CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 10/15/2021 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Sonic vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) Esfinge, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Dark Magic, Disturbio, Luciferno
Luciferno replaced 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
I saved over a version of this post, so just pretend I had something really insightful to say if I missed something. Satanico returning is the big story tonight and might as well be the main event. Last week’s show had an UG/Mistico finish they’re probably going back to tonight. This show won’t air until next Saturday.
CMLL (SUN) 10/17/2021 Arena México
1) Bengala & Leono vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Cachorro, Robin, Sangre Imperial vs Diamond, Magnus, Panterita del Ring Jr.
3) El Audaz, Kráneo, Volcano vs El Felino Jr., Luciferno, Pólvora
4) Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring, Rey Cometa vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Fugaz, Místico, Volador Jr., Star Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Terrible
The Sagrado/Gemelo trio seems to be sticking for the moment. Magia Blanca is wrestling on a show in Saltillo with other CMLL names so Panterita del Ring Jr. fills in as Depredador. Mistico is also on that Saltillo show, which means it’s bizarre he was booked on this card to begin with. Rugido is working Valiente’s show the same night with Magnus & Diamond but continues not to be booked in Arena Mexico.
CMLL announced a women’s parajes incriebles tournament on 10/19 to celebrate breast cancer awareness. It’ll be an eight-team, one-night tournament. The teams
- Lluvia & Reyna Isis
- La Vaquerita & La Metalica
- La Jarochita & Dark Sileuta
- Princesa Sugehit & Dalys
- Marcela & Ampola
- Avispa Dorada & Stephanie Vaquer
- Tiffany & Skadi
- Sexy Sol & Nautica
The last two are from Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, where women’s matches have been more regular since the post-pandemic restart.
CMLL also held a Dia de Muertos on Wednesday. The big news is CMLL says they’ve been given permission to open to 70% capacity for those shows. CMLL seems like they’ve had more space open recently, but 70% would be even higher – that’s about 11,000 people. The Dia del Muertos shows usually draw well so that added capacity is a big help. I don’t really understand how 70% is safe & 100% is not safe but I don’t expect it matters. Arena Mexico generally only is more than 70% full for a few shows a year – they’re fine if they can get to 100% by March – so this is essentially saying Arena Mexico is fully open for business. The timing also suggests Arena Coliseo’s re-opening is due to a similar pullback on restrictions.
Dia de Muertos show will include the yearly Rey del Inframundo tournament. Terrible beat Euforia last year. (Sanson had been champion prior, missed the show due to COVID.) CMLL will hold a cibernetico on Tuesday 11/02 to pick a new challenger, and the winner will face Terrible on 11/05. The cibernetico includes Volador Jr., Valiente, Templario, Los Gemelo Diablos, Gran Guerrero, Felino, Atlantis Jr., Angel de Oro and Mistico. The 11/05 show will be a streaming show. A press member asked CMLL if there’d be a women’s tournament; CMLL directed them to the women’s tag team tournament instead and noted there would be female Guardians included in the presentation for the first time.
CMLL announced TJP will be coming to CMLL. They narrowed it down to “October” at the Dia del Muertos show and indicated he wouldn’t be on those. TJP is working for MLW along with NJPW, and I believe he’ll be in CMLL in between those already scheduled dates – this isn’t a full-time residency like an NJPW young lion on an excursion.
Long time CMLL fans may remember, and TJP reminded on Twitter, that TJP actually wrestled in the promotion back in 2003. He was one of four people in the Havana Brothers trio (there were injuries) wrestling the likes of Volador, Virus, and Ricky Marvin in well-regarded matches at the time. TJP has wrestled rarely in Mexico since, though he has wrestled in US-based lucha libre indies a bit more often. Maybe his most recent high-profile lucha libre connection was beating Gran Metalik in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic, which unfortunately seems to have been the high water mark for both in that promotion.
The reaction to TJP coming to Mexico from generally non-Mexico fans has been harshly negative. TJP’s online presence has rubbed many fans the wrong way for years, but taking anti-mask among other strong alt-right takes has polarized people’s views of him. TJP is not the only wrestler to have these views, but he might be the loudest sharing them among high-profile wrestlers. His views won’t matter at all in Mexico, as we’ve seen in the recent past and will continue to see. Most of the people unhappy about TJP are unhappy he’s a part of NJPW and wouldn’t be watching CMLL at this point anyway. If you watch CMLL, it’s hard to be too picky about the people they’re using – they just need fresh people.
