Month: June 2008

With AAA’s focus on their Super Mega Heavyweight Championship for the last year, CMLL’s secured its standing of “least important Heavyweight Championship in the World of any major promotion”. Heck, there was even a little buzz about the NWA title this weekend, because of the title vs title match with ROH. The last buzz about the CMLL title was of the “oh, they got around to scheduling a defense this year – see you in 2009!” sort.

This means I approach the news Dos Caras Jr. will be at WWE SmackDown tomorrow, and possibly have a dark match a bit differently than I would with another group. The title is a non-factor – I doubt WWE is even aware Dos is champ, and I’m not sure CMLL has been informed either. this is simpler a young underutilized talent checking out his options elsewhere.

When Mistico looked like he might leave, I was okay it because he’d already done so much in CMLL. He’s feuded with most everyone, he’s won all the titles it’d mean anything to win, he’s had the big matches and main evented anniversary shows – the problem of “what can he do NEXT?” was started to creep up and is still there. CMLL’s not into ending big feuds, so Mistico’s doing a lot of running in place, and it wouldn’t be the worse thing for him to go to the US for a couple years, then come back and feud with all the same people all over again when it feels newer. (Like Nicho, except without turning into Nicho.)

Dos’ situation is really different. Rare can you say a Heavyweight Champion has done absolutely nothing, but that’s pretty close to accurate here. Since coming to CMLL in ’04, Dos has been pushed near or at the top of the cards, but there’s nothing you could mark down as a significant rivalry. The stuff with Universo 2000 never turned into a genuine feuds, Dos was just the guy to lose to Unvierso for title matches, and the best tecnico eligible when CMLL decided to phase out Universo. He’s had scattered matches with UG, but they’ve meant nothing more than scattered matches. He should have had some rivalry with Lizmark Jr., but you can’t fight an invisible man. (He’s been gone for over a month again and no one’s noticed.)

Dos Jr. is not the world’s greatest luchador – some nights he’s good, some nights he’s bad, he averages out to okay – but he’s capable of a lot more than they’ve actually gotten out of him. CMLL’s focus when it comes to these things is always strange, but when you consider they’ve worked hard on getting Leono over than their best shot at a native heavyweight wrestler (who can occasionally do MMA fights for you), it makes less sense than usual. I’m not saying it’s a a straight line from “Dos Jr. gets nothing to do” to “Dos Jr. tries out for WWE”, but if CMLL really was The Best Wrestling Promotion In The World they claim to be, their best and their brightest wouldn’t be checking out their options.

Dos is a lot like his cousin Sicodelico Jr. in terms of what WWE is looking for, though would probably be looking for a better deal based on his CMLL spot. I’ve mentioned before that Dos is one of the guys I thought WWE should be looking for if they wanted more lucha guys and still think that, but who knows how it works out when it comes to money.

side note: One last time, let’s note one lucha heavyweight champion is more than willing to do show WWE what he can do, another thinks he’s above it…

Edit: I meant Dr. Wagner Jr., and his balking at trying out. Which I don’t think was the actual issue, but the easiest way to get out of actually doing it.

CMLL.com confirms they’re starting a one hour news show on Canal52, airing on Saturday’s and Sundays. This is great news for the 3 people who still get that station. They promise exclusive information, which will probably stay exclusive given the possible viewership. I shall now accept the award for most bitter paragraph ever.

Cesar @ box y lucha says Zumbido has signed with CMLL and is just waiting for his start date, and India Sioux is looking to return.

CMLL (SUN) 06/29 Arena Coliseo [ovaciones, CMLL]
1) Sombra de Plata & Trueno b Carrona & Cholo
2) Amapola, Medusa, Rosa Negra b Lady Apache, Marcela, Princesa Blanca
3) Nitro, Satánico, Virus b Grey Shadow, Máscara Púrpura, Metalik
4) Flash & Stuka Jr. b Euforia & Nosferatu [Coliseo TAG]
5) Dos Caras Jr., Marco Corelone, Sagrado b Damián 666, Mr. Águila, Texano Jr.
6) Atlantis b Shocker [NWA LH]

Shocker took the first fall of his title match (via STF!), Atlantis won the second with a feet on the ropes pin (the GdA Title Match Special), and Atlantis took the third clean with the Atlantida for his 11th defense. Ovaciones says the match was good. Same sequence of falls for the Coliseo Tag match – Infernales took fall 1, maybeLosAngeles took falls 2 and 3 to win the mythical yet ugly belts.

