Hijo del Vikingo vs Laredo Kid will go up on AAA YouTube this week. (Assuming it makes the YouTube cut!) If that match wasn’t recorded from Twitch and put onto YouTube a month ago, does Laredo Kid work that AEW show? Does TripleMania have a semi-main event? The answer is that bootlegging is clearly bad and we should all patiently wait for these matches to be uploaded over a month later.
I’m not excited for Terrible vs Valiente on CMLL Domingo but that still sounds better than Ultimo Guerrero vs Ciber on CMLL Marca.
Will I remember to add Nacion Lucha Libre next week? Probably not.
El Perverso beat King Jaguarin a lightning match
(6:44, reversed roll up with ropes, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Dragón Lee, Místico, Soberano Jr. beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas
(8:43 [2:25, 1:38, 4:40], 2/3 DQ, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible beat Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansónin a relevos increíbles match
(9:00 [1:05, 4:48, 3:07], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
butt bump is new
Paco Alonso was honored before the semi-main.
Los Ingobernabales and NGD agreed to a trios title match next week.
Negro Casas fouled Soberano Jr. to conclude the semi-main.
Perverso tried using the ropes for leverage twice and got away with it the second time to beat King Jaguar. He and Jaguar agreed to a hair match.
Everyone in the opening match was wearing black as the main color. I would’ve fined everyone involved heavily. Astro at least had a green mask.
Thoughts:
The main event was the weakest of all the matches rated OK here. The two teams didn’t work well together and neither could figure out who was supposed to be the tecnicos in this rudo/rudo match up. (They both tried it.) Some of the problems seemed to be the usual Bestia related ones though not all of them. Perhaps they’ll do better next week but I don’t have strong hopes for this. Anyway, it’s Bestia del Ring from Puerto Rico why is he challenging for a Mexican title.
Halcon Suriano submission
The semi-main was quick. Mistico pulling out his diving headscissors on Euforia on this show was surprising, but he and Dragon Lee didn’t seem otherwise in it. Casas & Soberano continue to have some chemistry. I’m not sure I need to see the singles match again after it just happened in Arena Mexico, but I’m sure most people are digging into Sunday extra matches.
Perverso & King Jaguar worked hard for about seven minutes and the hair match next week should be as fine as this one. I’m so focused on people doing cool offense and these guys are not. This was a lot of simple stuff done well enough and without any great reason to care. I understand why the fans care – King Jaguar’s there forever – but I wish I found a reason to care myself.
The second match had some random big spots near the finish and a very sudden end. Halcon Suriano and Rey Apocalipsis competed for longest set up to a finishing move. Halcon Suriano has added a wheel kick to his repertoire. It needs work, but what else are you going to do in these matches. I think I’ve talked myself into these matches needing to be worse for people trying things that might not work in case they do, just leaning into the training aspect as long as no one’s taking them seriously.
Sofia Alonso’s interview was exactly what CMLL needed at this moment. CMLL calls itself the serious and stable promotion and everyone around it needed a sign of stability following Paco Alonso’s death. Sofia assured everything that nothing major is changing with the change in leadership. All the people who count on CMLL as a business relationship or their household income need not worry.
I’m always of the opinion that we should always pay attention to what a wrestling promotion (or really any business) says but we should also be careful to watch they actually do to see if they actually are following those words. Sofia Alonso said the right things, but we’ll have to be patient enough to see if small modernizations are the only changes that happen. And we’ll have to wait to see if Sofia is truly in charge. Sofia was the face of CMLL prior to Paco Alonso’s death, so it would’ve only been news if anyone besides Sofia did yesterday’s interview or were announced as president. I’ve been led to believe other people would likely be involved in running CMLL alongside Sofia back as far as when she was first introduced. (Having help wouldn’t be an indictment of Sofia either; she’s stepping into a situation with both AAA & WWE aiming for CMLL’s talent and market, and were continuing an alliance with NJPW is pretty important. Take all the help you can get.) Perhaps she’ll truly end up being the sole person in charge but this is a wait and see a moment in a lot of ways.
