With CMLL announcing the Homenaje de Dos Leyendas lineup earlier this week, the next three Friday nights are kind of relegated to building up the matches we already know are happening. That starts tonight with Maximo teaming with Marco & Mascara Dorada versus Rush, La Mascara and Vangellys in tonight’s CMLL main event. This seemed like simply the first match between the former friends, but now it’s one of the few matches before Rush & Maximo meet in a hair match. Likewise, the semimain has Volador & Negro Casas on the opposite side of a trios match before their own hair match, with Super Parka, Mistico, Mr. Niebla & Felino.
CMLL’s not completely on autopilot for it’s big March show. Marcela and Dalys meet in a lightning match following up from last week’s Dalys trios win. A Dalys win would likely set up a title match next week. Kamaitachi and Dragon Lee continue to face off in trios before an inevitable title match in the tercera. Fujin and Raijin make their first appearance as a team on a streaming show in the segunda. And the minis match will have Demus dropping someone on their head again.
Full CMLL preview is here. Show starts at 8:30pm CT and will air on ClaroSports.
LuchaWorld has a recap of CMLL Informa. Zeuxis did post her US itinerary: 03/11 in New Jersey, 03/12 in Connecticut & Brooklyn, 03/13 in Philadelphia, 03/18 in Indianapolis and 03/20 in Chicago. This sounds like the Hijo del Fishman/Canek Jr./Super Comando loop, and they got more info out as they got closer to the show. There’s also a new news update.
This list is getting gigantic and unwieldy. I’ll have to rethink it soon.
I’ve added the CMLL MegaSports show, mostly just to force me to remember the Tuesday shows are no longer airing ClaroSports TV. I think the Friday shows are – there’s not much else that could be, but I’m not sure.
AAA has aired the even number matches of their tapings on the first week so far this year, so I’m guessing both Rey de Reyes matches air this week. That doesn’t sound right, but a guess is a guess.
Both CMLL on Claro (Friday) and CMLL Puebla (Monday) have women’s lightning matches. Two in one week is a rarity.
Lucha Underground is a three match show this week, which should help the two big matches get plenty of time.
It happened again. 2016 Rey de Reyes, like 2015 Guerra de Titanes, was announced for Tampico and then pushed to the next TV taping instead. This time, the next TV taping was a few days later. San Luis Potosi’s show moves from Auditorio Miguel Barragan to the 7000 seat bullring.
I don’t think we’ll see another show announced in Tampico any time soon. I also tend to believe this is not AAA’s fault (except maybe for giving it a second try.) There’s only been one other lucha libre show known to be scheduled in Tampico this year, a CMLL show that was quietly canceled and moved to Queretaro. You have to go back to November to find a show, in what had been a pretty active area for indie lucha. It’s also been an active area for cartel activity this decade, and my educated guess is the violence has made it unsafe to run a show in the city. It certainly would explain why AAA hasn’t wanted to talk about the cancellations. Maybe they’ll give it another try again later, but it seems like it’s not working.
It also would explain why AAA had another TV taping scheduled soon after a major show. It doesn’t quite fit their pattern, they only do that with the Hard Rock resort shows, but perhaps this was a little bit of insurance in case Tampico fell thru again. It does still leave them a TV gap. AAA can (and probably will) add another match to the Toluca taping next week to stretch it for an extra week of TV, but would still either need to air this show on Saturday (a quicker turnaround than usual) or make up a TV week anyway. This SLP event was is scheduled to have a Perro Aguayo Jr. tribute element, and perhaps that’s done in a different way to also account for the missing week of TV.
A Wednesday night show is doubtful to be a PPV and unlikely to be an iPPV either. Again, I’d prefer to see it live, but it’ll turn up on TV rather quick anyway.
The local promoters seem to have known of this change for maybe just 24 hours. They were still promoting the normal TV taping on Tuesday, then started vaguely promoting a big event at the bullring on Wednesday night. Wednesday is all big AAA decisions seem to be announced, so they can be part of that week’s TV show. They were just waiting for the actual poster to announce it today. (The whole Wednesday TV thing is why getting this show on TV in time is going to be tricky.)
I guess I should talk about the matches! Rey de Reyes looks not far different from Guerra de Titanes: the same three titles which were on in play will be on the line again on this show. I kind of like the idea of focusing on a few titles, rather than having them disappearing for half a year. I’m not sure these are the ones I would’ve picked, but better than nothing.
