lucha TV preview for weekend of July 15th

20160714lt

Full size. I added both IWRG airings because I actually found a program guide for AYM. (There’s one for LAS too.) This is long, but it’ll be shorter after next week.

No one’s promoting it, not El Rey or Lucha Underground, but they’re running a S2 marathon starting this weekend. Starting this Saturday, El Rey will air six episodes Season 2 episodes a night starting at 7pm CT. It ends an hour early on Tuesday, so they can air all four hours of Ultima Lucha back to back to back leading to the 2 hour final. (The final will repeat right after, as always.)

AAA has three way matches from Ecatepec this week, with a shot for the Cruiserweight title on the line and another heavyweight three way.

Elite moves to Saturday night at 9pm CT. Rush/LA Park is something to talk about in the morning but, for the purposes of this post, remember that CMLL’s stopped people from airing matches which they’ve felt have gotten out of control in the past (Volador/Niebla in Puebla.) Rush/Park should air, but there’s a slight chance it might.

Puebla looks more interesting of the two early week CMLL streams.

ranking the remaining Liga Elite matches

a thing that is happening
a thing that is happening

I still don’t believe this tournament will resolve as initially promised, and announcing Diamante Azul (not in the Liga Elite) versus Caristico convinced me I’m right. However, I’ve long decided I might as well treat it like it’s genuine until it falls apart, and so far it hasn’t fallen apart.

20 matches have been completed, with 46 matches left to take place. The good thing about this tournament is we know all of those matches, at least until Rey Escorpion fills in for someone again. And, since it’s the internet, I might as well rank them.

46) Cibernetico vs Xtreme Tiger

I like Tiger, you’ll see him higher on this list. The problem is he was utterly squashed by Lashley, which doesn’t give me any hope for him against any one else in this tournament. Outside of the LA Park match, Cibernetico’s not really shown up for these matches, and this seems most certain to be a 4 minute walkthru. Read More

LA Park/Rush tonight in Elite, Lucha Mexico doc, Dragon Lee returns tomorrow

chivalry is dead?
Mil is a hero

IWRG (WED) 07/13/2016 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Kamilión & Lilith Dark b Lady Dark & Lady Monster
First match in 2016 for Kaimilion and Lady Dark/Dark Lady. Debut for Lady Monster.
2) Aramis, Black Dragón, Omega b Adrenalina, Atomic Star, Skanda
3) Demonio Infernal, Rayan, Spartan b Dragón Fly, Hijo de Máscara Sagrada, Hijo del Alebrije
Demonio pulled Dragon Fly’s mask and pinned him for the win.
4) Diablo Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Violencia Jr. b Eterno, Freelance, Pantera
Eterno replaced Zatura and got along with his partners enough to win (though the Gladiatores have the opposite result.) The fans rooted for Eterno to stay tecnico, and he said he’d consider it with the Insoportables and they’d have a big surprise.
5) Imposible © b Emperador Azteca [IWRG IC Light]
Very good and violent match; Imposible hit Azteca with a chair at the start of the match and turned into a bloody match. Imposible took 1/3, with both men looking finished by the end. 14th defense. Second shot for Azteca during this reign.

LA Park was doing press for this main event at a funeral home yesterday, because he is LA Park. In an interview with ESTO, Park explained that he really wanted a mask match with Ultimo Guerrero but Atlantis beat him to it, so why not against Atlantis instead? Or against Rush? Park said he had no interest in talking about Santo Jr. or giving him free publicity.

Elite returns tonight with one of the biggest possible matches in their Liga Elite tournament, Rush versus LA Park. It’s listed as super libre, which means no DQ, but the line of what is and isn’t allowed in Arena Mexico is never totally clear. There’s a non zero chance LA Park does something that makes this his last match for a while; the last time someone tried this feud (August), LA Park said things on the microphone which made it his last match for quite a while. It’s going to an event; their recent match in Tijuana was quite good and this should be the same.

