Averno has signed with WWE, expected to drop his mask at Jucio Final

Averno & Mistico, 2010 (photo via Record)

Averno, one of the top rudos for CMLL for the half decade, has signed a contract with WWE. Averno is joining the US promotion to resume his feud with Misitco (now Sin Cara) as an unmasked heel. The plan was for him to lose his mask to La Mascara at June 17th’s Jucio Final, but plans may change as this news gets out. Multiple sources have confirmed to me both Averno’s signing and his imminent mask loss.

WWE has been unhappy with Sin Cara’s matches so far. Atypically, they’ve sought to resolve this by bringing in more agreeable opponents for him to work with. The story I was told is WWE went to Sin Cara and asked him that if he could work with anyone in the world, who would he most like to work with. Obviously, he picked his long time rival (and probably close friend) Averno. WWE earlier had Averno in for a tryout last October, the same tryout Mistico and Diamante were at (and which Durango Kid helped set up), but decided not to sign him at that time. Things have changed, and Averno secretly signed with WWE during their last tour of Mexico.

It’s worth noting this is not actually an expanded WWE raid of CMLL luchadors or lucha style wrestlers in general. They want Averno to fill a specific need. I do not believe this directly increases (or decreases) their chances of signing anyone else from Mexico. To put it simply, WWE signing Averno does not mean they’re about to sign Fantasma or Sombra or anyone else.

This is also a big risk for Averno; he’s coming in for a defined spot, but there may not be plans past that; compare Averno to Tyson Kidd, who works the style they WWE prefers, is very good at it, and is barely on their roster. Dropping your mask and going to WWE in hopes of a big push worked out for Alberto Del Rio, but not so much for Rey Ortiz. Since the plan is for him to work against Sin Cara, I expect he will be brought to the main roster quickly, and not go to FCW.

Averno has not informed CMLL of his WWE signing. Instead, Averno only told their programming department he wanted to lost his mask ASAP and, if they weren’t willing to do it, he would go to whichever outside promoter could pay him the most to drop it. CMLL agreed to do it there and scrambled their plans for June (a cage match which would’ve included the Gen11/Rayos feud and probably other rivalries; no loser had been definitively been decided), putting Averno’s mask loss in on 06/17. Mascara Dorada would’ve been the preferred choice to win the mask, but he’s locked in with NJPW comittements. It’s unknown if other people were considered, but CMLL is said to be a very divided and unhappy place at the moment, and politics surely played some role in the decision (as they do in most.)

As I write this, I believe upper CMLL management is still unaware of Averno signing with WWE (though I’m the impression that many other people in the company, which again speaks to the fractured nature of CMLL) and would’ve been when the card for next Friday was announced. Averno is not yet on any of the big six cards next week (GDL/Puebla/Mexico/Coliseo), but I do not believe that has anything to do with this news, and he is scheduled to work shows in Queretaro (Tuesday) and Xalapa (Wednesday).

I have declined to post about this because of that, and because early release of this information may cost people’s jobs, and may cost Averno a big payday. That’s not really worth being first, to me. I’m posting this story now because the word has gotten out to enough people that there’s really no way it can be kept as a secret any more. SuperLuchas has put the Averno to WWE portion on their cover, out today, though they are not confirming the mask loss.

It’s possible that CMLL may pull the match – as much for the betrayal as the result getting out –  (though that would mean Averno would just find someone else to pay for the mask), but the CMLL way tends to be to ignore the world around them. Also, they’d be able to beat soon to be WWE star on the way out, and CMLL thinks that would mean a lot to their fans. We’ll see.

Sorry I had to spoil this result for everyone. Didn’t want to know who was going to win myself, but can’t tell this story without telling that part.

WWE announces signing of Sin Cara

@TerceraCaida

Mistico is now Sin Cara. WWE announced the signing of the biggest star in Mexico of the last decade with unusual fanfare for them: today’s press conference, a few introductory articles on their website and a photogallery of him in CMLL. He’s got an official facebook page, and hopefully a twitter account coming soon.

Sin Cara says he did not know which brand he would end up, and they were not specific on when he would debut. Everything we’ve heard is that he will be on WWE TV soon (clips from this press conference may air soon, certainly on the Mexican edits of WWE TV) and we’d expect him to end up with Alberto del Rio and Rey Misterio.

