![VcKGlQR[1]](http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/VcKGlQR1.png)
AAA has the second part of Mexico City taping, with the big Psycho Circus/Dr. Wagner Jr. match.
You may want have alternate plans during the second match on Lucha Azteca 7.
As far as I can tell, those are all the matches for Lucha Underground next week – it’s a two match show.
ELITE (WED) 04/20/2016 Arena México [+LuchaTV, SuperLuchas]
1) Pegasso & Rey Cometa b Imposible & Karonte Jr.
2) Dinamic Black, Emperador Azteca, Hijo de LA Park b El Cuatrero, Eterno, Fresero Jr.
Park won in his debut with a Canadian Destroyer on Eterno. Dinamic Black needed stitches after a bad landing on a dive.
3) Felino, Puma, Tiger b Jinzo, Rocky Lobo, Súper Crazy
Felinos took 2/3. Tiger beat Crazy.
4) Máscara Dorada b La Máscara [Liga Elite]
La Mascara replaced Negro Casas. Mascara Dorada is 2-0, La Mascara is 0-2
5) Pierroth, Rush, Toscano DQ Cibernético, Mephisto, Sharlie Rockstar
Pierroth replaced Mascara. Hellbrothers took 1/3, Ingobernables were DQed in the third.
6) Atlantis b Carístico [Liga Elite]
Atlantis won with an Atlantida. He now is 2-0, and Caristico is 1-1.
Atlantis defeating Caristico would be a more surprising outcome if Caristico didn’t lose a lot in Elite. It’d be a good idea for him to have a strong run at the end if they planned this out, but it’s hard to believe that.
Liga Elite explained Negro Casas was out due to injury. His last known match was April 4th in Puebla. He hasn’t been regularly in the ring since Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. There’s been no public mention of Casas being hurt in the hair match, but given the blows he took against Volador, it seems the most likely situation. I’d assume he’s doubtful for the match with Hechicero in Monterrey this weekend.
Liga Elite standings, way too soon.
IWRG (WED) 04/20/2016 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Guerrero 2000 b Demonio Infernal
Black Dragon replaced Demonio Infernal
2) Galaxy & Matrix Jr. b Acero & Kanon
No Freyser (Elite) or Salchichita or Acero (who knows), with Kanon added. Unclear why Matrix Jr. has reverted characters, since he should also be one of the Infernales.
3) Hijo del Pantera & Leo b Diablo Jr. I, Emperador Azteca, Hijo del Alebrije, Mike, Mike Segura, Rolling Boy [IWRG IC WELTER, seeding battle royal]
vacant championship, apparently. Rolling Boy & Apolo Estrada replaced Zatura & Emperador Azteca. Emperador Azteca appears in the match
4) Hijo del Alebrije b Rolling Boy [IWRG IC WELTER, quarterfinal]
5) Cerebro Negro b Hijo del Pantera [IWRG IC WELTER, quarterfinal]
6) Apolo Estrada b Mike Segura [IWRG IC WELTER, quarterfinal]
7) Leo b Diablo Jr. I [IWRG IC WELTER, quarterfinal]
Diablo Jr. 1 replaced Hijo del Diablo (?)
8) Cerebro Negro b Hijo del Alebrije [IWRG IC WELTER, semifinal]
9) Mike Segura b Leo [IWRG IC WELTER, semifinal]
10) Cerebro Negro b Mike Segura [IWRG IC WELTER, final]
Cerebro is new champion
11) Freelance b Imposible
Freelance wants a title match.
12) Canis Lupus b Trauma I
Bloody match. Canis wants a title match against whoever is heavyweight championship after Sunday (Trauma or Mascara 2000 Jr.) Trauma wants a mask match.
Edit: results updated on 04/24
Let’s just go with the idea that Canis decided to change out of the Welterweight division and that’s why the title was vacant. This sounds like a good show, hope it airs.
