TripleMania Tijuana tomorrow, Copa Dinastia continues tonight

CMLL

CMLL officially announced the 89th Aniversario show as taking place on 09/16 this year. September 16th is Mexican Independence Day, so they’ll have the holiday early start time of 5 pm. That’ll also help if they want to run a longer card than usual.

Lucha Memes says they’ll also be running a show the weekend of the CMLL Aniversario show. That’s a good deal if you’re going to Mexico City to see the CMLL.

CMLL also the Leyenda de Plata and Gran Prix will happen before the anniversary show. I believe it’s Leyenda de Plata as the July big show and Gran Prix as the August one, but that hasn’t been confirmed by CMLL yet.

Tonight’s CMLL show has the Fugaz/Titan title match and the second half of Copa Dinasita. It’s on Ticketmaster Live as normal. Fugaz in a singles match is going to be interesting because he has great stretches in trios matches but hasn’t shown a lot outside of that. Titan might be able to bring more out of him. The Copa Dinastia group final might be good if it’s Guerreros vs Panthers or Guerreros vs Chavez, and less so if it’s Guerreros vs Diablos.

CMLL (SUN) 06/19/2022 Arena México
1) Cachorro, Sangre Imperial, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Inquisidor
2) La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Maligna vs Hera, La Seductora, Olympia
3) La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Lluvia vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Tiffany
4) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Star Jr. vs Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
5) Euforia, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Terrible

It is rare CMLL has two women’s matches on the same show. Even then it’s usually a stip match and a normal match. Two women’s trios might not have ever happened before; I’m not entirely sure of a quick way to research it. CMLL’s had this many women booked on a card before, but they’d do it as a cibernetico instead of two separate matches.

CMLL (MON) 06/20/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja Jr., Hijo de Centella Roja, Leono vs Apocalipsis, Black Tiger, Cholo
2) Arkalis, Asturiano, Rey Samuray vs Nitro, Perverso, Prayer
3) La Jarochita & Lluvia © vs Metálica & Reyna Isis [MEX WOMEN TAG]
9th defense (7th on CMLL shows)
4) Negro Casas vs Fuerza Guerrera
5) Atlantis, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado

Sagrado appears to have only gotten a 13-day timeout for the fight with a fan, though it may be longer than that in Guadalajara. There’s a chance this is an outdated lineup that will already be changed since Sagrado was originally in the same spot on last week’s lineup before being replaced.

Putting Fuerza Guerrera in singles matches seems like a risky idea. Casas probably shouldn’t be doing many of them either at this point.

We’d all be surprised if Las Chicas Indomables lost their tag titles away from Arena Mexico. They are missing a rival team, just getting a random combination of two rudas every defense.

CMLL announced a 10-man field for the vacant Mexican National Welterweight Championship

• Príncipe Daniel (Guadalajara)
• Ángel Rebelde (Guadalajara)
• El Perverso (Puebla)
• Rey Samuray (Puebla)
• Suicida
• Rey Cometa
• Astral
• Magia Blanca
• Inquisidor
• Diamond

Principe Daniel is one of Barbaro Cavernario’s two wrestling brothers. He was in Mexico City for shows the week it shut down for the pandemic, so it’s possible we would’ve seen more of him if the world had gone differently. Angel Rebelde is one of the Queretaro luchadors who came into Guadalajara for the city versus city feud and has apparently ended up considered a full time guy. It’s a big feather in his cap to make it to Mexico City like this. Perverso and Rey Samuray were younger wrestlers who looked to have potential but rarely got to go all out when Arena Puebla was still streaming. It’s hard to know where they’re at now since they rarely make video. Rey Cometa would be the favorite if he didn’t already have a title. Maybe Magia Blanca wins so the Depredadores finally get a win.

A 10-man tournament does not divide equally and leaves it open to CMLL to do some weird things. They’ve previously done it where the last two in the seeding battle royal get to be a block upon themselves; the winner of their match faces the winner of the other 8-person block. At any rate, this tournament will be last 10 matches, Copa Dinastia is 11th, and there’s room for maybe 1 more match. CMLL might go for two, but then the match lengths will really get cut down. (The best move for time reasons would be a cibernetico instead of a tournament, saving about 15 minutes lost between matches.)

