Aramis wins Battle of Naucalpan, Gladiadors tonight, Dragon Lee title match tomorrow morning

Lucha Memes, Mexa (WED) 05/01/2019 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), The Gladiatores, Zona Ruda]
1) Silueta DRAW Lady Flammer
rematch challenges followed
2) Puma King b Arez [Battle of Naucalpan, quarterfinal]
3) Aramis b Flamita [Battle of Naucalpan, quarterfinal]
4) Laredo Kid b Arkángel Divino [Battle of Naucalpan, quarterfinal]
5) Steve Pain b Séptimo Dragón [Battle of Naucalpan, quarterfinal]
Septimo Dragon replaced Rey Hours
6) Virus b Jonathan Gresham
7) Templario & The Tiger b Audaz (CMLL) & Último Maldito and Black Dragón & Torito Negro and Alas de Acero & Iron Kid
8) Aramis b Laredo Kid [Battle of Naucalpan, semifinal]
9) Puma King b Aramis [Battle of Naucalpan, semifinal]
10) Último Guerrero b El Bandido
11) Metaleón b Aeroboy, El Diablo Fly Star, Komander, Black Danger, Murciélago Plateado Jr.
Negro Casas appeared at the start of the show saying illness would prevent him from wrestling.
12) Aramis b Puma King [Battle of Naucalpan, final]

The show sounds like it was really good, with Bandido/Ultimo Guerrero and the tournament final getting the loudest reaction. Aramis is a really good pick for the first winner, a guy everyone knows is really good but is new and hasn’t broken thru yet.

They appeared to be a sellout or close to it, so I imagine there really will be a Battle of Naucalpan 2. I haven’t done a really deep look, but I believe they’ve managed to keep this video off this show off the internet so far. There’s were clips live on Instagram, but that’s about normal for US indie promotions. Some of the usual YouTubers seem to have ended up at Arena Lopez Mateos for a Caristico headlined show instead. I do still assume this show up turn up but that’s just a guess.

Sofia Alonso (& friend, but not that friend) was spotted in the crowd. I think she might have been there just for part of the show. Mexa Wrestling acknowledged her in their post thanking everyone.

Going from one show with interesting matches that may or may not ever turn up to another: Elite has the first episode of Gladiators: Liga de Campeones de Lucha Libre tonight at Fronton Mexico. We have a lineup, and that’s pretty much all we have. Usually, there’s a press conference for these things to get some media attention and some of the details that are missing here. There wasn’t one this time. If you can sell lucha tickets for a big venue solely thru posting about them on social media, they’re going to sell some tickets. (There appeared to be plenty of tickets available.) I fear this is a thing that people inside the “paying way too much attention to wrestling” bubble all know about and no one else does.

Gladiadors is said to be taped for Azteca. Azteca hasn’t talked about it. There’s been zero indication when it’ll air. I’m not even sure exactly how long the shows are supposed to be. I’ve heard it mentioned as one hour shows, which would mean the five matches per episode would have to be kept relatively short. They’re taping two weeks of TV in one night, and coming back every two weeks until they get to ten episodes. This is an Elite branded show, though it is likely AAA people will be running things behind the scenes. (Konnan is en-route.) It also means it is likely some of these matches will change.

These shows will have five tournaments to determine champions, which will, in theory, led to title defenses in home promotions. The heavyweight & tag team divisions appear to be round-robin tournaments, and the others may be simple elimination style The tournament matches announced for tonight

• Welterweight: Relampago vs TBA, Ciclon Ramirez vs Villano III Jr.
• Middleweight: Imposible vs Arez, Ace Austin vs Draztick Boy
• Light Heavyweight: Averno vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs TBA and Golden Magic vs Eddie Edwards vs Eterno
• Heavyweight: LA Park vs Fatu and Taurus vs Pagano
• Tag Team: Rey Escorpion & Texano Jr. vs Bengala & Puma King and Fenix & Pentagon vs Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz

Again, those are the matches announced. We all understand these will likely not be the matches that actually happen. Maybe some will, maybe most of the people will be there, but the odds of these tournaments making any sense is low.

Dragon Lee defends the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ishimori early tomorrow morning in NJPW. Dragon Lee and others have headlined NJPW shows before, even outside of FantasticaMania, but it might be the first time for a major show like this. You may want to stay off social media tomorrow if you’re planning on watching the match later. I think Dragon Lee’s a very slight favorite. The match should be excellent either way.

