There are spoilers for the MLW taping down in the Other section, if you don’t want to see them.
AAA
AAA TV (SAT) 12/04/2021 Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon [ESTO, FITE, Lucha Central, Milenio, Post Wrestling, Record, TV Azteca, Voices of Wrestling]
1) Gran Mazo & Leyenda Americana b Engañoso & Venenoide
Did not air on the FITE stream
2) Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla b Faby Apache, Lady Shani, Sexy Star 2
10:19. Hijo del Tirantes fast counted a pin after Tirantes Sr. had tried to help Faby Apache.
3) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana and Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Psicosis II [AAA TRIOS, #1 Contenders]
13:25. Cuatrero & Forastero beat Arez. Ciberentico returned to AAA prior to the match, promising to destroy Konnan and lead the Vipers. He ran in after the match, laying out the six non-Vipers.
4) Diamante Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis b Chessman, Dave The Clown, Murder Clown
14:08. Empresa pinned Dave the Clown after other identified clowns revealed themselves to be La Empresa members. Chessman was stretchered out, though not until Adonis missed a moonsault on him.
5) Dragón Lee & Dralistico b Laredo Kid & Willie Mack
13:54. Dragon Lee beat surprise wrestler Willie Mack, who became quickly popular. Hermanos Lee repeated their challenge for whoever end up tag team champions. Dragon Lee also challenged Laredo Kid for his Cruiserweight title, which Laredo Kid accepted.
6) Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood © b Fénix & Pentagón Jr. [AAA TAG, Ladder]
FTR and Lucha Brothers yelled at each other and brawled prior to the fifth match. This was made a ladder match for no established reason and with no explanation. Vickie Guerrero, seconding FTR, threw powder in Penta’s face to cause him to fall backwards through a table, allowing Cash to get the belts.
7) Cain Velasquez, Pagano, Psycho Clown b LA Park, Rey Escorpión, Taurus
Cain Velasquez wore a mask in the style of the Arizona State Sun Devils. The crowd was strongly pro-Park and anti-Cain as a result. Cain had Park in a submission until Park’s son ran in. Park had the advantage but was distracted by a Rayo de Jalisco Jr. appearance (and Rayo mistakenly starting his promo.) Velasquez submitted Park. Park and the rudos walked by Rayo without incident as he came to the ring to talk about his family’s history in Monterrey and his own in AAA. NGD appeared to confront Rayo and were eventually run off by the tecnicos to boos.
8) Hijo Del Vikingo b Samuray del Sol, Bandido, Bobby Fish, Jay Lethal [AAA MEGA]
14:22. scheduled as Omega 7th defense. AAA stripped the title from Omega on November 22nd because Omega would be unable to compete due to injury, then started naming challengers over the following days. All wrestlers generally worked as tecnicos. First pinfall to a win, with Vikingo defeating Sol via Cuerno del Vikingo reverse 450 splash. No one else felt as close to winning. The AAA tecnicos celebrated with Vikingo. Vikingo said he wanted to defend against Omega.
I’m not right all the time – I’m wrong a fair bit – but I figured out what kind of show this would be in the preview and I was dead on. The undercard was a heat building exercise with few good matches, the semi-main was the freak show of LA Park fighting the MMA fighter and the main event was good but not the Omega/Vikingo level of match that would’ve made the show. Vikingo winning was a nice moment, one we’ll remember for a long time if this gets followed up well, and the rest will be quickly forgotten. AAA drew a big house and trending on social media for a show that wasn’t “one of the biggest shows of the year” quality. I didn’t love the Mexico City TripleMania either but it came off better than this show with disappointing matches and nonsense. There’s always going to be a high level of nonsense with AAA, but there wasn’t anything like Pagano/Chessman level entertaining nonsense from last December’s TripleMania. There have been worse shows with a TripleMania show on it, but this didn’t click.
The main event had Vikingo with the biggest moments, which is exactly what you’d want out of the match. It just didn’t have quiet enough to feel like the other people were worthy opponents. The goal was to get everyone their time, but five guys getting time in a sub fifteen match meant the match was largely people shuffling in and out. There are some people who I don’t recall doing much outside of the (midcard cliche) everyone takes a turn hitting their finish so someone can break up the pin bit. This still worked because the crowd in Monterrey really wanted to see Vikingo win the title and they got it. Everyone was five, the match just didn’t convince me I was wrong many of these people were unnecessary.
