Tonight’s CMLL show
CMLL (FRI) 10/01/2021 Arena México
1) Eléctrico & Sonic vs Disturbio & Inquisidor
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Dark Magic, El Coyote, Okumura
3) Amapola, La Jarochita, Marcela vs Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi
4) Fugaz, Star Jr., Valiente vs El Felino Jr., Felino, Pólvora
5) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Volador Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Euforia, Hechicero
This isn’t said to be airing live. The main event might be good. The women’s match would be a good chance to see how the Japanese women will fit with the CMLL roster, except we probably won’t see the full match until after the Japanese women finish up. Sonic may actually be able to wrestle this time around, or maybe CMLL hasn’t gotten around to updating the poster yet – there’s been no late card changes this week.
CMLL (SUN) 10/03/2021 Arena México
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito
2) La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, Metálica, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus vs Akuma, Disturbio, Espanto Jr.
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., El Audaz vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Ángel de Oro, Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible vs Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Titán [Relevos Increíbles]
CMLL spent two weeks building up Angel de Oro versus Mistico and now Mistico isn’t there. I have no idea. Maybe Angel de Oro/Titan next week? Maybe nothing in particular.
CMLL (TUE) 10/05/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Estrella De Jalisco I & Estrella De Jalisco II vs Conde & Persa
2) Joker, Principe Daniel, Vaquero Jr. vs Bestia Negra, Demonio Maya, Difunto
3) Dark Magic, Okumura, Rugido vs Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga, Zandokan Jr.
4) Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi vs Dark Silueta, Lluvia, Stephanie Vaquer
5) Furia Roja & Satánico vs Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero
They’re not doing the Satanico/UG singles match, at least not yet. This’ll actually be the first match with the Japanese women for people to be able to see in full, since Guadalajara streams live. It may be the only one to air live. Maybe Rugido just got dropped into Vangellys’ spot?
CMLL officially announced an alliance with Ice Ribbon on CMLL Informa. CMLL previously had a relationship with small Japanese promotion REINA for many years; the ownership and administration of that group seemed to change every other year and it may no longer exist. They switched over to Lady’s Ring in 2019 and will still be running with them, but that’s a group that seems to be planning to run only a few times a year in normal conditions. Ice Ribbon is a full-time promotion; Cagematch says they’ve run 92 shows this year, and 102 last year even despite COVID restrictions. If/when CMLL sends people to Japan, they’ll at least have a chance to work regularly. CMLL pushed the idea that they and Ice Ribbon will be interchangeably talent regularly, perhaps as a response to the fan complaints about CMLL rarely bringing NJPW talent in.
CMLL gains an international relationship, at a time when they’re trying to show to their fans that they’re an important worldwide player with active relationships. Ice Ribbon also gets to talk about their international relationships, gets a solid place to wrestle when they send wrestlers to Mexico for photoshoots, and has access to bring in a few new people for their shows if they’d like. The popularity of these two promotions is skewed by Twitter – there was roughly 30x more attention for CMLL Informa solely from Ice Ribbon fans – and Ice Ribbon fans seem more intensely into their promotion. Still, CMLL seems to outdraw Ice Ribbon even in the worst of all times for Arena Mexico, and everyone in charge still believes CMLL will just snap back to normal whenever COVID leaves and tourists return. I’m not convinced CMLL will go back to doing three to seven thousand crowds on the regular on Fridays, but it’s obviously a good deal for the Ice Ribbon wrestlers if they can get that experience.
Miruhon has an article following around Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi in the first couple of days in Mexico. Japanese automated translation tends to be much worse than Spanish, but the translation I’m reading mentions the luchadoras had to take a PCR test before being allowed to come to Arena Mexico. That’s likely the same test CMLL wrestlers are taking weekly. They did a lot of media, even TV after Informa. I’d guess Avispa Dorada and Sonya may be doing the same next week.
Julio Cesar Rivera also announced the Noches de Campeones fan voting will now be a yearly concept, after being the Aniversario show idea for the last two years. JCR indicated they weren’t exactly sure when they’d run it; I’d guess the hope is the Aniversario could return to being a traditional big apuesta matcha but no one knows for sure right now. I still sense it’s only a subset of the CMLL fanbase who cares about the fan voting matches, but that’s still more than the none who care about whatever random tournament it’d displace.
AAA
- Arez, Latigo, Villano III Jr. vs Sexy Star 2, Nino Hamburguesa, Dulce Canela
- Poder del Norte vs Aramis, Myzteziz Jr., Octagon Jr.
- NGD vs Pagano, Murder Clown, Monster Clown
That seems to finish out all the shows AAA taped in August. Space is either airing Heroes Inmortales live next week or a grab bag of left-over matches from earlier in the year. They’ll make it official sometime in the next few days, maybe even during this show.
I plan on streaming Heroes Inmortales on Twitch. I’m also planning on passing all Twitch revenue I make from the month of October to charity Casa de la Amistad, which helps children in Mexico battling cancer. I made good money on TripleMania, I want to do something for other people if the Twitch goes nuts again this time around.
AAA wrestlers were set to appear on a spot show in Zinacantepec (near Toluca) tonight. That show was canceled and the venue is being sanctioned for violating local COVID rules. The show had said they were going to limit to 40% capacity, but all public events were banned again starting September 17th. The local promoters continued to promote the show this week until getting official word on Thursday. This is the second October AAA show to be canceled this week, following the Merida one set for next weekend. I don’t think this means anything specifically about Heroes Inmortales, these are all local decisions. Those promoters are counting down the days with no apparent concerns.
