May 22, 2016 – luchablog

CARA LUCHA (SAT) 05/21/2016 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), Carxyus, Kronosport, The Gladiatores]
1) Templario & Wasson b Fiero & Limbo
2) Espanto Jr. & Oro Jr. b Centvrión & Fly Warrior
Oro Jr. & Espanto Jr. were the mystery luchadors from CMLL.
3) Magnífico II, Rayo Star, Sky Man b Astral, Eléctrico, Tiago
Tiago (ex-AAA’s Mini Charly Manson) didn’t get along with the CMLL minis, but refused an offer to join the Magnifico Sky Stars team.
4) Cavernario & Hechicero b Bestia 666 & Black Terry
Great match, money thrown in. Terry asked for a direct match with Cavernario, and the caveman accepted.
5) Flamita b Máscara Dorada
moved to semimain. Excellent match, money thrown in.
6) Látigo b Toro Negro Jr. [mask]
Bloody match. A fight broke out between groups of fans during the match. Toro Negro is José Antonio Marmolejo Martínez, 32 years old, 15 a wrestler, from Neza.

Fans were way into the mask match, too much so – there was an incident between some fans and the seconds which required security to separate. It overshadowed that match, but the two matches before it were said to live up to the hype.

Flamita got the big win in his return to CaraLucha. He’s going to be a busy man, but figures to be the centerpiece of these shows for the time to come. Terry/Cavernario should be fun.

ELITE (SAT) 05/21/2016 Arena México [+LuchaTV, CMLL, Kronosport, SuperLuchas]
1) Dinamic Black, Emperador Azteca, Tritón b Dr. Karonte Jr., El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.
Triton beat Wagner with a 450 splash
2) Dalys © b La Jarochita [CMLL WOMEN]
Dalys took 1/3, in what was called an easy victory. 3rd defense.
3) Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera b Pantera II & Shu el Guerrero [Copa de Maestros Elite 2016]
Pantera II replaced Super Astro and wrestled in the mask he lost here 10 years ago.
4) Carístico b La Máscara, Atlantis, Mephisto, Argos, Valiente, Toscano, Ángel de Oro, Puma, Golden Magic [ELITE MIDDLE, cibernetico]
Order of elimination: Argos, Toscano, Valiente, Golden Magic, Puma, Angel de Oro, Atlantis, La Mascara, and Mephisto. Caristico is the first champion.
5) Cibernético DQ Rush, Último Guerrero, LA Park, Máximo Sexy, Súper Crazy, Diamante Azul, Hijo De Dos Caras [ELITE HEAVY, Elite Battle]
Cibernetico is the first champion. Battle royal eliminations when Super Crazy, Maximo, Hijo de Dos, Diamante Azul, LA Park (by UG), and UG threw himself out trying to get Cibernetico. Singles match was between Rush & Cibernetico, with Rush opting to give Cibernetico a martinete rather than win the title. Rush made it clear post match he had no interest in winning the title.

Cibernetico & Caristico winning the titles was obvious; they’re the centerpieces of Elite, and they might as well get the vanity titles. Title belts for everyone!

No one seemed to bring up Pantera wearing his mask. Masks for everyone!

CMLL (SUN) 05/22/2016 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Artillero & Inquisidor b Bengala & Leono
2) Fujin, Nitro, Retro b Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Soberano Jr., Starman
Debuts for Ciclon and Retro. Nitro won with his piledriver.
3) Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus b Esfinge, Fuego, Pegasso
Rudos took 1/3.
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Súper Porky, Valiente b Gran Guerrero, Luciferno, Vangellys
Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Diamante Azul, Dragón Lee, Marco Corleone b Ephesto, Kráneo, Mephisto
Marco Corleone replaced Atlantis. First weekend for Diamante Azul since November.

No angles on the show. Retro & Ciclon Ramirez Jr. are yet more new names debuting. The list is getting pretty long now: Bugambilia, Ciclón Ramírez Jr., El Cuatrero, Dinamic Black, Forastero, Fujin, Golden Magic, Grako, Magia Blanca, Raijin, Retro, Rocky Casas, Sansón, Templario, Warrior Steel, and Yago have all shown up on Arena Mexico shows this year, plus the Mano Blanco Jr. who was advertised and didn’t appear. Only the NJPW kids and Cuatrero & Sanson (but not their cousin) have been booked regularly, with a lot of those names showing up only once or twice. It’s strange for CMLL to debut a dozen new people at once – it’s usually a smaller class – and it’s odd they’ve all been making one appearance and not been regularly scheduled. It doesn’t seem like CMLL’s putting much effort into these new characters, with all of them (even the most obscure guys) doing the same characters they were doing on the indie shows. Grako, Retro and Magia Blanca look like they rolled off some generic luchador factory line.

