CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 08/27/2021 Arena México
1) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Magnus
Magnus replaced Coyote on Thursday
2) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Stuka Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Luciferno, Terrible
3) La Guerrera, Lluvia, Marcela vs Dalys, Metálica, Tiffany
Tiffany replaced Amapola and Lluvia replaced Magnifica on Wednesday.
4) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Hechicero, Místico, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
5) La Jarochita vs Dark Silueta [CMLL Universal de Amazonas]
This lineup came out late Tuesday and still had three different revisions if you count Carisitco switching to Mistico. I’m not sure what is going on – injuries? tests? people just taking work elsewhere – but lineup changes are more common in CMLL right now.
La Jarochita versus Dark Silueta is the first CMLL women’s single match since the Marcela/Tiffany hair match in 2012, a Sunday show that was going up against TripleMania. The 1992 Lola Gonzalez/Bull Nakano match to decide the initial CMLL Women’s champion may be the most recent women’s title match to headline Arena Mexico. This seems like the biggest match in Jarochita and Silueta’s careers, even bigger the Silueta’s mask match. Both are capable of having good matches and are probably preparing for a great match, though the pressure is going to be immense. CMLL main events tend to be predictable, in results and actions. This one’s a wild card.
Satanico (Dark Silueta) and Ultimo Guerrero (La Jarochita) will second their students today. Satanico says he wants to form one last version of Los Infernales before he retires. He probably should get on that quick. Satanico coming all the way to Mexico City seems to make it more likely Silueta is going to win, but they may just have him and Guerrero to sell the fans on this being a big match. These women haven’t really been built up as stars before now and I’m not sure how the crowd is going to react to them suddenly being put in this position.
The rest of the show is fine. The show is available on streaming through TicketMaster Live, and hopefully, they’ll remind people who already bought it that they have a working link.
CMLL’s hyped this for the last few days as “come see Mistico!” Caristico is indeed back as Mistico. He’s also been on four of the last five Arena Mexico shows, and will be on Sunday too. The ideal way of doing this would’ve been similar to how they rolled out Mistico II: take him off shows for a bit then bring him back for a big show. CMLL seems like they can’t afford to do that at the moment like they can’t escape booking very short term. I’m concerned this is going to go like Arena Puebla, where there was a lot of interest in the first show and then it taped off immediately.
Both TripleMania and Robles Patron Promociones show went well over two hours, which seems to be the CMLL limit. Robles Patron was also trying to get more than 1,500 tickets sold that been CMLL’s limit. Maybe CMLL is keeping these limits for safety reasons and I don’t really mind two hours shows. If these are rules being enforced on only CMLL because they’re run all the time and so they get noticed, it seems unfair.
Sunday’s show
CMLL (SUN) 08/29/2021 Arena México
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito
2) Eléctrico, Oro Jr., Sangre Imperial vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Inquisidor
3) Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr., Magia Blanca vs Dark Magic, Magnus, Okumura
4) Raziel, Terrible, Virus vs Mephisto, Pólvora, Rey Bucanero
5) Místico vs Cavernario
They started there as Felino/Cavernario, ended up with Caristico replacing Cavernario, and ended up as Mistico versus Cavernario. And Cavernario probably needs to lose.
Magnus is taking Vangellys spot so that may be an exception, but there’s a lot of guys here who went from openers to the 2nd and 3rd matches with no more reason for people to care about them. They didn’t get moved up as much as the shows got moved down. CMLL’s title belts are largely useless but it’d be worth at least trying to hand out some of the vacant ones to new guys to see if something comes of it. It’d be better if there was some build to winning those, but it seems too late to do that.
If you’ve got 12 minutes, this Mas Lucha interview with Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, and Nitro is well worth your time. They’re on a boat to promote appearing on an upcoming ChinampaLuchas show, but they’re stuck on the boat for a while so there’s time to talk about other things. Ultimo Guerrero’s asked about NGD and Mistico leaving and answers it by explaining people say harsh things on social media but he knows the truth – that everyone other promotion in the world looks to CMLL and CMLL is the promotion the world revolves around. I’m sure he feels that is close to reality too, despite not really appearing that was to most rational observers. Nitro talking about following CMLL since 1974 and having seen bad times before is nearly admitting they’re in a bad time now. This ends up with a pull quote of “CMLL will not die” which is never a good pull quote for a promotion to have.
Robles Patron in Mexico City
RPP (THU) 08/26/2021 Pepsi Center WTC, Benito Juárez, Distrito Federal [Arturo Rosas Plata, ESTO, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo]
1) Máscara De Ángel, Máscara Mágica Jr., Rey Pegasus b Antheuz, Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico
Brazo Cibernetico & Brazo Celestial were added and the match changed
2) Estrellato & Rey Astral b Brazo De Oro Jr. & Súper Nova and Bugambilia & Tonina Jackson Jr.
3) Diosa Quetzal & Dulce Sexy b Baronessa & Estrellita and Diosa Atenea & Reina Dorada [COPA ROBLES Y PATRON]
Atenea & Dorada were out first, then Quetzal & Dulce beat Estrellita & Baronessa.
4) Hijo De Dos Caras & Hijo del Fishman b Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria and Rayo de Oro (Guatemala) & Voltron (Guatemala) and Hijo de LA Park & LA Park Jr. [ROBLES TAG]
LA Parks wanted the first shot at the new champs.
5) La Máscara, Máximo, Toscano b Averno, Joe Lider, King Charro
Toscano replaced Apolo. King Charro replaced DMT Azul but betrayed his partners. Damian 666 ran in to save them as Perros del Mal members, then Negocio Tramuado (Demonio, Fresero, Traumas, Atomic Star) ran into attack, then Toscano came back with two mystery men as La Perra Sociedad.
