CMLL
Tonight’s card:
CMLL (FRI) 04/21/2023 Arena México
1) Diamond & Oro Jr. vs Inquisidor & Raider
2) El Audaz, Star Black, Valiente vs El Hijo del Villano III, Felino, Rey Bucanero
3) Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Templario [lightning]
4) Místico, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero vs Atlantis Jr., Averno, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Gran Guerrero vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Titán, Dragón Rojo Jr., Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Hechicero, Euforia, Stigma, Mephisto [CMLL Universal, semifinal]
CMLL champions block
This is a really solid top 3. The CMLL Champions block has a lot of good names, even if Draogn Rojo seems a heavy favorite. There’s a good mix of names in the semimain. The lightning match is a great test for Kid Panterita. It’s the usual 99 pesos on TicketmasterLive.
CMLL (MON) 04/24/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Shockercito vs Minos & Pierrothito
2) Asturiano, El Hijo De Centella Roja, Siky Ozama vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Millenium, Pegasso, Volcano vs Kráneo, Raider, Tonalli
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
5) Averno, Euforia, Hechicero vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
The main event is a rematch from last week, pointing towards UG/Averno.
CMLL (TUE) 04/25/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Dulce Kitty, Náutica, Sexy Sol vs Atenea, Nexy, Valkiria
2) Flash, Mágico, Ráfaga vs Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico
3) La Jarochita, La Maligna, Lluvia vs La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
4) Dulce Gardenia & La Fashion vs Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte
5) Atlantis & Blue Panther vs Rey Bucanero & Satánico
6) Averno & Místico vs Atlantis Jr. & Dark Panther
A normal Guadalajara card. Dark Panther may be a rudo here.
Coyote told MedioTiempo’s Sin Macaras podcast that he stayed (lived) next to a Metro stop when he was starting out in Mexico City for a few days, and didn’t have even money to eat. He would’ve done it again to make as far as he has.
AAA
AAA TV week this will be air the first part of TripleMania Monterrey (the matches that didn’t air on Space last week)
- the cage match
- Chessman vs Vampiro
- Copa TripleMania
AAA’s YouTube will put up the other matches on Sunday. If you paid to $20 USD to see TripleMania, you just got to see it about seven days ahead of time. AAA has other shows they could put up on YouTube – the rest of the World Cup, the San Luis Potosi taping – and they’re jumping to TripleMania to capture some buzz. It makes sense for them, but it also meant anyone who paid FITE to see the show last week feels like they got a little less value for what they paid. I assume AAA will do the same thing with the TripleMania Tijuana and you should factor that in your choice of paying or not paying.
AAA tapes Saturday night in Tijuana.
AAA TV (SAT) 04/22/2023 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Arkángel Divino, Fantastik, Rayo Star, Último Maldito vs Dinámico, Genio del Aire, Kamik-C, Skalibur
2) Niño Hamburguesa & Willie Mack vs Látigo & Toxin
3) Dalys, Octagón Jr., Persephone vs Chik Tormenta, Flammer, Villano III Jr.
4) Hijo Del Vikingo, Jack Cartwheel, Komander vs Emperador Azteca, Gringo Loco, Puma King
5) Juicy Finau, Negro Casas, Rey Horus vs Forastero, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
6) Laredo Kid, Pentagón Jr., Psycho Clown vs Antifaz del Norte, Sam Adonis, Taurus
I have this airing May 27th and June 3rd, but nothing is for sure that far out. Nothing is for sure about this lineup either. Toxin and Antifaz seem like they’re not appearing due to injury. GCW stopped promoting Komander for their show on this day, so he may be making it to Tijuana after all. (Komander/Vikingo still seems to be on for tonight in Atlanta.)
Still no idea who Persephone is. Jucicy Finau is the latest person to get booked for Tijuana with no obvious plan to use him beyond that.
AAA announced their Morelia card, which is the next taping after Tijuana. It’s not for four weeks. AAA’s so backloaded with taped TV that they could’ve gone even longer.
