CMLL’s card is still incomplete.
CMLL (FRI) 10/23/2020 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. vs Espanto Jr.
2) Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa vs Ephesto & Okumura
3) Marcela © vs Princesa Sugehit [CMLL WOMEN]
7th defense
4) Stuka Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Rey Bucanero, Terrible, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 [Rey del Inframundo, semifinal]
title vacant
5) Carístico & Místico © vs Titán & Volador Jr. [CMLL TAG]
3rd defense
The big news is Sansón is out after testing positive for COVID-19. He will be out for two weeks, will not be able to defend the Rey del Inframundo championship, and so the title is now vacant. CMLL said Sansón is asymptomatic. The final two in the cibernetico this week will meet on 10/30 for the title. We don’t know who those participants will be: only four names were announced, with the rest to come on Thursday night’s CMLL Facebook show. They might as well announce them if they’re going to wait that late. CMLL may be waiting for more tests to get back, but it seems like CMLL’s strategy is to build up their social media shows on YouTube and Facebook more than to sell their PPVs.
Titan & Volador get their tag title shot. Marcela & Princesa Sugehit’s delayed title match takes place here, which leaves Isis/Lluvia and Bandido/Volador as the two matches still missing from that show. Espiritu Negro & Rey Cometa back, but back where they’d be expected. No sign of the Euforia/Ultimo Guerrero issue.
WrestlingInc reports Impact Wrestling granted Daga a release from his contract. They say Daga had asked for his release, Impact had instead wanted to get him to re-sign for a longer deal, and they finally agreed to release him yesterday. Tessa Blanchard, Daga’s wife, left Impact back in March in a situation where everyone involved ended up with bad feelings. Daga hasn’t wrestled for Impact since Tessa left, and it’s perfectly understandable why he would not want to be there. Daga is AAA’s Latin American champion and sent in a promo for a match with Fenix, but has yet to work a TV show or any pandemic events for AAA this year. Daga stated previously he wants to make a bigger name for himself in the US. He’s got friends in both AEW and WWE, but he isn’t hot coming off a mostly unremarkable Impact run, and there’s not even a guarantee of interest. I’m not sure what happens next with Daga.
SuperLuchas reports all the money from the 11/24 Arena Neza show will go to Principe Aereo’s family. Only AULL has mentioned this in their announcements, as far as I could tell. Other promotions are boasting about which wrestlers they’re sending to this show instead. (KAOZ, KAOZ, 915-656, DTU) The point of the show should not be showcasing talent. It’s raising money for Principe Aereo’s family. If I have to choose, I’d still rather someone make a big deal about how they’re donating to charity and then actually make the donation than someone who says nothing and then does nothing, but the way they’re doing this feels off.
Pro Wrestling Revolution did it right this week: they and Cain Velasquez raised money for charity Second Harvest, donated the money, then published a letter from the charity thanking them and showing the money they donated. That should be a normal practice. Saturday and Sunday had many people looking at MexaWrestling, critiquing if they handled the situation correctly. As best as I can tell, nothing they could’ve done would’ve made a difference in that specific situation. The eleven promotion listed as contributing to this show should expect the same evaluations of what they’re doing with this show.
Both Fly Star and La Heroina have said they’re retiring, shaken by the death of Principe Aereo. Heroina’s post isn’t public, but SuperLuchas a copy. She’s going to wrestle on the Principe Aereo show Saturday as her final match. Fly Star cites a Toxin post worried about the people he cares about if he were to pass away suddenly. Fly Star feels lucha libre is not worth the risk for him. Lucha Libre Vanguardia scheduled Fly Star in the main event in their next show; the promotion says they support Fly Star in his decision and will announce a replacement soon.
Their friend just passed away, and it’s the middle of the pandemic; it’d be understandable if they changed their mind later. It doesn’t make their feelings any less real now.
I’m being picky about which Principe Aereo articles I’m using; there are some I’m not linking because it’s people’s speculation on his death and I’m uncertain if they actually are sharing relevant info or are simply trying to find their own angle into a popular story. There’s no sinister thing involving Principe Aereo or the match, more along the lines of second-hand stories about pre-existing health situations from people who may not actually know. It’s near impossible for me to pull stories back once I have them wrong because so many different sources seem to use me as a primary Mexican source without checking for corrections. (Every wrestling website having ’26’ as Principe Aereo’s age, but almost none linking to the tweet where I said “believed to be 26” sure was a time). I’m extra reluctant to put anything out on this unless I’m sure.
