Month: April 2022

AAA

One more time: TripleMania Chapter 1 from Monterrey takes place Saturday at 8 pm CT. It’s on FITE for 20 USD. There’s English and Spanish announcing, you can switch between broadcasts during the show (though it may be a bit trickier on the app than the web.)  

I wrote the typical long preview for Voices of Wrestling. I’ve found myself more concerned about the tournament matches and more convinced nothing else is going to really matter if Fenix, Vikingo, and the Bucks knock it out of the park. I’m also just convinced Konnan ran an angle on The Crash show to set up Fenix vs Vikingo fully knowing he was actually planning on running that match at TripleMania Tijuana instead and we’ll see that start to play out Saturday night.

AEW Dynamite had good news on Fenix. His arm is still wrapped, but he looks ready to go for Saturday. I’m not as sure about Sammy Guevara. He missed on a move, landed hard, and it appeared AEW’s medical crew spent most of a commercial break debating if they were going to let him continue. He did, but the WON confirmed Guevera was injured but is uncertain of the severity. I think there’s a pretty good chance Guevera doesn’t wrestle on the show and the mixed tag match is changed again.

Taya and Deonna Purrazzo will have their rematch for the AAA Reina de Reinas championship on their May 7th Impact PPV show. (Impact runs a lot of PPVs!) I Purrazzo’s Mexico commitments are probably finished after Saturday.

Rayo de Jalisco Jr. says he wants to avenge his father’s mask loss to Blue Demon, and he’ll retire if he loses his mask.

Larry Dallas announced he signed a contract with AAA. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports it is 18 dates with an AAA option for 18 more. 11 Showcenter events plus 3 TripleManias and maybe 5 Rey de Reyes level events would fit in a year, though AAA could also just use him on all the tapings if they want. Dallas and Joe Dombrowski will be in Monterrey for TripleMania, as they will be for all the TripleManis.

There is a next TV taping finally announced:

AAA TV (SAT) 05/28/2022 Explanada Malltertainment, Puebla, Puebla
1) Baby Extreme, Drago Kid, Komander vs Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba
2) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana vs Dinámico, Draztick Boy, Emperador Azteca and Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Psicosis
3) Aerostar, Drago, Myzteziz Jr. vs Argenis, Parka Negra, Toxin
4) Faby Apache, Heavy Metal, Octagón Jr. vs DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis
5) Fénix vs Látigo, Taurus © [AAA LA]
third defense
6) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Pagano vs Flamita, Rey Escorpión, Villano III Jr.

Fenix seems unlikely to be available. AEW is in Las Vegas from May 25th to May 29th for Double or Nothing and other tapings, and typically the entire roster stays in that city for the whole PPV stretch.

The rest is the miscellaneous killing time TV stuff – like the third match are the feuds that have been spinning their wheels for a full year. The second match is Draztick Boy’s first appearance here post-pandemic; he’s been El Mago for about a year and a half now and I’m unsure if AAA knows. Hope that means he’s also in the Showcenter mix.

The upcoming Space schedule looks like

• 04/30: Monterrey TripleMania live (I’m not streaming this)
• 05/07: Monterrey week 2
• 05/14: Monterrey week 3
• 05/21: ????
• 05/28: ????
• 06/04: Puebla Week 1
• 06/11: Puebla Week 2
• 06/18: Tijuana TripleMania Live (also not this)

I’ve heard another May taping exists for that spot, but I don’t have a date or location locked down. May 14th would make sense as a date based on that schedule. We’re also waiting on a date for the May Showcenter event, but figure on it coming out as soon as Saturday’s TripleMania broadcast.

The NFL’s Arizona Cardinals visited AAA as part of an NFL Mexico promotional tour on Thursday.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 04/29/2022 Arena México
Arena Mexico 66th Annivesary
1) Panterita del Ring Jr. & Stigma vs Halcón Suriano Jr. & Suicida
2) Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit, Stephanie Vaquer vs Dalys, Lluvia, Marcela, Reyna Isis [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Rey Bucanero & Último Guerrero vs Averno & Mephisto
4) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Templario vs Místico vs Titán [CMLL Universal, final]

This seems like a safe bet for a really good show. Any combination of the two Universal singles matches should be interesting, there’s at least a little doubt over who’s going to win. It feels like it’ll be a huge moment if Templario or TItan beat Mistico and the crowd will be very happy to see Mistico. This should be the best-attended Arena Mexico of the year and maybe the best until the Gran Prix; CMLL is offering 10 peso upper-level tickets for children to help fill the place. That also seems to point to Mistico winning, but we’ll see.

A big crowd is a good time to do a lot of Stuka Jr./Altantis Jr. feuding, so that’s surely the focus of the semi-main. I’m not sure how much Rey Bucanero left and Mephisto hasn’t been wrestling much of late, but there’s probably enough there for them to play the hits. The women’s atomicos will likely be very well planned out and get over well. The lightweight guys in the opener keep coming close to putting it together for a full match and are entertaining when they don’t.

This is the usual 99 pesos TicketmasterLive show. That’s a little bit of a surprise, a tournament final is usually the 250 price point.

Mistico, Dalys, Pantera del Ring, and Ultimo Dragoncito will recieve the Copa Bobby Bonales from Daniel Aceves on the show. Aceves remains an important person in Mexico’s sports governance and CMLL stays close to him and continually honors his 50s/60s era luchador father. The most recent idea is one man, woman, and a trainer would be honored, with KeMonito honored in the 2021. Maybe Ultimo Dragonicto is the trainer this time but they still wanted to award four people.

CMLL (SUN) 05/01/2022 Arena México
1) Retro vs Apocalipsis
2) Arkalis, Halcón Suriano Jr., Leono vs Cholo, Grako, Inquisidor
3) La Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Skadi vs Amapola, La Seductora, Metálica
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado vs Felino, Hechicero, Terrible

Just a show. The semi-main reminds me CMLL hasn’t said what they’re doing with the trios titles.

CMLL (MON) 05/02/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Meyer vs Black Tiger
2) Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II vs Rey Apocalipsis & Siki Osama
3) La Guerrera & La Magnifica vs Hera & Olympia
4) Halcón Suriano Jr., Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Disturbio, Hijo del Villano III
5) Averno, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

It looks like Volador versus Angel de Oro or Niebla Roja is coming up here.

The second match is a Toro Bill Jr. tribute. Rey Apocalipsis was Toro Bill Jr.’s partner in Arena Puebla, and they also teamed with Siki Osama Jr. as a trios version of Batillon del Muerte on the Puebla indies.

CMLL (TUE) 05/03/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Bello Antuan, Cosmos, Último Ángel vs Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Tigre Blanco
2) Omar Brunetti, Optimus, Trono vs Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Javier Cruz Jr.
3) Ángel Rebelde, Espíritu Negro Jr., Halcón Negro Jr., Samuray Azteca vs Obelisk, Persa, Raven, Temerario
4) Hera, La Magnifica, Olympia vs Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria
5) Cris Skin, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
6) Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II vs Adrenalina & Fantástico

That’s a lot lower star power than Mexican City’s sent for these Tuesday shows. Maybe something is happening in Arena Mexico? Also looks like the school’s tournament is not single elimination.

CMLL announced the May tournament will be Copa Junior VIP. That’s second/third generation wrestlers and the important ones for being the VIP version. There will be an elimination round on May 20th and the final on May 27th.

Mascara Dorada faces TJP on this Saturday’s edition of NJPW Strong. (This airs on NJPW World, maybe wait until Sunday to subscribe so you don’t get charged twice.)

NJPW’s preview bills Dorada as a CMLL wrestler, though he still hasn’t made his way to Mexico. I’d really like to see Titan and other CMLL wrestlers get in the upcoming Best of Super Juniors, but I suspect Dorada is being brought over is going to check that box for NJPW. The field may be announced as soon as Sunday’s Wrestling Dontaku show.

