CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 07/15/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronista del Ring, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (videos), thecubsfan]
1) Inquisidor, Okumura, Raider b El Audaz, Flyer, Suicida 
13:36.
2) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Blue Panther b Fuerza Guerrera, Stuka Jr., Templario 
14:36. Straight falls, DQ in the second when Guerrera unmasked Atlantis. Guerrera/Atlantis and Stuka Jr.Atlantis Jr. mask challenges followed.
3) Bárbaro Cavernario b Niebla Roja © [CMLL LH] 
19:56. Title change! Cavernario cleanly submitted Niebla Roja to La Cavernaria. Niebla Roja falls on his 10th defense, first since October 31st, 2020 (air date). Cavernario is the 17th champion.
4) Soberano Jr. b Titán, Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Rey Cometa, Magia Blanca, Hijo del Villano III, Panterita del Ring Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, cibernetico, semifinal]
30:44. Teams were Titán, Dragón Rojo Jr., Rey Cometa, Magia Blanca vs Soberano Jr., Negro Casas, Hijo del Villano III, Panterita del Ring Jr. Eliminations: Villano 3 Jr. (by Magia Blanca, 10:17), Cometa (Soberano, 13:53), Panterita del Ring Jr. (Titan, 15:52), Magia Blanca (Negro Casas, 17:03), Dragon Negro Casas (Dragon Rojo, 18:23), Dragon Rojo (Soberano, 20:41), Titan (Soberano, 30:44); Soberano advances to the 07/29 final.
Friday night had a hot crowd that was willing to go with most everything, until the last couple minutes of the last month. Cavernario and more so Titan was doing a lot of slow dramatic posing and signaling their moves before going for them. It seemed to lose the crowd near the end of the otherwise strong cibernetico, which turned into a 10-minute Soberano/Titan match. The crowd stuck with Cavernario more, and the crowd doing his shout as he signaled for his springboard plancha was a cool moment. I thought this was a strong show overall.
It seems crazy that Cavernario has been around for quite a while now, CMLL has a billion titles, and yet this was the first time he’s won a ‘world’ title. He’s had the nationals before and still has the Occidente Trios championship with his brother. Meanwhile, Niebla Roja was still masked when he won CMLL Light Heavyweight title, and he won it after CMLL fired then champ La Mascara. It was one of those classic CMLL super long reigns that you forget is even happening all the time.
Panterita del Ring Jr. looked very promising in the cibernetico. It wasn’t just his work, he visually fit in. Panterita Jr.’s seemed small teaming with his father and that could be a reason for CMLL to hold back on doing something with him. Here, he didn’t look much shorter than Titan and some of the others; it didn’t feel like his size should be an issue in pushing him. Villano III Jr. got a big section of the match before he was eliminated and didn’t do nearly as well.
Standard CMLL booking has a preview singles match before the Aniversario in a tournament final or a title match, and the winner of that match ends up the loser at the Aniversario. Templario winning next week’s Leyendas de Plata block, beating Soberano in the final, and then losing his mask in whatever Aniversaro match ends up happening fits that pattern, but it’d be very strange in every other way.
The announcers didn’t say there’s a cage match coming at the Aniversario and the wrestlers themselves reject the idea every time it’s brought up in postmatch interviews, yet there’s still obviously some multiperson match coming. That show is now two months away.
Niebla Roja made a quick request for a hair/hair match with Cavernario after the title change. It was so slight that I didn’t even notice it until it was pointed out by others. I don’t think it’s meant to be part of the Aniversario stuff, just the rote rematch challenge after losing a title match.
It stuck out in the opener that tecnicos were trying more advanced moves with Raider than the other two rudos. Raider has work to do to get better, but you can tell he’s trusted more than most of the guys in that spot.
CMLL (SAT) 07/16/2022 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Acero, Aéreo, Último Dragóncito b Angelito, Fantasy, Kaligua 
Team Dragoncito took 2/3
2) Cachorro, Leono, Valiente Jr. b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Príncipe Odín Jr.
Principe Odin Jr. replaced Inquisidor (moved up.) Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Inquisidor b Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma
Inquisidor replaced Akuma. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring, Volcano b Cancerbero, Kráneo, Luciferno
tecnicos took 2/3
5) Soberano Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible
tecnicos took 2/3
A show.
