Non-spoiler listing of all unaired matches is here. These are the shows for 02/18 and 02/25.
No significant roster notes. Pretty much everyone who wasn’t on the last taping made it on here.
Results are below. This has been a long day, and I’m crossing my fingers on coherency.
AULL (SUN) 01/18/2015 Arena Lopez Mateos [Estrellas del Ring]
1) Almagor & Rey Profeta b Palacio Maya & Prehispniac
2) Sky Fly & Vuelo Espacial b Oberón & Pakal
3) Dante, Euro, Filder b Pegazuz, Shibata, Spider Boy
Shibata was hurt in the first fall and left the match. Rudos won straight falls.
4) Chucho el Roto b Iron Love ©, Trauma II, Herejía [AULL HEAVY]
Eliminations went Herejia, Trauma II and Iron Love, with Chucho el Roto winning the title from his friend. Chucho el Roto’s Central American Heavyweight championship might have also been on the line (and the recap phrases this like it was a three way #1 contenders match and then a separate singles match.) Iron Love announced prior to the match that he was going to retire at the end, and later said he was content with losing to his friend in his last match.
5) Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Pirata Morgan vs Negro Navarro & Trauma I
Navarros took 2/3, the last when Trauma II snuck in and fouled Hijo del Pirata. Piratas want a rematch.
Iron Love had been around Arena Lopez Mateos for the better part of a decade. Retirements, especially sudden ones, are rarely forever.
IWRG (SUN) 01/18/2015 Arena Naucalpan[Estrellas del Ring, The Gladiatores]
1) Anubis Black & Atomic Star b Galaxy & Vampiro Metálico
2) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo b Araña de Plata, Dowki, Hip Hop Man, Imposible
Leo beat Impossible and asked for a title shot.
3) Emperador Azteca, Metaleón, Relámpago bApolo Estrada Jr., Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo
Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Golden Magic, Pantera I, Veneno b Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Rayan
Rayan and the Oficials had problems leading to their loss. Rayan declared the truce been the Oficials and Comando Elite over and demanded a trios match.
5) Chicano, Danny Casas, Hijo De Dos Caras, Súper Nova b Canis Lupus, Eterno, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000 Jr.
Appeared to be a four way tag on the poster, but it also said it was an atomicos. Turned into a bloody street fight by the second fall. Straight falls, with Chicano & Danny besting Canis & Eterno and demanding a tag title match. This turned into them having a mask/hair vs hair/hair if Chicano & Casas lost the title match.
Does Leo have to weigh in with his turtle shell? Because clearly there’s going to be weigh-ins for this title match. I had no idea about the Oficials/Comando Elite true and these are all skits I’d like to see.
In a post match interview from the FantasticaMania show, Mascara Dorada said he’d want to challenge Sombra (for the mask) again in a year “when I return.” That sounds like a guy who may not be working much in CMLL even between tours. KUSHIDA mentions that when everyone was leaving the show, the CMLL guys got on the bus to go back to their hotel and Mascara Dorada got on the NJPW bus to go to the dojo. That makes me sad, sending a kid off to college sad.
Working backwards, it looks like this agreement must’ve been made at the mid October NJPW visit to the CMLL office. Both CMLL and NJPW teased there was more to talked about than FantasticaMania and this had to be the more. The Welterweight championship was vacated a few weeks later and appears to be part of the package. Dorada had the CMLL Welterweight Championship with him in the main event and is taking it with him to NJPW. (He’ll be back in CMLL at least for the Universal tournament if he holds on to it until then.)
It’s strange they had Mistico say he wanted a shot at the winner when they knew that wouldn’t be happening, but that’s just a thing you say when you give up a title. The Mascara Dorada loss to Mephisto in Guadalajara which made no sense at the time makes at least a little sense now.
Dorada winning the welterweight title had to be part of whatever agreement has been made here.
(The strange Mephisto beating Dorada result in Guadalajara from a few weeks ago now at least has an explanation if not a great justification.)
Voices of Wrestling has their recap of today’s show.
RobViper uploaded an official AAA 1992 music video of their wrestlers.
