AAA TV (SAT) 05/01/2021 San Pedro Cholula, Puebla [AAA, El Universal, Lucha Central, R de Rudo]
1) Látigo b Dinastía, Toxin, Aramis, Arez [AAA CRUISER, #1 Contenders]
Latigo pinned Aramis
2) Taurus b Octagón Jr., Villano III Jr. [AAA LA]
Vacant title (Daga gave it up due to travel restrictions). Villano III Jr. returned a surprise, suffered a head injury, returned and took the loss.
3) Faby Apache b Lady Shani, Flammer, Chik Tormenta, Lady Maravilla, Sexy Star [Reina De Reinas]
Vacant title (Taya went to WWE.) The mystery wrestler was Sexy Star (Hija de Gatuebla, not the original.) Eliminations went Flammer (Chik Tormenta), Maravilla (Sexy Star), Sexy Star (Shani), Shani (Tormenta) and Tormenta (Faby Apache.) Deonna Purrazzo, on commentary for the match, issued a challenge for an Impact Knockouts championship versus AAA Reina de Reinas championship match. Faby Apache eventually agreed, though was still attacked by Purrazzo.
4) Laredo Kid b Texano Jr., Murder Clown, Aerostar, Drago, Abismo Negro Jr., Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. [Rey de Reyes]
Elimination order: Myzteziz, Aerostar, Drago, Vikingo, Abismo Negro, Murder and Laredo Kid beat Texano to win.
5) Pagano & Psycho Clown NF Chessman & Sam Adonis
Sam Adonis was the surpise wrestler. A vehicle with two mystery wrestlers came to the ring, attacking the tecnicos. They revealed themselves as Puma King and Diamante Azul (exiting CMLL), then also attacked Chessman. Adonis, King and Azul are La Empresa, and showed a video of Andrade challenging Kenny Omega for TripleMania and Psycho Clown for some other date.
Kenny Omega said he’ll think about the title match with Andrade. TripleMania seems to be months ago away – maybe September if I’m guessing – so it’s probably good to have more things happen before the title match is accepted. AAA will be leaving money on the table if TripleMania isn’t available worldwide – via Twitch, Facebook, FITE, whatever – and people are instead watching a bootleg stream. I just have no idea if that’s enough to get a deal done with Lucha Libre FMV. Another way of looking at this is Lucha Libre FMV says they own the international rights to AAA, they too probably should be looking at a deal to sell TripleMania internationally themselves, but it may be too small time for them to notice.
It’s notable that Andrade seems to be waiting quite a while before getting in the ring so far. The Alberto/Andrade match is not happening for months, neither is TripleMania. Federacion Wrestling’s PPV is June 19th, which is exactly 90 days after Andrade was released. He is appearing on shows, which might not be possible if he wasn’t given a 90 day release, but I would’ve guessed we’d see him in the ring much sooner than it appears to be happening.
Andrade said he wanted both Omega and Psycho Clown. It’s been a while since TripleMania Regia has come up, but a big stadium show like that would fit for Andrade/Psycho.
It’s a weird state of AAA thing that everyone who Kenny Omega has faced the AAA title were part time guys or guys not under AAA contract. Fenix may have been under contract, but he wasn’t a guy working every TV taping when he lost the belt. Dragon Lee just came in for the title match. Laredo Kid is still a freelancer, though he works so much AAA that it’s more of a technical distinction. (It’s unlike Laredo would be picking up dates like the AAW show this Friday if he was under AAA contract.) Andrade probably just agreed to two dates and they’ll see how it plays out from there. AAA may still do the previously teased Vikingo/Omega match, but there wasn’t any build towards it on this show. The idea behind the Omega title reign seems to be to create dream matches that can’t be done elsewhere, and those dream matches seem to require bringing in outsiders to challenge.
A Konnan interview with SI said AAA would have another major show in July (probably Verano de Escandalo) and then TripleMania. AAA didn’t hint at even Verano de Escandalo on Saturday, but it generally makes sense that AAA would want to hold off TripleMania as long as possible in hopes of being allowed to run the largest crowd possible. That’s also likely the reason there’s no date for TripleMania either.
