luchablog

CMLL

CMLL (THU) 05/08 Arena Neza [Reforma via Jazzo]
3) Calígula, Méssala, Valiente b Misterioso II, Okumura, Puma King
4) Alex Koslov, Blue Panther, La Mascara b Atlantis, Olímpico, Sangre Azteca

La Mascara replaced Mistico. That's a refund situation.

CMLL (FRI) 05/09 Arena Mexico
1) Mascarita Dorada & Tzuki vs Pequeño Warrior & Pierrothito
2) Sagrado vs La Sombra, La Máscara, Volador Jr., Valiente, Máscara Púrpura, Stuka Jr., Flash, Virus, Mr. Águila, Ephesto, Misterioso II, Loco Max, Sangre Azteca, Diamante Negro, Euforia [Reyes del Aire]
3) Alex Koslov, Heavy Metal, Shocker vs Black Warrior, Rey Bucanero, Toscano
4) Héctor Garza, Marco Corelone, Místico vs Atlantis, Olímpico, Último Guerrero

There's talk about Toscano/Metal, but the real match of interest is the Rey de Aires.

Ovaciones' newspaper article actually made the website. Progress! It's just a preview of the card, picking Flash, Mascara Purpura, Mr. Aguila and Diamante Negro. ESTO thinks Volador Jr. might become a three time champion.

Robert breaks this out on the DVDMB, but this is how I figure things split up.

(no chance)
Diamante Negro - nice to be here
Loco Max - maybe he can set up another three week hair match program
Euforia - not enough of a high flyer
Ephesto - here just to catch people

(low chance)
Stuka Jr. - push seems to be evaporated, but every tecnico has an outside shot
Máscara Púrpura - being dropped for Hijo del Fantasma says something
Flash - has a chance to steal the show
Misterioso II - has a bunch of unsettled rivalries with the rest of these guys - double pin?
La Máscara - needs to be reinvented as an more technical wrestler because he's never going to outfly these guys
Sagrado - there are better choices
Virus - should stay to late to make everyone look good
Sangre Azteca - same with him

(strong chance)
Volador Jr. - surely will get near the end, but won this twice already
Valiente - really sharp
Mr. Águila - there has to be a reason while he's here, because he's "above" these guys
La Sombra - very strong possibility, they still seem very high on him

WWE's Press Conference news: they're coming back for 10 years, at least twice a year. Usually "we might do a PPV" and "we might bring in more Mexicans" stuff. Far more interesting was Super Crazy telling Reforma (via Jazzo, and apparently after the press conference) the WWE is down on Wagner because he looks too big. WWE is also down on hiring Mexicans after their experiences with Juvi and Nicho.

According to ESTO, the referees for the tag title rematch will probably be Terror Chino and Rodolfo Ruiz. Also, Atlantis (25 years of wrestling), Rey Bucanero (15 years of wrestling), Marco Corelone (best foreigner) won Golden Microphone awards in Hidalgo.

LuchandoLibre, recapping the Expo says the AAA booth was the best, has video of AULL, and DTU.

ESTO says 24,000 people came to the lucha libre expo.

(PE.com) The San Bernarido County Fair will include lucha libre wrestling (and Christian pop) this Sunday.

CMLL (MON) 05/12 Arena Puebla
1) Blue Center, Lestat, SWAT vs Aguila Guerrera, Siki Ozama 2, Zigma
2) Astro Boy, Centella de Oro, Tigre Rojo vs Karisma, Siki Ozama, Skandalo
3) Axxel, La Máscara, Stuka Jr. vs Diamante Negro, Misterioso II, Vangelis
4) Cerebro Negro vs Policeman [hair]
5) La Sombra, Shocker, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto

Policeman's losing his hair, I think.

Previous: 04/27 (Zapopan), 04/30 (Aguscalientes), 05/02 (Veracruz)

AAA TV (MON) 05/19 Domo de la Feria de Leon [gkave @ Satanico's Mansion]
1) Alan, Javi, Kevin, Ricky vs Barba Roja, Drake Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr.
2) Cinthia Moreno, Estrellita, Fabi Apache vs Ayako Hamada, Mari Apache, Martha Villalobos
3) ?, Joe Lider, Nicho el Millionario vs Extreme Tiger, Halloween, TJ Xtreme
4) Abismo Negro, Oriental, Super Porky vs Antifaz del Norte, Mr. Niebla, Psicosis
5) Mesias & Ozz vs Kenzo Suzuki & Konnan
6) Charly Manson, Chessman, Cibernetico vs Jack Evans, Teddy Hart, Zorro

Projected Air Date (#838)
Mexico: 06/01
US: 06/21

Note that the same person who posted this is the person who posted the TripleMania card. I think you've got to believe both are true or neither.

