CMLL
Tonight is CMLL’s Noche de Campeones show, with six challengers decided by fan votes.
CMLL (FRI) 09/30/2022 Arena México
1) Pierrothito vs Mercurio © [CMLL MINI]
3rd defense
2) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado © [CMLL TRIOS]
2nd defense
3) Amapola & Silueta vs La Jarochita & Lluvia © [MEX WOMEN TAG]
10th defense (8th on CMLL shows)
4) Dulce Gardenia & Espíritu Negro vs Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © [CMLL TAG]
5th defense
5) Suicida vs Titán © [CMLL WELTER]
5th defense
6) Místico vs Rugido © [NWA MIDDLE]
5th defense
It feels like a big night for Rugido and Suicida; they’re only getting these singles matches because they had such fan support, and now they get to prove they’re deserving of it. Rugido seemed to be thought of highly when he was a Welcome To Mi Barrio wrestler, people speaking positively of him as a person as much as a wrestler. He hasn’t stood out to me at all in his first year in CMLL; he’s not bad, but I haven’t got why people were excited about him. Tonight’s a good chance to make an impression. Suicida has shown improvement since switching to that gimmick and he’s a promising star, but a long singles match is a big test for him.
I don’t think it’s all or nothing. Los Cancerberos and Rey Cometa & Espiritu Negro are the past examples of people who benefited from fan voting to get title matches. Cometa memorably blew his big dive but still did otherwise well, and CMLL seemed to move up both acts just by virtue of that demonstrated fan support. (And by people leaving making for more spots available.) There’s a decent chance Rugido & Suicida get moved up a spot or two as long as they just do OK.
A night of champions powered by fan votes seems like a great place to do a title change. This show doesn’t line up great for title changes. Mistico, Titan and the Chavez should not be losing their title matches. Mercurio hasn’t been champ for long and Pierrothito winning would feel a step backwards. La Jarochita & Lluvia losing to a team that’s not a team after their very long title reign feels underwhelming, though I don’t have confidence in that title reign ending in a big way. That just leaves the trios titles as something to change hands for the sake of changing. Even there, CMLL’s been much higher on Los Gemelos Diablos that I would’ve guessed so far and so I’m not even sure that’ll change hands.
It’s the usual Ticketmaster PPV.
The CMLL Aniversario show goes up on CMLL’s YouTube channel Sunday afternoon.
CMLL (SUN) 10/02/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Minos & Pequeño Violencia
2) Cachorro, Leono, Sangre Imperial vs Cholo, Inquisidor, Nitro
3) Arkalis, Panterita del Ring Jr., Suicida vs Kráneo, Okumura, Raider
4) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Volcano vs El Coyote, Pólvora, Virus
5) Atlantis, Dragón Rojo Jr., Titán vs Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
Kraneo may weight twice as much as Pantertia del Ring Jr. Nothing on Sundays matters but that match might be worth checking out when it airs (10/14) because Raider and Panterita Jr. are really good together.
CMLL (MON) 10/03/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Hijo de Centella Roja vs Black Tiger
2) Asturiano & Millenium vs Espíritu Maligno & Fuerza Chicana
3) La Jarochita, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Olympia, Reyna Isis, Tiffany [cibernetico]
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Euforia, Soberano Jr., Stigma vs Magia Blanca, Rugido, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Rugido getting a main event and the cibernetico feel like they’re setting up things, but it’s never sure if things are going to happen.
CMLL (TUE) 10/04/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Optimus & Trono vs Omar Brunetti & Vaquero Jr.
2) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Perico Zacarías
3) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
4) Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Lluvia vs La Magnifica, Reyna Isis, Sexy Sol
5) Crixus, Mano Negra Jr., Rebel Warrior vs Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Joker
6) Hijo del Villano III, Rokambole Jr., Villano V Jr. vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
Hijo del Villano III is the only main roster male wrestler on this show. Guadalajara remains eccentric. The Villano V kids actually were supposed to team with the other Villano III last night in Arena Aficion. Or at least that’s what the poster indicated, who knows. Jarochito and Isis get to bring their match here and the Micors make an appearance.
