Month: March 2021

Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday in parts of the US and Canada. It does not take place in most of Mexico; their clocks will not change until April 4th. That means every show streaming from Mexico – be it CMLL’s PPV, Mas Lucha shows, or whatever else – will start one hour later for the next four weeks if you change your clock on Sunday. Everyone will be confused for a week and then get it later. We didn’t have to deal with this last year because lucha libre shut down; it’s better to have an annoying month of it.

COVID/Reopenings

Mexico City and Mexico State will remain in Orange health condition, though individual restrictions are gradually being reduced. The full Mexico map will be released tonight; articles suggest other states move from Orange to Yellow. CMLL will likely be able to seat people in Mexico City when they reach that Yellow code. Jalisco already is in Yellow, which is why Arena Coliseo Guadalajara is allowed to have fans.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will repoen to fans this Tuesday. They’ve run four empty arena shows to this point. No lineup has been announced; the presence of Caristico on the poster suggests the Mexico City main roster will be included, as was traditional on Tuesdays. The show is presumed to have limited capacity, but no-limit is mentioned on the poster. Facemasks will be required for fans. Tickets will all be 300 pesos, which is the high end for their Sunday locals-only shows and mid-level for the Tuesday shows. There’s some complaining in the Facebook comments about those prices being too high for people who’ve suffered economically in the last year.

CMLL acknowledged the Guadalajara show on Twitter; they had not mentioned the previous empty arena shows. Guadalajara’s Twitter hasn’t been used since the shut down (which is why I don’t have results for those shows.) This could be a product of a change in CMLL’s social media management, but the Guadalajara & Puebla locations feel more like disconnected outposts than usual at the moment.

Blue Demon Jr. domestic violence accusations

Blue Demon’s only public comment on his wife’s accusations of domestic abuse and death threats was to call the accusations “low” to El Planchitas. He has gone silent on social media. This story did get picked up by many general news sources, though the Mexican wrestling media has noticeably stayed clear of it. MicromanFever has some translation notes on the video, which seems even worse than the summary article had.

The usual wrestling strategy is to never talk about accusations again and get angry with anyone else for bringing it up, and that seems like the plan here. That really shouldn’t fly with wrestling. I’d say being accused of violence towards women is enough to cause someone to drop out of a campaign, but I’ve heard just enough Mexican political news to know that’s an incorrect belief.

Andrade Reportedly Asks For His WWE Release

WrestlingsInc reports Andrade asked for his release from the promotion on Monday. Andrade changed his Twitter handle to remove WWE and vaguely posted about moving on Instagram. Andrade’s level of happiness (and how it affects other people) has been a frequent status since his time in WWE. It’s likely been at a low ebb the past year; Andrade hasn’t been on WWE TV since last fall, and he’s not been used significantly since Paul Heyman was removed from leading WWE Raw. Andrade figured to be staying in WWE since his significant other Charolette Flair is one of the biggest stars in WWE, but evidently, that’s not the case.

It’s important to take a breath and keep in mind the most likely outcome is Andrade continues to be with WWE until his contract expires. (I do not know when that is; Fightful has a handy list of contract end dates, but Andrade’s is not known.) Everyone wants to imagine what Andrade will do next because there are many fun ideas, but it’s important to keep in mind that WWE doesn’t have to give Andrade his release. Some get quick releases. Others have to serve out the time they previously agreed upon.

(Andrade’s time in WWE was not what it seemed like it could be – but he had great periods of personal success, formed a popular act with free agent Zelina Vega, made a fair bit of money, and met his wife. It would be wrong to consider it all bad.)

CMLL made it clear they’d welcome La Sombra back if he ever were available again. CMLL also doesn’t pay luchadors competitively, so La Sombra is likely only returning to Arena Mexico if it’s a personal goal. It may not be one while good friends Rush & Dragon Lee are exiled from the promotion. AAA would obviously want to bring in Andrade. He still has deep connections to NJPW. Non-WWE-US promotions would be interested in him, likely reuniting the Thea Trinidad/Zelina Vega act, though AEW might have too many people to make it useful. Dragon Lee’s spent the last few years following a bit in Andrade’s footsteps, but my best way too early guess is this is a time where it’ll be Andrade following Dragon Lee’s path. The NJPW deal will be the most important one. Any place additional will be what fits with that commitment.

I didn’t mention it a few days ago, but Rush teasing Faccion Ingobernable announcements at the opening of his new fast-food restaurant seems more important now. He’s Rush. He teases a lot of things. He may have even backed into this one. The real takeaway should be LA Park mocking Rush.

