Rey Mysterio on Verano de Escandalo, Lucha Brothers/AAA, CMLL April main events

CMLL (FRI) 04/13/2018 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Lucha Central, Marca, thecubsfan]
1) Flyer & Oro Jr. b Espanto Jr. & Templario 
10:03. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora b Lady Maravilla, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit 
12:35. Rudas took 1/3, the last with Seductora using the ropes to beat Sugehit. The two agreed to a mask match after.
3) Esfinge, Titán, Tritón b Dragón Rojo Jr., Kawato San, Okumura 
15:13. Tecnicos took 2/3. Dragon Rojo replaced Johnny Idol on Tuesday
4) Negro Casas TLDRAW Soberano Jr. [lightning] 
Time limit draw, the third of these this year already. Neither man was especially close to winning when time ran out (Casas covering Soberano but Soberano kicking out.) Soberano replaced Sam Adonis on Tuesday.
5) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Euforia, Mephisto, Último Guerrero 
11:02. Tecnicos took 1/3. Caristico & Volador had no problems.
6) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo DQ La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles] 
11:15. Kraneo’s debut as a tecnico, winning in straight falls when Los Ingobernables pulled off his mask.

CMLL has brief post match words from Kraneo, Negro Casas, Soberano (wants a rematch), Triton, Titan & Esfinge, La Seductora, and Princesa Sugehit.

A good show. It was shorter than usual for Friday, but none of the match desperately needed the time. (It wasn’t an accident it was shorter; they were cutting off entrance music a lot earlier than normal.) 3/4/5 are worth watching.

Seductora/Sugehit is definitely happening and probably the 04/27 Arena Mexico Anniversary match. Perhaps Rush/Kraneo, the focus of the main event, is actually the Kid’s Day 04/29 main event? That sort of thematically fits. We’ll know more Wednesday.

Lucha Central reports AAA & the Lucha Brothers agreed to a deal where AAA will allow them appear on other TV shows as long as they wrestle as AAA’s Pentagon Jr. & Fenix on those shows. AAA will be allowed to license and market those names, and will not be suing over the other names. The Lucha Brothers will continue to use the Rey Fenix and Penta el Zero M names on non-TV shows.

AAA officially announced Verano de Escandalo will take place June 3rd in Plaza de Toros La Monumental in Monterrey, and will include Rey Mysterio Junior. AAA says more details will be announced later.

Mysterio last wrestled for AAA in 2006 at the special Tokyo Star Battle show. It was one of a handful of matches he worked for AAA on big shows that year, mostly Lucha Underground related. This too is a big show, the bullring likely being the second biggest building AAA will run all year. AAA could use people the level of Mysterio to sell tickets for this June show, since they don’t appear to have anything planned the level of the Fantasma/Texano match from March. This does not appear to be a full time return for Mysterio, just a selected dates. It does not drastically affect Mysterio’s chances of returning to WWE; he’s wanted a part time deal there all along so he could work occasional outside dates like these, and this shows he hasn’t changed his mind on that yet. Likewise, it does not prevent Rey Mysterio from working for the Crash, except he’ll probably still be working only a limited out of dates and picking up a few from AAA means doing less elsewhere.

I’ve been thinking back about this Tweet from about a month ago

Fue un GRAN DIA HOY…PRONTO TODOS LOS AFICIONADOS DE LA LUCHA SABRAN PORQUE…LUCHA LIBRE…MI VIDA….DE REGRESO…

For Lucha fans today was a great day..Soon u will know why…#ProjectResurrection

— Konnan (@Konnan5150) March 17, 2018

Konnan didn’t explain what he meant, and it didn’t appear connected to Aro Lucha or any of his other known projects. I’ve got an idea or two.

Rey Mysterio’s post-WWE work usually involves Konnan. Konnan is also close with the Lucha Brothers. He worked with all three in AAA, in Lucha Underground, in The Crash and had them in the Arolucha TV pilot. In the past, Konnan’s tried to make a deal with AAA to end the legal threats and allow Penta & Fenix to work freely. We now know a has been made. The Crash cut ties with Konnan because they believed that deal was actually part of Konnan negotiating with AAA about returning to the promotion. Konnan’s denied it in the past.