On Informa, Julio Cesar Rivera indicated CMLL is planning on running the Gran Prix this year. No date was announced. That’s the Mexico versus the World cibernetico that’s included Ring of Honor and New Japan wrestlers in the past, along with some total randoms. No ROH this year, with that promotion being absorbed by AEW. It seems a safe bet some NJPW wrestlers will be in, though TJP, Jeff Cobb and other non-Japanese talent seem more likely than the natives. There are enough foreigners hanging around Mexico (hanging around Bandido’s gym in particular) that CMLL might be able to get to “Okumura, Dark Magic, and six more” without necessarily needing to work with other promotions, though I do believe there will be some NJPW involvement. That’s also going to be the moment where we find out what CMLL believes about Travis Banks.

El Manana has an interview with Dulce Gardenia.

Negro Casas was awarded the Microfono de Oro from the Asociación Nacional de Locutores, which seems to honor a luchador this way once every few years. Electroshock won this award in 2012, Blue Panther won it more recently, I don’t have the list.

Robles/Rush

The bullet points from Rush’s press conference

• he’s back starting this weekend
• LFI now considers itself a promotion though there are no plans to run shows
• Rush’s wife is now part of La Reina Ingobernable and is in charge of internationalizing the group
  • You may remember her as the authority figure from Federacion Wrestling
• Dementor unmasked himself as Vangellys, with a hairstyle similar to Bestia del Ring. He’s now officially part of LFI.
• Rush said some stuff about being the only person who could unmask Park to make sure people would actually write about the rest of this too.

This was just a well-produced idea to get attention after Rush has been on the sidelines for eight months with no real news. Vangellys as Dementor was a terribly unkept secret. This was pitched as renovated Los Ingobernables but it’s the same as usual.

Rush’s comeback starts this week with Robles promotions shows in Mexico City, Merida, and Cancun. There’s rarely any info on the Robles shows outside of Mexico City and I’m not expecting this weekend to be different; they’re only notable in that they mean Rush will not be in Monterrey for TripleMania. Dralistico & Dragon Lee have talked a lot about Rush joining them in AAA. That seems like an inevitability, given Rush’s lack of options and AAA’s desire to have as many big names as possible. Just probably not this weekend.

The Mexico City Robles shows are not officially recorded, but there are usually a dozen different YouTubers shooting from the stands and media reports on the results. There are also usually visible sections of empty seats which go unreported about (but likely is the reason this group started with Alberto as the face, switched to La Mascara, and now is with the ex-ENESMA guy around.) It’s hard to believe Robles can possibly draw enough to cover the costs of running this show, but it’d be a big feather in Rush’s cap if he could get them closer than usual. Rush, La Bestia del Ring, and Vangellys headline against Chris Masters, Marco Corleone, and LA Park. Dragon Lee & Dralistico team up with Bandido against Taurus, Flamita and odd third wheel Carlito. (It’d be must-see if they moved someone like Ricky Marvin up into Carlito’s spot.) Dark Angel makes her in-ring return in a trios match among other action.

Marty Scurll was added to the Saturday show at some point (teaming with La Mascara against Juvy & Fuerza.) He’s in Mexico City already Friday, so there’s a decent chance he’ll be added to the show. It’s not great that the rest of the wrestling world’s rejects finds a spot in Mexico and that the rest of the wrestling has so many rejects.

Other News

This is the busiest weekend of the shows in Mexico so far this year, and probably in the last three. I’ve found 83 shows on Saturday and 70 shows on Sunday, with a bunch more to enter. Kids Day coming on a Saturday plus Mexico treating COVID like it’s over just makes for a really active weekend.

Haven’t seen the NOAH show but the Dragon Bane/Alpha Wolf/Ninja Mack match went very well. I was worried they wouldn’t be able to transition back to the high spot style NOAH was looking for, but I needed not worry based on the GIFS.

IWRG

IWRG (SAT) 04/30/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Rosel & Último Caballero vs Milagro & Súper Boy
2) Águila Oriental, Nativo, Rey Minos vs Kenji, Rey Cometa (Iwrg), Rey Eclipse
3) Jhon Tito, Sol, Spider Fly vs Astaroth, Garra Mortal, X-Devil
4) Jack, Luka, The Mummy vs Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mafioso
5) Cerebro Negro Jr., Hell Boy, Leo, Limbo, Noisy Boy, Puma de Oro, Tonalli, Wagner Kid vs Abc, Blue Tiger, Laser, Pasion, Rebelde, Tacle El 85, Thunder Storm, Troyano [Copa High Power]
FILL vs Gym Ultimo Guerrero

Ultimo Guerrero can’t be booked in this arena due to CMLL rules but, apparently, he can bring his (non-CMLL?) students. Thunder Storm very much wrestles like an Ultimo Guerrero trainee and should do well with some of the FILL guys. Luka in the semi-main is debuting. IWRG can’t decide if the guy he’s teaming with is La Momia or The Mummy; there’s probably a goofy license reason for that. This show is starting around 4 CT, so it should finish up right around TripleMania Monterrey.

This is the 95th High Power tournament. It’d be cool if IWRG had a big plan for 100 but sometimes what I think are big plans and what lucha libre promotions think are big plans are two different things.

IWRG (SUN) 05/01/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Calibus vs Rey Halcón
2) Genex & Legendario vs Baby Daddy & Limbo
3) Hijo del Pantera & Pantera Jr. vs Chris Stone Jr. & Hell Boy
4) ?, Big Boy, Big Chico Che vs Ra-Zhata, Shil-Ka, Tortuga Leo
5) Dinamic Black, Freelance, Noisy Boy, Relámpago vs ?, Dick Angelo 3G, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Puma de Oro and Accion Jackson, Shaun Moore, Shocko, Veneno and La Momia, Mafioso, Medico Brujo, Sick Boy [Zona de Ejecuion]
6) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba vs Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mike

That’s a lot of people. Zona de Ejecuion starts with one person from each team in the ring and getting replaced when they get defeated if I recall correctly.

Other News

MLW had Gino Medina, Arez, and Mini Abismo Negro vs KC Navarro, Aramis and Micro Man on this week’s episode.

VXS tonight on Fite (7 pm CT) for $13.

• Joey Janela vs Drago Kid
• Mike Bailey vs Arez

Kinda interested in how both of those go, not sure I’m going to have the time to watch them.

05/01 PWG

• Bandido (c) vs Daniel Garcia for the PWG Championship
• Black Taurus vs Black Christian
• Aramis vs Konosuke Takeshita

I think there’s a decent chance Bandido will lose the PWG title on this show. Not anything about him or his future, but it’s about time. PWG hasn’t sold out so it’s hard to argue this is still working even if Bandid’s not the reason.

Disney’s Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion debuts on their cable channel on June 3rd, and they posted a trailer on Thursday for Superhero Day. April 28th is apparently superhero day, I’ll try to buy someone a cake for it next year) This was the show originally announced with Blue Demon instead of Black Scorpion. (Demon said he had issues with the production, the change came after Demon was accused of spousal abuse, I don’t know if either or neither was the reason for the change.) The original pitch talked about as a strongly lucha libre concept. They’re wearing luchador outfits and there’s a scene with a ring, but it seems much more a standard superhero show in realization.

In a similar fashion, Bad Bunny will be playing Marvel comic character El Muerto in an upcoming movie. There’s some controversy here: Muerto is Mexican, Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican. Muerto is also a luchador in his (very limited) comic book appearances so that could show up in his movie.

Occasional IWRG luchadora Diosa Atenea says she’ll be retiring on the 05/15 WWS show.

An entertaining story on a 1999 US indie staffed show passed off as a WCW event in Peru.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

This was supposed to be published Wednesday, did not actually publish, didn’t notice while working on other stuff. There’s some dated material here.

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 04/26/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Marca]
1) Acero, Pequeño Magía, Shockercito b Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia  
Pequeno Magica was shaken up on a dive.
2) Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr. b Astral, Leono, Sangre Imperial  
Sangre Imperial replaced Electiro, still out via injury
3) El Audaz, Flyer, Hombre Bala Jr. b Disturbio, Nitro, Okumura  
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus  
5) Blue Panther, El Coyote, Soberano Jr. b Magia Blanca, Star Jr., Templario [Relevos Increíbles]  
Magia Blanca replaced Panterita del Ring (missed two shows in a row)

Nothing much in the results. Electrico must still be dealing with his neck injury, though he’s doing well enough to post workout videos. Not sure about Pantera del Ring, but a luchador his age could be dealing with any number of injuries. Mas Lucha noted Porra Tepito returned to Arena Mexico on this show; it’s been a while since Arena Mexico has had a drum section.

