February 22, 2017 – luchablog

2017 CMLL Homenaje a Dos Leyendas lineup (they’re really doing Diamante Azul vs Pierroth)

February 22, 2017February 22, 2017 thecubsfan 1 Comment

Poder Mexica, Comandante Pierroth’s previous identity

CMLL (FRI) 03/17/2017 Arena México
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, 2017 (Villano III & Salvador Lutteroth)
1) Estrellita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Tiffany, Zeuxis
2) Dragón Lee, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja
3) Atlantis, Carístico, Marco Corleone vs Kráneo, La Máscara, Rush
4) Matt Taven vs Último Guerrero © [NWA MIDDLE]
tenth defense
5) Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr. © vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto [CMLL TRIOS]
ninth defense
6) Pierroth vs Diamante Azul [mask]

This lineup was the big news from the CMLL press conference today. CMLL picked the Pierroth/Diamante Azul direction a while ago and stuck to it. There’s no drama in the main event – Pierroth is Arturo Muñoz Sánchez, 48 or 49 years old, who lost his mask in this same arena in 2002, and will almost certainly lose his mask again – and it’s probably going to be a poor match. They’re going to try to make it good, but neither man is that good. I think Diamante Azul might be able to have a good match with the right person, but Pierroth is definitely not that person. I don’t think Pierroth can have a good singles match with anyone.

Both men are bulked up bodybuilders who are more focused on their looks than their skills, and choosing to focus on these two over the dozens of more deserving people seems an insult to most everyone else who works in CMLL. I think there’s plenty of people who work in CMLL who know this is a dumb and bad idea, but the priorities of the people in charge appear to be elsewhere. This is one of those shows where a fan is reduced to hoping the show completely fails and everyone responsible is shuffled away from responsibility, but that’s an unlikely event. (Even when a show does fail, like TripleMania 2015, it doesn’t mean the right lessons are learned or that people stop denying the obvious.)

The rest of the show is the alright but CMLL big show stuff. A Sky Team (or equivalent) trios match on a big show is the usual thing, and this is somehow the first time they’re facing the Hijos del Infierno for the trios titles during this reign. The Hijos del Infierno may or may not be Mexico Trios champions at this moment. Volador wanted the title match to be a double title match. The rudos responded that they were so confident, they’d give up the national trios because they were sure they’d get the world ones. Volador re-explained his team wanted both titles, and it was unclear if Mephisto and friends actually gave up the trios titles or not. It’d be a really dumb way of taking the titles off the Hijos del Infierno. It’s also seems very unlikely Puma, Tiger and Negro Casas will ever get that trios title shot, as CMLL appears to have completely forgotten that angle and the only people who bring it up are those of us out here.

Matt Taven is back as part of the CMLL/ROH interchange. CMLL appears to have very limited knowledge of ROH – there’s work being done during WrestleMania weekend to fix that – and Taven did well enough in his appearance last year to come back. This is probably just a showcase match for UG, but there are worse ideas than ROH taking one of CMLL’s two dozen championships. The rest of the show are the usual filler opener trios matches on a big show, or the middle of a card on a regular show.

It’s a Friday show. There will be 52 of them this year. The trios title match will likely be great, and the Taven/UG match and the second match might be, but it doesn’t strongly positively distinguish itself from the 150 other free to internet shows CMLL will run this year. I wouldn’t want to pay $10 for it and there’s nothing that makes me excited to see it. It looks like it’ll cost a lot more: tickets go on sale Thursday, running 304 MXP up to 1849 MXP. (That’s $15 USD to $93 USD.) The low end is even with the bigger recent anniversary shows (Sombra/Atlantis, UG/Atlantis), and the high end is a little bit lower than last year’s Anniversary show (1989 MXP.) CMLL is going to make a lot of money if they can actually get people to come out for this, but those prices seem way too high.

There wasn’t a lot of other actual news on the press conference, just people talking about matches that had already been announced. Volador, Cavernario, Valiente and Ultimo Guerrero talked about Friday’s tournament final. Pierrothito talked about the minis tournament. Zeuxis talked about her title defense on Saturday. Some of those people will talk more in about an hour on Informa.

