Day: July 8, 2016

ELITE (THU) 07/07/2016 Arena México [@3erayDefinitiva, +LuchaTV, SuperLuchas]
1) Keira & Muñeca De Plata b La Jarochita & Lluvia
2) Heddi Karaoui & Okumura b El Bandido & Último Ninja
3) Ángel de Oro, Golden Magic, Máscara Dorada b El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Karonte Jr.
Good match. Hijo de Dr. Wagner challenged Mascara Dorada to a singles match next week.
4) Xtreme Tiger b Rey Escorpión [Liga Elite]
Negro Casas was scheduled, but is not ready to return from injury. Rey Escorpion was his surrogate in this match, still a Lige Elite match with points on the line. Tiger picked up 3 points (6 total: 2W-3L), Casas has 0 points (0W-3L)
5) Carístico & Michael Elgin DQ Kushida & Tama Tonga [Relevos Increíbles]
Diamante Azul was originally listed, but replaced on the lineup on Tama Tonga. Caristico was hurt in the second fall on a senton con giro and taken to the hospital. Tama fouled Elgin in the third, then attacked Kushida when he argued about.
6) La Máscara DQ Cibernético [Liga Elite]
Cibernetico fouled and unmasked Mascara, declaring himself the real Ingobernable. Cibernetico has 4 points (1W-1D-1L) and La Mascara 3 (1W-2L)

Liga Elite standings

9 Caristico (4 matches)
9 Atlantis (4)
6 Volador Jr. (3)
6 Bobby Lashley (3)
6 Mascara Dorada (4)
6 Xtreme Tiger (5)
4 LA Park (2)
4 Cibernetico (3)
3 Rush (2)
3 La Mascara (3) 
3 Ultimo Guerrero (4)
0 Negro Casas (3)
20 matches done/46 matches left/finals on Dec 15 if they don't skip around

Alexis Salazar mentioned Caristico was taken to the hospital. There’s no update on his status, or even exactly what he hurt. People get stretchered away from CMLL matches with disturbing frequency, but ending up in the emergency room is a rarer occurrence. Match finish sounds like usual deal when a CMLL match falls apart; it’s a match I really wanted to see originally, but now I’d hope they air the tercera instead.

This morning (not at the show they had last night) Elite announced next week’s main event is LA Park versus Rush in a super libre match. I’d assume that’s their Liga Elite match. They’ll also have Dos Caras (Sr.) & Atlantis versus Universo 2000 & Mascara 2000. As best I can tell, this would be Dos’ first match in Arena Mexico since 1997 and his first TV match since 2007.

AAA’s taping in Mexico City, which means another head to head Friday night between the two major promotions. CMLL has a little more international attention due to it’s main event, but both shows should have good matches and ought to be moving towards their big summer shows.

CMLL’s main event tonight is an NWA Welterweight championship match, Volador defending against NJPW’s Kushida. Kushida’s tour in CMLL has been a bit disappointing, not because of anything he’s done, but because CMLL really hasn’t put him spots against great rudos to excel, or given enough time to show what he can do. Volador will be a tecnico in this match, but he’s also a great opponent for a fantastic match. They did well against each other in their short Elite tournament match, and should have all the time they need tonight. Volador’s the strong favorite, but NJPW wrestlers have come to Mexico and taken home belts before. The result is not totally certain, though it wouldn’t be a great idea for Volador to lose.

The other big match on the show is down in the third spot, with Mistico taking on La Mascara in a singles match. La Mascara versus the Munoz family is the ongoing story given the most attention by CMLL, though the ultimate destination is still unclear: he started against Dragon Lee, he broke up with Rush (but they seem to be avoiding doing the singles match), he had the singles match with Pierroth, now he’s with Mistico. One of those matches should be a big match; depending on which one, it might be the Anniversario main event. They do need to pick one of those family members, and maybe tonight will offer some more clarity on which one.

