Tonight’s CMLL Friday night Arena Mexico show is pretty much a reset to where things were before the incredible pairs tournament invaded all our lives for three weeks. The CMLL preview pushes as Rush versus his three biggest rivals (Terrible yes, not sure how UG is bigger than Shocker or Negro Casas), but it’s really about the Marco versus Rush feud resuming. La Mascara & Rush team up tonight with Rey Escorpion, who seems like the replacement for Thunder (and it seems like CMLL isn’t crazy enough to put Pierroth in main events, yet.) The Rush/Marco issue was pushed hard before as if they were going to do the match soon, but there’s no obvious date for a match now that the Arena Mexico anniversary show has happened.

The semimain continues the Rey Cometa and Barbaro Cavernario feud. Cometa teams up with Volador & Vailente to take on Negro Casas, Felino and Cavernario. Some sort of singles match between Cometa & Cavernario appears to be happening soon. A title match would be easier to pull off, but they’ve been talk about a hair match rematch as well. The rest of the card looks OK. Titan gets a singles match with Rey Bucanero. Fujin & Rajin and the Panthers return their unofficial series of matches. The opener is an all Generacion 2011 tag match, though that doesn’t mean good things for Hombre Bala.

The show airs at 8:30 pm on ClaroSports. I will NOT be recording it; I’m heading to AAW out near Chicago and have no way to record this show this time. Other people have been, so it will probably still turn up.

AAA’s also busy in the Mexico City area, running a spot show in Arena Naucalpan. The original listed main event is La Parka, Electroshock, and Octagon Jr. versus Pagano, Chessman and Taurus. That’s not going to happen. However, AAA’s site actually has the new lineup, which I can’t ever remember happening before. Bengala & Drago replace Electroshock & Octagon in the main event.

The Elite show will also air tonight at 11:30pm. (There’s no sign of a Muy Thai broadcast on the feed instead of wrestling tonight, so the normal feeds should work this week.) Negro Casas versus Rush and Atlantis versus LA Park are the two big singles matches.

Torito – Mascarita Dorada – was released by WWE today as part of mass cutting. WWE’s inability to use Dorada well was both bad and predictable. CMLL has gotten so much mileage out of Zacarias and Mije and KeMonito, it should’ve been easy for WWE to do the same with Torito. Or they could’ve simply hired another lucha mini for him to work with forever. They didn’t do either, and Dorada spent a lot of time sitting backstage at wrestling shows (if he was even being flown in.)

Mascarita was US based even before he went to WWE, which might mean he’d be unlikely to appear regularly in other promotions. He’s a name, so I’m sure he’ll be in ELITE soon enough. He had a pretty good regular gig working US lucha shows and I’d suspect he’ll be doing those.

MLW says they’ve confirmed Lucha World Cup won’t be on conventional PPV, though iPPV is still a possibility. The difference between the two doesn’t make much a difference for people who read this site (iPPVs do tend to have more technological problems, but so did AAA’s normal PPV), but it does mean there’s likely to be a lot less promotion for the show.

Mephisto & Mistico said they’d like a shot at the tag team titles on CMLL Informa. Negro Casas says he’d be fine with that.

Dragon Lee & Titan represented CMLL at the 60th anniversary celebration for a Mexico City skyscraper, since it’s just as old as Arena Mexico.

Hernandez & Herodes Jr. are also listed on an AAA show on 05/15 in Coahuila.

Psycho Clown talks about his match with Pagano in Orizaba. The split face photo is cool.

SuperLuchas talks to Psicosis Jr. about his career and his identity. Ripper/Psicosis II gave him permission for the name, which sounds like it helps him in someway but anyone with TV won’t use him to avoid trouble with AAA.

AAA posted it’s second part of it’s remembrance of Perro Aguayo Jr.

LuchaWorld has the latest edition of their podcast.

RobViper has highlights of 10/06 & 10/13/15 CMLL and 09/29/06 CMLL.

Super Comando took a shot at Argos.

Florencio Rodriguez, a fixture outside Arena Puebla making the cities’ famous cemitas sandwiches, passed away earlier this week.

Volador’s BOSJ schedule

05/22: Beretta
05/23: Tiger Mask
05/27: Jushin Liger
05/30: Bobby Fish
06/02: Nick Jackson
06/05: Ricochet
06/06: Will Ospreay

Volador has some interesting trios matches, but those weren’t posted to NJPW World regularly last year.

Ricochet and Ospreay figure to be in the mix to win the block, which means Volador will have big matches to end the competition if he’s in or out of it himself. CMLL saying he’ll be back on the 7th seems a pretty big hint Volador’s not winning, since the winner is probably cashing in their title shot on the June 19th show.

Volador has never been beaten in a singles match by anyone in his group! (He’s just 1-0 versus Liger, beating him in a Leyenda de Plata in 2011.)

Lineups

Lucha Memes (SUN) 05/15/2016 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Tequilita vs Eterno
2) Princesa Maya vs Marcela
3) Alberto Dos Rios & Silver Star vs Trauma I & Trauma II
4) Caifan vs Dr. Cerebro
5) Hechicero vs Virus

Full card for Lucha Memes’ DF vs Monterrey show. It’s a small card than usual, but the top two matches sell the show easily enough.

