January 2020 – Page 5

Rey de Reyes date announced (03/21 Merida), Niebla tribute show, Cinta de Oro Jr. to unmask

January 23, 2020January 23, 2020 thecubsfan

CMLL Informa was pushed to Thursday this week, but the usual press interviews took place Wednesday. Shocker & Rey Bucanero mentioned they’ll be wearing the old masks in tribute to Mr. Niebla. Olimpico says the same. In the way that the Leyendas shows determine that the only legends are people who wrestled in the early 90s, this Mr. Niebla tribute show seems like late 90s/00s early show. I wish they had leaned more into that direction, both in the promotion and the names included.

SuperLuchas recap of the CMLL Lady’s Ring show mentioned Jarochita & Dalys are in Ice Ribbon on Sunday, so they (and Negro Casas) aren’t heading back to Mexico soon.

Rey de Reyes will be March 21st at Merida’s Poliforum Zamna. Estrellas del Ring caught this first, though the local promoter had it up more than week ago. The May 23rd date for Verano de Escandalo came out yesterday, and those are recently the two big dates before TripleMania.

Murder Clown told Grafico, like Psycho Clown & Monster Clown, he would like to wager his mask but he has no one to face.

RIOT’s 02/01 show, which has no matches or wrestlers announced, has sold out ten days in advance. RIOT has sold out shows in the past but never before with walk-up tickets. They’ve never sold out a week before the show.

04/04 WrestleCon Worldwide in Tampa

Arez (c) vs Carlos Romo for the RIOT Championship
Mick Moretti, Arez, Aramis announced.

I was told to pay attention to this show as if it was a WrestleMania weeekend lucha show so here I am paying attention. I got excited about a RIOT (Mexico) vs RIOT (Spain) championship match, then people helpfully explained it’s Carlos Vega as RIOT Spain champion, not Carlos Romo. I’m dumb.

MLW says Arez will challenge Myron Reed for their Middleweight Championship on their 02/01 show in Philadelphia.

Cinta de Oro Jr. – this is the one who had been given the name by the original, not Sin Cara – announced he’ll unmask today on a Ciudad Juarez TV show and then wrestle unmasked going forward. (Furia de Titanes pointed this out first.) Cinta de Oro Jr. will debut under a new name, still unmasked, on Sunday’s Arena Juarez show.

El Mexicano has a report of the Tijuana Boxing, Wrestling and MMA Commission. There’s nothing on wrestling – the focus is on boxing, as typical – but Hijo del Medico Asesino (EMW) and Damian 666 (The Crash) were present as apparent reps of their promotions.

Puma King & Barby’s new video is from Barby’s birthday party.

It’s a local turf war of little consequence outside Chicago, but there have been angry Facebook posts back and forth over GALLI and GAW/LLT running at the same time on Sunday. (Berwyn & Villa Park, where they were running, are about a half-hour apart from each other.) The GALLI show was a fundraiser for Discovery, who is in poor health. The GAW/LLT show was announced first, with Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus coming to the Chicago area after the Chicago guys had come to IWRG.

Bane & Lupus didn’t make it and there was no explanation as to what happened. It didn’t stop Mr. Reyes of Estrelllas del Ring (tied up to GAW through IWRG) from bosting about the success of the GAW/LLT show and implied the charity show had been constructed just to attack GAW. The GAW promoter chimed in to agree. Attacking a charity show for a local lucha libre institution like Discovery has gone over poorly. Estrellas del Ring & GAW deleted their posts, though screen grabs live forever. LLT has disavowed GAW’s statements; Discovery wrestled for them for a number of years and are planning their own Discovery fundraiser.

Discovery, battling cancer, is still in the hospital as of there last update I can find. There’s no GoFundMe at this point. I still don’t know what happened with Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus.

