Month: February 2019

CMLL (SAT) 02/23/2019 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Bengala & Leono b Apocalipsis & Camorra
tecnicos took 2/3
2) Átomo, El Gallito, Microman b Chamuel, El Guapito, Perico Zacarías
tecnicos took 2/3
3) Amapola, Reyna Isis, Tiffany b Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Sanely
Rudas took 1/3.
4) Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Vangellys b Rey Cometa, Soberano Jr., Tritón
Rudos took 2/3
5) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Flyer, Valiente, Volador Jr.
6) Diamante Azul b Sansón
Azul took 2/3

Diamante Azul talked about his win.

CMLL (SUN) 02/24/2019 Arena México
1) Espanto Jr. & Grako b Astral & Eléctrico
Rudos took 1/3
2) Kaho Kobayashi, La Maligna, La Vaquerita b La Guerrera, Lluvia, Skadi
Team Kaho took 1/3
3) Príncipe Diamante DCOR El Coyote [lightning]
less than two minutes, a controversial finish
4) Blue Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa b Kawato San, Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr.
Tecnicos took 1/3
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Flyer b Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 1/3
6) Diamante Azul, Dragón Lee, Místico b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
Tecnicos took 2/3

You will be unsurprised to find out that professional match saboteur Tirantes was the referee when both luchadors were counted out in under two minutes. Principe Diamante & Coyote want another shot at it.

GALLI (SUN) 02/24/2019 New Arena GALLI, Melrose Park, Illinois [thecubsfan]
1) Chico Suave b Damian Kaoz, Ariel
2) Barry Ryte & Cody Jones b Corey Roberts & Nick King
3) Acid Jazz & Marshe Rockett b Atómico Jr. & El Traidor
4) Guerrerito, Imperio Azteca, Rey Fuego b ?, Atómico, Psyco Jay
Atomico had match win but promoter distracted the ref.
5) Fúnebre, Golden Star, Slayer b Eros, Espíritu Maya, Luis Casanova
6) Michael Elgin b Mojo
7) Carístico & El Bandolero b Golden Dragón & Gringo Loco

I saw this show live. I went pretty much for the main event and the main event was fun. I’ve already put it up. Bandolero was nearly murdered but just only nearly so he lived to get backdropped out of the ring near the finish. They set up a Loco/Caristico singles match for some pint. They were advertising a big show for 03/24 with Fenix & Aeroboy but they were also advertising a few other shows in March and I’m not 100% confident.

As far as the rest of the show…I liked the main event, yep. To say one positive thing, I thought Nick King had some potential for a guy who seemed like he was still pretty new.

It looks like Arena Coliseo Guadalajara has started putting up Tuesday’s shows on YouTube. I’ll keep posting them for the moment just in case they stop but one step close to my much-needed obsolescence.

For what it is worth, the Canal9 (Televisa) schedule for next Saturday does not currently list CMLL at Saturday 2pm. Mexico TV listings are often inaccurate and this may just be defaulting to last week’s schedule until an update to come.

Latin Lover attended the Oscars, where Roma was up for Best Picture. The movie won some of the other awards though not the big one at the end (so he never made it up on the stage.)

Micro the Main Man recaps Cibernetico’s war of words with Poncho de Nigris, who did end up wrestling in AAA and Monterrey a couple of times though never with Cibernetico

Lucha Memes on 03/31 in Coliseo Coacalco (Chairo Kingdom)

• Murcielago Plateado Jr., Hijo de Dr. Polux vs Iron Kid, Alas de Acero vs Prayer, Multifacetico
• Dragon Bane vs Hijo de Canis Lupus
• Super Crazy vs Aeroboy
• Arez vs Ricky Marvin
• Flamita vs Virus
• Gato de Ecatepec vs Demus, hair/mask – new

The matches look good and all, though I don’t see the connection with NJPW style booking at all. They’ve got one more match to book.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update.

