CMLL (FRI) 06/25/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Furia de Titanes, Kaiser Sports, Marca, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo, SuperLuchas, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Átomo & Microman b Chamuel & Perico Zakarías 
11:04.
2) Disturbio & Universo 2000 Jr. b Diamond & Robin
8:11
3) Dark Silueta, Metálica, Stephanie Vaquer b La Jarochita, Mystique, Princesa Sugehit 
14:03. Rudas took 2/3, setting up a Vaquer/Sugehit title match
4) Cancerbero, Mephisto, Raziel b Atlantis Jr., Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr.
17:52. Rudos took 2/3.
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Atlantis, Místico, Star Jr.
18:21.
6) Templario & Volador Jr. b Carístico & Virus [TORNEO INCREÍBLE DE PAREJAS, final]
20:21. Team Volador took 2/3 to win the tournament.
The main event was very much worked in the box that most CMLL big matches are worked in – big spots, stereo pins, kickout, rest, set up for the next big spots – but I thought it was as good as it’s going to be in that box. I had it as Great, something worth going out of your way to see, though not among the best matches in a normal year. Virus was the one who seemed to be going above and beyond; you know what you’re generally going to get with the other two and they did just about that. (Maybe the real difference is we’ve see those other guys, Templario included, in enough big matches to know what to expect from them and Virus hasn’t had those chances as often recently.)
Panterita del Ring Jr. is raw, was literally carried around at times (including on his complicated finish), didn’t totally get over with the crowd, but he moves well and CMLL desperately needs new and different people on top than they’ve had for the last half-decade. Maybe he’s not the right guy and Sonic or Audaz or someone else would be better there, but they’ve hard slotted those guys into lower positions, it’s tough rehab them, and I don’t trust CMLL that they can. (They have a bit with Star Jr., so it’s not impossible.) Panterita Jr. is new and not messed up yet, so if they’re willing to put him in the fourth match they should be willing to push him hard. He may not ready, CMLL just can’t afford to wait. They weren’t able to sell 1,000 tickets for a yearly tournament and didn’t seem to get many PPV buys, it’s time to try something.
The semimain was slightly better than usual, though nothing special. The women’s match was fine. Sugehit/Vaquer is probably happening because someone liked the lightning match they had two weeks ago, but Vaquer lost that match and it’s odd for her to be getting a title match now. CMLL expects everyone to forget what’s convenient for them to forget. Disturbio made a weak effort to catch a Robin dive in the segunda, which caused Robin to need medical help and that match to end early. The micros were helped out greatly by going back to one fall.
This show should air on Televisa next Saturday and on YouTube on July 10th.
CMLL announced the Leyenda de Plata tournament for July 30th at the close of this show, which appears part of the plan to have a big show each month (and a consequence of them having scarce ideas for big shows they can announce in advance beyond tournaments.) Tickets are on sale with what appears to be the same general 1,400ish configuration as this past Friday. I think CMLL’s hope is they’d be able to have more than 1,400 people by that date. There is no Ticketmaster Live PPV link up for that show, or any future shows as of Sunday night.
On CMLL’s MVS TV show Saturday, Dalys defeated Marcela to keep the CMLL Japan Women’s Championship (video) and Atlantis Jr. & Flyer retained the Mexican National Tag Team Championship over Felino and Felino Jr. (video). These are both empty arena shows taped some time in the recent past. I still hope these are the last ones, but I still have no idea if that’s the case.
CMLL (SUN) 06/27/2021 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Sangre Imperial & Sonic b Cholo & Yago
2) Hijo del Signo & Nitro b Eléctrico & Oro Jr.
3) La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Marcela vs Dalys, La Metálica, Tiffany
Tecnicas took 1/3. La Metalica replaced La Infernal. La Jarochita replaced Sanely.
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Kráneo, Volcano b Dark Magic, Okumura, Sagrado
Tecnicos took 2/3. Sagrado replaced Vangellys.
5) Euforia, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible
Terrible got away with a foul on Euforia in fall 1, Euforia’s team took 2/3.
6) Titán © b Negro Casas [CMLL WELTER]
Titan took 2/3 to rain. Second defense, first this year.
The AMX show switched from Tuesday matches to Sunday matches, which would mean matches from this show will air on July 9th. The reality is it’s going to take weeks before we really have any idea what they’re doing with the AMX/MVS TV shows going forward.
CMLL’s posted the Tuesday lineup only so far.
CMLL (TUE) 06/29/2021 Arena México
1) Último Dragóncito vs Angelito
2) Oro Jr. & Retro vs Hijo del Signo & Nitro
3) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Marcela vs Dalys, La Comandante, Tiffany
Lluvia originally announced on Saturday and replaced on Sunday
4) Blue Panther, Cachorro, Hijo del Villano III vs Luciferno, Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Místico vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
6) Bárbaro Cavernario © vs Felino [MEX LH]
3rd defense, first in 18 months.
