Fenix wins a Tijuana title, GDL mask match, DragonMania, Tempestad

Crash (FRI) 06/14/2013 Auditorio de Tijuana [The Gladiatores]
1) Black Boy, Juventud 2000, Star Dragon b Bufalo Ayala, Mosco Negro, Sargon
Juventued powerbombed Mosco Negro onto barbed wire in the opener.
2) Animal b Eternus and Black Spider and Cinico
Animal beat Eternus
3) Jennifer Blake & Zarco b Faby Apache & Jonathan
Jonathan replaced Viento. Rudos won with help from the referee.
4) Fenix (AAA) b Angel Metalico, Tony Casanova, Flamita, Willie Mack, Pentagón Jr., Star Boy, X-Torm [The Crash Cruiser]
Order of elimination: Flamita, Willie Mack (Star Boy & Metalico), Casanova (Star Boy), Angel Metalico (Pentagon), Pentagon (Fenix), Star Boy (X-Torm), X-Torm (Fenix) leaving Fenix as the first champion.
5) Cibernético b el Hijo del Perro Aguayo [bull terrier]
Tony Casanova & Pentagon Jr. were Perros del Mal for the night. Fenix helped out Cibernetico. Cibernetico chokeslammed Casanova & Pentagon and touched all four corners in “solo un para de minutos de haber sonado la campana” (just a few minutes after the bell rung – quick match.)

CMLL (SUN) 06/16/2013 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [@acogdl]
1) Idolo & Javier Cruz Jr. b Acertijo & Satara
Acertijo replaced Thunder Boy. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Esfinge, León Blanco, Virgo b Espectrum, Infierno, Ráfaga
Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Azteca de Oro & Sky Kid b Demonio Rojo & Sádico and El Hippie & Leo and Évola & Exterminador
list as Full Ring de Parejas, reads like a four way elimination match. Exterminador fouled Hippie to cause his disqualification. Demonio Rojo jumped on Hipipe to pin him. Azteca de Oro & Sky Kid beat Demonio Rojo. This sets up a Demonio Rojo vs Azteca de Oro mask match for 06/30, which will be Arena Coliseo Guadalajara’s anniversary show.
4) Princesa Blanca b Luna Mágica [lightning]
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Hijo del Fantasma, Rey Cometa, Tritón
listed as a straight fall win, Nibela beating Fantasma in both falls.

Black Terry Jr. has a lot of photos from Saturday’s Toryumon Mexico show. I haven’t seen results yet, but it seems like the usual Ultimo Dragon-ness. (Atlantis won a TV!) A Mascarita Dorada II did wrestle on the show, as did Vengador Radiactivo from Arena Xalapa. The Dragon Rumble seemed to include people even more random than usual – Relampago! Violento Jack! Aero Boy! – and also Magnus.

The turnout for Dragonmania, which I believe is mostly free tickets, looks to be more than the Friday or Sunday shows in the same building. Black Terry Jr. was told he could not post his photos from TripleMania. AAA let the Yahoo! Deportes photographer post his photos.

R de Rudo also has photos from the AAA post show press conference. It’s something to see El Hijo del Perro Aguayo, covered in blood, dedicating his win to the late Hector Garza. One year ago, El Hijo del Perro Aguayo was covered in blood, blaming Hector Garza for his loss.

R de Rudo also interviewed Hijo del Santo about his son. Santo sort of refers to his stint in NOAH like a summer job, “he could’ve just taken a break in Mexico, but he decided to work.” He wants Tempestad to not wrestle like a clone of himself and Santo and instead be his own complete luchador. Hijo del Santo says Canek is one of the best Mexican heavyweights ever and he’d like Temepstad to wrestle more like him.

Rob has highlights of 11/09/12 CMLL.

LuchaWorld has a recap of the CMLL on Terra show and KrisZ’s news update.

Links

06/16 CMLL Arena Mexico Results (Estetas del Aire new trios champions)

photo by CMLL

CMLL (SUN) 06/16/2013 Arena Mexico
1) Metatrón & Sensei b Akuma & Zayco
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Molotov, Soberano Jr., Stigma b Apocalipsis, Espanto Jr., Inquisidor
Tecnicos took 2/3, Molotov pinning Inquisidor (though it sure looked like a double pin to me.)
3) Dalis la Caribeña b Dark Angel, Lluvia, Estrellita, Goya Kong, Tiffany, Princesa Sugheit, La Comandante, Zeuxis, La Seductora [cibernetico]
Dark Angel replaces Silueta. Eliminations went Zeuxis (Dalis), Lluvia (Seductora), Comandante (Goya), Estrellita (Tiffany), Seductora (Dark Angel), Goya Kong (Tiffany & Princesa Sugheit), Tiffany (Dark Angel), Dark Angel (Sugheit), Sugheit (Dallys casita.)
4) La Máscara, Rush, Titán b Kráneo, Mr. Águila, Psicosis
Rush destroyed Mr. Aguila with dropkicks in this match, then dropped him on his head with a Rush Driver. Rush put his foot on Aguila’s face while yelling him at for an apuesta match.
5) Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente b Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero [CMLL TRIOS, final]
Tecnicos took 1/3 in a good match, with a La Mistica on Ultimo Guerrero to win it. Estetas become 25th champion.

