There are so many deaths that I need bullet points.
- Impala (Andres Gonzalez), who also wrestled as Black Man II and Bello Incognito, passed away last week. Impala. He wrestled in EMLL and UWA but had his bigger success in the smaller Mexico City arenas.
- Super Bracito, a mini who also wrestled as Agulita de Acero and Mini Brazo, passed away. That’s reported as a COVID-19 passing.
- Bello Andy, who appears to have wrestled in the 70s and 80s before becoming a referee, also passed away according to Box Y Lucha.
- Box Y Lucha also mentions luchador Aguila Tapatia, turned Chicago area referee El Pollo, also passed away back on May 30th. I recall seeing him at shows, though it’s been a few years since I’ve been to one in the Waukegan area.
- Hidalgo luchador Puños de Roca passed away.
- Kaiser, a luchador from Guatemala, reportedly passed away on June 6th according to Box Y Lucha.
Some of these deaths are directly related to COVID-19. Some might have otherwise gone less noticed during a busier town; Matematico’s II passing was written up in many sports papers which would be unlikely to focus on him at other times.
All states in Mexico have a red light (essential activities only) as of Friday. The red arrow in most of them means the percentage of hospital beds in use continues to rise. Mexico will now update this chart weekly, on Friday nights.
In the context of the deaths and warnings, there are still shows going on. San Luis Potosi’s Arena Margarita ran another in a series of regular shows on Sunday, Fuerza Guerrera Jr. ran a show apparently with fans in Cuautitlan last weekend, KAOZ taped their show in late May, there’s probably more going on underneath the radar. The ones coming up include the Lucha Memes show on 06/14 (9 days away, one match announced), the DTU iPPV show on Friday, and Sunday’s Lucha Libre Vanguardia show.
Vanguardia (SAT) 06/20/2020 Deportivo 11 de Julio, Pachuca, Hidalgo
1) Hombre Invisible vs Cíclope [AKE CHAMP]
2) Sagitario Jr. & Suspenso vs Jitsu & Kunay
3) Draztick Boy © vs Lobo Blanco, Falcón Fire [BMLL CRUISER]
4) Cíclope & Miedo Extremo © vs ? & ?? [BMLL TAG]
5) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 [royal rumble]
The main event is a “more than 15” person royal rumble with no participants announced but various surprises teased. Specifically doing a Royal Rumble at this team is polarizing; most promotions in Mexico have tended towards 1 v 1 matches as a measure to prevent anything being spread. IWRG has changed its annual royal rumble to a long single-elimination tournament. Vanguardia will instead be putting many people in the ring at once. Sagitario Jr. & Suspenso are coming in from Matamoros’s Kingdom Wrestling promotion (a fellow +LuchaTV group), which either means they’ll be taking a 12-hour drive or shorter plane flight to work a segunda each way, with the risk of carrying something back and forth. All seems like an unnecessary risk while Mexico is in limited to essential business only, even beyond the normal risks of running a lucha libre show at this time.
Vanguardia’s previous show was a Bloodsport-themed show, where they emphasized how they were being careful about health, and then a pan to the hard camera side showed a bunch of people watching the show together. I don’t think Vanguardia – and the other promotions up there – are really as concerned about the health risk they’re taking as just wanting to go on like normal. Whoever’s making the decisions here is not making them with health as the first concern; that’s somewhere on the list, but there are idea that would’ve been saved for another day if it was priority #1. Everyone’s gambling and you just hope it works out alright.
A Criterio Hidalgo interview with Intruso Jr., who runs neighborhood promotion Lucha Libre Classic in Pachuca, noted that there’s just not the ability to run healthy low level shows right now. Even if an empty arena show is running one on one matches, that still likely means “a dressing room or a small area with 20, 30, 40 wrestlers.” AAA gave wrestlers on Lucha Fighter their own dressing room, they had a much bigger space to work with than an average wrestling venue.
