Month: March 2022

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 03/15/2022 Arena México [Box y Lucha, CMLL, Cronista del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Mercurio, Minos, Pierrothito b Acero, Acero, Angelito  
10:42. One fall.
2) Chamuel b Micro Gemelo Diablo [CMLL MICRO]  
9:19. One fall. Chamuel retained on a powerbomb and a leg submission. Second defense
3) Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr., Okumura b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.  
17:05. Ola Negra took 1/3.
4) Asturiano & Eléctrico b Suicida, Halcón Suriano Jr., Inquisidor, Stigma, Adrenalina, Fantástico (Jalisco) [CMLL SL] 
vacant title
5) Halcón Suriano Jr. b Adrenalina (Jalisco) [CMLL SL, quarterfinal] 
4:28
6) Suicida b Inquisidor [CMLL SL, quarterfinal] 
5:02
7) Stigma b Fantástico (Jalisco) [CMLL SL, quarterfinal] 
4:48
8) Eléctrico b Asturiano [CMLL SL, quarterfinal] 
2:28
9) Suicida b Halcón Suriano Jr. [CMLL SL, semifinal] 
3:16
10) Stigma b Eléctrico [CMLL SL, semifinal] 
2:57
11) Stigma b Suicida [CMLL SL, final]  
7:11
12) Star Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado  
10:25. Tecnicos took 1/3.

The tournament matches were generally too short to mean much – it’s hard to understand why these aren’t ciberneticos – but the outsiders tried hard to make an impression in the little time given. Fantastico did well, which caused the fans to boo when Stigma won, and Stigma became the booing favorite all the way through winning the title.

Stigma may have picked that name because there will always be a stigma around his career. He’s the son of the person who runs Arena Puebla and the nephew of the person who’s been the lead of the programming department for two decades. He’s always seemed pushed harder than some of his size and ability would’ve normally be; Asturiano equally started out from Puebla, looked good in every big match he got there, and seems to have no chance of ever even making the CMLL CDMX roster. Given how Stigma is already used in CMLL, he makes as much sense as champion as anyone, but it’ll probably be a forgettable reign.

With this super lightweight title settled and the trio title resolved on Friday, it’s only the Arena Coliseo Tag Team championship left vacant. I’m not sure if that one is meant to be coming back.

Chamuel versus Micro Gemelo Diablo was good. The Micro Gemelos are more athletic than the Microman but they’re not getting the same reactions so far.

CMLL (TUE) 03/15/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Fuego en el Ring]
1) Destello, Ponzoña Jr., Temerario b Cosmos, Micro, Último Ángel
2) Bello Antuan, El Divino, Mágico b Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Thunder Boy
3) Dark Silueta, Hera, Valkiria b Miss Olympia, Náutica, Sexy Sol
4) Cris Skin, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Explosivo, Gallo, Joker
Flash interfered for the DQ. Mask and OCCIDENTE TAG match challenges between Gallo/Flash vs the Truenos.
5) Místico & Soberano Jr. b Atlantis Jr. & Gran Guerrero
Soberano dropkicked the referee (Mario) to break up a pin, which should’ve been a DQ, but Gran Guerrero convinced him to let the match continue. This was a bad call, he took a Mistica about a minute later.

Flash has been out for about a month; which might have delayed a plan from a big match in that feud for next week’s show. Fuego en el Ring was back posting results, which is extra helpful when these shows all start one hour later.

The final lineup for Friday’s Arena Mexico show

CMLL (FRI) 03/18/2022 Arena México
CMLL Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, 2022
1) Cachorro, El Suicida, Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Robin
Cachorro replaced Oro Jr. on March 7th.
2) Negro Casas vs Templario
3) Marcela & Metálica vs La Vaquerita & Reyna Isis [final, relevos suicidas]
4) ? vs ?? [mask, hair]
5) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto and Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado and Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible [CMLL TRIOS, battle royal]
6) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ?????? [CMLL TRIOS, semifinal]
7) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ?????? [CMLL TRIOS, semifinal]
8) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ?????? [CMLL TRIOS, final]
9) Averno & Místico vs TJP (Teddy James Perkins) & Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

I’d like to see Negro Casas/Templario, but this show has too many matches and looks like it’ll end up rushed. Fans have complained about the lack of a significant mask or hair match on this show and perhaps CMLL is trying to make it up on volume. Vaquerita remains the favorite to lose her hair, Los Guerreros remain the favorites to win the trios titles.

This remains a TicketmasterLive show. If you’re getting this, remember the show starts one hour later if you switched your clocks last weekend.

I’ve usually written a good chunk of a preview for a major show by this point. I don’t have anything for Homeanje a Dos Leyendas. It should be a perfectly enjoyable show but I’m not sure there’s a reason for people who aren’t already buying every CMLL show to care. These are matches that exist to fulfill the requirement of running a Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show in a cold (but slightly warming) promotion.

CMLL (SAT) 03/19/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Leono vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Skadi vs Amapola, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Dulce Gardenia, Pólvora, Volcano vs Disturbio, Hombre Bala Jr., Kráneo [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Fugaz, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. vs Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., El Coyote
5) Hechicero vs Gran Guerrero [CMLL HEAVY]
2nd defense

Volcano & Kraneo are forced to fight, how sad.

CMLL (SUN) 03/20/2022 Arena México
1) Fantasy, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Pierrothito
2) Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo, Chamuel, Mije
3) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Felino Jr. & Pólvora © vs Esfinge & Fugaz [MEX TAG]
second defense
5) Místico, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Felino, Terrible

A rare in-ring appearance for Mije.

CMLL (TUE) 03/22/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Capitán Cobra, Cosmos vs Destello, Destructor, Thunder Boy
2) El Divino, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre
3) Stephanie Vaquer vs La Magnifica
4) Explosivo, Gallo, Joker vs Cris Skin, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
5) Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zacarías vs Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II
6) Atlantis & Blue Panther vs Negro Casas & Satánico
7) Místico & Titán vs Averno & Black Warrior

This show will honor Gran Cochisse, who has been retired for in-ring about 25 years and is three years younger than Satanico. Mistico faces two of his old rivals in the main event and the Micros make a rare Guadalajara appearance.

The Arena Queretaro show for Saturday, seemingly promoted by CMLL’s Guadalajara branch, is postponed due to permitting issues. They hope to reschedule soon but are reaching out to everyone who’s bought tickets to offer them a refund. That’s rare for a Mexican wrestling show. Usually it’s on the ticket buyer to track down the promoter if they’ll even give a refund.

AAA

Hijo del Vikingo, talking to Mas Lucha after the Showcenter event, says his leg injury is actually a knee ligament issue. It had been reported as a foot injury prior. I couldn’t tell which knee it is, but one of the ligaments has an issue and it’s causing his knee not to be as stable as it should be. He says he was told he needs to rest for three weeks. He will likely not rest for three weeks; he apologized for missing shows later week.

The 03/31 AAA show in Dallas at WrestleCon is now up for pre-purchase on FITE. It’s $15, which is the cheapest price of three AAA shows this year.

La Jornada Maya’s article on the feel of the Merida taping says there were almost 2,000 fans. It sure looked like more in the photos; the full capacity for wrestling is 8,640 and it seemed much more than 25% full.

A Twitter account billed as associated with the new Mexico City Airport (Felipe Angeles) scheduled to open this month says they’ll have a lucha libre show as part of the inauguration. The Twitter account is not verified so I’m not sure if this is official, and they seem to be using the poster for the December AAA taping in Mexico City – I’m not sure if it’s an AAA show or if any of those people are appearing. They’ve put a logo on the poster to cover up the date, so it’s all very shaky. AAA hasn’t mentioned a show like this happening and I was ignoring it until news sites started picking it up. I presume it’s actually just a random show, not necessarily an AAA one.

Other News

DTU had a show in Arena Aficion on Tuesday night. Aramis, off because his newborn has had some health challenges, was back wrestling on this show. New DTU tag team champions Aero Panther & Fight Panther lost to Crazy Boy & Joe Lider in a non-title match, and Poder del Norte defeated the DTU team of Blaze, Camulfaje and Kaleth.

Mas Lucha posted a streaming schedule for the week. Full shows rest of the week:

• Wednesday: Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre & RGR (California)
• Thursday: IWRG
• Friday: Welcome to Mi Barrio & AVE
• Saturday: Kaoz, Lucha Maniaks, Vanguradia/Lucha Madre
• Sunday: IWRG (Premium) & Cholo de Tijuana

Sunday’s show, the annual Rebelion de los Juniors tournament, will be for Mas Lucha members only.

IWRG (THU) 03/31/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Belial & Impulso vs Hijo de Payaso Purasanta & Payaso Purasanta Jr.
2) Aster Boy & Tonalli vs Estrella de Oro & Yorvack [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Lolita vs Reina Dorada
4) Dinámico © vs León Dorado [Mucha Luchas CHAMP]
5) Cerebro Negro & Dr. Cerebro vs Cíclope & Miedo Extremo
6) Murder Clown vs Joe Lider, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Black Warrior [PDM HEAVY]

A Perro Aguayo (Sr/Jr.) themed show, with Halloween scheduled to appear. It’ll be a Mas Lucha Premium show, which makes sense for the theme but is a tough weekend to be adding more paid content.

The Republic of Lucha posted some notes about their one year anniversary show this Saturday. They note the card is subject to change and won’t be announced in full until the day of the show. Maybe we’ll find out then if Fenix is wrestling. They’ve said their show will air on FITE, though there’s no link to buy quite yet.

Taurus versus Lince Dorado will be part of Zicky Dice’s 04/01 show. That show will stream for free on Twitch.

Octagon Jr. versus Matt Cross and Chik Tormenta vs Holiedad added to the 04/01 MLW show.

RIOT announced Alex Zayne is off their tournament next week due to the eye injury he picked up a couple of weeks. Zayne had been hoping it would heal in time to make the show, but it didn’t work out. Jack Evans will replace him against Demonio del Aire.

The New Yorker has an obituary for Super Muneco. There are some details that could’ve used some fact checking, but it’s an interesting perspective of Muneco from someone outside of wrestling.

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

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 03/11/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronista del Ring, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores]
1) Enfermero Jr. & Nitro b Leono & Robin 
Rudos took 14:44.
2) Dulce Gardenia, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. b Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Okumura  
13:37. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., El Coyote, Negro Casas, Templario   
11:09. Straight falls, due to Templario betraying Negro Casas in the second fall. Challenges followed. Volador offered Templario a spot in Los Depreadores, Templario did not give an answer.
4) La Seductora & Tiffany b Dalys, Dark Silueta, Amapola, Reyna Isis, La Metálica, Stephanie Vaquer [battle royal, relevos suicidas] 
4:46
5) Dark Silueta & Lluvia b La Metálica & Marcela [relevos suicidas, quarterfinal]
4:46
6) Dalys & Skadi b La Magnifica & Stephanie Vaquer [relevos suicidas, quarterfinal]
3:21.
7) Amapola & La Guerrera b La Vaquerita & Reyna Isis [relevos suicidas, quarterfinal]
3:41
8) La Jarochita & Tiffany b La Seductora & Princesa Sugehit [relevos suicidas, quarterfinal]
4:56.
9) La Magnifica & Stephanie Vaquer b La Metálica & Marcela [relevos suicidas, semifinal]  
5:54
10) La Seductora & Princesa Sugehit b La Vaquerita & Reyna Isis [relevos suicidas, semifinal]   
7:11.

