12/22 (2): Santo, Sombra, Box Y Lucha, Mistico, Cibernetico, Laredo Kid, Lady Rabbit, lineup

El Hijo del Santo did an autograph signing at his cafe/souvenir shop, and there was a big turnout.

Kid Azteca was the winner of the fifth annual Gomez Palacio Luchador 5K race. Kid Azteca was the fastest and took the 80 kg and under division, with Nieto del Hungaro & Cabllero Halcon Jr in 2nd and 3rd. Super Leopardo took the 80-100 kg division, ahead of his brother Super Star. In the over 100 kg class, Psycho I and Psycho II finished that order. La Sombra won the first three years of this race, but is a bit busy now. Also yesterday, Blue Panther recieved his plaque for being a Distguised Citzen from this same city.

Going back to Sombra for a second – I noted a while back Sombra’s mask reminded me of Oro’s. They have similar styles, and they both won an NWA title at a very young age. El Universal talks to Sombra about the comparisons, and reveals the reason for his name. When Brillante came to Mexico City to train, noting his gear and style was similar, like Brillante was Oro’s spirit or Oro’s shadow. Brillante liked the idea of being called “Sombra”, so it stuck.

And now the Box Y Lucha massive link dump! I really like the new design, though I wish they still had all the old covers up. And I need to mess with Yahoo Pipes to get a master RSS feed at some point.

Mistico blames his tag team title loss on Hector Garza’s knee; Mistico says Garza came from knee surgery and wasn’t 100% percent. (Which would also explain where Garza’s been lately, though you’d think he’d have the knee surgery after the last big match rather than right before it.) Don’t look for a rematch, as Mistico says he doesn’t trust Garza because he’s still an ex-Perro. Mistico notes he successfully defended his CMLL World Welterweight Title over Negro Casas next week which proves that, in lucha libre, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Mistico also says whomever said he was complaining about working too much was lying, he’s fine with CMLL’s schedule for him. (Who DID say that? I can not recall.)

Terrible has no recollection of any foul that won him the Leyenda de Azul. “To the all the fans who booed me because they believe there was a foul, I only tell you that you need to learn to lose!” Fair enough!

– This interview with Dragon Rojo Jr. from after he won the #1 contenders Cibernetico two Tuesdays ago is a little outdated in newsworthyness, but it gives you a really good look at Rojo’s altered mask design. It works it a Diamante Negro logo in the forehead and the side flames are now smaller and angled more towards the back.

– In an interview from Guerra de Titanes, Charly Manson said he planned to debut on the first TV taping of January, but Chessman jumping him has made that impossible. There are other AAA interviews from this period with not enough new info worth linking to, but a common theme is everyone being asked about Cibernetico, and everyone being positive about him. It’s very professional.

– Contrast: From back on the Perros del Mal debut press conference, Cibernetico calls Konnan and Vampiro cancers, and I can’t recall if I’ve seen that quote before. From Cibernetico, I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s been in the comments. Cibernetico also says, since there’s now 20-30 foreign wrestlers around, someone should start a company of foreign wrestlers, and hopefully have them leave AAA.

Laredo Kid explains his second leg injury was really his first leg injury. A doctor screwed up, fissures were not sealed right, and it fell back apart in the cage match. Laredo Kid has learned bad doctors are bad, you’ve got to have a backup career because thing can fall apart at any time. He’s planning to go back to school next year. Not a bad idea.

Sahori talks about her name, her career in AAA. She’s been trained by Gran Apache, Abismo Negro and Ultimo Guerrero. Henrik can finish this paragraph.

Lady Rabbit says she’s the only women wrestler employed by IWRG. Going to be tough for her to have matches. When Martha and Rossy said they were bringing their group of women to IWRG, Lady Rabbit joined IWRG on her own and now Martha and Rossy’s group is MIA so Lady Rabbit has no opponents. But she’s still trying and waiting for opponents. It appears her husband is an IWRG wrestler, but they don’t directly say it, and that would explain why she’s hanging around to wait. Lady Rabbit says she was Lady Discovery – I thought that was someone else? Anyway, the point is, I can now sleep at night knowing what happened to Lady Rabbit.

– Two articles about DTU wrestlers but serious now, this is long enough.

Box Y Lucha #2902, the actual magazine, has Cibernetico and Wagner on the cover. Some of the teased stories include Sangre Azteca thinking about teaming with Dragon Rojo and Pegasso and Rey Cometa noting how much tougher the fans and opponents are in CMLL.

RFC says a Monterrey promoter is planning on bringing TNA to Arena Monterrey in April 2009. (This is what they call ‘burying the lede’.) I think we’ve been here before (but at least they have some TV now.) RFC also posted his 2008 awards, with Caifan 69 as the wrestler of the year. Mesias as the best foreginer of the year surprises me a little.

Lineups

AAA (TUE) 12/23 Auditorio Municipal de San Juan, Los Lagos
1) Fabi Apache, Gato Eveready, Mari Apache vs El Padrino, La Diabólica, Sexy Star
2) Crazy Boy & Ultimo Gladiador vs Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Pirata Morgan
3) Alan Stone & Gronda II vs Chessman & Zorro

El Padrino is working with Gato Eveready? Seems odd.