The Perros defeated the Fronterizos in a (no apuesta) cage match in Arena Neza. The building seemed less than half full, which is disappointing for a feud that’s been a big focus on recent AAA TV. They’re coming back with the same Psycho Clown/Pentagon/Pagano three way they’re doing on TV and on a lot of spot shows in the next few weeks.

Pagano also main evented the Arena Lopez Mateos 49th Anniversary show, with LA Park, Blue Demon and Canek, which did look to sell out or come close. Blue Demon won the main event by DQ, which was the same finish in the semimain.

I went to a lucha show in Berywn on Saturday. Extreme Tiger & Aeroboy was really good. I didn’t get much out of the rest of the show.

This week’s AAA TV episode is up. The show is listed as 56:19 minutes, which is the shortest episode I can recall since they’ve started to do the YouTube episodes.

Fenix versus Pentagon Jr. is now happening in New York on July 24

Dragon Rojo says he gained weight due to depression, but now feels 100% healthy and wants to make it back into the main events.

Octagon says he’s filming a reality competition show in Xalapa. No network or air date is mentioned in the article.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Segunda Caida reviews Negro Casas vs Fuerza Guerrera from 1986.

Box Y Lucha #3234 has Rush & La Mascara on the cover.

Lucha Libre is featured in the 119th edition Arte de Mexico magazine.

Lucha Libre in Japan

05/22 NJPW: Barreta defeated Volador Jr. [BOSJ]
Volador starts off the tournament, 0-1.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 05/28/2016 Arena Coliseo
1) Aéreo vs Pequeño Universo 2000
2) Astral vs Mercurio
3) Star Jr. vs Nitro
4) Hombre Bala Jr. vs Sangre Azteca
5) Fuego vs Puma
6) Guerrero Maya Jr. & The Panther © vs Hechicero & Vangellys [Arena Coliseo TAG]
fourth defense
7) Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Titán vs Felino, La Máscara, Shocker

This is a randomly stacked card for the first Arena Coliseo show since 05/07. Vangellys & Hechicero hadn’t been feuding with Maya & Panther prior, this is title match to try and the main event is get some attention for these shows after accidentally saying their wouldn’t be any shows for a while.

CMLL (SUN) 05/29/2016 Arena México
1) Flyer & Sensei vs Apocalipsis & Artillero
2) Magnus, Robin, Starman vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
3) Pegasso, Stigma, Tritón vs Fujin, Okumura, Raijin
4) Ángel de Oro, Dragón Lee, Titán vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Rey Escorpión
5) Marco Corleone, Máscara Dorada, Máximo Sexy vs La Máscara, Negro Casas, Shocker

No new names this week. Rey Escorpion back with the Revolucionarios – maybe an indication these cards are put together way in advance.

CMLL (SUN) 05/29/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr. vs Guerrero de la Muerte
2) El Alteño & Fugaz vs Destello & Diplomático
3) Frezzer, Metatrón, Star Black vs Gran Kenut, Mr. Brisa, Thunder Boy
4) León Blanco, Magnum, Neutrón vs El Chakal, Espectrúm, Furia Roja
5) Gallo & Vaquero Jr. © vs Kempo Dragón & Príncipe Kisho [PC TAG]
first defense

The Pacific Coast tag team titles are normally a Sinaloa based title. Gallo & Vaquero won it back in November in a four way match (belts were vacant), and it’s a Sinaloa based team trying to win to bring it back home as outsiders.

Chilanga Mask (SUN) 06/05/2016 Arena Jose Sulaiman, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
1) Súper Átomo vs Hijo De Centurion Negro
2) Terremoto Negro vs Tekilita
3) Jeque vs Caifan Rockero III
4) Laredo Kid vs Último Ninja, Astro
5) Kronos vs Psycho Kid, Sin Elemento, Beto Acala, Babe Fox
6) Alberto Dos Rios & Epydemius vs Fly Star & Mr. Leo
7) Makabre vs Wotan, Aero Boy, Shyru Dragón
8) Caifan vs Xtreme Tiger
9) Facade & Jason Gory vs Arez & Impulso

Match 1, 2, and 5 weren’t announced prior. Caifan/Tiger should be pretty good.

BAUXIT (FRI) 06/10/2016 Autolavado VM, Tulancingo, Hidalgo
1) ? vs ??
2) Ángel Extrmo & Hormiga vs Desorden & Talaxis
3) Felina Metálica vs Zuzu Divine
4) Sagrado vs Violento Jack, Pesadilla
5) Aero Boy vs Black Terry [hair, mask]

Aero Boy and Black Terry have been going back and forth, but doing the apuesta match is a bit of a surprise.

The 2nd Annual Lucha World Cup will be held the first week of June in Mexico City. It’s a single elimination trios tournament, with each trio representing a different country (and, in some cases, a different promotion.) This year, there are tournaments for both men and women.

The presenting sponsor of this show is beer company Victoria. AAA hosts the Lucha World Cup this year, but it’s not presented as an AAA event. It’s an international competition, where knowledge of ongoing AAA storylines is largely unneccesary.

