Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Súper Astro Jr.beatCancerbero, Raziel, Virus
(14:30 [6:32, 2:34, 5:24], 1/3, good)
Atlantis Jr.went to a time limit draw with Templarioin a lightning match
(10:00, good)
Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, TerriblebeatDulce Gardenia, Flyer, Stuka Jr.
(16:45 [7:16, 3:49, 5:40], 1/3, ok)
Cavernario, Gilbert el Boricua, Último Guerrero beat Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Valiente
(18:49 [6:12, 2:13, 10:24], 1/3, ok)
Carístico, Diamante Azul, Místico vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas
(11:01 [7:38, 3:23], 1/2, ok)
What happened:
The main event set up a Mistico/Caristico vs Gran Guerrero/Euforia tag title match.
Gilbert tried to keep his issue going with Ultimo Guerrero, and Ultimo Guerrero didn’t acknowledge him.
Atlantis Jr. was just getting Templario in an Atlantida when time ran out. They continued to fight after the match, just as Templario & Soberano did.
Thoughts:
this not being the finish sort of gave away it was a draw
The main event was an unusually sloppy match for the guys who are meant to be feuding. There were a lot of boost headscissors which didn’t get boosted. Diamante Azul dropping Negro Casas directly on his head wasn’t much good either. Azul isn’t ever much good but the other guys can do a lot better than this. Hopefully they will next week.
They didn’t do near enough to showcase Star Jr. in the semifinal to follow up his tournament win. He did get to beat UG in the second fall, though with a submission move he never uses instead of something showing off his agility. His few spots in the third fall seemed outweighed by taking all of UG’s offense. The dive at the end didn’t go smoothly. The rest of the match was fine but it didn’t do what it should’ve been set out to accomplish.
The fourth match seemed more improvised than usual, with Hechicero and Stuka pointing people in the direction for spots. The first two falls were slow and didn’t flow well. It got better in the third – maybe I just like the tecnico stuff better? It seems to be a trend. Flyer struggled as usual, on a show where plenty of tecnicos looked better than him. He may need a mental break as much as anything.
The lightning match was slow early, with away too many clothesline and not great action. Turned into a match with nothing in between the big moves, but then shifted into big moves all the time so it worked out. Atlantis Jr. still has to improve in between those spots but he at least has more exciting spots than most of the opener guys. Templario’s powerbomb looked great and they clearly trust him more than any other young rudo to keep running these long matches with him.
Good action match with both sides working smoothly together. The first fall had some nice sequences, Cancerbero & Super Astro, in particular, pulling out an unexpectedly good exchange. It slowed down a bit in the second fall with the rudos in charge, but the third fall had good action.
My stream went out in fall 1, which is bad because it might have been a good fall. Coyote and Grako looked worse than usual and Magia Blanca wasn’t helping. The apron dives involved some undeserved faith. Principe Diamante is better than this but the rest of the guys need work.
Today’s Friday Arena Mexico show returns to a normal lineup after a few weeks for the Gran Alternativa. Winners Star Jr. & Valiente receive a semi-main spot as a prize, teaming with Soberano Jr. against Cavernario, Gilbert, and Ultimo Guerrero. It’s an opportunity for Star Jr. to show he belongs in that spot going forward. It’s also a chance to see if CMLL’s going to pick up the Gilbert/UG feud built up for the Aniversario show or if, like everything else with that cage match, it was to be forever forgotten. No sign of Big Daddy Yum Yum this month.
The actual main event is Caristico, Mistico, and Diamante Azul vs Mr. Niebla, Euforia and Gran Guerrero. That’ll peak with a lot of people running on the ramp. The fourth match is Terrible, Hechicero and Rey Bucanero against Stuka Jr., Dulce Gardenia and Flyer, which could be continuing the Stuka/Bucanero feud from Tuesday.
Atlantis Jr. takes on Templario in a lighting match. It’s Atlantis Jr.’s only second singles match in Arena Mexico and he has a good opponent to show what he can do. Atlantis Jr. has come along faster than expected this year. The Panthers team with Super Astro Jr. against Virus, Raizel, and Cancerbero in the segunda which could be good. Grako & Coyote are back teaming, this time against Magia Blanca & Principe Diamante.
The show will stream on MarcaClaro’s YouTube at 8:30 pm. I’ll attempt to stream it on YouTube, though it didn’t go too well last week. The show will be one hour later next week for people outside of Mexico.
