On Konnan’s Keepin’ It 100 podcast, Kevin Kleinrock asked Konnan about the disappearance of the AAA YouTube channel and the Facebook site restriction to Mexico only. Konnan notes that’s not his department and he doesn’t know; he had been told something about a music rights issue earlier, but wasn’t sure if that was the underlining cause or if it was related to the lawsuit. Konnan is curious about the situation too, though the normal AAA holiday break means everyone’s out of that office until January 6th and he’s not expecting to get find out anything until they get back. Either the lawsuit is not as big a deal as it seems or Konnan hasn’t been informed it’s important yet, because the rest of the conversations steers into subjects (English commentary, luchadors for new fans to seek out) which only make sense if fans outside of Mexico will be able to see AAA again soon.
(On the English commentary, Konnan mentions the new was emphasized to him in other discussions after TripleMania and now believes it is important not to just get people jumping into to do commentary, but commentators who follow AAA constantly and know the product.)
The big question is when AAA will able to run again. Konnan says AAA is not expecting to run until at least late January and was very clear that’s just the best guess at this point. AAA’s hoping to run outside of a TV studio and in a locale Konnan believes will be very impressive, though he’s keeping it top secret. I vote for putting a ring on top of or in front of the Teotihuacan pyramids like the video game (but I’m also not the one who’d have to haul a ring there and maybe those people would think that’s a bad idea.)
Today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter had a section on AAA which certainly reads like a conversation between Dave Meltzer and the person in charge of booking AAA about why the TripleMania women’s match was bad. The story goes AAA was going to do Taya/Shani, Taya asked out because of the COVID situation in Mexico, then it was going to be a trios match with the six women announced, then there was pressure to include Mami and the exoticos. My guess has been it was pressure from the wrestlers themselves (and their allies) to get them included, though the WON frames it more as pressure from the fans demanding to see more people.
Marisela Pena’s account announced AAA AutoLuchas episode 8 will debut on Facebook at 9 pm on Sunday. AAA started uploading earlier Autoluchas episodes on Facebook; episode 8 is the first which never aired on YouTube. This is an acknowledgment AAA doesn’t expect to be uploading to YouTube any time soon. The AAA Facebook account remains restricted to Mexico only; I will endeavor to find a solution.
There’s no CMLL PPV today as scheduled. CMLL will instead put up part of the Anniversary show on YouTube at 5 pm CT. Matches appearing
- Metalica vs Reyna Isis for the Mexican National Women’s Championship
- Sanson, Cuatrero, Forastero vs Virus, Raizel and Cancerbero for the Mexican Trios Championship
- Titan vs Soberano for the CMLL Welterweight Championship
Titan/Soberano is absolutely worth going out of your way to watch. My guess is the rest of the matches from this show are being saved to go up later, but CMLL didn’t say that.
On CMLL Informa, Julio Cesar Rivera and Reyna Isis were having a discussion about CMLL luchadoras and noted that Avispa Dorada is the only one who’s yet to wrestle since the pandemic. JCR confirmed that Dorada was still part of CMLL, and mentioned Fuego & Halcon Suriano Jr. were still as well when reminded by a voice off-screen. Avispa Dorada has sent in video, the other two have not, and all are said to just prefer staying in their hometowns for the time being.
CMLL Informa did not include anything on Dr. Alfonso Morales. None of his former partners appeared, there was no discussion of his career, he didn’t even appear to be mentioned. Perhaps this was an oversight that’ll be rectified at a later date. History suggests not.
Dr. Alfonso Morales was the most famous Mexican lucha libre announcer. The current most famous US announcer was Jim Ross. I’ve got no doubt that WWE isn’t fond of Jim Ross at the moment – he works for the competition and on a podcast that is critical of WWE – and I’ve got equally no doubt WWE would flood their channels with memories of Jim Ross if he were to pass away tomorrow. Glorifying the history of Jim Ross would be respectful, and it’s also be glorifying the history of WWE since he was such a part of it. (WWE would also monetize it because that’s why they do.) Nothing CMLL puts on Televisa or on YouTube matters at all right now, and airing some old Morales announced matches or a discussion amongst the people who knew him would’ve been an easy way to earn goodwill and support. If CMLL can’t be persuaded from a moral ground that it’s important to greatly memorialize one of the key figures in how their fans have experienced their product, then maybe they need to look it at how it’s a terrible business to pave over their past in this way.
(The same criticisms can fairly be leveed at AAA, though their issues with social media might make handling the situation very tricky.)
Arena Queretaro says they have a 35-year tradition of shows and will continue it tonight with no fans. The show streams tonight at 5pm on Facebook. There’s also an empty arena holiday show in Merida on Saturday, where lucha libre has also generally been shut down for months. Mas Lucha is airing a third Lucha Madres show with a Arez/Tromba match that seems good; they’ve had good encounters in non-singles situations. There’s also a Lucha Time show today, but they have the time to film wacky Christmas videos but not the time to advertise what is airing on their shows, so I can’t write about it.
The OCESA/AAA Rock y Lucha was postponed. I could never figure out how the show would’ve happened, but presumed it was pre-taped when they did the Media for it. Guess not.
Mr. Niebla passed away one year ago Wednesday. SuperLuchas looked back through old interviews to remember him.
01/22 Lucha Memes/Martinez Turf Zone Arena in Fort Worth, Texas
- Aeroboy vs Joshua Wavra
- Ricky Marvin vs Tony Deppen
- Arez vs Daniel Garcia – new
- Aramis vs Jonathan Gresham – new
I don’t know the logistical involved, but this card feels like it should be an IWTV or FITE show. I think it’ll play well to the internet audience; maybe a lot better than for the ticket-buying audience at this point.
Following the ChinampaLuchas bit of luchadors putting people in holds if they didn’t wear a mask, the Iraputo government sponsored a PSA where luchadors are attacking people with chairs if they don’t wear a mask. I presume the people being hit are in on it but it is Mexico can’t be sure.
In CMLL press day interviews, Sanson said he’s working on starting a podcast. I wonder which luchador is going to be the first Mexican wrestler to get a Twitch channel going.
El Cuervo de Puerto Rico will appear on this upcoming week’s AEW Dark show. IWRG hyped his return to Mexico in late October, while Zona 23 teased “a match too controversial to reveal” (which seemed likely to be Cuervo versus his assailant Angel o Demonio.) Cuervo didn’t come to Mexico after all. He’s wrestled very rarely since the 2018 head injury.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.