My expections for this tournament weren’t high and they still weren’t met. The CMLL women’s division has some decent to good luchadoras. They do not go sixteen deep. A Gran Prix can hide some of them, because they’re only needed to get in for a few minutes before being eliminated. (And a Gran Prix includes a lot of outsiders who take the spots of the shakiest.) A normal tournament also can discard the least impressive after a single match. A reverse elimination tournament forces some of the least capable luchadoras to wrestle multiple times in one night, exposing them. This was the worst of all setups. No final meant the show ended on a flat note after one of the worst “main events” CMLL’s produced without someone wrestling under the influence. Asking Seductora to wrestle three times in one night in her first action after being out half a year after nearly dying from COVID was unthinking; she was badly blown up for the final match and needed medical attention after winning. Others didn’t have the excuse for the poor performance Tiffany was particularly terrible. She has a position of power managing the women in CMLL so maybe she’s insulated from any consequences, but any other wrestling promotion would’ve moved her on from a full-time in-ring spot long ago. There are others who had bad nights. The Arena Mexico crowd was hot for the atomicos (which should’ve been last to give the show some sort of ending) and the women’s tournament just quieted the crowd. Next week’s matches should be better with few people involved and a full week to work on the two matches. This night was a bad one for the CMLL women’s division.

CMLL ran both Metalica versus Marcela and Vaquerita versus Isis as singles matches on Tuesday in the last few weeks. They ran no other women’s singles match before this tournament was announced, so CMLL had been planning this final for a while and it’s tighter booking than usual. The Metalica/Marcela vs Isis/Vaquerita final allows CMLL to say the resulting singles match will be a mask versus hair match for sure. Vaquerita seems very likely to lose. CMLL hasn’t put up the full poster but the lineup listed on the website has the women’s match as the second on the card.

The Templario/Casas issue just popped up randomly. It’s a good match for Templario at this point, though a bad idea long term. The last couple of Casas hair match losses have turned him into a modern-day Brazo, the guy no one takes seriously in a big match because they know he’s going to lose. There was no indication or challenge of mask versus hair match here but any tease of Casas losing his hair is going to be loudly rejected. Templario has a title to defend, maybe it’ll go to that end only, but just the tease of something had me worried CMLL’s headed a bad road again.

CMLL (SAT) 03/12/2022 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Full Metal & Minos
2) Eléctrico, Sangre Imperial, Suicida b Cholo, Grako, Inquisidor
tecnicos took 2/3
3) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Arkalis, Halcón Suriano Jr., Stigma
Halcon Suriano Jr. replaced Pegasso. Ola Negra took 2/3.
3) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Arkalis, Halcón Suriano Jr., Pegasso
Halcon Suriano Jr. replaced Stigma. Ola Negra took 2/3.
4) Dragón Rojo Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr. b Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Star Jr.
rudos took 1/3.
5) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
Guerreros took 2/3, Gran Guerrero defeating Hechiceor to set up a CMLL HEAVY match next week.

With Hechicero and Euforia as champions, Gran Guerrero has been elevated to default heavyweight challenger.

CMLL (SUN) 03/13/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia b Angelito & Último Dragóncito
2) Cachorro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. b Cholo, Inquisidor, Raider
tecnicos took 2/3
3) Diamond, Okumura, Volcano b El Audaz, Misterioso Jr., Nitro [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Okumura took 1/3.
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Jr. b Felino Jr., Pólvora, Rey Bucanero
tecnicos took 1/3. Esfinge & Fugaz challenged Felino Jr. & Polvora to a MEX TAG title match.
5) Místico, Stuka Jr., Titán DQ Dragón Rojo Jr., Sagrado, Terrible
tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Dragon Rojo unmasked Titan

The results came off like Fugaz/Esfinge is on the 20th, and maybe Rojo/Titan after that.

Nothing too important on Monday in Arena Puebla. Guadalajara has the return of CDMX wrestlers. Tuesday Arena Mexico has both the micros and the super lightweight match. It’s possible I may stream that somewhere – not on Twitch because I’m concerned CMLL may strike any of their content there, and maybe not at all because my VPN isn’t working half the time – but maybe because things are at least happening on that one.

Coyote explained he took the name because he would hear (but rarely see) coyotes when he was growing up on a ranch in Tamaulipas. One earned the ire of his grandmother for eating her chickens, but he thought they were very tricky and strategic animals, plus tough. All the skill you need for a rudo luchador. Coyote was originally tecnico Antaris, didn’t want to be a rudo, but adapted to it.

AAA

Rey Fenix missed another weekend of advertised matches. He and Penta were scheduled to defend the House of Glory tag team championships on Friday in New York against the Briscoes. Instead, Fenix and Penta brought out Arez as a replacement, the Briscoes also put the ROH tag titles on the line, and Mark Briscoe pinned Arez to win both titles. It’s unclear if Fenix even appeared in Merida, but he definitely didn’t wrestle there. Fenix’s next known match is Saturday’s Republic of Lucha one year anniversary, which is will be streamed on FITE. Fenix has said nothing about when he’s expected to be back. The Republic of Lucha store is owned at least in part by Fenix & Penta, so you’d think he’d find wrestle on it. Can’t be sure unless he says something, and Fenix has made a choice not to say anything.

AAA did have lots of TV to talk about beyond Fenix. The Space show on Saturday night aired the first half of the Madero taping. The matches came off better than they read on paper; the five-way match survived Drago Kid’s near-death to have a lot of fun spots, the three trios match was chaos but a better sort of chaos than the Rey de Reyes multiteam matches, and the trios title match was the best La Empresa match since they’ve been in AAA. At least for this half of this show, AAA cut way down on the interference and the general run-ins, though Estrellita was still freely interfering in the Empresa match. It was an easier watch.

The Space show includes brief backstage vignettes in between matches. Piero talked about returning to his hometown “El Imperio de Las Shotas” which seemed to be recruiting Dulce Kanela in their bit. Nino Hamburguesa told Crazy Boy & Extreme Tiger it was great to team with them once again but he’d be focusing on his team with Mr. Iguana, which seemed to slightly miff the Mexican Power members. Hamburguesa was wearing a t-shirt for the group that still had Joe Lider’s name (and seemingly not his own!) as the group members, so maybe Lider’s still coming in at some point. The show ended with La Empresa beating up Mr. Iguana after he foolishly tried to yell at them.

Jessy Ventura is only using the name “Jessy” in AAA, probably to avoid legal trouble with other Jesse Ventura. AAA actually had a “Jesse” years ago, who was doing more of a boy band gimmick and is the brother of Tiffany. Maybe he’ll complain about his name being stolen instead.

AAA’s Saturday night live event was the first Showcenter event near Monterrey. The card aired on FITE. There were Multimedios production people there and the network did help promote the show, but there was no indication of when (or if) this would air on Multimedios TV.

AAA TV (SAT) 03/12/2022 Showcenter Complex, San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon [FITE, Lucha Central, Mas Lucha, thecubsfan, thecubsfan]
1) Reina Dorada b Maravilla [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
8:18.
2) Dinámico & Emperador Azteca b Baby Extreme & Dulce Kanela
7:57. Wrestlers from RIOT stormed the ring afterwards attacking many of the wrestlers. They convinced Baby Xtreme to join them. Konnan confronted the group, said no one knew who they were, then corrected it to no one except the four guys in the front row cheering them knew who they were, but offered them a RIOT/AAA trios match for the next show.
3) Taurus b Hijo de LA Park [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
8:28. Taurus won cleanly, but headbutted Hijo de LA Park when he went for a handshake. The other LA Parks came out and beat Taurus up.
4) Chik Tormenta b Estrellita [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
8:40. Estrellita’s first official match in AAA in 12 years. She did not win.
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Laredo Kid, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr.
12:54. Sanson submitted Myzteziz to keep NGD undefeated. Earlier in the show, Anitfaz del Norte interrupted a Laredo Kid promo to talk about the past – Antifaz mentoring Laredo when he was staring in AAA – and to ask to team with him once again. Antifaz also wanted a Cruiserweight Title shot. Laredo Kid agreed at least to the teaming part.
6) Mamba, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa b Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Toxin
8:18. Hamburguesa splash. After the match, lots of people took turns running in until the Vipers (w/Cibernetico) ended up last in the ring. Cibernetico earlier cut a promo challenging Konnan to come to the ring to talk him, but Konnan did not appear.
7) Hijo Del Vikingo b Flamita [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
12:17. Vikingo won clearly with the Cuerno del Vikingo

Flamita and Vikingo is worth going out of your way to see; the whole show was worth watching. Vikingo has a foot injury, he’s also working the foot injury into this match, but he’s also doing stuff no one else can do while having a foot injury. He’s incredible. I both want to see him wrestle every AAA TV possible and also for him to be locked in the safest possible space until someone gives him a big money deal he obviously merits. Flamita was right there with him, working very hard and integrating his rudo personality while not detracting from the match. This was easily better than Vikingo/Johnny at Rey de Reyes, though obviously with much better conditions.

Everything else on the show was enjoyable; the opener was the weakest match but that meant it was just OK. The Dinamico/Emperador Azteca vs Baby Extreme/Dulce Kanela tag was worked incredibly hard, four people on the fringes of AAA’s roster trying to earn more work. Hijo de LA Park is too much of a 2022 Create-A-Wrestler for me, a guy who does all the hot moves he sees without his own personality, but he and Taurus did put together something good. NGD worked hard in the trios match against Los Jinetes del Aire, and it looks like they’re trying to get over a figure four variant as a finish (likely replacing the inverted bear hug spot.) I really liked that most of the matches were in the 8 minute range rather than 10-15 for a normal TV match; it made the show move better and the matches seemed generally better off for getting cut down to better parts.

The Antifaz del Norte’s last few years in AAA overlap with Laredo Kid’s first few years, so the story Antifaz told about getting Laredo in the gym and mentoring him seems real. Antifaz was part of the Vipers at one point and I think people kind of see where that’s going, but it’s a good use of local name for these shows. This show generally seemed like a Monterrey offshoot promotion of AAA; it helps if you know what’s going on in AAA to understand the feuds, but people who watch AAA on Space wouldn’t know these shows are going on and don’t really need to so far. Maybe NXT UK is the good comparison, which segues into:

The RIOT Invasion bit was surreal. The destination is going to be really good – three of RIOT (Baby Extreme, Kratoz and Prometeo?) versus three of AAA is will work. The concept is still weird. This is like if PWG invaded one of the AEW shows in California; it’d feel strange out of PWG to do an invasion angle and it’d be weird they’d have a problem with AEW since half the people there also worked PWG at some point. RIOT’s used a bunch of people from AAA and some RIOT regulars are now AAA regulars. The storyline is RIOT felt disrespected by AAA for unclear and that disrespect definitely continued – Konnan buried them as people he’d never heard of and that no one (except for four fans in the front row) ever heard of – but I’m not sure the angle helped make people more excited for the eventual match. The angle seemed to happen because it’s the only way AAA knows how to integrate outside groups – there was a meme going around about how much AAA loves to do outside invasion angles even before this one happened. It also continued the ever contradictory way Konnan is portrayed on AAA TV: sometimes he’s the evil guy backing La Empresa to take down AAA and this time he was AAA management dismissing the outsiders. The angle would’ve worked better with whomever from AAA is going to face the RIOT guys in that spot. I’m guessing the angle was sold as RIOT guys getting the rub from being in the same space as Konnan specifically and one of the plusses for Konnan was getting to call the promotion that was getting some acclaim for booking AAA guys in better matches than AAA was doing a bunch of nobodies. This is far too many words about something that’ll be like the second or third match on a show two months from now.

