Myself and some others are strongly considering going to CMLL’s Anniversary show this year. We haven’t exactly booked flights yet, but we are far enough long to be looking at flights and hotels. We are wondering if other people are interested in going, or already planning on attending the show.
I need to emphasize this point: this is not a luchablog tour, everyone is on their own for making arrangements for the trip. This is more about being able to travel in larger groups when possible and sharing information. (Any suggestions from people who’ve previously made this trip or live in Mexico are also welcome!)
We’re looking at a week long trip, maybe from the Wednesday prior to the show to the Wednesday, with a plan to hit as many lucha shows as possible during that week. We’d like to get a group of tickets together for the Anniversary show, which go on sale next Tuesday, so we need to lock down dates on the trip in next couple of weeks.
If you’re thinking about going, please email me (thecubsfan21@gmail.com) or let me know in the comments.
AAA TV (FRI) 08/02/2013Gimnasio Juan De La Barrera [AAA, Black Terry Jr. (flickr)]
1) Carta Brava Jr., Eterno, Steve Pain b Flamita, Lucky Boy, Niño de Ébano Moved to the opener. Pain & Carta got the pins.
2) Faby Apache, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata b Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Taya Valkyrie Moved to the segunda. Faby submitted Mamba. Cuervo (who had been watching the mach) ran in post match and stole a kiss from Faby, who was not happy about it.
3) Alan Stone, El Elegido, Toscano DQ Cuervo, Escoria, Ozz Scoria fouled Toscano for the DQ. Secta beat up Mirreyes after the match.
4) Crazy Boy & Joe Lider b Daga & Psicosis [AAA TAG] Lider did a double stomp off the first barricade to put Psicosis in a table. Psicosis wrestled unmasked. Mexican Powers kept the titles in the first defense.
5) Electroshock, Heavy Metal, Jack Evans b Chessman, Parka Negra, Texano Jr. Heavy Metal replaced Fenix, who appeared on the show to explain he was hurt.
6) Cibernético b el Hijo del Perro Aguayo Seconds were Daga and Cuervo. La Secta and Perros del Mal (including Eita) all got involved and Cibernetico got the win this time. La Secta declared they no longer wanted to be followers, attacking Cibernetico. Perro Jr. tried to make the save, but the Secta took out him and his men. Joe Lider ran in, but was thrown thru a table. Faby Apache ran out and was attacked. Jack Evans, Heavy Metal and (maybe?) Mesias were finally able to run off La Secta.
Air Date: 08/10 and 08/17
La Secta have turned on Cibernetico before. Way back in 2006, they and Mesias and betrayed an injured Cibernetico in what led to Cibernetico’s first tecnico run as leader of the Hell Brothers. La Secta also later turned on Mesias, also declaring then they no longer wanted to be followers – but then soundly were trounced by Mesias for a few months. The real goal there was to set up Mesias’ own big tecnico run and Cuervo, Ozz, Escoria and Espiritu were used as fodder. Those four have often been used as midcard guys to lose to main event guys, so it’s tough believe they’ll be taken seriously this time. They do seem to be off to a good start this time, laying waste to a lot of people and being the centerpiece of the card. It looks like the Ozz/Daga feud might have been part of a larger plan to give at least Ozz some notable wins leading up to this. La Secta are not on the next taping, so it’ll be some time before we see how this goes.
One thing we can see now: those new La Secta t-shirts look great.
Perro was dripping blood in the main event. That seems unpleasant.
Billy el Malo used similar “I don’t want any more leaders” language in his promo; I’m not sure if we’re supposed to be making a connection. There was no sign of him on this show, maybe because there was no Fenix in action. Fenix posted on Twitter that he missed the show due to a foot injury (believed to be suffered on Thursday’s Naucalpan show catching a Bugamabilia dive) and he had the foot bandaged while on crutches (which of course everyone wanted to use.) Fenix also said he had to be 1000% for something that’s happening in September; my understanding is it’s something that’s not directly AAA related, but if you remember things Fenix has been very excited about before, you can probably figure this one out.
Tag title match sounds like the crazy brawl it always is. They used mouse traps, as part of the increasingly dumb violence.
It looks like the upper most level/ring of seats were empty (not sold), but the other areas of the building were very full. Much better attendance than other promotions running shows here. Maybe AAA should come ‘home’ more than once every three years, people clearly miss them.
It appears Eterno wrestled the match with a skull cap.
Joaquin Roldan got a surprise birthday cake after the semimain. No angle.
