Month: April 2022

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 04/15/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronista del Ring, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Átomo & Chamuel  
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido   
3) Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Templario b Fugaz, Star Jr., Titán    
4) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero DQ Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]   
Euforia demanded Ultimo Guerrero use his booking power to program a match between the Guerreros and Euforia & Soberano. Gran Guerrero accepted the match.
5) Místico b Volador Jr. [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]   
6) Místico b Stuka Jr. [CMLL Universal, semifinal]    
Stuka received a bye via pre-match ball draw. Stuka seemed to have the match won but got distracted by Atlantis Jr. and lost.

I try not to encourage Ticketmaster Live too much purchases; I’ve stopped talking about them on Twitter. It’s not something for anyone but the most diehard CMLL fan who has to see every show, and is willing to tolerate the issues. Friday wasn’t the first time where the stream failed with no acknowledgment from CMLL or Ticketmaster, nor will it be the last. Streaming issues are never going away and it’s understandable they’ll happen, but only the people who are most set on CMLL are going to put with the indifference of both companies at addressing the issue.

Friday’s issue appeared to be an issue on Ticketmaster’s side – the error implied a computer lost the record of those who bought the show. Neither Ticketmaster or CMLL acknowledged the issue and purchasers were forced to get ahold of (slow) Ticketmaster support themselves to fix the issue endemic to every user. Ticketmaster was also very slow to react to requests for help; I never got a reply on my Twitter post, and it took over an hour for the Whatsapp help to send an email with a working link to my email address. (It’s unclear why they couldn’t just send it to the Whatsapp.) With streaming issues like this, it’s fair to expect to see either the full show or a refund. NJPW and FITE appeared to offer both options with their streaming issues on Saturday. CMLL and Ticketmaster provided neither. It’s bad service and it’s not going to get better. The only ‘positive’ for CMLL is so few people seem to buy these shows that they only had 20 or aggrieved people on Twitter, a negligible amount. It’ll likely be less next time.

CMLL drew a big crowd, as they have many recent Fridays. It’s a lot less common on other days of the week, where shows can be barren. That was the pattern back in 2019, though CMLL may be doing a bit better on the good Fridays than they were doing then. It’s lasted long enough that it can’t just be pandemic-related. CMLL doesn’t officially announce attendance but they’re transparently putting up giant crowd shot photos on good nights and ignoring it on the other shows.

It doesn’t feel like the promotion itself is hot, because the fans aren’t reacting to the angles. (The Stuka/Atlantis but wasn’t a big deal.) They are reacting to Mistico as a huge deal, Mistico’s promoted heavily near the physical arena between his food truck and his gift shop, so it comes off as if the casual tourist fans have returned. Their ticket money is as a good as any diehard and those are the audiences CMLL seems to be appealing towards anyway. (That may be another reason CMLL isn’t too bothered when stream fans; the people buying them are legacy fans, not ones they’re working hard to attract.) It’s a different feeling CMLL, one that feels much like La Parka Jr.-era AAA, where they ran big angles all the time but the fans were just mostly there to see a random wrestling show and didn’t care/know what was what.

If you are a diehard CMLL fan, I think you ended up liking the format. CMLL essentially ran two normal 1 fall singles matches. The tourists seemed tired of the concept after the first match, but it was a better presentation than the usual weird three-way match (or the quick tournaments from last week or next.) Even the format to choose the match order came off as more interesting than usual. Stuka Jr. picked first, got the red ball, and everyone seemed reasonably thrown off by the undramatic way it played out – it was so messy that it felt real. I presume they’ll do the same format for the final in two weeks and it’ll be pretty good.

The end of the main event was flat though. Giving up your winning pin because someone is slowly walking to the ring usually comes off as lame and this was no different. Atlantis Jr. says he’ll keep confronting Stuka Jr. until he gets the mask vs mask match. It’s impossible to rule out CMLL playing a shell game, but that remains the obvious Aniversario match.

Mistico seems like the most likely to win the CMLL Universal tournament. There’s no specific story attached to it now, so it tends towards the biggest name who hasn’t won the tournament getting the win, and that’s Mistico.

The rest of the show that I saw seemed fine. The crowd seemed very much into the Atlantis/Atlantis Jr. dual spots and the tag match they set out should be good. Whatever issues there were between Soberano & Ultimo Guerrero seemed settled to the point they’re wrestling together occasionally and able to use it as part of a feud.

CMLL (SAT) 04/16/2022 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha, CMLL]
1) Cholo & Inquisidor b Bengala & Retro
Bengala suffered an injury and left the match.
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita b Hera, Olympia, Tiffany
CDMX debut of Hera & Olympia.
3) Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte I, Enfermero Jr. b Hombre Bala Jr., Robin, Sangre Imperial
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Arkalis, El Audaz, Stigma
Virus cheated to beat Audaz, who wants a 1v1
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Titán, Volador Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
Tecnicos took 1/3

Virus vs Audaz would be an interesting match if we could see it.

CMLL (SUN) 04/17/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia b Acero, Aéreo, Angelito
2) Panterita del Ring Jr. & Robin b El Valiente Jr. & Suicida
Team Robin took 2/3
3) Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr., Volcano b Kráneo, Nitro, Okumura
tecnicos took 2/3
4) El Coyote, Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno b Dark Panther, Esfinge, Star Black
Rudos took 1/3. Star Black starting as a CDMX regular.
5) Stuka Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. b Felino, Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero
tecnicos took 2/3

Another normal Sunday show. Photos show Kraneo did a splash off the apron on Volcano, which must’ve been something

Puebla tonight as Hechicero vs Gran Guerrero for the CMLL Heavyweight Championship. A title change seems unlikely but not impossible.

CMLL (TUE) 04/19/2022 Arena México
1) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Ángel vs Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zakarías
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita vs Amapola, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Espíritu Negro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Atlantis Jr., Mephisto, Terrible
5) Místico vs Ángel de Oro

The Claro feed cut out the semi-main and aired a black screen for 20 minutes instead of the main event last week. CMLL didn’t notice. The Angel de Oro/Mistico match seems fun if fans can see it.

Alberto/TripleMania

Friday, Fanbyte reported Alberto el Patron is AAA’s pick for Laredo Kid’s mystery partner at TripleMania Monterrey, citing an industry source. AAA has not responded to the story.

Alberto did post a video Friday afternoon (prior to the Fanbyte story) talking about a deal being completed to return somewhere. Saturday, Alberto posted (and later deleted) a video referring to rumors he didn’t explain, told people not to believe everything on the internet, and pointed out reputable brands like ESPN and UFC employing him. The reaction to the possible return of Alberto was heavily negative and Alberto’s comments came off as a defense as why AAA should be comfortable using him. I’m not a follower of Alberto’s social media, but he does appear to do a lot of spontaneous live videos on which are long and unfocused in their content, so it’s possible he’s talked more about this situation and I just haven’t seen it.

Lucha Libre Online, which has a business relationship with Alberto and mostly post translations of wrestling news similar to the Fanbyte article, has avoided the story. The site has defended Alberto against stories deemed falste in the past, so even just saying nothing means something. Alberto’s done interviews with Lucha Libre Online’s Hugo Savinovich during and after his legal issues to magnify his version of events. Hugo appears to be on vacation this past weekend, but the best is those two meet up on Facebook once again this week to officially announce Alberto’s TripleMania appearance.

