Tag: two weeks

1) LA Park returned to AAA. Easy week! After being part of the great exodus from AAA to WCW (and Promo Azteca) and years of unsuccessful legal battles, Park returned to AAA as an ally of the Foreign Legion. La Parka Jr. vs LA Park for the masks is one of those mythical matches which never seemed sure to occur, but AAA was able to tease it happening this past Friday. Joaquin (with AAA Parka) and Dorian (with Park) are also involved with this, but are only needed as an explanation of how the feud reached this point. The biggest question left: will they be able to keep both sides happy long enough to get to the mask match, or will it fall apart like the Gronda feud?

2) The lineup for Dos Leyendas was announced. It’s a one match card, a relevos suicidas with Mistico & Felino vs Sombra & Volador, where the first two pinned (in any combination) will immediately face off with masks on the line. There are other matches, but not one means a thing. Still, any one of those four masks going down may be enough to fill Arena Mexico this Friday. Sombra will probably be going into the match hurt, having dislocated his left big toe last Tuesday in Guadalajara.

3) In other Rey de Reyes results, Electroshock won the AAA Heavyweight Championship and Chessman won the Rey de Reyes tournament. In theory, Electro and Chessman would meet at TripleMania for the title, but that rudo/rudo match wouldn’t mean much. Mesias, the former champion, lost his title without directly being defeated, and is more likely to end up in the TripleMania title match. Also of note: Latin Lover did not appear, and no one’s really explained it five days later.

4) Mascarita Dorada was dropped by CMLL, after working the Todos x el Todos tour. The Santo ban is still in effect. Dorada probably has the best chance at making a good living solely on the independents; he’s a star on his own, and was already working mostly his own schedule while with CMLL. He will have to figure out a new traveling opponent (Mini Halloween is available) and really doesn’t have any option except to make it work on his own: Dorada has now left both AAA and CMLL on less than happy terms.

5) NFL linebacker Dhani Jones got into a shoving match with IWRG’s Mascara Ano 2000 Jr., then wrestled him the following week. Match ended in a disqualification for a foul, the most authentic finish for lucha libre I can imagine. Jones fouled MA2K Jr., got the pinfall, but the heavily cheered Mexican won on a reversed decision. This was all taped for Dhani’s reality show, and seemed to draw a larger than normal crowd for the match.

6) Blue Demon Jr. said the NWA was stripping the CMLL champions of their NWA titles (for the second or third time). The CMLL guys said they weren’t giving up their titles unless they lost them in the ring. Everyone covered this as if something was happening, but really nothing did.

Other stories
– Blue Demon Jr. lost the NWA Heavyweight Title.
– Perros del Mal ran a mostly unnoteworthy taping, but did run storylines to set up Turbo/Black Thunder in a title match, and the big cage hair/mask match for Tijuana in May.
– Bam Bam retained his title (over Mini Nitro, winner of Pequeno Reyes de Aires) and his hair (taking Mini Violencia’s).
– Pierrothito kept the lightweight title.
– Trauma I won the Americas championship from Angelico in IWRG
– Strong Man lost to Tanahashi in NJPW’s NJPW Cup.
– Ozz & Chessman are headed to AJPW next weekend.
– Valiente is headed to CHIKARA for King of Trios, as is a yet to be revealed Perros del Mal team.
– Black Spirit debuted as Hijo de LA Park
– Intocable says Super Porky threatened to kill him. Intocable remains alive.

1) AAA announced it’s Rey de Reyes card. The title match, originally a Mesias vs Latin Lover, is now Mesias vs Latin Lover vs Electroshock vs Mr. Anderson, and only Electroshock getting involved in the match has strongly been built. Konnan/Cibernetico has received the strongest push, and Extreme Tiger/Alex Koslov has been set up on TV, but everything else seems disconnected from the events on TV.

2) CMLL has not announced it’s Dos Leyendas card as of yet, despite having wrestlers talk about mask matches between Mistico and Volador, Felino and Sombra, and all four of the wrestlers in one match. There’s a press conference scheduled soon to make the match clear, but the card is up in the air 15 days out. The only thing CMLL has announced is Ray Mendoza and Salvador Lutteroth will be honored. Meanwhile, despite the events in Arena Mexico, Mistico generally continues to wrestle as a tecnico elsewhere when not matched up with Volador.

3) On the same night as Dos Leyendas, AAA has scheduled a show across town in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera. The card itself is nothing different than a usual TV taping, including a Cibernetico/Psycho Clown vs Foreign Legion. Partially it’s because some wrestlers will be in Panama instead for a previously scheduled show, but AAA is still treading this DF show as if it’s extra special deal.

