great match roundup, week of 2018-11-03

Laredo cutter

recaps

Last time for Lucha Underground, for now. Last time for me to be way higher on their weapons matches than most. Cuatrero/Titan is really good, and it’s useful that AAA is running a show that pretty much guarantees at least one watchable match each week.

I’m skipping a lot of the CMLL b-shows and it still seems like I’m not skipping enough. Would be nice to have a week with only three shows but that’s not happening any time soon.

The MOTYC list is updated.

Recommended Matches

rating matches TV Show taped
excellent Pentagón Dark vs Marty Martinez [LU CHAMP] and [cero miedo] Lucha Underground: 2018-11-07 2018-03-17
great Cuatrero © vs Titán for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES DE ARENA MEXICO 6 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-06 2018-11-06
great Drago vs Laredo Kid Facebook video (posted by luchalibreaaa) Lucha Capital: 2018-11-07 2018-11-07
great Johnny Mundo vs Matanza Cueto Lucha Underground: 2018-11-07 2018-03-17
good Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Kawato San, Okumura, Tiger LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES DE ARENA MEXICO 6 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-06 2018-11-06
good Máximo vs Aerostar Facebook video (posted by luchalibreaaa) Lucha Capital: 2018-11-07 2018-11-07
good Dragón Azteca Jr. vs Fénix Lucha Underground: 2018-11-07 2018-03-17
good the Mack vs Mil Muertes [death] Lucha Underground: 2018-11-07 2018-03-17
good Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Rush, Terrible LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 9 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-11-09 2018-11-09

Other matches

rating matches TV Show taped
ok Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 5 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-05 2018-11-05
ok Lady Shani vs Lady Maravilla Facebook video (posted by luchalibreaaa) Lucha Capital: 2018-11-07 2018-11-07
ok Killer Kross vs Hijo Del Vikingo Facebook video (posted by luchalibreaaa) Lucha Capital: 2018-11-07 2018-11-07
ok Arkalis & Príncipe Diamante vs El Coyote & GrakoLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 9 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-11-09 2018-11-09
ok Esfinge, Titán, Tritón vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Virus LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 9 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-11-09 2018-11-09
ok Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano vs Cuatrero, Hechicero, Sansón LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 9 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-11-09 2018-11-09
ok Soberano Jr. vs Forastero in a lightning matchLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 9 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-11-09 2018-11-09
ok Diamante Azul, Místico, Valiente vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 9 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-11-09 2018-11-09
below average Carístico vs Rush LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 5 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-05 2018-11-05
not rated Astral, Lestat, Pantera Blanca vs Gemelo Pantera I, Gemelo Pantera II, Policeman LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 5 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-05 2018-11-05
not rated Lluvia, Marcela, Skadi vs Dalys, La Comandante, Tiffany LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 5 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-05 2018-11-05
not rated Drone, Kráneo, Stigma vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Tyson La Bestia LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 5 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-05 2018-11-05
not rated Magnus & Star Jr. vs Metálico & Nitro LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES DE ARENA MEXICO 6 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-06 2018-11-06
not rated Avispa Dorada, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Metálica, Reyna Isis LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES DE ARENA MEXICO 6 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-06 2018-11-06
not rated Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. vs Dark Magic, Rey Bucanero, Shocker LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES DE ARENA MEXICO 6 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-06 2018-11-06
not rated Diamante Azul, Místico, Stuka Jr. vs Mephisto, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES DE ARENA MEXICO 6 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2018-11-06 2018-11-06
not rated Pentagón Dark © vs Jake Strong [LU CHAMP] Lucha Underground: 2018-11-07 2018-03-17

Puerto Rico’s Cuervo hospitalized after brick attack, Dragon Lee about to escape island, Marcela wins CMLL Women’s belt

Let’s get the normal stuff out of the way before going to the abnormal.