Alberto hasn’t worked for AAA since late 2015, when he jumped to WWE while mega champion. (That time, AAA believed they’d get him to come back to drop the title despite being employed by WWE, one of many Alberto-related delusions.) No major promotion has used Alberto since he vanished during 2018 WrestleMania weekend while holding their belt; his legal troubles followed soon after. Alberto has worked in Mexico since then, with the 2019 failed run of Nacion Lucha Libre and the short-lived “Robles Patron Promociones” being some of the “highlights.” Alberto is a recognizable former WWE champion from Mexico and so it was inevitable AAA was going to give him a new chance once his legal problems faded away. (It’s worth remembering those disappeared only because the victim decided they no longer wanted to testify, nothing was proven either way.) Alberto’s value as a professional wrestler has diminished steadily over the last decade and nothing he has done lately (the failed KAOZ show comes to mind) has changed that story. Fanbyte reports Konnan wanted to bring in Alberto for star power. It’s hard to believe Alberto’s star power will be a meaningful net positive, especially on a show already heavily built around bringing in outside stars – they’re bringing in Blue Demon and Canek and Fenix and John Morrison and Andrade and so many others, it’s hard to imagine someone who’s on the fence about based on stars at this point.

Alberto had the head of Nacion Lucha Libre in the Saturday videos, with hype towards the different TV networks they were talking about for the promotion. It did not appear that the promotion is close to re-launching; the picture of the new title may have existed just to generate interest that they could take back to those TV networks.

CM Punk sends out a single troll post on Easter Sunday, everyone loses their mind

Pentagon challenged CM Punk to a rematch in Mexico. Punk responded “CMLL? Pentagon tried to re-engage. Punk didn’t respond. Dorian Roldan, who amplified Pentagon’s challenge, acknowledged on Monday that Punk wouldn’t be appearing on TripleMania in Monterrey, though left open the possibility of big AEW names appearing down the road.

I don’t know what’s in the mind of CM Punk, but it came off to me that he very much didn’t want to do that match and probably didn’t enjoy Penta (and Dorian) trying to make it happen via Twitter, so he came back with a light sarcastic remark and moved on with his Easter Sunday. AAA and CMLL diehards looking for proof of their brands seized on the comment as their own inarguable proof about which group was better, while Punk likely didn’t spend two more seconds thinking about it.

CM Punk could still come to Mexico for AAA someday, but it’ll be because AAA offered to pay whatever it is Punk is asking, not because someone threw off a challenge on Twitter. This was not a start in that direction, it was a fishing exhibition to see if Punk would mark out for the concept. Maybe others would’ve in the same situation, but that stuff doesn’t seem to work for CM Punk; wrestling in Mexico has never seemed like an important goal for him. That price may have gone up: Penta & Dorian tried this bit with a guy unlikely to say no and likely to be actually offended they tried in the first place.

(CMLL noticeably didn’t react to the Punk Tweet at all. Which was probably for the best. CMLL will also never pay whatever Punk is offering)

In other “AAA wrestler tries to shoot an angle for a match with a AEW wrestler” news, Laredo Kid would like to fight Sammy Guevara for the TNT belt.

AAA

This week’s AAA TV was largely pointless. One of the issues with this Tijuana taping is the goal seemed to build up local programs and compete with The Crash over names, yet it exists as the go-home episode for TripleMania Monterrey. The opener was all about a Tijuana/Mexicali feud featuring eight people who’ve mostly not been on AAA since the pandemic and will likely not be on again until AAA returns to the area. The second match was a Shani/Tirantes feud, that Shani is not on TripleMania Monterrey. The only regular AAA wrestler in the TV main event was Pagano, whose TripleMania Monterrey built was limited to a 30-second promo after the match. I’m not even sure they’ve mentioned the exact match he’s in, it was just reminding the viewer of his issue with Cibernetico. AAA seemingly made the decision that building up their TripleMania shows on TV is either useless or ineffective. I hope whatever other way they’re going to make people care about this show works for them, but these are also the situations that lead them to reaching for Alberto. TripleMania Monterrey seems cold at the moment; there’s still time to fix it, but little has happened to make people more excited for the show since the moment the card was announced.

(I’m going to buy the show no matter whatever and AAA’s going to keep being weird regardless, so I’m not sure how invested I should be in TripleMania Monterrey being successful. It would be nice if their TV show was interesting with good matches and this week’s TV was neither.)

The only portion of the AAA on Space show dedicated to anything happening in Monterrey were mid-show interviews with Blue Demon, Rayo de Jalisco, Canek and Psycho Clown talking up their matchups. There was quite a bit of extraneous talk towards Demon & Psycho, which could happen in Tijuana. That would leave Penta vs Villano IV as the other semifinal match if the outcomes go in Monterrey as most assume.

Jack Carthweel announced he was going to be on TripleMania. There are three of them. Not sure if anyone knows – it often seems like most people do not yet know and keep announcing they’ll be on TripleMania without saying which one. (There are going to be surprised/frustrated people when it turns out there’s a third one in October.) I suspect the Tijuana/Mexicali guys will be part of the Tijuana one, and Cartwheel may be as well.

Pasala Diario is doing a run of video interviews leading into TripleMania Monterrey; they have an hour discussion with Marisela Pena this morning. Still listening to it this morning.

There’s a 2×1 sale on TripleMania tickets, though it applies only to the cheapest tickets on the highest level. The ticket website has also hidden the amount of ticket left available, which was a nice tool for people to track how many tickets were less but something strange they’d give away so easily.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 04/17/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha, SuperLucha]
Guerra del Golfo, 2022
1) Garra Mortal & X-Devil b Sol & Spider Fly  
2) Keyra & Lady Maravilla b Lolita & Sagitarius  
Keyra was the surprise wrestler and teamed with maravilla.
3) Aramis b Aster Boy, Tonalli, Noisy Boy  
Aramis asked Aster Boy for an IWRG LIGHT match
4) Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mike, Shaun Moore b Abismo Negro Jr., Dinamic Black, Látigo, Toxin 
Dinamic Black was the Vipers surprise partner, but betrayed them.
5) Puma de Oro L Pirata Morgan, Hell Boy, Capo Mayor, Relámpago, The Mummy, Príncipe Arkano, Accion Jackson, Cerebro Negro, Internacional Pantera [cage, losers advance] 
Hell Boy was last to escape
6) Black Terry L Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Caballero de Plata, Hijo del Pantera, Bobby Lee, Dr. Cerebro, Hijo del Fishman, Dick Angelo 3G, Imposible [cage, losers advance] 
Imposible was the surprise wrestler.
7) Puma de Oro b Black Terry [cage, mask, hair] 
Puma de Oro took Black Terry’s hair, with allies of both men getting involved

I almost got this show, changed my mind, and then felt OK with that when the two matches I wanted to see set up other matches on show that’ll presumably air for free. The cage match also ended with a feud that hasn’t built up, which was good news for people who like to see Hell Boy and Caballero de Plata have a singles match on their won.  Even the Puma de Oro/Black Terry final seemed to just be the start of a Terrible Cerebros/La Jacuan feud. It’s an unusual strategy to make the early/middle chapters the ones that cost the most.

My tastes aren’t the same as IWRG fans; the three-stage cage match appeared to sell out the building. The next show at Naucalpan is the Konnan Big appearance. I think they have a trainee show coming up, maybe next Sunday.

VXS announced Arez vs Mike Bailey for their 04/29 show in New Jersey. Maybe Arez is working the US during TripleMania Monterrey and that’s why the tag title match isn’t happening? I dunno.

Rey Triton revealed he suffered a shoulder injury on Sunday that’ll keep him out of the ring for three months.

A video of Dragon Lee interacting with a man who appears to have special needs went viral. I can’t believe Dragon Lee did a job.

A charity show in Mexicali was shut down by the local government after one match. Box y Lucha’s report doesn’t explain what happened to cause the shut down, though they note the show had all the required medical personnel and neither the building nor the wrestlers were charging money due to the nature of the show.