03/19/2017 AAA TV Lineup (Monterrey, Rey de Reyes)

February 22, 2017February 22, 2017 thecubsfan 1 Comment

AAA (SUN) 03/19/2017 Arena Jose Sulaiman, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
1) ? & ?? vs ??? & ????
may be a dark match
2) Faby Apache vs Mary Apache, La Hiedra, Lady Shani, ?, Goya Kong, Big Mami [Reina De Reinas, #1 Contenders]
3) Taya © vs ? [Reina De Reinas]
4) Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria vs El Mesías & Pagano [#1 Contenders, AAA TAG]
5) Aerostar vs Súper Fly [mask, hair]
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown vs Monsther Clown & Murder Clown [falls count anywhere]
7) Hijo del Fantasma vs Texano Jr. vs Johnny Mundo [Rey de Reyes]

Air Date: 03/25 and 04/01; perhaps the show could air live, but there’s no indication of that right now.

Remember the story about AAA having everything planned out thru April? I’m not sure about that story now. Maybe just they had the venues planned, or maybe a lot of things went out of the window when people left, because there’s stuff here that are left turns from where they were going before. Lady Shani goes for Taya’s challenger to just one person in a match, Psycho & Wagner are suddenly on the same side, the OGT and the Apaches aren’t in a match, and Fantasma & Texano go from doing nothing to main eventing a show? Super Fly versus Aerostar was set up at Guerra de Titanes, Wagner vs Psycho is the year long program, and the Clowns betraying Wagner will air this week or next, and nothing else that’s airing in these first few months seems to matter all that much.

Maybe the biggest change is the venue. This week’s TV finally announced it, but announced it as Plaza de Toros Monumental (about 11K fans.) The poster has it in Arena Jose Sulaiman, the old Arena Solidaridad. I can’t find a capacity right now, but that’s more in the 6k range, give or take 2K. AAA’s sold out a lot of shows by being wise in which arenas they’re going to, and running the smaller arena is probably a wise move with this lineup. The Aerostar/Super Fly match is the only one that feels like it means anything and they’re usually midcard guys. (They were show opening guys last time AAA was in Monterrey.) There are a couple of matches I’d like to see, but AAA’s still rebuilding star power and there’s no special guest stars here to help outside of the periodic Mundo & Taya appearances. I think they’ll do ok, AAA seems to have a way of filling arenas, but they’re also putting together another big card that just seems like marking time until TripleMania. There’s one show they’re interested in loading up this year and it’s not Rey de Reyes.

If AAA told it, there’s an interesting story to the main event. It’s AAA’s three singles champions (Fantasma is Cruiserweight, Texano is Heavyweight, Mundo is Latin American) having a match to determine who’s the king of the kings. All three guys have no challengers, because of departures or lack of interest on AAA’s part, and this could work as a reset point. AAA’s small roster doesn’t really have a need for three different singles tiles, and if they just treated the winner of this as the guy who was actually The Man, they might be able to make one of the titles mean something. All three guys are generally considered talented luchadors, but have generally had OK to good matches for the longest time. They can fix that, and maybe it’s AAA’s best shot at a non-apuesta MOTYC caliber match this year.

Guerra de Titanes set up title matches for Mundo & Taya at Rey de Reyes. Given how sparingly they’re being used, I’d figured that meant they’d both lose their titles on the same day, and they wouldn’t be around much going forward. (Taya supporting Pentagon and others on Twitter so publicly also makes it seem like she’s not worried about AAA’s feelings going forward.) That doesn’t look to be what’s happening now. Taya will still defend her title, but Mundo isn’t scheduled to defend his and so they both must be sticking around for a while longer.

Psycho Clown is kind of a dummy if he actually teams with one enemy to face two other enemies, but Psycho Clown is always kind of a dummy so it works out I guess. He probably could use some promo time to explain why on earth he’d do such a thing (and why seeing him and Wagner make peace is going to make us want to see them fight for their masks.) That match just doesn’t make any sense to me. Falls count anywhere means they’ll have a big stunt somewhere. I suspect it’s some space filler for whatever the Rebelion guys were going to do.

