Tag: top six

top six stories of the last two weeks

thecubsfan 1 Comment
  1. Shocker lost his hair for the first time in the main event of Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. Rush got the big win and said he wanted to finish things with Negro Casas next. Marcela defeated Dalys in a women’s hair match where Dalys was said to take quite a beating. Dalys would like a title shot anyway. Neither of those two outcomes are that surprising; the biggest upset was CMLL’s March show apparently outdrawing AAA’s March show. Atlantis continued his domination in the annual incredible pairs tournament, winning for the fourth time in five years, this time with Euforia. Maximo & Rey Escorpion fought with each other instead of Atlantis’ team and seem likely to have a hair match this summer. Cien Caras was honored (which appeared to be the favorite part for long time fans), and his two soon to be debuting sons were introduced. This show was the first CMLL Friday night show not to air at all since August 30th. CMLL and Terra spent the week avoiding answering questions about the status of the broadcast all week, until CMLL finally off hand mentioned on Facebook the show wasn’t airing about 60 minutes before bell time. This upcoming Friday’s show is back on the Terra website, so it appears it was a one time plan to not give away the major show for free and force everyone to come to the arena to see the show, only no one knew this until much too late to actually go to the show.
  2. – La Parka won his fifth Rey de Reyes tournament in the main event of the show the same name. Steve Pain lost his hair in the dome cage match and the two champions who showed up (Daga and tag champs Angelico & Jack Evans) kept their titles in four way matches. The show was notable for who didn’t show: Elegido (????), Juvi (foot injury), and Blue Demon (maybe trying to get US residency.) Demon was scheduled to defend the Latin America championship, and almost definitely keep the Latin American championship, but challenger Chessman defeated Villano IV instead with the idea of doing Chessman/Demon some other day. Attendance seemed down from the year before, which was blamed on the cloudy skies. The plan for making this an iPPV, never officially announced, did not happen.
  3. – Mistico La Nueva Era oddly didn’t appear as billed in the scheduled main event the Friday before Dos Leyendas. Sin Cara claimed his replacement was pulled for being drunk, Mistico claimed he doesn’t like to drink, the listing of him on the show was an internet typo and wasn’t at the show at all. It didn’t appear to be an internet typo at all, but maybe it Mistico actually wasn’t scheduled since Volador replaced him to kick off the latest Sombra/Volador feud.
  4. – The AAA/El Rey show will start taping in August to air in September…or that’s just the current plan, according to the Wrestling Observer.
  5. – Chilanga Mask’s first anniversary show had a bloody main event of Aero Boy, DJ Hyde, Masada and Kaientai in a death match. Aeroboy won, and was invited to the CZW tournament of death. Like with Rey de Reyes, important people didn’t make it – the Young Bucks were scheduled for a three way tag but missed the show for unclear reasons. CMLL’s Rey Cometa, also supposed to be in that tag match, ended up booked in Arizona instead, and was replaced by Mascara Dorada as part of two special singles matches.
  6. Sin Cara continues to be weird and not to wrestle much. At least one those should change about a month from now, beginning with shows in late April and early March. Shows in that timeline Sin Cara previously dismissed as fake are now being promoted by the same Sin Cara as real. (It appeared to be a WWE no-compete issue.)
  • Oficial AK47 lost his hair to Tony Rivera in IWRG’s annual loser advance cage match show Guerra de Golfo. The rudos had been trying to cost Black Terry the match but were foiled and were forced to face each other instead. Skayde, who had been wrestling here with his mask, wrestled the match unmasked.
  • Super Nova won a title in Naucalpan.
  • Stuka won a title in Guadalajara
  • Mephisto kept his title in a La Mascara in a battle of campanas.
  • Estrellita keep her title in Guadalajara, the start of a very bad week for Dalys.

