AAA Mega Champ non-change, Heavyweight Title press conferences, CMLL results

Shifting AAA Mega Championship Plans

The Wrestling Observer reported the AAA Mega Championship almost changed hands last Saturday after all. To recap the story so far: Andrade was initially going to win when this match was announced in May, then AEW asked to hold off the title change sometime later and AAA agreed, After WWE released Ric Flair and he decided to appear at TripleMania, Kenny Omega believed it would be a great story for Andrade to win the belt with Flair in his corner and suggested doing the title change. AEW’s Tony Khan agreed and signed off on it but Dorian Roldan decided to stick with the plan of Omega retaining.

There’s another way to boil this down

• in May, AAA wanted Andrade to be champion going into their next big show
• by August, AAA was no longer interested in Andrade being champion on their next big show

It may not solely be an Andrade story – maybe Roldan came around to the idea that it was better for an AAA guy to be the one to dethrone Omega, maybe Roldan already changed plans once and didn’t want to do it again on short notice – but it does feel like it says a lot about his last few months. This was a decision made before the match, so whatever you think of how that went, it was what’s happened or hasn’t happened over the last few months that factored into that decision.

DMT Azul still wants to be a National Heavyweight Championship

Against all odds, we are still talking about the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship. Two overarching points:

• CMLL (Fantasma) stripping DMT Azul of the championship is more attention for the title than it has had at any time in its most recent CMLL run
• Media in Mexico is exclusively focusing on this heavyweight title situation and not at all talking about the AAA story because media in Mexico can’t talk about matches being predetermined. (The only thing being talked about less in Mexico is me streaming TripleMania.)

DMT Azul and his lawyer held a press conference on Monday to refute the points Fantasma made in stripping him of the title. They’re largely the same points I made here previously. There are plenty of people who haven’t defended a title in 90 days (Azul pointing out every champion should’ve been stripped during the pandemic and that pandemic is still going) and he’s still Diamante Azul on his license son changing his name thing doesn’t make sense. One difference is Diamante Azul says he did not defend his heavyweight title in Oaxaca – they used a local title instead. Cibernetico, Mr. Electro. and LA Park all zoomed into the press conference to complain about not being included in the tournament for the vacant heavyweight title, complaining that the commission made it CMLL-only. LA Park also later joked he was there to get a good gossip. This was followed by Mas+Lucha’s usual Monday video show, where they tore apart Fantasma and the lucha libre’s commission for about fifty minutes.

Fuerza Guerrera, Dos Caras, and Canek have all filmed supportive statements for Fantasma’s decision to strip the championship, prompted by the commission. In usual Old Man Luchador form, they really have no idea about the actual issues and end up talking much more about what a big deal it was when they won a national title. Dos Caras talks about winning the National Light Heavyweight title from Dr. Wagner. Dos does not mention he was able to win the title because Wagner quit EMLL while still the champion, came over to Mora/UWA. and defended it there and the commission approving of that essentially codified the system we have today.

The end of this is probably still CMLL keeping the national heavyweight title and Diamante Azul defending another belt. It does seem like Fantasma is concerned about the negative reaction; the commission wouldn’t be nudging his friends to speak out on his behalf if they weren’t worried about something.

CMLL Results/Lineups

CMLL (MON) 08/16/2021 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla]
1) El Malayo & Siky Ozama b Asturiano & King Jaguar
Asturiano replaced King Jaguar.
2) Akuma & Espanto Jr. b Arkalis & Pegasso
3) Reyna Isis & Stephanie Vaquer b La Jarochita & Princesa Sugehit
Vaquer beat Sugehit (replacing Lluvia) setting up a title match for next week, but Vaquer was subsquently reported injured.
4) Stigma, Titán, Valiente b Felino, Hechicero, Perverso
Perverso replaced Felino Jr.
5) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas DQ Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr.
Gran Guerrero tossed his mask to Volador for the DQ. Euforia & Negro Casas replaced Templario & Ultimo Guerrero

So many subs. Only one of the advertised matches happened as scheduled, which may have changed the plans in both the women’s match and the main event. It didn’t seem like they were headed to Gran Guerrero/Volador last week.

