Day: March 22, 2023

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 03/21/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora  
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Astral, Oro Jr., Sangre Imperial  
Apocalipsis, Cholo, and Disturbio seem to be a regular trio
3) Raider, Tonalli, Vaquero Jr. b Brillante Jr., Neón, Valiente Jr.  
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. TLDRAW Dark Panther [lightning]  
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b Felino, Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III  
6) Atlantis, Místico, Panterita del Ring Jr. b Averno, Gran Guerrero, Templario  
Mistico wore a Perro Aguayo Jr. tribute mask (he passed away eight years ago the same day)

I tried to watch this show, but I also tried to get some support on why certain things with luchadb aren’t working (related: luchadb it hasn’t updated for most of the day), and neither quite worked out. Match 3 sounded promising if not perfect, the lightning match was pretty good, minis were their usual level. Hopefully I’ll catch it later

There have been other Perro Aguayo Jr. tributes the last few days, but it just feel like SEO stuff – the same stories that have been told before and no new info – so I haven’t been bothering to link them here. It’s good he’s still being remembered.

Cholo, Apocalipsis, and Disturbio did another group promo, just waiting for a name.

CMLL (TUE) 03/21/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, thecubsfan]
1) Quimera & Valkiria b Dulce Kity, Náutica, Sexy Sol, La Misteriosa, Nexy, Gema Andrade, La Magnifica, Atenea [cibernetico] 
10 women cibernetico where the final two wrestlers would form the eight team in the OCCIDENTE WOMEN TAG tournament. Seeding battle royal set sides as Dulce Kitty, Nautica, Sexy Sol, Quimera, La Misteriosa vs Nexy, Valkyria, Gema Andrade, La Magnifica, Atenea.
2) Quimera & Valkiria NF Hera & Olympia [Occidente WOMEN TAG, quarterfinal] 
All eight teams came to the ring as a presentation before the official start of the tournament. The match ran about a minute before Sugehit, Isis, Marcela, Metalica all ran in on the match, telling the women involved to lead. It appears this wasn’t a scheduled first round match and the match stoppage was a way of figuring it. (There wasn’t a seeding battle royal or a bracket.)
3) Princesa Sugehit & Reyna Isis b Marcela & Metálica [Occidente WOMEN TAG, quarterfinal] 
4) Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis b Hera & Olympia [Occidente WOMEN TAG, quarterfinal] 
5) La Catalina & La Maligna b Amapola & Tiffany [Occidente WOMEN TAG, quarterfinal] 
6) La Jarochita & Lluvia b Quimera & Valkiria [Occidente WOMEN TAG, quarterfinal] 
7) Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis b La Catalina & Maligna [Occidente WOMEN TAG, semifinal] 
8) La Jarochita & Lluvia b Princesa Sugehit & Reyna Isis [Occidente WOMEN TAG, semifinal] 
9) Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis b La Jarochita & Lluvia [Occidente WOMEN TAG, final] 
Vaquer & Zeuxis become the first champions.

I could’ve used a whiteboard to explain this one.

• CMLL Guadalajara advertised 12 for this tournament
• Five of them didn’t end up being teams; they all just got put in a cibernetico
• The last two and the seven remaining teams had a normal single elimination tournament
• except CMLL tournaments usually have battle royals to set the bracket and this just had a never explained bracket
• never explained even to the people in the bracket, so two teams started wrestling and then were told to stop wrestling because that wasn’t the first round match

I zoom through this but Vaquer & Zeuxis looked like they were hitting people hard in their matches so that might be fun. Vaquer & Zeuxis are a fun team but I’m not sure the point of having two tag titles when it’s generally the same people who will be competing for both; this title would have more of a purpose if this was a women’s tag title just for the likes of people competing in the cibernetico. But CMLL is just not good at title belts.

I wrote something along the lines of “they run 52 shows here a year so why not run a women’s show ever so often, it’s not like the attendance ever changes.” Well, attendance changed; it was noticeably lower than usual, like what it looks like for the Sunday sold show that happen here occasionally. It also seemed like people left earlier, just weren’t interested in hanging around to see who won. I still think it’s worth mixing in a women’s show ever so often for variety’s sake and to keep the men’s headliners a little fresher, but this concept on it’s own didn’t work.

CMLL (SAT) 03/25/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Galaxy & Shockercito vs Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito
2) Cachorro, Eléctrico, Leono vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Astral vs Halcón Suriano Jr. [lightning]
4) Pegasso, Rey Samuray, Stigma vs Magnus, Rugido, Zandokan Jr.
5) Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
6) Soberano Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Yota

Main event Yota. The Unnamed Polvora Project (UPP, not a real name) is back together in the semi-main. Rey Samuray and Zandokan fill in on trios. Apolo, Cholo and Disturbio continue their group in the second match.