Astral proposed to longtime girlfriend Olympia on Wednesday’s CMLL Informa. She said yes.

AAA

TripleMania Tijuana is this Saturday. You know all the details if you’ve been paying attention, but one more time: show starts at 9 pm CT, airing on FITE in both English and Spanish for 20 USD. Viewers in Mexico will get the second half of the show starting at 11 pm CT. That means it’s going to be a four hour show, maybe longer. There has been limited international buzz for this show, partly due to factors outside of AAA’s control (WWE and other news sucking up all the attention) and partly due to AAA’s decisions (overextending the TripleMania brand, not building a card that has the diehards talking about it enough to get others to care.)

AAA’s hyped a musical performance as well as Konnan and Familia de Tijuana being honored in addition to the announced matches:

• a women’s cage match where the final two meet in a mask match. Lady Shani, Maravilla and Hiedra seem like big enough stars that AAA wouldn’t bother with the shell game of the cage match if they were going to lose. Reina Dorada losing her mask in her second AAA appearance ever wouldn’t go over well. Sexy Star could use the makeover, but AAA stuck her in that gimmick to maintain control of that gimmick and I don’t expect that mindset has changed. That leaves Flammer and Chik Tormenta. Flammer is part of a group of all masked women. It doesn’t look great for Tormenta, though results can come out of left field when it comes to women’s mask matches. This match is definitely going to be the biggest moment in the professional life of two women and I just hope the fans care as much as they will. The match will be a memory if the crowd treats it like a big deal, and an interesting trivia bit if they see the mask match as an unimportant preliminary bout.
• Taurus vs Bandido vs Laredo Kid vs Hijo del Vikingo vs Fenix – this will be great, everyone knows this will be great, and there’s just no juice to it. AAA is now billing this as Cruiserweight & Latin American unification match, so we’ll be down to one less title in AAA after Saturday. (When they did this bit with the Cruiseweight & Fusion title, the Fusion title went away.)
• a Copa TripleMania that may just exist to see an angle
• Psycho Clown versus Villano IV in the mask tournament semifinal – if Villano IV keeps punching with all his heart, it might be great. It might also be full of run-ins to convince fans Psycho Clown is actually going to lose this. (Psycho Clown is not actually going to lose this.)
• Pentagon Jr. versus Blue Demon Jr. in the mask tournament semifinal – there are arguments to go with either against Villano IV. I tend to believe Demon/V4 is the bigger casual Mexican fan attraction, and it frees up the Lucha Brothers to face FTR or Hermanos Lee or both in October
• Dragon Lee & Dralistico vs Matt Hardy & ??? – if this is still a mystery by the time you read this, then you should probably expect not to hear a name before the show starts. I presume the original result was the Hardys (who could’ve been AEW tag team champs at this point) beating Dragon Lee & Dralistico after the Lucha Brothers got involved. That might still be the ending. The two teams seemed like poor fits for each other at this point in their career. I have no idea what to make of it now.
  • If that WON/F4W story is true, the part that the Hardys were never going to be in the ladder match and were pulled out of action earlier, that means AEW & the Hardys knew before the DUI arrest on Monday (maybe well before Monday) that this TripleMania main event probably wasn’t happening. It’s unclear when AAA knew. It certainly hasn’t seemed as if AAA were told anything before the DUI, or at least anything they were concerned about.

Taya mentioned she’ll be on this show; she’s not currently advertised. That typically means Johnny Caballero will be around. It’s possible he could be in the main event, or they both could be in Copa TripleMania.

There should be one great match and there might be two or three more; the women’s match completely depends on how much the crowd cares about a cold build. That is the entire show though, there are no builds here outside of the tournament and nothing else feels important. TripleMania Tijuana is a Verano de Escandalo-level show, except they wanted to run in a soccer stadium so they put a TripleMania name on it and offered up a women’s mask. This is the first AAA show in years I’m not writing a preview for on Voices of Wrestling, in part because I just didn’t feel it; it’s just another card with one really great match and not a lot else interesting going on in a string of them.

