Day: December 20, 2008

12/20: Mexico, lineups

thecubsfan 24 Comments

CMLL (FRI) 12/19 Arena Mexico [Ovaciones, ESTO]
1) Ángel Azteca Jr. & Angel de Oro b Calígula & Méssala
2) Amapola, Hiroka, Medussa b India Sioux, Marcela, Princesa Blanca
3) Flash b Pólvora [lightning]
4) Felino, Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca b Mascara Dorada, Máximo, Valiente
5) Ephesto, Terrible, Texano Jr. b La Máscara, Toscano, Volador Jr.
6) Dos Caras Jr., Mark Corleone, Shocker b Black Warrior, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

Ovaciones went with the fourth match as it’s lead story, for whatever reason. Tcnicos won the main event fine. Terrible yanked Volador’s mask and Texano covers him for the win in the semimain.

Flash/Polvora is said to be good. Princesa Blanca and Marcela did not get along in their match and someone may be turning ruda there.

Earlier this week, at a forum on contact sports organized by the DF Commission of Sports, luchadors appealed to the government for better working conditions. The wrestlers appearing before the group, which includes Hijo del Santo, Electroshock, Lady Apache and Pirata Morgan, are seeking a hospital dedicated to sports injuries and a new law requiring promoters to set aside a portion of their revenue to pay wrestlers hospital bills in case of injury. Santo noted only the top stars can afford health insurance and most luchadors are completely unprotected if they suffer an injury. Government officials said they’d work on a bill on this (which would cover all combat sports, including lucha) and would be voted on 2009 and potentially take effect in 2010.

Blue Panther will be recognized tomorrow by Gomez Palacio for his career in lucha libre.

SuperLuchas has a long letter from Ultimo Chingon, who explains his name and how a Mexican wrestler ended up in Peru. He claims to be the former Mandibula, who wrestled in CMLL in 2001 and 2002.

Luchaworld has Robert on CMLL 52MX 06/02/07 and FSE 06/03/07 and Gimnasio Nuevo Leon (01/13/08)

CMLL (TUE) 12/23 Arena Mexico
1) Pegasso & Rey Cometa vs Artillero & Súper Comando
2) Mascarita Dorada, Shockercito, Último Dragoncito vs Pequeño Universo 2000, Pequeño Violencia, Pequeño Warrior
3) Flash, Leono, Mictlán vs Euforia, Nosferatu, Skandalo
4) Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Valiente vs Dragon Rojo Jr., Felino, Vangelis
5) Dos Caras Jr., Toscano, Volador Jr. vs Lizmark Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

So who wrestles in the main event when Lizmark doesn’t show? Looks like Comta and Pegasso will have to work their way up.

CMLL (FRI) 12/26 Arena Mexico
1) Sensei & Trueno vs Puma King & Tiger Kid
2) Lady Apache, Marcela, Princesa Blanca vs Hiroka, Mima Shimoda, Princesa Sujei
3) Angel de Oro vs Skandalo [lightning]
4) Máscara Púrpura, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Satánico, Shigeo Okumura, Virus
5) Dos Caras Jr., Hijo del Fantasma, Sagrado vs Black Warrior, Dragon Rojo Jr., Sangre Azteca
6) La Máscara, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Terrible, Texano Jr.

Looks like the one one matches are going to be ongoing for the time being. Mistico took a long one week break.

12/19 AAA TV Results (Chilpancingo)

thecubsfan 6 Comments

AAA TV (FRI) 12/19 Plaza de Toros de Chilpancingo, Guerrero [luchalibreaaa]
1) Mini Abismo Negro, Mini Histeria, Mini Psicosis III b Mascarita Sagrada 2007, Mini Charly Manson, Octagoncito
2) Espectro de Ultratumba, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan b el Ángel, Laredo Kid, Pimpinela Escarlata
3) Extreme Tiger & KENTA b Joe Lider & Nicho el Millionario
4) Chessman, Killer Clown, Psycho Clown, Zombie Clown b Cuervo, Escoria, Espíritu, Ozz
5) Electro Shock, Konnan, Zorro b La Parka Jr., Latin Lover, Mesias

2008 AAA TV Chart
Projected Air Date (#869)
Mexico: 01/04
US: 01/21

Whatever else you can say about AAA, you do have to say they’re pretty speedy about putting up results of late.

