AAA in Guadlaajara, Charly/Casas, Viva La Lucha, Santo

AAA (THU) 10/14 La Glorieta Minerva, Guadalajara [AAA]
1) Fabi Apache, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata b Mini Psicosis, Polvo de Estrellas, Sexy Star
2) Aerostar, Argenis, Súper Fly b Cuervo, Escoria, Ozz
3) Dr. Wagner Jr., El Mesías, La Parka Jr. b Chessman, Hernandez, Zorro

Special show for the one year countdown until the Panamerican games in GDL. Mesias and the Air Force wore special masks for the occasion, and at least part of this aired on TVC Deportes.

Tonight’s card, repeated since it kept on changing:

CMLL (FRI) 10/15 Arena Mexico
1) Mascarita Dorada, Shockercito, Último Dragoncito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito
2) Amapola, Princesa Blanca, Princesa Sujei vs Estrellita, Marcela, Tiffany
3) Valiente vs Dragón Rojo Jr. [lightning]
4) Blue Panther, Diamante, Metro vs Histeria, Mr. Águila, Ray Mendoza Jr.
5) La Máscara, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada vs El Alebrije, Olímpico, Psicosis
6) Negro Casas vs Charly Manson [hair]

(fourth match is fixed.)

It’s really a one match show. The theme is CMLL vs Invasors but none of the matches mean much but the main event. The second most meaningful match might be the lightning match; perhaps Dragon Rojo is getting a win to justify his membership in Guerreros, and maybe that sets up yet another title match for him.

The main event finish is a little bit of a puzzle, where neither side can really afford a loss.

If Charly loses his hair, the Invasors are done. The steam is out of the group already, but it’d two apuesta losses in six weeks (Olimpico losing his mask too.) If CMLL was fearful of selling a show around a Psicosis mask loss at Anniversary, it’d be impossible after another Invasor loss. The guys may stick around, but they wouldn’t be a top group any more.

As a character, Negro Casas is bullet proof. As a draw, it might be tough going if he loses another hair match. He’s sliding into the old man spot where everyone likes you but no one thinks you’re going to win the big matches anymore.You’re happy to see that person there, but I don’t if people are going out of their way to see him when they know they’re going to be depressed with the result. On the other hand, the likes of people Negro has beat in a hair match in the last eight years are Okumura, Nosawa, Masada and X-Fly, while losing to top guys like Mistico and Perro Aguayo, and he’s still Negro Casas, so maybe it doesn’t even matter.

My guess is Negro Casas gets an excuse, with Tirantes helping Charly again. I think the fans are generally tired and annoyed with that finish, but they’ll end up stretching out the Invasors feud to a team versus team match two months from now.

What do you think?

[poll id=”74″]

I’m planning on holding a chat tonight for tonight’s Arena Mexico show. If no one shows up, I can continue my 200 match losing streak versus Espectro Jr., so good either way.

If you’re in the US and looking for lucha to watch, the newest Viva La Lucha PPV premiers tonight on InDemand. There’s a video preview on their site. This show has matches from the Lucha Libre Expo show.

Other previews: quotes from Panther & Charly, I forgot the link to the generic Notimex preview

AAA notes LA Park sure is being difficult with Dorian and Konnan lately. To be fair, he did open that bottle for Dorian on TV. You know, an easy way not to have to do La Parka vs LA Park feud anymore is for both of them to be tecnicos…

El Hijo del Santo and his lawyer went on a gossip show to talk about his issues with AAA. Words to live by: if you ever feel the need to bring a lawyer with you when you go on a TV show – DO NOT GO ON THE SHOW.  Anyway, you can tell by the link going to the AAA website that his went poorly for Santo. They have a minute by minute breakdown of Santo looking like an unprepared double talking fool. Santo repeatedly says he had no contract with AAA, they just did a verbal deal, so I can’t imagine his lawsuit is going anywhere. Hijo del Santo also says he’s just patented his own creations, which is not quite right.

Hijo del Santo was also at the opening of the new Santo exhibit at Leon, where he found time to say television and AAA were killing lucha libre, but but only he and his band of carefully selected professionals were keeping the sport alive by running shows in Europe. (When was the last time they ran in Europe, anyway? Or the next time?)

The new Slammin’ Stan is up.

Links

  • I guess Mi Lucha Libre’s new (accidental) feature of Dropped AAA Storylines is going to be daily. Today, they talk about that time Zorro lost his hair but gained a mask to hype his hair match with Nicho.
  • Another Heroes del Ring: Charlas del Duende (a good first installment.)

