Rey Misterio Jr. leaves WWE; expected to sign with AAA and Lucha Underground 5 minutes ago

After a long wait, Rey Misterio Jr. has been released from his WWE contract. There’s no release on their website, but WWE’s responded to questions by simply saying Rey Misterio is not part of the company any longer. The US promotion announced the parting of ways. Misterio is expected to announce appearances with other promotions immediately, and may have already done so by the time you read this. Rey originally expected to leave WWE in 2014 and had already started to make future plans. He’ll finally be able to act on them now.

Those plans obviously include AAA and Lucha Underground. Deals with those promotions may not be formerly announced for some time, but have at least been informally agreed upon. Lucha Underground did not announce their deal with Alberto el Patron until the moment he appeared in their ring at least in part due to the surprise factor. That may be repeated here, but Rey was intended to be part of that promotion from the start and now will get to be. AAA formerly introduced Myzteziz and Alberto at press conferences to promote events last year. AAA’s believed to have already scheduled a 03/03 press conference to talk about Rey de Reyes (as mentioned in the iPPV announcement) and that would make sense as an reintroduction point for Rey Jr. The Rey de Reyes slogan being “Un Rey se acerca” (A Rey is coming) is an obvious allusion.

Rey’s not expected to wrestle much, if at all. There’s surely some health concerns, but he’s a big enough name where he can command a great fee just for showing up and signing some autographs so he’s probably going to stick to that.. It’s not of the question that Rey may wrestle at a TripleMania, but they’re very likely to be Special Appearance type matches, not singles matches going for MOTY.

This helps Lucha Underground get another recognizable face (well, mask) to both El Rey management and sponsors. (It also probably raises the costs of running the show.) Rey’s story of leaving WWE is harder to drill down to simple sentence than Alberto, but he’s even more well known. Rey’s going to go thru the same whirlwind of demand.

It’s unclear at this point if there is any sort of no-compete included in the contract. It may not be a big obstacle if there is one; Lucha Underground is so far ahead that even a “three month” TV no-compete would still allow him to be on the next set of tapings. Those clauses usually aren’t/can’t be enforced out of the country, so it would have no effect on his AAA appearances.

Rey actually was seen as part of last year’s TripleMania, in a video airing only live (never on TV, but “accidentally” shown briefly on PPV) teasing a return to the company soon. Rey also was inducted into AAA’s Hall of Fame in 2007, but AAA was required by WWE to edit him out of the TV broadcast of the ceremony. (A few clips have snuck thru over the years.) As best I can tell, Rey’s last AAA TV would’ve been on the 08/30/1996 Juan de la Barrera show. His next AAA TV appearance may be in the same building.

The date of Rey leaving WWE had been agreed to for months, sometime after Rey’s last meeting with WWE officials in Buffalo. That date was supposed 02/27 (a late Friday release to bury the news), with the idea that Rey’s side was not allowed to tell leak it out or WWE would go back on their deal. Bizarrely, it appears it was WWE who leaked the news a day early by moving Rey to the Alumni section of their roster. There were a lot of little leaks coming out so WWE might have just decided to be done with it. I’m not sure if this is the last we’ll hear about the parting of the ways – there are not good feelings on either side and more is going to come out about it – but hopefully the early announcement means everyone can just move on quicker.

03/06 AAA TV Lineup (DF)

AAA TV (FRI) 03/06/2015 Gimanasio Olimpico Juan de la Barrera
1) Argenis, Dinastía, Niño Hamburguesa vs Carta Brava Jr., Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Mini Psycho Clown
2) Drago & Faby Apache vs Dark Cuervo & Taya Valkyrie
3) Angélico, Australian Suicide, Jack Evans vs Daga, Joe Lider, Súper Fly
4) Blue Demon Jr., El Mesías, La Parka vs Averno, Chessman, Cibernético
5) Fénix, Myzteziz, Psycho Clown vs el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Hijo del Fantasma, Pentagón Jr.

Air Date: 03/28 – looks like only 1 week with the opener being an internet/UTDN exclusive.

Today starts a very active and newsworthy eight day stretch for Rey de Reyes. This’ll be the last day of that stretch, and it’s kind of just a show. It’s a very ordinary lineup for a return to Mexico City. The main event focus will still be on the Perro/Myzteziz issue and could be a very good match, but there’s nothing that stick out as a sure great match or a big turning point in an issue.

Semimain keeps the Demon/Hell Brother feud alive. It’s basically the same match that aired on TV this week with Mesias in Jack’s place. (That wasn’t a strong TV match.)

The Angelico, Suicide and Jack team is reunited, and are at least one rudo short of having a good match. This again is a good moment to see what Joe Lider is up to, and may play into whatever tag title match is or is not happening at Rey de Reyes. This is a sort of a lame duck card – we’ll know the Rey de Reyes card before this show takes place – but so little is obviously going on that it doesn’t even give away what’s happening in Guadalajara.

Cuervo remembered he had issues with Faby Apache last time we saw him in 2014, so maybe they’ll continue that.

Opener does not feature any random indy guys, kind of disappointing. It’s peculiar that AAA is putting TV time into Hijo del Pirata vignettes and still only use him in the opener.

