RIOT (SAT) 04/30/2016 Arena Femenil, Monterrey, Nuevo León [LuchaMania Monterrey]
1) Alberto Dos Rios b Dulce Kanela
2) Drastik Boy b Erick Ortiz
3) Dragón Celta b Kamikaze, Kratoz
Kamikaze beat Kratoz, and Celta won with a 450 splash on Kamikaze.
4) Hooligan Byron & Kaientai b Galactar & Rico Rodríguez
Tablon helped Hooligan & Kaientai
5) Caifan b Dralion 
Good match. Caifan suplexed Dralion for the win. Dralion was shaken up after the match. Alberto asked for the next show at Caifan. Caifan asked for applause for Dralion, then accepted the challenge.
6) Último Ninja b Jinzo
Good match. Ninja won with a jackhammer.
There’s video highlights of the top two matches, which sound good.
CMLL (TUE) 05/03/2016 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Universo 2000 
12:02. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Magnus, Robin, Sensei b Akuma, Canelo Casas, Metálico
16:35. Tecnicos took 1/3
3) Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Stigma DQ Okumura, Raziel, Virus
around 18:00 (feed went out.) Tecnicos won 1/3. Okumura replaced Sangre Azteca and unmasked Stigma for the DQ.
4) Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi b Amapola, Tiffany, Zeuxis
11:53. Tecnicas took 1/3. Amapola replaced Seductora on a preview.
5) Stuka Jr., Súper Porky, The Panther b Bobby Z, Ephesto, Luciferno
9:18. Tecnicos took 2/3.
6) Mephisto b Máscara Dorada © [CMLL WELTER]
16:23. Mephisto took falls 1/3, the last with a super devil’s wings, to win the championship. Mephisto is the 32nd champion, and holds the belt for the 2nd time (last 2004-2007). Dorada fall on fourth defense.
The YouTube version is a bit messed up – there’s no finish of the third match, and it seemed like there might be problems with earlier in the show that weren’t there live. It doesn’t totally matter; the main event was the one match really worth watching and that seems to be complete.
Mephisto told Mas Lucha that this was beginning of the Era of Mephisto. He’s probably right. Mephisto picking up a singles title after winning a big tournament seems to set him for a big match in September. It’s still over four months away and CMLL could change it’s mind (or pair it with another match, like Marco versus Rush), but the two big wins in a week are a sign he’s in the plans at the moment.
Mephisto’s opponent isn’t clear. Friday pointed at it being Caristico, but if Caristico would be busy for years if he got apuesta matches against everyone he lost to cleanly over the last eight months. Mistico versus Mephsito was once a plan and may be again. Even Dorada seems like a possibility if CMLL wanted to move him to another level. There were no outright mask challenges with any of these people recently, so the thing to watch for is the next time Mephisto gets into a feud or a title defense on Friday nights.
CMLL also likes to balance it’s championships out, so the Hijo del Infiernos might not be long for the trios championship. (Plus, if Mephisto is going to be a top guy in the promotion, he probably needs to be hanging out with more reliable partners than current day Ephesto & Lucifierno – too bad Averno is busy; Caristico & Mistico vs Averno & Mephisto is the ideal match.) Their recap of Monday’s Puebla show has the Angel de Oro, Stuka and Stigma team aiming to get a Mexican national trios championship, which didn’t come across on the show – seemed more like a direct Angel/Mephisto feud. That’s take care of it.
Tonight’s Lucha Underground is episode #15 of the season, “No Mas”. Matches announced.
- The Mack versus Marty the Moth for an Aztec Medallion
- Siniestro de la Muerte versus King Cuerno for an Aztec Medallion
- Cage (c) versus Mascarita Sagrada for Cage’s Aztec Medallion (preview video)
- Sexy Star versus the Mariposa in a No Mas match for an Aztec Medallion
No Mas is an I Quit match. Reports live said the match was very violent. Some people have understandably had issues with violence against women on this show, and I’m curious as to the reaction when it’s another woman inflicting the violence.
There will be six Medallions handed out by the end of the show. Last year, Dario just handed the seventh to Big Ryck. He may not hand one out this time, but they’re going to be close to another Gift of the Gods match soon.
