I added 1970s lucha libre lineups, mostly from the cities Torreon and Gomez Palacio to the luchadb database a few days ago. This covers every year from 1970 to 1979. They’re integrated the different pages of this site, and they’re also just available here. This is a slow continuing project to mine the El Siglo de Torreon archive for lucha lineups and results.
That’s an inflated number. El Siglo de Torreon does not carry articles or ads for lucha libre events between 1970 and August 1974, with the exception of one show in 1973. All the events from that period are from posters I’ve previously stumbled upon on Facebook pages. There are shows still happening during that period, they just only get written about when there’s something like a fight between a wrestler and a fan. Even when they are mentioned later in the year, it’s only Plaza de Toros and short run Auditoro shows which take out ads. The only Gomez Palacio wrestling shows are two special event type shows (which I didn’t notice until writing these up.) Arena Olimpico Laguna is running, as are other smaller arenas, but go unmentioned until the 80s. The silver lining is it’s about as quick to get thru this whole decade as it is a year in the 1990s because the shows are so few.
There are less pages in the papers, and very few of them are ever spend on lucha libre. There’s a long interview with Cavernario Galindo, who talks about his career. At that time, April 1975, he’d invested 250,000 pesos and sold his car in a Bobby Bonales led project to build a lucha libre/boxing arena in Ciudad Netzahualcoyotl. Arena Neza opened two years later in that neighborhood, so I’d assume that was the plan. Galindo’s plan was to wrestle on the first show in the arena (which he believed would open in May of 1976) and then retire for good. He’d end up wrestling occasionally until 1992.
It’s not really an article, but a 1976 local show ends up aired on TV a few days later. At other times, it seems like this area may be getting Arena Coliseo Guadalajara’s lucha libre. That aired for decades, though there a few signs of it today.
That’s really it. Maybe I’ll do 60s too before going back to those magazines. Edit: I kinda am.
All the stuff that used to be found in places in like “thecubsfan.com/cmll/events” can now be found in the slightly better “luchadb.com/events” location. The data will not have changed in any way, but it’s just it doesn’t have to share a room with these blogs any more. If you’re using an old link, it should seemlessly redirect to the page on the new domain.
The old data is still around. I’m giving myself some to make sure this works before pulling it off the website entirely. If there’s something you can’t find or a link that doesn’t work any longer, let me know. I end up typing page names instead of clicking links, so there’s probably some some links I just haven’t thought to correct.
luchadb.com has some small content on it. I have some ideas – I’d like to make a list of notable non-Big 2 shows like the AAA & CMLL ones, but I’m not sure how to exactly define what a notable show, and my database is really primitive at identifying different promotions. Maybe if someone can figure out the first part, I can figure out the second part.
I added 1998 lucha libre lineups, mostly from the cities Torreon and Gomez Palacio to the luchadb database a few weeks ago. They’re integrated the different pages of this site, and they’re also just available here. This is a slow continuing project to mine the El Siglo de Torreon archive for lucha lineups and results. This time, I wrote this post before diving into the next year. It looks like I went fast, but it was actually a lot slower.
(I did 1999 three years ago, because I originally thought I was going to do this backwards and then I just didn’t.)
That’s the most events in a single year. Again, it’s probably not that there were more events, but that the paper was listing lineups for more shows – maybe because of space, maybe one person was just motivated to include them. That’s the highest count to this point, though even more lineups would start turn up later in the decade.
The results for big matches are slightly up too. There’s a lot of previews that mention [X] got his head shaved last week or such the following week. It may just be that the word count on lucha libre stayed about the same overall though, because the news articles have virtually disappeared at this point. The national column is gone, the local column is long gone, and there’s only a handful of other articles. The positive news is the ones that were posted are interesting.
On March 18th, Brillante retires. It’s explained as his son asked him to retire weeks ago and he decided to do it, complete with Brillante writing a touching letter to his son. His son Christian, not Manuel (Sombra) – I didn’t remember he had a brother. It’s lucha libre, so Brillante is back in early 1999, asked to defend a title he never actually gave up and then picking up a second one. He disappears for a few more months, then wrestles under a new mask as Black Ninja for a little while before losing it and continuing back onto this day. I hope Christian got over it.
