Month: April 2012

IWRG (SUN) 04/15/2012 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
***Guerra del Golfo, 2012***
1) Guerrero Mixteco & Matrix Jr. b Galaxy & Star Boy Jr.
Straight falls. Galaxy suffered a dislocated shoulder.
2) Chicano & Star Boy Jr. b Pacto Negro & The Mummy
Triton started out in the match, but suffered a neck injury and was replaced by Star Boy Jr., who helped his team get the win.
3) Negro Navarro, Oficial Rayan, Oficial Spartan DQ Oficial 911, Oficial Fierro, Tóxico
Toxico’s first match here in a while. Oficials and Oficial feuded. 911 pulled Spartan’s mask for the DQ.
4) Oficial Factor L Damián 666, Ludark Shaitan, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, El Hijo del Diablo, Comando Negro, X-Fly, Tony Rivera, Trauma I [cage, loser advances]
Comando Negro replaced Angelico. FdT beat up Trauma I during the opening 10 minute section. Final four were Damian, X-Fly, Trauma I and Factor. Factor was about to leave, the other rudos convinced him to come back, and everyone else left Factor behind.
5) Oficial 911 b Oficial AK47 and Sexy Lady and Bestia 666 and Zumbi and Carta Brava Jr. and Halloween and Alan Extreme and Temerario Infernal and Trauma II [cage, loser advances]
Final 2 were Oficial AK-47 and Trauma II. 911 and Fierro came in to help, as did Trauma I. Trauma II tied 911 in the ropes and everyone else escaped, so 911 lost despite not being in the match.
6) Oficial AK47 b Oficial Factor, Oficial 911 [hair, cage]
All the Oficials ended up in again, and AK-47 was the last one left, so he lost his hair. AK-47 dedicated the loss to Masakre. Tercera Caida mentions Masakre is AK-47’s uncle.

If CMLL or AAA did the same bit of ignoring their own rules, I’m pretty sure many message boards and blogs would be melting down right now. (There were enough people upset about the Dos Leyendas finish to be sure.) I don’t expect the same reaction to IWRG, but that seems to say more about the level IWRG is seen than a double standard.

DDD (SUN) 04/15/2012 Rodeo el Jefe, Cuautitlan, EdM [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Estrellas del Ring]
2) El Duende b Chucho el Roto
Duende won via La Mistica
3) Ojo Diabolico b Ikraro
4) Drako b Latin Star
Latin Star would’ve got a shot at the X-Project title with a win, but he did not win.
5) Epidemia & Heavy Boy b Bandillero & Kansuke
Epidemia stole Bandlolero’s mask and pinned him, which sets up a title match on the 29th.
6) Joe Lider b Tony Rodriguez
Shiryu Dragon was special referee. He did not take sides early, but got into an argument with Rodriguez. Lider beat Rodriguez with the Lider Storm. Challenges were set up for Lider vs Rodriguez vs Shyru.
7) Dark Dragon & Juventud Guerrera b Aerostar & Daga
With the ref distracted, Hijo del Anibal ran in and attacked Daga, setting up Juvi’s win. Anibal announced he and the rest of Tinieblas’ FULL promotion will be fighting DDD and X-Project.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Links

• Rayo de Jalisco and Dr. Wagner are scheduled in LA this weekend.
• Quick interviews (and pictures) with all the new DF champion
• El Pancracio has interviews with Los Bastardos, Felina Metalika, Canek (who says the UWA commission in the United States has stripped Dr. Wagner as champion for lack of defenses)

Lucha Libre in Japan

NJPW announced the 18 participants in their annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament. The only CMLL participant is Angel de Oro. The tournament runs from May 27 to June 10th, so it’s still a ways off.

The reality is they’re only bringing in CMLL guys to add to the variety of participants, not to actually win the thing. Still, I was sure the Devitt/Volador title match was meant to lead to Volador going to the BoSJ and wrecking some people. Angel de Oro will not be wrecking people. Angel de Oro will be putting one person in the campana so people can see the campana, and then losing every other match. This could actually work out fine for CMLL in the long term – Angel de Oro needs to break out of the Misticlone mold and this sort of environment could help – but it’s let down right now.

