NLL (SUN) 08/04/2019 Gimnasio Nuevo Leon Independiente, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon [Lo Mejor de Lucha]
1) Batab El Guerrero, Desafio, The Mummy b Brujo, Muerte Extreme, Sick Boy
2) Emperador Azteca (Indie) & Súper Nova b Azrael & Hijo De Espectro
Hijo de Espectro replaced Baby Extreme & The Tiger, Septimo Dragon dropped.
3) Dulce Sexy & Reina Oscura b Baby Love & Christi Jaynes
Reina Oscura replaced Lady Flammer, then Baby Love replaced Stephanie Vaquer (CMLL?)
4) Fresero Jr. & Mr. Iguana b Bestia 666 & Damián 666 and Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria
5) Bandido (Indie) b Mecha Wolf 450, Rey Horus
Bandido replaced Hijo de Espectro. Said to be great.
6) Hijo De Dos Caras b Bram
7) Hijo del Fantasma & La Máscara b Carlito & MVP
MVP replaced Chavo
Running a major show in Monterrey seems a risky idea at this time. This TV taping was run in the smaller of the two gyms in this building and still didn’t fill it. Didn’t come close, looking in the low triple digits. This wasn’t an especially strong card – I’m not sure who the market is for a Hijo de Dos Caras versus Bram match at any point in time – but it does suggest none of the TV that’s aired so far has helped Nacion Lucha Libre come off as something must see over other choices. Nacion’s not announced their next taping but may not need another one for about three weeks.
The show ended with a moment of applause for Hijo del Fantasma, who had said this would be his last match as an independent wrestler. Fantasma hasn’t officially said he’s going to NXT, though that’s what everyone believes to be the case. It still will be a month or more before we hear anything official.
IWRG (SUN) 08/04/2019 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Neza Kid b Arquero
2) Apolo Estrada Jr., Mosca, X-Corpio b Atomic Star, Auzter, Puma de Oro
3) Herodes Jr. & Hijo de Pirata Morgan b Jessy Ventura & Pasion Cristal and Demonio Infernal & Eterno [lumberjack]
4) Hijo del Alebrije b El Hijo del Medico Asesino
5) Dragón Bane b Toxin, Séptimo Dragón, Freelance, El Diablo Fly Star
Toxin & Fly Star replaced Latigo. Dragon Bane defeated Toxin, who asked for a title match anyway.
6) El Mesías & Máscara Año 2000 Jr. b Pirata Morgan & Pólvora and Trauma I & Trauma II
Pirata Morgan & Polvora replaced Hijo de Dos Caras (Nacion) & Mr. Niebla (MIA). Ave Rex debuted to help Mesias’ team win via foul to Trauma I.
7) Hechicero b Hijo de Canis Lupus 
Hechicero asked for a title shot.
Pretty strong crowd for an IWRG show. Naucalpan hasn’t drawn as well for the home promotion as for the outsider groups coming in, though I guess this one was promoted as a CMLL vs IWRG show. Hechicero missed out on doing a meaningless CMLL midcard trios match for this main event. No idea where Mr. Niebla has gone but the answers are usually not positive.
CMLL’s had Arena Puebla shows that have meant to be big but haven’t exactly worked out in the quality of matches. Today’s a great test to see if it’s even possible for Arena Puebla to have top-level matches, or if the luchadors are too disinterested in CMLL’s Monday night stop to deliver. Dragon Lee always has entertaining singles matches and Virus always has strong singles matches. They both get a shot tonight.
Dragon Lee versus Volador Jr. in the main event for the NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship. The championship on the line already tells the finish – Dragon is already CMLL Welterweight Champion and so unlikely to pick up a second belt – but that’s the part we do know. We don’t know what Volador & Dragon Lee looks like in a singles match because they’ve never done it before. We don’t even know how they’re going to work it; Volador seems like the more natural rudo for the match, but Dragon Lee was the rudo last night. And we don’t know how much we’re going to see out of Volador, who hasn’t shown a lot in his recent big matches. There’s a problem if he can’t get up to face Dragon Lee, but there may indeed be a problem. This should still be worth seeing even at 75% of normal but could be outstanding at their best.
Virus is about two months removed from another excellent match. No one in CMLL has delivered better in big singles matches, he just doesn’t get them very often. That’s what makes tonight’s match exciting: Virus getting another one of those plus gets we all get the possibility of many more if he takes the national lightweight championship from Electrico. It’s a big match for Electrico too. He’s among many who seem completely ignored by the programming department. There have been no plans for him since moving out of the minis division to the main group, but he was excited when he was given a chance years ago. Virus should be a good match-up for him, regardless of the outcome.
The rest of the show is the usual trios. Diamante Azul is scheduled to return to the CMLL ring, following surgery to fix an undisclosed injury in early June. He teams with Caristico & Valiente versus Los Ingobernables in a match that will hopefully be over fast. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja team with Audaz against Mephisto, Ephesto, and Vangellys. Fuego, Triton, and Stigma face Okumura, Tiger, and Misterioso in another one of those matches that seem like a repeat but hasn’t happened in that specific alignment. King Jaguar, Astro & Millenium face Espiritu Maligno, Centella Roja, and Fuerza Chicana to open the show.
The Arena Puebla will air at 9 pm on CMLL’s YouTube channel.
AEW posted a video with Kenny Omega making his challenge to Fenix again. It will be in Mexico (not on those AAA US shows) and they don’t really have an idea of when it’ll be.
This Cody video being re-tweeted by AEW is an obvious hint towards using Cain Velasquez in that promotion, though it ends with Cody saying he wants to bring in his new pal Psycho Clown first. WWE was paying attention too and will be interested in bringing in Velasquez. AAA should plan on Velasquez not being available to him for the long-term, but I think they’ve already gotten a great deal with him.
Blue Demon is teasing a mask match with LA Park from that post-show attack. That seems like another big match where it would be a big deal but they don’t have a finish. Still, they can do the tags and singles encounters to tease it for the next six months.
There’s not a lot of other lucha stories to make it thru today. Any space that was going to lucha libre in media outlets went to coverage on TripleMania, and that turned out to be a lot of coverage. It made AAA come off as a big deal. They could’ve done more to push that attention going forward but this show helped their image tremendously.
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