CMLL
A Sunday show in Saltillo included a scheduled main event of Volador & Dulce Gardenia versus Templario & Cavernario. Gardenia didn’t appear and was replaced by local ex-CMLL wrestler Guerrero Negro Junior. There’s video of the match; about halfway in, Volador cracks his head on the apron. That video cut out Volador getting his head bandaged, and the bandage doesn’t stay on too long; he’s bleeding a decent amount by the end. At the end of the match is Volador betrays Guerrero Negro, Templario hits Guerrero Negro with a bottle and then all the CMLL guys beat up the local guys. Maybe it’s setting up future shows.
CMLL (TUE) 04/12/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores]
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito b Full Metal & Minos 
2) Disturbio, Grako, Raider b Astral, Cachorro, Leono
return of Astral. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Amapola, Dalys, Stephanie Vaquer b Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi
Rudas took 2/3.
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b El Audaz, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr.
Ola Negra took 1/3.
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible DQ Blue Panther, Místico, Panterita del Ring 
Ingobernables took 2/3. Angel de Oro faked a foul from Mistico, setting up a singles match
Angel de Oro broke the cake in the interview room to celebrate the win and Terrible’s birthday.
A video on CMLL’s YouTube announced “LuchaTour”, which had been teased on social media before. You don’t need to watch it if you watch CMLL shows, since I’m sure they’ll be showing the same ad on every show for the next few years. It’s targeting the same market as the TuriLuchas bus promotion but with different perks: fans get a guided tour of Arena Mexico, a meet and greet with luchadors, tickets, and other perks. Tickets will be sold via Ticketmaster for 1400 pesos ($71 USD) each. The video says they’ll be running these Fridays, though CMLL said they’d be running them Tuesday & Sunday as well in their press presentation on Tuesday. It’s a logical move to appeal to the tourist market, though it requires luchadors to also now be tour guides. Those are pricey tickets; we’re seeing a lot more testing of what the upper bounds of lucha libre ticket prices this year.
CMLL (TUE) 04/12/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Destello, Gran Kenut, Thunder Boy b Capitán Cobra, Cosmos, Último Ángel
2) Estrella Oriental, Explosivo, Fantástico b Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
3) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus, Trono b Crixus, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
4) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Rugido b Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
the two teams brawled after
5) Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno b Flash & Gallo © [OCCIDENTE TAG]
2nd defense. Flash & Gallo kicked out at 2.75, complained to the referee, attacked the referee, then challenged to a mask match
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel b Esfinge, Fugaz, Titán
Cavernario pulled Titan’s mask for the win.
Maybe they’re doing Barbaro Cavernario/Titan? I promise to pay attention to Guadalajara if they’re doing Barbaro Cavernario/Titan.
The end of the tag title match is an indie-style mess come to Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, guys losing titles throwing an in-match fit to sabotage it. The tecnicos kick out of the finish well before three, complain and attack the referee, and try to get a disinterested crowd to root for a mask match. The announcing buries the tecnicos for their actions. I thought this was definitely going to be a double mask match, but Flash & Gallo acted like a team who thought they weren’t going to get their win back.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara is teasing a schools tournament with wrestlers from Guadalajara, Mexico City, Queretaro, and Torreon.
CMLL (FRI) 04/15/2022 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo & Chamuel
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
3) Fugaz, Star Jr., Titán vs Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Templario
4) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Místico vs Volador Jr. vs Stuka Jr. [CMLL Universal, semifinal]
CMLL could easily go with any one of the three “Historic” champions as the winner. Stuka winning this tournament would be another signal CMLL actually plans on doing his mask match with Atlantis Jr. this year.
Tercar could be pretty good, Mephsito is back after missing Sunday’s show.
CMLL (SAT) 04/16/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Retro vs Cholo & Inquisidor
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita vs Hera, Olympia, Tiffany
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Robin, Sangre Imperial vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte I, Enfermero Jr.
4) Arkalis, El Audaz, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
CMLL’s website listed Raziel as in the semimain instead of Luciferno for about a day. It could’ve just been a typo, but CMLL does seem to put these lineups together well in advance and it’s possible Raziel may have been expected to be back soon.
The main event is a rare atomicos, rarer still when there’s not some other smaller match on the show.
Hera and (Miss) Olympia make their CMLL CDMX debuts in the second match; for a promotion promoting itself as inclusive, it sure does stick out that the only new women who debut are related to someone already working for CMLL. The two daughters of Valiente seem to have a social media fanbase.
CMLL (SUN) 04/17/2022 Arena México
1) Acero, Aéreo, Angelito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia
2) Panterita del Ring Jr. & Robin vs El Valiente Jr. & Suicida
3) Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr., Volcano vs Kráneo, Nitro, Okumura
4) Dark Panther, Esfinge, Star Black vs El Coyote, Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno
5) Stuka Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. vs Felino, Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero
Again nothing much on Sunday. Kraneo seems firly a rudo. Star Black is starting full time.
