06/23-24 lucha times

box.

CMLL

Galavision/Televisa: Women’s match and Warrior’s match end up here. Don’t think it’s a concidence the hair match related stuff is ending up here this year.

FOX: Turaeg vs Azteca/Fuego/Pegasso + Atlantis/Azul/Rush vs Escorpion/UG/Yujiro

C3: Another TRT vs Fiebre Amarillo, plus a good looking minis match: Demus, Olimpico, Pierrothito vs Astral, Electrico and Dragoncito.

52MX: TRT vs Fiebre Kraneo to set up the title match.

Puebla: Guerreros vs Love Buffet, for the trios titles.

GDL: tag title match, anniversary cibernetico.

Terra: opener tag, lesser light minis match, and the farewell to Dragon Lee. Diamante, Dragon Lee, Triton vs Cancerbero, Niebla Roja and Raziel might be good, as long as you’re not bothered by the sixth worst guy in the ring getting the big push going forward. (Maybe seventh, depends on the ref.)

LATV: off the scheduling grid, but still on my cable system’s schedule. Not a new episode either way.

Other

AAA: Veracruz taping, part 2 of 2. Consejo vs Air Force, CIMA’s first AAA TV appearance in 7 years, and Cibernetico/Electro/Park vs Chessman/Perro/Garza

ACM: Dunno. Never heard about the Ninja/Konnan Big match that was supposed to happen last week.

IWRG-TVC Deportes: Cien Caras Jr. vs Head Hunter

IWRG-Vibra: TV version of Shadow Phoenix vs Trauma II vs Oficial 911

AYM is listed, probably a rerun.

Cien Caras Jr. wins title by being fouled, El Luchador, Terrible/Yujiro, TripleMania main event

IWRG (THU) 06/21/2012 Arena Naucalpan [The Gladiatores]
1) Imposible b Templario
Impossible replaced Guerrero Mixtico.
2) Dinamic Black & Golden Magic b Alan Extreme & Eita
Eita replaced Imppssible. Rudos took 2/3.
3) Chicano, Dr. Cerebro, Trauma II b Heddi Karaoui, Pete Powers, Shadow Phoenix
Tecnicos won 2/3. Trauma II has figured out Shadow Phoenix’s deadly shoulder submission, reversing into a pin here.
4) Danny Casas, Pantera, Veneno b Bestia 666, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Súper Nova
Rudos got along to win fall 1, tecnicos won fall two, and the rudos fell apart in fall three to give the tecnicos the wins Damian 666 ran out to help his guys after the match.
5) Cien Caras Jr. DQ Head Hunter [IWRG IC HEAVY]
Head Hunter is the champion and was accompanied by Damian, Bestia, and Super Nova while Cien had Hijo de Mascara Ano 2000. Everyone interfered a lot. Head Hunter won the first with a senton. Cien Caras evaded the senton and landed two legdrops to take the second. Inference picked up in the third fall. Head Hunter crushed referee Rubinsky on a corner charge, then pinned Cien Caras Jr. for a visual pin with Damian and Head Hunter himself counting. FdT quadruple teamed Cien Caras Jr., referee Yudi ran out, but Cien Caras Jr. kicked out at two. Damian snuck in to foul Cien Caras Jr., Yudi counted the pin, then called the DQ for Cien Caras. Title changes on DQ (at least this time), so Cien Caras Jr. is the new heavyweight champion.

Yesterday featured another CMLL related press conference: A&E (Mexico)’s presentation of their fall season, which includes the season season of El Luchador. Shocker, Felino and Rey Bucanero return from last season. The big change from last season is they’ve added a woman to the cast, a move which will give them stories from a slightly different perspective. The woman they’ve chosen to give this spotlight to is, unfortunately, Estrellita. That rounds out the main cast as luchadors who are all on the downside of their career but not totally aware of it, a strong reflection of CMLL at large.

I can not believe they didn’t, say, just keep Silueta in Mexico and film nine weeks of video building up to a match with Princesa Blanca, who will again be part of this season. It’s not as important as Dragon Lee/Mistico, especially since El Luchador Season 1 did not seem to have any affect on business, but putting Estrellita in the show is an equally dumb use of available resources and a sure sign of lack of vision. But everyone in charge like Estrellita, so that’s cool.

