CMLL (FRI) 06/25/2021 Arena México
1) Átomo & Microman vs Chamuel & Perico Zakarías
2) Diamond & Robin vs Disturbio & Universo 2000 Jr.
3) La Jarochita, Mystique, Princesa Sugehit vs Dark Silueta, Metálica, Stephanie Vaquer
4) Atlantis Jr., Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Cancerbero, Mephisto, Raziel
5) Atlantis, Místico, Star Jr. vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
6) Templario & Volador Jr. vs Carístico & Virus [TORNEO INCREÍBLE DE PAREJAS, final]
It’s a one match show of any note, though the one match could make it worth it. Virus has done well in this gap period, winning the national trios titles and otherwise moved up the card. This is his biggest match since the Metalico retirement match, and that one worked out pretty well. This is a big match for Templario too. Volador hasn’t shown a lot, but does better when he’s motivated by a big match. Caristico is pretty much going to do the same thing in every match but that may be enough here. This should be good, but the black cloud over this promotion makes me feel uncertain about it actually delivering.
In media interviews, Virus talked about being friends with Caristico’s father and seeing his young son wrestle as Astroboy at a show, then being surprised how he took off. Virus has been around for a long time.
It’s unclear if Panterita del Ring Jr. is a Fugaz guy – a guy who can do about three cool things and probably no more – or a more well-rounded prospect. He’s only been really asked to do about three things a match so far and has done them great, but maybe this match tonight will give everyone a deeper look at him.
This show streams on Ticketmaster for about 12 USD.
Reforma reports CMLL will be able to have 1,400 fans starting tonight. That’s up from 500, though not 25%; the article says CMLL expects they’ll be able get at least there in a few weeks. The article has that 25% as 3,500, which would put the full capacity at 14,000. That’s significantly lower than the “16,500ish” number that’s been used as a guideline for the last decade or so and would require a lot of rework of attendance guesses if accurate. It’s not clear that 3,500 number comes from CMLL; Reforma could be guessing along with the rest of us. Tonight’s ticket map seems to so more than 500 tickets sold tonight, though far from a sellout.
(TripleMania obsessive attendance watch: if CMLL is right in a real 25% being approved in a few weeks, and then we’ll guess 50% a few weeks after that, that’s a half house also in time for TriipleMania. That may be enough for them to run. Not much wiggle room on those “few” weeks though. TripleMania is seven weeks and one day away.)
Beer sales will also resume tonight,
Sunday’s non-streaming lineup
CMLL (SUN) 06/27/2021 Arena México
1) Sangre Imperial & Sonic vs Cholo & Yago
2) Eléctrico & Oro Jr. vs Hijo del Signo & Nitro
3) La Magnifica, Marcela, Sanely vs Dalys, La Infernal, Tiffany
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Kráneo, Volcano vs Dark Magic, Okumura, Vangellys
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible vs Euforia, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
6) Titán © vs Negro Casas [CMLL WELTER]
second defense, first this year
Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja are back. Roja seems like he was gone for oly three or four months, which suggests it wasn’t a residency issue.
I do not know when or if this will air. MVS is airing more empty arena matches, according to Informa. CMLL didn’t advertise a Heraldo TV lineup, so no idea if they’re getting Sunday matches either. It’s possible these matches from these shows could air on NJPW World, though those aren’t usually advertised ahead of time. I’m not sure there’s anything I really want to see outside that title match though.
that MVS match lineup
- Flyer/Atlantis Jr. vs Felino/Felino Jr. for the Mexican National Tag Team Championship
- Dalys versus Marcela for the CMLL Japan Women’s Championship
Maybe the optimistic way of looking at this is CMLL airing all leftover “important” matches from the empty arena era before closing it down this week; these TV shows rarely get any title matches, so two of them means something is up. I don’t understand why they’re still airing these otherwise. It would be comedic if Felino Jr. has been challenging for the tag titles in every match for weeks but already had secretly won the belts in a match yet to air. I don’t think we’re that lucky to get that gag.
An ideal CMLL solution would be a subscription service for all these non-Friday shows. They could still do the main one on Ticketmasters and free later, but the crazy diehards probably would willingly pay for eight more shows a month at a reasonable price without having to track down the TV episodes. It may hurt the TV viewership but that’s never seen to be a prime CMLL concern. It doesn’t seem like a subscription service would be hard for CMLL to get going – it’s probably a half hour effort on YouTube. All CMLL would have to do is stream the same shows they were doing before but just check the puts it behind a paywall. I’m not loving the current CMLL product and I’d still pay $8 a month to see these (and not to have to jump through weird hoops to watch them.) I don’t think this is going to happen, but it seems like free money they’re not taking. It also seems like time I would save if I didn’t have to find weird ways to watch wrestling shows so I’m definitely biased here.
Back on June 14, Arena Puebla teased an imminent return. No word beyond that. Arena Puebla can’t open without local government approval, and there’s been no word when that might happen. El Sol de Puebla followed up on that tease and believes the issue is the capacity limit; they’re told the building needs to draw 600 to 700 fans to make money, and they’re capped at under 500. The next COVID health update is next Friday.