In normal times, this sort of title match would be the last build-up before the apuesta match finally happens. In these times, I don’t think anyone’s quite sure when that match is happening – September is still the best guess, but it’s only a guess.
Friday’s post-match promo had Mephisto calling Panterita a traitor for joining the tecnicos. Tuesday, he’s just back to teaming with Luciferno.
There was a weird back and forth on the status of Arena Puebla this past weekend. Friday, El Sol de Puebla reported the hold up to reopening the traditional Monday stop for CMLL was the capacity; they quoted unnamed people with the facility who said they needed 600-700 to break even and were waiting for the current restrictions of only 500 people to be relaxed. That same day, DiarioCambio had an article alleging Arena Puebla management had not even tried to get the building cleared to open because an inspection would reveal serious damage from the 2017 earthquake and the building could be condemned. On one hand, I have been to enough lucha libre buildings to wonder how they passed an inspection, or if there’s any actually inspecting them. (If you go to a lucha libre show, just presume the bathroom isn’t in working condition or will be so horrific that you’re best not going in there.) On the other hand, the DiarioCambio people quoted merchants who work near the building (and are fearful of what the closure of Arena Puebla would mean to their business) and not anyone who was actually inside it. It’s also not clear what the end goal would be to avoiding an inspection; would the Arena Puebla management be betting the government would just forget about checking their building if they waited long enough? That’s hard to believe. CMLL and the Arena Puebla Facebook page that kicked this off didn’t go on the record about either of these articles, but they did pointedly post photos of a prepared for fans Arena Puebla in a message teasing a return. Arena Puebla’s anniversary is July 18, so they’d obviously like to have a show on Monday, July 19th if not sooner.
Arena Rey Bucanero advertised a Stuka Jr. versus Ultimo Guerrero heavyweight title match for Saturday. Fans were instead given a Blue Panther Jr. versus Hijo del Villano III main event. Stuka and Guerrero did not appear. No real explanation was given. Other CMLL wrestlers appeared, though not everyone who was shown on the poster. Ultimo Guerrero was scheduled to headline a DTU pool party show on Sunday, but it was rained out and rescheduled to July 4th.
AAA
AAA’s TripleMania press conference is 11 AM on Monday. They’re streaming it on Facebook & YouTube, which is not much help with those blocked outside the US. I’ll have a separate post with the details from that later.
Space announced they’d be airing Verano de Escandalo live, as they did with Rey de Reyes. The show begins Saturday at 8 pm and probably will go about three hours. I will be streaming like normal with Space shows.
This week’s AAA TV show was a wash – literally, the rain was too much to do anything interesting. They did air the latest Psycho Clown/Rey Escorpion bit, where Texano & Escorpion attacked Psycho & Goya Kong on a jog. Goya is appearing in too many of these not to end up back. Toxin joined the still-unnamed Arez, Latigo and Chik Tormenta indie alliance. (There was a continuity issue: those three helped Toxin after his match, Toxin showed up for the other three in their match, and the announcers talked about Toxin joining the group “last week.”) Those four also appeared in a vignette where they all thought each other had summoned to meet up, but none of them had sent the message. So they have a mystery Whatsapp-er.
LA Park posted a photo of his family meeting with “a great friend”, Dorian Roldan. LA Park likes to stir things up, though LA Park and his family returning to AAA when they can start selling tickets would make some sense. They’re short on top of the card names, which is a bit disguised by only airing three matches a week and being able to repeat people.
Other Notes
IWRG (SUN) 06/27/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Cronicas del Ring, Mas Lucha]
1) Baby Star & Black Shadow II b Águila Oriental Jr. & Noicy Boy
2) Ra-Shata & Shil-Ka b Cyber & Hellboy
3) Diosa Quetzal, Relámpago, Relampaguito b Diosa Athena, Fly Warrior, Mini Canis Lupus
many accidents in this one.
4) Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, Eragón DQ Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano García
Diabolicos gave Eragon a martinete (setting up Cerebro Negro replacing him next week.)
5) Aero Boy & Baby Xtreme b Hijo Del Vikingo & Octagón Jr.
Baby Xtreme beat Octagon Jr. (sub for Myzteziz Jr.) though Octagon Jr. clearly got kicked out before 3.
6) Hijo del Alebrije b Abismo Negro Jr.
Alebrije got Abismo with his own fireball and pinned him after a springboard moonsault.
I watched the whole show, a bit spurred on by the Vikingo appearance. It was good, though he and Aeroboy didn’t really mesh well. It was also a weird bit where they were setting up a match for next week, but only Baby Extreme was going to be back for it. The Diabolicos match gave you what you’d expect from that match up, with Eragon being taken out. Alebrije got a win in his first feud back from COVID. The opener had some cool spots and some that didn’t work as well.
