It was a busy weekend.
Results
Vanguardia (SAT) 08/29/2020 Tulancingo, Hidalgo [Critero Hidalgo, Mas Lucha]
1) Máscara De Ángel b Alfa Jr. 
2) Billy & Murdock b Falcón Fire & Misionero
Los Fugitivos win in their debut
3) Gasparín Jr. & Símbolo Azteca © b Kill Korton & Tromba and Príncipe Aéreo & Resplandor [BMLL TAG]
Tromba & Kill Korton replaced Amensia & Aster Boy. Gasparin & Simbolo retained but were attacked after the Hunters (Moria & Drolux) after the match.
4) Draztick Boy © b Eclipse Jr., Cobre, Látigo [BMLL CRUISER]
very good match. Draztick Boy defeated Cobre.
5) Crazy King, Fly Star, Miedo Extremo b Caballero de Atena, Dragón Boy, Jitsu, Rey Dragón [infierno death match]
Santy Hernandez interfered, but Ciclope returned from his forever ban to run him off and throw him in an ice cream truck. Macizos won, then Crazy King challenged Fly Star for the 4×4 championship (which seems to be treated now like a regular title and no longer a 24×7 deal.)
I saw most of this, and it was easily the best of the three shows Vanguarida has run during this period. Draztick Boy’s match was very good as normal, there were a lot of ideas in the three way tag, and the main event was the expected spectacle. Maybe too much of one; there were about three different big moments which felt like they should be the end of the match and it instead kept going. It’s tough to say no to ideas.
This was a drive-in show. The original idea (and the idea for the next show) was to use a soccer field. Perhaps because they got shut down, this ended up in what appeared to be someone’s back yard. It was a tight fit and it didn’t seem like all the vehicles had ideal views. A few people could be spotted outside of their cars or on top of a van in once case, though it seemed like most stayed in. This was also billed as live though it was obviously recorded.
Vanguardia says they’ll be back with another drive-in show in September. This one will be a 50 peso iPPV instead of airing free.
DTU (SUN) 08/30/2020 Pachuca, Hidalgo [Lucha Noticas, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo]
1) Crazy Boy b Blaze
Blaze officially joined DTU after the loss.
2) Aero Panther, Dragón Suicida, Príncipe Aéreo b Dariux, Meta Tiger, Samuray Jr.
3) Yoshioka b Kaleth, Kevin, Hormiga, Fly Warrior
Baby Extreme moved up.
4) Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico Jr., Brazo De Oro Jr. b Black Fire, Paranoiko, Pesadilla
5) Hijo De Dr. Pólux Jr. b Avorto, Corsario Negro Jr., Chaneke, Sick Boy
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Shun Skywalker b Baby Xtreme & Camuflaje
Dr. Wagner Jr. (Ultimo Guerrero) and Baby Xtreme (Audaz) announced as replacements on 08/22. Galeno del Mal helped his father win. Halloween led an attack by members of the DTU roster against Wagner after the match, setting up a Wagner Family vs DTU match for the next show.
This was an iPPV and I didn’t see many comments about the match. It should eventually be added to the Mas Lucha service.
DTU says their next show will be a free w/requests for donations show. They’ll be moving from iPPV to donations just as Vanguardia is moving from donations to iPPV, which seems about right for this weird rivalry. It suggests those iPPVs aren’t doing so great, but it could also DTU wanting more attention; again, I saw little about this show when it aired. DTU’s Facebook teases that next show might be in Torreon instead of Tulancingo.
Ace Austin is the current DTU Alto Impacto champion. I only remember about this because there’s a new Ace Austin promo about the title. Austin won the title in April 2018 tour, came back in August, and still retained it, then hasn’t returned to DTU since. This was before Austin started up with Impact Wrestling; he’s come back to Mexico for those tapings but not for DTU. There was a quick title switch and back and forth in the US in 2018 and the belt hasn’t been mentioned since; it seemed like the next mention would be the belt being vacated. Instead, Ace Austin’s video proposes a tournament to determine a challenger, who he’ll defend against when he returns to Mexico. No idea when that title match will be but the timing suggests the tournament will begin on September’s DTU show.
IWRG (SUN) 08/30/2020 Arena Naucalpan [Lucha Central, Mas Lucha, SuperLuchas, The Gladiatores]
1) Rey Halcón Jr. b Atomic Star 
2) Toxin b Puma de Oro
3) Dragón Bane b Yoshioka
4) Demonio Infernal & Fresero Jr. b Trauma I & Trauma II
5) Shun Skywalker b Hijo de Canis Lupus [IWRG Rey del Ring]
winner faces last year’s winner Demonio del Aire next week
The main event is getting strongly positive reviews. I have Skywalker listed there as the Rey del Ring winner but the recaps suggest the match with Demonio Infernal (last year’s winner) is actually the championship match. It’s not exactly how they’ve done in the past but it makes no difference.
