Month: June 2021

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.

CMLL (TUE) 06/15/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sport, Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores]
1) Pequeño Olímpico b Acero [lightning]
7:05.
2) Nitro & Yago b Retro & Sangre Imperial
3) Disturbio & Hijo del Signo b Cachorro & Robin
Rudos took 1/3.
4) La Guerrera & Sanely b La Comandante & La Seductora
Tecnicas took 1/3
5) Dark Magic, Mephisto, Vangellys b Esfinge, Kráneo, Volcano
Rudos took 2/3
6) Dark Panther, Terrible, Valiente DQ Espíritu Negro, Hechicero, Rey Cometa [Relevos Increíbles]
Hechicero unmasked Valiente, challenges followed.

The second match wasn’t on the orginal card, which seems to be a mistake; six match shows are the standard right now. The main event is the first sign of a feud with both a beginning and end on these shows; both Valiente & Hehicero were definitive about doing the singles match next week.

CMLL (TUE) 06/15/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en El Ring]
1) Capitán Cobra, Tigre Blanco, Último Ángel b Conde, Jabalí, Persa
2) El Divino, Mr. Samurai, Reycko vs Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Mr. Apolo
3) Explosivo, Flash, Gallo b Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
4) Panterita del Ring & Panterita del Ring Jr. b Furia Roja & Satánico and Hijo De Stuka Jr. & Stuka Jr. and Felino & Felino Jr.
5) Principe Daniel b Difunto © [OCCIDENTE MIDDLE]

Principe Daniel winning this title seems like something planned for the original announcement of this match back in April. Daniel is Barbaro Cavernario’s brother; Cavernario strangely hasn’t wrestled in his old home arena since the restart. I’m surprised Panterita del Ring got the win in the four-way match.

CMLL posted a video of KeMonito (and Disturbio) explaining the COVID rules for Arena Mexico. It’s great! They should do more of these.

CMLL Informa has Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, NGD, Blue Panther Jr., Atlantis Jr., and Hijo del Villano III Jr. Those mostly are names from the tournament.

Federacion Wrestling Believes Someday They Will Run A Wrestling Show

Federacion issued a new statement late Tuesday night, saying now that they will soon announce a new date and location for a show, promising it’ll be a similar caliber to the old one, so everyone should just hold on to their tickets. This sounds a lot like they wish to no longer give back money for refunds; the money may be already spent. The Federacion Wrestling show isn’t happening because the person paying the bills (not Rush) no longer wished to lose all the money, so a new show of that level won’t happen unless they find a new person willing to lose money in that spot. People do like to give Rush lots of money, can’t rule it out, but you’re probably shouldn’t hold your breath.

I presume “Federacion Wrestling” at this point is Rush, his family. and other people close to him working on it. There was a never-named money guy who isn’t the money now, and so there’s no show. I don’t know for a fact, so I’m putting the blame on “Federacion Wrestling”, but Federacion and Rush appear interchangeable now that that money guy is gone. There’s a good chance Rush will contradict this when he eventually does talk about the situation, insisting he was hired talent and otherwise refusing to take an L on the situation.

Villano III Jr. announced he was off the Federacion show some 12 hours after the show was already “postponed.” He said it was due to legal issues. “Logistics” and “legal issues” remain a cover story for “pay cuts we didn’t want to take”. At the same time, there’s always a possibility this promotion didn’t have the proper permits and permissions to run a show because at no point did it seem like they knew what they were doing. There was no visible COVID distancing in the seating map, which always seems liked trouble. Still, Rush & Andrade didn’t cancel on the show because of permits, it’s money.

Villano III Jr. wished Federacion well in the future. Everyone who is wishing Federacion Wrestling well in the figure and not being upset about a lost payday suggests those people actually did get some money and they’re being nice to make sure they’re not asked to give it back. I’m not sure that’s the case for everyone; I think the reason Federacion is pushing the idea that they’re still going to run a show is not just for the fans and those refunds, but the wrestlers who didn’t get paid and equally feel like they’re owed money. ROH also can’t be too thrilled about losing their relationship with CMLL over a show that didn’t happen, so it’s Federacion’s interest to say the show is still happening at some point and hope everyone eventually moves on.

Other Notes

Thursday’s IWRG show has Heddi Karaoui & Veneno versus Black Terry & Dr. Cerebro as the main event.

KAOZ has a big show at Monterrey’s baseball stadium on Sunday, though it’s a baseball stadium show more just in name. They’re not using the stadium itself, they’re setting up a ring and normal foldable chairs like any other indie show, just taking advantage of the outdoor space to set up more places. They’re going to have a lot of extra spaces, it’s not selling well. Their ticket website shows about there were about 281 tickets in the first six rows and only 60 of those are sold. They’ve done much better in the cheap seats; no capacity is listed there, but my estimate is probably just short of 400 people have bought tickets there. There are also VIP areas that are super expensive and super unsold. This is not going to be in the stratosphere of the Federacion show in terms of losses and KAOZ will probably run their show and live to promote another day it’s a usual level of failure rather than the epic Federacion has given us. It still feels like a familiar in bringing in a bunch of names, setting expensive ticket prices, and failing because they didn’t have the matches people wanted to see at those prices.

Robles Promotions announced a show for August 21st in Las Vegas, with Dr. Wagner Jr. & Hijo de Dos Caras versus Carlito & Super Beast. Theyr’e using Superbeast’s training place. Alberto and Cina de Oro are scheduled to appear though not wrestle. I presume the real situation is those guys and the promoter wanted to go party at the Manny Pacquio boxing match that night and are running a wrestling show to justify being there, while also being completely oblivious to WWE stuff and not realizing they’re running SummerSlam in a NFL stadium that night as well. Few lucha libre promoters seem even slightly aware of non-lucha libre promotions, if they’re aware of anything beyond their own shows. The Robles show is going to struggle to draw people but they wouldn’t have run Super Beast’s training center if they though it was going to be a draw. The 07/31 show at the Payne Arena is the real test, though Robles running all these events in odd locations away from their base is not a great sign for their long term prospects. Maybe Rush can get to him before the money’s all gone. (The current Ticketmaster Map for that July 31st show displays oceans of unsold blue tickets; that’s another looming fiasco)

The Kung Fu Jr. story took some weird turns on Monday night. His daughter posted a photo of Kung Fu Jr. in a hospital bed to update his condition. Facebook readers noticed it was the same photo Kung Fu Jr. had posted from the hospital in 2020, just slightly cropped. She posted again a few hours later explaining that the hospital doesn’t allow photos to be taken and so she decided to put up an old one. I was coming to the conclusion something sad or bad happened until Kung Fu Jr. returned to post his own video late Tuesday night. Kung Fu Jr. confirmed the general details surrounding his death – he had a heart issue while driving and it led to a car accident – but he was hospitalized and did not die. This whole thing doesn’t completely add up but it has led to good memes.

