Reminder: The Tapatia awards for the best in lucha libre are open thru January 28th.
CMLL has it’s special Three Kings Day show this evening in Arena Mexico, with some rematches of the biggest matches of 2017. Kids tickets are marked down to 10 pesos ($0.50 USD) on a children’s holiday, and this figures to be one of the larger crowd of the year.
The main event is Cavernario & Volador vs Ultimo Guerrero & Valiente, considered one of the best match of last year. The semimain has Niebla Roja versus Gran Guerrero, last year’s anniversario main event. The third match is Soberano against Rey Cometa, a rematch of Soberano’s first title win.
The other matches aren’t rematches, but could be good matches. The NGD, the most successful trio of 2017, face Drone, Esfinge and Guerrero Maya. Pegasso & Titan face Raziel & Virus in the second match. The opener has six promising young luchadors: El Coyote, Templario and Yago on the rudo side, and Flyer, Magic Blanca and Audaz (ex-Fiero) on the tecnico side.
CMLL ran this same format last year, and everything was pretty good, but time limited them from being as great as the original run. The show will air on Claro, starting at 5pm. It will also be on CMLL’s YouTube channel later tonight.
No FantasticaMania lineups – or any new NJPW lineups – were released yesterday. The first show is less than a week away, so this is now a bit strange. My guess is they’re still working on what to do without Negro Casas.
AAA posted Dorian Roldan’s appearance on Zona Ruda. MicromanFever wrote some of the highlights, and I’m probably going to steal most of it here.
- They’ve got three big apeusta feuds planned for 2018.
- Rey de Reyes is in Puebla in March
- TripleMania is in August (and probably in Mexico City)
- AAA is planning trips to Columbia & Panama in April, Japan in October (probably Lucha World Cup) and England in November.
- AAA would do a show with CMLL in an instant if CMLL agreed to it.
- They’re working on getting a big name for Guerra de Titanes.
- Dorian thinks both Sexy Star and Taya will end up working with AAA again, and they’re just waiting for them to be ready to come back.
Texano & Fantasma are obviously one of the three apuesta matches. Rey Escorpion’s probably in AAA specifically to have an apuesta match with someone the level of Psycho Clown. Both feel like strong main events for a Rey de Reyes type show but it’s going to be tough the match the interest in Wagner/Psycho unless the third idea is a biggie.
I would take the foreign trips with a grain of salt; AAA quietly scrubbed a trip to Columbia last November, so these aren’t on until they announce dates.
There is nothing Sexy Star can do that will get AAA to stop booking her. And CMLL has shown now interest in working with AAA; that would probably take a change in leadership to open the door even a little bit.
My hunch is the mystery big name is Alberto. They were trying to get him for TripleMania, and the obstacle is just how much money he wants to come in.
There might be an obvious spot for a big national name at Guerra de Titanes, too. On an Impact press call, Johnny Mundo said AAA advertised him on that 01/26 show without ever contacting him, he blames Vampiro, he’s had problems with AAA, and he’s not working Guerra de Titanes. AAA is aware of these comments but has not said made an official statement.
The Mundo/AAA/Vampiro stuff has been weaved into storyline at times, and it’s always possible they could be doing it again here. It doesn’t come off like a storyline here. If Mundo doesn’t show up at Guerra de Titanes, I’d assume he and AAA won’t be working together again for a very long time and everyone will just move on. It would be the second heavyweight champion of the last three to walk out of the promotion without losing the title. The previous one to do so was Alberto, which they could use to explain why he’d come back and go for the title. They could go otherways; they’ve still got three weeks to figure this out.
AAA’s YouTube channel indicates they’re airing the Luchando de Mexico show today.
A surprise Perros del Mal member is listed as teaming with Joe Lider & Kahn del Mal on Arena Aficion’s 01/30 anniversary show. A few AAA spot shows have listed a surprise Perros del Mal member, but I’m not sure if there will actually be one. The one place I’ve seen results from with this bit was Arena Xalapa, where they moved up a local from one of the early matches, and then the local wrestler ended up turning on the Perros. The last new TV seemed to set up a bunch of Llave a la Gloria rudos as possible Perros del Mal members, and that may be the intention for the matches, but it hasn’t happened quite yet.
Wrestling With GIFs has their top 100 CMLL matches of the year, and watches Sombra vs Mascara Dorada.
Segunda Caida watches more Negro Casas.
San Diego La Presna has a bio of Rey Mysterio, and his new occupation of motivational speaker.