Mano Negra Jr. and Rebel Warrior appear to be new members of that family wrestling. Rebel Warrior wears a half Warrior mask. It’s a bit unnerving to see someone in a half Warrior mask less than a year after Warrior Jr. passed away due to injuries from an in-ring accident.
CMLL’s 7v7 announcement for the Gran Prix de Amazonas seemed to be a setup for a surprise 8th person, similar to Mistico and Mesias being “late” additions to the men’s teams. It was also obvious Faby Apache would attract attention if she joined CMLL. The question was only if CMLL and Apache would be willing work together. That question got answered on Wednesday, as Faby Apache made a surprise appearance at the end of Wednesday’s CMLL Informa to announce her participation in the Gran Prix. Apache has never wrestled in CMLL prior; her father left in 1994 and she started in AAA. Apache seemed to be on the way out of AAA all year and announced she had left at the end of August, but some CMLL media doesn’t pay a lot of attention and reported this as a jump from one to another. Apache said in that interview that she was only in for the Gran Prix. Apache also did interviews with the media following Informa where she said she was not under contract but in for “some dates.” That sounds similar to the Mesias deal, where we’ve seen him on occasional Friday nights but not working the usual loop. Apache said all the right things in her interviews: her career wouldn’t be complete without stepping foot in the Arena Mexico ring, she didn’t know all the CMLL wrestlers but obviously they’re high quality if they wrestle in CMLL, CMLL really recognizes and respects luchadoras. Apache coming to CMLL got covered in all the usual CMLL media outlets.
Faby Apache has been a great wrestler, has had some of the best women’s matches in the history of Mexican wrestling, and still is very good at what she does. The AAA fans adored her, even when AAA really wasn’t doing much with her. She was well known enough that CMLL fans will be excited to see her. CMLL wrestlers have talked positively about wanting to wrestle Apache when her name has come up via media interviews in the past. This is going to be a big deal for those fans who see Faby Apache versus Marcela or Faby Apache versus Amapola as a true dream matches. It almost feels like a modern boxing bit, where those types of dream matches tend to come after (or far after) the athlete’s prime but they still end up attracting large audiences because the legacy star power of the people involved. There’s no great recent history of women’s matches drawing notably large crowds in Arena Mexico but a Marcela versus Faby Apache match, done properly and done before the novelty, has a chance to be change that.
The other side is Faby Apache has a reputation among her fellow wrestlers as someone hard to get along with, someone who expects people to live up to her standards or suffer for it, someone who’s not interested in taking a back seat to anyone and someone unafraid to take a cheap shot at opponents in matches. AAA wanting to focus on other women seemed to be one of the reasons Apache left AAA and it’s hard to believe she’d be any happier just being one of many in CMLL’s division. Having Apache in for dates and only impactful dates is the best for everyone involved. There’s always going to be a risk of an abrupt ending to this relationship after some public falling out.
Ivelisse was added to Team World as their 8th member. Ivelisse has barely ever wrestled in Mexico – maybe twice? – but she’s well known to lucha libre fans from her time on Lucha Underground. There was a moment where it felt like she was going to be a breakout star off that TV show and it never happened. The reasons she’ll give and the reasons everyone gives differ greatly. Ivelisse had difficulties in her pre-LU stint with WWE, which are largely agreed to be problems with how WWE was running their developmental system at the time and the specific people who were in charge. She though continued to have issues with people during and post LU, which has led to a lot of short stints and working on the fringes of wrestling. Most infamously, she was brought in to AEW in 2020, won a tag team tournament, and was out of the promotion in months after incidents including perceived pouting during a TV match. Ivelisse proceeded to complain about her time in AEW in outside interviews and months later seemed to be trying to talk her way into returning. She hasn’t really wrestled much since. She’s been based in the same Florida area as Oraculo and Lince Dorado, so there’s some pipeline there to CMLL.
