Box y Lucha 268A (May 10, 1957)
EMLL (WED) 05/01/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 266A, Box y Lucha 267A]
1) Juan Diaz b Taro Hito
2) Humberto Garza DRAW Chivo García
3) Manuel Robles b Murciélago Velazquez
4) Gorilla Flores b Enrique Villa
5) Carnicero Butcher b Ivan el Terrible
6) Tarzán López b Carlos Moreno
7) Black Shadow & Blue Demon b Espectro & Karloff Lagarde
Tecnicos took ⅓.
This is the weekly Tuesday moved to Wednesday for holiday reasons (Labor Day) and with bigger names than typical.
EMLL (FRI) 05/03/1957 Arena México [Box y Lucha 267A, Box y Lucha 269A, Clinch 242, RB, SL 259]
Attendance: 10000
1) Akio Yoshihara b Chico Veloz
Rated a 6 ½
2) Chale Romero b Orquídea
Rated a 6.
3) Dr. Castro DRAW Canelo Segura
Rated a 6 ¾
4) Ray Mendoza b Tony López
Tony Lopez replaced El Caballero. Rated a 6 ½ .
5) Karloff Lagarde b Rubén Juárez
Lagarde won with what reads like a heart punch, Juarez selling temporary paralysis. Rated a 7.
6) Enrique Llanes & Rolando Vera b Cavernario Galindo & El Gladiador
straight falls, DQ in the first, which Box y Lucha thought was unfair – it was just normal rudo tactics. Rated a 7 ½ .
7) El Enfermero b Black Killer [mask]
Enfermero took ⅓. Black Killer is Luiz Marquez Munoz, who previously wrestled as Chimuelo Marquez.
The main event result is about as expected; Killer was moving up on the card to face a much bigger star and lost. It did draw, with “10,000” people listed in attendance.
With his brothers back in EMLL, Manuel Robles wants to by his first ring name – “Taki Sito”. He ends up uses it sometimes but it doesn’t seem to stick.
Beyond Mexico, Box y Lucha has been running regular reports about wrestling from “Coliseo Houston.” They were primarily keeping up with Medico Asesino’s exploits but have expanded to covering more of the wrestlers there. Don Leo Johnson is strongly praised.
A masked tag team named Los Infernales wrestled in the Televicentro days. They were known to be brothers Joe and Paulino Mar. Los Infernales lost their masks in Leon few months ago and were revealed to be Salvaje Flores and Tomas Rinande. Box y Lucha wants an investigation and some suspensions for a bait and switch.
There’s a more serious identity issue though; Espectro and another man are reported to have attacked a woman in Mexico City. Box Y Lucha know this is false because the name they give for Espectro (Enrique Bravo Ayala) is not the masked luchador’s real name. He was also wrestling in Veracruz that night.
Box y Lucha 269A (May 17, 1957)
EMLL (FRI) 05/10/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 268A, Box y Lucha 269A]
1) José Cruz b Coyote
Jose Cruz (“Shadowito”, incorrectly believed to be the younger brother of Black Shadow), is getting rookie of the year talk. Match rated 6 ¼
2) Rudy García b Mar Allah
rated 6 ¾
3) Dr. Castro b Chale Romero
Rated 6 ¾
4) Dory Dixon DRAW Karloff Lagarde
top 4 matches set by battle royal. Rated 6 ¾
5) Jorge Allende b Espectro
Espectro wanted an immediate mask/hair match with a five minute limit, but the commission said nope. Rated 7.
6) Enrique Llanes b Ray Mendoza
Rated 7 1/4
7) Blue Demon b Enfermero
Rated 7 ½
Black Shadow’s real name is Alejandro Cruz, and Box y Lucha leaped at the idea they might be related. They do admit to the mistake later, but insist that both guys should just run with it. That also may be a wink at Black Shadow and Blue Demon pretending to be brothers.
Tuesday’s show saw Carnicero Grimaldo defeat Manuel Robles in the main event. Black Shadow & Rolando Vera defeat Sugi & Huroiko Sito on Sunday.
Box y Lucha 270A (May 24, 1957)
EMLL (FRI) 05/17/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 269A, Box y Lucha 270A, Box y Lucha 3536, Clinch 242]
1) José Cruz b Guapo Rodríguez
2) El Pirata b Akio Yoshihara
return el El Pirata (Adolfo Moreno), who’d been mentioned as wrestling in South America
3) Chico García TLDRAW Murciélago Velazquez
20 minutes
4) Dr. Castro b El Verdugo
5) Karloff Lagarde b Jorge Allende
6) Enrique Llanes & Tarzán López b Frank Butcher & Ray Mendoza [MEX TAG, quarterfinal]
rated 7 ½
7) Black Shadow & Blue Demon b Chico Casasola & El Enfermero [MEX TAG, quarterfinal]
rated 7 ½
El Pirata is the future founder of the promotion known today as IWRG.
The top two matches are part of a tournament that will cause confusion about Mexico’s tag team titles for the next three decades. EMLL announced a tournament to decide the first national tag champs. (That’s covered in 268A.) New national tag champions certainly fits with EMLL running tournaments to fill out the rest of the national titles during this stretch. The purpose of the tournament changes before the final, and the winners end up being the Arena Coliseo Tag Team Champions instead. I don’t have an issue where the tag title match happens, and none of the surrounding issues have an explanation. This is a commission call, but I don’t know their reasoning. The result is a bunch of teams being listed as “Mexican National Tag Team Champions” from here until the 1980s, when they probably actually won this Arena Coliseo tag team championship or another similarly named title.
