Month: December 2019

CMLL (MON) 12/30/2019 Arena Puebla [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Asturiano, Millenium, Rey Samuray b Black Tiger, Fuerza Chicana, Policeman 
13:14. Tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Arkalis, Drone, Súper Astro Jr. b El Malayo, El Perverso, Toro Bill Jr. 
13:30. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Stigma b Rey Cometa [lightning] 
6:03. Stigmatica for the win. No challenges followed.
4) Diamante Azul, Felino, Rey Bucanero b Ángel de Oro, Terrible, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles] 
12:03. Team Felino took 2/3. Felino and Angel de Oro matched up a lot but did not heavily feud.
5) Carístico b Volador Jr. 
17:18. Caristico took 2/3, won clean with La Mistica after Volador (& Edgar) cheated repeatedly.

The main event was all the stuff done when Caristico loses a singles match – he gets all the offense, the referee is unfair to him, the opponent cheats – except he actually still won. It felt like a AAA match in layout, with Caristico playing the part of La Parka or Psycho Clown, and the crowd got into it. It was a packed house too; attendance remains up during the holiday season as normal.

The Angel de Oro/Felino stuff now feels like the Hechicero/Stuka stuff from earlier this year, where CMLL’s moved on from the feud but the luchadors are trying to keep it alive a bit. Rey Cometa/Stigma had no challenges, so that was just a few weeks of a random tecnico/tecnico feud for a six-minute match.

Children under 10 can get a photo with Microman, Gallito, and Atomo (dressed as the Three Wise Men) on Sunday at Arena Mexico.

This Tuesday is the same as last week: not a show to be had anywhere. Everyone’s running Wednesday instead. Arena Mexico has the biggest show: two apuesta matches and a tag title match. Kawato & Dulce are going to headline a 10K house, though a big chunk of that’s going to people looking for something fun to do during the holidays. I wrote a partial preview over on Voices of Wrestling the other day; the shorter version is Dulce & Caristico/Mistico seem like certain winners. I’m not at all sure with the Principe Diamante/Espiritu Negro mask match; the more I think about it, the more I think Espiritu’s actually winning. Neither apuesta match seems obviously great, but a strong crowd and a lot of emotion tends to bring things up in a big Arena Mexico match. Remember, this is a 5 pm CT start time for the holiday, and probably will last long enough to be airing the same time as those AEW/NXT shows that night.

Other shows of note tomorrow

• Arena Naucalpan has an all cage match show, including two apuesta matches, an unidentified title and a briefcase with no obvious purpose. As a person who hates lucha libre cage matches, this is sort of my nightmare show. It starts at 3:45 pm and may be streamed.
• Arena Neza has an AAA spot show with a seven man cage match (Mr. Aguila or Joe Lider likely losing their hair), and a Super Nova vs Neza Kid mask match. The only question about the mask match is if they’ll find out a way to get out of it, since the identity of the person under the Neza Kid mask is well-known already.
• There’s another AAA spot show in Arena Lopez Mateos, where Joe Lider is also supposed to main event in a trios teaming with Parka Negra & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Psycho, Murder, and Dave. As with Christmas, a lot of the main event Mexico State matches will be moved around on the card to make sure they make their dates but all the other matches are highly subject to change.
• Arena San Juan has a Latigo/Toxin vs Astrolux/Torito Negro main event, which isn’t high on star power but should be pretty good.
• Out in Tulancingo, Jimmy makes his return to Mexico to challenge Aeroboy for the Rockstar Pro championship on a Lucha Libre Vanguardia show. Shun Skywalker seems to be traveling Mexico with Draztick Boy. They face off here with Cobre & Gasparin as partners. This show is listed as +LuchaTV show so it should turn up in some format later.
• There’s a Multy/Prayer vs Gallego/Romano Garcia tag title match in Puebla, mostly interesting to see if Los Diabolicos actually got their hair cut after losing an apuesta match last week. It does look like Gallego got his hair cut.

If you are looking something to watch tonight, RIOT put up their last four shows on Pivotshare. I saw the two night tournament and enjoyed it; it’s well worth the $5/subscription. (They’re also giving away a month subscription for free if you buy a ticket to their February event by the end of the night.) The November show has appearances from CIMA & Skayde and the May show has a five man flyers main event.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

I’m not sure how much I’ll be around for the next couple of days. Recaps should go up and I’m working on finishing a series that may show up as well, but the news posts may be finished for the week or have strange timing.

I am running the Tapatia lucha libre awards again this year. I probably won’t mention it on Twitter for a couple of days but you can vote now if you’re in a hurry. Or tell me what I need to fix before I put it out there.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 01/03/2020 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino, Fantástico, Mr. Samurai vs Exterminador, Maléfico, Ráfaga
2) Lluvia, Mystique, Princesa Sugehit vs La Seductora, Reina Isis, Tiffany
3) Flyer, Fugaz, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Virus
4) Audaz, Star Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Felino, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero
5) Diamante Azul, Místico, Valiente vs Negro Casas, Shocker, Terrible

Nothing special on the second of two Friday shows here.

