Month: July 2021

Tonight’s lineup

CMLL (FRI) 07/30/2021 Arena México
1) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Dark Magic, El Coyote, Okumura
2) La Jarochita & Lluvia © vs Amapola & Dark Silueta [MEX WOMEN TAG]
third defense
3) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Negro Casas vs Blue Panther, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Vangellys & Volador Jr. vs Euforia & Forastero [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Templario vs Titán [Leyenda de Plata, final]

Today’s show will air for live and free on game streaming service booyah.live, a competitor to Twitch. They’ll be specifically streaming on Booyah’s LATAM channel, https://booyah.live/booyahlatam. The show starts at the normal 8:30 pm CT time and can be viewed on PC and mobile; there’s an app too. You don’t need a login to watch, though you will need one if you want to chat. (A Google login works fine.) They haven’t said anything about VOD; the channel normally offers that, but it’s not confirmed.

Booyah is owned by mobile company Garena. Garena launched Contra Returns this past week and this show is airing for free as an advertisement for that show. I’m guessing we’ll get ads in between the matches, not sure about anything else. This is probably a one-off, and CMLL’s will only be on Booyah as part of this tie up.

If you bought the Ticketmaster Live package for July, you now get the August 28th show instead of this show. That’s not a fair deal for a variety of reasons. It’s also a lucha libre PPV and anyone still buying CMLL shows must know it’s going to go wrong at some point. (This is also a reason why few people buy the things.) Ticketmaster sent out an email Thursday about the change. I think most people who bought the July show would’ve bought the August one so it won’t matter, but there’s a decent chance of a refund if you pester Ticketmaster about it. Don’t ask CMLL about it, CMLL doesn’t care.

(Weird side note: one of the many fears I have about streaming TripleMania is the Twitch stream getting shut down for one reason or another mid-show. I could switch to YouTube but that seems even less safe. Finding about another random gaming site that I can broadcast to is helpful. If have to make an emergency switch to air TripleMania on Booyah, we’ll all have CMLL to thank.)

It doesn’t really matter who wins these tournaments. The Panther Brothers winning Copa Dinastia and going back to doing nothing, in particular, was the latest example of it. Titan is the bigger star, Templario might be getting more main events in Euforia’s spot, either would be fine selections. It’s really about the quality of the match more than the outcome if this is going to be remembered. These two guys are capable of having as a good match as anyone in the promotion, they just need to make it happen.

It is funny that Templario and Titan both bring up Hijo del Perro Aguayo’s Leyenda de Plata win as a past tournament memory. That was one where Perrito won the plaque then broke it because he felt his father was the bigger star than El Santo. It’s not the most positive moment for the concept of the tournament, though it was very memorable in a a really hot period in CMLL.

La Jarochita & Lluvia defend the national women’s tag team titles against Amapola & Dark Silueta. A title change is unlikely, last week’s match was fine but long. Atlantis, Atlantis Jr. and Negro Casas face Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero and Blue Pather in something that feels like a setup for a story, though it just might be getting bigger names on an important show. Vangellys & Volador versus Forastero & Euforia still feels like something fell apart. Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso and Stigma against Dark Magic, Okumura and Coyote is an argument for tuning in late.

The Sunday lineup didn’t come out until Thursday night, which is late even by current CMLL standards

CMLL (SUN) 08/01/2021 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Sangre Imperial vs Cholo & Inquisidor
2) Robin & Starman vs Sagrado & Universo 2000 Jr.
3) Flyer, Kráneo, Volcano vs Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora
4) Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Virus
5) Felino, Negro Casas, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Cuatrero, Sansón [Relevos Increíbles]

CMLL seemed to return to empty arena tapings Thursday. Both things are concerning.CMLL announced the August tournament will be return of the CMLL Universal de Amazonas tournament. This tournament was created in August 2019 (Dalys defeating La Metalica) and was meant to be held every year; the pandemic put a stop to that in 2020. CMLL’s will have ciberneticos on August 6 and August 13th, the winners face off on August 20th and Dalys defends against that winner on August 27th.

That final will be the main event on the show, the first women’s main event in Arena Mexico since a cage match in 2012. They also did a singles Marcela/Tiffany hair match main event earlier that year, straight up against TripleMania. I’m uncertain if there’s ever been a women’s title match as a main event in Arena Mexico. The lack of women’s main events in CMLL is more about CMLL (wrestlers/staff) not accepting it than the fans having an issue with it. The best CMLL men’s wrestlers currently get a better reaction and tend to produce better matches than the best women’s wrestlers, but the men aren’t particularly selling a lot of tickets at the moment. The women who get to main event that show should get to feel proud of doing it, it also doesn’t seem like a meaningful bit is if it’s a one off thing.

If you’re a Dalys fan, you get a big Dalys match at the end of August. If you’re not a Dalys fan, you probably don’t see her the other three weeks since CMLL is unlikely to book two women’s matches on a show, so maybe that’s a win too. I’m curious as to who we will see in the tournament. Mystique (retired), Avispa Dorada (back in the US), and La Maligna (believed to have left to have a child but never confirmed) participated in 2019 are not currently around. (Estrellita wasn’t in that tournament.) CMLL hasn’t really added women to take their spots. It may just be smaller ciberneticos but there’s the possibility of some new names to Mexico City.

CMLL said the minis cibernetico will air on MVS TV on August 7th. Those Sunday matches have been airing on AMX Fridays to this point while MVS is still airing empty arena matches. CMLL also seemed to return to empty arena tapings Thursday, which is odd when they’ve got plenty of unaired matches from the three shows they’re already taping. And they’ll soon have a fourth.

Arena Puebla will resume running shows on August 9th. The local government confirmed CMLL has permission this time. No lineup was announced as of this post. On Informa, JCR talked about the types of talent they’d have, making it sound like it’ll be more or less the lineup they announced for July 5th. I can’t say this enough times: CMLL hasn’t said anything about streaming this show and we’re no longer in a world where people should expect CMLL to stream free shows. There’s no guarantee we’ll see this.

