Marca said CMLL is back on their stream this week, though I didn’t see a link up yet on Facebook when I checked Thursday afternoon. Cavernario & Forastero should be fun. The main event should be good too.
AAA’s YouTube show this week just happens to be airing Hijo del Fantasma’s last TV match in the promotion. It is probably a coincidence; this would’ve aired on Space a couple of weeks ago and produced before that. The Vikingo match is definitely worth a look.
On TV sets, CMLL seems to have settled at 3:30 pm on Saturdays now. AAA on Azteca should be on the Morelia taping this week.
Trying to get this back on track before WrestleMania weekend (and baseball) kicks in. This week being a quick week helps. This being a not good week does not really help.
I already forgot I recorded that Caristico match until it showed up in the list. Titan/Templario was fun.
Hijo del Fantasma apparently quit AAA Wednesday night. I have to write “apparently” because it is a little strange. Fantasma posted photos of his time in AAA on Twitter and Instagram, saying thanks. +LuchaTV somehow knew this meant Fantasma was quitting AAA and declaring himself a free agent. Other people went on with that as the story and Fantasma was on Twitter for the next few hours responding to people and not saying the stories were wrong. Maybe there was some behind the scenes message that communicated what Fantasma was doing clearer than his original posting.
Hijo del Fantasma’s lawsuit against Lucha Underground was reported publically on February 6th. Fantasma wrestled as previously scheduled on the AAA tapings on 02/08 & 02/10. He took a distraction pinfall loss to Puma King on the second show, which was surprising given how AAA had been setting Fantasma up for a title match with Fenix to that point. Hijo del Fantasma appeared in a long sit down interview with +LuchaTV a few days later, saying everything was OK with him and AAA, particularly Dorian Roldan. Fantasma has not been on TV since and his understanding of the situation must have changed; Fantasma was teasing a departure from AAA in a new interview with +Lucha this weekend.
Fantasma’s options are limited. He’s suing Lucha Underground because of those limited options. He can’t sign with WWE. He would need approval from LU to work for any other TV promotion in the US. LU appears to have given that to anyone who’s gotten a TV offer, but it may be different with him suing the holding company. Fantasma may also be restricted from appearing even on CMLL TV, if his earlier statement about being under contract to AAA until the end of the year is correct. He could still work indies in the US & Mexico. He may have more freedom in work the Japan or UK (where he appears to have been added to the Lucha Libre World show in London), but Fantasma’s options are limited until the LU situation is resolved.
The Crash is now pushing their meet and greet this weekend as the last time you’ll be able to see Garza Jr. at their events. This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentioned Garza passed medicals and has a new WWE offer. Garza is playing games about where he’s going for social media fun, but he’s been going to the obvious place all along.
Today’s the fourth anniversary of Perro Aguyao Jr. sudden death from in-ring injuries. Diario Basta recaps the situation, going with the theory that Aguayo had been dealing with neck pain and just didn’t tell anyone about it. Damian 666 & Mr. Aguila talked with Record about their memories of that time; Damian was at the show but didn’t grasp the severity of the injury until he was told Perro had died. Damian is critical of promoters running Perro Aguyao Jr. tribute shows that don’t send some of the money they’re making from Aguayo’s name to his family. (There was one in San Luis Potosi yesterday, no idea if Aguayo’s family got anything.) The Gladiatores has brief interviews with Juventud Guerrera, Texano Jr., Toscano, Terrible, and Konnan talking about Perro Aguayo.
AAA on Azteca7: 2.5 rating with 3.9 million viewers
AAA on A+: 0.6 rating with 1.2 million viewers
CMLL on Televisa9: 0.6 rating with 1.3 million viewers
AAA’s rating went up while the actual viewers went down a half million. CMLL’s viewers stayed the same while the rating went down. This was the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas airing of CMLL (Rey de Reyes is weeks away from airing on AAA), though it was also an episode starting a half hour earlier for no particular reason.
Rey de Reyes was covered in the latest The Road to Double or Nothing, the Cody Rhodes half of AEW’s YouTube shows. For the purpose of this show, the attack on Cody is mostly important in that Cody’s healing knee was re-injured during it and he may now end up missing Double or Nothing. Taurus and Konnan get name-checked but aren’t a big part of it. The Lucha Brothers/Young Bucks build up also gets some promos.
Mystique appears headed back to Japan. Maybe. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out what the REINA website or social media accounts are now and then decided I should move on with my life.
There’s a free preview of the first few pages of the Konnan comic book here.
