Month: March 2021

Andrade

Andrade was interviewed by Hugo Savinovich of Lucha Libre Online on Monday and a group of media hosted by Mas Lucha on Tuesday. LuchaWorld and this Reddit post have summaries of the first interview. I tried to patch together notes on the second interview last night. SoloWrestling has a good recap. My Spanish is very slightly improving but still not great; you’re always better off watching the interviews yourself.

The Monday interview was more dramatic, the Tuesday was a bit kinder to WWE. Monday peaked with Andrade revealing a false positive pregnancy test that caused his fiance Charlotte to be removed from WrestleMania, and Charlotte clarifying it was the way she was informed of the positive that upset them. Andrade previously had issues with the same doctor over his wellness policy violation, which he believes was for a tainted supplement that he couldn’t get tested. Andrade says he had Lasik eye surgery last fall, wasn’t used for four months, and then was told by Triple H that he and Vince didn’t know he was cleared. Andrade seemed to disbelieve that was true, and instead a line to pacify him. Andrade claims Triple H offered to bring him back over to NXT for a year to get him going, then bring him back to the main roster with a new deal. Andrade noted there are those in NXT who didn’t want to leave out of fear of being stuck in the same void he’s been in, but he had no interest in going backward and feels confident he can make good money elsewhere. Several people pushed Andrade on if he believed WWE didn’t push him for racial reasons and he consistently stated he didn’t believe that was the case. Andrade is well aware some believe he wasn’t used because of his English speaking skills but disagreed with it as the reason (or at least the sole reasons), noting characters who speak less than he does (Asuka) being used well and people who can speak English better not being used at all. It didn’t seem like Andrade had a strong specific reason why it didn’t work out, beyond WWE not seeing him as a star so he was never given the chance to be one.

I’m less interested in what happened with WWE and more in what’s happening next, though the two are intertwined; Andrade wants to be a top guy, he didn’t expect that to be given to him, but he also didn’t see a path with WWE not using him, so he wants to go elsewhere to be that top guy. That path may end up with Andrade years down the line returning to WWE – he brought up Drew McIntyre building himself up outside of WWE after a similar disappointing stint before returning as a comparison. It’s impossible to be sure what the wrestling landscape is going to look like four years down the line, but he did see the WWE as the best in many ways and he has that drive to be the best of the best. Andrade believes others in WWE in his same position should be looking to do the same – either fight for a better spot or leave and prove it elsewhere.

That desire to prove himself is going to drive whatever move Andrade makes next. He wants to go somewhere he can be a top guy, or at least believes he has a fair chance to earn that role. He doesn’t want to “go backward” just to relive old times; he had no interest in doing an Ingobernables/Ingobernables feud with the new CMLL guys because that’s the past. Interviewers asked Andrade if he’d like to reunite with Rush, and Andrade pushed it more towards wrestling Rush for his title. They asked him about returning to CMLL and he said he would like to be a champion but seemingly meant like a WWE champion who’s a constant focus and not a CMLL champion whose belt is forgotten for six months at times. He listed all the top guys in NJPW as people he’d like to face, and Omega for the AAA title. Andrade was asked in many ways about who he’d like to face and the answer was always some variation of “the biggest stars”, so he can prove he belongs among them.

Andrade specifically said he wasn’t interested in signing a contract with any Mexican company. He brought up the Ingobernable promotion Rush teased earlier this week as coming in June and seems likely to work that, but not sign with them either. (There’s obviously money behind whatever Rush is doing, though that also doesn’t mean it’s going to work out.)  Andrade believed he’d probably have to sign a US contract to have the matches he wanted. ROH & AEW were the only two US promotions mentioned by name that I caught. No Japanese promotion came up beyond NJPW names. He talked about having many offers to wrestle and make appearances from around the world already, at the kind of money he was looking for. Zelina Vega didn’t come up until the end of the second interview; Andrade was complimentary to her and how they worked together and respectfully wanted to let her talk about her own exit for WWE rather than speak for her. Andrade made it clear he learned a lot, wrestled great people, and worked with useful people in his time with WWE. It wasn’t what he wanted it to be but it was still a positive experience.

Andrade says WWE told him they own the names “Andrade Cien Almas” and “Andrade.” He owns La Sombra in the US, and Andrade & El Idolo in Mexico. He’s hoping to use something like Andrade el Idolo or Andrade el Sombra universally going forward; he’d like to keep his family name as part of it.

Based on these interviews, I think Andrade’s going to NJPW – he’s going to want to be slotted in fairly high and they’re likely to give that to him. I think he’s much more likely to go to ROH than AEW just based on how it came up, though no decision seems to have been made. Impact never came up at all but I actually believe he’d be more likely to go there than AEW based on his goals; there’s more space for a new top guy in Impact. I think he’ll end up working big shows for AAA (when they can have actual big shows) if they work in his schedule and the same with Andrade. There will probably be a fair bit of cashing in on the ex-WWE circuit of shows that draw big but don’t get any hype, but I think he’s going to pick places that’ll make him a big star.

