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.
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.