- Lucha Underground started taping. There was a lot going on here. There was drama around the contracts given out; in the end, some of the rumored wrestlers either didn’t sign or just didn’t appear on the first two tapings. It was not a great weekend for luchadors: Drago, Fenix and Pentagon Jr. all missed the first two set of tapings due to visa problems, and Blue Demon was said to hurt his knee in a match with Chavo Guerrero. Mesias, as a surprise, did appear under a mask. With everyone else out, Demon, Chavo, Prince Puma (Ricochet) and Johnny Mundo (John Morrison) were the biggest stars on the first set of tapings. Fans who attended the shows were told they would have to sign non disclosure agreements; every match leaked out right after the taping anyway, and it was unclear how many people there were actually fans. (There were claims of the crowd being filled with “extras”, a producer said there were no “seat fillers.”) That’s generally the way you can sum up up the weekend: if you were there (and especially if you were involved with the production), you came away really happy with the main events on both shows and happy with the possibilities. If you were just reading the results on the internet, it came off as another doomed project in the mode of WSX or Lucha Libre USA and far away from the AAA invasion of the US it was billed to be. Tapings resume this weekend, with the Mexicans on the show this week.
- CMLL announced the full 09/19 anniversary card. The surprises included a Cavernario versus Rey Cometa hair match, which is a feud that’s been happening on the live shows but had not been shown on TV or publicized by CMLL in any other fashion (but is still happening to draw extra people to the show somehow.) It should be a great match, anyway. The other big news was the absence of Sombra, who defeated Volador for his mask last year. There’s no sign of injury (like Dragon Rojo) or not being available (like Dark Angel) to keep La Sombra off. In fact, it looked like CMLL was planning on putting Sombra in a trios title match as recently as last week, then shuffled around the card for whatever reason. Everyone in the potential trios title match still made on the card except Sombra. There’s probably something more to this but no one’s saying (and Sombra’s just RT-ed fan complaints about him being left, saying nothing on his own.) CMLL announced a press conference to talk about the card, then canceled it a day later because they may be shuffling it around again. CMLL announced the show would air on TV Azteca, then announced the deal was not done yet. Terra (not CMLL) announced the show would air on their website. No one’s retracted that one yet.
- Alberto el Patron will make his AAA in ring debut in Cancun this weekend. Alberto told the media his lawyers found the WWE non-compete contract unconstitutional, and he’ll be wrestling right away. Alberto did not appear on the Lucha Underground tapings, but it does appear he’s taking US indy bookings soon (and at high prices.)
- Ultimo Guerrero beat La Sombra to win the Universal championship. This was the expected outcome after the mask match was announced. Maybe more importantly, Ultimo Guerrero matches continue to be on autopilot.
- The first Myzteziz/Perro match in six years ended with a foul. They’ve picked right up where they left. This time, evil referee Rafael el Maya DQed Myzteziz for a supposed foul on Perro. The other singles match on AAA’s taping in Pachuca saw Super Fly also get DQed for purposefully fouling rival Aerostar. Joe Lider turned rudo on the tapings, joining Perros del Mal.
- Thunder returned to CMLL, turning rudo. Super Libre said he’s been training with Satanico, who had his work cut out for him. Thunder was gifted a spot on the Anniversary show over dozens of more deserving people for no obvious reason.
- AAA and phone company NYXMobile announced a deal for AAA branded phones. They go on sale this weekend.
- Astral won the CMLL minis championship, ending Pequeno Olimpico’s four year (and mostly quiet) title reign.
- Marco & Rush won Block A of a tag team title shot tournament in Puebla, which then became a tournament for a trophy instead. They’ll face Block B winners Terrible & Rey Escorpion this Tuesday.
- Dragon Rojo announced he’ll be out indefinitely due to a knee injury.
- Alan Xtreme lost his hair in Naucalpan after the Neza Boys won via nefarious means.
- Malefico took Exterminador’s hair in Guadalajara.
- Hijo de Dos Caras kept the IWRG Heavyweight title in Naucalpan over Demon Clown. Demon Clown early won a strange ladder match earlier in the week