Tag: WWE

Averno has signed with WWE, expected to drop his mask at Jucio Final

thecubsfan 40 Comments
Averno & Mistico, 2010 (photo via Record)

Averno, one of the top rudos for CMLL for the half decade, has signed a contract with WWE. Averno is joining the US promotion to resume his feud with Misitco (now Sin Cara) as an unmasked heel. The plan was for him to lose his mask to La Mascara at June 17th’s Jucio Final, but plans may change as this news gets out. Multiple sources have confirmed to me both Averno’s signing and his imminent mask loss.

WWE has been unhappy with Sin Cara’s matches so far. Atypically, they’ve sought to resolve this by bringing in more agreeable opponents for him to work with. The story I was told is WWE went to Sin Cara and asked him that if he could work with anyone in the world, who would he most like to work with. Obviously, he picked his long time rival (and probably close friend) Averno. WWE earlier had Averno in for a tryout last October, the same tryout Mistico and Diamante were at (and which Durango Kid helped set up), but decided not to sign him at that time. Things have changed, and Averno secretly signed with WWE during their last tour of Mexico.

It’s worth noting this is not actually an expanded WWE raid of CMLL luchadors or lucha style wrestlers in general. They want Averno to fill a specific need. I do not believe this directly increases (or decreases) their chances of signing anyone else from Mexico. To put it simply, WWE signing Averno does not mean they’re about to sign Fantasma or Sombra or anyone else.

This is also a big risk for Averno; he’s coming in for a defined spot, but there may not be plans past that; compare Averno to Tyson Kidd, who works the style they WWE prefers, is very good at it, and is barely on their roster. Dropping your mask and going to WWE in hopes of a big push worked out for Alberto Del Rio, but not so much for Rey Ortiz. Since the plan is for him to work against Sin Cara, I expect he will be brought to the main roster quickly, and not go to FCW.

Averno has not informed CMLL of his WWE signing. Instead, Averno only told their programming department he wanted to lost his mask ASAP and, if they weren’t willing to do it, he would go to whichever outside promoter could pay him the most to drop it. CMLL agreed to do it there and scrambled their plans for June (a cage match which would’ve included the Gen11/Rayos feud and probably other rivalries; no loser had been definitively been decided), putting Averno’s mask loss in on 06/17. Mascara Dorada would’ve been the preferred choice to win the mask, but he’s locked in with NJPW comittements. It’s unknown if other people were considered, but CMLL is said to be a very divided and unhappy place at the moment, and politics surely played some role in the decision (as they do in most.)

As I write this, I believe upper CMLL management is still unaware of Averno signing with WWE (though I’m the impression that many other people in the company, which again speaks to the fractured nature of CMLL) and would’ve been when the card for next Friday was announced. Averno is not yet on any of the big six cards next week (GDL/Puebla/Mexico/Coliseo), but I do not believe that has anything to do with this news, and he is scheduled to work shows in Queretaro (Tuesday) and Xalapa (Wednesday).

I have declined to post about this because of that, and because early release of this information may cost people’s jobs, and may cost Averno a big payday. That’s not really worth being first, to me. I’m posting this story now because the word has gotten out to enough people that there’s really no way it can be kept as a secret any more. SuperLuchas has put the Averno to WWE portion on their cover, out today, though they are not confirming the mask loss.

It’s possible that CMLL may pull the match – as much for the betrayal as the result getting out –  (though that would mean Averno would just find someone else to pay for the mask), but the CMLL way tends to be to ignore the world around them. Also, they’d be able to beat soon to be WWE star on the way out, and CMLL thinks that would mean a lot to their fans. We’ll see.

Sorry I had to spoil this result for everyone. Didn’t want to know who was going to win myself, but can’t tell this story without telling that part.

