CMLL (FRI) 06/15/2012 Arena Mexico [CMLL]
1) Bobby Zavala & Disturbio b Molotov & Starman
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Hooligan, Skándalo b Ángel Azteca Jr., Fuego, Pegasso
Tuareg took falls 2/3. Pegasso finished the match without any major incident reported, but was later reported as taken the hospital for an examination of his neck.
3) Amapola, Dalis la Caribeña, Lady Apache b Dark Angel, Estrellita, Princesa Blanca [Relevos Increíbles]
Amapola’s trio worked as rudas and took falls 1/3. They won when Apache pinned Dark Angel with her feet on the ropes. Dark Angel challenged Lady Apache to a hair match. Blanca challenged Dalis.
4) Euforia DQ Dragon Lee [En Busca de un Idolo] 
Atlantis seconded Dragon Lee and brought along Fray Tormenta, but it was not enough for the win. Ultimo Guerrero was in Euforia’s corner, and tried to start something with Tormenta after the match. Dragon Lee unaccountably would not less go of a cross armbraeker. Euforia had given up, but Lee wouldn’t release by five (he released at six and celebrated like he was unaware he was breaking the rules), and the referee gave the match to Euforia. Euforia scored 32, Dragon Lee 36 (3 10s and a Tirantes 6)
5) Diamante b Titán [En Busca de un Idolo]
Diamante debuted as silver and black outfit, looking nothing like his old gear but noticeable about Santo’s. (He still has his old boots with the Diamante symbol, which might be the only to tell he’s Diamante.) Diamante won in 5:40 with a cross armbreaker. Diamante scored a 29 and flowers from Maximo. Titan scored a 33, including a rare 10 from Tirantes (though a 5 from Miguel.)
6) Black Warrior, Mr. Águila, Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr.
Rudos took falls 1/3. After the rudos won, Warrior challenged for a trios title shot, then attacked the tecnicos and took off their masks before they could respond.
7) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Rush b Rey Escorpion, Último Guerrero, Yujiro
Rudos jumped the tecnicos. Tecnicos took falls 2/3. CMLL.com recap does not mention any Escorpion/UG problems.
A few weeks back, there was a Box y Lucha poster talking about Diamante having a new silver outfit that made him look like Santo. Most figured the poster had seen Diamante’s usual silver mask, as he wore in Japan. It instead looks like the poster saw this new Diamante outfit, which looks like a mix between Santo & Axxel. It’s not as much as a clone as Diamante Azul, but it’s unmistakenly based on the Santo look. Diamante looks nothing much like a Diamond; he should have a new name shortly.
Updated En Busca de un Idolo standings
206 Titan (1-2)
188 Euforia (1-2)
————–
156 Dragon Lee (2-1)
147 Diamante (2-1)
Dragon Lee is technically still alive – it’s possible to beat someone by 37 in a poll, and happened to Euforia in round 1. It’s just highly unlikely. The polls will close on Wednesday, but luchablog is projecting a Titan/Euforia final next week. CMLL announced the final will be a single fall with no time limit.
Both the finalists lost last night going into the finals, though Euforia got the technical win. I chalked Titan’s loss as a backlash to the strong votes he received in the poll. CMLL’s booked the finishes of the matches as if Titan was not supposed to win, and definitely not supposed to go to the final. The only win Titan got this round was Euforia had Titan in the Nirvanalock for the win (same as happened in their first round match) and Tony Salazar threw in the towel to continue a storyline that hasn’t seemed to pay off. There’s really no business sense in having Diamante win this week when Titan is the one in an important match next week and Titan & Diamante are never going to have a rematch (and Diamante could debut his new costume next week), but this didn’t seem like business sense.
I’ve changed my mind a little bit after seeing the finishes. I still believe there’s a little bit of backlash about the polling, but it may just be more about CMLL trying to make every wrestler and every faction happened. Diamante doesn’t get to advance, but gets a participation award of a win and a new outfit. Dragon Lee doesn’t get to advance (because they don’t want to do Titan vs Dragon Lee as a final?), but he gets to Fray Tormenta and the visual win. Everyone goes home happy win, no one gets enough wins to make them look like a star, and CMLL keeps running in place.
I’m not sure it matters that much; they could’ve had Euforia win every single match and I’m not sure it would’ve changed much for him. This tournament doesn’t seem to matter that much. The YouTube videos are usually viewed less than a 1,000 times. The existence of the tournament is mentioned on every TV show, but only JCR has mentioned the happenings in the tournament, and only when it comes up in conversation about other topics. Miguel, despite being involved, doesn’t talk about it much and the other announcers (on all the shows) don’t appear to be paying attention to it, which means the vast majority of the fans have no idea what’s going on with this tournament. Remember, the Forjando un Idolo matches were part of various TV programs in addition to being uploaded to the internet, which isn’t happening here. There are some interesting matches for hardcores in this tournament, but this is a concept that CMLL has failed to promote.
If Euforia wins next week, and I believe he will, maybe CMLL can get something out of billing him as a prospect so great that he won back to back youth tournaments, but they won’t be advancing him based on anything he did in the tournament itself.
This is all a very big come down from NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, an intricately booked set of matches designed to create both drama thru the final day of the tournament and bigger matches for down the line, while still giving a few important wins for people who didn’t go thru the to the final stage. En Busca de un Idolo did not create drama, did not set up bigger matches down the line, did not make anyone bigger stars, and actually made some earlier. Angel de Oro and Polvora both went 500 in their respective matches, but Angel de Oro got wins over important people and praised by all his opponents as a young great talent, while Polvora was constantly ripped by the judges for what he could not do. One format seems to work much better than the other.
The Mexico State Governor’s press conference/campaign rally was said to be the announcement of a plan to form a new Mexico State boxing and lucha commission, or the actual inaugural meeting of one, depending on which press account you read. ESTO’s article says the first meeting is June 19th, so let’s go with that, though I doubt we’ll hear much about this in regards to lucha. Octagon is quoted in the first article talking about how boxing and lucha libre are good to keep kids off drugs and alcohol. This must be a different Octagon then the one who got a DUI, then tried to get out of serving jail time on it. (And that’s just the story that’s public record.)
Lineup
PdM (THU) 06/21/2012 Estadio Municipal Queretaro, Queretaro
1) Sexy Lady & Taya Valkyrie vs Fabi Apache & Ludark Shaitan
2) Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Black Terry, Negro Navarro, Zumbi
3) Máscara Año 2000, Texano, Toscano vs Halloween, Psicosis, Teddy Hart
4) Blue Demon Jr., Cibernético, Dr. Wagner Jr. vs el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Héctor Garza, LA Park
Mostly notable because Perros del Mal is actually running a show. It’s been a while. This is a free show and a bigger arena they’d normally run, so it’s a campaign rally for some candidate or other. That’s a good business to be in right now.
CMLL (FRI) 06/22/2012 Arena Mexico
1) Molotov & Tigre Blanco vs Disturbio & Inquisidor
2) Rey Cometa, Starman, Stuka Jr. vs Puma King, Sangre Azteca, Virus
3) Dark Angel, Estrellita, Goya Kong vs La Seductora, Lady Apache, Princesa Blanca
4) Diamante Azul, La Máscara, La Sombra vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Rey Escorpion, Último Guerrero
5) Titán vs Euforia [En Busca de un Idolo]
6) Atlantis, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Black Warrior, Mr. Águila, Volador Jr. [MEX TRIOS]
Champs are still favorites, but they could be great if the rudos show up.
Goya is back, so perhaps they can move on to whatever the next step is in the women’s feuds.