Mesias has not been on a taping since he won the main event title shot and maybe turned tecnico. Neither has Texano. They’ve had them on NotiAAA to do promos, but this is the strangest build to a main event title match I can recall. They’ll both be on the Toluca show – which now will air BEFORE Rey de Reyes and becomes relevant – but they’ve been lost in the mix and a couple of disconnected matches isn’t going to make this feud click. Especially when both characters were coming into cold. I advocated for the Rey de Reyes tournament to double as a AAA Heavyweight Championship Tournament this year as a way to make both more meaningful. What didn’t occur to me, but seems obvious in retrospect, is doing the title tournament and Rey de Reyes separately meant one was going to be pushed into the background. The Rey de Reyes has a higher volume of matches, so the Heavyweight title was always going to be stuck in the background. As is, Mesias/Texano, the titular main event for the biggest championship in AAA, is either the fourth or fifth most important feeling match on the show.
Psycho Clown versus Dr. Wagner is not for Psycho’s Latin American championship, but Psycho probably has the same chance of winning with or without a title on the line. (It’s not a good chance.) This’ll be interesting to see how well they mesh and what direction they head next – a longer Wagner/Psycho feud probably helps Psycho, but I’m not convinced that’s the direction until it happens.
Fenix, Pentagon, Fantasma and ??? are in the Toluca Group. Fenix has a spot, and the ??? is probably booked in the opener. That means either Fantasma or Pentagon is sitting this show out. Comedy voting schemes aside, I tend to believe Pentagon is advancing to the Rey de Reyes final and has a half decent of winning: all the effort they had for him with the Mixed tag title storyline makes more sense the context of bigger plans. It would require AAA’s impression of Pentagon to have greatly changed in the last few months, but going thru those three guys to win the Rey de Reyes would be the perfect way to start to move Pentagon up. (Giving the Perros a big win on this show makes sense.) That leaves Fantasma as off the side, weirdly.
The TLC is usual AAA show randomness and there’s no real reason for the two challenging teams to be getting a title shot, but at least there’s feuds between the people involved. Joe Lider doesn’t like Averno & Chessman, Daga doesn’t like Suicide, Jack Evans doesn’t like three way matches. This will be something, something probably involving really cheap looking ladders. Angelico’s knee is going to appreciate being in Europe.
Trios title match should be good! (Really, everything but the Rey de Reyes final should be OK to much better than OK.) I am a big fan of the challengers, but would understand the champions keeping the titles to give someone momentum. This feels like the title less likely to change of the two.
I hope I live long enough to see another AAA major show without a Relevos AAA atomicos opener, but I fear I may not. Everyone involved seems like perfectly wonderful people and I wish them much health and prosperity, but I don’t want to see that match any more. Please stop. (The underlining issue is AAA won’t book more than six matches on these shows, so they’re keep needing to do that match to get everyone represented instead of doing actual different matches.)
Next taping makes sense as being on the 04/03 weekend, but, uh, that may not be a great day to run a show. AAA people are announced as appearing in Dallas on 04/01 and 04/02. Your guess is as good as mine.
CMLL (TUE) 02/23/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Omar Brunetti & Vaquero Jr. b Furia Roja & Joker Tencicos took 2/3.
2) El Yaqui, Robin, Star Jr. b Espanto Jr., Metálico, Ráfaga Yaqui replaced Gallo. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Esfinge, Fuego, Gallo DQ Disturbio, Puma, Tiger Gallo replaced Pegasso. Tecnicos took 1/3. Puma is still annoyed about losing Copa Junior to Esfinge, fouled him in the third.
4) Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr., Titán bDemonio Rojo, Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora Tecnicos took 1/3. Demonio Rojo replaced Bobby Z.
5) Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casasb Marco Corleone, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. Rudos took 1/3, Casas winning clean over Dorada with a casita. Casas challenged Dorada to a title match and Dorada accepted.
Dorada/Casas should be great. Hope it turns up. Esfinge/Puma aren’t on next week’s card, so that was just a one night issue.
IWRG FILL (WED) 02/24/2016Arena Naucalpan [The Gladiatores]
1) Skanda & Último Caballero b Bambino & Canario
2) Conde Negro, Guerrero 2000, Vampiro Metálico b Ángel De La Muerte I, Mimo De Cobre, Osiris
3) Acero, Crisis Boy, Troll b Fireman, Galaxy, Picudo Jr.
4) Factor, Matrix Jr., Rayan b Leo, Mike, Rafy Matrix Jr. replaced Spector. Rayan unmasked Mike for the ring, and other turtles were unmsaked after the match.
