CMLL
CMLL (TUE) 02/15/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha]
1) Fantasy & Pequeño Magía b Angelito & Kaligua 
Fantasy & Magia, wrestling as rudos, took the opener.
2) La Metálica, Stephanie Vaquer, Tiffany b La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Marcela
Rudas took 2/3. Metalica used the ropes to beat Marcela, setting up a rematch next week.
3) Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
Team Maya took 1/3. Maya pitched challenging for tag titles with Pantera or forming a trio with his son
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Rey Bucanero, Sagrado DQ El Hijo del Villano III, Niebla Roja, Terrible
Team Sagrado took 1/3. His partner is listed as “Gemelo Diablo”, guessed to be I. Terrible DQed for using the ropes to foul Sagrado.
5) Euforia, Hechicero, Templario b Atlantis Jr., Cavernario, Último Guerrero
Team Euforia took 1/3, the last when Atlantis Jr. had Templario in La Atlantida but Euforia pulled off Atlantis’ mask and rolled him up.
Sorting through this: the Maya stuff is just random ideas to make sure his name gets in the paper. The Sagrado/Terrible finish is baffling, unclear if was the planned finish or a referee mistake, but seems bad either way. Euforia/Atlantis Jr. is just the singles match of the month.
Metalica/Marcela also is likely a singles match next week, and fits with Vaquerita/Isis as possibly a bigger match down the line (or maybe those two combined in some ways.) Even that much I’m not sure about, because CMLL doesn’t typically do feuds on Tuesdays to build up to a big show on Friday and none of the women’s issues have been played up on Friday so far. A commenter suggested maybe Vaquerita/Isis was just a feud to do a feud with no more meaning than that, I didn’t agree then, but I am starting to come around to the idea.
CMLL (TUE) 02/15/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Destello, Ponzoña Jr., Relámpago Azul b Cosmos, Micro, Último Ángel
2) Náutica b Valkiria
3) El Divino, Luminoso, Mágico b Gran Kenut, Javier Cruz Jr., Quka
4) Crixus, Flash, Gallo b Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
5) Zandokan Jr. b Principe Daniel
Zandokan asked Principe Daniel for a OCCIDENTE MIDDLE match
6) Bestia Negra & Difunto DQ Exterminador & Maléfico [super libre]
Bestia Negra tossed his mask to Exterminador to draw the DQ the challenged him to a OCCIDENTE HEAVY match
Exterminador won that title in a 2019 tournament and has never defended it. I guess it’s time. Daniel won his title back in June from Difunto.
CMLL (FRI) 02/18/2022 Arena México
1) Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma
2) La Vaquerita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis
3) Blue Panther, Cachorro, Dark Panther vs Felino, Felino Jr., Negro Casas
4) Ángel de Oro © vs Mephisto [MEX LH]
first defense
5) Místico & Templario vs Averno & Volador Jr.
CMLL announced Friday/Saturday lineups on Monday, two days earlier than usual. It appeared CMLL was holding back lineups to wait for COVID test results, and I’m not sure if something’s changed by that.
Averno returns from his absence for a mixed tag main event the week before the mixed tag team tournament. Ah well, it might be good. Tercera and opener may be as well.
This is the only show in a 11 show Mexico City city stretch without the minis opening the show. They’re working a lot. The Micros were wrestling a lot, though not this match, and have not appeared this month.
CMLL (SAT) 02/19/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Oro Jr., Suicida, Valiente Jr. vs Disturbio, Grako, Nitro
3) Dark Magic, Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano vs Kráneo, Okumura, Robin [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Dark Panther, El Audaz, Star Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero
5) Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. vs Esfinge, Fugaz, Stuka Jr.
I was going through 1993 UWA lineups last month. The promotion was still around for a few more years, but that was the last year where they were running both Sunday shows at the Toreo de Cuatro Caminos bullring and at Arena Neza. It was the last year because they really didn’t have enough popular wrestlers to run a giant bullring, and definitely didn’t have the numbers to also run a second building in the Mexico State area the same night. It led to Arena Neza situations headlined by prelim opening match guys like Los Rayos Tapatios suddenly main eventing shows, because someone had to. It’s not a slight against them, those guys would be solid wrestlers for decades after that, but it didn’t seem to work because they weren’t built up to be stars and just putting them in the main event didn’t make them stars.
