CMLL
Just a normal show for CMLL tonight with no particular stakes. Templario, Dragon Rojo and Cavernario face Negro Casas, Titan and Mistico main event, which does follow the Templario/Casas feud sending Casas to the tecnico side. The two units which lost in the first round of the trio tournament last week, Los Infernales and Los Ingobernables, meet in a psuedo third-place game. There’s a women’s trio (Vaquerita/Isis rematch), a mixed-up partners match and a minis to open it. CMLL’s run a lot more angles lately so there may be news, but it feels like a skippable night. It is available on TicketmasterLive for 99 pesos.
CMLL (SAT) 03/26/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy & Pequeño Magía vs Minos & Pequeño Polvora
2) Volcano vs Kráneo
3) Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa vs Esfinge & Guerrero Maya Jr. and Cachorro & Dark Panther and Hombre Bala Jr. & Robin and Pegasso & Stigma and Magnus & Rugido and Diamond & Magia Blanca and Akuma & Espanto Jr. [Arena Coliseo TAG, quarterfinal]
4) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Arena Coliseo TAG, quarterfinal]
5) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Arena Coliseo TAG, quarterfinal]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Arena Coliseo TAG, quarterfinal]
7) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Arena Coliseo TAG, quarterfinal]
8) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Arena Coliseo TAG, semifinal]
9) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [Arena Coliseo TAG, semifinal]
10) Fugaz, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. vs Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., El Coyote
The Arena Coliseo Tag Team tournament will be on Saturday, with the final taking place on the building’s anniversary show next week. The Panther family and Ola Negra team are my guesses.
Kraneo seemed to be the rudo in the break up with Volcano, but we’ll see if it holds this week. Kraneo has wrestled sparingly this year and missed time last year. It might be a big Volcano win if Kraneo isn’t going to be around.
CMLL (SUN) 03/27/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Full Metal & Pierrothito
2) El Valiente Jr., Eléctrico, Leono vs Cholo, Grako, Inquisidor
3) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, La Seductora, Tiffany
4) Dulce Gardenia, El Audaz, Flyer vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Volador Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
No sign of Atlantis Jr. on these shows. Him being gone means less increibles matches. I haven’t heard one word about why Atlantis Jr. suddenly disappeared but it’s not great to be wondering about a missing young CMLL wrestler the same week as we’ve slowly learned CMLL was keeping quiet a serious injury to another young wrestler for half a year. Again, I don’t know anything, I’m hoping it’s something minor and have no reason to think otherwise, but it is the flaw in CMLL (and Mexican wrestling in general)’s strategy of saying nothing when someone gets hurt.
CMLL posted Dorrel Dixon being honored on the 03/21 show in Arena Puebla. He seems to be in great shape for 90. It’s also clear CMLL professionally filmed this show, not just the one hard cam they’ve been doing for the recent Puebla highlights. It’s lately taken two to four weeks for CMLL shows from tape to air, if this is actually airing. (Again, CMLL should just open a subscription YouTube channel, upload all of that stuff there after it airs and make a few extra dollars.)
Warrior Jr.
Sanely posted about her nephew Warrior Jr. on Instagram, continuing the process of adding more details to the story. Warrior Jr. did suffer his serious neck injury in a training session in Arena Mexico with the rest of Los Deperadores. He fractured vertebraes, spent the last seven months confined to a bed, and passed away due to a series of complications from that original injury.
In her post, Sanely is upset about a false story claiming Warrior Jr.’s death was due to drugs and alcohol. That story seemed to be started by a Twitter user who hadn’t posted much before and tagged everyone they could think of to get attention, and propagated by YouTube lucha libre videos channels looking to cash in on ‘telling the truth’ about Warrior Jr. passing. The Twitter user has since deleted some but not all of the posts making those claims.
It’s dumb to believe Twitter accounts that were inactive before it became time to post a sensational story, but people looking for answers will take whatever they can find (and often latch on to the first one they hear.) The stories filled the void of CMLL or the family talking about the story, but it may have happened anyway because the primary goal is to get the viewers first and not be correct. I’d hope over time those who get stories wrong would go away but I’m not sure it works that way.