Sin Cara’s mask is very familiar to Mistico fans – it’s basically the mask he wore last year when teaming with Averno in different colors, and with cloth covering the eye lids. The intention is to be similar; they want the Mexican fans to know this is Mistico and he’s going to the WWE, and they should watch WWE even more to see him now.

I’m not sure if any of you use TweetDeck – it’s really good if you’re using multiple accounts or want to get an update every time someone’s tweet includes a word or phrase. I usually track CMLL and have been tracking Mistico the last month. Every time there’s a match or a new tweet, it gives you a little ding and pops up the message. The soundtrack to my afternoon has been “ding (pause) ding (pause) ding (pause) ding (pause) ding”. Very few of those dings were about Texano/Terrible vs Porky/Maximo. The word is out in Mexico about this change and we all hope he does very well.

SuperLuchas: Mistico “Ya Firmo Con WWE!”


Cover of this week's SuperLuchas, on sale tonight

Mistico has signed a deal with WWE. There’s been a background talk about Mistico leaving CMLL of late, especially the last week, but nothing anyone was able to definitively confirm until now. I had heard multiple rumors about his destination, but WWE had always seemed the most likely. He’s expected to head to Florida Championship Wrestling, where he’ll join Alex Koslov (and Hijo de Medico Asesino!) as luchadors training for WWE.

Mistico’s last Arena Mexico match was January 18th, the two fall loss in the main event where Porky got mad at Mistico. Mistico worked the two show NJPW tour and has not been in a CMLL ring since. It’s possible he may work a final show or two in CMLL if his Florida commitment doesn’t start right away, but he’s obviously out of the Dos Leyendas plans. Friday’s Averno/Dorada feuding was intended to create a replacement match (or relevos tag partners.)

CMLL almost certainly owns the Mistico gimmick, though WWE would likely given him their own anyway. CMLL probably won’t put someone new in the suit, because they’ve been building Sombra up as the replacement lead tecnico for about 10 months already. Astro Boy, Mistico’s brother, probably won’t be affected only because they barely use him as is.

Mistico likely told CMLL he was leaving in late December, or maybe around when the CMLL/NJPW cards first came out, because it would explain why NJPW announced Mistico as working those cards while CMLL didn’t have him listed. Even though CMLL probably knew he was on his way out, Mistico did beat Negro Casas and Ultimo Guerrero (by DQ) in singles matches during the last month.

Alberto Del Rio’s success was the catalyst for Mistico jumping to WWE. Dos Caras Jr. was never great in CMLL, but has gotten over great in WWE. The line of thinking – and not just for Mistico – is if a guy who never really got over much in Mexico got over that easily in the US, it should be easy for bigger stars to succeed. I’m not sure that’s true – a lot of Alberto’s success is due to WWE deciding he was going to be be a big star, real quick – but it definitely gives Mexican wrestlers more faith in the company compared to how guys like the Mexicools were used.

UPDATE: The article states Mistico flew to the US to sign the WWE contract this past Tuesday, and CMLL did not find out until after the fact. Mistico had previously been open with CMLL about any contact with WWE, but had kept CMLL out of the loop recently. His most recent tryout match was – in California – was without CMLL’s permission. Leaving like this likely precludes Mistico from returning unless there are massive changes in CMLL leadership between now and then.

The article – which you can purchase here – gives the impression that if Mistico were to do it all over again, he would’ve joined WWE after his original tryout in 2007.

07/12 CMLL in Nuevo Laredo Results (Oriental loses his mask to Mistico)

CMLL Gutierrez (MON) 07/12 Plaza de Toros Lauro Luis Longoria [@ENRIQUEYNIESTA]
1) Mini Alebrije, Mini Cibernetico, Mini Oriental b Astral, Mascarita Dorada, Shockercito
2) Lady Apache, Lluvia, Marcela DQ Rossy Moreno, Sexy Flor, Tiffany
3) Ephesto, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero DQ Charly Manson, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Águila
4) Hijo de LA Park, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Scorpio Jr. DQ La Máscara, Máscara Dorada, Valiente
5) Héctor Garza, Terrible, Texano b Jushin Lyger, Shigeo Okumura, Yoshihashi
6) Místico & Oriental L Atlantis & Olímpico and Averno & Último Guerrero and El Alebrije & Volador Jr. and Histeria & La Sombra [ruleta de la muerte]
7) Místico b Oriental [mask]

Oriental is Noe Astro Moreno Leon, according to CMLL Magazine. (Astro?) He’s 37, 17 years a wrestler. No photo as I type this, but I’m sure we’ll see one later.