AAA TV (SAT) 05/20/2023 Palacio del Arte, Morelos, Michoacán
1) Dulce Kanela, Estrellita, Mini Vikingo vs Demus, Látigo, Toxin
2) Lady Shani vs Chik Tormenta [hardcore]
3) Brazo De Oro Jr. & Sexy Star vs Flamita & Villano III Jr.
4) Octagón Jr. & Rey Horus vs Arez & Komander and Jack Evans & Myzteziz [AAA TAG]
vacant titles (Dragon Lee to WWE)
5) Aramis & Negro Casas vs Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf
6) Hijo Del Vikingo & Pentagón Jr. vs Dralistico & Gringo Loco
I estimate this will air on June 10th and 17th; again, that’s just a guess.
Here’s what I think happened: La Rebelion makes more sense challenging for the tag team titles than in a random tag match, but it wasn’t meant to be a random title match. It was supposed to be the latest Vampiro (& tag partner) versus La Rebelion match, only Vampiro is retiring again. Negro Casas gets dropped in as a substitute. Dalys will be probably be added somewhere; maybe Flamita gets moved around and she ends up in his spot.
None of the three teams competing for the tag vacant team titles has ever been a tag team. Setting up a match with no set teams suggests AAA has no real plans for these tag teams, it’s just a to do item beind checked off. The winners get to be in multimans on upcoming TripleManias. Octagon Jr. and Myzteziz (no Jr. on recent posters) are a regular team. There’s no apparent storyline reason why they’re teaming with Rey Horus and Jack Evans instead; it’s just not important enough to AAA to get correct. I presume Arez & Komander are winning; Komander got over in the US and that’s the point when AAA will finally get behind someone. I’m sure the match will change in some fashion.
Lady Shani and Chik Tormenta set up an extreme match in March, it’ll happen in May and you’ll see it in June. This is a slow promotion but at least they’re actually getting to that one.
AEW officially announced they had signed Komander on Wednesday. Komadner was under contract to KAOZ in Mexico but was allowed out of that contract to sign with AEW. He was not under contract to AAA. The terms of the deal are not known.
Komander was around for years, someone who might show on AAA TV when they went through northern Mexico but wasn’t regularly on TV; he was a part time guy even as recently as 2021. Komander became a full time AAA wrestler when he moved to Mexico City in 2022, and he was able to do that because Bandido’s Gym and Big Lucha existed. (AAA has talked about building a similar facility for years but has never committed to it.) Through Big Lucha, Komander worked with better wrestlers more often, got new/better training with people Skayde, got more exposure from their regular shows, and got hooked up with Masked Republic for a visa in the US. AAA did give Komander Mexican TV exposure, but that doesn’t mean much in getting people over for US audiences. AAA is many times bigger than Big Lucha is or ever will be, but live & free always gets more eyeballs than delayed/barely promoted. Big Lucha gave more Komander chances for him to do the rope walk and dive spots that went viral, that got him into the GCWs. AAA eventually caught up a bit with the Jack Cartwheel/Komander match, but I’m not doubtful even that would happen if Komander is not getting buzz elsewhere.
AAA deserves credit for identifying Komander should be part of their band of luchadors, but they’re not running a promotion that’s going to turn a young wrestler into an international star right now. They’re great at finding young wrestlers, but they’re always focused on maximizing established stars in the short term, or getting behind whatever outside discovery they’ve made of the moment. (One of the reasons this tag team title match looks so silly is AAA’s spent 2022 getting excited about La Rebelion, FTR and Hermanos Lee; they’d have logical tag team champions if they had the same energy for any two full-time wrestlers.) There’s always going to be a next TripleMania where they’ll lean on the established names to make it through, and stuff like getting young guys over like Komander is always going to be pushed to the back burner. That may even be the best business decision, but it means the full time guys aren’t going escape the midcard unless they go some place else, get over on their own, and AAA starts looking at them the same way they look at the foreign stars. If Komander had stayed in Reynosa, he’d be like Baby Extreme – used whenever AAA goes to Monterrey but no one even remembers he was on TripleMania this past week. iI Komander had come to Mexico City on his own and without Big Lucha, he’d be with Octagon Jr. and Myteziz Jr. as talented guys who are interchangeable masked men to most fans.
