CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 11/04/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito b Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Violencia 
12:33.
2) Dalys, Marcela, Stephanie Vaquer b Hikari Shimizu, Princesa Sugehit, Tae Honma [Relevos Increíbles] 
17:23.
3) El Coyote, Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa 
12:00
4) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero DQ Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr.
10:35. Atlantis tossed his mask to Volador Jr. to draw the DQ. Soberano and Ultimo Guerrero never got in the ring at the same time for the second straight week (which didn’t appear to be storyline)
5) Stuka Jr. b Terrible [Rey del Inframundo]
13:02. Stuka defeated Terrible. Terrible falls on his second defense. Stuka is the third king of hell.
This show delivered about as expected. The matches were generally fine but not spectacular, and the Dia del Muertos drew many fans. It was a noticeably bigger turnout than the women’s Gran Prix last week. The minis match or the semi-main might have been the best on the show, but nothing was special. Stuka and Terrible didn’t have a good chemistry and had spots go visibly wrong. There was a Stuka splash where he expected to get countered by feet or knees, and Terrible just didn’t move. It was strange. The fans definitely saw the semi-main as the real main event, and the Rey del Inframundo idea didn’t have much interest with this pairing.
The semi-main feud was Ultimo Guerrero versus Mistico last week, so this was a hard switch to Volador/Atlantis. Not sure why. Not sure why they put Soberano in the match if he had no role either way. Ultimo Guerrero walked out of the ring and stood in his corner while his two partners were beating up Soberano, and Soberano stayed away when Ultimo Guerrero was wrestling people. It wasn’t so blatant that the tourists would’ve noticed, but it was also hard to miss once you picked it up. They could’ve put anyone else in Soberano’s spot and had a normal match.
Stuka dedicated the win to Mr. Niebla and Bestia Salvaje. He’s now got red hair.
CMLL (SAT) 11/05/2022 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha, CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia b Acero & Aéreo
2) Dalys, Hera, La Vaquerita b La Guerrera, La Seductora, Tiffany [Relevos Increíbles] 
3) Dark Magic, Kráneo, Okumura b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Robin
4) Felino, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II b Fuego, Fugaz, Star Black
5) Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Mephisto b Místico, Negro Casas, Valiente
Angel de Oro cheated to beat Mistico
Will this Angel de Oro feud on a Saturday go somewhere? Unlikely.
CMLL (SUN) 11/06/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, The Gladaitores]
1) Cholo b Leono [lightning]
lightning match stip had not been announced. Cholo won in 9:59.
2) Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Átomo, Chamuel, Periquito Sacaryas
3) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito b Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
4) La Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit b Amapola, Hikari Shimizu, Tae Honma
last match for Honma & Shimizu on this tour.
5) Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
Everyone who put their mask back on for the show came back out to unmask together at the end of the show (video), which is a nice touch.
Almost all of the wrestlers putting a mask back on for this show were regaining something that was a big part of their identity for many years. Leono is the exception. He says he wrestled as Mustang Negro; if that’s the correct name and spelling, it’s too obscure to show up even in my database. He voluntarily unmasked and changed gimmicks to be part of one of Shocker’s “Guapo U” talent search competitions. Leono didn’t win but got a push as a young undercard face for a while, so you’d presume he’s one who saw losing his mask as actually a very positive thing. It sounds like it actually meant a lot to him. An emotional Leono told Box y Lucha his grandmother saw him debut as Mustang Negro and was very proud of him for doing so. They were very close and she passed away a few months later, so she never saw him as Leono. Going back to the Mustang Negro mask for Dia de Muertos was a way of reconnecting with her many years later.
Puebla tonight has Hechiero vs Gran Guerrero for the CMLL Heavyweight Championship. Mistico is late replacement for Volador in the semi-main. Volador is listed on other shows so it may be a schedule conflict and not an injury.
CMLL (TUE) 11/08/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Mercurio & Minos
2) Astral, Cachorro, Diamond vs Cholo, Inquisidor, Nitro
3) Flyer, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs El Coyote, Felino, Kráneo
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Stuka Jr.
Stuka Jr. ranted about becoming a rudo and going after the top tecnicos after his Rey del Inframundo win, and maybe he’s actually doing it. Or maybe it’s a Los Ingobernables mixed-up match, can’t be sure. Not an ideal use of Panterita del Ring Jr.
