Quebrada

by Mike Lorefice (M.L.Liger@juno.com)

The Year in Lucha

Coming into 1996, we all knew the Mexican economy was bad. We all knew that Mexico is chaotic by nature. This hasn’t changed, but the main difference in AAA is the depth of talent. Coming into the year, AAA easily had the most talent depth in the world. Not only did they have the most depth, but a lot of this talent was young. There three best workers were Rey Misterio Jr. (21), Juventud Guerrera (21), and Psicosis (24). They also had promising youngsters like the Perro Aguayo Jr. (17), Venom (18), and Mosco de la Merced (18). It looked like this company was set up for a great ten-year run, but inner turmoil changed everything.

Coming into the year, EMLL as usual wasn’t highly regarded. The group’s traditional style is the main cause for this. They have a number of stars who can work and draw, but Hector Garza is the only young one. Stale would have been a good word to describe EMLL because most of the stars had been working together for a long time.

January 1996

There was turmoil from practically day 1 as Televisa (network that airs AAA) wanted all AAA’s tv tapings held in Distito Federal. This would save Televisa travel expenses, but kill AAA’s gates. If this occurred AAA and EMLL would both be holding 2 tapings a week in the Mexico City area, which was already a burned-out market. TV matches would also be worse because heat would be way down. This idea may have saved Televisa money, but would have been pure insanity. Luckily AAA’s Antonio Pena won this battle and regained AAA’s tv time after a week of all EMLL on the network.

On 1/12, Pierroth Jr. got over as a heel 1000 times move in one night than he will ever get over in WWF. Pierroth interrupted an awards ceremony where they were honoring ring legends Rey Mendoza and Blue Demon. Pierroth ripped up the certificate they gave Demon and pushed him. Blue Demon Jr., who was the Mexican cruiserweight champion but not in AAA, saved his father. Demon took a beating in the process, so it gave him a good storyline reason to enter the promotion. Having a legend get beat on isn’t out of the ordinary in the states, but this was new to Mexican rings. Needless to say the fans were not happy to see a 70 some year-old legend pushed around, so top heel Pierroth became more unpopular.

Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera sold out Aguascaientes (7,500) on 1/31 for a car vs. car cage match. This was probably the best cage match I ever saw, certainly outside of AJW. It was **** despite a non finish. The non finish was at least different as Rey & Juventud crotched each other on top of the high cage and both took the bump into the ring. Neither answered the count, so it was ruled a draw.

EMLL didn’t do much early in the year. They tried to push Shocker to a level he wasn’t ready for. His push was successful enough to headline Arena Coliseo vs. Casas on 1/26. Shocker had pinned Casas in a tag earlier in the month, but with Casas’ NWA welterweight title on the line he wasn’t going to win there.

Title changes in January. Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera captured the vacant Mexican Tag Titles on 1/12 in Netzahualcoyotl when they defeated the team of Volador and El Mexicano. Ultraman (Damain/Galaxy) captured the Mexican welterweight title from Psicosis on 1/18 in Tijuana. This was one of those Extreme Lucha matches filled with high spots, run ins, blown spots, psychotic spots, etc., but devoid of psychology. Psicosis tried to moonsault off the top of a ladder outside the ring and put Ultraman through a table, but he landed short. In garbage wrestling fashion, rather than sell (I’m sure this legit hurt) he got up angry. Then he climbed back up the ladder and splashed Ultraman this time breaking the table, but still landing short and killing his knees. After several more insane spots, Ultraman used 2 chair shots to pin Psicosis. After the match Ultraman challenged Psicosis to a mask vs. mask match then collapsed and did a stretcher job. Pierroth Jr. defeated La Parka on 1/20 in Mexicali to win the Mexican light heavyweight title. This was strange because Pierroth was holding the Mexican light heavyweight and heavyweight titles simultaneously. There was a riot after Pierroth won the title. El Hijo Del Santo captured the Mexican middleweight championship from Blue Panther on 1/26 in Tijuana. Damian became the first IWAS champion on 1/31 in Aguascalientes pinning Octagon in a disappointing match.

