Princesa Blanca unmasks Goya Kong, AAA TV tonight

(photo by CMLL)

CMLL (FRI) 06/29/2012 Arena Mexico [CFan DeportesCMLLKaiser Sports (1-5)Kaiser Sports (6)]
***Infierno en el Ring, 2012***
1) Metálico & Starman DQ Cancerbero & Raziel
Tecnicos took 1/3. Cancerbero pulled Starman’s mask when Raziel was about to be beat.
2) Rey Cometa, Sagrado, Stuka Jr. b Misterioso Jr., Puma King, Virus retro80s90s
Tecnicos took 2/3. Cometa pinned Puma King after the 450 splash.
3) Valiente b Ephesto [lightningretro80s90s
Valiente beat Ephesto with his layout frontcracker in 5:59.
4) Diamante Azul, Máximo, Rush b Mr. Águila, Rey Bucanero, Volador Jr. retro80s90s
Tecnicos took 1/3.
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Euforia, Último Guerrero b Atlantis, La Sombra, Titán retro80s90s
Titan’s debut as a star. Rudos take 1/3, Guerero Special on Titan while Euforia put Atlantis in a cavernaria.
6) Goya Kong L Princesa BlancaAmapolaEstrellitaDark AngelLady ApacheTiffanyMarcelaLa SeductoraDalis la Caribeña [cage, mask]
Estrellita and Marcela did cage dives. Luchadoras had to stay in for 5 minutes before escaping. Order of escape was Dalis, Seductora, Marcela, Tiffany, Lady Apache, Dark Angel, Estrellita and Amapola, leaving the surprising final of Princesa Blanca and Goya Kong. Blanca beat Goya to save her hair. Goya unmasked as Gloria Alvarado Nava, 25, 7 years a wrestler.

Second straight year a member of the Brazo family has lost in a major stip match. Second straight year a Casas has won the cage match. No controversy this time. The big news is the sparkly silver headband was actually part of the mask.

Goya was upset with her tecnica partners for leaving her behind, but said she had no plans to change sides or name. She did not look upset, smiling in most of her pictures. Blanca pointed out this was her second cage match win, having took Medusa’s hair when they did this match in Guadalajara back in 2009.

Attendance looked strong. Early pictures looked very strong, but there are more open seats when you look at those handheld videos. Still, this might be the second highest turnout of the year.

CMLL aired the Dragon Lee->Mistico video from this past week’s TV before the semimain, emphasizing the August start date.

AAA tapes TV tonight in Orizaba. The main event is Ciber, Electro, and LA Park vs Perro, Hector, and Psicosis, which may clarify what’s going on with the title match and LA Park at TripleMania. Dr. Wagner Jr. and Mascara Ano 2000 Jr. have their first ever singles match, which surely will continue the streak of Mascara beating Wagner and may continue the streak of Capos showing up to support their family.

There are a few mysteries on the undercard. The cuatro has Halloween teaming with a mystery partner to face Juvi & Extreme Tiger. Daga is the obvious choice based on what’s led up to this, but it’s always possible the Perros could bring in someone new (or old.) The tercera is scheduled to be Cuervo & Ozz vs Abyss & Chessman, but we’ve been told Abyss won’t be there. AAA did show Rob Terry on their TV last week for no obvious reason, Jarrett is happily tweeting Dorian like AAA & TNA are still on fine terms, and WON mentioned he might be coming in, so he’s the most likely substitution. Vampiro’s twitter messages suggest he’s turning up for this show too, and that tag match is the obvious place – he’s supposedly with the Dark Family and he’s against Chessman. (I think they’re thinking of doing Chessman vs Vampiro at TripleMania. I am scared.) Segunda is interesting to see if Teddy Hart is still with AAA. I think he’ll show. The show opens with the Psycho Clowns getting a rematch against Consejo, just not the combination that won the trios titles.

IWL runs their big June in Tlalnepantala tonight with the usual hardcore guys. DTU ran last night, and has a show tomorrow.

LuchaWorld reviews the Sensacional de Diseño Mexicano: Explosivo Cartel de Lucha Libre show.