Way back in 2009, AAA brought in Hijo del Santo. It was the first time he’d worked with the promotion since 1995. He made a surprise appearance at one TV taping and wrestled the main event of that year’s TripleMania, an AAA versus Foreign Legion cage match where the winner got control of the company. Santo got the big win for AAA. AAA, thru Televisa, attempted to market a (cut down) DVD of the event. Santo objected, saying he’d agreed to work the show but not for his likeness to be used on DVD. AAA claimed Santo verbally agreed. Santo took the issue to court.
Santo attended the case as the plaintiff. In the opening moments of the case, Marisela Pena (in her role as a lawyer) demanded Hijo del Santo unmask. Her point was it was impossible to be sure that the man standing in court was really the person who owned the Santo likeness, or just some other person who was wearing a Santo mask and claiming to be El Hijo del Santo. (This appeared to be a publicly attended case, so Santo would’ve been seen by many unmasked.) Most people would just unmask in that situation to keep things moving, but Hijo del Santo is not most people, and he refused. The ongoing legal situation from that moment – both money owed on identity and the the question of a masked man has to unmask in open court to prove his identity – has gone thru the legal system for seven years and all the way to the Supreme Court of Mexico, the highest court in the land. Santo had been claiming the court case was still going, and recently said it was close to completing, but it wasn’t known it had gone so far – or at least I hadn’t heard that until I read the news last night.
The Supreme Court ruled that Hijo del Santo – or anyone else in his situation – does not have to unmask in open court. Unmasking before the judge and the defendant in the judge’s quarters and proving his identity is sufficient. The Supreme Court also ruled in favor of Santo in the overall case, meaning AAA owes Santo money for using his image. It’s not said exactly how much they own.
Back when this started, Santo was said to want a big amount of appearing on the DVD. It’s unclear if the DVDs ever sold well. AAA not continuing on with them suggest they did not make money on the deal. (As shown with Octagon, legal threats wouldn’t stop them from pressing on.) And Hijo del Santo’s long battle to preserve his identity is mitigated by stories reporting on this case listing his real name.
Dr. Wagner Jr. will be part of Azteca’s La Isla reality show, a show in the vein of Survivor. It’s an all return episode, and Dr. Wagner was on a previous season. Not sure when it’s taping or how long he’ll be out of AAA.
Lucha Memes 05/15 in Coacalco
1: Hechicero vs Virus
This show has a Monterrey versus Mexico City theme.
A new edition of +LuchaTV is up.
LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.
Segunda Caida finally watches Aerostar, Drago & Fireball versus La Anarquia, makes me miss La Anarquia much.
Aerostar defeated Drago for an Aztec Medallion (good, springboard splash, 6:36)
Jack Evans, PJ Black, Fenix defeats Disciples of Death (good, springboard 450 splash, 9:05)
Matanza and Mil Muertes went to a no contest (good, referee stop, 7:03)
The Mil Muertes/Matanza match took place, though we didn’t quite get a result. Mil did far more damage to him than anyone had done in the last month, beating him to the ground earlier and taking him down off a dive. (That one legit injuried Matanza, who was noticably hobbling around the rest of the match. Dario and Catrina each took a turn getting involved to give Matanza recovery time, and there was a noticable edit.) The two battled up the steps and onto Dario’s office roof, teasing throwing each other off. Finally, Mil gave Matanza flatliner on the roof, which collapses the roof and caused them both to go to the floor. Striker explained the referee stopped the match that point. Both Catrina and Dario helped up their objects and signaled this wasn’t over for them.
It is over for the Disciples – or at least two of them. They lost again, this time in the trios tournament, and Catrina demanded to know why she shouldn’t end them. Siniestro de la Muerte (purple) gave her a reason, by ripping out the black heart of Trece (gray). Catrina said that wasn’t enough, and Siniestro did the same to Barrio Negro (gold), who must’ve been the dumbest member of the crew if he didn’t see that coming. This satisfied Catrina, and either she or the black hearts themselves seemed to give Siniestro new powers and a new look. He’s a solo act now for sure.