Dragon Lee is also mentioned as being on the show, but wasn’t actually at the press conference.  Tania Licona, a former edecan who hosted commercial wrap around segments last year, is back in that role this year. It’s only a bit of surprise since her husband is El Consejo’s Toscano. No start date for the next season is mentioned.

What’s happening to Dragon Lee’s stick? Can we get an update on that?

Today’s Arena Mexico has a two title matches, which may mean more for the future than titles themselves. The one that’s gotten more attention is Euforia vs Titan for the En Busca de un Idolo, with a truck load of prizes (no truck though). Euforia is the strong favorite, destined to continue working with Dragon Lee as they’re both moved to the main event. The biggest point in Titan’s favor is CMLL’s entirely handling of this tournament has made no sense, so perhaps they’ll continue making no sense and the popular tecnico will win.

The other title match is for an actual physical title, the Mexican Trios championship. The makeshift trio of Black Warrior, Mr. Aguila and Volador Jr. maybe am ore solid trio if they win the national trios titles in their only second match together. It seems this might just be taking advantage of the added attention on Black Warrior over the last few months to get one more big win for someone else before sliding down the card, but Warrior’s trio has a better shot of winning then Titan does.

There’s also a women’s trios setting up next week’s cage match, and the Guerreros teaming up again Mascara, Sombra, and Diamante Azul.

The NJPW version of the Terrible/Yujiro confrontation makes a bit more sense. Translated and simplified:

Yujiro: Here is a plate of tacos!
Terrible: Great! Thank you for the tacos, I am proud of the great tacos we make in Mexico.
Yujiro: Yes. Mexico is known for a simple food item, while we Japanese create high quality cars and electronics, we can make anything. This is why I am superior and will win the title Sunday!
Terrible: The illegal immigration problem in my county greatly bothers me, and I’m going to start fixing it on Sunday.

In a Kaiser Sports interview,  Terrible notes his unusual position in this feud: he’s usually the aggressor who’s sending people out on stretchers, but his first defense will be against a guy who put him on one.

NJPW covered the Dragon Lee->Mistico bit, Angel de Oro and the Titan vs Euforia final with the FantasticMania stip. Obviously, Mistico’s going on that trip too.  Luchadoras don’t exist in NJPW so no mention of the cage match.

CMLL Luchadoras do exist in REINA, and that promotion confirmed (what was already helpfully noted in the comments) that it’d be REINA tag team champions Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto coming to Mexico. REINA’s website says they’ll be in from July 2nd to July 9th.

News from Newsletters:

  • This week’s Figure Four Weekly mentions AAA is high on the Xalapa guys, which would explain why they’re working three straight dark matches.
  • This week’s Wrestling Observer surprisingly says Juvi vs Daga is NOT happening at TripleMania, and not surprisingly says Dorian’s team will be heavy on TNA guys.
  • Dr. Lucha’s biweekly podcast included a mention of AAA NOT being able to come terms with Kurt Angle after all. There’s still time,  but it looks like Cibernetico is headed to the title match and not the big tag match. Also, apparently no Jeff Jarrett, because he gave the current (and subject to change) main event as Cibernetico vs Perro Jr. vs LA Park vs Mesias.

If there’s no Jarrett, that would mark the second occasion where AAA has strongly built towards a match and forced to change plans because Jarrett wasn’t around, the first being last year’s Guerra de Titanes. I can not fathom why you would bother bringing in the other TNA guys if you can’t Jarrett for TripleMania. Bring in John Morrison & Melina to flip around and/or be crazy (or whomever) if you need foreign people on TripleMania, but don’t waste your time on goofballs who don’t come thru for you.

TKD figured out Lucha Libre USA’s secret message is they’re showing up on Hulu. Lucha Libre USA matches had been popped up on YouTube for a while after the latest cancellation, but I’d guess this would be full shows. The group taped a lot of TV, about a seasons worth, that never even aired, so there may be plenty of new material included. It’s a decent thing for people interested in the promotion, and gives them something tangible to point fans towards, but the problem remains translating those eyeballs into ticket buying fans.

