CMLL’s next En Busca de un Idolo should only include luchadoras

Really. Why not? Dark Angel’s comments planted the seed of this idea in my head. It’s not exactly what she seemed to be looking for, but it’s a step in the direction of getting more attention for that division.

Good wrestling programming, whatever language you do it in, is a lot of making the best hand out of the card you’ve been dealt. CMLL’s big picture landscape is without a lot of excitement, and of a fanbase disinterested in the status quo. The smaller picture is they have a national women’s championship, but not a healthy champion to defend it. They’re going to run a tournament to decide it eventually. Why not make it an interesting one?

To cut off the first complaint, CMLL can still run a men’s En Busca de un Idolo too. There’s plenty of CMLL shows which don’t currently have any reason to exist that can be pushed out for something with more effort. It wouldn’t make sense to run them both at the same time, but there’s no urgency to run the men’s one right now. (I’m concerned that any next edition of that tournament will have trouble following the last one; inserting a women’s version and pushing back a men’s one will only help fix that.)

The best En Busca de Un Idolo competitions have focused on breaking out newer wrestlers. That wouldn’t change with a women’s one and shouldn’t change. CMLL’s women roster is old by any comparison. It feels rude to post go luchadora by luchadora to post ages, but most everyone who’s an important regular is over 35, and many are closer to 45. Some can still go and hopefully will keep on going, but it seems like a safe assumption that of the women who are around today won’t be around five years from now, or won’t have the same prominence. CMLL’s got to decide now if they want to introduce a new wave of women to carry on the division, or if they rather wind it down. CMLL’s gotten benefit out of their luchadora’s being in secondary apuesta matches on big shows. I tend to believe there’s more value in women’s wrestling than CMLL’s gotten out of it, but there’s unquestionably value in keeping it at least viable, and they need young people to keep it viable.

There’s not nearly as many women to choose for such a project as men, but they can be found. There appears multiple troupes of luchadoras who work on indy shows but never together, for whatever reason. The WWS women don’t work with the Leyendas Inmortales women who don’t work with the women on IWRG and the Moreno sisters seem to have their own opponents and so on. They’d likely get past those differences if it meant a chance to tryout for CMLL. There’s probably a few hanging out in training classes waiting for a chance to debut, and there’s plenty of capable women away from Mexico City who’d be qualified. And throwing in women already in CMLL but not used much as ringers is totally acceptable: Vaquerita and Isis and whoever else are ready made for this. CMLL can find eight women for this tournament if they put the effort in. (Trying to figure out would be best fit is probably the biggest reason not to do it next – casting is vital, you want time to figure out the best possible lineup.)

The biggest risk is the matches may not be any good. It’s definite possibility when using people who don’t have as much experience, are on a much bigger stage than usual, and may be wrestling unfamiliar opponents. The great news is CMLL does not seem very concerned about people having bad matches. I watch their TV every week, I’m pretty sure match quality is not the management’s biggest concern. Even if some of these matches will be worse than usual, they also won’t be the usual matches. CMLL luchadors suffer from over exposure and an over-reliance on the same routines in every appearance. Just replacing them routine matches for a few weeks with anything else, even a disaster, will help everyone seem fresher.

There’s an added benefit outside of possibly creating a new star: giving more attention to the existing ones by making them judges. CMLL doesn’t give any time to traditional promo time, but these sort of judging appearances have been a useful replacement. Dragon Rojo Jr. turned tecnico mostly because the reaction to his super polite judging style, and Tirantes is second only to Rush in the negative reactions he can get from the crowd thru his comments. CMLL’s current women are usually only heard at shows when it’s time to urgently create a title or apuesta match, but they’ve shown more ability when allowed to be guest commentaries on the TV shows. Putting Tiffany or Amapola or Dark Angel on the panel would help them and the competition. (Thinking back on, it’s very strange that a woman hasn’t appeared on the judging panels for the men’s competition so far.)

The best possible scenario? CMLL (and the commission) would frown on a unknown or a barely known woman walking off with a title in a reality show competition, so fall back to the status quo and simply give the winner a shot at the vacant title. The winner of this En Busca de Un Idolo would earn a place in the decision match against the former champion – Estrellita, who would then also be a permanent member of the judging panel. Esterllita’s capable of that role, and you’ve got the added drama and intrigue of her having a role in selecting her opponent. CMLL creates a new star in the winner of the competition, they’ve got a built up title match to follow up on it, a logical next title match with Zeuxis returning to face the winner, and possibly some other new stars based off the competition.

That’s the point. Make people interested in new stars. Simply seeding them into matches once every six weeks isn’t going to do it for anyone. This would be a big gesture, and big gestures are needed to accomplish big things.