IWRG (WED) 06/29/2016 Arena Naucalpan [The Gladiatores]
1) Águila Oriental & Osisis b Pumita & Salchichita
2) Adrenalina & Voltar b Geo & Magic Dragón
3) Araña de Plata, Galaxy, Skanda b Fireman, Keiser Drago, Omega
4) Aramis, Dragón Fly, Zatura b Camaleón I, Camaleón II, Fight Panther Jr.
Promocion del Norte team was scheduled to be Angel Dorado I & Ares I & Ares II
5) Black Terry & Shadow Boy b Apolo Estrada Jr. & the Tiger (Tamaulipas)
Team IWRG took falls 2/3. The Tiger tried pulling off Shadow Boy’s mask, but Shadow Boy cradled him anyway for the win.
Tonight’s the Gran Prix show. The main event is a cibernetico of the same name, an 8 vs 8 elimination match. Team Mexico is Ultimo Guerrero, Rush, Volador Jr., Maximo, Rey Escorpion, La Mascara, Diamante Azul and Shocker. Team Rest of the World are Michael Elgin, Kushida, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, Marco Corleone, Okumura, Sam Adonis and Johnny Idol. Ciberneticos are reliably good in CMLL, and the nationalism behind this match should make for a great atmosphere. The expectation is Mexico will win, perhaps setting up Volador versus Kushida for next Friday.
The semimain is a rematch, Rey Cometa trying to take Barbaro Cavernario’s hair once again. Cavernario took his hair two years ago (and is the favorite to do it again.) My expectations for this match are sky high; anything less than a match of the year candidate will be a bit of a disappointment.
I’ve got a longer preview up on Voices of Wrestling. (And I got it done late, so thanks to them for still posting it.) It’s not a critical storyline show, but every match (all four of ’em) should at least be good. My feeling is CMLL’s done a strong job of promoting this event, and might get a really good turnout out of this show.
The show will air at 8:30pm CT on Cleeng for $17.55, including fees. If you use the code JKGbxe, they’ll take about $5 off to $12.69. You can also watch it on the Playstation Live Viewer; it’s listed as $10, but I’m not sure what fees they may add on. The show is only available live – there’s no VOD option.
Ultimo Guerrero says his plan is to figure out who the best guy is on the Gran Prix team and try to beat him to demoralize the whole team, though he says he’ll have to be careful with Michael Elgin. He’s also concerned his team may fall apart and fight each other, and with good reason given the lineup.
El Grafico writes about the Rest of the World’s trip to the Zocalo and all the pictures they took with fans.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: something’s up with Elite. One of their announcers says they have an important announcement on tonight’s TV show. That could literally mean anything with this promotion, but it seemed like something had to be changed after the International tournament bombed. The rest of that tournament will air tonight. Cibernetico, in the first public comment I’ve seen him make since not showing up in Puebla, dismissed a Facebook post saying Elite promotion was in trouble.
Letra Roja has a column trying to figure out why the Elite International tournament was such a failure, and theorizes the 8 Mexico vs 8 foreigners format tonight will sell better.
Heddi Karaoui says he’s done wrestling in Mexico due to politics. As noted by LigerFever, Karaoui seems to have been scheduled for both the International Elite tournament and tonight’s Gran Prix, but ended up excluded from both. I’m not sure what the politics are – Karoui works for other non-NJPW promotions in Japan, so maybe they didn’t want him in their matches? Karoui says he’s looking elsewhere, which I guess means he’s not defending the IWRG Middleweight Championship any time soon.
Oaxaca Mira has a brief interview with Fiero, who debuts this Sunday in Arena Mexico. Fiero was born in Oaxaca and comes from a family of luchadors. He trained with local Furia Poblana before moving to Mexico City to learn under Black Terry, Arkangel and Virus. Fiero debuted as a wrestler at age 14; I have him on Oaxaca lineups back in 2013 and he worked his first Toryumon show at 15. He’s looked talented when he’s turned up on indie shows, and CMLL might have wanted to wait for him to turn 18 (which he now is) before debuting him.
AAA’s posted the full English language version of this Lucha World Cup final.
Chilanga Mask announced an 08/21 show in Coacalco
1: Black Terry vs Wotan
2: Caifan 3 vs Solar
Mas Lucha posted highlights of Alex Daniels vs DJ Z vs Flamita. Flamita’s family is selling Flamita Dragon Gate shirts, which is surely an amazing coincidence with a mystery man showing up in Dragon Gate in a few hours.
LuchaWorld has the latest news report and Kurt writing about a well researched piece on Charro Aguayo.
LigerFever has the second part of the interview transcript with Mascara Dorada. Dorada directly says he’d take an NXT deal if it’s offered.
CMLL luchadors cut the ribbon on a Arena Mexico photo gallery in a Celaya mall.
Lineup
IWRG (SUN) 07/03/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fireman vs Atomic Star
2) Dragón Fly, Hijo del Alebrije, the Tiger (Tamaulipas) vs Diablo Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Imposible
3) Emperador Azteca, Freelance, Zatura vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Dr. Cerebro, Relámpago
4) Black Terry, Chicano, Súper Nova vs Eterno, Negro Navarro, Toscano
5) Hijo De Dos Caras & Mr. Electro vs Canis Lupus & Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
It’s a show. Weird Tiger is a tecnico here, but not weird for IWRG. Chicano’s back?
WS (SUN) 08/07/2016 Teatro Caupolican, Santiago, Chile
1) Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Mr. Anderson
2) Alex Hero vs Twiggy [CHILE CHAMP]
3) Drago (AAA) vs Mr. 450 [WS Submission, #1 Contenders]
4) Cage vs León Apolo
5) Santana Garrett © vs Ivelisse [WS WOMEN]
6) Ricochet vs Pentagón Jr. [WS Submission, submission]
7) Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy vs Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson
Hugo did an interview talking about bringing the Hardys to Chile, which is where I first saw the YouTube video promoting this very weird card. Does Ricochet have a submission hold? I seem to know Pentagon has one.