recap

taped 2013-01-18 @ Arena Mexico
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CMLL (SUN) 02/10/2013 Arena Coliseo [@therealfredo, CMLL, ProWresBlog]
1) Bengala & Soberano Jr. b Espanto Jr. & Zayco  
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Metatrón, Molotov, Stigma b Inquisidor, Nosferatu, Taurus 
tecnicos took 1/3
3) Cancerbero, Hijo del Signo, Raziel b Hombre Bala Jr., Starman, Super Halcón Jr. 
Rudos took 1/3.
4) Virus b Metálico [lightning] 
Virus snuck in a foul on Metalico.
5) Blue Panther, Delta, Stuka Jr. DQ Averno, Shigeo Okumura, Vangelis 
Quick opening fall, Stuka laying out Okumura with a tope while the other tecnicos beat the other tecnicos. Tecnicos took 1/3, Okumura fouling Stuka. They made hair vs mask challenges.
6) Kráneo, Mr. Águila, Psicosis b Marco Corleone, Máximo, Rush 
Rudos took 1/3 in a rematch from last week. Invasors issued a challenged for a title match next week, and Bufete accepted. Next week’s show is in Arena Mexico.

Kraneo said Telemundo was filming at the show for a special. (Not sure it was the show itself, might have just been footage for the usual documentary.)

CMLL (SUN) 02/10/2013 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [@acogdl]
1) El Tapatío & Índigo vs El Piraña & Relampago Azul
2) El Divino & Rayo De Plata b El Hippie & Évola
Hippie replaced Demonio Maya. Tecnicos took 1/3, with Hippie strangely laying on the mat and giving up in the third fall.
3) Espectrum, Mr. Trueno, Ráfaga b El Alteño, Halcón de Plata, León Blanco
Rudos took 2/3, Rafaga using a ref distraction to foul Alteno.
4) Diamante Azul & Máscara Dorada DQ Felino & Mr. Niebla
Tecnicos took 2/3, Niebla fouling Azul in the third.
5) La Sombra b Mephisto [NWA MIDDLE]
La Sombra kept the title by taking falls 1/3. Falls were about 3:05, about a minute, and 18:50. First defense.

Super Crazy was honored by the local government in Hidalgo for his international success this weekend, just before heading out on another international trip. Estrellas del Ring has photos, while Milenio has a lot of quotes. Crazy mentions he’s been offered work in both CMLL and AAA, but he’s declined the offers for now because they would prevent him from continuing to wrestle internationally on his own schedule. Crazy also says he’d prefer to wrestle more in Mexico and it’s a bit sad to leave so much, but that’s just how things go. (It’s left unsaid, but Crazy probably wouldn’t be traveling if he could get the foreign paychecks at home.) Super Crazy wants to improve his English in order to be booked more in the United States. Super Crazy is a rare luchador not to reflexively say Mexican wrestling is the best, stating here that Japanese wrestling is very good as well.

Super Crazy & Ricky Marvin did win the UWE World Tag Team belts this weekend. This is a good deal, it lets them do their tag team title matches even if they lose the GHC junior tag titles back in NOAH (assuming that ever happens.) I hate the useless championships which float around Mexico, but belts which keep Marvin & Crazy tied together are definitely not useless.

Texano Jr. says the situation with Dorian Roldan and Konnan on the last taping baffles him. You and me both, champ. On more pressing issues, Texano explains the deal with Argenis: Texano believes no one can beat him, so anyone can have a shot whenever they want and he’ll beat them. I don’t want to make any gross assumptions with AAA, but this is something that seems like it’ll backfire for Texano at some point. But with who? Maybe Toscano, though Texano downplays the issues and just says he wants Toscano to focus on their title match in Irapuato and not cost them another match.

AAA announced the taping after Irapuato will be in Domo de San Luis, San Luis Potosi, on March 3rd. That fits with this year’s pattern of taping every second week. Rey de Reyes is traditionally the weekend of 03/16 and it fits on the schedule to take place again at this time last year. There’s always a chance they could move it around.

La Nueva Espana has a slideshow of luchadors with brief bios. Things I learned:

• Sangre Azteca’s original name was Relámpago Sureño (we’ve had it as Rayito Sureno), and he got this name by winning a tournament for TV (Promo?) Azteca 
• Astral wrestled as Pequeno Oro, but changed his name because he wanted to be his own man and no one’s mini.
• Polvora, who came up with his mask and name himself, says he plans on wrestling 15-20 more years. Look, I’m coming around on Polvora, but that doesn’t help!
• Loco Max says (or repeats) he left CMLL because veteos on where he could work and the (low) percentage they were paying him.
• Dark Dragon says he’s a Dragon because Dragon’s are symbols are evil. I’ve never really thought about Dragons that way.
• Fabi Apache’s son is not interested in lucha libre so far and she hopes it says that way.
• Demus’ family would not let him go to lucha libre shows for years, after he accidentally broke his grandmother’s nose at a show when he was six.

Not all of the bios have text bits (and a couple are in the wrong spots), but the pictures are nice too.

