Dark Silueta & La Jarochita surprisingly advance to Universal final, AAA Heroes Inmortales date, ROH

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 08/20/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Furia de Titanes, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores]
1) Guerrero Maya Jr. & Volcano b Sagrado & Universo 2000 Jr.   
2) Audaz, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Mephisto, Raziel, Virus   
3) Hechicero b Volador Jr.   
Hechicero submitted Volador, who left on a stretcher, then taunted the fans while declaring himself the best luchador in CMLL.
4) Dark Silueta & La Jarochita b Dalys, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis, Lluvia, Amapola, Marcela, La Vaquerita, La Magnifica, Metálica, La Guerrera, La Seductora [CMLL Universal de Amazonas]    
Stephanie Vaquer announced, removed from the match on Tuesday due injury in Puebla

The main event was better than as expected and maybe about as good as it could be with those involved. It felt as though they had ran through the match a few times leading up to it and it had better highlights and flow than a normal CMLL’s women match. I spent last week wondering why CMLL didn’t find someone to replace Vaquer, and they may have decided it’d was easier to just remove her parts rather than work someone new in the last few seconds. There were a couple of things of that didn’t go well, but there was also more basic ideas like “make sure the tag team champions do some tag team moves” that you just don’t get from CMLL matches.

It was also a match where some of the usual favorites (Marcela, Dalys) were gone before the final. I don’t think anyone had Silueta & Jarochita as a possible final and still didn’t look it was going to be it until Sugehit was the last one eliminated. Silueta seems revitalized by her ruda turn and Jarochita has been one of the better CMLL luchadors in regular TV matches. She’ll get a big match to show if she can do more than that. It’s tough to call this cibernetico a great match when it ends without a winner by design, but it’s very good. It’s also an example of why doing the cibernetico format works so much better than the rushed single elimination tournaments.

Hechicero and Volador was good, not great. Hechicero put Volador in a lot of holds, Volador didn’t really do a lot with them, and the big match Volador comeback didn’t happen. It’s possible the idea was for Hechicero just to look very strong, but it came off more that Volador wasn’t all the way into this one. CMLL moved the post-match interviewers to ringside, which gave them all a little bit more energy. Hechicero did the best job of it, getting the crowd very upset with him. The results and the promos in the the top two matches felt like a different CMLL promotion than usual, but it’s too soon to know if it’s just a one-week blip.

Second match had its moments. This was an easy-to-watch show, worth checking out when it turns up on YouTube in a couple of weeks.

CMLL (SUN) 08/22/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Furia de Titanes]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Fantasy & Kaligua
2) El Coyote, Hijo del Signo, Nitro b Arkalis, Eléctrico, Sangre Imperial
rudos took 1/3
3) El Audaz, Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. b Cachorro, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring Jr.
Team Audaz, who were working as the rudos by the end of the match, took 1/3
4) Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero, Virus b Atlantis Jr., Fugaz, Panterita del Ring
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Carístico, Raziel, Volador Jr. DQ Ángel de Oro, Cavernario, Gran Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
Caristico replaced Felino, all the way through to beating Cavernario by DQ. Tecnicos took 1/3.

The recap reads like the plan is for a Caristico/Cavernario singles match next week. Note Volador was stretchered out on Friday and back wrestling less than 48 hours later.

Some of these matches should air in two weeks, but I’m not entirely sure. CMLL’s all over the place on the B-Shows, with the MVS show airing matches from four different July shows this past week and the AMX being a bit strange too. Some of it has to be avoiding showing NGD matches but there are other strange choices being made. It may be as simple as whichever three matches add up easiest to the 48 minute run time are the ones that get aired.

Puebla has returned to a red health code but today’s Arena Puebla show remains on at the moment. Volador/Gran Guerrero is the main event.

CMLL (TUE) 08/24/2021 Arena México
1) Angelito & Kaligua vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Robin & Sangre Imperial vs Hijo del Signo & Nitro
3) Cachorro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Disturbio, Enfermero Jr., Sagrado
4) El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring vs Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno, Pólvora
5) Fugaz, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Terrible

Looks, Mistico still exists. Last week’s show included Stuka challenging Cachorro for a rematch, Stuka doesn’t appear this week.

On an Ice Ribbon show in Japan, Nao Ishikawa won a match to get a trip to CMLL. Ice Ribbon has sent wrestlers to CMLL in the past. There’s no mention of exactly when or how long this tour is going to be – they’ve been as short as two weeks in the past – and CMLL hasn’t said anything.

Dark Silueta, among others, got into a back and forth with people complaining about CMLL being repetitive. She took the “if you don’t like it, stop watching us” stance, which is always unfortunate but especially so when it appears a large chunk of fans has already taken that advice. (A better stance might have been pointing out Silueta/Jarochita is happening next week, which is for sure a new match.) I will defend Silueta in this instance because Silueta only got involved because she was tagged in a CMLL photo and Twitter’s badly designed reply system means she was automatically mentioned in any reply unless the person complaining about CMLL booking at midnight was careful enough to take her name out of it. That’s so annoying – so annoying Twitter works like that, so annoying to get a notification telling you your promotion is bad. Everyone in CMLL must get that a lot, they can’t do anything about it, they’d probably not like to be reminded about it, so I emphasize with her essentially asking for the guy to go away. It’d be really cool if we were all just a few strongly worded tweets away from fixing CMLL but I don’t think we’re so lucky.

