CMLL (MON) 10/11/2021 Arena Puebla [Ansus Multimedios]
3) Pegasso & Stigma b Okumura & Rugido
4) Dalys, La Jarochita, Lluvia b Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi
5) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto b Místico, Titán, Valiente
Mistico replaced Volador, lost when the rudos pulled his mask.
That may be the start of a Mistico program, it also may just be the random thing they did that day. For a very deep cut, an AAA spot show in San Luis Potosi appears to include Arena Puebla’s Mini Joker. The Multy opposite him has to be the Puebla guy so I assume it’s that Joker. You can never be too sure with the Jokers though.
CMLL (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena México [CMLL, KaiserSports, Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores]
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Skadi, Stephanie Vaquer, Tiffany b La Comandante, La Vaquerita, Metálica [Relevos Increíbles]
Skadi is back from injury. Tiffany asked her to consider joining the ruda side.
3) Akuma, El Coyote, Espanto Jr. b Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr.
4) Negro Casas, Raziel, Virus b Dark Panther, Magia Blanca, Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 2/3.
5) Ángel de Oro b Felino © [MEX LH]
Angel de Oro is the 74th known champion. Felino falls on his first defense. One fall match.
Felino loses the championship he won only to heat up the Cavernario hair match. No one remembers this, and I’m not sure anyone cares, but the recently concluded Barbaro Cavernario/Felino feud started as an Angel de Oro/Felino feud. The two had a 1v1 match on 11/15/2019 show, the crowd booed Angel de Oro, he challenged Felino to a hair match, the two continued to feud through the end of the month, CMLL stopped paying attention to it like they do so many things, Mr. Niebla passed away, and CMLL decided to do a Cavernario/Felino instead. Angel de Oro ended up turning rudo anyway, even if CMLL keeps listing him as a tecnico, and surely would’ve gotten the hair win over Felino had that finish out. He gets a meaningless title belt instead.
Speaking of things I’m not sure anyone cares about, I think I’ve figured out CMLL’s TV scheme at the moment
- 4 Friday matches go to Televisa
- 3 Sunday matches go to AMX
- 3 Tuesday matches go to Heraldo Televison
- 3 left over matches go to 52MX (but much later than other shows)
I can’t be sure of this because no one watches or talks about the Television show, but I believe all the missing Tuesday matches are ending up there.
Skadi as a ruda would make sense but it feels like we’re going to get a lot of red herrings as the wrestlers do post-match promos in front of the crowd and are looking for something to say.
CMLL (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara (Video), Mas Lucha]
1) Cosmos, El Divino, Micro b Destello, Destructor, Thunder Boy
2) Joker, Rugido, Vaquero Jr. b Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre
3) Crixus, Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black b Ángel Rebelde (Querétaro), Halcón Negro Jr. (Querétaro), Optimus (Querétaro), Trono (Querétaro)
4) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
5) Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi b Dark Silueta, Lluvia, Náutica
6) Satánico b Último Guerrero [FLLM MASTER]
Satanico retains his title; the match starts around 2h5. The Ice Ribbon crew winning their last match was a bit surprising; perhaps that means they’ll be back sooner rather than later.
Friday’s lineup
CMLL (FRI) 10/15/2021 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Sonic vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) Esfinge, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Dark Magic, Disturbio, Okumura
3) Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Negro Casas, Valiente vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Satánico [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Místico, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero
These won’t stream again until 11/02, so the first time you’ll be able to see this on a screen is the 10/23 TV show.
Satanico turns 72 on October 26th. This is his first match in Arena Mexico since defeating Solar I in a match on the 2019 legends show. It’s possible he’s the oldest wrestler to have a match on an CMLL show in Arena Mexico but I’m not digging to find out today. Satanico’s also working spots shows against Ultimo Guerrero. It’s not great that a 70+ year old man is the big new addition for CMLL but it probably appeals very well to the remaining CMLL fans. They’re not much interested in making new ones anyway.