IWRG’s annual Festival de Mascaras show, where wrestlers are allowed to wear their old masks, takes place Sunday. It’s a Mas Lucha subscriber-only show; they have the lineup early.
IWRG (SUN) 07/04/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Gravity & Puma de Oro vs Dick Angelo 3G & Sobredosis
2) Bengalee & Diosa Quetzal vs Mary Caporal & Satania
3) Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro vs Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano García
4) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro vs El Hijo del Diablo, Hijo De Dos Caras, Internacional Pantera
5) El Bandido & Hijo del Alebrije vs Baby Xtreme & Toxin and Aramis & Myzteziz Jr.
6) Canek, Canek Jr., El Fantasma vs Fishman Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, Máscara Año 2000
Canek will be honored. His match will not be good. Semimian might be good and third seems likely to be bloody. International Pantera wears the mask he lost all the time so he must be confused why this is a special show. I may make that joke every year. This is the same afternoon as Lucha Memes’ tribute to Black Terry, who will likely have to leave that show early to make it to this one.
Thursday IWRG show will have a Copa High Power with Welcome to Mi Barrio.
Fresero Jr. seems done in IWRG for the time being. There’s no straightforward explanation of what happened that I’ve seen, just a few related incidents. IWRG attempted to trademark “Fresero Jr.” or Fresero just thought they did. It didn’t work, because Fresero Jr. had trademarked his own name many years ago, which he made sure to publicize. Fresero Jr. also announced he was giving up the IWRG Heavyweight Championship because IWRG couldn’t decide on a date for the next defense and didn’t pay him what he was owed. I’m not even sure I have the order right on these, but the situation has fallen apart enough for these issues to become public. Fresero Jr. hasn’t appeared in IWRG since June 6th, which he gives as the originally planned defense. Los Traumas, Fresero & Demonio Infenral spent part of a post-match interview complaining about Mas Lucha not giving the correct information; Mas Lucha posted then deleted video of the Traumas return on that IWRG June 6th show. That group also talked about wanting to keep their independence. Maybe this has something to with the contracts IWRG is signing people up to lately.
IWRG says they’re restarting training sessions in July for aspiring wrestlers who want to join. These appear to be the kids/young adult classes.
Andrade is making another appearance on Lucha Libre Online on Monday.
LA Park wrestled at Arena Lopez Mateos on Saturday for the since getting COVID, and said his battle with the illness was so bad that he feared he could die. The worst of it was only four days but it sounds like it was a bad four days. LA Park explained there were two terrible things right now, COVID and promoters in the world for trying to cut their offers during a pandemic due to reduced capacity. The sold promoter exception was Dr. Cantu in Nuevo Laredo (who also checked in on LA Park’s health.) It appears that Cantu’s are not promoting wrestling in Nuevo Laredo at the moment – AAA seems to be working with other in that town – which also gives LA Park one less reason to be upset about them.
Robles Promotion, the group Alberto is working with, had a show Sunday in Guatemala. Psycho Clown headlined with local legend Voltron. Sexy Dulce was scheduled on the show, but instead needed emergency surgery due to a case of appendicitis during the flight there. That can be a very serious situation, but it sounds like she’s going to be fine. She’s also probably going to be stuck in Guatemala for a few days longer and likely will be out of wrestling recovering for a while.
A luchador named Estrella del Ring, named after the YouTube channel/media outlet, debuted on Saturday. This seems goofy to me but I’m not sure I’m in a position to call what anyone else does goofy.
Pro Wrestling Revolucion is teasing a return on 09/25 in San Jose with LA Park.
Record talked to Pimpinela Escarlata as part of pride month, mentioning suffering sexual abuse as a child and the time Pimpi’s mother beat up the mother of kids who were bullying Pimpinela.
San Luis Potosi luchador Asesino Negro was honored by the local government. He worked a lot in Monterrey when we don’t have a lot from Monterrey; he had (and lost) big matches to Anibal and Solitario.
Saltillo luchador Baby Rap fractured his arm on flying move Thursday. There was no medical personal on hand, so they called an ambulance. A fan came to the ring, saying they were a medic, and put Rap’s arm in a sling to fix it. The ambulance came, realized the sling was actually making the injury worse, tried to fix it, and got yelled at by the onlookers for undoing the “medic’s” work. They ended up taking him to the hospital and fixed it there.
Baja California Sur luchador Hijo del Super Porky (Juan Manuel Briceño Quijada, 60) passed away early Saturday due to a heart attack. He is not related to the Alvarados, but appears to be a local wrestler who took the name in tribute to Brazo de Plata (and it’s unclear if they approved.) He was also known as “El Cali” around La Paz, and seems to be a locally famous person.
Sopitas has a profile of Jessy Ventura.