Ricky Marvin makes a rare wrestling appearance in Mexico, on a show honoring him in a Veracruz. Card also includes the Mexico return of Jennifer Blake, and big torneo of all the little promotions in the area.

Rob has highlights of 08/29/1993 AAA and The Death of CMLL.

LuchaWorld has Slammin’ Slam #76 and the final five people on the countdown. The #1 wrestler is…

Super Crazy and Pesadilla talk Pesadilla’s appearance at the Extreme Rising show.

Guadalajara, new Mistico, Busca prizes, Chessman

CMLL (TUE) 06/19/2012 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring, SuperLuchas]
1) Metatrón & Virgo b Magnum & Thunder Boy
2) Black Metal & Gallo b Exterminador & Ráfaga
3) Amapola & Princesa Blanca b Dark Angel & Marcela
Rudas won in straight falls
4) Volador Jr. b La Sombra, Mr. Águila, Diamante Azul, Psicosis, La Máscara, Delta, Olímpico, Kráneo, Guerrero Maya Jr. [cibernetico]
Cibernetico in honor of the 53rd Anniversary. Eliminator order went Guerrero Maya, Kraneo, Olimpico, Delta, La Mascara, Psicosis, Diamante Azul, Mr. Aguila, leaving Sombra and Volador as the final two. Their closing section was said to be excellent.
5) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Último Guerrero b Marco Corleone & Máximo [CMLL TAG]
Guerreros came in as champs, and took falls 1/3 to keep the titles

A strong day for evil.

Dragon Lee is still scheduled to wrestle as Dragon Lee this Sunday (which makes no sense, but oh well.) After that, his redebut as Mistico II is unknown. I now believe he will not actually debut until July 6th, because there’s no point in having his debut be second to the women’s cage match, and the aim will likely be to set up a big match for him by TripleMania weekend.

If CMLL wanted to defend Dragon Lee as Mistico*, they would probably point to NJPW’s Tiger Mask, a character that’s been used by many different wrestlers. In fact, when Dragon Lee talked about becoming Mistico, they pushed it in a similar direction. Despite inheriting the mask, Dragon Lee wants to create his own histories and his own achievements; he aims to fill the mask, but not the shoes.

The major difference is Tiger Mask was a guy playing the role of a cartoon character, while Mistico was an actual person. The Japanese Tiger Mask cartoon and comic book was a short run series, airing a decade prior to the debut of the first Tiger Mask. Fans would’ve understand that the wrestler was playing a TV character, the same as if a wrestler in the US wrestled as Daffy Duck. Mistico has never been presented as a character or an identity, but as a person who happens to be wearing a silver mask. He may have a conflicting backstory and semi-fictional battles, but Mistico existed in the real world where Tiger Mask existed in the pages of a manga. You can take over a character’s look, but you can’t take over their life.

There are also special circumstances surrounding Tiger Mask. The original Tiger Mask had a bad split with not just the promotion he was working for, but the entire business of wrestling, going as far as writing a book exposing the interworkings of it. Satoru Sayama was still around when Tiger Mask II appeared, but he was off to the side of wrestling, dabbling in the early days of MMA. Sin Cara is on still wrestling, still on TV, in a promotion that draws five or six times as many viewers. Tiger Mask II was not introduced in the same promotion as Tiger Mask I; rival AJPW bought the rights to the name, and their fans would not have had the same loyalty to the original. One of the biggest obstacles for Dragon Lee to overcome is to get those who are fans of original to cheer him without feeling like they’re betraying the original.

AAA’s had their own problems with this scenario, but CMLL know it as well. They’ve been trying to do the same exact bit with Diamante Azul, only slightly changing the name, and he’s not much more popular than he has been as Metro. If Diamante Azul’s booking is consistent with how they’ll be treating Mistico II, then we should not be expecting big things. The big plans for Diamante Azul have including him losing to Ultimo Guerrero (in a typically poor Ultimo Guerrero match) and losing to Ultimo Guerrero & Dragon Rojo (in a poor Dragon Rojo match). It’s still pretty early, but CMLL’s backing of Diamante Azul has been limited to giving him a new gear and then adjusting it to be a more Blue Demon. If all they’re going to do is give Dragon Lee the new Mistico gear, he’s going nowhere too.

