Month: November 2020

TripleMania Press Conference

(You can watch it in full here. They started on time, as they seem to do when it’s a virtual press conference.)

The full card

AAA TV (SAT) 12/12/2020 Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
TripleMania XXVIII
1) Máximo, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
2) Fénix & Pentagón Jr. © vs Myzteziz Jr. & Octagón Jr. and Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. [AAA TAG]
3) Faby Apache vs Lady Maravilla, Chik Tormenta, Lady Shani, La Hiedra, Hades [Copa TripleMania Femenil]
4) Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Blue Demon Jr., Hijo de LA Park, LA Park
5) Arcano & Leyenda Americana vs Terror Purpura & Venenoide
6) Kenny Omega vs Laredo Kid [AAA HEAVY]
7) Pagano vs Chessman [hair]

The show will start at 7 pm CT. It’ll air live on AAA’s Facebook and YouTube and Space in Mexico. Azteca will be starting at 10:30 (not sure if that means they just get the last few matches or start late.) The show will also air on Multimedios on Sunday. TripleMania will also be shown in some Cinepolis movie theatres on Sunday if you’re a brave soul who wants to go to a movie theatre in 2020. It will not air on Twitch, it will not have English commentary.

Is this as big as a recent TripleMania, with a historic mask or hair match? Nah. Is it still a good card in a year where wrestling in Mexico has been barely hanging on? Absolutely. It’s good to have a big show at all and a skinner card has some advantages. I’m disappointed not to see some of my favorite names here but a problem with TripleMania – and most promotion’s major shows of the year – are the bloated feeling of cramming people onto the show just to say they were there. There’s little of that here. There’s also a show here, which there was no guarantee we’d get at this point. It’ll be a no fan show, so expect the corporate sponsors to be loudly thanked for making this possible.

Pagano versus Chessman will be a spectacle. The two titles match should be great matches, as really should be Copa Triplemnania Femenil. The opener and the Psycho Circus match should be good as well. The Marvel match has a lot of intrigue (and is also probably a reason why this show is still on.) Space has four hours for this show, which should give every match plenty of time.

No TripleMania appearances for Big Mami, Parka Negra, Dinastia, Super Fly, Mamba, Drago, Aerostar, Dave the Clown, and Abismo Negro Jr., who were all appeared fairly often on the AutoLuchas shows. I’m probably forgetting a few more. Hijo del Vikingo’s awkward situation with AAA seems to have left him off this show. Keyra has a non-COVID medical issue. Averno still seems to be around but not used in the ring. Daga mentioned this press conference enough last night in a way where I presumed it meant he’d be on this show. Nope. Rush is specifically off due to ROH commitments. Taya is also off due to other commitments; it wasn’t said if it was specifically Impact. (I’d guess those are Hijo de LA Park & Hades spots onto the show.) There is usually a Michael Nakazawa appearance whenever Kenny Omega wrestles in AAA, I guess he’ll just not get a match this time. That is OK. Hugo Savonvich’s story about Lio Rush & the Colons showing up soon is apparently not this soon, or plans were scuttled once they went to no fans.

Some of those missing people may be under masks as the Marvel Lucha Libre characters in match five; everyone’s keeping those identities quiet. There was also the usual vague promises of surprises, so perhaps one or more names could appear in another fashion. No minis or exoticos does stick out. A Relevos AAA may have been considered out of bounds; this is the first time AAA’s run a 3v3 match since March. Even Copa TripleMania is limited to six people.

La Parka will be added to the AAA Hall of Fame on the show. Space and Azteca will have some form of fan interaction digitally through the show.

No English commentary is maybe not as deep a concern to people who read to this blog – who are used to both watching lucha libre in Spanish and not really having a choice – but it is to the people who watch TripleMania as their one show of the year and respond to me on Twitter. AAA has to have good English commentary if they’re going to expand the reach northwards, but this is a year where AAA is trying to just survive. The more immediate concern is this will end up with me tweeting around 500 times on 12/12 and maybe you should put me on mute.

Dorian Roldan presented the show as following all health protocols including COVID testing. I’m still cautious something may happen with this show if Mexico City declares a red light health emergency this upcoming Friday, but AAA presented this show as if it was definitely happening. Roldan also said he didn’t think AutoLuchas would work for TripleMania and wanted to keep it in Mexico City.

I think most people assume Pagano is winning the main event. I’m much less sure he’s winning.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 11/29/2020 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha, Ovaciones, R de Rudo]
1) Dick Angelo 3G b Cheff Benito  
Dick Angelo 3G replaced Komander
2) Mexica, Relámpago, Veneno b Estrella Divina, Karaoui, Tiago  
3) The Tiger b Toxin [super libre]  
sets up a title match
4) Baby Xtreme b Sobredosis [IWRG IC Light, semifinal]  
Baby Extreme advanced to face Puma de Oro in the final
5) Jessy Ventura & Pasion Kristal b Big Chico Che & Big Ovett  
Chico Che wants a singles match with Kristal
6) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Hijo del Alebrije DQ Demonio Infernal & Fresero Jr. and Hijo Del Espectro Jr. & Súper Nova and Fuerza Guerrera NG & Puma King [Relevos Increíbles]  

Baby Xtreme & Sobredosis seemed messy in what I’ve seen. Most of the other top matches are already announced rivalries continuing onto the big 12/06 show (and probably past that.) The R de Rudo recap seems to think that main event is setting up a heavyweight title match. A cage match seems possible too. Attendance seemed slightly down here (though I’d still gamble it was more than 30%).