Manuel Robles got the win over Tony Lopez in the Tuesday main event.
Espectro took advantage of a Sugi Sito mistake to beat him on Friday. The more important story might have been about Gladiador and Gorilita Flores having issues and winning despite them. It comes off like a wrestling angle, and given later context, it might not have been one.
EMLL’s offices have finally moved into Arena Mexico and the original offices the promotion was founded in are now more. It’s a little surprising they didn’t have an office space in Arena Coliseo.
Enrique Villa is suspended for weeks for missing a show.
“Caballero” Tony Lopez is considering retiring to become a farmer.
Box y Lucha heard rumors of EMLL returning to TV, but notes there are no cameras present at shows and no TV broadcasts have been authorized.
Box y Lucha 271A (May 31st, 1957)
This week’s Tuesday show had more to it than typical:
EMLL (TUE) 05/21/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 269A]
1) Mar Allah b Chamaco Vera
2) Taro Hito b Astucia
3) El Costeño DQ Ramsés
4) Juan Diaz & Orquídea b El Pirata & Gori Casanova
5) Huroki Sito b Carnicero Grimaldo
Sito took 2/3
This is said to be the best drawing Tuesday show in a while, credit to the main event match. The notable one is match 3. Ramses is a debuting masked wrestler who’s gimmick is basically “Santo but gold.” Ramses loses his first match in straight falls by DQ, which is the same as the El Santo debut. It appears he (or someone else using the name) was wrestling before this, so it may be EMLL identifying someone as a possible Santo replacement rather than creating one. The character doesn’t go beyond this; Ramses lacks the magic of El Santo. He hangs around in the secondary show prelim matches for a few years without advancing. The “El Santo” homage character in Nacho Libre was also a gold-wearing luchador named Ramses, and either that was a very deep pull or an amusing coincidence.
EMLL (FRI) 05/24/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 270A, Box y Lucha 271A, Clinch 242]
1) Jaibo García b Gorila Osorio
Rated a 6 ¼
2) Eskimo Blancarte b Chico Veloz
Rated a 6
3) Chivo García b Bobby Rolando
Rated a 6 ¾
4) Pepe Mendieta b Frankenstein
Rated a 7.
5) Ivan el Terrible b Carlos Moreno
Rated a 7.
6) Huroki Sito & Sugi Sito b Cavernario Galindo & Gladiador [MEX TAG, quarterfinal]
straight falls. Rated a 7. Gladiador appeared to be drunk, brawls with Galindo outside the ring, and hits commission Balindo trying to break it up, and had to be taken away by police officers after the match.
7) Espectro & Karloff Lagarde b Dorrel Dixon & Rolando Vera [MEX TAG, quarterfinal]
Espectro & Karloff took ⅔. Rated a 7.
El Glaidador’s license to wrestle in Mexico is canceled by the commission following that match, which means no licensed wrestling promoter can book him. It appears he’s shown up in no condition to wrestle previously (maybe as recently as that Sunday show) and had other issues. He’d be done even on the first time after hitting the commissioner. Gladiador will spend years trying to get licensed again.
Enrique Vera defeated El Enfermero on the Sunday main event, a card where the top four matches were by battle royal.
Box y Lucha 272A (June 7, 1957)
The Tuesday show kicks off a tournament for the vacant Mexican national lightweight title.
EMLL (TUE) 05/28/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 270A, Box y Lucha 271A, Clinch 242]
1) Coyote b Rudy Tinoco [MEX LIGHT, 8f]
2) Mar Allah b José Munoz [MEX LIGHT, 8f]
3) José Cruz b Pery Lopez [MEX LIGHT, 8f]
4) Juan Diaz b Guapo Rodríguez [MEX LIGHT, 8f]
straight falls
5) Carnicero Grimaldo & Gori Casanova b Enrique Villa & Orquídea
took ⅔
Black Shadow won the lightweight title in 1950, defended it a few times, and then vacated it in 1955 when he moved up in weight. (He’d never win a major title again.) EMLL and the commission are finally getting around to filling it. This may be EMLL doing the commission a favor by holding a tournament. The matches exclusively happen on Tuesdays, and the title will disappear from the promotion as soon as the tournament is over.
EMLL (FRI) 05/31/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 271A, Box y Lucha 272A, Box y Lucha 3536, Clinch 242]
1) Jaibo García b Tony Sugar
Rated 6
2) Antonio Ramírez b Coyote
Coyote replaced El Pirata. Rated 6 ½
3) Chivo García b Dientes Hernández
Rated 6 ¾
4) Canelo Segura b Dr. Castro
Rated 7.
5) El Enfermero b Gorilita Flores
Rated 6 ¾
6) Cavernario Galindo b Dorrel Dixon
Galindo took ⅓. Rated 7.
7) Enrique Llanes & Tarzán López b Huroki Sito & Sugi Sito [MEX TAG, semifinal]
rated 7 ½
Black Shadow defeats Karloff Lagarde in a great Sunday main event.
There are rumors that Ray Mendoza will not honor his existing EMLL contract and will instead choose to go on a Central/South American tour. The implication is those tours must be paying much better than EMLL.
Bobby Bonales is officially unsuspended. He was suspended for missing shows and proved it happened only due to a car accident.
Newcomer Zepilin Ahumada (by trainer Jack O’Brien) is said to have 20 years of experience in sumo. Zepilin is a nickname given to heavy wrestlers, so they’re trying to play it off as if it’s part of a martial arts choice.
[Previous would be April 1957, Next is June 1957, Full index]
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