Tag: Box y Lucha 1971

Box y Lucha 998, 999, 1000, 1001, 1002 (December 1971) recaps

thecubsfan

A five issue month! And all the issues are posted!

December 3rd’s issue (998) has the previous week’s Arena Mexico show:

EMLL (FRI) 11/26/1971 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 997, Box y Lucha 998, Lucha Libre 693]
1) Milo Ventura b Bleda
2) Rey Halcón b Capitán
3) Garo Katenerian & Látigo Watson b El Nazi & Vick Amezcua [quarterfinal]
4) Cesar Valentino & El Solitario b Carlos Plata & Dorrel Dixon [quarterfinal]
5) Anibal & José Luis Mendieta b Dr. Wagner & Enfermero [quarterfinal]
6) Kitazawa & Shibata b Black Shadow & Humberto Garza [quarterfinal]
7) Anibal & José Luis Mendieta b Kitazawa & Shibata [semifinal]
8) Cesar Valentino & El Solitario b Garo Katenerian & Látigo Watson [semifinal]
9) Anibal & José Luis Mendieta DRAW Cesar Valentino & El Solitario [final]
Valentino dive left both him and Mendieta outside for the 20 count, Solitario & Anibal double pin.

Hey look another tournament. You think there are a lot of tournaments in modern CMLL, it’s got nothing on the past. I can’t think of another tournament ending with no one winning. Fans didn’t like the outcome, as you might expect.

Wrestling in EMLL at this point requires being part of the wrestling union. A notes column mentions luchador Yonga won’t be coming in EMLL at this point, because he still owes the union 1,500 pesos in back dues. (This is an underrated problem of creating a modern union. Wrestlers generally don’t want to pay for anything, especially taxes. Getting them to pay actual physical dues to support a union seems impossible.)

El Santo is notably not part of the union at this moment, running his own schedule outside of Mexico City. El Santo was advertised as wrestling in Saltillo recently, but it wasn’t him: a local promoter by the name of Ricardo Torres promoted a “El Santo versus Mr. Tinieblas” match with other wrestlers. The fans rioted when they figured out, and Torres fled without paying anyone. There seems to be a run of fake Santos and other characters in California around this team. Box y Lucha is also well convinced that the various US masked “Medics” characters are Medico Asesino rip-offs.

December 10th’s issue (999) covers a pretty unnoteworthy Arena Mexico show:

EMLL (FRI) 12/03/1971 Arena Coliseo [Arena 693, Box y Lucha 998, Box y Lucha 999]
1) Caballero Tiger II b Zeus
2) César Silva DRAW Dick Angelo
3) Estrella Blanca b Huroki Sito
4) Manuel Robles b Sergio Borrayo
5) Vick Amezcua b Carlos Plata
6) Anibal & José Luis Mendieta b Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo II
7) Cesar Valentino & El Solitario b Garo Katcherian & Látigo Watson

You can see a vague outline of a build to a rematch of that tournament final, but it never totally happens.

The Pista Arena Revolucion show the next day is more exciting: a three way mask match with Tauro, Condor and Astro eventually sees Tauro defeat Astro to end it. Astro is Tony Sugar, one of Rayo de Jalisco’s brothers. All those are names not seen or rarely seen on Friday shows, owed to the strict hierarchy of EMLL; that’s like a big second-division battle.

A notes column mentions Gori Guerrero is now wrestling in California with his “two sons”, as “the family that fights.” This would be early Chavo & Mondo.

Box y Lucha 1000 (December 14) is naturally a special issue. They’ve changed the day of the release, maybe to get on newsstands to be a Christmas gift, and spend most of the issue looking back. It’s more boxing coverage than usual and not a lot of current material. The big news is Box y Lucha is now “in color” – which means they’ve using an orange-red color alongside the blue print. That’s two colors.

We do get a list of the best luchadors of the year since 1933.