CMLL (SAT) 01/04/2020 Arena Coliseo
1) Kaligua & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Skadi vs Dalys, La Comandante, Reyna Isis
3) Oro Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
4) Audaz, Black Panther, Flyer vs Kawato San, Pólvora, Vangellys
5) Diamante Azul, Místico, Valiente vs Cavernario, Euforia, Negro Casas
6) Volador Jr. vs Último Guerrero

2020 looks a lot like 2019.

CMLL (SAT) 01/04/2020 Deportivo Pavón, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Bluesman & Tackle vs Demonio Infernal & Sicario
2) Súper Astro vs Drone, Star Jr., Sonic, Leono, Bengala, Templario, Hijo del Signo, Tiger, Akuma, Sagrado, El Coyote [Copa Mr. Niebla]
3) Kráneo, Retro, Stuka Jr., Volcano vs Guerrero Maya Jr., Hechicero, Nitro, Tyson La Bestia
4) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis Jr., Niebla Roja, Shocker vs Felino, Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero

This was the scheduled Mr. Niebla benefit show which is now being held in his memory.

CMLL (SUN) 01/05/2020 Arena México
1) Eléctrico & Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
2) Átomo, Gallito, Microman vs Chamuel, Mije, Perico Zakarías
3) Dulce Gardenia, Kráneo, Volcano vs Kawato San, Pólvora, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Titán vs Templario [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. vs Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Terrible
6) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Místico vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Último Guerrero

Titan versus Templario should be really good. Dia de Reyes has been a big show in the past but doesn’t appear to be on this time around.

CMLL ran a memorable incredible pairs tournament in early 2010. It wasn’t the winning team or the final (Atlantis & Mascara Dorada defeating La Mascara & Negro Casas) which stood out. It was a second-round match which made the most news. Volador & Terrible faced Averno & Mistico. The latter two were long-time rivals but, instead of not getting along, Mistico embraced the chance to wrestle as a rudo for the first time ever. The match was heated, Volador nearly beat Mistico with La Misitica, and Mistico instead fouled Volador to win. The two had a singles match a week later, where Volador both escaped La Mistica (something rarely done) and then beat Mistico with his own hold (something never done.) Volador had been wrestling in main events for the last year, was part of a successful tag team with La Sombra, but was seen by the Arena Mexico diehards as a talented wrestler CMLL just wouldn’t go all the way with. Fans sentiment was Voladorw as the better wrestler than Mistico but CMLL would never let someone surpass their golden goose – and then Volador did completely cleanly. Mistico & Volador had a rematch a week later and Volador won again, though not at all cleanly. Mistico still came off as the rudo in the end.

It was incredibly bold booking. It was also something CMLL quickly worked to undo; Mistico’s heel turn was dropped in a month. Nothing was done to resolve the issue between the two, with CMLL sort of keeping it going in the background but dropping it from the Friday night show. (They rematched on a Sunday show where Volador won again after a failed attempt by Mistico to cheat, but it’s not as well remembered.) Volador sort of remained in limbo until his rudo turn later in the year and Mistico lost to Volador one more time before leaving the company. CMLL groped around for new top tecnicos for a couple of years before finally accepting Volador was the only choice the fans hadn’t rejected, and he’s been the top face of CMLL since that point. Mistico, as Caristico, returned to in late 2015. He and Volador have faced off plenty since then, with Volador winning most of them. They’ve teamed too, though there seems to be hard to disguise disdain between them.

Volador & Caristico started the decade going at each other, they even started the year against each at FantasticaMania, and they’ll end it facing again in a singles match. It’s a coincidence, not a plan. CMLL talks a lot about history but doesn’t book with an appreciation of its own recent history that much. It is just the two names who happened to come up out of the small group of people CMLL trusts in main events in 2019. I’m not sure if this is the biggest CMLL rivalry of the decade or if either man is the CMLL biggest star of the last ten years – that feels like Ultimo Guerrero – but is an appropriate way to close it out.

The last CMLL card of the year, tonight in Arena Puebla, looks to be a quick one. There are only five matches, one of them is a lightning match, and none of them look like they should go long. Caristico/Volador is the main event. Angel de Oro & Felino meet once again in the semi-main, which may or may even mean anything at this point. CMLL currently has few ways it builds rivalries. It doesn’t seem to be a real feud unless there’s a rudo getting DQed for something and no one’s getting DQed between Angel de Oro & Felino lately.

Rey Cometa & Stigma are getting those DQs and meet in a lightning match. It seems fairly likely Cometa & Stigma are headed to a bigger match as soon as next week. Arkalis, Drone and Super Astro are a fun tecnico team against a non-fun rudo team of Malayo, Perverso and Toro Bill Jr. Asturiano & Rey Samuray team up with Millenium against Policeman, Fuerza Chicana and Black Tiger in the opener. It’s a normal 9 pm start on YouTube for this one.

01/11 MLW

• Aerostar vs Alex Hammerstone for the MLW Openweight Championship
• Drago & Puma King vs Taurus & Hijo de LA Park vs Jordan Oliver & Kotto Brazil

Diaro Basta has an interview with Titan. He says he got into lucha libre following Mistico and they point out he probably should’ve been Mistico II – the winner of the En Busca de Un Idolo tournament should’ve gotten it and maybe was intended to get it. Titan won instead of (then) Dragon Lee as CMLL planned, so they gave it to third place finisher instead.

Ovaciones has a profile of Okumura.