Euforia new heavyweight champion, AAA in Madero, Showcenter PPV on Saturday

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 03/04/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronistas del Ring, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, Publimetro, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Átomo, Chamuel, Periko Zacarías b Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II  
11:53, one fall.
2) Cancerbero, El Coyote, Okumura b El Audaz, Esfinge, Star Jr.   
18:48. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Euforia & Último Guerrero b Gran Guerrero, Terrible, Cavernario, Sagrado, Akuma, Star Black [MEX HEAVY, battle royal]
3:18
4) Gran Guerrero b Sagrado [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
4:35
5) Terrible b Cavernario [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
3:54
6) Star Black b Akuma [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
4:04
7) Euforia b Último Guerrero [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
5:09
8) Gran Guerrero b Terrible [MEX HEAVY, semifinal]
3:03
9) Euforia b Star Black [MEX HEAVY, semifinal]
3:08
10) Fugaz, Místico, Soberano Jr. DQ Diamond, Magia Blanca, Volador Jr.
11:07. Mistico had Volador in La Mistica when Diamond unmasked him. Both teams continued to fight after.
11) Euforia b Gran Guerrero [MEX HEAVY, final]   
7:59. Euforia is the 67th Mexican National Heavyweight champion. Euforia lost Gran Guerrero on a superbomb, Guerrero landed badly and was put on a backboard, but was wrestling the next day.

The finish of the main event, where Euforia lost Gran Guerrero on a super powerbomb, overshadowed the rest of the show to me. It apparently turned out to be nothing, Gran Guerrero wrestled the next day, but it seemed serious at the time. Eufora & Gran Guerrero were uncommonly sloppy in the main event – there were two different moves into the turnbuckles that didn’t hit right – and the rest of the tournament was fine at best. It was the usual bit of the loser getting in 90% of the offense and then getting beat.

Euforia winning the title made the cover of Box y Lucha 3502D.

CMLL made a change to put a trios match between the last semifinal and the final of a tournament, something I hope they continue to do. That match was really hot until the sudden finish, and then it turned into a very realistic feeling mask pulling brawl between some of the wrestlers. They’re setting up a rematch out of it and it seems headed to another Volador/Mistico match.

No card for next Friday yet, though most of the card will be the women’s relevos suicidas first two rounds.

CMLL (SAT) 03/05/2022 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Estrellas del Ring (Text)]
1) Angelito, Pequeño Magía, Shockercito b Full Metal, Mercurio, Minos
tecnicos took 1/3
2) Leono, Panterita del Ring Jr., Sangre Imperial b Inquisidor, Nitro, Raider
tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Skadi b Dalys [lightning]
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Panterita del Ring
Rudos took 1/3
5) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
Guerreros took 2/3, the last when Gran Guerrero unmasked Euforia and UG pinned him. Rematch challenges followed.

Gran Guerrero being in one piece was the actual news. Guerreros and Infernales feud here might mirror the H2L trios title finale.

CMLL (SUN) 03/06/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Acero & Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma b Cachorro, Robin, Suicida
Fuerza Poblana took 2/3.
3) Dark Panther, Flyer, Volcano b Dark Magic, Luciferno, Pólvora
Tecnicos took 1/3
4) Hijo del Villano III, Okumura, Rey Bucanero b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring
Rudos took 1/3
5) Stuka Jr., Titán, Virus DQ Atlantis Jr., El Coyote, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Stuka took 2/3, the last when Stuka’s mask came off during an Atlantis move.

Can CMLL really be doing five more months of Stuka/Atlantis feuding?

CMLL (TUE) 03/08/2022 Arena México
1) Bengala & Retro vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zacarías
3) Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Atlantis, Fugaz, Soberano Jr. vs Cavernario, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © vs Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo I [CMLL TAG]
1st defense

The Gemelos are going to win the tag team titles at some point, I’m not sure if this is the point.

One of the Micro Gemelos got absolutely squashed by Chamuel on the finish Friday. He needed some help getting up and did get up, but if they’re down one on Tuesday that’s probably the reason.

