lucha TV preview for weekend of March 31st

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Mexico moves to Daylights Savings Time last Saturday night/early Sunday. That means Friday’s Claro show is the final live stream airing an hour later than later. Puebla is back to it’s 10 ET/9 CT time, and everything else follows. (Saturday’s shows are thrown off, but that only affects me nowadays anyway.)

AAA has two title matches and an apuesta match. That’s not a normal show.

Matt Taven vs Rush II is on CMLL Claro.

Elite may be in repeats now. Well, repeats of repeats.

AAA on Televisa: 2017-03-25 

putting this GIF up top so I can remember it happened, especially if goes nowhere in six months

Recapped: 03/27/2017

Results:

Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria defeated El Mesías & Pagano in a #1 cotnenders cage match (14:54, escape, OK, video link)

Ayako Hamada won a six women’s elimination match to earn a Reina de Reinas title match (OK, video link)
00:03 Faby Apache thrown over the top (Goya Kong)
01:48 Goya Kong pinned (Big Mami splash)
05:30 La Hiedra pinned (Big Mami behind the back faceslam)
05:45 Big Mami pinned (Lady Shani backcracker)
11:08 Lady Shani pinned (Ayako Hamada Michinoku Driver)

Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown defeated Monsther Clown & Murder Clown (8:25, simiilteanous pins on powerbomb & Wagner Driver, OK, video link)

Argenis won the 2017 Rey de Reyes match (15:52, OK, video link)
00:00 Joe Lider, Elegido, Nino Hamburguesa, Pimpinela Escarlata start
01:21 Chessman enters
02:01 Argenis enters
02:46 Averno enters
03:28 Bengala enters
04:13 La Parka enters
05:27 Pimpinela Escarlata out (Nino Hamburugesa)
05:37 Nino Hamburguesa out (everyone)
07:19 Elegido out (Chessman & Joe Lider)
08:11 Joe Lider out (La Parka)
09:03 La Parka out (Joe Lider pulling him off the apron after being elimianted)
09:58 Chessman out (Averno)
10:18 Bengala out (self elimination on Asai moonsault)
15:52 Argenis pinned Averno via moonsault

What happened: 

thru the cage

Argenis won Rey de Reyes, in a match which was only announced as happening at the start of the program. The match was held under usual AAA rumble rules, with four people starting and over the top eliminations until the final two. Argenis defeated Averno to get the surprise win (though the star power was generally so low that anyone besides La Parka could’ve been called a surprise win.) Averno accidentally caused Chessman to be eliminated, which could be something or just the usual rudo bumbling. Joe Lider eliminated La Parka after being eliminated, which also could be a rudo turn for him or just the kind of thing that happens in a battle royal. In a true miracle, Argenis’ wife and small child just happened to travel all the way up to Monterrey to see a show Argenis wasn’t even scheduled to be on, in a bit that appeared to a repeat of Fantamsa’s family being at ringside after winning the cruiserweight title.

The returning Ayako Hamada is the new top contender to the Reina de Reinas championship, defeating Lady Shani in the final of a six women elimination match. (It was scheduled to be seven; Mary Apache appeared in a head bandage and a neck brace she didn’t appear to have last week, but did not wrestle.) Ayako was wearing Perros del Mal gear but wasn’t given any special re-introduction. No one on the show except those entering the Rey de Reyes match got any sort of introduction, with AAA cutting out what they could to fit four matches in the time. Faby Apache was surprisingly first out, eliminated less than five seconds into the match via over the top elimination. She was the only person eliminated without being pinned, and the other luchadoras didn’t seem to even try an over the top elimination the rest of the match.

Ayako sault

Cuervo & Scoria earned a tag team title shot by defeating Pagano & Mesias in a cage match. Pagano & Mesias had one miscommunication moment late, but it proved to be irrelevant and they were pals after the match. They both essentially worked the match as fan favorites. Mesias speared Cuervo thru the mesh of the fence, and Scoria climbed out the cage (which was missed by the cameras.)