Marco Corelone was here, which makes it tough for him to be in Irapuato.

Nitro replaced Okumura, and Satanicio pinned Shadow with the ropes. Luna Magica replaced Lady Apache and Medusa replaced Mima. Cholo remains perfect.

CMLL (SUN) 06/29 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
6) Mr. Niebla, Rey Bucanero, Toscano b Alex Koslov, Blue Panther, Rayman

Niebla submitted Panther clean.

FILL (SUN) 06/29 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [RFC]
1) Perla Negra & Rebelde b Lady Puma & Ultratumba
2) Gallo de Oro & Imperio Romano b Pedro Navajas & Tequilita
3) Bam Bam & Mercurio b Angel Negro & Cavernicola [trofeo gladiador 2008, semifinal]
4) Chica de Arabia & Galactar b Ghostico & Vendeta [trofeo gladiador 2008, semifinal]
5) Bam Bam & Mercurio b Chica de Arabia & Galactar [trofeo gladiador 2008, final]
6) Estrella Dorado Jr., Huracan Ramirez, Tinieblas Sr. b Dr. Tormenta, Herodes, Jaque Mate Jr.

AAA (MON) 06/30 Arena Cuatro Caminos de Nuevo Laredo [RFC]
1) Black Mamba & Violento vs Black Fenix & Street Boy
2) Estrellita & Sexy Star vs La Diabólica & Poly Star
3) Aerostar, El Brazo, Super Fly vs Escorpion Negro, Tigre Cota, Tito Santana II
4) Hombre Sin Miedo vs Picudo
5) ?, Gronda II, Silver King vs Antifaz del Norte, Pirata Morgan, Villano III

Villano III to AAA! The tide has been turned! Or not.

CMLL (MON) 06/30 Domo de la Feria de Leon [am.com.mx]
1) Carta Brava & Furia Azteca vs Gotico & Vampiro Metálico
2) Robin & Turbo vs Black Thunder & Cholo
3) Dark Angel & Lady Apache vs Hiroka & Mima Shimoda
4) La Máscara, Máscara Púrpura, Metalik vs Ephesto, Skandalo, Virus
5) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Místico vs Rey Bucanero & Último Guerrero

indy (TUE) 07/01 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [RFC]
1) Ciber Gata & Mariposa Monarca vs Alondra & Dama de Hierro
2) Dr. Kamoa & Panthro vs Centurion Negro & Karonte
3) Angel Dorado Jr. & Principe de Oro vs Kalaka de Michoacan & Linares and Coco Viper & Dragon
4) 5X, Angel Dorado, Kaoma Jr. vs Hermano Diablo I, Hermano Diablo II, La Kalaka de Tijuana

There’s also a match between students of various schools.

CMLL (TUE) 07/01 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [MT]
1) Thunder Boy vs Carlo Roggi
2) Ebola vs Azazel
3) Virgo vs Rey Trueno
4) Metal Blanco vs Super Maquina
5) Casanova & Rayman vs Infierno & Mr. Águila
6) Gallo vs Damián 666 [OCCIDENTE LH]
7) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Héctor Garza vs Mr. Niebla & Texano Jr.

Damian’s life has totally been leading up to the moment where he can finally become Western Light Heavyweight champion. For sure.

Box Y Lucha #2877 has a cover shot of Mr. Niebla going after Wagner. There’s also teases of a Rey Cometa anti-AAA interview and Zumbido and Scorpio calling their (former) teammates cowards. Sounds like a fun time.

DTU posted a video promo for their next show and hypes their article in the latest Record. You all know how I feel about the DTU matches, but their site is a lot easier to track than any other one, so they’re getting all the links they want. (Is a RSS feed so much to ask?)