The rest of the upper half of the card is the foreigners from the Gran Prix. Marco gets the night off (might use it to work on his ping pong strategy, need to see more power from the big man), but the other six are drawn into the trios. The NJPW trio of Michael Elgin, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa face off Atlantis, Diamante Azul and Maximo, which will probably feature power stuff from Elgin & Azul and Tama trying to get his hands on Atlantis, who he wanted to face in the Gran Prix. The other three foreigners, Okumura, Johnny Idol & Sam Adonis, take on Mephisto, Shocker and Ultimo Guerrero in the fourth match. This is the last Friday night with the NJPW crew, and we don’t quite know how Adonis & Idol will be used going forward. Shocker and Adonis have built up a feud on Twitter though.

Cavernario and Cometa are back as well, teaming with Dragon Rojo, Rey Escorpion, Mascara Dorada and Titan in what could be an incredible segunda. The opener is pretty good too, Esfinge, Fuego and Triton versus Bobby Z, Hechicero and Virus – that might be a tercera most weeks.

CMLL’s show starts at 8:30pm, as usual This show will air on Clarosports, live video will debut on NJPWWorld for Japanese fans only. It’s probably not a coincidence the NJPW World broadcast begins with Kushida in a main event.

Meanwhile, with a listed start time of a half hour later, AAA tapes TV in Gimnasio de la Barrera. The shows are believed to be airing the final weekends of July (23/30), as they start to head into the home stretch for TripleMania. The difference between the two promotions, at least going into these shows, is CMLL has teased a lot of matches that could headline an Anniversary but hasn’t specifically gotten behind one, while AAA really hasn’t teased any headlining matches. AAA’s certainly set up matches which could be part of TripleMania – the Apaches tag title match, Wagner/Texano/Cage? – but nothing that’s feels like a headliner. Maybe I’m overthinking the need for one, because the TripleMania name itself will bring a lot of people to the building, but nothing they have right now compares to what they’ve had in recent years. If AAA was going to set up something big – even if they were simply going to announce they got Misterio or someone to come back in for a match – revealing that tonight in Mexico City would make a lot of sense. And if there isn’t big news tonight, maybe we should adjust our expectations accordingly. It’s cards on the table time either way.

There is likely to be news in the main event. It’s currently listed as the Team Trump trio of Hernandez, Mesias and Johnny Mundo against Texano, Pentagon Jr. and a mystery party. My feeling is this is the return of Hijo del Fantasma since it was announced. There’s been no hints about the identity, and Fantasma hasn’t given it away (which he couldn’t resist on another occasion), but the logic is Texano & Fantasma are friends so would return to be his partner, and AAA’s already built up a title match for him by having Fenix win the contenders match. Fantasma was interviewed in this week’s Lucha 2000 about his time away from AAA, but I haven’t seen that interview.

The best match on the show probably will be the Fenix versus Daga singles match. They’ve got a chance of besting Kushida/Volador for best match of the night. At worst, they should to be a very good runner up. There’s no particular reason for this to exist, but it’s about time that it did: despite both being top cruiserweights in AAA for five years, they’ve never had a singles match before. The closest they’ve come is being in a four way match for the old AAA Fusion championship. Fenix is hyped for his match but that interview gives me caution since Zorro keeps getting brought up. Between Zorro & the Fronterizos, the biggest obstacle for this match might be interference on the finish.

The rest of the announced matches generally follow the current TV storylines. The Psycho Circus face Damian, Nicho and Pagano, which should continue the Psycho/Pagano rivalry. Chessman, Averno and Ricky Marvin don’t really have much of an issue with Aerostar, Bengala and Drago after defending their trios titles against them, but it’s likely just an excuse to get the rudos on the card to finally agree to a match with the Apaches. (Judging from the media reaction they got from their scuffle at the AAA media event, that might end up being a big deal.) The second match looks like a way just to get some people on the card, and the mystery rudo teaming with Hijo del Pirata & Super Fly is likely Bestia 666 after he debuted in Ecatepec. Venum, Hamburguesa and Garza don’t have much of a chance.

The opener is scheduled to be La Hiedra, Lady Shani & Taya versus Mary Apache, Faby Apache and a mystery women. This was a great mystery, because AAA appears to employ only those five women. Everyone else has ended up quitting (and going to Elite.) I had assumed it would be no one of great importance – someone like Lady Apache coming back for some TV, or a new young female luchadora graduating from a training class. Letra Roja’s lucha libre column thinks much differently, saying they know who it is and believes this person will be a big deal in AAA going forward. They don’t say who it is, but the silhouette image sure looks a lot like Ivelisse to me. Ivelisse hasn’t even hinted at working this show on Twitter, so it’s still just a guessing game.