Psycho Clown & Dr. Wagner cleanly defeated Murder Clown & Monster Clown. The Traidor Clowns controlled most of the match while Wagner wanted nothing to do with his partner and eventually walked out. The Doctor heroically returned to the match to make the save and help set up the victory. They barely had time to react to the ring before the unlikely trio of Mocho Cota Jr., Carta Brava Jr. and Soul Rocker attacked both men, including ripping up Wagner’s mask. Monster Clown tried to help but was attacked as well. There’s no explanation given for this attack, or why Monster & Murder betrayed Wagner in the first place.

everyone’s doing corner dropkicks

AAA has new intro, borrowing the artwork it did for the Panini sticker book as visuals. However, since some of those people in the book are no longer around, we get glimpses of guys like Gronda and Elegido who are also never around (and it spotlights how few people are around by implication.) Looks nice anyway.

Leo Riano was also part of the announce team this week, and seemed to be taking an anti-Vampiro position, specifically in reaction to Vampiro having the power to change the card however he wants. (This mirrors what he wrote in his column, explaining those comments as being in character.) There were clips of Vampiro winning the Rey de Reyes previously and celebrating victoriously, leaving viewers with the definite impression Vampiro was going to end up wrestling again before long. This was also part of a show long push of a New Era of AAA.

Total match time was 50 minutes and 19 seconds, twice as much as normal.

What was good: 

the fall is much worse than being lightly pressed into the post

Uh. Lots of things were happening, shiny lines and bright noises, all very interesting. The matches weren’t as much interesting. They finally got time, but not a lot of interesting stuff happened.

Both of the elimination matches followed the same pattern: forgettable stuff until a good section when they finally got the final two. Argenis & Averno was a solid CMLL lightning match, cut a little shorter than usual and the crowd reacted well to his win. The battle royal before it was useless, with people consistently putting themselves in dumb positions so they could be easily eliminated and topped off by Bengala eliminating himself for no reason. The two things I got out of this was La Parka was one of the few guys who seemed really over on the show (the crowd seemed unusually quiet for an AAA show most of the night) and they didn’t understand that the final two was decided by pinfall – they cheered big when Avenro went out and were confused when Argenis dove onto him.

Ayako versus Shani did not conclusively solve the “Is Lady Shani actually good?” mystery. Shani definitely looked competent, but Ayako shined so much brighter than everyone in the match that it was hard to compare. Ayako jumping in ahead of everyone diminishes the people who were there – Shani & Hiedra were back to being ruda jobbers – but she was also clearly the best person in the match. The section before the final two wasn’t much good. Faby’s elimination and participation was a joke. Goya was pinned for a one count, Ayako jumped off her back to cut people off, and Tirantes decided that was close enough to a three count. Announcers were baffled and understandably so. A lot of the match seemed built around Big Mami, more than I needed.

Argenis wins

The cage match was the same lucha match as ever, with guys just doing spots and occasionally teasing escaping but nothing meaning anything until the finish kicks in. Mesias spearing Cuervo looked good. Scoria taking a powerbomb thru a table, and then popping back to the life to escape (in something never quite shown) was not good. This match felt like they were dropping the Mesias/Pagano breakup angle cold despite them losing and now having the actual reason to break up. On the other hand, it was also clear they were the better team and Secta were just lucky that Cuervo got speared thru the fence. They came up with a spot that they can show a lot if they want, but I’m not sure the outcome did much for anyone.

The other tag match was just an angle instead of a match. It felt like Wagner turning tecnico, especially with him getting attacked by even more rudos after the match. And Monster & Murder went from a random top rudo push to being easily put down, maybe plans changed there. Crowd had no idea what to make of Cota and crew getting involved.

Next week looks like it should have the better matches and meaningful events. This one suffered from the poor Rey de Reyes card lineup they had to start with.

Volador/Casas in Guadalajara, mascot match for kid’s day, La Llave de la Gloria round 2

mascot warfare

CMLL (TUE) 03/28/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo de Guadalajara, Martes de Glamour]
1) Frezzer & Furia Roja b Omar Brunetti & Vaquero Jr.
2) Demus 3:16, Pierrothito, Relámpago Azul b Cosmos, Eléctrico, Fantasy
3) Fuego, Star Black, Stigma b Arkángel de la Muerte, Disturbio, Raziel
Star Black replaced Rey Cometa.
4) Ángel de Oro, Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone b Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Ripper
5) Carístico, Mistico, Volador Jr. DQ Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
Negro Casas fouled Volador for the DQ.

