Los Cancerberos new champs & Atlantis returns at Arena Mexico anniversary show, Federacion Wrestling

CMLL , Ticketmaster (SAT) 04/24/2021 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Chamuel & Gallito b Microman & Perico Zakarías [Relevos Increíbles]
15:09. (One fall)
2) Dalys & La Jarochita b Amapola & Marcela [Relevos Increíbles]
16:23. (One fall) Both teams had slight issues at the end.
3) Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus b Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Jr., Stuka Jr. [MEX TRIOS, final]
22:10 [7:56, 4:04, 10:10] Los Cancerberos take 1/3, are the 41st champions.
4) Carístico & Místico © b Ángel de Oro & Terrible [CMLL TAG]
30:43 [9:00, 5:07, 16:36]. Mistico & Caristico took 1/3 for their 4th defense.
5) Atlantis, Euforia, Volador Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
14:50 [8:21, 2:32, 3:57]. Team Atlantis took 1/3, the last when Atlantis got Guerrero in La Atlantida.

Atlantis was never going to look like even 2015 Atlantis. He’s closing in on 60, he’s suffered a significant knee injury, Atlantis was always going to look old because he is old. He wouldn’t have been out of place at the annual legend’s show, maybe better than average on those. Atlantis also had a slight limp by the end of the match and needed to hold onto the ropes to stay up. I think whatever surgery/rehab Atlantis has done in the last year and a half has helped him physically, though not to the point where he is going to contribute to having good matches again. Mexican wrestlers keep going for a long time, because it’s the promoters who are the last to lose interest in them, and so Atlantis can probably keep wrestling as long as he wants. I just hope he doesn’t undo the work he’s done to repair himself.

The trios title match was the best match of the show, the one match I’d suggest tracking down to watch if such a thing was actually possible for a CMLL PPV. Both teams were super motivated to make something special from the occasion and did so. There was a moment midway through where Star Jr. slipped on a springboard – he landed fine on the apron, match kept going, but it was a moment where Raziel might have shown up a youngster if this was a normal Tuesday match. Instead, he took it in stride and just moved on. It does give some hope that, if more CMLL wrestlers got opportunities to do something they felt was meaningful, you’d probably get good performances out of them. There were fresh ideas and good energy on both sides, with the makeshift tecnico team clearly having put in thought about what they could do together as a trio. Los Cancerberos were one of the groups who performed over CMLL expectations in the Aniversario poll, then got the best match out of NGD anyone has it in a while, so it’s nice to see them rewarded. It’s impossible to know if/when CMLL will have someone defend a title, but this seems to set up good trios title matches in the future whenever they do happen.

The tag title match was the opposite; just slowly playing the hits over a much too long match. They had about fifteen minutes of ideas and made it go twice as long. CMLL may have believed they’d have fans back for this show and fans hating the Nuevo Ingobernables and cheering the Misticos might have covered up the weaknesses. It was just a cold match in an empty arena. Mistico either came in with hurt ribs or got hurt early on, which didn’t help the situation.

I didn’t catch any explanation for why the first two matches were one fall. Many people would like to see CMLL go all one fall matches. It didn’t seem to help the matches here; it messed with my perception of how the matches were going because I was waiting for a fall break that didn’t happen. Going that long didn’t help the micros, who had one of their weakest matches.

I’m going below average, ok, great, ok I guess, ok as my ratings. The trios title match was worth the early discounted price of $8 USD, but this show otherwise wasn’t much. It was meant to just be a glimpse of Atlantis and that’s what it was.

Terrible, Princesa Sugehit, Virus, and KeMonito received Copa Bobby Bonales awards. They all seemed pleased, They may be on Informa to talk about it this week. Salvador Lutteroth III appeared with Daniel Aceves; it’s possible to chart the changes in CMLL by which person is there over the last three Copa Bobby Bonales presentations. I believe it was Sofia Alonso last time, back in 2019, and Panico prior to that. The common thread is CMLL treats Daniel Aceves as a very important person when he appears, and likely even more so as a government sports official at a time when CMLL is much in need of support for the government.