CMLL (FRI) 11/11/2022 Arena México
1) Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Leono vs Apocalipsis, Disturbio, Raider
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Felino Jr., Okumura, Rey Bucanero
3) Blue Panther, Soberano Jr., Valiente vs El Mesías, Vincent, Yota
4) Místico, Negro Casas, Titán vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
5) Volador Jr. vs Atlantis
Titan makes his first CMLL appearance since he ran away to join the circus he became part of Los Ingobernables de Japon; everyone’s going to have many questions about all of that. He won’t be back long.
Everyone already has a lot of questions about the tercera. Vincent makes his Mexico debut. (He was supposed to appear on the Federacion Wrestling show.) He was a partner of Matt Taven who betrayed him and switched to a cult leader gimmick in 2021, and has spent 2022 in Impact as part of their faux-ROH “Honor No More” invading stable. Taven’s the obvious connection, but a promo/character guy seems like a weird fit for CMLL. “Yota” is likely NJPW’s Yota Tsuji, who repeatedly asked to go to CMLL when he was a New Japan Young Lion previously. NJPW sent him to Europe instead, but now it looks like he’s made his way to Mexico and could stick around for a while.
This is about the range where CMLL starts random undercard feuds to set up a cage match, so names like Hombre Bala Jr. (last on Friday on June 17) and Apocalipsis (last on Friday on July 6, 2018) turning up on a Friday night waves a red flag something is up.
Avispa Dorada said she tested COVID negative.
Lady Frost says she’s back in CMLL the week of December 4 to December 10th, so that means December 9th may be an important show.
NJPW announced BUSHI & Titan for the Super Junior Tag League, from November 21 to December 14. Titan is the only Mexican wrestler participating in either tournament.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara is teasing something for December. May be Japanese wrestlers, not entirely clear.
Hechicero, Stephanie Vaquer and KeMonito appeared on the Equinox (Latin American) Video Game awards on Friday. The hosts did a taped skit at Arena Mexico for the award show as well.
Faby Apache said she hopes to return to CMLL for select dates, but made it sound like nothing’s been agreed upon yet.
CMLL and the Puebla secretary of government announced a professional workshop, which is part of this not-quite-explained partnership between CMLL and the US embassy in Mexico that hasn’t been explained.
AAA
AAA on Space finished out the Zapopan taping, which might be the best taping of the year. Aramis, Arez, Komander vs Abismo Negro Jr., Flamita and Latigo was great, well worth watching. (The Bandido, Aramis, Komander vs Arez, Latigo and Black Taurus match from Sunday’s PWG show was said to be similarly good.) The opener was watchable, and the lumberjack match was fine and quick. This is the same taping that had the Vikingo/Laredo/Taurus match, so it was some taping.
I’m not sure if it’s the building, the size of the crowd, or just better tech work, but the Guadalajara taping is also the best-sounding shows AAA’s done this year. It’ll probably be back to ‘normal’ with the show from Puebla.
Aguascalientes Facebook put up Flamita vs Bandido from their show on Friday.
There’s still nothing new on the Tempe show. Arizona businessman Cesar Verduzco is posting promos for the show (Lady Shani, Blue Demon) and was backstage at TripleMania, so he may be involved in the local end of the show. His Twitter feed also pointed out there’s a WBC title match in nearby Glendale on the same day, which probably won’t help.
The Arena Neza show featured the first in-ring appearance of all five Psycho Circus members.
IWRG
IWRG (SAT) 11/05/2022 Deportivo Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, Miguel Hidalgo, Distrito Federal [La Tijera Lucha Libre]
1) Lolita & Satania b Diosa Quetzal & Mary Caporal
2) Aster Boy, Noisy Boy, Tonalli b Dick Angelo, Legendario, Puma de Oro
3) Coco Rojo, Coco Verde, Cocolores b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
Mascara Sagrada, who started in Naucalpan as Hecatombe, was honored after the match.
4) Bugambilia, Máximo, Niño Hamburguesa b Black Warrior, Galeno del Mal, Hijo del Pirata Morgan
5) Dave The Clown, Myzteziz Jr., Psycho Clown b Hijo De Canis Lupus, Hijo del Alebrije, Hijo del Fishman
lots of fouls
The randomness of Mexico City attendance is this show on Saturday in Mexico City drew OK at best, the show in Arena Neza drew as well as that venue’s done in a while, and both were headlined by Psycho Clown.