AAA promoters in Mexicali say they’re going to run soon. Tijuana and Mexicali shows are typically paired together, though I’m not even sure how that works with The Crash using AAA wrestlers now.
On AEW Dynamite, Andrade told Fenix & Penta that two luchador friends of his were going to challenge the Lucha Brothers for the AAA Tag Team championships. (I heard it as Andrade and a partner originally, but it’s clear Andrade said he’s bringing in two friends watching back.) Fenix & Penta have to be champions for that bit to play out, AEW hasn’t yet announced that for next week, and the match happening any time later than that means Fenix & Penta have to beat Laredo Kid & Hijo del Vikingo at Heroes Inmortales. Maybe it’ll happen on next Friday’s Rampage show, it’s really too soon to know and AEW has tended not to give away their promotional partner’s results like that. Still, I thought the only reason AAA would run back Vikingo/Laredo vs Penta/Fenix again this soon is for Vikingo/Laredo to finally win and maybe that’s not the case.
Andrade’s two friends are a mystery. AEW Fans seemed to think it was Los Ingobernables, though there was no overt hint in that direction when it would’ve been very easy to make one. FWIW, Rush & Dragon Lee aren’t showing up in AEW without ROH permission. (Rush has both claimed to be out seven more months and teased he’s showing up in AEW soon this week.) There’s also a lot of guesses of other people showing up, including Vikingo and Laredo. I tend to lean towards AEW having a dozen of tag teams already who aren’t too busy and Andrade could claim to be friends with any one of them. Andrade is actually friends with the Good Brothers, so I’ve set my expectations there. I think most people are expecting something much bigger.
Other News
Laredo Kid took the loss to Trey Miguel in the opening match of Impact’s X-Division tournament in a match also with Alex Sayne, as expected. It was a fun exciting match. Black Taurus faces Steve Maclin and Petey Williams in next week’s tournament match; it’d be a surprise if Taurus won. Laredo appears to be headed to a feud with Drama King Matt. It’s probably good Impact isn’t just forgetting about him, but that promo did not exactly inspire me that this is something I should see.
The WON mentions Laredo Kid missed this past week’s PWG show with a back injury suffered in Saltillo; he couldn’t stand up or walk the next day.
IWRG (THU) 09/30/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Baby Star & Spider Fly b Limbo & Shalom
2) Noicy Boy & Sol b Rey Halcón & Tortuga Leo 
Rey Halcon suffered a neck injury taking a top rope poison rana on the finish
3) Amazónika & Satania b Benga Lee & Diosa Quetzal 
4) Akabl, Mexica, Toxin DQ Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
5) Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Mike b Halloween Jr., Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Sick Boy
Chico Che and Sick Boy feuded.
Just about a normal Thursday show. The opening match didn’t stream; hope that doesn’t happen next week. Rey Halcon Jr. got hurt taking a move you could only half see because the lights are turned down so low.
AAW has Gringo Loco & Arez vs Laredo Kid & Aramis tonight. That’ll air on FITE TV for $13 and their shows end up on their $7/month streaming service about a month later. I presume Laredo Kid is good to go now, haven’t heard anything different.
GALLI has GALLIMANIA this Sunday in Cicero, with Mil Muertes vs LA Park among many other names. It’s an ambitious lineup and I hope it goes well for them. I think I”m making it to the AAW show but I’m not sure about GALLI yet.
Mas Lucha put out the poster for the Mas Lucha Supremo tournament. It’s just the tournament and one additional match but doesn’t mention who’s in it. Tirantes will be a referee, which seems like a terrible fit for a serious tournament like this aspires to be and a great fit if you want to see wrestlers trolled.
IWRG is running a “fan books the show” contest for the 10/17 show. It’s not a poll like CMLL, they’re giving a list of available names, telling fans to come up with their own full card, and submit it on Whatsapp. (They didn’t put the Whatsapp number on the poster, but it’s on Facebook.) The winner will get a pass for a year of IWRG shows and a laptop and they’ll run the card. Entries are due by next Friday at 12 pm.
The big lucha libre event this weekend is the Lucha Indy Fest in Ecatepec on Sunday, a marathon show/convention featuring wrestlers from many indie promotions. No matches appear to be announced. Entry is free. They’re running three shows, starting at noon, though the shows are either short or the show is going to run very late.
Robles Promociones is returning to Mexico City on November 12th, though they’re running Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera and not the Pepsi Center. I suspect that’s a cheaper building. They’re also bringing in fewer big names. Alberto isn’t working any of their upcoming Mexico City shows, though he’s still booked with the promotion in the US.
Pachuca’s Deportivo 11 de Julio is reopening for lucha libre this week. Lucha libre in the stage has generally been shut down for the last couple of months (though Arena Aficion has been running shows for a few weeks; almost no one attends them so I guess it’s fine.) DTU and Vanguardia haven’t announced plans to return as of yet.
There’s a slight local controversy in Torreon over Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano bringing in Misterioso for their 10/28 show. The Misterioso they’re using is the California/NJPW USA Misterioso, not the local/CMLL Misterioso. Fans accused the building of bringing in a “cloned Misterioso”, and the promotion responded in an all caps message saying the California one has the rights also while saying they have no issue with the local guy. My best understanding of the story is the original Misterioso just sold “exclusive” rights to the name to multiple wrestlers over time and they all have as much right to it as each other. It’s still a bit surprising a Torreon promotion would bother stirring up that hornet’s nest when it’s unlikely most people in Torreon know much about the California Misterioso.
A documentary telling the story of lucha libre during COVID premiered last night at Arena Lopez Mateos. It seems bizarre to finish a documentary like that while COVID is still going on.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.