Month: January 2022

the 2021 tapatia awards remain open for your votes

CMLL

A Valiente Gym show scheduled for Sunday was canceled a few hours before the show. Those Valiente Gym home shows feature a lot of CMLL talent; Volador and Polvora were notably scheduled for the main event. CMLL discouraged their wrestlers from working outside dates during previous shut downs, and this show would’ve revealed a bit about how who’s healthy enough to appear, so it’s no surprise it was called off. Rey Bucanero’s show on Saturday happened as scheduled, though only he and his cousin Hombre Bala Jr. were booked on the show. Past shows have featured more CMLL wrestlers.

CMLL’s Guadalajara branch announced training sessions were off until further notice. Those Guadalajara trainees are a far distance from the main CMLL roster, so either CMLL’s got very widespread problems or they’re taking no chances for the time being.

CMLL made a really nice Year In Review video. I hope they do this every year and other promotions do as well. We talk a lot about how CMLL runs so many tournaments that are immediately forgotten, at least this sort of video gives them one more look at the end of the year. If you keep this up for five or ten years, you’ve got a great set of videos.

Mistico says he’s not trying to get CMLL to hire his brothers Los Dr. Karontes or put them in top positions, but it would make him really happy if that happened. I’m sure he’s making it clear how happy he would be to the people in charge.

AAA

On the Saturday Arena Azteca Budokan show, there was an angle where La Empresa’s DMT Azul & Puma King attacked La Hiedra, who was stretched out. Sunday, La Hiedra posted a note from a physical therapist saying she had a grade two next strain and would be out three weeks. The doctor’s note lists her name as “La Hiedra” with no age, so there’s obviously a bit of unreality to this. It didn’t appear she suffered a real injury in the angle. Three weeks would allow Hiedra to return just in time for AAA’s TV taping in Merida.

Other News

IWRG, now just running a Sunday show, let the kids in free and dedicated the middle of the show to breaking the giant pinata that’d been hanging over the ring for the last month. There were also some changes to the card.

IWRG (SUN) 01/09/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Benga Lee, Jessie Jackson, Sagitarius b Amazonika, Baronessa, Satania 
Amazonika & Jessie Jackson added to the match
2) Black Dragón & Cerebro Negro Jr. b Hell Boy & Noisy Boy 
Cerebro Negro announced his son Shalom would be Cerebro Negro Jr. from now on prior to the start of this one. Challenges for a rematch followed the match.
3) Alas De Plata, Asterboy, Freelance b Cerebro Negro, Dick Angelo 3G, Karaoui 
Alas de Plata replaced Hijo de Dos Caras
4) Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane DQ Hijo del Pirata Morgan & Travis Banks 
Hijo del Pirata Morgan and Travis Banks, making his IWRG debut, replaced Las Shotas. Los Golpeadors are now Los GolpeaBrothers. Pirata fouled and unmasked Alpha Wolf.
5) Hijo del Alebrije © b Hijo del Fishman [IWRG JUNIORS] 
third defense

Around 350 wrestlers appeared in at least one IWRG match in 2021. Travis Banks showing up in IWRG was inevitable because everyone does. Banks continues to tell people in Mexico that he’s been unfairly persecuted (even in promos) and most seem content to just take his word for it or purposefully stay ignorant of the story. Bringing in the guy accused of crimes against a minor on the kid’s get in free show is just another level in thoughtlessness. The public face of IWRG is Ivannia Moreno, so have a woman in charge doesn’t really change how Banks is treated. Fellow wrestlers believe Banks is a good guy to wrestle and so he gets to wrestle; maybe the real issues is there’s probably more Banks in the Mexico lucha libre scene and they’re also probably be welcomed the same. I don’t want to keep writing about this because the story isn’t going to change – those who fear some international pressure will not use Banks, those who don’t care will. All that remains to be seen is if AAA or CMLL are concerned enough not to use him.

Mas Lucha, who earlier avoided mentioned Travis Banks, interviewed him on the pre-IWRG show on Sunday. That’s an IWRG show, they might be choosing the guests, but it still ended up happening.

It’s notable that Las Shotas did not appear; I don’t have a conflicting booking for them. It’s possible Wolf & Bane just wanted to work with opponents that fit their intended style (moves, moves and more moves) and Banks and Morgan would be preference higher on the list than Jessy Ventura & Diva Salvaje. Changing their name to “Los GolpeaBrothers” is a bit obvious: there’s now a whole generation of wrestlers who believe they can go as far as Fenix & Penta if they just model themselves as close as possible to them, just like Mistico for a previous generation. The attendance wasn’t strong for a show with free tickets for kids; the latest pandemic wave may be starting to keep people away again.

Laredo Kid & Black Taurus were at this weekend’s Impact tapings, though they didn’t seem to be involved in much. Laredo Kid’s pre-PPV match is still available on YouTube and is worth a watch. Laredo wrestles Chris Bey again on this week’s Impact show, while Black Taurus appears on the “Before the Impact” pre-Impact show this week or next. The ROH Women’s Championships versus AAA Reina de Reinas champions match airs Thursday on Impact as well. You can read full spoilers here.

