loaded CMLL show tonight, Fenix versus Jarrett at TripleMania

Fenix

Just as I was finishing up, Black Terry Jr. posted that Picudo passed away. Picudo was an AAA luchador from virtually day one, a key undercard figure in those early days, and someone who was still around recently as one of Devil Rocker. I’ll try to have more to say about him tomorrow.

AAA TV (THU) 08/02/2018 Palenque de la Feria Nacional De San Marcos, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes [AAA, Lucha Centralthecubsfan]
1) Príncipe Seir, Titan Xtreme, Xtreme X ?? Corazón Forajido, Dark Finder, Discovery
dark match
2) Arkángel Divino, Black Destiny, Genio del Aire b Black Danger, Mirage, Último Maldito  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
5:30. Arkangel Divino high speed Mistica on Ultimo Maldito
3) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana b Angelikal, Astrolux, Hijo Del Vikingo  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
11:12. Mocho Cota Jr. pinned Astrolux after an overhead belly to belly suplex.
4) Aerostar & Vanilla b Chik Tormenta & Parka Negra  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
9:48. Changed due to Drago being injured and Flamita & Bandido being moved to a three way. Aerostar beat Parka Negra with a complicated frontcracker.
5) Hijo de LA Park, Monsther Clown, Murder Clown b Argenis, La Máscara, Máximo  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
11:03. La Mascara & Maximo broke up again – but shockingly Murder Clown turned on his parnters too, and got the win by splashing both La Mascara & Hijo de LA Park.
6) Fénix b FlamitaBandido  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
14:14. Fenix made a surprise appearance on the show and was confronted by Konnan, demanding Fenix make a decision about joining MAD. Fenix faked joining the group, then took out Juventud and Taurus (maybe in MAD, maybe just out to take some offense from Fenix.) Vampiro offered Fenix a three-way match with Bandido and Flamtia, where the winner would get to make their own make for TripleMania. Fenix declared he’d challenge Jeff Jarrett if he won. (Bandido & Flamita never made declarations.) Fenix beat Bandido with his valagueza powerbomb to advance to TripleMania.
7) Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly DQ Juventud Guerrera, Killer Kross, Taurus  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
9:17. Kross seemingly was enroute to winning when he lost his mind and attacked referee Piero. Copetes ran in to call the DQ and was attacked as well. MAD destroyed OGT.
8) LA Park & Pentagón Jr. b Pagano & Psycho Clown  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
11:48. LA Park declared before the match that he didn’t want to team with Pentagon or anyone else. Park attacked Pentagon with a chair as he was about to break Psycho Clown’s arm, but also attacked Psycho Clown. Pentagon pinned Psycho after a mask pull.

This was a good show, with better wrestling and more interesting than the Sunday one. If you have a Twitch subscription or some other way to watch this show you should watch the Flamita/Baniddo/Fenix match for sure. Nothing on this was bad, though there were matches that could’ve gone a lot smoother. The Fenix stuff was telegraphed (though apparently not telegraphed enough for AAA to get a proper shot of Fenix surprise attacking MAD) and tecnico Murder Clown is weird, but at least it felt like things were progressing towards TripleMania.

TripleMania right now is:

  1. LA Park vs Pentagon Jr. vs Psycho Clown vs Hijo del Fantasma in a mask match
  2. Lady Shani vs Faby Apache in a mask versus hair match
  3. Fenix vs Jeff Jarrett (c) for the AAA Mega Heavyweight Championship
  4. Alberto vs ?? – ???

AAA did a sprawling and unfiltered pre-show before the wrestling started, eventually settling down on the two announce crews sitting around and talking about what’s going on in AAA. I didn’t watch all of it, but I did notice Jose Manuel Guillen going over the lineup and mentioning “El Patron” having a match, and Leo Riano responding that the only Patron he can think of is Dorian Roldan. It’s always possible this is a joke that went straight over my head, but I have no idea right now if Alberto is still wrestling on this show. I guess we’ll know Monday or whenever it takes place.