Everything else

Ice Killer (Juan Carlos Varela, 60) passed away Tuesday due to COVID-19. Though he spent his much of his career as “Canalla II”, he’s best known for the character resembling Jason from the Friday the 13th movies. He’s a trivia note for debuting that character on the first-ever AAA show alongside fellow debuting character La Parka. The La Parka character has had a lot more fame, but Ice Killer carved out a career around Mexico City, eventually running his own promotion with his daughters and grandson wrestling. Ice Killer’s brother, Canalla I, also passed away back in January due to COVID-19. SuperLuchas has a useful obituary for Ice Killer.

Ice Killer and his wife attended El Halcon magazine’s awards ceremony on March 7th, the last time they made a public appearance. He reported feeling sick a few days later. His wife remains hospitalized with COVID at last word. It is impossible to know with certainty where someone picks up COVID-19, but photos of that magazine ceremony – indoors in with a lot of people and not many properly wearing face-covering – felt very distressing from far at the time. With indie shows ramping back up and promotions often not even meeting the legal minimum efforts to prevent the transfer, these deaths are likely to continue. I hope people can get the vaccines as quickly as possible and that those vaccines are effective and safe.

CMLL will have Atlantis, Angel de Oro, NGD, Euforia and Mascara 2000 as guests. The last one sticks out; the older Mascara hasn’t appeared on CMLL shows during the empty arena period, while the others are all there to talk about Copa Junior-related topics. There’s probably an anniversary I’m forgetting.

Laredo Kid, Penta, and Fenix face Kenny Omega, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows on tonight’s AEW Dynamite show. That’s probably either the opener or the match at the top of the second hour, based on those involved. This is a taped show. I think most people figure Laredo Kid getting the win last week sets up him taking the loss here to end a two-week run, but it’s Laredo Kid so you never know. Tony Khan’s weekly promo previewing this show on Impact Wrestling pointed out Laredo, Penta, Fenix, and Omega are all AAA champions – you can hold onto a slim hope they’re setting up a title match out of that.

Vanguardia had their latest show on Sunday; this recap in Criterio Hidalgo says Drolux & Moria vs Gasparin & Simbolo Azteca got the best reaction on the show. The mystery team in the main event was Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako, who lost to champions Crazy King & Miedo Infernal after some interference. A lot of the matches set up other match-ups for their next show, which will be the promotion’s anniversary event.

Pachuca’s Arena Aficion is now allowed to re-open with 30% capacity. The article says the lucha libre building has a capacity of 2,800, so 840 would be allowed. I think it might actually be a little less than that, but also that the 840 capacity is not an issue for most of the shows there. The regular Tuesday/Sunday locals-only shows appeared to be drawing less than 40 people, to the point where it was hard to understand why or hose those shows were being run. The medium-sized indie groups – DTU, Legend – could draw decently well in the building, but it’s one of those historic lucha libre buildings seemingly just barely hanging on before the pandemic, so it’s a success if it’s able to reopen at all after it.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara began allowing children back at shows this past Tuesday.

Caristico would like CMLL to hire his brothers. Caristico’s brothers wouldn’t look terribly out of place in 2021 CMLL, which isn’t a compliment for CMLL. It wouldn’t be good for viewers to see Argos matches again but it’s good for the content for Caristico to be more vocal and demanding.

Juventud Guerrera’s Super Juvy Cup tournament began airing on Mas Lucha’s channel this week. (You can find it in this playlist if you dig around.) This is a round-robin tournament and Mas Lucha is planning to air one match a week day, which means it will last for over 11 weeks – the final isn’t going to be until June. Just typing that should make it clear no one’s really thought this through. Even if the promotion could do it, I’m not sure anyone wants this.

LuchaWorld has a new edition of their podcast taking about Copa Junior VIP and other news.

A profile of young Tulancingo luchador Mr. Solo.

Mas Lucha has a new edition of their podcast.

CMLL , Ticketmaster (FRI) 03/26/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Excelsior, Lucha Central, Marca, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo, thecubsfan]
1) La Jarochita & Lluvia b Dalys & Stephanie Vaquer 
12:49
2) Ángel de Oro b Carístico, Místico, Atlantis Jr., Felino, Soberano Jr., Negro Casas, Mephisto, Dragón Rojo Jr., El Felino Jr., Stuka Jr., Star Jr. [Copa Jr.] 
46:23. Order of elimination: Mephisto (via Stuka), Felino (Mistico), Star Jr. (Caristico), Stuka Jr. (Negro Casas), Soberano (Atlantis), Negro Casas (Dragon Rojo), Felino Jr. (Mistico), Atlantis Jr. (Angel de Oro), Mistico was DQ (accidentally removed Dragon Rojo’s mask), Dragon Rojo (Caristico), Angel de Oro (Caristico) leaving Caristico the winner. Dragon Rojo’s first match in two years, replacing Niebla Roja (scheduled in December.) Felino Jr. (ex-Tiger) debut under that name, which had been given to him in November.
3) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero © [CMLL TRIOS] 
26:02. NGD take falls 1/3 to cleanly win the titles. Guerreros fall on fourth defense (previous fourth defense scheduled for Homenaje a Dos Leyendas). NGD hold all three trios titles. Euforia blamed UG for the loss and quit Los Guerreros post-match.
4) Volador Jr. © b El Bandido [NWA WELTER] 
28:43, Volador took falls 2/3 for his seventh defense. Originally scheduled for 09-25, postponed due to Bandido COVID-19 infection, postponed in November and December.

