notes from The Crash, weekend indie shows, LU, Mexa

I went to PWG Friday night, thinking I was going to see Bandido win the PWG Championship. He did not, which is strong proof I know nothing. The match was still good, as was the other matches featuring luchadors (Laredo Kid/Puma King and LAX/Rascals/Lucha Brothers) on the card. The opener nearly stole the show from the beginning and was amazing given the sad situation in Jungle Boy’s life.

I have not seen the MLW show from Saturday by my impression is Laredo Kid/Taurus versus Penta/Fenix was very good. One takeaway from this weekend is Laredo Kid is very good but also would be helped by having a hook to get people invested in him before they realize he’s also very good.

I made it to The Crash show instead on Saturday.

The Crash (SAT) 03/02/2019 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California [El Sol de Tijuana, The Crash, thecubsfan]
1) Dinámico & Tiago b Maverick & Terror Azteca and Máscara Oriental & Unicornio 
Mascara Oriental is Capricornio, having been given Fenix’s old name.
2) Star Boy, Viento, Zarco b Astro Aéreo, Torito Negro, Xperia
This Astro Aereo is Astrolux, who can not currently use that name in The Crash. Xperia dove off the top of the fan entrance tunnel. A team from Mexicali attacked the tecnicos after their loss, teasing a match with the Tijuana rudos (Triple Amenaza.)
3) Gallito Tapatío & Microman b Chamuel & Zacarias el Perico 
Microman beat Chamuel
4) Diamante Azul (CMLL) & Jeff Cobb b Hechicero (CMLL) & Michael Elgin 
Azul & Cobb beat Azul
5) Bestia 666, Garza Jr., Sabú b Damián 666, Trauma I, Trauma II  
Sabu put Damain thru a table to win. Sabu/Damian in a “FMW style” cage match and Rebellion versus Traumas were teased.
6) Austin Theory b Willie Mack ©, Cavernario, Sansón [The Crash HEAVY]  
Willie Mack falls on his first defense, being pinned by Austin Theory. Cavernario suffered a shoulder injury late but seemed OK later.

Pretty good turn out, though a little short of sold out. (PWG seemed to be about the same, come to think of it.) A lot of good matches, with the best matches from start to finish being more on the undercard. The main event was good but the closing moments were derailed by Cavernario being hurt. It’s also the first time a The Crash heavyweight title changed in the ring; being in the building for an actual The Crash title change (as opposed to the title being given up and a new champion being decided) was amusing for me. It appeared a chunk of the crowd felt the main event was actually the Sabu match and took off after it.

A clip of the Sabu match I posted got a little bit of reaction on social media. He was fine the rest of the match, given his age, and gave the people enough of what they wanted out of a Sabu & Damian match in 2019 (mostly a chance to chant ECW.) Damian bled. That cage match seems like it’ll happen if they can get Sabu back for it. Sabu was the most popular guy by autograph seekers at the meet & greet – both because he’s an international guy who is in Tijuana once a decade, and also because I think they all knew he was likely to show up late and leave early. Which he did.

Azul/Cobb versus Hechicero/Elgin was not good at all. Cobb & Elgin both angrily walked off after the match ended – it was almost like an angry race if you were not involved in it. Diamante Azul clearly planned on getting in Cobb or Hechicero’s face to tease a match, but they were both back at the entrance before he figured out what was going on. The finish was Hechicero pretty much press slamming himself with Diamante Azul on the middle rope. Azul was in no condition to perform. He wasn’t falling over himself or otherwise making it obvious, it just seemed like a bad boring match to the fans, but you could tell the others were having major difficulties working with him and around him. Hechicero & Elgin also seemed to be on two different pages leading to the finish, though it may have a communication issue trying to work around Azul’s issues. This isn’t the first time Azul has shown up in a match like this and – since there are no clips to go viral from it – it won’t be the last time he’ll get to do it. I think it’ll probably be the last time it happens with the Crash, except Azul is friends with the right people and that might obligate taking him again when they want someone else. I know there are people high on Diamante Azul because he can have impressive moments in CMLL trios matches, but this is part of the package as well.

