April 25, 2014 – luchablog

CMLL on CadenaTres: 2014-04-05

April 25, 2014April 24, 2014 thecubsfan

taped 2014-04-01 @ Arena México

Bengala does Sombra de Plata’s cradle very well.

Bengala & Flyer vs Akuma & Ramstein: I was kind of concerned about Bengala getting hurt with all the unnecessary face kicks Akuma was doing, and then Ramstein left the match after a Flyer fireman’s drop. I guess it depends on how you do it, or it’s all totally random. Losing Ramstein didn’t derail this, because there wasn’t much to derail. Flyer had no idea to do when there wasn’t a second técnico to feed him for moves, but Bengala is smart and realized that means you just end the match. They actually counted out Ramstein, which is different for an injury.

Acero, Astral, Pequeño Halcón vs Demus 3:16, Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico: Not an inspiring group of técnicos, but it could’ve been worse. It turned out okay. Unsure if the spot where the rudos got control of the match was a planned missed dropkick or if Astral just screwed up. Astral was off aim wise on other spots, so there’s a way I’m leaning here. This turned into build up for the cage match at the end, though it was probably a little to late for that. Pierroth was shown in the crowd, and seemed to be in significantly better condition than we last saw him, which is the best thing on this show by far.

Hombre Bala Jr., Oro Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus: There’s not enough of the Cancerberos teaming up as a trio, so it was good to get it here and good for them to show why they’re a fun team by running off the técnicos by the end. This was a good match. Raziel had a very good match and looked incredible in the first fall. Oro got to work with Virus and seemed capable of being in this match, which is nice for him. End of the second fall was odd, with Halcón stopping the beatdown by suddenly sliding out on a whip and Oro attempting to put on a nudo – if that’s what that was, it’s wasn’t really good. Virus did a similar concept much better in the third fall, but that’s the difference between the two.

Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Boby Zavala, Misterioso Jr., Pólvora: 15 minutes of action in a 10 minute match, though they might have gotten it done in 9 had Delta been a little bit faster. They were working at the kind of pace where guys were almost breaking up pinfalls before the cover had been made. There was no obvious reason why they were going double speed from the start. They kept it together well considering all the wanted to get in and the little time they had to do it, but there wasn’t enough to this match to really get into it, or even take a breath.

La Sombra, Mistico, Tritón vs Averno, Mephisto, Puma: Nuevo Valores is a good concept with some flaws. Puma and Triton were billed as getting a chance in a main event, but there really wasn’t much time for them with the focus on Averno and Místico for next week. We got brief teases of what they could do – Puma confounding Sombra with his leg kicks was interesting – but this wasn’t much about them. Match was fine for the build up. Averno escaped La Mistica and beat Místico clean with his finish, and it’s not the only time he’d do that. That’s a major difference in how CMLL protects this version of the character as opposed to the last. Congrats to the rudos for managing to throw all three técnicos over the técnicos over the barricade at about the same time. That should be instant fall win. Instead, they had to wait until Mephisto found Sombra too annoying to go on and took him out with a Devil’s Wings.

tonight’s Arena Mexico show, June AAA TV stops, Rey del Aire

April 25, 2014April 25, 2014 thecubsfan 1 Comment

Tonight’s Arena Mexico main event is Rush, La Sombra, and La Mascara versus Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas and Shocker – or at least Shocker’s the plan. He’s missed the last week and a half of En Busca de un Idol. CMLL sometimes sneaks in changes in their show previews, but Shocker is still listed there. Shocker himself said on Twitter that he would be at Arena Mexico tonight. The preview pushes Rush & Sombra’s hated (and hateful) tecnico act of late, but this still looks like a setup to a La Mascara/Rush tag team title defense.

Tonight’s En Busca de un Idolo matches, starting off week 4, are Super Halcon Jr. versus Soberano and Hechicero versus Star Junior. They’ll reach the halfway point of this round after tonight’s matches, which means only 4 more Guerrero Negro Jr. & 3 more Super Halcon Jr. matches where they get yelled at afterward and have no real chance to win. Very little of this competition appears to be thought about in advance – note the behind the scenes videos lasted a whole one week, and that Fox Sports 2 is under the belief they’re airing these matches at some point even though CMLL hasn’t mentioned it – but if they had thought a little more about this year’s format, they would’ve realized it meant the last few finishers would be treated like pinatas for two months, damage which will care forward for a long time. Polvora got similarly mocked last year, but was a champion and so got a chance to redeem himself in other spotlight matches. Those matches are probably not coming for Negro & Halcon.

I’ve been pretty persistent in believing Guerrero Negro Jr. needs a different gimmick (he’s 30 and looks older), but if they CMLL has any plans of using him at all, they’d be smart having him disappear for six weeks after this over and come back in with a new name and a mask because he’s never getting over after this without a big change. Maybe Super Halcon will be treated differently back in his tag team (one which CMLL hasn’t had any particular plans for in a while, so maybe not), or maybe Super Halcon will give into Tirantes and quit. I don’t want to see anyone lose their jobs, but if you’re having people speaking for CMLL declaring specific luchadors are not good enough to be in CMLL, maybe they shouldn’t actually be in CMLL? Or maybe this week is the start of a delightful and thought out redemption story for one or both, but that seems the most unlikely outcome of all.