First three matches were not good. Rush started destroying people in the semimain and things turned around. Main event was a lot of fun. It was very much an Ultimo Guerrero match, but the tecnicos got to look exactly like the high flying tecnico trio they were set up to be. It probably deserved to be at a higher exposure occasion (though the crowd appeared to be good) and it’s not helpful to lump all the big tecnico triumphs together because it hurts their impact, but it’s made for some fun matches.

Running list of people who appear to be in the cage match CMLL hasn’t announced: Rush, Mr. Aguila, Negro Casas, Rey Escorpion, Blue Panther, Averno, Brazo de Plata, Shocker and Maximo. Terrible fits based off the En Busca de un Idolo incident on Friday, which would make an even 10.

Women’s match had some frustrating results, even beyond the finish. Crowd was mixed at best about Dallys winning, unlike when Goya won a similar match. (They were also very unhappy when Goya lost.) Never try a casita on a Casas family members unless they’ve tried one first. It works if you escape and put on your own, but if you try it before they do, you’re doomed.

This seems minor to complain about compared to other streaming issues, but Terra’s had a problem with their feeds lagging behind each other for weeks now and really needs to fix it already. It doesn’t do their product any good for different parts of the show airing at different times, especially when someone of those feeds don’t finish before the show ends. Maybe now that they’re “only doing two shows a week”, they can find some time to resolve this problem.

06/16 AAA TripleMania Results (Perro shaves Cibernetico)

AAA TV (SUN) 06/16/2013 Arena Ciudad de Mexico
***TripleMania XXI***
1) Dinastía, El Elegido, Faby Apache, Pimpinela Escarlata b Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Silver King, Taya Valkyrie
2) Heavy Metal b Chessman [#1 Contenders, AAA HEAVY]
Metal pinned Chessman with a casita.
3) Crazy Boy & Joe Lider b Angélico & Jack Evans and Drago & Fénix and Daga & Psicosis and Mr. E & Sexy B [AAA TAG]
Mr. E & Sexy B are from WWL, and beat Angelico & Jack. Drago & Fenix beat them. Lider & Crazy beat Perros del Mal. Crazy Boy gave Drago a piledriver for the win. Mexican Powers became 11th champions. Vampiro presented them with the belts, which brought out Konnan for an argument and a teased match between them.
4) Jeff Jarrett, Matt Morgan, Monster Pain b Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
Jarrett won and Marisela and Karen feuded.
5) Texano Jr. b Heavy Metal [AAA HEAVY]
Texano Jr. beat Metal, making his sixth defense.
6) Blue Demon Jr. b El Mesías [AAA LA]
Hugo Savinovich seconded Mesias. Axel seconded Demon. Clean match which the crowd didn’t like. Blue Demon Jr. won the title. LA Park made a surprise appearance, announcing he was leaving AAA (he’d already left), handing Blue Demon the title and talking up both men. They all hugged.
7) Dr. Wagner Jr., Electroshock, La Parka, Octagón b Canek, Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000, Villano IV
Goyito Perez was not with Octagon. Dorian Roldan was with the legends and interfering often, though it wasn’t clear they wanted his help at the end. Wagner beat Universo.
8) el Hijo del Perro Aguayo b Cibernético [hair]
tons of interference and blood. Cibernetico had Perro pinned, but the ref was down and the back up didn’t arrive in time. Perro came back to win with the double stomp. He dedicated the win to Hector Garza and his family (Garza was also honored before the match.) Cibernetico was shaved clean.

The actual talk about the show itself has gotten passed over for talk about the iPPV. I’m going to try and do both, but I’ll do the talk about the actual show first.

The tag match sounds like it was the best match of the show, and the legends match the least in quality. Main event is the style thing – if you like the bloody, interference and controversy style match, you’ll like it.

The big omission from those results was Abismo Negro being added to the Hall of Fame. Abismo family and Mini Abismo accepted on his behalf. That was an easy call and probably in the works for a while. Hector Garza should be added next year.

One big correction on the results: Goyito Perez was NOT at the show. He posted on Twitter about 90 minutes before the show that he was not going to make it. (Deportivo was the first to pick up on this.) Octagon later mentioned Goyito suffered a knee injury, which is an odd thing to crop up just 90 minutes before a show. Perez’s previous posts were about flight issues. I dunno. Whatever happened, it may explain why Dorian Roldan was involved in the Legends match, a storyline he didn’t really fit in at all – either he was there to get hit by Perez, or Perez was supposed to hit someone in the match and they needed a new way to set up a questionable finish. It still seems like a spot that might have better fit with Konnan – remember, he was the guy being credit for putting the team together at the AAA Press Conference – but maybe it’ll make more sense when it airs.

