CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 12/03/2021 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Mije vs Átomo, Chamuel, Micro Ángel [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Oro Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs El Coyote, Espanto Jr., Nitro
3) Fugaz, Gran Guerrero, Titán vs Ángel de Oro, Cavernario, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Soberano Jr. vs Templario, Star Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Virus, Espíritu Negro, El Felino Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE, #1 Contenders]
Final two advance to next week. Felino Jr. replaced Raziel
The cibernetico is the usual CMLL bit of the final two advancing to next week’s show, though at least one participant is unaware. Soberano Jr. vacated the Mexican National Welterweight championship to participate in this one so that’s one more tournament to come. It also makes him a favorite to be on the final two. Templario would be great in the final, but it may also mean he’d have to give up the national middleweight title and yet another tournament, so I’m rooting against him. Dragon Rojo and Virus may be better rbets, though I need to see the weigh-in on Virus.
CMLL announced Felino Jr. in for Raziel earlier today. That’s three straight shows Raziel has been advertised on and hasn’t appeared. It’s as if he and CMLL are waiting on a test result, they keep putting him on lineups expecting to get the needed result, and it hasn’t come yet. Just a theory, not confirmed.
Not too much to this show, which isn’t airing live and will premiere on TV next Saturday. There’s no room for another angle with next week being the start of Gran Alternativa anyway. The second match may set up more cage match challenges. There are not too many micros left to be a Micro Gemelo Diablo, so it would have be some surprising double duty or there are new guys they’ve kept hidden somewhere. It’s still very weird to add more rudos micro in a division that already is heavy on the rudo side.
CMLL (SAT) 12/04/2021 Arena Coliseo
1) Leono & Retro vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Acero, Aéreo, Mercurio vs Fantasy, Pequeño Violencia, Shockercito [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Eléctrico, Inquisidor, Robin vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Panterita del Ring Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) El Audaz, Hombre Bala Jr., Star Jr. vs Felino Jr., Luciferno, Pólvora
5) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Soberano Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Gran Guerrero, Templario
The Hombre Bala trial series goes on. Robin is back with his normal level and really Hombre Bala is with the guys he would’ve been with if he hadn’t gotten his push killed the first time.
CMLL (SUN) 12/05/2021 Arena México
1) Bengala & Leono vs Cholo & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Cachorro, Rugido, Sangre Imperial vs Enfermero Jr., Grako, Nitro
3) La Jarochita & Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola & La Metálica
4) Dark Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Hechicero, Negro Casas
Expect more challenges in the second match. Nothing else pops out.
CMLL (MON) 12/06/2021 Arena Puebla
1) Meyer & Sonic vs Black Tiger & Dark Soul
2) Arkalis & Pegasso vs Nitro & Toro Bill Jr.
3) El Audaz, Esfinge, Stigma vs Felino Jr., Pólvora, Siky Ozama
4) Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Titán vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo I, Sagrado
5) Místico vs Averno
Averno appeared on CMLL Informa to announce his surprise return to CMLL, when he’d been on lineups for days. He’ll make his Friday show return next week. This show is the first time for that Averno/Mistico singles match in a CMLL ring since 2010, and that sounds like a good idea for a holiday Arena Mexico.
Dark Soul popped up here back in 2019 so he may have been around more by now if not for the pandemic stoppage.
CMLL (TUE) 12/07/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Aurelius & Maxiums vs Atilius & Rey Urano
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro vs Destructor, Persa, Quka
3) Bestia Negra, Carlo Roggi, Difunto, Fúnebre vs Cris Skin, Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Dark Silueta © vs Lluvia [MEX WOMEN]
first defense
5) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Soberano Jr. vs Averno, Mephisto, Principe Daniel
Silueta will likely get the big hometown win. The third match is heading to a big apuesta match in the next couple of weeks. The opener appears to include a new team of Romanos.
AAA
TripleMania Regia is on Fite, $20 USD for 6 matches starting at 6:30 pm. If you’re in Mexico, you can’t buy the show, but you can see the last four matches starting at 8 pm on Space, and the rest of the show next week.
I wrote a too-long preview of TripleMania Regia for Voices of Wrestling, which should be up today. I came to the conclusion the show will probably be good but it’s full of matches I’m not excited to see. They needed to have a stronger AAA lineup for their return to FITE, and they swerved into featuring a lot of non-AAA people. Losing Omega hurts, but that’s not the reason there’s no big blowoff match on the show, just a lot of first or second acts of stories. I’ll have a recap for the show on Post Wrestling Saturday.