CMLL was obviously thrilled about being able to announce TJP, treating it as a major surprise as if it was Kamaitachi or Okada returning. I think their real excitement proofing the relationship between CMLL and NJPW is still in place by bringing in an NJPW guy. TJP had basically been an outside wrestler used to fill out NJPW USA shows until recently being added to the United Empire group. (The timing of that addition and this CMLL trip are suspiciously close.) This is a much bigger deal on the CMLL side than it is for NJPW. It’s also the sort of thing that seemed like it should’ve been happening already – NJPW has wrestlers they’re training or otherwise using in the US who might benefit from the Arena Mexico experience – and hasn’t seemed to happen maybe because of the pandemic. That original TJP/Havana Brothers tour happened with a different iteration of NJPW’s US aspirations, but it was the same seasoning idea that led NJPW to send those guys to CMLL for months and it seemed to benefit both sides. Perhaps this is just a short term idea on the NJPW side while they’re waiting for Japan to open up and can send more people there, but it sure seems like it’d be beneficial for both sides to be the start of regular exchanges.
AAA
AAA airs on Space at 5 pm this week with the second half of Heroes Inmortales
- Hijo del Tirantes, Parka Negra, Súper Fly vs Faby Apache, Mr. Iguana, Nino Hamburguesa
- Aramis, Myzteziz, Octagón Jr. vs Hiedra, Rey Escorpión, Taurus [AAA TRIOS]
- Abismo Negro Jr., Chik Tormenta, Látigo vs Chessman, Lady Shani, Pagano
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says the 12/04 show in Orizaba will be Guerra de Titanes. (Pedantic alert: the newsletter writes Guerra de Titanes was announced. A show was announced by they definitely didn’t use that name on the show.) There are still plans for a Monterrey baseball show but those haven’t been finalized. Dorian Roldan teased more news in a few days, which probably means something about this next week.
Rey Fenix and AAA are doing a bit teasing Vikingo versus Fenix. The match would be good. AAA’s big matches teases don’t have a strong rate of happening. It’s more possible if AAA is running two big shows in December (and more possible if Omega isn’t coming.)
A possible card for AEW’s upcoming Full Gear card leaked. The circumstances around the photo are very strange and Tony Khan poured cold water on the idea that it’s the final card, but we’ll go with what’s on there for now. The planned Lucha Brothers title defense is against FTR, which suggests FTR is likely involved in the AAA tag team challenge on Saturday. It’s obviously not for sure and everything on the card might change – might change because it got leaked, might change because it wasn’t final. I would have very strong feelings if the reason AAA didn’t give the tag titles to Vikingo & Laredo was that AEW was giving them FTR instead. It’s probably best not to get feel anything about this until whatever happens on Saturday happens.
Other News
IWRG (THU) 10/14/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Baby Star Jr. b Shalom 
2) Diosa Atenea & Satania vs Diosa Quetzal & Lolita 
Lolita replaced Bengalee (injury); Atenea/Quetzal continue to feud
3) Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli b Akbal, Caballero de Plata, Mexica [EdM Trios, quarterfinal]
Caballero de Plata was the surprise partner, it didn’t help.
4) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura b Fuerza Guerrera NG, Mictlan Mx, Súper Nova [EdM Trios, quarterfinal]
Mictlan was hurt during the match
5) Galeno del Mal, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Karaoui, Lil Blay, Sweet Daddy Soul
Piratas and Wagners had issues but won.
All the issues headed to the Castillo del Terror show.
Dragon Lee & Kenny King defend the ROH tag team championships against SOS on ROH TV this week. I wouldn’t be surprised of a title change – SOS have been the rising stars of the promotion in 2021 and ROH either has to announce a new deal with Dragon Lee or start moving titles off of him – but it didn’t feel like a title changing coming when the build-up aired on TV this past week.
The US will re-opening the land borders with Mexico and Canada for travel on November 8th for fully vaccinated people. There obviously had been movement already – flight had always been open for essential travel and essential was an increasingly fuzzy concept – but this will make it easier for those traveling back and forth.
Mexico City announced they’re moving into green health code and will start to ease restrictions. Outdoor shows can have full capacity. Bars and night clubs can have 50% capacity, though face masks are still required. I don’t know if any of this is a good idea, just that they’re trending to dropping more requirements as time goes by.
Octagon counter suing two men who are believed to be his sons over child support came back up in the news yesterday. Octagon revealed these men as his son at a 2016 press conference, when he was angry with AAA using Flamita as Octagon Jr., with it being quietly revealed these were children from an affair with the late luchadora Sahori. In 2020, one of the twins revealed Octagon had actually lost a case for child support years back, just never paid what he was ordered to pay, and a friendly lawyer had offered to re-open the case. Octagon said he was suing them back and wouldn’t accept them as his sons without a DNA test, which seems like something maybe he should’ve asked for in the original court case. Nothing seems to have changed in the year and a half; Octagon still wants that DNA test and says he’s living on retirement money and these kids don’t deserve anything.
SuperLuchas has a great piece on the history of the UWA, focusing on the US promotion with that name.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.