In this one:
Súper Nova vs Eterno [NWA OLD LH] (03-02, IWRG)
Silver Star vs Charles Lucero for the WWA World Middleweight Championship (ACM, 03/02)
Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente vs Cavernario, Felino, Terrible for the CMLL World Trios Championship (Puebla, 03/03)
Black Terry, Dragón Celestial, Emperador Azteca, Fulgor, Imposible, Sky Ángel vs Aztlán, Cheyene Destino, Jorge Kebrada, Kanon, Skayde, Vortize [Copa High Power]: (IWRG, 03/12)
Today’s CMLL show will start at 7pm for a Sonora Dinamita performance. Unsure if that means the feed will now start as soon as that time; the wrestling will probably still not start until 8:30pm.
CMLL also sent out a listing of the biggest anniversary matches of the last 81 years. You can tell it’s a CMLL article because Black Warrior and Mistico is omitted and Blue Panther versus Villano V made it.
Atlantis says he’s nervous going into today’s match.
R de Rudo looks back at Atlantis’ five biggest wins. Sabor del Ring has five reasons why Atlantis will win. (They did the UG one earlier.)
CMLL took Volador of Tuesday’s Guadalajara show. Atlantis shifts over there from the Arena Mexico semimain, where Marco takes his place.
Cronicas and Leyendas looks back at Blue Panther and Atlantis’ feud and partnership. It looked like they would be the two who would one day have a big mask match at one point.
Los Colisenos declared the show a success earlier this week. My setup does not allow me to easily check the Ticketmaster map of available seats today, but others have said it looks more full now. This might turn out a show where the scalpers are more exposed than the promotion itself; there’s likely to be quite a bit difference between the number of tickets sold by CMLL and the number of people actually in the building.
There was confusion about who was in the opener last week becuase of an unclear line in a CMLL preview; a more recent one does list Dragon Lee (and not Black Panther) in the opener. Black Panther is not bad, but Dragon Lee is the one you want to see on this show. Enjoyed the line in that preview about women being an important part of lucha libre since 1935, somewhat sidestepping the part that people in charge let them be banned from wrestling in Mexico City for about 30 of those years.
ESPN Deportes has an interview with Skyman, of the insane missed dive from Arena San Juan Pantitlan a couple of days ago. He’s light on specifics, saying only that he’ll be out for a while but will return. Skyman says it was entirely his own idea and has clearly been told by many people that it was not a smart idea
Hijo del Santo was supposed to have a retirement match this month, but that hasn’t happened. Instead, the new dream plan is a series of retirement shows (including in Los Angeles) ending with a final mask vs mask match versus Hijo del Solitario in Mexico City. No dates even hinted at for any of this. The obvious hold up is finding promoters who can and will put those shows on, but Hijo del Santo is also waiting for his son to be ready to wrestle. He’s still training, and would be a bick part of any retirement tour.
WWE will start airing on Fox Sports Mexico starting with Raw on October 6th. It’s the beginning of a five year deal which will also include SmackDown, Main Event, NXT, Vintage Collection and other shows. This is for the cable rights. It’s TVC Deportes who are losing this shows, not Televisa (but all we’ve talked to about this seem doubtful confident Raw will be on over the air TV much longer.) CMLL is currently airing it’s Friday night matches on Fox Sport 2; it’s unclear if they’ll be bumped, but they’ve moved around a lot and this will not help their situation. There’s some domino action from this move: RAW was the highest rated wrestling show on TVC Deportes, who continue to lose programming since being pulled off a large cable/satellite in a carriage fee dispute. (That means they’re likely to give Puebla better spots, but may not be as likely to be sticking around as an entity.) It’s also been said that ESPN in Mexico may be interested in get their own wrestling program to counter.
The end of an article about the Wagner show in Torreon this past weekend includes a strange Electroshock quote where he says this was his last three falls in Torreon and probably his final match. No one’s quite sure what there is to this.
Rey Hechicero vs Caifan is now on YouTube. Well worth checking out. I believe the plan was for Dark Angel vs Princesa Sugehit from that show also to be put on the internet.
LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update for Monday and for Wednesday, this week’s Poster-Mania and a new editon of the LuchaWorld podcast. Vandall won, I better make sure that gets into the database.
Segunda Caida reviews one two more Rush/Negro Casas trios, Blue Panther vs Hijo del Santo and really liked Timmy Thatcher vs Blue Demon Jr.
Ohtani’s Jacket evaluates Hijo del Santo’s candiancy as the best of all time.