(There obviously are problems with drugs and alcohol in Mexican wrestling, and likely most forms of wrestling, but there’s no specific evidence it played a role in Warrior Jr.’s death.)
AAA
AAA on Space Saturday has the first part of the Merida taping at 6:45 pm CT (15 minutes later than usual.) AAA hasn’t announced which matches will air yet.
AAA tapes TV on Saturday night in Tijuana. It’s a late one, starting 10:30 CT in the US. (Tijuana switches clocks with the US for DST.) It’s not streaming, so there’s no real need to stay up for it. There are plenty of fancams in Tijuana that’ll likely have it up as soon as Sunday if you don’t feel like waiting for TV.
The lineup is more reminiscent of Konnan-era The Crash shows than a normal AAA TV taping with lots of outside and local names not usually part of AAA’s band. There’s nothing individually important on this show: Laredo Kid, Psycho Clown, and Tijuana jersey mascot Rey Xolo will take on the undefeated La Empresa. Extreme Tiger was doing some publicity with the Rey Xolo character and it’s possible he’ll be under the mask for this match; I’d expect it to be someone familiar and local. EMW announced there will also be a Marvel lucha libre match; that seems like the standard opener plan this year.
Presumed upcoming AAA Space schedule
- 03/26 & 04/02: Merida
- 04/09 & 04/16: Tijuana
- 04/23: Dallas (also airs live on FITE)
- 04/30 & 05/07: Monterrey (also airs live on FITE)
I’m still a little shaky if Dallas is supposed to be a normal TV taping, but both Jose Manuel Guillen and Hugo Savonivich will be in town for it and FITE says they’re airing in Spanish and English, so it might as well be. There’s also no sign of any AAA taping in April until TripleMania Monterrey, so it may need to be. AAA did tape a lot in Merida, so it’s possible they could stretch it three weeks like Rey de Reyes and Dallas taping could be pushed off as a fill-in show for later in the year.
The Young Bucks updated their Twitter bio to say they plan on winning the AAA tag team titles before their match on 04/30 at TripleMania. FTR are the AAA tag team champions. AEW’s been building towards another match between the two since the 03/02 Dynamite tag team battle royal. There’s a good chance it’ll happen between now and TripleMania and it might as well be for the AAA tag team titles. It’s not happening next week because FTR already has a match, but there’s four more weeks to get it in and there’s a good chance of it happening.
AAA has been building, as much as they build to anything, to a three-way match between FTR, Hermanos Lee and Lucha Brothers. The Young Bucks winning the AAA tag titles would disrupt that; even a four-way wouldn’t be quite as satisfying if it’s not a Mexican team who finally stops FTR. AAA doesn’t seem to have much attachment to their own stories so it still could very well happen. Fenix/Vikingo versus The Young Bucks for the AAA Tag Team titles would also seem to have a telegraphed outcome, but it may be the same outcome regardless. It does stick in my head that the last Crash show with Konnan featured him promising they’d come back with Fenix vs Vikingo, because it’s easy to see how they could set that up for TripleMania Tijuana out of that tag match.
Lucha Underground has quietly disappeared from Tubi, as noted on Reddit. It may have been gone for a while. The series went up on the site in August 2019. Those kinds of deals usually have a contract length so it’s possible it just ran out. MGM had a relationship with Tubi when LU back in 2019 and MGM has recently been bought by Amazon, so this might be part of a larger move of MGM content towards Amazon Prime. This is a also good time to mention there’s still no update in the AAA/FMW lawsuit.
IWRG
IWRG (THU) 03/24/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Águila Roja & Nativo b Kenji & Rey Eclipse 
2) Rey Halcón & X-Devil b Genex & Leyenda Negra
3) Ra-Zhata, Shil-Ka, Tortuga Leo b Aster Boy, Legendario, Noisy Boy
Legendario picked up an injury
4) Fulgor, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Yorvak b Accion Jackson, Brad Alexis, Travis Banks 
5) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura b Big Boy, Big Chicoche, Big Mike
Chico Che and Mike had problems, leading to Mike quitting the Big Strippers.
Big Mike indicated he was planning on returning to being a rudo. This show got done in a CMLL like 2h10m, very unlike IWRG.