CMLL Sin Piedad: 2020-01-01

January 23, 2020January 23, 2020 thecubsfan

Recapped: 2020-01-06

Matches:

Black Panther, Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Sagrado, Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr.
(10:44 [4:13, 2:50, 3:41], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Felino, Hechicero, Mephisto beat Audaz, Rey Cometa, Star Jr.
(13:55 [6:50, 7:05], 1/2, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Bárbaro Cavernario, Hijo del Villano III, Negro Casas beat Atlantis Jr., Kráneo, Soberano Jr.
(13:47 [5:55, 3:36, 4:16], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Príncipe Diamante beat Espíritu Negro, mask vs mask
(11:25, 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Espiritu Negro Canadian Destroyer (1:23)
Principe Diamante Spanish Fly (2:15)
Principe Diamante arm scissors (7:4)1230-2017

Carístico & Místico © beat Cuatrero & Forastero for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship
(19:24 [6:08, 3:42, 9:34], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Dulce Gardenia vs Kawato San for the hair
(11:34, 2/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Kawato armbar (2:00)
Dulce Gardenia posing armbar (1:55)
Dulce Gardenia reverse campana (7:39)

What happened:

I like how this looks, though the landing must not befun

Kawato San lost his hair, Espiritu Negro lost his mask, Mistico & Caristico kept the tag titles and this is all very old news by the time you’re reading this.

Thoughts:

There was a point where Kawato in a big-time match like this would’ve been a disaster. This was not a disaster, so that’s progress. I think Kawato was not supposed to catch Dulce’s early dive as well as he did, which is a remarkable change of habit. It was also missing much excitement from Kawato; the only near fall he has late is a referee distraction induced cradle. It is Dulce Gardenia spots from there for the last couple of minutes, Kawato existing only as something Dulce can easily overcome. Both wrestlers seemed hesitant at times during the match, more affecting how much the other had to stand to wait for moves rather than causing something to go wrong. It didn’t go wrong, the match was just missing some snap. The crowd and the occasion carried this to worth watching, though I can’t imagine wanting to watch it again.

The concept of going all in the semi-main was doing the same run of Destroyer seen on the indies two years ago. It wasn’t really strong then either. The tag title match did give all the usual beats with these two teams, just with one less man on each side. They were successful in getting the tecnicos an impressive win, doing a lot of the usual stuff well. Forastero broke out the ramp dropkick for this match. Cuatrero messed his springboard finish but was smart enough to keep going. This was solid and enjoyable even if not really creative.

The first fall Canadian Destroyer in the Principe Diamante/Espiritu Negro match was horrendous, shouldn’t have ended the fall, and may have dug a grave too deep for the rest of the match to dig out. The mask match got negative reviews live and seemed fine a week later on video. It wasn’t great, they couldn’t dig out of that hold because they did nothing particular to stand out. Principe Diamante & Espiritu Negro had a competent match without going the extra mile expected in title matches. Espiritu looked more tentative, perhaps more nervous than he had in the lead up to this match. Diamante, forever consigned to looking like eight different tecnicos on the roster, added a flash armbar as a special finish. It wasn’t special, especially since Espiritu was so close to the ropes but couldn’t try to get on them. They didn’t blow anything badly beyond that Destroyer, which puts this ahead of some matches in a spot. They also didn’t really seize the opportunity.

Negro Casas had fun interactions with Kraneo in the third. Cavernario was so over at the end. Soberano looks impossibly more rail-thin in his gold gear. Everything was fine and there’s not much to remember about this match.

Two long falls mean no third, as demonstrated in the second match. The match didn’t have a great rhythm with that setup, with the first fall being a more enjoyable than the first. Hechicero seemed to take most of the match for his team and seemed worn out by late in that second fall. Audaz brought back his flip escape spots, but the timing on the team spots wasn’t great. Tiger Infante had some weird counts in this one.

