Dulce Gardenia Arena Mexico debut, trios title match set up next week, AEW on AAA TV

CMLL (FRI) 06/28/2019 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Lucha Central, Marca, The Gladiatores]
1) Inquisidor & Nitro b Eléctrico & Oro Jr. 
rudos took 1/3
2) Amapola, La Comandante, Tiffany b Avispa Dorada, La Maligna, Lluvia 
rudas took 2/3
3) Dulce Gardenia b Disturbio 
Dulce Gardenia was given a big introduction and a trophy as part of LBGT+ celebrations
4) Esfinge, Titán, Tritón b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón 
tecnicos took 2/3 and issued a title challenge
5) Stuka Jr. b Mephisto [lightning] 
torpedo splash
6) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Ciber the Main Man, Sharlie Rockstar, The Chris 
straight falls. The CL4N were DQed in the first (weapon usage) and UG used a foul to win the second.
7) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas 
tecnicos took 1/3

CMLL Promos: Los Guerreros, the CL4N, Dulce Gardenia, OneAtos Style, and Stuka,

Press room interviews: Peste Negra (Box Y Lucha +LuchaTV), CL4N (Box Y Lucha, the Gladiatores, +LuchaTV), Dulce Gardenia (Box Y Lucha, the Gladiatores, +LuchaTV), NGD (+LuchaTV), OneAtos Style (+LuchaTV)

I haven’t watched this show in full yet. It sounds like Dulce Gardenia’s debut went very well and the OneAtos Style/NGD match was the other good match on the show. They played up Dulce Gardenia’s debut – a dance number, an in-ring ceremony, a big trophy for no particular reason, Sofia Alonso endorsing him – like he was intended to be the new Mistico. He probably won’t end up up that high on the card but it is a strong endorsement for a new wrestler.

CMLL aired a slice of the Dulce Gardenia interview from Informa instead of a dance number. The removal of the dance numbers remains annoying and counter-productive, but the other part has to happen more often. No one but the most dedicated loyal CMLL fans are watching the two hour (plus!) CMLL Informa show. Everyone else in the world is much more likely to watch a 30-90 second highlight from the show. AAA’s figured this out, and are posting short clips of their interview show on Twitter even as the show is happening. CMLL’s got to find a way to get the most interesting parts of their bloated show out there so that even the casual fans can see it. Putting short clips of wrestlers on Informa explaining the story of the match fans on Friday are about to see is a really good place to start.

In yet another Dulce Gardenia interview, he mentions he was Bandido offered Gardenia a place to stay when he first came to Mexico City. When he got on his feet, he moved to apartments owned by Rossy Moreno & Hijo del Dr. Wagner. He trains Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday, and Fridays with Ultimo Guerrero and has an additional training session Wednesdays.

Ultimo Guerrero & Ciber set up a match in two weeks. No idea where Ultimo Guerrero is at next week, but I assume he’s got a booking. Edit: It’s the match in France! I knew this. Oh well.

Ring of Honor went as expected for the Mexican wrestling contingent. Rush defeated Flip Gordon (who had a busy night) and Dalton Castle defeated Dragon Lee, with Castle and Rush on a course for a rematch sometime in the next few months. Bandido did not win the TV title but may have gotten new rivals. Dragon Lee & Rush face Los Hermanos Briscoe today at the ROH TV tapings. Bandido’s match is yet to be revealed.

This is another weekend with no AAA taping. They’ll be back next week. There’s plenty of other notable shows going on.

on Saturday

• Let’s take care of AEW show first, since it’s the most notable one even it has the least to do directly with lucha libre. Fyter Fest streams live on Bleacher Report Live in the US for free, and internationally on FITE.tv for $10. Laredo Kid teams with the Lucha Brothers to face the Elite trio of the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Lucha Central wrote about Laredo Kid, I wrote about Laredo Kid over on Voices of Wrestling. Laredo Kid is very good and he’s been excellent in AAA this year. If he’s ever going to break thru in the United States, it’s probably happening tonight.
• Back in Mexico, Lucha Memes has a relocated show in Arena San Juan. This was date that was originally scheduled for Arena Naucalpan and the circumstances around it led to Memes and PALL splitting. It’s a co-promoted show with MexaWrestling & Tijuana’s TWE, both of which seem to be staying with PALL, so there might be some awkwardness there. Aramis & Rey Cometa and Templario & Jonathan are the most interesting matches on paper to me. With Battle of Naucalpan never turning up, this show might end up being remembered more for the issues surrounding to it than any matches on it.
• Aramis is also supposed to be on an IAW show at CAR The Crash, which is headlined by Ciclope & Miedo Extremo against Eterno & Arana de Plata.
• Arena Neza has a legends show, with Mascara Sagrada, Octagon, and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. versus Canek, Pirata Morgan and Villano IV. Nostalgia tinted glasses should probably be handed out at the door for this one.
• Arena Lopez Mateos might be the biggest in name value of all these shows, with the 52nd Anniversario celebration of the building. Alberto & LA Park are scheduled to team against Atlantis & Diamante Azul and Cavernario & Casas, though I’d imagine that gets changed a bit.
• Cavernario is also supposed to work the main event of a Lucha Libre Real show in Mexico City itself, teaming with Terrible against Hijo del Fantasma and Xtreme Tiger, in his Mexico City return.
• Volador Jr. and Forastero headlines Arena Coliseo.

