CMLL early week results, Vikingo, Nacion

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 12/12/2022 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) Millenium & Retro b Nitro & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Stephanie Vaquer b Princesa Sugehit [lightning]
Vaquer demanded Sugehit make good on her word and give her a title match for winning.
3) Kráneo, Okumura, Yota b Diamond, Magia Blanca, Volcano
4) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr. b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
best match of the night
5) Ángel de Oro, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Místico, Stigma, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles] 
Valiente replaced Niebla Roja (injury?). Volador cheated Mistico to win.

This is the last 9 pm show (for now, anyway.) The new 8 pm start time starts next week. Volador and Mistico had issues going back to last week’s US/Mexico match. And for the last decade or so, I suppose.

CMLL (TUE) 12/13/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Marca, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (video)]
1) Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito b Angelito, Fantasy, Kaligua  
Pierrothito replaced Minos
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Marcela b Hera, Metálica, Olympia 
Tecnicas took 2/3.
3) Astral, Eléctrico, Magia Blanca b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. 
Electrico return from injury. Tecnicos took 2/3
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black 
Rudos took 2/3, with Cancerbero & Virus challenging Esfinge & Fugaz for the national tag titles
5) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]   
rudos took 1/3

The main event pushed the idea of Stuka joining the Guerreros permanently, but it was a relevos increibles so it probably doesn’t mean anything. Cancerbero & Virus should win the tag titles. They probably won’t win the tag titles. Electrico returned after six months from a knee injury.

CMLL (TUE) 12/13/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, thecubsfan]
1) Nexy, Sexy Sol, Valkiria b Náutica, Princesa Tiger, Sol (Jalisco) 
Sexy Sol and Sol are two different women
2) Crixus, Sagrado, Vegas b Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr. 
Vegas & Crixus replaced Gemelo Diablos (moved up)
3) Blue Panther & Dark Panther b Panterita del Ring & Panterita del Ring Jr. and Flyer & Volador Jr. and Misterioso Jr. & Misterioso Negro [Torneo Heredero, semifinal] 
4) Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. b Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo II and Felino & Felino Jr. and Euforia & Soberano Jr. [Torneo Heredero, semifinal] 
Gemelo Diablos replaced Valientes (Valiente Jr. believed to be COVID positive) on Monday
5) Atlantis Jr. b Dark Panther [Torneo Heredero, final] 

This was the shortest Guadalajara show I can recall. The stream is missing about 10 minutes of entrances and the first fall of the opener, but it still doesn’t seem to be a two hours show. They’re typically closer to two and half hours, and longer than that. I think they assumed the fourways would go long. They did not; the second one may have been five minutes, and the main event wasn’t much longer.

The four ways tags were essentially eight ways with an ally, so everyone had to get pinned. Panterita Jr. beat Volador, which isn’t super meaningful but still a bit surprising.

CMLL (SAT) 12/17/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Pequeño Magía, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Oro Jr., Retro vs Apocalipsis, Nitro, Zandokan Jr.
3) Panterita del Ring Jr. © vs Inquisidor [MEX LIGHT]
2nd defense, rematch from July
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Negro Casas, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto

The previous Panterita/Inquisidor title match was said to be among the best match of the year. These shows are said to be taped for Heraldo TV and there is a CMLL show listed on their programming grid, but I’ve never seen any sign of anyone watching it (much less putting it online.) The irregularly updated CMLL Twitch channel airs matches from random TV matches and has never aired one from Arena Coliseo. I’m sure these are being taped but I’m not sure if these are actually going anywhere beyond someone’s hard drive in CMLL. It’s so weird.

There’s no set up to the title match, and Inquisidor fits more with the second match cage people instead of Suriano. Maybe there was a change there. Panterita del Ring Jr. should actually lose, because he should win a world title instead and be facing more people.

This is the final Arena Coliseo show of the year, they’re back after the holidays on 01/07.

CMLL (SUN) 12/18/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Mercurio & Pierrothito
2) Inquisidor, Robin, Sangre Imperial vs Cholo, Halcón Suriano Jr., Leono [Relevos Increíbles]
3) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, La Seductora, Reyna Isis
4) Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Volcano vs Felino, Felino Jr., Kráneo
5) Atlantis, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Mephisto

I still assume there’s a big show coming on the 25th, but there’s no big match clear for that show. Maybe it’s unclear to CMLL if they were planning on doing something with the injured (?) Niebla Roja. Other title matches could come out from that main event.

CMLL Informa has Mistico, Dalys, Templario, Fugaz, Esfinge, Panterita del Ring, and Inquisidor.

