the (end of) 2022 Tapatia Awards are still open until the end of this month.
CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 01/13/2023 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Excelsior, KaiserSports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Esfinge & Fugaz b Magia Blanca & Rugido 
11:07. rematch from 2022-10-28 (then for MEX TAG)
2) Dulce Gardenia b Virus
13:46. rematch from 2022-02-12 (Arena Coliseo)
3) Espíritu Negro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. 
15:23. rematch from 2022-04-19
4) Hechicero b Euforia
14:10. rematch from 2022-08-19 (then for CMLL HEAVY)
5) Averno & Místico b Rocky Romero & Volador Jr.
15:13. Rematch from 2022-03-18 (Rocky Romero replacing TJP.) Volador demanded one more fall with Rocky Romero right then, and it actually happened.
6) Rocky Romero b Volador Jr.
2:10. Rocky snuck in a foul to win, then demanded a NWA WELTER match for next week.
There’s no bigger CMLL meme than a cheated tecnico taking the microphone at the end of an Arena Mexico show and demanding “una caida mas”, one more fall. (It is essentially a Mistico catchphrase.) They never get th one more fall. Maybe the rudo will tease going back through the ropes before bailing and walking out. This one time, Volador got the referee and the commission to make it happen right then – and it completely backfired on him. I hope we’ve all learned an important lesson.
Rocky Romero is still looking for that CMLL contract. This may be another ‘be careful what you ask for’ lesson. Volador said he wanted a hair match with Romero after he wins their title match. I don’t think he’s winning that title match this Friday. We can probably add “Rocky Romero versus Volador Jr.” right underneath “Atlantis Jr. versus Gran Guerrero” as theoretically possible apuesta matches this year.
Rob noted the Rocky Romero/Volador Jr. breakup had echoes of the Black Warrior/Mistico one. CMLL does a lot of things the same way time after time so maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe it was just in everyone’s mind this week. Mistico did the Black Warrior taunt in the main event. He and Averno had Black Warrior half masks as well.
The main event got great reactions, and nothing else on the show did. The Gran Prix crowd wanted Hechicero/Euforia to be outstanding so hard, this crowd has to be pulled into coming along. “Best of” shows should appeal to diehard fans but this one seemed like the usual tourist mix. They reacted to Mistico stuff because he’s treated like a big deal and not much else. Dulce Gardenia/Virus was hurt more; I think that’s a great match in front of another crowd but it suffered with fans not interested in the early mat work (and with Gardenia doing fewer character bits than usual.)
CMLL (SAT) 01/14/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado b Átomo, Chamuel, Mije
2) Astral, Diamond, Retro b Apocalipsis, Disturbio, Enfermero Jr.
Retro replaced Electrico earlier in the day. Tecnicos took 1/3.
3) El Coyote, Felino Jr., Raider b Flyer, Fuego, Volcano
Rudos took 1/3.
4) Felino, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero b Blue Panther, Dulce Gardenia, Panterita del Ring
rudos took 1/3
5) Místico, Panterita del Ring Jr., Soberano Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Mephisto, Templario
Templario snuck in a foul on Soberano
CMLL ended up running angles on Tuesday (Guerreros team up), Friday (Romero/Volador), Saturday (maybe another Templario/Soberano coming) and Sunday. I’m not sure CMLL had a week where that happened in 2022.
CMLL (SUN) 01/15/2023 Arena México
1) Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito b Acero, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito
2) El Suicida, Robin, Valiente Jr. b Inquisidor, Magnus, Okumura
Tecnicos took 2/3
3) Dark Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. b Felino, Pólvora, Yota
Tecnicos took 2/3. Said to be Yota’s final match in CMLL for now.
4) Negro Casas, Star Black, Valiente b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
Tecnicos took 1/3. Valiente submitted Sagrado, asked for a MEX HEAVY shot. Sagrado accepted.
5) Atlantis Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Rocky Romero, Último Guerrero
Tecnicos took 2/3. Rocky tried to sneak in a foul again but Volador stopped him and got the backcracker this time.
Valiente winning the title seems plausible.
Yota announced this was his last CMLL match for now. He’s headed to Europe now. He mentions he’d like to return.