AAA

Contrary to what I thought was going to happen, AAA taped another show Thursday in Oaxtepec, Morelos; that covers the week before TripleMania and one or two weeks after. Azteca tends to run one week behind Space (and Lucha Azteca isn’t on Azteca7 this week), but AAA could still run a big angle on Space and put it all over social media if they’d like.

The images linked above show a Rey Escorpion, Taurus, Abismo Negro Jr. versus Psycho Clown, Laredo Kid, and Hijo del Vikingo match taped. That seems like it has to be airing next week, because one of them is going to be bald (or I guess unmasked) by the week after. There’s a second match with what looks like Parkita Negra and Dinastia among other.

Space’s program guide lists Saturday’s show as “Amealco III”, so AAA taped a third week of TV as part of the previous taping. That’s unlike previous tapings but good planning. There’s no preview out yet. It’ll air at the normal 6:30 pm time andI’l try streaming it.

AAA honored Brazo de Plata at the tapings. Psycho Clown wore a special split Brazo de Plata mask for the show.

La Hiedra was back to being in Los Mercenarios and trios champion for at least one taping. AAA’s had her with Las Toxicas recently but her ongoing association with Los Mercenarios was left hazy in normal AAA fashion. It’s possible AAA did a trios change to get it on a set team at the tapings but her Instagram message suggests she’s still champion.

WhatCulture reports Jeff Jarrett was quietly let go from WWE in April. Lucha Libre Online refuted that story, saying Jarrett still works with WWE but has the ability to take some outside work. Jarrett had recently referred to the WWE in the past tense in a recent episode of his podcast, which is why people started digging in to see if he was still a WWE producer. I joked about it on Twitter and do also believe Jarrett will eventually be back working with AAA if he’s free and interested. There’s no natural spot for him, he just has such a strong relationship with all the people in charge of the promotion that they’ll just find create one.

Impact brought Deonna Purrazzo defending the Impact title against Faby Apache at TripleMania on this week’s TV show. it was more acknowledgment than a point of emphasis and the AAA title didn’t come up. Impact seems to have plans Purrazzo and their title past TripleMania, AAA doesn’t seem to have any plans for the Reina de Reinas title, and AAA seems happy with how the Omega bit has gone as far as a champion ho’s not around much, so my guess all along has been Purrazzo leaving Mexico with both belts. Impact bringing up the match at least gives their viewers a chance something might happen. (AEW hasn’t mentioned the Andrade/Omega match, consistent with a policy of not promoting other promotions’ matches.)

Taurus challenges Josh Alexander for the Impact X Division Championship on their Impact+ show this Saturday. That match should be pretty good. They’re playing up Taurus as an AAA wrestler more than they have recently, which may factor in to the AAA logo for the next show.

Other Notes

IWRG (THU) 07/29/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Black Shadow II b Spider Fly 
2) Amazonika & Satania b Bengalee & Kariel 
Kariel replaced Sussy Love
3) Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Aster Boy, Legendario, Noicy Boy 
4) Aster Boy, Chef Benito, Dick Angelo 3G, Lunatik Xtreme, Puma de Oro, Rey Halcón b Caballero de Plata, Hellboy, Kenji, Lunatik Fly, Sol [Copa Higher Power] 
FILL (Black Terry) vs Try Out (Karaoui). Lunatik Xtreme got hurt on a dive early on, so Aster Boy was allowed to replace him. Final was Aster & Puma, Aster winning with a 450 splash to setup a IWRG LIGHT title match.
5) Estrella Divina, Hijo del Fishman, Tyson Maddux b Diva Salvaje, Hijo del Espectro, Jessy Ventura  
Hijo del Alebrije made the save when Espectro betrayed his team. Alebrije announced he was headed to NOAH after the match.

The biggest news from the show was Hijo del Alebrije announcing he was going to Japan for NOAH. No time line was mentioned. IWRG and NOAH are meant to have a connection, through NOAH booker Nosawa, but no IWRG wrestler has gone over to Japan since a February 2020 tour with Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus. It’s been a pandemic/quarantine issue, which doesn’t seem close to being over and makes it surprising Alebrije is going over. He seems to be a good guy to add some color to matches and take a lot of losses.

The Neogocio Traumados group brought up those past tours in their press conference a couple of weeks ago and seemed to cast doubt on if they were still happening, which could be a reason this is happening. It’ll probably also be a thorn to CMLL wrestlers, who haven’t appeared to be invited to Japan individually or even NJPW, to see someone from a lower level promotion getting a tour to another promotion. (It’s also nearly August and, while January is a long way away, it’s not exactly looking great for FantasticaMania 2023 right now given the rising virus issues.)

IWRG (SUN) 08/01/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star & Rey Halcón vs Kenji & Sol
2) Black Dragón & Death Metal vs Ra-Zhata & Shil-Ka
3) Alas de Oro, Alas De Plata, Eragón vs Dick Angelo 3G, Karaoui, Legendario
4) Diosa Quetzal vs Diosa Atenea
5) Aster Boy, Estrella Divina, Hijo del Alebrije vs Galeno del Mal, Tonalli, Toxin
6) El Mesías & Hijo del Espectro vs Hijo De Wagner & Tyson Maddux

Quetzal/Atenea have been feuding the last few weeks. Main event is the battle of the heavyweights under the idea that people pay to see heavyweights.

Robles Patron Promotion has their first Hecho en Mexico show Saturday night in the Payne Arena, Hidalgo, Texas. You may know this sho was the Alberto/Andrade/Carlito main event, or you may know this from the ticket map with all the blue dots. Cinta de Oro and Alberto did a lot of local press on Thursday, from doing radio interviews to an autograph signing at a supermarket. They have to be hoping for a good walkup and they’re putting in work to make it happen. There’s no mention of a streaming component and I’m not sure if it’ll be taped.

Aeroboy will be IWA-MS’s King of the Deathmatches today and tomorrow. Please don’t die Aeroboy.

