CMLL (SUN) 06/26/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Domingos Familaires, Esto es Lucha GDL, Fuego en el Ring]
1) Avispón Negro Jr. b Guerrero de la Muerte
2) Destructor & Diplomático b El Alteño & El Yaqui
3) El Divino, Neutrón, Vaquero Jr. b Carlo Roggi, Gran Kenut, Mr. Apolo
Tecnicos took 1/3
4) Joker © b Nautilius [OCCIDENTE MIDDLE]
Joker took 2/3 to keep it. First defense.
5) El Gitano L Star Black, Thunder Boy, Mr. Brisa, Capitán Cobra,Reycko, Linterna, Cosmos, Explosivo, Relámpago [mask, cage]
Everyone had to stay in for five minutes before leaving. Gitano, Gerardo Salazar de la Torre, 25 years old, 7 or 8 years a wrestler, was last and lost his mask to Star Black Jr. (who won on a small package reversal of a suplex.) Linterna was second to last going out.
Gitano’s probably wrestled for that length of time, but he was only around Arena Coliseo Guadalajara for about a year and a half. Star Black’s been around the same time, but has a YouTube channel he occasionally updated Cage match didn’t seem to draw that much extra than normal.
CMLL (MON) 06/27/2016 Arena Puebla [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) El Malayo & Saurón b Centella Roja & Rey Samuray 
13:37. Rudos took 1/3. Rey Samuray landed knee to the chest on a rope flip moonsault to end the second fall, Malayo hit him back with a hard knee to the head in the third fall (and Samuray ended up on the floor counted out as an unplanned finish.)
2) Black Tiger, Hombre Bala Jr., Oro Jr. b Ares, King Jaguar, Policeman
16:57. Tecnicos took 2/3. Oro Jr. replaced Super Halcon Jr.
3) Estrellita, Marcela, Skadi b Amapola, La Comandante, Zeuxis
11:55. Tecnicas took 1/3
4) Misterioso Jr., Pierroth, Sagrado b Fuego, París, Tritón
12:48. Rudos took 1/3. Paris & Triton replaced Stigma & Stuka, part of a domino effect of changes. Sagrado & Misterioso are no longer Boricuas but seem OK with Pierroth.
5) Johnny Idol, Mistico, Stuka Jr. b Rey Escorpión, Tama Tonga, Tangaroa
12:27, about 3 minutes extra because everyone in the match believed Rey Escorpion was the captain, but Tama Tonga was announced as the captain and the first fall went on until they sorted it out. Tecnicos took 1/3. Stuka replaced Volador.
6) Rush b Volador Jr.
12:27. Volador replaced Cibernetico. Rush was DQed in the first for excessive violence and dropkicking Tirantes (who took a bump without being touched), Rush took the second clean with the same corner dropkick that led into the DQ in the first fall, and Rush took the third when Escorpion distracted the ref and Pierroth snuck in a low blow. Rey Escorpion is officially a Ingobernable, though he’s been running around with the shirt for over a month.
Match was very missable except for the main event. It was a good match for the time they had, despite getting two bad finishes out of the three falls (and it doesn’t appear they’re going anywhere.)
However, it’s also the second singles main event in four weeks where CMLL didn’t deliver the promised match. CMLL obviously knew Mephisto wasn’t going to wrestle four weeks ago because they sent Rey Escorpion to Puebla, and they probably knew this time as well, but did not announce the change to the crowd at any time. (It probably wasn’t a coincidence that Rush attacked Volador as soon as he entered, so people would react to the match and not the change.) CMLL didn’t explain why Cibernetico wasn’t there, and never acknowledged he was even supposed to be. This is CMLL’s usual policy – hide the bad news, don’t acknowledge whenever there’s any bad news and generally pretend it’s not happening. This is a terrible way to treat your customers. Volador is easily arguably a better wrestler and a bigger star than Cibernetico at this moment in time, and even then CMLL wouldn’t acknowledge they were doing a potentially better match. Mexico’s the only place where people seem to think this is acceptable. It’s not. Even WWE, who seem to lose track of who’s appearing at what house show or if they’re doing a dark match at the end of tapings, will offer refunds if an advertised top star is pulled from the show.
