I like Cavernario versus Soberano more than most. Other people seemed to like Euforia & Rush more than I did. I think everyone has NGD vs Dragon Lee & Munoz in about the same place. I’m not going to fix the match name.
There’s finally an AAA show in the next batch. There was no real reason to keep starting the week on Saturdays, it is just habit at this point.
recommended matches
rating
matches
TV Show
taped
excellent
Soberano Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario
NJPW World: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
great
Cuatrero & Sansón vs Dragón Lee & Místico [CMLL FAMILY] and in a tournament final match
NJPW World: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
good
Ángel de Oro, Audaz, Soberano Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Namajague, Okumura
NJPW World: 2019-01-16
2019-01-16
good
Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. vs Cuatrero & Sansón [CMLL FAMILY] and in a tournament semifinal match
NJPW World: 2019-01-16
2019-01-16
good
Dragón Lee & Místico vs Flyer & Volador Jr. [CMLL FAMILY] and in a tournament semifinal match
NJPW World: 2019-01-16
2019-01-16
good
Rush vs Euforia
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
good
Ángel de Oro & Titán vs Forastero & Okumura
NJPW World: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
Other matches watched
rating
matches
TV Show
taped
ok
Halcón Suriano Jr., Robin, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs El Malayo, Policeman, Toro Bill Jr.
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-14
2019-01-14
ok
Niebla Roja, Stigma, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-14
2019-01-14
ok
Drone, Pegasso, Stigma vs Disturbio, Kawato San, Universo 2000 Jr.
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-15
2019-01-15
ok
Sagrado vs Tigerin a lightning match
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-15
2019-01-15
ok
Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Titán vs Forastero, Gedo, Taiji Ishimori
NJPW World: 2019-01-16
2019-01-16
ok
Fujin & Raijin vs Bushi & Shingo Takagi
NJPW World: 2019-01-16
2019-01-16
ok
Satoshi Kojima & Toa Henare vs Terrible & Tetsuya Naito
NJPW World: 2019-01-16
2019-01-16
ok
Carístico, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask vs Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero
NJPW World: 2019-01-16
2019-01-16
ok
Arkalis, Astral, Magnus vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Metálico
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
ok
La Jarochita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Metálica
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
ok
Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Virus
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
ok
Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano vs Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
ok
Ephesto, Gilbert el Boricua, Mephisto vs Diamante Azul, Niebla Roja, Valiente
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
ok
Audaz, Jushin Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi vs Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, Templario
NJPW World: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
ok
Fujin, Raijin, Satoshi Kojima, Toa Henare vs Bushi, Shingo Takagi, Terrible, Tetsuya Naito
NJPW World: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
ok
Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero vs Atlantis & Atlantis Jr.
NJPW World: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
ok
Flyer & Volador Jr. vs Carístico & Namajaguein a relevos increíbles match
NJPW World: 2019-01-18
2019-01-18
below average
Súper Muñeco, Súper Pinocho, Súper Ratón vs Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano García
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-14
2019-01-14
below average
Rush, Vangellys, Villano IV vs Euforia, Kráneo, Valientein a relevos increíbles match
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-14
2019-01-14
not rated
Astro, Millenium, Rey Samuray vs Black Tiger, Perverso, Sombra Diabólika
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-14
2019-01-14
not rated
Acero & Aéreo vs Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Violencia
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-15
2019-01-15
not rated
Oro Jr., Retro, Star Jr. vs Metálico, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-15
2019-01-15
not rated
Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. vs El Coyote, Felino, Pólvora
CMLL YouTube: 2019-01-15
2019-01-15
not rated
Kráneo, Niebla Roja, Volcano vs Luciferno, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero
CMLL posted a photo of all their champions in the CMLL Universal tournament. Of course, being a Mexican wrestling photo, they had 15 people for the 16th man tournament. Dragon Lee, Euforia and Electrico are missing, Dragon Lee is in Block A this week, which means Euforia & Electrico are not participating. There will be no reason given, but I think my theory of not using both Soberano family members was correct, I just had the wrong one out.
That means Block B is Mephisto, Cuatrero, Ultimo Guerrero, Volador Jr., Sanson, Soberano Jr., Diamante Azul, and Niebla Roja. It looks like another Ultimo Guerrero/Volador match, with Diamante Azul being the most likely third choice.
(Dragon Lee, Euforia and Electrico were just the men with main titles who were missing. It was good to see the “wow, that’s a lot of champions” reaction to the photo and realize there are at least eight more people who are missing from the full set of CMLL belts.)
Atlantis says he’s happy with how his son did in Japan. He feels there are three big goals for a Mexican wrestler: wrestle in Arena Mexico, wrestle in Japan and win a title, and his son will have two of those done by the end of the week. He notes the title will take a few years to get towards. Atlantis does not have any plans to retire for the moment, feeling renewed teaming with his son. Atlantis Jr. says he’s nervous going into his first Arena Mexico match.
