Alberto on his absence, Wagners/Ninjas, X-Fly wins, CMLL weekend lineups

AAA notes

As noted below, AAA’s confirmed Irma Osorno was the AAA staff member who passed away after a bus accident this morning. There’s no other new details about the situation.

AAA hasn’t said if this affects their plans with Rey de Reyes. They’ve been quiet outside of Marisela Pena’s statements. There’s no wrong way to handle this situation – whatever they do is understandable. Updated: AAA has announced the show is still on.

Alberto el Patron posted a message early this morning explaining why he wouldn’t be able to be on Rey de Reyes. He explained he was committed to a show in Australia and could not legally get out of it. He’s billed as wrestling in Melbourne on Friday. Alberto explains he canceled his England bookings last week because Mexico was more important, but he can’t get out of the Australian ones without legal problems. Alberto takes full responsibility for the situation.

The rescheduled AAA show in Nuevo Laredo is still on for tonight, at least as of this morning.

Results

LyC (SUN) 03/15/2015 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [LuchaMania]
1) Arkángel de la Muerte & Destroyer Kid b Bestia I & Bestia Ii
2) Aguila Azteca, Gato Fantasma, Ninja Jr. b Centauro, Genocida, Rico Rodriguez
3) Memo Valles, Potro Jr., Sergio Romo Jr. b Bengali, Kaientai, Tigre Universitario
4) Epidemus, Espectro Jr., Laredo Kid b Difunto I, Herodes Jr., Mr. Águila
Espectro Jr. replaced Axel. Laredo and Aguila looked good against each other.
5) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Silver King b Hijo del Ninja & Ultimo Ninja [LyC TAG, cage]
crowd was more behind Wagners this time. Hijo del Ninja escaped, but Ultimo Ninja was trapped and bled heavily. Hijo del Ninja tried to come back in, but was stopped by referee Yaqui and then Mr. Aguila & Espectro Jr. Humberto Garza helped run them off and the Garzas started to climb the cage, but Dr. Wagner Jr. had given Ultimo Ninja a martinete by that point. The Wagners escaped before the Garzas could get to them, and won the cage match and tag titles in the process.

Appears to be another strong turn out for the Monterrey promotion and a big angle to set up another match down the line.  Noches de Coliseo doesn’t seem to be airing on the US feed of Multimedios – or it’s been moved to a different slot? – but the video of the first Wagners/Ninja mask is up on their YouTube channel. (It’s got the TV time/weather graphic there, which is why I think it may just be a US/Mexico feed issue.) Xtreme Tiger will be on their 04/05 show.

IWRG (SUN) 03/15/2015 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
Guerra del Golfo, 2015
1) Atomic Star b Omega
Straight falls. Omega was injuried.
2) Emperador Azteca & Metaleón b Hip Hop Man & Imposible
Emperador Azteca & Imposible are feuding again.
3) Negro Navarro, Rayan, Spector b Black Terry, Chicano, Hijo De Dos Caras
Navarro won, and wants a title match against Hijo de Dos Caras.
4) Danny Casas L Cien Caras Jr., Eterno, El Hijo del Diablo, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Hijo del Fishman, Veneno, Oficial 911 [cage, loser advances]
Eterno & Mascara beat up Danny Casas and left him behind to lose. Cien Caras Jr.’s first match here this year, Fishman’s first in 13 months.
5) X-Fly L Rayan, Relámpago, Universo 2000 Jr., Hijo de LA Park, Apolo Estrada, Oficial AK47, Máscara Sagrada [cage, loser advances]
Rayan worked twice, replacing Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. Hijo de LA Park’s first match since 2012. Apolo attacked X-Fly and no one would let him leave. Ending sequence was a long sequence between Relampago, Hijo de La Park and X-Fly, with X-Fly left behind. X-Fly appeared to be passed out due to blood loss at one point, with Relampago standing on the rope and looking at him instead of leaving, then coming back in to get X-Fly to his feet and do more spots with him before leaving anyway.
6) X-Fly b Danny Casas [cage, hair]
X-Fly was laying on the mat, being checked on by the referee (and the doctors from outside the cage) when Danny Casas climbed back in and attacked him. X-Fly was standing up and fighting a few minutes later. X-Fly got a 3 (or maybe 4) count on Danny Casas, then climbed out and left to win.

I watched the last 10 minutes of this, waiting for it to get done so I could finish working on the video post. It was what you’d expect from recent IWRG. X-Fly alternated between dead and completely fine. He won by giving Danny Casas a chair shot to the back, standing over him for a second, carefully kneeling down on knee, then bending over with a two hand press to casually cover Danny Casas. The referee dropped down, checked the pin as if making a count, then counted to three. X-Fly got up, started to celebrate, then ran towards the cage wall and climbed up as if they all had just decided the rules were escape the cage. (It appeared to be both at various times.) Danny chased X-Fly as if stopping him would matter, but X-Fly escaped with his unlikely victory.

