Month: July 2023

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/28/2023 Arena México [CMLL, CMLL, Excelsior, Kaiser Sports, Record, The Gladiatores (text), The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Astral, Oro Jr., Valiente Jr. b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio    
8:26
2) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Blue Panther Jr., Cachorro, Dark Panther    
10:49. CMLL gave fans inflatable beach balls to toss around in between matches here.
3) Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido    
14:19.
4) Averno, Templario, Volador Jr. DQ Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]    
12:06. Volador Jr. faked a foul from Angel de Oro. All the feuding guys feuded.
5) Titán b Metalik    
12:27. Clean win with Llave Inmortal.
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0 b Rocky Romero [Leyenda de Plata, final]     
20:19 via SSP. Dorada becomes the youngest-ever Leyenda de Plata winner. Romero stole the trophy and threatened to break it (ala Perro Aguayo Jr.) but eventually gave it back.

Dorada/Romero delivered up there with the first Volador/Romero match as the best of CMLL match this year. Rocky pushed Dorada hard (and found new ways to do it), Dorada fought back spectacularly. They did a lot and they got a lot out of it. There was even care to work in the big near fall around Rocky Romero getting a camel clutch – the signature move of the guy this tournament is named after – and the fans bought it as the finish. The fans were totally into Mascara Dorada 2.0, in a way that really stood out after poor reactions to the prior match. I don’t know what’s next for him – they didn’t explicitly set up the title match – but Mascara Dorada 2.0 is clearly a top guy going forward.

Titan/Metalik was a disappointment, even with lower expectations for 2023 Metalik. It was hurt by being three falls and those falls being laid out poorly. Titan beat Dorada so quickly and so matter of factly to win the first fall in 90 seconds that it took the crowd out of it. The big spots near the end of the third fall got the crowd into it a little bit, but even the Llave Inmortal was a “oh, that’s it?” moment. Metalik’s CMLL return felt mandatory. Nothing he did made me want to see more of him here. He did tease a return at some point.

The Aniversario guys match was nothing notable. Angel de Oro/Volador seemed like the sharpest rivalry of the three this week. Zandokan and the Villanos were great together in the tercera. (CMLL had to tell fans to stop throwing money in the ring after that match.) It could be they have great trios chemistry or it could be that Zandokan’s really good. The Villanos beat the national tag champs but nothing was made of it. Match 2 picked up as it went along, the opener was fine.

It was wild to see CMLL people throwing out giant inflatable balls for the front-row fans to bounce around between matches. That’s so unlike CMLL – they don’t want people getting up, they definitely don’t want people bouncing things around in the seats. That, the kiss cam and the other in-between-match features feel directly ported over from the sports world. It’s as if CMLL hired someone who was in charge of the in-game entertainment for a baseball, basketball or soccer team and also approved of that person’s ideas. You can see it with the graphics on the big screen, which now more clearly show the names of each wrestler and explain who won the match. It’s a touristy thing, but it’s also a sports thing – everyone player gets a big photo and a big name just in case you’re new. It is a break from traditional CMLL style but it seems to be working.

KeMonito hasn’t been on these Friday shows the last couple of weeks. He was supposed to be in Tijuana one of those Fridays but wasn’t there either.

CMLL (SAT) 07/29/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Kaligua & Shockercito b Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Crixus b Retro [Relevos Increíbles]
3) La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis b Amapola, Dark Silueta, Metálica
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Kráneo, Okumura, Pólvora
5) Felino, Misterioso Jr., Rey Bucanero b Esfinge, Star Black, Star Jr.
Misterioso beat Star Black to set up a MEX HEAVY title match
6) Euforia, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. b Mephisto, Místico, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
Mephisto ended up throwing the match to give his partner Euforia the win.

CMLL shot a video of a packed building for this show. Video of fans in seats is quickly forgotten. An actual number would live a lot longer.

Misterioso lost to Halcon Negro Jr. last week, won a title shot this week.