Note that the Busca matches are one spot down on the card than usual, which might mean a shorter Terra show. No one will know until the moment CMLL cuts off the broadcast.

Marisela Pena told fans on Twitter that AAA would be going to Quetetaro, Puebla, and Orizaba in June. Puebla is specifically mentioned as a TV taping, and the other two are probably meant to be ones as well. Either Puebla or Orizaba is likely Verano de Escandalo, though AAA hasn’t started promoting that event yet.

Guerrero Maya Jr. and Tiger both feel good about their chances in Reyes del Aire. Maya says this is the first time he’s been in one because he was sick previously. It is true he was ill and missed the 2011 one, but he was part of the 2012 and giant sized 2013 ones – he made it to the final three in his group last year. Meanwhile, Tiger talks about being in third and fourth in previous times, which only is right if he means he was third out one year and fourth out the other year. It’s almost like there’s so many tournaments in CMLL that what happens about them is completely forgotten by the next year, especially by those who participated in them. (Should still be a good match!)

Anime and Pirata Negro are filming a short movie – but since the picture an article used to promote the movie is Pirata Negro’s hand is covering up certain parts of Anime’s anatomy, people are apparently talking more about the picture. A poster on SuperLuchas, a successful website which seems to only occasional post about lucha libre, is upset about the attention this type of scandal thing in social media instead of people writing about the traditional lucha libre – in a post which shares the photo and no information about traditional lucha libre. It will also get a lot of clicks because it’s a picture of a half naked woman on the internet, not because anyone wants to have a discussion about the things people should be talking about. The irony is Anime and Pirata Negro (who wrestle around the Mexico City area) explain they’re doing this movie to get people to write about them since they haven’t gotten opportunities or attention otherwise. That seems to almost have worked, except people probably still don’t know their names since the picture seems to be going around without the article. Nice try though.

Half naked people in a lucha libre reminds me that Lucha Va Voom is running Cinco de Mayo shows. They’re in Los Angeles on May 1st and 2nd and over here in May 3rd. The Chicago show lists Casandro, Matt Classic, and Joey Ryan among the luchadors. I probably should go but I probably should go to a lot more shows and instead stare at the mountain of material for recaps.

LuchaWorld has a recap of Week 3 of En Busca de un Idolo.

Rob has highlights of late February 2001 CMLL.

Segunda Caida reviews Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas vs Marco Corleone, Máximo, Super Porky.

El Hijo del Santo’s column is about the early life of Blue Panther. He notes Halcon Suriano (grandfather of Pequeno Halcon) was an important mentor in Panther’s life.

Vaquerita talks about her return, says she’d like to have a title match with Amapola.

Demonio Maya talks about his career so far.

Electroshock wants a match against any member of la Sociedad, one on one. Don’t listen to him!

CMLL Guerreros del Ring on 52MX: 2014-04-05

April 25, 2014April 23, 2014 thecubsfan

recap

taped 2014-03-25 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
Gallo, Leo, Starman vs Camorra, Sádico, Shigeo Okumura: The problem with pushing Leo as a young upcoming técnico is Leo does not appear to be much good at this point in his career. He is young, maybe he’ll get there, but Camorra also isn’t a guy who is going to cover his mistakes. The good part of this feud is it’s hair feud between two people who have hair. The not-good part of this feud is everything else. It’s not horrendous, but it’s strange it’s even happening. Same thing for this match. Sadico lost his mohawk and was a little better last week, but came off as more interesting than his fellow Guadalajara youngster.

taped 2014-03-30 @ Arena Coliseo
Fuego vs Ephesto in a lightning match: This show aired four matches this week because it was important to show Fuego, who has a whole elaborate dance routine (occasionally with back up dancers!) that’s made him more interesting to the general public, losing to going nowhere Ephesto. This is the best example of the random carelessness which most CMLL booking decisions are made. Speaking of random, this match had Ephesto use his big shoulderbreaker on Fuego, walk to the apron, put his hand on the top rope, and hurry back into pin. I have no idea why. Match was turning taking for the most part, though Fuego did get in a lot of dives before his eventual loss.

Diamante Azul, La Máscara, Titán vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys: Clipped down low stakes trios match where Titan was still flipping around. And so he got beat too. This was a big whatever. No one looked bad, nothing you need to see.

Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Máximo vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Rey Escorpión: Atlantis/Niebla build up for the following week’s trios matches, which pretty much follows the same formula. Rudos attack but Atlantis rallies back to win the first fall anyway, then Niebla wins the second fall with a splash. Third fall is the only different (and some of what happens in between the finishes.) Máximo and Rey Escorpion brought up their feud and Negro Casas and Marco Corleone have an established routine and that’s what this was.