on Sunday

• The MDA slow which displaced the Memes show has Mascara Sagrada & Octagon vs Canek & Villano IV vs Fuerza Guerrera & Pirata Morgan vs Black Terry & Black Warrior.
• The Lucha Brothers, Dragon Lee, Daga, Soberano Jr., and Septimo Dragon are at Mucha Lucha Atlanta.
• Alberto headlines a show in Monterrey, teaming with Fantasma & LA Park vs Carlito, Mesias, and MVP. That sounds a lot like Nacion Lucha Libre, probably has the same person putting it together, and will be an interesting test to see how that’s going to do. It won’t be definite because Monterrey has their own issues but hopefully, it’ll do better than the last Alberto in Monterey match.
• Audaz & Kawato battle for the vacant Super Lightweight Championship in Arena Mexico. Again, Kawato should win if this is the start of a feud and Audaz should win if there’s no follow up plan.
• Esfinge & Triton have a likely to be successful Coliseo Tag Title defense against Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte in Guadalajara. There’s a locals hair match on the show.

Audaz and Kawato both say they’re ready if nervous for Sunday’s title match. Kawato’s goal is the win the title, defend it once in Arena Mexico, and then defend it in NJPW. There can be large breaks between title defenses in Mexico but that sounds like Kawato is guessing the same timeline on his return to Japan (late 2019, early 2020) as everyone else.

AEW made their TV debut yesterday. Sort of. The AAA tag title match from Double or Nothing between the Young Bucks and the Lucha Brothers aired on AAA’s Azteca TV show yesterday afternoon. This didn’t seem like it was pushed ahead of time by AAA (but the TV is never pushed a lot ahead of time.) Azteca produces its own version of AAA TV but AAA had to provide the match to Azteca, so it is possible this will turn up on the regular version of the show. This week of TV should hit YouTube in a couple of weeks. (The official version of Vikingo/Laredo should be on YouTube next weekend.)

I keep forgetting to mention it, but while I’m on TV: the US airing on CMLL’s Televisa show has disappeared from the schedule. It might just be a knockoff effect of soccer coverage Univision Deportes but I don’t count on seeing it.

Marisela Pena was given a Women for Equality medal.

Pagano hyped the 07/04 Arena Naucalpan show. Pagano tells it that Pentagon said (thru Rey Escorpion) that he wanted a hardcore match with Pagano, then forgot, but Pagano thinks Penta just got scared. Pagano wants a cage or stretcher match in CMLL

Ovaciones has an interview that it hypes as El Hijo del Santo‘s first on Silver King. He doesn’t say anything notable here he hasn’t said elsewhere: the death was sad and scary that it could happen so sudden. There’s no deeper examination of what happened. Hijo del Santo has no retirement plans, just the general ‘few more years’ bit and wanting to wrestle with his son.

Baja Wrestling, the new Tijuana group, actually has their own YouTube channel where they posted matches from their show, including Rush vs LA Park. While having a YouTube channel and posing content is a normal thing and has been for about a decade in the US, an indie promotion doing this in Mexico is unusual.

Thing I didn’t know: Benjamin Mora Jr., son of a famed Tijuana wrestling promoter is a soccer coach. After not finding success in Mexico, he ended up in Malaysia and his team just won their league for the third year in a row.

RIOT’s La Riña En El Cerro de La Silla (08/23 & 08/24) participants:

1. Douki
2. Latigo
3. Erik Ortiz
4. Aramis
5. Belial
6. Madness
7. Iron Kid
8. Arez
9. Tony Rodriguez
10. Demonio del Aire
11. Fuego del Sol
12. Dralion – new

• 08/23 non-tournament match: UnMexicans (Byron & Kaientai) vs El Cartel de Los Culichis (Mr. Iguana & Fresero Jr.)
• 08/23 non-tournament match: Los Mismos de Siempre (Kamikaze & Kratoz vs Los Guanatos Brothers (Willy Banderas & Bryan Villa)

RIOT has a full tournament!

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 07/05/2019 Arena México
1) Robin & Súper Astro Jr. vs Espanto Jr. & Hijo del Signo
2) Pegasso, Rey Cometa, Star Jr. vs Okumura, Pólvora, Virus
3) Atlantis Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III [lightning]
4) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Esfinge, Titán, Tritón [MEX TRIOS]
11th defense
5) Ciber the Main Man, Místico, Rey Bucanero vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Gilbert el Boricua, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible

I don’t know about the main event. I do know the semi-main is the weirdest looking match CMLL has run this year.

OneAtos Style and NGD had a Great match back in March in Guadalajara. It’s a good matching of skills. A title change seems very unlikely.

Atlantis Jr. versus Hijo del Villano III seemed bound to happen soon. Hope it’s a good idea. Hijo del Villano III will have more singles matches in his under a year CMLL run than Villano III Jr. has had in AAA. That’s the only way you can put the CMLL guy ahead of the AAA guy.

Okumura returns in the second match.