LA Park outsmarts Ultimo Guerrero in Puebla, Dragon Lee challenges Mephisto tonight

LA Park

CMLL (MON) 03/18/2019 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Lucha Central]
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas 2019, Salvador Lutteroth & Estrella Blanca
1) Fuerza Chicana, Policeman, Sombra Diabólika b Astro, Rey Samuray, Sonic LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 18 DE MARZO DEL 2019 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Cancerbero, Perverso, Raziel b King Jaguar, Star Black, Tigre Rojo Jr. LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 18 DE MARZO DEL 2019 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 2/3.
3) Felino, Templario, Tiger b Audaz, Drone, Stigma LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 18 DE MARZO DEL 2019 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 2/3. Estrella Blanca was honored after this match as part of the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show.
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente DRAW Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 18 DE MARZO DEL 2019 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Terrible wrestled despite the shoulder injury. Rudos took falls 1, tecnicos took falls 2, Niebla Roja & Bestia went to a double pin in the third.
5) Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, Volador Jr. DQ Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 18 DE MARZO DEL 2019 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Familia Real took 2/3. LA Park tossed his mask to Ultimo Guerrero to draw the DQ.

LA Park worked very hard in the main event and mostly worked with Ultimo Guerrero. They set up a trios rematch, but the direction seemed to be for a Park/UG singles match on 04/01. That’d be a busy week for LA Park.

Estrella Blanca talked about being honored.

Dragon Lee has been CMLL Lightweight Champion for three straight years. He’s almost at four years if you combine his first reign (only broken up by about a six-week Kamitachi break.) His title is not on the line tonight but it should be the end of his title reign. CMLL’s otherwise designated the lightweight as midcard wrestlers, ones who Dragon Lee is never going to lose to as long as he stays in CMLL. He’s just on a much higher level. Dragon Lee could face all the same people as the Welterweight champion, and it would put another title back in play for younger and lesser pushed luchadors to get something to do.

Mephisto has held the CMLL Welterweight championship for nearly three years himself. He won it from Mascara Dorada, in a title change that appears to have been prompted by Dorada taking a WWE in retrospect. Mephisto has some good defenses and some very formula ones. He also hasn’t defended it since last August and could be just as useful as a challenger at this point. I have no feel if a title change is going to happen, but it seems like one should. It also seems like I’ve probably given this way too much thought and more than CMLL did but I’d like to get some Virus title matches again.

The rest of the Tuesday show is very much a Tuesday show, maybe a little worse than usual. The semi-main is fine, Negro Casas teaming with two guys on opposite ends of a mobility scale, Templario & Rey Bucanero, facing Atlantis, Mistico and Valiente. I just have no idea what is happening in the fourth match, where Hechicero teams with Kawato and La Bestia del Ring against Kraneo, Volcano and Blue Panther. Maybe Panther & Hechicero can just never tag out. Panther’s sons unite with Guerrero Maya against Tuesday mainstays Misterioso, Sagrado, and Tiger. Magnus, Robin and Star Black are a potentially fun team against the no-fun team of Hijo del Signo, Nitro and Disturbio. This show opens with a minis match, which seems to be the case for most minis matches. Angelito & Fantasy takes on Mercurio & Pequeno Olimpico.

The show starts at 7:30 pm local, which remains one hour later than usual if you’re on daylight savings time.

Guadalajara has their Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show tonight. Americo Rocca will be honored. Caristico & Cavernario face off in the main event, They’ve met three times in singles matches ( a lightning match and a tournament match in there) and Caristico has won every time. NGD defends the trios titles against OneAtosStyle (Esfinge, Titan and Triton), where a title defense is unlikely.

I totally missed on it but Saturday’s Arena Coliseo show has Euforia versus Soberano in the main event. Father versus son matches are typically not allowed in CMLL, so it stands a good chance of being changed later in the week.

This Fantasma interviews seems ominous for his future.

RIOT 05/04 (Chicles) in Arena LLF

Pro Wrestling Revolution has Caristico, Titan, Cavernario and Bestia 666 on June 22nd in San Francisco and LA Park, Drago and Hijo de LA Park in King City on 07/27.

Aspirantito Jr. lost his mask to Mercurio (not the CMLL one) in a cage match in Arena Coliseo Acapulco. Aspirantito gave his info as Cristian Alejandro Cruz Gonzalez, 21 years old, 10 years a professional wrestler. That would mean he was professional wrestling at 11. I’m not sure I would pay 11-year-olds to professionally wrestle.

+LuchaTV has a new episode of their En+carados podcast.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Lineups

CMLL (SUN) 03/24/2019 Arena México
1) Retro & Sangre Imperial vs Espanto Jr. & Inquisidor
2) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Star Jr. vs Sangre Azteca, Universo 2000 Jr., Virus
4) Tritón vs Soberano Jr. [lightning]
5) Dragón Lee, Místico, Stuka Jr. vs Dark Magic, Ephesto, Luciferno
6) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs La Bestia Del Ring, Negro Casas, Terrible

Bestia & Terrible had a bad match but they did it in the main event of a big show so they’re an important main event act for the moment.

LA Park in Puebla tonight, MDA in Naucalpan, LU

MDA (SUN) 03/17/2019 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Lilith Dark & Toto b Dulce Luna & Mexica Lilith Dark y Toto vs Dulce Luna y Mexica en la Arena Naucalpan (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
2) El Hijo del Medico Asesino b Canek Jr.Capo del NorteHijo del AlebrijeDiablo Jr.Golden MagicBrazo De Oro Jr.Karonte Jr. [La Rebelion de los Juniors] La Rebelión de los Juniors en la Arena Naucalpan 2019. (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
Medico gets a title shot against Hijo de Canis Lupus at some point.
3) Hijo de Canis Lupus b Sádico Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Sádico   MANO a MANO en la Arena Naucalpan con MDA (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
4) Súper Nova b Iron Kid Super Nova vs Iron Kid   MANO a MANO en la Arena Naucalpan con MDA (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
5) Freelance b Audaz (CMLL) Freelance vs Audaz    MANO a MANO en la Arena Naucalpan con MDA (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
6) Ángel de Oro b Aramis Ángel de Oro vs Aramis MANO a MANO en la Arena Naucalpan con MDA (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
7) Dragón Bane DRAW Soberano Jr. Soberano Jr vs Dragón Bane MANO a MANO en la Arena Naucalpan con MDA (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
8) Laredo Kid b Imposible Laredo Kid vs Imposible  MANO a MANO en la Arena Naucalpan con MDA (posted by Estrellas del Ring)

I assume this is a +LuchaTV broadcast at some point. Not a lot said about the matches, though they sound generally good.

