Puebla tonight, KAOZ & Konnan Big return, possible Atlantis return month

IWRG (SUN) 02/23/2020 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Canival King & Voltrex b Águila Oriental Jr. & Chicanito  
2) Lolita & Miss Delicious b Hahastary & Star Fire  
Hahastary & Star Fire replaced Lilith Dark & Ludark Shaitan
3) Alas de Oro, Alas De Plata, Puma de Oro b Hip Hop Man, Mosca, Rey Halcón Jr.  
4) Black Dragón, Eragón, Hijo del Alebrije DQ Canival King, Death Metal, Toxin  
Canival King replaced Cerebro Negro. Win via DQ when Death Metal gave Black Dragon a martinete setting up a hair match.
5) Big Chico Che, Big Mike, Big Ovett b Capo del Norte, Capo del Sur, Lunatik Xtreme  
Lunatik Extreme replaced X-Fly
6) Puma King, Relámpago, Shun Skywalker b Demonio Infernal, Fuerza Guerrera NG, Súper Nova  

Black Dragon took Death Metal’s mask back on New Year’s Day, and they’ve been feuding on the (few) times Death Metal has been booked here since. They’re headed to a hair versus hair match on March 5th, which will is is to be the start of a run of mid-week shows.

KAOZ (SUN) 02/23/2020 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [@thekoko666, Lo Mejor de Lucha, TeleDiario]
1) Komander, Mr. Iguana, Perla Lagunera b Baby Love, Charro Negro, Dulce Kanela 
2) Dulce Sexy © b Zeuxis, Miranda Alize, Alex García, Diosa Quetzal [KAOZ WOMEN] 
3) Rico Rodríguez & Vazco Jr. b Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria © and Epydemius & Silver Tiger and Black Raider & Hell Raider [KAOZ TAG]
Rico & Vazco won the titles via Rico foul on Escoria. Epydemius appeared to present them the belts. La Secta asked for a rematch, as did Delta (with a partner to be revealed)
4) Emperador Azteca (Indie) © b Trittón, Mr. 450 [KAOZ CRUISER]
5) Hijo de LA Park, La Bestia Del Ring, LA Park Jr. b Galeno del Mal, Hijo De Wagner, Silver Jr. [KAOZ TRIOS]
Bestia del Ring replaced Hijo del Volador and won the trios championship.
6) Ayako Hamada & El Divo DQ Daga & Tessa Blanchard [KAOZ MIXED TAG, #1 Contenders]
Daga hit the refere for the DQ.
7) Rey Wagner b Rush ©, Rey Escorpión (AAA), Fresero Jr. [KAOZ HEAVY]
Rush & Escorpion brawled to the back and Wagner beat Fresero to win the title. Konnan Big came out and challenged for a title match on 03/29.

Konnan Big hasn’t been around for a while so maybe he needs a re-explaining for newer people. Konnan Big was a big star locally early last decade, largely based on a number of peculiar matches. Arena Coliseo Monterrey was owned by the TV Multimedios station and Konnan Big began feuding with hosts of other (non-wrestling) TV shows on the network, leading to them having matches in the arena. (Here’s one against TV presenter Ernetsto Chavana.) The concept drew well, at least at first, and the matches would have many run-ins to disguise the limited abilities of both the TV show host and Konnan Big. Traditional wrestling fans hated this, feeling it made a mockery of what they liked and blamed the declining interest of wrestling locally on the concept. Arena Coliseo Monterrey used to have twice weekly shows before the era of Konnan Big and now is closer to twice monthly. That may have happened anyway.

Konnan Big has never had much of a name outside of Monterrey. He hasn’t connected outside of the freakshow fighting celebrities concept, no one else has done that with him, and he’s at best an entertainingly bad wrestler. Konnan Big did a lot of jumping (or falling) from high places as part of his bit and got hurt badly after one went aware; he’s been mostly retired for the last few years. Bringing him back is a bit of nostalgia, but they’re also setting up Wagner as representing traditional wrestling values and Konnan Big as the guy who ruined it. And also Fresero Jr. is apparently in the match too, because they need someone who is actually willing to lose.

