Tag: preview

(We’ll have a chat on the show around 8:30p CT. Main event should be a couple hours later.)

This is the last major show of the year. CMLL’s working harder to keep people around for the next month: another tournament, a title match on Tuesday, and a likely big singles match next Sunday. Still, none of those have appeared to be much of a draw this year, and this is the last show which might break 10,000.

1) Goya Kong, Luna Mágica, Marcela vs Estrellita, Mima Shimoda, Tiffany

Um. It’s okay to be a little bit to this show. This does not look like it’ll be a good match, but maybe it’ll just be Goya Kong related comedy. I guess the rudas win, but it doesn’t mean much.

2) Delta, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Euforia, Pólvora, Sangre Azteca

The opener is there to get the women on the show, this is here to be a good match. Delta is one of Stuka’s possible new trio partners. This is a tencico counter balance.

3) Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, La Sombra vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto

Sombra & Mascara are here to make the show, but the others are here to make it clear who Mephisto is supposed to be feuding with: Fantasma or Averno. Pretty likely it’s Fantamsa in DF, with maybe even some date planned to finish it. If you look back to last year (and probably other times), Averno has a habit of trying to get involved in upcoming apuesta matches. Didn’t really work with Negro Casas & Mistico, probably not going to work so well this time. Rudos win, with something that keeps Fantasma/Mephsito going.

For what it’s worth, both Mephisto & Fantasma are in Copa Jr, but in opposite brackets. Maybe it’s the final?

4) Pequeño Warrior vs Eléctrico [mask]

I’m totally surprised there hasn’t been much talk about Pequeno Warrior losing his mask again in a short time. I’m not sure if it’s because few realize he was Mini Psicosis or if people have just given up caring about ‘frauds’. We’ll find out by Saturday, because he’s surely losing his mask again here. CMLL does seem to like Pequeno Warrior, and he’s been a great pickup for the division since leaving AAA, but they like Electrico more and the young mini seems to always beat the older mini. Black Warrior is unmasked, and the minis seem to follow a few years after their full sized versions. The principal worked in Pequeno Warrior’s favor when he took Bracito de Oro’s mask earlier this year. Not as much this time.

The current CMLL lineup format is going to help make this a better match that it might otherwise be. Minis rarely were in singles matches before the lightning matches were brought back, and many have trouble adjusting from a trios to a singles, especially young guys. This will be Electrico’s fourth singles match in Arena Mexico this year and Pequeno Warrior’s fifth.

5) Latin Lover, Místico, Shocker, Strong Man vs Atlantis, Felino, Héctor Garza, Negro Casas

Latin something, anyway. Whatever you want to call him, he’s got to be here because CMLL was significantly concerned about how poorly Negro Casas vs Charly Manson drew, and are likely a bit concerned about the same happening here. Latin’s involvement, and frequency, probably on how well this show goes. (Shocker can easily take over the feud with Hector if Latin doesn’t stick.) I’m guessing Latin win, just to keep everyone happy. There’s no sense in doing a foul finish if they won’t be following up on it soon.

6) Rey Bucanero vs Mr. Águila [hair]

Can’t really say the Invasors are dead. That’s because I already declared them dead a month ago. Aguila did not wager his hair last month in October, and the backstage word was he didn’t want to give up his hair at that time. There wasn’t the suggestion Bucanero had been asked. I’m assuming they changed Aguila’s mind, because it makes no sense for the Invasors to win two straight hair matches. I could see CMLL programming being blind, and not seeing this story has more than run it’s course. I’m hoping they’ve come to their senses. It’s a 60/40 bet, at best.

Mr. Aguila has gotten in much better shape the last few months. He’s dropped the body suits and vests and occasionally worn the old Essa Rios Jakked gear. His match with Sombra in GDL was good and he’s been better since then. On the other side, this is Rey Bucanero’s big tecnico main event singles match, years after they gave up on Rey Bucanero as a big deal tecnico. Neither guy is currently cracking anyone’s top 10 more entertaining list, but they’re both have hope. This is as big and as a good an opportunity as they’ll get, might as well make something of it.

[poll id=”75″]

Not sure if there will be a news post today or Monday, so I’m putting this up to have something up.

Plus, CMLL can’t do another Dragon Rojo Jr. title match without me putting up the Dragon Rojo Jr. table of  failure.

