CMLL Homenaje a Dos Leyendas (Cavernario/Felino), Big Lucha, other independence day shows

CMLL (FRI) 09/17/2021 Arena México
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, 2020 (makeup date)
1) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus vs Disturbio, El Coyote, Sangre Imperial [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Dalys, La Jarochita, Lluvia vs Dark Silueta, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Euforia, Hechicero, Místico vs Atlantis Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero [Copa Independencia]
5) Bárbaro Cavernario vs Felino [hair]

After a 546 day delay, Barbaro Cavernario and Felino finally have their hair match. It’ll probably be fine. It may be good; we’ve seen people Felino’s age pull out a hidden reserve in a big match like this. It’s also not a match anyone’s excited for or interested in the outcome. Cavernario is winning and won’t mean much. (If CMLL stunned the world and had Felino win, it’d be much more a story about what was up with Cavernario & CMLL than Felino.) Cavernario complained about people calling this a bad rivalry in a lead up interview, but it does seem like one. No one remembers this feud started as Angel de Oro/Felino, which got dropped after two weeks – they were looking for an excuse to give Felino a good payday all along. The reduced capacity means even that good payday won’t happen.

Volador/Gran Guerrero should also be fine, maybe good, and there’s no enthusiasm for it. There’s no meaning in this tournament, it doesn’t matter who wins. None of the undercard matches look all that better. The only thing that interests me is if Euforia/Ultimo Guerrero feud still exists, not to look for another match between them but because of what it may say about the current state of politics in CMLL. La Hiedra getting to just show up and stand in the ring with her father is the only bit of intrigue on this show.

Rugido and Magnus were introduced as the newest member of Volador’s Depreadores on Wednesday’s Informa. Magnus is the first wrestler introduced who’s wasn’t known as a Volador trainee yet, but that makes the opener a full Depredador team. It’s still not clear what this means outside of the patterned masks. Two more names will be revealed next week.

I’m not sure if I’m watching this show live; plans keep changing. This show doesn’t feel like one where I need to drop my plans to watch it like so many others in the past.

CMLL’s said nothing about if this show will turn up on YouTube later. They’ve really barely promoted the TicketmasterLive stream; all the promotional links are for the (more profitable) actual seats. Those seats seem to be moving well; they were about 75% sold out this mid-morning. There is also a listing for balcony tickets, but the tickets were listed as not going on sale until today and then were immediately unavailable. It comes off like a Ticketmaster error. CMLL has not opened the upper levels of Arena Mexico since the start of the pandemic. That appeared to be part of the capacity restriction imposed on them. If we see it open this week or next, then it’s obviously no longer one.

CMLL goes on after Friday:

CMLL (SUN) 09/19/2021 Arena México
1) Angelito & Kaligua vs Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
2) Eléctrico, Oro Jr., Robin vs Grako, Hijo del Signo, Nitro
3) Cachorro, Flyer, Panterita del Ring vs Dark Panther, Sagrado, Universo 2000 Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora
5) Místico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Templario

Euforia sure teams with Templario and Gran Guerrero a lot for someone no longer in their group. Tercera has brothers Cachorro & Dark Panther on opposite sides.

CMLL (MON) 09/20/2021 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Meyer vs Espíritu Maligno & Pierrothito
2) Arkalis & Sonic vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
3) Lluvia vs Dark Silueta [lightning]
4) El Audaz, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Felino, Pólvora, Templario
5) Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. vs Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero

Lluvia pinned Silueta this past week, so maybe something happened to set up that match. Atlantis Jr. revenge cheating to beat Ultimo Guerrero last Monday usually is the end of a CMLL feud, but they’re coming back with the tag match.

Caras has an interview with Soberano Jr., who explains his injury is a “torn cruciate ligament and meniscus.” He has surgery four months ago and is still three months away from returning, which means we may not see him in the ring again this year. That’s a lot more extensive than had previously been hinted. There was some definite hints of Soberano turning up in AAA or elsewhere with Dragon Lee after his anti-Ultimo Guerrero comments, but he obviously won’t be appearing anywhere soon and he seems on firm terms with CMLL in this interview.

