Day: April 2, 2021

Saturday is the last day before the Daylight Savings Time switch in Mexico. All the time zones go back to normal on Sunday (unless you’re a person in Japan or elsewhere where times never change)

AAA attempts to explain the Cruiserweight Championship deal, doesn’t go well

The important thing to take from this upfront: AAA is going with Laredo Kid as the Cruiserweight Champion. Nothing else matters and you can live your life fine skipping down to the next header.

This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter writes AAA is going with Laredo Kid as champion because Lio Rush was not supposed to win the AAA championship. It’s termed a “miscommunication in the MLW match about what the finish was supposed to be.” Then, the plan was for Lio Rush to come to Mexico to lose it, but he wasn’t free on AAA TV’s dates. AAA’s next idea was to make up a fictional title change in Mexico but decided they didn’t even need to do it because AAA’s digital team never announced the title change.

That last part is false. AAA promoted the title change in MLW on social media. I’m not sure if whoever the WON talked to in AAA (very likely Konnan but he’s not quoted by name) knowingly lied about it or honestly just thought it wasn’t put out by AAA. AAA’s mention of the title change was still up on Twitter this morning; I’d check their Facebook for it too if I didn’t have to deal with the region block. That’s just one of many things crazy about this:

• how does a title change hands on a miscommunication? how could there be a miscommunication about “Laredo’s got to stay champ?” (Maybe more specifically, is the miscommunication between MLW and AAA or perhaps AAA and AAA?)
• that title match took place on a marathon MLW taping – why didn’t they reshoot it with the correct finish or shoot another match to explain it? is AAA saying they weren’t aware MLW had done a title change until after the tapings completed?
• how does AAA continue to work MLW if they’ve done an unapproved title change? (Pentagon brought them up positively in a promo, it sure looks like Aerostar and others are headed in for the next set of tapings.) Why hasn’t MLW done something to make it right for AAA if they’re even slightly at fault?
• if Lio Rush isn’t going to be free on AAA TV dates then why did they just make him Arcano in their important Marvel Lucha Libre deal?
• Those MLW matches were taped before TripleMania in December, even if they aired later. Presumably, AAA knew Lio Rush was champion by the time of that show – you think it might have come up with Lio Rush in the building and Laredo Kid carrying around the title. Why didn’t they tape something at that point to explain it? (Did AAA not know their TV dates in December? That one’s actually reasonable but maybe you make sure to give yourself an out during a global pandemic.)
• Why did it have to be on an AAA TV taping? Why didn’t you try to set up something in the US, where Laredo and Lio are both active, or find some other venue in Mexico?
• Why didn’t AAA immediately tell Lio Rush “sorry, we’re not going with you as a champion, we’ll make it good later” as soon as they realized the issue? Why didn’t they say something when it aired? Lio Rush said he didn’t find out he wasn’t champ until Laredo Kid popped up on AAA TV with the belt. That’s less than ideal.
• What year do you think it is where AAA fans won’t find about a title change if you don’t mention it, or you can just make up a fake title change and people won’t roll their eyes? How were those options not immediately rejected for being silly?
• Why is AAA working with MLW if they feel your fans know so little about them they won’t even know/care what happened there unless AAA mentions it? What value is MLW adding to AAA if they might as well not exist to AAA fans?
• Why does AAA need Laredo Kid to be Cruiserweight Champion with any urgency anyway? Most of their other champions aren’t in Mexico or aren’t defending their titles and the one singles champion they have around (Dinastia) has his title matches consistently edited off the television show. I enjoy the great Laredo Kid title matches but you actually can just keep booking those without a title belt.
  • AAA’s (once again) given up on coherent stories or doing any booking outside of just matching up names during the pandemic, so it doesn’t seem obvious why anyone in particular needs to be champion right now. AAA’s only held two weekends of normal TV tapings so far, what is the rush hurry about the Cruiserweight title that hasn’t been there for Villano III’s mixed title belt? or Taya’s title belt? or Daga’s title belt?
• Why hasn’t this been explained to anyone until now? Why is the WON being told seemingly before the people who for AAA? Jose Manuel Guillen, on a past Mas Lucha podcast, made it clear he had absolutely no idea why Laredo Kid was still champion, just that it was what AAA was going with. If your lead announcer doesn’t even understand the story, does that mean no one but the booker and the people in charge were even told?
• and also, circling around to the start, why didn’t they tell the social media people not to mention the title change so this story could be plausible?

It’s not hard to get out of this. Even I can figure it out: “Laredo Kid is the current AAA Cruiserweight champion. Unfortunately, MLW didn’t complete the sanctioning process and the Lio Rush & Laredo Kid match was not an authorized championship defense. We value MLW as a partner and we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again in the future. We apologize to Lio Rush, Laredo Kid, and our fans for this confusion. We understand this decision won’t make everyone happy and we believe these issues should be settled in the ring. AAA plans to bring Lio Rush to Mexico for a championship opportunity in 2021 once travel restrictions have eased. Please continue to follow us on social media for more information” Dorian, use it, PayPal me 12 USD and we’re good.

