Month: July 2020

Maybe this is a good time to summarize where the bigger promotions are as far as running shows

• AAA: will run outdoor shows at Six Flags Mexico, where fans will attend by driving in and sitting in their cars. Shows will likely be recorded and streamed/aired on TV, but details still to be worked out. Have asked for formal approval to start shows, but start date dependent on government health approval.
• CMLL: have not officially announced anything, but discussions on CMLL Informa have implied they’ll be running empty arena shows at Arena Mexico, not waiting all the way until fans can attend. It’s unclear if CMLL will run empty arena shows at the other venues. Have asked for formal approval to start shows, but start date dependent on government health approval.
• IWRG: Will run empty arena shows, beginning with 2020 Rey del Ring Part 2 and a Gran Hamada tribute show, as soon as possible. Have asked for formal approval to start shows, but start date dependent on government health approval.

Can you pick up the pattern? Everyone’s going to run empty arena shows, everyone is waiting for government health approval. El Fantasma’s public stance is no shows will be approved until Mexico City gets to the yellow health light. Mexico State’s commission suggested the same. The adjacent Mexico City and Mexico State are likely to change lights at the same time – it’d be confusing if one side of the street had vastly different rules than the other. We’re likely to see these promotions all come back at the same time if they come back the way they’re planning. It is always possible Fantasma or the local governments change their rules about running, but it’s all we have to go on for a moment.

That means the earliest we’ll see any of these promotions right now is probably Friday, August 7th. Mexico is now updating those health lights every other week, and the next update should be July 31st. Every group will probably need a few days to get the final governmental approval to restart and to get a lineup together; running a week later is if everything goes smoothly. If there’s no yellow light on August 7th, then everyone waits until August 21st, then September 4th, and then AAA definitely and perhaps the other groups start to look around elsewhere in Mexico if they still can’t run in Mexico City.

Promotions that are based in an area that aren’t as strictly regulated, are under the radar of local government, or are running in non-traditional locations will likely continue to go on. Promotions like AAA, CMLL and even IWRG are too well known to get away with something like that. It would endanger their existing relationships; CMLL particularly has benefited from working with Mexico’s tourism department and wouldn’t want to mess that up. The uncertain portion is if the individual wrestlers are allowed to work those smaller shows. IWRG doesn’t seem to have contracts, so everyone there is free to do what they want. AAA seems to have definitely said no for anyone under contract (though not everyone who’s been on AAA TV is under AAA contract.) CMLL is unclear – either everyone’s free to work with they want but only Ultimo Guerrero and other Laguna wrestlers have gotten interest or CMLL’s said no to outside work but UG and friends have special permission.

Ultimo Guerrero comes to mind because he was announced as appearing on the 08/16 DTU iPPV as well as 08/01 combo iPPV with a music performance alongside Gran Guerrero. Stuka Jr. worked the last DTU show, Ultimo Guerrero the first one. That last one is doubly notable, because the CMLL wrestlers are listed as long alongside Arez & Latigo. CMLL luchadors Titan & Atlantis Jr. were pulled from a Lucha Memes show earlier this year because they’d share a show with AAA TV luchadors (though not signed) Arez & Latigo. Maybe the third option here is Ultimo Guerrero is just doing what he wants, less unconcerned about the consequences because it’s a pandemic and he needs the work.

Facebook page Llaves y Contrallaves is posting video from the secret location Generacion XXI show; they just missing the main event. It looks about as safe as a show in indoor warehouse is going to be: everyone’s in masked, it’s not packed, there was opening for air flows, referees are wearing masks and face shields. Generacion XXI says they’re planning on another show on 08/02 with Joe Lider and Pagano. That seems to confirm they’re both not under any AAA contract at the moment.

Super Crazy is one of the bigger names on a Costal Championship Wrestling show this Saturday in Nashville.

Recent lucha libre deaths:

• Centella Roja I/Julian Cazares (Julian Cazares, no age) passed away on Monday. Box y Lucha mentions him as wrestling in Pavillon Azteca, which means he’s an 80s/90s Mexico City area indie wrestler.
• Reynosa luchador Imagen de Oro (Edgar Duran, no age) was reported as having passed away on Tuesday. Imagen de Oro popped up in a 2015 AAA TV match as an extra wrestler, though you may have most recently seen him on the February Kingdom Wrestling show on Mas Lucha.
• Neza luchador Golden Bull (no name given, 41) was reported as having passed away on Tuesday. His father, Espiral Negro, passed away last week. Golden Bull wrestled a couple of IWRG FILL ciberneticos in 2010 and showed up in both Arena Neza and Arena Azteca Budokan. He has a very distinctive mask, seemingly inspired by the Chicago Bulls logo.
• Oaxaca luchador/trainer Relámpago Gómez (Julio Gomez Lopez, 72) passed away on Tuesday. His wrestling included winning a Mexico City championship, though he’s more known in his home area. Gomez started the first Olympic/greco-roman style wrestling schools in Oaxaca, and traveled as far as Russia as a coach.

