Kaho/Amapola & UG/Mascara move closer to hair matches, Dorian Roldan interview, Matt Taven back in CMLL next week

quite a dropkick

CMLL (FRI) 05/10/2019 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha CentralMarcaOvacionesRecord]
1) Magia Blanca & Stigma b Espanto Jr. & Hijo del Signo LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE MAYO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
13:18. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Drone, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Kawato San, Pólvora, Vangellys LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE MAYO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
14:10. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Kaho Kobayashi DCOR Amapola [lightningLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE MAYO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
6:03. Double countout as they brawled outside the ring. The two agreed to a a hair match.
4) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr. b Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero, Villano IV LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE MAYO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
13:03. Tecnicos took 1/3.
5) Cuatrero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE MAYO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
8:11. Dinamitas took straight falls, Mascara sneaking in a foul on Ultimo Guerrero. The two agreed to a hair match.
6) Dragón Lee, Místico, Volador Jr. b Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 10 DE MAYO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
11:51. Tecnicos took 1/3.

Kaho Kobayashi says she’s not leaving Mexico until she takes Amapola’s hair. Amapola’s promo tells Kaho to get better. Kaho’s hair is purple now, would she purple-ize her hair if she was losing it soon? Maybe? The Atlantis and Villano Family made challenges, as did the Dinamitas and Guerreros.

A totally skippable show match quality wise. It was important in making it clear matches were going to happen, but that is dependent on you caring about those matches. Both Amapola/Kobayashi and Mascara/Guerrero were definitely agreed to on this show, which leads into a press conference announced for Thursday. CMLL should announce date(s?) for those two matches, maybe a tournament, maybe more.

Dragon Lee’s reason, if there is one, for being on this show remains a mystery. He did catch up with Exatlon teammates after the match.

Nothing big going on this weekend. AAA has this weekend off. The Saturday and Sunday CMLL have nothing critically important. Metalico maybe becoming a tecnico again is the only thing that sticks out. IWRG has a promising if not super important card. Most of the big indie promotions are off. The most interesting indie show might be the Lucha Libre London shows, with Santo, Casandro, and Fantasma. The first of the doubleheader is already done by the time you’re reading it and we’ll probably not see more than clips from it.

SuperLuchas has a wide-reaching interview with Dorian Roldan, from the TV Azteca offices. That location, and recent SuperLuchas articles reporting much lower ratings that it seemed AAA & TV Azteca were reporting suggested it be an interview focusing on that subject. It turns out those numbers really never directly come up, though a lot of other things about AAA’s TV. This is one where you’re better reading it for yourself; I’m going to summarize what I can here.

The most interesting part to me was the extended history of AAA’s TV deals. Let me try to condense it into a timeline:

  • 1992: Antonio Pena & Televisa start a lucha libre promotion. They initially want to call it OILL (Oraganizacion Internacional de Lucha Libre) but eventually decide to use “Asistencia, Asesoria, Administracion de Espectaculos”, a name Televisa had used for other projects. Televisa pays Pena for the TV rights but gets to sell sponsorships. Televisa also takes care of production.
  • 1995: Mexico economy craters and Televisa wants to get out of AAA. Pena creates Promociones Antonio Pena as a separate entity and it buys full control of AAA.
  • Somewhere in here, Televisa stops paying Pena rights for the TV but gives Pena the power to sell sponsorship rights (so he’s the one making the money off the Corona logo at this point.)
  • 2000-ish: Televisa tells AAA that they’re no longer paying for production and it is up to AAA to pay for it. AAA rents a production unit from MVS.
  • 2002: AAA decides to stop renting production and buy their own in-house production equipment. Televisa’s only role at this point is to air the show, and they dictate how long that show will be. (CMLL also had to pay for production by this point.)
  • 2008: WWE comes to Televisa and TV Azteca. Things go really well for a while.
  • 2013: things are going less well for WWE & Televisa. The ratings have tanked and Televisa decides to get rid of wrestling from their broadcast channels. All wrestling, which means AAA & CMLL need to go too, though they could continue on the TDN cable station. This decision is made around September of the year. Dorian Roldan meets with Televisa executives, tells them he’s got sponsorships thru the end of the year dependent on AAA being on broadcast TV and asks for a reprieve until December to figure something out.
  • 2013-2016: Televisa allows AAA to buy TV time to keep their slot. Roldan says AAA was making the most money at this point by selling sponsorships for broadcast TV, so it made sense to do what they had to keep that air time. Roldan says CMLL made at least one attempt to get back on Televisa, only to find out they would be required to pay for TV time as well and pass.
  • 2017: AAA wants to get on Univision (US), but Roldan is not confident AAA looked good enough to get picked up because their production unit is outdated. AAA decides to not only to pay Televisa for TV time but also pay them to produce the AAA show. AAA’s deal with Univision does not get done and they see no improvement in Mexico.
  • 2018: AAA has done good numbers with their TripleMania specials for two years. This seems like a good thing. Televisa apparently is not impressed. They raise the rate they’re charging AAA for TV time. Roldan talks to TV Azteca, who with they share some prominent sponsors and decides to make the move.
  • 2019: AAA debuts on TV Azteca. TV Azteca is paying CMLL a rights fee. Televisa reacts and brings back CMLL (and is believed to be paying them a rights fee.)

There’s a lot of other big pictures thoughts in here. Dorian Roldan feels WWE has made Mexico and Latin America a low priority and doesn’t see them as a big threat domestically to AAA. He welcomes the idea of WWE trying a NXT Mexico but does not think they’d do well, that there’s not a fan base big enough to support them without WWE being on strong broadcast TV and that an NXT Mexico show wouldn’t get that TV deal either. Roldan sees the wrestling fans of Mexico split three ways

  • 5% are the hardcores who follow everything super closely, know the AEW guys and NJPW.
  • 45% know the difference between AAA & CMLL but aren’t more knowledgable than that.
  • 50% have so little knowledge that go to an Arena Mexico show thinking they’re seeing AAA

Dorian Roldan’s big goal still is the United States, feeling there’s just so much money to be made there (and holding up the Mexican National Team playing in the US as proof.) He also feels like, by going after the Hispanic market, he won’t be as directly competing with WWE as AEW might be. The Madison Square Garden show will determine how strong they go in that path forward. AAA was not expecting to sell out like AEW show, believing the Hispanic market isn’t going to buy tickets that far in advance, but feels like they’ve done well given how little noise they’ve made so far. AAA plans on making a lot more noise.

The thing that’s going to get the most noise from this interview is Dorian Roldan talking about the meetings he’s had with various other heads of companies. Roldan mentions speaking with Joe Koff (Ring of Honor), Ed Norholm (Impact Wrestling) and Billy Corgan (National Wrestling Alliance) over WrestleMania weekend. Roldan pushes the idea that even though they’re competitors, they should be building bridges to work together. “You need a talent, I have another talent signed with Lucha Underground, what are we fighting for?” In Roldan’s telling of it, he got Willie Mack to appear for the NWA and the Lucha Brothers to appear for AEW. That’s a completely opposite version of the Mack/NWA story from what’s been told by Mack and other people involved, where AAA/LU/Roldan was threatening legal action if the NWA (& ROH) continued to use Willie Mack. I tend to believe Mack’s side of this story and wonder what pieces are missing from Roldan’s side.

There’s a lot more here – you can read yourself about Roldan’s thoughts about an AAA/CMLL show, about wrestling in Monterrey (“I do not know a place in the world where promoters fright mone – there they strive to see who loses the most money”) and about egos in general.

AAA posted a Mother’s Day promo with Faby Apache and Marvin. You could watch Marvin grow up before your eyes if you watched the annual version of these interviews all in a row.

Add 07/06 in Guadalajara (Zapopan) to the upcoming AAA TV tapings. As that page notes, this would be AAA’s first taping in the Guadalajara in four years. They haven’t been since the 2015 Rey de Reyes show, which was twice delayed and included a fatal bus accident.