Mr. Cacao shows how he makes masks.

Zumbi feels his opponents on tonight’s IWL show are “fat and ugly.”

On Segunda Caida, Eric R reviews CMLL on Galavision, 06/02/2012.

Lineups

IWRG (THU) 07/05/2012 Arena Naucalpan
1) Dragón Celestial & Omega vs Alan Extreme & The Mummy
2) Centvrión & Charly Madrid vs Douki & Eita
3) Chicano, Golden Magic, Relampago vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
4) Danny Casas, Máscara Sagrada, Negro Navarro vs Cien Caras Jr., Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Oficial Factor
5) X-Fly vs Trauma IIVenenoScorpio [Copa Pirata Morgan]

Four way for a trophy in the main event. Last time they ran something that was specifically a Copa Pirata Morgan, it was a trios match with Terry & the Cerebros over the Oficials in 2009. 2010’s Bicentennial Cup and 2011’s Revolutionary Cup (won by Apolo Estrada Jr. in a IWRG vs AAA cibernetico) might have supplanted it.

Omega was a a ’02-04 IWRG gimmick. There’s someone using that name now in Arena Jalisco de Guadalajara.

CMLL (FRI) 07/06/2012 Arena Mexico
1) Camaleón & Metálico vs Artillero & Súper Comando
2) Dark Angel, Estrellita, Marcela vs Hikaru, Lady Apache, Tsukasa
3) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo del Fantasma vs Misterioso Jr., Namajague, Shigeo Okumura
4) Fuego vs Virus [lightning]
5) Atlantis vs TitánDiamanteTritonRey CometaÚltimo GuerreroEuforiaNiebla RojaPólvoraPuma King [cibernetico]
6) Diamante Azul, La Máscara, La Sombra vs Averno, Mephisto, Volador Jr.

Averno, in a main event! Kind of makes me think they’re ramping things down until Mistico II gets here.

The En Busca de Un Idolo tournament refuses to die. The semimain has all the participants, with Rey Cometa filling in for the guy who’s not around for the next few weeks (and not so coincidentally, meeting his new arch rival Puma King.)

Lightning match should be really good. Tercera should be really good. This is a fun looking card. Women’s match looks like it may be tough, since the REINA girls wouldn’t have worked with the tecnicas prior but Dark Angel and Marcela cam probably make it work.

AULL  (SUN) 07/08/2012 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) ? vs ??
2) Ice Killer & Monsther vs Magia Negra & Violento
3) Ice Queen, La Hielera, La Vaquerita vs Felina Metalica, Keira, Sadica
4) Negro Navarro, Robin Maravilla, Rocky Santana vs Trauma I, Trauma II, Zumbi [AULL TRIOS]
5) Ángel de la Noche vs Judas el Traidor [hair]
6) Mr. Flama vs Herejía [mask]

This would be Trauma I’s return. Neither of those two teams were trios champs last time the titles were on the line (in May), so not sure what the deal is.

Mascara defeats Bestia, Veneno rudo?, women’s cage match, Daga in TripleMania?

Niko and Fandango
photo by Black Terry Jr.

IWRG (THU) 06/28/2012 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), The Gladiatores]
1) Infierno Kid & Matrix Jr. b Alan Extreme & Serpiente de Oro
Alan Extreme replaced Templario. Infierno Kid’s main card debut, having appeared on a few FILL shows and for XMW.
2) Douki & Eita b Centvrión & Mr. Magia
Mr. Magia replaced Dinamic Black. Team Japan won without many problems.
3) Oficial Factor, Oficial Rayan, Oficial Spartan b Chicano, Danny Casas, Golden Magic
Oficials took 1/3. Rayan was pinned in the third, but distracted the ref to allow Factor to pull Magic’s mask and roll him up for the win.
4) Heddi Karaoui, Scorpio Jr., X-Fly b Dr. Cerebro, Trauma II, Veneno
Dr. Cerbero replaced Negro Navarro.Team X-Fly took falls 1/3. Veneno turned on his partners, reversing a Trauma II roll up on Scorpio to give Scorpio the win. Veneno and Trauma II had friendly fire issues during the last fall.
5) Cien Caras Jr., Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Niko b Bestia 666, Damián 666, Súper Nova
Dinamitas took falls 2/3. Hijo de Mascara beat Bestia with a top rope splash, setting up Sunday’s title vs mask match with Hijo de Pirata

So creepy. I’m never buying movie tickets online again.

