CMLL
Last week’s CMLL Friday night Ticketmaster Live show was a great value: Averno’s return and a title match. The show costs exactly the same tonight, with none of that novelty. It’s really only for completists only. If this show was free, it probably still wouldn’t be worth most people’s time.
The only bit of interest is the Gran Alternativa block, but even that’s not that interesting. It’s not a great group of names and the matchups are restricted. CMLL secret rules prevent fathers and sons from wrestling. They’ve also seemed to stay away from the Deperadores facing each other in matches. That limits the possibilities in this tournament. I’ll take a guess, with the idea Ultimo Guerrero will want to last to the end. An early DQ to get out of there is probably just as likely.
Diamond & Titán b Dragón Rojo Jr. & Inquisidor Espanto Jr. & Hechicero b Atlantis Jr. & Sangre Imperial Ángel de Oro & Halcón Suriano Jr b Magnus & Terrible Disturbio & Último Guerrero b Atlantis & Eléctrico Diamond & Titán b Espanto Jr. & Hechicero Disturbio & Último Guerrero b Ángel de Oro & Halcón Suriano Diamond & Titán b Disturbio & Último Guerrero
A Coliseo Coacalco show with Averno versus Mistico in a singles match scheduled for this Sunday was bumped back to 12/26. Perhaps that change was made to make sure Arena Mexico would get to run that show first on Christmas Day; that seems to be the likely outcome from tonight’s trios main event.
Lucha Memes (SAT) 12/18/2021 Arena Coliseo
1) Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr. vs Astrolux & Jack Cartwheel and Alas de Acero & Iron Kid and Calibus & Miike and Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako [rumble]
2) Cancerbero & Raziel vs Avisman & Black Terry
3) Makabre vs Templario
4) Solar I vs Okumura
5) Perro de Guerra Jr. vs Freelance [hair]
6) Negro Casas vs Aeroboy
7) Último Guerrero vs Virus
8) Ricky Marvin vs Volador Jr.
9) Negro Navarro vs Místico
Lucha Memes will hold their Universal event Saturday night in Arena Coliseo. Other promotions have run Arena Coliseo in the past, Ultimo Dragon’s Toryumon Mexico most often. It’s a big achievement for Memes to reach that venue, one they should be proud of accomplishing. The challenge now is selling enough tickets to make it worthwhile; Memes hasn’t been a strong draw in Coliseo Coacalco and this is a bigger venue at much higher prices. It’s also a far more loaded card than some of the recent shows and CMLL’s given it some nice support. Lucha Memes also may just be happy to reach this bucket list goal no matter how many people show up to witness it. Recent Lucha Memes shows have turned up on IWTV in about three weeks time, so this may be available to watch early next year.
CMLL (SUN) 12/19/2021 Arena Coliseo
1) Leono & Retro vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Arkalis & Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Eléctrico & Halcón Suriano Jr.
3) Cachorro, Espíritu Negro, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Luciferno, Misterioso Jr., Okumura
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring, Volcano vs Felino Jr., Pólvora, Rey Bucanero
5) Ángel de Oro, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Felino, Negro Casas
Now that Niebla Roja is back, he’ll never team with Angel de Oro.
CMLL (MON) 12/20/2021 Arena Puebla
1) Asturiano & Fénix So vs Espíritu Maligno & Sombra Diabólica
2) Chamuel & Micro Ángel vs Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II
3) Halcón Suriano Jr. & Stigma vs Misterioso Jr. & Okumura
4) Felino Jr. & Pólvora © vs El Audaz & Esfinge [MEX TAG]
first defense
5) Ángel de Oro, Místico, Terrible vs Atlantis Jr., Templario, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
Both 2/4 are rematches from last week. Felino & Polvora seemto get booked here a lot.
CMLL aired highlights of Panterita del Ring Jr. winning the lightweight title from Electrico on CMLL Informa. It’s about three minutes of single-camera clips. The match looks interesting, more technical than usual.
CMLL announced the 01/01 show will be a TicketMaster Live streaming show. No price yet. I presume the Christmas Day show will also be streaming but it’s not advertised yet.
Atlantis has been added to the Jalisco sports hall of fame, one of 9 selected from a list of 17. The induction ceremony is scheduled for February.
AAA
An AAA Twitter post noted the promotion’s first show was in Veracruz and they plan to start a new chapter in Veracruz again. The post was quote tweeted by Veracruz’s baseball team, who have about an 8,000 seat stadium. Dorian Roldan had previously talked about running an important show on the anniversary of AAA’s founding, May 15th, which lines up on a Sunday this year. Best guess this is a setup for a Veracruz baseball stadium show on that day.
The next defense of the AAA Reina de Reinas championship looks to be January 8th. Thursday’s Impact TV show mentioned the Deonna Purrazzo versus Rok-C AAA vs ROH title match set up last weekend at Final Battle will air their television show after their 01/07 Hard to Kill PPV. Those tapings are Dallas, so that’s a logical time to do it. Purrzzo is likely to keep the AAA title and win the ROH title if there’s an actual title change hands; a draw where both women walk away with their titles is plausible. Purrazzo hasn’t defended the AAA title since winning it at August’s TripleMania. Taya challenged her in a video airing on TripleMania Regia, though we have no idea if/when that match will happen.