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 10/19 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino vs Nube Roja
2) Samurai & Virgo vs Acertijo & Ángel del Mal
3) Metal Blanco & Palacio Negro vs Exterminador & Malefico
4) Ángel de Oro, Ángel de Plata, Fabián el Gitano vs Escorpion, Misterioso II, Semental
5) Blue Panther, Hijo del Fantasma, Máscara Dorada vs Averno, Mephisto, Shigeo Okumura

Semental gets to travel and makes TV. First match here this year.

EDIT:

Belatedly remembered the stuff from the WON and didn’t want to do a separate post.

  • The newsletter says Mistico did talk to AAA & Perros del Mal, after an earlier meeting with Paco Alonso. Alonso pointed out that three of his biggest stars in the last twenty years were Santo, Konnan, Vampiro, he catered to them, they left, and he’s still doing fine. (That’s HOF move right there.) Other sources still disagree that these meetings happened.

    It really doesn’t actually matter if Mistico met with them or not, except if you want to figure out who you should believe and when. (And the answer to that is: no one & never.) It seems pretty likely a message was passed and nothing came of it in the end.

    Whatever happened, Mistico wanted more money than AAA or the Perros were offering. Just like he said in his interview with SuperLuchas, Mistico would be willing to leave if he got a better deal elsewhere, but that’s probably been the case all along. Just, with slower times, the difference between what he’s making in CMLL and what other people are willing to give him has lessened. But no one expects any jump to happen any time.

  • Cheerleader Melissa is heading into AAA, taking Christina Von Eerie’s spot. If AAA’s reads this, and they don’t just close up the window after reading this, can you come up with a better gimmick for her? Do not mistake me, she’s an attractive woman, but very few of your fans are going to know who Melissa (or Mercedes) are before you bring them in, so give them masks and gear so they look like a team and they have something to lose when you get bored again and switch them out with another set of women.

Edit 2: this is why I just need to do small posts.

Extreme Tiger & Jack Evans won their first block match in the NOAH Junior Tag Team tournament, defeating Osaka Pro’s Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada and ruining at least one breakfast. Evans pinned Harada with the 630 splash.

CMLL Guerreros del Ring on 52MX #255 (10/09/2010)

Arena Coliseo, 10/03/2010

team not going to the finals

Block A, Battle Royal – it was a battle royal

Eightfinals – Pegasso/Cometa had the best match this round, though I deeply enjoyed Inferanles using their old finisher. Really want Artillero & Super Comando to steal the show one of these times, but it doesn’t appear it’ll happen.

Quarterfinals/semifinals – In the semifinal, the Angels looked as good as Stuka & Flash did two years ago. In the match final, there was a hilariously bad botched spot. No one’s perfect, but the Angels are very inconsistent at this point. In a perfect world, these titles go to teams that aren’t quite ready to help get them there (or to teams that are in charge of readying guys), but that same perfect world has Pegasso & Rey Cometa far past this point (and with an actual team name.) I’d take a slightly better world.

team going to the finals

pointless fantasy booking: Actually, in a really perfect world, this match doesn’t happen, because there is no tournament, because CMLL actually remembers they have these titles. I would’ve had them go Flash/Stuka -> Loco Max/Skandalo (big/little dynamic, plus Loco Max should win more often if he’s going to be a credible loser) -> Angels (thus explaining the endless Angels/Tuareg matches) -> Puma/Tiger (thru total trickery), though you could sell me on a Pegasso/Cometa -> Raziel/Cancerbero switch somewhere in there. But then I’d also have the titles defended about monthly so random teams like Astro Boy/Molotov could get to have an actual big match in their careers.
team not going to the finals.

Aficion, IWRG trainee show, CMLL, Santo

CMLL (TUE) 10/12 Arena Aficion [Estrellas del Ring]
1) Ares b Cronos
2) Mascara Oriental & Nino de Fuego b Antar & Zairus
3) Goya Kong & Lluvia b Estrellita & Princesa Blanca
4) Charly Manson, El Alebrije, Histeria b Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
5) Olímpico, Psicosis, Volador Jr. b Histeria Jr., La Máscara, La Sombra

First mostly CMLL show here in nearly a year, and the crowd was way up. Mascara Dorada was supposed to be in the main event, but he was replaced by Histeria Jr., who has wrestled on the undercard here at least once. He wrestled as a straight tecnico, and Volador got Mascara clean with a backcracker to take the match.

Tirantes helped Charly get a win in the semimain. Preview for tomorrow? Tercera had 1 of the 4 announced people in it. Nino de Fuego did a balcony dive in segunda.