I don’t think a single person believes Super Fly is winning Aerostar’s mask on this show, but the match itself has the potential to be good. Their TV work has been good, both will try hard in an apuesta match, and the crowd will be into it. The problem, and why my hopes are not as high as they might be, is every AAA singles match is actually a lame two on one handicap match, with the rudo second interfering freely and the tecnico second standing around meekly until they get in their one dive at the end. Carta Brava and Drago are the seconds, and there’s no reason to expect AAA to stop doing this until they actually run one normal. The upside is AAA’s roster turnover has essentially led to Aerostar being pushed as one of the top tecnicos, and who would’ve thought that would’ve ever happened.

AAA’s lost track of their tag team titles or are being confusing or just wanted to put Pagano & Mesias in a tag team match to do their breakup and nothing else matters. There’s already a #1 contenders match in Apizaco with the Piratas, Angelico & Suicide, Bengala & Joe Lider and Cuervo and someone replacing Zorro. I keep checking the AAA website every few days to see if they’ve redone the poster and put Scoria in, and Zorro’s still there every day. AAA rushed to get Pentagon and friends off the lineups, not so much with this one. Anyway, the tag champions are Drago & Aerostar, so it would’ve figured to be a rudo team, and Scoria & Cuervo made more sense than the Piratas. Except, they’re probably not going to get two #1 contender spots, so it’s going to be someone else. Angelico & Suicide would make sense, but Angelico’s got a lot of outside Mexico bookings the next few months. Or maybe La Secta win the shot and put that up against Pagano & Mesias? I dunno. In the long run, I’d suspect Mesias & Pagano are heading to some sort of death match at TripleMania, but it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch for AAA to actually have them win to keep stringing out the breakup. Whenever you think an AAA angle has gone long, they’ll make it go a little big longer.

I suspect Lady Shani is still getting the title shot, and the women’s match is just a way to give her a win before going into the title match. It’s unlikely she’ll get two. There are plenty of luchadors in Monterrey who could fill the mystery spot, which almost has to be a new person given there’s almost no one else left in AAA. (Hechicera is still around, still never on TV.) They could also do the Pimpinela comedy bit, forgetting they’ve already done the Pimpinela wins the women’s title as comedy bit.

I’m cautiously interested in the main event. I want to see whatever crazy thing Aerostar is going to do. Everything else seems not too promising – two different tag team matches where we know a team is going to split up, and the two women’s matches will probably have OGT and other nonsense. AAA hasn’t run an iPPV since TripleMania and there’s no reason to believe this one will be on iPPV either.

Next taping is 03/31 in Tampico.

Volador keeps title over Ephesto, Azul/Tatsu, FULL

February 22, 2017February 22, 2017 thecubsfan

CMLL (TUE) 02/21/2017 Arena México [CMLL, Culticon, Notimex]
1) Apocalipsis & Inquisidor b Bengala & Metatrón
Rudos took 1/3
2) Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante, Starman b Canelo Casas, Espanto Jr., Hijo del Signo
Tecnicos took 1/3. Principe Diamante finally gets his first win. Espanto’s first match since November (injury)
3) Princesa Sugehit, Sanely, Skadi b Reyna Isis, Tiffany, Zeuxis
Tecnicas took 2/3, with Sugehit against defeating Zeuxis leading into their title match on Saturday.
4) Fuego, Rey Cometa, Stigma b Puma, Sansón, Tiger
Tecnicos took 1/3. good match
5) Máximo Sexy, Mistico, Titán DQ Cavernario, Mephisto, Negro Casas
Cavernario pulled Mistico’s mask off for the DQ.
6) Volador Jr. © b Ephesto [NWA WELTER]
Volador took 2/3. 14th defense

Fourth match is said to be worth watching. Main event was said to be OK. Cavernario’s bit is probably for building up the Sunday match instead of a match on a Tuesday, but they are matched up again next week.

CMLL (TUE) 02/21/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) El Divino & Gallo b Évola & Exterminador
2) Eléctrico, Fugaz, Shockercito b Mercurio, Pequeño Nitro, Relámpago
3) Amapola, Dalys, Metálica b La Vaquerita, Marcela, Silueta
Dalys used the ropes to pin Marcela. Marcela wanted a rematch.
4) Dragón Lee, Esfinge, Stuka Jr. b Bobby Villa, Hechicero, Pólvora
Hechicero replaced Dragon Rojo.
5) Pierroth, Rush, Yoshitatsu b Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Valiente
Yoshitatsu snuck in a foul on Diamante Azul.