It’s very hard to keep up with who’s behind the masks. I’ll give it a shot, but this list is certainly not complete. Here’s a list of Luchadores who changed identity or were unmasked in January. 1/18-Leon Negro unmasked as Juan Gonzalez. Black Power of the UWA became AAA’s Vegas.

On a sad note, UWA prelim wrestler Elegante Blanco (Humberto Arellano) was murdered in the streets on 1/13. Blanco, Blanco’s brother, and a friend were partying in the streets in the middle of the night in a bad area of town. Apparently an argument broke out with another person at the party and the guy shot all three of them.

February

An ugly incident occurred on February 25 at wrestling magazine La Aficion’s awards dinner. It started when AAA’s Pierroth Jr. insulted PROMELL’s El Signo for losing weight. I guess to the effect that he lost weight because PROMELL didn’t pay him enough money to buy food. Later, Signo punched a statue of a palm tree which went flying and hit La Sirenita and another woman in the head. Sirenita’s head was bleeding and the other woman broke her nose. Remember, this isn’t an angle. Konnan got in Signo’s face, so Signo said he would beat Konnan up like he did about 8 years ago during a dressing room brawl. Signo threw the first punch, but Konnan was the first to land one. Konnan injured his hand on Signo’s mouth before the mess was broken up. Signo, who used to work for the Mexican FBI, went and got some of his FBI friends and there wound up being a Mexican standoff between Antonio Pena’s bodyguards and Signo’s friends. Later Fuerza, head of PROMELL, and Pena, head of AAA, had to be held apart after Fuerza insulted Pena’s mother. After all this mess, the party continued and Pena apologized during his awards speech.

AAA got tons of heat from the commission for their ECW tactics. Especially for the use of valets Janet and Natasha, who would interfere in matches then get beat on. The dinosaurs in the commission, as Konnan called them for not enjoying the spread of domestic violence, also didn’t like the table breaking, brawling in the stands, outside interference, chair throwing, use of ladders, among other things.

Hector Garza feuded with Dr. Wagner Jr. On 2/2, Wagner was DQ’d for refusing to pin Garza after destroying him with several powerbombs. On 2/9, Wagner defended his NWA light heavyweight title vs. Garza in a bloody match where Garza was DQ’d for pulling Wagner’s mask off.

Title changes-I’ll try, but records of title changes in Mexico are very poor. Juventud Guerrera & Psicosis were stripped of the titles they won on 1/12. In Mexico, the national titles are governed by the commission. A month later, the commission decided that since Juventud and Fuerza Guerrera had never lost the belts they were the rightful champions. This shows how efficient things are in Mexico, since Juventud & Fuerza were stripped of the titles when Fuerza no showed a title match in AAA after he had left the promotion. On 2/2 in Queretearo, Konnan pinned horrible heel Killer to win the newly created AAA world heavyweight title.

March

Hector Garza’s push continued as he captured EMLL’s Juniors tournament on 3/1 at Arena Mexico. Garza defeated Apollo Dantes and Dr. Wagner Jr. to advance to the finals. He won the tournament via count out when Emilio Charles couldn’t get back in the ring after Garza’s awesome spin plancha.

The legendary Ultimo Dragon’s AAA debut match on 3/6 in Aguascalientes turned into the saddest news of the year, although not because of Dragon. Jesus Salas, who was working AAA as Pentagon, nearly died in the ring. Salas suffered total respiratory failure from mixing alcohol and drugs and was clinically dead for three minutes. Salas took a backdrop and lied motionless in the ring. Luckily the hospital was close to the arena because if it wasn’t he wouldn’t have made it. Salas, 39 at the time, was a great working but under pushed and underappreciated heel for years. As Espanto Jr., he had many classic matches with Hijo Del Santo in the 1980's for the UWA lightweight title. In 1994, 16 years after he debuted, he got his first major push when Pena gave him the Santo Negro gimmick. Since Santo is the most recognizable and most popular gimmick in the history of Mexico, a heel or evil Santo drew major heat. Salas was able to feud with Santo again, but this time the matches topped the card. Unfortunately the Santo family (not Hijo himself) didn’t like this idea and they sued AAA. The Santo Negro had to be dropped, so Pena gave him the Pentagon gimmick to feud with Octagon. For whatever reason (maybe because Octagon isn’t as popular or as good as Santo), this feud didn’t have 1/8 of the intrigue that the Santo fued had and didn’t go too far. EMLL expressed their concern by having lard-ass Brazo de Plata do another of his many fake heart attack angles 2 days later. Plata, who is about as tall on his back as he is standing, is nicknamed Super Porky. Salas has recovered to some extent, but it’s doubtful he will grace us with his presence in the ring again.