IWRG FIL (TUE) 10/12 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring]
1) Snake & Zafiro b Enfasis & Muerte de Plata
2) Arana Negra, Dragon Fly, Matrix b Galeno Kid, Mascara de Oro, Nino Banda
3) Flama Infernal, Rolling Jr., Star Angel b Muerte Infernal, Soldado de la Muerte, Star
4) Dinamic Black, Fly Star, Guizmo b Halcon 2000, Mariscal, Volaris
5) Comando Negro b Guerrero 2000, Keshin Black, Alan Extreme, Bugambilia Norte, 5000 Voltios, Tonatiuh, Fulgor, Leopardo Negro, Killer Jr., Azzael, Centurion, Black Sky, Super Black, Whotan [cibernetico, Torneo FIL]

Show looks pretty well attended for one with no names, but a lot of it seemed like families coming to see their kids get a match. Comando Negro, totally a ringer after winning a hair on Sunday, won the cibernetico over Gimansio Ham Lee by beating Centurion. Black Terry Jr. has this video up, in case you missed it.

CMLL updated their website yesterday. The content is still pretty much the same, but there’s more flash animation and more videos. There’s also some stuff that probably needed one last read thru – the TV section seems to be missing a few shows, the roster section has errors like listing both Fuego and Flash.

They also announced Dragon Rojo has jumped to the Guerreros. This jump didn’t happen in a skit on TV or in a match, but just announcements on CMLL’s websites. Since they announced this on Wednesday, they probably also filmed a bit for Ras de Lona on it, but this way of doing things is lame and unexciting, plus Sangre Azteca & Dragon Rojo were a fun team and they shouldn’t get broken up as an aside. Given it’s CMLL, they’ll probably keep teaming Dragon Rojo with the other two for another couple months, and forgot all about this by January.

CMLL’s new social cause of the week: raising funds for breast and cervical cancer prevention. This joins the eye glasses campaign and the hunger campaigns just in the last month.  Also, there’s an article about Mistico visiting a sick child. (And LATV is so far behind, they’re just now airing the Tiger/Puma/Okumura/Lyger visit to a children’s rehab center.) It’s great that CMLL is doing all these charitable events, all at once, but is someone running for senate here or something?

Today in hilarity about Hijo del Santo and patents

  • Prometo Lucha Libre says Santo is just in it for the money. This is news? Lucha libre is a lot of things, but it’s been a business since day 1 and the day it’s no longer a business is the day it’s dead. Also suggested here: the internet rose up against Santo (largely driven by AAA) and AAA had not all responded to Santo before now (follow @dorianroldan, especially around lucha libre expo time.)
  • Cesar says Santo and AAA (of course, mostly AAA) have exposed the business and opened a Pandora’s box. I don’t think Cesar gives the rest of the lucha libre fandom enough credit, and I don’t think patenting a special move actually exposes anything. If a soccer player patented a cross over dribble fakeout, no one would suddenly believe the move was fake, they’d just think the player wanted some extra publicity. (Actually, that’s such a good marketing idea, I’m surprised Chad Ochocinco or an And1 guy hasn’t done it.) And they probably wouldn’t have a patent category for soccer move or even athletic move either, so it might filled under dance if that’s what was closest.
  • Santo’s column doesn’t mention any of this (he approves of Dos Caras Jr.’s decision to unmask) and his Twitter account has ignored that.

    That’s the real tragedy here, I had to start following Santo’s horrible twitter feed again on the 2% chance that he acknowledges any of this. Between that and AAA’s three dozen RTs about this in the last two days, I think I’m going to have to unfriend AAA and start making wild accusations about the Psycho Circus again.

LuchaWorld has Kriz’s news update and this week’s Ras de Lona.

Links

  • It turns out there was an AAA show in Guadalajara on Tuesday – one never listed on their website – which explains why CMLL ran a full DF card there on the same day. That’s usually the reason, but usually we know about the opposition show in advance.
  • Estrellas del Ring has videos interviews with Kaoma Jr. and Comando Negro and text interviews with Nino de Fuego.
  • Mi Lucha Libre remembers when Psycho Circus won the Atomicos titles, were stripped of the title, and those titles were never mentioned again. I hope ‘dropped AAA angles’ becomes a weekly feature.
  • Bio of Negro Casas to hype tomorrow’s main event.
  • Tomorrow’s show will also honor Blue Panther for reaching 30 years of wrestling. He actually did it last year.
  • Am.Com.MX has a profile of Angel Divino

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 10/19 Arena Mexico
1) Astro Boy & Metálico vs Disturbio & Tiger Kid
2) Pegasso, Rey Cometa, Sensei vs Dr. X, Hooligan, Nosferatu
3) Delta, Metro, Stuka Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Sangre Azteca
4) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas vs Sagrado, Shocker, Valiente
5) Atlantis, Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero vs Héctor Garza, Mr. Águila, Taichi

The Guerreros team up again. Maybe Sangre will become a Cancerebro. Or reform The Alliance?

