caption fail uno (they get it wrong a different way the next show.)
taped 2013-09-29 @ Feria, San Felipe, Torres Mochas, Guanajuato
Imposible lets gravity do the wrong
Centvrión vs Imposible: Liked this one much better than the previous show’s match. They did a better job of saving the bigger spots to the end and building to them. They still did the big spots but did them at times where they felt like they mattered more. Centviron crashed and burned hard right before the finish. There were a few spots that didn’t look good, but this was largely OK.
caption fail #2
Esther Moreno & Lady Apache vs Diosa Maya & Rossy Moreno: A basic tag match, possible more basic because of the size. They got the crowd into it the first fall, then kind of lost them until the finish. It was not a long match but it felt that way with the little crowd noise. Diosa Maya looked better in other matches and struggled here. It was a match, it was fine, not much to say.
dropkick almost gets there
Bobby Lee & Rayman vs Heddi Karaoui & Zumbi: Bobby Lee on the show because it’s Leon. Karaoui & Zumbi came off more like rudos in the prematch promo than they had in any of their matches so far, and were playing up their rudo antics more in the match. Going with slow mat wrestling in front of an already dead crowd was an unlikely tactic. The match was pretty ordinary for the first two falls, then turned in mimsa of the stuff you see at bad lucha libre in fall three. There were okay moments, but a lot of random stuff thrown in a belated attempt to get someone to care. Karoui fouling Rayman in front of the referee (though on the floor) probably should’ve ended the match as should’ve Rayman making a random comeback with chair shots, but rules are what they need them to be. Finished appeared to a blown spot, and it was totally unclear why (or if) Zumbi was eliminated
a good tope and a bad wall
El Hijo Del Santo, Höruz, Huracan Ramirez vs Angel Blanco Jr., Cien Caras Jr., El Hijo del Solitario: Complaining about TxT booking seems fruitless, but it’s quite something to go directly from the last TV show to this one see Angel Blanco and Soliatrio switch right back to being rudos. The problem is probably more with the previous show. Meanwhile, when Höruz is the tallest técnico, it’s a small crew. It didn’t seem to matter much when Santo was chopping Cien Jr. around. These ultra long very TxT matches do not keep my attention the whole way thru. It was very much the generic match – técnicos control fall 1 on the mat, rudos attack in mass to take the fall, rudos dominate fall 2 until the técnicos turn it around (and this goes on for way long in this match) and the técnicos get in all their spots in the third fall. It was an insanely long way to for a mask pull DQ (and Santo basically overturning the finish after the match.) Höruz was treated not like a big new star, but like he belonged, which is better than usual.
suplex? backdrop? a little of both?
Dr. Wagner Jr. vs LA Park: The match the crowd cared the most about, but the previous match fed off a much larger crowd and they didn’t have that here. This match had a lacking first few minutes, with LA Park grabbing the microphone to rant at Wagner in between hitting him to build to a moment where Wagner talked and fought back, and a crowd brawling segment which wasn’t as much as other ones they’ve had. They picked up the intensity towards a finish, then slowed it way back down to stretch it out for ten more minutes. It’s really hard to care about traditional near falls in a LA Park/Dr. Wagner match when every finish involving them requires a ref bump and a foul, so the long bit of move two count kickout didn’t work at all for me. (There was a ref bump much earlier which didn’t make any sense, except maybe they wanted to pretend they got the ref bump out of the way already. Still didn’t believe it.) Usual convoluted finish so everyone could their a participation ribbon.
CMLL (MON) 02/17/2014Arena Puebla [El Popular, Periodico Enfoque, Porra Fresa]
1) Paris, Tigre Rojo, Tigre Rojo Jr. b Artillero, Disturbio, Súper Comando Rudos took 2/3.
2) Metálico, Metatrón, Robin b Espíritu Maligno, Siki Ozama Jr., Toro Bill Jr. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Fuego, Rey Cometa, Sagrado b Kamaitachi, Sangre Azteca, Shigeo Okumura Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Rush b Vangellys Rush took 1/3. Rush Driver for the win. Vangellys was stretchered out.
5) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente Peste Negra took 1/3 when Niebla snuck in a foul on Mistico. Dorada asked for a rematch next week. Mascara Dorada was wearing a #19 Puebla jersey
CMLL (TUE) 02/18/2014Arena Mexico [CMLL]
1) Cholo & Inquisidor b Flyer & Metatrón
2) Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito b Angelito, Fantasy, Shockercito Angelito’s debut.
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Súper Halcón Jr., Tritón b Cancerbero, Puma, Raziel Puma replaced Espiritu Negro.
4) Tiger b Stuka Jr. [lightning] Tiger replaced Puma.
5) Ephesto, Misterioso Jr., Pierroth b Black Panther, Blue Panther, Cachorro Ephesto replaced Dragon Rojo. Rudos took 1/3.
6) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b La Máscara, Rush, Titán [MEX TRIOS] Peste Negra take falls 1/3 to become the 37th champions. Negro Casas beat Rush clean with a casita to win. Rush, La Mascara & Titan fall on the second defense.
These trios titles have a lot of random title reigns in their history. Rush, La Mascara and Titan appeared to be champions mostly because they needed a way to get Rush into the Universal tournament and somewhat because didn’t want have a title on Mr. Aguila. Peste Negra winning the trios to seems to be another random idea. They had been pushing the concept of Mr. Niebla teaming with Herodes and Cavernario instead, but that’s the way it goes on CMLL. Both of those ideas have been presented on the same day of the week, so whoever came up with one probably came up with the other. (And possibly didn’t tell whoever’s booking these guys into a world trios title feud in Puebla.)
Somehow, this is the first time Negro Casas has won these trios titles. In the bigger picture, Negro Casas defeating Rush is a clear setup to their hair match.
