December 1, 2018 – luchablog

CMLL (FRI) 11/30/2018 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, Marca, Ovaciones, Record, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Súper Muñeco, Súper Pinocho, Súper Ratón b Gallego, Mr. Cóndor, Rocky Santana
14:41. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Gallito, Guapito, Microman b Chamuel, Mije, Perico Zakarías
14:39. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Cavernario, Rush, Terrible
14:15. Straight falls, the last by DQ with Rush fouling Sanson and unamsking him.
4) Felino, Mano Negra, Solar I b Fuerza Guerrera, Jerry Estrada, Negro Navarro
17:35. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero © b Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr. [CMLL TRIOS]
11:33. Rudos took 1/3. First defense.
6) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. b Canek, Máscara Año 2000, Villano IV
9:57. Tecnicos took 2/3.

The good matches were generally a bit better than you’d expect. The bad matches were as bad as you may have feared. The Guerreros title defense is worth seeking out and the NGD/Ingoerbanbles match is good if you have time.

CMLL promos: Super Muneco & Super Raton, Super Pinocho, Los Diabolicos, Fuerza Guerrera, Jerry Estrada, and Negro Navarro, Solar, Felino & Mano Negra, Guerreros Laguneros, Blue Panther, Rayo De Jalisco and Atlantis, and Mascsara 2000, Canek and Villano IV.

Media interviews (all from Box Y Lucha): Super Muneco & Super Raton, Los Diabolicos.

A plaque was added to Arena Mexico recognize lucha libre being declared part of the culture of Mexico City. And to honor the people who got that declaration, from the way it was presented.

Visiting Record on his post-Exatlon media tour, Dragon Lee explained his ear problems were actually a pre-existing wrestling injury. He says he had a burst eardrum from a shot, didn’t think it was serious and he was having it treated. He knew he shouldn’t be going in the water with it, wanted to tough it out anyway and didn’t complain for a while, but it started to hurt so much that he got scared and they took him out of the competition. Dragon Lee says lucha libre is followed by a lot of people, but he was surprised about how he’s known everywhere now. He thinks it helped that they got see him not just as a luchador but also as a person.

AAA has Guerra de Titanes tomorrow night. The listed time is 6 pm, which means it’ll probably be around 6:30 pm. I wasn’t really planning on writing a preview, but the card was really interesting to me when I started thinking about it and wrote something for Voices of Wrestling. The Fenix title mystery is classic AAA weirdness, and there are some good matches on the undercard. There’s also a general but rare in AAA sense of an actual direction, so maybe it will be a meaningful shw.

The closest we’ve gotten to an explanation about the title situation is Fenix saying he’d like to be #1 contender IF he’s stripped of the title. Other promotions would try to build intrigue about the situation based off of the unclear status, but that is just not how AAA operates. Not how most of Mexican wrestling operates.

Keyra won’t be in Aguascalientes. Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Lolita, and Dragon Bane are among those in Chile for a WWE tryout. She posted a photo of the women, Lucha Memes mentioned Dragon Bane was with them and Dragon Bane also mentioned it on Facebook. It’s a different group of people. WWE’s generally only brought in Mexican talent who’ve also worked outside of Mexico. That’s not been the case always; WWE scouted Bandido at a Lucha Memes show before he’d was a name outside of Mexico. Keyra, Lolita and Dragon Bane have worked Lucha Memes shows this year. I don’t think Maravilla did, though she has been on other PALL shows. Lolita is a bit of a stretch as a WWE prospect in 2018, but she’s certainly good enough to get a chance in a tryout. Keyra, Maravilla and Dragon Bane are no-brainer picks as young luchadors in Mexico who would do well outside of Mexico too, and it’s more of a question of WWE wanting to pull that fruit off the tree now or wait longer to see what they develop into.

SuperLuchas has a list of 26 of the believed to be 40 wrestlers trying out.

Lucha Central has a preview of Guerra de Titanes.

