DTU Nuev9, Friday preview, FantasticaMania

this was minutes into the opener

DTU (THU) 12/15/2016 Arena Aficion
1) Danubi Jr., Erwin, Luigi b Arkángel Negro, Iwring, Maszito DTU Nuev9 Pre-Show (En vivo) (posted by +LuchaTV)
DTU Kids
2) Flayer Boy b Pardux, Toto, Dragón Fly, X-Boy, Fly Danger DTU Nuev9 Pre-Show (En vivo) (posted by +LuchaTV)
3) Dr. Pólux Jr. & El Exótico b Castigador & Vengador and Camuflaje & Tiburón DTU Nuev9 Pre-Show (En vivo) (posted by +LuchaTV)
4) Aero Boy, Ángel o Demonio, Crazy Boy, Drastik Boy, Pesadilla b Corsario Negro Jr., Lokillo, Moria, Niño De Cobre, Tony Iron
DTU first generation versus students. Crazy Boy was the surprise luchador. Elimination match, with Aeroboy defeating Nino de Cobre to win.
5) Black Fire © b Hormiga [DTU AI]
Black Fire had the pinfall, but the referee was wiped out. Black Fire then hit his finisher twice on Hormiga and beat him anyway. Third defense. Hormiga was stretchered out on a chair.
6) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Pólvora © b El Junior & Gio [DTU NEXO]
Los Revolucionarios won with a Dragon Rojo double stomp onto chairs on to Gio, after Junior was taken out following a Death Valley Driver thru chairs to the floor. First defense.
7) Ovett b Halloween [DTU CONSGRADO]
Scheduled to a DTU Consgrado title defense, but Sharlie Rockstar no-showed. Ovett got a trophy instead after he won with a cane assisted middle rope elbow drop on Halloween.
8) Mr. Cóndor L Gallego, Kevin, Jimmy [hair]
Escape by elimination, with Jimmy beating Mr. Condor, Gallego submitting Kevin, and Kevin beating Mr. Condor with a foul after Condor did the same to him. Crazy Boy earlier ran in and attacked Mr. Condor
9) Flamita b Negro Casas, Ronnie Mendoza
Flamita beat Casas with a casita and Ronnie defeated Flamita with a backcracker.
10) Cíclope & Crazy King b Paranoiko & Tóxico DF [rancho de texas]
Ciclope won with a ladder assisted frog splash onto light tubes

Going in, we thought the action would be worth the six dollars and the stream would be the more issue. Coming out, the show was good and the streaming had it’s difficulties. It was great when it was running, but there was a half hour break between the end of the free show (the third match) and the main show, when they tried to get the secure stream going and it didn’t work. They thankfully switched to an insecure one and the video was good the rest of the way (and there didn’t seem to be all that much pirating), but it made for a show that went late into the night. Still, as late it was, the the last two matches were the best matches. The tag title match was a standout, and the preshow matches were all fun. Those openers felt like a big difference from the major promotion by being fun: CMLL openers usual aren’t (and are much more restricted) and a lot of stuff that’s meant to be fun on AAA often comes across as annoying or frustrating. This was just guys (or kids) having fun action matches before the bigger stuff later on.

There was no specific date mentioned for another try at this, though that definitely seemed like the plan when they ended the show. The promotion itself heads to Tulancingo and Neza this weekend. The iPPV itself didn’t seem like it was that purchased, and there wasn’t a lot of talk about it on Twitter even just focusing on the usual people.

Today’s another CMLL show killing time before the big shows to end the month. The main event is Volador, Valietne and Caristico versus Euforia, Gran Guerrero and Ultimo Guerrero, with the hope that Caristico & UG will set a date for their singles match. The semimain is a Maximo versus Mascara Ano 2000 three falls singles match, where the idea is people would want to see this match a second time after seeing it on this show. They’ll have to make it quick. Similarly, the third match has Zeuxis, Amapola and Metalica against Vaquerita, Jarochita and Estrellita, in another preview to the already announced women’s cage match on 12/25.

