AAA 5/17/95 @ Tlalnepantla:
Not sure where this was filmed because looks like a bullring setup so definitely not Arena Lopez Mateos which was never a good TV location anyways. Only 2 matches ended up making TV from this taping with the only other known match taking place being a Konnan vs Cien Caras match that the Observer describes as horrible. I can only imagine! Glad they skipped that one or it just aired on the Mexican stations.
El Charro/El Mariachi/El Mexicano vs Jerry Estrada/Heavy Metal/Picudo: Well so much for the rockers trio! And welcome to Heavy Metal turn #18! He had problems with his team all match long and they lost when he accidentally gave Picudo a spinning backbreaker and got attacked leading to roll-ups from the tecnicos. Match was the usual affair with the tecnicos looking good and the veteran rudos bumping all over for them. No complaints when you can get a good match for the short while until the angle happens instead of the angle dominating things and ruining what could be a good match.
El Hijo Del Santo/Octagon/Winners vs Fuerza Guerrera/Pentagon/Psicosis: Santo/Psicosis continued their feud here, as did Octagon/Fuerza which left... WINNERS vs PENTAGON??? Sure! Winners got bloodied up and in the strangest of booking decisions he actually submitted Pentagon (3rd TV match!) clean. I guess it's not a huge deal worth laughing at because the idea was to have Winners strong going into his mask matches next month so this kind of established him as a guy who can mix it up with the main event crew. Solid match as you'd expect. In the third fall Santo went for his tope atomico to the floor on Psicosis but I guess didn't have the right momentum to flip so he just fell right onto poor Psicosis who took it like a man! As always!
And that's that from this taping.
(Fenix TV - "Philosophy")
Music Video
AAA 5/16/98 @ Torreon & 5/17/98 @ Durango:
So this was pretty much the norm for AAA back in the days before one venue = one taping. They would take the crew north, south, west, east, wherever and to make the trip worth it you would get two TV tapings with basically the same matches. Sometimes even 3 tapings. This created a nice backlog if they needed it or they could just air the better of the matches from the tapings. For example the Cadets faced the Vatos Locos one night & the Armas Mortales the following night with the leftover team getting the Chiva/Oscar Sevilla duo complete with Space Cadet fill-in and/or local to replace I assume the missing Chiva.
From Torreon we missed out on Cadets vs Armas Mortales & Sevilla/Ludxor/Chiva I/Murcielago vs Vatos Locos.
Heavy Metal vs Kick Boxer: These guys had every type of stip match you can imagine over the course of their AAA feud. Boxing... kick boxing... pseudo MMA... dog collar... you name it. This one was just a regular one fall match just to advance the angle with Pepe Casas & Tirantes getting into it with each other so the match was thrown out. Not good.
Latin Lover/La Parka Jr./Octagon/Canek vs Cibernetico/Electro Shock/El Sanguinario/Killer: Sanguinario! I forgot he was still even around at this point. Had to be one of his final appearences. These are the type of matches that make people drive home the point why they gave up on AAA during this time period and to be honest it's hard to blame them. Just really bad brawling & even the tecnicos weren't exactly lighting it on fire when it was their time to shine. Really poor depth on top here to balance out the top tecnicos they had. Just a complete waste of time brawling match.
Mascara Sagrada vs Sangre Chicana (Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title): There was no specific reason for this... it just happened. My assumption is Chicana asked for it since it was in his hometown. So Pena gave him a title defense against a decent enough worker (I believe this was Alebrije/Kraneo era Mascara Sagrada). Okay match but only that. Chicana was way done by this point unless you were just marking out for him throwing his punch. A singles match was the last thing he needed to be doing unless it was a total brawl and they tried to work this serious style which never works for an AAA audience. Chicana kept his belt obviously.
From Durango we basically got the flip flop so all the lower card stuff. Basically the atomicos was minus a guy on each side who joined Heavy Metal/Sagrada & Kick Boxer/Chicana in a trios. I'm okay missing those matches.
Chiva Rayada I/Oscar Sevilla/Murcielago vs Armas Mortales (Cuerno De Chivo/M-357/R-15): For those who don't remember the Armas Mortales were basically named after different guns. I'm trying to remember if they had a 4th guy but it's not coming to me. Cuerno was a real good underneath young guy. R-15 too. He had actually started out in AAA around the time of Mosco/X-Fly back in mid-96. M-357/Magnum was a very young Chessman who was already showing worlds of potential and had the size that you knew he wouldn't be long for these undercard matches once they found a new gimmick for him. Not sure on Murcielago. Best guess is a local filling in for wherever Chiva II had disappeared to. Wonder why they didn't just put Murcielago in a Chiva outfit? Pretty average match by AAA underneath standards with the only fun stuff being work between Sevilla/M-357. Murcielago was not ready for this spot and had multiple screw-ups. Cuerno was trying his best to help out but you can only do so much. Tecs took the win.
Space Cadets (Venum II/Ludxor/Discovery/Super Nova II) vs Vatos Locos (Charly Manson/May Flowers/Nygma/Picudo): The era of AAA having a million atomicos teams! Pretty fun concept actually but hurt by lack of depth. This era Cadets was the shits. Venum II (Princesa Sugeith's husband!) was just... no. No. No. No. Shameful they'd give that name. He was literally the worst flyer of his team. How do you give the cherised Venum name to someone that bad at flying? This Super Nova was super skinny & not very co-ordinated. Ludxor & Discovery were the originals and did just fine as usual but this was not very good due to their partners even with the experienced rudos helping out. Vatos low blowed everyone to get DQ'ed.
Overall not a particularly interesting weekend of shows.
(Hawthorne Heights "Broken Man")
Music Video
AAA 5/17/01 @ Toluca & 5/26/01 @ Nezahualcoyotl:
Oh boy... AAA in 2001. We've reached a time period where I can actually bash my favorite promotion ever. LOL It was a tough time to be a fan. The roster was abysmal for the most part, the booking was all-time stale for the most part & as a Canadian viewer getting the TV from the US... it was usually just crammed into an hour or less since AAA at this point had a show called 'Sin Limite' they were focusing on which aired late at night with more risque things. So any tapings would put the good stuff there & we got the leftovers which was rarely good and chopped to death. Sometimes the 45 minute shows would have 20 minutes of commercials. It was like watching a highlight package. So covering these two tapings quickly...
5/17 in Toluca only has 1 reported result (since nobody apparently taped Sin Limite there was no way to get other results if the magazines never printed them)...
Alan/Decnis/Billy Boy/Marabunta vs Angel Mortal/Mr. Condor/El Gallego/Gran Apache: *deep sigh* Marabunta vs his ex-teammates... in 2001. I get you do this while you are running the smaller arenas with the more hardcore fans since they know him and they know the Diabolicos vs Diabolicos feud but this just made for atrocious TV. This is how CMLL used to come off as when they had Ringo Mendoza vs Javier Cruz while AAA was sending out the best guys in the world. Then you toss in a really green Barrio Boys team who were the perfect guys CMLL fans could point and laugh at for their awful looks to go with their awful wrestling and it was a perfect storm of WHY IS THIS ON MY TV??? Marabunta/Condor did their feuding thing to setup a hair match. Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad.
(Triplemania actually occured between these two tapings)
5/26 at Arena Neza had 3 matches air... nothing to get excited about though. The unaired matches included Barrios vs Bravos Del Norte (new gimmick for the Cirio Bros I believe) & an atomicos with Demon/Sagrada/Alebrije/Parka vs Pentagon III/Mascara Maligna/The Monster/Dr. Infierno. The latter might have been fun but we saw so many variations of it I'm fine missing out on one.
Los Vipers (Psicosis/Histeria II/Mosco II/Maniaco) vs Los Kick Boxers (names don't matter): Antonio Pena was a genius but also had some real stinker of ideas. The Kick Boxer stable was definitely one. Yes, not Kickboer. There was always a space between the KICK and the BOXER. They were led by... you guessed it. Except he would often disappear for periods of time which left the only real experienced wrestler as Toro Irisson which is NOT GOOD! The rest of the team were ACTUAL KICKBOXERS! WHAT IN THE FUCK?!?!?!?!? Legit they didn't know how to bump or even run the ropes. At one point here one of them gets whipped into the ropes and he just runs into chest first and stands there wondering what happens next. All the Vipers double and triple team moves are basically a shoot because they are teaming up to pick these stiffs up and slam them down. Just a total disaster. At least it was a hardcore match so we had weapons to break up the awful attempted wrestling. WHY ANTONIO PENA, WHY???
Marabunta vs Mr. Condor (Hair vs Hair): Feel the excitement! Or don't... whatever. The crowd definitely didn't so whatever the idea was to capitalize on running the small building didn't really work and if I remember right that was the end of this anyways. Both men bled with Marabunta bleeding buckets. Like 5 years before this these two had some awesome hair matches with the UWA Diabolicos but that was 5 years before... and in front of hot crowds. This was just a disgrace to the Diabolicos name. Poor Marabunta goes tecnico but fails in his attempt on revenge vs his former teammate... loses his hair and disappears. Such is life with the wacky world of AAA!
Latin Lover/Perro Aguayo Jr./Sangre Chicana vs Cibernetico/Abismo Negro/Electro Shock: Very edited so hard to tell the overall match but what aired was just much of nothing. I assume everyone was in relax mode after Triplemania. Imagine going from a bull fighting stadium in Acapulco less than 48 hours later to the small Arena Neza for TV. Finish was Cibernetico accidentally hitting Tirantes with a chain wrapped around his hand. Just a shitty finish to a shitty show.
AAA in 2001 = avoid! Very low time period.
(My Chemical Romance - "Masters of Ravenkroft")
Music Video
CMLL 5/16/08:
Fun fact: Actually the 3rd Arena Mexico show of the week! They had a special Wednesday show for the newspaper Record so it was another hot week for the red hot CMLL. Crowd for this may have been effected by the surplus show as a Luchablog archive check notes the lack of people...
Unaired matches included Shockercito & Ultimo Dragoncito vs Pierrothito & Pequeno Violencia which looked good in photos & had an Ultimo Dragoncito crowd dive! Also a women's trios which had highlights air on Momentos and showed Amapola cheat to beat Dark Angel.
Blue Panther/La Mascara/Volador Jr. vs Damian 666/Mr. Aguila/Villano V: Great mix here led to a really fun match! Volador Jr. did an early springboard plancha onto the ramp to take out the rudos who not only had to catch him but also fight off Baby Richard who wasn't paying attention and trying to get in the way of the spot! Monito got involved a lot here including a dive onto Damian. Volador worked great with Aguila who still in top shape at this point. Villano V won this round over Panther. Just a super mix of 6 excellent guys who were just there to entertain. Loved it.
Heavy Metal/Negro Casas/Shocker vs Perro Aguayo Jr./Texano Jr./Terrible: A quick two fall match focusing on Heavy Metal/Perro Jr. feuding which... was... strange... since... they... weren't... before... this. In fact we had already announced Heavy Metal vs Toscano in a hair match the next Friday. SUSPICIOUS! But it was all cleared up post-match when Toscano ran in to attack Heavy Metal but Perrito was still hot about losing in 2 falls to a fake low blow so he attacked Heavy Metal too and then Toscano didn't appreciate the help so the rudos started brawling and in the end we got a 3 way hair match challenge. Luchablog speculates this was because CMLL was worried about the turnout and he may be right. The match ends with Toscano losing his hair to Heavy Metal who then loses his own hair to Perrito (& many other Perros del Mal members) in a cage match the following month. So Perrito in the 3 way really didn't effect anything in the long run.
Mistico/Dos Caras Jr./Hector Garza vs Ultimo Guerrero/Atlantis/Toscano: Standard main event with the Guerreros being the pinballs for the tecnicos but also getting their own fall in-between with their moves as UG always loves! Mistico/Toscano got paired up a lot here and I always liked watching them together. Mistico may not have enjoyed it as there were notably a couple times Toscano messed up catching him and he got hurt. Garza came up short on a moonsault bodyblock and seemed to hurt Atlantis' knee but doesn't seem like Atlantis missed any time. Tecnicos win but no La Mistica! Toscano got to take him out with a dive before the finish! Keeping the guy headlining next week strong!
A very enjoyable CMLL 90 minute TV show. All the charachters you'd come to love from CMLL in 2008 and an out of charachter angle by CMLL standards.
(Gob - "Lemon-Aid")
Music Video
CMLL 5/17/13:
Opener of Molotov & Sensei (WTF did he go?) vs Akuma & Apocalipsis did not air. A true tragedy.
Pegasso/Starman/Triton vs Hooligan/Nitro/Skandalo: About as bland as you can get for a segunda with the older guys who have been around forever mixed in with the going nowhere dudes. Triton & Hooligan had a nice exchange at one pont which is really the only takeaway from this forgettable affair.
Delta/Rey Cometa/Sagrado vs Kraneo/Olimpico/Namajague: I guess the biggest statement of this show was THIS ended up being the match of the night. Mostly due to Kraneo who was legit carrying things. He caught a bunch of dives, took great bumps for the tecnicos & did funny comedy with Mije. That is... until the finish where he threw Mije so high up for the plancha that Mije couldn't control his landing and appeared to break his arm. :( I watch this match and think wow look at Olimpico on his last legs. He looks so sickly. And here we are in 2020 where sickly Olimpico still gets regular bookings and kept strong. Future co-head booker!
Fuego vs Vangelis: En Busca De Un Idolo 2013! The one nobody remembers! I wonder if that ties in with the winner being Vangelis? Generic opening round match with both guys getting in their stuff until Vangelis won with the safest Storm Cradle Driver variation you could imagine. To his credit he was working hard here & hadn't gotten fat yet.
Stuka Jr. vs Tiger: Super quick match. That was one of the things that differentiated this En Busca from 2012 and eventually 2014. Those years the matches were a priority with guys given all the time in the world to do what they wanted. Here it came off as a bunch of lightning matches right down to the formulaic layouts. This was just my dive, your dive, my move, your move, finish. Super disappointing considering the participants. At least Tiger's corkscrew over the ringpost was cool.
Rush/Thunder/Brazo De Plata vs Volador Jr./Averno/Mephisto: Not much to say here. Averno/Mephisto were in charge of bumping for Thunder & Porky. What a time to be alive for those two! Bad.
Diamante Azul/La Sombra/Maximo vs Negro Casas/Pierroth/Shinsuke Nakamura: Yes, CMLL was given one of the best wrestlers in the world at the time and had him team with Rush's awful father. Slight contrast in pairings depending on who was in the ring! The Azul/Pierroth stuff was laughably bad. Like watching two drug addicts play fight. Well... that's exactly what it was. Sombra/Nakamura stuff was good and the usual CMLL setup to a future title match with Sombra going over clean.
A largely forgettable show. CMLL picks up big time in June of 2013 but the road there was a long one.
(All Time Low - "Me Without You (All I Ever Wanted)"
Music Video
AAA 5/17/13 @ Puebla:
From the days when AAA had 3 TV outlets! 3!!! Very short time period but we had the normal Galavision feed + the local affiliates would sometimes get an extra match since Galavision was a 90 minute time slot & they had 2 hours blocked off + this was the AAA Fusion era! Back when there was supposed to be a brand split but instead it just ended up a random TV show that went into repeat mode within a few months and then faded away. So we were treated to random opening matches with guys who were barely members of the AAA roster other than small C level shows. Strangely even with all that said... this had an unaired match! The Mirreyes (Alan Stone/Elegido/Toscano) vs Perros Del Mal (Daga/Halloween/Ricky Marvin) match did not make the cut anywhere! One has to wonder why...
Jinzo & Saturno vs Angel Mortal & Fresero Jr.: The definiton of the word random. Angel Mortal hadn't made TV in over a year but was a trainer for the company & I think local so that explains his presence. The other guys were probably used based on the little input TVC Deportes had since this ended up on the Fusion show. Fresero was an IWRG dude at the time. Saturno was a super talented skinny dude from Guadalajara who first came onto the scene in the CMLL mini's division in 2009 but then seemed to fall out with the locals tied into the CMLL GDL scene and went out on his own. He looked AMAZING in this match but the disappeared again. He's popped up over the years, always looking decent at bare minimum but his career never went anywhere for whatever reason. Jinzo would go onto become Ronnie/Raul Mendoza until his recent kidnapping. He also looked great here but if you asked me would I ever imagine him signed by WWE I'd say hell no. Such are the breaks in life. We'll never really know his true potential other than random Mexican signee. Very good match with the focus being on the tecnicos getting to look flashy. Angel Mortal was always a pro in making that happen.
Lucky Boy & Nino De Ebano vs Carta Brava Jr. & Eterno: I feel like often people forget how long Carta Brava Jr. had been running around AAA undercards before the entire Poder del Norte thing took off. Here he was another guy fresh from IWRG (which produced many of the good AAA guys) teaming with another fresh from IWRG guy who would have to wait 6 more years to end up with his new AAA gimmick of Abismo Negro. The tecnicos were two DTU kids making names for themselves as a team and always super fun to see make TV. They would get their short-lasting Venum/Ludor charachters later this year. This match was just a total fucking blast and way better than good opener. These rudos are just perfect for basing and the tecnicos were 100% on with everything they did. A must-see match!
