added AAA TV taping Sunday, Gran Alternativa Block B, Robles 12/25 show

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 12/14/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Marca, Mas Lucha]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Angelito & Kaligua  
2) Magia Blanca, Pegasso, Stigma b Akuma, Dark Magic, Enfermero Jr.  
Tecnicos took 2/3. Cage match challenges followed.
3) La Jarochita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit b Amapola, Dalys, Stephanie Vaquer  
Tecnicas took 1/3
4) Dark Panther, Esfinge, Fugaz b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado  
Tecnicos took 2/3. Esfinge & Fugaz pushed the idea of becoming a regular team
5) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto b Blue Panther, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr.  
Mephisto challenged Stuka to a NWA LH title match, rudos unmasked the tecnicos. Return of Niebla Roja to Arena Mexico.

Marca did not have this show listed as streaming, then streamed it anyway. I put up the video but haven’t watched it. Mephisto has challenged for a lot of titles but surprisingly not for this one.

CMLL (TUE) 12/14/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalaajra, Fuego en El Ring]
1) Bello Antuan, Capitán Cobra, Temerario b Jabalí, Relámpago Azul, Rumbero
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro b Anteuz, El Enviado, Príncipe Quetzal
3) Gallito Tapatío, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zacarías
4) Furia Roja, Omega, Zandokan b Gallo, Ráfaga, Star Black [Relevos Increíbles]
referee seemed to fast count for Gallo. Omega return match.
5) Carlo Roggi L Difunto, Bestia Negra, Fúnebre, Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr., Cris Skin [cage, hair, mask]
order of escape: Difunto, Vaquero, Brunetti, Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Funebre, leaving Joker to beat Carlo Roggi for his hair.

Roggi looks like he got a haircut but not his head shaved.

CMLL (FRI) 12/17/2021 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Robin vs Grako & Nitro
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Hijo del Villano III, Okumura
3) Atlantis & Eléctrico vs Diamond & Titán and Atlantis Jr. & Sangre Imperial and Ángel de Oro & Halcón Suriano Jr. and Espanto Jr. & Hechicero and Magnus & Terrible and Disturbio & Último Guerrero and Dragón Rojo Jr. & Inquisidor [Gran Alternativa, seeding battle royal]
4) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, 8f]
5) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, 8f]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, 8f]
7) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, 8f]
8) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, quarterfinal]
9) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, quarterfinal]
10) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Gran Alternativa, semifinal]
11) Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Averno, Cavernario, Templario

This is a 99 pesos Ticketmaster show. Last week’s show was a good value. This one’s only for the completists or the people who love tournament blocks, who I don’t believe actually exist. The main event is a setup to a probable singles match on 12/25, the first two matches are setting up the 01/01 cage match and the rest is an unappealing group of teams.

Gran Alternativa Block B

Name               CMLL Debut    Past Gran Alternativas
Sangre Imperial    2016          debut
Diamond            2015          2018 
Espanto Jr.        2012          2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019
Halcon Suriano Jr. 2012          debut
Magnus             2011          2011
Disturbio          2009          2010, 2013
Electrico          2006          2010, 2013
Inquisidor         1998          2010

Inquisidor switched from Vaquerito/Vaquero to his current character in 2008. There’s a Vaquerito match in 1995, not sure if it’s this same guy, but it’s possible he’s been wrestling longer than veteran Atlantis Jr. has been alive. These guys, especially the last four guys on that list, are guys who debuted a decade ago, settled into a first/second match position without being pushed, and have fallen back into “novato” range because CMLL hasn’t debuted many new people and weirdly decided to run a 16 team tournament. It surprised me that Magnus hadn’t been in one of these since 2011, but that’s the irrelevant limbo he’s been in for most of his career. I’m confused why Enfermero Jr./Yago isn’t in this tournament among other names; maybe CMLL doesn’t realize they never aired him winning the secret Gran Alternativa last year.

