CMLL (FRI) 02/10/2017 Arena México [Culticon, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, SuperLuchas, thecubsfan]
1) Cancerbero & Raziel b Astral & Príncipe Diamante
11:48. Straight falls, with the match coming to an early end when Diamante suffered a knee injury trying to springboard into the ring.
2) Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis b Princesa Sugehit, Sanely, Silueta
13:39. Rudas took 2/3. Sanley replaced Estrellita
3) La Máscara, Ripper, Rush b Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Valiente
11:25. Rudos took 1/3. Rush & Atlantis feuded. Rush beat Atlantis clean.
4) Ángel de Oro & Carístico b Marco Corleone, Diamante Azul, Volador Jr., Rey Cometa, Máximo Sexy, Blue Panther [natl pi, seeding battle royal]
2:38.
5) Máscara Año 2000 & Máximo b Blue Panther & Tiger [natl pi, 8f]
5:36.
6) Cavernario & Volador Jr. b Puma & Rey Cometa [natl pi, 8f]
4:43.
7) Diamante Azul & Pierroth b Kráneo & Marco Corleone [natl pi, 8f]
4:03. Pierroth & Diamante Azul fought during the match but won.
8) Carístico & Mephisto b Ángel de Oro & Rey Bucanero [natl pi, 8f]
0:23. Bucanero turned on his partner quickly.
9) Cavernario & Volador Jr. b Máscara Año 2000 & Máximo [natl pi, quarterfinal]
2:45. Mascara & Maximo had issues.
10) Carístico & Mephisto b Diamante Azul & Pierroth [natl pi, quarterfinal]
2:54 Diamante Azul & Pierroth fought, this time leading to the finish.
11) Cavernario & Volador Jr. b Carístico & Mephisto [natl pi, semifinal]
9:21. Caristico suffered an elbow injury, returning to the match after a few minutes with an elbow wrap. Cavernaro & Volador advance to the 02/24 final.
The links to these shows are buried on my Twitter (or you can just use the playlist.) The Puma/Cometa match and the main event are the only two matches to watch. The tournament is a lot of time wasted for two weeks, but putting Cavernario & Volador thru (and not Pierroth & Diamante) means the final on 02/24 is going to be pretty good. As usual, no particular update on injuries – Caristico hasn’t popped up on Twitter since yesterday.
The best CMLL related match in the last 24 hours was Dragon Lee’s latest battle to the death against Hiromu Takahashi. Takahashi won and kept the IWGP Junior Championship, as expected, but it was another crazy move fight, as they attempted to maim each other and maybe themselves. I’m not sure it was my favorite match between them, though it’s up there, and it definitely felt the most dangerous. Takahashi won totally clean – and it’s weird to see him use the relatively sedate Time Bomb finish after some of the more deadly spots prior – but Dragon Lee did very well for himself. They’ll bring this match back again someday. I think Lee will probably be back in NJPW for the Best of Super Juniors, if not prior.
Chavo Guerrero Senor passed away today. He was 68. His son says Chavo Sr. was diagnosed with liver cancer just a month ago. Chavo’s greatest fame came north of the border and in Japan, but he also made appearances in Mexico from the 70s to the early 90s. Chavo and Mando & Eddie were also trios champions for Tijuana’s WWA during the strongest days of that promotion. Chavo’s last TV appearance was on this season of Lucha Underground, interfering in a Chavo Jr. vs Rey Misterio Jr. retirement match, which also is Chavo Jr.’s last TV appearance (at least for now.)
Powerbomb.TV is scheduled to launch today at 6pm CT. The wrestling video on demand service is set to include lucah libre footage from Black Terry Jr. & Carxyus, and from RIOT in Monterrey. I’m just generally impressed they found logos for the tiny lucha libre promotions. It’s not clearly exactly how much of this will be available on launch, but they do say they’ll be offering a 10 day free trial. This timing works perfectly for me (and maybe only me), since no more CMLL matches in NJPW for the moment means I can drop that service and pick up this one instead.
AAA tapes tonight in Cuautitlan. It’s their only taping of the month, will air in a couple weeks, and a show that was changed around quite a bit after the departures. The new main event is Angelico, La Parka and Psycho Clown against Dr. Wagner, Monster and Murder Clown. AAA’s remaining roster actually leaves them in a good point for people who just like matches: Monster & Murder have been moved from the midcard to fill main event gaps. Those matches won’t be good, and poor Angelico is stuck in a not good match, but pretty much all the questionable luchadors are in the top few matches, leaving a lot of young, talented luchadors in the opening few matches. There’s still a few early match people who aren’t going to be able to help matches – Dave’s one of them today, and it’s generally helped by not having the usual relevos AAA – but at least we’re getting stuff like Dinastia & Octagoncito vs Mini Psycho and Mini Abismo now. It does say something about my feelings about AAA that the stuff that excites me most is farthest away from their main storylines, but this is not a new issue.