Ivelisse was last in AAA in late 2014, shortly after Lucha Underground started taped, and that time also seemed like she was coming in as a big star. Her first big show as a tag match with Faby against Sexy Star & Taya, a match that seemed to go badly for everyone involved. Maybe poorly enough to scuttle the deal for the time being, or maybe she had been meant to return but Ivelisse’s rotten luck with injuries kept her from return. If she is coming in, it’d make sense for her to be Taya’s next title challenger (so she actually has a title challenger), which would happen to be the same feud that’s taking place on Lucha Underground Season 2.

Of course, it’s just a silhouette, and not even necessarily an accurate one.

AAA’s put up the Apaches versus Taya & Mamba from Naucalpan. The only match left from that taping which hasn’t turned up is the opener, which may be up by the time you read this.

AAA has a video explaining Aerostar’s injury in Ecatepec was knee tendonitis; he won’t have to sit out (and was wrestling last night), just rehab and checkups.

CMLL officially announced Turiluchas bus service in Puebla, expanding from their Tuesday/Thursday/Friday service. It’s not a trip from Mexico City TO Puebla (which would be a long ride), it’s based in Puebla and will leave from their Zocalo at 7:30pm. Tickets are 350 pesos ($19 USD), same as in the US, coming with a Turiluchas mask and a CMLL program magazine. Mistico and La Mascara will be the hosts on Monday. Guadalajara is now the only CMLL venue without a Turiluchas bus, though I believe there’s a local bar who had been sponsoring a similar bus trip even before the Turiluchas idea.

The Arena Coliseo Monterrey show a few weeks ago was a disaster because Rush didn’t make his flight to the building. He made it this past Sunday, though it doesn’t sound like it went a whole lot better. LuchaMania Monterrey‘s report says the main event didn’t end start until around 11:30pm (and started around 7.) Volador was also booked in Coacalco, Rush in Reynosa, so the promoters tried to make the show run as long as possible to wait for them to get there. A couple matches were added and they had long breaks between matches. Crowd got restless, turning on the Ultimo Ninja & Metaleon versus Ninja Jr. & Golden Magic semimain match for not being the main event. After all of that, Rush/Caifan/LA Park/Volador four way ended with LA Park & Volador getting visual pins off fouls but were still DQed, cut promos for a couple minutes, then Rush beat Caifan with the Rush driver in about 15 seconds. It’s not as bad as Rush missing the show, but it feels like the fans who stuck it out (not all of them did) should’ve got a better ending than that.

Mascara Dorada says WWE hasn’t offered him a deal, he’d be delighted if offered a deal and he’d definitely let CMLL know if he was leaving. (Link includes the result of his first round match.)

Chilanga Mask 08/21 show in Coacalco
1: Black Terry vs Wotan
2: Caifan 3 vs Solar
3: Roberto Paz Jr. vs Jeque
4: Laredo Kid vs Extreme Tiger vs Jason Kincaid

SuperLuchas has a good piece on the ban of women’s wrestling in Mexico City

Triton says he’s wrestling in Chicago on 08/10. No idea where.

Zeuxis says she’s debuting in Puerto Rico soon.

Segunda Caida reviews Lucha Underground episode 17.

Lucha Libre In Japan

Titan said he’s going to Japan for both days of the Super J tournament; I assume that means everyone eliminated in July is working tag matches in August, which makes it all the stranger that these are a month apart. It’s so weird: Titan is going to fly to Japan, wrestle one match, come back to Mexico, wait a month, fly to Japan, wrestle on just one show, and then fly back to Mexico. Mexican luchadors keep track of the number of trips they’ve made to Japan  regardless of length, so is that one or two?

Miedo Extremo is leaving tomorrow for his six month tour of Japan. Crazy to think he’s probably had his last Mexico match of the year.

Mil Mascaras is going back to Japan for Nosawa on August 4.