CMLL Infierno en el Ring on 12/25, Fantasma/Texano

CMLL (SAT) 11/25/2017 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Cholo & Warrior Steel b Retro & Sangre Imperial
Sangre Imperial was hurt on a dive on Cholo, and they both were out the third fall of the match. Warrior Steel beat Retro.
2) Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Universo 2000, Pequeño Violencia b Aéreo, Eléctrico, Shockercito
Nitro beat Electrico in falls 1/3, then challenged him to a title match (!). Electrico accepted.
3) Príncipe Diamante b Yago [lightning]
4) Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado b Fuego, Pegasso, Stigma
Rudos took 1/3. Misterioso cheated to beat Fuego.
5) Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys b Ángel de Oro, Johnny Idol, Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 2/3.
6) Marco Corleone, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. b Nitro, Pierroth, Rush
Nitro replaced Sam Adonis (Florida?). Tecnicos took 2/3, with no notable Rush/Volador stuff.

An unusually active Saturday show. If you are a person with normal obligations and thoughts, you may have forgotten Electrico is the Mexican Lightweight Champion. I think telling you which title Electrico has is the only current reason I exist. Electrico last defended the title in August 2016 against Fantasy in Guadalajara in a match that never turned up. He previously defended it in February on an Elite show, which was before they had TV. This won’t be televised either, but let’s finish the bit out anyway: the last time a Electrico title match aired on TV was September 2014. Electrico has been lightweight champion since 2013, and defended it 3 times so far.

CMLL (SUN) 11/26/2017 Arena México
1) Artillero & Grako b Bengala & Sonic
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Astral, Fiero, Pegasso DQ Cancerbero, Raziel, Templario
Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Raziel & Cancerberoi unmasked Fiero & Pegasso after going after their masks all match long.
3) Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto b Blue Panther, Esfinge, Rey Cometa
Luiciferno replaced Mascara 2000 (moved up)
4) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Máscara Año 2000 b Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Valiente
Mascara Ano 2000 replaced Mr. Niebla (moved up).
5) Marco Corleone, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. b Mr. Niebla, Pierroth, Rush
Mr. Niebla replaced Kraneo. Volador replaced Caristico (Florida.) No Rush/Volador stuff.

CMLL didn’t remove Caristico from the lineup because whatever weird internal politics game they play is more important than being honest about their main events. I’m more curious about Kraneo, who’s missed two straight shows.

CMLL’s lead edecan, Erika Canseco, mentioned the group and Fuego were making a TV appearance this weekend to promote a 12/25 CMLL Infierno en el Ring show. CMLL hasn’t announced anything, but that generally fits the usual pattern. Infierno en el Ring is a cage match, so the Starman/Signo feud seen on Friday, as well as the ones started on today’s show, could all end up together in a cage. The only exception is the low card apuesta match has been on New Year’s Day instead this year, but perhaps that means the Negro Casas/Sam Adonis match is being held off all the way until the first day 2018. (It really wouldn’t be CMLL to do three apuesta matches in under a month’s time, so we can be sure Adonis/Casas and the cage match are the only two things happening in the early winter season; if Adonis/Casas isn’t on 01/01, there’s probably nothing big on 01/01.) Getting back to the original point, Starman, Signo, Raziel, Cancerbero, Pegasso and Fiero make six, so that leaves room for at least four more guys around that level, maybe six. Every one so far is masked, so DIsturbio is out of luck. Maybe Akuma, Flyer, Robin and Sangre Azteca?

12/25 Christmas is a Monday this year. CMLL does not run shows on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. Both those Sunday Arena Mexico shows will be pushed back to Mondays. I’m not sure where that’ll leave Puebla – they’ll have enough people to run split crews and it’s technically possible to get on both shows if traffic is really good, but probably also not worth the effort. It’s also likely possible but not worth the effort for CMLL to stream two shows in one day, so my guess is 12/18 will be the last streamed Puebla show until 01/08. You’ll see get Monday night CMLL, but it’ll be earlier in the evening from Mexico City.

No lineups for next week yet. IWRG did post a lineup for next week with Mr. Electro vs Villano V (Sr) in a hair match, which actually makes sense given what they did tonight but does not make sense in any other way.

Hijo del Fantasma wants to have a mask vs hair match with Texano at TripleMania. Texano is not as interested. As mentioned before, it’s the biggest names that are now feuding and the best guess to the actual match this far out. At the same time, it’s being treated as a secondary feud – it’s hard to see how they’d put a lot of people in Arena Ciudad de Mexico or (if it’s important) do big ratings on Televisa at the level of last year’s Wagner/Psycho match. There’s likely to be a ticket price reduction with TripleMania anyway, because they couldn’t sell it out with Wagner/Psycho and nothing else is going to be at the level, but it would have to be a big reduction to fill it up with Fantasma/Texano. That’s still the lead in-house match to be TripleMania, but I think it’s more likely that some short term or one night guest gets imported in at this point.

This week’s AAA TV is up.

Ricky Marvin says he’s happy to be free and independent again.

Impacto Estelar’s El Impacto Seminal column says Vanilla Vargas is off the The Crash San Luis Potosi show, The other Puerto Ricans are still believed to be on the card.