CMLL signals cage match is coming, AAA TV in Mazatlán, Big Lucha anniversary show

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/01/2022 Arena México [AS, CMLL, Cronista del Ring, El Universal, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Full Metal & Pequeño Violencia b Acero & Pequeño Magía  
9:51. Pequeno Magia replaced Aereo on Friday
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Hijo del Villano III, Okumura, Pólvora 
15:30
3) Amapola, Dalys, Dark Silueta b La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit 
15:31. Silueta beat Sugehit to set up a CMLL WOMEN title match.
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible b Atlantis, Blue Panther, Negro Casas 
18:46.
5) Soberano Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. DQ Atlantis Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Templario   
13:16. Straight falls, the last when Templario unmasked Soberano. Mask/mask challenges followed.

This show wasn’t particuarlly good or interesting, but the main event challenges set off alarms. Soberano & Templario are capable of having a spectacular mask match – probably not as good as Sombra & Volador, but not far off – but there’s also no way that’s a standalone singles match on this year’s Aniversario show. It’s instead the fourth mask versus mask challenge in about three weeks, all teased as happening on the Aniversario show. That is how CMLL builds to cage matches, and a cage match anniversary main event became the most likely September outcome as soon as Soberano and Templario made those challenges.

The Anniversario show will draw fine because it’s got that important and it’ll be the first one fully open to fans in three years, and maybe that’s why CMLL believes they can get away with a cage match. It’s dispiriting from a fan perspective even if it’s a sound business decision. The best thing CMLL does is an important mask versus mask match. Atlantis versus Fuerza Guerrera, despite their age and limitations, would’ve been one of those. Atlantis Jr. versus Stuka Jr. would’ve been one of those. Soberano and Templario could’ve been one too. (Jarochito & Isis won’t be part of a cage match and might still be that great match, if they have a good night and if the fans believe it’s that important.) CMLL’s never done a cage match that’s come close to one of their singles apuesta matches; most CMLL cage matches are actively bad for about 10 minutes of people aimlessly brawling (and standing in a huddle to catch the trope dive off the top), and then fine/good when they get around to the singles match portion at the end. CMLL cage matches are also wildly unsatisfying; the build is always about many individual rivalries, the finishes never pay off those rivalries, and then those issues aren’t followed up on as everyone just moves onto their next program. CMLL hasn’t really ever figured out how to make a cage match good – because 8-16 people sharing a single ring at the same time is a tough thing to make work – and it’s hard to believe they ever will until they do it.

potential cage matches participants

• Stuka Jr.
• Atlantis Jr.
• Atlantis
• Fuerza Guerrera
• Soberano
• Templario
• Ultimo Guerrero
• Averno

More could be added, more could be taken out, nothing is official until they do the hokey press conference (where CMLL officials act stunned they’re not doing a singles match despite eight people asking for the same match, and the participants bury the idea of a cage match.) There are other ideas CMLL could try – a tournament to decide who gets the match, similar to the Sombra/Volador vs Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero match perhaps – but CMLL’s not a promotion known for varying their ideas. The best case against this being the actual idea is Averno is the most likely loser, but even he would seem to ave more value in a straight-up single match rather than a cage match like this. (The counterpoint is Averno losing to Atlantis Jr. or Soberano or Stuka Jr. would be the sort of unsatisfying result CMLL does in these situations; it’s almost certainly not going to be Ultimo Guerrero if Averno loses.)

Anyway, this whole thing makes me feel like a crazy person. More than usual. I saw the Soberano/Templario challenges as a clear sign CMLL’s not going to do any of the singles matches people want to see, but it didn’t really come up in any reporting on the show from people in Mexico. It’s the #1 story to me and the people covering lucha libre in Mexico know much more about it then me, but it didn’t come up. It’s too bad, because people are going to be upset with CMLL after they make it clear it’s going to happen, and then it’s going to be too late. It may already be.

This was again a nothing show otherwise, you can safely skip this week when it comes up on YouTube.

CMLL (SAT) 07/02/2022 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha, CMLL]
1) Bengala & Retro b Apocalipsis & Príncipe Odín Jr. 
2) Cholo, Inquisidor, Raider b Neón, Panterita del Ring Jr., Valiente Jr. 
Debut of Neón (19). Inquisidor challenged Panterita to a title match, Panterita accepted.
3) Disturbio, Nitro, Okumura b Pegasso, Robin, Suicida
Rudos took 1/3. Pegasso return from injury.
4) Cancerbero, Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno b Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Panterita del Ring 
5) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado 

Inquisidor has a really cool look, does well on social media and the rare interviews he gets, so it’s too bad he’s not really ever been great in the ring. There’s also not that many lightweights so he gets a title program. The Gemelos looked quite bad in the Box y Lucha clip of the end of their match; they’ve progressively gotten worse as they’ve got pushed more.

