Where did we leave that power glove? A Lucha Underground season 3 catch up

out of habit of seeing this shot about four times every Wednesday

Lucha Underground is going a breezy 140 days between new episodes. There’s just a slight chance you may have forgotten exactly what was going on last time Dario Cueto was in our life, so here’s a reminder of where we left Season 3 of Lucha Underground.

(I’ll handle the drama behind the scenes in another post.)

Give it to me quick: when is the new episode? What’s on it?

Lucha Underground returns on Wednesday, May 31st at 8pm ET/7pm CT with episode 20 of the season. The episode will have only one match, the All Night Long iron man match between Lucha Underground champion Johnny Mundo and challenger The Mack.

New episodes are expected to air weekly. There are 40 episodes this season, which means the season will conclude with Ultima Lucha 3 on October 18th.

Johnny Mundo (abs not pictured)

How did Johnny Mundo end up champion? I vaguely remember something with Sexy Star that made everyone either happy or very angry?

Matanza was champion to start the season. He lost it in Aztec Warfare when he was hit by many big moves and finished by a Code Red from Rey Mysterio. Sexy Star defeated Mil Muertes at the end of Aztec Warfare to win the title and everyone went nuts for a week.

She lost it the following week to Johnny Mundo, who had previously beaten Sexy for the Gift of the Gods title and was cashing it in. Mundo beat Sexy Star later again in a cage match; Mundo’s cheated to beat Sexy every time, but has defeated her three straight times.

The Mack, as surprised as everyone else that he actually won

Why is the Mack getting a title shot?

The Mack won a 16 person Battle of the Bulls tournament (a bunch of four way matches), the winner earning this title shot.

Why is the match an All Night Long match?

Johnny Mundo beat The Mack in a non-title match in episode 18, where the winner got to choose the stipulation for their title match. Mundo picked the show long iron man match “All Night Long” rules, figuring his superior endurance would allow him to outlast Mack in a long match.

Who’s the Gift of the Gods Champion? Who holds the Aztec Medallions?

There is no Gift of the Gods champion. Johnny Mundo cashed in the LU secondary belt for his title shot. Dario has not yet begun handing out Medallions.

Drago, in Kobra Moon’s throne room. Kobra spent all her money on that throne and none on a proper dungeon. 

Who are the Lucha Underground Trios champions? Who are their rivals?

The current trios champions are Fenix, Aerostar and Drago. They defeated the Worldwide Underground trio of Jack Evans, Johnny Mundo and PJ Black earlier in the season.

Their current enemies are the Reptile Tribe, led by Kobra Moon. Kobra Moon claimed Drago betrayed the Reptiles in a war, and brought back her two surviving generals (Pindar and the tall Vibora) to force Drago back into the group. Drago claims he was never part of the Tribe, simply a slave, but was recaptured and possibly brainwashed. Aerostar & Fenix freed their partner, but Drago didn’t seem to remember them or be completely aware he’d been rescued.

jailed for his own protection

What’s Matanza up to?

Matazna wants to murder Rey Mysterio. Mysterio is the first (and only) person to defeat Matanza in Lucha Underground; Matanza immediately destroyed and hospitalized Rey. Dragon Azteca Jr. tried to avenge both Rey and Dragon Azteca Sr. by going after Matanza, and ended up chokeslammed thru the bleachers. Mysterio escaped his own death by backdropped Matanza thru the Temple’s closet ceiling, which ended the action in the Temple on the last episode.

(Dragon Azteca Jr. still seems to believe it was Matanza who killed Dragon Azteca Sr., while we know it’s actually Black Lotus. Black Lotus definitely believes Dragon Azteca Sr. killed her parents, but we don’t know if Dario was telling the truth about that.)

0 arms

What happened with Pentagon Dark?

Pentagon paid a price for breaking Dragon Azteca Jr. & Black Lotus’ arms during Ultima Lucha 2. The Black Lotus Triad attacked Pentagon and caused him to be eliminated in Aztec Warfare 3. Pentagon faced the entire Triad in a guantlet match, breaking the arms of Doku and Yurei, but being defeated by Hitokiri. The Triad broke one of Pentagon’s arms, and stepped out of the way to allow Dragon Azteca Jr. to break the other one.

Vampiro may or may not have been helping the Triad, but seemed to greatly enjoy what happened either way.

