AAA TV (THU) 02/23/2012Arena Naucalpan
1) La Braza & Pimpinela Escarlata vs Pasion Kristal & Yuriko
2) Daga, Fenix, Gran Apache vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
3) Cuervo & Ozz vs Chessman & Último Gladiador [AJPW TAG]
4) Héctor Garza vs Heavy Metal, Toscano, Joe Lider [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]
5) Cibernético vs el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Máscara Año 2000 Jr., ? [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]
Airdate: 03/04? They need to make up a week somewhere…
Last week, AAA TV was hyping a show in Deportivo Galeana in Mexico City this Sunday. As happens from time to time, that show is being replaced by one next Thursday (02/23) in Arena Naucalpan. (If you’re just here for the IWRG news, note that means they’ll be doing something different for TV that week – perhaps airing the FIL show two days prior?) Both AAA & IWRG had said AAA TV would eventually be back in Naucalpan, which made it peculiar when they kept going around the Mexico City area but not back IWRG’s home base. Arena Naucalpan is not a big building, but Deportivo Galeana wasn’t either.
The Rey de Reyes tournament gets started in a hurry. These are Toscano & Mascara Ano 2000 Jr.’s first matches. The story there is Marisela Pena asked them what they wanted with all these attacks, they said matches to prove they’re better, and she said OK. In exchange, Consejo is supposed to cut out with the gang beatings, but we’ll see. All you young luchadors out there should employ this tactic to get an AAA job for yourself. Just keep running in until they get annoyed even to give you a match. Cibernetico and Garza are former winners. This is Metal’s first match back since he was “injured” off screen last fall. There’s no hint as to the mystery person, though the spot seems to be for a tecnico. (Have we annoyed them into bringing in Aerostar back? That usually doesn’t work out!)
Neither of those matches seem like pleasant experiences.
AJPW had announced the tag title match earlier today, though they were still under the impression it’d be on 02/19 and had Silver King in Ultimo Gladiador’s spot. The winner of that match defends the title back in AJPW on 03/20.
Oficiales are listed as “Los Oficiales I, II y III”. I guess they could mean the Elite. (I hope not.) The match is also listed as revenge – the only time the Oficiales made AAA TV were losing to the Air Force, but none of those guys (Gato Eveready, Laredo Kid, and Aerostar) exist anymore.
AAA also announced the Toluca taping for 03/02. Since the beginning of time (or at least since my records go back), Thursday night has always been lucha night in Toluca. By moving it to Friday night, they’ll instead run right against Dos Leyendas. Toluca is about 50 minutes outside of Mexico City. Fans don’t seem to travel as far for shows in Mexico as they do in the United States, but it will at least give AAA some added attention.
Toluca ought to have the other two Rey de Reyes semifinals. If this show airs at 03/04, then Tolcua would air 03/11, and maybe the TV after that doesn’t air until after Rey de Reyes (03/18 weekend?) They really don’t have to announce the Rey de Reyes lineup before Toluca, because they’d still have over two weeks before the PPV, but it probably should be clear by then.
Máscara Dorada vs Kushida for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship: a battle for survival for Dorada. He spent most of his last defense doing anything he could think of, while this match was more about surviving everything Kushida could do before slipping out a win. Both were about Dorada’s toughness, just different ways of going about it. Still, this felt more like a Kushida match than a Dorada match that I’m used to Mexico – Dorada only got in small bursts of offense at opportune times, and I wasn’t into it as a I thought. It was good but not especially so. I assume a rematch to come.
these .gifs are fun for spots, but aren't great at capturing the feel of a match. This is as close as I got.