Those recent AroLucha mailing list statements seemed to be setting up another round of funding and, sure enough, that’s what started Sunday for “friends” (previous investors), and it’ll open to the regular public in a week.  They’re looking for money through WeFunder, the same investing site they used back in 2017 when this project first started. The project/scheme has changed though. They’re no longer making a fan interactive wrestling promotion, they’re now creating a lucha libre animated series. They’re not planning to a make lot of money off of the series itself, but by merchandising them and running live events with those characters. It’s not an entirely crazy idea. It’s not that far off from what Disney & AAA are attempting with Marvel Lucha Libre and there were wrestlers built around the old (and still well loved) Mucha Lucha series. There’s no real reason to expect AroLcuha will be able to pull this project off. They’ve got to produce an animated series, get it picked up by some worthwhile outlet, make it successful and then run big live events around those characters. They’ve brought in someone with animated experience, but the only thing AroLuchas has tried to do so far is to run live events and they were entirely unsuccessful at it. (Traces of that plan remain; the WeFunder page still brags about signing Sammy Guevara a long time ago.)

I’m on social media, so I see people proudly talking about things they paid money for every day which seem like a total waste to me. I’m not about to say anything about it – it’s your money, do with what you will. If someone is going to invest in this as a lark, for fun with no real expectations of ever seeing the money back, then it makes as much sense as any other weird trinket people buy. But, as a real investment, I’d tell people to go buy an NFT before giving money to AroLucha. NFTs are generally a bad idea but at least kinda sorta exist, it’s hard to imagine this AroLucha project will ever get that far. The animation studio related that’s co0developing this project had a very successful Wefunder project and I suppose the idea is they’ll draw in those investors to this project.

El Hijo del Santo says he’s preparing to retire in two years. This is one I can’t write about on Twitter but can on the blog, because people who’ve been reading this long enough know no luchador saying they’re going to retire in “two years” has ever actually retired in two years. The “two years” retirement length is a cliche and not meant to be taken as a definite unit of time. The one change is Santo is now saying he’d prefer not to have another apuesta match. He’s previously teased one against Hijo del Solitario and that name does come up as someone who’d wage with it if it came to it, though he doesn’t seem as set on it happening. Santo has his usual criticisms of extreme wrestling but believes wrestlers like the Blue Panther and Brazo kids can steer it back. He also specifically singles out Bandido as the next great Mexican star.

Ring of Honor, which both advertised a return on WrestleMania weekend and had much of the roster (on and off screen) audibly unsure if it was going to happen, says they’re running on April 1st in Fort Worth, Texas. It seems like a good guess that Bandido will be back since he still has the ROH title, but we probably shouldn’t make too many assumptions about what will or will not happen until things are announced.

Segunda Caida writes about the Skayde/Cometa Maya vs Negro Navarro/Komander show from Big Lucha, and their thoughts aren’t far from my own.

Box y Lucha returns after a couple of weeks off with Rey Cometa & Espiritu negro on the cover of 3498. I wonder if they’ve got plans for 3500, which should be out in four weeks.

CMLL Goes Back on Pause

There is no CMLL show today. We’re not sure when there will be another.

CMLL issued a statement Tuesday afternoon announcing the next six scheduled shows (Friday, Sunday, Tuesday in Arena Mexico, Saturday in Arena Coliseo, Monday in Arena Puebla, Tuesday in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara) are all postponed. That would leave the next scheduled show as of January 14th. CMLL’s Ticketmaster site has taken tickets off sale for every show on sale through the end of the month, so they can’t be sure they’ll be able to run on the 14th. Emir Ortiz, Arena Puebla head of logistics, told El Sol del Puebla that he believes Arena Puebla will be closed at least through the January 17th show though it is not officially confirmed at this point.

CMLL’s Guadalajara Facebook page was announcing talent for the now-canceled Tuesday show as recently as a few hours before the postponement. Wednesday’s CMLL Informa had no hint that this was coming, so this seems to be a decision that came together quickly on Thursday. A wire story mentioning the cancelations got picked up in many news sites in Mexico, though with no additional information. This is the third time CMLL has shut down since the start of the pandemic, previously happening in March 2020 and December 2021.

There are no new regulations in Mexico City, Puebla, or Guadalajara requiring shows to be halted. Mexico City has not ordered a widespread shut down of events, though there is talk of limitations on fans in this week’s LigaMX season-opening week. It will not be surprising if an increased wave of COVID hospitalization sparks a sudden change in Mexico event policy in the next few weeks, but CMLL is currently being more strict than required. No other lucha libre promotion has called off shows; they’re going on as normal this weekend with Three Kings Day celebrations for the moment. Mexico has let different states manage themselves, so it’s unlikely that the Guadalajara building got new regulations in the same moment as the Mexico one. The Puebla article says this decision was one dictated to them by the CMLL central office. CMLL’s statement says this is a preventive measure to protect everyone from COVID, and it’s a reasonable assumption that the biggest immediate concern is to an outbreak inside of their roster.

CMLL has continued to test their wrestlers for COVID regularly. On Informa, Mistico mentioned luchadors making the trip to Guadalajara get tested for COVID in Mexico City twice – before leaving for Guadalajara and after returning to the city. (He tested negative.) CMLL was doing regular testing of everyone midweek last I heard. I’m guessing, but this sort of shut down response suggests those tests went very poorly this week and CMLL made the wise decision to go on pause. The only COVID positive wrestler in CMLL that’s public is Polvora, but Ultimo Guerrero, Volador Jr., Lluvia, Angel de Oro, and Espanto Jr. have all missed shows this past week. (CMLL Informa included an offhand mention that Raziel had surgery and that’s why he’s been missing.) CMLL had problems with waves of COVID positives going into the 2020 and 2021 Aniversario shows, probably should’ve considered going on pause then, but never was going to because those are the Aniversario shows. This week’s Best of 2021 show looked fun but was an easier one to push back. Again, we only know that Polvora is positive and not about anyone else, so this is a paragraph about reasonable guesswork but still guesswork. Whatever’s going on, hopefully everyone makes it through OK and CMLL can safely resume shows soon.

