CMLL
Tonight’s Arena Mexico show
CMLL (FRI) 02/17/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo & Chamuel
2) Diamond, Sangre Imperial, Valiente Jr. vs Disturbio, Enfermero Jr., Inquisidor
3) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Marcela vs Zeuxis [lightning]
5) Gran Guerrero, Oráculo, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Bárbaro Cavernario, Rocky Romero, Titán
6) Averno & Místico vs Soberano Jr. & Templario [Torneo Incredible de Parejas, final]
The final looks like it’s going to be really good. Soberano and Templario can play opposite of Averno and Mistico well, and both teams stand a chance of self destructing at any point. The semi-main is the last glimpse of the H2L main feud for a little while. Zeuxis has a big test in her return match. The undercard is not as special but the big stuff should be good. Obligatory PPV link; this will go up on YouTube on March 5th.
Arkalis, Esfinge, Euforia, La Magnifica were all removed from Saturday and Sunday CMLL cards on Thursday. Sangre Imperial, Audaz, Rey Bucanero and Marcela were added. That kind of change is unusual. No reasons given.
CMLL (MON) 02/20/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja & Meyer vs King Jaguar & Rey Apocalipsis
2) Asturiano, Black Tiger, Siki Osama vs Arlequín (Jalisco), Furia Roja (Jalisco), Guerrero de la Muerte (Jalisco)
3) Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola [CMLL WOMEN]
7th defense
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Atlantis, Euforia, Stigma vs Gran Guerrero, Panterita del Ring, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
CMLL shows without the Fantastica Mania is like the first hit of a cold wind on a winter day. The Tuesday/Friday shows will be dressed up with the Toreno de Escualas, and they’re bringing back the Guadalajara/Puebla feud to make these shows a little more interesting.
CMLL pulled a fast one with the Copa Irma Gonzalez announcement. They first announced 10 women for the match: Lluvia, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit, Amapola, Zeuxis, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Metalica and Hera. Just as everyone presumed that meant no Faby Apache, host Julio Cesar Rivera revealed the field had been expanded to 12 people. It certainly came off as CMLL was aware of the report they weren’t working with Faby and played off that story. CMLL gave no time lime of when the other two women would be announced, just telling people to watch for social media announcements. I guess that could mean some surprise during tonight’s show, or it could mean still weeks from now.
CMLL also hosted a Zoom press conference with NJPW’s Naoki Sugabayashi on Wednesday night. Kaiser Sports has a few quotes in an article. The idea was to promote Fantastica Mania to the Mexican media, but the big takeaway was the idea for a sort of reverse Fantastica Mania: NJPW wrestlers coming to Mexico for a tour. No date, names or number of wrestlers were specified at this time, though Sugabayashi said big names would be involved. (It’d logically be easier to do something like that around the same time as the second AEW/NJPW FantasticaMania show, but that’s just a guess.)
Sugabayashi mentioned NJPW wanted to run Fantastica Mania in 2022 but were unable, citing the lack of available venues. Those same limitations caused this year’s tour to be shorter than originally planned. He’s personally looking forward to seeing Mistico back in Japan, and says NJPW listens to fan comments and the opinions of Japanese media about which wrestlers to bring over from CMLL.
Mas Lucha also has posted parts of the interview with Sugabyashi, with Okumura doing the translating. He’s asked what caused NJPW to pick the three new wrestlers, and explains that Hijo del Villano III was picked because fans remember his father’s feud with Tiger Mask and wanted to see it again. (I half joked about this before but I guess I was accidentally correct.) Magia Blanca and Suicida impressed Japanese fans with their performances.
Rey Samuray, Peverso, Vaquero Jr. and Misterio Blanco got interview time to hype Toreno de Escuelas. So was Tonalli, which was the one I found interesting. who said his parents brought him to his first wrestling show at the age of 3. They went to Arena Coliseo often, and he once got the attention of Emilio Charles Jr. Tonalli is a second generation wrestler; his father Gallo de Plata told him to get his degree before getting into lucha libre. Tonalli didn’t actually finish university but got a technical degree in programming and hopes to get certified in professional training and nutrition in case wrestling doesn’t work out.