Dorian Roldan is the face of AAA ownership and does a tremendous amount for that promotion. My understanding is that his mother, Marisela Pena, is still the actual head of the company, the person who signs the checks. It’s been a family group effort and had been when Joaquin Roldan was alive, but Marisela is the actual big boss. Which means the two most powerful people in Mexican wrestling right now are women. Wrestling universally has and does have problems with sexism. I’m not sure how much I can fairly speak about Mexican culture without living it, but my sense is there’s a lot of sexism issues there as well. The intersection of wrestling and Mexico seems to make this even worse, something that was hard not to reflect on even as CMLL and the Mexican lottery were promoting luchadora contribution to Mexican culture last night. It is an industry where seemingly a quarter of the women end up being named some variation of “sexy” with male trainers coming up with the names. There are few female trainers; it was news to me when Pro Wrestling Revolution announced Lady Apache was training there this summer because she seems like she’d be great at it but it doesn’t seem like an opportunity she’d get with a notable group in Mexico. Faby Apache may be training for AAA, I’m not really sure, and it’s possible Rossy Moreno is training people at Arena Azteca Budokan but there’s no really been a high profile female trainer so far. The few female referees there’s been all seem to be there for their outfits, and it’s even rare at that level. There’s a women ring announcer or two and some of the CMLL luchadoras announce a few times a year, but there’s no full-time female announcer calling shows now and hasn’t been one for a while. Even in the media side, there are not many women involved: Monica Ochoa does interviews for Lucha Central, Angelica Diaz does show results for R de Rudo, various women have covered shows for Estrellas del Ring, but I’m struggling to think of more. +LuchaTV have had women work on-screen for short stints and I think MedioTiempo has as well, but there’s no one else who’s carved out a consistent presence at those outlets as far as I can think. I don’t know everyone – maybe there’s a YouTube vlogger I should know? (edit: I forgot Ana Guiterrez, who has worked on her own site and with CMLL in Guadalajara) – but the flipside to Sofia & Marisela being the two most powerful women in lucha libre is it is hard to figure out who would be the third. The gulf is massive. Mexican wrestling has been that treehouse for ten-year-old boys with a “No Girls Allowed” sign on the front. The girls now own the treehouses. Maybe they can take down the sign, but they’ve got to deal with a lot of people comfortable with having that sign and what it means.
MedioTiempo writes about the history of female promoters. The most well known is Lila Cavazos, who promoted in Monterrey in the 80s and 90s (and was the mother of Antifaz del Norte.) When I was first starting the luchadb and Box Y Lucha’s page of lineups were kindly sent to me, I’d always see a lot of Martha Villalobos promoted small AAA affiliated shows around Mexico City. They usually were using mostly unknown people, though a few of the minis made it to CMLL. The article mentions Lola Gonzalez as a promoter of the past too. Arena Azteca Budokan is owned by the Moreno family and sisters Rossy & Esther are the ones running the Dinastia Moreno shows. Roxana Cantu promoters mostly at Arena Cuatro Caminos in Nuevo Laredo, where she’s taken over for her father who promoted the area for a long time. Alma Zuniga of Chilpancingo is also a promoter in Chilpanginco. I’ve been told one of the Negro Casas daughters is involved with running Mexico City indie RO Wrestling; I think it’s Omii and that’s why it’s RO but now I’m worried I’m remembering this wrong.
Gala Lutteroth Kochen, as the CMLL Director of Cultural, was part of the group representing the promotion at the lottery drawing last night.
Two promotions which aspire to be regular fixtures kick off this week. The first is tonight when Nacion Lucha Libre runs their first show in Sala de Armas in Mexico City at 8 pm. This is the Alberto el Patron fronted group, though it is someone else who is footing the bills. They do have a TV deal and will air on ImagenTV starting on July 20th. ImagenTV didn’t seem a big part of the promotion at the introduction press conference but has promoted the event with luchador guests on their talk shows. The only real news about the promotion since that press conference was the lineup getting torn up and reassembled into this when all AAA-affiliated luchadors pulled off the show. The AAA wrestlers said they were not allowed to work on an Azteca-competing TV network in Mexico, while Nacion Lucha Libre is pushing the idea that their wrestlers are free to work anywhere they want because they’re all about freedom for their luchadors and criticized this as AAA trying to stop them. AAA surely actually does want to stop them – Nacion Lucha Libre is a threat to cut into their market – but that’s also something any wrestling promotion in Mexico should’ve been aware of from day one. AAA respectfully sent condolences out about Paco Alonso death (a courtesy CMLL hasn’t extended to them), but if there’s a chance for AAA to better themselves by taking away talent or resourced from CMLL today, they will do it.