CMLL (MON) 11/19/2018 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger & Rey Apocalipsis b Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 19 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Odd team of Tiger and Apocalispis took falls 2/3.
2) Pegasso & Tigre Rojo Jr. b Metálico & Toro Bill Jr. LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 19 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tencicos took 1/3.
3) Drone, Fuego, Stigma vs Dragón Rojo Jr., El Malayo, Pólvora LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 19 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 2/3.
4) Marcela b Dalys © [CMLL WOMENLA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 19 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Marcela took 2/3 to win the title on her 7th challenge of Dalys. Dalys falls on her 17th defense, finishing second to Amapola. Marcela is the 18th champion, and a 5 time champion.
5) Atlantis, Octagón, Stuka Jr. b Ephesto, Fuerza Guerrera, Mephisto LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 19 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 1/3.
6) Último Guerrero © b Sansón [CMLL HEAVYLA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 19 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2018 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
UG took falls 1/3 for his first defense.

Both title matches were said to be good and they had a decent turnout. It feels weird that a 2.5 year title reign coming to an end seems just a footnote, but that’s where the title is right now.

The most recent CMLL Women’s champions:

  • Marcela
  • foreigner (Ayumi Kurihara)
  • Marcela
  • foreigner (Syuri)
  • Marcela
  • foreigner (Dalys)
  • Marcela

Avispa Dorada’s chances of winning the title next look surprisingly strong. The first Marcela reign on that list was in 2011. This pattern is more about CMLL’s inability to build new female stars, especially on the tecnica side, in the last seven years. The only other person who might quality is a tecnica star right now is Princesa Sugehit, and she’s got the other women’s title. Marcela winning the title is news but it doesn’t really affect the underlining issues. There are no better prospects with Marcela as champion than there was with Dalys.

CMLL is live from Arena Mexico at 7:30 pm with a regular card. Titan versus Flyer in a lightning match is an interesting match among many not interesting matches. Raziel is scheduled to make his return, but has been scheduled and not returned already. Guadalajara has Diamante Azul vs Rush.

Puerto Rico’s Cuervo was suffered a serious head injury last night on the PALL show from Arena Lopez Mateos. He was knocked out by a brick thrown from the ring to the floor by hardcore luchador veteran Angel o Demonio. The brick connected with the back of Cuervo’s head. As of this morning, he someone posted on Cuervo’s Facebook that he was going into surgery to remove a blood clot from his head. There are different versions of what’s going on. None are good. That would be a dangerous operation and there are possibly going to be consequences to his life even if it goes well.

(This is the Puerto Rican wrestler named Cuervo, not the long-time AAA wrestler of the same name. Cuervo has been in Mexico a few weeks and was said to be returning to Mexico afterward.)

You can see the situation start at 1:08:01. Angel de Demonio goes back to get a brick, comes back to the ring, Cuervo hits him two times with a chair, Angel o Demonio doesn’t really sell them, Cuervo walks around the ring looking for something, Angel O Demonio picks up the brick and chucks it at Cuervo. The brick hits Cuervo in the back of the head, breaking in half. Cuervo is knocked out immediately. He regains some level of consciousness seconds later; he’s at least groggy. Angel o Demonio actually tries to continue the match until the doctors get him to back off. Cuervo’s hurried to the back. This was a casket match, and the referee talks Angel o Demonio into going into to the casket himself so they can have a finish.

Angel o Demonio explains himself both in the ring, in a backstage promo, and on Facebook. His public reasoning is Cuervo had hit him with a chair seven times, so he was hurting when he threw the brick and had intended it to hit Cuervo in the back. Behind the scenes, the story is more is Angel o Demonio being angry about how hard he was hit in those chairs shots and annoyed about other things in the match. Either way, this was not something done with the idea of entertaining the fans, but a planned attempt to hurt Cuervo because Angel o Demonio was unhappy.

Angel o Demonio is a 54-year-old wrestler, originally a UWA/el Toreo trainee who had the misfortune of coming in to wrestling just as that promotion was coming apart. He’s spent the last couple of decades wrestling on indies shows, mostly in Mexico State, mostly in hardcore matches for the last decade or so. Angel o Demonio had short stints in AAA – he was part of a masked clown trio, a failed attempt to do something that would work later with the Psycho Circus. He’s mostly the guy you see on every hardcore show, a guy physically limited due to age and injuries, feeling the need to do big stunts to prove his worth at this point.

