Tag: magazine recaps

Some notes since the last one of these I’ve done

• There’s now an index of these recaps to make it easier to go through them.
• I asked Box y Lucha about the mystery “A” in these issue numbers. They didn’t know for sure, but their best guess was to keep the numbering distinct from other magazines in the Box y Lucha family.
• I also asked Box y Lucha about these releases and if some of the skipped numbers might pop up later. It sounds likely no – issues have gone missing or damaged as ownership of the magazine has changed over many years, and so some just appear to be lost to time.

It’s better to have some issues rather than none, but there will be some gaps here. There are no issues currently from June or July to go through. A later 1956 year in review article does mention two shows in June.

• a card on the 8th where El Enfermero defeated Blue Demon in the main event
• a card on the 22nd where Demon successfully defended the NWA Welterweight Championship over Enfermero, and Santo did the same with Rolando Vera and the NWA Middleweight championship. That’s the first piece in a longer story.

Box y Lucha hasn’t released any July 1956 issues. However, in a bundle of 1955 issues, they also released the August 1956 Clinch 225. Clinch was a monthly version of the magazine and the 1956 issues happen to include a full recap of every Mexico City EMLL match that took place the prior month. There’s less detail to these and it’s missing the final Sunday of the month, but it’s much better than the nothing I thought we had.

EMLL (FRI) 07/06/1956 Arena Coliseo [CLINCH 225]
1) El Pirata b Rudy García
2) Juan Diaz TLDRAW Seki Moto
15 minutes
3) Frankenstein b Chico Veloz
4) Mario Tello b Oso Negro
5) Jorge Allende b Pepe Mendieta
6) El Enfermero b Bobby Bonales
7) Dorrel Dixon, Joe Marín, Rolando Vera b Carlos Moreno, El Mongol, Gorilita Flores

“Seki Moto” is a newer face who’s not around long. Clinch 225 happens to have a bio. It’s probably actually “Sekimoto” as a last name, but a real name isn’t given (and I’m not sure who it would be.) He was born in Okinawa on February 5, 1931 and trained in judo and jit-jitsu. He was a part of Jack O’Brien’s “Promoter Unidos Mexicanos” in a tour of Guatemala, then later traveled to El Salvador and eventually Mexico. He wrestled in Mexico, where he suffered a spine injury and was sidelined for 2.5 months in a match with Abel Krim. He returned in Guadalajara and defeated Huracan Ramirez there. Guadalajara promoter Elias Simon recommended him to people in Mexico City.

Carlos Moreno gets a less positive article in Clinch, via a letter published from the Aguascalientes Box y Lucha Libre commission. In the previous issue, Carlos Moreno apparently said he was wrongly jailed after a crowd brawl. The commission sent in a letter saying Moreno was out of control and rightly banned for wrestling in the state for a year.

EMLL (FRI) 07/13/1956 Arena Coliseo [CLINCH 225]
1) Kid Vanegas b Carnicero Grimaldo
2) Beau Brummel b Bobby Rolando
3) Orquídea DRAW Frankenstein
4) Mario Tello b Manuel Robles
5) Giuliano b Chale Romero
6) Rolando Vera b Jorge Allende
7) Dorrel Dixon & Joe Grant b Enfermero & Medico Asesino

Dixon stays winning in the main event. Match 5 is  the debut of Piero Giuliano (or Giullano), who would be in and out the rest of the 50s.

The magazine also included a Jorge Allende profile. He trained under Pablo Romero, then got sent to Giraldo Hierro in Torreon to debut. He gave his real name as Jorge Allende Guerrero, so they announced him as Gori Guerrero’s nephew. He debuted in (Old) Arena Mexico on June 18, 1950 in a battle royal. (Text actually says July, but this is June based on the rest of the data.) He was third out, wrestled Oso Negro, and went to a half hour draw. He went on a winning streak, then ended up facing Gori Guerrero after a another battle royal. Guerrero was said to be not happy about having a fake nephew. The match lasted one fall, when Guerrero smashed Allende into an armrest on the outside and Allende was unable to continue. Allende took a high profile loss to Blue Demon and left the territory for four years. His 1954 run went better, though he eventually lost his hair to Demon.

EMLL (FRI) 07/20/1956 Arena Coliseo [CLINCH 225]
1) Guapo Rodríguez b Mar Allah
2) Centella Inca b Memo Rubio
3) Canelo Segura b Orquídea
4) Black Killer DQ Mario Teelo
5) Giullano b Gorilita Flores
6) El Santo & Medico Asesino b Dorrel Dixon & Joe Grant

Santo’s back, so the main event result goes back in his favor. A notes column mentions he’s reached 14 years of wrestling this month, and that he did wrestle unmasked before being El Santo.

