Torneo Increible de Parejas Block B tonight, CMLL joins Twitch, AAA/FMV

CMLL has the second block of the Torneo Increible de Parejas. Teams this around:

• Carístico & Virus
• Euforia & Último Guerrero
• Bárbaro Cavernario & Felino
• Blue Panther Jr. & Sansón
• Ángel de Oro & Mephisto
• Raziel & Rey Cometa
• Atlantis Jr. & El Hijo del Villano III
• Gemelo Diablo II & Panterita Del Ring

I guess there’s a chance of Cavernario & Felino going through if CMLL thought they were doing the hair mask soon, or Caristico & Virus as a mild shake-up pick. It just feels like picking against Ultimo Guerrero is dumb. The Felino/Cavernario match might have already been agreed to, but the Guerreros breakup bit is a bigger deal to the promotion. The only way UG & Euforia don’t win is if they’d prefer to do a big breakup angle; they’re going to be the story of the night.

Two rudo/rudo teams feels as though they’ve missed the spirit of this thing – or CMLL generally has a problem with too many rudo versus rudo feuds. (Panterita isn’t a rudo, I haven’t caught onto Ephesto turning face in the database yet.)

Like last week, there are three non-tournament matches.

1) Arkalis & Sonic vs El Coyote & Grako
2) Lluvia vs Dalys [lightning]
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Magia Blanca, Star Jr. vs Felino Jr., Pólvora, Rey Bucanero

Nothing too exciting. The opener remains one fall.

This is another Ticketmaster show for 100 Mexican pesos (about 5 USD). The tournament matches will probably air on TV on June 26 and on YouTube on July 4th.

CMLL also has a free show on Saturday at 6 pm CT. (That’s about 2.5 hours earlier than the Friday shows.) This was the show intended to run against the Federacion Wrestling show, still on anyway.

CMLL (SAT) 06/19/2021 Arena México
1) Pegasso & Stigma vs Sagrado & Universo 2000 Jr.
2) Marcela & Mystique vs Amapola & La Infernal
3) El Audaz & Flyer vs Felino Jr. & Luciferno
4) Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Hechicero
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr. [CMLL TRIOS]

The main event will be good if very predictable. I wouldn’t expect a title change. The semi-main isn’t as clear as how it might go; Virus/Hechicero exchanges always sound interviews.

This special Saturday show will stream both on CMLL’s YouTube and on their new Twitch channel. Adding more places to watch the show never hurts, though I would’ve expected them to add Facebook before YouTube. Twitch will reach a lot of people who aren’t fans of CMLL who might see it while flipping around the less crowded channel, but lucha libre streams on YouTube and Facebook do far better numbers.

It is hard to discern a strategy for CMLL on Twitch past the one show. CMLL hasn’t announced plans for any other live free streaming shows. It’s possible to stream anything on Twitch, taped or live, though the live stuff tends to do a lot better than the taped. (Not many people watched the 24/7 AAA stream.) The optimistic way to look at a possible alternative to running shows on Ticketmaster Live. CMLL would have to be getting very few PPV buys for Ticketmaster to offer more revenue, but it’s possible they’re getting very few PPV buys on most of these shows. Again, YouTube would seem to get better numbers and more revenue as a result, but maybe the CMLL’s use of licensed music creates issues on monetizing those videos. The most likely bit is this is just a one-off trial on twitch with no plans past that, this is CMLL.

Ticketmaster lists no available tickets for Friday or Saturday‘s show. Sunday‘s show still has tickets out. Next Friday’s show has increased capacity, though it looks closer to the 1,500 than 25% capacity. CMLL is still blocking lots of seats and keeping the upper level closed; it’s whatever they can fit inside that limitations. That June 25th will be the tournament final. The other thing to watch is to see if CMLL adds a couple more people to each show with bigger capacity, or if these slightly stripped-down shows are just how it’ll be for now.

I’m guessing the CMLL weekend B-shows (AMX, MVS, Heraldo) will start showing matches from the Tuesday/Sunday events this weekend, but we won’t know until CMLL puts up a preview. That’s tended to be just before the shows air.

Felino complained Barbaro Cavernario can’t decide with Peste Negra ends, only the people or the programming department can decide that. This feud has been so long, and so dormant for most of it, that it’s hard to remember this started with Cavernario quitting Pesta Negra following Mr. Niebla’s death. Part of the reason is the programming department seemingly has decided Peste Negra is done; Felino’s teamed more with his son than Negro Casas in the last few months.

CMLL Informa had a brief update on the status of Arena Puebla and Arena Coliseo, as recapped in LuchaWorld’s Lucha Report. Puebla hasn’t given the OK for indoor lucha libre shows, so Arena Puebla can’t reopen until that happens. Arena Coliseo needs specific permission to reopen due to the age of the building, and it hasn’t gotten that yet.