Mas Lucha is advertising the Mexa Wrestling show as airing on its Premium service. I’m told the Principe Aereo match will not air.
Getting back to things I’m trying to pull back here: I misinterpreted the “Salvador Lutteroth doesn’t have a cell phone” bit from Box Y Lucha. They meant that metaphorically – he’s the sort of out of touch old guy who wouldn’t have a phone – but weren’t saying they know it as a fact. I always very much appreciate it when people try to correct me on these things.
NJPW World lists two more CMLL broadcasts on 10/26 & 10/30. Hiromu Takahashi will be a guest announcer. The September CMLL broadcasts include matches that haven’t been broadcast on Mexican TV (as far as I can find), but I have no idea if that’ll be the case again.
I guess while I’m on NJPW, I might as well think about FantasticaMania. There is no news hook here because the news is the lack of news. NJPW announced their 01/04 (and 01/05) Tokyo Dome shows just this past week, so they’re announcing things later than usual. Still, NJPW announced the FantasticaMania tour on 10/10 last year and the participants on 10/16. In 2018, the tour announcement came on 10/11, and the participant list on 10/27. It seems reasonable to assume the FantasticaMania tour isn’t happening in January this year – it would require around two dozen Mexican participants to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks in addition to the tour length under current rules, a huge expense – but no one with NJPW or CMLL has come out and said it. The best case is the tour gets shifted to later in the year, so the best case is they’re keeping quiet about the situation until they can announce a new date.
Niebla Roja announced the birth of his new son on Instagram. Niebla Roja appeared on early pandemic tapings but hasn’t been around lately, which certainly makes a lot of sense given that news.
Villano III Jr. told Mas Lucha Saturday he was told leaving AAA but remaining AAA Mixed Tag Champion was not an option, so he’s giving up his title belt. He is under the impression Lady Maravilla will get to pick a replacement partner. Lady Maravilla also believes she’s still champion, with a partner to be decided and hopes Villano III Jr. returns even better someday. Villano III Jr. was sad about breaking up the team with Maravilla, wished they could’ve defended the title more or lost the belts in the ring, but seems set on his new direction.
Texano talked to Tribuna Noticias about some of the precautions AAA is taking with their luchadors. AAA is waiting until tests come in before they announce cards. (That seems to be CMLL’s practice as well.) The wrestlers must bring the negative tests to the “locker room,” which is actually a repurposed auditorium to allow spacing. They do an additional temperature check, they sanitize each wrestler, give them gel to clean their hands, and the wrestlers stay apart until it’s time for their match.
Psycho Clown mentions he gave a Spanish Fly to Carta Brava on Sunday, and Carta Brava’s shoulder popped out. (There’s a video from far away.) Copetes helped Carta Brava pop it back in. Carta Brava acknowledged the injury. I don’t want to downplay the injury. More interesting to me is Psycho Clown’s account is now “Psycho Clown Mario Alvarado,” and he asks fans to reach him at Mario Alvarado on Facebook. I can’t think of any top star besides LA Park putting out his real name like that while masked, and Park’s issue was about making sure fans knew which La Parka was which. AAA & Psycho Clown seem on great terms as far as I can tell, but this is an extraordinary deal.
Lucha Time announced a partnership with Titanio Records to run a tour of shows in the US. They’ll be running in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Philadelphia, Memphis, Detriot, and “the area of Texas.”, and they’ll be using US and Mexican talent. No dates are announced. All shows will be streamed for free on Titanio’s social media.
As a person who lives in the United States, Mexican wrestling promotions sound like lunatics when they announce shows for the US in 2021. I desperately hope they’re correct if it would mean conditions have greatly improved. (It could also mean they’d run unprofitable shows during a pandemic just to say they’ve done them.) COVID-19 cases are spiking where I’m typing this, and we’re closer to a complete lockdown than things getting back to the old normal. I hope things will be better six months from now, but I have no idea why you’d announce shows six months in advance of knowing if it’ll be safe to do them. Most Mexican wrestling talk about running the US is vaporware – either it doesn’t happen, or it doesn’t happen as originally advertised – but talking about running shows in the US right now is an obvious sign you’re not on the ball. I don’t know how a rational organization thinks this is a good announcement; it’s credibility killing.