CMLL (FRI) 08/02/2013Arena Mexico [CMLL, Terra, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Molotov & Oro Jr. b Akuma & Inquisidor
2) Dark Angel, Estrellita, Goya Kong b Amapola, La Comandante, La Seductora Tecnicas took 1/3.
3) Máscara Dorada, Super Porky, Titán b Namajague, Shigeo Okumura, Taichi Escorpion was announced, but Okumura replaced him on Monday. Tecnicos took 1/3. Titan submitted Taichi.
4) Ephesto b Rey Cometa [lightning] Less than five minutes. Ephesto put him in a hold and the referee ruled Cometa submitted, though Cometa argued he did not.
5) Gran Guerrero, Terrible, Último Guerrero b Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Shocker Thunder was originally announced, then replaced by Diamante Azul late Monday in the second card shift. Rudos took 1/3. Ultimo Guerrero was eliminated in the third, but snuck back in while Atlantis had GG in the Atlantida and pulled a switch for the win.
6) La Sombra, Marco Corleone, Rush DQ Averno, Mephisto, Volador Jr. Marco (back from injury) and Rush replaced La Sombra (injury) and La Mascara Monday afternoon, then Sombra was put back in for Azul (and Azul moved down to the semimain) on Monday night. Straight falls, rudos DQed for excessive violence in the first. Volador fouled Sombra, Sombra pulled Volador’s mask, referee DQed Volador.
I caught the second half of the show on RadioCMLL – or at least tried to, because it was pretty much non-listenable. Hope they have something, video or audio or whatever, working for 09/13. Guerrero/Atlantis was taped for that show.
Volador used a baseball bat on Sombra, which does seem worthy of an excessive violence DQ.
Televisa did one of their patented last minute shifts of their schedule. Their Twitter says CMLL and AAA won’t air this week. The cable/satellite guide still shows AAA for an edited 50 minutes. We’ll find out what’s happening in a little bit. AAA’s show at least will turn up on their regional affiliates and UTDN – this is why they made those deals – but the CMLL on Televisa show the week they made their big Anniversary announcement will not air anywhere. (Even if they were still airing in the US, it would not air since they were just recording the Mexico feed.) CMLL has plenty of other hours of TV so they’ll live, but it’s still got to be annoying.
Sombra and Volador also meet in Queretaro a week from Tuesday for a Sombra title defense.
IWRG (THU) 08/08/2013Arena Naucalpan
1) Johnny Rivera vs Dragón Celestial
2) Centvrión, Freelance, Seiya vs Alan Extreme, Fulgor I, Saruman
3) Chico Che, Golden Magic, Höruz vs Canis Lupus, Cerebro Negro, Imposible
4) Dinamic Black, Dr. Cerebro, Veneno vs Apolo Estrada Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Heddi Karaoui
5) Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Eterno, Súper Nova, X-Fly [super libre]
Navarros vs FdT feud continues here.
CMLL (FRI) 08/09/2013Arena Mexico
1) Oro Jr. & Stigma vs Disturbio & Guerrero Negro Jr.
2) Delta, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Misterioso Jr., Puma, Tiger
3) Titán vs La Máscara [lightning]
4) Blue Panther, Rush, Super Porky vs Felino, Negro Casas, Taichi
5) Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Shocker vs Kráneo, Psicosis, Último Guerrero
6) La Sombra, Mistico, Valiente vs Mephisto, Mr. Niebla, Volador Jr.
Volador versus Sombra and Atlantis versus Ultimo Guerrero continue. This will be the last ‘normal’ show until after the Anniversary show. Next week is the Blue Panther Anniversary show, and the Universal tournament starts the week after.
Titan and La Mascara is a very unusual lightning match – they’re trios champions together right now. First two matches could be really good.
IWRG (SUN) 08/11/2013Arena Naucalpan ***Festival de las Mascaras, 2013***
1) Centvrión, Freelance, Golden Magic vs Alan Extreme, Imposible, Saruman
2) Chico Che, Höruz, Pantera vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo
3) Bobby Lee Jr., Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Trauma II vs Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Súper Nova
4) Negro Navarro & Trauma I vs Eterno & X-Fly [IWRG IC TAG] Navarros are champs. Eighth defense.
5) Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Solar I, Veneno vs Pirata Morgan, Universo 2000, Villano IV Universo 2000 and Veneno will wear their masks
Less people coming back to wear their old masks than usual for these shows; it’s more a normal show with a special main event (and Pierroth being honored.) Segunda are Los Gringos VIP back together for the first time.