Public opinion research firm Gabinete released a 2022 poll on Mexico entertainment opinions back in March. One of the questions asked was if the 600 responders felt lucha libre and boxing were national sports. About the same percentage said yes for both, 71.4% for lucha libre and 74.1% for boxing. It was much different when asked if the Mexican athletes were the best in each disciple. 60% responded Yes when asked if the best boxers were in Mexico. Only 40% said yes when asked if the best wrestlers were in Mexico.

Reynosa luchador El Unico (Jorge Maya) passed away on Sunday. His biggest successes came locally in the 90s, though he appeared to still be a figure around shows.

Johnny Lloyd unmasked Welder in San Luis Rios Colorado. Welder is Francisco Joel Romero Garcia, 21 years old, 4 years a wrestler.

The Moth has a story of “El Conquistador”, who talks about his match with Sangre Azteca.

CMLL

The second stage of the CMLL Universal tournament is tonight’s main event. Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. and Mistico meet in a three-way match that is not a three-way match. It’s instead sort of a round robin. CMLL used to do this type of match in the 80s and 90s, usually as an apuesta match bit. If I understand the rules correctly:

• The series of matches will start with a coin toss to decide which two wrestlers will start and who sits out
• Those two wrestle and someone wins. (No clue what happens if there’s ever a tie.)
• The first match winner takes a break, while the loser faces the guy who sat out
• The winner of the second match faces the winner of the first match to determine the ultimate winner

Hopefully, this makes sense when it happens; they’ll probably do it again for the final. It’s not really clear to me why CMLL has switched to this format, except it’s something they did in the past and so CMLL must go back to it.

The rest of the card is interesting. The semimain is a 4v4, with Los Guerreros & Atlantis taking on Los Infernales & Soberano. Fugaz, Star Jr., and Titan wrestle Cavernario, Templario, and Dragon Rojo in the tercera in a promising match. Rey Cometa makes his first Friday appearance since January teaming with Espiritu Negro & Dulce Gardenia against Depredarores Magnes, Rugido, and Magia Blanca. Los Gemelo Diablos take on Chamuel & Atomo in the opener. It’s the usual 99 pesos on Ticketmaster; it’s a decent card for a regular Friday night.

Thursday’s Arena Olimpico Laguna show, headlined by Atlantis Jr. & Mistico versus Stuka & Averno, looks like a sell out. That Torreon arena seemed to primarily use locals pre-pandemic but has been running with more national names since reopening this year and seems like it’s had some sustained success.

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

No Cavernario/Titan, boooo.

The fourth match is the start of the schools tournament, with Queretaro versus Mexico City. I presume Huitzil (Instagram) is a CMLL trainee who we haven’t seen in Arena Mexico yet but may see soon. He’s wrestled a handful of times in Arena Lopez Mateos, and participated in IWRG’s 2022 Tryout.

AAA

Saturday’s AAA on Space show

• 4:20 Brothers (Kamik-C & Skalibur) & Ryan Kidd vs Luchas Solos (Arkangel Divino & Ultimo Maldito) & Rayo Star
• Las Toxicas (Hiedra, Maravilla, Flammer) vs Faby Apache, Lady Shani, Lady Lee
• Sammy Guevera & Tay Conti vs Dianmico & Sexy Star II vs Black Danger & Viva Van
• El Dragón (Chihuahua), Jack Cartwheel, Pagano vs Bestia 666, Genio del Aire, Mecha Wolf

Honestly, I think we’d all be weirded out if AAA promoted matches airing a week ahead of time and then those matches were actually the ones that aired.

Fenix turned up in a AAA ad, doing a generic plug saying he’ll be at TripleMania. Every recent indication is that he’ll be cleared in time for the 04/30 show if he’s not already.

Arez told Mas Lucha (way back in Merida) that he’s ready to face Tay Conti & Sammy Guevera whenever. I still don’t understand why that match isn’t happening at TripleMania Monterrey.

Penta teased the idea of doing a rematch with CM Punk in Mexico, something fans in Mexico have been asking for on Facebook since the match was announced for AEW Dynamite. Dorian Roldan amplified the idea. That sounds like a TripleMania match if it ever happens, and Penta needs to save his mask first.

The California-based RGR Promotion posted a photo of meeting with Dorian Roldan recently. Coincidence or not, they haven’t said much about booking Hijo del Santo this week.

The AAA show Wednesday in San Luis Potosi looked like it did well. Vikingo again didn’t wrestle, resting his injury.

Other News

MLW is already airing matches from the Dallas weekend, including the five-way match with Puma King I saw. It was alright, you don’t need to see it, but maybe more luchadors over the next few weeks.

Hijo del Santo announced he’s going to Costa Rica to wrestle for the first time on 04/23. He’s posting all his matches on his own YouTube channel, so whatever he’s doing should turn up. It’s a distant memory, but the pressure point of the AAA/Santo lawsuit over a decade ago was Santo demanding to get paid from AAA’s releasing his TripleMania appearance on DVD, and that seems to have motivated him to make sure he owns the video of every match he has now.

The Crash (FRI) 05/13/2022 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Pod & Terror Azteca vs Mirage & Ryan Kidd
2) Tony Casanova & Torito Negro vs Dante León (Indie) & Rey León and Charro Negro (Nuevo León) & Oro Negro
3) Arandú, Star Boy, Zarco vs Brazo Celestial Jr., Brazo Cibernetico, Brazo De Oro Jr.
4) Lunatik Extreme, Toto, Venganza vs Alas de Oro, Lanzer, Próximo
5) ? & Destiny vs Marty Scurll & Travis Banks
6) Cinta de Oro & Samuray del Sol vs Erick Redbeard & Jonah

As announced on the previous show, Marty Scurll and Travis Banks appear on the card. I presume they’re teamed because Mexican wrestling always teams the white guys together, not just because they’re the people named in Speaking Out who are working in Mexico because they can find no work elsewhere. Lince Dorado pulled out of the semi-main and maybe the show after it was announced to avoid the association with them.

Mecha Wolf posted on Twitter that he was offered “a lot of money” to work this show and but his morals was “among the reasons” he was skipping the date. This led to other Twitter users questioning Mecha Wolf’s morals given his own past incidents and Mecha Wolf apparently deactivating his Twitter account. I think AAA guys are heavily discouraged from working The Crash shows at the moment, Mecha Wolf said he’d be working the Tijuana TripleMania show, and so it’d be a reason not to work this one. Rey Horus was advertised for this show, isn’t on the lineup at this point, and may have the same issue. Ryan Kidd is advertised but I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up not appearing for similar reasons; he was one of the opening match wrestlers on the AAA show in Dallas.

The Crash uses people with more US exposure, and those wrestlers are more likely to see negative Twitter comments as affecting their ability to get booked elsewhere by promoters who are also on Twitter. That’s a particular pressure point to The Crash, but only to them. The Twitter comments blew up after I posted the lineup on Twitter, but someone would’ve gotten to it eventually. Banks is booked in Naucalpan, Juarez, Villahermosa, and Texas over the next few weeks; those are just the ones I’ve seen so far – I could post those lineups on Twitter and nothing would change with them. The Crash can control the conversation themselves better on Facebook; any negative comment about this on their page gets quietly hidden within a few hours.

I haven’t put the KAOZ poster in the database because I expect the lineup to change, but Travis Banks is booked there too. Konnan’s booked on that show, and was booking KAOZ last we knew – he’s mentioned it on his podcast. KAOZ is a promotion largely booked with locals and names who aren’t going to care about Twitter reaction, so Konnan can ‘safely’ book Banks there. AAA very much does care about international and Twitter reaction, so I don’t Konnan would bring Banks there any time soon. (AEW would also figure to strongly object to AAA using Banks or Scurll for any show they’re involved with.) The decisions to use these guys have generally been economical ones, not moral decisions.

