CMLL
CMLL starts a month of luchadora-focused Friday night shows tonight with Block A of this year’s CMLL Universal de Amazonas. This week’s elimination match has Marcela, Lluvia, La Vaquerita, La Guerrera, Nautica, Amapola, Stephanie Vaquer, Dark Silueta, Avispa Dorada, and Hera. The winner moves to the final on 10/24.
There’s nothing else too notable from the rest of the show. New trios champions Los Infernales face Mistico, Titan and Atlantis. Dalys, making her return from Japan like Vaquer, wrestlers in a trios preview of next week’s block. The show opens with a minis match, which have recently been good. It’s a TicketmasterLive show as always.
CMLL (MON) 10/10/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Full Metal & Minos
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Arkalis, Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Misterioso Jr.
4) Euforia, Soberano Jr., Stigma vs Magia Blanca, Rugido, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Terrible © vs Sagrado [MEX HEAVY]
third defense
I’m not sure who asked for Terrible/Sagrado but it’s happening anyway. Stigma/Magia Blanca waits for another day. No Puebla local-only wrestlers is highly unusual.
CMLL (TUE) 10/11/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Jhonny Dinamo, Obelisk, Último Ángel vs Persa, Raven, Temerario
2) El Divino, Mágico, Metatrón vs Destructor, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
3) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero
4) Hombre Bala Jr., Robin, Suicida vs Cris Skin, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel
5) Arkalis, Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso vs Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
6) Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero vs Euforia & Soberano Jr.
Life has changed a lot in a year for those two teams just to have a normal match.
CMLL switched their advertising of Faby Apache to just “Faby” after her debut interview. It’s unclear why. Faby Apache started in AAA and so it’s possible they could make a claim to the name. There’s no trademark listed for Faby Apache on the Mexico trademark site. CMLL does like their one-name characters so I wouldn’t rule out them making that choice themselves. She’s wrestling as Faby Apache on her indie dates.
Reforma goes jogging with the Atlantis family.
TUDN caught up with Minos at his day job as a tortilla baker.
AAA
AAA held its annual mass in honor of founder Antonio Pena on Wednesday. There’s no real news from it, it’s just a nice ceremony that reminds people that TripleMania is coming up. Former AAA referee Pepe Casas was in attendance. So was Heavy Metal, so whatever kept him from being in Guadalajara this week doesn’t seem serious. La Tijera talked to Antonio Pena but didn’t ask him about Andrade.
AAA on Space is back listed as 6:30 pm. It should be week 1 of Guadalajara (Zapopan).
- Hijo del Vikingo vs Laredo Kid vs Black Taurus
- probably Pagano, Psycho Clown, Sexy Star vs Cibernetico, Sam Adonis and Chik Tormenta
- one more match
I’ll stream on Twitch. AAA has said they’ll upload the Vikingo three as a bonus to the regular Sunday upload (part 2 of the Hard Rock show this week.)
AAA announced the Gran Final for Monterrey’s Campeonato Showcenter on 10/23. That’s a change; these shows were originally announced as lasting through December. I guess it’s possible they could still run more shows after the Gran Final. No matches are announced just images of people who presumably are competing for the final.:
Women
- Dulce Kanela (beat Baby Love on 07/24)
- Flammer (beat Chris Jaynes on 06/26)
- Sexy Star (did not wrestle in the tournament)
- La Hiedra (did not wrestle in the tournament, was scheduled)
- Lady Shani (did not wrestle in the tournament)
- Zeuxis (beast Sussy Love on 05/21)
- Chik Tormenta (beat Estrellita on 03/12, beat Maravilla on 08/21)
Men
- Myzteziz Jr. (did not wrestle in the tournament)
- Puma King (beat Dinamico on 08/21)
- Octagon Jr. (did not wrestle in the tournament)
- Hijo del Vikingo (beat Flamita on 03/12)
- Taurus (beat Hijo de LA Park on 03/12)
- Toxin (beat Antifaz on 09/25)
- Latigo (beat Vasco Jr. on 07/24)
- Villano III Jr. (beat Komander on 06/26)
People who won tournament matches but aren’t in the final: Gringo Loco (05/21), Faby Apache (05/21), Willie Mack (05/21), Dragon Lee (06/26), and Artemiz (08/21).