Axel/Dinastia/Pimpinela Escarlata vs Argos/Mini Abismo Negro/Mamba: I forget exactly why Axel was hanging around at this time. I want to say AAA was trolling Santo based on a lawsuit. He made a couple of appearences before disappearing again and I don't think any appearence made the actual Galavision show. Argos is a funny guy. Much like his other family members (Argenis/Magnus) - they clearly have the basics down and could be fine luchadors if they stayed in their lane but they fancy themselves super talented underrated dudes so they try stuff they just aren't capable of and end up looking foolish. Decent match outside of the wonky Axel/Argos exchanges. Dinastia looked great and I really miss Mini Abismo who was one of the best minis ever.
Fabi Apache & La Jarochita vs Mari Apache & La Hechicera: Oh god. Very little memory of this. I can only imagine it must have been an all-time classic.
La Parka/Heavy Metal/Fenix vs Chessman/Parka Negra/Pentagon Jr.: This was Zorro-era Parka Negra so don't get your hopes up! Fenix/Pentagon carried the wrestling aspect of this match which wasn't bad but nothing blowaway either. Texano ended up running in to hit Heavy Metal with a guitar so the rudos could win. A fun re-watch to see early Fenix/Pentagon working together and formulating the stuff that would eventually blow crowds away at a small temple in Los Angeles.
Blue Demon Jr./Electro Shock/Mesias vs Texano Jr./Silver King/Mascara Ano 2000 Jr.: Ewwwwwww. This was no bueno. Very no bueno. They tried to wrestle & I think a brawl would have been better considering few of these guys can actually wrestle. Chessman did a run-in attacking Texano shockingly so the tecnicos got the win. Mesias/Electro Shock also teased problems. Very exciting AAA 2013 feuds!
Overall an interesting look into a time period where clearly AAA had different folks envisioning different things. Loaded undercard with youth & upper card full of very bad pairings for feuds & the run-in mentality. It would take some time to sort things out.
(Alkaline Trio - "Armageddon")
Music Video
CMLL 5/16/14:
Hombre Bala Jr. & Starman vs Akuma & Apocalipsis: Minus his normal partner due to En Busca De Un Idolo I thought Bala actually looked good here working with Akuma. It was a mix of young guy/vet vs young guy/vet with very little mixing of the pairings which was good since it might have got clunky if they did. They stayed in their lane and had a very enjoyable opener with Bala shining.
Dark Angel/Princesa Sugeith/Silueta vs La Seductora/Princesa Blanca/Tiffany: Sugeith/Blanca were feuding here with Sugeith going tecnica just a couple weeks earlier. Standard match for the women. Dark Angel ate shit on a tope in the third fall. Blanca cheated to beat Sugeith. Really nothing else to say.
Final round robin matches for half the En Busca field...
Soberano Jr. vs Cavernario: Hell yeah! AWESOME! Soberano was not going through but still went all out with multiple dives and a really cool slingshot rana onto Cavernario who was standing on the apron taking him to the floor in a spot he hasn't done since and someone needs to steal! He also did a moonsault kneedrop which he could stand to bring back since it sets up his submission finisher nicely. Finish was craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy with Soberano doing a run-up-the-ropes plancha straight into the barricade and then Cavernario giving him the caveman splash for the countout victory. Standing ovation! How loaded was this tournament when Soberano Jr. was just a leftover of the first round knockouts?
Cachorro vs Super Halcon Jr.: As I noted previously... Halcon had a really disappointing tournament but he did not come to fuck around tonight. He was pushing Cachorro immediatly & even threw his jacket at him! LET'S GO! And go they did! Fucking awesome match! Just bomb after bomb. Sick topes from Cachorro... Halcon nasty DVD into the corner... Cachorro running power bomb ON THE FLOOR... Halcon with the Super Calo dive! Cachorro got the win but I think a definite moral victory to Halcon who just left us all wondering where was this effort in the 6 previous matches?
Diamante Azul/La Mascara/Stuka Jr. vs Terrible/Rey Bucanero/Vangelis: Really nothing to say here as this was in the era of La Mascara/Rush/Sombra teaming with the tecnicos but not being tecnicos so the matches were effected. You may hate the Relevos Incriebles concept that CMLL overdoes these days but if we weren't doing those we would get these and I'm not sure this is much of an improvement to be honest. Result doesn't matter. Waste of time.
Mascara Dorada/Titan/Valiente vs Mephisto/Kraneo/Ripper: What a weird combination of people that equaled a really good match! Dorada was on abso-fucking-lute FIRE in this! Just hitting moves so crisp. Even did an assisted rana from the ramp to Mephisto who was sitting on the ropes! Don't think he ever busted that one out again. There was a tecnico triple dive where Valiente looked like he smashed his head on the floor but continued on. They did the triple dive onto Kraneo... or should I say... Valiente did his tope... then Dorada LAUNCHED himself with the bullet tope to end all bullet topes and actually just demolished Kraneo who stayed down so Titan had nobody else to dive on as the spot usually calls for. Shockingly the rudos took this one for unexplainable reasons but the match itself was excellent.
Marco Corleone/Maximo/Volador Jr. vs Dragon Rojo Jr./Rey Escorpion/Shocker: The usual in-and-out as fast as possible main event. Tecnicos got in all their signature spots. Volador/Escorpion worked fantastic together. Tecs won cleanly to send everyone home happy and maybe balance out that previous match.
Overall it's En Busca season so of course this a show worth checking out! Just skip the La Mascara nonsense and try to imagine having to watching that 3 times a week in multiple matches spread over 2 years. YUCK.
(The Blackout - "Running Scared")
Music Video
AAA 5/17/14 @ Tapachula:
Music video includes handheld from the locals match which was not very good. A good lesson that not all dark matches featuring locals you've never heard of need to be seen!
Nino Hamburguesa/Ludxor/Venum vs Gran Apache/Carta Brava Jr./Fresero Jr.: This was actually a normal trios they ran around the horn at the time with the perfect set of rudos to carry those tecnicos. Very clipped up on TV but you got to see the big Cadets dives & Hamburguesa splash to win it for the tecnicos.
Pimpinela Escarlata/Fabi Apache/Jennifer Blake/Mascarita Sagrada 2000 vs Mamba/Sexy Star/Taya Valkyrie/Mini Absimo Negro: How is Mamba always in these matches and I forget he/she even existed? Ah Jennifer Blake! My favorite female Canadian wrestler down south. She had potential, especially after the tecnico turn. In another era (read: 2 or 3 years later) I'm sure she would have gotten swallowed up into the WWE system. Instead she faded out of AAA living in Taya's shadow & left the business to marry some band dude apparently. Her stories outside the ring will live on in our memories forever! Mascarita/Abismo did some fun stuff here as usual.
Psycho Circus vs Daga/Eterno/Steve Pain: What a mismatch of talented teams! Or so you'd think but they actually blended together for a pretty good match! I enjoyed Daga's somersault plancha to kick things off. They really shot it well. The usual clown formula was changed up a bit with the smaller rudos not there to stooge but actually give them a serious match. Texano did a run-in allowing the rudos to pull off the upset win.
Alan Stone/Elegido/Axel vs Texano Jr./Hijo Del Fantasma/Mascara Ano 2000 Jr.: Holy shit. That tecnico team is a who's who of guys Konnan wanted out of AAA immediatly. He got his wish! I have ot eat my words from above re: Axel never making Galavision because this definitely made Galavision. The rudos won (obviously) and there was nothing to this match outside of you - the viewer - watching it and just being amazed at the talent difference between the two teams. Yes, even MA2K Jr. was miles ahead of all three of those tecnicos.
Psycho Clown/Fenix/Cibernetico vs Chessman/Pentagon Jr./AVERNO: Written in caps because this was his debut as a surprise wrestler! I believe it was well known this was coming and who was coming along with him. For a debut he wasn't really put over super strong as Fenix went 50/50 with him and you could argue Fenix was 60/40. Fenix actually stole the show in this match if you ask me. He did his once and only second rope springboard into a double stomp on the floor (vs Penta... obviously) which is a spot you probably want to do just to do it and then retire it because it seems like an easy way to twist your ankle or worse. Unless you have no problems helping your landing by just actually stomping your opponent which seems not fair. No idea why Psycho was working twice. Maybe at one point they planned for the other surprise to be... well... keep reading. Finish was a long back-and-forth with Fenix/Averno where finally Averno barely managed to hang on and beat Fenix with the Devil Wings off the top rope. Literally right after his win the lights went off and we had a surprise appearence by........... HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED! It was Mistico. Or Sin Cara. Or Mystic 2.0. Or as we would soon know him... Myzteziz. He did the superman run-in doing pre-planned spots with Pentagon/Eterno/Steve Pain/Averno. Pretty big reaction but weird it would happen in tiny Tapachula of all places.
I remember that main event was pretty controversial afterwards as in the Observer recap there appeared to be a section straight from Konnan's mouth burying Averno & saying nobody knew who he was which clearly inaccurate and writing your own narrative. The TV footage itself shows people reacting to him & if I remember right someone even had his old mask on in the crowd since his debut was well known to be coming up. If he wasn't "over" by the end it was certainly the booking of the match not helping much as he was just a random third rudo. Either way... Konnan was unhappy and went to town on me for daring to counter his claim nobody knew Averno so that was one of our falling outs. The good thing about arguing with Konnan is he's so constantly high he barely ever remembers who he was arguing with by the time he sleeps it off.
Overall a decent show from a TINY arena. AAA was running a lot of those around this time. The main event angle tied in with Averno's debut is probably the most notable thing you should go back and watch but Clowns vs Daga/Eterno/Steve Pain wouldn't be a waste of your time.
(Simple Plan - "The End")
Music Video
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
May 11 in Lucha History
AAA 5/11/95 in Xalapa:
Los Powers Raiders vs Angel Mortal/Marabunta/Mr. Condor/Karloff Lagarde Jr./Perro Silva: Standard Power Rangers match with them showing off some cool stuff before heading into the eliminations portion of the match. Loved the spot where Venum ran up all his partners to do a plancha but got caught. Someone needs to do that into a regular dive some day! Lasser/Skayde had some real neat tag spots in this one. No dives. Power Rangers continue their winning ways. Kind of amazing Karloff Lagarde Jr. ended up here. He was so plain that even Antonio Pena couldn't figure out some weird gimmick to give him. He was a perfect fit for the dull CMLL midcards.
Latin Lover/Super Calo/Winners vs Jerry Estrada/Heavy Metal/Picudo: A seemingly random trios but booked to set up matches for a future TV! The rudos were the "rocker" group which made sense. They reunited over a year later when Super Crazy showed up and in between a couple of Heavy Metal tecnico runs. Super Calo looked real good here, obviously on a high heading into the biggest month of his career. Rudos went over with Jerry beating Latin Lover to earn a title shot & the leftovers would do a straight tag match on the road to Triplemania! Logical trios match building in AAA!
Octagon/Rey Misterio Jr./Super Muneco vs Pentagon/Juventud Guerrera/Fuerza Guerrera: This was actually the debut of Pentagon - ex-Santo Negro. He had revealed the new name already in the press but this was his TV debut under the gimmick with a new nemesis in his path. Tons of heat for his showdown with Octagon including an epic chase from the ring to the back at one point. Fans actually took swings at Pentagon! I bet Santo was re-thinking the family decision to scrap the Santo/Santo Negro feud since that would have been a good money feud. My little takeaway from this, as a hardcore Rey Jr fan, is how well he worked with Pentagon since they had history together working well in trios (when he was Espanto Jr.). First guy Rey did the Dragon Rana with in Mexico! Muneco was largely a non-entity here. Rey/Juvy traded some cool suplexes. Tecs won by countout when Pentagon ran away. This was good stuff.
Perro Aguayo vs Mascara Ano 2000 (IWC Heavyweight Title): All things considered not a bad match. Another super heated match, a lot thanks to the extra bonus of Octagon/Pentagon as seconds. Octagon even got in a bullet tope at one point! The big storyline was the Pepsi bottle attack 2 weeks earlier which Perro was still recovering from. So naturally at the finish MA2K produced another bottle (I don't think it was Pepsi) & hit Perro with it but this time it didn't break. It did get him the win though.
One of the classic AAA TV shows that got passed around all the traders back in the day since it had all the names that would attract you to an AAA event. Probably a must-see just based on the totality & of course it being the debut of a gimmick that still is in existence to this very day although obviously modified.
(The Get Go - "Target")
Music Video
CMLL 5/11/07
A full Friday night show airing in full in 2007!!! Ahhhhhhh... but there's a catch! It was a 3 match show! The torneo went an hour so if you add in entrances that's one TV show right there. Instead they chose to cut it down, skip entrances, air a pointless semi-main & a random Arena Coliseo match. (No, not the one with Ultimo Dragon/Jushin Liger opposite each other) But on the bright side this meant the only leftover Friday match was the rare opener which got bumped to one of the weekend shows. A super rare and happy occurence.
Brillante Jr./Leono/Stuka Jr. vs Euforia/Nosferatu/Virus: This was the new Infernales lineup with Satanico taking a secondary role as Virus had just turned rudo a week earlier. So this was mostly a showcase match for them busting out a bunch of cool double and triple team moves. (Yes, week-to-week CMLL booking existed back in 2007) I can't recall if this was Brillante's debut TV appearence or if he had done one of the weekend shows already but either way it was one of the first chances to see him in action in Arena Mexico. He looked great. DUH. So did Stuka. Leono was a heavily pushed guy at this point for his position on the card but was clearly a guy in way over his head which would become evident in time. Loved the spear on the ramp by Nosferatu!
Felino/Heavy Metal/Negro Casas vs Black Warrior/Averno/Mephisto: Okay now this is hilarious. You may not get it unless you were around as a fan in 2007 but the basic idea is this match went sub 10 minutes with the first fall going like 1 minute or so. I remember the press completely shitting on it when they recapped it the following day. Like it was a joke you could do a trios match in under 10 minutes and to be honest they weren't wrong. This match wasn't very good and it felt like everyone had somewhere else to be (results don't show anyone going anywhere else afterwards). They were even pushing a Heavy Metal/Black Warrior feud which made it even funnier when the post-match challenges went almost as long as the match itself. Of course reading this with a 2020 viewpoint you probably don't get it since MANY matches go sub 10 minutes these days and if the Tuesday main doesn't you often wonder if they messed up. But this was an entire different world. Rudos went over when Black Warrior cheated to beat Metal. BAD.
Gran Prix: This was Ultimo Dragon show weekend so that's why Minoru Suzuki was hanging around. Hiroki Goto was on excursion. Marco Corleone was back to being a rudo for the night, as was Alex Koslov. Jushin Liger was of course the big get so you know how this one ends. Mexico team was pretty straight forward with all the top heavyweight stars so no Mistico, Volador Jr. or La Mascara types but you had Lizmark Jr. & Sagrado hanging around. A lot of the early portion was edited off TV so we jumped in with some eliminations. Couple cool moments like Guerrero/Bucanero reuniting to do their dance/pose & Wagner/Liger facing off for the first time in Arena Mexico since their famous 96 singles match. Eliminations went pretty much as you'd expect. I liked Guerrero reversing Marco's Air Italia. A spot they would do often but this was the first so of course you remember it! Naturally it came down to Ultimo Guerrero vs Liger with the expected result. In fact, Guerrero got A LOT here with multiple cool eliminations so it was kind of a swerve - especially with him winning the year before too - but in the end no swerve... he just won... again... over Liger.
Overall a fine show but nothing memorable. Especially for how hot CMLL was in 2007. I feel like people will look at the torneo lineup on paper and hunt this down only to come away very disappointed.
(Unwritten Law - "Up All Night")
Music Video
CMLL 5/11/10:
A FULL TUESDAY SHOW! YAY!
Bengala & Trueno vs Disturbio & Mortiz: Nice treat with a glimpse of four guys who NEVER made TV in these times. We now see Bengala & Disturbio on a regular basis but this was when they were allowed to actually work & show off the cool things they could do. Excellent work by all here with some innovative stuff & crazy bumps. Trueno does the slingshot somersault senton to the floor like it's no big deal. He & Mortiz always had crazy good chemistry. Tecnicos take a super fun match!
Guerrero Maya Jr./Molotov/Starman vs Bronco/Hooligan/Inquisidor: A very comfort food CMLL match. If you don't understand that basically... you had 2 CMLL match structures at the time for the non-Friday shows. Either a first fall where one tecnico would get a big exchange + dive, then the other two tecnicos would get second fall showcases before the rudos took over to get their shit in & a third fall would occur or the opposite pretty much where the rudos would take the first fall out of nowhere & the second fall comeback would have the spectacular tecnicos spots. This was option A. A perfectly fine comfort food match where Maya looked spectacular, Bronco kept up & got to do his cool dive & everyone got in a spot to shine by the end. You cannot even compare the segundas from these days to what they would become 10 years later.
