Valiente crowned, IWRG lineups

As noted in the comments, AAA did not air in Mexico this week. No explanation why. Trading the Televisa time slot for Fox Sports would be roughly equivalent to trading New York for $24.

CMLL (SUN) 08/16 Arena Mexico [Reforma]
5) Valiente b Sangre Azteca [MEX WELTER]
6) La Sombra, Shocker, Volador Jr. DQ Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

The king is dead! Long live the king! Valiente is champion 68; for all the weight he’s lost, he just gained a few pounds back. Sangre held the championship for 33 months, and will have to be satisfied only being part of the Mexican National Trios champion for the moment.

LUM (SAT) 08/15 Parque Tolteca [EdR]
1) Bengaly & Raiden b Koko Viper & Memo Valles
2) Gato Fantasma, Panthro, Tigre Universitario b Difunto I, Espanto Jr., Tigre Negro
3) Chucho Mar Jr. & Diluvio Negro II b Caifan Rockero I & Sergio Romo Jr.
4) Charles Lucero b Difunto I [WWA MIDDLE]

Speaking at an book fair in Bogota, el Hijo del Santo talked up the idea of bringing back lucha libre to prominence in Central and South America. Presumably, this is because there’s no one left in Mexico he wants to work for and wants him to work for them, but he talks up as creating new stars.

Ohtani’s Jacket catches up with IWRG 08/10/09

On LuchaWorld, Robert watches IWRG 11/07/08 and CMLL 07/05 & 07/12/09, plus KrisZ’s news update with Coliseo results from 2 weeks ago!

Lineups

IWRG (THU) 08/20 Arena Naucalpan
1) Eragon vs Blasfemia
2) Orito & Panterita vs Cerebro Negro & Dr. Cerebro
3) el Signo & Negro Navarro vs Black Terry & Shu el Guerrero
4) Pantera, Ricky Cruz, Scorpio Jr. vs Kraneo, Rambo, Veneno
5) El Fantasma, Mano Negra, Villano III vs Kahoz, Máscara Año 2000, Sangre Chicana

This show is listed as a festival of masks, which presumably means wrestlers who have long ago lost their mask will be allowed to wear them again in Mexico City. I sure hope El Fantasma doesn’t find out! I wouldn’t want to miss out on seeing Ricky Cruzz’s mask after all this time.

First time Pantera’s been here since last year, and he’s been pretty under the radar for the last six months. I assume this is the Captian Muerte Kraneo, because IWRG has had a couple. I guess Black Terry isn’t allowed to be Guerrero Maya (Sr.) at the moment, because that would give away the game.

CMLL (SUN) 08/23 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Meteoro & Virgo vs Saturno & Thunder Boy
2) Astaroth & Magnum vs Angel del Mal & Rafaga
3) Máximo, Rogue, Valiente vs Black Warrior, Dragon Rojo Jr., Sangre Azteca
4) Blue Panther, La Sombra, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto

Rogue or Rogue or whatever sure seems banned to GDL and occasionally Puebla for the time being.

IWRG (SUN) 08/23 Arena Naucalpan
1) Extrano vs Dinamic Black
2) Imperial, Pendulo, Star Boy vs Blasfemia, Fantasma de la Ópera, Hijo del Signo
3) Bushi, Chico Che, Jack vs Arlequin Amarillo, Arlequin Rojo, Arlequin Verde
4) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Oficial AK47 & Oficial Fierro
5) Mano Negra, Oficial 911, Ricky Cruz vs Dr. Cerebro, Sangre Chicana, Sangre Chicana Jr.

Oficials are rudos in semimain, tecnicos in main event. OK. Someone in the tercera probably lost their hair or mask tonight.

There was an Extrano in IWRG in 2007. I’m sure he’s just been waiting all the time, wanting to pick his spot.