AAA taping on Thursday

AAA taped the first of two shows this weekend Thursday night in Valle de Bravo, Estado de Mexico. Furia de Titanes identified the location as the La Cuerva de Leon hotel. The visuals look cool. Google says it’s a pricey resort-like area. Three shows were scheduled to be taped, three more are expected to be taped in a second location Saturday. The math works out where they won’t need to do another one of these tapings until late April, and maybe longer if the AutoLuchas shows are taped.

I don’t have full results. I did hear the AAA Cruiserweight Championship was defended on one of the tapings and not by Lio Rush. My theories of AAA waiting until after Tlaxco to acknowledge the MLW title change seems wrong again; they’re just going to pretend it hasn’t happened.

AAA publicized photos of their COVID-19 testing. There seems to be an unstated but intentional response to last month’s controversy, where Whatsapp messages attributed to Hijo del Vikingo (which he denied were his) alleged AAA did no COVID testing done in Tlaxcala. AAA definitely appears to have done that testing this time.

Psycho Clown has used his pandemic down to open a house remodeling company. “We sell wood, wallpaper, bathroom furniture, porcelain, ceramics, and many other things.” Psycho Clown, the biggest draw in Mexico, noted it’s important to maintain your house so your property value does not decrease. Psycho Clown was also on these AAA tapings.

TV/Streaming Notes for this weekend

03/12 CMLL on AMX

• Estrellita & Lluvia vs Tiffany & Metalica
• Audaz vs. Tiger (possible repeat)
• Rey Cometa & Espiritu Negro vs Felino & Rey Bucanero (likely repeat)

03/13 CMLL on Televisa

• Super Astro Jr. vs Inquisidor
• Princesa Sugehit & Mystique vs Amapola & Dalys
• Mistico & Audaz vs Negro Casas & Tiger
  • same match as last week, Tiger indicated it’s a rematch and not a repeat
• Volador Jr., Diamante Azul, Star Jr. vs Angel de Oro, Terrible, Niebla Roja

03/13 CMLL on MVS

• Soberano vs Virus (likely repeat)
• Atlantis Jr.  Flyer vs. Cancerbero & Raizel (likely setup match to title match that already aired)
• Dulce Gardenia vs Misterioso (likely repeat)

03/13 CMLL YouTube

• Sonic vs. Yago (possible repeat)
• Guerrero Maya, Stigma vs. Sagrado, Misterioso Jr.
• Diamante Azul, Black Panther, Blue Panther vs Sanson, Forastero, Templario
• Mistico & Audaz vs Negro Casas, Felino

Mas Lucha will air KAOZ’s Rey de la Frontera (a 15 woman rumble) on Saturday. IWRG returns to their Sunday afternoon spot:

IWRG (SUN) 03/14/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Chicanito vs Guerrero Olímpico
2) Mexica & Rey Halcón vs Atomic Star & Kenji
3) Legendario & Lunatik Fly vs Especie Maligna & Halcón Mágico
4) Caballero de Plata, Gravity, Puma de Oro vs Dick Angelo 3G, Fulgor, Sobredosis
5) Black Terry & Karaoui vs Toxin & Veneno
6) Aster Boy, Jessy Ventura, Pasion Kristal vs Demonio Infernal, Fresero Jr., Tonalli

Aster Boy starts his five-year contract with IWRG, facing off runner-up Tonalli. There were the typical arguments about who should’ve won, so they’re teaming with their coaches in the main event.

Gravity made it to the semifinals. Mas Lucha revealed a semi-well-kept secret on Monday: Gravity is Bandido’s younger brother.

Other Notes

03/20 RIOT “COVIDIOTAS” (streaming live for free)

• Latigo vs Erik Ortiz (winner gets a title shot)
• Hijo del Vikingo vs Arez
• Aramis vs. Jimmy – new
• Willy Banderas & Brian Villa vs Kamikaze & Prometo – new

RIOT opened a donator campaign for this show. Offers run between 12 and 24 dollars, though the $24 item already sold out.

The impending indie lucha libre drama is Aramis versus Jimmy is also booked for the 03/14 Lucha Memes show. That show will show up on IWTV later, though likely not until after the RIOT show takes place.

IAW (???) ??/??/?? Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Valiente Jr. vs Ovett Jr. vs Rencor Negro Jr.
2) Candy Swing vs Mil Delicious
3) Mr. Leo vs Yoruba
4) Cíclope vs Calibus vs Willy Banderas vs Jitsu
5) Dinastía & Lanzeloth vs Ciclón Infernal & Iron Kid
6) Látigo © vs Miedo Extremo [IAW CHAMP]

They’re still not giving a date, but it’ll show up on Mas Lucha at some point.

