Marco shoulder injury, Taven/Voldador next Friday, AAA back on Twitch on Sunday

Stukita is magic

CMLL (FRI) 03/23/2018 Arena México [CMLL, Notimexthecubsfan]
1) Shockercito & Stukita b Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 23 DE MARZO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
11:04. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Sagrado, Templario, Virus b Magia Blanca, Pegasso, Star Jr. LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 23 DE MARZO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
16:40. Rudos too 1/3.
3) Blue Panther Jr. b Drone [lightningLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 23 DE MARZO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
7:34. Blue Panther won via reverse figure four after Drone survives the armbar.
4) Misterioso Jr., Puma, Tiger DQ Audaz, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 23 DE MARZO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
12:16. Rudos took 2/3, the last by DQ when Guerrero Maya Jr. grabbed onto Tiger’s mask and accidentally unmasked him. Did not appear to be planned finish.
5) Ángel de Oro, Matt Taven, Niebla Roja b Cuatrero, Sansón, Volador Jr. [Relevos IncreíblesLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 23 DE MARZO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
11:54. Taven’s team took 2/3, with him pinning Volador directly in the third fall with the Climax (arm trap headlock driver). Taven demanded a title match with Volador next week and Volador accepted.
6) Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Último Guerrero DQ Kráneo, Rush, Terrible [Relevos IncreíblesLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 23 DE MARZO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
9:24. Straight falls. Marco injured his right shoulder on an Air Corleone at the end of the first fall, stayed out of the match for a while, re-entered while still hurt, and the rudos attacked the arm until they were DQed for refusing to break a hold. After another moment of the doctor checking Marco, the rudos attacked him once more.

The second match was the best of the night. Nothing was bad.

I really have no idea what the deal was with the main event. I could believe Marco was never hurt and just did an amazing job of selling, perhaps helped by having that same shoulder injury happen on the same move to a lesser extent before. I could believe Marco came in with that injury and this was CMLL writing him out. I could believe Marco was really hurt and they just did a great job of change the match around to accommodate. Terrible, Rush and Kraneo’s attack on Marco’s bad arm was very coordinated, whatever the situation.

Rush laughed about sending Marco to the hospitalVolador says he won’t lose in front of his peopleAngel de Oro & Niebla Roja were happy with their win.

Criterio Noticias writes about El Egipcio, who was honored on the Arena Puebla show on Monday. Cien Caras will be honored in Tuesday in Guadalajara.

AAA is live on Twitch again tomorrow night from Monterrey. The show starts at 7pm CT local, which means 8pm CT in the US. We’ve only got one more week of this time difference issue. We’ve only got no more AAA shows for close to a month after this one, unless they’ve slipped one in before the Tijuana taping.

The main event was originally a three way tag match but now is a trios match on AAA’s website. The unnamed group of Blue Demon, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Hernandez are supposed to face Dr. Wagner Jr., La Parka and Vampiro in the usual bad AAA main event. In reality, I have no idea. The local promoter posted a video from Vampiro, who says there will be a lot of surprises and two titles matches on the show. There are zero title matches currently advertised. It could happen. It could be Vampiro just saying things to say things.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Vampiro has done that this week. Early Thursday, after the San Luis Potosi show, Vampiro posted on Facebook that he would have to make a big announcement about his career “tomorrow” but he was too emotional to do it. Those emotions must have remained strong, because he’s been posting inspirational images and vegan food advocacy articles. Nothing about his announcement. The man can’t even pay off his own manufactured storylines so I’m not sure why we should expect him to resolve AAA ones. Maybe he’ll make his announcement on this show. Maybe he’s already forgot it.

The semimain is currently scheduled an OGT/Alvarados rematch from San Luis Potosi. There’s a strange but possibly good Hijo del Fantasma versus Parka Negra singles match. Drago & Aerostar are scheduled to face Rey Escorpion & Texano, but Angelikal ended up replacing Aerostar a few days ago. A Cuervo/Escoria vs Monster/Murder vs Mr. Aguila/Joe Lider match probably won’t be good but perhaps that’ll be one of the title matches. Pimpinela/Mamba vs Ashley/Divina open up the show, which got changed on the last show.

Many of those wrestlers are in Xalapa today for a different show. Sunday will also have the Ricky Marvin/Dr. Cerebro hair match in IWRG.

A video talking about The Crash airing on Azteca has appeared on Facebook, as proof they’re starting on the channel soon. That’d be great if it was the case. I’m not sure it is. The video seems to have come from a YouTube channel not associated with either company. It appears as if it’s more likely to be a trailer to pitch Azteca or advertisers on the idea, maybe something that was being used internally to try and make the deal happen, but not yet an official announcement. Neither The Crash nor Azteca has acknowledged the video.

Bandido & Flamita lost in their US debut as a team in PWG to Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz last night. The match was said to be super, and they’re likely to pick up more bookings in the US if they want them.

MLW’s 04/12 show has Penta vs Fenix.

Chilanga Mask on 05/20 in Coliseo Coacalco

This is a strange card.

+LuchaTV has the latest Aqui es la Lucha.

Arena Tigre Padilla is 20 years old.

