Titan advances in Leyenda de Plata, Pequeno Violencia loses his hair, Vikingo/Bandido in IWRG

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.