AAA RCH (THU) 08/01/2013Arena Naucalpan [@terceracaida, Black Terry Jr. (flickr), R de Rudo, The Gladiatores]
1) Freelance & Seiya b Alan Extreme & Fulgor I Said to be very good.
2) Faby Apache, Fénix, Miss Gaviota b Bugambilia, Pentagón Jr., Taya Valkyrie
3) Lolita DQ Sexy Lady [bull terrier] Bugambilia interfered and attacked Lolita, which allowed Sexy Lady to touch all the corners. Crowd convinced the ref to call the very rare DQ in a bull terrier match.
4) Dinamic Black b Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Decnnis, Veneno, Danny Casas, Saruman, Apolo Estrada Jr., Extreme Tiger, Golden Magic, Picudo Jr., Centvrión [Copa High Power] Teams were tecnicos (Dinamic Black, Golden Magic, Xtreme Tiger, Veneno, Hijo de Mascara Ano 2000 (??) and Centviron) versus rudos (Decnnis, Danny Casas, Hijo de Dr. Wagner, Saruman, Apolo Estrada Jr., Picudo Jr.) Final two were Wagner and Black, with Veneno karate chopping Wagner from outside to set up the Black win.
5) Eterno L Texano Jr., Villano IV, Chessman, Daga, Súper Nova, Trauma I, Trauma II, Cien Caras Jr., Hijo de Pirata Morgan [cage, hair, mask] Order of escape was Trauma II, Villano IV, Pirata, Eterno, Chessman, Texano, Trauma I, Daga, leaving Super Nova and Cien Caras Junior. Cien was winning, so Eterno came back in to help and Pirata came back in (to help Cien? For no apparent reason?) Cien left, Texano Jr. helped his brother escape (and was out himself), so they were now down to Pirata vs Eterno. Pirata escaped, Eterno lost his hair. Fifth hair match loss (and one mask loss) for Eterno, second in a cage match in Naucalpan this year.
Crowd seemed up for this show over a normal Thursday, but it was a much bigger show than usual.
AAA’s held three tapings since TripleMania, as well as the Leon taping actually taped before their show, but their first big post TripleMania show will take place tonight in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera. The main event, fittingly enough, is another Cibernetico versus Perro Aguayo Jr. match. It should be the same weapons and interference brawl, maybe more so since La Secta are all on the show this time. Cibernetico figures to get a (disputed) victory to balance the scales a bit, much like Blue Demon Jr. got his win back over Texano.
AAA is about two months away from their next major card, Heroes Inmortales in October, and this should be where they start to set up matches for that show. The main event may clue is in if there will be another Perro vs Cibernetico match to come. The semimain doesn’t seem to have any particular purpose, so maybe there’s a surprise involved there. Billy el Malo debuting his mystery man to get revenge on Fenix fits. Perros del Mal and Mexican Powers have a tag team title match, and are already set to keep fighting on the next taping. It really doesn’t matter which team is champion, but it seems set up for the Mexican Powers to hold on for the moment. Los Mirreyes make their debut on a Mexico City taping in the tercera, the segunda is a good match with the young wrestlers, and the show opens with a mixed trios.
We were expected CMLL to run some extra special show tonight to counter AAA’s DF appearance. Instead, the plan sure seems to have been steal the press attention by announcing the Anniversary main event. An important bit of cleanup from yesterday’s press conference: I had the Universal tournament final on 09/13 (and other people seemed to say the same), but the CMLL Universal tournament final will actually take place on 09/06 according to CMLL.com. That means blocks start on 08/23 and 08/30. (I may also be wrong about Tanahashi’s end date; we’ll see NJPW says.) The Universal final being on a different day than the mask match is for the best as far as match quality – both should get all the time they need, which wouldn’t be possible if they were on the same show. It does make the Anniversary show a bit less attractive.
Reaction to the announcement of Sombra/Volador vs Ultimo Guerrero/Atlantis from people on the internet generally seems to be negative, as noted yesterday. CMLL seems to be surprised by this (though not so much that they’ll change the match) – they feel like the fans are getting a big deal mask match either way, and important tag match on top of it.