* CMLL does such a lacking job of defending the strange decisions they make and getting people excited about their own product that we have to imagine a situation where they might be responsive. I fully understand that the people CMLL are trying to reach are not the people who are reading lucha libre blogs, and especially not this lucha libre blog, but it’s insane that there’s not someone doing an interview with a friendly outlet explaining CMLL’s decision here. CMLL, and AAA to a lesser extent, present them as monolithic unknowable structures, the sort of behavior that only turns off people in 2012. It’s not just “Dragon Lee as Mistico”, it’s “Pegasso went to the hospital for neck x-rays…and we’re never telling you any more about this” that’s just crazy. We really should have to be bugging Konnan on Twitter to find out if Aerostar still works for AAA either, there’s should be someone using this information to build a relationship between the brand and it’s fans, at the very least pretending to bring you behind the curtain. I’ve said this so many times and it’s still true.

Positive Thought Bullet Points

  • We’ve wanted them to pick someone, anyone, and go with them. Dragon Lee is not the preferred pick, but if CMLL wholly getting behind someone may be better then getting half, quarter, and one eight the way behind three dozen people at once. If this somehow works, and business improves, they can fix everything else later.
  • If this doesn’t work, I’ll have so many great gifs.
  • Dragon Lee is capable of having a good match. If you want to defend his capabilities, your best best would is last year’s Anniversary segunda with Stuka against Misterioso and Euforia. Dragon Lee will likely be working a lot of with Euforia going forward, but he’ll also have a ton of other guys who know how to make flyers look good, maybe even that Averno guy if he’s allowed to escape the dog house.
  • (and Averno losing to Dragon Lee in a big match is better than Averno losing in terceras)
  • Last year, Magnus was working as Fake Mistico. This year, Magnus isn’t around. Things can change and get better.
  • Also, it could’ve been Magnus. It really could’ve been. Dragon Lee is not the best choice, but he’s not the worst either.

Other Links

CMLL added some details on the prizes for the En Busca de Un Idolo winner. The Cancun trip is not just for the winner, but for all four finalists, and is 2 days and 3 nights. The winner will be in Friday night main events “indefinitely”, though I’m not exactly sure how that can work when next week is a main event female cage match (and that vacation!) Euforia has been declared a heavyweight, so he’ll get a shot at the winner of Yujiro and Terrible if he wins, while Titan is a middleweight and would face Dragon Rojo Jr. I would love to find out which weight division everyone is supposed to be part of, but that must be Top Secret information (just like this tournament.)

The women in the cage match said very generic things about their feuds.

AAA sent out a press release with Chessman saying he wants to face Vampiro. (Nooooooooooo.) Chessman worked with Vampiro when Vamp was around for the sponsored spot shows.

Rob has highlights of 10/28/11 CMLL. Enjoy the highlight videos while they last.

LuchaWorld also has KrisZ’s news update.

Lucha Libre in Japan

NOAH announced Super Crazy and Ricky Marvin will challenge Atsushi Aoiki and Kotaro Suzuki for the GHC Junior Heavyweight titles on July 22nd. Crazy did well last tour. He’s also headed to Chile on July 2nd.

NJPW also announced Maximo’s inclusion on their next tour, starting July 7th. It appears Alex Koslov has gotten Davey Richards’ spot with the group, which is super for him (until he runs into Maximo again.)

Links

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 06/24/2012 Arena Naucalpan
1) Centvrión & Charly Madrid vs Alan Extreme & Imposible
2) Chicano, Dinamic Black, Dr. Cerebro vs Carta Brava Jr., Eita, Heddi Karaoui
3) Danny Casas, Niko, Veneno vs Head Hunter, Súper Nova, X-Fly
4) Ultraman & Ultramán Jr. vs Bestia 666 & Damián 666 and Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Pirata Morgan and Hijo de Mascara Sagrada & Máscara Sagrada and Hijo del Pantera & Pantera and Hijo de Máscara Año 2000 & Máscara Año 2000 [tournament]

This is the annual father/son tag team tournament. This year, the fathers all start in the ring, and the sons replace them when they’re eliminated.

Niko is a new name, but he also has a mascot, like the Terrorista Negra from a few months back.