The opener had midcard names and a midcard match. It was better than the usual but wouldn’t have stood as the fourth match on a Tuesday. Guerrero Maya, Black Panther, and Drone are all underpushed teams, though they didn’t make a notable impression in this one. Tiger did well in keeping up with Drone.

great match roundup, last shows of 2019

January 22, 2020January 21, 2020 thecubsfan

recaps (on the 2019 side of the calendar)

I think that’s it. That’s probably it for ratings purposes. Other stuff will turn up and I may even watch some of it but there’s an unending supply of new stuff to wade through. (Though, I’ve already had to go back and watch the AAA Juarez dark match. It was OK.) Puebla didn’t have anything super notable. Instead of just a very short list for a very short week, this is what I have for best of the year:

excellent

01-18	Soberano Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario
02-22	Titán vs Cavernario
03-31	Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario
05-31	Metálico vs Virus [career]
06-09	Laredo Kid © vs Hijo Del Vikingo for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
07-13	Puma King & Ricky Marvin vs Arez & Látigo
08-03	Blue Demon Jr. vs Dr. Wagner Jr. for the mask and for the hair
10-19	Fénix © vs Kenny Omega for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship
11-05	Kastigador vs Vengador for the mask
12-04	Hijo Del Vikingo vs Puma King, Taurus in a tournament final match
12-08	Titán vs Soberano Jr. for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship and in a tournament final match
12-14	Big Mami vs Lady Maravilla for the hair

I’ve got to figure out VOW’s list this week. I’m sure I’m adding the GCW trios match to the top ten, probably the PWG trios match, and I have think about what else I saw. There’s a lot of matches in NJPW, I hear. (But they’re going to win anyway, so it feels more useful to go someplace else with the votes.)