PWG returns Saturday night in Los Angeles, the promotion’s first show since 2019. It’s a Mystery Vortex show where no matches or names are announced in advance, Bandido is PWG champion and so he seems a safe bet. (PWG tag champions are now NXT’s MSK, so they won’t be there.) PWG seemed to have a half dozen Mexican wrestlers on each show prior to the pandemic and I suspect that’ll continue the same. The Impact show is taped, so it’s possible (and likely) Taurus could be in two places at once. PWG infamously does not stream their shows and it may be a long time before people who are not there see this show. PWG’s has already announced their next show on September 26th.

Bandido & Rey Horus face Brody King & Tony Deppen on next weekend’s ROH TV. That sounds really good. Bandido, Dragon Lee, Jonathan Gresham, Chris Dickinson, Homicide versus the Briscoes, EC3, Flip Gordon, and Josh Woods on their TV August 14th, the champions of the promotion teaming up against an all star group. That’ll be the last TV before the Gordon/Bandido title match. The Bandido/Dragon Lee partnership will be worth watching.

CaraLucha, who have basically been inactive as a promotion since 2017, will return on Mexican Independence Day (September 16th) with Flamita at Arena San Juan. They were a relatively hot indie from 2014 to 2017. MexaWrestling has taken their spot – both in Arena San Juan and in the mindspace – though two groups are said to be unrelated.

In perhaps the least useful update possible, The Crash announced their show with no date will have surprise luchadors.

Vampiro held a press conference to publicize his role in a diabetes awareness campaign. He says he’ll work 12 show that’ll be fundraisers to pay for this campaign. He mentioned Arena Neza & Arena Lopez Mateos with plans for Queretaro and Guadalajara later. I presume there are just normal bookings he’s already taken that he’s going to present as part of this campaign; Vampiro’s been in Mexico looking for opportunities of late.

La Opinion wrote about the art exhibition at Fenix & Penta’s Republic of Lucha store.

The Lucha Memes/Global Syndicate Wrestling combined show in New Jersey will take place on February 19th, 2022. In Mexican wrestling, where shows are rarely announced more than a month ahead and sometimes as late as a day before, announcing a show six months ahead of time seems unearthly. Maybe it’s necessary for coordinating things.

Segunda Caida looks back at some Brazo de Plata matches.

Brazo de Plata

Brazo de Plata’s children held a brief press conference at his wake. Psycho Clown said Super Porky had passed away from a heart attack. Brazo de Plata had heart issues during his wrestling career, it’s been unclear how many heart attacks he’s had (compared to other issues or just angles.) Psycho Clown said the fatal heart attack was Brazo de Plata’s third one. The previous two happened at Arena Coliseo, one when Psycho was 8 years old (which would mean around 1994) and at the show, the other “three or four years later” at the same building. Brazo de Plata had been feeling ill recently, checked into the hospital, and had asked to be released after feeling better. Super Porky appeared with his sons on the July 15th Arena Aficion show and twice said it’d be the last time he’d be here, including telling the fans to support his sons after he’s gone. Daughter Muneca de Plata said Brazo de Plata had been saying goodbye to many friends and told her he was going to die soon and he’d cry a lot. His children all tried to talk him out of that depressive mindset and now see it as Brazo de Plata knowing he was leaving soon.

The news of Brazo de Plata’s passing broke during Mas Lucha’s En+Carados show; the last 90 minutes of the show are dedicated to showing historical clips about him.

SuperLuchas has a detailed Brazo de Plata obituary.

Box y Lucha reposted an interview with Brazo de Plata from a couple of years back. He mentions Paco Alonso continuing to support him after he no longer wrestled for CMLL and that he was spending his retirement working on his reading and writing.

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 07/27/2021 Arena México [CMLL, CMLL, De Luchas TV, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores]
1) Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia b Acero & Aéreo  
2) Diamond & Sonic b Espanto Jr. & Nitro  
3) Dalys, La Comandante, Stephanie Vaquer b La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Princesa Sugehit  
Brazo de Plata was remembered with applause before the match. Dalys wore a Brazo de Plata mask and shirt to the ring.
4) El Audaz, Esfinge, Fugaz b Cancerbero, Raziel, Rey Bucanero  
5) Ángel de Oro, Mephisto, Terrible b Panterita del Ring, Star Jr., Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]  
Mephisto was dressed in a Brazo de Plata mask and shirt. Rudos took 1/3

Mephisto & ex-Ephesto continue to face off. Audaz is back from injury.

CMLL (TUE) 07/27/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Cosmos, Tigre Blanco ?? Conde, Persa, Relámpago Azul
2) Bello Antuan, El Divino, Guerrero Vikingo b Gran Kenut, Javier Cruz Jr., Paymon
3) Joker, Omega, Vaquero Jr. DDQ Halcón Suriano Jr., Misterioso Jr., Rugido
4) Estrella Blanca Jr. I & Estrella Blanca Jr. II b Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro
5) Flash & Gallo © b Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno [OCCIDENTE TAG]
6) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Niebla Roja, Principe Daniel, Volador Jr.

Back on Sunday, many of the Guadalajara wrestlers wrestled in Arena Queretaro, going to a draw against the locals. Flash & Gallo suggested they’d defend against two of them next. The third match was the first live (not-empty arena) CMLL match for Halcon Suriano Jr. since the pandemic; they’re adding a Laguna/Guadalajara rivalry as well.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will run a special Friday show on August 13th. They’ve run the “Mexican Madness” shows in the past. It’s surprising to see a Friday show back before the Sunday shows have resumed; there’s been no sign of those coming back. The Sunday shows seemed to draw much less than the Tuesday shows (though they also had much less star power on the lineups) and perhaps we’re a long way from seeing those come back. If they come back.

Friday’s Mexico card is up.