The other AAA bit from last night was Australian Suicide posting a video of him doing a double moonsault onto foam as a practice run, and complaining about being in exotico matches while (ex) Crash guys get the chances. This seemed like an angle designed to get suckers like me to RT it, but I stayed strong and am only mentioning it here where no one will actually read it. Every TripleMania, the cruiserweight champion gets shuffled into a multiman match, and I suspect the same will befall Suicide whenever this year’s lineup comes out. It’ll probably include some of those Crash guys, so maybe this is a build up to that.

AAA’s next TV taping is a week from today in Veracruz. That means CMLL & AAA will be going head to head next week. This week, they’re going one after another, which allows some people to work both.

big CMLL show tonight

About three weeks ago, I wrote something along the lines that CMLL had to do something big on the Atlantis Anniversary show, because the extra crowd coming to the building for that show probably won’t think about coming back to Arena Mexico before the Anniversary show. I could not have been more wrong. Tonight’s Negro Casas 40th Anniversary show has become one of the biggest shows of the year, and maybe the biggest when it’s all done. Lower level tickets were almost gone yesterday, something that doesn’t always happen with Anniversary shows. It helps a great deal that CMLL did not dramatically raise the prices for this show, and it helps that they’re drawing a lot of different crowds. Volador in a title match is an attraction to the modern CMLL fan, the Negro Casas anniversary match is going to bring back older ones, indie fans have LA Park, Penta & Fenix in a big match, and those who are fans of non-Mexico wrestling get to see the Briscoes in their first Mexico appearance along with Matt Taven. This is a well put together card from both match quality and match variety, it might be better than the actual Anniversario show.

The main event has LA Park & Rush on the opposite sides of a trios match, their first meeting in Arena Mexico since Rush was knocked out by LA Park at the end of their singles match. LA Park teams with Fenix & Penta, while Rush teams with Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe, in for one show only. This seems certain to be a crazy brawl. It’s less certain where it’s going: most of the press previews of this show still think Rush/Park is happening, though most people who saw those ticket prices yesterday think something else is occurring. Again, this seems like the time to make a match clear – tickets go on sale tomorrow – but CMLL could also be super sneaky and let people think they’re getting Rush/LA Park without saying it. Whatever happens, LA Park is supposed to be in AAA next Friday, and so won’t be back in Arena Mexico for a couple of weeks.

Matt Taven won the NWA Welterweight Championship from Volador Jr. in March. It was a giant surprise. It was a surprise to people who follow CMLL, since Volador had held that belt for about forever (three and a half years) and made it into the most valuable championship in the promotion. It seems to be a surprise to Taven’s home promotion of Ring of Honor, who did not acknowledge the title change for quite a while and has only used it on screen as an occasional weapon for Taven to use in other matches. Taven has not defended the title in the US. Normally, there’d be a reason you would make that title change. Five months later, I’m not sure if there was one. If Volador wins the title back tonight, it definitely feels like a title change just to have a title change. If Taven holds on, maybe this is just reintroducing him before going onto more success in the Universal tournament. I liked the last Taven/Volador match, and maybe Volador in singles matches will be better when CMLL’s not doing them every two weeks.

Negro Casas bringing in legends to team with would probably be enough to main event most shows. (It’s sort of what they did for the Arena Coliseo anniversary show.) Tonight, it’s fourth from the top. Casas will team with Atlantis & Blue Panther versus Fuerza Guerrera, Octagon, and Solar. This is billed as teams arranged by Casas himself, who was actually the chief match arranger in CMLL long ago. It also happens to be the CMLL guys against the outsiders. It also puts Fuerza opposite Atlantis, the rumored Anniversario match of July. Nothing much happened with them last time out, though CMLL seems to be starting feuds the second time an outsider (or outside team) comes in. If nothing happens at all, this should be amusing enough for Fuerza & Octagon attempting to get along.

That’s the important stuff. The non-important stuff is pretty good too. NGD take on the unlikely trio of Caristico, Mistico and Hijo de LA Park. Caristico & Mistico were able to get along enough to win the last time they teamed, so maybe they will here. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja partner with Blue Panther Jr. (who was back wrestling this weekend after his pratfall) against the Hijos del Infierno, which should be the usual solid match for the crew. The show opens with Audaz & Fuego against Templario & Virus, which should be at least good and possibly amazing if they take the handcuffs off the opener guys since it’s loaded show.

