(there’s a whole rant here, that didn’t come together as I was hoping. The actual news is before the jump, and you may be well served to move on after that.)
In today’s yesterday’s Record, Perro Aguayo Jr. attempts to quiet the doomsayers. They’re not going back to CMLL, they’re not folding, and all the blame should be on Cibernetico or Wagner for not showing up, as Perro was assured they would.
Perro, Damian and whoever else believed Wagner would be in Guadalajara on Saturday are outrageously dumb, or just very obviously lying to cover themselves for false advertising. We knew Wagner was announced for the AAA taping in Orizaba over two weeks ago. If you just believed it was a ‘rumor’, or believed Wagner when he told you he was showing up to your show instead, you should’ve been smart enough to make alternate plans the moment he won the AAA title.
Cibernetico’s another story (though that did not surprise either), but the Perros had a week to work out an alternate plan for no Wagner and opted to do nothing. It’s ridiculous that they did not. The people involved with Perros del Mal are not the naive babes in the woods they’re pretending to be. They’re either lying to the press or they’re lying to themselves, but there’s a significant lack of truth.
That Perro’s solution is “fly in some international stars to replace them”, and even that he thought the major problem with the show was the lack of those two stars, seems to indicate a lack of insight about what’s going wrong for this promotion. From all of Guadalajara, with people thinking Cibernetico and Wagner were going to be on the show, they only drew 900 people. That’s pathetically low for the names they were bringing. Cibernetico and Wagner probably did Perro a service by not showing up, because they surely lost money just trying to pay those who did show up (much less all the other expenses.)
Alan’s made some great comments in previous posts about wanting to see the Perros del Mal succeed, and I want to make it clear that I want them to succeed too. But I feel the need to point the high levels of sillyness and disingenuous coming from the group, if only to hope that they either figure it out, or the next people who try have a much better plan. (Given the existence of EAW, this doesn’t seem to be working.) Mexico really needs a third strong national promotion – they actually use as many as they could get – if only for the leverage it would give wrestlers to getting a bigger share of the revenue pie. Perros del Mal as a wrestler owned/operated promotion would’ve been perfect for that.
Instead, Perros del Mal have been intensely frustrating. From the outside, they seemed to have come up with the idea to run their own promotion, but thought it thru little more than that. They’re not strong on promoting their shows (this Record show was a secret until a couple days before, their website hasn’t been updated since February) and they have no new ideas. Just living off ticket revenue works for CMLL, but that’s because they own their buildings and have a lot less overhead (and even then, they’re selling every show to a TV network that’ll take it.) AAA’s working hard at more merchandising. IWRG and other smaller groups keep costs low by 90% of low cost trainees and locals who work there because they’ve worked their forever, and not bringing in too many expensive outsiders (and sticking to their guns on what they pay those.) Ultimo Dragon makes his shows work by recruiting sponsors to take care of the costs. Perros (and Bizarros and EAWs and others) business plan seems to be to run a show, and hope magazine people take enough pictures, and people buy enough magazines so people are interested in coming to the next show. There was a time where that would actually work, but it’s clearly over – you’ve got a have a better plan, and you’ve got to be on TV if you don’t want to become a nostalgia act.
TV being massively important is not a new deal, as much as people would like to paint it as. Successful people figured this out last decade. When Pena left CMLL, he had a strong TV deal in hand. When Konnan left AAA, he had a strong TV deal in hand. When Perro left, he had nothing in hand, and has suggested getting a weak TV deal. And so, he has big shows with 900 people showing up.
Maybe they’ll get it back, but I’m at the point of rooting for it to windup, so Mini Halloween and Mr. Aguilita can come back to Arena Mexico already. (And I’m happy for Charly Manson for not getting sucked into this.)
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Perros Del Mal has been a failure. Remember the comments they made about their plans when they first started. They threw out the “international talent” and “TV deal” terms that are red flags for any promotion starting up. That should have given everyone the signal that they were going to be going through these problems sooner or later.
Honestly, I don’t get how much planning there was by Perro Jr. in wanting to start a promotion. It seems to me like he was pissed at the direction he was being used in CMLL and said, “Fuck it! I’m a star! I’m going to build a promotion around me!” and went with that as THE PLAN. Then they came up with them also being a booking office, but they priced themselves out from practically 90-95% of indy promoters anywhere. The only people booking them outside of their PdM shows seem to be money mark promoters or those sponsored shows.
Perro Jr. should have talked to some other folks who promoted. He probably would have realized it was a bad idea.
Then there is the issue of him picking the worst time to start another wrestling promotion.
Plus, there’s the whole problem with their main events. No one wants to lose. The undercard leaves little to be desired as well. I could go on…
Rob’s brought up the problem with any new wrestling promotion venture that’s going to pop up about a thousand times.
Well remember this whole thing started with Perrito working with Paco using some EMLL guys to work the shows and would be sorta like what Japan Pro was to All-Japan when Choshu was there. Hell Paco got him his original office but there was a falling out between them although Perrito holds Paco in high regard as he has said in the press before and I think PdM ends up back in EMLL very soon.
Does Perro saying that they are not going back to CMLL make Paco more or less likely to deal with them?
Cibernetico said he wouldn’t return to AAA either.
@KrisZ: Fair enough, just curious with Paco if it would set him off and make him want to keep Perro out.
Perrito isn’t on the Konnan level of hatred so I think that if there are any serious issues there they can be resolved easily.
Fredo’s money + Rob’s brain + Alan always buying a front row seat + luchablog for advertising – Rocky Romero for no particular reason = new third promotion!
@Rob: Will minis be on the roster ? Possibly Tzuki.