Season 3 of Lucha Underground was believed to be wrapping up with the recently announced May dates. It’s definitely going longer. If you send an email to the Lucha Underground tickets email address, you’ll get an autorespond email which mentions all tickets are gone, but they’ll have more tapings in June. This fits with a Rolling Stone interview with Catrina from a couple weeks ago, where the show has or was about to get picked up for around 14 episodes. That sounds like the episode count is going from the 26 of season 2 to the 39 of season 1.
Lucha Underground has been taping about 5 episodes a weekend, and about two weekends a month. They’d need three more weekends to wrap up taping. There’s no way they’re taping the first week of June (Lucha World Cup) and I’d gotten a hint that Ultima Lucha was going to be in July and not May, so everything matches up. (In slightly related news, I don’t think I’m going this month to LA.)
More episodes sounds like good news for Lucha Underground. That is not a deep take, but it’s also worth pointing out. Maybe they just saved enough money by taping season 3 so soon to add episodes, or maybe there’s other reasons going on – the additional episodes would takes the total episode count over 100, which used to mean a lot for syndication reasons and money reasons. I have no idea if it still means a lot, but it sounds good. I feel slightly more optimistic about season 4 but, more importantly, the people involved are probably going to feel slightly more optimistic about the show making it long term and it may affect decisions on what they do next. (I’d feel better if there wasn’t a long empty break in in-ring activity coming still; there’s going to be no need to film episodes for 12 months after they finish this.)
Some of the people who might be making those decisions about what’s next are AAA people who work for Lucha Underground. There’s been murmurs of some of those people going either out on their own, or even joining a mythical Konnan project since the middle of season 2, over dissatisfaction with AAA. The talk of that actually happening has lessened in the last month or so, but whatever decision they might make is going to be pushed off a couple months with the tapings going longer. That season end won’t happen until July now, close enough to TripleMania that maybe that’ll keep a decision off even longer. (Or, close enough to TripleMania that it’ll be really hard to replace people if they walk out.)
Elite’s two Liga Elite matches tonight are LA Park versus Atlantis and Negro Casas versus Rush. Casas & Rush famously feuded in 2014, and Rush leads 2-1 in 1v1 matches. LA Park and Atlantis only have one known singles match in their long careers, and it was a random show in Arena Xalapa. Atlantis is the only one of this foursome with a win so far – he’s got 2, so he could easily afford a loss.
It’s still early and there’s no real reason to believe this tournament will actually resolve in any satisfying way, but let’s pretend it will for a second. If you simulate this tournament format enough times, it looks like 14 points means you’ll likely escape the apuesta tournament. 19 points or more means you’ll likely make the title tournament. No one’s close to those milestones, but Atlantis could be the closest to safety with a win. (Imagine Atlantis losing his mask in this tournament.)
The other Elite TV match is a Caristico, Mistico, Mascara Dorada versus Angel Blanco Jr., Euforia and Ultimo Guerrero trios match. Elite started off with building next week’s main event off the trios match, but they’ve gotten around it of late. MasLucha is usually at the shows to interview people, and I’m curious what Angel Blanco Jr. is going to say about being back in Arena Mexico.
The non-TV matches includes Angel de Oro & Golden Magic versus Argos & Magno, Hijo de Dos Caras, Jinzo & Metaleon versus Cuatrero, Sanson & the debuting Hijo del Medico Asesino and Estrellita & Jarochita versus Muneca de Plata & Rossy Moreno. Elite seemed like they were doing something with Oro & Magic as a regular team on the Sunday shows, but it hasn’t been seen as much on the Wednesday ones (and Angel de Oro might simply be a sub for Dragon Lee.)
This is kind of strange: an article on Record proclaims one of the Psycho Circus will be in the Lucha World Cup, winning a qualifier in Orizaba. It looks like it was published just about the same time the actual Orizaba card went out, which has a completely different qualifier. I don’t think they’re doing both. The rest of the article is the same generic Pentagon and Texano quotes from the article AAA sent out a few days ago, so maybe someone (Psycho Clown) got bumped from the tournament at the last second and the weird looking card is a result. Guessing at the original card
? vs ??