top six stories of the last two weeks

thecubsfan
  1. Rush and Shocker will face off in a one on one hair versus hair match on 03/21 as the main event of Homenaje de Dos Leyendas. Negro Casas had been included in the feud, but had a (worked) shoulder injury the week of the contract signing and it was decided he’d just face the winner of this match somewhere down the road. In reality, Rush versus Shocker is the best drawing match they could make of all the possible combinations. CMLL also announced Dalys versus Marcela in a women’s hair match and the finals of the parajes incriedble tournament for that show, and appear to be building up a trios title match as well. It’s unclear if/when this will air; there’s a rumor Terra will broadcast the whole show but it hasn’t been officially confirmed, and the also rumored TV Azteca show has yet to appear.
  2. AAA also announced their Rey de Reyes card, which surprisingly had very little to do with the TV product they’ve run few months. Built up matches like Psycho Clown versus Texano Jr., Aerostar vs Super Fly, and Faby Apache & Drago versus Sexy Star & Pentagon Jr. (where everyone involved agreed to do the match!) aren’t happening, despite all those people being on the card. The show does have the finals of the Rey de Reyes tournament (Black Warrior vs Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Zorro vs La Parka, three aligned rudos versus one tecnico), Chessman vs Blue Demon for Demon’s title, and a domed cage with the Mexican Powers, Anarkia, and other people pulled in for no obvious reason. The rest of the card has dormant titles being defended in multiman matches with no build, AAA’s standard deal for major shows. There was talk of an iPPV, but does not seem to have come thru.
  3. Octagon, one of the original members of AAA and someone who helped put the promotion together, left the promotion on March 2nd to become an independent luchador. Octagon had written frequently on Twitter about being unhappy in AAA, wanting to be used on TV much more, but it was still a surprise he actually left given his history. Octagon announced the Roldans had given him permission to use the character as an independent and suggested he might return to AAA in time. AAA has not acknowledged the situation outside of removing Octagon’s bio from their website roster.
  4. Sin Cara was listed for many more shows, including a trios in Monterrey in May with includes AAA luchadors and Averno. Averno’s shown up in other future Sin Cara cards too. Sin Cara has said these are all false bookings he’s not agreed to, though there’s some talk they may have actually been agreed to and just weren’t supposed to be announced yet. Averno, still in CMLL, hasn’t said anything about this. AAA announced TV lineups thru mid April, and Sin Cara is not listed as wrestling on any of those shows.
  5. WWL ran a couple more shows in Mexico. It was the usual mix of big names, quiet cancellations (a show in Puebla was quietly dropped, Sabu missing from the shows wasn’t mentioned until days after them), lots of of changes to the card. Both shows drew better than their last outing Monterrey, but fans seemed disappointed with the long shows and billed matches (like Fuerza Guerrera vs Octagon) which didn’t actually happen.
  6. Hijo de Rey Misterio II is no more; the man currently using that name gave it back to Rey Misterio Sr. in a in-ring ceremony on a Tijuana show. The ex-Rey II will now be known as Rey Horuz, while Rey Misterio Sr. introduced a Hijo de Rey Misterio III (the former D’Luxe) as the new person carrying the name. This is going to be vastly confusing to everyone.
  • Sin Cara’s first paid match took place in Tijuana on 03/01. It was a singles match with Black Warrior, and both men looked bad. It didn’t draw anything special either. Both things are concerning, but Sin Cara did get a huge reaction in DF. (Black Warrior also did not impress in his AAA return.)
  • CMLL announcements included a third season of En Busca de un Idolo, where the participants will be determined from a cibernetico on 03/25.
  • A yearly fan interest poll listed Lucha Libre as the fifth most popular spot in Mexico, the same ranking as last year (thought the percentages ticked up a little bit.)
  • Maximo & Rey Escorpion, who’ve been teasing a hair match since Escorpion beat Maximo’s father in their own hair match, reached the finals of the Torneo Increible de Parejas.
  • La Sombra defeated Dragon Rojo to keep the NWA Middleweight Championship in a very good match.
  • Jinzo won a Super Crazy run NOAH tryout and will be headed to Japan, at some point.
  • Mr. Niebla missed a bunch of shows with what was said to be digestive issues, but is apparently returning next week.
  • Friend of CMLL opening match luchador Camaleon posted on Facebook that the tecnico was hit by a truck and hospitalized for a few days, though he’s since returned home.
  • IWRG announced a cage match where Skayde, who’s lost his mask, will be risking the same mask. Others who’ve recently lost their hair get a chance for another hair cut.
  • Gronda II returned to AAA TV, for some reason.