(AAA will dispute this telling of history; I’m sure I will be barbecued on a podcast later this week. They know the business of Mexican lucha libre really well. I know what and who non-Mexican wrestling fans care about fans from Mexican wrestling even better. It is literally all I do on this webpage and various other webpages. Neither AAA or CMLL does even an average job of getting their wrestlers over to an international audience.)
I don’t want to overemphasize Big Lucha – it was Komander who took the risk to go to Mexico City, Komander who improved in his in-ring, and Komander who nailed the matches he absolutely had to nail to get an AEW job. Not everyone who went through Big Lucha is going to make it to a big company. Maybe even AAA would’ve figured it out and Masked Republic would’ve gotten Komander on a visa list a different way if not for Big Lucha if it played out differently. But it happened when and how it did because Big Lucha was a puzzle piece.
There’s also a missing piece of context around this discourse. Komander’s another guy who had a falling out with Big Lucha and left the gym and promotion sometime back. It just hasn’t been made public by the promotion. There have been Facebook rumors of discontent around Big Lucha the last week or so. The discontent is real, the reasons for the discontent are almost all fake or more sensational. Like almost every other wrestling fall out, it comes down to money and who gets what share of it. I’m not sure who’s in the right or even if anyone is the wrong, just that there are unhappy feelings on all sides. In a general sense, I think the dream of Big Lucha/Bandido’s Gym was a lot more fun than the reality, the reality has caught up to them in the last few months, and even more changes may be coming. It’s important to note Big Lucha’s role in Komander’s progression just for a more accurate telling of history, but also because Big Lucha had a system that was working and it’s worth the effort of keeping trying to make it work. They had something, and I hope they can figure out a way to keep it going where everyone involved is happy to be part of it.
Adrian Marcelo’s TV show yesterday including some boxing and wrestlers matches in an outdoor ring (in what seemed like the TV stuido’s courtyard.) Marcelo ended up wrestling briefly, chopping local wrestler Mafioso and getting in one headscissors. It looked fine. I hope that’s the conclusion.
Vampiro is still making his AAA dates, wrestling Thursday as part of a Sinaloa loop.
IWRG
IWRG , RGR (THU) 04/20/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha, Mas Lucha (Membership)]
1) Noisy Boy & Spider Fly b Kenji & Rey Halcón 
2) Keira & Lolita b Faby Apache & Hades (Indie)
Hijo del Tirantes helped Keira & Lolita win
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba b Bugambilia, Cerebro Negro, Shocko
Pimpinela attacked Jessy Ventura to set up a hiar match. Cerebro Negro replaced Karaoui.
4) Hijo de Canis Lupus b Coronel Vip [RGR HEAVY]
title change
5) Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. b Hellboy, Villano III Jr., Villano IV
Hellboy replaced an injured Villano V Jr.
6) Forastero, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón b Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool
Mascara 2000 was the mystery person (or replacement for Cuatrero.)
I had no idea this was a Mas Lucha membership show until I went to check results on Friday morning. Maybe they didn’t advertise it well enough, maybe I’m just slipping. Looks like a strong crowd for a night Thursday show; people will show up to Naucalpan if they believe the shows are big enough.
No card for Sunday as I write this; it didn’t come up on their news show either, so maybe they’re not running. IWRG will run Rey de Ring early in May; no one will be announced for their Royal Rumble match. Their upcoming World Lucha Libre Championship looks to have one representative from each country, as there will be an upcoming tournament to determine the Mexican representative.
Other News
LuchaWorld has the latest Poster-Mania.
Super Xolo unasmked Crazy Lobo (Florencio Cortez Aguayo) in Tijuana.
Crazy King will debut for GCW on 05/20. I don’t keep up with Los Macizos as well as other people but you can tell they’re doing well when GCW is bringing in their trios partner to do more with them.
Box y Lucha has released yet another new set of 1971 Box y Luchas, running from 982 to 993. This is the third drop in about a month.
The mayor of Monterrey announced the city would erect a Blue Demon statue at a show honoring the 75th Anniversary of the original’s debut. Blue Demon Jr. won in the main event.
Dark Scoria told the Luchamania Durango program he plans on retiring in two years. No one ever retires in two years.