Recapped: 04/19/2016
What happened: Mephisto annoyed Mascara Dorada into giving him a singles match. Dragon Lee was on, off and on the card. He didn’t end up wrestling much.
What was good: Nothing really. Maybe the semimain.
Where can I watch it: It’s on CMLL’s YouTube channel
AAA TV (MON) 04/18/2016 Domo de la Feria, León, Guanajuato [AAA]
1) Dinastía, Lanzeloth, Ludxor, Venum DQ Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Soul Rocker, Súper Fly
Apache kept up his random harassment of Venum – a chair shot and a mask removal – leading to a DQ.
2) Faby Apache & Mary Apache b La Hiedra & Lady Shani
Mary beat Hiedra.
3) Argenis & Australian Suicide b Angélico & Jack Evans and Daga & Joe Lider and Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Taurus [AAA TAG, #1 Contenders]
Suicide beat Daga to get the title shot in on 04/29 in Leon; they still have issues. Los Fronterizos attacked after the match, tying Lider to the ropes, destroying Daga and saying they were not Perros but really French Poodles.
4) Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Zorro b Aerostar, Drago, Octagón Jr.
Drago was taken out almost immediately via Xinetez inflicted hand injury, which left the match 3 on 2. Zorro beat Aerostar with a package piledriver.
5) Damián 666, Nicho el Millionario, Pagano b Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
6) El Mesías & Brian Cage b Dr. Wagner Jr. & La Parka
Mesias & Cage are Team Trump and talked at the start of the show. Texano interrupted their Trump video to say he’d defend Mexicans. Dr. Wagner & Parka shook hands on a momentary alliance before the match. Mesias replaced in the match Texano and Cage & Mesias used fouls to win. They destroyed Wagner & Parka after the match until Texano (in a neck brace) made the save. Cage & Mesias ended up beating up Texano again.
Air Date: 04/30 & 05/07
If Mesias & Cage are Team Trump, they might also be Team USA for the Lucha World Cup. Texano already seems like he’s going to be on the Mexico side, so that’d play into it as well. I have the mindset that Verano de Escandalo is the next show, but probably should switch to thinking about everything building to the Lucha World Cup right now.
Maybe that’s the reasoning behind Suicide and Argenis getting the win? Suicide being drafted onto another Team Rest of the World seems plausible, but this still feels random. Could they just be saving Jack & Angelico’s challenge for a later show? (Can AAA even change these titles without being worried about Averno & Chessman’s status? Is that even a factor?)
The new Los Fronterizos is being booked very strong to start, which makes a lot of sense. I’m still not convinced it’s a faction I want to see. It still bugs me a bit that Pagano and Aereo were on the Juarez show in a TV match, Aereo looked great, Pagano struggled, Pagano got signed and Aereo is still off in the frontier. This seems like a big lesson to offer something no one else is offering – there’s a lot more fewer people like Pagano than there is like Aereo – but it’s a bit of a depressing lesson. It’s been explained in the past that the reason AAA has extreme luchadors and extreme matches is a way to separate themselves from WWE & CMLL, but it’s not cleat that difference means much outside of a small but passionate and loyal group of fans. The underlining idea of the Pentagon Perros proving themselves as rightful holders of that name makes for a decent story, but recent events haven’t made me convinced they’ll be telling that story either.
I hope we get an Apache interview on an upcoming Noti AAA, because I have no idea why he’s stuck on Venum. He does seem to pick random opening match luchadors to annoy every few years.
Pentagon Jr. wasn’t on this show – he’s in Japan now for the Akebono debut show. Their website says he went from Chile to the US to Japan, which sounds like a heck of a day of sitting on planes. Fenix made it earlier.
Next taping is 04/29. That holds the first two Lucha World Cup Qualifiers; it’d make sense if we heard a lot more about the Cup before those took place.
CMLL (SUN) 04/17/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Avispón Negro & Micro b Diplomático & Guerrero de la Muerte
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Destello & Mr. Apolo b Fugaz & Javier Cruz Jr.
Rudos took 1/3. debut of Destello.
3) Cosmos, El Alteño, El Yaqui b Carlo Roggi, Relámpago, Thunder Boy
Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Sádico © b Mágico [OCCIDENTE WELTER]
second defense. Sadico took 1/3.
5) Joker, Maléfico, Ráfaga b El Divino, Nautilius, Omar Brunetti
Rudos took 1/3, Joker sneaking in a foul on Omar.
Joker rematches with Omar next week.
CMLL (MON) 04/18/2016 Arena Puebla [thecubsfan]
1) El Malayo, Fuerza Chicana, King Jaguar b Astro, Centella Roja, París 
13:20. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Arkalis, Star Jr., Starman b Policeman, Rey Apocalipsis, Toro Bill Jr.
12:07. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Sagrado, Skándalo, Virus b Fuego, Stigma, Tritón
15:42. Rudos took 2/3.
4) Atlantis, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b La Máscara, Rush, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
10:41. Team Guerreros took 2/3, the last when Ultimo Guerrero used the ropes to beat Rush. Rush demanded a singles match on UG, UG agreed.