Vanguardia announced a co-promotion show with Vanguardia 664 (a Tijuana promotion) and IAW for 03/28. The last 664 show ended with Ciclope forming an army of wrestlers to take on the main Vanguardia group, so that may be playing out on this show.

Juventud Guerrera announced his Super Juventud Cup in an event Wednesday. The tournament begins on March 29th. Participants announced

• Torito Negro
• Iron Kid
• Shere Khan
• Hijo del Angel
• Cobre
• Thunder Storm
• Sol
• X-Devil
• Skayler
• Arexus
• Iluxionista
• Negro Negrete
• Demon Boy
• Adrenalina
• Fight Panther
• Aero Panther

Like the (never-finished) Kriminal Lucha Libre tournament and the IWRG Tryout reality show, the idea here are rookies wrestles on Mas Lucha’s YouTube channel. There’s a lot of the same names from those and other recent Mas Lucha daily shows like Lucha Madre. Matches will air Monday through Thursday, with a recap show on Friday. Mas Lucha’s description of the tournament says the eight wrestlers will be divided into blocks of eight luchadors and everyone will face everyone else, Best of Super Junior style. The top two in each block will advance to a single-elimination tournament. That would be a 59 match tournament, much larger than any tournament prior.

(If Mas Lucha were to air one match a day in that format, this tournament would last to July 7th. Two matches a day means just May 8th, still a long time. NJPW style of a full block each day could wrap it up by April 21st. This is a lot of math for a format I’m not totally convinced will happen or happen correctly in a Mexico Indie promotion until it does.)

LA Park lost surprisingly cleanly to Alex Hammerstone in their match for the MLW National Openweight championship. I can’t come up with the last time LA Park lost clean in a singles match; it’s astounding.

Ultimo Guerrero says he can’t wait to watch Volador versus Bandido.

CMLL’s Sandra Granados made a rare podcast appearance. I really want to listen to this – she’s a long-time CMLL office member that people have very strong feelings about and doesn’t get interviews often – but haven’t gotten to it yet.

The Gladiatores has one two part interview with Laredo Kid.

Dr. Wagner Jr. now has a weekly column in Milenio. These luchador columns are usually not too revealing, though they’ll say something important once in a while. Wagner is planning a big show for his 35th Anniversary on April 26th.

In Vampiro says things, “Vampiro says he’s going to get his Mexican citizenship in June and move back to the country.”

Tijuana’s Boxing, Lucha Libre, and MMA commission will add female commissions for each sport to improve representation. The head of the commission explained that women deserve to be part of the commission. He believes women athletes will also be better helped by having women in management. Tijuana luchadora Lady Lee will be a new lucha libre commissioner. Saturday, Lady Lee is scheduled to wrestle on a show in Tijuana. Tijuana requires COVID testing for all wrestling shows, which has been a hold-up – it’d be a surprise if that level of indie show is doing COVID testing, but perhaps that’s been dropped after reaching the Yellow health code. (There appears to be no further news on the threatening funeral wreaths from last week.)

Milenio has an interview with 80s/90s EMLL luchador Sombra Poblana. He disappeared from Arena Mexico cards around 1992 after losing his mask to Halcon Negor. He was only 32 at the time. The ex-Sombra Poblana explains he got married, decided that lucha libre was not going to be enough to support them for his entire life, and resumed his other professional job of being a plumber. He’s been a plumber only for the last thirty years, looking at it like lucha libre – there were no small matches, there are no small plumbing jobs. (There are a lot of jobs where he has to repair what the head of the household tried to fix, though.)

Veracruz promoter/ex-luchador Joaquin Sanchez passed away Friday, according to DTU. They mentioned he has battled a long illness; Sanchez’s Facebook indicates a brain ailment. His sons Samuray Jr. & Crazy Star wrestled for DTU. I remember Joaquin Sanchez as the promoter JOSAGA shows in Fortin de la Flores, Veracruz, just one of those small groups I knew little about but saw their poster every week for years and years. He’d been promoting since at least 2012.

Bandido and friends participated in a government video to get people to wear facemasks.

Tuxtla Gutierrez is hoping to restart lucha libre in April.

Monica Carrillo, who identified herself as the wife of Blue Demon Jr., says he’s been abusive and has repeatedly threatened her life. Carrillo made these statements on the Chisme No Like show Tuesday, saying she’s reported him to the police. El Imperial has a summary of the interview; that’s how I found it. Her statements say the issues started getting worse two years ago when he left their shared house, and she now receives constant harassment at work and calls threatening she’ll be killed or disappeared. Carrillo further alleges Blue Demon Jr. has similar abusive relationships with other women, who are too afraid to come forward. Carrillo says she’s coming forward to protect herself and her daughters but believes it’s ridiculous to see Demon running for mayor given how he treats women and how he only cares about himself. Blue Demon has made no statement on the charges.

