Category: news

Strong Style Spirit, a long time source of NJPW English language, announced they were shutting down. Stuart’s work was an inspiration for this site, and it’ll be missed.

CMLL (FRI) 12/19/2014 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Domingos Familiares (CMLL)]
1) Relampago & Thunder Boy b El Tapatío & Explosivo
2) Dr. Frezzer & Virgo b El Chakal & Furia Nazi
3) Évola, Infierno, Ráfaga b Exterminador, Leo, Omar Brunetti
Exterminador & Infierno added to the match. Extermaindor had problems with Omar again, this time costing them the match.
4) Kamaitachi, Maléfico, Okumura b Gallo, Hombre Bala Jr., Súper Halcón Jr.
Rudos took 2/3.
5) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Super Porky b Ephesto, Kráneo, Mephisto
tecnicos took 2/3

Exterminador has been a tecnico for about eight months, but that looks to be over.

CMLL (SAT)12/20/2014 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Artillero b Flyer
2) Soberano Jr. bDisturbio
3) Hombre Bala Jr. bOkumura
Bala won with the Bala Driver, which turns out to be the half nelson powerbomb move he uses.
4) Fuego b Boby Zavala
5) Sagrado bPegasso
Pegasso replaced Rey Cometa on the Wednesday prior.
6) Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. b Hechicero & Hombre sin Nombre
First 3 fall match. Tecnicos took 2/3.
7) Bárbaro Cavernario, Ephesto, Mephisto b Dragón Rojo Jr., Máscara Dorada, Titán
Rudos took 1/3, Cavernario sneaking off Titan’s mask and cradling him for the win.

This show looked like it bombed. Maybe that’s not exactly right, because their lights were turned so low (or off) that it’s tough for it to look like anything. CMLL’s turned the lights down in Arena Mexico to hide the crowd for years, but this is the first time I can recall them doing the same in Arena Coliseo. I believe the idea is CMLL wrestlers are guaranteed a certain amount of appearances per time period, and if this show with low pay and lower turnout counts as one of those appearances per month, the luchadors can’t be thrilled. That’s kind of why the original trainee plan made more sense – those guys are going to be happier to work and less concerned about the pay. It looked like they had someone recording it for the CMLL video vault, and I’d watch it because I pretty much watch all CMLL, but these matches will probably end up reading better on paper than reality.

Anyway, they still plan on going on it and seems like they’re going to waste a Cavernario/Titan match here in a few weeks. That opener is Artillero’s first ever recorded singles win. There’s going to be a lot of opening match luchadors getting their first ever singles win if this thing lasts long enough.

CMLL also announced they’re going to return to Carpa Astro for a season of shows. It’s great they’re giving their wrestlers more work.

CMLL (SUN) 12/21/2014 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Akuma & Inquisidor b El Rebelde & Robin
Scheduled to be Molotov’s first appearance since August 26, but he was replaced by Rebelde (who didn’t have his usual gear or mask, so must’ve been told at the last second.) Rudos won 1/3 when Rebelde turned on Robin.
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Starman, Súper Halcón Jr. b Hijo del Signo, Metálico, Nitro
Tecnicos took 1/3
3) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso DQ Boby Zavala, Puma, Tiger
Tecnicos took 1/3, when Zavala tried to foul Pegasso, got blocked, and pulled his mask instead. Puma was dressed up like the Grinch. Best match on the show
4) Pólvora b Fuego [lightning]
Super Polvora Driver in 7:40, a standard Polvora lightning match.
5) Blue Panther, Marco Corleone, Stuka Jr. b Ephesto, Hombre sin Nombre, Kráneo
Kraneo replaced Vangellys and Marco replaced Rey Cometa on Monday. Marco’s using the Ingobernable music. Tecnicos took 1/3 clean.
6) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Thunder DQ Máscara Dorada, Valiente, Volador Jr.
Rudos took 1/3. Niebla tossed his mask (and wig) to Volador for the DQ.

A show. The tercera was the only one match who approached good. Other people liked it more, but the pointless finish hurt for me. Nothing at all of note; Sunday shows don’t appear to be getting a built up match for the next couple weeks (which means random tournament like Pequeno Reyes del Air.)

