March 5, 2016 – luchablog

03/04 AAA TV Results (Toluca) – Octagon Jr. debuts (again)

March 5, 2016March 5, 2016 thecubsfan

AAA TV (FRI) 03/04/2016 Gimnasio Agustín Millán, Toluca, Estado de México [AAA]
1) Carta Brava Jr. & Súper Fly b Ludxor & Venum
Bonus match (to add a second week of TV.) Apache threw a drink in Venum’s face to set up Super Fly’s German suplex.
2) Goya Kong, Máscarita Sagrada, Niño Hamburguesa b El Apache, Mini Psycho Clown, Taya
Hambguersa splash on everyone.
3) Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Taurus b Aerostar & Drago
Taurus beat Aerostar with a Michinoku Driver.
4) Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Zorro b Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
Scoria beat Murder with a top rope legdrop. The rudos team name is Los Xinetez (altered spelled of Jinetes).
5) Pentagón Jr. b Hijo del Fantasma, Fénix, Octagón Jr. [AAA Rey de Reyes, quarterfinal]
The show started out with Pentagon leading a moment of remembrance for Hayabusa. Pentagon then declared he would win the Rey de Reyes, but was interrupted by the kanji signal for Dragon on the video board. Pentagon was confused. The symbol was revealed to be for the debuting Octagon Jr., acknowledged as ex-Fireball/Flamita. In the match, Fantasma beat Fenix, Octagon Jr. beat Fantasma, and Pentagon beat Octagon with Copetes maybe helping.
6) El Mesías b Dr. Wagner Jr., Texano Jr. [bull terrier]
Mesias won after Psycho Clown got involved. The opponents in the singles matches on Rey de Reyes (Texano/Mesias and Wagner/Psycho) brawled post match.

Air Date: 03/12 and 03/19

Toluca was completely packed, as it often it. This should be a fun taping to watch.

Pentagon’s win puts him in the Rey de Reyes final, where he’s about 20 years younger than anyone else in the match. In an ideal world, the idea of putting Blue Demon, La Parka and Villano IV is justified by Pentagon beating all three to make him as a top guy. That’s not going to happen, Blue Demon isn’t losing clean. In the best world that’s possible, Pentagon Jr. beats La Parka after Demon & Villano IV brawl outside for the annual Rey de Reyes double countout – this final still kind of works. The problem is, if we believe what we’re told, there’s no particular reason to have faith in that happening – they’ve got a new system for booking the shows that’s all of three months old, AAA doesn’t have the track record of doing that sort of thing right now. Really, whatever happens with Pentagon in Rey de Reyes, the important part is doing something important with him coming out of it. A luchador’s place in the ongoing narrative matters more than any individual win – look at Taurus, who’s essentially in the same midcard place he would’ve been if he just debuted on a random TV taping. I want Pentagon Jr. to win Rey de Reyes, but I’d more like AAA to have an important match for him in mind for TripleMania.

Which is why the debut of Octagon Jr. is kind of a double edged sword. It’s great to see Flamita get a character that expresses a strong commitment from AAA. (He’s probably not going back to Dragon Gate.) The importance of the Octagon name – in emotional, marketing and legal terms – means he’s probably going to get moved up a little bit. Flamita/Pentagon matches sound awesome. However, if they’re doing it in the third match, then it feels like a under valuation of both guys. I hope they both take each other to the main events, but I’m concerned this might slot them both together in the midcard.

Octagon Jr. and Fantasma are both now off Rey de Reyes. It’s possible one or both could be off because they’re needed in LA for Lucha Underground taping before the material, or that Octagon Jr. is going to be the surprise luchador in the opener. Slotting your new big character in the opener doesn’t seem to do much for him. What I’d really like to see is Octagon Jr. facing Hijo del Fantasma for the Cruiserweight championship. It’s be a great match on a card that could always use a great match, Octagon could make an impact with a big win right away, and Fantasma could be freed up to go after the heavyweight championship should Mesias win. I don’t expect this to happen.

Octagon reacted angrily to the news of an Octagon Jr., saying he didn’t give permission and promoters should not use him. Octagon’s lawsuit over the name has gone nowhere since announcing it in late 2014, and it’s unlikely his objections will amount to anything more than angry rants on social media.

Venum and Apache had issues on the last taping as well, so I guess they’ve got a long term plan for that feud.

Next taping is 03/11 in Naucalpan.

