Ultimo Guerrero defeated Niebla Roja to retain the NWA Middlweight Championship.
Mistico replaced Rush in the main event. Caristico had been feuding with Rush, so he feuded with Volador again and Volador unasked him for the DQ. Carístico asked for one more fall. He did not get one more fall.
In the fourth match, the the usual tower of doom bit for near falls and actually got three counts. Luciferno & Ephesto had Angel de Oro & Stigma pinned at the same time Stuka splashed Mephisto. No one kicked out, and that combination of pinfalls meant the match was a draw. They kind of set up a rematch for next week.
Pierrohito challenged Shockercito to a title match, which explained why Shockercito actually had his title belt.
Thoughts:
Not great matches, though some weirdness with finishes and people playing different roles.
Ultimo Guerrero just went thru a shorter version of his usual match, stripping out a few of the spots but still doing the usual thing. I wanted to see more out of Niebla Roja, but he didn’t really show that much more and the crowd was more into Ultimo Guerrero. They did tease an idea of Niebla Roja out smarting UG early on and last week, but didn’t follow thru in a way to make it meaningful.
The semimain was fun for being absurd: it was just as weird to see Mistico being evil as Euforia being heroic. Diamante Azul and Pierroth got totally lost at one point, and Volador was screwing around with this, but it was still fine as a different match than usual.
The Hijos del Infierno match was the best energy match of the night, even while being routine. Someone in this rudo group – maybe Mephisto – has decided to pick up the weird finish torch from Blue Panther and Averno and more weird is always appreciated.
The tercera was an exceedingly boring rudo squash, compounded by the second fall finish being screwed up. The rudos were DQed for being in the ring too long, which didn’t seem a planned finish, and the tecnicos were cost a comeback from it.
Astro’s really good, but even here it felt like he didn’t get to show it as much in the minis. The rest of the guys were just doing the same things they do on other shows, but not as much of it. Joker didn’t feel as big part of the match as usual, and it usually takes the local guys having a strong night to make an early match worth watching.
The opener had some action but was slow and awkward and times.
RIOT (SAT) 07/29/2017Arena Femenil, Monterrey, Nuevo León [LuchaMania Monterrey]
1) Hell Raider b Black Raider
2) Low Rider b Sayrus (Laguna)
3) Hooligan Byron b Psicótico, Muerte Extreme [hardcore] Hooligan Byron added himself to the hardcore match.
4) Black Terry b Erick Ortiz Terry submitted Erick Ortiz. Low Rider thought it would be a good idea to challenge Terry after the match and Terry accepted for the next show.
5) Arez b Kratoz, Dralion, Sammy Guevara, Fuego Del Sol (Oklahoma) Many many many moves. Sammy dominated the match late, but Arez took him out with a RKO (into Sammy’s birthday cake) and beat Fuego del Sol with a piledriver. Sammy declared he still wanted his match with Jack Evans that he was denied when Jack was hurt.
6) Fly Warrior b Shane Strickland [POWERBOMB.TV CHAMP, quarterfinal] Strickland controlled much of the match, but Fly Warrior got the win in the end.
I saw the main event and it was good. Reports on the five way make it sound insane.
Sounds like it was going well until the main event and then Rush did a 2017 like Rush performance.
Tonight’s CMLL main event is totally reliant on effort, which seems ominous after last night. Rey Bucanero’s average match is not especially good at this point, but he showed in his title match with Hechicero that he could up his level a lot if put in a bigger situation for one night. He’s in a bigger situation again tonight, this time challenging Angel de Oro for the CMLL middleweight championship. Angel de Oro is not the level of Hechicero either, but so this is going to be a challenge, but it’d be nice if Rey could turn back the clock one again.
The rest of the show is not that much. Mr. Niebla makes his latest return from unexplained absence to weight down a trios match with Negro Casas & Felino against Mistico, Valiente and Stuka. Fuego, Drone, and Stigma face Sangre Azteca, Misterioso and Raziel in the fourth match – something that wouldn’t look good on a normal show but appears to be the best trios match on this show.
