CMLL starts their CMLL Universal de Amazonas tournament tonight
CMLL (FRI) 08/20/2021 Arena México
1) Guerrero Maya Jr. & Volcano vs Sagrado & Universo 2000 Jr.
2) Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa, Star Jr. vs Mephisto, Raziel, Virus
3) Volador Jr. vs Hechicero
4) Marcela vs Dalys, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis, Lluvia, La Jarochita, Amapola, Dark Silueta, La Vaquerita, La Magnifica, Metálica, La Guerrera, La Seductora [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, sf]
Stephanie Vaquer announced, removed from the match on Tuesday due to injury in Puebla
I can’t recall CMLL ever running a tournament with an odd number of people. Tiffany & La Comandante are noticeably not booked. Maybe they’re not available to come, but CMLL could come up with a 14th woman from Guadalajara or elsewhere if they so choose. I presume this is a cibernetico but that could be a bad guess after last time. This is a “final two advance to next week” situation, so the show will conclude without a real ending. That format makes it hard to guess who’s going to advance. The ultimate winner will likely be one of Marcela, Dalys, or Princesa Sugehit (with Isis & Amapola as darkhorses) but CMLL picks just about anyone to go against them and it’s mean the same. CMLL is treating it like a big honor for this match and next week’s final to be a main event, and that may push them towards featuring the big stars rather than including an unlikely name.
Volador Jr. versus Hechicero seems to have some interest in it, a first-time Volador match for a guy who has the most singles matches in the promotion. That’s the match that made it no doubt for me to buy this show, I want to see how that one goes. The rest of the card is fine by 2021 CMLL standards.
The show is streaming for at 99 pesos via Ticketmaster Live. It should turn up on YouTube on September 5th.
Sunday’s lineup
CMLL (SUN) 08/22/2021 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Fantasy & Kaligua
2) Arkalis, Eléctrico, Sangre Imperial vs El Coyote, Hijo del Signo, Nitro
3) Cachorro, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring vs El Audaz, Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr.
4) Atlantis Jr., Fugaz, Panterita del Ring vs Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero, Virus
5) Felino, Raziel, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Cavernario, Gran Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
Raizel is never in the main events outside of a cage match or a late sub. He was long underutilized for CMLL but he’s also 48 and hadn’t been pushed before the last year. I presume CMLL just had to replace someone and put Raziel in instead of moving up someone else up but putting a guy the fans identify as “a prelim guy who never got his break” suddenly in main events isn’t a great sign.
Tercera match would be a good lead-in for a CMLL Lightweight decision match if CMLL was aware they had a vacant lightweight match. Sunday shows are turning up, though not all match and on a significant delay.
Monday in Puebla
CMLL (MON) 08/23/2021 Arena Puebla
1) El Asturiano & Fénix So vs Guerrero Espacial & Sombra Diabólika
2) Halcón Suriano Jr. & Rey Samuray vs El Coyote & Fuerza Chicana
3) Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr. vs El Perverso, Hijo del Villano III, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Stuka Jr. vs Euforia, Felino, Hechicero
5) Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero
Volador main events Friday and Monday, which happened a bit before the panedmic and points out the lack of depth. They’ve also gone from teasing a women’s tag title match to a women’s singles title match to no women at all.
“Fenix SO” is Fenix of the local Siki Osama family of luchadors. I believe he is making his debut; there was a Fenix wrestling here in the mid 2000s but I think that was a different guy.
CMLL (TUE) 08/24/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Bello Antuan, Signo Azteca vs Gran Kenut, Javier Cruz Jr., Paymon
2) El Divino, Luminoso, Mr. Samurai vs Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
3) Lluvia, Miss Delicious, Sexy Sol vs Náutica, Silueta, Valkiria
4) Flash & Gallo vs Kaoma Jr. & Silver (Tamaulipas)
5) Atlantis Jr. & Gran Guerrero vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Furia Roja [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Atlantis & Último Guerrero vs Rey Bucanero & Satánico [Relevos Increíbles]
Guadalajara remains weird; the Atlantis & Ultimo Guerrero team up in two generations, plus Matamoros guys coming in. This is the most interesting/weird CMLL weekly show and I wish we had a better idea of why this was happening.
