Templario Rey del Aire, FantasticaMania Korakuen starts tomorrow morning, AAA in Queretaro

CMLL (TUE) 01/14/2020 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia b Acero & Aéreo 
2) Grako, Inquisidor, Nitro b Eléctrico, Magnus, Oro Jr. 
rudos took 1/3
3) Dark Magic, Misterioso, Sagrado b Blue Panther Jr., Pegasso, Stigma 
rudos took 1/3
4) Templario b Drone, Rey Cometa, Kawato San, Príncipe Diamante, Akuma, Black Panther, Hijo del Signo, Star Jr., Virus, Esfinge, Disturbio [Reyes del Aire] 
Virus replaced Hijo del Villano III on Monday. Elimination order: Principe Diamante (by Disturbio), Hijo del Signo, Drone, Black Panther (after performing 6 topes), Kawato San, Disturbio (Esfinge), Esfinge (Templario), Virus (Star Jr.), Star Jr. (Templario) leaving Templario as the Rey del Aire.
5) Místico b Mephisto 
straight falls, first by DQ, second by Mistica.

CMLL promos: Templario celebrates his win, Mephisto acknowledges Mistico’s win, and Mistico renews his desire for a mask versus mask match.

Press interviews: Star Jr. gives Templario credit for winning, Templario throws a challenge out to Bandido, Mistico wants an apuesta match with someone, anyone, Mephisto is ready for it.

Both the Reyes del Aire (especially the Star/Templario end) and the main event were said to be better than would’ve expected.

CMLL (TUE) 01/14/2020 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Fúnebre & Gran Kenut DQ Flash & Gallo
Funebre replaced Leon Blanco. Rudos took 2/3, Funebre faking a foul from Gallo.
2) Difunto, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte b Joker, Sádico, Vaquero Jr.
Team Furia Roja took 1/3
3) Sanely, Silueta, Súper Estrella b La Comandante, La Infernal, Reina Isis
Super Estrella replaced La Magnifica. Tecnicas took 1/3.
4) Ephesto, Felino, Hechicero b Atlantis Jr., Fugaz, Kráneo
rudos took 1/3
5) Diamante Azul, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Shocker, Terrible
tecnicos took 2/3

Nothing much here. The women’s match would be rare one from here to air (though no idea if I’ll be able to record it.)

The first of four nights of FantasticaMania in Korakuen Hall takes place early tomorrow morning. All shows start at 3:30 AM, stream live on NJPW World, will be available on VOD quickly after they air, and will have Japanese & English commentary. CMLL has at least six commentators, it seems strange they don’t send a couple of them to Tokyo for a week outside the one time Miguel Reducino did it, but that’s more a CMLL issue. Both the English & Japanese announcers will do their best but there’s a missing piece.

Tonight’s show starts off the CMLL family tournament. Euforia & Soberano face Cuatrero & Sanson in one semifinal. Soberano had plenty of experience facing the Dinamitas; that match may be more of a test to see how Sanson is feeling. Tiger & Negro Casas take on Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja in the other semifinal, and what might be Tiger’s only main event on a CMLL branded show this year.

The rest of the top is build-up tags. Caristico & Kojima face Barbaro Cavernario & Ultimo Guerrero to set up those singles matches. (The same match is happening tomorrow.) Stuka & Titan versus Forasteor & Okumura is another singles match build. EVIL & Shingo Takagi join the tour to team with BUSHI against Dulce Gardenia, Flyer, and Hiroshi Tanahashi in the never-ending LIJ versus Dulce/Tanahashi sequence. Audaz & Maya take on Kanemaru & Luciferno and Fuego & Taguchi partner against Douki & Namajague in the opener.

I think I’m only going to watch the Saturday (early morning) show live, but these shows look like they’ll be pretty easy to get thru later.