CMLL made sure to plug their TV shows, which seems to happen more when there are no live shows and they have time to do other things. CMLL’s TV shows are one to two week behind live events normally, so they won’t start showing the effects of this pause until next weekend. CMLL has plenty of unaired matches and could just recycle matches between the 5 (!) networks they’re on or go back to showing older material. Empty arena shows are a possibility, but those only happened because Mexico City wouldn’t allow fans in and that doesn’t seem like the problem now.

MVS lists CMLL as airing on Saturday afternoons at 1 pm CT, but that show hasn’t aired the last two weeks. I’m not sure if it was a holiday thing or if it was pre-empted. The show is still airing it’s Sunday noon slot.

A useless semantic paragraph over postponed versus canceled: the lineups are postponed – CMLL will still run the Best of 2021 show when they can get to it – but CMLL isn’t going to run like extra shows a week to make up for the ones they’ve canceled. If you have tickets to a canceled should, you’ll just be able to use them on the normal shows they run, whenever they get back to normal.

The list of canceled shows suggests Arena Coliseo Guadalajara’s return to Sunday shows was a one-off thing that was presented as more than that. It’s not mentioned among the shows called off and CMLL Guadalajara had not advertised a show for 01/09.

That Arena Puebla interview mentions attendance had slowly been growing over the last few weeks, though just enough to cover operating expenses.

Valiente Jr. and a new Pequeno Polvora were announced as debuting on Sunday’s show. Maybe we’ll see them when CMLL restarts. We still have never seen Astral return to CMLL after he was re-introduced during the first shutdown.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 01/09/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Benga Lee & Sagitarius vs Baronessa & Satania
2) Hell Boy & Noisy Boy vs Black Dragón & Shalom
3) Asterboy, Freelance, Hijo De Dos Caras vs Cerebro Negro, Dick Angelo 3G, Karaoui
4) Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura vs Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane
5) Hijo del Alebrije © vs Hijo del Fishman [IWRG JUNIORS]

This is IWRG’s Three Kings’ Day show. Tickets are free for children with a paying adult, so this should be a big crowd. Fishman won the title shot on last week’s show.

IWRG announced they’d have shows on Sundays during January and February. That implies no Tuesday or Thursday shows, neither of which were drawing particularly well. IWRG is also quietly filming season 2 of their Tryout series in Arena Naucalpan to air sometime later, so there may be some scheduling conflicts. That Sunday show has less people than usual.

Fenix suffered a dislocated arm near the close of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite. The injury looked horrible, Fenix’s arm bending the wrong way on a landing outside the ring, but early reports are it was not as damaging as it seemed. He may be back in a “few weeks”, which did not seem at all likely when we saw the injury. Fenix thanked everyone for their supports in an Instagram message. Fenix and Pentagon lost the AEW tag team titles in that match, which appeared to be the planned result prior to the finish. They were seemingly moving into an AEW feud with Malachi Black, and it’s possible Penta will just do that as a single for now.

Figuring out how AAA is going to handle the situation is a lot harder. The Lucha Brothers were scheduled to challenge for the tag titles against FTR on January 30th in Merida and wrestle Hermanos Lee on February 19 at Rey de Reyes. It seemed likely the Lucha Brothers were going to win the tag titles from the AEW team and then lose them to Dragon Lee & Dralistico, though that was far from certain. Fenix being out “a few weeks” could mean he’s able to come back for Rey de Reyes but not the January show; any decision AAA makes is probably going to have to wait until they know Fenix’s exact timetable. Like with Kenny Omega at TripleMania Regia, there’s no obviously simple solution to replace one half of the big main event for either show, just a lot of ideas that might be OK.

Getting CONCACAFed, a soccer Substack, has an article on the AAA/Charly alternate Liga MX jersies. The Sports Marketing Manager at Charly (Jesus Salazar) says they saw AAA was having their 30th anniversary and reached out to them for a collaboration. The original idea was for each teams with “a real-life lucha libre legend” but the jersey designers felt the fans would react better to a new character connected solely to the team. Perhaps AAA informed them about dealing the ups and downs of dealing with real-life lucha libre legends. There are still plans for the futbol mascot luchadors to show up in AAA at some point.

AAA says they’re airing a special on their women’s champions matches this week on Space, which is the same episode they aired three weeks ago. Next week’s episode should also be a repeat episode, with new material airing again on the 22nd.

MLW uploaded the first of their “MLW Azteca” shows, matches taped on and before the December 3rd Tijuana show. The first episode included a trios with Arez & Aramis (good though MLW doesn’t know who’s actually in the match), a Psycho Clown/Richard Holliday match (not good), and a tag match with Pagano & Alexander Hammerstone versus Black Taurus & King Muertes (good when they were running through barricades.) The main event set up a Pagano/Hammerstone title match on 01/21 in Dallas in a falls count anywhere match. Good luck to all involved. The AAA/The Crash guys who aren’t MLW regulars just exist on the show as space fillers around the contracted guys, but it’s still something like a Crash show with the unsigned guys working hard in hopes to get noticed. The rest of the matches should air on Thursdays the next few weeks.