CMLL (TUE) 01/17/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado vs Átomo, Chamuel, Mije
2) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal, Minos, Pequeño Olímpico
3) La Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Stephanie Vaquer
4) Negro Casas, Panterita del Ring Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
The new Guerreros trio gets the main event on Tuesday. The tecnicos in the second match could use better opponents. The CMLL women haven’t been around much this year until now.
CMLL (FRI) 01/20/2023 Arena México
1) Leono, Neón, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Enfermero Jr., Nitro
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Metálica, Reyna Isis, Tiffany
3) Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
4) Ángel de Oro, Bárbaro Cavernario, Niebla Roja vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Oráculo, Templario
5) Volador Jr. © vs Rocky Romero [NWA WELTER]
9th defense
Volador has held this belt for about 10 years. His reign has been interrupted twice: once by Sombra to set up an apuesta match, once by Matt Taven to set up an apuesta match. I think this could be three.
Oraculo in and in the semi main is a bit random. There was that one show where Cavernario, Dragon Rojo and Templario talked about being a trio, and it lasted for all of that one show.
NJPW announced all six FantasticaMania shows would air live on NJPW World. I believe the first time; the 2020 tour had only five of those shows air. Times and dates are here; we’re still waiting for match announcements. One change is NJPW World lists the commentary as only Japanese, where past shows had both Japanese and English commentary. A slight benefit of the Fantastica Mania is it gets the CMLL wrestlers in front of both an English and Japanese-speaking audience who might not otherwise see them at all during the year. No English commentary means most of that audience just got another reason not to bother. It’s not NJPW’s job to get CMLL over to English-speaking fans, I don’t blame them for the cost choice.
It actually would probably benefit CMLL more, and maybe entertain the foreign fans, if there was Spanish commentary on these shows. Miguel Reducindo did commentary for one Fantastica Mania years ago, and no one’s been sent since. CMLL has six announcers, they could spare a couple to go to Tokyo even for just those last two shows, but flights aren’t cheap. These shows make CMLL wrestlers look good, but it’s footage CMLL hasn’t ever really made use of. I’m unsure if that’s a NJPW restriction or just CMLL not valuing the footage much.
AAA
AAA on Space finished up the Madero taping. In a trademark bit of AAA miscommunication, the social media department promoted three matches for the show, and then went quiet as a fourth match aired. (The posts may have been pre-scheduled.) Space sent out a press release listing all four matches, so someone in AAA knew and they just didn’t get the correct info around. It happens. Quick thoughts
- it was nice to see Demus on TV, wish he could’ve been in a real match
- Takuma & Mr. Iguana were great to start the match, and then it turned into trying to get heat in AAA comedy tag match. There’s an actual “Big Mami/Maravilla” great potential in a blowoff match between the Dragongate guys and Hamburguesa/Iguana, but that requires AAA both booking a blowoff match and getting the booking out of the way
- Myzteziz/Argenis and Parka Negra/Aerostar feuds were more heated than usual at least
- Gringo Loco/V3 vs Dave/Murder was definitely not heated, and one of those finishes where they tried to protect someone and everyone comes out dumber for it
Noche de Campeones should start airing this week. We still haven’t seen the Marvel match, so that’ll be new. Maybe that’s the wrong way to think about it: this show only aired on FITE, so the entire show is new to most people. I usually don’t bother to stream these PPVs, but I figure I might as well because so few people may have already seen it.
AAA returned to Azteca after being off for two months. The episode started around 1:00 AM (boxing went very long) and they showed a couple of matches from the Chihuahua show from November.
AAA is back to taping this Saturday in Queretaro.
Dralistico officially vacated the AAA, The Crash, PWR, and KAOZ tag team titles he and Dragon Lee held in a social media video. This was implicitly happening by Dragon Lee signing with WWE, but I guess there was the possibility of Dralistico just replacing his brother somehow. No promotion has talked about how they plan on filling the championships. The last AAA tag team champions who were full time members of the AAA roster were Rey Escorpion & Texano Jr. in 2019; they lost it to the Lucha Brothers, and then it got used for AEW feuds for the last three years.
Taurus’ X-Divsion title match with Trey Miguel got moved to the Impact pre-show, so you can watch it for free now. Impact appears to be building to a third match between the two for their next PPV.