Chilango has an interview with meme icon KeMonito.

Big Lucha & Travis Banks

Travis Banks appeared in the opening royal rumble with pinfalls match, where no wrestlers were announced in advance. Banks was the 13th and final person to enter in a match the announcers had said was an 11 person match. Everyone else in the match regular work Big Lucha shows. Banks was not around long; he did a hot tag-like run, got knocked out of the ring, and may have only made it back in to be pinned a couple of minutes later. The match segment ended with all the wrestlers posing with the winner; Banks wasn’t present for that.

Travis Banks is a New Zealand-born wrestler who achieved his biggest fame in Europe from 2015 to 2020, working as a wrestler and as a trainer. Banks was credibly accused of using his position as a trainer to coerce female students to have sex with him, including a minor. Banks did not deny his actions and instead tried to argue a 16-year-old girl, half his age, was an adult like him. Banks was not charged with a crime, due to a perceived loophole in the law, but he’s been he was kicked out of every promotion he worked with. Travis Banks’ appearance on this Big Lucha show is his first known wrestling match since those accusations came to public light.

It was a terrible idea for Big Lucha, Bandido and anyone else involved to use him. Travis Banks appears to be trash and there’s no reason to have him around a wrestling show. I’m trying to wrap my head around why it may have happened and that’s hard. I don’t think they thought Banks was going to help the show. His role in the match meant nothing. Bandido would’ve known Banks from working Progress shows, both in the UK and when Progress did their North America tour, and the spot he had in the match is one you’d give to a friend who’s begging for some work. Mexican wrestling was largely oblivious to the Speaking Out movement; had multiple conversations with Mexican wrestling people who knew “Speaking Out” only as a thing people on social media were using as a hashtag but has zero idea what it was about, much less everyone who was involved. I don’t want to claim I had any special knowledge either; I remembered Travis Banks with a European wrestling guy that I should know something about, but it was only when I hit upon his Twitter profile – listing himself as an NXT UK wrestler but locked – when I realized the things I actually needed to be searching for. If you’re not in that scene, it’s easy for that stuff to fall back off the mind and the same blind spots often happen when Mexican wrestling goes elsewhere. I’m sure Bandido knows about Banks now if he didn’t know before.

Still, an ex-Progress guy showing up in Mexico City and he’s OK with working a trainee match to just get on the card would be very weird in normal situations and should’ve set off some red flags. There were also five Ring of Honor wrestlers on that show, including the current ROH booker, and all stand a better chance of being aware of who Travis Banks is and why he’s a guy they might not want to associate themselves with. It wasn’t a ROH show and it wasn’t their responsibility, but Bandido’s their coworker and their champion, it would’ve been worth their time to help Bandido not come across like a dummy if they knew better.

Bandido and Big Lucha haven’t mentioned Banks; they really mention him in the match and they haven’t apologized for using him. Apologies are rare things in Mexican lucha libre, though one here some good. More good would be done by never using him again. This is exactly the kind of story that’s usually ignored by those who cover Mexican wrestling in Mexico, where who can be a fake mini Mr. Niebla takes priority, so I’m not sure we’ll hear more about this if nothing is said Friday.

Big Lucha (THU) 09/16/2021 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [Mas Lucha, thecubsfan]
1) Éxtasis vs Cometa Maya, ???, Radioatcivo, Limbo, Yutani, Tirano, Sussy Love, Travis Banks, Elemental, Bendito, Gravity, Mil Almas [Torneo Alas de Independencia] 
Pinfall eliminations with rumble entries. No wrestlers were announced ahead of time. Announcers said 11 people would be in the match; Mil Almas turned out to be a surprise 12 and Travis Banks was 13. Elemental got a trophy and replaced Komander in the triangle match as a price for winning.
2) Delirious b Skayde 
Delirious, in a rare bit of coherence, repeatedly called Skayde a living legend in a post-match interview.
3) Ciclón Ramírez Jr. b Elemental, PJ Black 
Ciclon Ramirez submitted PJ Black as he was pinning Elemental.
4) Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe b Demonic Flamita & Emperador Azteca and Bestia 666 & Rey Horus 
A video from Damian 666 introduced La Rebelion as a surprise third time. Briscoes beat Flamita. Dralistico and Dragon Lee made a surprise appearance to challenge the Briscoes and tease a match with Emperador Azteca & Demonic Flamita. Azteca congratulated Dralistico on quitting CMLL.
5) El Bandido b Matt Taven [ROH WORLD]
Bandido defeated Taven clean and Taven praised Bandido after all. Demonic Flamita & Emperador Azteca attacked Bandido after the match, setting up a Bandido & Gravity vs Flamita & ? match for the next show.

The Travis Banks stuff took me out of this show for a while. The other parts of the opener had some highlights, some mistakes you’d expect for wrestlers at their level, and was very long. I didn’t time it up but it appeared around forty minutes. Delirious/Skayde was fine from what I saw. The three-way match was a mess, with Ciclon Ramirez Jr. not looking good and the absurd confusing finish.

The tag match was good, the three teams worked hard and the Briscoes always seem to do well in Mexico. Bandido/Taven got off to a rough start – Taven noted the altitude in a post-match interview so maybe that was an issue – but got really strong as it went along and ended great. It was the sort of singles match Bandido had in PWG and other places to get over, but he really hasn’t had as much in Mexico. The crowd seemed to really get into it by the end, though the audio mix wasn’t the best at picking up. Taven put over Bandido and Mexican wrestling strong in the post-match interview. It’s also nice to get the Bandido/Taven title match at all, since it doesn’t seem like it’s something planned in Ring of Honor itself in the near future. ROH says they’ll put this show up with English commentary, though the Travis Banks opener will not be included,

I’m not sure the Hermanos Lee/Briscoes match set up here is actually happen or is meant to happen. The family is just trying to raise the image of Dralistico by positioning him as a top guy, and a top guy would show up to challenge the foreign brother tag team.

Other Independence Day Results

IWRG (THU) 09/16/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Bengalee & Kariel b Mary Caporal & Satania 
2) Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Legendario, Noicy Boy, Rey Halcón 
3) Dick Angelo, Puma de Oro, Tonalli b Halloween Jr., Mafioso, Medico Brujo 
4) Hijo del Espectro b Gianni Valetta © [IWRG IC HEAVY]  
Espectro bled a lot, and won the title. Valetta falls on his second defense.
5) Hijo del Pirata Morgan & Sick Boy b Súper Nova & Texano Jr. 
6) Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno del Mal, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura 
Texano & Nova attacked the Wagners post match. Texano repeatedly unmasked Wagner, who covered up his face as if we hadn’t seen it for the last few years.

I was half paying attention to this during IWRG. Espectro seemed to bleed a lot and get beat bad before making the big heroic comeback while wearing Mexican flag colors to win the championship from the villainous guy from Malta. Valetta didn’t seem great but this was a better idea than just giving Espectro the vacant title right away. Main event angle doesn’t seem like something that’ll be followed up here, or at least won’t be with the older Wagner.

The surprise main event on yesterday’s Lucha Memes show turned out to be Ultimo Guerrero versus Arez. Ultimo Guerrero defeated Arez in a match described as a very much usual Arez match. Ultimo Guerrero wrestling AAA’s Arez would get Ultimo Guerrero in major trouble with CMLL today if he wasn’t Ultimo Guerrero. If it was Polvora who wrestled Arez, I’m not sure Polvora would be booked in Arena Mexico any time soon. It probably also helps that this match was not announced in advance – it was the replacement for the never completely announced Davey Richards match – and it does seem like CMLL wrestlers can get away with working places they’re not approved to work as long as they’re not advertised ahead of time. (That’s obviously also going on with RIOT’s upcoming secret show.) It’s a tremendous double standard and also one that makes no sense – the world didn’t come to an end because a CMLL and an AAA wrestler were in the same match.