DTU (SAT) 12/20/2014 Arena Lopez Mateos [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), DTU (1), DTU (2), DTU (3), DTU (6), DTU (7), DTU (8), MT, TerceraCaida (1),TerceraCaida (2), TerceraCaida (3), TerceraCaida (4),TerceraCaida (5), TerceraCaida (6), TerceraCaida (7),TerceraCaida (8)]
1) Douki, Joven Maravilla,Maremoto Jr., Star Boy b Astro Satanico, Corazon Latino, Ferrari Ultima Generacion, King Lion[relevos suicidas]
idea was losing team would face off in Poza Rica on Sunday, but two teams drew so all four would face off.
2) Artikus & Lanzeloth b Aero Power & Angel Azul and Crazy King & Miedo Extremo
3) Jimmy, Kevin, Tony b El Chato, El Junior, El Nene [hair]
Jimmy & Kevin’s hair vs Chet, Junior and Nene, with the Nerds getting some revenge.
4) Black Fire & Slayer Pack b Jinzo & Rocky Lobo [DTU NEXO,final]
Fire & Pack are the first champions.
5) Drastik Boy b Hacker, Septimo Dragon, Aero Boy ©, Chica Ye-Ye, Príncipe Halcón [DTU AI]
Aero Boy loses in his first defense, with Drastick Boy winning the title back days after he lost it.
6) Paranoiko © b Shiryu Dragon, Rocky Santana, Super Mega, X-Fly [DTU CONSAGRADO]
7) Ángel o Demonio b Ovett [hair]
Angel o Demonio took his usual friend’s hair.
8) Violento Jack © b Cíclope [DTU]
a match with no mat. Violento Jack retained his title.

DTU anniversary show looked to out draw the CMLL Saturday Coliseo show at about the same time. That should be surprising but it doesn’t feel that way.

Miedo Extremo, who wasn’t one of the losers, ended up beating Corazon Latino for his mask in Poza Rica

Tercera Caida has quick results from Lucha Memes show, and those will go up here tomorrow once a few more details come in. The Indystrongtibles team won the main event cage match against the Oficials. Zacarias and Monito did not appear for their scheduled tag match (they were at Arena Mexico) and Judas el Traidor and Negro Navarro just had a match instead.

X-Fly lost his hair in Arena Naucalpan’s cage match.

RobViper has a music video of 08/22/14 CMLL.

LuchaWorld has Kriz’s news update.

Segunda Caida reviews this week’s Lucha Underground and a recent PWR TV show.

Cronicas y Leyendas looks back at the 1987 Anniversary show.

SuperLuchas looks back at past December 21st shows.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 12/26/2014 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Dr. Freezer & Índigo vs Furia Nazi & Thunder Boy
2) El Divino & Virgo vs Jocker & Sádico
3) Exterminador, Leo, Magnum vs El Cuatrero, Maléfico, Sansón
4) Esfinge, Gallo, La Máscara vs Mr. Águila, Terrible, Vangellys
5) Atlantis, Brazo de Oro, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs Cien Caras, Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000

First Cien Caras match here since 2006 (Cien & Universo vs Blue Panther & Virus, which must’ve looked odd.) Rayo’s been in for guests appearances more recently. The last time all three brothers were here together was 2005 against Atlantis, Rayo De Jalisco, and Dr. Wagner Jr. They’ve been doing nostalgia matches for so long, it’s possible to have nostalgia for past nostalgia. No idea why Brazo de Oro is here. Kind of sad that the regular CMLL guys are being treated like lesser stars, but it’s not like the scheduling here is different than usual.

The Guadalajara-focused Kremlingology is getting old, but worth noting long time ref Loco Estrada (and management figure) is not listed as referee for that show. They don’t usually post referees, so not sure if that means something or not.

CMLL (SAT) 12/27/2014 Arena Coliseo
1) Robin vs Inquisidor
2) Star Jr. vs Ramstein
3) Oro Jr. vs Metálico
4) Eléctrico vs Mercurio
5) Tritón vs Sangre Azteca
6) Fuego & Rey Cometa vs Puma & Tiger
7) La Máscara, Titán, Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Felino, Kráneo

Titan and Barbaro match up again. That’s going to be a killer match that 200 people will see. (CMLL becoming 1995 UWA.)  Electrico/Mercurio should be good, and they’ve worked in both the past Oro/Metalico msak match and Star/Ramstein future one. This show is probably why those two guys aren’t booked on this upcoming Tuesday’s show, given how CMLL parses everything out.