CMLL (SUN) 07/30/2023 Arena México
1) Robin b Enfermero Jr. [lightning]
2) La Vaquerita & Skadi b La Guerrera & La Magnifica
3) Difunto, Okumura, Pólvora b El Audaz, Fuego, Rugido
Rugido replaced Flyer.
4) Futuro b Max Star, Rayo Metálico (Guanajuato), Meyer, Gallo Jr., Ráfaga Jr. (Jalisco), Brillante Jr., Misterio Blanco [MEX LIGHT, final] 
Announcers said Misterio Negro was in the match but it was supposed to be Misterio Blanco (and seemed to be him based on offense.) It also appeared as if one of the battle royal eliminations was messed up (maybe Gallo Jr. not supposed to be knocked out) and it confused the wrestlers. Eliminations order: Rafaga Jr., Meyer, Rayo Metalico, Gallo Jr., Max Star (the most popular wrestler in the match; crowd was chanting Barbie at him for his pink outfit), Misterio Blanco, and then Futuro beat Brillante Jr. for the win. Futuro is the 52th champion.
5) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Volcano
6) Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr., Titán b Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Templario

Futuro is a good choice, Max Star would’ve been a better choice.  He’s been the best guy of this batch since the Escuelas tournament. (He was also the most over tonight, but that had more to due with his pink outfit than his performance.) The lightweight final was predictable full of really good and really bad moments. Brillante Jr. could stand to learn some tranquillo from his cousin because he was (once again) all over the place and may have messed up the first half of the match by eliminating someone out of the seeding battle royal he wasn’t supposed to. (Rayo Metalico was visibly confused about what had happened after the battle royal, and the referees were a bit obvious about relaying new plans.) This tournament match was likely worked out a bunch this weekend and having the wrong guy on the wrong side messed with the first half of the match. The Brillante/Futuro finishing sequence wasn’t good either, and someone still needs to convince Brillante that his rope flip senton does not look good. Futuro was in tears after his win.

CMLL hosted a group of Mexico City Denver Bronco fans at the show, part of a tour of Mexico the Broncos were doing. Atlantis Jr., Templario and Titan were part of the festivities. The Broncos previously worked with AAA but it’s not as easy to bring a group of fans to an AAA show in Mexico City outside like a very few days a year. How is Titan doing promotion for an AFC rival? CMLL should’ve found any one of the previous Broncos they had for this.

CMLL (TUE) 08/01/2023 Arena México
1) Leono & Oro Jr. vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) Astral vs Valiente Jr. [lightning]
3) La Jarochita, Sanely, Skadi vs Dark Silueta, La Catalina, Zeuxis
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Volcano vs Felino, Felino Jr., Kráneo
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
6) Atlantis, Templario, Titán vs Euforia, Mephisto, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

CMLL’s had some packed Tuesday shows of late. This is not one of those. There should always be a reason a match is a relevos increibles and there is no obvious one here.

Dark Silueta is listed as part of an autograph signing in Japan on August 5th, so this will probably be her last match in Mexico.

CMLL (FRI) 08/04/2023 Arena México
1) Brillante Jr., Futuro, Max Star vs Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro, Vegas
2) La Magnifica, Lluvia, Skadi vs Amapola, Hera, Zeuxis
3) Magnus vs Difunto [lightning]
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Star Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Soberano Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Feels like an off week show, with nothing too important. The main event is just a Mistico appearance with no feud. Angel de Oro and Volador Jr. are opposite sides in the semimain. The Villanos and Zandokan move up to facing to the national trios champs (and it’s notable here Dulce Gardenia hasn’t been around much recently.) The one women’s feud gets split over two shows this week. Hopefully the Misterios are better here.

AAA

Still not much here. There might not be a lot this week unless AAA drops a post-TripleMania lineup.

AAA on Space did air early part of TripleMania Tijuana with the usual bonus vignettes. They made the odd decision to show the Omega/Callis/Takeshita angle, building up a match for another promotion since none of those guys are coming back here. (They cut it off before Callis got attacked.) That is just the way with these TripleMania TV shows, whatever material AAA’s TV people can find gets thrown on there to fill out time. You get stuff like Hiedra and Flammer declaring they’re still friends after having issues in Copa TripleMania, Komander and Arez doing a promo with nothing to say because they have no idea when (or if) the Rebelion match is happening, and a close up on very beat up looking Brandon Moreno.