CMLL (FRI) 07/30/2021 Arena México
1) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Dark Magic, El Coyote, Okumura
2) La Jarochita & Lluvia © vs Amapola & Dark Silueta [MEX WOMEN TAG]
third defense
3) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Negro Casas vs Blue Panther, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Vangellys & Volador Jr. vs Euforia & Forastero [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Templario vs Titán [Leyenda de Plata, final]

Vangellys & Volador as a semi-main team is so weird. It’s not hard to figure out Vangellys was meant to be in the opener with his two partners and got moved up. Someone decided it would be easier/cheaper to add Coyote to the card instead of another normal top wrestler to replace whoever was supposed to team with Volador (or otherwise been in match 3/4.) It’s not good for a show quality at all but that may not matter. Like the Bandido/Volador show, this show is going to be remembered only if the main event is excellent; hope everyone else gives them time to do so. Vangellys in that semifinal is all the more reason for it to be cut to under ten minutes to pass the time to Templario and Titan.

This is show is supposed to air on Ticketmaster but there’s no way to buy it if you haven’t already got the full month package. There’s no Ticketmaster listing because someone at Ticketmaster moved the entry for July 30th to August 27th seemingly by mistake. It’s supposed to work for people who bought the package, but that link may also now work only for August 27th. I flagged this issue to Ticketmaster and got no response. This seems like something both sides should address before they get lots of angry messages on Friday but it’s unclear if anyone cares about angry messages. The match should air on CMLL Televisa TV the following week and on YouTube August 15th, so we may be able to have a spirited/dumb debate about if CMLL streamed a better match than AAA the weekend of TripleMania.

Arena Puebla got the all-clear to re-open after passing a health inspection, local Puebla government Ana Lucía Hill Mayoral. announced on Monday. The Puebla government official said the building had opted to delay opening immediately, which appeared to be related to the 30% capacity limit at first. That doesn’t seem to be the actual hold up now. Ticketmaster now lists an Arena Puebla show on August 9th, which appears to be the plan at one point. El Sol de Puebla caught up with Arena Puebla logistic manager Emir Ortiz. (Normally, these interviews are with building administrator/ex-luchador Benjamin Mar.) Ortiz says they had hoped to re-open in the first two weeks of August, and now believe it will be mid-August instead. That sounds like August 15th. The delay is blamed on “logistics.”

Arena Puebla will be able to sell tickets to 672 fans, just under 30% of the maximum 2400 capacity. That ticket number leaves room for 42 wrestlers & staff to get to 30%; 24 wrestlers were booked on the canceled show. Arena Puebla seems like it drew around 1,000 fans, though that’s a guess, CMLL doesn’t release attendance totals. There are definitely been shows where it’s seemed like less than 500 fans. Ortiz mentions CMLL had to work out if they could run profitable shows before getting the OK to rerun. The July 5th announced/canceled card had mostly wrestlers coming in from Mexico City which suggests it’s decently profitable. The easiest way to save money would’ve been to go heavier on the local Puebla luchadors.

CMLL Informa has Titan, Templario (Leyenda de Plata), Shocker & Pequeno Violencia (hair), and CMLL women (probably Dark Silueta & Amapola to talk the mixed tag match.) CMLL Informa blew of Dr. Alfonso Morales’ passing and the Brazos have a poor relationship with people in power in CMLL, so I’m not sure if there will be any Brazo de Plata talk on this show.

Other Notes

Sam Adonis is heading to Mexico; he hasn’t been at an AAA since Rey de Reyes. Hugo Savonvich is in Mexico. AAA’s either running another press conference or taping something else to promote TripleMania in the next few days. (I could be a TV taping, but I’m under the impression the next normal AAA TV taping isn’t until after TripleMania.) Maybe we’ll hear something tomorrow.

IWRG’s Thursday lineup, streaming on Mas Lucha.

IWRG (THU) 07/29/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Spider Fly vs Black Shadow II
2) Bengalee & Sussy Love vs Amazonika & Satania
3) Aster Boy, Legendario, Noicy Boy vs Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
4) Chef Beneito, Dick Angelo 3G, Lunatik Xtreme, Puma de Oro, Rey Halcón vs Caballero de Plata, Hellboy, Kenji, Lunatik Fly, Sol [Copa Higher Power]
FILL (Black Terry) vs Try Out (Karaoui)
5) Estrella Divina, Hijo del Fishman, Tyson Maddux vs Diva Salvaje, Hijo del Espectro, Jessy Ventura

Tyson Maddux is a Georgia wrestler of little notoriety and no obvious connection to Mexico, but somehow is working a weekend of shows between IWRG and Lucha Time.

Warrior Wrestling announced Jay White versus Sam Adonis for their 08/21 show. NJPW wrestlers facing AAA wrestlers is a bright red line that NJPW has been unwilling to cross in the past due to their relationship with CMLL. I don’t know if Sam Adonis is actually under AAA contract but that technicality wouldn’t be important to CMLL. They know AAA from what they see (or someone tells them what they saw on TV, no one in CMLL is watching their own show much less AAA) and Sam Adonis looks like a guy working for AAA on AAA TV. I hope this works out for Warrior Wrestling and Sam Adonis and it’ll be news if it happens.

NJPW’s Young Lions Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji are having farewell matches on August 1st. Tsuji has consistently and frequently expressed a wish for his learning excursion to take place in Mexico. NJPW hasn’t confirmed that’s going to happen yet and probably won’t until at least after that match. It’s not a great time to come to Mexico, but it’s better than it was a few months ago and it appears Mexico City lucha libre will be allowed to continue no matter the COVID cases. (He should definitely get his shots before coming to Mexico; I believe all the NJPW staff got one already, but obviously, that’s the most important part of any timing.)

Tsuji is a bigger-sized wrestler than the NJPW guys who usually come to CMLL, but CMLL plainly could just use another body at this point. They seem to have less than usual midcard and up people, so a new face could make an impact (and just be welcome for being a new face.) CMLL hasn’t had a NJPW trainee since the January 2020, when Kawato’s ill-fated trip ended. Raijin & Fujin were the previous NJPW long-term guests, except they seemingly got moved to ROH faster than anyone expected. Both CMLL & NJPW could really use Tsuji working out better. And, if Tsuji talks about going to Mexico for years and doesn’t end up coming to CMLL, it would say a lot more about the state of the CMLL/NJPW relationship than any press release. He really has to wrestle in Arena Mexico at this point.