Rob has highlights of Mascara Dorada making things look much easier than they are, Black Tiger competing for world’s most complex armdrag, and Perros del Mal 05/01/10 in Tijuana.

SuperLucha #498 has Dorian and Konnan fired.

AAA has the second part of it’s videochat with Fabi Apache & Dark Cuervo.

An article on the Latin American tournament to take place in Chile, Brazil and Ecudador this week.

Axxel does not have a column in Record, but still wrote a column about his grandfather Santo.

Porra Fresa previews Rush vs Ultimo Guerrero, the greatest luchador in the world if you make sure to watch no more than 1 singles match of his per year.

CMLL (FRI) 02/08/2013 Arena Mexico [CMLL, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Oro Jr. & Sensei b Artillero & Súper Comando
Oro Jr. got tangled up in the ropes and pinned in the third, but Sensei overcame both rudos to get teh win.
2) Astral, Bam Bam, Fantasy b Demus 3:16, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
Tecnicos took 2/3, Bam Bam escaping the valagueza to beat Demus for the win.
3) Hijo del Fantasma, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. DQ Misterioso Jr., Namajague, Shigeo Okumura
Namajague and the rudos jumped Stuka, but were DQed in the first fall for pulling Stuka’s mask. Stuka left, got a new mask, and Namajague pulled it again for the DQ. Stuka challenged Namajague to a mask match, which Okumura declined on behalf of Namajague and issues his own challenge to Stuka. Stuka was ready to take them both on, but Cometa also challenged Okumura. Looks like a tag match.
4) Volador Jr. b Máximo, Máscara Dorada, Valiente, Ángel de Oro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Diamante, Tritón, Fuego, Mephisto, Rey Escorpión, Niebla Roja, Psicosis, Sangre Azteca, Virus, Puma[Reyes del Aire, semifinal]
Eliminations went Sangre Azteca (by Valiente), Virus (by Guerrero Maya Jr.), Angel de Oro (by Rey Escorpion), Mephisto (knocked out by a Triton tornillo – match stopped to check on him), Puma (by Maximo), Triton (by Niebla Roja), Diamante (by Niebla Roja), Fuego (by Psicosis), Valiente (by Volador Jr.), Psicosis (by Mascara Dorada), Niebla Roja (by Maximo), Maximo (by Volado Jr.), Rey Escorpion (by Mascara Dorada), Guerrero Maya (by Volador Jr.), Mascara Dorada (by Volador Jr.) Volador beats the last three tecnicos himself, and faces Sombra next week. Volador faces Sombra next week in the final.
5) Terrible, Tiger, Último Guerrero b Atlantis, Rush, Shocker
Rudos took falls 1/3, UG cheating to beat Atlantis once again.

CMLL 52MX aired the top 3 from last Sunday. Haven’t seen it close to see what they edited to make that possible.

Bill has highlights of 10/16/12 CMLL.

Estrellas del Ring has interviews with Mantyz, Estrella Divina, more of Voladorcito’s troupe, and a new book on lucha libre.

Great Lucha reviews more 2012 lucha.

Hijo de Fishman talks about his international travels.

Porra Fresa previews Monday’s show.

Box Y Lucha put up a 2008 video interview with Dark Angel.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 02/15/2013 Arena Mexico
1) Magnus, Pegasso, Stigma vs Bobby Zavala, Disturbio, Taurus
2) Dalis la Caribeña, Estrellita, Silueta vs Amapola, La Comandante, La Seductora
3) Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Averno, Mephisto, Namajague
4) Hijo del Fantasma vs Dragón Rojo Jr. [lightning]
5) Atlantis, La Máscara, Super Porky vs Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
6) La Sombra vs Volador Jr. [Reyes del Aire]

Sombra leads the all time series, 4-3-1.

2010-08-30	Arena Puebla	5 of 5: Volador Jr. b La Sombra [MEX LH]
2010-12-12	Arena Mexico	5 of 5: Volador Jr. b La Sombra
2011-09-18	Arena Mexico	6 of 6: La Sombra b Volador Jr. [NWA WELTER]
2012-01-22	Korakuen Hall	6 of 6: La Sombra b Volador Jr. [NWA WELTER] 
2012-10-09	Arena Mexico	5 of 6: La Sombra TLDRAW Volador Jr. [lightning]
2012-10-15	Arena Puebla	6 of 6: Volador Jr. b La Sombra
2012-10-16	Arena Mexico	6 of 6: La Sombra b Volador Jr.

Video promo for the show.

IWRG (THU) 02/07/2013 Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr)]
1) Saruman & Serpiente de Oro b Apolo Estrada Jr. & Imposible
Apolo Estrada Jr. replaced Jack.
2) Dinamic Black, Golden Magic, Veneno b Danny Casas, Factor, Rayan
3) Carta Brava Jr. b Cerebro Negro
Non-title match, but Carta won in straight falls to win a title match.
4) Canis Lupus b Eterno and Alan Extreme and Fulgore and Centvrión
Canis Lupus won the first ever Five Match Fighter.
5) Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. b Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [EdM Trios]
Piratas won the titles, taking falls 2/3. Hijo de Pirata submitted AK-47 and 911 at the same time for the win. 34th champion, Oficals failing on their third defense. All six agreed to a cage match.