top six stories of the last two weeks

thecubsfan 3 Comments
  1. Sin Cara debuted in AAA – kind of. Friday’s main event included the usual post match brawl, but that was interrupted by a mystery figure posing on the stage for about a half minute before the lights went out and the mystery person disappeared. Mistico’s music played throughout. It was definitely him and he’s under contract to AAA, but his name and mask is a more of an issue. It’s said WWE threatened AAA over use of the name or mask, and so Sin Cara’s head was hidden under a hood for his brief appearance. Sin Cara’s said he’ll have the rights to the name by May but it’s unclear how that would happen, or how AAA could use him until that point.
  2. The rest of AAA’s show was busy as well. Before it even took place, it was announced to be the first of a series of “monthly” AAA events at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera, though the next date has yet to be announced. Black Warrior, Sin Cara’s old rival, returned to AAA as a member of Perros del Mal and won the last spot in the Rey de Reyes final. A domed cage apuesta match with the Mexican Powers, Fenix and Anarkia was set for Rey de Reyes. A mixed tag title match and Psycho vs Texano in some form also seem likely, though AAA still hasn’t announced much of the card.
  3. Hijo del Santo’s wife has been telling people Santo has been told he can’t continue to wrestle after his scheduled neck surgery, will postpone the surgery to have a couple of matches later this year, then retire. Santo hasn’t officially said anything yet, but is expected to say something this weekend.
  4. Barbaro Cavernario and Mr. Niebla won the 2014 CMLL Gran Alternativa over Soberano Jr & Volador Jr. The tournament seemed to focus more on the veterans than the novatos, and Cavernario (who may have lost his first name) was already headed to a bigger position as part of Peste Negra.
  5. Peste Negra also won the Mexican Trios titles. It was a surprise win, since Niebla seems to be teaming with Cavernario & Herodes going forward, but it’s not as if Titan, La Mascara and Rush were frequent partners. Peste Negra are also challenging for the World Trios titles in Puebla next week. The only down note for Peste Negra was Negro Casas hurting his shoulder last Friday, which will keep him out for a couple weeks.
  6. Rumors continue to suggest CMLL will be on TV Azteca soon. The Super Libre radio show stated the show would debut in March, while talk on Facebook says CMLL will have a 4pm slot on a day to be determined.
  • Cien Caras was announced as the luchador legend to be honored Dos Leyendas. CMLL will hold a press conference to announce the entire card on Thursday, and this will be streamed to the internet (via Terra) for the first time.
  • Octagon versus Fuerza Guerrera was announced for the Mexico City WWL show, which Octagon continuing to suggest he’s leaving AAA.
  • AAA announced TripleMania would take place in Arena Ciudad de Mexico, but not until August (months later than usual.) AAA also announced a deal with a hotel chain, while will help with travel packages for some of their future TV tapings.
  • Box Y Lucha appears to have gone biweekly, joining SuperLuchas.
  • Negro Casas, Shocker and Rush continue to feud and are expected to be announced in a three way hair match for Dos Leyendas on Thursday. Dalys & Marcela also continue to weirdly feud, and may eventually get around to have another title match.
  • Mistico won the CMLL Welterweight Championship from Polovora, his
  • Puma said he tore his bicep, kept working. Matt Jackson hurt his hand, but didn’t break it and will be making his ChilangaMask show.
  • El Dandy will have his retirement match on April’s ChilangaMask show in Arena Lopez Mateos.
  • Masked Republic/Extreme Rising announced a lucha show on 04/27 in ECW Arena with LA Park vs Dr. Wagner Jr. on top.
  • Dr. Wagner Jr. is part of the cast of reality show La Isla, while his ex-wife had disturbing things to say about him in a scandalous magazine.
  • The latest Mr. Aguila in no condition match aired. It was amazing, in that it aired.