I think what Angel o Demonio committed a criminal act. I do not believe it’ll go anywhere. Cuervo’s priority probably is to get out of Mexico and go home. Everyone else is not going to want the situation too imagined, they’re not going to want stones turned over to expose other worms. As we saw with Black Skeller earlier this year, this kind of sensational violence going viral often leads to the attacker getting a higher profile and more bookings in the short term, and the victim trying to make it go away as quick as possible. It also leads into some questions about the local commission, though nothing seemed to change in Ciudad Juarez. I do not anticipate it being any different in Estado de Mexico. The most expect here is the PALL promoters shying away from using Angel o Demonio for a while.

There was big news on Dragon Lee last night, though I may have jumped the gun by 24 hours. Dragon Lee did not announce he was off Exatlon. Instead, what people were reacting to on Twitter was a teaser for tonight’s episode. It teased someone saying farewell to the show. Dragon Lee had been sitting out challenges with an ear infection and Dragon Lee is conspicuously not shown in any other footage of today’s episode, so it does seem a safe bet Dragon Lee is out of the show. Exatlon starts at 7:30 pm CT, and the announcement of the replacement should be early on.

Do not expect an immediate Dragon Lee return to the ring. The good news there is these shows are taped at least a few days in advance of airing; he’s probably been secretly home already and the ear issue is being taken over. Still, he’s been on a beach and running obstacle courses for three and a half months. Dragon Lee is in shape, but probably not ring shape. The boxer who eliminated off the show two weeks ago did an interview with ESTO, explaining that he thought there was no way he’d be able to box in December and was aiming for a January return. Dragon Lee has a big tour in December too. I don’t think he’ll be gone that long, but it’s not out of the question.

The other thing is I’m not sure how much we’ll get to see Dragon Lee in Arena Mexico. He’s coming off the most watched show in Mexico, so there’s going to be plenty of opportunities in his home country. Meanwhile, Rush just noted on Informa that every promoter he talks was asking to book Dragon Lee. Two places of note where Rush is working is MLW and ROH. I suspect those people (and more) are looking to bring Dragon Lee in. Dragon Lee was on an upswing of US interest following his King of Indies win. That might have cooled down with this long break, but the drain of talent from the US indies has gotten even bigger in the last few months (and is expected to get a lot worse in January.) Supply is low and demand is high.

Many CMLL luchadors and luchadoras have other jobs. CMLL does not pay many enough to only live on wrestling, and it’s also good to have another occupation for when wrestling ends. This is not quite one of those post-wrestling jobs. A photo has been circulating on Facebook of Lluvia apparently working as an exotic dancer. The photo has been floating around for a week; Lluvia is in her mask and her fishnet gear, though less underneath it than she has in matches. El Planchitas wrote about it yesterday, getting a story behind it. Lluvia has explained it was from more than a decade ago and it was part of a function where she was working as an edecan, not as a dancer.

Pasala has a recap of the Zona 23 show. Corsario Negro Jr. apparently won a chance to appear on a Powerbomb.TV match in the US. Not sure if that means WrestleMania weekend or IWA-MS, who had a couple of wrestlers on the show.

A small curiosity. Hahastary – AAA’s Hades, last seen in a quasi-dark match leading a team of Samoans – is listed as working a couple of indie shows this weekend. She doesn’t seem booked on AAA spot shows often, so maybe AAA is letting her find her own work since she’s a low level guy. The curious part, to me, is Argenis is also working at least one of those shows and he strictly works AAA shows. Perhaps, like with Bengala, AAA is allowing the middle of the card wrestlers who’ve been pushed off of TV with the addition of new talent to make their own schedule?

Fenix and Aeroboy are back in GALLI on 12/09. This is at Thalia Hall; Arena GALLI was still open last weekend but they’re running elsewhere for this show.

The Gladiatores recap of the Proximo/Ultimo Maldito apuesta match went close to sixty minutes. I look forward to seeing six minutes of it on 126’s YouTube.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 11/24/2018 Arena Coliseo
1) Arkalis & Sonic vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Avispa Dorada, La Guerrera, La Jarochita vs La Seductora, Metálica, Tiffany
3) Sangre Azteca vs Metálico [lightning]
4) Audaz, Rey Cometa, Tritón vs Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
5) Blue Panther Jr., Kráneo, Volcano vs Hechicero, La Bestia Del Ring, Rey Bucanero
6) Stuka Jr. © vs Terrible [NWA LH]
first defense

It would be weird if the national heavyweight champion was also the worldwide light heavyweight champion, but not too weird for CMLL.