Lineup
CMLL (SUN) 03/24/2019Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Micro vs Quka
2) Blaze & Hijo Del Tigre vs El Yaqui & Linterna
3) Baron Blanco Jr., El Divino, Paymon vs Avispón Negro Jr., Rey Hechicero Jr., Thunder Boy
4) El Rielero, Kempo Dragón, Vaquero Jr. vs Maléfico, Príncipe Kisho, Terremoto King Jr.
5) Explosivo, Joker, Star Black vs Difunto, Hijo del Rambo, Príncipe Odín Jr.
The Sunday Guadalajara show is notable only for some odd names. I’m guessing they must be working with the old Juniors promotion, since Principe Odin & Rambo usually worked with them. Rey Hechicero Jr. is not believed to be related to Hechicero but has been around Mexico City indies since 2015.
I’ve scaled back at including people who just work these shows until they show up a lot, because there’s just so many random names who show up less than 5 times and then disappear forever.
CMLL (TUE) 03/26/2019Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Fantástico, Principe Daniel, Rielero vs Demonio Maya, Exterminador, Sádico
2) Magnum, Príncipe Diamante, Star Jr. vs Difunto, Espíritu Negro, Metálico
3) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis
4) Blue Panther, Kráneo, Volcano vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Vangellys
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Místico vs Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
That semi-main is troubling. Main event is a near H2L rematch.
Astral & Robin beat El Coyote & Grako
(11:31 [5:31, 2:44, 3:16], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Dalys, Reyna Isis, Tiffany beat Kaho Kobayashi, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit
(14:07 [7:08, 2:50, 4:09], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Felino, Hechicero, Vangellys beat El Audaz, Flyer, Rey Cometa
(11:28 [3:12, 3:49, 4:27], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Titán beat Templarioin a lightning match
(9:08, El Inmortal, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Carístico, Diamante Azul, Valiente beat Ciber the Main Man, Gilbert el Boricua, The Chris
(11:52 [2:39, 3:05, 6:08], 2/3 DQ, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. beat La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible
(7:43 [3:43, 4:00], 1 DQ/2 DQ, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
how was this supposed to look?
Los Ingobernables were disqualified in the first for throwing Niebla Roja over the top rope. Terrible fouled Niebla Roja in the second fall, which Edgar missed. Bestia fouled Angel de Oro to save him from the campana, and Edgar did not miss that.
Gilbert unmasked Diamante for the DQ, though it was quite a struggle to get Azul to let it go.
Titan’s new cradle is called El Inmortal this week. That seems to have stuck.
Thoughts:
Templario’s powerbomb works only about half the time
The main event was just a long beatdown with Volador getting in a courtesy dive before the finish. It might have been successful in building up the hair match – that’s debatable at best – but it definitely didn’t work as a standalone match. It was a drag to watch, which was the case for watching most of the show. These shows can be even less appealing if you’re watching them a few days later while knowing nothing worthwhile happens.
The semi-main was sloppy and slow, built around Gilbert & Azul. Gilbert looked slightly more mobile this week but they didn’t much here to suggest a singles match would be a good idea. The Cl4n looked no better than usual. The last thing CMLL needs is more immobile rudos who aren’t really as over as they think, and yet Ciber & the Chris are here. It was funny that their big return after many months ended with them getting out of the ring as quick as possible to separate themselves from Gilbert.
Titan followed up the exciting match with Cavernario with a similarly styled match with Templario. The downside to these Titan matches back to both weeks is they’re no deeper than both guys unloading their moves back and forth for whatever time they have left. The upside is both he and Templario had a lot of cool moves to do, and they’re making a bigger deal out of Titan’s latest cradle finish by having him win with it in back to back weeks.
The tercera was a solid professional midcard match that gets bumped up good possibly because I’m thinking of the grade only after having seen the (much worse) end of the card. It was very much a “Rey Cometa does the diving headscissors” CMLL tercera special, but he did a little more than usual, Hechicero broke out some new hold and Audaz did well. No one looked bad and it was a fun time, so that’s better than most things here.
The women’s matches include attempts to do impressive things, but doing them so slowly or sloppy that they don’t come off as impressive. The Jarochita/Dalys sequence in the first fall stood out that way, with them doing leaping rolls and reversals, but stumbling thru them. These matches are obviously the ones most planned out in advance, but they’ve not executed them well.
The opener was forgettable, which is better than a lot of CMLL openers. It was also so boring that I couldn’t be bothered to figure out how Robin hurt himself I the second fall. The third fall finishes weirdly in that Coyote just did keep doing moves to Astral until he went away, no counters or reversals. Astral appears to be a bodybuilder who dabbles in wrestling at this point, though he didn’t seem as cut up as usual.