Hades of AAA is also out with a leg injury. The La Planchitas column mentions she, Goya Kong and Parka Negra were among those riding in a van on their way back from Aguascalientes when that van was hit by a drunk driver. Hades is said to have taken the worst of it, with one of her legs behind trapped under a seat and requiring an operation immediately. Both Hades and Goya Kong have vaguely referred to this on Instagram. There’s so match late night travel involved with Mexican wrestling, especially for the AAA side, on roads that aren’t always in great shape. It’s unfortunate when accidents happen and it is lucky they don’t happen more often.
AAA and their local promoters in Morelia held a ticket sale kick-off press conference yesterday for the 02/16 taping. Drago & Myzteziz Jr. were interviewed. It appeared they were still advertising Jeff Jarrett for the show, though it’s only really meaningful if they stop mentioning him. Jarrett going to WWE and what it means for AAA was very briefly brought up on Konnan’s podcast, but Konnan didn’t talk about it and they very quickly moved onto what it means for WWE.
I forgot to screen-shot a tweet and I’m regretting it right now. A random twitter user posted a photo of a Rey de Reyes announce date, asking AAA if it was real. The user has since deleted the tweet. I believe the date was 03/17, might have been 03/24 but it was definitely 2019. The graphic did not have a name of a city but did have a name of a ticket website, which is based in Puebla and has sold tickets for Tehuacán shows in the past, but it does not have Rey de Reyes listed. I couldn’t find anything that confirmed that date for either city. AAA did run Puebla for Rey de Reyes last year so it is reasonable possibly but not confirmed.
MexaWrestling will be holding a Toxin benefit show on 02/10. Toxin originally believed he had an injury that would cause him to leave wrestling, then thought it was something less serious (out 1-2 months) and now has found out it’s worse than that and is getting an operation imminently. MexaWrestling posted the x-ray and I’m not good at reading x-rays, but it appears to be a lower leg or an ankle fracture.
Super X & MDA held a press conference for their 02/17 show. This comes off like it’s a Super X (Juventud Guerrera) programmed show with just enough help from MDA to get their name on the poster. The main event was revealed to be Fuerza Guerrera & Rush versus Juventud Guerrera & Hijo del Pirata Morgan. Pirata & Eterno, who were part of Guerrera’s AAA “Anarkia” group, are now part of Guerrera’s non-AAA MAD group. (Given AAA’s strong feelings on controlling their intellectual property, Guerrera’s group might not be MAD for long, though it’s not especially clear who owns the name. Or who even cares about the name at this point.) Fuerza Guerrera “invaded” the press conference with his daughter to build up the main event. The El Planchitas column on Monday wrote that the long term plan here is for Fuerza & Juventud to settle their issue and end up teaming again.
Pro Wrestling Revolution announced a Carsitico vs Dragon Lee vs Rey Horus match for 02/23 in San Jose. It’s Dragon Lee’s first match in the promotion since winning the King of the Indies tournament they co-sponsored. I’m sure they had bigger plans for follow up that didn’t happen when Dragon Lee was off on Exatlon (which is still going for at least another week.) It also suggests Dragon Lee has not signed with ROH yet, as assumed to be happening or at least agreed to this date well in advance of any deal.
Arena Naucalpan also has a show tonight. It’s a little bit treated like an IWRG show, though it is really more of a Castelazzi promotions show. The Montanez MMA brothers work few other shows except for that promotion. Francois puts his mask on the line against Dr. Cerebro hair, and Cerebro is unlikely to lose his hair. The show has a brothers tag match – Guerreros vs the Luna Brothers of Electrshock & Sharly Rockstar and a father/son tag match – Solars & Panthers.
+LuchaTV put up the 01/20 Angel o Demonio versus Penta trios match. There are so many shows they taped, I wish they would’ve picked pretty much anything else. Though that’s because I feel like re-enacting that spot where someone was seriously injured is a bad thing and most people in Mexico seem like it is a cool thing to heat up feuds. You can see that bleachers in Arena Loepz Mateos seem lower than usual for a Penta appearance, but often I don’t think these are decisions made for business reasons either.
Back to “normal” on Sunday for IWRG. Trios titles look certain to change hands with how rarely all three Comando Elite are in IWRG. (One missing the title match wouldn’t be a change.) Less sure about the main event.
Mephisto fouling Niebla Roja set up a singles match next week.
Pólvora and Felino had random issues in their match, following up from their lightning match last week. Tirantes heroically pretended it wasn’t happening.
Thoughts:
Poor Tiger got pinned his own family’s hold. (Same thing happened to his father moments later.) At least it was in a match where both men were trying, wrestling a technical style for two rudos. Any match with a powerslam on the floor can’t be all bad, but it was just an exchange of random moves and no more.
The third fall of the tercera was unexpectedly interesting, or I’ve been wore down by CMLL b-shows so much that the slightest increase seems like a big deal. I was looking back at NGD results the other day because I couldn’t remember if NGD had every lost a team title match. They have, and they also did when Universo 2000 Jr. was in the Guadalajara team before Forastero existed. Universo has gotten to OK and looked it here, but that would’ve been bad news if that had stuck as the trio. The técnicos were better than usual even if I’m not quite sure what Drone was trying to do on his apron dive.
