RIOT (SAT) 04/30/2016Arena Femenil, Monterrey, Nuevo León [LuchaMania Monterrey]
1) Alberto Dos Rios b Dulce Kanela
2) Drastik Boy b Erick Ortiz
3) Dragón Celta b Kamikaze, Kratoz Kamikaze beat Kratoz, and Celta won with a 450 splash on Kamikaze.
4) Hooligan Byron & Kaientai b Galactar & Rico Rodríguez Tablon helped Hooligan & Kaientai
5) Caifan b Dralion Good match. Caifan suplexed Dralion for the win. Dralion was shaken up after the match. Alberto asked for the next show at Caifan. Caifan asked for applause for Dralion, then accepted the challenge.
6) Último Ninja b Jinzo Good match. Ninja won with a jackhammer.
There’s video highlights of the top two matches, which sound good.
The YouTube version is a bit messed up – there’s no finish of the third match, and it seemed like there might be problems with earlier in the show that weren’t there live. It doesn’t totally matter; the main event was the one match really worth watching and that seems to be complete.
Mephisto told Mas Lucha that this was beginning of the Era of Mephisto. He’s probably right. Mephisto picking up a singles title after winning a big tournament seems to set him for a big match in September. It’s still over four months away and CMLL could change it’s mind (or pair it with another match, like Marco versus Rush), but the two big wins in a week are a sign he’s in the plans at the moment.
Mephisto’s opponent isn’t clear. Friday pointed at it being Caristico, but if Caristico would be busy for years if he got apuesta matches against everyone he lost to cleanly over the last eight months. Mistico versus Mephsito was once a plan and may be again. Even Dorada seems like a possibility if CMLL wanted to move him to another level. There were no outright mask challenges with any of these people recently, so the thing to watch for is the next time Mephisto gets into a feud or a title defense on Friday nights.
CMLL also likes to balance it’s championships out, so the Hijo del Infiernos might not be long for the trios championship. (Plus, if Mephisto is going to be a top guy in the promotion, he probably needs to be hanging out with more reliable partners than current day Ephesto & Lucifierno – too bad Averno is busy; Caristico & Mistico vs Averno & Mephisto is the ideal match.) Their recap of Monday’s Puebla show has the Angel de Oro, Stuka and Stigma team aiming to get a Mexican national trios championship, which didn’t come across on the show – seemed more like a direct Angel/Mephisto feud. That’s take care of it.
Tonight’s Lucha Underground is episode #15 of the season, “No Mas”. Matches announced.
The Mack versus Marty the Moth for an Aztec Medallion
Siniestro de la Muerte versus King Cuerno for an Aztec Medallion
Cage (c) versus Mascarita Sagrada for Cage’s Aztec Medallion (preview video)
Sexy Star versus the Mariposa in a No Mas match for an Aztec Medallion
No Mas is an I Quit match. Reports live said the match was very violent. Some people have understandably had issues with violence against women on this show, and I’m curious as to the reaction when it’s another woman inflicting the violence.
There will be six Medallions handed out by the end of the show. Last year, Dario just handed the seventh to Big Ryck. He may not hand one out this time, but they’re going to be close to another Gift of the Gods match soon.
Season 3 of Lucha Underground was believed to be wrapping up with the recently announced May dates. It’s definitely going longer. If you send an email to the Lucha Underground tickets email address, you’ll get an autorespond email which mentions all tickets are gone, but they’ll have more tapings in June. This fits with a Rolling Stone interview with Catrina from a couple weeks ago, where the show has or was about to get picked up for around 14 episodes. That sounds like the episode count is going from the 26 of season 2 to the 39 of season 1.
Lucha Underground has been taping about 5 episodes a weekend, and about two weekends a month. They’d need three more weekends to wrap up taping. There’s no way they’re taping the first week of June (Lucha World Cup) and I’d gotten a hint that Ultima Lucha was going to be in July and not May, so everything matches up. (In slightly related news, I don’t think I’m going this month to LA.)