This seemed to be a sell out. All of the old wooden chairs in Arena Coliseo Monterrey’s flow have been ripped out and replaced by metal chairs. The floor has been flattened out as well. It would seem like that would open up more room at ringside, but the guardrails seem as close as ever. It does mean there’s less seats on the floor. The ticket website for the 03/29 show lists 4,210 tickets as on sale for that show, so that may be the new capacity.

The Arena Lopez Mateos show was canceled yesterday. No reason started, but those locals-only shows have been drawing poorly for a long time and SuperLuchas believes another bad turnout led to the cancelation. Next weekend’s show is a Lucha Libre Boom show with Hijo del Santo, so that should do better.

CMLL continues it’s stretch of tag team tournaments tonight with a CMLL family tournament in Arena Puebla. The Friday night Arena Mexico tournaments are heavily considered by CMLL match makers. The Puebla versions seem far less so. An incredible pairs tournament last year in Puebla was won by Diamante Azul & Tiger, two men who rarely win much. This tournament has bigger names than that – Los Guerreros, the Chavez Brother sand NGD are involved – but CMLL seems to have more freedom to go in unexpected directions since it’s unlikely to be mentioned again.

There are also three non-tournament matches on this show. Cavernario teams with Shocker & Templario against Star Jr., Valiente, and Volador in one, which puts two finalists in the incredible partners tournament against each other a few days before their final. The second match is a relevos incredible featuring Fuego, Stigma, and Virus against Dark Magic, Diamond and Okumura. These have been used to set up Stigma feuds lately. Astro & Hijo del Centella Roja open against Espiritu Maligno & Policeman.

The show starts at 9 pm on CMLL’s YouTube channel. Daylight savings time is coming.

SuperLuchas has an Atlantis update. The Campal column says Atlantis underwent surgery in December, is expecting to be medically cleared in May and will return in June.

Tickets are on sale for a 03/28 AAA Torreon show which may be a TV taping. That one is listed a 4,547 capacity.

Mystique, Microman, and Chamuel are headed to Japan for a 07/02 show in Tokyo and 07/04 in Osaka under the Lady’s Ring banner. This would be the Micros debut in Japan.

One more Dragon Bane vs Canis Lupus match from NOAH.

Hidalgo luchador Guardian de Acero passed away. He had wrestled in Pachuca’s Deportivo 11 de Julio, though it appeared he had not been active since 2017.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 02/29/2020 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Leono vs Apocalipsis & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Universo 2000, Pierrothito
3) Diamond, Eléctrico, Magia Blanca vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Tiger
4) Audaz vs Okumura [lightning]
5) Atlantis Jr., Titán, Valiente vs Mephisto, Templario, Terrible
6) Ángel de Oro, Flyer, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Forastero, Último Guerrero

Forastero/Niebla Roja seems the feud here.

IWRG (SUN) 03/01/2020 Arena Naucalpan
1) Atomic Star & Legendario vs Rey Halcón Jr. & Tromba
2) Ayako Hamada, Lolita, Miss Delicious vs Diosa Quetzal, Ludark Shaitan, Miku
3) Eragón, Hijo del Alebrije, Puma de Oro vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
4) El Hijo del Medico Asesino © vs Fresero Jr. [IWRG JUNIORS]
first defense (won in back in September)
5) Capo del Norte, Capo del Sur, X-Fly vs Big Chico Che, Big Mike, Big Ovett [hair, mask, captains hair]
capitans will be chosen by random draw.
6) Chicano, Estrella Divina, Tiago vs Fuerza Guerrera NG, Puma King, Shun Skywalker

That’s the non-Mamba version of El Imperio in the main event.

The semi-main is the bit where only the captain loses their hair or mask, but no one knows who is the captain ahead of time. Except it seems another obvious X-Fly hair loss. I guess there could be Strippers Big Bald but seems unlikely.

Ayako Hamada being a big new debut and working second on the card is less than ideal.