The end of the year has a big profile of one Ultimo Guerrero. He was not around home much this year, busy elsewhere: this is the year where he took Mr. Aguila’s mask, after jumping from Promo Azteca in 1997 when he was slated to lose his mask. That turned out to be a great call. Guerrero credits Blue Panther for helping him jump to CMLL. Panther previously got him, Pantera del Ring/Ephesto and Ultimo Rebelde/Lucifierno into Promo Azteca and didn’t seem to leave Promo Azteca on the best terms, so he had some stakes in making sure a protege of his made the jump. Ultimo Guerrero had gone to Japan for the first time this year, as part of a CMLL Japan tour, and talks of possibly signing a two year deal with NJPW in 1999. Guerrero says that if that doesn’t work out, he might instead go to the WWF. This interview took place early on in the of the WWF Super Astros run, which included future partners Tarzan Boy & Rey Bucanero among others. It’s possible Ultimo Guerrero really did have a chance to go to WWF at one point, though I wonder if they would’ve asked him to unmasked like they did with Bucanero & Aguila.
This may be the last one of these for a while. I have some 2006 clean up to do, but probably not going to do a post about it. I was able to do half the work for the 1979 one, but the pre-1985 ones don’t have much to them and I might do something like post the 70s in two stacks. I should get back to the magazines I was looking thru for a while, but moving over the luchadb is the next free time priority.
Short version: I’m thinking of taking the luchadb – the sprawling database of lucha libre events, results, and video links – and moving off to it’s own separate domain. It would be the same site, more or less, but in a new place. I haven’t committed to doing this yet. It’s close enough that I’m mentioning it here just in case any one had any comments
Longer version: I’ve had problems with this website overrunning it’s memory limit and crashing for years. I assumed it was just because I have a lot of stuff hosted on the same account. Both this entire thecubsfan.com domain and the entire luchawiki.org domain are on the same hosting server, and were under one user account. That’s definitely part of the problem, and will be an issue if/until I decide to throw more money at the memory issues.
In early March, I discovered another big part of the problem is there was malware hidden in my site. As best I can tell, it never affected anyone’s password by my own servers ones, using the hosting computer to do things. I’m not even totally clear what things: the code was intentionally scrambled and mostly loaded other websites. Maybe spam, maybe DNS attacks, I’m not sure. I’m thinking I must’ve just been too slow on a WordPress or wiki software update and that’s all that it took.
What I am sure of is that is that it was a pain to get the malware out. That too is partly because I had so much stuff under one account. It was about 65 GB of files. Some of those are large MP3 files, some of them are tiny thumbnail images or pages, and it added up to a lot of places to hide malicious code. I tried looking for the malware myself, I had my hosting try, and I paid a third party company to look at the files and do the same, and we’d keep running into the same problem. There was so much to scan thru that we couldn’t keep it all clean at once, with the malware sneaking back in to clean areas before we get it out of the unscanned sections. The outside company convinced me it was just way too much to have all the sites on the same account, and they were right. Once I moved the luchawiki over to it’s own walled off section, it didn’t take long to finally get both sites clean. Everything’s been working fine for about a week now.
I wouldn’t have spent a month plus on this problem if I just had split the websites up under separate accounts to begin with which makes me think I ought to do more of it. If I moved the “luchadb” – the comprehensive results/wrestlers/videos database – onto it’s own domain, then those large amount of files won’t be subject to any problem caused by missing WordPress patch. It’d also have the side effect of making it appear the slightest bit professional if the links were all “luchadb.com/” rather than “thecubsfan.com/cmll/events/whatever”. My problem is it’s entirely not professional as it is. It it’s 100% code I wrote myself, cobbled together with whatever idea I had at that moment and no great overarching plans. It’s going to take a fair bit of work to just move it elsewhere, because it was never written with the forethought it might need to be moved. Moving it also might might cause old links to stop working, though I can set up some general redirects. I’m not sure if the difference really matters to anyone beyond myself, and I’ve long put off this idea thinking the time wasn’t worth the effort it would take. The malware bit has me thinking maybe it’s worth the effort not.