Hijo del Mongol Chino lost his mask in Monterrey to his brother Mongol Chino Junior. He is Alonso Espinosa.

Chik Tormenta won the AULL women’s title from Keyra in a four-way with Lady Shani & Lady Hiedra. It was the first time that title had been defended in 18 months.

LA Park returns to CMLL tonight in Arena Puebla. CMLL’s used outside luchadors only in Puebla occasionally – like Octagon’s most recent appearance – so this may not be setting up a larger run. Park has said he’s only working Puebla at the moment. Anything that helps liven up some dreary Monday night shows is welcome. Park & his son team with Volador Jr. face Los Guerreros in the main event.

The main event is scheduled to be the first streaming appearance of the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas main eventers, with Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja teaming with Valiente against La Bestia del Ring, Terrible, and Cavernario. That is assuming Terrible is healthy enough to wrestle. The tercera has Felino, Tiger, and Templario teaming up against Audaz, Drone, and Stigma in a potentially promising match. The opening matches include Star Black and Sonic with the usual locals. The show streams at 9 pm local, which is one hour later than usual for people in the US & Canada.

The CMLL show on Televisa this week – the second episode – was moved up a half hour. El Planchitas says CMLL thought Televisa was giving the show an extra half hour for Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, and were upset to find out Televisa was just screwing around with the start time on week two. Planchitas also says it was Forastero under the Blue Demon costume as part of the dance number on that show (not shown on YouTube), but they believe Forastero was the Fake Sombra too, and I know that’s not quite right.

Masks, Mats, & Mayhem returned with some Lucha Underground talk among other things on a three-hour podcast. What they’re hearing about the current LU situation is MGM agreed to a certain amount per episode going into season 4 that was agreed to going forward, MGM found that amount was insufficient to make a good Lucha Underground show, and now everything is stuck at an impasse where El Rey has no interest in redoing the deal to pay more and MGM has no interest in doing the show at the current episode cost. (There also seems to be some dispute about how much pre-production time would be allotted; MGM wants more than leading into Season 4 but I’m that costs money.)

El Rey also has no interest in canceling the show and losing control over it. From Dusk Till Dawn gets brought up as an example here; El Rey released the actors from the contract after their third & final contracted season, but never have officially canceled the show even though it has been two years since an episode. My take is El Rey is welcome to keep Lucha Underground not-canceled forever if they’d just release everyone from their contracts. SoCal Uncensored mentioned a while back that LU has nine months from the season finale before they have to announce another season or lose (“most of the”) talent., Those wrestlers under that deal would be stuck until August if MGM & El Rey can’t work out a deal before then, and there’s no great pressure for them to get it done until those contracts get close to expiring. I was hoping for a resolution of this in the next couple of months but we may not be so lucky.

Ivelisse’s contract situation gets addressed, in a way that better explains what is going on with everyone’s contracts. Lucha Underground didn’t exactly grant a blanket exemption to everyone to work other TV shows, they’re specifically changing the contract for each individual person as they come back with an offer from another promotion. That means each wrestler has to have a deal in principle with an AEW or an Impact or whomever before LU actually gives them permission to work those shows. Ivelisse does not seem to have gotten that sort of offer, though she may believe an offer would be made if she was completely free. The LU side seems clear Ivelisse did not actually ask for a release going into Season 4, while Ivelisse has seemed to say she has.

The AAA episode of Being the Elite is up.

Segunda Caida watches Blue Demon Jr. vs La Parka vs Dr. Wagner Jr.

Lineups

IWRG , FILL (WED) 03/20/2019 Arena Naucalpan
1) Noicy Boy & Spider Fly vs Güero Palma & Vortex
2) Águila Oriental Jr., Biosfera, Dinámico vs Canival, Cósmico, Matrix Jr.
3) Dranzer, Fireman, Latino vs Ángel Dorado I, Galactus, Guerrero 2000
4) Leo, Mike, Toto vs Lunatic Xtreme, Power Bull, Zovek
5) Ángel Estrella Jr., Auzter, Black Dragón, Cheff Benito, Chicanito, Mexica, Neza Kid, Puma de Oro vs Barrio Latino, Gemelo Diablo, Holocausto, Kid Jaguar, Piloto Infernal, Poético, Sky Ángel, Tarasco II Jr.
FILL (Black Terry) vs Gym Golpeador Pachuca

A trainee show on Wednesday since they didn’t run on Sunday.

Lucha Brothers win then lose the tag team titles, Aerostar Rey de Reyes, Garza/Crash

Aerostar

AAA TV (SAT) 03/16/2019 Acropolis, Puebla, Puebla [AAA, Lucha CentralMedioTiempoMedioTiempo (Main)NotimexR de RudoSuperLuchasthecubsfanVoices of Wrestling]
1) Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa © b Lady Maravilla & Villano III Jr. [AAA MIXED TAG (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
9:10. Hamburguesa pinned Villano III Jr. but disagreed with Mami over Maravilla. He carried Maravilla to the back after the match.
2) Lady Shani © b La HiedraKeyraChik Tormenta [Reina De Reinas, street (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
7:52. Shani pinned Hiedra after a powerbomb onto chairs. Faby confronted Shani, Keyra and Hijo del Tirantes after the match. Hijo del Tirantes attacked Faby, Keyra & Tormenta joined in, and Shani & Taya made the save.
3) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana b Daga, Joe Lider, Taya  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
12:14. Daga hit Joe Lider with a chair and gave him a DVD thru a ladder to set up the Poder del Norte win. PdN put Lider thru a table after the match. Tormenta & Keyra attacked Taya, with Faby making the save.
4) Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly b Drago, Pagano, Puma King  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
14:04. Averno beat Drago with a Super Devil’s Wings in a match where Super Fly, Pagano and Chessman all appeared to be injured (but were said to be fine.)
5) Mamba, Máximo, Psycho Clown b Jeff Jarrett, Killer Kross, La Máscara [cage (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
19:02. Order of escape: Jeff Jarrett, Psycho Clown (who then went back in), Mamba, Killer Kross, Maximo and Psycho Clown again. La Mascara took Psycho Clown to try to prevent him from escaping, but Maximo threw in a second mask and Psycho put Mascara thru a table.
6) Aerostar b Laredo KidHijo Del VikingoJack EvansSammy GuevaraEclipse Vengador Jr.TaurusGolden MagicMyzteziz [Rey de Reyes (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
26:24. Earlier, Cody Rhodes appeared to tease Kenny Omega & Chris Jericho coming in, and to offer Hugo a job as the Spanish voice of AEW. He was interrupted by Konnan and eventually speared by Taurus before Psycho Clown led tecnicos out to make the save. Elimintions in this match: Eclipse Vengador Jr. (Lanzelot in a new outfit by Taurus), Myzteziz Jr. (Taurus), Golden Magic (Taurus), Jack Evans (Hijo del Vikingo), Sammy Guevara (Laredo Kid), Taurus (Aerosar), Vikingo (Aerostar), Laredo Kid (Aerostar) leaving Aerostar as the winner.
7) Fénix & Pentagón Jr. b Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. [AAA TAG (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
7:55. Fenix & Pentagon did their spike package piledriver on Texano. Konnan confronted them after the match, the lights went out, and the Young Bucks appeared.
8) Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson b Fénix & Pentagón Jr. © [AAA TAG (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
7:08. Impromptu match. Lucha Brothers superkicked Konnan before the match, but he recovered to celebrate with the Jacksons as they won the tag titles. Konnan had been anti-AEW earlier and was pro-AEW here.