One of my concerns about this show was what CMLL would have left to follow up. They don’t have anything that’s going to match Volador/Bandido as a match, but bringing back Atlantis on a Saturday afternoon (04/25) show should be a good draw. It doesn’t matter what Atlantis has left in the ring, he’s going to get some interest when he’s been gone for so long.

I presume Templario replaces Euforia and Los Guerreros continue on as a trios. There is some fan chatter about Rey Bucanero being brought back in the group or Toscano (who recently talked about wanting to come back to CMLL) returning. CMLL hasn’t hinted in that direction. I’d prefer a new concept, just because so many of the concepts in CMLL have been done to death, but that is the CMLL strategy. Euforia seemed like he was staying a rudo, just not one teaming with Ultimo Guerrero.

Two different CMLL TV (Televisa, Heraldo) shows subsequently aired Euforia and Ultimo Guerrero working fine as teammates on a Saturday, a day after the team. CMLL on first talked about social media as if they had patched things up, then on the website suggested the matches had been taped earlier in the week. I’m sure the website people had been given no direction and just made something up. My instinct is that’s careless planning on CMLL’s part. It could also be that, because CMLL is such an old-school secretively deep kayfabe company, they didn’t want to film matches with UG & Euforia on opposite sides before the split aired because it might clue the crew that it’s a work.

IWRG (SUN) 03/28/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha, R de Rudo]
1) Mexica b El Manchas  
2) Amazonika & Sussy Love b Mary Caporal & Satania  
3) Rey Halcón & Tonalli b Avisman & Gravity  
4) Dick Angelo 3G, Fulgor I, Toxin b Aster Boy, Freelance, Puma de Oro  
5) Chilango, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Sinaloa b Apolo Estrada Jr., Canek, Ciclón Ramírez, Hijo del Fishman  
6) Fresero Jr. b Eterno  
chain match challenges followed

Arena Naucalpan apparently had power issues during the show, causing both streams to go out for a time during the show. I haven’t watched the show so I may be off base, but it reads like the semi-main concept is Apolo’s group said they were the mystery men attacking people, only the opposition team is also in the same gear and might have actually been those people. Mascara Sagrada Jr. got involved, maybe he knows.

Dragon Lee lost both his ROH TV Championship and ROH Tag Team Championship on Friday without wrestling. Kenny King lost the TV title to Tracy Williams, then King & Bestia del Ring lost the tag titles to Williams & Rhett Titus. (Rush did keep his world title in the main event.) In retrospect, this was the most likely outcome even if Dragon Lee had been there – ROH had teased manager Amy Rose being dropped from the group on recent TV, and losing multiple titles was used as the final straw. Maybe it would’ve been just the tag team titles for that story, but it made all the sense to move both titles with Dragon Lee not being around. For his part, Dragon Lee wrote he was training Sunday for the first time after a month of rehab. I’d presume he’ll be back on the next set of ROH tapings.

It did seem strange ROH split Amy Rose from La Faccion Ingobernebl so quick; they haven’t really been together for all that long if you factor out the pandemic. Her comments on Twitter suggest she’s still meant to be in ROH, so maybe she’ll move on to managing someone else.

The other big development from the ROH PPV was the end of Mexisquad. Flamita broke up the trio, challenging Rey Horus & Bandido to a three-way match on the PPV won by Bandido. I’ve only seen about 2/3rds of the show, but that was the best match of that show. Bandido/Volador was better, which is more about how good that was and not a slight on the three way. I hate to see Mexisquad go – I think they would’ve had a much more fun run without the pandemic – but Bandido has been underutilized as a singles wrestler in his ROH run and maybe this’ll get that going eventually. The ending of the match suggested Flamita & Bandido weren’t done yet.

La Sombra will make his first post-WWE appearance on Lucha Libre Online’s Facebook today at 6 pm CT, talking with Hugo Savinovich. That seemed like the most likely place for his exit interview. A Reforma report (reposted on Critero Hidalgo) quotes a source close to Sombra says he wants to stay in the United States and start wrestling quickly.

Rush, appearing on Mas Lucha’s new radio show, said he believed Los Ingobernables were bigger than Los Perros del Mal. This is an understandable thing to say if you’re Rush but not true; things were bigger on a week-to-week basis when Perro Aguayo and friends were hot, and they went up and down more with Los Ingobernbles. You might be able to give Los Ingobernables an edge on the biggest possible matches, since Sombra/Atlantis trumps all but Aguyao had some big ones as well. (Perhaps it’s a good argument if you throw in the matches Naito and friends had across the ocean, though then it’s not as much an apple versus apples comparison.)

CMLL Guadalajara on Tuesday has Caristico versus Sanson and no other Mexico City wrestlers.

04/18 Lucha Memes at Coliseo Coacalco (4th Anniversary Part 1)

• Astrolux & Black Metal vs Mike & Voltrex vs Noicy Boy & Super Cometa vs Blue Monsther & Taurino
• Iron Kid vs Baby Extreme

04/25 Lucha Memes Coliseo Coacalco (Chairo Kingdom 4)

• Drako & Corsario Negro Jr. vs Kastigador & Vengador (falls count anywhere)
• Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr. vs Avisman & Judas el Traidor – new

The idea of the tag match is it’ll be submissions only for the first five minutes. There’s some possibilities if the wrestlers played into the concept, but recent Lucha Memes history suggests they won’t.

Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus have been announced for AAW’s 04/24 tapings. They’re doing a couple of empty arena shows that’ll be aired in parts later on, that’s the second one.

In an interview with Grafico, KAOZ’s Reina Dorada mentions she was going to quit school after high school and focus on being a wrestler full-time. Her mother told her to instead total up all the money she was spending on wrestling and asked her how she was going to afford that on a high school education. Dorada got the message and got a degree in nutrition.

Box y Lucha reports Morelos luchador Glamoroso Floylan/Demonio Rojo (Froylan Ramirez Mendiola, 79) passed away Thursday. He was a trainer at long-running (and since demolished) Arena Isabel in Cuernavaca.

A wrestling event in El Marques, Queretaro was shut down for breaking local COVID rules.

NVI Noticias has a profile of Oaxaca’s Super Angel Jr.

long time Laguna wrestling locale Arena Olimpico Laguna has been remolded during the pandemic.

Segunda Caida reviews some 1995 lucha libre.

Box Y Lucha 3466 covers Copa Junior. They’re off for Easter next week.

Segunda Caida reviews Satanico vs Blue Panther.

Results

La Jarochita & Lluvia beat Dalys & Stephanie Vaquer
(12:49 [6:08, 2:01, 4:40], 1/3, ok)

Angel de Oro won Copa Junior
(2:07 battle royal + 46:23 elimination match, ok)

Order of elimination

• 12:20 Stuka Jr. beat Mephisto (torpedo splash)
• 15:10 Mistico beat Felino (casita)
• 21:31 Caristico beat Star Jr. (armbar)
• 24:15 Negro Casas beat Stuka Jr. (lariat)
• 26:52 Atlantis Jr. beat Soberano (Atlantida)
• 28:41 Dragon Rojo beat Negro Casas (grounded octopus)
• 30:19 Mistico beat Felino Jr. (double underhook facebuster)
• 31:43 Angel de Oro beat Atlantis Jr. (campana)
• 34:53 Mistico was disqualified (Dragon Rojo mask removal)
• 35:59 Caristico beat Dragon Rojo (inside cradle)
• 46:23 Angel de Oro beat Caristico (La Mistica)

Nueva Generacion Dinamita (Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón) defeated Los Guerreros Laguneros (Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero) to win the CMLL World Trios Championship
(26:02 [11:18, 5:20, 9:24], 1/3, ok)

Volador Jr. © defeated El Bandido to retain the NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship
(28:43 [4:24, 1:50, 22:29], 2/3, excellent)

happenings

Atlantis appeared halfway through the card. He spoke of Kid’s Day being one of his favorite traditions and announced he would return to the ring on the 04/26 CMLL PPV to celebrate Kid’s Day this year. This would be Atlantis’ first match since November 2019 due to knee issues.

Volador beat Bandido to keep the NWA Historic Welterweight Championship.

NGD defeated Los Guerreros to become CMLL World Trios Champions, the first team to those belts, the national titles, and the Occidente titles at the same time. (Typically, winning the world title means swiftly relinquishing the national ones; no indication has been made as of yet.) Ultimo Guerrero took the pin from Sanson. Los Guerreros had a couple of small issues during the match. Euforia blamed UG for the loss and quit the group, which had been teased back in the fall before the winter lockdown.

Angel de Oro won Copa Junior, cleanly defeating Caristio with La Mistica. Mistico’s DQ seemed unplanned; Dragon Rojo’s mask came off and Edgar had no real choice but to call it. Dragon Rojo distracted himself by yelling at Angel de Oro so Caristico could cradle him for three. Some of the wrestlers wore tribute gear for family members; Caristico wore a Dr. Karonte homage mask for his father. Mistico wrestled in a half Septiembre Negro mask, for his uncle who passed away in November. Soberano wore a Euforia styled mask and gear. That turned out to be a story point in the trios match; Euforia’s gear matched his son, not his trios partners, foreshadowing the breakup.

Jarochita & Lluvia won cleanly and asked for a team to step up and challenge for the tag titles.

thoughts

Copa Junior looked like a one-match card, ended up a one-match card. There were redeeming moments in the other matches, but none of them were going to come close to the main event anyway. Volador & Bandido had the best match in Mexico not taking place in a mysterious empty building in Nuevo Leon. If there’s a better match in CMLL in 2021, it means crowds are back in a big way and everything went right – and they still might not get there. The failed attempt to go for an insane spot near the end shouldn’t take away from how strong the rest of the match was; it’d be on most people’s list of best matches of the year if most people could actually see it. So it goes.

It’s no big deal that the rest of the show didn’t impress, but also it didn’t impress. There was some glimmer of hope if you’re looking. The women were better than usual, and there was genuine effort to try new ideas in the first half of the Copa Junior. The polish wasn’t there, with many understandably looking rusty given the ragged schedule.

