Lucha Figther & +LuchaTV Torneo Supremo wrap up, Alberto arrested, other juniors

AAA , FIGHTER (SAT) 04/18/2020 Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [AAA week 4R de Rudo 4, thecubsfan week 4, Lucha Central week 4]
1) Dinastía b Laredo Boy LUCHA LIBRE AAA: Lucha Fighter LIVE | EPISODIO 4 #QuédateEnCasa (posted by Lucha Libre AAA)
5:30. Dinastia won the minis tournament.
2) Psycho Clown b Chessman LUCHA LIBRE AAA: Lucha Fighter LIVE | EPISODIO 4 #QuédateEnCasa (posted by Lucha Libre AAA)
9:11.
3) Pentagón Jr. b LA Park LUCHA LIBRE AAA: Lucha Fighter LIVE | EPISODIO 4 #QuédateEnCasa (posted by Lucha Libre AAA)
7:31. Pentagon won via foul and fast count.
4) Lady Shani b La Hiedra LUCHA LIBRE AAA: Lucha Fighter LIVE | EPISODIO 4 #QuédateEnCasa (posted by Lucha Libre AAA)
6:10. Lady Shani submitted Hiedra to win the women’s tournament.
5) Pentagón Jr. b Psycho Clown LUCHA LIBRE AAA: Lucha Fighter LIVE | EPISODIO 4 #QuédateEnCasa (posted by Lucha Libre AAA)
10:00. Pentagon Jr. defeated Psycho Clown to win the men’s tournament.

The show was fine. The last two matches were good. I’m already exhausted with empty arena shows, and they won’t be ending any time soon. It was a bit odd that no one got a trophy or other award, though that’s low on the list of odd things right now

+LuchaTV’s Torneo Supremo did have a trophy for their tournament final, where Ricky Marvin defeated Demonio Infernal to win. Marvin hardly ever loses on the indies, so it was not a surprise to see him win. Demonio Infernal making it to the final, was unexpected. I think there was a desire to avoid repeating Arez/Marvin after it happened so recently on the Lucha Memes show and an attempt to get a new person through to the final. The tournament did run an Aramis/Marvin match in the semifinals, but both semifinals were unfortunately short. It wasn’t clear if that was a time issue (the lightning seemed to indicate everything wasn’t taped in order or on the same day), an energy issue, or just a creative choice, but that was the disappointment of the tournament. Hijo del Pirata Morgan and Demonio Infernal stood out as guys who looked better here than I’m used to seeing them in IWRG trios matches.

+LuchaTV was selling a tournament t-shirt on the final day in addition to the other methods of donation for wrestlers. They haven’t announced any total of how much money they made in donations, which is typical for these. I haven’t seen any group in Mexico announce how much money they made running a charity show yet. In the US, it’s a lot of pushing the total funds raised so far (as promotion for the charity and to encourage others to chip in), while Mexico seems like it’s just out of bounds to talk about money in that way.

Alberto Rodriguez (Alberto el Patron) was arrested in San Antonio over the weekend for sexually assaulting his girlfriend. Rodriguez has had a pattern of erratic and destructive behavior since 2014, though this is the worst accusation to come public. It’s unlikely to affect his wrestling career, only because his past behavior seems to have already mostly ended his wrestling career. No successful group wanted to be anywhere near him, and so he was left propping up no hope groups like Nacion Lucha Libre. Rodriguez is out on bail and faces a sentence of up to 20 years should he be found guilty.

Heraldo de Mexico interviews Faby Apache for a Mother’s Day story.

Santo Jr. has been showing up in Hijo del Santo’s social media since quarantine began. In a mother’s day interview in El Impacial, Hijo del Santo says his son is now taking his university classes online. Santo Jr. told his father he’ll go back in the ring as soon he wraps up his degree in a year. Hijo del Santo pictures his retirement tour teaming with his son a year and a half from now. No one in wrestling can be held to a retirement announcement, and no one should be kept to a decision made into a pandemic either, but this is the most optimistic the Santos have sounded about Santo Jr.’s career in a while.

One of Abismo Negro’s children appears to be intending to wrestle as Hijo de Abismo Negro. It’s unclear when the debut; even beyond the obvious, it’s just unclear how long they’ve been getting ready to wrestle and how close they might be to a match. Abismo Negro’s family was very upset about AAA putting Eterno under the mask, feeling the name should be retired. Still, there had been no sign any of the children were going into wrestling at that point.

Furia de Titanes points out a story of a luchador trying to pass himself as Fenix & Penta’s father as part of a scam. Penta denounced the scammer on his Facebook, saying they’re not related.

A March 14th show in Ciudad Victoria was postponed to May 21st and is now postponed to “we’ll wait until the medical personal tell us it’s safe to run.”

The government body overseeing spots in Torreon handed out food and care packages to luchadors in the city.

Xalapa’s Mercenario passed away recently.

MasLucha Semifinals & Finals

Recapped: 2020-05-10

Demonio Infernal beat Arez in a tournament semifinal match
(4:24, ok, 00:07:27)

Demonio Infernal/Arez seemed to be a victim of the structure. They went full out for the sub-five minutes they went, but it felt like they went quick because they had all they had. It was also a victim of not using the advantages of the format. They recovered from the messed up poison rana fine, but they didn’t really need to recover. They could’ve just restarted the match. There were a couple of other points that didn’t seem like they went exactly right or were otherwise peculiar. Demonio Infernal did show he could keep up with Arez speed, and Arez didn’t struggle to work against a bigger guy. Hope we get to see this again in another situation.

Ricky Marvin beat Aramis in a tournament semifinal match
(4:51, good, 00:08:08)

Another quick sprint, the last few minutes of what could’ve been a good long match where I’m left mixed about if there was enough there to make it worthwhile. It was close, even if it drifted off from what story they were telling to start. Ricky doing a bit where he’s grabbing Aramis around the head with his legs and then slamming his own knees into the mat was a peculiar choice in a tournament where his knee injury is the only story. (I guess the other story is kicking at one is the most suicidal thing you can do since both guys who’ve done it got pinned immediately after.) The big moves were great when they got to them, there just could’ve been more to it.

Ricky Marvin beat Demonio Infernal in a tournament final match
(9:24, good, 00:13:09)

The tournament finished well enough, with the final getting a good bit of time and some drama to it. Ricky’s DDTs have looked impressively brutal during the tournament. All that knee work really didn’t lead to anything interesting in the final, though Demonio Infernal was the wrong guy to have in there for that sort of tease. Demonio did raise his stock the most in the tournament; he doesn’t get the super indie bookings outside of IWRG but felt like he could hang with all those guys. There are parts of where he could use some polish, but kept the matches interesting. Ricky Marvin was at the level we’ve seen from him the last couple of years. He makes his matches feel important, even if sometimes they come off as a bit one-sided. There was no doubt he was going to win this final, but they still kept it entertaining.