Hirooki Goto vs Rush: and this was kind of the opposite. Goto got less than the match than Dorada, easily so. Rush just crushed him for the first five minutes before Goto started getting anything in. This is so clearly what they were going for with the two Terrible/Rush matches, but haven’t been able to achieve yet (Goto is better at this than Terrible, which is not a big surprise.) Rush held his own as a luchador the whole way, the rookie mistakes long gone or at least just not showing up here, and seemed to impress the fans. This is about as good start as he could’ve had. Like everyone else, I’d like to see what Rush could do in a G1 situation; I don’t know that he’s got a lot more to show that he didn’t do here, but that kind of environment could force him to develop a bit more.
the end
La Sombra vs Volador Jr. for the NWA World Welterweight Championship: Great. They worked this differently than every other match on the show – no chop fights, no slow down, really nothing but action. There was a minute or two of first fall work, but this was mostly the longest third fall possible with both guys pulling everything they had. I kind of would’ve liked to see three falls just so they – more so Volador – could get a pin with another finish to make it seem bigger later, but they fans did tremendously get into to the match. This was a complicated well executed match in their style, and it was one that seemed like it was better than the matches the previous two years. These two keep getting better together.
Devil's Wings
peace, out
In the other matches: I thought Nakamaura wearing the Mephisto (which is actually the Kahoz) eyes and mouth on his hood was a really neat touch. The Japanese likely have a higher opinion of Diamante than the Mexicans. He wasn’t that much different, but here he was the singular super young future star of the company, instead of one of dozens who all might (or might not) turn out that way. Liger is the best. Yoshihashi actually seems worse off in NJPW than he was at the end of CMLL; just sort of lifeless and more limited. Anyone willing to spend a year and a half a hemisphere from home just to get better is someone who deserves to make it, but I don’t know that he will.
CMLL (SUN) 02/12/2012Arena Coliseo [CMLL, La Catedral]
1) Camaleón & Freesbe b Camorra & Cholo Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Demus 3:16, Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Olímpico b Aereo, Pequeño Halcón, Último Dragoncito Rudos won 2/3.
3) Rey Cometa, Titán, Triton b Arkángel de la Muerte, Hooligan, Skándalo Tecnicos took 2/3. Triton and Cometa did stereo 450s in the second fall.
4) Black Warrior, Hijo del Fantasma, Metro b Kraneo, Mr. Águila, Vangelis Tecnicos took 1/3.
5) Marco Corleone, Máximo, Rush b Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto In a rematch, La Tercia Sensacion defeated the champs in the straight falls. Tecnicos again asked for a title match. Averno again refused to have in front of the Arena Coliseo people – but did accept if it would take place in Arena Mexico. The Sunday show just so happens to be in Arena Mexico next week, so that’s Marco, Maximo and Rush’s chance.
CMLL PRI (SUN) 02/12/2012 Comité Ejecutivo Nacional del PRI, Mexico City [Pitlane] 1) Emperador & Estreundo b Destroyer & Flecha
2) Astral & Eléctrico b Demus 3:16 & Mercurio
3) Estrellita & Marcela b Amapola & Dalis la Caribeña Originally Amapola/Estrellita vs Marcela/Dalis. Dalis ended up as a ruda instead of Estrellita.
4) Máximo, Principe, Super Porky b Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto
5) Atlantis, PRImero, Shocker b Negro Casas, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. PRImero, as in the political party and “first.”
15 tons of non-perishable items were collected for the Red Cross. CMLL and the luchadors put on this show for free. Daniel Aceves, son of Bobby Bonales as seen in Dos Leyendas promos this month, is the PRI official who happens to be behind these shows. Everything ties together nicely. This is said to be first in a number of benefit shows.
DTU/IWL full results to come tomorrow. It sounds like Super Crazy kept his XNL title and DTU won the main event (and had many more fans there.)
I wonder if everyone is just hanging out for 5 days in California? About the same price for all of these shows. No idea who’s actually on these cards, though the poster features the usual crew + Blue Demon and Hijo del Anibal (??)
There are a lot of luchadors that are big parts of IWRG for months and even years, and then disappear off the face of the earth. It’s just the way of the promotion. One of the missing luchadors who is asked after about is Zatura, a flyer who hasn’t been seen in the Naucalpan ring in two years. This week’s IWRG column in SuperLuchas explains what happened: Zatura was at the 2010 year end IWRG party, left to drive home, and his car flipped over on the ride home. He was out for eight hours, and suffered a broken cranium, collarbone and femur. He underwent multiple surgeries, including pins being inserted to fix things. After surviving that, Zatura now training to get back to the ring.
The full SuperLuchas #449 has interviews with all three Parkas to hype up X-Project. Read why LA Park thinks Raven is a racist! One of the rumor columns says Alex Koslov was spotted at the CMLL offices.