No one knows how this Showcenter tournament works. The English announcers made a point of saying it wasn’t a single-elimination tournament but had no other details, which smells a lot like the people running the tournament also don’t know how it’s going to work.

There was no date given for the next Showcenter event. AAA had already said they’d skip April with TripleMania Monterrey happening, so maybe think late May.

AAA TV (SUN) 03/13/2022 Poliforum Zamna, Mérida, Yucatán [Podio Noticias, Yucatan]
2) DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis b Mr. Iguana, Myzteziz Jr., Niño Hamburguesa 
Microman was in the tecnico corner. Hiedra helped Mr. Iguana, the two teased a kiss, and Empresa attacked them both to set up the victory.
3) Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla b Faby Apache, Lady Shani, Sexy Star 
4) Laredo Kid © b Willie Mack, Taurus [AAA CRUISER] 
11th defense, first since May. Announced with Dragon Lee and a mystery man (which wasn’t supposed to be Taurus since he was missing this show originally). Mack left the match with an unclear injury.
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Flamita, Rey Escorpión, Villano III Jr. and Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana 
Flamita was the surprise partner of Los Mercenarios.
6) Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Psicosis b Hijo Del Vikingo, Octagón Jr., Pagano 
Psicosis replaced Cibernetico. Abismo Negro beat Octagon
7) Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood © b Dragón Lee & Dralistico [AAA TAG] 
Harwood pinned Dragon Lee after Penta tried to interfere and instead got rammed into Dragon Lee.
8) Pentagón Jr. b Arez 
Arez/Penta was set up by an in-ring promo earlier. FTR attacked Penta after the match. Dragon Lee & Dralistico ran them off but also attacked Penta, unmasking him. Vikingo, Octagon and Pagano made the save to end the show.

That’s not a complete match list. There’s a local match with no result mentioned. The Yucatan report on the show also mentions a Marvel match taped. It’s eight AAA matches entirely, which is a lot for two weeks of TV. Maybe it’ll be three? It should start airing on March 26th.

The YouTube links there are the same as the Facebook stream a Twitter user helpfully pointed me towrads last night. I was not paying close attention to all of the matches. FTR versus Hermanos Lee seemed like Dralistico & Dragon Lee working an FTR style match in Mexico, though I could see FTR pointing out the moves they took and feeling differently about it. It could’ve been a style mismatch disaster and it was not, so that’s a success. I was surprised FTR held onto the belts, and the destination now looks like a three way tag title match at some point (maybe TripleMania Regia.)

I’m unclear if Flamita is meant to be a permanent Los Mercenarios member; he was likely to be the mystery guy in the Cruiserweight match all considered.

AAA’s case here is they gave Merida a fair replacement match for Lucha Brothers/FTR, added a bonus singles match and made a fair substitution on other changes. They still advertised Fenix for this show long after they knew he wouldn’t be wrestling on it. There were in-ring promos to set up Hermanos Lee/FTR and Arez/Penta, and I’d presume their excuse is they wanted to wait to run the angles to set up the matches before announcing changes. They still could’ve said Fenix was off the show and more would be announced on the card. AAA made the choice not to say anything.

AAA’s false advertising practices cost them buys on the Saturday FITE show; once word was out Vikingo was questionable, some people weren’t going to pay $19 to find out if AAA to not get the scheduled main event for the second straight show. (Some of those came back around when Vikingo did appear.) The fans in Merida seemed very into the tag title match, but I’m sure there were some people who were hoping to see Fenix and not seeing him will affect their ticket decisions next time AAA’s in town. It’ll be a long while before AAA’s back in Merida for a taping so maybe that’ll be fine, but they’re selling to the same internet audience every month so they might want to be more careful.

Arez ended up being on Fenix substitution duty all weekend, which meant a lot of traveling

• Aguascalientes on Thursday for AAA
• New York on Friday for House of Glory
• Indianapolis on Saturday for Warrior Wrestling
• Merida on Sunday for AAA

That’s at least 6,000 miles of traveling with four matches in between. The Aguascalientes match went well, the Merida match went well from what I saw, and both of the US matches got good reviews. He’s back at it Thursday in Gomez Palacio.

Dragon Lee posted video of getting an elbow stitched up after his on Sunday match. Might have been on his tope.

This Merida date closes up all known AAA unfinished shows from prior to the pandemic. There likely were other dates booked that were never announced, but this was the last show that still had tickets from 2020 waiting to be used.

Attendance for the three AAA show seemed pretty strong. The Aguscalientes show seemed pretty full; the building capacity there is over 7,000 and they may have come close. Monterrey appeared to have many seats traped off. AAA shot from behind those seats for their sell out photo), but if they’re calling it a sell-out then they must’ve been happy with the draw. Merida looked well attended too, though they may have still had reduced capacity there judging how people are seated.

Mas Lucha caught up to DMT Azul to ask him what he thought about the national heavyweight championship ending up with Euforia. This interview appears to be done after last week’s taping in Madero, DMT Azul had just won the AAA trios championship, and so that may be why he’s unbothered by the situation. Azul congratulates Euforia but still believes the commission’s actions in stripping him didn’t correspond to any real rules, that the “national” titles are worthless if they’re kept in one promotion with the same few people challenging for them, and that he’s still the rightful heavyweight champion.

Psycho Clown dedicated his Record column this week to supporting Cain Velasquez and hoping he’s freed soon. Psycho Clown and LA Park have been very publicly pro-Velasquez on social media.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 03/13/2022 Arena Naucalpan [Cronista del Ring, Cronista del Ring (videos), Estrellas del Ring, IWRG]
1) Spider Fly & Villarreal b Kenji & Rey Aztaroth 
2) Caballero de Plata & Hell Boy b Backter & Vudu Max 
3) Cerebro Negro Jr., Fulgor, Yorvak b Estrella de Oro, Genex, Legendario 
4) Caballero de Plata & Freelance DQ Puma de Oro & Toxin 
Caballero de Plata replaced Asterboy (injury). Puma fouled Freelance.
5) Alpha Wolf, Dragón Bane, Séptimo Dragón b Accion Jackson, Dick Angelo 3G, Tonalli  
6) Travis Banks © b Cerebro Negro [IWRG IC MIDDLE]  

Mas Lucha used a graphic promoting the fourth match in their live coverage for this show, not mentioning the main event.

A new Cuchillo introduced themselves Friday at a press conference. He doesn’t appear to be related to the original but claims he was a student of the original and trained for 15 years. He immediately challenged Hijo del Santo to a mask match; Santo won Cuchillo’s mask 42 years ago. A Santo/new Cuchillo match is incredibly unlikely. Revivial gimmicks like this are usually connected with a promotion, though no one was mentioned at the press conference.

Cuatro Poder has an article about women’s wrestling in Chiapas that’s a little more substantial than most of the women’s day pieces. They believe the first Chiapas luchador was Gata Angora in 1987 or 88, though it’s possible someone started in the area and quickly moved to Mexico City prior. There are six active luchadoras in the city of Chiapas itself right now, plus two more who tried to pass the licensing exam and did not pass but are still training to try again. They’ve added a woman to the lucha libre commission as part of a process of improving gender equity.

Box y Lucha 3502D+ has a million things on the cover.

Segunda Caida watches a 1985 Santo & Black Man vs Blue Panther & Negro Casas match, and a 90s LA lucah match.

DST reminder

If you’re in the US or some locations in the world, Daylight Savings Time starts late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. Clocks move ahead one hour; every show starts one hour later. Mexico, outside of border towns, does not switch its clocks for four more weeks. It’s not as big a deal with fewer people watching Mexican wrestling live, but things like my Twitch stream of AAA will be affected.

This starts Saturday night, so tomorrow’s AAA show on FITE and today’s CMLL show on Ticketmaster are not affected.

CMLL

CMLL has their weakest Friday night show in the last stretch tonight. The bulk of the show is the loser’s advance tag team featuring the luchadoras, where the final will take place on next week’s show. The top men’s match is an atomicos match with a Los Depreadores (Volador, Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido) against a random combination of rudos (Negro Casas, Templario, Dragon Rojo Jr., and Coyote.) Volador and his guys were rudos feuding with Mistico last week and now might be tecnicos next week. The opening two matches are nothing special. It’ll air on TicketmasterLive for the usual 99 pesos. It’s a show to skip if you only get these shows occasionally, though I’m not sure there’s anyone left who does that.

This is anecdotal, take it with a grain of salt, but it seems like CMLL is giving away more tickets to show than they’ve done in a long, maybe even more than the pandemic. It’s not a huge papering of free tickets, but what used to be just major media partners (radio, TV) getting a few tickets to give out seems to have been extended to many of the digital media which cover the shows as well. I’ve seen it pop up more on social media. I see it as a marketing message – “it’s safe and fun to come back to Arena Mexico now.” It seems like a message getting received. I’m not sure tonight’s show will draw well, but the last two Friday nights have been good turnouts and next week’s Homenaje a Dos Leyendas might be one as well.

Weekend lineups

CMLL (SAT) 03/12/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Full Metal & Minos
2) Eléctrico, Sangre Imperial, Suicida vs Cholo, Grako, Inquisidor
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
4) Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Star Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr.
5) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto

The main event is a rematch, probably setting up a singles match for next week.

CMLL (SUN) 03/13/2022 Arena México
1) Angelito & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
2) Cachorro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Cholo, Inquisidor, Raider
3) Diamond, Okumura, Volcano vs El Audaz, Misterioso Jr., Nitro [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Jr. vs Felino Jr., Pólvora, Rey Bucanero
5) Místico, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Sagrado, Terrible

Nothing special going on here. Diamond really lost out being in that tercera instead of with the rest of the Depredadores on the Friday night show.

CMLL (MON) 03/14/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Fénix SO vs Guerrero Espacial
2) Millenium & Valiente Jr. vs El Perverso & Nitro
3) Halcón Suriano Jr., Kráneo, Volcano vs Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr., Okumura
4) Atlantis, Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Místico & Templario vs Atlantis Jr. & Gran Guerrero

Atlantis Jr. wrestled on a lot of Mondays. The main event is a rematch, they may be doing a Stuka/Atlantis Sr. feud in the semimain.

CMLL (TUE) 03/15/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Cosmos, Micro, Último Ángel vs Destello, Ponzoña, Temerario
2) Bello Antuan, El Divino, Mágico vs Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Thunder Boy
3) Miss Olympia, Náutica, Sexy Sol vs Dark Silueta, Hera, Valkiria
4) Explosivo, Gallo, Joker vs Cris Skin, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
5) Místico & Soberano Jr. vs Atlantis Jr. & Gran Guerrero

CMLL CDMX wrestlers are back in Guadalajara. Valiente’s daughters are on the opposite side of the match night.