The bigger show is on Sunday:

EMLL (SAT) 07/21/1956 Arena Puebla [Clinch 225, Lucha Libre 106]
1) Kiko Torres vs Frankenstein
2) Pepe Mendieta vs El Espectro
3) El Enfermero & Medico Asesino vs Mongol & Ray Mendoza
4) El Santo © b Rolando Vera [NWA MIDDLE]
Santo’s 6th defense, said to be the first Mexican to reach that mark with a world title

This is the 3rd Anniversary show for Arena Puebla, which would have CMLL shows on Saturdays at this point. Santo retains over Vera a second time in a high profile match. (Some of the other six defenses happened during a tour of western Mexico; Box y Lucha briefly alludes to them but has no dates.)

EMLL (FRI) 07/27/1956 Arena Coliseo [CLINCH 225]
1) Wama b Mar Allah
2) Chico Veloz b Eskimo Blancarte
3) Tony Barbetta b Kiko Torres
4) Black Killer DRAW Jalisco González
5) Espectro b Joe Marín
6) Giullano b Mongol
Mongol first loss (as a singles?)
7) El Santo & Medico Asesino b Joe Grant & Rolando Vera

Santo again defeats Vera.

Match 5 is the Arena Coliseo debut of El Espectro, which would become one of the most enduring gimmicks (and most past down) gimmicks in EMLL history. Both Espectro and the less memorable Guapo Rodriguez are profiled as newcomers in Clinch.

Clinch also includes a rankings:

Top 10 wrestlers of the month

1. El Santo (also most popular)
2. Gori Guerrero
3. Blue Demon
4. Rito Romero
5. Rolando Vera
6. El Enfemero
7. Black Shadow
8. Medico Aseisno
9. Cavernario Galindo
10. Tarzan Lopez

Santo & Medico Asesino is the top team. (Santo & Enfermero is the 2nd team.) Polo Torres, Joe Grant and Blue Demon are the best trios. A list of champions and top contenders notes both the Mexican Light Heavyweight and Welterweight championships are vacant.

Other features include a look back at the 1944 Gorila Ramos/Tarzan Lopez match for both the NWA MIDDLE and MEX LH title. Lopez was the middleweight championship, demanded the match at his weight, and won both titles. Elsewhere in history pieces focusing on past Augusts, there’s info on heavyweight and lightweight title changes in past years.

One last article is on referee (and booker) Chucho Lomelin, who scared everyone by puking blood on June 29th. It’s said to have been caused by an ulcer. He was taken to the hospital and got gravely illy on July 13th. He’s doing better now; the title says he beat “La Parka” in straight falls. He thanks for Salvador Lutteroth for the support.

[Previous May 1956; there is no June post. Next August 1956]

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.

Box y Lucha is selling these magazines here.

Picking up with issue 207A. I’m not really sure why these issue numbers have A.

EMLL (FRI) 03/02/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 206A, Box y Lucha 207A]
1) Ángel Negro b Chamaco Vega
2) Jalisco González TLDRAW José Macias
30 minute draw
3) Daniel Aldana b Ali Bey
4) Halcón Negro b Black Killer [quarterfinal]
5) Joe Grant b Ray Mendoza [quarterfinal]
6) El Gladiador b Gorilla Flores [quarterfinal]
7) Blue Demon b Fernando Oses [quarterfinal]
8) Halcón Negro b Joe Grant [semifinal]
9) El Gladiador b Blue Demon [semifinal]
10) Halcón Negro b El Gladiador [final]

This is sort of a low wattage Friday. Blue Demon is here, Gladiador is pushed a lot but the one night (battle royal driven) tournament is the biggest draw.

There are more names on the Friday show.

EMLL (SUN) 03/04/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 206A, Box y Lucha 207A]
1) Mar Allah b Rudy Tinoco
2) Ed Mangoetech b Carlos Segura
straight falls
3) Akio Yoshihara DQ Canelo Segura
straight falls, second by DQ
4) Carlos Moreno b Chale Romero
5) El Enfermero & El Santo b Blue Demon & Joe Marín

It appears EMLL is running just Friday and Sundays at this point.

The magazine includes an update with Tarzan Lopez, who says the previous report about his injuries were overplayed. He is hurt, but not seriously, and he’s not in any danger of retiring.

