The first match has been made official for this year’s WrestleCon SuperShow.
It was announced today that Ultimo Dragon and Negro Casas will face off in a singles match at WrestleCon’s Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow on March 30, which is the Thursday of WrestleMania week. The SuperShow is taking place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles.
This will be the first time the two pro wrestling legends have faced each other in the United States since a 1994 match at Los Angeles’ Grand Olympic Auditorium.
Negro Casas made a surprising promotional jump in January, leaving CMLL and joining Lucha Libre AAA. Former CMLL wrestler Dalys also joined AAA with Negro Casas.
WrestleCon has also announced that Will Ospreay, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, El Hijo del Vikingo, and Taurus will be in action at the Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow. Their matches have yet to be confirmed.
Both Negro Casas and Dalys made an appearance at Saturday night’s AAA television tapings in Queretaro, Mexico, jumping ship from CMLL.
Casas and Dalys made an appearance near the end of the tapings, which will air later on Canal Space, joining Pentagon Jr. and Psycho Clown for a photo at the end of the tapings. On Twitter, Dorian Roldan formally welcomed the two to AAA.
The jump was unexpected, as both Dalys and Casas have wrestled for CMLL as recently as January 17. Casas is also scheduled to compete at upcoming CMLL events this next week, including Monday in Arena Puebla and Tuesday in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara.
Casas has wrestled for CMLL since 1991, where he has held multiple titles including the World Middleweight and Welterweight titles, as well as their Tag Team and Trios titles. Dalys, who is married to Casas, has been wrestling since 2009 and is a former CMLL World Women’s Champion.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Famer Negro Casas has been announced for his NJPW Strong debut match on June 19.
Casas will team with Adrian Quest and Lucas Riley in a trios match at NJPW Strong Ignition, facing Mascara Dorada, Ren Narita, and David Finlay.
The Casas debut is one of five new matches announced for the Sunday, June 19 show in Los Angeles at the Vermont Hollywood.
Also announced, JONAH will face Taylor Rust in singles action. In another bout, JR Kratos will take on the debuting Jordan Cruz. Fred Yehi will face Bateman in another contest set for Los Angeles. Additionally, Barrett Brown and Misterioso team against Kevin Knight and The DKC.
The five newly announced bouts join Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yuya Uemura vs. Jay White and Hikuleo in the Ignition lineup.
Here is the card to this point:
NJPW Strong Ignition, Sunday, June 19 —
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuya Uemura vs. Jay White & Hikuleo
Negro Casas, Adrian Quest & Lucas Riley vs. Mascara Dorada, Ren Narita & David Finlay
JONAH vs. Taylor Rust
JR Kratos vs. Jordan Cruz
Fred Yehi vs. Bateman
Barrett Brown & Misterioso vs. Kevin Knight & The DKC
Negro Casas and Bandido are off of this Friday’s GCW Blood on the Hills event.
The company announced that both men are off this Friday’s GCW Blood on the Hills event at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Luchablog reported that this may be a result of CMLL, where Negro Casas is a regular, not wanting to have any of their performers working on the same show with AAA talent. This is despite Bandido, who has made appearances for AAA, no longer being on the show either due to testing positive for COVID-19 last week, also having to pull out of ROH’s Final Battle event.
Additionally, Dark Sheik and Jigsaw are also out of the card due to injury/illness.
Matches set for Blood on the Hills include a no rope barbed wire match between Atticus Cogar and Jordan Oliver, Matt Cardona & Chelsea Green vs. Effy & Allie Katch, Briscoes vs. Brody King & PCO, and Jonathan Gresham vs. AJ Gray.
Negro Casas to make GCW debut at Blood on the Hills
CMLL legend and Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Famer Negro Casas will make his promotional debut for GCW at Blood on the Hills on Friday, December 17 in Los Angeles.
Casas, 61, has remained active as he has surpassed four decades in the business. While primarily working trios matches for CMLL, he did take on Blue Panther in a singles match last week, coming away with the victory. Casas also occasionally works the odd indie in Mexico. His last match outside of Mexico came during CMLL’s Fantastica Mania tour of Japan with NJPW in January 2020.
Casas joins a list of talent advertised for Blood on the Hills that includes the GCW debut of Bandido, Jigsaw’s GCW debut, plus the GCW return of Brody King.
Blood on the Hills will air live on FITE TV from the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Tickets for the show are available here.
Jushin Thunder Liger will be facing off with three opponents in his CMLL farewell match.
CMLL announced yesterday that Liger will face Caristico, Negro Casas, and Ultimo Guerrero at their show on Friday, July 19. The event is taking place at Arena Mexico in Mexico City.
It will be a “Relevo CMLL” match. Two wrestlers will be in the ring at a time, with them being able to tag in and out. There will only be one fall in the match.
Liger announced at a press conference in March that he’ll be retiring at the Tokyo Dome in January 2020. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 is taking place at the Tokyo Dome on January 4 and January 5.
Liger, Juice Robinson & Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI is set for the opening night of this year’s G1 Climax in Dallas, Texas on July 6. Liger has also been announced as the producer of NJPW’s Super J-Cup tournament, which is being held in Tacoma Washington on August 22, San Francisco, California on August 24, and Long Beach, California on August 25.