Impact has their Hard to Kill PPV this Saturday. Laredo Kid will wrestle in a four-way with Jake Something, Ace Austin and Chris Bey in the kickoff show on YouTube at 6:30 pm. Laredo Kid will probably be part of a very good match and then get pinned, but at least it’ll be free on YouTube. Black Taurus doesn’t appear booked; he may second Rosemary on the main show.

GCW announced Gringo Loco, Demonic Flamita, Arez versus Bandido, Laredo Kid and ASF for their 01/23 PPV.

Super Crazy made a surprise appearance on the 01/05 NOAH show as part of Perros del Mal Japon, with NOSAWA announcing the group had signed him to a year contract. In el Sol de Tulancingo, Super Crazy said he’d actually just be in Japan for a few more weeks but he was happy to be associated with the group.

DTU says they’re returning to Arena Aficion at some point soon, but are waiting for the health situation to improve before announcing an official state.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

LA Park received a sports award (and a long bio) in Monclova.

The 2022 Tapatia awards are now open for the best of 2021.

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 01/04/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha]
1) Pequeño Magía & Último Dragóncito b Mercurio & Minos  
debuts of Magia & Mimos
2) Apocalipsis, Inquisidor, Retro b Arkalis, Cholo, Oro Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]  
3) La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi b Amapola, Metálica, Reyna Isis  
Reyna Isis replaced Comandante. Tecnicas took 1/3.
4) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Stuka Jr. b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa  
Team Laguneros took 1/3
5) El Coyote, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas b Fugaz, Soberano Jr., Star Jr.  
Rudos took 2/3, Coyote pinning Fugaz for the win.

Nice to give Coyote a win in his main event. It’s more important where Coyote is is three months from now, but at least they’re starting off trying. CMLL now has a Pequeno Magia and Magia Blanca, two unrelated characters.

CMLL (TUE) 01/04/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara (video)]
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Bobby Black, Capitán Cobra b Destello, Gran Kenut, Jabalí 
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro b Destructor, Persa, Quka 
3) Bestia Negra, Crixus, Omega b Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. 
Bestia Negra used the ropes to beat Joker
4) Blue Panther, Cachorro, Niebla Roja b Maléfico, Satánico, Zandokan Jr. 
Niebla Roja replaced Dark Panther on Monday
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel © b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga [OCCIDENTE TRIOS] 
first defense
6) Averno, Difunto, Templario b Dr. Karonte I, Explosivo Dr. Karonte II, Místico 
Difunto replaced Dragon Rojo. Averno, with a heavily taped left shoulder, pulled off Mistico’s mask and cradled him for the win. Challenges followed.

Not an ideal time for Dragon Rojo to also be missing. Cavernario’s family keeps the trios titles.

CMLL (SAT) 01/08/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Leono & Retro vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) El Gallito, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel, Micro Ángel, Perico Zakarías [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Panterita del Ring Jr., Stigma, Suicida vs Diamond, Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr.
4) El Coyote & Sangre Imperial vs Hombre Bala Jr. & Robin [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Felino, Místico, Titán vs Atlantis, Cavernario, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

The semi-main is the finalists from the Gran Alternativa against the finalists from the Gran Opurtindad elimination match on Arena Coliseo’s reopening. This is another re-opening, the first Saturday show here since the Lucha Memes show on 12/18 due to the holidays.

Those four names tournament finalists names are the only ones announced for CMLL Informa, which promises to have news on the Friday show as well. Volador Jr., Ultimo Guerrero, and Lluvia are all announced for Friday’s Best of 2021 card and all have missed every show they’ve been booked in since Saturday. Volador was pulled late from Monday’s show, Ultimo Guerrero missed a Sunday booking in Saltillo. CMLL has not said they’re COVID positive, but they’re treating these absences exactly like past COVID cases, taking them off shows one day at a time in hopes that they’ll get a negative test in time for the negative appearance. Ultimo Guerrero was announced for Saturday’s show even after he was pulled from the other ones, so it’s doesn’t appear to be another sort of injury. CMLL may not still hold out hope for negative tests Thursday or Friday, but they have been fair about announcing possible changes when it gets this close to a pre-advertised show.

Friday’s show is scheduled to be a 99 peso Ticketmaster PPV. Ticketmaster now lists the 01/28 show as a 230 peso PPV, so that’ll be a tournament final of some kind. This may also be an Informa announcement today; it doesn’t seem to have come out through the virtual media interviews.

CMLL (MON) 01/10/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Dreyko & Meyer vs Black Tiger & Siki Ozama
2) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Rugido vs Perverso, Prayer, Toro Bill Jr.
3) Dulce Gardenia vs Disturbio
4) Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
5) Místico vs Soberano Jr.

This show, which will not be aired anywhere as far as I know, is better than some lineups CMLL’s put on PPV. We’re still getting no results from Puebla – the only reason we have full results from Guadalajara a few paragraphs is that the show streamed and I can just quickly watch finishes – but photos on social media suggest Atlantis Jr. & Soberano Jr. have been working as rudos against Mistico the last couple of weeks to set up the single match. Dulce/Disturbio is the cage match follow up.

MatchWornShirt mentioned that proceeds from the CMLL masks they’re selling will go to Reinserta, which helps children who’ve been exposed to trauma. The masks remain on sale for a week more.