Hector Pliegro, who portrayed El Santo in photocomics in the 1970s, passed away on Tuesday. He never wrestled as El Santo, just took photos, and the obituary suggests the comic didn’t have Santo’s approval, but they were marketed under the El Santo name.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Box Y Lucha 3482 has Cavernario Galindo on the cover.

Brazo de Plata, also known as Super Porky (José Luis Alvarado Nieves, 58) passed away Monday. Brazo de Plata is a former CMLL World Heavyweight Championship and held the most important trios titles of his day, but he’ll be remembered above all for his incredible charisma. He was among the greatest comedy wrestlers of all time, capable of getting sympathy and laughs at the same moment. Porky began his career as a lightweight wrestler, but he’s most famous as an increasingly overweight one, with his large gut making his agile movements even more of a spectacle. Brazo de Plata was the last living member of the famous Los Brazos brothers trio; El Brazo passed in 2013, Brazo de Oro in 2017. His survivors include luchadors Goya Kong, Muneca de Plata, Maximo, and AAA top star Psycho Clown, who wrestled as Brazo de Plata Jr. when he first arrived in AAA.

Brazo de Plata was the second of the Brazo siblings to make his debut. Journeyman luchador Shadito Cruz wrestled and then became a referee; his sons worked jobs at the wrestling show and competed in amateur wrestling. Older brother Brazo de Oro took that name from a movie, his brother played off the name with his own metallic color, and many more siblings would follow suit. Brazo de Plata started his career in 1977, as Promociones Mora/UWA had gained momentum and created many new spots for wrestlers. Brazo de Plata & Brazo de Oro were a regular team by 1979, making occasional Toreo appearances while also becoming regulars at Arena Naucalpan.

El Brazo joined as a trio and created a natural rivalry with the Villano brothers. Those units, as well as the Misionerios del Muerte, were the first regular set trios units in Mexico, and their feud helped popularize the concept. The Villanos & Brazos feuded through the 80s, ending with a legendary (if hard to find) mask match in Monterrey, where the Brazos were all unmasked. Brazo de Plata was already a charismatic luchador, and was able to show even more emotion unmasked. The team stayed popular working in both UWA and EMLL, and sticking with EMLL after the AAA split. They split apart in 1995, and Brazo de Plata stayed popular as a singles comedy wrestler. Super Porky would eventually become known as for losing hair match after hair match, but he started out as successful in those in the 90s. Perhaps they eventually discovered people were going to love Brazo de Plata the same even if he lost the big match, and he was content taking the payoff.

Brazo de Plata spent most of his post-trio career in CMLL, though not all of it. He jumped to AAA in 2006, unhappy about his role and CMLL’s limited plans for his children outside of Maximo. Porky brought along his other son, who had floundered as Kronos in CMLL, and returned him to his Brazo de Plata Jr. gimmick. That didn’t work out all that much better, but it got that wrestler in AAA when they were casting for new clown characters and turned Porky’s son into Psycho Clown. Brazo de Plata’s own time in AAA didn’t seem to go as well as he hoped – AAA was leaning into a more a serious presentation and didn’t always seem to have an idea what to do with Super Porky – but his move changed the promotion’s future.

Super Porky returned to CMLL in 2009, eventually becoming an incredibly useful asset for their increasingly tourist-centric shows. He was no longer the athlete of years past, yet he was a great guy to entertain those who had no idea what was going on with his silly comedy moments. There are few who could get the crowd to react as easily as he could, and even fewer now.

Brazo de Plata’s last few years were unpleasant. Porky had publicized heart issues, to the point of doing fake heart attacks in matches as comedy spots. He broke a leg in 2016, lacked the resources to get it properly fixed, and was told by doctors that he’d first have to lose weight before he could be operated on. He needed a walker and a wheelchair at various points, though he’d been moving better of late. He’d be left poor, blaming it on being swindled in various relationships, and appeared to largely be supported by his children. Video of an argument between Porky and those who he felt owed him money got some attention a couple of weeks ago; it didn’t put either side in a positive light. There had always been stories of a quick temper and personal issues in the past, though those had been overshadowed by his wrestling career. Brazo de Plata remained beloved by wrestling fans at shows until the end, but life was harder for him away from that spotlight.

Brazo de Plata’s last great rival was Rey Escorpion. The two had a memorable hair match in 2013, one which seemed to be set up by the son Maximo avenging his father later on. CMLL never got around to it and Rey Escorpion left the promotion. He eventually ended up in AAA, where he started feuding with another son Psycho Clown. Brazo de Plata will be remembered in the weeks and days ahead, and quite likely in the main event of TripleMania in a few weeks. Brazo de Plata be remembered there and every other lucha libre show for a while to come.

CMLL (FRI) 07/23/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan, W Deportes, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Grako & Magnus b Arkalis & Sangre Imperial   
9:44.
2) Amapola & Dark Silueta b La Jarochita & Lluvia   
15:02. Rudas took 1/3 to set up a tag title match.
3) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Panterita del Ring b Mephisto, Okumura, Raziel   
17:34. Tecnicos took 2/3. Okumura replaced Cancerbero. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja worked as normal tecnicos, with the focus on Panterita/Mephisto as ex-partners.
4) Atlantis Jr., Valiente, Volador Jr. b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón   
13:25. Tecnicos took 1/3, Monito getting the winning splash.
5) Carístico & Virus b Negro Casas, Titán, Rey Cometa, Pólvora, Fugaz, El Felino Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, battle royal]
6) Fugaz b Rey Cometa [Leyenda de Plata, 8f]
2:34.
7) Titán b Felino Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, 8f]
8) Negro Casas b Pólvora [Leyenda de Plata, 8f]
2:25
9) Carístico b Virus [Leyenda de Plata, 8f]
0:56
10) Titán b Fugaz [Leyenda de Plata, quarterfinal]
1:59.
11) Carístico b Negro Casas [Leyenda de Plata, quarterfinal]
1:41.
12) Titán b Carístico [Leyenda de Plata, semifinal]  
3:39. Titan moved onto face Templario in next week’s final.