AAA (THU) 12/25 Arena San Juan Pantitlan [luchalibreaaa]
1) Aerostar, Dizzy, Fabi Apache, Mascarita Divina vs ?, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Mari Apache, Mini Charly Manson
2) Charly Manson, Crazy Boy, Super Porky vs ?, El Brazo, Electro Shock

Charly can’t possibly be wrestling here.

indy (THU) 12/25 Unidad Deportiva Luis Donaldo Colosio
1) Caballero X vs Payaso Loco
2) Dancy Boy & Kenji vs Aero Mouse & Kintaro
3) Halconcito Galactico & Lunathor vs Kid Star & Zafarrancho
4) Camaleon de Oro, Protector, Shrek vs Felino, Puma King, Tiger Kid
5) Angeluz, Fray Tormenta, Sagrado vs Infierno, Rostro Infernal, Satánico

I guess we know one of Fray Tormenta’s disciples is still on good terms with him! That’s a very literal good vs evil main event; we just needed some dogs to face all those semimain cats. Don’t like the devil’s chances on Christmas Day.

indy (THU) 12/25 Arena Olimpico Laguna de Gomez Palacio [El Siglo de Torreon]
1) Pentagoncito vs Mini Maximo
2) Guerrero Inca vs Semental
3) Angel de Oro, Hooligan, Scriba Jr. vs Euforia, Misterioso II, Mr. Guerrero
4) Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Ultimo Guerrero vs Atlantis, Dragon Rojo Jr., Ephesto

So, UG is working as a hometown tecnico, but Dragon Rojo and Ephesto are not? Don’t try and make sense of it, kdb!

AAA (THU) 12/25 Auditorio de Tijuana [aereo_suicida @ SML]
1) Human Tornado vs Puma
2) Black Abyss, Histeria, Psicosis II vs Arandu, Extreme Tiger, TJ Boy
3) Joe Lider & Nicho el Millionario vs Jack Evans & Teddy Hart [AAA TAG]
4) Alex Koslov, Rocky Romero, X-Pac vs Chuck Palumbo, Konnan, Rellik

This is in fact a real card, not some apparition from a nightmare. My guess is this is a tryout for Palumbo and not a sign he’s coming in full time, but time will tell. I would presume Puma is the TJ Perkins (there’s plenty of lucha guys running around with that name too, but not all of the face other PWG guys.) Psicosis II is usually the promoter for these shows, but obviously I didn’t realize his connections to SoCal talent.

Deep thought of the day: are Jack & Teddy actually Mexican? are Nicho & Lider actually foreigners? I need to expand on this, but I needed to eat lunch and I didn’t do that either.

If that looks like a lot of Christmas shows, that’s the tip. I’m counting 10 listed shows so far, including five with AAA main events.

CMLL (SUN) 12/28 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Poseidon vs Milenio
2) Palacio Negro & Plata vs Thunder Boy & Virgo
3) Idolo & Nube Roja vs Depreadador (GDL) & Exterminador (GDL)
4) Infierno, Malefico, Máscara Mágica vs Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno, Satánico
5) Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Shocker vs Atlantis, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

Hmm, trios champs vs the last

12/22 (1): Puebla, Monterrey, Coliseo, IWRG, bye bye Ciber

I’m splitting this right down the middle for sanity sake. (And so I can take a 15 minute break before typing up lineups.)

CMLL (MON) 12/15 Arena Puebla [eric0891 @ el martinete]
1) Centella de Oro & Legionario b Karisma & Sauron
2) Asturiano, Hijo del Faraon, Pegasso Xtreme b Policeman, Semental, Toro Bill Jr.
3) Mascarita Dorada, Pequeño Olímpico, Último Dragoncito b Pequeño Violencia, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito
4) Blue Panther, Mictlán, Valiente b Black Warrior, Dragon Rojo Jr., Sangre Azteca
5) Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero b Dos Caras Jr., Marco Corelone, Shocker

and that’s how we get to today’s title match, of course.

CMLL (THU) 12/18 Arena Monterrey [RFC]
1) Angel Dorado Jr., Mascara Dorada, Máscara Púrpura b Arkangel de la Muerte, Dragon Rojo Jr., Virus
2) Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Terrible b La Mascara, Mark Corleone, Maximo
3) Diluvio Negro II L Blue Panther and Tiger Universitario [hair]
4) La Sombra, Mr. Niebla, Valiente b Difunto II, Diluvio Negro I, Último Guerrero [semifinal]
5) Averno, Misterioso II, Volador Jr. b Místico, Rey Hechicero, Sangre Azteca [semifinal]
6) Último Guerrero b Difunto II [mask]

Let me see if I get this all right (thanks KrisZ)

Main event 12 man mask match took the form of a battle royale to determine four trios teams, with the person who took the pin moving on to a mask match. (No captains, I guess.) That was UG in the first match and Rey Hechicero in the second. However, Rey Hechicero suffered a knee injury (attributed to Misterioso.) I believe what happened is they had a quickie battle royale with the four guys left, with Difunto getting beat by Mistico and dumped into the mask match. Which he lost. No name listed.

