Liga Elite & Lucha Underground tonight, Lucha Victoria 2016

CMLL (TUE) 04/19/2016 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Cholo & Inquisidor b Leono & Metatrón
16:29. Rudos took 1/3. Metatron replaced Sensei on Saturday
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Hijo del Signo, Metálico b Magnus, Robin, Star Jr.
18:17. Rudos took 2/3.
3) Blue Panther Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. b Disturbio, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
17:44. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Esfinge b Sagrado [lightning]
9:45. Esfinge won via powerbomb.
5) Blue Panther, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Morphosis
13:12. Tecnicos took 2/3. Morphosis’s first match since November.
6) Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto b Dragón Lee, Máscara Dorada, Stuka Jr.
8:18. Rudos took straight falls, the last when Mephisto fouled Mascara Dorada and pinned him. Dorada. Dorada demanded a singles match. Mephisto agreed, but also pulled off Dorada’s mask. Dragon Lee said he wasn’t wrestling on this show, then said he was.

The strange Dragon Lee situation was the most interesting part of the show. Lee appeared to injury a knee last Wednesday and was taken off weekend shows. He was still listed as appearing on Tuesday, but – a few minutes into the show – posted on Twitter an apology for not working the show. A half hour later, he said plans had changed and he was on driving to Arena Mexico at that moment. Dragon Lee did very little in the match itself. It came off as Dragon Lee really shouldn’t have been wrestling but CMLL had failed to get a replacement and needed him to just be out there.

Otherwise, it’s clear CMLL is setting up a lot of big matches for next week and everyone’s kind of taking it easy this week. It might be because so many of these matches don’t mean much, or because no one wants to get hurt and miss their bookings during Kid’s Day.

Tonight’s Elite show features Atlantis versus Caristico in a battle of top tecnicos. It’s their second match in their tournament, and their first singles match against each other. They wrestled a few times when Atlantis was a rudo, with (then) Mistico winning five times and Atlantis only winning a match in Guadalajara in 2008. The other singles match is Mascara Dorada versus Negro Casas, which is nearly as one sided. Casas has won twice, Dorada six times, the last back on March 1st in Guadalajara. Casas is the only person who hasn’t had a match in this tournament, Dorada has a win already, so it seems like the vet will get a win to balance things out. Atlantis/Caristico is tougher to guess.

CMLL has a full preview here. The trios match which probably will air is Rush, La Mascara & Toscano against Cibernetico, Mephisto and Shralie Rockstar, but I’d rather see Super Crazy, Rocky Lobo & Jinzo versus Felino, Tiger and Puma. Hijo de LA Park debuts in the segunda.

SuperLuchas posted a review of the first few weeks; the announcers have generally not gotten great reviews everywhere, and they helpfully explain the context for Senorita Cometa bits. (Someone did the same thing in Spanish for the World Cup and Olympics.) The big news is early in the post, where they say “apparently” CMLL caused the time slot move because they were upset about the TV shows hurting their own Friday night ticket sales.

There definitely is something going on with Elite and CMLL. Edgar was wearing a CMLL referee shirt the first two shows, and was wearing an Elite one by the third. All mentions of CMLL were covered up on the stage – you’d have to look for them being on the signboards underneath the upperdeck to spot it. After the tag match, Rush went over to the announce desk to scream at Shocker, and the CMLL logo on the announce desk was blurred out.

The other stuff is minor, but you don’t start blurring out logos unless there’s some issue.

CMLL’s lineups now show Mercurio in for Pequeno Olimpico and Shockercito for Angelito on Friday and Vaquerita in for Princesa Sugehit on Sunday.

There’s also the 100th edition of CMLL Informa tonight. They haven’t announced guests. Mistico says he’s appearing.

Tonight’s Lucha Underground is episode 2×13, “Monster meets Monster”. Matches announced for the show

• Fenix, TBA, TBA versus the Disciples of Death in the trios tournament
• Drago versus Aerostar
• Matanaza (c) versus Mil Muertes for the Lucha Underground championship

There’s usually more time for vignettes on three match shows. There may be even more time than usual this week and crazy things are said to be happening. This Aerostar’s only second match of the season, having previously only shown up in the Aztec Warfare match. It’s only Drago’s third.