Mascara vs Averno, unfriendly TRT, Polvora & Delta advance, Suicida shaved

thecubsfan 28 Comments

CMLL (FRI) 05/13/2011 Arena Mexico [Cesar, CMLL, Record]
1) Artillero, Mortiz, Súper Comando b Höruz, Robin, Trueno
Rudo win, taking 2/3. Trueno took Mortiz’s spanish fly. Robin had a poor night.
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Loco Max, Skándalo b Ángel Azteca, Ángel de Plata, Pegasso
Rudos took 1/3.
3) Delta b Rey Escorpion [Forjando un Idolo, quarterfinal]
Crowd got into this match. Rey Escorpion tried to cheat again, but Ultimo Guerrero stopped him and Delta eventually took the win. Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Escorpion had real problems after this one, shoving each other on (and off) the ramp.
4) Pólvora b Hijo del Signo [Forjando un Idolo, quarterfinal]
Hijo del Signo was the last Group Alfa (Negro Casas) member standing. He lost, and Polvora becomes the second group Delta (Blue Panther) member to get thru.
5) Metal Blanco, Palacio Negro, Stuka Jr. b Euforia, Shigeo Okumura, Yoshihashi
Bonus match, added midweek (but not publicized.) Probably not airing.
6) Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Terrible b Máximo, Super Porky, Toscano
Rudos won, but Terrible & Bucanero turned on Zacarias and Negro Casas post match. Members of Fuerza TRT do not want anything to do with other rudos.
7) Averno, Ephesto, Último Guerrero DQ Blue Panther, La Máscara, Máscara Dorada
Rudos won in straight falls, with La Mascara angrily ripping off Averno’s mask in the second fall. More mask/mask challenges.

AAA (FRI) 05/13/2011 Arena Neza [Estrellas del Ring]
1) Montana Infernal & Muercielado Nocturno b Ángel Mortal Jr. & Marabunta Jr.
2) Black Lancer, Okawa, Vampiro Metailco b Carta Brava, Hermano Muerte II, Hermano Muerte III
3) Mari Apache, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata b Mini Chessman, Polvo de Estrellas, Sexy Star
Mari replaced Fabi.
4) Neza Kid b Mike Segura [hair]
Mike Segura lost his hair, so the mystery of Neza Kid lives another day (though it’d be more of a mystery if he wore a shirt and covered up his shoulder tattoos.) Ultraviolent match, though the finish was Suicida suplexing Neza Kid three times, reaching to pick up Neza again, and being cradles for the three count.
5) El Mesías, Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown b Bestia 666, Damián 666, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, X-Fly
X-Fly was over here instead of the TV taping. Monster Clown hurt his ankle and fought in one shoe for a while. Mesias gave Perro a backcracker for a clean win!

Crowd looks pretty decent, strong by Arena Neza standards. Curious to know who the ‘local’ promoter is.

The lucha news was dominated by WWE’s show in Mexico City, and their announcement of television tapings in Palacio de los Deportes this October. WWE will record Raw on October 15 (Saturday) and SmackDown on October 16 (Sunday). With tapings finally happening, the new dangling carrot was maybe running WrestleMania in Azteca Stadium (but they probably need to work on airing something live first.) CMLL tends to run a mid level show the second week of October and AAA runs the Heroes Inmortales show in early October, so this may affect both of their plans.

At the press conference, Big Show said Alberto del Rio reminded him of an actor, like Frank Sinatra (?) but he’s ugly and should go back to wearing a mask. I want to watch movies with Sin Cara.

Perros del Mal are calling their anniversary show PerroMania XIX.

Ras de Lona included an interview with Hombre Bala Junior and Senior. Good to see Senior on his feet. They actually sort of mentioned Psicosis’ poor outcomes in title matches (biased refereeing, naturally) and Psicosis talked about his upcoming international matches (including Lucha Libre USA, which I believe is the first time they’ve actually mentioned that group by name here; Marco was also spotted in the brief about Shocker’s restaurant opening.)