The semi-main was another great example of everyone underestimating how beloved LA Park is to a Mexican crowd. He wants to be a rudo, he did everything he could to look like he was outmatched by Cain, and the crowd strongly got behind him because they believe him. AAA’s surely going to spend a full year doing 30th Anniversary-themed cameos, but the Rayo one didn’t work. I hope he was just there to do a cameo for AAA, but Arena Lopez Mateos actually doing that NGD/Rayo match in a few weeks. Rayo’s talked like a man who plans to keep his mask to the grave, if not beyond, so I don’t believe they’re heading to a TripleMania mask match out of this.
The ladder match – not announced, not explained, with the belts hanging bizarrely towards a corner instead of the center of the ring – was the least of a disappointing Fenix/Penta vs FTR feud. Fenix (& Cash) disappeared for most of the match, the ladder spots were minimal and didn’t add any value, Vickie throwing powder in Penta’s face causing him to fall back through a table was ridiculous. AAA will keep FTR as champions as long as possible because they’re willing to use racist and xenophobic tropes to get heat in ways most people find in bad taste or too risky to do, and because AAA loves the idea of keeping their belts on AAA TV (which FTR are more into than Omega.) It’s unclear how FTR are going to going to work with teams like Dragon Lee & Dralistico, who have even a less sense of the style FTR want to work than the Lucha Brothers, but good matches for the tag team titles have shifted into a low priority.
Willie Mack got quickly over in his AAA return; he was the foreigner on the show who got the most favorable reaction. Dralistico missed a moonsault badly near the finish and doesn’t seem to be at the level of his brother. Dragon Lee & Laredo Kid should be a great match but it’s not evident what AAA is getting of value by highlighting the Munoz family over the own talent. Maybe it’d work better if they weren’t doing the same thing with the two previous trios matches, where outsiders La Empresa and NGD both defeated the home team. Events like TripleMania usually include one of those outsiders being defeated, and it was a fault in planning that AAA wasn’t in that part of the story for almost all of the matches. The Vipers trios match was slightly better and the crowd seemed up for Cibernetico’s return, though Cibernetico destroying everyone in his return seemed like an ominous sign. One of many about how AAA values the people who are in for TripleMania versus the people who were working empty arena shows all year. . The AAA luchadoras wrestled a fairly decent match that was completely overshadowed by the Tirantes family drama and the lumberjacks; you can tell the women have pride because they put it effort when it clearly wasn’t going to matter.
If you’re looking to watch the show for great matches, the main event and the Dragon Lee tag match are two matches to watch. If you’re looking for disasters, maybe watch the Empresa match.
The English announcing (Matt Striker & DJ Ocho) was largely panned, no different than usual. They appeared to be doing the show remotely and they sounded too quiet, something that could’ve been fixed and wasn’t. That’s the way of AAA. It doesn’t sound like they did well on the matches they were prepared for, but starting off the show with a bonus match they were unprepared for might as well have been sabotage. It ensured they’d lose the trust of their audience immediately by throwing out a bunch of people they didn’t know they had to know. It’s not like calling the match was impossible, anyone who watched even just the last AAA major show (Heroes Inmortales) would’ve known the angle and known the women, but these two did not. AAA is too chaotic and too unorganized for anyone to competently call a TripleMania with just a day of preparation. It’s probably going to just get harder as AAA throws in more random figures from the past on the 30th Anniversary show.
My hunch is part of FITE’s requirements for carrying TripleMania is offering an English language feed and AAA did the minimum they were required to do while lying to themselves it wouldn’t matter if it was bad. AAA very noticeably never promoted the English language feed to their audience, only Fite did. Konnan was already trying to shift the blame to FITE on his podcast that came out before the show by saying FITE had picked them. It’s too bad FITE couldn’t pick more prepared people if they did pick them, but AAA knowing their show would have a bad broadcast didn’t stop them from taking the check from FITE. Most people won’t know or care who picked the announcers, just that it was yet another show with bad English announcing and it’ll be a reason maybe they don’t spend money on AAA next. AAA is delusional about their ability to break into the US if they can’t address this issue, and they’ve shown no interest in getting it right. I’ve lost track how many times they’ve got it wrong.
