CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 02/24/2023 Arena México
1) Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr., Valiente Jr. vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
3) Brillante Jr., Gran Jefe, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Insólito (Laguna), Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro vs Futuro, Max Star, Neón, Príncipe, Tonalli, Vegas [Torneo de Escuelas, semifinal]
participating teams determined on Tuesday
4) Virus vs Blue Panther [Torneo de Escuelas, lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
The Torneo de Escuelas starts off with the two least experienced teams at this level. Some of them have turned up in Guadalajara in recent weeks, but this will be their first match in Arena Mexico. Cross your fingers. Virus/Blue Panther should be reliably great.
Elsewhere, the main event seems like just a solid match to kill some time. The women’s matches are building towards Copa Irma Gonzalez; they’ll be back with another trios match. Opener should a solid match. It’s a usual TicketMaster live show.
CMLL (SUN) 02/26/2023 Arena México
1) Angelito & Kaligua vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Skadi vs Amapola, Stephanie Vaquer, Tiffany
3) Astral, Oro Jr., Sangre Imperial vs Arlequín (Jalisco), Furia Roja (Jalisco), Guerrero de la Muerte (Jalisco)
4) Dark Panther vs Magnus [lightning]
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Felino, Felino Jr., Misterioso Jr.
6) Atlantis, El Hijo de Octagón, Octagón vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Mephisto, Stuka Jr.
Normal Atlantis with the Octagons main event. Guadalajara guys seem to be finishing up for now here.
CMLL (MON) 02/27/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Dark Soul & Rencor vs Espíritu Maligno & Sombra Diabólika
2) Angelito, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Full Metal, Mercurio, Pierrothito
3) Black Tiger, Millenium, Rey Samuray vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Raider
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Atlantis, Averno, Stigma vs Gran Guerrero, Panterita del Ring, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
Gran Guerrero unmasked Atlantis last week so that may be setting up a singles match. Same thing with Bucanero/Sagrado in the semimain. Raider may be in fill in Ola Negra duty.
CMLL (TUE) 02/28/2023 Arena México
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Polvora
2) Astral, Oro Jr., Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Satánico vs Black Tiger [lightning]
4) Adrenalina (Jalisco), Ángel Rebelde, Crixus, Explosivo (Jalisco), Fantástico, Vaquero Jr. (Jalisco) vs Hijo de Centella Roja, Millenium, Multy, Perverso, Prayer, Rey Samuray [Torneo de Escuelas, semifinal]
Guadalajara vs Puebla
5) Atlantis, Esfinge, Valiente vs Euforia, Mephisto, Niebla Roja
The second semifinal of the Torneo de Escuelas, plus some usual Tuesday matches. Prior to the building up to this tournament, Satanico and Black Tiger last wrestled in 2001.
La Seductora, in an interview with Box y Lucha, announced she has left CMLL and was retiring from lucha libre. She last wrestled on February 5th. Seductora, who will turn 50 in October, had a bad case of COVID in 2022 and says she’s diabetic. The combination of both have left her unable to train and she did not feel comfortable continuing. There were a couple of matches in late 2022 where it looked like she was about to pass out near the end. I haven’t had a chance to do more than skim through the interview, but it sounded like it was her call to retire, rather than CMLL declaring her medically unable to continue.
Seductora had been with CMLL regularly since 2006, usually as a ruda who didn’t challenge for many titles. Her best match was the 2014 2v2 mask/hair match, with her and Princesa Blanca losing to Marcela & Princesa Sugehit. Even then, Seductora wasn’t the star – it was really more about long time team Blanca & Sugehit splitting up (and Blanca quitting the promotion), and they needed another masked woman to balance the sides. La Seductora was always around as a depth piece, rarely focused, and rarely had the performances to deserve more of a focus. Seductora had just five singles matches in her sixteen year run with CMLL and did not win one, including another singles hair match to Sugehit in 2018. (She went to a double countout with Sanelly in 2019, which reads now like someone lost track of the count.) Seductora lasted 16 years, so there were probably qualities she brought to lucha libre or behind the scenes that we didn’t see just watching the shows.
CMLL announced Sumie Sakai and La Catalina as the final two participants for Copa Irma Gonzalez. Catalina, an Chilean who wrestled for WWE, was recently seen in Big Lucha. Sakai is a Japanese-born wrestler who moved to the US in the 2000s. She was a regular part of Ring of Honor in the last few years of their previous ownership, and helped with the foreign wrestlers behind the scenes during that period. Catalina will debut on the 03/03 Arena Mexico show, while it sounded like Sakai may be in closer to Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.