A policeman charged with excessive violence is said to have gone all “Hijo de Perro Aguayo” on the victim. A double stomp must’ve been involved.

Ohtani’s Jacket writes about Santo & Negro from Tijuana in ’91, Kahos & Engendro vs El Celestial & El Coloso in ’92 UWA, and Villano III vs Negro Casas from last year.

Recapping the CMLL TV situation, if you haven’t been in the comments this weekend

situation A:
– the latest Wrestling Observer had a note about Dr. Morales leaving CMLL’s broadcast crew over CMLL wanting Box Y Lucha (Morales’ other job) to pull Arturo Rivera’s column. The WON has it as Morales refusing to do so, but what I’m reading now is CMLL went over his head and got Rivera’s column turfed, so Morales resigned in protest.

situation B
– CMLL’s show had been listed for a one hour on Televisa/Galavision’s programming listings (and still is on the on-line listings)…
– …but never aired, replaced by a classic futbol game (something they wasn’t time senstitive – there was no neccesity to pre-empet the show, like in times past when it was bumped for the Olympics.)
– The change was known to CMLL in advance, because Cadena3’s production crew took over the work on the show on Friday, and spliced together Tuesday and Friday matches for their weekly 2 hours.
– Accion, Televisa’s weekend sports roundup show, only aired highlights of AAA’s show (Vamp/Mesais, and twice as long to make up for no CMLL)

It’s not clear that A has anything to do with B, except for the timing. Superluchas has a note on the pre-emption, and says it’s only a one week deal. It’s possible CMLL could’ve known in advance they were going to be off this week – they’re rematching the main event, and the novatos cibernetico is not a big deal to CMLL. Per usual, CMLL has said nothing at all.

It’s interesting CMLL choose to go after Rivera’s Box Y Lucha column and not the Ovaciones column that actually ticked them off. Perhaps they did and didn’t have enough leverage there.

Besides that, we’re waitng for results from tonight’s Arena Coliseo show for the two title matches (though Rob just commented Flash/Stuka won their match), and tonight’s AAA taping to see who actually showed up. You can scratch Tinieblas Jr. off that list. He was telling people at the AAA/indy/Tirantes press conference that he was going to be wrestling the show as an indy guy, because he and AAA never came to an agreement. Surely AAA must’ve felt differently if they started advertising him for shows…

I didn’t really write anything about the NWA Mexico press conference earlier, because there didn’t seem to be any actual news, but this post reminded me I should note the non-progress. Once again, Demon announced the exciting roster of exactly everyone who’s working the Todos x el Todos/UMLL shows already, and the first show as “not as far away as it’ll never happen, but not as close as we can actually name a date.” You know, at least LXLL or whatever it was had the decency to run a show.

Negro Casas says the people were much more into the match with he and Heavy as rudos, so that’s the right move for them.

Next Week’s Coliseo card

CMLL (SUN) 07/06 Arena Coliseo [SuperLuchas #270]
1) Angel de Oro & Sombra de Plata vs Carrona & Cholo
2) Goddess, Princesa Blanca, Sahori vs Amapola, La Seductora, Rosa Negra
3) Hijo del Faraon, Metalik, Stuka Jr. vs Arkangel de la Muerte, Bronco, Vangelis
4) Grey Shadow, La Sombra, Valiente vs Black Warrior, Olímpico, Sangre Azteca
5) Dos Caras Jr., Místico, Volador Jr. vs Atlantis, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero

That’s a big leap for Hijo del Faraon. HIS father’s not also a commissioner, is he?

In an article previewing WWE’s visit next week, Peru’s La Pr1mera mentions the glory years of Peruvian wrestling: first during the 30s (featuring El Oso Griego, Aquaman, El Yanqui and El Indio Aragaon) and the 70s (the Coloso del Catch promotion – this group reads like the usual “wrestling takes off when TVs become commenplace” deal.) They also mention the group that’s running now, which seems CMLL influnced.

