IWRG (WED) 03/01/2017 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Bambino, Lady Dragón, Zatan X b Black Niko, Pequeño Orquidea, Puma King (Iwrg)
2) Celestial Boy, Dinamik Kray, Haziel b Águila Enmascarada, Black Puma, Keshin Black
straight falls
3) Atomic Star, Odín, Power Bull b Águila Oriental, Fireman, Omega
Odin replaced Keiser Drago. Money thrown in.
4) Kanon, Leo, Mike, The Tiger b Blue Monsther, Eterno, Picudo Jr., Vórtize
The Tiger and Eterno were added to the match. Eterno threatened Kanon (and others) who used to be Eterno trainees but went elsewhere, and said a star would be coming to IWRG soon. After, The Tiger revealed he came to Naucalpan to gain some revenge on Eterno.
5) Adrenalina, Alas de Acero, Alfa, Aramis, Araña de Plata, Black Dragón, Shadow Boy, Skanda b Black Warrior Jr., Fandango, Lunatik Boy, Lunatik Extreme, Lunatik Fly, Neza Kid, Quetzal, Tromba [Torneo FILL]
Torneo FILL 57, Gym FILL (Black Terry) vs Gym Deportivo Miguel Hidalgo (Freelance). Black Dragon beat Tromba to win.
Sounds like the the third match was the best match on the show. Can’t believe someone else is using the Puma King name.
Today’s CMLL show how a first time and maybe only time match. Yoshitatsu, in his final night in CMLL for at least the time being, faces Volador Jr. in the main event. This is the traditional last night singles match for a visiting foreigner, which usually sends him out with a loss. Yoshitatsu hasn’t particularly impressed so far. The most notable thing he’s done is wear Joker-style face makeup, which may be a prelude to a heel character he’ll be playing upon his return to Japan. Still, a good night against Volador is enough to change perceptions of his whole stint, and it’s tough to have a bad night with Volador. We just saw Ephesto have a ***-ish match with Volador, Yoshitatsu should be able to do at least that, and surely better. For CMLL, this is simply Volador getting a match against a guy who was in WWE (even more so than being in NJPW being now), another notch on the belt for their lead tecnico.
The mask match duo meets in yet again in a semimian trios match, with Diamante Azul, Maximo and Valiente taking on Pierroth, Rush and La Mascara in a match which doesn’t seem too promising. CMLL sometimes gives the main eventers a Friday off before the big show to focus on a lesser feud, so this could be the last pre-mask match Azul/Pierroth match, but I don’t figure we’re that lucky.
The rest of the show is just filler; they’re not even trying to build up the other matches on H2L this week. The Dinamitas get to be in the fourth spot, where Sanson & Foratero (but not Cuatrero) team with uncle Mascara 2000 against Titan, Angel de Oro and Atlantis. The Panther family teams up against Los Revolucionarios, which might be the best match on the show. Fuego, Soberano and Pegasso face Misterioso, Sagrado Disturbio in the second match, and the show opens with a decent looking minis match of Ultimo Dragoncito & Fantasy against Demus 3:16 & Pequeno Nitro.
Culticon also previews this show. It’ll air at 8:30pm.
CMLL now lists Puma replacing Okumura (neck injury) on Tuesday’s Arena Mexico show. CMLL’s also put up a page just for the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas iPPV, saying the plan is to have it up right after the show ends. We’ll see if they can do it, may be a late night. I do recall the last VOD worked right when they put it up and the YouTube music issues didn’t come in until a few hours later, so getting the show early might be a good idea.
CMLL has an interview with Pierrothito, building up his title match with Shockercito on Sunday. I didn’t remember it, but it was actually Pierrothito who unmasked Shockercito way back when. Pierrothito wants the rudo fans to come to see him win the title on Sunday, then he’ll take Shockercito’s hair next.
LA Park & Hijo de LA Park face Daga & Black Tauro tonight in Arena San Juan for CaraLucha. Demus & Yoruba meeet Black Terry & Toxin face in the semifinal of their Juventud & Gloria tournament and there’s a Sky Man vs Saturno title match.
Arena Azteca Budokan has a Zorro, Super Crazy and Hijo de Rey Misterio vs Cibernetico, Halloween, Black Warrior. Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero and Euforia face Mistico, Marco and Rey Horuz in Tijuana.
I haven’t thought about it since it was announced, but Dragon Lee’s match with Will Ospreay is this Saturday in New York. CMLL’s hyped this less than previous trips to ROH (and it doesn’t seem to have been mentioned much by ROH either; just a stray Twitter post caught my attention last night.) I believe this is a $15 VOD.