As disappointed as I am about Volador not making it, Alex Koslov getting in is neat. Great opportunity, he should do pretty well and maybe he and Rocky Romero can finish their unresolved (?) issues from AAA. Daisuke Sasaki, who I believe was the Sasaki on indy lucha shows back in February, is also in the tournament.

AULL (SAT) 04/14/2012 Arena Lopez Mateos [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Estrellas del Ring, R de Rudo]
1) Konami, Rayito Mendoza, Spider Boy b Dark Misterio, Euro, Lince X
2) Coca Rosa, La Chona, Miss Gaviota b Felina Metalica, Keira, La Vaquerita 
Keira & Miss Gaviota had some problem here, swatting at each other on the mat and pulling each other’s hair before they were pulled apart. R de Rudo’s recap mentions Keira (who’s mask was nearly removed) had a fat lip and Miss Gaviota was suspended.
3) Epitafio & Levithan b Trauma I & Trauma II and Chucho el Roto & Iron Love and Cerebro Maligno & Rey Krimen [AULL TAG]
New champions. Levithan had been eliminated, but came back to hit Trauma II to set up the win.
4) Daga, Flamita, Rocky Santana, Zumbi b Black Terry, Eterno, Sádico, Sepulturero Negro
Daga’s first match back since his hand injury.
5) Joe Lider, Juventud Guerrera, Super Crazy b Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
Super Crazy’s team took 2/3, Crazy surprising Psycho with a small package in the last.

CMLL (SUN) 04/15/2012 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Camaleón & Molotov b Ramstein & Zayco
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Soberano Jr., Super Halcon Jr. b Artillero, Cholo, Súper Comando
Soberano replaced Angel Azteca Jr. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Diamante, Fuego, Sangre Azteca DQ Hijo del Signo, Loco Max, Misterioso Jr.
Misterioso yanked Sangre Azteca’s mask for the DQ. Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Máximo, Rey Cometa, Valiente b Euforia, Raziel, Virus
Rey Cometa showed! And won! 450 splash in the third on Raziel. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Diamante Azul b Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
Angel de Oro beat Negro Casas with the casita.

A message on protected Twitter feed says Loco Max & Sangre Azteca got into a fight into the lockerrom. This problems happens a fair bit, we just never hear about it.

Oficial AK-47, the unmasked Oficial, lost his hair tonight in IWRG’s Guerra de Golfa three stage cage match despite not being in the final pair.

OCESA (SUN) 04/15/2012 Feria de la Ciudad de Mexico [MT]
1) Demus 3:16 b Astral [DF LIGHT, final]
2) Diamante Azul (CMLL) b Black Lord [DF HEAVY, final]
Black Lord is an indy luchador, who had actually challenged for this title in 2008.
3) Hijo del Fantasma b Histeria II [DF LH, final]
4) Sensei b Leono [DF WELTER, final]
5) Hijo del Signo b Triton (CMLL) [DF MIDDLE, final]
said to be best match of the day

There are all new championship belts, the old ones supposedly gone missing or broken (so they’ll turn up at some point.) These titles are meant to be defended only in Mexico City, but can be defended in CMLL. CMLL hasn’t really acknowledged the tournaments leading up to these belts, so they may not actually turn up there. As noted previously, this show was promote by Signo Sr. and the belts were authorized by Hijo del Fantasma, so it was very fortunate both their sons happened to win a championship.

AAA has a note on Maskare’s passing.

LuchaWorld has LuchaWorld Podcast #6 with Dr. Lucha.

Links

• El Paso Times interviews Casandro.
• SuperLuchas #458 has Joe Lider vs Nicho, Masakre, and Lizmark.
• Cronicas Y Leyendas looks at Canek vs Strong Kobayashi, El Signo vs Texano, and the debut of American Salvaje.
• The Santo museum in Tulancingo is moving.