Main event is interesting. (The program lists them as the Hart Foundation 2 - but I'm thinking that doesn't include Zorro.) Charly/Chessman vs Teddy/Jack could be really really good and a feud would give the lesser Hell Brothers something to do that doesn't involve Chessman near death experiences and Charly in random card filler atomicos. I hope this works and they run with it.

Semimain, less so. As I noted in the comments previously, Black Abyss seems to have vanished - perhaps dropped?

An article on AAA's site says the third member of Joe Lider's Brotherhood (the surprise wrestler on his team) will be another Ultraviolent wrestler, so I guess it'll be someone from DTU.

The women are back, probably in anticipation for Reina de Reinas. I'd guess they bring in the International women (Ayako and ?) for both the 05/30 and 06/01 tapings. Doing a tournament the show right before TripleMania doesn't seem to make sense focus wise but it sure seems possible - you'd want to spend the 05/30 taping introducing the foreigners so they mean something when they lose on the next taping. I'm sure there are many women better in Mexico than Martha, but not many who promote AAA spot shows.

Upcoming announced taping
- 05/30 Cancun
- 06/01 Merida
- 06/13 DF - TripleMania

TheGladiatores reports on the Lucha Libre Expo:
Day 1 (Pancracio/IWRG)
Day 2 (AULL/fashion show/CMLL)
Day 3 (DTU/AAA). LuchaLibre has video from the CMLL main event.

(Reforma via Jazzo) Heavy Metal hypes up the hair match with Toscano by saying: "We have no rivalarly, I just challenged him and he accepted." I think Emilio vs Pupura might have a more exciting hair match. Meanwhile, Damian 666 says he was surprised to be honored for his 25 years of wrestling at the lucha libre expo. Which is odd, since we all knew. He says his retirement is far away, but his family would prefer he doesn't do any more hardcore matches so he'll probably do few of them.

Notimex has stories on Tuesday's Coliseo show and Averno & Mephisto's reaction to the title rematch being announced (spoiler: they think they will win.) Ovaciones seems to be picking up Notimex's articles now. No new unique articles from them today.

AAA (SUN) 05/11 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [RFC]
1) Baby Fox vs Invasor
2) Diabolik & Guerrero Blanco vs Aguila Extrema & Euforia (Monterrey)
3) Estrellita & Mascarita Divina vs Mini Chessman & Poly Star
4) Casandro, Chico Calavera, Sangre Chicana vs Antifaz del Norte, Jesse, Yuriko
5) El Elegido, Pimpinela Escarlata, Super Fly vs Cuervo, Escoria, Espíritu

SuperLuchas has video and results from the 05/02 Diabolico & Horoscopo vs Rey Fuego & Kamakazee double mask vs hair match.

Shane McMahon has a press conference in Mexico, with Ric Flair, Mr. Kennedy, Mick Foley and Super Crazy also expected to be there.. There hasn't been much talk about opening up a WWE Mexico group of late - I think it'd be a "Germany invades Russia" level idea - but that SuperLuchas post talks about the rumors. Surely most of it will be talk to push tickets and lip service about bringing in lucha talent. WWE's pre-PPV clips seem just about soundsbites and rabid fans easily compressed into a :30 video package; there might be more news in the post conference chattering.

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I'm thinking the Lucha Libre Expo show is indeed going to be aired as an week of AAA show. Nothing special went on, but there's plenty of AAA tapings with nothing going in the middle stretch between big shows. AAA says today the Expo will air in three weeks, which would fit nicely in chronological order after the 04/30 and 05/02 tapings.

If we go with that, and with what was mentioned last week on AAA TV, that gives the promotion enough TV tapings to get to and thru TripleMania. You can see it on the AAA schedule page.

As always, any additional info about shows I can't see, or corrections or suggestions are appreciated.

AAA-US: speaking of nothing happening shows, it's the Sect vs the Legion. Of more value, both Joe Lider's late spring of discontent and Abismo Negro's battle within begin here.

CAN52: Women's trios and you finally get the Rey Bucanero vs High Society match you've just been staying up nights pondering about since Rey turned.

FSE-US: This week, it's on Saturday at 7 and on Monday at midnight. Felino/Mascara/Sagrado vs Misterioso/Ohara/Olimpico for sure, and then maybe the tercera from the 04/13 show.

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CMLL: Rey de Aires makes here? It's so weird, a month ago I would've been hoping it didn't so I would get to see it on my TV much easier. Pray to the gods of El Martiente, I guess.

AAA-MEX: Zorro faces Cibernetico for a title shot, and Jack Evans and Teddy Hart finish up for the moment.

