CMLL weekend lineups, AAA TV schedule, Elite last 2016 TV lineup

photo by Alexis Salazar/CMLL
photo by Alexis Salazar/CMLL

CMLL (SAT) 11/12/2016 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Leono & Sensei b Camorra & Cholo
Tecnicos took 2/3
2) Dalys, La Comandante, Metálica b La Jarochita, Sanely, Skadi
Rudos took 1/3.
3) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, The Panther b El Cuatrero, Okumura, Sansón
Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Drone b Bobby Z, Sam Adonis, Vangellys
Tecnicos took 1/3. Adonis had a USA flag with Donald Trump’s face on it.
5) Dragón Lee, Valiente, Volador Jr. DQ Euforia, Niebla Roja, Rey Bucanero
Tecnicos took 1/3, the last when Niebla Roja unmasked Dragon Lee.
6) Último Guerrero b Carístico
UG took 2/3, the last by sneaking in a foul.

That’s the first time UG has defeated Caristico in 7 years. That was by DQ, there was a tournament semifinal before it, you’d have to go – wait, no, you can’t go. Ultimo Guerrero has never beaten Caristico in a three falls singles match by pinfall until Saturday night, as far as I can tell. It’s a good thing for Caristico that he’s managed to keep his relationship with CMLL even while working in Elite, but it’s a strange thing that CMLL has generally treated him like just another guy.

Dragon Lee challenged Niebal Roja to a singles match after teh DQ.

CMLL (SUN) 11/13/2016 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Violencia
Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Cancerbero, Nitro, Raziel b Oro Jr., Pegasso, Sensei
Rudos took 1/3
3) Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa b Bobby Z, Misterioso Jr., Olímpico
Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Dragón Lee, Titán, Volador Jr. b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Valiente DQ La Máscara, Pierroth,Rush
Tecnicos took 2/3, Mascara fouling Marco and Ingoberneables unmasking Diamante Azul for good measure.

A show. The Sunday shows seem like they’re more lively than the Tuesday shows, but there’s not any more going on in them. Olimpico appears to have wrestled the entire match in his mask for no particular reason. On the good side, Mije was back.

figuring out the AAA TV schedule (or, maybe AAA’s not doing two Guerra de Titanes this year?)

This week’s AAA TV is up. On the show, they announced a taping in Chilapancingo on 12/17. AAA’s often held end of year tapings in that town, usually saving them to be the first shows to air the follow year. However, the other thing AAA usually does is announce all it’s tapings in order – so this normally means there’s no taping from 11/20 to 12/17, except Guerra de Titanes should be somewhere in there. I guess it could be possible that Guerra de Titanes is now a January show, as it was this year, but they don’t have enough TV right now to make it all the way to Chilpancingo.

Theories:

  • they’re just announcing GdT later, out of order, for unclear reasons
  • they’re airing Star Battle after Ciudad Juarez (and GdT is a January show)
  • they’re going to be off on 12/03 for Televisa’s annual telethon (and GdT is a January show)
  • they’re starting the best of stuff earlier (and GdT is a January show)

Star Battle airing is my best guess. The problem with GdT in January is, at least in theory, Lucha Underground is taping some of those weekends as well.

Anyway, the thing we’re supposed to be paying attention to on AAA TV is a new video hyping Dr. Wagner Jr. versus Psycho Clown, mask vs mask as totally no doubt happening. I’m not going to believe until AAA makes it thru the last press conference with it still intact, but AAA should definitely be bringing it up frequently if they really believe it’s going to happen.

Elite’s TV situation

The phrasing they’re going is this upcoming Friday is the “season finale”, and they’ve already got season two plans. It’s a good story, anyway. I haven’t watched this week’s TV closely yet, but it also sounds like it’s gotten no better.

The final TV taping lineup is Friday in Naucalpan

ELITE (FRI) 11/18/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Shadow Boy, Solaris, Sonic vs Átomo, Pequeño Warrior, Shaolin
2) Baronessa & Diosa Quetzal vs Muñeca De Plata & Rossy Moreno
3) Hijo del Pantera & Metaleón vs Fresero Jr. & Samoano
4) Golden Magic vs Emperador Azteca, Argos, El Bandido, Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Imposible, Eterno, Flamita, Diamante, Zumbido [ELITE WELTER]
5) Mr. 450 & Mr. Águila vs Black Tauro & Willie Mack
6) Carístico vs Rey Escorpión [Liga Elite, final]

In some amusing timing, the US repeat from May started off by re-explaining the Liga Elite concept: 3 points for a win, 33 weeks of matches (nope), the top four going into a tournament to decide the first champion (nope), the last four going into an apuesta tournament (nope!) Caristico might actually be at the top for being around all year and having the most matches. Maybe they should try for guys who will actually be around (and/or lose) all year if they’re back to try this in 2017.

Cibernetico & Carsitico both won titles this year which have never been defended, so they might as well add a third. They did tease this title coming in long ago, so it’s possible it’s just been sitting around for quite a while and they decided to give it out while they still could. Argos is normally the favorite, though Elite aired a video hyping Golden Magic this week. Flamita is probably the best. Bandido might have a chance too? That match should be good, depending fully on how much Argos is involved.

Willie Mack working an Elite show and not-AAA show is weird, but PJ Black did it without running into any problems from Lucha Undergournd. It also seems random – like, why bother on either side if it’s only one show, unless maybe you’re not following all this and haven’t been told it may just be only one show. We always hope the Elite fly-ins get used for other shows that weekend and it never happens, maybe this will be better.

