CMLL
CMLL’s Arena Mexico tonight has block A of the Gran Alternativa, the return of Averno to Arena Mexico and Soberano/Templario for the vacant CMLL middleweight championship. You’ve seen the lineup but I feel like posting it again anyway.
CMLL (FRI) 12/10/2021 Arena México
1) Dulce Gardenia, El Audaz, Espíritu Negro vs Disturbio, Nitro, Pólvora
2) Magia Blanca & Volador Jr. vs Akuma & Gran Guerrero and Blue Panther & Cachorro and El Coyote & Euforia and Sonic & Stuka Jr. and Enfermero Jr. & Mephisto and Panterita del Ring & Panterita del Ring Jr. and Cavernario & Rugido [Gran Alternativa, semifinal]
3) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, 8f]
4) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, 8f]
5) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, 8f]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, 8f]
7) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, quarterfinal]
8) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, quarterfinal]
9) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, semifinal]
10) Soberano Jr. vs Templario [CMLL MIDDLE, final]
11) Fugaz, Místico, Star Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Averno, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
It’s a 99 pesos/$4.74 Ticketmaster show. There are ways this can go wrong, but it’s as good a value as CMLL is likely to offer on this Ticketmaster shows. The Panteritas or the Panthers making it to the finals would be the best story, but it’s still Magia Blanca & Volador Jr. until we know different.
CMLL officially announced the expected holiday cage match. It’ll take place on New Year’s Day, with both mask and hair on the line. The participants:
- Dulce Gardenia
- Sangre Imperial
- Espiritu Negro
- Stigma
- Pegasso
- Audaz
- Disturbio
- Coyote
- Polvora
- Nitro
- Akuma
- Okumura
It’s unlikely someone is going to lose a mask when hair is on the line; it’d have to be a case where like Nitro wants the payoff but can’t do a long singles match on his own. (I still think they’d try anyway.) Dulce Gardenia, Espiritu Negro, Disturbio, Akuma, and Okumura are those with their hair on line. It’d be surprising if Gardenia or Okumura lost their hair in something like this but not impossible. CMLL hasn’t announced plans for streaming this show, but it’s a safe bet it’ll be available.
CMLL (SUN) 12/12/2021 Arena México
1) Kaligua vs Pequeño Olímpico
2) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Micro Ángel
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Oro Jr. vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Okumura
4) Diamond, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Titán vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
The third match has Okumura & Magia Blanca from the cage match, so they’ll be feuding. Diamond getting the semi-main over his other Depredadores partners may be notable. Who would’ve thought Cancerbero would be a regular semi-main guy two years ago. If Microman was booked as often as these Micro Gemelo Diablos, he may not have left CMLL.
CMLL (TUE) 12/14/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Bello Antuan, Capitán Cobra, Temerario vs Jabalí, Relámpago Azul, Rumbero
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro vs Anteuz, El Enviado, Príncipe Quetzal
3) Gallito Tapatío, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zacarías
4) Furia Roja, Omega, Zandokan vs Gallo, Ráfaga, Star Black [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Difunto vs Bestia Negra, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre, Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr., Cris Skin [cage, hair, mask]
I guess CMLL’s sending less people this week because of the cage match (and maybe next Tuesday’s Arena Mexico show has slightly more names than usual.) This still seems early for a holiday match, so maybe the semi-main is setting up another direction.
Okumura met with NJPW officials on Friday. I’d assume sketching out plans for future CMLL/NJPW dates is on the schedule, though everything still seems fuzzy. He must be leaving today to get back for the Sunday show.
Mistico, speaking on TUDN, said he’d like to return to WWE. He says he experienced racism there and says they didn’t give him opportunities he was promised, feeling both were because they didn’t want him to overshadow the US talent. Mistico still insists he’d go back, for a chance to prove all his critics wrong. Mistico also believes that if social media had been as widespread as it was now, his fans would’ve been so vocal in their support of him that he would’ve had better success. He complimented John Cena and Triple H. Mistico also said he’d like to retire by 2026, which seems as likely as all retirement announcements. .
AAA
Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of FMV’s lawsuit against AAA and, maybe by coincidence, FMV filed a new document in the court case. I’ve been checking the court case frequently waiting for that next document, figuring it’d be a mention of a settlement and the case being dropped. That’s not what it was. It was just a status update charting FMV’s path to actually serving the lawsuit. The lawsuit is a year old and AAA still has evaded acknowledging it, and this piece made note of some recent activity, urging the court to let the lawsuit continue. The universal assumption was AAA & FMV quietly settled the lawsuit to allow the TripleMania Regia show to air internationally but it appears to still be ongoing. AAA & FITE just ran the show anyway.
AAA’s view might be they haven’t actually received the lawsuit, they believe they’re going to win the lawsuit and so they might as well continue as normally as possible. It appears YouTube and Facebook don’t want to get involved – we first learned of this after FMV’s copyright claims were enough to get AAA’s YouTube channel taken down – but maybe FITE was cool airing the show as long as AAA signed a piece of paper making sure they were excluded from any lawsuit over it. (That sounds like a thing FITE probably makes all people whose PPVs they air, so it may be no big deal for them.) It’s unclear to me why AAA bothered with the FITE show if they’re going to still be invisible internationally, but maybe whatever cash they made on the show was important to them at in this moment. It was far better than me having to stream it so I’m happy they did but not sure I would’ve suggested it knowing what we know now.