CMLL (TUE) 03/15/2022 Arena México
1) Acero, Acero, Angelito vs Mercurio, Minos, Pierrothito
2) Chamuel vs Micro Gemelo Diablo [CMLL MICRO]
second defense
3) Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr., Okumura vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
4) Suicida vs Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Inquisidor, Stigma, Asturiano, Adrenalina, Fantástico [CMLL SL]
vacant title
5) Star Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado

CMLL is finishing up its To Do list on Tuesday. The Super Lightweight Championship has been vacant since Kawato returned from injury in 2019 to announce he was giving up the belt due to injury. It didn’t make much sense at the time either, though I’m sure CMLL thought they were going to decide a new champion much quicker then two and half years. This feels like an incomplete field – CMLL’s been essentially running lightweight preview matches as Friday openers, and Panterita del Ring Jr. has been a big part of them – but the wording on the poster suggests it’s a one-night thing. Occasional Puebla title challenger Asturiano is in for it, as are Adrenalina and Fantastico from Guadalajara. It might be a pretty good match; I’d rather pay for this Tuesday show than the Friday one.

It’s hard to think of anything less serious from the “serious and stable” company to have a Micro Gemelo Diablo challenging for a title and CMLL doesn’t know which one it is. If he wins, can either man defend it?

ESTO has an interview with Dulce Gardenia, promoting him as the sole representative of the LGBT+ community while also pointing out the one LGBT+ representative is a heterosexual male. It’s meant to be read more positively than it comes across to me.

AAA

Arez vs Penta from Aguascalientes is up on Facebook. That show, in a 7,000 seat venue, seems to have drawn very well.

AAA has a two-taping weekend. They’re in Monterrey on Saturday for the kickoff of the Showcenter events and then in Merida on Sunday. Only the Saturday show, a 5 pm CT start time, airs live. It’ll be on FITE for 19 USD. Larry Dallas may be calling the show alone; Joe Dombrowski is calling Warrior Wrestling (where Psycho Clown will be on Saturday too.) The Merida show will air on TV starting in late March.

The Monterrey lineup:

AAA TV (SAT) 03/12/2022 Showcenter Complex, San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon
1) Reina Dorada vs Maravilla [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
2) Baby Extreme, Dulce Kanela, Komander vs Dinámico, Emperador Azteca, Mamba
3) Taurus vs Hijo de LA Park [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
4) Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Toxin
5) Chik Tormenta vs Estrellita [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
6) Laredo Kid, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
7) Hijo Del Vikingo vs Flamita [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]

I’m totally confused on the status of the main event. What we know if Vikingo has some sort of foot injury, missed his match in Ciudad Madero, and his status is unclear. The WON reported Vikingo would be out six weeks due to the injury. Vikingo wrestled last night in Aguascalientes, likely after that WON report was written. Vikingo is a young guy who seems to wants to wrestle all the time and AAA isn’t a company likely to stop him, so he’ll probably keep going and we’ll all have to hope it works out for him.

This is an interesting card for a definite b-show. Unfortunately, it’s priced at $19 and FITE can’t promise to deliver the main event or even two announcers. If Vikingo can go, his match with Flamita will be interesting. We hardly see Hijo de LA Park away from his father and brother, so him in a singles match with Taurus has some intrigue. Laredo and the company will probably get the best out of NGD. I don’t feel certain about this lineup at all but there’s some upside here if it comes off.

Monterrey’s RIOT promotion posted a response to a “grande” promotion and ended with Saturday’s date. Probably not a coincidence.

The AAA lineup for Merida is still the original one from January. We can be pretty sure it won’t happen as scheduled. AAA’s essentially a women’s match – Sexy Star, Lady Shani, and Las Toxicas are all billed as being added to the card – without talking about what’s being removed from the show. I think Dragon Lee/Laredo Kid/Willie Mack/TBA will end up as the main event of the show and who knows what else gets changed or added. This show will air on TV on 03/26 and 04/02 (though not sure if I’m streaming from Dallas.)

I’m still skeptical Lucha Brothers versus FTR will happen, but we’ll probably find out tonight. Fenix and Penta are still being advertised to face The Briscoe Brothers tonight for House of Glory. I could see them being there to sign autographs but I’d be surprised if Fenix was wrestling – no one involved is promoting that match as still happening. I’m very tired of trying to pick up social media clues if people are wrestling or not wrestling. Maybe it’ll get better past this dated Merida lineup, but there’s no great excuse for these changes to (not) be handled as they have been for the last two shows. Maybe it’s just an internet/me thing and the AAA fans in Merida will be fine if FTR/Lucha Brothers doesn’t happen; nothing is going to change unless they care. Meanwhile, AAA will keep talking about being a worldwide promotion while pulling small-time indie garbage.

AAA on Space starts at 6:45 this week, which means it’s up against the last hour of AAA on FITE. They’ll start the Ciudad Madero taping:

• Argenis vs Dinamico vs Drago Kid vs Maravilla vs Parka Negra
• Las Shotas (Mamba, Diva Salvaje, Jessy Venutra) vs Mexican Powers (Crazy Boy, Nino Hamburguesa, Xtreme Tiger) vs Baby Extreme, Sexy Star, Pimpienla Escalrata
• Los Mercenarios (Rey Escorpion, Taurus, Villano III Jr.) vs La Empresa (DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis)

I plan on recording this show and putting it up on the Google Drive on Saturday night and streaming it on Sunday.

AAA, who talks about being very excited about coming back to the US, has yet to mention or RT the lineup for their show in Dallas on WrestleMania weekend. They’ve listed it on a calendar of events and no more. FITE lists the show as part of a package WrestleCon shows, so it’s airing there. I presume it’ll be made individually available at some point. The lineup for the 04/02 USA vs the World show (also part of that package) hasn’t been announced yet, but it included a few Mexican wrestlers in past years and I think it will again.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 03/10/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucah]
1) Prince Turbo & Rey Eclipse vs Baby Star & Súper Cometa 
2) Bengalee & Sagitarius DQ Mary Caporal & Satania 
3) Cerebro Negro Jr., Limbo, Yorvack b Águila Oriental, Águila Roja, Spider Fly 
4) Big Boy, Big Mike, Limbo b Apolo Estrada Jr., Billy Jones, Chris Stone Jr. 
Limbo (working twice) replaced Chico Che (moved up) and surprised Apolo Estrada with a pin. Estrada’s partners weren’t happy.
5) El Hijo del Medico Asesino, Hijo del Fishman, Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Big Chico Che, Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura 
Big Chico Che replaced Maximo but broke up with his partners.

IWRG keeps the lights down lown on Thursday to give it a different feel. They were down so low that ring seemed half in shadow in the video I saw. It also hid that drew better than usual, though three shows in a week Naucalapn still seems like a tough sell. Las Shotas and Los Strippers were feuding before and seemed back at it again, but it might have just been a one week thing. There was a long pause before the fourth match as if they only then confirmed Maximo wasn’t going to make it to this show and needed time to readjust the final two matches. Maximo was promoting the show as recently as the day prior.

Sunday’s IWRG show:

IWRG (SUN) 03/13/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Spider Fly & Villarreal vs Kenji & Rey Aztaroth
2) Caballero de Plata & Hell Boy vs Backter & Vudu Max
3) Estrella de Oro, Genex, Legendario vs Cerebro Negro Jr., Fulgor, Yorvak
4) Asterboy & Freelance vs Puma de Oro & Toxin
5) Alpha Wolf, Dragón Bane, Séptimo Dragón vs Accion Jackson, Dick Angelo 3G, Tonalli
6) Travis Banks © vs Cerebro Negro [IWRG IC MIDDLE]

Banks/Cerebro was set up two weeks ago. Toxin isn’t getting pulled into Merida as a replacement apparently.

Other News

Lucha Memes (MON) 03/21/2022 Centro Civico Tulpetlac, Ecatepec, Estado de México
1) El Bendito vs Miike
2) Gringo Loco (Indie) vs Keyra
3) Corsario Negro & Drako vs Dante & Thunder Storm and Freelance & Lunatik Fly and Astrolux & Black Metal
4) Gringo Loco (Indie) & Miike vs Noisy Boy & Spider Fly
5) Calibus & Perro de Guerra Jr. vs Avisman & Judas el Traidor and Drolux & Moria and Epitafio & Leviatham
6) Alas de Acero, Gringo Loco (Indie), Iron Kid vs Corsario Negro Jr., Drako, Miike

This show, “Ace of Base” is a two-ring show. The galaxy brain idea is to see if (Big) Mike or Gringo Loco is the better base by having them wrestle three matches in one night. I’m not sure if this idea has connected with anyone beyond the promoter, but the matches could be good if the show doesn’t kill Gringo Loco and Mike.

MLW announced Arez, Mini Abismo Negro Jr. and ? versus Microman, El Dragon, and Aerostar for their 04/01 show.

Robles announced a 04/29-05/01 weekend tour in Mexico City, Merida and Cancun. Robles has not taped their shows themselves, so we’ll probably see a dozen fan cams of the Mexico City show and maybe nothing from the other two. The Mexico lineup and the Cancun one are vaguely the same

ROBLES (FRI) 04/29/2022 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) ? vs ??, ???, ????, ?????, ?????
2) Microman vs Guapito
3) Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico, Brazo de Oro vs Bugambilia, Máximo, Pimpinela Escarlata
4) Big Mama, Dark Angel, Diosa Quetzal vs Baronessa, Estrellita, Keyra
5) Mecha Wolf & Rey Horus vs Hijo de LA Park & LA Park Jr. and Doberman & Ricky Marvin
6) Dragón Lee, Dralistico, El Bandido vs Carlito, Flamita, Taurus (Indie)
7) ?, La Bestia Del Ring, Rush vs Chris Masters, LA Park, Marco Corleone

The mystery main eventer is “Nuevo Ingobernable”, which is probably Dementor (Vangellys). La Mascara has been the wrestler leader of this group since Alberto quietly disappeared, so it’s very strange not to see him on these cards at all. I guess he could be the new Ingobernable just after being kicked out of the group, though that seems unlikely for even indie lucha. He’s advertised as wrestling in Guadalajara this weekend, so it’s not an injury. Maybe he’s moved to behind the scenes for these shows. Semi-main could be great with someone else besides Carlito; he and Chris Masters always seem to be a package deal.

The big talking point from these cards was the return of Dark Angel. She hasn’t wrestled in Mexico since finishing up on the 82nd (2015) Aniversario show; she took a WWE backstage job, was working there until one of their round of cuts, and has posted social media content traveling around in van since then. She and Marco Corleone seemed good friends when they were both in Mexico, so my guess is that connection got her back in the ring for the first time in a long time. Robles paying well surely helps and there are no match quality expectations to meet on these shows. These shows are simply about as many names as they can get to show up and Dark Angel is still a name in Mexico.

The Merida and Cancun lineups aren’t interesting on their own, though the Merida lineup being the same day as TripleMania Monterrey tells a bit who’s booked for that AAA show. The LA Parks, Dragon Lee, Dralistico, and Estrellita all are missing from that Robles lineup, so they’re probably booked in Monterrey. Rush, Dr. Wagner, Keyra, Pimpinela, Big Mami, Microman, and the Rebelión Amarilla crew are booked in Merida, so they won’t be on Rey de Reyes. Some of those people probably weren’t ever expected to be there or there in any important role, but Microman is surprising given his role.

AAA seemed to asking their contracted wrestlers not to work on Robles shows for completion reasons, so we can also presume Microman, Keyra, and Pimpinela join Big Mami as people who are just working on a per date basis with AAA. Pimpinela is someone who seemed like they’d be with AAA forever, but COVID affected budget probably meant some tough cuts.