stuff that was actually great but no one has time for great nowadays

12-30	Bandido (Indie) vs DJZ, Isaias Velazquez, Gringo Loco
01-04	Dragón Lee vs Cavernario
01-04	Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. for the Mexican National Trios Championship
01-18	Cuatrero & Sansón vs Dragón Lee & Místico [CMLL FAMILY] and in a tournament final match
01-21	Volador Jr. vs Carístico
01-26	Joe Lider & Pagano vs Cíclope & Miedo Extremo
01-27	Dragón Lee & Golden Magic vs Fénix (LU) & Flamita
02-01	Terrible vs Dragón Lee for the CMLL Universal Championship and in a tournament semifinal match
02-02	Erick Ortiz vs Madness
02-02	Aeroboy vs Laredo Kid
02-02	Bandido (Indie) vs Sammy Guevara
02-08	Laredo Kid vs Taurus
02-10	Dinastía, Lady Shani, Niño Hamburguesa vs Lady Maravilla, Lanzelot, Villano III Jr.
02-10	Hijo Del Vikingo vs Jack Evans, Taurus
02-10	Drago vs Laredo Kid, Flamita
02-17	Aero Boy vs Aramis
03-02	Gallito Tapatío & Microman vs Chamuel & Zacarias el Perico
03-03	Aramis vs Hijo de Canis Lupus
03-15	Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero © vs Carístico, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr. for the CMLL World Trios Championship
03-16	Laredo Kid vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Jack Evans, Sammy Guevara, Eclipse Vengador Jr., Taurus, Golden Magic, Aerostar, Myzteziz in a AAA’s Rey de Reyes Tournament match
03-17	Aramis vs Ángel de Oro
03-17	Sádico vs Hijo de Canis Lupus
03-19	Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Esfinge, Titán, Tritón for the Mexican National Trios Championship
03-19	Mephisto © vs Dragón Lee for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship
03-31	Aramis, Imposible, Metaleón vs Dragón Bane, Eterno, Golden Magic
03-31	Dragón Bane vs Hijo de Canis Lupus
03-31	Arez vs Ricky Marvin
03-31	Virus vs Flamita
04-02	Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.
04-06	Miedo Extremo vs Arandú
04-09	Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. for the Mexican National Trios Championship
04-12	Carístico & Mephisto vs Cavernario & Titán [Torneo Increible de Parejas] and in a tournament semifinal match
04-14	DJZ, El Bandolero, Isaias Velasquez vs Golden Dragón, Gringo Loco, Pat Monix
04-20	Arez vs Aramis
04-26	Último Guerrero & Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Titán [Torneo Increible de Parejas] and in a tournament final match
04-26	Golden Magic vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Villano III Jr., Flamita for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship and in a Number One Contenders Match match
04-28	Aramis & Imposible © vs Dragón Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus for the IWRG Intercontinental Tag Team Championship
05-03	Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Adam Brooks & Mecha Wolf 450
05-04	Arez vs Kratoz, Látigo, Iron Kid (Estado de México), Aramis (Estado de México)
05-05	Flamita, Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
05-24	Star Boy, Viento, Zarco vs Animal, Demencia, Silver Star
05-24	Místico vs Cavernario
05-25	Hijo Del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Myzteziz Jr. vs Australian Suicide, Eterno, Súper Fly
05-31	Ortiz (LAX) & Santana (LAX) vs Hijo Del Vikingo & Laredo Kid
06-02	Soberano Jr. © vs Negro Casas for the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
06-06	Aramis, Imposible, Metaleón vs Demonio Infernal, Eterno, Lunatic Extreme
06-07	Cavernario vs Templario in a lightning match
06-09	LA Park & Voltron vs La Bestia Del Ring & Rush
06-09	Golden Magic & Myzteziz Jr. vs Australian Suicide & Villano III Jr.
06-16	Fénix & Pentagón Jr. vs Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson © for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
07-03	Dinastía & Iron Kid vs Arez & Látigo
07-06	Hijo Del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Myzteziz Jr. vs Chik Tormenta, Eterno, La Parka Negra
07-18	Golden Magic & Lady Shani vs La Hiedra & Villano III Jr.
07-30	Euforia & Gran Guerrero © vs Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship
08-03	Aramis, Arez, Toxin vs Arkángel Divino, Astrolux, Dragón Bane
08-03	Golden Magic, Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana and Mamba, Máximo, Pimpinela Escarlata for the AAA World Trios Championship
08-04	Místico vs Sansón
08-05	Eléctrico © vs Virus for the Mexican National Lightweight Championship
08-10	Fénix © vs Laredo Kid, Puma King, Taurus for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship
08-23	Aramis (Estado de México) vs Látigo [RIOT CHAMP] and in a tournament quarterfinal match
08-24	Arez vs Aramis (Estado de México), Iron Kid (Estado de México) [RIOT CHAMP] and in a tournament semifinal match
09-15	Daga vs Puma King, Flamita, Aerostar in a Number One Contenders Match match and for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
09-15	Fénix & Pentagón Jr. vs Ortiz (LAX) & Santana (LAX) for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
09-27	Microman vs Chamuel for the mask
10-04	Soberano Jr. vs Templario
10-06	Soberano Jr. © vs Templario for the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
10-14	Niebla Roja © vs Gran Guerrero for the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship
10-18	Fugaz & Místico vs Star Jr. & Valiente in a CMLL Gran Alternativa Tournament match and in a tournament final match
10-19	Aerostar vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Murder Clown, Iron Kid, Parka Negra, Dave The Clown, Monsther Clown, Tritón, La Hiedra, Faby Apache, La Parka Negra for the Copa Antonio Pena
10-26	Canibal, Mike, Teelo, Voltrex vs Águila Oriental, Dinámico, Noise Boy, Spyder Boy
10-26	Laredo Boy vs Mini Psycho Clown, Dinastía ©, Demus, Drago Kid for the AAA World Minis Championship
10-26	Taurus vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Arez, Aramis
10-27	Cavernario © vs Forastero for the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
11-02	Caifan II vs Demonio del Aire
11-02	Arez © vs Aramis [RIOT CHAMP]
11-12	Ángel de Oro vs Euforia
11-13	Flamita vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Carta Brava Jr.
11-17	Látigo vs Atomic Star for the mask and for the hair
11-27	Lady Shani vs Keyra, La Hiedra
12-01	Kenny Omega © vs Dragón Lee (Munoz) for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship
12-07	El Bandido vs Aramis
12-14	Aramis, Dinastía, Octagoncito vs Arez, Mini Psycho Clown, Parkita Negra
12-14	Fénix & Pentagón Jr. © vs Australian Suicide & Rey Horus and Hijo Del Vikingo & Myzteziz Jr. for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
12-15	LA Park vs Blue Demon Jr.