  • 1933: Yaqui Joe
  • 1934: Leroy McGuire
  • 1935: Mastura Matzuda
  • 1936: Ben Ali Mar Allah
  • 1937: Larry “Babe” Kasaboseki
  • 1938: Merced Gomez
  • 1939: Octavio Gaona
  • 1940: Tarzan Lopez
  • 1941: Black Guzman
  • 1942: Jesus Anaya
  • 1943: El Santo
  • 1944: Tarzan Lopez
  • 1945: Gori Guerrero
  • 1946: Gori Guerrero [2]
  • 1947: Rito Romero
  • 1948: Tarzan Lopez [2]
  • 1949: Cavernario Galindo
  • 1950: Sugi Sito
  • 1951: Enrique Llanes
  • 1952: Medico Asesino
  • 1953: Blue Demon
  • 1954: El Santo [2]
  • 1955: El Santo [3]
  • 1956: Rolando Vera
  • 1957: El Santo [4]
  • 1958: Karloff Lagarde
  • 1959: Karloff Lagarde [2]
  • 1960: Gori Guerrero [3]
  • 1961: Rene Guajardo
  • 1962: Rene Guajardo [2]
  • 1963: El Rayo de Jalisco
  • 1964: Karloff Lagarde [3]
  • 1965: Rene Guajardo [3]
  • 1966: Rene Guajardo [4]
  • 1967: Ray Mendoza
  • 1968: Ray Mendoza [2]
  • 1969: El Soliario
  • 1970: Anibal
  • 1971: El Solitario [2]

There are also top 10 lists of the best in each weight division. I’ll save myself from typing the whole thing and go with the #1s

  • Heavyweight: Medico Asesino
  • Light Heavyweight: Black Guzman (Gori Guerrero #3, surprisingly)
  • Middleweight: El Santo
  • Welter: Blue Demon
  • Lightweight: Joe Marin
  • Tag Team: Gori Guerrero & El Santo
    • El Santo is at 2 with Medico Aseisno, 5 with Chico Casasola, and 10 with Pancho Valentino. He’s in almost half the top tag teams of all time nearly 40 years into the history of lucha libre.

There are no results for the 12/10 show, but there is a lineup:

EMLL (FRI) 12/10/1971 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 999]
1) Sergio Borrayo vs Carlos Plata, César Silva, Rafael Salamanca, Johnny Lezcano, Manuel Robles, Huroki Sito, Atila, Dick Angelo, Mazambula [battle royal]
2) Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo II vs Látigo Watson & Raúl Reyes
3) Ángel Blanco, Cesar Valentino, El Enfermero vs Anibal, Garo Katcherian, José Luis Mendieta

Just kind of more of the same.

Issue #1001 (December 21) is closer to normal, but not completely:

EMLL (FRI) 12/17/1971 Arena México [Box y Lucha 1001, Box y Lucha 1002]
1) José Luis Mendieta b Renato Torres
2) Alberto Muñoz & Garo Katcherian b Coloso Colosetti & Karloff Lagarde
3) Anibal, Rayo de Jalisco, Tinieblas b Ángel Blanco, Dr. Wagner, El Solitario

The recap only mentions the top matches (and there are no lineups in the previous special edition.) Tinieblas makes his return as EMLL returns to Arena Mexico and is said to look better this time. Match “2” is said to be one of the best of the year. Mendieta beating Torres is a surprise as well.

The issue includes a profile of Mil Mascaras. He has not wrestled in Arena Mexico this year and is not expected to return any time soon. He’s doing well in Japan and the US, and it’s even more profitable for him to do tours elsewhere in Latin America than to come back to EMLL at this point. The unstated bit is EMLL doesn’t offer competitive wages to top stars at this time, and people who have options elsewhere are often taking them. Mil did wrestle in Mexico at least once in 1971, but it was at Arena KO, the predecessor to Arena Naucalpan.

Issue #1002 (December 31st, really bouncing around day of the week) is heavy on the Year In Review. They do leave a few pages for current results:

EMLL (SAT) 12/25/1971 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 1001, Box y Lucha 1002]
1) Lalo Montenegro b Destino Negro
2) Dick Angelo b Tino Herrera
3) César Silva b Bleda
4) Sergio Borrayo vs León Negro
match skipped over in Box y Lucha’s results
5) Carlos Plata b Rizado Ruiz
6) Perro Aguayo & Vick Amezcua b José Luis Mendieta & Raúl Reyes
rudos took 1/3
7) Anibal & Blue Demon b Coloso Colosetti & Karloff Lagarde

The Friday night show is moved to Saturday, as usual for Christmas week.