This is a weak The Crash card, gambling on people in Mexico being very into Cinta de Oro and Samuray del Sol; the show built around Cinta and Penta didn’t do particularly well. I’m surprised The Crash isn’t doing the Toto/Proximo hair match just to have something on this card.

El Norte’s wrestling column this week talks about the situation with no one beyond AAA being able to run in Monterrey. I got an explanation of what’s going on there and it’s more a local bureaucracy mess than I knew. Lucha libre magazines in the 70s and 80s would frequently push for nationalizing the wrestling commissions so the same rules were enforced uniformly. It never seemed to go anywhere, and so today Nuevo Leon has a problem of multiple local commissions and differing rules.

Nuevo Leon does not have a state lucha libre commission like many states. Instead, a few different municipalities have their own commissions. Monterrey is one of them, and a new commissioner came in to power last year and decided to change the licensing rules. Typically, only new wrestlers have to go through an in-ring evaluation prior to receiving their license with the lesser prepared aspiring luchadors weeded out. The new Monterrey lead commissioner, Carlos Estrada, unusually wants everyone to go through a test before getting a license in an attempt to ‘clean up’ decisions by previous regimes. That didn’t go over well. Everyone in Monterrey requiring a re-tested means more testing and more frequent opportunities to test are needed, and those haven’t appeared to occur. What has occurred was nearby San Nicolás de Los Garza opened its own lucha libre commission last year. The rules are more standard – anyone who already had a valid license just needs to present the right paperwork on their own schedule and doesn’t need to retest – and many Monterrey wrestlers decided to make the short trip to San Nicolas to get their license renewed there instead. The Monterrey commission did not like that and declared the San Nicolás de los Garza licenses invalid, and Nuevo Leon people had to have Monterrey licenses to wrestle. That’s reached a standoff. Shows in Monterrey aren’t happening in the meantime until either the wrestlers give in and get licensed (the next exam of which isn’t happening until April 30th) or the commission gives in and allows those outside licenses.

This shouldn’t affect TripleMania. Monterrey is still recognizing licenses from other states. (Even someone like Monterrey’s Maravilla probably has a Mexico City license.) Foreign wrestlers are not affected, though there are new (or newly) enforced paperwork requirements for them. AAA was told about those requirements at the 2021 TripleMania Monterrey show, so they should be able to handle them without issue.

El Jornada has an article about how luchadors have dealt with COVID-19. It heavily features Vampiro so your mileage may vary. Matematico is quoted about the death of his son. Matematico II believed he just had a cold and took some medicine, only going to the hospital when it was too late. The older Matematico believes many of the other luchadors who passed away thought the same, that whatever they had was minor and they were very healthy, slowing them from seeking help when it could’ve made a difference. (Mexico’s limited roll out of COVID testing and health care costs probably affected outcomes.) Matematico mentions his whole family got infected with COVID a year later, with himself getting it the worse while still depressed over the loss of his son. He recovered but he’s being very careful at signings now.

The Super J-Cast podcast, through a running bit about food, revealed there are plans for a NJPW/AEW show in the Chicago area on June 23rd. It fits: AEW’s teased an announcement, Tony Khan’s specifically teased AEW returning to Chicago in a special way before their next All Out show, NJPW is running in the Chicago area on Saturday, AEW is running in Milwaukee the night before. I don’t expect this to be much of a lucha libre story, though it’ll be interesting to see which Mexican wrestlers work on a NJPW show and if Mascara Dorada works representing the NJPW side.

Alberto el Patron is teasing a new title belt for Nacion Lucha Libre. He has not teased an actual date for Nacion Lucha Libre to run.

RIOT announced they’ll return on June 4th with Los Ricos Tambien Riot.

Tickets for the 06/19 Republic of Lucha show go on sale to the public today. Nothing announced for the card yet.

Flamita announced that Accion Jackson, who has been hanging out with Black Generation, is an official member of the group now.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

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.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 04/08/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronista del Ring, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, Mas Lucha (video), Publimetro, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b El Audaz, Flyer, Suicida 
2) Dalys, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer b La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Skadi 
13:47. Rudas took 2/3.
3) Dragón Rojo Jr., Místico, Stuka Jr. b Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]  
13:47 (same as previous); team Stuka took 2/3 as he continued to feud with Atlantis
4) Esfinge & Terrible b Ángel de Oro, Fugaz, Panterita del Ring Jr., Templario, Virus, Cancerbero [CMLL Universal, seeding battle royal]
CMLL held a moment of remembrance for Raziel before the match.
5) Virus b Panterita del Ring Jr. [CMLL Universal, 8F]
4:42.
6) Templario b Cancerbero [CMLL Universal, 8F]
2:38.
7) Ángel de Oro b Fugaz [CMLL Universal, 8F]
5:51.
8) Terrible b Esfinge [CMLL Universal, 8F]
2:48
9) Templario b Virus [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]
2:22.
10) Ángel de Oro b Terrible [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal] 
4:49.
11) Templario b Ángel de Oro [CMLL Universal, semifinal]   
4:06

Just a normal tournament show. None of those matches were memorable and nothing in the undercard made up for it.

CMLL posted most of the Raziel tribute from Friday, though they cut out the video talking about his career. Maybe a YouTube music rights issue? I snuck the full version here.

CMLL (SAT) 04/09/2022 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, Cronista del Ring]
1) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito b Full Metal, Mercurio, Minos
tecnicos took 2/3
2) La Guerrera, La Jarochita, Marcela b Amapola, La Metálica, Tiffany
tecnicas took 1/3.
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Robin, Volcano b Disturbio, Felino, Kráneo
tecnicos took 2/3
4) Princesa Sugehit © b Reyna Isis [CMLL WOMEN]
One fall. 4th defense
5) Místico, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., El Coyote, Niebla Roja
tecnicos took 1/3

Show was said to be draw well, though most of the matches weren’t good.

CMLL (SUN) 04/10/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Apocalipsis & Cholo b Bengala & Retro
2) Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr. DQ Eléctrico, Leono, Sangre Imperial
straight falls; Electrico left with an injury
3) Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Nitro b Arkalis, Robin, Stigma
rudos took 1/3
4) Felino, Okumura, Rey Bucanero b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
rudos took 1/3
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Gran Guerrero, Terrible b Disturbio, Euforia, Hechicero
Disturbio replaced Mephisto. Team Dragon Rojo took 2/3.

Electrico tried a poison rana on a Dr. Karonte (I think Argos) and got dumped onto his own head. For whatever reason, maybe just the right people there, this got more attention the other recent CMLL injuries. It did not sound serious. Sunday shows seem like the least important of the four weekly shows at the moment.

CMLL (TUE) 04/12/2022 Arena México
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Full Metal & Minos
2) Astral, Cachorro, Leono vs Disturbio, Grako, Raider
3) Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi vs Amapola, Dalys, Stephanie Vaquer
4) El Audaz, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Blue Panther, Místico, Panterita del Ring vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible

Astral showed up on CMLL Informa in June 2020 CMLL, announcing a planned return to CMLL once they were able to run again. He instead disappeared for almost two more years. We don’t know exactly what happened, but a brief article noting his return mentions “depression that led into alcoholism.” He credits Valiente for helping him come back to CMLL; Astral is dating one of Valiente’s daughters.

Yahoo/EFE has a story on Dalys, positioning her as breaking stereotypes by being more muscular than most luchadoras and starting wrestling late. They’re not totally into breaking stereotypes; they avoid mentioning her age.

