Cavernario/Lee challenged for next Tuesday, AAA in SLP tonight, TripleMania

CMLL (TUE) 07/02/2019 Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central, The Gladiadores]
1) Retro & Sangre Imperial b Akuma & Rider 
Tecnicos took 2/3. Debut of Rider, who is the former Principe Tihegus.
2) Dalys, Metálica, Reyna Isis b La Jarochita, Marcela, Sanely 
rudas took 2/3
3) Misterioso Jr. b Universo 2000 Jr. [lightning] 
4) Hechicero, Kawato San, Vangellys b Blue Panther, Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr. 
Drone replaced Audaz
5) Atlantis, Flyer, Stuka Jr. b Felino, Mephisto, Templario 
Tecnicos took 2/3
6) Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Dragón Lee DQ Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas 
Carstico replaced Niebla Roja (double booked) on Monday. Cavernario unmasked Dragon Lee, setting up a singles match next week.

Rider introduces himself in a promo. Rider is not the FULL Rider but the luchador formerly known as Principe Tihegus. His Facebook indicates it’s meant to be Raider, with CMLL misspelling it in traditional lucha libre form. He’s the son of the currently missing Princesa Sugehit, and so is yet another relation getting a spot on a CMLL show.

There’s the usual lightning match/mask stealing promo from Misterioso, Felino celebrating 37 years of wrestling, and Dragon Lee & Cavernario hyping next week’s match. That should be something to see. It is Tuesday, I don’t believe they have a half speed match in them.

CMLL (TUE) 07/02/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Joker, Mágico b Carlo Roggi, Maléfico, Paymon
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Disturbio, Espíritu Negro, Guerrero de la Muerte b Dulce Gardenia, Magia Blanca, Magnum
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Fuego b Pólvora, Sagrado, Tiger
tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Místico, Soberano Jr., Valiente ?? Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
Tecnicos took fall 1, rudos took falls 2, no third fall mentioned
5) Niebla Roja b Gran Guerrero
Roja took 2/3.

We may never know how the semi-main finished. That’s OK. Doing live tweets and not summing up the results is why this happens but CMLL is also very clear that wins and losses do not actually matter so it’s fine. My OCD likes to have those filled in – I’m still keeping track of the falls for some reason – but I’m mildly surprised they bother.

AAA is back live tonight from San Luis Potosi, who traditionally holds their big lucha libre shows on Wednesday nights. The poster says an 8:30 start time, AAA started saying it was an 8:45 start last night. You may have time to go see some fireworks on the east coast.

There’s a card, I don’t really trust it; there are two different mixed matches which don’t really make any sense. There are a lot of interesting people thrown in who aren’t often on AAA shows; Iron Kid makes his first TV appearance in nearly a year in a match where he’s scheduled to team with Dinastia against Arez & Latigo. Star Fire is back for the first time since March, Eterno is back and might be a regular. The OGTs have not been around much this year and a match against the Jinetes sounds promising. This is a situation where the card announced seems like it’ll have some good matches but the usual amount of changes could produce some great matches. The next few shows don’t seem to hold a lot of story importance with TripleMania already announced but the potential matches still make this interesting.

Anyone who subscribes to Twitch starting July 4th gets TripleMania included. If you can afford to throw AAA $5 a month, I think you’re going to want to watch that show without commercial interruptions. If you’re an American with holiday plans tonight, you could watch this show on-demand later, get the next two AAA shows and TripleMania for one price.

There are some extra notes from reaction and interviews to TripleMania. Not having Fenix defend the Mega title against someone, anyone seems to be one of the more common complaints. A fan asked Konnan why they didn’t just book Omega versus Fenix and Konnan says it was an idea that came up but both AAA & AEW decided to wait for another show to do it. It’s probably not the right time for Omega to be in a singles title match; it doesn’t help AEW to have him take another loss right now. Even Omega winning might not be right for AEW with them trying to get their own belt started. I think the best card change idea I saw was Dylan from Lucha Talk suggesting just swapping Laredo Kid and Vikingo, which give the trios match AEW wanted to do but couldn’t and make it not a straight rematch of a few weeks ago.  It’d be a waste for Laredo Kid to be dropped into a match about the exoticos but it is also a waste to have the six other guys in there. I do wonder if AAA will end up airing the Fyter Fest match, as they did the Double or Nothing this past week.

I’m still wondering on the mystery guy. If it was meant to be Daga or Rey Escorpion, there would be no mystery about it. I’d say the same thing about Kross, though I could see AAA believing they needed to do (and could do) some big angle to heat him up and move him on from Puma King first. The easiest answer is probably simply “AAA hasn’t decided yet” and thinking about this is a bad use of time. I am all about bad uses of time and my mind has drifted to “you know, Jack Swagger/Jake Strong has a connection here and has MMA experience, that’d be something AAA would totally do” and “San Luis Potosi is Alberto’s hometown and even though he’s not on good terms with AAA that can change quick.” Please send help.

Dorian Roldan noted that August 3rd was Joaquin Roldan’s birthday and says that is why they picked the date this year.

Psycho Clown explained that he originally wanted to fight Cain Velazquez, then got to know him and decided he’s a great person. Psycho says Velazquez has come to Mexico City to train and he’s going to San Jose to train and it seems like a good idea to be a team.

People who have not blocked last year’s TripleMania out of their mind may remember Vampiro and Konnan set up a match where the loser had to leave AAA. That match isn’t happening at TripleMania. It doesn’t need to. Vampiro didn’t lose a match but remains out of AAA. Either it happened on good terms or there’s still a connection there because Vampiro hasn’t said a single bad word about AAA, but he’s off doing his own thing. There’s really not been a mention of Konnan wrestling again any time soon, though I suspect that may change when he returns to MLW this weekend. Konnan said he’d like to do a retirement tour next year while admitting he’s been saying this for the last two years.

MexaWrestling on 07/14 in Arena Naucalpan

• Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, Cerebro Negro vs Freelance, Mike Segura, Pantera I
• Los Oficials and Los Megas will appear.
• Dragon Bane & Arkangel Divino vs Hijo de Canis Lupus & Ultimo Maldito

El Siglo de Torreon has a detailed article about the history of the Espantos.

An interview with the fourth generation of mask sellers in Cuernavaca.

Segunda Caida watches some lucha libre from earlier this year.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.