The bigger report is a show earlier in the month:

Indy (FRI) 12/03/1971 Auditorio Municipal, Tijuana, Baja California [Box y Lucha 1002]
1) Memo Valles DQ Gran Davis
2) Leo López & Rene Guajardo b El Invasor & El Rostro
3) Blue Demon b Espectro II [mask]
Demon took ⅔. Espectro II is Gerardo Tapia Anguiano, 27 years old, from Mexico City

I believe this is the same Auditorio de Tijuana that exists today, the graveyard of masks adding one early in its history. Blue Demon putting up his mask, unsurprisingly set the gate record (200,000 pesos.) Espectro II lost his mask many years prior in Panama, but almost no one would’ve known that. People losing their masks multiple times, or at least reports of that happening, are on the rise.

Box y Lucha does a recap of a lot of main events from the year (which helps fill out the database a bit.) They also hand out their 1971 awards

  • Luchador: Solitario
  • Team: Solitario & Angel Blanco
  • Novato: Jose Luis Mendita
  • Best singles match: Balck Shadow beating Rene Guajardo on November 29th
  • Best show: that November 29 show
  • Best tag team match: Villanos vs Milo Ventura & Estrella Blanca
    • they don’t give a date in the awards, but it appears to be the March 16th version based on the earlier recap
  • Best Foreigner: Danny Hodge
  • Worst Foreigner: Len Hurst
  • Best National Champion: Alfonso Dantes
  • Best World Champion: El Solitario
  • Tecnico: Anibal
  • Rudo: Cesar Valentino
  • Best luchador in foreign areas: Ray Mendoza

And that’s it for 1971. Box y Lucha published 53 issues in 1971. Of them, 41 are now on sale digitally. There’s a missing stretch between mid April and July, and then a couple in November. That’s pretty good by Box y Lucha standards.

Box y Lucha 994 & 997 (November 1971) recaps

thecubsfan

I’m still trying to figure out how to do this. I’m going to try to bunch them by months when possible. It’s not often possible.

Box y Lucha 994 (November 11, 1971 publish date) covers a big Arena Mexico show on October 29th:

EMLL (FRI) 10/29/1971 Arena México [Box y Lucha 1002, Box y Lucha 993, Box y Lucha 994]
1) Agente X vs Dick Angelo
listed in the lineup, not mentioned in the results.
2) Látigo Watson b Cesar Valentino
3) Raúl Reyes b Coloso Colosetti
Raul Reyes
4) Kitazawa b Alberto Muñoz
5) Anibal & Blue Demon b Karloff Lagarde & Shibata
6) Ángel Blanco & El Solitario DQ Rayo de Jalisco & Tinieblas
Straight falls, Rayo fouled both rudos.
7) Rene Guajardo L Renato Torres, Black Shadow [hair]
first three way hair match. Renato Torres won the battle royal, causing Shadow and Guajardo to have to fight in the first fall. (It’s meant to be multiple falls here, not separate matches.) Shadow submitted Guajardo to the Gory Special in the first fall, Torres defeated Black Shadow in the second, Guajardo beat Torres in the third to leave everyone tied at 1 fall won. Black Shadow beat Rene Guajardo again, meaning Shadow escaped the match, and Torres pinned Guajardo to take Guajardo’s hair. Box y Lucha later called one of the Black Shadow/Rene Guajardo the best singles match of 1971.

This is typical of this apuesta matches in this era: there wasn’t much build to it. Guajardo & usual tag partner Karloff Lagarde won a one night tournament the week before. They defeated Black Shadow & Blue Demon in the semifinals, then El Soltiario & Renato Torres in the final. They hadn’t been wrestling each other much prior, and there wasn’t any obvious set up for a hair match even in the tournament outcomes. The matches just happen and that’s the inherent issue with doing a look back at this period; the dots don’t always connect. Box y Lucha plays up Lagarde almost unmasking Demon in their tag match more than the hair match.

This issue also includes results for Arena Coliseo Acapulco on Sunday 10/24 and Wednesday 10/27. The setup there is like Guadalajara in modern times: Mexico City based wrestlers work on the midweek show, Sunday is more local focused (though some lower card CDMX wrestlers will work more as time goes on.)