Pentagon has not been seen since his arms were broke to end episode #13. He should be healthy enough to turn up at any moment.

Prince Puma, chilling in a casket

What’s going on with Prince Puma?

Prince Puma died. Mil Muertes put him in to the casket to win their Grave Consequences match on episode 10, which means death on this show. Vampiro some how resurrected Prince Puma, and convinced him to give into his darker side to grow stronger. Puma has still not been seen in the Temple since his death, only in training vignettes, and it’s unlikely anyone but Vampiro knows Puma is still around. It’s not clear who Puma is actually training for: Puma probably thinks revenge on Mil but Vampiro is clearly not done with Pentagon. Vampiro’s clearly manipulating Puma – he pushed him towards the Mil feud to start all of this – and it’s probably going to end badly for Puma unless he breaks free of Vampiro’s influence.

Why does Cage have a power glove?

Cage won a best of 5 series over Texano for a Unique Oppurtinty. That Oppurtinty turned out to be a metal gauntlet. Cage wasn’t interested until he was convinced to try it on, and then felt great power and strength coming from it. Cage now wears it to the ring for his matches.

Cage doesn’t know that the gauntlet is the representation (or possed) by an evil god Dario and the people he works for are summoning. Cage is being taken over by this essence every time he puts it on, and also becoming more addicted to it.

(Shoter version: Cage won the ring from the Lord of the Rings, doesn’t know it.)

Can we just run thru everyone else quickly? This is a lot…

Jeremiah Crane was introduced as Ivelisse’s new boyfriend, but later revealed to be an old boyfriend from Catrina. Crane recovered an object hidden to in the ceiling of Dario’s office “long ago” to remind her of their past relationship, but Catrina said she was in love with someone else. Crane believes this to be Mil Muertes because Crane just showed up, but it appears to be Fenix based on what we saw in Season 1.

Amulet in the past
Vasquez’s part of amulet
Catrina’s portion of the amulet

Catrina & Capitan Vasquez each have half of an amulet. We saw that same item given to a girl a 1,000 years ago, which gave the (female only) wearer eternal life. It appears the 1,000 year old girl is Vasquez, since Catrina has been mentioned as being closer to 100 years old, but we don’t know the relationship between the two of them or how they each ended up with half the amulet. They have not interacted on screen yet.

not spider-man

Captain Vasquez is still investigating Dario Cueto, though Councilman Delgado has put pressure on her to stop. Joey Ryan betrayed the operation, revealing it to Dario to get on his side on whatever’s coming next. Ryan exposed Cortez Castro as a fellow undercover cop; Dario had him destroyed by Matanza to run him out of the Temple. Vasquez sent Castro back as the masked Veneno, where he was beat quickly by Cage. His identity hasn’t been acknowledged, but it shouldn’t be too hard for Ryan & Cueto to figure out. I’m still curious why Captain Vasquez has a spare Veneno mask sitting in her desk, but that may not be an important detail right now.

Dario and Delgado were meeting with a mysterious man in a limo who’s identity was never revealed but obviously spooked them out. He may not exist in the form of body (and just be the spirit that’s possessing Cage’s glove.)

spider

Someone’s been harassing Sexy Star with spiders. She confronted Mariposa, who denied it. She suspected Veneno, but we know it’s not likely to be him.

Taya is filming a documentary on Johnny Mundo, in the margins of Mundo’s current story.

Texano lost that best of five series to Cage, and is now being recruited by Famous B to add to his clients (which just includes Dr. Wagner Jr.)

Son of Havoc & Mascarita Sagrada defeated Famous B & Dr. Wagner Jr. in their feud. They haven’t been seen since.

Killshot and Dante

Killshot & Dante Fox were military buddies. Were. Dante seems to believe Killshot left him behind on their last mission, Killshot doesn’t remember it like that. We’re inclined to believe Killshot’s in the right because he’s been portrayed as a tecnico since last season, but we really don’t any details of what happened (so it’s entirely possible Dante is actually in the right.)

Mariposa and Marty the Moth have been attacking each other since losing their feud to Killshot. (The last scene of the first half revealed Mariposa had tied up Marty.) They are weird, so it seemed like it might have brought them closer. Marty is also stalking Melissa Santos.