This had been teased at the press conference, but much like CMLL guys actually making it to a CMLL ring, I didn’t totally believe at the time. Ulitmo and Rey finally made it, and maybe the other two eventually will too, so perhaps this will come thru.

According to CMLL’s Blog, TNA is sending six wrestlers to the July 25th (Friday) show

– AJ Styles
– Alex Shelley
– Chris Sabin
– Jay Lethal
– Johnny Divine
– Sonjay Dutt

AJ appeared with AAA in 2006, and is the only one who’s worked for both groups (though Sonjay’s appeared on AAA TV when they were showing TNA matches – more facts you don’t need to know.)

Commence complaining about people being left off 1 Friday show of 52 becuase TNA guys will be around instead. I wonder if AJ will be bring his list of moves people aren’t allowed to do to Arena Mexico.

CMLL (FRI) 06/27 Arena Mexico [ovaciones, ESTO]
1) Bam Bam & Último Dragoncito b Pequeño Warrior & Pierrothito
2) Hijo del Fantasma b Diamante Negro, Vangelis, Skandalo, Bronco II, Puma King, Tiger Kid, Hijo del Faraon, Axel, Metalik, Astro Boy, Angel Azteca [cibernetico, Gen75]
3) el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Terrible, Villano V b Blue Panther, Dos Caras Jr., Shocker
4) Dr. Wagner Jr., Héctor Garza, Místico DQ Heavy Metal, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

Rudos got DQed for yanking Wagner’s mask off in the first…and in the second. At least they had a plan. They’re pushing Wagner/Niebla strong.

Order of elimination was Tiger Kid, Astro Boy, Puma King, Angel Azteca Jr., Bronco, Hijo del Faraon (“eager but erratic”), Vangelis, Axel, and Metalik. Hijo de Fantasma beat Diamante Negro to take it cibernetico. I was close! I wonder if they shuffled up the teams, or if Diamante really went 1 on 3 to end that.

Arturo Rivera says Abismo Negro and Elegido have NOT visited CMLL’s offices looking for work, and praises the midcarders in Arena Cuarto Caminos de Nuevo Laredo.

All the tickets for Sunday’s AAA Taping are being reissues and people who paid the higher prices are supposed to get their money returned. The ticker sellers are blaming the local promoter (the PRI policiatal party of all things), and vice versa, but everyone seems to agree AAA had nothing to do with it.

On Friday, Ovaciones noted Okumura will be out for an extended time due to a broken clavicle. He suffered it Tuesday against Fabian, trying to catch Fabian’s Asai Moonsault. Something like that was bound to happen.

CMLL (TUE) 07/01 Arena Mexico
1) Sensei & Tigre Blanco vs Artillero & Zayco
2) Goddess, Luna Mágica, Sahori vs Hiroka, La Nazi, Medussa
3) Mascarita Dorada, Pequeño Olímpico, Último Dragoncito vs Pequeño Violencia, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito
4) Blue Panther, La Sombra, Valiente vs Diamante Negro, Misterioso II, Virus
5) Marco Corelone, Shocker, Volador Jr. vs Atlantis, Sangre Azteca, Último Guerrero

All tickets are 30 pesos for this show.

CMLL (FRI) 07/04 Arena Mexico
1) Angel de Oro & Hijo del Faraon vs Artillero & Súper Comando
2) Shockercito & Tzuki vs Pequeño Damian 666 & Pequeño Violencia
3) Blue Panther, La Sombra, Sagrado vs Rey Bucanero, Sangre Azteca, Último Guerrero
4) Volador Jr. vs Alex Koslov, La Máscara, Stuka Jr., Felino, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Ohara, Averno, Mephisto, Ephesto [LdP, ciber, sf]
5) Dr. Wagner Jr., Héctor Garza, Místico vs Heavy Metal, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

Main is a rematch.

The start of the Leyenda de Plata is oddly timed – this means three straight weeks with ciberneticos – but must be setting up for down the road. No word if Mistico is supposed to defend his LdP title again this year. That tecnico side seems outgunned.

Angel de Oro is yet another Laguna guy who worked in IWRG for a couple weeks earlier this year.