I’m personally more interested in the match as announced now than just Ultimo Guerrero/Atlantis. Those two would be a more historical importance if they lost their mask, but they’ve also been doing the same match against each other for a couple years now. I’m sure it’ll be longer and a little mixed up for the mask match, but I’m also sure I’d be calling a lot of moves about 10 seconds before they happen. It’d be a good match made great by the environment, but not a very challenging one. I’d be sad to see either Volador or Sombra lose their mask but, if it comes to that, it’s probably going to be the lucha libre match of the year. They did a great job of building on their previous matches last time out, and I’m sure they’d keep doing it. Plus, whichever final mask match we’re getting, the tag match to set up should be really hot.
The problem for others is they’ve set their minds on Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero all year, and now they have to take it on faith that CMLL will either give them Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero this September, or will remember to get around to doing it later. It doesn’t have much to do with Sombra and Volador. It’s as if you were kid and a parent told you wall week that you were going to get ice cream on Saturday, you got all excited for ice cream, and then Friday you were told you might get ice cream or you might go to the zoo. A kid is going to be disappointed their ice cream dreams are melting away and it’ll take a while for them to even start thinking about how great the zoo could be.
Tonight’s job is for Sombra and Volador to show the disappointed that the zoo is a pretty awesome alternative. Marco returns in the main event, Rush is Rush, but tonight’s main event is all about making Sombra versus Volador seem like a giant deal. CMLL knows they’ve got to do work here; it’s no coincidence the Ultimo Guerrero versus Atlantis feud is only the semifinal. The big angle we thought Sombra might be rushing back for turns out to be “having a really exciting match and a compelling feud with Volador Jr.” No pressure!
A new AAA Fusion aired this week and is up on YouTube. It’s got two missing matches from recent tapings – the weird Dizzy/Electroshock vs Silver King/Mascara match from way back in Leon and anticipated Angelico/Jack vs Chessman/Eterno match from Tehuacan.
IWRG (SUN) 08/04/2013Arena Naucalpan
1) Sky Ángel vs Seiya
2) Freelance & Golden Magic vs Imposible & Saruman
3) Bugambilia, Diva Salvaje, Miss Gaviota vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
4) Trauma I, Trauma II, Veneno vs Cien Caras Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Súper Nova
5) Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. vs Emo Extreme, Eterno, X-Fly [EdM Trios] first defense for Piratas?
I feel like the Piratas have defended trios titles in northern Mexico, but it might have been the IWRG ones.
Diablo goes from being an announcer a month ago to being in the semimain this week.
Second match is good if it airs. It’s good if it doesn’t air too, but we’d prefer it airs.
TxT is back on this week. En Busca de un Idolo is still on Fox Sports 2, and moves to it’s normal time of 8:30pm. The AAA/CMLL time changes are standard.
== AAA ==
AAA-Televisa: Xalapa. They aired a setup angle for the mixed tag title match, so that should air on the national show. Maybe the main event on National as well? With only 5 matches, everything should air on UTDN/Regional
AAA-Fusion: probably a rerun.
== CMLL ==
Galavision/Televisa: Blue Panther/Averno and Volador/Sombra – which means the En Busca de un Idolo match airs nowhere. That’s about right (but they should’ve figured it out and put it on Terra.)
FOX: Revolucionarios versus Dorada/Mistico/Titan and Tuareg vs Diamante/Pegasso/Triton
52MX: Angel de Oro vs Puma, Estateas vs Avernos
C3: Guerreros vs Revolucinarios and the lightweight tournament. (I don’t have to change this next week!)
TVC Deportes (Puebla): Maybe an episode? Maybe an obscure sport pre-empts everything?
Terra: Angel de Oro vs Puma, Marco Corleone vs Zacarias
== Other ==
IWRG-AYM Sports: They seem to be airing every other week, but this would be Pirata vs FdT if it slips thru.
Noches de Coliseo: Charles Lucero vs Rey Hechicero and other matches from Sunday.
TxT: probably the women’s cibernetico and the undercard singles matches.
La Sombra & Volador Jr. will face Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis in the main event of their 09/13 80th Anniversary show in a one fall match, where the winning team will immediately face off in a three falls mask match.
CMLL announced this as part of their press conference today. Sombra and Volador had interrupted the press conference to demand to do their mask match on the 09/13 show. Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis interrupted to demand the match themselves, and the four went back and forth on options. Ultimo Guerrero pushed for the relevos suicidas concept and got his way when Panico made the final decision. (Atlantis was against the idea and was the last man to agree.) The twist is these matches usually have the losers advance to the mask match, but this time it’ll be the winners.
