There’s a lot more to cover – AAA/MSG and in Tijuana, more WrestleMania week stuff – but not enough energy to get it done tonight. I’ll catch up over this week.
CMLL (FRI) 04/05/2019 Arena México [CMLL, Lost in Lucha, Lucha Central, Marca, Ovaciones, The Gladiatores]
1) Metálico & Sangre Azteca b Magnus & Robin 
rudos took 1/3
2) La Jarochita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit b Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany
tecnicas took 1/3
3) Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto b Audaz, Flyer, Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 2/3
4) Felino b Hechicero [lightning]
Felino won in 9:04. (Rey Bucanero replaced Hechicero commentary.) Money thrown in.
5) Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Titán
Titan replaced Mistico on Tuesday. Rudos took 1/3.
6) Gilbert el Boricua, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible DQ Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr.
straight falls, Gilbert faking a foul from Volador and setting up the singles match.
Show was said to be better than it looked on paper if not great. Main event wasn’t much more than angle to set the singles match next week.
CMLL promos: Felino, Peste Negra, Volador, and Gilbert.
Media interviews: Barbaro Cavernario (The Gladiatores, Box Y Lucha – says he never wanted to leave Peste Negra), Gilbert el Borica (The Gladiatores, Box Y Lucha, hypes match with Volador), Felino (The Gladiatores, Box Y Lucha, ), and Hechicero (Box Y Lucha).
Volador gave respect to Mephisto after his win. Less respect was shown between Valiente and Edgar, who got into a legit brawl after the main event. Atlantis doesn’t seem all that much interested in getting involved, though Caristico does eventually break them up. It is unclear what happened to cause it. It seems like there were no consequences for it, as they were both in the same match on Sunday.
CMLL (SUN) 04/07/2019 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Leono & Retro b Apocalipsis & El Coyote
tecnicos took 2/3
2) Estrellita, Kaho Kobayashi, La Maligna b Dalys, La Comandante, La Seductora
Tecnicas took 2/3.
3) Black Panther, Pegasso, Rey Cometa b Disturbio, Universo 2000 Jr., Virus
tecnicos took 1/3
4) El Audaz b Kawato San [lightning]
5) Atlantis, Kráneo, Titán b Ephesto, Hechicero, Luciferno
tecnicos took 2/3
6) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Terrible
tecnicos took 1 (DQ)/3, the last with Valiente beating terrible to set up a title match
CMLL promos: Estrellita (happy to be back again), Audaz, Terrible and Valiente. The last two are talking up the title match.
A rare all tecnico win show. Estrellita didn’t really leave but seems to be wrestling only as other work in his life permits.
It was a busy weekend elsewhere for CMLL wrestlers. Dragon Lee became the IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion on Saturday, defeating Bandido in a three way with now ex-champion Taiji Ishimori on the G1 Supercard in MSG. It was one of the best matches on the show despite also being one of the shortest. Dragon Lee has said he’d like to defend it first against Hiromu Takahashi. That may still take a while; Takahashi did not appear on the show. (Sumie Sakai did a tribute to him in the opener and Takahashi posted a photo from outside the arena, but that’s as close as it got.) Over the weekend, Dave Meltzer reported Takahashi is currently expected back around August. That means no Best of Super Juniors for him.
I’d assume Dragon Lee will actually defend it against other people first, and it’ll be interesting to see if he gets to defend it in Mexico. Sombra got in an IWGP IC title defense against Volador in Arena Mexico during his short reign. The best choice for Dragon Lee seems like it’d be Barbaro Cavernario, based off the two having another strong match Thursday night on the WrestleCon supershow. The live crowd seemed very impressed. The streaming crowd wasn’t as lucky, as the show cut out during most of the match. Highspots put it up as a free match as a make good. Regular CMLL viewers will not be surprised but what they did. It did make Cavernario a bigger star to those who came in not knowing him.