The Rabbit Tribe of Paul London, Saltador and Mala Suerte having been hanging around on the edge of the trios title situation, but don’t really have anything on going of their own.

Ricky Mandell took some mystery photos from Dario Cueto that he was trying to get rid of, and sees to be a big Johnny Mundo fan suddenly. None of that seems to go anywhere.

Vinny Massaro can’t eat in the bathroom in peace.

That wasn’t quick!

Yea, there’s a lot going on.

Who from this season might we not see?

Ivelisse and Angelico suffered injuries in the aired episode. Angelico had just returned at Aztec Warfare 3 before getting hurt. Ivelisse had already agreed to a match with Catrina for Ultima Lucha 3. Neither has been mentioned since they were hurt.

Chavo Guerrero lost a loser leaves town match to Rey Mysterio and appears to be obeying the stipulation.

Siniestro de la Muerte was killed off on screen earlier in the season.

Daga was said to be dead by Kobra Moon earlier in the season, but we have reason to believe she may have not been telling the truth (or the plans changed somewhere along the lines.)

Are there more people showing up?

Yes. A vignette for later this season aired at C2E2, introducing a new rival to an existing character. Other wrestlers were spotted in dark matches by this point, and could show up in a vignette at any moment (even if they don’t actually wrestle this season.)

Nightclaw and el Bunny are out there, somewhere.

new lucha videos for the weekend of May 26 2017

YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYyNnOBGWP7Qh416Zi8H5bZEW3bkqy-49

IWRG Zona XXI: 2017-05-24
taped 2017-05-21 @ Arena Naucalpan
Cloud Drive
1) Aramis vs Villano III Jr.
2) Black Dragón, Dinamic Black, Veneno vs Cerebro Negro, Heddi Karaoui, Hijo de Pirata Morgan
3) Freelance vs Dr. Cerebro
4) Danny Casas, Imposible, Mr. Electro vs Black Warrior, Trauma I, Trauma II

CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-05-26
taped 2017-05-26 @ Arena México
Cloud Drive
1) Flyer & Oro Jr. vs Cancerbero & Raziel
2) Fuego, Star Jr., Stigma vs Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus
3) Blue Panther Jr., Rey Cometa, The Panther vs Puma, Sam Adonis, Tiger
4) Stuka Jr. vs Pólvora in a lightning match
5) Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
6) Carístico, Marco Corleone, Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Pierroth, Rush

CMLL Guadalajara: 2017-05-27
Cloud Drive
taped 2017-05-23 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Esfinge, Soberano Jr., Starman vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

IWRG Zona XXI: 2017-05-29
Cloud Drive
taped 2017-05-28 @ Arena Naucalpan
1) Dr. Cerebro, Dragón Fly, Mr. Electro vs La Mosca, Pirata Morgan Jr., Veneno
2) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Black Warrior & Súper Mega

Black Warrior versus the Traumas, Puebla preview

IWRG (SUN) 05/28/2017 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Shaolin b Atomic Star
2) Rafy & Teelo b Miss Gaviota & Takle
Miss Gaviota replaced Maquina Infernal, first match back in three months
3) Aramis, Pantera I, Saruman b Ángel Extreme, Hip Hop Man, Pibe Alfajor
Angel Extreme (debut, maybe the same one as from Veracruz?) replaced Villano III Jr.
4) Oficial AK47 & Oficial Fierro b Apolo Estrada Jr. & Eterno and Black Dragón & Dinamic Black
Oficials want a hair match with Apolo & Eterno
5) Imposible b Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
Super Mega hit Mascara with a chair to set up the loss
6) Dr. Cerebro, Dragón Fly, Mr. Electro b La Mosca, Pirata Morgan Jr., Veneno
seems to be setting up another La Mosca/Dr. Cerbero match
7) Black Warrior & Súper Mega DQ Trauma I & Trauma II
straight falls. Black Warrior use brass knucks without being DQ, Trauma II used the same for a DQ. Challenges for Warrior & Trauma II

Given Warrior’s habit of dropped off the radar, IWRG’s hoping for a lot by having him feud with the Traumas.

CMLL tonight has Rush versus Mr. Niebla, a match with a lot of variance. It’s possible they’ll just clown around for eleven minutes, it’s also possible they start grabbing anything not nailed down to hit each other and CMLL scrubs the match from existence later. The match is much more likely to be in the middle, but it’s less predictable than most CMLL singles matches.

