Cavernario shaves Felino at Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, various weekend results

CMLL (FRI) 09/17/2021 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Furia de Titanes, Kaiser Sports, Marca, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, 2020 (makeup date)
1) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus b Disturbio, El Coyote, Sangre Imperial [Relevos Increíbles]    
12:27. The new Deperadores team took 1/3.
2) Dark Silueta, Marcela Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer b Dalys, La Jarochita, Lluvia [Relevos Increíbles]    
12:05. Team Silueta took 2/3, with Silueta beating both Jarochita & Lluvia back to back to win the match (and set up next week’s tag title match.) Stephanie Vaquer replaced Princesa Sugehit.
3) Euforia, Hechicero, Místico DQ Atlantis Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]   
19:10. Team Hechicero took 2/3, the last when Hechicero faked a foul from UG as a preview to next week. Sangre Chicana was honored after the match. Many of his children, including AAA’s La Hiedra, appeared.
4) Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero [Copa Independencia]      
19:05. One fall match. Gran Guerrero attacked Volador after the match and the other Depredadores swarmed and ripped his mask off.
5) Bárbaro Cavernario b Felino [hair]      
10:49. One fall. Cavernario won cleanly with La Nieblina. Felino got his head shaved in the ring. Cavernario stated in post match that his own challenge left was a hair match with Ultimo Guerrero (as he had named in pre-match interviews.)

The best I can say about this show was it was fine. If this was some random Friday night show airing for free on YouTube with no expectations, most people would’ve gone home happy they spent the two hours watching it. This was meant to instead be one of the biggest shows of CMLL’s year and just being fine didn’t meet those expectations.

Cavernario & Felino did a lot in a short amount of time, and the crowd didn’t react to much of it. Felino playing to the crowd to get sympathy after the match (and before his haircut) got noise, Cavernario using the Nieblina to win did not. The top two matches were switched to one fall, something that wasn’t announced prior and may have been easily missed, so it’s possible fans didn’t understand the match was actually over until fireworks went off. Still, the previous match was one fall and fans were more into chanting for Volador than anything that happened in the main event. CMLL booked the main event that they believed their fans should want to see, not one they organically wanted to see. and they got a bad result. Cavernario was very definite post-match about only wanting to face the top guys in CMLL in apuesta matches now – Ultimo Guerrero was name-dropped. I wonder what happens with him and CMLL after those matches, or if CMLL doesn’t give those to him.

Everything else was about what you’d expect out of the match. Volador and Gran Guerrero had a very normal match between them, one that went too long given how little time it left the main event. The strong presence of the Depredadores, in both that post-match and the opener, are the only ways you can tell this match happened in 2021 rather than 2017 or 2019. The UG trios match was the best of the three, though they also took up a lot of time on a show where the main event ended up being rushed and not always for good reasons. The booking of both the second and third set up next week’s Night of Champions show, though it contributed to all the Sangre Chicana children losing on the show honoring him. Chicana was warmly received by the fans.

If this show turns up on YouTube (on 10/03), it’s fine enough to have on but you’re not going to feel you missed something if you never get to watch it. It also was a little bit weird for them to spend the undercard to build to next week’s show when they were pricing this ticket like it was the more important one.

CMLL never talks about attendance, so it’s notable they specifically called Friday’s turnout “the largest entry since March 13, 2020 (the start of the pandemic).” That does suggest they were allowed to open up more seats since they’ve said they’ve sold out the previous 1,500 number prior.

CMLL (SUN) 09/19/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Angelito & Kaligua b Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
2) Grako, Hijo del Signo, Nitro b Eléctrico, Oro Jr., Robin
Rudos took 1/3
3) Dark Magic, Sagrado, Universo 2000 Jr. b Cachorro, Flyer, Panterita del Ring
Dark Magic replaced Dark Panther. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Espíritu Negro, Magia Blanca, Rey Cometa b Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora
Tecnicos took 1/3. Magia Blanca replaced Stuka Jr. on Saturday
5) Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Templario b Místico, Valiente, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
straight falls, Angel de Oro pulled Mistico’s mask to pin him in the second fall.

That reads like an Angel de Oro/Mistico singles match coming up soon. Not sure if there were second thoughts about Dark Panther facing his brother Cachorro or whoever gave the website person the lineup made a typo.

CMLL (TUE) 09/21/2021 Arena México
1) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus vs Dark Magic, Okumura, Virus
2) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito
3) Eléctrico, Oro Jr., Robin vs Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Nitro
4) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela vs Amapola, Dalys, Stephanie Vaquer
5) Atlantis Jr., Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Terrible

The opener is listed as being aired by the Secretary of Foreign Relations. I only can guess why they’d be airing a CMLL match, but it does explain why that normally 3rd or 4th match is the opener: putting it in the opener gives them a firm starting time for the stream. The SRE has a Facebook page, which is usually where the government matches air.