Robles putting advertising out for their big show in Merida just before AAA’s own taping in Merida probably didn’t help feelings between those two groups.

NOAH announced Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. will be returning to the promotion “soon”, like Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Lucha Report.

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 03/08/2022 Arena México [Box y Lucha, CMLL, Cronistas del Ring, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores]
1) Apocalipsis & Cholo b Bengala & Retro  
2) Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zacarías   
Team Diablos took 2/3. One of the Diablos challenged Chamuel to a CMLL MICRO title match
3) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring  
Virus offered a spot in Los Cancerberos to Luciferno (who’s been teaming with them frequently in place of the injured Raziel)
4) Atlantis, Fugaz, Soberano Jr. b Cavernario, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero  
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © b Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo I [CMLL TAG]   
1st defense

The main event got positive reviews from the live reports, though the Chavez brothers on a Tuesday seems not exciting. A spot near the finish of the Micros match went wrong, which happened a lot Friday though not to the point where it seemed like someone got hurt. Chamuel versus one of the Micro Gemelo Diablos should be much better, they’ll cut out the week links and the team spots that don’t go as well.

CMLL (TUE) 03/08/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Espíritu Negro Jr. & Samuray Azteca (Queretaro) b Persa & Raven
QRO students vs GDL students
2) Bello Antuan, El Divino, Mágico b Destello, Destructor, Quka
3) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro b Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre
4) Dark Silueta, Náutica, Sexy Sol b Hera, Miss Olimpia, Valkiria
5) Demonio Maya & Principe Daniel b Javier Cruz Jr. & Omar Brunetti
6) Maléfico, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Explosivo, Fantástico, Gallo
The Truenos pulled a switch and rolled up Gallo. Rematches followed.
7) Crixus, Difunto, Zandokan Jr. b Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Trono
QRO vs GDL

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara (and less often Arena Queretaro) has been hosting a feud between these two states for months. It’s never seemed like a huge deal, just an inventive way of Guadalajara getting in some new names at a time where they’re getting few or no CMLL CDMX wrestlers. It is a rivalary and one where I expected eventually a Queretaro wrestler would take a big loss, just not something super heated. It does take on a different feel this week, after the violence at a LigaMX game between Queretaro and Guadalajara-based Atlas on Saturday. Neither of the two matches played into that story at all; they were just normal matches. It appeared they were setting up a Trono/Zandokan title match last week and that seems to have been dropped for at least this week.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara is advertising Titan for next week. CMLL CDMX wrestlers haven’t appeared here since the January 2022 shutdown.

CMLL (FRI) 03/11/2022 Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Enfermero Jr. & Nitro
2) Dulce Gardenia, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. vs Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Okumura
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., El Coyote, Negro Casas, Templario
4) La Metálica & Marcela vs Dalys & Skadi and Dark Silueta & Lluvia and Amapola & La Guerrera and La Vaquerita & Reyna Isis and La Jarochita & Tiffany and La Seductora & Princesa Sugehit and La Magnifica & Stephanie Vaquer [battle royal, relevos suicidas]

This is the weakest of the recent CMLL shows. Even if you enjoy the women’s matches, they’re just doing the lesser parts of the tournament this week. The atomicos could be fun, though it’s not exactly what they were building up last week. The other two tag matches are generic matches; it’s nice to see Guerrero Maya and Hombre Bala on a Friday but it’s not much.

Vaquerita & Reyna Isis and La Seductora & Princesa Sugehit seem the most likely to meet in next week’s final, though there are other options.

CMLL Informa today has Euforia, Ultimo Guerrero and many of the women scheduled for the tournament.

CMLL made a slight change for the 03/18 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas on Monday. Oro Jr. is out of the opener, Cachorro is in.

Avispa Dorada was included in CMLL’s International Day of Women collage, so she’s meant to be back at some point.

AAA

Yesterday marked three months since the last court filed update in Lucha Libre FMV versus AAA case. There’s no news today, just that reaching that gap between updates may force a conclusion soon. Everyone assumes some some settlement has been worked out between AAA & FMV and they just haven’t gotten to informing the court; perhaps there are details left to work out, maybe it just got missed. The court previously urged FMV to post updates every three months or they’d move to dismiss the case. The court likely will urge FMV to do it again in a week or so after FMV missed the informal deadline, and that may trigger some news. We’re unlikely to get details but we might soon know by the end of the month that it’s over.

Sam Adonis is advertised for Indianapolis on March 12, and GALLI on March 13th, so it’s a pretty safe bet he will not be in Merida on March 13th for AAA’s TV taping. Los Shotas are similarly listed for shows in the US this weekend and on the Merida show; I think they’re also staying in the US. AAA’s even still advertising the NGD vs Mercenarios vs Poder del Norte match still as for the trios titles La Empresa won last week. It was a big red flag when AAA just moved the January show to March without making any changes; AAA knew there would have ot be changes, they just weren’t going to announce them even if it makes them look like idiots.

The Merida match most people care about is likely the FTR versus Lucha Brothers main event. The Lucha Brothers are also scheduled in New York’s House of Glory on Friday against the Briscoe Brothers. FTR is usually pretty active in promoting matches and they’re not talking about being in AAA this weekend. I’m skeptical either of those matches are going to happen as scheduled. It would take seeing Fenix on Dynamite tonight to change my mind.

AAA re-announced lineups for the Vive Latino festival on March 19th and March 20th. They had announced the same lineup for both shows prior, which seemed weird though not unheard for festival shows. They’ve now got a different lineup for March 20th, with Dave the Clown vs Cuatrero as the headliner. That’s truly a never seen before match. Mini Psycho Clown, who hasn’t worked on TV since before the pandemic but does work house shows, is on this show. These shows haven’t aired in past years, though they show up on fancams reliably.

The Mexico secretary of tourism met with AAA on Monday. They were the government group working with AAA about their tour of historic/scenic places in 2021 and had said they’d be working on a project with CMLL this year. The Twitter post mentions AAA future plans, so maybe they’ll be working with AAA after all.

Other News

Angel Mondragon Arias (67) passed away Tuesday. No cause of death was mentioned. He was a microluchador before those were really a division and he ended up using many different characters, especially later in his career. His biggest success as an in-ring wrestler was as Gulliver in the 70s and 80s. Gulliver along with Arturito, Gran Nikolai, Pequeno Goliath, Fili Estrellas and others were ‘midget’ wrestlers who’d travel around Mexico to do their match and usually were positively received. They wouldn’t stop around long, but they’d be in for a show or a couple of weeks before moving on to the next town. The group would appear similarly in CMLL & UWA during that time period. Gulliver, as Pepe Gomez, even appeared on a WWF Madison Square Garden show. The micros of that era ran into the same issues as the modern-day CMLL micros: there wasn’t a lot of variety to the act and running it too often in the same place would make it less of a novelty, and the toll on their bodies was high.

Antonio Pena’s introduction of the modern more athletic minis division, with Mascarita Sagrada and Espectrito and others, supplanted Gulliver’s group of micros. Pena did seem to have an appreciation for those original tiny wrestlers, bringing them in for a short-lived micros division or giving them second/mascot roles. Gulliver may have been a few short-lived characters (including Pogui, a Yetii mascot) before settling in as horror movie character Chucky, the mascot of The Monster. The characters existed primarily as foils for Alebrije and Cuije and were a regular staple of the late 90s/early 00s AAA. Gulliver/Chucky appeared rarely since that point. He was honored on Hijo del Signo’s show back in November, where he was in a wheelchair but seems thrilled to have been part of it based on his Facebook post.

IWRG , NGT (TUE) 03/08/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Perseo & Último Caballero b Steven Manson & X-Boy 
2) Blue Win, John Tito, Villarreal b Carnicero, Súper Boy, Súper Cometa 
3) Karma I, Karma II, Magnético b Ajolotl, Amnesia, Príncipe Bengala 
Tryout 2022 vs Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre
4) Big Mike, Puma de Oro, Rey Aztaroth b Noicy Boy, Rey Minos, Spider Fly 
5) Aster Boy, Billy Jones, Caballero de Plata, Chris Stone, Fussion, Garra Mortal, Hell Boy, Kenji b Backter, Estrella de Oro, Genex, Nativo, Príncipe Turbo, Rey Eclipse, Vudumax, Yorvak 
Tryout 2021 vs Tryout 2022, winner gets in the next Copa Higher Power

The semimain was a firework show between the Mexa Boys (Noicy Boy’s team) and Los Ministeriales (Mike’s team). Different combinations of these teams had spectacular matches in Arena San Juan. I didn’t think this was quite as good – probably hurt a bit by the typically small & quiet Tuesday card – but there still were a lot of crazy moves. It definitely feels stylistically different than most IWRG matches. The two teams are scheduled to meet again on the 03/25 Big Lucha show, if not before then.

The rest of the show was said to be good.

The IWRG/Lucha Libre Boom show on 03/17 now has Dr. Wagner Jr. teaming with Fuerza Guerrera against Canek & Octagon. Wagner replaces DMT Azul; 2022 Dr. Wagner is no miracle worker but he’s a much better fit for that match. That’ll save it from being an all-time bad match.

NOAH announcer Mark Pickering announced Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf will be returning to the promotion. No date is mentioned outside of “soon.”

The Crash (FRI) 03/18/2022 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Lanzer vs Kamik-C, Mirage, Terror Azteca, Ryan Kidd [Copa Juvenil The Crash 2022]
2) Séptimo Dragón vs Destiny vs Black Danger vs Skalibur [The Crash CRUISER]
vacant title (Dinamico)
3) Toto vs Próximo [hardcore]
4) Arandú, Star Boy, Zarco vs Bugambilia, Súper Astro Jr., Zumbi
5) Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf © vs Dragón Lee & Dralistico and Steve Filip & Tome Filip [The Crash TAG]
6) Penta Zero M vs Cinta de Oro vs Lince Dorado [The Crash HEAVY]
vacant title (Hijo del Vikingo champ)

You can’t be a The Crash champion and an AAA wrestler, so Dinamico & Vikingo join the long list of people who’ve ended up vacating a The Crash title. Sexy Star also probably isn’t The Crash Women’s champion right now, it just may be a moment before The Crash book a women’s match, they didn’t have many non-AAA women on these shows. Bestia & Mecha are likely losing these tag titles if they’re working with AAA often, though it’s not yet clear they are, and Dragon Lee & Dralistico are also obviously part of AAA’s plans.  The Filip Bros are Australian wrestlers who were due in on the show before the pandemic and are finally making it on this show; they’re unlikely to win the titles too.

X-LAW’s return show in Tuxtla Guiterrez this past Saturday saw Fight Panther & Aero Panther win the DTU NEXO (Tag Team) championships in a match with Blaze & Lokillo. The odd bit is Zuzu Divine & Dariux were the most recent DTU NEXO championships and listed on the poster as defending. Not sure what happened there; the X-LAW promotion sent out results but avoided explaining it. LA Park beat Blue Demon Jr. & Juventud Guerrera in the main event via foul and was attacked by new X-LAW character Muerte Roja. This iteration of X-LAW seems to be bringing in southern California wrestlers who aren’t well known outside of that area. This show had Juicy Finay, who has been seen on some GCW shows, appearing to only do a run-in against the Park sons. Their show next Saturday in Arena Lopez Mateos has even lesser-known Ju Dizz, Flex McCallion and Richie Slade appearing alongside Austin Aries.