There’s no time management going on in CMLL, so this was a second straight week where the tournament matches – the thing the show was promoted on – were all incredibly rushed to meet the two-hour limit. (They still didn’t come close, going five minutes over.) There’s no reason to have this many matches on a show where they have to get done in a 120 minutes, and there’s no reason for the second and third matches, in particular, to go as long as they did even on a non-limited show. I’d call this embarrassing but I don’t think CMLL management cares about what they’re producing to feel embarrassment. Titan/Templario should be a super match next week, but you should be rooting for it be listed as the semi-main, so they’ll get all the time they need instead of being rushed at the end. This show will go up on YouTube on August 8th but you need not bother – just watch the highlights from the tournament and you’re good.

Mephisto/Panterita would be a great secondary show mask match, maybe even an Homenaje a Dos Leyendas one in a normal world. It’s also been a decade of CMLL teasing a Mephsito mask match with a tecnico and going nowhere, so don’t take it seriously.

CMLL (SUN) 07/25/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports (minis), Kaiser Sports (rest), Mas Lucha]
1) Inquisidor b Leono 
2) Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Nitro b Diamond, Eléctrico, Oro Jr. 
Rudos took 1/3
3) La Guerrera, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit b Amapola, Dalys, Stephanie Vaquer 
Tecnicas took 1/3.
4) Pequeño Violencia L Último Dragóncito, Pierrothito, Shockercito, Pequeño Olímpico, Kaligua, Mercurio, Fantasy, Pequeño Joker, Angelito, Aéreo, Acero [mask, hair, cibernetico] 
Escape by pinfall/submission: Aereo (beat Mercurio), Yoker (Acero), Mercurio (beat Shockercito), Angelito (Kaligula), Ultimo Dragoncito (Pierrothito), Kaligula (Acero), Pierrothito (Shockercito), Acero (Olimpico), Fantasy (Shockercito), Pequeno Olimpico (Violencia), Shockericto (Violencia) leaving Violencia as the loser – he lost his hair.
5) Atlantis TLDRAW Blue Panther 
a 15 minute draw, a rare CMLL main event with a time limit. Atlantis thanked the crowd.

Weak turnout for the hair match. Hopefully Pequeno Violencia didn’t get paid on the house, or it’s one of the softest payments for a CMLL apuesta loss in sometime. CMLL did mention the main event had a time limit but didn’t emphasize it; didn’t seem like people cared it went to a draw. The month of celebrating Atlantis ended at two wins, a loss, and a draw. This’ll air on AMX August 6th.

There’s not much going on Tuesday’s lineup:

CMLL (TUE) 07/27/2021 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Diamond & Sonic vs Espanto Jr. & Nitro
3) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, La Comandante, Stephanie Vaquer
4) El Audaz, Esfinge, Fugaz vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Rey Bucanero
5) Panterita del Ring, Star Jr., Valiente vs Ángel de Oro, Mephisto, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 07/25/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Caballero de Plata & Hellboy b Cyber & Sobredosis 
2) Satania & Therius DQ Bengalee & Karisma (Laguna) 
DQ for ref attack
3) Hijo del Pantera & Pantera Jr. b Iron Kid & Noisy Boy 
4) Alas de Oro, Alas De Plata, Freelance b Karaoui, Ra-Zhata, Shil-Ka 
5) Asterboy & Puma de Oro b Fly Warrior & Villano III Jr. 
V3 unmasked and pinned
6) Diosa Atenea, Hijo Del Vikingo, Tonalli b Diosa Quetzal, El Bandido, Hijo del Alebrije 
Team Tonalli cheated to win, pushing Tonalli/Alebrije and Atenea/Quetzal feuds

I had this on while working on other projects and it was not a great show to have on. The main event was good at what it was intending to be – a spotlight for the regular guys taking advantage of the star power of the guest – rather than the Vikingo/Bandido showcase it could’ve been. They built all match to those guys facing off and they did, but it was a minute or so of fighting and getting out of the way for the screwy finish. Vikingo and Bandido were announced for a 08/06 show in Arena Neza and maybe that’ll be more the direct outing.

IWRG announced they were switching from 60% to 40% capacity because Mexico State had slipped back in to orange color. There’s no clear reason why it’s 40% and not 30% as it had been previously in orange, nor any great belief IWRG is keeping to those numbers. Elsewhere in Mexico State, a show in Toluca was shut down because no public events are supposed to happen in orange. Mexico State continues to leave it up to the individual cities and municipalities to make the rules. Naucalpan has been permissive for IWRG under green, yellow, and orange letting them run regardless. I’m not sure what will happen if the state goes all the way to red again.

Last night’s show may have been kept to 40%, or may have just not drawn well. Bandido & Vikingo seem like they should’ve been a bigger deal, but IWRG also didn’t promote them as appearing until two days prior to the show. I’m also wondering if the ticket-buying public is going to be more cautious than the government or the promoters at this point. Promotions can put on these shows but if fans don’t feel safe going, it doesn’t really matter what’s on the show. IWRG and CMLL have increased the visibility of their cleaning procedures and emphasized facemask wearing, but it’s tough to fight with a map that’s turning a dark shade.

Other News

Fenix & Penta appear on AEW’s Dark Elevation YouTube show tonight facing Dark Order’s 5 & 10.  This is Fenix’s first match since April 21st. The show starts on YouTube at 6 pm CT, that match is the main event, so it may not be up until 7 or so. Fans at the taping say it was among the best matches on the show.