Lineups

IWRG (THU) 04/19/2012 Arena Naucalpan
1) ? vs ??
2) Pequeño Ángel & Tritón vs Comando Negro & The Mummy
3) Chicano, Dinamic Black, Saruman vs Carta Brava Jr., Gemelo Fantastico I, Gemelo Fantastico II
4) Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. vs Toscano, X-Fly, Zumbi
5) Bestia 666, Damián 666, Halloween vs Angelico, Trauma I, Trauma II

Pequeno Angel is a new name here.

IWRG (SUN) 04/22/2012 Arena Naucalpan
1) Charly Madrid & Galaxy vs Jhony Rivera & Pacto Negro
2) Danny Casas & Tritón vs Comando Negro & The Mummy
3) Centvrión, Chicano, Dinamic Black vs Alan Extreme, Carta Brava Jr., Tatsuya Hayama
4) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro vs Halloween, Oficial Factor, Zumbi
5) Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Texano Jr., Toscano vs Angelico, Trauma I, Trauma II

And a few more new names here. There was an “Andy Casas” teaming with the indy Canelo Casas recently, maybe the same guy. No idea on Hayama.

Lucha Fan Fest (SAT) 05/19/2012 Plan Sexenal, DF
1) Centvrión, Chapuline Negro, Latin Star, Tritón (IWRG) vs 14k, Hanaoka, Kansuke, Nihon Dragon
2) Io Shirai & Keira vs Chik Tormenta & La Vaquerita
3) Fenix (AAA) vs Sugi San, Dark Dragon, Magnus
4) Cuervo & Ozz vs Sasuke Secret & Satoshi Kajiwara
5) Halloween, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kento Miyahara, Mitsuhiro Kitamiya
6) Canek & Kensuke Sasaki vs Héctor Garza & Nosawa Rongai

All sorts of randomness here. The japanese guys in the openers are the indy ones who’ve been around for the last few months (or much longer in at least one case.) The ones in 4/5 are Sasaki’s kids from Diamond Ring. And that is El Luchador’s Magnus in the third.

CMLL (FRI) 04/13/2012 Arena Mexico [CMLL, Kaiser Sports (1-5), Kaiser Sports (Final), La Catedral]
1) Apocalipsis & Bronco b Höruz & Leono
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Bam Bam, Eléctrico, Fantasy b Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Warrior
tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Pólvora b Diamante [lightning]
Super Polvora Driver in 6:39.
4) Hijo del Fantasma, Stuka Jr., Valiente DQ Misterioso Jr., Namajague, Shigeo Okumura
Straight falls. In the third, Valiente took off his mask and threw it to Namajague to draw the DQ. Namajague was very upset by this.
5) Diamante Azul, La Sombra, Rush b Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 2/3.
6) Euforia & Terrible b Atlantis & Triton [Gran Alternativa, final]
Rudos took 1/3, winning clean in the third.

Euforia and Terrible said they were both happy to win a tournament finally. Euforia felt this removed the thorn of losing this tournament five years ago.

KrisZ, SuperLuchas and DJ Spectro write about Masakre.

Yesterday’s Masked Warriors show was moved to a 300 seat building due to rain.

Konnan (from AAA) will second Big Neurosis against Konnan Big on the 04/29 ACM show.

Fuego en el Ring has a quick bio of Star King.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 04/20/2012 Arena Mexico
1) Metálico & Starman vs Bobby Zavala & Disturbio
2) Dalis la Caribeña, Dark Angel, Marcela vs Mima Shimoda, Princesa Sugheit, Tiffany
3) Black Warrior, Fuego, Stuka Jr. vs Niebla Roja, Pólvora, Rey Escorpion
4) Valiente vs Namajague [lightning]
5) Atlantis, La Sombra, Triton vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
6) La Máscara, Máximo, Rush vs Euforia, Rey Bucanero, Terrible

Valiente vs Namajague could be good fun. Euforia gets a main event for winning, Triton a semimain. Warrior/Escorpion  picks up again. Mima returns from Japan (and no Estrellita/Amapola!)