I know nothing about this veracity of Chisme No Like show and don’t know much about Blue Demon Jr. away from being “Blue Demon Jr.”, so I can’t really do much to verify it here. The first I’ve heard about this was minutes before posting and the story doesn’t seem to have gotten picked up elsewhere yet; maybe we’ll know more by Friday. If the story true, it’s terrible he’s acted this way. He’s going to lose a lot if this story gets picked up and deserves to if the story is accurate.

There is slight news in Lucha Libre AAA versus Lucha Libre FMV lawsuit. A filling on Monday mentioned the two sides are in mediation, with their lawyers most recently talking last Wednesday for a 13.5-hour Zoom session (9 AM to 10:30 PM.) That’s not my ideal Wednesday. The filing says they have not reached a resolution but have agreed to continue in mediation. The best hope for a quick resolution is mediation, so it’s a good sign that they’re talking.

Meanwhile, the filling mentions AAA’s still not technically been served with the lawsuit – they’re in Mexico, there’s no one to serve in the US, there’s no formal proof they’ve received it (though they obvious have) – and the court case can’t go forward until they do get it. That’ll be resolved eventually if mediation doesn’t fix this situation, but it explains why that hasn’t advanced since December.

AAA revealed a little bit about their upcoming plans on Tuesday. There’s another La Lucha de la Identidad set of tapings this week. AutoLuchas is also coming back later this month.

Hugo Savonvich revealed the upcoming tapings on Twitter; he’d mentioned it on his video shows previous. Hugo doesn’t mention a location or a date in the twitter posts, just saying there are six shows. The last episode from Tlaxco will air this weekend and six additional shows will fulfill AAA’s TV needs through the end of April. The last set of tapings was a Thursday/Saturday split, something AAA is likely to do again.

AAA officially announced the return of AutoLuchas on 03/20 at Autocinema Aire Libre in Coyoacan. This is a mall parking lot turned into a drive-in theatre back in June; they’ve shown other entertainment beyond movies and a live lucha libre seems like a natural fit. They’ve already got a stage, so the set-up may not be as elaborate as it was for the AutoLuchas shows at the race track back in October. AAA’s shows will be at 6 pm and 8:30 on that Saturday. AAA streamed an early show in that previous run to sell fans on the idea, and they could do that again if this is meant to be a multi-weekend run. Right now, only shows are on 03/20 are announced.

In reaction, RIOT announced they’ll be moving their show to March 21st; Vikingo, Arez, and Latigo may have all been unavailable otherwise. Poder del Norte were announced for an indie show on 03/20 in Mexico State a week ago and Mamba, Lady Shani and La Hiedra just turned up on a poster for Tijuana the same day. This is the foreseeable issue with AAA letting their wrestlers work indie dates; sometimes shows come together quickly and it’ll mean everyone else has to change their plans.

Fugaz beat Satanico in last night’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara show. Satanico tried pulling Fugaz’s mask to pin him again, but Difunto got involved to take the referee away from the ring and Fugaz recovered to cradle Satanico. Challenges followed as per usual.

In an interview with Marca, CMLL’s Cholo revealed he’s was fully vaccinated from COVID-19 back in January. He believes he was probably the first Mexico wrestler to be vaccinated. Cholo’s other job is as a cleaner at a hospital, and all employees were high on the list to get the vaccination. I’d presume some of the older luchadors may have received vaccinations by now, though the process to get them in Mexico seems as confusing and complicated as it is here in the US.

CMLL Informa will have Felino, Dalys, referee Tigre Infante and Robin on.

Rey Fenix faces Matt Jackson on AEW’s Dynamite tonight.

LA Park faces Alex Hammerstone for the MLW National Openweight Championship on their TV show today. That’s guaranteed to have a silly finish. Gringo Loco faces Gino Medina on that show.

Mr. Iguana was added to the 03/20 GALLI show.

03/26 ROH Anniversary PPV lineup so far

• Jay Lethal vs Rush (c) for the ROH Championship
• probably Tracy Williams vs Dragon Lee for the ROH TV Championship

Torreon’s Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano has Volador Jr. vs Templario vs ?? on 04/08. That seems like their first show back, as other Torreon arenas are slowly coming back.

GCW announced Arez for their 04/08 & 09 Acid Cup, so add him to the Mexican wrestlers around Tampa that weekend.