 

This week’s Mas Lucha En+Carados was fun for the part where they (and I) were reacting to the Federacion Wrestling show being canceled in real-time. Less fun was the part where the hosts claimed to have no inside knowledge of the situation despite hosting their press conferences and posting other videos on their behalf. It’s probably a good business move to be supportive of promotions even when they fail and never run again, so the next disastrous group who comes along will trust you’ll have their back as well.

R de Rudo has Zona 23 promoter Abel Guerrero, who says he got into wrestling promotion because his father hated wrestling and he wanted to run a show his father would attend. Also, he thought most extreme wrestling was boring and not extreme enough so he sought to fix that. Guerrero claims Zona 23 has won yearly awards for best extreme promotion, which caused me to an extreme lucha libre award show. Joe Lider in a torn tuxedo hosting the thing, celebrity presenter X-Fly, trophy in a shape of a barbed wire bat.

La Hiedra seems to have announced her group with Maravilla & Flammer is named Las Toxicas, though it’s AAA so this name may never make it to TV or they may never team again. They did make them a trio and then have La Hiedra win the trios titles with another two people, who knows.

Pagano had a wrestling match with a special needs kid in Leon.

Vanguardia luchador Gasparin Jr. broke his arm this his past weekend, is raffling off tequila to help pay for medical bills.

Nick Gage is off the GCW/Zona 23 show.

A report on a tribute show to Angel o Demonio mentions he was a bodybuilder before becoming a wrestler.

LuchaWorld has his week’s Poster-Mania.

The most recent Lucha Memes show went up on IWTV.

The Luchadoras documentary is headed to the AFI Film Festival.

Federacion Wrestling’s debut show on Saturday will not occur. The promotion is offering refunds to those who bought tickets through them and suggests those who brought the show through PPV store Coin Access to contact them or file a Paypal claim. (Coin Access redirects people back towards Federacion for refunds in a message that’s been edited to become increasingly hysterical; filling a claim through Paypal is your best bet.)

Both Andrade and Rush simultaneously announced they and their family members were no longer appear on the show on Monday evening due to unspecific logistical issues, though they wished the promotion the best. That seemed a prelude to more names removing themselves on Tuesday – other people booked for the show were already search for replacement work – so Federacion announcing refunds on Monday night spared them further embarrassment. Federacion’s official posture is the show is postponed due to those same undefined logistical concerns and will run at a different undefined date. They would not be offering refunds if they planned to run a show – anyone who dealt with pandemic-related postponements knows they’re more likely just to keep the money in hopes they can run the event much later. The money only gets returned in a no-hope situation. It’s very unlikely a Federacion Wrestling show will ever be run.

Federation seemed doomed from their underwhelming introductory press conference. It exposed the (still never named) owner of the promotion having two assets – a friendship with Rush and money – without any experience in running a wrestling show. The promotion was never developed beyond “friends of Rush and friends of friends of Rush” being brought in to get a payday. The planned card seemed first and foremost about finding spots for people to get a payday, with any effort at making a line that might sell tickets being secondary. The tickets themselves were very expensive for the Mexico City market in an effort to recoup some of the costs – CMLL Aniversario level prices without offering any match of that importance. There was little promotion of the show outside of sporadically updated social media and occasional Rush promos; even if this was a card that might excite people, few people were going to find out about it. There’s word of actual logistical problems – Dr. Landru mentions there was concern about the lack of info on flights, hotels, etc going back to May – but it generally looks like a whole bunch of people getting together to run a wrestling promotion who either had no idea how to actually run a wrestling promotion or weren’t invested in figuring it out.

Federacion Wrestling had some of the biggest names in recent Mexican wrestling history – Rush, Andrade, Fenix, Penta, Bandido, Dragon Lee – and probably didn’t sell 1,000 tickets so far. It was an embarrassing result, one that would’ve framed those wrestlers poorly if they were seen in a barely occupied building on Saturday. I suspect “logistics” is also cover for “the show is a bomb so the promoter wanted to cut our pay”, and they decided to leave. I’m skeptical anyone thought this was going to actually ever work – if it was obvious a disaster from the press conference, it would’ve been obvious to them much sooner – and just hoped to get a payday or two out of it before it fell apart.

What’s next?

• Federacion Wrestling will be added to the long list of Mexican promotions who talking about being a new national group in Mexico and just lost a bunch of money looking foolish. (They did lose less than most by canceling quickly.) Every new promotion will be treated as a real thing by the press and not at all by the fans, who’ve seen this bit way too many times to take any of it seriously.
• Rush will explain that even though he was the central focus of the promotion, his family was all wrestling in it, his faction was the selling point of the show, and he was bringing in a half dozen people from Ring of Honor, he actually had nothing to do with the show and was as shocked as everyone else it didn’t well. He will take no responsibility.
• CMLL will not try to patch things up with Ring of Honor, but there’s always a chance Ring of Honor could reach out to try to fix it if it’s that important to them.
  • ROH seems to have more people than they can put on TV every month, so it’s probably not going to be too big of a concern
• CMLL will definitely use this failure as proof their wrestlers should never leave the company town of Arena Mexico, they’ll all die on their own.
• the next time we’ll see Rush in a Mexico ring is probably during the Omega/Andrade title match at TripleMania
• I can watch the AAA TV show on Saturday in peace

CMLL weekend results

Friday’s show streamed on Ticketmaster, and I was back to watching those.

CMLL , Ticketmaster (FRI) 06/11/2021 Arena México [Box y Lucha, CMLL, Furia de Titanes, Ksports, Marca, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Dark Magic & Okumura b Pegasso & Stigma   
8:32.
2) Princesa Sugehit b Stephanie Vaquer [lightning]   
7:03. Sugehit submitted Vaquer
3) Felino Jr. & Pólvora b Atlantis Jr. & Flyer   
17:56
4) Gran Guerrero & Negro Casas b Dark Panther, Hechicero, Cancerbero, Templario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Gemelo Diablo I [Torneo Increible de Parejas, battle royal]
5) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Titán b Cancerbero & Espíritu Negro [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f] 
4:28
6) Cuatrero & Dark Panther b Gemelo Diablo I & Valiente [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f] 
5:19
7) Hechicero & Stuka Jr. b Templario & Volador Jr. [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f] 
4:53. Hechicero & Stuka had issues.
8) Gran Guerrero & Místico b Atlantis & Negro Casas [Torneo Increible de Parejas, 8f] 
4:36
9) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Titán b Cuatrero & Dark Panther [Torneo Increible de Parejas, quarterfinal] 
4:02
10) Templario & Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero & Místico [Torneo Increible de Parejas, quarterfinal] 
3:37
11) Templario & Volador Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr. & Titán [Torneo Increible de Parejas, semifinal]   
4:00

Volador’s run in this tournament is incredible, or a reflection of how static CMLL has been for years. (I screwed this up on Twitter, this should be the correct version.)