IWRG (SUN) 11/06/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Jhon Tito & Spider Fly b Kenji & Súper Boy
2) Diosa Quetzal b Satania [IWRG IC WOMEN, quarterfinal]
3) ?, Caballero de Plata, Paymon b Brad Alexis, Limbo, Yorvak
4) Dr. Cerebro, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Imposible b Garra Mortal, Hell Boy, Rocky Casas
Huracan Ramirez (Daniel Garcia) was remembered with a moment of applause after the match.
5) Aster Boy b Hijo De Canis Lupus, Abismo Negro Jr., Puma de Oro
6) Bugambilia & Máximo b Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura
Maximo snuck in a foul.
Everyone who would’ve ‘covered’ this show for their YouTube channel seems like they went over to Arena Mexico instead. IWRG’s Facebook posts results in theory, but they’re not big on “listing all the names of people in the match” so I’m blanking on who replaced Freelance (except it’s definitely not Freelance.) I suspect somewhere in there is another change I’ve missed; I can’t actually spot Rocky Casas in the photos.
Neither IWRG show streamed. Mas Lucha streaming KAOZ as a paid show meant they weren’t going to stream against themselves. They may turn up later, but it’s also an example of why promotions might not want to rely on Mas Lucha for everything; unlike IWRG or FITE, they’re not going to stream against themselves. IWRG put up a collection of recent matches on Sunday to have something up, though they weirdly did it in 360p and the low video quality comes through. That may be why you want to rely on Mas Lucha to do everything, they probably would’ve sorted it out.
Mas Lucha (THU) 11/10/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Dragón King & Spider Fly vs Limbo & Rey Halcón
2) Dick Angelo 3G, Hell Boy, Legendario, Puma de Oro vs Pig Decapitador, Pig Desenterrador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor
3) Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa vs Draego & Great Eku
4) Bengalee vs Jessy Jackson, Lady Shani, La Hiedra, Princesa Azul, Sakura, Satania, Zuzu Divine [Torneo Suprema]
This year’s Torneo Suprema is an alright card, though none of the matches seem particularly exciting. I presume Mas Lucha will be doing a tournament bracket show sometime this week to announce the matchups.
Dragon King in the opener is apparently a Costa Rican wrestler.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha World (FRI) 11/04/2022 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [Mas Lucha]
1) Éxtasis & King b Hijo De Skayde & Kong
2) Carito b Yutani
Black Generacion replaced Accion Jackson with Yutani, but Carito surprised Yutani with a cradle for the upset.
3) Elemental & Forneo b Cometa Maya & Gravity
They worked very hard in the main event, but the feeling was off. These Friday Big Lucha World shows are bizarrely drawing worse than the Wednesday night ones. I think they’ll be fine for net Friday but I’m not certain now.
Rush faces Bandido on Friday’s episode of Rampage in the quarterfinals of an AEW #1 contenders tournament. (It’s taped on Wednesday this week.) Bandido showing up in a tournament bracket seemed to be a confirmation he’s signed, and it sure seems like he was telling people he signed at the PWG show Sunday. AEW hasn’t put up the “Bandido is All Elite” graphic yet. It’s most dramatic if he wins on Friday and then AEW announces he’s signed, so root for the graphic not to turn up if you want him to win.
Again, Rampage is taped this week, so Bandido is going to be wrestling on TNT and on Mas Lucha within an hour or two.
KAOZ
KAOZ (SUN) 11/06/2022 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [Mas Lucha, Superluchas]
1) Charro Blanco b Rey Maximus, Silver Star, Hampon III, Merlina, Baby Love, Redimido, Brillante Rb, Garringo, Cronic [Copa Noberto Salgado]
Vazco Jr. & Oro Negro attacked Charro Blanco (& Charro Negro) after the win. Promoter Alonso Botello to set up a mask/hair match.
2) Erika Sotelo, Larry Miranda, Yaretzi b Galactar, Rico Rodríguez, Vazco Jr.
Galactar & Rico (w/Baby Love) betrayed Vazco Jr. and kicked him out of the group.
3) Oro Negro & Yutani b Dulce Kanela & Mr. Puma
Mr. Puma left with an arm injury. Bendito got involved.