CMLL’s been in a similar place for a while, but it really sticks out with the main event. At least Fugaz got one title match showcase. Magnus has spent a decade as a forgotten prelim guy, only for CMLL just to point at him and say he’s good. Esfinge has been in the shuffles. It’s not their fault, it’s CMLL not doing the work to show these guys earning the spot that’ll cause fans to see this as a lesser main event. CMLL’s counterpoint are people are just coming to Arena Coliseo to see a lucha libre show and it doesn’t matter the star power of those in the main event as long as they’re CMLL quality. That strategy has not worked out as of yet.
CMLL (SUN) 02/20/2022 Arena México
1) Aéreo & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Polvora
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Leono, Sangre Imperial vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Inquisidor
3) Shockercito © vs Mercurio [CMLL MINI]
7th defense
4) Atlantis, Esfinge, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Fugaz, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
Atlantis being in that semi-main looks weird, but they can’t put him in the main event against his son. Stuka is trying to keep the mask feud with Atlantis Jr. going. The minis title hasn’t meant anything and so a title change is totally possible.
CMLL (MON) 02/21/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Sombra Diabólika vs King Jaguar
2) La Magnifica & La Vaquerita vs La Metálica & Reyna Isis
3) Halcón Suriano Jr. & Suicida vs El Malayo & Espíritu Maligno
4) El Audaz, Fugaz, Stigma vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Místico, Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Averno, Cavernario, Templario
That’s a main event rematch from the past week. Same tecnico side in the fourth match too.
CMLL Informa has Volador, Rugido, Magnus, Mephisto, Mercurio and Full Metal as guests. I’m not sure if Full Metal is a tecnico or a rudo, perhaps we’ll find out (or find out if that matters.)
Ultimo Guerrero is opening his own lucha libre school this Saturday. Skayde, Ricky Marin, Ultimo Dragoncito, Hechicero, Mictlan MX, and Robin are also listed as teaching classes. It’s notable because Ultimo Guerrero was leading CMLL’s most advanced class last we knew. CMLL’s classes have been suspended for most of the pandemic; I’m not sure they’ve been restarted. Maybe Ultimo Guerrero is just looking for another way to get paid at a time when there are fewer wrestling bookings (and such is a bad time to be adding more wrestlers to the profession, not that any trainer ever seems to think about that.) He could still be teaching the CMLL classes, whenever they happen again.
AAA
The local promoters of the twice rescheduled AAA TV taping in Merida held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the taping will now happen on March 13th. A press release mentions “99.5%” of the wrestlers originally scheduled to appear will be there, which only makes one wonder who’s in that other “0.5%.” A video ad for the show includes the Lucha Brothers & FTR, but those names are conspicuously missing from the press release and they seemed to be promoting the Laredo Kid/Dragon Lee/Willie Mack/? Cruiserweight title match as the main event. The full card was said to be coming “soon” on Tuesday and hasn’t appeared.
AAA also has noticeably not put out graphics for the Lucha Brothers versus Dralistico & Dragon Lee match or John Hennigan versus Hijo del Vikingo title match for Saturday’s Rey de Reyes as they have the other matches. They have posted the Hennigan challenge to Vikingo, though not the graphic.
This seems like Fenix hasn’t been cleared and AAA’s pausing on talking about him entirely until his situation settled. The most optimistic way to look at it is AAA still has hope Fenix may be cleared – and Fenix has posted photos without a sling recently – but I’d bet against him wrestling at this point. Mexican wrestling strategy is not to stay anything if there’s bad news. Going out of their way not to put out a graphic for the tag match is a pretty clear message. My guess is Hennigan & Vikingo are good to go but AAA might change around both matches if Fenix isn’t available; maybe the end is something like Dragon Lee being added to the main event and a Penta/Dralistico singles match. Rey de Reyes should be a good show regardless but you should keep possible changes in mind if you’re thinking about ordering it.
