There’s some AAA Invading NY news. It’s still not the full lineup. The show will air live on Space TV in Mexico, starting at 6 pm. It was already announced as airing on Azteca next Friday. Far more people are going to see this show on Space (and Azteca) than will on FITE.
The Space thing is interesting for me because there was a brief instant this morning where I thought I finally knew who was announcing this show in English. WON mentioned Hugo & Striker were announcing the show, which I thought meant in English since Striker doesn’t do Spanish commentary. Maybe the WON just meant they’d be there, but then there’s still no idea of who’s going to be working with Striker. Vampiro hasn’t indicated he’s part of this show as of yet.
Konnan’s Keepin it 100 also had some talk about the AAA Invading NY show. Kevin Kleinrock brought it up as AAA going to MSG and it was Konnan who shot that down. He noted they’re not going to the actual MSG, which meant the show is a personal disappointment. “There were a lot of factors why we couldn’t go there”, though none are specified. Moving it from MSG to the Hulu Theatre has scaled down the type of show they wanted to do. It’s also taken longer than they were expecting to get visas approved, so people who might have been on the show when it was originally conceived have been left off for one reason or another. Konnan said there are three wrestlers from Impact to be added, believing one of them was Sami Callihan. Callihan’s usual partners, Jake & Dave Crist, would make sense as the others but it’s not even hinted at.
The AAA in Puebla show was happier news. Konnan calls it a sellout. It seemed like the upper reaches of the building were a bit empty on Twitch. He feels the new Abismo & Octagon were nervous but got over well. He felt like those two and Bengala will big parts of the future of the company. Konnan expected to debut a couple of more new names and couple of minis as well. AroLucha as comes up in passing. Konnan’s heard they’re still working on a deal, and has heard the same story for the last few months.
Shocker quietly disappeared from CMLL cards in May and hasn’t been on social media since around that time. He wasn’t seen around his food truck either, which led to a fair bit of wondering about what had happened to him now. Planchitas writes today that Shocker is in a rehab center and expected to stay for six months after falling off the wagon again. That would mean he’d be back out around Christmas. The rumors going around were “rehab” or “jail”, so ending up in rehab was the better option. Shocker’s battled alcoholism for years and had some strange public incidents which seem linked to it. He’s mentioned in interviews that his addiction issues grew around the short time he jumped to AAA, becoming so bad that he doesn’t even remember much from that year. It’s been a frequent issue since then, affecting him greatly professionally and personally. This isn’t his first trip to rehab and hopefully he’s able to learn enough to manage the situation better this time. I imagine it’s especially tough having an alcohol issue around lucha libre, where beer is everywhere.
CMLL’s Anniversario is a couple of Fridays away. CMLL’s been quiet on how it’ll stream live or if it’ll stream live at all. That’s typical for them; it sounds like they haven’t even told Claro yet about their plans. The Gran Prix was a delayed VOD and that’s still the best guess for the Aniversario. You will have another option: Ring of Honor is planning on adding the show to their Honor Club service on VOD. It’ll be a few day delay – ROH’s PPV and TV taping that weekend would take priority – but it is expected to be available early the following week. It will have English commentary, which seems like it’ll be the first time that’s been offered for a CMLL Aniversario card (but I need to research that; it’s aired in Japanese on both SamuraiTV & NJPW World.) The CMLL/ROH partnership seems to be growing. If Rush wins the Ring of Honor Championship on the upcoming PPV, expect CMLL to air footage of that title match.
In a minor note, Planchitas is critical of CMLL for not supporting Shocker and mentions he was offered a mystery spot on a July 2018 Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera show that he turned down. That was the first AAA vs ELITE show and the mystery spot was probably the main event ELITE spot that went to Puma King instead. It worked out for Puma great but I’m not sure Shocker would’ve had the same success. Shocker’s been one of the least mobile wrestlers in CMLL and the least mobile people in AAA have been weeded out over the last year and a half. I’m not sure working CMLL Tuesday shows is all that much better than ELITE barely running shows but it does seem like work.
CMLL’s been talking about Marcela defending the CMLL World Women’s Championship in Japan on 09/15 for a while, mostly in how it may affect the Aniversario card. They hadn’t named a challenger; AAA isn’t the only people apparently having trouble announcing matches. That challenger was announced today as Tsukushi, a 22-year-old wrestler who’s wrestled for Ice Ribbon in the past. She’s also worked in the past for REINA, and CMLL Lady’s Ring appears as if a restart of that promotion. I know nothing about her but people seem excited for her. Wikipedia also indicates she may have attempted to stab someone in the distant past, which sounds cool. It’s unlikely she’ll defeat Marcela but challenging for the CMLL’s Women’s Championship often leads to a CMLL visit. Tae Honma, who was in CMLL previously, faces Dalys on that show. Both Dalys & Marcela seem to be working for plenty of other promotions while they’re around Japan for about a week.