CMLL (SUN) 07/17/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas b Micro Ángel & Micro Gemelo Diablo II
Micro Angel replaced a Micro Gemelo Diablo; Kaiser Sports says it was Gemelo 2 who wrestled.
2) Diamond, Magnus, Rugido b Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Inquisidor
Inquisidor replaced Akuma for the second straight day. Depredadores took 2/3.
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
Atrapsuenos took 2/3.
4) Pequeño Olímpico L Mercurio, Full Metal, Pequeño Violencia, Minos, Pequeño Polvora [cibernetico]
Pierroth was scheduled but could not appear after testing positive for COVID. 3 vs 3 reverse cibernetico, Mercurio, Minos & Olimpico against Violencia, Polvora and Full Metal, escape by defeating someone. Escape order Full Metal (by defeating Minos), Minos (Pequeno Polvora), Pequeno Violenca (Peq. Olimpico), Pequeno Polvora (Pequeno Olimpico), Mercurio (Pequeno Olimpico) leaving Pequeno Olimpico as the loser. He will face the loser of next week’s cibernetico in an apuesta match on 07/29.
5) Negro Casas, Star Jr., Titán b Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 2/3.
CMLL had that whole overly complicated idea of how to handle an odd number of participants and didn’t get to use it. There are six mini tecnicos so they won’t get to use it next week either.
There’s a real chance Pequeno Olimpico is losing his mask on July 29th. He’s 56 and has been talking about doing a mask match with Pierrothito or Ultimo Dragoncito for about a decade. Dragoncito could still come out of the tecnico block next week.
It’s rare for CMLL to reveal COVID positives at this point, but I guess maybe they thought they had to do since Pierrothito was scheduled for the match. It’s tougher to get COVID tests in Mexico on your own than elsewhere – either this means CMLL is still doing regular testing or Pierrothito is dealing with some significant symptoms.
CMLL Puebla tonight has Stigma vs Diamond for the CMLL Super Lightweight Championship and Volador vs Soberano Jr., which might be the Leyenda de Plata a couple of Fridays from now. In a better world, instead of CMLL streaming a random two-month-old match late Monday nights as Twitch content, they just stream live Arena Puebla shows instead. Or even just the once-a-month interesting one, like this.
Hechicero would like to be in the G1 one of these years. No Mexican wrestler has been in the G1 since La Sombra in 2011.
Unspecified wrestlers – maybe CMLL ones, maybe Tijuana people – will be appearing this Saturday and Sunday as part of the “MexicoGotMe”‘s San Diego Comic Con presentation. Whoever it is will be signing autographs at Seaport Village, (not the main convention center.) No names are listed, but they CMLL is a sponsor of the presentation and so maybe we’ll hear more about this later this week.. The younder Salvador Lutteroth appeared on virtual panels in the past for the convention; there doesn’t appear to be a lucha libre panel this year.
The Mystique/OnlyFans story got a lot of press attention; there was nothing new to the story, it was the same story being reprinted on a lot of websites with nothing from Mystique at all and written as if Mystique was an active CMLL wrestler (which she hasn’t been for about a year.) It must’ve done some good traffic because there was a follow-up article talking about an ex-AAA wrestler also doing an OnlyFans and linking to Scarlett Bordeaux’s page.
The Gran Prix announcements are expected Wednesday. I think that’s still happening on Informa.
AAA
The end of AAA TV this week was an interview with Antifaz del Norte, who noted that he couldn’t understand why the promotion had booked him on the opposite of Laredo Kid but now he’d take Laredo’s mask. This was a very 2022 AAA deal; they started an angle on the first Showcenter event that was going to end with Antifaz betraying Laredo to set up a mask match, AAA dropped the angle after one show, and Antifaz was left to try to make sense of his reason for existing. I have no idea if the mask match is still happening – it’s entirely dependent on if the Showcenter people were promised a mask match – but Antifaz did the promo for it in hopes of talking AAA into following up on it. I wish him luck and hope that he’d do the same for the rest of the show if it works. It’s not ideal for a TV show to end with one of the characters explaining how the show makes no sense, but those were the choices AAA made this week.