Volador in the Torneo Increibls de Parejas, Mexico City version

• 2010: Volador Jr. & Terrible lose in the second round
• 2011: Volador Jr. & Diamante lose in the semifinals
• 2012: Volador Jr. & Terrible lose in the second round
• 2013: Volador Jr. & La Sombra win the tournament
• 2014: Volador Jr. & Averno lose in the second round
• 2015: Volador Jr. & Rey Bucanero lose in the final
• 2016: Volador Jr. & Mr. Niebla lose in the semifinal
• 2017: Volador Jr. & Cavernario win the tournament
• 2018: Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero lose in the final
• 2019: Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero lose in the final
• 2020: Volador Jr. & Cavernario lose in the final
• 2021: Volador Jr. & Templario are in the final

(Volador & Atlantis also won the Puebla version of the tournament in 2013 with Atlantis. the only time he participated in that version. )

That’s five straight finals. Six of the last seven years has had Volador Jr. in the final. It’s because Volador is always around and has been in the same position as the top tecnico since at least 2015. That’s an incredible long time; anyone would get stale. There’s probably some way to sell this as a historic achievement in the same way AAA hyped La Parka winning the Rey de Reyes so many times; CMLL hasn’t done so and it instead just comes off as repetitive. It’s going to be a good match, it is not one anyone is going to be excited to see.

The only thing more expected certain than Volador making it far in a tournament is Ultimo Guerrero doing the same. Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia are the heavy favorites to win this Friday’s block. Caristico & Virus have a long-shot chance of wining and anyone else would be a gigantic upset.

Dragon Rojo & Titan worked so hard in their matches that it seemed like they were surely going to win. They did not. Templario & Volador were good as well, though not that that level. The times were relatively representative of match quality; nothing was terrible or completely rushed, but only a few were memorable. Flyer & Atlantis versus Polvora & Felino Jr. didn’t do much for me and set up yet another challenge for the national tag team titles which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

An important note about the “500” attendance: there definitely weren’t 500 ticketed people in the stands. It seemed down from the last two shows I’d seen live and even more barren in photos – perhaps 200 people? At the same, there were no tickets available on Ticketmaster the day of the show. There are two theories on what’s going on, both of which might be partially true

• “500 tickets” was never meant to be “500 tickets”, it was meant to be “500 people in the building”; perhaps CMLL got away with that at first and has had to since lower the ticket sales as they’ve gone along. Counting the ticket takers, the security, the vendors, the production people, the edecanes, the people running the show, and the wrestlers can probably take a 100 person allotment out of those tickets easily.
• There’s still ticket scalping going on – either through buying on Ticketmaster or the same backroom deals with the promotion that were going on before the pandemic – and those scalpers couldn’t move the tickets. Perhaps CMLL’s messaging that “the only way you can buy tickets is via Ticketmaster” has worked well enough that few people come to Arena Mexico to look for tickets right now, or maybe CMLL is so cold that scalpers can’t find takers for tickets even when there are few available.

People around Arena Mexico saw scalpers on Friday, so that is part of that issue. And Mexico City enforcing capacity limits is probably another part. I’m not sure how much is each. I do know the PPV chat room was relatively quiet like they were during the October shows that ended the weekly PPV experiment last time. Having actual numbers would be a lot better than guessing about what things look like, but what things look like is a promotion barely hanging on.

CMLL did put up Copa Dinastia on YouTube on Sunday, a week after it aired on TV. You can now experience the excitement of two different second-chance matches and Powerpoint slides as explainer graphics for free. It suggests all the Friday PPVs will end up on YouTube two weeks later, though with matches cut for TV time reasons.

CMLL (SUN) 06/13/2021 Arena México [Box y Lucha, CMLL, Furia de Titanes, Kaiser Sports]
1) Sonic b Yago
2) El Coyote & Nitro b Eléctrico & Sangre Imperial
3) La Jarochita & Marcela DQ Dalys & La Infernal
Marcela did work here (so she no-showed her prior announced Monterrey booking)
4) Pólvora & Vangellys b Guerrero Maya Jr. & Magia Blanca
rudos took 1/3
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Negro Casas b Star Jr., Stuka Jr., Valiente
Rudos took 2/3. Star Jr. replaced Atlantis on Thursday. Hechicero & Stuka feuded.
6) Euforia, Místico, Titán b Dark Panther, Gran Guerrero, Templario [Relevos Increíbles]
Mistico replaced Caristico on Thursday. Team Euforia took 2/3

Stephanie Vaquer replaced Marcela in Monterrey. No angles outside of the continuing Hechicero/Stuka feud. Pictures suggest the wrestlers worked unusually hard; NJPW World tended to air matches from Sunday shows, so perhaps that’s a reason. AMX was also airing Sunday shows, so perhaps we’ll start seeing these on Friday.

Tomorrow’s CMLL card:

CMLL (TUE) 06/15/2021 Arena México
1) Pequeño Olímpico vs Acero [lightning]
2) Cachorro & Robin vs Disturbio & Hijo del Signo
3) La Guerrera & Sanely vs La Comandante & La Seductora
4) Esfinge, Kráneo, Volcano vs Dark Magic, Mephisto, Vangellys
5) Dark Panther, Terrible, Valiente vs Espíritu Negro, Hechicero, Rey Cometa [Relevos Increíbles]

Again, not streamed – the only regularly streaming show is Friday. The main event could be pretty good. The rest of the card looks very week. CMLL post-pandemic cards seem more lacking than they did in January 2020, and they’re not even using as many wrestlers at this point.

CMLL also released the full lineup for their Saturday and Sunday Father’s day shows. (Friday still only has the tournament pairs and no undercard.)

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]

This is the bonus free show on YouTube, obviously intended to be counter-programming for the Federacion Wrestling show. The semi-main may be good but there’s nothing really special about this show outside the main event; they’re not throwing everything at the wall, but just booking this show at all is an effort. It’s shallower in star power than expected for a counter-programming effort. Perhaps that’s because some of the names were already booked over in San Luis Potosi on this day. Felino Jr. is booked on both shows, which makes no sense – shouldn’t they have the poster with his name on it if they knew not to book anyone else?

That main event keeps Mistico at Arena Mexico, though he seems a bit more curious about other things going on that day.