That’s the semimain. The main event is a rematch from Friday, Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja & Mistico against the Guerreros. The Dinamtias (Cuatrero, Sanson, Mascara 2000) take on Stigma, Stuka and Valiente in the fourth match. The tercera doesn’t look good with Arkangel, Canelo and Fuerza Chicano on the rudo side – they face Lestat, Rey Samuray and Starman. There’s two 2v2 matches to follow it: Black Tiger & Espiritu Maligno fight Ares & Metalico (Ares & Maligno were slightly feuding last week) and Asturiano & Zaeta Roja face Guerrero Espacial & Rey Apocalipsis in the superior of the two tag matches.

The show airs at 9pm on CMLL’s YouTube channel.

AAA is unsurprisingly still promoting the original lineup for Verano de Escandalo even though they changed the lineup on Friday. I was so annoyed about that that I didn’t even mention no La Mascara or Maximo at that show, that was kind of dumb of me. That must mean they’re getting enough indie offers to take those instead for now. Super Porky did an interview for CMLL this morning, so he must not have quit to follow them.

Highlights of Dick Togo vs Solar.

Martinez Promotions has Zack Sabre Jr. vs Ultimo Ninja on June 23.

Rush mentions his uncle Septiembre Negro Jr. is on Twitter. I don’t think we had those families connected before.

Flamita sings.

AAA on Televisa: 2017-05-20

Super Fly is quietly one of the best guy in AAA now

Recapped: 05/24/2017

All matches were taped at Paleqnue del Centro Expositor, Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala on 04/29/2017.

Matches: 

Niño Hamburguesa  defeated Máscara de BronceVenumJoe Lider to earn a spot in an upcoming AAA Mixed Tag Team Championship match (8:32, middle rope splash on Lider, below average)

Argenis & La Parka defeated Chessman & Súper Fly (4:36, Argenis cradle Chessman, ok)

Carta Brava, Mocho Cota Jr., Soul Rocker © defeated Faby Apache, Monsther Clown, Murder Clown to keep the AAA World Trios Championship (4:30, group pin on Faby, below average)

What Happened:

here’s the chokeslam GIF I’m a week late in posting

Early in the show, Faby Apache (in an awesome Aja Kong anniversary t-shirt) explains to Psycho Clown that Vampiro gave her a trios title rematch, but with Murder & Monster as her partners. Psycho Clown thinks this is crazy and he wanted to help her win the titles back, and says he’s got Faby’s back. Prior to the main event, they aired a recap of the trios title storyline, with the entire Vampiro/Faby vignette replayed and the entire Faby/Taya thing from last week, and a few minutes of the match were shown. It’s a lot longer than this match ended up going. The main event lasts about three minutes before Monster & Murder attack their partner Faby. Psycho immediately comes out for the save, cleans house, but is laid out by Kevin Kross. Poder del Norte pin Faby. Kross goes to chokeslam Psycho, but Faby pops to life (not selling a thing) and hits Kross with a chair. Kross doesn’t sell either, and chokeslams Faby out of the ring thru a table. AAA sticks with Faby being put in a neckbrace and stretchered away for a while. (AAA end the show still not having announced the main event for Verano de Escandalo.

Averno talked about cleaning out the trash from the group before the second match, which led to Ricky Marvin coming out. Ricky points out he won in Tijuana. Averno calls Marvin trash and a dog and an ugly man with no friends. Marvin calls out his partners, Argenis and La Parka. OGT are shocked. Averno explains the trios match is not happening because Vampiro gave him the night off, and decides to announce instead. The other OGT rudos attack Argenis and La Parka (though Super Fly gets the worst of that.)

Averno joined the announcers for the match, while Marvin hangs out at ringside. OGT beat up the técnicos for about four minutes, Averno tripped Parka, Marvin grabs Chessman to stop him from a dive, and Argenis small packaged Chessman for the win.

dictionary definition for “ill-advised”

In the opener, Mascara de Bronce has evolved into looking like Venum’s tag partner. Niño Hambruguesa is checked on after landing badly on a huracanrana. Finish involves Dalton showing up at ringside, giving Lider a springboard frontcracker when Lider was holding a chair, and Niño immediately splashing Lider for the win. Dalton seemingly beats Lider up after the match, but we’re shown replays instead. Niño Hamburguesa will be one half of one of the teams to challenge for the mixed tag titles based off winning this match

The entrance for the building they’re running looks so much like Arena Neza, but it’s a palenque so it’s a small circular area on the floor. It’s better than some they’ve run, with a bit of space around the ring to work with (they wouldn’t have been to able to do the table spot in the other ones they’ve run.)