Arena Coliseo Monclova promoter Juan Carlos Sanchez Garica (Cuny) passed away early Tuesday morning. He’d been released from the hospital just two weeks ago for an unmentioned illness. Zocalo mentions Sanchez Garcia promoted wrestling for ten years, the last eight at this building. The building ran regular Monday shows prior to the pandemic and was teasing a restart soon. Instead, his family and friends brought him back to the arena one last time for a visitation.

Mas Lucha has a new episode of En+carados 213, with a lot of talk about IWRG Tryout.

LuchaWorld has this latest Lucha Report.

This week’s AAA TV included a bit where Laredo Kid talked about being AAA Cruiserweight Champion, then was challenged by both Octagon Jr. and Aramis for a title match. Laredo agreed to face either of them, leaving it up to AAA to decide. It is a wrestling cliche that if two people ask for a title shot, it’ll inevitable be a ‘surprise’ three-way match (and indeed, a three-way match with those people appeared to be part of those tapings.) Laredo Kid, in another universe, lost the AAA Cruiserweight Championship to Lio Rush weeks ago on MLW TV in a match taped last year. It would be reasonable to suspect these are two different universes, only AAA Laredo Kid specifically mentioned defending the title recently against Zenshi from MLW. Laredo then lost the title two weeks later, so maybe we’re meant to believe the Tlaxco taping is happening in between those shows, or maybe they rightfully assume no AAA fan knows/cares what’s happening on MLW and so they can just resolve it on the next taping. Octagon/Aramis/Laredo should be great and I wish AAA didn’t choose to create a Cruiserweight Title Mystery to detract from their really good matches.

AAA’s YouTube posted a La Parka special on YouTube Sunday night, which means the first new episode of 2021 to go up won’t be until next week. That’s a change from previously announced plans. Again, because AAA’s YouTube is blocked outside of Mexico, the only people who have legitimate access to it have access to their TV shows as well, so fans could keep up quicker if they like. That still means five new 2021 AAA episodes will have aired on Space before any appear on YouTube. It’s not AAA’s biggest social media issue but it’s still a strange choice.

AAA’s show mentioned two weeks of TV in Tlaxco, which means both they’re leaving a few matches on the cutting room floor and new TV could start as soon as March 20th. That could get extended a week; I’m not sure that La Parka special has aired on TV.

Cineapolis used Psycho Clown, Lady Shani, and Chessman for an advertisement promoting its health safety measures. They’re also apparently airing TripleMania soon. TripleMania originally was scheduled to air on a few day delays on Cineapolis theatres back in December; that was right when the second shutdown started, so I’m not sure if it actually happened. It seems weird to air it months later after it’s aired on TV multiple times and is on YouTube, but there are also not many movies to actually show at theatres.

San Luis Potosi luchador Aster Boy won IWRG’s Tryout competition Sunday night. The prizes include a trip to Lucha Time and a five-year contract with IWRG; I would like to bet heavily against Aster Boy working IWRG matches in 2026. Still, any more attention is good for him – San Luis Potosi has an active lucha libre scene but there’s no real path from there to larger places like Mexico City or Monterrey. (Outside of Mil Mascaras family members, Lolita is the only person to come from SLP to the national scene I can recall in recent times.) Aster Boy had worked a Vanguardia show and a little elsewhere in the greater Mas Lucha bubble of promotions, but this is a big spotlight he wouldn’t have gotten without this reality show.

IWRG had fans back in Arena Naucalpan for this show. It seemed less than the amount they had previously, but it wasn’t immediately clear if that was a newly reduced “30%” capacity or if it was a result of not really announcing the re-opening much in time to get people to come. The Mas Lucha broadcast was promoting the previously postponed cage match show as coming soon (and still being a Mas Lucha premium show.)

(I watched the first three episodes of IWRG’s Tryout and skimmed the next three. It didn’t do much for me; it felt like we were seeing the same scenes being done with different people repetitively on long episodes. It felt like an indie take on Tough Enough, though maybe Mexican fans who didn’t see that show or didn’t hear in their own language might get more out of this version. There was so many random trainees present (usually with no names shown) that the only people getting over were the constants – the trainers and mean judge Eterno. That might have been the idea. There also seemed to be some audio issues on later episodes; I think that clears up by the final.)

Bandido versus Tracy Williams versus LSG will go up on ROH’s YouTube channel tomorrow at noon CT.

Tuesday’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara stream has the Fugaz versus Satanico match they’ve been building towards since the restart.

 

MLW announced Gringo Loco vs Gino for their show Wednesday. MLW is also teasing Aerostar coming in. This fits with MLW telling the Wrestling Observer that they’d be bringing in other former Lucha Underground talent to build up the Azteca Underground idea, and I guess they can’t beat Laredo Kid every week. Putting an AAA gimmick on TV during the current legal issues seems risky. Maybe MLW has permission from Lucha Libre FMV, but it would seem like they wouldn’t be doing a knockoff version of Lucha Underground if they had a deal with the people who own the actual Lucha Underground. That lawsuit reaches four months of no new papers filed tomorrow, so I can’t be sure of what’s going on.