CMLL posted highlights from Friday’s show. Top 3 are shown, which seems to have less and less to do with what airs.
Segunda Caida reviews Maximo vs Negro Casas.
A lucha libre political ad for a race in Nuevo Leon.
Lineups
CMLL (FRI) 01/23/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Frezzer vs Furia Roja
2) Javier Cruz Jr. & Metatrón vs Jocker & Sádico
3) Sky Kid & Smaker vs Exterminador & Maléfico
4) Esfinge & Gallo vs Pitbull I & Pitbull II [#1 Contenders, tournament, OCCIDENTE TAG]
5) Estrellita, Goya Kong, Silueta vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Zeuxis
6) Atlantis, Blue Panther Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. vs Mephisto, Mr. Niebla, Niebla Roja
Women’s match being fifth is higher than usual. That would be Silueta’s first match since September; it appears she’s been out with an unspecified injury.
No details on this tag team tournament, other than the Pitbulls appear to be Friday regulars at this point. Sky Kid and Smaker, the champions, are not as important as this tournament and probably should not be expecting to hold the belts long term. I forgot: Olimpico and Boby Zavala are the champions! They’re having a tournament to see who gets a match with Olimpico. I like the tournament winner’s odds.
CMLL (SAT) 01/24/2015 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala vs Cholo
2) Angelito vs Mercurio
3) Star Jr. vs Disturbio
4) Starman vs Canelo Casas
5) Estrellita vs Amapola
6) Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Pierroth & Sagrado
7) Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
The Arena Coliseo tag feud we thought was happening still does kind of continue in the 6th match. Peste Negra teams up in the main event. I’d expect it to take a few days for any changes based on FantasticaMania injuries or disappearing acts to show up (if they’re announced at all.)
CMLL (SUN) 01/25/2015 Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
2) Goya Kong, La Vaquerita, Lluvia vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Zeuxis
3) Dragon Lee, Hombre Bala Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. vs Cancerbero, Puma, Raziel
4) Rey Cometa vs Tiger [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Super Porky vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja
6) Atlantis, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Ephesto, Kráneo, Mephisto
A better card than the last few weeks. Puma seems wasted being in the tercera but that match could be lots of fun (and the semimain does not need him) so that’ll work out fine. Cometa seems questionable for the lightning match.
ALL ELITE (SUN) 02/08/2015 Arena México
1) Marco Corleone, Máximo, Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Shocker, Terrible
2) Atlantis & Extreme Tiger vs Super Crazy & Último Guerrero
Super Crazy is replacing Chavo Guerrero in the tournament.
3) Fuerza Guerrera vs Negro Casas
4) Dr. Wagner Jr. & La Sombra vs LA Park & Volador Jr.
More matches to be announced, but there’s four of them so I’ll at least keep track of them. Matches 2/4 are part of the tournament they were doing last time around. Tickets go on sale tomorrow via Ticketmaster; they haven’t announced the price range, but it’s 50pesos on the cheap side.
CMLL (MON) 01/19/2015 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1) Jushin Liger, Kushida, Stuka Jr., Tiger Mask b Gedo, Okumura, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI
9:28. Stuka Jr. hit Okumura (and Mima seperately) with a torpedo splash. OK.
2) Ryusuke Taguchi & Tetsuya Naito b Captain New Japan & Tritón
6:51. Naito submitted CNJ to the Puma Blanca. Comedy match with a lot of time spent on Taguchi’s masked act. Syuri appeared before the match to hand Taguchi & Naito flowers. OK.
3) Mephisto & Yujiro b Ángel de Oro & Stigma
Yujiro replaced Gran Guerrero on Sunday. 10:22. Super Devil’s Wings on Stigma. OK>
4) Bárbaro Cavernario b Rey Cometa
11:28. Fantastic (Excellent) rematch, with a lot of their huge spots back from the Anniversary and a few new ones thrown in. Cometa obviously still had a knee injury but battled well, including (barely) pulling of Brillo Cometa. Cavernario also did the top rope splash to the floor among plenty of other moves. They were going hard from the whistle. Barbaro ultimately survived the 450 splash to put Cometa in a cavernaria for a win.