The team which defeated the Disciples, and did advance, was Fenix, Jack Evans and PJ Black. This was another Dario concept. He had considered putting Fenix, Drago and Aerostar together in the tournament, but noted he had done so last year and Drago & Aerostar fought leading to their elimination, making them undeserving of another shot. Dario did find them deserving of another fight, and instead put Drago and Aerostar against each other in the second Aztec Medallion match. Aerostar stumbled badly at one point, falling hard to the floor, and Drago perhaps took it a little easy on his friend instead of capitalizing. Aerostar seemed to be hurting thru the match, but came back to win and claim the second medallion. He and Texano await five more winners.
One of those winners will be decided next week. A vignette at the Johnny Mundo Dojo (I’m assuming) revealed Taya had called Dario on Johnny’s behalf to demand a shot at a Medallion – he hadn’t gotten the chance last year. Taya explained Dario agreed to the idea, but the opponent would be Cage. In a cage match. Johnny’s high self confidence seemed a bit damaged by this news.
Going back to the trios match from earlier: Jack declared himself leader of the trio, loudly ordering around his teammates. PJ got pushy with Fenix as well. Neither PJ or Jack wanted to much to do with Fenix after the win, but the team looked pretty strong when they were working together and would seem to have a decent chance to win the final.
They weren’t the only team to advance to the last round. Angelico, Son of Havoc, and Ivelisse were informed they would not face the winners of the tournament, but would be defending their titles against all three teams who’d won so far in a four way match. Dario poked at champs and their issues, pushing them against each other again.
Next Week:
Angelico, Son of Havoc, Ivelisse (c) versus Cortez Castro, Mr. Cisco, Joey Ryan versus Prince Puma, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Azteca Jr versus Jack Evans, PJ Black, Fenix for the Lucha Underground Trios championship
Johnny Mundo versus Cage for an Aztec Medallion
There was one last moment to close the show. Captain (Maureen) Vazquez – the superior officer of Castro & Ryan – was visited by a mystery councilman named Delgado who said he was representing Boyle Heights, warning her back off Dario Cueto (which seems to be working in secret.) Delgado and Vazquez appeared to have some history together. Vazquez said she was unconcerned about the Mayor, but Delgado said he was working for someone bigger. Vazquez seemed worried she’d gotten herself into a bad situation after the councilman left.
This was a really fun show. I felt like 90% of the conversation is going to end up about the unrealistic nature of electrified zombies pulling out each other’s hearts, but there were also some good wrestling matches here.
Mil Muertes versus Matanza was the more exciting Matanza match yet. He took far more damage than in the previous few weeks while they were in the ring, but still looked like a complete monster by how he was able to thru Mil Muertes around. And everything after the dive was interesting. I knew both the injury and the non-finish going in, which probably greatly affects my view of the overall match – it was impressive how much Matanza was able to still do with a leg injury which they had to be fearing would end him for the season, and the flatliner thru the roof looked incredible enough to mitigate the lack of a finish. I can understand if that lack of outcome detracted for other people, but this gave me more than expected and the eventual rematch should be super.
The Disciples went out on a good note. Well, before the death scene. The Jack Evan, Fenix and PJ Black team were the stars of the match and intended to be so, but the DoD kept up with them well and looked as effective as they have been all season before taking another loss. Jack & PJ Black came off as annoying but really good, and Fenix got in a Brillo Cometa. Striker always talking about the different personality of each henchman seemed to accidentally drive home the problem: we never actually saw those personalities, wtth them coming off more as if they had been told not to show different personalities. On a show with a lot of big characters, they didn’t seem to have one. Maybe one will work better than three – at least the one with the best superkick survived.
They left in an Aerostar springboard mishap, which was a very different way of doing things. It turned into one of Striker’s better perfomances, as he tried to weave it into a big story about the gambles of the lucha libre style and a specific one about how Aerostar was suffering from the fall to make sense of it all. The problem was Aerostar didn’t seem to know they were doing that story, not selling as much as you’d need to really tell it. It was still a fun match and at least an interesting experiment.