KAOZ’s 03/27 return show scheduled for Monterrey’s Gimnasio Nuevo Leon Unidos will now take place in Arena Coliseo Monterrey. That’ll be the first show in the historic arena in two years, which was meant to be KAOZ’s home building before the pandemic. The show is headlined by Alberto el Patron vs Konnan Big vs Carlito vs El Divo vs Rey Escorpion

MLW announced LA Park versus Jacob Fatu for their 04/01 2pm taping in Dallas, a rematch of their title match from 2019.

Demonic Flamita has been announced for the 04/01 The Wrld on Lucha show.

Netflix began production on a show called “Contra las Cuedras”, produced by Carolina Rivera, about an estranged mother and daughter. SuperLuchas has an excerpt on the show from a paywalled Reforma interview. The mother is returning from six years in jail and apparently becomes a luchadora to bond with her wrestling fan daughter. Rivera mentions talking to Lady Apache and others about the life of a Mexican women’s wrestler, though the focus is more on the mother/daughter relationship than lucha libre. The filming began on Tuesday, so it’s a long way off from being seen.

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

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 03/04/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronistas del Ring, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, Publimetro, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Átomo, Chamuel, Periko Zacarías b Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II  
11:53, one fall.
2) Cancerbero, El Coyote, Okumura b El Audaz, Esfinge, Star Jr.   
18:48. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Euforia & Último Guerrero b Gran Guerrero, Terrible, Cavernario, Sagrado, Akuma, Star Black [MEX HEAVY, battle royal]
3:18
4) Gran Guerrero b Sagrado [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
4:35
5) Terrible b Cavernario [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
3:54
6) Star Black b Akuma [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
4:04
7) Euforia b Último Guerrero [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
5:09
8) Gran Guerrero b Terrible [MEX HEAVY, semifinal]
3:03
9) Euforia b Star Black [MEX HEAVY, semifinal]
3:08
10) Fugaz, Místico, Soberano Jr. DQ Diamond, Magia Blanca, Volador Jr.
11:07. Mistico had Volador in La Mistica when Diamond unmasked him. Both teams continued to fight after.
11) Euforia b Gran Guerrero [MEX HEAVY, final]   
7:59. Euforia is the 67th Mexican National Heavyweight champion. Euforia lost Gran Guerrero on a superbomb, Guerrero landed badly and was put on a backboard, but was wrestling the next day.

The finish of the main event, where Euforia lost Gran Guerrero on a super powerbomb, overshadowed the rest of the show to me. It apparently turned out to be nothing, Gran Guerrero wrestled the next day, but it seemed serious at the time. Eufora & Gran Guerrero were uncommonly sloppy in the main event – there were two different moves into the turnbuckles that didn’t hit right – and the rest of the tournament was fine at best. It was the usual bit of the loser getting in 90% of the offense and then getting beat.

Euforia winning the title made the cover of Box y Lucha 3502D.

CMLL made a change to put a trios match between the last semifinal and the final of a tournament, something I hope they continue to do. That match was really hot until the sudden finish, and then it turned into a very realistic feeling mask pulling brawl between some of the wrestlers. They’re setting up a rematch out of it and it seems headed to another Volador/Mistico match.

No card for next Friday yet, though most of the card will be the women’s relevos suicidas first two rounds.

CMLL (SAT) 03/05/2022 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Estrellas del Ring (Text)]
1) Angelito, Pequeño Magía, Shockercito b Full Metal, Mercurio, Minos
tecnicos took 1/3
2) Leono, Panterita del Ring Jr., Sangre Imperial b Inquisidor, Nitro, Raider
tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Skadi b Dalys [lightning]
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Panterita del Ring
Rudos took 1/3
5) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
Guerreros took 2/3, the last when Gran Guerrero unmasked Euforia and UG pinned him. Rematch challenges followed.

Gran Guerrero being in one piece was the actual news. Guerreros and Infernales feud here might mirror the H2L trios title finale.

CMLL (SUN) 03/06/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Acero & Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma b Cachorro, Robin, Suicida
Fuerza Poblana took 2/3.
3) Dark Panther, Flyer, Volcano b Dark Magic, Luciferno, Pólvora
Tecnicos took 1/3
4) Hijo del Villano III, Okumura, Rey Bucanero b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring
Rudos took 1/3
5) Stuka Jr., Titán, Virus DQ Atlantis Jr., El Coyote, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Stuka took 2/3, the last when Stuka’s mask came off during an Atlantis move.

Can CMLL really be doing five more months of Stuka/Atlantis feuding?

CMLL (TUE) 03/08/2022 Arena México
1) Bengala & Retro vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zacarías
3) Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Atlantis, Fugaz, Soberano Jr. vs Cavernario, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © vs Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo I [CMLL TAG]
1st defense

The Gemelos are going to win the tag team titles at some point, I’m not sure if this is the point.

One of the Micro Gemelos got absolutely squashed by Chamuel on the finish Friday. He needed some help getting up and did get up, but if they’re down one on Tuesday that’s probably the reason.

Homenaje a Dos Leyendas is now available for PPV pre-purchase. It’s the normal big show price of 230 pesos, though it’s a little cheaper than usual in USD due to current changes.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 03/05/2022 Domo Madero, Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas [@TampicososTV, Lucha Libre CD Victoria, Lucha Libre TM]
1) Eros Barrow, Loco Castillo, Pekador b Lumino, Oro Negra, Shura
2) Argenis b Maravilla, Dinámico (Baja California), Parka Negra, Drago Kid
scheduled as a trios match with Drago Kid, Iguana & Hamburguesa versus Argenis, Dinamico and Parka Negar, switched to a five way. Drago Kid got tossed over the corner for a rana on the floor onto Argenis, but didn’t get caught and Drago Kid landed badly. Argenis beat Dinamico
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba b Baby Extreme, Pimpinela Escarlata, Sexy Star and Crazy Boy, Niño Hamburguesa, Xtreme Tiger
Baby Extreme & Sexy Star replaced Komander & Pimpinela, Nino Hamburguesa replaced Joe Lider
4) DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis b Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Villano III Jr. © [AAA TRIOS]
Empresa taunted Marisela Pena after the match.
5) Mr. Iguana, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. b Flamita, Látigo, Toxin
Mr. Iguana replaced Aramis (paternity leave). Argenis & Parka Negra attacked Myzteziz after teh match.
6) Heavy Metal & Laredo Kid b Bandido & Jack Cartwheel and Abismo Negro Jr. & Gringo Loco (Indie)
Heavy Metal replaced Hijo del Vikingo (foot injury); Metal got a big reaction. Best match of the night.
7) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Chessman, Pagano, Psycho Clown

No stream, and no live coverage by AAA. The difference between now and the past when AAA was this way is there are more region-specific Facebook/Twitter accounts I can use to puzzle together results, but I’m likely missing a detail or two. Especially with AAA switching these cards around a lot and trying to piece together what actually happened.

La Empresa winning the trios titles is not a big surprise. (Nether is AAA still having only two trios belts; maybe budget issues are so bad they can’t afford a replacement belt?) Not having Vikingo around seems like a big deal, but the reports I read said the crowd was really into Heavy Metal so it didn’t matter. Bandido did a shooting star press to the floor that got a big reaction. The building looked about 40% full to me, but a live report said it was closer to 80%. Maybe I saw an early photo? It’s a 10,000 seat building, so figuring out attendance isn’t that hard.

Laredo Kid & Taurus being here may have been the reason they weren’t used at all for Impact’s taping this weekend; might have not been worth it just to fly them in for one show.

This show should air on 03/12 & 03/19 on Space. It appears at the moment that AAA will not be live streaming their TV shows, which means I’ll be streaming them on Space. Next week is an issue though:

Saturday’s AAA Showcenter debut card will be a FITE PPV for 19 USD. The show has a 5 pm CT start time and will air in English and Spanish. Neither AAA nor FITE announced this originally, someone just found it listed on the FITE site Friday; promotion started Monday afternoon. A lot of stuff here

• $19 is almost what AAA charged for Rey de Reyes. This is a sideshow tournament, the type AAA used to stream on Facebook for $0. It’s way overpriced. The AAA maniacs are going to pay because they feel they have to, but aren’t going to be happy about it. The curious people who will check out an English lucha libre AAA show are going to spend a decent amount of money expecting a good show for the second straight month, and I hope it works out of them.
  • This is a 9 show tournament, so it’ll cost someone $171 to see the whole thing. Just insane. We don’t know who’s in the tournament or how it works or why we should care. (Most promotions would make up a ‘winner gets a mega title shot’ stip just to make sure this has some meaning, but can’t presume AA will do the same.)
    • The total cost of watching AAA live in 2022 is probably going to be around $250 USD, adding in Rey de Reyes and the four TripleMania. If AAA/FITE had a deal where it was as simple as $13/month for everything (all the tapings, VOD, English commentary where available), I’d sign up for that in an instant and that’s actually a higher per year cost. I think there’s an extra friction that comes in when you have to regularly reconsider buying something rather than when it’s just a baked in subscription cost you only thing about when you’re thinking about getting on or off.
    • Just as a big picture, the price of following lucha libre from outside of Mexico has gone up exponentially in the last two years. It was always going to head that way, but it’s going to be a long time before people used to getting things free are willing to pay for them.
  • There’s a good chance these prices are being set by FITE, who has no idea what the important AAA shows are and just charged it like it was Rey de Reyes without knowing the difference. Still, AAA could’ve got involved and just did not.
  • FITE seems to be having success around the same price point, though they have a much larger English language fanbase than AAA does at this point and that’s generally where the money is coming from. AAA doesn’t market to English beyond an odd social media post. GCW also does a much better job of hyping specific shows, where it’s just another show in the list for AAA.
• This Showcenter debut show is starting at Saturday at 5 pm CT. AAA airs on Space at 6:30 pm. Anyone who is into AAA enough to want to spend $19 on a show probably also wants to watch the other AAA content and there’s not a great way to do that. I suspect the Showcenter events will tend to be on Saturdays, which means this may be a constant issue.
  • For my part, I’m thinking of streaming the AAA show on Sundays. I’m not streaming AAA against AAA, there’s not telling when AAA’s shows will actually finish streaming something after, and I’m not sure most people want a second AAA show that same night. I may slip it onto the Google Drive early for those who have to see it, but I haven’t totally decided what I’m doing.

 

Tay Conti announced she’d be coming to TripleMania. She’s on the 03/26 Tijuana taping. Pencil her in for the 06/18 Tijuana show; it’s hard to know for sure with AAA that far away, but I believe the plan is for her and Sammy Guevara to be there.

Villano IV told Azteca his picks for the first round of the TripleMania mask tournament

• Blue Demon Jr. will beat Rayo de Jalisco Jr. because Jalisco has more injuries
• Psycho Clown will beat Canek because Psycho Clown is tougher than people now
• Ultimo Dragon will beat Pentagon Jr. because Japanese wrestlers will die fighting
• he’s training hard to beat LA Park

Dave the Clown beat Tormento in the finals of a multi man mask match in Arena Lopez Mateos Friday. Tormento is Eric Suarez, 13 years a wrestler, from Tlalnepantla.