Fabian El Gitano/Pegasso/Rey Cometa vs Euforia/Nosferatu/Dr. X: Another comfort food match although far more spectacular action with higher quality guys. Rey Cometa & Pegasso were working super hard - especially Cometa who got in both the running corkscrew armdrag and double corkscrew over the ringpost! My man! Nosferatu was running on borrowed time here. It's kinda funny we used to think he was one of the weakest wrestlers on the CMLL roster and for 2020 standards he would be a perfectly fine 3ra level guy in a Polvora role. Rudos got the win.
Blue Panther/Toscano/Valiente vs Texano Jr./Polvora/Efesto: More comfort food, less craziness than previous match. Valiente did his dive but otherwise this was a rudo orientated match & of course Panther tossing in his twists & turns. Another pro to 2010 over 2020... up and down the card so far notice the lack of guys who are awful and you have no use of ever seeing again. They just don't exist. These days you can't go a single match with at least one guy involved who just drags everything down.
Hector Garza/Mascara Dorada/Volador Jr. vs Atlantis/Averno/Rey Bucanero: Storyline advancement main event as Hector Garza was in the middle of an extended rudo turn. He declined to participate in the first fall and was having a blast with an old lady at ringside. It was actually super entertaining. The rudos weren't really buying it & stayed on guard just incase. Volador was pissed and kept trying to get Garza to help out. This ended up backfiring at the end when Garza did get involved but chose to lay down and purposely lose the match. C'MON VOLADOR IT WAS SO OBVIOUS WHY DID YOU GIVE HIM THE CHANCE??? Reads like a disappointing match but it wasn't at all! Garza was so evil it was glorious to watch.
Great show! These C3 shows were a blast to watch at the time and still are. Just 2 hours of good lucha. You used to always be able to count on CMLL for that.
(Forever The Sickest Kids - "Take It Slow")
Music Video
CMLL 5/11/12:
Another full CMLL show! May 11 must be a lucky day! Or we keep running into random tournaments!
Hombre Bala Jr. & Super Halcon Jr. vs Bobby Zavala & Disturbio: Generacion '11 leftovers still trying to make it in 2012! These were actually the top four outside of Dragon Lee who one could argue was never really part of the group since he was destined for greatness. Zavala & Disturbio made a perfect team together. Total ass kicking pricks. It was matches like this where I got high on Bobby as the future with his great basing & brutal counter spots. Those dropkicks were VICIOUS! He also showed tons of charisma which made it a lock he would move up eventually but nobody could remotely guess his end story... haha. Bala & Halcon were both promising rookies. Bala was the better of the two, or at least he more spectacular. This was a fun opener to watch and wish the current openers could emulate. These guys actually got the crowd into it & came off as the future is in good hands.
Astral/Fantasy/Ultimo Dragoncito vs Pequeno Nitro/Pequeno Olimpico/Pequeno Violencia: The CMLL mini's division post-Mascarita Dorada wasn't all that bad to be honest. They were going with the bigger guys as was evident by everyone here and the guys generally worked hard like in this match. Lots of neat spots, some cool dives & a great third fall. The division didn't die a death due to effort level, that's for sure. The most memorable thing from this was Astral doing a double springboard rana onto the ramp sending Pequeno Violencia into the crowd. It appeared he was supposed to take the bump to the floor but chose the crowd. If I remember the story correctly he was already on one warning about going into the crowd and this was not a 3 strikes you're out policy. This was an automatic suspension. One of the earliest cases I can remember of unexplained suspensions where you had to investigate a little to find out why a guy was suddenly off all lineups. The ban on going into the crowd totally killed any fun in watching Ultimo Dragoncito wrestle.
Black Warrior/Sagrado/Stuka Jr. vs Rey Escorpion/Misterioso/Okumura: The Black Warrior/Rey Escorpion feud was the focus here and had been for a few weeks. They just kept doing these trios matches with random partners where nobody else would really matter & every finish would revolve around them. This was straight falls (as most matches in the build were) ending with an Escorpion low blow (as most matches in the build did). All that sticks out apart from that is one of the most crisp toritos you will ever see from Sagrado to Misterioso.
Triton vs Niebla Roja: En Busca De Un Idolo Round 1! A couple weeks in now it was pretty clear Triton was determined to do well here. I think the general idea was everyone knew a new Mistico was coming and assumed the winner would get the gimmick which made the winner super obvious but that's a story for another day. The reason I mention it though is because Triton won his first match with La Mistica of all moves & may have soured the office by doing that because he was never intended to win this no matter how great he did... and great he did indeed do! He really didn't have a bad match the entire first round. This had him flying all over the place & Niebla Roja playing a fantastic rudo in the right position every time. Triton took the loss but as we progressed in the tournament it became evident results didn't matter... which became an issue come time for the finals. LOL
Dragon Lee vs Euforia: A match built around Euforia countering all of Dragon Lee's flying except for shorts bursts where Dragon would hit big dives like his springboard SSP. Euforia is amazing. Literally the perfect opponents for a guy like Dragon Lee at this point in his career. The finish clearly sets up a future rematch in the tournament with Euforia putting on his finisher, winning, refusing to let go, getting DQ'ed. Way to telegraph the final! Except... some Titan fans would have something to say about that. :)
Atlantis/Blue Panther/La Mascara vs Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Terrible: The show is running long so just get in and do your paint by numbers match... match! Damn run-on sentences. This was what it was. It was fine but you will never remember it again after watching. The perfect match for UG to take a loss in.
Marco Corleone/Maximo/Rush vs Volador Jr./Psicosis/Yujiro: Bufete Del Amor! The most random grouping of guys who totally by accident ended up enjoying teaming with each other & invented their own name so they just kept teaming. That's how you gotta play the office! Or at least could play the office when wrestlers had slightly more control. It was this connection that eventually kept Marco tied to Rush and on the fringes of Los Ingobernables when it eventually formed. Marco always said he never wanted to be a part of that group and enjoyed this group far more. The rudo side was Volador Jr. still being alligned with the Invasores (Psicosis... 2 year invasion and counting) & Yujiro stinking up the point with every appearence. Luckily he was hidden well here. Pretty good match with lots of creativity in the comeback & third fall. Even had a dive sequence! Random rudo team went over because... of course they did.
Really great show! Definitely got your money's worth if you went live (bonus Mother's Day strip show... with Puma King???) & made for some good TV/internet viewing. Definitely reccomended for a rewatch!
(Allister - "Waiting')
Music Video
Los Powers Raiders vs Angel Mortal/Marabunta/Mr. Condor/Karloff Lagarde Jr./Perro Silva: Standard Power Rangers match with them showing off some cool stuff before heading into the eliminations portion of the match. Loved the spot where Venum ran up all his partners to do a plancha but got caught. Someone needs to do that into a regular dive some day! Lasser/Skayde had some real neat tag spots in this one. No dives. Power Rangers continue their winning ways. Kind of amazing Karloff Lagarde Jr. ended up here. He was so plain that even Antonio Pena couldn't figure out some weird gimmick to give him. He was a perfect fit for the dull CMLL midcards.
Latin Lover/Super Calo/Winners vs Jerry Estrada/Heavy Metal/Picudo: A seemingly random trios but booked to set up matches for a future TV! The rudos were the "rocker" group which made sense. They reunited over a year later when Super Crazy showed up and in between a couple of Heavy Metal tecnico runs. Super Calo looked real good here, obviously on a high heading into the biggest month of his career. Rudos went over with Jerry beating Latin Lover to earn a title shot & the leftovers would do a straight tag match on the road to Triplemania! Logical trios match building in AAA!
Octagon/Rey Misterio Jr./Super Muneco vs Pentagon/Juventud Guerrera/Fuerza Guerrera: This was actually the debut of Pentagon - ex-Santo Negro. He had revealed the new name already in the press but this was his TV debut under the gimmick with a new nemesis in his path. Tons of heat for his showdown with Octagon including an epic chase from the ring to the back at one point. Fans actually took swings at Pentagon! I bet Santo was re-thinking the family decision to scrap the Santo/Santo Negro feud since that would have been a good money feud. My little takeaway from this, as a hardcore Rey Jr fan, is how well he worked with Pentagon since they had history together working well in trios (when he was Espanto Jr.). First guy Rey did the Dragon Rana with in Mexico! Muneco was largely a non-entity here. Rey/Juvy traded some cool suplexes. Tecs won by countout when Pentagon ran away. This was good stuff.
Perro Aguayo vs Mascara Ano 2000 (IWC Heavyweight Title): All things considered not a bad match. Another super heated match, a lot thanks to the extra bonus of Octagon/Pentagon as seconds. Octagon even got in a bullet tope at one point! The big storyline was the Pepsi bottle attack 2 weeks earlier which Perro was still recovering from. So naturally at the finish MA2K produced another bottle (I don't think it was Pepsi) & hit Perro with it but this time it didn't break. It did get him the win though.
One of the classic AAA TV shows that got passed around all the traders back in the day since it had all the names that would attract you to an AAA event. Probably a must-see just based on the totality & of course it being the debut of a gimmick that still is in existence to this very day although obviously modified.
(The Get Go - "Target")
Music Video
CMLL 5/11/07
A full Friday night show airing in full in 2007!!! Ahhhhhhh... but there's a catch! It was a 3 match show! The torneo went an hour so if you add in entrances that's one TV show right there. Instead they chose to cut it down, skip entrances, air a pointless semi-main & a random Arena Coliseo match. (No, not the one with Ultimo Dragon/Jushin Liger opposite each other) But on the bright side this meant the only leftover Friday match was the rare opener which got bumped to one of the weekend shows. A super rare and happy occurence.
Brillante Jr./Leono/Stuka Jr. vs Euforia/Nosferatu/Virus: This was the new Infernales lineup with Satanico taking a secondary role as Virus had just turned rudo a week earlier. So this was mostly a showcase match for them busting out a bunch of cool double and triple team moves. (Yes, week-to-week CMLL booking existed back in 2007) I can't recall if this was Brillante's debut TV appearence or if he had done one of the weekend shows already but either way it was one of the first chances to see him in action in Arena Mexico. He looked great. DUH. So did Stuka. Leono was a heavily pushed guy at this point for his position on the card but was clearly a guy in way over his head which would become evident in time. Loved the spear on the ramp by Nosferatu!
Felino/Heavy Metal/Negro Casas vs Black Warrior/Averno/Mephisto: Okay now this is hilarious. You may not get it unless you were around as a fan in 2007 but the basic idea is this match went sub 10 minutes with the first fall going like 1 minute or so. I remember the press completely shitting on it when they recapped it the following day. Like it was a joke you could do a trios match in under 10 minutes and to be honest they weren't wrong. This match wasn't very good and it felt like everyone had somewhere else to be (results don't show anyone going anywhere else afterwards). They were even pushing a Heavy Metal/Black Warrior feud which made it even funnier when the post-match challenges went almost as long as the match itself. Of course reading this with a 2020 viewpoint you probably don't get it since MANY matches go sub 10 minutes these days and if the Tuesday main doesn't you often wonder if they messed up. But this was an entire different world. Rudos went over when Black Warrior cheated to beat Metal. BAD.
Gran Prix: This was Ultimo Dragon show weekend so that's why Minoru Suzuki was hanging around. Hiroki Goto was on excursion. Marco Corleone was back to being a rudo for the night, as was Alex Koslov. Jushin Liger was of course the big get so you know how this one ends. Mexico team was pretty straight forward with all the top heavyweight stars so no Mistico, Volador Jr. or La Mascara types but you had Lizmark Jr. & Sagrado hanging around. A lot of the early portion was edited off TV so we jumped in with some eliminations. Couple cool moments like Guerrero/Bucanero reuniting to do their dance/pose & Wagner/Liger facing off for the first time in Arena Mexico since their famous 96 singles match. Eliminations went pretty much as you'd expect. I liked Guerrero reversing Marco's Air Italia. A spot they would do often but this was the first so of course you remember it! Naturally it came down to Ultimo Guerrero vs Liger with the expected result. In fact, Guerrero got A LOT here with multiple cool eliminations so it was kind of a swerve - especially with him winning the year before too - but in the end no swerve... he just won... again... over Liger.
Overall a fine show but nothing memorable. Especially for how hot CMLL was in 2007. I feel like people will look at the torneo lineup on paper and hunt this down only to come away very disappointed.
(Unwritten Law - "Up All Night")
Music Video
CMLL 5/11/10:
A FULL TUESDAY SHOW! YAY!
Bengala & Trueno vs Disturbio & Mortiz: Nice treat with a glimpse of four guys who NEVER made TV in these times. We now see Bengala & Disturbio on a regular basis but this was when they were allowed to actually work & show off the cool things they could do. Excellent work by all here with some innovative stuff & crazy bumps. Trueno does the slingshot somersault senton to the floor like it's no big deal. He & Mortiz always had crazy good chemistry. Tecnicos take a super fun match!
Guerrero Maya Jr./Molotov/Starman vs Bronco/Hooligan/Inquisidor: A very comfort food CMLL match. If you don't understand that basically... you had 2 CMLL match structures at the time for the non-Friday shows. Either a first fall where one tecnico would get a big exchange + dive, then the other two tecnicos would get second fall showcases before the rudos took over to get their shit in & a third fall would occur or the opposite pretty much where the rudos would take the first fall out of nowhere & the second fall comeback would have the spectacular tecnicos spots. This was option A. A perfectly fine comfort food match where Maya looked spectacular, Bronco kept up & got to do his cool dive & everyone got in a spot to shine by the end. You cannot even compare the segundas from these days to what they would become 10 years later.
Fabian El Gitano/Pegasso/Rey Cometa vs Euforia/Nosferatu/Dr. X: Another comfort food match although far more spectacular action with higher quality guys. Rey Cometa & Pegasso were working super hard - especially Cometa who got in both the running corkscrew armdrag and double corkscrew over the ringpost! My man! Nosferatu was running on borrowed time here. It's kinda funny we used to think he was one of the weakest wrestlers on the CMLL roster and for 2020 standards he would be a perfectly fine 3ra level guy in a Polvora role. Rudos got the win.
Blue Panther/Toscano/Valiente vs Texano Jr./Polvora/Efesto: More comfort food, less craziness than previous match. Valiente did his dive but otherwise this was a rudo orientated match & of course Panther tossing in his twists & turns. Another pro to 2010 over 2020... up and down the card so far notice the lack of guys who are awful and you have no use of ever seeing again. They just don't exist. These days you can't go a single match with at least one guy involved who just drags everything down.
Hector Garza/Mascara Dorada/Volador Jr. vs Atlantis/Averno/Rey Bucanero: Storyline advancement main event as Hector Garza was in the middle of an extended rudo turn. He declined to participate in the first fall and was having a blast with an old lady at ringside. It was actually super entertaining. The rudos weren't really buying it & stayed on guard just incase. Volador was pissed and kept trying to get Garza to help out. This ended up backfiring at the end when Garza did get involved but chose to lay down and purposely lose the match. C'MON VOLADOR IT WAS SO OBVIOUS WHY DID YOU GIVE HIM THE CHANCE??? Reads like a disappointing match but it wasn't at all! Garza was so evil it was glorious to watch.
Great show! These C3 shows were a blast to watch at the time and still are. Just 2 hours of good lucha. You used to always be able to count on CMLL for that.
(Forever The Sickest Kids - "Take It Slow")
Music Video
CMLL 5/11/12:
Another full CMLL show! May 11 must be a lucky day! Or we keep running into random tournaments!
Hombre Bala Jr. & Super Halcon Jr. vs Bobby Zavala & Disturbio: Generacion '11 leftovers still trying to make it in 2012! These were actually the top four outside of Dragon Lee who one could argue was never really part of the group since he was destined for greatness. Zavala & Disturbio made a perfect team together. Total ass kicking pricks. It was matches like this where I got high on Bobby as the future with his great basing & brutal counter spots. Those dropkicks were VICIOUS! He also showed tons of charisma which made it a lock he would move up eventually but nobody could remotely guess his end story... haha. Bala & Halcon were both promising rookies. Bala was the better of the two, or at least he more spectacular. This was a fun opener to watch and wish the current openers could emulate. These guys actually got the crowd into it & came off as the future is in good hands.
Astral/Fantasy/Ultimo Dragoncito vs Pequeno Nitro/Pequeno Olimpico/Pequeno Violencia: The CMLL mini's division post-Mascarita Dorada wasn't all that bad to be honest. They were going with the bigger guys as was evident by everyone here and the guys generally worked hard like in this match. Lots of neat spots, some cool dives & a great third fall. The division didn't die a death due to effort level, that's for sure. The most memorable thing from this was Astral doing a double springboard rana onto the ramp sending Pequeno Violencia into the crowd. It appeared he was supposed to take the bump to the floor but chose the crowd. If I remember the story correctly he was already on one warning about going into the crowd and this was not a 3 strikes you're out policy. This was an automatic suspension. One of the earliest cases I can remember of unexplained suspensions where you had to investigate a little to find out why a guy was suddenly off all lineups. The ban on going into the crowd totally killed any fun in watching Ultimo Dragoncito wrestle.