The mystery new referee is finally introduced as Hugo “Negro” Rosas.

Session of La Llave de la Grloria was shown, focusing on the luchadoras. Mary Apache has one monologue that includes more talking from her than she’s gotten in some years.

AAA says 70% of the tickets are sold out for TripleMania.

Review:

a good idea with not great execution

This was not a good show if you like actual good matches – it’s probably the worse show this year for matches, but it feels like there’s a few which would be candidates for that spot. They didn’t give the matches all that much time – 17:38 bell time total, almost half in the opener – but they also didn’t put together matches which had a hope of being any good. The storytelling seemed not much better considered.

The main event was not much of a match and didn’t do anyone any favors. Poder del Norte got in a main event, but looked like a joke. Murder tossed them around easily, they only got anything on Faby, Faby was beating them before her partners turned on her and then Psycho Clown had no problem with them either. Putting Poder del Norte in main events is not alone going to make them special, they have to be effective in some way, and instead it comes more as if AAA just doesn’t have any thing better. The whole thing was a setup to make Kevin Kross look more impressive and I’m not sure why that’s important when he’s not in a big match coming up. (The priority definitely is to the weekly TV over building to Verano de Escandalo; the bit ended with most of the people in the VdE mask match working together.) They at least tried to get over the severity of a table spot but could’ve gotten to it in a more effective way.

I ran out of good wrestling GIFs this week

There wasn’t really anything to the tag match, calling it OK seems like an overstatement, but I’m not sure it’s their fault they had so little time. Super Fly’s moonsault and Estrada bump looked cool, maybe that’s enough. Moderately surprised Argenis got the win instead of Parka, who made sure to argue with Averno so he’d get talked about in commentary

There were decent moments in the opener, maybe enough good that’d I’d normally say OK, but this was also a super sloppy match. They tried to do team spots with Bronce & Venum against Ludxor to start the match and near the end, and both looked liked Lider was on a totally different page. Venum/Bronce’s sequence in the middle looked super indie with it’s timing issues. (Later, they tried for a double pin, which made no sense). Niño Hamburguesa almost broke his neck taking a frankensteiner. There was a bit built around Joe Lider catching dives, and he caught on one of two Bronce did a big tornillo and the camera missed most of it and they never found a replay of it. This wasn’t good. This whole show wasn’t good.

DragonMania, FULL in SLP, Raptor, Dinastia Casas trios title shot

photo by Black Terry Jr.

CMLL (SAT) 05/27/2017 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Leono & Sensei b Rocky Casas & Templario
Rocky Casas’ first match here since October.
2) Artillero, Canelo Casas, Sangre Azteca b Astral, Bengala, Magnus
Sangre Azteca replaced Nitro
3) Esfinge, Fuego, Pegasso b Disturbio, Universo 2000 Jr., Virus
Universo 2000 Jr. replaced Metalico on Saturday, making his debut.
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther b Cuatrero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
5) Ángel de Oro, Rey Bucanero, Terrible b Kráneo, Ripper, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

Stat You Can’t Actually Use: Rocky Casas first match in CMLL was in March 2016. He’s had 4 matches in that time (and one dumb seeding battle royal.) He has won zero matches. He’s also apparently related to the wrong person if he’s back in the opener and Universo 2000 Jr. is solid midcard guy in week 1.