Looks like the CMLL TV changes from last week were not a one time thing; CMLL Fox is airing matches from last Friday, so LATV is likely getting the Mex trios title match today.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Links

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 05/17/2011 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Leo vs Black Metal
2) Metatrón & Virgo vs Acertijo & León Blanco
3) Último Dragoncito vs Pierrothito
4) Delta, Diamante, Metro vs Ephesto, Scorpion, Vangelis
5) Hijo del Fantasma, Sangre Azteca, Toscano vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto

Odd to see a singles non-title minis match here, but they’ve actually done this same match here twice in 2008, splitting the results. They’re 3-3 versus each other in singles matches all time.

CMLL (FRI) 05/20/2011 Arena Mexico
1) Bengala & Robin vs Bronco & Inquisidor
2) Dark Angel, Lluvia, Marcela vs Amapola, Estrellita, Tiffany
3) Delta vs Pólvora [Forjando un Idolo, semifinal]
4) Ángel de Oro vs Fuego [Forjando un Idolo, semifinal]
5) Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Texano vs Metro, Super Porky, Valiente
6) La Máscara vs Averno
7) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas vs La Sombra, Máscara Dorada, Rush

Not too big of a surprise that match is not a title match; it hasn’t been about the title. Wish they’d put their big singles matches in the main event spot.

Back when Rey Bucanero was added to Peste Negra, it was because they needed another man. Mr. Niebla was not around. Mr. Niebla is back now, but history indicates we should not expect him to stay around forever. Yet, CMLL doesn’t seem to be concerned at all now, making sure we know Bucanero is split from the group. I hope that’s a positive sign about Niebla, but I wonder if it means they’re much less concerned about keeping Peste Negra going or they’ve got a new member planned.

Interestingly, Ras de Lona had Shocker in Mascara Dorada’s place. Must’ve been some hope he’d been back this week. Should be soon.

SuperLuchas: Mistico “Ya Firmo Con WWE!”

thecubsfan 40 Comments

Cover of this week's SuperLuchas, on sale tonight

Mistico has signed a deal with WWE. There’s been a background talk about Mistico leaving CMLL of late, especially the last week, but nothing anyone was able to definitively confirm until now. I had heard multiple rumors about his destination, but WWE had always seemed the most likely. He’s expected to head to Florida Championship Wrestling, where he’ll join Alex Koslov (and Hijo de Medico Asesino!) as luchadors training for WWE.

Mistico’s last Arena Mexico match was January 18th, the two fall loss in the main event where Porky got mad at Mistico. Mistico worked the two show NJPW tour and has not been in a CMLL ring since. It’s possible he may work a final show or two in CMLL if his Florida commitment doesn’t start right away, but he’s obviously out of the Dos Leyendas plans. Friday’s Averno/Dorada feuding was intended to create a replacement match (or relevos tag partners.)

CMLL almost certainly owns the Mistico gimmick, though WWE would likely given him their own anyway. CMLL probably won’t put someone new in the suit, because they’ve been building Sombra up as the replacement lead tecnico for about 10 months already. Astro Boy, Mistico’s brother, probably won’t be affected only because they barely use him as is.

Mistico likely told CMLL he was leaving in late December, or maybe around when the CMLL/NJPW cards first came out, because it would explain why NJPW announced Mistico as working those cards while CMLL didn’t have him listed. Even though CMLL probably knew he was on his way out, Mistico did beat Negro Casas and Ultimo Guerrero (by DQ) in singles matches during the last month.

Alberto Del Rio’s success was the catalyst for Mistico jumping to WWE. Dos Caras Jr. was never great in CMLL, but has gotten over great in WWE. The line of thinking – and not just for Mistico – is if a guy who never really got over much in Mexico got over that easily in the US, it should be easy for bigger stars to succeed. I’m not sure that’s true – a lot of Alberto’s success is due to WWE deciding he was going to be be a big star, real quick – but it definitely gives Mexican wrestlers more faith in the company compared to how guys like the Mexicools were used.