CMLL (SUN) 07/03/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Enfermero Jr., Grako, Inquisidor b Cachorro, Hombre Bala Jr., Leono
Rudos took 2/3. Moved down a spot. Hombre Bala replaced Sangre Imperial.
2) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Chamuel & Perico
Moved up a spot.
3) El Audaz, Flyer, Volcano b Disturbio, Raider, Rugido
Tecnicos took 1/3. A KeMonito birthday celebration was held after the third mach.
4) Cavernario, Hechicero, Mephisto b Panterita del Ring, Star Jr., Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Atlantis, Dark Panther, Soberano Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible
Dark Panther beat Angel de Oro to set up a MEX LH title match.

It’s an angle on a Sunday show building to match! They were going to have to have meaningful matches soon, the minis ciberneticos start on July 17th, but this is at least something early.

The KeMonito celebration looked nice in photos, was hoping it would turn up as a video. It hasn’t as of yet.

Atlantis beat Fuerza Guerrera by DQ in Sunday’s Arena Neza main event. That show looked like it drew terribly.

CMLL (TUE) 07/05/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Minotauro, Persa, Raven vs Huitzil, Samuray Azteca, Temerario
2) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro (Querétaro), Optimus, Trono vs Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Difunto, Omega
3) Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte vs Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno
4) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus
5) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Pólvora, Templario, Zandokan Jr.

Nothing particular following up from last week.

CMLL (FRI) 07/08/2022 Arena México
1) Angelito, Pequeño Magía, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Minos, Pierrothito
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
3) Princesa Sugehit vs Dark Silueta [CMLL WOMEN]
5th defense
4) Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible
5) Averno, Templario, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

Averno hasn’t appeared in Arena Mexico since June when both of his appearances ended with Ultimo Guerrero challenging him to a hair versus hair match. That’ll probably happen again here, as will Templario/Soberano, and then maybe people will start to figure out what’s actually happening. The Leyenda de Plata starts on 07/15, so those feuds might hit simmer for a while after that.

I haven’t really been into Sugehit’s recent work so I’m not excited for the title match, but it has a chance to be good. So doe the semi-main. Lots of minis on Friday nights of late, which might be a way of prepping people for the upcoming apuesta match.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 07/02/2022 Centro de Usos Multiples, Mazatlán, Sinaloa [Noroeste]
1) Cachuy Rubio, Eclipse, Mario Mora b Antrax I, Antrax II, Índio Ladino
a local dark 3v3 match
2) Emperador Azteca & Mini Abismo Negro b Aramis & Komander
Aramis replaced Komander
3) Diva Salvaje, Dulce Kanela, Jessy Ventura b Estrellita, La Hiedra, Maravilla
Las Toxicas abandoned Estrellita after a missed move. Diva Salvaje pinned Estrellita, though it took two tries to get it right. Dulce Kanela (listed as Miss Gaviota in the newspaper) replaced Mamba.
4) Aerostar, Lady Shani, Myzteziz Jr. b Argenis, Chik Tormenta, La Parka Negra
Aerostar shot fire in Parka Negra’s face for the finish.
5) Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf b Jack Cartwheel & Willie Mack
6) Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, Pagano b Gringo Loco, Látigo, Toxin
Pagano replaced Vikingo (moved up) and pinned Latigo
7) Hijo Del Vikingo & Pentagón Jr. b Dragón Lee & Dralistico
Hijo del Vikingo replaced Bandido. Pentagon beat Dralistico with the Fear Factor. Gringo Loco attacked Vikingo after the match and demanded a title match TripleMania.

There’s video of part of the main event floating about, which is good because I wouldn’t have believed Dralistico taking a clean pin if I didn’t see it with my own two eyes. Gringo Loco’s purpose for being in AAA is to wrestle Hijo del Vikingo and AAA’s moved Vikingo into other matches now multiple times. I think the post match angle was more about trying to make it up to Gringo rather than any sort of plan to do that match at TripleMania. Not much of importance on the rest of this taping, just content for content’s sake (and who knows if/when Space will air the content.) Aramis appears to have been pulled from PWG to work a generic opening match that could’ve gone to a dozen other people; I can’t figure how that helps AAA.