CMLL (TUE) 04/26/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara (videos), Fuego en el Ring]
1) Estrella de Jalisco I & Estrella de Jalisco II b Destello & Destructor
2) Bestia Negra, Difunto, Fúnebre b El Divino, Johnny Dinamo, Mágico
3) Náutica & Sexy Sol b Dark Silueta & Valkiria
4) Cachorro, Misterio Blanco (Laguna), Misterio Negro (Laguna), Panterita del Ring Jr. b Obelisk, Persa, Raven, Temerario
Team Laguneros beats Team GDL
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Fantástico b Misterioso, Satánico, Valiente Jr.
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel b Ángel de Oro, Explosivo, Niebla Roja [OCCIDENTE TAG]
second defense

The team from Torreon beating the home team was a bit of a surprise. Champions retaining a little less so.

Informa has ten people listed, including referee Guero Noriega for some reason.

CMLL (SAT) 04/30/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Angelito & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Minos
2) Sangre Imperial, Suicida, Valiente Jr. vs Cachorro, Diamond, Halcón Suriano Jr.
3) Flyer, Stigma, Volcano vs Audaz, Hombre Bala Jr., Kráneo [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Dark Panther, Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Espanto Jr., Felino, Virus
5) Fugaz, Místico, Titán vs Magia Blanca, Rugido, Volador Jr.

A lot of tecnicos on a Kid’s Day weekend show.

El Sol del Puebla visited Toro Bill Jr.’s funeral. They give his name as José Roberto Rosete Tamayo, age as 40, and say his career started in 2002. He leaves behind a wife and three children. Toro Bill Jr. was getting ready to go to dinner when he suffered a massive heart attack in the locker room during the main event of the show. It reads like the injury in the match isn’t thought to be directly related (or may have been a planned spot.) SuperLuchas has a well-written obit for Toro Bill Jr.  CMLL didn’t have a moment of applause for him on Tuesday, probably waiting for Monday.

Media outlets usually post the “Arena Mexico ghost stories” articles around Dia del Muertos, but ESTO breaks one out for the building’s anniversary show. There’s also an article featuring photos of how Arena Mexico looked when they were just finishing constructing it. No entrance area in those days.

AAA

We’ve reached the point in TripleMania week where AAA appears to be trying to break my brain.

Tuesday night, Space posted a graphic for the Young Bucks vs Fenix & Hijo del Vikingo match, conspicuously missing Fenix. AAA was aware of the graphic enough to retweet it. Space deleted the tweet on Wednesday morning. It seems dumb to worry about a TV network putting out a graphic for a match, but AAA’s falsely advertised Fenix twice already, he still hasn’t wrestled, and the slightest hint that he won’t be is going to set people off. All we know is he was back in training in recent weeks and everyone assumed he was wrestling until that graphic was posted, but AAA and Fenix have broken the trust there.

Thursday Edit: Yea, I guess it’s fine now.

Arez & Chik Tormenta added themselves to the mixed tag title match on TripleMania, putting their titles on the line after Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti kept challenging them. This probably won’t end well for their reign.

Alberto el Patron is now off TripleMania. Fanbyte published an update to their story Tuesday saying the same source who told them Alberto was on the show was now telling them Alberto was off the show and a “US-independent wrestler” will be in his spot. Dorian Roldan sort of addressed the situation in an interview with FITE, mentioning that Laredo Kid’s partner would not be anyone who had been talked about online. (The FITE interview debuted after the Fanbyte article but appeared to be taped prior.)

There’s no explanation of what exactly happened to cause the change. It certainly appears like the original source leaked Alberto being on the card in hopes of provoking an expected negative reaction and cause AAA to change their mind. I didn’t sense a negative reaction about Alberto in Mexico, but he’s still heavily disliked in the US, AAA wants attention from the US on these PPVs, and it might have be a situation where AAA would react to criticism when they normally don’t. I don’t know if this was all a plan, but it worked out.

Willie Mack is my first guess for “US-independent wrestler” since he was in the same spot as Laredo Kid’s mystery partner on the last Triplemania show in Monterrey. I have no idea if it’s him or if he’s even free.

Andrade announced Jose the Assistant will be coming with him to TripleMania. Everyone gets a plus one; I’m sure Brandon Cutler will be with the Young Bucks.

Villano IV said that everyone predicting him to lose is underestimating what a luchador will do when his mask is on the line.

ProWrestling TV also says they’re airing TripleMania on Saturday. Most people who are going to pay for TripleMania are going to get it on FITE and I believe PWTV is simply airing the same feed, but let me know how it goes if you try PWTV.

AAA held a press conference in Puebla to talk about a 05/28 show. Pagano, Murder Clown, Dave the Clown versus Rey Escorpion, Villano III, and Flamita is the main event, which makes it sound like it’s probably a spot show and not a TV taping. AAA hasn’t announced any post-TripleMania tapings so maybe. Thursday Edit: This is a TV taping, I’ll have the lineup posted on Firday.

Psycho Clown says his father was tough towards him (he goes as far as saying bullied him), which helps him now deal with ignoring criticism. Brazo de Plata also encouraged young Psycho Clown to go to arenas to help sell things, to help him get over his insecurity about his size as a child.

Everyone else

NOAH has two major shows this weekend which include a lot of Mexican wrestlers;

April 29 (a Junior focused show) – starts 3 AM CT Friday morning

• Dragon Bane vs Alpha Wolf vs Ninja Mack
• Extreme Tiger vs Seiki Yoshioka
• NOSAWA, Texano Jr., Super Crazy vs Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara, Shuji Kondo

I too am confused by Texano being a junior.

April 30 (a Heavyweight focused show) – starts 1 AM CT Saturday morning

• NOSAWA, Eita, Texano Jr., Kotaro Suzuki, Super Crazy vs HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway, Seiki Yoshioka, Yuya Susumu
• Masato Tanaka & Daiki Inaba vs Rene Dupree & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
• Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, Junta Miyawaki vs Dragon Bane, Alpha Wolf, Extreme Tiger, Ninja Mack

Wagner & Dupree were the tag team champions here before the pandemic hit. Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf almost only faced each other in their previous NOAH tour, so seeing them against the NOAH juniors is going to be different. NOAH offers English (and Japanese) commentary via the Wrestle Universe service, which also included DDT, TJPW, and other groups. There’s also VOD. It’s normally a $7/month deal, but they’re offering a two-week trial starting Thursday. You’ll be charged if you don’t cancel before the end of the trial, but it’s an easy way to check out these shows and see if you’re interested in sticking around.

Mexico essentially announced they’re considering the pandemic over as of May 1st. They’re no longer going to put out COVID traffic light maps – they’ve all been green for the last four weeks – and they’re no longer going to recommend that people need to be masked inside. Different states and cities may enact their own rules. CMLL has encouraged fans to be masked for their shows, though they’re also clearly no longer enforcing that as seen in crowd shots.

RIOT lost their new venue, AIRO, for the 06/04 show. The promotion says they had a signed contract for the date and doesn’t explicitly mention what happened in a post, but talks about a hypothetical situation of someone booking a building for a venue only for a richer/more powerful couple also getting married at the venue directing the venue’s owners to cancel the other couple’s booking. RIOT fans saw this as AIRO at fault and started bombing their social media with bad reviews, enough so that RIOT had to ask their fans to delete those comments, saying AIRO wasn’t to blame and they hoped to use the venue in the future. AIRO is part of the same facility as the Showcenter Complex, where AAA is running monthly shows starting in May and possibly believed they had exclusive rights to the facility. RIOT has specifically not blamed or named AAA as the reason RIOT was canceled. The most recent RIOT shows included AAA wrestlers Mr. Iguana, Toxin, Latigo, Aramis, and RIOT champion Arez, with others working past shows. It is certain AAA would immediately block RIOT from using AAA wrestlers if RIOT started a public issue with them. Again, RIOT has not specifically blamed or named AAA as the reason RIOT lost the venue.

