AAA, a promotion known for spacemen, dragons and a wide variety of clowns, is running a show this weekend. It’s nice to see them again. It’s an 8 pm CT start, probably kicking off with a La Parka tribute.
I get the sense that the CMLL Claro show will be more than what’s listed, or the parts that are actually Mr. Niebla tributes aren’t going to be the matches. (Which is good, because those matches aren’t that good.)
No Monday/Tuesday lineups, but there will be shows like most every other week.
recaps (for 2020 shows)
All 2020 round-up posts – 2020 MOTYC list (coming once there’s something to put there.)
This post is only two CMLL shows. Shows of matches which were fine and occasionally even good, but still disappointing compared to what they might have been.
I’m all caught up in watching in realtime, so maybe I’ll catch up on making GIFs and posting things the rest of the week. I do no notice Cuatrero/Ultimo Guerrero as a 2019 match I could’ve watched but I think I’ll pass.
Recommended Matches
| rating | matches | TV Show | taped |
| good | Carístico & Místico © vs Cuatrero & Forastero for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship  |
CMLL YouTube: 2020-01-01 | 2020-01-01 |
| good | Dulce Gardenia vs Kawato San for the hair  |
CMLL YouTube: 2020-01-01 | 2020-01-01 |
| good | El Bandido vs Cuatrero |
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2020-01-03 | 2020-01-03 |
Other matches watched
| rating | matches | TV Show | taped |
| ok | Black Panther, Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Sagrado, Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr. |
CMLL YouTube: 2020-01-01 | 2020-01-01 |
| ok | Audaz, Rey Cometa, Star Jr. vs Felino, Hechicero, Mephisto |
CMLL YouTube: 2020-01-01 | 2020-01-01 |
| ok | Atlantis Jr., Kráneo, Soberano Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hijo del Villano III, Negro Casas |
CMLL YouTube: 2020-01-01 | 2020-01-01 |
| ok | Espíritu Negro vs Príncipe Diamante for the mask |
CMLL YouTube: 2020-01-01 | 2020-01-01 |
| ok | Sonic & Súper Astro Jr. vs El Coyote & Grako |
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2020-01-03 | 2020-01-03 |
| ok | Avispa Dorada, La Jarochita, Marcela vs Amapola, Dalys, La Metálica |
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2020-01-03 | 2020-01-03 |
| ok | Atlantis, Esfinge, Rey Cometa vs Misterioso, Pólvora, Vangellys |
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2020-01-03 | 2020-01-03 |
| ok | Soberano Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Forastero, Templario |
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2020-01-03 | 2020-01-03 |
| ok | Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero |
CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2020-01-03 | 2020-01-03 |
CMLL Informa was pushed to Thursday this week, but the usual press interviews took place Wednesday. Shocker & Rey Bucanero mentioned they’ll be wearing the old masks in tribute to Mr. Niebla. Olimpico says the same. In the way that the Leyendas shows determine that the only legends are people who wrestled in the early 90s, this Mr. Niebla tribute show seems like late 90s/00s early show. I wish they had leaned more into that direction, both in the promotion and the names included.
SuperLuchas recap of the CMLL Lady’s Ring show mentioned Jarochita & Dalys are in Ice Ribbon on Sunday, so they (and Negro Casas) aren’t heading back to Mexico soon.
Rey de Reyes will be March 21st at Merida’s Poliforum Zamna. Estrellas del Ring caught this first, though the local promoter had it up more than week ago. The May 23rd date for Verano de Escandalo came out yesterday, and those are recently the two big dates before TripleMania.
Murder Clown told Grafico, like Psycho Clown & Monster Clown, he would like to wager his mask but he has no one to face.
RIOT’s 02/01 show, which has no matches or wrestlers announced, has sold out ten days in advance. RIOT has sold out shows in the past but never before with walk-up tickets. They’ve never sold out a week before the show.
04/04 WrestleCon Worldwide in Tampa
I was told to pay attention to this show as if it was a WrestleMania weeekend lucha show so here I am paying attention. I got excited about a RIOT (Mexico) vs RIOT (Spain) championship match, then people helpfully explained it’s Carlos Vega as RIOT Spain champion, not Carlos Romo. I’m dumb.
Cinta de Oro Jr. – this is the one who had been given the name by the original, not Sin Cara – announced he’ll unmask today on a Ciudad Juarez TV show and then wrestle unmasked going forward. (Furia de Titanes pointed this out first.) Cinta de Oro Jr. will debut under a new name, still unmasked, on Sunday’s Arena Juarez show.
El Mexicano has a report of the Tijuana Boxing, Wrestling and MMA Commission. There’s nothing on wrestling – the focus is on boxing, as typical – but Hijo del Medico Asesino (EMW) and Damian 666 (The Crash) were present as apparent reps of their promotions.