Homenaje a Dos Leyendas is now available for PPV pre-purchase. It’s the normal big show price of 230 pesos, though it’s a little cheaper than usual in USD due to current changes.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 03/05/2022 Domo Madero, Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas [@TampicososTV, Lucha Libre CD Victoria, Lucha Libre TM]
1) Eros Barrow, Loco Castillo, Pekador b Lumino, Oro Negra, Shura
2) Argenis b Maravilla, Dinámico (Baja California), Parka Negra, Drago Kid
scheduled as a trios match with Drago Kid, Iguana & Hamburguesa versus Argenis, Dinamico and Parka Negar, switched to a five way. Drago Kid got tossed over the corner for a rana on the floor onto Argenis, but didn’t get caught and Drago Kid landed badly. Argenis beat Dinamico
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba b Baby Extreme, Pimpinela Escarlata, Sexy Star and Crazy Boy, Niño Hamburguesa, Xtreme Tiger
Baby Extreme & Sexy Star replaced Komander & Pimpinela, Nino Hamburguesa replaced Joe Lider
4) DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis b Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Villano III Jr. © [AAA TRIOS]
Empresa taunted Marisela Pena after the match.
5) Mr. Iguana, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. b Flamita, Látigo, Toxin
Mr. Iguana replaced Aramis (paternity leave). Argenis & Parka Negra attacked Myzteziz after teh match.
6) Heavy Metal & Laredo Kid b Bandido & Jack Cartwheel and Abismo Negro Jr. & Gringo Loco (Indie)
Heavy Metal replaced Hijo del Vikingo (foot injury); Metal got a big reaction. Best match of the night.
7) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Chessman, Pagano, Psycho Clown

No stream, and no live coverage by AAA. The difference between now and the past when AAA was this way is there are more region-specific Facebook/Twitter accounts I can use to puzzle together results, but I’m likely missing a detail or two. Especially with AAA switching these cards around a lot and trying to piece together what actually happened.

La Empresa winning the trios titles is not a big surprise. (Nether is AAA still having only two trios belts; maybe budget issues are so bad they can’t afford a replacement belt?) Not having Vikingo around seems like a big deal, but the reports I read said the crowd was really into Heavy Metal so it didn’t matter. Bandido did a shooting star press to the floor that got a big reaction. The building looked about 40% full to me, but a live report said it was closer to 80%. Maybe I saw an early photo? It’s a 10,000 seat building, so figuring out attendance isn’t that hard.

Laredo Kid & Taurus being here may have been the reason they weren’t used at all for Impact’s taping this weekend; might have not been worth it just to fly them in for one show.

This show should air on 03/12 & 03/19 on Space. It appears at the moment that AAA will not be live streaming their TV shows, which means I’ll be streaming them on Space. Next week is an issue though:

Saturday’s AAA Showcenter debut card will be a FITE PPV for 19 USD. The show has a 5 pm CT start time and will air in English and Spanish. Neither AAA nor FITE announced this originally, someone just found it listed on the FITE site Friday; promotion started Monday afternoon. A lot of stuff here

• $19 is almost what AAA charged for Rey de Reyes. This is a sideshow tournament, the type AAA used to stream on Facebook for $0. It’s way overpriced. The AAA maniacs are going to pay because they feel they have to, but aren’t going to be happy about it. The curious people who will check out an English lucha libre AAA show are going to spend a decent amount of money expecting a good show for the second straight month, and I hope it works out of them.
  • This is a 9 show tournament, so it’ll cost someone $171 to see the whole thing. Just insane. We don’t know who’s in the tournament or how it works or why we should care. (Most promotions would make up a ‘winner gets a mega title shot’ stip just to make sure this has some meaning, but can’t presume AA will do the same.)
    • The total cost of watching AAA live in 2022 is probably going to be around $250 USD, adding in Rey de Reyes and the four TripleMania. If AAA/FITE had a deal where it was as simple as $13/month for everything (all the tapings, VOD, English commentary where available), I’d sign up for that in an instant and that’s actually a higher per year cost. I think there’s an extra friction that comes in when you have to regularly reconsider buying something rather than when it’s just a baked in subscription cost you only thing about when you’re thinking about getting on or off.
    • Just as a big picture, the price of following lucha libre from outside of Mexico has gone up exponentially in the last two years. It was always going to head that way, but it’s going to be a long time before people used to getting things free are willing to pay for them.
  • There’s a good chance these prices are being set by FITE, who has no idea what the important AAA shows are and just charged it like it was Rey de Reyes without knowing the difference. Still, AAA could’ve got involved and just did not.
  • FITE seems to be having success around the same price point, though they have a much larger English language fanbase than AAA does at this point and that’s generally where the money is coming from. AAA doesn’t market to English beyond an odd social media post. GCW also does a much better job of hyping specific shows, where it’s just another show in the list for AAA.
• This Showcenter debut show is starting at Saturday at 5 pm CT. AAA airs on Space at 6:30 pm. Anyone who is into AAA enough to want to spend $19 on a show probably also wants to watch the other AAA content and there’s not a great way to do that. I suspect the Showcenter events will tend to be on Saturdays, which means this may be a constant issue.
  • For my part, I’m thinking of streaming the AAA show on Sundays. I’m not streaming AAA against AAA, there’s not telling when AAA’s shows will actually finish streaming something after, and I’m not sure most people want a second AAA show that same night. I may slip it onto the Google Drive early for those who have to see it, but I haven’t totally decided what I’m doing.