More episodes sounds like good news for Lucha Underground. That is not a deep take, but it’s also worth pointing out. Maybe they just saved enough money by taping season 3 so soon to add episodes, or maybe there’s other reasons going on – the additional episodes would takes the total episode count over 100, which used to mean a lot for syndication reasons and money reasons. I have no idea if it still means a lot, but it sounds good. I feel slightly more optimistic about season 4 but, more importantly, the people involved are probably going to feel slightly more optimistic about the show making it long term and it may affect decisions on what they do next. (I’d feel better if there wasn’t a long empty break in in-ring activity coming still; there’s going to be no need to film episodes for 12 months after they finish this.)
Some of the people who might be making those decisions about what’s next are AAA people who work for Lucha Underground. There’s been murmurs of some of those people going either out on their own, or even joining a mythical Konnan project since the middle of season 2, over dissatisfaction with AAA. The talk of that actually happening has lessened in the last month or so, but whatever decision they might make is going to be pushed off a couple months with the tapings going longer. That season end won’t happen until July now, close enough to TripleMania that maybe that’ll keep a decision off even longer. (Or, close enough to TripleMania that it’ll be really hard to replace people if they walk out.)
Elite’s two Liga Elite matches tonight are LA Park versus Atlantis and Negro Casas versus Rush. Casas & Rush famously feuded in 2014, and Rush leads 2-1 in 1v1 matches. LA Park and Atlantis only have one known singles match in their long careers, and it was a random show in Arena Xalapa. Atlantis is the only one of this foursome with a win so far – he’s got 2, so he could easily afford a loss.
It’s still early and there’s no real reason to believe this tournament will actually resolve in any satisfying way, but let’s pretend it will for a second. If you simulate this tournament format enough times, it looks like 14 points means you’ll likely escape the apuesta tournament. 19 points or more means you’ll likely make the title tournament. No one’s close to those milestones, but Atlantis could be the closest to safety with a win. (Imagine Atlantis losing his mask in this tournament.)
The other Elite TV match is a Caristico, Mistico, Mascara Dorada versus Angel Blanco Jr., Euforia and Ultimo Guerrero trios match. Elite started off with building next week’s main event off the trios match, but they’ve gotten around it of late. MasLucha is usually at the shows to interview people, and I’m curious what Angel Blanco Jr. is going to say about being back in Arena Mexico.
The non-TV matches includes Angel de Oro & Golden Magic versus Argos & Magno, Hijo de Dos Caras, Jinzo & Metaleon versus Cuatrero, Sanson & the debuting Hijo del Medico Asesino and Estrellita & Jarochita versus Muneca de Plata & Rossy Moreno. Elite seemed like they were doing something with Oro & Magic as a regular team on the Sunday shows, but it hasn’t been seen as much on the Wednesday ones (and Angel de Oro might simply be a sub for Dragon Lee.)
This is kind of strange: an article on Record proclaims one of the Psycho Circus will be in the Lucha World Cup, winning a qualifier in Orizaba. It looks like it was published just about the same time the actual Orizaba card went out, which has a completely different qualifier. I don’t think they’re doing both. The rest of the article is the same generic Pentagon and Texano quotes from the article AAA sent out a few days ago, so maybe someone (Psycho Clown) got bumped from the tournament at the last second and the weird looking card is a result. Guessing at the original card
? vs ??
Niño Hamburguesa, Garza Jr., Elegido vs Taurus, Cuervo, Scoria
Argenis, Australian Suicide, A Tecnico (Bengala?) vs Averno, Chessman, Ricky Marvin
Daga & Joe Lider vs Nicho & Pagano
Psycho Clown vs Murder Clown vs Monster Clown in the qualifiers
Texano Jr., La Parka vs Zorro, ?
They’re short a match and a spot for Hijo del Pirata Morgan, but maybe that Una Lucha Mas was actually the missing AAA opening match crew and not locals. Pirata could fit in there. A last minute change with the names already locked in would explain the weirdness (Pagano in a singles main event, Monster Clown & Murder Clown vs the Perros, an immediate tag title rematch) Original card is still not super great.
The 05/16 AAA in Nuevo Laredo show has Hernandez and Herodes Jr. as part of the show. Herodes Jr. possibility might just be in a local, though he’s in a higher spot than usual for that. Hernandez being on this show means he likely is planned to be the mystery guy in Orizaba and my wild guess might have been right. I’m stunned too.
The Lucha Mexico documentary, featuring Shocker, Strong Man, Fabian el Gitano and others, is scheduled to be released on on July 15. It’s going to be on iTunes among other places.