It appears AAA taped normal TV on Sunday; Lucha Libre Online has a photo of Texano, Rey Escorpion, and La Hiedra as the new Trios champions. You may recall that a combination of Los Mercenarios was scheduled to challenge for the trios titles all the way back at the canceled Rey de Reyes 2020, so this is another bit of AAA picking up those delayed plans. That match should air on Space this month, though there’s no knowing exactly when.
IWRG (SUN) 05/02/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, The Gladiatores]
1) Especie Maligna b Blue Monsther 
2) Rey Halcón & Tonalli b Caballero de Plata & Hellboy 
3) Black Dragón & Death Metal b Gravity & Mexica
4) Diamante Azul (Indie) & Hijo de Canis Lupus b Monterrey, Relámpago, Big Chico Che, Máscara Sagrada Jr., King Charro, Chilango, Veneno, Aster Boy, Sinaloa, Black Terry, Toxin, Puma de Oro, Estrella Divina, Pasion Kristal, Oficial AK47, Jessy Ventura, Enfermero Jr., Freelance, Dick Angelo 3G, Guadalajara, Baby Xtreme, Demonio Infernal, Dragón Bane, Hijo del Fishman, Hijo del Espectro Jr., Diva Salvaje, Fresero Jr., Mega [Rey del Ring]
Mega was billed as the last entrant; Diamante Azul appeared a few minutes later as a surprise entrant. (They treated it like he was 31, but he seems to actually be 30.) Diamante Azul fouled and martineted Demonio Infernal behind the referee’s back to beat and hit Fresero Jr. with a chain to defeat him, leaving Azul & Hijo de Canis Lupus to have a match next week for the vacant title. Elimination order: Chico Che, Monterrey, Relampago, King Charro, Mascara Sagrada Jr., Chilango, Sinaloa, Veneno, Puma de Oro (only lasted for seconds), Black Terry, Toxin, Estrella Divina, Aster Boy, Oficial AK47, Enfermero Jr., Fulgor I, Dick Angelo, Jessy Ventura, Pasion Cristal, Diva Salvaje, Baby Xtreme, Guadalajara, Dragon Bane, Hijo de Fishma, Hijo del Espectro, Demonio Infernal, Fresero Jr. leaving Diamante Azul and Hijo de Canis Lupus.
I watched Rey del Ring. It was fine. Really weird to have Rey del Ring and Rey de Reyes on the same weekend, but that’s the pandemic 2021 calendar. Diamante Azul won and is going to be pushed big everywhere for the same reason he was forever in CMLL – he is a tall, muscled dude in a land of few of them. Those attributes never seemed enough to get him over in CMLL, and it felt like he stopped trying to anything else but add muscle in his last few years there. I guess maybe it’ll work better as an indie, but also I’m not too interested in paying to find out. Federacion Wrestling hasn’t yet officially announced him for their show, but that’s coming too.
Diamante Azul remains the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship, at least in name, and says he expects to continue being champion. It’s the ‘only in Mexico’ situation where anyone holding a national championship can take it with them to any promotion they work in; they’re technically the property of the Mexico City Lucha Libre commission, not the wrestling promotion. That heavyweight championship leaves CMLL with Diamante Azul, just as it did when Pierroth Jr. took it with him in 1995 to AAA.
The mitigating issue Diamante Azul hasn’t had the physical belt with him when he appeared in AAA & IWRG, and there’s a thought that CMLL may have disallowed wrestlers to take those belts off their property to prevent a situation like this. There’s precedent there too – Mascarita Sagrada 2000 will forever be Mexican National Minis Championship because he walked out of AAA when they wanted him to drop the belt, but AAA appeared to hold onto the physical object. Sagrada can’t defend a title with the belt, AAA can’t hold a title match without the champion Sagrada, so the championship is effectively ended. The same might be true of the Middleweight belt and Octagon; I’m not sure where that physical belt is now. (The only way out of that sort of issue is the champion passing away, which is how the heavyweight belt ended back in CMLL for Diamante Azul to win.) Diamante Azul still says he’s the champion but I guess we’ll know if it matters if/when there’s a belt.
(There record-keeping and historical lineage reasoning for trying to figure out if Diamante Azul is still the Mexican National Heavyweight Champion. There’s also the reality bit that some indie group is likely to give or create a belt to give to Azul anyway because of how much promoters are impressed by him. I wonder what would happen if someone simply made a replica National Heavyweight Championship and gave it to Diamante Azul.)
