World X Cup Team No Show

I think I said a while back that I didn’t believe CMLL wrestlers would actually be in TNA until they actually got in the ring. The press conference swayed me a little bit, but I should’ve stuck with my original instinct and been actually right about something.

TNA knew something was wrong yesterday, judging from their preview for this week’s Impact. Here’s a short version of it

– Also, Thursday’s broadcast will feature a preview of the upcoming World X Cup Tournament as Doi and Yoshino of Team Japan (representing the Dragon Gate promotion) will take on The Motor City Machineguns!

That’s the only mention of the World X Cup. No mention of the CMLL guys, despite previously being mentioned as working this set of tapings. You’d think they’d warrant a mention if they were being flown in.

According to Superluchas (which is down at the moment), none of Team Mexico made it to Florida. (superluchas) This kinda of thing has happened enough that everyone knew work visas would be the problem and had to be taken care of in time, and yet here we are. Colossal failure. Don’t know who’s fault it is (though I’m sure it’ll come out quick if people are angry enough), but the losers are the wrestlers as usual – doesn’t matter how good you can work if the rest of the world thinks you’re unreliable.

Alex Koslov made it fine, but then he’s a guy who may just be more used to dealing with visa issues. Heck, he moved from Russia to the US, so he may still be on Russia paperwork or he may be on a US visa in Mexico. Either way, working in another country constantly means he’s already taking care of his immigration issues. Doesn’t seem like anyone else was as proactive.

If the TNA teaser is correct and they’re only doing preview matches for the World X Cup tonight and tommorow, these things can still be resolved in the two weeks before the next set of tapings. I wouldn’t count on it. It’s tough not to be cynical when it comes to lucha wrestlers of any note wrestling outside of Mexico.