Leyenda de Plata tonight, Gran Prix set for 08/19, IWRG

CMLL

Tonight’s CMLL card

CMLL (FRI) 07/15/2022 Arena México
1) El Audaz, Flyer, Suicida vs Inquisidor, Okumura, Raider
2) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Blue Panther vs Fuerza Guerrera, Stuka Jr., Templario
3) Niebla Roja © vs Bárbaro Cavernario [CMLL LH]
10th defense, first since October 31st, 2020 (air date)
4) Soberano Jr. vs Titán, Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Rey Cometa, Magia Blanca, Hijo del Villano III, Panterita del Ring Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, battle royal]
5) ? vs ?? [Leyenda de Plata, quarterfinal]
6) ? vs ?? [Leyenda de Plata, quarterfinal]
7) ? vs ?? [Leyenda de Plata, quarterfinal]
8) ? vs ?? [Leyenda de Plata, quarterfinal]
9) ? vs ?? [Leyenda de Plata, semifinal]
10) ? vs ?? [Leyenda de Plata, semifinal]
11) ? vs ?? [Leyenda de Plata, final]

Ticketmaster Live link. We still have no idea if Leyenda de Plata is meant to be a ciberentico (like it was in most every year) or a single elimination tournament (like it was last year.) It could be a strong show if it’s a cibernetico, and a timestrapped one if there really are 11 matches.

CMLL takes Leyenda de Plata a bit more seriously than the other tournaments, so a top guy is probably coming through both brackets. Titan went to the final last year and has gotten wins lately, Soberano Jr. just won his tournament and I’m not sure if CMLL is going to put Negro Casas in a singles final of a tournament at this point. Dragon Rojo Jr. is in the Friday mix but hasn’t done much on Fridays since his full time return, and this might be a way to fix that. Rey Cometa would be a fun dark horse pick. I will write a column for VOW imploring people to start paying attention to Panterita del Ring Jr. if he pulls off the big upset here.

This is also about the time where CMLL would give the upcoming loser of the Aniversario a big win to boost them up prior to their big loss, but no one really fits. I guess be alarmed if Cometa both wins and suddenly has a death grudge with Magia Blanca or someone. The second match exists to get those other Aniversario challenges out there.

Niebla Roja has come through well in title matches. Barbaro Cavernario tends to coast through trios but does better in singles, and that could be a great title match.

I think Raider might be a halfway decent base and he’ll need to be given his opponents and his teammates.

CMLL (SUN) 07/17/2022 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
2) Diamond, Magnus, Rugido vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
4) Pierrothito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Mercurio, Full Metal, Pequeño Violencia, Minos, Pequeño Polvora [cibernetico]
5) Negro Casas, Star Jr., Titán vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto

There’s seven minis rudo in the cibernetico, which leads to a problem when trying to split into two teams. There’s lot of ways that could be handled. CMLL picked an overly complex method:

something like the usual battle royal to set teams happens
that stops when they get down to the final two.
those final two wrestle a one fall match (probably a short one)
the winner gets first pick of people on his team, and ends up with one extra
the loser gets the rest
a 4 v 3 elimination match happens
wrestlers escape the match by pinning/submitting someone
the last person left moves onto the final on 07/29

Simple enough.

CMLL (TUE) 07/19/2022 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo & Chamuel
2) Cachorro, Leono, Suicida vs Cholo, Grako, Nitro
3) La Guerrera, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Reyna Isis, Tiffany
4) Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring vs Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora, Rey Bucanero
5) Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Reyna Isis & Jarochita pick up their feud. I still feel like there’s a half chance of a press conference on Wednesday to announce that match and other Aniversario plans, but there’s been no talk of one.

Atlantis Jr. is a rudo this show. Cachorro seemed like he was going places early on and then CMLL remembered he was part of the Blue Panther family and put a stop to that.

CMLL (TUE) 07/19/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Obelisk, Persa, Raven vs Huitzil, Jhonny Dinamo, Temerario
2) Crixus, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Bobby Black, Destructor, Quka
3) Cris Skin, El Divino, Joker vs Demonio Maya, Omega, Principe Daniel
4) Dalys, Metálica, Sexy Sol vs Dark Silueta, Náutica, Vaklyria
5) Felino & Negro Casas vs Fuerza Guerrera & Satánico
6) Esfinge & Fugaz © vs Averno & Zandokan Jr. [MEX TAG]
2nd defense

The tag title match was set up last week. I keep expecting Dalys to be off this lineups to go on to her Japanese tour (the one announced last month) and she’s still here.

CMLL announced the 2022 Gran Prix will take place on August 19th. Both Team Mexico and Team World will be announced on next Wednesday’s edition of CMLL Informa. So far, only Titan has been announced for Team Mexico. No one has been announced for Team World, though CMLL regulars Dark Magic and Okumura are presumed to be two of the eight members. I’ve been repeatedly told to expect a minor NJPW name. The G1 finishes up the day prior, so anyone involved in that that tournament is probably off limits.