Here’s a dumb story: when Travis Banks joined Negocio Traumado, he had no idea they were a group of people who had quit IWRG and were antagonistic to the promotion. IWRG got a hold of him later, asked Banks why he quit, and he had no idea he had quit IWRG. (He’s claim is he thought he was just joining some random group; your trust in Banks’ word may vary.) It appears Banks has quietly quit that group and is back with IWRG until something else happens. It’s very unfortunate there are people fighting over Travis Banks, but that’s appears to have happened.

IWRG also posted a video of a fan dumping beer on Dr. Wagner and then them ejecting that fan out of the building, as proof they’re taking fan misbehavior seriously.

YouTube lucha libre uploader JC Carita and his wife were attacked at a show Sunday in Pachuca. There’s video of the incident on his Facebook page; he says his camera equipment was stolen. JC is one of many lucha uploaders who operate in a gray area, shooting videos of promotions in a fashion not specifically authorized but also not permitted. (There are few Mexican wrestling promotions who actively discourage filming matches, unlikely elsewhere.) They’re not conventional media working for a specific outlet, typically only uploading the video to a YouTube or Facebook page, but they’re also making available shows which might not be available elsewhere. It’s unclear if any of them are making money from these uploads, both if they’re getting enough views to make ad revenue and if YouTube is letting them monetize in the first place. There’s the usual bit of tension and drama between these various YouTubers. Carita typically doesn’t film shows in Pachuca, so these may have been people not used to dealing with each other. Video of the incident makes it appear as though the wrestlers are skirmishing with the videographers. The promotion, CLLT, says they fight we entirely between different media members and their wrestlers only got involved to try and break it up.

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

Arena Puebla luchador Toro Bill Jr. passed away from a heart attack Monday night, following his match in the arena. Toro Bill Jr. teamed with Prayer against Asturiano & Millenium in the night’s second match. Contacto Deportivo’s video story implies he collapsed after delivering a seated dropkick and was taken to the back on a stretcher. Early in the main event, between 45-60 minutes later, medical personnel were seen rushing toward the locker room with a defibrillator. CMLL announced Toro Bill Jr. passed away shortly after the show concluded.

Toro Bill Jr. was a second-generation wrestler in this long-time lucha libre building. The original Toro Bill wrestled in the arena in the mid-80s until the 00s, and was still active as of last year. The young Toro Bill Jr. appears to have started in Arena Puebla in 2005 and the father and son team for a time. Arena Puebla is a CMLL-owned building, one of four lucha libre buildings they still run, with the main show of the week taking place every Monday for the last few decades. Toro Bill Jr. regularly appeared as an early match rudo and was frequently seen when CMLL televised and streamed the show in the 2010s. Both Toro Bill Sr. and Toro Bill Jr. are heavy-set men, the father more than the son.

(Reports differ on Toro Bill’s age. His facebook lists his birthday as May 29, 1986, which would make him 35 and the start of his Arena Puebla career at 18. I do not have his real name.)

Toro Bill Jr.’s best run during the Arena Puebla streaming period was as part of La Batillon de la Muerte, a Mexican revolutionary-themed team with Rey Apocalipsis and second Adelita, forming to 2014. The two were a well working rudo and colorful team with Apocalipsis bringing most of the charisma, and got over pretty well for a time. Unfortunately, CMLL appears to see most local Puebla luchadors simply as bodies to fill out the first couple of matches. Few are ever pushed, even versus each other. CMLL recognized the act was over enough to bring the act to Mexico City for an interview on their Informa talk show, something typically only done if they’re going to use the wrestlers in Arena Mexico, but that was it. They didn’t get much to do in Arena Puebla either, which would’ve been so easy to do. There was definitely something there that felt like it connected with the crowd and could’ve gone a lot farther, CMLL just didn’t seem interested in it.

The shine wore off the duo when they were stuck in the same place for so long and then Apocalipsis & Bill were suddenly no longer teaming with each other in early 2017. There was no breakup angle, they were just suddenly in different matches if they were even both booked. They reunited for a match in 2018 and occasionally since, though neither man gave much of an explanation as to why they stopped teaming. They continued to team on shows outside of Arena Puebla, including coming to the Mexico City arena on Lucha Memes cards. It seemed like a specific CMLL/Arena Puebla restriction that the two were not to be a regular team.

Toro Bill Jr. also wrestled on independent shows in Puebla. He was a frequent participant of “La Liga de la Justicia”, which appears to be a lot of Arena Puebla regulars bringing in Mexico City independent talent to have the sorts of big matches they weren’t getting to have in their home arena. Toro Bill Jr. also made a surprise appearance on the 2019-12-03 Arena Mexico show, filling in a Copa Junior block for a missing Super Astro Jr. He didn’t go far in the tournament but looked fine, and it’s another one of those things where maybe he would’ve gotten another chance if the pandemic didn’t come around a few months later.

A traffic accident last week (April 18) caused the road from Mexico City to be cut off and prevented from making that Arena Puebla show. Toro Bill Jr. filled in the semi-main as a result. My records are far from complete, but it’s the highest I have him working on an Arena Puebla show. He seemed thrilled with the opportunity. Saturday on his public Facebook page, Toro Bill Jr. wrote a long post about the evolution of the mask and all the people who’d helped train him over the years, thanking them for helping him on his journey. It’d be one of the last posts he’d get to make.

Toro Bill Jr. is the third wrestler in the extended CMLL family to pass away in the last six weeks, following Black Warrior Jr. (training injury leading to death months later) on March 17th and Raziel (heart attack/car accident) on April 4th. Toro Bill Jr. is the second active Arena Puebla local luchador to pass away in the last couple of years, with Puebla luchador Ares el Guerrero (unconfirmed COVID related) passing in June 2020.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 04/22/2022 Arena México [AS, CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Disturbio & Raider b Diamond & Flyer  
10:28
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit b Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer 
10:12
3) Euforia & Soberano Jr. DQ Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]  
17:35. UG unmasked Euforia for the DQ.
4) Niebla Roja & Sagrado b Hechicero, Titán, Dragón Rojo Jr., Stigma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II [CMLL Universal, battle royal]
5) Titán b Stigma [CMLL Universal, 8F]
4:52
6) Dragón Rojo Jr. b Gemelo Diablo I [CMLL Universal, 8F]
8:05
7) Hechicero b Gemelo Diablo II [CMLL Universal, 8F]
5:04
8) Niebla Roja b Sagrado [CMLL Universal, 8F]
5:00
9) Titán b Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal] 
7:21
10) Niebla Roja b Hechicero [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]
5:59
11) Titán b Niebla Roja [CMLL Universal, semifinal]  
16:47

The Friday women’s matches have gone long in recent weeks, so this one going only ten minutes flagged something strange was going on. The tournament itself started about 9:30, seemingly giving CMLL time for a long block final. Instead, the show went significantly longer than usual and lots of matches got plenty of time. It paid off with the best match CMLL’s had this year, Titan defeating Niebla Roja to capture the last spot in the Universal tournament final. They had a very long match for a CMLL tournament final but never lost the crowd, getting them come up and down as the match went along. Niebla Roja is pushed enough that there was real doubt in everyone about who was going to win, and it took a lot for Titan to get there. Roja wasn’t overtly a rudo, but did just enough to make sure Titan got crowd support, and he got a lot of it. Niebla Roja called it a loss that felt like a victory and that seems fair.

Templario versus Mistico versus Titan should be a great final, especially if they’re doing it in two separate (and decent length) singles matches. No one’s going to be above Mistico, but Titan is always great (and frequently moreover than the push) and Templario seems like someone CMLL is very much behind. My guess is Templario beats Titan and loses to Mistico next week, but all possibilities are reasonable. The full lineup should be out soon.

There was a wave in the main event, probably for the first time since Super Porky was still around and instigating them with chants and pointing on Tuesday shows. This one just happened on its own because the crowd was so excited. Still, the panromantic photos of Arena Mexico didn’t happen this Friday. CMLL’s social media job is to make the product as exciting as possible and they do it a good job of it when they take photos of the building when it looks more full than usual, but it’s also why that’s not a very reliable way to measure what’s happening. If you want to play guess the attendance, looking around Twitter and Instagram for fan photos, where they’re not going to pick just the right angle to high the most empties.