 

Tay Conti announced she’d be coming to TripleMania. She’s on the 03/26 Tijuana taping. Pencil her in for the 06/18 Tijuana show; it’s hard to know for sure with AAA that far away, but I believe the plan is for her and Sammy Guevara to be there.

Villano IV told Azteca his picks for the first round of the TripleMania mask tournament

• Blue Demon Jr. will beat Rayo de Jalisco Jr. because Jalisco has more injuries
• Psycho Clown will beat Canek because Psycho Clown is tougher than people now
• Ultimo Dragon will beat Pentagon Jr. because Japanese wrestlers will die fighting
• he’s training hard to beat LA Park

Dave the Clown beat Tormento in the finals of a multi man mask match in Arena Lopez Mateos Friday. Tormento is Eric Suarez, 13 years a wrestler, from Tlalnepantla.

The Masked Republic minute, the section in Konnan’s podcast where lucha libre tends to be discussed, returned for the first time in a few weeks on this week’s podcast. Konnan was asked about Rey de Reyes and said he didn’t think it was a good show. He blamed the weather and AAA cutbacks in production that made the show harder to run (cutbacks he believes are going to be reversed as AAA starts running more shows), and felt AAA/himself unfairly gets too much blame when the shows are bad and no credit at all when shows are good, but also he thought the show was disappointed. He was happy with Dralistico/Penta and Johnny/Vikingo, though that match had a lot pulled out of it because of the conditions. Konnan did confirm the Dallas show will also be a FITE show.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 03/06/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Yorvak jd Backter [IWRG TRYOUT, semifinal] 
2) Estrella de Oro jd Potro [IWRG TRYOUT, semifinal] 
Potro won the match, lost the judges decision
3) Bengalee, Diosa Quetzal, Jessy Jackson b Diosa Atenea, Lolita, Satania  
4) Aster Boy b Noicy Boy, Freelance, Toxin, Puma de Oro  
Aster Boy beat Toxin, asked for an IWRG Mexico title match. Puma de Oro & Freelance feuded
5) Yorvak b Estrella de Oro [IWRG TRYOUT, final]  
Yorvak (or Yorbak) is the 2022 IWRG Tryout winner
6) Jessy Ventura & Travis Banks b Alpha Wolf & Diva Salvaje [Relevos Increíbles]  
7) Cerebro Negro b Dragón Bane [IWRG MIDDLE, #1 Contenders]   
Cerebro Negro faces Travis Banks at a future date

I was watching other things but was told the semi-main was good. Yorvak, a wrestler from Xalapa, seems a demonic rudo character, so a different direction for a winner than last year. I don’t pretend to know these guys well, but he seems like a more interesting pick than Estrella de Oro, who appears right off the Mistico generic tecnico assembly line.

Mexico City area wrestlers Los Karmas retained their Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre Duo tag team championships on Saturday, dedicating the win to their grandfather. It turns out they are the grandsons of Mr. Raff, who passed away last week and also used the name in Karma. Karma I was wearing a Mr. Raff mask in tribute.

Martinez Entertainment, running a show in Arlington on WrestleMania weekend, is now technically running two shows on Friday April 1st. There will be a 6 pm show with just AAA wrestlers (essentially a second AAA show that weekend) and a second show later that night with Hijo del Santo and legends. One ticket gets you into both, but they’re technically different shows. The promoter has a 42-minute video explaining all of this, which I will not watch – let’s just assume this is a workaround because AAA wrestlers were asked not to work the same show as Santo. That’s the same night as the Gringo Loco GCW show, so I’m guessing you’ll see guys scheduled to work both (like Psycho Clown) work early on the Martinez show.

Mascara Dorada, who’s return to NJPW (US) aired this past week, posted a photo from after his Mucha Lucha Atlanta match this weekend which people found objectionable. I found it objectionable because it was the overdone trope of posing around a bunch of money purported (but often not actually) thrown in to celebrate a good match. Caristico’s in the photo, Dorada’s in the photo, Negro Casas is in the photo – all of those people are good wrestlers and it should not be some special photo-taking occasion that they had a good match, they should be having the good matches all the time. The issue more people rightfully have a problem with is Dorada including Marty Scurll in the photo. Scurll was advertised for the show, but Mucha Lucah Atlanta doesn’t get any attention and I don’t think the people who would be most upset about Scurll working the show understood he’d be working there until Dorada posted the photo, Dorada seems a person not really aware of the wrestling scene outside of what he’s doing in that moment, and lucha libre promotions seem unbothered about using people who’ve been blackballed elsewhere, like we’ve seen with Travis Banks. I’m surprised Scurll hasn’t turned up on The Crash yet – maybe it’s a visa issue, but he did seem able to travel to Europe for some matches.