(Ivelisse and Faby Apache are a lot alike in personality issues, just Apache had her father working for the promotion and got over before people she got on people’s nerves. Ivelisse didn’t have that family protection and never got so over people had to keep her around when she frustrated them.)
Ivelisse is a Spanish speaker and looked like she could still go in the ring when she wanted in AEW. She just didn’t want to and it got bad at the end. There are some really good wrestlers scheduled for this Gran Prix, and also some of them are true hotheads. This Gran Prix could be great, could descend into a hot mess with people getting upset with each other in front of the fans, or could be both of those things at the same time. The variance is super high in this match and it’s at least intriguing from that perspective.
CMLL also announced the Dia del Muertos shows will return on November 1st (Tuesday), 4th (Friday) and 6th (Sunday.) CMLL ran just two of these shows in 2021 and 2019, so expanding back to three is a sign CMLL believes interest in event shows is increasing. Terrible is the reigning Rey del Inframundo.
CMLL also mentioned the annual Best of Show will expand to two shows in early 2023. CMLL’s had some really good matches but this also likely more about CMLL believing they can draw an extra crowd with the concept.
The Fukumania channel posted a tribute video to Starman.
Fuego en el Ring has an interview with Dark Silueta, This interview exists because Lucha Memes said Dark Silueta was no longer on her show due to upcoming knee surgery and Dark Silueta wanted to shoot that story down. Silueta says her recent knee injury was actually an old injury flaring back up. She says feels 100% and isn’t going to need surgery. Sileuta say she has the usual pains after a match but she’s fine and she’s going to wrestle in all the important shows coming up in the next month.
Niebla Roja doesn’t want to be compared to other Ingobernables. As long as you’re going to put on the Yankees jersey, you’re going to be compared to past Yankees. (I think the real point is those guys would prefer to have their own identity but that’s not an option provided to them.)
Grako posted a video of himself in the hospital with an arm injury, and said he’ll be out a couple of months due to a torn muscle.
AAA
AAA has been busy and weird. Dorian Roldan had talked about possible shows in Acapulco and Phoenix in interviews, and said there would be bigger announcements coming about them. Tickets for those shows went on sale Wednesday without any big announcement. My guess is something got pushed back or changed and the people responsible for the on-sale dates were not told
The “Phoenix” show is on December 3rd in Tempe’s Mullet Arena, a Saturday night. This is the small building better known as the location where the NFL’s Arizona Coyotes will play now after running in to issues with their normal NHL venue. Tickets are on sale here and run between 25 and 100 dollars. AAA didn’t mention the show was happening until two hours after the tickets were put on sale.
AAA’s last foray into running into the US included moved and delayed-then-canceled shows. As a fan, it’s hard to recommend buying tickets for this show with so little information and the past history – you really should only spend money if you’re OK with it being held up for a refund for a while in the end. As a promotion, AAA needs a big show and lot of hype to get 3,000 people into a building. That’s slightly more than the moved Hulu Theatre ended up seating and that show kicked off with a big press conference and a bigger venue. This show kicked off with a couple of social media posts after tickets went on sale and a generic filler poster, and tickets have barely moved. On Thursday, a press release to some outlets (not this one) listed the show as a Blue Demon 100th birthday celebration, with Blue Demon, Psycho Clown, Vampiro, Hijo del Vikingo, Lady Shani and Sexy Star advertised. That is Hijo del Vikingo’s first advertised US booking. I’m told at least one person on that list only found out that show existed and they were booked on it only because I mentioned the press release on Twitter.
I think AAA’s theory is there are plenty of Hispanic people in the Phoenix area, so if they show up with a major lucha libre show and let the people know, they’ll get a good attendance. They’d like the non-Hispanic people to buy tickets too, but they’re betting on an affinity for their style of wrestling to sell people on coming to the show. A Blue Demon-centric show is a way to sell people on it being authentic lucha libre. They haven’t really let any one know it’s happening at this point. They got two months to figure it out.