CMLL will have Blue Panther, Lluvia, Seductora, Okumura, and Akuma on Informa today. Blue Panther is there to talk about his mask match with Villano V, which will be airing on Televisa this Saturday. They’re airing almost nothing else from that show, including the CMLL/TNA trios match which would seem to include no banned people. Maybe Sonjay Dutt is banned from CMLL and we don’t know it??? (The LA Park/Dr. Wagner match from that show that got both of them fired is of course still not airing.)

Lucha Libre Vanguardia July 25 or maybe August 1st

• Draztick Boy vs Eclipse Jr. (Lanzelot) vs Cobre for the Black Mask Cruiserweight Championship
• Los Fugitivos (Billy & Murdock) w/Dark Biker vs Falcon Fire & Misionero
• Alfa vs Mascara de Angel
• Simbolo Azteca & Gasparin vs Aster Boy & Amnesia vs Principe Aereo & Resplandor for the BMLL tag team championship
• Odaiba Squad (Jitsu, Rey Dragon, Dragon Boy, Caballero de Atena) vs Fly Star, Crazy King, Miedo Extremo in a (handicap) inferno death match

In theory, this would be a 4v4 match if Ciclope was still around. Ciclope was fired from the promotion on the last show by evil general manager Santy Hernandez. Vanguardia posted a video revealing Hernandez and Odaiba Squad were working together to make that happen (though that was no big surprise, he’s an evil general manager, they’re heels.) Ciclope somehow appearing to even the sides seems like the most likely outcome, but maybe the big thing here is actually “inferno death match.”

This appears to be the full lineup. I presume this is not happening on July 25th or Vanguardia would’ve announced that already, so pencil it in for August 1st.

Deadline has a story on a production company picking up a script about a dramatic lucha libre series. “Luchador” doesn’t have a channel attached, so it’s still a long way away from existence and will likely change along the way. It’s described as “a character-driven action drama about a fictional, Lucha Libre-inspired city run by colorful gangs of Mexican Wrestlers at the brink of tyranny, and the unlikely young wrestler who becomes its champion and savior, both inside and outside the ring.” The writer, Diego Guiterrez, is credited with working on From Dusk To Dawn, which you may remember as one of El Rey’s non-Lucha Underground offerings. Lucha Underground did feature colorful tribes of Mexican Wrestlers, a tyrannical boss, and a young wrestler who became its champion and savior (played by Prince Puma in seasons 1-3 and Pentagon Black in season 4.) Those are also common fantasy fictional tropes being applied to lucha libre.

Diario Basta has an interview with Templario, who’s a CMLL star in part because a friend he knew from soccer offered to allow him to move into his Mexico City place and live there for free while he was trying to make it in the big city as a luchador.

ESPN has an interview with Mr. Iguana. He’s planning on moving to Mexico City in August, something that had been in the works prior to the pandemic.

Box Y Lucha was so inspired by “the Rey Mysterio losing his other eye” match in WWE to write a short history of notable real eye loses in lucha libre (and Vader.)

Crazy Boy and the DTU roster are inviting fans to help them plant trees on July 28th.

A documentary about Chiapas lucha libre will premiere on Saturday. Someone should make a lucha libre film festival out of the documentaries;

Octagon and boxer Jackie Nava have delivered pantry items to wrestlers and boxers as part of a charity initiative.

La Jornada de Guerrero talks to 23 years old Kid Dragon. He’s from Chilapancingo, debuted at 16 on a show put on by the government, but is actually unlicensed because Chilpancingo doesn’t have a commission.

An interview with Texas luchador Hijo del Arkangel (not related to the CMLL one.)

LuchaWorld posts a Perro Aguayo and wife interview from 1977, part of their Patreon content.

TripleMania is indefinitely postponed according to Dorian Roldan in a video press conference today. Roldan hoped they’d still get to have the event in 2020, but they do not have a new date at this point. Nothing was specifically said about moving the show to Monterrey, as SuperLuchas has mentioned was a possibility over the weekend. Roldan did say they were looking at all options, mentioning the idea of moving the show out of Mexico City if other states were doing better by October. The separate TripleMania Regia event is currently still in plans for October 10 in Monterrey, but it’s completely up to the health situation and there’s no way to know for sure this far out.