Undated IAW Show “El Club de La Lucha 2”

• Dinastia, Lanzelot vs Iron Kid, Ciclon Infernal
• Ovett Jr. vs Valiente Jr. vs Rencor Negro Jr.
• Yoruba vs Mr. Leo
• Ciclope vs Jitsu vs Willy Banderas vs Calibus in a Mas Army Cup semifinal

The Mas Army Cup appears to be two four-way matches and a final.

03/20 RIOT “COVIDIOTAS”

• Latigo vs Erik Ortiz (winner gets a title shot)
• Hijo del Vikingo vs Arez

That should be a great show with just those two matches.

GALLI is bringing in Mesias & Taurus for a 03/20 show in Berwyn, and those two plus Mecha Wolf, Sam Adonis, and Vary Morales on 03/21 at their main arena.

Lucha Libre Vanguardia’s show is now up on Mas Lucha. Scanning quickly, I don’t see a tease for their next show; their Facebook page says they’ll be back in March, but no date yet.

24 Horas has an interview with CMLL’s La Vaquerita. She mentions she was an Olympic-style wrestler who didn’t know anything about lucha libre until happening to go to a show with women’s wrestling. She started training two weeks later and debuted in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara at the age of 16.

Hades told her followers on Instagram that she was considering opening an OnlyFans account, and asked her followers what they thought. Lucha Noticias reports that some responses were people very negative towards her for the idea. Hades responded and also clarified that she was planning on posting bikini photos and “exclusive/creative work”, not nudity.

In Record, Super Porky wants to clear up that he is not broke because of drug addictions or medical issues. He is in need of money – his children are helping support him economically and emotionally, and some sell his merchandise for him. He does need a prosthesis for a knee, hip, and shoulder which he can not afford (he says the price is “two million”) but Zacatecas Box y Lucha commission doctor Jorge Fernando sends him all his medication so he’s OK. Super Porky is broke, he was to clarify, because he alleges a woman named Claudia Juana Medina del Valle scammed him out of his money. The article offers no more details into the situation. Brazo de Plata has said this before, but the details really make it.

El Planchitas interviews LA Park for his podcast; LA Park feels the lesson of the pandemic was luchadors should rebel against all promoters because the promoters only care about money and not luchadors. LA Park also appeared on Mas Lucha Contra this weekend.

At a one-year anniversary for Halcon Lucha Libre magazine, held inside in close quarters because they’re taking COVID so seriously, Fantasma said he was talking to people about opening Mexico City arenas at 30% capacity. This is what you’d expect he’d be doing, though it’s unclear if he can any affect – what openings there have been for lucha libre in Mexico City have been driven by other parts of the government.

Box Y Lucha #3463 has Bandido, Dragon Rojo and Cibernetico on the cover. Dragon Rojo coming back from injury to wrestle in the Copa Junior gets a full article. He replaced Niebla Roja, and a notes column mentions Niebla Roja is out due to “personal problems in the United States” according to Angel de Oro. No idea what that’s about. Box y Lucha does a lot of reporting from the CMLL interviews during the week, so this might’ve been mentioned already on Informa already. A different column mentions Lucha Libre Boom’s teased next show will be on 04/17 at Arena Lopez Mateos.

The administrators of Cibernetico’s Facebook account say his condition has improved, and he’s already working on resuming his Zoom interviews.

Famous Mexican clown/entertainer Cepillin passed away Monday. Furia de Titanes remembers a 2016 incident with him and Pirata Morgan. Cepllin, as a celebrity entertainer, had other crossovers with lucha libre through the years; there are photos with him and El Santo in the early 80s in stuff I’ve recently read; I didn’t previously realize how far he went back. Lots of luchadors are posting photos they took with him during the years. The popularity of Cepllin and similar clowns likely inspired kid-friendly characters like Super Muneco. SuperLuchas has an article talking about Cepillin’s connection to lucha libre.

Guanajuato luchador Viuda Negra passed away on Saturday

LuchaWorld has this week’s Lucha Report.

COVID notes

Mexico City will remain in Orange health status for the upcoming week. The hospitalization occupancy rate in Mexico City dropped a slight amount, from 53% to 50.68%. A recent article discussing the possibility of opening outdoor sports stadiums – largely soccer – has a doctor saying May would be best timeframe to start doing so at reduced capacity, while the rest of the article foreshadows it happening much sooner. Currently, states are allowed to open outdoor stadiums to fans at health code Yellow.