Lineup

CMLL (FRI) 03/01/2019 Arena México
1) Astral & Robin vs El Coyote & Grako
2) Kaho Kobayashi, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, Metálica, Tiffany
3) El Audaz, Flyer, Rey Cometa vs Felino, Hechicero, Vangellys
4) Titán vs Templario [lightning]
5) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs Ciber the Main Man, Gilbert el Boricua, The Chris
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. vs La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible

Ciber & The Chris are back for the first time since November. It absolutely looked like CMLL was setting up for a hair match with them in November or December, then CMLL appeared to get cold feet on the whole thing. (And the Niebla Roja/Rey Bucanero match happened out of nowhere.)

Titan being in singles matches back to back week is a bit random. Hope he enjoys the freedom before he’s sent back to the opener for H2L with Esfinge & Triton.

CMLL (FRI) 02/22/2019 Arena México  [CMLL, ESTO, LuchaCentral, Marca, Ovaciones, thecubsfan]
1) Hijo del Signo & Metálico b Arkalis & Magnus 
12:24. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus b Drone, Fuego, Pegasso 
10:43. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Felino, Hechicero, Shocker b Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano 
11:55. Rudos too 2/3.
4) Titán b Cavernario 
24:08. Titan took falls 2/3 (15:05)
5) Ángel de Oro, Diamante Azul, Niebla Roja b Gilbert el Boricua, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible 
8:11. Straight falls. Rudos DQed in the first for excessive violence/too long in the ring. Angel de Oro was eliminated in the second fall but snuck in a foul on Terrible to help Niebla Roja win.
6) Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr. b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón 
12:09. Tecnicos took 1/3 and were calling themselves the Dream Team after the match. The top two matches got slight pyrotechnics and may be airing on Televisa.

CMLL promos have Titan and Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja talking their wins. Pressroom interviews – with a new Televisa background – include Cavernario, Titan, and the Dream Team.

Titan/Cavernario is a must-see match. The main event was good but not as good as it could’ve been. Top two matches for special entrances like they’re meant to be the matches on TV, though I really don’t know why they had Titan & Cavernario do that level of match if they weren’t planning on airing it. We really don’t even exactly know how long the show is going to be at this point, so maybe everything fits.

I probably should’ve mentioned this last night: I’m headed to PWG (and The Crash) next weekend, so I’m not sure if I’m going to be streaming next Friday’s show. I’ll set it up to go, but I may be driving a rental car thru Los Angeles at the exact moment the show starts. I’ll do my best but be prepared to go it on your own.

AAA’s Monterrey promoters KDNA are teasing the idea of Lucha Capital taking place in Monterrey. It may just be local shows and not something streamed on Facebook; they’re vague about it at the moment. It would be odd to call it Lucha Capital if it took place in Monterrey.

The former Sexy Star took photos at Arena Mexico yesterday. This set off a whole bunch of talk she had signed to wrestle for CMLL, which had been bubbling up since Tiffany did a video promo challenging Dulce Gacia to come to Arena Mexico as part of the feud they’ve been having for Monterrey’s Kaos promotion. What this is, at least for the moment, is just promotion for Kaos. They are not officially allied with CMLL but have strong connections with people in the promotion, as evidenced by the amount of CMLL people who end up working their shows, and that lets them come into Arena Mexico to shoot photos. Mr. Iguana & Fresero Jr. did this same bit last month and have not wrestled in CMLL so far. Sexy Dulce did not appear on the show, though she was in the crowd as she’s been a number of times in the past.

The difference in this situation is CMLL may see ex-Sexy Star as being similar to a Fenix or a Ciber the Main Man, a notable person from the outside who might be able to help draw if brought in. I’m skeptical of Dulce Garcia actually being a draw, but there’s at least an argument for it and she obviously still has people who will vouch for it. Sexy Star to CMLL has not happened yet, but it is something that could happen down the line. (AAA, at least check, still wanted her back and this also might motivate them to make a better offer.) Sexy Dulce also has an MMA fight that she probably needs to be training for, so there may not be much time for wrestling in the immediate future.