Psycho Clown says that he worked as an Uber driver for about a month and a half during the pandemic when not much was going on and not much money was coming in. He says he intentionally didn’t talk much because he was afraid passengers would figure out he was by his voice. He also sold bathroom furniture for a time, helping to install it, then transitioned to selling wrestling merchandise and figures as his schedule picked up again. He’s now running his own gym, one he helped remodel himself.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha (SAT) 07/29/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [Arena Luchas]
1) ? & ?? ?? ??? & ????
four new wrestlers, one of which was Cruz del Toro’s brother (debut)
2) Morfosis b Helios, Reieyl, Steel Dragón
3) Diosa Nix, La Brava, Lady Maravilla b India Sioux, Kiedens, Marianee
4) Mr. Iguana b Brazo De Oro Jr., Vengador
bonus match
5) Carito, Mr. Win, Tirano b Andrómeda, Macho (2023), Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
Carito/Andromeda continue to feud. Andromeda apparently from Guatemala!
6) Brujo De Iztapalpa & Forneo b Skayde & Viajero
lots of object usage. Post match challenges set up a Brujo/Viajero mask match and a Skayde/Foreno coffin match
7) Maximiliano Rivera Romero, Potro, Rey Horus L Bendito, Flamita, Yutani and Elipse, Iku, Orbita and Monsther Clown, Panic Clown, Parka Negra
Max replaced Gravity (ROH). Announced as a TLC match but was not one. Flamita announced that the losing team would have to disband. Reverse elimination match: team AAA and Lokos Evans won their way out first, then Black Generation beat Max for the win. Golden Guns are done.
8) Emperador Azteca © b Negro Casas [BIG LUCHA CHAMP]
Empreador Azteca won with a casita.

I don’t have much more details about the show – no live stream – but there’s a story to talk about.

Big Lucha entered a new era with this event. The abrupt “losing team must disband” bit was to write Bandido out of the promotion many people think of his promotion. He’s done with Big Lucha and I assume Gravity is as well. Dr. Landru was the first to report it on Twitter. The fans seemed just to assume the Golden Guns disbandment was just a normal wrestling angle, albeit a strange one since most of the shows revolved around the Black Generacion/Golden Guns relationship. No one thought of it as the end of Bandido in the promotion; Bandido wasn’t there and the promotion didn’t press thhe point. Neither side is talking about it publicly, but they’re done with each other at this point.

Bandido and Big Lucha splitting will confuse most people because of the perception that Bandido was Big Lucha. That was an intentional misdirection by Bandido and the people who put the money behind the group. In reality, Bandido owned a share of the gym (not the majority) and no part of the promotion. He was not the Big Lucha booker trainer, though he may have thrown in his own ideas in typical top-star fashion. Being the top star was the actual role; he got attention in a way that calling it “Gonzalez Team” wrestling did not.

Bandido and the actual owner of both Big Lucha and Bandido’s Gym had a falling out over the direction of the promotion; I don’t know specifics, just that Bandido thought Big Lucha was going to be one thing and it had ended up being something else. Knowing he was going to lose that struggle, Bandido tried to rally some names into leaving and starting up something new. That also failed. Part of it was simple economics: Big Lucha’s ownership pays the wrestlers, and Bandido had an idea but not a plan or new backers. Part of it was interpersonal relationships breaking apart: Gravity getting these AEW and ROH bookings upset a lot of others. Those wrestlers told people it was a sign that Bandido was pushing for his brother and abandoned the rest of them, while Bandido insisted to others that he had pitched more Big Lucha wrestlers getting chances and AEW/ROH just weren’t interested in those names. Whatever the truth, the roster decided to stay with the current ownership when it came to picking a side. Big Lucha ownership seemed to be preparing for this break up for months; the arena was switched to “Arena Big Lucha” back in March. There was also a “Big Lucha will be renewed” vague post last Monday that might have been a reference to this breakup.

(I think AEW was primarily interested in using Gravity this week because they could do some joke matches around a guy named Gravity. They like him and continue to use him beyond those matches, but Gravity wouldn’t have gotten past Dark at this point in his career if he billed himself as “Astronauta.” No one in Mexico understands that, they just see it as Bandido’s brother getting a full-time spot. I don’t think Gravity has a full-time spot yet with AEW, though it may end up that way.)

I don’t think Bandido will start a new promotion without a roster; I’m not even sure he would’ve been able to start one if people did come with him. AEW is going to be the priority since that’s his actual money, and the Big Lucha people are staying with Big Lucha because that’s their money. It’s possible a small number of other people who are more loyal to Bandido will quietly disappear from Big Lucha; it’s impossible to know, because everyone’s not talking about the situation.