Lucha Time/Torreon luchador Hijo del Espectro says a big company was looking at him, the pandemic delayed it, but he was told to keep working hard and get into a big rivalry. This is partially marketing. It’s certainly possible AAA would use him in an early match whenever they get to run a show in the Monterrey area again, as they’ve done with Baby Xtreme and Komander recently. Getting into a hot rivalry is good advice at all times (it’s not something major companies actually seem to care about specifically, but it can raise a profile.) Finding a booker/programmer/matchmaker/whatever able to build a coherent hot feud in Mexico is the tougher part.
Lucha Madre, which seems to be an attempt to do a Lucha Time style presentation with Mexico City wrestlers (and also judges?), has their first episode here. It’s taped at CAR The Crash, though they’ve darkened it enough to make it look less identifiable. That part is interesting, not sure about the rest. Lucha Time works, for the level it works, because they’ve been featuring people who don’t have an outlet to wrestle during the pandemic, and they’re trying to build up new people. Lucha Madre seems to be featuring mostly the same guys who are working many shows already. I will probably check this out at some point for Draztick Boy matches, and it’s good they’re trying a different look. Still, it’s a really crowded market (especially considering this is happening during a pandemic.)
A full list of every indie running around Mexico State (during a pandemic) sounds like a project I need to accomplish soon.
Mas Lucha’s podcast talked about Principe Aereo and got heated at times. The video starts with a clip of the incident if you’d prefer to skip a few minutes.
Mas Lucha will put up the EMW drive-in show from October 3rd on their Premium Channel Sunday. Sunday’s IWRG show didn’t stream, but it did go up for free on Tuesday.
I am not trying to be critical in this – this has been a rough week, and some things will slip through – but it would still be so helpful if the Premium channel page listed the upcoming shows and the recently released shows in an easy to find fashion. There’s even a space on the current main page for that information, but it’s not updated. IWTV has a “Schedule” link on the top menu of every page, and the Mas Lucha service would be more valuable if there were a similar page on Mas Lucha’s website. (I have to put this stuff here because I’m a crazy person no one wants to talk to, but everyone still reads this because there’s nothing better to read, so the message will eventually get passed on. I join you in wishing there was something better to read.) I think Mas Lucha will eventually catch up to where they need be, but they’d be better off if they worked on the infrastructure before adding more content. You can have the best eggs in the world, but it doesn’t matter without a menu to order them.
RT interviews Octagon. In this retelling, he came up with the Octagon gimmick himself after watching the movie, and he’s the only person mentioned as founding AAA. Octagon also played with America but preferred lucha libre to have closer contact with the people. Why would I doubt any of this?
The DTU documentary can be viewed here until the end of the week. It’s about 10 minutes long. I didn’t grasp I just needed to click the link to vote.
Fray Tormenta is COVID-19 negative and hopes to perform mass in 4-5 days. He’s still on oxygen due to lung damage.
Reina Dorada earned a degree in nutrition while starting her wrestling career. She’s hoping to open a nutritional consultary soon.
El Signo de Torreon has a bio of The King I, Blue Panther’s original trainer.
Lineups
IWRG (SUN) 10/25/2020 Arena Naucalpan
1) Mexica vs Atomic Star
2) Toxin vs The Tiger
3) Big Chico Che, Big Mike, Big Ovett vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
4) Jessy Ventura & Pasion Kristal vs Estrella Divina & Tiago
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus, Súper Nova, Veneno vs Cerebro Negro, Eragón, Freelance
6) Demonio Infernal © vs Dragón Bane [IWRG IC MIDDLE]
first defense (Demonio won it back on New Year’s Day)
Not sure if this is Mas Lucha Premium. Oficials made the first appearance here in a while on the Festival of Masks show and are now back on a regular event. Infernal and Bane continue the feud between the teams; Fresero isn’t booked this week but Dragon Bane is (and no longer has a singles title.)
The next week is the annual Castillo del Terror show, where someone will lose a mask. Some years build towards a mask match; this does not appear to be one of those years.