In things that have happened but I haven’t mentioned because the promotion and no one else posted news on this show for nearly a full week, Zorro & Sharlie Rockstar made a surprise appearance at Sunday’s Kaos show. This is important, if only because Kaos & Zorro have gone from breaking up and posting legal warnings to each other to running an invasion angle in five months to try and create buzz for the promotion. Kaos has teased plans to run a lot of non-Monterrey cities in 2019, which will do about as well as those Crash ones did – if there is good local promotion and the fans care about the names on the show, they’ll do well, but the name of the promotion means nothing outside of their home area right now.

In most recent indie news, the main event of that return to Arena Coliseo Acapulco show was scheduled to be Blue Demon Jr. & Flamita versus the Lucha Brothers. It ended being Flamita & Mistico vs the Lucha Brothers. (Match is very much a house show match.) Blue Demon posted a message a few hours before the show that the promoter (Acapulco’s Mercurio) never sent a security deposit. Something doesn’t add up, it seems unlikely Mistico just happened to be in the area. People on the promotion’s Facebook page says signs were posted outside.

There’s no AAA on Twitch show this weekend. Other shows of note:

• MexaWrestling runs their New Idols show in Arena San Juan, with Garza Jr./Metaleon listed as the main event. The show includes Flamita/Dragon Bane among other interesting matches. MexaWrestling has talked about starting their own YouTube channel, so maybe this will be turning up officially somewhere besides +LuchaTV
• Alberto el Patron wrestles in the Mexico City area for the first time since his charity show a year ago. (Haven’t heard much about that charity since come to think of it.) Alberto, his brother and a mystery wrestler face Cibernetico, Zorro and Sharlie Rockstar in Arena Lopez Mateos for UWE. There’s no buzz for the show, which seems at least partially a product of how interest in Alberto has gone down the last couple of years.
• Pro Wrestling Revolution in San Hose has Dragon Lee vs Rey Horuz vs Caristico. They’ve streamed shows on Twitch in the past, but it sounds like this one won’t be going online until later.
• IWRG has a tag title match following up from last week’s rookie/vet tournament.
• Arena Coliseo has Diamante Azul versus Sanson. Arena Mexico has nothing special.

Funcion Estelar visits Paranoiko’s lucha libre school in Tulancingo.

It is great to have the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas card already. The trios title match sounds exciting and we have a Micros match to look forward. It does leave the next three CMLL Friday night shows with a little less excitement as a tradeoff. At least there’s a little hope for two of the matches.

The NGD (Nueva Generacion Dinamita) main event tonight, facing a dream team of Caristico, Mistico, and Volador. One of the things hoped for this year was the young Dinamitas being moved up to face top-level competition. This is top-level competition. This is also giving the underutilized Mistico something interesting to do on a Friday night. If CMLL had not announced H2L card already, this could easily be seen as a set up to a trios title match on that show. The thing is, CMLL could just do that title match some other week, they have plenty of time and space to use tonight as a setup to a bigger match next week or beyond. It is just not clear CMLL is that interested.

CMLL made one change to the card, affecting the other interesting match. Barbaro Cavernario as Titan has been listed as a lightning match, ten-minute time limit. It is not just a match, That seemed exciting, any match between those two is fun and they could do a lot in ten minutes. It is not being listed as just a match, which means they get up to three falls to do whatever. These two have not had a chance to do that sort of match against each other since 2015 when they had one of the best matches of the year. Both Cavernario and Titan are better now, though they’ll get a little less time without anything on the line. Still, the potential is very high for something memorable.

A reason to make this change is this will be the first CMLL show back on Televisa. CMLL TV mindset is they air one match per half hour of TV, lightning matches don’t fit that length, but stretching it to three falls does work. A strong Cavernario/Titan match is also a good way to make a first impression, assuming there are actually new people watching CMLL on Televisa.

The rest of the show is passable at best. Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, La Bestia del Ring and Terrible preview their hair match in the semi-main. Diamante Azul & Gilbert el Boricua fill out the match. Gilbert continues with no purpose in CMLL as if they gave up on him seeing his condition but are still committed to fulfilling his dates. Some of Felino, Hechicero and Shocker are also in the category of just filling out some dates. They take on Stuka, Kraneo, and Volcano, who has been off streaming shows for a month. Drone, Fuego & Pegasso face Virus, Sagrado and Misterioso in the second. They would be a fun tecnico team with the right opponents, they do not have the right opponents. Same could be said about the opener, where Arkalis & Magnus have the displeasure of wrestling Hijo del Signo & Metalico.