Lucha Memes (SUN) 11/29/2020 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México [Lucha Memes, Mas Lucha]
1) Perro De Guerra Jr. b Belial
2) Avisman b Energía
money thrown in
3) Judas el Traidor b Tromba
Tromba replaced Latigo (injury)
4) Black Terry b Aramis
5) Arez b Trauma II
6) Mr. Electro b Ricky Marvin
7) Aeroboy & Solar I b Dr. Cerebro & Negro Navarro
All the wrestlers on the show (and both Traumas) came out to honor Negro Navarro before his match.

This was a Negro Navarro tribute show with matches ending by submission. I read the main event result many times presuming I wasn’t understanding and Navarro actually won, but he apparently did lose. It’s Negro Navarro and Solar, I should be surprised it wasn’t a draw. Navarro did lose on the DTU iPPV back in July, which was also unexpected. Perhaps he’s realized it’s near the end and has decided he no longer needs to win.

Ricky Marvin losing to no one but then losing to Mr. Electro is strange. Latigo has a neck injury. Lucha Memes returns on 12/20 with a show honoring Coliseo Coaclaco owner Justicero.

Mr. Potro, Chucho el Roto, Leviatham, Villano III Jr., Villano V Jr., and Centella Oriental will have a six-way cage mask match on 12/25 in Arena Lopez Mateos. It’s the first two who’ve been feuding but maybe one won’t lose or they felt they needed the Villanos to make a stronger match. Centella Oriental shockingly retained his title over Villano III Jr. this past Sunday to set this up.

Joe Lider actually defeated Ultimo Guerrero by foul Saturday at Arena Lopez Mateos, with Halloween and Toscano as partners. Challenges followed for a hair match. Seems a safe bet Ultimo Guerrero is not losing that one. This main event didn’t draw particularly well and I’m not sure a hair match is going to do much better, but promotions are pushing on anyway.

Mas Lucha streamed the season 3 debut of Welcome to Mi Barrio on Friday night. Last season was airing earlier in the week, but I presume this means they’re on Fridays going forward. Mas Lucha seemed to avoid streaming their own content on Friday nights against CMLL but, given CMLL running once a month and probably to a small audience, it must seem a much safer decision now.

Milenio recaps an Arturo Rivera video on Abismo Negro, with a story about the time Abismo Negro got into a fight with Mil Mascaras because of Mascaras’ ego. Rivera’s stated belief if Abismo Negro had schizophrenia and that’s what led to his odd death. It is commonly believed Abismo Negro had substance issues, though those two ideas are necessarily not mutually exclusive.

Lucha Strong did run Arena San Juan Saturday, though there’s scant information about the show. They posted a video of the building being sanitized, which again makes me think the reason shows weren’t recently allowed in that building had to do with health issues.

Box Y Lucha mentions a luchador Coquito Blanco passing away back on 11/27, with no more details.

La Silla Rota has a story on the murder of Guanajuato luchador Rey Muerte, who trained (current?) MLW wrestler Septimo Dragon. He passed away back in September and this is a follow-up. The article mentions another one of Muerte’s students being involved in the murder of a local journalist. I’m not sure if I’m missing some connection or if they just threw in to make seem more scandalous.

Box Y Lucha 3450 has Bobby Lee and the Leyenda de Azul on the cover. It’s more Bobby Lee inside.

Oaxaca’s NVI Noticias continues their weekly profiles of lucha luchadors with Baby Demon.

Luchadors from Hidalgo traveled to flood devastated Tabasco to hand out collected pantry items.

The 12/04 drive-in show in Queretaro is canceled due to health issues.

CMLL (FRI) 11/27/2020 Arena México [CMLL, CMLL, Furia de Titanes, Marca, R de Rudo, SuperLuchas (Heavy), SuperLuchas (Leyenda de Azul), thecubsfan]
1) Princesa Sugehit b Reyna Isis
15:27. Sugehit took 1/3.
2) Felino & Tiger b Black Panther & Blue Panther
16:56. Felinos took 2/3, Tiger getting both the win over Blue Panther and a high amount of praise from his father.
3) Ángel de Oro b Diamante Azul, Sansón, Terrible, Forastero, Niebla Roja, Valiente, Cuatrero, Kráneo, Blue Panther Jr., Rey Bucanero, Vangellys, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr., Cancerbero, Ephesto [Leyenda de Azul]
No seeding battle royal, instead tecnicos versus rudos. Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja and Terrible worked together despite being on opposite sides. Eliminations: Ephesto (by Diamante Azul, 9:18), Kraneo (Terrible, 12:45), Blue Panther Jr. (Sanson, 16:08), Vangellys (Stuka, 18:45), Rey Bucanero (Valiente, 20:01), Guerrero Maya Jr. (Cancerbero, 22:36), Stuka (Forastero, 26:34), Valiente (Cuatrero, 26:34; pinned at same time as Stuka), Forastero (Diamante Azul, 29:54), Niebla Roja (Sanson, 32:23), Cuatrero (Angel de Oro, 33:41), Sanson (Angel De Oro, 36:20), Terrible (Diamante Azul, 38:20), Diamante Azul (Angel de Oro, 40:00; after a Niebla Roja distraction and a Terrible foul.)
4) Último Guerrero © b Euforia [CMLL HEAVY]
27:02. Euforia won fall 1 in 10:03 with a wristlock. Ultimo Guerrero submitted Euforia to Pulpo Guerrero in 3:47 for the second fall. Euforia & Guerrero kicked out of each other’s finishes in the third fall, with UG kicking out and surprise cradling Euforia to win in 13:22. 8th defense. Euforia and Ultimo Guerrero shook hands after the match, but were interrupted by a trios title challenge by NGD. Guerrero accepted.