This building, as well as Arena Jalisco and Arena Roberto Paz, were inspected by local officials for issues recently and found a few. The headline makes it sound dramatic – “these arenas could be shut down!” It doesn’t appear to be serious by the end of the article, they just need to put up some signs emergency exit signs and remove some wires.

CMLL’s press conference to talk about Homenaje a Dos Leyendas is today at noon. It’ll be a surprise if it’s anything other than Diamante Azul versus Pierroth. I’ll write about it in a separate post.

A few more notes from the FULL press conference. They seem to have big hopes of running a full time promotion, with TV and everything, but just were pushing the one show three months from now announced more. (Some reports mention the 03/11 show in Cuernavaca and there’s more to come, but the focus was on that one show) Alberto said he was also doing ELITE dates, he’d be open to going to Arena Mexico, he’s not going back to AAA even though he has nothing but positive things to say about him – but also he’s working with FULL because “other companies have been responsible for lucha losing it’s respect.” I guess a little of that is WWE, but it’s tough to reconcile liking all the Mexican companies and saying the Mexican companies have hurt lucha libre. (Breaking: sometimes people don’t say the total truth in press conference.) They’re also doing the same idea of going back to basics and a dignified family affair without silliness. This is a thing people say because they believe that’s what people want to hear, but the silliness (WWE & AAA) sure do seem to draw a lot of families.

Zumbi was the one young guy brought to the press conference (along with Octagon, Alberto and Tinieblas.) When asked what makes FULL different, he explained it was “my freedom“, because he could come as good as he wanted. That’s a good difference for Zumbi, but not much of a selling point for a promotion. That freedom is not clear, since Tinieblas Jr. is mentioned as saying FULL luchadors would be free to work for any other promotion – except TV. Apolo says that part won’t be enforced until FULL get TV, and everyone suspects that might not be applied universally.

The names on the poster for the first show are Alberto, Drew McIntyre, Tinieblas, Blue Demon, Zorro, UK Hooligan, Cibernetico, Garza Jr., Alan Stone, Octagon, Intocable, Dos Caras Jr., Silver King, Scorpio Jr., Pirata Morgan, Zumbi, Pibe Alfajor, Hip Hop Man, La Mosca, Reyna Dorada, Lady Apache, Ludark and Sexy Star. That’s about the same group of people who work all the traditional style indies (which don’t get nearly this much attention) plus Alberto and his people. Tickets are going to run from 800 pesos to 250 ($40 USD to $12.50), which is pricey for an indie.

Running a press conference three months before the ‘debut’ show doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense on it’s own. Maybe it was just when Alberto’s was free. Maybe the audience here was local promoters who might be persuaded to run a FULL show, since they’d need more notice. There sure are a lot of options suddenly for local promoters. Everyone reporting on this generally seems much more excited than I am, maybe I’m just not getting something. It comes off as they’re announcing aspirations of big plans and using indie promoter cliches to cover up the lack of few firm plans at this point.

La Parka, while in Jiutepec, Morelos, said he’s feeling 100% physically and mentally. The AAA spot show on Sunday is said to have drawn 2000 fans.

Texano would like someone to challenge for his title, confirms Vampiro had been working for AAA for some time before the official announcement this past week.

RobViper has a music video of 05/11/2016 ELITE.

+LuchaTV had an interview with Drastick Boy talking about how he’s headed back to Dragon Gate. I didn’t notice, but he’s already listed as working shows starting March 4th.

Villano IV is listed on a show with CMLL luchadors next month. That, and the IWRG appearances, suggest Villano IV is maybe no longer working in AAA’s office.

Lineups

IWRG (WED) 02/22/2017 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fireman vs Keiser Drago
2) Shadow Boy vs Atomic Star
3) Alfa, Black Dragón, Omega vs Adrenalina, Araña de Plata, Hip Hop Man
4) Cerebro Negro vs Heddi Karaoui
5) Leo, Mike, Rafy vs Demasiado, Diva Salvaje, Nigma [EdM Trios]
fifth defense
6) Emperador Azteca, Golden Magic, Imposible vs Demonio Infernal, Diablo Jr., Relámpago

Somehow missed putting this up a few days ago, but it’s tonight IWRG card. It breaks my heart to see good friend Imposible and Diablo Jr. on opposite sides of the main event (also it doesn’t make any sense, but IWRG gotta IWRG.)