Tickets for the 11/03 CMLL Sunday show, the second of the two Dia del Muertos shows, are now 2 for 1 in some sections.
There’s no major update on La Parka. The most recent news is he was able to talk to his family while in intensive care and the doctors hoping to move him out of there soon. El Universal spoke to a doctor focusing on sports medicine and rehab about Parka’s possible recovery. The doctor believes it will be a difficult recovery for Parka, noting being 53 years old makes it hard. He compares the injury to the one Okumura suffered, which left him out of action around a year, but also in that luchadors who a capacity to recover better from injuries than a normal person.
Cain Velasquez said he had one more AAA match on his contract. In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the WWE disputes this idea. Their version is Velasquez had the AAA InvadingLA show left on his deal and the obligation was finished when the show was canceled. Technically, the show is postponed not canceled. I guess that may have been a necessary technicality the way things are going.
Meanwhile, there’s also a story about AAA hoping to run a baseball stadium show on 12/01 in Monterrey. This show hasn’t been announced and wasn’t on the list of tapings Jose Manuel Guillen mentioned on +LuchaTV’s podcast, but has been talked about locally. AAA typically likes to get the word out at least a month ahead of time, so there’s got to be news soon if it is happening. The show comes up in the context of Omega’s next possible date – maybe on 12/01 in the baseball stadium, maybe 12/14, maybe no one’s quite worked it out yet. An Omega title match or anything else AAA has set up (Aerostar/Monster Clown?) doesn’t seem important enough to carry an extra-large show. Cain Velasquez in his last AAA appearance does seem like that sort of draw. If AAA can get Cain and get the baseball stadium, it seems like a swell idea. If they can’t use Cain, then maybe this show never actually gets announced.
ROH is running its year-end PPV on 12/13 and announced its year-end 12/15 TV tapings for 12/15. It is at least now theoretically possible that Rush (& Dragon Lee, but more likely Rush) could wrestle on the ROH PPV on Friday, show up in AAA on Saturday, and then make it back for ROH TV on Sunday. That 12/01 Monterrey show, if it occurs, is another logical place to bring in Rush for AAA TV; there’s no ROH date conflict there.
DTU ran their regular show in Arena Aficion
DTU (THU) 10/24/2019Arena Aficion [+LucahTV, DTU]
1) Samuray Jr. b Aero Panther, Fight Panther, Vengador Radioactivo, Dragón Suicida, Darius
2) Drolux & Moria b Brazo Celestial & Brazo Cibernetico Drolux & Moria replaced the Panthers. Sets up a title match for December.
3) Arez & Pesadilla b Calibus & Rayo (Peru)
5) Ricky Marvin b Brian Johnson, Exótico, Brazo De Oro Jr. very good match
6) Camuflaje b Dante Caballero, Puma King
7) El Diablo Fly Star b Crazy Boy, Crazy King, Hard Boy, Mc Hard Body, Halloween sets up a Halloween vs Crazy Boy trios match for the DTU Aniversario show. Halloween said he’ll bring X-Fly, Crazy picked Paranoiko.
Generacion XXI posted a long note on Facebook explaining Pagano is off their 11/05 Arena Queretaro show. There’s an AAA/TAO show in the same building three days later and it appears that promotion put pressure on AAA to pull Pagano & Joe Lider off the G21 show. Dragon Lee & La Mascara replace them, which sets up the first Dragon Lee vs his family match as far as I know.
CMLL (TUE) 10/29/2019Arena México
1) Leono & Sangre Imperial vs Grako & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma vs Dark Magic, Raziel, Vangellys
3) Rey Cometa vs El Audaz, Star Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Black Panther, Pólvora, Virus, Disturbio, Universo 2000 Jr., Tiger [Rey del Inframundo, #1 Contenders]
4) Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Rey Bucanero
The main event could continue Stuka/Bucanero feud.
Black Panther & Polvora both sound more desperate for some change than excited for the Rey del Inframundo match. Dulce, Star, and Audaz are the favorites in the cibernetico.
AAA , CAPITAL (WED) 10/30/2019 Pinche Gringo Barbecue, Miguel Hidalgo, Distrito Federal
?) Vanilla vs Keyra vs Lady Shani
?) Mr. Iguana vs Murder Clown, Carta Brava Jr., Pagano, Abismo Negro Jr., Octagón Jr., Bengala, Psycho Clown, Mamba
This is all the people who haven’t had a match yet. This AAA tournament makes sense though three weeks of card announcements. It’s a nice thing. The women seem to be facing only each other. Mamba & Murder Clown are on the same team so they should be in separate matches. That’s all we know until Wednesday. If you are in the US or otherwise don’t change your clock tomorrow, the show will start 1 hour later than usual.