That Saturday is going to be the new craziest Mexican wrestling day of the year

• this CMLL free show
• the Federacion Wrestling show debut
• AAA’s normal TV show that’ll be airing at the same time as those two shows
• the ChilangaMask annual show with Matt Cross versus Titan at Arena San Juan
• Arena Neza with Caristico & Cibernetico versus Averno & Volador Jr. (who should be able to make both shows)

I streamed the AAA show this past week. I likely will not since I’ll be watching the Federacion show, but I’m working on recording it and streaming it later that night or the next day.

CMLL (SUN) 06/20/2021 Arena México
1) Leono vs Cholo
2) Angelito & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
3) Diamond & Drone vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
4) La Jarochita & Princesa Sugehit vs Metálica & Reyna Isis
5) El Audaz, Flyer, Stuka Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Luciferno, Templario
6) Místico, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Negro Casas

One more match than the other show though that’s not necessarily a good thing. CMLL really needs guys like the Gemelos Diablos and Audaz to suddenly be good if these cards are going to be watchable.

Tuesday’s Guadalajara show has Difunto defending the Occidente Middleweight Championship against Principe Daniel, a match scheduled for April before being postponed due to a Difunto medical issue. Hijo de Stuka Jr. makes his CMLL debut teaming with his father in a four-way match. The other teams are the Panteritas del Ring, the Felinos, and Satanico & Furia Roja. Not sure the last two are related; I didn’t know that if they were. That’s one that seems worth checking out on Saturday night (or Sunday when I get around to posting it) to see how the young Stuka and Panterita perform.

Other Notes

IWRG (SUN) 06/13/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores]
1) El Bendito b Hijo Del Ángel 
2) Mini Canis Lupus b Mini Relámpago, Mini Spirit 
3) Fly Warrior & Fulgor b Corsario Negro & Drako and Alan Extreme & Puma de Oro 
4) Dick Angelo, Hijo Del Enferermo Jr., King Charro b Eragón, Freelance, Relámpago 
5) Dr. Cerebro & Karaoui b Avisman & Black Terry 
6) Aeroboy & Asterboy b Dinamic Black & Látigo 
Dinamic Black replaced Baby Xtreme
7) Lady Shani & Mamba b Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura 
Abismo Negro Jr. appeared to help the AAA team win, then Hijo del Alebrije returned (COVID) to make the save. Challenges for a cage match followed.

I have not watched this show but I’m very entertained by Eterno declaring at the end of April that he was suspended from IWRG and then Abismo Negro Jr. showing up two months later. Semi-main sounds like it was the best match. The fifth match continues to head towards an apuesta match though I’m not clear on what since Heddi Karaoui remains a very bald man.

AAA aired a bit where Rey Escorpion invaded Psycho Clown’s home and beat him up in front of his wife and children. Rey Escorpion (with Texano) beat Psycho Clown (and Laredo Kid) in a very good main event, a rare clean victory for Escorpion and on Psycho Clown. The build to Psycho/Escorpion prior to the announcement wasn’t much, but AAA appears to be turning it up full bore now that it’s happening. In the skit, it appears Rey Escorpion may have grabbed a steak knife and held it near Psycho Clown – they edit around it if that’s what happened. That would be a bit intense.

Not sure if the Goya Kong appearance in that skit was a one-off thing or if she’s headed back to AAA; Psycho Clown’s sister did not wrestle during the pandemic and didn’t wrestle much in 2020 prior to it.

Dragon Lee & Kenny King challenge Rhett Titus & Tracy Williams for the ROH Tag Team titles on this week’s ROH TV show, currently up on their website.

There was a strange story about Kung Fu Jr. on Sunday. Intocable wrote on Facebook that Kung Fu Jr. had passed away due to a heart attack. Someone also posted a mourning black ribbon on Kung Fu Jr.’s Facebook page, seemingly confirming the passing. Late Sunday night, Kung Fu Jr,’s daughter streamed on YouTube to say Kung Fu Jr. was not dead but was instead hospitalized. She also claimed their social media had been hacked for two days and she doesn’t know who posted the black ribbon. She did not give a reason for his hospitalization.

Mas Lucha posted highlights of Andrade and Hijo del Santo’s trios match on Saturday. Andrade won by a foul on Saturday, Santo fouled Andrade on Sunday to win the same way. They made completely unbelievable mask versus hair apuesta match challenges. Mas Lucha also hyped a Laredo Kid/Dragon Lee mask match from the same California group, which has a 0% chance of happening. My theory is these dream match teases gather a little extra interest in the short term and run people off in the long term, but I have no idea how I’d check that theory.

The viral clip of the weekend was a luchador diving into a pole, apparently ending up suffering a wrist fracture and cervical sprain. Potosi Noticas (as pointed out by Furia de Titanes) found out the wrestler is named Evil Warrior. He’s an unlicensed wrestler working unlicensed shows for Super Star/Rafael Uresti in San Luis Potosi. Uresti is said to be on or working with the San Luis Potosi city council, which is maybe why he’s unconcerned with being licensed. There was no medical personal at the show, as you might expect from the other details.

Federacion Wrestling’s website allows you to pick your seat on at next Saturday’s show, a common thing on modern websites – that’s how we used to be able to tell how well CMLL was doing. It also means there are maps of sold and unsold for each section. Currently, Federacion is showing some vast seas of green. It’s important to note the ticket map doesn’t include the bleachers, the cheapest tickets and probably the sections with the most sold. The more expensive sections list about 1700 tickets available and around 350 tickets were listed as sold as of Sunday night. That’s 20% capacity; I guess the good news is they’re not close to breaking any COVID laws. Again, there are probably much more tickets sold in the bleacher, but they may have not reached 1,000 total yet. Federacion – with no obvious promotion outside of some minimal effort social media – has always seemed like it’s likely to be a bomb. Those numbers confirm it’s headed that way. Federacion had a one-day sale on some tickets on Saturday and I presume there may be more of those this week.

(I’m not even sure they’ve truly “sold” 350 numbered seats; the front row of every section is blocked off, and those may be comps. Those front rows account for half the 350 tickets.)

ROH’s Vinny Marseglia (who changed his name to Vincent over a year ago), Mecha Wolf, and Zumbi were added to Copa Federacion. There’s also a Shane Taylor promo that only lives on Mas Lucha’s channel at the moment. I hope that means they’re producing the PPV because then there’s a chance it might go again.