The lineup, even more so it the initial form, is leaning heavily on a Mexico versus the World theme. The main event has Alberto teaming with Fantasma and LA Park against MVP, Apolo, and Mesias. Bandido versus Rey Horus seems like the most promising match on the show. Kamilla, the tall blond woman from the US who appeared at the first press conference, will be at the show to continue whatever they were setting up with Dulce Sexy. Tinieblas and Dos Caras (not to be confused with Cedric Alexander) will be honored on the show. This is the first show for a promotion that looked a little bit shaky, both at the press conference and having to redo their lineup. It is a safe bet they’ll have some changes tonight again. Hopefully, it’s not too serious.
Nacion Lucha Libre’s plan is to run shows every 2-3 weeks, touring around Mexico in a similar fashion to AAA. They have not publicly announced those future shows and that’s my biggest red flag about this promotion. No matter how good the show is or how many tickets are bought, that’s something they need to do immediately. If there’s no next show date for me to write about tomorrow, this is trouble. A lot of stuff Alberto has been involved with over the last few years have ended up being trouble, so it’s easy to be skeptical of this one.
Ticket seems to be selling decently well; the first two sections were sold out as of late night. They’re also expecting a big turnout by how they’re handling logistics. The Diablo Rojo baseball team usually plays their weekday home games at 7 pm. They’re playing at 4 pm today by request of the building management because the Nacion Lucha Libre show is starting in the same sports zone at 7. They’re not thrilled. It does suggest the building expects a lot of people to be in the area.
The Jushin Thunder Lyger Thursday Arena Lopez Mateos show is now a Sunday Arena Lopez Mateos show. It seems like more people would come on Sunday all along, so I’m suspicious that whomever originally had Liger booked on Sunday changed their mind about running.
Angel Garza (Jr.) had an interview with AS Mexico. He revealed he was invited to try out for WWE and asked to suggest someone to come with him. He picked Humbert Carrillo (Ultimo Ninja). They didn’t get picked after the tryout. They didn’t get picked again a year later after going to NXT for it. It was the third tryout – after WWE had noticed Garza appearing on Impact’s TV show and asked him about his status – that WWE wanted to bring him in it. Carrillo passed the medical tests but Garza did not due to his shoulder. He was signed after that shoulder healed. Garza credits his uncles (Humberto Garza Jr., Mario Segura, and Hector Garza) for teaching them about how to present themselves as a luchador to stand out. Garza says WWE suggested he use his name “Humberto Garza”, but he didn’t want to wrestler under the same first name as his cousin. He did want to keep the Garza name and eventually arrived at Angel Garza. He’s training with Black Magic (Norman Smiley) at NXT.
Blue Demon and Dr. Wagner will have a match on August 6th in Arena Aficion. Both of these men vowed they will stop wrestling if they lose at TripleMania with the later exception of the US shows. One of these men – let’s call him Dr. Wagner – got goaded into making that vow by LA Park and now the extensions are not the real thing which will make him look like a fool. It makes me wonder if perhaps they’ll do some finish at TripleMania to give him an out to go on, or if he’ll just be “fulfilling already agreed upon dates” for the next five years or so.
RIOT on 08/23 (“Rina en El Cerro de la Silla”) at Arena Femenil Monterrey
This appears to be the Arena Puebla Anniversary show, though the poster doesn’t mention it as much. The semi-main posts to a Soberano/Casas singles match next week, so that could officially be it. A title change in the main event is unlikely but definitely not impossible. Normal patterns would have the young Perverso beating the older King Jaguar in the hair match, but Perverso won the lead-up match.
That’s a lot of lucha, even with the other AAA show bumping into the next week. It also might be me catching up on the catch-up. I’ve only got a couple of matches left on my watch list, maybe not enough for another post, maybe I’ll figure out something so I get Audaz/Kawato done. I’m also almost entirely caught up.