CMLL is reopening their Arena Mexico ticket booth. It’ll be available on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday show days as well as Thursday. CMLL tickets had been Ticketmaster only since the start of the pandemic and will still be available via Ticketmaster. JCR used a weird mocking voice when announcing this news on Informa, so I guess they’ve been asked about it a lot (and he seemed aggravated by the repetitiveness of the questions.) CMLL has an older fanbase who probably aren’t keen on figuring out Ticketmaster’s website
Akuma seems excited for the chance he and Espanto Jr. might challenge for the Mexican National Tag Team titles at the Aniversario; they lead in the poll. It’s been a long time for them in CMLL without having a big match and they want to prove they’re capable of more. The Akuma interview also flags something I forgot: Ola Negra was Akuma, Espanto, and Espiritu Negro until Espiritu Negro left to the team to unite with his brother. It’s an obvious story that CMLL hasn’t been interested in but may back into telling.
Stephanie Vaquer suffered a chest injury Monday in Puebla. CMLL posted an x-ray to show the injury and I’m not smart enough to know how to tell she’s hurt, but she’s hurt. She’ll be sidelined for 7-10 days, so it’s not too serious. She’ll miss the Universal tournament but should be back in plenty of time for the Aniversary show, where she barely leads over Reyna Isis & Dark Silueta.
Vangellys will be out 2-3 weeks due to a biceps femoris tendon rupture. That’s also not so bad given how it sounded when it happened Tuesday. This is how I learned people have a bicep in their arm and their leg.
CMLL’s sponsoring another virtual marathon. The last one they did included a free CMLL PPV for the runners. That doesn’t seem to be mentioned this time (and I’m not sure I know of anyone who used it last time.)
CMLL & NFTs
CMLL Informa aired a video promo for Seronuo branded NFTs and Fan Tokens with no further explanation. You can find many people trying to explain what “NFTs” are on the internet in more depth. (Fan Tokens are slightly different, but close enough for this paragraph.) My over-simplifaction is NFTs are an attempt to recreate the concept of buying physical memorabilia digitally by creating an artificially scarce number of them, driving up the price in the process. Memorabilia can be fun and people have found ways to make NFTs more fan-friendly than just buying a shirt or an album. That’s the distinct minority. Most of the people buying NFTs aren’t doing it because they want the digital object themselves. Instead, people have seen a few NFTs get resold for high values and most of the money being spent on the digital items are really bets that those NFTs will be the next hot thing that’ll skyrocket in a short time. NFTs have become in practice lottery tickets with extremely long odds where anyone is allowed to print and charge for new lottery tickets, and so it’s become a massive rush to print as many lottery tickets as possible before the speculator money dries up and moves onto some other get rich quick scam.
CMLL is probably just involved in NFT as content; you need something to link to an NFT and CMLL counts as ‘something’, though not a lot more than something lately. Seronuo made a similar deal with LigaMX prior and CMLL may be doing as little as offering the same sort of profile photos that go up on their website if the trailer is indicative of the plan. There’s almost no chance CMLL fans are going to adopt this in meaningful numbers – if CMLL fans aren’t paying for actual PPVs then why are they going to buy digital photos? – but it’s almost not even about CMLL fans. They’re just another thing for NFT investors to trade and sell. Someone with Seruno will likely be on Informa in the next couple of weeks to try to explain how Fan Tokens and NFT. That’ll be a deeply entertaining discussion given CMLL people seem to believe anything that happened after about 1985 is terrible. That discussion is also the last time it’s brought up beyond the ads airing. This is a scammy business for CMLL to be involved in but other people are doing it and the check will cash. I’m sure AAA will do the same thing if a deal comes along.