The Masked Republic minute, the section in Konnan’s podcast where lucha libre tends to be discussed, returned for the first time in a few weeks on this week’s podcast. Konnan was asked about Rey de Reyes and said he didn’t think it was a good show. He blamed the weather and AAA cutbacks in production that made the show harder to run (cutbacks he believes are going to be reversed as AAA starts running more shows), and felt AAA/himself unfairly gets too much blame when the shows are bad and no credit at all when shows are good, but also he thought the show was disappointed. He was happy with Dralistico/Penta and Johnny/Vikingo, though that match had a lot pulled out of it because of the conditions. Konnan did confirm the Dallas show will also be a FITE show.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 03/06/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Yorvak jd Backter [IWRG TRYOUT, semifinal] 
2) Estrella de Oro jd Potro [IWRG TRYOUT, semifinal] 
Potro won the match, lost the judges decision
3) Bengalee, Diosa Quetzal, Jessy Jackson b Diosa Atenea, Lolita, Satania  
4) Aster Boy b Noicy Boy, Freelance, Toxin, Puma de Oro  
Aster Boy beat Toxin, asked for an IWRG Mexico title match. Puma de Oro & Freelance feuded
5) Yorvak b Estrella de Oro [IWRG TRYOUT, final]  
Yorvak (or Yorbak) is the 2022 IWRG Tryout winner
6) Jessy Ventura & Travis Banks b Alpha Wolf & Diva Salvaje [Relevos Increíbles]  
7) Cerebro Negro b Dragón Bane [IWRG MIDDLE, #1 Contenders]   
Cerebro Negro faces Travis Banks at a future date

I was watching other things but was told the semi-main was good. Yorvak, a wrestler from Xalapa, seems a demonic rudo character, so a different direction for a winner than last year. I don’t pretend to know these guys well, but he seems like a more interesting pick than Estrella de Oro, who appears right off the Mistico generic tecnico assembly line.

Mexico City area wrestlers Los Karmas retained their Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre Duo tag team championships on Saturday, dedicating the win to their grandfather. It turns out they are the grandsons of Mr. Raff, who passed away last week and also used the name in Karma. Karma I was wearing a Mr. Raff mask in tribute.

Martinez Entertainment, running a show in Arlington on WrestleMania weekend, is now technically running two shows on Friday April 1st. There will be a 6 pm show with just AAA wrestlers (essentially a second AAA show that weekend) and a second show later that night with Hijo del Santo and legends. One ticket gets you into both, but they’re technically different shows. The promoter has a 42-minute video explaining all of this, which I will not watch – let’s just assume this is a workaround because AAA wrestlers were asked not to work the same show as Santo. That’s the same night as the Gringo Loco GCW show, so I’m guessing you’ll see guys scheduled to work both (like Psycho Clown) work early on the Martinez show.

Mascara Dorada, who’s return to NJPW (US) aired this past week, posted a photo from after his Mucha Lucha Atlanta match this weekend which people found objectionable. I found it objectionable because it was the overdone trope of posing around a bunch of money purported (but often not actually) thrown in to celebrate a good match. Caristico’s in the photo, Dorada’s in the photo, Negro Casas is in the photo – all of those people are good wrestlers and it should not be some special photo-taking occasion that they had a good match, they should be having the good matches all the time. The issue more people rightfully have a problem with is Dorada including Marty Scurll in the photo. Scurll was advertised for the show, but Mucha Lucah Atlanta doesn’t get any attention and I don’t think the people who would be most upset about Scurll working the show understood he’d be working there until Dorada posted the photo, Dorada seems a person not really aware of the wrestling scene outside of what he’s doing in that moment, and lucha libre promotions seem unbothered about using people who’ve been blackballed elsewhere, like we’ve seen with Travis Banks. I’m surprised Scurll hasn’t turned up on The Crash yet – maybe it’s a visa issue, but he did seem able to travel to Europe for some matches.

CMLL

CMLL’s show tonight has the national heavyweight tournament, deciding a new champion.  Sagrado, Akuma, Star Black are in and have low chances of making it out of the first round. Cavernario is a worthy champion but doesn’t make sense for a heavyweight title. Ultimo Guerrero or Gran Guerrero would fit, though they’re likely to be getting the trios titles in a few weeks and are unlikely to win this. That leaves Terrible and Euforia to win the title that doesn’t seem likely to go anywhere.

Other matches on the show include the micros reappearing, and Los Depredadores against Mistico, Soberano and Fugaz.

CMLL took longer than usual to put up the TicketMasterLive link, but it’s the same 99 pesos version it’s been of late. There are TicketmasterLive links for the 03/11 and 03/25 show, but not for the 03/18 Homenaje a Dos Leyenda show. CMLL plays an ad mentioning the show will be streaming every time you click on a page, so maybe it’s just an oversight or an issue with the price.

Seductora’s participation in the women’s tournament is the first time she’s been mentioned in CMLL since last August. She was part of CMLL media day and Seductora explained she’d had a bad case of COVID, leaving her essentially retired for six months. Seductora says she was vaccinated. There were other CMLL luchadors who appeared to catch COVID around that time, and Seductora just got the worst luck. She’s happy to be back training.

CMLL (SUN) 03/06/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Cachorro, Robin, Suicida
3) Dark Panther, Flyer, Volcano vs Dark Magic, Luciferno, Pólvora
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring vs Hijo del Villano III, Okumura, Rey Bucanero
5) Atlantis Jr., El Coyote, Soberano Jr. vs Stuka Jr., Titán, Virus [Relevos Increíbles]

A lot of Atlantis/Stuka on opposite sides of matches. Dark Magic splitting from Okumura actually seems to have moved him down the cards (or Okumura up.) CMLL is keeping the Puebla trio of Arkalis, Pegasso and Stigma booked together, which is not how they usually treat wrestlers on that level recently.

CMLL (MON) 03/07/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Millenium & Retro vs Guerrero Espacial & Siky Ozama
2) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Espíritu Maligno & Mercurio
3) Marcela & Skadi vs Dalys & Stephanie Vaquer
4) Atlantis, Negro Casas, Stuka Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Místico & Templario vs Atlantis Jr. & Gran Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

Stuka and Atlantis teaming probably won’t end well, and may just transition into the main event. Templario never officially got kicked out of Los Guerreros but certainly appears to be on the outside.

CMLL (TUE) 03/08/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Espíritu Negro Jr. & Samuray Azteca (Queretaro) vs Persa & Raven
QRO students vs GDL students
2) Bello Antuan, El Divino, Mágico vs Destello, Destructor, Quka
3) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro vs Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre
4) Demonio Maya & Principe Daniel vs Javier Cruz Jr. & Omar Brunetti
5) Hera, Miss Olimpia, Valkiria vs Dark Silueta, Náutica, Sexy Sol
6) Explosivo, Fantástico, Gallo vs Maléfico, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
7) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Trono vs Crixus, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
QRO vs GDL

The main event is a rematch last week and maybe setting up a Trono/Zandokan match. Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will honor Gran Cochisse as part of their own Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show on 03/22, which could be the destination for that or the feud in the semi-main. Mas Lucha points out Cochisse was supposed to be honored in 2020 before that show was canceled.

The women’s match was originally on the card. March 8th is the annual International Day of Women, maybe someone noticed a bit late. Hera & Miss Olimpia, Valiente’s daughters, are making their debuts. CMLL continues to give Valiente’s children some work while their father is out.

Not sure if Puebla will also be doing a Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.

CMLL (FRI) 03/18/2022 Arena México
CMLL Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, 2022
1) El Suicida, Oro Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Robin
2) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [final, relevos suicidas]
3) ? vs ?? [mask, hair]
4) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto and Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado and Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible [CMLL TRIOS, battle royal]
5) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ?????? [CMLL TRIOS, semifinal]
6) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ?????? [CMLL TRIOS, semifinal]
7) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ?????? [CMLL TRIOS, final]
8) Averno & Místico vs TJP (Teddy James Perkins) & Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

CMLL will be able to fill out this card more after the 03/11 show sets the women’s relevos suicidas, but this is the skeleton of it. It’s a little surprising to have a title match and an apuesta match with neither going last. Maybe there’s something coming out of the main event.

CMLL is starting monthly best match polls, where the winner will be considered for being brought back for the best of 2022 show. (Not having people work twice, or not being able to book matches if people leave, will also be a consideration.) The February matches are

• 02/11 Fugaz vs Volador
• 02/12 Dulce Gardenia vs Virus
• 02/20 Fugaz, Stuka, Soberano vs Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Ultimo Guerrero
• 02/22 Atlantis Jr. vs Euforia
• 02/25 Soberano Jr. & Templario vs Mistico & Averno

You can vote here.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 03/05/2022 Domo Madero, Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas
1) Drago Kid, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa vs Argenis, Dinámico (Baja California), Parka Negra
2) Dulce Canela, Komander, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Crazy Boy, Joe Lider, Xtreme Tiger and Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba
3) Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Villano III Jr. © vs DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis [AAA TRIOS]
4) Aramis, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. vs Flamita, Látigo, Toxin
5) Bandido & Jack Cartwheel vs Hijo Del Vikingo & Laredo Kid and Abismo Negro Jr. & Gringo Loco (Indie)
6) Chessman, Pagano, Psycho Clown vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

This show is listed as starting at 8 pm CT, which means it may start at 9 pm.I’m not sure if this is being streamed. AAA hasn’t said anything, as is their ways. The Merida taping press release said that taping would be streamed, so there’s a reasonable shot AAA’s going back to streaming all their tapings this year. But we don’t know for sure, so I’m not going to mention it much on Twitter unless we find out something, and I wouldn’t advise booking your Saturday night around seeing it. It’ll always be available later.

The taping feels a lot closer to 2019 than the last two years of TV. Lots and lots of people booked, maybe some of it good, maybe some of it happens, probably there will be changes. NGD and La Empresa put their “undefeated (except for DQ)” streaks on the line. I presume NGD is winning, I have no idea how AAA will get out of the trios title match but I’m leaning towards no title change. Semi main has Gringo Loco & Jack Cartwheel’s debuts and could be great. The fourth match has promise too. This one has a chance to be one of those AAA shows where no one knows it’s available (because AAA is not saying anything) and then everyone’s asking for the video the next day.

The Tijuana card is up

AAA TV (SAT) 03/26/2022 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Arkángel Divino, Destiny, Último Maldito vs Kamikaze, Ryan Kidd, Skalibur
2) Faby Apache, Lady Lee, Lady Shani vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla
3) Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti vs Dinámico & Sexy Star and Black Danger & Viva Van
4) Hijo Del Vikingo, Jack Cartwheel, Pagano vs Bestia 666, Genio del Aire, Mecha Wolf
5) Flip Gordon, Rich Swann, Willie Mack vs Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Villano III Jr.
6) Laredo Kid, Psycho Clown, Rey Xolo vs DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis
Microman will be with La Empresa

A lot going on here. There’s an overall feel of The Crash shows when Konnan was booking with a lot of foreigners (Gordon, Swann, Mack, Guevera, Conti,) in, plus more local regulars (Bestia, Genio, Mecha, Lady Lee, the entire opener, Viva Van ) than are usually booked on AAA shows. It’s probably not that half the roster is busy elsewhere as trying to beat The Crash at the Crash’s own game.

