CMLL
Tonight’s CMLL show has Averno versus Ultimo Guerrero, a Guadalajara/Depredadores atomicos and Jarochita & Isis in a singles match. It’ll be back on Ticketmaster Live. CMLL seems like they’re loading up the Friday night shows to put as many good wrestlers on them. It’s left the Tuesday and Sunday Arena Mexico shows a bit adrift, but no one’s watching them so that seems fine.
La Jarochita claimed she and Reyna Isis have had a rivalry for 10 years. Their first match appeared to be in 2017 but, sure, go with it. Her actual message is she’d genuinely like to do the mask match.
This is Titan’s last match before heading to Japan on Monday.
On Ticketmaster Live: I believe anyone who bought the failed stream from a few weeks ago was supposed to get it automatically refunded. They also did try to give everyone who contacted the next week’s stream for free, with CMLL paying the bill. Ticketmaster reached out to me, but it just wasn’t at a place I was looking. Refunds and a free show was a fair way to handle that situation.
CMLL (SUN) 05/08/2022 Arena México
1) Aéreo & Shockercito vs Full Metal & Mercurio
2) Arkalis, Cachorro, Sangre Imperial vs Cholo, Grako, Inquisidor
3) Diamond, Stigma, Volcano vs Cancerbero, Kráneo, Virus
4) Blue Panther, Dulce Gardenia, Star Black vs El Coyote, Felino, Rey Bucanero
5) Atlantis, Negro Casas, Templario, Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Templario and Ultimo Guerrero are friends again (or Soberano needed an opponent and Gran Guerrero is otherwise busy.)
CMLL (MON) 05/09/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Hijo de Centella Roja vs Black Tiger
2) Acero & Aéreo vs Mercurio & Minos
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Rey Samuray, Robin vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, El Perverso
4) El Audaz, Star Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © vs Averno & Volador Jr. [CMLL TAG]
first defense
Averno & Volador would be a truly random team to win the tag titles.
CMLL also announced the Gran Prix field
- Mephisto
- Stuka Jr.
- Mistico
- Volador Jr.
- Angel de Oro
- Atlantis Jr.
- Niebla Roja
- Soberano Jr.
First round on 05/20, final on 05/27. It’s a normal eight-person tournament. Atlantis Jr. and Mephisto weren’t in the Universal tournament, the other six are a repeat. They’ve done Mistico and Stuka & Atlantis as the last two tournament winners, maybe this will be something else? It does not seem to matter and anyone might as well win in an eight person field.
CMLL put up its Match of the Month poll, which Titan and Niebla Roja should win.
AAA
AAA revealed the Tijuana card at a press conference on Thursday
AAA TV (SAT) 06/18/2022 Estadio Caliente, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Lady Shani vs La Hiedra, Sexy Star II, Flammer, Chik Tormenta, Maravilla, Reina Dorada [cage, losers advance]
2) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 [Copa TripleMania]
presumably including Canek, Rayo de Jalisco and LA Park (as all ruleta de la muerte wrestlers were scheduled for this show)
3) Hijo Del Vikingo vs Fénix, Laredo Kid, Bandido, Taurus
4) Blue Demon Jr. vs Pentagón Jr. [ruleta de la muerte, semifinal]
5) ? vs ?? [mask]
6) Villano IV vs Psycho Clown [ruleta de la muerte, semifinal]
7) Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy vs Dragón Lee & Dralistico
This will air on FITE. Dorian Roldan mentioned the Monterrey show set the record for most PPVs purchases for any AAA show. Konnan will also be honored on the show, which might be a setup for the confrontation with Cibernetico.
The third match was said to be for both the Latin American Championship and the Cruiserweight Championship at the press conference. Laredo Kid also said Thursday the match would be for both titles. The poster doesn’t mention either title. A unification match would be for the best: the AAA Latin American championship is the gym membership of championships, something AAA continually says they’re really going to start using and taking seriously before forgetting about it for six months. It’ll be deflating if Laredo Kid three year title match reign ends in a five way where he might not even get pinned, but also it’s reminder never to care much about AAA’s stories.
Likewise, the press conference said eight women would be involved. and only seven are listed. Keyra is working AAA spot shows this week in Sinaloa and presumably was meant to be the eighth woman at some point, so maybe she’ll be added day of the show. (Both Dorian Roldan and the other hosts of the press conference blanked on Lady Shani’s name, so it could be a similar oversight.) The cage match is also part of the pre-show, which means people watching the PPV presumably won’t get to see the setup to the mask match happening that same night. Or even know who’s going to be in the match unless AAA announces the result ahead of time.