This show also has the long awaited meeting of Arkangel and Consejo in a tercera unfit for human consumption. There are more promising people in the matches prior to it but they can’t be that good if they’re behind that terrible match.
The card starts at 7:30. That main event won’t be until around 9;15 or later and you probably shouldn’t tune until them. I need to take my own advice at some point.
Guadalajara has Caristico, Volador and Marco Corleone (replaced Diamante Azul) vs Euforia, Terrible and Ultimo Guerrero in the main event.
TAO is running an AAA spot show in Queretaro. Local newspaper says they’re close to selling out, though it reads like a promotional piece.
AAA press release on the Llave de la Gloria tryout in Celaya says the Naucalpan final stage is on August 12th (Saturday), not the 15th as I had previously. I’m not sure what AAA is going to exactly do for iPPV this year, and I’m not sure they’ve decided either, but that would be a great event to use as a test run – they’ll get some interest, and it’s better it breaks there than two weeks later. (I suspect we’re more likely to get same Facebook video we’ve gotten of late, which is still watchable.)
Record has a couple pieces up today about some of the tryout participants, which you can zoom in here. (The Thamus one is up on their website too, but I’ve been getting one of those “Your Computer Has Been Hacked” junk ads from Record’s site today, so you may want to stay away.) One article is on Celestial, Cosmico, and Talisman, who were the regular minis on the Perros del Mal shows, haven’t been seen much, but talk about trying to honor their old bosses’ name. There’s also an interview with Thamus from Queretaro. A side bar on that piece says 60 people tried out and 9 people impressed enough to go to the next round. We should get the winners tomorrow midday.
Occasional IWRG title holder Chicano also was spotted among those trying out.
Johnny Mundo is going to be working the GFW shows as John Hennigan. If this was some sort of LU/GFW deal, it would’ve been easy to work out something to use the name he’s using on TV right now. It appears to be simply a AAA/GFW deal with LU not at all cut in. It also says AAA can’t have much control of LU trademarks if they can’t even get “Mundo” on their own.
RevoLucha The Crash (SUN) 08/06/2017Arena Coliseo Monterrey
1) Guerrero Vida vs Black Impuls
2) Chik Tormenta & Lady Maravilla vs Dulce Kanela & Larry Miranda
3) Damián 666 & Hijo Del Espectro vs Genocida & Psicótico [sin reglas]
4) Rey Horus vs Sammy Guevara, Black Taurus (Indie), Delta
5) Jack Evans & The King (Rey Fenix) vs Bestia 666 & Último Ninja
6) Garza Jr. vs Daga
A new lineup for this weekend’s show. Santo Jr.’s off the card. I didn’t see an explanation, but Santo not doing well in Tijuana might explain it. He’s caught in a bad situation – really needs to be working constantly to get better, but asking so much because of the Santo name that he’s barely going to get used. He really should’ve stuck with Tempestad for years just to get the experience. The outlook is not great.
In his place, the Daga/Garza feud comes here, with the idea that they might doing a hair match in December. (Skeptical, and definitely not the singles match.) Jack Evans gets moved up to feud with Bestia, and Delta’s added to the card. Zorro is also quietly missing from the show.
The main event is weird – maybe they’re doing Marco vs Diamante for the heavyweight title?
At the TripleMania press conference, Ripper/Psicosis II apparently said Morphosos/Histeria had also left CMLL. CMLL books people after they’ve left because of either a) makes people look bad for not showing up or b) some sort of unemployment/severance rights issues where it gives CMLL leverage if they can show the luchadors stopped showing up. Someone else will be in that spot. Kraneo still appears to be around.