Given AAA’s history with US live events, I would advise to only buy a flight/hotel if they’re refundable. You’ll get the ticket back eventually if something goes wrong, so just make sure you get everything else back.
The Acapulco show is on December 28th, a Wednesday, at new venue Arena GNP, opened this past fall. It was listed as a capacity for 10,400 for a tennis event. It might be a little different for lucha libre. The tickets are pricey for a Mexico-based show (660 up to 2340); it’s gotta be a Rey de Reyes level event, almost a fourth TripleMania. My first thought was maybe this would be where some of those AEW/AAA champions might show up, but it’s a Wednesday, that seems unlikely. AAA did acknowledge the on-sale of this show after it happened.
This Acapulco show fits the idea of a year-end event with a multiperson cage match to wrap up the many lingering midcard feuds. It appears wrestlers have been told that’s the plan; guys like Aerostar and Myzteziz immediately started doing social media posts pushing their mask matches to take place on that show. How many of the AAA midcard feuds can I remember in this paragraph? Villano III Jr. & Octagon Jr. had the eye thing. Myzteziz & Argenis have the gimmick thing. I’m not even sure why Parka Negra & Aerostar are mad at each other. The Laredo Kid & Antifaz feuded got totally messed up somewhere along the way but I suppose it’s still on (and Anitfaz is the leading candidate to lose any cage match he’s in.) Maybe the Crazy Boy/Dragongate vs Iguana/Hamburguesa feud will last for more than one TV taping. Is Arez still feuding with the Vipers? I watch that show every week and I can’t say for certain. That’s a good place to stop.
Mas Lucha posted an interview with Dorian Roldan from after the TripleMania preess conference last week. The vibes were weird in the first few minutes of this interview. Roldan said he was very happy with the lineup, but he didn’t seem happy about other things. I’m not sure if I was missing something or if there was something Roldan wanted to say but didn’t feel comfortable just putting out there and had to talk around it. The message I got, internationally or not, was that Roldan had doubts about the return on investment of foreign talent – more so the higher priced (AEW) foreign talent – and thought this TripleMania would be unaffected by skipping them. The Young Bucks were suggested by Jose Manuel Guillen as people fans might have wanted to see and Roldan said that having them face the Hermanos Lee would cost guys like Komander & Myzteziz their spot and he thought those guys earned to be on this show. Roldan also expressed a belief that TripleMania Tijuana was better than TripleMania Monterrey because they had less people booked, and he wanted quality over quantity. Roldan’s belief was that if Vikingo really is the 8th best wrestler in the world, then maybe he’s internationally famous enough that him versus Rey Fenix is a big deal on their own and they don’t need more people. Roldan said he was specifically going to look at the FITE numbers for Monterrey and Mexico City to compare how they did with or without the Young Bucks. At the same time, Roldan seemed a bit skeptical Vikingo really was the 8th best wrestler. Roldan said Omega didn’t end up on the card but left open the possibility that someday his and AAA’s paths may cross again. Roldan said positive things about Kamille and Thunder Rosa, so it wasn’t like was against all foreign wrestlers being involved.
If Dorian Roldan doesn’t see the Young Bucks as being more valuable to a TripleMania show than Myzteziz & Komander, then there isn’t much of a case to bring in almost anyone from AEW. It may explain why AEW hasn’t been in a hurry to bring back FTR or Sammy & Tay if AAA doesn’t see them as a great return of investment. Roldan’s viewpoint seems different than what Konnan has expressed on his podcast.
