March 10, 2018 – luchablog

CMLL (FRI) 03/09/2018 Arena México [2018 is lucha libre, CMLL, Notimex, Ovaciones, Record]
1) Cancerbero & Raziel b Astral & Eléctrico
16:52. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Dalys, La Seductora, Tiffany b Lady Maravilla, Princesa Sugehit, Sanely
16:09. Rudas took 2/3.
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, The Panther b Johnny Idol, Kawato San, Puma
13:03. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Cavernario & Niebla Roja b Stuka Jr., Okumura, Tritón, Rey Bucanero, Blue Panther Jr., Ephesto [CMLL TAG, battle royal]
2:57
5) Ephesto & Mephisto b Titán & Tritón [CMLL TAG, 8F]
3:55.
6) Diamante Azul & Stuka Jr. b Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr. [CMLL TAG, 8F]
4:51.
7) Rey Bucanero & Terrible b Okumura & Sam Adonis [CMLL TAG, 8F]
4:17.
8) Marco Corleone & Niebla Roja b Cavernario & Mr. Niebla [CMLL TAG, 8F]
4:36.
9) Diamante Azul & Stuka Jr. b Ephesto & Mephisto [CMLL TAG, quarterfinal]
3:38.
10) Rey Bucanero & Terrible b Marco Corleone & Niebla Roja [CMLL TAG, quarterfinal]
2:37.
11) Rey Bucanero & Terrible b Diamante Azul & Stuka Jr. [CMLL TAG, semifinal]
4:26. Bucanero & Terrible face Volador & Valiente next week for the vacant titles.
12) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Volador Jr. b El Cuatrero, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
7:04. Straight falls. Cuatrero unmasked Angel de Oro in the first fall for a DQ, and kept the mask. Angel de Oro unmasked himself in the second fall, throwing the mask at Cuatrero while jumping at him. The referee saw Cuatrero with the mask and disqualified him.

Tercera is fine, but this was not an interesting show.

CMLL has post match words from Angel de Oro, Cuatrero, Sam Adonis, Rey Cometa, and Electrico. There doesn’t seem to be any explanation about why Terrible & Rey are still friends after Terrible split from Rey two weeks ago. No one has less interest in CMLL’s storylines than CMLL.

CMLL looks back at the 2010 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas

Next Saturday’s AAA TV taping in Cuernavaca appears to be a free show sponsored by the local government.

EMW says their 04/20 AAA TV taping will have OGT vs Los Alvarados.

This is an busy weekend for shows.

Saturday

Arena Coliseo wraps up their tag tournament, with Esfinge & Triton facing Disturbio & Virus in the final. I’d put the tecnicos as a slight favorite. It’s a Disturbio match, so there’s a good chance it’ll show up on YouTube. The main event now has Angel de Oro replacing Dragon Lee, teaming with his brother Niebla Roja & Atlantis versus Cavernario, Felino and Negro Casas.
Pro Wrestling Revolution is airing on Twitch. The show starts at 9pm CT and will have Jushin Lyger & Misterioso (California version) taking on Rocky Romero & Puma King. The main event last month aired after 11pm CT, and they had free VOD if you want to watch it later.
Lucha Undergrounds tapes Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Open tickets have been popping up on their eventbrite site; I was concerned about wrestler/staff fatigue running these many shows in a short time, but fan fatigue might start to be an issue. It’s probably for the best they’re wrapping up next week.

Sunday

Monterrey is the busiest place. MDA has LA Park vs Dr. Wagner vs Zorro, where the MAD vs MAD probably will play second fiddle to LA Park and Wagner doing their bit. Their two sons face each other on the same show. MDA shows usually only turn up in highlights.
Revolucha also runs in Monterrey, with Rebilion Amarilla (Garza Jr., Bestia 666, Black Taurus) vs Damian, Masada and Ultimo Ninja.
Lucha Memes is in Coacalco with Negro Casas/Aramis, Virus/Arez, and Ricky Marvin/Kawato among other people.
Pleu Sports runs Arena Azteca Budokan with a Hechicero vs Diamante Azul main event. Puma & Tiger face the Panthers in the semimain.
Drone wrestles his first post suspension indie show for WMC. Indie crowd are often hard on CMLL luchadors, I can’t imagine what this is going to be like.
IWRG has the Warriors vs Villanos for their tag titles.
CMLL has a Los Ingobernables vs Diamante Azul/Ultimo Guerrero/Volador rematch. It’s not clear what singles match they’re heading towards.

I don’t know if this is accurate, but there’s a story that AAA sent Azteca TV a legal threat over using Hijo del Octagon on their TV programs after his reality show appearance over their issues with the name. That’d be consistent with AAA’s tactics. It also shouldn’t be a surprise to Azteca. They changed Hijo del Octagon’s name on

Lucha Memes says they’ll be running in Pachuca in April.

Black Terry Jr. is the latest guest on the Los Reyes del Biutiful podcast.

Segunda Caida watches some IWRG.

The new episode of Zona Ruda is up.

+Lucha has a new edition of Aqui esta la Lucha.

CultIcon counts down the top 80 to 60 Lucha Underground matches of all time.

A photo gallery of a New York City man’s 2000 piece lucha libre collection.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 03/16/2018 Arena México
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas 2018 (Lutteroth & Mil Mascaras)
1) Audaz, Flyer, Star Jr. vs Disturbio, Templario, Virus
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, La Seductora, Zeuxis
3) Dragón Lee, Mistico, Rush vs Forastero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
4) Atlantis, Matt Taven, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
5) Valiente & Volador Jr. vs Rey Bucanero & Terrible [CMLL TAG, final]
6) Ángel de Oro vs El Cuatrero [mask]

Angel de Oro/Cuatrero should be pretty good.