Those two names being added suggest Dark Silueta has not recovered yet to return. It also means the El Planchitas story from a few weeks ago claiming Faby Apache and CMLL had a falling out appears to be accurate. The timing of Zeuxis’ return felt like a replacement for Dalys, but it fits more that she’s being used to take Faby Apache’s spot against Marcela. Faby Apache and Marcela having just one match, going to a double countout where Apache looked like the best ruda in Arena Mexico, is a disappointment. Faby’s correct to leave if CMLL was trying to control who she could work with on non-CMLL shows, and hopefully CMLL will work with her again down the road.
El Planchitas has two stories this week. One is a minor and unsurprising one: CMLL was paid “more than 400,000 pesos” for the Netflix/Karate Kid/KeMonito commercial last year and little of that made it to the wrestlers. His other story is a claim TV Azteca reached out to CMLL about jumping to their station, with the added bonus of running some of Azteca’s boxing events in CMLL arenas. CMLL rejected the offer. That makes sense to me. El Planchitas’ story is Azteca isn’t happy with AAA and is looking for other options, but Azteca’s also airing AAA past midnight most weeks – there’s no sense putting your TV where no one is going to see it unless it comes with a big increase in a rights fee.
Irma Gonzalez and her daughter Irma Aguilar did press to promote the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas shows.
Fantastica Mania
CMLL , NJPW (THU) 02/23/2023 KBS Hall, Kyoto, japan [CMLL, NJPW] Attendance: 765
1) Douki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Rey Cometa & Yuto Nakashima
4:47. Kanemaru beat Cometa
2) Gedo & Taiji Ishimori b Capitán Suicida & Ryohei Oiwa
6:11. Ishimori submitted Oiwa.
3) Bárbaro Cavernario, Hijo del Villano III, Okumura b Dulce Gardenia, Master Wato, Tiger Mask
7:53. Villano pulled Tiger Mask’s mask and cradled him for the win.
4) Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Titán b Kosei Fujita, Ryusuke Taguchi, Soberano Jr., YOH
14:24. Titan defeated Fujita.
5) El Desperado, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Último Guerrero b Hechicero, Magia Blanca, SHO [Relevos Increíbles]
13:11. Tanahashi beat Hechicero.
6) Atlantis Jr. & Templario b Místico & Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
11:16. Templario beat Volador Jr.
The main event was the best match of the first two nights of the tournament. You get a lot of “Young Lions who are there to try hard and lose miserably” and “Taguchi goofing around for a while” in these preliminary tag matches. The main event was the first pure CMLL match and it was the best total effort of these shows.
Atlantis Jr. is booked on the rudo side for these matches but he’s working 100% tecnico and acting like it before and after the match. He and Ultimo Guerrero are playing up tensions too; even though this tour is booked as if they’re still allies, they’re going with the current CMLL status quo. Atlantis Jr. spoke English after the Wednesday main event like someone’s who spent some time living in the United States and speaking it regularly.
Rey Cometa and DOUKI ran in to each other in the interview area and ended up challenging each other to a singles match. That’d be a fun addition to one of the last two days, though it’s unlikely to happen. Tanahashi and Templario did some teasing of a singles match on the next day and that’s surely not happening on this tour.
CMLL , NJPW (FRI) 02/24/2023 Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan [NJPW]
1) Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask b Gedo, Hijo del Villano III, Taiji Ishimori
4:39. Wato beat Gedo.
2) Capitán Suicida & YOH b Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito
7:07. Takahashi beat Suicida
3) Bárbaro Cavernario, SHO, Templario b Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kosei Fujita, Okumura
8:33. Sho beat Fujita
4) El Desperado, Místico, Soberano Jr. b Douki, Hechicero, Yoshinobu Kanemaru
14:32. Soberano defeated DOUKI.
5) Bushi & Titán b Dulce Gardenia & Rey Cometa [semifinal]
12:41. Titan pinned Dulce.
6) Atlantis Jr. & Último Guerrero b Magia Blanca & Volador Jr. [semifinal]
13:57. Ultimo Guerrero defeated Magia Blanca.
Only saw the first half of this show so far. You don’t need to see the first half of this show. In the opener. Villano III unmasked Tiger Mask after the match, as he did to win the night prior. Hirmou won with a strange pumphandle cradle that may be important to NJPW fans later.