It’s obvious AAA had no idea what they were actually booking for Verano de Escandalo at this Madero taping or no interest in booking towards it:
- the big angle at the end of the main event is Taurus destroying Vikingo; they’re partners at Verano de Escandalo
- Lady Shani appears, but there’s no hint of an upcoming apuesta match with Tirantes
- Piero is the only referee for the taping and in street clothes, so there’s some story there we haven’t gotten.
- The Vipers challenge La Empresa for the trios titles and actually fight NGD later. Verano has La Empresa vs NGD, without the Vipers being involved.
The Vipers are part of the Pagano/Ciberentico match, which was set up, but also has been an ongoing thing since February; they might have done it out of habit rather than planning. It’s not like there are a lot of events in between this taping and Verano de Escandalo – just one taping in Mazatlan, which also doesn’t build up anything. Maybe that Vipers title match is another one of the storylines that only exist for a TripleMania match but it’s hard to believe any title challenge is going anywhere. in I’m not sure if that Verano de Escandalo card changed greatly or AAA is just making things up as they go. The reasons don’t really matter. It’s just terrible from a week-to-week perspective.
The main event from this week’s AAA TV was good. The other two matches were fine.
The La Estrella airing of TripleMania Monterrey was just that, the Spanish presentation from FITE of the tournament matches, the trios match, and the main event tag match. There were some added graphics to introduce the people, but elements like the videos for each of the ruleta de la muerte participants were removed. There was no promotion for future AAA events or future AAA on La Estrellas TV airings; it was just a weird thing that existed. (Sure, someone could’ve googled around to find that information, but if the typical viewer was inclined to google for AAA stuff, they could’ve seen this show two months ago.) It may have been just putting a toe in the water for future agreements, but AAA could’ve made more of it.
Fenix looked hurt on AEW Rampage, taped on Wednesday. He did wrestle Friday in Tijuana and was said to look fine.
IWRG
IWRG (SUN) 07/17/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Rey Halcón b Baby Star
2) Noisy Boy, Sol, Spider Fly b Cerebro Negro Jr., Gallero, Tom Fulton
3) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. © b Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [EdM Trios]
5th defense
4) Puma de Oro b Toxin © [IWRG MEXICO]
Title change; first time this title has changed hands in the ring. Toxin falls on his 9th defense. Puma de Oro is the 3rd champion
5) Galeno del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Dick Angelo 3G & Legendario and Fly Warrior & Fulgor
6) Mary Caporal L Jessy Ventura, Diva Salvaje, Paymon, Soy Raymunda, Satania, Bengalee, Keyra, Óscar El Hermoso, Yuriko, Sexy Star [cage, hair, mask]
Sexy Star was the surprise wrestler. Bengalee took Mary Caporal’s mask. Mary Caporal is Miriam Maldonado (21 years old, 6 years a wrestler)
As always, a cage means two random people are involved in an apuesta match; a Mexican cage match is always built on many distinct rivalries, and none of them get settled. They draw, and this did as well, but they’re never satisfying. It still did draw well; it looked like a full house for what turned out to be a minor mask loss, so it was a great day for IWRG business.
Other Notes
Robles ran in Arena San Juan on Saturday. Attendance looked good for an Arena San Juan show, which doesn’t seem to be nearly enough to pay for a show of the talent scale they’re using. That doesn’t seem to matter to Robles Promotions much. The main event was for a Campeon de Campeones belt held by Cibernetico. He also happens to be the last AAA Campeon de Campeones champion, a title they used briefly in the late 90s and early 00s. It would’ve been very funny for Ciber to be defending an old AAA belt on a Robles show, but it appears to be a new belt.
The DMT Azul/Cibernetico ‘closing stretch’ to finish out that main event went about how you’d expect, though I’d argue the worst worker was definitely the referee. He took a chair shot to the head and went completely limp, Ciber fouled DMT, the referee rose to his feet and was completely fine because the referee needed to get in his own ‘leaping over the pin’ highspot before counting three, DMT Azul kicked out at 2.5 even though it was the finish, and the referee went back to being dead. Just the most indie garbage possible.
Cholo de Tijuana ran in Arena Azteca Budokan. That’s a packed house, though they also had about 40 people booked on the show. It’s probably not good for the lucha libre business where there are so many Mexican City promotions that the business doesn’t seem to make any sense.
Segunda Caida writes about LA Park & Shocker vs Super Boy & Capitan de Oro from 2002, probably the best Shocker year.