News and Views from South of the Border 02.20.11: A View from the Stables

Las Noticias/The News

Mistico II?

So what do you do when your poster boy leaves for the WWE? What’s that you push someone that deserves it to his spot? Well you are wrong my friend, the correct answer is you take said poster boys rookie cousin and you dress him in a similar getup and have him wrestle with a similar moveset! How hard was that? Well that appears to be the answer Paco Alonso has for the Mistico debacle. The last member of Generacion 2011 is Magnus and he looks an awful lot like a certain luchadore! He debuted on the 12th of February teaming up with Rey Cometa and Angel de Plata to take on Loco Max, Skandalo and Bobby Zavala. The initial reports say that Magnus seemed very nervous and green as well. His team took the win but many felt the crowd responded negative to Magnus. What does this tell you? I would not of thought CMLL would do such a AAA type of thing but it looks like they might be desperate. No reason to be as I’m sure La Sombra and Mascara Dorada are both willing and able to fill Mistico’s shoes. Superluchas has the goods with the photo up above.

Title Defenses Galore!

While CMLL might be dropping the ball with the Mistico situation, they are more than picking it up with putting a newfound emphasis on their titles.

La Generacion Dorada put on the CMLL Trios titles against who I considered the favorites, but then again I’m biased towards this stable, Los Guerreros de la Atlantida. Mascara Dorada, la Sombra, and La Mascara were successful retaining the titles against Ultimo Guerrero, Dragon Rojo Jr. and Atlantis.

La Mascara successfully defended the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship against the former champion Volador. This was said to be an extremely good match, hopefull WarriorsX2000 or someone else uploads this match ASAP so we can all see for ourselves.

The Minis even got into the mix when Pequeño Olimpico defeated Bam Bam ending his long reign as CMLL Minis Champion.

Rumors Rumors Rumors!

Like Mistico leaving wasn’t enough, this past week rumors have persisted that CMLL Luchadore Maximo would be jumping ship to AAA. The rumors began when Maximo posted on his Facebook page that he had recieved a really good offer from another company. While this hasn’t been confirmed yet, Dorian Roldan did post on his Twitter account that Maximo jumping to AAA is just a rumor. How much does the young Roldan actually know is beyond me, but for now we’ll leave it as just a rumor.

Oh wait, a few days have now come and gone and it looks like Maximo is sticking with CMLL! Well that was a fun little rumor, maybe a little something to try and douse the Mistico flames? Who knows, maybe next week Paul Roma will join AAA, stranger things have happened!

Lucha Poster of the Week

Results

CMLL

CMLL 02/13/2011 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Palacio Negro WIN OVER In Memoriam
2) Astro Boy, Robin WIN OVER Acertijo, Drago
3) Metal Blanco, Sensei WIN OVER Inquisidor, Semental
4) Euforia, Vangelis WIN OVER Diamante, Metro
5) CMLL World Trios Championship: La Máscara, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada WIN OVER Atlantis, Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero

Lucha Video Break

CMLL

La Sombra, Maximo and La Mascara face off against Ephesto, Mephisto and el Volador Jr.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

AAA

This weeks AAA video is a match featuring La Parka, Jack Evans and Extreme Tiger taking on Bizarro members Charly Manson, Escoria and their leader Cibernetico.

Tiger, Jack, Parka vs Charly, Ciber, EscoriaUploaded by thecubsfan. – More great Latino videos.

La Voz/The Voice

During AAA’s heyday, I remember when Konnan could do what the L.A. Clippers could not do….sell out the L.A. Colisseum (“The Clip Joint”). I was not interested in Lucha Libre until I caught an ad for one of their upcoming shows on the West Coast back in the 90’s.

Posted By: Michael in Austin (Guest)

Definitely! Konnan was huge, I can remember two instances in particular, when he lost the Mask VS Hair match against Lucha legend el Perro Aguayo, the way that was played off especially the end with Konnans alleged kid brother taking off his mask was emotional. The other instance was the career match against Cien Caras. Good times.

Thanks for this article every week….it has quickly become one of my top 5 on this site to read.

I know that stables form a lot in lucha libre but I never thought about the OG Stables from back in the day such as La Ola Blanca. Will you please share some history of stables or trios or etc. from the past?

I find this article the most informative and it’s a pleasure to learn more about lucha libre. I’ve loved it since I first saw the WCW cruiserweight matches in the 90’s, but I don’t know a lot about it.