IWRG also announced it’s schedule of major events for the rest of the year

04/05: Rey del Ring
04/19: Ruleta de la Muerte Encadenados
05/03: Festiva de la Mascars
05/17: Guerra Revolucionario con Correas
06/07: Jaula de las Locas
07/05: Guerra de Familias
08/02: Legado Final de Padres e Hijos
09/06: La Gran Cruzada
10/04: Caravana de Campeones
10/18: Guerra de Empreseas
11/01: Castillo del Terror
12/16: 58th Anniversary of Lucha Libre in Estado de Mexico
12/20: 38th Arena Naucalpan Anniversary

CMLL (MON) 03/16/2015 Arena Puebla [Periodico Enfoque, Periodico Enfoque (photos)]
1) Black Tiger & Robin b Guerrero Espacial & King Jaguar
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Nitro, Toro Bill Jr. b Lestat, Soberano Jr., Tigre Rojo Jr.
3) Dragon Lee, Stuka Jr., Tritón DQ Kamaitachi, Okumura, Sangre Azteca
Kamaitachi unmasked and fouled Dragon Lee in the final build up to their mask match.
4) Atlantis, Máximo, Super Porky b Ephesto, Kráneo, Mephisto
5) Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero b Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr.
UG got away with pulling of Mistico’s mask for the win.

Not so much the trios title match…

One of the many things we miss out by not getting to see live shows any more is finding out how CMLL is promoting the shows to live audiences. We’ve seen the Cinepolis ad signs, but don’t know if they’re airing a video promo during the show or having the ring announcer push it hard. Following up the Kamaitachi/Dragon Lee trios with a reminder that fans can go to the movie theater in Puebla to see the mask match would’ve been a good move, but it’s tough to tell if it’s something they’re doing.

LI (MON) 03/16/2015 La Casa de Cultura, Acolman, Estado de México [Tercera Caida]
3) Canek Jr., Hijo del Solar, Mr. Jack Jr. b Triturador, Tyson La Bestia,Xandao
4) El Fantasma, Mr. Jack, Solar I b Histeria II, Maniaco, Psicosis
Maniaco (or a new Maniaco 2000) resurfaced to replaced Veneno. DQ for Mascara Ano 2000 running in for some reason.
5) Fuerza Guerrera, Máscara Año 2000, Mr. Niebla DQ Canek, Gronda,Heavy Metal
Niebla faked a foul. Mascara and Metal continue to feud.

It’s tough to figure out when the last time this Maniaco wrestled because there’s other people using the name. It’s been quite a while.

Virus beat Silver Star in Monterrey in a good match.

CMLL preview

CMLL has two title matches tonight. Arena Mexico hosts Mercurio challenging Astral for the CMLL Mini Estrellas Championship. Mercurio’s been great of late. He’s unlikely to win the championship, but the title match has greatest promise. The actual main event is the Reyes del Atlantida taking on the Hijos del Infierno in their second match as a trio.

Shocker & Negro Casas defend the CMLL tag team championship against an Ingobernable trio once again. This time, it’s Marco & Rush as challengers. This seems slightly more likely to have a title change, because Rush is capable of winning any title at any time, but it’s still overall more likely to be a successful title defense. The semimain has the Sky Team versus Guerreros. The tercera has the official CMLL in-ring debut for Reyna Isis, who’s been seconding the Tuareg for years and occasionally wrestling at indy shows.

Other Notes

Intocable, who’s been rarely spotted wrestling in the last half decade, has been cast on the next season of the La Isla reality show.

+Lucha has a post camera interview with Dragon Lee and this week’s Leyendas Inmortales.

Homenaje a Dos Leyendas apparently will be airing on Samurai TV in April 11th. These airings are important again, because it’s likely to be the most complete version of the show.

Tinieblas Jr. ssys his FULL promotion will be airing on TV Mexiquense on Sunday at 12pm, though it reads as if it’s not starting to air until 04/19. It’s also available on Roku. Their next show will be taped on 03/26 in Toluca.

A report on this past weekend’s Expo Mascaras, and it’s ceremony honoring Lola Gonzalez.

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update from Monday and this week’s Poster-Mania.

CMLL highlights from 03/13 CMLL.

SuperLuchas looks back at Blue Panther vs Avipson Negro in a mask match.

Ricky Cruz won the GALLI championship.