6) Cinta de Oro & Penta 0M b Alberto del Rio & LA Park and Carlito & Texano
Alberto had Texano in his armbar, Penta to rope splashed Alberto and covered him for the pin. Alberto challenged Penta to a match in November. Carlito & Texano had issues.
The official Twitter account put out a Tweet asking fans where they’d like to see the Alberto/Penta match, so I guess maybe it’s not necessarily happening in Mexico City. Might be for good reason; the show drew far less than a half house even considering required social distancing. The “look how many people are here” social media shot shows completely empty sections. The show was scheduled to start at 8:30 pm and didn’t wrap up after midnight. Live reports say the show was run with the same speed and urgency of a normal lucha libre show – started late, long breaks between matches, random music performances. The post-match angle seems like Alberto is going to be a heel, but who knows.
Alberto teased Rush showing up in interviews on the day of the show, then the promotion sent out a photo of the stars all doing Mistico poses to tease his brother appearing. Neither did. I think they believe it to be just fun bits to create buzz, but it’s the sort of thing that turns ticket buyers against the promotion. No sense in burning off goodwill, unless you just think of the fans as marks who are going to be easily suckered next time anyway. The lesson here is Alberto is not to be trusted, which is honestly a lesson I should’ve already learned.
Other News
Mexico City will stay at the orange COVID light for the next two weeks. These designations haven’t meant much lately, but it’s nice to read they’ve had the biggest drop in hospitalizations in three months.
The Lucha Brothers face the Jurassic Express tonight on AEW Rampage. The match was taped Wednesday night and said to be great. Worth noting this (or next week) is the last Rampage people in Mexico will legally be able to watch as it stands now. Mexican AEW fans could watch AEW Dynamite & Rampage through AEW’s international FiteTV service. Space in Mexico moved the first-run airing of Dynamite to midnight the same day, which is close enough for AEW to discontinue the ability to FiteTV service for Mexico. Space hasn’t picked up Rampage, and there’s no word when they might. I don’t sense there’s a big AEW fanbase in Mexico yet, though it seems like Mexican lucha libre sites have started covering it closer to WWE in the last few months.
DMT Azul said he’ll begin legal proceedings to get the national heavyweight title back. He might have a case but it’s more surprising he hasn’t moved on. Not sure if it’s really about the title or the commission at this point. DMT Azul did not wrestle on the Robles show – probably because he was busy with the AAA TV tapings – and is next scheduled to wrestle in Mexico City on September 17. He’s annoyed the commission so much that it’s possible they could pick a reason to suspend him.
Texano Jr. joked on Twitter about changing his name to Texanistico and entering the national heavyweight tournament. That list is supposed to come out next Friday.
IWRG (THU) 08/26/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Limbo b Skanda 
2) Bengalee & Kariel b Diosa Atenea & Satania 
3) Leo, Mexica, Relámpago b Black Dragón, Death Metal, Fly Warrior
4) Aster Boy, Hijo del Alebrije, Veneno b Mafioso, Medico Brujo, Sick Boy
Hijo del Pirata Morgan returned to IWRG to challenge Alberije for the IWRG JUNIORS ittle.
5) Big Boy, Big Chicoche, Big Mike b Apolo Estrada Jr., Billy Jones, Chris Stone Jr.
Billy Jones may be Lunatik Fly
6) Toxin © b Dick Angelo 3G [IWRG MEXICO] 
Jessy Ventura asked for the next title shot.
which leads into Sunday’s show.
IWRG (SUN) 08/29/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Chef Benito, Gran Felipe Jr., Spider Fly vs Perro de Guerra, Tirano, X-Devil
2) Elemental, Limbo, Skayler vs Carnicero, Epidemia, Skanda
3) Centella Oriental, Cyber, Shocko vs Comando Negro Jr., Halloween Jr., Vudumax
4) Dick Angelo 3G, Halcón Mágico, Legendario, Lunatik Xtreme, Noicy Boy, Puma de Oro, Rey Halcón vs Aster Boy, Caballero de Plata, Hellboy, Kenji, Lunatik Fly, Sol, Tonalli [Copa High Power, mask, hair]
5) Big Chico Che, Big Mike, Estrella Divina vs Mafioso, Médico Brujo, Sick Boy
Running essentially a FILL show on Sunday after not using many names on Thursday isn’t a great sign. The main event opposition is the Lucha Time side; I’m not sure how a person in Naucalpan would follow Lucha Time at this point.
There’s a strangely loaded lucha libre show in 12/11 on Raleigh, North Carolina. Some Alberto guys, a lot of AAA guys. So many AAA guys that I think it means those AAA guys believe TripleMania Regia isn’t that weekend; it’s probably 12/04 or 12/05.
Space’s listing show one more week of AAA from Oaxtepec. No preview yet.
“Sangre, Sudor and Llaves”, a documentary on lucha libre in Coliseo Coacalco, will debut as part of Mexico City’s Macabro film festival tomorrow. You can tell they’ve been working on this for a while; the Vimeo trailer is 9 years old and Emilio Charles Jr. (passed away 20212) is in it.
This weekend’s ROH TV has Dragon Lee defending the ROH TV title against Eli Isom. Isom’s grown on me and that should be a really good match. You should go back and watch Horus/Flamita if you haven’t already. The 09/11 weekend show will have Dragon Lee & Kenny King versus Chris Dickinson & Homicide for the ROH Tag Titles.
DTU announced they’ll restart with shows in Veracruz from 09/17 to 09/19. They’ve been off since their 06/27 show was canceled due to COVID.
Former SuperLuchas photographer Raul “Speedy” Gonzalez passed away.
Morelos luchador Exagoncito passed away Wednesday due to respiratory issues. He’d been wrestling since 2007 and was active as recently as June.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Update.