Other notes including an aside mentioning a taping in Mexicali that hasn’t been announced. It appears to be after the Ciudad Juarez show. The 2023 calendar will be decided in October. The “3 TripleMania” plan was a success and they’re open to doing it again, but they haven’t committed to that plan. They’d like to bring back Vernao de Escandalo and Guerra de Titanes and they’re being skipped this year only due to uncertainty in how COVID would play out in 2022. They’d like to run a show in Los Angeles WrestleMania weekend, it’s an obvious strong potential market for them, but they haven’t committed to doing it yet. Roldan says he’s spent this year traveling to US shows to get a sense of what works and doesn’t work, and understanding how different parts of the country react differently. Success for AAA in the US would be about 10 shows a year that draw between four and five thousands fans, which Roldan noted is an attendance 99% of US promotions don’t reach. Roldan was positive about Faby Apache and wished her luck with whatever was next. We didn’t know she was going to CMLL Gran Prix but he may have known.
AAA’s poster for TripleMania says the pre-show starts at 7 and the main show starts at 8. I’m not sure what’s meant to be on the pre-show. The FITE feed remains at 7 pm.
AAA TV on Space this Saturday is listed as starting at 5:50 pm, but those times can’t be trusted any time the show moves around. I’ll have on Twitch VOD if you miss it live.
- Lady Shani, Reina Dorada, Sexy Star vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla
- Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, Willie Mack vs Dave The Clown, Dinámico, Emperador Azteca
- Hijo Del Vikingo & Myzteziz Jr. vs Dragón Lee & Dralistico
AAA tapes TV in Zapopan (outside of Guadalajara) on Sunday night. Psycho Clown, Pagano and Sexy Star face Cibernetico, Sam Adonis and Chik Tormetnt in the main event. The obligatory star ratings chasing match is Hijo del Vikingo vs Laredo Kid vs Taurus. Arez, Aramis and Komander vs Flamita, Abismo Negro and Latigo could also be great. This show may air next week on Space but I’m less confident on the plan because of TripleMania.
AAA did put up the second part of the Torreon show on YouTube. The first try at that failed, with the previous week going up by mistake. The Hard Rock part 1 show is already set up to go live Sunday and that one looks problem free.
On the latest Keepin it 100, Konnan said he also tried to contact Adam Cole for TripleMania but said Cole couldn’t participate due to a concussion. Cole on AAA would’ve been a fun deal for a bunch of fans and I guess it never hurts to ask, but that seemed like a very long shot. The concussion issue has been well known since June and Cole was also known to have other injury issues prior; if someone under AEW contract is not healthy enough to wrestle for AEW it would be weird to see him in AAA.
Pagano received an award for his work in the Ciudad Juarez wrestling festival.
Plataformas News has a recap of a panel about live sports in the streaming era. Dorian Roldan participated and is briefly quoted, saying AAA’s goal is to broadcast where they’re going to get the most people seeing their product. They realize that different outlets will have different audiences and they want to turn as many as possible into AAA fans.
AEW
Bandido’s debut on AEW Dynamite ended in a loss to Chris Jericho in their ROH title match. It also was a spectacular match. Bandido’s first match in the wider Elite universe was the All In main event, a match infamously cut down on time because of other matches going longer. The decision there was to give Bandido as much spotlight as possible, since he was the guy the fans didn’t know, and it worked. This Bandido reintroduction was the same; Jericho let Bandido do everything he could to get himself over, and Bandido did every big move he had to do so. The crowd ate it up. (They also got a bunch more time than in All In.) It completely worked as far as getting Bandido over. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported AEW did make a contract offer to Bandido. In the past, I’ve had things to report on Bandido’s contract. I don’t have any additional information to report on this situation.
The flipside of Bandido’s happy experience in AEW is Andrade. Rumors of his unhappiness in AEW seemed to have started since Paul Levesque (HHH) took over WWE creative. It has been reported WWE reached out to many recently departed wrestlers about returning to WWE if they could get out of their current contract. It appears Andrade was one of those wrestlers, but that’s not been confirmed. Andrade at first vaguely disputed rumors of him wanting out on Twitter, and has since definitely played into those rumors. Following Wednesday’s show, he tweeted “30 seconds” (an apparent reference to his TV time on Dynamite) and “#FreeElIdolo.” Andrade previously indicated his contract lasted until the summer of 2024. The Wrestling Observer reported that AEW would not be giving releases on contracts. On one hand, Andrade’s discontent is entirely consistent: he was unhappy in WWE because he wasn’t getting to wrestle much and he’s unhappy in AEW because he’s not getting to wrestle much. On the other hand, it’s hard to have sympathy to see someone push their way out one company, signed with another company, and then agitate to go back to the original company. It must be frustrating to keep signing deals that go bad but at some point you’re the person responsible for signing them. It’s also hard to believe things will work out much better for Andrade in WWE in the long term than they did last time, no matter who is in charge. WWE hasn’t changed that much and they still have a lot of people. I’m not sure how this gets resolved in the near term.