top six stories of the last two weeks

thecubsfan
  • Mini Chessman passed away
  1. Sin Cara threw a party for himself, a Sin Cara Gym first anniversary show to announce his return to lucha libre. Cara managed to get AAA (his brothers, Drago, Aerostar) & CMLL luchadors (Sombra in the main event, and unofficially Magnus masquerading as an Astro Boy in the semimain event) in the same matches, something CMLL has otherwise prohibited. The show was a free show and seemed to draw well. 1,000 and 1,500 were estimated, but it was more accurately the most amount of people who could comfortable stand near the ring. Cara, who had a new mask, seemed much more open to changing his name and suggested he might try running occasional shows similar to the Perros del Mal promotion (which is actually no longer running shows.) He’s still expected by everyone to go to AAA, but on a contract that allows him to work indy shows.
  2. AAA held tapings in Toluca and Ecatepec. Both buildings are in the 3000 rang and AAA was able to sell out both. They’ve sold out all four tapings they’ve run (though one was a free taping), but their upcoming Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera taping will be the biggest building by far.
  3. La Parka and Perro Aguayo Jr. advanced in the Rey de Reyes tournament, joining Zorro. The final member of the group will be determined at a Gimansio Juan de la Barrera. That’s the only match which has been announced at Rey de Reyes. Other matches have been vaguely hinted, but it remains tough figuring out which of the hinted matches which actually occur. AAA did announce Rey de Reyes would take place on 03/16 in Monterrey, and Konnan mentioned they were trying to get it on iPPV.
  4. speaking of vague builds to major cards, Rush and Shocker continue to feud in CMLL and seem like the best guess at a Dos Leyendas main event. Nothing’s actually been confirmed – not even the second Legend to be honored! – and the show is about a month away.
  5. Soberano Jr. (and Volador Jr.) and Barbaro Cavernario (and Mr. Niebla) advanced to the final to Gran Alternativa. Barbaro Cavernario seems to be the favorite based on getting one vignette (which is one more than almost everyone), but it’s could go either way.
  6. El Elegido will appear on a celebrity high diving competition. For some reason.
  • NJPW trainee Kamataichi joined the wave of new luchadors who’ve started in CMLL since the begining of the year.
  • El Dandy defeated Satanico in Monterrey in Dandy’s Monterrey retirement match
  • Electro Boy (& Super Nova) won IWRG’s El Protector tournament, their version of the Gran Alternativa. Electro Boy’s prize appears to be nothing at all. Maybe the journey is the prize?
  • Diamante Azul won the Occidente Heavyweight championship from Olimpico in Guadalajara.
  • Titan beat Virus in a great title match to kepe his welterweight title, and Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. kept the Arena Coliseo tag titles over Tiger and Puma (who was hurt in the match.)
  • various TV Azteca programs continue to do features on CMLL. It’s as if they’re vignettes teasing the impending debut of the promotion on the network, but nothing proceeding that orderly should ever be assumed.

top six stories of the last two weeks

thecubsfan 1 Comment
  1. Sin Cara, the original Mistico, announced he’s a free agent. A few days later, Sin Cara announced he was not sure if he was a free agent or employed by WWE. He’s back! Sin Cara stated he’d like to work everywhere (CMLL, AAA, TXT as well as internationally) and not be tied to a single promotion. He claimed to have the rights to use the Sin Cara name in Mexico. He claimed to have no problem with Mistico II taking the name (since it was CMLL’s decision) and took responsibility for bringing him in to CMLL, but later said he didn’t like Mistico II and how CMLL makes Mistico’s II partners tone down their act to make him look better. And on and on. Sin Cara will be promoting his own show on Saturday, which will include his family members, AAA luchadors, and old rivals Black Warrior & Oriental.
  2. CMLL and NJPW’s FantasticaMania tour did very in Japan. Each of the five shows were reported as sell outs (though they’ve reported slightly higher numbers for Korakuen Hall in past years.) The in-ring product was well received, with Volador’s win over Mascara Dorada as the last match of the tour being the best match of the tour. Sombra got a big win over Ultimo Guerrero on that final show. Both Sombra and Rush (who lost to Nakamura) teased facing NJPW luchadors later this year. Mistico losing to Mephisto and not winning the Mexican Light Heavyweight Championship was the big surprise of the tournament, and suggests CMLL’s not as presently behind him as they used to be. Fuego’s wacky dancing entrance got over big, and he appeared to be the non-star who made the biggest name for himself on the trip. The three iPPVs for the tour aired without much technical problem (except for all the CMLL music being muted out.) FantasticaMania 2015 is all but officially announced.
  3. Shocker turned rudo on Rush. They had been feuding as tecnicos, but Shocker turned with the idea of fighting Rush directly. CMLL’s recently announced Dos Leyendas as happening on 03/21 and that Shocker/Rush hair match jumps to front of the line to main event that show, but it’s far from a sure thing.
  4. AAA started TV tapings for 2014 with shows in Naucalpan in Guerrero Negro. The latter show was less newsworthy, only notable for Zorro advancing in the Rey de Reyes tournament. The Naucalpan show set up Psycho Clown to get another Mega Title at Texano Jr., saw the Secta cost themselves a title match, and debuted a new Infernal Rocker. Also, Super Fly hilariously turned on Aerostar for the third time; the last two times never resulted in a singles match and were forgotten, maybe this one will go better.
  5. CMLL announced it’s Gran Alternativa tournament will start this week. They’ve also introduced a bunch of new luchadors and many of them will be in this tournament (where’s there is no overwhelming favorite.) CMLL’s also continued with the theme of Tuesdays as Nuevo Valores shows, including newer/different wrestlers in big matches. CMLL’s also changed up some of their factions, with Zacarias recruiting new members for Peste Negra and Negro Casas & Felino teaming more with Puma & Tiger.
  6. Arena Naucalpan, which hasn’t been running it’s usual Thursday night shows, announced they’d start running Wednesday shows in February. The building appears to be having some issue with sponsor Corona; their logo is no longer on the ring mat.
  • CMLL’s Mexico bound roster was very thinned out for a week due to the number of wrestlers in Japan. Of note, Super Porky suffered an injury that was supposed to sit him out for a couple weeks, and opted to not see the doctor and keep working the rest of the week.
  • Arena Coliseo Reynosa is closing down.
  • Vampiro won the IWRG Heavyweight Championship
  • Satanico defeated El Dandy in Tijuana at the start of a Dandy retirement tour.
  • Guadalajara local Gallo upset Arkangel to win Chile’s FULL Championship