CMLL Informa today has the Zeuxis & Vaquer (new tag champs), Volador & Princesa Sugehit (H2L), Yota (returning) and the Okumura, Coyote, Polvora trio. Maybe they’ll get a name? That Vaquer interview will be her first sitdown one since the Cuatrero situation became public, though I’d be stunned if was discussed.

AAA

Hijo del Vikingo is wrestling Kenny Omega tonight on AEW Dynamite. Not sure if you heard.

On some level, there’s pressure on Vikingo (and Omega) to deliver an incredible match people are going to be disappointed if it’s only “great.” (There are also a loud but few voices who already will be performatively disappointed.) I think it’s going to go fine; Vikingo doing normal Vikingo things will win over the crowd who hasn’t seen him much or at all. There have been some Mexican wrestling matches on the US indies over the last few years where I’ve thought the wrestlers did good with some obvious problems, then checked the internet reaction to see people raving about it. The mistakes become more important to people who see it a lot, the people who haven’t seen it are just blown away by the successes they didn’t see coming. I think Vikingo is going to try to be as close to perfect as possible, but he’ll be fine even if he doesn’t reach that mark.

I noted here previously when AAA was slow to promote Komander and other AAA appearances in AEW. That is much different this time; they are all in on pushing this Omega/Vikingo match, hyping that up as much as if it was happening on one of their own shows. I don’t know they have ulterior motives (AAA’s a bit overdue on the full card for the 04/16 TripleMania Monterrey show) but it’s good to see the promotions working together.

Other

Komander faces Joey Janela on 04/22 in New Jersey for the GCW Extreme Championship. Truly, the man from the heavens versus the man from New Jersey.

Mas Lucha posted a tease for their upcoming Ruleta Suicida tournament, mentioning that the fans will decide who advances. I guess we’re voting for who we’d like to see unmasked, which could be weird – are people going to vote for the most famous wrestler to get unmasked? The worst? It also changes how the tournament works behind the scenes: normal ruleta suicida tournaments have one person who’s losing their mask and seven people who not, and this is eight people who all have to agree they’re willing to unmask if the fans vote a certain way.

Extasis posted his social media information and wrote about “the start of a new story”, which is another way of saying he’s joined Action Jackson and Elemental in leaving Big Lucha. There’s one other name that’s been mentioned who said they’re leaving privately but not publically yet (and it’s indie wrestling so everyone may be back working with each other in three months.)

A story on the Arizona State University lucha libre exhibit.

(This is not intended to be a complete list of matches or things. It’s a list of important things, and probably too many more recent ones.)

2017-08-16

Hijo del Vikingo wrestlers on TripleMania as part of the La Llave de la Gloria competition, marking his official entry into the promotion. Vikingo had wrestled a couple of Llave tryout matches, and a small number of TV matches in between the tryouts. He’d wrestle on indie shows in his hometown of Puebla for the prior few years; none of them turned up on video. He makes a one off Lucha Memes appearance, just part of a carload of Puebla guys on the show, and that doesn’t turned up on video.

Vikingo, Angelikal and Ashley are named the three winners of the La Llave de la Gloria competition – but surprise, everyone in the finals is getting a deal, because AAA is opening a school and they’re all going to be part of it.

(AAA never opens a school.)

rest of 2017

Hijo del Vikingo is around AAA TV, going as far as getting a Cruiserweight title shot against Australian Suicide (and losing.) There’s no real plan for the Llave de la Gloria guys, they’re all just hanging around in the prelim matches. Vikingo seems to be the highest ranked of that group at least.

2018-02-23

Lucha Underground begins taping a fourth season after a lengthy delay. Part of the plan is to bring in a new batch of AAA wrestlers for the season. It doesn’t work out, like a lot of the season 4 plans – those work visa approvals don’t come until after taping is wrapped. I’m fairly certain Vikingo would’ve been on the visa list – LU writer Chris DeJoseph was helping book AAA during this time and Vikingo would’ve fit what he was looking for season 4. No one’s ever officially said it but I’m counting this as Vikingo US Near Miss #1

2018-04-20

Vampiro is out and Konnan is back in as AAA head of creative. Konnan has a crew that was loyal to him while he was out of AAA he’d like to bring in, has no particular allegiance to the La Llave la Gloria crew and others who came in while he was gone, and is ready to do some house cleaning. Before a match in Tijuana, Konnan tells Vikingo, Mascara de Bronce, Dinastia and Lanzeloth that this is their one chance to impress him or they’re gone. Vikingo wins Konnan over. (Dinasita and Lanzeloth hang around but never go far. Bronce, who had the ‘young rising high flyer’ spot during Vampiro’s run, quickly fades out of the promotion and lucha libre entirely.)

rest of 2018

Vikingo sticks around, continues to impress in prelim roles, and is well thought enough to get a TripleMania spot in a mixed tag title match. He is just only filling out early matches without a role.

