CMLL (FRI) 01/22/2016 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Sangre Azteca & Skándalo b Starman & Stigma
16:14. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Misterioso Jr., Puma, Sagrado b Blue Panther Jr., Delta, Tritón
18:03. Rudos took 2/3
3) Ángel de Oro, Máximo Sexy, Valiente b Ephesto, Kráneo, Luciferno
11:11. Tecnicos took 1/3
4) Blue Panther b Ripper [lightning]
9:08. Panther submitted Ripper to the Fujiwara armbar.
5) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja b Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Thunder
10:59. Guerreros took straight falls. Thunder attacked ref Edgar for the DQ in the first, then Euforia pulled Thunder’s mask to pin him in a much longer second fall. Thunder wanted a singles match right then and there, and Euforia challenged him to do it next week.
6) La Máscara, Marco Corleone, Rush b Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Terrible
9:18. Ingobernables took 1/3
The most skippable of skippable shows.
CMLL NJPW (SAT) 01/23/2016 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan [NJPW, thecubsfan]
Attendance: 1593
1) Máscara Dorada & Titán b Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
7:38. Titan beat Tanaka with the figure four
2) Gedo, Hechicero, YOSHI-HASHI b Fuego, Juice Robinson, Kushida
8:07. Hechicero submitted Fuego
3) Guerrero Maya Jr. & The Panther © b Boby Zavala & Okumura [Arena Coliseo TAG]
10:47. Guerrero Maya defeated Zavala with the sit down piledriver. First defense
4) Ryusuke Taguchi & Stuka Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario & Shinsuke Nakamura
7:49. Cavernario submitted Stuka. Nakamura had a caveman mask, and Cavernario had “King of Caverman Style” on his back.
5) Bushi, EVIL, Tetsuya Naito b Atlantis, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask
6:20. Naito pinned Tiger Mask after the usual bit of Ingobernables de Japon cheating. Naito suggested he’d head to Mexico after this tour. Atlantis wants a singles match with him.
6) Dragon Lee © b Virus [CMLL SL]
7:05. Dragon Lee won via German suplex in a quick but good match. Dragon Lee fifth defense. Kamaitachi made a surprise appearance to attack Dragon Lee, dropping him with a German suplex, and issuing a title match challenge for tomorrow.
7) Kazuchika Okada, Mephisto, Último Guerrero b Hiroshi Tanahashi, Mistico, Volador Jr.
18:14. Mephisto beat Volador with a Super Devil’s Wings.
The Cavernario/Nakamura vs Stuka/Taguchi match was the most fun match on the show. The lightweight title match was good, but they didn’t get enough time to do what they could’ve done. The main event was solid.
Kamaitachi, which appears to be the name he’ll be sticking with in NJPW, got his way: Dragon Lee defends for the second time in two days against his big rival in the sixth match tomorrow morning. The card has had some changes as a result: Titan moves into Dragon Lee’s spot (teaming with Tanahashi & Juice Robinson against Cavernario, Okada and Shinsuke.) Titan was in the second match atomicos (4v4); Gedo’s dropped from the match and it’s now a 3 on 3. I hope Kamaitachi and Dragon Lee get more time, but their lightnings matches have been really fun matches in under 10 minutes so they might not even need it. Tomorrow’s show figures to run long with 8 matches.
Kamaitachi’s not booked in Mexico on any known shows – and hasn’t been since the 10th – so we probably should’ve figured this one. He’d been posting messages on Twitter implying he was watching this tour on NJPW World from Mexico, so that’s an actual good use of social media.
I wouldn’t take Naito coming to Mexico too seriously until he’s actually booked on a card.
Hechicero has gotten direct wins the last two nights, surprisingly. He did lose to Titan on night two, but it’s been a strong tour for him. The NJPW guys seem to have no idea what to make of him and his spell casting hand motions.
The NJPW stream was again iffy this morning. It’s seems to works fine on VOD, and it might be a decent strategy just to wait to watch if you can avoid spoilers and don’t want to wake up at 3AM. Sunday’s show is a TV Asahi broadcast, which means it’ll have announcing on the stream (unlike the SamuraiTV shows the last two nights.)
Arena Coliseo tonight has Super Porky, La Mascara and Valiente versus Ripper, Terrible and Niebla Roja. Preview suggests it’s heading towards a Ripper/Valiente match.