AAA

Nothing really too notable on the AAA show this week match wise. (I didn’t stream it, but it is up on the Google Drive in non-janky quality.)

• Venenoide vs Arana Volador I caught in progress and saw nothing that suggested I needed to track down the entire show
• NGD vs Mercenarios vs Poder del Norte had the NGD trying a bit, but there’s nothing there hasn’t been seen in these three way trios matches. And NGD are running in place until a big match but it’s unclear when/where it’s happening
• Abismo Negro, Latigo and Psicosis versus Pagano, Octagon Jr., Vikingo was also fine, though Psicosis and Pagano had a sequence that probably should’ve been edited out. Vikingo took it easy until he got laid out at the end; Octagon got more of the spotlight.

It appears Vikingo hasn’t wrestled since 03/18 (a week after this taping). Myzteziz Jr. filled in again for him this past weekend. This strangely is good news, Vikingo getting the time off to recover from his knee injury he was supposed to take off. Vikingo’s listed in San Luis Potosi and Tampico this week and could be ready to go, though he could just stay out of real matches until TripleMania.

There’s no official update on Fenix, though I was told there was footage of him training in Gimnasio Hercules last week. Again, if we didn’t get the weeks of false starts, I’d feel safe that he was wrestling in Monterrey.

AAA’s TV included an interview with Psycho Clown hyping his participation in the mask tournament and an actual preview for next week. We can figure out the next two weeks shows actually:

• 04/16 AAA
  • 4:20 Brothers (Kamik-C & Skalibur) & Ryan Kidd vs Luchas Solos (Arkangel Divino & Ultimo Maldito) & Rayo Star
  • Las Toxicas (Hiedra, Maravilla, Flammer) vs Faby Apache, Lady Shani, Lady Lee
  • Sammy Guevera & Tay Conti vs Dianmico & Sexy Star II vs Black Danger & Viva Van
• 04/23 AAA
  • La Rebelion (Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf), Genio del Aire vs El Dragon, Jack Carthwheel, Pagano
  • Danny Rivera/Limelight, Flip Gordon, Willie Mack vs Los Mercenarios (REy Escorpion, Taurus, Villano III)
  • Laredo Kid, Psycho Clown, Rey Xolo (Extreme Tiger) vs DMT azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis
• 04/30 is TripleMania Monterrey. 05/07 Space is probably also TripleMania Monterrey.

Back in January 2021, AAA signed an agreement with the Mexico Secretary of tourism to use the Mexico and “Pueblo Magicos” brand in their promotion through September 2024. This is mentioned in passing in a larger article about Mexico’s plans to promote their tourism. They used those for the 2021 tour and it seems unlikely AAA be running those types of shows again, so it’s just slightly interesting they left themselves with that much length in case they had needed it.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 04/10/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Cerebro Negro Jr. & Limbo b Águila Roja & Spider Fly 
Spider Fly replaced Noisy Boy
2) Hell Boy DRAW Caballero de Plata 
the two agreed to a hair match next week
3) Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mike b Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Estrella Divina 
Estrella Divina was the surprise partner of the Big Strippers, but is not the new official third partner
4) Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro b Hijo del Pantera, Internacional Pantera, Pantera Jr. 
5) Dick Angelo 3G & Puma de Oro b Brad Alexis & Shaun Moore and Aster Boy & The Mummy 
6) Flamita & Toxin b Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane 

I watched the main event, which IWRG billed as Los Golpeadors final match in Mexico before going to NOAH. As increasingly common with IWRG, this was a needless lie – they’re advertised as working back in Pachuca on Friday. IWRG would like fans to draw the connection between Golepador going to NOAH and working in IWRG, though the Golpeadors haven’t said that much.

Anyway, this match made me concerned about how this one’s going to go. Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus are wrestling Ninja Mack in a three way, and I think NOAH expects them to wrestle a style similar to Ninja Mack. This match in IWRG was instead of throwing people into seats and fighting through the crowd for halfway. Bane & Lupus want to be brawling heavy hitters, which is great if it works for them. The problem is NOAH, like most Japanese promotions, generally brings in Mexican wrestlers to do “lucha libre”, which they believe is just flips and dives like Ninja Mack. Bane & Lupus could do that, but that’s not what they’ve been doing for months and I’m not sure how easily (or willing) they can be to switch the mindest. This might be more of a NOAH problem than a Golepador issue, but I was struck watching that main event about the difference in expectations and reality for those guys. Los Golpeadors are also really into doing their moves and not all into making their opponents look good, which seems like a long day for Ninja Mack. Hope it goes well, and NOAH’s so weird right now that even having a good outing may not matter.

IWRG has is marketing itself with a new “la primera fuerza de la lucha libre Mexicana” slogan, and a video pushing the idea of more digital content. I’m writing this post on Monday afternoon and I have no idea if IWRG is running Tuesday this week or not, I feel like announcing those things in advance could be decent digital content.

Bandido no-showed the GCW event in San Francisco on Sunday. It was completely his fault/decision. He also didn’t inform anyone with GCW that he wasn’t coming. Bandido posted an apology on Twitter. He’s scheduled for GCW’s show in Detriot, and we’ll see how it goes. Bandido wrestled a half dozen times over WrestleMania weekend, many of them hard matches, so it’s understandable why he might be banged up/tired and not want to wrestle the next weekend. But, either you’ve got to take less matches in a weekend or not take work the next weekend knowing you’ll probably not be feeling great.

LA Park talked to Milenio about his about the poverty he experienced when he first came to Mexico, and compares Dr. Wagner Jr. losing his mask to Psycho Clown to a girlfriend cheating on him. It’s already been so many years for Rush as the big match mythical LA Park match that Dr. Wagner being in that same position seems like the distant past. Park continues to push the idea of the Rush match, which suggests he doesn’t expect he’s getting the big payoff from this TripleMania tournament.

This interview reads a little bit dated, before the MLW situation. LA Park has retweeted some supportive comments but hasn’t directly addressed his departure from MLW. LA Park did call a YouTube video claiming he could be out of TripleMania false, saying he’d be there. (This is the YouTube video taking Park’s knee injury comments overly seriously to get views.)

Robles advertised Gallito for their 05/22 show. I almost forgot he left CMLL.

A profile of a new biography on Rolando Vera.

CMLL

Today’s Arena Mexico show kicks off the CMLL Universal tournament with eight national champions. Terrible, Termplario and Angel de Oro have the best chance of winning on paper, with Fugaz, Esfinge, Panterita Jr., Virus and Cancerbero being more long shots. CMLL tournament shows are rarely good. The rest of the card includes another Atlantis Jr./Stuka trios (Stuka with Dragon Rojo and Mistico, Atlantis Jr. with Ultimo Guerrero and Volador), plus a women’s trios and the lightweight crew facing Ols Negra. Like all Friday shows, this is a TicketmasterLive PPV, will air on TV next week, and will air on YouTube in two weeks.

CMLL explained on Informa how the Universal tournament is working this year:

• the eight national champions will have a one-night tournament tonight
• the eight CMLL champions (excluding those who also hold national champions) will have their one night tournament next week
• the NWA Champions (Stuka, Volador Jr. and Mistico) will have a three-way match on April 22nd to determine that winner
• the three winners from each title category will meet to determine the winner on April 29th.

This format is more logical than I’d would’ve guessed. On the other hand, CMLL struggles at doing three ways that make any sense, so back-to-back weeks of them might not go well. Still, at least there’s no elimination tournament on one of these weeks.