ELITE MDA (SUN) 05/15/2016 Arena Coliseo Monterrey
1) Larry Miranda & Mini Hator vs Erika Sotelo & Mini Difunto
2) Epydemius, Galactar, Obsesión vs Chamaco Gurrola, Gallardo, Golden Boy
3) Extreme Boy & Quinto Elemnto vs Psicótico & The Beast II
4) Laredo Kid, Ninja Jr., Último Ninja vs Flamita, Golden Magic, Metaleón
5) Carístico, Hijo De Rey Misterio, Negro Casas vs Fuerza Guerrera, Mr. Elektro, Rush

Mr. Elektro is Electroshock’s new name. AAA owns the Electroshock name. He went with just Electro last time, Mr. Elektro is an improvement. Your guess is as good as mine on which Misterio that is.

Semimain, a north versus DF battle, looks superb.

CARALUCHA (SAT) 05/21/2016 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Templario & Wasson vs ? & Fiero
2) Centvrión & Fly Warrior vs ? & ??
mystery luchadors are from CMLL
3) Magnífico II, Rayo Star, Sky Man vs Astral, Eléctrico, Tiago
4) Bestia 666 & Black Terry vs Cavernario & Hechicero
5) Toro Negro Jr. vs Látigo [mask]
6) Flamita vs Máscara Dorada

This is their 2nd Anniversary. CaraLucha released a card last night, then changed it up this morning to make the mask match. Toro Negro and Latigo have been feuding since late last year and it was a little bit of a surprise they weren’t doing the mask match on this show (thought maybe they’d save it for September), but it ended up on this card after all. Flamita versus Mascara Dorada should be outstanding and the rest of the card should be pretty good too.

Tiago is the new name for the ex-Mini Charly Manson. He’s teamed up with CMLL guys, and he’d be a nice addition to their roster. Anyone new would be a nice addition to their minis roster. Tiago successfully picked a name no one else is using, so he’s already one step ahead of the game.

CMLL (TUE) 05/03/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Mágico & Magnum b Joker & Sádico
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Stukita b Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Misterioso Jr., Pierroth, Sagrado b Esfinge, Fuego, Tritón
Boricuas took 1/3.
4) Blue Panther, Rey Cometa, Valiente b Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Rey Escorpión
Tecnicos took 2/3. Panther submitted Rey Escorpion. Money thrown in.
5) La Máscara, Rush, Volador Jr. DQ Shocker, Terrible, Vangellys
Shocker’s return from injury. Volador fit in well with the Ingobernables (unsurprisingly). Team Rush took 1/3, the last by DQ when Terrible fouled Rush. Rush demanded a singles match next week.

The Rush/Terrible match was already announced. Volador would be so much a better Ingobernable than Pierroth.

Shocker’s return was actually on the DTU show over the weekend; he told +LuchaTV he was happy for the fan’s support after being out five months. At that same show, Flamita said Octagon Jr. was now part of his past and he was content with his own name.

On Informa, Misterioso & Sagrado claimed they haven’t talked to Pierroth outside the matches, including this match in Guadalajara, and do not know what’s going on with him and the Ingobernables. (In other words, no one’s figured out how that’s supposed to work.)

ELITE (WED) 05/04/2016 Arena México [+LuchaTV, CMLL, SuperLuchas]
1) Muñeca De Plata & Rossy Moreno b Estrellita & La Jarochita
Rossy used the ropes to win.
2) Hijo De Dos Caras, Jinzo, Metaleón b El Cuatrero, El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Sansón
3) Ángel de Oro & Golden Magic b Argos & Magno
Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Rush b Negro Casas [Liga Elite]
Rush picks up his first win (1-1), Negro Casas loses in his first match (0-1)
5) Carístico, Máscara Dorada, Mistico b Euforia, Rey Escorpión, Último Guerrero
Rey Escorpion replaced Angel Blanco Jr., who needed medical help after taking La Mistica from Caristico.
6) LA Park b Atlantis [Liga Elite]
Park submitted Atlantis to an armbar. LA Park now has 1 win and 1 draw. Atlantis has 2 wins and 1 loss.

Full standings are here. It’s still too soon to care about full standings. Casas and Cibernetico are the only people who’ve had a one match so far, maybe they’ll match up next week.

Angel Blanco Jr. was on the card up as far as the preview. Must’ve been a last minute change.

The WON says the original idea was to make both the Friday first round matches in Puebla and the Sunday finals on PPVs, then come back for TripleMania whenever that takes place. The Friday show will not be on PPV for sure, and the rest is unclear. On his podcast with John Pollock, Court Bauer said he would no longer be working with AAA and Lucha Underground (where he was more of a consultant) at the end of this month, would not be part of this show, and did not believe the US PPV would actually be taking place. Bauer explained it as being busy with other current and future projects and was complimentary towards AAA. On the PPV, the WON says the Sunday show is happening and AAA will be producing it. MLW countered said AAA will not be producing it – PPV companies want someone they trust to produce the show after TripleMania was a technological failure.