(It generally seems like there are more fans posting photos in the last month than in the past. Some of that’s just more people going to these shows for certain, but I wonder if maybe CMLL is promoting it. It definitely sounds like there’s some English language health safety video being played before the live streams start, and anything like that to make foreign fans more comfortable and more shared to share their experiences is a smart move.)

It appears CMLL gave out free streams to some people who had issues last week. I saw a couple of scattered Tweets referencing it, and most of the people who commented in the chat had a “invitado[number]” user name, which seems like they were comped. I didn’t get a free stream. The user who I linked to had complained to CMLL’s Twitter all week about the last week’s failed Twitter. Complaining to CMLL seems like a risky game – maybe they’ll help you out, maybe they’ll just block you, most likely they’re just going to ignore you – but it seems like it worked out for those who did this time. Obviously, everyone who bought last week should’ve just got automatically compared by Ticketmaster for a future show and that still didn’t happen. If CMLL had a normal or reliable streaming situation, I’d absolutely be recommending people buy the show this week this Friday. They don’t. It’ll likely work fine but it’s not worth the gamble.

Ultimo Guerrero pushed the idea that some combination of the Guerreros & Soberanos could be an Anniversary main event, especially Euforia/Ultimo Guerrero. It’d be a reasonable possibility if CMLL wasn’t already pushing Atlantis Jr./Stuka for that result, though I don’t know they have a finish.

CMLL (SAT) 04/23/2022 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha, CMLL]
1) Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Polvora b Acero, Aéreo, Kaligua
2) Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr. b Astral, Flyer, Sangre Imperial
Flyer replaced Electrico (hasn’t wrestled since suffering an Dr. Karonte I related injury two weeks prior)
3) Magia Blanca, Robin, Suicida b Grako, Nitro, Okumura
4) Virus b El Audaz
Virus took 2/3
5) Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Felino, Templario

Dr. Karonte I gave Astral a super unsafe-looking wheelbarrow suplex into the corner in their match. A commenter smartly pointed out Astral threw out his hands to better control his impact, though Astral was still shook up enough to sit in that corner a while after, and left the match for a bit. That’s a risky move to be doing in the second match of an Arena Coliseo show when Dr. Karonte I’s track record isn’t great. Karonte I is using his risky stye as promo material, bragging about taking out Electrico and Astral and promising to break more necks. If it happens, they might as well use it in a promo, but it also shouldn’t be happening.

CMLL (SUN) 04/24/2022 Arena México
1) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito b Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
2) Arkalis, Leono, Valiente Jr. b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Inquisidor
Tecnicos took 2/3
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Magia Blanca, Volcano b Kráneo, Magnus, Rugido
Magia Blanca replaced Panterita del Ring, putting him opposite his partners. Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Cancerbero, Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno b Dulce Gardenia, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Jr.
rudos took 1/3.
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Volador Jr. b Cavernario, Euforia, Rey Bucanero
tecnicos took 2/3

Magia Blanca was very impressed by his opponents.

Puebla tonight has the Stigma/Suicida CMLL Super Lightweight match. There’s a good chance that one will be streamed on Facebook.

CMLL (TUE) 04/26/2022 Arena México
1) Acero, Pequeño Magía, Shockercito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Leono vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) El Audaz, Flyer, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Disturbio, Nitro, Okumura
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Blue Panther, El Coyote, Soberano Jr. vs Panterita del Ring, Star Jr., Templario [Relevos Increíbles]

Electrico and Astral back against the Karontes here.

CMLL (TUE) 04/26/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Estrella de Jalisco I & Estrella de Jalisco II vs Destello & Destructor
2) Bestia Negra, Difunto, Fúnebre vs El Divino, Johnny Dinamo, Mágico
3) Cachorro, Misterio Blanco (Laguna), Misterio Negro (Laguna), Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Obelisk, Persa, Raven, Temerario
4) Dark Silueta & Valkiria vs Náutica & Sexy Sol
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Fantástico vs Misterioso, Satánico, Valiente Jr.
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel vs Ángel de Oro, Explosivo, Niebla Roja
second defense

CMLL Informa’s mentioned Explosivo’s headed to Mexico City again soon, which seems to make him less likely to win the local trios title. The third match continues the school versus school tournament, where the Guadalajara team (Obelisk) seems the easy favorite.

CMLL cutting out their tribute to Raziel for their April 8th show (went up Sunday) is commonly weird for them. They probably didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just how robotically and generically they put together these TV shows.

Technically, both CMLL and AAA are running baseball stadium wrestling shows this weekend. CMLL’s got events in Saturday and Sunday at Estadio Fray Nano, though their shows there are part of a larger festival (music, baseball games including the luchadors) and just a couple of matches a day.

AAA

AAA finished their TripleMania build with Pentagon Jr. versus Ultimo Dragon promos (Pentagon agreeing that Ultimo Dragon is the more skilled wrestler but it’s AAA and there are no rules and Dragon isn’t an extreme fighter so he might be in trouble) and Villano IV vs LA Park (Park again suggesting he’s going to lose on purpose so he can get to the final mask match because that’s the one match everyone will remember.)

There were also wrestling matches on the Space show that had little to do with anything else that was happening. Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti won their debut as a mixed tag team, a trios match was strangely booked around a Danny Rivera/Willie Mack feud (and they won over the AAA regulars anyway) and the Empresa kept their winning streak intact. If you only watched 2021 AAA, saying something like “the Empresa match was the best on the show” sounds like a pretty negative statement, but they’ve improved as an act and a lot of the goofiness is diminished. There are no random henchmen running in. There is Microman betraying the team in every match and it’s fairly confusing why he’s with that team and why that team still wants him, but it’s still better. Promos before the match and after pushed the idea of doing a Sam Adonis/Psycho Clown match soon; those two having a match in Texas seemed to open the door to Adonis coming to AAA so no surprise they’d want to do it again. No idea when it’ll happen.

Hijo del Vikingo hasn’t wrestled since mid-March, resting a hurt knee. It’s gone on long enough to be a little bit concerned about his TripleMania status. Vikingo says not to worry, he’s ready to face the Young Bucks on Saturday in an interview with HiSports in his home city of Puebla. It’d be nice to see the same statement from Fenix, but it feels like the match is safely happening at the moment.

AAA posted a promo of Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti threatening not to come to Monterrey if Arez & Chik Tormenta aren’t there to defend the mixed tag titles. That tag title match would make sense and it was strange that the match wasn’t announced originally, but Arez now appears to be in the US next weekend. Maybe those AEW wrestlers aren’t coming and this is the out? Maybe Arez will get pulled off his US dates? Maybe this promo doesn’t actually mean anything? I dunno.

Taya Valkyrie defeated Deonna Purrazzo to win the AAA Reina de Reinas championship on Impact’s PPV on Saturday. That was the expected outcome and probably meant more in Impact than it would’ve in AAA. Purrazzo is scheduled to wrestle Saturday on TripleMania Monterrey. It’s theoretically possible they

This is my best info at how everything is airing on Saturday

• FITE [8 pm CT] is getting everything from the main card live
  • FITE will be in English and Spanish for $20 USD. The English one seems to come up on the main page, you can switch languages on the website (and on some versions of the app.)
• Space [9:15 pm CT] is getting the second half of the card live
  • my guess is they start with the Dragon Lee/Dralistico match but that’s just a guess
  • 9:10 is a good time for a snack run since AAA will be killing time and restarting the show for a new audience
• Azteca [12:30 AM CT] will air 2-3 matches much later that night whenever boxing ends
• only the fans in the building will see Copa TripleMania and the Marvel match on Saturday
  • they’ll air on Space over the next couple of weeks, you’ll see them eventually
  • AAA is also always behind schedule so don’t be shocked if FITE starts with one of these matches in progress

There will also be a TripleMania Fan Fest outside the arena. All of this is generally the same thing that happened don Rey de Reyes and should be the expectation for the shows the rest of the year.