AAA will be trying different concepts to run shows between now and whenever normal shows can once again happen. Dorian Roldan announced Auto Luchas, a drive-in wrestling concept to take place at Six Flags Mexico. Cars will park in assigned places to watch a show in a ring raised a little higher than usual so everyone can see. There will also be screens set up around the area in case of obscured views. Fans will buy tickets digitally, will be required to wear facemasks, and stay in their cars during the show. Roldan mentioned they’ll be taking all sanitary conditions. (There’s was no specific mention of COVID testing for the wrestlers; Roldan early mentioned no AAA wrestler had tested positive.) Special merchandise will be sold at the shows, including facemasks. Cars will be limited to 4 people for a regular-sized car, 7 for a SUV. AAA will broadcast commentary on radio for the fans to listen in.

There’s no date for the start of these Auto Luchas shows; they’re waiting for the green light from the government to run these. (That may take a Yellow health light, though Dorian mentioning working off health protocols set up by soccer and other sports to get approval.) The Auto Luchas shows will take place on the weekends and multiple times a day; they’re planning to run this basically like a theme park stage show. Matches will be 1v1 and 2v2, tending more towards the singles. There will be no international wrestler due to current travel issues. No prices were announced. Neither was the capacity. Dorian Roldan mentioned AAA is in talks of streaming or airing these shows and talks are positive, but nothing was solid yet. In general, Roldan mentioned empty arena sports – wrestling included – is not profitable for anyone sport in Mexico and so they’d be trying to avoid that direction. Auto Luchas is possible because AAA will make some money from tickets and some from sponsorships, but running something like TripleMania in an empty arena as WWE has done wouldn’t make sense.

Auto Luchas sounds like a reasonable attempt for AAA (and Six Flags Mexico) to make some money. I’m not sure a bunch of cars surrounding a ring is going to look good. Blaring car horns and multiple shows a day probably won’t make for the best environment to watch a lucha libre show, but that seems like a small concern at the moment. It seems almost certain we’ll be able to see these shows; AAA’s in a situation where they’re better off holding off for the best deal they can rather than just putting shows on Twitch for the sake of it, and TV is going to need whatever content they can get. The reality that there’s no start date to Auto Luchas means there’s no urgency in getting that part of the deal done.

AAA otherwise remains as paralyzed by the health issues as everyone else. TripleMania and everything will happen if and only if conditions change, and there’s not much AAA can do about that.

DTU (FRI) 07/17/2020 Tulancingo, Hidalgo [+LuchaTV, Lucha Central, Lucha Noticias]
1) Brazo Celestial & Brazo De Oro Jr. b Aero Panther & Fight Panther Jr. and Drolux & Moria
Brazo de Oro Jr. pinned Aero Panther
2) Shun Skywalker b Pesadilla, Yoshioka, Blaze, Gran Cobra, Dragón Suicida, Brazo Cibernetico Jr.
Shun pinned Pesadilla after the Brazos distraction, setting up a tag title match.
3) Black Fire, Princesa Azul, Samuray Jr. b Diosa Quetzal, Kevin, Tiburón
Quetzal had the win but the referee was in the pool. Azul beat Quetzal with a consult.
4) Crazy Boy & Crazy King b Avorto & Chaneke
an extreme match around the resort. Chaneke beat Crazy Boy. Avorto threw the DTU title into the water after the match.
5) Camuflaje & Stuka Jr. b Kaleth & Negro Navarro
Camuflaje foul on Negro Navarro.

I haven’t seen this one and didn’t see much about it outside of GIFs of people taking moves into the pool. That’s was the big promise of the show and they delivered. The previous DTU taped iPPV ended up on Mas Lucha about two weeks later, though that may be different now with the premium channel. DTU announced their next taped show will be Cantina Extrema on August 16, which will include a bar fight.

The DTU title was later pulled out of the pool, while Lucha Libre Vanguardia put up a video saying presumably champion Crazy King was coming in for their next show. DTU highlighted a text message from Avorto and various others who want a shot, so they’re either deciding a new champ or having Crazy King defend it against a lot of people.