CMLL (SUN) 04/10/2022 Arena México
1) Bengala & Retro vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Eléctrico, Leono, Sangre Imperial vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Arkalis, Robin, Stigma vs Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Nitro
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Felino, Okumura, Rey Bucanero
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Gran Guerrero, Terrible vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto

A rudos vs rudos main event.

CMLL (MON) 04/11/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Fénix SO & Millenium vs Black Tiger & Rey Apocalipsis
2) Disturbio, Perverso, Prayer vs Sangre Imperial, Tigre Rojo Jr., Valiente Jr.
3) La Vaquerita vs Reyna Isis
4) Dulce Gardenia, Kráneo, Stigma vs El Suicida, Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero vs Euforia, Hechicero, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

The Atlantis/Stuka feud has been heavy in Puebla, at least based on the lineups. Kraneo is still a tecnico on this show; I wonder if they’re just going to do the rudo turn in multiple locations since the only people who’ve seen it are those in attendance in Arena Coliseo.

This is probably old news to some, but I just didn’t know: Arena Puebla’s Facebook page been streaming the Monday main event for months. It’s not every week (not this one), and it’s just someone shooting it with their phone, but it’s something for people looking for it. I’m working at archiving these on the Google Drive just so it doesn’t disappear.

CMLL can’t exactly announce a full card for the Arena Mexico Anniversary show at this point, since about a third of the men’s roster is in play for the Universal tournament at the moment. They did announce two matches in addition to the tournament final:

CMLL (FRI) 04/29/2022 Arena México
Arena Mexico 66th Anniversary
4) Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit, Stephanie Vaquer vs Dalys, Lluvia, Marcela, Reyna Isis
5) Rey Bucanero & Último Guerrero vs Averno & Mephisto
6) ? vs ??, ??? [CMLL Universal, final]

Satanico created Averno & Mephisto in 2001 – like, he used his supernatural devil powers to transform them into those gimmicks, you had to be there – with the idea they’d wrestle his previous proteges Bucanero & Guerrero. Only, Mephisto broke his arm in training and so it was Averno & Satanico in the tag program. These two long running top rudo CMLL pairs of the 00s had one known match as a team in 2002 in Arena Puebla (probably before Arena Puebla was taped), and this is the retro match. Averno & Mephisto teamed a couple of times in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, this will be their first Arena Mexico. The most surprising part of this is CMLL can announce this match now because somehow none of these four guys are champions.

The women’s match is the usual random pairings so CMLL can promote it as a “lucha ineditio” – a never before seen match – which is technically true but no one has a reason to care.

CMLL (TUE) 04/12/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Capitán Cobra, Cosmos, Último Ángel vs Destello, Relámpago Azul, Thunder Boy
2) Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr. vs Estrella Oriental, Explosivo, Fantástico
3) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus, Trono vs Crixus, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
4) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Rugido vs Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
5) Flash & Gallo © vs Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno [OCCIDENTE TAG]
2nd defense
6) Esfinge, Fugaz, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel

Titan teams with the new national tag champions against the local trios champs. Flash & Gallo defended these same titles against this same team in July, maybe they’ll get to the next step after this match. Queretaro wrestlers are back in the tercera.

LuchaWorld has an obit for Raziel, including a few lesser-known characters he used.

Felino Jr. hasn’t wrestled since losing the tag team titles on 03/20; I’ve stumbled across some Puebla results and he got replaced by Espanto Jr. last Monday. That tag title match turned up on video, and it looks like the ex-Tiger might have suffered an injury near the end. There’s an unusual slow fall from the ropes and then he doesn’t move a whole lot. Felino Jr. posted an Instagram story teasing a return soon.

AAA

AAA (THU) 04/07/2022 Auditorio BlackBerry, Cuautehmoc, Distrito Federal [Record]
1) Drago, Mr. Iguana, Myzteziz Jr. b Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
2) Pagano & Psycho Clown b Abismo Negro Jr. & Parka Negra
3) Aerostar & Lady Shani b Reina Del Ring & Tigre Dorado
the two AAA wrestlers and the two created characters had appeared in a promotional animated video

This was a special sponsored (and maybe invite-only?) show to promote the AAA/Free Fire alliance, which seems to have gone well. The main event was the two AAA wrestlers and the two created (Free Fire?) characters who faced of the animated trailer posted recently; team AAA didn’t need La Parka’s help this time. You can see that video and some production info here.

Space lists this week’s AAA show as “Merida/Tijuana”, so it’s a rare show covering two different tapings. AAA has two unaired matches left from Merida (Vipers, three-way trios), so figure those will air. They taped seven matches in Tijuana, so that’s enough for a match this week and two more episodes. The show is scheduled to air at 6:30 pm – Mexico & US are back synced on DST – which is a problem for me because I’m busy once again at time. My streaming service also still isn’t working well, with the video jumping back a few seconds in irregular periods. I may just link to the other Twitch feed that’s out there and leave everyone on their own for this one.

AAA held interviews in their office to promote TripleMania Monterrey this week, which will start turning up over the next few weeks. Record posted their interview with Canek, who is as interested as the rest of us in finding out how much of Canek is left. Canek feels like Psycho Clown is not used to facing a wrestler of his (power) style, just small and skinner guys. Canek expects Psycho Clown will do more flying to counter him and hopes to pull him towards some middle crowd. Psycho Clown trying flying moves on Canek seems like a really bad idea so let’s hope not. Canek makes a point of saying he doesn’t choose the opponents he faces, he’s always had people coming at him (because he’s such an important guy.)

AAA put up a Young Bucks promo for the TripleMania Monterrey main event. They talking about how they’re definitely going to win the AAA tag team titles before the show (they definitely didn’t win the AAA tag team titles) and otherwise do a very Young Bucks promo.

There’s also a profile from Tay Conti & Sammy Guevera, confused at Arez & Chik Tormenta not being in Tijuana (and Conti is confused at Arez not being Austin Aries.) This is build towards TripleMania Monterrey, though Conti & Guevera are also not wrestling Arez & Chik Tormenta in Monterrey on the lineup AAA has out.

LA Park fired again

LA Park, Hijo de LA Park, and La Park Jr. are out of MLW following an incident on the 03/31 taping. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports the Parks were fired when a scripted attack on Alex Hammerstone and Jacob Fatu turned unscripted and left both men in need of medical assistance. You can see the incident around 18:10 in this video, assuming MLW doesn’t get it taken down. Not sure if you should use me to judge what is real and fake because I think I would’ve seen that as “wow, they’re really making it look real” and not “that actually is real”; it’s fairly violent though maybe not as out of control as you might imagine.

In the WON, Hammerstone was said to have challenged Park to a fight backstage and Park claimed he couldn’t speak English. I’ve elsewhere heard it was closer to the entire locker room who wanted to fight LA Park. Both Fatu & Hammerstone worked on the 04/01 show I attended, where LA Park and his sons were announced as all being out “injured”; word had already leaked out that something that man the Parks unwelcome by that point.

LA Park’s stints in promotions rarely end with a handshake and a hardy farewell. Park might have sensed his farewell was coming. The 04/01 main event was himself with Jacob Fatu. I’m not sure if Fatu is was going over though it’s possible Park thought that was the case, that he was losing his way out of the promotion and tried to do something that would get him attention even with an impending loss. LA Park has recently had issues with MLW, leading him to miss the tapings in Tijuana. My understanding is it was more on the financial side that time around, but I could see both sides independently realizing Dallas might be it and it boiling over with Fatu & Hammerstone being the unlucky victims.