El Universal interviews Tiffany and her mom La Diabolica.

05/24 (Friday) The Crash

LuchaWorld has the latest news update.

Voices of Wrestling has a review of the ChairoKingdom show.

El Sol de Durango interviews Escoria.

Segunda Caida writes about a 1994 Negro Casas match.

This week’s Puma King video talks about having 9 matches in 5 days and ends especially weird.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 05/17/2019 Arena México
1) Magia Blanca & Star Jr. vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Sanely vs Amapola, Metálica, Tiffany
3) Esfinge, Rey Cometa, Tritón vs Felino, Hechicero, Tiger
4) Soberano Jr. vs Negro Casas [lightning]
5) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Ephesto, Máscara Año 2000, Mephisto
6) Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Cuatrero, Matt Taven, Sansón

Matt Taven returns for the first time since the Gran Prix weekend. He’s pictured with the Ring of Honor title. It seems possible he’d defend the title here. The next Ring of Honor shows are June 1st and 2nd, so he could stick around for the 05/24 CMLL show.

Otherwise, the two CMLL feuds continue. Matches 3/4 could be good. Magia Blanca and Espanto are back together in the opener, which would be very not good.

CMLL on Marca: 2019-05-10

this goes badly for Mascara

Recapped: 05/10/2019

Matches:

Magia Blanca & Stigma beat Espanto Jr. & Hijo del Signo
(13:18 [5:04, 2:57, 5:17], 2/3, bad, )

Drone, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Kawato San, Pólvora, Vangellys
(14:10 [4:57, 4:13, 5:00], 1/3, ok, )

Kaho Kobayashi and Amapola went to a draw in a lightning match
(6:03, double count out of the ring, ok, )

Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr. beat Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero, Villano IV
(13:03 [4:07, 4:47, 4:09], 1/3, ok, )

Cuatrero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
(8:11 [2:46, 5:25], 1/2, ok, )

Dragón Lee, Místico, Volador Jr. beat Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
(11:51 [4:06, 2:04, 5:41], 1/3, ok, )

What happened:

Both Kaho & Amapola and Mascara & Último Guerrero agreed to hair versus hair matches. No dates were set. Kaho & Amapola went to a double countout of the ring in their lightning match, while Mascara snuck in a foul on Ultimo Guerrero.

Thoughts:

out of here

This was a skipable show, on the lines of a Tuesday show

The main event was a perfectly fine Tuesday main event to send people home happy which happened to be on a Friday. A dozen people could’ve been in Dragon Lee’s spot. The sequences with him and Negro Casas wouldn’t have been as good with most people but it wouldn’t have affected all that much. Mr. Niebla did some Mr. Niebla things (and got pinned in the middle of them) and everyone went around with their normal sequences. This was inoffensive and unmemorable.

If effort along can make the Mascara/Ultimo Guerrero feud work, they showed that effort in the brawling moment of this match. It’s the rest of the moments that aren’t good. They’re doing the sensible thing by putting Mascara over strong, but putting Mascara over strong can make for some boring matches by NGD standards. I don’t know if this can work, but it is working as well it could be expected.

The fourth match focused on the kids. Like the kids, it was fine but not spectacular. Hijo del Villano III has added so much weight so quickly that it is strange they didn’t have him do it before he debuted. It doesn’t seem to have hurt his performance, and he’s going to eventually win over people by doing salida de banderas. Atlantis Jr. had a few more flashy moves, though not as flashy as those who proceeded. There’s not really the spark in the rivarly between them, at least not in a way that got the fan’s interest. Soberano really has his trios offense run down, which is good that it gets over and not so good in that he’s not feeling a need to keep it fresh.

science proves Gran Guerrero has the hardest dropkick

The lightning match was strange. They got in big shots early, but they never got to near falls before the surprising double count out finish. Amapola’s spear on Kaho looks good but she doesn’t do a lot more. Both did have good energy but this didn’t really develop into anything. Maybe the hair match will be bigger.

