top six stories of the last two weeks (or so)

  1. Ultimo Guerrero and Atlantis signed for a mask match. The date was left undecided, but there’s a 99.9% chance it will end up happening on the 80th Anniversary show in September. It’ll probably sell out the building.
  2. Cibernetico and Perro Aguayo Jr. signed for a hair match. The date was announced as TripleMania on June 16 in Arena Ciudad de Mexico. It’ll probably sell out the building. This match was announced at Rey de Reyes, with the mask match announcement following a few days later.
  3. AAA announced a deal with FactoryMade as part of an expansion to the US. This deal includes a presence on FactoryMade’s co-owned station El Rey (to launch on New Year’s Day 2014.) Their plans include AAA shows starting in the US in late 2013 and running two separate tours (which was announced at Rey de Reyes.) AAA is very excited about the capabilities of their new partner.
  4. Okumura lost his hair and Namajague lost his mask to Rey Cometa & Stuka in the main event of CMLL’s annual Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show. Namajague was revealed to be NJPW trainee Kyosuke Mikami as expected. In undercard matches, Estrellita took Amapola’s hair, Volador & Sombra won the incredible pairs tournament (with Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis breaking up again), and Rayo Jr. returned to Arena Mexico to win by DQ over Universo in trios. Rayo de Jalisco Sr. was honored on the show. The show drew unexpectedly well, estimated between 12-13,000.
  5. Mesias won the Rey de Reyes tournament on the show of the same name in Monterrey. He defeated LA Park and surprise inclusion Canek in the final. Other matches on the show saw Texano Jr. keep the mega heavyweight title over Blue Demon, Fabi Apache won the vacant Reina de Reinas championship, and Fenix won the new Fusion championship. The big news going forward is the hair match and the announcement AAA would be split in to two brands – Dorian led Evolucion and Joaquin led Fusion – but there are few details or other signs of a split so far. The show drew well in Monterrey, estimated as 11-12K.
  6. Ray Mendoza held his retirement show on 03/16; he and his brother Villano IV defeated Hijo del Pirata Morgan & Cassandro in the finales of a losers advance mask/hair tournament. Hijo del Pirata Morgan was revealed to be Antheus Ortiz Chavez. The show drew very poorly, around 1-2,000 people in an 8,000 seat building with a very expensive lineup. Villano V said on facebook that he’d lost $38,000 (USD) on the show. Four days later, Ray Mendoza Jr. came back out of retirement to work on next Sunday’s Arena Coliseo Anniversary show (along with other independent luchadors.)
  • Hijo del Santo resumed his Todo X El Todo shows this past Saturday, defending the CMB (boxing federation) Lucha Libre championship for the first time over evil foreigner Oliver John. Angel Blanco Jr. also defended the WWA Welterweight title he won from Santo last year on the same show, and the main event of the next show seems to either be Santo vs Angel or Santo & Mexicans vs Oliver John and the rest of his evil La Migra. No next show date has been announced, but Santo told the press he plans on running eight shows this year. There was no mention of Nieto del Santo’s upcoming trip to start training in Japan.
  • Lucha Libre USA announced it’s tour dates, with 9 shows between March and April. The promotion has gone from having short run TV with limited reach (and low turnouts) to no TV at all, and appears mostly reliant on doing local interviews in the day before the show. RJ Brewer continues to be the focus, facing off against Blue Demon and Solar on shows. Super Crazy, Hijo del Fantasma, and Melina are among those added to the roster. No lineups have been announced.
  • CMLL held a press conference to announce the Ultimo Guerrero vs Atlantis mask match, as well as tournaments (Gran Alternativa, En Busca de Idolo), a CMLL vs Independents themed Arena Coliseo Anniversary show (which seems to be getting a Dragon Rojo/Sombra match as well), and Titan being stripped of his national welterweight championship due to injury.
  • SuperLuchas magazines announced it was going on hiatus for at least a couple weeks. It was not announced as farewell issue, but many of the columns referenced it being an end, and it seems at least questionable if they’ll actually be returning.
  • Alberto Del Rio told a follower on Twitter that WWE would be returning to Mexico in September, running shows in Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City. No other information is known.
  • In another Incredible Pairs tournament in Puebla, Atlantis & Volador vs Shocker & Rey Bucanero will be the final next Monday.
  • Mascara Ano 2000 Jr. won Pirata Morgan’s hair in IWRG’s Prison Fatal match, continuing a bad weekend for the Pirata family. They rebounded the following weekend, winning the vacant IWRG trios titles.
  • Soberano won CMLL’s Sangre Nueva tournament.
  • Infierno won Alteno’s mask in Guadalajara.
  • Successful title defenses: Cien Caras (IWRG Heavy), Dinamic Black (twice!)

One thought to “top six stories of the last two weeks (or so)”

  1. I missed Marco Corleone and Lizmark Jr. on Despierta America. Tuned in a few minutes too late. But they hype the heck out of u videos on Univision website as a place to see the episode later on.

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