Atlantis, Volcano, Rugido, Amapola and Tiffany met with children fighting cancer on Wednesday in Guadalajara as part of World Day of Fighting Childhood Cancer.
AAA
AAA on Space has the Rey de Reyes Semifinals
- Arez, Puma King, Vampiro, Sam Adonis
- Abismo Negro Jr., Bandido, Komander, Psycho Clown
- Aramis, Bestia 666, Flamita, Pagano
- Hijo Del Vikingo, Mecha Wolf, Myzteziz Jr., Negro Casas
I’ll have this up on the Google Drive eventually, but later than usual – I should be at Warrior Wrestling when this is airing.
No AAA taping this weekend. They’re off from taping until at least the 03/04 NWA show.
AAA appears to have a new TV deal. “Canal 13” is a group of over-the-air about dozen channels across parts of Mexico, mostly in the southeast part of the country. Their channels (one in Chiapas and one in Yucatan) mentioned they’ll air AAA Saturdays at 8 pm, starting this week. AAA hasn’t mentioned this yet. I’m not sure if this is the same episodes as they air on Space, or some delay like Azteca or Multimedios. (AAA appears to still be on both those channels.) Canal 13 streams all their channels on their website, though I don’t know if they’ll stream AAA. I will try to record this week.
At the Lucha Libre World Cup press conference on Wednesday, Alberto said he was only wrestling with AAA (and AAA-affiliated) local promoters) for now. He didn’t plan on wrestling once or twice a month. AAA hasn’t announced Alberto for anything beyond the World Cup and the first TripleMania. Most people took this as “Alberto’s going to be in AAA a lot more.” and that’s definitely a possible outcome, but it came off to me listening to it as Alberto saying he had no interest in wrestling anywhere beyond AAA and might not even do that much. (Do not contact him for bookings, in other words.) The story will change, as it always does with Alberto.
NWA Junior Heavyweight champion Kerry Morton says he’s coming to AAA. He was not on the AAA/NWA card, but it’s an AAA lineup, it probably changed.
Mas Lucha
Either I got the schedule wrong or plans changed, because Mas Lucha is now saying only the Sunday IWRG show is members only. The other shows they’re doing this weekend are all free.
It would be very helpful if Mas Lucha had a published schedule some place easy to find updated on a regular basis. I’d like to know when, like, the most recent DTU showing is airing by looking at a webpage instead of deep investigation. But, I’ve written this like eight times before, and it’s not happening.
IWRG
IWRG , LLB (THU) 02/16/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Eurus, Rey Azteca Jr., Súper Boy b Oro Blanco, Paymon, Voltio 
2) Barba Azul II, Barba Gris, Brazo Azul b Brazo de Platino, Demencia, Sangre Suicida
3) Mary Caporal & Princesa Azul b Estrellita De Plata & Sagitarius
Maddy helped Caporal & Azul win.
4) Cerebro Negro Jr. & Hijo De Carta Brava b Impulso & León Dorado
Cerebro Negro distracted Leon Dorado.
5) Carta Brava, Cerebro Negro, Fantasma de la Ópera, Freelance b Gallego, Hell Boy, Hell Boy, Romano García
6) Puma de Oro & Tonalli b Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II and Lunatik Xtreme & Ovett Jr.
7) Atlantis Jr. & Místico b Hijo del Villano III & Volador Jr. 
usual challenges followed
This one started late and went late into the night. The attendance looked great. Nothing much was said towards the matches.