The eight teams in the men’s bracket are

Japan (NOAH): Taiji Ishimori, Naomichi Marufuji, Mayback Taniguchi
Japan (Ouduo/Zero One) Masato Tanaka, Akebono, Ikuto Hidaka
Mexico (AAA): Pentagon Jr., Texano Jr., Psycho Clown
Mexico (Leyendas): Canek, La Parka (AAA), Blue Demon Jr.
Mexico (Internacional): Rey Mysterio, Dragon Azteca Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr.
US (TNA): Ethan Carter III, Eli Drake, Tyrus
US (LU): Brian Cage, Johnny Mundo, Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Rest of the World: Mil Muertes, Rockstar Spud, Apolo

The four teams in the women’s bracket are

Japan: (WAVE/OZ) Aja Kong, Yuki Miyazaki, Natsu Sumire
Mexico (AAA): Lady Apache, Mary Apache, Faby Apache
US: Santana Garrett, Sienna (Allysin Kay), Cheerleader Melissa
Canada: Taya, Allie (Cherry Bomb), KC Spinelli

The Mexico AAA team was determined via qualifying matches. All other teams were announced as selections. (It’s unclear how much input each participating promotion had in choosing those who would represent them.)

The bracket match ups are unknown at this time. Last year, they were not announced until the morning of the start of competition.

The competition will be held over a few days:

Foreign wrestlers will arrive June 1st or June 2nd, and there will be a press event in the days before the first show.

June 3rd (Friday)’s show will take place in Puebla, at the Centro Expositor (convention center), with a listed starting time of 8:30pm Central Time. The first round for both brackets will take place on this show: the quarterfinal matches in the men’s division, and the semifinal matches in the women’s matches. (That is six total scheduled matches.)

June 5th (Sunday)’s show will take place in Mexico City, at the Palacio de los Deportes, with a listed starting time of 4:00pm Central Time. The semifinals, third place match and finals of the men’s division, and the third place and final’s of the women’s division will all take place. (That is six total scheduled matches.) Also, a judges panels of past luchador stars will select winners for best match, best dive, and best luchador awards.

The tournament format means all four women’s teams will wrestle on both shows, with the losing trios facing off in a third place match. The larger men’s field, and no 5th/7th place matches, appear to suggest the men who lose in Puebla will not appear at all in Mexico City. However, the listed 4pm start time is earlier than normal for an AAA show, maybe allowing time for the eliminated wrestlers will be featured in a bonus match.

Both show will be taped to air on television, though the plans for this have yet to be announced. Officially, AAA has announced nothing about these shows airing, either live or on iPPV. Unofficially, there has been a lot of talk about changed plans about of this airing. The one confirmed bit is Japan’s Samurai TV has said they’ll be airing both shows later in June.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AAA’s original idea was to try to air both shows on conventional PPV in the US, Canada, Mexico. That later changed to just the Sunday show, and now is said to not be happening at all on conventional PPV. Hugo Savonvich and TNA’s Josh Mathews were slated to announce the show in English when it was on PPV, with Mathews being used as part of the agreement to bring in AAA luchadors (and to allow TNA to promote their own PPV for the following week.) There’s been no updated about the announcing situation now that it appears not to be on normal PPV in the US/Canada. Some combination of the usual AAA announcers (Jesus Zuñiga, Andres Maroñas, Arturo Rivera and Leo Riano) will announce the show in Spanish.

It’s assumed both shows will be available worldwide on iPPV, but AAA has not said anything. Location and cost are unknown. AAA’s major shows have typically been streamed on iPPV on internetvluchalibreaaa.com, but no card streamed since October, with the most recent event in March apparently not airing due to a last minute issue between the streaming company and AAA.

The events will likely air as part of AAA’s regular TV show, but it’s unclear when. An edited version of the competition also aired on broadcast TV in Mexico.

Last year’s results:

First: Mexico Dream Team (Rey Mysterio Jr., Alberto el Patron and Myzteziz)
Second: US-TNA/Lucha Underground (Johnny Mundo, Ken Anderson, Matt Hardy)
Third: US-Lucha Underground/ROH (Brian Cage, ACH, Moose)
Fourth: Team Mexico-Leyendas (Dr. Wagner Jr., Blue Demon Jr., Solar)

eliminated in quarterfinal
Atsushi Kotoge, Taiji Ishimori, Takayama
Hijo del Fantasma, Psycho Clown, Texano Jr.
Kenzo Suzuki, Masamune, Tiger Mask III
Angélico, Drew Galloway, El Mesías

Victoria has indicated they’d like to take this competition to Japan in 2017.

Day: May 22, 2016

Flamita defeats Dorada, Latigo unmasks Toro Negro, Elite champions handed out

all we know about the 2nd Lucha World Cup so far