The segunda was an improvement over the opener just for being a professional match. It was also mostly just a standard midcard match, right down to the stacked up superplex. Drone has new gear that looked good, Vangellys struggling to get over for La Guelaguetza did not look good.

The end of the first fall was so bad that the rudos were shaking their hands at it. The rudos won that fall. It didn’t get much better, with the rudos botching basing spots while still getting in their own offense. Espanto Jr. and Magia Blanca were a particularly bad combination. The finish was super flat, perhaps a cover for another messed up move.

Dragon Lee (oddly) in CMLL today, RIOT, Douki BOSJ

RIOT (SAT) 05/04/2019 Arena Femenil, Monterrey, Nuevo León [LuchaMania Monterrey]
1) Sayrus b Erick Ortiz
2) Silencio b Muerte ExtremaHijo Del Espectro Jr.
Scheduled as Muerte Extrema vs Golden Boy vs Hijo del Espectro. Golden Boy was hurt before the match (Silencio his replacement) and Espectro was hurt during it.
3) Low Rider b Madness
4) Kaientai & Lord Byron b Fresero Jr. & Mr. Iguana
Un-Mexicans remain undefeated in RIOT, this time with the help of a Mini B(ryon). Fresero Jr. threw Mini B off the dressing room loft onto the Un-Mexicans post match.
5) Black Terry b Símbolo
Terry blocked a casita into a pin.
6) Iron Kid (Estado de México) b ArezKratozLátigoAramis (Estado de México)
Match of the night, including an Arez Spanish fly on Aramis off the loft. Iron Kid beat Kratoz with a Destroyer.

RIOT is ahead of Lucha Time and Kaoz in getting their results out there. Part of the reason you want make sure results get out of your show is so people know the exciting things they missed that they should come to see next time. The exciting thing we missed from this show seems like the main event. There’s a clip of that big spot that got a lot of attention. Maybe it’ll make it up as a full show to Pivotshare sometime in 2021.

Dragon Lee’s first match in the Best of Super Juniors as IWGP Junior Champion takes place around 6:30 AM on Monday. Dragon Lee apparently will be wrestling in Mexico City around 10:30 PM tonight. He’s got about 56 hours to fly to Tokyo, except he has less than that with the press conference on Sunday. I completely believed Dragon Lee being listed on tonight’s show would be one of CMLL’s usual routine match changes when it was announced last Friday. CMLL has made no change. Dragon Lee previously said he’d be in Japan for two months, so it is strange to see him back in Mexico. It is hard to make two cross-Pacific trips for a few days at home. I’m kind of both hoping Dragon Lee had a bigger reason to do this than a one-off Arena Mexico match and also hoping he did not really have a reason. Most of the reasons I can come up with aren’t happy reasons, so maybe this is better just figuring it as a 23-year-old kid thinking he can do everything. Dragon Lee tonight teams with Mistico & Volador Jr. against Cavernario, Negro Casas and Mr. Niebla. With anyone but Mr. Niebla, that’s probably a high flying action match. Mr. Niebla may keep it a bit more grounded and sillier.

Mascara 2000’s apparent feud with Ultimo Guerrero continues in the semi-final. The oldest Dinamita still wrestling teams with nephews Cuatrero and Sanson, while UG is with Gran Guerrero and Euforia as usual. They seemed to be setting up a singles match for 05/17 last week. Kaho Kobayashi & Amapola is the other rivalry seemingly setting up a hair match. They finally get to have their own singles match tonight as a lightning match.

Everything else is the “maybe OK” range. Atlantis & son team with Soberano against the Villanos and Rey Bucanero. Drone, Fuego & Guerrero Maya face Polvora, Vangellys, and Kawato, probably one year away from his own BOSJ matches. Magia Blanca makes his return to Friday shows by teaming with Stigma & Espanto Jr. & Hijo del Signo, maybe not the best guys to show what he’s got.