Titan would like a mask versus hair match with Barbaro Cavernario.

Other News

AAA posted a Dragon Lee promo mentioning his titles won elsewhere by name and saying he was coming to AAA to win four titles (Tag, Latin American, Cruiserweight and Mega.) That promo is not blocked, though AAA’s YouTube channel still remains so. Dragon Lee mentions the singles champions but doesn’t name anyone (FTR) as tag title champions, which again points to FTR dropping the belts back to the Lucha Brothers in Merida. That promo seems like an obvious place for a hint about Rush coming in (why not the trios titles) but there’s not one I caught.

I’ve been told to expect an update in the AAA YouTube geoblock situation soon. I haven’t seen one yet. EdiT: The AAA Facebook page is now available worldwide, so things are moving in a positive direction.

Chelsea Green, in an interview with Fightful, mentions she was slated to be at TripleMania with Deonna Purrazzo. It sounds like she would’ve seconded Purrazzo, so Green would’ve likely done the constant interference spots that went to Maravilla. There’s some logic in bringing in multiple women for that match – there’s definitely a comfort level in having a friend with you when you’re traveling to a country where you don’t speak the language – but it’s long shot that most AAA fans would’ve known someone who barely appeared on WWE TV.

Chelsea Green brought in for that kind of spot is going to be a theme with AAA all this year; AAA’s beliefs lean towards bringing in as many US names as possible, and Konnan in interviews talked far more about the names he hopes to bring in than most people who work full time in AAA. I think this is not a winning strategy – the most successful non-US group at growing in the US over the last decade was NJPW, a promotion that prioritized both weekly English language content and deifying their in-house wrestlers. AAA seems to be going in a near opposite direction. They’re going do to it because they want to do it. The 2022 version of AAA should be more exciting because fans will be there and AAA might be prompted to try to run feuds, but viewers should also brace themself for lots of guest appearances where it’s a mystery why the person was even there.

The reason for the IWRG stream outage on Sunday turned out to be because Arena Naucalpan had a power outage, as Arena Neza did on Sunday. The Naucalpan power outage sounds like it was shorter, just about 10 minutes.

Twitter posts criticizing a Mexican airline for having a luchador (Blue Demon) painted on the side and criticizing the Mexico City airport for having a lucha libre themed bathroom went somewhat viral on Tuesday, mostly from people in and out of the wrestling business pushing back against the comments. There’s no news here – those bathrooms redesigns were announced in July, the story just got recycled  – but wrestlers have reacted strongly on social media and it would not be a surprise to see this criticism answered on shows. I have thoughts but, as someone who is not Mexican, it doesn’t feel like my place to say what does or does not positively reflect Mexican culture.

A Puerto Rico show (promotion OILL) will air their December show as a $20 PPV this weekend. There are Mexican wrestlers mostly from the Robles crew – Alberto, Texano, La Mascara, and Cibernetico – as well as Australian Suicide & Vanilla Vargas. Puerto Rico doesn’t seem much different than Mexico in indie promotions making it hard on themselves; they’re using an obscure (physical) ticket site to sell the PPV, and the page doesn’t have the lineup on the show. I get the sense, from random posts on Twitter (so this isn’t the most reliable evidence), that there are people who are actually buying those Nacion Lucha Libre shows most people have forgotten existed, simply because it’s on FITE and there are people who already use the platform and are willing to sample just about anything that comes on there. I don’t know how much FITE takes compared to Random Ticket Selling but I’m guessing it’s probably worth it for shows like this where there’s not a big built-in audience who will follow you to a random website. It’s possible CMLL’s drilled TicketmasterLive in people’s heads long enough that it wouldn’t make as much difference for them, but don’t know it for a fact.

An 03/19 AAA/Barba show in Saltillo has LA Park vs Psycho Clown vs Pagano vs Cibernetico and Hijo del Vikingo vs Laredo Kid vs Bandido. Those shows seem to get the biggest lineups of any AAA spot show. They’re also taped for Mas Lucha, though they’re one of the slower ones to turn up.

A mugger in Mexico City was using an Espanto mask to hide his identity. It’s not the CMLL Espanto Jr.; the only crimes he’s known to commit are his matches.

Monterrey lucha libre reporter Rafael Ramiro Salinas (Rafiki) passed away on December 28th. SuperLuchas said it was due to a lung disease, not thought to be related to COVID-19.

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

The 2022 Tapatia awards are now open for the best of 2021.

CMLL

CMLL (SUN) 01/02/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Angelito & Shockercito b Acero & Aéreo
2) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus b Dark Magic, Disturbio, Enfermero Jr.
Tecnicos took 1/3. Disturbio replaced Espanto.
3) Dalys, Princesa Sugehit, Stephanie Vaquer b La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Reyna Isis [Relevos Increíbles]
La Vaquerita replaced Lluvia. Team Sugehit took 2/3.
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Hombre Bala Jr., Kráneo, Volcano
rudos took 2/3
5) Negro Casas, Niebla Roja, Terrible b Dark Panther, Soberano Jr., Titán
Dark Panther, Negro Casas replaced Volador Jr., Angel de Oro on Sunday. Rudos took 2/3.

Sugehit’s promos on Saturday talked about challenging for the tag titles with Dalys, so maybe that was the idea for the trios match here before Lluvia got removed.