Mas Lucha (SAT) 07/18/2020 unknown location, México City, Distrito Federal [Lucha Central, MasLucha]
1) Sexy Dulce b Baby Love [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinal] 
2) Lolita b Reina Dorada [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinal] 
3) Zeuxis b Diosa Quetzal [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinal] 
4) Ayako Hamada b Ludark Shaitan [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinal] 
5) Dulce Sexy b Lolita [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, semifinal]
6) Zeuxis b Ayako Hamada [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, semifinal]
7) Dulce Sexy b Zeuxis [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, final]

I don’t know of a review of this show besides Cult’s post on Lucha Central. It sounds like the tournament was a bit better than expected. Dulce Sexy knowing she was winning and working harder in all of her matches probably helped. Ayako/Zeuxis reads like the best match of the tournament.

The story coming out of the show was not about the matches. The technical issues become the story. The 8 pm scheduled show started at 10:30 due to technical issues, then the first part of the show has audio issues. It culminated with the feed going out during a match, though they simply picked up the video exactly where it went stopped (an advantage of a taped show) and resumed from there with fewer issues. There was a lot of negative complaints on Facebook and Twitter about the situation. Mas Lucha seemed to be addressing them individually; there was no general explanation of the delay until it was resolved. There was also no next show advertised, while there were many subscribers who claimed they would be canceling or asking for a refund. This post has a good summary of the issues one person had, who said they canceled the service immediately after the show ended and went far beyond simply the stream not working.

It’s not a surprise to anyone Mas Lucha didn’t work the first time. AAA & CMLL tried iPPV content to spectacular failures, the Mas Lucha premium channel felt rushed (the front page still looks unfinished), there was no public test of whatever content system they were trying, it was all a recipe for a predictable disaster. Everyone who paid and had to sit around for three hours waiting for the show is right to be upset, but I’m not sure they should’ve been surprised. This is unfortunately what we’ve come to expect. (We probably should be more amazed DTU’s had no issues for two shows in a row.) Mas Lucha should get better with more tries, but this is never a smooth process and part of the cost to sign up is paying for those types of struggles.

Mas Lucha will keep on going in this direction. Their premium channel website currently makes it impossible to discover what other videos they have available unless you’re a subscriber – a pretty big problem for a site selling video content! – but the most recent video this morning was a February Martinez show that had been posted for free back on YouTube in April. That video seems to have been moved over after Torneo Suprema took place. They’re going to continue to move in a premium direction, and hope that some of the people who said they’d cancel the service don’t actually do it. It’d be better for their business if they tried to make up for the stream not working to keep them, but Mas Lucha isn’t going to drop this after one bad show.

(I don’t think Mas Lucha drifting back to subsiding over YouTube ads is a certainty either if the premium channel fails. It may be this or nothing or maybe some lesser version of Mas Lucha. I don’t think there’s a way this ends where Mas Lucha is the same as it was prior to the pandemic when shows go back to normal.)

Today normally would be Arena Puebla’s 67th Anniversary show. The building was opened on July 18th, 1953, with a show celebrating that date every year until 2020. El Sol del Puebla has interviews with retired luchador Kalifa and building administrator Benjamin Mar about their memories of the arena. Mar is ex-luchador el Jabato, who remembers being there for his father losing his hair to Fuerza Guerrera at the 30th Anniversary show, then making his own debut as a fill-in on the 33rd one. He also points out the 50th Anniversary featured a Mascara 2000/Shocker hair mask match and the building was the last place the original Misionerios de la Muerte (Texano, Signo and Negro Navarro) teamed before breaking up. Arena Puebla originally ran shows on Saturdays, Sunday, and Mondays; Monday was the UWA/LLI day and the big CMLL shows would be on Sundays. The collapse of the UWA led the building to just running on Saturdays, before deciding to move that show to Mondays in 1994.

This blog cares about many things but none more so than “what is the actual capacity for Arena Puebla?” Mar says Arena Puebla originally seated 2400. It’s now 2000 with the stage and other remodeling. Like the similarly sized Korakuen Hall, much higher attendance than realistic maximum has been announced over the years.

SoloWrestling posted a summary of their recent interview with Ciclope. He explains leaving DTU as feeling he had done everything he could do there. He, Draztick Boy and Miedo Extremo wanted to do something on their own, and wanted to do it the best way possible. They don’t want Vanguardia to be a place that just has matches for the sake of having matches like most Mexican indie promotions, but to build stories and teams to build up new talent. Ciclope & Miedo Extremo are the current GCW Tag Team champions but haven’t been in the US company since 2018. Ciclope confirms the issue is their visas expired and they haven’t been able to get it renewed. They’re hoping it can finally be sorted out in 2021.

Xalapa luchador Gabriel o Gabriela (Víctor Gabriel Peralta, ), who wrestled on AAA TV a handful of times in the early 2000s, passed away on Friday due to COVID-19 complications. Anticristo also passed away on Sunday, joining El Pitufo & El Exorcista as four luchadors from that scene who passed away in about a week’s time.

