Park beats Mesias, LuFisto to AAA, Ricky Marvin not to AAA?, IWRG mask match change (and new DG guy?)

photo by Black Terry Jr.

IWRG (THU) 02/21/2013 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), IWRG, The Gladiatores]
1) Galaxie & Mr. Leo b Araña de Plata & Fulgore
One fall.
2) Ángel Del Amor & Dinamic Black b Eita & Imposible
The Gladiatores says his was 2 falls, IWRG says this was 3 falls.
3) Dave The Clown, Niko, Rothen Clown b Centvrión, Chico Che, Freelance
Clown Corp won via foul. Niko snuck in a foul on Chico Che. Tecnicos demanded a rematch.
4) Carta Brava Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, Súper Nova b Dr. Cerebro, Extreme Tiger, Veneno
Rudos took 2/3. Fuerza tripped Veneno off the top rope to set up the pin. Money thrown in the ring.
5) Eterno, LA Park, X-Fly b El Mesías, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Trauma II
Rudos took 2/3. Mesias had the pin on LA Park, but X-Fly and Eterno pulled out the ref to stop the pin. That ref and the other argued with the rudos while LA Park hit Mesias with some brass knuckles to get the pin.

IWRG Galaxie is not Queretaro Galaxy. Now I know!

Tonight’s Arena Mexico show seems like a filler show before things pick up for March. Stuka, Cometa, Namajague and Okumura, who will be in the biggest promoted match at Dos Leyendas, face off in the tercera here. Volador and Sombra go from main eventing last week in the Reyes del Aire final to working the fourth match – Volador with the Invasors, Sombra with Dorada & Angel de Oro. La Mascara & Averno will be partners soon, maybe next week, but face off in a lightning match tonight. The main event is Marco, Shocker, and Rush vs Terrible, Mr. Niebla and Ultimo Guerrero. Rush has been off since Sunday (and been hurt since last Monday.) and we don’t have any idea of his status. We do know he and Terrible are scheduled to team in the upcoming incredible pairs tournament, and there’s a good chance Mr. Niebla and Shocker will team as well.

AAA announced LuFisto would be working for them, confirming she’s the mystery woman on the 03/03 AAA Sin Limite taping. I’m told the other mystery person for that taping – and the Fusion taping two days prior – is a US indy wrestler who seems to be getting in thru Teddy and Jack who hasn’t worked Mexico before.

People who won’t be working for AAA right now include Ricky Marvin. He’s booked for their AAA Fusion tournament on 03/01, but he’s also booked in Germany that whole weekend as part of WXW’s showcase 24 Karat tournament. Super Crazy and Ricky Marvin have been mentioning going to Germany for a while, so I think he’s surely passing up Arena Neza. That leaves Angelico, Halloween and US Indy Guy as three guys left, none very obvious winners.

Polvora will defend his CMLL Welterweight Championship versus Relampago (the one from Sinola, not ex-AAA) on 03/02. The undercard includes Friend of the Twitter Mr. Iguana teaming with a referee to face Principe Kicho and another referee.

Rob has highlights of 06/15/12 CMLL.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Links

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 03/03/2013 Arena Naucalpan
1) Freelance & Mr. Leo vs Avisman & Imposible
2) Chico Che, Dinamic Black, Hijo del Pantera vs Dave The Clown, Niko, Rothen Clown
3) Centvrión, Dr. Cerebro, Pantera vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Eita, Tomahank
4) Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Negro Navarro, Veneno vs Eterno, Scorpio, X-Fly
5) Trauma II vs Oficial 911, el Ángel [mask]

R de Rudo has the lineup. Forgot that thing I said earlier about IWRG being the only DF promotion to build up their March match well. The 3 match last weekend is annulled for no particular reason – Oficial 911 won by countout, but he didn’t even cheat – but is forced back into this match. That’s no way to treat an officer of the law! They set it up where 911 would probably get involved in the match anyway, but this an annoying way to do it.