This was a strong AAA TV show that’ll be fun when it turns up sometime in August. The Friday night show was good as well. The ciberentico was good as long as you have reasonable expectations for what those guys are going to be.
recommended matches
rating
matches
TV Show
taped
great
Dinastía & Iron Kid vs Arez & Látigo
AAA on Twitch: 2019-07-03
2019-07-03
good
Flyer vs Audaz & Kawato San, Súper Astro Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Star Jr., Eléctrico, Príncipe Diamante, Halcón Suriano Jr., Sonicfor the CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship and in a tournament semifinal match
Guadalajara TV no being accessible should stop me from watching these matches which I’m frequently let down by, yet here we go again. I’m pretty sure there were good Guadalajara matches in this past. This title match disappointingly isn’t one of them. It’s a Tuesday Arena Mexico level length, with all three falls feeling rushed. The tecnico just role thru their usual spots and get beat at the first opportunity. The fan camera angle does give a nice unique look to the dives and the crowd is game for something big. They just don’t get it.
This match shifts to everyone standing in their corners waiting for tags and it is hard to remember that is actually what is supposed to be happening IWRG matches. It’s after many minutes of usual Naucalpan chaos, with attempted three person dives and the staircase being used. These are two steadily exciting teams with each captain shining the most. There’s a closing stretch of this match where it is very easy to shift from “actually, it’s Eterno who is making Aramis look so good” back to “no really Aramis is the best guy” in a short period of time. The finish was a screwy finish but it hit me as funny enough to nudge this to a higher grade.
This was not a good match. This was a spectacular match but not in positive ways. This match started with someone seemingly being injured and ended with someone seemingly being injured and there were a few more moments in between where it seemed like people broke themselves too. Dragon Bane can do exciting things and so can Fly Warrior but there was no consistency to them or this match. This was the pro-typical highspot indie guys who can only do half the spots they try match, except these two guys are usually a little better than that. I guess you give them some credit for not letting up but it probably was time to take it home when Fly Warrior whiffed on the huracanrana. There may be entertainment value in the car crash nature of this, it just wasn’t good.
nope
Iron Kid & Príncipe Aéreo vs Fulgor I & Fulgor II (IWRG @ 06/16, 6:53 seen, good, +LuchaTV)
Los Fulgores returning to IWRG and regular streams remains a pleasure. They were fun as a team, good on their own offense and good at setting up Iron Kid. Principe Aereo basically operates as “not-Iron Kid” and is fine, while Iron Kid himself is frequently spectacular during the match. Iron Kid feels more polished than he used to be while not losing any of the amazing moves. It’s a little on the short side and a shade less than perfect executed but totally enjoyable.
those barricades don’t really help
Dragón Bane, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Negro Casas vs Hechicero, Trauma I, Trauma II (IWRG @ 06/16, 13:11, good, mluchatv)
The announcers seemed to think this was going to be Traumas vs Dragon Bane & Canis Lupus, but Trauma II wanted to brawl with Negro Casas and so they did. This is a good main event IWRG brawl which seems shorter than time. Hechicero didn’t get to do much beyond based for one big spot. The spot went well. Negro Casas showed more energy than in a usual CMLL trios match, though standing and chopping back and forth with Trauma II is probably easier than taking headscissors. I didn’t feel strongly for it but it did what it intended well.
An enjoyable title match. The best work I’ve seen from Demonio Infernal has been wilder and he demonstrated some nice range by having a solid near fall focused title match. Aramis did cool stuff and almost landed badly on his big sprigboard plancha. The last few minutes peaked well and they didn’t have any of the missed move issued expected for IWRG guys this young. This suffered a little bit from having a spare and not vocal crowd. They worked for a better reaction than they got. I’m rating these last three all good, but this match (and the Fulgor match) were significantly better than the Traumas one to me.
CMLL (TUE) 07/09/2019Arena México [CMLL, Lucha Central]
1) Robin & Sonic b Cholo & Yago 9:59. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Akuma, Espanto Jr., Espíritu Negro b Pegasso, Stigma, Súper Astro Jr. 13:00. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Rey Cometa DQ Dark Magic, Kawato San, Pólvora 20:06. Tecnicos took 1/3. Polvora unmasked Blue Panther Jr. Long challenges followed.