Maravilla also won on 03/12 but later lost to Chik Tormenta in the only thing resembling a second-round match. Mamba and Aramis also won three ways on 09/25, and it was unclear if they were meant to be part of the tournament, neither were scheduled matches.
Wrestlers listed in the Winners bracket who never participated: Fenix, Flip Gordon, Dralistico (“only tag matches”), Baby Xtreme, Bandido, Christopher Daniels, Abismo Negro, and Arez. Note we never got a women’s bracket, but Natalia Markova was repeatedly advertised and never quite made it. La Hiedra was meant to wrestle her one of those times.
I didn’t believe the tournament would ever make sense. I was not alone in that belief. I don’t think AAA was all that concerned if it made sense; the remit was “run a tournament” and so they did an approximation of a tournament. They’ll have a winner again, and no one pays attention to AAA’s results so it’s fine for them. AAA would be a more enjoyable promotion if what happened on one show mattered on the next show, but that’s not the type of promotion they’ve chosen to run in 2022. The Showcenter final is a fun group of wrestlers, and the belt looks cool. I would purchase a PPV of that show if one were available. There’s no indication it’ll be taped.
AAA has a TV taping in Puebla on Saturday. It’s a strange house show lineup for a TV taping and was switched to one late. I think it’s a reaction to location conditions. There were AAA spot shows in Puebla on September 25th and October 2nd, which makes it really hard to draw people on the 9th with a lesser lineup. I’m not sure why AAA scheduled it that way, but calling this Puebla mall show a TV taping might attract a few people who otherwise felt they saw enough lucha libre. My flimsy guess is this airs on November 12.
Space has been airing their TripleMania ad just mentioning the Pentagon Jr./Villano IV and Cibernetico/Pagano matches. I presumed that was because those were the only two confirmed matches when the commercial started airing. Fernando Salazar of AS Mexico said it’s actually because only those two matches are airing on Space. That would be much fewer matches than usual. Fans would have to buy the show on FITE or ProWrestlingTV to see the rest of the show, including Fenix/Vikingo. AAA hasn’t officially announced this, so the plans could change.
Airing 2 matches on Saturday means AAA could stretch out the show for the usual three episodes of TV. It makes it harder for me to figure out when other shows are airing and may mean an extra week wait to see the whole show if you’re waiting for it to turn up on official Facebook or YouTube pages.
IWRG/Naucalpan
Mas Lucha (THU) 10/06/2022 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha, thecubfsan]
1) Rey Halcón & Súper Boy b John Tito & Spider Fly 
12:01
2) Puma King b Charly Manson [Mas Lucha Supremo, quarterfinal]
8:59, Puma won via casita
3) Shun Skywalker b Jack Evans [Mas Lucha Supremo, quarterfinal]
11:01, via submission
4) Aeroboy b Black Warrior [Mas Lucha Supremo, quarterfinal]
7:08. Black Warrior replaced Komander (rescheduled Japan trip)
5) Dragón Lee b Tonalli [Mas Lucha Supremo, quarterfinal]
9:36.
6) Radioactivo b Paymon
7:37. Scheduled as Radioactivo vs Hannya in a mask match, Hannya showed up with his lower left leg wrapped and unable to wrestle. Paymon replaced him. A second Hannya (who looked a lot like SB Kento) fouled Radioactivo to help Paymon win. Radioactivo challenged Hannya to do the match in Big Lucha instead.
7) Aeroboy b Puma King [Mas Lucha Supremo, semifinal]
8:55
8) Dragón Lee b Shun Skywalker [Mas Lucha Supremo, semifinal]
11:52
9) Caballero de Plata, Cerebro Negro, Cerebro Negro Jr. b Hell Boy, Oficial 911, Oficial Fierro
Cerebro Negro beat Hell Boy and the two teased a match. Oficial AK47 returned and attacked his former partners post match. They recovered and beat up los Cerebros.
10) Dragón Lee b Aero Boy [Mas Lucha Supremo, final]
11:18
Attendance seemed not as good as last year’s Torneo Supremo but much better from the Ultimo Guerrero/Mesias Mas Lucha show last month.