Blue Demon Jr. says he plans on retiring “in 3 years, maybe more.” He’s also definitely sure there will be a new Blue Demon though he has no idea who that will be. There were a lot of (often generic) Blue Demon history pieces for his 100th anniversary this weekend; the second part of the SuperLuchas bio is more substantive. Box y Lucha 3505 has Blue Demon on the cover, as part of their own coverage

Pasala continues its TripleMania interviews with Ultimo Dragon, who talked about Antonio Pena coming up with his gimmick. He wanted to be a Tiger, probably because Tiger Mask, but Pena convinced him a Dragon was a better gimmick for a Japanese wrestler in Mexico. Ultimo Dragon also mentioned he gets bored wrestling in Japan because they’re too quiet to know if they’re having fun, and likes wrestling in Mexico and the US better because they’re louder. You can see the full interview here.

Pasala also talked to Canek; in true Canek form, his big story is about the one time a famous person said he was very good at wrestling. Canek also says he got the idea of slamming Andre the Giant on a tour of Pakistan, where he watched a show from England where they did a body slam challenge with Andre.

Other News

The story that Mexico has been paying attention to recently has been the disappearance and apparent murder of Debanhi Escobar. The 18-year-old Monterrey woman went missing on the 8th, and her situation went viral after her last known photo was posted on Instagram on the 11th. Her body, hidden in a water tank after she was killed with a  blow to the skull, was only found on Thursday. Gender violence and similar disappearances of woman has been a ugly chronic issues in Mexico, and this case seems to have reignited pleas to address the situation once again. It’s a widespread topic that Princesa Sugehit, La Jarochita and Lluvia were asked about their thoughts on Friday  (and they’re frustrated little is ever done by the government there to protect them) and Psycho Clown announced he’ll have a purple monkey on his gear to bring awareness towards and end violence against women. Purple is the color the International Day of Women and other groups, like the America futbol team, are wearing purple monkeys for similar reasons. If you see more purple in lucha libre for the next while, that’s probably what it’s about.

On the AVE show at Arena Lopez Mateos, Negocio Traumado introduced two new members: Hijo del Alebrije and Travis Banks. Alebrije had briefly wrestled with the anti-IWRG unit, then went back to IWRG like nothing happened, and finally quit IWRG, so it’s not a big surprise to see him here. Banks hadn’t appeared in IWRG since April 3rd; I presumed it was the usual bit of someone getting a name off IWRG and working elsewhere for a while, but this bit suggests there’s more to it. Negocio Traumado includes Trauma II, who has his own ugly history with violence again a woman; they’re the least likely group to be bothered by the accusations against Banks.

Saturday’s Big Lucha show included a Komander, Myzteziz and Octagon Jr. versus Cometa Maya, Extasis, and Radioactivo trios match that got strong reviews live. The show was said to end with a Flamita/Bandido mask match tease, which is unlikely to happen.

IWRG (SUN) 04/24/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Kenji & Rey Halcón b Leyenda Negra & Sol 
2) Hijo del Pantera & Pantera Jr. b Garra Mortal Jr. & Shaun Moore 
Garra Mortal Jr. replaced Accion Jackson
3) Ra-Zhata, Skil-Kah, Tortuga Leo b Big Boy, Big Chicoche, The Mummy 
Leo unmasked Mummy and rolled him up
4) Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro DQ Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli 
excessive violence DQs. Tonalli wants an IWRG IC MIDDLE title match with Dr. Cerbero.
5) Hell Boy, Hijo del Fishman, Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Caballero de Plata, Imposible, Relámpago 
Imposible replaced Asterboy.
6) Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mike b Abismo Negro Jr., Laredo Kid, Toxin 
Fly Warrior pinned Toxin (when Toxin had both an arm hooking a rope and a foot touching another; ref missed it) to set up an IWRG MEXICO title match

The main event was good, though the finish was so absurd. Fly Warrior versus Toxin might be one of those matches where they have too many ideas, but it could come together well. The fans seem ready for Hell Boy vs Caballero de Plata and was concerned when they started teasing other people getting involved. Accion Jackson got a big lump on his head thanks to Galeno del Mal on the Big Lucha show, so that’s probably why he missed IWRG.

Konnan Big’s appearance here Thursday outdrew Laredo Kid’s first match here since October. I don’t know that Konnan Big sustains that, but it does seem to say something about AAA’s TV current inability to add value to their regular wrestlers.

Marshe Rocket & Bryce Benjamin lost the IWRG Tag Team championships to Atomico Jr. & Golden Dragon on Sunday’s GALLI show. I presume it was finally decided Rockett & Benjamin weren’t coming back to Mexico and they switched to a team that might come. Golden Dragon’s worked in Mexico before, including for Vanguardia last year.

DTU drew a big house for a show headlined by LA Park and Psycho Clown in trios.

Rush says he’ll have a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. He starts working for Robles the next day, so I expect this to just be promoting those appearances and announcing the surprise new Los Ingobernable. That’s still probably Dementor/Vangellys. (He and Bestia teamed as Los Ingobernables this past Saturday.) Rush and Andrade have been pushing the idea of teaming back together in AEW or on the combined show with NJPW, but there’s no movement on that happening outside and it still appears to be a long shot.

Maro Mejia, the Arena Queretaro administrator, complained in Diario de Queretaro about the new local requirements. The riot at the local soccer game on March 5th caused a number of rule changes; Mejia says one expensive change is a security guard being required per each 20 fans in the building. Mejia claims he was quoted 2,250 MXP ($112 US) per security guard, which he’d have to pass on in ticket costs. He also complains he has no idea where he’d put all those security people and it’s unfair to force them to make changes when they’ve not had any problems in their building. That makes it sound like no one’s running the building for a while, but the QROLL group says they’re back there on May 22nd.

Segunda Caida writes about 1996 Mano Negro/Hijo del Santo match.

An interview with retired luchador Alibastik.

CMLL

Tonight’s Arena Mexico show finishes the qualifying rounds for the CMLL Universal final. This show has the “CMLL” champions (except for Angel de Oro, who was already in the national ones.) Mistico seems such a clear favorite to win overall that this week just feels like figuring out who would best fit with him and Templario. Hechicero and Titan would be best, Niebla Roja & Dragon Rojo can’t be ruled out. Sagrado, Los Gemelos Diablos and Stigma should be ruled out.

Los Guerreros versus Los Sobearno should be good, though it’s clearly meant to be a middle chapter in a longer story. There’s a women’s match with all the big names and a regular opener. You could buy the show on TicketmasterLive and maybe you’d even get to watch it. No guarantee. The corrections I’ve learned from last week to should log in early, see if it’s working, and not to be patient for TicketmasterLive to fix the issue themselves. You could better wait two weeks for this to go up on YouTube.

CMLL (MON) 04/25/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Cholo & Inquisidor vs Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja
2) Asturiano & Millenium vs Prayer & Toro Bill Jr.
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Disturbio
4) Stigma © vs Suicida [CMLL SL]
second defense
5) Averno, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible

Stigma may lose that title someday but it sure won’t be in his home arena.

Blue Panther Jr. appeared on Wednesday Informa to explain where he’d been. He has not wrestled since September and revealed it was due to eye issues. He suffered a fracture near one of his eyes from a kick, had vision issues, and eventually found a doctor who was able to diagnose the problem and get surgery before both eyes were affected. Panther was eventually told he could return, but he has no idea when he’ll get cleared to do and is currently not allowed to even work out.

I think it’s just a freak thing, but Panther joins Skandalo (2017) and Super Halcon Jr. (2016) as recent CMLL midcarders whose careers were derailed by eye injuries. Those other two retired, Blue Panther Jr. was insistent he’d return.

CMLL ran a private show in Arena Coliseo on Thursday. They usually run those in Arena Mexico.

AAA

04/21 AAA on Space should have

• Black Danger & Viva Van vs Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti vs Dinámico & Sexy Star (II)
• Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Villano III Jr. vs Danny Rivera, Flip Gordon, Willie Mack
• DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis vs Laredo Kid, Psycho Clown, Rey Xolo

The preview hasn’t been posted yet.

Space advertised they’ll air TripleMania Monterrey, as usual. They didn’t list a start time. Space online guide, shaky more than a few days out, lists a start time of 9:15. That would mean the first four or five matches will only air on FITE, and then be shown over the next couple of weeks on TV. AAA likely needs to be taping the weekend of May 14th to avoid going into repeats again, but we’d normally hear about a taping that was three weeks out. (AAA could also just the Showcenter or Dallas cards as filler; both were skipped on TV.)