2018-12-02

Vikingo’s starts to get a direction in fall of 2018, and it solidifies in December. The trio of Angelikal, Laredo Kid, and Hijo del Vikingo get non-title wins over Poder del Norte. Prior to this match, La Parka hands Angelikal the Myzteziz (Jr.) gimmick as a sort of endorsement, and Myzteziz Jr.’s debut comes in taking the trios titles. Vikingo wins his first title, though he’s definitely the low man on the team – a post-match angle has Averno take out Vikingo with a martinete to explain, leaving Laredo and Myzetziz to wrestle the next match without him.

first half of 2019

The trios title reign doesn’t go anywhere right away – AAA is otherwise busy – so Vikingo just hangs out in scrambles and midcard trios matches, often against Poder del Norte and similar rudos. He wins a cruiserweight title shot in one of those midcard trios matches in April, though it’s not played up as a big deal. When it finally comes, it’s not even a one on one match.

2019-06-09

The match is scheduled as Laredo Kid vs Jack Evans vs Hijo del Vikingo. Jack Evans doesn’t appear. This is Vikingo’s first ever singles match on AAA TV. Some guys get a little exposed when they have to go a lot longer individually than in a scramble format. Vikingo goes the other way – it turns out he’s got so much insane stuff that he just hadn’t had a chance to try yet. Laredo Kid is also pretty good! Laredo and Vikingo have an absurdly and unexpectedly great match, the best match of it’s style in Mexico all year. Vikingo immediately rises from “a really promising flyer” to “absolutely one of the best guys in Mexico and maybe beyond”; this is when most people outside of the lucha scene first became aware of Vikingo.

2019-06-29

Laredo Kid versus Hijo del Vikingo is so good and gets so much buzz that when AEW is out one PAC for the Fyter Fest show, they reach out and grab one of those two guys as a replacement – though t turns out to be Laredo Kid. It kinda had to be Laredo Kid, Vikingo didn’t have a US visa at this point. If he did, maybe it’s a coin flip if his debut would’ve shown up four years earlier. (Or maybe they would’ve picked Laredo anyway because he’s very good and they knew him better.)

2019-09-15

No worries, Hijo del Vikingo will just debut in the US on AAA’s show in Madison Square Garden. They even got him a single entry visa. Oh no, the show sold few tickets so it’s now in the MSG Theatre. Oh no, Vikingo hurt his knee weeks before the show, he’s not wrestling. At least he’ll get to wrestle on the AAA show in Los Angeles. (The AAA show in Los Angeles is canceled.)

2019-12-04

Hijo del Vikingo wins the men’s bracket of the Lucha Capital tournament. This tournament doesn’t mean a whole lot in isolation. In the big picture, it’s AAA signaling Vikingo is more than just one of a bunch really good wrestlers, but something special.