The bitter wrestling wars in Mexico escalated on 3/15 when Rey Misterio Sr. (Miguel Lopez) did an interview for daily newspaper La Paz where he gave away the result of the AAA mask vs. mask match the next day. Misterio called Ultraman a prostitute for selling his mask to Antonio Pena for a big payoff. Hey, doesn’t he realize that this guy wrestles as Damian everywhere else anyhow? Damian is/was the best gimmick in wrestling and this allowed him to buy a house. Ultraman his mask to Psicosis in a very good match where Psicosis was cheered initially, but Damian "proved he didn’t sell out" by kicking out of several deadly maneuvers including the illegal tombstone piledriver.

Atlantis captured the Salvador Lutteroth Cup, an annual elimination match that is always loaded with their best workers. Atlantis teamed with Hijo Del Santo, Dandy, and Lizmark vs. Felino, Negro Casas, Blue Panther, and Dr. Wagner Jr. It came down to Atlantis pinning Wagner.

Title changes. Los Villanos (sons of Rey Mendoza) became the first AAA trios champions on 3/8 in Nezahualcoyotl by defeating Heavy Metal & Latin Lover & Cien Caras in the tournament finals. Also on 3/8, Pantera jumped to AAA and announced he was returning the CMLL welterweight title. Parka regained the title from Pierroth (drop me an E-mail if you know the date or location). Ultraman vacated the WWA middleweight title because they didn’t want to acknowledge he was Damian and it didn’t make sense for him to be Damian everywhere but Tijuana. Why the mask vs. mask match wasn’t a title match is beyond me.

Name changes. Principe Zafiro, who was Aguilla de Acero, had his name changed to Mascara Sagrada Jr. MS 1 Jr. jumped from CMLL and was given the name Ebola (debuted under the gimmick on 3/6). Ultraman unmasked as Leonardo Carera.

April

Eddy Guerrero (that’s the way it was always spelled in AAA) returned to Mexico for the first time in a year on 4/7 in Juarez (his hometown) before 8,000 fans. Guerrero teamed with Killer vs. Konnan & Parka. Janet wanted Eddy to join her army of Americans, but Eddy refused so Killer turned on him. The Diabolics also attacked Guerrero. Since it was Guerrero’s hometown and he started and became somewhat of a star there, the crowd was really chanting for him during this.

EMLL ran two shows in New York that drew dreadful attendances (I’m talking 2 digits). The advertising and publicity were really bad for this show. I’m not saying they could have drawn thousands, but to draw that low means that most people had no idea it was going on. After all, with any decent promotion you should be able to find that many little kids that will attend because they like the masks.

Super flyer Volador was injured in an auto accident on 4/28. He messed up his knees pretty bad, which is probably the worst injury he could have considering his style. He’s set to return this February.

The legendary Dr. Wagner (Victor Gonzales) returned to ringside on the ten-year anniversary of his auto accident on 4/27 at Pista Arena Revolucion. The accident left Wagner paralyzed, which makes it hard to attend wrestling. This same accident killed El Solitario who was second only to El Santo in legendary status in Mexico. Wagner was there to see his two sons, Dr. Wagner Jr. and Silver King wrestle each other. Wagner won the match and retained his CMLL lightweight title.

Title changes. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. defeated Apolo Dantes for the CMLL world heavyweight title on 4/14 at Arena Coliseo. EMLL beat WWF by 7 months to having the worse than awful worker as champ. Juventud Guerrera defeated Rey Misterio Jr. for the WWA world welterweight title on 4/28 in Queretearo.

Name changes. MS 1 and Antifaz became Los Diabolics.