The trios match was the low moment on the show. Not as much badly worked as completely boring and unoriginal. It’s going to be a surprise if we get another NGD match that’s good because of anything they do. They’ve completely given up caring and giving them a third championship will just confirm to them they’re doing everything right. Euforia splitting off on his own is an interesting new direction and Angel de Oro winning the Copa strong is a sensible decision, it’s just not an exciting one.

It’s nice that Dragon Rojo is back. He’s back with exactly the level of knees you’d expect him to have after years of injuries. It’ll work out OK if the stuff with Mistico was to set up a mask match when fans come back. If it was just typical cibernetico interaction and Dragon Rojo’s just back without a purpose, it seems like a poor idea.

They don’t really need a direction, though. The novelty of Atlantis is going to sell to CMLL’s audience – assuming the fans of Atlantis can get their nephews or nieces to buy the PPV for them.

I lost about 1,500 words from this news update thanks to a WordPress error. It’s been a while since this has happened! It’s still a big problem when it does. I’m going to breeze through a lot with fewer links than usual as a result, but somehow nearly as many words

Mexico City Ignores Pleas, Offers More CMLL TV to Mexico City

Mexico City’s plan to help luchadors is to air a CMLL show on a public TV channel. This does not help luchadors much. Mexico City public television aired a CMLL show back in July when they first came back from the pandemic. Most of the people in last week’s protest march were independent luchadors, who do not figure to be included in this television show. Just airing a show on TV is also not going to help CMLL luchadors make much money; if empty arena lucha libre was paying the bills, they wouldn’t be out in the streets asking for fans. The only effect here is people like myself being annoyed by news articles proclaiming “lucha libre now allowed in empty arenas” when lucha libre has been allowed in empty arenas for some time. It’s also so dumb; I’m trying my best not to contribute by dunking on them all.

On the same topic, Fantasma appeared on a Facebook video to announce the Mexico City government is giving out 2,500 pesos to licensed luchadors. Furia de Titanes has the story and the video. It’s not 100% clear, but I’d guess these are actually loans intended for small businesses like the ones handed out in the summer. They’re starting to accept the paperwork this week with the idea of paying out next week.

In the video, Fantasma also claims he was told by the government that opening Mexico City shows to fans couldn’t be allowed because the Mexico City government expects COVID-19 cases to spike after everyone gets together for Easter. Obviously, the Mexico City government’s official statements paint a much more optimistic outlook (CDMX remains in Orange with cases going down). Everyone in Mexico City seems to expect that outcome and another lockdown in late April, but it would still be a big story if anyone noticed a government official admitting otherwise.

Despite everyone believing it’s going to get bad again, the wrestling promotions are restarting as much as possible. DTU, who seemed to be holding out longer than usual, posted a video of Paranoiko restarting his school as a tease of their own impending comeback. Mexico State has 40% attendance restrictions; as last week’s near-full IWRG show proved, those aren’t going to be enforced unless the specific city wants to do something.

CMLL & ROH have PPVs tonight

Start times here. The two shows overlap, annoyingly. ROH had the date first, CMLL doesn’t care. You have to watch the CMLL show live if you want to watch both – ROH had VOD, CMLL does not. Both are about $10 USD – ROH as part of their monthly subscription (which you can safely cancel immediately if you’re afraid of forgetting about it and still get the PPV) and CMLL as part of TicketmasterLive. CMLL’s the slightly more expensive one since they’ve bumped the price up again on the day of the show. CMLL also has the best match – Volador Jr. versus Bandido should be worth the entire price of the show. The rest of the CMLL should be fine up to good, but it’s going to remembred as the Bandido/Volador show and that match will shape the entire perception of the show. I’ve got a longer preview up on Voices of Wrestling; the shorter theme is “will CMLL do anything to make an interesting match beyond Bandido/Volador, or are they done caring until fans can come back?” We’ll know later tonight.

ROH’s really hurt by Dragon Lee needing to get surgery; the card really needs what Dragon Lee versus Tracy Williams would’ve added to it, and putting Bestia del Ring on a PPV match is unlikely to end well. Rush’s match with Jay Lethal should be fine, but Lethal is either the second or third most important guy in his group; it’s only because Lethal has such deep history with Ring of Honor that this could be a PPV main event, but it’s not a strong one. I guess Lethal in the match is going to resonate strongest to diehard ROH fans – as will matches like Matt Taven & Vincent and EC3 vs Jay Briscoe – but I don’t know if this one’s getting much interest beyond that, and it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of ROH fans very excited for the product at the moment.

Two other things to note on ROH: Bandido, Flamita, Rey Horus get their title rematch for the ROH Six Man Tag Team Championship against Shane Taylor Enterprises in the first, free hour of the PPV. (YouTube, Facebook, the usual places you can find yourself with the slightest effort.) That title change was a good match and this should be the same. The other bit is ROH had a similar card shuffle due to health issues on the last PPV and ended up adding extra matches to their card. They’ve got the last eight matches scheduled for three hours; unless Taven/Vincent is a forty-minute cinematic match, they probably have plenty of time to add something and figure to do so during the pre-show again.

Nuevos Ingobernables

On CMLL Informa, Angel de Oro and Terrible announced Los Terribles Chavez are no more. They are instead Los Nuevos Ingobernables along side Niebla Roja. The explanation is Terrible invited the brothers into the group, presenting it as a continuination of the original group and not a new one.