Euforia, Kráneo, Valiente beat Rush, Vangellys, Villano IVin a relevos increíbles match
(8:16 [3:43, 4:33], 1/2 DQ, below average,VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Rush attacks Euforia before the whistle. Euforia fouls Rush to end the match, and challenges followed
Luciferno attacked Niebla Roja before the match, and challenged him after pinning him twice in their match.
Thoughts:
The main event doesn’t really get going. There’s a lot of Villano IV punches if you’re for that, but it’s 95% rudo beatdown, then Euforia making enough of a comeback to get in the foul. Euforia was fired up for his match and I think it might be interesting, but this didn’t do much to sell it. It would’ve been nice if CMLL tried something different his week.
Luciferno was trying in his match with Niebla Roja and is prone to doing at least one crazy thing in singles matches so I guess I’m for this feud. I’m not sure anyone else is, but anything to break up the monotony is good at this point. It was about to form for the Hijos del Infierno otherwise, with the técnicos doing OK but not much.
This match was at it’s best when they were doing nothing. They stuck with almost nothing for the first two falls. It’s hard to look dumb when you’re just grabbing a body part and yanking it. (The cruz nipona is a great hold for people who can’t do much, it’s tough to mess up and you can do it standing.) They did more in the third fall and it was a poor idea. Super Pinocho’s low bridge spot will be among the worst of 2019. This should be his final match in a CMLL ring, he badly struggled dong basic spots and had to be helped thru the finish. Raton was the best of the técnico side and still missed a corner armdrag he tried to do. The Diabolicos looked fine mostly because they could only look better than the people they were in there with.
The segunda was better than usual. There was some off moments but the action actually made up for it. Halcón Suriano Jr. hasn’t been around a lot since the name change, so this was the first time he seemed as exciting in this character as he had as Stukita. It looks like he’s switching out a lot of stuff he did as a mini and hasn’t really found new stuff yet, but his energy level and movement is better than most in his position. The técnicos wearing matching gear didn’t seem to ever be addressed by the announcers. If I was a CMLL luchador, I’d form groups and teams without letting anyone know and run with it until it gets over or it gets caught, so I’m going to pretend that’s what happened here. Can’t wait for CMLL to come up with an idea for you if you’re Robin.
CMLL (TUE) 01/29/2019Arena México [CMLL, Lost in Lucha, Lucha Central, The Gladiatores]
1) Bengala & Sonic b Apocalipsis & Cholo tecnicos took 2/3.
2) La Seductora, Metálica, Tiffany b La Guerrera, Mystique, Sanely straight falls
3) El Coyote b Súper Astro Jr. [lightning] Coyote won with a super double underhook suplex
4) Kawato San, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado b Fuego, Rey Cometa, Tritón Rudos took 2/3.
5) Blue Panther, Soberano Jr., Titán b Hechicero, Nitro, Shocker Tecnicos took 1/3. Nitro replaced Rey Bucanero (Japan).
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón Tecnicos took 2/3. Volador & Niebla Roja replaced Kraneo & Volcano on Saturday.
Sounds like a better Tuesday and usual, with the semi-main and lightning match as the highlights.
Fuego and Mystique talk about their returns to CMLL, and Coyote talks about his surprising win.
Dark Magic has a photo on his Facebook of him back in the CMLL training gym with Okumura. I suppose he’ll be back soon.
Sammy Guevera is finished with MLW. Sammy Guevera is probably signing with AEW, if he hasn’t signed already. Guevera has been done with MLW for a while – Aerostar’s debut match in the promotion this weekend is essentially taking’s Guevera spot – and MLW putting the news out is an attempt to frame the story. Just as “MLW outbid ROH for Rush but Paco Alonso wouldn’t let him sign”, MLW didn’t have a talent not under contract scooped up from them by AEW, they “decided not to use him anymore because he was double booking himself” and just happened to leak what happened when they thought that AEW announcement was imminent.
Guevera did have an issue with being double booking, though stories greatly different on which was the first booking on 02/02. He was in Japan for months working for DDT, making him unavailable to MLW. Focusing on other people is the right call for MLW. I even understand why they have to spin these stories – if you’re projecting yourself as Major LeagueWrestling, you can’t be losing all the talent battles – but the spin is still annoying.
Anyway, the reason why this really matters for this blog – except for the oh so mysterious other booking Sammy Guevera might have on 02/02 that is not AEW – is where Guevera is working on Friday. Guevera is scheduled to be in Tijuana for his first defense of the AAA Cruiserweight championship. That’s an AAA show, where Konnan puts the cards together (at least in part.) It’s promoted locally by EMW, where Konnan also puts the cards together. Konnan also is part of the creative process for MLW, as part of Konnan working for 90% of all wrestling companies in North America at the same time. Konnan knows the AEW deal and has much more power to get a title change done than an average AAA spot show programmer. Laredo Kid is the scheduled challenger. He could end up two belt champion, someone else could be moved into that spot (Aerostar also booked on that show!), or they could do some weird shoot angle as they did with Vampiro & Mundo before in that same exact promotion, Guevera is booked on AAA TV in February, but those lineups obviously aren’t binding – this could end up being his final AAA show for the time being. Guevera losing the title would be a signal AAA believes that’s it.