CMLL (MON) 04/18/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Dark Soul, Fénix SO, Millenium vs Espíritu Maligno, Guerrero Espacial, Sombra Diabólika
2) Angelito & Último Dragóncito vs Full Metal & Minos
3) Arkalis, Hombre Bala Jr., Robin vs Asturiano, El Perverso, Prayer [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Averno, El Coyote, Stigma vs Dulce Gardenia, Suicida, Templario [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Hechicero © vs Gran Guerrero [CMLL HEAVY]
3rd defense, 2nd against Gran Guerrero
Gran Guerrero submitted Hechicero on Monday, getting to that title match. Semi-main could be setting up Stigma defending in his hometown against Sucidia. Possible the tercera is setting up an Arena Coliseo tag title match.
CMLL Informa has Mistico, Volador Jr., Princesa Sugehit, Kraneo, Olympia, and Hera as guests. Sugehit is the one who doesn’t have something obvious going on, though maybe getting pinned by Dalys on Tuesday sets up a title match.
NJPW mentioned the potential future existence of FantasticaMania for the first time outside of history pieces since 2020. It’d be a surprise if there was a FantasticaMania in 2022, but 2023 looks like it has a chance.
AAA
The matches on a free Kid’s Day show in Tijuana are not of much importance on their own, but they do reveal some names who won’t be hanging around TripleMania Monterrey. AAA hasn’t announced who will be in Copa TripleMania and may not before the show starts, but we can remove Mr. Iguana, Abismo Negro Jr., Nino Hamburgesa, Murder Clown, Mamba, Argenis, Octagoncito, La Parkita and Parkita Negra from the possibilities since they’re all booked in Tijuana that day. I don’t think this is why the TripleMania Monterrey is booked that way, but the unusually few AAA roster members needed for that show allows for some of those people to be booked out to the various kid’s day shows elsewhere in Mexico that day.
Other News
IWRG (SUN) 04/17/2022 Arena Naucalpan
Guerra del Golfo, 2022
1) Sol & Spider Fly vs Garra Mortal & X-Devil
2) ? & Sagitarius vs Lady Maravilla & Lolita
3) Aster Boy vs Tonalli vs Noisy Boy vs Aramis
4) Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mike, Shaun Moore vs ?, Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Toxin
5) Pirata Morgan vs Hell Boy, Capo Mayor, Relámpago, The Mummy, Príncipe Arkano, Puma de Oro, Accion Jackson, Cerebro Negro, Internacional Pantera [cage, losers advance]
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Caballero de Plata, Black Terry, ?, Hijo del Pantera, Bobby Lee, Dr. Cerebro, Hijo del Fishman, Dick Angelo 3G, Freelance [cage, losers advance]
7) ? vs ?? [cage, mask, hair]
This latest Mas Lucha Premium was a small adventure. IWRG & Mas Lucha advertised the annual three cage match show (two blocks of cages, losers – sometimes one, sometimes many depending on what rules they make up that year – advance to a final cage match where someone loses their hair or mask) as April 17th for a couple of weeks. Monday, on Mas Lucha’s “Llaves y Contrallaves”, a discussion about this show revealed IWRG had some other production work going on in Arena Naucalpan this week, so this show was probably going to be pushed back to May 1st and everyone would know for sure Monday afternoon. That Monday afternoon came around and it’s still on the 17th. I guess it’s staying there?
Lucha libre cage matches are never good and these won’t be any different. IWRG tends to but up feuds and then underdeliver outcomes in cage matches. There’s little talk about last year’s Guerra de Golfo because last year’s ‘loser’ was Alex Black, a Monterrey wrestler who had last wrestled in Naucalpan ten months prior. His face (wink) has not been seen in Arena Naucalpan since, and bringing that up would demonstrate how unspecial this all is. It’s too bad because this bad concept is tacked onto some interesting undercard matches: the Old School/Vipers matches could be great, as could the fourway with a rare Aramis appearance. It might be enough for me to get this show if I’m not busy (I’m probably busy.)
(Worth noting: Mas Lucha’s changed their Monday night news/recap show format and look a bit, but they’re still doing a Monday night news/recap show as they were doing prior.)
Ultimo Dragon announced Toryumon Mexico is returning, rebranded as Toryumon Casa. It’s remaining in Mexico. The last Toryumon/Ultimo Dragon Gym show took place in March 2020, squeezed in right before the pandemic took hold. Ultimo Dragon has since reunited with his Toryumon students in Dragon Gate. He also appears to have broken off ties with CMLL, given he’s wrestling on TripleMania later this month. That signaled the Arena Mexico DragonMania shows were a thing of the past, though it was unclear if anything was going to continue until now. The Toryumon Casa shows will include Dragon Gate and NOAH wrestlers on excursion trips.
The Crash officially announced Travis Banks for their 05/13 show. They’ve been announcing names slower likely due to a longer tie than usual between shows, but I’m presuming Marty Scurll’s name will be popping up as an announcement soon as well.
Fulgor teaches you how to do a tirabuzon.
Box y Lucha 3504D has a lots of CMLL stories on the cover.
LuchaWorld has their latest Podcast, this week’s Poster-Mania and the latest Lucha Report.