The next CMLL Ticketmaster show is May 28th, Copa Dinastia. Los Gemelo Diablos appeared in a post-main event vignette to announce their debut on the show. The original Gemelo Diablos – the Twin Devils, actual twins – were a star tag team in the late 60s and 70s. The pattern of the CMLL programming team is to bring back ideas from when they were growing up, so a fifty-year-old team is new again. These new Gemelo Diablos were introduced back in March 2020, when CMLL presumably thought they’d be running shows again soon. Miguel Reducindo reported they were Matamoros’ Gemelo Panteras, who had been apparently infrequently in CMLL prior. There’s been no mention of them in the past year until now; they appeared to be the same people.

Copa Dinastia sounds like an eight-team one-night tournament, which is fairly dire programming on live shows. It’s not something appealing as a PPV. The most appealing part of the show may be finally seeing a CMLL show with actual fans again. Mexico City should enter Yellow health code in advance of May 28th if the COVID trends continue as they have for the last few weeks, and Yellow should allow a limited amount fans to attend shows at Arena Mexico – but both those are maybes until it happens.

I watched all of the CMLL TV I could this weekend. Not sure why! The Satanico/Blue Panther match was generally what you’d expect from them at this point, plus a Satanico middle rope splash. It’s a psychology where I got excited for them doing the double pin tease because of course you have to do a double pin tease in a maestros match.

The best ‘normal’ CMLL match I saw was Bandido, Euforia, Soberano vs Ultimo Guerrero, Volador and Templario, though it was strange how evergreen it was. This was taped before Euforia left the Guerreros – I don’t think Bandido’s been back to CMLL tapings since that PPV – so the Televisa announcers were talking about the issues between those two while they were wrestling a completely normal match. Templario pinned Bandido in the end and made a motion as if they were headed to another singles match. I have no idea if they taped another one. Volador sort of distracted the ref and Bandido before the finish but Volador also accidentally stepped in the way of a Euforia dive a moment earlier – maybe it was Volador/Bandido built but also it could’ve been a mistake. It was noticeable that CMLL didn’t promote the Televisa show as much as usual, though I can’t be certain if that’s because Bandido was in the main event or if something else was going on. I’m baffled why they’d bother to still air Bandido matches since it just confuses their fans on his status, but I liked seeing it so I’m not complaining.

This was the first time I’ve heard the Televisa announcers in a long time; they have the network announcer on TV, then CMLL uses their own announcers for the version they put up on YouTube. The Televisa crew – Leo Riano, Fernando Torres and Hechicero – are obviously calling the matches this week and it feels more current. They were plugging the upcoming games and even the CMLL PPV happening that night. CMLL’s announcing appears to be done as the matches are taped. They can then air on any network, in any order, at any time. They’re doing their best to make that work, but it also contributes to making the matches feel weightless.

(The one show I couldn’t see, on Heraldo Television, had Los Cancerberos losing a trios match about an hour before they won the title match because nothing matters in CMLL.)

Box Y Lucha 3469 covers the 04/24 CMLL show.

AAA

AAA announced Rey de Reyes will now be starting at 7 pm (an hour earlier.) They’ll also be announcing a match per day at 2 pm. Not sure I’m going to wait until 2 pm every day to write about it but I will today.

• Octagon Jr. vs Taurus vs ? for the AAA Latin American Championship
• Laredo Kid, Texano Jr., Murder Clown, Aerostar, Drago, Anismo Negro Jr., Hijo del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. for the Rey de Reyes
• (ads indicate a match for the vacant Reina de Reinas title, which has not been officially announced)

Daga posted a video on Saturday announcing he was relinquishing the Latin American championship due to travel issues and because there was no one to defend it again. The travel issues are a strange one because Daga was living in Tijuana earlier in the pandemic and was able to make it to TripleMania and taped KAOZ PPV, though now he appears to lately be based in the US. Daga hasn’t appeared on an AAA taping outside of TripleMania since before the pandemic – but even before that, he hadn’t appeared since November 2019. Daga does not say he’s leaving AAA in that video, but it comes off like he’s either waiting on official word for his next destination or he and AAA have just peacefully moved on from each other.

I’d guess Taurus is the favorite to win the title because Octagon already has the belt. I’m not sure who the surprise wrestler would be. It’s possible it’s someone from outside of Mexico and AAA doesn’t want to say anything until they know that person’s made it. Or maybe AAA did have it Daga in that space and it’s a mystery because they’re still figuring out who they can put in that spot.

Aerostar is the reigning Rey de Reyes champion, though I might have not remembered if they weren’t showing it in the ads. Depending on the rules, that should be a pretty good match. It’s amusing that one of the few things AAA’s done on TV this year is push the Argenis/Myzteziz feud and they’re not even in the same match. It’s seemed like a busywork bit so both guys can feel like they’re doing something important despite no plans to go anywhere, and that booking seems to confirm it for now.

This week’s AAA TV episode on Space had a couple of interesting bits. This show was taped about six weeks ago – they’re making a point of showing the tape date on the broadcasts for mystery reasons – but the announcers were prepared enough to talk about Rey de Reyes happening next week. They did seem to be hyping a trios title match that doesn’t appear to be happening. The Vikingo/Laredo vs Taurus/Abismo match was as good as you’d expect. They did a big angle with Chessman putting Lady Shani through a table in the main event and Shani being taken away while Hugo was distraught – except the table totally failed to break and it didn’t look good.

Hijo del Vikingo was in the Aracno suit, formally worn by Lio Rush. (The only one of the originally carefully selected Marvel Lucha Libre characters who made it to a second match was Venenoide/Taurus. The problems of doing these things in a pandemic, I guess.) Picadura Letal debuted as a ruda Marvel character, and maybe there’s a Venenodie/Terror Purpura/Picadura Letal vs Leyenda Americana/Aracno/Estrella Cosmica match coming. Picadura Letal is either Flammer or Hiedra based on who was around for this taping; I think Flammer but not absolutely sure.

Federacion Wrestling

Federacion Wrestling announced Matt Taven will be on their first show. It’s notable that a ROH wrestler is working a non-CMLL show,  especially one so prominently featured in CMLL. I don’t believe the ROH deal is exclusive to CMLL but this is obviously a booking to poke at Arena Mexico management.

There’s another bit that may have people talking – but it’s a El Planchitas bit, so the track record isn’t perfect and the story is so over the top I’m not sure I’d believe it even if they nailed every story. The column says Sofia Alonso has been back at Arena Mexico meeting with the wrestler’s union (Nitro & Ultimo Guerrero) and the gossip is she’s involved with Federacion Wrestling. They go on to say Dorian Roldan may be as well. Stories about Alonso getting involved with a breakaway CMLL group go back to 2019, when Rush & Dragon Lee suggested they probably would’ve stayed with the promotion had Sofia Alonso or her father Paco still been in charge and they would support her if she did her own promotion. The Munoz family were the first to be announced for this group, so maybe it’s actually happening – or more likely it’s people just connecting the dots to make up some juicy gossip.

The sure thing at this point is Federacion Wrestling has done a great job of building intrigue by revealing very little. They announced a lot of big names, which tells people they have money and aspirations. They’re not saying anything else, which leaves curious wrestling people to make up their own stories about what is happening. There’s some smoke here – teasing CMLL’s Diamante Azul on a show a CMLL wrestler would normally not be able to use suggest something is up – but also there’s likely a bit of bad guessing going on and it’s going to end up being a random rich guy who will soon be less rich. We might not have a great idea what the real deal is until that press conference on Friday, but that press conference seems important.

(That press conference will have fans – Federacion Wrestling is offering a giveaway for fans to sit in the first row, wherever it is happening. That’s a good move to ensure a favorable reaction and fewer hard questions.)

Other places

IWRG (SUN) 04/25/2021 Arena Naucalpan [R de Rudo, The Gladiatores]
1) Blue Monster Jr. & Hellboy b Cyber & Especie Maligna 
2) Gravity & Mexica b Ra-Zhata & Shil-Ka  
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Pasion Kristal b Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [EdM Trios, torneo]  
4) Hijo de Canis Lupus, Hijo del Espectro, King Charro DQ Canek Jr., Hijo del Fishman, Máscara Sagrada Jr.  
Team Espectro kept hitting the referees by accident until they were DQ, whereupon they started hitting the referees on purpose
5) Dragón Bane b Toxin, Baby Xtreme  
6) Fresero Jr. b Eterno [hair, chain]   
Chain match where both are chained to opposite ropes, not each other, and must climb up a ladder to retrieve a key to unlock the chain before going for pinfalls. Demonio Infernal attacked partner Fresero Jr. to start the match and many times during the match, but it was all a ruse and Infernal tripped up Eterno to help set up Fresero’s win. Eterno got some hair cut in front of the fans and the rest backstage. Eterno also seemed to say this was the end of him in IWRG for the time being (likely an AAA contract issue.)

I watched the last two matches of this show live, plus saw the lame finish of the fourth match. The main event got the (mostly full, no real capacity limit) crowd very excited but the match itself wasn’t must-see. Eterno did get his head shaved. The Demonio Infernal bit only barely makes wrestling logic and really not even that; they just wanted some dramatic moments and worked backward to make sense of it. IWRG’s announcers were hyping the winner of next week’s Rey del Ring show (which may be subscriber-only) to face Eterno on 05/09, which his post-match “the commission’s making me give up my title” interview strange. The Rey del Ring title gets reset in the match most years, so it’d be no big deal if they did the same this year, just some lines crossed on what is actually happening.

Dragon Bane completely blew a dive on one side of the ring, ran back in the ring, and hit a dive to the other side of the ring, which is the full Dragon Bane experience. Dragon Bane seems like he’s going to keep getting bookings in the US because he can put together good highlights and no US indie promoter is actually sitting down to watch his matches and see the holes. I hope he gets better but it already feels like he’s as good as he’s going to get without some major career change. (It does seem like Bane and Lupus were supposed to be in the US this weekend and just weren’t, so no idea there deal there.)

Lucha Memes 04/18 show is up on IWTV. I heard differing things about how that show went live; I’m curious how it’ll come across on video. (Not curious enough to watch it soon; I’ll probably let those shows pile up again.)

MexaWrestling says 4 of the matches on the Saturday show had money thrown in. Money thrown in gets fans excited but the bar has been lowered so much that I instinctively don’t trust reviews that hype that now. Maybe that’s too cynical. Their previous show went up on Mas Lucha this weekend.

Fenix versus Chuck Taylor airs on AEW Dark Elevation show on YouTube today.

Guadalajara’s card for Tuesday

CMLL (TUE) 04/27/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Capitán Cobra, Quka, Tigre Blanco vs Joker, Omega, Vaquero Jr. [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, torneo]
2) Avispón Negro Jr., Cosmos, Guerrero Vikingo vs Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno, Thunder Boy [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, torneo]
3) Crixus, Flash, Gallo vs Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Mr. Apolo [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, torneo]
4) Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black vs Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Demonio Maya [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, torneo]
5) Mystique vs Silueta
6) Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. vs Felino & Felino Jr.

The Occidente Trios tournament appears to be a 16 team, 48 wrestler tournament of all local wrestlers. Who knew Arena Coliseo Guadalajara had 48 wrestlers? Imagine being wrestler 49 and just missing out.

Silueta is listed still as Silueta. The Guadalajara TV show had Hijo del Villano III, not Felino Jr., on the poster – there must’ve been some change during the week. The CMLL Villano III hasn’t been seen since the December shutdown, and not a lot prior to that.

Arez & Gringo Loco versus Dante Leon & Travis Titan airs Saturday at 7 pm on AAW’s Twitch channel; there’s half-decent chance Arez is on two Twitch channels at once on Saturday.

DTU will have a stream a show on Facebook for Kid’s Day on May 2nd.