This was a good show. It was not as much better than Homenaje a Dos Leyendas as I expected, though I think the best match on this AAA show (the Rey de Reyes match) was better than the best match on CMLL’s show. There was also nothing as bad as the CMLL main event; even the cage match went better than that. The AAA show was also much longer (they’ve got a lot of sponsor breaks right now) and, much to the opposite of CMLL, there’s almost too much stuff going on. Joe Lider getting put thru a table at the same time as Taya & Faby were doing a dramatic handshake was the peak of so many things happened that nothing was sinking in.

The Taya/Faby stuff was so heavy early on that I was thinking either the initial angle after the women’s match didn’t go right and they needed a redo, or that AAA knows Taya isn’t going to be back around for a while so they had to rush thru a bunch of weeks of angles in the course of an hour.

If the Young Bucks showing up unannounced and unexplained to beat the Lucha Brothers leads to a rematch on TripleMania, following a few months of AAA explaining why people should care, then this was an awkward first step that may be worthwhile in the end. History has shown AAA running so many big angles that never get paid off – let’s use MAD here – that it is safer to assume AAA’s main event turned into an angle for AEW’s show and it’ll never be explained again.

Attendance was visibly weaker than last year. It was probably not as bad as it looked at times – the camera shots were directly shooting the lower skyboxes, which aren’t always sold for events like this – but you could see plenty of other sections that looked pretty empty. There wasn’t the Konnan tweet hyping the attendance like usual. I’m not sure announcing the Young Bucks appearing would’ve helped because the reaction to them wasn’t strong, but it definitely couldn’t have hurt. The bigger thing is last year’s show in the same building had a hair match and they probably needed one on this one. If AAA is planning to have La Mascara or Maximo lose their hair, they probably should’ve done it on this show instead where it would’ve meant more than being second or third from the top on TripleMania. Because Psycho Clown was involved, it was the match the crowd saw as the biggest deal by far and it seemed like a missed opportunity that they didn’t go more with it.

Australian Suicide missed the show due to injury.

AAA follows up this by being off until April 5, for the TV taping in Tijuana.

AAA (SAT) 03/16/2019 Foro Sol, Iztacalco, Distrito Federal [Record]
1) La Hiedra & Vanilla b Keyra & Starfire Facebook video (posted by aztecadeportes)
2) Chessman & Tiger Boy b Golden Magic & Lanzelot Facebook video (posted by aztecadeportes)
3) Dinastía b Mini Psycho Clown ©La Parkita NegraLa ParkitaMini Murder ClownMini Monster Clown [AAA MINIFacebook video (posted by aztecadeportes) Facebook video (posted by luchalibreaaa)
Mini Psycho Clown falls on his 3rd defense. Dinastia is the 7th champion.
4) Hijo del Fantasma, Monsther Clown, Murder Clown b Argenis, Bengala, Máscara de Bronce

AAA (SUN) 03/17/2019 Foro Sol, Iztacalco, Distrito Federal [El UniversalMedioTiempoPasala]
1) Niño Hamburguesa & Solaris vs Chicano & La Parka Negra Facebook video (posted by LuchaAzteca7)
2) Hijo Del Vikingo & Lady Shani b Faby Apache & Villano III Jr. Facebook video (posted by LuchaAzteca7) Facebook video (posted by luchalibreaaa)
3) Myzteziz Jr. & Psycho Clown b Averno & Hijo del Fantasma Facebook video (posted by LuchaAzteca7) Facebook video (posted by luchalibreaaa)
4) La Parka b PaganoTexano Jr. [Vive Latino CHAMP] Facebook video (posted by luchalibreaaa)

There are two shows from the Vive Latino festival. This doesn’t show up much at my radar because it’s a wrestling show at a music festival, I’m mildly surprised we even got video. Still, it is wrestling shows at a heavily attended music festival – a lot of people saw these shows in person this weekend. They reworked the Saturday card to get the people to Rey de Reyes on time, giving us the odd Chessman & Tiger Boy pairing.

Dinastia losing the title way back when seemed to be part of getting him on of the minis division and closing the mini division down. The minis division is back, but my guess is this is still more a bit to do a title change for the sake of doing it rather than for sure sending Dinastia back out of the main division.

Fantasma was wrestling on Saturday, so he didn’t miss Rey de Reyes due to injury. AAA had a role for Jeff Jarrett but not for Hijo del Fantasma. Fantasma has said that all is fine between him and AAA over the Lucha Underground lawsuit. He’s not on the next taping either.

Fenix & Penta missed the Mucha Lucha show tonight.

CMLL (SAT) 03/16/2019 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Acero & Aéreo DQ Pequeño Universo 2000 & Pequeño Violencia
tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Violencia unmasked Acero
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit b La Comandante, La Seductora, Tiffany
tecnicas took took 1/3
3) Black Panther, El Audaz, Fuego b Kawato San, Metálico, Misterioso Jr.
tecnicos took 1/3
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. b Luciferno [lightning]
Maya beat Luciferno despite losing his mask on the finish (which seems to be a problem around here)
5) Kráneo, Soberano Jr., Volcano b Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Vangellys
tecnicos took 1/3
6) Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero b Diamante Azul, Valiente, Volador Jr.
Rudos took 2/3

Guerrero Maya wants big matches that probably aren’t happening. Not much going on these CMLL shows this weekend, though they throw in a slight tease for a tag title match coming out of the main event.