4) Jimmy b Dinámico ©, Baby Xtreme, Destiny, Noisy Boy [KAOZ CURISER]
Jimmy landed a moonasult on Dinamico & Baby Xtreme and covered them to win the title.
5) Faby Apache b Reina Dorada ©, Pimpinela Escarlata, Black Widow (Chihuahua) [KAOZ WOMEN]
Faby Apache had visible issues with Reina Dorada before powerbombing her for the win and title change.
6) Dragón Lee (Indie) & Dralistico b Demonio Infernal & Fresero Jr. © and ASF & El Cobarde [KAOZ TAG]
No Komander (PWG) or Dragon (injury) so Cobrade and ASF were a team. Hermanos Lee won the titles.
7) Konnan Big & Pierroth Jr. b Cibernético & DMT Azul
Ciber snuck in a foul on Konnan Big
8) Emperador Azteca b The Tiger [mask]
Emperador Azteca unmasked The Tiger (Jose Adolfo Valdez, 26 years old, 12 years professional)
The first half of this show aired for free on Mas Lucha, the second half streamed for subscribers only.
This was said to be the best of the recent KAOZ shows, with the mask match and the cruiserweight match coming off the best. The show seemed to draw almost a sell out: the upper level looked full, the lower looked almost full, and there was one strange section that had a bunch of empty seats and was on camera whenever they’d show a wide angle. I have no idea what was going on there.
People watching the show said Faby Apache was visibly annoyed with Reina Dorada by the end of the match and laid in to her on the last couple of moves. That’s normal for Faby Apache.
A man was shot to death outside of Arena Coliseo Monterrey shortly after the show ended. The circumstances mentioned in the news report – the attacker got out of a van, shot the man twice, and then left – reads like a targeted killing that had little to do with this attack.
Other News
Torreon promoter Ruy Dipp Jones (71) passed away on Saturday after a battle with cancer. He and his family have run Arnea Olimpico Laguna for generations, where everyone from the area has wrestled at one point or another. El Siglo de Torreon says he was still part of the business as of a few days ago.
The Robles Arena San Juan show didn’t draw well. The matches themselves don’t sound appealing to me; the last three finishes were draw, DQ, draw. Still, with promotions like Robles do well is making for an easy contact point, connecting a group of traveling indie wrestlers with people away from Mexico City. Maybe far away from Mexico City: Big Mami said Robles Promotions was going to India in February.
ESTO has a report of the Nacion Lucha Libre show, though the recap of the matches seems like they didn’t understand what the matches were. No mention of who won the schedule title match between Texano and Wagner. Jessie Jackson won the new women’s title, which fits with the heavy focus on Mexico versus the World in the promotion.
Indegoschn has a one two three part interview with Lucha Memes’ Dhani Ledesma about the promotion. It’s in German, Google Translate seems like it does a decent job, but how would I really know. Ledesma comes off as a bit embittered by the process; he feels he’s responsible for giving a bunch of indie names their first spotlight, and now he says they don’t return his messages. He notes that he doesn’t watch much wrestling – he watches maybe two matches a month, maybe goes two shows a month – and that’s actually not that uncommon among wrestling promoters. That also may help explain why his last couple of years of shows are using so many of the same people; he’s not spending much energy looking for themselves and is reliant on others to recommend. Leon Dorado, Tonalli and Vengador are mentioned as his three big guys for the future.
Ledesma is down on Mas Lucha, giving them credit for growing but saying he was never paid for shows. He says he was offered half the subscription money from any premium shows, but he balked at the idea he should be responsible for getting people to sign up. That’s a big culture clash between Mexican wrestling and the rest of the world, where promoting the video service that carries your shows is an expected part of promoting your promotion. Ledesma feels the IWTV deal is much fairer. IWTV is actually handling the entire production of the Lucha Memes with a local staff in Mexico. He did have believe IWTV would open the promotion up to a bigger worldwide audience, and that hasn’t really happened as of yet. Converserly, a lot of the Mexican fans don’t know the US talent he’s brought in for the Memes show. He’s still hoping promoting something different than what all the other groups around Mexico City will make them stand out.
Lucha Memes’s donadora campaign is at 36% with 28 days left.
Box y Lucha 3526 has Stuka on the cover.
Los Vipers have been added to the 12/16 GCW Los Angeles show.
Gael Garcia Bernal says the “Casandro el Exotico” movie will appear on Amazon Prime. No release date has been mentioned.