Phil and Dean talking about great matches reminds me: I’ve now have forgotten to do the great match round up on three straight Fridays. This is not working out well. Maybe I’ll do this bit tomorrow, but if someone else wants to do this bit better, please steal it from me.
Super Muneco and Coco Rojo hyped up a rematch of their mask match five years ago, saying Coco Rojo has been asking for a rematch for five years. Muneco has beat a Coco Rojo in apuesta matches twice in that time.
Lucha Libre 0307 hyped up their debut show, headlined with a new clown in an apuesta match.
Lineups
IWRG (THU) 02/16/2012Arena Naucalpan
1) ? vs ??
2) Aeroboy & Eragón vs Bizarro & Leroy
3) Black Boy, Dinamic Black, Freyser vs Gran Kalifa, Tóxico, Violento Jack
4) Oficial Factor, Oficial Rayan, Oficial Spartan vs Alan Extreme, Apolo Estrada Jr., Chico Che
5) Texano Jr., Toscano, Veneno vs Eterno, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan
Violento Jack and Aeroboy aren’t booked high here when they’re not part of a DTU storyline. Leroy was on last December’s FIL show as a Negro Navarro trainee. He’s been spotted in Coacalco and la Laguna, like Black Boy.
CMLL (FRI) 02/17/2012Arena Mexico
1) Sensei & Tigre Blanco vs Artillero & Súper Comando
2) Ángel Azteca Jr., Dragon Lee, Rey Cometa vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Nitro, Skándalo
3) Fuego, Sagrado, Sangre Azteca vs Misterioso Jr., Shigeo Okumura, Vangelis
4) Atlantis & Mr. Niebla vs Averno & La Máscara and Kraneo & Super Porky and Olímpico & Valiente and Máscara Dorada & Volador Jr. and Máximo & Mephisto and La Sombra & Mr. Águila andEuforia & Guerrero Maya Jr. [natl pi, semifinal]
The National Parajes Incriedble tournament returns for a third year. The big news is the disappearance of the regions versus aspect of this tournament. (It still is ‘national’ – no spot for Marco!) The lack of appropriate and available partners meant they’d sacrifice the tecnico/rudo aspect for the regional associations. They went the other way here, dumping the regional concept for strict rudo/tecnico teams. That means the two time winners, Atlantis & Mascara Dorada, can not go for a third; Atlantis is now a tecnico. Their new teams are the two strongest of this block. Averno & La Mascara would be right there with them if they weren’t so obviously going to self destruct. Sombra & Mr. Aguila have an outside chance.
As noted in the comments, this means the final will take place on 03/02. It depends on the star power of the final, but it’s probably the semimain. CMLL doesn’t want to go past two meaningful matches on a big show, so everything else for that card are random trios matches TBA.
IWRG (SUN) 02/19/2012Arena Naucalpan
1) ? vs ??
2) Astro de Plata & Astro Rey Jr. vs Pacto Negro & The Momy
3) Charly Madrid, Dinamic Black, Golden Magic vs Gemelo Fantastico I, Gemelo Fantastico II, Violento Jack
4) Centvrión, Multifacético, Veneno vs Alan Extreme, Carta Brava Jr., Eterno
5) Angelico, Texano Jr., Toscano vs Cien Caras Jr., Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
Texano and Toscano are working here a ton. They’re not on AAA spot shows yet (though probably after Rey de Reyes?) and Perros del Mal are running once every three weeks still, so they’re probably thrilled for any work they can get. It’s tough out there.
I know it’s a mummy character and a misspelling, but “The Momy” seems like it could have better possibilities.
AAA TV (FRI) 02/10/2012 Gimnasio Municipal de Zumpango, Estado de México [R de Rudo]
1) Argenis, Atomic Boy, Relampago b Ángel Mortal, Gran Apache, Tito Santana Tito Santana replaced Gallego. Argos was at ringside, seconding his brother and the tecnicos to prevent an el Consejo attempt. Texano and Toscano did rush the ring after the match, attacking the rudos, but it shaped up as 2 Consejo vs 4 Tecnicos. Argos brought a chair in the ring – and hit his brother. He turned on the tecnicos, and revealed he was wearing an El Consejo t-shirt.