CMLL (TUE) 05/10/2016Arena México
1) Astral & Fantasy vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito
2) Leono, Sensei, Star Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Sangre Azteca
3) Fuego vs Disturbio [lightning]
4) Blue Panther Jr., Pegasso, The Panther vs Fujin, Okumura, Raijin
5) Ángel de Oro, Súper Porky, Tritón vs Hechicero, Kráneo, Sagrado
6) Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Stuka Jr. vs Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero, Vangellys
Niebla Roja pops back up again after no matches here since the middle of March.
Fujin & Raijin are pretty locked to the Panthers.
CMLL (TUE) 05/10/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Yaqui & Johnny Dinamo vs Diplomático & Linterna
2) Flyer, Soberano Jr., Starman vs Canelo Casas, Espanto Jr., Metálico
3) Blue Panther, Rey Cometa, Titán vs Cavernario, Puma, Tiger
4) Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Valiente vs Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
5) Rush vs Terrible
Rush versus Terrible is always fun. It’d be neat if it made video, but it’s very inconsistent from here.
Mr. Niebla is back from his latest sojourn. It’ll be about four weeks between matches, so mark this up as another maybe suspension.
Full card for their Anniversary show. Pagano should teach a course on how he’s managed to get on top of these cards despite not being a 90s legend or a son of a legend. There’s plenty of people who do hardcore matches who haven’t captured the imagination of indie promoters like he has.
AULL’s regular wrestlers are all shuffled to the undercard in unimportant matches. As usual.
What happened: Mephisto continued his new success by defeating Mascara Dorada for the CMLL Welterweight Championship. (Mephisto is now the favorite to put up his mask at the Anniversary show, though it’s still a long way away and it’s not totally clear who he’d face.)
What was good: The main event, really. Dorada/Mephisto was great. The women’s match was the only thing watchable from the undercard.
Where can I watch it:It’s on CMLL’s YouTube channel. Note the stream went out during the show, and the end of the third match wasn’t broadcasted and doesn’t appear on the VOD (unless they edit it later.)Read More
This lineup looks odd. It’s because they’ve scheduled an AAA taping for the same weekend as a LU taping, and just about everyone you’d expect to be on the LU show will be in Los Angeles. There’s no minis or women either, so there’s not many men around who aren’t being employed. (Somewhere, there will be a small show Mamba, Apache, Bengala, Atomic Boy, Ludxor, Venom, Parka Negra and Soul Rocker.) What’s left doesn’t seem to be too promising of the card. This is a victim of scheduling.
It is nice to AAA’s giving a singles main event to young luchadors. It’s jawdropping that Pagano is getting this before Pentagon or Fenix or other people. (Psycho didn’t even get this at Rey de Reyes.) Again, part of this is circumstance – Psycho/Pagano has a TV feud behind it, and seems like a fresher match than Psycho/Zorro, and Pagano fits there better than in the semimain, and not many people are around. Maybe people who would’ve been used in this spot in other years. Still, if AAA would do this with Pagano, they’ve got to be doing it with Pentagon. Pagano has benefited far more from Pentagon Jr. winning the Lucha World Cup than Pentagon Jr.
The silhouette – maybe we’ve got to stop actually putting the silhouettes on posters – looks like Hernandez to me. I don’t know anything, it could just be a picture of the sake of a picture (which is what I’d do now – or just stop doing the silhouette bit) – and I don’t know why it’d be Hernandez, but that’s who I thought of first. Maybe he could be another member of Team Trump and the Lucha World Cup, though that would likely be announced Monday. Maybe that’s the case for the silhouette – if they’re going to announce the guy anyway on Monday, than it makes it easier to add him in.
I would’ve gone 0-3 for three guesses in the last qualifier. Hijo del Pirata Morgan is really good, but the next time he wins a big match in AAA will be the first time. So it’s Nicho & Ricky, which is an interesting pairing. Nicho’s last stint in AAA ended – according to Konnan on podcasts – when he attacked Ricky Marvin and two had a fight after they had problems in a match. They’ve been on the same tapings since then, so hopefully they’ve worked things out. Ricky is the better pick for Lucha World Cup match quality (and he’ll likely be there anyway as a translator for the Japan teams), but Nicho is the better star – in Mexico & the US – and maybe the difference doesn’t matter as much if the qualifying team is out in the first round again. It’d allow them to play up the Perros/Fronterzas feud once more. The recent AAA booking has been more focused on their storylines than creating good matches. I don’t know how this is going to turn out.