Order of escape went Sombra & Histeria (who’s now free to put his mask up on Sunday), Alebrije & Volador, Averno & Ultimo Guerrero, and Atlantis & Olimpico. Mistico beat Oriental in what seemed like a longer match than the entire eliminations prior.

The big news from the rest of the show was the appearance of Dr. Wagner Junior. It was hinted early this morning by SuperLuchas, and was revealed a few hours before the show by Box Y Lucha. He appeared after the fourth match, first posing with his son, then circling around in the ring, all while wearing his AAA World Heavyweight Championship belt (he also had the video game belt.) When he went to the ring and posed, everyone was under the impression this meant Wagner had left AAA and was joining CMLL as an Invader. Upon returning to the locker room, Dr. Wagner instead told the press that he was on good terms with AAA, and everyone backed off saying he was leaving.

People who are on good terms with a company do not show up at a major show for a rival promotion, being as visible as possible. (And CMLL isn’t going to let Wagner be part of the show unless they wanted him to be part of the show.) Wagner may end up staying with AAA, uninterrupted, but this was a very petulant move to make a point; AAA’s treated him as an afterthought to the Perros del Mal entry, the Parka/Park story, and the Legion stuff, and Wagner has always felt he should always be on top. That seems to be the wrestling he grew up with – in the UWA, Canek doesn’t seem to have ever been cycled down the card or bypassed much; he was either the top rudo feuding with the top tecnico, or the top tecnico feuding with the foreign guy. That’s spot doesn’t really exist in either promotion, but Wagner can sure come close by jumping back and forth between them like this.

This bit was also totally hilarious. For most of the night, AAA only response was an enigmatic tweet from Lucha Libre AAA, which is so unspecific, it may have nothing to do with any of this. Later, Dorian Roldan seemed surprised, generally the same reaction as everyone else, though his post gives the impression Wagner left.

Dr. Wagner is not listed on any lineups from now until the Toluca taping, though he’s almost surely scheduled to be on the Lucha Libre Expo show, and there’s probably other lineups AAA hasn’t put on it’s website. At the point, the expectation is he’ll still be working AAA shows, but it’s a fluid situation. We’ll know more soon. This would be a fantastic time for Cesar to come back from his blog vacation.

If we’ve been reminded of anything, anything at all, from La Parka vs LA Park, is that people remember what they saw in the ring and not what was said later. Tonight, Wagner made people believe he’s jumped to CMLL, and interviews aren’t going to undo that.

Not a lot of noteworthy material on the show. Tiffany was the mystery woman for the Invaders. At the time of the press conference, she was still working AAA spot shows, which is probably the reason they kept it quiet. Not sure if this means anything for her brother, ex-Night Queen Jessy, who’s also working AAA spot shows without making TV in years. Tiffany was a big part of AAA in the mid 2000s, but really hasn’t been used much since Pena’s death and since she left to have a kid. She was still good, last we saw her, and would fit in well in CMLL if that’s why she and they want to do.

The first four matches all did have non-clean finishes. Mini Cibernetico broke the law by removing Dorada’s mask before pinning him, but was not charged with the crime. No specific word on the DQ in the second match, but it probably was for one of the rudas pulling Lluvia’s mask. DQ in the tercera was for Ephesto taking off his own mask and tossing it. (Mephisto hurt a knee in this one.) DQ in the cuatro was for Scorpio (Solitario replacement) fouling and unmasking Mascara. Japan vs Renegados finished clean, we think.

Before the opener, Enrique pegged the crowd as 10,000, 80% of capacity. It’s possible it filled up a bit more as the show went on. The show was to be taped for television, but there were lots of pre-show issues – many guys only made it last minute, and the lights were late – so who knows.

thoughts on CMLL’s Universal Championship

MVS needs to update that picture

Let’s start here: CMLL has announced a tournament of champions. The man on the right, the man covered with championship belts, is not in the tournament.

