Volador defeats Kushida, Caristico injury update, Santo to Tijuana, Leyenda de Plata

CMLL (FRI) 07/08/2016 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, thecubsfan]
1) Esfinge, Fuego, Tritón b Bobby Z, Hechicero, Virus
15:08. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Máscara Dorada, Rey Cometa, Titán b Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Rey Escorpión
17:43. Tecnicos took 2/3 in a great match. Titan replaced Maximo in the second lineup.
3) Mistico DQ La Máscara [lightning]
4:27. Mistico had La Mistica, but the ref had been taken out. Shocker jogged to the ring and attacked Mistico, which led to the DQ.
4) Mephisto, Shocker, Último Guerrero b Johnny Idol, Okumura, Sam Adonis
11:41. Team Mexico took 2/3. Okumura replaced Kushida.
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Máximo b Michael Elgin, Tama Tonga, Tangaroa
14:15. Foreigners took 1/3, with Tama fouling/unmasking Diamante Azul to beat him. Maximo replaced Volador Jr.
6) Volador Jr. © b Kushida [NWA WELTER]
21:44. Volador took 2/3 in a great match. Volador’s 10th defense.

Main event and fist two matches are worth tracking down. Kushida looked very good in his title match in Volador while playing a role opposite of what he normally does.

The show did air on NJPWWorld as billed, and there seemed to be a good amount of people talking about the show in Japanese on Twitter. NJPW uses IP fencing to prevent people from outside of Japan to even get to the page where the CMLL feed is on, but it’s possible to get around if you’re patient.

CMLL is back to running on Saturday at Arena Coliseo, with another Mexico vs Foreigners show.  The main event is Volador Jr., Diamante Azul, and Mascara Dorada vs Sam Adonis, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. Semimain is Angel de Oro, Valiente and Stuka versus Okumura, Fujin and Raijin.

Elite aired 7 matches last night – they ended up with an essentially an 1h45m slot with limited commercials. 1 of those matches was where Caristico got hurt on Thursday. There’s no obvious disastrous impact on the spot. Caristico looked like he wanted to continue at first, and then was in increasing amount of pain the longer it lasted. He was quiet yesterday, and this afternoon reported he’s got a tear on his pelvis. That sounds (and looked) like a sports hernia, which normally would put someone out for 4 to 6 weeks. He’s probably going to miss his scheduled matches for a while.

For what it’s worth, the Liga Elite standings now list Rey Escorpion, not Negro Casas, as in the tournament.

Hijo del Santo is appearing on the August 13 The Crash show. This is part of the tour he and Santo Jr. are doing, and it’s listed as being taped for TV (though your guess is as good as theirs as where.) Santo’s most recent match was November in Puebla, and he’s only had 2 since 2014.

Pentagon Jr. was announced for PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles, joining Fenix as AAA luchadors. It’s going to be politically interesting, since there are NJPW wrestlers also in the tournament and those two groups don’t work together normally.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Drago and Fenix are interviewed about their recent international trips.

TKD talks about his rating scale.

GALLI confirmed Triton is coming to Chicago to work for them on August 14.

Lineups

ELITE (THU) 07/14/2016 Arena México
1) Ciclón Ramírez Jr. & Príncipe Diamante vs Cancerbero & Raziel
2) Jinzo & Súper Crazy vs Felino & Tiger
3) Hijo De Dos Caras, Hijo de LA Park, Rayman vs El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Karonte Jr.
4) Carístico vs Diamante Azul [Liga Elite]
5) Máscara Año 2000 & Universo 2000 vs Atlantis & Dos Caras Sr.
6) Rush vs LA Park [Liga Elite, super libre]

The top matches were announced on last night’s show the moment the main event ended, which was weird but makes some sense. Diamante Azul is listed in Liga Elite, which makes no sense but probably doesn’t matter since Caristico is likely not wrestling. Whoever’s booking Carisitco’s programs (Caristico?) is really set on a Caristico/Diamante Azul feud.

Tercera is Mexico’s obesseion with juniors, utterly regardless of quality, all in one trio. (Medico & Karonte looked awful in last week’s match.) Jinzo makes his first appearance here since appearing on the Cruiserweight Classic, though his match does not air until next week (and the following tapings are the day before this.)

CMLL (FRI) 07/15/2016 Arena México
1) La Vaquerita & Skadi vs La Seductora & Tiffany
2) Ángel de Oro, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Hechicero, Luciferno
3) Máximo Sexy, Súper Crazy, Valiente vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
4) Mistico vs Negro Casas, Volador Jr., La Máscara, Titán, Mephisto, Tritón, Cavernario, Guerrero Maya Jr., Ripper, The Panther, Virus [Leyenda de Plata]
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Rush vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Foreigners are all gone, but Rush is back. The only CMLL show he’s worked in the last six weeks was the Gran Prix.

On last night’s broadcast, and on the video promo, CMLL announced this as the first part of the Leyenda de Plata. It’s listed more like it’s one night and done tournament on the poster, but maybe they’re back to doing it where the final two come back for a match the following week. Negro Casas is the former champion and the former champion is supposed to face the winner, but CMLL can’t remember the rules to their own tournaments. (And maybe he won’t be able to return by then and it’ll work out!)

My complaining aside, that’s an incredibly stacked match and should be great. Second match has a chance to be good. First match is troubling.

CARALUCHA (SAT) 07/23/2016 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Astrolux vs Black Metal
2) Demasiado & Fiero vs Adrenalina Fly & Gladiola Negra
3) Lady Maravilla, Templario, Wasson vs Brian Villa, Chik Tormenta, Willy Banderas
4) Andy Boy, Rayo Star, Sky Man vs Crazy King, El Enviado, Estrella Oriental Jr.
5) Danger & Guerrero Mixtico vs Makabre & Rayman © [CASANOVA TAG]
6) Diamante Azul (CMLL) & Hechicero vs Herodes Jr. & Trauma I

CaraLucha’s next show is the other half of the home and home series with Guadalajara’s Mucha Luchas promotion – the names you’re less familiar with are from there. I’m not sure which are the Casanova Tag Titles. The poster doesn’t make it clear, but my best guess is these are actually the Jalisco state titles Rayman & Makabre hold. Main event is an all heavyweight match, which is actually a CMLL/AAA battle.