AAA

AAA has part 2 of Ciudad Madero. There are four matches left to air. AAA has a strict belief in airing three matches from a regular TV taping, so one of these matches is probably not airing:

Willie Mack vs Flamita vs Dinámico vs Emperador Azteca
Lady Shani, Sexy Star, Sussy Love vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla
Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa vs Carta Brava & Parka Negra
Hijo Del Vikingo & Laredo Kid vs Antifaz del Norte & Taurus

I have another obligation Saturday afternoon and it doesn’t currently appear I’ll be streaming this live. I’ll tweet out the other wild Twitch link if I can find it on Saturday and stream it later, maybe late Saturday night.

No AAA TV tapings this weekend.

Chik Tormenta appears to be part of the WOW tapings in Los Angeles.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 07/14/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Sol & X-Devil b Astaroth & Súper Boy
2) Jhon Tito & Spider Fly b Gallero & Wagner Kid
debut of Gallero here
3) Aster Boy, Freelance, Noisy Boy DQ Fly Warrior, Shocko, Yorvak
Fly Warrior pinned Noisy Boy, got the three, and then lost by excessive DQ. Sets up a IWRG Rey del Aire title match anyway. Freelance replaced King Charro.
4) Óscar El Hermoso & Yuriko b Mary Caporal & Satania and Bengalee & Keyra and Paymon & Zoy Raymunda
Ventura hit Paymon with a chair to give Yuriko a win. Those three made challenges.
5) Abismo Negro Jr. & Toxin b Dick Angelo 3G & Legendario [super libre]
Los Herderos Doradaos (Angelo & Legendario) took out Toxin, but Abismo still won, then challenged Dick Angelo 3G for the IWRG JUNIORS title. Legendario is now part of La Jacuan.

Perhaps the most notable part of this show was a (apparently drunk) fan deciding to try to clothesline Dick Angelo 3G and Legendario. It didn’t go well for him, or for a (apparently drunk) fan who tried to get involved and tripped over a chair in the process. Fans should not try clotheslines on wrestlers but also wrestlers should not be surprised they’re going to be hit by drunk fans if every match involved brawling around drunk fans.

Mas Lucha will have their 16th Anniversary show on July 28th from Arena Naucalpan and have announced DMT Azul vs Grond XXX. This will be a members only show. Mas Lucha probably has the best idea of what’s going to sell tickets of anyone who doesn’t run a promotion (and maybe they have a better idea than some that do), so they’re surely running the freak show main event because a freak show main event is going to fill up Arena Naucalpan and it probably will.

If someone from Mas Lucha is reading this, please let me know how much it would cost to fix whatever broken device makes stream flicker to a black screen and I would very much consider donating it to you. Or starting a GoFundMe for you. It’s apparent how out of control it’s gotten in a GIF of that fight yesterday.

Other News

LuchaWorld has this week’s Lucha Report.

Lourdes Grobet, who’s lucha libre photography book is one of the most well know modern Mexica wrestling books, passed away Friday. CMLL and IWRG noted the passing. SuperLuchas has an obituary.

Big Lucha is running a play-in tournament for their World title on their Wednesday night Big Lucha World shows. Viajero, Bendito, Extasis and Elemental won matches last night; Mas Lucha indicated those four will meet in semifinals next week.

Mexico City area luchador Magnetico will be wrestling as Maya Azteca Jr. on the Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre show this weekend He’s the grandson of long time referee Rafael el Maya and taking the name he used as a wrestler. Rafa el Maya was surprised and in tears about it. It reads like the name change is only meant to be a one-time thing but may change if it gets over.

I’ve got extra time today, so here’s a list of notable shows week:

AAA/EMW is running a charity (fallen police officers) show this Friday in Auditorio de Tijuana. Fenix vs Flamits vs Willie mack vs Jack Cartwheel is the scheduled main event. The CMLL show that no one attended had footage turn up so I presume we’ll see this on a YouTube channel.
Robles has a show in Arena San Juan with Cibernetico, Charly Manson, DMT Azul and Hijo del Solitario in a four way main event. There probably will be a million YouTubes of that though they should probably consider burning all the footage.
Lucha Memes is in Arena Lopez Mateos on Saturday with Atlantis Jr. vs Leon Dorado. This will turn up on IWTV eventually.
ASPW has Mago vs Tromba vs Draego in Guadalajara on Saturday. Also, Microman & X-Fly team, which is certainly a first. Their shows also go up on IWTV eventually.
IWRG’s La Jaula de las Locas takes place Sunday and is a Mas Lucha premium show.

GCW tonight has Tony Deppen vs Komander. Sunday’s GCW show has Gringo Loco vs Komander. Like always, there’s a bundle for both shows. Gringo Loco vs Komander will also take place on the 07/23 Warrior Wrestling show.

GCW also announced Bandido vs Jordan Oliver for their 07/29 show.

Big Lucha announced a 07/28 show in Torreon, but that show is now postponed until September. Bandido’s show had Psycho and Vikingo scheduled, there was also an AAA staffed show announced for Arena Olimpico Laguna that day and that appeared to be a conflict.