Terrible was part of the last CMLL incarnation of Los Ingboernables alongside Rush, La Bestia del Ring, and La Comandante. The group name was dropped when CMLL and Rush parted in September 2019, though Terrible kept wearing the gear. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja started acting as rudos and teaming with Terrible during the early CMLL empty arena PPVs (though CMLL’s inability to air matches in order meant fans watching saw them start and stop this bit.) The origin story for the original Ingobernables was rejected tecnicos who decided to go against the fans; Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja were getting booed last time there were people around to boo. They’d been doing the Ingobernable act without the name, now they have the name.

The timing is suspect. They can’t actually be Los Nuevos Ingborenables at the moment; Niebla Roja is apparently in the US for personal reasons and there’s no indication when he’ll be back.  There are no previously taped matches airing this weekend to get the angle over. The only thing that happened in the past week was former Ingobernable La Sombra getting his release. CMLL’s recently acted defensively towards the Felino Jr. name when they believed Puma King was going to use that character. Maybe CMLL wanted to beat Sombra at using the Ingobernables name, though – just like Puma King – there was no indication he was actually planning on using the name. For his part, Sombra wished Nuevos Ingobernables good luck. Rush, who’s already been using the Ingobernables names in both AAA & ROH, was less positive on the CMLL idea via RTs.

It’s tough to tell what’s actually going to get over when fans are back in Arena Mexico; it’s been a long time, it’s been a tough situation, there’s not a lot of useful reactions. The internet feedback to Los Nuevos Ingobernables has been strongly negative, but internet fans didn’t much like them as Terribles Chavez or even as normal tecnicos. It’s possible CMLL feels these three guys will get strong rudo heat over anger for bringing back this name. It’s also possible CMLL doesn’t really care about any of this beyond maintaining control of the IP.

Notably, NJPW pushed this story on their website, playing into how this will affect their Los Ingonernables de Japon. I don’t know if anything actually happens with the two groups, but simply mentioning it does play into the prior statements about NJPW and CMLL continuing their ties. They’re really working together, as long as “running the same generic article” counts as working together. (Another way to work together would be to offer tonight’s show on NJPW World, instead of requiring Miki Moto to do video explainers..)

Meanwhile, Rush told Lucha Libre Online he plans on running a show in June. The middle of a pandemic seems like a poor time to launch a group, but it’s probably not his money. The short version is wrestler-led groups in Mexico sound like a great idea and almost never work out. The most successful one has to be Ultimo Dragon’s Toryumon Mexico, where he’s running 3-4 times a year, using mostly trainees and locals with a few names on top, and getting sponsors to foot most of the bill. It falls apart when groups try to go as a full-time national group – everyone goes too big, doesn’t realize how much money they’re going to lose at first, and doesn’t have the media outlets or resources to make something out of it. It’s unclear what Rush’s concept actually is, and so no idea if it’s a good one.

I think it’s a strong bet Andrade will make an appearance on that show, even if it’s just a walkout and wave in between hanging out with his friends for the rest of the weekend. Which reminds me of a random grenade to throw out: Andrade wasn’t the first person to use the name La Sombra, or even like the third. It’s a name that’s been recycled a not and trademarked more recently. There’s no indication CMLL plans to do it right now, this is not a news report, but there’s also nothing stopping from doing so if they should choose – and if they’re so concerned about “Los Ingobernables”, they just might.

Daga & AEW

Today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions AEW has some interest in Daga. That may be putting it too kindly: there’s a sentence on Daga and then 402 words on Tessa Blancard with no mention of Daga. There are two realities here

• Husband and wife Daga & Tessa remain linked in employment; Daga is getting hired if Tessa is getting hired, and you can find plenty of coverage of the plusses and minuses of that elsewhere.
• Daga just getting sidestepped entirely sure some unfortunate things about how much (or how little) Meltzer believes Daga would bring to AEW. No idea if AEW sees him the same way, as the extra bit required to sign Tessa, but it doesn’t matter. Daga should obviously sign with AEW if offered because a national TV company, might as well see if he can work his way into changing that afterthought perception, no worse off if it doesn’t work.

I would enjoy seeing Jack Evans, Angelico and Daga bring their llave competition to AEW Dark, even if I’m the only person who cares. In other Daga news, there’s a great interview with him on Solo Wrestling talking about his career. I’m not sure if I forgot or never knew he was another guy training at CMLL’s school during the later stages of his indie career who never ended up debuting there. Those stories are usually like Penta’s, of realizing they were going nowhere and moving on. In Daga’s case, Konnan saw him on the indies and encouraged him to come to AAA. It seems a safe bet that was a good decision, and Daga credits Konnan a lot with helping him in his career.