CMLL streams on Marca (currently Mexico only) and Facebook tonight at 8:30 pm. I will be streaming the show on YouTube tonight unless I’m secretly booked for a Guerrila Warfare match in PWG tonight. (If I am, the stream will be a couple of minutes late.)

Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

Amapola says she was surprised Kaho Kobayashi beat her. Amapola does like having rivals and is ready to fight her in hair match, be in Mexico or Japan.

Back at Fantasica Mania, Dragon Lee & Mistico celebrated their win on the final day by declaring their dreams for 2019. Dragon Lee said his goal was to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Mistico said his goal was to beat Mephisto in a mask match. Dragon Lee’s accomplished his goal. Mistico was still talking about his own in an interview with Marca, saying he wants Mephisto and him to headline Aniversario. CMLL hasn’t moved much in that direction.

Today is Mother’s Day in Mexico. Record has an article on Marisela Pena as a mother running AAA. Marcela & Skadi did a CMLL Facebook live interview last night. Arena Mexico will be open early at 7 pm tonight for mothers to take free photos with various luchadors.

Douki is now in the Best of Super Juniors, as a replacement for El Desperado. Desperado suffered a jaw injury. Flip Gordon is all out due to a visa issue, so the B Block is changed a bit. Douki has been in Japan – which is actually his home country, I forget that at times – working for Michinoku Pro and for a Taichi/TAKA promoted show. He’s coming into NJPW as an associate member of Minoru Suzuki’s group. A last minute replacement probably isn’t going to get many wins, but it does mean Bandido gets to face a fellow indie Mexican luchador on the 19th. They’ve never actually been in the same match in Mexico.

A thing I did not know: Douki was going to be in Dragon Gate’s Millenials at one point, decided to hang around Mexico instead.

The reverse-Douki known as Violento Jack is scheduled for some GCW shows this August in Japan. I don’t write much about Violento Jack in Japan because anything that isn’t New Japan is more work to find out about than I’m willing to make, but Jack still seems to be doing well in FREEDOMS and just generally in Japan.

The Lucha Libre London shows are tomorrow, and the Santo/Casandro led group is doing the usual heavy promotion. There’s an interview with Independent. There’s a video segment with Santo, Casandro, and Fantasma.

Puma King talks about being in 9 matches in 5 days.

IWRG trying to get a hold of Vampiro reminds me of his 2014 run, where he last five matches, won the heavyweight title and then immediately retired. I think there was an interview with +LuchaTV where Vampiro said he was a bad wrestler but the people liked him.

R de Rudo points out a story behind a famous Lourdes Gorbet photo. Masked luchadora La Briosa is helping a baby drink from a bottle. A few months ago on Instagram, occasional AAA luchador Halcon 78 Jr. revealed he was actually the baby in the photo.

AAA posted a video of the top five championship matches this year. More of these.

LuchaWorld has a new edition of that podcast.

Lineup

CMLL (TUE) 05/14/2019 Arena México
1) Arkalis & Halcón Suriano Jr. vs El Coyote & Grako
2) Eléctrico, Retro, Súper Astro Jr. vs Metálico, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
3) Fuego, Pegasso, Stigma vs Kawato San, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Templario [lightning]
5) El Audaz, Flyer, Kráneo vs Mr. Niebla, Rey Bucanero, Shocker
6) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Niebla Roja vs La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible

Maya/Templario should be good. It is going to be interesting to see what happens with Electrico for the immediate future. CMLL seemed lost as to what to do with Tiger after Puma left, and I wouldn’t complain about getting a few Electrico lightning matches.

Jack/Angelico to AEW, Dragon Lee, other notes

AEW

Jack Evans & Angelico are heading to AEW. Angelico posted a video with him about to sign a contract when he’s interrupted by Jack Evans (on WhatsApp) to reveal Jack is also signing. They’re coming in as a tag team. This has been in the works for a while. I’m not sure if they’ll be on Double or Nothing; Jack is listed in Queretaro but that doesn’t mean anything. (Sammy Guevera is on the show and isn’t listed.) Jack Evans works AAA shows but is believed to be a freelancer not under contract. He’s working other indies on his own, including the next Mexa Wrestling show. Both he & Angelico publically announced they were quitting Lucha Underground, though Angelico did it a bit more formally.

