Mistico
Roberto Figueroa (who’s the announcer for the Monterrey show and part of Lo Mejor de La Lucha among many other hats) has talked to Mistico and confirmed that he’s going to WWE, as SuperLuchas reported earlier this weekend.
Dave Meltzer discussed this situation on Wrestling Observer Radio, explaining that WWE doesn’t just want to use Alberto Del Rio or Mistico to replace Rey Misterio. They want a half dozen guys on the main roster, maybe half of them pushed, just to make sure they keep the Hispanic audience when Misterio leaves. (And there are problems there as well.) They’re not putting all their eggs in the Mistico basket, and he’s not going to be the last guy they sign.
Everything else
IWRG (SUN) 01/30/2011 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Mi Lucha Libre (3), Estrellas del Ring, Mi Lucha Libre (4), Mi Lucha Libre (5)]
1) Lily Figther & Ludark Shaitan b Lolita & Sexy Lady
2) Chico Che, Dinamic Black, Freelance b Hammer, Magnifico, Masada
3) Comando Negro b Dr. Cerebro [IWRG IC Light]
Title switch: Comando Negro is unstoppable! Dr. Cerebro won the first, got overconfident and caught in the second, and was pinned in the third.
4) Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Pirata Morgan b El Brazo & Veneno [IWRG IC TAG]
Pirates were favorites and retained the title.
5) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro b Bestia 666, Damián 666, X-Fly [IWRG IC TRIOS]
Perros took the first, Oficials the second, and 911 escaped Damian from a valagueza and beat him with a move (different reports.) IWRG won a feud against an outside team! Perros challenged Oficials to an apuesta match.
Black Terry has video of the lightweight title match here: part 1, part 2
CMLL (SUN) 01/30/2011 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Virgo b Evola
2) Black Metal & Starman b Camorra & León Blanco
3) Fuego, Stuka Jr., Valiente b Arkángel de la Muerte, Euforia, Skándalo
4) Dragón Rojo Jr., Héctor Garza, Último Guerrero b Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada
5) Gallo b Felino [OCCIDENTE LH]
Euforia seconded Felino (in his Feline gear) and Stuka was with Gallo. They played the national anthem before the match. Felino took the first fall, Gallo the second. Fabiruchis turned up in the third fall to root for Felino, but Pato Soria got rid of him. Felino dropped Gallo with the superbomb, but Gallo kicked out. Referee (Loco Estrada) was bumped. Gallo tried to finish off Felino, but Euforia ran in to break up a move. Felino got up to take advantage, but was pulled into a reinera and Loco Estrada recovered in time to call for the submission. Gallo’s won the title back!
CMLL in PWG:
01/29: Mr. Aguila b Rey Bucanero – Rey clearly missed the spiritual guidance of Perico. Was said to be a good match with Aguila breaking out the over the ring post tope con giro.
Links
- Luchas 2000 #555 picks a poor week to tease Sexi Star jumping to CMLL. (I bet she said she’s not!)
- Mask Mania starts off night 2 of the NJPW/CMLL shows, with Maximo & Dino
- An article previewing yesterday’s DTU Coliseo Tulancingo show claims Pesadilla was in FCW. I have no recollection of this.
Part 3 of the title match is up now too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSHgANUVDZQ
I missed AAA in Mexico. Was it all commercials again?
If Mistico leaves, ratings will be more interesting than ever.
90% certain to be going to 2leyendas. If 3/18 is the date, I’ll catch that 3/20 Arena Coliseo show too. I forget the gimmick on that card, but Cubs pointed it out after a segment aired on Ras de Lona.
@LLL: I see, after I go to three straight 2Leyendas, you come down for the next one. Should be a fun main event this year if things go as planned now.
Ratings are never interesting.
It was actually quite sad to hear Meltzer talk about the TV ratings as a sign Mexico business is going down. You really need to stop sending him the numbers, Keith. He just sees the weekly numbers and has no idea that they mean nothing b/c there is no pattern to them. He just sees 2.3 and says “AAA is declining.” Now there’s some analysis.
@Rob: What kind of pattern should there be?
I bought Royal Rumble last night and watched in Spanish. Hugo rattled off all the cable systems carrying the show in Mexico. Sky. Cablevision Monterrey. Cablevision DF. Megacable. Close circuit in movie theaters.
Funny. When CMLL and AAA have done PPV’s they are confined to one affiliate. SKY MEXICO. Televisa has no problem working with WWE and allowing them to make their PPV product available to as many homes and fans as possible, while CMLL and AAA are fucked by Televisa. All SKY or nothing.
Ratings are one sign that business is hurting. Poor attendance is too. Meltzer likes to blame WWE. I blame Televisa and CMLL and AAA. Televisa for being scumbags who like to run too many commercials and dick around everyone’s timeslot. I blame AAA and CMLL for putting on a weak product with shitty angles.