Andrade’s been annoyed for a while but it has raised some eyebrows that it’s escalated the same week as Bandido came in and got a main event. Andrade infamously sent out a negative Twitter post about Bandido when he won the ROH Championship about Rush, then walked it back a day later. It may just be a coincidence but Andrade would’ve obviously loved to have that spot.
In one of his other tweets, Andrade congratulated birthday boy Rush for a signing a new contract. Tony Khan confirmed on Thursday that Rush has signed a contract. It’s strange that Rush signed a deal with AEW as his best friend campaigns to get out of AEW, but maybe Rush has been informed there’s no WWE deal waiting for him. No terms were announced.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha (FRI) 10/14/2022 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Carito, Tirano, Viajero vs King, Kong, Potro
2) Ayako Hamada & Faby Apache vs Catalina & Sussy Love
3) Cometa Maya, Éxtasis, Radioactivo vs Forneo, Sol, Torito Negro Jr.
4) Emperador Azteca vs The Tiger (Tamalupias) [KAOZ CRUISER]
5) Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu vs Accion Jackson, Bendito, Elemental, Flamita
6) El Bandido vs Yutani [BL WORLD]
This is the day before TripleMania, so you’ll have this show and Arena Mexico (Universal Femenil Block B) as options if you arrive early.
Yutani gets his biggest match ever. Emperador/Tiger does land on this show. I hated the segment on the last show but Tiger can be good and so can that match. The Third match continues an existing feud. King and Kong seem to be ending up as rudos.
It’s a Halloween-ish show, so the Dark Family is in. The second match might include a couple of murders too; Faby and Ayako are going to give Sussy & Catalina some nightmares.
This post had a typo on it and they put up a new version that fixed it. That puts Big Lucha ahead of 99% of Mexican wrestling promotions.
The Mexico City government sponsored tryouts started on Thursday. I saw people filming the matches, but I saw them filming only in Instagram Story clips. The camera filming might have been all local news. ImagenTV did a story, and UnoTV has an article on the tryouts with more footage. 62 wrestlers, 10 of them women. The obvious star of the first day is quoted: a micro sized luchador (1.27 m) named Oni who won over everyone when he could. I’m not sure if he’ll win but he seems certain to stick around Big Lucha in some capacity if he wants. The tryouts continue every Thursday with the final on October 27th.
IWRG
- 2001-07-12: Maligno, Akuma vs Avisman I, Avisman II
- 2001-07-12: Multifacetico, Super Astro 2000, Fantasy vs Bestia Rubia, Super Mega, Mega
- 2005-06-23 Mistico , Sagrado, Matrix vs Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Scoprio Jr.
I had slight wrong lineups for the top two matches. IWRG’s back to Thursday live shows next week, so I’m not sure when there will be more of these. They did sign off talking as if there would de be more.
IWRG (SUN) 10/02/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) John Tito vs Feroz
2) Sagittarius & Therius vs Mary Caporal & Satania
3) Noisy Boy, Paymon, Spider Fly vs Crazy King, Garra Mortal, Limbo
4) Aster Boy, Hijo del Alebrije, Tonalli vs Dick Angelo 3G, Mc-360, Puma de Oro
5) Hijo De Canis Lupus & Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Rey León & VIP
6) Caballero de Plata, Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
An IWRG show. Semimain is IWRG vs RGR.