A confusing week is coming up. Daylight Savings Time ends in Mexico (and many other places) early Sunday morning. It does not change in the US for a week more. It’s only seven days, shorter than the spring, but everything starting on Sunday will be one hour later than usual. The AAA Twitch show is the last show without any adjustment most people watch; if you only watch AAA on Twitch, you’re to going to notice anything. The Puebla show starts at 10 pm CT, the Lucha Capital show will be one hour after the AEW/NXT shows for one week only.
AAA in Toluca (not actual city name but Toluca is so much easier to type) is the same day/time as last week. Not the same lineup, though the added four way helps.
The best CMLL match this week might be the cibernetico on Tuesday. Or maybe Atlantis/Templario on Tuesday.
AAA , CAPITAL (WED) 10/23/2019 Pinche Gringo Barbecue, Miguel Hidalgo, Distrito Federal [AAA, Lucha Central, thecubsfan]
1) Dinastía b Arez, Mocho Cota Jr. 7:27. Dinastia beat Arez
2) Faby Apache b La Hiedra, Lady Maravilla 6:38. Faby Apache submitted La Hiedra
3) Tito Santana b Dave The Clown, Hijo Del Vikingo 13:14. Tito Santana beat Vikingo with a backcracker
4) Taurus b Puma King, Súper Fly 11:02. Taurus double underhook piledriver Super Fly.
Vampiro didn’t do an interview with Vikingo after his match, saying Vikingo was too hurt. It was tough to tell if Vikingo was actually hurt or if Vampiro was being Vampiro. Jose Manuel Guillen mentioned Vikingo was fine today.
The first match is the only one you need to see.
Beating Vikingo at this time is inexplicable from a business standpoint, so either the person in charge wasn’t thinking or it was some weird behind the scenes political thing. We’re consciously avoiding talking about the points until after four weeks, but the relevant fact is the only thing they’re keeping track of is wins. Tito beating Dave or Tito beating Vikingo means the same thing for the tournament, so there was no need to beat Vikingo. It’s also a goofy BBQ show that few people watch compared to normal AAA shows (maybe 4K live on Facebook stream, not far off from what Twitch but a drop in the ocean compared to the TV numbers) so it’s not the end of the world.
Vampiro also snapped at a fan who asked him for a photo while he was trying to interview someone; this doesn’t seem like a role he’s comfortable in.
La Parka’s son (Karis La Momia Jr.) says his father was able to speak and identify the people in the room on Wednesday. Parka is said to be off a resperator and breathing on his own. The exam of the neck damage scheduled for Wednesday got pushed to Thursday.
Kenny Omega’s AAA Megachampionship win was brought up on AEW Dynamite, with video footage shown. He did not have the physical belt on the show. Fenix & Penta advanced to the finals of the AEW Tag Team Championship tournament on the same show. They’ll meet SCU next week. The Lucah Brothers will be in Lucha Va Voom tonight, facing Rey Horus and a person who’s name I’m afraid of mentioning to avoid him getting trouble.
On his podcast, Konnan explained why Lady Shani showed up mid-way during the Fenix/Omega match. He was concerned about the crowd not being into the match, especially because they were following Taurus/Vikingo, the crowd was quiet, and he thought Shani would help them get a reaction. Then they got a reaction themselves.
CMLL announced the Rey del Inframundo cibernetico field
Polvora
Virus
Tiger
Rey Cometa
Dulce Gardenia
Universo 2000 Jr.
Disturbio
Audaz
Black Panther
Star Jr.
This match will take place next Tuesday. The winner will face Sanson for the Rey del Inframundo championship on Friday. That match will be in a high position on the card – it was the semi-main last year. It’s hard to imagine most of these luchadors having a 1v1 match against Sanson high on a Friday card in 2019. Dulce Gardenia is the favorite, with maybe Audaz and Star Jr. as possibilities. They did run Templario/Sanson last year, which was a bit of a surprise.
