La Mascara & Maximo break up, CMLL main event has a lot of DQs, Okada’s CMLL match

I think Fantasma may be a Bad Guy now

AAA TV (FRI) 08/10/2018 Auditorio Benito Juárez, Veracruz, Veracruz [AAALucha CentralRecord]
1) Angelikal, Dinastía, Vanilla b Draztick Boy, La Hiedra, Villano III Jr.  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Vanilla suffered a knee injury on a dive. Dinastia beat Villano III.
2) Hijo Del Vikingo, Iron Kid (Estado de México), Niño Hamburguesa b Black Danger, La Parka Negra, Low Rider  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Hamburguesa gotthe pin.
3) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana b Ciclón Ramírez, Joe Lider, Juventud Guerrera  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Juventud betrayed his teammates.
4) Hijo de LA Park & Taurus b Aerostar & Drago  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Drago’s first match here since Verano de Escandalo (shoulder injury). Parka Negra attacked Hijo de LA Park after, who challenged Negra to a mask vs mask match.
5) Hijo del Fantasma, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr. b La Máscara, Laredo Kid, Máximo  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Mascara attacked Maximo as soon as the match started, finally splitting up the team. Match proceeded 5 on 2 (with Samoano helping) until Mamba ran in to help the tecnicos. Fantasma ended up beating Mamba with the Thrill of the Kill.
6) Psycho Clown b Dr. Wagner Jr.LA ParkPagano  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Prior to the match, LA Park mocked Wagner for losing his mask to Psycho, and told Psycho he’d show what it meant to really defend a mask. Match was essentially a LA Park/Psycho Clown match with Wagner and Pagano fighting during rest breaks. Fantasma attacked both Park & Psycho, and Psycho got the win on Park. Psycho did not get beat up after.

I saw much less of this show than the CMLL one, but this one was obviously the better of the two. I’m not sure if it’s effort or (relative) lack of exposure compared to the CMLL guys, but the AAA matches feel much less patterned and predictable than the CMLL ones. They also felt more out of control, though a lot of that had to do with LA Park being LA Park in the main event. 3/5 turned into angles, though the angle in the 5th match was so over the top that people seemed to like it for the silliness of it. The rest of the show was more normally good, and the main looked great.

Everyone had caught on that Psycho loses every match to TripleMania before winning at TripleMania, so this main event finish was a bit of a correction to confuse what might happen next.

Rey Escorpion & La Mascara did the Los Ingobernables fist pound after attacking Maximo. It could be those two, Texano & Fantasma end up as the AAA version of the group. Though back in Mexico City, it seemed like they were setting up Escorpion & Texano to team with Parka against MAD and now they’re getting along with Fantasma who is i MAD. I dunno and I’m not sure it matters.

AAA’s official results say the Parka/Park challenge was for a straight singles match, not for a mask one. That probably has a decent chance of being randomly added to a TV show. It’d be an all-time LA Park power move if it happened on TripleMania.

The next AAA TV taping is a week from today in Chalco at 8pm CT. It’s the final taping before TripleMania. AAA hasn’t put out an official poster, but the lineup they have on their website is pretty close to the poster the local promoter announced.

Australian Suicide retained the Cruiserweight Championship on a spot show in Cuernavaca on Thursday. Non-TV events don’t count in AAA’s official defense number.

CMLL (FRI) 08/10/2018 Arena México [CMLL, ESTOLucha CentralMarcaSuperLuchasthecubsfan]
1) Oro Jr. & Star Jr. b Akuma & Espanto Jr. LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE AGOSTO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
8:47. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) La Jarochita, Marcela, Mystique b Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE AGOSTO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Tecnicas took 1/3, the last by DQ when Isis unmasked Jarochita.
3) Felino, Negro Casas, Okumura b Flyer, Soberano Jr., Titán LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE AGOSTO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Okumura replaced Cavernario (moved up). 11:26. Rudos took 2/3.
4) Valiente b Hechicero [lightningLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE AGOSTO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
9:50 (9:09 on their clock), Valiente submitting Hechicero
5) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Mistico b Euforia, Penta El Zero M, Último Guerrero LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE AGOSTO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
10:29. Tecnicos took 2/3.
6) King Phoenix, Matt Taven, Volador Jr. b Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Rush [Relevos IncreíblesLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE AGOSTO  DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cavernario replaced Terrible (injury) on Tuesday. 7:17. Straight falls DQ. Rush was DQed for unmasking Phoenix. Cavernario unseen fouled Taven in the second fall but Volador made the save. Volador faked a foul from Rush for the second DQ. Challenges followed.

CMLL post show promos include Cavenario, Rush and La Bestia del Ring and Volador, Matt Taven and King Phoenix, Valiente (calls this a big win in his career). No press room interviews have been posted yet.

The matches were generally fine, but nothing was exciting outside the lightning match and it didn’t feel nearly as big a show as the one last week. There’s also no sense CMLL is four more Friday nights away from the Anniversario, nothing is being built up specifically that strong.

CMLL added Penta and King Phoenix to the list of wrestlers on the Anniversario show. There are still no matches announced. The Reina Isis/Jarochita bit seemed like it could set up a secondary apuesta match for that show, but it’s not being followed up on next week.

The Saturday show at Arena Coliseo Guadalajara was moved and then canceled a few hours later. It may be restarted and added a few times later at this rate.

Today’s Arena Coliseo show has nothing of note. DTU starts its’ August tour tonight in Arena Lopez Mateos, Main event is Nick Gage versus Crazy King, who will meet in three days for the DTU championship. This is the show most likely to show up on YouTube, but they’ve got five more thru next Sunday.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 08/17/2018 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Súper Astro Jr. vs Disturbio & Yago
2) Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Okumura, Pólvora
3) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero
4) Audaz vs Forastero [lightning]
5) Negro Casas, Okada, Último Guerrero vs Carístico, Mistico, Valiente
6) King Phoenix, Matt Taven, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Rush

That Okada guy is in the semimain. A lot of NJPW Mexico fans are already upset Okada working loser than La Bestia del Ring, not realizing this means they get to beat the traffic and leave early instead of watching a La Bestia del Ring match. One can only hope that Okada shows up two days early and is forced to give away tickets on Informa.

Main event is setting up some match for 08/24 (the night before TripleMania) but no one seems exactly sure what they’re doing. It could just be that they haven’t figured out what’s replacing Terrible/Rush vs Taven/Volador, or maybe there’s still some hope Terrible will be ready to go by then. At any rate, it’s interesting to see CMLL building up another program including Rush a month before the Anniversario show. And not building much of anything else.

Fourth match should be interesting. There’s as wide a range of opinions on Forastero as most anyone in CMLL, going from “lucky he ended up in the trio with his very good cousins” to “actually the best NGD guy”. Maybe we’ll have a better sense of him on his own.

Opener could be good.