Arkalis, Astral, Magnus beat El Perverso, Espanto Jr., Policeman
(14:30 [5:09, 4:38, 4:43], 2/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Princesa Sugehit beat Reyna Isisin a lightning match
(7:36, Michinoku Driver, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Dragón Rojo Jr., Okumura, Pólvora beat Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Stigma
(15:11 [4:34, 5:16, 5:21], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Diamante Azul, Kráneo, Michael Elgin beat Cuatrero, Dark Magic, Sansón
(13:44 [2:00, 4:32, 7:12], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible beat Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, Volador Jr.
(19:09 [5:05, 5:22, 8:42], 2/3, ok,VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Cavernario beat Volador to set up a title match for next week. It had seemed the last few weeks like they were going in a Rush/LA Park direction, and perhaps something had changed.
Thoughts:
LA Park getting away wiht what most people can’t
This whole show kind of dragged and the main event wasn’t as different as I’d hope. There was some fun stuff lately, though it took two long falls to get there. These didn’t feel quite as alive as with Rush in them, with those first two falls feeling packed with LA Park & son spots and the rivalry pushed to the background. They finished well, and a main event in a Park match ending cleanly was surprising. Not so surprising it didn’t involve him, but they did have a nice fake-out with a ref distraction early.
I studied the Dark Magic match the day of the show to find some deep insights on this guy who had barely wrestling in CMLL. It turned out that he looked like a guy who had barely wrestled in CMLL. Beyond the moves, he didn’t seem like he totally grasped where he was supposed to be or what was happening at times. Kawato, as much as he’s struggled, seems to get it more than Dark Magic at this point. Kawato just doesn’t look like Dark Magic. It remains odd to see Cuatrero & Sansón simply being used as bodies to be thrown around by Elgin. It looked sloppy at times; the double powerslam really looked wrong. Cuatrero was much better at the chop spot. The NGD guys can stooge well, they’re just not asked to do it much.
Kraneoplane
Last week, I thought the Costa Ricans had a less appealing match with the Stigma/Panthers team than usual. This week, the Costa Ricans look a lot better. This was a pretty boring match, more than normal for this trios team. They never really got the match going at a decent speed, and it was plain boring at times. It’s not a great sign when Black Panther is walking thru dives, though it seemed it might have been due to some leg injury. No one did much of anything iht his one.
Reyna Isis, “woman who has trouble removing her pants”, is the most I’ve ever liked her. I guess they’re tropes because they work. The lightning match with Princesa Sugehit was fine in the usual fashion, with nothing much to write about. The notable thing here is CMLL didn’t put up the giant graphics, confirming they exist solely for the big screen on Arena Mexico and the freeloaders watching online aren’t a concern.
CMLL (SAT) 10/13/2018Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Pequeño Universo 2000 & Pequeño Violencia tecnicos took 2/3
2) Espanto Jr., Hijo del Signo, Príncipe Odín Jr. b Arkalis, Astral, Magnus Hijo del Signo replaced Nitro. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Kawato San, Okumura, Virus b Drone, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. rudos took 1/3.
4) La Metálica b La Jarochita [lightning] La Jarochita replaced Sanely
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente NGD took 1/3
6) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b David Finlay, Kráneo, Volcano Guerreros took 1/3.
CMLL (SUN) 10/14/2018Arena México
1) Apocalipsis & Inquisidor b Bengala & Leono rudos took 1/3.
2) La Comandante, La Metálica, La Seductora b La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Skadi Skadi’s return after a year and a month (leg injury.) Another two fall match in a run of them.
3) Tiger b Tritón [lightning] Tiger won in 6:30.
4) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Stigma b Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus tecnicos took 1/3.
5) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Stuka Jr. b Felino, Hechicero, Pólvora tecnicos took 2/3.
6) Ángel de Oro, David Finlay, Mistico b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto tecnicos took 1/3
CMLL posted promos from Tiger and Skadi. CMLL’s comittment to doing nothing on these shows remains strong.
Aerostar & Drago were interviewed by Record about their impending breakup. It hasn’t actually happened yet, but it’s clearly about to. Aerostar doesn’t want to be part of a team anymore, he wants to show what he can do as a single and feels being in a team with an injured Drago (shoulder) has held him back. Drago thinks Aerostar needs to handle wins and losses better.