Other TV/Streaming Notes

(AAA has not posted a preview of their show)

03/26 CMLL AMX (Google Drive)

• Aereo vs Mercurio
• Diamond & Volcano vs Virus & Luciferno
• Volador, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Rey Bucanero

03/27 CMLL MVS (Google Drive)

• Magnus vs Hijo del Signo
• Tiffany, La Seductora vs Sanely, La Vaquerita (likely repeat)
• Sanson, Cuatrero, Forastero vs Volador Jr., Titan, Soberano Jr. (likely repeat)

03/27 CMLL Televisa (YouTube next week)

• La Vaquerita vs Reyna Isis
• El Felino, Rey Bucanero vs El Valiente, Guerrero Maya Jr.
• Mephisto, Luciferno, Ephesto vs Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Black Panther
• Cavernario, Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia vs Mistico, Volador Jr., Titan
  • that’s the return of Cavernario from injury in September

03/28 CMLL YouTube (they forgot to update these matches on the website)

• Diamond vs Disturbio
• Caristico, Volador Jr., Atlantis Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Negro Casas
• Espiritu Negro & Audaz vs Raziel & Cancerbero
• Felino Jr. vs Mistico Jr.
  • (debut of Felino Jr.)

There’s a strong establishment now that CMLL Televisa is the A show, AMX is the B show and MVS is getting whatever’s left. It’ll change, it always does. It’s good news for me because MVS is the hardest show to capture of the three. If I’m just missing one prelim a match a week that everyone will dunk on me for caring about in the first place, it’s OK.

CMLL has also started adding empty arena matches to their show on Heraldo Television; the show started airing exclusively two-year-old matches. This week it’s a Star Jr. & Audaz vs Okumura & Dark Magic match which doesn’t appear to have turned up elsewhere. Heraldo does have a live stream, but it hasn’t streamed the CMLL show in the past. I don’t think there’s much use in listing matches few people who read this can see, but I’ll try to add them to the database.

I am able to record the CMLL Guadalajara show and am posting it on the Google Drive, but I believe few people care about the matches outside the one CMLL DF match a week. I’ll link to it on Twitter, the entire show is going into a folder. Guadalajara has Caristico versus Sanson this coming Tuesday after the last week’s match in DQed. We don’t have the full card yet – the big question is “will CMLL bother booking anyone besides the NGD and Caristico to Guadalajara?”

Other News That Would Have Things If I Didn’t Lose Them All

Sopitas published an interview about how CMLL’s shifted during the COVID-19, telling a story about how they’re trying digital shows for the first time and how they’ve suddenly found out they have fans outside of Mexico. It’s one of those stories where the author did no work except to transcribe the quotes given to them by the company – CMLL’s done more digital in the last year, but they tried (and failed) at iPPVs in the past too and they knew previously they had international fans – so the real notable thing is this another CMLL piece where Gala Lutteroth ends up as spokesperson for the company in the way Sofia Alonso was for a time. Alonso getting press probably contributed to her ouster (over jealousy and territory marking), so it’s probably a good thing Lutteroth doesn’t do many of them. (One wonders what CMLL’s press department is doing to not be the person answering these calls themselves.)

There’s another note in the WON mentioning Thea Trindad (ex-Zelina Vega) could not come to AEW at the moment (if they wanted to sign her and Andrade) because she’s got a short term deal with another promotion. I’ve got a guess it’s Ring of Honor; if you pay close attention to their social media, you can see they brought back in some of their women wrestlers to the most recent tapings, they’re due to relaunch that division, and they could use a name like Trindad’s to get some attention.

GCW announced Aramis vs Arez in a first-round match for their Acid Cup.

Laredo Kid will make his AEW Dynamite debut tonight, teaming with the Lucha Brothers against the Young Bucks and Brandon Culter. Laredo previously teamed with Fenix & Penta against the Young Bucks at Kenny Omega at Fyter Fest 2019 back in June of 2019. He (and Myzteziz) joined the reality show Exatlon in September, just before Dynamite started. Mexico sources have repeated stated Laredo would’ve been on AEW again had he not gone on the TV show, but AEW hasn’t really brought his name up since and it’s still very surprising to see him. AEW’s story is Pac is out with an ankle injury and they needed a replacement partner, though it’s notable AEW went outside to grab someone instead of using one of the many people they have under contract. The story of Laredo Kid’s career is this won’t be anything more than one match no matter how good the match will be. The match is going to be really good though, so that’ll fun.

AEW tapes next week’s Dynamite on Thursday, normally. Laredo is unlikely to be on TNT for both weeks but he could be held over for an appearance on one of their Dark shows. I would like to see that happen if only to see Laredo Kid try to wrap his mind around being on the winning side of a TV enhancement match. I don’t think he can help but have a three and a half star match with a random dude.

Dragon Lee is off ROH’s PPV this Friday. (This is is bigger news than the Laredo/Dynamite stuff but I wanted to start happily for once.) Ring of Honor’s explanation is Dragon Lee needed surgery for a ruptured eardrum and was not allowed to travel. Dragon Lee posted a photo apparently from the surgery. Kenny King will now defend the TV title for Dragon Lee against Tracy Williams, and Bestia del Ring will now team with King against Tracy Williams and Rhett Titus for the tag titles. Both matches are obvious downgrades without Dragon Lee.

Dragon Lee’s ear problems were the reason he left Exatlon in 2018; at the time, he said it was a pre-existing issue and he didn’t believe it required surgery. Bestia mentioned Dragon Lee still having the issue last year, suggesting that Dragon Lee was going to have it taken care of. It’s unclear what happened to require surgery right now – assuming it’s the same ear – but it’s very unfortunate timing. The ROH PPV didn’t already feel particularly strong and now they’re much worse off.