CMLL (SUN) 03/17/2019 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Príncipe Odín Jr. & Yago b Príncipe Diamante & Star Black
Rudos took 1/3. Star Black’s Arena Mexico debut.
2) Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito b Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito
rudos took 2/3.
3) Olímpico, Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr. b Blue Panther, Drone, Rey Cometa
Olimpico’s first match here in 10 months (Okumura replacement?). Rudos took 2/3.
4) Hechicero b Flyer [lightning]
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Stuka Jr. b Dark Magic, Felino, Negro Casas
tecnicos took 2/3, Atlantis Jr. pinning Negro Casas in the third.
6) Diamante Azul, Místico, Niebla Roja b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
tecnicos took 2/3.

 

Star Black introduced himself, Dark Magic did an English speaking promo for people who don’t speak English, Olimpico is happy to be back, Hechicero talks about his win, and Negro Casas praises Atlantis Jr.

Garza Jr., via Zona Ruda, has said the upcoming The Crash show on 03/23 is his final one with the promotion. Nothing has been officially announced, but the only thing standing between Garza Jr. and a WWE NXT development deal prior was his shoulder injury and he no longer has a shoulder injury.

LuchaWorld has a Lucha Report for Saturday and Sunday.

AAA Rey de Reyes: 2019-03-16

clown on clown violence

Recapped: 03/16/2019

All matches aired live from the Acropolis in Puebla on 03/16/2019

Matches:

Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa © beat Lady Maravilla & Villano III Jr. for the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship
(9:10, Hamburguesa splash Maravilla, good, 00:20:12)

Lady Shani © beat La Hiedra, Keyra, Chik Tormenta to keep AAA’s Reina de Reinas championship
(7:52, Lady Shani powerbomb on to chairs La Hiedra, good, 00:53:20)

Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Daga, Joe Lider, Taya
(12:14, Cota double stomp low blow with chair Joe Lider, ok, 01:15:55)

Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly beat Drago, Pagano, Puma King
(14:04, Averno super Devil’s Wings Drago, ok, 01:37:51)

Mamba, Máximo, Psycho Clown beat Jeff Jarrett, Killer Kross, La Máscara in a cage match
(19:02, ok,
02:10:52)

07:50 Jeff Jarrett escapes
08:33 Psycho Clown out
09:19 Psycho Clown back in
09:43 Mamba out
11:57 Killer Kross out
13:43 Máximo out
19:02 Psycho Clown out

Aerostar beat Laredo Kid, Hijo Del Vikingo, Jack Evans, Sammy Guevara, Australian Suicide, Taurus, Golden Magic, Myzteziz to win the AAA’s Rey de Reyes
(26:24, great, 02:54:07)

00:00 Vikingo & Myzteziz start
01:00 Eclipse Vengador Jr. enters
04:23 Taurus enters
05:41 Laredo Kid enters
07:08 Sammy Guevara
08:30 Jack Evans enters
08:30 Golden Magic enters
08:46 Taurus Rodeo Driver Eclipse Vengador
09:30 Aerostar enters
13:55 Taurus Rodeo Driver Myzteziz Jr.
14:16 Taurus Rodeo Driver Golden Magic
16:10 Hijo del Vikingo reverse 450 splash Jack Evans
17:37 Laredo Kid 450 splash Sammy Guevera
19:33 Aerostar super plancha Taurus
22:17 Aerostar splash Vikingo
26:24 Aerostar springboard rolling cutter Laredo Kid

Fénix & Pentagón Jr. beat Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. to win the AAA World Tag Team Championship
(7:55, Fenix double stomp/Pentagon package piledriver Texano, good, 03:25:27)

Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson beat Fénix & Pentagón Jr. © for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
(7:08, Meltzer Driver on Pentagon, good, 03:42:30)

What happened:

So much happened.

the chair is a shield but Keyra still gets a foot thru

A chaotic main event sequence saw the tag team titles change hands twice and end up on the waists of the Young Bucks. Pentagon & Fenix defeated Los Mercenarios to first win the titles in a match that was obviously shorter than usual for reasons. As Texano & Escorpión disappeared into the ether, Konnan confronted Fenix & Pentagon for their refusal to join him. This was a distraction for the lights to go out and the Young Bucks to show up in the ring. Fenix & Penta superkicked Konnan, and a match spontaneously started. (It was only clear it was meant to be a match because Piero stayed in the ring, there was no announcement or signal a new match was starting.) The Bucks dominated the early portion of the match, the Lucha Brothers made a comeback to their usual finishing sequence, and the Bucks kicked out. Fenix took an Indytaker on the floor and Penta was eventually defeated 2 on 1 after a Meltzer Driver.

The crowd did not react to the Young Bucks as they might in the US or Japan. They did eventually get into the match during the Lucha Brothers comeback, but it was probably the quietest crowd the Bucks have been in front of in a long time. Earlier in the night, Konnan had been an anti-AEW heel against face Cody Rhodes, so anyone following this angle had to be confused about it.

Aerostar won the Rey de Reyes, defeating Laredo Kid in what turned out to be an elimination match with timed entries. Both Vampiro & Jesus Zuniga said there were 11 people in the match, which was odd because 9 people were announced and only 9 people ended up being in the match. (The best guess is this was supposed to tease the Young Bucks being in that match instead, though it didn’t seem to work.) The 9 people weren’t the original 9 anyway, as Australian Suicide was missing for unexplained reasons and replaced by “Sombra Vengador Jr.”, a character from the “Por La Mascara” TV show on Space. He was portrayed by Lanzelot on this occasion.

end of Los Perros del Mal

Psycho Clown won a six-man escape the cage match after putting La Mascara thru a table. Brazo de Plata was at ringside for the Brazo family fight and gave Jeff Jarrett a mighty chop. This seemed a pretty definite win that should end the road to a hair match (though the hair match is still probably happening.)

The OGTs versus Puma, Pagano and Drago match had a few severe moments which appeared to be serious injuries and were later said not to have been them. Puma King attempted to give Super Fly a high-velocity sunset flip powerbomb thru a table to the outside, but the table was not correctly positioned and Super Fly’s head smacked on the edge of the table instead. A Pagano/Chessman backward plunge off the top rope thru a table seemed to go as dangerously as planned, though Chessman’s fist punched a hole thru the table on impact instead of it being broken. Chessman was checking his hand like it was broken, but AAA insisted he and Super Fly were OK.