Other recently deceased luchadors

• Nayarit luchador Marakame II passed away on July 16th.
• El Cadete (Guillermo Tapia) passed away on or around July 17. That recollection mentions him as a Texas luchador in 79/80.
• Retired Guatemala luchador Marquense passed away on July 18.

With nothing open, Pagano decided to meet his fans and sell merchandise in the parking lot of a mall. The title might be a bit dramatic, the photos show them on the sidewalk in front of a store.

Dave the Clown says he’s thought about feuding with Karis la Momia Jr. but wants to focus on internationalizing his name.

Box Y Lucha posted interviews with Cinta de Oro (who does not sound like he’s eager to work with Caristico soon) and Makabre.

Mas Lucha has a profile on Draego.

Perodico La Voz has an interview with Monclova’s luchador Orfeo Negro.

Mil Mascaras has launched an online store.

Segunda Caida reviews some 90s CMLL.

AAA, through Azteca, announced they’ll have a press conference Monday to announce their plans for the next few months. The article does not list a time for the press conference and AAA hasn’t announced it themselves. TripleMania is scheduled for August 22nd, but it looks like it’ll be impossible to run anything like a normal show in Mexico City a month from now. AAA may choose to push it back a few months or move the event to another location. I think there’s a slim possibility they simply announce there will be nothing along the lines of a normal TripleMania this year; it’s the least likely of all things to be announced tomorrow but might still be the end result. I’ve to no inside information on the decision and I suspect we’ll all find out when it streams on Monday.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter brings up an AAA hope to run TripleMania outdoors in Monterrey in October, essentially rebranding the TripleMania Regia show as this year’s TripleMania. I’ve written about that as a possible solution here. I’m less certain of it being viable now than I was weeks ago; Nuevo Leon was doing better than Mexico City and the surrounding area at first, but medical experts suggested coronavirus was just going to reach that region of Mexico a little bit later. They appear to be correct; they’re running low on available hospital beds at the moment. Hopefully that’ll be better in October, but it’s just as much a question mark as anywhere else.

What we’ve seen elsewhere in the world is the decision of where a wrestling promotion will run isn’t directly correlated to the health situation in that state. The most important factor is the local government giving them AAA (or any other wrestling company) the freedom to do what they want, no matter what the situation may look around them. Nuevo Leon has seemingly permitted Kaoz and Lucha Time to run (empty arena) shows, and perhaps they’d be willing to let AAA go outside as well.

Local promoters long ago announced September 12 (Morelia) and October 10 (Torreon) TV tapings. AAA’s never confirmed those, and maybe we’ll find out if those will actually happen on Monday. It’s possible another round of empty arena studio tapings will take place, and AAA could announce those on Monday.

Mexico State and Ciudad de Mexico will remain in orange when the new health traffic light map comes out tonight. Nuevo Leon will remain in red. No states have reached yellow. The new concept is these color codes will be updated every two weeks, meaning those colors will stay that way until at least July 31st.

DTU streams a pool party wrestling show tonight at 8 pm CT. It’s a five match show with Camuflaje & Stuka Jr. versus Kaleth & Negro Navarro in the main event. They’ve got a ring set up on normal land and a second ring that’s in the middle of the pool, which I believe is for the Crazy Boy match. The show costs 70 pesos (if you haven’t bought in advance.) You can join a WhatsApp group here to sign up; you’ll need a way to send money to a Mexican bank account and a Facebook account to watch the show. The previous DTU show did get posted for free about a month after it took place, I don’t know if that’ll happen again. Camuflaje talked a bit about getting these chances to main event.

I’m not sure if there will be a third DTU iPPV; I suspect they’re going to show-to-show to see if this works. I hope that if they try for a third show, they open it up in a way to allow more international viewers. Whatsapp and sending money to a Mexican bank account are significant barriers, but it seems like getting Mexico promotions (and wrestlers) to sign up for a Paypal or any other cash sharing app seems equally a barrier. Maybe a different solution would be to sell these shows to someone like FITE or Highspots Wrestling Network to stream. DTU (& Mas Lucha) can raise the price for international viewers to accommodate whatever the international streamer is going to need to get paid, but those kind of sites are short on new content. This iteration of DTU doesn’t have many big names but it does have some striking visuals that might grab an audience in the same way some of the recent GCW outdoor shows have done. But this is pie in the sky thinking that probably won’t go anywhere.