The good news hidden in that Merida press release is the show is mentioned to be streaming on AAA social networks. No details on which platform. AAA streamed all their tapings in the year prior to the pandemic on Twitch, which is preferable than to wait weeks for them to air on TV. AAA was specifically paid by Twitch for that – not just from normal Twitch viewer revenue, but a specific fee as mentioned in the FMV lawsuit. The streaming Lucha Capital shows were a similar deal with Facebook. That deal ended with the pandemic, so where (and perhaps still if) will likely depend on where AAA can get the best money. It looks like a good chance something will happen though, and maybe it’s just not going to be announced until after Veracruz.
the upcoming AAA taping schedule is now
- 02/27 Veracruz (Rey de Reyes, on FITE)
- 03/05 Madero
- 03/12 Monterrey – first Showcenter show
- 03/13 Merida – rescheduled 01/30 show
- 03/26 Tijuana
- 03/31 Dallas – WrestleCon
AAA’s only announced lineups for the first two shows. Past practice was to release cards about a month in advance, so more may be coming this week. Maybe once they figure out Fenix, it’ll break the dam.
AAA announced they’ll be part of the La Mole comic-con convention in late March. They’ve participated there in the past, more on the lines of autograph signings than matches.
Crazy Boy said he and AAA have only agreed to the March 5th show so he’s hoping to impress to get brought back.
Other Notes
Robles says their 02/20 show scheduled for Gimnasio Nuevo Leon will now take place in Escobedo instead, blaming difficulties in Monterrey. There’s some local drama over who is responsible for those difficulties.
RGR is streaming a press conference next Thursday night to promote their weekend of shows. There are a lot of AAA people involved.
02/26 MLW in Charlotte
That’s Octagon Jr.’s debut with the promotion. Aramis had been advertised and no longer is. I haven’t been keeping track of when he and his wife are due but maybe that’s it? The mystery man is likely Microman.
X-LAW announced a 03/19 show in Arena Lopez Mateos, then announced Austin Aries vs Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Mesias match for their heavyweight title on that show. Aries defended the ROH title on an X-LAW show long ago. He’s not been seen much in the US over the last two years. I don’t think he was canceled (though he did post an apology) as much as he’s a very particular person who manages to annoy people in ways not helpful to getting booked. Still, TJP gets booked and Aries does not, so that’s where Aries is in the US right now. Aries wrestled for NWA for a weekend last year but other wise this is a booking that only a Mexican promotion would be in a hurry to make. Aries perfectly fits with the X-LAW revival of theme of “everything we’re doing would be much more exciting 10-15 years ago.”
Lucha Memes announced a March 21st two-ring show in Ecatepec, built around bases. There was a tweet about it on Tuesday, then it got deleted, then it got reposted on Wednesday with slightly different verbiage.
Monterrey’s KAOZ says they’ll return from a long COVID hiatus on March 27th.
At a press conference for a charity show supporting children battling cancer, Vampiro revealed he too had cancer in his abdomen 15 years ago in addition to his publicized battle with Alzheimer’s. It is tough to keep track of all the dramatic events in Vampiro’s life, to the point that I think the man himself has trouble keeping everything straight, so the mention of cancer came off as a bit of news. I couldn’t remember it myself, but Vampiro had previously mentioned having stomach cancer “two years ago” in 2012. He also said he had a brain tumor at that time. In 2014 on Facebook, Vampiro phrased it as a “cancer scare.” The timeline doesn’t quite add up but that’s normal with him. Vampiro’s been doing press conferences for this charity for months, though it’s been explained as working on childhood diatabes in other appearances. The charity show is May 28th in Zapopan, tickets go on sale 0n Monday at www.lataquillamx.com and Dr. Wagner, Pagano and Latin Lover are said to be appearing.
In an interview with La Tijera Lucha Libre, Fuerza Guerrera says he is no longer allowing Fuerza Guerrera NG to use that name. This is a drama that apparently had been playing out this last year. Fuerza Guerrera NG, who use the name Imposible before 2019, filed for a trademark of the name and mask in March 2021. Fuerza Guerrera himself filed for that name in June of 2021, and – like Espectro most recently – doesn’t feel the other guy should have ownership rights. Fuerza Guerrera NG hasn’t wrestled later but has still used that name, so the original being upset with him hasn’t changed it. The original was asked about his “children” and didn’t bring this up on his own, so he’s not going in on this as hard as the recent Espectro or Misterioso situations.
Fuerza Guerrera also mentions Juventud Guerrera will be out six months with a foot injury. Juventud hasn’t been seen in the ring since getting hurt and walking out of a match near Chicago back in September but he’s scheduled for all the X-LAW shows announced so far. Maybe Fuerza was counting six months from that injury, which would mean a return in time.
LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania and a new podcast episode.