On this Friday’s show, CMLL does not have a tournament. I know, I’m surprised too. They still managed to make a strange card.
The main event has Caristico, Soberano and Ultimo Guerrero facing Mistico, Terrible and Volador. There are some possibly good matchups with rudos and tecnicos mixed together, but the draw is the first and second Mistico on opposite sides. CMLL heavily teased that dream feud back in the Leyenda de Plata, and it’s one fans have asked for ever since Caristico returned to the promotion two years ago. Their similar styles suggest they may not actually have a great match, but it’s one people would pay to see regardless. It’s really more a question of is CMLL is willing to actually do the singles match. I’ve been skeptical about CMLL doing it, mostly because it’s easy to be skeptical about CMLL doing big things, but that Leyenda de Azul match on 12/22 at least opens the door. A whole bunch of rudos in one match means there will likely be some tecnico/tecnico match as balance. Caristico/Mistico could be that match 0 but so could Caristico/Volador.
The semimain continues the Casas/Adonis feud towards their 01/01 hair match. Pierroth, Rush, Marco and Valiente fill out the match. The fourth match is the first time ever Dragon Lee/Titan match, which should be the best match of the night and possibly the best lightning match of the year. Like Caristico/Mistico, it’s two tecnicos, but they seem like they’re better at adapting to different setups.
Drone, Guerrero Maya and Rey Cometa take on Euforia, Hechicero and Povlora, in a match that seems like it should be higher than than third. Oro, Pegasso & Star face Misterioso, Sagrado & Virus. The opener has Shockercito & Stukita vs Pequeno Olimpico & Mercurio, which might be following up on the Shockercito/Mercurio feud from last week.
This will air on ClaroSports and their Facebook page. They are streaming Mexican lucha libre and Italian volleyball today, a totally normal combination. The show will also be clandestine streamed on CMLL’s YouTube channel and made public later.
The bigger CMLL event is the thing happening prior to the show. The 85 Years of Lucha Libre book will be officially released in Arena Mexico at 7. The build up will include red carpet appearances by various retired luchadors, some of whom will be signing copies of the book for fans. The book will be on sale only in Arena Mexico for the month of December before a wider release in January. It’s unclear if it’ll be available internationally online, but I’d wait a month to find out and find out a little more about what’s in the book.
There was also a press conference for the XFL (MMA, not American football) show in Arena Mexico on Saturday.
Astral, talking about winning the bodybuilding contest for the third time, wants to know what else he has to do to move up in lineups. I think the answer is probably “grow four inches taller”, unfortunately. Astral, Principe Diamante and Starman are the guests on the TuriLuchas bus today.
Elite runs in Cuautilan today, though (much like Lucha de Barrio), it seems like it slipped beyond notice on week 2. The main event is an odd three minute tag, w/Blue Demon & Golden Magic vs Mr. Electro & Trauma II vs Cibernetico, & Hijo de Dos Caras, an attempt to bring the Golden Magic/Dos Caras feud to the main stage.
The Tennessean has an interview with the owners of Arolucha, who reveal there’s a lot less going on with Arolucha than we might think. They have no TV/streaming deal, and it doesn’t sound like they’re even particularly close to one; there’s a mention they’ve talked to a couple people, but that’s it. This taping is happening Sunday mostly just so they can have some footage they own to take around to distributors.
My assumption is there’s no real reason to run additional until they get that TV deal so, even if the taping goes really well for the live audience, we probably won’t be hearing from Arolucha again for a while. TV takes time; as we’ve seen with The Crash, it can take forever. This would also explain why the only people who the promotion seems to be promoting in association with this show are the Harris Brothers – probably none of the actual wrestlers are under contract. They may use the same people if they get that TV deal, or they may have moved on to other things.
They’re pushing the idea it’s going to be family friendly, with no barbed wire and no swearing. This is where everyone points out that family friendly lucha libre often involves grandmothers swearing at rudos, but this is more a pitch towards networks and sponsors who want to associate themselves with that kind of identity and to differentiate themselves from Lucha Underground, which is the only other group they appear to recognize as competition. It also makes it an odd pick to have Konnan’s as lead writer (and possibly Vince Russo lurking in the background) for something aimed at being family friendly. He can do it, but it’s a different than what you’d expect they’d be aiming for when Konnan’s announced as part of the project.
Anyway, bottom line: Arolucha show will happen on Saturday, we’ll make too much of the attendance or the matches or whatever storylines they do or do not run, and there’s good chance none of it will matter because they won’t run again until they get a TV deal. The show itself should be good, I’d go if I was around, but it’s just a lottery ticket right now.
Vampiro seems under the impression tomorrow’s charity benefit show is a TV taping. It hasn’t really been announced as one as best I can tell, though Televisa Deportes is giving away tickets to it and I would expect parts of it to be filmed to promote the charity work. I suppose they could stream it online if they wanted, but there’s been no indication of that.
AAA posted Drago on Zona Rudo. There’s also a 22 minute video of Vampiro interviewing Bengala, but it turns out it’s also the match from TV included too. I don’t think I could watch a 22 minute Vampiro interview of Bengala in Spanish but I was fascinated with the idea it existed.
AAA’s Toluca promoter has a poll up asking the fans where they’d like to see an AAA TV taping. That seems like a question you shouldn’t ask unless you know you’re getting the answer you want. They’re fans are picking Gimnasio Agustin Millan.
There must be some story about players in the Ascenso MX league (the second level of Mexican soccer), because there’s an article on Universal noting those aren’t the only athletes enduring bad conditions while ownership does a great deal better: AAA wrestlers taking 12 hour bus rides to shows gets a mentioned. AAA wrestlers have mentioned this to be the case, or worse situations where they take bus rides back from a far away spot show to Mexico City, and don’t have any time to do anything but get on another bus to get to another far away spot shot for the next day.
Lucha Memes 12/25 in Coliseo Coacalco
- Demus 3:16 vs Trauma I
- Corsario Negro & Drako vs Sadico & Yoruba
- Ricky Marvin vs Trauma II
- Daga vs Caifan – new
Daga is going to have a busy day, with this match and one scheduled versus Black Terry in Ecatepec a few hours later.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentioned Angelico will not actually be on that those Lucha Underground themed shows in Australia, and Mil Muertes/Mesias is not expected to be healthy by then (January 19-21.)
The Crash says Xtreme Tiger will be back with them on 01/20.
El Sol de Tlaxcala has an interview with Drako of La Fortaleza. He says he started out as Drago until the former El Toreo Drago put a stop to that. Drako says the indie scene is in a good way, with preliminary guys 100 to 300 pesos for openers and semifinal guys getting 500 pesos.