CMLL on Televisa: 2013-05-04

Namajague can dive too!

recap

taped 2013-04-26 @ Arena Mexico

Just the one match that didn’t air (though you really should watch the Televisa version of the trios match, it’s much preferable.)

weekly Rey Cometa tornillo

Rey Cometa vs Namajague for the hair: A fun match, but not at the level of the prior tag match between those two teams. This had cool Cometa high spots, but didn’t have as much drama to the finish – there were only a few moments where it looked like one guy or the other might be about to win, and maybe the only time Namajague came close was on the foiled frog splash. The ending finishing sequence was good (and they’ve gotten a lot out of that one failed Spanish Fly from months ago), but there wasn’t as much to this match as the other matches I’ve consider great. Still worth watching but not as necessary.

Hijo de Pirata Morgan wins championship, Nakamura vs Sombra, En Busca de un Idolo

IWRG (THU) 05/30/2013 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Power Bull b Atomic Star
2) Alan Extreme, Diosa Maya, Imposible b Cristal, Rayo Tapatío I, Saruman
Straight falls. Alan beat Saruman with a GTS.
3) Apolo Estrada Jr., Black Terry, Temerario Infernal b Centvrión, Chico Che, Golden Magic
Black Terry replaced Tomahawk (over in Evolve.) Golden beat Terry with a 450 splash, but Chico Che missed the big plancha on Temerario on Bombero and was pinned for the loss.
4) Dinamic Black, Trauma I, Trauma II ?? Canis Lupus, Factor, Oficial 911
No finish listed. Rudos took the first, tecnicos took the second.
5) Hijo de Pirata Morgan b Eterno [IWRG IC MIDDLE]
Eterno took the first with a Styles Clash, Morgan submitted Eterno in the second, and took the match and the title with a back superplex. Eterno falls in his second defense. Hijo de Pirata Morgan is the 33rd champion.

Hector Garza was honored before the main event

I don’t know anything – always! – but I suspect this might be the start of Eterno working more with AAA and less with IWRG. He’s look good in his appearances there. Meanwhile, Hijo de Pirata is triple champion – both sets of trios titles here as well as this middleweight championship.

The only picture of the semimain has the rudos standing over the the tecnicos, so they probably won – or the picture was taken from earlier, who knows.

Tonight’s main event features Shinsuke Nakamura defending the IWGP Intercontinental championship against La Sombra. It’s a rematch from FantasticaMania, where Nakamura dropped Sombra with a Bomb-Ye in a pretty good match. This match is Nakamura’s 9th defense. No Mexican luchador has won a IWGP championshp since Mistico’s 3 month Junior Heavyweight title reign back in 2009.

It’s unlikely Sombra wins the championship tonight. There are some NJPW reasons for it – they seem to have a year long plan with Nakamura and this title – and there’s the usual weirdness in how NJPW and CMLL luchadors are used against each other (CMLL can squash the NJPW novatos, everyone else in NJPW beats them), but I mostly think Sombra’s not winning for the same reasons I don’t think Mascara Dorada is beating Negro Casas on Sunday. CMLL realizes it has some young talented stars which they could build around and, instead of protecting and building around them, they just put them in main events to fail. Dorada losing to Negro Casas would be weird, but no weirder than everything that happened with Rush and title belts a few months ago, and really no weirder than Sombra losing to Negro Casas in the first place. Mistico, who is not great but still should be treated like Mistico if they’re going to give him the gimmick, losing to Ultimo Guerrero really made no sense. It’s not just that the results are bad, it’s the matches shouldn’t be happening if those are going to be the results.

NJPW may have asked CMLL just to do a title match with Nakamura while he’s in Japan, and let CMLL pick the person themselves. Sombra’s not the one to sacrifice in this situation, even if NJPW asked for him. Maybe CMLL did get to make that choice – and that’s how it went from Rush to Sombra suddenly? Which still means they’re a little off. Nakamura is only has 12 days left in his tour after tonight and nothing else is in motion; this is surely his only title match.

Nakamura and Sombra should still be an excellent match (and a three fall one, if I understood their Tercera Caida interview correctly), and we’ll be thrilled for Sombra if he wins. And if Dorada wins on Sunday!