Diamond & Titan seem like the best match for Euforia & Terrible. I have no problem with Titan in a final but I can’t see Diamond or Coyote getting pushed past the 3rd match, outside of more people disappearing or the winner suddenly getting much better. I rate Diamond the better of the two but there’s a lot of guys like Diamond ahead of him.

CMLL is promoting the 12/18 Lucha Memes show on social media, mentioning it on their website and having lots of the wrestlers as guests on Informa, which they haven’t done with third party shows in their venues prior. I wonder if we’ll see the same when ELITE comes back.

Carnicero Grimaldo (Roberto Grimaldo Martinez, 88) passed away on Tuesday, according to Box y Lucha. Grimaldo had a long career in wrestling, showing up in EMLL in 1950 (when he would’ve been around 17) and losing a mask in Palacio de los Deportes in 1981 as a Mr. Wrestling.

Most of the matches we have are under the Grimlado are in the 50s/60s time period. He was remembered in Arena Mexico Tuesday night as Escorpion II, and that’s a source of luchawiki confusion. For a long time, we had Raul Reyes as the Escorpion II of the 60s/70s, but I’m not sure that’s correct for the entire period. A man identified as Bufalo Reyes is under the Escorpion II mask, but Raul Reyes actually wrestled Escorpion II a few times in 1978 and 1979. Maybe there was a switch (which would be very unusual), maybe Grimaldo was also Bufalo Reyes and they got swapped somewhere along the line. I’ve got my fingers crossed that SuperLuchas or Box y Lucha will put out an obituary because all I know is I don’t know have it right.

AAA

AAA TV (SUN) 12/19/2021 Pepsi Center WTC, Benito Juárez, Distrito Federal
1) La Parkita & Octagoncito vs La Parkita Negra & Mini Gronda
2) Big Mami & Faby Apache vs Keyra & Lady Maravilla and Goya Kong & Pimpinela Escarlata
3) Myzteziz Jr. vs Argenis
4) Aramis & Laredo Kid vs Látigo & Toxin
5) Dave The Clown & Murder Clown vs DMT Azul & Puma King
6) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

Hey, remember when AAA announced this show and said it wasn’t a TV taping. As of today, it’s a TV taping with a new lineup. Ticketmaster doesn’t show a map for this show, so I’m not sure if tickets weren’t moving or AAA belatedly realized they’re running out of TV soon. Past TV patterns would have AAA 2021 Year In Review shows on Space for 12/18, 12/25, and 01/01, with this show airing on 01/08 and 01/15, and that 01/15 weekend as the first taping of the year. No knowing for sure given everything else going on.

This 12/19 card was shuffled and added onto around to get to go for four to six matches, enough to make it long enough for two weeks of TV. (That does point the arrow towards it being AAA needing TV.) Some of the names look like they just pulled in whomever was available. Psycho, Pagano, Vikingo, and Taurus are all booked out to Torreon that night, which wouldn’t happen if this was a planned taping. Aramis/Laredo vs Latigo/Toxin is one of the additions and might end up being better than anything on TripleMania. Argenis/Myzteziz is the feud that’s been going on since 2019 finally having a singles match. That is the first AAA singles match not involving a Marvel character since the main event of TripleMania.

AAA launched a new online store on Tuesday. This is going to come off me being negative as usual but this may be the last time I mention it. The pattern is AAA opens an internet store with a limited selection and generic designs, few people buy the merchandise, AAA stops mentioning the store within two months and then someone stumbles upon it on a year later stunned it hasn’t been taken down. I think this has happened three times. Only La Parka, Lady Shani, Mascarita Sagrada, Pagano, and Pentagon Jr. have designs and it’s one single logo for each on a variety of merchandise. The Pentagon design is the same photos they’ve been using for Pentagon on posters for eight years. New champion Vikingo is not yet included. I’m guessing someone at AAA held a meeting pointing out the large amount of money WWE and/or AEW get with merchandise and thought they should have it themselves, but that success requires resources and manpower over years and it seems unlikely AAA will ever invest that in to a project that’s not what they already do. AAA’s created a lot of great character designs over the year but the merchandise doesn’t reflect the creativity. It’s better than nothing, though it feels like another bit where AAA does just enough to say they did something but not enough to make it worthwhile, like the English commentary at TripleMania.