La Parka’s column mentions the marketing director of Gamesa – the people behind the Emperador cookies and last week’s sponsored show – was a big fan of Mascarita Sagrada growing up. That perhaps is a reason why Mascarita Sagrada got the spot in a commercial and is wrestling so much in AAA now.

La Mascara & Maximo teased having their hair match on 01/01. Right now, they’re announced as working in a tag match that day.

The Crash is running tonight in Tijuana. The new main event is Besta & Mecha vs Cuatrero & Sanson for the vacant tag team championship, with Penta facing Mistico and Rey Horuz in a three-way match. There’s always a chance The Crash could randomly stream some of this, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Tonight also has a benefit show for Cuervo at Guadalajara’s Arena Roberto Paz. Some of those same wrestlers will appear on Sunday at an MDA show in Guadalajara. IWRG has a second’s hair match with referees, and Kaoz runs in Monterrey. Coacalco has Virus vs Aramis, though matches from that arena rarely turn up for normal shows.

Angel o Demonio claimed to La Pasala that his wrestling license has been reactivated since Cuervo has left the hospital. That’s not exactly what the original threat was – Angel O Demonio was said to be suspended until Cuervo could wrestle again – but he’s clearly at the point of making up stuff to see if people will go for it. Angel o Demonio’s printed up t-shirts to sell that play off the attack but doesn’t believe people should yell at him about outside wrestling shows because “it happened so long ago.” Angel o Demonio says he’ll never work for the PALL promotions again for not supporting him. Angel o Demonio cost those promotions lots of money and

Angel o Demonio is going to keep wrestling unless the other wrestlers force it to not happen. Promoters and officials can occasionally be lectured into preventing him from working at times. It’s going to take a culture change to rid wrestling of guys like Angel o Demonio and that can only come from the wrestlers themselves. I’m sure there are luchadors who worked that benefit show who never wanted to work with him again, but we’ll see if they actually make a stink about. Today’s Arena Juarez Facebook posts have Pagano lending support to Angel o Demonio, so I don’t expect to universally happen by any means.

WWE’s one and only stop in Mexico this year is tonight in Mexico City. The popularity of the promotion in the country has greatly declined from their peak. Still, running a single show a year is going to draw in a lot of dedicated wrestling fans from across the country. Tonight’s show will include Andrade Almas’ first match in Mexico since joining WWE in 2015. He’ll face Rusev. Rey Mysterio Jr. will wrestle Shinsuke Nakamura for the US championship.

DTU’s Thursday show in Arena Aficion announced their anniversary show will be on 12/18 in the same arena. They seemed to set up Crazy King defending the DTU title against either Crazy Frank or the winner of tonight’s ultraviolent tournament, as well as Aeroboy vs CMLL’s Tiger for Aerboy’s Black Mask (Acapulco) Cruiserweight championship and a maybe three-way tag title match. They officially announced Familia de Tijuana (Damian, Halloween, Nicho) vs Pesadilla, Paranoiko, Crazy Boy for the show.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 12/04/2018 Arena México
1) Retro & Sangre Imperial vs El Coyote & Metálico
2) Avispa Dorada, La Guerrera, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Kawato San, Okumura, Virus
4) Black Panther vs Misterioso Jr. [lightning]
5) Esfinge, Titán, Tritón vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
6) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Niebla Roja

A normal Tuesday show. Wish they switched the teams around in top two matches to do NGD vs Guantos Style here.

CMLL (TUE) 12/04/2018 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Cosmos, Micro, Mr. Samurai vs Relámpago Azul, Rey Trueno, Thunder Boy
2) Eléctrico, Príncipe Diamante, Rielero vs Gran Kenut, Hijo del Signo, Inquisidor
3) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, Pegasso vs Cancerbero, Sangre Azteca, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Blue Panther, Kráneo, Volcano vs Hechicero, Shocker, Vangellys
5) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

UG cheated to beat Volador last week, so there’s a title match being set up for 12/11.