Lucha Libre Premier, tapings 1 and 2

AAA LLP (FRI) 08/14 Foro Scotiabank [ESTO, AAA]
1) El Elegido (o), Mascarita Divina, Pimpinela Escarlata b Decnnis, Mini Abismo Negro, Polvo de Esterllas
2) Rain & Sexy Star (o) DQ Fabi Apache (x) & Koa Marie Gabric
3) Dr. Wagner Jr. (o), Jack Evans, Rocky Romero b Alex Koslov (x), Electro Shock, Teddy Hart
4) El Mesías & Marco Corleone (o) b Cibernético & Kenzo Suzuki (x)

ESTO notes Wagner & Electro are on the same unit, but fought because they’re honorable competitors. They also mention Sexy Star’s previous gimmick, which must mean they were googling for back ground information, or they figured it out when she tossed her mask to Fabi. Fabi got caught with it, which I’d think mean she starts negative. Luckily for my sanity, just as I about to figure out Day 2, I noticed Day 1 and Day 2 points turned up in AAA. They’ve got to keep doing this throughout, I shouldn’t have to do any math. (I am going to the math, because it’ll be funny later when we make fun of the inevitable fail. Should start a pool on that, too.)

Edit 10/24/09: upon airing this show, AAA appears to have over turned the finish in the second match, ruling it as a DQ for Sexi Star.

6 Marco Corleone
6 Dr. Wagner Jr.
6 Elegido
6 Sexi Star
3 Mesias
3 Jack Evans
3 Rocky Romero
3 Rain (called Gray Rain by ESTO, but AAA has her just as Rain)
3 Mascarita Divina
3 Pimpinela Escarlata

Neither ESTO nor AAA’s recap mentions who (if any) get a bonus point for movement of the night. I think that’s not something we’re going to find out until we see the show, and that’ll probably also mean they give out 1 point per TV show, or 2 points per taping. ESTO article notes that besides Konnan doing the announcers, they’ll have sports stars and celebrties joining – this is an idea they used for WSX, where bands came on and it didn’t always go so well.

Getting back to the point totals, AAA mentions wrestlers have to get 20 points to qualify to win the title, which means they just have to get a few people over that number and then figure out who they want to win, rather than having to book out a winner in advance.

—-

Day 2

AAA LLP (SAT) 08/15 Foro Scotiabank [Alan + photos, AAA]
1) El Elegido, Octagoncito (o), Pimpinela Escarlata b Decnnis, Mini Abismo Negro (x), Polvo de Esterllas
2) Mari Apache & Rain (o) b Fabi Apache (x) & Koa Marie Gabric
3) Jack Evans (o), Marco Corleone, Zorro b Alex Koslov (x), Chessman, Electro Shock
4) Dr. Wagner Jr., El Mesías (o), Rocky Romero b Cibernético, Kenzo Suzuki, Sugi San (x)

Alan noted Koa Marie was injured in her match. AAA says it’s a hip injury. My guess is, they had Mari replace Sexi in the match because they would’ve had Mari working with the outside girls in the Apache’s gym to get them prepared for this match, and maybe they had something worked out in particular. It’d be nice if there was a storyline setting Mari working rudo, but they basically ignored it on the Las Vegas taping. Rain did get the pin only after a Sexi Star distraction, but having them Americans work against the Apaches instead of each other might have been a way for AAA to evaluate them.

It’s generally hard to figure out if these are alignments that will be in play after Verano de Escandalo (again, these tapings aren’t supposed to air until September, so CMLL should continue to turn up at least until then), or if they’re just random AAA bookings. Their spot show lineups routinely have people on wrong sides or teaming with people you wouldn’t expect them to team with, though usually it’s because they’re well lagged what’s happening on TV.

AAA doesn’t make any specific mention of when/where the next taping will be.

Points from this show:
6 Octagoncito
6 Rain
6 Jack Evans
6 Mesias
3 Elegido
3 Pimpinela
3 Mari Apache
3 Marco Corleone
3 Zorro
3 Dr. Wagner Jr.,
3 Rocky Romero

Edit 08/18/2009: AAA says Sugi got a bonus point, though it’s not clear if there’s only one point for both nights or if we’re still waiting for a point for day 1.

Total Points:
9 Rain (nearly halfway there!)
9 Jack Evans
9 Mesias
9 Elegido
9 Marco Corleone
9 Dr. Wagner Jr.
6 Octagoncito
6 Sexi Star
6 Rocky Romero
6 Pimpinela Escarlata
3 Mari Apache
3 Zorro
3 Mascarita Divina
1 Sugi

They were very careful not to have someone win directly twice.