I’m mentioning this now just in case the couple dozen of you who actually use it on a regular basis have some thoughts about why I should or shouldn’t do it. I’ve done some testing around with the idea on luchadb.com account now, and I think I’ll be able to do make the move, at the price of a couple weeks of working on that instead of the other things I might be doing (so maybe less weird posters for that whlie.) I’m not going to start thinking hard about until I finish up with the 1998 laguna data mining, which may be a week or so still off.
And if I can get get luchadb.com to work, and I don’t hate moving things around and setting up redirects by then, the next thing on the roadmap would be to finally move this blog to be really located under luchablog.com. But that’s a ways down the road.
I added 1997 lucha libre lineups, mostly from the cities Torreon and Gomez Palacio (and an increasing amount from elsewhere), to the luchadb database a few weeks ago. They’re integrated the different pages of this site, and they’re also just available here. This is a slow continuing project to mine the El Siglo de Torreon archive for lucha lineups and results. This time, I wrote this post before diving into the next year. It looks like I went fast, but it was actually a lot slower.
That’s an explosion. I don’t think the lucha scene rebounded. It seems like the paper is just covering more of the smaller shows it might not have before as the page count increases. The visual posters that were the only way the shows were covered are virtually gone, the one up there is the only one I found all year. The non-show writing about lucha libre dries up as well. The last Super Dioses de Lucha Libre national article appears in August, and there’s only handful of local stories in the last few months.
It might also be because I had to do these differently. I usually just use a text search for “lucha”, sort thru the vast majority of articles which don’t have anything to do with lucha libre, and then maybe double check on certain arenas. The text search was broke from July to the end of the year this year. Instead had to find the sports section in each days paper, look for any lucha articles, and go from there. It was slow but it seemed to work, so I’m doing it that way for 1998. It does mean anything lucha libre not in the sports section was missed – like if they covered another area elsewhere in the paper.
Not much news means not much to write about here. There are a few big bios and history pieces. A Polo Torres thinks lucha libre is bad nowadays article leads into a nice bio of a famous wrestler who’s not well known today. A bio of Joe Marin improves on one from a few years prior, revealing the former Mexican lightweight champion was actually born in Arizona. His parents moved to Coahuila months later and registered him as being born there. There’s also a story of him almost dying in a match with Manuel Robles. One with Espanto II talks about him and his brother working their way of a Tuesday shows with a 20 match win streak. Maybe that’s what Magnus needs to do. Gran Markus reveals he was originally Dr. Markus because they thought his body looked a lot the then recently deceased Medico Asesino. They switched it to Gran when he started wrestling in Mexico City. King I talks about wrestling in the US for years, including winning the Tennessee Tag Titles (??) and going to one less and one draw with Lou Thesz. He trained a lot of luchadors, including Blue Panther, Pimpinela Escarlata, and Babe Face.
There’s a big article on the AAA versus Promo Azteca TV war, noting they claim to be promoting different styles of products but look about the same to casual fans even though Promo Azteca says they’re more serious. CMLL is treated as if they don’t exist, but really all the promotions are treated that way – it doesn’t read like they were interviewed for this article. The idea that lucha libre is scripted is off handily confirmed by Mexico City lucha libre commission official Rafael Barradas, but in way to prove not everything is scripted – Gori Guerrero walking out of EMLL rather than drop the NWA LH title to Ray Mendoza is the example.
Pentagon talks about his injury about one year after it happens. The spine injury meant he didn’t get oxygen to the brain for six minutes, which caused a serious brain injury. He remembers nothing about the following two months, it took six months for him to even be able to move his hand, with his condition improving from there. Last year, articles said AAA didn’t support Pentagon. This year, Pentagon says they helped pay for his hospital bills and will be running 2-3 charity shows for him. One of those shows in Torreon gets canceled, though that’s because they’re running one in Monterrey the same day. It seems to get made up late in the year. Late in the year, Pentagon II wrestles locally, and no one treats it as a big deal after fretting about the possibility in 1997.
