IWRG (THU) 10/31/2019 Arena Naucalpan [The Gladiatores]
1) Auzter & Shadow Boy b Güero Palma & Neza Kid 
2) Atomic Star, Freelance, Puma de Oro b Avisman, Fulgor I, Fulgor II
Money thrown in.
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Pasion Kristal DQ Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [lumberjack]
Fierro fouled Jessy
4) Demonio Infernal & Ludark Shaitan b Fly Star & Lady Flammer and Diosa Quetzal & Lunatik Xtreme
5) Penta 0M & Rey Fénix (Indie) DQ Trauma I & Trauma II [super libre]
DQ in a super libre match; Trauma fouled Penta
6) Ángel Tormenta L Ave Rex, Dragón Bane, Imposible, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Dinamic Black, Toxin, Aramis, Relámpago, Capo del Norte, Leo, Death Metal [cage, mask]
All were required to stay in for 10 minutes. Hijo de Canis Lupus was second to last. Angel Toremnta was last and unmasked. He is Jorge Alberto Flores Lopez.
Castle of Terror was not much of a match with not much an ending. It fits the tradition well. Did you know AYM/Internetv Deportes has two different YouTube channels that have the same name? (This is the new one, which appears to be streaming IWRG now.)
There doesn’t seem to be full results from Nacion Lucah Libre or Arena Lopez Mateos. Rush and Los Ingobernables did make both shows. +LuchaTV mentions them in Arena Lopez Mateos at 11:03 pm and Queretaro at 1:20 am. That’s some fast driving, those sometimes the +Lucha posts are a bit delayed and Los Ingobernebles were at least moved to the semi-main. Neither show seems to have drawn well.
Today is Dia de Muertos in Mexico, the day of the dead. CMLL’s annual celebration of the holiday includes two themed shows this weekend. Tonight is the first of those shows. The emphasis will be on the pageantry, Catrina’s monologues, and losers being dragged to hell. The most important bit still might the outcome of a match. The first and second Mistico challenge for a championship for the first time as a unit. The idea of those two characters teaming together is intended to be a big draw. The Misticos dethroning Gran Guerrero & Euforia as champions or splitting up would be big stories going forward. This is CMLL, so the most likely outcome is nothing really happens. This is a rare CMLL night where something big could happen and they’ve intentionally timed it to happen when they expect more fans in the building for the Dia de Muertos part of the show.
The big matches are good tonight on CMLL’s show. Euforia & Gran Guerrero are strong as a team and as opponents for Mistico & Caristico. The other spotlight match, Star Jr. challenging Sanson for the Rey del Inframundo championship, should also be entertaining and might say a lot about where Star Jr. is going to end up going forward. There’s a trios in between – the Chavez & Stuka against Cavernario, Mephisto, Ultimo Guerrero – that looks pretty sold. Same with Atlantis Jr., Flyer and Fugaz getting another shot from Guadalajara against Hechicero, Hijo del Villano III and Templario. That also might address if the Atlantis Jr./Templario draw last week will go anywhere.
The opening matches are not as strong. Marcela is scheduled to return to action, teaming with La Jarochita & Princesa Sugehit against Dalys, Metalica, and Reina Isis. CMLL’s been consistently overambitious about return dates for injured wrestlers, so there’s no certainty Marcela will be there. It is a safe bet they’re headed to the missed Marcela/Dalys title match as soon as possible. Magnes & Principe Diamante take on Akuma & Espanto Jr. in the opener.
The show starts at a normal time of 8:30 pm locally. It is still one hour later in the US and other places that haven’t changed their clocks.
The death god being honored this year is Amo-tlamini. Retro is the person in the outfit.
Volador & Titan finished up the Super Junior Tag League with the typical near .500 record for CMLL participants in NJPW, going 4-3. I believe they’re still on NJPW’s Power Struggle this weekend, though the match hasn’t been announced.
The Crash has their 8th Anniversary show tonight in Tijuana. Dragon Lee & Rush take on Penta & Fenix in the main event. There’s a 3 vs 3 hair match, and every The Crash championship will be defended (including a Rey Horus vs CIMA vs Jeff Cobb match.) The show will not officially stream but will turn up in the other usual ways; maybe keep an eye on @socaluncensored
AAA released a promised update on La Parka yesterday. The notes are based on AAA’s Dr. Mario Garcia Orozco talking with those doctors who’ve been attended to Parka in Monterrey. They believe the initial injury could have killed La Parka had that not done surgery to reduce pressure. There have since been surgeries to stabilize Parka’s spine and a tracheostomy. Parka is unable to talk but is able to communicate He remains in intensive care. They are hopeful of Parka being moved to intermediate care in 2 to 4 days. They are not allowing visitors outside of Parka’s immediate family.
The phrase “spinal stabilization” brings to mind NFL player Ryan Shaizer, who needed the same surgery after a December 2017 injury, a comparison also brought up in news articles right after the injury. Shaizer seems to have a worse injury; he lost feeling in his lower body for an extended period, while Parka was said to have it back by the time he was at the hospital. Still, Shaizer has not returned to football nearly two years later and is thirty years younger. I do not want to say La Parka will never wrestle again because it remains possible he has a retirement match where he takes no bumps and just does comedy before getting the win. (It is not a huge leap from the Parka we knew.) It will be an amazing comeback if Parka is ever able to wrestle a schedule again.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions Cain Velasquez’s knee was more injured than originally thought. He’s believed to need surgery. The AAA/WWE legal argument about Velasquez being allowed to make up his Los Angeles date in Monterrey may be meaningless if he physically can’t wrestle. WWE has an interest in Velasquez getting that surgery doing as soon as possible, not having him wait a month to work a show. AAA didn’t strongly push Velasquez for the TripleMania Regia show so I suspect he’s not working it.