I don’t know why I put the 2018 match in the 2019 list to start with but now I’ve gone a year with it there and I can’t let it go. There was so much good AAA stuff. I probably didn’t watch as much Naucalpan as I should’ve. Almost no one else seemed to watch RIOT so you can’t tell if I’m overrating it. Slightly less Lucha Underground than previous years.

Blue Demon filming Disney pilot, CMLL Tuesday results, Dalys new champion

January 22, 2020January 22, 2020 thecubsfan 1 Comment

CMLL (TUE) 01/21/2020 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores]
1) Cholo & Príncipe Odín Jr. b Bengala & Sonic
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Grako, Hijo del Signo, Nitro b Magnus, Oro Jr., Robin
Rudos took 1/3.
3) Diamond, Pegasso, Stigma DQ Espíritu Negro, Misterioso, Sagrado
Straight falls, straight DQs. Excessive rudo violence in the first, Espiritu unmasked Diamond in the second.
4) Pólvora b Rey Cometa [lightning]
6:29 via STF.
5) Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. b Máscara Año 2000, Templario, Vangellys
6) Atlantis Jr., Diamante Azul, Volador Jr. b Ephesto, Hechicero, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 2/3.

CMLL has a promo with Espiritu Negro trying to convince his brother Rey Cometa to turn rudo. If this was NJPW, I might believe this was going somewhere. Rey Cometa as a rudo would be odd but he’s losing to Polvora so it’s worth a shot. Polvora is back to calling himself the king of lightning matches. There’s a Panther promo as well.

Press conference interviews include Magnus saying he was hit in the head with a bottle by a fan. I’m shocked that RobViper is attending CMLL Martes shows. There are interviews with Espiritu Negro, Vangellys, and the semi-main rudos.

CMLL (TUE) 01/21/2020 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Joker, Sádico, Vaquero Jr. b Explosivo, Fantástico, Mr. Samurai
2) La Comandante, Reina Isis, Tiffany b Avispa Dorada, Silueta, Stephanie Vaquer
Stephanie Vaquer (debut in this arena) replaced La Magnifica (who’s missed the last few shows). Rudas took 2/3.
3) Drone, Esfinge, Magia Blanca b Disturbio, Ráfaga, Universo 2000 Jr.
tecnicos took 2/3. Magia Blanca return from injury.
4) Fugaz, Kráneo, Volcano b Dark Magic, Furia Roja, Olímpico
tecnicos in straight falls?
5) Gran Guerrero, Místico, Shocker b Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Mistico took 2/3.

Nothing too much of note here.

Dalys won the CMLL Japan Women’s championship over Mina Shirakawa early today. Dalys gushes about her win. She will never lose that title. The La Jarochita versus Tsukshi match went to a time limit draw. Tsukshi was to get a match in Mexico had she won, so I’m not sure what happens in a draw. Does she get a match in New Mexico?

Impact totally slipped my mind yesterday but I did set it up to record and might watch it later. Taurus vs Moose vs Rhyno aired. The Josh Alexander/Hijo del Vikingo match airs next week.