The rest of the card is the normal random tag matches. Rush is back from Japan, and teams with Pierroth and La Mascara against Marco Corleone, Atlantis and Stuka. The usual good second match is Soberano, Star and Flyer against Okumura, Sagrado and Misterioso (which seems to be more iffy than usual.) The show will open with Shockercito & Stukita versus Mercurio & Peequeno Nitro.

CMLL has a preview. It’ll air at 8:30pm on ClaroSports. It’s also back on NJPW World after CMLL being off the channel for a few weeks. NJPW’s schedule also now lists the 12/25 cage match show as airing, which means CMLL is running some sort of stream on Sunday. The NJPW streams have always been just the free streams aired elsewhere, so the 12/25 (and possibly the 01/01 show) are probably airing for free.

SamuraiTV’s schedule for January came out yesterday, with info on FantasticaMania. The tour opening show, on January 13, will air on TV on January 19th (and probably end up online soon after.) The first two Korakuen Hall shows (January 20 & 21) will air live on SamuraiTV the following days, which means they won’t have commentators or music when they air on NJPW World (also live) due to rights issues. The final show on the 22nd will have those elements on NJPW World. The tour shows on January 14, 15, and 16 look like they won’t air anywhere at the moment. Last year, all the tour shows eventually aired somewhere.

El Proceso has a detailed story on Octagon’s lawsuit against AAA over the naming rights. The quotes are all from Octagon’s side, AAA doesn’t speak on it, but they explain where everything stands. Octagon is demanding the rights to his name, and also 7 million pesos (about $300,ooo USD) in various benefits and other compensation. He’s basically asking to be declared an employee over the time he worked for AAA, and retroactively getting all the benefits a normal employee would’ve gotten.

AAA disagrees, of course. It looks like Leo Riano was correct, and Octagon did lose a judgement in October. His claim to have the rights to the character were dismissed, with the judge ruling the actual person couldn’t/didn’t establish they were the guy playing Octagon prior to AAA copywriting the name in 1996. This comes off strangely – even Octagon’s wrestling license is dismissed, because the judge feels it doesn’t rule out someone else actually being in the ring . You can see what Octagon still thinks he’s got a shot at overturning this on appeal (which was filed in November.) It took about 12 months for the first round to get done, so we may not hear about this again for a while.

Octagon’s bigger picture idea is to restart the wrestler’s union (with himself in charge), to protect the naming rights of luchadors and to raise the pay for everyone. He’s looking to do it among independent luchadors. The name he mentions are mostly of his generation, some not wrestling much any more, some who actually back in CMLL and AAA now. He does say one of the goal of his union is to set/raise the amount of money paid for each level of match, including making sure those working the opener are getting paid at least 1000 pesos (near $50USD). That seems unlikely, but the interview seems generally to rally support and to get more luchadors to come on board with them, so a raise in the minimum wage is a smart thing to bring up. Like most union talk, it’s hard to believe it’ll go anywhere but it seems like it’d be a good thing if it did.

LigerFever recaps the latest Podcast BOOM, where Konnan says The Crash will run 15-20 cities next year. That seems like a lot of cities.

Dorian Roldan is featured in a magazine as one of seven innovators in Mexican sports.

Voices of Wrestling reviews this week’s Lucha Underground.

Princesa Sugehit hypes up the cage match.

A brief interview with Komander.

Lineups

IWRG (WED) 12/21/2016 Arena Naucalpan
39th Arena Naucalpan
1) Aramis, Black Dragón, Dragón Fly vs Araña de Plata, Demonio Infernal, Skanda
2) Leo, Mike, Rafy © vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [EdM Trios]
fourth defense
3) Imposible © vs Relámpago [IWRG IC MIDDLE]
third defense
4) Danny Casas, Mr. Electro, Veneno vs Eterno, Heddi Karaoui, Trauma I
5) Máscara Año 2000 Jr. vs Pirata Morgan [hair]
6) Golden Magic & Pirata Morgan Jr. vs Killer Jr. & Pantera I [relevos suicidas]
7) ? vs ?? [mask]

Main event is Golden Magic and three people who don’t seem like a big deal if they lose their mask. Pirata Jr. being involved is random, but I’d still beat on Killer Jr. losing his mask. Pirata losing his hair makes me wonder if he’s out of AAA already. Turtles versus Oficials should be fun.