CMLL (SUN) 01/02/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Aurelius & Maxiums b Atilius & Rey Urano 
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro b Destrucción, Onix, Sombra Dorada 
Coliseo vs Jalisco
3) Bestia Negra, Difunto, Omega b Draego, Reggae Boy, Reycko 
Coliseo vs Jalisco
4) Explosivo, Fantástico, Gallo DDQ Makabre, Rey Tritón, Sniper 
Coliseo vs Jalisco. Gallo and Rey Triton unmasked each other for the double DQ. Challenges followed, as well as fighting in the interview area.
5) All Carrillo & Zandokan Jr. b Blue Panther & Cachorro Lagunero 
Zandokan Jr. unmasked Cachorro to pin him
6) Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga b Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel [super libre] 

Arena Coliseo Guadalara’s Facebook aired this show too; their willingness to stream everything for free is another sign of the difference between this branch and the main Mexico City office. Attendance did not look impressive but these Sunday shows weren’t drawing well prior to the pandemic; these might have done a little bit better than the 2019 versions.

CMLL (TUE) 01/04/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Bobby Black, Capitán Cobra vs Destello, Gran Kenut, Jabalí
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro vs Destructor, Persa, Quka
3) Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Bestia Negra, Crixus, Omega
4) Blue Panther, Cachorro, Niebla Roja vs Maléfico, Satánico, Zandokan Jr.
Niebla Roja replaced Dark Panther on Monday
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel © vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga [OCCIDENTE TRIOS]
first defense
6) Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Místico vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Averno, Templario
Averno replaced Polvora on Monday.

CMLL booked Dark Panther in both Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, so being pulled here isn’t a COVID issue. Or at least it wasn’t his COVID issue, maybe he was already a sub for someone. I believe the Dr. Karontes are Argos & Mini Murder Clown.

Puebla has a rematch of Negro Casas, Mistico and Volador versus Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr. and Templario. Tuesday has the debuts of Pequeno Magia and Minos.

Marca lists CMLL as one of their 2022 streaming shows, noting it’ll only be available in Mexico.

On the 12/30 Kingdom show, Felino and local Matamoros wrestler Jaivo IV agreed to a hair match on a future Tamaulipas show.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 01/02/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
Guerrero de Acero, 2022
1) Noisy Boy b Hell Boy, Lolita, Legendario, Rey Halcón Jr., Shalom [cage, Tesoro del Pirata Moreno] 
billled as wrestlers from Lucha Time, MexaWrestling and GALLI, though it’s mostly the usual crew. First two out advanced to a final match for the prize. El Tesero is a Money in the Bank like item, where Noisy Boy gets a title match or an apuesta matc h of his choosing.
2) Freelance b Aster Boy, Puma de Oro, Billy Jones, Sol, Legendario [cage, IWRG REY DEL AIRE, #1 Contenders]
3) Toxin b Jessy Ventura [IWRG MEXICO, cage, Ladder]
Sixth defense, 2nd straight against Ventura. Cage match but win via ladder match rules. Toxin asked for a IWRG WELTER title match.
4) Hijo del Fishman b Hijo del Espectro, Dick Angelo 3G, Hijo De Dos Caras, Canek Jr., Súper Nova, Texano Jr. [cage, IWRG JUNIORS, #1 Contenders]
the first person who escapes (after 10 minutes) wins a title shot on 01/08 against Hijo del Alebrije. Texano Jr. was added to the match.
5) Freelance b Dragón Bane © [IWRG REY DEL AIRE, cage]
Freelance won the title. Noisy Boy appeared to tease cashing in on Freelance.
6) Tortuga Leo L Satania, Bugambilia, Benga Lee, Hijo del Alebrije, Alpha Wolf, Diva Salvaje, Cerebro Negro, Akbal, Oficial AK47 [hair, mask, cage]
Bengalee defeated Leo, who was unmasked as Alejandro Mendez, 27, 12 years a wrestler

Mas Lucha has a photo of the unmasked Turtle. (No one else seems to cover the subscription-only show.) Leo doesn’t look very Turtle-ish without the mask. That main event finish is a rare bit of a woman defeating a man in a mask match. It was a multiperson win by escape match, but those are typically not mixed. Even when they re, they tend to end with man versus man or women versus woman playing off existing feuds. Bengalee was feuding with Satania towards a mask match before Bengalee picked up an injury and this might be a win on the route to that match.

Freelance as a singles champion in 2022 is odd. Maybe Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf aren’t hanging around for long but Bane and IWRG are still on good enough terms to lose the title before moving on. They’re listed as card as far out as 01/15 so they don’t appear to beleaving soon.

I didn’t watch this but I was told there were issues with the stream.

On his podcast, Konnan mentioned AAA had plans to go to Japan and Colombia, though he took that last one back and said “South America” more generally. AAA ran a successful show in Colombia back in 2018, and then a much smaller and much less successful show in 2019; I think that one got canceled after the four AAA wrestlers who were sent got there. The successful show is well remembered, the follow-up not so much. AAA’s made many trips to Japan over the years; the most recent shows have been with small groups that just mostly exist to help out the shows together. That again seems more likely than AAA suddenly announcing a partnership with one of the bigger groups. Konnan did not mention the US, though I’m pretty sure AAA has plans for to go the US and it’s more Konnan being asked not to mention it. Who knows if any of this will or can even happen.