Toryumon Mexico (SAT) 05/27/2017 Arena México [Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), The Gladiatores]
1) Átomo, Shadow Boy, Shaolin b Gatillero, Solaris, Sonny
2) Blood Eagle, Fidel, Labernito b Adrian Quest, Dicky Mayer, Eli Everfly
3) Mima Shimoda b Vanilla Vargas, Reina Isis
No India Sioux, so they had a three way match instead. Vanilla Vargas is the same woman listed as Lady Boricua. Mima Shimoda won when Sam Adonis cost Vargas the match.
4) Súper Ciudadano b Patán, Fiero, Gallo (Jalisco), JC Navarro, OT Fernandez, Piel Roja, Hijo del Signo, Villano III Jr., Malefico, Ulises Jr., Hijo de Black Silver, Voltech Rivera, Dany Cruxiel [Dragon Scramble]
Ulises Jr. (with new hair) , Hijo de Black Silver and a whole bunch of Puerto Ricians were added to the match, with Super Ciudadano beating eternal rival Patan.
5) Arkángel de la Muerte & Rey Bucanero b Shocker & Yohei Nakajima
Arkangel replaced Ultimo Guerrero, while Shocker (with amateur wrestling headgear protecting his jaw) Nakajima replaced Marco & Maximo. Sam Adonis helped Rey Bucanero win
6) Dick Togo b Solar I
Added match. Double pin on a tapatia.
7) Bodyguard & Zeus b Daisuke Hanaoka & Douki
The AJPW team defeated Japones del Mal
7) Carístico, Jun Akiyama, Último Dragón b Joe Doering, Sam Adonis, Último Guerrero
Ultimo Guerrero replaced Mephisto. Dragon had come out to celebrate 25 years of wrestling early in the show, and received well wishes from Chris Jericho via video. He also got a cake, which Rey Bucanero threw in Dragon’s face. Dragon won the main event by beating Adonis.

The usual “I can’t believe that guy was wrestling in Arena Mexico” bit out of a DragonMania. This isn’t taped by CMLL and I don’t think +Lucha was even there, but SamuraiTV usually tapes it for later airing on their network. (It’s possible there may be handhelds around too; maybe keep an eye on Black Terry Jr.’s YouTube channel.)

FULL (SAT) 05/27/2017 Plaza de Toros Monumental el Paseo, San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí [Pulso SLP]
Attendance: 1000
1) Ludark Shaitan, Luzbel Jr., Pequeño Warrior b Ángel Del Amor, Reyna Dorada, Shadow Boy
2) Pibe Alfajor & Saru b Hip Hop Man & La Mosca (Argentina)
3) Mr. Águila b Alan Stone, Extreme Tiger
Alan Stone replaced Garza Jr.
4) Intocable & Zumbi b Alan Stone, Máscara Año 2000, Mr. Elektro
Universo 2000 Jr. & Alan Stone moved to antoher match.
5) Blue Demon Jr., Cibernético, Tinieblas b Pirata Morgan, Rey Escorpión (Elite), Zorro
6) Alberto el Patrón & Hijo De Dos Caras b Jack Swagger & Silver King and Roy Knight & Zak Knight
Alberto beat Swagger for the win.

The newspaper report has 1,000. That looks like a generous number given how the building looked in photos, but we can go with it. It’s still about a 15% turnout for a 6,000 seat building built around Alberto el Patron in his home town. I’m not sure what expectations were, but I’m sure they were a lot higher than that. Between this tour and Rey Mysterio Viva el Rey ones, I think the concept of non-TV promotion running an all star lineup at high prices is not a workable idea in Mexico. The press will cover it for the names, but the fans just aren’t interested in paying big prices unless it’s a big brand name promotion.

CMLL (SUN) 05/28/2017 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Violencia b Acero & Aéreo
2) Akuma, Inquisidor, Sangre Azteca b Magnus, Príncipe Diamante, Starman
rudos took 1/3
3) Estrellita, La Jarochita, Silueta b La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica
tecnicas took 1/3
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Soberano Jr., Titán DQ Hechicero, Terrible, Vangellys
tecnicos took 2/3, winning the third on the rarely seen toss over the top rope DQ on Soberano Jr.
5) Atlantis, Carístico, Mistico b Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
Caristico suffered an injury, but the tecnicos still won.

There’s no details on the injury, other than it was in the third fall of the match. We’ll know if it’s serious if Caristico misses his singles match with Rush in Guadalajara on Tuesday

AAA’s Raptor said he was not a new person, but a new persona for an existing person and would be teaming with Aerostar & Drago for his trios title shot. Over on Twitter, it was guessed that Raptor is Atomic Boy; it sounds like him and people are wishing him luck in his new role over on Facebook, so it seems a good bet.