CMLL announced plans on Thursday to create a new championship, called the CMLL Universal Championship. This will be the 19th active championship in the Mexico City branch of CMLL. Not including this championship, there are 9 active CMLL World championships, 5 active National championships held by CMLL wrestlers, 3 active NWA championships, and 1 Arena Coliseo specific championships.

That 19 total does not include the 2 IWRG championships still held by CMLL wrestlers (Super Welter – Mistico, Middle – Negro Casas; considering the Women’s title as defunct), the 4 annual tournaments run by CMLL (Plata, Azul, GA, Rey de Aire – perhaps 5 if we count the minis), the Occidente championships (2 of which, the Light Heavyweight and the Tag Team, are worn on CMLL TV more frequently than the previous 18 official ones), the 2 WWA Championships which may not be official (Middle – Mistico, Perro & Hector – Tag), and Dr. X’s XNW Championship, which is at least as credible as the WWA ones. Counting these additional 11 championships, CMLL currently has 29 different titles in play. On June 19th, CMLL will have 30. Unless Yurijo and Naito get their titles back before then.

The actual CMLL announcement goes like this: they’re holding a tournament to decide the champion of champions. Both AAA and CMLL have done this before, AAA most recently with the AAA Heavyweight Mega Championship. This time, the winner will become the first CMLL Universal Champion. The champion is said to involve all National and World Champions. Announced participants:

– Ultimo Guerrero: CMLL Heavyweight

– Rey Bucanero: CMLL Light Heavyweight
– Texano Jr.: NWA Light Heavyweight

– Averno: CMLL Middleweight, NWA Middleweight

– Negro Casas: CMLL Welterweight
– Sombra: NWA Welterweight, CMLL Tag Team
– Sangre Azteca: Mexican Welterweight

– Mascara Dorada: CMLL Super Lightweight

– Volador Jr.: CMLL Tag Team

– La Mascara: CMLL Trios
– Hector Garza: CMLL Trios
– Hijo del Fantasma: CMLL Trios
– Black Warrior: Mexican Trios
– Dragon Rojo Jr.: Mexican Trios

==============

National/World Champions not included, who are not women or men
– Mistico: National Light Heavyweight, WWA Middleweight Champion

That’s it, that’s the list. I’ve read the box y lucha coverage, the superluchas coverage, and the notimex coverage, and I have yet to see an explanation of why Mistico’s not in this tournament. Mistico has consistently been consistently treated as the best wrestler in the company, winning the annual tournament to decide the best wrestler in the company (Leyenda de Plata, 3 years in a row!), and he’s MIA in a tournament to crown the best wrestler in the company, and no one thought this needed a little bit of explanation?

Obviously, the tournament is and was planned for someone else to win the championship, and it seems like Mistico isn’t here so he doesn’t have to take a singles loss. Those are the sort of things that make the hardcore fans dislike Mistico, regardless of how it happens.

Getting back to the tournament itself, it’ll be a near standard three week single elimination bit for CMLL. Group A of 7 wrestlers (not specified – why not?) will go down on June 5, Group B will take place on June 12, and the final will take place on June 19. CMLL’s designed a simple but smart way of handling the odd number; winning the seeding battle royal gives you a first round bye, actually giving that part of the tournament some more sense and an actual conclusion. (Without a bye, it’s always made no sense to participate – the first one out has to wrestle first, but gets the longest rest between matches and doesn’t have to wrestle the semifinal and the final back to back.)

The hype for the match brings up the possibility that partners could end up fighting each other, which is true though not necessarily all that interesting. They also emphasize that wrestlers of different weight divisions could face each other, as if this was not standard operating procedure for CMLL, and as if there was a great difference in sizes between all these wrestlers. Perhaps if Dos or Lizmark was in, this might be true, but the difference between Ultimo Guerrero and Mascara Dorada does not appear to be all that great, and those two squared off in a trios match just back on March 1st, on LATV. It wasn’t a big deal.

This tournament would be flawed and frustrating if it occured at any time of year. As opposition to TripleMania, it also seems like an absurd business decision. Tournament shows have never been more than uninteresting to watch, and usually fall to the levels of disappionting. The matches sound much better than turn out to be, because the time requirements of the night force most of them to five minutes of limited action. Perhaps it’ll be better with one less match in the tournament, but it’s not to be expected.