Councilman Delgado is Lorenzo Llamas, of all people. Definitely an unexpected bit of casting. It seems like the police story is going to explain how/why Dario’s able to run an underground fight club without getting shut down, but I was not expecting the star of the Renegade to be part of that story.
Mundo’s cage match with Cuerno (who’s vanished here) was really good last season, and the four way trios match should be great if they can keep all the bodies out of the way. I hope it’s a fun as this episode.
CMLL (TUE) 04/19/2016 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Cholo & Inquisidor b Leono & Metatrón 
16:29. Rudos took 1/3. Metatron replaced Sensei on Saturday
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Hijo del Signo, Metálico b Magnus, Robin, Star Jr.
18:17. Rudos took 2/3.
3) Blue Panther Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. b Disturbio, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
17:44. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Esfinge b Sagrado [lightning]
9:45. Esfinge won via powerbomb.
5) Blue Panther, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Morphosis
13:12. Tecnicos took 2/3. Morphosis’s first match since November.
6) Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto b Dragón Lee, Máscara Dorada, Stuka Jr.
8:18. Rudos took straight falls, the last when Mephisto fouled Mascara Dorada and pinned him. Dorada. Dorada demanded a singles match. Mephisto agreed, but also pulled off Dorada’s mask. Dragon Lee said he wasn’t wrestling on this show, then said he was.
The strange Dragon Lee situation was the most interesting part of the show. Lee appeared to injury a knee last Wednesday and was taken off weekend shows. He was still listed as appearing on Tuesday, but – a few minutes into the show – posted on Twitter an apology for not working the show. A half hour later, he said plans had changed and he was on driving to Arena Mexico at that moment. Dragon Lee did very little in the match itself. It came off as Dragon Lee really shouldn’t have been wrestling but CMLL had failed to get a replacement and needed him to just be out there.
Otherwise, it’s clear CMLL is setting up a lot of big matches for next week and everyone’s kind of taking it easy this week. It might be because so many of these matches don’t mean much, or because no one wants to get hurt and miss their bookings during Kid’s Day.
Tonight’s Elite show features Atlantis versus Caristico in a battle of top tecnicos. It’s their second match in their tournament, and their first singles match against each other. They wrestled a few times when Atlantis was a rudo, with (then) Mistico winning five times and Atlantis only winning a match in Guadalajara in 2008. The other singles match is Mascara Dorada versus Negro Casas, which is nearly as one sided. Casas has won twice, Dorada six times, the last back on March 1st in Guadalajara. Casas is the only person who hasn’t had a match in this tournament, Dorada has a win already, so it seems like the vet will get a win to balance things out. Atlantis/Caristico is tougher to guess.
CMLL has a full preview here. The trios match which probably will air is Rush, La Mascara & Toscano against Cibernetico, Mephisto and Shralie Rockstar, but I’d rather see Super Crazy, Rocky Lobo & Jinzo versus Felino, Tiger and Puma. Hijo de LA Park debuts in the segunda.
SuperLuchas posted a review of the first few weeks; the announcers have generally not gotten great reviews everywhere, and they helpfully explain the context for Senorita Cometa bits. (Someone did the same thing in Spanish for the World Cup and Olympics.) The big news is early in the post, where they say “apparently” CMLL caused the time slot move because they were upset about the TV shows hurting their own Friday night ticket sales.
There definitely is something going on with Elite and CMLL. Edgar was wearing a CMLL referee shirt the first two shows, and was wearing an Elite one by the third. All mentions of CMLL were covered up on the stage – you’d have to look for them being on the signboards underneath the upperdeck to spot it. After the tag match, Rush went over to the announce desk to scream at Shocker, and the CMLL logo on the announce desk was blurred out.
![DXKw709[1]](http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DXKw7091.png)
The other stuff is minor, but you don’t start blurring out logos unless there’s some issue.
CMLL’s lineups now show Mercurio in for Pequeno Olimpico and Shockercito for Angelito on Friday and Vaquerita in for Princesa Sugehit on Sunday.
There’s also the 100th edition of CMLL Informa tonight. They haven’t announced guests. Mistico says he’s appearing.