AAA’s TV show is already up. Fireball is in the opener. Rey Misterio Jr. appears in the main event, in his last AAA appearance for the moment.
Lucha Underground’s Season 1 marathon is currently in progress on El Rey, and will last well into Sunday. Some of the Lucha Underground people are tweeting about the shows as they air; Chris DeJoseph mentions Bael was originally cast as Son of Havoc. A follow up comment mentions Cortez was in that role too at one point. Previous interviews have mentioned Matt Cross was something like a last minute call when they were having trouble finding people signing up for the show at the start (which seems so crazy now, but go read the next paragraph.)
In an interview Pancakes and Powerslams Show (a fine name for a show, transcribed here by WrestleView), Ricochet mentions he really was not excited about signing up for Lucha Underground to start, fearing he’d be tied to a show that might have good ideas but wouldn’t turn out well (like Wrestle Society X) and didn’t want to ruin his chances of getting to WWE in the process. Konnan was the first person to approach him about the show, and Ricochet just avoided answering for months. He finally started to change his mind when they showed him the concept, but it wasn’t until the last day before taping when he finally agreed to a contract. Ricochet’s glad he did it, and was later told by Konnan that Lucha Underground didn’t really have a back plan for Prince Puma if he had not agreed. Puma mentions ex-WWE Paul London is now an agent for the show; I wonder if he’s a partial replacement for Konnan, who hasn’t seemed to be around the show all season.
The LATV segment on the Lucha Underground is here; watch King Cuerno put an interviewer in a tapatia.
Tijuana’s Black Danger hypes his 02/05 tag match with X-Torm (as the team Dangerous) versus Aeroboy & TJ Boy by noting he’s held nothing back against his cousin (Mirage) and his uncle (Super Xolo) so he’ll fight the national star Aeroboy with everything.
(I’m writing all of that down so I can put it in the luchawiki to have it for the next time I’m confused, but I’ll now forget to put in the luchawiki.)
An interview with Baja California’s Ciclope (not the DTU guy) about soon switching to the name Hijo del Halloween mentions he was Stigma, El Enfermero, and one other. A year into training for lucha libre, he suffered a fractured elbow that kept him out for two years.
El Popular talks to Puebla luchador Prayer, who had no idea what that word meant when he picked it as his wrestling name, but feels it’s was a good omen.
IWRG says Mariachi Loco is coming in on next weekend; the California/Lucha Underground says it’s not him.
La Jarochita says she wanted to be a soccer player, but her father said no, so she ended up becoming a luchador. I bet La Jarochita’s father is really feeling dumb about that one.
LuchaWorld recaps this week’s CMLL Informa.
A Japaense video feature from 2004 on Ultimo Dragon’s Toryumon Mexico Gym. There’s footage of Okada’s debut against Negro Navarro at the end. Negro Navarro with hair always looks weird to me now, he made the right decision to shave it off.
El Hijo del Santo talks about how he relates to the different characters in the Creed movie.
Alberto says he never liked the Mex-America idea.
Lineups
CMLL (FRI) 01/29/2016 Arena México
1) Hombre Bala Jr. & Súper Halcón Jr. vs Arkángel de la Muerte & Cancerbero
2) Fuego, The Panther, Tritón vs Puma, Tiger, Virus
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Titán, Valiente vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Pierroth
4) Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Niebla Roja vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Kráneo, Pólvora
5) Thunder vs Euforia
6) Dragón Lee, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
Full return of the FantasticaMania crew; Negro Casas is the only one not on the tour that’s in the main event. (The Ingobernables get some deserved break.) That could be good, and the second match could be very good as well. Thunder versus Euforia finally occurs, with plenty of potential for interference with just about everyone from both teams also booked.
This show is still listed as airing on ClaroSports. The Tuesday show is not listed as airing live anywhere, so the stream for that looks to be just a one night Copa Junior thing. Maybe they simply wanted Esfinge’s folks back in Guadalajara to be able to watch his match.
So Dorada is back for the first time in a year and not booked? Hopefully he’s just getting some time off to spend at home with his family.
I know that I wrote Dorada could be this Friday, but I forgot the press release keep saying he won’t be back in CMLL until February. (And not necessarily the first week of February.) I think you’re right, they’re giving him time to spend with family.