I’ve been looking thru online archives are of Guadalajara’s El Informador for the last six months, taking screen shots of the advertisements for local lucha libre shows and transcribing them for my luchadb. The stretch I’ve recorded covers about 35 years of shows. That includes many events, most of them, which don’t appear to be listed in most event databases. I’ve been adding them in year stretches as I’ve gone along, and you can find all the complete run of lineups here. (Feel free to use it however, though credit back is always appreciated.)
I’ve talked about these before when I was doing posts on singles year, but in case you’re new or haven’t read the: Those lineups are great deal of information, but they’re also far from complete. I’ve going thru the paper from 1950 to 1986. There appears to be lucha libre in Guadalajara in the mid 30s, and “lucha amaetur” (which could’ve been worked) a few years prior. I expect I’ll go add the missing years at some point, but 1950 worked out as a break point. The paper starts printing the lineups in August 1986, not regularly listing them again until a stretch in 2009 (which seemed to be part of an advertising deal between Arena Coliseo Guadalajara at the paper.) If you’ve got a way of me getting 1986 to 2009 lineups, let me know.
Almost all the lineups are simply lineups – the paper didn’t cover the results – and almost all of them are the final few matches on the cards. It’s the announced lineup, so changes aren’t accounted for, and the shows with tournaments or seeding battle royales don’t list the matches. Shows scheduled on irregular days – like Solitario’s promotion – might be missed, as all are smaller arenas who wouldn’t be advertising in a paper. (Arena Jalisco and Arena Obeletos get their lineups in the paper on their openings, then never again.) There also days where a lineup wouldn’t appear for whatever reason, or rarely a day where the paper for the day wasn’t archived. This isn’t bulletproof data, but it’s a good starting point for a time span and a busy region that’s not well covered publically.
The most surprising knowledge I learned from all of this is EMLL came to Guadalajara as the invaders. It might have not started that way. Cursory looks at the 1930s show the Lutteroth family as introducing lucha libre to the arena, but it’s other promoters running events by the 1950s. The battle between the promotions lasted from Arena Coliseo Guadalajara’s opening (with a boxing show) from 1959 thru a few years into 1961. The existing promoters had the bigger names, with Santo mostly working for them and Rayo de Jalisco seemingly starting on those shows, but EMLL was able to take over the area. It’s one of three notable moments of competition in this period: a group was running in Parque Oro in 1956 and a Solitario led promotion in the mid 1970s which appeared very irregularly.
The Solitario group was a UWA backed one but the UWA name was rarely used on the advertisements. It only really comes up when a title was defended, and that’s more than the name came up for the opposition. There’s never a promotional name given for Arena Coliseo Guadalajara promotion. It’s obvious it’s EMLL and there’s no attempt to hide it, but the name just isn’t important enough to be used. Neither is the NWA name. Title matches there are listed simply as “Campeonato Mundial” or “Nacional”, outside a couple UWA title matches.
Most of the shows are just random matches, much like today. There’s some title matches and puesta matches each year, more so when there’s competition and more as the years have gone on. (There’s weirdly no title matches in the first fall 50s, even though people are billed as champions.) Luchadoras wrestle for a few weeks once or twice each year. There seems to be one or two foreigners every year for a while, until they just disappear from appearing. Famed California tag team Goliath and Black Gordman are on shows thru the 60s, but never as a team until the 70s.
I’ve have a couple most posts on this data set later this week.
The Ultimo Guerrero/Thunder feud, which has taken up most of 2015, will finally reach a climax on the first day of 2016. Ultimo Guerrero signed a contract to put his hair on the line against Thunder’s mask for the Sin Piedad show. Thunder will sign the contract later today on CMLL Informa. It seemed possible CMLL might stretch this feud out even longer for Dos Leyendas, but now they’ll be free to move on to anything else. Ultimo Guerrero is the heavy favorite to win match, and they’ll employ every trick to attempt to make it good.
The other major event coming up, Infierno en el Ring, will have a cage match as expected. It’ll be twelve men in the cage, with the loser losing his mask. The Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Esfinge, Fuego, Triton, Pegasso, Tiger, Puma, Cancerbero, Raziel, Sangre Azteca, and Super Comando will participate. Comando & T. Panther have had the longest running feud of the bunch and are the most likely final two, but there’s been plenty of other challenge thrown out. Guys like Pegasso, Cancerbero and Raziel are reasonable possibilities given where they are in their point of this career.
Tickets go on sale for both shows. Kids tickets will be 10 pesos (though not in the first group of rows.) These should be big turnouts for both shows.
CMLL also announced the Copa Junior would return in January on Tuesday shows. This year’s format will be two 8 man ciberneticos, with the winners facing off on 01/19. Block A will take place on 01/05 with Tiger, Canelo Casas, Sanson (debuting), Espanto Jr., The Panther, Hombre Bala Jr., Soberano Jr., and Esfinge. Block B will take place on 01/12 with Puma, Hijo del Signo, Skandalo, Cuatrero (debuting), Blue Panther Jr., Super Halcon Jr., Oro Jr. and Magnus.