Tonight’s Lucha Underground is episode 2×13, “Monster meets Monster”. Matches announced for the show
There’s usually more time for vignettes on three match shows. There may be even more time than usual this week and crazy things are said to be happening. This Aerostar’s only second match of the season, having previously only shown up in the Aztec Warfare match. It’s only Drago’s third.
Victoria beer announced a Lucha Victoria 2016 campaign. They had more than 40 different luchador designs on bottle caps. This year, they’ll have eight designs on cans and plastic tops: Atlantis, Blue Demon Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Santo, Mistico, Pentagon, Rey Misterio Jr., and Sexy Star. There’s pictures of some of those on this press release, though not all of them. This is a Mexico only promotion, and no word when they’ll start appearing in stores, but the caps and bottles from last year’s campaign found their ways to the US last year.
Sexy Star is surely going to wrestle in Mexico again at some point this year, if for no reason to keep Victoria happy. (There had been talk about a women’s Lucha World Cup in companion to the men’s one, and that would be the logical spot.) The lucha libre default is attractive woman should be unmasked, but no one’s made more money or had more fame primarily by being an attractive woman wearing a marketable mask. It feels like there’s a lesson here. I’m just happy Pentagon made the cut – he’s the only full time AAA guy to do so.
There was a Victoria sponsored in Aguascalientes last night, as part of an annual fair. There’s no card or results but Daga says he beat Apache for his hair. Blue Demon Jr. appeared, so maybe he’s back on good terms with AAA again or maybe Victoria just wanted him in.
Pentagon Jr. defeated Fenix in 17:41 via Fear Factor package piledriver on the Oudou debut show. It sounds like the match went well.
Liger Fever has a one two three part translation of a Demus 3:16 interview with Elisa Tudon from Divinas de la Lucha. It’s really good.
The Gladiatores talked to Astro, who seemed to be in good spirits despite losing his mask and having a very red chest
Rocky Lobo is apparently heading to Germany in May.
Segunda Caida reviews Atlantis, La Sombra, Triton vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
LuchaWorld has the top 10 rankings for the last week.
Box Y Lucha #3229 has Psycho Clown & the Octagons.
La Union has a an interview with Cuernavaca lucha trainer Elfego Silva/Circulo Rojo
Krazy Star talks about her trip to Panama.
Lineups
CMLL (TUE) 04/26/2016 Arena México
1) Aéreo & Stukita vs Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
2) Leono, Sensei, Starman vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
3) Silueta vs Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, La Vaquerita, Skadi, Dalys, Zeuxis, Reyna Isis, La Seductora, La Comandante [cibernetico]
Arena Mexico 60th Anniversary cibernetico
4) Dragón Lee, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Sagrado
5) Máscara Dorada vs Mephisto
Women’s anniversary cibernetico on this show suggests they won’t be on the officially Friday night Arena Mexico show.
CMLL (TUE) 04/26/2016 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Explosivo & Metatrón vs Carlo Roggi & Ráfaga
2) Reyko, Robin, Soberano Jr. vs Hijo del Signo, Maléfico, Metálico
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Pegasso, Súper Halcón Jr. vs El Cuatrero, Sansón, Skándalo
4) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, Gallo, The Panther, Tritón vs Bobby Z, Disturbio, Tiger, Vangellys, Virus [cibernetico]
5) Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Rey Escorpión vs Atlantis, Euforia, Kráneo [Relevos Increíbles]
Another cibernetico here. Main event program appeared to be Marco/Bucanero, but Bucanero isn’t around so who knows.
IWRG (SUN) 04/24/2016 Arena Naucalpan
1) Black Dragón vs Keshin Black
2) Dragón Fly & Shadow Boy vs Galaxy & Hip Hop Man
3) Dinamic Black, Emperador Azteca, Freelance vs Cerebro Negro, Golden Magic, Killer Jr.
