Month: June 2014

AAA RCH (SAT) 06/14/2014 Arena Lopez Mateos [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), MedioTiempo (5), MedioTiempo (rest)]
1) Arana Negra & Spider Boy b Ironía & Rey Inmortal
bonus match with arena regulars.
2) Atenea Queen & Jet Boy b Rocko & Yuca La Potranquita
Keira (out because she’s trying to get into CMLL) was replaced by Atenea. Men were both surprise wrestlers.
3) Aerostar, Australian Suicide, Fénix b Eterno, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Steve Pain
4) Pentagón Jr. & Sexy Star b Drago & Faby Apache
5) Atomic Star L Araña de Plata, Látigo, Principe Diamante, Matrix, Power Bull, Sky Ángel, Kalibus, Omega (IWRG) [cage, mask]
Omega was added to the match. Luchadors had to fight for 10 minutes before leaving. Arana, Atomic and Latigo were the last three. Arana escaped, Latigo pulled Atomic Star off the cage for a big move, and Latigo escaped to leave Atomic behind. Atomic Star is Osmar Denova Hernandez, 19 years a wrestler, 4 years professional.
6) Psycho Clown b Texano Jr., Zorro, Cibernético [RCH HEAVY]
New championship. Zorro & Cibernetico were counted out fighting each other, Texano fouled Psycho Clown, Psycho fouled Texano, Psycho got the pin. That wasn’t so hard after all! Psycho challenged Texano to a mask vs hair match.

Not sure if there a few luchadors using Atenea as part of their name, or if there’s just one and no one can remember which noun is attached to her name. (Guessing the latter.) A bit of surprise for Atomic Boy to lose his mask, but maybe he wasn’t sure when he’d get this kind of opportunity. Psycho Clown actually beating Texano for a title kind is counter productive to the story AAA’s trying to tell, so acknowledging that result in anyway (even by showing the belt) is probably a bad idea. Kind of hoping they do anyway.

Cara Lucha (SAT) 06/14/2014 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [Estrellas del Ring, Furia de Titanes, The Gladiatores]
1) Rayostar & Skyman b Dragon Kick & Magnetico
2) Broken Clown, Dave The Clown, Rothen Clown b Fishman Jr., Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr.
3) Akuma & Demus 3:16 b Belial & Impulso
4) Dragón Rojo Jr. b Zumbi
World Cup preview match, with Dragon Rojo winning it for the home team.
5) Felino, Puma (CMLL), Tiger DDQ Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II
Casas took fall 1, Navarros the second, and Trauma 2 fouled Tiger as Tiger fouled Trauma in the third for the DDQ. Everyone talked rematch.

This indy group wants to run regular CMLL vs Independent matches. I guess Zumbi’s back to being an independent again – and Hijo del Pirata is working semimains without a contract? Maybe someone just got away with something here, don’t tell CMLL. On the same note, Rafael el Maya was referee for this show – or at least was supposed to be. He refereed the early matches, then came out later in the show to explain he was not refereeing any match with CMLL luchadors to avoid problems with the promotion – he didn’t want the CMLL luchadors to run into issues about having a match with someone who worked for AAA last week. Maya’s son refereed in his place. Maya isn’t listed as referee on the AAA TV cards going forward; it’d be unfortunate if he didn’t end up with an AAA spot and couldn’t work outside shows with CMLL wrestlers at the same time, but he had to know that was a risk before he agreed to work the Verano show.

Dragon Rojo is a huge soccer fan on Twitter and surely hopes his team does the same to Brazil on Tuesday.

 

CMLL (SUN) 06/15/2014 Arena México [CMLL, LuchaWorld]
1) Flyer & Starman b Espanto Jr. & Zayco 
Tecnicos took 1/3
2) Estrellita, La Vaquerita, Marcela DQ Dalys, La Seductora, Princesa Blanca 
Vaquerita replaced Lluvia on Monday. Tecnicas took 1/3, Seductora DQed for refusing to stop pulling Marcela’s hair.
3) Blue Panther, Sagrado, Stuka Jr. b Kráneo, Morphosis, Olímpico 
Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Ángel de Oro, La Máscara, Super Porky b Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys 
Tecnicos took 1/3 despite La Mascara not getting along with his teammates.
5) Virus © b Fuego [CMLL SL]  
This match was preceded by a long edecan dance number for Father’s Day. Seconds were Stuka & Vangellys. Virus submitted Fuego (in what was originally seemed like a cradle) in the first. Fuego pinned Virus in the second (after the referee refused to count a previous attempt for being almost under the ropes.) Virus defeated Fuego in the third with the Gori Special into a mecedora into a campana. Virus’ 6th defense.
6) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Valiente b Mr. Niebla, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero 
Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when UG suddenly pulled Atlantis’ mask. Usual tease of the mask match happening really soon.