Mas Lucha starts their premium channel with the Mas Lucha Torneo Suprema. You can get a month of access for 99 pesos (plus about 10 pesos in fees), though right now this is the only show definitely mentioned as airing in the next month. Mas Lucha stated this show will not go up on YouTube. I think Sexy Dulce is probably going to the final, and I’m guessing Zeuxis come out of the bracket to face her in the final and eventually win. Don’t have a good feel for it.

Lucha Libre Voz had an iPPV scheduled for Sunday but announced it was postponed back on July 4th.

I’m not sure if this week’s Arena Margarita show in San Luis Potosi is streaming. I do suspect they must’ve gotten some push back over the recent shows with a packed building; this week’s poster says facemask are now obligatory and they’ll be enforcing safe distance. This a slightly different promotion – there’s a MARKA who’s been running that building recently and this is a MARCA this week; it’s vastly confusing.

Salvador Lutteroth Lomeli, the older of the two Salvador Lutteroths in control of CMLL now, has been much less visible than Sofia Alonso in the same role. He will be making a public appearance on a panel on lucha libre at the virtual San Diego Comic Con on July 25th at 7 pm CT. Rey Misterio (Sr.) and the director of Tijuana’s Lucha Libre Museum will also appear there. The panel will air on YouTube; it looks like it’s already taped. These panels are typically aimed at people who don’t know much about lucha libre (paradoxically, because those people will watch something else) so I never expect deep insight. Still, Salvador Luterroth Lomeli is running one of the biggest wrestling companies in the world and we haven’t heard what he thinks about wrestling at all in quite a while so even a scrap of insight might be interesting.

Lutteroth Lomeli is again listed as “CEO of Promociones México, Coliseo y Revolución”, and not CEO or President of CMLL itself. There must be significance to distinction. Maybe Sofia got to keep the old title (but none of the power and) so they’ve created something new to put above it on the organizational chart? I have no idea.

CMLL Informa mentioned there were plans for a CMLL Women’s Gran Prix this year. The men’s Gran Prix usually is an 8v8 Mexico versus the World match. There are a few foreign full-time women in CMLL – this would’ve been a new thing for Dalys to win – but it would’ve been interesting to see where they would’ve pulled found new foreigners.

Ultimo Dragoncito, Blue Panther Jr., and Lluvia & Sanely handled CMLL’s virtual media tour. Dragoncito noted the minis had fallen behind the Micros and Women but also said he’d have no interest in moving to the main men’s division because those who have tried have failed to advance past the second match. Blue Panther Jr. complains about people trying to get famous as luchadors on Facebook, very old man speak for a younger wrestler. Lluvia & Sanely talk about how weird it will be to wrestle in empty buildings.

Box y Lucha posted a video interview with retired luchadora Neftali, who was far more open than most wrestlers. Among other interesting stories, Neftali claimed the match she lost the Mexican National Women’s Championship in an unplanned finish. The story goes that CMLL referee Roberto Rangel had told her earlier in the day that she’d be losing the title belt to La Sirenita, and Neftali protested. She had been told by the UWA/LLI it was their belt (so they’d decide when she loses it and who to), and she thought very little of La Sirenita. There was a tense confrontation between Neftali, Sirenita, and some of the male wrestlers on the show, trying to get Neftali to agree to lose but seemingly backing off it for now. Instead, Rangel just fast counted Nefatli to do the title change away, according to Neftali. There are a few other unusual stories in the interview.

Lucha Libre Vanguardia July 25?

• Draztick Boy vs Eclipse Jr. (Lanzelot) vs Cobre for the Black Mask Cruiserweight Championship
• Los Fugitivos (Billy & Murdock) w/Dark Biker vs Falcon Fire & Misionero
• Alfa vs Mascara de Angel – new
• Simbolo Azteca & Gasparin vs Aster Boy & Amnesia vs Principe Aereo & Resplandor for the BMLL tag team championship – new

It took me until now to understand Vanguardia is doing different movie posters for each match because they’re doing a drive-in show. I’m slow.

Welcome To Mi Barrio announced a 24 man tournament for a newly created singles championship. They don’t know when the tournament will start at this point. I’m very excited they have a bracket. I’m disappointed in myself in that I feel like I follow lucha libre closely and have no idea who half the people are.

definitely know: Mara, Pantera Jr., Adrenlina, Hijo del Payaso Purasanta, Coco Rojo II, Rugido, Manchas, Purasanta Jr., Hijo del Purasanta, Payaso Purasanta, Camuflaje
name is vaguely familiar: Radical, Magneto, Jorge el Salvaje,  Rayado, Verzal,
have no idea: Xerjes, Lobo, Carrillo, Charly Boy, Ambu, Criatura Azteca, Fire Boy, Secreto Negro

Some of these guys are probably good, I have no idea. If I knew Lobo I’d tell him “you need a better name then Lobo, there’s like five hundred Lobos.”

