It’s back to a normal Friday show tonight for CMLL. One of the two announced apuesta matches builds in the tercera and there’s a bunch of other matches with no obvious purpose.
The main event is a relevos increibles match, Caristico teaming with Negro Casas and Valiente against Eufoira, Soberano Jr. and Ultimo Guerrero. This setup allows father & son Euforia & Soberano to team up. It’s unclear if there’s any purpose beyond that. Diamante Azul is listed as returning in the semi-main, teaming with Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja against Cuatrero, Forastero, and Gran Guerrero. Azul confirmed he’s back on this show. It’s not great news, given it’s ahead of schedule he talked about and he was putting in poor performances before he left.
Stuka vs Felino is a lightning match with no obvious reason. Gardenia teams with Guerrero Maya & Rey Cometa against Kawato, Okumura and Tiger in a match which will end by DQ. Principe Diamante does not face Espiritu Negro. He teams with Pegaso & Stigma against Disturbio, Nitro and Virus. Yago and Akuma wrestle Retro & Robin in the opener.
The show starts at the usual time of 8:30 pm on Marca’s YouTube. I’m going to attempt to stream it but there’s a higher than usual chance of it failing this week.
Lucha Central has a preview of the show.
Ring of Honor has their Final Battle show (PPV, $35) tonight. The first hour will air for free starting at 6 pm CT and the PPV portion is at 7 pm. Rush defends the ROH title against PCO, Shane Taylor defends the ROH TV title against Dragon Lee, and Flamita & Bandido fight Flip Gordon & Marty Scurll. I suspect Rush and Talor hold onto their titles. I’m less sure about MexaBlood vs Villian Enterprises, except I’m sure everyone’s going to read heavily into the contractual future of those men based on the outcome. Ring of Honor’s reaction to a month of ugly press has been to lay in bed and hide under the covers so far, but perhaps they’ll try to change the narrative somehow on this show.
Warrior Wrestling has Warrior Wrestling 7 (PPV, $15) at 7 pm. Templario is in a four-way for the Impact X-Divison championship, while Aerostar, Rey Horus, Taurus, Gringo Loco and Drago are in a five-way. I’m going to this show but I’d like all the lucha matches to be closer to the end of the show since I may be running late.
In non-streamer shows, Fenix & Penta face Rey Escorpion & Texano Jr. in Toluca. There’s a mixed tag title match and Vikingo/Myzteziz/Bengala vs Poder del Norte. This might show up on YouTube sites, though unlikely in full. One of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our time is how Rey Escorpion is working Friday on AAA show and then Sunday on the AAA/DTU show but not Saturday on Guerra de Titanes. (This mystery may be solved if he just doesn’t appear, perhaps.) There’s also an unusual Friday star-filled show in Gomez Palacio’s Arena Olimpico Laguna with Cibernetico & Mistico versus Mesias & Volador. That could show up on one of the video channels covering that scene, though I’m not sure it needs to.
Mascara 2000 released a new music video.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions CMLL had “informal talks” about the Munoz family (Dragon Lee, Rush, Bestia del Ring) returning to CMLL, but they haven’t progressed at all. CMLL even starting talks seems like realization they messed up in that situation, but it may not be fixable – Dragon Lee & Rush have already found success on the outside and don’t need to go back to CMLL as much as CMLL needs them. There’s also a note about them not told CMLL about their intention to sign Dragon Lee, which is not as much a surprise.
The NBA announced the NBA G League (second-tier league) will expand to Mexico City starting with the 2020-2021 season. The Capitanes, a Mexican league team, will transfer into the NBA league. They’ve played their games at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera, the historic site for AAA TV tapings in Mexico City. The Capitanes move into the NBA G League will come with a remodeling of the arena, which could mean the end of lucha libre in the building for the time being. Remodeling an arena usually means ending lucha libre out of the building: there’s usually a new higher rent and a hesitation to risk a lucha libre event messing up what’s just been fixed up. AAA’s not returned to Gimnasio Agustin Millan in Toluca since they’ve remodeled. AAA’s last show in Juan de la Barrera was last November – the Emperador sponsored show. No lucha libre promotion has run the building in 2019 as far as I can tell.
The normal January Mexico City stop was held in the Pepsi Center WTC instead this year, so AAA may have moved on already. That should be the next taping announced, so we’ll know AAA’s plans rather soon. Other promotions have run Juan de la Barrera over the years, it’s typically proven to be too big of a building for them. The Villano V retirement show, which drew so badly Villano V had to come back out of retirement to get out of debt, comes to mind. Hijo del Santo’s Todo x el Todo used it as their homebase, and Tinieblas has run FULL shows there.
Guerrero Fenix lost his mask to Abigor in Leon’s Arena Torres on Sunday. Guerrero Fenix is César Torres, 37 years, 7 years (at least as Guerrero Fenix.) The article mentions the venue held 20 events this year; I found posters for 18 of them.
Cuernavaca’s Zadkiel has been training at CMLL’s gym for a month. He’s training with Arturo Beristain. If he’s on Principe Diamante’s path, he’ll debut sometime around 2029.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
I’m not sure if there will be a news update tomorrow. Pretend I said something compelling about Guerra de Titanes
Lineups
CMLL (MON) 12/16/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Astro, Rey Samuray, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Black Tiger, Espíritu Maligno, Guerrero Espacial
2) La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit, Sanely vs Dalys, La Comandante, Metálica
3) Sagrado, Stigma, Templario vs Misterioso, Olímpico, Rey Cometa [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Atlantis Jr., Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Hechicero, Negro Casas
5) Carístico vs Forastero
You can not escape Caristico versus Forastero. Cavernario is back in the semi-mian. No idea why the mixed sides in the third.
CMLL (TUE) 12/17/2019 Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Cholo & Inquisidor
2) La Guerrera, Lluvia, Marcela vs Amapola, La Infernal, La Seductora
3) Dulce Gardenia, Pegasso, Príncipe Diamante vs Misterioso, Sagrado, Tiger
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Universo 2000 Jr. [Copa Jr.]
5) Flyer, Kráneo, Stuka Jr. vs Okumura, Rey Bucanero, Terrible
6) Ángel de Oro, Diamante Azul, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Shocker
Flyer retuns back for the first time in three months, as Tuesday becomes more of the home of people CMLL still feels obligated to book but doesn’t trust on Sundays. Copa Junior is the biggest match of Universo 2000 Jr.’s life.
AAA , ROSALES (WED) 12/25/2019 Arena Naucalpan
1) La Hechicera & Parkita Negra vs ? & La Chiva
2) Cobre & Tiago vs Draztick Boy & Iron Kid and Látigo & Toxin
3) Hades, Murder Clown, Niño Hamburguesa vs Ayako Hamada, King Balam, Súper Fly
4) Monsther Clown vs Aerostar
5) Psycho Clown vs Chessman, Pagano, ?
Christmas Day cards are starting to roll out; Arena Neza has a Cerebros/Diabolicos hair match. The Monster Clown vs Aerostar match is billed as their first one versus one match since the mask match. Former DTU-er Cobre might be training with AAA; he shows up occasionally on other spot shows.