What happened: Shocker beat UG, and challenged him to a title match next week. Black Tiger wants a mask match with Ares. The semimain set up a rematch as well.
What was good: The semimain was the best match on the show. I didn’t mind the main event as much as I’d thought and the opener was actually good.
IAP (SUN) 08/07/2016 Gimansio Hercules, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), Kronosport]
1) Moto Cross b Rocker Boy, Alfa Andy Boy was moved up, andthis became a three way.
2) Fuerza Negra & Zoom Driver b Andy Boy & Danger King Andy Boy replaced Corsario
3) Tromba & Yoruba b Centella & Wasson Latigo & Centviron were moved up, so this became a normal 2v2 tag (and moved down a spot.) Wasson and Centella fought after their loss.
4) Centvrión b Fly Warrior, Látigo No Fly Star, so the Mala Hiebra three way match scheduled for a couple weeks ago took place here. Good match.
5) Imperio Negro b Terremoto, Drako, Abortex, Chuey Martinez other participants not confirmed
6) Wotan NC As Charro Canek Jr. & Hijo del Fishman ran in to attack both men.
This was the debut show for the promotion. Ending the show with no finish to the main event is a risky way to start, though the hope is the angle was crazy enough to get people to do the rematch. (Though, this being Mexico, it’s not certain they’ll ever book the rematch.) Fishman and Canek ended up getting dragged away by security, which makes me wonder why they didn’t just finish that match that point. As Charro was somehow triple booked on Sunday, so perhaps he was just done with wrestling at that point. They had a good turnout by Gimnasio Hercules standards, and the Mala Hiebra three way looks good.
The third biggest promotion in the DF area is running their own big show within days of the other two ones. Look at this stretch:
08/28 AAA TripleMania
09/02 CMLL Anniversaro
09/04 IWRG Lupus/Trauma I
09/08 Lucha Underground Season 3 debut
Oddly enough, IWRG’s match is the most uncertain of the three apuesta matches. There’s no way Psycho Clown is losing (nor would it make any sense.) There’s an extremely small chance Dragon Lee is losing, only because CMLL’s always so much higher on La Mascara than anyone else (but really, if they wanted a match to be a setup to La Mascara/Rush, they would’ve just done Pierroth/Mascara.) I don’t ever see Trauma I losing his mask in Arena Naucalpan, at least not in this decade, but Canis Lupus is an IWRG created/owned character and one of the few regular IWRG core guys you could justify getting that sort of win. (Still, it’s 80/20 Trauma.)
Today’s the first CMLL stream in 6 whole days. How did we manage in the before time? The usual Monday Puebla show is a middle chapter in a couple of new feuds. The main event is a strange relevos increible match, with (tecnico) Marco teaming with (rudo) Ultimo Guerrero against (rudo) Shocker and (I don’t even know) Sharlie Rockstar. The weird match is for the weird feud; they’re heading to another Ultimo Guerrero/Shocker match in the near future and this gets them on the opposite sides.
The other ongoing issue, maybe, is in the tercera where Black Tiger and Ares are on opposite sides of a conventional feud. The two Puebla locals only slightly feuded last week, but they’re unusually high in the card and are matched up again, so it must be going somewhere. Tecnico Black Tiger team with Titan & Triton while Ares has Bobby Z & Virus, and it might be the best match on the card.
The semimain also looks promising, with Mascara Dorada, Atlantis and Mistico taking on Cavernario, Felino and Negro Casas. The opening matches look the opposite of promising, with DF rudos who don’t usually produce entertaining matches. The second match has Arkalis & Tigre Rojo Jr. teaming with Pegasso against Espanto Jr., Arkangel de la Muerte, Policeman, while the opener is Centella Roja, Millenium, and Paris against Akuma, Inquisidor and Espiritu Maligno. There are some positive names sprinkled in those matches (Tigre Rojo Jr. is suddenly a regular again) but you might want to start watching about 40 minutes late.
As normal, the Puebla show will air on CMLL.com & YouTube, starting at 9pm CT.
In other upcoming TV news, Mascara Dorada’s second round Cruiserweight Classic match with Taijri will air this Wednesday. It’s been a week or so since the last “Mascara Dorada says he hasn’t signed with WWE, but would if offered” article, so here’s one though it does spoil the outcome of his next CWC match.
CMLL (SAT) 08/13/2016Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Leono vs Camorra & Cholo
2) Magnus, Oro Jr., Star Jr. vs Canelo Casas, Hijo del Signo, Nitro
3) Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Reyna Isis
4) Fuego, Rey Cometa, Valiente vs Bobby Z, Hechicero, Olímpico
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico vs Euforia, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
That’s a pretty loaded show for a Saturday. Caristico made a couple appearances in this building for Elite when Arena Mexico was closed down before Dos Leyendas. His last CMLL appearance in Arena Coliseo would’ve been in January 2011, when he faced the same Ultimo Guerrero in a singles match.
CMLL (SUN) 08/14/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr. vs Guerrero de la Muerte
2) Fugaz & Micro vs Destructor & Diplomático
3) Cosmos, Explosivo, Frezzer vs Gran Kenut, Relámpago, Thunder Boy
4) León Blanco, Magnum, Neutrón vs Furia Roja, Maléfico, Ráfaga
5) Forastero, Kempo Dragón, Príncipe Kisho vs Flash II, Star Black, Vaquero Jr.
The Sinaloa guys are back.
CMLL (SUN) 08/14/2016Arena México
1) Metatrón & Sensei vs Apocalipsis & Artillero
2) Ciclón Ramírez, El Bandido, Flyer vs Cancerbero, El Coyote, Raziel
3) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Felino, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
4) Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Súper Porky vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
5) Marco Corleone, Valiente, Vangellys vs Pierroth, Rey Escorpión, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Bandido showed up on a CMLL show in June, so getting a second appearance puts him ahead of most of the guys who’ve debuted this year. I don’t know this Coyote (though there’s a Facebook profile here); there’s ones in Nuevo Leon and Chihuahua, though this is probably the guy working low level Mexico City area shows since 2013, and worked WMC and Cara Lucha shows more recently. The rookie situation is still very weird.
Arena Mexico/Coliseo appearance count
A lot: El Cuatrero, Fujin, Johnny Idol, Raijin, Sam Adonis, Sanson
3: Forastero (and a lot in Guadalajara), Golden Magic
1: Black Scorpio, Bugambilia, Dinamic Black, Bandido, Fiero*, Grako, Maquiavelo*, Mr. México Jr., Retro, Sanely
also turned up on the Arkangel show
Sanely’s obviously going to be in the “A lot” category soon and Ciclon and Bandido are slowly moving up. That still leaves 14 people who’ve appeared just once or twice; they appeared as many times on Informa as they have on CMLL shows.
This was a shorter week than expected. Next week will be even shorter. I thought about catching up on the watch later pile, then spent a lot of time away from this project. That was probably a good idea.