@Rob: I would hope I would get a free front row seat for your and Fredo’s promotion.
@Alan: We don’t even have our first even booked and already you’re demanding a free ticket! This is why all new promotions fail!
Fine, free ticket. But I’m booking Ultimo Dragoncito vs Fire in the opener and telling them exactly where to aim the dives…
@Rob: And I’ll be an easy target since free ticket=more beer money=slower reflexes.
@Rob: Will mascarita Dorada be there?
If Rob’s booking it one the matches will probally be, Mascarita Dorada & Tzuki vs. Peq. Damian 666 & Mini Abismo Negro ( which would be awesome).
Anyone remember TNM? I used to have an awesome Lucha fed back in the day and the debut show had Tzuki/Mascarita 2000 vs Mini Abismo/Espectrito. ~*****!
But we’re totally off track here…
The rant was pretty good, Cubs. My favorite part:
“From all of Guadalajara, with people thinking Cibernetico and Wagner were going to be on the show, they only drew 900 people. That’s pathetically low for the names they were bringing.”
It’s that type of commentary that could produce interesting questions for Perrito but nobody who talks to him has enough guts to ask.
In addition to the Minis idea I have a couple more , Misterioso II, Ephesto & Virus vs. Valiente, La Mascara & Turbo: Mr. Aguila , Damian 666, & Texano Jr. vs. Alebrije c/ Cuije , La Sombra & El Zorro ( with mask ).
You know TMN is still around? *L*. I tried it again recently but it just wasn’t as fun as I remember. I still play EWR though (never stopped). The guy doing stat updates just added IWRG in as a company.
@Kyle: Whats TMN and EWR?
Extreme Warfare Revenge and TNM7 are wrestling simulators.
@Ringo: and which one is better?
Well, that’s a philosophical question. ;) Each one has its die-hard fans. Here in Germany TNM7 is much more popular since it was written by a German guy (a former slim wrestling announcer who became a chubby UFC announcer) and each existing wrestling board has lots of TNM7 tournaments, but Extreme Warfare should be the more popular one worldwide.
@Ringo: Oh ok and do you know where I can get it?
@CM93: For EWR Go here… http://www.ewbattleground.com/forum/index.php?showforum=5
@KrisZ: What makes you think he is not? Paco went waay out of his way to try to make PdM fail running “megashows” to go against Aguayo…
Something people has to realize is that the only show PdM has ran is the one from last December, everything else, has been hired by local promoters, so Aguayo gets paid regardless of the draw, which is exactly why he left CMLL, just as Santo jr, he wants to be paid 50,000 per shot (and Paco won’t be paying that, of course), the “third promotion” is just talk. But, as long as local promoters keep believing Aguayo, he’ll keep going… of course, they are booking less shows these days, and with Wagner gone, they will get their agenda halved (as Wagner will hire AAA guys now, like in Estadio de La Revolucion in Torreon or that Lopez Mateos show), but CMLL is also booking less shows as well, running so many “dia del aficionado” with “packed cards” hints that they don’t have enough shows to book everyone.
Besides, I doubt perrillo would go to ArMex just now, and risk not drawing there either. Lets not forget he was in 3 stip matches last year and none of them drew that impressive crowd. Once ArMex attendances improves, then the indy guys will start pounding at Paco’s door, not while the business is in a slump.
So… expect to see Rayo and Canek back in CMLL… that’ll be their solution.
@xuisaw: The hair match with Garza drew well. It was also the only of the three that had any story behind it.
But, in general, I’m afraid you might be right about Perro and Paco’s positions on him returning right now.
@CM93: http://www.tnm7.com is the official TNM homepage, Extreme Warefare and its follow-ups are available at http://www.greydogsoftware.com – the 2005 version will be available as freeware next week.
@Alan: They were expecting a full house after the anniversary show sold out with prices 200%+ higher. My point is that Aguayo is not the solution for CMLL… they dropped the feud with Liz Jr after drawing poorly, same with the PdM vs High Society which they tried several times, so, Aguayo might help only a few weeks before having to do more “dia del aficionado”.
And of course, CMLL is not Aguayo money solution, he probably does more from a single show for a money mark than working a week of precios populares in Gdl, Puebla, TuesdArMex…
I guess both are thinking that the other is about to call to make a deal.
@xuisaw: My only point (and I’ll drop it after this) is that it is hard to say that show didn’t draw when it did at least as well as almost anything they have done since it happened. I don’t think he is the solution, but I think he could be part of the overall solution.
If CMLL wants to consistently draw, they’re going to have to put together cards people want to see and run some angles that get people excited about the product. They should be able to do that with the talent they currently have, but in my opinion, adding the Perros to the mix could help some too.
Do you want PdM promotion to succeed or them back in CMLL?
Hijo del Santo would be a much better deal for CMLL, even in a limited participation. He could show up a few weeks before Dos Leyendas to start the feud leading to the show, then on Summer and by the “cierre de temporada”
Perros would do more harm than good, it’d be just adding more guys who won’t job, and making it harder for guys like La Sombra to establish themselves as main eventers as they would be fed to them and sent to the mid to low card as the top of the card has even more rudo vs rudo feuds. What CMLL needs right now is tecnicos.
I’d be thrilled if the PdM promotion figured out how to succeed, but at this point I’m not holding out much hope on that.
http://www.zocalo.com.mx/seccion/articulo/rinden-homenaje-a-jerry-estrada/
:(
Another show that did not do that well, this one in Monclova, people were complaining about the prices, 350 pesos in front row with only the main event having “stars”.
Semi even had El Tackle (I’m thinking the one from AOL)