Tickets are on sale for AAA’s Verano de Escandalo, which will take place May 23rd (Saturday) in Morelia. The tweet announcing this was deleted but the ticket page is still up. Verano de Escandalo is a summer show. It is snowing where I live today. This is all strange. It’s really the local promoters putting tickets on sale very early. It does suggest AAA has a calendar for the year, even if they’ve stopped sharing them. Tickets run from $290 to $1150 pesos.

Blue Demon Jr. will play (a version of) himself in a children’s show “luchador-action-comedy” pilot being filmed for the Disney Channel according to Deadline. The show is called “Ultra Violet & Blue Demon”; Ultra Violet is Demon’s superhero-in-training niece. The show has not been picked up yet and is dependent on casting an Ultra Violet. The pilot would be filmed later this year.

It would be hard to imagine the titular star of a Disney show doing bloody matches and hitting people with hammers. I have no idea the chances of this show being picked up only that many do not. I would suspect the 2019 Blue Demon rudo character will be reverted to his normal tecnico character should this show have a chance of being picked up. (Also, Demon may just not wrestle all that much if he’s got TV work.) There was some groundwork being laid for a Demon tecnico turn back at Guerra de Titanes, though he remains on the rudo side for AAA taping on Saturday.

MLW announced Josef Samael & Simon Gotch vs Hijo de LA Park & LA Park in a lumberjack match for 02/01 in Philadelphia. I wonder if MLW knows they can give straps to the lumberjacks.

RIOT announced their next show – after the 02/01 all surprise show – will be on 03/28.

A video of Mr. Iguana’s entrance from the November show has gotten a bit viral, being picked up as a wacky video by news sites. It’s a strange experience to see your own tweet on news sites you are checking (and also funny when it’s not your tweet but someone else’s taking it and putting it up themselves.) I did not think it was going to be a big deal when I posted it but I’m glad I happened to include the promotion name in the Tweet and Mr. Iguana’s name appears in the video.

The 04/04 WrestleCon Worldwide show announced Arez & Aramis as appearing.

A column by Bernado Guzman on +Lucha’s site says Nacion Lucha Libre is expecting to to announce dates this week and there is a restructuring happened. They haven’t been on TV in weeks and have gone quiet on social media.

The “Heronias” reality show had a press conference yesterday to announce the concept. There will be Friday night wrestling events (8:30 pm, at 360e Venue in Naucalpan) from March 13 to May 29th, which will stream on Facebook. It’s not a tournament; Lady Apache is mentioned as a judge and there’s a fan vote, so it’s probably reality show confusing. 48 women were announced as participating. It’s a long list.

Karisma (from Torreon)
Azumi (Morelia)
Cassandra (Mexico City)
Kariel (Mazatlan)
Lolita
Denebola (Zapopan, Jalisco)
India Sioux
Marianne (France; was in Mexico last year as a Nitro trainee)
Mitzy (Mexico City)
Morgana (Mexico City)
Dark Lady (Queretaro)
Andressa del Ring (Mexico City)
Tania la Guerrillera
Marvel (Acapulco)
Reina Dorada
Sagittarius (Xalapa)
Baronessa
Diva Virtual (Chilpancingo)
Amazona (Puebla)
Estrella Negra (Mexico City)
Valkiria (Guadalajara
Sexy Violeta (Mexico City)
La Diabolica (Mexico City)
Hija del Vikingo (Puebla) – this is Hijo del Vikingo’s sister
Zuzu Divne (Tulacningo)
Lady Pink (Acapulco)
Miku (Mexico State)
Delicious (Mexico City)
Ixhcel (Mexico State)
Queen Love (Xalapa)
Lily Star (Mexico State)
Quimera (Nuevo Laredo)
Ludark Shaitan
Dunya (Mexico City)
Guerrera Isis (Mexico City)
Mortiss 666 (Nuevo Laredo)
Xenezys (Mexico State)
Atenea (Costa Rica)
Coral (Mexico City)
Stephanie Vaquer
Hija de Fuerza Guerrera
Diosa Kali (Mexico State)
Mary Caporal (Mexico State)
Lady Flammer (Monterrey)
Mary Caporal (Mexico State)
Evolet (Torreon)
Hija del Misterioso Jr. (Torreon) – appears to be CMLL Misterioso’s daughter
Universis (Ciudad Juarez)