CMLL (SUN) 11/25/2018 Arena México
1) Angelito, Fantasy, Kaligua vs Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
2) Hijo del Signo & Yago vs Akuma & Camorra
3) Flyer vs Tiger [lightning]
4) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Stuka Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Rey Bucanero
6) Diamante Azul, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Terrible, Último Guerrero

Second match is a rematch. Unless we get a lot more people involved, Akuma’ss mask is not long for this world. They do probably have to keep it going for another month, so there’s time for those people to get involved or the match to change again.

Lucha Capital: 2018-11-07 

Drago DDT

Recapped: 11/13-14/2018

Matches:

Lady Shani beat Lady Maravilla
(8:56, Lady Shani bridging suplex, ok, luchalibreaaa)

Aerostar beat Máximo
(8:29, Aerostar top rope splash, good, luchalibreaaa)

Killer Kross beat Hijo Del Vikingo
(8:18, Killer Kross back suplex, ok, luchalibreaaa)

Laredo Kid beat Drago
(11:06, Laredo Fly, great, luchalibreaaa)

What happened: 

Vikingo goes for a ride

Kevin Kross teases the existence of a mystery woman, who is surely Scarlett and I’m not sure why it’s supposed to be a mystery. The Kross/Vikingo match saw Kross yell at Vampiro during the match, and Vampiro challenge him to a match any time he wanted. In the show closing bit, Kross called Vampiro a sellout and complained about not getting a title shot. Vampiro called Kross’s comments too stupid to respond.

Hijo del Fantasma joined the announcers after the first match and participated in bits during the show. Big Mami appeared for an arm wrestling challenge.

Thoughts:

The main event was easily Drago’s best match since suffering the shoulder injury back in June. He had to do a lot more than than in the tag matches he’s been wrestling in, and was able to keep up with Laredo’s big impact moves and speed. Laredo is clean with all his big moves, and a good enough base to make Drago’s DDT look really impressive. Laredo’s version of the Spanish Fly comes off as more one man doing all the work then it’s normally done, even though I’m sure it’s about the same. This match felt longer than 11 minutes because it was so packed with action, and was hard fought to the end. It also felt a little more original than Penta/Puma last week, though that just might be because Laredo and Drago haven’t gotten as many showcase matches as those two of late. This match is why this tournament is so worthwhile.

Maravilla northern lights suplex

I’m generally so over Kross’ having matches where he looks dangerous but it doesn’t actually go anywhere that when he has a match that is going somewhere – this is a tournament, it kind of has to – I’m still finding it hard to care. Ending the match with Kross pinning Vikingo with one foot didn’t really warm me up to it. Vikingo got in a few flashy moves and wasn’t completely squashed. Kross worked with him OK and threw him around impressive. I just couldn’t find a way to care about it, and throwing in another tease for a Vampiro/Kross match sure didn’t help.

It’s so rare to see Máximo in a normal match, where he has the exotico character but isn’t just doing all exotico spots. He hasn’t had that since coming to AAA. He hasn’t done the walking the ropes plancha much since coming to AAA, and his hard work here was as much a sign of luchadors being encouraged to take this show seriously as anything we’ve seen so far. This trended towards CMLL lightning match move exhibition style, but it got a little bit more serious in the last moments, and Aerostar had so many weird springboard to get in. Worth a watch.

Maximo rope walk splash

The women’s match was alright, but didn’t really click. Lady Maravilla was so much better than Lady Shani that her sarcastic attempts at getting a chant got a chant. (Not much of one, there wasn’t a lot of reaction for the women’s match again.) Lady Shani had so much more cool offense and Shani wasn’t much aggressive until it was time for her to win at the end. It doesn’t appear Maravilla is ever going to be pushed here – she can’t make even crack the multiway title matches – but I’m looking forward to seeing one more match with her in this tournament.