5) Mistico b Pólvora
11:28. Mistico was clearly limited, but they worked around it. La Mistico for the win. OK match smartly worked.
6) Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Último Guerrero
11:47. Gran Guerrero replaced Mr. Niebla on Sunday. Atlantis submitted Gran Guerrero to an Atlantida.
7) La Sombra b Máscara Dorada
Mascara Dorada was announced as joining NJPW on a one year contract prior to the match. Not the crazy spot exhibition of last year’s match, but one of of big spots building towards a finish. Sombra seemed off and hampered by leg issues, but it was still a great match. Dorada pulled off the over the top rope apron headscissors (the successor to the over the top dropkick Dragon Lee has been doing.) Sombra had mild interaction with guest announcer Yuji Nagata and a match between the two was teased. Sombra was able to sidestep a springboard flip tornillo attempt and beat Dorada with a Shadow Driver. Sombra thanked the fans and left, while Dorada stuck around to take part in the usual tour ending celebration. (Mr. Niebla was not seen.)
The Mascara Dorada signing is the big news. NJPW full time contracts are (usually) one year deals that quietly get renewed every year about this time. BUSHI came to NJPW from AJPW on a similar one year loan, and just never went back. That has to be considered a possibility for Dorada as well. At the same time, Mascara Dorada was also a guy rushing out of Arena Mexico on Friday nights to get on the last bus to Guadalajara so he could make it home to his family, which doesn’t sound like the sort of guy who’s going to want to be full time in Japan. It’s an great opportunity but one that requires quite a bit of personal sacrifice, and it’s possible no firm decision will be made until this time next year.
I’m going to have to rewatch the main event at some later point. I really was thrown off by the news. I think Sombra was hurt early, because he had a handful of spots where he couldn’t finish and didn’t look like himself. There was a super inverted huracanrana where it seemed like both men were actually going to land on their head which might have been than way because of the injury too.
There’s an obvious story here is Dorada spends a year in New Japan, defends his CMLL Welterweight title once or twice, challenges for IWGP titles once or twice, learns things, and comes back next year to be Sombra to show his growth. The obvious story doesn’t always happen, but that fits. NJPW also kept cutting back between Nagata & Sombra post match; I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Sombra in NJPW for this year.
We’ll probably find more about the Dorada situation today. If this goes well, I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar happens with Sombra down the road. To be honest, Sombra’s the guy I always thought this would happen with, but he’s also the guy CMLL would have a harder time letting go.
Mistico and Mephisto had a brief skirmish after Mistico’s match, so that’s supposed to still be a thing. Only, Mistico’s really not 100%. It’s too soon to know what percent he’ll actually be getting to, but he looked like a guy who needed more time off before returning. There probably won’t be any changes to CMLL’s cards based on injuries from this tour until they all get back home, but I’d expect to see a few. Polvora’s surprisingly good sense at making singles matches work comes up again.
Like UG & Atlantis yesterday, Cometa & Cavernario had a match worthy of following the Anniversary one. They stole the show and made names for both of themselves. Cavernario got over huge and will obviously be back in NJPW. Between Dorada and the other guest appearances, maybe you’ll want to hold onto your NJPW World subscription a while longer.
Cavernario/Cometa, the main event, and the fun atomicos prior to it are worth going out of your way to see. This card is by far the best of the tour (including the ones we haven’t seen) and is worth getting a subscription alone. The rest of the matches were alright, but you can pick and choose here.
Besides Cavernario & Cometa, Angel de Oro impressed NJPW fans. Gran Guerrero got put in tough spots and did fine for his experience level, though I still wish they’d back off him a bit. Stigma struggled in his big mach but was OK in the others. Triton had a good showing and Polvora and Stuka got over as characters.
No sign of Mr. Niebla. Nakamura did a little bit of the Niebla dance while wearing his Niebla hood, but that’s the only sign of him on this show. Niebla did not appear in the annual post show celebration. He would’ve been there if it was just an injury. Niebla really screwed up this time. I hope he’s OK, but CMLL was teasing Niebla vs Atlantis as a genuine possible mask match this year and he’s proven they can possibly do that. It’s possible we might not see him around at all for a while.