It’s been a month off from PPVs and I have not been watching a lot of other CMLL in the meantime, so this was a hard reminder about how difficult it is to watch empty arena CMLL matches. Princesa Sugehit was very loud in the opener, which makes sense but also illustrated how quiet the building it was. It’s hard to main interest in a forty-minute match in these circumstances. It’s also hard to figure how having people around the ring making noise is unsafe but having sixteen wrestlers (plus three referees) in a match is safe. The stated reason for all these 1v1 and 2v2 matches is safety, but it’s more transparently a cost issue if they can run ciberneticos.

Even the main event was strong – around the good/great line, and felt like it’d easily be great with a crowd reacting to it. Euforia was as hard as you’d expect in his one chance to do a main event singles match and they got tons of time to work with. It inevitably turned into an Ultimo Guerrero match: they checked off his near fall moves in order, Euforia went for the moonsault for no reason, Ultimo Guerrero survived his opponents finish to immediately defeat him. It was still the best of Euforia, who will never have the star quality to be pushed as a top guy but always makes top matches better.

Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja have been rudos (still booked on tecnico side, but cheating like rudos) for a month now and the announcers are still surprised every time it happens. The group with Terrible are called Terriblemente Chavez, which is too wordy to stick. They worked together in the cibernetico despite being on opposite sides, facing off against NGD and later Diamante Azul. NGD are getting the trios title match, so maybe these guys will face Azul on the next show.

Tiger pinned Blue Panther in the deciding pin. Felino played it up as a huge achievement and then did a promo saying Tiger was the only one allowed to wear his colors. That seemed like a shot at Puma King.

The CMLL PPV chat room seemed significantly busier than the October shows. Interest and discussion on Twitter was minimal.

CMLL announced a 12/25 Christmas Day show at an early 5 pm start time. The show will include Copa Junior VIP, another irregularly held tournament. The NGD/Guerrero trios title match will likely be the main event. It’s likely 12/25 is the only PPV for the month, just like this show. Every show in October included part of a tournament, so this will be the seven straight PPV with a tournament match. The best I can figure is CMLL believes these tournaments are a draw and feel they can not build up matches in their current state, despite having a national TV show and all the time on YouTube they want.

Alberto el Patron accuser apologizes

Alberto Rodriguez (Alberto el Patron)’s ex-girlfriend posted a message last night on Instagram apologizing to Alberto’s family for damages caused by her errors. The last name she’s apologizing to is incorrect, but the belief is she’s retracting her claims which led to Alberto indicted in October for sexual assault and kidnapping. Both Alberto’s brother (Hijo de Dos Caras) and his sister also took to Instagram to denounce the accuser, painting this as a case of a celebrity being dragged through the mud by a greedy person. “People close to Alberto” told Mas Lucha they expect the charges will be dropped and the case closed before the end of the year. We don’t know why the accuser is considered greedy in what was a criminal case, or her reasons or circumstances of her apology. We don’t know if the charges will actually be dropped; this is a criminal case, so it’s up to the district attorney and not an Instagram post. Alberto will soon be doing an interview with Hugo Savonvich.

I guess it’s mandatory to neutrally look at this from a business perspective. It is also hard to do so, because there’s no great fit in normal conditions and the pandemic makes it harder. CMLL’s never going to pay what Alberto wants, AAA and Alberto have disagreed on pay in the past. (And AAA currently has Kenny Omega, who weirdly fits Alberto’s spot as international world champion.) Alberto has seemingly planted rumors of a WWE return in the past; WWE shot those down hard last time they came up and it’d be a hard sell while they still employ Paige (she’s accused him of abuse, he claims he has proof it was her) but it can never totally be ruled out. I can’t imagine AEW would bring him in (more because he’d demand a top position they wouldn’t necessarily want to give him before any moral issue.) Alberto burned his bridge with Impact years ago. I don’t know that ROH or MLW have the budget for him or would be interested if they did. The most likely outcome is getting his MMA job back (if he indeed ever lost it), sporadic indie bookings, and hoping to find someone new to build a promotion around him. There’s also the part where Alberto hasn’t been a good wrestler for years. Nacion Lucha Libre was a failure leaving wrestlers and others unpaid for their work, and the shows with Alberto on them didn’t draw. Alberto is famous but he’s long past being a meaningful star; people are about to morally compromise themselves for a guy who can’t even help them now.