LA Park, in Pasala, threw out the idea that he might purposefully lose his first two matches to get him a TripleMania main event mask match with Canek or Rayo de Jalisco. If we pretend LA Park is being serious, he’s on before those two at TripleMania Monterrey so he won’t know if they’re advancing yet. He ranks the mask importance as Canek, Rayo, Demon, Ultimo Dragon, Villano IV, Penta, and Psycho Clown very much last and least.

Deonna Purrazzo defends the AAA Reina de Reinas championship on Saturday on Impact’s Sacrifice PPV. I don’t know this for a fact, but I presume Taya is beating Deonna for this title at some point and it’s just a question if it’ll be on this show.

Dorian Roldan met with Konnan Big Thursday, then assured everyone that Konnan Big will not appear on TripleMania.

Other News

IWRG , LLB (THU) 04/21/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Fantasma De La Ópera Ii & Hijo De Brazo De Platino b Hausser & Sumed  
2) Arturo Gaona Jr., Espartan, Especie Maligna, Medieval b Caramelo, Gravedad Cero, Juan Diego, Pinochito  
challenges followed
3) Demencia b El Divino 
challenges followed
4) Reina Obscura & Sagitarius b Artemiz & Mary Caporal 
5) Chicanito, Mafioso, Puma de Oro, Tonalli b Aster Boy, Cerebro Negro Jr., Freelance, La Momia 
Puma de Oro and Tonailli unmasked Aster Boy & Cerebro Negro J.
6) Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura b Cíclope & Miedo Extremo 
7) Fantasy IWRG b Bombero Infernal, Bestia Rubia, Carta Brava Jr. (LLB), Avisman, Fantasma de la Ópera, Súper Mega, Último Vampiro, Tony Rivera, Cerebro Negro [royal rumble] 
8) Konnan Big & Zumbido b Galeno del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.   
Zumbido pinned Wagner after a Konnan Big foul. hair match challenges followed

This show drew very well for a Thursday night show, around a full house. It was Konan Big’s first time in Naucalpan and he’s a solid curiosity act that can draw once, though I’m less certain it’ll do well with multiple appearances. (This “retirement tour” may work too well and we’ll find out how those second and third shows go.) That hair match will happen if someone (KAOZ) in Monterrey wants to pay for it. Konan Big claimed he had talks to fight Mike Tyson and Hulk Hogan in Monterrey, which I’m only repeating because it’s a very funny lie. That’s the gimmick.

Most of those in the Retro Royal Rumble (which was not a royal rumble, they just all came to the ring to start the match) were familiar faces back in old faces. The notable exception was Fantasy, who might be better known as long time CMLL prelim wrestler Sensei. He was much more successful in Naucalpan in the early 90s and late 00s. Sensei quietly disappeared from CMLL cards in 2018 and hasn’t been seen since. (The name popped up on a couple of indie show this past weekend, though it’s unclear if it was the same Sensei.) Fantasy’s chest was ugly looking after all the welcome back chops.

Dollar, who last was in the news for getting in trouble with the law, appeared at the show in a wheelchair., thanking the promotion for starting him off and saying he was in danger of losing a foot due to illness.

Shows of note this weekend

Saturday

• Big Lucha has a Vipers/Black Generation main event, plus Los Jinetes in the semimain. That should turnup on YouTube eventually, though they’re getting slower about posting these things.
• Nothing on the Lucha Libre CM show in Arena San Juan sees interesting but it always ends up on five Youtube channels.
• Same with the AVE show in Arena Lopez Mateos.
• Coliseo has Audaz/Virus.
• Ultimo Guerrero and Negro Casas are schedule to work ChinampaLuchas.
• Lucha Madre has a 4:20 themed show a few days late with few matches announced and a secret venue

Sunday

• Laredo Kid teams with the Vipers against Fly Warrior, Fulgor and Mike in IWRG. That could be great.
• Sunday Arena Mexico has nothing notable.
• GALLI has an IWRG Tag Title match and Arez & Aramis defending the local tag team titles; I might have written this section to remember that was happening.

RIOT officially announced Arez defending their championship against Blake Christian on their 06/04 show.

Tampico luchador Zebra Kid (Humberto Perez Whijares, 74) passed away on Thursday. SuperLuchas reported the death; he had a column in the old print magazine for years where he’d demonstrate different holds. His biggest match is probably his mask match against Villano III.

The clip of Maravilla getting a beer poured on her reached enough virality that IWRG put out a statement saying they’re against fans doing stuff to wrestlers and will take action. It shouldn’t have been a surprise this went viral: people who write about lucha libre in Mexico care far more about things like quick clips and fan/wrestler interactions than any match happening.

Fantasma and other luchadors appeared at a Morena (political party) press conference to push for a better social safety net for luchadors and boxers.

SuperLuchas posted a video interview with Pequeno Pierroth and Pierroth. Pierroth’s not been seen much since suffering his stroke seven years ago and it seemed to me like he’s doing a little bit better.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Miguel Reducindo talks about his custom toy rings business.

SuperLuchas interviews Blue Demon Jr. about Blue Demon as to a lead into a series on Blue Demon.

BolaVIP has a long interview with Solar.

CMLL

Puebla’s Facebook posted the end of the semi-main. The focus was supposed to be Suicida defeating Stigma to set up a title match between them, but what caught my attention was Dulce Gardenia taking a hard headfirst fall into a front-row chair and bleeding from the inner ear pretty significantly. Dulce did wrestle on Tuesday so it may have not been major.

The scheduled main event was Hechicero defending the CMLL heavyweight championship against Gran Guerrero. CMLL announced Gran Guerrero couldn’t make the show due to a road being blocked, and Templario faced and lost to Hechicero instead in a non-title match. I haven’t seen the match but it sounded like nothing you need to find. There’s a comment on CMLL Puebla’s Facebook from a fan saying they also couldn’t make it because of the accident, so it appears to be a real issue. (There are also a lot of complaints about ticket prices not being what’s advertised.)

CMLL (TUE) 04/19/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Marca]
1) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Ángel b Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zakarías  
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita b Amapola, La Seductora, Tiffany  
Tecnicos took 1/3
3) Espíritu Negro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.  
Tecnicos took 2/3
4) Atlantis Jr., Mephisto, Terrible b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black  
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Místico b Ángel de Oro   
Mistico took 2/3

The main event sounds like the usual Mistico formula. CMLL’s Twitter is strangely confident this is start of many more matches between these two. Not much else here.

Star Black, Fugaz, and Esfinge are the new OneAtos unit. CMLL previously had Esfinge, Triton, and Titan using that name, and these three Jalisco wrestlers say they want Titan in this group too. They join the Puebla team (Arkalis, Stigma, and Pegasso) and the Queretaro & friend Rey Cometa, Espiritu Negro, and Dulce Gardenia as a midcard regional team. Teams seem like a thing this year.

CMLL (TUE) 04/19/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Atilus & Rey Urano b Aurelius & Maxiums 
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro b Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre 
3) El Divino, Optimus, Trono DRAW Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. 
4) Huitzil, Sangre Imperial, Suicida, Valiente Jr. b Ángel Rebelde, Espíritu Negro Jr., Halcón Negro Jr., Samuray Azteca 
CDMX defeats Queretaro
5) Atlantis, Dulce Gardenia, Titán DQ Maléfico, Satánico, Zandokan Jr. 
Satanico faked a foul from Atlantis
6) Explosivo, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel 

There will be a Guadalajara/Torreon match next week (and Guadalajara figures to win.)

CMLL (FRI) 04/22/2022 Arena México
1) Diamond & Flyer vs Disturbio & Raider
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero vs Euforia & Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Hechicero vs Niebla Roja, Titán, Sagrado, Dragón Rojo Jr., Stigma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II [CMLL Universal, battle royal]

Titan or Hechicero would be fun in the Universal final next week. Semi-main could be good. Raider gets a Friday match. CMLL and Ticketmaster finally fixed the TicketmasterLive link so you could buy this (but you probably should not.)