CMLL announced Tiger Hattori will visit Arena Mexico on 11/15 as part of his retirement tour. NJPW’s version says Hattori may referee a match; I suspect there’s some work visa issue to work out. Hattori & Naoki Sugabayashi typically come to Mexico this time of year to decide the lineup for FantasticaMania. This year, I suspect there will also be a further discussion of Dragon Lee’s status.
Hijo de Canis Lupus says he and his brother Dragon Bane will be in Japan from 11/30 to 12/16. He’s excited about the trip and feels he’s already surpassed the original Canis Lupus by being an international wrestler. Dragon Bane isn’t interviewed, but he seems to be doing better on Instagram after his frightening collapse on an Arena Naucalpan show two Sundays ago.
GALLI will have Rey Fenix vs Gringo Loco this Sunday. (The full card is here.) There’s a Gringo Loco promo for it. Jose Manuel Guillen is there, so it’ll probably be taped for +Lucha.
Ciudad Victoria luchador Master Fly, Jesus Estrada, passed away this weekend.
An interview with Tulancingo’s Perro de Pelea, which I think is that luchador’s nickname but not his actual wrestling name.
Lineups
CMLL (MON) 10/28/2019Arena Puebla
1) King Jaguar, Magia Blanca, Meyer vs Ares, Centella Roja, Joker
2) Asturiano, Halcón Suriano Jr., Robin vs Black Tiger, Fuerza Chicana, Policeman
3) Star Jr. vs El Perverso [lightning]
4) Dulce Gardenia, Flyer, Stigma vs Máscara Año 2000, Okumura, Olímpico
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Negro Casas
6) Místico vs Forastero
This will be Forastero’s singles match in CMLL this month, fourth since August.
I have a strong suspicion Star and Perverso are headed to an apuesta match.
Notable spinning man Halcon Suriano hasn’t been around much the last couple of months. He’s in at least this week.
Dinastíabeat Arez and Mocho Cota Jr. (7:27, Dinastia Spanish Fly Arez, good,00:08:08)
Faby Apache beat Lady Maravilla and La Hiedra (6:38, Faby Apache armbar La Hiedra, ok, 00:23:37)
Tito Santana beat Dave The Clown and Hijo Del Vikingo (13:14, Tito Santana backcracker, below average, 00:39:43)
Taurusbeat Súper Fly andPuma King (11:02, Taurus double underhook piledriver Super Fly, ok, 01:03:29)
What happened:
Puma bowling
Vikingo needed some medical attention after his match.
Dinastia, Faby Apache, Tito Santana, and Taurus won their matches. We’re still refusing to pay attention to the group standings until this is halfway done.
Vampiro led a round of applause for La Parka at the start of the show.
Fantasma appeared to present the Lucha Capital belts. They are new belts, they have 2019 on them.
Thoughts:
The main event was good in spots but never really came together. The pieces just didn’t fit as well as they could’ve had. Taurus got to do so some strong spots and the finish looked brutal but felt like he could’ve done more against one of the flyers.
Upon first viewing, I thought there was a chance Vikingo got hurt enough to cause his match to end unexpectedly. It doesn’t seem that way watching again, which makes the whole thing confounding. There’s some logic in having the rudos take a lot of the match to set up a big Vikingo comeback. They did that, Vikingo did a few spots, and they strangely went back to beating up Vikingo. It doesn’t square with Vikingo winning the Copa Pena a few days ago. Even if Tito had to get the win for tournament reasons, he could’ve gotten it over Dave instead. This outcome doesn’t make sense from a wrestling logic standpoint and the match was long and boring to boot.
The women’s match couldn’t overcome the usual disruptions which are brought on by a three-way match. Everyone seemed to work hard, it just didn’t come together as anything beyond a bunch of moves and a finish. Maravilla had the coolest bridging moves.
The opener was the best match of the night. Arez’ creativity mixes well with Dinastia’s energy, even when it is as simple as grabbing Dinastia’s tail to pull him into a suplex. All the Poder del Norte guys are probably underrated as individuals because they just work as a team; Cota came off here like he’d be one of the better solo rudos of his size if things went differently. The finish was tricky and came off well.
CMLL (TUE) 10/22/2019Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Kaligua & Shockercito b Pequeño Universo 2000 & Pequeño Violencia Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Inquisidor b Oro Jr., Retro, Robin 13:50. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Blue Panther, Drone, Rey Cometa b Dark Magic, Okumura, Universo 2000 Jr. 14:18. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Tiger b Guerrero Maya Jr. [lightning] 7:11. Tiger won with a casita
5) El Audaz, Kráneo, Volcano DQ Ephesto, Luciferno, Pólvora 13:45. Straight falls, the last when Polvora unmasked Audaz.
