Lyger says good by to CMLL (has 2 more matches this weekend), post-TripleMania AAA TV

Lyger wins

CMLL (FRI) 07/19/2019 Arena México [CMLL, ESTOGrafico, Lucha Central, Lucha CentralMarcaNotimexSuperLuchasthecubsfan]
1) Sonic & Súper Astro Jr. b Cancerbero & Raziel LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE JULIO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
13:05. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Ángel de Oro, Esfinge, Niebla Roja b Ephesto, Hechicero, Luciferno LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE JULIO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
11:01. Tecnicos won in straight falls when Hechicero was DQed for fouling Angel de Oro by kicking the ropes as he came thru.
3) Marcela © b Amapola [CMLL WOMENLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE JULIO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
12:40. Marcela took 2/3. 3rd defense.
4) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón, Volador Jr. b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Templario [Relevos IncreíblesLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE JULIO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
14:20. Team NGD took 2/3.
5) Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. DQ La Bestia Del Ring, Místico, Rush LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE JULIO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
24:55. Debut of LA Park Jr. in Arena Mexico. Park family won by count out of the ring in the first, Rush cleanly beat LA Park in the second, and Rush was DQed for fouling LA Park (or shoving Edgar while arguing it.)
6) Jushin Liger b CarísticoNegro CasasÚltimo Guerrero [Relevo CMLL] LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 19 DE JULIO DE 2019 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
11:17. A Relevo CMLL is four way match, though the luchadors swiftly ignored the rules. Liger beat Casas with a Liger Bomb in his final Arena Mexico match.

This was a good show even if it the matches didn’t completely come together. The top three matches were enjoyable all in a different way and CMLL made the show feel like a big deal.

CMLL promos have Marcela talking about her win, Volador & NGD as an unbeatable team, and Los Guerreros and Soberano. You’ll notice that’s missing the two top matches. Liger talked one more time with the press (and Okumura) after his match.

LA Park also talked, saying the people want the Rush versus LA Park apuesta match. The takeaway from last night’s show is CMLL does not want LA Park/Rush. They wanted that feud to ensure Liger’s farewell happened in front of a full house and that is it. Neither Rush & Park were allowed to talk post-match, which could’ve had something to do with time management but probably had a lot to do with not wanting to let them make the challenges again. That’s the first thing they would’ve done as it would be the first thing they would’ve done in the CMLL promos, so LA Park was allowed to talk to the press and that’s it. CMLL is aware of how people were annoyed with them for teasing LA Park vs Rush year and not delivering, so they did their best to have the match but not let them overshadow what will actually be the Aniversario main event.

And we still have no idea what that will be. CMLL’s big show looks like it’ll be on 09/13, 55 days from today, and there’s not even a hint of what it’ll be.

Liger’s weekend continues tonight with a Lucha Libre Real promoted show in Arena Coliseo. It’s a unique format, though a little bit similar to retirement shows in Japan. Liger will face ten different luchadors for a minute each, then there will be a battle royal of those 10 luchadors, and the survivor will have a no time limit match with Liger. This is more complicated than “Relevo CMLL” and no one involved seem much interested in the rules there, so who knows how this will go. It’s really more a bit to allow nine luchadors who otherwise wouldn’t get to have a 1v1 match with Liger on this trip to get to say they had one, glossing over that it lasted 60 seconds. Liger finishes up on Sunday, teaming with Mistico against Caristico & Ultimo Guerrero. Neither of these shows are expected to air live, though they both might turn up on +LuchaTV later.

CMLL’s Sunday show has nothing important. The big Saturday shows are Lucha Memes in Mexico City’s Gimnasio Hercules with a one-night tag tournament and Martinez running in Fort Worth with a lot of names. Dr. Wagner and Mesias headline Arena Naucalpan on Sunday with a trios match. Pro Wrestling Mexico debuts in Monterrey, with Taurus, LA Park and Pagano in the main event and a Daga/Johnny Mundo match.

Nacion Lucha Libre debuts on ImagenTV today at 10:30 pm, showing matches from their first taping in Mexico City. I know this because they RT a dozen mentions in a ten-second flurry every hour. Do not follow them on Twitter but maybe check out the show. ImagenTV was not at the press conference roll out. They do seem very behind the concept, bringing on wrestlers to promote the show often in the last week, with Alberto back on before the show tonight. The network does stream its channel on YouTube though only for selected programming. The streaming page lists only one show today and it is not Nacion Lucha Libre. That might not be definite.

Flamita challenges Susumu Yokosuka for the Dragon Gate Brave Gate championship late tonight/tomorrow morning as part of Dragon Gate’s biggest show of the year. The show streams on their network, which costs around $13 USD a month and will be available in both Japanese and English. The first two matches on that show, including Jimmy & Draztick Boy in the opener, will air on YouTube for free also in Japanese and English starting at 1 am CT Sunday morning.