CMLL (FRI) 12/19/2014 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Magnus & Oro Jr. b Espiritu Negro & Súper Comando
2) Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus b Pegasso, The Panther, Tritón
3) Dark Angel, La Vaquerita, Marcela b Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora
Dalys was dressed (and painted) like the Grinch. Vaquerita submitted her for the win.
4) Bárbaro Cavernario b Dragón Rojo Jr. [lightning]
Barbaro snuck in a foul.
5) Euforia, Thunder, Último Guerrero b La Máscara, La Sombra,Marco Corleone
Thunder and Marco are feuding.
6) Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible DQ Atlantis, Máximo, Volador Jr.
Rey Bucanero fouled Volador Jr.

A show. Volador/Bucanero goes on.

DTU (FRI) 12/19/2014Autolavado VM, Tulancingo, Hidalgo[DTU (1), DTU (2), DTU (3), DTU (4), DTU (5),DTU (6)]
1) Joven Maravilla &Maremoto Jr. b King Lion & Meteoro
2) Génesis & Sombra de la Noche b Amo de la Noche & Talaxys
3) Hacker & Jinzo bBlack Fire & Slayer Pack
4) Rocky Lobo b Drastik Boy, Septimo Dragon
5) Cíclope, Crazy King,Miedo Extremo b Aero Boy, Corazon Latino,Violento Jack
6) Tony L Kevin, Jimmy,El Chato, El Junior, El Nene [hair]
Tony lost his hair. The remaining nerds (Jimmy & Kevin) challenged the Malkriados to a 2 on 3 hair match tomorrow in Arena Lopez Mateos, and the bullies happily accepted.

This was originally a 9 match show; only the main event was run as advertised and it’s possible Facebook results might have missed one. Not sure what the Nerds are thinking going on 2 v 3 but they’re normally pretty smart guys.

Steve Sims’ column in this week’s Figure Four Weekly adds onto the AAA TV mystery

AAA has had internal discussions over the past few weeks (maybe months) as to revamping their television, really re-thinking for the ground up or out of the box or whatever jaunty cliché fits best here. To give an idea of what they are considering, even though they have only two TV tapings filmed that have left to air in full, they are not considering any more television tapings (at least in the traditional sense) until the spring, and that would be after the date (mid-March) that they usually run their annual Rey de Reyes show.

“they are considering” is an important thing to notice there, they might not decided on all of this yet.  Whatever this is, it sounds possible there still would be a TV show, but just not done as it has been. AAA’s been pretty proud of how well they did drawing people to TV tapings in 2014, which is another reason not running any of them for three months would be odd.

Continue throwing ideas at the wall in the comments – what if they just aired Lucha Underground for a while instead? That would be very weird but something weird is afoot. And may not actually happen.

Super Fly’s talked a couple times about losing his mask. In an interview with AAA, he says he dominated the mask match, believes Aerostar got lucky, and still can’t believe he lost. In a press conference to hype a Sunday show in Puebla, Super Fly says it’s strange for him to wrestler unmasked and hopes the fans have patience with him.

Hijo del Santo says he’s coming back in 2015. His plan has always been to come back when Nieto del Santo is ready to debut, but we don’t know exactly when that’ll be and it’ll likely only be one last series or one last show when Santo does come back.

Rey Horus (the 2nd Hijo del Rey Misterio, and the one who’s had the highest US profile so far), was announced the King of Indies tournament that’s taking place in San Jose on WrestleMania weekend. B-Boy, Lucha Undergrounds’ Bael, was the first announced particpant and I’d guess there will be other lucha familiar names given the location.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara has a new Facebook and Twitter account (@arenacolisegdl).

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update and a recap of this week’s Lucha Underground.

DoradaFan has a music video of 10/21/2014 CMLL

SuperLuchas look backs include Anibal win a mask on the 19th and various shows on the 20th.

LV reviews CMLL 12/09 and IWRG 12/14, where the Ninja Turtles nearly had a 4 star match.

DJ Spectro looks back at the end of season in 1998, which was the finals of a trios title tournament.

Hechicero promo for his match with Negro Navarro on Christmas Day.

A short bio of Coahuila’s Maligna, who says he’s training with Tony Salazar and Demus.

An interview with the current Hijo de Rey Misterio.