Today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions Hijo del Vikingo was planned to be on AEW Double or Nothing show and sees him listed on AAA’s show in Queretaro instead that day as a sign he won’t be. Again, AAA lineups are not that serious. On the other hand, promotions interested in using Hijo del Vikingo over WrestleMania weekend were told he did have a visa to travel to the US. Perhaps that has been fixed – it is obviously something AAA should be working on constantly at this moment to make sure it is done for their own show in September. I haven’t heard any indication it has been. The iffy way the AAA/MSG has been promoted does not indicate such detail work is happening. I wouldn’t expect to see Vikingo at Double or Nothing, but things can always change.

Dragon Lee posted a photo on Instagram geotagged as from Mexico City a few days ago. His Instagram story seems to indicate he’s home too. CMLL never announced a substitute for him for tomorrow’s show, so I guess he really is working on Friday. It doesn’t seem a great idea. Maybe there was something else we don’t know on that brought him home and he just happens to be working the show, because it still doesn’t make sense to me based on what we know.

Dragon Lee’s match with Taiji Ishomiri is airing on NJPW’s show on AXS tomorrow. You should watch it if you haven’t.

Bandido finished up his own matches before heading to the Best of Super Juniors last night with a main event loss to Flip Gordon in Ring of Honor. Those two will meet again, this time in the NJPW tournament, on May 22nd. Rush remained undefeated after defeating Silas Young, though he seems more likely headed to a rematch with Dalton Castle than a title match at the moment.

This week’s Keepin’ It 100 includes Konnan getting asked about the AAA MSG show. It was brought up that Psycho Clown among others weren’t on the press release, but Konnan says “everyone who is anyone [in AAA]” will be on the show. He also feels like they’ll move more tickets once matches are announced but they don’t feel a rush to do that. Konnan mentioned Killer Kross & Scarlett Bordeaux on the Cancun show (06/15), which probably means they’re working Verano de Escandalo the next day in Merida as well. Konnan likes Psycho/Escorpion feud and wants to see it in a mask versus hair match but it is not certain it’ll happen.

The Gladiators tournament also comes up, with Konnan being positive about how all the promotions were able to work together. The future of the tournament doesn’t come up. +Lucha had mentioned Elite was planning on running a show every second week. That would mean there would be a show next Thursday. There’s no sign of a show next Thursday or any other day. It is lucha libre so they could wait to the last second to announce anything but I remain skeptical we’ll see another episode of that.

Ron Harris was named Aro Lucha president. He was already involved in the promotion. The organizational chart doesn’t mean much to us, except that this is still alive. They’ve also existed on social media since their funding closed.

Looks like there’s a radio-sponsored private show at Arena Mexico Saturday afternoon.

05/24 The Crash

Recently ex-CMLL Astral is doing an interview with less recently ex-CMLL Miguel Reducindo today.

Villano IV says his goal in returning CMLL is to avenge his brother and take Atlantis’ mask.

The “Corsario Jr.” in the DragonMania Dragon Scramble is Corsario Junior from Cancun.

Leo Riano’s column mentions the Atraccion Deportiva Facebook page is going to run a luchadora talent search content called “Heronias” run Villano V & Ray Mendoza.

An interview with luchadora Bengalee.

LuchaTalk has a new episode of their podcast.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 05/14/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Mágico, Rielero vs Furia Roja, Gran Kenut, Jabalí
2) Explosivo, Magnus, Oro Jr. vs Cancerbero, Guerrero de la Muerte, Raziel
3) Drone, Rey Cometa, Tritón vs Pólvora, Vangellys, Virus
4) Esfinge, Soberano Jr., Valiente vs Forastero, Sansón, Shocker
5) Carístico, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

All the Guerrerso together makes me think they might be setting up a trios title match.