The mystery people turned out to be a couple new debuts. The minis mystery man was Mini Psicosis. The previous Mini Psicosis is now Mini Black Warrior, so obviously we’ve got someone new.

The mystery partner of the Pirates was Espectro de Ultratumba (specter from behind the grave). This is also the third iteration of this gimmick. The first was much more famous, but the second is more notable here – it was one of Antonio Pena’s old gimmicks. This Espectro de Ultratumba has been turning up on C/D level spot shows the last six months (think matches with Picudo and Chiva I), but that’s all I know about him for the moment. I suspect someone recycled, because that are names that seem MIA.

Hijo de Tirantes awarded the tag match to La Hermandad, but Vampiro showed up to overturn the finish.

Via their win, Chessman and the Psycho Circus will get a shot at the Atomicos titles sometime in 2009. I’m not kidding, they actually wrote that. Amazing.

With the rest of the Legion elsewhere, Konnan paid off La Hermandad to run in and help the rudos win. The next big title match here is quite clearly Konnan vs Mesias.

No next taping announced. They’re off for at least two weeks. If someone sees it mention on the TV show, please pass it along.

TWoLL: The Making of a Character

thecubsfan 1 Comment
The World Of Lucha Libre, by Heather Levi
The World Of Lucha Libre, by Heather Levi

CMLL has lucha trainers; I think we’ve all heard about how even the top guys are expected to take training sessions on a weekly basis. What I didn’t know is that CMLL’s training goes beyond the execution and practice of keys. Again, from The World of Lucha Libre:

The transition from athlete to athlete-actor can be difficult for many wrestlers. In the early 1990s, partially in response to the new competition from the AAA, the EMLL went so far as to contract a drama teacher to coach some of their more promising wrestlers. According to the drama coach, Roberto Herrera, the wrestlers face a variety of problems moving from the gym to the arena. Some are very good in the ring but freeze when confronted with a microphone. Others are good at engaging with their opponents but don’t know how to engage with the audience. For many wrestlers, however, the main problem is in connecting themselves with the character that they have been contracted to play.

In those cases, part of the work is to invent some sort of background, even if it is primarily an emotional background, for the character. For example, if the wrestler’s character is demonic, he has them read the Inferno and Faust. He suggested that the wrestler Mephisto claim Faust’s demon as his great-great-grandfather. For another wrestler, named after a type of fighter jet, he organized an excursion to a museum to view the airplane. If the wrestler’s character is supposed to be enigmatic but the wrestler has a regional accent, he works as a dialect coach. In addition, he works with the wrestlers to develop a biography for the characters to use in interviews as well as in the ring. His services, however, are only provided to a small number of wrestlers who the EMLL management has decided to cultivate.

(page 80)

Unlike most of the first hand interviews in this book (which are listed from the late 90s to 2001), those attributed to Roberto Herrera are listed as 2006. With that year in mind, the fighter jet named wrestler would appear to be Stuka Jr. (unless someone can think of another one.) Given Herrera’s time with the company and role, he surely had a hand in the image building of Mistico his look and his back story.

My joke, when I brought this part up to others in email previously, was Leono clearly was sent to a zoo one day to observe a lion, but the lion was tired that day, just laid there and Leono thought that was the way to go. No one’s ever found that joke funny.

But you can expand joke from there, if you’d like – what exactly is Mascara Purpura thinking about? Did they just give Flash a stack of trade paperbooks (and if so, which Flash is his favorite?)