This is not important but it’s bugging me. Many AAA TV recent episodes have included either Puma King & DMT Azul or those two doing a promo or Sam Adonis sending in a video promo. All talk about how they’re going destroy everyone and lead us to believe they’re the La Empresa team at TripleMania. AAA will then immediately cut to a graphic of Chessman, Pagano and Murder Clown versus Puma King and two mystery people. The promos seem to make it clear the two mystery people are Adonis & DMT Azul, but then the graphic has never been updated. Is it supposed to still be a mystery? Can AAA just not bother to update the graphics for TripleMania on their own show? I generally struggle to believe people in either AAA or CMLL watch their TV shows because this is very weird for a viewer but very normal for a Mexican wrestling show.

In a greater sense, TripleMania is now less than three weeks away: this seems like a good time to start announcing the many mystery people on TripleMania daily to get people thinking about the show. Federacion did that with their Copa Federacion, and maybe AAA will do the same. Hugo is in Mexico, so maybe something’s happening along those lines (or maybe it’s for Alberto’s group.)

The Hecho en Mexico show, which has added both Orlando Colon and Ray Gonzalez this past week, has sold 68 additional tickets in that time. Lucha libre crowds historically buy the day of the show and, and they can also give away tickets if the priority is to look good ahead of making money. There probably should be some self-reflection on what is not working (it’s not 2013 and Alberto is not over to the ticket-buying audience) but that’s the least likely outcome. The Monday before the show was the day where the Federacion show got the plug pulled on it; Robles Patron continues to promote this show and it is on.

Arena Jalisco, closed this week due to breaking COVID rules, says they hope to re-open next Sunday. (Mas Lucha pointed this out.)

The CMLL produced Nuestra Lucha Libre documentary will disappear from Netflix (US) on August 15th.

Vampiro is now part of a diabetes awareness health campaign.

El Diario de Xalapa has a profile of many local luchadors, from a 15 year old girl to a 65 year old man.

NVI Noticias talks to the 2013 version of Mascarita Sagrada.

Milenio interviews Baja California luchadora La Baronessa.

An interview with Baja California Sur luchador Ninja (ex-Steel) Dragon.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

CMLL has block two of the Leyenda de Plata tonight. It’s another $5 TicketMaster Live show. Many matches from the show will go up on YouTube in just over two weeks.

CMLL (FRI) 07/23/2021 Arena México
1) Arkalis & Sangre Imperial vs Grako & Magnus
2) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Amapola & Dark Silueta
3) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Panterita del Ring vs Cancerbero, Mephisto, Raziel
4) Atlantis Jr., Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
5) Carístico vs Negro Casas, Titán, Virus, Rey Cometa, Pólvora, Fugaz, El Felino Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, semifinal]

Not much beyond the tournament. The third and fourth matches could be watchable if people try, but that can’t be presumed. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja have been booked back as normal tecnicos in Guadalajara and here, no idea yet if it’s a switch out of Los Ingobernables or just randomness. Probably just randomness.

As part of his virtual media interview this week, Caristico said Hijo del Santo would be thrilled for his protege to win the Leyenda de Plata. I believe Caristico believes this and I believe Hijo del Santo is still too annoyed about CMLL using El Santo’s name without his permission to care who wins it.

Sunday’s lineup

CMLL (SUN) 07/25/2021 Arena México
1) Leono vs Inquisidor
2) Diamond, Eléctrico, Oro Jr. vs Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Nitro
3) La Guerrera, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Stephanie Vaquer
4) Último Dragóncito vs Pierrothito, Shockercito, Pequeño Olímpico, Kaligua, Mercurio, Pequeño Violencia, Fantasy, Pequeño Joker, Angelito, Aéreo, Acero [mask, hair, cibernetico]
5) Atlantis vs Blue Panther

The main event ends the July of Atlantis. An interview with Blue Panther revealed they’ll have a 15 minute time limit, which is probably a great idea for an Atlantis singles match. It might catch people off guard if it’s a draw though.

Pequeno Joker from Puebla gets the last minis spot. CMLL hasn’t introduced him (and has him listed as “Yoker”), so that’s just my best guess at the identity. He hasn’t wrestled much since the start of the pandemic. A more cynical promotion would bring in an unknown guy to an apuesta match just to have him lose, but I don’t believe that’s is what is happening here. Violencia, Mercurio or Aereo getting a haircut is more likely.

Caristico & Mistico retained the CMLL Tag Team Championships over (locals) Gemelo Diablos in Matamoros on Thursday.

AAA

Azteca is broadcasting the Olympics in Mexico, which means it’s taking over the main stations. AAA’s aired has its last episode on Azteca7 until TripleMania; they’ll be airing on nominal news station ADN40 Saturdays at 8:30 pm for the next three weeks. If you’re someone who’s obsessively watching/recording all the AAA action, that’s a better time slot than the “Sunday 1 AM ish” they’ve been on, though my sense is ADN40 is a much less watched network. This doesn’t affect the Space airing; if you’re watching it on Twitch, there’s nothing going to change. We don’t have hard numbers for the viewership of the weekly shows, though past TripleManias have been viewed about three times as much on (over the air) Azteca than (cable) Space, so that may be a big chunk of AAA’s viewership who won’t be able to find AAA the next few weeks. On the other hand, the show was airing at 1 AM so maybe not exactly a lot of people were seeing it, AAA’s not really doing much on TV to hype TripleMania and Azteca hyping it during the Olympics would help a lot.

Saturday’s AAA on Space show (6:30 pm) should be the second part of the Amealco taping. AAA hasn’t announced matches yet; they didn’t last week either. The Villano 3 Jr./Lady Maravilla vs Chik Tormenta/Arez mixed tag title match was to be taped on that show, so maybe that’ll air. That looks to be the last normal TV show before TripleMania. AAA is out of completely fresh tapings, but they’ve taped extra matches at every taping they’ve done before and will likely patch them into two weeks of TV. (These are the matches that have aired on Azteca but not on Space.)