Tuesday Guadalajara lineup not up, they have listings for August on the GDL and Puebla pages.

10/16-17 Lucha Times

box

AAA-US: last show before Heroes Imortales. Militia vs Crazy Boy/Brazo/Gato, Stones vs Aero/Laredo and Wagner/Tiger/Jack vs Damian/Halloween/Park. I think Rob and I differ on this show, though some of it is probably having just seen Wagner/Park live, and the main event being sort of a less good repeat.

52MX: Block B of the tag team tournament? I hope so.

LATV: again, it’s the anniversary show if this airs.

GDL: Poder Mexica vs Gallo, Blanco, Rush again, plus Aguila/Terrible/Texano vs Sombra/Maximo/Toscano.

Since both me and Alfredo have looked to see if the show was moved late and found nothing, I’m taping everything on Teleformula from 4AM to 4PM on Saturday. We’ll see if it works.

————–

CMLL: Negro vs Charly? Or will they just wait?

AAA-MEX: Maybe just 3 matches – Lider/Nicho vs Damian/Halloween/Konnan, Wagner/Kain, and the cage match – with the NOAH match and the opening atomicos not airing in Mexico. They may air the NOAH match eventually, but I’m not sure the point. Unless it was a good match (which seems unlikely), not sure how having Chessman return + lose to a guy the audience doesn’t know helps them at all.

FOX: Women’s trios, Mascara/Sombra/Dragon vs Nuevo Guerreros del Atlantida. Dragon Rojo is officially in the group as of tonight – CMLL doesn’t run angles on shows to set these up, they just post them on Twitter.

C3: Garza/Aguila/Taichi vs Panther/Dorada/Shocker

Puebla: On? Off? TVC Deportes doesn’t list Monday yet.

ACM: your guess is as good as mine

PdM: Last week, Perros del Mal aired 3 matches from the 01/17/10 taping. Random tape out of the vault this week, I guess.

IWRG: top 3 from this past Sunday, so the big Freelance vs Comando Negro hair vs mask match.

——–

CMLL-TFN: Mistico, Shocker Strong Man vs Atlantis, UG, Negro Casas

IWRG, Puebla, Santo tries to patent caballo

IWRG (SUN) 10/10 Arena Naucalpan [Mi Lucha Libre, Estrellas del Ring]
1) Super Halcon Jr. b Keshin Black
2) Alan Extreme & Dinamic Black b Epidemia & Nemesis
3) Black Terry, Chico Che, Scorpio Jr. b Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Kaoma Jr., Magia Negra
4) Cerebro Negro & Dr. Cerebro DQ Crazy Boy & Joe Lider
5) Comando Negro b Freelance [hair]

Comando Negro kept his mask. Freelance took the first fall, Comando Negro the second. Referee Rubinsky got into an argument with Chico Che in the third (Freelance’s second) and missed Comando Negro fouling Freelance. Comando added another move and got the pin. Fans were angry with the referee, and so the commission shaved the ref’s head as well as Freelance’s.

DTU team brought light tubes to the match and the Cerebros refused to fight them because it wasn’t an extreme match. In the end, the DTU team used a chair, and the referees disagreed if it should be legal or not. DQ held up, but the DTU still got their weapon shots in after the match.

That Kamoa Jr. is the one previously from AAA, the guy from Queretaro who’s in a never ending feud with Rey Cometa. He still has his mask.

CMLL (MON) 10/11 Arena Puebla [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Ares & Espiritu Maligno b Stigma & Tigre Rojo
2) Astral, Shockercito, Último Dragoncito b Bracito de Oro, Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Warrior
3) Loco Max, Nitro, Skándalo b Fuego, Pegasso, Rey Cometa
4) Blue Panther, Hijo del Fantasma, Toscano b Misterioso II, Terrible, Vangelis
5) La Máscara, Máscara Dorada, Místico b Atlantis, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero

Mascara and UG ripped masks during the match, and Mascara got Guerrero with a campana. That sets up a title match next week. Minis match sets up the Shockercito/Bracito de Oro hair match.