Daga betrayed Joe Lider in the closing moments of the Perros del Mal reunion match, giving Poder del Norte the win. Daga told the announcers, Perros del Mal was done, they needed him but he didn’t need them. Poder del Norte put Joe Lider thru a table during the post-match, in something that was mostly in a small window while other things were happening.

Villano III senton

This post-match also played into an earlier bit in the women’s match. Faby Apache confronted Lady Shani (wanted a rematch), Keyra (want her to close her mouth) and Hijo del Tirantes (want him to leave her alone) after Shani retained her title. This just got Faby attacked first by Hijo del Tirantes, then Keyra & Tormenta. Tormenta seemed to be Keyra’s new ally, at least for this night. Shani & Taya surprisingly made the save for Faby, who didn’t want much to do with them then. Later, when Keyra & Tormenta again attacked Taya after the Perros del Mal match, Faby returned the favor with a save and was friendly towards Taya. This seemed to be setting up a Faby/Shani/Taya vs Keyra/Tormenta/someone else (Maravilla? Tirantes?) direction.

Cody appeared in an in-ring segment with Hugo Savonvich to talk about the partnership between the two companies. Cody teased the idea of Chris Jericho & Kenny Omega coming to AAA and offered Hugo a spot as working on the Spanish media. Hugo accepted. They were interrupted by Konnan, with Taurus, Escorpión, and Texano. Konnan demanded that everything in Mexico run thru him, while Cody pointed out that Konnan was now just an employee in AAA and not an executive like him. This escalated into a fight, with Cody taking out Los Mercenarios (long night for them) until Taurus speared him. Psycho Clown led a group of AAA técnicos – Taya, Shani, Aerostar, Drago – in running off the rudos and then posing for photos.

Lady Maravilla continues to have Niño Hamburguesa under her spell. Hamburguesa would not hurt her and stopped Big Mami from doing the same a couple of times. The champions managed to get it together enough to beat Villano III Jr., but there were more problems after the match when Hamburguesa carried Maravilla off to the back.

Blue Demon appeared. It was unclear why.

Thoughts:

a dive

The “double” main event sacrificed both matches to get to the storyline. Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. versus Pentagon & Fenix came off as a match rushing to fit in on TV time. There were a few the highpoints of a Lucha Brothers match. It was also very obviously off in some ways, and Rey Escorpion wasn’t having a good match. The Young Bucks match had more of a story to it, and more offense to the Lucha Brothers than I had felt the first time I saw it. It’s a weird compromise of a situation: they would’ve had more time for everyone if Texano & Escorpión weren’t treated as equals to the other teams and not just disposable people in the way of the match they really wanted to do, but they also clearly didn’t want to give away a ‘real’ Lucha Brothers versus Young Bucks match two months out from Double or Nothing. What we got was something that’ll probably be sufficient as a highlight package but wasn’t alone enough to get the Young Bucks over to a very unfamiliar AAA audience, and didn’t really satisfy anyone who came into the show believing Los Mercenarios versus Lucha Brothers were the main event. (The match got little reaction, so maybe there weren’t many of those people to begin with.) This AAA match was sacrificed to get AEW’s big match over. If it’s the start of a well-told story that gets a rematch over for TripleMania, it’ll be worth it. It’s tough to give scattershot AAA that much faith.

The Rey de Reyes delivered on lots and lots of crazy spots, and actually tried to get people over in the booking too. Taurus had his best night since his return by far, with the interaction earlier with Cody and beating people one after another impressively. It would help if there was some follow up from this, but it was a good start. Once Taurus was out, this seemed like Vikingo’s match to win. He did well with the time (except for the tough landing on Jack Evans) but really didn’t get any special focus before he was out. The Aerostar win was helped by it being over Laredo Kid, the guy who meant to most coming in. It did sort of feel like it came down to people everyone likes but no one’s quite sure if they’re meant to be a top star; it was a better field than Aerostar’s long ago Copa Antonio Pena win but it also was a bit of a self-contained universe. The big positive here is they had enough time to give everyone a moment, including Sammy & Jack further establishing their team (without Suicide for whatever reason.) It wasn’t perfect but it was a lot of fun.

Golden Magic headscissors

The AAA cage match was very much an AAA cage. It coalesced into something coherent after they got rid of half the field and had enough space (physical, mental) to actually tell some story beyond people wandering around a small space and hitting each other. The Brazos story was the only thing that mattered here. They got a lot out of Brazo de Plata at ringside. La Mascara seemed to actually try and got laid out at the end. They don’t really need to do more with the La Mascara versus his family feud after this, but it’s also obviously going to keep going.

This will always be the match where Averno wrestled in a Batman outfit for no particular reason and Super Fly went the back of the head into the corner of a table on a powerbomb. The match was alright, hitting the usual high spots with these guys, but most of it was immediately flush from my mind. I had to go back and watch it later to figure out how Averno actually won. They didn’t do a bad job but it is not a match I’d want to rewatch.

The Perros del Mal was a solid action match that wasn’t really sinking in with me until the angle at the end, and then five hundred things happened at once. Poder del Norte wasn’t at all the focus here but did well taking the Perros offense and making an impression with the time they got. AAA did a good job of selling the importance of the Perros del Mal with the pre-match video and the shirts, though the turn still came off as a bit random. Daga seemed motivated to have a good night and was a lot better than in Monterrey. Borderline match, could’ve gone OK or good on it.

Chik Tormenta Clash

The four-way women matches make up for some of the limitations of the women by just speeding up the action and not giving a moment to think about what just happened. They did it more so here, with the weapons added just to give more craziness. Not everything came out smooth, especially early on, but it became quite a spectacle by the end. Also, the chair might have saved Chik Tormenta’s life from the Keyra corner dropkick. The Spanish Fly spot to the outside looked impressive, relatively safe, and kept Keyra out of the ring at the finish. This also was an effective win for Lady Shani, who could’ve used one. The angles after the match seem to be only clear in that we’re never getting any of the singles matches that are being set up, but it did feel like something was happening.

The opener wasn’t as crazy as some of their multi-team defenses. It is a lot to ask the técnicos to carry the speed of the action by themselves, but they still had some impressive moments. The match actually more one-sided than I would’ve figured, with Maravilla and Villano’s involvement being more about the storyline than anything they showed on. The storyline moved on, so I liked it.