CTLL MARTINEZ (SAT) 08/19/2017 Turf Zone Arena, Kennedale, Texas
1) El Burrito vs Sajbran
2) The Mecha Wolf vs Taurus (Indie)
3) Bestia 666 vs Kapoeria Kid, Taylor Jet, Silver Tiger, Epydemius, Brindis Del Aire, Fuerza Aérea, Douki
4) Chik Tormenta vs Keira, Christi James, Mystique, Lady Maravilla, Kayle Rae [MARTINEZ WOMAN]
5) Penta 0M & Rey Fénix (Indie) vs Arez & Low Rider
6) Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Matt Cross, Último Ninja, Xtreme Tiger
This is a stacked show – even for Martinez, which hasn’t run as often and hasn’t put as many people on shows this year. It would make a great VOD purchase and there’s a giant +LuchaTV add on it, but the only thing that’s shown up the last couple shows were highlights of Ultimo Ninja vs ZSJ.
IWRG had a thing about skipping semimains this week. My understanding is the La Llave a La Gloria match I have will be up on the AAA YouTube channel later (as well as the missing match from Mexico City.)
I’m putting shows up as playlists now because that seems to be the easier way for people to get up; it’s kind of what I’d like to see other channel to do so maybe I should do it myself? That’s what I decided anyway.
IWRG Zona XXI: 2017-07-24
taped 2017-07-23 @ Arena Naucalpan mega/YouTube
1) Black Dragón, Dinamic Black, Gallo Frances vs Argos, Kempo Jr., Monaguillo
3) Villano III Jr., Villano V Jr., Zorro vs Imposible, Internacional Pantera, Sharly Rockstar
4) Carístico vs Trauma II, Black Warrior, Mr. Electro [Prisión Fatal] and for the hair and for the mask
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-28 mega
taped 2017-07-28 @ Arena México
1) Eléctrico & Stukita vs Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
2) Esfinge, Fuego, Pegasso vs Puma, Raziel, Tiger
3) Drone, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
4) Stuka Jr. vs Hechiceroin a lightning match
5) Blue Panther, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs Pierroth, Rush, Sam Adonis
6) Carístico, Mistico, Niebla Roja vs Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
AAA on Televisa: 2017-07-29 mega/YouTube
taped 2017-06-30 @ Gimnasio Miguel Hidalgo, Puebla, Puebla
0) Ashley, Dragón Solar, Némesis vs Black Fury, Mini Rocker, Royer Boy
1) Bengala vs Australian Suicide
2) Aerostar, Drago, Raptor vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Soul Rocker
3) Argenis, La Parka, Lanzeloth vs Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
4) Máscara de Bronce vs Hernandez, Kevin Kross [briefcase]
CMLL Lucha Azteca: 2017-07-29 mega
taped 2017-07-21 @ Arena México
1) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone vs Kráneo, Pierroth, Rushin a relevos increíbles match
2) Blue Panther vs Sam Adonisin a lightning match
3) Dragón Lee, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
IWRG Zona XXI: 2017-07-29 mega/YouTube
taped 2017-07-26 @ Arena Naucalpan
1) Celestial Boy & Fly Star vs Power Bull & Tentáculo
2) Ángel Oriental, Kanon, Shadow Boy vs Kempo Jr., Monaguillo, Skanda
3) Gallo Frances, Hijo del Alebrije, Mike vs Marduk, Taylor Wolf, Warrior Jr.
IWRG Zona XXI: 2017-07-31 mega/YouTube
taped 2017-07-30 @ Arena Naucalpan
1) Dinamic Black, Hijo del Alebrije, Shaolin vs Demonio Infernal, Kempo Jr., Monaguillo
2) Danny Casas vs Veneno
3) Black Dragón, Hijo De Dos Caras, Imposible vs Gallo Frances, Herodes Jr., Trauma II
4) Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Pirata Morgan vs Hijo del Pantera & Pantera and Black Warrior & Warrior Jr. and Diablo Jr. & El Hijo del Diablo and Villano IV & Villano V Jr. and Negro Navarro & Trauma I and Golden Magic & Mr. Magia and Bombero Infernal & Bombero Infernal Jr. [Legado Final]