Mascara 2000, Rossy Moreno and Ciclon Ramirez. Ambitious tournaments in new concept promotions have a low success rate of working. It’d be a surprise if all 48 women appeared. I’d pick Lady Flammer as the winner but she seems most likely to drop out of this tournament due to other obligations. That was probably not a great use of my time mentioning all those names.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report, with a thorough recap of Psicosis Ripper on +LucahTV’s podcast.

Lineups

Lucha Memes , TWE (SAT) 02/15/2020 Rancho Grande, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Makabre vs Arandú [Batte of Tijuas, quarterfinal]
2) Iron Kid (Indie) vs Jonathan [Batte of Tijuas, quarterfinal]
3) Xtreme Tiger vs The Tiger (Indie) [Batte of Tijuas, quarterfinal]
4) Arez vs Kamik-C [Batte of Tijuas, quarterfinal]
5) Platino vs Mr. Maldito
6) Aero Panther vs Fight Panther
7) ? vs ?? [Batte of Tijuas, semifinal]
8) ? vs ?? [Batte of Tijuas, semifinal]
9) ? vs ?? [Batte of Tijuas, final]

Lucha Memes takes their tournaments to Tijuana. All the first round matches are Tijuana/Mexicali guys against outsiders. Arez/Kamik-C seems like the most interesting of those. No idea if we’ll see this one.

RIOT: 2019-11-02 (420)

January 22, 2020January 21, 2020 thecubsfan

Recapped: 2020-01-19

This is the 420 show, taped in November. Unlike the other RIOT shows, it’s only on their Pivotshare streaming service so far, not the Highspots Wrestling Network. That may just be a temporary issue.

Matches:

Madness vs Kill Korton
(12:05, good)

It helps to be a certain level of weirdness to get over in RIOT. Kill Korton had the weird part down, enough to get the crowd really into his match despite being a newcomer. I’m not really sure if Korton actually did a move in the entire match and it still worked. He had no problem taking Madness’s spots and was a good counterpoint to Madness being super athletic. It’s hard to explain why this one worked but it did.

Charro Negro vs Mr. Iguana vs Oro Negro
(14:06, good)

The three-way match was a little up and down. Oro & Charro have promise and worked well with Iguana at times, but often looked more comfortable just with each other. Even between them, there was a missed kick spot the crowd got on them a little. That was overshadowed by the better moments; they did well basing for Iguana’s trickier spots. The match, including the entrance bit, was still vastly entertaining. Fourteen minutes felt a little bit too long for that match but they never lost the crowd.

Lady Flammer vs Baby Love
(10:38, ok)

The women’s match fell short in parts; the two straight failed top rope headscissors near the end was the point where it could no longer be considered good. Baby Love did show a lot of potential and willingness to do aerial spots not typically done by women, so the match did leave hope she might be impressive down the road. Flammer did seem like she was on a higher level but did her best to raise Baby Love up. The finish was brutal.

Caifan II vs Demonio del Aire
(14:12, great)

I was totally impressed by the Caifan II/Demonio del Aire match. It was tough to know how much to expect from Caifan and Demonio’s a guy who seemed to get hurt in every RIOT match. He was a different guy here, a fast and solid wrestler who hit everything except a very tricky dive. The even spots, in the beginning, set a positive tone and they kept it up the rest of the way. Caifan’s senton to the (cement!) floor was crazy. These two followed some wild personalities earlier but kept the crowd into it by just the action. It was impressive.