IWRG’s Revolucionando show introduced the new Hijo de Canis Lupus. I believe he’s a current IWRG wrestler getting a new character; he said on the show he’d been wrestling for 13 or 14 years and was starting a new chapter of his career. The Morenos actually went to Chicago to endorse the new IWRG tag team champions and said there’s going to be challengers decided in Mexico.
Other News
LuchaWorld has this latest Lucha Report.
Maximo has been accused of domestic violence towards India Sioux, according to Record. This is mostly a missing piece. The incident, observed by both their children and the neighbors, took place on September 1st. India Sioux posted a message on Facebook on September 2nd, accruing him of being an addict and saying she was getting away from him. She’s since deleted the post. Maximo responded then that he and Sioux had actually separated a while back and he smooth over everything with Sioux’s family. That post has also been removed. Record says the incident is being investigated; it doesn’t appear charges have been filed at this point.
Record is a big sports newspaper so this story got picked up in a few places. SuperLuchas reported it too, but not a lot of wrestling sites. I don’t expect it to expect Maximo’s wrestling schedule; everyone has that “Maximo said he worked it out and everything is fine” post to fall back on.
A group of wrestlers visited the Mexican senate to ask for social security benefits. This seems to happen periodically with no real progress. The wrestlers mentioned are either low level guys or people I haven’t heard of at all. That’s probably going to be the next pressure point if this ever progresses: someone’s got to decide who qualified as luchadors eligible for the benefit. The pandemic gave El Fantasma and his commission office and I wonder if he’d get to keep that role or if someone else would come for it.
El Universal writes about Estrella Divina as the first transgender luchador. (I’m not 100% sure that’s an accurate designation but it’s close enough.) Divina says she doesn’t mind fans yelling things that may be meant as homophobic (including the “el Pu…” scream) because wrestling fans pay to let off steam.
Lucha Time has their first show of the year scheduled for today. They had a similar show scheduled for two weeks ago and it doesn’t appear to have happened, so I guess there’s no sure bet here either.
10/08 Riot (Nuesta Raza, Nueva Lucha)
- La Rebelion vs Prometeo & Kratoz
- Arez vs Rey Horus for the RIOT Championship
- Aeroboy vs Willy Banderas
- Iron Kid, Aramis, Tromba vs Demonio del Aire, King Rex, Jimmy
- Spider Fly & Noisy Boy vs Kaientai & Byron – new
Vanguardia , GCW (FRI) 10/14/2022 Deportivo 11 de Julio, Pachuca, Hidalgo
1) Steve Manson vs Dragón Suicida
2) Deciums & Juventud Aérea vs Hannya & Yuichi Kaura [LUCHA MANIAKAS TAG]
3) Nick Wayne vs Gasparín, Devitt Rodríguez
4) El Sable vs Gallego
5) Cole Radrick & Jimmy Lloyd vs Jitsu & Rey Dragón
6) Alex Colon vs Crazy King [tubes]
7) Jimmy © vs Joey Janela ©, Calibus, Adrenalina (Jalisco) [VANGUARDIA EXTRAORDINARIO, DDT EXTREME]
8) Cíclope & Miedo Extremo vs Drew Parker & El Mago [explosions, glass]
The other half of GCW’s tour in Mexico. The explosion match was fun last time they did it, though glass may make it a big more extreme. The Vanguardia and DDT titles could be stuck together. Match 3 could be good. Wayne is famously young but not the youngest on the show; I think Manson has him by at least two years for one.
I don’t want to put Alberto el Patron Twitter posts in your head, but Alberto comparing himself and Carlito to Batman and the Joker can not be ignored. Also, Alberto thinks Hulk Hogan’s biggest rival was the Iron Shiek??
The Grainmaker Wrestling Podcast has an interview with Lucha Memes’ Dhani Ledesma. I listed to it and got a better idea of how their business model is working at the moment. Ledesma gave an attendance of 68 for Battle of Coacalco, noting it was his worst turnout. It’s tough out there.