This week’s Keepin’ It 100 has Konnan repeating the bit from the recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter about Fenix & Penta soon signing only to work with AEW & AAA. He may be a little bit biased; Konnan later says the Lucha Brothers working The Crash was “one of the last things keeping them afloat.” He seems confident the AAA deal is going to happen. Konnan says the Mexicali arena was 90% sold out (and a 8,000 seat building), up from 25% when he ran there with The Crash. Murder Clown comes up and Konnan mentions Vampiro told him to not to do the 619 and Konnan encourages him to do it and other high spots. Konnan also mentions Flamita will be seen a lot in Impact.

There are a few more details on AAA’s 09/15 show in MSG. The ticket page is up on Ticketmaster, though there are no prices revealed. It mentions there’s a VIP sale starting Friday. I haven’t heard any mention of that or any VIP codes to participate. There are details about the VIP packages on the Madison Square Garden site; you can pay up to $600 to get a set in the front row, access to the meet and greet, a mask and other novelties. This seems like something AAA should be advertising. The less they do so, the more it indicates this is a sold show and they’re not too worried either way right now. AAA has a lot of balls to juggle but they really haven’t pushed the on-sale date for the tickets besides mentioning it once or twice a night on a stream.

The 05/11 Warrior Wrestling show outside of Chicago was advertising Daga & Volador Jr. vs Pentagon & Fenix. Their latest email about the show today quietly has changed that to Gringo Loco vs Volador Jr. and Daga & Chris Ridgeway vs Pentagon & Fenix. This seems like CMLL saying no to the original match or not having a finish for that match.

AAA/EMW’s in Auditorio de Tijuana on 05/31

• Rayo Star, Drake, Tony Casanova vs Douglas James, Excalibur, Griff
• Laredo Kid & Hijo del Vikingo vs LAX (Ortiz & Santana)
• Scheduled to appear: Nicho el Millonario, Tessa Blanchard, Willie Mack, Taya

Willie Mack was announced for this show on Monday on Facebook, but none of us are people of the Facebook and so it didn’t become news until Wednesday. Jeff Cobb settled his Lucha Underground issues by getting his release rather quickly. Mack seems to have settled his issue by not working ROH & NWA at the moment and picking up AAA dates instead.

Psicosis/Nicho was in a bad car accident in Canada. He appears to be fine. He’s been wrestling across the country for the last month. The car he was riding in got on some ice, spun and ended up in a watery ditch. The person in the passenger seat ended up in the hospital and may have only made it that far thanks to Psicosis and the driver saving him from drowning while the car was flipped upside down.

There’s a new book on the last decade of Arena Isabel in Cuernavaca, Morelos. This was a regular Thursday/Sunday stop for EMLL, with UWA running the building as well, until about 2009. CMLL stopped running regularly in that last decade and the book overs those final years before it was torn down. A related article about the history of the building mentions the existence of “Cuadrilatero”, which was apparently was a newsletter covering everything that happened with the shows. It covers the stories “inside, in the hallways and outside” along with saying what the best matches makes it sound something a bit more modern than the lucha magazines of the time. The magazine’s editor, Ramon Cue, is also said to be responsible for 80% of the local gimmicks. Pierroth Jr. is mentioned as the biggest star, who would still keep coming back after he became a big star.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 05/06/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Espíritu Maligno & King Rocker vs Ares & Guerrero Espacial
2) Asturiano & Millenium vs El Malayo & Fuerza Chicana
3) King Jaguar, Star Jr., Tritón vs Disturbio, El Coyote, Nitro
4) Esfinge, Kráneo, Volcano vs Hechicero, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
5) Atlantis, Místico, Soberano Jr. vs Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
6) Carístico vs Volador Jr.

Caristico usually loses to Volador, but Volador is clearly the cheating rudo this time. (Maybe a title rematch on 05/13?)

Famous vacation-haver Mistico is back after a couple of weeks off of streams. He should do a travel vlog!

This would be Coyote’s Arena Puebla debut.

CMLL (TUE) 05/07/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Black Sugar, El Alteño, Luminoso vs Maléfico, Mr. Apolo, Thunder Boy
2) Avispa Dorada, La Maligna, Lluvia vs Dalys, Reyna Isis, Tiffany
3) Drone, Rey Cometa, Star Jr. vs Kawato San, Pólvora, Virus
4) Blue Panther, Kráneo, Volcano vs Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Shocker
5) Atlantis, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

A show. Kraneo is going to get back from Puebla maybe 1-2 AM, sleep for a few hours, and then get on a bus to go to Guadalajara around noon. That’s a tough day.