10/05 The Crash in Auditorio de Tijuana
- Rey Horus (c) vs Hammerstone [The Crash HEAVY]
- Dragon Lee, Barbaro Cavernario, Soberano vs Teddy Hart, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Brian Pillman Jr.
The CMLL vs Hart Foundation match will not air on MLW TV. The Crash should probably ask to release it themselves. (They probably won’t.)
MLW announced Septimo Dragon has signed to a multi-year deal. Septimo worked on their most recent taping and Konnan talked about him as someone he’d wanted to work for a while. Dragon started out in Guanajuato, which has not been a hot bed of wrestling in recent years, and did what looks like a good of making connections to work in wider and wider areas. He’s been a regular for Mucha Lucha Atlanta that last couple of years and turns up on a lot of smaller US lucha libre shows.
Magnus & Black Danger (returning to his MLW name of Mega Danger) also worked the most recent MLW show. There is no mention of their status with the promotion. Magnus may be on break from CMLL. There was a story he was relocating to Texas for family reasons earlier this summer, but then he just kept on appearing on CMLL cards. He hasn’t been on a CMLL lineup since mid-August, so he might have made that move.
Ultimo Guerrero says the Aniversario final he wants to see is Negro Casas vs Big Daddy, with Casas winning. Casas would like to face Guerrero in the final.
Microman wants Guapito as the referee for his mask match and KeMonito as his second. Microman’s talked about KeMonito seconding him so often that it’s going to be weird if it doesn’t happen.
Karis La Momia Jr. says he’s focused on forging his own story right now, not following his father or getting into a feud with the LA Park kids.
Lineups
CMLL (SUN) 09/15/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Kristal & Silueta vs Aradia Bartok & Valkyria
2) Fugaz, Johnny Dinamo, Principe Daniel vs Bobby Black, Demonio Maya, Mr. Apolo
3) Explosivo, Joker, Reycko vs Difunto, Rey Trueno, Sádico
4) Neutrón vs León Blanco [super libre]
5) Atlantis Jr., Gallo, Omar Brunetti vs Exterminador, Hijo del Villano III, Maléfico
Gallo & Brunetti are back under new (still unknown) management. I thought the Neutron/Leon Blanco mask match would be on this show but maybe they’re saving it for later in the month.
I may be getting names confused, but I believe Aradia Bartok is one of a couple of Arena Coliseo Guadalajara edecanes who trained to wrestle and have been working indie shows the last few months. Going from being an edecan in an arena to making your wrestling debut feels like it should be a big story (or a good way to do angle.) Women’s matches have been a rarity on these Sunday shows.
CMLL (MON) 09/16/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Hijo de Centella Roja, Meyer, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Ares, Black Tiger, Policeman
2) Lluvia, Sanely, Skadi vs Amapola, La Metálica, Tiffany
3) Rey Cometa, Stigma, Tritón vs Okumura, Olímpico, Perverso
4) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Flyer vs Hijo del Villano III, Templario, Vangellys
5) Carístico, Místico, Terrible vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Last week, this feud was Dragon Lee/Volador. This week, this feud was Casas/Terrible. Maybe it’ll end up back as Mistico/Soberano next week.
Triton is listed. He won’t be there and CMLL knows he won’t be there. They probably should send someone else, they probably won’t send someone else.
AAA , ELITE (FRI) 10/04/2019 Arena Naucalpan
1) Faby Apache & La Hiedra vs Diosa Quetzal & Rossy Moreno
2) Niño Hamburguesa & Pimpinela Escarlata vs Chico Che & Diva Salvaje
3) Carta Brava Jr. & Mocho Cota Jr. vs Imposible & Tritón
4) Joe Lider & Pagano vs Drako & Wotan
5) Argenis, Máscara de Bronce, Myzteziz vs Dr. Karonte, King Balam, Verdugo
6) Murder Clown & Psycho Clown vs Trauma I & Trauma II
AAA started posting the matches from the August Zumpango ELITE show on their YouTube channel. It probably should’ve been a clear indication they were going to keep running, as this lineup followed a bit after. There’s a lot of indie shows in Arena Naucalpan. This doesn’t seem particularly strong, but it does have Psycho Clown. The Lider/Pagano vs Drako/Wotan match is going to be something. Triton makes his debut as an “ELITE” luchador; I’m surprised Sangre Azteca isn’t there as well. I’m not sure if this is a new Mascara de Bronce or the old guy returned after a short departure.