Let’s talk about the compromise: I wouldn’t trust this guy in my wrestling promotion, around my family, or with fifty feet of me. There’s a pattern of behavior and subsequent denials that should be impossible to ignore – it’s not just one thing or two things, there have been so many Alberto incidents over the last ten years where he comes off as a terrible person. He gets away with it because he’s a big wrestling star, and that weirdly matters a lot to a small group of enablers who are willing to pretend to be oblivious about the obvious. People are going to align themselves publicly with Alberto, he’s probably going to mess up someone else’s life due to his own issues, and those people around him will pretend to be surprised until they repeat the cycle again.

Wrestling is rarely a moral or ethical business. I’m sure we’ll see Alberto in the ring in 2021. I am rooting for it to be the WWE so I never have to think about him.

Other News

LuchaWorld has a great Bobby Lee obituary.

Shows in Neza this weekend may be off. The event scheduled for Arena Azteca Budokan was canceled as part of the town cracking down on public events. Lucha Strong has a show scheduled for Arena San Juan, where two shows have been announced and then moved/canceled in the last month. No one’s successfully run there since Principe Aereo passed away; that may have wakened the local officials up more about the number of people in attendance rather than specifically Aereo’s passing.

Space’s schedule lists TripleMania as a four-hour show, with a Chessman/Pagano special prior. I expect that will go long and the Omega/Laredo match will as well, but I think they can squeeze more than 7 matches in a four-hour window.

I’m skipping the previews, since shows are probably happening by the time you read this.  Tom Mix is scheduled to be honored tonight in Arena Lopez Mateos; his son talked about his career.

CMLL edited out Texano and Maximo from their 2008 Leyenda de Azul video, so they’re just taking out anyone who is on AAA. Not sure if CMLL will upload past Copa Juniors like they have with Leyenda de Azul, but the past winner’s list shows we can expect them to skip 2004 (Wagner runner up), 2010 (Averno runner up), 2014 VIP (Maximo winner), and 2016 (Puma runner up).

The IWRG Tag Tournament final will take place on their 12/06 Anniversary show, so I guess the tag team title match is later in the month.

Mexico State (ex-IWRG) luchador Heavy Boy is looking to raise funds to pay for surgery to remove a tumor from his kidney. Heavy Boy says he had COVID-19 earlier this year, survived with diminished lung capacity, and they found the tumor during that process. The public endocrinologist who was evaluating him for surgery ended up dying from COVID before Heavy Boy could be treated, and now he’s in a long medical limbo. The money he’s raising is in hopes to get the operation done through a private hospital instead.

A profile of Mexico State’s Super Dragons (not related to the PWG one.)

An interview with Reynosa’s La Pantera (not related to all the other ones.)

CMLL returns to PPV tonight with the Leyenda de Azul

CMLL (FRI) 11/27/2020 Arena México
1) Reyna Isis vs Princesa Sugehit
2) Black Panther & Blue Panther vs Felino & Tiger
3) Diamante Azul vs Sansón, Terrible, Forastero, Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente, Cuatrero, Kráneo, Blue Panther Jr., Rey Bucanero, Vangellys, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr., Cancerbero, Ephesto [Leyenda de Azul]
4) Último Guerrero © vs Euforia [CMLL HEAVY]
8th defense

There’s not a great deal of energy for this show. CMLL’s focused the promotion on the Blue Demon tribute Leyenda de Azul tournament, something that hasn’t been held since 2017 and wasn’t held in any special regard before it. The Santo version of this tournament, Leyenda de Plata, had a history of memorable storylines coming in or out it. There’s not been that history with Leyenda de Azul; it’s a trophy to given to build someone up before a major apuesta match or to give them a bounce back win after they lost one.

(CMLL’s also tended to make Leyenda de Azul the heavyweight/star tournament and Leyenda de Azul the welterweight/exciting wrestler one. That’s somewhat still present in the selections)

The new trio of Terrible, Niebla Roja and Angel de Oro figure to be the focus of the match. Who they end up stealing the match from might set up the next direction, if CMLL is to have any direction at all.

Ultimo Guerrero and Euforia aren’t a natural mix for opponents, but could be a memorable match if Euforia can bring the same emotion in ripping Ultimo Guerrero in to fighting Ultimo Guerrero. Euforia had an enjoyable match with Terrible last month, and this is an hotter and more important match. (Terrible beating Euforia is still crazy, even if now it looks like CMLL preparing Terrible for this new group.) Euforia winning the title would be a shock.

It feels like it says something about CMLL that they’ve pushed a tournament as the biggest selling point for this show, and not the main event world heavyweight title match. The heavyweight title match is the hotter one too – there’s an actual issue there with a compelling promo – but CMLL is playing off memories of two decade old matches instead. The media coverage of the show has focused on the title match far more.

Black Panther (and Blue Panther Jr.) debuted in on New Year’s Day 2014. He started in a feud with Puma & Tiger. It is nearly seven years later and Black Panther is facing Tiger and Felino. CMLL has had one idea for the Panthers, they’ve never really moved up, they’ve never really moved down, they’ve never built to any sort of conclusion, they’ve just been on the same treadmill for seven years.

A champion versus champion singles match is a bizarre choice for an opening match, but CMLL won’t ever put them ahead of a meaningless Blue Panther or Felino match. Their role is to be a prelim act and no more. Match might be good, which is nice for people watching the show and maybe pointless for those involved.