DTU , LI (THU) 05/16/2019 Arena Aficion
1) Dash & Príncipe Azteca Jr. vs Desorden & Rey Teutil 
2) Fly Panther, Kunay, Mandala vs Aero Panther, Dragón Suicida, Vengador Radioactivo 
3) Drolux & Moria vs Minimo & Tromba and Capo del Norte & Relámpago 
4) El Junior, Fly Danger, Kevin vs Cris Stone Jr., Shere Khan, Yoruba 
5) Jitsu & Pesadilla vs Alas De Oro & Alas De Plata 
6) Nigma vs Camuflaje 
7) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Yuriko vs Calibus, Dement Extreme, Devil Rocker 
8) Estudiante Jr., Hard Boy, Rossy Moreno, Sagitarius vs Baronessa, Crazy Boy, Diosa Quetzal, El Exótico 
9) Jack Evans & Jimmy vs Kaleth & Último Maldito and Aero Boy & Arcángel Divino

This is the Lokillo benefit show. The +LuchaTV logo is on it, so I wonder if they migth live stream it like last year’s Cuervo benefit show.

KAOZ (SUN) 05/19/2019 Arena Coliseo Monterrey
1) Baby Xtreme & Lady Puma vs Babe Fox & Baby Love
2) Freelance & Súper Nova vs Hijo del Volador & La Park Jr. and Epydemius & Silver Tiger
3) Cibernético, Memo Valles, Sharly Rockstar vs Hijo de LA Park, La Bestia Del Ring, Mr. Elektro
4) Fresero Jr. & Mr. Iguana vs Furor & Vazco Jr. and Ciclón Ramírez & Dragón Dorado and Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria [KAOZ TAG]
5) Tiffany vs Sexy DulceDiosa QuetzalLady Flammer [KAOZ WOMEN]
6) Carístico vs Emperador Azteca (Indie)The Tiger [KAOZ CRUISER]
7) LA Park vs Rush vs Hechicero (CMLL) vs Diamante Azul (CMLL) [KAOZ HEAVY]

KAOZ posted results from their first two matches on Twitter and then gave up so I can’t pretend to know what’s happening here. It is a Night of champion show coming up next and they have a lot of champions.

LLB , G21 (SAT) 06/15/2019 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) ? vs ??
2) Chicanito, Hauser, Shadow vs Atomik Star, Divino, Power Bull
3) Apolo Estrada, Demonio Infernal, Eterno vs Iracundo, Lepra, Perro Negro
4) Arez, Belial, Impulso vs Canis Lupus, Dragón Bane, Murciélago Plateado
5) Angeluz, Carta Brava Jr. (LLB), Fantasma de la Ópera, La Park Jr. vs Gallego, La Bestia Del Ring, Rocky Santana, Romano García
6) LA Park vs Rush vs Diamante Azul (CMLL)

If you want to see LA Park vs Diamante Azul, the indie promoters of Mexico have you covered. Third matchs hould be interesting.

AAA on Twitch (Los Mochis): 2019-05-03

bad times for Vikingo

Recapped: 05/04/2019

Matches:

Arez & Lady Maravilla beat Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa
(6:59, Arez foul? Lady Maravilla pin Hamburguesa, ok, 00:24:42)

Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Mamba, Máximo, Myzteziz Jr.
(11:56, Mocho Cota Jr. splash Mamba, ok,
00:40:47)

Chik Tormenta, Keyra, Monsther Clown beat Drago, Faby Apache, Golden Magic
(7:56, Monster Clown inverted crucifix tossing slam Golden Magic, good,
01:03:52)

Chessman & Taurus beat Flamita & Hijo Del Vikingo
(13:06, Taurus Rodeo Driver Vikingo, ok,
01:26:03)

Rey Escorpión beat Psycho Clown in a lumberjack rules match
(13:00, powerbomb, good,
01:50:56)

Blue Demon Jr. & Texano Jr. beat Dr. Wagner Jr. & Pagano
(10:59, Demon powder throw/small package Wagner, ok, 02:13:40)

What happened:

not sure about Golden Magic’s idea

Demon used a distraction to throw powder in Wagner’s face, though everyone had been using weapons all along.