Muerte Extrema vs Aero Boy
(10:06, good)

Muerte Extrema’s match with Aeroboy was the best Muerte’s looked here; he made steady progress in 2019 and had a good opponent to work with. Aero’s a professional luchador and figured out what to do with him that would look best. The effort was there too, though it felt slower than some of the other matches and didn’t connect with the crowd as much as those too. The wrestling seemed good, they just had a lot of hard stuff to follow.

Lord Byron vs Kaientai
(13:00, good)

The UnMexicans singles match went from parody comedy to serious murder very suddenly. It held together, though it seemed like they did their most brutal bit well before the finish. They went to head drops later after so I guess it worked out. Kaientai seemed like he tried to brace himself on his senton to the apron and it made an uglier noise so that must’ve sucked. The poison rana was even more frightening.

again, not the scariest moment of the match

CIMA, Látigo, Skayde vs Erick Ortiz, Kratoz, Prometo
(11:24, ok)

The big-name trios match didn’t come together. The local guys seemed to want to do a big match to impress CIMA, CIMA and Skayde seemed to want a greatest hits match, and the meeting point wasn’t strong either way. The fans seemed to just want to see CIMA do spots they knew, though CIMA seemed hardly invested. It wasn’t bad, but it also was only memorable for the names rather than the action.

I wrote up this match for a Watch Later post a while back. It holds up well – a Great in the rating – but I don’t have much new to say about it. The crowd going nuts after the finish was entertaining.

RIOT: 2019-05-04 (Chicles)

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020 thecubsfan

Recapped: 2020-01-14

You can buy or rent this show here. This show is named Chicles, after the person who heroically hotwired the power at a previous show after a local outage.

Matches:

Erick Ortiz vs Sayrus
(11:33, good)

There was some fun stuff, but this felt like a learning experience. He can do impressive moves, but the RIOT crowd has seen a lot of fancy spots. It helps if the match hangs a bit better than this one. The accidentally funniest part of this match is when Sayrus does a poison rana, then backs up, then takes a walk around the ring, and then gets on to trying a pin. Waiting eight seconds to cover did not get the win. There was enough action here to enjoy it but there’s was piece missing.

Muerte Extrema vs Silencio vs Hijo Del Espectro Jr.
(8:20, ok)

Espectro gets hurt about three minutes in, dooming this match. The best parts of the match are the first couple of minutes when they get going, with both guys throwing out big moves to get the fans back into paying attention. They can’t couldn’t sustain the pace the rest of the way but it never fell apart.

Madness vs Low Rider
(8:57, ok)

The rudo/rudo battle between Madness/Low Rider was hard to get into. The crowd didn’t have a rooting interest and they neither guy stood out. Low Rider’s personality didn’t shine thru as much in this match as it did getting to the ring.

Fresero Jr. & Mr. Iguana vs Kaientai & Lord Byron
(16:16, good)

The tag match flipped between being a lot of fun and being not very good so many times that I’m not sure where I landed on it. In the end, a small person was thrown from a high distance onto other people so I guess it was good. This match was best when they were doing stunts and didn’t mesh as much when they were doing tricky spots, so setting up a super libre match seemed like a good idea.

Black Terry vs Símbolo
(12:20, ok)

Simbolo/Terry was fine but never more than that. Post-shoulder injury Black Terry matches have a hard time picking up speed. The chops look very strong and the technique is good, but it feels off without the pace picking up near the end, the excitement is missing in this one. Simbolo seemed like a suitable person to work with Terry but didn’t add a lot.

Arez vs Kratoz vs Látigo vs Iron Kid vs Aramis
(8:54, great)

Nine minutes reads short for a main event, but they had done all the moves. There was no more to do. It was the right length. This actually started off going a little slow before going insane in the way of most RIOT multiman matches. The big bit near the ends turned up in clips earlier, but there’s creative stuff earlier almost as cool that comes close to working. The dives are impressive, though I’m not sure how Iron Kid doesn’t break a leg on his. There’s a payoff to fans chanting “Rey Mysterio” at Latigo. This was totally enjoyable.

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