Konnan also said he was unsure if Rey de Reyes will be back on Fite but AAA plans to have different English announcers next time they do run PPV. He also mentioned Scarlett Bordeaux and Killer Kross among other ex-WWE people he expected to be back in AAA in 2022.

Meanwhile, AAA uploaded a Best of John Hennigan in AAA video to YouTube. “Johnny Mundo” is a Lucha Underground name which may be the reason they’re not using it, but that would also suggest they’re not that close to solving the issues with FMV. Which wouldn’t make sense with planning to run internationally in 2022.

The power went out during Saturday night’s Arena Neza show before the semimain. It had nothing to do with the building – a nearby transformer exploded – but it caused the show to be delayed for a while, then resumed with the ring light mostly by cell phones. They finished out the show as scheduled, with Fresero Jr. taking Mr. Electro’s hair in a cage match well after midnight. It looked like, at least when the lights were on, one of the biggest Neza crowd in some time. A lot of the crowd stuck with the show despite the power issue, though it’s a little harder to tall.

The last EMW show on 11/26 included a speech by Konnan stating EMW would be staying at a new Tijuana venue (Palenque del Parque Morelos); the idea seemed to be that EMW and The Crash would run different places in Tijuana and not be in conflict with each other. That concept has lasted zero shows. EMW has announced their weekend of shows, including a 02/05 show back at Auditorio de Tijuana. That’s one week after The Crash runs the same venue. Both The Crash and EMW are announcing names for that next show. EMW’s announced AAA names, The Crash has not, but they’re both just a couple of names in.

Rush posted a dramatic return video. Rush, Dragon Lee, and Bandido are officially free agents now; I’d guess Flamita and Rey Hours are as well given when they signed but I don’t know that for a fact. I’d bet on some ex-ROH wrestler showing up on one of the (three) AEW TV shows this week, though the hints point more towards Brody King than any of the luchadors.

San Luis Potosi luchador Tiger Boy (Joaquin Gustavo Chavez) passed away suddenly on Friday. This Tiger Boy was a long time regular at many of the local venues; I have him on shows going back to 2006, but it’s probably longer than that. He was active recently; he was on a lineup this weekend. No cause of death is mentioned. This is not the Tiger Boy who was in AAA in recent years.

Milenio visits Big Mami’s shop.

LuchaWorld has its picks for the top 10 luchadors of the year.

CMLL

CMLL (SAT) 01/01/2022 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Halcón Suriano Jr. TLDRAW Suicida [lightning]
Neither man was close to winning. They briefly fought after the time limit.
2) Dark Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa b Cancerbero, Enfermero Jr., Virus
Tecnicos took 16:20. Enfermero Jr. replaced Espanto Jr.
3) Princesa Sugehit © b La Jarochita [CMLL WOMEN]
15:14. One fall. Sugehit won via Michinoku Drive
4) Místico, Soberano Jr., Titán b Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas [Relevos Increíbles]
16:09. Tecnicos took 1/3. Negro Casas & Titan replaced Ultimo Guerrero & Volador Jr. on Friday.
5) Disturbio L El Audaz, Dulce Gardenia, Okumura, Sangre Imperial, El Coyote, Espíritu Negro, Stigma, Akuma, Pegasso, Nitro [mask, hair, cage]
28:39. CMLL announced Polvora was out due to COVID right before the match started. Luchadors were required to stay in for three minutes (and all ended up staying in much longer.) Order of escape: Coyote, Akuma, Espiritu Negro, Sangre Imperial, Audaz, Okumura, Pegasso, Stigma, and Nitro, leaving Dulce and Disturbio as the final two. Dulce submitted Disturbio for the win.

This was not as good as the Christmas Day show. The fourth match was good in the ways you’d expect, the second match was not bad. The big matches didn’t really come through. Both singles matches didn’t have enough ideas to go the time they did. The opener ran out of ideas with minutes left, so the tecnicos just took turns doing unconvincing holds until the time ran out. The women’s match was the opposite way, they were just killing time for the first two-thirds of the match before getting a bit interesting in the final few minutes. The long single fall matches aren’t working because there’s no sense of action building to a finish, they’re just trying to take enough time off the clock until they do to their finishing sequence. Most everyone in CMLL is still better at peaking action in three fall matches than one fall, but I’m not sure they see it that way.

The cage match was a slower than usual version of a cage match. They did include two unusual weird spots. Dulce Gardenia may have gotten a real injury based on a worked fireworks spots. CMLL sometimes shoots off fireworks from the cage when it hits the time where people can escape. This time, they had some fireworks that went off minutes later and for no real reason, except maybe it was a planned spot to tease a Dulce Gardenia injury. They went off twice – once when Espiritu Negro was climbing, then a second time when Dulce made a mad rush to climb the cage. The fireworks didn’t come close to his eyes, but he sold an eye injury anyway. And then it didn’t seem like he was selling, with rudos helping clean out his eyes with water the referee were passing through the cage door. It wasn’t a plot point in the ending of the match the way you’d expect if it was a planned injury, so I’m not sure what it was beyond confusing. Also confusing was a near finish of Dulce and Disturbio both climbing out at the same time to leave only Nitro behind, with the referees telling them they couldn’t leave because there had to be two left in at the end. That’s a spot you do if you’re trying to make it entertaining and not at all trying to make it come off as real, which is not what CMLL used to be for sure – a ‘real’ competition would just decide which person got out second and send them back in, but of course a lucha libre promotion is going to have the two people who turned around be the two people who face each other at the end.

