AAA’s YouTube channel has returned – if you have a Mexican IP address. This is the same situation as AAA’s Facebook, which all seems to have to do with the ongoing AAA/FMV lawsuit where FMV claims to have exclusive rights to anything AAA outside of Mexico. FMV believes they’re owed any money generated by AAA on YouTube from non-Mexican viewers and AAA is responding by refusing to generate any money outside of Mexico.
In a weird quirk, you can still get to AAA’s YouTube videos outside of Mexico if you have the direct link. The videos I’ve linked to in the database still work; AAA’s channel appears to have been completely restored. I would not count on those links to work for everyone forever; it’s possible this is an oversight that’ll eventually be fixed. (The AutoLuchas show that went up Sunday is the first new video since the channel has been restored, and it can only be viewed in Mexico. This is the same show that went up on Facebook, which I’ve already put up on YouTube.)
The AAA/FMV situation comes up in another instance: Ciudad Juarez group 915-656 was promoting a “Lucha Libre AAA” show in Odessa, Texas on February 13th. It’s branded as an AAA show, but it’s more accurately a local promotion bringing in a lot of AAA names likely booking them through the AAA office. Lucha Libre FMV’s lawsuit claims they’re the only people allowed to make money from AAA outside of Mexico, so this could be an issue if this show gets on FMV’s radar. 915-656 says they weren’t aware of the legal issue and are getting rid of the AAA name.
Sports Illustrated has an article about Masked Republic. It mentions they’ve added Dragon Lee and Rush to the many Mexican wrestlers they represent, and they’re expected to officially re-sign with ROH this week.
Heel by Nature points out an attempt by “Rey Fenix” to copyright his name was recently rejected because it was too close to Lucha Libre FMV’s “Fenix”. (I went to check it myself, and it’s listed as still Live; maybe there’s someplace else where the rejection notice is mentioned?) Rey Fenix can appeal in the next six months. I believe WWE’s had similar issues where names were initially rejected before eventually being accepted, so this is unlikely to be the end of this situation. Masked Republic said Lucha Central would have more about the situation today, but it hasn’t turned up yet.
The Arena Lopez Mateos show scheduled for 01/16 has been indefinitely postponed. Arena Mamas Lucha ran their New Year’s Show but has since postponed shows for 01/09 and 01/16.
Solo Wrestling interviewed Jonathan Gresham about the upcoming 01/22 Lucha Memes show in Texas. (Text is in Spanish, video is in English.) He’s obviously excited for the show and envisions this as the first of a series leading to a concept show. Gresham mentions the show will appear on IWTV but he doesn’t believe it’ll be airing live. He says every wrestler will be required to take a COVID test before the show; the Mexicans are supposed to do so before traveling. He didn’t know Blue Demon Jr. was on the show until he saw the announcement, so this must be a collaborative process.
Blue Demon Jr. is raising funds for a child who has been wearing a Blue Demon mask during his cancer treatments.
Lucha Libre Online has an interview with El Cuervo de Puerto Rico. Planeta Wrestling transcribed a portion talking about the match with Angel o Demonio. Cuervo says he was never originally booked for the match on his tour and it was presented to him as a gift for doing well. He now suspects it was a trick by jealous people. Even though, it was presented to him as a coffin match – which confused him, why would their first match be a coffin match – and then later was told it was an extreme match. He had been told the weapons were underneath the ring and was bending doing to look for them when he got hit by the brick, which is another reason he suspects it was a setup. Cuervo credits LA Park for getting an ambulance when those in charge were slow and improper to check on him. Cuervo was told by psychologists never to watch the video for his own safety; he eventually did and it sent him down into a big depression.
“Heroes of Lucha Libre” will have a new season according to a headline in Pasala which absolutely should not be trusted. If you’ve already managed to forget, Heroes of Lucha Libe was the superhero-themed lucha libre show taped in 2017 and 2018 and dropped on Crackle late in 2020. The show was not good, didn’t seem to be watched by anyone; this seemed to be an already dead concept dumped off on a VOD provider to salvage whatever they could get. Guillermo Pous, billed in the article as a co-producer of the series, claimed to be preparing a second season of the show in 2021 because the ratings of the first season were so high – in fact, he says the budget went up. Crackle does not have ratings and is likely paying per ad view. Pous says people loved the show because it respected the tradition of lucha libre, which reads like a person who paid a lot of money for a lucha libre promotion he didn’t actually watch.
Alberto Rodriguez (Alberto el Patron) told Record he’s totally innocent of any charges, and will one day show proof of it, just not today. Record also published an article citing R de Rudo & Roberto Figueroa’s posts about Rodriguez’s innocence. Its notable Record says they’re quoting an anonymous source when those outlets mentioned the source was from Rodriguez’s family. Maybe someone figured it plays better that way.
Arena Tigre Padilla in Monclova is re-opening for boxing and lucha libre training starting Monday. The article notes that luchadors must wear proper clothes and a mask and knee pads.
Septimo Dragon’s father says his son has undergone four surgeries in total and is hopeful of being discharged from the hospital in the next few days. Septimo Dragon particularly thanked Mucha Lucha Atlanta for their support.
Violento Jack made a surprise appearance in Big Japan Wrestling. He’s been a regular in FREEDOMS for years. I’m guessing this is the two promotions working together rather than a jump but I don’t know much about it.
MLW announced LA Park Jr. & Hijo de LA Park will challenge for the Von Erichsf or the tag team titles on their TV show next week. Mil Muertes will also debut on that show; it’s a gimmick show produced by Muertes’ MLW manager Salina de la Renta.
Hijo de Coco Verde passed away on Friday. Furia de Titanes mentions he was a CMLL trainee who also wrestled as Mr. Buho.
Box Y Lucha says Gugan Khan (Jorge Ezequiel RodrÃguez Valencia) passed away on Friday. He seems to be an older wrestler.
Juan Cabral, who promoted the large Festival Mundial de Lucha Libre in Guadalajara from 2008 to 2011, passed away recently. Those shows brought in both AAA & CMLL (on separate days) as well as indie wrestlers for multiple days of events. The first couple drew very well. The 2009 three day event drew about 20,000 people, Furia de Titanes is among others going back to the Oro II (not current CMLL one) vs Fantasma de la Opera mask match, where Opera took Oro’s mask only to lose his own mask in an immediate rematch, as the most memorable bit from the shows. The most memorable bit to me from those shows was Faby Apache losing a hair match on Guerra de Titanes a few days before, wrestling in an early match wearing a knit cap, and the cap coming off during the match to reveal she’d only got her hair cut down to a shorter hair-style and not shaved bald. It was obvious there had been a bait and switch at Guerra de Titanes, this was just the confirmation – and the photos made it absurd rather than infuriating.
The state of Quintana Roo is working to re-open sport, as long as they stay in the yellow health color. This would include lucha libre events.
NVI Noticas regular features on Oaxaca luchadors talks about la Furia today, including one intensely bloody match.