Lady Maravilla, Poder del Norte, Chik Tormenta, Big Mami, Niño Hamburguesa, Hijo del Vikingo, Faby Apache and Myzteziz worked as seconds. They didn’t have straps. Rey Escorpión unmasked Psycho Clown after the clean win.

Faby Apache and Hijo del Tirantes had problems during the match. Faby challenges Tirantes to a singles match. And they fight for a moment until the rudos comes back to help.

Chik Tormenta

Poder del Norte tease unmasking Myzteziz Jr. after the match for a while, but just tease it waiting for a cue. They give it up and get their arm raised, then Vikingo shows up for the save. Challenges followed.

Niño Hamburguesa still doesn’t want to fight Lady Maravilla, but does accidentally take her out at times. Big Mami is increasingly annoyed, shoving down Hambuguesa at one point. Hamburguesa blocks Mami from attacking Maravilla, and gets fouled by Arez while arguing with her. Maravilla gets the pin and points to her head. Hamburguesa still doesn’t figure it out.

Thoughts:

The main event was the usual Demon/Wagner it. Wagner gets beat up for a long time, turns the tide, and is suddenly powered up. Both men bled a bunch to get the brawl over. It wasn’t much worse than usual but it didn’t do much for me. Pagano and Texano basically had their own separate match, rarely interacting with the other two. Pagano headbutted a chair as an offensive move. It definitely was one. Doing a legdrop onto a ladder for no reason seemed an even dumber idea.

Mami splash

Your enjoyment of Flamita/Vikingo vs Chessman/Taurus is dependent on how much good spots outweigh bad spots for you. Chessman was bad in this, especially in the first half. He was being asked to do complicated things, it wasn’t like he was messing up simple moves, but the results were consistently horrible. It was bad enough to take me out of the match, even with the action improving dramatically in the last few minutes. Flamita wasn’t as good as last weekend but he’s still more polished than Vikingo, who is trying a few things that he couldn’t quite pull off (and one big one that he almost killed himself on.) Taurus and Vikingo match up well; I’m surprised Vikingo keeps taking pins, but I’m hoping they get a match to themselves at some point.

AAA lumberjack matches are usually bad news. This one was the best match on the show. The lumberjack antics usually overpower matches like this. Maybe not actually have straps helped, but the bigger idea here is that everyone (except Hamburgesa) seemed to get one and just one major interference spot during the match. They gave a break to the match and they got out of the way. Rey Escorpión and Psycho Clown were entertaining on their own and the gimmick felt like it actually added to the match instead of taking it away. Just a very good TV match.

seems familiar

The mixed trios was a match where everyone was working hard and everything seemed OK, only they’d have to stop every few minutes for a Hijo del Tirantes/Faby Apache bit. Those two didn’t figure into the finish at least. (Chik Tormenta tossing Drago to the ground in the background did.) Golden Magic had a good night, Chik Tormenta and Keyra’s offense looked good. This was a borderline match for me.

The exoticos matches remain simple. This one didn’t seem to get as over as the others, but there didn’t seem to be any particular reason why. Poder del Norte are not as interesting as exotico foils as against Myzteziz but they did their part here. Myzteziz got in a few high spots and seems to be more consciously doing Mistico spots now. Not sure that’s the best idea but they’re already down the bad idea path when they decided to give him the Myzteziz Jr. gimmick.

The mixed tag did move along the dynamic a bit – Mami and Hamburgesa are close to breaking up, Maravilla actually got a win – but probably was the weakest in-ring match of this recent run. It was slow at times and had moments of people waiting around for moves or repeating spots that didn’t work. Arez was fine, trying to play over the top to fit in, but this didn’t come together as well as others ones. This part of the breakup angle makes it hard to have a good match in general.