Dragon Lee defeats Kamaitachi in another epic, Marcela/Dalys next week

March 5, 2016March 5, 2016 thecubsfan 4 Comments

CMLL (FRI) 03/04/2016 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) El Cuatrero & Sansón b Hombre Bala Jr. & Súper Halcón Jr.
15:27. Rudos took 2/3.
2) Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany b La Vaquerita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit
9:57. Rudas took 1/3. Dalys demanded a title match next week.
3) Ephesto, Mephisto, Virus b Esfinge, Titán, Tritón
13:18. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Último Guerrero b La Máscara, Rey Escorpión, Rush [Relevos Increíbles]
8:05. Rush fouled Maximo and attacked the referee in the second fall.
5) Dragón Lee b Kamaitachi © [CMLL SL]
24:20. Excellent match. Dragon Lee took the first fall with a Spanish Fly (2:36), Kamaitachi took the second with a top rope double knee drop (2:04), Dragon Lee took the thrid with his bridiging cradle Pheonix–Plex suplex. (19:40) Kamaitachi’s falls on his first defense.
6) Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr.
7:39. Rudos took 1/3. Negro Casas got away with a foul in the third.

You can see the title match here. You should see the title match! The rest of the show was good too.

Today’s Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide show is up. I liked the opener.

The 04/03 FULL show with Pentagon & Fenix in Cicero is now off. (They realized that was WrestleMania.) Instead, they’ll be in 03/26 with Dragon Lee & Rush among others. That’s six days after the show in the area with Super Comando, Demus, Electrico, Zeuxis and Lluvia.

This poster sure looks like Drago, Fenix and Pentagon Jr. are joining others luchadors working on 04/01 (the Friday before WrestleMania) in Texas. The show is in Benbrook, 50 minutes due west of Dallas according to Google. There’s only silhouettes on the photo, but the silhouettes are pretty obvious.

Black Terry Jr. has highlights of the main event of Thursday’s WMC show, Wotam vs Alan Extreme vs Ancla

Guerrera Isis, when not in lucha libre, is a museum volunteer, a student studying for a history degree, a magazine writer and has also done ballet dancing, MMA and volleyball. That’s not a easy schedule. Her family does not know she’s a luchador, which is easy to believe since she’s doing eight other things.

CMLL mentioned Hayabusa’s passing on their social media accounts.

A local Univision story on Lucha Underground, with interviews done at the Ciudad Juarez show last weekend.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 03/11/2016 Arena México
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
2) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, The Panther vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
3) Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Súper Porky vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
4) Marcela © vs Dalys [CMLL WOMEN]
Marcela 3rd defense, first since September
5) Máscara Dorada, Súper Parka, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Kamaitachi, Negro Casas
6) Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Último Guerrero vs La Máscara, Rey Escorpión, Rush [Relevos Increíbles]

The two hair feuds flip positions. Super Parka returns after two weeks out after the martinete. I guess it really wasn’t much of a piledriver.

This title match isn’t going to be anything like the last title match, but it could be good. The rest of the card doesn’t seem as promising.

CARA LUCHA (SAT) 03/12/2016 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Lady Pink & Máscara Celestial vs Pyrot & Reyna Oscura
2) Templario vs Ángel del Misterio
3) Demasiado, Keira, Yoruba vs Andy Boy, Chik Tormenta, Diva Salvaje
4) Flama Roja & Toro Negro Jr. vs Centvrión & Látigo
5) Daga vs Rayo Star
6) Cíclope vs Joe Lider, Danger, Wotan

Seems like they’ve swung back towards using AAA luchadors, though not as many people as before. Fourth match continues the Latigo/Toro Negro story, ongong from last fall. The big news is Cara Lucha actually announced an opener.

CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2016-03-04

March 5, 2016March 5, 2016 thecubsfan

Recapped: 03/04/2016

What happened:

What was good:

Where can I watch it:

Forget the normal format. Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi killed it, again. They nearly killed each other. If you missed the match and are interested enough in lucha libre to be reading this website, you should carve out some time immediately and go watch it over on ClaroSports’ website. This is one of the matches where my other GIFs from the match are like the 15th and 17th most impressive thing to happen; the match was too engrossing for complicated activity like note taking.

The rest of the show was good and this was one of the better CMLL shows of the year. There wasn’t really another must see match of the show, but nothing was terrible and the OK stuff here was better than the OK stuff on other days. There was nothing really surprising in them but the action was good. The two matches setting up Homenaje a Dos Leyendas matches ended with fouls (and the side expected to lose the match winning), and Dalys beat Marcela to set up the expected title match next week. Everything lived up to expectations, which meant a lot with that this match.

The only really new developments are the vignettes continue to exist (even if I can’t remember to always mention them) and the Dinamitas kids continuing to look good. There was no overt moment of remembrance of Hayabusa, though there were moments of either purposeful quiet tributes or incidental indications of his influence in the third and fifth matches.