This should be airing Sunday night on TVC Deportes (and will be up on their YouTube page sometime later, if it’s the same as last year.) Pirata Morgan is involved in hair matches here and with El Pulpo on his shows, and there’s almost so much hair to bet.

CMLL Guadalajara announced Sombra will replace Thunder on Tuesday,   due to a Thunder muscle strain injury. CMLL announced a substitution due to injury ahead of time! (Probably because it’s Thunder.) This is probably the leg injury Porra Fresa noticed.

Today’s Arena Mexico show is technically by a new Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero match, but the most interesting match of the show is the second Reyes del Aire cibernetico. The winner will face Sombra next week. To my mind, there are there strong choices:

Volador Jr.: the default pick as Sombra’s rival. CMLL’s done Sombra vs Volador recently, but not on Friday nights. The issue here is Volador’s lost a lot of big singles matches lately, enough that people have picked on it, and it does him no good to come up short again. If he wins tonight, he really has to win the next Friday. (Sort of believe Volador should not even go to the final 2 tonight if he’s not going to win the whole thing; this is a good time for the double elimination.)

Mascara Dorada: CMLL just ran a major rudo vs rudo match (two of ’em if you count Terrible vs Rush), so maybe they’ll balance it out by having a two tecnicos in the finals of what’s traditionally the tecnico tournament. Sombra and Mascara Dorada have never had a singles match. It’s tough to figure how CMLL feels about Dorada at the moment; he’s in the top mix, but he’s not done a whole lot.

Mephisto: at one point last year, it seemed like a pretty strong bet the 80th Anniversario main event would include a Mistico vs Mephisto mask match, and Mephisto needs some achievements before hand to make that viable. Things have changed a bit and that may no longer be the plan. There’s been no mention of Mistico since FantasitcaMania and it’s not as sure where he fits into CMLL’s long term plans, and Mephisto isn’t going to do without those plans.

This doesn’t include Angel de Oro, who won the last two but seems dropped back in the pack and is dealing with a knee injury. Valiente also has an outside shot for the same reasons as Mascara Dorada, though after this past week I’d put him in the same situation as Volador: he really can’t go the final and lose in another title match. It’s all or nothing.

The show also is scheduled to continue the Namajague vs Stuka feud. There’s still no official word on Namajague’s status (not like CMLL usually gives official word about much of anything), but he might make the match. Cometa & Okumura are also scheduled for the match, and we may see if my hunch about them being involved in the apuesta match turns out or not.

In case you missed the mention in the Lucha Times post, AAA Fusion returned to airing new episodes last night. The episode is here, featuring the semifinals from the WAVE/AAA Reina de Reinas tournament which took place this past December, Sexi Star vs Jennifer Blake and Fabi Apache vs Kaguya (who I’m sure was named Kayuga when she was in Mexico.) The final and the atomicos will air next week.

Al Filo del Ring mentions La Hiedra, a luchadora who has wrestled in Mexico City but is mostly northern Mexico based, is Fishman’s daughter. (Maybe we’ll see a Hiedra vs Lluvia feud.) That recap is of the LMV show is more detailed in terms of the quality of the performers; it mentions the show might have been Fishman’s last and it looked like it really should be.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara was busy removing it’s old lighting rig and putting up a new one.

El Hijo del Santo has his son write part of his record column, which of course turns into a mediation on the greatness Hijo del Santo (and also El Santo.)

LuchaWorld has KrisZ’s news update.

Rob has highlights of 05/24 & 05/31/2002 CMLL, a couple of really good weeks.

Amo La Lucha Libre has a 48 minute interview with Ricky Marvin.

LuchaMania Monterrey was having a database issue this morning, but they previous posted an interview with their Mejor Luchador of 2012, Rey Hechicero.

Rush is headed to Guatemala on 02/24.

Lineups

ICHIBAN (SAT) 02/16/2013 Bar Red Cat, Mexico City
1) Pegazus vs Mixus, Red Tiger, Fourier, Acrceus, Zurdog, Maquina Infernal, Destino, Psico Kid, Cosmic Delta [Torneo Green Boy]
3rd Torneo Green Boy
2) Antar vs Terremoto, Íkaro, ?, Jorge Kebrada , Dave The Clown, Zertico, Angel del Misterio [ICHIBAN COMPLETO]
vacant title
3) Big Mama vs Black Fury, Crazy Star (F), Ludark Shaitan [ICHIBAN KAWAI]
vacant title. Kawai is their women championship
4) Black Mamba vs Pimpinela Escarlata, Chica Ye-Ye [ICHIBAN OKAMA]
vacant. Okama is their exotico championship

50 percent of the box office will be given to Astro de Plata to help pay for his medical care. Poster says they’ll be taped for AYM Sports.