I don’t sense there’s any great excitement for this show, or any renewed interest because CMLL’s only running one PPV this month and not four. The people who were left buying every show at the end of October will probably buy this one, but no more. CMLL’s given no indication of what their plans will be for December.

Felino, Euforia, and Ultimo Guerrero did media interviews. Rush trolled CMLL.

On CMLL Informa, Hechicero noted he wasn’t very interested in his missing trios title match. Like with Euforia, a big part of it was because it was going to be an Aniversario match, and instead of happening on a random show in December or January or ever is not as exciting.

Bobby Lee (Carlos Alvarado Gonzalez, 70) passed away Thursday. Bobby Lee is remembered nationally as El Santo’s last great rival. The two feuded heavily in 1978, with Santo eventually taking about both Bobby Lee’s mask and hair. He was an enormous figure of lucha libre in Leon, Guanajuato as the local legend turned promoter and commissioner (often at the same time.) Any time there was a lucha libre story in the last three decades, he was the guy the Leon (and the entire state) writers would go to for his take. He’s the level of local sports star that the soccer team paid tribute to him in a Tweet.

The rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Mexico City continues to rise. The city remains in a “orange with alert”, which means they’re trending the wrong way. It is possible Ciudad de Mexico could move to the harder lockdown of a Red color code any week now. I’m unsure if TripleMania would be allowed to happen under red conditions; AAA did get away with Lucha Fighter in Red, but flew under the radar by taping in a studio in a way TripleMania at Arena Ciudad de Mexico might not. The fine print is Mexico City (and Mexico in general) gives updates on Fridays that take effect the following Monday, so the important day is next Friday. Any change after that wouldn’t take effect until after TripleMania. All of this is subject to change at any moment, but that’s what it seems like right now.

(It’s hard to figure when AAA might be able to run again after TripleMania. It may only be possible outside of Mexico City and it may still be a while. That’s got to factor in decisions on TripeMania itself; does AAA need the Megachampionship back if they’re not going to be able to hold defenses for months?)

The El Paso/AEMG show on Saturday featuring Cinta de Oro & Magno vs Primo & Epico will be $25 PPV. That seems too much but I’m not sure any more people would be rushing to buying this show at $15. They’ve done a lot of live promotion for the show, and I’m also not sure how many people in El Paso are going to want to leave their houses.

Mas Lucha officially announced Dr. Wagner Jr. versus Mascara 2000 Jr. in a hair match on 12/06. That’ll be a Premium only stream. 2020 is a strange world where IWRG has money for apuesta matches and CMLL does not.

DTU announced they plan to have 13th Anniversary shows on 12/18 in Tampico and 12/20 in Tulancingo. A drive-in show scheduled for today in Pachuca has been postponed due to the pandemic, making it hard to believe the DTU shows will be allowed to take place in a month. DTU’s most 11/15 show airs tomorrow as a PPV.

KAOZ had been teasing a tournament for December 2020, is now teasing the tournament for 2021.

IWRG announced a Toscano/Tarzan Boy 27th Anniversary show on 12/20. Very odd thing to have a 27th Anniversary show for a guy who hasn’t really worked that promotion much.

Puma King’s newest video focuses on his most recent IWRG appearance. In true vlogger fashion, the title teases a controversy that’s about five seconds long and near the end of the video. A seperate interview with Puma King mentions Canis Lupus is out with an ankle injury (and also Puma is meant to be feuding with Los Golepadors.)

TripleMania is on December 12th in Arena Ciudad de Mexico

Pretty sure this is correct this time. Space accidentally revealed the date in a Twitter post last night, then deleted it about an hour later. AAA sent out a press conference invite for Monday which listed the date later. AAA publically confirmed the date this morning.

The press conference is listed as Monday at 11 AM (but often starts later than that.) AAA will surely announce a full card and the streaming/television plans, though we can guess a bit.

Space has it as a 7 pm (CT) start time. TripleMania airing on Space means it’ll likely also air on Televisa and be streamed through the internet. AAA’s streamed recent TripleManias on Twitch. They haven’t run a Twitch stream since the start of the pandemic; all their streaming has been on Facebook and there’s a good chance that’s where this TripleMania will stream.

AAA lists Arena Ciudad de Mexico as the location. That is where TripleMania usually takes place and was announced as taking place this year. That’s when AAA (and the building) believed they may be able to bring in fans. That’s probably not happening – AAA would need some special government permission and there’s no indication that’s happening. Arena Ciudad de Mexico is a big building feeling even bigger empty. Running the venue might be best done by hiding the venue as much as possible, which makes it odd they’re running the Arena Ciudad de Mexico at all. (Maybe it’s a great deal, or maybe it’s a bad deal AAA can’t get out of.) WWE has ‘shrunk’ the empty space in an arena by using video screens, as has Ring of Honor to a lesser extent. Maybe we’ll see something like with AAA. It’s also possible that “Arena Ciudad de Mexico” might actually mean a parking lot. The building has run some drive-in movies there, so an AutoLuchas setup might be possible. (My recollection was the parking was mostly underground which Google Maps seems to confirm.)

