Category: news

CMLL (SAT) 04/04/2015 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
Arena Coliseo 72nd Anniversary
1) Súper Comando b Bengala
2) Canelo Casas b Flyer
3) Súper Halcón Jr. b Nitro
4) Syuri b Dalys
Syuri has now won all 5 matches she’s been in on this tour.
5) Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. b Pólvora & Vangellys
Tecnicos took 2/3.
6) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Stuka Jr., Titán, Valiente
Guerreros took 1/3.
7) Mistico b Ripper
Mistico won the first with a huracanrana, Ripper the second with a tapatia, Mistico the third with La Mistica.

Attendance seemed slightly up, but the Sabado Retros format (and general programming malaise) meant it wasn’t going to be nearly as big as show as it had been in years prior. CMLL online said they treated it like a festive show, but Porra Fresa was unimpressed, feeling CMLL did nothing to celebrate the anniversary outside of mentioning in on the poster. SuperLuchas notes that on the same day, 39 years ago, the Arena Coliseo anniversary show had a title match and a hair match.

Battle-news has the usual detailed review of Syuri’s ever move in her match. The articles notes Negro Casas congratulated Syuri on her great performance against his wife.

CMLL (SUN) 04/05/2015 Arena México [CMLL, NotiMex]
1) Magnus & Molotov b Akuma & Espanto Jr.
Espanto Jr. left the match hurt after taking a move from Mangus.
2) Eléctrico, Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico b Acero, Astral, Shockercito
Electrico worked rudo as an emergency sub for Pequeno Nitro and got the win.
3) Dark Angel, Skadi, Syuri b Dalys, La Seductora, Tiffany
Sixth straight win for Syuri.
4) Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Valiente b Kamaitachi, Pólvora, Rey Escorpión
5) Dragon Lee b Virus © [CMLL SL]
Seconds were Star Jr. (otherwise not on the show) and Pequeno Olimpico. Dragon Lee won the first fall with two straight german suplexes. Virus defeated him in the second (which involved referee Terror Chino messing up yet again) and Dragon Lee took the win and the championship with a hanging double stomp. Virus falls in his ninth defense after 1387 day reign. Money thrown in.
6) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Máximo, Titán, Volador Jr.
Mr. Niebla’s lastest return, winning clean with the splash.

Dragon Lee getting this title shot so soon after unmasked Kamaitachi telegraphed the title change. Virus’ title reign was one of the best things CMLL had going, a likely match of the year every time he defended the championship and actually getting to defend it fairly often (compared to normal for CMLL.) Dragon Lee will have his own type of exciting matches – there should definitely be a rematch with Kamaitachi, and Barbaro Cavernario would make sense as a challenger as well – but it’d be a shame if Virus just gets sucked back into midcard stasis. They’ve got to keep using him.

Lucha Azteca (USA) is currently not listed in some guide listings for next week Saturday. It could show up later in the week, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

+LuchaTV has highlights of Rayo Star’s dive onto Skyman, plus highlights of the Traumas & Pirata Morgan Jr. vs Puma, Tiger and Stigma from Lucha Libre Boom. Puma seems fairly sure he and his brother are better than the Traumas.

LuchaWorld has Saturday’s KrisZ’s news update.

Rob has a music video of AAA 11/30/14 and CMLL 12/02/14.

Super Libre had Black Terry, Blue Panther, Volador Jr. in taped interviews

Fuego en el Ring had Cuatrero and Sanson in studio.

Epydimus won the LyC Cruiserweight championship today.

The preliminary lineup for ChilangaMask on 05/16 Guadalajara includes Caifan, Rey Horus, and Latin Dragon as the non-regulars.

Rayo de Plata wants the government to sponsor a lucha libre museum in San Luis Potosi.

Lucha Libre in Japan

04/05 NJPW: Kenny Omega (c) b Mascara Dorada [IWGP JH]
Sad. This was a good match. Even better is I didn’t stay up for it and avoided the feed going down.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 04/11/2015 Arena Coliseo
1) Angelito vs Pequeño Olímpico
2) Sensei vs Nitro
3) La Vaquerita vs La Seductora
4) Stigma vs Arkángel de la Muerte
5) Tritón vs Sangre Azteca
6) Blue Panther Jr. & Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi & Virus
7) Guerrero Maya Jr., Máximo, Rush vs Ephesto, Rey Bucanero, Shocker

first appearances for Rush & Sombra here under Sabado Retros format.