Late Wednesday night on Facebook, Cibernetico said he has COVID-19 (in a suitably roundabout way fitting Cibernetico.) Thursday, his staff updated the Facebook to say Cibernetico would not be doing his weekly video show because he has moderate to strong symptoms and is under medical care.

As Box Y Lucha reminds, Cibernetico had issues late last year with his gallbladder and would be more at risk for an infection. He also worked the Arena Mamas Luchas show this past Sunday. There’s no way of knowing if he had COVID then or got COVID there, but that’s a risk of running these shows right now.

Of CMLL’s four owned arenas, two are now active. Arena Mexico is taping shows every week, with a PPV coming up later this month. There’s no sense in taping in two different empty Mexico City venues, so Arena Coliseo will stay closed at least until fans are allowed back in buildings. Arena Coliseo Guadalajara seems like they’re going to one day a week shows for Facebook and local TV. That leaves Arena Puebla, who have not had a show since March 9th; it’s close to one year since the last Monday night show. Wednesday, a three-way meeting to talk about possibly re-opening included the head of the local Box and Lucha Libre commission (Carolina Morales García), the head of shopping centers in Puebla (Andrés De La Luz) and Benjamín Mar, who runs Arena Puebla for CMLL. There’s no date and it doesn’t read like opening the building is even a consideration at this point – they’re not going allow fans sitting inside buildings soon. There was a lot of talk about coming up with new and different ideas. Nothing was said, but I wonder if the strange inclusion of a person managing malls in this conversation is leading to holding matches at outdoor shopping centers as a new idea. That’s just a guess. The article notes five luchadors from Puebla have passed away from COVID during the pandemic.

Lucha Libre on TV/Streaming This Weekend

03/05 CMLL AMX (Streaming Worldwide 7 pm/Google Drive)

• Angelito vs Mercurio (possible repeat)
• El Audaz & Drone vs Okumura & Vangellys (likely repeat)
• Volador Jr., Templario, Mistico vs Mephisto, Titan, Ephesto in a relevos increibles match

I’m not sure if the main event is build to the long ago taped Templario/Titan match or something else.

03/06 CMLL MVS (streaming only in Mexico/Google Drive)

• Oro Jr. vs Espanto Jr. (likely repeat)
• Blue Panther Jr., Black Panther vs Ephesto, Lucifierno
• Angel de Oro, Terrible, Niebla Roja vs Volador Jr., Diamante Azul, Ultimo Guerrero (likely repeat)

CMLL ran Panthers versus Ephesto & Mephisto and all three Panthers versus the HIjo del Infierno but not Panthers versus Ephesto & Lucifierno and, an important distinction.

03/06 CMLL Televisa

• Sonic vs Yago (possible repeat)
• Guerrero Maya, Stigma vs Sagrado, Misterioso Jr.
• Diamante Azul, Black Panther, Blue Panther vs Sanson, Forastero, Templario
• Mistico & Audaz vs Negro Casas, Felino

03/07 CMLL YouTube

• Star Jr. & Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto & Luciferno
• La Jarochita vs Dalys (probable repeat)
• Okumura vs Black Panther
• Soberano, Titan, Volador vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sanson

03/06 AAA on Space (Tlaxco Week 1)

• Latigo, Arez vs Mini Drago, Laredo Boy
• Nino Hamburguesa, Mr. Iguana, Aerostar vs Poder del Norte
• Psycho Clown, Murder Clown, Monster Clown vs Rey Escorpion, Chessman, Abismo Negro Jr.

03/07 AAA on YouTube (Tlaxcala Week 1 of 3)

• La Hiedra & Lady Maravilla vs Faby Apache & Lady Shani
• Abismo Negro & Texano vs Laredo Kid & Octagon Jr.
• Chessman & Rey Escorpion vs Hijo del Vikingo & Psycho Clown

The plan at the moment is the Space show goes on the Google Drive and YouTube show goes on YouTube (as long as the only-Mexico block remains.) The plan will probably change.

GALLI is streaming a Friday night show (instead of the usual Sunday) with Aramis & Mr. Iguana as guest wrestlers. The show starts at 8 pm CT and streams on their website.

Mas Lucha is airing the most recent Vanguardia show on Sunday. Lineups/poster without spoiler is here, results are here.