CMLL Informa today will have Volador Jr., Bandido, Ultimo Guerrero, Terrible, Angel de Oro and Okumura. Most of those are people on Friday’s PPV. I suspect Okumura is on to talk about the calamitous fall he took on AMX last week. Terrible is not on the PPV, so there’s probably another match of his airing on TV this week. Anyway, I feel like I’m the only person in the world who cares about this CMLL PPV but maybe Volador & Bandido will get more people excited.

On a CMLL virtual media day, Furia de Titanes asked Euforia & Gran Guerrero if Ultimo Guerrero has the ability to turn everyone he touches to gold. They seem to have strongly disagreed; Euforia feels he would’ve still made something of himself in CMLL had he still be on his own. Gran Guerrero told a story about a trainee who wanted to be a luchador very badly but was firmly told by Ultimo Guerrero to stop because he didn’t have the physical ability to do it; UG can’t make someone great if they don’t already have it.  (This, at least to the wrestlers, seems to be a roundabout conversation about “are you pushed because you’re with Ultimo Guerrero?”) For his part, Ultimo Guerrero credits scouting for talent when he’s booked around and encouraging CMLL to bring in promising luchadors, while also saying it’s up to the wrestlers themselves to succeed.

MLW tonight has Mil Muertes versus Gringo Loco among other matches.

TV Azteca’s Alberto Ciurana passed away due to COVID-19 on Monday. SuperLuchas notes Ciurana was a key figure on the Azteca side in AAA’s TV deal; he had previously worked with the promotion back when they were on Televisa.

Expo Lucha took place over the weekend; you can go back and watch interviews with Cassandro and Vampiro on their YouTube channel. I also didn’t realize the Lucha Time matches they aired are actually new or at least haven’t turned up on Mas Lucha yet. I don’t believe Lucha Time even promoted these themselves. Some timestamps for those.

01:43:18 King Rex, Mr. Puma, Rey León vs Alex Black, Dragón King, Kratos
06:20:15 Origen vs Epydemius vs Toxin vs Fulgor
06:33:28 Baby Xtreme © vs Prometeo for the IWRG Intercontinental Lightweight Championship
06:44:54 Hijo De Dos Caras vs The Mummy

Xtreme/Prometeo sounds promising. The main event less so.

RIOT says their free show will disappear from YouTube after tonight. They’ve also posted a clip from the video version going up on Pivotshare; it looks much better.

A government video of Bandido, Ciclon Ramirez, and others encouraging people in Mexico City to wear facemasks at a market went viral, so they did the same thing on the subway yesterday. And on a train. An article about it mentioned most people were already masked, they had out masks to others, a few got made and some ran away when they saw the luchadors coming.

In an interview posted on Mas Lucha, Fenix talked about his time in AEW and said he’d be willing to put up his mask to get a shot at Kenny Omega and the AEW championship. This is probably just something thrown out that has no chance of actually happening. It’d be a good stip if they were ever going to have Fenix win the AEW title, but that doesn’t look particularly close to happening.

Daga was training in Florida last night. I was curious as to why he wasn’t used for the Leyenda Americana role or at all on the recent AAA TV tapings; it makes a little more sense if he’s currently in the US.

A Reforma article (reposted here) notes Mistico is one of the most expensive Mexican athletes on the Cameo-like site “famoso.com“. It costs 100 USD to get a video.

04/25 Lucha Memes Coliseo Coacalco (Chairo Kingdom 4)

• Drako & Corsario Negro Jr. vs Kastigador & Vengador (falls count anywhere)

Lucha Memes most recent show was added to IWTV on Monday. I think I’m going to wait for them to pile up again before taking a look.

Zona 23 created their own Hall of Fame to put Ovett in it.

Super Parka and LA Park are angry about a fake Super Parka (and fake Mini Super Parka_ wrestling in Chiapas next month.

Andrade is on the cover of Box Y Lucha 3465.

The promoter of Arena Obereros in Saltillo is upset about local rules banning children and older adults from attending. They’re allowed to have 100 of a normal 500 capacity, but it reads like they didn’t reach 100 because they were turning people away.

Lady Lee was officially named a comissioner of lucha libre in Tijauna.

Independent lucha libre comic La Mano del Destino will be published as a collection in May.

The LuchaWorld podcast return talking about Andrade and the RIOT show.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 03/28/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Mexica vs El Manchas
2) Amazonika & Sussy Love vs Mary Caporal & Satania
3) Avisman & Gravity vs Karaoui & Tonalli
4) Aster Boy, Freelance, Puma de Oro vs Dick Angelo 3G, Fulgor I, Toxin
5) Apolo Estrada Jr., Canek, Ciclón Ramírez, Hijo del Fishman vs Chilango, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Sinaloa
6) Eterno vs Fresero Jr.

Back to a normal card after last week’s cage match. Eterno winning the IWRG Rey del Ring championship last week suggests he’s going to be around here more, or at least long enough to feud with Los Negociantes about it.

Apolo’s team are the mystery men in Red from recent shows. I have no idea what the deal is with the mystery people on the other side.