Ciber vs UG tonight, Nacion debuts with strong turnout, CMLL trios in ROH

NLL (THU) 07/11/2019 Sala de Armas Magdalena Mixhuca, Ciudad México, Distrito Federal [+LuchaTV, Notimex, The Gladiatores]
1) Hija De Gatubela, Stephanie Vaquer, Thunder Rosa b Lady Flammer, Reina Oscura, Sexy Dulce 
Hija de Gatubela replaced Christi Jaynes. Kamille distracted Dulce Garcia for the loss.
2) Brazo De Oro Jr., Dual, Hijo De Dos Caras b Batab El Guerrero, Bram, La Máscara 
Brazo de Oro Jr. replaced Dr. Wagner (moved up)
3) Galeno Del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Hijo de LA Park & LA Park 
Replaces a Daga/Flamtia vs Puma/Horus match. Wagners ended to Silver King’s theme.
4) Bestia 666 & Damián 666 b Fresero Jr. & Mr. Iguana and Relámpago & the Tiger (Tamaulipas) 
Damian 666 & Relampago replaced Taurus & Laredo Kid on 06/16.
5) Rey Horus b El Bandido 
replaced Relampago vs Heddi Karaoui (moved up). Crowd liked the match.
6) Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Mecha Wolf 450 b Matt Sydal & Súper Nova 
Lucha Brothers replaced by Sydal & ? on June 21st. Super Nova turned out to be the surprise luchador.
7) Canek & Solar I b Heddi Karaoui & Negro Navarro 
Heddi Karaoui replaced Damian (moved to another match) on June 21st.
8) Alberto el Patrón, Hijo del Fantasma, LA Park b Apolo (Puerto Rico), El Mesías, MVP 
LA Park replaced Dr. Wagner (AAA) on June 21st. The Puerto Ricans used a foul causing Ricardo Rodriguez to interfere to help Alberto win.

A strong turnout for the promotion’s first show. The building didn’t seem full but it looked good enough. This should start airing July 20th and will likely be broken up over a couple of episodes, but it’s also already up on YouTube. Bandido & Horus and Wagners/Parks sound like the best-received match.

They did well despite the weird day, the card changes and apparently starting an hour late for no obvious reason. It is also a weird situation when the only ongoing feud appears to be Sexy Dulce versus Kamille. Promotions elsewhere have leaned heavily into being episodic, setting up big storyline hooks to keep you paying attention to the next show. Promotions in Mexico – this one and what I suspect we’ll see with Pro Wrestling Mexico this weekend – go with the idea that if they just put enough stars on the show and the people have a good time, that’ll be enough to keep them coming back next time.

A fight broke out in the crowd during the main event, with LA Park and MVP helping break it up. It’s a rare case of LA Park stopping a crowd brawl instead of inciting it.

They did a sort of red carpet deal before the show to do a lot of interviews with the bigger names, which did allow media to write about the show being a success without waiting for it to actually happen.  Alberto said things about how people wanted to stop them but they’d cut their own head off to use to have the same level of talent as Nacion Lucha Libre. Alberto plans on being president of the promotion but not wrestling on every show. He said Wagner, Fenix, and Penta couldn’t participate due to contractual issues. Alberto frames it as generously agreeing to allow Fenix & Penta out of their deals to let them grow as wrestlers and says someone else (Wagner?) couldn’t read his contract. Alberto was not bothered by any of this, boasting that the new card was even better than the old one. Alberto is a charming storyteller, which has helped a great deal the last decade. He also did a big rah rah speech hyping up the promotion before the matches started.

Alberto and the promotion mentioned there’s a show in Zacatecas “next week.” No date or location or card has been announced.

CMLL today has Ciber the Main Main versus Ultimo Guerrero as the main event. They met three years ago on a CMLL show. It wasn’t good. It probably won’t be better three years later. They rematched a few weeks later in Guadalajara but watching another Ciber/UG match seemed like a poor use of time. Guess it’s the poor use of time I’m making tonight. The fear is this is the Aniversario main event – either in singles or with more people being drawn in for a cage match – and they’ll signal it tonight. The saving grace is CMLL’s done a lot of starts of things which looked like big main events this year and few of them have actually happened. It’s at the point where if they end the show making hair match challenges it may mean nothing. If they end the show making hair match challenges and specifically call out the Aniversario show, we may be in trouble.

