News and Views from South of the Border 2.13.10: The Successful Foreigners

Las Noticias/The News

Sangre Technica?

While Dragon Rojo Jr. found success as a member of Los Guerreros de la Atlantida his former partners in Poder Mexica were left in limbo of sorts. Misterioso Jr. has steadily been gaining steam as a Rudo without a stable, but Sangre Azteca seemed to have suffered the worst. After the group split he wasn’t featured much in cards, and if he did it would be in the losing end. Well a feud started brewing between Sangre Azteca and Dragon Rojo Jr. and Sangre Azteca made the turn from Rudo to Technico. Misterioso has also jumped into the mix and on February 4 Sangre Azteca made it official in his first match as a technico! Sangre Azteca teamed up with Maximo and La Mascara to take on his former Poder Mexica stablemates Dragon Rojo Jr. and Misterioso Jr. who teamed up with Texano Jr. The match ended in a DQ after Misterioso Jr. unmasked Sangre Azteca. This Poder Mexica feud is brewing up quite nicely and hopefully the CMLL booking team lets it run it’s course. If things keep going like this I wouldn’t be surprised to see on of the former Poder Mexica members without a mask.

Carlito, King of Kings?

AAA’s next big show is the annual Rey de Reyes tournament. The 4 blocks or groups have been decided, in Block I Extreme Tiger took the victory coming out on top in a group that consisted of Joe Lider, Dark Cuervo and last years winner Chessman. The rest of the blocks have yet to be contested but the participants have already been determined. Block II will see Electroshock, Aerostar, Super Fly, and El Mesias. Block III will be contested by Dr. Wagner Jr., L.A. ParK, Halloween, and Nicho el Millonario. Finally Block IV consists of Jack Evans, Carlito, Dark Ozz, and Deccnis. While the big surprise in the tournament has to be Carlito, I have to say el Mesias and Dr. Wagner are the odds on favorites to win.

Angel Blanco Honored

CMLL’s annual Homenaje a Dos Leyendas is on the way and the legends that will be honored have been announced. Now first off, Salvador Lutteroth, the creator of CMLL is always honored on this show, with a Lucha legend being the other person honored. This year the tribute will go to Angel Blanco. Angel Blanco was a tremendous Rudo who along with the original Dr. Wagner and el Solitario formed La Ola Blanca, or the White Wave, one of the hottest heel stables ever. Past Lucha legends to be honored on the yearly show include El Santo, Black Shadow, Huracan Ramirez, Cavernario Galindo, Perro Aguayo and Ray Mendoza.

Lucha Poster of the Week

Results

CMLL

CMLL 02/06/2011 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Titanio WIN OVER In Memoriam
2) Artillero & Súper Comando WIN OVER Thunder Boy & Virgo
3) Drago, Ráfaga WIN OVER Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa
4) Delta, Stuka Jr. WIN OVER Cancerbero, Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero WIN OVER La Máscara, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada

AAA

AAA TV 02/04/2011 Arena Naucalpan
1) Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro, Eterno WIN OVER Argenis, Atomic Boy, Gato Eveready
2) Ronin, Sexy Star WIN OVER Fabi Apache, Sugi
3) Rey de Reyes Block I: Extreme Tiger WIN OVER Joe Lider and Cuervo and Chessman
4) Electroshock WIN OVER Heavy Metal
5) El Mesías, Espíritu, Ozz WIN OVER Decnnis, LA Park, Zorro
6) Charly Manson, Cibernético, Escoria WIN OVER Jack Evans, La Parka, Nicho el Millionario

Lucha Video Break

This week I decided to go with just one match, that’s only two videos long but everyone has to see this. This is from Mexican Independent promotion DTU. This match consists of Mary Apache and Faby Apache taking on Trauma I and Trauma II. Now Trauma I and II are males, so this is a female team taking on a male team! Now the match itself is damn good, watch it! The only bad part is they should of let the camera run a little bit more to get a full view of the fan appreciation. Only in Mexico my friends!

Part 1

Part 2

La Voz/The Voice

Nice work
whata are your thoghs in the alberto del rio super push?
and i want something of the vipers(aaa)

Posted By: xpand your imagination (Guest)

Alberto Del Rio is a wrestling god in my mind! If you want my opinion on Alberto Del Rio look no further than on my 2011 prediction for him, which can be found here. The man is a natural heel and is as charismatic as can be. I’m looking forward to him becoming champ at Wrestle-Mania and I think he’s going to come close or possibly even becoming the most successful member of the Mil Mascaras Dynasty. With members like Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras and Sicodelico that says a lot.