Tiger and Puma are the favorites in both blocks, but it’s unlikely we’ll see them face off. The A group is more up in the air, with The Panther, Hombre Bala and Soberano Jr. all being good alternative choices.
The press conference started off with talk about the NJPW/CMLL relationship. CMLL claimed all the FantasicaMania shows were sold out (not quite accurate). Mascara Dorada will return to CMLL in February. CMLL also said more NJPW trainees would be coming, and it would be more than 1. NJPW’s Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu are believed to be leaving Japan for training early next year, and it was assumed/rumored they’d be going to separate places. Perhaps it’s not true, or perhaps one of the other young wrestlers are coming with them.
CMLL (SUN) 12/06/2015Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Micro & Rey Halcón b Demonio Rojo & Destructor
2) Johnny Dinamo & Linterna b Mr. Apolo & Mr. Brisa
3) Vaquero Jr. DQ Exterminador [super libre] Exterminador faked a foul, but the fans convinced the referee that it was a fake and he gave Vaquero the DQ win.
4) Gallo, Magnum, Omar Brunetti b Ráfaga, Relampago, Sádico
5) Gran Guerrero, Mosco X Fly, Último Guerrero b Ángel de Oro, Esfinge, Tritón Rudos took 2/3, with X-Fly winning it for the rudos.
CMLL (TUE) 12/08/2015Arena México [CMLL]
1) Fantasy & Último Dragoncito b Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Hijo del Signo, Nitro b Magnus, Robin, Sensei Rudos took 2/3. Nitro & Arkangel replaced Disturbio & Skandalo on Friday. Nitro still using a piledriver as a finish.
3) Puma, Sangre Azteca, Tiger DQ Fuego, Pegasso, Tritón Tecnicos were winning the first fall, but Tiger hit the referee and somehow convinced the ref that Pegasso did it. Sangre Azteca pulled off the mask of one of the tecnicos and pinned him for the straight fall wins. Everyone pulled everyone else’s mask after the match and ended up with someone else’s mask on.
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. DQ Boby Z [lightning] 6:36. Bobby Z pulled Maya’s mask for the DQ.
5) Niebla Roja, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys b Delta, Rey Cometa, Valiente Rudos took 2/3.
6) Atlantis, Titán, Volador Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Pólvora Titan beat Dragon Rojo and challenged for a title match.
Titan and Dragon Rojo is exciting. Looks like those six guys in the mask match for sure. Add Raziel, Cancerbero, Esfinge and one more tecnico to get to ten.
No full results from Guadalajara. Mephisto, Ephesto and Luciferno kept the trios titles. I’ll have a separate post on this afternoon’s press conference later this afternoon. Maybe they’ll have the CMLL lineups too; nothing for the Monday and Tuesday shows yet.
Alberto says he’s disappointed he could not say goodbye to his Mexican fans and blamed it completely on AAA’s internal disorganization. Cancha has the interview, but their paywall causes that link to stop working; SuperLuchas has the key quotes. Alberto’s claim is WWE authorized him to fulfill his previously scheduled matches and he was planning on working both Guerra de Titanes and a show in Culiacan. Alberto says AAA later changed the dates of those shows to days where he had now had WWE commitments and could no longer work those shows. Alberto says AAA knew or at least should’ve known moving those dates would’ve made him unavailable to work those shows and it’s AAA’s fault he didn’t defend (and presumably) lose the AAA championship in the ring.
The pieces are not all fitting together on this story. AAA hasn’t run a show in Culiacan since July. Maybe it got canceled without Alberto, or maybe we just never saw the advertisements (definitely possible for a lot of AAA shows, much less likely for an Alberto show.) There’s no mention of Alberto not working the Monterrey show, which never moved and never had a conflict with WWE. It seems unlikely WWE would let Alberto go some place else and defend a title, but they did let Alberto do sort of that with WWC.
This feels like some level of spin on Alberto’s part. He left WWE and alleged racism – not just about the incident that led him to being fired, but the general culture – and then ended up walking out on the Mexican company and going back as a anti-immigrant heel (and a pretty unover one.) For image reasons, he needed to pass the blame somewhere else. The “I could never say goodbye to my Mexican fans!” bit rings hollow when he has a functioning Twitter account where he has time to post about Real Madrid and whatever else. At the same time, it’s seemed for a while that the AAA office is disorganized and Alberto’s story fits that narrative. If you’re really feeling generous to Alberto’s story, maybe the reason AAA has been saying only nice things about Alberto is they’ve been trying to keeping him happy and avoid him doing this sort of interview. This would seem to burn the bridge between AAA & Alberto, but I’m guessing Alberto doesn’t think he’s ever working Mexico full time again and everyone will get along in a couple years if they can make money again.
Lucha Underground’s season two start date is currently January 20th. This Saturday’s episodes are number nine and ten. The ticket info for them list them as airing on March 23rd and March 30th, and you get to January 20th by working backwards. They’ve suggested other dates at other times, so this could still change until they officially announce it. It does fit with the idea that they’d have most/all of this season’s episodes recorded before anything airs.
