Rey de Reyes date announced, Soberano & Volador advance in Gran Alternativa, Kamaitachi debuts

CMLL (FRI) 01/31/2014 Arena Mexico [CMLLLuchaWorld]
1) Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito b Stukita & Último Dragoncito
2) Kamaitachi, Sangre Azteca, Shigeo Okumura b Fuego, Súper Halcón Jr., Tritón
Rudos took 1/3. Kamaitachi looked OK in his debut.
3) Dalys, Princesa Blanca, Princesa Sugheit b Dark Angel, Estrellita, Marcela
Rudas took 1/3. Dalys yelled at Marcela post match.
4) Blue Panther & Cachorro b Averno & El Rebelde [eightfinal, Gran Alternativa]
5) La Sombra & Oro Jr. b Akuma & Rey Bucanero [eightfinal, Gran Alternativa]
6) Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr. b Espanto Jr. & Mephisto [eightfinal, Gran Alternativa]
7) Guerrero Negro Jr. & Terrible b Hombre Bala Jr. & Máximo [eightfinal, Gran Alternativa]
8) La Sombra & Oro Jr. b Blue Panther & Cachorro [quarterfinal, Gran Alternativa]
9) Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr. b Guerrero Negro Jr. & Terrible [quarterfinal, Gran Alternativa]
10) Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr. b La Sombra & Oro Jr. [semifinal, Gran Alternativa]
11) Atlantis, La Máscara, Rush DQ Mr. Niebla, Shocker, Último Guerrero
Straight falls. Shocker blatantly fouled Rush for the DQ, and they went back and forth after the match.

CMLL gave Rush vs Sombra away in a tag team tournament last year, and gave tecnico Volador vs tecnico Sombra away in a tag team tournament this year. Both encounters should’ve been a bigger deal. In this case, I think they really have no plans to do Volador & Sombra in any way so it was no big deal to give it away, and Volador gets a big win.

Dalys & Marcela seem on pace to have a title match on 02/14, same day as the Gran Alternativa final

Kamaitachi looked OK in his debut. He was very into his character. The announcers described him as an Espectro, which tends to be a barefoot green ghost monkey in lucha libre. Kamaitachi is a multicolored ghost squirrel/weasel thing with hidden knifes, but close enough. He seems to be in the exact same spot as Namajague.

CMLL ended the Terra broadcast after the tercera. This was triply annoying – it was annoying not to see the Gran Alternativa, it was annoying not to be told we weren’t seeing the Gran Alterntiva when it was reasonable to assume it would air, and it was annoying to not be able to follow the tournament in any way because CMLL gave up on live results. CMLL’s new format for doing live coverage is an obvious work in progress, but it’s got a ways to progress. The ‘live’ update page was full of broken images during the show, and the text results were hard to find because of the picture controls. They stopped updating after the tercera, and so people stopped talking about show. It’s great to get big (watermarked) pictures, but the website exists only as a promotional device and so the content should go where it’ll get the most people – not on CMLL.com, but on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. (It’s also frustrating the ‘full’ recap only lists the semifinal of the Gran Alternativa – something purporting to be a real sport wouldn’t skip more than half the outcomes on the event.)

I would assume the rest of the tournament would not air, but it’s mindbendingly dumb that anyone has to guess and CMLL can’t just promote the matches they’re airing, same as they promote the matches they’re putting on. (The last paragraph exhausted my desire to rant today, so you’re saved from my once-every-three-months ran about how stupid it is that I do a lucha times post every week.) I think we can be pretty certain going forward that the poor soul writing the previews for this shows on Terra’s website has no more information about what will air than we do.

AAA announced Rey de Reyes will be in Plaza de Monumental, Monterrey on 03/16. That’s the same outdoor venue as last year, which did pretty well with attendance. This means AAA has five more episodes of TV to tape before the big show, one or two of which will come in Ecatepec next weekend. Rey de Reyes figures to start airing on 03/22.

CMLL Gaceta has a preview of Dos Leyendas, mentioning these feuds: Negro Casas/Blue Panther, Negro Casas/Shocker/Rush, Negro Casas/Volador Jr., Volador Jr./Reapper, Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero, and Mr. Niebla/Ultimo Guerrero. All but one (maybe) of those feuds won’t happen. Marcela/Dallys isn’t mentioned, but seems on track to happening in some way.

They also place Vaquerita’s return at the end of February.

CMLL & indy personalities appeared on a two hour Dialogos en Confianza show on Once TV Mexico. The video is region blocked from the US (and maybe everywhere out of Mexico), but I did see it getting some poor reviews when it aired in Mexico with the indy people not coming off well.

On a another video (one you might be able to watch) Black Panther & Cachorro visited the Cadena3 talk show Nuestro Dia. It’s so early, but those two guys are the early favorites for the Wrestling Observer rookies of the year (unless we can convince the WON readership that Hechicero is a rookie…)

Rob has highlights of 11/19/13 CMLL.

CMLL has a preview of Sunday’s card, an afternoon of surprises. What surprises? You CMLL always promise surprises and there are never any surprises. (My surprise is I’m off watching other events so Terra may not get recorded if they change the feed setup for the third time in two weeks.)

Porra Fresa has a preview of Monday’s show.

Dueling Chicago lucha promotions GALLI & ELLMEX will work together for a combined show.

La Colisenos is concerned Nuevo Valores focuses too much on family members of existing wrestlers.

Eric R reviews Lucha Azteca 01/25/13.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 02/07/2014 Arena Mexico
1) Acero & Shockercito vs Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Pegasso, Sagrado, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Kamaitachi, Raziel
3) Dark Angel, Marcela, Silueta vs Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora
4) Atlantis & Star Jr. vs Cavernario & Mr. Niebla and Dragon Lee & Rush and Hechicero & Último Guerrero and Herodes Jr. & Shocker and Canelo Casas & Negro Casas and Black Panther & Diamante Azul and Espiritu Negro & Reaper [Gran Alternativa, semifinal]
5) La Sombra, Marco Corleone, Thunder vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto

Hooray, Marco Corleone’s back. Not as happy about the Australian.

Hechicero is, by far, the guy most ready to move up on CMLL cards. He’s been doing it longer, is really good, and might as well be a ringer in style of the Yujiro/Okumura team (except a lot less annoying.)  Volador has issues with Reapper and Casas which might set up an interesting final, but neither rookie seems set up for a higher spot. I wonder what happens if the two Peste Negra teams fight each other?

Tercera continues the Marcela/Dalys feud. Silueta is listed on the 02/16 REINA show, so this could be her last match here for a while.