Big Lucha is going to need some shake up or influx going forward. The Golden Guns was the lead tecnico unit in a promotion with two strong rudo groups. I guess the Delta Force trio of Radiactivo, Cometa Maya and Morphosis are the top tecnicos now. Black Generacion are popular enough that maybe they become the default home team and play off others, but they need more people to play off of. Basically, this promotion has revolved around Bandido and Flamita for two years and there’s no obvious plan to replace half of that dynamic.

On top of that, Big Lucha announced CMLL’s involvement in their upcoming August 26th anniversary show. No names have been announced.  Big Lucha worked heavily with AAA wrestlers the past year and had AAA people on this show when they announced a deal with CMLL. Big Lucha and CMLL did work together last August on a show in Arena Coliseo, with lucha libre collector Christian Cymet putting it together. That may be what this is again, a one-off combination. Those Big Lucha wrestlers with AAA ties did not end up working that show, though there’s a lot less of an issue this year. (Emperador Azteca might be the only one with AAA, but he also might be done for working The Crash.) I believe the CMLL/Big Lucha tie-up and the Bandido/Big Lucha split are two different stories, but I don’t know that 100%. Those talking to Bandido said indicated he didn’t know Big Lucha was about to do a deal with CMLL before it was announced.

I’m not sure why the show didn’t stream. There’s Instagram and Facebook content from people who appeared to be there to produce a stream, but none turned up. Maybe it’ll air late. Big Lucha didn’t mention any issue, didn’t mention any results from the show. (Hearing bits and pieces of this story and not being able to see it made putting it together a bit rough.)

Lighter stuff to close this out: El Grafico had an interview with Yutani. His backstory is always given as a Japanese soccer player who came to Mexico and eventually switched to wrestling. The interview has a few more details: he came to Mexico to play with Pachuca in 2017, ended up on the second division Quintana Roo squad, and he switched to his other childhood love of wrestling after they failed to get promoted to the first division. I can’t find a roster with Yutani on it but finding info on second division Mexican soccer team seems skethcy.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 07/30/2023 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Centurion & Rey Aztaroth b Kauris & Rey Espartano  
2) Satania b Bengalee, Danessa, Sagitarius  
Satania beat Danessa
3) Karaoui, Relámpago, Shocko b Gannicus, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly  
4) Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr. b Nishikawa & Nozaki  
Nozaki’s final match in Mexico for now.
5) Ivan Rokov b Hijo de Canis Lupus  
sets up an RGR HEAVY title match
6) León Dorado, Rey Espectro, Tonalli b Aramis, Hell Boy, Rey Horus 
Espectro beat Hell Boy to set up an IWRG MEXICO title match

That leads into next Sunday’s Caravana del Campeones show:

IWRG (SUN) 08/06/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Spider Fly © vs Gannicus [IWRG IC Light]
4th defense
2) Puma de Oro © vs Shocko [IWRG IC MIDDLE]
3rd defense
3) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. © vs Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr. [IWRG IC TAG]
2nd defense
4) Rey León © vs Tonalli [RGR MIDDLE]
2nd defense
5) Hell Boy © vs Rey Espectro [IWRG MEXICO]
3rd defense
6) Hijo del Fishman vs Hijo De Dos Caras [IWRG JUNIORS]
2nd defense
7) Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Ivan Rokov © [RGR HEAVY]
1st defense

Hell Boy/Rey Espectro may be strange enough to work. Maybe Tonalli/Rey Leon and te tag title match. This is a Mas Lucha Premium show.

Other Notes

Marado lost his mask in to Mariachi in Xalapa. Marado is Diego Alan Rangel Ramírez, 31, 13 years a wrestler. Shocker was back wrestling on this show

CMLL

Tonight’s card:

CMLL (FRI) 07/28/2023 Arena México
1) Astral, Oro Jr., Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
2) Blue Panther Jr., Cachorro, Dark Panther vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
4) Averno, Templario, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Titán vs Metalik
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0 vs Rocky Romero [Leyenda de Plata, final]

CMLL has a real fork in the road tonight. There’s the Rocky Romero winning path, where they continue giving wins to a very successful act to build him up for another big match. The other way is Mascara Dorada 2.0 wins the important Leyenda de Plata tournament, and everyone starts comparing him to Hijo del Viking and Mistico. He may get to that place eventually, even without a win; it’s just giving him that win this fast puts him on an arc to become the biggest star in the promotion. There’s no guarantee it’ll work, it’ll just be clear CMLL trying for it. Both paths are defensible and I’m not sure which way CMLL is going to go.