top six stories of the last two weeks

thecubsfan
  1. AAA was a major topic at an El Rey press conference. The show itself was announced for the third or fourth time, now with the Voice’s Mark Burnett being added as an executive producer. The start date was pushed back again, to a nebulous “second half of 2014”, but it’s been confirmed it’ll be taped in Los Angeles. There’s also talk of TV specials and PPVs.
  2. Negro Casas defeated Titan to win the 2013(ish) Leyenda de Plata tournament, then defeated Volador Jr. the next week. Both matches were fun, though Volador’s tecnico turn doesn’t seem to be quite working. Negro is meanwhile feuding with Blue Panther and his recently debuted sons, and CMLL still occasionally brings up his signed but never resolved hair match with Rush. (Negro getting those big wins might have been a build up for that hair match, but it also might have just been CMLL randomness.)
  3. CMLL/NJPW’s FantasticaMania tour kicked off. The opening show from Osaka on uStream iPPV without problems (besides the music muting) and sold out the building. There was talk abotu coming back to Osaka in a bigger building in 2015. The tour builds to weekend shows in Korakuen Hall, one of which will be on iPPV. Mistico is the favorite to beat Mephisto in one title match on the Saturday iPPV, while the Mascara Dorada & Voaldor Sunday title match (not iPPV) is more a toss up.
  4. AAA hasn’t taped TV this year yet (that’ll happen Friday), but announced three TV tapings for late January and early February. Those include a previously unannounced show in the retown of Guerrero Negro, where the local big business is sponsring the show. All three shows include first round four way matches for this year’s Rey de Reyes matches. The lineups suggest Texano versus Mesias may be the next AAA mega title match, but not much is for sure.
  5. Sin Cara’s contract ran out? Maybe? No one’s saying anything, though he was said to visit backstage at a recent CMLL show. Sin Cara has only announced he’s running a lucha show to celebrate the first anniversary of his gym.
  6. CMLL’s debuted many new luchadors to start 2014. Black Panther, Cachorro, Dragon Lee, El Rebelde, Espiritu Negro, are all brothers or sons of current CMLL wrestlers. Star Jr. (son of indy wrestler Starboy) and Rey Hechicero (Monterrey luchador) have also been added to lineups. CMLL’s also now promoting it’s Tuesday Arena Mexico shows as Nuevo Valores Martes, focused on new stars.
  • Super Porky suffered a neck injury that should keep him out 15 days. He’s working anyway. Zacarias the parrot separately a head injury and is actually out for a couple weeks, and Astral is out after suffering a leg injury to end this year’s Pequeno Reyes del Aire (which was won by Electrico.)
  • Santo Jr. (the son of Hijo del Santo) said he plans on returning to Japan this summer and debuting in Mexico as Tempestad later this year.
  • In Guadalajara Leo & Xavier Cruz Jr. took Disturbio & Acertijo’s hair. Mini Rock Spirit lost his hair in an IWRG cage match.
  • Titan kept his title over Averno in Guadalajara, and Mephisto kept his over Atlantis in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara.