Titán to the Universal final, TripleMania, Demon

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.