Dorian Roldan posted on Twitter last night La Sociedad would have a new member on the Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera TV taping next Friday. Today, Marisela Pena said there’d be a big surprise on the same show. It’s unclear if this is meant to be the same surprise, or if either of them is the surprise person in the Rey de Reyes tournament match.
AAA returned to running occasional TV tapings in this building in 2010 with the surprise return of Heavy Metal, who was brought in as a new Sociedad member but turned on them and went with the tecnicos by the end of the night. They could be repeating that bit here. Or they could just be introducing a lot of people on the same night, like they did when Dr. Wagner Jr. and Marco Corleone came aboard.
I know AAA would like Sin Cara to be on this show. I’m unsure if they’ve actually worked out a deal at this moment, but this is the moment for it to get done. No Sin Cara on the show would mean the two sides aren’t even close on a deal and might not get one done any time soon. AAA must have locked in someone to start pushing it and Sin Cara is the name that’s going to be the big deal. Still, any CMLL no-shows the next couple of days are going to get extra attention. I think most of the names being thrown out are speculation, but there probably are real discussions with current CMLL luchadors about moving to AAA. AAA can promise much more right now – “we’ve sold out every taping, we’re going to take off when the US show starts, and we’re working 10x harder on making our product attractive than the guys across town” – than CMLL. There’s reasons not to make a move – there’s no guarantee AAA will be able to deliver on their promises, and CMLL luchadors are giving up security – and most people who talk about making a move don’t actually do it, but I kind of expect someone to bite. Friday night is going to be a very interesting night.
a dumb discussion about dumb things on Twitter because there’s nothing else to talk about today: Dorian teasing a big deal happening at a show you can pay for is a pretty good use of Twitter. I wish he would share his practices for using Twitter with other people in his workplace.
Yesterday, Fenix talked about how he lost the love for his job, but then assured us he still loves lucha libre. So I guess it’s just AAA that’s awful? This was justone day in a continuing series of Fenix, Saddest Man On Twitter. I’m hoping this is more of that performance art in wrestling I’ve heard so much about, but I don’t think it actually it is. I hope Fenix is okay more than I care about any dumb Twitter etiquette. Not since Ricky Marvin has any luchador seemed more depressed on Twitter. I’m thinking this is probably a normal case of “being in your 20s and frustrated about things not happening as quick as you want” and he’ll be fine soon enough.
Still: people who know me for long enough know I did pretty much every possible dumb thing on the internet before the phrase social media was invented. It was not a good look. I’ve banished most of it, but it’s never all gone and I’m sure something will come back at me some day. Don’t go down the same road. I’m not encouraging anyone to copy my soulless automaton bit, but just manage the release of your emotions better. Complain all your want to the right people online, in a safe restricted format where only your actual friends can seem them (like an account that doesn’t use your stage name), and let the rest of the world see you as a happy successful luchador. If you feel like you’re not happy with your job, find a way to tell your friends, not the people who are paying to see you do your job. If you can’t find a secure way of doing that on the internet, then just pick up a phone and call someone – that’s another mistake I’ve made that you shouldn’t.
Speaking of people who need to pick up a phone and just call someone, Cibernetico and Konnan! On and on and about how big of a star they are compared to each other, and how neither of them really care about this argument they won’t shut up about. They started this round of it on Saturday, and they were still going back and forth on Tuesday as if one of them was going to ever convince the other one of this. Sometimes Elegido gets involved. Sometimes people say “guey”, which I can only assume is a term of wonderment since both guys seem to respect the exoticos. Sometimes like five other people get referenced in the twitter message and neither man is adapt enough to delete out the bystanders, so it take them three times as many messages to tell each other off. It’s probably a 20 minute conversion if they had it in person or on the phone. It’s been half a week long conversation on Twitter. It’s never been entertaining. The Internet is not a game you can win, but anyone following both of them has felt like they’re losing.
It reads, in my laughably poor Spanish comprehension skills, like Cibernetico’s just joking to provoke a reaction from Konnan and Konnan is happily giving him that reaction. It’s also very possible this is both guys working their feud on Twitter to make AAA feel more real for people who follow them on social media – that may still be novel for lucha libre, but the volume and length of the conversation would seem to wear out anyone’s interest. Except for those two guys, they definitely still seem to be interested. General rule of thumb: if you have to reply to someone more than four times on the same subject, then you need to be having the conversation some place that doesn’t limit you to 140 characters. Probably to something with audio. Cibernetico’s been about 15x better on Twitter than I would’ve ever expected, even if his stories never seem to complete, but I think I have to banish him off into one of the lists just so I can find anything else at night.
My third and final source of frustration is Octagon, who keeps threatening to leave AAA and find a money mark to pay him to tease a mask match with Fuerza Guerrera, in Year Twenty Three of their feud. Octagon’s also asked people to demand the Roldans explain why he’s not on TV. (He’s deleted some of them; this is a bit older.) Now, I’ve checked, and I’m definitely not a Roldan and don’t have first hand info on any of this. I do have a working brain and can use it to make some guesses: Octagon is not being used on AAA TV because he’s old, he’s out of shape, he shows up in poor condition, he gives terrible effort in matches, and he’s not a good promo. Otherwise, he’s wonderful. AAA’s generally done him a great favor by keeping him around as long as they have, as he’s really not useful except for the nostalgia appearance every six months and as a respected legend from the early days of the company. (Even then, AAA has depth at that last position – the Parka was in to advise Aerostar about restarting the Cadetes del Espacio was one AAA has used Octagon for previously, and they didn’t lose anything by making the switch.) Octagon on the indies would do fine the first time everywhere and then not so much the next time, because of all the reasons he’s not used on TV.