Sin Embargo has an article from Mexican diploma Erik del Angel talking about the Copa Bicentenario that he helped put together.

AAA

Just some additional notes on the Hijo del Vikingo US streaming issue

• Anyone booking Vikingo knew the no streaming deal. They were told up front it wasn’t changed on them later. They were OK with bringing in Vikingo knowing the restrictions and the unhappiness that would result. How they decided to handle that situation is up to them
  • Part of the calculus in that choice had to be “everyone knows AAA is mess, we can shift the blame entirely on them, and people aren’t going to get made at us.” And they seem right. AAA’s image is so broken outside of Mexico that they’re easy heat magnets. AAA wants to be bigger in the US but doesn’t care about its image. AAA wants to be seen as a fun party to attend and is actually seen as a hot mess that can be entertaining and needly dramatic. This story feeds into the latter.
  • There were also a lot of people concerned about what this would mean to the GCW FITE feed in particular – would there be a 20-minute blackout in the middle of the show? I don’t know what they’re doing, but again everyone’s had months to think about it and figure it out, so they’ve probably figured it out.
• The Hijo del Vikingo streaming agreement covers digital media. It does not cover physical media. PWG DVDs are unaffected. Super Dragon has won the game. GCW could put a Vikingo in the US DVD after his run if they were so inclined.
• This is only a Vikingo policy. It doesn’t apply to anyone under contract (and, as always, there are a lot of people who show up on AAA TV who are not under any sort of contract.)
• I don’t think AAA is going to go after people for posting video of Vikingo US matches themselves. They have not gone after people for posting video of AAA shows and tapings themselves. The most that’ll happen is they’ll apply to monetize the video themselves, but they’ll leave it up. I can’t guarantee this will be the same going forward, but it’s not a big concern.
• AAA does want video of Vikingo’s US matches for their own purposes. It’s likely to be cut down to highlight to share as social media or maybe TV, and not shown in full.
• The common assumption is the policy will not be in effect, or at least enforced, for every. It’s just a guess that policy changes sometime after the Los Angeles show, there’s no hard cut off, but AAA’s shown that initial big plans can change or be abandoned over time.

IWRG

There’s not much going on here. No Thursday show with their anniversary show on Friday. The main event is guys who’ve been around since IWRG started their Tryout competition two years ago, so Mas Lucha is running a lot of footage from when they were first introduced.

Nacion Lucha Libre

I was going through this week’s Nacion Lucha Libre show, and it was the usual low quality effort. It does seem to have clicked to someone that they actually need do matches between their bigger names, and so a Cinta de Oro/Alberto el Patron feud sprung up out of nowhere. The rest of the was a lot of squashes. It also started about 15 minutes early for no obvious reason.

Nacion was supposed to have done three tapings this year, they’ve done two advertised tapings, and it’s getting a little late to announce a third show in December. This week included matches in an empty arena mixed in with their November Juan de la Barrera. I’m not sure if those matches were taped earlier in the day or some other time to replace that third show. Nacion Lucha Libre has always seemed to exist primarily as an international TV play, but the TV seems completely uncompelling, especially this empty arena footage.

You shouldn’t spend time watching Nacion Lucha Libre but everyone’s figured that out already. No one talks about this show. I wonder if it failed so quickly and is so forgettable that it might not stick Alberto. It won’t be another bad story going on his record if everyone forgets it happened in the first place. The video guys stopped caring immediately after finding out they wouldn’t be able to record it for themsleves, and no one else much covers things outside of press conferences or live events. You can fail in silence in Mexico pretty easily.

(In a similar vein: AAA’s TV show has aired on Azteca in weeks. I think it’s because the whole boxing/lucha block has gotten bumped for World Cup coverage, but no one’s appeared to notice.)

Other News

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

PWG will announce their BOLA match ups tomorrow, and tickets go on sale later that night.

02/26 The Crash/KAOZ/Robles

• Mr. Electro vs Pierroth Jr. vs Hijo del Medico Asesino vs Aeroboy vs Septimo Dragon vs Cobrade [mask]
• Flip Gordon, Faby Apache, Mecha Wolf vs ?, Natalia Markova, Daga

I’m not really sure who these matches are for. They’re running at Monterrey’s baseball stadium, with tickets from 2000 pesos to 100. That’s TripleMania prices for just matches with some random names thrown together. Good luck to all involved.

The Crash says they’ll return to Tijuana for their 11th Anniversary show on 01/28.

Coahuila luchador Principe Rayo needed medical attention after a hardcore match; I’m not sure why this was an article; it sucks for him but it doesn’t seem unusually severe.

Box y Lucha 3531 has the Copa winners on the cover.