site notes
The @lucharobot twitter account which automatically posts posters/videos looked like it was going to die on Thursday. Twitter changed its rules again and there’s a path to keeping it alive. It’ll have to post a little less, so it’ll only be giving out one video link per match. I may also still start to get it working on Mastodon or elsewhere, this story will probably change again.
I’m not streaming AAA this week. There is that other unexplained Twitch feed that streams Space all day long (though the quality isn’t great) and I’ll try to link to that on Saturday if tat’s running. I’m not responsible if for the quality or if someone’s just watching my Twitter feed to see what to take down.
CMLL
Tonight’s CMLL show has the first two rounds of the Torneo Incredible de Parejas, which seems to have lost a bit of juice with the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas match set:
- 02/10: Romero & Volador and Angel de Oro & Oraculo
- 02/17: match is more about both teams betraying each other than it being good
- 02/24: Volador’s in Japan so this program stops
- 03/03: Volador might not be back from Japan
- 03/10: a preview match of some sort
- 03/17: Homenaje a Dos Leyendas
Maybe something else will happen tonight and it’ll be more exciting coming out of it. It’s not so exciting going into it. Luckily, the rest of the card has weird stuff: a Niebla Roja/Guerrero Maya singles match, a Halcon Suriano Jr./Inquisidor and Fuerza Poblana versus a batch of tecnicos and Zeuxis’s return teaming with Vaquer against Marcela & Sugehit. Zeuxis was around CMLL for many months after the mask match, but most fans last real memory of her in Arena Mexico was unmasking Princesa Sugehit, so they go right back to that in her first match there in five years. It’s a TicketMasterLive show as always, and will go up on YouTube on 02/27.
CMLL (MON) 02/13/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Centella Roja vs Espíritu Maligno & King Jaguar
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Hijo de Centella Roja, Millenium vs Multy, Rey Apocalipsis, Siki Osama
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Hera, Olympia
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
5) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis Jr., Místico, Rocky Romero vs Averno, Euforia, Oráculo, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Rocky Romero and Orcaulo are sticking around next week, which certainly points to them being in the final. Amapola beat Sugehit last week so they could be going to a title match, or they could shift it like they did in Arnea Mexico.
Some left over Homenaje a Dos Leyenda thoughts
- a main event primed to see a guest wrestler lose his hair was lame when it was Big Daddy Yum Yum and it’s lame when it’s Oraculo. (It didn’t turn out to be Big Daddy that time and it may not be Oraculo this time either, but it sure does reduce the excitement when that’s default ending.) Pairing it with a semimain where one side is going to blow up for the third or fourth time is not a strong top of the card for one of the biggest shows of the year.
- I guess Faby Apache and/or Lady Frost back for the Copa Irma Gonzalez; CMLL seems like they held that off because they can get another day of news out of whomever is surprisingly part of that match.
- Tickets go on sale on Saturday; no prices are announced yet.
The CMLL YouTube upload on Sunday will be the 01/27 show, with the Reyes del Aire match.
AAA
AAA has its TV tapings for military families on Saturday. I have figured out, between posting the lineup and now, that the mystery Centinela in the opener is probably Pagano’s friend from Juarez who we’ve seen before. It fits a lineup that has a lot of odds and ends to fill out the show.
AAA on Space this week has
- Brazo de Oro Jr., Drago Kid, Mini Vikingo vs Demus, Dinamico, Iron Kid
- Dulce Kanela, Lady Shani, Sexy Star vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla
- Komander vs Jack Cartwheel
Do I need to keep doing this if I’m not streaming it? Maybe I should just give the YouTube preview: this week’s YouTube show is the first part of Queretaro’s show. (You can skip pretty much all of the matches.)
Rey Escorpion is scheduled on the AAA TV taping. Something may be up with him. He’s listed as working the 02/24 The Crash show, and AAA-contracted wrestlers are not supposed to be working The Crash at the moment. It could be he’s out of AAA contract and taking his own dates, like Dralistio. Escorpion has been featured a lot less on AAA TV in the last year.
Today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter goes over the AAA/AEW relationship. It’s not great! WON previously mentioned AEW was aware Dragon Lee was going to WWE after the AAA match. The report makes it sound like a) AEW believed at some point AAA was going to replace Dragon Lee in the tag title match with Rush and b) AEW didn’t know that the Dragon Lee signing would be announced immediately after the match. AAA’s side is that they couldn’t change the advertised match, which seems to contradict given Dorian Roldan’s strong statements to me previously that their fans don’t care if they change advertised matches (and they have continued to do so.) The report says Konnan went to the 01/28 AEW Dark tapings in Orlando to try to fix the relationship, but it unclear if it’s been fixed. WON believed AAA was trying to closer to WWE by promoting Dragon Lee’s win, and letting him get a pin over an AEW guy on his way out, but notes the AAA/WWE alliance probably hasn’t expanded farther if AAA’s trying to fix the AEW relationship.