Bandido did well in the title match despite taking the loss, with his moonsault double bodyslam being perhaps the spot of the night. His match on Thursday night with Will Ospreay was one of the best of the weekend. I expect him to part of NJPW’s Best of Super Juniors when that field is announced. No next ROH direction was set, but they were moving towards a Bandido/Flip Gordon match before Gordon was hurt.
CMLL may be coming to Univision Deportes (US) after all. They’re listed starting Thursday night/Friday morning at midnight and Saturday at 5 AM in programming guides. Univision Deportes announced this the same time CMLL started on Televisa, then deleted all mention of it. There’s been no official announcement they’re back on, but so it goes sometimes with lucha libre TV shows. This would be the same show that airs on Televisa, so they’re airing matches on near a week delay but with a different production crew than airs them live. Univision Deportes has some reach but this probably won’t great chance CMLL’s visibility in the US. Couldn’t hurt though.
Dragon Lee was announced for the 2019 King of the Indies tonight, so he’ll have a chance to keep that title.
Flip Gordon requested a match with Soberano on the April ROH shows. Soberano liked the idea. I’m very confused about the status of Flip’s knee.
Lineups
CMLL (MON) 04/08/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja, King Jaguar, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs El Perverso, Policeman, Tyson La Bestia
2) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Sanely vs Amapola, La Comandante, Metálica
3) Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr., Kráneo vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Misterioso Jr.
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. vs Cavernario, Hechicero, Templario
5) Carístico, La Bestia Del Ring, Último Guerrero vs Diamante Azul, Mephisto, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
Semi-main could be a good warm up for the title match. Tercera would be Misterioso’s first match after taking time off due to the death of his daughter.
CMLL (TUE) 04/09/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Black Sugar, El Alteño, Mágico vs Carlo Roggi, El Chakal, Mr. Apolo
2) Magnus, Príncipe Diamante, Vaquero Jr. vs Disturbio, Guerrero de la Muerte, Sangre Azteca
3) Drone, Esfinge, Rey Cometa vs Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus
4) Dragón Lee, Místico, Rush vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
5) Carístico © vs Cavernario [NWA MIDDLE]
2nd defense
Top two matches should be good.
CMLL (FRI) 04/12/2019 Arena México
1) Príncipe Diamante & Robin vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
2) Black Panther, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Hechicero, Pólvora, Vangellys
3) Dragón Lee, Niebla Roja, Valiente vs Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Terrible
4) Carístico & Mephisto vs Ángel de Oro & La Bestia Del Ring and Sansón & Soberano Jr. and Bárbaro Cavernario & Titán and Blue Panther & Máscara Año 2000 and Flyer & Forastero and Euforia & Guerrero Maya Jr. and Rey Bucanero & Tritón [Torneo Increible de Parejas, semifinal]
5) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f]
7) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f]
8) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f]
9) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, quarterfinal]
10) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, quarterfinal]
11) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Torneo Increible de Parejas, semifinal]
12) Volador Jr. vs Gilbert el Boricua
That’s half the teams. Caristico & Mephisto and Sanson & Soberano seem like the best chanes for finalists. Barbaro Cavernario & Titan should have a good chance but I’d have to see it happen to believe it could. Angel de Oro & La Bestia would be a suitably awful ending, but seem likely to at least move on.
Gilbert working a Volador match seems a bad idea. Volador wrestling as Fenix versus Mil Muertes would be great but seems unlikely.
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CMLL on UDN in the US could probably deliver a slightly better number than it did on Fox Sports en Espanol a few years ago. I still say it should be on Galavision and I’m wondering if they waited to see how it did in the ratings in Mexico before deciding between UDN or the more prestigious Galavision. They probably knew when they deleted the tweet that they had the US rights, and were going to proceed in some fashion, but just needed to finalize a strategy.
I still think they missed an opportunity on Galavision late on a Saturday night, maybe 10p or 11p.