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. b Felino, Negro Casas, Tiger 17:51. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Templario b Carístico, Flyer, Volador Jr. 17:22. Rudos took 1/3.
6) Dragón Lee b Cavernario 13:48. Dragon Lee took falls 2/3.
This is a long way to say this show had plenty of time but the main event didn’t have the time you’d expect. Something went off the rails. That tercera going 20 minutes undersells how long it was, as they spent about nine more minutes making challenges, fighting, and then making more challenges. The following matches went longer too. It came off like one of the people in the main event had not arrived and they needed to kill time until they got there. No one’s confirmed that was the situation, but all this turned out more interesting to me than the main event. Dragon Lee & Cavernario was good but they’ve done better and probably could’ve done better if they got something closer to normal time. The Blue Panther Jr./Polvora mask match challenge was quite random and it’d be a tell if that isn’t followed up next week.
CMLL (TUE) 07/09/2019Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Black Sugar, Magnum, Metatrón b Capitán Cobra, Mr. Apolo, Relámpago Azul tecnicos took 1/3
2) Dalys, Reyna Isis, Tiffany b La Maligna, Mystique, Skadi La Maligna replaced Marcela. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) El Audaz, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus
4) Místico, Stuka Jr., Titán b Ephesto, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado Sagrado & Misterioso replaced Epehsto & Luciferno. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible b Atlantis, Kráneo, Valiente rudos took 1/3, Rush & Terrible using the ropes to beat Kraneo & Valiente.
Los Ingobernables don’t need to use the ropes to beat Kraneo & Valiente but they probably enjoy it.
Atlantis told Reforma (reposted here) that when he was called to the ring for a minute of applause on Sunday, he thought it was for Perro Aguayo. He was surprised to find out it was Paco Alonso, had no idea he had died the night before.
The Alberto el Patron/Tito Ortiz fight is officially official. Combate Americas announced the match by the CEO just mentioning it in an interview with a Spanish MMA reporter. Last week, Alberto says he plans on having his last fight (just assumed to be against Ortiz at that point) in November in Las Vegas but this happened in a lucha libre article so no one in MMA seem to have noticed this was announced. The debut of Nacion Lucha Libre is tomorrow.
Lucha Memes (SAT) 07/20/2019 Gimnasio Hercules, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Hércules & Rey Abadón vs Máscara De Ángel & Rey Quetzal
2) Multy & Prayer vs Gallego & Romano García [quarterfinal]
3) Arkángel Divino & Último Maldito vs Freelance & Mike Segura [quarterfinal]
4) Alas de Acero & Iron Kid vs King Rocker & Rey Samurai [quarterfinal]
5) Lunatik Extreme & Lunatik Fly vs Angeluz Fly & Murciélago Plateado Jr. [quarterfinal]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [semifinal]
7) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [semifinal]
8) Caifan vs Aramis
9) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [final]
This is a summer of indie tournaments. Memes runs a tag team one to compliment the Battle of Naucalpan show. Riot has their singles tournament. Vanguardia is running their own tag team tournament, though over multiple shows. IAW (Indy Army Wrestling) is running a trios tournament as a benefit show for Psycho Kid. Caifan vs Aramis is a big difference in size and styles but might work.
GHC (SAT) 08/03/2019Arena Roberto Paz, Guadalajara, Jalisco
1) Power Boy vs Dark Power, Príncipe Dragón
2) Dragón Ancestral & Maravilla Azteca vs Dark Pain & Demencia
3) Aero Xtreme vs Black Golden, Adrenalina, Rey Plata, Eclipse, Ángel Aéreo
4) Shyru vs Crisitan Wolf
5) Brian Villa & Willy Banderas vs Amnesia & Aster Boy and Delirio & Xtreme Fly and Hijo De Bucanero Jr. & Snaiper
Guantaos Hardcore Crew is putting shows up on Independent Wrestling TV and selling DVDs, so I feel like I should mention these lineups even if I have don’t know enough about Guadalajara indie lucha libre to say anything.