5) Black Mercury, El Resplandor, Gemelo Fantástico I, Gemelo Fantástico II, Iron Kid, Príncipe Pantera I, Príncipe Pantera Jr., Psycko Kid b Alas de Acero, Aramis, Atomic Star, Dragón Fly, Freyser, Kanon, Power Bull, Violencia Jr. [Copa Higher Power] Gym FILL (Black Terry) vs Gym Toluca (Astro!). Match came down to the Gemelos (who may actually be the trainers) against Freyser & Atomic Star. Gemelos beat Freyser. Atomic Star beat one of the Gemelos, but the usual riot broke out and the Gemelos made a switch to set up the win.
The cibernetico should be good, since there’s some experienced names on both sides. Hope it turns up on TV.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says Dorian Roldan told the AAA locker room Sexy Star had called the AAA office and told them she was retiring from lucha libre. I still think she’ll try to be part of Lucha Underground; she’s still promoting Lucha Underground on her Twitter, but not talking about AAA. And, given lucha, she’ll probably be wrestling in Mexico again someday. Think of this more simply as her reason not to fulfill her existing dates with AAA, because that’s probably what that is.
The article mentions the current plan, very subject to change, is a TripleMania four way mask match between Blue Demon, Dr. Wagner Jr., Villano IV and Psycho Clown. My hunch is Villano IV would be losing his mask at that match; he’s rarely wrestling, and they started (and forgot) a feud with him and Psycho Clown last year. It’s also been many years since the rumored plan for TripleMania in February has actually been the main event on the day of the show.
The WON also mentions Garza Jr. is under consideration for WWE’s Global Cruiserweight Series, though not sure if he’s directly in or still needs to perform well at a tryout. The newsbite goes onto say “one of his brothers” is also under consideration. SuperLuchas points towards Ultimo Ninja, who is actually Garza’s cousin but makes the most sense – he fits WWE’s mold as a six foot tall wrestler.
There’s a virtual AAA show in Dallas, Texas on March 12. It’s really a local promotion bringing in about a dozen AAA luchadors, but you get to see AAA luchadors the night after Rey de Reyes. Sexy Star is listed on the card, but I’d assume that’s an old lineup.
That’s a bit too early for WrestleMania weekend, but Pentagon Jr. and Fireball/Flamita will be at wrestling at WrestleCon in the days before the show. There’s more AAA names to be announced.
Eddie Einhorn, best known today as partial owner of Chicago White Sox, passed away today. In the 1970s, he set up the IWA wrestling promotion, and the IWA Heavyweight Championship Mil Mascaras still carries around is from that promotion.
IWRG (SUN) 02/28/2016Arena Naucalpan
1) Galaxy & Kanon vs Acero & Power Bull
2) Dragón Fly & Freyser vs Nimrud & Picudo Jr.
3) Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro, Negro Navarro vs Danny Casas, Diablo Jr. I, El Hijo del Diablo
4) Hijo De Dos Caras, Súper Nova, Veneno vs Mr. Águila, Trauma I, Trauma II
5) Solar I vs Heddi Karaoui
I guess Dos is making it back from Puerto Rico in time for this show. Danny Casas seems to have turned without a turn.
Johnny Mundo defeated Cage (7:53, lead pipe, Good)
The Developments
There were a lot of different plots moving forward tonight. Let’s see if I can get them all.
The main event saw Cage and Johnny Mundo have their rematch. It was a back and forth match and one of the longer matches of this season so far. Cage evaded the Fin de Mundo and dropped Johnny with Weapon X, which seemed to mean another win (and one step closer to Mil.) However, Cage was distracted by the debuting Taya, who argued with Cage from the apron while also slipping in some sort of pipe to Mundo. Mundo smacked Cage right in the face with the hard looking object, and Cage was knocked out. Mundo got the win, and he and Taya put the boots to Cage after the match. Taya is in her AAA persona and appears to be Mundo’s new ally.
the full Jack Evans experience
The main event for next week was set up thru the night. King Cuerno got back on the winning side by beating Killshot with the Thrill of the Hunt. Announcers heaped praise on Killshot despite the loss. After the match, Cuerno went to add in his new piledriver move (called the Thrill of the Kill), but Fenix made the save. The show ended with Cuerno complaining to Catrina about being the hunted instead of the hunter because of the Gift of the Gods belts, and wanting to change things immediately – he wanted Mil Muertes next week. Catrina reminded Cuerno of their deal, but Cuerno wanted no part of that. Catrina switched tactics, revealing she’d already set up a match for Cuerno next week: he’ll defend the Gift of the Gods championship against Fenix, in a ladder match.
