The last CMLL Friday night show year holds no extra significance beyond that date. Bandido’s around, a feud maybe ocntineus in the semimain, but it’s mostly just yet another Friday show that seems to mostly exist because it must.
Bandido teams up tonight with Caristico & Volador against Gilbert el Broicua, Cuatrero and Forastero. The intrigue is if the NGD members can take Bandido’s moves without strugging as much as Ultimo Guerrero. Angel de Oro & Felino’s feud was toned down last week but they’re back again in the semi-main. Titan, Valiente, Negro Casas and Cavernario round out that match. I think Titan, Cavernario, Soberano and Templario are the four people I’ve enjoyed the most in CMLL this year and maybe two of them will meet there.
Star Jr., Audaz and Flyer, a trio of tecnicos who’ve all gotten attention in the last couple years but haven’t totally broken thru, face Templario, Hijo del Villano and Polvora. Guerrero Maya meets Okumura in a lightning match that is definitely happening. Both Marcela & Dalys are off following Wednesday’s title match, leaving a women’s trios of Estrellita, Lluvia and La Magnifica versus Amapola, Reyna Isis and La Comandante. Angelito & Shockercito wrestle Pierrothio & Mercurio in the opener, which shouldn’t be half bad.
The show will stream at 8:30 pm and I’ll stream it too. I might even be able to watch it live this week.
Today is also the first of two Friday night Arena Coliseo Guadalajara shows. Terrible defends the national heavyweight championship against Diamante Azul. It seems like the time Azul might win this title every time he challenges for it (this is the fourth) and Azul never does. It doesn’t seem to matter, Azul is still going to be treated as a bigger star with or without the title. The semi-main has Soberano & Atlantis partenering with Mephisto against Fugaz,, Gran Guerrero and Ultimo Guerrero. It’s unclear if any of this will air.
Sunday’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara main event was scheduled to be Caristico, Satanico, Shocker versus Blue Panther, Hechicero and Mistico. Mistico has wrestled only two CMLL matches this month and will not be wrestling a third. He’s off the show, with a “Dr. Karonte” in. This is not the Caristico brother who wrestles as Karonte Jr., but it is instead the Caristico brother who wrestles as Argos. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Argos in a major promotion; he wasn’t good in ELITE after not being good in AAA. Working a Guadalajara Sunday show doesn’t mean Dr. Karonte/Argos is necessarily back on the CMLL roster (he was opening wrestler from 2005 to 2011) but he’s in their system to be used again.
It is hard to believe Mistico will still be in CMLL by this time next year. It’s possible, the current status quo where he works a bit of CMLL and works a bit of indies could just go on.
Devitt Rodriguez took Militar de la Muerte I’s hair in Arena Aficion.
ROH 01/11 (Atlanta)
ROH 01/12 (Concord)
Segunda Caida writes about some 1999 Mr. Niebla.
JR Goldberg has a Mr. Niebla eulogy.
DirectTV will be dropping El Rey Network on 01/23. The channel has been off Dish Network since 2018 and it may be dropped from AT&T U-Verse as well. El Rey will never officially cancel Lucha Underground; it’s possible the channel itself will get canceled first.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
Lineups
CMLL (MON) 12/30/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Asturiano, Millenium, Rey Samuray vs Black Tiger, Fuerza Chicana, Policeman
2) Arkalis, Drone, Súper Astro Jr. vs El Malayo, El Perverso, Toro Bill Jr.
3) Stigma vs Rey Cometa [lightning]
4) Ángel de Oro, Terrible, Valiente vs Diamante Azul, Felino, Rey Bucanero [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Carístico vs Volador Jr.
Caristico and Volador started the decade facing each other and end the decade facing each other.
This seems like a short show.
AAA (WED) 01/01/2020 Arena Neza
1) Canibal Jr., Montaña Negra, Rey Dinka vs Imperial, Máscara Virtual, Sky Man
2) Lady Maravilla, Lady Shani, Vanilla Vargas vs Faby Apache, Keyra, Star Fire
3) Dinastía, Eclipse, Niño Hamburguesa vs Chico Che, John Tito, Neza Kid Jr.
4) Abismo Negro Jr., Súper Fly, Tito Santana vs Aerostar, Drago, Octagón Jr.
5) Neza Kid vs Súper Nova [mask]
6) Pagano vs Texano Jr., Mr. Águila, Máximo, Mocho Cota Jr., Joe Lider, Chessman, Carta Brava, Averno [cage, hair]
The mask match was coming for a while but is still funny. Neza Kid is known to anyone who might care about Neza Kid, Neza Kid is already wrestling in another mask, and so Neza Kid is probably losing. It’ll also likely be pretty good. This arena has Neza Kid Jr. previous as Neza Kid to throw confuse the issue but he’s already booked on this card. Still might pull something.
AAA TV (SAT) 01/25/2020 Pepsi Center WTC, Benito Juárez, Distrito Federal
1) Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa vs Dinastía & Lady Shani and Arez & Keyra and Lady Maravilla & Villano III Jr. © [AAA MIXED TAG]
7th defense, 2nd on TV.
2) Máscarita Sagrada, Mr. Iguana, Taya vs Abismo Negro Jr., Demus, La Hiedra
3) Aramis, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
4) Hijo Del Vikingo, Murder Clown, Puma King vs Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Texano Jr.
5) Aerostar, Drago, Pagano vs Blue Demon Jr., Chessman, Monsther Clown
6) Fénix, Pentagón Jr., Psycho Clown vs La Bestia Del Ring, LA Park, Rush Toro Blanco
Just a regular AAA TV taping to open up the year. The main event is not a great match for Fenix & Penta but so it goes. There are no rarely great matches involving La Bestia del Ring, an issue AAA will have to overcome in 2020.
The semi-main has Aerostar/Monsther Clown and a strange assortment of people behind them. Maybe Drago/Blue Demon Jr. is the TripleMania main event? (Probably not.)
Vikingo gets moved up away from his trio, with Aramis stepping in. Both of those matches should be good as should be the mixed tag match. I’d have more confidence in the second match if I had any confidence in Abismo Negor Jr.
No sign of Sin Cara/Cinta de Oro for this one.