It’s packed top of the card. Dos Caras makes his first appearance in Arena Mexico since 1997, teaming with Atlantis against Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000 (the youngest person in the match at 53.) The fourth match, the other TV match on a normal week, is Caristico vs Diamante Azul in what’s listed as a Liga Elite match. It doesn’t make sense as a Liga Elite match unless Azul is replacing someone (like Escorpion did last week) and it’s not clear if Caristico is actually wrestling the match. If he had the injury he said he had, he probably shouldn’t be.

The show opens with new CMLL luchador Ciclon Ramirez Jr. & rarely seen Principe Diamante versus Cancerbero & Raziel, Felino & Tiger against Super Crazy & Ronnie Mendoza and Hijo de Dos Caras, Hijo de LA Park & Rayman vs Hijo de Medico Asesino, Hijo del Dr. Wagner & Karonte Junior. The show now airs Saturday at 9pm CT.

It’s another big night for Elite. Rush versus LA Park is one of the biggest matches they can run, and you can’t bring back Dos Caras after twenty years every week. This should draw better than the International tournament, but that’s a low bar. They need to do much better than that.

The Lucha Mexico documentary premieres in theatres (and is available on iTunes) tomorrow. This is the lucha libre documentary which was airing in film festivals last year starting Shocker & Strong Man among others. Fabian el Gitano & Perro Aguayo Jr. are featured, and much of the filming was done around 2012, so it’s been in the works for quite a while. It’s getting a fair amount of press today: CNN has a video story in Spanish, NBC has an interview with the directors in English and lukewarm reviews in the AV Club and on indiewire. Nightmaish Conjuring is a bit more positive. I’d like to go see it myself, probably on Saturday.

I’d go to the premiere tonight, but I really don’t want to miss the Leyenda de Plata tomorrow night. It just got a better this morning: Dragon Lee will return for the tournament, taking Negro Casas’ spot. That’s how the Leyenda de Plata is supposed to work: Casas is the former winner so he’ll defend against the winner of the cibernetico. And it’s a killer lineup for that: Mistico, Volador, Guerrero Maya, Titan, Triton, Dragon Lee, the Panther, La Mascara, Mephisto, Cavernario, Ripper and Virus. I’d love it if Hechicero was in there instead of Mascara but there are some really good names in that list.

(Dragon Lee returns 1 day before Stuka makes it to ROH, which must be a little bit disappointing since that was Lee’s spot. They probably couldn’t be sure he’d be ready by now, and Dragon will likely end up in ROH later.)

Ludxor’s been pretty quiet since his Facebook post ripping AAA (which is still up), but posted “Nos diremos adios” on Instagram. Sounds like he’s saying goodbye to being Ludxor, but left a little vague. (R de Rudo found this first.)

Gran Metalik/Mascara Dorada versus Alejandro Saez was the opening match of WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic last night, with Metalik moving onto the next round. There are highlights and a post match Metalik interview. The matches for next week do not include Raul Mendoza’s match, though Lince Dorado (on the next Crash show) will wrestle. +Lucha has a 15 minute interview with Mendoza about the CWC but I haven’t seen it yet.

TKD, Eric and Voices of Wrestling have Lucha Underground reviews. That last one has a sound theory about Dario, Matanaza, and the bull. TKD also writes about his experience about being there for Night Claw’s debut without knowing it was happening.

Podcast Boom has a press release talking about being the first ever Mexican lucha libre podcast on iTunes, which reminds me that I’m sad Kurt Brown is in Europe (?) right now instead of being in LA to give his thoughts about the Final Deletion. Anyway, the Boom iTunes link is here; the general RSS feed is here for other podcast software. They actually had an RSS feed all along, since they’re using blogtalkradio, but didn’t say or didn’t know.