The 07/11 Mucha Atlanta Lucha show with Andrade versus Laredo Kid will be the promotion’s first iPPV. It’s $23 USD now and will be more expensive in July. It already seems too high for an iPPV with a single announced match – but I’m probably getting it for that one match so maybe there are enough fools out there. I’ve never heard of the PPV provider, which seems to be rule for all of these. I asked on Facebook if this would be available on VOD and they seemed to say it would only be live. No one who promotes lucha libre shows seems to understand doing PPVs. This one in particular sticks out where no VOD is a problem. Few people outside the Atlanta area are going to remember Laredo/Andrade is happening until it does. If it goes well and people are raving about it, there probably should be a way to accept money for it. It probably should be around $10-15, but lucha libre promoters seem scared they’ll lose ticket sales if PPV prices are much lower than that, even though they’re kind of different products. This is probably not going to do well and they’ll be convinced there’s no interest in PPVs going forward, though it seems like it’s designed badly instead.

(Anyway, what’s going to happen here are people are going to DM to ask me for the match the next day and I’m probably going to say no, I had to pay $23 for it, why do you get it for free?)

Samuray del Sol is pictured on the July 18th IWC Legacy (Denver) show. The graphic on their Facebook has him as a meet and greet, so he may not be wrestling. He got his WWE release on April 15th, so that’s right after the 90 days the no-compete period ends. Rey Cometa will face Dragon Bane on the show; I didn’t know Cometa could work in the US. It’s CMLL so no one would know who he is if he worked in most indies but also he’s quite good so people should book him to entertain me anyway. (Also maybe the Tonto from the Lone Ranger movie look would get him over quickly?)

Mas Lucha’s radio show interviewed Arez & Aramis about their recent US activities, including being announced as working for MLW. At the 1:02:00 mark, they’re asked about their MLW contracts. Arez says he hasn’t actually signed one (despite what MLW announced), though he expects to work it out when he goes to Philadelphia for the taping. There’s still time for ROH or someone else to save me from having to watch MLW use him as the new Laredo Kid.

No such luck for Aramis, who says he’s signed with MLW for three years. Aramis also mentioned – in reference to the GALLI/IWRG talent sharing- that his current AAA deal actually doesn’t allow him to wrestle in IWRG. I would guess that is wrestling in IWRG without AAA permission and he would wrestle there if AAA sent him (or Lady Shani & Mamba have different deals.)

Box y Lucha #3476 has Templario & Volador and Hijo del Santo & Andrade.

La Seductora says she’s like to win a mask for her 30th anniversary in wrestling, which may be around about a way of saying Seductora is going to lose her hair on an indie show soon.

BolaVIP has an interview with Demonic Flamita.

DTU’s next show is June 27th with Ultimo Guerrero.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 06/10/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Kenji b Güero De Tijuana 
2) Black Shadow II & El Bendito b Águila Oriental & Noicy Boy 
3) Diosa Quetzal & Miss Delicious b Lilith Dark & Satania 
4) Mini Relámpago & Mini Rey Misterio b Blackgoncito & Chico Malo 
5) Black Dragón, Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Puma de Oro b Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, Karaoui, Veneno and Aster Boy, Caballero de Plata, Gravity, Tonalli and Alan Extreme, Dinamic Black, Freelance, Relámpago [Zona de Ejecuccion] 
The Terry, Cerbero, Karaoui, Veneno team had issues and fought after.

I watched only the second match, which had a few fun spots with the MexaBoys. Mas Lucha seemed to miss posting a result of the main event so I had to (gasp) watch the finish myself to find out what happened. I’m not quite sure why the veterans ended up fighting but it seems likely an apuesta match. In a remarkable coincidence, many of them are facing each other Sunday.

IWRG (SUN) 06/13/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Hijo Del Ángel vs El Bendito
2) Relámpago vs Mini Spirit, Mini Canis Lupus
3) Corsario Negro & Drako vs Alan Extreme & Puma de Oro and Fly Warrior & Fulgor
4) Eragón, Freelance, Relámpago vs Dick Angelo, Hijo Del Enferermo Jr., King Charro
5) Dr. Cerebro & Karaoui vs Avisman & Black Terry
6) Aeroboy & Asterboy vs Baby Extreme & Látigo
7) Lady Shani & Mamba vs Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura

This is billed as “AAA vs IWRG”, though it’s more like “Mamba wrestlers with Las Shotas in memory of Pasion Kristal.” Semimain could be good if Aeroboy & Latigo can convince Asterboy & Baby Extreme to use their good spots at good times.

CMLL 

CMLL kicks off the usually-annual Torneo Increibles de Parejas tonight. It’s 16 teams of tecnicos and rudos teaming, or at least that’s the idea.

June 11th Block

• Cuatrero & Dark Panther
• Hechicero & Stuka Jr.
• Gran Guerrero & Místico
• Cancerbero & Espíritu Negro
• Atlantis & Negro Casas
• Templario & Volador Jr.
• Dragón Rojo Jr. & Titán
• Gemelo Diablo I & Valiente

June 18th Block

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

Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia doesn’t make any sense unless Euforia’s meant to be a tecnico now, but CMLL doesn’t can make up the rules to their own competitions. Angel de Oro is still meant to be a tecnico and is teaming with rudo Mephisto. Caristico & Virus and Templario & Volador stick out as weird teams of non-feuding partners who might have a chance to go far. The final is on June 25th.

There are three non-tournament matches tonight

CMLL (FRI) 06/11/2021 Arena México [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Pegasso & Stigma vs Dark Magic & Okumura
2) Stephanie Vaquer vs Princesa Sugehit [lightning]
3) Atlantis Jr. & Flyer vs Felino Jr. & Pólvora

The opener seems an encouragement to show up late. Vaquer/Sugehit sounds like one of the better possible women’s 1v1 in CMLL, though I’m not sure what’s that worth. The tercera is another variation of the Atlantis Jr./Flyer versus Tiger/a partner matches which were going on before the pandemic. They hadn’t gone well.

The show is sold out of the 500 tickets allotted. It will stream for around $5, through Ticketmaster Live. (The link was briefly not working this morning.) The 06/18 Friday show, the final Friday with a 500 tickets cap under the current plan, is already running low on tickets.

CMLL announced their free streaming June 19th show will be headlined Sanson, Cuatrero, and Forastero defending the CMLL World Trios Championship against Volador Jr., Caristico, and Mistico. The show starts at 6 pm, the same day and time as the Federacion Wrestling debut PPV. People who are excited for the Federacion Wrestling show are still going to get it, CMLL is just hoping to pick off a few people who are curious but don’t want to pay or don’t trust Federacion’s stream. CMLL’s YouTube shows are typically available later so you likely don’t have to watch it live if you are interested in the other show (or, god forbid, things outside of lucha libre shows.)

CMLL also said they’re hoping they’re to open Arena Mexico at 25% capacity starting with the June 25th show but have not yet gotten approval. The 25% limit doesn’t take effect until June 24th, though I presume CMLL can start selling the extra seats prior to it. I thought there was a hard cap at 1,500, but everyone else seems to be reporting no cap so we’ll just assume I misunderstood something.

