AAA has the second half of the Leon taping – and Octagon Jr’s final TV match.
Hopefully the webfeed of Info7 won’t have the Muy Thai and Lucha Azteca will air as normal. (The Muy Thai was a webfeed exclusive – all the TV stations that normally get that show still got that show.)
This is surely a one show IWRG week, since the Friday show is an AAA one isntead
Sometimes, people ask me “what were the good lucha libre matches from [XXXX] year?” I am a terrible person to answer that question, but I try anyway. These were what I thought were the best matches of 2015.
Prince Puma vs Fénix, Mil Muertes, Johnny Mundo, Mr. Cisco, Son of Havoc,Pimpinela Escarlata, Ivelisse, Drago, Bael, Cortez Castro, Ricky Mandell, Big Ryck,Pentagón Jr., Súper Fly, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Máscarita Sagrada, Sexy Star, Mariachi Loco, King Cuerno [Aztec Rumble] and [LU CHAMP]
I’m going to end up listing the Lucha Underground match twice. I think what we’ve learned is Kamaitachi and Dragon Lee were every good at wrestling in the year 2015, as were many other people. Hooray lucha libre.
Rating everything and putting it in an ill-designed database means it’s not impossible to create could put together my worst matches of the year just as easy. I don’t take grading the worst (or even the mildly not good) near as seriously, but I do put a grade on them for some reason. Perhaps this is the reason!
Please note I pretty much gave up on Leyendas Inmortales after a few months, or they’d probably be appearing more. Same is true for a lot of the indie stuff I end up posting. (People sometimes believe I will watch every thing I upload. This is an incorrect belief.) The only AAA match making this list being a match on AAA’s biggest show of the year is kind of amazing. That Lestat/Molotov match was so bad.
CMLL (TUE) 05/03/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Mágico & Magnum b Joker & Sádico Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Stukita b Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Misterioso Jr., Pierroth, Sagrado b Esfinge, Fuego, Tritón Boricuas took 1/3.
4) Blue Panther, Rey Cometa, Valiente b Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Rey Escorpión Tecnicos took 2/3. Panther submitted Rey Escorpion. Money thrown in.
5) La Máscara, Rush, Volador Jr. DQ Shocker, Terrible, Vangellys Shocker’s return from injury. Volador fit in well with the Ingobernables (unsurprisingly). Team Rush took 1/3, the last by DQ when Terrible fouled Rush. Rush demanded a singles match next week.
The Rush/Terrible match was already announced. Volador would be so much a better Ingobernable than Pierroth.
On Informa, Misterioso & Sagrado claimed they haven’t talked to Pierroth outside the matches, including this match in Guadalajara, and do not know what’s going on with him and the Ingobernables. (In other words, no one’s figured out how that’s supposed to work.)
ELITE (WED) 05/04/2016Arena México [+LuchaTV, CMLL, SuperLuchas]
1) Muñeca De Plata & Rossy Moreno b Estrellita & La Jarochita Rossy used the ropes to win.
2) Hijo De Dos Caras, Jinzo, Metaleón b El Cuatrero, El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Sansón
3) Ángel de Oro & Golden Magic b Argos & Magno Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Rush b Negro Casas [Liga Elite] Rush picks up his first win (1-1), Negro Casas loses in his first match (0-1)
5) Carístico, Máscara Dorada, Mistico b Euforia, Rey Escorpión, Último Guerrero Rey Escorpion replaced Angel Blanco Jr., who needed medical help after taking La Mistica from Caristico.
6) LA Park b Atlantis [Liga Elite] Park submitted Atlantis to an armbar. LA Park now has 1 win and 1 draw. Atlantis has 2 wins and 1 loss.
Full standings are here. It’s still too soon to care about full standings. Casas and Cibernetico are the only people who’ve had a one match so far, maybe they’ll match up next week.
Angel Blanco Jr. was on the card up as far as the preview. Must’ve been a last minute change.
The WON says the original idea was to make both the Friday first round matches in Puebla and the Sunday finals on PPVs, then come back for TripleMania whenever that takes place. The Friday show will not be on PPV for sure, and the rest is unclear. On his podcast with John Pollock, Court Bauer said he would no longer be working with AAA and Lucha Underground (where he was more of a consultant) at the end of this month, would not be part of this show, and did not believe the US PPV would actually be taking place. Bauer explained it as being busy with other current and future projects and was complimentary towards AAA. On the PPV, the WON says the Sunday show is happening and AAA will be producing it. MLW countered said AAA will not be producing it – PPV companies want someone they trust to produce the show after TripleMania was a technological failure.
