COVID notes
Two years ago, this weekend would’ve had FantasticaMania, a CMLL show and AAA’s first taping of the year. We’re instead deep into pandemic lucha libre again, with many venues not running and no real sign of when things
Mas Lucha’s radio show on Saturday reported CMLL had “around 20” positive COVID test results among wrestlers and staff, which led to the shut down on January 6. It’s described as a “big wave.” It’s not clear how many are positive are now – you’d hope it would be less with people getting better and CMLL wrestlers being isolated, but it may be up with Mexico entirely going through the big wave.
Hopefully, everyone is fine and CMLL can resume before long, but that “around 20” total explains why they’ve gone on pause. CMLL hasn’t given an indication when we might hear from them again. They’ll probably have to say something by Wednesday if they’re running this weekend, but it’d be surprising if they’re running since they’re on “indefinite” hiatus. Maybe next Friday is the earliest we can expect.
The first segment of Mas Lucha Radio also included talk about vaccination cards/recent COVID test likely becoming a requirement for attending CMLL shows, as they now are in Guadalajara, and the lack of testing being done on most indie shows. Hip Hop Man made a good point that if CMLL is this bad, the indie shows are probably far worse. Arena Naucalpan and Arena Lopez Mateos were cited as two places doing testing, but most indie shows are not.
The AAA show Wednesday in San Luis Potosi has been posted to 03/16 due to COVID.
Other Notes
IWRG (SUN) 01/16/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Carnicero & Kenji b Kunay & Villarreal 
2) Billy Jones, Hell Boy, Legendario b Black Dragón, Cerebro Negro Jr., Rey Halcón
Billy Jones replaced Sol
3) Puma de Oro & Tonalli b Big Boy & Big Mike and Aster Boy & Noisy Boy
4) Cerebro Negro, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Karaoui b Freelance, Hijo del Alebrije, Toxin
sets up a Pirata/Alebrije title match
5) Súpernova & Texano Jr. DQ Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane and Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura
IWRG continues on with a regular crowd. Mas Lucha had an outage during the show but the InternTV version fills that gap. No Travis Banks this week – Mas Lucha noticeably did not upload his match – but otherwise the usual programs. Hip Hop Man mentioned Las Shotas were sick last week, tested negative for COVID, but were set home to be safe. The main event this week built towards a Texanos/Golepadors match.
I believe AAA should start airing new episodes this Saturday, showing the matches from December’s Mexico City taping over the next two Saturdays. Not confirmed yet and it wouldn’t be out of the question if they held them back in case of a postponement (now or later.)
The return to Arena Coliseo Acapulco show on Saturday seems to have drawn well, maybe 80% full. Konnan Big returning to wrestle in Torreon also looks to have drawn strong, with Lucha Noticias guessing 2,000 people in attendance.
Global Press Journal has an interesting if a bit of a reach of an article on luchadoras. It made me think, which is good enough for me. The idea is the coronavirus shutdowns have led to more and bigger opportunities for Mexican women’s wrestlers. CMLL is brought up as the big example, and they did hold more women’s main events than ever and a women’s Gran Prix for the first time ever. The Gran Prix wasn’t truly related to the pandemic – it happened primarily because there was a group of Japanese women interested in coming over and CMLL decided to build a big match around then. CMLL may have felt safer running that match because of an earlier interest in women’s matches, but that came through fan voting not a decision CMLL made themselves. They did succeed in making the women’s wrestlers more identifiable – La Jarochita, Lluvia and Dark Silueta are among the (few) CMLL 2021 successes – but give a lot of the credit to the women themselves.
It’s possible, maybe even likely, there are more women in indie promotions than there were before. Wrestler pay is nodded at near the end of the article – in that there’s not much to be had – and I wonder if that might a hidden reason for the increase in the percentage of luchadoras. Women wrestlers in Mexico are generally underpaid compared to their male counterparts if paid at all. The pandemic and the empty arena shows led to low or no pay for people of all genders, and maybe the women were more accustomed to dealing with it than the men.
That article mentions Amapola’s been dealing with a neck injury.
02/11 RIOT
- Latigo, Toxin and Arez vs Iron Kid, Kratoz & Prometo
- Erick Ortiz vs Mr. Iguana in a first-round match
- Jimmy vs King Rex in a first-round match
- Blake Christian vs Aeroboy in a first-round match
- El Mago versus Tromba in a first-round match
- Demonio del Aire vs Komander in a first-round match – new
- Alex Zayne vs Rey Horus – not announced yet, but the only people left
Warrior Wrestling announced Bandido versus Dante Martin for their 02/12 show in Cicero, a match postponed from Bandido’s most recent bout with COVID. I caught Bandido’s match with Baron Black from Sunday’s Termius show and you should not get that show just to watch that match. It was disappointing, I’ve seen better from both men. The show included teases for the Gresham/Bandido title match but it’s evident that’s going to be held for the ROH SuperCard of Honor show on WrestleMania weekend.
Saturday’s Arena Neza show was postponed due COVID issues.
Segunda Caida watches some 1994 handheld Los Angeles California lucha libre.