Let’s note that, when Dragon Gate decided to English commentary, they flew in people to the building who had experience doing wrestling commentary in English. That’s what promotions do when they’re serious about doing it, not just doing it to say it’s something they’ve done.

(The iheartdg.com site that wrote about Dragon Gate for many years and was the most used source of English language news and translations for the promotion quietly went away a few weeks. Jae didn’t die but he did follow the way of Paco Alonso, quietly moving on without giving anyone the chance to say thanks for the excellent work he did over the years. His work will be greatly missed.)

ROH is running this weekend. All the matches with lucha libre talent will air on their streaming service.

Tonight at 7pm CT in New York.

  • Bandido, Mark Haskins, Tracy Williams, PJ Black vs Marty Scurll, PCO, Brody King, and Flip Gordon
  • Dragon Lee vs Jonathan Gresham
  • TK O’Ryan vs Rush

Tomorrow at 6pm CT in Lowell, Massachusetts

  • Rush vs Dalton Castle
  • Bandido, Mark Haskins, Tracy Williams vs Brody King, Marty Scurll, PCO for the Ring of Honor Trios Championship
  • Kenny King vs Dragon Lee

I am no ROH expert but I believe there’s a better than 50% chance Bandido wins his first Ring of Honor championship on Sunday. His group needs a big win or a big change. And Ring of Honor needs in-ring things for people to talk about when most of the conversation people want to have about the promotion revolve around attendance.

ROH mentioned two CMLL wrestlers will be on their 08/24 Atlanta & 08/25 Nashville.

Daga has teased this weekend appearing as part of Impact TV’s taping. Still is today. He wasn’t on last night’s show as far as I can tell, but maybe he will be on the final night of tapings tonight.

RIOT announced Chik Tormenta vs Ayako Hamada on their 08/24 show, the second night of their two show tournament.

Barbaro Cavernario was announced for PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament yesterday. He joins Bandido & Fenix as lucha libre representatives. I’d expect Penta in that list soon enough. There’s a lot of luchadors who’ve worked in PWG the last year plus and not a lot of spots left, plus the potential of new people being added. It is hard for me to see Hijo del Vikingo being involved at this point.

MexaWrestling “Summer Course” on 08/10 in Arena San Juan Pantitlan

Australian Suicide & Vanilla were doing a press tour to promote TripleMania the last couple of days.

Lineups

AAA TV (SAT) 08/10/2019 Lienzo Charro Prof. Enrique Gonzalez, Saltillo, Coahuila
1) Dinastía, Eclipse, Lady Shani vs Australian Suicide, La Hiedra, Villano III Jr.
2) ???, Argenis, Niño Hamburguesa vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
3) Golden Magic, Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. vs Dave The Clown, Monsther Clown, Parka Negra
4) Aerostar, Drago, Willie Mack vs Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
5) Puma King vs Laredo Kid
6) Dr. Wagner Jr., Fénix, Psycho Clown vs Blue Demon, Rey Escorpión, Taurus

The first post-TripleMania taping, a week later. Fenix confirmed he’ll be on this show and wanted to defend his Megachampionship. Instead, he’s the back-up band to the Wagner/Demon rematch. (Neither guy is retiring, what a shock.) That tweet seems to have been deleted since I posted the card; sorry Fenix. Puma vs Laredo seems like it could be a defacto #1 contenders match, except AAA doing a singles title match is unlike them.

Willie Mack, still under LU contract, shows up here to hang out with Aerostar & Drago. I feel like the rudo teams in the third 3rd & 4th match should be switched if AAA is serious about an Aerostar/Monster Clown match.

lucha TV preview for weekend of July 19th, 2019

full size

I bothered with this two days late only because Nacion Lucha Libre is debuting (also frequently promoting their debut.) The show starts at 10:30 pm Central and is listed as an hour. ImagenTV has a YouTube channel and feed, though they turn it on and off during the day. I don’t know if it’ll be up for this show.

AAA on YouTube is up to Cancun, which means they’re just going to get to Verano de Escandalo before TripleMania happens.

One more Negro Casas/Soberano match on Monday in Puebla.