CMLL (FRI) 12/07/2018 Arena México
1) Robin & Súper Astro Jr. vs El Coyote & Grako
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela vs Amapola, Metálica, Reina Isis
3) Audaz, Flyer, Soberano Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Templario
4) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, La Bestia Del Ring
5) Diamante Azul, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Rush, Terrible
6) Carístico vs Último Guerrero

Probably should’ve built up Caristico/UG at all last night if they were going to do it. Notice Bestia is booked but Cavenario is ahead of him on the depth chart. Tercera could be fun.

Recapped: 11/30/2018

Matches:

Súper Muñeco, Súper Pinocho, Súper Ratón beat Gallego, Mr. Cóndor, Rocky Santana
(14:41 [6:25, 4:39, 3:37], 1/3, below average, 00:01:45)

Gallito, Guapito, Microman beat Chamuel, Mije, Perico Zakarías
(14:39 [6:09, 1:46, 6:44], 1/3, ok, 00:25:45)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Cavernario, Rush, Terrible
(14:15 [8:12, 6:03], 1/2 DQ, good, 00:49:41)

Felino, Mano Negra, Solar I beat Fuerza Guerrera, Jerry Estrada, Negro Navarro
(17:35 [10:16, 2:41, 4:38], 2/3, bad, 01:14:20)

Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero © beat Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr. to retain the CMLL World Trios Championship
(11:33 [3:26, 2:00, 6:07], 1/3, great, 01:44:43)

Atlantis, Blue Panther, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. beat Canek, Máscara Año 2000, Villano IV
(9:57 [4:09, 3:09, 2:39], 2/3, below average, 02:10:48)

What happened:

This was the annual Leyendas show, featuring three matches built around returning old stars. Emphasis on old. Super Muneco and Super Pinocho teased their indie feud after the opener, and Canek & Rayo were among those obviously trying to drum up interest for one last feud.

Rush got a hat track to end his match: he knocked down Edgar, he fouled Sansón and he unmasked Sansón.

Thoughts:

The Guerreros/sort-Sky Team match stood out massively from the matches around it. They would’ve looked speedy and super athletic with a normal match. They looked ultrasonic because they tried to compress a much longer title match in a short time. (This seemed a consequence of previous matches running long; a CMLL show ending with the two shortest matches is peculiar.) There was a mistake here or there, notable Euforia missing a catch on a Místico dive and Gran Guerrero & Volador needing two tries on a chokeslam, but it held together relatively well for the conditions. There’s higher to go if they had a moment to let things sink in, but this was a match where what used to be third fall sure finishes were blown thru in the second fall. Or they were just near falls in the middle of chaos. It was an all action match with the técnicos looking very on. They made the most of their time.

The Dinamitas/Ingobernables match lacked much of an end game, but it was a lot of fun into them. The NGD got to work a lot as técnicos while still doing much of their teamwork spots. Los Ingobernables were trying in the first fall and built well to the comeback. It was thrown a little off by the first fall going very long to make up for no third fall. They still built to an exciting third fall with a combination of brawling. I think they have a better match as trios in them, but it seemed more like they were setting up the singles match.

The Microstars match was not as exciting as many of the past ones. Chamuel and Microman were magic together in the third fall, but it didn’t have as many strong moments or as good build as past ones. It started slow and didn’t really pick up until the crowd was horrified by Mircoman getting beat up to end the first fall. There were individual good moments but a lot of uninteresting parts too.

I wrote reviews of the legends match, but there’s really no point. All were varying levels of bad. None of it matters. It didn’t even seem to matter a lot to the fans who came for this show: the Trio Fantasia/Diabolicos match might have gotten the most reactions. The fourth match was frightening silent throughout. The performances were frightening too. Jerry Estrada made his return but looked like he was in no condition to be in the ring. Canek is increasingly immobile. There were no happy surprises this time: Los Diabolicos were worse this year, Solar & Negro Navarro gassed early (and their match seemed to fall apart in the first fall) and Atlantis didn’t look out of place in that main event. There’s nothing good you can take from those matches.

Day: December 1, 2018

CMLL Leyendas show, Guerra de Titanes, WWE in MExico

CMLL on Marca: 2018-11-30