Cibernetico’s not a favorite among the people who read this site, but there were clearly people who went to that show because they were going to Cibernetico take on Rush. It was the biggest crowd in quite a few weeks, and those fans would be justified in not coming back again any time soon. Compare this to the situation in Monterrey, which has a rep for making lucha libre look bad, but the promoters came to the ring to apologize for their change (even though locally Garza Jr./Hijo del Ninja also might be a bigger star) and are very obviously still furious about the situation a day later.
(Even less understandable is the news reports on the show – El Popular, Efekto10 – going along with it and not acknowledging the situation.)
Meanwhile, Adictos al Deportes has put up a post with text messages between Rush and Roberto Figueroa, with images of the tickets they tried to get Rush to Monterrey. (Rush also writes “bro” a lot.) There’s also a photo of signs they had outside the building explaining Rush wouldn’t be there. LuchaMania Monterrey notes they offered refunds after the second match, and about half the crowd took it up. (Adictos said the original crowd was around 1,500.) In the main event, they teased a three way match in the main event, with an unidentified mask man coming out to face Konnan Big before Hijo del Ninja. Konnan Big turned to the entrance to see Ninja enter, and the masked man revealed himself to actually be Ninja. They had a crazy brawl, with Konnan Big winning after spearing Ninja thru a table. They talked rematch, with Ninja saying they don’t need to have people from Mexico City for a big show.
Satanico’s post about Thunder from yesterday was dire (“help us believe in miracles”), and he’s not the only person who seems concerned. Australian wrestling in Japan Ryukyu Dog Dingo was posting about it last night on Twitter, which also finally ‘solved’ the mystery of who Thunder was before he came to Mexico; he’d always said he wrestled before, but we couldn’t ever pin a name down and there was thought he might not have. In fact, Thunder wrestled in Australia’s AWF and Japan’s Okinawa Pro as “Taipan”. (There was an Australian Gladiator using that name too, but I don’t think the ages matchup.)
Using that information and doing some more searching, I’ve found out Thunder is battling cancer. I do not know what kind, but people are reacting as if it’s a very serious situation and it’s not going well. It’s a pretty stunning news to wander into, but it begins to explain his most recent/sudden disappearance (and perhaps even some of the prior ones), and CMLL’s reluctance to talk about it. I hope Thunder gets the miracle he needs.
Tonight’s CMLL main event look good on the poster, with Mascara Dorada, Mistico & Titan taking on the Guerreros of Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja and Ultimo Guerrero. It’ll probably be shorter than we’d like live, but should still be good. Virus takes on Fuego in a lightning match might also be good. Dragon Rojo says he has a surprise today. He teams with Polvora & Bobby Z versus Angel de Oro, Guerrero Maya & Super Porky, so it’ll be a surprise if the match is good. CMLL’s full preview is here; Stukita’s part of an undercard you can probably otherwise skip. The show will start at 7:30pm and air on CMLL.com/YouTube.
Meanwhile, the Guadalajara show has the Esfinge/Furia Roja mask match. Esfinge is an extremely strong favorite; it’d be one of the most unexpected outcomes of all time if Furia Roja won. This is one of the feuds CMLL loves to do, where a young guy they’re high on wins the mask of a veteran, but it doesn’t really have much impact when the feud is so tossed off and slight. The ‘real’ issues are the ones that go one forever, and this comes off as ‘fake’. Mask wins like this are more likely to backfire and actually hurt Esfinge’s career. CMLL’s audience doesn’t trust the promotion, and this sort of win only identifies Esfinge as a promotional golden boy, an “inflatdo”, that’s going to be pushed regardless of how good he is or how over he is, which ends up with another tecnico booked by the crowd. I’m not saying Furia Roja should win, but they shouldn’t have booked this match or done it in the way they’ve done it if they truly were doing this to help Esfinge. (That may not be the primary reason; this is Guadalajara’s Anniversary month and they just might have been the two names pulled out of the hat.)
The foreigners are in the Guadalajara show today. I wonder if that’s an intended plan to get that market interested in buying the iPPV, or just CMLL’s weird balancing of booking. Main event is Atlantis, Kushida & Volador against Negro Casas, Tama Tonga and Tangaroa, semimain is Diamante Azul, Maximo Sexy and Michael Elgin (what a trio) against Bucanero, Terrible and Vangelys.
Pierroth & Rush vs La Mascara & Shocker are scheduled to main event a show in Queretaro – you can take a bus there, so Rush shouldn’t miss it.