May

Mil Mascaras returned to Arena Coliseo on 5/3 before 5,100. Mascaras, who’s in his mid to late 50's depending on who you believe, teamed with Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Atlantis to defeat Satanico, Mano Negra, & Gran Markus Jr. With Mascaras, Jalisco, and Markus involved, it’s not surprising that this was supposed to be bad.

AAA’s first Triplemania card of 1996 cost the promotion big time in the wallet. Triplemania was held at the Chicago International Amphitheatre on 5/11 and drew a mere 2,676. This caused AAA to lose around $25,000. The reason why AAA can’t draw in America has been well documented, no major tv deal=no exposure=no fans=no money. The show was said to have been decent to good, but there was nothing special. Several no shows, which included Misterio Jr. who got married and Psicosis who attended the wedding along with only 1 advertised match taking place certainly didn’t help things. Pierroth interfered in the first three matches of the 4 match show causing the heels to go over, but the faces got their revenge by pinning him after Super Calo put him through a table.

In one of those you thought you’d seen everything deals, Felino vs. Dandy on 5/17 had an interesting finish. Felino threw his own mask off after a ref bump in an attempt to get Dandy DQ’d. Felino tried to revive the ref to show it to him, but Dandy kicked him low and put him in a submission. When the ref came to, he saw Felino giving up and awarded the match to Dandy.

Title changes. Pimpinela Escarlata captured the Mexican national light heavyweight title in a major upset on 5/13 in Nuevo Laredo when he defeated La Parka. Parka had Pimpinela in a torture rack, but he bumped into the ref and was disqualified. Dusty Rhodes would certainly have been proud. Karis la Momia defeated Blue Demon Jr. for the Mexican cruiserweight title on 5/15 in Naucalpan. Mascara Magica defeated Felino in the final of the CMLL welterweight title tournament on 5/21 at Arena Coliseo in Mexico City to capture the belt that Pantera had vacated.

Name changes. Shu El Guerrero became Kraken. Kraken’s gimmick was stealing the faces’ masks.

EMLL’s ring announcer Vittorino (Javier Vargas) passed away on 5/4 at age 37. He was working the show and he slumped over in his chair. People thought he fell asleep or something, but eventually realized he wasn’t breathing. Vittorino was also a columnist for Box y Lucha Magazine where he was known for fueling the promotional war between EMLL and AAA.

June

Corazon de Leon (Chris Irvine aka Chris Jericho), who used to work EMLL, debuted for AAA on 6/2. This could have been a major coup, but WCW snatched him away before he could make a big impact.

The World Wrestling Peace Festival was successful for AAA because their match of Ultimo Dragon & Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Heavy Metal & Psicosis stole the show. That says something since Liger vs. Sasuke was on the same card. Negro Casas vs. El Hijo Del Santo should have been a very good match, but was way too short and horribly booked.

AAA’s 2nd Triplemania card on 6/14 in Orizaba was much more successful drawing 7,000 in the bull ring. The matches were said to have been very good. Konnan won the Champion of Champions four corners match by pinning Pierroth after 3 powerbombs. This match was said to be in excess of 4 stars.

Title changes. Mascara Sagrada Jr. defeated Damian on 6/2 in Tijuana to win the IWAS light heavyweight title. Damian regained the IWAS light heavyweight title from Sagrada Jr. on 6/21 in Tijuana. Halloween defeated El Hijo del Enfermero on 6/21 in Tijuana to win the tournament for the new Baja California light heavyweight title.

Name changes. Black Panther changed his name to Black Warrior. Pirata Morgan became Violencia.

July

Hijo del Santo captured EMLL’s 16-man Torneo Grand Prix Junior tournament on 7/5 at Arena Mexico. This was a one night tournament, much like a J Cup (in style not match quality). Santo defeated Casas in the first round, then Guerrero de la Muerte followed by Mascarara Magica before defeating Michinoku Pro’s Great Sasuke in the finals.