I watched the latest IWRG Tryout show on Thursday night instead. (You should watch on IWRG’s channel; Mas Lucha’s upload has it in 240p for some reason.) Eddie Rodriguez and Dairux moved through from Team Aramis, while Team Fishman had a four way tie of Riesgo, Amnesia, Kariel (the only women in the competition) and Nubulis. All four advanced. Really, none of the Team Fishman wrestlers stood out in a way where they have a chance at advancing to the final, they were all pretty middling. The rest of Team Aramis was awful, to the point where the judges seemed legitimately upset at the participants when evaluating their performances; just back to back worst match of the year stuff. Rodriguez & Dariux were the last match of the batch and could’ve advanced by doing nothing, so it was nice they did a lot. Dariux is a Tulancingo guy and has been on a bunch of shows you may have seen, a reliable midcard guy who had a good night here. Rodriguez is a San Luis Potosi wrestler, has some size, has some rudo personality and wrestled very well. He looked like he could be a useful piece.
Big Lucha
There is a Big Lucha show this Saturday.
Big Lucha (SAT) 02/18/2023 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Andy Panda & Reiyel vs Metal Shadow & Vórtize
2) Little Star vs Forneo
3) Iku & Vengador vs King & Kong
4) Black Skayde & Skayde vs Elipse & Orbita
5) Cometa Maya, Éxtasis, Radioactivo vs Action Jackson, Bendito, Elemental [no rules]
6) Jack Evans vs Gravity [bull terrier]
7) El Bandido & Flamita vs El Potro de Oro & Emperador Azteca [Relevos Increíbles]
This will air for free on Mas Lucha. The show should be fine and probably good, but there’s a lot less talk about this promotion since they dropped Big Lucha Worl and didn’t replace it with anything. It’s also not a exciting card: Jack Evans and Gravity continue to feud after they’ve already done their hair match, the main is mixed up teams seemingly just to do it (and right when CMLL is doing the same idea with more weight.) The trios match should be very good but it’s no DQ just to add more gimmick matches.
Other Notes
LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.
The New Exotic promotion debuts Saturday in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera. It’s a building where indie who hope they can be a real alternative end up running, draw a bad turnout, and then are no longer thought of a real alternative. New Exotic may do better than that because it’s essentially an AAA spot show (Psycho Clown & Pagano vs Chessmna & Abismo Negro Jr. on top.) It’s a rare Mexico City area poster without a Mas
This New Exotic promotion Maximo said he was retiring to help run. He announced he was no longer retiring on Thursday, saying he’s conquered his depression thanks to help from the people close to him. Maximo may have been dealing with depression, in addition to the domestic violence claims and other erratic behavior that got pushed out of the news by his retirement announcement.
AAW (Berwyn, Illinois) tonight has Black Taurus vs Gringo Loco vs Aramis vs Brayden Lee. It will air on highspots.tv.
VXS (Las Vegas) tonight has Arez & Komander vs the East West Express and as well as Los Macizos in singles matches. That’s a FITE+ show.
Black Label Pro (Crown Point, Indiana) this Saturday has two different shows. I’m not sure why? Both are airing on FITE+
Warrior Wrestling (Chicago, Illinois) this Saturday has Aramis vs Black Taurus vs Hijo del Vikingo vs Aeroboy. This will air on ProWrestlingTV for 10 USD. I’m going to this show – or at least I have a ticket, but the only other time I tried to go to Thalia Hall, the show got canceled before I got there.
The NJPW US PPV with Rocky Romero, Mascara Dorada and Volador Jr. airs Saturday on FITE for 20 USD. It’ll eventually turn up on NJPW World, though not during this billing period. Saturday is the 18th; Mascara Dorada was doing a countdown until the 19th for a while and then hasn’t done it recently. I don’t know if we were meant to think his NJPW contract ends after this show or if there’s something else going on.
GCW on Saturday (Los Angeles) on FITE+ has
- Komander vs Lio Rush
- Gringo Loco, Latigo, Toxin vs Arez, Jack Cartwheel, Mago
- Ciclope & Miedo Extremo vs The Bollywood Boys
GLEAT announced the entire Black Generation Big Lucha lineup (Flamita, Bendito, Accion Jackson, Elemental and Emperador Azteca – Yutani’s already there) for their shows on 04/12 and 04/16.
Slam Wrestling has a recap of the Contra Las Cuerdras Netflix show.
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