Box y Lucha 212A-215A (April 1956) recap

WordPress missed posting this one, so it’s going up out of order.

Box y Lucha is selling these magazines here and here.

There’s a left over Sunday result from 211A:

EMLL (SUN) 04/01/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 210A, Box y Lucha 211A]
1) Carnicero Grimaldo vs Bruno Lopez
2) Akio Yoshihara vs Red Man
3) Dr. Castro b El Bulldog
4) Joe Marín DQ Chale Romero
straight falls, DQs in both.
5) Black Shadow & Blue Demon DRAW Bobby Bonales & Gladiador
double pin with Shadow and Bonales.

Double pin finishes don’t come up often.

212A has the first Friday of April

EMLL (FRI) 04/06/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 211A]
1) Johnny Black vs El Gavilán
not listed in the results
2) Rogelio De La Paz b Carlos Segura
3) Chico Veloz b Dientes Hernández
4) Eduardo Bonada DRAW Moloch
5) Black Killer b Orquídea
Orquidea replaecd Fernando Oses
6) Dorrel Dixon b Joe Marín
7) Black Shadow & Blue Demon b Chale Romero & El Mongol
lots of topes to knock down the bigger man

Shadow & Demon remain the top tecnico team.

Nothing too notable on the Sunday show.

213A gets more interesting

EMLL (FRI) 04/13/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 212A, Box y Lucha 213A]
1) Taro Hito b Kid Vanegas
2) Sordomudo Quiroz b Rogelio De La Paz
3) Gorila Macías III DRAW Joaquin Murrieta
4) Oso Negro b Sordomudo Rodríguez
5) Joe Marín DQ El Mongol
6) Halcón Quintana b Frank Butcher
7) Rolando Vera b El Santo

Rolando Vera and Frank Butcher are notable names from that Televicentro rival promotion. Vera appeared in EMLL prior to that group starting, Butcher is making his debut. Vera is a tecnico through and through, impressing Box y Lucha not just with the win over El Santo but with his in-ring ability. Vera uses la reinera – set to be another Gory Guerrero invention – to win the first fall, and a cangrejo to submit Santo again in the third.

Box y Lucha immediately attempts to build up a NWA Middleweight Championship match, but Vera’s not interested. He declares he’s a light heavyweight and not a middleweight. The interview points out Vera is the current Occidente Middleweight Champion, and Vera says he values that title and not the NWA one. We think of those titles as Arena Coliseo Guadalajara in-house belts now, but they were originally Elias Simon’s championships and defended in a loop around western Mexico. Vera’s essentially saying he puts more weight on the rival promoter’s belts. Left unsaid is Vera has actually challenged and lost to Santo twice for that title in other locations. There’s more with those two coming.

EMLL (SUN) 04/15/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 212A, Box y Lucha 213A]
1) Carlos Segura b El Corzo
2) Chico Veloz b Red Man
3) Dr. Castro DQ Murciélago Velazquez
straight falls (one of them by DQ)
4) Chico Casasola & El Enfermero b Black Killer & Bobby Bonales
5) El Gladiador b Black Shadow
a savage battle

EMLL is getting Gladiador ready for bigger things, but it’s also maybe punishment for Black Shadow. He’s reportedly suspended two months by EMLL for no-showing a match on 04/12 in Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas. Referee Eddie Palau is also suspended two weeks for trying to keep it quiet.

214A has Demon getting a new tag partner

EMLL (FRI) 04/20/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 213A, Box y Lucha 214A]
1) Mar Allah b Johnny Black
appears to have actually taken place after the main event
2) Red Man b Juan Diaz
3) Sordomudo Rodríguez b Chico Veloz
4) El Califa b Dr. Castro
5) Black Killer b Canelo Segura
6) Pepe Mendieta b Chico Casasola
Mendieta took ⅓, losing the second by DQ.
7) Blue Demon & Rolando Vera b Bobby Bonales & El Gladiador

Vera again looks super.

214A is published right before Arena Mexico opens. There’s a feature strongly praising Salvador Lutteroth, saying the promotion is as valuable as any of the wrestlers and the new building is proof of that. Capacity is listed as “25,000”, higher than any other estimate I’ve ever heard.

EMLL (FRI) 04/27/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 215A, CMLL, Lucha Libre 148]
1) Erick Bouloff b Carlos Segura
2) Canelo Segura b Dr. Castro
3) Black Killer b Manuel Robles
4) Joe Marín b El Califa
said to be best match on the show
5) Bobby Bonales b Gorilla Flores
6) El Gladiador b El Enfermero
7) El Santo & Medico Asesino b Blue Demon & Rolando Vera
Medico Aseisno debut in Arena Mexico. He had been a Televicentro star who wrestled independently and internationally following the demise of that group. (He wouldn’t be around long; those other places pay better, but Box y Lucha notices he’s got a big size advantage on his opponents.) Santo & Asesino took 2/3.

1930s/40s stars Firpo Segura, Tarzan Lopez and Dientes Hernandez make special appearances as part of the inauguration. Segura smashes a champagne bottle on the side of a ringpost as one might do for a new boat. EMLL has three ring announcers for the show Picoro, Maximiliano Aguilar and Alfredo Adam (who normally just did boxing.) Box y Lucha insists the attendance is 25,000 people and says EMLL broke the gate record with “over 100,000 pesos.” The Shadow/Santo mask match had that record at around 87,000 pesos.

Medico Asesino is clearly the biggest star from the Televicentro days, and seeing him team with El Santo is a gigantic deal. He’s also a heavyweight in a promotion full of smaller guys and stands out. Box y Lucha praises him in peculiar fashion: Medico knows about four moves but he’s so strong that he doesn’t really need to know more because he’s so big.

Manuel Robles eventually becomes EMLL’s Arena Puebla promoter, and his son now has the role.

The opener here again took place after the Santo/Asesino match, but you wouldn’t call it the main event. Bouloff goes back to at least 1937 and barely wrestles after this; he’s one last link to the earliest days of a promotion that’s grown greatly in it’s first 23 years. Carlos Segura is the son of Firpo Segura, who is seen in the (mostly empty) stands watching his son wrestle an opponent he wrestled long ago. Box y Lucha says Carlos is a long way from being Firpo.

In other news, that Black Shadow’s suspension will likely be lifted. EMLL received 50 letters from fans protesting the suspension. (Box y Lucha is always a big Black Shadow supporter.) While on hiatius, Shadow is rehabbing injuries and working on new moves. A new tope called “a ciegas” gets attention. It’s described like a reverse tope, and Black Shadow does start doing those after his return.

That’s it for April.