2020-01-08

Hijo del Vikingo has been part of Impact’s tapings in Mexico City the two prior years. This is his biggest moment, getting a surprise Impact TV win over Josh Alexander. It’s clear Impact thinks Vikingo is awesome; my impression is Impact wanted to sign him, and only didn’t because they didn’t want to cause problems with AAA over it. It’s fine, he can just show up when Impact tapes in Mexico City. (Impact would never again tape in Mexico City.)

~~~pandemic~~~

(And also a period where AAA and Vikingo have a weird falling that’s never explained but causes him to miss all the AutoLuchas shows.)

2020-12-12

Vikingo makes a save in the second match, with the announcers talking about his big return. (No one had acknowledged he was missing.) Vikingo also seconds Laredo Kid in his title match loss to Kenny Omega. In post-match interviews, Kenny Omega first suggests Hijo del Vikingo as his next challenger.

2021-07-03

AAA returns running empty arena shows, and kind of just doing stuff to fill out TV because no one knows when they might get fans again. Their annual big events turn into TV specials. This show is the Verano de Escandalo event, including the return of Alas de Oro high fliers. Vikingo pulls off crazy flying and a couple of signature Kenny Omega spots, though it’s a moment where Vikingo hangs from the tent covering the ring to set up a move that truly goes viral.

Kenny Omega posts both a compliment and a threat to Hijo del Vikingo. Vikingo tells Omega he’s ready. They have to stay ready for about 18 more months.

(AAA is unable to stream shows in the US for most of 2021, including this show. This stuff here goes viral because I’m running an unapproved stream for me and a few thousand of my closest friends on Twitch, and the Omega/Vikingo stuff gets turned up from there. I think they get to Omega/Vikingo eventually – it was already in the water – but I’m not sure if I’m a person writing this story or living in the smallest part of it.)

2021-10-18

A strange run of time culminates when AAA announces Omega/Vikingo for TripleMania Regia in December. Omega’s been publically asking for this match since the TripleMania Mexico in August, and obviously has wanted it before then. AAA’s meanwhile strangely cooled Vikingo off; he doesn’t win a match on TV for four months, and takes the direct pinfall loss a couple of times. He’s a background player in other people’s stories and definitely not being built up to be the top guy in the promotion. Maybe AAA is thinking no one’s going to care how Vikingo was booked after the Omega match, maybe they believe they can convince Omega to stay champion for now, and there won’t be a top guy expectation for Vikingo anyway. It doesn’t matter at the moment, they got the Vikingo/Omega match the world wants to see.

2021-11-22

AAA no longer has the Vikingo/Omega match. Omega is out injured following AEW Full Gear 2022, though it’s apparent he was hurt going into the match and just battling through to finish out the Hangman Page story. He won’t be doing that for AAA. Omega sends out an in-character video promo complaining about being stripped of the title and vowing to beat Vikingo someday. AAA now has no main event for TripleMania and no MegaChampion

2021-12-04

Backed into the corner, AAA pulls out…Bobby Fish. Plus Jay Lethal, Samuray del Sol, and Bandido to join Hijo del Vikingo in a five way for the vacant title. Quantity does not beat quality. Vikingo wins, because there’s really no other choice. No one seems all that ready for Vikingo as the top guy…

2022-04-30

…and he’s not booked as the top guy. AAA’s big idea for 2022 is a Fenix versus Hijo del Vikingo match in Mexico City. It’s a really good idea for a match, but AAA’s layout meant their unproven challenger doesn’t defend the title and doesn’t win on the biggest shows for most of the year. The plan kicks off with the Young Bucks defeating Fenix & Hijo del Vikingo, with Vikingo getting pinned for about six seconds due to typical AAA referee incompetence. The Bucks mock Vikingo on Twitter and on AAA TV, and Vikingo has no real response. (AAA floats a story that the pinfall is setting up a rematch, which never happens.)

2022-06-18

Fenix wins a five way in Tijuana with Taurus, Bandido, Laredo and Taurus. Vikingo doesn’t get pinned this time, but the point of the match is Fenix won and Vikingo did not. (Fenix also wins two belts that never appear again.)  The Young Bucks match was pretty good, this was even better. Still Vikingo is a talented guy who doesn’t win when it counts while also being the top champ, it’s weird.

2022-10-15

Vikingo defeats Fenix to retain the megachampionship, his biggest win since becoming champion. (He had a defense against Johnny Caballero earlier.) It’s a fantastic match, living up to expectations. It’s not the biggest match on the show, but that’s hardly their fault. It’s the kind of win Vikingo desperately needed.

2022-10-23

Eight days later, Vikingo and Laredo have their first TV singles match since their past epic. Like the last one, this is unscheduled – Laredo and Vikingo happen to both win their way to the final of a tournament. They have an equally great if quite a bit more violent match compared the one three years prior, with Laredo Kid again getting the win. Laredo Kid also gets a severe internal injury requiring surgery in the process. He gets better.

2022-12-03

Vikingo finally makes it to the US – on AAA spot show in Phoenix. In a tag match against Flip Gordon and Daga for some reason. Which AAA doesn’t tape for some reason. He’s finally there, turning up in places like GCW, PWG, and Defy over the next few months. Eventually, AAA lets people air those matches.

2022-12-28

Vikingo defends his title against Bandido in another great match with another spot that goes viral. (Which is helpful, because this is a Wednesday show that doesn’t seem to be seen by a lot of people, both on the stream or in real life.) Now that the Fenix build is over, Vikingo is just getting the big wins with cool moves that got him over in the first place.

2023-03-01

AEW has a Face of the Revolution Ladder match and wants Vikingo in. Vikingo is wrestling a stretch of shows in southern Mexico and is unavailable. My understanding is AEW wanted both Komander and Vikingo for that show.

AEW, AAA and Vikingo are now all aligned on working together, it’s a matter of figuring out dates that work for everyone in the near future. Vikingo is booked in Mexico on the 8th. AEW is in Canada on the 15th, which wouldn’t have worked smoothly for everyone. Which leaves…

2023-03-22

Dynamite is in Independence, Missouri. Hijo del Vikingo makes his debut on AEW against Kenny Omega. (Hopefully!)