6) Felino, Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. 13:13. Rudos took 2/3. Stuka and Bucanero feuded all match, Bucanero got the submission win, and signaled for a title match
Blue Panther’s match was most over, Tiger/Maya was maybe the best, nothing you needed to see. I complained about too many Forastero feuds, then they started a Bucanero, maybe wrestling is a mistake.
CMLL (TUE) 10/22/2019Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Mr. Apolo b Crixus, Magnus, Reycko
2) Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora b La Jarochita, Lluvia, Sanely rudas took 2/3
3) Misterioso, Sagrado, Vangellys b Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Esfinge rudos took 1/3
4) Diamante Azul b Hechicero Azul took 1/3.
5) Carístico, Místico, Soberano Jr. b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón tecnicos took 2/3
No signal for a trios title match coming but it seems possible. CMLL making Magnus go six hours to Guadalajara to lose an opener comes off like a punishment, though I don’t think it’s meant to be one.
Volador & Titan are 2-1 in the NJPW Super Junior Tag League. They picked up a non-tournament win today. NJPW is careful about who gets the pinfalls and who gets pinned, so Titan picking up the win in every match seems meaningful. (But then he also took the pinfall.)
Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. talked to Diario Basta. Atlantis said he feels physically good, which is tough to reconcile with the guy who was tied to the ropes on Monday so they could hide his lack of movement. He’s going to keep wrestling at least until his other son debuts. Atlantis says he tells his son to ignore everyone’s advice besides his own because he’s had more success than anyone else. Atlantis also makes a point of saying he owns his name/character completely (and so does his sons.) Atlantis says he’s had prelim talks with people from the US to make a 13 episode TV series. It reads like it’s just in the idea stage at this point. Atlantis Jr. is training wrestling from morning to 2 pm from Monday to Saturday, then going to university to 8 or 9 pm.
Microman and Retro (in his Dia del Muertos outfit) were on Heraldo de Mexico’s morning show to promote the show.
Dalys & La Jarochita will go to Japan for “CMLL Lady’s Ring” on 01/22. CMLL doesn’t use the “CMLL” name when mentioning it on Twitter, so it appears to be someone using the name and not CMLL itself being involved outside of talent. This means Negro Casas and Dalys will be in Japan around the same time.
AAA Lucha Capital is back tonight. The poster has Hijo del Vikingo, Taurus, Arez, Dinastia, Puma King, Mocha Cota Jr., Super Fly, Tito Santana, Dave the Clown, Faby Apache, Lady Maravilla, and La Hiedra. There will be four three-way matches, one of them is probably all the women, and the rest we will not know until the matches are announced. Vikingo and Taurus alone make this worth seeking out. It’ll air on Facebook at 9pm CT. It streamed on a few different pages last week, but the AAA page seems to be the one that has the additional commentary from Australian Suicide
Vampiro and the director of his documentary were interviewed by MorbidoFest. Vampiro thought it would be a career biography, where it was more about where Vampiro was struggling in the moment they were filming and his relationship with his daughter. He still liked it. The last bit of the interview is Vampiro asking the director if they could edit the end of the film so they could show the big reaction he got returning at TripleMania.
Pentagon Jr. & Fenix are in action on AEW Dynamite tonight. They face Private Party in the semi-finals of the promotion’s tag team tournament. The Lucha Brothers seem like slight favorites to make the final. Kenny Omega will be facing Joey Janela on the show, so we’ll find out how/if they mention Omega winning the AAA Mega Championship.
It’s an (appropriately!) friends only message on Facebook where the Lucha Memes promoter confirms their upcoming Battle of Coacalco show will have not be taped. They only feel the people who buy tickets should be able to see it. I’ll do my best to honor those wishes and not mention the show again on this part of the site after this paragraph.
Box Y Lucha announced they’ll hold social media voting for their year-end awards for the first time this year. The Box Y Lucha awards are infamous. Every December, there’s an award party, (obscure) luchadors post photos of a Box Y Lucha award they won, and everyone else on Facebook makes a joke about the luchadors buying their awards. It does seem like people have been buying wins and also it may be fine because Box Y Lucha may not still be publishing without that added revenue source. I suspect the fan voting is to make the concept more credibility and make those other awards more valuable.