At a book fair, Rey Mysterio (Sr.) says he plans to start teach wrestling in Tijuana. He famously was a trainee prior, so this is more a restart of his prior work. He’s still in a wheel chair.

A Spanish Mexican goal scorer on a Portuguese team celebrated by putting on a Sin Cara mask he had hidden inside his shirt. This was actually put in the rules as a yellow card offense in Mexican leagues after a player starting doing with Mistico masks when he first got hot.

Segunda Caida reviews Black Terry & Romano Garcia vs Dr. Cerebro & Solar.

AAA put up this week’s TV update.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 06/03/2017 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Estrellita, La Jarochita, Sanely vs Amapola, La Comandante, Reyna Isis
3) Blue Panther Jr., Rey Cometa, The Panther vs Forastero, Sagrado, Sam Adonis
4) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Valiente vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Morphosis, Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Niebla Roja vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero

One day, I’ll find time to flip Niebla Roja to the tencico side.

Morphosis keeps getting listed and being replaced. He seems like a fill in name for Bobby Villa, and may be replaced yet again when they figure out who’s actually in that space.

CMLL (SUN) 06/04/2017 Arena México
1) Príncipe Diamante & Sangre Imperial vs Akuma & Inquisidor
2) Robin, Sensei, Starman vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Sangre Azteca
3) Johnny Idol, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Pólvora, Ripper, Sam Adonis
4) Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto © vs Negro Casas, Puma, Tiger [MEX TRIOS]
11th defense
5) Carístico, Mistico, Niebla Roja vs Cavernario, Euforia, Shocker

The Casas family won a title shot on November 25th. More than six months later, and after some frequent twitter badgering, they’re finally getting it – on the show CMLL doesn’t tape. No one gets to see it. CMLL never will stop being CMLL.

Shocker tries for a return, take two. At least he wrestled on the Toryumon show, there’s some hope for more, and maybe more matches for him to take La Mascara’s place.

05/26/2017 AAA TV Results (Mexico City)

AAA TV (FRI) 05/26/2017 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [AAA, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, MT (title), The Gladiatores]
1) Angelikal, Charly Madrid, Tigger b Ángel Mortal Jr., Canibal Jr., Tiger Boy
2) Aerostar & Drago b Australian Suicide & Bengala [AAA TAG, #1 Contenders]
Aerostar & Drago were announced as being added to the Verano de Escandalo tag title match (but that might have changed again by the end of the night.) Suicide apparently didn’t turn rudo, but freaked out again and cost his partner the match.
3) Máscara de Bronce b Venum, Lanzeloth, Raptor [Oportunidad de Oro]
New stip, where the elimination order determines which of the four mystery contracts they received. Venum was out first, and won a mixed tag title shot (as long as he can find a partner.) Lanzelot was out second, and will participate on Triplemania (in what sounded like a battle royal).) The debuting Raptor was out third, and will get a trios title shot with two partners of his choice. Mascara de Bronce was the winner, and will get a shot at Johnny Mundo. No date was announced for any of the matches.
4) El Mesías & Pagano © b Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria [AAA TAG]
ordered as a title match by Vampiro. Cuervo & Scoria fall on defense two. Pagano & Mesias are the 19th champs.
5) Mini Psycho Clown b Dinastía [AAA MINI]
Pimpinela & Mamba were the seconds. Dinastia loses his title on his 8th defense (four years) when Mini Psycho uses the ropes to pin him. Mini Psycho is the 6th champ.
6) Argenis & La Parka b Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
Prior to the 3v2 match, OGT told Parka & Argenis claimed they had scared off their partner (not mentioning Ricky Marvin by name.) The tecnicos still won when Pirata Morgan came to ringside, teased as though he was going to do something with Parka, and then tripped up Chessman to setup an Argenis roll up.
7) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown b Hijo del Fantasma & Texano Jr.
Psycho beat Texano when neither team could get along. Poder del Norte ran in to attack Wagner & Psycho. OGT ran into attack Poder del Norte, demanding a trios title match at Verano de Escandalo in addition to their mask match. Wagner also unmasked Psycho Clown.

Air Date: 06/17 & 06/24

This was a confusing show to follow from the internet, even by the standards of AAA tapings in 2017. It also followed the pattern of all the matches changes. Of the 20 matches on the last three TV tapings, 19 have not happened as scheduled. That trend will not end.