Satanico hasn’t lost in Arena Mexico since 2008 (which was the last time he was a regular.) He won legends matches in 2016 and 2017.
It’s to no one’s surprise that Hechicero defeating Ultimo Guerrero for the heavyweight didn’t change the actual order of things. Ultimo Guerrero is still in the main, still getting the feuds with Mistico.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Avispa Dorada was sticking around past the Gran Prix. It’s good to see her back, and it’ll probably be better after getting into the rhythm again. I normally mock CMLL for doing things like leaving a tournament winner off the show the week after they’ve won, so let’s give them some credit for remembering to book Dark Silueta.
CMLL announced Arena Coliseo will re-open on Saturday 11/06 for weekly shows. Lucha Memes had previously announced they were running the venue on 12/18, so the re-openinig has probably been in the works for a while. Saturday Arena Coliseo is the last main roster weekly spot not running since the start of the pandemic. Sunday Arena Coliseo Guadalajara hasn’t returned, though trended to being local wrestlers. The number of wrestlers booked still remains down – cards have fewer matches and smaller matches than before the pandemic and fewer people are sent to Guadalajara – but it’s another waypoint on the way back to normal. Or whatever the new normal is going to be.
Arena Coliseo shows are unlikely to be taped, though it’s more likely we’ll get results than Arena Puebla. CMLL said the 11/06 show card will be a special one.
CMLL will announce Dia del Muertos details on Wednesday. That’ll probably include a cibernetico on 10/29 with the winner facing Terrible for the Rey del Inframundo title on 11/05.
CMLL Informa will have Satanico, Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Marcela, Reyna Isis, Metalica and Avispa Dorada as guests. I guess CMLL will truly be back to normal until there are fans attending Informa for long ticket giveaway bits.
AAA
Multimedios’ Willy Gonzalez says TripleMania Regia is still on, so now there’s conflicting information on when/where that 12/04 show will happen. Or maybe AAA will run two shows in Monterrey as the original plan. Eventually, AAA will make this clear themselves.
Arez & Chik Tormenta won the Mixed Tag Team titles from Villano III Jr. & Lady Maravilla at Monday’s night tapings in Xalapa. This should air either on 10/22 or 10/29. It was the first time the titles had been defended since January 2020. (It’s been so long that two of the challengers then – Keyra & Vanilla – have subsequently gotten pregnant, had a child, and have returned to wrestling in between defenses.) Tormenta & Arez won the title shot back on July’s Verano de Escandalo. It’s possible the title match was put on hold until AAA could pull the trigger on the Vipers angle, though I’m not sure if all four wrestlers were actually together at a taping since TripleMania.
Results for the full Heroes Inmortales show, including the portion airing this week, are up in the luchadb. I’ll skip mentioning them here if you’re trying to get to Saturday without finding out.
IWRG
IWRG (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Furia de Titanes, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Carnicero & Perseo b Blue Win & Súper Cometa 
2) Chef Benito & Gran Felipe b Karma I & Karma II 
3) Sagitarius & Therius b Amazonika & Mary Caporal
4) Big Boy, Big Mike, Rey Halcón b Noicy Boy, Sol, Spider Fly
money thrown in
5) Hijo Del Payaso Pura Santa, Manchas, Payaso Pura Santa Jr. b Aster Boy, Caballero de Plata, Hell Boy
Puma de Oro helped the WTMB team get the win.
IWRG says they’re going run these Tuesday shows every two weeks. They’re said to be built around flyers, though it appears to be a trainee show with the addition of outsiders as well. IWRG running three shows in a week in the same venue makes them as busy as CMLL for the moment, though not as successful – attendance seemed minimal for this one.