SI reports AAA considered running a Hijo del Vikingo vs Laredo Kid vs Dragon Lee vs Fenix match for the vacant AAA mega championship but decided not to do it. They didn’t want to change the announced tag matches and decided to go with the imports instead. It’s a hard story to believe because the proposed match is so much better than what AAA is doing that leaking such a thing is also telling on yourself. Even if AAA didn’t think of the idea, they probably should’ve gone with or something like it. I understand not wanting to break up the FTR/Lucha Brothers match, but it’s hard to defend keeping the other one as announced. The Dragon Lee/Dralistico versus Laredo Kid/whoever match easily could’ve been postponed to another show, and everyone involved being added to the title match would’ve made a lot more sense than what we end up with.
The version of this story in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter quotes “AAA” as saying they believed Omega was going to be out for a long time, and they would’ve done an interim title or just postponed the title match if they had known it would be a couple of months. The WON had reported Omega was hoping to return around February before AAA had announced they were vacating the title, but the newsletter also seems less definite about that February timeline in this report. AAA says the best names they could get from AEW and and liked the price on were Fish and Lethal. (It doesn’t appear AEW did AAA any great favor for losing on Omega; thems the breaks I guess.) They got permission from ROH to use Bandido even though he’s free to work for whomever in Mexico. In my mind, the only two viable finishes to that fiveway are Vikingo pinning Bandido or Bandido pinning Vikingo, so AAA may have wanted to make sure there’s no issue if they choose to have Vikingo beat the ROH champ.
AEW is doing Dark tapings today, which may have factored into the names AEW offered AAA for TripleMania. California’s Misterioso appeared on the tapings in an enhancement role; he was there previously during the pandemic. FTR has already made it to Mexico.
Both Chessman and Murder and Dave say Chessman will replace Monster Clown in their TripleMania Regia match. AAA continues to promote Monster Clown anyway.
Azteca had said their TripleMania Regia airing would start earlier than the show normally airs, at 10:30. It’s now being advertised as it’s normal time of 11:30 (and it often gets pushed late because boxing goes long.)
Fenix missed this week’s AEW show but will still be on the AAA show tomorrow. The WON confirms it’s a visa issue; Fenix is believed to be in Mexico already so it won’t affect TripleMania Regia. That match being pulled from Rampage has nothing to do with it happening on TripleMania Regia.
AAA announced Vicki Guerrero will accompany FTR at TripleMania Regia. They taped a promo building this up, which AAA still hasn’t aired. The La Empresa vignette probably scheduled to air two weeks ago did turn up on social media, so maybe the FTR one will air Saturday.
Cibernetico and KAOZ director Alonso Botello appeared in an interview to insist that Cibernetico is signed by the Monterrey-based indie group exclusively. AAA continues to tease Cibernetico showing at TripleMania Regia, but KAOZ is claiming they AAA hasn’t reached out to them to make a deal to use Cibernetico on the show. They did sound willing to work with AAA if AAA called.
Super Fly announced on Facebook that he was leaving AAA after 15 years. He thanked Antonio Pena, Joaquin Roldan, Maricela Pena, Dorian Roldan and Jorge Flores. Super Fly had hinted on social media he wanted to move on from AAA for months and showed up on an indie show in October without explaining why. TripleMania Regia may have been his final scheduled date and so the announcement came after he was sure he wasn’t going to be needed in Monterrey. Super Fly looked like he still had something left in the tank in AAA, but also that AAA had grouped him in with other veterans they weren’t going to do much with going forward. I expect there will be similar announcements from other AAA people as soon as their commitments are finished this weekend.
El Enconomista has an article on the Charly/AAA jersey tie-up. Charly has been doing themed jerseys each year since 2018, previously with Netflix show Club de Cuervo, Star Wars, and a Dia de Muertos theme. The alternate jerseys sell about 25-30% of the normal home/away shirts, hoping to pull in both fans of the teams and fans of the concept they’re doing each year. There has been at least talk of wrestlers representing each of the six teams involved appearing on AAA shows, similar to the Marvel Lucha Libre characters, but that doesn’t read like it’s past the idea stage.
Other News
IWRG (THU) 12/02/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Cronista del Ring, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Shalom b Sol 
2) Black Dragón & Legendario b Limbo & Mosca 
3) Lolita & Satania b Artemiz (Laguna) & Sagitarius
4) Cerebro Negro, Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro b Apolo Estrada Jr., Billy Jones, Chris Stone Jr.
5) Gigante Orión, Kb6, Sweet Daddy Soul b Hijo del Alebrije, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Toxin
Someone did a dive off the middle level, which makes it harsh to call it a forgettable Thursday show. The fans felt that way, low attendance for this one.