2) Dinastía, Mascarita Divina, Octagoncito b Mini Chessman, Mini Histeria, Mini Psicosis Dinistia, minis winner in the Quien Pinta Para la Corona contest, debuted with a win. Mascarita Divina replaced Mascarita Dorada.
3) El Elegido & Fenix b Alan Stone & Dark Dragon Konnan was at ringside, but very unhelpful to the rudos. His distraction led Alan Stone to lose. Alan quit La Milica because of Konnan’s acts, shoved Konnan and attacked Dark Dragon. La Socidead ran out to destroy Alan. Joaquin Roldan appeared to demand Konnan pay LA Park’s fine, right now. Konnan refused and asked how Joaquin is going to make him. Joaquin sent the AAA guys after Konnan, and they ran him off. El Consejo were back in front row seats by this point and Joaquin Roldan wanted to eject them as well. They showed off their tickets, but Joaquin reminded them that they have the right to refuse admission, and the AAA wrestlers came back to run them off.
4) Cibernético, Daga, Electroshock b Chessman, La Parka, Último Gladiador Daga, off to a strong start, beat Ultimo Gladiador with a Canadian Destroyer. Cibernetico and Parka continue to feud.
5) Dr. Wagner Jr. & El Mesías DQ Halloween & Héctor Garza Results say the match ended in a “zafarrancho”. I was not previously aware of that word, but it translates to “all hell broke loose”. Consejo attacked the tecnicos. Perro Aguayo Jr. came to the ring for a meeting of the minds. Texano Jr. noted the entire Perros were once in “El Consejo”, and Garza was a star in “El Consejo”, so they should all (re)join El Consejo. Perro pointed out El Consejo had attacked Halloween back on the Chilpancingo taping and he had not forgot. Toscano & Texano apologized like gentlemen, but this was not good enough for Perro Aguayo. his aim is not to be part of CMLL or AAA, but just be Perros del Mal. Both sides start fighting, with it going El Consjeo way because they have so many people on their roster. Both AAA & La Sociedad ran to save their people, though they didn’t stick together. Wagner demanded a chance to fight el Consejo at Rey de Reyes.
Air Date: weekend of 02/19.
Next taping is 02/19 in Deportivo Los Galeana, in Mexico City (a 6pm start.)
Rey de Reyes so far
Jarrett (c) vs Mesias [AAA WORLD]
Wagner/partners vs Texano/Toscano/other el Consejo
Rey de Reyes tournament (not yet started – could be five matches, could be one)
La Parka (and partners?) vs Cibernetico (and partners?)
Jack Evans (and partners) vs Perro Aguayo Jr. (and partners?) – no one on screen has hinted as a hair match yet.
Psycho Circus vs TNA wrestlers TBD (and probably Chessman) – based on the promo they aired last week
At least six matches plus probably a woman’s/minis’s match plus possible first round matches is a lot to squeeze on the card. They’d have to wedge in a lot of qualifying matches on TV starting next Sunday if AAA is doing it that way (so they’re probably not.) Maybe the most likely outcome is they turn some of the personal rivalries into first round four ways – a semifinal where Perro gets thru, another where Jack gets thru (Jack/Daga/Dragon/Silver!), a semifinal where neither Cibernetico/Parka get thru because they’re too busy fighting each other (maybe this is a spot for LA Park?), a fourth where a TNA guy gets thru like Carlito did last year.
Besides Mexico City, AAA TV also said they’d be going to Toluca, Leon and Guadalajara, but gave no dates. Toluca is almost always a Thursday, Leon is almost always a Monday, and Guadalajara is probably Rey de Reyes (so a Friday or a Saturday for PPV.) My best guess is
02/23 Toluca (airs 03/04) – better hope I’m wrong or Dr. Lucha & Bryan are out a guest in two weeks! 03/05 Leon (airs 03/11) yet to be announced taping? or Leon pushed back and a filler week? or a double taping? 03/16 Guadalajara Rey de Reyes (airs 03/25)
(edit: wrong!)
March 9th just seems too soon for Rey de Reyes. But this will probably be a lot clearer after today’s TV show.