Niño Hamburguesa, Garza Jr., Elegido vs Taurus, Cuervo, Scoria
Argenis, Australian Suicide, A Tecnico (Bengala?) vs Averno, Chessman, Ricky Marvin
Daga & Joe Lider vs Nicho & Pagano
Psycho Clown vs Murder Clown vs Monster Clown in the qualifiers
Texano Jr., La Parka vs Zorro, ?
They’re short a match and a spot for Hijo del Pirata Morgan, but maybe that Una Lucha Mas was actually the missing AAA opening match crew and not locals. Pirata could fit in there. A last minute change with the names already locked in would explain the weirdness (Pagano in a singles main event, Monster Clown & Murder Clown vs the Perros, an immediate tag title rematch) Original card is still not super great.
Electroshock is listed on an Elite branded show in Monterrey on 05/08. That’s a venue that had been running AAA shows as recently as last week (and could just be changing for one week, who knows.)
The 05/16 AAA in Nuevo Laredo show has Hernandez and Herodes Jr. as part of the show. Herodes Jr. possibility might just be in a local, though he’s in a higher spot than usual for that. Hernandez being on this show means he likely is planned to be the mystery guy in Orizaba and my wild guess might have been right. I’m stunned too.
Lucha Memes 05/15 in Coliseo Coacalco
1: Hechicero vs Virus
2: Princesa Maya vs Marcela
3: Traumas vs Silver Star & Alberto Dos Rios
CaraLuchas says the (soon to be ex) Mini Charly Manson will be on their 05/21 Anniversary show. The card is supposed to be revealed tonight.
The Lucha Mexico documentary, featuring Shocker, Strong Man, Fabian el Gitano and others, is scheduled to be released on on July 15. It’s going to be on iTunes among other places.
The founders of San Diego’s Lucha Libre Taco Joint talk about how they came up with the idea.
LuchaWorld has this week’s top 10 rankings.
RobViper has a music video of 10/02/15 CMLL.
The winning ticket for the Arena Mexico 60th Anniversary was sold in Aguascalientes. The winner won 18 million pesos (over 1 million US dollars.)
Sunday’s lucha show in Berwyn is the debut show for the promoter.
Lineups
CMLL (TUE) 05/10/2016 Arena México
1) Astral & Fantasy vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito
2) Leono, Sensei, Star Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Sangre Azteca
3) Fuego vs Disturbio [lightning]
4) Blue Panther Jr., Pegasso, The Panther vs Fujin, Okumura, Raijin
5) Ángel de Oro, Súper Porky, Tritón vs Hechicero, Kráneo, Sagrado
6) Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Stuka Jr. vs Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero, Vangellys
Niebla Roja pops back up again after no matches here since the middle of March.
Fujin & Raijin are pretty locked to the Panthers.
CMLL (TUE) 05/10/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Yaqui & Johnny Dinamo vs Diplomático & Linterna
2) Flyer, Soberano Jr., Starman vs Canelo Casas, Espanto Jr., Metálico
3) Blue Panther, Rey Cometa, Titán vs Cavernario, Puma, Tiger
4) Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Valiente vs Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
5) Rush vs Terrible
Rush versus Terrible is always fun. It’d be neat if it made video, but it’s very inconsistent from here.
Mr. Niebla is back from his latest sojourn. It’ll be about four weeks between matches, so mark this up as another maybe suspension.
UWE (SAT) 05/21/2016 Arena Lopez Mateos
Arena Lopez Mateos 49th Anniversary
1) Shibata & Spider Boy vs Holkan & Ironía
2) Ángel Del Amor, Terry 2000, Yakuza vs Dr. Cerebro, Sádico, Yoruba
3) Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano García © vs Ángel Mortal, Bronco (UWA), Marabunta [AULL TRIOS]
4) Hijo De Dos Caras & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. © vs Máscara Año 2000 Jr. & Silver King [UWE TAG]
5) Blue Demon Jr. vs LA Park, Canek, Pagano [Copa Universo]
Full card for their Anniversary show. Pagano should teach a course on how he’s managed to get on top of these cards despite not being a 90s legend or a son of a legend. There’s plenty of people who do hardcore matches who haven’t captured the imagination of indie promoters like he has.
AULL’s regular wrestlers are all shuffled to the undercard in unimportant matches. As usual.