boring Arena Puebla show, Reyes del Aire, La Parka

CMLL (MON) 01/13/2020 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Lucha Central]
1) Asturiano, King Jaguar, Tigre Rojo Jr. b Ares, Centella Roja, Policeman 
tecnicos took 2/3
2) Espíritu Maligno, Joker, Pierrothito b Astro, Kaligua, Shockercito 
rudos took 1/3
3) Dark Magic, Kawato San, Olímpico DQ Black Panther, Esfinge, Stigma 
Rudos took 1/3. Stigma fouled Kawato, Kawato unmasked Stigma, Edgar eventually gave the win to Kawato.
4) Kráneo, Valiente, Volcano b Máscara Año 2000, Rey Bucanero, Universo 2000 Jr. 
Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Felino, Gran Guerrero, Templario b Diamante Azul, Místico, Volador Jr. 
Rudos took 1/3. Gran Guerrero pulled Mistico’s mask to win.

let’s go around the loop

• Tuesday: Mephisto vs Mistico
• Friday: Gran Guerrero vs Mistico
• Saturday: Mephisto vs Volador
• Sunday: Gran Guerrero vs Diamante Azul
• Monday: Gran Guerrero vs Mistico

CMLL has a very small amount of rudos they trust in main events in general. It’s down to about two at the moment. It’s not clear why: the turnout doesn’t seem to be going up or down based on matches, but CMLL is acting as if it very much matters who’s in those spots. Maybe it’s a pay issue?

CMLL probably won’t run Gran Guerrero vs Mistico in both places, so starting last night in Puebla may mean it was dropped for Friday.

No challenges in the minis match, though they cut away from the ring right at the finish and never came back. The show doesn’t sound good.

CMLL’s Reyes del Aire used to be an exciting event. CMLL has and had some of the best more agile wrestlers in the world, a rare elimination with the best of them is special. CMLL’s scheduling goofiness always meant a few names were left out. This 2020 version, with many names in Japan, seems like the weakest they’ve done. Splitting it up:

• People who don’t at all belong: in a Reyes de Aire: Akuma, Hijo del Signo, Disturbio, Kawato San
• People who aren’t really flyers but will make the match better: Virus, maybe Black Panther
• People who are technically flyers but aren’t special at it: Esfinge, Principe Diamante, maybe Black Panther
• People who totally belong in this match: Drone, Rey Cometa, Templario

It’s pretty bad when only three of the twelve people feel like they belong in the match. It would be most useful for CMLL for Templario or Cometa to win. I wouldn’t have a problem with Virus winning, Virus winning is always good. It would be hilarious if, like, Kawato San was Rey del Aires so I’m not sure I’m rooting against it. I’m also not changing plans to see this. This is happening because there are not enough “semi-main” level people to fill out a Tuesday card when the replacement match isn’t really any better for it.

Mistico versus Mephisto headlines, a 1v1 match that occasionally is good but is likely going to top out at OK on a Tuesday Arena Mexico show. The rest of the card is the usual names with nothing interesting going on. The show streams at 7:30 pm.

Guadalajara’s card, which wasn’t announced until yesterday, has Diamante Azul, Valiente and Volador against Gran Guerrero, Shocker, and Terrible.

La Parka was cremated on Monday. His service on Sunday was closed to media & fans; they wanted to keep it to family only. AAA hasn’t announced a public service; I suspect there will be one prior to next weekend’s AAA TV taping. Parka will be honored the next day on the Arena Neza show and probably on most every AAA show in the next month.

Yahoo! Deportes reposted a 2014 interview with La Parka talking about his first days in wrestling. Parka says he came to Mexico City with no money and no place to say, homeless while only making money running errands for wrestling for a time. He wanted to be a luchador that bad.

An old friend of La Parka talks about his pre-Mexico City time to Uniobregon. He mentions the Bello Sexy was just a generic gimmick and the actual exotico gimmick Parka did was Santa Esmeralada. The friend’s name is given as Abdias Irisson Mora; maybe this is also former luchador Toro Irisson, who was known to be a friend of Parka.  He’s not identified as such. Irisson had an infamous one night run in AAA as surprise luchador The Animal, a gimmick seemed to be intended as a Parka opponent.

Mike Canedo is interviewed as La Parka’s original trainer. He calls La Parka as disciplined but wrestling crazy when he was starting out, always trying to do new holds. Parka trained under him for eighteen months before going to Mexico City.

The newspaper also talks to three of Parka’s daughters. They say their father was a similar person outside the ring as in it, except he was a guy who liked dancing in real life.

This week’s +Lucha podcast focused on La Parka.

MLW announced LA Park would return on their 02/01 show in Philadelphia. No sign of AAA wrestlers for that show as of yet.