AAA’s might want to be judicious about which camera angles they use for this show; videos and photos from the building showed lots of empty seats. It wasn’t a particular big building, this show just didn’t draw. (This is one of the kinder photos.)

That’s it for regular AAA TV tapings for July. There’s a Showcenter event at the end of the month and apparently nothing for the main show until Verano de Escandalo in August.

AAA , DTU (SUN) 07/03/2022 Domo Care, Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon [DTU, Telediario]
1) Parkita Negra b Raúl Vidal, Mini Gronda, Dragón Kid
2) Aeropanther & Fight Panther Jr. b Dulce Canela & Larry Miranda and Black Fire & Paranoiko and Baby Xtreme & Charro Negro
3) La Hiedra, Lady Flammer, Lady Maravilla b Ayako Hamada, Lady Apache, Miss Janeth
Ayako Hamada was the surprise wrestler
4) Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria b Crazy Boy, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa
5) Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Psicosis II, Toxin b Arez, Histeria, Maniaco, Mosco de la Merced
Originally Arez, Latigo and Toxin vs Histeria, Maniaco and Mosco with Psicosis II as referee, but changed to Arez with the original Vipers and Abismo & Psicosis being added. New Vipers destroyed Arez, left him bloody and beat him.
6) Laredo Kid b Black Taurus (Indie), Hijo Del Vikingo, Lokillo, Blaze, Camuflaje, Kaleth
Vikingo left this match via injury.
7) Dragón Lee (Indie) & Dralistico DQ Electroshock & Sharlie Rockstar
Electroshock & Sharlie Rockstar unmasked the tecnicos
8) Pagano & Psycho Clown DQ Cibernético & El Mesías
Los Vipers & La Secta all ran in to beat up the clowns.

This’ll probably get written up as an AAA show, though I think it was actually local promoters working with DTU, who subcontracted AAA wrestlers. (DTU wouldn’t be on this show unless they were running it somehow, and they’d been pushing it a lot locally.) Lots of people are going to want to take credit for this show because it did really well; it’s a 6,000 seat building and it appeared to be a sell out. Jose Manuel Guillen of Mas Lucha was there announcing, so it may turn up on their channel down the road. I would’ve encouraged better finishes in the top matches for a show that drew this well but so it goes with Mexican wrestling.

Vikingo’s injury is the most newsworthy part of the show, but I have no details on the severity. He was back on Instagram re-posting videos of him and didn’t post anything from a hospital, so hoping that means it’s not to

AAA confirmed Verano de Escandalo will take place August 5th and began to announce matches over the weekend

• NGD vs La Empresa (c) for the AAA World Trios Championships
• Laredo Kid vs Johnny Caballero vs Bandido vs Wilile Mack
• Pagano, Psycho Clown, Charly Manson vs Psicosis, Cibernetico, Abismo Negro Jr.

NGD and La Empresa are both undefeated so it’s logical they’d meet for the trios titles, but the TV has been pushing a Vipers/Empresa title match and NGD have not really existed on TV for months. If NGD did sign last August for one year, as Mas Lucha reported, that might be their last appearance under contract.

The second match is billed as a Dream Match, which is just throwing a slogan onto a match that has no reason to exist. (I’m not sure any four-way match has ever been a dream match.) This is one where we can all mock AAA for calling it a Dream Match and it’ll cause them to push it as a Dream Match even harder.

Pagano and Cibernetico continue to feud and to tease a hair match, but that hasn’t progressed an inch since February. Maybe it’s happening in October.

IWRG

IWRG (SAT) 07/02/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Rey Del Fuego & Último Caballero b Balac & Yetti
2) Nativo & Rosel b Milagro & Superboy
3) Guerrero Olímpico, Rey Aztaroth, Súper Cometa b Ajolotl, Cheff Benito, Rey Minos
4) Genex, Heredero Maya, Jhon Tito b Kenji, Rey Eclipse, X-Devil
5) Cometa Maya, Éxtasis, Radioactivo b Noisy Boy, Sol, Spider Fly
Noisy Boy asked for a rematch
6) Black Skayde, Forneo, Hijo De Skayde, King, Kong, Little Star, Senky, Viajero b Cerebro Negro Jr., Dick Angelo 3G, Garra Mortal Jr., Hell Boy, Legendario, Limbo, Puma de Oro, Rey Halcón [Copa Higher Power]
GYM FILL vs Gym Higher Power. Cometa Maya distracted the ref so Black Skayde could foul Puma de Oro for the win. Challenges followed.