@LLL: i think aaa programs have actually picked up
and it seems to make more sense now then before
@LLL: The idea of keeping track of numbers (ratings) is to establish a pattern. If there is no pattern, they’re just random numbers we can learn absolutely nothing from. End of story.
@CM93: Actually, I like the AAA angles for the most part. I just object to the hardcore stuff which I think was in overuse. CMLL angles suck. I think their top angle now is that the ref didn’t see brass knuckles.
@Rob: We have learned that if you are dicked around by Televisa, your ratings will suffer.
How are CMLL and AAA dicked around you might ask? Timeslot and running time changes. Unusually long commercial breaks. Lack of promotion(Mas Deporte hypes RAW and ignores CMLL and AAA). Televisa is committed to the success of WWE, while they continue to do things to CMLL and AAA that are designed to hurt them. This pattern of favoritism is hurting both groups.
When you say “pattern”, do you mean, for example, a ratings increase during an episode when someone returns(i.e.-LA Park), or an increase for CMLL the day after Anniversary or 2leyendas or for the Jr. tourney?
Now the Mistico tweet has been deleted.
Mistico CMLL/WWE = 2011’s version of Guapito AAA/IWRG situation.
I just do not get deleting a tweet. It has already been retweeted hundreds of times – it is out there. He wrote it. He should own what he said.
Jim Rome talks about this all the time regarding athletes tweeting something, and then deleting it and trying to backtrack. That isn’t how Twitter works! Once you say something, it is out there.
So now, if Mistico stays in CMLL, he looks like an ass for reporting he was gone. If he goes, then it looks like he doubted his own sources bf deleting the tweet.
Relax everyone. Mistico is gone. Just give it a week or so to sort things out.
@Rob: Agreed. A lot of the recent stuff actually makes perfect sense. He probably does still have some dates left with CMLL. I’m sure he has plenty of time to work them before he can start with WWE since they likely have to get his work visa straightened out, etc. Besides, its not like they generally have guys reporting to developmental the day after they sign their contract anyway.
If CMLL does decide to use him a bit more, the more interesting question will be how they use him. I highly doubt that they will ask him to drop his mask, but if they did, he would be smart to cash in. WWE won’t care, they will probably make him work some shows unmasked even if they plan on bringing him up masked eventually. The only minor issue for them would be Mexican tours, and I’m sure they can find a way to get the commission to sign off on that when the time arrives (or just ignore the commission).
RJ’s not taking back what he said, but there are other reasons he had to take down that tweet. You should see something from him today.
Meltzer said Mistico will start in FCW sometime this month, probably mid month. So there’s not much time for him to work CMLL if they could get him to (which seems like no) and it wouldn’t be worth the injury to him unless they threw him a boatload of money.
@thecubsfan: That seems like a quick turnaround to me. Though I guess we don’t know when he actually signed.
@Alan: It is fast, because he only put pen to paper on Tuesday, but I think there might have been a verbal deal going back to late December/early January.
I guess three weeks is probably a reasonable amount of time for the work visa to get turned around. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to start work on it until after he officially signed, but he has presumably had them in the past without any incidents.
I’m just used to hearing about guys signing with WWE and then it being months before they actually show up in Florida.
Me too. All I can figure is this was a situation where they especially didn’t want the guy sitting at home, waiting to work, and getting pressured the whole time.
Completely nonrelated other than that this conversation made me think of it. I wonder if work visas are the actual issue with AAA touring the US. It would make sense if the workers from their last few tours had their work visas through a contract with LLUSA. Since the workers are still under contract they probably can’t get visas with another company. That would explain the Zorro/TNA issues and would also explain why Charlie can work in the US for LLUSA.
Purely speculation on my part, but it makes a lot more sense that AAA having signed the most one sided agreement ever.
@Alan: LLUSA has a multi-year deal with AAA. I think there is an issue over money from the March/April 2009 tour, the PPV and other start-up costs associated with bringing AAA to the US.
Zorro, as an employee of AAA with an international contract, can’t work for TNA unless he quits AAA or his contract there expires. Wagner does not have an international contract with AAA. Neither does LA Park. As a result, they can do whatever they want in the US.
AAA has always done well in the US. They did huge business with LLUSA in San Jose and Vegas and ok in LA. Their brand name and Galavision exposure have always given them an advantage of CMLL in the US.
@LLL: If its that simple, why didn’t AAA just rework Zorro’s contract to be a domestic contract and allow him to sign a deal with TNA?
What exactly did AAA get out of the deal with LLUSA?
@Alan: I’ll guess LLUSA knows that Zorro has an international deal and AAA owns his name.
What did AAA get out of the LLUSA deal? They did the US tour and PPV and I think they attended some licensing conventions together too. They probably got along great until one side didn’t like the way the other does business.