If Konnan was coming back to AAA now, getting Rey to come in and making things right with the Lucha Brothers feel like a few things near the top of the to do list in a Konnan return. I’m sure Rey is getting paid a nice amount of money. Penta & Fenix will enjoy not having legal nuisances and being able to work a couple extra TV shows, but there didn’t seem to be any urgency for them to make deals with AAA until now, all about the same time.

From the other side, we know Rey de Reyes had major issues, the blame fell on Vampiro, and the blame for problems with AAA have been falling on Vampiro for the last year. It would make sense if AAA was at the point of making a change. They usually go with big names they know. They’re willing to move past bad experiences of the past if they think it’s worth it; Psicosis and Histeria sued the promotion for years and now are back on their TV. Vampiro not working out seems to prove you can’t just put anyone in that spot, and AAA’s had the most success with Konnan in that head creative role.

This week is going to be an interesting week. That TV taping on Friday is Tijuana. If what I think is happening is actually happening, it may be hard to keep it quiet even that long.

Saturday’s shows

• The Crash returns to it’s homebase for a show, with LA Park versus Rey Fenix, and Bestia vs Penta vs Garza. With Garza potentially on the way to WWE, this might be time to start setting up his exit (which still would seem to be many months off.)
• Angel de Oro, Dragon Lee, and Niebla Roja face Felino, Ultimo Guerrero and Kraneo (?) in the main event of Arena Coliseo. La Guerrera is scheduled to debut in the undercard.
• There’s a rare CMLL focused card in Plaza de Toros Torreon.
• DTU has Amapola & Lady Maravilla in as guests on it’s Cuautla stop.
• Arena Neza celebrates Heavy Metal’s 30 years of wrestling.
• Monterrey extreme promotion NGX runs a show for the first time this year with the Hooligans vs Core & Psicotico, plus Ricky Marvin vs ultimo Ninja vs Jack Parnell.

Sunday

• Revolucha (and show sponsor Impuls) have a loaded show in Monterrey. Alberto makes his first post-Impact appearance teaming with Carisitco & Rey Mysterio against Carlito, Garza and Nicho. This promotion is headed to a big show later this year and might start running angles to set that up.
• CMLL’s main event is Atlantis, Dragon Lee and Volador vs Ephesto, Rey Bucaneor and Ultimo Guerrero
• The Crash has a second show in Mexciali with a lot of the same names.
• IWRG has it’s annual Guerra del Golfo three stage cage match with a bunch of people who could possibly lose their masks.
• DTU is in Acapulco with a Lokillo/Ace Austin title match.

R de Rudo’s El Hacker says the new IWRG Hijo de Canis Lupus is Pachuca luchador Ram el Carnero, who’s identifiable by his tattoos.

LuchaWorld has the latest edition of the podcast.

+Lucha has a 40 minute interview with Mesias/Mil Muertes.

This week’s Zona Ruda remembered Joaquin Roldan.

La Parka writes about recently deceased AAA backstage worker Lucio, who was around wrestling since the days of El Toreo.

Mistico wants to main event the anniversary show this year.

El Sol del Zacatecas writes about local lucahdor/cook Azrael.

El Sol de Tampico writes about retired luchador Dinamita Ramirez.

El Sol del Hermosillo interviews luchador Signo Azteca, who has many big claims: his 25 year career included stints in CMLL and AAA, he almost went to WWE but they couldn’t agree on money, he had a big feud with Hijo del Santo in Tijuana but the mask match didn’t happen because the promoters were protecting Santo, his cousin is Rey Mysterio Jr.

Pushing Upwards reviews Caristico & LA Park vs Penta Zero M & Rey Fenix.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 04/20/2018 Arena México
1) Astral & Oro Jr. vs Espanto Jr. & Yago
2) Blue Panther Jr., Pegasso, The Panther vs Puma, Templario, Tiger
3) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora
4) Carístico vs Dragón Lee [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
6) La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible vs Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo

Doing Carsitico versus Dragon Lee out of nowhere for no reason is nearly as wasteful as doing Caristico versus Mistico in Puebla. It should be good, and the result should at least be interesting. Besides the usual feuds, the second match looks promising. Opener is Yago’s first non-tournament streaming appearance since February.