Running in Arena Ciudad de Mexico is also a minor health issue – AAA fans are going to come to the building anyway just to see their favorite stars – which might have not been an issue if they were taping in a secret TV studio.

Dr. Landru has noted some concern about foreign wrestlers being able to come. That does seem a reasonable concern in the middle of a worsening pandemic. Kenny Omega was recently on Wrestling Observer Radio and talked about the Laredo Kid match as if he is expects it to happen. AAA also continues to promote it. AEW hasn’t mentioned the Laredo/Omega match, but it was hard to hype something without an announced date and they have their own priorities. (A TripleMania on 12/12 would give Omega plenty of time to quarantine and wrestle on a NJPW Tokyo Dome show, should that be a concern.) I assume he’s still good for TripleMania and I have seen nothing to indicate Taya won’t be able to make it, but we’ll know more about AAA’s plans on Monday.

It is worth keeping in mind these are just plans in 2020; between travel issues, governmental restrictions and COVID-19 tests, everyone’s got to hold their breath on about a lineup until they see who can actually make it in the building on the day of the show. I’d guess Chessman & Pagano are going to be heavily encouraged to isolate for the days before the show but a lot of this is just crossing fingers.

TripleMania came up on Mas Luchas’ En+carados podcast around the 1 hour 38 mark. Jose Manuel Guillen said he believed it’d be a no-fans TripleMania. He also said it was December or not at all for this year’s TripleMania; if they couldn’t get it done, they were going to move on.

FantasticaMania 2021 is not on NJPW’s schedule for January

Twitter user JC Vazquez noticed NJPW lists a “Road to New Beginning” tour on the dates usually reserved for FantasticaMania. (You can see the schedule on their English and Japanese sites.) Neither NJPW nor CMLL has acknowledged FantasticaMania’s absence. It is concievable NJPW will run the tour later in the year, but it would probably take the lifting of restrictions (and widespread vaccine availibility) and it’s hard to plan for that without a definite timeline. My guess is it is more likely the tour doesn’t happen at all in 2021 and they restart in 2022.

CMLL was reportedly telling wrestlers Fantastica Mania was still on as recently as two weeks ago. They were lying. It was fairly obviously to anyone following the health situations that Japan wasn’t going to let in two dozen foreigners to travel around their country during this health crisis. NJPW has struggled to get in their regular group of non-Japan regular wrestlers, has not gotten a Mexican wrestler to the ring, and doesn’t appear to have even tried to do so with a CMLL wrestler. This is another lost oppurtinty for exposure and money in a year full of them for Mexican wrestlers.

This tour is valuable to CMLL wrestlers. Wrestlers stand to make a lot of money via merchandise and other fan related activies. It’s also just a big career achievement for a wrestler to say he’s gone to Japan once (not to mention those who keep count of their trips as if they’re title reigns.) The lure of a FantasticaMania trip has kept people from leaving CMLL; on the flipside, Puma King getting his trip and realizing he probably wouldn’t get another any time soon probably was a factor in him leaving CMLL. If FantasticaMania trip was pulled in normal times, I think you’d see some CMLL wrestlers looking elsewhere for work. There is not much work elsewhere right now, so I’m not sure it will have the same effect. It might nudge someone otherwise getting nowhere in CMLL to just step away for now.

It is worth nothing that a fair amount of NJPW fans, more so those outside of Japan, will be fairly positive about this news. Those western fans understandably are hoping for immediate follow up on things they saw at their biggest shows of the year and are instead annual given a two week tour of wrestlers they largerly don’t know or care about. I believe the Mexican wrestlers are actually popular and appreciated among NJPW native fans. I also think NJPW does well finicially on the tour and values having an easy stretch of shows for wrestlers after the stress and punishment of the Tokyo Dome events. I expect NJPW will pick these events back up when they can, but also that you’ll see English language fan sentiment that they prefer the schedule without it.

Other Notes

CMLL Informa has Forastero, Hechicero, Black Panther, Tiger, Princesa Sugehit and Reyna Isis as guests. Everyone but Hechicero has a match on Friday. Hechicero hasn’t been seen since the September 18th Ticketmaster Live show, apparently suffering an injury which will keep him out the rest of the year. Maybe that’ll come up today.

CMLL uploaded the 2006 Leyenda de Azul. This was a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament. It was also a tournament where Dr. Wagner reached the semifinal and CMLL again edited out his three matches. It is hard to imagine how it is possible to follow a tournament when that much is cut out. It also seems fruitless; the video had been seen less than 5,000 times when I checked it midday. Not many people would be seeing Dr. Wagner even if he was included.

All the past Leyenda de Azul tournaments are now available one place or another

• 2000 (Roy Lucier)
• 2003 (CMLL)
• 2004 (CMLL)
• 2005 (CMLL)
• 2006 (CMLL)
• 2008 (decadas)
• 2011 (Google Drive)
• 2012 (Google Drive)
• 2014 (Google Drive)
• 2016 (Google Drive)
• 2017 (CMLL)

The Jalisco governor announced fans would be allow at today’s Chivas vs America game. They’re limiting it to 12% of capacity. Jalisco is in the same orange health code as Mexico City and elsewhere. There’s no sudden medical change explaining this decision, just justifying with the idea that they can safely spread everyone out over a large building for an annually important game. One place allowing it means others hope to have the same permission, so Guadalajara lucha libre fans are discussing the possible reopening of their (much smaller, very indoors) buildings. Arena Coliseo Guadalajara seemed to respond to this by posting a note saying they’d like to return but they’re still unable to until the government gives them permission and aren’t going to endanger their wrestler’s safety. The Jalisco governor is pitching this as a pilot program to see if other states can do it. It may actually signal different states enacting very different polices as seen in the US.