2009-10-30 Arena Mexico              Valiente b Dragón Rojo Jr. [MEX WELTER]
2009-11-08 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara Máscara Dorada b Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL SL]
2010-01-06 Arena Coliseo             Máscara Dorada, Metro, Stuka Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca [MEX TRIOS]
2010-04-06 Arena Mexico              Máscara Dorada, Metro, Stuka Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca [MEX TRIOS]
2010-04-12 Arena Puebla              Máscara Dorada b Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL SL]
2010-05-02 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara Máscara Dorada b Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL SL]
2010-06-18 Arena Mexico              Máscara Dorada, Metro, Stuka Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca [MEX TRIOS]
2010-08-16 Arena Puebla              Valiente b Dragón Rojo Jr. [MEX WELTER]
Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis deciding a guy with such a run of failures is the guy the want teaming with them in a title match actually exposes the business more than any patent. (Also, the idea that Dragon Rojo keeps getting title shots.) And I like Dragon Rojo!
Picks for tonight are

Diamante & Delta winning the tag tournament (went back and forth on it)
Luna Magica losing her hair (no debate)
Sombra, Mascara, Mascara Dorada keeping the trios titles.

I wouldn’t mind being wrong.

Dragón Rojo Jr.

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I’m more interested than this card than Verano de Escandalo. It felt like nothing particularly important was happening there, and the matches didn’t look that great. The matches are slightly better here, but there’s also more of a sense of progression. Some stuff is still being stalled – Electroshock/Metal is in a holding pattern for the year end show – and there only one match which seems like it’s going to settle things (because one person is leaving town) but it’s an improvement.

NOTE! We’ll be having a luchablog chat again tonight, talking results from this show, from CMLL’s Arena Mexico show, and maybe even Alberto Del Rio vs Rey Misterio Jr. if we’re bored. Both the CMLL & AAA shows are listed as 8:30 CST, so we’ll start around then. Chat will run until AAA finishes up (which could be sometime Thursday), but you’re welcome to stop in and leave any time.

(Are we doing this for 10/15 again? I dunno.)

Crazy Boy, Esther Moreno, Octagoncito, Pasion Kristal vs Jennifer Blake, Mini Psicosis, Tigre Cota, Yuriko

These have not been as good lately and this isn’t the best possible group. This still should be okay. Rudos win just for the sake of the rudos.

Alex Koslov & Christina Von Eerie vs Fabi Apache & Pimpinela Escarlata [AAA MIXED TAG]

The Alex/Pimpi thing goes back – March? Farther? This is an unexpected payoff. It might actually be good.

Alex is leaving soon. There’s plenty of reason for him to drop the title here. They don’t have to lose these titles – they are really not that important, and they can always do the rematch later – but Fabi & Pimpi winning the titles is the safe guess.

Joe Lider & Nicho el Millionario vs Damián 666, Halloween, Konnan [hardcore]

Bleeding and chair shots and table breaks and three minute pauses to set up complicated spots which never actually look that good. I’m not really sure why Konnan’s an official particpant in this match – it’s not like he’s restircted from particpating just as much in other matches and he probably won’t be doing much – unless he’s taking the pin getting the win. He went thru the table last time, this is probably where he steals a win.

Takashi Sugiura vs ??? [GHC HEAVY]

No one cares. Let’s move on.

Aerostar, El Elegido, Laredo Kid, Súper Fly vs Alan Stone, Billy Boy, Chris Stone, Decnnis [Copa Antonio Pena, hair, mask]

I have no idea how this exactly is supposed to work – is this a cibernetico where the winners escape? Is this a single fall atomicos? Is this a gauntlet match where the team members might fight each other? Is the “winner” the second to last person left in the match? These are all questions someone has the answer to, and they really ought to consider sharing them.

Anyway, from day 1, the whole idea of the amazing Chris Stone return to TV as a major character was a hair loss, and this sure seems to be it. This did start with Elegido/Chris Stone problems, but I’m not sure it’ll end with Elegido getting the win; they don’t seem to like him all that much. Maybe Laredo Kid gets the surprise win so someone on The List actually gets a meaningful win?

This may be the best match ont he show. Wagner/Silver should be on the good side of the ledger, and there are other matches that have chances, but I like this matches odds.

Cibernético, Heavy Metal, La Parka Jr., Octagón vs Electroshock, Hernandez, LA Park, Zorro [cage]

This one might be good in a different way, depending on how well they lay out everything here. War Games really is just a sequence of beatdowns and comebacks (as long as the rudos get the advantage) and these guys should be able to pull that off well. I suspect we’ll see a guy in a Cibernetico mask before it’s done – maybe two of them. Rudos might as well win.

Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Silver Kain [AAA HEAVY]

This seems unlikely and errenous, but the only major singles match I can find between them is 12/23/1994 match at Arena Coliseo, part of a gauntlet match, where Silver King won. Maybe they did the match in Japan? They’re capable of a match a lot different from anything else on this card, a change of style which will be a nice switch from the heavy brawling matches just before it or just after. Silver King seems like a good contender but not the guy who should be champion. Not sure who the next challenge would be.

El Mesías vs el Hijo del Perro Aguayo

If Perro Aguayo Jr. is a good worker, it’d be a nice time to show it. I figure it’ll be a lot of posing and punching of air instead. Like most, Perro Jr. doesn’t wrestler many singles matches. He’s only had 6 since in the last two years, but it’s the greatest group of names ever: Mistico (win), Cibernetico (Draw), LA Park (no results for that show), Santo (no finish), Konnan Big! (win) and this one.

There’s no way anyone is losing without controversy. AAA’s playing up Joaquin Roldan having a surprise (and were before the Mistico talks came out), so maybe someone will show up here to help Mesias get his win back.

Hey, so, there’s a show of some important today.

[poll id=”70″]

Read More

This should be a pretty busy week for lucha libre. As it was six months ago, a lot of different events are colliding on the same weekend (sometimes on accident, sometimes not so much.) This weekend will have the most people attending lucha libre shows of the year so far, by a wide margin, even though most people won’t be making much money on it. One or two TV regulars in recent years will be losing their masks, one or two others will be losing their hair, and we might find out if the Perros are going to lose their shirt running their own promotion.

Read More

One of the many differences between CMLL and AAA is how they book major shows. It’s lucky if CMLL decides to do two notable big matches for a show, while AAA tries to make a card full of heated matches. At the same, when you get the big matches on a CMLL show, they’re usually definitive ends to the feuds (to the point where the feuds are frustratingly never refereed to again.) It’s very rate to get that complete end to a feud in AAA on a big show; more often, the participants are just pulled into a new rivalry without really completing the old one, or the idea is just forgotten somewhere along the line.

This time around, AAA presents Guerra de Titanes as a show with one match that’s definitely the end of the feud, one match that they’ve all but promised is the end of the feud (only it’s hard to believe them), and five other matches that are either mid-issue or no issue. For the end of the year show, it’s not a lot of endings.

Probably could get do a poll for every match, but there’s only one finish that really matters here. Feel free to give your guesses for the rest in the comments.

1) Mascarita Divina vs Mini Histeria, Mascarita Sagrada 2007, Mini Charly Manson, Mini Psicosis, La Parkita, Octagoncito, Mini Abismo Negro, Mini Chessman [AAA MINI, battle royal]

Way back when AAA ran a tournament of minis matches (all of which lasted 3 minutes or less), the idea here seemed to be to elevate Mini Charly Manson as a tecnico to help fill the gap after Mascarita Sagrada 2000 jumped to AAA. It hasn’t worked, because Charly hasn’t worked; knee and nose injuries have sidelined him for big stretches of his reign. After a year and a half, this is Charly’s first known defense.

The minis haven’t gotten a lot of focus later (though that’s much more than the none before), but the matches have been pushing a Mini Abismo Negro/Mini Charly Manson rivalry. Everyone else is in here because they just wanted to get everyone in here, and it’s not going to be clear what the rules are going to be until the match starts. (They can’t really be doing over the top eliminations, can they?)

Abismo makes the most sense to win this, but it’s the minis title and it doesn’t really matter who has the title, so they could go with whomever they feel like that day. It’ll seem dumb if Mini Charly, Abismo or Octagoncito don’t end up with it, but it’s a title that means nothing at the moment. As long as the rules don’t restrict the match, this should be pretty good regardless of the winner.

El Elegido, Extreme Tiger, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Electroshock, Silver King, Último Gladiador

There’s no real story here; this is just a generic WagnerManiacs vs AAA match. All the WagenerManiacs here, and none even making a token appearance in the #1 contenders match, seems to hint at the finish of the main event. But that’ assuming these things are put together with a cohesive vision, which can’t possible be true.

This’ll be okay and then Electroshock will beat Extreme Tiger. Did anyone else see in the match two weekends ago where Electroshock just completely mock Tiger’s height, kill him with a powerbomb, and then Tiger never got a comeback? Somehow, I was still surprised by that.

3) Jack Evans & Marco Corleone vs Joe Lider & Nicho el Millionario [AAA TAG]

Jack & Marco have had promise as a team, but it feels like they got put together a bit at the last second to mean something here. Hermandad eXtreme is hitting their 15th month as champ (a few more defenses than Charly), but they don’t seem to be any bigger deal for the length of the run. Unlike Lider & Nicho, AAA might not go out of their way to have Jack & Marco lose to the main eventers to prove a point, so it might be better to have the titles on them. Maybe?

