CMLL Tuesday results, AAA Guerra de Titanes, The Crash & Dragon Gate

Reminder: The Tapatia awards for the best in lucha libre are open thru January 28th.

CMLL (TUE) 01/02/2018 Arena México [CMLL, WrestlingWithGiFs]
1) Fantasy & Shockercito b Pequeño Nitro & Pierrothito 
tecnicos took 1/3
2) Astral, Robin, Starman DQ Cancerbero, Hijo del Signo, Nitro 
straight falls, Signo getting himself DQed against tarman again
3) Dalys, La Metálica, Tiffany b La Jarochita, Maligna, Princesa Sugehit 
Arena Mexico debut for Maligna. Rudas took 1/3.
4) The Panther b Tritón [lightning] 
Panther won in five minutes when Triton missed a corkscrew moonsault and either suffered a rib injury or knocked the wind out of him. Ref held up at 2 knowing it wasn’t the planned end, the counted three. Triton was stretchered to the back.
5) Guerrero Maya Jr., Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr. b Felino, Mr. Niebla, Sagrado 
Sagrado replaced Negro Casas and Guerrero Maya Jr. replaced Diamante Azul. Tecnicos took 2/3.
6) Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Niebla Roja b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón 
Tecnicos took 2/3.

Nothing seems like it was set up from this show. I guess the main event could be setting up a title match, but I believe these guys might be leaving for Japan by next Tuesday.

I assumed I had the Maligna entry in the database wrong, because that name shows up all over the place and disappeared for a little while, which usually suggest multiple people independently had the same idea for a gimmick.  In this article, it becomes clear it’s the same woman: daugher of Chavo Lomeli and part of a large lucha libre family based in Satillo. She’s been going around Mexico to train and find opponents, and has been traveling to Mexico City to train with CMLL for some time. She was a Arturo Beristain trainee when that was written in July, having trained with Tony Salazar and Demus previously.

I think that’s probably the most effective way to get better if you’re a women who doesn’t live around Mexico City, there’s just doesn’t seem to be different/good enough luchadoras in local scenes to improve that way, but I can’t even imagine all the miles she had to put in to get to that match. Maligna is a newbie by CMLL’s scale, so she’s probably going to have the same miscellaneous trios matches that Lady Maravilla has been wrestling, but just to even get to that point requires a lot of work.

(I may just be positive because I haven’t watched the match yet. We’ll see!)

Maligna actually debuted back on the 19th in Guadalajara, though results never turned up on that show. A woman named La Guerrera was also a fill in scheduled for that match. I had wrongly assumed they were both from Jalisco and now I’m guessing there will be another debut soon.

Casas mentioned he was hurt in the hair match, but is still going to FantasticaMania. Casas will be on Informa today to talk about it. He still also appears to be on for Saturday’s Pro Wrestling Revolucion show, where he’ll face Solar, Skayde and Vaquero Fantasma in a four way. That show airs for free on Twitch, starting at 8pm CT.

Volador beat Sam Adonis in Guadalajara last night.

Espiritu Negro is mentioned as wrestling in Queretaro on New Year’s Day, which would suggest his injury was not severe.

Tarahumara shaved Gallego in the main event of the La Liga de` la Justicia show on New Year’s Day. Local star Prayer beat Ricky Marvin in the semimain.

In an interview with Diaro Basta, Alberto says part of the deal to go back to WWE was that he would get the right to use the name Alberto del Rio, but he’s chosen to stick with Alberto el Patron because the people of San Antonio gave him that name. (A US trademark search shows WWE still owns the name Alberto del Rio.)

Revolucha announced they’ll be back on 02/11 in Monterrey’s Gimnasio Nuevo Leon Unido with Penta, Garza Jr. and Daga.

Arolucha says they’ve signed Sammy Guevera to what they’ve called an exclusive multiyear deal. That didn’t make sense to me – why would someone sign an exclusive deal to a company that doesn’t have TV when he might be someone on WWE’s radar, why would they want to take on long term deals when they don’t have that income coming in yet. Exclusive can’t really mean what I’m used to thinking of exclusive if Guevera’s not working those shows in Texas (and he’s not on that talent list right now.) My hunch is the announcement is probably a bit of marketing. Arolucha probably gets Sammy when they need him and can start to tell possible TV partners about having some of their guys locked in, while Sammy gets a little each pay while still getting to work elsewhere when he’s not being used.

Aerolucha says they’ll be going to southern California soon.

The Crash announced Dragon Gate wrestlers would be visiting their promotion in 2018. No other details were announced. CIMA noted that announcement, he seems to do the most outside work of the Dragon Gate wrestlers, so he’s probably a big part of it. This is just speculation, but I wonder where this leaves the NOAH/Impact alliance. I think they could co-exist, but it’s not sure they will after The Crash split ways with Konnan.

Matt Sydal RTed this this announcement, so either he’s randomly excited for it or he’s coming to The Crash soon. The Crash is still advertising Matt Riddle. If you are betting on Matt Riddle being in Tijuana, you need to find a way out of the bet quickly. Can’t do better than just inserting another Matt. You will look dumber the closer it gets.

The Crash had also been teasing a search for new women’s wrestlers, and said they’ll be holding a tryout on 01/17 in Mexico City’s Gimnasio Hercules. The Crash has been pretty consistent at including women’s wrestling even when they’ve struggled to find people they want to keep on; it would’ve been easier for them to just give up, and that they’re so set on making it work suggests there’s a big chance there for someone.

Caifan’s last match was not a great one, a Wagner/Park special in Monterrey where everyone was selling a foul at the end. They did finish with the referee asking the fans who should be awarded the win, so Caifan got one nice reaction a the end.