CMLL did a very similar match back in 1999 for the anniversary show. It was Atlantis & Villano III vs Mr. Niebla & Shocker. Villano III vs Atlantis, built around two similar stars who spent most of their career in opposite promotions facing off in the ultimate match, was the bigger deal rivalry. CMLL got two large gates out of the feud by teasing the mask match for September, and waiting to actually do it in March. That’s the best guess what’s happening here…which means La Sombra and Volador would actually happen in a few weeks, and Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero wouldn’t happen until March 2014. (Another option is plans change and it doesn’t happen at all, like with the Mistico/Felino vs La Sombra/Volador Jr. relevos from 2010.)
This is going to be seen as a disappointment. CMLL promoted Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero for five months, hyped it up for years, and may not be giving it to them. Now, even if they do, that would mean a big chunk of people who paid a lot of money hoping to see La Sombra vs Volador Jr. will instead be disappointed. Plenty of people will be happy to see either, but a significant portion of people will be grumbling whatever the outcome. Sombra/Volador is a strong alternate match – seems stronger than Niebla/Shocker, though probably not as much as we’d like to think. Adding people to this match will hurt the turnout, but CMLL seems okay with doing that for this show to get a second big show out of it later.
The reaction to the announcement on Twitter and Facebook seems negative, unhappy about not getting the direct Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero duel especially given the high prices. (CMLL feedback often seems negative, and this is only slightly more than usual.) It surely didn’t help to have the participants talking about what a bad idea it would be to do anything but a singles match when they were not going not have a singles match.
That would been enough for a press conference, but CMLL threw a lot of other news out there.
Blue Panther and Averno also signed for their own hair match. They still wanted it to be submission only, and it’s unclear if it will be. Again, no date announced, though CMLL.com says a date will be announced “in the weeks to come.”
(It looks like CMLL is setting up a second Anniversary show on 09/27 with at least one of those matches, but this is far from confirmed)
the 09/13 show will also have the final of the CMLL Universal tournament (with presumed blocks on 08/30 & 09/06). The field is almost already set; Diamante Azul and Vangellys did a face to face segment to promote their title match on Tuesday, and we still expect Hijos del Avenro and Estetas del Aire to have a title match before 08/30, but neither seems likely for a change and that may be it.
Hiroshi Tanahashi will be back in Mexico on 08/21. He should be in thru 09/13. NJPW has a tour from 09/05 to 09/28, but there’s a big break in the middle and Tanahashi can get back in plenty of time for the second half.
Tanahashi is CMLL tag team champions with Jushin Lyger, but there’s no mention of Lyger coming in.
Marco Corleone talked about his return this Friday.
Taichi wants another hair match with Maximo. Nothing signed here and this just seemed to be a way to remind everyone who Taichi is.
Other news
Arena Naucalpan has a show tonight, but it’s technically not an IWRG show. Instead, it’s a “RCH” show (initials of the promoter), who is using IWRG and AAA luchadors to put on a big show on the usual IWRG day. The main event is a ten man cage match made up of five teams, and it’s actually one of the tougher to figure cage matches in a while.
Participant List
Texano Jr. – not going to lose his hair while world champion
Villano IV – has better places to lose his mask
Chessman – not impossible but seems unlikely for this kind of show
Daga – not impossible but seems unlikely for this kind of show
Eterno – seems more likely, but would he want to lose while he’s getting momentum in AAA?
Súper Nova – not impossible, but would require a whole new character (and/or ignoring this loss elsewhere)
Trauma 1 – probably will happen someday, but on a bigger show
Trauma 2 – probably will happen someday, but on a bigger show
Cien Caras Jr. – probably will happen someday, but on a bigger show
Hijo de Pirata Morgan – seems way too quick after losing his mask
I really don’t know. Maybe Eterno? Maybe X-Fly somehow gets into the cage? The Gladiatores has another promo, this time with the Traumas, to hype the show.
Last night’s TerceraCaida had Daga as the in studio guest.
This week’s SuperLuchas mentioned Sin Cara was at Infierno en el Ring with family, and was allowed backstage to say hi to people. Previously, Sin Cara had been banned from the arena, so everyone must be on better terms. If Sin Cara is allowed back, then it seems only fair that the other people (unfairly) blamed for helping him to WWE should be unbanned as well.
On this week’s Bauer & Pollock MLW Radio podcast, Court Bauer says Jeff Jarrett has taken back over talent relations for TNA and wants to bring in more international talent. He specifically says strengthening ties with AAA is a goal.