The show starts at 8:30 pm and continues to stream on Marca (Mexico only) and Facebook (not blocked this week.) I’ll stream it on YouTube.

Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

In Record, Leo Riano praises himself for reporting CMLL would be on Televisa, I guess assuming people will forget will he said the opposite last week. Riano praises Sofia Alonso and Julio Cesar Rivera (!) and says there are not currently any plans for him to be on the show despite the social media support.

Lucha Azteca AAA will have matches from the 01/26 Ciudad Madero show. Everything but the opener is listed as airing, which should mean some interesting reactions to the Ciclope & Miedo Extremo versus Joe Lider & Pagano match.

For what it is worth, I’ve tried a little bit to find ratings for Lucha Azteca AAA and have had no such sites. There seemed to be sites who were posting rating date but are no longer. Neither AAA nor Azteca has said anything about the numbers.

Martinez Entertainment tonight has Penta 0M & Rey Fenix versus Dragon Lee & Rush in Fort Worth, Texas. There’s people on the poster (Aeroboy) who don’t appear to have matches, so I’m still not sure of the full card. I’m still not sure if this will air – their shows have turned up on +LuchaTV in the past, but there’s no logo on their poster this time. I guess wait to see if there are results posted on +Lucha’s social media account tonight.x

Australian Suicide was announced for Glory Pro and AAW this weekend in the US midwest. Suicide joked that last week’s AAA show was his first & last announcing gig. it may not have been much of a joke. Suicide got bookings thru at least WrestleMania weekend in the indies and he’s not a big enough name yet that people are going to fly him in from Mexico City regularly. Suicide is listed back in Mexico next weekend but who knows with AAA lineups.

Lucha Underground’s Chris DeJoseph, whose Twitter posts about LU’s future kind of blew up because everyone is so desperate for any news about the show’s future/demise, will be on The Wrestling Guy Podcast next Wednesday. He had said he just wanted to do a single podcast, so that might be the last we hear from him for a while.

After a long pause, Segunda Caida has made it to episode 14 of Season 4 of Lucha Underground. I’m trying to figure out if they will get to the end of Season 4 or if Lucha Underground will make a public decision about their future first. I think I like Segunda Caida’s chances better.

04/04 Impact in New Jersey (WrestleMania Weekend) will have Drago, Aerostar, King Cuerno and Daga against Cage, Moose, Eddie Edwards, and Johnny Impact. It is billed as Lucha Underground versus Impact, though half the people on the Impact side are also LU wrestlers.

The return to Arena Coliseo Acapulco show looks like it drew well.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update, including an interesting story on Terrible.

Lucha Talk has a new episode.

Puma King has a new video, continues his 2019 hobby of trying to start a Flamita/Bandido feud.

There’s a new lucha libre commission in Delicias, Chihuahua. Their goal is a dedicated lucha libre arena.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 02/25/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Arkalis, King Jaguar, Robin vs El Perverso, Joker, King Rocker
2) La Avispa Dorada & Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola & La Comandante
3) Ángel de Oro, Flyer, Niebla Roja vs Felino, Rey Bucanero, Shocker
4) Carístico, Místico, Soberano Jr. vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
5) Último Guerrero vs Vangellys

The main event is a first time ever match. Not all first time ever matches are good ideas. I don’t think Vangellys is actually going for his first ever moonsault because I’m doubtful he’ll want to take that bump on a random Monday.

CMLL (TUE) 02/26/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Explosivo, Metatrón, Rielero vs Carlo Roggi, El Chakal, Mr. Apolo
2) Arkalis, Magnus, Star Black vs Cancerbero, Difunto, Raziel
3) Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Okumura, Tiger, Virus
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible
5) Diamante Azul, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Euforia, Gran Guerrero

Third match could be good, I guess.