On 7/5 in Tijuana Konnan booked another one of those crazy brawls with Konnan & Misterio Jr. vs. Damian & Psicosis. Halloween, who wore a cool pumpkin mask before WCW turned him into a one-eyed jobber, did a run in and they put an actual pumpkin on his head. Misterio Jr. then smashed the pumpkin with a chair so hard that Halloween wound up with a large welt on his head. Damian and Psicosis wound up winning the crazy match.

On 7/14 in Tijuana, it looked like Heavy Metal had turned for the millionth time. The main event was a double chain match street fight with Misterio Jr. & Calo vs. Psicosis & Damian. Psicosis buried Calo under chairs then KO’d him with an Arabian moonsault. This left Rey against the two wrestlers plus Halloween, Pandilleros, and two valets. Heavy Metal, who was suspended at the time, did a run in and said he started his career in Tijuana and despite being a heel he didn’t believe in 8-on-1. Heavy and Rey cleaned house. Heavy carried Rey on his shoulders in celebration, but suddenly suplexed him back and started kicking him. It was 9 on 1 when heel Killer hit the ring. Killer attacked all the heels then pulled off his mask revealing Konnan in Killer’s costume. The heels eventually ganged up on both faces and pinned Rey after putting him through a table.

The final Triplemania (4-C) on 7/15 in Madero drew 12,000 fans. The show was headlined by the match of Los Payasos & Karis vs. Los Atomic Juniors-Halcon Dorado Jr., Tinieblas Jr., Blue Demon Jr., & Mascara Sagrada Jr. where the final man left loses his mask. It wound up with Dorado and Karis left. Mini Mascarita Sagrada Jr. did a cross body off the top of the cage in this one near the finish. He was trying to help Dorado, but hit Dorado with it when Karis moved. Karis powerbombed Sagrada Jr. onto Dorado, handcuffed them to the cage, and made his exit. Dorado was forced to unmask.

Lizmark Jr. returned to the ring on 7/19 at Arena Mexico. Lizmark Jr., aside from being Lizmark’s son, is a very good worker and flyer who broke his leg and was out 18 months. Lizmark Jr. teamed with Mascara Sagrada & Dos Caras to defeat Universo 2000, Mascara Ano 2000, and Mano Negra in his return.

Title changes. On 7/12 and 7/13 in Phoenix & LA, Rey Misterio Jr. lost the Mexican welterweight title to Psicosis. Rey didn’t have the title and you can’t lose it 2 days in a row, so take this however you want to. Guerrera lost his WWA welterweight title to Rey Misterio Jr. on 7/20 at Tokyo Sumo Hall

Name changes. Halcon Dorado Jr. was unmasked as Antonio Olmos. On 7/19 at Arena Mexico Black Warrior defeated Bronco in a mask vs. mask match. Bronco was revealed as Cantu Gutierrez of Monterrey. Kraken jumped to EMLL and changed his name back to Shu El Guerrero. August

Pretty much a dead month with nothing major happening.

Title changes. 8/2 at Arena Mexico, Guerrero de la Muerte beat Mascara Magica to win the CMLL welterweight title. 8/6 at Arena Coliseo, Gran Marcus Jr. & Hijo Del Gladiador captured the CMLL tag titles from Atlantis & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. AAA held another tournament to create a title, this time the National Relevos or four man tag team titles. Los Villanos & Pierroth Jr defeated Karis la Momia, Espectro, Halloween, & Damian in the finals on 8/9 in Nezahualcoyotl. Juventud & Fuerza Guerrera were once again stripped of the Mexican tag titles for failure to defend them due to working different promotions. 8/16 in Tijuana, Misterioso defeated Blue Demon Jr. for the title.

Name changes. Guerrera de la Muerte lost a mask vs. mask match to Mascara Magica on 8/16 at Arena Mexico. Muerte was revealed as Luis Demetrio Enriquez from Guadalajara. Antifaz became the new Kraken.

September

Konnan promised the commission that he wouldn’t do the Extreme style in D.F. anymore. The commission levied a ridiculous suspension on Emilio Charles, suspending him for putting a face’s leg into the permanent chairs at Arena Mexico. Pierroth Jr. was suspended for powerbombing Lady Victoria.