IWRG (SAT) 03/26/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Mlagro & Rey Del Fuego vs Rosel & X-Booy
2) Carnicero, Súper Boy, Último Caballero vs Águila Oriental, Perseo, Rey Minos
3) Jhon Tito, Rey Astaroth, Súper Cometa vs Ajolotl, Mini Vikingo, Steve Manson
4) Noisy Boy & Spider Fly vs Fly Warrior & Fulgor
5) Estrella de Oro, Heredero Maya, Nativo, Prince Turbo, Príncipe Bengala, Rey Eclipse, Vudu Max, Yorvak vs Gravedad Cero, Güero Tijuana, Keiser Drago, Marduk, Omega Jr., Rey Gato, Taurino, Ultra Mega Jr. [Copa Higher Power]
Tryout vs Gym Zeus
A bonus trainee show on Saturday. Semi-main could be good. Everyone knows Mini Vikingo is really young, but so is his partner Steve Manson.
Relampago says he’ll be out a few weeks after suffering a neck injury. He was just returning from his previous injury.
IWRG announced Konnan Big for their 04/21 show. I can’t find a previous Konnan Big match in Arena Naucalpan but they’re billing it as a return.
There are a lot of shows this weekend
RIOT has its La Riña tournament on Friday and Sunday just outside of Monterrey. This tournament was first scheduled in spring 2020 and long-postponed due to the pandemic. First-round matches:
- Jack Evans vs Demonio del Aire
- Black Christian vs Aero Boy
- Aramis vs Gringo Loco
- Jimmy vs King Rex
- El Mago vs Troba
- Erik Ortiz vs Mr. Iguana
The six winners advance to two three-way matches on Saturday and then to a singles final the same night. The Friday show also includes the Vipers (Arez, Latigo, Toxin) against Prometo, Kratoz, and Iron Kid, building towards Arez/Promteo RIOT title match on the Saturday show. Prometeo beating Arez would be a surprise, but I think it has a decent chance; Arez’s commitments with AAA and MLW make it harder for him to be free for RIOT, and it might be a time to do a title change while they still have him.
It’s RIOT, so the show will be taped this weekend and it may be a few months before anyone else sees it. They’re really big PWG fans.
Big Lucha held a press conference on Wednesday to announce a partnership with Alberta’s CanAm Wrestling; this is where the Canadian wrestlers who’ve been in and out over the last six months are based. Both sides will exchange wrestlers and train each other in different styles. Sweet Daddy Soul (who seems to have an arm injury) was there to represent CanAm Wrestling, with Bandido representing his group. This is Big Lucha, so it turned into an angle. Flamita and his Black Generation joined the press conference. Bandido announced Ciclon Ramirez Jr., Extasis and Gravity would be the first to go to Canada, with Skayde going to train later. Flamita objected, pointing out he still has control of the gym and the promotion from a previous match stipulation and so he was going to send allies Elemental & Oni el Bendito instead. And then they ended up beating up Bandido and ripping his pants in half. We may have a better idea of who’s actually going after Big Lucha’s show tonight, which is headlined by a Black Generation versus Bandido’s amigos street fight.
KAOZ runs Arena Coliseo Monterrey on Sunday. It’s the first show in the historic lucha libre venue since KAOZ’s ran there in February 2020. The building was opened in 1955 and held two lucha libre shows a week (and boxing additionally) for many years, though that’s dipped down greatly in the last decade. Fans in Monterrey tend to blame Konnan Big and other gimmick characters for the decline of Arena Coliseo Monterrey, though I tend to believe it’s the other way around; promoters tried strange things like TV characters in lucha libre matches because interest in more traditional lucha libre had greatly declined (and the freak shows matches worked for a time.) There is a story that this show will be the final event in the history of Arena Coliseo Monterrey, but the only person who is telling this story is the promoter of this KAOZ wrestling show. It’d be sad but fairly understandable if this story came out in any other way or other time, and it’s not too different from CAR The Crash’s sudden closure announcement, but at the moment it seems like a way to sell some tickets.
The KAOZ show is technically headlined by Alberto el Patron vs Konnan Big vs El Divo vs Rey Escorpion vs Carlito, but it’s been pushed locally as just Alberto versus Konnan. Patron is the latest wrestling hero who is going to beat Konnan Big for the disgrace he’s been to lucha libre, and Konnan Big’s got in a few shots questioning Alberto’s wrestling hero status. Chris Master is also randomly booked on the show. It’ll air on Mas Lucha eventually.