(Konnan also blamed the TV networks for having two brawls in a row, with him knowing they should’ve put the Dragon Lee match in the middle to break it out. The implication is Space requires to have Dragon Lee & Dralistico as part of the four matches they were airing. In the end, due to AAA running late, Space got to air five matches and they would’ve still seen that tag match if it was moved to split up the brawls. It was not moved.)
The technical part of the FITE broadcast went fine. The stream played without issue, having a player that allows you to rewind and rewatch later is a great improvement over CMLL. The music seemed drowned out a bit – there were a couple of times where the announcers were reacting to something we couldn’t hear – but otherwise no big issue. The English announcers were said to be quiet on their side. I was told by people in the arena that the mics seemed to be picking up just the first few rows, so you heard the people who paid a lot of tickets because they really love wrestling chanting for some people who weren’t getting the same reaction farther back. It definitely made the show better but didn’t seem to be representative of the crowd as a whole.
Konnan sat down with Jose Manuel Guillen and Hugo Savinovich for an interview after the show, sounding understandably exhausted. It started as a real conversation about the show but Konnan drifted into the storyline on occasion. He repeated the same complaints about “AAA” stripping Omega of the title because he was a foreigner, without getting into the reality of Konnan being part of that decision. (Also, Konnan’s storyline complaint doesn’t make sense, because they haven’t stripped Purrazzo of the title and she’s going just as long as champion. Konnan could be intended to be a lying heel as a character, but the babyfaces don’t get to challenge his lies.) Konnan talked highly about the roster, though it was strange for him to talk about the strong fan reactions for Mr. Iguana, Nino Hamburguesa, and Big Mami when known were booked on the show. He also went through a list of AEW names, seemingly promising every AEW star (up to and including Punk & Danielson) are just so close to coming in. There’s obviously value in bringing meaningful outside names, but Konnan’s talk about AEW always makes it sound like he’s much more excited about one-off guess appearances by AEW than doing anything with the people already in AAA. I guess those are AEW wrestlers are the real stars.
Konnan also appeared at last week’s EMW show, saying he would be part of both that promotion and the Crash, with EMW running a non-Auditorio building going forward. Konnan is known to be creatively involved in at least AAA, The Crash, KAOZ, and EMW currently in Mexico.
Hijo del Vikingo made his first defense of the Mega Championship in Saltillo on the AAA/BARBA spot show on Sunday night, defeating Laredo Kid. It was said to be really good, as good as anything on TripleMania. You’d expect that with those two. The show also included Taurus defeating Bandido and NGD beating Poder del Norte. BARBA shows are taped for Mas Lucha though it may be a couple of months before we see it.
Vikingo had been scheduled for a show in Durango, which was postponed.
AAA is essentially done for the year. There are spot shows scheduled, but no TV tapings until January. There is still the 12/19 show in Mexico City, though it doesn’t appear to be airing anywhere. I continue to expect some wrestlers may be moving on from the promotion, but no one announced as much this weekend. I’d expect we’ll get some of AAA’s take on TripleMania Regia when this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter comes out. The next bit of actual news might be whenever that first January show gets announced. It’s been in Mexico in recent years, so AAA might not talk about until after that 12/19 show.
I may not end up streaming AAA on Space this week. That was the original plan when multiple matches were to debut on Space. AAA’s PPV ended up airing everything but the out-of-continuity Marvel match. I understand not everyone watched the PPV, but you’ll have waited a week to see the two matches that’ll be repeated. It can probably wait until I have a chance to upload it instead, rather than me trying to stream while airing another show. Still thinking this out.
CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 12/03/2021 Arena México [AS, CMLL, Cronista del Ring, Estrellas del Ring, Kasier Sports, R de Rudo, Record, The Gladiatores]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Mije b Átomo, Chamuel, Micro Ángel [Relevos Increíbles] 
2) Oro Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b El Coyote, Espanto Jr., Nitro 
Tecnicos took 23, the last when Coyote & Nitro unmasked Stigma & Pegasso. More masks challenges.