Victoria beer announced a Lucha Victoria 2016 campaign. They had more than 40 different luchador designs on bottle caps. This year, they’ll have eight designs on cans and plastic tops: Atlantis, Blue Demon Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Santo, Mistico, Pentagon, Rey Misterio Jr., and Sexy Star. There’s pictures of some of those on this press release, though not all of them. This is a Mexico only promotion, and no word when they’ll start appearing in stores, but the caps and bottles from last year’s campaign found their ways to the US last year.

Sexy Star is surely going to wrestle in Mexico again at some point this year, if for no reason to keep Victoria happy. (There had been talk about a women’s Lucha World Cup in companion to the men’s one, and that would be the logical spot.) The lucha libre default is attractive woman should be unmasked, but no one’s made more money or had more fame primarily by being an attractive woman wearing a marketable mask. It feels like there’s a lesson here. I’m just happy Pentagon made the cut – he’s the only full time AAA guy to do so.

There was a Victoria sponsored in Aguascalientes last night, as part of an annual fair. There’s no card or results but Daga says he beat Apache for his hair. Blue Demon Jr. appeared, so maybe he’s back on good terms with AAA again or maybe Victoria just wanted him in.

Pentagon Jr. defeated Fenix in 17:41 via Fear Factor package piledriver on the Oudou debut show. It sounds like the match went well.

Liger Fever has a one two three part translation of a Demus 3:16 interview with Elisa Tudon from Divinas de la Lucha. It’s really good.

The Gladiatores talked to Astro, who seemed to be in good spirits despite losing his mask and having a very red chest

Rocky Lobo is apparently heading to Germany in May.

Segunda Caida reviews Atlantis, La Sombra, Triton vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

LuchaWorld has the top 10 rankings for the last week.

Box Y Lucha #3229 has Psycho Clown & the Octagons.

La Union has a an interview with Cuernavaca lucha trainer Elfego Silva/Circulo Rojo

Krazy Star talks about her trip to Panama.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 04/26/2016 Arena México
1) Aéreo & Stukita vs Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
2) Leono, Sensei, Starman vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
3) Silueta vs Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, La Vaquerita, Skadi, Dalys, Zeuxis, Reyna Isis, La Seductora, La Comandante [cibernetico]
Arena Mexico 60th Anniversary cibernetico
4) Dragón Lee, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Sagrado
5) Máscara Dorada vs Mephisto

Women’s anniversary cibernetico on this show suggests they won’t be on the officially Friday night Arena Mexico show.

CMLL (TUE) 04/26/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Explosivo & Metatrón vs Carlo Roggi & Ráfaga
2) Reyko, Robin, Soberano Jr. vs Hijo del Signo, Maléfico, Metálico
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Pegasso, Súper Halcón Jr. vs El Cuatrero, Sansón, Skándalo
4) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, Gallo, The Panther, Tritón vs Bobby Z, Disturbio, Tiger, Vangellys, Virus [cibernetico]
5) Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Rey Escorpión vs Atlantis, Euforia, Kráneo [Relevos Increíbles]

Another cibernetico here. Main event program appeared to be Marco/Bucanero, but Bucanero isn’t around so who knows.

IWRG (SUN) 04/24/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Black Dragón vs Keshin Black
2) Dragón Fly & Shadow Boy vs Galaxy & Hip Hop Man
3) Dinamic Black, Emperador Azteca, Freelance vs Cerebro Negro, Golden Magic, Killer Jr.
4) Leo, Mike, Rafy vs Diablo Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Imposible
5) Danny Casas, Hijo del Alebrije, Veneno vs Herodes Jr., Negro Navarro, Trauma II
6) Trauma I © vs Máscara Año 2000 Jr. [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense

Fourth match is the Mexico State trios versus crafty ninja turtles.