This won’t turn up until Wednesday on IWRG’s YouTbe channel (and then maybe only some of the matches.) You can see some of the more hard hitting highlights on Black Terry Jr.’s Twitter account. I think people who do not watch much Mexican wrestling feel it is all like the Komander match from Big Lucha or the five way from TrpleMania Tijuana. It’s obviously not, and there are definitely people who wish it was a lot more like those clips more often instead.

IWRG (SUN) 07/03/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Kenji b Baby Star Jr. 
2) Mary Caporal & Satania b Bengalee & Diosa Quetzal 
3) Black Dragón, Freelance, Legendario b D Andrew, Garra Mortal Jr., Tortuga Leo 
D-Andrew (who appeared to be called Big Andrew on Big Lucha’s show the night before, from WAR LUCHA LIBRE in Ecuador) subbed for Shil-Kah.
4) Dick Angelo 3G & Puma de Oro b Aster Boy, Cerebro Negro Jr., Noisy Boy 
Cerebro Negro Jr. replaced Noisy Boy when he was given a martinete before the match really got started. La Jacuan attacked both Cerebro Negros after the match.
5) Cerebro Negro b Tonalli 
sets up a title match again
6) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Paymon b Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Shaun Moore, Travis Banks 
Hijo del Pirata Morgan wrestled the match under his old mask to avoid showing his bald head. It never got taken off

IWRG ran on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and is running on Tuesday. It’s hard to draw running that often. This one didn’t draw well. Mas Lucha promoted the stream around the idea of seeing Hijo del Pirata Morgan bald, and I guess Hijo del Pirata Morgan was scared people might not think of him as a top guy if he showed his bald head here. (I like Hijo del Pirata matches but I do’nt believe that’s a problem he needs to worry about.) Silver King once got in trouble in this same arena for wearing his lost mask in a match, but it didn’t seem it was an issue for Pirata.

IWRG’s next show is the Tuesday Teelo benefit show.

The IWRG World Trios Champions since 2015 have been Dinastia Navarro, Negro Navarro and his sons Los Traumas. Navarro and IWRG stopped working together in 2017, so the titles have been in limbo since. IWRG seems to a policy of not stripping champions even if they leave the company; it’s IWRG, so it may be as simple as “they don’t want to pay for new belts and can’t get the old ones back.”  The IWRG World Trios Champions since Sunday are Saltillo’s Espartaco, Latino and Tempestad, who beat the Navarros in Arena Pavillon del Norte. The promotion had announced a IWRG trios title defense but not the Navarros opponents. Espartaco was celebrating 30 years of wrestling on this show, so that’s probably the reason why. It’s the Navarros, so the finish was as screwy as possible – one ref was slow to count for them, Espartco pinned Navarro after a foul and a second referee got involved. I presume the Navarros are just winning the belts back in a few weeks and this isn’t a fix for the long-running stalemate. This title change hasn’t been acknowledged by IWRG and probably wasn’t done with their approval or knowledge.

That show was also supposed to be headlined by Mistico, who did appear but is unable to wrestle. The “wrestler of equal stature” CMLL sent as a replacement? Nitro.

A team of IWRG wrestlers are playing a soccer game on Sunday. I assume there’s some charity aspect to this.

Other

LuchaWorld has the latest LuchaWord podcast.

Big Lucha (FRI) 07/01/2022 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [@robviper, Mas Lucha]
1) Carito b Diosa Nix, King, Kong, Vórtize, Shocko, Hijo De Skayde, Mr. Win, Orbita, Elipse, Zenky, Big Andrew, Forneo [Torneo de Skayde]  
2) Éxtasis & Radioactivo b Big Mike, Fujiwara & La Estrella  
Team DG added to the match. No Abismo Negro Jr. so Big Mike wrestled on his own.
3) Skayde b Látigo  
4) Komander b Jack Cartwheel, ASF, Cometa Maya, Noisy Boy  
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Accion Jackson, Bendito, Elemental [EdM Trios]  
4th defense
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Galeno del Mal b Demonic Flamita & Emperador Azteca  
Demonic Flamita helped Azteca until Wagner arrived, turning the Azteca/Galeno singles match into a tag match.
7) Villano IV b Canek, Penta 0M  
turned into a 3 way with Wagner moved into the previous match. V4 won with a foul on Penta.
8) Potro De Oro & Tirano b Gravity & Yutani and Lady Maravilla & Sussy Love and Limbo & Viajero [relevos suicidas]  
Bandido out with injury, Flamita moved to another match. Teams were eliminated by being pinned,
9) Tirano b Potro De Oro [hair]  
Potro’s manager Maximillion Rivera Romero also got shaved.