3) Ángel de Oro, Cavernario, Terrible b Fugaz, Gran Guerrero, Titán [Relevos Increíbles]
Ingobernables took 1/3
5) Espíritu Negro b Felino Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE, quarterfinal]
6) Templario b Virus [CMLL MIDDLE, quarterfinal]
7) Dragón Rojo Jr. b Star Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE, quarterfinal]
8) Soberano Jr. b Guerrero Maya Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE, quarterfinal]
9) Templario b Espíritu Negro [CMLL MIDDLE, semifinal]
10) Soberano Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE, semifinal]
Templario attacked Soberano after the match to build up to next week’s final
CMLL wrestlers and fans often say that every wrestler is replaceable. They’ll always find a new person, so it doesn’t matter if an NGD or a Microman leaves. CMLL doesn’t seem to believe this is the case with Soberano. They brought him back to win a prestigious tournament and now it appears he’ll likely win a world title next week against his best opponent. That’s a recruiting push to keep him around and it seems like it’s going to work. It’s also going to work for us watching CMLL, because a pushed and motivated Soberano seems like good news. Maybe more valuable people should make it clear they could go elsewhere.
The Micros didn’t look like the other missing micros in the highlights I saw. They’re clearly not the guys who wrestled as Mini Gemelo Diablo in Matamoros, but I’m less sure who they are.
CMLL (SAT) 12/04/2021 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Leono & Retro b Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Fantasy, Pequeño Violencia, Shockercito b Acero, Aéreo, Mercurio [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Shockercito took 2/3.
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Panterita del Ring Jr. b Eléctrico, Inquisidor, Robin [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Deperdarores took 1/3, Panterita beating Electrico to set up a MEX LIGHT title match
4) El Audaz, Hombre Bala Jr., Star Jr. b Felino Jr., Luciferno, Pólvora
tecnicos took 2/3 (Hombre Bala finally won a match clean)
5) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Soberano Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Gran Guerrero, Templario
tecnicos took 2/3.
Mistico worked this show in Arena Coliseo, then the main event in Arena Lopez Mateos, and then the Arena Neza main event the same night. He’s in a bit of demand. Electrico is a champion CMLL forgets exists for years at a time so any title defense is a potential title change. Panterita Jr. would be one of the youngest national champions ever if he did win.
CMLL (SUN) 12/05/2021 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO]
1) Cholo & Príncipe Odín Jr. b Bengala & Leono
2) Cachorro, Rugido, Sangre Imperial DQ Enfermero Jr., Grako, Nitro
tecnicos took 2/3, Nitro unmasking Sangre Imperial to led to the same challenges
3) La Jarochita & Princesa Sugehit b Amapola & La Metálica
tecnicas took 1/3
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Dark Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring
rudos took 1/3
5) Euforia, Hechicero, Negro Casas b Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr.
rudos took 2/3
Nothing much going on here outside of challenges. Still waiting for the cage match to be announced, though this week will probably be more about announcing the Gran Alternativa teams. CMLL definitely doesn’t have 16 rookies, so either this is going to be an unexpected flood of new names or it’ll be filled up with guys who’ve just been in the first two matches forever.
CMLL’s upcoming Friday shows will air on PPV. A tweet says the two Gran Alternativa blocks will be available for 99 pesos ($4.67 USD). The tweet doesn’t say exactly the final will be on Ticketmaster Live, but it seems a safe bet CMLL will be streaming on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. An ultrarare CMLL reply on Twitter actually revealed they’d be back on Ticketmaster Live a few days ago. CMLL tournament block shows are typically bad but Soberano/Templario should be great and Averno’s return to Arena Mexico might be a special moment. I’m less certain about the 12/17 show, unless CMLL rushes to Mistico/Averno.
Today’s Arena Puebla show has a Mistico/Averno main event. Nothing special on Tuesday Arena Mexico. Tuesday Guadalajara has the Lluvia/Dark Silueta MEX WOMEN title match, where it’d be shocking if Silueta lost.
Miguel Reducindo’s Mas Lucha column explains Blue Panther Jr.’s absence is due to “health issues that urgently needed attention.” The exact issues are not specified, neither when he’ll return. Reducindo also notes the reduced number of edecanes on CMLL shows since the start of COVID and mentioned something happening which could lead to them going away permanently, though it’s not said what happened.
Lucha Libre Elite officially announced they’d return to Arena Mexico in 2022, which had been the hint for a while. No specific date yet, so we don’t really know any more than we did before. The Reducindo article mentioned Super Fly might end up in Elite, which may be a sign of what kind of wrestlers you expect.