Onto issue 208A

EMLL (FRI) 03/09/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 207A, Box y Lucha 208A]
1) Rogelio De La Paz b Gorila Osorio
2) Fantomas b Juan Diaz
3) Sordomudo Rodríguez b Dientes Hernández
return of Rodirguez
4) Dr. Castro DRAW Oso Negro
return of Oso Negro. Said to be a great match.
5) Fernando Oses b Canelo Segura
6) Joe Marín b Gorilita Flores
7) El Santo & Enfermero b Dorrel Dixon & Joe Grant
Santo gets the win after he and Gori were DQed last week. Article talks about how Enfermero learned his new hold from Buddy Rodgers

Santo gets the win back over Dixon & Grant from two weeks ago, with Enfermero instead of Gory Guerrero. The magazine puts over the new hold Enfermero is using – La Cruzeta – that’s proven effective. Enfermero says he saw Buddy Rodgers using it on a trip to Los Angeles and worked out how to do it in the gym. It’s kind of a figure four with the attacker using his arms to cross the legs rather than his own legs.

Rogelio de la Paz would later become La Sombra Vengadora, after a movie character. Fernando Oses actually did the wrestling scenes in the movie, but was too busy to take the character in the ring. At least one other person would use the character, possibly without permission. It’ll come up later.

A notes column mentions Monterrey promoter Chucho Garza is promoting new versions of Medico Asesino and Enfermero. Everyone, in the magazine and the wrestling industry, is aghast at the idea of putting new people in old gimmicks.

In 209A:

EMLL (FRI) 03/16/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 208A, Box y Lucha 209A]
1) Pery Lopez b Taro Hito
may have taken place after the main event
2) El Pirata b Rogelio De La Paz
3) Eduardo Bonada b Fantomas
4) Oso Negro b Akio Yoshihara
5) Gorilita Flores b Fernando Oses
6) El Mongol b Chico Casasola
debut of Mongol
7) El Enfermero & El Santo b Black Shadow & Blue Demon
Santo & Enfermero took ⅔.

Santo & Enfermero keep on winning.

Box y Lucha notes here the first match listed here (Lopez/Hito) actually took place after the main event. This gets brought up from time to time in other 1956/1957 cards. Other shows just never mention that “opener” result, which makes me think it was probably standard practice that it wasn’t worth bringing up every week (or sticking around for it.) There’s never an explanation for why it’s happening. My theory is crowd control, to keep some of the people in the building so it would be a smaller congestion out the door and onto the streets. These post-main event matches are referred to as “super estrellas”, which is now the name CMLL uses to refer to their actual main events. I’ve kept them listed as the openers because that’s how the cards list them.

EMLL (FRI) 03/23/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 209A, Box y Lucha 210A, Box y Lucha 237A]
1) Kid Vanegas b Bruno Lopez
actually happened after the main event
2) Carnicero Grimaldo b Sordomudo Quiroz
3) Akio Yoshihara b Dientes Hernández
4) Oso Negro b Orquídea
5) Carlos Moreno b Ray Mendoza
best match of the night
6) Chale Romero & El Mongol b Halcón Negro & Joe Marín
Halcon Negro also listed as Halcon Quintana
7) Enfermero CO Black Shadow
Black Shadow has Enfermero beat with a tope but referee Rudy Blancarte is out of the ring due to a neck injury. Shadow tries another tope, Enfermero moves out of the way, and Shadow can not stand before 20.

“Tope”s at this point at more running in the ring headbutts, not the dives that are technically “tope suicida”

Box y Lucha says Black Shadow is filming a movie about his life, which means he’s put his mask back on for scenes for the movie. El Santo was offered a spot in the movie as part of including the mask match but declined. (Box y Lucha implies it was a money issue.) Medico Asesino is instead wrestling as “El Enmascarado de Plata”, the name used in a previous movie.  This is only 1956, so wrestling movies are a thing, but El Santo himself has not appeared in a movie yet. That’s still a couple years off.

EMLL (SUN) 03/25/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 209A, Box y Lucha 210A, Box y Lucha 237A]
1) Mar Ala b Rocky Man
2) Daniel Aldana b Joaquin Murrieta
3) Gorila Macias II DRAW Dr. Castro
4) Dorrel Dixon b Gorilla Flores
5) Blue Demon & Tarzán López b Gladiador & The Black Killer

Blue Demon is having issues with his right eye, an injury originally suffered against Ray Mendoza in Mendoza’s EMLL debut match. Blue Demon end up with a long list of injuries during his career.