Black Warrior/Sagrado/Stuka Jr. vs Rey Escorpion/Misterioso/Okumura: The Black Warrior/Rey Escorpion feud was the focus here and had been for a few weeks. They just kept doing these trios matches with random partners where nobody else would really matter & every finish would revolve around them. This was straight falls (as most matches in the build were) ending with an Escorpion low blow (as most matches in the build did). All that sticks out apart from that is one of the most crisp toritos you will ever see from Sagrado to Misterioso.
Triton vs Niebla Roja: En Busca De Un Idolo Round 1! A couple weeks in now it was pretty clear Triton was determined to do well here. I think the general idea was everyone knew a new Mistico was coming and assumed the winner would get the gimmick which made the winner super obvious but that's a story for another day. The reason I mention it though is because Triton won his first match with La Mistica of all moves & may have soured the office by doing that because he was never intended to win this no matter how great he did... and great he did indeed do! He really didn't have a bad match the entire first round. This had him flying all over the place & Niebla Roja playing a fantastic rudo in the right position every time. Triton took the loss but as we progressed in the tournament it became evident results didn't matter... which became an issue come time for the finals. LOL
Dragon Lee vs Euforia: A match built around Euforia countering all of Dragon Lee's flying except for shorts bursts where Dragon would hit big dives like his springboard SSP. Euforia is amazing. Literally the perfect opponents for a guy like Dragon Lee at this point in his career. The finish clearly sets up a future rematch in the tournament with Euforia putting on his finisher, winning, refusing to let go, getting DQ'ed. Way to telegraph the final! Except... some Titan fans would have something to say about that. :)
Atlantis/Blue Panther/La Mascara vs Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Terrible: The show is running long so just get in and do your paint by numbers match... match! Damn run-on sentences. This was what it was. It was fine but you will never remember it again after watching. The perfect match for UG to take a loss in.
Marco Corleone/Maximo/Rush vs Volador Jr./Psicosis/Yujiro: Bufete Del Amor! The most random grouping of guys who totally by accident ended up enjoying teaming with each other & invented their own name so they just kept teaming. That's how you gotta play the office! Or at least could play the office when wrestlers had slightly more control. It was this connection that eventually kept Marco tied to Rush and on the fringes of Los Ingobernables when it eventually formed. Marco always said he never wanted to be a part of that group and enjoyed this group far more. The rudo side was Volador Jr. still being alligned with the Invasores (Psicosis... 2 year invasion and counting) & Yujiro stinking up the point with every appearence. Luckily he was hidden well here. Pretty good match with lots of creativity in the comeback & third fall. Even had a dive sequence! Random rudo team went over because... of course they did.
Really great show! Definitely got your money's worth if you went live (bonus Mother's Day strip show... with Puma King???) & made for some good TV/internet viewing. Definitely reccomended for a rewatch!
(Allister - "Waiting')
Music Video
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
May 6 in Lucha History
CMLL @ Arena Mexico 5/6/05:
So in this time period for CMLL we were doing the 3 (sometimes MAYBE 4 matches) from Arena Mexico + 1 random from Arena Coliseo on Tuesday format for TV. This was a week we got a completely random 3ra from Tuesday which actually got La Flecha on TV (as a sub) but was a meaningless match. I menton this because we ended up missing out on the Arena Mexico 2da which was a trios involving Ricky Marvin & Hooligan. That was the norm... except this match also had La Mascara & Dr. X involved who were in a big feud at the time that would lead to a singles title match the following Friday which did air. This was around the time pirated copies of *full* Arena Mexico shows were being sold outside the arenas due to Mistico's growing popularity so it wouldn't shock me if some random person has this laying around somewhere.
Atlantis/Black Warrior/Satanico vs Black Tiger/Okumura/Taguchi: A painful match to sit through knowing the great looking 2da that was skipped over. Also a painful match to sit through because it was boring as shit. Okumura was in his usual role of accompanying any visiting Japanese wrestler so we were stuck with him often and this would become the norm. Satanico was washed up by the end of 2003 & had no business still being around here, especially as a tecnico. Nothing to note here otherwise.
Dos Caras Jr./Heavy Metal/Ultimo Dragon vs Averno/Mephisto/Ultimo Guerrero: So this was around the time Ultimo Dragon & Ultimo Guerrero were big time feuding and there was lots of speculation they would do a mask match. It had all the makings of one coming up as they both tore masks & cut promos like you would to lead to a match like that. It never happened but this went on many weeks including this one. Everyone else was largely a bystander for what they were doing which is funny since Dos Caras Jr. would eventually step into the feud & end up doing a back-to-back series of matches with Guerrero for the CMLL Heavyweight Title not too long after this. Decent match, got over the feud it was supposed to get over.
Mistico/Dr. Wagner Jr./LA Park vs Perro Aguayo Jr./Hector Garza/Tarzan Boy: This set up Mistico vs Perro Aguayo Jr. the following week in their first ever singles match so you can imagine the heat for this one! But it also had Wagner/Park who weren't gonna be overshadowed so they got their shit in and actually looked great as a team! Park did his DOTYC in the 2nd fall - a dive I've never seen him do before or after! First fall ended with Perrito yanking off Mistico's mask (very violently). This was a usual spot where Mistico would have to go run to the back to get a new mask and his return would lead to the crazy heated comeback including him tope'ing Perrito into the first row. Lots of nearfalls as Wagner/Park wanted to do their moves before the finish where Perrito low blowed Mistico and then yanked his new mask off again post-match to setup next week.
Below average CMLL TV show for the time. Only redeeming thing was the main event but it's a main event well worth seeing and is on YouTube!
(New Found Glory - "I Don't Wanna Fall Asleep")
Music Video
AAA in Tlaxcala - 5/6/06:
Jessy/JJ/Kevin vs Los Espantapajaros I/II/III: The scarecrows!!! My favorites!!! Legit love the gimmick and was always thrilled to see them pop on TV in this era. Not entirely sure who was under the gimmick. May have been the Cirios. Wasn't the Diabolicos for sure. Jessy & Kevin were the only leftovers from the wonderful Kumbia Kids stable that Antonio Pena would never let die off. Jessy was related to Tiffany. Kevin was from the Andrade family. JJ was not a Kumbia Kid although he dressed like one here. I'm struggling to remember what his deal with but I think he was a legit singer who they tried to train to wrestle. He was pretty awful. The rudos worked super light with him. Fun enough opener that went haywire during the dive sequence at the end where Kevin torched his ankle on an asai moonsault when he hit the guardrail and he was done. They did a quick improvised DQ after that.
Oriental/Rey Cometa/Super Fly/Nemesis vs Cuervo/Escoria/Ozz/Espiritu: Oriental was dubbed as the 'padrino' for the new Fuerza Aerea group but outside of teaming with them here never really played the part. He just happened to be booked instead of Laredo Kid. These teams had been regular opponents and having great little undercard matches. This was no exception although not one of the standouts. Chessman ended up running in to help his teammates and spewed people with mist, threw others over the top & beat up others. A great night for Chessman!
La Parka/Octagon/Intocable/El Angel vs Abismo Negro/Psicosis/Histeria/Kaoma Jr.: The rare match with two Histerias! Yes, after doing a run-in on a previous show dressed as Histeria to join the group - Kaoma Jr. actually works his one TV match under the half Kaoma/half Histeria look here. He actually looked really good and stuck around for a bit (but ditching the copycat look) before getting hurt via Crazy Boy/Joe Lider sloppiness in late June. Traditional AAA style match with the rudo brawling followed by tecnicos all getting turns to show off and do comedy stuff for the most part with each rudo one-by-one. Parka was pretty funny fucking around with Abismo. Angel looked like a world class wrestler compared to his partners. You'll be stunned to know this was third straight match in a row ending with a DQ! Antonio Pena was still alive and booking - don't question things!
Konnan/Ron Killings/X-Pac vs Cibernetico/Chessman/Muerte Cibernetica: A rare rudos vs rudos match with more foreigners than natives! I think this was a special request because X-Pac was clearly enjoying working with Ricky Banderas, much moreso than against the Mexican tecnicos he got paired with at the time. Konnan wasn't moving well so he matched up great with Cibernetico. I actually can't remember how this one ended but luchablog has it as a NC which seems about right.
El Zorro vs Charly Manson (Cage - Mexican National Heavyweight Title): These two were in a never ending feud dating back to something like early 2004 if you can believe it. The end goal was a hair match at Triplemania but along the way they killed time doing matches for Zorro's title which was very important at the time. I believe Charly had already failed once (maybe twice?). He would fail again here although not to any fault of his as he was fantastic in this! Worked very hard, took crazy bumps & bled a ton. These guys always loved working with each other. Another match with interference, even with the cage, as all of La Secta ran in only for Zorro to cane them on by one before dodging them all to escape first. But he would drop that title to Manson soon enough...
Overall a really good AAA show for this time period. You get the wacky in the opener, the flying guys in the 2da, a tradition match in the 3ra & a very good main event. Reccomended viewing!
(Sum 41 - "We're All To Blame")
Music Video
AAA 5/6/07 in Oaxaca:
"La Invasion"
The first to note obviously is this venue is GORGEOUS! Outdoors. Clear view. Sun shining for opening two matches & then lovely night sky for the rest. If you have the weather an outdoor show can be fantastic for a viewing experience on TV!
Mascarita Sagrada 2000 & Mascarita Divina vs Mini Abismo Negro & Mini Histeria: The best of the best with the AAA mini's here! Great stuff as you'd expect. Divina has a slip-up early on a rope spot and Abismo kicks him in the face telling him to get his shit together. 20 seconds later we have the amazing headscissors into the armdrag spot people forget these two invented! It wasn't Flamita! Mini tecnicos win but get laid out post-match because it's AAA booked by Konnan!
Cynthia Moreno/Estrellita/Sexy Star vs Fabi Apache/Rossy Moreno/Tiffany: This was during Fabi's awesome heel run as she had caused Billy Boy to end up in a crazy house (skit later!) & was in top form trolling her opponents - especially Sexy Star who was the newbie on the scene getting her ass kicked weekly by the veterans. That used to be Estrellita's job but she had now advanced to sexy eye candy although she was still at least trying. Had a nice asai moonsault dive in this one. Cynthia & Rossy were reaching their expiration date and would end up leaving for a while before returning for a short stay many years later. Konnan was phasing these women down & I wanna think they knew it. So-so match all thanks to Fabi.
Aero Star/Laredo Kid/Pegasso/Super Fly vs Gran Apache/Super Calo/Alan/Decnis: HELL FUCKING YES! THIS IS WHY I LIVE! This was the version of the Fuerza Aerea most are familiar with although Aero Star was still a newbie at this point. In fact, this was one of his first TV matches as their partner. The rudos were the evil Barrio Boys who had shunned Billy (pre-match skit included him looking down trapped in a crazy house as they laughed!) along with Apache & Super Calo who had returned to form a weird partnership with the old man (and drop his mask at Triplemania). This match was just fucking insane. I remember it was one of my favorites in 2008 & stands up to this day. It's on YouTube so definitely give it a watch! Just madness start to finish with clearly a lot of thought put into it as the sequences were so complex & even the rudo beatdown stuff had purpose. This had one of those one-time only spots where Aero Star goes for a tope suicida, gets caught by two rudos, then thrown back inside so Apache can slam him down as if you hit the rewind button on your VCR. Someone bring it back! Decnis takes a rana from the apron to the floor by Pegasso who looked world class in this one. Laredo Kid does a 450 off the apron to the floor which may have been the TV debut of that spot. They do a crazy ass dive sequence too including old man Apache capping it off with a somersault over the ringpost! Aero Star gets the win for his team with a shooting star press which I like to think was because pre-match they were showing highlights of the Fuerza Aerea doing flips and each one did a spot onto his feet except Aero Star who just crashed doing an SSP. Foreshadowing! This was AWESOME!
Crazy Boy/Joe Lider/Juventud Guerrera/Psicosis vs Cuervo/Escoria/Ozz/Espiritu: Mexican Powers vs Secta! A classic! Especially for this time period. All the lineups had been announced for this month alrady so we knew an Atomicos Titles match was happening 6 days later & also at this time AAA was naming shows so an event was coming up called 'La Tracion'. Basically implying someone is turning on someone. Without spoiling too much... that someone was in this match. So this was one of the last chance to see these teams in this format go at it. Pretty good match with the Crazy Boy/Joe Lider wackiness you'd expect & including Crazy Boy doing a moonsault off the bleachers in the crowd. They did the spot where the rudos do the careta & Juvy comes to break it up with a flying huracanrana. Secta takes this one.
Intocable/Super Porky/El Zorro vs Abismo Negro/Kenzo Suzuki/X-Pac: Well one match on this show has to be the traditional AAA match for the families so this was it by default. Lots of comedy with Porky involved as you'd expect. Zorro tried some stuff with X-Pac. Tried being the key word. Ryan Shamrock got involved and Zorro sexually assaulted her before X-Pac kicked him low to beat him. Entertaining enough for what it was.
Charly Manson vs Mesias: No Ciber around tonight so his #2 in command Charly Manson was here to fight the cause vs leader of the Secta - Mesias! Funny spot early on where Mesias went to sweep Manson's leg and Manson was either unaware this was coming or didn't wanna go down but Mesias is so much stronger he just yanked that fucking leg and Manson took a header. LOL Things broke down with interference as you'd expect. Zorro actually came out to help his old rival and fight off La Secta with his cane. A board was broken, fire was used & in the end Mesias came out on top. Exactly what I wanted out of my AAA main event!
Great show! This is why AAA was *the* promotion to watch in 2007! Nobody did. But that's okay with me because now I have all these great memories and none of you do!
(Linkin Park - "Beneath My Skin")
Music Video
CMLL 5/6/08 @ Arena Mexico:
Oh man it has to be pointed before even talking about the matches how different CMLL was at this time. Small Tuesday crowd but the makeup was entirely hardcore fans who knew the wrestlers, knew the feuds & were very interactive with the wrestlers. You see this during the main when Black Warrior goes to teach his dace to a blonde girl in the front row who actually stands out because she may be the only foreigner in the building! Compare that to these days when a Mexican sitting in the front row is a rarity. The other thing to note is the ringside area completely packed with photographers from the various magazines since there is a title match on this show. You can see poor Alexis running around all over trying to snap pictures while avoiding others. I can see why he eventually complained.
5 match show - 4 matches aired - the opener that didn't was all women so WE ARE ALREADY IN LUCK!
Fabian El Gitano/Mictlan/Super Nova vs Diamante Negro/Nitro/Skandalo: Ahhhhhhh! Mictlan! DON'T SAY HIS NAME! Well, that used to be the rule since he disappeared randomly out of nowhere you just knew he would be back some day to cause trouble. But then word came out he was having kidney trouble (steroids anyone?) so a return was unlikely. In this match he was playing background to Fabian El Gitano who was in the middle of a feud with Diamante Negro that got dropped a month later when Diamante disappeared and a random guy named Dragon Rojo showed up! And the icing on the cake is Dragon Rojo would be in a mask match come the end of August against... Mictlan! Fabian got screwed. Their partner was Super Nova who at this time was an exciting young guy who didn't make TV enough. Decent match here. Crowd was into it as they had been watching this feud develop every Tuesday & the Nitro/Skandalo/Loco Max/Arkangel group was over with the rudo section. DQ finish with Diamante yanking Fabian's mask.
Bam Bam vs Pequeno Damian 666 (CMLL Mini's Title): YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a treat to get a match like this! This came as a result of a torneo cibernetico on Kids Day the week before where Pequeno Damian cheated to eliminate Mascarita Dorada & then Bam Bam cheated to beat him in revenge and earn #1 contendership. Think about that. We were THIS CLOSE to Bam Bam vs Mascarita Dorada instead! They even did a tease during that same torneo! But you can't complain too much since these guys together are GOLD! Great match that almost got derailed when Bam Bam hit his head on the floor trying a rana to the outside. You can see Damian is immediatly concerned but Bam Bam shrugs it off like a madman. All the great stuff you'd expect from these two who actually feuded all summer which would have been great if it hadn't been shifted to Sunday mostly non-TV shows. Bam Bam went in to regain his belt... but left without it. A Valagueza gave Damian the win in front of a very happy rudo crowd!
Felino/Heavy Metal/Negro Casas vs Averno/Mephisto/Misterioso: Run-of-the-mill trios with the Casas brothers doing their thing against the usual rudos who worked their asses off to make Heavy Metal in particular look good. On the bright side for them they got to go over in the end!
Alex Koslov/Blue Panther/Dos Caras Jr. vs Black Warrior/Sangre Azteca/Ultimo Guerrero: Holy batman it's Sangre Azteca in a main event! Don't adjust your screens! I actually checked good old luchablog to make sure he wasn't a sub! I did come across a news note where Ultimo Guerrero asks that the Anniversary main event be a 4 way mask match with him, Atlantis, Blue Panther & Villano V. It's almost like this guy had inside information & was pushing to be added to the planned match! Fun match. Koslov/Warrior had their antics going & actually ended the match with Warrior getting DQ'ed for a low blow. Sangre Azteca fit in fine and as a smaller guy actually made all of Dos Caras Jr.'s offense look so much better (monkey flip in particular). But being a smaller guy is probably why he got taken out of these matches and eventually moved further down the card.