The decision in Titan versus Metalik is not as critical to where they’re going next – Metalik is going back to the US, and Titan is going to just hang around until the next time NJPW needs him – but it’s interesting how CMLL ranks those two. Titan should get the big win because he’s around more often and Metalik is truly just a foreign wrestler finishing up a two week tour (and typically taking the loss at the end of it), yet it’s hard to be confident CMLL sees Titan as a bigger deal than Metalik. Both these matches should be pretty good too.

Match four is the three Aniverasrio feuds; maybe we’ll have a better idea of what’s happening there but probably not. The Villanos team with Zandokan against the Depredadors in match 3. The Panthers brothers reunite as a trio for the first time since Blue Jr.’s return to face Los Cancerberos. Los Indestructibles make a rare Friday appearance in the opener.

It’s on Boletia for the usual price. I like how the ticket form says you can book “Max 10 per order”, a left offer bit applying to physical tickets that no one’s fixed for digital items.

My theory of a Dorada versus Romero title match taking place at NJPW’s All Star Junior Festival was wrong. Thursday, NJPW announced a Hiromu Takahashi & Rocky Romero vs Master Wato & Blake Christain vs DOUKI & Low Rider three-way ladder match, so Rocky is otherwise busy. DOUKI and Low Rider teamed in Mexico but I think spent more time together on the Texas indie scene when DOUKI was based in that state. Low Rider is the guy every promoter likes using after the first show he works for them because he’s so talented and charismatic and then the same promoter wants to block Low Rider’s number by show five because he’s so Low Rider. I feel safe in writing this because I think even Low Rider knows it. He has to be there on DOUKI request (and maybe because other people DOUKI could request aren’t going to be allowed to work a NJPW show.) Anyway, the All Star Junior Festival looks very weird so far and maybe Dorada/Romero would’ve been too normal. That does leave open the question of where a Romero/Dorada title match might happen if Dorada wins tonight – and if we can’t ‘figure out where it’s happening, maybe that’s not the direction.

Mascara Dorada 2.0 told ESTO he was hesitant to take on this gimmick; he didn’t know how the fans would like it and he thought he might be Panterita del Ring Jr.. until he retired. He was convinced to do so by looking at it as a job opportunity (a sort of promotion) and feels the fans have accepted it. The one change he asked CMLL is to let him change the mask to uncover his eyes, so he can see the ropes better on his big spots. They said OK and he feels like he’s now got better vision then he did under the Panterita mask.

CMLL (SUN) 07/30/2023 Arena México
1) Robin vs Enfermero Jr. [lightning]
2) La Vaquerita & Skadi vs La Guerrera & La Magnifica
3) El Audaz, Flyer, Fuego vs Difunto, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Futuro vs Max Star, Rayo Metálico (Guanajuato), Meyer, Gallo Jr., Ráfaga Jr. (Puebla), Brillante Jr., Misterio Blanco [MEX LIGHT, final]
5) Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Volcano vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
6) Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr., Titán vs Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Templario

I really have no idea who’s going to win that title tournament. Brillante Jr. & Misterio Blanco advanced Thursday night. (There’s video here; Platino Kid was the runner up) I lean towards the Mexico City guys but this has been all over the place. CMLL announced they’d air the tournament final live for subscribers; it sounded like it was just the tournament that was airing.

Gallo Jr. & Rafaga Jr. did press before appearing on CMLL Informa. Gallo Jr. has actually been wrestling for longer of the two, claiming a seven-year career. Rafaga Jr. has only been wrestling as three. As mentioned Wednesday, these guys have been as Estrella de Jalisco Jr. I (Gallo Jr.) and Estrella de Jalisco Jr. II (Rafaga Jr.) prior. Gallo Jr. must’ve had a different name earlier. There’s also confusingly another Rafaga Jr. who showed up in Jalisco arenas very infrequently going back to 2013, leaving no real obvious break point between the two.