I have no records of anyone named Tomahank wrestling in IWRG before. There is a Tomahawk in Texas and in SLP, but teaming with Eita might mean something else.  A long story about stolen identities just wrapped up in Dragon Gate – flip thru the I Love DG archives, because I can’t do it Justice – but the end result was the wrestler formerly known as Tomahawk TT lost a hair & losers leaves town match. He turned tecnico after the match and they had him stick around for a tag title shot with his former rival, but he’s nowhere to be seen on DG’s early March cards. Maybe that’s because he’s in Naucalpan instead.

Top Six Stories In The Last Two Weeks (plus a little bit)

  1. CMLL announced Dos Leyendas 2012 would take place March 15th. The main event will be the Japanese midcard team of Namajague & Okumura versus the Mexican midcard team of Stuka Jr. & Rey Cometa, with each teaming putting both mask and hair on the line. Estrellita and Amapola will have a hair vs hair match as well. The luchador honored this year is Rayo de Jalisco Sr., and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. returns to the promotion as part of that celebration. He’ll have a match with also returning Universo 2000 (probably a trios.) Finally, the annual parajes increible tournament will finish up at Dos Leyendas, and should build strongly towards CMLL’s plans for their 80th Anniversario show this September. CMLL also announced dates for Arena Mexico & Arena Coliseo anniversary shows in April.
  2. The big news on AAA shows hasn’t been an in-ring result, but the onscreen firing of Dorian Roldan and Konnan, leaders of the rudo Sociedad faction. The two had spent the previous portion of the TV taping firing tecnicos who had annoyed him (minor names and a referee) before Joaquin Roldan fired them. All of the rudos present turned on the leader when threatened with their own firing. It was quite a reversal, as the last major show had ended with Dorian & Konnan threatening to leave the company and take all the rudo champs with them but were forced to stay by Joqauin; everyone’s feelings seemed to pivot 180 degrees in the course of a TV taping for no known reason. It’s also odd Joaquin had the power to fire the guys who had been doing evil deeds in his promotion for years and never got around to doing until now – in fact, the show with their firing indicated he might not be able to do that, and it might annuled or changed in a skit to air this weekend. In reality, it seems as though Dorian and Roldan will be focusing on the soon to launch US wing of the AAA promotion, and this bit might be a setup to explain why that group exists.
  3. The big news with AAA but not on their shows has been Dr. Wagner’s continued insistence that he doesn’t work for AAA anymore. Wagner has said he’s finished with AAA (on good terms) and about to join CMLL since December, but it got added attention of late because Wagner said it for video cameras instead of print, and because Luchas 2000’s cover stated he’d be on the Dos Leyendas show. That does not appear to be the case, and CMLL’s said in the past they have no interested in bringing Wagner back. Wagner always notes he just has a small legal issue with AAA, which AAA claims is he’s actually under contract until 2014. At the same time, AAA hasn’t used him on any of their TV tapings all year, explaining they won’t use him until he admits he’s under contract. There is no reason to believe Dr. Wagner’s story, but 90% of fans in Mexico appear to believe it anyway. Dr. Wagner Jr. may be in possession of a reality distortion field.
  4. AAA announced Rey de Reyes 2013 would take place March 17th in Monterrey, but has not indicated any matches for the show. The taping lineups and results, all the way up to the taping prior to the show, have not given away a match from the show. Texano defending his title vs Mesias and/or an outside wrestler and a team match with Cibernetico and Perro are the best bets for the top matches. Nothing is very clear, unusual for an AAA show this close to a major show and giving the impression this won’t be as major a show as in prior years.
  5. AAA’s taping in Irapuato saw two title changes. Dinastia won the AAA minis title over Mini Psicosis, in a feud that’s led to an adjacent Drago vs Nicho Psicosis rivalry. The Psycho Circus won the AAA Trios titles back, defeating the El Consejo team with Toscano completed his tecnico turn.
  6. Sombra beat Volador to win CMLL Reyes del Aires. This was the biggest field ever for the tournament, 32 wrestlers over two weeks. The tournament ended with both guys pulling each others masks and Sombra coming out on top on the cradle. Post match included mask vs mask challenges (which appear to have no chance of happening.)