The main page lists “masks” as a category and then lets you know there are no masks available for sale if you click the link. Maybe that was a previous plan because the site seems to have been in the works for a while: the copyright date was listed as 2020 on the main page when I first checked. Streamerch.com.mx seems to be the site engine. The FAQ says the store ships international but the checkout page did not appear to allow you to change your location outside of Mexico.

Other

IWRG is advertising a surprise semi-main for their show on Thursday, with Flamita and two mystery people advertised. The silhouettes are obviously of Dragon Bane and Hijo de Canis Lupus, who haven’t been around IWRG in months. Hijo de Canis Lupus seemed to break away from IWRG a few weeks ago by changing his gimmick to Alpha Wolf, and I guess it’s possible IWRG will debut new people in those characters. This is a Mas Lucha Premium (paid) show. Black Terry will also be honored on the show.

IWRG held a media day session on Tuesday to promote this show, including Psycho Clown talking about how he wants LA Park’s mask. I believe he can buy them outside the building. The media day included IWRG noting how some of their wrestlers have had the most matches in 2021, which appeared to be Roberto Figueroa reading my Twitter post with that list perhaps without mentioning me. Didn’t get an invite to the media day either. I guess it’s better than being reprinted in a paid newsletter with being mentioned.

The next IWRG/Mas Lucha Premium show is January 2nd, “Guerrero de Acero”, an all cage match show.

ROBLES (SAT) 12/25/2021 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [ESTO]
1) Black Shadow Jr. vs Moria
2) Artemis, Big Mami, Microman, Miss Delicious, Reina Dorada vs Baronessa, Diosa Quetzal, Estrellita, Mini Fussion, Therius
3) Estrellato, King Charro, Toscano vs Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico, Brazo De Oro Jr.
4) Hijo De Dr. Karonte vs Gran Markus Jr., Hijo de Gran Markus, Hijo De Dos Caras, Bugambilia, Joe Lider, Máximo, Demonio Infernal, Fresero Jr., Atomic Star, Tonina Jackson Jr., Estrella Divina, Doberman I
5) Dralistico & Fénix (Indie) vs Charly Rockstar & Súper Nova and DMT Azul & La Máscara
6) Blue Demon Jr. vs Carlito vs Penta 0M vs Electroshock vs Texano Jr., ? [ROBLES MUNDIAL]

There are going to be a lot of Christmas Day lucha libre shows and this is definitely one of them. It’s Robles, they’re never going to have good cards, and this one is no better. The mystery person in the main event is ex-basketball player Peter John Ramos, but they’re describing him and not mentioning him by name to build that mystery. Bringing in Fenix to work that tag match seems like a very dumb idea but I guess it’s an easy payday for him.

Big Mami said during the press conference she wasn’t under contract to anyone, then afterward said she was still on good terms with AAA. So she’s one of many AAA wrestlers working as freelancers. La Mascara seemed to be leading the press conference so he may be in charge here with Alberto suspiciously not around much. La Mascara emphasized no one here will be blocked from working elsewhere, which is supposed to separate them from AAA and CMLL. That claim is going to be put to the test if/when Nacion & Elite start running and there are date conflicts. The most clipped moment of the press conference was Arturo Rivera’s chair collapsing underneath him for which Rivera said he’d start eating fewer tacos. Rivera says his time with AAA & generally TV has finished but on good terms.

With Robles around and Nacion Lucha Libre and Elite coming back, 2022 looks to have a lot of these types of promotions around, promoters with access to money and wrestlers but a poor history of putting on shows that interest fans. I’d take interesting failures, but only Elite has managed to be that of these three. The existence of those promotions is short-term good news for luchadors, who just want well-paying work wherever they can find it, but probably bad for running of lucha libre fans in the long term when disappointing shows are so common and everyone comes out of them looking like less of a star. (A disastrous show in North Carolina this past weekend was similar, but it’s not like there’s a big lucha libre scene in North Carolina to mess up.)