Marvel Lucha Libre is scheduled to debut on Disney+ early Wednesday morning. I expect it’ll only be available in Latin America. If you do check it out, I’m interested in what you think of it.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha (SAT) 01/14/2023 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [Mas Lucha]
1) Metal Shadow & Vórtice b Estrella Del Ring & Zenky
2) Elipse & Orbita b Black Skayde & Hijo Del Skayde and Andy Panda Jr. & Little Star
Jack Evans once again offered Orbita & Elipse a spot in Los Locos Evans.
3) Bendito & Flamita b Cometa Maya & Radioactivo
4) Iku, Jack Evans, Vengador b Galeno del Mal, Gravity, Rey Horus
5) El Potro de Oro b Mr. Win, Éxtasis, Elemental, Forneo, Accion Jackson [Golden Ticket]
6) Emperador Azteca b El Bandido © [BIG LUCHA WORLD]
I still need to watch the first half of this show closer, but this seemed like the best Big Lucha show so far. So many Mexican promotions try to do WWE style ladder matches and 99% fail – AAA’s had bad ladders, tables that won break, people just forgetting spots or anticlimatic finishes, and places like IWRG tend to be worse. Pretty much everything worked in the Golden Ticket match, even stuff that really had no business working. Everyone got their moments, everyone got big spots, the finish made sense, and the guys just wrestled a lot better than expected. It didn’t revolutionize the ladder match or anything, but it was easily better than anyone thought it might be. Flamita/Emperador Azteca was good, the 2v2 match was good, the trios match was good, and four good matches makes for a top-tier Big Lucha show. For me, it was worth the entire cost of the Mas Lucha subscription this month.
Flamita got involved to stop a Bandido 21 plex, which gave Bandido something to complain about post-match. It still ended with a clean one two three on Emperador Azteca’s pin, for the unexpected title match. Bandido’s been working for AAA, AEW, US indies, Mexico indies, and Big Lucha and I think title change is perhaps related to having to give something to manage his schedule better. He’s staying in Big Lucha and will be on the cards in different ways, but he’s probably not going to be in a position where he’s called upon for great main event singles matches every month as long as he’s busy elsewhere. This show seemed to draw very well with no guest stars. Moving the main title from Bandido to Emperador Azteca is taking the training wheels off and seeing how if it can keep it’s balance.
The 01/22 Big Lucha/GALLI show is a $10 PPV on ProWrestling.TV. Makes sense that a show with that many people being flown in needs to make some extra money where they can, ProWrestling.TV is an unexpected pick – Big Lucha is normally on Mas Lucha, GALLI is normally on IWTV, though neither does traditional PPVs. GALLI has been on FITE in the past.
IWRG
IWRG (SUN) 01/15/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Baby Star & Kenji b Rey Eclipse & Rey Minos
2) Lolita b Diosa Quetzal, Black Fury
No Satania, so a 2v2 was turned into a three way. Lolita beat Quetzal and asked for a title match.
3) Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Rey Halcón DQ John Tito, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly
Dick Angelo 3G tossed his mask to Noisy Boy to draw the DQ.
4) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Alan Extreme, Imposible, Mr. Leo
5) Hip Hop Man, Karaoui, Shocko b Hijo De Canis Lupus, Puma de Oro, Tonalli
Hip Hop Man snuck in a foul on Puma de Oro
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan © b Hell Boy [IWRG Rey del Ring]
4th defense
IWRG announcers seemed very high on the main event.
Other News
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and an obituary for Black Warrior.
Black Warrior #3534 has Black Warrior on the cover.
The Hijo del Santo match from Saturday didn’t end up streaming, which just means it’s up on YouTube handhelds already. The show does look like a sellout, and they ran an angle to set up a Santo/Bobby Lee Jr. mask match.
Segunda Caida watches more LA Park in Panama.
GCW announced Arez vs Komander as a first-round Jersey J Cup match on 02/11.
KAOZ announced they’d signed Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane to the contracts. I’m still confused as to what these contracts are supposed to mean.
Delirio unmasked Jhony Hunter in Guadalajara. Marino unmasked Baby Star in San Luis Rio Colorado.
An interview with Veracruz luchador Billytronik, who is retiring.