CMLL on Marca: 2019-07-19 (Liger Farewell)

LA Park

Recapped: 07/19/2019

Matches:

Sonic & Súper Astro Jr. beat Cancerbero & Raziel
(13:05 [4:47, 3:10, 5:08], 2/3, ok, 00:00:25)

Ángel de Oro, Esfinge, Niebla Roja beat Ephesto, Hechicero, Luciferno
(11:01 [5:39, 5:22], 1/2 DQ, ok, 00:19:41)

Marcela © beat Amapola for the CMLL World Women’s Championship
(12:40 [4:29, 1:48, 6:23], 2/3, ok, 00:39:07)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón, Volador Jr. beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Templario in a relevos increíbles match
(14:20 [3:28, 2:58, 7:54], 2/3, good, 01:00:35)

Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. vs La Bestia Del Ring, Místico, Rush
(24:55 [4:00, 1:56, 18:59], 1/3, good, 01:26:13)

Jushin Liger beat Carístico, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero in a Relevo CMLL match
(11:17, Liger Bomb on Casas, good, 02:14:30)

What happened:

NGD win

Jushin Liger wrestled his final match in Arena Mexico, defeating Negro Casas in the first ever Relevo CMLL match. Liger was celebrated before and after the match.

LA Park and Rush brawled thru the arena in their latest match, pulling rows of seats and throwing at each other (when CMLL would allow that to be shown.) Rush’s family never actually lost a fall, getting counted out after the dives in the first fall and losing either due to fouls or for shoving the referee in the last fall. Park & Rush teased the mask versus hair match, but they were not allowed to talk on the microphones after the match.

Sanson appeared to suffer a shoulder injury in the fourth match but recovered quickly.

The second match ended oddly, with Hechicero being disqualified for kicking the middle rope to foul Angel de Oro as he came in the ring. Angel de Oro sold it as a foul, though the rudos reacted strongly like they didn’t expect that to be the finish.

Thoughts:

run for your life

This was a strong show despite what would traditionally be called a great match. The presentation of the main event made it come off as a giant important deal. The crowd’s intense interest in seeing LA Park & Rush even when some things didn’t go as planned. This felt like a big show.

Caristico, Ultimo Guerrero and Negro Casas had a good match that was helped by the important of the moment. Liger got to work with each CMLL wrestler because of the weird format. It progressed to the happy ending of Liger winning after everyone hit a few of their key spots. Liger’s getting out at the right time but didn’t feel too old for this moment at all. This wasn’t an epic and I’m not sure that’s going to ever be possible for a Relevo CMLL (assuming we see another one.) It did give enough of what people wanted to see out of this moment.

LA Park & Rush also gave the people what they wanted to see, except for the mask versus hair challenge. Rush & Park clearly still want that match and made a point of making sure the fans knew and felt the same when they were done. The match had the wildness and excitement that’s lacking in most CMLL shows, though it had some egregious flaws. The finish was almost messed up because perennially forgetful La Bestia del Ring went out of the ring at the wrong time. That’s expected at this point, less expected is Rush forgetting to stop Edgar for counting three or kickout, making for a very awkward situation. Mistico was predictably hated by this crowd but he and Hijo de LA Park did well as second bananas. LA Park Jr. tried but didn’t have much to work with Bestia as his normal opponent. The magic is still there with Park & Rush but CMLL treated this like a one-off thing to help fill a house and not the start of a build to September.

a Forastero tope

The atomicos match was a struggle early, with spots not going as planned and nothing really clicking until the end of the second fall. (They really caught a break that Sanson’s shoulder wasn’t as bad as it looked since he was a huge part of that fall’s finish.) Volador seemed happy to wrestle a bit as a rudo, Soberano seemed eager to try out more spots with his Guerrero friends assisting and it went a lot better for Volador than it did Soberano. There’s a weird bit here where NGD both are booked as a stronger team than the Guerreros and also came off as better than this particular lineup, but have the lesser trios titles with no sign of that changing. This particular match didn’t totally work but they did find an extra gear in that third fall to make it exciting. The top three are all worth checking out.

The crowd seemed to really get into Amapola and Marcela by the end. The same match seemed slow and not well performed from my screen. Amapola almost wiping herself out with her old tope con giro thru the ropes proved a point to me; these women still try to wrestle like they did eight years ago but it doesn’t work for them. Marcela was the better of the two but she wasn’t great. Still, the crowd cared about the near falls, which means there probably isn’t any incentive to change this.

Sonic

The second match was going along fine until the abrupt finish. I’d believe any story about what was supposed to happen, from Hechicero having a strange idea for a two fall match or the referee totally screwing up. I thought it was a referee screw up live and a planned spot rewatching it later. Either way, it still felt like they cut it off just as it was breaking out of the usual spots. You can safely skip it.

The opener is also a safely skip, though the effort was better than usual. Raziel & Cancerbero were in a good mood, showing more on offense. The tecnicos just didn’t show as much, either by chance or by rudo design. Super Astro was missing the spark he’s shown in other matches and Sonny struggled at times.