IWRG (THU) 10/14/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star vs Shalom
2) Benga Lee & Diosa Quetzal vs Diosa Atenea & Satania
3) ?, Akabl, Mexica vs Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli [EdM Trios, quarterfinal]
4) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura vs Fuerza Guerrera NG, Mictlan Mx, Súper Nova [EdM Trios, quarterfinal]
5) Galeno del Mal, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Karaoui, Lil Blay, Sweet Daddy Soul
Some of the Canadian guys seem to have stuck around – Giant Orion is setting up a title match over in Welcome to Mi Barrio – so maybe they’re going somewhere with them. Las Shota and the Tonalli trio seem like favorites to advance. Shalom showing up suggests we’ll see Cerebro Negro back soon.
The women’s match will be changed: Bengalee fractured her elbow in San Luis Potosi.
IWRG (SUN) 10/17/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sagittarius & Sol vs Death Metal & Satania
2) Heddi Karaoui vs Fulgor
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Rasputín vs Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Mike
4) Freelance vs Toxin, Puma de Oro, Aster Boy
ten minute time limit. If no one ones, everyone loses.
5) Sick Boy vs Medico Brujo, Hijo del Fishman
6) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Wrestlers win 5000 pesos for each wrestler eliminated. Match goes on until wrestlers agree to stop or one wrestler remains. All wrestlers a surprise
This is the Decide Tu fan-submitted winner, a homage to viral Korean drama Squid Game. I didn’t get this at first – I haven’t seen the very popular Netflix show! – but Record helpfully explains it and then it’s very obvious. This is surprisingly current for lucha libre and makes sense as a winner. They got a concept, not just matches. If you don’t understand the gimmick matches here, just assume they have something to do with this show. The big concept of the TV show has a bunch of people competing in deadly versions of children’s games with the last person left alive getting a big money prize. That’s sort of the idea of the main event.
Ricardo Yáñez, who lives now in Quintana Roo but resided in Naucalpan for many years, submitted the idea and lineup among “near 300” sent in. IWRG says they were pleasantly surprised how many entries they had from around Mexico, feeling this showed them they’re not just a local promotion.
Rasputin is an Oaxaca wrestler making his IWRG in the third match.
IWRG announced the bracket for the Estado de Mexico Trios tournament, helpful if you can remember when team is Los Mexicanos and which one is Los Mayan Rules. The final first-round match on the 21st.
too many Espectros
Antonio Hernandez Arriaga was the first match in Mexico to use the Espectro gimmick back in 1953. The character got over well but he had a short career due to a neck injury, with his run for all purposes over by 1960. Hernandez became a trainer and, likely to make a little extra money, started renting out the Espectro characters to others. I’m not sure if he was the first luchador to exactly do that, but he seems the famous one to start the trend through my readings of 70/80s magazines. AAA founder Antonio Pena got the right to be the first Espetro Jr. Pena’s career stalled due to injuries and the Espectro Jr. was given to a second man. (Both Pena and Espectro Jr. II are billed as the original’s nephews; I wonder if we should be a little bit skeptical of that given the decades of fake relatives that followed.)
Espectro Jr. II kept wrestling under the name for many years. He hasn’t really been active for a decade and a half. He has apparently though followed in the footsteps of his mentor/namesake Espectro Jr. by renting the name to a Torreon-based wrestler. That man is now known as the wordy El Hijo del Espectro Jr. (which we’ll shorten to Hijo del Espectro because most of the posters do as well.) Hijo del Espectro, though work in both Monterrey and Mexico City, has become one of the most well-known indie wrestlers among those who’ve not been in a major promotion. Everything seemed fine.
It’s no longer fine. Espectro Jr. II took to Facebook to call out El Hijo del Espectro Jr. for many offenses, but most of all trying to trademark the “El Hijo del Espectro Jr.” name to stop paying him and calls upon all wrestling promoters to stop using him immediately. Espectro Jr. used Hijo del Espectro’s real name in the statement to make a point about them not actually being related. Espectro Jr. II’s actual family also has posted photos of an unmasked Hijo del Espectro Jr., including from when he was using an exotico gimmick earlier in his career, as an attempt to embarrass him.