Beyond the Sunday bonus stream, CMLL surprise uploaded the Saturday Arena Coliseo show for YouTube members on Thursday night. The membership plan has averaged out to about one “bonus” show a week through the first month. If that was the stated plan – Tuesdays live, Fridays on delays, one bonus show of their choosing – it’d be a most customer-friendly plan. It still wouldn’t be the plan it should be, but it’d be better than just paying for stuff that recently was free. It’s still not the CMLL plan though; their plan is just surprises, so the bonus show a week could go away at any point. (The historical content has still not appeared.) It is Mexican wrestling to offer vague promises rather than commit to anything.

CMLL (MON) 07/31/2023 Arena Puebla
1) El Novato & Rayo Metálico vs Espíritu Maligno & Sombra Diabólika
2) Acero, Aéreo, Angelito, Pequeño Magía, Shockercito vs Full Metal, Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Polvora, Pierrothito [cibernetico]
3) Esfinge, Pegasso, Star Black vs Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
4) La Jarochita & Lluvia © vs Hera & Olympia [MEX WOMEN TAG]
13th defense (11th on CMLL shows); first in five months.
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Místico, Terrible vs Soberano Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr.

A title change seems unlikely. The main event seemed to be heading to a Mistico/Ultimo Guerrero singles match. I guess Ultimo Guerrero and Soberano are allowed to team but not fight?

The upcoming Monday’s Arena Puebla show will have an increased police presence following the robbery this past Monday, as you’d expect. There is no new information about the robbers.

CMLL put out a press release denouncing a show in Ciudad Acuna for unauthorized use of their logo and 90th Aniversario imagery. I have the main poster on the luchadb; the CMLL logo is there and the Aniversario logo pops up on match graphics. This kind of unauthorized logo usage happens a fair bit in Mexican wrestling. (It seems to happen more with the logo AAA than CMLL anecdotally.) This one draws on Octagon & Fuerza Guerrera recently wrestling in CMLL as the justification, but there are plenty of times it happens with people long gone from a promotion or just for no reason at all. It happens enough that there must be a further story explaining why CMLL wanted to dissociate itself from this show, but it’s not immediately obvious what it is. (CMLL notably did not put out a press release to talk about the Arean Puebla robbery.) Lucha Libre Acuna has stopped using the CMLL logo in their most recent social media graphics so whatever CMLL said to them was effective in scaring them.

Villano III Jr. did an interview with MedioTiempo and referred to vague problems he was having in life around that time – “indiscipline” and other issues. At some point, his father told V3 Jr. that he wasting his life, risking his health and his future with whatever he was doing, it wa something that everyone saw, but the only person who could fix it for Villano III Jr. was Villano III Jr. himself.  Villano III Jr. says he realized he was not doing the things he should be doing and they were going to take him away the career in his wrestling he wanted. He also realized that many people plan/expect for a life where they live 60, 70, or 80 years, but an accident can happen anytime and end your life. He decided that if he was only going to have 25 years of life, he wanted to make them the best 25 years possible, which motivated him going forward.

Boxing will return to Arena Coliseo on Friday, August 4th. It’s the first boxing event there since 2019.

AAA

Space’s upcoming listings clarified the upcoming TV episodes

• 07/29: TripleMania Tijuana Part 2
• 08/05: Verano de Escandalo Part 2
• 08/12: TripleMania Mexico City Part 1
• 08/19: TripleMania Mexico City Part 2
• 08/26: Orizaba Part 1
• 09/02: Orizaba Part 2

You’ve already seen part 2 of Tijuana if you caught the PPV; if you’re a PPV buyer, you only have one TV episode to track down in the next month.

The first post-TripleMania TV taping should be late August/early September, and we’re in range of AAA announcing information on that.

Mas Lucha has a batch of interviews with wrestlers from a recent AAA staffed show in San Luis Potosi:

Alberto explains he was going to be on TripleMania Mexico City but the plans fell apart: his original opponent “returned to the WWE”, and the second choice got injured. I’m unsure who these people could be (and the normal Alberto disclaimer applies.) Alberto indicates this was a program meant to take place over multiple TripleManias, so it could’ve been something that happened earlier in the year. Alberto did an angle with Thom Lattimer back at the Lucha World Cup, but Lattimer does not appear to be hurt based on match results, and that show was full of teasing matches just do stuff with the extra people around. On the other hand, most of the TripleMania matches came out of nowhere.