Virus versus Fuego was very good. His ones from earlier this year were slightly better – Virus threw out a rematch challenge To Titan after this one, which everyone would be okay with – and my memory is the previous Fuego challenge was also better, but this was a good/great match in itself. First two falls were almost entirely on the mat. That’s a challenge at all times, but directly followed beautiful women in skimpy clothes dancing around here. There crowd could’ve gotten restless and tuned out, but Fuego & Virus kept them intersted and they were very invested into the finish. Virus retaining the championship leaves open the possibility of an upcoming defense against any of the Dragon Lee/Cachorro/Cavernario En Busca de un Idolo semifinalists – they could all pass for lightweight as much as Fuego, and they would all have the winner versus rival coach hook.

If anyone else cares about me, his championship was always called “ligero” tonight – super’s definitely been dropped. (Until, like so many spellings of Sugehit and Dallys, they change their minds again.)

Women’s match was the second best match on otherwise forgettable show, though Marcela/Seductora does not sound promising. They’ve done that before in Puebla, actually, which would make twice for that title match and zero for Marcela/Zeuxis.

En Busca de un Idolo poll as of around 11pm tonight

81711 Hechicero
17159 Cachorro
 3431 Dragon Lee
 1162 Cavernario

Cachorro being ahead by that much = anything can happen, but Cachorro probably should be going thru. Really, this tournament isn’t as much in the hands of the fan as the hands of whoever responsible for converting votes into poll points.

The big news from the IWRG show tonight is Vampiro may no longer be IWRG heavyweight champion. I’m sorry, I should’ve made sure you were sitting down first, hope you’re ok. Challenges set up a Wagner, Park, Mascara Sagrada, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Demon Clown and Hijo de Dos Caras cage match for the (presumably vacnat) IWRG Heavyweight Championship. It’s tough to decide a heavyweight champion in a cage match, but IWRG has actually done exactly this before – Tabu won the heavyweight title when he was the second to last person out of the cage, which would be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of it didn’t sound like they were actually going to do it again (even stupider!)  That was also a Wagner Promotions (Silver King) produced show, which seems a clue about who might be behind these suddenly more expensive Sunday shows.

Not sure if that’s the greatest crew to pick a new champion, since they’ve got three guys who won’t be around and probably won’t be interested in losing (Sagrada possibly excepted), one guy who is middleweight champion, one guy who is very green, and one guy who is very awful. IWRG did draw a big house, but it’s always for the names and never for the booking.

Blue Demon is listed as working an indy show on 08/17, which would mean no TripleMania for him. However, Blue Demon says he’s never been asked to work that show.

Aeroboy lost in the first round of the King of the Death Match tournament, but was announced as returning to CZW soon.

Rob has highlights of 03/18/14 CMLL and mid August 2001 CMLL.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Super Libre has Al Carrillo, Pantera, and Dragon Rojo Jr. as guests. Thrill to Pantera’s latest reasoning for still wrestling with his mask.

CMLL has their promo for next Friday and their second promo for Juicio Final.

Lover_Ice returns with a new NotiLover news update.

+LuchaTV asks the fans what they think about the new Rush, Sombra, Mascara trio.

There’s a pictorial book of Juarez lucha libre and bullfighting said to be coming out this Winter.

CMLL (FRI) 06/13/2014 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Black Panther & Starman b Akuma & Espiritu Negro 
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Demus 3:16, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito b Acero, Astral, Eléctrico 
Rudos took 2/3 in a usual minis match.
3) Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Rey Escorpión b Blue Panther, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. 
Rudos took 2/3 in a good match.
4) Cavernario b Dragon Lee [En Busca de un Idolo] 
Cavernario won with a cavernaria after some subtle cheating. Judges were Rush, Ultimo Guerrero, Shocker, Tirantes. Cavernario scored a 1, 10, 10, 7, with Rush criticizing Cavernario for playing too much to the audience as a rudo. Dragon Lee scored a 6, 9, 10, 9 with Rush criticizing Dragon Lee for training with Negro Casas instead of him and Sombra.
5) Hechicero b Cachorro [En Busca de un Idolo] 
Hechicero beat Cachorro with a fujiwara. Hechicero scored a 1, 8, 9 and 10, with Rush calling Hechicero boring. Cachorro scored a 4, 10, 9, 10 with Rush saying Cachorro should be be training with the Panthers and not Casas. Casas grabbed the microphone to accuse Rush of ripping the participants to hold them back. Rush and Casas fought, with Rush getting the better of it.
6) Atlantis, Máximo, Super Porky b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
Tecnicos took 2/3.
7) Negro Casas & Shocker b La Máscara & Rush © [CMLL TAG]
Rush & La Mascara won the first, but got themselves DQed in the second and Casas & Shocker took the third fall to win the match. Casas & Shocker are 37th Champions. Casas has won the belt for the 6th time, Shocker the third. Rush & La Mascara fall on second defense.