Local luchador Gran Kalifa (Luis Alberto Salazar Rosales, suddenly passes away at 24 years of age. There’s no details, though it doesn’t appear to be in-ring related.
The lucha libre commission in Torreon, Gomez Palacio and Lerdo have a meeting where they unify on regulations and licensing, trying to get onto the same standard as Mexico City. There’s talk of doing the same with Ciudad Juarez. The 4 promoters given licenses at the time are Rudy Palma (Arena La Ribera), Santiago Valdes (Palacio de la Deportes), Ministro (de la Muerte?) I (Arena Calderon Rocha) and Alberto Dipp of Arena Olimpico Laguna.
Tony Rodriguez and Diamante get profiles before their July apuesta match. There’s onetwo articles about the 64th anniversary of lucha libre, mentioning plans to bring in Haku & Barbarian from WCW. It doesn’t actually happen.
New Winners was X-Fly for about one match. Someone shows up in Laguna saying he’s now 20 year old New Winners, then comes back around Christmas saying he’s changed his name to Disc Jocker Joe but is still training with Pepe Casas. It’s supposed to be Disc Jockey, but no one can spell it. I know this is one of the Andrade brothers and I think it’s Kevin, but I’ve not been able to figure it out when it came up in the 1999 group
I added 1996 lucha libre lineups, mostly from the cities Torreon and Gomez Palacio (and an increasing amount from elsewhere), to the luchadb database a few weeks ago. They’re integrated the different pages of this site, and they’re also just available here. This is a slow continuing project to mine the El Siglo de Torreon archive for lucha lineups and results, where the slowest part is me actually writing this post.
I do that list for my own sanity. I’m creeping thru 1997 now, which will take longer than usual due to issues. I have 1998 to do. I should look thru 2006 to clear that out, and then I’m done? Or I go back to the 70s, which should at least have a lot less of these and move quicker.
The lineup count is back down again; the scene is still Arena Olimpico Laguna and maybe one or two other arenas. The non-Torreon/Gomez Palacio lineups are now virtually gone. The names on these shows are greatly reduced to; there’s few AAA & CMLL talent visiting, and Monterrey isn’t sending people. It’s mostly local luchador, with no TV or any avenue to grow the star power of those local wrestlers. This is pretty much the local scene as it stands two decades later.
The one exception is the existence of PROMELL as the third promotion. Blue Panther introduces the third group to readers early in the year. He claims PROMELL is not a promotion, rather a wrestler co-op where the wrestlers own it owners. Panther objects to fans believing luchadors are simply products of TV and AAA’s work. His guys are upset about Antonio Pena getting both the credit and most of the money in AAA. The economic crisis has cut everyone’s money, so they’ve struck out on their own to see if they can get more that way. Panther does the usual bit of positioning the group as Lucha Libre The Way It Ought To Be: stipulations will be adhered to, those who lose a mask or hair will lose in the ring, no rudo (Tirantes) referee affecting outcomes, no dancing or drunk wrestlers, instead a dignified spectacle. Panther argues fans are tired of watching lucha libre on TV and would return to going to shows instead. Later in the year, Atlantis is less anti-TV but also makes the case for the live experience.
The list of wrestlers mentioned as being on the PROMELL roster include Hermanos Dinamitas, Angeles Azteca, Dragon de Oro, El Signo, Los Destructores, Lizmark, Solar and locals Pantera del Ring, Super Punk, Flanagan. Those last three are who we know today as Ephesto, Luciferno and Ultimo Guerrero, getting their first national break via PROMELL. Pantera del Ring has been traveling for years. Punk & Flanagan seem to leave the arena in January, but don’t get regular work in Mexico City for months. They make their first appearances back in Gomez Palacio as Ultimo Guerrero & Ultimo Rebelde in June, with the paper seemingly unaware of their previous identities. They do figure it out by the next time.