The president of the Box Y Lucha commission in Tepic explained the lack of lucha libre in the area as the lack of places to run lucha libre, the local luchadors being poorly organized, and the local luchadors not being any good.
AAA , ELITE (THU) 10/11/2018Palenque de la Feria, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes [AAA]
1) Príncipe Seira & Xtreme X ?? Dark Finder & Discovery and Corazón Forajido & Índio Yori
2) Faby Apache, La Hiedra, Lady Shani b Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Starfire Shani & Apache were able to get along.
3) Bandido & Flamita b Aerostar & Drago Aerostar & Drago had more problems leading to their defeat. Texano & Escorpion confronted Mexablood after the match, talking about their title match on 10/28.
4) Chessman, La Parka, Súper Fly b Emperador Azteca, Golden Magic, Jack Evans Emperador Azteca replaced Teddy Hart.
5) Hijo del Fantasma, Rey Escorpión, Texano b Electroshock, Puma King, Taurus Fantasma beat Electroshock after a foul. This gave AAA a 3-1 over Elite.
6) Psycho Clown b Fénix, Pagano, Pentagón Jr. Psycho Clown beat Pentagon Jr. with a destroyer
AAA finally wins a battle over Elite, only when there are no cameras to film it. I would be suspicious of biased refereeing if that wasn’t actually normal for AAA.
The seemingly periodic rumors of Elite actually running a show are back again.
CMLL (FRI) 10/12/2018Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, Marca, Ovaciones]
1) Akuma & Camorra b Robin & Star Jr. 13:07. Rudos took 1/3
2) Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis b Avispa Dorada, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit 12:22. Rudas took 1/3.
3) Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Templario b Audaz, Esfinge, Soberano Jr. 12:22. Esfinge replaced Titan (not back from hand injury?) Rudos won in straight falls.
4) Atlantis, David Finlay, Hijo de LA Park b La Bestia Del Ring, Okumura, Rey Bucanero 15:40. La Bestia del Ring replaced Hechicero (moved up). Okumura replaced Shocker. Rudos took 2/3.
5) LA Park, Mistico, Volador Jr. b Cavernario, Hechicero, The Chris 15:40. Hechicero moved up to replace Ciber on Friday. Tecnicos took 1/3.
6) Último Guerrero b Michael Elgin 18:44. UG took falls 1/3 to win.
This match had more good matches than last week’s iPPV. 3, 5, and 6 are worth watching, depending on your feelings of the performers involved. Ultimo Guerrero put on a legendary Ultimo Guerrero performance.
CMLL announced the Dia de los Muertos schedule for this year. Themed shows will take place on November 2nd (Friday), 4th (Sunday), and 6th (Tuesday.) If CMLL is running the Cl4n/Guerreros cage match soon, the 11/02 date would make the most sense. They seem to have moved away from that feud again, so perhaps it won’t be happening for now. The Sunday Dia de Muertos show is sometimes streamed as a bonus.
The Gran Prix is now up for free on CMLL’s YouTube channel. Giving away an iPPV after a week is probably fine; 95% of the people who were going to pay to see it have already seen it, and they never said it’d be pay-only forever. It would’ve been good to tell people that’s what was happening though. CMLL is not good at explaining things, and weird enough to still be promoting Honor Club having this show while they’re putting up for free. I am going to be good at explaining things in this sentence: you don’t really need to watch that show.
Fuego complained about his lack of opportunities to El Grafico, but also to +LuchaTV. This was probably all from the same media event, though it does make me wonder why they even had Fuego out there for media. Usually, they have some who’s got something going on or has something they want to promote – Avispa Dorada was part of this session to introduce herself, Shocker & Bucanero are still trying to get over their group. Fuego ended up talking about having nothing to talk about. You’d think a CMLL PR person would’ve been standing just off screen and told Fuego to cut it out after the first interview, but then you’d think they wouldn’t put him in that position to begin with.
Space’s lucha libre themed drama “Por La Mascara” debuts tomorrow night. It’s Space’s first TV show, and it’s obviously an attempt to keep the audience they’ve (theoretically) built with AAA this year around their show. That strategy makes sense but hasn’t always been successful in the US. That article mentions Space reaches 17 million homes, which is about 1/3rd of Mexico.