3rd match is an immediate rematch following the indecisive finish in Orizaba. Not sure what the point is of having title when they’re (essentially) the second match on a card when all the depth is stripped out of the card. I suspect, just like last time, they’ll be moved up on the day of the show, but they don’t seem like much of a prize if the guys holding them are working lower on the card than they did before they were champions.
That tag title match is probably the best bet for a good match on the show, but it’s not a exciting show of match quality. I wasn’t a big fan of Psycho’s matches with Wagner and Psycho/Pagano will lean even heavier on brawling and blood. La Parka means not a good match. 2/4 look like bad/weird combinations of people.
AAA lists the Puebla Lucha World Cup show as the next TV taping on TV, which is an extraordinary long break and would mean the World Cup is part of regular TV right away. I think there might be another taping announced somewhere in here.
CMLL (SUN) 05/01/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Black Sugar & Micro b Destructor & Quca
2) Capitán Cobra & Linterna DQ Carlo Roggi & Mr. Brisa Rudos took 2/3, with Linterna betraying Cobra in fall 3 and joining the rudos after the match.
3) El Alteño, Explosivo, Star Black bDemonio Rojo, Gran Kenut, Mr. Apolo Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Relámpago & Thunder Boy DQ Cosmos & Metatrón Rudos took 1/3, the last when Relampago tossed his mask to Cosmos to draw the DQ. This sets up a singles match next week.
5) Esfinge, León Blanco, Magnum b Furia Roja, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno Tecnicos took 2/3.
Cosmos/Relampago had already been announced for next week.
CMLL (MON) 05/02/2016Arena Puebla [thecubsfan]
1) Black Tiger & Meyer b Ares & Guerrero Espacial 16:58. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Oro Jr., Pegasso, Soberano Jr. b Espíritu Maligno, Rey Apocalipsis, Toro Bill Jr. 12:20. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Estrellita b Dalys [lightning] 6:40. Estrellita wanted a title match next week.
4) Ángel de Oro, Stigma, Stuka Jr. DQ Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto 11:37. Tecnicos took 1/3. Mephisto unmasked Angel de Oro for the DQ. Angel de Oro wanted a rematch next week.
5) Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys b Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas 10:23. TGR took 1/3.
6) La Máscara b Carístico 12:39. La Mascara took 1/3, getting away with a mask pull in the third for the unlikely victory. Caristico wants that mask vs mask match.
Show is very skippable. I liked the second match and regretted my lack of sleep for the rest of the show. This version of Caristico, who will lose all the time to whoever in big matches, would’ve probably been a nice addition to AAA. Caristico losing singles matches is not quite the normal way to build someone to an Anniversary match, but, on the flip side, there’s got to be a pretty tasty carrot at the end of whatever stick he’s chasing.
Tonight’s another interesting data point to work out what CMLL is doing this September. Mephisto challenges Mascara Dorada for the CMLL Welterweight Championship, a rematch from just two months ago in the same building. CMLL likes repeating singles matches in a short time – see all the Maximo/Euforia matches – but they typically move them to different venues each time. Tuesday Arena Mexico comes off as a different world than Friday Arena Mexico, but they’re still all in Arena Mexico and it’s strange they’d come back with it quick. It’s CMLL, so any outcome doesn’t have to and usually doesn’t fit any long term plan, but Mephisto defeating Dorada for the title after losing every other single time they’ve met in a title match would suggest CMLL is building something with Mephisto.
The rest of the card is pretty blah. That preview lists Amapola in La Seductora’s spot in the women’s trios (Amapola, Tiffany, Zeuxis vs Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi.) The second best match on the show might be Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Stigma versus Virus, Raizel and Okumura. Super Porky is listed as back in action, teaming with Blue Panther and Stuka against Ephesto, Lucifierno and Bobby Z in the semimain.
The show starts at 7:30 pm, and will air on CMLL.com and YouTube as normal.