Laredo Kid lost to Chris Bey earlier on the show. It was a good match. It was also an AAA vs NJPW match, a true rarity. I think it’s the first time it’s happened in Impact; Taurus has teamed with Bey and faced the Good Brothers, though it was before they were officially associated with NJPW, and neither Taurus nor Laredo Kid have wrestled Juice Robinson or David Finlay. Chris Bey’s been added to the Bullet Club on Impact and has appeared on NJPW US shows since, though he’s not appeared in Japan for the promotion. Still, it’s usually something NJPW asks to avoid in deference to CMLL and I was surprised it slipped through when I realized it happened. Impact didn’t emphasize that multiple promotion bit in the commentary.
AAA’s show on Space is still airing. I have no idea what they’ll air this week; it’s probably repeats and I probably won’t stream it. It’s scheduled to air at 5:30 this week, an hour early than usual.
AAA has a taping in Mexico City on Sunday. Every taping in front of fans has streamed live this year, though I don’t think that’ll be the case for this one. AAA’s made no announcement and the plans for this show came together at the last minute. I do expect it to be on all the usual YouTube channels by Monday unless AAA explicitly tells people not to film it, and those YouTube channels are not geoblocked.
Other News
IWRG (THU) 12/16/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Lucha Central, Mas Lucha]
Moreno Family 59th Anniversary show
1) Limbo & Shalom b Hell Boy & Rey Halcón
2) Benga Lee, Diosa Quetzal, Noisy Boy b Fly Warrior, Lolita, Satania
Bengalee, recently back from injury, dove off the first floor during the match
3) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium b Aster Boy, Rasputín, Sick Boy
Freelance had a bad scare on a head injury, but appeared fine later. Sick Boy finished up his IWRG run with this match.
4) Arez, Látigo, Toxin b Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
Jessy Ventura challenged Toxin to another IWRG Mexico title match, got attacked by the Vipers.
5) Big Mami, Hijo del Alebrije, Niño Hamburguesa b Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Mike
Black Terry was honored after the match.
6) Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane b Aster Boy & Demonic Flamita
Return of Los Golepadors to IWRG
7) Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. b Hijo del Espectro Jr., Jessy Ventura, Psycho Clown
Wolf/Bane vs Aster/Flamita was said to be great, maybe worth the price of the subscription alone. I’d guess Los Golepadors are around for at least the holidays, but they didn’t say anything for sure. No mention of a Sunday show; this might have been a Thursday one to make sure everyone was available, but moving away from that AAA TV taping probably helped. It looked like a good turnout. Toxin/Ventura is probably happening before the end of the year.
RIOT’s 02/11-12 La Rina participants
Ricky Marvin held a press conference Thursday for a Cueva del Dragon show he’s holding in his home town of Veracruz on Friday. As part of the press conference, Mini Histeria unmasked himself as Rocky Marvin, one of Ricky’s brothers. It was previously known that Rocky was playing the AAA mini character, which has barely appeared in AAA since 2018. It was a little more surprising that he was also the Mini Clown mascot who accompanied the Psycho Clown for a few years.
That show has a Ricky Marvin/Virus main event, playing off their old rivalry. It also includes Travis Banks, who Marvin has books regularly.
Super Crazy wrestling for AJPW this last few seemed notable mostly for a new foreigner making into Japan, which has been infamously difficult since the start of the pandemic. It became more notable Thursday when Super Crazy surprisingly won AJPW’s World Junior Championship, defeating Izanagi. Super Crazy has not wrestled in Mexico this year, but he’ll be wrestling a bit more in Japan. He’ll defend his newly won title against SUGI on 01/03, a challenger picked by Super Crazy. I’m not sure how long Crazy is going to be champion, but AJPW has a relationship with MLW and Super Crazy seems to tick a few of MLW’s boxes (ex-ECW name, lucha talent.)
GCW announced Arez vs Gringo Loco vs Ninja Mack vs Jimmy Lloyd vs Jack Cartwheel vs Matt Vandagriff for their show tonight, airing on FITE. The promotion says Negro Casas would’ve faced Jonathan Gresham on the show; that might have been for the ROH Championship since the replacement match will have it on the line.
PWG announced Bandido for the Battle of Los Angeles tournament.
Blue Demon Jr. put up another video disavowing all family members and anyone who sells Blue Demon merchandise except for him personally. I don’t know what’s going on there but it doesn’t seem good. In lighter (?) Blue Demon Jr. news, he talked to Record about how he hasn’t put up a Christmas tree for years because it reminds him of his father passing away. It reads like he’s put up a tree recently.
Hidalgo luchador El Exotico was awards a Hidalgo sports award.