A new Twitter account believed to belong to recent Ring of Honor employee Joey Mercury has a run of posts of criticizing the company. It’s a lot of screengrabs, some may have been deleted by the time you read this and it is occasionally hard to follow; Fightful has a useful summary. Of Mexican wrestling relevance, Mercury feels Ring of Honor General Manager Greg Gilleland is trying to convince Bandido to sign an undervalued long term deal. Mercury notes Bandido as a contract expiring at the end of 2019. That’s the same information I’ve been told; Bandido signed a two-year deal with ROH where he has the option to leave after the first year. ROH trying to sign him to a long term deal suggests they believe Bandido will exercise his option. ROH has not commented on these posts, while former ROH office employees and at least one current wrestler have been supportive of Mercury’s statements. ROH has two shows this weekend.
Bandido had not made a decision on 2020 the last I’ve heard. That option to be a free agent in 2020 was one of the reasons the ROH offer won out; the concept was a full year of being part of ROH would make Bandido more valuable and AEW & WWE signing everyone would raise the value of the few free agents. I’m skeptical ROH has added a lot to Bandido’s value this year, but AEW doing better than expected does make it a good time to be a free agent. Bandido would seem to have interest from WWE, AEW, ROH – even NJPW isn’t out of the question. Bandido also has the option of not signing full time with anyone in the US and being a big indie name when there aren’t many left – Penta & Fenix have had more work than they apparently can fulfill going that route. I’ve been figuring there will be news one way or another soon. The next PWG show should have Bandido challenging Jeff Cobb for their big belt and the outcome will say something about Bandido’s immediate future.
SoloWrestling interviewed Flamita during the ROH UK tour. Flamita was happy with working for Ring of Honor and would be interested in teaming with Bandido there in the future. He believes Bandido will be back from his knee injury in November. Flamita says he encouraged Bandido to take the Ring of Honor deal even though it meant they would be teaming less. They talk a lot even if they’re not seen together a lot.
Pagano makes a rare US appearance to face Matt Tremond on the Nueva Era Lucha show on 12/07 in Queens, New York.
If you’ve subscribed to Vampiro’s Patreon, he says he is no longer updating it. Patreons usually charge automatically on the first day of the month, so people would’ve gotten charged today. There appears to be a post on the Patreon mentioning Vampiro’s no longer doing it so people should’ve been aware. On the chance someone’s reading this who subscribed and forgot, make sure you go unsubscribe. Vampiro mentioned his documentary is airing in Mexico City this weekend.
LuchaWorld has the latest news update.
Lineup
CMLL (MON) 11/04/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Acero, Astro, Asturiano vs Espíritu Maligno, Joker, Mercurio
2) Millenium, Rey Samuray, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Espíritu Negro
3) Dulce Gardenia vs Misterioso [lightning]
4) Diamante Azul, Flyer, Valiente vs Rey Bucanero, Templario, Vangellys
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. vs Ephesto, Hechicero, Mephisto
Mephsito & Angel de Oro had issues last week.
Mercurio exists again? The smaller Puebla locals have been grouped in with the minis in the past and once again. I was happy to see Acero work with people outside of his usual mixed until I realized I was thinking of Aereo.
CMLL (TUE) 11/05/2019 Arena México
1) Angelito & Fantasy vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Universo 2000
2) Eléctrico, Oro Jr., Súper Astro Jr. vs Grako, Inquisidor, Príncipe Odín Jr.
3) Magia Blanca vs Nitro [lightning]
4) Blue Panther, Kráneo, Volcano vs Felino, Hechicero, Okumura
5) Stuka Jr. © vs Rey Bucanero [NWA LH]
3rd defense, first since January
6) Flyer, Místico, Titán vs Mephisto, Templario, Terrible
Everyone complains about this show being called Nuevo Valores without young stars and now Nuevo Valor Flyer is in the main event so no complaints? Nitro vs Magia Blanca is a thing.
CMLL (TUE) 11/05/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Fantástico, Mr. Samurai, Reycko vs Freezer, Guerrero de la Muerte, Mr. Apolo
2) El Rielero, Metatrón, Robin vs Cholo, Gran Kenut, León Blanco
3) Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit, Silueta vs La Seductora, Metálica, Tiffany
4) Carístico, Soberano Jr., Valiente vs Cavernario, Cuatrero, Forastero
5) Ángel de Oro, Diamante Azul, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
Ultimo Guerrero fouled Diamante Azul, though I think it still might be a trios program.
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The show in Queens is in the heart of the a neighborhood that might have the highest concentration of Mexican residents in Queens.
ROH has lost more momentum than any group. Not sure anyone should sign with them. They don’t have the tools creatively or in media to deliver Hispanic fans and are losing the alt fans they attracted for years.
Has there ever been a good cage match in lucha history? seriously? :D
If Bandido has a better money offer ANYWHERE, he should take it, as ROH is wrestling’s version of the Titanic, and staying there may hurt is career the way being in Impact a few years back would have done. If CMLL hadn’t been bone-headed about the Munoz family, I could have seen Rush staying there, but that door is closed.
Some would say AEW is not that hot as expected. Ratings are not that great for such a major platform. Safe bet is to sign with wwe. Wwe has many brands and it seems like the luchadores are financially happy over there.
@Lakersfan Speaking of WWE brands, it’s time to bring back SuperAstros(or some Lucha theme b/c I SuperAstros name might be owned by Univision).
A guy like Garza is still in the prime of his life and would attract women if given the chance. Male fans respect his athletic ability.