Even beside the storyline issue, I’m very skeptical about putting Rey Bucanero in a big match on a big show. He did not look good in the tournament matches, and he generally hasn’t looked good when they’ve given him singles matches. The ones that have worked, versus Hechicero and longer ago against Super Crazy, mostly involve one or both guys destroying themselves to make it work. Neither he or Terrible are ideal opponents for Volador.

Given Valiente & Volador are already trios champions, the partners who are no longer partners are more likely to win the tag team title, sending CMLL into same problems they had before.

Fourth match should be good. CMLL could’ve found a better rudo than Mascara 2000 and a better ruda than La Seductora to make both those matches better. Opener should at least be good, and it’s a nice moment for Flyer & Disturbio to make it onto one of these shows.

It occurs to me that Alberto’s visit to Mexico just happens to match up with his uncle being honored on this show…

Recapped: 03/09/201/8

(CMLL hasn’t put up the video, so none of the video links work. Maybe later.)

Matches:

Cancerbero & Raziel beat Astral & Eléctrico
(16:52 [5:55, 5:15, 5:42], 1/3, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Dalys, La Seductora, Tiffany beat Lady Maravilla, Princesa Sugehit, Sanely
(16:09 [8:04, 4:34, 3:31], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, The Panther beat Johnny Idol, Kawato San, Puma
(13:03 [5:21, 2:32, 5:10], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

The dumb battle royal went 2:57

Ephesto & Mephisto beat Titán & Tritón in a CMLL World Tag Team eighthfinal
(3:55, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Diamante Azul & Stuka Jr. beat Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr. in a CMLL World Tag Team eighthfinal
(4:51, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Rey Bucanero & Terrible beat Okumura & Sam Adonis in a CMLL World Tag Team eighthfinal
(4:17, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Marco Corleone & Niebla Roja beat Cavernario & Mr. Niebla in a CMLL World Tag Team eighthfinal
(4:36, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Diamante Azul & Stuka Jr. beat Ephesto & Mephisto in a CMLL World Tag Team quarterfinal
(3:38, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Rey Bucanero & Terrible beat Marco Corleone & Niebla Roja in a CMLL World Tag Team quarterfinal
(2:37, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Rey Bucanero & Terrible beat Diamante Azul & Stuka Jr. in a CMLL World Tag Team semifinal
(4:26, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Volador Jr. beat El Cuatrero, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
(7:04 [3:00, 4:04], 1 DQ/2 DQ, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

the strut makes it more powerful, it’s science

Terrible and Rey Bucanero advanced to the final of the CMLL tag team tournament, despite Terrible splitting from Rey Bucanero two weeks ago. They will face Volador & Valiente next week.

Cuatrero unmasked Angel de Oro in the first fall for a DQ, and kept the mask. Angel de Oro unmasked himself in the second fall, throwing the mask at Cuatrero while jumping at him. The referee saw Cuatrero with the mask and disqualified him. Both men yelled at each other to build up next week’s mask match.

The opener was Electrico’s first match in a month, after suffering facial injuries in a similar Friday night show.

Thoughts:

You can skip this whole show. I think the tercera was good, weekly TV good and nothing beyond that. The tournament wasn’t much, and the opening matches were dreadful.

The main event was successful in reminding people the mask match is coming. The fans did seem excited for it, which seems good for next week. It just wasn’t much in itself.

The tournament lack the one standout match we’ve seen in these block shows recently. The format itself is exhausted and exhausting. Common sense says CMLL should not hold another one of these for months, even if there was a plan to run a Gran Alternativa soon. Common sense wouldn’t have Terrible & Rey Bucanero as a winning team though.

Kawato was enthusiastic if not exactly sharp in his match. He slipped on a missile dropkick, then nearly banged his head on the floor on a tope con giro. He’s trying, he’s getting a better feel for the rhythm of the matches and his kicks look better. Puma and Rey Cometa felt like the glue that held the match together, and they worked well together on a big headscissors to the floor at the end of the match. Braided pony tail rudo Johnny Idol is much more tolerable than the técnico version.

The women’s match had the usual problem. It was shocking to see Seductora do a (very assisted) rope walk plancha because she didn’t seem to be able to do much the rest of the match. Tiffany reduces everyone slap fighting, because it’s not a great idea to do more. Rudas won and looked unimpressive in doing so. Tecnicas got good reactions and tried a little but this match was set up to be no good and was no good. It’d be helpful if the luchadoras themselves are better. It’d be simpler if CMLL stopping booking trios matches for the sake of booking trios matches, and just left the lesser women on the bench.

One of the worst CMLL openers of the year, even with experienced guys. Cancerbero got annoyed and stopped helping the técnicos, leading to multiple poor looking moments. This wasn’t going to have high hopes, it was the usual grumpy rudo format with a bright spot here or there. It was just the worst version of that bad format, with everyone sticking with the plan when it clearly wasn’t working. The last minute felt like everyone wasn’t on the same page and were annoyed to be working with each other. There will be worse matches. This was still fairly terrible.

Day: March 10, 2018

Rey Bucanero & Terrible (?) advance to CMLL tag final, Homenaje a Dos Leyendas lineup

CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-03-09