An interview with Coahuila lucahdor Rey Fumanchu.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 03/30/2018 Arena México
1) Flyer & Robin vs Akuma & Templario
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, La Seductora, Zeuxis
3) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Felino, Kawato San
4) Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas vs Johnny Idol, Okumura, Sam Adonis
5) Atlantis, Carístico, Valiente vs Kráneo, La Bestia Del Ring, Rush
6) Volador Jr. © vs Matt Taven [NWA WELTER]
20th defense

Taven’s back in the US to work the ROH show the following week, so this is probably it for him for now, and he’s unlikely to go away with the title. Could be pretty good.

Caristico’s back on Friday nights. So is Dragon Rojo.

Women’s match is a rematch from Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.

Opener should be really good if they allow them to do stuff.

CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-03-23 

this is not how to use a stretcher

Recapped: 03/23/2018

Matches:

Shockercito & Stukita beat Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
(11:04 [4:54, 3:08, 3:02], 2/3, ok)

Sagrado, Templario, Virus beat Magia Blanca, Pegasso, Star Jr.  
(16:40 [5:07, 3:56, 7:37], 1/3, good)

Blue Panther Jr. beat  Drone in a lightning match
(7:34, Blue Panther reverse figure four, ok)

Misterioso Jr., Puma, Tiger beat Audaz, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr.  
(12:16 [2:49, 3:57, 5:30], 2/3 DQ, ok)

Ángel de Oro, Matt Taven, Niebla Roja beat Cuatrero, Sansón, Volador Jr. in a relevos increíbles match
(11:54 [2:05, 3:51, 5:58], 2/3, ok)

Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Último Guerrero beat Kráneo, Rush, Terrible in a relevos increíbles match
(9:24 [3:54, 5:30], 1/2 DQ, good?)

Stukita is a wizard

The main event was strange. Marco appeared to injury his right shoulder on his Air Corleone clothesline to win the first fall. Marco was in a lot of pain and was checked out between falls. He eventually rejoined the match a couple minutes in, and rallied despite obvious pain in his shoulder. Marco went for his usual off the apron clothesline on Rush, Rush moved, and Marco wiped while grabbing his arm. The rudos worked over his arm for a while, eventually getting Dqed for refusing to let go of an armbar around the top rope. Everyone stood around, a little confused, then the rudos attacked again as Marco received medical attention.

Taven beat Volador and challenged him to a title match next week.

Guerrero Maya accidentally pulled off Tiger’s mask in the third fall. Tiger tried to cover up, but Tirantes quickly called the DQ. Misterioso added Audaz to his mask collection post match.

Review:

did not have as good a night as his cousin

I don’t really know how to rate the main event. It didn’t fit the model of a normal entertaining match, with an average first fall and a truncated second fall. At the same time, it was either Marco doing a tremendous job of selling a shoulder injury or Marco doing a tremendous job of wrestling thru a shoulder injury and everyone quickly adapting the match to focus on it. I tend to believe the latter, but they were so focused on attacking the arm that it felt like a storyline thing. Whatever the situation, it made the match compelling in an unusual way. It also feels dumb to say someone’s injury was compelling or good so I can’t help but feel like a dummy here.

Angel de Oro wasn’t as big a spotlight as you’d expect in his Friday night unmasked, but they were busy building up another match. Taven being a técnico all match and doing a rudo promo post match was strange, but no stranger than usual for CMLL. Volador & NGD found a way to work together well. Niebla Roja had an embarrassing night of slipping on springboards. Still, the expected Angel de Oro/Niebla Roja unmasked brother team looks like it’ll work out well.

this is a high confidence dive

The fourth match started out hot but was missing something in the second fall. I think I’m so excited to see Audaz do something that it’s hurt when he’s bottled up for a long time. He never completely got out of the bottle because the match suddenly ended. That abrupt finish meant this wasn’t as good as it should be, but it wasn’t getting too hot before it. Maya missed on the springboard reverse tope to Misterioso and I can’t recall seeing that happen before. Misterioso rushing to make sure he got Audaz’ mask after the match was hilarious; Misterioso wants to make sure he’s in consideration for Audaz’ eventual mask win.

Panther Jr/Drone was on the high side of expectations for an odd match up. Panther threw Drone around a little bit, Drone did a couple of dives and tried a new spot, the bigger guy one. The bigger guy won after Drone was in a submission spot for the longest period of time outside an apuesta match. Weirder that they did the armbar spot to get to the ropes and Panther used a hold he never used to win. The match still was alright. Drone looks good but the crowd seems hesitant to get behind him.

required Templario greatness

The second match was better than usual in that spot. Templario is must watch, and helped even more by being paired with guys like Virus and Sagrado. Star Jr. & Pegasso looked good without having to do as much as they might in other matches. Magia Blanca started well and then had some spotty moments in the second and third fall. He still took the big spot on the floor at the end really well.

The opener was a standard Friday minis match, maybe a little bit above average. Stukita has great mat skills he barely gets to use, and the power pumphandle suplex at the end of the match was super impressive. Mercurio wasn’t doing as much as his bits as usual, maybe because they had less time than usual. Less time was good here.