They’re also harder to sell as shows, because of the format CMLL uses to decide seeding. CMLL can’t hype any of the singles matches, some of which might sell some tickets, because none are determined until an hour into the show. It may work better this way to keep people from figuring out the finish (though we can usually guess pretty accurately even without the matchups), but it’s unhelpful in getting people in the building to see that finish happen.

This also means the time and energy that’s gone into building both the Rey Bucanero & Ephesto and Dos Caras Jr. & Shocker has been wasted for the time being, since it’s unlikely they’ll be main eventing any of these three shows with an additional big singles match (they’ll be doing six of those already), plus Bucanero will be tied up in this tournament for at least one of those weeks. This seems to indicate the plan for this tournament came at a late stage.

On first look, Ultimo Guerrero and Negro Casas are the clear strong co-favorites to win this tournament, with the second tier being Hector Garza, Averno, and maybe Sombra. There was a time where we could put Black Warrior in that second tier, but that’s passed. There may be a time where Texano Jr. or Hijo de Fantasma go on that list, but not yet.

I’ll break down the rest of the press conference tomorrow, and more on the tournament down the line, but it’s worth note that the announcement of Fantasma, Sangre and Dragon Rojo heading to Europe for the week of June 10th means those three have to be in Block A of this tournament. In addition, the latest Wrestling Observer mentions CMLL has been talking to TNA about bringing in two (unspecified) wrestlers to challenge Sombra & Volador for the CMLL Tag Titles on June 12. It’s not confirmed, but that would make sense as a main event over a tournament, and would mean those two are also penciled in for Block A.

More, later.

04/13: Mexico, GDL, Perros

CMLL (SUN) 04/12 Arena Mexico [box y lucha, SuperLucha, Ovaciones, proyeccion luchistica, Cesar]
1) Sombra de Plata & Trueno b Cholo & Semental
2) Arkangel de la Muerte, Dr. X, Hooligan b Leono, Metalico, Molotov
3) Hijo del Fantasma, La Mascara, Stuka Jr. b Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca, Shigeo Okumura
4) Marcela b Rosa Negra [mask]
5) Atlantis, Lizmark Jr., Ultimo Guerrero b Dos Caras Jr., Maximo, Shocker
6) Negro Casas b Mistico [CMLL WELTER]

Negro took the first with a castia, Mistico did one of his own for the second. In the third, Negro Casas pinned Mistico when Mistico’s second (La Mascara) accidentally distracted the ref, and Negro took Mistico’s mask. The crowd booed Mistico. Stop me if any of this sounds familiar. In the usual mask vs hair mic work after the match, Mistico talked about liking boos, which is a sure way to get the crowd to cheer him.

Dos turned on his partners, of course, and rudos took in straight falls. They seemed to reunite Dos and Lizmark. If I was planning long term here, those two be the next challengers to the tag team titles, so let’s thank god I am meaningless. SuperLuchas did an interview with Maximo this week, and it sounds like he hasn’t decided if he’s leaving or not, but he’d be going to the indies and not AAA if he did.

Rosa Negra vs Marcela reads like a brutal match. Maybe not even in match quality, but in destroying the particpants. Marcela got hurt early on – Rosa moved out of the way of a dive and Marcela hit the stage – and SuperLuchas says she spent most of the match crying. Rosa Negra suffered what is believed to be a major elbow injury in the finishing sequence, and she was put on a stretcher after returning to the locker room, and taken to the hospital. Match still sounds like it’s pretty good, so I hold out hope it’s better than Villano V vs Ultimo Guerrero.

Rosa Negra is Jessica Dayna Hernandez, from Mexico City, 17 years a professional wrestler (and no age given.) The PL link has video (of the MVS video on the big screen) of her unmasking. Obviously, she didn’t stick around for the post match publicity pictures, so it seems everyone just took a picture of her while she was on the stretcher. Remind me never to be a luchaddor.

Molotov’s chin connected hard with the ropes in his match, taking him out of it and requiring seven stitches.

Cesar – who’s new blog looks really interesting – says Tuesday drew over 12,000 and Sunday over 10,000, though these are at Fan Appreciation prices.