I skimmed thru yesterday’s CMLL Informa. Segments were with rookies Escorpion Negro, Fiero and Maquiavelo (Fiero revealed he’s the nephew of the previous Fiero, Maquiavelo had been training for 7 years before debuting), Reina Isis fitness segment, Arkangel & K-Fu about Saturday’s Anniversary show (K-Fu will be debuting on a real show soon), Stuka Jr. & his son about going to ROH and his son training in lucha, and Guerrero Maya, Titan, Triton and The Panther talking about the Leyenda de Plata and Titan going to the Super Junior

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
5: The Platino & Mr. Maldito vs El Sagrado & Bobby Z

I didn’t put it together yesterday, but the August Lucha Memes show in Mexico City is the same day as the ChilangaMask show. The former co-promoters are going to be running against each other for the first time. (CMLL people are working both shows.)

+Lucha put up full matches from the June 3 Martinez show: Violento Jack vs Arez, Ronnie Mendoza vs Ultimo Ninja and Low Rider & Mystique vs Chik Tormenta & Silver Tiger

In a new feature, AAA counts down the top usages of a move – this time, double stomps/lanzas.

Cross Arm Breaker reviews Negro Casas vs El Dandy.

Wrestling with words reviews Psycho Clown vs Pentagon Jr.

working 2016 lucha MOTYC list, thru June TV

loco
loco

We’re halfway thru the year, so it’s long past time I’ve posted a working MOTYC list. Working plan is to update this after every month of TV. You can find it linked here even after it gets moved off the top of the page. I use air dates, because the post is recommending matches rather than an arbitrary date limit.

Note that I’m as behind as always on watching matches which aren’t on the shows I usually recap.

I’m thinking the end of Lucha Underground will allow me to catch up more, but it’ll probably be the usual November/December rush.

Please also remember, my tastes in wrestling are awful and wrong. (But no AAA matches in the top category make me sad.)

excellent

11-22 Mil Muertes © vs Prince Puma, Pentagón Jr. [LU CHAMP]
11-22 Mil Muertes © vs Fénix [LU CHAMP]
01-01 Máximo Sexy vs Kamaitachi for the hair
01-09 Sexy Star vs Mariposa [no mas] and [Aztec Medallion]
01-17 Cage vs Matanza © [LU CHAMP]
01-24 Dragón Lee vs Kamaitachi for the CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship
03-04 Kamaitachi © vs Dragón Lee for the CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship
03-18 Rush vs Máximo Sexy for the hair
03-18 Volador Jr. vs Negro Casas for the hair
03-28 Máscara Dorada © vs Cavernario for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship
04-24 Negro Casas vs Rey Hechicero
07-01 Rey Cometa vs Cavernario for the hair
07-01 Diamante Azul, La Máscara, Máximo Sexy, Rey Escorpión, Rush, Shocker, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Johnny Idol, Kushida, Marco Corleone, Michael Elgin,Okumura, Sam Adonis, Tama Tonga, Tangaroa in a CMLL Gran Prix Tournament match