R de Rudo’s El Hacker column claims wrestlers for the PALL affiliated promotions are being asked to only work for the affiliated promotion in that town. The example they give is if a wrestler wants to work in Monterrey, it has to be for MDA, or they have to get permission. If they do not, they’re not eligible for the social security payments in case of injury. My hunch is this is not going to mean much, that most wrestlers are going to be too skeptical agree to be PALL-exclusive until they see with their own eyes that those benefits are actually going to be paid.
R de Rudo also points out a Box Y Lucha interview, where Natsumi explains she’s not going to take on the “Apache” surname until she is as good a wrestler as he mother (Mary Apache) and grandfather (El Apache.) That may take a while. That may take anyone quite a while.
Lineup
CMLL (FRI) 10/19/2018Arena México Blue Panther 40th Anniversary
1) Pegasso & Stigma vs Cancerbero & El Coyote
2) Diamante Azul, Mistico, Valiente vs Dark Magic, Felino, Negro Casas
3) Ángel de Oro, Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr., Templario [Copa Halcon Suriano]
4) Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Euforia, Panterita del Ring vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
5) Carístico, David Finlay, Penta 0M vs Cavernario, Rush, Terrible
Prices are slightly up for the Blue Panther Anniversary show. Penta is back, and maybe a tecnico now. Him teaming with Caristico seems like a setup, since they were feuding here until it gets dropped. I haven’t checked Penta’s schedule, but I wonder if he might be free to finally do that singles match with Caristico on one of the Dia de Muertos shows.
La Bestia Del Ring, Rey Bucanero, Okumura beat Atlantis, David Finlay, Hijo de LA Park (11:33 [5:32, 2:18, 3:43], 2/3, below average, 01:09:24)
LA Park, Mistico, Volador Jr.beat Cavernario, Hechicero, The Chris (15:40 [5:48, 4:52, 5:00], 1/3, great, 01:33:29)
Último Guerrero beat Michael Elgin (18:44, 1/3, great, 02:02:06)
Pulpo Guerrero (5:58)
Michael Elgin powerbomb (2:36)
Guerrero Special (10:10)
What happened:
After he lost wrestling as a rudo, Michael Elgin turned back técnico. He told the crowd he loved Mexico and respected Último Guerrero.
Okumura replaced Shocker in the fourth match.
Rudos won clean in the third match for no particular reason. That seems to be a second men’s match pattern now.
Thoughts:
LA Park
Michael Elgin versus Último Guerrero will be talked about as one of the best matches of the year in Mexico. It had strong action, with the two working together like they’d wrestled a hundred matches. It had Elgin looking strong and powerful at every opportunity, laying it into Último Guerrero on chops and clotheslines. Other people on this show looked impressive too – if you want spectacular looking offense, this is a good show for you. What broke this match out was Último Guerrero’s epic performance. Último Guerrero has spent most of his career as a powerful, skilled and dangerous rudo. He’s been pretty great at it. Somehow, someway, Último Guerrero is even better the exact opposite role, at being a sympathetic underdog. UG reacted to every blow, fought thru the beatings, crawled on his hands and knees to get show he was refusing to give up even while he was totally overmatched. The nominal top rudo in the promotion is better at showing a tecnico’s fighting heart than most of the técnicos. It’s crazy he’s so good at something isn’t really his part most of the time. Elgin helped too, mocking Último and demonstrating rudo qualities much more than he had the rest of this tour. He did a great job of being the big obstacle UG had to keep fighting back against. This could’ve gone down just like something the two people in the match were interested in finding out who was better, but they told a great story that made sure the entire crowd was sucked in. This was an all-time Último Guerrero match.
