Los Cancerberos advance to national trios titles finals, Bandido opens a gym, Dr. Wagner declares himself not to be a Bad Bunny fan

CMLL , Televisa (SAT) 04/17/2021 Arena México [CMLL]
1) La Jarochita b Reyna Isis
2) Felino Jr. & Flyer b Audaz & Raziel [seeding battle royal] 
3) Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus b Audaz, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa [MEX TRIOS, quarterfinal] 
4) Esfinge, Flyer, Titán b Felino, Felino Jr., Negro Casas [MEX TRIOS, quarterfinal] 
5) Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus b Esfinge, Flyer, Titán [MEX TRIOS, semifinal] 
6) Carístico, Místico, Valiente DQ Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

I was mildly surprised by Los Cancerberos advancing, but they did well in the fan poll and pulled the best recent match out of NGD in the resulting title match. This may be a seniority push but there’s plenty who don’t get that

CMLL’s really never going to push Felino Jr. and truly had him change names because they were scared Puma King was going to use it (and I don’t think Puma King ever was going to use it.) CMLL’s very into retaining naming rights and not at all into raising the value of those rights.

This leaves the final 04/24 card as

CMLL , Ticketmaster (SAT) 04/24/2021 Arena México
1) Microman & Perico Zakarías vs Chamuel & Gallito [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Amapola & Marcela vs Dalys & La Jarochita [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus [MEX TRIOS, final]
4) Carístico & Místico © vs Ángel de Oro & Terrible [CMLL TAG]
4th defense
5) Atlantis, Euforia, Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

It’s a show for very dedicated CMLL fans. Maybe matches 3 and 5 will be good but there’s nothing great. The title matches could go in interesting directions if this was a promotion where it felt like anything was going anywhere. Prices for this show will go up again in a few days, so buy it now if you’re going to buy it anyway.

IWRG (SUN) 04/18/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha, R de Rudo]
1) Comando Negro Jr. & Lunatik Fly b Guerrero Olímpico & Rey Halcón Jr. 
2) Especie Maligna & Tonalli b Hellboy & Legendario  
3) Chilango, Guadalajara, Monterrey b Relámpago, Súper Nova, Veneno  
4) Canek Jr., Hijo del Fishman, Máscara Sagrada Jr. b Baby Extreme, King Charro, Origen [EdM Trios, torneo]  
5) Aster Boy, Dragón Bane, Hijo de Canis Lupus b Demonio Infernal, Emperador Azteca, Toxin  
money thrown in
6) Hijo del Espectro b Blue Demon Jr., Fresero Jr.  

Semimain was said to be a lot of highspots with mixed level of success, which is typically enough to get money thrown in here. Next week’s the big premium show.

The trios title tournament seems to have come out of nowhere (though likely it came up in IWRG pre-show I haven’t watched.) The Mexico State/Mexico City trios titles were last held by Demonio Infernal, Eterno and Lunatik Extreme in 2019, Infernal and Eterno are rivals so I guess they’re no longer champs. I guess we’ll learn who else is in this tournament together; maybe they did this match first if the Lucha Time guys aren’t around next week. (Delta wasn’t around this week.)

AAA’s show on Lucha Azteca often airs different matches than their ‘main’ TV show on Space. AAA appears to give Azteca the entire taping to allow them to add their own announcers and pick what to air, which means sometimes a match AAA left off their own produced show on Space will turn up on more widely available Azteca show. (Azteca is also currently behind a week or two from what Space is airing.) Dinastia’s mini title match from AutoLuchas hasn’t aired on Space, but it did turn up on Azteca this weekend. Well, maybe not exactly a mini’s title match. A sharp-eyed viewer at Contacto Informativo noticed AAA used the mixed tag team belt in place of the minis title. (It was the blue belt, formally held by Villano III Jr.) The post is critical of the commission – what role do they serve if they’re going to authorize matches where the wrong belt is on the line – but it also may be a reason AAA hasn’t been in a hurry to air that match on their own. Azteca is less thoughtful about those issues.

AAA did say they’re going to start putting up those skipped matches from the AAA tapings on May 1st.

Psycho Clown dedicated his Record newspaper column to saying he wants a match with Andrade. I think that match will actually happen if it’s finically viable for AAA in 2021.

Bandido opened his new gym on Saturday, which not coincidentally was his 26th birthday. It’s still a couple of weeks from being fully operational. His idea is it not to just be a gym; they’re going to have 15 small apartments for people to stay. It’s a struggle to find affordable and safe apartments if you’re a wrestler from outside the area (or outside the country) and want to come to Mexico City to train or tryout for one of the two big promotions, so that helps with that. There are plans for laundry rooms, a cafeteria, a barbershop and a spa in the building among other ideas. The gym itself has two rings, including one meant to be a replica of the Dragon Gate ring. Texano was among those there and spoke about the need for luchadors to create additional non-wrestling sources of income to keep them going after the end of their in-ring careers, noting members of the previous generations struggled to do so and left them in bad straights.