great

11-14 King Cuerno vs Fénix © [LU GotG]
11-15 Fénix vs King Cuerno [last man standing]
11-15 Prince Puma vs Pentagón Jr.
11-21 King Cuerno © vs Fénix [GIFT OF THE GODS] and in a ladder match
12-12 Matanza vs Fénix ©, Rey Mysterio, King Cuerno, Argenis, Johnny Mundo, Joey Ryan,Prince Puma, Jack Evans, Taya, Cage, Máscarita Sagrada, Marty Martinez, Drago, the Mack, Chavo Guerrero, PJ Black, Aerostar, Dragón Azteca Jr., Texano, Mil Muertes[Aztec Warfare] and [LU Champ]
12-13 Texano vs Daga [Aztec Medaillon]
12-13 Dragón Azteca Jr., Prince Puma, Rey Mysterio vs Cage, Johnny Mundo, Taya [LU TRIOS] and in a tournament match
01-09 Cage vs Johnny Mundo in a cage match and [aztec medallion]
01-10 Dragón Azteca Jr., Prince Puma, Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Fénix, Jack Evans, PJ Black andCortez Castro, Joey Ryan, Mr. Cisco and Ivelisse & Son of Havoc © [LU TRIOS]
01-15 Carístico vs Rush
01-16 Jack Evans, Johnny Mundo, PJ Black © vs Dragón Azteca Jr., Prince Puma, Rey Mysterio [LU TRIOS]
01-16 Aerostar & Drago vs Jack Evans & PJ Black [nunchucks]
01-16 Fénix vs Pentagón Jr., Ivelisse, Johnny Mundo, Taya, King Cuerno in a Number One Contenders Match match and [LU CHAMP]
01-18 Máximo Sexy © vs Vangellys for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship
01-19 Esfinge vs Puma in a CMLL La Copa Junior tournament match and in a tournament final match
01-22 Mistico & Volador Jr. vs Mephisto & Último Guerrero
01-22 Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario © for the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
01-22 Australian Suicide, Fireball, Jack Evans vs Daga, Parka Negra, Súper Fly
01-24 Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura
01-27 Black Dragón, Centvrión, Diablo Jr. I, Freyser, Hijo de Máscara Sagrada, Hijo del Alebrije, Imposible, Power Bull vs Balak, Danger King, Energia, Imposter, Motocross,Novasonic, Orión, Royer Boy [Copa Higher Power]
01-30 Prince Puma vs Dragón Azteca Jr.
01-30 Johnny Mundo vs Fénix
02-15 Volador Jr. © vs Negro Casas for the NWA World Welterweight Championship
02-19 Máscara Dorada © vs Mephisto for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship
02-19 Dragón Lee, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Kamaitachi, Negro Casas
02-20 Belial vs Centvrión
02-21 Dragón Lee vs Extreme Tiger
02-23 Zeuxis © vs Silueta for the Mexican National Women’s Championship
03-01 Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto © vs Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther for the Mexican National Trios Championship
03-01 Máscara Dorada © vs Negro Casas for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship
03-04 Pentagón Jr. vs Hijo del Fantasma, Fénix, Octagón Jr. in a tournament semifinal match and in a AAA’s Rey de Reyes Tournament match
03-04 Carta Brava Jr. & Súper Fly vs Ludxor & Venum
03-18 Dragón Lee, Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente vs Fujin, Kamaitachi, Okumura, Raijin
03-21 Carístico vs Último Guerrero
03-23 Averno & Chessman © vs Daga & Joe Lider and Argenis & Australian Suicide [TLC] andfor the AAA World Tag Team Championship
03-30 Extreme Tiger vs Máscara Dorada in a Liga Elite match
04-06 Carístico vs Volador Jr. in a Liga Elite match
04-25 Rush vs Último Guerrero
04-27 Volador Jr. vs Máscara Dorada in a Liga Elite match
05-03 Máscara Dorada © vs Mephisto for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship
05-04 Carístico, Máscara Dorada, Mistico vs Euforia, Rey Escorpión, Último Guerrero
05-20 Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Cavernario, Misterioso Jr., Pólvora
06-03 Pentagón Jr., Psycho Clown, Texano Jr. vs Akebono, Ikuto Hidaka, Masato Tanaka[Lucha World Cup] and in a tournament quarterfinal match
06-05 Cage, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Johnny Mundo vs Dr. Wagner Jr., Dragón Azteca Jr., Rey Mysterio Jr. [AAA LLVWC] and in a tournament semifinal match
06-10 Cavernario © vs Rey Cometa for the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
06-14 Dragón Rojo Jr. © vs Guerrero Maya Jr. for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship
06-24 Zeuxis © vs Princesa Sugehit for the Mexican National Women’s Championship
06-25 Michael Elgin vs Volador Jr. [Elite Internacional] and in a tournament final match