The tournament’s gone to form so far. I think I need to turn Desperado green; he was explaining to Ultimo Guerrero that he’s a good guy now after Thursday’s match. Cavernario also declared he was back in shape, so he knows what people have been saying about him.
CMLL , NJPW (SUN) 02/26/2023 Mahuhari Messe International Confernece Hall, Chiba, Japan
1) Ryohei Oiwa & Tiger Mask vs Hijo del Villano III & SHO
2) Bárbaro Cavernario, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi vs Master Wato, Okumura, YOH
3) Capitán Suicida & Kosei Fujita vs Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito
4) El Desperado, Místico, Soberano Jr. vs Douki, Hechicero, Templario
5) Dulce Gardenia & Rey Cometa vs Magia Blanca & Volador Jr. [3rd place]
6) Atlantis Jr. & Último Guerrero vs Bushi & Titán [final]
I really had thought about the third place match until now, that could be pretty good. Match 4 looks promising as well. My plan is to watch this one live so you’ll have a lot of tweets to scroll past in the morning. It starts at 3:30 AM CT. Spanish commentary starts with this show.
CMLL , NJPW (MON) 02/27/2023 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1) Kosei Fujita & Rey Cometa vs Douki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
2) Master Wato & Tiger Mask vs Gedo & Hijo del Villano III
3) Capitán Suicida vs Último Guerrero
4) Bárbaro Cavernario, El Desperado, Ryusuke Taguchi vs Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito
5) Dulce Gardenia, Magia Blanca, Místico vs Atlantis Jr., Hechicero, Okumura
6) Volador Jr. vs Templario
7) Titán vs Soberano Jr. [CMLL WELTER]
7th defense
This is the free show, also starting at 3:30 AM CT. Soberano may have picked up a minor arm injury but both he and Titan seem really focused on making that main event something big.
Mistico joined Soberano Jr., Atlantis Jr., Volador Jr. as announced for the 03/01 All Star Junior Festival. The card is scheduled to be announced on Saturday.
AAA
AAA TripleMania Tijuana will now take place July 15th in Estadio Chevron, the local baseball stadium. Tickets are on sale. Ticket prices are the same exact range as TripleMania Monterrey, from 250 to 3000. They’re both baseball stadium shows, and it looks like the same set up. There’s about 17,000 tickets on sale.
This show was originally scheduled as June 17th in the soccer stadium, and tickets never went on sale. No reason has been given for the change. This change would be a massive source of confusion and discussion for any other major wrestling company; for AAA it is simply Friday.
AAA this Saturday will have the first half of Rey de Reyes on Space this Saturday. This week is the four men’s semifinals, with the rest of the show next week. AAA did not air a new episode last weekend. That’s happened before and Space has doubled up on episodes the following week. No such luck this time.
FITE officially added the Lucha Libre World Cup to their schedule. It’s a 23 USD show, same as Night of Champions. It’ll be in English and Spanish; I believe the English commentary is remote. I’m assuming that’s just going to be the same price for all AAA PPVs this year. It seems a touch expensive but I don’t think the price is going to be any big deterrent. It’s only the people who are getting every AAA PPV minus those who just absolutely don’t want to deal with Alberto who is going to buy this. Maybe AAA will pick up a few more buys based off fans of some of the outside talent, but they can also charge about what they want and get about the same amount of people. I don’t sense a large number of casual fans for this one, even with all the outside names; maybe it’ll pick up later but there’s little talk about these shows at the moment.
(CMLL and AAA both having major PPVs on the same weekend is a weird bit of timing, something I’m not sure either company realized when they booked those dates.)
Pagano, in the latest part of his injury story, claims he has “spinal cord trauma” and “spinal column compression” from the martinete, and had spinal decompression surgery. His photos indicate the surgery was on his lower back. Someone decided to realize he needs to take photos in a neck brace if he’s going to sell this, though not for all the photos. He left the hospital on Thursday. I think Pagano and AAA have gone so far that there is a real injury he’s got addressed, but a pre-existing one and not from the two mystery people.
The World is a Vampire Festival next weekend is expecting 50,000 people. Depending on how you want to count it, that’ll be the most attended wrestling show this year.