EMLL celebrated their 63rd anniversary on 9/20 at Arena Mexico. The show drew 10,500 which is excellent for EMLL. Negro Casas, the heel, was heavily cheered during his match vs. Hijo Del Santo. Arena Mexico is Casas’ home arena where he’s immensely popular and he’s headlined there for years, but it’s was still a major surprise. Santo is the most recognizable wrestler in Mexico due to his dad and is very popular, so this was pretty shocking. Santo, the face, tried to turn the crowd in his favor during the match, but was drowned out by boos. He said he wouldn’t wrestle in Arena Mexico again unless they booked a hair vs. mask match between him and Casas. The fans realized who would win that one and it wouldn’t be Casas, so he was booed again. Casas won, but was stretchered out after the match due to excessive bleeding.

The next week, EMLL drew 9,000 in the same arena. Emilio Charles defeated Silver King in a hair vs. hair match. Charles hasn’t lost his locks in 7 years. UWA’s El Canek defeated Miguel Perez Jr. Casas wrestled as a face since he was going to be cheered anyhow.

Title changes. Future Hall of Famer Lioness Asuka defeated Lola Gonzalez for the TWF womens world championship on 9/20 at Arena Mexico. This is now the Jd’ promotion in Japan’s major singles title. Mascaraga won the Mexican minis title from Espectrito 1 in Orizaba.

Name changes. Lady Victoria (Victoria Moreno) became Chiquitibum.

October

The problems between Konnan and Antonio Pena came to a head. I’ve documented this in detail already, so I won’t do it again. It resulted with Pena taking the Baja California territory away from Konnan and Konnan and cronies leaving for Promo Azteca.

Konnan got more of his cronies into WCW. Unfortunately he signed them up for jobber money and what do you think they pay them jobber money to do? Total waste of talent. Konnan should have held out because even though the money is good by Mexican standards, it will be hard for them to ever make any real money in the states. Not only that, having them job on a daily basis kills their credibility and drawing power among the Mexican fans.

The Negro Casas/Bestia Salvaje came to a head at Arena Mexico on 10/18. Casas defeated Bestia in the hair vs. hair match.

Title changes. Black Warrior won the NWA light heavyweight title from Dandy on 10/15 at Arena Coliseo.

Name changes. Mosco de la Merced became the New Winners. That went nowhere and he was Mosco again in a flash.

November

Title changes. Reyna Jabuki (Hisaku Uno aka Akira Hokuto) was stripped of the CMLL womens title. Jabuki won the title in 1984. She used to live in Mexico and was married to Talisman. They got divorced and she left without ever dropping the belt. She’s barely defended the belt since 1992.

La Parka defected from AAA to Promo Azteca. Another case of WCW stupidity as this guy has a great gimmick and tons of charisma. He could draw in America if he was used properly, but as we know he’s just more Saturday Morning fodder.

Heavy Metal turned face by teasing hitting Latin Lover with a bottle, but instead hitting heel Jerry Estrada with it.

The international spectacular Antonio Pena had planned for 11/29 never took place. Mainly due to all the wrestlers leaving. Besides Konnan’s group, WAR wouldn’t have been involved since Ultimo quit AAA, and WCW was working with Konnan so they wouldn’t do the show either.

Antonio Pena struck a deal with WWF, giving AAA much needed leverage of U.S. money. Unfortunately, WWF has no clue about the guys AAA is sending them. Hell, Jim Ross called Pierroth Jr. a high flyer. Pena should have sent better guys to WWF, as a scrub like Cibernetico have nothing going for him in U.S. Mascaras has a bit of name value, but is old even by WCW standards. Pierroth isn’t much of a worker and will never be given the chance to do the things that got him over in Mexico. Latin Lover has a stripper gimmick and if the fans don’t want to see it from Michaels than what chance does Latin have. He will probably be classified as a foreign Bagwell.

El Hijo Del Santo did the most shocking angle of the year on 11/22 at Arena Mexico. Santo who had a 15 year run an immensely popular face, turned heel. The match was supposed to be Salvaje, Scorpio Jr. & Felino vs. Casas, Garza, & Dandy. Salvaje & Scorpio attacked Casas before his partners made it to the ring. Felino came out and he would either make it 3-on-1 or help his brother Casas. Felino took off his costume and instead of being a Casas, it was Santo. The fans figured Santo was there to save his traditional rival, Casas, and were very happy. Instead, Santo stunned the crowd by joining Salvaje & Scorpio in beating on Casas.