For me, the most amazing part of this show was the bravado behind golden opportunity match. These guys definitely getting those four matches when AAA is making a point of not doing any of the matches they’re announcing is hard to fantom. The idea that these guys are getting chances they wouldn’t get otherwise doesn’t work when there’s two unannounced title matches and a trio setting up their title challenge by losing a 2v3 handicap match. Maybe the matches announced will happen, but there’s no reason to believe something is going to happen just because AAA says so.

I hope AAA puts out a new Verano de Escandalo card this weekend. They’re going to look terrible if they’re promoting an old lineup when they obviously changed the card around. Here’s that original lineup again:

AAA TV (SUN) 06/04/2017 Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
1) Aerostar, Bengala, Drago vs Australian Suicide, Lanzeloth, Máscara de Bronce
2) Argenis, La Parka, Ricky Marvin vs Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
3) Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria © vs El Mesías & Pagano [AAA TAG]
second defense
4) Pimpinela Escarlata vs Mamba [bull terrier, hair]
5) Hijo del Fantasma vs Kevin Kross
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Psycho Clown, Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Carta Brava Jr., Soul Rocker [mask]

They have acknowledged the opener and the third match aren’t happening as scheduled. They’ve definitely implied Ricky Marvin won’t be around in the second match. They had Pimpi & Mamba not wrestle and not get involved much, so I wonder if the hair match is off. Fantasma feuded with Texano, so maybe they’re the match now. And who knows what the main event is at this point with the OGT setting up their own match and Murder & Monster not appearing and not being acknowledged. (I’m sure it’s a 99% chance of nothing, but Ricky being written out makes me wonder about nothing.)This Verano de Escandalo card is not happening, AAA knows this card is not happening, AAA has acknowledged on their show it’s not happening. If they go around pushing this old lineup all week, they’re just lying for the sake of lying.

Vampiro was just complaining last week about people not telling the whole story of a complex situation. This is not a complex situation at all. This is really just a test for AAA. There are two correct answers here: “this is actually the correct lineup for our show” or “we don’t actually know what it’ll be yet, but it’s not that one.” If AAA gives anything but those two answers, I don’t really want to hear from Vampiro or anyone else with AAA complaining about people being unfair to them or yellow journalism or anything else about how hard it is for them. If AAA can’t be honest on the most basic things, than they should have no expectation of that treatment from anyone else.

Most of you reading this aren’t buying tickets to an AAA TV taping, so changing lineups aren’t affecting your life in that way. Maybe the only way AAA sees your money directly this year is if they air TripleMania on iPPV, and even then it’s almost just as much for the sake of buying one AAA show a year than the lineup (though people should rightly be angry if they pay for Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Psycho Clown and get anything else.) The effect of the changing lineups is the results don’t feel like they matter that much either. Those matches set up don’t seem important if there’s little belief they’ll happen. There’s no great story to Pagano & Mesias winning the tag titles at a random moment or Mini Psycho Clown being champion out of nowhere. If everything made sense in a way where it felt like there was a big master plan for everything with AAA and the poor fellow in charge of putting together the posters was just not in the loop, it might work, it might be tolerable. There’s just not that much consistency to even believe in a direction here. It’ll probably come together a bit better when we see it on TV, but I’m skepitcal.

I still think Psycho/Wagner will happen, and I think they wanted the Mexico City fans to believe it’ll happen and so the show ended with Wagner taking Psycho’s mask instead of something building up a show in Juarez. I also think that’s maybe the one anchor they have left tethering AAA to any sort of stability, and they’re going to be adrift in craziness once it’s cut loose.

I don’t know for certain that Ricky Marvin is gone. They did the thing AAA always does when someone is gone, referring to them but never by name – if he was hurt or sick, it’d be easier just to say that. The Pirata turn came out of nowhere and seemed like a way to make the sides even without Ricky. Marvin’s supposed to be part of an AAA spot show in his hometown of Veracruz today; missing that would seem to confirm he’s out.

Dinastia losing his title after four years in an unannounced match to feet on the ropes is fitting way to end the reign for an underutilized luchador. The minis division in both promotions are death to the few really talented guys on them. They could just be done better, but I’m more holding out hope Dinasita is just going to be dropped into the main group.

Next taping is Sunday in Ciudad Juarez.