A big name announced ahead of time could ignite some interest in this show. I’d urge AAA to announce someone, even if it’s not a big name, just so there’s a reason for people to remember this show is happening Saturday. Anecdotal remarks, and AAA’s ongoing discounted tickets, make it seem like this show isn’t doing well. I’m not sure how much stock I put in that with a seat map, which isn’t available on the ticket website. We’ll know either way on Sunday.

I’ll be recapping this show for Post Wrestling.

Space was going to air both the second part of Puebla and then TripleMania Tijuana on Saturday night. It got far enough that along that AAA mentioned it. That second part of Puebla has been replaced by a movie on Space schedule and AAA hasn’t mentioned it again. I think it’s off, but it’s still on some cable listings. I’ll record it and put it up Sunday on the odd chance something airs, but I think you’re safe taking a nap before the Tijuana show.

AAA announced Dr. Wagner Jr. among the names for Copa TripleMania. Dr. Wagner Jr. had already been advertised for a show in Brownsville, Texas that day and confirmed that’s the show he will actually be appearing on. Wagner appearing in a battle royal seems pretty inconsequential and that’s one where you wonder why he was even mentioned if AAA didn’t have him confirmed, except it happens fairly regularly with AAA. (TJ Sports pointed this change first.)

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 06/16/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Ajolotl & Nativo b Súper Boy & Súper Cometa
2) Estrella de Oro & Genex b Chris Stone Jr. & Wagner Kid 
3) Cerebro Negro b Tonalli 
sets up a title rematch
4) Aster Boy & Noisy Boy b Fly Warrior & Fulgor 
5) Puma de Oro b Freelance © [IWRG REY DEL AIRE] 
2nd defense, rematch from March 20th
6) Noisy Boy b Puma de Oro © [IWRG REY DEL AIRE] 
Noisy Boy cashed in the Cofre del Tesoro (money in the bank) and won the title in four minutes. He dedicated the win to his deceased grandmother who helped get him started in lucha libre.

As a Naucalpan casual, I’m a little confused at what happened here with the Money in the Bank cash-in. Noisy Boy brought it out to challenge Toxin back in May, though he doesn’t appear to have it when that match actually took place. I guess that didn’t count. It wasn’t a big crowd for the win but he treated it like a big moment.

Other

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Blue Demon Jr. announced he’s opening his official store next Saturday. There was a Blue Demon Jr. had a store on the same block as Arena Mexico for many years. It was only Demon stuff and a small shop. It was something I went to once and never needed to go to again, but the location probably meant it did good business. Arena Mexico isn’t open outside of show days and the vendor stands are only there for show days, so the only places for a curious person to buy lucha libre merchandise at that time Blue Demon’s store or Deportivo Martinez across the street. Demon seemed to have a falling out during the pandemic with whoever actually operated the store and declared he no longer had a connection with it. The new store is in the same general neighborhood but it’s a 10-minute walk away from Arena Mexico. Mistico’s also opened his own store on the Arena Mexico block recently, so it’s going to be hard to get people to make that trip.

Blue Demon Jr. also turned up Thursday as part of FIFA’s reveal of the 2026 World Cup venues, as an ambassador of Monterrey. (Demon’s father was born in Monterrey, he was not.) I don’t know how important that is going forward or if it was just a one-night thing.

Lucha Libre Online will have Andrade on tonight at 6 pm CT to chat. This seems like a bad idea for all reasons except content but not my problem.

The Crash’s July 1st lineup has Cinta de Oro vs LA Park vs Texano Jr. vs the new Pierroth for the Crash’s heavyweight title. That appears to be the debut of the new Pierroth, who’s just shown up in other people’s matches so far. The Crash says the famous Pierroth Jr. (Noberto Salgado) will also appear. The rest of the card is KAOZ and Tijuana wrestlers; the Crash now is more like a local indie that’s hard to track down and with no special need to do so.

Highspots put up Rob’s interview with Damian 666. He says it was very good, not sure I trust him.

Lucha Memes May show is up on IWTV.

Someone deleted the Federacion Wrestling Facebook page after people started contacting them for refunds on Wednesday. Their Twitter account still exists.

Garden State Pro Wrestling announced Komander for their 08/27 show.

Hijo del Santo approves of the idea of a national lucha libre commission, wants more quality testing of luchadors before they’re allowed to wrestle.