CMLL has Diamante Azul #1 on their top ten list and Hechicero as #10.
Money was raised for Fray Tormenta
Cassandro and friends were very over in Santa Fe.
Rafael el Maya has reached 43 years in lucha libre.
Myzteziz and La Parka were at the opening of a guitar art exhibit.
Tonight’s show airs at 8:30 pm on Terra. You can find out more details at this link.
The match which most transparently exists just to get people on the card. CMLL even changed it around for that purpose, adding Blue Panther and Felino to that match after just announcing the other four. The original match would have been a crazy spot fest, and the dads may slow it down while adding more sense to it. Puma and Tiger are very good but never get past a certain level. This is probably about getting young promises Dragon Lee and Cachorro up to that level.
CMLL women do not often make the Anniversary show, which usually results in complaints from the luchadoras and their supporters. This match – for a trophy which will never be mentioned again in two weeks – is a correction for that this year, at least. It’s a normal elimination cibernetico, maybe lasting long enough to give everyone a moment and then eliminate them. All the tecnicas (Marcela, Estrellita, Sugehit and Goya Kong) either have titles or recently won big matches, which means it’s probably a ruda winning this match. Amapola hasn’t won many big matches of late and would seem like a good bet in usual CMLL terms in spreading the wins around. She would also be a great winner for ensuring a good match. There are combinations of women here who could make for a very good match and for a very trying one.
There are a lot of fun luchadors in this match, but this one seems about the decidedly unfun Thunder. After a unsucessful and error filled run as a tecnico, Thunder pulled a more than welcome disappearing act this year. It was hoped he had returned to Australia for good, but he apparently was training as a rudo under Satanico for a big return. It is always nice to see a promotion give a new guy a big chance, you just wish it was not someone who had already wasted his first chance. (Usual bit of a tall guy with muscles getting many shots.) This is his first match back. CMLL lined up three of their most popular tecnicos as a tackling dummiesand has had successes turning unpopular faces into strong rudos. Thunder will be the star of this match by design and will likely win, but it is more about he impressive he looks. This is happening even if Thunder trips over his own two feet, but it would more palletable if he did not.
There are a few unsolved mysteries with this card. Sombra, a face of the company, being left off the show is one. Cavernario and Rey Cometa as the second apuesta match is another. At times, CMLL has hinted at a similar match with much bigger names. Even when CMLL finally settled on this match, they promoted it in such fashion that few even knew it was happening. (Maybe even the people producing the TV?) It’s a shame, because this match deserved weeks and months of hot trios to build it up and instead is going to sneak up on people as one of the best matches of the year. Rey Cometa is a spectacular high foyer and Cavernario is capable of doing anything at any time. The weekly criowd has adopted Cavernario as their own new star, and the match should be great enough to pull in those just showing up for the bigger match. Neither apuesta outcome is really in doubt and this match, like the Thunder one, is about showcasing a potential new drawing card. Cavernario is still years away, but that’s obviously the plan and why he will win.
Rush has headlined the two biggest Arena Mexico houses of the year. He will semimain this one in a tag title match with La Mascara against Negro Casas and Shocker. Rush beat those two men in rough hard hitting hair matches. The much older Rush victims did win these tag titles in between, but have been otherwise trounced in this feud. There is no real next challengers for Shocker and Casas with a win, unless Sombra is swapped in, but the way thus was added suggest something is up. My wild guess is a Shocker/Casas breakup, but this us the hardest important match to pick by a wide margin.
The saga of Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero started ten anniversary shows ago, when a wildly pro Dr Wagner crowd rebelled and CMLL felt forced to eventually turn Atlantis rudo in response. (Same as Sombra last year.) Atlantis lied with Guerrero, then they broke up and became mal amigos. The only problem is Ultimo Guerrero stopped having new matches ten years ago, running out the same singles match every tine since. This match is where the casual fan has the advantage. Coming in fresh and not knowing which move is kicked out of everytime will only help your appreciation. Those of us who have bought a ticket are paying for the moment where Guerrero tries for his invincible Guerrero Special inverted superplex, and we find out what happens next.
In this one
El Dandy vs Satanico (ACM, 02/09)
Hijo De Dos Caras vs Hijo del Lizmark, Trauma I, Súper Nova, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Hijo del Fishman, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Fresero Jr. [La Rebelión de Los Juniors] (02/16 IWRG):
Rush vs Vangellys (Puebla, 02/17):
Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente vs Cavernario, Felino, Mr. Niebla (02-24, Puebla)