Chris Bey faces Laredo Kid on Thursday’s Impact. I didn’t see many Impact spoilers but the one I saw said this match was worth watching.

GCW announced Bandido & Negro Casas are off their show in Los Angeles on Friday. I believe Bandido is also off the Big Lucha show this weekend out of caution. My understanding Negro Casas is off because CMLL found out Bandido was booked and told Casas he was no longer allowed to work the show (and that hasn’t apparently changed even with Bandido off the show.) CMLL’s policy of blocking their own wrestlers just doesn’t work at this point – US promoters are not going to pick the CMLL wrestler in almost every situation, CMLL is not over in the US right now – and it only succeeds in costing CMLL luchadors work. On the other hand, this situation was known to GCW very soon after Casas was announced and they waited until two days until the show to confirm what people had suspected for a while. CMLL not being over in the US extends to US promoters not understanding how stubborn CMLL will be at all times and talking themselves into believing something might eventually change. I’d love to see Negro Casas and others in more places in the US, but a no from CMLL is a no.

Mas Lucha’s En+carados show mentioned the 12/12 AAA Guadalajara cancelations was due to (Guadalajara’s) Atlas football team making the LigaMX final on the same night.

Fenix put a list of people he’d like to face in singles matches in 2022, naming Arez, Latigo, Vikingo, Komander, and Kill Korton. It seems unlikely any of those will happen in AAA. They’re not pushed at that level and AAA gave up on booking non-Marvel 1v1 matches for the last half of the year.

Monterrey’s KAOZ put out a press release saying they now have no relationship with Rompiendo Madres to evade blame for the poor medical situation that left Chik Tormenta being taken away on a plank of wood. KAOZ was promoting that show on their own Facebook and has had a close relationship with Rompiendo Madres in the past. KAOZ also just did an interview bit 10 days ago where a) they said Cibernetico can only work shows with KAOZ’s signing off and Cibernetico worked that show so KAOZ had to be involved b) either lied or made them look silly by implying Ciberentico wasn’t going to TripleMania Regia when he worked TripleMania Regia after all. For their part, Rompiendo Madres posted a statement from Chik Tormenta saying everything was fine to try and move on from the situation. The US way to move on is to say “hey, we’ll do better next show” but Mexican indie promotions generally can’t even manage to pretend they’ll do better.

Cancun’s Total Wrestling Stars promotion seems like they had a similar incident on a show Sunday based on a statement they put out today. Luchador Rey Aguila was taken to the hospital after an injury on a powerbomb. A difference is the press release mentions they had paramedics and an ambulance on hand. (Also, there’s no video, not that I could find.) Comments elsewhere suggest Aguila is doing better now.

Rompiendo Madres announced Travis Banks for their 02/19 show in Arena Femenil. I haven’t seen results from their show this past Friday but their Facebook page indicates Banks showed up as a surprise then; he’s also over wrestler social media from Monterrey. My impression is that Banks has been cut off by Bandido and Big Lucha (time will tell on that) but that’s still just one group among dozens of indies around Mexico. Most aren’t going to have an issue in using him and their fans aren’t going to complain about Banks working the shows. He’ll be around Mexico indies as long as he wants to be around, no different than any scandalized Mexican luchador.

RIOT’s 02/11-12 La Rina participants

1. Blake Christian
2. Demonio del Aire
3. El Mago
4. Jimmy – new
5. Mr. Iguana – new

Superluchas has an interview with Crazy Boy, who feels DTU has gotten to the point where their fans will show up for the brand, knowing that even if they don’t have big stars now, they’ll have the stars of the future. Crazy Boy claims he had an offer from Satanico to work in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara before the pandemic.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania and this week’s Lucha Report.