AULL (SAT) 08/29/2020 Arena Lopez Mateos [R de Rudo]
1) Sádico b Dante, Yakuza, Alas de Oro [semifinal]
2) Terry 2000 b Sepulturero, Dragón Force, Centella Oriental [semifinal]
3) Leviatham b Chucho el Roto, Euro, Alas De Plata [semifinal]
4) Último Gladiador b Rocky Santana, Yoruba, Filder [semifinal]
5) Lady Kat & Lilith Dark b Mary Caporal & Miku
6) Sádico b Leviatham, Último Gladiador, Terry 2000 [final]
Sadico beat Gladiador to win.
Corrected on 09/01
AULL (SAT) 08/29/2020 Arena Lopez Mateos [Furia de Titanes, R de Rudo, SuperLucha]
1) Sádico b Dante, Yakuza, Alas de Oro [quarterfinal]
2) Leviatham b Chucho el Roto, Euro, Alas De Plata [quarterfinal]
3) Terry 2000 b Sepulturero, Dragón Force, Centella Oriental [quarterfinal]
4) Último Gladiador b Rocky Santana, Yoruba, Filder [quarterfinal]
5) Leviatham & Sádico b Alas De Plata & Dante [semifinal]
6) Terry 2000 & Último Gladiador b Centella Oriental & Rocky Santana [semifinal]
7) Lady Kat & Lilith Dark b Mary Caporal & Miku
8) Sádico b Leviatham, Último Gladiador, Terry 2000 [final]
Sadico beat Gladiador to win.
I, like perhaps many of you, pointed out AULL announcing a crowd limit of 30% capacity was silly because AULL shows rarely draw close to that. I was wrong. If anything, it looks like they went over 30%. Friday, there were still videos going up promoting this show as an iPPV. Instead, it went up for free on Facebook on Saturday and on YouTube on Sunday.
IAW (SAT) 08/29/2020 Gimnasio Valiente, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [Box Y Lucha 3437, Carxyus]
1) Santy Hernández © b Kevin [NERW REVIVAL] 
2) Jitsu © b Tromba [IAW JUNIOR]
3) El Mimo b Acero II, Tiger Metal
4) Baby Love b Hera, Lilith Dark [IAW WOMEN]
5) Látigo b Arez, Energía, Iron Kid [IAW CHAMP]
This was a taped show with fans in attendance. The main event seems worth checking out.
Other News
Ten of Mexico’s thirty-two states are in the yellow health code as of today. There are busy local indie scenes in Ciudad Juarez, Xalapa, Acapulco, and elsewhere which could begin to run empty arena shows should they choose today. It’s likely not financially viable for those shows to happen, though many indie shows don’t seem financially viable in the best of times. If I understand the rules correctly, Tabasco can become the first state to reach green health status (public functions open to 50% capacity) when the map next updates on September 11th. Mexico City, Mexico State, Tijuana, Puebla, Guadalajara and Monterrey remain in orange, so it is up to local lawmakers in those regions to decide the rules. CMLL likely needs Mexico City to move to yellow on 09/11 to be able to put fans in the building for the Aniversario show, though they could continue to get special permission outside of this system.
Former AAA luchador Geo passed away on Thursday. He was a tag team part of Neo (Skayde) under that name. I didn’t realize until reading the obituaries that he also played AAA luchador Operativo and wrestled under Via Lactea under other names. Current luchador Geo is believed to be his son.
Bandido replaces Star Jr. in Friday’s CMLL semi-main. CMLL seemingly has stuck to its policy of not acknowledging card changes, even when Bandido is probably going to sell a couple more PPVs. It was Star Jr. on Wednesday and Bandido by Friday when CMLL sent out the lineup to the press.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara’s social media is teasing something. Either they’ve taped an outdoor show or they’re running one soon.
El Planchitas wrote over the weekend that the free loans the Mexico City lucha libre commission had been signing luchadors up were not as free as they signed. Their claim was that other luchadors working on the behalf of the commission made up a paperwork fee to charge the loanees. It wasn’t alleged to be a large big amount – 50-100 pesos on a 1,500 loan – but every pesos matters right now. SuperLuchas points out a statement by the Mexico City commission saying the story is false and asking people to come to them with proof if they’ve been illicitly charged a fee on these loans.
It’s confusing to me why the Mexico City Lucha Libre commission is putting out statements on a random Facebook account in between cooking videos when it would cost nothing to create an actual social media account and be slightly professional.
Blue Demon Jr., in an interview with El Hijo del Santo, talked about the abuse he suffered as a child. MedioTiempo quotes the interview and I can’t find where it came from. This is a little complicated and he is not saying Blue Demon (Sr.) or his family abused him. Blue Demon Jr. was taken in by the Demon family when he was six months old, when his birth mother Iliana said she couldn’t take care of him. Blue Demon Jr. return to live with his birth mother around the age of 6.5 years old and claims Iliana and her then partner would beat him. He also says they’d lock him in a wooden box at night, while the adults went to work. Demon eventually learned to make believe it was an airplane to cope with the situation.