RadioCMLL said there’d be a 66th Arena Mexico Anniversary on 04/27 and the Kid’s Day show would be a Sunday Arena Mexico show on 04/29.

EAW (TUE) 04/17/2012 Plaza Sendero Querétaro
1) Golden Magic & Super Pollo vs Henry & Warrior Steel
2) Chico Che, El Hijo de Rey Misterio, Intocable vs Fauno, Sacerdote, Villano III

Seems to be the same lineup for all the shows.

Masakre, Aristotles Radames Cocco Flores, passed away Thursday afternoon. The report says it was due to spinal cancer. Masakre was 57, and had been living in Charlotte at the time of his death.

Masakre was a long time rudo, with his career peaking between 1986 and 1993. Masakre was part of the Infernales, taking Pirata Morgan’s spot, and then formed Los Intocables with Jaque Mate & Pierroth after splitting with Satanico. He won the CMLL trios titles with the latter team. Masakre’s big singles matches include trading hair matches back and forth with the recently deceased MS1, and teaming with him to lose to Faraon & Ringo Mendoza in 1990 prior to the anniversary show. Masakre appears to be a middle/upper middle level guy who was a well regarded rudo and a good trios wrestler, though never a top star on his own.

Masakre was CMLL lead programmer from late 1993 to late 1994. That period was a weak one for CMLL, going up against a very strong AAA with a diminished roster and a struggling partnership with UWA. Masakre himself would jump to AAA in 1994, wrestling as Dracula, when Antiono Pena would regimmick many veterans who came to his promotion. Masakre would come and go in AAA under a number of identities, including the Yeti and Coca Rosa (though not the current one), none really sticking for more than few months. His last known match was in 2001, and had disappeared from the lucha libre circles since. A Masakre Jr. has been wrestling in the Juniors promotion in the last year, but it’s unknown if or how he’s related to the original.

There’s a short bio of Masakre here. CMLL will likely honor him before tonight’s show.

CMLL (MON) 04/09/2012 Arena Puebla [Porra Fresa]
1) King Jaguar & Siki Osama b Milenium & Tigre Rojo Jr.
rudos took 1/3.
2) Metálico, Sensei, Stigma b Artillero, Bobby Zavala, Súper Comando
Metalico’s team took 2/3, pinning Comando in the last.
3) La Comandante, Princesa Blanca, Princesa Sugheit b Estrellita, Lady Apache, Marcela
Rudas took 1/3, Sugehit submitting Marcela with a motocicleta in the third, then challenging for a title match next week.
4) Kráneo, Morphosis, Olímpico b Brazo de Plata, Delta, Hijo del Fantasma
Rudos took 1/3. Olimpico was cut by Fantamsa’s dive in the first fall. Comedy match.
5) Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. b Atlantis, La Máscara, Shocker
Rudos took 1/3. Volador yanked La Mascara’s mask during introductions, then did it again in the third fall for the win. Mr. Niebla appeared to be drunk during this match.

IWRG (THU) 04/12/2012 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Estrellas del Ring, The Gladiatores]
1) Dragón Celestial & Galáctico Infernal b Sky Ángel & Templario
single fall match
2) Pacto Negro & The Mummy b Astro de Plata & Astro Rey Jr.
straight falls
3) Centvrión, Charly Madrid, Chicano b Comando Negro, Gemelo Fantastico I, Gemelo Fantastico II
Chicano pinned Comando Negro, though Negro thought he kicked out early.
4) Dinamic Black, Saruman, Ultramán Jr. b Carta Brava Jr., Eterno, Terrorista Negro
Terrorista Negro appears to be Septiembre Negro II/Septiembre el Terrorista with a new mask and mascot Mini Palestino. He’s still wearing his S shirt and “ST” wristbands. Saruman pinned Eterno and challenged for his title. perhaps a new name for one of a Septiembre Negro (there were two arguing about it the name), will be accompanied by Mini Palesitino.
5) Negro Navarro b Pirata Morgan and X-Fly
6) Halloween, X-Fly, Zumbi b Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. [semifinal]
Piratas eliminated Zumbi, but Halloween speared Pirata Morgan to advance.
7) Halloween, X-Fly, Zumbi b Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II [final]
Navarros beat Halloween, but Halloween used a ref distraction to sneak in and smack Negro Navarro with a beer bottle to set up the Perros win.