Bucanero defeats Sombra, AAA in Naucalpan

CMLL (TUE) 02/24/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Índigo & Sensei b Apocalipsis & Sádico
2) Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito b Astral, Eléctrico, Shockercito
Pierroth submitted Astral
3) Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Super Porky b Misterioso Jr., Pierroth, Sagrado
Tecnicos took 1/3
4) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Mistico DQ Ephesto, Felino, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Felino fouled Angel de Oro.
5) Rey Bucanero b La Sombra
Bucanero took 2/3. Sombra knocked into the ref, fouled Bucanero, went to pin him, Bucanero pulled Sombra’s mask and cradled him for the win.

I thought Bucanero should win if they’re showing H2L in Guadalajara. They are – the full list mentions it’s airing in Cinepolis Tlaquepaque. I do not see Chicago on that list.

Would so much rather see Astral vs Pierrothito than Angel de Oro vs Felino.

AAA starts a big weekend of shows tonight in Naucalpan. The shows in Naucalpan and Neza (on Saturday) are not TV tapings, but they’ve been given equivalent attention to those on AAA’s TV show. The three shows are built around Alberto el Patron’s first major Mexico appearances since Guerra de Titanes. Tonight, he teams with Blue Demon against Chessman & Texano in the main event. The opener appears to be the debut of Kronoz, the mystery man who’s been hanging out with Electoshock & Hijo del Pirata on recent TV shows.

Leyendas Inmortales tapes tonight in Arena Aficion. Main event is Canek, Mr. Jack, Octagon vs Black Terry, Fuerza Guerrera and Shu el Guerrero. Jack’s feuding with Shu now, so he can Canek are on the same side. Semimain is Negro Navarro vs Solar for FMLL Master belt. Solar revealed he lost the Master championship to Negro Navarro on the 18th in Guadalajara. As many shows I have in the database of late, I don’t even have that one.

CMLL Informa had the usual bit of interviews yesterday. They briefly touched on the Diamante Azul situation, saying he was very busy in Europe and had gone too long without defending the title so they had to take it away. That explanation falls apart in every way (he’s not busy wresting for sure, CMLL’s had champions go years without defenses, and they’re not exactly taking away Mascara Dorada’s title for not coming back to Mexico to defend the title) but at least it was an explanation. It did not seem like they expect Azul back any time soon – it’s seemed like the Terra situation where CMLL would be open to working with him again but don’t expect to do shows with him right now.

CMLL’s also posted the Stellar Moments of the week and the Stuka/Polvora lightning match from Sunday as it’s lightning match of the week.

Discussion of Lucha Underground spoiler led some of to believe a certain character may be getting renamed as Dragon Azteca, one of the names which were copyrighted by Lucha Underground recently. That line of thought looks to be wrong – at least according to Drago, there is a Dragon Azteca: and he’s the mystery guy from the end of this week’s show!

SuperLuchas has an AAA teaser – “renew or die“. Apolo of MedioTiempo mentioned getting something similar earlier this week. This seems to be linked to the earlier rumors of AAA undergoing a major change in it’s TV presentation starting around Rey de Reyes, though no one exactly knew what that meant then or now. (It was also part of a plan to not run TV tapings until that change, which obviously hasn’t happened.) Confusingly, just as these teasers roll out, the WON mentioned these Big Change plans may be pushed back since AAA’s drawing well, and how well they do in Queretaro this weekend may be a determining factor. It doesn’t quite make sense – the changes were said to be all about Televisa having problems with the TV product and good turn outs at shows weren’t the problem. (Also, anyone could’ve figured out they would’ve drawn well in Naucalpan, Toluca and Ecatepec because they always do – those are the easy ones.)

Related or not: Apolo notes, in a preview of March, Rey de Reyes slogan is “Un Rey se acerca” – a king is coming.

Llaves y Canadados has announced their upcoming TV taping schedule, which includes many shows which are not in Arena Coliseo Monterrey. That’s a very surprising development. Of immediate note, the 03/14 Arena Lopez Mateos show posted a couple days ago, with Myzteziz and Averno on top, is one of those shows.

LuchaWorld has a recap of two NotiTrauma episodes.

Fuego en el Ring interviews luchadora Reyna Obscura (a Starman trainee) and Scorpio 2.0 (Scorpio Jr.’s nephew who’s been wrestling under a different name for 6 years).

El Popular interviews Amapola (who does not like talking about her personal life) and Starman (who reveals Mini Starman was his nephew who suffered a knee injury and had to retire.)

+LuchaTV has Negro Navarro & Metaleon winning El Protector, Dragon Lee vowing to destroy all the indepdenents and the Vipers (Invasors) heading to DTU.

The SuperLuchas look back at February 25, 1973 includes a lot of shows and one funeral, but it also mentions the police checking fans as they entered the building for a show in Torreon. The police found 40 bottles fans tried to sneak in, 25 knifes and 3 pistols. Just a normal show. There’s also a report on a AAA vs CMLL head to head battle on a past February 26.

Cronicas Y Leyendas looks back at Diablo Velasco, Mil Mascaras vs Bruno Sammartino, Los Dragones Chinos and Canek vs Enrique Vera.

DJ Spectro writes about the history of Robot R2 and C3.

Aerostar says making it to the Rey de Reyes final is a dream come true.

Kriminal Boys promo for the CaraLucha show next weekend.

Quick interview with Saltillo’s Obsesion.

Lola Gonzalez will be honored on March 15.

It’s been a while since a Bolivia Cholitas article, and the pictures on this one are very good.