I love La Parka (the original) and I wonder if you have noticed the he is the favorite luchador for most Americans, most likely due to his charisma back in WCW…..

Lastly, what do you think of CHIKARA and what would your average lucha fan think?

Thank you.

Posted By: thug sain OGA (Guest)

I’m currently working on a revamp for the column that will feature past stables, luchadoers, etc. Keep in eye out on that, as far as a list is concerned as long as I keep getting reasonable requests I’ll keep busting them out. So far I’m backed up with a request for my faves, past stables and minis.

I’m glad to get some info out, I know English coverage is hard to come by. I think many had their first exposure with the WCW Cruiserweight division, although it is kind of criminal how some really talented individuals didn’t get there time in the spotlight.

La Parka or L.A. ParK as he is now known, what can I say, he’s another perfect example of how a mask does not hide natural charisma!

Lucha fans would love Chikara, basically I haven’t been exposed to much of Chikara but what I have seen I’ve enjoyed. It can get a little too over the top at points but solid wrestling and masked wrestlers is always enjoyable.

I think you mean Mascara Año 2000, not his “son” when you talked about Corleone.

And yeah we mock Konnan now (and rightly so) but he was something else in his pre-WCW days.

Posted By: MPJ-DK (Guest)

You got me, that is correct it’s Mascara Año 2000 that Marco Corleone beat for his hair, I guess I have to redeem myself. Here we go, did you know that during his early days Marco was still wearing gear with the Mark Jindrak name on it, according to him, he was unaware he was being billed under a different name!

I don’t know about the mocking of Konnan currently. During his WCW days he was a solid member of the N.W.O. and the Wolfpac, he became extremely popular during the time he was doing the Rap gimmick and music videos. I think WCW simply didn’t capitalize on him, his time with the Filthy Animals was ok I guess. His TNA run wasn’t the greatest but he was still good. Now as the mouthpiece for LAX I think he showed a new side of himself that was great. No version of LAX was better than Homicide and Hernandez along with Konnan as a manager. Now his Dungeon of Doom moments, yeah I won’t go into that!

So how about an emphasis on the mocking of Konnan?

Francisco,

Do you know anything about the Quackenbush/Skayde situation that happened at last years King of trios? el valiente and turbo were also pulled from the tourney at skayde’s request.

the controversy resulted in chikara severing ties with skayde unfortunately.

Posted By: Donovan (Guest)

OK once again I’m not the greatest Chikara guy! So I asked around and according to some of the 411 crew, sorry I didn’t get no names, I’m still too new, new writers aren’t supposed to look at old members in the eyes or ask for names. Anyways, Skayde or Jorge Rivera apparently held up Mike Quackenbush for more money before flying out, Quackenbush didn’t pay him what he asked for and Rivera’s ties to the company that promoted him like the god of all teachers. Where is Rivera now? Mexico indies my friends!

Jumping Beans FTW!

Posted By: Guest#6412 (Guest)

Ok? Next Question!

that was a very good match los traumas are one of my favorite tag teams in mexico
wich are your favorite stables in lucha libre?

Posted By: Pedro Expulsado (Guest)

Currently that should be obvious, Guerreros de la Atlantida! That’s an easy one, as for a list, keep a look out! We should be seeing one soon. Ok, just scroll down instead!

hey francisco do you know what are the rules than make differen a lucha libre match of a wrestling match like do the martinete or take other guys mask?

Posted By: xpand your imagination (Guest)

Oh man I can right a whole column on this. Ok for starters, Tombstone Piledriver is known as the Martinete and it is/was illegal in a match, that’s how Art Barr lost his mask. Obviously low blows are immediate DQ’s as well as unmasking a masked opponent. Tag matches are usually elimination rules, same with Trios matches. CMLL is usually 2 out of 3 falls for all matches. AAA is usually only 1 fall. In Tag matches if wrestler from team A leaves the ring or is thrown out of the ring, another member of Team A can come in legally.

Any clarification needed?

Here is my challenge this week for you, Franciso:

The top ten MINI-Luchadores of all time.
That’s right, how you rank the little guys that have competed in Lucha Libre?

p.s.
Norman Smiley was in Mexico? Hook us up with some video of Smiley in Lucha Libre.

Posted By: Joey Boots (Guest)

Top 10 Minis? Damn that’s going to be a hard one! That’s one for a later week though, keep an eye out for it!

My Top 10 Lucha Stables

HM: Familia de Tijuana

Halloween, Damian and Nicho el Millonario formed one hell of a Tijuana based stable. Later members would include Extreme Tiger and the very forgettable TJ Extreme.