Good show. Definitely check out the mini's title match & main event too if you've got time.
(Beat Crusaders - "Hit In The U.S.A.")
Music Video
CMLL 5/6/11 @ Arena Mexico:
A full Friday night show making the various TV networks!
Dalys/Luna Magica/Goya Kong vs Estrellita/Princesa Blanca/La Comandante: I had totally forgotten Estrellita was still around as a ruda by this point. I don't think it lasts much longer since she definitely turns by the fall. Usual women's stuff... they tried... they failed at a lot... Luna was espcially terrible around this time and almost reaching the round size of Goya. Dalys was clearly trying as she was the newbie who got the spot for obvious reasons but she had to put the effort in to justify it. She looked scared to death doing her plancha. Rudas got the win. I'd have been pretty unhappy attending an Arena Mexico show live and seeing this as the opener instead of a cool match... haha.
Angel De Plata/Delta/Stuka Jr. vs Okumura/Polvora/Yoshihashi: Plata & Delta were two of the guys who didn't advance from Forjando's group stage. Yoshihashi was this year's random Japanese guy who worked exclusively with Okumura. He was actually okay here even though overall I think we can all agree his Mexico run was not good. He based well for Delta & was always in the right spot. This had a lot of action and I enjoyed it!
Now we move onto Forjando un Idolo matches. We entered the elimination stage at this point so there was no math for CMLL to screw up or voting from fans to compliate what CMLL wanted done.
Diamante vs Fuego: Really good match! They were clearly both out to impress. There was a cool armdrag off the top rope spot where Fuego lept up in one motion. Fuego went over via submission in a somewhat upset. It's hard to remember who was ranked higher at the time but I wanna say Fuego since he was doing the Dr. X feud while Diamante drifted aimlessly outside of a random trios titles run with Rush & Angel De Oro. The seconds (Blue Panther/Negro Casas) got into it afterwards to tease what was to come.
Angel De Oro vs Guerrero Maya Jr.: This could have been you Triton if not for some wacky math & annoying fans! Instead Maya gets his second singles match in days and actually looked much better than Oro here but Maya was never advancing. Oro was the golden child... get it? He didn't look bad, actually did some cool stuff & the finish got a very nice reaction as he used the Mecedora to submit Maya and move on. I think Ultimo Guerrero being his second was a clue!
Rush/Strongman/Blue Panther vs Terrible/Texano/Rey Bucanero: TRT! Strongman breaking a bat during his entrance! Young Rush! What more could you want??? This was actually okay as the rudos were still relatively interested and had some nice trio spots. Panther was involved so each finish was done smartly, especially in the third fall as each tecnico was taken out one by one before a triple super bomb beat Strongman. You could see Rush/Terrible starting to form the chemistry here that would stick with them up until the day Rush left the company.
La Mascara/Mascara Dorada/La Sombra vs Averno/Negro Casas/Ultimo Guerrero: It was La Mascara vs Averno season so everyone else was just background noise. Dorada at least made the most of his quick ring time doing cool things with Ultimo Guerrero. Sombra must have been resting up for a Japan tour or something because he didn't even take off his 3M shirt. I loved Dorada's fakeout right into a plancha over the top. Caught me off guard. Averno cheated to beat La Mascara as we headed to the inevitable (though not as soon as everyone forecasted).
A strong show thanks for the Forjando matches which both delivered big time! Good mix of wrestling and storyline progression overall. A better opener would have put this in must watch territory. Should I rank the Friday night Arena Mexico shows each year at some point? Seems like a decent project but I should try to stick with this one first, right?
(Every Avenue - "Think Of You Later (Empty Room)"
Music Video
AAA 5/6/12 in Merida:
A weird taping with only 5 matches including a weird tag that never even made the National version of the show which was also edited down big time.
Fabi Apache/Mascarita Dorada/Octagoncito vs Sexy Star/Mini Histeria/Mini Psicosis: Fine opener with the minis carrying the work. Dorada was on another level from everyone else here and actually was soon in WWE after this if I remember correctly. Sexy Star may have been fresh off her WWE tryout failure or my timeline is off. Either way she already had her cosmetic upgrade done. Dorada pinned Mini Psicosis and challenged for a title shot. Now I remember. He gets it, loses & leaves soon after.
Fenix & Daga vs Cuervo & Ozz: RANDOMNESS! I think maybe this was around the time Cuervo & Ozz were not only inexplicably working AJPW but also held their tag titles for a bit? Best explanation I have. Fenix & Daga teaming makes no real sense although Daga hadn't officially turned yet but he was a non-entity who had never been paired with Fenix beforehand. They did some cool stuff but the match was very awkward and disjointed. Plus it had a shit double countout finish. Pass.
Psycho Circus vs Halloween/Hector Garza/Psicosis: Now this was a sad watch as it was one of Garza's final TV appearences. He looked in great shape & even did his corkscrew plancha (edited off TV but shown in highlights). This was a big brawl for the most part. Psicosis took a nutty chairshot to the head while trying a tope and in landing smacked his head on the ground to compound things. Clowns went over obviously as this was still a Perros B-team without Perrito around.
Juventud Guerrera & Joe Lider vs Abyss & Chessman (AAA Tag Team Titles): What in the fuck. Why did you do this Konnan??? Abyss was awful here. Juventud must have known Abyss wasn't even going to do shit so he mostly worked with Chessman and in typical Juvy fashion made sure he got all his shit in. Chessman was more than obliging and even took two of the same frontcracker spots to keep Juvy happy. Psicosis interfered (apparently that bump didn't kill him) to cost Lider the match as they were in their yearly feud. This was bad.
LA Park & Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Cibernetico & Dr. Wagner Jr.: Very edited down. Not sure for TV reasons or Perrito in no condition to perform reasons. Total clusterfuck with everyone fighting everyone and interference galore. Not even sure who would have lost this if they neeed to do a finish so maybe it was for the best they didn't even try.
Overall a pretty bad show in a time period when Konnan was bringing in more bad than good with his TNA connections.
(For All Those Sleeping - "I'm Not Dead Yet")
Music Video
CMLL 5/6/14:
Molotov & Robin vs Akuma & Espiritu Negro.: Not much to say here. Funny to see all these guys stuck in the same position 6 years later except the dude who sold his mask & retired. The era of no opener dives or excitement in general, not to mention the drop in quality of the performers, really made these openers unwatchable. Forget about a second time around.
Metalico/Oro Jr./Sensei vs Arkangel/Hooligan/Inquisidor: They had been teasing problems between Metalico & Oro Jr. since the En Busca qualifying torneo cibernetico so they had problems in this one leading to the rudos winning. But since this is a formulaic CMLL show they still had to do 3 falls for some reason. Gotta love #CMLLogic! Oro Jr. got in his springboard corkscrew armdrag on the ramp which was the lone highlight here.
Astral/Electrico/Ultimo Dragoncito vs Demus/Mercurio/Pequeno Olimpico: Maybe it was the elevated spot on the show or something in the water but in a time period when CMLL was gradully phasing down the minis, these guys decided to step up and have a nice little match! They even did a triple dive & Dragoncito busted out a very rare somersault into the crowd like he used to be known for and good for on a semi-weekly basis. In fact, this may be the last good CMLL trios match for all I know. I'd have to double check but it's hard to come up with one off the top of my head.
Round 1 of En Busca De Un Idolo was begining to wrap up with the following matches...
Star Jr. vs Cavernario: Star Jr. wore a shirt, likely covering up his taped up shoulder after Hechicero had almost killed him on a corner power bomb a few days earlier. He was clearly not 100% but did his best and even took the crucifix bomb into the corner like a true luchador! Cavernario worked hard to carry the load here and got the win. I think the idea for the finish was the same move off the top rope but instead Cavernario did it off the second just to make sure we didn't have a second Star Jr. death bump in this tournament. Good stuff.
Super Halcon Jr. vs Hechicero: The weakest performer of the best CMLL tournament ever vs one of the standouts. Hechicero carried Halcon well here but we were long past the point of Halcon trying here. He knew he was outclassed by everyone else and was running out the time until his elimination. Couple of nice spots by Hechicero who wrapped it up with a submission victory. Halcon would redeem himself only in his final match vs Dragon Lee.
Sagrado/Stuka Jr./Super Porky vs Terrible/Vangelis/Herodes Jr.: HERODES JR.??? I barely remember him being this high at any point outside of the Peste Negra short run. I went back to double check and see if he was a sub but apparently he wasn't. Although Sagrado was in for Mistico. Generic trios match with Comandante getting involved and even taking a headscissors from Stuka. Funny to think now how all these En Busca guys were fighting for a spot in main events meanwhile Herodes Jr. (who lost in the qualifying torneo) is here in the semi-main like it's no big deal. Should have taken the shortcut Cavernario!
Atlantis/Delta/Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero/Euforia/Rey Bucanero: Now I'm questioning luchablog and wondering if Bucanero was scheduled in the semi-main instead of Herodes but got switched to replace Niebla Roja in this so Herodes subbed in the semi-main. Either way this was a substitue match basically as the idea was a trios titles program being set up but they were short 1/3 the challenger. So instead they just had a good match. No complaints! Tecnicos went over and the feud resumed as planned the following week before the title match occured on the 20th.
I'd call it a good show alone based on the En Busca matches & minis performance. Toss in a decent main event and I guess you'd bump it up to a borderline very good show. Tuesday shows were starting to dip in quality around this time but as long as En Busca was around you were never gonna get a stinker.
(Fall Out Boy - "Death Valley")
Music Video
So in this time period for CMLL we were doing the 3 (sometimes MAYBE 4 matches) from Arena Mexico + 1 random from Arena Coliseo on Tuesday format for TV. This was a week we got a completely random 3ra from Tuesday which actually got La Flecha on TV (as a sub) but was a meaningless match. I menton this because we ended up missing out on the Arena Mexico 2da which was a trios involving Ricky Marvin & Hooligan. That was the norm... except this match also had La Mascara & Dr. X involved who were in a big feud at the time that would lead to a singles title match the following Friday which did air. This was around the time pirated copies of *full* Arena Mexico shows were being sold outside the arenas due to Mistico's growing popularity so it wouldn't shock me if some random person has this laying around somewhere.
Atlantis/Black Warrior/Satanico vs Black Tiger/Okumura/Taguchi: A painful match to sit through knowing the great looking 2da that was skipped over. Also a painful match to sit through because it was boring as shit. Okumura was in his usual role of accompanying any visiting Japanese wrestler so we were stuck with him often and this would become the norm. Satanico was washed up by the end of 2003 & had no business still being around here, especially as a tecnico. Nothing to note here otherwise.
Dos Caras Jr./Heavy Metal/Ultimo Dragon vs Averno/Mephisto/Ultimo Guerrero: So this was around the time Ultimo Dragon & Ultimo Guerrero were big time feuding and there was lots of speculation they would do a mask match. It had all the makings of one coming up as they both tore masks & cut promos like you would to lead to a match like that. It never happened but this went on many weeks including this one. Everyone else was largely a bystander for what they were doing which is funny since Dos Caras Jr. would eventually step into the feud & end up doing a back-to-back series of matches with Guerrero for the CMLL Heavyweight Title not too long after this. Decent match, got over the feud it was supposed to get over.
Mistico/Dr. Wagner Jr./LA Park vs Perro Aguayo Jr./Hector Garza/Tarzan Boy: This set up Mistico vs Perro Aguayo Jr. the following week in their first ever singles match so you can imagine the heat for this one! But it also had Wagner/Park who weren't gonna be overshadowed so they got their shit in and actually looked great as a team! Park did his DOTYC in the 2nd fall - a dive I've never seen him do before or after! First fall ended with Perrito yanking off Mistico's mask (very violently). This was a usual spot where Mistico would have to go run to the back to get a new mask and his return would lead to the crazy heated comeback including him tope'ing Perrito into the first row. Lots of nearfalls as Wagner/Park wanted to do their moves before the finish where Perrito low blowed Mistico and then yanked his new mask off again post-match to setup next week.
Below average CMLL TV show for the time. Only redeeming thing was the main event but it's a main event well worth seeing and is on YouTube!
(New Found Glory - "I Don't Wanna Fall Asleep")
Music Video
AAA in Tlaxcala - 5/6/06:
Jessy/JJ/Kevin vs Los Espantapajaros I/II/III: The scarecrows!!! My favorites!!! Legit love the gimmick and was always thrilled to see them pop on TV in this era. Not entirely sure who was under the gimmick. May have been the Cirios. Wasn't the Diabolicos for sure. Jessy & Kevin were the only leftovers from the wonderful Kumbia Kids stable that Antonio Pena would never let die off. Jessy was related to Tiffany. Kevin was from the Andrade family. JJ was not a Kumbia Kid although he dressed like one here. I'm struggling to remember what his deal with but I think he was a legit singer who they tried to train to wrestle. He was pretty awful. The rudos worked super light with him. Fun enough opener that went haywire during the dive sequence at the end where Kevin torched his ankle on an asai moonsault when he hit the guardrail and he was done. They did a quick improvised DQ after that.
Oriental/Rey Cometa/Super Fly/Nemesis vs Cuervo/Escoria/Ozz/Espiritu: Oriental was dubbed as the 'padrino' for the new Fuerza Aerea group but outside of teaming with them here never really played the part. He just happened to be booked instead of Laredo Kid. These teams had been regular opponents and having great little undercard matches. This was no exception although not one of the standouts. Chessman ended up running in to help his teammates and spewed people with mist, threw others over the top & beat up others. A great night for Chessman!
La Parka/Octagon/Intocable/El Angel vs Abismo Negro/Psicosis/Histeria/Kaoma Jr.: The rare match with two Histerias! Yes, after doing a run-in on a previous show dressed as Histeria to join the group - Kaoma Jr. actually works his one TV match under the half Kaoma/half Histeria look here. He actually looked really good and stuck around for a bit (but ditching the copycat look) before getting hurt via Crazy Boy/Joe Lider sloppiness in late June. Traditional AAA style match with the rudo brawling followed by tecnicos all getting turns to show off and do comedy stuff for the most part with each rudo one-by-one. Parka was pretty funny fucking around with Abismo. Angel looked like a world class wrestler compared to his partners. You'll be stunned to know this was third straight match in a row ending with a DQ! Antonio Pena was still alive and booking - don't question things!
Konnan/Ron Killings/X-Pac vs Cibernetico/Chessman/Muerte Cibernetica: A rare rudos vs rudos match with more foreigners than natives! I think this was a special request because X-Pac was clearly enjoying working with Ricky Banderas, much moreso than against the Mexican tecnicos he got paired with at the time. Konnan wasn't moving well so he matched up great with Cibernetico. I actually can't remember how this one ended but luchablog has it as a NC which seems about right.
El Zorro vs Charly Manson (Cage - Mexican National Heavyweight Title): These two were in a never ending feud dating back to something like early 2004 if you can believe it. The end goal was a hair match at Triplemania but along the way they killed time doing matches for Zorro's title which was very important at the time. I believe Charly had already failed once (maybe twice?). He would fail again here although not to any fault of his as he was fantastic in this! Worked very hard, took crazy bumps & bled a ton. These guys always loved working with each other. Another match with interference, even with the cage, as all of La Secta ran in only for Zorro to cane them on by one before dodging them all to escape first. But he would drop that title to Manson soon enough...
Overall a really good AAA show for this time period. You get the wacky in the opener, the flying guys in the 2da, a tradition match in the 3ra & a very good main event. Reccomended viewing!
(Sum 41 - "We're All To Blame")
Music Video
AAA 5/6/07 in Oaxaca:
"La Invasion"
The first to note obviously is this venue is GORGEOUS! Outdoors. Clear view. Sun shining for opening two matches & then lovely night sky for the rest. If you have the weather an outdoor show can be fantastic for a viewing experience on TV!
Mascarita Sagrada 2000 & Mascarita Divina vs Mini Abismo Negro & Mini Histeria: The best of the best with the AAA mini's here! Great stuff as you'd expect. Divina has a slip-up early on a rope spot and Abismo kicks him in the face telling him to get his shit together. 20 seconds later we have the amazing headscissors into the armdrag spot people forget these two invented! It wasn't Flamita! Mini tecnicos win but get laid out post-match because it's AAA booked by Konnan!
Cynthia Moreno/Estrellita/Sexy Star vs Fabi Apache/Rossy Moreno/Tiffany: This was during Fabi's awesome heel run as she had caused Billy Boy to end up in a crazy house (skit later!) & was in top form trolling her opponents - especially Sexy Star who was the newbie on the scene getting her ass kicked weekly by the veterans. That used to be Estrellita's job but she had now advanced to sexy eye candy although she was still at least trying. Had a nice asai moonsault dive in this one. Cynthia & Rossy were reaching their expiration date and would end up leaving for a while before returning for a short stay many years later. Konnan was phasing these women down & I wanna think they knew it. So-so match all thanks to Fabi.