Lineup

CMLL (FRI) 12/26/2014 Arena México
1) Flyer & Molotov vs Akuma & Hijo del Signo
2) Hombre Bala Jr., Oro Jr., Súper Halcón Jr. vs Okumura, Puma, Virus
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Super Porky, The Panther vs Ephesto, Hechicero, Mephisto
4) Negro Casas vs Rey Cometa, Máscara Dorada, Sangre Azteca, Delta, Pólvora, Titán, Kamaitachi, Fuego, Tritón [CMLL WELTER]
vacant championship; Mistico gave it up after being hit by a car
5) Máximo, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Mr. Niebla, Rey Bucanero, Shocker

The title match is phrased like it’s the complete determination match (instead of final two coming back next week.) We’ll see. They could always run Volador/Bucanero next week.

Mistico actually will not return before they hand out this belt, which is a bit surprising. Maybe it’s Three King’s Day? He’s running out of time to get in the ring before FantasticaMania.

Video promo.

AAA (THU) 12/18/2014 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [AAA (1), AAA (2), AAA (3), AAA (4), AAA (5), AAA (SoundCloud)]
1) Jennifer Blake & La Jarochita b Cinthia Moreno & Sexy Lady
Jennifer beat Cinthia.
2) Dinastía, Mini Drago, Octagoncito b Mini Abismo Negro, Mini Histeria, Mini Murder Clown
3) Demon Rocker, Machine Rocker, Soul Rocker b Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
4) Angélico, Australian Suicide, Jack Evans b Joe Lider, Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Texano Jr.
Joe Lider replaced Silver King.
5) El Elegido, Electroshock, La Parka b Chessman, Cibernético, Daga
Zorro (knee – appeared to apologize for missing the show) was replaced by Daga (back from injury.)

A free sponsored show. Parka gave out gifts to end the night. Daga returning from his injury is a nice sign.

Sexy Star and Blue Demon weren’t there, because they were at the Univison Deportes awards. Blue Demon’s El Rey role is possibly his career best: he shows up to award shows as a famous, he’s treated as a ominous threat, but he almost never wrestles and he put over the lead rudo when he does. This exactly meets my level of Blue Demon interest.

CMLL’s main event tonight is Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Shocker versus Volador, Atlantis, and Maximo. Volador & Bucanero are feuding. CMLL already announced the Welterweight cibernetico for next week, and a Volador/Bucanero singles match would fit with that. The other possible TV matches are an Ingobernable vs Thunder/UG/Euforia trios and a Cavernario/Dragon Rojo lightning match. On Twitter, Sombra’s said this is his last match in DF for the year. Dark Angel’s said the same. The Mexican tradition is to return to your hometown (or the hometown of your parents) for the holiday season, so this weekend might be the last show of the year in DF for a few people.

CMLL also has a preview of Saturday’s show. Instead of the youth concept, they’re pushing it as a throw back to the lineups of the 1930s when Arena Coliseo was opened (“bring your bowler hat and moccasins if a male and your big hat and gloves if you’re a woman”) instead of the original concept. The preview notes Star Jr. & Sobreano Jr. are going with “El Principes del Ring” as a team name. There’s no TV deal announced with the Saturday’s show, but CMLL tapes lots of stuff they never end up using and I’d suspect this show will be another one of those things.

LuchaWorld has a recap of CMLL Informa.

Segunda Caida reviews Taichi, Terrible, Texano Jr. vs Blue Panther, Brazo de Plata, Héctor Garza.

SuperLuchas writes about cards from December 18th, including a Fuerza Guerrera vs Aguila Solitaria title match and reprints their obit for Pedro Septien on the one year anniversary of his passing.

Electroshock has apparently been drinking for two months straight, but someone finally helps him out in this skit from AAA’s TV

The 12/20 Arena Olimpico Laguna main event has been changed around, with the guys booked on Arena Coliseo removed.

Hijo de Rey Misterio is in the Chicago area this weekend.

LV (video) and Voices of Wrestling have reviews of this week’s Lucha Underground.

Voices of Wrestling also has a review of random lucha libre matches. Someone chooses to watch Demon Clown vs Hijo de Dos Caras.

CMLL stellar moments for the week.

Ultimo Guerrero talks about losing his mask, notes that he used to walk around anonymously but now people come up to him for photos and autographs all the time.