Other
Spoilers for the MLW taping follow
The Crash , MLW (FRI) 12/03/2021 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California [Mas Lucha, TJ Sports, Zona Ruda]
1) Próximo b Toto
sets up a The Crash JUNIOR match
2) Ej Nduka b Adrian Quest
quick match
3) Mecha Wolf b Extreme Tiger
money thrown in
4) Aramis, Black Destiny, Myzteziz Jr. b Arez, Black Danger, Dinámico
Aramis beat Arez. Money thrown in.
5) Mads Krugger b Bestia 666
advertised as a ladder match but wrestled as a hardcore match
6) Aerostar & Drago (AAA) b Rivera & Slice Boogie
7) Psycho Clown b Richard Holliday
Aria Blake seconded Holliday, but was taken away by a mystery man in a red mask
8) Hijo Del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Octagón Jr. (AAA) b Alex Kane, Rey Horus, Villano III Jr.
Villano III Jr. replaced Davey Richards. Alex Kane walked out his partner. Vikingo beat Villano 3.
9) Hammerstone & Pagano b Black Taurus (Indie) & King Muertes
These tapings are always as weird for MLW fans as FantasticaMania is for NJPW people because it’s just a lot of people they’re not familiar with and a few sprinkled in regulars. They may have shot vignetes to hype them – I think that was MLW putting out a in-character article about an open door policy is how they’re going to explain the AAA wrestlers this time around.
I think MLW is about two or three episodes from starting to air these. Zona Ruda was disappointed with no LA Park or Davey Richards, who had both been advertised. The trios matches were said to be the best on the show. Attendance was good but down from the last show, which was The Crash Anniversary show with no announced lineup. No next date was announced for The Crash outside of returning in 2022.
MLW also did an unannounced afternoon taping using the training area behind Auditorio de Tijuana. Maybe the idea was to get a similar “run-down” feel of Lucha Underground, though that area is less the cinematic version of those temple sets and more actually run-down. I hope they at least moved the nicer ring out. Matches taped included Pagano versus Savio Vega and Aramis versus Hijo del Vikingo. It’d be nice if AAA could put their two wrestlers against each on their own show, but it’s not to be.
Drago Kid did very well in his weekend GCW appearances. I don’t think people grasped how much that was due to the work of Gringo Loco and Flamita basing very well for him, though Drago Kid also obviously contributed.
IWRG (SUN) 12/05/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Cronista del Ring, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Sol b X-Devil 
2) Legendario & Rey Halcón b Shalom & Vudu Max
3) Dick Angelo 3G & Puma de Oro b Aster Boy & Hell Boy
Aster Boy slipped on a springboard moonsault attempt to the floor late in the match and needed a stretcher.
4) Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura, Máximo b Cerebro Negro, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Sweet Daddy Soul
Sweet Daddy Soul betrayed his team, with Gigante Orion and KB6 backing him up.
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. © b Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [EdM Trios]
first defense. Abismo Negro Jr. got involved to cost the Oficials the match
6) Hijo del Espectro Jr. © b Gigante Orión [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense
7) Mafioso b Sick Boy [hair, chain]
Mafioso used brass knucks
ROH posted the Dragon Lee versus Jonathan Gresham match for free on YouTube. Their full show, which includes something that starts as PJ Black versus Bandido, is available on their website. ROH will announce Dalton Castle’s TV title opponent on Tuesday, and I don’t believe it’ll be a Dragon Lee rematch.
PWR will air their 09/25 show as a Fite PPV this Friday. It’s $10. The page doesn’t list the lineup, but the results Lucha Central posted have Rayo de Jalisco & Mariachi Loco versus LA Park & Hijo de LA Park, as well as a Baronessa/Lady Apache match and Misterioso versus JR Kratos.
Black Terry Jr. has highlights of this weekend’s Zona 23. The card for this one came out late; I didn’t know there was a show until this weekend.
A video of an unmasked Mr. Niebla was posted on Tiktok by a relative and then shared in various wrestling articles. Maybe this is news, I’m not sure. It also feels like introducing a person’s private life for some posthumous clicks.
Milenio tours a lucha libre themed hotel in the Arena Mexico neighborhood. This look like the hotel’s actual website.