CMLL Homenaje a Dos Leyendas: 2019-03-15

wheeee

Recapped: 03/16/2019

Matches:

Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora, Vangellys beat Audaz, Esfinge, Tritón
(10:58 [3:10, 3:47, 4:01], 2/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Átomo, El Gallito, Microman beat Chamuel, Mije, Zacarias el Perico
(14:03 [5:05, 4:05, 4:53], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Diamante Azul, Soberano Jr., Titán beat Ephesto, Mephisto, Templario
(8:02 [2:19, 5:43], 1/2, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Bárbaro Cavernario, Gilbert el Boricua, Negro Casas
(16:35 [5:47, 3:56, 6:52], 2/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero © beat Carístico, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr. to retain the CMLL World Trios Championship
(17:16 [4:09, 2:20, 10:47], 1/3, great, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja beat La Bestia Del Ring & Terrible in a hair match
(21:03 [3:59, 2:30, 14:34], 1 DQ/3, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

Dragon Lee doing Dragon Lee things

Los Ingobernables were Dqed for using belts in the first fall. Terrible’s right shoulder goes out trying to catch an Angel de Oro dive right after La Bestia del Ring has been eliminated. Both Bestia and Tirantes try to pop the arm back into the socket, but neither has much success. Commissioner Rambo teases ejecting La Comandante to buy the doctor some time to work with on Terrible, but it clearly Terrible still can’t do anything. Angel de Oro and Terrible talk in the ring, and Oro quickly beats him with a sharpshooter he’s never used before (because the campana needs Terrible’s arms.)

Terrible is taking quickly to the back to get his arm looked at, with the Chavez fighting it with Bestia del Ring to stall before his hair cut starts. Terrible comes back, in discomfort and seemingly unable to move his right arm, still cutting his own hair before attacking the rudos. The rudos only get their hair cut in the ring, and shaved later backstage.

usually he goes far not up

Negro Casas made his return from injury in the fourth match, though they played off the knee injury in the finish.

Ephesto & Mephisto were wearing Blue Demon themed version of their normal masks. Diamante Azul, who was designed with the idea of being a modern Blue Demon, was wearing a lot less blue than normal (though it may have part of a bigger plan since Soberano was also mostly wearing white.)

With Mr. Niebla back, Zacarias is back to painting Niebla’s chest tattoo on his own body. MicroAngel was the referee.

Blue Demon was remembered after the second match. The actor who portrayed Blue Demon (on the Televisa produced show) was part of the ceremony. Sofia Alonso was announced as commercial director of CMLL, which is a promotion (or a reveal.) This bit got some loud whistles and not the usual big round of applause. Live reports suggest the crowd noise (loud boos) was turned way down.

Thoughts:

Sanson & Forastero

The main event wasn’t much. It was easily the worst match of the night. At last part of it is because whatever they were going to do for the finishing stretch (or maybe just the finish) went out the window with Terrible’s shoulder. The obvious problems going into the match were not solved prior. They built this match around Los Ingobernables offense for two falls, which is not the best of ideas for this team. There’s a lot of two-man spots where Terrible looks to be doing 80% of the work. On the other hand, Bestia del Ring attempting to take bumps for the Chavez offense was also bad. Bestia trying to do Rush bits were a good reminder about how much more charisma Rush has. CMLL’s refusal to show Bestia going into the crowd or the announce desk was a good reminder of CMLL’s own limitations. I don’t know that this really did anything for anyone, but people still showed up for it and I didn’t really understand that either, so maybe I’m missing the whole picture.

The title match was the extended long play of the Guerreros versus a random assortment of técnicos match they’ve run many times before. If you were hoping for something in the match that would explain why these three flyers were teaming, you went home disappointed. If you wanted them to see them run thru every big match spot, you did at least get that. They built to the most spectacular spots at the end, and played off Caristico going for La Mistica too many times. It’d be for the best if something else got cycled in as the big action match, this match does not benefit from being used in the same space so often.

The NGD/Casas match was a little bit better than I was expecting. Gilbert looked better than has in weeks, and much better with NGD than Diamante Azul last week. The NGD guys were fired up for the big show and broke out a few new spots. Sansón losing his mask on his own finish but keeping it together enough cover up while covering Negro Casas was something. Forastero nailed his ramp running dropkick. Casas playing off the leg work and his own knee injury as part of the finishing bit is something only he does around here.

Microman

The tercera was much shorter than usual, without the long fall that usually goes with a two fall match. (CMLL was time conscious on the whole show, sending people out quicker for entrances from the start.) They made up for it by going at a quick pace from the start, with even Mephisto & Ephesto moving around a lot faster than they had in the past. Titan & Soberano looked spectacular on their dives. Diamante Azul was fine until the end, when he struggled oddly with a press slam and weirdly won on his deep armdrag. Not the first time where Azul seemed like he ran out of lifting power by the end of the match.

The micros match was fun, though it felt a little bit sloppier than usual. Maybe the last camera shot centered on Chamuel’s shoulder being up for the final pin is just sticking in my head. There were other moments where people seemed to be in the wrong position or oddly paused during the match. Atomo tripping twice to cradle Mije in the first fall was a sight. Microman did have some cool moments, they got Atomo a moment of his own with his big splash on everyone, and the crowd seemed to genuinely like the match.

The opener was obviously better than what CMLL throws out as openers, but it was also one on the verge of getting very good and never quite getting there. It had the highlights of a spectacle match, with Triton getting in a few big moments, but the drama wasn’t really there. The fans treated this like a big show by booing the first slip they saw. I think Vangellys’ wheel kick is now a big match only move. I can’t recall him doing in the even Último Guerrero series and he used to work that in to every match. Villano III Jr. blended in better, though the decision to have him do a dive and not Audaz was odd. It was also funny when he decided to celebrate his team winning while the match was still going on behind him.