AAA posted a promo with Nino Hamburguesa & Big Mami responding to a previous challenge from T-Hawk and Lindaman of Stronghearts. This all started with a random attack back in January. In normal times, this would suggest a match for TripleMania. No idea right now.

El Sol de Tampico has a useful profile of AAA referee Piero. He was a fan of wrestling since being a kid, especially of the women wrestlers. He traveled to Mexico City at 15 and met Irma Gonzalez & Irma Aguilar, then they convinced him to come with to a show in Tlaxcala. They were missing a referee for the show and, since the kid knew everything about lucha libre, decided to put him in the ring. He was uncertain about it but a friend of his had started wrestling at the age of 15, he went with it. He’s been in AAA for the last 19 years and is 52 now.

Ring of Honor says they’ll announce matches for their 12/18 Final Battle show next week. Rush, Dragon Lee and Mexasquad are scheduled to defend their titles.

Rey Fenix continues to do public service announcements encouraging people to stay home to avoid spreading COVID-19. Fenix & Pac face the Butcher & the Blade tonight on AEW Dynamite.

Penta has opened a wrestling school in Ecatepec. Skayde and Arez will be trainers for classes four days a week.

R de Rudo has a profile of luchador/space alien Tromba.

Arena Lopez Matoes will run their (delayed) 53rd Anniversary show on Christmas.

60s/70s luchador Pokarito Reyes (Homero Cepeda Torres) passed away Sunday due to a heart attack.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 11/29/2020 Arena Naucalpan
1) Cheff Benito vs Komander
2) Sobredosis vs Baby Xtreme [IWRG IC Light, semifinal]
3) The Tiger vs Toxin [super libre]
4) Mexica, Relámpago, Veneno vs Estrella Divina, Karaoui, Tiago
5) Jessy Ventura & Pasion Kristal vs Big Chico Che & Big Ovett
6) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Hijo del Alebrije vs Demonio Infernal & Fresero Jr. and Hijo Del Espectro Jr. & Súper Nova and Fuerza Guerrera NG & Puma King [Relevos Increíbles]

So they’re not doing the tag team tournament final on this show despite having everyone there? I clearly do not understand what is happening here.

Komander returns – maybe. I’m guessing Komander is probably not wrestling an IWRG opener if he’s got a main event booking near home, unless he’s already coming to Mexico City for other reasons.

IWRG (SUN) 11/22/2020 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha, R de Rudo]
1) Cheff Benito b Halcón Mágico   
Mas Lucha and R de Rudo disagree if this is Halcon Magico or Halcon Galactico who lost.
2) Sobredosis b Mexica [IWRG IC Light, quarterfinal]   
3) Baby Xtreme b Baby Star [IWRG IC Light, quarterfinal]   
4) The Tiger b Toxin   
Toxin wants a super libre rematch
5) Hijo del Alebrije, Puma King, Veneno DQ Capo del Norte, Capo Mayor, El Hijo Del Espectro Jr.   
Puma faked an Espectro chair shot to get the DQ win.
6) Jessy Ventura & Pasion Kristal b Estrella Divina & Tiago and Big Chicoche & Big Ovett   

In the Lucha Time half of the first round, Redimido defeated Atomic Star and Puma de Oro defeated Mr. Puma. Baby Xtreme/Sobredosis and Redimido/Puma de Oro are probably the next round match up but I’m not absolutely sure.

IWRG announced changes to their ongoing tag-team tournament, which turned into a different story. The goal all along seems to have been to bring current tag champions (and US residents) Bryce Benjamin and Marshe Rockett in for a planned major show on 12/06, so they need to wrap up the stalled #1 contender tournament. Fresero Jr. & Demonio Infernal previously advanced to the final of that and will now face Pasion Kristal & Jessy Ventura next week. The Shotas team replaces Los Traumas, who are not working with IWRG right now.

Los Traumas haven’t been in IWRG since they were announced and quickly pulled from the 11/01 card. Nothing’s changed there, but it did shine a little more light on the situation. Ovaciones talked to IWRG head Marcos Moreno, who acknowledged it was an economic issue. In his version of the story, Los Traumas wanted more money than IWRG wanted to pay. IWRG has reduced pay to wrestlers, citing 30% of capacity. Los Traumas argued they should’ve been paid more on their last show because the building was more than 30% full. Moreno says that simply can not be true because they’re very focused on everyone’s health. Only IWRG (and maybe the commission) know how many people are buying tickets to see shows at Arena Naucalpan every Sunday but it is understandable Los Traumas are looking at that crowd and believing IWRG is putting more than 30% capacity. It’s not said in the article, but Los Traumas will obviously be back once they agree on pay again.

(Los Traumas and Negro Navarro remain IWRG Trios champions, a title that hasn’t been defended in over two years and may have been forgotten about. Don’t tell IWRG, they have enough titles.)