Other Results

IWRG (SUN) 09/19/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Bengalee & Sagitrius DQ Kendy Rebel & Satania 
Satania pulled Bengalee’s mask for the DQ
2) Rey Halcón & Tortuga Leo b Noicy Boy & Sol 
3) Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli b Akbal, Caballero de Plata, Mexica 
4) Hijo del Pirata Morgan & Oficial AK47 b Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura 
5) Galeno del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Súper Nova & Texano Jr. 
Wagner won via foul. They did a quick singles match after with Wagner beating Texano after Galeno got involved.
6) Hijo del Espectro Jr., Medico Brujo, Sick Boy b Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Mike 
A scheduled Toxin/Espectro match was canceled due to Toxin saying he picked up a neck injury in Monterrey. This match replaced it.

Hijo del Espectro Jr. got a tooth knocked out of place in the main event.

RIOT had a secret show Saturday night outside of Monterrey. Results are here; the show should turn up on VOD at some point. Hechicero versus Erik Ortiz was said to be one of the better matches of the year, and Arez and Latigo had a bloody title match. Toxin wrestled on that show, but it didn’t appear he suffered the neck injury he appeared with on Sunday (and it’s surprising the Lucha Time guys were around to fill out that match on short notice.)

Rey Bucanero did a knee injury angle outside of Arena Mexico to take him out of the main event of his own show, where he was to face Veneno for a new title belt. Hijo del Pirata Morgan replaced him and lost. Bucanero no doubt has actual knee issues; it’s possible he wasn’t good to wrestle and they came up with the angle to explain it, but he’d been hyping the match days prior.

In Guadalajara, Rayman beat Gallo in a hair match between two masked wrestlers. Rayman used a ref bump to win, Gallo uncovered his head enough to get his hair cut while complaining about the cheating. Mas Lucha says the referees at this building are named el Rufian and el Hipocrita, which doesn’t sound promising for their work.

Atomic Star lost his hair in a cage match in Reynosa.

Alex Black, who recently lost his hair in Arena Naucalpan despite almost never wrestling there before, lost a mask versus career match in home promotion Lucha Time. An incident with Black’s opponent, Punk Clown, and a fan during that match turned into a viral bit. It feels like a likely angle.

Laredo Kid won a five-way on Impact Wrestling’s Victory show this past Saturday. I saw a six-way match listed among the previous taping results, but I presumed it was a yet-to-air TV match when it wasn’t mentioned on the PPV lineup. It appears Impact retaped the match as a five-way this past weekend for the PPV, probably because they didn’t want to put a wrestler named Suicide on TV so soon after Daffney’s passing. Maybe it wasn’t mentioned as a PPV match because they were uncertain how they would handle it, or it may just have not been important. Laredo Kid beat John Skyler in both versions of the match. Laredo Kid was at the tapings this past weekend, but I haven’t seen any results involving him yet. I suspect he’ll be in the mix for their now-vacant X-Division championship on their 10/23 PPV.

Esther Moreno said she was retiring following a match Sunday night in Arena Azteca Budokan.

Other News

Bandido posted an apology for Travis Banks wrestling on his show in one two Twitter posts. What I’ve heard about the situation is Banks flew himself to Mexico, got himself to Bandido’s gym, found a way to help out before the show, and used that to ask for a spot on the show. Bandido and the other people running the show had no knowledge of Banks’ history – they knew so little they thought he was still wrestling in the UK – and just remembered him from working Progress shows so they gave him a spot in the multi-person opener. Bandido had no idea anything there was anything wrong until after the show when he saw the reactions on Twitter.

I got asked in the comments if I think Travis Banks is going to wrestle in Mexico. I didn’t see him on any results this week and my thought is we won’t see him because this was all about Banks delusionally trying to find a way back to an important wrestling promotion and not just wrestling for wrestling sake. Banks could’ve gotten away with changing his name or wrestling under a mask if he just wanted to wrestle anonymously; it’s unlikely people would’ve put it together (and even if they did or used his usual name, few in Mexico seem to be aware or cares about his past; I guess I’m relieved he didn’t try one of the two big promotions because I’m not certain they would stop using him.) My guess is he flew to Mexico to try to get on this show in hopes of getting a look from Ring of Honor and will be gone now that’s definitely not happening. He’d have to be an idiot to think that would work, but the other choices that have led him to this point suggest he’s an idiot.

We Are Not Zombies has a story on Mr. Iguana, showing how he puts on his face paint.

Luchadors in Hidalgo held a food drive for those affected by recent flooding.

Box y Lucha 3490 has Volador, Cavernario and Sangre Chicana on the cover.

A fan asked Andrade when we’d see him in AAA again, and Andrade pointedly said that was a question for AAA. AAA didn’t respond.

Desde de Tercera Cuerda has an interview with Miguel Reducindo.