CMLL not announcing Polvora was out of the cage match until the match was about to start is false advertising. They likely knew the same time they knew to remove Volador, Ultimo Guerrero and Espanto Jr. and they kept it quiet; it’s hard to imagine they were getting test results back in the middle of the show and it’s harder to give a wrestling promotion the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think it would’ve made any difference to ticket sales to announce Polvora was out of the match, so I’m not sure why they bothered to hide it.

CMLL hasn’t officially explained the abscesses – and there’s a couple more on Sunday’s show. We can’t be sure they’re COVID related but that’s obviously the most likely answer.

Suicida is Sonic under a new name and slightly different look. Long time IWRG wrestler Mike Segura has also wrestled as Suicida, though he’s wrestled rarely the last couple of years. Sonic/Suicida has been a promising flyer for a while and hopefully, this leads to something for him.

CMLL (SUN) 01/02/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Angelito & Shockercito
2) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus vs Dark Magic, Enfermero Jr., Espanto Jr.
3) La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Reyna Isis vs Dalys, Princesa Sugehit, Stephanie Vaquer [Relevos Increíbles]
La Vaquerita replaced Lluvia
4) Hombre Bala Jr., Kráneo, Volcano vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Dark Panther, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Negro Casas, Niebla Roja, Terrible
Dark Panther, Negro Casas replaced Volador Jr., Angel de Oro on Sunday

I like Dark Panther but that’s a weak show when he’s in the main event and I’m not sure who else they’d put. CMLL’s webpage lists Jarochita out, the poster lists Lluvia out, Lluvia makes more sense if it’s a COVID issue with her and Ultimo Guerrero.

CMLL (MON) 01/03/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger vs King Jaguar
2) Angelito & Último Dragóncito vs Espíritu Maligno & Rencor
3) El Valiente Jr. & Magnus vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Stigma vs Disturbio, Nitro, Okumura
5) Místico, Negro Casas, Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr., Templario [Relevos Increíbles]

Main event is a rematch from last week.

CMLL (TUE) 01/04/2022 Arena México
1) Pequeño Magía & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Minos
2) Arkalis, Cholo, Oro Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Inquisidor, Retro [Relevos Increíbles]
3) La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi vs Amapola, La Comandante, Metálica
4) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Stuka Jr. vs Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
5) Fugaz, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. vs El Coyote, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas

Coyote gets a reward of main event a Tuesday show. Fugaz did not win a Gran Alternativa but just ended up on top anyway.

CMLL also introduced Pequeno Magia and Minos as new members of the minis division. Both had been working recent Valiente shows, Pequeno Magia as just Magia. There are at least two different luchadors wrestling as Minos (a Minos I and a Minos II) and I’m not entirely sure which one this is. They’ll debut on the 01/04 card.

Princesa Sugehit says she’d like to return to being a ruda. That seemed to be the idea of the build to her title match with La Jarochita, but the fans booed La Jarochita anyway. Another version of the interview quotes Princesa Sugehit as wanting to go to Blue Ribbon and New Japan Pro Wrestling; I think they meant Ice Ribbon.

Other News

MLW announced Mini Abismo Negro for their 01/21 Dallas show.  This was a very surprising announcement since Mini Abismo Negro has been generally retired since 2018; he really hasn’t appeared on AAA TV since 2016. Mini Abismo Negro’s name did appear on a card from a couple of weeks ago; I thought that may be someone else under the mask or a mistake. I’m totally confused surprised as to why MLW might be bringing him in; he was very good before injuries took their toll but he’s not a name I expected to see in 2022. I don’t think MLW knows all that much about him, or they wouldn’t have left his name spelled wrong (“Mini Abmiso Negro”) on their website and social media for days. MLW’s announcement says to expect more minis, so maybe someone’s idea is he can base for Drago Kid or Mascarita Sagrada.

RIOT announced Latigo, Toxin and Arez vs Iron Kid, Kratoz & Prometo for the 02/11 show and Arez defending their title against Prometo for their 02/12 show.

The Monterrey lucha libre commissioner accused of sexually harassing luchadoras at the LLF show on 12/17 , Gerardo Cortez Orozco, before ordering the show canceled talked to Cronistas del Ring about the situation. His story makes it sound like everything was by the book; he did enter the women’s dressing room with permission and found there were two minors who weren’t licensed. He says Diana la Cazadora wasn’t in the room; she’s the one who accused him of making rude comments. He claims LLF had a wrestler (Estrella de Fuego) who wasn’t booked who was going to act as the nurse, but then ended up on the card (as a fill-in?) and the commissioner wasn’t going to let her do both. He called the head of the commission, who came to the venue to check out the situation. They gave LLF 15 minutes to find a doctor or nurse, LLF could not get one in time, the commission canceled the show and the LLF people were very unhappy. Cortez Orozco mentioned he’d been the commissioner in charge of this building, then was taken off it for four years due to issues between himself and the LLF promoter, so there’s probably more history involved in this.

The Crash announced their first show will be on 01/28 and will include Fenix.

Segunda Caida calls the recent Zona 23 Black Terry vs Mr. Condor match their number one match of 2021.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Tinieblas says he wants to release a trilogy or encyclopedia of books about his life, he just waiting for someone to agree to publish it. That interview has Tinieblas complaining about wrestling promoters running shows honoring people who aren’t at his (or Mil Mascaras or Dos Caras’) level instead of him.