Puma & Espectro got into a fight with Demonio Infernal & Fresero Jr. before their match, which could mean Puma & Espectro are going to end up pals once this is all over or they’re just messing about. Maybe book that tag match, Ventura/Kristal vs Benjamin/Rockett, Toxin/Tiger, and Capo Mayor/Wagner and that’s a busy 12/06 card.

An attempt at running a series of bullfights in Naucalpan was revoked by the local government. The promoter said he was initially told by the government it was OK, only for the decision to be changed. This comes up because the bullfight promoter cited “a wrestling show in Naucalpan” being allowed to run indoors, while he was planning on running safely outdoors. IWRG’s never mentioned by name.

Gym Micktlan – the former Star Gym – has emerged as a Mexico City lucha libre venue during the recent pandemic events. It’s been unclear how, since lucha libre events with fans in attendance are currently banned in Mexico City. Maybe it just took time to catch on. A show this past Saturday was stopped due to the rule violation according to Dr. Landru. He also mentions the building was previously warned to knock it off. Indy Army Wrestling, Kriminal Lucha Libre, Evolucion Lucha Libre, and Lucha Strong had run that building among other promotions.

Impulso defeated Freelance for the AULL Lightweight Championship on Saturday. That appears to be setting up a hair match.

Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, and Terrible were a trio of tweeners for the second straight week on CMLL’s Televisa show. CMLL appears to be trying to recreate Los Ingobernables with that trio, though they are not using that name. We recently passed the five year anniversary of La Sombra signing with WWE; this would be a fresh concept if Los Ingobernables had vanished with him. Instead, the idea of cool rudos who are claimed as tecnicos has been run into the ground. A new group doing it so soon after will inevitably come off as a pale imitation. It is an excellent time for extermination – CMLL is going to draw the same zero fans either way – but this feels like CMLL plugging people into old spots so they don’t have to think of anything new.

The Rey Cometa/Raziel match from Friday’s AMX show is worth your time.

Friday’s CMLL Ticketmaster Live show is now up to 287.50 MXP (about 14.30 USD.)

CMLL edited out a Pierroth versus Blue Demon match from their 2005 Leyenda Azul upload, so he joins Wagner and Vampiro on the banned from appearing on CMLL’s YouTube list. (It may just ‘people we think work for AAA’ list.) Removing Blue Demon Jr. from the tournament that honors his father is not a great look. This could be the last one uploaded since the tournament is happening this week.

This is typically the week of CMLL’s Bodybuilding contest in recent years and there were indications earlier in the year that it was still planned to take place despite everything. CMLL has not mentioned it, but there’s always a chance a YouTube video from Arena Mexico shows up around noon on Wednesday.

AEW started on Space on Sunday. They started on a ten-day delay, which makes sense in this instance because it meant they aired a Rey Fenix vs Penta el Cero M match. I presume they’ll stay that far behind but always possible they could skip a week to catch up.

Pirata Morgan and Dr. Wagner are working a social media feud based on Pirata Morgan “revealing” sometimes wrestlers get paid more to lose apuesta matches and calling current lucha libre garbage. Juventud Guerrera got involved with it too. This is a very important story to many people who are in the scene in Mexico and seems so old fashioned to me that I can’t take it seriously.

The 11/28 Cinta de Oro-led show in El Paso is a drive-in show. It still doesn’t seem like a great idea to be running shows in El Paso but at least the fans are meant to be staying in cars. The press conference mentioned it would be a PPV, but I can’t find any info. It’s being projected on screens to help fans watch, so the idea it might be streamed somewhere is plausible.

Martinez Promotions announced a show on 12/19 in Kennedale, Texas with Hijo del Santo. Laredo Kid is listed, so TripleMania is probably not 12/19. Not sure if this show includes the tie-up with Lucha Memes that the promotion was teasing.

Dorian Roldan is speaking on a panel on Wednesday, which suggests no TripleMania press conference that day. The general assumption is AAA will announce their firm TripleMania date and plans this week but AAA’s made no public indication of when that’ll happen. Please don’t do it Thursday.

Ex-AAA Mascara de Bronce announced he was switching his name to MultiBronce. He announced the same thing about a year and a half ago.

Blue Demon Jr. joined Caristico & Tinieblas as a representative of the Redes Social Progesistas. Furia de Titanes noted Demon has previously endorsed a PRI candidate in an election a few years ago.

Box Y Lucha 3449 has Leyenda Azul on the cover.

Sonora luchador/referee el Galan (Javier Isiorida) passed away on Saturday after a battle with cancer.

Villano III Jr. challenges Centella Oriental for the AULL Welterweight Championship next Sunday, his first title match since leaving AAA.

Segunda Caida writes about some early 90s Monterrey lucha and miraculously finishes their review of every Lucha Underground episode ever. A lot of shocking twists in that last episode but the most surprising is they’d be up for a season five.

Milenio visits various Torreon & Gomez Palacio lucha libre arenas to listen to promoters vent about not being able to run.

Sinaloa luchador Prinicipe Kisho says he got interested in becoming a luchador after getting into a fight with Histeria.

La Silla Rota visits out of work Hidalgo luchador/trainer El Bufalo.