The Micros were less popular than I would’ve figured at the meet & greet. They did get some people, but I wonder if CMLL not being on TV hurt them a bit. (Sanson & Cuatrero seemed to do alright. The foreigners less so, but they were way in the back. Hechicero did a bit better, but the Rebelion were the most popular Mexican act. Damian split his table with some of the opening match guys, which was nice of him.) The crowd also seemed quiet to the Micros when they came out. Those four guys totally won them over of the course of the match, with Microman getting easily the loudest reaction of the night by the time they were done. They’ve added new spots – maybe in time for the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas appearance – but even just the moves we’ve seen from him and Chamuel since they started working together were blowing away this crowd. Those guys would get over anywhere if given a chance to do their match.

I didn’t really understand the angle out of the second match but the Tijuana/Mexicali dynamic was very over. The first two matches were fun to watch and Xperia is a crazy person for the dive he did. He seems like a name to watch in the undercard if he doesn’t kill himself.  Crash’s local roster is still in a rebuilding process following all those guys getting picked up by the AAA, though the talent pool seems deep.

The next The Crash show is on 03/23 with Negro Casas being honored and a Caristico/Rey Horus match.

I also got to visit the lucha libre museum in Tijuana. It is great, with more items than you can imagine, and well worth the trip.

IWRG (SUN) 03/03/2019 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Latino & Puma de Oro b Güero Palma & Neza Kid
2) Toto b Tackle
3) Auzter & Barba Blanca b Dinamic Black & Eragón
The debuting Barba Blanca looks a lot like the former Pirata Morgan Jr. with a new name and mask.
4) Karaoui, Ra-Zhata, Shil-Ka b Diablo Jr., Hijo del Alebrije, Relámpago
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus b Aramis
Sets up another title match between them.
6) Demonio Infernal, Eterno, Lunatic Xtreme DQ Ángel Tormenta, Rokambole Jr., Villano V Jr.
Villano team originally won, but the finish was overturned and called a DQ. Challenges for super libre and extreme matches followed.
7) Oficial AK47 L Dragón Bane, Death Metal, Cerebro Negro [mask, hair]
Oficial AK-47 lost his hair to Dragon Bane in a match where the first person to lose lost their hair or mask. Bane beat him with a 450 when the other two were out of the ring. Cerebro wants a singles apuesta match with Bane.

The main event is the fifth time AK47 has lost his hair in Arena Naucalpan, all since 2012.

+LuchaTV posted a photo of Baron Blanca. It sure looked like Pirata Morgan Jr. returning under a very familiar Pirata mask and with the same hairline, but Pirata Jr. had tattoos on both arms and this guy does not. His few other appearances on the Mexico State indies had him teaming with a Baron Roja.

Maybe the biggest news from the Arena Neza show is Negro Casas didn’t wrestle, saying he was still injured. Not sure about him wrestling on a Tuesday show. Fuerza Guerrera replaced him, which also included Juventud Guerrera invading to build up his match with his father. The main event ended with Canek trying to get away with a mask pull on Rayo de Jalisco and being caught.

Mil Mascaras also did not wrestle his scheduled match this weekend, a main event with Negro Navarro. He appeared to say he could not wrestle due to health issues and was replaced by Head Hunter I and Avius, I don’t even know who that is, but that match sounds not good. The actual main event was Jerry Estrada versus Stuka I, which probably also was a struggle.

03/24 GALLI has Drago, Rey Horuz, Rey Fenix, Penta 0M, El Bandolero, Aero Boy, Gringo Loco, and Golden Dragon.

Everything (but the DVDs) in the Lucha Underground store is 70% off if you use the code SAVE70. This sale lasts thru March 18th. That seems like a sign a resolution to LU’s future is coming soon, but who knows with LU ever. It is possible the person running the merchandise may be working off the same guesses as everyone else and just doesn’t want to make sure they’re not holding a lot of extra material when a decision is made. I guess we see where everything is at on March 19th.

A Japanese interview with Gran Hamada mentioned he’s moved to Mexico. His wife passed away in December and her son moved out of the house, so he sold it and decided to come live with his daughters in Mexico.

MexaWrestling has launched a YouTube channel and says they’ll be putting up more once they hit 500 subscribers. They were up to 121 when I checked Sunday night and had already put up a couple of the matches. The show will also be airing on +Lucha at some point with their own recording.

A story on the Bolivia Cholitas.

Zocalo has an interview with Indio Kikapoo Jr.