The Tiger/Puma switch is odd. Maybe Puma isn’t cleared for singles action? Maybe TRT doesn’t work terceras? Not so great for Espiritu Negro to be missing matches this early. Ephesto replacing Dragon Rojo might have made that match salvageable, though that’s still a tall order.
CMLL (TUE) 02/18/2014Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [@acogdl]
1) Acertijo & Sádico b El Brillante & El Divino Rudos took 2/3.
2) Canelo Casas, Demonio Maya, Nosferatu b Dragon Lee, Esfinge, Magnus Rudos took 1/3.
3) Camorra b Stigma Camorra pulled Stigma’s mask and beat him in one fall.
4) Gallo, Sagrado, Super Porky b Kamaitachi, Shigeo Okumura, Virus Tecnicos took 1/3 behind Super Porky splashes.
5) Negro Navarro b Solar I [FLLM MASTER] Solar came in as champion, but Navarro beat him to win the title.
6) La Sombra & Marco Corleone DQ Euforia & Último Guerrero and Atlantis & Diamante Azul and Rey Bucanero & Terrible Apparently a four way match and not a tournament. Bucanero & Terrible were DQed for excessive violence on Azul, Euforia beat Azul, and Euforia fouled one of the tecnicos for the DQ.
Weird finishes for the main event. 52MX will usually take Camorra vs Stigma (which is also odd), but maybe they’ll do it differnetly this week.
At yesterday’s press conference, Marisela Peña clarified AAA has two surprise luchadors showing up on Friday’s Gimansio Juan de la Barrera. Marisela’s surprise luchador is different than Dorian’s new Sociedad member. Marisela wouldn’t confirm or deny Sin Cara as one of the surprises. I can’t confirm it and this is only speculation, but my guess is Sin Cara will be there. It’s not clear which surprise is in the Rey de Reyes tournament, or if that is even possibly something else entirely.
Marisela also said TripleMania will take place in Arena Ciudad de Mexico in August. Which means not much is going to happen in AAA Mexico for about five months. (I will die if they do another Consejo/Circus feud for TripleMania.) TripleMania is normally June, but AAA has other projects this year. If AAA/El Rey is going to launch the US promotion sometime in the second half of the year, they’re probably going to be busy setting the stage this summer and everything else gets moved around to make time.
The article does have Marisela saying they’ll run five major events this year, which doesn’t make sense and may have just been a mental typo thinking back to past years. They ran four last year, and they last two were too compressed. Running four different major events just between August and December would mean half of those events wouldn’t be too major. The best case scenario would be AAA running a fifth event in May (an Anniversary show?) as a milestone marker between Rey de Reyes and TripelMania. I don’t think that’s what is actually happening here.
An article on the AAA/Citi Express deal mentions a tour of San Luis Potosi, Merida, Tijuana, Chetumal, Mexico City, Monterrey and Puebla. We know SLP has an AAA taping that hasn’t been officially announced, and Mexico City and Monterrey have been announced. I’d assume that rest of that list are also planned 2014 taping locations.
TV y Novelas in Mexico has an interview with one of Dr. Wagner Jr.’s ex-wifes (not Rossy Moreno) accusing Wagner of abuse of all sorts, as well as refusal to pay support. The money issue is played up more than abuse, which is peculiar. This magazine is known to be sensationalistic and loose with the truth, and it’s surely no coincidence this article came out the day after Wagner was cast on a TV show. Domestic abuse is always inexcusable, but I doubt we’re getting the full or even actual story here.
IWRG returns to midweek shows tonight with a Gym Skyade vs FILL rematch and Super Nova vs Eterno in trios.
If you like strange stipulations, the 03/01 show at Arena Lopez Mateos is the card for you. Matches include a three falls match with different rules for each fall and a match where you can only win by ten count. Main event is Atlantis & Gran Guerrero vs Guerrero Maya Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero.
taped 2014-01-10 @ Arena Mexico Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente vs Kráneo, Mr. Águila, Reaper: The same Estetas/Invasors match they’ve been doing the last few months, only a bit shorter because of edits for time (and because it only took two topes to take down Kraeno this match.) The editing means you’re probably best off finding one of those other matches, unless you want to see Místico lose in the clutch.
Volador rearranged Casas’ face
Volador Jr. vs Negro Casas: Good, but last week’s was better. Volador has a mindset of spots he’s got to get in and there’s not a lot of variety to it – not even which ones or what order. I prefer more creative matches in general, but it didn’t help him here when he asked Negro Casas to do things he was unlikely to do well (Spanish Fly!) Volador did seem to add the headbutts to spice things up but he didn’t seem to take advantage of working with Negro Casas as much as he could’ve outside of the chop/boot spots. The Sunday match was more fun (for the Zacarias wackiness), though the crowd seemed a little more receptive to Volador as a técnico here. This was a good match suffering among some better ones.
Casas almost goes over the barrier on his own silla
Atlantis, La Máscara, Máximo vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto: Again, having the average trios match after the big singles match is an anti-climatic finish to the show, but this one appeared to be a change in plans to get the Volador/Casas match on Terra without putting on the whole card. That almost suggests CMLL’s deal with Fox doesn’t allow them to air the full card, because there’s no other reason to ‘protect’ this very usual Hijos del Averno versus técnicos match. More interestingly, it suggests CMLL believes airing a match on Terra is actually important – I am fairly certain no significant amount of people are watching those shows (guessing under 1000, and that may be way high), but they’re planning that show like it matters. I dunno. Anyway, this match has all the spots you’d expect – the star, the Averno doing their triple rolling pose to set up técnicos dives, Máximo trying to kiss people, Máximo actually kissing people – done fine.