Ah, they’re doing another Casas/Volador match. Probably on 04/11.

CMLL announced a four mascot tag match for Kid’s Day on April 30. It’ll be Zacarias & Mije against Gallito from Guadalajara and the debuting Microman with Guapito as referee. This seems like something that should be announced in the US a couple days from now as an April Fool’s Day joke, but it’s a real match with a press release and everything. These are the more mobile mascots (more than Monito, who was not mentioned the whole show) but it will be tough to have anything more than a brief skirmish. April 30th is a Sunday, so this match won’t air unless CMLL does something special.

Also on Informa, Pierroth said he wants to be known as La Bestia del Ring or La Bestia Ingobernable. CMLL’s still listing him as Pierroth.

AAA announced the people who advanced from the second La Llave de la Gloria tryouts: Auster, Shaoling, Fetiche Jr., Dalton Bragg, Star Shock, Destructor de Galaxias, Lirio de Plata, Máscara de Angel, Nuevo Angel, Laxus Dragón del Trueno, Palacio Maya , Espíritu Negro Jr., Akanyel Extrem, Demonio Azteca, Genex, Charly Madrid, The Tigger, Tiger Boy, El Americanista, and Mandala.  That’s 20 names (so 32 have qualified so far between the two sessions.) I’m confused, because the photos and videos we saw on Saturday only showed about 32 people. AAA’s report on the session listed about 130 people, which didn’t seem supported by their own photos but maybe there were just a few sessions we didn’t see.

A lot of people are guys who are fringe members for the super indie promotions or work all around the Mexico City area without a specific hoe; this kind of contest helps them at least get more noticed and maybe some regular work. Charly Madrid is a bull fighter who had some good matches a few years ago before becoming a lot less visible. “The Tigger” is probably the Tiger, a Nuevo Laredo luchador who’s been working matches there and around Mexico State with Eterno. Genex and Star Shock are both young luchadors who’s shown up in DTU’s Kids division.

A couple of notable maybe missing names are Kortiz, one of Villano V’s sons who was in the tryout videos, and Hector Chavez, who had that write up in Record because his sister is a known model. Hector and his sister Danielle visited the AAA offices yesterday, so I’m guessing he’s either on the list under another name or they’re working on something else with him. Those who didn’t make it are encouraged to resubmit their information to be eligible for another tryout.

SoloWrestling interviewed Sexy Dulce, which LigerFever translated. If you’re in the mood, it’s got Sexy changing her story on why she missed her title match for the third or fourth time (she had asked Dorian for time off, she was hurt, she would’ve been happy to go appear and hand over the belt except – well, she never explains why.) There are couple notable things about her mindset right now. She again talks about her match in SHIMMER this weekend as her final match before taking time off to focus on boxing. Sexy has to be aware she’s booked on the Crash show a few days later, so I would assume this to mean she’s not going to wrestle on that show and will likely also give up that title without getting beat. (The title doesn’t mean anything, so that’ll be fine.) Sexy also sounds more open to returning to AAA than she has in the past, being complimentary towards Dorian, sidestepping any criticism of the promotion, and making the case that she never actually lost her mask so there’s nothing legally to prevent her from wearing it again. She doesn’t sound in a hurry to go back, but may go back on her terms. (Unless that gets a bad reaction, then she’ll reveal she’s been misquoted.)

ESPN Lucha Libre has an interview with Miguel Reducino about CMLL, which is the usual mainstream interview: wrestling person talks about how great everything is and the author nods along approvingly. Reducino explains CMLL does not do chair shots or blood because that would be disrespectful to the people. Reducino explains the difference between CMLL and AAA is AAA doesn’t keep it’s economic promises to luchadors and that’s why they come back to CMLL. Tours of Europe & South America, which haven’t happened in years, are mentioned like they’re normal things.