WrestingInc says Rey Mysterio will probably be appearing at the Lucha Underground Temple this weekend. They quote one source saying he’s signed or close to signing. It think it’s the first of those two options. Lucha Underground haven’t said anything about this and definitely will prefer it to be a surprise, but it’s out there enough that it seems worth talking about. Mysterio was announced as too injured to wrestle on Friday night in Neza, but still did get in a 619. No idea what shape he’ll be in this week. Mysterio has been connected to Lucha Underground before Lucha Underground existed; announcing Mysterio’s signing with the official return date on Saturday would get a lot of attention. The timing makes sense for a number reasons: without spoiling anything, Saturday’s first taping sets up to be one with surprise debuts and returns for storyline reasons. It’s also about 1/3rd of the way into the season, so best debut people by sometime this weekend if they’re intended to have a major in-ring role in Season 2.
CMLL has a piece hyping the Caristico/Mistico team up, with both guys praising each other. They’re not actually teaming up this week, but some week maybe. The article starts off by noting the current Mistico has gotten “all kinds of reviews”, which is accurate.
On today’s NJPW show, new rudo BUSHI walked off with Mascara Dorada’s mask and Welterweight championship, leading to the logical assumption of a title match sometime soon. Dorada’s not defended the championship all year in NJPW. It’s unlikely that match would be on the Tokyo Dome, but the 01/05 show after the Dome, FantasticaMania, or even the late December tour are possible locations. All of us planning on jumping back on NJPW World only for the Tokyo Dome and/or FantasticaMania might have to subscribe a little bit earlier.
12/25 LuchaMemes updated card:
Lucha Memes added another match to their 12/25 card. Show so far
Negro Navarro vs Virus
Black Terry & El Dandy vs Trauma I & Trauma II
Keira vs Marcela (c) for CMLL Women’s Championship
Negro Casas vs Dr. Cerbero
Arez, Belial, Impulso vs Toscano, Decnnis, Zumbido Supermega, Freelance, Mike Segura, Septimo Rayo vs Demasiado, Alas de Acero, Aramis, Iron Kid – new
CMLL is hosting a toy drive on 12/19 at Arena Mexico. Negro Casas, Felino, Zacarias, Puma, Triton, Fuego, Blue Panther Jr., and KeMonito will take a photo with anyone who donates a toy.
KronoSport posts a video interview with Marco Corleone, where he says he has nothing against AAA and enjoyed his first few months there, but it felt like the worst mistake of his life after that.
CMLL ELITE (SUN) 12/13/2015Arena México
1) Lluvia & Muñeca De Plata vs Dallys la Caribeña & Reina Isis
2) Fuego & Imposible vs Eterno & Fresero Jr.
3) Golden Magic & Tritón vs Cancerbero & Raziel
4) Super Crazy & The Panther vs Felino & Puma
5) La Máscara & Marco Corleone vs Halloween & Mosco X Fly
6) Carístico & Rush vs Mephisto & Sharlie Rockstar
Rush & Caristico is an odd pairing. This is the first time they’ve ever teamed in Arena Mexico; they’re listed as partners in late 2010 on a spot show in Jalisco just before Mistico left.
Some of the undercard looks really good. Nice to see Imposible getting a spot here, but he’s on the wrong side.
IWRG (SUN) 12/13/2015Arena Naucalpan
1) Aramis vs Adrenalina
2) Black Dragón & Shadow Boy vs Ángel De La Muerte I & Ángel De La Muerte II
3) Fireman, Omega, Rocket vs Atomic Star, Hijo del Fishman, Hip Hop Man
4) Pantera I vs Imposible [super libre] one fall match
5) Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro, Mr. 450 vs Apolo Estrada, Eterno, Relámpago
6) Danny Casas, Hijo De Dos Caras, Toscano, Veneno vs Canis Lupus, Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Pirata Morgan, X-Fly
Mr. 450 is back again quick. Imposible is going to have to hurry from Arena Mexico.
The poster lists the Arena Naucalpan Anniversary show on 12/20.
UWE (FRI) 12/25/2015Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Palacio Maya & Prehispanic vs Alas De Oro & Ninja Olimpus
2) Freelance & Spider Boy vs Coco Negro Jr. & Ironía
3) Ángel Del Amor, Mike Segura, Yakuza vs Epitafio, Leviatham, Samael
4) ?, Flamita, Súper Nova vs Dr. Cerebro, Sádico, Toscano
5) LA Park, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Aeroboy, Pagano, Violento Jack
The Christmas shows are adding up. There were many shows on Independence Day and they all seemed to do well, so maybe this will work again. Flamtia and Sadico were good against each other earlier this year.
What happened: Dr. Wagner Jr. returned, helped Rey win the main event tag match, then turned on him post match to everyone’s confusion. Wagner appears to be taking over Myzteziz’s spot as the rudo loner, but it might be months before we see him again.
Daga and Australian Suicide continue to feud, though Suicide got the trios win this week. Electroshock started on the tecnico side, is still getting attacked by Hijo del Pirata for no apparent reason.
What was good: I liked the opener a lot. You can stop watching at that point.
Where can I watch it: It’s on my channel, and now up on AAA’s channel. Read More