Pentagon Jr. says he wants to win the Latin American title as the icing of the cake of his recent growth, and would defend it all the time in and out of Mexico.
The Gladiatores talks to Shadow Boy & the Tiger about their feud in IWRG.
There’s a trailer for Lucha Mexico film, which comes on July 15h.
The main event of next Monday’s AAA/Cantu Nuevo Laredo show is Pentagon Jr. vs Pagano vs LA Park. It’s probably just LA Park being brought in as an outsider, since there’s less AAA people on the show than normal.
AAW announced Fenix faces Marty Scurll on their 07/23 show.
Chilanga Mask announced an 08/21 show in Coacalco
1: Black Terry vs Wotan
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and Poster-Mania.
Lineup
LLW (FRI) 07/01/2016 York Hall, London, United Kingdom
1) Malik, Monito, Rana Venenosa vs Cassius, Diablesa Rosa, Nordico Fuego
2) Chik Tormenta vs Lady Apache
3) Juventud Guerrera & Zumbi vs Lagarto De Plata & Pure Britannico
4) Silver King & Tempestad (Santo) vs Aztec Warrior & Magno (Chihuahua)
Lineup for the Friday show; they’re running on Saturday too with something similar. Tickets are 20 & 30 pounds ($26.67 to $40 US, though the conversion changed a bit from when the show was announced.)
Nieto del Santo is wrestling as Temepstad, at least for this show. Aztec Warrior looks to be Magnifico II, but they could’ve replaced him. A bit strange Zumbi’s able to work in the UK but didn’t have a visa completed to work in CWC.
CMLL (MON) 07/04/2016 Arena Puebla
1) Astro, Centella Roja, París vs Guerrero Espacial, Mini Joker, Saurón
2) Black Tiger, King Jaguar, Oro Jr. vs Ares, Inquisidor, Policeman
3) Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Bobby Z, Okumura, Virus
4) Kushida, Máscara Dorada, Michael Elgin vs Mr. Niebla, Tama Tonga, Tangaroa
5) Mistico, Negro Casas, Shocker vs La Máscara, Mephisto, Sharlie Rockstar [Relevos Increíbles]
This is a weird card. This will actually be Sharlie’s first match on a CMLL card since jumping to AAA last time – he’s only been on Elite shows since returning, and hasn’t even been on one of those since May. (Maybe Cibernetico’s hurt/unavailable and he’s the replacement.) Maybe Mephisto’s healthy, who knows. Maybe Negro Casas will finally get his revenge for the hair match loss, or maybe Shocker & Casas teaming might mean someone remembers they’re tag champions.
the Tonga brothers with Mr. Niebla is an odd mix, and kind of a waste of Kushida & Dorada as a team. There’s no obvious reason why King Jaguar should be a tecnico and against his buddy Policeman.
That’s awful news about Thunder. I know he’s an appalling wrestler, but I hope he makes a full recovery so we can go back to heckling him, and he can continue to not care about it and get pushed hard.
God bless him.
Re: Zumbi – the US and the EU have different rules and processes in place, it is possible someone was actually on the ball and got the EU paperwork done but the US paperwork took longer to do
Policeman (who is enjoyable, at least) and King fucking Jaguar get booked for the third week in a row and El Batallón is nowhere to be found! Maybe they’re actually going to make good on their Informa promise & are prepping to come to Arena Mexico to beat all the other top teams in CMLL.
Stigma has been MIA too… replaced by Paris yesterday, he was last seen in Arena Puebla on the same card as Apocalipsis & Toro Bill almost a month ago. He’s wrestled in Guadalajara & Arena Mexico since then, so he doesn’t seem to be injured. He even wrestled an indy trios match opposite Rey Apocalipsis in Puebla, but not in Arena Puebla.
I was in the arena coliseo of Guadalajara there was more people than a regular show in tuesday. In the mask match the winner was Esfinge with an egyptian bridge, Furia roja is Ivan Alejandro Lemus Perez, 20 years old from Guadalajara, Jalisco. 6 years as a professional wrestler. Money was thrown in this fight. In the main event Negro Casas was substituted for Mr. Niebla who was really drunk, a bad match thanks to him.
It was posted “Even WWE, who seem to lose track of who’s appearing at what house show or if they’re doing a dark match at the end of tapings, will offer refunds if an advertised top star is pulled from the show.”. Well, they don’t with Roman Reigns, at least that’s what I read, and tend to believe.