Dorian Roldan posted on Facebook about all the things AAA is doing over a two week (plus) stretch: getting on Netflix with Lucha Underground, makign the deal with Impact, Rey de Reyes, the launch of Zona Ruda, a new movie, the La Llave de La Gloria, doing shows with Kidzani, filming a US commercial and other things. A new movie? That part got explained last night, as AAA luchadors were part of wrestling scenes for a movie called “Ni tu ni yo”, about the life of a luchador. There a little bit of video of the work here and there was an article in Record about it. AAA luchadors were also present at the World Dance Music Awards last night.

AAA posted the first edition of the Zona Ruda show and says they’ll be uploading them each Wednesday. That’s a nice deal, I wasn’t sure we’d get to see these. I haven’t gotten a chance to wathc it yet, but they have interviews with Dorian Roland and Mesias, highlights from TV, and vignettes from Psycho Circus. There’s also a feature on Perro Aguayo Jr.’s mass.

Killshot confirmed he’s going to be on the AAA show in Tijuana. I have a list of which Lucha Underground wrestlers have worked with AAA & the Crash, but what I think I’m going to do with it this evening is print it out and then set it ablaze. I can’t figure this out.

Lucha Underground wrestlers will now NOT be part of the Blackest of the Black music festival, a reversal from a few days ago. It was announced before a deal got signed, and then the deal didn’t get signed. Masked Republic says they’ve heard familiar wrestlers will still be involved and I’ve heard the same.

Lucha Mexico will be shown in Mexico City as part of Festival Ambulante on April 6. The directors and some of the subjects were interviewed by Notimex. They’d like to get the documentary into Mexico movie theaters.

Leo Riano’s column mentions the Arena Mexico bathrooms and dressing rooms have recently been renovated.

SuperLuchas has an obit for Dardo Aguilar.

LuchaWorld interviewed Trauma II.

CultIcon writes a profile of Triton.

Cross Arm Breaker reviews Texano vs Ricky Santana.

ChilangaMask say they’re coming to Chicago on May 7th with the Traumas, Aeroboy and Fly Star.

Pro Wrestling Revolution is running a show on FloSlam on 04/15 in Santa Rosa with Atlantis, Octagon and Juventued Guerrera. They also announced Penta el Zero M versus Super Crazy on July 8th.

Donde Ir has nine places to visit around Mexico City for lucha libre.

great match roundup, week of 2017-03-18

Triton moonsault

ongoing 2017 recommend match list

This was a good week for random trios matches in CMLL; there’s a few good which could easily be argued higher. This was also the week where I determined I liked my new format for the recap but it takes longer than I anticipated. And also that no one really was that interested in me doing something different.

recommended matches

rating matches TV Show taped
great Drone, The Panther, Tritón vs El Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 21 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-03-21 2017-03-21
great Máximo Sexy, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Hechicero, Kráneo, RipperMáximo Sexy, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Hechicero, Kráneo, Ripper (posted by thecubsfan) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-03-24 2017-03-24
good Lanzeloth, Máscara de Bronce, Venum vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota, Soul Rocker AAA Worldwide desde Apizaco Parte 2 - Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide - Marzo 2017 (posted by Lucha Libre AAA) Lanzeloth, Máscara de Bronce, Venum vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota, Soul Rocker (posted by thecubsfan) AAA on Televisa: 2017-03-18 2017-03-05
good Mephisto © vs Carístico for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 20 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-03-20 2017-03-20
good Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Virus in a lightning match LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 21 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-03-21 2017-03-21
good Luciferno, Mephisto, Pólvora vs Negro Casas, Puma, TigerLUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 21 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-03-21 2017-03-21
good Carístico, Dragón Lee, Marco Corleone vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 21 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-03-21 2017-03-21
good Dragón Lee vs Niebla Roja in a lightning match Dragón Lee vs Niebla Roja in a lightning match (posted by thecubsfan) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-03-24 2017-03-24
good Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Valiente vs Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Valiente vs Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas (posted by thecubsfan) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-03-24 2017-03-24

everything else watched
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