Dragon Lee/Cavernario next Sunday, Santo coming to Monterrey

photo by CMLL/Alexis Salazar

CMLL (SAT) 04/08/2017 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Grako & Yago b Magia Blanca & Marvel
Yago’s return, with a win.
2) Estrellita, La Vaquerita, Marcela b Amapola, Tiffany, Zeuxis
Estrellita’s return from injury. Tecnicas took 1/3
3) El Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Drone, Fuego, Soberano Jr.
Fishman was honored before the match. NGD took falls 2/3 (and had a fair bit of crowd support.)
4) Blue Panther, Johnny Idol, Titán b Luciferno, Misterioso Jr., Sam Adonis
Tecnicos took 1/3
5) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Stuka Jr. b Hechicero, Kráneo, Mephisto
Hechicero replaced Ephesto on Tuesday.

Yago returned for a one off in October. Hope it’s longer this time.

CMLL (SUN) 04/09/2017 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Apocalipsis & Cholo b Bengala & Leono
2) Magnus, Pegasso, Stigma b Hijo del Signo, Metálico, Nitro
tecnicos took 1/3
3) Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa b Artillero, Puma, Tiger
Artillero replaced Skandalo. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Valiente DQ Kráneo, Pierroth, Rush
DQ not specified, but usual things from Los Ingobernables.
5) Cavernario, Felino, Mr. Niebla b Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr.
Cavernario submitted Dragon Lee, challenged him for a title match, then took his mask after the fact.

As we know, Sunday CMLL shows aren’t generally taped, but they can be taped if CMLL wants them to be. They even did an unexplained VOD for one for them with no particular important match. CMLL can film next Sunday’s match if they think it’s worth their time, or they’re convinced it’s worth their time. Any big Dragon Lee match should absolutely be worth their time.

I’m going to be annoying all week (and maybe next) until CMLL says they’re filming and airing the complete Dragon Lee/Cavernario match. The presentation they have for Tuesday shows, even on a taped show, would be great – but all I’m really asking for is one camera pointed generally towards the ring to see this match. I’d pay for it too. I think the Crash DF debut showed that just having a really good match doesn’t mean you’ll do great business, but a Dragon Lee/Cavernario match seems like it wouldn’t do too much worse than Pierroth/Azul (especially since the iPPV/VOD market seems generally foreign fans who are lean towards buying for match quality.)

AAA put up this week’s TV show. The show was mentioned on social media as being dedicated to Joaquin Roldan, the death being too late to mention him this week. They didn’t seem to have any problem with last week’s show being taken down and say it’ll be back up soon.

At Llaves y Canados show tonight, they announced Hijo del Santo will be wrestling at Arena Coliseo Motnerrey on May 14th. It would be his first match in the arena in about a decade.

DTU announced a deal with New Jersey’s GCW, with talent coming to Mexico in June and July. Crazy Boy had appeared on GWC’s Joey Janela Spring Break show.

LuchaWorld and SuperLuchas both have very good obits for Fishman. LuchaWorld has also talks about Joaquin Roldan’s passing in the news update.

Black Terry Jr. has photos from the LuchaRama show.

Hetzza won her debut match in Stardom, and challenged for the High Speed championship.

Kraneo talks about his other job as chiropractor.

A candidate for Mexico State governor just happened to run into Atlantis at Arena Azteca Budokan, a venue he hasn’t wrestled at in for years, and Atlantis just happened to have his CMLL Universal Championship for a photo op.

Funcion Estelar has an interview with Coco Rojo II.

 

Fishman passes away

Fishman

Fishman, José Ángel Nájera Sánchez, passed away on Saturday. He had just reached his 66th birthday on Thursday.

Fishman was born in Torreon, but started wrestling and first grew to fame as a Juarez luchador. He’d return to that city often in his career. He became a national star in Arena Mexico in the late 70s, with his iconic green and yellow mask standing out on magazines. (It’s a mask that resonates even today; when Daga & Garza did their run-in debut on The Crash a few months ago, they picked Canek and Fishman’s masks becuase they look cool.) Fishman won the masks of El Faraon, Sangre Chicana and Cobarde I, three luchadors who would go onto have long and important careers, in the span of 16 months. He also defeated Blue Demon twice for titles, first for the NWA Welterweight Championship and later for the national version, in that same period of time.

Fishman jumped to the rival UWA promotion, where he was consistently among the top light heavyweight stars thru the 80s as both a tecnico and a rudo. He traded wins and championships with Perro Aguayo, Villano III, and old rival Sangre Chicana, and headlined many shows during the strongest period in the history of the company. He was an opponent for foreign wrestlers when they came to UWA, and was brought to the US and Japan as a visiting star.

Fishman’s drop off mirrored the UWA. Fishman actually was part of the original group of luchadors in AAA, but his (by then) slower style didn’t work in that context or on TV. Fishman had stretches in both AAA & CMLL thru 2000, but generally as a name from the past rather than an important star of the moment. Fishman lost his mask in 2000 to Mascara Sagrada, the main event of a short lived promotion GWAS, with a disappointing turnout and suggestions Fishman wasn’t paid what he was promised for the match.

Fishman hasn’t been forgotten by lucha libre, but his place at the end probably wasn’t what he was expecting when he was main eventing packed El Toreo shows. If UWA had survived, he probably would’ve been brought back forever as a star of their best days. Without his home promotion, Fishman wasn’t afforded the same long term high respect as a Canek. His mask match wasn’t the memorable classic that gave a reason for people to always remember him like Villano 3’s. Instead, Fishman was sort of a relic of a bygone era, still a huge star to people who followed and admiring lucha libre of that time but not meaningful to younger generations. He spent the last few years of his active career wrestling for small independents, for promoters who remembered the name. He teamed with one son as Hijo de Fishman for a time, then stripped him (the current Black Fish) of the name after a falling out and gave another son the name. Fishman was still listed on shows as recently as last year, though some of those may have been his son being listed under his name.

There’s no details on Fishman’s funeral service.