In injury updates:

  • Ray Mendoza’s knee surgery went well, he’s got a good prognosis to return
    • Mendoza suffered a serious knee injury in October, may have wrestled through a it a bit, and Box y Lucha’s been fearful that is the end of his career. He would return in April 1972, though is time in EMLL is coming to an end.
  • Huracan Ramirez has a left arm fracture.
  • Villano I suffered a broken nose against Tauro.
  • Matematico messed up a tope, hit his head, and will be three months.

The magazine’s various notes columns also mention Villano III and Tony Salazar may be headed in soon. Both are there eventually, though it’s much farther down the road.

Box y Lucha has a few ‘notes’ columns. They add another one in this issue, debuting “Teodulfo” as the first ever masked lucha libre reporter.

Modren Box y Lucha skipped over 995 or 996 in their run, which may mean they don’t have access to copies. 994 does has the next Arena Mexico lineup, and a later year in review mentions the main event

EMLL (FRI) 11/05/1971 Arena México [Box y Lucha 1002, Box y Lucha 994]
1) El Greco vs Mario Alcala
2) Villano I vs Carlos Plata
3) Manuel Robles vs El Rostro
4) José Luis Mendieta b Gemelo Diablo II
5) Gemelo Diablo I vs Látigo Watson
6) Black Shadow, Blue Demon, Garo Katcherian b Karloff Lagarde, Kitazawa, Shibata
debut of Garo Katcherian (or something like that) from Armenia.
7) Rayo de Jalisco & Tinieblas b Ángel Blanco & El Solitario
bloody match

“Garo Katcherian” is a borderline impossible name for lucha libre magazines to get right; I’m not sure why they didn’t have anyone change it. (They did just that with Whipper Watson Jr., switching him to Latigo Watson to make it more palatable.) I can’t find anything about Katcherian in wrestling outside this tour, but it’s possible we’re all spelling his name wrong.

The November 12th results popped up in a Super Luchas a long time ago.

CMLL (FRI) 11/12/1971 Arena Coliseo [RB, SL 333]
1) Joe Martin b Pepe Casas
2) Escorpión II b El Greco
3) Escorpión I DRAW El Rebelde
4) José Luis Mendieta DQ El Enfermero
5) Vic Amezcua b Chino Chow
6) Ángel Blanco & El Solitario b Anibal & Garo Katcherian [semifinal]
7) Karloff Lagarde & Kitazawa b Látigo Watson & Raúl Reyes [semifinal]
8) Ángel Blanco & El Solitario b Karloff Lagarde & Kitazawa [final]

That’s the future Tropicasas (and father of Felino, Heavy Metal and Negro Casas) in the opener. He worked a lot in EMLL in the early 70s, but was a guy who considered to small to book on most Friday night shows.

Box y Lucha 997 (November 26th) has Rayo de Jalisco in a University of Michigan sweater on the cover. This is a great inexplicable lucha libre photo that is never explained.

EMLL (FRI) 11/19/1971 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 997]
1) Mario Alcala b Buddy Montes
2) Mario Alcala DRAW Dick Angelo
3) Escorpión II b César Silva
4) Estrella Blanca b Escorpión I
5) El Enfermero b Carlos Plata
6) Látigo Watson DQ Vic Amezcua
Watson’s best performance so far. Straight falls, last a DQ for foul
7) Anibal, Black Shadow, Garo Katcherian b Ángel Blanco, Dr. Wagner, El Solitario
tecnicos took ⅔

Anibal gets credited for carrying his side in the main event. He’s the rising young tecnico at this point. Latigo Watson is also pretty new – he admits on his debut that he’s green and he’s hear to learn – so his best performance is a hopeful sign of some improvement. The results really do list Mario Alcala in two matches, which is probably at typo. It’s possible one of them is his brother Marco, but Marco doesn’t otherwise turn up on these shows until 1975.

One of the notes columns mentions Tinieblas is off the Friday night shows, and is now demoted to Pista Arena Revolucion. Tinieblas, like Mil Mascaras, was a guy built up by the lucha libre magazines before he debuted. He looked impressive in still photos, not so much when it came to actually moving, and got poor reviews early on. The reviews never got all that much better for Tinieblas, but he’d make it back to Friday shows eventually.

That’s it for November.