Rey Bucanero, in an interview with MetroWorldNews, claims CMLL’s had discussions about reuniting him with Ultimo Guerrero and he’s had talks about bringing in Toscano for his shows to reunite the popular early 2000s Guerreros del Infierno trio.
Heraldo de Mexico profiles Robin as a wrestler and a painter.
Cinta de Oro teased a match with Mistico II. The match people probably want to see if Cinta de Oro versus Caristico (Mistico I) but this will still get some attention.
IWRG (THU) 06/24/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Caballero de Plata & Epidemia b Kenji & Tirano 
2) Miss Delicious & Satania b Princesa Azul & Therius
3) Legendario, Puma de Oro, Shocko b Guerrero Astral, Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
4) Baby Extreme, Mexica, Rey León b Dick Angelo 3G, Tonally, VIP
5) Karaoui b Veneno, Dr. Cerebro, Cerebro Negro, Black Terry, Avisman, Eragón, Solar I
Karaoui submitted Solar to win. Cerbero Negro returned to IWRG as the surprise wrestler.
Heddi Karaoui would not have been guessed to win but makes some sense, as the older wrestlers even more so seem to appreciate his real credentials. Cerebro Negro returning as something is being teased with the older guys might be important. The women’s match was notably bad, with the participants looking untrained at various parts. The bit with the Friday night show are the lights are turned low to feel like a nightlife place. It also hides how empty the building appears to be.
IWRG (SUN) 06/27/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Oriental Jr. & Noicy Boy vs Baby Star & Black Shadow II
2) Cyber & Hellboy vs Ra-Shata & Shil-Ka
3) Diosa Quetzal, Relámpago, Relampaguito vs Diosa Athena, Fly Warrior, Mini Canis Lupus
4) Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano García vs Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, Eragón
5) Hijo Del Vikingo & Myzteziz Jr. vs Aero Boy & Baby Xtreme
6) Abismo Negro Jr. vs Hijo del Alebrije
This is an interesting IWRG Sunday card. The main event description promises blood. Vikingo makes a rare free live appearance on YouTube these days. Fourth is Diabolicos versus Terry and friends. MexaBoys appear in the opener.
IWRG says their Festival de la Mascaras show will be on July 4th. That’s the annual “everyone gets to wear their masks” again show. Canek will be honored.
No AAA TV preview yet. AAA’s next TripleMania press conference is Monday.
Promoter Jose Contreras says he’s been named general secretary of the national luchador’s union, as noted by Furia de Titanes. The only wrestlers mentioned as participating are near-retired wrestlers like Dos Caras, Rambo, and Mil Mascaras, though they say they’re going to have branches in 32 locations. The one media person there asked about the CMLL union and Contreras said they were separate from that group. This has all the makings of a bit that will come up once every four months but not do anything visible, like Octagon’s own attempt at a union.
Konnan appears to be making his first appearance in-ring for AEW tomorrow night, in a talking segment with Tully Blanchard. He’s appeared in a few cameo segments as surprises. Konnan and Chris Jericho have previously talked about Konnan pitching to manage Santana & Ortiz when AEW started, only for Jericho to explain he wanted those two guys in his stable instead. It appears Konnan is coming in for a similar role, at least for one night. It may not end well for him, but it also may be the way in to a promotion he’s clearly interested in working more with.
Planeta Wrestling interviewed Alberto el Patron, who made some claims about his recent wrestling career. He says the 07/31 Payne Arena show came about because he had sold out five shows previously and he thought it was time to produce shows himself. Alberto had worked with the Payne Arena before on MMA shows, so he asked the Latino fans what match they’d like to see and they said himself versus Andrade. Later, he found out WWE had not offered a fair contract to Carlito so Alberto invited him as well. He says he’s since been contacted by promoters in Dallas, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Los Angeles to produce shows, and talks about deals in Monterrey, southern Mexico, Central America, and South America. He says he’ll be running shows once a month, and then a few moments later says he’ll be running once a month in Las Vegas. Alberto elsewhere in the interview says he’s signed a TV deal for a new season of Nacion Lucha Libre.
I don’t believe much of the things he said in that interview, but that Monterrey show does exist and Robles Promotions has announcers (non-Alberto) Mexico and Guatemala shows. I don’t remember the five sold-out shows happening; he did work for the same California promoter that had Andrade & Santo a few weeks back so maybe that’s one. Alberto also makes a point in the interview to say he watches AEW now and not WWE, which is probably a sign of where he’d like to go next. I don’t see that happening.
ROH this week has the Survival of the Fittest final on TV this week. I presumed this was a PPV match, but ROH has stated instead the winner will face Rush on the next PPV. Bandido & Chris Dickinson seem the two most likely Rush opponents if that’s right. Demonic Flamita, Eli Isom, Brian Johnson, and Rhett Titus would be more surprising title opponents.
Mexicali’s La Baronessa says she wasn’t into wrestling until her brother dragged her away from homework to the show at the age of 12. She started training soon after- until her grades got so bad at 15 that her wrestling teacher told her she had quit wrestling training and focus on school. She got her grades up, returned at 17, and earned a wrestling license at 18.
Morelos luchador Murcielago Negro says he’s retiring after 42 years of wrestling.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.