CMLL quietly removed Diamante Azul’s from their website, though that’s not something almost anyone would check. They have otherwise said nothing. There’s nothing positive they can say, the last two announcements have gotten their fans angry at them, so maybe quite is the way to go. Diamante Azul’s mask remains the logo for a virtual (walking/running) race CMLL’s sponsoring in a couple of weeks.
Other News
Federacion Wrestling did reissue their poster with Rey Fenix’s name spelled correctly. They left the women’s match as Tay Conti, Ayako Hamada, and a TBA versus Rey Velvet, Miranda Alize, and Zeuxis, so that appears to be the correct teams. The original format was AEW/Outsiders versus Mexican trained ones, moving Conti & Velvet to the opposite sides means they’ll likely work a lot together.
It was a long Saturday for people once known as Sexy Star. Very early Saturday, Dulce Garcia lost her first MMA bought to Claudia Diaz by TKO. I watched it, neither woman looked to have strong defensive skills, they both just stood and traded strikes. Garcia took many shots to the face before being taken down and hit more. The referee gave Garcia plenty of time to fight back but she was done. It’s unclear if she’s done entirely, but she’s thoroughly outclassed by an unheralded fighter and already 38; there’s no reason outside personal pride to keep doing this. Mexican fan reaction to Garcia was about 20% “you need to give her credit for trying this” and 80% “I still can’t stand that woman and I’m glad she lost.” With Federacion and others throwing around money, I presume there will probably be an offer for her to return to wrestling (even if few would be happy about it.)
The new Sexy Star is Baja California luchadoa Hija de Gatuebla. I got that wrong originally on Saturday so I’m writing it on the chalkboard a hundred times. There had been a rumor floating around for months that AAA was going to bring back the Sexy Star character, in the same fashion they’ve reclaimed the Octagon and Myzteziz, but it wasn’t clear with whom.
The Lucha Libre Boom scheduled Canek & Caristico versus Cibernetico & Averno match on Saturday saw Mephisto step in for Averno. Averno attacked Caristico after the match and declared he was out of AAA, definitely an independent and may go back to CMLL to get after his old rival. I suspect CMLL might not have believed Averno is really out of AAA and told Caristico he couldn’t wrestle him, hence the match change. Averno would be a logical inclusion to La Empresa should he and AAA resume working together; that was likely the idea when Konnan mentioned Averno returning to AAA soon.
Dr. Wagner Jr. announced on Instagram that he’d gotten vaccinated against COVID-19. He appears to have traveled to the US to get a Pfizer shot; hope he remembers to get a second. Mexicans traveling to the US to get vaccinated has become a trend among those who can afford it; he’s not the only person in lucha libre I noticed doing it.
Valiente’s daughter, the one who’s appeared as Valientina, wrestled as Miss Olympia this weekend.
Indie luchador Rey Caballero has unmasked to run for president of the city of Neza. He’s Victor Caballero, unsurprisingly a candidate for the same RSP party that is supporting Tinieblas Sr. for a Mexico City office. Rey Caballero is a regular undercard wrestler in Arena Neza and Arena Azteca Budokan; I wouldn’t consider him a star but he is a known local guy.
Segunda Caida writes about Gran Apache versus Oscar Sevilla matches.
Box Y Lucha has 3470 Los Ingobernables and also Los Ingobernables on the cover.
An article on Ecuador Lucha Libre.
Lineups
CMLL (TUE) 05/04/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Fugaz, Mr. Samuray, Principe Daniel vs Joker, Omega, Vaquero Jr. [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, quarterfinal]
2) El Divino, Mágico, Reycko vs Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno, Thunder Boy [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, quarterfinal]
3) Crixus, Flash, Gallo vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, quarterfinal]
4) Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black vs Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotaruo [OCCIDENTE TRIOS, quarterfinal]
5) Javier Cruz Jr., Leo, Omar Brunetti vs Cris Skin, Demonio Maya, Zandokan Jr.
6) Atlantis Jr., Cachorro, Rey Cometa vs Espíritu Negro, Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III [Relevos Increíbles]
The main event is listed as Relevos Increibles because it doesn’t seem like CMLL is totally clear if Espiritu Negro is actually a tecnico now. The trios tournament continues in the undercard, with a final on 05/18.
Discover more from luchablog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Does AAA even stream anymore on Twitch?