I liked the tournament better than last year. None of the matches were bad, most were good, the last couple were great. Dragon Lee tends to stick tightly to a formula in his matches and everyone assumed he was winning this, but the teases of people beating him were well done. The never-ending elbow smash battle with Skywalker was a little silly but it was something different. You don’t have to see this but you’ll enjoy if you like these guys.
Hannya is said to have hurt his ankle in training Thursday and still wanted to wrestle. IWRG and their medical personnel said no. This was a Mas Lucha run show but I suspect IWRG didn’t want to risk any liability if Hannya ended up more injured. Radioactivo was pretty definite that the match is happening in Big Lucha at some point.
The building did start to empty out before the tournament final and quickly once it ended. Mas Lucha’s stream wrapped at about midnight. The trios before the main event went long and then the post-match angles were even longer. It really should’ve been much quicker given the context, but it is normal for Mexican indie luchadors (especially in the Mexico City area) to just do whatever and not worry about the larger context. Another larger context is that angle was designed to sell people on coming back for an IWRG show and I had less interest in IWRG than when it started.
IWRG Retro
- 1999-02-14: Kenichiro Arai & Rokambole Jr. vs Kato Kung Lee II & Zonik
- 1996-09-22: Rocco Valente, Tony Arce, Vulcano vs Chupacabras, Dr. Cerebro, Kahoz
- 2002-08-01: Villano III, Villano IV, Villano V vs Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata Jr., Brazo de Platino
The 90s matches appear to be completely new, haven’t turned up since they first aired. The 1996 match is different from the match Box y Lucha listed (as a preview, not results) for that date.
IWRG (SUN) 10/09/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Roja & Sol vs Kenji & Rey Aztaroth
2) Noisy Boy & Spider Fly vs Llmbo & Rey Halcón
3) Caballero de Plata, Luka, Paymon vs Maniacop 360, Oficial 911, Oficial Fierro
4) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. vs Brad Alexis, Shocko, Sweet Daddy
5) Puma de Oro © vs Tonalli [IWRG MEXICO]
first defense
6) Cerebro Negro, Hijo De Canis Lupus, Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Galeno del Mal, Hell Boy, Hijo del Fishman
The title match could be good but the forecast calls for lots of interference. The Canadians are back; maybe they want to check out TripleMania.
IWRG announced Torneo FILL 100 would take place on October 20th. My recollection is these started out as Copa Higher Powers, ciberneticos between normal (or guest) experienced wrestlers, then they carried over the numbering as they switched to trainee ciberneticos. They talked about it on IWRG Revolucionando as if it had always been trainees, so I’m honestly not sure if I’m remembering it right. It will be FILL (the IWRG lucha libre school) against another school for 100, but they did not specify which one.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha World is back tonight at 9 with Gravity & Viajero vs Flamita & Yutani.
Both Fightful and the Wrestling Observer reported Thursday that Bandido had signed with AEW. Bandido later that night said he was leaning towards AEW and would likely end up there but had not officially signed yet (and noted WWE had contracted him.) I think this is a situation that probably would be resolved if not for the happenstance of Bandido heading to Japan this week.
Komander and Bandido are wrestling in GLEAT on Sunday morning. facing Kaz Hayashi & Soma Watanabe. That should will air on YouTube for free and their YouTube shows stay on the channel.
Delta Team is teasing a special mentor to help them deal with Forneo’s Hell Flyers group on next week’s show.
The second work of the tryouts happened Thursday in Big Lucha. Estrellas del Ring has video of matches 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Other News
LuchaWorld(‘s server) has returned from the dead for a new Poster-Mania.
Lucha Memes put the Hechicero vs Matt Makowski match from their March show up for free on Facebook.
Nacion Lucha Libre says they’re airing at 11 pm on Saturdays on ImagenTV. The show was scheduled to start this month and the release doesn’t mention a start date. 11 pm on Saturday seems like a terrible time slot – it’s not really worked out for AAA – but Nacion Lucha Libre is going to live or die depending on getting international TV money. ImagenTV is airing a movie in that time slot this week.
San Luis Potosi site El Sabor del Ring has photos of local wrestler Alma Negra Jr. doing a fire swanton bomb – the jacket he was wearing was literally on fire.