CMLL (SUN) 04/12 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en El Ring, MT: 4, 5]
1) Leon Blanco & Thunder Boy b Angel del Mal & Infierno [torneo tanque dantes]
2) Palacio Negro & Samurai b Acertijo & Mr. Trueno [torneo tanque dantes]
3) Katana & Malefico b Boomerang & Gallo [torneo tanque dantes]
4) Blue Panther, La Sombra, Mascara Dorada b Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto
5) Rey Bucanero b Volador Jr.

In the most important wrestling league format tournament to end on April 12 (except maybe this one), the favorites were robbed of victory in the final match. Palacio Negro & Samuari reached 8 points (4 wins, 1 loss) with their win. Boomerang & Gallo need to win to match, but Malefico yanked Gallo’s mask and covered him for the win, the first for his team in the tournament. That wraps up the tournament:

8: Palacio Negro & Samurai
7: Boomerang & Gallo (and Meteoro)
5: Leon Blanco & Thunder Boy
4: Acertijo & Mr. Trueno (and Rey Trueno)
4: Angel del Mal & Infierno
2: Katana & Malefico

Note the top 3 teams are the tecnico pairs. Rudos went 2-7 against tecnicos.

In matches people beside me might care about, Rey got Volador clean in the main event, with mask/hair challenges after. In the semimain, Panther caught Averno with an armbar for the finish and requested a shot at his title. Quick, which title is that?

PERROS (SUN) 04/12 Plaza de Toros, Texcoc [SuperLuchas]
1) Dr. Wagner Jr. b el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Cibernetico

The bit they did here, and on Wednesday in Acapulco, is Cibernetico snapping on Perro Jr. after one too many accidents. It is about time for them to get a new main event feud and Cibernetico vs Perro sounds like it – they’ve already got it on the cover of Luchas 2000 #466.

Pierroth II and Pierroth Jr., talking about their recent benefit show for Pierroth and plans for future ones mention that Pierroth is in motor and language rehab right now.

Al Filo del Ring talks to the original Mascarita Sagrada, La Parkita and Octagoncito about AAA passing their names on to others. All have no problem with the men using the name since them – they’re just working under orders – but are unhappy with AAA trying to pretend they don’t exist and trying to keep them from using the name.

Super Astro thinks cage matches are crap lucha and should stop. I love Super Astro.

WagnerMania covers Dr. Wagner Jr.’s first AAA TV match, noting that AAA held a moment of applause for Abismo Negro before the main event. Mr. Reyes has tons of pictures of the show, from the upcoming Gladiatores report. AAA’s recap of the show omits the Juvi skit and mentions Fabi’s not happy with Aerostar for kissing her.

There’s a odd licensing wrestling situation in Los Mochis. Usually, when licensing comes up, it’s that the wrestlers haven’t bothered to get themselves licensed. Here, the wrestlers want and need to get licensed, and the commission hasn’t gotten around to issuing licenses. Local wrestlers have been prevented from working shows outside Los Mochis because those commissions won’t let them work unlicensed, but their commission is ignoring requests to hand out licenses.

Box Y Lucha 2918 has Dr. Wagner in AAA. The article headlines include two more AAA departures: Picudo, and Espectro de Ultratumba (one and done!). FWIW, “Mascara Divina” is listed as working a Villalobos card. Maybe he’s left AAA too, but it could always be one of her characters misspelled. There’s also a new episode of their TV show.

Ohtani’s Jacket checked out Atlantis, El Hijo del Santo, Tony Salazar vs El Satanico, El Dandy, Espectro Jr. from the mid-80s, and Mascara Dorada, Metro, Valiente vs Euforia, Nosferatu, Virus from this week. Why won’t CMLL just do the Valiente/Virus feud already?

CMLL (WED) 04/15 Arena Coliseo Acapulco [apux @ box y lucha]
1) Fuego Negro, Orca, Pez Tigre vs Black Silver Jr., Capitan Atomo, Hijo de Black Silver
2) El Guerrero vs Histrion [hair]
3) Dark Angel & Marcela vs Amapola & Princesa Blanca

First CMLL lineup I’ve heard in this building – which was a weekly stop at one point – since last November.