Tonight’s Arena Mexico main even is the ten women’s cage match.

Dark Angel, Dalis, Marcela, Goya, and Princesa Blanca all seem very safe. Dalis and Blanca seem included just to raise the number of women. Angel & Marcela have never lost their hair and there’s no reason for them to do so here. Goya will inevitably lose her mask, as family tradition, but it seems too soon for that.

Tiffany or Amapola could lose their hair, though they would both be slight surprises. Tiffany has been in the background on the setup to this match, but is closer to the end of the career to the start and this might be right time for her to get one last significant payday. Amapola’s previous hair loss was a surprise loss to Lady Apache while she was champion. Both are feuding with Estrellita, the women CMLL seems to be concentrating on. If Estrellita is going to win, a decent possibility, it’s likely by beating Tiffany or Amapola.

Lady Apache’s recent ruda turn, with nothing setting it up, seems a sign that plans were being changed. It could’ve been they just wanted another good wrestler in the cage match without having unbalanced tecnicas and rudas, but it also could’ve been a need to find someone to lose their hair because the planned person backed out. Lady Apache herself was one of the two (with Blanca) in the March Guadalajara hair match that never happened, which also might have been someone backing out for all we know. Apache did not appear in the main arenas for a few weeks after that, worked regularly for a couple weeks, and has only shown up on Friday night shows since the end of April, so maybe she’s being phased out. On the other hand, she’s been booked for a match with Marcela in Guatemala next month, so she can’t be going too far. I’m not sure what to make of Lady Apache.

The two strongest candidates to lose are La Seductora and Estrellita. CMLL cage matches tend to end with the first feud in the group. Seductora vs Goya started off the direct build to this match, but Estrellita and Amapola were feuding weeks prior to that.

Seductora is the closest thing to an opening match luchadora in the women’s division. It’s impossible to actually be booked any lower than any other woman, since they’re almost always kept in one match a card, but she’s was on the fringes of the roster until the last few months and often responsible for her team losing falls (to a comic degree.) Seductora has the veteran last ruda on the roster spot. Before Seductora, Rosa Negra had that spot, and she lost her mask to Marcela in what became her retirement match. Before Rosa Negra, Medusa had that spot, and she was the loser of the last female cage match (and lost her mask before that.) Seductora losing would be easy, expected outcome.

Estrellita would be the opposite, though there’s plenty of reasons it would make sense. Estrellita has been giving a huge emphasis the last few months, and this would be a good payoff. Estrellita is part of the next season of El Luchador, and losing her hair would be a dramatic twist. Estrellita losing her hair would come off as a meaningful conclusion, while Seductora losing her mask would feel closer to a cheap way out of the stipulation.

Estrellita is my pick.

[poll id=”85″]

I’d guess around the same attendance for this show as Escorpion/Warrior.

The semamain has new main event superstar Titan teaming with Atlantis and Sombra vs Dragon Rojo, Ultimo Guerrero and Euforia. That’s going to make it really hard for Rey Escorpion to turn on Ultimo Guerrero this week, but he seems to be only doing it every odd week.

Halloween and Extreme Tiger did the usual interview hyping up their TripleMania match with MedioTiempo, saying they’ll be a strong team but have no problem facing each other if it comes to it. Tiger is now calling Halloween the traitor, which Halloween and Konnan have been calling him. Halloween does let something slip that may not be official until Saturday: when mentioning their opponents, he lists Lider, Psicosis, “Hart Fundation” and Daga. Daga’s mentioned a couple times, but Daga’s not in the match last time it was brought up…unless Teddy was pulled, Halloween forgot his name, and he’s Jack’s new partner. Or Daga and an unnamed partner (Juvi?) has been added to the match. This will probably be cleared up tomorrow night.