Taichi/CMLL.com

CMLL (TUE) 10/12 Arena Mexico [CMLL]
1) Disturbio & Mortiz b Camaleón & Trueno
2) Bam Bam, Eléctrico, Fantasy b Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Universo 2000, Pequeño Violencia
3) Ángel Azteca Jr., Ángel de Oro, Ángel de Plata b Demus 3:16, Loco Max, Virus
4) Delta, Fuego, Stuka Jr. b Misterioso II, Terrible, Texano
5) Héctor Garza, Mr. Águila, Taichi b Blue Panther, Máscara Dorada, Shocker

Not a lot going on here.

CMLL (TUE) 10/12 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Astral, Mascarita Dorada, Último Dragoncito b Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito
2) Dalys la Caribeña, Luna Mágica, Marcela b Amapola, Seuxis, Tiffany
3) Fabián el Gitano, Horus, Metro b Cancerbero, Euforia, Raziel
4) Averno, Dragón Rojo Jr., Mephisto b Máximo, Rush, Toscano
5) Brazo de Plata, Hijo del Fantasma, Místico b Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

Not much of note here either. La Mistica on Ultimo Guerrero in the main event.

AAA told Diario Basta that El Hijo del Santo is attempting to patent the la de a caballo (camel clutch), claiming himself as the originator, filing it under dance/choreography, and looking for payments should anyone else use it on TV. Santo calling his own wrestling ‘a dance’ is the point AAA is pushing since Santo just did the anti-dance/anti-sillyness column in Record.

The idea of patenting a wrestling move is completely ludicrous and yet so perfectly El Hijo del Santo.  I have doubts that this is actually true – it’s from AAA, the article even notes ongoing legal issues between them and Sant0 – but it seems plausible.

I will say, after seeing AAA tweet about 50 times about this already today, I’m getting ready to take Santo’s side.

CMLL’s website now includes a listing of the ‘other’ shows their wrestlers are working over the weekend. The show have listings of who’s working, but not the exact matches. (CMLL.com seems to be down now.)

Black Terry Jr. is putting up video of last night’s IWRG trainee show.

Big list of of Heroes del Ring reviews

K-Mart will give you a $25 gaming coupon if you buy the game there.

Other Links

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 10/18 Arena Puebla
1) Asturiano, Black Tiger, Stigma vs Espiritu Maligno, Fuerza Chicana, Sauron
2) Ángel Azteca Jr., Fuego, Stuka Jr. vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Loco Max, Skándalo
3) Shockercito vs Bracito de Oro [hair]
4) La Sombra, Shocker, Super Porky vs Terrible, Texano, Volador Jr.
5) Último Guerrero vs La Máscara [CMLL HEAVY]

I’m at the point where weight classes just are names and don’t actually have anything to do with actual divisions.  But this one seems a bit egregious. La Mascara is listed at 187. The heavyweight minimum is 214 lb. At least he’s got plenty of family who can give him advice on the tastiest ways to add a lot of weight.

Looks to be a tough night for Brazo de Oro’s in general.

I thought there was a lineup for Tuesday’s show up, but the website is down.

top six stories of the last two weeks

  1. Heroes Inmortales happened. All the tecnicos won, including Wagner keeping his title, Pimpi & Fabi winning the tag titles, Mesias defeating Perro, and Team AAA winning the cage match with a half dozen angles going on. Mistico did not appear, totally disappointing #1 fan Perro Aguayo Jr. Other notable losers include anyone who was interested in finding out the identity of Octagon’s attacker; keep waiting.
  2. Volador Jr. was on the hottest run of his career, won a best of the best tournament, and then lost his title to La Mascara in a switch no one saw coming. We don’t have La Mascara anymore, but this was as boggling a result as any that’s occurred in lucha libre this year.
  3. Heroes del Ring came out. Though without the mask. You know, it actually is slightly better when I remember it’s a $50 game.
  4. Televisa Deportes judged Televisa’s AAA & CMLL of not being competitive enough with Televisa’s WWE. CMLL ignored the whole thing. AAA insisted they were actually better. Everyone agreed cell phone junk app commercials are really annoying.
  5. IWRG won the Battle of the Promotions. Their prize appears to be “Sunday tapings will now air on TVC Deportes instead of Thursday ones.” A strange prize!
  6. Los Angels & Diamante & Delta advanced to the finals of the Arena Coliseo Tag Team #1 Contenders, something that only makes this list on slow two week bit.

Just missing the list: Tijuana Joe.

Reminder: chat on Friday for Negro/Charly. Thinking about spaghetti.