the two. It happened – on a Sunday show when no one was getting a recording of the Sunday show. Tonight is the first rematch since then, the first to actually make YouTube, and it feels substantially less exciting. Audaz is not bad, but Audaz has not progressed in performance or position over the last twelve months. Templario has, so what was once seemed like forever rivals are two guys on different tiers. Maybe getting to face Templario will break Audaz a bit out of the holding position he’s been in 2019 and it’ll still be fun even if ti’s all the same stuff we see already.

Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr. and Rey Cometa face Hechicero, Polvora, and Vangellys in the grab bag tercera. Los Canerberos team up once again versus Drone, Fuego, and Stigma. Shockercito & Ultimo Dragoncito open up against Pierrothito and Mercurio, who is really back – he wrestled on Sunday.

The show starts at 8:30 pm on Marca’s YouTube. I’m not sure if I’m watching this live but I’ll try to stream it anyway.

Lucha Central has a preview of Friday’s show.

Bandido is not on this card because he’s facing Jeff Cobb for the PWG World Championship. I believe he’s winning if PWG believes he’ll still be available to them, so this has implications beyond the title.

El Planchitas says Mr. Niebla may be close to retiring. He’s still planning on returning but may not last long because joint pain issues that took him out wrestling in the first place and have reduced his mobility. By the way, I wrote a few days ago that Dragon Rojo was going to be out until “late 2020”. I missed typing a word, that should’ve read “late January 2020.” That’s a big difference.

Celestial, when promoting a show on 12/25, mentions he’s back training in CMLL with Virus. Celestial was a CMLL mini from 2007-2008, along with his brother Cosmico. They jumped to the Perros del Mal promotion, which didn’t end up working out, but Celestial is still a Perros del Mal Minis champion and is defending it this weekend.

Lavie Margolin has a post on the per-show attendance numbers for the major non-WWE promotions. What stuck out to me is we consider AAA US shows this year a failure. That show is estimated at 3,000, and it should be noted that all of these are estimations. That turnout would be more than MLW drew for any show in the US and more than NJPW and ROH drew for everything but the MSG show and NJPW’s G1 show in Dallas. The problem is AAA sold the shows seemingly on the idea that they were going to draw as well as AEW and most of AEW did better. Still, if AAA could find a way to run profitable US shows at 1,000-2,000 fans, it seems like they could draw that many people. AAA doesn’t seem interested in that, and so there’s talent being sent to MLW instead.

MLW has Aerostar vs Alex Hammerstone on 01/11 in Dallas for MLW’s National Openweight Championship. MLW also announced Killer Kross for their 02/01 show. There’s a report of WWE interest in Kross, who is now a free agent after his Impact deal expired this week. That MLW date suggests Kross hasn’t signed with anyone immediately, which would leave him available to AAA at least thru early 2020. It may be in his interest for him to stay a free agent thru WrestleMania weekend because he’s a person and there’s an obvious need for people to work shows that week. At the same time, if WWE called and gave him a good deal, it’s hard to imagine him saying no given the bad deals he’s been stuck with from Lucha Underground & Impact. (Kross may be like others, being paid essentially to train and not have matches, but he’s a veteran of that process and at least he’d been getting paid decently this time.)  It would take Kross signing with AEW or ROH for him to stay available to AAA, but WWE signing his girlfriend Scarlett seems to make it an easy decision if it’s even close. Kross isn’t done in AAA yet but I’d be shocked if he was still in the promotion by summer.

ROH announced Rey Horus will be on their 01/11 & 01/12 shows. Dragon Lee will defend the ROH TV Title on the 01/11 Atlanta show. ROH brings up Shane Taylor’s name, which suggests he’s not actually finished and they’re headed to a rematch.

01/18 The Crash

• Dinamico vs Baby Extreme
• Mecha Wolf, Bestia 666, Damian 666 vs Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II – new

Yesterday, I wrote something along the lines of “It’s going to be interesting to see who is in The Crash on that first January card.” What I didn’t realize is The Crash posted a video of who is on that first January card. The rest of the talent list is D-Luxe, Black Danger, Lady Flammer, Oraculo, T-Hawk, CIMA, Lindaman, Mesias, Angelico, Dragon Lee, Bandido, and “more”

MicromanFever recaps an interview with Keyra.

Konnan and Psicosis had a back and forth on Twitter. It does not read friendly.

Cinta de Oro Jr., in an interview with Televisa Deportes Juarez, sounds like he’s going to abandon the name but not go with another one – he doesn’t think he’ll be able to be Cinta de Oro Jr. but he doesn’t want to be anyone else. He points out how strange it is for Sin Cara to take someone else’s name when his backstory was Mistico scooping up his name.

Segunda Caida raves about Blue Demon vs Dr. Wagner from TripleMania.

Diamante winning a Dragon Gate title made his local newspaper.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 12/23/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Asturiano & Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Joker & Policeman
2) Oro Jr. & Súper Astro Jr. vs El Malayo & El Perverso
3) Sagrado, Stigma, Templario vs Okumura, Olímpico, Rey Cometa [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Atlantis Jr., Kráneo, Volcano vs Mephisto, Terrible, Vangellys
5) Titán vs Soberano Jr. [lightning]
6) Carístico, Felino, Negro Casas vs Euforia, Valiente, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

Last week’s show had Negro Casas/Volador and Cometa/Stigma finishes. Volador/Casas seems like a normal 12/30 main event (unless they switch to Titan/Soberano coming back as a rematch.) Rey Cometa & Stigma includes Puebla hero Stigma, there’s usually an apuesta match around this time of year, Three Kings Day falls on a Monday, there’s a shot CMLL is running an apuesta match between them on 01/06. It’s a low chance at this point but something to look out for on this show.