Today is the final of the Gran Alternativa. To celebrate, here are some notes about how old finalist Euforia is:

• Euforia is older than his veteran teammate, Terrible
• Euforia started wrestling before his veteran teammate
• Euforia has reached the final for the second time – the first time was five years ago.
• Euforia is so old, the UWA was arguable #1 promotion when he debuted.
• Euforia is so old, the UWA promotion didn’t exist when he was born
• Euforia is so old, his son is wrestling opening matches in this promotion

Euforia is also very good, and unfortunately got a late start in DF as a national guy. Euforia winning would edge out Okumura as the strangest Gran Alternativa winner, but semifinal and main event matches would be better with Euforia in them. Euforia says his team’s strategy is to focus on Atlantis, feeling he’s the threat on the team and Triton’s not a problem.

Triton is the overwhelming favorite. It’s interesting he’s teaming with fellow Guadalajara native Atlantis, because those two could’ve been part of Reyes del Atlatnida, though maybe not with that name. It was Metal Blanco who faced Guerrero Maya Jr. in a tiebreaking Forjando un Idolo match. Maya winning that match elevated him to top two in his group, which is how they put together the Atlantis trio. If Metal Blanco had won that match, and the trio had the same success without Maya, he’s probably still Metal Blanco today.

Triton winning might mean the end of his tag team with Titan, if Triton does really get elevated following this win. That’d be a shame, since they’re fun together, but there doesn’t really to be much effort given to mid-level tag team acts and they might only advance being split apart.

One luchador who did not make it to the final of the Gran Alternativa is new personality Niebla Roja. The rudo did talk to Luchas 2000 about his identity, mentioning that he was someone who had been a tecnico, and wanted to return to the rudo side he had been previously. Niebla Roja doesn’t actually say it, but this is confirmation he’s the former Angel de Plata. Angel de Plata started out as rudo Guerrero Inca, wrestling as a rudo against his tecnico brother Angel de Oro for a few years, much like how Tiger Kid and Puma King would constantly face each other in their first few years.  Niebla Roja looked very comfortable back on the rudo side this past week. Niebla Roja says he’s training under Ultimo Guerrero and knows he must represent his mask design – a variation of UG’s own look – by wrestling at a high level.

If you’re looking for more identity switches solved, Ringo looks like he figured out Oficial Factor & Oficial Spartan‘s IWRG previous gimmicks.

AAA posted an interview with La Parka about his issues with Octagon. Interestingly, it reads like La Parka is meant to still be in La Sociedad and a rudo, but feuding with Octagon and the Milicia with no friends of his own. I was pretty sure he was out of the group, but I haven’t gotten to this week’s TV and maybe they made that clearer. La Parka blames the problems on Octagon – Octaogn wanted him to take care of his boys in the Rey de Reyes match, but Parka was facing his biggest rivals and didn’t have the time or patience to babysit kids, and feels he should’ve gotten veteran help.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Links

• The AAA show in SLP this Sunday has been canceled. No reason given.
• CMLL Gaceta has bios of Marco Corleone, Lluvia, Triton and Horuz. Someone does not respect Marco’s technical ability.
• Daga is cleared to ring activity, though he’s still not 100%
• Ultimo Dragoncito wants a shot on Pierrothito.
• Kensuske Sasaki, one half of the UWA tag team champions, is coming to the Lucha Fan Fest.
• GALLI has a show tomorrow in Elgin.