I don’t actually know what I want Octagon to do here. I think it’s possible what Octagon is doing might actually work – lucha libre is so backwards-looking nostalgia-based that he will get paid on the first time out. I think I would like him to actually do something instead of frequently talking about how he’s going to do something really soon now, and it’d probably serve him well to be a bit more loyal to a company that’s been publicly and privately very loyal to him over the last two decades, but it seems like a lot to ask him to do that when many luchadors around the same age do about the same. They just do in other media.
The vast majority of AAA people on Twitter are great. You should follow Steve Pain, he’s been amusing since joining. Taya, Jennifer and Mamba interact with a lot of people. It’s cool to see Psicosis and Juvi on Twitter. Pasion Kristal promotes her shows well. There are other people I can’t think of right now and this whole digression has gone on way too long. Twitter is generally good if you’re not annoying about it, like blogs are generally OK when you’re not spending eight paragraphs on why Twitter is generally good.
back to the actual news: El Popular’s report on last night Puebla show mentions Rush beat Vangellys via Rush Driver. Peste Negra beat the Estetas del Aire in the main event, setting up a rematch next week and probably a title match sooner or later.
Peste Negra being set up for another trios title challenge means they’re less likely to win the national trios titles tonight in the Arena Mexico main event. CMLL’s preview of the show also has an interview with debuting mini Angelito, who lists himself as 55 kg, 155 cm, and 18 years old. There’s a picture of Angelito on Facebook.
Tiger’s mentioned he’ll be in the lightning match versus Stuka instead of Puma. It took CMLL about a week of Super Porky being hurt to take him out of shows, and maybe that’s what has happened here. Puma’s off until a show in Neza on Sunday.
AAA & City Express Hotels held a press conference to announce a new partnership. The hotel company will provide travel packages for shows (probably tapings) where fans will get to meet AAA luchadors, and rides back and forth from the hotel with a luchador (similiar to the CMLL Turi-luchas deal.) AAA did something similar with the Hard Rock show back in December and must’ve worked out well. AAA’s also getting hotel rooms for their luchadors and staff. AAA’s previously done a sponsorship deal for the buses they use to go to most tapings. Marisela Pena also mentioned TripleMania would again be held in Arena Ciudad de Mexico, as expected, and that’s probably one of the travel package shows.
Dr. Wagner Jr. will appear on the next season of La Isla, la Reality. This is the TV Azteca Survivor-type reality show Shocker appeared on last year. I’m not sure what the schedule is for this season, but the cast went to the island soon after the casting announcement. Shocker was back on CMLL cards a couple weeks later; I’m not sure if the taping schedule isn’t that long or it was just because he got kicked off pretty quick. Wagner does have a match announced for Tijuana on 03/07, but nothing else until April. Wagner is either going to do great on this show or everyone is going to turn on him within three days, but it’s a good deal for him to get on national network TV show. For all the stuff that seems to be going on with Azteca and CMLL, they picked a non-CMLL guys when they needed a star. (WagnerMania also has a Wagner promo for his April match.)
Black Terry Jr. has highlights of Azteca & Pantera I vs Alan Extreme & Imposible.
LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update and this week’s Poster-Mania.
Tickets are on sale for the 04/27 Masked Republic show at the ECW Arena, running from $100 to $30 $20 USD (1300 MX Pesos to 250 MX Pesos) for adults.
News report on this past week at Arena Coliseo Monterrey.
Jack Evans, Angelico, and Australian Suicide talk about their upcoming match versus the Infernal Rockers. Zorro has generic quotes about the show as well.
Zeuxis wants to win a title, defeat Sileuta & Lluvia, and finish up school this year.
Arena Papa Milo in Nuevo Laredo is selling DVDs of their shows (but only at their shows, it seems.)
A lucha libre exhibition will open in Tijuana on Friday.
An article on El Dandy’s retirement match on the April ChilangaMask show.
Lineups
IWRG (SUN) 02/23/2014 Arena Naucalpan
1) Hip Hop Man & Sky Ángel vs Matrix Jr. & Power Bull
2) Dragón Celestial, Emperador Azteca, Látigo vs Dowki, Hanaoka, Hijo De La Bestia
3) Ángel Del Amor, Chico Che, Golden Magic vs Apolo Estrada, Spartaco, Tupac Amaru Jr.
4) Alan Extreme & Veneno vs Oficial 911 & Oficial AK47 [IWRG IC TAG]
Veneno & Alan Extreme is champion. Second defense.
5) Lizmark Jr., Relámpago, Súper Nova vs Eterno, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, X-Fly
Nova & Eterno got on opposite sides quick.
Alan Extreme has not been convincing as a tecnico (except for his willingness to bleed a lot.) Maybe it’ll get better for him here, or maybe it’ll end here.
Itinerant Japanese luchador Hanaoka’s non-FILL debut. Maybe Spartaco will show up?
