There’s no real timeline update on the return to lucha libre. Mexico hasn’t released an update to their color codes for the states since they were announced two weeks ago. AAA mentioned they’d have an announcement of their plans this week back when Lucha Fighter was wrapping up. It hasn’t been hinted at since, so plans may have changed. There’s no timeline on when CMLL will announce their plans. It’s fair not to have them yet.
The US government announced a policy change on Saturday, allowing foreign athletes, staff, spouses and dependents to enter the US even if there’s a current travel restriction to that country. This appears to be on a sport by sport basis and those sports do not include any wrestling promotions currently, though it lets the framework exist for those things to happen. Pentagon and Jack Evans are among those outside of US who would be working in AEW if they’re allowed entry. They’ll not be permitted to return to the US until June 22nd under the current policy. (I think all Mexican luchadors who work for WWE are already in the states. The policy would affect ROH obviously too, but it doesn’t appear as if they’ll be running prior to June 22.)
Vampiro posted a 40-minute video in Spanish on Facebook. It took him a while to explain he’s finished up in AAA. Vampiro hasn’t been working behind the scenes in AAA for some time, but he had hosted the last season of Lucha Capital and appeared on screen during the last weeks prior to the shut-down. It appeared AAA was heading towards another iteration of Vampiro leading an army against Konnan’s army, who’d be Los Ingobernables this time. It’s Vampiro, so whatever he’s thinking today could change tomorrow and may not even be true today.
Vampiro mentioned he’s got work in Europe, the US, and Japan that just keeps him too busy to go to AAA. He is open to working a retirement tour in Mexico with a few specific promoters. Vampiro keeps asking Germany’s wXw for their email address on Twitter, so I assume he’s actually got a booking in Europe already and is trying to pick up extra ones. He remains vague about his Japan plans. In the US, he says he’s working with Lucha Libre Voz (Phoenix; he’s doing commentary on their July 19th show) and Santino Brothers (Los Angeles), where he’ll be training people and bringing in wrestlers from Mexico. Vampiro also mentioned his upcoming talk show on El Rey Network, which still hasn’t been announced but appears to be a real thing.
Generacion XXI was going to run an empty area show in Irapuato on Sunday. It was to be transmitted on the Llaves y Contrallaves channel, with the idea they would take all the necessary medical conditions. +LuchaTV reports the show didn’t happen because the local authorities shut it down. El Sol del Irapuato’s story on the situation is complimentary to the luchadors but mentions they never got permission from the local government, which usually leads to getting shut down if they can find the location. The promotion said they’ll run a make-up show later.
DTU is attempting to run a PPV event on June 12th. There’s no card yet, expect there will be a barbed wire match. The process for buying the PPV is complex: there’s a link to message them on Whatsapp, then you send money ($50 Mexican Pesos – $2.25 USD), and they’ll add you to a Facebook group to see the show. That price is pretty reasonable, but the process to get there is a little much for me. DTU did try a PPV previously with +LuchaTV years ago and didn’t see to try it again, which suggested it wasn’t a viable thing at that point. They do expect to announce matches soon, though there’s an international surprise they will not announce.
Monterrey’s Lucha Time taped episodes of their YouTube series in the last couple of weeks, in the same empty arena warehouse they’d been using previously. It’s unclear when these episodes will be out. The promotion did release a video of a (planned) ring breaking bit to get interest from local media. It did work, including getting them talked about on TV. It also got a front page article in a local newspaper (paywall) blasting the promotion for running wrestling at this time.
Matamoros’ Kingdom promotions announced their wrestlers will be on a June 21st Arena Naucalpan show. IWRG hasn’t announced a June 21st show yet.
AAA luchadors haven’t been wrestling the last couple of weeks. They are still appearing on TV in competitions. Faby Apache & Hijo del Vikingo won last Sunday’s episode of La Pareja Puede, an Azteca game show. AAA luchadors appeared on the show earlier this month as well. I originally assumed it had been taped previously and was just being aired during the pandemic, but it looks like they may be taping those episodes recently in an empty studio. If you’re in Mexico (or can come up with a Mexico IP address), you can see this past Sunday’s episode here. Murder Clown talked about his appearance on the previous edition with Record; that episode is here. It appears the gameshow is using other Azteca personalities for some of the episodes.
Demus said he wasn’t feeling well during quarantine, his doctor told him it was stress, he went for a bike ride to stay in shape and reduce stress, stumbled upon someone teaching boxing in a park, decided to pick up boxing classes, and now has had one fight with a second one scheduled against Wotan. Demus told this all to ESTO and I believe every word. He’s liking boxing and hopes to train in it two or three times a week even after the pandemic, but he’s also hoping for a busy second half of the year to recapture some of what’s been lost the last couple of months. The Demus/Wotan fight seems to be happening Sunday. The Demus/Corsario Negro Jr. fight is on Facebook; no one’s concerned about social distancing for that one.
NGNoticas catches up with Puebla luchadors Multi (former Mini Multifacetico) and Rey Samuray. Multi is an independent luchador so he’s not expecting a promotion to support him but would appreciate some government support. Rey Samuray is a regular in Arena Puebla, though he doesn’t seem to be getting help from them. CMLL may have advanced money to the main roster luchadors but perhaps those who only work Guadalajara or Puebla are out of luck. Multy say he has a booking next month in Guatemala that he’s hoping to make. Samuray mentions he hopes for empty arena shows so they can use them as training, rather than coming in front of fans without being in the ring for a long time.
+LuchaTV has been posting old AAA Fusion episodes, a short-lived secondary show airing on TVC Deportes. All of the episodes (except maybe one of them) are all still on the old TerceraCaida YouTube channel. I suspect they’ve gotten AAA’s permission to repost them now (and that’d be much harder to do with old CMLL Puebla videos.)
El Salvador’s La Sombra, Carlos Hernandez, passed away. He was a 50s/60s luchador.
Espanto Jr. says he wasn’t interested in wrestling when he was growing up and it was the near-death of his father (Pentagon.) where he wanted to continue wrestling. He wanted to pick up where his father left off.
Fuerza Guerrera may delay his retirement due to the pandemic. Villano IV decided during the pandemic he’d like one last apuesta match with Atlantis or Ultimo Guerrero.
Add the Rey Pantera family to those making face masks. I assume everyone who was making lucha libre masks is making face masks now.
Torreon’s Arena Olimpico Laguna has a show advertised for June 20th, with tickets for fans. It’s hard to know if a show will be possible there at that date.
San Luis Potosi’s Arena Margarita ran an empty arena show on Saunday.
Box Y Lucha writes about a 1940s plan to create a giant wrestling arena in Mexico City that never came to be.
+LuchaTV has an article on the Ringo Mendoza vs Perro Aguayo rivalry. Their podcast talked about Hector Garza, who passed away seven years ago today. The Gladiatores writes about the day Hector Garza rejoined Perros del Mal.
LuchaWorld has a new podcast, including discussing what stories would work for a lucha libre Dark Side of the Ring episode. I suspect they’ll do a Perro Aguayo Jr. episode if the series runs long enough and if people involved are willing to talk, because there’s enough people familiar to US fans.
A long interview with Ciudad Victoria’s Fuego Latino
Ovaciones is at the “here are all the luchadors with cat gimmicks we can think of” stage of content.