FWIW, AAA has never officially announced there will be a PPV in Mexico or the US or elsewhere, and no PPV listings I could find mentioned an AAA show. The show is around four weeks away, so usually PPV information is out by now in the US. Mexico PPVs seems to wait a little bit later.

The WON mentions the Lucha World Cup announce team will be Josh Mathews of TNA & Hugo Savonvich. Mathews is said to be in the role as part of the deal to get TNA wrestlers on the show. Josh has gotten harsh reviews for his work in TNA and has not called lucha libre before to my knowledge. (Hugo hasn’t been great on the AAA in US shows.) The World Cup, with people from all over the place, is going to require a lot of prep work to be done right.

Bauer said he believed the AAA in English show, currently airing only on the Fight Network would go on, but he didn’t seem especially confident about it. The WON has been saying AAA’s been upset about CMLL programming also being on the channel and might pull their own show. That seems like an insignificant thing to be concerned about when the visibility of your product is nil outside of Mexico.

This is just elementary connecting the dots, but Court Bauer’s probably setting himself up to go with Konnan if/when he gets whatever he’s teased started as a wrestling promotion. Court leaving AAA was inevitable; they made the connection thru Konnan, but now Konnan and AAA are on very opposite sides and it’s going to be tough for anyone to work with both.

The tickets for the Lucha World Cup are on sale, and are running from 246 to 2152 MXP ($14 to $121 USD) for the Sunday show. There’s no sign of tickets for the Friday show.

While I’m on Ticketmaster, it looks like the 05/15 (Sundy) FULL show at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera is canceled. The Saturday show is still listed as happening.

The WON also had a bit on Flamita’s fallout with AAA. The claim there is AAA wanted him to stay as Octagon Jr. for three months to “finish up storylines and bookings.” Since one of Flamita’s problems was the lack of storylines, that’s part is hard to understand. Bookings is easier to grasp – there are still new upcoming AAA cards spot show cards coming out with Octagon Jr.’s name on it, a sign of how long the lead time is on these and how much they struggle making changes – but AAA also routinely makes changes and doesn’t deliver advertised luchadors to shows without explanation. It’s hard to believe that sort of thing matters to them (though it may matter to the local promoters) and it comes off as more a hope that if they could get Flamita to stick around for three more months, maybe they could fix things.

AAA has not given up on the idea of a new Octagon Jr., though they may try “Octagon II” instead.

Angelico’s going to be out two months with a fractured/dislocated elbow. That’d put his return time around end of June or early July. He could possibly make the end of the Season 3 of Lucha Underground, but he’s out from the World Cup for sure. Angelico was on team Rest of the World last year and the lead up has indicated there will be another one of those; I’d bet Australian Suicide is making the show if he wasn’t going to be on already.

Hijo del Fantasma’s injury is a back injury. WON says he’s out “a few months” and won’t be back in time for the end of Lucha Underground Season 3.

Dragon Lee will be out at least two more weeks with his knee ligament strain. FWIW, that would’ve made it very tight to make it to the Best of Super Juniors had he been selected. He says the doctor told him to take eight weeks in total out but of course he’s going to try and hurry back early.

Lucha Memes 05/15 in Coliseo Coacalco
1: Hechicero vs Virus
2: Princesa Maya vs Marcela
3: Traumas vs Silver Star & Alberto Dos Rios
4: Caifan vs Dr. Cerebro.

CMLL says Volador will be in Japan from May 19th to June 7th.

Electroshock is now off the ELITE show with Sharly Rockstar, with Caifan in his spot.

Drago is coming to AAW in Chicago on June 17th.

Titan & Stigma visited a children’s hospital.

Flamita is facing Galactar on Sunday in Monterrey and Aeroboy on Monday in Nuevo Laredo.

Mascara Dorada thinks the missed senton on the apron probably cost him the title match.

Apolo Valdez writes about the evolution of lucha libre.

SuperLuchas looked back at five Star Wars themed luchadors. I had no idea Fuerza Guerrera was one. The story is he wanted to go by “Star Wars”, the commissioner said no because they didn’t want English names, so he adapted “The Force” (La Fuerza) into Fuerza Guerrera instead.

Eric has a review of last night’s Lucha Underground.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 05/08/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Adrenalina & Omega vs Aramis & Magnum 44
2) Astro & Dragón Fly vs Atomic Star & Hip Hop Man
3) Leo, Mike, Rafy, Teelo vs Factor, Rayan, Spartan, Spector [lumberjack]
4) Danny Casas, Hijo del Alebrije, Veneno vs Golden Magic, Negro Navarro, Trauma II
5) Dinamic Black, Emperador Azteca, Freelance vs Cerebro Negro, Herodes Jr., Killer Jr.
6) Hijo De Dos Caras & Máscara Año 2000 Jr. vs Canis Lupus & Trauma I [Relevos Increíbles]

No Wednesday show here because AAA is in on Friday, but they’re back on Sunday.

Spartan is back for first time since October, as the full Ninja Turtles face the full Comando Elite. Might a big match actually be coming.