ELITE moved to late nights, LA Park/Cibernetico draw, Octagon introduces Hijo del Octagon

 

CMLL ELITE (WED) 04/13/2016 Arena México [CMLL, Kronosport, SuperLuchas]
1) Estrellita & La Jarochita b Dallys la Caribeña & Zeuxis
2) Dinamic Black, Jinzo, Metaleón b Heddi Karaoui, Okumura, Raijin
Bit of an upset win for team indie. Raijin appears to have new gear.
3) Cavernario, Felino, Tiger b Ángel de Oro, Golden Magic, Súper Crazy
Tiger pinned Crazy, after Crazy had ripped his mask earlier.
4) Xtreme Tiger b Último Guerrero [Liga Elite]
Tiger gets the upset win with a double stomp while UG was hanging in the ropes. Tiger is 1-1 (3), while UG is 0-1 (0). Very good match, money thrown in.
5) Dragón Lee & Rush b Argos & Carístico
Team Munoz took 1/3, losing the second on a Rush DQ for a mask pull. Rush snuck in a foul on Caristico.
6) LA Park DRAW Cibernético [Liga Elite]
finish saw ref go down, Cibernetico unmask LA Park, LA Park foul Cibernetico, and both men falling into a double pin for the first draw of the tournament. The finish sounds confusing and unclear. Both men are 0-0-1, with 1 point. Mask/hair challenges followed.

Attendance was up and the main event had a really screwy finish, which are both things you get when LA Park comes to town. I’m looking forward to seeing that figure it out, and looking forward to Tiger & UG because it just sounds very good. Note that Elite has 3 points for wins and 1 point for a draw – following soccer instead of the usual 2/1 for these things in Japan – and that means a draw hurts your chances a lot more in this tournament. I’d bet Juvy wasn’t supposed to go to a draw with Cibernetico and bringing Park in means all the finishes and long term planning would’ve had to change – but I think it’s unlikely they have a long term plan. It’d be a first.

The finish in Rush & Caristico means they’ll have a singles match next week. Card will be announced Friday.

The open to the Elite TV show keeps mentions the idea of multiple Ligas, and I keep thinking about when I see the lighter weight guys on this show. A Liga Elite 2 or Cruiserweight Liga Elite with the likes of Dragon Lee, Golden Magic, Jinzo, Tiger, Cavernario, and others would be as interesting as the main tournament, and I’d totally put up with 11 Argos matches in exchange for it. It seems unlikely they’ll get that far given the next paragraph.

The big news from the show was announced on Periscope by one of the announcers: Lucha Azteca 7 is moving from 6pm to 11:30pm on Friday nights. This appears to be a permanent move; Azteca’s TV guide has them there next week as well. They are also adding a show on Sundays at 10AM (a one hour show, so it’s unclear if it’s edited down or matches from the undercard.)

This is a killer move for Elite. They do have TV, and it’s on a big station, and maybe that added slot will help, but getting pushed out of prime time significantly kills the visibility of the show. This time slot specifically means pretty much anyone who goes to the Friday night show live will not be watching the Azteca TV show (it’ll start 10-20 minutes later.) I had been unable to find ratings information on Lucha Azteca 7, but this move suggests the numbers were disappointing for that time slot. Elite seems unaffected by business realities, so it’s hard to believe they’ll be going away, but they won’t be growing as much. If Azteca is already moving Elite around after two weeks, there’s no guarantee they’ll be there long term.

There was a shooting across the street from last night’s Arena Mexico show. Arena Mexico is part of a city block, and there’s a few restaurants and bars across the way on some of the sides.  One of those bars is El Buho Tropical, where a (drunken) fight broke out, and one of the participants pulled out a gun and started shooting. Two men and one woman were injured. There’s no word about their condition or what happened to the shooter. This happened after the show ended, which meant there were a lot of fans and vendors out along the street in between Arena Mexico and the bar, but it doesn’t sound like anyone at the show as involved.

CMLL (TUE) 04/12/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Neutrón & Star Black b Gitano & Thunder Boy
2) Espectrúm, Raziel, Skándalo b Magnus, Marvel, Vaquero Jr.
Marvel’s first match here since 2014.
3) Amapola, Tiffany, Zeuxis b Estrellita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit
4) Bobby Z, Euforia, Pierroth b Ángel de Oro, Máximo Sexy, Tritón
Rudos took 2/3. Euforia replaced Rey Bucanero. Bobby beat Angel de Oro, and Oro demanded a rematch.
5) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Volador Jr. DQ Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
Rey Bucanero replaced Shocker. Tecnicos took 1/3, the last when Rey fouled Marco. Marco wanted a rematch.
6) Último Guerrero b Cibernético
UG took 2/3, using the ropes to pin Cibernetico in the third.