A Notimex wire story about the Lucha World Cup had a bunch of details which AAA hadn’t announced yet. The big news is the women’s tournament is confirmed and has four trios (US, Mexico, Japan and Canada), the men’s is eight trios (same as last year) and the first rounds of both will happen at the Puebla show on June 3rd. AAA really needs to broadcast that show live somehow – a free YouTube stream to promote the PPV two days later would be idea – because it’s going to be interesting enough to draw people and also not so useful two days later. That Puebla show is happening in a convention center, so I wonder if there will be some sort of lucha libre expo around it. There must be some catch for them to be running it there instead of at the bullring they usually run (or maybe they didn’t want to risk rain.)
The format means the June 5th show will have the women’s final and the men’s semifinals and finals. That’s only four matches, last year’s final had eight matches (and was at least a half hour too long.) A different version of that article mentions they’re making medals for best match/best dive/best luchador, so probably tack on third place matches so they can hand out bronze medals. That’s six, so maybe throw in a match with some members of the eliminated teams or the (many) other AAA wrestlers who won’t be on the card to round everything out.
The article says more info on the outside teams will be announced next Monday. I guess we’ll get the poster for Orizaba today or tomorrow, which will have the final match for qualifying for the tournament.
NJPW announced it’s Best of Super Juniors field this morning. To everyone’s surprise, Dragon Lee is not in the tournament. Instead, the sole CMLL representative is Volador Jr. in his first ever time in the tournament. He’ll be out of CMLL from May 21st to June 7th, with 7 singles matches over two weeks. Volador’s group is Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV, Bobby Fish, Barreta, Nick Jackson, Ricochet, and Will Ospreay.
Volador’s booked on 05/15 Monterrey for ELITE, and that might be about his last match before this tournament. It’d also mean Volador wouldn’t be around for Liga Elite matches on maybe May 18th, May 25, June 1st, and probably June 8th. Maybe he gets in another one next week so he doesn’t fall behind.
Ospreay, Ricochet and maybe Volador look like the three who are going to be in competition to advance. Ospreay just signed with NJPW and Ricochet versus Kushida is a logical big NJPW match they haven’t done yet. It’s tougher to be confident about where Volador fits in. CMLL luchadors usually finish about 3-4 in these things, but Volador has been treated as the biggest star from CMLL on the recent FantasticaMania shows and that would figure to give him some protection. (This also means we’re going to get the top high flyer from CMLL versus the top high flyer from the partially AAA owned Lucha Underground sometime in the next few weeks.) It’d be dumb for CMLL to send over their top tecnico to look bad in a this tournament, but CMLL is completely capable of that. I could imagine anything from Volador going to the final to Volador finishing fifth.
Dragon Lee seemed like a cinch to be in this tournament. It could be he was pulled due to his knee injury, though these lineups are usually figured out well in advance – especially with a guy like Volador Jr., who’d be more difficult to replace in Mexico at the last second. (I’d expect someone like the Panther or Guerrero Maya to be plugged in if it was a last second thing and they just needed a body.) It may be NJPW doesn’t want to bring back Dragon Lee until they bring back Kamaitachi, and Kamaitachi isn’t supposed to be back in NJPW for months. It’d be disappointing if Dragon Lee wasn’t getting that chance right away or ever, but it is probably a good thing he won’t be in a hurry to come back from his knee injury.
Superluchas has an interview with Mini Charly Manson, recently out of AAA. He says he’s happy with the support he’s got now that he’s an indie, and felt stalled in AAA. He was hoping to announce a new identity early in May, and now says it’ll happen on May 15.
Last night’s show goes 2 for 4 on challenges going anywhere. Little known fact: Shocker & Negro Casas are actually the tag team champions.
This would be Dalys’ second defense – she had one in this past weekend in Oaxaca.
Perhaps this is the start of the Gran Alternativa debutees making their way into normal matches. Warrior Steel & Yago make a debut here, and are interesting opponents for the Gen 11 trio than the usual veteran rudos.
Humo is normally an all women’s promotion, so the third match being there is weird but great.
Main event is Mexico City versus the rest of Mexico. Keira showing up here (and not in Xalapa) is a little bit interesting. Mima Shimoda is back in town for DragonMania.
No Casas/Hechicero. Monterrey aired repeat matches instead. The internet feed was down for the first half of AYM’s airing of IWRG on Monday night, and the LAS TV version is apparently not airing until late night tonight. Read More