FSE-MEX: the newest man to use the name Broco debuts, and a high flying tecnicos assemble to face Ephesto, Misterioso, Texano.

Cadena3: Minis Title match! This week, it's listed on Saturday and Sunday.

What are you looking forward to? I'm hoping my TiVo gets all of the Mucha Lucha movie (Friday afternoon) for once.

Or things I keep forgetting to throw in.

- CHIKARA's Rey de Volador tournament will include Turbo. The tournament is scheduled for May 17 and May 18 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. The first round match ups are four ways, and Turbo's two announced opponents so far are Incognito and Stupefied.

Skayde will be working matches outside the tournament, opposing Claudio Castagnoli on the first night and in trios teaming with Mike Quackenbush and a TBA partner versus Claudio, Pantera and another TBA wrestler on the second night. I'd guess the Turbo ends up in that trios match if he doesn't advance in the tournament.

(thanks to ChikaraFans and odessasteps)

- TNA sent out a text message to it's subscribers saying CMLL wrestlers would part of it's World X Cup. No names were mentioned, and I have a hard time believing until the moment a CMLL wrestler steps into the ring.

triplea.com

AAA posted tons of photos of their recent tapings.

CMLL (SUN) 05/04 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Quazar b Milenio
2) Fraile de la Muerte b Carlo Roggi
3) Idolo & Oro II b Depredador (Guadalajara) & Exterminador
4) Mini Damian 666 & Pierrothito b Atomo & Último Dragoncito
5) Jeque, Malefico, Toxico b Casanova, Metal Blanco, Metalik
6) Villano III, Villano IV, Villano V b Dos Caras Jr., Negro Casas, Rayman

Top two matches were both won with sneak fouls. Jeque got the better of Metalik again.

CMLL (MON) 05/05 Arena Puebla [hugo999]
1) Asturiano, Forajido, King Jaguar b Aguila Guerrera, Espiritu Maligno, Mr. Rafaga
2) Cerebro Negro, Flecha, Tigre Rojo b Fuerza Chicana, Furia Chicana, Policeman
3) Amapola b Marcela [CMLL WOMEN]
4) Olímpico, Sangre Azteca, Toscano b La Máscara, Sagrado, Valiente
5) La Sombra, Místico, Shocker DQ Damian 666, Ephesto, Mephisto

Damian replaced Averno, who was announced as injured. Averno was healthy enough to run in during the third fall and yank Mistico's mask for the DQ.

Amapola is still your queen. She won clean, and they shook hands after the match.

80% filled arena, the second straight non-sell out for Mistico here. Axxel and a hair match (involving the segunda wrestlers, I think) are scheduled for next week.

AAA (TUE) 05/06 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [RFC]
1) Jorobados I & Jorobados II b Guerrero Blanco & Virtual X
2) Diabolic & Escorpion Negro b Invasor & Momia
3) Golden Boy & Super Nico b Ejecutor & Simbolo
4) Alan Stone, Antifaz del Norte, El Brazo b Esocria, Espíritu, Laredo Kid
5) Mesias & Ozz b Charly Manson & Cibernetico

CMLL (TUE) 05/06 Arena Mexico [CMLL]
1) Luna Mágica, Princesa Blanca, Sahori b Hiroka, Medussa, Rosa Negra
2) Fabián el Gitano, Mictlán, Súper Nova DQ Diamante Negro, Nitro, Skandalo
3) Pequeño Damian 666 b Bam Bam [CMLL MINI]
4) Averno, Mephisto, Misterioso II b Felino, Heavy Metal, Negro Casas
5) Alex Koslov, Blue Panther, Dos Caras Jr. DQ Black Warrior, Sangre Azteca, Último Guerrero

Pequeno Damian 666 is still your king. And perhaps also your father.

Warrior got his team DQed in the main event for excessive violence on Alex. Might have been something similar with Diamante Negro and Fabian el Gitano in the segunda - I can't make out the specifics of that one. Averno's teaming beating the assembled Casas brothers feels like a bit of an upset, but nearly the same rudo team (Warrior in for Misterioso) beat them in Arnea Coliseo almost exactly one year ago.

Ultimo Guerrero told Reforma (via Jazzo, who remains great) that he'd love for the 75th Anniversary main event to be Blue Panther vs Ultimo Guerrero vs Atlantis vs Villano 5 in a four way mask match. UG explains he came up with the idea while eating breakfast, and I dearly hope that's the next kcids cartoon.

I'm not sure Panther would think it's such a great idea to defend his mask against three rudos, but I don't think he has to worry about exactly that match happening either. Maybe that's half the June cage lineup, though.