None of that is Lucha Memes problem; they made good on their promise to give their fans a memorable replacement match for Davey Richards. (It didn’t seem the fans trusted the promotion though; turnout was said to be low.) It may hurt them working with CMLL going forward but that relationship has never been good. Yesterday’s show will turn up on IWTV soon, and their 10/03 lineup is one of the better ones they’ve had in a while:

Lucha Memes (SUN) 10/03/2021 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Oni El Bendito vs Thunder Storm
2) Judas el Traidor vs Tonalli
3) Perro de Guerra Jr. vs Calibus
4) Freelance vs Avisman
5) Iron Kid vs Mike
6) Negro Navarro vs Jonathan Gresham

Gresham/Navarro is going to get attention. I really like the Mike/Iron Kid and Benito/Thunder Storm matches. I would go to this show if I was in Mexico (and if I wasn’t banned from attending Lucha Memes shows, which I think I may be.)

Arena Lopez Mateos included Angel del Amor (Luis Roberto Fernandez Lopez) losing his mask in a cage match to the current version of Brazo Cibernetico. The show, which included Psycho Clown winning a fourway over Blue Demon, DMT Azul, and Mesias, seemed to be a full house. This show seems like it’s the most media-covered show of the ones that happened yesterday, though that may be mostly because everyone was rushing to be the first person to have the unmasked guy on YouTube.

More News

09/18 AAA on Space

• Dinasita, Sexy Star II vs Villano III Jr., Flammer
• Hijo del Tirantes, Dave the Clown, Argenis vs Monster Clown, Faby Apache, Myzteziz
• La Hiedra, Rey Escorpion, Taurus vs Chessman, Murder Clown, Pagano

This is the first show from Temixco; they recorded enough matches to cover three weeks instead of airing a repeat. Hijo del Tirantes wrestles for the first time here since 2019, though he’s been active in Xalapa. He is 2-6 on AAA TV all time.

Mas Lucha’s Torneo Supremo, 10/09 in Arena Naucalpan

1. Laredo Kid
2. Jessy Ventura
3. Bandido
4. Rayman
5. Emperador Azteca
6. Villano III Jr.
7. Cuatrero
8. one more

It would take a very disappointing last person to prevent this from being an interesting tournament.

MLW’s 10/02 show will include Arez vs Aramis vs Tajiri vs Myron Reed for the MLW Middleweight Championship.

Laredo Kid lost to John Skyler on yesterday’s Impact show. The match was just about four minutes, so they didn’t have the chance to have as good a match as the previous week, but set up the two continuing to have issues. Laredo Kid is back in Nashville today for the next set of their tapings, which should start airing in a few weeks. Black Taurus also picked up a win on this past week’s Impact, though in the background of other stories; he’s not been involved in much.

Chile’s La Clinic has an interview with Venezuelan-born obstetrician Ruben Marquez, who delivers babies while wearing a mask as Dr. Lucha. He has a popular Instagram.

Dr. Wagner Jr. claims to be the luchador who came up with the idea of wearing Mexican flag colors, or even changing to different colors on different occasions. I believe Dr. Wagner Jr. believes this. I’m also guessing someone could probably find Mil Mascarasin green, white and red years prior.

As Charro NG announced that he’ll be using the name Mictlan MX going forward. I can’t think of anything memorable he’s done As Charro NG and this is probably a way to get out of paying a fee to the As Charro family.

Yahoo! Deportes has a story on the Septiembre Negro mask, a yellow and black mask that remains popular for its design despite the wrestler long being inactive – not just in Mexico, but you’ll see the design at US sporting events as well. The story claims that most Mexicans believe Septiembre Negro is a reference to the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, but people who know better realize it’s an actual reference to the 1972 massacre at the Olympics. The article has the since deceased Vic Amezcua, the man under the mask, claiming he meant the mask as a tribute to who had died and it was only the fault of the press that he ended up a rudo. “Black September” wasn’t a nickname of the event, it was the name of the terrorist group, so his story is impossible to take seriously.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Old familiar name Roshfrans is profiled in El Economista for increasing their sponsorship money into Mexican football. The article mentions Roshfrans sponsorship in CMLL & AAA as active, though it appears they stopped spending money there during the pandemic – I wonder if that’s part of the money now going into football.

An exhibition of Mexican movie art is open in Boyle Heights this weekend.