06/20-21 Lucha Times

box. A couple changes this week. Times are all normal.

AAA: Finals of the cruiserweight tournament, better known as “the finish they gave away last week, because AAA is really bad at producing episodic television.” Plus Wagner (and Parka) vs Silver King (and Cuervo), and Latin/Marco vs Lider/Kenzo.

52MX: I think Maximo/Sagrado/Valiente vs Misterioso/Okumura/Virus and Garza/Mistico/Toscano vs Averno/Mephisto/Texano.

LATV: Now that I’m accepting it’ll be reruns, I can tell you this is the one from January 10th, with yet another women’s trios, Azteca/Puma in the lightning match, and Terrible/Texano/Virus vs Dorada/Sagrado/Valiente in the main event.

CMLL: Universal tournament, Mistico vs Pesta Negro, and Hijo vs Mascara/Maximo/Sagrado

AAA-MEX: I dunno! It’s happening right now! There are probably light tubes being broken as I’m typing this. Lineup says Jack and Teddy’s feud goes to the main event, as they team with Parka & Mesias vs Electro & Silver King, plus there’s a three way mixed tag below. Could be a very interesting show.

FOX: Guessing Infernales/Vangelis vs Flash/Pegasso/Cometa, plus grab of Ephesto/Metal/Lizmark vs Panther/Mictlan/Sagrado. CMLL has so many people, you could have quite the big stable of people just lost in the shuffle, and they’ve go the starts of one on the tecnico side.

C3: Shocker/UG feud continues, admits mostly other random matchups.

Puebla: I will guess no No Limit. Definitely going to see Ultimo Guerrero vs Averno in the main event, and probably Pesta Negra vs Garza/Sombra/Volador

MONTERREY: By request – Circus vs Dark Family, Mascara Purpura vs hero of TripleMania chat X-Fly, and Hombre sin Miedo vs Pierko el Boricua

Dos Caras Jr. to the WWE

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?

Tuesday Mexico results, notes

CMLL (TUE) 06/16 Arena Mexico [ESTO]
1) Astro Boy & Principe Valiente b Camorra & Cholo
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo de Ultraman, Metalico b Bronco, Loco Max, Polvora
3) Fabian el Gitano, Flash, Stuka Jr. DQ Dr. X, Euforia, Nosferatu
4) Misterioso II, Shigeo Okumura, Virus b Metro, Mictlan, Valiente
5) Naito, Ultimo Guerrero, Yujiro b Blue Panther, Shocker, Toscano

Rudos won the main event in straight falls. Flash replaced Leono, and Loco Max replaced Hooligan. No idea what that DQ was for. Bad crowd, which ESTO attributes to the rain. I’m thinking it’s more likely that everyone realized this was a less than interesting lineup in the middle of many more interesting cards at cheaper prices.

Ovaciones has nothing on last night’s CMLL show, previewing the AAA show tonight instead.

In a video interview, Mesias declares his innocence against the chargers from earlier this week.

AAA wonder if Xtreme Tiger will return to Mexican Powers, talks about Wagner needed eight stitches after his title win, the Mesias/Wagner rematch in Orizaba and exoticos on today’s taping.

Dr. Wagner Jr. is head to Spain for a show on July 12. SuperLuchas also has a long interview with Ricky Cruzz, though their site doesn’t appear to working.

Super Calo’s FS-WWL promotion – which has not announced a show and maintains that position – gets a lot of press for no particular reason. This article mentions young stars like Valiente Jr. and five different weight division titles!. There comes a point where mention a group only to make fun of it’s silliness loses it’s fun. (And I think EAW’s already reached it.)

Cesar sees the winner of the Universal tournament determining how the title is going to be used – if it’s UG, it’ll probably just be another trophy for his case – a replacement for no Gran Prix this year – but if it’s Texano, plenty of people will still think they can beat him and take the title. Not sure I agree.

Cotorreando con Box y Lucha talks to Olímpico.

Lucha Libre: the Man in the Silver Mask won the Tejas Star Book Award, voted on by Texas schoolchildren.

LuchaWorld has a podcast tomorrow at 8pm PST.

CMLL (FRI) 06/19 Arena Puebla [hugo999 @ box y lucha]
1) Mr. Rafaga & Toro Bill Sr. vs Iron & Tigre Rojo
2) Rayo Tapatio I & Rayo Tapatio II vs Apocalipsis & Zayco
3) Estrella Magica, Lady Apache, Marcela vs Amapola, Crazy Star, Princesa Blanca
4) Valiente vs Mascara Dorada, Angel de Oro, Angel Azteca Jr., Stuka Jr., Virus, Loco Max, Vangelis, Tiger Kid, Puma King [ciber]
5) Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra, Shocker vs Atlantis, Naito, Yujiro

Fan appreciation show, of course.