What seems to have happened here is Hijo del Espectro Jr. has indeed attempted to trademark that name in Mexico through IMPI in July. Espectro Jr. II never had, and then tried to file his own claim from Espectro Jr. a few days later. (Mexico also has an INDAUTOR service for personal name registration; that database isn’t online so we can’t tell if Espectro Jr. registered it there.) Neither name request has actually been approved – the only one who actually owns the trademark on the name of Espectro Jr. is actually AAA, who registered ownership over years back because it was one of Pena’s own characters.
My guess is Espectro Jr. doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on – like most everything else in lucha libre, the agreement to rent the gimmick may have not been done in an official notarized way – and that’s why he’s gone the guilt/embarrassment route. Hijo del Espectro, and his allies at Lucha Time, have argued what Hijo del Espectro Jr. filing for that name was perfectly legal. I don’t pretend to know enough about Mexican law to know for sure.
What I do know that “Hijo del Espectro Jr.” is a mouthful, something that sounds giffy unless you’re in the lucha libre bubble. Hijo del Espectro Jr. wants to hold on to that name because he feels he’s a big deal under it. I think that if he got to the actually big places he’s talked about wanting to go to, the first thing they’d do is to change the name into something more sensible. This is a great chance to make that change now instead of getting into a dumb fight over something that probably won’t matter in the long run. If “Hijo del Espectro Jr.” wins and is still using that name 10 years from now, that likely means his career didn’t go the way he hoped.
In other headspinning name ownership news, Capo Mayor appeared on Mas Lucha’s En+carados show to talk about his old rented name. This came off like an issue over who has the commission wrestling license to use the name Mascara 2000 Jr. even though Capo Mayor said he was giving up, but I didn’t pay enough attention to understand it. It’s Mascara 2000 Jr., it is probably not too important.
I wonder if the commission actually has a list of names that actually have been licensed. That’d be a useful thing to know for wrestlers trying to come up with their own names and making it public would pressure the unlicensed wrestlers to actually get licensed. The commission doesn’t seem that organized to do something.
Other Notes
Arez faces Ninja Mack on the 10/23 GCW show in Los Angeles. That show also has Psycho Clown, who doesn’t have a match as of this point.
IAW announced their next show will be 11/07 at Gym Valiente, with Mr. Leo versus El Bendito and Cometa Maya vs Kunay as the matches announced so far. The bit that sticks out to me is they’re offering a 2 for 1 ticket deal if you show your vaccination form, which I can’t recall seeing before.
RIOT says their 11/27 show will be back to Arena Femenil.
ROH’s Final Battle will take place on 12/11 in Baltimore. It’ll be their first show in front of fans since the last PPV. ROH tapes their empty arena TV around the PPVs, so it may not be the final show for a bunch of people, but we may have a good idea of pending free agents like Rush, Dragon Lee, and Bandido after that night. I still suspect Bandido versus Jonathan Gresham for the ROH Title will be the main event of that show but that’s far from official.
ROH put up the LFI vs Shane Taylor Promotions match up on YouTube for free.
Andrade says his mystery team for Saturday is not Los Ingobernables. This has led to people people suggesting Los Ingoberanbles names to him. Twitter is great. I think I’m easing off my “Hermanos Buenos” bit because it feels too much like something WWE would do.
The head of San Luis Potosi Boxing, Wrestling and MMA commission will remain in charge. The article isn’t clear if their term had ended, just that the director of spots said they’ll stay in power. They’re promising all lucha libre licenses in the state will be free, which may make it a popular place for out of towners to get licensed in. San Luis Potosi lucha libre doesn’t get a lot of national attention, but they seem to have a lot of people working some very small shows.
Tulancingo has declared November the month of lucha libre. There hasn’t been lucha libre much in Tulancingo this year due to COVID, maybe it’ll be different in November.
Box y Lucha 3492 has a long interview with Hechicero.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and this week’s Poster-Mania.