Puma King & Barby’s new video is from Barby’s birthday party.
It’s a local turf war of little consequence outside Chicago, but there have been angry Facebook posts back and forth over GALLI and GAW/LLT running at the same time on Sunday. (Berwyn & Villa Park, where they were running, are about a half-hour apart from each other.) The GALLI show was a fundraiser for Discovery, who is in poor health. The GAW/LLT show was announced first, with Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus coming to the Chicago area after the Chicago guys had come to IWRG.
Bane & Lupus didn’t make it and there was no explanation as to what happened. It didn’t stop Mr. Reyes of Estrelllas del Ring (tied up to GAW through IWRG) from bosting about the success of the GAW/LLT show and implied the charity show had been constructed just to attack GAW. The GAW promoter chimed in to agree. Attacking a charity show for a local lucha libre institution like Discovery has gone over poorly. Estrellas del Ring & GAW deleted their posts, though screen grabs live forever. LLT has disavowed GAW’s statements; Discovery wrestled for them for a number of years and are planning their own Discovery fundraiser.
Discovery, battling cancer, is still in the hospital as of there last update I can find. There’s no GoFundMe at this point. I still don’t know what happened with Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus.
Recapped: 2020-01-06
Matches:
Black Panther, Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Sagrado, Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr.
(10:44 [4:13, 2:50, 3:41], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Felino, Hechicero, Mephisto beat Audaz, Rey Cometa, Star Jr.
(13:55 [6:50, 7:05], 1/2, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Bárbaro Cavernario, Hijo del Villano III, Negro Casas beat Atlantis Jr., Kráneo, Soberano Jr.
(13:47 [5:55, 3:36, 4:16], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Príncipe Diamante beat Espíritu Negro, mask vs mask
(11:25, 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Carístico & Místico © beat Cuatrero & Forastero for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship
(19:24 [6:08, 3:42, 9:34], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Dulce Gardenia vs Kawato San for the hair
(11:34, 2/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Kawato San lost his hair, Espiritu Negro lost his mask, Mistico & Caristico kept the tag titles and this is all very old news by the time you’re reading this.
Thoughts:
There was a point where Kawato in a big-time match like this would’ve been a disaster. This was not a disaster, so that’s progress. I think Kawato was not supposed to catch Dulce’s early dive as well as he did, which is a remarkable change of habit. It was also missing much excitement from Kawato; the only near fall he has late is a referee distraction induced cradle. It is Dulce Gardenia spots from there for the last couple of minutes, Kawato existing only as something Dulce can easily overcome. Both wrestlers seemed hesitant at times during the match, more affecting how much the other had to stand to wait for moves rather than causing something to go wrong. It didn’t go wrong, the match was just missing some snap. The crowd and the occasion carried this to worth watching, though I can’t imagine wanting to watch it again.
The concept of going all in the semi-main was doing the same run of Destroyer seen on the indies two years ago. It wasn’t really strong then either. The tag title match did give all the usual beats with these two teams, just with one less man on each side. They were successful in getting the tecnicos an impressive win, doing a lot of the usual stuff well. Forastero broke out the ramp dropkick for this match. Cuatrero messed his springboard finish but was smart enough to keep going. This was solid and enjoyable even if not really creative.
The first fall Canadian Destroyer in the Principe Diamante/Espiritu Negro match was horrendous, shouldn’t have ended the fall, and may have dug a grave too deep for the rest of the match to dig out. The mask match got negative reviews live and seemed fine a week later on video. It wasn’t great, they couldn’t dig out of that hold because they did nothing particular to stand out. Principe Diamante & Espiritu Negro had a competent match without going the extra mile expected in title matches. Espiritu looked more tentative, perhaps more nervous than he had in the lead up to this match. Diamante, forever consigned to looking like eight different tecnicos on the roster, added a flash armbar as a special finish. It wasn’t special, especially since Espiritu was so close to the ropes but couldn’t try to get on them. They didn’t blow anything badly beyond that Destroyer, which puts this ahead of some matches in a spot. They also didn’t really seize the opportunity.
Negro Casas had fun interactions with Kraneo in the third. Cavernario was so over at the end. Soberano looks impossibly more rail-thin in his gold gear. Everything was fine and there’s not much to remember about this match.
Two long falls mean no third, as demonstrated in the second match. The match didn’t have a great rhythm with that setup, with the first fall being a more enjoyable than the first. Hechicero seemed to take most of the match for his team and seemed worn out by late in that second fall. Audaz brought back his flip escape spots, but the timing on the team spots wasn’t great. Tiger Infante had some weird counts in this one.
The opener had midcard names and a midcard match. It was better than the usual but wouldn’t have stood as the fourth match on a Tuesday. Guerrero Maya, Black Panther, and Drone are all underpushed teams, though they didn’t make a notable impression in this one. Tiger did well in keeping up with Drone.