Caifan says he’d like to wrestle for 20 more years, but doctors have told him he only has two or three more years left in his knees and he doesn’t want to use a cane for the rest of his life. He says he’s talking with two lucha libre companies in Mexico about working with them in some other capacity.

Matt Striker wrote that he’s looking for bookings on 02/03, 02/10 and 02/17. You should care because 02/17 is believed to be the first day of Lucha Underground Season 4 taping. That’s a strong indication it may have been pushed back a week or otherwise changed; Striker still mentions Lucha Underground in his twitter information; I’m not a fan of the announcing but I’d be shocked if LU changed at this point. Jeff Cobb also says he’s available on 02/18, and again free on 03/18, so maybe that’s the window. At some point, LU might actually announce something specific and then we’ll all know.

+Lucha put up the complete Demus vs Wotan apuesta match, which sounds completely in the wheelhouse of lucha libre twitter. Demus faces Fuerza Guerrera in a falls count anywhere match on 02/04.

Did you know Volador had a singles match in Costa Rica in December? I did not know.

Octagon says he is going to have a mask match with Fuerza Guerrera at Estadio Azteca this year. Octagon is a liar.

NVI Noticias has an interesting interview with 60s Oaxaca luchador Indio Comanche, who wanted to be a wrestler before there was a lucha libre scene in Oaxaca. His story includes going to Mexico City to train at a young age, then coming back home to train others at whatever place they could find – including the city jail and a firestation. This is very good work.

Segunda Caida reviews Negro Casas vs Maximo from two years ago, and Black Terry vs Chico Che on from 2012 from Powerbomb.TV.

Pushing Upward is doing a 2017 countdown, with writeups of Iron Kid vs Demus and Tigre Rojo vs Barbaro I. It got me to add the latter to my watch list (and everyone is much better at finding hyper local lucha libre channels on YouTube than me.)

Multimedios visits Taqueria Chabelo.

Lineups

AAA TV (FRI) 01/26/2018 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
Guerra de Titanes, 2018
1) Lanzelot © vs Australian Suicide [AAA CRUISER]
second defense
2) Lady Shani © vs Faby Apache [Reina De Reinas]
third defense, second defense on TV. Previous match went to a DRAW (double countout out of the ring)
3) Aerostar, Drago, Raptor vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana and Argenis, Bengala, Máscara de Bronce and Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly © [AAA TRIOS]
first defense
4) Psycho Clown vs Rey Escorpión [bull terrier]
5) Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, La Parka vs Dave The Clown, Monsther Clown, Murder Clown
6) Hijo del Fantasma © vs Texano Jr. [cage, AAA LA]
third defense, second on TV.
7) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Johnny Mundo [AAA HEAVY]
seventh defense

Guerra de Titanes generally…makes sense? There is the big logic problem in the opener, where AAA built an entire TV episode around a Lanzeloth/Suicide title match where Suicide would never get another title shot if he lost, and he lost, and he’s getting a title match. Everything else is the big match they’ve been setting up during the slow fall period. Wagner’s finally getting his shot against Mundo, and either Wagner wins (and Mundo says goodbye) or there’s got to be a big angle. There’s no real reason for Texano/Fantasma to be in a cage – they’re the ones who should be a bull terrier match probably – but Texano turned on Fantasma back in May and have long be overdue for this singles match. Parka gets the Traidors, Psycho gets Rey Escorpion, the four trios who’ve been feuding come together, and Faby and Shani rematch after the indecisive finish. If you’re into AAA, it’s AAA delivering the matches they’ve been teasing, and it’s good to see them fix that problem after not really doing it in 2017.

(Assuming the card doesn’t get changed around day of the show!)

The fifth match is also listed as an atomicos, which is probably left over from Pagano originally being scheduled in that match and being hastily removed. I wonder who the rudo was going to be – Marty? Aguila?

This year’s theme seems to be “Gira de Conquista” – the conquest tour. I’m interested in what AAA plans to conquest in 2018.

This TV should 02/03 & 02/10 on their current schedule. If AAA was serious about doing Twitch broadcasts, this should be one, but there’s been nothing outside of that short Fantasma message to indicate they’ll still be doing those.

AAA TV (FRI) 02/02/2018 Salón Rojo del Club Toluca, Toluca, Estado de México
1) Big Mami & Lady Shani vs Ashley & Faby Apache
2) Niño Hamburguesa vs Dave The Clown
3) Histeria & Psicosis vs Joe Lider & Mr. Águila
4) Angelikal, Argenis, Hijo Del Vikingo, Lanzelot vs Australian Suicide, Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
5) Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, La Parka vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
6) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Hijo del Fantasma vs Texano Jr. & Villano III Jr.
7) ? vs ??
one surprise match. Psycho Clown and Dr. Wagner are pictured but not listed in a match.

I’m wonder if there might just be a big angle happening at Guerra de Titanes, and AAA hasn’t told the local promoter the main event of this show yet. Or maybe Pagano’s injury also changed plans for this show. The Llaves guys and the Vipers/Perros/women who aren’t on Guerra de Titanes do get a TV spot a week later. Fantasma/Texano and maybe Shani/Apache carry over, but the rest of the matchups are new. I guess Villano III Jr. is the real winner of Hijo del Dr. Wagner being anointed a top guy in AAA.

Nino Hamburguesa and Dave the Clown sounds like a nightmare match. Wasn’t Nino Hamburguesa missing last we knew? (There’s still 3 weeks of 2017 TV that haven’t been aired, maybe it’ll make sense later.)

This should air 02/17 and 02/24. If Lucha Underground is not taping 02/17, AAA should be – they might just need one more taping to carry them thru the period where they’ll be missing those people.