Niebla Roja stays champ, Fantasma talks about heavyweight title

Niebla Roja/CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 10/24/2017 Arena México [CMLL, CultIconWresrtling with GIFs]
1) Artillero & Inquisidor b Bengala & Sensei LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 24 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
2) Akuma, Cancerbero, Raziel b Astral, Magnus, Star Jr. LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 24 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
rudos took 1/3
3) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, Pegasso b Puma, Sagrado, Tiger LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 24 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
4) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Johnny Idol b Hechicero, Misterioso Jr., Pólvora LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 24 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Misterioso replaced Dragon Rojo on Thursday. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Kráneo, Pierroth, Rush b Felino, Máscara Año 2000, Negro Casas [Relevos IncreíblesLUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 24 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Mascara 2000 replaced Mr. Niebla earlier in the day.
6) Niebla Roja © b Cavernario [CMLL LHLUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 24 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Roja took falls 1/3 for his second defense.

Title match was good, though unsurprisingly not as good as Soberano/Cavernario. Niebla Roja looks more comfortable without his mask, and he sticks out among the CMLL luchadors more that away. He still seems short of interesting offense to carry long matches, and the CMLL style of tecnicos doing a ton of dives doesn’t really help him.

Star Jr. say he found out he was going to FantasticaMania when fans started sending him screen shots of him being on the list. I’m pretty sure NJPW picks the people who are going from a list CMLL provides, but these reactions make it sound as if NJPW doesn’t tell CMLL who they’re picking until the same time they tell everyone. Which is a little weird.

The Mexico City lucha libre commission held a press conference to announce luchadors would be able to sell merchandise at the Metro Guerrero station in the city. This is the train station that already has a tribute to lucha libre inside, which appears to have been a successful attraction and they’re building off that by having actual luchadors there every Saturday from 12 to 4. Interested luchadors from any company can sign up for few spots they’ll have each week, and Coco Rojo will be in charge of determining who gets the spots. (In a remarkable coincidence, Coco Rojo has been assigned a spot the first week.)

While there, Fantasma was asked about the situation with the national heavyweight title. He said he had no problem with CMLL using the title, and says the belt they’re using is a new replica (with the original staying with the Garza family.) He was also asked about the other championships which have been inactive for years, and Fantasma said there’d be a meeting to discuss what to do with all the titles. He still feels those belts are more important than the promotion (CMLL/AAA) belts because they’re not restricted to one group. It’s hard for me to see them that way when they’ve been ignored and minimized. All have great potential, but the usage of belts in Mexico is usually vanity or pointlessness, and I don’t want to see more of either.

Fantasma also thinks his son and Texano should have a mask vs hair match. You know, for the lack of anything else going on, that actually might be the way too early leader for next year’s TripleMania. If it was the plan, it sure would explain why it’s taking forever to go anywhere. It’s still a very long way from happening even if it was the plan.

Today’s Lucha Underground episode is non-existent. El Rey will be airing two episodes of Bushido Battleground tonight instead. The first episode of Bushido Battleground, airing right after the LU final, did about 25% of the rating. You can read that as El Rey needing Lucha Underground because nothing else is close, or El Rey not needing Lucha Underground because months of commercials on that show can’t motivate the LU fans to watch something else on their channel. Either way, I’m under the impression we’ll get an answer soon: LU’s Eric Van Wagenen said he thought they’d have an answer this month, and this month is getting close to over.

LuchaMania Monterrey has a recap of the MDA show from Sunday in Monterrey, which seemed to draw well without anyone who would normally be considered a giant name. Hijo de La Park, Bandido and Esfinge (who worked twice) beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Sam Adonis and Hijo de Dos Caras in the main event. In her latest return, Sexy (Star) Dulce went to a double pin draw with Tiffany when the referee ruled both had their shoulders down on a cradle. Dulce did not, and rematches challenges followed. The recap says that match was good, which is hard to believe – not even a Sexy Star thing, but Tiffany has been a struggle to watch in CMLL for a long time now. The best match on the show is said to be Caifans versus Traumas.

Dalys kept the CMLL Women’s Championship over Princesa Sugehit in REINA today. Zeuxis won both her tag match and the match against an actress trying out wrestling (that one in two minutes with a choke.) The show drew 520 fans, which is a pretty good number for REINA.

Mystery promotion of the moment: Lucha de Barrio. They have a website, they have a YouTube channel teasing it as if it was a TV show with familiar indie names (see more on Facebook) that’s already been taped, and a count down to an event that’s apparently taking place next Friday afternoon (?), but no location or any other info. The video must’ve been taped a while back, since Argentina’s El Pibe is included and he isn’t around Mexico now. I have no idea what’s going on here.

All shows in Torreon for this weekend were almost canceled. The local lucha commission is upset that at least 70% of the wrestlers have not gotten their wrestling license renewed and aren’t going to let them wrestle, the luchadors don’t want to pay for licenses because they just see it as as a tax with no benefit, and the promoters are sort of stuck in between. The commission ended up giving the wrestlers an extension so the promoters can run shows for the moment.

Lucha Memes 11/20 Arena Naucalpan (Chairo 11) matches)

Bandido is the sort of replacement Kamikaze with Iron Boy in Macau. The poster has a CMLL logo, so someone(s) from there will end up on this show.

MDA says they’ll be back in Arena Coliseo Monterrey sometime in November, with Mistico vs Caristico in some form, and more Tiffany vs Dulce Sexy in a setup to an apuesta match.

DTU announced they’d have their 10th Anniversario show in December in Arena Aficion, where they usually hold their big shows.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Periodico La Voz talks to Mije, Gallito, Chico Temido and Guapito about wrestling.

Segunda Caida watches some Negro Casas.

Lineup

CMLL (MON) 10/30/2017 Arena Puebla
1) Millenium & París vs El Perverso & King Jaguar
2) Espíritu Maligno & Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Cancerbero & Raziel
3) Astral vs Virus [lightning]
4) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, Rey Cometa vs Olímpico, Pólvora, Sagrado
5) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Soberano Jr. vs Hechicero, Kráneo, Rey Bucanero
6) Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Ephesto, Mephisto

The Sky Team back together here. Cavernario fouled Volador last week, so that’s probably the program. Virus is a dangerous opponent for Astral, he could be at risk for a muscle tear before the bodybuilding contest. (I’ve determined the one Good outcome of this year’s bodybuilding contest would be Sagrado winning something and actually getting pushed.)