The finish suggests they’re moving close to Rush/Casas – Rush needed to get a win, and appears to have gotten a clean one here – but Rush & Shocker challenged for a double apuesta match suggests they’re all still fooling around. The new promo for Juicio Final airing last night did push the idea of past big apuesta matches, but still assume a cage until told different.

Shocker and Negro Casas were very happy after the main event. Rush, not so much. Mascara should be very concerned, Sombra & Rush don’t really need him now.

En Busca de un Idolo (or “the best Japanese junior heavyweight tournament of 2014”) Week 3 Standings

219 Hechicero – clinched
166 Dragon Lee
—-
162 Cavernario
158 Cachorro

There’s a bit of a problem – Cavernario should’ve gotten 21 points for last week’s fan polling results, but someone typed in 11. That’s the difference between him making it or not. CMLL did appear to correct a mistake with Cachorro’s fan poll earlier, but did not clear up other typos. That 10 points would put Cavernario ahead of Dragon Lee by 6 points.

Cachorro would probably be advancing had he won. Dragon Lee would probably be advancing had he won. Cavernario won, which suggests he’s the guy CMLL would like to advance – but the way they’ve done it, it’s really completely up to the fan poll. If Dragon Lee or Cavernario finish the top of this trio, they’re advancing. It’ll come down to how they give out points for fan votes (which is very inconsistent) if Cachorro comes out ahead. Unless someone runs away with the poll, we – and CMLL! – will not be sure who’s in the final until Wednesday. That means they may not also decide who’s actually winning this whole thing until then – unless it’s already Hechicero. I believed Hechicero was going to make the final since the qualifying cibernetico was announced, but after last night’s results, I think he might actually win this thing.

+LuchaTV also interviewed Hechicero about his match with Caifan on the LuchaMania show, Rush calling him boring and the changes in his style. Also, Rey Escorpion mocks Delta & Maya and Dragon Rojo analyzes the Mexico National Team.

Segunda Caida reviews last night’s matches.

Tickets for TripleMania will run from 144 to 1920 Mexican Pesos ($11 to $147.50). No matches are listed, just La Parka, “Myztezis” (sic), Cibernetico, Psycho Clown and Texano Jr. The description also calls it a “macroevento”, a term I like.

The show, on 08/17, actually is the same night as WWE’s SummerSlam. WWE is still on traditional PPV in Mexico and those companies aren’t going to want to put a second PPV on the same night so TripleMania will probably not be broadcast live. AAA could always try iPPV, but Konnan saying they were working on it earlier this year went absolutely nowhere and it probably doesn’t make any sense for that date for the same reasons traditional PPV would be a struggle. The show will instead air over a number of weeks on TV, which means AAA will not need to tape TV for a few weeks after TripleMania, which means that’s the ideal time to decamp to Los Angeles and tape the US show. We’ll see if it happens.

AAA’s posted the dark matches from Celaya: Cadetes vs Juniors and Reina de Reinas title shot match. Today’s AAA TV will include the relevos AAA, Mexican Powers vs Anarquia and Psycho Clown versus Texano Jr.

Psycho Clown wants Texano’s hair. It was a couple years ago when AAA (Dorian) talked about focusing more on the championships than the apuesta matches, with the idea that titles were easier to manage. They’ve gone a bit 180 on that.

CMLL on Fox aired two matches, so Volador vs Sombra should’ve gotten a great deal of time. CMLL on 52MX went the other way, again trying to force in four matches. Intro for Negro Casas & Rush started at 52 minutes after the hour; it didn’t go long.

Tomorrow is the show honoring Mini Chessman

CMLL has brought back their Top 10 of the week, which is more the biggest 10 newsmakers than a ranking. Sombra was #1 last week (it’s right there in his song.)

Sangre Azteca has a solar panel installation business.