IWRG (THU) 02/09/2012Arena Naucalpan [Black Terry Jr. (flickr), The Gladiatores]
1) Sky Ángel b Halcón 2000 one fall.
2) Eragón & Tritón b Comando Negro & Pacto Negro Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) Oficial Factor, Oficial Rayan, Oficial Spartan b Alan Extreme, Imposible, Kortiz First trios team up of the Oficial Elite, who took 1/3. Impossible replaced Polifacetico.
4) Centvrión, Freyser, Saruman b Apolo Estrada Jr., Canis Lupus, Chico Che Rudos took 1/3, Chico Che and Apolo splashing Freyser.
5) Eterno, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan b Angelico, Toscano, Veneno Rudos took 1/3, Pirata pinning Toscano, though Toscano had his foot on the ropes.
(photo by CMLL)
CMLL (FRI) 02/10/2012Arena Mexico [CMLL]
1) Bronco & Camorra b Leono & Soberano Jr. Zayco, out hurt, was listed on the rudo side. Camorra took his place.
2) Diamante, Pegasso, Rey Cometa DQ Cancerbero, Euforia, Raziel Straight fall win, though painful – Euforia fouled Cometa in the third.
3) Puma King b Super Halcon Jr. [lightning] Puma, accompanied by UNAM’s puma mascot Goyo, won with a new backcracker variation.
4) Dark Angel, Estrellita, Goya Kong b Amapola, Princesa Blanca, Princesa Sugheit Amapola was caught using the ropes for a pin, but Estrellita was not and that got her the win.
5) Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Tiger b Ángel de Oro, La Máscara, Valiente
6) Blue Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Máscara Dorada DQ Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas Guerrero Maya replaced Sombra, which they knew early enough in time to have up on radiocmll. Negro punted Panther for the DQ. Negro went to grab the microphone after the match, but just pummeled Panther more instead of talking. Eventually, Negro accepted Panther’s challenge for a hair match at Dos Leyendas.
Figure on a contract signing next Wednesday or Thursday. Hopefully no other Casas brother gets involved this time; nothing is guaranteed until they get thru that skit. This is just a strong verbal.
I’m picking Panther to win, but it’s not a sure thing. It’s unlikely CMLL would do two hair matches on the same show, so Amapola and Estrellita are probably headed to a title rematch.
Very bizarre that Zayco was listed as wrestling, when the promotion itself mentioned he would be out for months and they knew enough to not list Sombra’s name on the day of the show. No one talks to each other in CMLL.
I’m not going to do the traditional short description per matches here, because I basically did that for the recaps. This is going to be shorter than short. You still get your moving pictures.
Misterioso STRONG
Goto/KUSHIDA versus Mascara Dorada/Rush was that match of the night. Team Jalisco came out roaring and just took it to their more established team. This was finally getting to see Rush as a rudo, while weirdly also getting the same of Dorada. Rush came off looking like a monster in his first appearance and both singles matches were built well. This was a total success.
team Dive
I’ve watched very little NJPW this year. I went thru some of the CMLL participation early this month, but the entire Sombra G1 run is still sitting on my DVR, waiting for a day when I’ve somehow managed to exhaust all the lucha I have to watch. Tama Tonga was totally new to me and a nice little surprise. “Son of Haku” turns out to be less Haku islander and more excitable Jimmy Snuka islander. He really has a good sense of his character and the fans seemed to be getting into him. I’m also always trying to figure out how CMLL could use these people when they randomly bring them in for three weeks. They’ve been using the NJPW guys exclusively as rudo so far, but Tonga would get over great as a tecnico.
and then there was the time Diamante almost killed YujiroVolador Spiral
It appears they’re going to do Dino/Maximo vs Taichi/? every year, which is fine. Misterioso and Diamante fit in well in their roles and were surprisingly well accepted by the crowd. Mephisto could probably hang out with Chaos full time. I wanted more Volador vs Tanahashi, just because Volador versus any popular tecnico is a good time right now, but they did the right finish to set up Day 2 well. Okada kept reminding me of WWE’s Jack Swagger, appearing to be a physically talented guy but missing that extra spark to be a top guy. He did not seem near Tanahashi’s level. Not that I’m the first or last to say that.