That match kept the Villano IV vs La Parka feud. That’s a pretty great mask match for Villano IV if he’s getting it. It also continued a theme on the night: as much as AAA has talked up it’s great new young stars, it went strongly behind the older names tonight. Ray Mendoza Jr. (Villano V) was brought in to face Texano Jr. in a title match down the line, the Legends match was moved to the semimain and even the tag team title match turned into background for another Vampiro vs Konnan match.

There’s a good line of thought that you need recognizable names if you’re heading to new places, but it’s a disappointing turn of events to anyone who likes the current AAA product for the exciting young luchadors. There was not a big break thru moment for any of them on this show. Vampiro is far more popular than Fenix because of his fantastic 90s run. The problem is all the fans of Vampiro are the fans from that time; anyone new is going to see a man who does not have much left offer. Lucha libre in general is obsessed with bringing back those fans from past glory periods, but they might want to give reasons for new fans to come aboard at some point.

Texano could be pointed as the young break thru luchador, but his impact has been greatly minimized. It sounds like they gave his title match all the treatments of a major match, without actually positioning it like one. Positioning it fourth on the card, behind another title match, and setting up a retired luchador as the top challenger makes it a secondary title. AAA also has become weirdly reliant on fan’s knowledge and interest in CMLL storylines to make the challengers to this title. We were supposed to care about Heavy Metal vs Texano because (among other reasons), they had a hair match that even I couldn’t remember. We’re supposed to take Villano V seriously as a challenger not because of anything he did in AAA years ago, but because he beat Blue Panther in a mask match. For a promotion who has no regard for CMLL’s creativity (for good reason!), this is so weird.

Of course, the heavyweight title is still better than the trios titles.

I’ll talk more about the show after we see it.

Next taping: heck if I know.

iPPV notes.

People who contacted uStream about a refund have been told refunding is in process. Really just a form letter, but it’s a good sign about getting their money.  AAA’s comments on this suggest this part of the deal is not in their hands – it may be something where uStream holds the money until the show airs successfully and so AAA doesn’t have access to it themselves to return it. This may not be a speedy process; uStream customer support seems off on the weekend (which sure didn’t help here) and so they’re just starting to handle it today. uStream should refund everyone, but it would not hurt to contact customer support to ask for one. If you did order the show, let me know how your refund works out.

AAA has been very apologetic about the situation, but also are shifting all the blame  to uStream. I find it hard to believe it’s completely uStream’s fault based on other promotions having no problem with the service. It does not absolve AAA from handling the iPPV failure horribly on the day of the show. There was little word on what was going on, there was evidently no backup plan in case of a problem (which should have been no surprise given other iPPVs) and users had to wait until about midnight to get a solution. AAA was unprepared.

Again, iPPV revenues for TripleMania were not much. If I had to guess, I’d guess it was less than they paid for Matt Morgan. There’s the issue of annoying a dedicated group of fans. There’s also the issue that AAA wants to run in two different countries as essentially two different companies, and the level of issue here doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in that. Maybe they just didn’t have the manpower to make sure affected people were kept informed about the outage yesterday, but if they didn’t have enough for that, are they going to be handle the logistics of TV tapings in different countries? 1 bad iPPV doesn’t mean they can’t pull this off, but throw in things like whatever happened with Octagon Jr.  and other issues and you should have some doubts about this. AAA was ambitious to put on an iPPV, but they were not capable of their ambitions. AAA’s ambitious to run in the US, and I don’t know.

I think there also a cultural divide going on. As a hardcore wrestling fan in the US, we’re tend to be more skeptical/paranoid about wrestling promotions. We tend to look for them to stay true to carnival roots, focused on ways to scam the money from the marks, and the entertaining stuff that happens in between is just a happy accident. That’s really not true of most promotions, but I think we’ve got our guards up for something like to happen. (Unfortunately, I think this is why the Masked Republic Kickstarter has struggled so far.) When a show takes $15 for a show that didn’t happen, that plays right into those beliefs. I’m not sure it’s the same feeling in Mexico or elsewhere. I kind of get the vibe that it’s more a “they tried, these things happened, let’s just move on” in some places, but then I also saw a lot of angry words in Spanish in uStream’s chat box last night.

Update 1:30pm: Marisela Pena is saying they flew in a uStream tech from Germany who could not get the stream to work. AAA had no problem broadcasting the show up to the point where uStream was supposed to take over, so they feel it’s uStream’s fault. The uStream tech blamed AAA.