The very nerdy thing aside: is we might be able to learn Arena Mexico’s current capacity if it’s 25%, since it has changed numerous times over the years due to remodeling. It’s probably above 4,000, but how much above 4,000 is a source of debate. Everyone cites different capacities via Google of questionable accuracy. CMLL itself doesn’t list a number. This is a reason to want Arena Puebla to be running too, it could solve one of the great mysteries of our time.

Fugaz is out due to a shoulder dislocation. He says it happened first on May 28th, he was able to put it back in, but it came out again on June 4th. They showed that clip on CMLL Informa – it’ll also on Televisa this week – and it was just him doing a running front flip and the shoulder going out on the (slipped) landing. Okumura was in the ring but didn’t have anything to do with it. Fugaz expects to be back in a few weeks and is a full-time Mexico City wrestler now.

CMLL changed Sunday’s non-streamed show to remove both Atlantis and Caristico. Star Jr. and Mistico take their places. Atlantis and Atlantis Jr. are scheduled to work in El Paso. Not sure what other booking Caristico has. Marcela, who is also advertised to wrestle in Monterrey, was left on the poster. CMLL’s had frequent issues keeping track of which wrestlers are available for Arena Mexico shows since they’ve started running again.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara says Hijo del Stuka Jr. will wrestle on next Tuesday’s show. That’d be his first match anywhere, at least under that name.

In CMLL virtual media interviews, Dragon Rojo claimed he is 100% and Dark Panther said there would be an explanation for his new name eventually. Dark Panther is pitching this and the Copa Dinastias win as a start to a new chapter to his career, which is as good an idea as any. I’ve stopped linking to these interviews because CMLL wrestlers rarely say anything beyond the same generalities (“we think we can win”). That those are the two best bits I could pull out of a half dozen interviews this past week, which hopefully shows how barren they are. The Kaiser Sports site does a good job of assembling them if you want more.

CMLL appears to have dropped their TV listings from their website, so no idea what is airing until it airs (or unless it turns up on social media.)

Other Notes

Federacion Wrestling announced Tirantes will be a referee on June 19th. Tirantes will fit in what is sure to a silly heavy main event. It would be more annoying if he messed up the Penta/Fenix?? vs Bandido/Dragon Lee match, but it certainly is possible.

TNT Sports Mexico launches today. A press release yesterday mentioned an upcoming announcement of Mexico lucha libre programming as part of the channel’s slate. Space is a TNT property, so Mexico lucha libre means an AAA show – maybe just the same AAA show in more places. It sounds like TNT Sports Mexico is not going to be an actual different channel, but a branding bit done on existing channels. For purposes of those of us who live outside of Mexico, this might be worth keeping track of to see if the first airing of AAA moves to a different channel (and a different set of bootleg streams), but it doesn’t seem an immediate concern. Maybe TNT & AAA will say more about this around Verano de Escandalo.

AAA airs Saturday seems to be airing a little earlier this week, at 5:25 pm. This will be the first of the two rain-drenched episodes, so keep expectations in check on the matches.

Arez & Gringo Loco face Jake Lander & Brayden Lee on AAW’s show tonight. That match will stream on their Twitch show on a future week.

ROH TV this weekend has Dragon Lee & Kenny King challenging for the ROH Tag Team Championship against Rhett Titus & Tracy Williams. Next weekend’s show will include Tony Deppen defending the TV Championship against Williams & Lee as well as the Bandido versus Bateman qualifying match for Survival of the Fittest,

Penta and a mystery partner will face Los Traumas on July 3rd in Arena Lopez Mateos, which is more notable that Penta won’t be wrestling at Verano de Escandalo. I didn’t even think about a match for current AAA Tag Team Champions the Lucha Brothers on TripleMania when sketching out a lineup a while back, and maybe it’s no certainly they’ll be there.

MLW announced Arez has signed with them and will start on MLW’s July 10th show in Philadelphia. Like with Aramis, it’s possible Arez could do interesting things in MLW but it’s hard to have faith he’ll do much until it happens. I’d generally want them to see in other places where the risk of them being only used as enhancement talent is much lower, but I can also understand if they didn’t want to wait forever for an offer from another company that hasn’t yet come.

This Arez bit also reminded me that AAA really needs to update their promo photos. And also if they could get a second song for the post-match replay packages I would appreciate it.

Warrior Wrestling officially announced Daga versus Aramis for the new Lucha Libre championship on July 17th.

The Alberto/Andrade card for Hidalgo has been revealed. As should be expected, Andrade and Alberto are not having a singles match.

ROBLES , Patron (SAT) 07/31/2021 Payne Arena, Hidalgo, Texas
1) Bengala & Rey Kuervo vs Prime & Prince Celestial
2) Sayruis vs Estrellato, Súper Beast, Blackcat, Drakula Jr., Rey León, Zarzy Tiger, Toro Negro, Halcón Negro
3) Sexy Dulce & Wendy vs Crystal White & Estrellita
4) Blue Demon Jr. vs Averno, Apollo (Puerto Rico), Toscano, Hijo del Fishman [hair, mask]
5) Cinta de Oro & Texano Jr. vs Hijo De Dos Caras & Psycho Clown
6) Alberto el Patrón vs Andrade vs Carlito

Carlito gets the main event because Andrade and Alberto aren’t losing (though they’re probably still doing silliness.) I presume Gran Apolo got brought in as an Alberto buddy to lose his hair, which seems appropriately cynical. Apolo was barely working before the pandemic, and nearly only on Nacion shows. I’m curious as to Estrellita’s status with CMLL; this is not the first time she’s shown up on a card with Psycho Clown. I presume this booking pays a lot better than whatever CMLL is paying and she seems to be a trusted Sexy Dulce opponent. Similarly, there’s got to be better things for Averno to be doing than this but I suppose it pays pretty well.

That’s a lineup where they could draw a couple of thousand people and still lose badly on the show. There’s no real reason for the fourth match to exist – no one’s buying a ticket in fear of missing out on Blue Demon losing his mask in a random match, everyone understands lucha libre doesn’t work like that, the only people who believe in that bit are the promoters – and it’s probably adding quite a bit to the talent cost.

Cinta de Oro’s claim of WWE blocking this 07/31 show boils down to him accusing WWE offering to return to running shows as the Payne Arena but they’d have to dump the Alberto/Robles/Cinta show. WWE has run a newer arena in the area instead. It seems unlikely WWE would care enough about this to make that move, but WWE has done things like that in the past.