Robles has a weekend of shows, where the one in Arena Lopez Mateos is most likely to to air. The original poster focuses on one of Shocker’s weaker photos. He teams with DMT Azul against Black Taurus & Pagano. Someone named The Beast (probably Bestia del Ring) is teaming with La Mascara & Ricky Marvin against Bestia 666, Damian 666 and Mecha Wolf. Invasion Indy has the tournament final for the NWA (whisper) Mexico Tag Team championship and DTU has their seminar ending show.
Other News
I caught the Republic of Lucha PPV on Wednesday. It’s fine for a $10 show, nothing you have to go out of your way but nothing you have to go out of your way to see. Top Flight vs Arez/Horus or Lince Dorado/Jacob Fatu were the best matches. Fenix and Chavo Guerrero did the announcing. Chavo has been around enough to know what announcing is supposed to be, but he also didn’t seem to know half the people on the show. Fenix knew most of the people but was so into the show as a fan that he would stop calling the action and just react to the moves. It was occasionally entertaining and occasionally distracting; both would’ve been better with a knowledgable announcer alongside them.
The show ended with an angle setting up Penta, Fenix, and Taya against Johnny, Daga, and Tessa Blanchard for some date three months from now. (The week of TripleMania Tijuana seems most likely.) They didn’t use Tessa’s name in the in-ring angle (“[Daga]’s wife”), but that seemed just them getting caught up in the moment. I expected more people to be upset about Tessa being booked and only saw a couple of messages. Maybe it’ll be different when there’s a date and the match is formally announced, or maybe the Republic of Lucha will just not announce matches again and avoid the issue.
04/01 GCW: the WRLD on Lucha
- Psycho Clown vs Dr. Wagner Jr. – main event
- Pagano vs Sadika in an extreme match
- Jack Carthweel vs Johnny Caballero
- Tony Deppen vs Psicosis
- Gringo Loco, Abismo Negro Jr., Demonic Flamita vs Laredo Kid, Rey Horus, ASF
- AR Fox vs Ninja Mack
- Golden Dragon vs Octagon Jr. vs Drago Kid vs Aero Boy vs Chris Carter vs Shane Mercer – new
I wish the dial was turned more towards a lucha libre and less towards a GCW show featuring some luchadors, but it is a GCW show. It can’t be easy to put together a lucha libre show with the Martinez show going at the same time and Bandido over in ROH, and there’s probably some pressure to put on names to draw in an audience who’s not familiar with the Mexican names, but it’s still slightly disappointing there’s only three luchador(s) vs luchador(s) matches on a seven match card.
The Monday Arena Coliseo Monclova show has the cops called on them for exceeding the COVID capacity limits. The police didn’t respond until after the show was over, so they couldn’t prove there were too many people there and just warned the building not to do it again. That show was “headlined” by an appearance by professional attractive person Karley Ruiz.
LA Park is involved with a new group called Luchas de Barrio, a concept for running shows focusing on younger wrestlers. (This was the press conference a month back that included Arturo Beristan confirming he’d left CMLL.) There’s a plan here for tryouts and a show on May 14th in Mexico City, but details are scrace. LA Park talked to Record about wanting to be involved in something like this because after experiencing poverty and hardship and closed doors from promoters when he first came to Mexico City, something he never forgot even as he became successful. LA Park also told ESTO he’d like to lose in the TripleMania tournament in Monterrey and Tijuana so he could be in the final in Mexico City (and then win), but he doesn’t want to let his fans in Monterrey down by losing. LA Park is expected to defeat Villano IV in Monterrey; this becomes an entirely different tournament with much higher stakes if he loses.
Add Extreme Tiger to the list of Mexican wrestlers suddenly heading to NOAH. Extreme Tiger (& Jack Evans) wrestled there back in 2010. NOAH needs to share its one cool trick to get foreigners into Japan with NJPW for everyone’s sake, assuming it’s on the up and up.
Segunda Caida writes about the 2021 LA Park vs Rush match.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
An exhibition of lucha libre movie posters will open in Toluca.