FWIW, AAA has never officially announced there will be a PPV in Mexico or the US or elsewhere, and no PPV listings I could find mentioned an AAA show. The show is around four weeks away, so usually PPV information is out by now in the US. Mexico PPVs seems to wait a little bit later.
The WON mentions the Lucha World Cup announce team will be Josh Mathews of TNA & Hugo Savonvich. Mathews is said to be in the role as part of the deal to get TNA wrestlers on the show. Josh has gotten harsh reviews for his work in TNA and has not called lucha libre before to my knowledge. (Hugo hasn’t been great on the AAA in US shows.) The World Cup, with people from all over the place, is going to require a lot of prep work to be done right.
Bauer said he believed the AAA in English show, currently airing only on the Fight Network would go on, but he didn’t seem especially confident about it. The WON has been saying AAA’s been upset about CMLL programming also being on the channel and might pull their own show. That seems like an insignificant thing to be concerned about when the visibility of your product is nil outside of Mexico.
This is just elementary connecting the dots, but Court Bauer’s probably setting himself up to go with Konnan if/when he gets whatever he’s teased started as a wrestling promotion. Court leaving AAA was inevitable; they made the connection thru Konnan, but now Konnan and AAA are on very opposite sides and it’s going to be tough for anyone to work with both.
While I’m on Ticketmaster, it looks like the 05/15 (Sundy) FULL show at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera is canceled. The Saturday show is still listed as happening.
The WON also had a bit on Flamita’s fallout with AAA. The claim there is AAA wanted him to stay as Octagon Jr. for three months to “finish up storylines and bookings.” Since one of Flamita’s problems was the lack of storylines, that’s part is hard to understand. Bookings is easier to grasp – there are still new upcoming AAA cards spot show cards coming out with Octagon Jr.’s name on it, a sign of how long the lead time is on these and how much they struggle making changes – but AAA also routinely makes changes and doesn’t deliver advertised luchadors to shows without explanation. It’s hard to believe that sort of thing matters to them (though it may matter to the local promoters) and it comes off as more a hope that if they could get Flamita to stick around for three more months, maybe they could fix things.
AAA has not given up on the idea of a new Octagon Jr., though they may try “Octagon II” instead.
Angelico’s going to be out two months with a fractured/dislocated elbow. That’d put his return time around end of June or early July. He could possibly make the end of the Season 3 of Lucha Underground, but he’s out from the World Cup for sure. Angelico was on team Rest of the World last year and the lead up has indicated there will be another one of those; I’d bet Australian Suicide is making the show if he wasn’t going to be on already.
Hijo del Fantasma’s injury is a back injury. WON says he’s out “a few months” and won’t be back in time for the end of Lucha Underground Season 3.
Dragon Lee will be out at least two more weeks with his knee ligament strain. FWIW, that would’ve made it very tight to make it to the Best of Super Juniors had he been selected. He says the doctor told him to take eight weeks in total out but of course he’s going to try and hurry back early.
SuperLuchas looked back at five Star Wars themed luchadors. I had no idea Fuerza Guerrera was one. The story is he wanted to go by “Star Wars”, the commissioner said no because they didn’t want English names, so he adapted “The Force” (La Fuerza) into Fuerza Guerrera instead.
IWRG (SUN) 05/08/2016Arena Naucalpan
1) Adrenalina & Omega vs Aramis & Magnum 44
2) Astro & Dragón Fly vs Atomic Star & Hip Hop Man
3) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs Factor, Rayan, Spartan, Spector [lumberjack]
4) Danny Casas, Hijo del Alebrije, Veneno vs Golden Magic, Negro Navarro, Trauma II
5) Dinamic Black, Emperador Azteca, Freelance vs Cerebro Negro, Herodes Jr., Killer Jr.
6) Hijo De Dos Caras & Máscara Año 2000 Jr. vs Canis Lupus & Trauma I [Relevos Increíbles]
No Wednesday show here because AAA is in on Friday, but they’re back on Sunday.
Spartan is back for first time since October, as the full Ninja Turtles face the full Comando Elite. Might a big match actually be coming.
What happened: Mary Apache is a técnico again. Angelico returned to cost the Perros a match, who were then totally destroyed by Pagano, Halloween and Damian. Psycho kept his championship over Wagner, but was left humiliated at the end of the match.
What was good: I didn’t like much of anything, though nothing was outright horrible.
Where can I watch it: It’s on AAA’s channel.
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