Aero Star/Laredo Kid/Pegasso/Super Fly vs Gran Apache/Super Calo/Alan/Decnis: HELL FUCKING YES! THIS IS WHY I LIVE! This was the version of the Fuerza Aerea most are familiar with although Aero Star was still a newbie at this point. In fact, this was one of his first TV matches as their partner. The rudos were the evil Barrio Boys who had shunned Billy (pre-match skit included him looking down trapped in a crazy house as they laughed!) along with Apache & Super Calo who had returned to form a weird partnership with the old man (and drop his mask at Triplemania). This match was just fucking insane. I remember it was one of my favorites in 2008 & stands up to this day. It's on YouTube so definitely give it a watch! Just madness start to finish with clearly a lot of thought put into it as the sequences were so complex & even the rudo beatdown stuff had purpose. This had one of those one-time only spots where Aero Star goes for a tope suicida, gets caught by two rudos, then thrown back inside so Apache can slam him down as if you hit the rewind button on your VCR. Someone bring it back! Decnis takes a rana from the apron to the floor by Pegasso who looked world class in this one. Laredo Kid does a 450 off the apron to the floor which may have been the TV debut of that spot. They do a crazy ass dive sequence too including old man Apache capping it off with a somersault over the ringpost! Aero Star gets the win for his team with a shooting star press which I like to think was because pre-match they were showing highlights of the Fuerza Aerea doing flips and each one did a spot onto his feet except Aero Star who just crashed doing an SSP. Foreshadowing! This was AWESOME!
Crazy Boy/Joe Lider/Juventud Guerrera/Psicosis vs Cuervo/Escoria/Ozz/Espiritu: Mexican Powers vs Secta! A classic! Especially for this time period. All the lineups had been announced for this month alrady so we knew an Atomicos Titles match was happening 6 days later & also at this time AAA was naming shows so an event was coming up called 'La Tracion'. Basically implying someone is turning on someone. Without spoiling too much... that someone was in this match. So this was one of the last chance to see these teams in this format go at it. Pretty good match with the Crazy Boy/Joe Lider wackiness you'd expect & including Crazy Boy doing a moonsault off the bleachers in the crowd. They did the spot where the rudos do the careta & Juvy comes to break it up with a flying huracanrana. Secta takes this one.
Intocable/Super Porky/El Zorro vs Abismo Negro/Kenzo Suzuki/X-Pac: Well one match on this show has to be the traditional AAA match for the families so this was it by default. Lots of comedy with Porky involved as you'd expect. Zorro tried some stuff with X-Pac. Tried being the key word. Ryan Shamrock got involved and Zorro sexually assaulted her before X-Pac kicked him low to beat him. Entertaining enough for what it was.
Charly Manson vs Mesias: No Ciber around tonight so his #2 in command Charly Manson was here to fight the cause vs leader of the Secta - Mesias! Funny spot early on where Mesias went to sweep Manson's leg and Manson was either unaware this was coming or didn't wanna go down but Mesias is so much stronger he just yanked that fucking leg and Manson took a header. LOL Things broke down with interference as you'd expect. Zorro actually came out to help his old rival and fight off La Secta with his cane. A board was broken, fire was used & in the end Mesias came out on top. Exactly what I wanted out of my AAA main event!
Great show! This is why AAA was *the* promotion to watch in 2007! Nobody did. But that's okay with me because now I have all these great memories and none of you do!
(Linkin Park - "Beneath My Skin")
Music Video
CMLL 5/6/08 @ Arena Mexico:
Oh man it has to be pointed before even talking about the matches how different CMLL was at this time. Small Tuesday crowd but the makeup was entirely hardcore fans who knew the wrestlers, knew the feuds & were very interactive with the wrestlers. You see this during the main when Black Warrior goes to teach his dace to a blonde girl in the front row who actually stands out because she may be the only foreigner in the building! Compare that to these days when a Mexican sitting in the front row is a rarity. The other thing to note is the ringside area completely packed with photographers from the various magazines since there is a title match on this show. You can see poor Alexis running around all over trying to snap pictures while avoiding others. I can see why he eventually complained.
5 match show - 4 matches aired - the opener that didn't was all women so WE ARE ALREADY IN LUCK!
Fabian El Gitano/Mictlan/Super Nova vs Diamante Negro/Nitro/Skandalo: Ahhhhhhh! Mictlan! DON'T SAY HIS NAME! Well, that used to be the rule since he disappeared randomly out of nowhere you just knew he would be back some day to cause trouble. But then word came out he was having kidney trouble (steroids anyone?) so a return was unlikely. In this match he was playing background to Fabian El Gitano who was in the middle of a feud with Diamante Negro that got dropped a month later when Diamante disappeared and a random guy named Dragon Rojo showed up! And the icing on the cake is Dragon Rojo would be in a mask match come the end of August against... Mictlan! Fabian got screwed. Their partner was Super Nova who at this time was an exciting young guy who didn't make TV enough. Decent match here. Crowd was into it as they had been watching this feud develop every Tuesday & the Nitro/Skandalo/Loco Max/Arkangel group was over with the rudo section. DQ finish with Diamante yanking Fabian's mask.
Bam Bam vs Pequeno Damian 666 (CMLL Mini's Title): YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a treat to get a match like this! This came as a result of a torneo cibernetico on Kids Day the week before where Pequeno Damian cheated to eliminate Mascarita Dorada & then Bam Bam cheated to beat him in revenge and earn #1 contendership. Think about that. We were THIS CLOSE to Bam Bam vs Mascarita Dorada instead! They even did a tease during that same torneo! But you can't complain too much since these guys together are GOLD! Great match that almost got derailed when Bam Bam hit his head on the floor trying a rana to the outside. You can see Damian is immediatly concerned but Bam Bam shrugs it off like a madman. All the great stuff you'd expect from these two who actually feuded all summer which would have been great if it hadn't been shifted to Sunday mostly non-TV shows. Bam Bam went in to regain his belt... but left without it. A Valagueza gave Damian the win in front of a very happy rudo crowd!
Felino/Heavy Metal/Negro Casas vs Averno/Mephisto/Misterioso: Run-of-the-mill trios with the Casas brothers doing their thing against the usual rudos who worked their asses off to make Heavy Metal in particular look good. On the bright side for them they got to go over in the end!
Alex Koslov/Blue Panther/Dos Caras Jr. vs Black Warrior/Sangre Azteca/Ultimo Guerrero: Holy batman it's Sangre Azteca in a main event! Don't adjust your screens! I actually checked good old luchablog to make sure he wasn't a sub! I did come across a news note where Ultimo Guerrero asks that the Anniversary main event be a 4 way mask match with him, Atlantis, Blue Panther & Villano V. It's almost like this guy had inside information & was pushing to be added to the planned match! Fun match. Koslov/Warrior had their antics going & actually ended the match with Warrior getting DQ'ed for a low blow. Sangre Azteca fit in fine and as a smaller guy actually made all of Dos Caras Jr.'s offense look so much better (monkey flip in particular). But being a smaller guy is probably why he got taken out of these matches and eventually moved further down the card.
Good show. Definitely check out the mini's title match & main event too if you've got time.
(Beat Crusaders - "Hit In The U.S.A.")
Music Video
CMLL 5/6/11 @ Arena Mexico:
A full Friday night show making the various TV networks!
Dalys/Luna Magica/Goya Kong vs Estrellita/Princesa Blanca/La Comandante: I had totally forgotten Estrellita was still around as a ruda by this point. I don't think it lasts much longer since she definitely turns by the fall. Usual women's stuff... they tried... they failed at a lot... Luna was espcially terrible around this time and almost reaching the round size of Goya. Dalys was clearly trying as she was the newbie who got the spot for obvious reasons but she had to put the effort in to justify it. She looked scared to death doing her plancha. Rudas got the win. I'd have been pretty unhappy attending an Arena Mexico show live and seeing this as the opener instead of a cool match... haha.
Angel De Plata/Delta/Stuka Jr. vs Okumura/Polvora/Yoshihashi: Plata & Delta were two of the guys who didn't advance from Forjando's group stage. Yoshihashi was this year's random Japanese guy who worked exclusively with Okumura. He was actually okay here even though overall I think we can all agree his Mexico run was not good. He based well for Delta & was always in the right spot. This had a lot of action and I enjoyed it!
Now we move onto Forjando un Idolo matches. We entered the elimination stage at this point so there was no math for CMLL to screw up or voting from fans to compliate what CMLL wanted done.
Diamante vs Fuego: Really good match! They were clearly both out to impress. There was a cool armdrag off the top rope spot where Fuego lept up in one motion. Fuego went over via submission in a somewhat upset. It's hard to remember who was ranked higher at the time but I wanna say Fuego since he was doing the Dr. X feud while Diamante drifted aimlessly outside of a random trios titles run with Rush & Angel De Oro. The seconds (Blue Panther/Negro Casas) got into it afterwards to tease what was to come.
Angel De Oro vs Guerrero Maya Jr.: This could have been you Triton if not for some wacky math & annoying fans! Instead Maya gets his second singles match in days and actually looked much better than Oro here but Maya was never advancing. Oro was the golden child... get it? He didn't look bad, actually did some cool stuff & the finish got a very nice reaction as he used the Mecedora to submit Maya and move on. I think Ultimo Guerrero being his second was a clue!
Rush/Strongman/Blue Panther vs Terrible/Texano/Rey Bucanero: TRT! Strongman breaking a bat during his entrance! Young Rush! What more could you want??? This was actually okay as the rudos were still relatively interested and had some nice trio spots. Panther was involved so each finish was done smartly, especially in the third fall as each tecnico was taken out one by one before a triple super bomb beat Strongman. You could see Rush/Terrible starting to form the chemistry here that would stick with them up until the day Rush left the company.
La Mascara/Mascara Dorada/La Sombra vs Averno/Negro Casas/Ultimo Guerrero: It was La Mascara vs Averno season so everyone else was just background noise. Dorada at least made the most of his quick ring time doing cool things with Ultimo Guerrero. Sombra must have been resting up for a Japan tour or something because he didn't even take off his 3M shirt. I loved Dorada's fakeout right into a plancha over the top. Caught me off guard. Averno cheated to beat La Mascara as we headed to the inevitable (though not as soon as everyone forecasted).
A strong show thanks for the Forjando matches which both delivered big time! Good mix of wrestling and storyline progression overall. A better opener would have put this in must watch territory. Should I rank the Friday night Arena Mexico shows each year at some point? Seems like a decent project but I should try to stick with this one first, right?
(Every Avenue - "Think Of You Later (Empty Room)"
Music Video
AAA 5/6/12 in Merida:
A weird taping with only 5 matches including a weird tag that never even made the National version of the show which was also edited down big time.
Fabi Apache/Mascarita Dorada/Octagoncito vs Sexy Star/Mini Histeria/Mini Psicosis: Fine opener with the minis carrying the work. Dorada was on another level from everyone else here and actually was soon in WWE after this if I remember correctly. Sexy Star may have been fresh off her WWE tryout failure or my timeline is off. Either way she already had her cosmetic upgrade done. Dorada pinned Mini Psicosis and challenged for a title shot. Now I remember. He gets it, loses & leaves soon after.
Fenix & Daga vs Cuervo & Ozz: RANDOMNESS! I think maybe this was around the time Cuervo & Ozz were not only inexplicably working AJPW but also held their tag titles for a bit? Best explanation I have. Fenix & Daga teaming makes no real sense although Daga hadn't officially turned yet but he was a non-entity who had never been paired with Fenix beforehand. They did some cool stuff but the match was very awkward and disjointed. Plus it had a shit double countout finish. Pass.
Psycho Circus vs Halloween/Hector Garza/Psicosis: Now this was a sad watch as it was one of Garza's final TV appearences. He looked in great shape & even did his corkscrew plancha (edited off TV but shown in highlights). This was a big brawl for the most part. Psicosis took a nutty chairshot to the head while trying a tope and in landing smacked his head on the ground to compound things. Clowns went over obviously as this was still a Perros B-team without Perrito around.
Juventud Guerrera & Joe Lider vs Abyss & Chessman (AAA Tag Team Titles): What in the fuck. Why did you do this Konnan??? Abyss was awful here. Juventud must have known Abyss wasn't even going to do shit so he mostly worked with Chessman and in typical Juvy fashion made sure he got all his shit in. Chessman was more than obliging and even took two of the same frontcracker spots to keep Juvy happy. Psicosis interfered (apparently that bump didn't kill him) to cost Lider the match as they were in their yearly feud. This was bad.
LA Park & Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Cibernetico & Dr. Wagner Jr.: Very edited down. Not sure for TV reasons or Perrito in no condition to perform reasons. Total clusterfuck with everyone fighting everyone and interference galore. Not even sure who would have lost this if they neeed to do a finish so maybe it was for the best they didn't even try.
Overall a pretty bad show in a time period when Konnan was bringing in more bad than good with his TNA connections.
(For All Those Sleeping - "I'm Not Dead Yet")
Music Video
CMLL 5/6/14:
Molotov & Robin vs Akuma & Espiritu Negro.: Not much to say here. Funny to see all these guys stuck in the same position 6 years later except the dude who sold his mask & retired. The era of no opener dives or excitement in general, not to mention the drop in quality of the performers, really made these openers unwatchable. Forget about a second time around.
Metalico/Oro Jr./Sensei vs Arkangel/Hooligan/Inquisidor: They had been teasing problems between Metalico & Oro Jr. since the En Busca qualifying torneo cibernetico so they had problems in this one leading to the rudos winning. But since this is a formulaic CMLL show they still had to do 3 falls for some reason. Gotta love #CMLLogic! Oro Jr. got in his springboard corkscrew armdrag on the ramp which was the lone highlight here.
Astral/Electrico/Ultimo Dragoncito vs Demus/Mercurio/Pequeno Olimpico: Maybe it was the elevated spot on the show or something in the water but in a time period when CMLL was gradully phasing down the minis, these guys decided to step up and have a nice little match! They even did a triple dive & Dragoncito busted out a very rare somersault into the crowd like he used to be known for and good for on a semi-weekly basis. In fact, this may be the last good CMLL trios match for all I know. I'd have to double check but it's hard to come up with one off the top of my head.
Round 1 of En Busca De Un Idolo was begining to wrap up with the following matches...
Star Jr. vs Cavernario: Star Jr. wore a shirt, likely covering up his taped up shoulder after Hechicero had almost killed him on a corner power bomb a few days earlier. He was clearly not 100% but did his best and even took the crucifix bomb into the corner like a true luchador! Cavernario worked hard to carry the load here and got the win. I think the idea for the finish was the same move off the top rope but instead Cavernario did it off the second just to make sure we didn't have a second Star Jr. death bump in this tournament. Good stuff.
Super Halcon Jr. vs Hechicero: The weakest performer of the best CMLL tournament ever vs one of the standouts. Hechicero carried Halcon well here but we were long past the point of Halcon trying here. He knew he was outclassed by everyone else and was running out the time until his elimination. Couple of nice spots by Hechicero who wrapped it up with a submission victory. Halcon would redeem himself only in his final match vs Dragon Lee.
Sagrado/Stuka Jr./Super Porky vs Terrible/Vangelis/Herodes Jr.: HERODES JR.??? I barely remember him being this high at any point outside of the Peste Negra short run. I went back to double check and see if he was a sub but apparently he wasn't. Although Sagrado was in for Mistico. Generic trios match with Comandante getting involved and even taking a headscissors from Stuka. Funny to think now how all these En Busca guys were fighting for a spot in main events meanwhile Herodes Jr. (who lost in the qualifying torneo) is here in the semi-main like it's no big deal. Should have taken the shortcut Cavernario!
Atlantis/Delta/Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero/Euforia/Rey Bucanero: Now I'm questioning luchablog and wondering if Bucanero was scheduled in the semi-main instead of Herodes but got switched to replace Niebla Roja in this so Herodes subbed in the semi-main. Either way this was a substitue match basically as the idea was a trios titles program being set up but they were short 1/3 the challenger. So instead they just had a good match. No complaints! Tecnicos went over and the feud resumed as planned the following week before the title match occured on the 20th.
I'd call it a good show alone based on the En Busca matches & minis performance. Toss in a decent main event and I guess you'd bump it up to a borderline very good show. Tuesday shows were starting to dip in quality around this time but as long as En Busca was around you were never gonna get a stinker.