Mundo Nuestro visits Arena Puebla.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 06/20/2014 Arena México
1) Hombre Bala Jr. & Tritón vs Kamaitachi & Shigeo Okumura
2) Dark Angel, Goya Kong, Princesa Sugheit vs La Seductora, Princesa Blanca, Tiffany
3) Hechicero vs ? [En Busca de un Idolo, final]
4) Atlantis vs La Sombra, Rush, Mr. Niebla, Super Porky, La Máscara, Máximo, Valiente, Shocker, Terrible, Último Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Dragón Rojo Jr., Euforia, Rey Escorpión, Vangellys [Leyenda de Azul]

Four match show. No slowing down for the World Cup (which Blue Demon has gone to, leaving him unable to complain about his least favorite CMLL tournament.)

past Leyenda de Azul winners
2000-10-27: Blue Panther
2003-08-08: Tarzan Boy
2004-10-08: Universo 2000
2005-07-15: Hijo de Lizmark
2006-11-03: Rey Bucanero
2011-07-29: Mr. Niebla
2012-10-12: Diamante Azul

It’s been two year since CMLL last ran this, two years since CMLL so delighted by having the fake Blue Demon win the Blue Demon tournament. There’s no obvious reason Azul isn’t in this one. Note Mr. Niebla is listed with the tecnicos (but then, so are Rush, La Mascara & Sombra.) This was a single elimination tournament in 2005 & 06 and a cibernetico the other years. It’s not said which way they’re going here, but those tournament years also had were “four” match shows and the cibernetico shows had five shows. Expect a night of a five minute matches.

Still no Mascara Dorada. My favorite completely false theory of the moment is NJPW accidentally switched the travel itinerary of Dorada & BUSHI and that’s why BUSHI was hanging out wearing a sombrero in the Zocalo yesterday. (Poor Dorada sadly eating rice in the NJPW dojo.) My least favorite possibly true theory is there was some sort of injury that hasn’t been reported. And the best completely random idea is someone should be checking to see if anyone happens to be filming intro vignettes in Los Angeles, just to be sure.

BUSHI not being used by CMLL is kind of strange, but it seems consistent with a change in the relationship between NJPW and CMLL. It may not be the result of some grand falling out – NJPW is working to get a foothold in the US and you can only fight wars on some fronts at the same time – but they’re not sharing talent as they have the last year. An expanded FantasticMania appeared to be success, but only Dorada has been invited back and that’s just mostly to round out the numbers for the juniors. NJPW will announce the G1 participants soon and I’d be surprised if anyone in CMLL was included. Kamaitachi has been in CMLL all year (and done fine), but the one month stints by regular NJPW talent have ended. I’d be surprised if Tanahashi or anyone else is back for the Universal tournament.

Tonight’s CMLL show has Rush & La Mascara defending tag team titles, taking on Negro Casas & Shocker. Rush has had great singles matches with both those guys, so it should be a good match if La Mascara holds up his end. Rush & Mascara seemed a sure thing to keep the tag titles back when Niebla and Casas were to be tag team challengers, but that was before Sombra became double champion. CMLL sometimes balances the wins and losses, though CMLL’s so far behind the Indeseables that they still seem likely to win. The non-streamed broadcast has another Atlantis versus Ultimo Guerrero trio match.

There are important changes in the En Busca de un Idolo standings going into the final week. The non-Hechicero trio has inverted from last week. Dragon Lee has gone from second to fourth, with Cachorro & Cavernario decently ahead of him. CMLL’s formula used to determine points from the poll remains unknowable, but those three should end up within five points of each other going into tonight’s matches. Dragon Lee’s ability to back door his way in with a loss and high poll results is gone.

Instead, the scenarios go like this

• Hechicero’s still in and may have it clinched after tonight.
• if Hechicero wins, the winner of Cavernario/Dragon Lee will go in (outside of extraordinary judge/fan poll results)
• if Cachorro wins, then he and the winner of Cavernario/Dragon Lee will battle for fan votes until Wednesday.
• draws will also make it very tight and won’t eliminate anyone.

If CMLL wants the Dragon Lee vs Hechicero final – and they seem to want that based on their finishes – then they should both just win tonight.

The Terra broadcast also has a good Panther/Delta/Maya vs Revolucionarios trios match, though the En Busca de un Idolo matches definitely figure to steal the show.

Tickets go on sale for TripleMania today at noon. Don’t see prices listed quite yet, but at least know it really is locked in for 08/17. Different dates had been suggested, as usually happens wiht TripleMania.

Rob has highlights of Rey de Reyes 2014.

LuchaWorld both reviews last week’s En Busca de un Idolo.

Segunda Caida reviews Marco Corleone vs Universo 2000.

El Santo’s statue in Tulancingo was defaced with graffiti.

Cibernetico, Drago, Mamba and Chessman weigh in on the Mexican national team. Their opening match is today at 11AM, so it’s probably already happened by the time you’ve read this.

CMLL preview for Sunday’s show.

Sexy Star threatens to join the cage match on the RCH anniversary show this weekend.