CMLL (SAT) 04/23/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero, Aéreo, Kaligua vs Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Polvora
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Sangre Imperial vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Magia Blanca, Robin, Suicida vs Grako, Nitro, Okumura
4) El Audaz vs Virus
5) Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Felino, Templario

Virus vs Audaz will inevitably be included in CMLL’s match of the month poll despite no one outside the arena getting to see it.

CMLL (SUN) 04/24/2022 Arena México
1) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
2) Arkalis, Leono, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Inquisidor
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Panterita del Ring, Volcano vs Kráneo, Magnus, Rugido
4) Dulce Gardenia, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Jr. vs Cancerbero, Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Euforia, Rey Bucanero

I just wrote about the new set CMLL teams and they’re all split up randomly on this show.

Yahoo! Deportes talked to Ultimo Guerrero about his career. He dropped out of high school a semester short of getting his degree but did learn machine goals. That led him to work as a welder for pet cages as his day job when he was working for Promo Azteca. It’s mentioned he’s training Atlantis Jr. now, which makes sense on many levels.

Blue Panther stopped appearing in CMLL last September suddenly and without any explanation; the only information with a Miguel Reducindo column alluding to a longstanding health issue. He’s listed as appearing on CMLL Informa today so maybe we’ll find out what happened.

Starman, at an event on Saturday at his own gym, told Hector Godfrey TV that he’s returning to CMLL so. Starman, also as Ultraman Jr., was a regular for CMLL from 1996 to 2018, disappeared for a couple of years (knee issues?), and returned to CMLL in March 2020. That was an unfortunate time to return. He appeared sporadically the last couple of years and hasn’t been seen in Arena Mexico since August. Starman was an anonymous early match wrestler for most of that time and seemed to be hanging around in hopes for a mask payoff; there’s no great reason to bring him back unless CMLL is doing the mask match, but CMLL doesn’t need great reasons.

AAA

AAA held a press conference with Latin Lover on Wednesday, talking about his appearance on TripleMania Monterrey. Latin Lover left open the possibility of a return to the ring, which was a great way to make sure this would be covered everywhere. Latin Lover did not say he is wrestling, but it would thematically fit with this Anniversary year for him to be in a match for Mexico City. He mentioned Cibernetico, Chessman, and Mesias as opponents, which also reveals the minimal amount of attention he’s paid to AAA lately.

Pasala’s video interviews with AAA figures continued with Dorian Roldan on Tuesday. Roldan mentioned WWE’s offer to buy AAA, which has come up vaguely in the past. Here, he says it happened in 2009, right around the time of the swine flu/H1N1. AAA wasn’t interesting in selling but did ask WWE about a rumor of them coming to Mexico. The WWE officials said no, Dorian had discussions with AAA about how the Mexican wrestling business worked (he calls that an inexperienced move), and suddenly WWE was all over Mexico in the next couple of years. Roldan calls the following years a struggle, noting the AAA animated movie did not turn out as hoped and the video game ended in a lawsuit, and issues with Televisa. Roldan also explains he stopped playing an on-screen character because he didn’t like the experience of it even when it was going well – specifically noting a time he got pelted with objects from fans in Toluca – and he preferred to work behind the scenes.

We never got an exact timeline on the “WWE wanted to buy CMLL” story, but it figures it was around this time and happened for the same ulterior motives (wanting to acquire knowledge about the Mexican wrestling ecosystem for their own use.)

Dorian Roldan says here something he said in some of his Monterrey interviews this week, that the eight people in the mask match are the most important/relevant masks for the moment. To Pasala, he allows for some leeway by noting there are others who may fit that description but they either have legal issues with AAA or working for CMLL. Mistico & Atlantis fit the latter, Octagon & Hijo del Santo come to mind in the first category. Also, it’s promoter speak.

In her interview with Pasala, Marisela Pena said Paco Alonso told Antonio Pena that he didn’t expect AAA to last three months when Pena told Alonso he was quitting. It seems crazy to think AAA would only last three months with Televisa behind it, though the decades since have definitely seen many groups who thought they were going to be the next AAA and then vanished quickly.

Pentagon was Wednesday’s interview; nothing jumps out on the text recap. You can watch the video here.

Konnan, on his podcast, explained AAA decided to run more shows with the TripleMania name because they drew “16,000” the first time they ran a TripleMania Monterrey, and “16,000 again” the second time. The numbers are exaggerated even more than last time, as you’d expect. I agree that calling the show in Tijuana “TripleMania” will sell some additional tickets to traveling fans who might have not gone if the show was called “Verano de Escandalo.” AAA knew that would work because they ran multiple TripleManias prior, the first time Konnan was around.

Sunday’s AAA spot show in Orizaba saw Villano IV went a four-way over Canek, Blue Demon, and Psycho Clown, though by DQ when Canek Jr. ran in. It wasn’t clear from the poster, but this appeared to be a Psycho Clown produced show under “Psycho Producciones.”

Other News

There was a fan/wrestler incident on Sunday’s IWRG show. A woman from the upper level poured out a drink on Maravilla during her match; she threw something back and then cut a promo on her after the match. It slipped my mind, even though I saw a clip of it. The clip has since gotten passed around a lot in the last couple of days.

IWRG announced their next big show is Rey del Ring on 05/15. Also, Laredo Kid will be on Sunday’s show.

Relampago and Hijo del Alebrije had a mishap on the Arena Neza show Saturday that both were lucky to walk away from. Relmapago seemed to lose his footing while Alebrije was in the air. I’d be very careful what moves to try with Relampago, who seems to have had many injury problems in recent years and may not be fully recovered. (There’s also a Pirata Morgan bit with Relampago this week that isn’t worth explaining.)

Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. says his NOAH trip will be for three months. Texano Jr. said the same thing in an interview with Mas Lucha. It’s been unclear how long the Mexico contingent heading to shows at the end of the month – Wagner, Texano Jr., Super Crazy, Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane, Extreme Tiger – are going and I was surprised it was that long. Extreme Tiger is off of Expo Lucha for this tour (Astrolux will replace him); AAA is going to need a new Rey Xolo.

Black Taurus and Laredo Kid are in separate tag matches Thursday on Impact.

KAOZ, a promotion that runs no shows yet produces news anyway, introduced the new character Dark Zorro. He appears to be a return to the traditional Zorro character, not directly related to the ex-AAA one (who has also worked for KAOZ at times.) Facebook page Adictos al Ring mentions Dark Zorro is the former Vendagdor Radiactivo, who had a bit of a buzz last decade and later took on Dragon Dorado and Ultimo Legendario gimmicks.

GALLI has an IWRG Tag Team Championship match on 04/24 with champions Marshe Rockett & Bryce Benjamin defending against Golden Dragon & Atomico Jr. vs Bandido & Joey Marx. The Chicago guys came to IWRG to win the titles in 2019, then the pandemic happened, and I kept thinking one of the Mexican teams would just end up winning the titles and bringing the titles back, but it never happened and the whole thing went quiet.

GCW announced Bandido versus Nick Wayne (Take 2) for their 05/21 show in Los Angeles,

Marty Scurll is listed on a 05/28 Robles show in Torreon. I expect he’ll be a regular for them if he wants; they’re not a group that’s going to be concerned with his issues and he seemed to be important of ROH when Rush had his biggest success.

RIOT announced their 06/04 show will take place at AIRO in San Pedro, a significantly more upscale location than Arena Femenil.

Super J Cast noted Mascara Dorada RT-ed an announcement for the NJPW Best of Super Juniors. Dorada tweets about three things: Jesus, FIFA and shows he’s working, so it seems likely he’s back in NJPW for those shows.

Local wrestler Rey Mysterio Jr. visited the Tijuana commission on Tuesday. I tend to avoid wearing Cubs gears at wrestling shows because it’s too weird but Rey Mysterio can wear a big Rey Mysterio jacket and it looks right.

An interview with Oaxaca’s Endeavor.

A story on a mask collector in Torreon. Nerd alert: El Siglo de Torreon starts off the article with a memory of a very specific match in April 15, 1957. The same newspaper covered lucha libre in 1957 and that match doesn’t appear to have happened that day (because that day was a Monday, shows in that venue were on Sundays and the main event that Sunday was something different.) It’s a good story though.

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