1950s Coahuila/Durango lineups added to the luchadb

I added 1950s lucha libre lineups, mostly from the cities Torreon and Gomez Palacio to the luchadb database earlier this month. This covers every year from 1950 to 1969. They’re integrated in the different pages of this site, and they’re also just available here. This is a slow continuing project to mine the El Siglo de Torreon archive for lucha lineups and results.

This was a terrible idea! It took me two months to get to this post. I was expecting more like two weeks.

1970s: 323
1960s: 258
1950s: 909

Lucha libre was covered like a sport in 1950, at least in the pages of El Siglo de Torreon. It’s not just that there were so many more cards listed, but results were fairly common in some years. My searching is a lot better at finding posters than articles, which means I’ve probably missed more cards this decade than any other. There were definitely shows that didn’t have a poster but did have someone writing the results up. I only pulled articles that mention lucha in them, and there’s probably a few more to be found if someone went back and read every paper for ten years in detail. I would not recommend that use of time, but you might want to try if you think see I’m missing something.

year events
1950 93
1951 106
1952 108
1953 54
1954 65
1955 175
1956 121
1957 84
1958 51
1959 52

Arena Olimpico opened late in 1954. The paper listed lineups for that building and Plaza de Toros (and sometimes a third building) for 1955 and 1956, which explains the high total for those years.  The volume of events probably never changes from that point, but the mentions of them in the newspaper drop until the 80s.

The only simple part of this was these were generally short card to enter. Tag matches are uncommon for the first half of the decade, and cards may have as little as ten people on them before then. It’s a lot of the same group of people, with very occasionally appearances by national stars. The more noteworthy names are those just starting out, with Karloff Lagarde and Rene Guajardo showing up in undercards more at the end of the decade. The Norte Heavyweight and Norte Lightweight champions are the most visible titles, though it’s the usual bit of belts disappearing for months at a time (or being defended elsewhere in the north.) I have enough Norte championship info that I could put together a sort of title history page, but it seems pointless without the Monterrey title matches.

The one title bit I did get out of it was Mishima Ota winning the Mexican Lightweight Championship. I had it on one date, changed, it, and then read more and changed it back. Ota win what I now understand is a non-title match on September 29, 1957, then wins the belt itself on October 6. There’s also a women’s title change, with Dama Enmascarda apparently winning the title in 1958, as she’s billed as champion following this title match. The women’s title is a bit of funny money, with Gonzalez seemingly taking her troop around Mexico and maybe running similar bits in different places. In this case, Dama Enmascarda sure seems to lose her mask in a hair/mask match with GonzalezEnmascarada is instead wrestling under her real name a month later – but she would masked elsewhere for years.

Articles I found

I guess I need to start on the 40s next. I hope it doesn’t take two months.

MDA, Caristico/Volador in Puebla, Enigmatica

xvia JVDA Photography 

MDA (SUN) 07/29/2018 Arena Coliseo Monterrey
1) Babe Fox b Komander
2) Karateka Jr. b Ninja Jr.Memo Valles
3) Demus b Príncipe Legendario
4) Daga DRAW El Divo
double pin off a superplex
5) Hijo de LA Park & The Tiger b Emperador Azteca (IWRG) & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.
6) The King b Laredo Kid
said to be a great match (lucah de 5 estrellas)
7) Rey Wagner DQ Penta Zero M
Wagner unmasked Penta, Penta fouled Wagner, referee DQed Wagner.
8) Blue Demon Jr. b LA Park
A brawl. Penta ran in, followed by Wagner, and Hijo de LA Park. Park went for a foul, but Demon grabbed his arm and turned it into a casita for the win.

You can see the finish of the main event here. Strong turnout for this show, with the building looking close to full.

CMLL (MON) 07/30/2018 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Lucha Central]
1) Black Tiger, Lestat, Rey Samuray b Ares, Fuerza Chicana, Guerrero Espacial LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 30 DE JULIO DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Joker, Mercurio, Saurón b Astro, Asturiano, Shockercito LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 30 DE JULIO DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 2/3. Mercurio beat Shockercito (so a title match could be coming again.)
3) Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Tritón b Olímpico, Templario, Universo 2000 Jr. LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 30 DE JULIO DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Hechicero, Mr. Niebla, Shocker COR Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr. LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 30 DE JULIO DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
rudos took 2/3, the last by countout.
5) Flyer, Mistico, Volador Jr. b Carístico, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero[Relevos IncreíblesLA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 30 DE JULIO DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Team Volador took 1/3, the last when Volador unmasked Caristico and cradled him. Caristico wants a singles match.

Mistico & Caristico feuded all match, but Volador will instead have two big singles matches in four days because of CMLL. Volador taunted Caristico post-matchCMLL’s Twitter thanked the fans for the strong turnouts they have had in Puebla of late.