The undercard also includes Shocker’s return to Arena Mexico. He teams with Super Porky & Blue Panther versus Rey Escorpion, Mr. Aguila and Averno, where everyone but Escorpion & Shocker were making hair match challenges. That probably means Escorpion & Shocker get to make theirs tonight and are added to the cage match lineup. CMLL’s also probably due a related press conference next Thursday to talk about their June plans.

CMLL Gaceta has their preview of tonight’s show, noting Lluvia’s return. Maybe she’ll actually be back this week! The En Busca de un Idolo matches are Fuego vs Sangre Azteca and Stuka Jr. vs Misterioso (which seems certain to end with a Rosa Driver from the middle rope.)

En Busca de un Idolo totals, thru week 2

171 Valiente
131 Vangelis
113 Hijo del Fantasma
111 Stuka Jr.
———
79 Sangre Azteca
76 Tiger
64 Fuego
61 Misterioso

Those are my numbers; CMLL’s official numbers seems to have mistakes on Fuego and Valiente‘s most recent judging scores. A huge gap has opened up between 4th and 5th, and there might not be much drama next week. Valiente is all but officially thru and it’s going to take great movement for the other three to be in danger. It’s the poll that’s spreading everything out; if you take out those points, Tiger (who gets no votes) is in 4th instead of Stuka and the gap between 4th and 5th is only 9 points. If you went only by the poll, Misterioso would be top 4. His last place standing is a testament to how bad he’s been at everything else.

There was a tribute to Hector Garza on Tuesday’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. The Arena Mexico one on Tuesday night did not have luchadors in the ring, but a tribute video on the big screen. Maybe they’ll do it again tonight.

LuchaWorld has a new podcast interviewing Kevin Kleinrock. I’m not sure I linked to their Hector Garza tribute, but it’s worth checking out.

Rob has a rare early Hector Garza US match and CMLL 10/12/12.

Links

05/30 AAA Sin Limite Results (Toluca)

photo by Black Terry Jr.

AAA TV (THU) 05/30/2013 Gimnasio Agustín Millán [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Lucha Libre AAA]
1) Lucky Boy & Niño de Ébano b Carta Brava Jr. & Último Gladiador
Ultimo Gladiador replaced Eterno. Maxima Velocida beat Carta Brava with a two man Spanish Fly.
2) Faby Apache & Jennifer Blake b Mary Apache & Taya Valkyrie
Faby submitted Mary for the win. Taya powerbombed Faby after the match, and said she’d beat her at TripleMaia.
3) Daga, El Apache, Psicosis b Aerostar, Atomic Boy, Axel
Daga beat Axel with a top rope Destroyer. Axel was strechered out – until Daga knocked him off the stretcher. Apache unmasked Atomic Boy after the match.
4) Angélico & Jack Evans b Drago & Fénix
Jack beat Fenix with his 630 senton in a good match. Money thrown in the ring.
5) Electroshock & Heavy Metal b Silver King & Texano Jr.
Metal pinned Texano with a casita.
6) Canek, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Villano IV b Cibernético, Dr. Wagner Jr., El Mesías
the ‘surprise’ return of Dr. Wagner Jr. He feuded with Canek, and Canek took Wagner’s mask and pinned him to win the match. The two teased a mask vs mask match.

Air Date: 06/16 for sure, probably 06/09 too.

The show began with a tribute to Hector Garza. Perro Aguayo dedicated his TripleMania match to him, and wrote his name on his wrist tape. Many of the luchadors wore purple armbands in honor of Hector Garza.

Canek vs Dr. Wagner Jr. as a replacement for LA Park vs Dr. Wagner Jr. works in terms of notoriety though not as much in-ring. For what it’s worth, El Hijo del Santo was telling people the LA Park vs Dr. Wagner Jr. feud would get resolved and implied Wagner would be back as soon as he was done working out his AAA commitments. I’d assume that’s what Wagner has told him. I wouldn’t assume that is actually happening.

Most everything on the card is just keeping things in place for TripleMania. The fourth match sounds like it was very good.

Next taping is actually 06/14 in Leon, but that’s mostly a lame duck  taping before TripleMania. TripleMania is o 06/16.