WWE officially announced Taya as joining NXT among a raft of new names. (Those include Blake Christian, who worked one RIOT show and was announced for a second before the pandemic hit.) The news leaked a couple of weeks ago and was the expected outcome after she left Impact. That’s a wrap on Taya’s successful run in AAA, where she was a regular since 2012. I expect AAA knew this was happening for a while and will wish her a fond farewell in the next few hours. (Edit: they did.)
CMLL has Sanely, Black Panther, and Guerrero Maya on Informa. That’s less than usual. Maybe more will be added. CMLL promised more details for their 03/26 Copa Junior VIP show today; it may not be a lot given it’s still a month away. None of those three announced guests were on the original lineup for Copa Junior VIP.
CMLL’s reach in Latin America has increased somewhat. CMLL’s main show is on Televisa, Televisa packages their channels digitally as Blim TV, Blim TV started being carrying DirectTV Go in the past week., which means some countries outside of Mexico would have access to CMLL. Those same shows air on YouTube on an eight-day delay.
Mexisquad (Bandido, Flamita, and Rey Horus) lost the ROH six-man championship to Shane Taylor Enterprises (Shane Taylor, Moses, Kaun) on ROH TV. Taylor pinned Flamita. Taylor’s getting a world title shot against Rush next weekend, so that was the expected outcome. Dragon Lee & Kenny King will also challenge Jonathan Gresham & Jay Lethal on the next TV show. The poster for ROH’s next PPV (March 26th, the 19th Anniversary show) teases more Foundation/Faccion Ingobernable matches to come. Shane Taylor’s post-match promo after the six-man title change suggested they’ll likely do a rematch at this PPV if he doesn’t win the world singles title.
Friday, Arena Lopez Mateos announced they were reopening on February 28th. Monday, Arena Lopez Mateos announced that the show was canceled and they would be remaining closed for the time being. This appears to be a reaction to what happened at CAR The Crash. Lucha libre venues were opened at 30% capacity during the previous orange light, but it appears Mexico State is saying no to mass gatherings this time around and other venues are concerned about closure/fines similar to CAR The Crash.
Indie luchador Wotan revealed to Box Y Lucha he caught COVID-19 in December and suffered badly. It’s also in this week’s magazine. His mother came down with it first and he was set on making sure it didn’t pass to anyone else (even if it sounds like it might have prevented people from checking on him.) Wotan believes he may take a break from lucha libre in 2021 as he recovers.
I can’t find the post now, but Hijo del Vikingo added himself to the names of AAA luchadors advertising himself for outside work. I don’t know who’s running but he’d obviously be a big deal on any Mexican indie if he’s available. (No, I don’t think he has a US visa.)
Lucha Memes mentioned on their fundraiser page that their show has been filmed and they’re in the process of editing it. A viral clip of Astrolux pulling off a flying headscissors on Astrolux pushed their fundraiser way up, over 70%.
Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano in Torreon is expected to be the next arena to open in Torreon if the health protocols work for this weekend’s show in Arena Azteca. They’re already teasing a Volador appearance.
Furia de Titanes points out a poll for Cuauthemoc mayor. That’s the race Caristico has declared to be in. Most political parties expected to put forth a candidate haven’t put one forward, but Caristico still is far behind the leader (Dolores Padierna Luna). More discouragingly, 81% of the 400 people surveyed say they have no idea who Caristico is, while 77% know Padierna Luna. The polling group does not have information on Blue Demon or Tinieblas’ races. The party (RSP) is relatively new and unheralded – they’ve been thought unlikely to win unless the fame of the many celebrities makes a huge difference. It does not appear to have mattered so far in this race.
Laguna wrestler Tarzan Flores (Juan Flores) passed away Saturday according to Box Y Lucha. I don’t have a birthday, but he was likely in his 70s. He was a longtime star in Torreon and used the name “La Sombra” in the 60s, including in EMLL. The story around WWE’s Andrade getting the name “La Sombra” was because he seemed like a shadow image of Oro, but I wonder if maybe the long institutional history of CMLL also remembered they gave that name to a person from Torreon before.
Senor Tormenta (Rodolfo Macias, 85) passed away Monday according to Box Y Lucha. There are no more details there. The luchadb has a Senor Tormenta wrestling primarily in northern Mexico in the 70s and 80s which seems to match up.
Toluca luchador Fuego Sr. (not related to the CMLL one) remincses about the old Arena Toluca.
The head of the Tijuana Boxing, Lucha Libre, and MMA commission abruptly resigned for personal reasons. He seemed to be generally liked (or at least complained about far less) than the previous head of that department.
Rey Misterio Sr. says he no longer goes to wrestling shows because he loves wrestling too much and is too sad to no longer be able to participate.
Guaymas lucha libre commissioner Gabriel Lopez pushed back against complaints that local licensing fees were too high, saying they were fair for what the services costs. The previous administrator had not charged for wrestling licenses for the last two years. The fee is now 300 pesos ($14.50 USD); Lopez notes those are licenses for professionals so they should be easily paid that much by promoters. Those promoters are unhappy that ambulances are now required at shows, and Lopez says that’s set by the (Sonora) state government and also required by the city authorities regarding mass gatherings.
Mas Lucha has a new edition of their En+carados podcast.
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