CMLL today has a lucha libre show. It definitely is one of those. They might be building up a Stuka/Hechicero match off the segunda; it wasn’t played up big in the results but it was the vibe I got from watching the show last week. That’ll be fine but isn’t particularly exciting, which is about normal for a Tuesday show. The main event has the Guerreros against Caristico, Diamante, and Kraneo, which will be fine. Dragon Lee, Rey Comet and Stuka take on Hechicero, Mascara, and Polovra, which is not a great mix. Disturbio and Tiger are in a rudo/rudo lightning match, which isn’t usually good. Drone, Star, and Stigma take on Misterioso, Sagrado and Universo in the tercera, and there’s a women’s match and a rejects match to open the show. Lucha Central also previews this show. It’ll air on CMLL’s YouTube channel at 7:30pm.

Guadalajara has Ephesto, Shocker and Terrible vs Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja and Atlantis in the main, which doesn’t seem good either. Titan, Soberano, and Esfinge take on Mephisto, Cavernario and Rey Bucanero in the semimain. They seemed to be moving in the direction of a Mephisto/Titan title match last week.

La Enigmatica, the luchadora sent into convulsions by an unexpected chair shot to the back of the head, posted a video with her family on Facebook thanking people for her support. She’s said to be out of the hospital after three days. (Thanks to R de Rudo.) The current president of the Ciudad Juarez lucha libre commission turns out to be former luchadora La Sirenita, who comes off in this article much more concerned about Enigmatica participating in a show when she wasn’t billed on the poster or licensed. Sirenita talks about suspending her father, El Enigmatico, who she was seconding, and suspending the promoter from running the events. Black Skeller, the man who hit Enigmatica with the chair, is not mentioned as being suspended.

AAA luchador’s appeared on Telemundo’s El Señor de Los Cielos telenovela. A lead character was trying to escape gangsters at a lucha libre show and the AAA wrestlers heroically helped hide him (which meant speaking parts of La Parka and Psycho Clown among others.) I found it funny that, of all the posters AAA could use for their show, someone decided to use one with ‘MYZTEZIZ’ on it. The first AAA poster is also in one of the scenes as an easter egg.

Facebook page Zona Ruda has a fantastic post today (if you’re a person who pays for a lucha libre wikipedia or database): they list all of the people who’ve used “Rey Mysterio” with their previous character or real name and help explain which ones are actually now. I was always confused who Rey Misterio Heredero was supposed to be and they explain which one it was. This is good content. Their actual point is it’s not as confusing as it seems since most of the “Rey Misterio”s have ceased wrestling. There’s only the one everyone knows, and two local guys now.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

+LuchaTV has a new edition of their podcast.

Black Terry Jr. has highlights of this weekend’s Zona 23 show.

Segunda Caida was tricked into watching Angel Dorado vs Difunto I.

Puma King sings in his new YouTube video.

Criterio Hidalgo interviews local luchador Lobo Blanco Jr.

Lineup

CMLL (SUN) 08/05/2018 Arena México
1) Arkalis & Sonic vs El Coyote & Yago
2) Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante, Robin vs Cancerbero, Metálico, Nitro
3) Drone vs Kawato San [lightning]
4) Esfinge, Rey Cometa, Titán vs Misterioso Jr., Okumura, Sagrado
5) La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible vs Diamante Azul, Kráneo, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Cavernario, Christopher Daniels, Último Guerrero vs Dragón Lee, Matt Taven, Mistico

Taven being a rudo on Friday and a tecnico on Sunday is weird. It’s weirder that he’s working both since CMLL had said previously he’d only be on the 3rd show. Maybe he’s around a lot longer.

IWRG (SUN) 08/05/2018 Arena Naucalpan
1) Chicanito vs Shadow Boy
2) Black Shadow Jr. & Mexica vs Diablo Jr. & Lunatic Xtreme
3) Eterno vs Trauma II
4) Hijo del Alebrije © vs Hijo de Pirata Morgan [IWRG JUNIORS]
first defense
5) Pantera I © vs Freelance [IWRG IC Light]
fifth defense
6) Trauma I vs El Hijo del Medico Asesino
7) Capo del Norte, Capo del Sur, Pitbull vs Hijo De Dos Caras, Imposible, Relámpago and Aramis, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Pasion Cristal and Leo, Mike, Rafy [Ejecution Total]

The main event is another team match where the next person in the team comes in after someone’s been eliminated. Pantera I has been IWRG lightweight champion since 2016. It’s unclear why.

new lucha videos for the weekend of July 26th, 2018

CMLL Guadalajara: 2018-07-28
taped 2018-07-24 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara – Mega/YouTube
1) Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Súper Astro Jr. vs Okumura, Pólvora, Tiger
2) Esfinge, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Cavernario, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero
3) Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Rush vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

CMLL Lucha Azteca: 2018-07-29
taped 2018-07-20 @ Arena México – Mega
1) Lluvia, Marcela, Mistique vs Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis
2) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Penta El Zero M
3) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Ciber the Main Man, Scharly Rock Star, The Chris