The 04/02 Festival de Lucha in Tampa is no more. WrestleCon announced the show is now WrestleCon Worldwide, taking the place of both the Festival de Lucha and Europe vs the World card. A NJPW Lion’s Break (like IWRG’s FILL but more Japanese and less teenagers) show is being added. Back and forth thoughts in the form of lazy bullet points

• a NJPW show is going to draw better than either of the shows being replaced, this obviously makes sense to do if the option on the table
• some of the matches planned for Festival de Lucha will end up on WrestleCon Worldwide or other shows that weekend still
• it feels like it says something about where lucha libre fits in when there will be close to 100 wrestling shows in Tampa that weekend, there will be a handful of Japanese and European shows, and there will be zero all lucha libre shows now. But there was only going to be one prior – can’t be upset with WrestleCon when they were the only people known to be trying.
• some of that appears to be because wrestlers from other countries are more willing to pay their own to get the WM venue each year while I don’t know of many lucha libre wrestlers who’ve done the same. I’m not sure one way is better than the other, but I suspect a reason why “European Promotion X” will be represented and there’s no lucha one is it’s a lot cheaper and easier to do.
• some of it is because booking CMLL and AAA people on the same card is impossible at the moment, and some of the more obvious main event people (Dragon Lee, Fenix, Pentagon) are now off-limits. There’s a problem with a lack of star names available for these shows (which is a bit of a circular problem but still a problem.)
• this may all be much different next year if WrestleMania is in Los Angeles as has been rumored. Local lucha promotions and people traveling via Tijuana should mean there should be much more lucha libre representation, even if they’re not part of the core venues.

It is possible another lucha libre show pops up. I know there were plans for a Mexico based promotion to run this year at one point, but there are plans every year for one group or another, and they rarely actually happened.

AEW & WarnerMedia announced their deal to air Dynamite on TNT is now extended thru 2023. Terms of the deal outside AEW getting a second weekly show at some date.  WarnerMedia seems thrilled how well Dynamite has done after just three months. A successful wrestling show helps create more demand for other wrestling shows, so this could help other people looking around for a deal. It’s unclear if AAA or anyone else is actively looking for a US deal though.

Vaquero de Texas Jr. (Jose Manuel Bartolo Zavala), a San Luis Potosi luchador, passed away at the age of 23 on Tuesday. (This was pointed out by Furia de Titanes.) The reported cause of death was cardiac arrest, which is a shocking thing to happen to a man that young. Vaquero de Texas Jr. wrestled more of his career as Alas de Angel, only changing to the Vaquero de Texas Jr. after Vaquero de Texas (Sr.) passed away last February. They were not actually related.

DragonMania will take place on May 30th this year. Instead of AJPW participation as recent years, Ultimo Dragon being on good terms with Dragon Gate means they’re coming instead; Yamato, Susumu and Yoshino are advertised.

RIOT said they’re planning on running 5-6 events again this year, planning again to have a 2 show weekend with La Riña en el Cerro de la Silla.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania and the latest Lucha Report.

Saltillo lucha libre promoter Marco Zuniga passed away at the age of 75.

Lineups

AAA TV (SAT) 02/08/2020 Auditorio General José María Arteaga, Querétaro, Querétaro
1) Drago Kid, Iron Kid, Laredo Boy vs Látigo, Low Rider, Parkita Negra
2) Big Mami, Dinastía, Mr. Iguana vs La Hiedra, Lady Maravilla, Parka Negra
3) Hijo de LA Park & LA Park Jr. vs Súper Fly & Villano III Jr. and Myzteziz Jr. & Octagón Jr.
4) Hijo Del Vikingo, Puma King, Rey Horus vs Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Texano Jr.
5) ???, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
6) Dr. Wagner Jr., Fénix, Pentagón Jr. vs La Bestia Del Ring, LA Park, Rush Toro Blanco

Second TV taping of the year, two weekends after the first. My impression is there’s only one more February show after this one. Still nothing but six-person matches. No sign of Killer Kross.

The Wagner/Park feud is back. Poder del Norte are higher than normal. Perhaps the mystery person is Monster Clown? Matches 1 and 3 look the best.