AAA announced the winners of the first La Llave de la Gloria tryout: Ancla Jr., Astrolux, Solaris, Aeron Kid, Brole Xtream, Kronoz, Jessy, Papillon, Canibal Jr., Hijo del Angel, Tronic, Villano III Jr., Hanaoka, and Douki. Aeron Kid is probably actually Iron Kid. Him, Astrolux, Kronoz, Douki and Hanaoka are guys you’ve probably seen if you’re watch some higher end Mexico City indies, and Hijo del Angel, Villano III Jr., and Ancla Jr. are visible if you dig deeper. (AAA could’ve found these guys by going to indie shows, but they’re getting publicity and maybe making money off this this event, which is why they’re doing it this way.) There’s really no word what the winners advance to at this point. AAA does say that the winners are allowed to try out again. They’ve said in the past that there will be a tryout in March, but no date was announced.
Laredo Kid, Garza Jr. and Alberto el Patron all appeared on last night’s Impact tapings. They all wrestled on the show which will air next Thursday. I don’t know if people are concerned about Impact spoilers, but they’re probably not expecting to see them here so I can skip them. Suffice to say, they all got off to good starts. It looks like they’ll be there all weekend (on shows that’ll air over the next six weeks); Garza was announced as being off a show in Torreon on Saturday due to working these shows.
FloSlam announced they’re airing Tier 1 Wrestling’s show on 04/23, with Penta El Zero M vs Matt Riddle, a first time ever match. That’ll be part of their usual $20/month a plan.
Angelico is headed to Barcelona’s RIOT promotion, said to be teaching classes in April, May and June. Angelico’s listed on Sunday’s TV taping, but that looks like it could be it in AAA for quite a while. He’s not on Rey de Reyes and Neza, and he’ll be in Spain for the spring.
It’s official that Lucha Underground will be airing on Tele 5 in Germany, an over the air station. (Wikipedia says they also rebroadcast into Austria.) They’ve been on the local version of TNT in that market, and it’s said it will continue to air there too. Tele5’s deal with WWE Raw is ending at the end of March and they ran a tease for LU as a replacement during this week’s show. It’s a deal LU is probably only getting because they needed something to replace Raw, but it a deal LU’s getting that isn’t going to Impact or ROH or a non-wrestling show entirely. You’re probably not reading this from Germany so this doesn’t matter much to you, much less than the Netflix deal to most of you, but these sort of deals help pay to keep the company going.
Record has an interview with Averno from the training contest. Record has all sorts of interesting lucha libre content that never makes it online unless someone working for the paper posts it on Twitter, kind of frustrating but maybe a good business plan.
AAA posted a short video introduction to Lady Shani, which either got left off this past week’s TV or is airing on this one. It seems part of their run of features on lesser known AAA luchadors, may not necessarily mean anything as far as who’s winning at Rey de Reyes.
Sexy Dulce (Sexy Star) had been teasing a big announcement on Twitter for the last few days, and it turns out to be she’ll have her first boxing match on 04/22 (Saturday). It’ll be in Metepec, Mexico State, for the same Promociones del Pueblo her husband works with, and the group that runs Arena Coliseo from time to time. Dulce does not yet know the opponent, but revealed previous bouts fell thru and she’s finally happy to get in the ring. The show is listed as airing on Televisa, and I’d guess her fight will air, but I have no idea about boxing.
There was a press conference yesterday for the 03/11 Baracal show with Rush vs LA Park. Seems like a normal press conference with not much news. There’s highlights of LA Park saying LA Park things.
Senor Lariato reviews the Lucha Mexico documentary, now available on Netflix. I don’t think I ever wrote my thoughts about that here, but it mirrors a lot of what’s Lariato written.
Lucharama, the marathon of lucha libre shows, says they’re running in April 2017.
LuchaWorld has the latest news update.
Plantilla Deportiva has an interview with Titan.
Segunda Caida enjoys some Blue Demon in Elite!
Lineups
Martinez (SAT) 03/18/2017 Turf Zone Arena, Kennedale, Texas
1) Leva Bates vs Kylie Rae
2) Príncipe Arión vs Taylor Jet, Brindis Del Aire, Kapoeria Kid, Mini Laredo Kid
3) Garza Jr. vs Aaron Solow
4) DJZ vs Último Ninja
5) ACH vs Daga
Konnan is front and center in the poster, so he’ll be on this card in some form. Top two matches should be great, but handheld video didn’t turn up of the last show so who knows if we’ll get more than highlights.
ANCLA (FRI) 03/24/2017 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Coral & Metálica vs Luna Mágica & Skadi
2) Ancla Jr., Lunatik Fly, Lunatik Xtreme vs Flama Roja, Torito, Toro Negro Jr.
3) Danger & Guerrero Mixtico vs Diva Salvaje & Óscar El Hermoso
4) Arez, Centvrión, Hijo del Fishman vs Gran Guerrero, Impulso, Látigo [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Último Guerrero vs Wotan
“Is Wotan actually good?” seems to be a indie lucha libre topic among people not living in Mexico. I think that main event will help sorting that out. I’m pretty sure Centvrion and Latigo spend more time facing each other than actually teaming up because lucha libre programmers are way too in love with relevos increibles matches.