AAA instead took the flimsiest way out. As I’ve consistently said through this, the Cruiserweight Title bit is not going to affect AAA much at all – but that’s because AAA’s trained everyone to not take them seriously. No one should be fired or even in the slightest bit of trouble over this. It’s too stupid to care. At the same time, AAA also shouldn’t be offended they’re not given the proper amount of respect when they act so absurd on a regular basis. It’s also specifically a good idea to keep this in mind about Omega’s title. We may get that cathartic moment of Vikingo or Taurus or Psycho or Fenix again or whoever beating Omega in an AAA ring and it’ll be so great. We also may just get Texano walking out with a new version of Mega title on some random show and be asked to roll with it. AAA makes no guarantees anything will ever make sense. The global marketing strategy of the 2020s is to get people heavily invested in your brand, but it would be a mistake for an AAA viewer to ever care too deeply about that one.

In related “news”, the WON reports Konnan and MLW’s Court Bauer believe they can turn the barely fleshed out “Azteca Underground” MLW idea into a stand-alone promotion. (WON reported this as a Lucha Underground reboot idea last week, I didn’t bother repeating because I had a feeling it was something like this.) This is yet another AroLucha-level idea that will transparently never get past a concept MLW episode they can shop around to TV networks the same as AroLucha did. I enjoyed Lucha Underground, but if investors wanted to pay for Lucha Underground, they would have invested in the original version with Robert Rodriguez and Mark Burnett attached, not  something being taped on a high-end indie wrestling budget out of a bar in Orlando. If there’s going to be another lucha libre show in the US, it’s not going to be one that just failed with the serial numbers filed off. It’s gotta be something else or the idea has to go away for much longer to be fresh again.

This “Azteca Underground” story wouldn’t be worth taking seriously at this stage, except it’ll have a gravitational pull of wrestlers and resources towards it – “you’ve got to work with me, because we’ve got a plan to get on TV soon” – if people give it any credibility. Konnan having other business plans going on with Bauer seems to explain up why AAA is working with MLW while expressing how MLW is currently unimportant, but perhaps I’m being too cynical. The WON report includes no explanation of how “Azteca Underground” is expected to legally exist run while Lucha Libre FMV sues AAA over the rights to the actual Lucha Underground, probably because there can be no explanation.

CMLL News

CMLL Informa had a shocking amount of actual news this week.

• NGD officially relinquished the Occidente Trios and National Trios championships.
  • National champions are supposed to automatically give up those titles by rule when they become world champion though CMLL hasn’t strictly followed that rule.
  • It’d be OK if CMLL just forgot these trios titles for a while instead of doing a tournament. One-night tournaments on a PPV would be unpleasant and there’s no reason to believe they can air one that makes sense on TV. They could just pick two teams to do a match, but there are no hot teams and there are barely any trios matches happening (by normal CMLL standards) due the pandemic-limited shows
  • the Occidente titles are usually vacated when Guadalajara based wrestlers come to Mexico City full time. NGD hadn’t defended theirs since 201 but they never gave them up, likely figuring on dramatic photos of them holding all three sets of belts like they did this week. Those trios titles also had been pretty much forgotten before being brought to set up an NGD win and there’s a good chance they’ll be going right back in a closet.
• Atlantis’ return match on the 04/24 PPV will be teaming with Volador Jr. & Mistico versus Barbaro Cavernario, Gran Guerrero and Ultimo Guerrero
• Angel de Oro demanded a NWA Middleweight title match with Caristico, which seems likely to be on the PPV as well.

The 04/24 PPV is on sale. CMLL is advertising it as a 25% discount, so the price will be going up later.

Random trivia note: we think of the Occidente championships as Arena Coliseo Guadalajara’s belts, but they’re actually left over championships from a regional circuit that existed before that building, with stops in places like San Luis Potosi. EMLL ran them out of business and kept the belts for themselves, but that’s why the old title histories for those belts have never made sense – they were still doing plenty of title changes away from the main building.

Atlantis, dong media earlier on Wednesday, said he (and CMLL) are still hoping to have 30% capacity for their 04/24 show. That requires Secretary of Health’s approval. It’s not impossible but it seems unlikely with what they’ve said recently.

Euforia, in his own CMLL media interview, says Euforia would like Soberano Jr. to live his career on his own part but it would be nice to team with him. It doesn’t seem certain they’re going to become a new unit. Euforia is set on winning the CMLL Heavyweight Championship. Euforia respects Ultimo Guerrero as a professional but not as a person – he’s upset with many things, including Ultimo Guerrero recently saying his best trio was with Toscano and Rey Bucanero. Box y Lucha posted the full interview. Meanwhile, Templario is all for taking Euforia’s spot on Los Guerreros Laguneros.