There are indie promotions running in Puebla; mostly outdoors, but everyone who was hiding their location and show dates has started to feel safe enough to start to advertise them freely. It’s a matter of time before Arena Puebla is opened, but waiting an uncertain amount of time is nothing new.

KeMonito and Microman appear in a new ad for the PUBG mobile video game. KeMonito and Microman (in a KeMonito outfit maybe for the first time) appeared in a tribute dance video to K-pop group BTS. Correction: Microman wore the outfit before.

AAA

AAA on Space this Saturday around 5:35 pm CT. (That may be one hour earlier than you’re used to.)

• Arez & Maravilla vs Pagano & Faby Apache
• Leyenda Americana vs Arcano
• Laredo Kid & Octagon Jr. vs Texano Jr. & Rey Escorpion

These are the tapings battling through rain. The ring canvas looks soaked in the main event. The preview video sure seems to give away the finish of the Marvel Lucha Libre match.

Verano de Escandalo is nearly two weeks away (July 3rd), and there’s only match (Purrazzo/Shani) announced. Perhaps there will be something added on Sunday. TV is pushing hard at a Laredo Kid/Texano match though the follow-through here is not consistent. Verano de Escandalo is still a no-fan show airing on TV for free, so there’s a lot less urgency. AAA didn’t announce the Rey de Reyes card until the week of the show so it might be another week for all the matches.

My plan is to stream the AAA shows on my Twitch channel weekly when possible going forward. I took a free trial of internet tv service with Mexican channels on it last week, it seemed to work much better than the bootleg streams, so I’m going to pay for a real account going forward.

There’s a slight update on the AAA/Lucha Libre FMV court case, the reason why AAA is only available in Mexico. The lawsuit was filed in December, there was a status update in early March after 90 days, and then nothing since. I was expecting another status update 90 days later in early June and I guess the judge was as well. They’ve issued an “order to show cause” in case, giving FMV and their lawyers until June 30th to either serve someone AAA with the lawsuit, come up with a good reason they haven’t, or the judge will just dismiss the whole thing. I don’t believe you should even entertain the thought of AAA being available again starting July 1st for inactivity. The pandemic and AAA being in Mexico are two good reasons for FMV not serving AAA with the lawsuit yet, which might be enough to let the judge keep this going. Hopefully, the two sides are talking in ways not yet recorded in court documents, because otherwise, this is just moving at a snail’s pace.

Other Notes

IWRG (THU) 06/17/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Epidemia b Comando Negro Jr.
2) Bengalee & Diosa Quetzal b Diosa Atenea & Mary Caporal 
3) Alas De Plata, Chris Stone Jr., Mexica b Guerrero Astral, Hijo De Pandemónium, Pandemónium 
4) Aster Boy, Mini Relámpago, Relámpago b Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mini Canis Lupus 
5) Black Terry & Dr. Cerebro b Karaoui & Veneno 

Not much notable here. Karaoui kicked at 3.0000001 from Dr. Cerbero, then complained about the count for about three minutes.

IWRG continues the AAA bit with Mamba, Maximo and Abismo Negro Jr. versus Hijo del Alebrije, Jessy Ventura and Aeroboy. Rocky Santana & Romano Garcia, Los Diabolicas make their first Arena Naucalpan appearances in a couple of years to face Black Terry & Eragon.

Andrade has a sit-down interview on tonight’s AEW Dynamite. I don’t expect one Andrade interview is going to fix what went wrong in his debut – Andrade’s best wrestling skill is wrestling matches – but maybe it can help reset things. Penta teams with Frankie Kazarian and Eddie Kingston against the Good Brothers and Matt Jackson

DTU has Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero versus Blaze & Camuflaje on their 06/27 pool party-themed show. There’s no Crazy Boy on the poster, which is a rarity for that promotion. He wasn’t in great physical shape prior to contracting COVID-19 but he was still wrestling anyway.

AAW announced Laredo Kid for their 07/09 show.

ROH announced they’ll running shows in August in Philadelphia on August 20th and 21st at the ex-ECW Arena. Their July PPV in Baltimore is live, but I believe they’re still taping empty arena matches around that time. The Philadelphia show may be the first sign of them returning to a (somewhat) normal schedule. They’ve announced two matches so far

• 08/20: Flip Gordon challenges Rush (or whoever is champion) for the ROH Championship
  • Gordon won a title shot way in early 2020; it’s one of a few owed titled matches that have been hanging around for quite a while
• 08/21: Rush & Dragon Lee versus Bandido & Rey Horus

ROH TV has Bandido versus Bateman and Tony Deppen vs Tracy Williams vs Dragon Lee for the ROH TV Championship this weekend.

Box y Lucha reports Mohicanito (Agustin Portada Cemita, 45) passed away on Wednesday. The mini version of Mohicano I wrestled around the Mexico City area since the late 90s.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.