CMLL (SUN) 04/12/2015 Arena México
1) Bengala & Molotov vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Acero, Aéreo, Shockercito vs Demus 3:16, Pequeño Nitro, Pierrothito
3) Delta vs Pólvora [lightning]
4) Blue Panther Jr., Starman, The Panther vs Okumura, Pierroth, Sagrado
5) Fuego, La Máscara, Super Porky vs Euforia, Niebla Roja, Vangellys
6) Atlantis, Mistico, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

More Niebla. Maybe Niebla’s just been cleared to work Sundays. Segunda looks good, not sure about the rest.

CMLL (FRI) 04/03/2015 Arena México [@naoki909 , CMLL]
1) Eléctrico & Último Dragoncito b Demus 3:16 & Pierrothito
Tecnicos took 1/3
2) Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Syuri b Dalys, La Comandante, La Seductora
dropped to the second match. Tecnicas took 2/3.
3) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, The Panther b Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
moved up to tercera. Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Rey Escorpión b Valiente [lightning]
Escorpion won via Aguijon Mortal
5) Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible b Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Máximo
Rudos are now Terriblemente Guapos y un Rey and were wearing TGR shirts. Rudos took 1/3 and beat up KeMonito after the match.
6) La Sombra, Negro Casas, Rush DQ Euforia, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Euforia replaced Thunder. Team Sombra took 1/3, the last with Sombra tossing his mask to Volador JR.

Thunder doesn’t show, so CMLL goes to it’s consent bailout move: more Volador/Sombra.

Not really sure what giving new t-shirts is going to do for Terrible, Bucanero and Shocker that the last few months of pushing has not. CMLL needs new people in the top mix but are clearly uninterested. Because this is we are in 2015, the first thing I did was search to see if there’s some supplement named “TGR”. (Not as far as I could find.) In an interview with Estadio Deportes, TGR declared they were against everyone, tecnico or rudos, making them exactly like the Ingobernables, the Electroshock trio, the Hellbrothers and every single other rudo faction to form in the last couple of years.

CMLL already has highlights of the show up.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update from Friday.

SuperLuchas looks back at a past April 4th Arena Mexico show with two big title matches and a a tag hair match.

Llaves Y Candados shows of it’s new Cruiserweight championship belt.

Alfonso Morales sticks up for Leo Riano and rips Rey Bucanero in his column.

Lucha Libre In Japan

04/01 Wrestle-1: Hijo del Pantera beat Andu Wu to advance to the semifinals of the W-1 Crusierweight Championship. Pantera moves on to face Minoru Tanaka, where he’ll be a significant underdog.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 04/10/2015 Arena México
1) Astral, Eléctrico, Fantasy vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Universo 2000
2) Fuego, Pegasso, Tritón vs Boby Zavala, Puma, Tiger
3) Syuri © vs Marcela [CMLL WOMEN]
Syuri’s 3rd defense
4) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Super Porky vs Gran Guerrero, Rey Escorpión, Último Guerrero
5) Marco Corleone, Máximo, Rush vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible
6) Volador Jr. vs La Sombra

CMLL video preview.

La Sombra vs Volador Jr. singles matches by year (in any venue)

2: 2010
1: 2011
3: 2012
8: 2013
4: 2014
1: 2015

This’ll be #20. It’s only the 12th in Arena Mexico. (Sombra leads 6-4-1)

This is the first CMLL Women’s title match in Mexico since 2013. There’s been four title matches in Japan in that time. Usual practice is Marcela wins the title back here, though that feels even more underwhelming than usual.

AAA tapes tonight in Xalapa. Two of the Dream Team, Alberto el Patron & Myzteziz, face Mesias and Texano Jr. in the main event. Semimain continues the Hell Brothers/Demon/Parka issue with Aerostar as the third wheel. The undercard is full of promising matches, including Fenix/Psycho vs Fantasma/Pentagon. Belial and Gotita de Plata make appearances in the opener.