The one notable bit is those Fan Tokens – when they’ve been done elsewhere in sports, users have been able to cash in for some very minor interaction with the team. Think something along the lines of 4000 tokens allowing a fan to pick one of the songs playing as the players warm up. CMLL allowing fans to buy a minor bit of control seems unlike them, but the Aniversario show is a fan poll thing this year. Really, it’s most likely I’ve spent more time thinking about this in the last two paragraphs which anyone in CMLL who’s part of it.
I can’t believe we’re still talking about the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship
CMLL announced on Informa that the poll to decide a new National Heavyweight Championship at the Aniversario show will now be a poll for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. It’ll be the leading vote-getter (likely Hechicero) facing Ultimo Guerrero on 09/24 for the belt, instead of the planned four-man tournament for the vacant title. Ultimo Guerrero and Gran Guerrero remain in the poll for the national tag title shot, though the Guerreros are trailing by so much that it’s not going to be an issue.
This announcement was preceded by a Julio Cesar Rivera rant about people on YouTube who know nothing and yellow media. CMLL’s always had a bunker mentality and the recent departures have made those self-righteous feelings harder to hide. JCR insisted the national heavyweight title is and would remain vacant, the decision to make it vacant was approved by Fantasma and CMLL would definitely fill the title down the line. JCR explanation on not defending the title was so the “yellow media” would not have anything more to write about. It’s unclear what CMLL expects to happen when they retry the tournament down the line.
DMT Azul appearing with his lawyer to talk about this situation implied a legal threat, though I haven’t heard anything was actually filed. Switching from the national title to the world title probably helps the show. Everyone may not be happy with Ultimo Guerrero but Ultimo Guerrero in a big singles match is one of the better draws CMLL has at the moment. CMLL seemed to be rushing to fill the national heavyweight title as a way to prove DMT Azul didn’t matter out of spite. They’re now forced into putting on a match people would want to see.
(Cavernario/Hechicero might’ve been the better match, but there’s no guarantee CMLL would’ve booked that and they had control of the final match. Also, Cavernario still seems in a ‘pandemic’ fitness condition, a concerning situation with his big match three weeks.)
It’s very unlikely anyone besides Hechicero gets the match with Ultimo Guerrero; he had over 50% of the vote last time I checked and Hechicero’s long been a guy CMLL fans have been higher on than CMLL programming. Euforia versus Ultimo Gurrrero would be a very interesting match given the apparent out-of-the-ring issues between the two, but it would require a targeted and sustained campaign to get him into the match.
Dralistico
Rush trademarked a name/logo for a wrestler name “Dralistico.” The trademark was filed in June and started circulated as a screenshot last week. Very few people are generally looking for wrestling trademarks, so it was probably Rush or someone keeping a very close eye on him who found it. It’s not something you’re going to stumble upon accidentally.
“Dralistico” seems like a mix of “Dragon Lee” and “Mistico”, which leads people to believe to logically believe it’s Mistico II’s post-CMLL name. You can’t have a post-CMLL name without leaving CMLL, which had led to a week of people on social media wondering if Mistico is leaving soon. The trademark was filed in June, it’s August, so filling the name alone isn’t enough to get Mistico to leave. Mistico has been on the road to leaving CMLL from the moment CMLL cut ties with the rest of his family, with the lack of a visa being his biggest hold up. That’s progressing as well but it’s not done, and I don’t think he’s going elsewhere until it’s done. It’s possible CMLL could cut ties with Mistico before Mistico leaves but that idea did them no favors with NGD and CMLL may at least want to space out the departures. Volador & Titan (or whoever wins the fan poll) probably should win the CMLL World tag team titles from Mistico & Caristico to protect CMLL.
It’s not a big deal to CMLL if CMLL just lets it happen, let’s Mistico walk out as champion. It should be concerned to CMLL that they’re losing talent, but CMLL seems committed to the viewpoint that all luchadors are easily replaceable. If Mistico II leaves as champion, CMLL will hold another tournament (which they enjoy) and stick another person in the Mistico outfit (seemingly Fugaz.) It will pick up steam on the idea that something is very wrong in CMLL but I have no idea if something is close to happening.