The part that caught the most attention was Bandido talking about the possibility of starting a third wrestling promotion to compete with CMLL & AAA. This sounds similar to Rush’s idea; at best, there’s a lot of useful available talent for such an idea, but no immediate sign of a large enough media outlet to promote such a group or a person with the wealth and patience to endure the years of financial losses it likely would take to get it started. There’s also the issue of Bandido (and Rush) being under contract to ROH. Their contracts probably wouldn’t prevent either of them from starting something new, but ROH’s going to return to running a normal schedule at some point and that’s going to leave them both with less time and energy to devote to another project.

Dr. Wagner Jr. criticized WWE for using musician Bad Bunny at WrestleMania while not having space for talented wrestlers like Andrade and Santos Escobar. (Escobar wrestled earlier the week in NXT.) Wagner acknowledged WWE had used athletes in wrestling matches before but was particularly upset that a reggaeton artist got that spot. Wagner was not asked about Bad Bunny, seemed to bring it up all on his own, which makes this a bit obvious as an attempt to get some media attention. It doesn’t seem to have traveled out of the wrestling bubble. It is worth noting that Wagner is the guy credited with bringing Andrade/Sombra to CMLL, so he might have a bit of a personal stake in Andrade not being used.

Galeno del Mal says his dream is to go to WWE. He’s learning English, and learning to speak promos in English, so he can show that off if there’s ever a chance. He’s more hesitant to remove his mask – because of the Wagner family tradition, and because he looks too non-threatening without it. He’s hopeful for a NXT Latin America so he can try out.

Halloween made his retirement appearance on Sunday’s Arena Azteca Budokan show. He did not end up wrestling, was clearly too hurt to do so.

04/23 GALLI has Arez & Myron Reed vs Gringo Loco & Golden Dragon.

CAR The Crash will have Latigo (IAW Championship) versus Perseo (hair) versus Blue Win (mask) on 04/24. The title usually changes hand in that setup, which would be disappointing here.

Lucha Time announced they’ll start airing on local station Azteca Noreste on Sundays at 9 AM starting May 2nd. That doesn’t sound like a great time slot but better than nothing. The promotion says they’re going to reach millions of people, which seems optimistic (though the network says they serve a market of 10 million people.)

El Mago and Jimmy won their semifinals in the Vanguardia Extraordinario Tournament, so they’ll face off for the new title on the 05/15 promotion second-anniversary show.

Kingdom wrestling announced Hijo del Santo for their 05/21 Matamoros show.

Pro Wrestling Cinema has highlights of the Arez, Black Taurus, Gringo Loco vs Ares, Dragon Bane, and Laredo Kid match from GCW’s Spring Break show.

Segunda Caida reviews some 1993 CMLL.

Box y Lucha 3468 stories include one on Arena Mexico’s Anniversary.

A profile of Oaxaca’s Arkanos, who’s actually from Veracruz.

The Darts & Letters podcast included an interview with Heather Levi, talking about her experiences with lucha libre in writing the “The World of Lucha Libre” book.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 04/20/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino, Mágico, Reycko vs Fúnebre, Paymon, Último Ángel [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, torneo]
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro vs Destello, Destructor, Relámpago Azul [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, torneo]
3) Javier Cruz Jr., Leo, Omar Brunetti vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, torneo]
4) Fugaz, Mr. Samurai, Principe Daniel vs Gran Kenut, Infierno, Jabalí [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, torneo]
5) Mystique & Silueta vs La Comandante & Soberbia
6) Blue Panther vs Satánico © [FLLM MASTER]

That main event is happening. This is the old Solar/Negro Navarro title, which they traded back and forth (and in lots of draws) from about 2011 to 2019. Solar lost it to Satanico on October 2019 show, and this is the first we’ve seen of it since.

Silueta betrayed Mystique last week so that won’t end well. Comandante gets brought in this week (I guess getting some of the other Panther’s payday.) I’m taken aback by how quickly Guadalajara is getting around to filling the championships vacated by NGD. The poster says this is the first part of the tournament, though I’m not sure if to take it as the semis are next week or if there’s another block of eight teams.

Lucha Memes (SUN) 04/25/2021 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr. vs Avisman & Judas el Traidor
can only win by submissions for the first five minutes
2) Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako vs Kastigador (Querétaro) & Vengador
falls count anywhere
3) Toxin vs Makabre
bloody match
4) Skayde vs Baby Xtreme
three falls match
5) Ricky Marvin vs Black Terry
6) Tromba vs Látigo [chairs]
7) Aramis vs Jimmy
8) Iron Kid vs Demus [cage]

The second of back-to-back Sundays of Lucha Memes Anniversary show. As with all Memes cards, what is announced and what happens are not necessarily the same. Virus did not appear on this past Sunday’s show. CMLL pulled him because AAA’s Arez & Latigo were booked, which is something everyone should’ve expected to happen (except the Lucha Memes promoter still did not.) I’ve lost track of how many times CMLL wrestlers were announced for Lucha Memes who did not appear; maybe the good thing about this card is none were announced this time around. Lucha Memes didn’t publish results but seemed excited about Daniel Garcia appearing on the show this past Sunday.