Jack Cartwheel was as surprised as everyone else that he was in the Megachampionship match; he found out by reading Twitter. AAA did not tell him at TripleMania Tijuana two days prior. Cartwheel told his mom and dad he was getting a title match at TripleMania and they had no idea what that meant but they understood it was a big deal. Cartwheel mentions he was learning finance and about the economy in college, which I believe makes him totally unqualified for a professional wrestling career.

Daga believes AAA is holding him down with this title match. Hold on, it (almost) makes sense: Daga believes he deserves a one-on-one match and instead, AAA put two other people in it. Conspiracy theory Daga believes this is all a scheme by AAA to protect Vikingo and ensure he keeps the title because, obviously, Daga would defeat Vikingo on his own. Daga dismisses Vikingo being the first person to beat Kenny Omega as a big deal, because Omega doesn’t have the same edge in Mexico, the sort of edge Daga has in his home of Mexico. (Daga might be a good promo now?)

Hijo del Vikingo says he spent two hours with paramedics after the Gringo Loco powerbomb at Verano de Escnadalo and they’ve since sent him for some chiropractic treatments. Vikingo wants that singles match with Gringo Loco, and offers to allow Gringo to choose the rules. Vikingo says his TripleMania opponents are all good, but he’s in his best moment and has experience and a plan to combat all three. He was more focused on the Gringo feud than TripleMania one.

IWRG

Mas Lucha (THU) 07/27/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fussion & Rey Eclipse b Chaflan & Charifas 
2) Mary Caporal & Reina Obscura b Princesa Águila & Sakura © and Bengalee & Zuzu Divine [LLM TAG] 
title change. Sakura may have suffered an injury taking a storm cradle driver for the finish; she got medical attention.
3) Hip Hop Man & Maradó b Mariachi & Rey Pantera Jr. 
4) Yorvak © b Chris Stone Jr., Kauris, Payaso Tilin, Haru Taki [GDL HEAVY]
Payaso Tilin and Haru Taki were added to the match.
5) Baby Camaleón, Camaleón Jr., El Camaleón b León Dorado, Mr. Leo, Último Legendario
Ultimo Legendario and his partners didn’t get along and fought after the match.
6) Groon XXX, Hell Boy, Psycho Clown b Elemental, Ivan Rokov, Texano Jr.
Sam Adonis earlier announced he was out of this match by order of a doctor. He teased Payaso Tilin as his replacement, only for Elemental to beat up Tilin. Hell Boy came out next; he didn’t want to team with foreigners but he did want to wrestle big names, so he offered himself. The three rudos came out again (just before the live part of the stream was to end), drawing out Psycho Clown and Gronda so Texano Jr. and Ivan Rokov could attack him. The rudos betrayed Hell Boy in here, too, setting up the new trios match.

Mas Lucha ran the angle to change the main event before the paid stream ended, so that’s an improvement. They did not tweet out the result of the main event, that’s still weird. It seemed like a decent-sized crowd.

IWRG (SUN) 07/30/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Kauris & Rey Espartano vs Centurion & Rey Aztaroth
2) Bengalee vs Danessa, Satania, Sagitarius
3) Gannicus, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Karaoui, Relámpago, Shocko
4) Nishikawa & Nozaki vs Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr.
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Ivan Rokov
6) Aramis, Hell Boy, Rey Horus vs León Dorado, Rey Espectro, Tonalli

Aramis and Rey Hours back in, maybe for a good main event. Semimain has been built for a couple of weeks.

Big Lucha

It exists. They’re back for a show on Saturday:

Big Lucha (SAT) 07/29/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Helios vs Reieyl, Morfosis, Steel Dragón
2) ? & India Sioux vs Diosa Nix & La Brava
3) Carito, Mr. Win, Tirano vs Andrómeda, Macho I, Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
4) Skayde & Viajero vs Brujo De Iztapalpa & Forneo
5) Bendito, Flamita, Yutani vs Elipse, Iku, Orbita and Gravity, Potro, Rey Horus and Monsther Clown, Panic Clown, Parka Negra [tlc]
6) Emperador Azteca © vs Negro Casas [BIG LUCHA CHAMP]

If it feels like a long time between shows, it is. The last gym show as six weeks ago. They’ve started to post more interviews and social content but it’s easy to forget these guys exist now.