Big Lucha did the normal full house even with elevated ticket prices. (They were claiming it was the first Mexican show to sell out before the day of the show; RIOT has done that for sure and I’m sure others have as well.) I thought it was a little cheap to build the show around Flamita & Bandido possibly losing their masks, though the fans didn’t seem to be bothered and it was also clear neither of them were actually losing once the actual match got announced. I know people thought the maine vent was going to be a cage match main event because it was a multiperson apuesta match, and instead they did rules where it was a tag match of rivals, and teams were eliminated from their chance of having the apeusta match if they got pinned. It’s the opposite of the AAA tournament and I think that threw people. The action wasn’t great either; Maravilla notably did not have a good night and it seemed to break down for real between her and Sussy Love in their portion of the main event.

I was in and out on watching this. The Komander match seemed to be the match of the night, with his highspots catching a lot international attention. The three-team (or two team and Mr. Mike with no AAA partner) match also seemed to get good reviews. Skayde/Latigo was said not to be as good as hoped; I think there’s a sense Skayde and similar guys have to wrestle more like modern wrestlers to fit in, when fans may be looking for them to stick out by doing their own things (and not the old man Destroyer spots.)

LA Park won The Crash Heavyweight Championship by pinning the debuting Pierroth (New Generacion) in a four way also with previous champion Cinta de Oro & Texano. It firmly establishes that new Pierroth is not supposed to be a star on the level of those other three guys in his debut, which seems less than ideal but probably inevitable. The Crash says their next show is September 9th; they continue to run shows less frequently.  This show didn’t draw well, so maybe that’s the best call. A LA Park/Rush lead show in Saltillo the next day was said to nearly fill the arena by the newspapers, though the photo they used makes it look a bit less occupied.

Santy Hernandez took ally Colmillo Blanco’s hair in the main event cage match of the Vanguardia anniversary show on Saturday. This Vanguardia big show seemed much more focused on local names than past – Sable beat Deluto IV for his hair in the other apuesta match, two guys who’ve been around Pachuca forever –  and that did seem to work out well.

Dr. Wagner Jr. claims he’s going to be out two weeks from a spine injury on a dive to Forastero, suggesting the NGD member didn’t catch him properly. Forastero replied telling Wagner to say away for a year. Two weeks for a spine injury is an unusual timeline and, as it happens, Wagner seems like he had the next two weeks off. Not booked anywhere.

On their Money in the Bank show, WWE announced they’d return to Mexico this October. They haven’t been to Mexico since late 2019, and they’re returning to Monterrey for the first time since 2016. WWE will return to Monterey on October 29th and to Mexico City on October 30th. That date is two weeks after TripleMania, likely in the same building. That also might be the weekend of CMLL’s Dia de la Muertes shows, which seem to draw well and draw from the same curious occasional wrestling watchers. I think this is more bad news for WWE than the Mexican promotions.

Arena Puebla’s Joker talks about his career and training and says the ideal age to start learning wrestling is 12. That’s Mexican wrestling as very different than any other country’s wrestling.

Black Taurus vs Laredo Kid from the Impact PPV pre-show is still up on YouTube. They do make the actual TV show the next couple of weeks.

Box y Lucha 3510 has KeMonito and Mistico on the cover.

Septimo Dragon says his debut in GLEAT went well, and he was told they’re bringing him back next month.

El Sol de Tampico interviews local wrestler Mensajero de la Muerte.

A profile of Queretaro luchador/policeman Drabek.

A Payaso Purasantas interview hyping Welcome to Mi Barrio, which seems to have stopped running in April. There was a May show scheduled, then canceled and not much has been heard from them since. Their Facbeook lists a July 30th return date, though it reads like they’re no longer running in Arena Tepito.

There will be a pictorial exhibit of Casandro in El Paso on Friday.

A profile of Monterrey’s El Divo.