5) Cibernético, Mr. Niebla, Rey Escorpión b Ángel de Oro, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr.
11:49. Rudos took 2/3.
The semimain was fun, but the show was something you could easily miss.
Dragon Lee, Stuka and Mascara Dorada are scheduled to face the Hijos del Infierno in tonight’s CMLL Arena Mexico show. CMLL’s not provided an update on Dragon Lee’s status – and never explained why he was missing shows in the first place, that was Dragon Lee himself who mentioned his injury – but it seems a good sign for his health they haven’t pulled yet. Esfinge and Sagrado meet in a lightning match following a DQ from last week. Like last night, it’s a mostly missable card, though the main event tecnicos were fun last week. It’ll start at 7:30pm.
For people outside the US, ClaroSports.com will air Titanes en el Ring at 4pm. This should be the 03/25 show, matches which would’ve aired live on Friday previously. That show had Ultimo Guerrero/Cibernetico.
CMLL hypes the possibility of Mephisto & Mistico facing Cibernetico & Caristico in the incredible pairs final.
Hijo de Mascara 2000 posted on Facebook that the only true Dinamita children are himself, Sanson, Cuartero, Forastero, Cien Caras Jr., Universo 2000 Jr. and specifically not Mascara 2000 Jr. and Yuca. Yuca seemed to be billed as a trainee of Mascara 2000, but people are more confused by Mascara 2000 Jr. since Mascara 2000 Sr. did interviews claiming they were father and son around the time of his TripleMania mask match. It’s almost as if some luchadors have a habit of lying about their sons. (Hijo himself teamed with Mascara 2000 Jr. when they were both billing themselves as real sons, and Sanson & Cuartero have said Cien Caras Jr. isn’t really Cien’s son, so this is all confusing.)
Jose Contreras of Contereras Promociones is retiring as a promoter on a 05/27 show in Arena San Juan. His son Luis is taking over the company. The card is mostly an AAA show, but the opener is a seventy man tag team tournament. Yes, 70.
The Rey Mysterio Chile show (billed as promoted by Hugo Savinovich) announced they’d return (without Rey) on August 7th. Jeff Hardy, Drago & Cage were billed. Hardy is the news, since his criminal history has made traveling to other countries impossible. Maybe Chile has different rules.
LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania and KrisZ’s news update.
04/30 RIOT show
1: Caifan vs Dralion
2: Ultimo Ninja vs Jinzo
3: Kaientai & Hooligan Byron vs Rico Rodriguez & Galactar
4: Kratoz vs Dragon Celta vs Kamikaze
Catrina, Mil Muertes and Sexy Star are advertised for Houston’s Space City Comic Con at the end of May.
Lineups
IWRG (WED) 04/20/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Black Dragón vs Guerrero 2000
2) Dragón Fly, Kanon, Salchichita vs Freyser, Galaxy, Matrix Jr.
3) Freelance vs Imposible
4) Cerebro Negro vs Hijo del Pantera, Hijo del Alebrije, Suicida, Zatura, El Hijo del Diablo, Emperador Azteca, Leo [IWRG IC WELTER, torneo]
vacant championship?
5) Canis Lupus vs Trauma I
The tournament is weird. It’s listed as for the title, not for #1 contender. The IWRG column in Box Y Lucha says the same. The current champion is Canis Lupus. He’s right there in the main event. Maybe the idea is he’s no longer a welterweight, but no one mentions why the title is vacant. There’s at least a chance they’ve gotten their welterweight and middleweight (held by Heddi Karoui, who’s rarely here) championships confused.
Freelance & Suicida are back for this first time this year. Freelance/Impossible seems like the prelude to a title match. Salchichita is making his regular debut after appearing on the opposition team in some recent Higher Power ciberneticos.
CMLL (MON) 04/25/2016 Arena Puebla
1) Asturiano & Meyer vs Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
2) Flyer, Oro Jr., Pegasso vs Fuerza Chicana, King Jaguar, Policeman
3) Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
4) Rush vs Último Guerrero
5) Atlantis, Carístico, Mistico vs Cibernético, La Máscara, Mephisto
Rush versus Ultimo Guerrero might be pretty fun. It’s two rudo/rudo matches on the show with the tercera, slightly odd. There’s a chance they might come back with a big match on 05/02, and there’s plenty of possibilities in the main event (or even a Bucanero title defense out of the tercera.) I like Asturiano, but Apocalipsis & Inquisidor is a team to turn in 25 minutes in late to miss.
YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYyNnOBGWP7SB8mCFVhCYRMlpD3uPW4nN
I put up the CMLL iPPV because it’s aired on TV. I’ve also put up how it aired on TV. I have no idea why you’d download the Azteca version.
I didn’t get all of Claro – just the first two matches, and I grabbed the main event from their website.
IWRG’s Wednesday show (airing Saturday) ended early without showing the main event. The Sunday show (airing Monday night) died twice – the internet feed went out during the second cage match, and the actual TV feed of the network went out during the show. I’ll add any missing matches next week if they turn up.
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