I have small quibbles with Elgin’s style, though even then I think he was better than usual. I can’t find in myself to give it an excellent, which probably means it’s the elephant in the room. At the same time, I think that if there was a vote among Mexican CMLL fans about the best match of the year, this match would beat even the LA Park/Rush match.
the future of CMLL
The semi-main was outstanding trios match when it was going strong, and it was going strong for a lot of the way. The Mistico toss sequence both were executed well, but also looked great, with the overhead camera being utilized well for once. The bit of Mistico & Hechicero trying to wrestle with unceasing interruptions in the first fall gave a different feeling to this match, and the match stayed feeling different from the usual CMLL match the rest of the way. It also allowed LA Park to interact and react to Mistico, and he’s so good at the little things like that. This match overcame an amazingly terrible triple suplex spot early to look really good later, with the third fall particularly going really well. Cavernario came off as more serious than usual, and Hechicero fit in well with the main event guys. LA Park looked like he was having more fun than any other non-Rush match here too.
The fourth match couldn’t follow the match which preceded it. It also wasn’t good by any other standard. Bestia del Ring treated the world to his usual batch of physical and mental mistakes. Bestia not being able to hold up light Hijo de LA Park on a running powerbomb was amazing. Finlay continues to show nothing interesting, though he hasn’t been in a good scenario on Friday night yet. Rey Bucanero & Okumura weren’t on the level of the rudos who Hijo de LA Park usually wrestlers with CMLL and his performance was less impressive as a result. An easy match to skip.
not safe for all audiences
The tercera was a great exciting showcase for the técnicos, who also somehow lost in straight falls. I have no idea why we’re getting so many rudo two fall wins, but at least this one was fun getting there. Audaz looked very impressive, and he did it while barely working with Templario. He was getting around the ropes and onto his opponents with ease no matter who he was facing. That meant Templario worked a lot with Soberano, and that turned out to have strong chemistry. Soberano worked pretty hard for a guy who’s about to head to Japan for weeks, pulling off a nice tornillo at the end. I hope he and Templario get to a title match at some point. Even Esfinge was good when he was annoying, and the other rudos contributed. The only thing holding this back from being a great match was a bit more time.
The women’s match was the usual not much match. It was something I wasn’t really interested in beforehand and they didn’t do much to change my mind. Avispa Dorada got to her dive but not much more. I was worried they were going to freeze her out after getting over last week, but Dalys did give her a little bit of time in the third fall. Jarochita looked off a lot. Dalys tried hard, seemingly because she was getting her win back this week.
Soberano
Robin was the only one in the opener who looked like a possible good wrestler. Star Jr. normally is one but was off often on offense. His second fall moonsault was so not close to hitting that CMLL actually held off showing the replay. He really needed to have the awareness to realize his mistake and add in another move there. Akuma sometimes is but didn’t have a good night as a base. Camorra never is good and lived up those expectations, blowing the setup to his finish and then struggling to get Robin from the ropes.
I added 1930s lucha libre lineups, mostly from the cities Torreon and Gomez Palacio to the luchadb database in the last few days. This covers every year from 1930 to 1939. They’re integrated into 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. The project is done! I can move onto other equally futile endeavors.
Really, it’s all done. I couldn’t find a reference of lucha libre prior to 1934. The Guadalajara newspaper had lucha libre mentions pre-Salvador Lutteroth. Torreon didn’t get it until a few months after EMLL was founded, or at least it didn’t come up. The lineups resemble the cards of the early days in Mexico City in style if not the same talent, with just one or two singles matches on early cards. It starts to expand to about four matches with the occasional tag match or battle royal by the end of the decade. With no more than 8 people per show, it was quicker to go thru a month of lineups than it is to do one card today, so this was quick to finish.
Shows added by year that include some link to El Siglo de Torreon
This was very much a still figuring out how lucha libre worked period. There are only a couple title matches, there were no real apuesta matches, the shows are in venues which would quickly disappear. The posters would show up more days in advance than later years, probably because there was more space needing to be filled.
There also isn’t much news on lucha libre outside of lineups and results. There are occasional stories about lucha libre in Mexico City and the odd wire story from New York slips through. Even in the 1930s, there were recaps of shows complaining about how silly things had become.
I got a lot of lineups in this project. I didn’t get many results, but the lineups alone were helpful in getting a sense of what lucha libre looked like in Torreon and Gomez Palacio during different points of time. This has always been a busy area for lucha libre, and the newspapers gave indications when the business was going up and down. I felt like I learned some, and also learned that I, even more, wish there was a public newspaper archive like this for a Mexico City or Monterrey paper that covered lucha libre. I do have plenty of magazines which did so, and I should go back to figuring those out.