(Fall Out Boy - "Death Valley")
Music Video
Sunday, May 3, 2020
May 3 in Lucha History
AAA 5/3/95 in Aguascalientes:
Los Power Raiders vs Angel Mortal/Marabunta/Mr. Condor/Maremoto/Rabana: The Power Raiders were the Power Rangers knock-offs who had a couple months left under these gimmicks before a poor decision to advertise them for an LA Sports Arena show backfired & a lawsuit showed up. Who'd have guessed? This version was Green (Venum), Black (Ludxor), Blue (Discovery), Red (Lasser) & White (Skayde). The first three were obviously the green kids so not only did they have veteran partners (who lacked charisma so were given new identities... an Antonio Pena staple) but they were also constantly matched up against veteran rudos who only had one job - help them improve and ***COVER FOR THEIR MISTAKES***. Something very much missing in today's world of lucha libre. These matches were always held under "Relevos Japonesa" which really isn't a thing but the idea was the Power Raiders were from Japan (that won't help the court case!) so their style of match was each team has a captain and the match doesn't end until the captain is pinned or submitted but you can beat the other guys all you want... they just get eliminated so you have the number advantage. You'll be stunned to know... this being pro wrestling... it often came down to captain vs captain at the end. Such as happened with Rojo submitting Mr. Condor clean. Match was pretty good. Not the spectacular variety we would come to expect from the tecnicos down the line but they hit all their stuff crisp & did lots of spots messing with the rudos who were good at the stooging.
Dragon De Oro/Super Calo/Torero/Winners vs El Duende/Los Payasos: How did this rudo quartet not end up teaming more often? They were made for each other! I always thought Duende was super underrated. It's funny because luchawiki has him listed as Maremoto too but I am pretty sure something is wrong there or he was a Duende at a different point because Maremoto in the opener and Duende here are nothing alike physically. You know the tecnicos outside of maybe Dragon De Oro who was Black Warrior in one of his many gimmicks. He was kind of treated as the star of his team in this match which was strange since Calo/Winners were in the big feud of the moment and a month away from their mask match series with Angel Mortal & Marabunta. Gotta spread the wealth I guess. Dragon De Oro did an asai moonsault in the first fall where he COMPLETELY OVERSHOT his clown target and was lucky not to get hurt. We also got the Super Calo flip plancha but this was more of the bullet variety and not the launch yourself off your opponent into the crowd variety. This only went two falls and ended with Duende unmasking Dragon De Oro in mid-air as he flew off the top rope. Nice timing! These days you would jump to a conclusion a mask match or feud was forthcoming. Back in '95 with TV tapings multiple times a week and no idea what would or wouldn't air - it was just a rudo finish.
El Hijo Del Santo vs Psicosis (WWA Welterweight Tilte): THE MATCH. If you haven't heard of it I can only assume you are a lucha newbie which is fine. Let me quickly sum up for you since a blow-by-blow of this match is the least important thing. Santo was a huge star. Psicosis was an up-and-coming rudo. Santo knew Psicosis was going to be a star too & respected him for bumping all over the place for him for a couple years. So he decided (probably with pushing from the promotion) to make him in one night. I wouldn't say this officially made him but it certainly didn't hurt! Santo proceeded to not only put Psicosis over... clean... in two straight falls... but he also let him win one of those falls by submitting him via the camel clutch. Yes, you read that right. Unheard of by 2020 standards. The equivalent would be... I don't know. I can't even pretend to see anyone doing that these days. Santo himself wouldn't do it any longer. He got in a lot of stuff during the match & you could tell Psicosis appreciated what was happening because he bumped his god damn ass off to make Santo look like a superstar which logically makes sense... you want the crowd to treat your opponent as a big deal on top of his game if you are about to beat him. The reaction of the crowd when Psicosis pinned Santo in the 2nd fall and they realized... it's over... was priceless. Just stunned silence. If they had internet feeds at the time I'm sure we'd have all been speculating Tirantes messed up the count. But there was no controversy. Santo got pinned & even put the title around Psicosis' waist after the match. THIS. IS. HOW. YOU. MAKE. STARS. AND. BE. A. PROFESSIONAL.
Perro Aguayo/Mascara Sagrada/Latin Lover vs Los Hermanos Dinamita: Your usual AAA main event. Super heated, largely brawling. Really gets put over the top during the awesome tecnico comeback led by Mascara Sagrada. Dinamitas always got a bad rap because everyone was so into the Rey Jr./Psicosis led crew as what lucha actually is but a match like this just shows they were perfectly fine. They bumped their butts off when it was time to sell & played great foils for Perro who was the star the fans came to see (along with Santo but that didn't turn out well for them). Rudos ended up winning by DQ due to frustrated tecnicos. Things were heating up as we were fresh off the beer bottle angle & Sagrada/Universo were constantly teasing a mask match that never came to be.
(The Loved Ones - "The Bridge")
Music Video
AAA 5/3/03 in Mexico City:
Rare Gimnasio Juan De La Barera stop for AAA who didn't use the venue much in these times.
Gran Apache/Fabi Apache/Martha Villalobos vs El Brazo/Histeria/Tiffany: Man & 2 women vs Two Men & 1 woman. But you see Martha & Brazo are both fat so they count as the same. Look... I'm just explaining it as Antonio Pena told his announcers to! We entered the AAA 1 fall era in January so god bless that. This had moments where it was really funny - especially with Brazo doing sumo with Martha but ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY Brazo "accidentally" getting his head rammed into the ringpost by his own partner Tiffany who made him feel better with a kiss. Apache/Histeria had a couple cool spots together but this is AAA in 2003 so you know how this ends! Chessman ran in and spewed Apache with mist (they were feuding at the time).
Mascarita Sagrada 2000/Octagoncito/La Parkita vs Mini Abismo Negro/Mini Psicosis/Rocky Marvin: Look... a lot of people hated AAA in these times. But the one thing even they refused to say was that the AAA minis sucked. Everyone could agree these guys were special - in particular Mascarita & Mini Abismo. These guys had their usual excellent match, always reccomended to go back and watch this crew. But.. and get used to this... it's AAA in 2003! WHAT'S THE FINISH? You guessed it! After a big dive Mascarita is celebrating only for a "fan" wearing his mask to jump out of the crowd and hug him. The humorous part about this is one of the security dudes was not clued in and strolled over to pull the Mascarita "fan" away. He was followed by another security dude was in on it but didn't want to make it so obvious so he had to sorta hold back his clueless security buddy while a fan came over to try and help out thinking it was a legit fan gone nuts situation. Thankfully the "fan" cut straight to the angle and attacked Mascarita, then unmasked himself as Mascarita Maligna - the evil Mascarita Sagrada! Only one problem - he lost his mask the previous month to Mascarita in a cage match! So he then took off that mask too and revaled his face. With AAA 2003 you just gotta appreciate the good match & not even think twice about the ending.
Octagon/El Hijo Del Solitario/El Zorro vs Cibernetico/Mr. Aguila/Pirata Morgan: The Zorro/Aguila show. Literally. Nobody else did anything. These guys were good friends & both spent time in the US (Zorro did a couple ECW shots/Puerto Rico) while Aguila did all that WWF stuff you may have heard about. They were both clearly into Jerry Lynn vs RVD matches because they copied a lot of those spots but put their own spin on it. Legit those guys did some INCREDIBLE stuff together and were a highlight of any trios match where they opposed each other. It was hard to sell people on that back in the day though because once again... it was AAA in 2003. Noody was watching except me & Fredo (Esparza). Finish was very AAA in 2003 with a mistimed cane shot hitting Tirantes (very poorly) & his son calling a DQ on the wrong guy.
Heavy Metal vs El Dandy (Dog Collar Match): Okay here's the thing... dog collar matches in Mexico suck. It's basically a chain/strap match where you gotta touch every corner. It's bad enough with four corners... now picture a six sided AAA ring. They would take FOREVER AND A DAY just for the teases! Thankfully Heavy Metal decided to make this somewhat interesting by bleeding all over the place to the point his entire chest was red by the end. Dandy looked fine but this was all just punches and kicks for the most part until the screwiness began with Copetes Salazar turning on both wrestlers. Don't ask me why... I don't remember. It may have been an AAA vs LLL thing. It was dumb. This led to Pepe Casas running out to get him & helping his son win the match.
La Parka/Latin Lover/Mascara Sagrada vs Abismo Negro/Hector Garza/Leatherface: Your typical AAA main event during this era. All rudos brawling until a tecnicos comeback. That's the way to do it with this type of crowd to be honest. Garza was really coasting by this point doing much more shtick than actual work which he would save up for his US runs. Leatherface only existed to fall onto his own chainsaw but this shtick was over. The finish was very AAA (any time era) as they set up a table and lit it on fire. So you're thinking Leatherface is going through it, right? Wrong. You're thinking the fire went out too early? Wrong! The fire actually played it's role great and engulfed the table. Parka power bombed Abismo onto it but............... it didn't break. The fire was still raging so they decided to try it again and poor Abismo took a second bump onto the table................ which still refused to break. But Parka pinned him and we were done here.
A very AAA in 2003 show! I enjoyed it. Minis & Zorro/Aguila parts of their trios are the quality stuff to watch. The rest I would only reccomend to a hardcore fan or someone looking for things to make fun of. Interestingly included in the music video are clips of two guys participating in the yearly young stars tournament. One is Canibal who actually never appeared on TV outside of this spot and wouldn't be hard from again until 2007! The other was unnamed as far as I remember but had a cool futuristic look. I'm sure he became someone.
(Paramore - "My Number One")
Music Video
CMLL 5/3/11
The C3 days! Normally we'd get 4 matches but this was a special show as I will explain later so while we got 4 matches, it was not the scheduled 4 matches so the mini's got axed. In 2011 this was considered a huge disapointment, not so much now. Mini Maximo! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! He was hilariously adorable!
Fuego/Pegasso/Rey Cometa vs Arkangel/Dr. X/Loco Max: Who would have ever imagined in 2011 that less than 10 years later all 3 tecnicos (2 recently having jumped from AAA) would still be in CMLL (in the same spot... haha) but all 3 rudos who were locked into spots here for many years would be gone for various different reasons. Mostly death. Sorry to be a bummer. The rudos were part of the Tuereg at this point and their motivation ranged from show to show. It was somewhat up here, maybe due to an actual feud occuring as Fuego/Dr. X were doing their months long build-up to nothing which caused Dr. X to quit the company. In this match he tossed his mask to Fuego for the DQ after Fuego got the visual submission.
Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Metal Blanco: And here is the "special" I had referenced above! CMLL was in the middle of the precursor to En Busca De Un Idolo... this was Forjando Un Idolo. A 16 person 4 block style round robin tournament where you got points for winning, judging & ... DUM DUM DUM... an online popularity contest. Always a poor idea for a company that doesn't give a shit what the fans think & is going to push who they want no matter what. Also, a company that is bad at math. So what happened was the round wrapped up on the previous Friday & the elimination matches were set for the following Friday. SLIGHT PROBLEMO. Maya & Blanco had tied in points. The obvious solution here was for CMLL to work the system. Math is not CMLL's strong suit. They chose not to. Then a press released noted there would be a tiebreaker match unless one of them got the bonus point handed out to the person with the most votes. Neither guy was popular, neither guy got a point. So we were off to the tiebreaker as a special added match to Tuesday's show. ONE MORE SLIGHT PROBLEMO. Maya was booked in Guadalajara. Thankfully CMLL, in a rare move for 2011, changed plans & kept him in Mexico City for the tiebreaker match. All this drama for nothing since it was very obvious the plan was for Maya to advance, CMLL just needed to make it official. And official they did by sending these two guys out to do a quick one fall match that Maya won. The match was great! Triton looked fantastic including slipping on a dive but catching his balance in an incredible show of athleticism. There was another great spot where he went to climb the ropes but Maya followed and dropkicked him. Triton was probably supposed to bump right to the floor but felt into the ring. Either way someone should steal that! But do the bump right! Maya then OBLITERATED him with a tope. Like seriously... this was murder. Straight forward and down. He then finished him off with the sick piledriver spot. A welcome bonus match! Once again proving the best stuff in CMLL is the accidental stuff!
Diamante/Metro/Sangre Azteca vs Misterioso II/Raziel/Virus: See, with 2011 eyes I can laugh at seeing Diamante teamed up with the guy who would eventually steal his name (Metro -> Diamante Azul). Yes, Sangre Azteca was in the middle of his god awful tecnico run that nobody wants to remember & he has openly said was a terrible decision that he only requested thinking it would move him up the lineups but he never got moved and eventually requested to switch back so he could at least be on the side he was meant to be if he was gonna just waste away anyhow. The rudo side really shows the lack of depth in CMLL at this time. Also they were sending more powerful lineups to Guadalajara. This was the highest Raziel & Virus would ever reach in CMLL rings. Misterioso was a semi-main regular at times but only faded from here. Azteca/Misterioso had a slight issue since they were a trio (with Polvora) before Azteca's turn. Match wasn't much of anything. Your usual Tuesday semi-main where everyone did their moves but didn't exhert much energy doing so.
Black Warrior/Maximo/Super Porky vs Atlantis/Hector Garza/Mr. Niebla: A very weak main event by CMLL 2011 standards. Four comedy guys & Atlantis as a last second sub for Dragon Rojo according to luchablog. Don't even remember why, don't even care. Nothing going on here except Garza feuding with Zacarias who was with Niebla. You won't see entertaining main events on Tuesday like this these days but you will see better quality in-ring performances than what these six gave here.
Definitely watch that singles match but you can safely skip everything else.
(No Use For A Name - "Black Box")
Music Video
CMLL 5/3/13:
In the era of 3 matches airing on Galavision, 2 matches on Fox Sports. So the unaired opener was Oro Jr./Soberano Jr. vs Artillero/Super Comando. We had already entered the phase of letting guys do less in the openers so I doubt we missed much.
Aereo/Fantasy/Shockercito vs Pequeno Nitro/Pequeno Violencia/Pequeno Warrior: Still in the era of mini's being exciting! This had some neat stuff by Aereo, Shockercito too & a death bump from Pequeno Nitro! Definitely not the 'A' class mini's CMLL had at their disposal at the time but a perfectly fine showing from this crew.
Fuego/Rey Cometa/Stuka vs Misterioso/Namajague/Okumura: Namajague was fading from existence like Marty McFly at this point. He had lost his mask 7 weeks earlier and his hair the previous week. In typical CMLL fashion he got a win here so kind of save face (get it?). This was really great though with the tecnicos shining - Rey Cometa in particular. He hit his Brillo Dorada perfectly & they did one of the best triple moonsaults from the same turnbuckle spots you will ever see.
Rush/Super Porky/Blue Panther vs Rey Bucanero/Terrible/Tiger: TRT! How can you forget a group with a name like that! It's their initials - get it? They may as well have been called 'Team What The Fuck Do We Do Now That Texano Left, God Damn It We Need Another T'. Tiger was never vital to his group aside from the letter 'T'. As soon as these guys stopped teaming he was back to teaming with his brother in lower card matches. The group never really came off as anything important either outsdie of one trios title challenge. Pretty standard match with Rush/Terrible looking good together (the year before was their hair match at the Anniversary Show). Random tecnico team went over regular rudo group of course.
Atlantis vs Averno: Special match to celebrate Atlantis' 30th Anniversary in professional wrestling. He came out on a motorcycle which was a staple of CMLL special entrances back in the day (one of the bookers is big into motorcycles... even drove some guys to the ring once upon a time). They did all the pre-match pictures and such. Match itself was nothing special. Averno dominated a bit, Atlantis did his usual stuff, Atlantida for the win. The big deal was post-match when Ultimo Guerrero ran out to cut a promo on Atlantis as they teased the mask match at the Anniversary Show. This led to ANOTHER Ultimo Guerrero attacking Atlantis from behind! I think at the time we were waiting to see one of the Ultimo Guerrero's unmask as Niebla Roja or someone new but he didn't. Instead that was his gimmick. Gran Guerrero! Debate raged online whether he was Ultimo Guerrero's son or brother and in the end it was revealed it was his much younger brother who was coming off playing Taurus (no, not the current Taurus obviously). He was not all that impressive as Taurus but got the rocket to instant main events because this is how lucha libre works!
Mascara Dorada/Mistico/Thunder vs Ultimo Guerrero/Euforia/Niebla Roja: This is actually the best usage of Thunder that CMLL ever figured out. Random 3rd guy teaming with two spectacular dudes who could carry the workload and opposite three rudos, including his main trianer, who would do nothing but bump for him and always be in the right spot. He looked fine here. Which is actually saying something since he was total trash & completely untrained outside of whatever he picked up in his less than 1 month in the ring here. Do you realize if he hadn't died he would still be headlining CMLL shows to this day? It sounds crass, yes... but I'm just giving it to you straight. This guy would be a multiple Anniversary Show headliner & doing multiple singles matches per month. Unreal. Dorada/Mistico looked fantastic as you'd expect for their 2013 selves. Rudos got the win because you can't beat Ultimo Guerrero after the angle in the previous match... or any time really.
Main event is a real good watch, as is the semi-main & undercard trios with Cometa. Nothing wrong with the minis either to be honest. A really good Friday show with a quality level you would expect when attending a CMLL show.