King Cuerno wasn’t the only luchador getting on Catrana’s bad side. Pentagon confronted Catrina, demanding a match with Prince Puma after being beat last week. Catrina and Pentagon actually fought, with Pentagon getting Catrina in the armbreaker but Catrina using her vanishing powers to escape. (This segment was a lot of video edits/Catrina vanishing.) Catrina gave Pentagon his match, while warning him he’d pay for attacking her.
The show also caught up with the old boss of the Temple. Dario Cueto and Black Lotus were still setting up people to be thrashed by Matanza, with Dario explaining Matanza had to get ready before they could return to the Temple (and blaming Lotus for this situation.) Dario talked about how much Matanza meant to him. Their mother was an awful person who beat them both. Dario tried to stand up to her one day and would’ve likely been murdered by his mother if not for Matanza making the save – by beating their mother to death with the red bull Dario had on his desk all last season. Dario still has the bull with him as a reminder of that day. Not because of his mother’s death, because that moment made him realize how much he loved violence. Black Lotus did not seem comfortable with this story.
Killshot tornillo
There were actually matches on this show too in between the drama. The opener saw Jack Evans continue to win and PJ Black continue to lose. Jack Evans boasted about being the Dragon Slayer once again, which drew out Drago to watch from the upper level. A distracted Jack threw a water bottle at Drago. It missed, and Jack nearly lost to PJ in the process. Drago came down to ringside, but his mist attack got PJ instead of Jack, and Jack’s all powerful backslide got the three count. Jack escaped. PJ angrily stared at both Drago and the pair of nunchuks he brought to the match, but didn’t attack Drago.
Texano got his hands on Chavo Guerrero, though he had to go thru the Crew to get there in a gauntlet match. Texano beat Mr. Cisco (in a shoulder sling) in seconds, when Cisco was distracted by Chavo’s advice. Cortez Castro lasted longer, but taunted before running into the powerbomb. Chavo didn’t seem a match for Texano either, but Cortez used the bullrope to trip up Texano and hold him down while Chavo got the pin. There was still discord among the rudos after the win, but Texano ran them off before they could act on it.
To start the show, Ian/Vampiro explained his behind the scenes actions from season 1. Vampiro is a personality Ian had locked away for many years, but Vampiro used Pentagon to get out. Vampiro ordered Pentagon to make the sacrifices so Ian would feel no choice but to give in to his darkside, and Vampiro would be fully in control again. (This seemed to fit together with similar scenes in the comic book released today.)
A commercial during the show had Famous B giving out a phone number and promising to make the someone who called famous. It came off a bit like a used car commercial, but the message on the phone had Famous B explaining that he wanted to make the right deserving person famous – kind of like a manager or an agent.
I think that’s everything! No sign of Sexy Star, Willie Mack or any moth. Rey, Dragon Azteca and the ex-trios champs also had the week off. Puma was mentioned on the show but not seen. Mil was on his throne the whole show but didn’t react much.
Thoughts
Arrow From Hell (and to your screen)
This was a busy show! Lots of outside of the ring stuff, plus four different match segments. (I’ve got the gauntlet match listed as individual matches, but it was one continuous stream as televised.) It’s a lot of different plots to keep straight, but it felt like they were mostly successful in getting what they needed to get over. There’s so much stuff to get over that maybe some of the minor stuff might get lost, but the really important stuff – Puma/Pentagon, Fenix/Cuerno, Dario’s coming back at some point – went well.
All the different directions meant less time for matches than I’d like, but all the matches were at least OK. I’d like to see what PJ Black and Jack Evans could do with more time, but maybe doing a short match isn’t that bad idea when it’s going to end with a mist attack anyway. Black’s losing seems to have a direction, which is much better than losing for no reason.
Killshot looked better with Cuerno then he did against Mundo to start the season. Te announcers – or those feeding them their lines – are trying to do their best to protect Killshot despite the losses.