Arena Neza & Invasion Indy will have its own streaming event on August 15th (Saturday, 6pm). No matches are announced. I think the idea is you can purchase (via eTicket, credit card payment available) for 79 pesos before getting the lineup, 99 pesos after getting the lineup, or 125 on the day of the show. Add about 15 pesos to each in fees. Despite their being no lineup, you can sort of figure out the (tag) matches that are planned; the four guys in the center are likely facing each other, the four guy on the edge ar the semimain, the women are in a tag. None of the suggest matches look great; figuring out pricing and matches which are going to sell virtual tickets is still a learning process.

Arez has been added to the Jonathan Gresham/Lucha Memes Foundation group.

retired Mexico City area luchador Exorcista I passed away on July 13th, according to his tag partner.

Argentina luchador Enigma passed away on July 14th.

Diario de Xalapa has an obituary for El Pitufo, who took a Smurf gimmick and made a career out of it. There’s no update about Gabriel o Gabriela, which make some think the report of their death was too premature.

Licensed luchadors in Durango will be receiving a similar loan as to those in Mexico City. I didn’t think much of the Mexican wrestling licenses as meaningful items previously. The only time they seemed to come up were situations where luchadors didn’t have them and were wrestling anyway. It’s been the difference between getting assistance and getting nothing during this pandemic.

Octagoncito (not the current AAA one) says he’s desperate to get back to lucha libre.

SuperLuchas looks back Mil Mascaras & Arkangel de la Muerte.

Segunda Caida watches a Demus versus FLy Star match.

On Mas Lucha’s En+Carados, Mexico City lucha libre commissioner El Fantasma said no shows will be permitted until the capital city reaches a yellow health light. Fans will likely not be permitted to shows until green. That fits with everyone explained recently. Mexico City is currently in orange conditions and those health lights will now be updated publicly on an every two-week basis, which may mean it’ll take longer for any place to reach yellow.

(I’m struck by the irony of Fantasma issuing the message of “no shows until Yellow!” on a platform that’s promoting and helping to produce many shows. But I’m writing about them too)

I think “updated every two week basis” means a new map this week, since there wasn’t one last week. I also think Mexico’s secretary of health is making that part up as he goes. It going to continue to change. Mexico City is still expecting to release their own health update on Friday, but are now breaking down the health color code by neighborhoods. This is not a positive development: while the city is in Orange, they’re moving areas back into Red. Those neighborhoods include Doctores (the home of Arena Mexico), though not Arena Coliseo or Arena Ciudad de Mexico. The entire Mexico City needs to be in yellow on Friday for any hope of it being open to fans on August 22nd for TripleMania. It seems unlikely that’ll happen. It seems likely the rules will continue to be modified, but we’re getting close to a month out and AAA should be announcing a new plan soon. Tickets for TripleMania remain on sale as of this morning.

Mexico’s secretary of health also endorsed the idea of a second surge of coronavirus cases starting in October. That’s hard to comprehend because there’s no sign of the first surge ending at any point. I think the best case of the current situation is shows opening up with fans in August. I think it’s also a real possibility that conditions do not improve by August, do not sufficiently improve in September, are crushed again in October, and there’s no governmental CMLL/AAA type show in front of fans until 2021 (and maybe not even early 2021.) This pause may not be half over. I hope I am wrong, I really do, but people need to prepare as if the current status quo will remain for a much longer time.

Xalapa luchador Pitufo Sr. passed away today. There’s also a report fellow Xalapa luchador Gabriel o Gabriela has passed away from an unfamiliar Twitter account, but I haven’t seen that confirmed elsewhere. Gabriel o Gabriela has been in intensive care for at least a week.