Blue Panther took Diluvio Negro II’s hair.

La Mascara and local Angel Dorado Jr. ended up taking Hector Garza and Dos Caras Jr.’s spots. As I’ll get to later, Hector probably had had knee surgery, causing the recent disappearing act. Would it hurt CMLL to actually announce this sort of thing?

CMLL (SUN) 12/21 Arena Coliseo [Ovaciones]
1) Hijo del Faraon & Pegasso b Camorra & Semental
2) Fabián el Gitano, Leono, Tony Rivera b Arkangel de la Muerte, Dr. X, Loco Max
3) Mascarita Dorada, Nino de Acero, Shockercito b Pequeño Universo 2000, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito
4) Mascara Dorada, Máximo, Sagrado DQ Dragon Rojo Jr., Sangre Azteca, Skandalo
5) Mephisto, Terrible, Texano Jr. b Marco Corleone, Shocker, Toscano

By everyone’s estimation, Dorada, Pierrothito and the minis stole the show. Focus was on Dorada vs Pierrothito, with Dorada picking up the pin (though it may be disputed.) Dorada wants a shot at the Lightweight Title, Pierrothito wants a mask match (ha! you know, I think they could main event with that…) but they’re getting a trios rematch next week. Considering how long it took for Nosferatu and Infernal to get their rematch, we’ll get a title rematch for this one in March.

Terrible replaced Ephesto, which worked because they seem to be doing a program with him and Marco off Leyenda de Azul. here, Terrible got the pin after grabbing the ropes.

DQ in the semimain was for Dragon Rojo fouling Maximo. Which isn’t very tecnico. Skandalo replaced Black Warrior. Pegasso may be lower than Super Fly is in AAA, but he’s winning.

IWRG (SUN) 12/21 Arena Naucalpan [Ovaciones]
4) Hijo del Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 Jr. DQ Head Hunter I & Veneno
5) Arlequin L Oficial 911, Scorpio Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, Tetsuya, Cerebro Negro, Pierroth II, Zumbido, Máscara Año 2000, Multifacético [cage, hair]

Arlequin lost his mask and his hair within 2 months. Indy lucha libre, ain’t it special. 911 gets credit for the win. DQ in the semimain was referee violence, I believe.

CMLL (SUN) 12/21 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [mt 1, MT 2]
4) Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno, Satánico b Casanova, Gallo, Neutrón
5) Dos Caras Jr., La Máscara, Volador Jr. b Averno, Felino, Negro Casas
6) Místico b Mr. Niebla

Not totally sure of the result of the fourth match. Post match, Gallo again challenged Satanico to a mask vs hair match, and Satanico warned him to be careful what he asked for. That (non-mask/hair) singles match is scheduled for tomorrow and Gallo is so getting pwned. Clean wins in the top two matches.

In other news from the building, they’ll now be following the Mexico City Tuesday/Sunday pattern of really cheap tickets the first Sunday of every month, starting on 01/04. Children tickets are 10 pesos anywhere, adults are 30 pesos in some of the seating. June will be the 50th anniversary celebration for this arena, so maybe another big show will take place then.

AAA (SUN) 12/21 Salon Sagitario [AAA]
1) Fabi Apache & Mari Apache b Cinthia Moreno & Sexy Star
2) Alan Stone & El Elegido b Escoria & Mesias
3) Cibernetico & La Parka Jr. b Konnan & Zorro

AAA’s site bills this as Cibernetico’s farewell. He’s not on the lineups for this week (so far!) AAA never writes about spot shows, make of it what you will.

They said the show had a good turnout, and it looks that way from pictures elsewhere. Mesias and Sexy Star didn’t get along with their partners.

Poll: Who’s Not Leaving?

The new Box Y Lucha site is up and content rich, but it and other issues (the exciting AAA debut of Chuck Palumbo) are going to delay my news update for probably an hour or more. Just to put up something quick and topical…

Dos Caras Jr. has the big heavyweight title match tonight in Puebla; if he’s leaving, you’d think he’d be losing the title. Flipping that, if he loses his the title, everyone’s going to be pretty well convinced Dos is out of CMLL.

Meanwhile, <a href=http://luchalibre.mforos.com/2534/7623490-el-color-adios-al-ciber-de-aaa-funcion-de-foristas-y-mas/>Cibernetico</a> told the crowd at a show in Neza (Salon Sagitario?) it was his last show with AAA. He’s been working spot show since being off TV, with the idea that he – just like Dos – would be done at the end of the month.

Unfortunately, I’m a horrible skeptic and have trouble believing anyone, much less luchadors. WWE doesn’t seem to me like it’s signing Dos soon (or has even been pursing him for a long time) and the indy scene is inconsistent and unreliable. I still think Cibernetico/AAA stuff is a work, but even if it was real, the novelty of working Perro shows is going to work out.

I’m wrong a lot, so I’ll put the question to you: what do you think is going to happen?

[poll id=”10″]

(I picked May in case Rey de Reyes slips into April.)