For you and me, people who would just like to watch AAA in peace, that means nothing changed. Perhaps FITE will continue to air PPVs, but the rest of the content will still be stuck behind a geoblock. We’re stuck using wild IPTVs, VPNs and maybe my Twitch channel to watch the show. Someday this will actually be over, but not today.
It doesn’t appear FMV was aware AAA aired TripleMania Regia. We’re learning a lot about why Lucha Underground didn’t take advantage of opportunities for growth, they’re not really focused on it. We’re not really learning a lot about AAA; they’ve always shown a willingness to do whatever they’re in the mood for with no obvious plan and deal with the consequences later.
It looks like Space is moving around the AAA start time to 7 pm tomorrow. It’s just the one Marvel match, so I’ll try to record it and upload it Sunday.
ROH
Bandido is off the Final Battle show Saturday after testing positive in his most recent COVID test. This is Bandido’s second bout with COVID. His first case was a bad one, contracting it last September and still testing positive in December of 2019. Hopefully, this one won’t affect him the same way. My belief is Bandido is vaccinated and still got it.
Ring of Honor has not announced how they’re going to handle the situation yet. In other places
- Rey Horus replaces Bandido for West Coast Pro Wrestling today
- Warrior Wrestling has not yet announced a replacement versus Dante Martin for Sunday
- No sub yet either for GALLI on Sunday, where the scheduled match was Rey Horus, Bandido and Aramis vs Golden Dragon, Flamita, Gringo Loco
It usually takes at least 10 days to be cleared COVID, so Bandido is unlikely for his bookings with PWX and GCW the following week.
Dragon Lee versus Rey Horus is the only remaining lucha libre match on the ROH show. I believe Demonic Flamita will appear. I plan on appearing, but like sitting in the stands and not on the show. I suspect there’ll be some stuff happening after the PPV stops, and I may try streaming on that my Twitch channel if the signal is decent.
AroLucha
Yes, an AroLucha section. If you’re new or have forgotten, was a failed 2017-2018 crowd funding attempt at creating a US lucha libre promotion. The promotion hasn’t made news since 2019, when the news was “they used the mailing list to promote someone’s CBD website.” They’re back, announcing “Tom Bancroft, CEO of Pencilish Animation Studios” is a new investor in the Aro Lucha project and, surprisingly, the project still is alive. Pencilish Animation Studios is also a crowd-funded business, just having raised over two million dollars on a campaign that was completed last month. Aro Lucha mentions no specific future plans, kinda just writing that we should be excited the new that a new person is giving them money. The post is addressed to the AroLucha’s crowd funding posters, maybe attempting to give them hope their investment wasn’t a waste.
Other News
IWRG (THU) 12/09/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Cronistas del Ring, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Spider Fly b Vudu Max
2) Artemiz & Sagitarius b Amazonika & Satania
3) Legendario & Rey Halcón b Mosca & Shocko
4) Apolo Estrada Jr., Billy Jones, Chris Stone Jr. b Cerebro Negro, Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro
5) Hijo del Alebrije, Jessy Ventura, Toxin b Gigante Orión, Kb6, Sweet Dady Soul
Toxin attacked his partners after the win
The IWRG recap emphasizes Toxin versus Jessy Ventura. Toxin is still IWRG Mexico Champion and may need to lose that championship if he’s ever actually finishing up here.
A Rey Mysterio focused animated series will premiere on Carton Latin America in 2022. It’ll be a ten-episode series with lucha libre themes. A trailer aired (and was immediately pulled in a bit of stage craft) on Thursday; the trailer aired in both English and Spanish, so I presume it’ll air in the US eventually as well.
LA Park, in promoting his upcoming IWRG appearance, says he doesn’t believe any one wrestler can sell out an arena nowadays. He used (and still does) joke that he’s the guy they bring in to sell all the tickets, but he believes it really also a good opponent, good publicity, and a full card.
LA Park Jr. and Hijo de LA Park sons lost the MLW Tag Team Championships on this week’s MLW Fusion show. With the Parks skipping the Crash taping, it might be a while before the family is seen there again there.
Jack Evans’ tweets about being exported by the police have gotten some attention in Mexico.
GCW announced Dr. Wagner Jr. for their 02/05 show in Dallas.
RIOT’s 02/11-12 La Rina participants
RGR Lucha Libre, a group that was running shows in California, is hyping a lot of names to come in upcoming shows. Those names include AAA people like Nino Hamburguesa, Octagon Jr., Abismo Negro Jr., and others who aren’t known to have worked in the US prior.
Box y Lucha says Saltillo’s Guerrero Negro II Jr. (Albero Picazo, 31) passed away Thursday. A local article mentions his cause of death is believed to be suicide, reasons unknown. Guerrero negro was actively wrestling, mentioning as being in the ring as recently as this past weekend. If you need help, you can reach the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
WWE is staying on Fox Sports in Mexico after all; they’ll actually be expanding to air all the WWE PPVs. That makes me wonder what the future of the WWE Network is in Mexico.