ROH results from the weekend

08/20:

• Silas Young defeated Rey Horus
• Demonic Flamita beat Danhausen, PJ Black, Dak Draper, Eli Isom, and Mike Bennett
• Violence Unlimted defeated LFI
• Bandido defeated Flip Gordon to retain the ROH World Championship

08/21:

• Brian Johnson & Marke Briscoe beat Demonic Flamita & Flip Gordon
  • Flamita & Gordon couldn’t co-exist
• Rush & Dragon Lee defeated Bandido & Rey Horus
  • Silas Young joined commentary and badmouthed Horus all match, suggesting they’ve got another match coming.
  • Dragon Lee & Bandido continue to tease a partnership

Rush also started limping late in the Saturday match. There was no obvious moment where he got hurt, though Dragon Lee mentioned a pre-existing knee injury in an Instagram post earlier that day. He needed help to the back, which wasn’t shown on the stream. There isn’t any official word of his injury. Rush vs LA Park is advertised for a 09/18 show in Arena Neza, but pencil him in as questionable for matches in the near future including the ROH match listed below.

matches announced for the 09/21 09/12 ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV, their next live event

• LFI (Dragon Lee, Rush, and Kenny King) vs Shane Taylor Promotions (c) for the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championship
• Bandido (c) vs Brody King vs Demonic Flamita vs EC3 for the ROH World Championship

Other News

Heroes Inmortales appears to be 10/09 in Orizaba, Veracruz, according to local advertising pointed out by Pasion Luchistica. That’ll likely be AAA’s next show in front of fans. It may give AAA a little more ability to bring in outside names, though Kenny Omega is still not expected to be on this show. It’s a Saturday show and similar shows have aired live on Space. AAA probably will follow with TripleMania Regia the first week of December, where the AAA Mega title is more likely to be defended. I’m not sure if AAA will run a Guerra de Titanes later in December – probably AAA doesn’t know for sure and hasn’t announced TripleMania Regia because they’re waiting around to what will be possible with COVID the same as everyone else.

I only made it through one match of this week’s AAA TV show far, but it appears to be filler TV as expected; the first two matches are all people who didn’t wrestle (at least under their normal AAA names) at TripleMania. There was no effort to continue any momentum for TripleMania; these matches were taped prior to the show, but it’s not like they aired video packages or promos or anything else to remind you the show existed. I expect the same for the next week or two as they complete these tapings. There is only so much AAA can do in a pandemic, but the presentation definitely reinforced the idea that “TripleMania” and “AAA TV” are two different promotions who occasionally share the same championship belts.

IWRG (SUN) 08/22/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Centella Oriental & Lunatik Fly b Kenji & Vudu Max 
Apolo Estrada Jr. & Chris Stone asked Lunatik Fly to join their Los Rey del Norte group. He accepted. (Atomic Star was in the team prior.)
2) Rey Halcón & Sobredosis b Limbo & Sol 
3) Apolo Estrada Jr. & Chris Stone Jr. DQ Hijo Del Pandemónium & Pandemónium Jr. 
Pandemónium and Lunatik Fly got involved
4) El Mafioso, Medico Brujo, Sick Boy b Big Chico Che, Big Mike, Estrella Divina 
Big Boy is the newest Big Stripper
5) Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura DQ Galeno del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.  
Estrella Divina made the save post match
6) Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli b Aster Boy, Legendario, Toxin [TLC]  

The main event was less insane than expected for an IWRG TLC match. It was also one where many of the big spots were preceded by long set up periods, kind of giving them all away. It was fine and it was safe but it was wrestling for the highlight video rather than putting together a match. Angelo is challenging Toxin out of it.

Lunatik Fly replaced Atomik Star probably because Atomik Star showed up as a new member of Negocio Traumado on Saturday night. Though Hijo del Alebrije did the same and that was quickly ignored.

Arena Jalisco reopened Sunday after being shut down for four weeks for violating COVID protocols.

Lucha Memes’s Battle of Coacalco was won by Lee Moriarty defeating Ricky Marvin, which is how I think figured the tournament would go. Everyone advertised for the show made it, which is cause for celebration for Memes (and most lucha libre promotions.)

Mas Lucha announced their Torneo Supremo competition will return in October. They mentioned on IWRG broadcast that the plan is to have fans; last year’s tournament was an early no fans show. Last year’s show was also a Mas Lucha Premium Exclusive show, so maybe they’re running this again to have some non-IWRG content.

Chik Tormenta will wrestle on the 08/28 NWA Empowerr PPV, representing AAA.

GALLI announced GALLIMania on 10/03 in Cicero Stadium. That’s the biggest venue they’ve run in a few years and so they’re bringing in all their regular outside names: LA Park & his sons, Mil Muertes, Aerostar, Drago, Arez, Aramis, Aeroboy, and Mecha Wolf.

 

Former DTU wrestler Pesadilla noted on Facebook that it had been one year since his last match and he believes he’s finished in lucha libre. He didn’t completely close the door but it reads like he’s moving onto other things in his life. Pesadilla had a high profile career for a while, including runs in AAA in the late 2000s and some tours of NOAH in 2013 & 2014. He seemed to lose his sport there in one of NOAH many regime changes and hasn’t wrestled much outside of DTU since that time.

Criterio Hidalgo interviewed local wrestler El Exotico about reaching 30 years of wrestling. He says he wrestled in AAA as Venum for a time.

A lucha libre exhibit opens up in El Paso Thursday..