Earlier this week, LA Park told Record he was in need of knee surgery, which matched MLW’s public explanation. LA Park surely does need work done on his knees, he’s a very large man who has done crazy things for years, but putting that out there when he did was more about explaining why he was no longer in MLW and he’s likely in no danger of missing any TripleMania match due to the existing knee injuries. LA Park is unlikely to suffer any real consequences for his familiar actions in Mexico – I got a “oh, they did it again!” reaction when explaining this to someone there this morning. LA Park’s behavior does illustrate the risk of AAA working with him for the TripleMania tournament; LA Park in the final would be a huge deal but there’s no guarantee of what he’d do in the situation. His actions in MLW makes him less likely to get picked up by an English-focused US promotion in the near future, but it’s not like there was a TV promotion outside of MLW who’d bring him in, and this might have been thinking he was done with MLW anyway. I guess there might be some interest in a Park/Hammerstone or Park/Fatu match, maybe in GCW or even back in MLW, if this story has legs. I’m not sure it’d deliver what people would want to see.

MLW also told the WON that they sold out both those tapings, which came off very strange to me – it felt less than half full on 04/01. Tickets for a pandemic canceled show were applied to this show, which explained some of it to me. Still, I was able to easily buy GA tickets the week of the show and I didn’t get the feeling it was sold out when I was there. There had to be a lot of people who bought tickets and didn’t end up using them if that’s the case.

Other News

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucah Report.

In 2018, Mexico City passed a resolution declaring lucha libre as an intangible part of Mexico City’s culture. It was akin to saying wrestling wasn’t simply athletic theatre for the poor, as it has been disregarded in past decades, but instead an important and respected part of Mexico City’s identity. Arena Mexico put up a plaque celebrating this resolution in a ceremony, and it’s a thing that looks good on a powerpoint presentation if you’re trying to convince a business to work with you. It doesn’t really mean anything, but it makes lucha libre people feel good about lucha libre. This week, there was a resolution to spread this resolution to the entire country of Mexico (and to also include boxing in this version.) It’s got a long way to go before it passes.

Hijo del Santo will appear on Televisa/Univision series “Albertano contra los mostros”; his family has a history of fighting monsters. It reads like it’s along the lines of a cameo rather than a regular role.

Lucha Memes 03/06 Arena Queretaro show is up; IWTV has put up three Memes shows in a short time, so this is a decent time to jump onto the service if you’re just binging them. I had the last 3 PWGs shows in my mailbox, so I may not be able to get to them for a while. I did hear good things about Mike/Cometa and Hechicero/Makowski, and just was generally happy to get any information on a Memes shows at all. The Ace of Base show sounds like it didn’t go as well; sometimes the big concepts don’t work out.

I definitely misunderstood what RGR was doing with Psycho Clown and Hijo del Santo. They have a show this weekend, on 04/10, but that’s a normal show not including those two. They’re instead giving out information about when/where that Psycho/Santo show will happen to those fans in attendance. I presume the information will be posted online later, but perhaps not due the politics involved.

Republic of Lucha teased their next show will be June 19th (06/19, probably not including Rey Mysterio.) That’s the day after TripleMania in Tijuana.

Juventud Guerrera says he’s got an open door to return to AEW after he recovers from a leg injury, but he’s working for Robles Promotions for the moment. I’m not sure if anyone besides Juventud Guerrera believes Juventud Guerrera will be returning to AEW.

AEW TV will soon begin appearing on NJPW World for Japanese IP addresses only. It’ll be an unusual situation where CMLL and AAA title matches will be appearing on the same paid service; I guess that hasn’t happened since Televisa/Galavision, though this is a bit different.

Hidalgo luchador Dr. Brown (72) passed away on Tuesday.

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 04/05/2022 Arena México [Cronista del Ring, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Marca, Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores]
1) Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito b Acero, Aéreo, Kaligua  
2) Cachorro, Sangre Imperial, Valiente Jr. b Grako, Inquisidor, Raider  
Tecnicos took 2/3
3) Dark Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring b El Hijo del Villano III, Okumura, Rey Bucanero  
Raziel was remembered with a moment of applause after the third match
4) Stigma © b Magia Blanca [CMLL SL]  
first defense
5) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Atlantis, Star Jr., Titán  
Star Jr. replaced Negro Casas on Monday. Gemelos unmasked Star and Titan after the match.

No title change; it appears Fugaz & Esfinge retained their tag titles in Puebla too. CMLL has both Atlantis and Atlantis Jr. mentioned in the main event; it’s definitely the father in the video.

The moment of applause for Raziel is up on YouTube. Cancerbero looked as affected as you’d imagine he would be. There’s a report from Raziel’s wake that mention the cause of death as a heart attack, which differs from the car accident report earlier. Randy Savage passed away when he had a heart attack that led to a car accident, and it’s possible something similar could’ve happened here if both stories are accurate.

Cancerbero and Virus will be among the many people on CMLL Informa today. CMLL earlier confirmed they’ll still be in the Universal Tournament as champions, even though their trio no longer exists as it does. It’s the only logical decision. La Magnifica is also announced for Informa. She has no pending important match so there’s probably a story there.

CMLL and the Mexico Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a pre-show in-ring press event for Wednesday’s International Sports Day, pushing the idea of diversity and no discrimination. They probably could’ve used a little better planning: the push for diversity included Titan, Sagrado, and Los Gemelo Diablos – no women, minis, or exoticos despite the idea wrestling and sports are open to all. There’s also a new video to promote the idea of lucha libre as a diverse place. I always bristle at this; CMLL is more diverse now than it has ever been at any point in its history prior, but that’s in part because its history has been quite the opposite.

CMLL (TUE) 04/05/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Mas Lucha]
1) Destructor, Gran Kenut, León Blanco b Avispón Negro Jr., Bello Antuan, Johnny Dinamo
2) Flash & Gallo DRAW Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno [super libre]
3) Dalys, Dark Silueta, Valkiria b Lluvia, Náutica, Sexy Sol
4) Ángel de Oro, Explosivo, Niebla Roja DQ Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel
Cavernario fouled Niebla Roja
5) Místico & Soberano Jr. b Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero

Still teasing that tag title defense in the second match. Soberano is still here, so maybe just weird timing for both he and his father to lose their titles in a weekend and no other significance. Raziel was honored on this show as well.

CMLL (FRI) 04/08/2022 Arena México
1) El Audaz, Flyer, Suicida vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
2) La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Skadi vs Dalys, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Dragón Rojo Jr., Místico, Stuka Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Ángel de Oro vs Fugaz, Esfinge, Panterita del Ring Jr., Terrible, Templario, Virus, Cancerbero [CMLL Universal, seeding battle royal]
5) ? vs ?? [CMLL Universal, 8F]
6) ? vs ?? [CMLL Universal, 8F]
7) ? vs ?? [CMLL Universal, 8F]
8) ? vs ?? [CMLL Universal, 8F]
9) ? vs ?? [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]
10) ? vs ?? [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]
11) ? vs ?? [CMLL Universal, semifinal]

CMLL’s listed this as the national title block. Noticeably, it announced Fugaz & Esfinge before they retained the tag team titles in Puebla but I guess they could’ve changed it. I’ve got no real feel about who’s going to do well in this tournament: Terrible, Templario, and Angel de Oro seem like the three who have a shot on paper.

There are exactly eight more CMLL champions – Dragon Rojo, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado, Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Stigma and Titan – so that’s one group for next week. (Angel de Oro is also CMLL champion but he’s in this block.) That leaves the NWA champs (Volador, Mistico, Stuka), the Arena Coliseo Trios champs (Hombre Bala & Robin), and three empty spots for 04/22. Current Occidente Trios champions Barbaro Cavernario, Principe Daniel, and Demonio Maya would fit that void like a perfectly shaped Tetris piece, so maybe that’s the answer.