The mask Aerostar is said to have won from Super Fly was sold on a Japanese lucha libre site. It went for about $400 USD.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 03/20/2015 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Brillante & Meteoro vs El Piraña & Satara
2) El Alteño, El Tapatío, Índigo vs Gitano, Gran Kenut, Thunder Boy
3) Frezzer, Javier Cruz Jr., Leo vs Exterminador, Furia Roja, Sádico
4) Flash I, Flash II, Forastero vs El Cuatrero, Ráfaga, Sansón
5) Gallo, Omar Brunetti, Pepe Aguayo vs Gran Eku, Jocker, Maléfico

Gitano is yet another new name here. (The database is picking up on the Veracruz one; this is probably not him.) Main event follows up on the interference in last week’s main event.

CMLL (SAT) 03/21/2015 Arena Coliseo
1) Último Dragoncito vs Pierrothito
2) Molotov vs Hijo del Signo
3) Oro Jr. vs Canelo Casas
4) Starman vs Raziel
5) Stigma vs Cancerbero
6) Fuego & Tritón vs Misterioso Jr. & Pierroth
7) Dragon Lee, Mistico, Valiente vs Ephesto, Kamaitachi, Mephisto

Dragon Lee or Kamaitachi’s first match unmasked, with Dragon Lee having a rare team up with his brother.

CMLL (SUN) 03/22/2015 Arena México
1) Bengala & Metatrón vs Camorra & Espanto Jr.
2) La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Dragon Lee, Fuego, Pegasso vs Boby Zavala, Okumura, Virus
4) Super Porky vs Kráneo [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Dragón Rojo Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Rey Escorpión
6) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Mistico vs Euforia, Mephisto, Negro Casas

Putting Super Porky in a singles match, even with Kraneo, seems like it’s asking a lot. CMLL cotinues to produce good terceras.

CMLL (MON) 03/23/2015 Arena Puebla
1) Arkalis, Meyer, Zaeta Roja vs Artillero, Policeman, Súper Comando
2) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, La Comandante, Tiffany
3) Delta, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Kamaitachi, Okumura, Puma
4) La Máscara, La Sombra, Rush vs Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Thunder
5) Mistico vs Último Guerrero

This is only the second time Ultimo Guerrero has faced this Mistico; the last was two years ago in Guadalajara, with UG coming out on top.

Zaeta Rojo is yet another local getting a match here.

AAA staff bus involved in accident; 1 person reported dead

A bus carrying AAA’s staff collided into a truck at a toll booth around 1AM Tuesday morning near Morelia, Michoacan. 30 people were injured, and one person died. SuperLuchas has an unconfirmed report that deceased is Irma Osorno, who was the coordinator of the edcanes. 14 people were taken to local hospitals, 16 were treated on the scene. The drivers of both vehicles fled the scene.

Update: Marisela Pena has confirmed Irma Osorno has passed away.

Update 2: This article has the clearest picture and description of the accident. A flatbed truck was parked on the highway. The bus driver did not realize the truck wasn’t moving and impaled the bus on the truck.

The AAA crew was traveling back to Mexico City after the unsuccessful attempt at running a show in Rey de Reyes on Monday. AAA travels with two buses, one for the wrestlers and one of the staff (and sometimes photographers and vendors.) The wrestler bus appears unaffected. Among those mentioned as hurt and treated on the scene is Miguel Fonseca, part of the AAA creative department.

My condolences to the family and friends of the deceased, and hopefully everyone else will quickly recover.

AAA Rey de Reyes postponed a second time; Alberto el Patron/Cage match canceled

It was belltime once again for Rey de Reyes 2015. Just like Sunday, belltime didn’t mean matches, but instead the entire roster coming to the ring to announce the show was not going to happen. An impromptu press conference was held in the ring to announce the show would not happen again. The show is currently scheduled to instead take place Wednesday night at 8pm local at this same indoor venue.That’s two hours later than these last two attempts. (Time conversion table is here. It’s starting 1 hour after the first run airing of Lucha Underground ends.)

I was otherwise busy and did not get to see this press conference. AAA claimed there, and also on social media, that they were unable to secure the permits to run Rey de Reyes in that venue. Today was a national holiday in Mexico, celebrating Benito Juarez’s birthday. (AAA’s show just happened to be in Auditorio Benito Juarez.) It meant that a lot of people would be free to come to the show, but it also meant governmental offices were shut down and it was impossible to get those permits. It appears AAA had been working on this situation all day, but realized they could not find a solution in time. AAA’s Twitter stopped promoting the show sometime in the last couple hours prior and rumors started about the cancellation at least a half hour before the show. Unlike Sunday, no fans ever made it into the arena, so AAA must’ve been turning people around and word spread from there. Judging from the pictures, AAA had everything ready to go to put on a show, and were just solely missing the legal permission to run one.