Golden Magic talks about retained his title over Fuerza Guerrera.

The Mexico City Golden Gloves (boxing) tournament starts in Arena Mexico this Saturday.

Lucha Libre in Japan

Jinzo & Rocky Lobo have been announced as a team for NOAH’s Junior Heavyweight Tag Team tournament in July, so they’ll be staying over for a couple months at least. Since nothing else has come out, I’d assume Vengador Radioactivo just didn’t get his paperwork in time and Rocky Lobo already had it done from going to Dragon Gate, so he’s going instead of the kid from Xalapa. Super Crazy and Matt Striker are also a team in the tournament.

IWRG (WED) 06/11/2014 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), The Gladiatores]
1) Sky Ángel b Power Bull
2) Electro Boy & Hijo De La Bestia b Alfa & Omega
Bestia’s first match since he lost his mask.
3) Ciclon Black & Metaleon b Hip Hop Man & Zurdog
4) Black Terry, Imposible, Relámpago b Canis Lupus, Guerrero Mixtico, Tony Rivera
Terry submitted Tony.
5) Golden Magic © b Fuerza Guerrera [IWRG IC WELTER]
Seconds were Mixtico & Terry. Golden took the first. Fuerza turned into a mask ripping bloody brawl in the second and submitted Golden Magic to the armbar again in the second. Seconds got involved in the fall. Mixtico tried to hit Magic with a chair but knocked out Fuerza instead. Mixtico tried to fix his mistake by fouling Magic and putting Fuerza on top, but Terry turned over the pin and Magic stayed on top for three. Golden Magic’s first defense

It was the usual heavy interference IWRG finish, but nice for Golden Magic to get any kind of win over Fuerza Guerrera.

Some notes from a recent MLW Radio VIP podcast with Konnan and Court Bauer

• Psycho Clown versus Texano Jr. “will end at TripleMania”. (Which means the mask/hair match is not a CMLL-esque idle challenge.)
• “Aerostar vs Super Fly will end up in a mask match – I’m just not sure when. Maybe the end of the year.” TripleMania is too early and too big of an event – they’d have to stretch it to next TripleMania.
• Neither Court nor Konnan know how AAA TV currently works, both thinking there are two different length shows. (It’s just been one show that’s occasionally a couple minutes longer on UTDN this year. I don’t think they’re out to lunch, just that’s it’s confusing and changes without telling anyone.) Konnan: “Soon, we’re hoping to have a 2 to 2.5 hour show.” Konnan would prefer two, believing more than would be too much.
• On AAA US: “we’re just figuring out how this story is going to be”, talking about the balance between what AAA and Hollywood wants. “We’re just a couple months away from starting to shoot” – so that’s after TripleMania, and possibly some time after TripleMania. (Konnan later said he expected to be on the air by the end of the year.) “This could be the future of wrestling”, “wrestling’s never been shot like that.” “It may be a different way of doing it with different visions.”

CMLL Informa had Tirantes and Shocker as guests. I got a lot less out of it than the MLW Radio podcast. No legal warning to end the show this week.

AAA officially posted the Queretaro card for 06/27. They also do not list the minis match.

Bengala talks about winning a cruiserweight title shot and his 8.1 move (which sounds like a cradle.)

Rob notes a neat tag team move from this week’s IWRG.

Tercera Caida had Mistico as guest, and spoke to him behind the scenes. I have not seen this yet, but it’s probably a very interesting one.

Segunda Caida reviews week 9 of En Busca de un Idolo. They’re almost caught up!

Dragon Rojo joked to a magazine that he had his tattoo removed. The magazine did not realize it was a joke. Dragon Rojo did not have his tattoo removed.

CMLL Gaceta previews Valiente vs Mephisto.

Estrellas del Ring interviews Holkan.

Lineups

LM (SAT) 07/05/2014 Gimnasio Factores Mutuos, Monterrey, Nuevo León
1) Dralion vs Arez
2) Dark Angel vs Princesa Sugheit
3) Kaientai vs Erick Ortiz, Tony Rodriguez, Kratoz
4) Rey Hechicero vs Caifan
5) Black Terry vs Charly Lucero

That appears the full lineup – five matches, but five really good matches. Dark Angel looks like she’s going to murder someone on that poster. Tickets are 120 pesos ($9.21) – I can’t imagine being able to run a similar caliber show in the US for that price.

That’s Independent Day weekend here in the US, which means one could leave on Friday and get back on Sunday without having to take any days off. But then I looked at the flight costs to Monterrey and remember I can’t even be bothered to drive for 30 minutes to see good GALLI shows so probably not. It is a really good card.