CMLL announced the youngest of the three Blue Panther sons, Cachorro Lagunero, will make his CMLL debut this Tuesday in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. (The brother currently known as Black Panther started out as Cachorro, but this is a different one.) Cachorro Lagunero wrestled in both Mexico City and Torreon in 2019 and 2020. He likely would’ve debuted in CMLL last year had they run a normal schedule. The rest of the family will also be on the card. Blue Panther Senor has said in the past he was planning to retire once he got his three sons all started in the wrestling business, but wrestlers say many things about retirements.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara luchador el Alteno now appears to be wrestling as exotico Antuan.

TV Notes

04/02 CMLL AMX (Google Drive)

• Sonic vs Yago (possible repeat)
• Lluvia & La Jarochita vs Dalys & Stephanie Vaquer
• Mephisto, Titan, Luciferno vs Mistico, Templario, Soberano Jr.

Sonic/Yago happened multiple times during the fall, but it’s very possible they’ve retaped things lately.

04/03 CMLL MVS (Google Drive)

• Sangre Imperial vs Retro (posisble repeat)
• Lluvia & Estrellita vs Tiffany, Metalica (possible repeat)
• Diamante Azul, Blue Panther Jr., Black Panther vs Sanson, Templario, Forastero (likely repeat)

Is it ok if I go out for a walk instead of trying to record this middle of the afternoon show? It’s going to be really nice this weekend out my way.

04/03 CMLL Televisa (YouTube next week)

• Sonic vs Super Astro Jr. (possible repeat)
• Guerrero Maya Jr. & Black Panther vs Virus & Misterioso Jr.
• Atlantis Jr. & Stuka Jr. vs Felino, Felino Jr.
• Caristico, Bandido, Diamante Azul vs Ultimo Guerrero, Templario, Euforia (possible repeat)

Yes, they’re still airing Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia teaming. That same match aired already but my guess this is new bit, taped the week prior to the PPV.

04/04 CMLL YouTube

• La Vaquerita vs Reyna Isis
• Valiente, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Felino & Rey Bucanero
• Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Black Panther vs Mephisto, Lucifierno, Ephesto
• Mistico, Volador Jr., Titan vs Cavernario, Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia

Heraldo Television has Caristico, Atlantis, and Valiente vs Sanson, Yago, and Forastero for it’s new match. That’s Yago a lot higher than usual. I believe they taped something explaining why Yago is in that position and didn’t bother to air it.

04/03 AAA Space

• Big Mami & Myzteziz Jr. vs Flammer & Argenis
• Abismo Negro Jr., Texano Jr. vs Maximo & Octagon Jr.
• Nino Hamburguesa, Faby Apache, Laredo Kid versus Poder del Norte

They’ve jumped ahead to AutoLuchas tapings, which makes some sense: they want to sell people on the idea of these shows while there’s still a chance for people to go them. Nothing in those matches particularly jumps out, or maybe I’m just anxious for the Arez/Laredo match from the late night show. AAA’s running Friday night – at 6 and 8:30 pm – and then again next Friday. Those shows are not going to be taped for TV; maybe they’ll have clips and photos on social media.

Indy Shows of Note

Saturday

• Arena Neza has an indie show with Penta & Chessman vs Pagano & Psycho Clown. This is a strange block of time where AAA’s local promoters aren’t technically running shows, but others (or the same promoters unofficially) can just book them together independently. The Neza show has too many indie names for a normal AAA show, but only if you’re really paying attention.
• Kriminal Lucha Libre finishes their tournament from January, though the Villano III Jr. vs Fuerza Guerrera NG match sounds like the best match on the show.
• Super X has the second show of their Super Juvy tournament.
  • Super X is running a Gym Micktlan, a venue in Mexico City not legally allowed to have fans and which has already been shut down once for it, so there’s a slight chance this show will be raided by the government. Only slight; Mamba ran a show there last weekend fine.
• Mas Lucha will post their weekly KAOZ show on Saturday.

Sunday

• Zona 23 returns with an Ovett tribute show.
• IWRG runs their La Rebelion de Los Juniors show; a bunch of second-generation wrestlers in a battle royal, winner gets a title shot against IWRG Junior champion Fresero. Eterno challenges for Fresero’s Rey del Ring title in the same show. Dragon Bane challenges Baby Xtreme in a match made for GIFs that may or may not hold together.

Other News

Andrade added boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to his list of desired opponents. I thought this was meant to be a joke, but Andrade keeps going on about it, noting it’d have to have some mixed rules because they’d both obviously win in their own styles. Aim for the moon, I guess.

Vanguardia’s most recent show will debut on Mas Lucha next Sunday.

Diamante faces Bokutimo Dragon in a mask versus mask match on 04/09 for Dragon Gate. Bokutimo Dragon is better known as Big R Shimizu; he’s doing a short-term Ultimo Dragon comedy gimmick. Everyone expects Diamante to win to put an end to that.

Jack Evans vs Tony Deppen has been added to the 04/09 VXS show, one of the many on WrestleMania weekend. It’s a rare indie appearance for an AEW contracted wrestler; they’re generally not working WrestleMania weekend shows.

Segunda Caida reviews a Gringo Loco/Bandolero cage match from 2018 that I have no memory of at all.

TVMax has a story on the 70s/80s Panama lucha libre star Sandokan.