G21 (SAT) 07/18/2020 Irapuato, Guanajuato
1) Abagor vs Gallero
2) Gargajo, Lepra, Moco vs Dark Crazy, Irakundo, Lucifer
3) Black Marvel & Dr. Pólux vs Máquina Infernal I & Máquina Infernal II
4) Último Halcón vs Arlequín Fly, Arkángel
5) Negro García vs Angeluz Fly, Yanzan, Golden King [Copa COVID-19]
6) Ángel Caído, Hijo De Dr. Pólux, Maravilla Strong, Murciélago Plateado vs Fulgor I, Metaleón, Rencor Carbineo, Shere Khan

We haven’t heard much from Generacion XXI since their owner was murdered back in March. I’m not sure who’s running it now; maybe the wrestlers themselves. I’m not even sure where this show is, but that’s the idea. The Facebook post has account information and a Whatsapp number to buy tickets but no location. They’re trying to keep it secret. They don’t want media to get them in trouble, they don’t plan on taping the show to give away who was there and they’re being selective as to who they allow to purchase tickets and find out where they’re going. Fans in Irapuato, Leon, and Queretaro can pay 250 pesos to get on a bus to the mystery location, where they’ll still be required to go through temperature checks and wear masks. Anyway, this is what lucha libre has become in 2020. The only negative Facebook reaction has been “why isn’t there a bus from Celaya too?” (Angeluz Fly stated they’ll run one if they can get 15 people to sign up.)

Lucha Libre Vanguardia “Retos Continuos” July 25?

• Draztick Boy vs Eclipse Jr. (Lanzelot) vs Cobre for the Black Mask Cruiserweight Championship
• Los Fugitivos (Billy & Murdock) w/Dark Biker vs Falcon Fire & Misionero – new

Fugitivos are a new team. The update hints at seven matches for this show but I could just be misreading something.

ZONA 23 (SUN) 08/09/2020 Estado de México
1) Drako vs Lunatik Extreme
2) Terremoto vs Demoledor
3) Corsario Negro Jr. vs Sobredosis
4) Demus vs Impulso
5) Súper Mega vs Lunatik Fly
6) Epitafio & Leviatham vs Amenaza & Venganza
7) Ovett vs ?

I guess this is in the same junkyard as usual, but the poster is quiet on that. This is meant to be a no-fans show, which may require doing it some place unexpected. The poster indicates this will air on iPPV though only in Mexico; maybe it’ll be exclusive to IWTV elsewhere.

The packed Arena Margarita show got a write up in the local paper, though only as far as positively talking about the match results and not the health concerns everyone else had. Aerokid (Rubén Almendárez, 26 years, 12 years a wrestler) lost his mask to Nero, As Negro took Super Nono’s hair. Meanwhile, the same paper notes coronavirus cases in San Luis Potosi are on the rise, with the state in danger of slipping back into the red health conditions.

ESPN.com.mx has an interview with Hechicero, who says that Mexican wrestlers are taught from very early on that only a select few can live on wrestling alone and everyone else must have other ways of making income. He’s saved money and is selling items through social media, but it also seems like he’s supporting himself from another job during this pandemic. Hechicero mentions he came close to retiring in 2016 after suffering a cervical compression, which left him out for 14 weeks, and that emphasized to him the necessity of having some income source beyond wrestling.

CMLL Informa has Caristico, Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Olimpico, Marcela, Ampola and Ultimo Guerrero, so you’ll get some hamburger talk.

Furia de Titanes points out this short video feature on an Arena Mexico usher out of work because of the coronavirus

wXw announced their Catch Gran Prix is pushed back a year to 2021. wXw announced Laredo Kid as participating just before the shutdown.

Fantasma helped more Mexico City luchadors sign up for loans.

The president of Puebla’s young and sports commission proposed taking the money they were going to use to promote lucha libre in the state and splitting it among the 217 licensed luchadors in the city instead. The proposal will be voted on the next finance committee meeting and would give each luchador about 800 pesos.

Pasion Kristal says they’ve switched to being a YouTube influencer during the pandemic.

Jonathan Gresham and Lucha Memes announced a tie-up. Gresham’s current deal is he’s bringing back mat wrestling, and so the idea is Lucha Memes is getting into it. Memes have a history of announcing international promotional deals that don’t seem to go anywhere and it’s hard for anything to happen at the moment. I’m not sure why this was announced now when it’ll need to be reintroduced months from now when anything can happen, but everyone’s bored and hoping for the best.

El Ilegal, better known as Puerto Rico’s Chicano, wrestled under a mask in AAA late in 2010. He says he would’ve had a long term job in AAA only for Nicho Psicosis to go to the office and convince them not to hire Ilegal. This is a teaser of a longer interview coming out next week. Nicho worked with Ilegal in about half of the matches which made air so it’s certainly possible he had feelings about Ilegal’s ability. I don’t recall Ilegal impressing in that short time though.

Blue Demon Jr. says maybe he’ll retire in 2022. Retirement dates more than two years out are not serious.

Misterioso (California version) appears on NJPW’s Lion Break Collision streaming show this Friday.

An interview with Reynosa’s Khan RT. And Chetumal’s Sombra Azul.