Aerostar & Argenis vs Super Fly & Carta Brava is the spotlight match for the first half of the card. Super Fly & Aerostar have a match set for Rey de Reyes and AAA’s recaps are teasing something with Argenis & Carta Brava as well. The semimain has a Hijo del Fantasma & Texano vs Pagano & Mesias 2v2. I wouldn’t have picked up that Pagano & Mesias had an issue at all from watching Guerra de Titanes if I didn’t know it going in, but it’s definitely the direction. The NotiAAA airing today teases an upcoming argument between the two thing, and suggests the reason Pagano is angry with Mesias is because Mesias & Mundo took out Dave the Clown when they were beating up Lady Shani at Guerra de Titanes. Who could’ve figured Dave the Clown would be a plot point? (Meanwhile, Fantasma keeps saying he wants a shot at Texano’s title, so both teams breaking up is not out of the question.)
The rest of the show has another Apaches vs OGT match (assuming el Apache is good to wrestle, unclear) and an atomicos matches with the lowest ranked male wrestlers. The show is listed at starting at 8:45, so results should start to turn up around 9:30.
Arena Coliseo has a Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero and Euforia vs Rush, Pierroth and La Mascara main event. That’s a rematch from last week, and they appear to be setting up an Ultimo Guerrero/Rush match on Saturday.
WMC has a show in Arena San Juan tonight, with a 10 man cage match as the main event. The undercard includes Mr. Leo & Metaleon vs Mr. Leo & Centvrion, members of the Lion Brothers & Mala Hiebra on both sides.
Fuego en el Ring has a new edition of their podcast.
Hijo del Sangre Chicana was badly burned in an extreme match in Arena Tigre Padilla on Thursday. The pictures are graphic. It was bad enough to make the local paper, who say he suffered second and third degree burns and might have died had an ambulance not gotten their quick enough. They poured gasoline on a wooden pallet and set it on fire. I don’t think you’re supposed to actually use gasoline to do those spots (if you need to do those spots at all.) There’s a photo of the fire spot here, and Chicana was on fire for several seconds before they were able to put him out.
+LuchaTV has a new edition of Usted quiera Lucha, with Hijo del Santo & Rebelion interviews.
SoloWrestling has an interview with Lucha Underground’s Vibora (in Spanish.)
Arena Coliseo San Ramon will have a benefit show for (ex-Mini) Multifacetico next Saturday, who was hit by a car leaving the building back in November.
Lineups
IWRG (WED) 02/15/2017 Arena Naucalpan
1) Shadow Boy vs Araña de Plata
2) ? vs Avisman
3) Alfa, Black Dragón, Omega vs Diablo Jr., Douki, Hip Hop Man
4) Emperador Azteca vs Oficial AK47
5) Leo, Mike, Rafy vs Demasiado, Diva Salvaje, Nigma
6) Apolo Estrada Jr., Eterno, Heddi Karaoui vs Cerebro Negro, Demonio Infernal, Relámpago
An all rudo main event. Avisman doesn’t technically have a mystery opponent, they just forgot to put his opponent’s name on the poster. The singles matches are listed as one fall.
CMLL (FRI) 02/17/2017 Arena México
1) Eléctrico & Stukita vs Mercurio & Pierrothito
2) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Sanely vs Metálica, Reyna Isis, Tiffany
3) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Volador Jr. vs Kráneo, Pierroth, Yoshi Tatsu
4) Mistico & Negro Casas vs Rush & Terrible and Último Guerrero & Valiente and Dragón Lee & La Máscara and Atlantis & Euforia and Dragón Rojo Jr. & Guerrero Maya Jr. and Ripper & Titán and Hechicero & Stuka Jr. [natl pi, seeding battle royal]
likely all rudos in the match
5) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, 8f]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, 8f]
7) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, 8f]
8) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, 8f]
9) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, quarterfinal]
10) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, quarterfinal]
11) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [natl pi, semifinal]
This is an actual really good group of teams for this sort of thing, with no obvious stinkers. (Rush & Terrible are partners because CMLL still books Rush as if he was a tecnico.) Ultimo Guerrero & Valiente are the favorites because UG, but Mistico & Negro Casas, Dragon Lee & La Mascara, and former tournament winners Atlantis & Euforia ll have chances.
Atlantis & Rush feuding last night seems to go nowhere for now. Ripper’s feud with Blue Panther Jr. seems dropped; they haven’t been doing that since Ripper complained about the CMLL programming department not doing enough with the Invasors. I may be connecting dots which aren’t meant to be connected, but luchadors are usually more careful in their criticisms on that show for that reason.
Yoshi Tatsu debuts, as promised. (That announcement was made back in December, only because CMLL couldn’t be bothered to hold a January press conference.) The little bit of I’ve seen of him in NJPW the last couple weeks has seemed to indicate they’re ending his current character. This trip is probably more about getting him away from NJPW to try something new rather than helping CMLL. (It did work out for Naito & Nakamura, though we shouldn’t expect anything on those lines.) Booking Tatsu in a match with Pierroth and Diamante Azul is not a good start for him and suggests CMLL may not have any big plans for him while he’s around.
Dragon Lee is working Monday, Tuesday and Friday next week. No rest for the young.