I dunno. I expect titles to be retained because that’s just the way they’ve done this title. You can count on Lider & Nicho trying to do all sorts of painful thing to Jack, and trying to keep Marco in as little as possible.

4) Fabi Apache vs Sexy Star [mask, hair]

I’d consider this an end, even though Sexi Star still has the Reina de Reinas title. It’s a defining match in the feud – either Sexi Star gets a surprising, status quo changing win over Fabi Apache (not happening) or Sexi Star takes the ultimate loss (this is what’s happening.)

This might steal the show, which would’ve been crazy six months ago. I truly think Sexi Star has gotten better since the rudo turn, but this is going to be the Apaches and Billy Boy and Aerostar and whoever else pulling out all stops to build to the big ending. Fabi’s getting the win, but this is more about the road to that finish.

5) La Parka Jr., Latin Lover, Octagón, Rocky Romero vs Alex Koslov, Chessman, Teddy Hart, Zorro – winner gets a title shot at Rey de Reyes

The timing of the stipulation here makes eliminates a few people. It wouldn’t be a stretch for any of these eight guys to get a title shot, if it was just going to be on a TV show and over a short term. Something like Octagon vs Wagner wouldn’t be very good, but if they setup the match on the taping previously to doing it, it would not be hard to build some interest in it. Teddy Hart vs Mesias wouldn’t be a big draw, but it’d be a unique match up, breaking up the similar main events.

Since this is a title match specifically for Rey de Reyes, there’s a lot less possibilities. Teddy, Alex, and Rocky have never been used as top guys. AAA does have four months to get them there, but a struggling company is going to stick with who they trust. Latin Lover isn’t a full time AAA wrestler, and isn’t going to want to lose a singles match. (It’s going to be a trick to get him to lose here.) That leaves

– La Parka, who’d make a lot of sense against Wagner and not as much against Mesias
– Chessman, who’d make a lot of sense against Wagner and they just did the title match with Mesias last year at Rey de Reyes
– Zorro, who’d make a lot of sense against Wagner and they just did the title match with Mesias last year at Guerra de Titanes

Huh! Funny how that works out. (FWIW, you could say the same thing about Latin Lover as Parka – a match with Wagner is easy, a match with Mesias doesn’t make sense unless Mesias turns.)

This is where I wish I had time to be all the way caught up on AAA TV, because I’ve got no sense about how Zorro & Chessman compare to each other on the Legion depth chart. Zorro is a guy with no momentum at the moment, but he’s also not the guy being put thru tables and stretchered out versus the WagnerManicas. Parka getting the shot makes for a more interesting story, but worse matches and I think they feel like they have to deliver in the title matches. Not sure they always do, but that seems like the idea. Zorro’s my pick.

Depending on who’s left long, this could be good or really not good.

6) Cibernético vs Konnan [street]

A million billion runs in and probably at least one big stunt. Surely they’ll move this away from the Legion/AAA match, just so those guys get a break in between. This was always going to be like the Konnan/Vampiro matches, where Konnan stood on the apron and wathches while Vampiro did spots with Jack Evans and Teddy Hart. Konnan’s more recent health problems shouldn’t change the plan.

Konnan wins, because of reasons already mentioned this week, but the outcome I’m hoping here is something is set up to stop Konnan from being booked in matches or taking bumps, because this is beyond silly now.

7) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs El Mesías [AAA HEAVY]

If I had to do star ratings off the top of my head, I’d go

[poll id=”52″]TripleMania: **** 1/4
Verano de Escandalo: * 1/2 (and it was ** 1/2 when Cibernetico was pinned)
Antonio Pena Memorial: ***

They’re not getting to three stars in this match. The dome cage helps lighter guys do hanging high spots of the cage, but doesn’t play to these guys styles. Wagner wants to go to the crowd, but can’t for this show. Mesias is all about hitting his move out of nowhere and getting the big win, but that won’t work in this match. They didn’t have much of an idea for false finishes last time in a cage, which gives little hope for take 2.

No idea what you do with Mesias if he loses this. There’s no way they could give him a fifth shot, even if it wasn’t int the rules – he’ll be a complete failure with no real excuse. Yet, if this feud was about doing what made most sense for AAA or Mesias, Wagner would’ve lost the title a while back. Mesias getting some attempt of a moral victory without getting the title seems way too possible. Everything I know about how wrestling feuds are supposed to work says Mesias wins this match and wins the title, but AAA’s different. When it comes down to it, I’d rather be wrong picking Dr. Wagner, so that’s what I’ve got.