In similar news, Drago is looking for US bookings under the name Dios Drago. It appears he’s still working AAA, but getting out of the AAA-owned name for those outside bookings.
Shows of Note This Weekend
It hit me this morning that I think I’m committed to watching six wrestling shows this weekend. That is very dumb! Somehow I’m going to watch CMLL and AAA, though probably neither live. I’m going to AEW Rampage tonight, which may have Penta & Fenix working Dark matches. And there are more lucha libre-related shows you may care about.
Ring of Honor on running Friday & Saturday night. These shows air live on HonorClub and appear as if they won’t air on their TV show. These shows have fans which is still a rarity in ROH.
- Flip Gordon vs Bandido for the ROH World Championship
- VLNCE UNLTD vs La Faccion Ingobernable (4 v 4)
- Brody King was COVID positive last week but ROH confirms he’s recovered and will be on this show.
- Demonic Flamita vs Flip Gordon vs Dak Drapper vs Eli Isom vs Danhuasen vs Mike Bennett
- Rey Hours vs Silas Young
- Bandido & Rey Horus vs Dragon Lee & Rush
- Flip Gordon & Demonic Flamita vs the Briscoes
ROH TV this week also has Demonic Flamita versus Rey Horus no DQ match.
Warrior Wrestling is Saturday at 7 pm CT (and on Fite) with Mr. Iguana versus Aramis in a Warrior Wrestling Lucha Libre championship match. Iguana’s going to get over strong with that crowd. The big news is the Sam Adonis versus Jay White match is still on for the main event; CMLL doesn’t seem to know about all the related shows going on in Mexico and this card hasn’t gotten brought up in Mexico much, so there’s a good chance that CMLL doesn’t know a NJPW guy is facing someone who appeared on TripleMania. I think I’m making it to this show but not totally sure. Sam Adonis, Mr. Iguana, and Aramis are working GALLI the next night in Chicago.
In actual shows in Mexico
- Kriminal’s Prohibido Femenil tournament kicks off on Saturday, though the non-tournament matches (Komander vs Tonalli, Arez & Toxin vs Bendito & Vandalo) look like the draws.
- Saturday Arena Lopez Mateos has Penta, Hijo de Wagner, Hijo del Espectro and Hijo del Fishman in a four way.
- Tijuana’s Evolucion Lucha Libre makes one of its occasional trips to Mexico City on Saturday, with Aerboy vs Tiago vs Jimmy vs X-Torm on top for their title.
- Lucha Memes is Sunday in Coliseo Caoacalco with the Battle of Coacalco, a eight-man tournament. Lee Moriarty is the big outside name and likely to face Ricky Marvin in the final. The show will turn up on IWTV eventually; they’ve made good time on them lately.
- IWRG has something on Sunday! Probably!
No lineup for AAA’s TV yet. My impression is this week’s TV and next week’s TV are shows taped prior to TripleMania. They won’t follow up much in what happened, but that’s the norm for AAA TV this year and it might still be good TV. If I do make it to Warrior Wrestling, I’ll still try stream AAA.
Other News
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions one reason AAA didn’t put the title on Andrade is that Andrade has not agreed to a return date. That seems strange; I wonder if it was more specifically Andrade not agreeing to a return date at the price AAA wanted to pay because Andrade is commanding a big number for his indie work. The WON also says Omega didn’t arrive until 4:30 pm Saturday due to needed a COVID test and flight delays.
On his podcast, Konnan mentioned Dragon Lee was intended to be Taurus’ partner at TripleMania, but had to cancel because his wife was giving birth that weekend. Konnan plans to shift the titles to Vikingo & Laredo at one point; it’s never said why it didn’t happen, only that he thought they did good work in that match. Aerostar was also scheduled for the show but missed it due to illness, with Aramis subbing in for him. Konnan talked about agenting the Copa Triplemenia match, which involved telling the guys that the match was usually disliked every year and coming up with ways to make it better. He feels they did a good job with it this time and was happy with the reaction for Mr. Iguana making it to the end and winning. The segment ended with a tease that another person is following NGD over from CMLL soon. Soberano’s the obvious guess, though his positive remarks about the Lutteroths may make it less likely than it sounds.