Octagon was very noticeable left off TV and hasn’t been booked on the other two TV tapings. If Octagon lost the legal right to use his name, even just for the moment, Azteca wouldn’t want to invite a lawsuit to put him on TV.

other things

This is late news, but I watched the 11/01 CMLL show tonight and, if you’re looking for it, it’s clear something is wrong. The whole match only goes five minutes, Niebla does his best to hold onto the top rope at all times (even ignoring Atlantis when it’s his spot to run into a quebradora) and almost never steps foot on the ring in the second fall. Niebla takes a long time getting out of the ring after the match, but they are able to walk him to Hell. There’s not a pratfall that would go viral in a GIF, but everything that happens indicates Niebla wasn’t in condition to be out there, they decided to keep him out there and work around it, and that’s probably why he’s off again. Niebla was working an indie show today, so he’s not hurt.

Sexy Star won her debut match in SHIMMER, defeating LuFisto on Saturday. The reports on the match was they had a total brawl, hitting each other hard, which sounds a bit like the No Mas match. It was a smart idea and it got over well.  She lost to Mercedes Martinez on a taping today.

What name she’ll be promoted by in the future is unclear. AAA’s trademarked Sexy Dulce themselves; it’s filed under serial number 87211792. She was billed as Dulce Garcia on the SHIMMER shows. To have the right to trademark, you must’ve used the name first. It doesn’t AAA has ever used that name, much less in the US, so this’ll get thrown out if it’s fought enough, but that requires the time and expense of fighting that. It looks like someone else beat AAA to Rey Fenix, though AAA may be working on that as well. AAA probably could much more productively redirected the time/money they’re wasting on aggravating ex-employees to their current employees: how many bottles of water could’ve they’ve bought for a $225 trademark fee?

There’s a show in New York City on 12/11 billed as an AAA show, with Psycho Clown, La Hiedra, Taya, Aerostar, Brian Cage, Angelico and Jack Evans. It probably had to be thru AAA if they’re getting Psycho Clown & La Hiedra, since they don’t seem to get outside dates on their own. That’s another good sign for Jack Evans turning up here. AAA and Jack have said nothing about the situation,, but the most likely outcome seems like Jack just ending back in AAA at some point. (It might only take longer because AAA’s limited schedule for the next month.)

Stardom announced Taya will be part of their shows from November 23 to December 4, including challenging for their World of Stardom title versus Io Shirai on that first show. Taya had mentioned she’d be back in Japan after Star Battle, and this appears to be that. This seems like something that might be harder to do if Taya was still in Mexico working a full schedule, though she’s actually wouldn’t miss an AAA taping on this tour.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

DoradaFan has a great Soberano Jr. tribute video.

TKD reviews this week’s Lucha Underground.

Segunda Caida reviews Black Terry vs Wotan vs Canis Lupus vs Caifan.

Box Y Lucha 3259 has Mascara Dorada on the cove. The digital copy of Box Y Lucha hasn’t arrived for at least two weeks for me. It’s disappointing to say the least.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 11/19/2016 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Leono vs Camorra & Cholo
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Fantasy vs Demus 3:16, Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Violencia
3) Blue Panther Jr., Johnny Idol, The Panther vs Okumura, Sangre Azteca, Tiger
4) Diamante Azul, Mistico, Titán vs Euforia, Sam Adonis, Vangellys
5) Dragón Lee vs Niebla Roja

Maybe Roja is too heavy to make lightweight?

If Sam Adonis doesn’t wager his hair in the next 12 months, something’s gone wrong. It’s so easy. For now, he’s managed to be on a show with Johnny Idol and not have to face him.

CMLL (SUN) 11/20/2016 Arena México
1) Flyer & Sensei vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
2) Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi vs Dalys, La Seductora, Zeuxis
3) Drone, Fuego, Oro Jr. vs El Cuatrero, Sansón, Skándalo
4) Ángel de Oro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Misterioso Jr., Morphosis
5) Marco Corleone, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Kráneo, La Máscara, Pierroth

Maybe they’re doing a Marco versus La Mascara match? Dunno. Third match seems like it could be fun. Women are around but back in the second match spot.

CMLL (SUN) 11/20/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Micro vs Diplomático
2) Cosmos & Javier Cruz Jr. vs Gitano & Relámpago
3) El Alteño & Explosivo vs Gran Kenut & Thunder Boy
4) El Divino, Mágico, Sky Kid vs Exterminador, Maléfico, Rey Trueno
5) Frezzer, Nautilius, Neutrón vs Joker, León Blanco, Mr. Trueno

They seem to be setting up a Neutron/Leon Blanco match.

CMLL LI (SUN) 11/27/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Chik Tormenta & La Pantera vs La Magnifica & Súper Estrella
2) Flash (Jalisco), Flash I, Flash II vs Gallo, Ráfaga, Ráfaga Jr. and Freezer, Furia Nazi, Furia Roja and Antrax, Centinela, Évola [Copa Dinastia Tapatia 2016]
first part
3) Huracán Ramírez Jr., Pantera, Solar I vs Canek Jr., Hijo del Fishman, Septiembre Negro Jr.
4) Huracán Ramírez, Rayman, Solar I vs Fuerza Guerrera, Satánico, Universo 2000 Jr.
5) El Fantasma, Máscara Sagrada, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs Canek, Cien Caras Jr., Máscara Año 2000

This is the legends show that’s been teased for a few months. Legend shows are becoming less a reunion and more a brand; no one grew up with memories of Cien Caras Jr. or Hijo del Fishman and are hoping to see them again, they’re just playing a role for a certain typoe of match. I would think fans would be interested in stuff more like the second match, which has local legends come back to the arena, but maybe not.