Terrible loses a shoulder and his hair at H2L, Young Bucks at Rey de Reyes tonight?

caveman tope

CMLL (FRI) 03/15/2019 Arena México [CMLL, ESTOEstrellas del RingHeraldo de MexicoLucha CentralMarcaOvacionesR de RudoRecordSuperluchasThe Gladiatores]
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas 2019 (Salvador Lutteroth & Blue Demon)
1) Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora, Vangellys b Audaz, Esfinge, Tritón LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 15 DE MARZO  DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
10:58. Rudos took 2/3. Audaz replaced Titan (moved up) on 02/27.
2) Átomo, El Gallito, Microman b Chamuel, Mije, Zacarias el Perico LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 15 DE MARZO  DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
14:03. Tecnicos took 1/3. Money thrown in.
3) Diamante Azul, Soberano Jr., Titán b Ephesto, Mephisto, Templario LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 15 DE MARZO  DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
8:02. Straight falls, great match. Diamante Azul & Titan replaced Caristico & Dragon Lee (moved up) on 2/27.
4) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Bárbaro Cavernario, Gilbert el Boricua, Negro Casas LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 15 DE MARZO  DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
16:35. NGD took 2/3 in Negro Casas’ return from injury.
5) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero © b Carístico, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr. [CMLL TRIOSLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 15 DE MARZO  DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
17:16. 2nd defense. King Phoenix & Penta were pulled from the show on 02/27, replaced by Dragon Lee & Caristico to keep an international stars theme. Guerreros took 1/3 to keep the titles. Money thrown in (and not all cleaned up; coins were very visible on the mat during the main event.)
6) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja b La Bestia Del Ring & Terrible [hairLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 15 DE MARZO  DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
21:03. Los Ingobernables were DQed for excessive violence in the first, then took the second fall. In the third, Bestia beat Niebla, Angel de Oro beat Bestia, Terrible suffered a shoulder injury, and Angel de Oro beat Terrible to take both the rudos hair.

CMLL promos: Los Ingobernables, the Chavez family, the Blue Demon Family & Sofia Alonso, Los Guerreros Laguneros, NGD, Soberano, Diamante Azul & Titan, the micro tecnicos, and Hijo del Villano III, Polvora and Vangellys.

Pressroom interviews: Chavez Brothers (Box Y Lucha, +LuchaTV), Los Ingobernables (Box Y Lucha, +LuchaTV), Los Guerrero (Box Y Lucha, +LuchaTV), Blue Demon’s son Alejandro Munzo (+LuchaTV), who makes a point of saying there will only be on Blue Demon when asked if a new wrestler will take on the name.

I haven’t posted my recap yet – there are enough other ones up there that you should be covered for the moment. The quicker version was the undercard was generally low level good stuff, better than an average Friday if not feeling like a big match. The title match was one of the better possible version of a match seen a lot. The main event was not the best possible version of that match, probably one of the lesser ones. Terrible’s right shoulder is messed up catching a tope just when they started the final 1v1 sequence. It led to about 40 seconds of panic and then a finish to get out of there. Bestia and Terrible got their hair cut in front of the fans, and their hair buzzed off later backstage.

Maybe the takeaway from the show as the loud negative reaction the Blue Demon ceremony. Sofia Alonso, Tenoch Huerta, and Alejandro Munoz were part of a presentation that was heavily booed live. (Thru the magic of editing, you could make out a few whistles but it just seemed like a weirdly dead crowd on video. This might be a reason the show wasn’t up as quick as originally promised.) My guess is the fan who is coming to Arena Mexico sees the luchador Blue Demon Jr. as the rightful heir to the legacy and were negative about a ceremony that didn’t include him or acknowledge his existence. The Arena Mexico crowd also seems a bit entitled, buying tickets for big shows seemingly just to show up and boo whatever the company is presenting. Arena Mexico appeared to be close to full, which is a big (but depressing) achievement given the card. It didn’t seem like an indication the crowd was really into Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja, since they were loudly booed during the main event.  It is people showing up for the sake of showing up.

CMLL’s internet presentation of the show was a disaster, but a disaster in a more familiar way than October’s streaming issues. Putting the pieces together after the fact, CMLL appears to have decided by Wednesday (and probably earlier) that they were not going to stream the show live to keep fans from Mexico who didn’t buy a ticket from seeing it. Julio Cesar Rivera mentioned on CMLL Informa that fans in the US would be able to see the show, but no one understood what it meant. CMLL did not explain what they were doing until about an hour before the show, where a series of Tweets and a Facebook post explained the show would be airing live on Nuestra Vision (a digital-only channel available on a few scattered affiliates) live in the US, posted on YouTube at midnight (did not happen at the time), air on Televisa today and stream on Marca on Tuesday. Nuestra Vision is owned by the same people as Marca, so the most optimistic way of thinking about is CMLL trying to get around the issues they’ve had with internet.tv by trying a different platform. Just, the platform they picked was available to so few people that they might as well have not even bothered. (If you did see the show on Nuestra Vision, I’d be really interested in hearing what it was like.) Keeping everything quiet until the last minute did not help CMLL make any more money and just annoyed everyone, but that is consistent with CMLL’s strategy – and really most Mexican wrestling companies. They remain terrible at dealing with the public they’re trying to sell towards.

The show is up on YouTube now so this really hardly matters anymore for now. But keep in mind this weirdness with Homenaje a Dos Leyendas when Aniversario comes up in September. If they avoid talking about the streaming situation on Monday/Tuesday of that week, just assume the most unhelpful possible outcome is happening and you won’t be able to see the show until the next day.

CMLL announced the Incredible Pairs tournament is happening in April this year. No specific dates were announced. I would like to bet on Atlantis & Villano 4 being a team.

 

Rush defeated Bandido last night in Ring of Honor in a match of two men who had been undefeated to that point. This launched Rush into a feud with Dalton Castle. Castle has been doing a losing streak and had been teasing a turn as a result, all of which seemed to be dropped in favor of a Rush/Castle match at MSG. You can already tell that there are going to be too many matches on that show and things are going to have to be cut for time; Rush/Castle seems like a good bet for that. I could see them actually matching up well but it doesn’t seem like a big priority.

Rey de Reyes is tonight in Puebla. It’s a 9:30 pm ish start for me – this page will help for you given the weird Daylight Savings Time issues – but the big point is it’ll probably be a late night, given AAA usually runs at least 3 hours for big shows. It’ll stream on Twitch in both Spanish and Vampiro Speak. I wrote a lot of words on this show on this show for Voices of Wrestling. The one big change from that is we’ve gone from “maybe the Young Bucks will be there” to “oh, either they’re at the Mexico City airport or someone is really good at photoshop“. It does solve the mystery of why AAA is headling the show with a tag match – there’s a good chance the Jacksons are walking away with the tag belts. AAA hasn’t even strongly hinted they’ll be there. AEW definitely wants their wrestlers to only appear by surprise at this point in time, but the promotions they’ve been running in are trying to fill buildings in the hundreds, and generally sold out already and so can try some ticket selling for creating a moment that might get those same people to come back next month. AAA is trying to sell a building in the thousands, and to people who are probably not going to another AAA show this year because AAA doesn’t run that many tapings in Puebla. The people AAA are selling the moment to are the people on the internet. If those people don’t know it’s happening until after it is all behind a Twitch paywall, it doesn’t do AAA much good. If this is AEW & AAA using each other to make both of them a bigger thing together, great deal. If this is AAA marking out to do a surprise Young Bucks appearance on their show in a way that doesn’t really benefit them, not as great a deal. We’ll see.