Something of the Vipers? Which version, Vipers, Vipers 2.0, Vipers Revolution, or Vipers 3.0?

Looks like this will be added to my weekly reads, a good specialist column up there with the COH. Good work, Francisco!

Posted By: Guest#7433 (Guest)

Specialist column? I like to think of it more like an acquired taste. Look forward to new readers and tell your friends about it and don’t forget, unlike the Wrestler of the Week, comments are encouraged.

You know what low ki still using the kaval name outside of the WWE and isn’t doing the no 90 day compete rule. WWE is letting him wrestle like they did with bryan when they fired him. I think this kaval getting fired thing is a work so WWE can get people interested in kaval. Cause this fixed firing storyline worked on Bryan but isn’t working on kaval. Nobody cares about low ki.

Posted By: Guest#1527 (Guest)

OK? Yeah I don’t know how Low Ki has much to do with this but ok. Kaval or Low Ki is one of those guys that would fit in perfectly in lucha, I mean come on, he’s all ring work! Either way, my thoughts on Kaval is he left before he was devaluated jobbing in the WWE, he left the right way and left the door open for a return. Hopefully he finds success elsewhere because a talent of that caliber is few and far between.

Great list this week. Ultimo Dragon will probably be close to the top.

Posted By: Another Wrestling Mark (Guest)

Number four to be exact!

My question for Franciso is this:

What do the lucha libre Mexican fans think of WWE Hall of Famer Tito Santana?

Did the lucha libre fans in Mexico care about Tito Santana? Did they watch him in his heyday in the WWE.

Is Santana respested and loved as much as El Santo?
America loved Tito Santana? What about Mexico?

P.S.

JBL wrestled in Mexico as Vampiro Mexicano?

Franciso, you MUST, Please put up video of a JBL Vampiro Americano match on your next column, PLEASE!

Posted By: Joey Boots (Guest)

Tito Santana is a bit of an odd occurrence. First off Mexican or Hispanic fans living in the U.S. love Tito Santana, any wrestling fan should, he was a great talent and had a great run with the Intercontinental Championship. Now Mexican fans in Mexico actually don’t even know Tito existed for the most part. Tito peaked in the 80’s, a time when the WWE was pretty much unknown or unheard of south of the border. Hell some people didn’t even know who Hulk Hogan was! So WWE exposure in Mexico was very limited and hasn’t really had a full show in Mexico until recently when Smackdown and Raw started airing in its entirety. Once the internet hit and people in Mexico where able to branch out and get access to information, Tito Santana received more recognition. Not to mention there currently is a Tito Santana working in AAA, who is of no relation, but the fact that he wrestles under that name doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

Now as far as a JBL in Mexico video is concerned, no luck! I have scoured Youtube to no avail! If any readers find a video email me the link or post it on the comments section.

My Top 20 Non-Mexican Lucha Stars

10 Dark Angel
Although she is now gaining success in TNA as Sarita, Dark Angel was one of the reasons of the reinvigoration of the CMLL womens division. Coming in as a masked Ruda, she steadily gained some steam and eventually lost her mask to Princess Sujei. Unmasked she eventually turned Technica and amassed a huge following. Virtually unknown in her native Canada as a wrester, in Mexico she became a big success. She unmasked Amapola, one of her biggest rivals.

9 Jushin Liger
The King of the brief tours according to me, this guy can go anywhere and have success. The name is legendary and the career even more. Liger has always had brief tours of Mexico with CMLL and at one point AAA. His current tour has led him to gold as Jushin “Thunder” Liger is the current CMLL World Middleweight Champion.

8 Jack Evans
When he arrived to AAA with Teddy Hart as members of La Legion Extranjera and teaming up as the Hart Foundation 2.0, the team found success in AAA. Jack Evans splintered off from the group and became a Technico, since his turn he’s found gold in the form of the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship. His following is huge and with his unique offensive maneuvers Jack Evans has surpassed the success that he achieved in ROH.

7 Marco Corleone
Talk about surpassing your success in the U.S.! Known to most as Mark Jindrak, he was a talented individual who just could not make it. In WCW he struggled, in WWE he did as well even though he even teamed with Kurt Angle and Luther Reigns. Then in CMLL a star was re-born! Becaming Marco Corleone, “La Aguila Italiana aka The Italian Eagle” found success and popularity like few ever have. He feuded with Mascara Año 2000 Jr. and took his hair, the same happened with Lizmark Jr. Although Marco jumped ship to AAA prematurely, damaging the following he had. He is now a part of Lucha Libre USA, but for a moment it could not be argued that Marco appeared to be the second coming of Vampiro or Konan.

6 Black Magic
This one many might not of known on, when I first saw Black Magic in a CMLL ring I always thought he was from a country like Brazil. Later on he went to the U.S. I found out this was a good old England born wrestler. As Black Magic, he achieved the type of success that he didn’t see in the U.S. He became the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion defeating Rayo de Jalisco and later losing the title to Brazo de Plata. When he finally went to the U.S. he was billed as a comedy act and although he was quite good at that what he can do in a ring was never showcased. That’s unfortunate for Norman Smiley.

5 El Mesias
From the island of Puerto Rico, Ricky Banderas became a hit on Puerto Rican promotion IWA, he eventually jumped ship to AAA and was brought in by Cibernetico as the masked Muerte Cibernetica. He feuded with La Parka and eventually lost his mask to him. Rechristened el Mesias he went on to feud with former leader Cibernetico. Eventually he became the 1st AAA Mega Champion, holding the title on 3 different occasions. He had a small run in TNA and WSX but nothing matches the success he continues to have in AAA.

4 Love Machine
Being given the gimmick of Beetlejuice by WCW can be a death sentence to anybody. So when life gives you lemons, say fuck the lemons and head to Mexico. As the masked Love Machine Art Barr excelled in Mexico and found success. He feuded with the living legend Blue Panther and found himself in a mask vs mask match. Love Machine lost the match when he used a Tombstone Piledriver known as a Martinete, on Blue Panther, getting himself disqualified. Art Barr jumped over to AAA when it was formed. He continued his feud with Blue Panther eventually losing his hair to him. He turned Rudo and formed the team La Pareja del Terror aka the Team of Terror with Eddie Guerrero, later on Konan joined in and they became the stable Los Gringos Locos. The pairing was an instant hit climaxing in the classic When Worlds Collide PPV. Unfortunately Art Barr wasn’t able to capitalize on his success due to his unfortunate passing.

3 Ultimo Dragon
Yoshihiro Asai was trained in the New Japan Dojo and although he had skills he was said to lack the size to make it. Instead of taking the news as a negative, he went to Mexico and turned it into a positive. He first debuted unmasked in the now defunct UWA. He learned the lucha style and picked up many titles. Eventually he would find his way to EMLL where he was christened the Ultimo Dragon, the Last Dragon. He continued to find success and eventually made his way to the states and Japan. CMLL has even held a PPV event titled Dragon-Mania, which would feature Ultimo Dragon.

2 Vampiro
The last two can be argued, but I chose Vampiro Canadiense as number 2. When Vampiro Canadiense went to Mexico he became a tremendous success, his popularity in Mexico can only be rivaled by Konnan at the time. Now this for Foreign talent mind you. He became the UWA World Heavyweight Champion and literally drew crowds like it was nothing. Vampiro would have tremendous feuds with Pirata Morgan which led to a couple of hair vs hair matches. He also feuded with Sangre Chicana taking his hair as well. The success that Vampiro had in his younger days has to be seen to be believed.

1 Konnan
The Cuban native has to be the measuring stick when it comes to foreign talent making it in Mexico. Originally debuting in Tijuana Konnan eventually made it to CMLL where he had feuds with tops stars, he captured the CMLL World Heavyweight title and eventually left with Antonio Peña to form AAA. He was the top star in AAA and was eventually unmasked by El Perro Aguayo. Unmasked he was an even bigger hit and while still performing for AAA he went on to do music, and acting, having worked on soap operas as well. Konnan, like Vampiro achieved rock star status. He was responsible for much of the lucha exposure in the U.S. Mike Tenay said it best on the When Worlds Collide PPV when he said. “Whenever Konnan appears on TV, everyone stops what they are doing and focuses on whatever television that is around. Waitresses in restaurants will stop what they are doing and watch whatever program that Konnan appears on.”

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Ke Monito Signing Off!
FR: So Ke Monito, what did you think of the Apache girls match?
Ke Monito: Sorry, what, I’m still staring at that Dark Angel pic!
FR: Damn Ke Monito, ok till next wee…
Ke Monito: Wait, Dark Angel VS. Faby Apache, Luchas first Wet Dream Match! Book it Paco!

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.miluchalibre.com
www.fuegoenelring.com
www.lawagnermania.com