ELITE (THU) 06/02/2016 Arena México [+LuchaTV, CMLL,SuperLuchas]
1) Ciclón Ramírez Jr. & Robin (CMLL) b Luzbel & Tanque Infernal
2) El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Karonte Jr. bBandido, Hombre Bala Jr., Jinzo
The mystery luchador was the debuting Bandido.
3) Argos, Magnus, Rey Escorpión b Ángel de Oro, Golden Magic, Último Ninja
Golden Magic was stretchered out after taking Rey Escorpion’s package piledriver.
4) Bobby Lashley b Xtreme Tiger [Liga Elite]
Easy win for Bobby. Lashley is now 2-1, Tiger is 1-3.
5) Fuerza Guerrera & Último Guerrero b Atlantis & Octagón
Rudos took 1/3 clean. Hijo del Octagon accompanied his father to the ring, and the rudos went after his mask. Hijo del Octagon said he’s going to continue with this name even though Octagon Jr. is not around by that name any more.
6) Carístico b Máscara Dorada [Liga Elite]
Caristico is 3-1, Dorada is 2-2. Money thrown in.
Liga Elite standings!
9 Caristico (4 matches)
6 Atlantis (3)
6 Volador Jr. (3)
6 Bobby Lashley (3)
6 Mascara Dorada (4)
4 LA Park (2)
3 Rush (2)
3 Xtreme Tiger (3)
3 Ultimo Guerrero (3)
1 Cibernetico (3)
0 Negro Casas (1)
0 La Mascara (2)
The playoff chances are updated; Dorada & Tiger are doing worse than the points suggest, since they’ve had far less matches than everyone else.
Elite has promoted both Liga Elite matches as airing today, so they’re going back to running once a week. Hopefully the second Thursday goes better than the first, because the photos the official account was taking of their show looked dire last night. (It looked a little bit better on other angles, but not great.) Changing days again was going to be a hard adjustment, but they also didn’t do a great job of promoting the change.
Bandido looks like he’s an indie luchador, but it’s unclear which one.
Tonight’s the Lucha World Cup first round in Puebla. The show is listed as starting at 8:30pm. As of the time I’m writing this, we still do not know any first round matchups. Those were decided on the morning of the show last year and I held off posting hoping they’d turn up again, but no luck so far. I’m sure matchups would help sell a tournament better, but this is not something either AAA or CMLL seems to believe.
You can still buy the iPPV. It’s now $25. (The old price was a mistake.) The show will be on VOD for at least 10 days if you buy it. Josh Mathews and Hugo Savinovich will be the English announcers, though I’m not sure they’ve made that clear. AAA’s really not replaced Court Bauer with anyone who can spend a lot of time promoting these shows in English, and it’s shown in the hype for this show – I think the English language promotion has basically been a few social media posts on Lucha Underground and TNA accounts. You’re reading a lot of it if you’re following the people into it (and the Japanese Twitter seems pretty active), but the anticipation for this year’s tournament seems a lot less than last year’s.
That could just be an internet bubble thing, but it doesn’t look super promising in Mexico either. There seems to be a lot of ticket giveaways for the Lucha World Cup . There were a lot last year too, but I’m concerned how this is going to do with the bigger field, running in Puebla, not not having draw of Rey, Myzteziz and Alberto teaming for the first time. It’s tough to tell how many tickets have been sold on the Superboletos site; the front rows seem mostly filled, but the cheap tickets are all without seat locations. Expanding to a second place, at a venue they don’t normally run, was always going to be a challenge. The Lucha World Cup is being mentioned a lot on TV, but AAA hasn’t hit it nearly as hard as I would’ve thought.
Probably the biggest help the Lucha World Cup can get is in mainstream media coverage, and it’s tough to have a good feel of that while I’m outside of Mexico; there seemed to be a lot of press there, but not a lot of it’s surfaced in places I’ve been looking. At the press day, Dragon Azteca Jr. acknowledged the Mexican fans probably know him better as Rey Horuz. Johnny Mundo said the Mexican and Japanese teams are the best opponents in the world, but his Lucha Underground team is a little bit better. Team TNA was amusing, with Eli talking about the respect he had for lucha libre while Tyrus suggested Dr. Wagner Jr. may actually be a gringo hiding his identity under a mask. Here’s a Dario Cueto interview I’m linking just because Dario Cueto is wearing a hat.
CMLL has it’s usual Friday night show tonight. The big match is La Mascara versus Pierroth, which has the potential to be anywhere from OK to one of the worst matches of the year. It’s a little bit suspicious CMLL would do the singles match if they’re planning on coming back with it soon in a mask versus mask match.
That’s technically the semimain. The actual main event is Atlantis, Marco, Valiente versus Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero and Shocker (who may be involved in that singles match.) Rey Cometa and Cavernario continue feuding in the tercera; Cometa teams with Stuka & Titan against Niebla & Felino. The best match of the night might be the second match, with Triton, Fuego & Pegasso versus Okumura, Fujin and Raijin. There’s also mini and women’s matches on the show.
CMLL’s show starts at it’s normal Friday night time of 8:30pm and should stream on Clarosports.
Kamicazes del Ring is running a debut show on 06/11 in Coacalco
1: Caifan vs Trauma II vs Herodes Jr.
2: Alas de Acero, Iron Kid, Aramis vs Mike Suicida, Rey Cometa, Freelance
3: Corsario Negro, Drako vs Metaleon, Emperador Azteca
4: Keira vs Skadi
(The success of Chilanga Mask/Lucha Memes has led to a lot more super-indies, which is good for fans but might flood the market.)
Flamita versus Aeroboy is happening on San Diego on June 25.
The lineup for lucha libre shows in London on 07/01 & 07/02 includes Silver King, Zumbi, Juvi, Magnifico II, Magno, Lady Apache, and Chik Tormenta. The poster lists both “Santo Jr.” and “Tempestad”, who should be the same person.
Masked Republic/Viva La Lucha is running a show in San Diego on 08/13, with Rey Mysterio, Johnny Mundo, Nicho, TJP, Teddy Hart and others.
Arena Xalapa shows are moving to a 6pm start time, so everyone can get leave at 9 and avoid the violence.
Lineups
RIOT (SAT) 06/11/2016 Arena Femenil, Monterrey, Nuevo León
1) Kamikaze & Kratoz vs Dulce Kanela & Larry Miranda
2) Belial vs Drastik Boy
3) Violento Jack vs Byron, Tony Rodríguez
4) Sammy Guevera vs Dralion
5) Arez vs Ronnie Mendoza
6) Erick Ortiz vs Rico Rodríguez
Full card for the Empalme Strikes Back.
AAA TDL (SAT) 06/18/2016 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Osiris, Pumita, Rey Destella vs Deirus, Pequeño Magon, X-Boy
2) Ludxor & Venum vs Dark Scoria & Estrella Divina
3) Fireman, Kalibus, Shadow Boy vs Delirio, Kaiser Dragón, Lintera Venegas
4) Australian Suicie & Pimpinela Escarlata vs Ricky Marvin & Taurus
5) Eterno & Fresero Jr. vs Halcón 2000 & Sky Ángel and Hunter Dragón & Karma and Crazy Romance & Dark Killer
6) Aerostar & Fénix vs Pentagón Jr. & Texano Jr.
Saturday night is a different night here, but the Thursday night show they tried seemed OK. Werd the AAA guys are working second match.