IWRG (WED) 04/13/2016 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, Estrellas del Ring, The Gladiatores]
1) Black Dragón & Guerrero 2000 b Galaxy & Matrix Jr.
straight falls
2) Adrenalina & Freyser b Picudo Jr. & Violencia Jr.
Adrenalina kept screwing up, and Freyser turned on him. Straight falls.
3) Factor, Rayan, Spector b Emperador Azteca, Hijo del Alebrije, Zatura
Emperador Azteca replaced Dinamic Black
4) Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro b Hijo del Pantera, Pantera I, Pantera II
Good match. Terrible Cerebros want a tag title match and the Panteras accepted.
5) Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II © b Apolo Estrada, Canis Lupus, Eterno [IWRG IC TRIOS]
Turned into a bloody mask ripping match. Traumas took 2/3. Canis Lupus landed badly trying a plancha on Trauma I and appeared to be hurt. Match ended soon after, and Canis Lupus was said to be doing OK. Third defense.

The Octagon press conference was going on while the post went up yesterday. +Lucha has the whole thing, plus an interview with the Octagons after. Most of the details were the expected stuff Octagon’s said in interviews prior: he claims he owns the name and is fighting to get it in court, he claims he did not have armed guards with him to unmasked Octagon Jr., he’s planning on wrestling for years to come. Octagon put the blame on Flamita for the situation, saying Flamita had been in wrestling for 10 years and should know AAA will kick him to the curb when they’re done with him, so he should’ve stood with Octagon and unmasked. Octagon, who wrestled,

Most of the discussion from the press conference surrounds Hijo del Octagon and Octagon’s other sons. Octagon explained he had three sons, with the oldest (24) taking over the Hijo del Octagon. He also has two teenage twins who are said to also going into lucha. People with AAA noted they’d never heard Octagon mention his sons when he was with AAA. This had been brought up back when Kalisto was given the Octagon Jr. name, that Octagon only had daughters and so would have to pass it on to someone outside his family.

SuperLuchas provided an explanation, by revealing the twins are from a relationship Octagon had with a lucahdora outside his marriage, and Octagon had previously not acknowledged them as his sons. The history of the actual Hijo del Octagon is less clear. At the press conference, he was explained to have had a career in criminology in the United States, but had retired from it to become a luchador. Hijo del Octagon was said to have trained to be a luchador for 19 years, and had trained under Rey Mysterio Sr., Abismo Negro and Octagon himself. Abismo Negro hasn’t been alive in 2009 and Rey Mysterio has been in a wheelchair for many years, so any training with them is in the distant past – plus, if he was in the US for the last few years, he was training with other people or not training at all. (The story they’re going with is Octagon wanted his son to have a career before allowing him to wrestle.)

Octagon and Hijo del Octagon gave the impression Hijo del Octagon has never had an official match, but hopes/expected he would debut on an Elite card in the next few weeks. I find myself hoping he’s an indie luchador who’s being used for this spot, because the whole setup sounds impossible for a new luchador to do well in. Compare it to Nieto del Santo, who’s been training off and on for years, and he and his father are being super careful about when he’s going to have a match. It’s going to be bad for everyone if Hijo del Octagon is just thrown out there to prove a point.

There didn’t seem to be much push back on Octagon had to say at the press conference; most of the criticism can from Twitter. This seems to be thing with luchadors, and older luchadors in particular – most seem hypersensitive to criticism and the only way you’re going to get anything out of them is going along with the story they’re telling that day, but it was depressing to see Octagon’s side of the story presented without commentary. In a way, the video bits are better, because I can hear them ask the questions, but it comes thru in the text stories as if Octagon is just right about everything.

Octagon has a breakfast/autograph signing on April 17.

04/30 RIOT show
1: Caifan vs Dralion
2: Ultimo Ninja vs Jinzo

RobViper has highlights of 09/13/15 CMLL.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Los Xinetez talk about their match in Leon, are heavily into death.

Diosa Atenea is off to Japan. She’ll head to the UK in May.

Guerrero de los Dioses took Laberinto’s mask in Cuernavaca.

Lineups

CaraLucha (SAT) 04/23/2016 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Fiero vs Leonidas, Coyote
winner joins the promotion?
2) Centella Atómico & Wasson vs Alas de Oro & Príncipe Aéreo
3) Centvrión, Dragón Celta, Látigo vs Arez, Belial, Impulso
4) Guerrero Mixtico & Templario vs Trauma I & Trauma II
5) Último Guerrero vs Satánico

The last show was a hardcore show, this is more of a throw back show. Dragon Celta is a Mala Hierba members for the night. The opener is billed as winner joins the Cara Lucha family, but I’m unsure who’s meant to be in the Cara Lucha family.

ELITE (SAT) 06/25/2016 Auditorio Americo Villarreal Guerra, Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas
1) Histeria & Psicosis II vs Dark Ozz & Dark Spíritu
2) Cibernético & Sharly Rockstar vs Emperador Azteca (IWRG) & LA Park

This is a long way away, not a complete card, and little change of turning up, but it does include an appearance by Ozz, who gets asked about from time to time. This might be a show Ciberentico himself is helping to put together, which would explain Ozz coming back from retirement to help an old friend.