It will not be the full card on Wednesday. Alberto el Patron versus Brian Cage has been canceled. AAA said they were “otherwise busy.” My hunch is Alberto has surgery scheduled for tomorrow back home and everyone agreed it didn’t make sense for him to put it off. Alberto’s been pulled even from non-wrestling appearances on WrestleMania weekend, so someone’s under the impression he’s not going to be moving around much any time soon. There’s no reason for Cage to stick around without Alberto and one less person to put pay for is best for AAA’s bottom line. This has to be the most expensive Rey de Reyes ever, just between the costs of a second venue, transferring all the equipment, all the extra man hours involved, and finding room and food for everyone for these extra days. It reads like AAA implied they’d make up for the missing match somehow. I’d expect the Cage/Patron match also happens whenever Alberto is back.

As long as they’re talking make ups, AAA needs to offer refunds for both the live tickets and for the iPPV to anyone’s interested. That’s not going to help the financial situation any, but it’s the smart move to keep goodwill for the product. AAA doesn’t need to do it this moment – if they’re bringing in a name match to replace the Cage/Patron one, it’s perfectly fine to wait to announce that at the same time as extending the refund offer. Still there are people who bought tickets to a Sunday show and can’t go to a Wednesday one, or who just wanted to see Alberto, and keeping their money only guarantees it’s the last you’ll see of them.

AAA should have no trouble getting everything sorted out, but they really don’t have much wiggle room. Lucha Underground tapings are this weekend, which blocked any Saturday or Sunday reschedule (and even running this on a Friday night would’ve been rough.)

Everyone looked pretty bummed about the situation. It stinks for everyone involved, from the people working on it, to the people who traveled to Guadalajara just to see it.

DTU sets up cage match in Neza, CMLL movie theater prices

DTU (SUN) 03/15/2015 Arena Neza [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), Tercera Caida]
1) El Chato, El Junior, El Nene vs Danny Latino, Kid Lobo, Lokillo
2) Artikus, Lanzeloth, Rocky Lobo b Andy Boy, Danger, Guerrero Mixtico
3) Septimo Dragon b Kalibus, Hormiga, Dr. Cerebro, Dowki
4) Arez, Belial, Impulso b Jimmy, Kevin, Tony
5) Gemelo Fantastico I & Gemelo Fantastico II b Black Fire & Slayer Pack and Cíclope & Miedo Extremo
Gemelos want a tag title shot.
6) Jonathan Gresham b Drastik Boy © [DTU AI]
title change!
7) Super Mega b Paranoiko ©, Dement Extreme [DTU CONSAGRADO]
Dement Extreme was added to the match. Super Mega won the title.
8) Crazy Boy & Pesadilla b Histeria II & Psicosis II and Aero Boy & Violento Jack [TLC]
Los Porros and Los Masizos got involved, and Psicosis suggested a multiman cage match. They’ll come back in two weeks for that match.

That next show is on 03/29, with the cage match (field TBD) and Fire/Pack vs Gemelos tag title match.  Fourth match was said to be very good. Attendance was nothing special, along the lines of the Fusion shows here a couple years ago.

No IWRG results yet. I don’t know if general attendance was down, but the reporter types who might normally go to that show seem to have either headed to Guadalajara for Rey de Reyes (and probably had an unpleasant day of rescheduling hotels and transportation) or went to that DTU show. IWRG will post their own results tomorrow.

Today’s show in Puebla has Sky Team versus the Guerreros, which seems to be setting up a title match next week. Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi face off in a trios match, the last time before their mask match this Friday.

No lineups for CMLL next weekend on their site; the Friday one was already done, and only results have been posted yet. (Paris looks cool tho’.)

The AAA show today in Nuevo Laredo is pushed back to Tuesday because of the Rey de Reyes wash out. There’s also a  Tuesday show in Coahuila, which is probably getting moved or canceled since it’s got the same lineup.

Usual deal for Rey de Reyes tonight: show starts at 6pm local (8pm Eastern time), the iPPV is still on, I’ll be doing live coverage on Twitter, and results will turn up on this site. The Tuesday video post may be a little delayed as a result.

Tickets are on sale for the Cinepolis showing of Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. It’s 60 pesos a ticket, about $4 US. At that price, it’s hard to see how CMLL is making any money from this. I’m wonder if this maybe wasn’t CMLL’s inspiration – these theaters used to carry WWE shows, there’s less value in doing that now with the WWE Network available, and this is another wrestling thing they could try. This being a Cinepolis idea would explain why there’s no other (internet) option.

Segunda Caida reviews Panthers vs Puma, Tiger and Virus from earlier this month.

The Traumas (& Pirata Morgan Jr.) defeated Tiger, Puma and Stigma on Sunday’s Lucha Libre Boom show.

Mascara Dorada challenges Kenny Omega for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on their 04/05 show. That show will air on NJPW World, though they’ve been airing those level of big shows on tape delay as of late. From my experience, NJPW World charges on the first day of the month regardless of when you sign up; if you’re thinking of resubbing to get that match, you may want to wait until just a few days prior.