El Sol de Puebla covered the show. CMLL did not. Not sure if it’ll make the newspaper every week but I’ll try to mention when it does. No mention of Stephanie Vaquer’s injury here; they did challenges post-match like normal so it may have not been immediately obvious she was going to miss time.

CMLL (TUE) 08/17/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo]
1) Apocalipsis & Cholo b Leono & Retro 
2) Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Magnus b Diamond, Oro Jr., Robin 
Rudos took 1/3. Hijo del Signo replaced Nitro.
3) El Audaz, Pegasso, Stigma b Dark Magic, Okumura, Vangellys 
Vangellys suffered a leg injury in the first fall, tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Blue Panther Jr., Cachorro Lagunero, Luciferno b Kráneo, Pólvora, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles] 
Team Panther took 2/3. Cachorro replaced Dark Panther (moved up) and surprised Stuka with a roll up when he was arguing with Olimpico. Stuka wanted a rematch.
5) Carístico, Dark Panther, Místico b Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Terrible 
Tecnicos took 2/3. Dark Panther replaced Titan.

That’s two shows in a row where CMLL could not deliver the main event they advertised. This one seems to be known in advance. Titan filling in on Friday probably meant he was supposed to be off this show, only CMLL didn’t advertise the change. Likewise, Nitro was advertised for the (canceled) Arena Queretaro show, so he probably wasn’t ever going to work here.

CMLL hasn’t advertised it yet, but they’re back on TicketMaster Live this week. It’s the 100 pesos/$5 USD price point. This will probably not be the most talked-about show on Friday.

CMLL Informa will have Euforia, Audaz, Los Gemelos Diablos, Dark Panther, Dark Silueta and Reina Isis today. They’re each there to talk about a different match for the Aniversario show, which will probably be the pattern for the next few weeks.

CMLL (TUE) 08/17/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Fuego en el Ring]
1) Cosmo, Raven, Último Ángel b Conde, Destello, Destructor
2) Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Avispón Negro Jr., Capitán Cobra, Cuca
Avispon Negro Jr. & Cuca replaced Divina & Magico
3) Joker, Omega, Vaquero b Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro
4) Flash & Gallo b Corsario De Fuego & Guerrero De La Muetre
Fuego en el Ring said the debuting Corsario de Fuego looked bad.
5) Atlantis Jr. & Crixus b Hijo del Villano III & Zandokan Jr.
6) Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black © DQ Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel [OCCIDENTE TRIOS]
first defense. Team Cavernario unmasked the tecnicos for the DQ

A DQ in a main event title match is not great. Guadalajara actually streamed this show live (in one two parts.) It’s a little rougher than their normal airings but it’s free lucha libre.

Other Notes

IWRG (THU) 08/19/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Limbo vs Fussion
2) Caballero de Plata, Hellboy, Lunatik Fly vs Hijo De Payaso Purasanta, Manchas, Payaso Purasanta Jr.
3) Black Dragón & Death Metal vs Mafioso & Medico Brujo
4) Aster Boy, Legendario, Toxin vs Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli [super libre]
5) Abismo Negro Jr. vs Hijo del Alebrije [IWRG JUNIORS]

Abismo and Alebrije have been feuding since Alebrije returned from COVID. That feud seemed to be based on Eterno being mean to Alebrije (and everyone) during the IWRG Tryout series, but Eterno is not a Junior, so we’re supposed to know and not know he’s Abismo Negro Jr. at the same time. Don’t overthink it, it’s IWRG.