The Tijuana lucha libre commission suspended Fresero Jr. indefinitely for missing a May 28th show for Promociones Cholo de Tijuana. Their story is Fresero Jr. accepted then canceled the booking at Arena Big Punch and worked in Arena Lopez Mateos instead. Cholo de Tijuana hasn’t said anything about the situation on Facebook. Fresero Jr. has just posted emojis, which I presume is mocking the bit. An Indefinite suspension seems a bit much; the regulation indicates the commission can suspend a wrestler for 10 days to a year, not indefinitely. It also may irrelevant since Fresero doesn’t work in Tijuana much.

Segunda Caida reviews some recent Black Terry matches.

Queretaro luchador Halcon Negro Jr. got some attention about two months ago claiming the casting director of Survivor Mexico sexually harassed him. Tuesday, Halcon Negro Jr.’s manager Rodrigo Fragoso quit and claimed the sexual harassment story was invented for publicity. That article goes into more scandalous claims about a wrestler I barely hear about wrestling, including some Tweets which seem to now be deleted. Halcon Negro Jr. posted on Facebook acknowledging a split with Fragoso and his talent agency while apologizing for things that were posted on social media on his behalf, without going into more detail about what those things were.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

CMLL (TUE) 06/08/2021 Arena México [Box y Lucha, CMLL, De Lucha TV, Kasier Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores]
Attendance: 500
1) Cholo & Inquisidor b Bengala & Leono 
2) Último Dragóncito b Mercurio [lightning] 
Dragoncito won in 9:36
3) Amapola & Lluvia b Reyna Isis & Skadi [Relevos Increíbles] 
4) Magia Blanca & Robin b Akuma & Espanto Jr. 
5) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Hechicero b Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Jr., Stuka Jr. 
Stuka left the match in the third fall temporarily with a leg injury. Hechicero unmasked Stuka after the match
6) Felino, Titán, Valiente DQ Ángel de Oro, Cavernario, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
Tecnicos took 2/3. Cavernario fouled Felino, then demanded to know when their hair match was happening.

The answer to Cavernario’s question is either September 17th or September 24th if COVID continues to lift.

This show did not stream, though Mas Lucha is posting clips. Matches will likely air on TV, though we’re still probably a couple of weeks away from getting the hang of that.

I believe they sold this show out the day of the show, which is the closest they’ve had to not selling out since the return of fans. They’ll be under capacity on a Tuesday eventually. CMLL shows seemed to have 1,500 fans at best before the pandemic when tourists were present and everyone felt safe going out. It’s tough to draw on a weekday night with a cold promotion and few out-of-towners. (Similarly, I don’t expect many more Tuesdays with five different media outlets reporting on Tuesday shows.)

The only non-tournament luchador mentioned for CMLL Informa today is Fugaz. Perhaps he’ll be in a yet-to-be announced undercard match, or maybe he’s in next week’s block tournament block. That block should be announced today.

Friday’s CMLL show has already sold out. CMLL will stream it via Ticketmaster Live. The price has been slashed to 99 pesos ($5 USD), less than half it was of last week’s nothing show even after fees. CMLL didn’t mention the price at all last week and is repeatedly mentioning it’s only 99 pesos this week. You don’t have to be Colombo (or even Franco Colombo) to realize this mean last Friday’s attempt at PPV bombed. $10 or $12 would be way too much for a tournament. I’m not sure even it’s a good use of $5 when CMLL tournament block shows are frequently bad and CMLL just ran a bad tournament. They’ll probably get a few more buys this time around just because “some” is more than “none” but this is still a hard sell.

I expect CMLL’s will be back up to $12 USD range for the tournament final on June 25th, which means it’ll likely cost $22 to watch this entire tournament. This entire tournament will also likely air on Televisa on – an eight-day delay, but for free. It’s unclear why CMLL is not trying the event group packages they rolled out last year; maybe they were as unsuccessful as last week.

($5 USD is not going to break me – it’s more an ethical bit of wanting not to support something like this.)

If you don’t want to pay for CMLL and just want to see a live show on YouTube for free, you will get that soon. CMLL announced they’ll running special shows on Father’s Day weekend. Friday is the normal streaming show, Sunday is not streaming, but CMLL is also running a special show on Saturday that’ll air on YouTube for all at 6 pm.

That Saturday is an Arena Mexico show; Saturday shows were Arena Coliseo prior to the pandemic. There’s no sign of Arena Coliseo (or Arena Puebla) reopening yet.

This Sunday’s lineup, not streaming:

CMLL (SUN) 06/13/2021 Arena México
1) Sonic vs Yago
2) Eléctrico & Sangre Imperial vs El Coyote & Nitro
3) La Jarochita & Marcela vs Dalys & La Infernal
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. & Magia Blanca vs Pólvora & Vangellys
5) Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Negro Casas
6) Carístico, Euforia, Titán vs Dark Panther, Gran Guerrero, Templario [Relevos Increíbles]

Dark Panther appears to be the latest name for Cachorro/The Panther/Black Panther. Good to see him getting a chance in the main event, though this means little if he’s back in his old spot in a few weeks. On the other hand, these cards seem so thin that they can’t really put the Panthers back in the early matches, not when Magia Blanca is making a tercera.

Guadalajara notes

CMLL (TUE) 06/08/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
2) Javier Cruz Jr., Joker, Vaquero Jr. b Leo, Omar Brunetti, Príncipe
Cruz/Brunetti continue to feud.
3) Flash, Gallo, Star Black b Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Mr. Apolo
4) Principe Daniel b Difunto [lightning]
Said to be 13 minutes (so not actually a 10 minute lightning match?) Daniel restated his challenge for the OCCIDENTE MIDDLE match, which was canceled off the April 13th show due to Difunto injury.
5) El Gallito, Guapito, Microman b Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zakarías
6) Atlantis Jr., Cachorro, Fantástico DQ Espíritu Negro, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Cometa
Villano unmasked Atlantis

There was also a press conference for the Arena Coliseo Guadalajara Anniversary show on June 22nd:

CMLL (TUE) 06/22/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara Anniversary show
1) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro vs Destello, Destructor, Thunder Boy
2) El Divino, Mr. Samuray, Reycko vs Bestia Negra, Demonio Maya, Zandokan Jr.
3) Stephanie Vaquer vs Mystique, Sexy Sol, Náutica, Silueta, Soberbia, Valkiria, La Magnifica [OCCIDENTE WOMEN]
vacant title (last held by Lola Gonzalez)
4) Flash, Gallo, Vaquero Jr. vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
5) Crixus, Fantástico, Star Black vs Difunto, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
6) Atlantis Jr. & Carístico vs Joker & Mephisto

Joker is not Averno, though they transitioned directly from announcing that match to a strong “we will have surprises on the show, please keep following us on social media for more information” statement. Guadalajara seems to have more autonomy post-pandemic than they did during it; they at least seem to have the ability to bring in some of the same people for multiple weeks. Maybe there’s some tug of war on if they’re allowed to use Avenro.