(Zebrahead - "Until The Sun Comes Up")
Music Video
Los Power Raiders vs Angel Mortal/Marabunta/Mr. Condor/Maremoto/Rabana: The Power Raiders were the Power Rangers knock-offs who had a couple months left under these gimmicks before a poor decision to advertise them for an LA Sports Arena show backfired & a lawsuit showed up. Who'd have guessed? This version was Green (Venum), Black (Ludxor), Blue (Discovery), Red (Lasser) & White (Skayde). The first three were obviously the green kids so not only did they have veteran partners (who lacked charisma so were given new identities... an Antonio Pena staple) but they were also constantly matched up against veteran rudos who only had one job - help them improve and ***COVER FOR THEIR MISTAKES***. Something very much missing in today's world of lucha libre. These matches were always held under "Relevos Japonesa" which really isn't a thing but the idea was the Power Raiders were from Japan (that won't help the court case!) so their style of match was each team has a captain and the match doesn't end until the captain is pinned or submitted but you can beat the other guys all you want... they just get eliminated so you have the number advantage. You'll be stunned to know... this being pro wrestling... it often came down to captain vs captain at the end. Such as happened with Rojo submitting Mr. Condor clean. Match was pretty good. Not the spectacular variety we would come to expect from the tecnicos down the line but they hit all their stuff crisp & did lots of spots messing with the rudos who were good at the stooging.
Dragon De Oro/Super Calo/Torero/Winners vs El Duende/Los Payasos: How did this rudo quartet not end up teaming more often? They were made for each other! I always thought Duende was super underrated. It's funny because luchawiki has him listed as Maremoto too but I am pretty sure something is wrong there or he was a Duende at a different point because Maremoto in the opener and Duende here are nothing alike physically. You know the tecnicos outside of maybe Dragon De Oro who was Black Warrior in one of his many gimmicks. He was kind of treated as the star of his team in this match which was strange since Calo/Winners were in the big feud of the moment and a month away from their mask match series with Angel Mortal & Marabunta. Gotta spread the wealth I guess. Dragon De Oro did an asai moonsault in the first fall where he COMPLETELY OVERSHOT his clown target and was lucky not to get hurt. We also got the Super Calo flip plancha but this was more of the bullet variety and not the launch yourself off your opponent into the crowd variety. This only went two falls and ended with Duende unmasking Dragon De Oro in mid-air as he flew off the top rope. Nice timing! These days you would jump to a conclusion a mask match or feud was forthcoming. Back in '95 with TV tapings multiple times a week and no idea what would or wouldn't air - it was just a rudo finish.
El Hijo Del Santo vs Psicosis (WWA Welterweight Tilte): THE MATCH. If you haven't heard of it I can only assume you are a lucha newbie which is fine. Let me quickly sum up for you since a blow-by-blow of this match is the least important thing. Santo was a huge star. Psicosis was an up-and-coming rudo. Santo knew Psicosis was going to be a star too & respected him for bumping all over the place for him for a couple years. So he decided (probably with pushing from the promotion) to make him in one night. I wouldn't say this officially made him but it certainly didn't hurt! Santo proceeded to not only put Psicosis over... clean... in two straight falls... but he also let him win one of those falls by submitting him via the camel clutch. Yes, you read that right. Unheard of by 2020 standards. The equivalent would be... I don't know. I can't even pretend to see anyone doing that these days. Santo himself wouldn't do it any longer. He got in a lot of stuff during the match & you could tell Psicosis appreciated what was happening because he bumped his god damn ass off to make Santo look like a superstar which logically makes sense... you want the crowd to treat your opponent as a big deal on top of his game if you are about to beat him. The reaction of the crowd when Psicosis pinned Santo in the 2nd fall and they realized... it's over... was priceless. Just stunned silence. If they had internet feeds at the time I'm sure we'd have all been speculating Tirantes messed up the count. But there was no controversy. Santo got pinned & even put the title around Psicosis' waist after the match. THIS. IS. HOW. YOU. MAKE. STARS. AND. BE. A. PROFESSIONAL.
Perro Aguayo/Mascara Sagrada/Latin Lover vs Los Hermanos Dinamita: Your usual AAA main event. Super heated, largely brawling. Really gets put over the top during the awesome tecnico comeback led by Mascara Sagrada. Dinamitas always got a bad rap because everyone was so into the Rey Jr./Psicosis led crew as what lucha actually is but a match like this just shows they were perfectly fine. They bumped their butts off when it was time to sell & played great foils for Perro who was the star the fans came to see (along with Santo but that didn't turn out well for them). Rudos ended up winning by DQ due to frustrated tecnicos. Things were heating up as we were fresh off the beer bottle angle & Sagrada/Universo were constantly teasing a mask match that never came to be.
(The Loved Ones - "The Bridge")
Music Video
AAA 5/3/03 in Mexico City:
Rare Gimnasio Juan De La Barera stop for AAA who didn't use the venue much in these times.
Gran Apache/Fabi Apache/Martha Villalobos vs El Brazo/Histeria/Tiffany: Man & 2 women vs Two Men & 1 woman. But you see Martha & Brazo are both fat so they count as the same. Look... I'm just explaining it as Antonio Pena told his announcers to! We entered the AAA 1 fall era in January so god bless that. This had moments where it was really funny - especially with Brazo doing sumo with Martha but ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY Brazo "accidentally" getting his head rammed into the ringpost by his own partner Tiffany who made him feel better with a kiss. Apache/Histeria had a couple cool spots together but this is AAA in 2003 so you know how this ends! Chessman ran in and spewed Apache with mist (they were feuding at the time).
Mascarita Sagrada 2000/Octagoncito/La Parkita vs Mini Abismo Negro/Mini Psicosis/Rocky Marvin: Look... a lot of people hated AAA in these times. But the one thing even they refused to say was that the AAA minis sucked. Everyone could agree these guys were special - in particular Mascarita & Mini Abismo. These guys had their usual excellent match, always reccomended to go back and watch this crew. But.. and get used to this... it's AAA in 2003! WHAT'S THE FINISH? You guessed it! After a big dive Mascarita is celebrating only for a "fan" wearing his mask to jump out of the crowd and hug him. The humorous part about this is one of the security dudes was not clued in and strolled over to pull the Mascarita "fan" away. He was followed by another security dude was in on it but didn't want to make it so obvious so he had to sorta hold back his clueless security buddy while a fan came over to try and help out thinking it was a legit fan gone nuts situation. Thankfully the "fan" cut straight to the angle and attacked Mascarita, then unmasked himself as Mascarita Maligna - the evil Mascarita Sagrada! Only one problem - he lost his mask the previous month to Mascarita in a cage match! So he then took off that mask too and revaled his face. With AAA 2003 you just gotta appreciate the good match & not even think twice about the ending.
Octagon/El Hijo Del Solitario/El Zorro vs Cibernetico/Mr. Aguila/Pirata Morgan: The Zorro/Aguila show. Literally. Nobody else did anything. These guys were good friends & both spent time in the US (Zorro did a couple ECW shots/Puerto Rico) while Aguila did all that WWF stuff you may have heard about. They were both clearly into Jerry Lynn vs RVD matches because they copied a lot of those spots but put their own spin on it. Legit those guys did some INCREDIBLE stuff together and were a highlight of any trios match where they opposed each other. It was hard to sell people on that back in the day though because once again... it was AAA in 2003. Noody was watching except me & Fredo (Esparza). Finish was very AAA in 2003 with a mistimed cane shot hitting Tirantes (very poorly) & his son calling a DQ on the wrong guy.
Heavy Metal vs El Dandy (Dog Collar Match): Okay here's the thing... dog collar matches in Mexico suck. It's basically a chain/strap match where you gotta touch every corner. It's bad enough with four corners... now picture a six sided AAA ring. They would take FOREVER AND A DAY just for the teases! Thankfully Heavy Metal decided to make this somewhat interesting by bleeding all over the place to the point his entire chest was red by the end. Dandy looked fine but this was all just punches and kicks for the most part until the screwiness began with Copetes Salazar turning on both wrestlers. Don't ask me why... I don't remember. It may have been an AAA vs LLL thing. It was dumb. This led to Pepe Casas running out to get him & helping his son win the match.
La Parka/Latin Lover/Mascara Sagrada vs Abismo Negro/Hector Garza/Leatherface: Your typical AAA main event during this era. All rudos brawling until a tecnicos comeback. That's the way to do it with this type of crowd to be honest. Garza was really coasting by this point doing much more shtick than actual work which he would save up for his US runs. Leatherface only existed to fall onto his own chainsaw but this shtick was over. The finish was very AAA (any time era) as they set up a table and lit it on fire. So you're thinking Leatherface is going through it, right? Wrong. You're thinking the fire went out too early? Wrong! The fire actually played it's role great and engulfed the table. Parka power bombed Abismo onto it but............... it didn't break. The fire was still raging so they decided to try it again and poor Abismo took a second bump onto the table................ which still refused to break. But Parka pinned him and we were done here.
A very AAA in 2003 show! I enjoyed it. Minis & Zorro/Aguila parts of their trios are the quality stuff to watch. The rest I would only reccomend to a hardcore fan or someone looking for things to make fun of. Interestingly included in the music video are clips of two guys participating in the yearly young stars tournament. One is Canibal who actually never appeared on TV outside of this spot and wouldn't be hard from again until 2007! The other was unnamed as far as I remember but had a cool futuristic look. I'm sure he became someone.
(Paramore - "My Number One")
Music Video
CMLL 5/3/11
The C3 days! Normally we'd get 4 matches but this was a special show as I will explain later so while we got 4 matches, it was not the scheduled 4 matches so the mini's got axed. In 2011 this was considered a huge disapointment, not so much now. Mini Maximo! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! He was hilariously adorable!
Fuego/Pegasso/Rey Cometa vs Arkangel/Dr. X/Loco Max: Who would have ever imagined in 2011 that less than 10 years later all 3 tecnicos (2 recently having jumped from AAA) would still be in CMLL (in the same spot... haha) but all 3 rudos who were locked into spots here for many years would be gone for various different reasons. Mostly death. Sorry to be a bummer. The rudos were part of the Tuereg at this point and their motivation ranged from show to show. It was somewhat up here, maybe due to an actual feud occuring as Fuego/Dr. X were doing their months long build-up to nothing which caused Dr. X to quit the company. In this match he tossed his mask to Fuego for the DQ after Fuego got the visual submission.
Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Metal Blanco: And here is the "special" I had referenced above! CMLL was in the middle of the precursor to En Busca De Un Idolo... this was Forjando Un Idolo. A 16 person 4 block style round robin tournament where you got points for winning, judging & ... DUM DUM DUM... an online popularity contest. Always a poor idea for a company that doesn't give a shit what the fans think & is going to push who they want no matter what. Also, a company that is bad at math. So what happened was the round wrapped up on the previous Friday & the elimination matches were set for the following Friday. SLIGHT PROBLEMO. Maya & Blanco had tied in points. The obvious solution here was for CMLL to work the system. Math is not CMLL's strong suit. They chose not to. Then a press released noted there would be a tiebreaker match unless one of them got the bonus point handed out to the person with the most votes. Neither guy was popular, neither guy got a point. So we were off to the tiebreaker as a special added match to Tuesday's show. ONE MORE SLIGHT PROBLEMO. Maya was booked in Guadalajara. Thankfully CMLL, in a rare move for 2011, changed plans & kept him in Mexico City for the tiebreaker match. All this drama for nothing since it was very obvious the plan was for Maya to advance, CMLL just needed to make it official. And official they did by sending these two guys out to do a quick one fall match that Maya won. The match was great! Triton looked fantastic including slipping on a dive but catching his balance in an incredible show of athleticism. There was another great spot where he went to climb the ropes but Maya followed and dropkicked him. Triton was probably supposed to bump right to the floor but felt into the ring. Either way someone should steal that! But do the bump right! Maya then OBLITERATED him with a tope. Like seriously... this was murder. Straight forward and down. He then finished him off with the sick piledriver spot. A welcome bonus match! Once again proving the best stuff in CMLL is the accidental stuff!
Diamante/Metro/Sangre Azteca vs Misterioso II/Raziel/Virus: See, with 2011 eyes I can laugh at seeing Diamante teamed up with the guy who would eventually steal his name (Metro -> Diamante Azul). Yes, Sangre Azteca was in the middle of his god awful tecnico run that nobody wants to remember & he has openly said was a terrible decision that he only requested thinking it would move him up the lineups but he never got moved and eventually requested to switch back so he could at least be on the side he was meant to be if he was gonna just waste away anyhow. The rudo side really shows the lack of depth in CMLL at this time. Also they were sending more powerful lineups to Guadalajara. This was the highest Raziel & Virus would ever reach in CMLL rings. Misterioso was a semi-main regular at times but only faded from here. Azteca/Misterioso had a slight issue since they were a trio (with Polvora) before Azteca's turn. Match wasn't much of anything. Your usual Tuesday semi-main where everyone did their moves but didn't exhert much energy doing so.
Black Warrior/Maximo/Super Porky vs Atlantis/Hector Garza/Mr. Niebla: A very weak main event by CMLL 2011 standards. Four comedy guys & Atlantis as a last second sub for Dragon Rojo according to luchablog. Don't even remember why, don't even care. Nothing going on here except Garza feuding with Zacarias who was with Niebla. You won't see entertaining main events on Tuesday like this these days but you will see better quality in-ring performances than what these six gave here.
Definitely watch that singles match but you can safely skip everything else.
(No Use For A Name - "Black Box")
Music Video
CMLL 5/3/13:
In the era of 3 matches airing on Galavision, 2 matches on Fox Sports. So the unaired opener was Oro Jr./Soberano Jr. vs Artillero/Super Comando. We had already entered the phase of letting guys do less in the openers so I doubt we missed much.
Aereo/Fantasy/Shockercito vs Pequeno Nitro/Pequeno Violencia/Pequeno Warrior: Still in the era of mini's being exciting! This had some neat stuff by Aereo, Shockercito too & a death bump from Pequeno Nitro! Definitely not the 'A' class mini's CMLL had at their disposal at the time but a perfectly fine showing from this crew.
Fuego/Rey Cometa/Stuka vs Misterioso/Namajague/Okumura: Namajague was fading from existence like Marty McFly at this point. He had lost his mask 7 weeks earlier and his hair the previous week. In typical CMLL fashion he got a win here so kind of save face (get it?). This was really great though with the tecnicos shining - Rey Cometa in particular. He hit his Brillo Dorada perfectly & they did one of the best triple moonsaults from the same turnbuckle spots you will ever see.
Rush/Super Porky/Blue Panther vs Rey Bucanero/Terrible/Tiger: TRT! How can you forget a group with a name like that! It's their initials - get it? They may as well have been called 'Team What The Fuck Do We Do Now That Texano Left, God Damn It We Need Another T'. Tiger was never vital to his group aside from the letter 'T'. As soon as these guys stopped teaming he was back to teaming with his brother in lower card matches. The group never really came off as anything important either outsdie of one trios title challenge. Pretty standard match with Rush/Terrible looking good together (the year before was their hair match at the Anniversary Show). Random tecnico team went over regular rudo group of course.
Atlantis vs Averno: Special match to celebrate Atlantis' 30th Anniversary in professional wrestling. He came out on a motorcycle which was a staple of CMLL special entrances back in the day (one of the bookers is big into motorcycles... even drove some guys to the ring once upon a time). They did all the pre-match pictures and such. Match itself was nothing special. Averno dominated a bit, Atlantis did his usual stuff, Atlantida for the win. The big deal was post-match when Ultimo Guerrero ran out to cut a promo on Atlantis as they teased the mask match at the Anniversary Show. This led to ANOTHER Ultimo Guerrero attacking Atlantis from behind! I think at the time we were waiting to see one of the Ultimo Guerrero's unmask as Niebla Roja or someone new but he didn't. Instead that was his gimmick. Gran Guerrero! Debate raged online whether he was Ultimo Guerrero's son or brother and in the end it was revealed it was his much younger brother who was coming off playing Taurus (no, not the current Taurus obviously). He was not all that impressive as Taurus but got the rocket to instant main events because this is how lucha libre works!
Mascara Dorada/Mistico/Thunder vs Ultimo Guerrero/Euforia/Niebla Roja: This is actually the best usage of Thunder that CMLL ever figured out. Random 3rd guy teaming with two spectacular dudes who could carry the workload and opposite three rudos, including his main trianer, who would do nothing but bump for him and always be in the right spot. He looked fine here. Which is actually saying something since he was total trash & completely untrained outside of whatever he picked up in his less than 1 month in the ring here. Do you realize if he hadn't died he would still be headlining CMLL shows to this day? It sounds crass, yes... but I'm just giving it to you straight. This guy would be a multiple Anniversary Show headliner & doing multiple singles matches per month. Unreal. Dorada/Mistico looked fantastic as you'd expect for their 2013 selves. Rudos got the win because you can't beat Ultimo Guerrero after the angle in the previous match... or any time really.
Main event is a real good watch, as is the semi-main & undercard trios with Cometa. Nothing wrong with the minis either to be honest. A really good Friday show with a quality level you would expect when attending a CMLL show.
(Zebrahead - "Until The Sun Comes Up")
Music Video