Other Notes

Diamante Azul recently had La Mascara on his YouTube show, which caught attention because La Mascara said he’d like to go back to CMLL. SuperLuchas pulled some quotes out of the 45-minute conversation. La Mascara has struggled since leaving CMLL, with AAA seemingly giving up on his feud with Maximo and Mascara entirely after a year and a half stint. Mascara hasn’t done much better on the indies, mostly because Mascara has seemed entirely unmotivated and effortless. He’s likely a cautionary tale told to current CMLL wrestlers, warning the same fate could arise them should they leave the Arena Mexico nest. La Mascara likely would’ve been employed with CMLL forever if not for the infamous 2017 incident where he, Maximo, and other members of the Brazo family (including Psycho Clown) destroyed Ultimo Guerrero’s car. (Talking to Azul, Mascara denies the widely believed story that incident was about control of the wrestler’s union, attributing it to a longer running grudge instead.) Mascara claims he paid for all the damages, but believes Chavo Lutteroth III still doesn’t like him much. He also accuses CMLL of showing favoritism to Ultimo Guerrero, which is likely true and also exactly why he’s unlikely to ever return to CMLL while Guerrero is there. La Mascara can be critical of Guerrero or try to come back to CMLL, but he can’t do both.

CMLL has an unusually good preview for the 03/26 Volador/Bandido show. Bandido told the media “it’d be a dream for Mexisquad to be on a CMLL show.” I’m unsure his fellow Mexisquad members share that dream; Horus was last seen in AAA and Flamita hasn’t seemed interested in returning to CMLL in past talk. Bandido is an optimistic fellow, maybe he can make it work.

RIOT will run COVIDIOTAS on 03/20 in or around Monterrey. It’ll be a no-fans show streaming for free live, relying on donations. It’s a big challenge; RIOT’s never streamed a show, never done a no-fans show, never asked the fans to help out via donations. There are plans to do things to immediately reward people who give money and their fans have responded very positively on Facebook, but it’s still going to be tough. RIOT was as hot as it had before the pandemic, and there is a lot of pent-up demand for more locally, I’m less sure how it’s going to do beyond that fanbase. The promotion says it’ll be a usual RIOT level card and it’ll be at a mystery location instead of their usual Arena Femenil Monterrey home.

Indy Army Wrestling El Club de La Lucha 2 (no date announced, coming to Mas Lucha eventually)

• Dinastia & Lanzelot vs Iron Kid & Ciclon Infernal

Dragon Lee retained the ROH TV championship over Brian Johnson in a YouTube special match.

LA Park & Hijo de LA Park retained the MLW Tag Team Championships on Wednesday’s MLW show. LA Park will challenge Alex Hammerstone for the MLW National Openweight Championship on next week’s show. That seems like a match where MLW would want neither man to lose. Los Parks have been winning their tag matches with LA Park Jr. getting involved, so maybe that’ll backfire and he’ll take the loss. Laredo Kid continued his role as an enhancement talent by losing to Calvin Tankman.

GCW announced Laredo Kid for their Acid Cup on 04/08 & 04/09, joining Dragon Bane as luchadors announced. If Arez and Laredo Kid are going to be around Templa, they ought to be on a bunch of cards.

Infobae has a long article looking back at the 59th anniversary of TV debut of Argentina’s Titanes en el Ring.

This is barely even connected to wrestling but I have to include it: two funereal wreaths were found in the courtyard of the Tijuana Boxing, Lucha Libre and MMA commission, labeled “Alberto” and “Cardona” on Tuesday. Alberto Martinez is the Vice President of the commission, Juan Manuel Cardona is the boxing commission. They are alive and not in need of items marking their death currently. At least currently. The commission said they have no idea who sent them and they called the police. The head of the Tijuana commission suddenly resigned due to personal issues about two weeks ago. Boxing is the only one of those three sports that has been truly active in Tijuana over the past 12 months.

Lineups

Lucha Memes (SUN) 03/14/2021 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Black Yaya, Milenario, Tanatos vs Águila Guerrera Jr., Cachorro De Guerrera, Destino
2) Black Out, Genio Rojo, Intenso, Kaito vs Bagheera, Blue Monster Jr., Ciclón Infernal, Taurino
3) Dr. Cerebro vs Perro de Guerra
4) Impulso & Justiciero vs Trauma I & Trauma II
5) Calibus vs Iron Kid
6) Juana La Loca vs Ricky Marvin
7) Aramis vs Jimmy

Some of the matches look good but I don’t know. I’m planning on getting to the previous Lucha Memes shows this weekend – you should have all the links if you donated, though I would suggest not assuming those links will work forever. It’s hard to get excited about another card after that last lineup fell apart/changed a lot (a never-ending issue with Memes) and what I’ve seen of the production has looked aggravating. There’s also the greater issue with Memes, where it’s just matches for the sake of matches, people being mixed and matched with absolutely no stakes to it. This show will eventually go up on IWTV.