05/08 Kriminal Wrestling  “Senso” at Gimnasio Mictklan

• Tromba vs Skayde
• Low Rider vs Sol – new
• Toxin, Latigo, Arez vs Komander, Jimmy, Ninja Mack – new

Ninja Mack is a Texas guy who’s been on the Martinez shows (including the small drive-in ones) a bit this year. He was also around WrestleMania weekend. It seems inefficient to bring in a relatively unknown guy to Mexico because he can do cool flips – there are many of them already in Mexico! – but Kriminal’s bit seems to bring in an (relatively unknown guy) on each show.

Vangaurdia has their full card.

Vanguardia (SAT) 05/15/2021 Deportivo 11 de Julio, Pachuca, Hidalgo
Vanguardia 2nd Anniversary
1) Ovett Jr. & X-Fly vs ? & Dragón Boy and El Gallo (Baja California) & Slaier
2) Drolux & Moria © vs Amnesia Jr. & Rey Furia [BMLL TAG]
3) Colmillo Blanco, Rey Dragón, Star Fire vs Dayami, Devitt Rodríguez, Edward Gutierrez
4) Látigo vs Mirage
5) Ciclón Infernal © vs Calibus [IAW CHAMP]
6) Skayde vs Símbolo Azteca
7) Aeroboy vs Jitsu [ELL CHAMP]
8) Puma King vs Gasparín Jr.
9) Crazy King & Miedo Extremo vs Trauma I & Trauma II and Billy & Jeff Killer [VANGUARDIA TAG]
10) El Mago vs Jimmy [VANGUARIDA EXTRAORDINARO, final]
11) Lobo Blanco Jr. vs Cíclope [glass]

That’s a lot of matches. Maybe too many matches, double-digit matches is always a bit concerning. The main event is death match with glass. I’ve got high hopes for Mago/Jimmy. Kinda interested in Puma/Gasparin. Dayami finally isn’t the only woman on a Vanguardia show.

06/19 ChilangaMask in Arena San Juan

• Difunto & MIni Difunto vs Wotan & Impulso
• Silueta vs La Jarochita – new

A show in Ciudad Victoria’s Coliseo La Dinastia was promoted as “the most violent match of the year.” You can see the match on Facebook; it included Angel o Demonio along with local Tamaulipas luchadors. The show made news in the “a wrestler almost died today” way; a local media outlet mentions a wrestler was knocked out for almost an hour because of a shot he took in the match. The luchador is not named in the article but Demonio del Caribe is identified in the video. He’s seated on the top rope when another wrestler (not Angel o Demonio) throws a ladder at him around 8:30; Caribe uncontrolled to the apron and to the floor. He looks unsteady just sitting on the top rope; it’s possible something happened previously but I couldn’t pick it up. Caribe gets up to catch a tope, but totally whiffs on catching and the other wrestler takes a bad header on the ground – he’s the guy I thought was hurt at first, but he gets back at it. Caribe gets up again and takes a chair shot to the head. The camera stops following him because the action isn’t moving, until seeing staff urgently removing Caribe’s boots and checking on his face. (The other wrestlers just keep on fighting, even one of the other wrestlers doing an elbow drop on Caribe long after it’s clear he’s very hurt.) Caribe is down on the ground for almost the entire rest of the video. The newspaper report says there was no ambulance, no medic, and not even a first aid kit for a match built a being an incredibly violent match. (The promotion’s Facebook portrays it as if the ambulance was there all along and Caribe was out for a few minutes.) I don’t know what you can do about people willing to hurt others and themselves in front of about fifty people, but it’s a long video of some poor decisions (and some people trying to do their best to make up for them) if you watch it.

CMLL Guadalajara’s Difunto posted a week ago that he’s doing better bit by bit. He was scheduled for a title defense on 04/13 before being hospitalized for reasons not released.

Lucha Libre Total in Illinois held a memorial show Sunday for referee el Pollo, who passed away last year due to coronavirus.

The promoter of RCH, Ricky Castro H, says he plans to restart shows in Mexico State.

Luchador/Promoter Embajador del Infierno in Hermosollio says he doesn’t expect to be able to run in the city until 100% capacity is permitted.

Dr. Wagner Jr. & Galeno del Mal held a press conference to announce they were joining a campaign against violence against children.

A story on a mask maker in Veracruz.