This is not an overall strong show. Dragon Lee, Mistico and Rush get to team up as a family, but opposition of Gilbert, The Chris, and Mr. Niebla does not suggest a strong match. NGD versus Volador, Valiente and Titan has a chance to be decent. Atlantis Jr gets to continue his feud with Hijo del Villano III, with his father, Stuka Jr., Ephesto and Mephisto along. Villano IV is MIA, not having been seen in CMLL in a couple of months. The micros might get the best reaction of the night, as Microman & Gallito Tapario team with Atomo against Chamuel, Zacarias and Guapito. As always, the third men on these teams are the biggest issues. Halcon Suriano Jr. & Principe Diamante open against Coyote & Grako, which has a chance to be better than a usual opener.

The show will stream on Marca (though the player is missing from that page) and their YouTube channel (no link there either!) I’ll stream it as well as long as those links turn up.

Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

The Arena Mexico mass for Paco Alonso is going on now. Lots of luchadors are in attendance.

Ciber told Marca that Ultimo Guerrero may run the CMLL school and teach people how to wrestle, but he knows how to wrestle too. That’s a bold claim. Ciber wants the hair match but also wants to win the heavyweight title first. Ultimo Guerrero also wants a hair match, though he’s willing to do a cage match.

NJPW will honor Paco Alonso with a ceremony before their show tomorrow morning.

El Grafico talks to Metalico about his switch to being a referee. It’s said here to involve some quick paperwork and passing a knowledge test. Metalico mentions he was a policeman at one point in his life and this is sort of along the same lines to him.

La Maligna mentioned many dreams of hers have come true when talking to her hometown paper about appearing on lottery tickets. She’s more talking about getting to travel to Japan.

Ring of Honor announced Caristico, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr. against Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, and Templario for their 08/09. That’s the CMLL trios match they were teasing and it is a great match. It is Barbaro Cavernario and Templario’s debut in Ring of Honor and both are going to do great.

Torreon area luchadora Piel Canela Jr. is returning to the ring this week after being out a year and a half with a serious knee injury that left her in the hospital for two months. A lot happened in that time. She came to Mexico City looking for help, Misterioso Jr. recommended a doctor who could operate quickly and reduced cost to almost 30% of the original price. Her luchador husband Drako worked three jobs to support them while she was out hurt. Shocker gave them a job at his restaurant despite not having the experience, got them a meal, drove them home that first day, and advanced them a week of salary. Canela started training at Arena Mexico as she was recovering, suffered some stomach pains, and thought the training was just really hard. It turned out her appendix had burst. Neighbors helped her find a social program to pay for the surgery. Later, Drako and Canela (and their small child) got held up at gunpoint at a market, policemen happened to come by, and an actual firefight took place. The family was all ok and several of the robbers were put in jail. After all that, she’s back wrestling Sunday in Plaza de Toros Torreon.

I haven’t watched the ChilangaMask show that went up on +Lucha yesterday and the reports at the time were not strong. It still is worth checking out the last six or so minutes, where Coliseo Coacalco owner (and usual weekly promoter) Justiciero furiously ends the main event because he hates the extreme stuff they’re doing so much (specifically teases of bottles to the head), and so they try to fight into the parking lot instead for a minute or two. Chilanga Mask has amusingly run nothing but an Anniversary show the last few years in Coliseo Coacalco, but I don’t think they’re going to be back next year. No indie promotion has been in Coacalco since this May show; the Memes show that’s coming up in Gimnasio Hercules is usually there and other indies have run it as well. I don’t know that venue is actually closed off from them at the moment but Justiciero was for sure angry.

Puma King celebrates his birthday in his newest video.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 07/16/2019 Arena México
1) Magnus & Retro vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
2) Drone, Fuego, Magia Blanca vs Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., El Audaz vs Dark Magic, Okumura, Virus
4) Blue Panther vs Felino [lightning]
5) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Mr. Niebla

Very much just a show. Panther and Felino could get up something in the lightning match, maybe. No follow up to Polvora and Blue Panther Jr. seems to confirm they were just screwing around for reasons.

CMLL (TUE) 07/16/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Alteño, Luminoso, Star Black vs Furia Roja, Gemelo Pantera I, Gemelo Pantera II
2) Avispa Dorada, La Guerrera, Mystique vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, Star Jr. vs Kawato San, Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Esfinge, Soberano Jr., Tritón vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Volador Jr. vs La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible

Rush & Terrible beat Kraneo & Volcano via cheating last week, which was apparently just to do it since it isn’t followed up on this week.