PROMELL doesn’t stay PROMELL or off TV long. The paper covers the October press conference of Promo Azteca, with the TV network creating it’s own lucha libre show and promotion to rival Televisa. In an attempt to make the PROMELL story work, that’s explained to be a separate live event group from the TV promotion, but most people just think of it as Promo Azteca only when it lasts. Konnan is announced as being in charge of the TV product. He infamously had some harsh things to say about Antonio Pena in announcing his new project. The newspaper project seems to ignore them. They focus more on Mascara Sagrada being upset with Pena over control of his name and the guys who’ve replaced him in AAA (who are outed as Kraneo & Aguila de Acero.)
The other national story that resonates locally is Pentagon (Jesús Andrade Salas) near death in a match in Aguascalientes. It comes off as no one fully understanding the extent of it at first, with both AAA and people close to him trying to keep the specifics quiet until they have a falling out over money. The injury happens on March 6th, and the big story on the situation shows up on March 30th in onetwo parts. Pentagon was in a coma for three days, and spent two weeks in the hospital before being transferred to a recovery center back to Torreon. His injury is described as a temporary loss of blood to the brain due to a spine/nervous system trauma, with any connection to drugs being obviously kept quiet. Joaquin Roldan, Octagon and AAA’s doctors are mentioned as visiting Pentagon in the hospital in Agusacalientes.
The article mentions other unnamed wrestlers unhappy with how Pentagon was being treated, and with the match being shown on television. The situation escalates when AAA says Pentagon will return in a couple weeks, while PROMELL says he’ll never be able to return from this injury. What’s probably really going on is AAA getting ready to just put someone else under the Pentagon mask, as they’ve already done with other characters. The press over the situation might have contributed to AAA holding off until 1997 to actually do it. It doesn’t do much for Pentagon himself, who’s later said to have $13K in expenses and living in private hospital. He never does return to the ring, though he appears at shows to talk about this injury thru this day.
The Pentagon name being passed along is a familiar situation to people who keep up with lucha libre today, and there’s an Espanto Jr. in CMLL today. One more of his names also was reused: “Santo Negro” pops up on shows after the Pentagon injury. A Santo Negro is listed on a show in March, on a PROMELL show in May, and an local show a couple weeks later. There’s no attention being paid to it, though the luchador is treated as if he’s the same national star from a couple years ago, before Jesus Andrade Salas had to give up the gimmick due to pressure from the El Santo family. Laguna versions of the AAA Power Raiders are also around with no explanation. Brillante, Zafiro and Diamante are back full time in the area in 1996, so my hunch is they just sold their AAA gimmick (and maybe Espanto’s gimmick) and gear to other people and AAA was busy with a lot of more important things.
Las Gemas del Ring are the part of the most coherent build to a big match in a while. Another one of their brothers, Atlantic Jr., faces Stuka Jr. early in the year in a mask versus mask match. Atlantic Jr. appears to be the luchador eventually known as Kevin, claims he was a Power Ranger Rojo, and disappears soon after losing this mask (probably to one of his many other gimmicks.) The Stuka Jr. bio leaves me still confused if this is the same guy as now or a previous person using the same name. At any rate, this Stuka Jr. takes Atlantic Jr.’s mask in August, then he and Stuka I take the masks of Espanto IV & V in September. Meanwhile, the three Gemas brothers split up and have an apuesta match in October, where Diamante takes Zafiro’s hair. Diamante takes Stuka I’s hair a couple weeks later, with Stuka Jr. sticking up for his brother to set up the ultimate match. Stuka Jr. defends his mask and takes Diamante’s hair in November.
The Espantos losing their masks might have been because of other things going on. They disappear for months, then return in early December with the explanation that they’ve been working in Ciudad Juarez. A few days later, their father Espanto III passes away. He’d been living in Ciudad Juarez, so I suppose his sons knew it was coming and moved up there for a time. This is a big story locally, with a second day story on the national star’s his passing and coverage of his funeral.