CMLL (SAT) 04/09/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Full Metal, Mercurio, Minos
2) La Guerrera, La Jarochita, Marcela vs Amapola, La Metálica, Tiffany
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Robin, Volcano vs Disturbio, Felino, Kráneo
4) Princesa Sugehit © vs Reyna Isis [CMLL WOMEN]
4th defense
5) Místico, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., El Coyote, Niebla Roja

Kraneo appears to officially be a rudo, though one who’s wrestling only once every two weeks. Sugehit/Isis is a reasonably big title match for a Saturday show. Isis seems on track to eventually be a world women’s champion, she makes as much sense to be a new champion, and it’s just a matter of when.

CMLL is putting up the Arena Coliseo Anniversary show match by match. The tag title match went up Tuesday night. Demus and Akuma also uploaded a handheld version.

AAA

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite show has the Young Bucks challenging FTR for both the ROH and AAA Tag Team championships. On Sunday’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned AAA’s given AEW the go ahead to do whatever they want with the AAA tag team titles for now. That’s been read as a statement about the power dynamic in the relationship, which is surely partially true, but also I believe it doesn’t matter for AAA’s immediate plans which AEW team has the tag team titles. It’s cool if the Young Bucks win tonight and their match versus Fenix & Vikingo is for the tag team titles, but I think AAA’s plans are the same with or without those tag team titles. The next big AAA tag team title match in Mexico still seems like it’s FTR/Hermanos Lee/Lucha Brothers, and that one may not be happening any time soon. It’s not happening in Monterrey, Hermanos Lee are facing the Hardys in Tijuana (and Penta is probably in a tournament match) so it’s not happening there. It’s possible the three-way gets held all the way off until Mexico City if AAA’s in no hurry and those titles can switch a few times before then.

There’s a new video promoting the Freefire/AAA partnership, teasing AAA skins for the mobile game. The video is well done.

Flamita is meant to be the new member of Los Mercenarios. He was hanging out with them in a vignette on TV this weekend (teasing a Shani/Tirantes match) and was mentioned as such on the US show. I think the match where he’s actually introduced as a member airs this weekend. The other thing from this past weekend’s TV is it appeared Willie Mack’s injury in the cruiserweight match may have been a planned match event to put over Taurus’ spear, and perhaps not a significant injury.

While Vikingo is not wrestling, it did appear to be him as Arcano on the Merida taping. He walked out on his partner before doing much. See if you can follow along here: Vikingo Arcano was the good Arcano in the Rey de Reyes match, Komander was Evil Arcano, Evil Arcano and Terror Purpura kidnapped Good Arcano at the end of that match, so maybe Good Arcano has been brainwashed into being Also Evil Arcano or maybe we were supposed to think it was Evil Arcano in this match and Vikingo just happened to be in the gear instead of Komander? Who could possibly know or care in the slightest? Not AAA from the way they present it, probably not Marvel either – whenever they go from the much “5% of what this project is going to be” to the actual mythical “100%” (should that ever actually happen), Marvel probably just ignore everything that’s happened with it for the last year to tell the stories they want to do – these matches are all dress rehearsals taking up TV time.

It doesn’t appear the Dallas show is airing on AAA TV soon. This weekend should be a third part of Merida, the new two weeks Tijuana, and then TripleMania Monterrey. That also is one a few reasons I believe the Jeff Jarrett appearance at the end of the Dallas show should be read as “fun way to get US attention during a busy week; maybe they’ll remember to do something with it later”, not some major angle that AAA will be central to this year.

AAA and EMW got attention for donating 10,874 pesos ($543) to a Cabo San Lucas charity, using money from a recent show.

Other

IWRG (SUN) 04/10/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Roja & Noisy Boy vs Cerebro Negro Jr. & Limbo
2) Hell Boy vs Caballero de Plata
3) ?, Big Boy, Big Chico Che vs Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mike
4) Hijo del Pantera, Internacional Pantera, Pantera Jr. vs Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro
5) Brad Alexis & Shaun Moore vs Dick Angelo 3G & Puma de Oro and Aster Boy & The Mummy
6) Flamita & Toxin vs Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane

No shows on Tuesday or Thursday this week. The main event could be good. Fourth match has a chance too. The Big Strippers are doing an open tryout Wednesday for their partner on Sunday.

Big Lucha (FRI) 04/22/2022 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) El Bandido & Gravity vs Elipse & Orbita
2) Cody 1-8 & Viajero vs King & Kong
3) Heddi Karaoui, Lady Maravilla, Potro vs Skayde, Sussy Love, Tirano
4) Galeno del Mal vs Limbo, Accion Jackson
5) Cometa Maya, Éxtasis, Radioactivo vs Aramis, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. (AAA)
6) Abismo Negro Jr., Cibernético, Psicosis II vs Emperador Azteca, Flamita, Yutani

That semi-main could be fantastic.

Robles held a press conference Tuesday for their 04/29 Juan de la Barrera show. Those are always much more well attended than the shows. Dark Angel spoke about her return to wrestling, saying she choose to return to join this promotion rather than return to CMLL was about moving towards the future rather than reliving the past. Robles also appears to pay much better than CMLL, though that didn’t come up. Juventud Guerrera appeared as a surprise addition to the card. No mention of what match he’ll be in; the card advertised was the same one the group had announced previously. The promotion says they’ll have two more press conferences before their show, with Rush being present for at least one of those.

Marcos Medina was introduced at that Robles press conference as the general manager of the promotion. He’s worked with (questionable) promotions over the years, including IWRG, ENESMA, EAW (two rings!) and Lucha Libre Elite.

Lucha Memes (SUN) 04/10/2022 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Gato De Ecatepec vs Mario Bross
2) Calibus & Perro de Guerra Jr. vs Avisman & Judas el Traidor
3) Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako vs Belial & Impulso
4) Dante León & Kastigador vs Miike & Vengador
5) ? vs ??
6) Ricky Marvin vs ASF
7) Tony Deppen vs Virus

The full lineup for the memes show last week, with three fly-ins. ASF is in for a hard night. Dante Leon is someone I would’ve figured to be all over Dallas last weekend, there must be a story there.

Lucha Memes’ 2021-09-16 show is now up on IWTV. Not sure why that one took so long. The show had an Ultimo Guerrero/Arez match and a drunk fan in the ring during the Karaoui/Guerra match.

Big Lucha (FRI) 04/22/2022 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) El Bandido & Gravity vs Elipse & Orbita
2) Cody 1-8 & Viajero vs King & Kong
3) Heddi Karaoui, Lady Maravilla, Potro vs Skayde, Sussy Love, Tirano
4) Galeno del Mal vs Limbo, Accion Jackson
5) Cometa Maya, Éxtasis, Radioactivo vs Aramis, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. (AAA)
6) Abismo Negro Jr., Cibernético, Psicosis II vs Emperador Azteca, Flamita, Yutani

I haven’t gotten results from the last Big Lucha show if it sets up anything here or explains why Bandido & Gravity are working the opener, but the semi-main looks pretty good. Elemental, Bendito, and Ciclon Ramirez Jr. aren’t on this show because they’re headed to Alberta that weekend.

PWG announced a 05/01 show with

• Aramis vs Wheeler Yuta
• Blake Christian vs Black Taurus
• Bandido (c) vs Daniel Garcia for the PWG Championship

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

Box y Lucha 3504 has a lot of Arena Coliseo content.

Shocker says he’s hoping to get his jaw fixed in December.

Toluca’s LLPT group says they hope to run more shows in the second quarter of 2022 and wants people to eep taking COVID precautions so they can do so safely.

Cancun’s TWS opened a new school, with Septimo Drago as a special guest trainer