04/01 The Wrld on Lucha will have Hijo de Vikingo vs Laredo Kid. That match has been among the best matches of the year in Mexico the last two times it happens.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha (SAT) 03/18/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Reiyel vs Andy Panda, Brujo De Iztapalapa
2) Cometa Maya, Radioactivo, Sussy Love vs El Machote, Kendy, Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
3) Black Skyde, Forneo, Skayde, Vórtize vs Elipse, Iku, Orbita, Vengador
4) Gravity & Potro vs Jack Evans & Killer Destro and Mr. Win & Viajero
5) El Bandido & Rey Horus vs Bestia 666 & Damián 666
6) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Emperador Azteca & Flamita
A show. I’m not interested in the Traumas here, though at least they didn’t end up doing the Flamita/Bandido tag team again. I forgot the previous show included Damian 666 attacking Bandido and that’s followed up here. No idea who Killer Destro is.
Action Jackson announcing he left the promotion and then Bendito and Elemental disappearing is suspicious.
IWRG
I watched the Tryout again. I’m going to have to go back to watch the first week matches to be a Tryout completist some time this weekend. Thursday’s show had only three matches, with about half the wrestlers on both teams dropping out before they got to the matches. Team Hijo de Canis Lupus members Rey Minos and Rey Espartano (on a tiebreaker) advanced, as did Team Imposible members Centvrión and Ángel De Plata (Puebla). They’ll run a live semifinal show next Thursday with the 18 or so people left, and then a final the week after.
Mas Lucha
AVE (SAT) 02/25/2023 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Drago Kid (AAA) vs Íkaro, Calibus, Lunatik Extreme, Cometa, Blue Win, Manny Hernández, Gasparín Jr., Águila Guerrera Jr., Lunatik Fly, Chicanito [Copa Rey del Aire]
2) Ovett Jr. & Venganza vs Huitzil & Tonatiuh and Epitafio & Leviatham and Belial & Impulso [Copa AVE]
3) Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool vs Capo del Norte, Capo del Sur, Pistolero Negro and Dr. Karonte Jr., Enfermero Del Mal, Gran Markus Ng
4) Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane vs Aramis & Toxin
5) The Monsther & Tóxico vs Gallego & Mr. Cóndor
6) Rey Espectro vs Dralistico (???) vs Mr. Águila
7) Sansón vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Fresero Jr., Demonio Infernal, Trauma I, Trauma II [mask, hair]
This is the subscriber show this weekend. I might not have any interest in the main event, but they’ve built that up into a big deal that this should be an easy sell out. They probably don’t need as many people in the undercard with it, that’s just how indie shows are booked anyway.
Mas Lucha (FRI) 03/17/2023 Arena Azteca Budokan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Escapulario & Séptimo Elemento vs Dark Mayem & Rey Eclipse
2) Alas de Oro & Alas De Plata vs Kauris & Leo Cristiani
3) Belial vs Camaleón, Dante, Dinastía, Dinamic Black, Mr. Leo, Saruman, Último Legendario
4) Kundra vs Halloween Jr.
5) Ludark Shaitan vs Ayako Hamada, Sakura (Chihuahua), Cinthia Moreno [PDM WOMEN]
6) Groon XXX vs Elemental
7) Bestia 666, Damián 666, Joe Lider, Lizmark Jr. vs Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Poool
This is the next premium show, a tribute to Perros del Mal. I’m not sure I ever expected Gronda vs Elemental.
Other Notes
Dralistico is off tonight’s The Crash show, with DMT Azul replacing him. He’s still listed as working in AVE on Saturday. Dralistico earlier hinted he was working the ROH tapings this weekend, so he’s probably off both shows. As people pointed out to me on Twitter, this big news here was The Crash announcing a change before the show.
Internacional Pantera (Pantera II) is very upset at a wrestler who’s been billing himself as ‘Pantera Jr.’ that’s not one of his two sons. Like there may be a fight if Pantera II finds him. What happens a lot in Mexico is someone else starts using the same name without knowing it, but this Pantera Jr. seems to be dressing like Pantera II and passing himself off as related.
The Wrestling Observer posted its readership awards for 2022 this morning. There’s not a lot notable in there, with Mexican wrestling being ignored in most of the categories. Hijo del Vikingo won best flying wrestler and Mexico MVP. As great as Hijo del Vikingo is, he headlined one major AAA show without the mask tournament and the show drew terribly. But, again, no one pays attention to the business of lucha libre outside of a handful of diehard lucha libre fans, and certainly not the vast majority of people who are voting for these awards. It’s problematic only in that the English speaking history of professional wrestling gets derived from these publications, and so Mexican wrestling is cut out of that history, but the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is also the only place of it’s sort that covers lucha libre beyond simple results or cribbing off whatever I wrote on Twitter that day. It’s not a new problem.
KJZZ visits the lucha libre art exhibit at Arizona State University.