Rey Xolo is the Tijuana Charly alternate jersey mascot. Villano III Jr. was the luchador they used for the photos of the character – his tattoos are hard to miss – but I’m not sure if that means he’ll be in the outfit on this card. AAA is definitely willing to have a guy work twice. TripleMania in Tijuana and AAA working with the Xolo soccer team to promote the show means big things for Rey Xolo, whoever he ends up being.

It’s a little strange to pay for AEW wrestlers to come in and have them working in the third match against people who aren’t normally part of the roster, but they’re setting up the mixed tag stuff for later.

AAA hasn’t said if this show is streaming. It’ll be a late night one if it does; an 8:30 local start means 10:30 pm Mexico City time.

AAA wrestlers were announced for the La Mole comic book convention March 25-27. The convention announced Thursday AAA wrestlers are off the show due to “logistical issues”, which sound like the most predicable AAA issues. Blue Demon Jr. and Cibernetico have been announced as appearing on the March 25th show.

the entire March AAA TV schedule

• 03/05 (Saturday) in Madero
• 03/12 (Saturday) near Monterey – Multimedios show?
• 03/13 (Sunday) in Merida
• 03/26 (Saturday) in Tijuana
• 03/31 (Thursday) in Dallas – FITE?

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions Vickie Guerrero will be back with FTR on the 03/13 show “provided Fenix is ready by then.” That sounds like even AAA doesn’t know if Fenix will be ready for Merida.

Impact has another PPV this Saturday – Sacrifice. Really seems like a short turnaround there. The show includes another Deonna Purrazzo where she’ll defend the AAA or ROH title against a mystery challenger. As always, there is a chance an AAA luchador could show up to make the challenge. No AAA woman appears booked for the taping tomorrow, but no AAA woman has shown up in Impact. Taya is still owed a title shot at some point and there’s no indication when that would be.

AAA and Freefight are doing another streaming play session Friday night. Villano III Jr., Maravilla, Sexy Star, and Murder Clown are scheduled to appear.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 03/03/2022 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG]
1) Genex jd Tito Moran [IWRG Tryout, 8f] 
Matches had finishes but the person moving on was decided by a judging panel
2) Vorvak jd Pequeño Bengala [IWRG Tryout, 8f] 
3) Huitzil DRAW Trueno [IWRG Tryout, 8f] 
both were eliminated by the judges
4) Backter jd Pequeño Turno [IWRG Tryout, 8f] 
5) Nativo DRAW Rey Eclipse [IWRG Tryout, 8f] 
both moved on
6) Amnesia DRAW Sumed Black [IWRG Tryout, 8f] 
both were eliminated
7) Estrella de Oro jd Heredero Maya [IWRG Tryout, 8f] 
8) Vudumax jd Potro, Alkymia [IWRG Tryout, 8f] 
9) Yorvak jd Genex [IWRG Tryout, quarterfinal] 
10) Backter jd Nativo [IWRG Tryout, quarterfinal] 
11) Estrella de Oro jd Rey Eclipse [IWRG Tryout, quarterfinal] 
12) Potro jd Vudu Max [IWRG Tryout, quarterfinal] 
13) Aster Boy © b Tonalli [IWRG IC Light] 
2nd defense

I had this one without paying much attention to it, and it was still noticeable how much they were rushing near the end here. It stuck out more when I was adding timestamps. This was a 7:45 start show that went about four hours in a neighborhood that’s not exactly friendly late at night; the last four tournament matches were done as a sprint: at least two of had a dive to get them going fast, and the judges were simply picking whoever won the match. They did leave Aster Boy/Tonalli a decent amount of time at the end, but that was a building that cleared out quick as soon as it was over. The silver lining is those fans – and there were a lot of them, with family and friends of those in the tournament filling the building – did stick all the way to the end.

I paid more attention to Aster Boy/Tonalli though I’m not sure you need to. It was IWRG lightweights doing the CMLL Volador title match formula: some mat work early, a dive, and then big move/near fall/rest/repeat until it just ended. The set-up match sounds better.

IWRG (SUN) 03/06/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) ? vs ?? [IWRG TRYOUT, semifinal]
2) ? vs ?? [IWRG TRYOUT, semifinal]
3) Bengalee, Diosa Quetzal, Jessy Jackson vs Diosa Atenea, Lolita, Satania
4) Aster Boy vs Noicy Boy, Freelance, Toxin, Puma de Oro
5) Jessy Ventura & Travis Banks vs Alpha Wolf & Diva Salvaje [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Dragón Bane vs Cerebro Negro [IWRG MIDDLE, #1 Contenders]
7) ? vs ?? [IWRG TRYOUT, FINAL]

Yorvak, Backter, Estrella de Oro, Potro are in the semifinals. They didn’t announce the match ups. Bane/Negro winner faces Travis Banks next week.

ROH/AEW

Tony Khan announced he had bought Ring of Honor on Wednesday. The version of the press release on Ring of Honor’s site carefully words the agreement as being in place but not yet completed. Dave Meltzer reported both previous owners Sinclair Broadcast Group indicated they wanted to sell, both WWE and Khan bid on the promotion, and Khan bid was higher. Tony Khan’s own press release made a point of saying he bought ROH in his own money, and not through AEW.

No one really knows what this going to mean, outside of Tony Khan owning ROH’s library. Plenty of people are wishcasting ROH being brought back at AEW’s version of an NXT developmental brand, more because they love the old ROH brand and not because there’s yet any indication that’s actually the plan here. Khan didn’t purchase the contracts of any wrestlers, and he couldn’t because all remaining wrestler contracts would’ve expired on March 1st. Ring of Honor has Supercard of Honor on April 1st and was making new match and talent announcements as recently as day before the sale was made. They are still selling tickets (and selling more of them because this is now the second straight ROH show where people are convinced AEW people will be showing up), though neither press release specifically mentions that show as still happening.

I don’t think anyone outside of maybe Tony Khan and his inner circle knows for sure if that show is still happening and what in general is happening next with ROH. I made a post of all the things questions work asking (and that I felt safe asking on Twitter), because there’s a lot unanswered here. It does seem like the deal came together recently and quickly, so no one might have the answers yet, and figuring them out on a week where AEW has a PPV is probably not easy. Wrestlers like Dragon Lee & Rush appear to be hoping their past ROH ties will get them involved with AEW. AEW has been using ROH Pure champion Josh Woods on Dark shows (and in a bigger role Thursday night after the sale was announced.) ROH Champion Jonathan Gresham has been mentioned backstage at recent AEW events. AEW/Tony Khan clearly has a lot of interest in the first few years of ROH and there’s something can be done with current champions, but I’m not sure how much interest AEW has in the most recent iteration of ROH beyond that. I really don’t know if, or how, this deal will affect Mexican wrestling. 2022 ROH seemed like it wasn’t going to have much connection with Mexican wrestling outside of however the Bandido “title reign” ended, and I’m not sure I see that immediately changing even with Tony Khan taking over.

While I’m actually doing a AEW section, I should note Andrade and Darby Allin challenge Sammy Guevara for the TNT Champion tonight on Rampage. It’s a live version of that show. Andrade lost against Guevara last week, and I think he either wins the title or has some big teased breakup with Matt Hardy tonight. Andrade, Hardy, and Isiah Kassidy face Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, Sting on Sunday’s AEW Revolution PPV.

Other News

LuchaWorld has a great obituary for Black Man.

DTU on 03/15 has Poder del Norte versus Kaleth, Camulfaje and Blaze, and Aramis vs Lokillo. They’re bringing in Psycho Clown on 04/24, so the agreement between Crazy Boy and AAA seems deeper than just working one show.

RIOT made some changes to their 03/25-26 La Rina tournament.

• Alex Zayne & Demonio del Aire will face each other, after prior opponents, Komander & Rey Horus had to pull out for other opponents
• Aramis versus Gringo Loco has been added as first-round match

Gringo Loco was supposed to be at Big Lucha on 03/25 and RIOT on 03/26, and now he’s just on RIOT both days. I presume Komander is working Big Lucha, though he’s not listed on the card they put out (that’ll be the next paragraph.) I thought Rey Horus would pop up on the AAA Tijuana card but he’s not there at the moment.

BIG LUCHA (FRI) 03/25/2022 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Elipse & Orbita vs King & Kong
2) Mexa Kids vs Ministriales
3) Radioactivo & Viajero vs Mil Almas & Potro
4) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Galeno del Mal vs ? & Limbo and Hijo del Espectro & Hijo del Fishman
5) Skayde & Sussi Love vs Fuerza Guerrera & Hija De Fuerza Guerrera
6) ?, Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Cometa Maya, El Bandido, Gravity vs Bendito, Elemental, Emperador Azteca, Flamita, Yutani [street]

The last Big Lucha ended with a literal street fight between Flamita’s Black Generation and Bandido’s home army after the Black Generation crew destroyed Extasis. He’s the most likely mystery person in the main event. The fourth match mystery spot Gringo Loco’s spot.

04/01 the WRLD on Lucha

• Psycho Clown vs Dr. Wagner Jr. – main event
• Pagano vs Sadika in an extreme match
• Jack Carthweel vs Johnny Caballero
• also scheduled to appear: Psicosis, Hugo Savinovich, Laredo Kid, Drago Kid, ASF, Abismo Negro Jr.

Psycho & Wagner teased a mask versus hair match, which was never going to happen on a WM weekend show unless GCW lost their mind. It’ll be a crazy brawl anyway.

Pimpinela Escarlata was announced for the 04/02 Effy’s Gay Brunch show.

Diamante Negro (Feliciano Hernandez Diaz, 63) passed away on Tuesday from a heart attack according to Box y Lucha.

Arena Lopez Mateos had a feud between Centella Oriental and Villano III Jr. for a few months. It seemed headed to a mask match but stopped suddenly when Centella Oriental disappeared. It turns out Centella Oriental had jumped to IWRG as Akbal and had been wrestling there for the last six months. He announced on Facebook (reposted by Mas Lucha) that he’d be going back to his Centella Oriental identity, saying he’s leaving IWRG and the Akbal gimmick behind on good terms. Maybe they’ll get back to the mask match now.

This name switch is a thing that makes doing a lucha libre match database inaccurate, especially if you’re as distanced (both by miles and by connections) from Mexican wrestling as I am. These sort of gimmick changes probably happen more than I’d ever be able to tell even if I watched everything, and rarely are they noted as Centella Oriental did. Most of the time it’s harmless. A situation that came up about two weeks ago may not be as harmless. Einar el Vikingo became infamous last May after he attacked a child at a wrestling show, with everyone in the Mexico City scene coming together to say they wouldn’t use him. Various Facebook pages (here’s one) found the Facebook page for a masked luchador who appeared last September named Baphomet, and claim there’s private posts that confirm he’s actually Einar el Vikingo. I haven’t seen them. There are photos of Einar and Baphomet in that link post and there’s definitely a resemblance. Baphomet is working the nothing matches on small shows as Einar, though not often. We’ve seen before that the concern in these sorts of situations is solely in convincing potential ticket buyer that whatever happened is a one-off and they’ll take care of the victim in that moment, and the instigator will be welcomed back into the fold as soon as the non-lucha libre press moves onto something else. I don’t know that Einar is Baphomet but it would fit.

Noticias de Sol de la Laguna has an interview with the original Pentagon, who will be honored at a ten-match show in Gomez Palacio this weekend.

A profile of Tabasco luchadora Dark Queen.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.