Fiebre Amarilla vs Fuego/Stuka, Dorada vs Polvora, Villanos vs Santo

photo by CMLL

CMLL (SUN) 02/24/2013 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, ProWresBlog]
1) Freesbe & Génesis DQ Guerrero Negro Jr. & Ramstein
Tecnicos took 1/3, the last when the rudos whipped Genesis with his own belt. That has never been called a DQ prior.
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Stigma, Super Halcón Jr. b Artillero, Súper Comando, Taurus
Tecnicos took 1/3. Taurus and Super Comando (taking a spanish fly off the apron) were strechered out, and Comando was taken to the hospital with a possible broken ribs.
3) Dalis la Caribeña, Dark Angel, Estrellita DQ Amapola, Princesa Blanca, Princesa Sugheit
Estrellita tried to jump Amapola, but Amapola came thru the crowd and attacked her. Tecnicas still took the first clean, then the second when the rudas were DQed for excessive violence.
4) Ángel de Oro b Ephesto [lightning]
Oro won with his mecedora
5) Namajague, Niebla Roja, Shigeo Okumura b Fuego, Máximo, Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 1/3. Namajague & Okumura beat Stuka & Fuego clean in the third fall, and demanded a tag title shot for next week.
6) Atlantis, La Sombra, Mistico b Averno, Rey Escorpión, Volador Jr.
Tecnicos took 2/3, Mistico pulling Averno off the top buckle with an armscissors and Atlantis on Rey Escorpion. Mistico seemed to be back in good health. Crowd seemed to boo Mistico during the match (most so when he tried to put Averno in La Mistica – Averno escaped.)

Not a sell out for Mistico’s first appearance in this arena, and first appearance in Mexico City this year. The Mistico appearance was hyped on this week’s Televisa show, so people who cared knew he was going to be there and not enough cared to sell out the building – the middle level looked mostly full and the upper level had some stranglers, but definitely not a full house or close. It seems like CMLL attendance might be slightly up – I was surprised how full last Friday’s show looked on Televisa, but then I’ll also see Tuesday shows where the floor seats are pretty empty past like the fifth – but we haven’t heard even guesstimate numbers in a while. Whatever’s going on, it’s pretty obvious that Mistico La Nueva Era as a big draw for CMLL has not worked out for the promotion so far; he’s no more of a draw than Mascara Dorada, and Dorada’s a much better performer and accepted by more of the fanbase as a credible main eventer than Mistico. Mistico is just another guy.

Tag team title match next week should be good. Probably shouldn’t be doing Spanish Flys off the apron on off TV matches (or maybe any but the biggest matches.) Hombre Bala and Super Halcon look like they’re just breaking their opposition at times, and really did so tonight. If you’re hurting your fellow luchadors, on purpose or on accident, they’re probably not going to put you in a position to hurt someone who matters. Opening match DQ was quite lame; it’s not a coincidence Bestia Negra was  involved.

CMLL (SUN) 02/24/2013 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [@acogdl]
1) Azteca de Oro & El Hippie b Acertijo & Demonio Rojo
Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Smaker b Mr. Trueno
3) Espectrum & Infierno DQ El Alteño & León Blanco
Espectrum beat Leon in the first, but Infierno still go them DQed for excessive violence, then Infierno again got DQed in the second.
4) Leo b Black Metal [OCCIDENTE WELTER]
Leo came in as champion, and took falls 2/3 (the last with a tapatia) to successfully make his first defense.
5) Máscara Dorada & Super Porky b Mr. Águila & Pólvora
Tecnicos took 2/3, Dorada using a leg lock (!!!) to submit Polvora. This set up a title match next week.
6) Olímpico b Shocker [OCCIDENTE HEAVY]
Olimpico came is as champion. Acertijo was Olimpico’s send. Shocker took the first, Acertijo helped Olimpico win the second, and Olimpico used the ropes to pin Shocker in the third. First defense.

Shocker is now at a place where he’s losing title matches to Olimpico in his hometown.

Ray Mendoza Jr. told Metro (Mexico City) that luchadors scheduled to his retirement show have been told they would be banned from Todo x el Todo if they worked Mendoza’s show. (Metro doesn’t post it’s articles online, but a photo of the article is here.) The issue is Mendoza is running in March 16th in Gimanasio Juan de la Barrera, and Santo now plans on running a Todo x el Todo show in the same building the following weekend. That’s the Mexico City home for Santo’s promotion, but they haven’t run there since last June. Santo originally announced a March show for Arena Lopez Mateos. Mendoza says the building told him no lucha shows were scheduled there the rest of the year when he booked his show; Santo has since announced his 03/23 show at Juan de la Barrera (and the ALM event has not been mentioned.) Santo’s wasn’t invited to the Mendoza card, at least in part because Mendoza wouldn’t have gotten the AAA luchadors if Santo worked the card.

Mendoza says Cien Caras Jr., Hijo de Mascara Ano 2000 and Rayman have all pulled off his show in the last week, with Rayman explicitly saying he was told by ‘someone high up in Todo x el Todo’ that it was either pull out of Mendoza’s show or never work with TxT again. (Someone high up could be Santo, but it seems more likely to be his wife, who’s usually the hammer in these situations.) Mendoza’s show is a one off charity show – not for Mendoza, but for a children’s organization  – so it’s not a big surprise the indy guys would make that choice. That TxT would have them make the choice is the astounding part – Hijo del Santo has spent the last 7 years complaining about people veto-ing him, evil promoters stopping him from working and how wrestlers all need to stay together. If this is true, then El Hijo del Santo is exposed as a hypocrite who says luchadors should have the right to work with whoever they want but acts the opposite way when he’s the promoter.

Hijo del Santo does deny the story. On Twitter, he says it is not true and he finds the story unprofessional. He also says he’s supported the Villanos most of all, because Villano IV won the Copa TxT last year. (We’ll probably find out if Rayman and the others work one show and not the others.) The scheduled TxT main event was a Angel Blanco Jr. & Hijo del Solitario vs Hijo del Santo & Villano IV rematch, but that seems highly unlikely now. It looks like the replacement main event may be a El Hijo del Santo WBC lucha title defense; he’s had that big green belt since 2007, has never defended it, and they’re running an angle for twitter where the WBC is demanded he does so. Santo says there’s going to be an announcement about that on Tuesday; if that’s a press event, I’m sure someone will try to ask about the Mendoza situation.

AAA has gone from not posting episodes for a couple weeks, to posting the 2 hour versions of the second week of Toluca and the first week of Pachuca.

Rob has highlights of 11/28/1994 AAA and Rey de Reyes 2005.

56 aspiring luchadors – and one Dory Dixon – appeared the Puebla lucha commission licensing exam. Test results will be announced next week.

R de Rudo has an interview with Rafaga from Zacatecas.

Porra Fresa previews Monday’s card and writes about the premier of a documentary featuring Puebla luchadors.

CMLL/NJPW FantasticaMania Day 2: 2013-01-19

This was the most responsive crowd of the three days. This is also where the gap between what’s probably best for the live crowd and what I wanted to see widen. Maximo doing the bit he does twice on TV every week does not work for me, but Maximo doing the bit he only does three times a year entertains the Korakuen Hall fans. Euforia/Atlantis is interesting to me because it’s a unique match for CMLL, but it’s probably not as special for people who all the CMLL match up are unique matched. (Stil, could’ve used more Euforia/Atlantis matches on these cards.)

taped 2013-01-19 @ Korakuen Hall
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