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says Laredo Kid is headed back to Impact “and expected to get a push.” It won’t be too soon, Impact’s already taped the next month of TV. Maybe take the push part with a grain of salt in a world where Black Taurus has been spending most of his recent time as a second, but Laredo to Impact makes sense. Laredo Kid’s never had many big moments with Impact but he’s been in and out of there a lot, showing up at random occasions between 2017 and 2019. He probably would’ve been back earlier if the pandemic hadn’t ended Impact’s shows in Mexico City, and Laredo’s got a bigger higher profile from his AEW guest appearances.  He’s the simplest way of fulfilling the AAA logo tease for the next PPV. Impact could run an AAA cruiserweight title match, though no telling if AAA would acknowledge a title change this time either.

Psycho Clown was to wrestle Brandon Kirk last Saturday night in New Jersey. There were a few drizzles as they talked before the match, and then it just poured. The match is quite the visual.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 07/22/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Bengalee & Karisma (Laguna) b Amazonika & Satania 
2) Hip Hop Man & Kaoma Jr. b Pibe Argentno & Silver (Tamaulipas) 
3) Caballero de Plata, Hellboy, Kenji, Lunatik Fly, Sol b Chef Benito, Dick Angelo 3G, Lunatik Xtreme, Puma de Oro, Rey Halcón [Copa Higher Power] 
4) Asterboy b Noicy Boy 
5) Dr. Cerebro b Tonalli, Toxin 
Dr. Cerbero challenged Toxin to an IWRG Mexico title match.

Semimain was set better than expected

Sunday’s card has a notable main event.

IWRG (SUN) 07/25/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Caballero de Plata & Hellboy vs Cyber & Sobredosis
2) Bengalee & Karisma (Laguna) vs Satania & Therius
3) Hijo del Pantera & Pantera Jr. vs Iron Kid & Noisy Boy
4) Alas de Oro, Alas De Plata, Freelance vs Karaoui, Ra-Zhata, Shil-Ka
5) Asterboy & Puma de Oro vs Fly Warrior & Villano III Jr.
6) Diosa Quetzal, El Bandido, Hijo del Alebrije vs Diosa Atenea, Hijo Del Vikingo, Tonalli

I’m not sure people in Mexico understand how Vikingo is one of the more popular Mexican wrestlers outside of Mexico right now. Pairing him with Bandido in a main event is a big deal; they could’ve put this behind the paywall and this would’ve drawn some curiosity subscriptions. Glad to get it for free. Not as sure about putting the inconsistent women in with them.

The semimain has a chance to be something as well.

Other News

The health color codes officially mean nothing in Mexico City, according to the Mexico City government. The combination of cases, hospitalization and deaths mean Ciudad de Mexico is now is back in the orange health code, but the head of government has said there will be no changes in policy as a result. No business shutdowns and no capacity limits beyond what is already in force. Mexico City will instead start offering vaccinations for everyone over the age of 18 next week, speeding up that policy. TripleMania looks safe just because no one’s interested in doing anything that might hurt the economy, though they may not be thrilled with the capacity.

Jose Contreras Massa (ex-wrestler, current promoter, member of the Mexico City lucha libre commission) announced he was bringing back the Sindicato National de Luchadors at a press conference Thursday. He will be the head of it for the next six years. It’s what was generally thought of as the old luchador union. The union was a powerful group of luchadors going back to the 60s. It fell apart in the early 90s, a combination of internal mismanagement (and alleged crimes), the creation of AAA (with its own company union), and the collapse of the UWA fracturing the group. Contreras was joined by a group of old and retired luchadors; it was noticeable there was no one under 50 on the panel. (It was also all men, though there were luchadoras in the crowd watching.) There are other unions; CMLL has an in-house one that may privately help but makes no public noise. Octagon has started his own union, though it never seems to have caught on.

The idea of the luchador’s union is to pool monthly dues and other resources to take care of each other when encountering health issues. Contreras had already secured some donations to this end. It’s not clear how this will work beyond that. As Grafico’s story on the press conference notes, there’s going to be a struggle getting young people aboard. The older wrestlers are bringing this concept back because they or their friends could use the support of the younger wrestlers, but they’re not offering the younger wrestlers anything in exchange. I think this is going to be yet another announcement which is rarely mentioned again. The only path to success I can is the Mexico City commission – who was heavily present at the press conference – pushing licensed wrestlers to also join this union. Even that seems to be a long shot, since the commission hasn’t been too successful in influencing luchadors to do or not do things during the pandemic. There is potential in a union, but it’s got to be led and run by guys thirty and forty years younger than those involved and these older wrestlers would have to take a big step back. Neither seems likely.

lucha libre ROH matches for their Philadelphia shows, which are streaming on HonorClub service for $10/month

08/20

• Bandido (c) vs Flip Gordon for the Ring of Honor Championship
• Violence Unlimited (Brody King, Tony Deppen, Chris Dickinson, Homicide) versus La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush, Dragon Lee, Kenny King, Bestia del RIng)

08/21

• Bandido & Rey Horus vs Rush & Dragon Lee
• Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs Flip Gordon & Demonic Flamita

Ricky Marvin is fronting new promotion “La Cuerna de Dragon”, which has its first show on 07/31 at Gym Mictklan. He’ll face Bandido in the main event. In a press conference hyping the show, Marvin said the promotion will add absolutely nothing new. He feels everything has been done, he just wants to do it better and take it a bit more seriously.

GCW announced Juventud Guerrera & Super Crazy for their 09/03 and 04 shows in the Chicago area. This is what happens when the younger luchadors start to get signed.

LuchaWorld has the latest LuchaWorld Podcast.

SuperLuchas has a great obit for 70s/80s luchador Memo Arenas, who passed away Thursday.

Chiapas luchador Diamantina was apparently knocked out in a match last Friday. The description sounds like it was a concerning scene and a relief that he was diagnosed with only slight damage to his fifth vertebrae. He’ll be out at least a month.

Infobae tracked down the television news story announcing El Santo’s death.