4) Leo, Mike, Rafy vs Diablo Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Imposible
5) Danny Casas, Hijo del Alebrije, Veneno vs Herodes Jr., Negro Navarro, Trauma II
6) Trauma I © vs Máscara Año 2000 Jr. [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense
Fourth match is the Mexico State trios versus crafty ninja turtles.
Recapped: 04/19/2016
What happened: Mephisto annoyed Mascara Dorada into giving him a singles match. Dragon Lee was on, off and on the card. He didn’t end up wrestling much.
What was good: Nothing really. Maybe the semimain.
Where can I watch it: It’s on CMLL’s YouTube channel
AAA TV (MON) 04/18/2016 Domo de la Feria, León, Guanajuato [AAA]
1) Dinastía, Lanzeloth, Ludxor, Venum DQ Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Soul Rocker, Súper Fly
Apache kept up his random harassment of Venum – a chair shot and a mask removal – leading to a DQ.
2) Faby Apache & Mary Apache b La Hiedra & Lady Shani
Mary beat Hiedra.
3) Argenis & Australian Suicide b Angélico & Jack Evans and Daga & Joe Lider and Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Taurus [AAA TAG, #1 Contenders]
Suicide beat Daga to get the title shot in on 04/29 in Leon; they still have issues. Los Fronterizos attacked after the match, tying Lider to the ropes, destroying Daga and saying they were not Perros but really French Poodles.
4) Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Zorro b Aerostar, Drago, Octagón Jr.
Drago was taken out almost immediately via Xinetez inflicted hand injury, which left the match 3 on 2. Zorro beat Aerostar with a package piledriver.
5) Damián 666, Nicho el Millionario, Pagano b Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
6) El Mesías & Brian Cage b Dr. Wagner Jr. & La Parka
Mesias & Cage are Team Trump and talked at the start of the show. Texano interrupted their Trump video to say he’d defend Mexicans. Dr. Wagner & Parka shook hands on a momentary alliance before the match. Mesias replaced in the match Texano and Cage & Mesias used fouls to win. They destroyed Wagner & Parka after the match until Texano (in a neck brace) made the save. Cage & Mesias ended up beating up Texano again.
Air Date: 04/30 & 05/07
If Mesias & Cage are Team Trump, they might also be Team USA for the Lucha World Cup. Texano already seems like he’s going to be on the Mexico side, so that’d play into it as well. I have the mindset that Verano de Escandalo is the next show, but probably should switch to thinking about everything building to the Lucha World Cup right now.
Maybe that’s the reasoning behind Suicide and Argenis getting the win? Suicide being drafted onto another Team Rest of the World seems plausible, but this still feels random. Could they just be saving Jack & Angelico’s challenge for a later show? (Can AAA even change these titles without being worried about Averno & Chessman’s status? Is that even a factor?)
The new Los Fronterizos is being booked very strong to start, which makes a lot of sense. I’m still not convinced it’s a faction I want to see. It still bugs me a bit that Pagano and Aereo were on the Juarez show in a TV match, Aereo looked great, Pagano struggled, Pagano got signed and Aereo is still off in the frontier. This seems like a big lesson to offer something no one else is offering – there’s a lot more fewer people like Pagano than there is like Aereo – but it’s a bit of a depressing lesson. It’s been explained in the past that the reason AAA has extreme luchadors and extreme matches is a way to separate themselves from WWE & CMLL, but it’s not cleat that difference means much outside of a small but passionate and loyal group of fans. The underlining idea of the Pentagon Perros proving themselves as rightful holders of that name makes for a decent story, but recent events haven’t made me convinced they’ll be telling that story either.
I hope we get an Apache interview on an upcoming Noti AAA, because I have no idea why he’s stuck on Venum. He does seem to pick random opening match luchadors to annoy every few years.
Pentagon Jr. wasn’t on this show – he’s in Japan now for the Akebono debut show. Their website says he went from Chile to the US to Japan, which sounds like a heck of a day of sitting on planes. Fenix made it earlier.
Next taping is 04/29. That holds the first two Lucha World Cup Qualifiers; it’d make sense if we heard a lot more about the Cup before those took place.