The biggest context here is the 50th time there’s an “AAA wants Kenny Omega versus Vikingo at one of their TripleManias” note in the WON. There’s never any response in the WON from Omega’s side. Kota Ibushi also gets added to the Vikingo TripleMania opponent list, which that seems more realistic: he’s a freelancer now, so it’s just a matter of price and interest. I have no idea of either. I would really like to see Vikingo/Ibushi and I hope AAA makes it happen. I don’t know that it’s in AAA’s interest to run Vikingo/Ibushi; it’s a match to appeal to internet fans and those fans aren’t going to stay with AAA for more than a single match. (Ibushi isn’t known in Mexico outside of the small percentage of super hardcore fans who follow wrestling everywhere. an average AAA fan will have no idea who he is.) Current AAA is poison to those internet fans for all the reasons I’ve written about many times already; I don’t need to relitigate it, I just can point to how few foreign fans cared or noticed Rey de Reyes wasn’t streamed, because few are sticking with AAA close enough to notice. There will be international fans who show up and watch for a Kota Ibushi appearance, but most of those people are those who show up to watch one TripleMania each regardless of what’s on the show. They will buy the one show (or likely pirate the one show), applaud the match, and then declare, “I wish I got to see Vikingo in a better promotion, and I’m now done watching AAA for another year.” Again, I hope AAA continues to bring in great people to face Vikingo like Kota Ibushi, but that’s a booking just for internet fans from a promotion that’s not going to be able retain internet fans.
Dorian Roldan will appear at the Sport Biz LATAM conference on next Thursday.
AAA’s Abismo Negro Jr. and the son of Abismo Negro (El Fiscal) took a photo facing off. Absimo Negro’s family was very angry about AAA and the current wrestler taking the gimmick they felt belonged only to his family. Abismo Negro Jr. has mentioned trying to reach out to the family before and ending up blocked on social media. The intention of that photo is to stir up interest in a match, but taking the photo itself suggests they’re getting along a little better.
Other News
LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.
I watched enough of the latest Tryout episode to tell you that the ‘prize’ for winning is a five-year contract. (Wrestlers probably shouldn’t sign five year contracts with any company, IWRG or WWE.) The semifinals will take place on March 2nd, a return of Thursday night IWRG shows.
Gannicus, Hazel, Samuray Azteca and Vendaval advanced to the semifinal on this week’s show. Gannicus was the one guy who impressed me out of this batch. Hazel was in a bunch who all seemed fine.
MLW is taping the AAA/EMW show on Saturday in Tijuana. The lineup was late to arrive but here it is in full:
AAA , EMW (FRI) 02/10/2023 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Alex Kane vs Delirious
2) Cíclope & Miedo Extremo vs Árkngel Divino & Último Maldito and Fantastik & Rayo Star and Anton Carrillo & Extasiss [street]
3) Sexy Star vs Taya, Dalys, La Hiedra [AAA REINAS]
4) Jack Cartwheel, Myzteziz Jr., Willie Mack vs Dinámico, Genio del Aire, Skalibur
5) Crazy Frank vs Juicy Finau, Damián 666
6) Alex Hammerstone vs Danny Rivera [MLW CHAMP]
7) Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus
8) Hijo Del Vikingo, Psycho Clown, Rey Horus vs Gringo Loco, Johnny Caballero, Sam Adonis
It may be that just the MLW matches – 1, 5, 6 – end up on their TV show. Or it might be all of them, even though they say they’re not working with AAA anymore. After they aired an old taping as their debut on Reelz, I can’t figure out MLW. Not even hazarding a guess when this might air.
Arez and Aramis had not been given their MLW release last I heard, but there was some positive progress in that direction this past week.
Komander faces Arez in the first round of GCW/JCW’s J Cup tournament on Saturday. The winner of that match will face the winner of a Jonathan Gresham/Mike Bailey match. The first round takes place on a show starting at 1 pm CT, the rest of the tournament takes place starting at 7 pm. This airs on FITE+; I think I’m currently subscribed to that? I probably should know.
Dralistico makes his NOAH debut on Sunday, facing Atsushi Kotoge. The show will air on the WrestleUniverse service (about 7 USD a month.) It seems like the plan is for Dralistico to challenge for the GHC Junior title down the road, but I don’t claim to know NOAH booking.
Meanwhile, Galeno de Mal makes his debut in GLEAT also on Sunday. Many of GLEAT’s shows stream on YouTube. I’m intrigued to find out what the GLEAT fans who didn’t know him before think of him.
GCW announced Los Macizos versus the Motor City Machine Guns on their 03/05 Atlantic City show.
DTU’s new school in Tulancingo will allow them to run shows every two weeks in Tulancingo, which is more busy than they’ve been in recent years.
El Norte has an interview with Cassandro about his film premiere. Pimpinela Escarlata and Cassandro’s sister Laura ended up answering more of the questions in that interview; Cassandro is said to still have issues speaking.
El Sol de Cordoba interviews local luchador Infierno Negro.