UPDATE: The article states Mistico flew to the US to sign the WWE contract this past Tuesday, and CMLL did not find out until after the fact. Mistico had previously been open with CMLL about any contact with WWE, but had kept CMLL out of the loop recently. His most recent tryout match was – in California – was without CMLL’s permission. Leaving like this likely precludes Mistico from returning unless there are massive changes in CMLL leadership between now and then.

The article – which you can purchase here – gives the impression that if Mistico were to do it all over again, he would’ve joined WWE after his original tryout in 2007.

Dos Caras Jr. to the WWE

thecubsfan 34 Comments

Six months into a “four year contract signed with CMLL” (as he personally told Tercera Caida earlier this year; see also Dos tells Box Y Lucha he’s staying in CMLL), Dos Caras Jr. is leaving the promotion and headed to CMLL. SuperLuchas has the scoop, and will have more in this week’s magazine. What we know right now:

– WWE has not confirmed this on their site
– 3 year contract, standard for WWE (and these are more ‘WWE has YOU for 3 years’ rather than a two way thing)
– Dos will NOT go to FCW, instead will go straight to the main roster (debut date TBA, but could be any time or show – expecting to hear more info next week)
– Dos Caras Jr. retains the right to his mask, and his name, though WWE gets rights to license it while in WWE.
– $$$$$

Dos’ last match in CMLL was this past Friday, the DQ loss to Shocker. (This means the story about plane troubles keeping him from GDL on Sunday was invented – though it could be Dos or the promotion doing it.) All announced future matches for him are replacements TBA.

This is probably the smart move for Dos. Back when this story first started up (and I think it’s been going for a full year now?), the big worry was Dos would be lost in the WWE shuffle and his career arc would be diminished. Right now in CMLL, Dos is lost in the shuffle and his career arc is diminished by this rudo turn that’s been going nowhere. Can’t lose by trying something else.

CMLL’s plans are going to have to change. Dos/Shocker, as unappealing as it had been, was clearly being set up as a back up anniversary main event in case Mistico got hurt at the wrong time. As much as that probably wouldn’t have worked, it’d been better than throwing something together at the last second. They’ve still got months to figure this out, at least, but

Things can change as quick as Friday – with a hole on the rudo side, maybe now’s the time to elevate Texano?

06/21: not much

thecubsfan 3 Comments

I’m on the road and there’s nothing going on. That works out well. This has little substance, which is why I’m posting the newly announced AAA TV taping after to bury this like cheese.

Ovaciones quotes the promoter of WWE Mexico shows, Bosco Attolini Pesquieira, that WWE is considering running WrestleMania 25 (2009) in Azteca Stadium or Foro Sol. It sounds like the promoter is going into business for himself on this one. WWE would need to have a successful TV taping before they’d put the biggest show of the year there, and it’s unlikely to leave the US or Canada unless business drops a lot. (Which may be true in 2009 for all we know. They’re 9 months away from figuring this out.)

Promoter says Rey Mysterio Jr. is wrestling on every WWE show in Mexico, which also may be wishful thinking. As of now, he’s only booked to wrestle one show in Mexico City and the Tijuana show. It’ll probably be his in-ring return (or close to it), so the idea was not to promise much.

Ovaciones also reports CMLL will hold it’s bodybuilding contest on October 10th.

No show recap in El Sol de San Luis (Potosi). This doesn’t surprise me – they have “it ended after deadline” excuse. We’ll see about tomorrow (when they usually run the article/ads for the weekend indy shows.)

Do they have a page or two of aggregate stats/info in Mexican newspaper sports sections? In the Chicago papers, we get at least one and usually more pages that’s jammed with standings in different leagues, player transactions, box scores from the previous night, etc. That page in that form never technically makes it to web, because the information can be spaced and better organized when it’s not crammed into one sheet. I’d assume the same was true for papers in Mexico – I see articles about games, but not the statistical information typically included – but I wonder if there’s lucha information that doesn’t make the transition from the printed page.