MicroManFever translated a +LuchaTV interview with Dragon Lee. The part that jumps out is Dragon Lee saying a Lagunero (Torreon/Gomez Palacio) luchador told him leaving CMLLL was the worst thing he could’ve done, that Dragon Lee was not a superstar and his career will head to the bottom on his own. Dragon Lee is very specific about not wanting to start something by naming the person. Dragon Lee’s status means CMLL luchadors are generally not even allowed on the same show as him, but Ultimo Guerrero working Ring of Honor shows is an exception. Dragon Lee has since been part of a major baseball stadium show in Monterrey and wrestled in Jushin Thunder Lyger’s final match, but Guerrero – or whoever said it to Dragon Lee, giving the benefit of the doubt – probably believes what he said is absolutely true. CMLL performers and staff strongly believe their own mythology – the “Lo Mejor Lucha Libre en El Mundial” line is not simply marketing, but their own perceived fact. It’s why things are slow to change with them (if someone else is doing it a different way, it’s wrong) and why luchadors who get extended time outside the CMLL bubble are likely to move on in the long term.
Dragon Lee also mentioned Chavo Lutteroth threatened to cut off relationships with New Japan and Ring of Honor over continuing to use him (and his brother Rush.) New Japan using Dragon Lee as “Ryu Lee” seems to be a workaround, though it’s hard to believe CMLL would actually cut off their profitable relationship with NJPW at any rate. Dragon Lee and Rush are still Dragon Lee and Rush in Ring of Honor and that relationship hasn’t been as profitable as yet. Only Ultimo Guerrero has appeared in Ring of Honor since CMLL fired Rush & Dragon Lee. None were used in Ring of Honor before the shut down, no CMLL luchador was part of the announced Pure Tournament, and I believe no CMLL luchadora was going to be part of the new women’s title tournament despite an emphasis of including women from around the world. Meanwhile, Ring of Honor’s signed a handful of independent Mexican luchadors like Dragon Lee and the Mexisquad, subverting the need to deal with CMLL. I don’t think that relationship is dead or it’s a cold war – Bandido was able to work both, Flip Gordon was supposed to work Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, Matt Taven’s said he wants to go back to CMLL when that is possible again – but it appears to be in a different place than when Ring of Honor was bringing over a bunch of CMLL luchadors for a (seemingly unsuccessful) midwest tour. It’s why I’ve had my antenna up for any news in that ROH/CMLL relationship.
Estrella Divina wrote a Facebook post with her side of the story about Lady Black & Dragon Orus. The quick version of the story so far is Lady Black and Dragon Orus were sharing intimate photos and videos, Dragon Orus’ girlfriend Divina found out, Divina posted a few messages on her personal (real name) Facebook threatening to release the photos to her followers, supporters of Lady Black went to AAA to get cut ties with Estrella Divina over her behavior and brought up a recent law which punishes people who distribute other people’s photos in such a manner (though it’s unclear if it totally applies here.) Divina’s appears to be worried about the legal threat most of all, as the post is clear Divina never actually had the photos, never was actually going to release the photo, and so didn’t break that law. Divina says she was just impulsively angry over being betrayed by Dragon Orus, and asks for some empathy.
A Reforma article (reposted by Criterio Hidalgo) headlines “Texano, eager to fight”. That sits out with “Texano, out of the DTU” show. My impression is Texano is truly eager to fight and it was likely AAA that nixed the DTU appearance.
Quadratin interviews young Guadalajara luchadors Dorado Jr. and Hesquisofrenia, who talk about tours and shows being canceled due to the pandemic. Dorada Jr. believes lucha libre is going to have to change; instead of the fans coming to lucha libre, lucha libre is going to need to find way to the fans who can’t come until there’s a vaccine.
Facebook page Pasion Luchistica says the AAA taping originally scheduled for March 28 will now take place on October 10th. The local promoter hasn’t publicly announced that date yet.
Low Rider & Fuego del Sol have been visible on the most recent set of AEW tapings. They’ll have a match teaming together on Tuesday’s AEW Dark show against SCU.
+LuchaTV profiles Guadalajara photographer Jorge Torres.
AAA is doing a series of luchadors making sandwiches videos as part of their deal with Nutri Deli.
Luchadors in Salamanca are doing outdoor cross-fit training to stay in shape.
Nino Hamburguesa feels the fans support him for his abilities.
A regular reunion of ex-luchadors in Tampico has resumed.
Box Y Lucha posted 2002/2008 interviews with Pato Soria, and a 1999 profile with Texano.