Teddy did appear Monday in Tampico, which should mean he’s still in Mexico. On that show, Alan Stone needed 18 stitches after injuring his arm.

IWL will not allow video taping of it’s show this Saturday because the video quality is poor, and so when people buy the video from pirates, they think IWL is a promotion of low quality. I don’t think they believe that because of the video, but okay.

AAA’s announced a new TV taping on July 13th in Toluca. That should take them thru TripleMania. Lineup will probably turn up early next week, after Saturday’s taping.

Lucha Libre USA: Masked Warriors announced their episodes would start to appear on Hulu as “extended cuts”. The first season of seven episode, which was already up on Hulu.com (just links to MTV.com’s feed), are now up natively on Hulu. I haven’t watched them, but the comments mention the music has been changed. Season two episodes will start to go up every Wednesday on July 11th. They should be done with the 3 that aired by August 1st, so any ‘new’ episodes would start on August 8th.

Rob has highlights of 06/12/12 CMLL.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update and news on Masked Republic’s new charity project.

Links

Lineup

CMLL (TUE) 07/03/2012 Arena Mexico
1) Bengala & Robin vs Ramstein & Zayco
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Molotov, Super Halcon Jr. vs Bobby Zavala, Disturbio, Hooligan
3) Eléctrico vs Pequeño Nitro [lightning]
4) Mr. Cacao, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Hijo del Signo, Skándalo
5) Blue Panther, Hijo del Fantasma, Valiente vs Felino, Pólvora, Vangelis
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., Mr. Niebla, Rey Escorpion vs Ángel de Oro, Máscara Dorada, Rush

1/5/6 on the Tuesday card shuffled around or completely new.

Out: Horus, Camorra, Volador, Shocker
In: Hijo del Signo, Blue Panther, Valiente, Fantasma, Felino, Vangelis

No idea what happened with Shocker to get him pulled four days ahead of time. Unsure why Voldor isn’t just working Vangelis’ spot.

07/01-02 lucha times

box. I’ve moved things around with the demise of the LATV show.

=== CMLL ===

Galavision/Televisa: not airing to the US. It’s technically pre-empted for a MLS match, but they could’ve put it on before or after and did not. Listed on next week’s schedule, but that’s always subject to change.

In Mexico, the women’s trios and the Mexican Trios title match will air.

FOX: Guerreros vs Azul/Mascara/Sombra, and Cometa/Starman/Stuka vs Puma/Sangre/Virus.

C3: four random trios matches, for the most part, with Niebla and Shocker in the main event.

52MX: The Terrible/Yujiro title match, and the Bufete vs Invasors trios match to set up next week’s title match. Maybe another match if they have the time.

Puebla: TVC Deportes seems to have added another replay of this show, which is nice. It’s airing at 3 pm on Saturday, the same time as the Televisa show, which does not appear to be smart. The new episode on Monday probably will have Seductora/Marcela (given low reviews) and Warrior vs Atlantis in trios.

GDL: Three straight weeks of reruns is concerning. Main event is Averno, Mephisto, and Volador vs La Mascara, Mascara Dorada, and Super Porky.

Terra: They said they’re airing this week, they’re back in Arena Mexico, and they had no problem airing from Arena Mexico the first week. Standard opener, minis, and Mr. Cacao match.

=== Other ===

AAA: new taping. It was a five match taping, so they could just air the top 3 matches as a 1 week taping, but they’ve tended to spread everything out of 2 weeks. The latest Texano/Mascara vs Wagner/Silver match is likely either way.

ACM: who knows

IWRG-TVC Deportes: they borrowed the Sunday taping this past week and aired the mask match, which throws both shows off. If they’re back on Thursday’s taping, there’s another FdT vs Jr. Dinamitas and the return of Trauma I.

IWRG-Vibra: if they’re back on regular Sundays, it’s the father/son tag tournament.

AYM does not list lucha libre this week. I’m not going to have much to record!