Chinapaluchas luchadors Mr. Jerry, Gran Felipe and Cicloncio visited a market in Xochimilico and put people not wearing face masks in holds. (They also gave out facemasks.) That’s really good viral iPPV marketing.
Octagon, in promoting the legends iPPV on 09/06 I’ve almost already forgotten about, says the wrestlers will be COVID-19 tested before the show. He also says the mask match with Fuerza Guerrera is happening really soon, and I’m not sure about that one.
09/19 MexaWrestling @ Arena San Juan (will be part of Mas Lucha’s Premium Channel)
- Toxin, Fly Warrior, Black Danger vs Fly Star, Lunatik Xtreme, Sobredosis in a tables and chairs match
- Baby Xtreme vs Dragon Bane (c) for the IWRG Rey del Aire championship – new
- Fulgor I & Fulgor II vs Epydemus & Alex Black – new
MLW says they’ll be restarting in November and teased the idea of NJPW and AAA involvement. That seems like one of those things MLW throws out just to get attention.
Lady Shani’s appearance on the women in wrestling panel is here.
Psycho Clown is now available for Zoom birthday parties.
Chik Tormenta, while thanking people for well-wishes, says she’ll be 100% to return by the end of the pandemic. That doesn’t narrow it down.
A Criterio Hidalgo piece looks at 30% capacity for Hidalgo lucha libre buildings. They list Arena Aficion as 2,846. It’s slightly higher than I would’ve guessed but I’m more likely to believe it as a real number because it’s not a round number. The article’s actual point is most of the other lucha libre focused buildings in Pachuca are too small for the promoters to run at 30% and not lose a lot of money. I would point out that Arena Aficion is running shows seemingly just to run them with hardly any people in attendance so maybe that can be opened up to more promoters if safe.
El Sol del Tampico has an interview with KBW promoter Arsenal. They mention him as a retired wrestler but he’s still wrestling a few shows a year. I guess that does make you retired in lucha libre.
Luchadors in Orizaba say they’ve been unable to get sponsorship to run empty arena shows, though they may try another no-fans show (where I guess people just wouldn’t get paid.) Plans to build a new lucha libre arena in that city have halted.
Cronica.com.mx has an interview with Tampico luchador couple R-15 and Reina Siria. His non-wrestling job is a taxi driver, and he’s seeing about 20% of normal business during the pandemic; they’re struggling to have enough money for food. It’s notable that this R-15 mentions being an AAA luchador. Many indie wrestlers say they wrestled for AAA or CMLL when they really just appeared on a spot show with them, but there was a R-15 who appeared for AAA in the late 90s who disappeared into the ether. Maybe he just went back to Tampico. (That R-15 did lose his mask, this one is masked in an interview, but that could also mean nothing.)
Arena Vidal in Chetumal still can’t reopen, so they’re looking for permission to run drive-in shows.
NVNoticias has a long bio Oaxaca luchador El Tetrico.
Upcoming Shows
Lucha Memes, LLB (WED) 09/16/2020 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Gremlin vs Kastigador (Queretaro), Vengador
2) Rey Marte vs Domino, Imperio
3) Drako & Fantasma de la Ópera vs Cerebro Negro & Corsario Negro Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Fly Star vs Toxin
5) Freelance vs Mike Segura
6) Aramis vs Baby Extreme
7) Arez vs Ricky Marvin [cage]
The show is advertised as not being recorded. Maybe that’ll change. Memes, in particular, has often talked about studying the rest of the wrestling (and combat sports) business and trying to be innovative. It makes it strange that this show is not being sold digitally when all their peers, big or small, are trying the same. It’s a retro approach combined with matchmaking targeted at the type of knowledgable fans who might be willing to pay.
The poster bills Aramis versus Baby Extreme as a first-time match. RIOT would like you to know they had a match for them back in February 2019.
VPR , Invasion Indy (SUN) 09/13/2020 Arena Neza
1) Brazo De Oro Jr., Flayer Boy, Senky vs Aztlán, Kanon, Survivor
2) Lolita, Luis Cirio Jr., Tony Cirio Jr. vs Black Widow, Laberinto, Punker Bizarro
3) Skayde & Súper Nova vs Herodes & Hijo del Pirata Morgan and El Dragón (Chihuahua) & Impostor (Chihuahua)
4) Cuervo & Ricky Marvin vs La Máscara & Máximo
5) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Blue Demon
I only found out about this full card by looking for Geo info. That probably is not an ideal marketing strategy though eventually, they’ll get Blue Demon or Dr. Wagner out there to talk about it. This card isn’t great but it’ll sell or not based on interest in that match. Like the last Neza show, this is an iPPV for 112 pesos.