4) X-Fly defeated Charly Manson to win the Mexican Heavyweight Championship at the latest Perros del Mal taping. Apparently, Charly Manson kept the belt, because he lost it again to a indy wrestler the following weekend, apparently renting himself out to lose the belt to whomever. Getting back to X-Fly/Charly, they’ve been announced for a hair match for two months from now.

5) Taichi arrived in Mexico. He says he’s going to be here five months, though NJPW said maybe 2 years. Taichi hopes to win a title and a mask while he’s in Mexico. Taichi has silly hair, which he’s clealry going to lose.

6) In IWRG apuesta matches, Trauma I took Pantera’s hair (with some help from Dr. Cerebro) and Hijo del Diablo took the hair of Chico Che.

Other notes

• Angelico & Hijo del Fantasma won Toryumon’s Yamaha Cup, which included IWRG and CMLL wrestlers
• Santo & Todos x el Todos ran shows in Belgium.
• Monito, caught in a tug of war between Shocker & Maximo (not litearlly, yet), walked out on both of them.
• Juvi may or may not have won a case vs Konnan and may or may not be coming back to AAA. Very clear!
• Misterioso II is unhappy about Satillo’s Misteroiso Jr. Somewhat more clear!
• Olimpico went to the press to get back into CMLL; ripped Perros del Mal as being badly runned and doomed
• Ultimo Guerrero retained the CMLL Heavyweight title over Shocker, may defend against Strong Man next Monday
• Building CMLL feuds: Mini Warrior/Bracito de Oro, Mini Violencia/Bam Bam. And Maximo may be joining the rudos.

(What did I miss?)

1. Mistico turned rudo (at least where Volador was involved), still got beat by Volador two straight weeks. As easy a pick for #1 as there is. Crowds have picked up in response to this feud – maybe 60% and 70% attendance the last two Friday nights, and a much higher than usual attendance for their Guadalajara match. Both matches have been well received. It’s not clear what’s next, but it is clear that Mistico has a great evil laugh.
2. Atlantis & Mascara Dorada, representing Guadalajara schools, won the National Parajes Increidble tournament over Negro Casas & La Mascara. The winners got a trophy, and maybe a paid vacation given how little they’ve been around since there. The tournament seems to have been a success.
3. Over the course of a couple TV tapings, Electro Shock seems to have added himself to Latin Lover/Mesias the Rey de Reyes main event, picking up main event wins and demanding to be included. It’s still not official, but it seems like a metter of time. Electroshock seems to have broken away from the WagnerManiacos, though he still is booked with them.
4. Other Rey de Reyes matches appear to be Alex Koslov vs Xtreme Tiger for the Cruiserweight Title and Cibernetico vs Konnan, both essentially rematches from the last major show.
5. Lasser Boy, the new star from AAA’s new movie, made his debut. It was edited down into a short segment on TV.
6. Black Warrior (and Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.) has been advertised for AAA shows later this month, though he hasn’t turned up in AAA itself.

Other news

• Negro Casas defeated Hijo del Fantasma to win the CMLL Middleweight Title
• Terrible & Texano did not win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles
• Gringo Loco took Black Terry’s hair in IWRG
• a second Felino appeared to help the original one beat Sombra. This wasn’t explained, but guess who have a rematch this Friday…

1) Mistico might be going rudo. He definitely has an issue with Volador Jr., fouling him to advance in the regional tournament, throwing a drink in his face, and then pulling Volador’s mask off the following Sunday to win that match. They’ll face in a singles match for the first time this upcoming Friday, and Mistico has declared himself neither tecnico nor rudo.

2) Atlantis & Mascara Dorada (representing Guadalajara) and Negro Casas & La Mascara (representing Mexico City) advanced to the finals of the National Relevos Incriedble tournament.

3) Perros del Mal held their first show with El Hijo del Santo & Blue Demon Jr. (It ended in a DQ.) Despite CMLL running a special show at Arena Mexico, Perros had a strong turnout.

4) AAA held their first taping of three this week. NOAH’s Takeshi Morishima lost to Mesias in a special singles match. The Legion tried to attack the WagnerManiacos in the main event, but Pimpinela Escarlata surprisingly made the save, and may join forces with the WagnerManiacos

5) AAA held an open tryout in LA. No one was signed, but AAA talked about opening a school (and office) in the area.

6) Terrible & Texano Jr. were suspended from wrestling in Guadalajra for two months after getting into a fight with a fan.

Other notes: AAA’s movie officially premired. Lasser Boy, debuting in the movie as La Parka’s younger brother, will start soon in AAA…Among a few different title defenses, Ultimo Guerrero defeated Hector Garza to hold onto the heavyweight title…Tinieblas Sr. announced a long running retirement tour…Tzuki was fired from CMLL for no-showing.