Box y Lucha 211 covers the last “Friday” of this match.

EMLL (SAT) 03/31/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 210A, Box y Lucha 211A, Box y Lucha 237A]
1) Taro Hito b Mar Ala
2) Juan Diaz b El Corzo
3) Chico Veloz DRAW Kiko Torres
4) Sordomudo Rodríguez b Orquídea
5) Pepe Mendieta b Black Killer
6) Halcón Negro b El Mongol
7) El Santo & Enfermero b Dorrel Dixon & Joe Grant

This is a Saturday show, which appears to be related to Easter even though Easter is actually April 1st. Box y Lucha calle it a Noche de Judas for the rudos winning the main event, the third match between those teams.

That’s it for March

Box y Lucha started releasing digital sets of 1950s magazines in August 2023. The sets themselves jumped around a bit; these weren’t the first magazines released but they’re the earliest by original publish date so far. I’m going to continue to do month by month recaps, focusing on the Friday shows. Some of these might end up pretty short.

We don’t have a lot of history from the 1950s; a lot of it is later magazines recapping this period, and it’s not only complete. My general sense of 1956 is enough time has passed that both the Televicentro/EMLL war and the denouncement (no lucha on TV or women wrestling in Mexico City) are firmly in the past and everyone’s moved on. It’s still the 50s though, so the stars of that war are largely still the biggest names and some of the business practices from that battle are still intact. EMLL and other promoters – Elias Simon of Guadalajara most mentioned – are signing wrestlers to exclusive contracts, seemingly for a few months at a time. EMLL keeps most of “their” guys around, with wrestlers who became stars in the rival promotion coming in and out. 

These issues are part of this Box y Lucha Diamante collection set.

The champs as of February 1956:

• NWA Welterweight: Blue Demon
• NWA Middleweight: El Santo

(The NWA Light Heavyweight will not come to Mexico until 1960. There are no EMLL tag or trios titles at this point.)

All of that and I’ve only got two Fridays to talk about. We can pick up with the February 17th show.

EMLL (FRI) 02/17/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 205A, Box y Lucha 237A]
1) Carnicero Grimaldo b Mara
2) Chico Veloz b El Corzo
3) Dr. Castro b Fantomas
4) Fernando Oses b Murciélago Velazquez
5) Ray Mendoza b Jalisco González
Ray Mendoza’s first win in Arena Coliseo
6) Halcón Negro & Tarzán López b Carlos Moreno & Gorilita Flores
7) Blue Demon © b El Enfermero [NWA WELTER]
Enfermero has Demon in a hold but Demon is in the ropes, Enfermero argues with the referee, Demon topes him and wins.

This is the latter stage of Arena Coliseo being EMLL’s top building; Arena Mexico is a couple of months from opening. El Enfermero finishes revolving around a referee issue becomes a reoccurring bit, and it will set up another title match later this year.

In my mind, Ray Mendoza has always been the younger partner of Rene Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde. In reality, he’s established in EMLL before those two. It just takes him a little longer to make progress.

Dr. Castro appears to be Max Linares, the future Rayo de Jalisco. He’ll be this identity for a while yet.

EMLL (FRI) 02/24/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 205A, Box y Lucha 206A]
1) Rudy Castillo vs Bruno Lopez
2) Sordomudo Quiroz vs El Pirata
3) Dientes Hernández vs Fernando Oses
4) Eduardo Bonada vs El Califa
5) Akio Yoshihara vs Orquídea
6) El Gladiador b Chale Romero
7) Dorrel Dixon & Joe Grant DQ El Santo & Gori Guerrero

Box y Lucha only recaps the top two matches. Santo & Guerrero loss by excessive violence DQ – for putting on La Estrella! The referee rules that putting on the two man star hold is illegally two men in at the same time, I guess. I had no idea that hold went back to the 50s and can’t think of it ever being a DQ. Dixon claims in the post match that he is such a big admirer of Santo that he had trouble fighting him here.

Gori Guerrero is around for the month of February before disappearing from Mexico City (at least the portion we have recorded.) It seems that way the previous few years, but we’re missing far more in those years. Guerrero is still a few years away from quitting EMLL entirely but it seems like he wasn’t interested in working there much even prior.

Tarzan Lopes and Gori Guerrero have a singles match on 02/25 in Arena Puebla. Box y Lucha reports Lopez suffered an injury “three broken ribs and dislocated neck.” A dislocated neck sounds like death. Lopez is hurt but those injuries are not correct.

That’s all for February.

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.