Other Stories Of Note

  • Astro de Plata, a Mexico City based tecnico who had worked for IWRG and had recently been used in opening matches on AAA tapings, suffered major spinal injuries on an indy show. Plata and his opponent Terremoto miscommunicated on a move, and all of Terremoto’s (large) weight came down on Plata’s spine as he hit the mat. Plata lost feeling in his lower body and has since undergone surgery. Various promotions and luchadors have held fund raisers to help offset his large medical costs. A few days after Plata’s injury, the Mexico City lucha libre commission announced they’d soon start offering health insurance to independent luchadors. This had been a project the commission and the Mexico sports ministry had been working on since last year, and coincidentally announced around the same time as someone who really could’ve used it.
  • AAA announced their first Fusion taping of the year for 03/01. It’s the first taping exclusively for that show since November; they’ve made due with a Perros del Mal show, a WAVE/AAA show in Japan, and lots and lots of reruns. The show continues their Fusion tournament, and also starts one for the abruptly vacant Reina de Reinas championship. Sexi Star, who has been in a match since December, announced she was giving up the title but did not announce why.
  • Trauma II vs Angel for the masks will take place next Sunday for IWRG. IWRG is the one DF based promotion who’s successfully built to a big match for their March show. Everyone knows how it’s going to go, but there’s a little bit of doubt there.
  • The Brazo family sold out Arena Neza show for an event based on their family having (and winning matches.) The AAA members were restricted from working the show, but all appeared on the show. Goya Kong & Muneca de Plata were part of a women’s trios win, Brazo Cibernetico won a cibernetico (!), Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata were part of a winning atomicos team in a battle of former UWA wrestlers, and La Mascara & Maximo won a tag team tournament with some assistance from Psycho Clown (the ex-Brazo de Plata Jr.)
  • Octagon Jr., who debuted that character for AAA on Guerra de Titanes, missed his next scheduled appearance to work for an ill-fated show in Canada, then missed his second scheduled appearance to go tryout for WWE. He’s scheduled to be back on the first TV Taping in March, which would be a 3 months gap from his debut.
  • Villano V announced a retirement show for March, with a ruleta de la muerte where the losing team will lose both their mask and hair. The tournament is filled with big names (names who wouldn’t be expected to lose in a tournament like this), so it’s either the Villanos themselves lose their mask and hair in Villano V’s last match, or Casandro loses his hair and Hijo del Pirata Morgan loses his mask.
  • Hijo del Santo announced the return of Todos x el Todos, with a card at Arena Lopez Mateos in March. It’s a much smaller venue than the promotion was running, back when it was still running shows last year.
  • Thunder, CMLL’s new muscular mask Australian, has been kept in Puebla and Guadalajara (and missed time with a leg injury.) Early reviews of his work has been poor. He won’t make his first Arena Mexico appearance until 03/29. Mistico has also recently returned from injury, and is also being kept out of Arena Mexico for the moment.
  • Rush missed some time with a leg injury, suffered in a singles win over Ultimo Guerrero. He returned the following Sunday for an already announced trios title match against the Invasors. Rush and the rest of the Bufete del Amor won, but was limping significantly by the end of the match. There’s no
  • CMLL early match tecnico Metalico, who’s hasn’t had a meaningful match in CMLL for about a decade (but has had plenty of matches), is suddenly feuding with about four different people. No one’s quite sure what’s going on here, but cage match is the best bet.
  • People who won titles: Los Pirata Morgans (Mexico State Trios), Carta Brava Jr., other people I forgot to list
  • People who kept their titles: Negro Casas, Polvora, Dragon Rojo, La Sombra, Invasors, other people I forgot to list

CMLL/NJPW FantasticaMania Day 1: 2013-01-18

I’m not doing pbp recaps for this set of shows. (There’s a strong argument I shouldn’t be doing any of those.) I do have thoughts on each match and maybe some moving pictures.

This was the least intersting day of FantasticaMania since they’ve started to them. There’s not one match I’d grade as “GOOD”. The Devitt/Rojo seemed like the best of the day but it’s an easily skippable day. Attendance on all three days seemed down – even more than NJPW claimed – and the crowd wasn’t as responsive. It doesn’t seem like it was a great idea to extend this to 3 days. Maybe that was a tradeoff to bringing over more guys.

taped 2013-01-18 @ Korakuen Hall

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