Big Lucha (SAT) 08/28/2021 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Taro & Usumaki vs Destello & Limbo
2) Tirano vs Foreno, Éxtasis
3) Cometa Maya vs El Bendito
4) Flamita vs Gravity
5) Ciclón Ramírez Jr. vs Elemental
6) Skayde vs Mil Almas [bull terrier]
7) Komander vs Emperador Azteca

The second show for the promotion is a bit more scaled-down than the first. These matches seem a bit strange: there was a video of a “random” draw to set it up. Bandido was given an American flag at the end of the video as a teaser for a future show. He appears to be not wrestling in Mexico for the moment to heal but is still fully expected to wrestle this weekend for ROH TripleMania.

There was a strange moment on the TripleMania broadcast after Copa TripleMania, when NGD and Poder del Norte were in a skirmish on the stage after the angle had seemingly ended. AAA cut to it briefly before going on. A fan posted a YouTube posted a clip of them, seemingly before it made it back on screen, where it looks like Cuatrero and Mocho Cota Jr. are fighting for real. I lean towards it being one or both guys trying to keep up appearances as they went backstage and it getting out of control rather than any real issues. It has gotten some attention; a MedioTiempo article wonders if they’ll be punished, and that seems unlikely. They’ll probably be facing off soon:

AAA (FRI) 09/03/2021 Palenque de la Feria, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
1) Aramis & Mr. Iguana vs Dave The Clown & Parka Negra
2) Faby Apache & Lady Maravilla vs Big Mami & Keyra and La Hiedra & Lady Shani
3) Dark Finder & Discovery © vs Gallo Boy Z & Trihan [AAA AGS TAG]
4) Hijo Del Vikingo & Myzteziz vs Puma King & Taurus and Argenis & Látigo
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
6) Psycho Clown vs Rey Escorpión

First NGD appearance on a spot show, right to the Poder del Norte matches. That should play out like the OGT/Poder del Norte feud. Note Keyra is back in the segunda, so pencil her in for returning to AAA TV soon.

Laredo Kid & Black Taurus appeared at the Impact tapings from Sunday to Tuesday, which should start airing this week. ImpactAsylum has the full results, which appears to cover about a month of TV and two Impact+ specials. Laredo Kid wrestles three times, first on the pre-Impact “Before the Impact” show (maybe next week.) Taurus appears to wrestle five times, including on this weekend’s “Emergence” Impact+ show. Impact’s next set of tapings is September 17-19th, and the booking suggests Laredo & Taurus will be back around for that one. There’s a chance Laredo’s facing Josh Alexander on the following October 23rd PPV but that’s not at all locked in; it could happen sooner.

SuperLuchas writes about the new book “Amazonas del Cuadrilátero”, with stories of Mexican women’s wrestling. It doesn’t appear like it’ll immediately be available internationally.

Lucha Libre FMV filed a status update on their court case a week ago. Nothing really important to report; they may have sent the suit to Mexico by now.

El Rey has remerged as a subchannel of the The Roku Channel. Deadline has the quotes, you can watch it right here. El Rey is owned in part by the same money people who own Lucha Underground, so it sticks out that Lucha Underground isn’t mentioned among the shows airing in the new format. I can’t find a program guide to be sure it’s not squirreled away at 3 AM or something.

Also, I got this wrong last week: NGD do own their own names. They filed in 2017, just about the time they started winning titles in Mexico City. Those guys are smart or had some smart people advising them. CMLL also filed trademark claims but those have not been approved.

Alberto el Patron explained to Milenio that he and Fernando Robles had a humble plan of just running a one-off show but the demand for it was just so overwhelming that they decided to start a promotion. They had announced a run of shows before that first show was even close to happening, it’s an obvious lie that Milenio is not interested in investigating.

Arez returns to GCW for their 09/17 show in Los Angeles.

Mr. Iguana got interviewed by hometown media Debate.com.mx about his TripleMania victory. His winning strategy was to let everyone fight with their rivals and feed off the fans.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and this week’s Poster-Mania.

A visit to Mexico City’s Depreador’s food stand.