The rest of the show looks so good that the main event doesn’t even really need to hit to make it a worthwhile show. Big Mami & Nino Hamburguesa don’t fit the product AAA seems to want to go with, but AAA can’t possibly get rid of them because they’re so great at what they do and they get over every time. The women’s match will have big spots and usually is pretty good. The Reyes de Reyes will probably be better than last night’s title match, if only because there are some fresher names involved. The Perros del Mal/Poder de Norte match is a sleeper because there’s no reason for it to exist, but the people involved should make that one fun too.

AAA has a history of Rey de Reyes video package.

Blue Demon says he’s better than ever right now. Blue Demon is at a comic convention in Mexico City this weekend, which maybe is why he isn’t on this show. Given how much time AAA has focused on Wagner & Demon, the main event of this year’s TripleMania, it probably should be a big deal that they’re not on the card tonight. It literally didn’t occur to me until this paragraph. To some significant event, AAA sells itself as AAA and the individual people involved do not make a huge difference. They do make a differenc,e we’ve seen what happens if enough of the important once vanish, but AAA is AAA.

A couple of indie shows last night:

Lucha Libre Real (FRI) 03/15/2019 Arena Azteca Budokan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México [+LuchaTV, Estrellas del RIng]
1) Chris Stone Jr., Redentor, Syrus b Baby Camaleón, Príncipe Deka, Sombra Azteca Syrus, Chris Stone Jr y Redentor vs Sombra Azteca, Baby Camaleón y Príncipe Deka. (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
2) Reina Dorada & Rossy Moreno b Baronessa & Espia Maya Rossy Moreno y Reina Dorada vs Baronesa y Espía Maya con Lucha REAL (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
3) Akuma b Samoano & Tonga Akuma vs Tonga y el Samoano en Lucha en desventaja en Lucha REAL (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
2 vs 1 but Akuma won anyway. Halcon 78 Jr. made the save for Akuma after the match.
4) Metaleón, Mr. Leo, Tiger b Hijo de Canis Lupus, Troyano, Último Gladiador Tiger, Metaleón y Mr. Leo vs Ultimo Gladiador, Hijo de Canis Lupus y el Troyano. (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
Hijo de Canis Lupus replaced Eterno
5) Aero Boy & Súper Crazy b Black Taurus (Indie) & Dragón Bane Super Crazy y Aeroboy vs Black Taurus y Dragón Bane en Lucha REAL (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
6) Fresero Jr. & Mr. Iguana b Cuervo & Dark Scoria © [Lucha Libre Real TAG] Dark Cuervo y Dark Escoria (c) vs Fresero Jr y Mr. Iguana (r)  CAMPEONATOS DE PAREJAS LUCHA REAL (posted by Estrellas del Ring)

These shows have been turning up in full on +LuchaTV. Fresero & Iguana have been a rare indie team that’s caught on with indie programmers. That feud in the third is politically weird: CMLL guy feuding with two fringe AAA guys, and setting up a CMLL/AAA team. No one probably cares.

Sanchez , Invasion Indy (FRI) 03/15/2019 Arena Neza [+LuchaTV, Estrellas del Ring]
1) Karma I, Karma II, Máscara Oriental b Hantar, Kronoz, Misterik Máscara Oriental y los Hermanos Karma I y II vs Hantar, Kronoz y Misterik. (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
2) Motocross, Punker Bizarro, Rey Caballero b Chico del Barrio, Chilango, Pachuco El Bizarro, Rey Caballero y Motocross vs Mr. Pachuco, Chilango y Golden Bull. (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
3) Arlequín Negro, Liderk, Spector b Flama Roja, La Roca, Toro Negro Jr. Comando Élite, Spector y Liderk y Arlequín Negro vs Flama Roja, Toro Negro Jr y la Roca. (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
win via foul, setting up a rematch on 03/24
4) Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro, Neza Kid b Herodes, Sangre Chicana Jr., Warrior Jr. Dr. Cerebro, Cerebro Negro y Neza Kid vs Chacho Herodes Jr, Hijo de Sangre Chicana y Warrior Jr. (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
good match. Sangre Chicana and Herodes Jr. invited Warrior Jr. to join their junior group
5) Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Juventud Guerrera b Flamita & Golden Magic Juventud Guerrera y el Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Flamita y Golden Magic en la Arena Neza (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
Golden Magic & Flamita aren’t working well together and Flamita unmasked Golden Magic at the end of the match.
6) Penta Zero M & Rey Fénix (Indie) b Hijo de LA Park & Volador Jr. Penta 0M y Fénix vs Volador Jr y el Hijo de L.A Park en la Arena Neza (posted by Estrellas del Ring)
Lucha Brothers won. Volador wanted another fall, didn’t get it, so he and Park unmasked Penta & Fenix.

Not a lot of people seemed to care about this one; lights are very low in the photos but it seemed less than half full and reports are down on the main event. Had no idea a Flamita/Golden Magic feud was going on.

The Arena Mexicali promoter is indefinitely suspended. It reads as though they got caught using an unlicensed wrestler and ran an unapproved extreme match.

The King Rey Mysterio (who says he’s a nephew of Rey Sr.) claims someone is extorting him with photos him unmasked.

Musashi appears to have returned Michinoku Pro, after about 10 months in Mexico.

Konnan Big is a stand-up comedian now.

Lineup

CMLL (FRI) 03/22/2019 Arena México
1) Star Jr. & Stigma vs El Coyote & Grako
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Mystique vs Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis
3) Audaz, Flyer, Stuka Jr. vs Kawato San, Pólvora, Vangellys
4) Cavernario vs Forastero [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Titán vs La Bestia Del Ring, Mr. Niebla, Terrible
6) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Back to normal isn’t a big leap when the big show wasn’t that big. Main event is close to a rematch of the title match, with Diamante Azul stepping in for Dragon Lee. The feuding teams meet in the semi-main and will be overshadowed by Friday night Mr. Niebla. Forastero can try to beat Cavernario two straight weeks.