CMLL (TUE) 02/28/2017 Arena México
1) Bengala & Marvel vs Camorra & El Coyote
2) Acero, Eléctrico, Stukita vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
3) Oro Jr., Stigma, Tritón vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Skándalo
4) Esfinge vs Okumura [lightning]
5) Guerrero Maya Jr., Johnny Idol, Stuka Jr. vs Hechicero, Ripper, Vangellys
6) Carístico, Mistico, Rey Cometa vs Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas

Caristico is posing inspirational messages on Twitter. I’m not sure if that means he’ll be back by this match or not, but here’s hoping. Rey Cometa being in the main event is peculiar. Is it possible someone in CMLL has realized Rey Cometa is champion and is setting up a title match?

CMLL (TUE) 02/28/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Yaqui & Metatrón vs Demonio Rojo & Thunder Boy
2) Magnus, Star Jr., Vaquero Jr. vs Difunto, Sangre Azteca, Virus
3) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Silueta vs Amapola, Dalys, Metálica
4) Marco Corleone, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Kráneo, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero
5) Diamante Azul vs Yoshitatsu

Sometimes, I’m sad I can’t get one more hour of CMLL by taping the Guadalajara show. This is not one of those times. Yoshitatsu is just in for a week after this, so this might be his only CMLL singles match.

Lucha Memes (SUN) 03/05/2017 Salón Citlalli, Ecatepec, Estado de México
1) Electroser vs Silver Ángel
2) 19 Y Medio vs Manchitas
3) Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako vs Artillero & Súper Comando
4) Mike Segura vs Rey Cometa
5) Impulso vs Keira
6) Dr. Cerebro vs Virus

New venue for Lucha Memes but not new to indie lucha; ILLM has been running at the part time wedding venue of late. This is Los Mejores Refritos I, the best rephrases, so the main event is a rematch of a great match from 2013.

The Crash (THU) 03/09/2017 Gimnasio Olimpico, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
1) Extrem X, Gallo Boy Z, Príncipe Seir vs Dark Finder, Discovery, Príncipe Guerrero
2) Arcangel Divino, Black Boy, Rayo Star vs Látigo, Pegasuz, Último Maldito
3) Dulce Sexy vs Keira, Lady Maravilla
4) Jack Evans & Rey Horuz vs Flamita & Ronnie Mendoza
5) Bestia 666, Daga, Garza Jr. vs Juventud Guerrera, Nicho el Millionario, Súper Crazy
6) Rey Misterio Jr. & Willie Mack vs Brian Cage & Penta Zero M

Rey goes to Aguascalientes – as he did for the Viva el Rey tour, which didn’t seem to go great (but maybe they’re running a smaller building?) Seems unlikely the shows outside Tijuana will be recorded, which is a shame given some of those matches.

2017 watch later catch up, part 1 of ∞

February 22, 2017August 1, 2017 thecubsfan

In this post,

Rey Hechicero vs Caifan
Cholo de Tijuana, Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California, 01/06/2017
Blue Panther, Stigma, The Panther vs Puma, Tiger, Virus
CMLL, Arena Coliseo, 01/21/2017
Freelance vs Aramis vs Araña de Plata vs Demonio Infernal vs Black Dragón
IWRG, Arena Naucalpan, 01/22/2017
Imposible vs Relámpago for the IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Championship in a super libre match
IWRG, Arena Naucalpan, 01/22/2017
Templario © vs Corsario Negro Jr. [CaraLucha The Best]
Cara Lucha, Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México, 02/04/2017
Volador Jr. vs Fénix El Rey
Cara Lucha, Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México, 02/04/2017

I’m kind of forcing myself to get started with this, because I’ve got more time now to do it (though these seem to take a lot longer than normal TV recaps) and maybe I won’t have the time later. There’s still a bunch left from the first two months of the year to catch up with, it just does not stop.

The MOTYC list should go up soon.