The Chavo/Texano stuff feels like a solid early 90s story and wrestling, a different time and place than the rest of the show. It’s not hard to figure out where it’s going – Texano finally defeats Chavo, but in a way where Chavo keeps his credibility – but I think it’s supposed to be a big positive feud for Texano and feels more like killing time until something better opens up for him.
this was just impressive
Cage/Mundo was obviously the match of the night, better than I had expected it to be. It could’ve been these two guys doing a lot of moves, and they did do a lot, but it felt like more of a battle. The small bit of Cage taking a look at Mil before finishing his move was a nice touch. It’s hard to believe Cage is actually getting his hands on Mil, with Puma, Pentagon, Fenix and Cuerno (and now Mundo!) seemingly all ahead of him in line, but Cage doesn’t know that – Cage thinks he’s winning and he’s getting the belt that should be his, and he acted appropriately. I wasn’t thrilled with a distraction finish – especially after they seemed to go out of their way to point out those finishes don’t necessarily happen on their show in the opener – but Cage looked like he got destroyed by the pipe shot. I’m sure they had the good sense to protect Cage, but it looked convincingly brutal on TV. It’s too quick to tell how Taya is going to with Mundo, but her first big obstacle is definitely going to be overcoming the stigma of being Replacement Melina.
No one else in wrestling could’ve pulled off the Dario’s Red Bull story better than Dario. He had to go thru a lot of different emotions in a short period of time. The Pentagon/Catrina segment was not on that level, but the way they used Pentagon’s translation captions was effectively done.
Is that everything? I think that’s everything. This felt like the best show since episode 1. Next week, with both Puma/Pentagon and Cuerno/Fenix, figures to challenge for the best episode of the season.
CMLL’s just completed press conference announced the top matches for Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, and it’s twice as much as anyone figured we were getting. The Negro Casas versus Volador Jr. hair match, teased since Negro Casas beat Volador’s father in the same match back on New Year’s Day, was officially signed for CMLL’s annual major spring show (taking place on March 18th.) What wasn’t expected is Rush versus Maximo, hair vs hair, will also take place the same day. These were signed as two separate singles matches, not a tag or relevos suicidas match. The Maximo/Rush feud had only really started going about a week and a half ago, and it’s quick turnaround to a hair match. Maximo most recently defended his hair on that same 01/01 show as Parka/Casas, so perhaps there was some long term planning involved that just didn’t show thru.
Volador and Rush are the heavy favorites in both of their matches. Both should be great matches regardless of the outcomes. Volador versus Rush would also be natural match up for this year’s Anniversary match, and this show may be a build to that later September show.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow. The current prices – 830MX/$46 USD for first row – are much cheaper than a comparative Anniversary show with two apuesta matches, but in line (and a little higher) than the last year’s show. The show will also likely be on iPPV, but that was not announced (and the Playstation Live Viewer thing wasn’t explained either.)
A Mexico versus Japan atomicos match was also announced for the show: Kamaitachi, Okumura, Fuijin and Rajin will take on Mascara Dorada, Mistico, Dragon Lee and Valiente. There’s really no room for another Kamaitachi/Dragon Lee singles match with two other singles matches, but that’s a very strong replacement. CMLL said the rest of the card will be announced in upcoming days.
One notable name missing from the lineup was Thunder. CMLL did address his latest disappearance, saying Thunder underwent knee surgery and they were not sure when he was going to be back. Knee probably could explain his previously unexplained disappearances. While I still expect Ulitmo Guerrero/Thunder to happen at some point, the matches CMLL laid out on this show suggest it’ll either be a secondary match at a big show, or a main event at a secondary show – there’s no danger of it main eventing the Anniversary show with everything else they’ve set up.
CMLL announced some show changes as part of the lead up to Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. There’s going to be some preparatory work on Arena Mexico in the week before the show, so both the Sunday (03/13) and Tuesday (03/15) shows will be moved to Arena Coliseo. Next Sunday’s (03/06) show will also be in Arena Coliseo. CMLL also officially announced the Sunday shows, starting with the 03/06 shows, would return to being CMLL programmed events for the indefinite future. Elite shows will move to Wednesdays, though that wasn’t talked about much on this show.
The only other discussion of note was Marco Corleone and Maximo explaining their issues with Los Ingobernables and saying they were looking to find a new third for Bufete del Amor. Marco said he filled in with Los Ingobernables when Rush got hurt, but always felt more like a normal tecnico. Marco claimed he’s much more famous than Rush, La Mascara is just a copy (Marco’s dance, Sombra’s knees), and both of them are just failed tecnicos. Marco said the Bufete del Amor was created to help poor Rush get over by pairing him with Maximo & Marco, but Rush couldn’t hang with them. Maximo was (emotionally) hurt by Mascara attacking him, and said they’re searching CMLL, Elite and the indies for a third member for their trio. Marco said the third person had to have charisma, and brought up Titan, Soberano and Star as guys who deserve chances. (He brought up even more names on Twitter). They’d like to have the third member by the Anniversary show.
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