El Hijo del Santo says he's completely cleared to travel to the US again - he already has his work visa, but I guess he's got himself off the watch list - and he's in the process of tracking down who tried to drop the dime on him.

Ovaciones has gone back to the 'new' version of it's site. Unfortunately, they don't have the lucha libre articles up, and the digital version of the paper links to yesterday's version. However, all you have to do is change the date in the URL and flip to page 18 to find the usual article. (I'm afraid to change the date to tomorrow to find myself in an Early Edition situation.)

Anyway, it's a shame you have to hunt to find the article, because it's quite critical of CMLL letting titles go adrift. As noted here, Hector Garza splitting from the Perros has put both the CMLL Trios and WWA Tag teams belts on the shelf. Ovaciones notes the Trios belt hasn't been defended in 14 months, while the regulations say it's supposed to be defended every 3. Ovaciones hopes for a tournament for new champs. I hope they just give it to Sagrado, Volador and Sombra, but maybe we both can be happy. Ovaciones' article also points out the inactivity of the CMLL Super Light, CMLL Heavy (no defense since August), CMLL Welter (no defenses since December), and CMLL Middleweight (last February.)

The date they use for last defense of the Super Light title, which probably should just be in the defunct pile, is the NJPW-LA defense we've got on the wiki and I don't think it's mentioned anywhere else. Hi!

None of this is especially new news, but there's always more change of someone reacting to it if it's said in a paper than a blog.

AAA's recap of their expo show makes it sound like the whole show will be a TV taping, airing in three weeks. I'll spend some time figuring out the air schedule of everything later.

The Arizona Republic writes about lucha libre in Tempe. Lucha Libre starting in the 1950s probably comes to a surprise to CMLL.

CMLL (SUN) 05/11 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Thunder Boy vs Milenio
2) Golden vs Impostor
3) Depredador (Guadalajara) & Güero Loco vs Carlo Roggi & Nuba Roja
4) Lider, Metalik, Metatron vs Exterminador, Jeque, Super maquina
5) Gallo & Leon Blanco vs Cien Caras Jr. & Mr. Águila
6) Villano III & Villano V vs LA Park & Negro Casas

CMLL (TUE) 05/13 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Quazar vs Azazel
2) Virgo vs Valentin Mayo
3) Nube Roja vs Egipcio
4) Idolo vs Infierno
5) Casanova vs Cien Caras Jr.
6) Rayman vs Toscano
7) Héctor Garza, La Sombra, Metal Blanco, Metalik vs Averno, Mephisto, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno

Seems rare to have an atomicos here.

In today's Reforma (via Jazzo), Blue Demon Jr. says Hijos de Anibal and Solitario did not meet his standards at the first NWA-Mexico show. The first NWA-Mexico show? He mentions the event being last Wednesday in Leon, so I'm presuming the Domo de la Feria de Leon show was it. It's the quietest launch of a promotion ever, to the point where it's hard to believe this was actually a show by that promotion, and not something Blue Demon is just retroactively calling it an NWA show to make it look as though the promotion actually exists. Look at the lineup:

NWA (WED) 04/30 Domo de la Feria de Leon
1) Cien Caras Jr. & Hijo del Cien Caras b Black Terry & Shu el Guerrero
2) Dos Caras Sr. & El Hijo del Solitario b el Hijo Del Anibal & Mano Negra
3) El Hijo Del Santo & Mil Mascaras b Blue Demon Jr. & Máscara Sagrada

It's the UMLL/Todos x el Todos crew with Black Terry and Shu el Guerrero joining in. Absolutely nothing new going on. Getting back to Demon's point, he was surprised and disappointed that Solitario and Anibal were bad despite having two maestros to work against and he can't book them for semifinals if they're going to wrestle like that. Demon has worked on shows with those two and worked against them for I don't know how many years - how can he just now be figuring this out? They've always been what they are now. This whole article is confounding.

Demon says there's a couple week break, and then there are NWA shows in Queretaro, San Luis and perhaps Morelia. He hopes to make it to DF just before or after the Olympics. I would suggest not going to the NWA's Mexico page for more info.

If I may go off track for a second, this sort of thing is why there's not going to be a third major group any time soon (unless someone comes in with lots of money they'd like to lose very quickly.) Wagner, Demon, Santo may actually be difference makers, but everyone's got their own agenda and none of them are strong enough to do it alone. If you pooled their resources - Blue Demon takes his NWA affiliation to IWRG, who supplies wrestlers better than those exiled from major companies, and Santo and Wagner could work their part time to draw. What Mexico has now is a lot of people who want to be their own king and achieve that, but only over a very small kingdom.