Los Villlanos and Salsero among others jumped from AAA to Promo. Villano IV got into WCW. Luchadores have tried to unmask this guy for 13 years, but WCW was able to do it in less than a week. Of course, when you give someone a gimmick to mock another person they are supposed to look bad. Villano IV, as Tony Pena, looked a lot better than a Tsunokake imitation. None of this really matters because Villano IV is just another nameless job boy (he was eliminated from WW3 right in front of the camera’s and between 6 announcers they couldn’t say who he was at that point or any other) in WCW.

EMLL announced that they would tour Japan in early February. They are doing this on their own, without help from any of the Japanese offices. The only other foreign promotion to try this was WWF and they weren’t overly successful.

To show how much Santo popularity at Arena Mexico has dropped, Casas and Dandy were cheered when, in an angle, they jumped him in the street before the 11/29 show. They were cheered for throwing garbage in his face and left him laying. Santo is still a face in every arena other than Arena Mexico.

Title changes. Los Villanos lost the AAA trios titles on 11/19 in Naucalpan to locals Oficial, Vigilante, and Guardian.

Name changes. Super Crazy became Histeria. This is basically the same gimmick, but a ripoff of Psicosis. Crazy should be a star, but wearing a Psicosis costume is basically the same as Rick Bogner as Ramon and Glen Jacobs as Diesel. As long as the real ones are active, the new one won’t get over regardless of what talent they may or may not possess. Karis la Momia became La Parka Jr.

An idiotic fan at a show in Texcoco pulled a gun and shot Latin Boy and his brother Furia Latina. Latina was killed. Both were local underneath guys.

December

EMLL had their year end spectacular at Arena Mexico on 12/6. 11,000 fans came out to see the hair vs. hair vs. mask triangle match of Casas vs. Dandy vs. Santo. Santo said it was the biggest match of his career and dedicated the match to his father, the all-time most popular, El Santo. Casas & Dandy, both faces, are a regular tag team so they double teamed Santo early. The fans turned back to Santo and booed Casas & Dandy. Casas was the most over person in the building, but suddenly the fans were booing him. It came down to Santo vs. Dandy with the loser losing their mask/hair. Santo won the 4+star bloodbath with his finisher lo caballo (camel clutch), so Dandy cut his hair. Dandy is out for a bit with ankle surgery.

Name changes. Arguably the best mini worker of all-time (I still say it’s Mascarita Sagrada) Espectrito 1 became mini Vader. That’s really foolish since Espectrito is as established as a mini can ever be in Mexico. Gran Apaches I & II became Las Chivas Rayadas. This gimmick is that they are goates with hornes, which sounds really lame.

Final word

Basically nothing really changes in Mexico except the planned card. Everything is always chaotic and disorganized. The workers change, but the talent is always there. There isn’t much allegiance or loyalty, although certainly more than in Major League Baseball or the NFL. AAA is down right now because they have too many copycat gimmicks and old workers. Since guys jump like the wind, they could become a hot promotion again at any time. They really need to find some draws that are under 35 as elders like Perro aren’t going to wrestle forever. EMLL is the hottest group in Mexico and they have potentially big matches between Santo & Dandy and more Santo vs. Casas. As long as Garza stays, they should be in for a good run. Promo Azteca has a real advantage that most of the workers are friends and they like working together. Plus they have Misterio, Juventud, & Psicosis. So far, the work is said to be disappointing though. Unfortunately a lot is hinging on the U.S. and American money. They desperately need more U.S. exposure of their own tv product. Any exposure that WCW or WWF will give them will due more harm than good. One would figure that the Mexican economy will continue to be bad, so attendance isn’t going to improve much. UWA may as well be laid to rest, but any of the major three could heat up or cool of at any time. We’ll just have to see how it all plays out.

Next weeks will be the year in Puroresu.