The story on the women’s title is Lola Gonzalez won in 1979, it was declared vacant after she won the UWA title in 1981 and it has been vacant for forty years. This has probably been the end goal of all the women feuding for a while.

CMLL Guadalajara wrestlers, and some of the CMLL DF guys from this show, were helping with vaccination efforts Wednesday at Auditorio Benito Juarez.

While going through Guadalajara info, I stumbled upon a post in a Facebook group of 1977-1979 Jalisco lucha libre license applications. Less formally, it’s a rare collection of bio data and (unmasked) photos of various luchadors from that time.

Other Notes

Federacion Wrestling revealed a few new details for their show

• ROH’s Briscoe Brothers are in the main event, teaming with PJ Black and Matt Taven
• The women’s match is now Ayako Hamada, Tay Conti & Therius vs Miranda Alize, Reina Dorada, and Zeuxis; Red Velvet is no longer appearing
• Heddi Karaoui in the Copa Federacion; he’s the ninth name announced as far as I can tell

There was no promo or announcement about the Briscoes appearing, they were just suddenly on the poster after the Hijo del Octagon announcement. Same with the women’s match change. Federacion Wrestling also posted a promo with Penta, who talked about appearing on this show while not saying a word about Fenix (or his opponents.)

Thursday’s IWRG show:

IWRG (THU) 06/10/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Kenji vs Güero Tijuana
2) Águila Oriental & Noicy Boy vs Black Shadow II & El Bendito
3) Diosa Quetzal & Miss Delicious vs Lilith Dark & Satania
4) Mini Rey Misterio & Relampagouito vs Blackgoncito & Chico Malo
5) Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, Karaoui, Veneno vs Aster Boy, Caballero de Plata, Gravity, Tonalli and Black Dragón, Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Puma de Oro and Alan Extreme, Dinamic Black, Freelance, Relámpago [Zona de Ejecuccion]

Zona de Ejeccuion rules are one wrestler for each team starts in the ring, and the next person on their team replaces them when they get eliminated. Dinamic Black (remember when he was a thing, remember like 2010?) hasn’t been here or anywhere since late 2019.

The lineup for KAOZ’s 3rd Anniversary show at Monterrey’s baseball stadium:

AAA , KAOZ (SUN) 06/20/2021 Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
1) Charro Negro © vs Komander, Villano III Jr., Toxin, Dinámico (Indie) [KAOZ JC]
2) Black Widow & Sexy Star vs Lady Flammer & Reina Dorada [KAOZ WOMEN TAG]
3) Cíclope & Miedo Extremo vs Kaientai & Lord Byron and Galactar & Rico Rodríguez
4) Faby Apache, Larry Miranda, Toscano vs Dulce Kanela, Lady Shani, Mr. Iguana
5) El Dragón, Emperador Azteca, Hijo Del Impostor vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr.
6) Fresero Jr. vs Konnan Big, Rey Escorpión, Demonio Infernal (IWRG), DMT Azul [KAOZ HEAVY]

they worked through the an unappealing lucha libre card checklist for this one

• no rivalries
• multiple multiman matches
• meaningless title matches (bonus points if they’re also multiperson matches with no setup)
• matches more about squeezing people onto the card than creating matches people want to see.

If they were forced at gunpoint to book thirty-four people in six matches then it’s fine, but it’s also why no one should book that many people into those few matches unless they’re threatened with death. There’s a lot of talented luchadors who are hopefully going to be paid well to have fine (but not great) matches in front of a crowd who’s not into any of it. Why are partners Fresero & Demonio Infernal fighting each for a heavyweight title? Why are people who’ve never teamed fighting for tag team titles? This

Maybe it’ll still draw well, but that’ll be more to people in Monterrey dying to go outside and do something safe, not because KAOZ has put together an interesting set of lucha libre matches. KAOZ is really focused on the business side of lucha libre – setting up their own training center/venue, signing people to “contracts” – but seem completely lost on the lucha libre side of lucha libre if this is their idea of a useful card for a baseball stadium. They’re spending a lot on something they don’t seem to understand much.

Lucha Azteca’s report on Verano de Escandalo (July 3rd date, Shani/Purrazzo) says they believe the show may be in Morelia and Ciudad Madero. Ciudad de Madero and AAA big shows have a history but the actual location seems kind of irrelevant as long as they’re no fan shows. I’m certain AAA could run with fans at this point, but they may be committed to this tourist stop tour for the immediate future. Japan’s having its own issues, so AAA may not be the last major promotion to run a show without fans, though it’s certainly turning out much different than I had expected. When this all started, my guess was AAA would be the group to bend the rules as much as possible to try get those ticket sales, and they’ve instead gone a much safer route.

Alberto’s teased “Nacion Lucha Libre” looks official for 07/31 in Hidalgo, Texas. It’s actually a Robles Promotion show; Robles has been a local McAllen area promotion for years, but seems to have decided to aim for more since returning post-Pandemic. They’re listed as promoter for a show in Chiapas on June 19th, and the 20th, then one in Guatemala on the 27th. Much of the same crew working the Hidalgo show are working a Robles show the next day in Monterrey. They’re also behind some recent Hijo del Santo appearances, including the one where Santo brought out Alberto put him over. I haven’t seen an explanation for what prompted them to make this strategy change.

Today’s dumbest controversy is because Robles Promotions is calling that 07/31 show Takeover and borrowed the design of a past SummerSlam poster. SuperLuchas pointed out Cinta de Oro vague complaining about WWE “boycotting” them (which is possibly a cease and desist because I’m not sure what a boycott would mean) and will be on Lucha Libre Online tonight to talk about it.

Kriminal Lucha Libre announced they’re going to run a women’s version of their Prohibido tournament. It’s will be sixteen women with judges deciding who moves on. They’ll be banned from headscissors, knee strikes, Alas del Infierno and dropkicks in the corner. No date has been announced.

WrestlingInc. retracted their story about Andrade getting creative control in AEW. They do still say Andrade asked for it, but did not receive it in his deal – no wrestler in AEW has creative control, president Tony Khan still has finals say.x

Former Arcano and maybe AAA Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush has said he’s retiring. This is his second retirement in the last couple of years and he’s still got some NJPW dates he’s got to work before he’ll retire. Rush suffered a shoulder injury in his AEW appearance which led to this decision; as with everything else, it might change once he’s not in pain. Hope it works out for him either way.

Jack Evans, in a passionate thread explaining why wrestling now is safer than in Lance Storm’s day, explained “hits” (purposefully hurting someone in a ring to send a message) were things done by Storm’s generation and not by anyone anymore “except in Mexico.”

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.