The show will stream at 8:30pm on Marca and Facebook. I will likely also stream the show on YouTube. It’ll be up on CMLL’s YouTube after the show.

Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

The Briscoes have already made it to Mexico. Pura Raza has a promo from them. Matt Taven is in too.

+LuchaTV has interviews with Los Ingobernables and Volador before tonight’s show.

Volador Jr. says he’s not interested in facing Caristico in a mask versus hair match. He would prefer a straight hair versus hair match against Ultimo Guerrero, Rush or Cavernario, feeling those would be more important. Volador is hoping to stop his stream of title match losses tonight.

Fuego promises there will be cake tonight. He and Audaz partnering tonight is a team of the two most famous CMLL wrestlers from the state of Oaxaca. Fuego says they grew up about an hour away from each other, and he asks Audaz to bring him things from home when he goes to visit.

Noticias de Educación en México has a video story on Ultimo Dragonicto’s training class.

Other News

The Crash is running tonight in Tijuana, with a lot of CMLL & WWE NXT UK wrestlers coming in, would aboslutely be the show everyone would be talking about on a normal Friday. It’s possible it might have the better matches when it’s all done. The main event seems like a one time only three-way match between Pete Dunne, Daga, and Dragon Lee. Bandido & Flamita, fresh off appearing in AAA last night, are in a three-way with Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos and Stuka & Soberano. Tyler Bate and Trent Seven take on Bestia & Mr. 450. Rey Horus versus Titan is the second match on the card, that could main event a lot places. Like all The Crash shows, there’s no streaming available – and this card might not be happening if it was available. I suspect YouTube will be flooded with handhelds this weekend, and we can only hope they don’t clip up the matches.

EMW announced Mr. Aguila & Damian 666 will be teaming on their AAA vs Elite 08/31 Tijuana show. That’s notable because Damian isn’t AAA or Elite – he’s been one of the steady members of The Crash the last few years, and his son Bestia has been a featured member of that promotion. Damian is not listed on tonight’s The Crash’s show . Puma King is also advertised for the 08/31 show. Puma & Barby’s social media are hinting at some news to come on Monday’s show, not lucha libre related.

There’s a second Mae Young Classic women with strong Mexico connections, though you probably do not know here unless you’ve been watching a lot of indie wrestling. WWE announced Chile’s Zatara will participate in the upcoming tournament. Zatara’s most high profile match in Mexico was on this year’s DragonMania, teaming with Mima Shimoda & Zatara against Diva Salvaje & fellow Chilean Stephanie Vaquer. I believe she’s also been using the name Xatana Zatara or Xatana in Mexico, but I may be confusing people. She’s a women who’s been on Mexico shows since 2014 from time to time but hasn’t been talked about much. It’s a different story in Chile, where she wrestled in every promotion and won a lot of titles. She was using the name Tiffany in Chile, which wouldn’t work well for Mexico since there’s already one of those.

The lucha libre viral video that wasn’t a brutal video of the week is Demus ripping down a photographer’s set after the photographer implied Demus was fat. This looks a little bit like a set-up.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update.

Lineup

CMLL (TUE) 08/07/2018 Arena México
1) Acero & Angelito vs Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Súper Astro Jr. vs Cancerbero, Disturbio, Nitro
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Virus
4) El Audaz vs Luciferno [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Hechicero, Mr. Niebla
6) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo vs Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Shocker

3 & 4 could be good but this a throughly boring card. Hechicero & Stuka agreed to their title match last week, so there’s no real reason to see them in another trios match.

Cancerbero is in the segunda. Raziel has been missing for 56 days. Drone was missing for only 43 days.

CMLL (TUE) 08/07/2018 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Alteño, Magnum, Vaquero Jr. vs Frezzer, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte
2) Magnus, Príncipe Diamante, Robin vs Príncipe Odín Jr., Sangre Azteca, Yago
3) Esfinge, Rey Cometa, Tritón vs Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Templario
4) Mephisto © vs Titán [CMLL WELTER]
12th defense (last at a small show in April.) Titan’s third challenge in this reign.
5) Matt Taven, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

The title match is happening here, though Titan’s chances aren’t great. Taven working every show until some point.