Sorry if this was a dumb question.

After reading in context, I wasn’t as bothered by the Waltman comment in the observer. It’s not that I agree, I just don’t care. Apathy is for winners!

03/22: Laguna, Monterrey

thecubsfan 2 Comments

CMLL

Ovaciones has an article about fans trying to mob the WWE guys as they got into the airport. Also, Juvi’s heading to England and Italy for a bit.

indy (THU) 03/22 Arena Olimpico Laguna de Gomez Palacio [El Siglo de Torreon]
1) Diamante Negro Jr. & Mini Star vs Espacial & Pioloto Negro Jr.
2) Enrique Vera, Piloto Negro, Sexy Piscis vs Ben Hur, Espanto V, La Amenaza
3) Hijo de Anibal vs Blue Demon Jr. [DEMON CRUISER]

Demon’s some cruiserweight championship here. I don’t know the name, and figure it’s just his belt. The article says it’s a world title, says they’ll be extra sure to make it a clean fight tonight, and never says which promotion Demon’s representatives here.

WAGNER (SAT) 04/07 Auditorio Municipal Torreon [El Siglo de Torreon]
1) Dark Angel & Marcela vs Hiroka & Princesa Sujei
2) Silver King vs Hijo del Solitario, Angel Blanco Jr., Texano Jr. [UWA JLH]
3) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Mistico vs Averno & LA Park

This would seem to indicate that Silver King has won, or will win, the UWA Juinor Light Heavyweight Title – we have him last losing it to Diluvio Negro II.

indy (SUN) 03/25 Arena Coliseo Monterrey
1) Erick Snak & Jimmy Navarro vs Marrullero & Rey Aguila
2) Arcangel (Monterrey), Armagedon, Chuy Escobedo Jr. vs Angel Negro, Black Nazi, Zulu
3) Angel del Amor, Corazon Adictor, Sky vs Black Sabath, Ejecutor, Red Flamer
4) Golden Boy, Huracan Ramriez Jr., Ultraman Jr. vs Nygma, Picudo, Silver Cat
5) Konnan Big vs Pancho Tequila, Super Konnan, Konnan King [cage of death]

How many freaking Konnan’s can this promotion have?

AAA (SUN) 03/04 Auditorio Municipal Salvatierra [el Halcon]
1) Money Pack b Dance Boy
2) Crazy Latino & Dragon de Oriente II b Atomico & Toro
3) Alebrije & Cuije b Chucky & Monsther [AAA MASCOT TAG]
4) Brazo de Plata Jr. & El Elegido b Baby Hunter & Mr. Niebla [cage]

El Halcon 88 has interviews and features on Cibernetico, Virus, Black Shadow, Explosivo, and Arkangel. Virus says the Internet is the invention of the White Man (not the wrestler), and not being one, he hasn’t used it much. But he’d like to learn.

Dr. Wagner (Sr.) was inducted into the Zacatecas Hall of Fame. Perro Aguayo went in last year. (Sol de Zacatecas)

El Sol de Tampico says locals Sadico, Peligro, Iron Boy and King Boy have signed with IWRG. They were used as random early match guys early this month.

Hijo de Santo’s coast preservation story has gotten picked up in a number of Mexican papers. Nothing new. If you’re in Phoenix, Santo is wrestling on Friday. Looks like Santo/Super Parka vs Misterio/Psicosis or some similar combination.

A poster on Box Y Lucha talks about making a new mask for Angel Azteca, when he was returning to CMLL from AAA. There was an idea to freshen him up and give him a slightly different look, but they ended up sticking with the original. The mask ended up getting slightly modified, and used by someone else coming in from Promo Azteca who was getting a new gimmick – Ultimo Guerrero.