1) AAA held a press premier, and a red carpet premier for their AAA: Sin Limite de Tiempo movie. The movie opens this Friday, and AAA is very optimistic on it’s success, looking for to more than double the money that was put in. A success could open up the promotion to a much larger audience. A failure would seem to be emotionally, if not economically, heart breaking. (It’s never been said, but it’s likely Televisa is putting in a large portion of the money here, and they’d be the ones to take a loss.) AAA aired TripleMania ’09 on TV for the first time this past weekend, presumably to get more eyeballs on the show.

2) Perros del Mal announced a union with Hijo del Santo’s Todos x el Todos shows. Santo has rarely run shows domestically the last couple years, so this is actually just Perro paying for Santo and Blue Demon to come in. (No one even bothered to pretend about NWA Mexico.) Together, it gives Perros del Mal a new mask vs hair match to tease without intention of delivering. Perhaps it’ll also lead to a bump in attendance, if they can get that tease to enough fans. The first show with both sides will be 01/31.

3) First time trio Stuka Jr., Mascara Dorada and Metro upset Poder Mexica to win the vacant Mexican Trios titles. As usual with CMLL, set grouping are meaningless and championships are meant more as token trophies than ongoing storylines.

4) CMLL announced a National Tournament of lucha libre schools, which was interesting on paper but probably not in reality; all CMLL one tournaments are awful. In addition to the first block of the tournament, this Friday will see Ultimo Guerrero defending the heavyweight title against Hector Garza, for the

5) LuchandoLibre reports Black Warrior is heading to AAA, and others echo that rumor. No word from AAA yet. In other comings and going, Super Nova confirmed he signed with WWE and will head to FCW soon, Bushi finished up in IWRG and returned to AJPW, Naito returned for a limited run, and Taichi was announced as coming to CMLL for an extended period.

6) It’s still January, and everyone’s still not doing much towards the long term plan. AAA’s sole TV taping of the month was mostly status quo, pushing Cibernetico vs the Legion in the guise of the Clowns/Cibernetico teamup.

Other things:

– In Ovaciones, Sexi Star complained about Fabi Apache not actually shaving her head, despite the company still acting as if Fabi did.

– Mini Cibernetico says he stabbed no one. No one is totally sure what the story is.

– AAA held a tryout on Tuesday in LA. No one is totally sure what the story is.

BY DEMAND. It’s been a horrible slow two weeks (and month)

1) USA Today wrote an article about the WWE’s affect on Lucha Libre’s popularity. A lot of what’s been discussed before, and still some stuff that’s not discussed at all.

2) WON says AAA is getting rid of it’s writers. No one’s quite sure what they did. Judging from when we were told they came in and when they left, maybe they were responsible for the Sexi Star/Fabi Apache storyline? It’s unclear.

3) CMLL airs the 76th Anniversary show, after 4 months. It was eh. The Volador match should not have aired at all. Crowd sounded dead after Liger pinned UG – that match had it’s moments, but it felt like the wrong finish for the night. Main event was weighed down by Negro Casas doing everything in his power to make sure he was the one who was booed and Mistico was cheered that it didn’t make for an interesting match.

(While we’re at it – quick summary of GdT, part 1: I was happy with the minis, but everything else was bad to horrible.)

4) In Chipas, the box y lucha commission tried to stop Silver King from wrestling with his mask, but the AAA wrestlers turned the crowd against them. Outside of DF, this is the first time a commission has acted against Silver King.

5) Averno & Ultimo Guerrero failed to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles. Averno offered to face Tiger Mask IV next, while Ultimo Guerrero pointed out he still has three belts anyway. HOORAY.

6) Texano & Terrible will challenge No Limit for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles in February. And I need to get the link to the No Limit/Terrible & Texano match on YouTube, because no one in Japan knows this team.

Other stuff:

– Mini Cibernetico stabbed two people. One was his mistress, one was someone he thought his mistress might be cheating with
– Rey Bucanero and Mistico are feuding in Puebla, to set up a title match
– Oficials retained the IWRG IC Trios titles
– La Comadnate become Texano & Terrible’s manager. No one knows why.
– Mascara Dorada beat Felino in a singles match CMLL didn’t get around to promoting.
– Canek won a father/son match in IWRG
– CMLL opening match wrestler Camorra got hurt. CMLL did a better job of mentioning this than Dorada/Felino
– EAW ran a show! It may air!
– Everyone (but me) looks back at 2009
– I got fooled by Dia de Innocentes. As usual.