During a time of many ongoing or upcoming tournaments, CMLL held their own annual tournament that honors the memory of the most famous and revered luchador in the history of Mexico as La Leyenda de Plata (or The Silver Mask) honors the legend in the silver mask, El Santo.
Friday in Arena Mexico, the Leyenda de Plata tournament final featured a previous winner and legend in his own right, Negro Casas, against La Mascara. The winner gets a plaque. However, a semi-main event trios match stole the show.
Robin & Sensei defeated El Cholo & Artillero
What started off well and got the crowd excited at first soon started to drag. Then, it ended shortly thereafter. It was decent enough for an opener. Técnicos, Robin, and Sensei won the first fall while the rudos won the second. For the third fall, Sensei submitted Cholo and Robin used a tiger driver on Artillero to score the deciding pinfall.
The crowd came alive for this minis match, and rightfully so, as it was great. Técnicos won the first fall when Eléctrico covered Demus, and Dragoncito submitted Mercurio. Rudos won the second fall when Pierrothito submitted Eléctrico and Mercurio pinned Astral with a rolling cradle. Técnicos won the third fall when Dragoncito hooked the legs of Pierrothito on a huracanrana to score the deciding pinfall.
There were some great dives in the last fall with Astral and Eléctrico doing stereo Asai moonsaults off the top rope and Dragoncito also did a big dive somewhere in there.
Super Crazy & Sharlie Rockstar & Golden Magic defeated Shocker & Terrible & Rey Bucanero
In a trios match billed as Liga Elite vs. CMLL, Shocker’s team represented CMLL and were rudos. They attacked the Liga Elite team before the match started, and everyone began brawling. The CMLL team pummeled the Liga Elite team throughout the first fall.
After a triple powerbomb on Golden Magic and a elbow drop by Shocker, the CMLL rudos won the first fall via pinfall. The rudos continued to mostly dominate throughout the next fall. They were triple-teaming Super Crazy when he started making a comeback that led into him applying the tarantula.
The Liga Elite team went on to win the second fall when Golden Magic pinned Shocker and Sharlie Rockstar (formerly Charly Manson) submitted Terrible. In the third fall, Rey Bucanero fouled Super Crazy with a blatant kick to the groin causing a disqualification, giving the Liga Elite team the win.
After the match, the rudos stomped and beat on Super Crazy, leaving him laid out.
Of course, the legendary Atlantis was the biggest star in the match, and probably on the whole card, as part of the técnicos. The rudos came out dressed as monks during their entrance. After disrobing from their frocks, they went on to win the first fall when Ephesto covered Atlantis.
Técnicos won the second fall when Stuka pinned Luciferno before Azul also pinned Ephesto. They all six did a tower of doom spot in the last fall.
Stuka leapt off the top rope with a torpedo plancha on Ephesto and pinned him. Moments later, Luciferno used a huracanrana on Stuka to even the fall.
To save the day, Atlantis triumphantly rushed into the ring and applied his Atlantia (torture rack) submission hold on Mephisto, submitting him to give the técnicos the victory in the deciding fall.
Místico & Volador, Jr. & Valiente defeated Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia & Gran Guerrero
Notwithstanding the dives and aerial highspots, this was great just with the atmosphere and their timing…and the dives were pretty freaking sweet too. Rudos won the first fall via submission by stretching the entire “Sky Team” all at the same time.
Técnicos won the second fall with Volador executing a top rope Frankensteiner and covering Euforia for a pin, while Valiente also delivered a tombstone into a gutbuster on Gran Guerrero then pinned him.
Amongst wild dives and crazy action in the third fall, Místico squared off with Ultimo Guerrero for a bit. The rudos got several near falls before they went into the finish.
Everyone began brawling, leading into a series of big dives by Valiente and Volador. When the smoke cleared, Místico used La Mistica on Ultimo Guerrero to win the third fall via submission.
Leyenda de Plata tournament final: La Mascara defeated Negro Casas
Tiger acted as a second for Casas. Likewise, Terrible accompanied Mascara.
Having won the tournament before, Casas was looking to win another plaque. Instead, he got kicked in the family jewels for no apparent reason, and it cost him the match. They tried their best throughout to build some drama but the finish was flat after the crowd crapped on it.
It was indeed a bad finish, and it took them three falls to get there. Mascara got the first fall via pinfall after he hit Casas in a corner with running double knee strikes. Between falls, Mascara stomped Casas while he was still prone on the mat. When Casas’ mini tried to make the save, Mascara started stomping him too.
Casas made a comeback and won the second fall via submission with the scorpion deathlock. Late in the third fall, Mascara goaded Tiger to jump on the apron. That distracted the referee so behind the ref’s back and Mascara gives Casas a low blow. He then covered him for the pinfall.
Mascara won the tournament, but he apparently was not done, so he kicked Casas in the head before leaving with his plaque. Casas would eventually rise to his feet and wave to the crowd with his mini joining him in waving to the crowd to end the show.