This seems a light slight for a soccer stadium. The women’s mask match will be played up as a big moment for women’s wrestling but is being built like an inconsequential match, existing just to say they had someone lose their mask on the show. (There’s no reason to speculate on who’s going to lose, because there’s no story being told.) The Hardys and the tournament matches are good for nostalgia, though they’re missing anything in the moment to build up the issues. The five-way should be great, though again there’s no central issue there. None of the big angles on TripleMania Monterrey are being followed up here; there’s nothing connecting the two shows outside of the tournament. Hopefully the ruleta de la muerte brings the emotion, though this feels like it’s missing that big match of this moment for a venue this size – as someone trying to figure out if I should make this trip, there’s no moment I feel like I have to be in Tijuana to see.
AAA TV this weekend will have matches from TripleMania Monterrey. The Copa TripleMania and Marvel match should air this week or next, no knowing which until AAA puts up the open. I plan on streaming this on Twitch.
TripleMania aired on Meta Oculus’s VR headsets on Thursday. I don’t know enough about this to know if it’s still on there to watch now, but maybe. It seemed to be a US-only experience.
The WON mentions that “part of the reason” the Young Bucks versus Fenix & Vikingo happened is Konnan asked the Bucks if they’d work the show and the Bucks agreed if they could wrestle those two guys. The newsletter also mentions Latin Lover suffered a torn quad and is insistent Alberto wasn’t scheduled in the trios tag match.
IWRG
IWRG (THU) 05/05/2022 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Nativo & Sol b Kenji & X-Devil 
2) Casandra & Satanica b Bengalee & Therius
Satanico & Bengalee continue to make mask matches
3) Caballero de Plata, Dinamic Black, La Momia b Hell Boy, Mafioso, Toxin
Dinamic Black challenged Toxin for the IWRG MEXICO championship.
4) Accion Jackson, Gregory Sharpe, Shaun Moore b Aramis, Aster Boy, Noisy Boy
Foreigners are going as Las Panteras Negras. Aramis & Aster Boy had issues.
5) Travis Banks b Laredo Kid 
Travis Banks won via foul, setting up an AAA CRUISER title match.
The Banks/Laredo title match will happen on Rey del Ring, Mas Lucha’s new paid IWRG show. It’s a weird situation where Mas Lucha is occasionally playing down or ignoring Banks, but they’re also charging people for a show where Banks/Laredo is going to be a selling point. That match also feels like it’s designed to get some extra buys just because it’s “Laredo Kid in something planned to be a really good match”, except Travis Banks is a negative draw to the foreign fans who might dip in. The Mexican fans seem to be bothered less.
Travis Banks being theoretically winning an AAA title is not a great look for AAA. There’s little chance it’s going to happen with Laredo’s next defense already announced, but it is AAA saying they’re OK with Banks if they’re going to let it happen. On the other hand, if AAA tells IWRG or Laredo no, it’s just going to be a cosmetic difference – Banks will put his IWRG title on the line or they’ll just do it non-title or whatever, the match is still going to happen and Mexico is still going to accept everyone who’s been pushed out elsewhere. I am going to point it what AAA is doing when that match gets officially announced but I don’t think it really changes anything.
IWRG (SUN) 05/08/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Rey Aztaroth & Súper Cometa vs John Tito & Kenji
2) Satania vs Bengalee
3) Estrella de Oro, Genex, Spider Fly vs Garra Mortal, Limbo, Rey Halcón
4) ?, Big Boy, Big Chicoche vs Leo, Ra-Zhata, Shil-Ka
5) Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Mr. Mike vs Asterboy, Freelance, Noisy Boy
6) Caballero de Plata, La Momia, Puma de Oro, Relámpago, Tonalli vs Accion Jackson, Gregori Sharpe, La Mosca, Shaun Moore, Shocko
Mexico versus the World in the main event. Mike is now Mr. Mike. Turtles versus Big Strippers and mystery partner of the week go on.
Other News
Diamante & Shun Skywalker won the Dragon Gate Open The Twin Gate Championship on Thursday from Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka. Dragon Gate airs streams the opener from their televised shows on YouTube for free and have been opening with bigger matches than usual in that spot for that reason, so you can see that title change for free.
Laredo Kid faces Rich Swann on Saturday’s Countdown to Under Siege, their PPV pre-show. Taya defends the Reina de Reinas championship against Deonna Purrazzo.
05/13 MLW has Arez and KC Navarro challenging Myron Reed for the MLW World Middleweight Championship
NOAH on 05/21 has
- Rene Dupree & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. (c) vs Masa Kitamiya & Michael Elgin for the GHC Tag Team Championship
- HAYATA (c) vs Xtreme Tiger for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship
VXS is bringing Jack Evans to Las Vegas on May 26th. There was some question if Jack would still be working the US after his AEW exit and he does appear to be wrestling in the states.
RIOT says they have a new venue for their June 4th show and will announce it in a few days after they signed the contract. The previous venue canceled their contract for the building after a couple of days.
Valvel has an interviews with various wrestlers at the AAA show in Torreon. It doesn’t appear to have drawn well. I didn’t realize Prometo & King Rex were brothers.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.