IWRG (SUN) 12/05/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sol vs X-Devil
2) Legendario & Rey Halcón vs Shalom & Vudu Max
3) Aster Boy & Hell Boy vs Dick Angelo 3G & Puma de Oro
4) Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura, Máximo vs Cerebro Negro, Hijo Del Pirata Moragn, Sweet Daddy Soul
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. © vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [EdM Trios]
first defense
6) Hijo del Espectro Jr. vs Gigante Orión [IWRG IC HEAVY]
7) Mafioso vs Sick Boy [hair, chain]
Two title matches and one hair match is more loaded than usual; Maximo’s even here for some reason. This is an IWRG chain match so just beating someone is too easy and touching all four corners is too normal. There will be a key hanging above the ring that you must use to unlock yourself from the chain before going for the win.
The Crash , MLW (FRI) 12/03/2021 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Mecha Wolf vs Extreme Tiger
2) Toto vs Próximo
3) Hijo Del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Octagón Jr. (AAA) vs Alex Kane, Davey Richards, Rey Horus
4) Arez, Black Danger, Dinámico vs Aramis, Destiny, Myzteziz Jr.
5) Richard Holliday vs Psycho Clown
6) Bestia 666 vs Mads Krugger [Ladder]
7) Aerostar & Drago (AAA) vs Rivera & Slice Boogie
8) Hammerstone & Pagano vs Black Taurus (Indie) & King Muertes
Wrestlers were already said to be in Thursday to film pre-tapes, which should those heading to TripleMania Regia to not need to stick around. There are some undercard matches that could be good, maybe the fourth match, but also some MLW weirdness. At least Vikingo has an easy match. before TripleMania Regia. This should start airing on MLW’s YouTube show in the next couple of weeks. LA Park was announced for this show but had previously announced he and his family would not be appearing. MLW’s EJ Nudka was also advertised and isn’t on this lineup.
GCW tonight has a FITE show with Bandido versus Tony Deppen and a lucha libre trios match. Tomorrow’s show, against TripleMania, included Deppen versus Demonic Flamita.
This weekend’s ROH TV has Bandido vs PJ Black. It’s possible that’s Bandido’s last appearance on ROH TV. There’s three episodes (and 1 PPV and some YouTube matches) left after this, and none of the luchadors are on the 12/11 weekend show.
AAA , Big Lucha (SUN) 12/19/2021 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Viajero vs Limbo
2) Éxtasis, Radioactivo, Sussy Love vs Kong Brother I, Kong Brother II, Lady Maravilla
3) Cometa Mata & Skayde vs Komander & Negro Navarro
4) Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Látigo vs Bendito, Elemental, Yutani
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
6) Emperador Azteca, Flamita, Súper Nova, Texano Jr. vs Bandido, Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Gigante Orión, Microman
I point out this lineup to draw attention to Microman in a cage match and Komander & Negro Navarro as a tag team. A lot of AAA names on this show, which probably speaks to Bandido’s improved relationship with AAA. Torreon’s Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano says they’ll have a Big Lucha show (with Vikingo) soon; that fits for a holiday 12/23 show but no date is announced.
The 06/11 Lucha Libre Expo in Philadelphia announced a Damian 666 & Black Taurus versus Psicosis (I) and TBA match. That’s good, but the real news is the silhouette is obviously El Hijo del Vikingo. The Instagram post goes as far as tagging Vikingo. I’d guess the plan is for Vikingo to be there, there’s still visa paperwork waiting to be processed before he can be announced, but tickets are going on sale today so they want the hin tout there. Expo Lucha is a Masked Republic project, so there’s a really strong chance they’re working on the visa themselves and it’s far enough along they feel safe in teasing him. I’m sure we’ll all know when it’s actually final.
Alberto el Patron (on the KO a la Carrera podcast, noted by PlanetaWrestling) says Nacion Lucha Libre is returning in January. That fits with the “first season” shows being quickly run through on FITE, though believe it when a poster comes out. It does confirm Alberto is still with the project.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
Record has a column clearing up the Azteca/Fox Deportes story. WWE is not moving to Azteca; nothing is. The new owners of Fox Deportes bought the channel and the content but didn’t get the ad sales department, so Azteca will be weirdly selling ads for them. That graphic was meant to illustrate all the different properties that Azteca’s ad buyers could now get time on, but nothing really changes for the viewers or the content.
Mexico City’s government is proposing a 2% tax on all electronic commerce starting in 2022, which would seem to include streaming events. This would affect the prices of CMLL PPVs most of all, and other promotions who do streaming content in Mexico City – maybe next year’s TripleMania. It wouldn’t be a big change; it’d be about 20 cents USD more for the most expensive shows on the current CMLL price scale and would likely be passed directly onto the consumer. This is a proposed change and has not been approved yet.