HM: Legion Extranjera

I have to give the honorable mention to Konans Legion Extranjera due to it being way too new to fully top some of the stables already listed. Although the stable has amassed a huge amount of members and old members leaving, it’s in constant change which surprisingly has kept the concept fresh somewhat.

HM. Los Hijos de Averno

Formerly la Triada del Terror, Averno, Mephisto and Ephesto are a solid stable and damn good luchadores.

10. Los Vipers

Man when this stable first came out in 1997 were they hot! Cibernetico along with Psicosis, Histeria, Abismo Negro, Electroshock were a huge rudo faction. They feuded with Los Vatos Locos, Los Payasos, and in true AAA fashion, they stole something from years before and had Los Vipers invade a CMLL show. Future versions of the stable were never as good as the original.

09. Los Destructores

Emilio Charles Jr., Tony Arce and Vulcano, damn good stable, never pushed like they should of been and a cult favorite of many lucha fans. Sorry about the pic, I could find nothing with the first version.

08. Gringos Locos

Sure the team of Eddie Guerrero and Art Barr is legendary, but the stable at first was extremely hot. Alongside Konan they were the heel team of the moment, scrap that, they were the N.W.O. before the N.W.O was formed. In typical AAA fashion other members that didn’t make sense were added watering the stable down.

07. Los Hermanos Dinamita/Los Capos

Cien Caras, Mascara Año 2000 and Universo 2000 are three brothers that while not the most technically gifted, were a tremendous group of brawlers. They were hated and loved and loved to be hated, Apolo Dantes would occasionally be a member of the team.

06. La Ola Blanca

Legendary, as a team Angel Blanco and Dr. Wagner were incredible, they were hated and they were extremely talented. Add El Solitario to the mix and you have yourself a trio that was so huge it imploded when Solitario turned Technico and eventually took the mask of Angel Blanco and Dr. Wagner. Later on tragedy struck when El Solitario passed away and only 20 days later Angel Blanco also passed in a car accident that would also end Dr. Wagner’s career.

05. Guerreros de la Atlantida

Baised, maybe, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t my list and one of my favorite stables. You take the veteran Atlantis, team him with a legend in the making Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero, who along with Ultimo Guerrero was voted the CMLL tag team of the decade. Other members included Olimpico and Sangre Azteca. Currently the only members left are Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero and Dragon Rojo Jr. who seems to have rejuvenated the stable.

04. Perros Del Mal

In 2004 when this group form it brought about some changes to CMLL. While always the traditionalist company, it was strange to see a group of Rudos that at many times were cheered more heavily than the technicos they were facing. Many members have come and gone, but el Hijo del Perro Aguayo has always been the leader. They branched off of CMLL and formed their own independent promotion under the same name and eventually found themselves in AAA. During their inception though no other team was as popular.

03.Los Villanos
Come on you haven’t hear of these guys? While the standouts would by Villano III and V who later became Ray Mendoza Jr. Los Villanos have been around damn near forever and there is a reason for that longevity, they are great! Their greatest win cam about when Villanos I, VI and V unmasked the Trio of Los Brazos.

02. Los Infernales
While different versions of this stable appear damn near every couple of years, that is until el Satanico retired. Los Infernales were CMLL’s answer to the Trios boom in the 80’s, they were modeled after the number 1 pick in the list and were hugely successful in their own right. The best version still has to be Satanico, MS-1, and Pirata Morgan. Their feud with Los Brazos was hugely successful.

01. Missioneros de la Muerte

For 4 years Texano, Signo and Negro Navarro would be the hottest Trio in UWA, and all of Mexico, gaining infamy when the original Santo actually had a heart attack in a match against them. Of course this was when he was in his 60’s but still it’s El freaking Santo! They were a group of heels that made it cool to be a heel before los Perros del Mal did it. They were responsible for the influx of Trios and groups that were formed in the 80’s. There were later incarnations of the stable with different members, but nothing ever came close to the original.

Ke Monito Signing Off!
FR: Soooooooo, Ke Monito, you look cute in that picture with Maximo!
Ke Monito: SHUT THE HELL UP!

SOURCES:
http://www.cmll.com
http://www.luchalibreaaa.com
www.superluchas.net
www.thecubsfan.com/cmll
http://www.revistaluchas2000.com.mx
www.luchawiki.com
www.estrellasdelring.blogspot.com
www.lawagnermania.com
www.fuegoenelring.com