CMLL is main evented tonight by Volador, Thunder and Ultimo Guerrero vs Rush, Sombra and Negro Casas in an incredible partners trio main event. It seems like another match building towards Rush facing Thunder in a match at some point, but incredible partner matches are often used to set up matches which wouldn’t have come about otherwise. (Or, maybe they’re just going to end up with UG/Thunder vs Sombra/Rush because Thunder in a singles match is a rough idea.) There’s not much of ongoing storylines on this (or any other) CMLL show, with the closest being Maximo and Thunder facing off again in a semimain trios.

El Siglo de Torreon has a story on Perro Aguayo Jr. memorial on  Wednesday’s show in San Luis Potosi. They say 12,000 people were at the show. That’s a 7,000 seat venue, so I think they’re just picking a number. The tribute t-shirts, going for 100 to 150 pesos, were the hottest selling items. They note that even though it was suggested Rey Misterio Jr. would be at the show, he did not appear there. There’s another article where AAA luchadors dispute that list of prices put up by Univerasl last week, but also note you shouldn’t be in lucha libre for the money.

The subject of luchadors pay also comes up deep in a Forbes Mexico interview with Dorian Roldan; when asked, he says luchadors start off at about 200,000 and some are paid just under 1,000,000 Mexican Pesos. (That’s a $13K to $67.5K US.) The article says there are 92 luchadors under contract, though they may reduce to 80. The number of luchadors in AAA is my most favorite dumb stat, because it seems like it’s useful but the concept is so fuzzy to make it practically useless. (Is Belial in AAA? Counting appearing yes, probably not if you’re just including people who get that starting salary.)

The article is primarily another piece about their expansion into the US to get some of that sweet US money; with a lot of familiar info. The useful line is when Dorian says “Our idea is to be the next Mortal Kombat or Power Rangers” – it informs the product you’re seeing on Lucha Underground.

Rey Misterio Jr. and Konnan talked to the Baja California’s Attorney’s office, giving statements about Perro Aguayo Jr.’s death. (A third luchador went with them, but his name isn’t mentioned.) Not much is said about their statements, just they were as surprised by the events as everyone else. They’re still looking to talk to Manik, Extreme Tiger and the doctor. Not sure why it’s taken so long to talk to the doctor, that would seem to be one of the first things to do.

Daniel Aceves, an Olympic medalists who’s father was honored on a past Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, threw his support behind creating a new national commission to oversee lucha libre and boxing. He feels the CONADE (which governs sports in Mexico) already has the authority to do so, just needs the funding to make it happen.

LA Park calls Perro Aguayo Jr. a great human.

R de Rudo has a column wondering who will replace Perro Aguayo Jr. as the best rudo in Mexico.

WWE announced they’d return to Mexico again this October

• 10/16 Merida (Coliseo Yucatan)
• 10/17 Mexico City (Arena Ciudad de Mexico)
• 10/18 Monterrey (Arena Monterrey)

Tickets go on sale 04/15, six months before the shows actually take place.

SuperLuchas looks back at past April 2nd shows, including the debut of Arena Coliseo and the Princesa Sugehit versus Dark Angel mask match.

If I’m reading Syrui’s blog entry correctly (iffy!), La Gitana is Mascara Dorada’s sister.

Olimpico is involved with a TV Azteca dancing show in some way.

Matt D at Segunda Caida reviews Nuevos Infernals at Padrismo.

DJ Spectro looks back to Gran Coloso vs Mascara 2000

LV reviews this week’s Lucha Underground. Rotten Tomatoes visited Lucha Underground, learned five things about the show that you probably already know. Good PR anyway.

Coliseo Papa Milo held a press conference for their 04/10 show.

Lineups

CHILANGA MASK (SUN) 04/12/2015 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Impulso vs Keira
2) Justiciero & Magnifico vs Tigre Rojo & Tigre Rojo Jr.
3) Jeque vs Herodes Jr.
4) Virus vs Avisman
5) Arez & Belial vs Aramis & Iron Kid
6) Aero Boy vs Soberano Jr., Alas de Acero
7) Black Terry vs Psico Kid
8) Negro Navarro vs Dragon Lee (CMLL)

Full card for their first of two matches in Coacalco in April. Dragon Lee vs Negro Navarro in the main event is the latest announcement and a Different Style Battle – but I’d trust Dragon Lee more than most young flyers in that match. Virus vs Avisman is a sleeper excellent match.