Last night’s IWRG results
IWRG (THU) 08/19/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Limbo b Fussion 
2) Hijo De Payaso Purasanta, Manchas, Payaso Purasanta Jr. b Caballero de Plata, Hellboy, Lunatik Fly 
3) Mafioso & Medico Brujo b Black Dragón & Death Metal
Team Lucha Time got the win.
4) Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli DQ Aster Boy, Legendario, Toxin [super libre]
tease of a TLC match for an upcoming Sunday show
5) Hijo del Alebrije © b Abismo Negro Jr. [IWRG JUNIORS]
1st defense
The main event appears to have been an attempt at a technical match in front of a small crowd mostly taking advantage of large discounts on alcohol. It didn’t go well. The semimain sounds like it went a lot better. I’m not sure if “this next Sunday” means 08/22 or 08/29.
A wire story posted in many places – here’s one copy – mentions the Mexico State Secretary of State shutting down three lucha libre shows in violation of COVID protocols. Builder owners could be fined or shut down as a result. I’ve got the three posters but I’m confused as to what actually happened. The Arena Neza show is on the list but that show did happen. One show was scheduled for this weekend. COVID shutdowns in Mexico State have taken place inconsistently through this pandemic. I don’t know what this will mean for other shows, just there’s a slightly elevated chance of random shut downs.
The 08/31 KEGEND Arena Queretaro show is now canceled due to a local ban on large events. Another show earlier this week was canceled prior.
KAOZ & Lucha Time promoters met with the Nuevo Leon secretary of health and agreed to return to no fan shows for the time being. It’s presented as the promoters voluntarily doing a great thing; new Nuevo Leon policies may have pushed them to that end anyway. Neither promotion has been active much; Lucha Time deciding to switch from Mas Lucha to only local TV has caused them to essentially vanish. TV may reach more people but they don’t exist outside of their Facebook page otherwise.
Famed 80/90/00s luchadora Martha Villalobos is hospitalized due to COVID-19, her brother told El Blog de la Lucha. She hasn’t wrestled in about a decade but was one of the more well-known women’s wrestlers in Mexico two decades, first with the restart of women’s wrestling in EMLL and then a long-time AAA roster member and local promoter.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara’s Guerrero Vikingo posted he’s in bad health (on oxygen) and is holding a raffle for a mask. It reads like COVID but he doesn’t say it’s COVID. He also made a point of saying CMLL was supporting him.
80s/90s luchador Serpiente China passed away on Tuesday according to Box y Lucha.
Alberto el Patron did an autograph signing Wednesday to promote next Thursday’s Robles Patron Promociones show, and a lot of media too. Tickets are moving better in cheaper sections but it looks like they’ve overpriced the front rows and they’re not moving.. They’ve started to discount tickets in some sections. Alberto video headline via Furia de Titanes: “fans need to support good wrestling and stop being keyboard warriors.” Via the Gladiatores: “I’m ready to return with a special flavor after the injustices of social media.” There’s not too much talk about the specific matches, perhaps because few people care about the matches they’ve booked.
A Record article with Texano is more interesting; he felt like he got too comfortable in AAA and needed a change. He didn’t feel like he had the same passion for wrestling he once did and wanted to try going elsewhere to reignite it. Texano believes AAA creative didn’t give him much to do but also he had stopped fighting for it and doesn’t hold it against AAA.
GCW/BLP on 09/03 in Hoffman Estates has Juventud Guerrera & Super Crazy versus Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Gringo Loco & Arez vs Laredo Kid & ASF. Dragon Bane & Canis Lupus are completely off my radar while apparently in the US so it’s nice to see them exist at all. The belief outside of the lucha libre bubble is all luchadors wrestle the same but there are some different philosophies in this match and it’ll be a challenge for it to go smoothly.
Andrade will wrestle for Delgado promotions on 09/19 in El Paso.