Negro Casas asked for a shot against Emperador back in May, so that’s the story there. There is no real story to the TLC match; it could be spectacular but it’s not clear why it’s happening. Match four continues a couple of feuds, and the Carito/Andromeda goes on in match three. I’m guessing the mystery person in match two wasn’t meant to be a big name, but they were holding a spot for Sussy Love if she’s back from injury in time. This should stream on Big Lucha’s YouTube channel.

It sticks out to me that Big Lucha did not mention Gravity wrestling in AEW or the ROH PPV last weekend. They have mentioned big international matches for regular roster members in the past. Bandido did mention his brother’s match on his own social media. AEW’s got to do what’s best for AEW but I wonder if they may have unwittingly created some drama elsewhere with a meme match or if there’s something else going on.

Other News

Impact tapes TV in Cicero (outside Chicago) this weekend. Samuray del Sol will appear on Friday, teaming with Laredo Kid & Black Taurus versus Bully Ray, Moose, and Brian Meyers, then face Chris Sabin on Saturday. Black Taurus will wrestle Bully Ray on Saturday. Samuray del Sol was a guy I watched (and wrote about here) from his earliest indie days. Somewhere along the line, I lost most interest in him. He is a Chicago guy and he will bring some added interest in an arena that historically brings in a lot of Latino fans; I can be unexcited but I can see how it makes sense. Same thing with that Friday trios; the heels are about as lame and uncool as it gets, but that’s the entire point of it. It still kinda bummed me out; Samuray del Sol is likely going to work these two matches for Impact and never again, and Impact’s giving him the spotlight they’re never going to give Laredo Kid or Black Taurus. They’re never going to be as excited about them as a guy who’s coming off a poor end to a WWE stint and has almost given up wrestling the last few years. (I don’t know that Impact is that excited by Samuray del Sol, he’s just the special guest star for a weekend.) That blow might be softened a bit if those guys were doing something fun in AAA, but they’re just roster filler there as well right now. Maybe AAA and Impact have Very Good Reasons for why they book Taurus & Laredo as they do. I don’t really care about those reasons; I just want to see good wrestlers have some good matches.

I’m not expecting to make it out to Impact. Laredo and Taurus are working GALLI on Sunday. Maybe I’ll go to that.

Mexico State luchador Toro Negro (Jose Ramon Marmolejo Zavala, 72) passed away. He would’ve been around Arena San Juan for decades, as was his family – Flamita and Torito Negro are his grandsons.

Vangellys explained to Record that he doesn’t want to be in a big promotion any more. He’s been in AAA and CMLL, but now his goal make Vangelys Entertainment promotion. He believes the promotion will grow so large that he’ll be able to bring all of La Faccion Ingobernable together under it’s banner.

Do you remember MLW taping TV in February, waiting months to air it, and then not actually airing some of the matches which were very MLW-specific? MLW apparently ended yesterday’s episode easing air those remaining matches next week, six months after they taped them. None of them are interesting and all have been on YouTube Fancams for months, MLW is just weird (and AAA isn’t the slowest to air matches.)

Mexico City luchadors will teach young adults how to prepare sushi at weekly Thursday meetings in the Miguel Hidalgo neighborhood. The idea is the luchadors will be teaching what they’ve learned from their trips to Japan; almost no one on the list has gone to Japan, to my recollection. Sign-up for this activity is July 28th, the sushi lessons are on Thursdays starting August 3rd.

Segunda Caida writes a bio of Panama’s Sandokan.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 07/24/2023 Arena Puebla [Porra Fresa]
1) Asturiano & Xelhua b Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja
2) Meyer & Rayo Metálico b Black Tiger, Amnesia, Astro, Fénix SO, Espíritu Maligno, Dreyco [MEX LIGHT, torneo] 
Meyer & Rayo Metalico advanced to the 07/30 final
3) Hera & Olympia b La Jarochita & Lluvia 
Valiente’s daughters (Las Valientitas) won to set up a title match next week
4) Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero b Halcón Suriano Jr., Star Black, Stigma
5) Templario © b Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE] 
first defense
6) Fuerza Guerrera, Rocky Romero, Último Guerrero b Metalik, Místico, Octagón
UG pinned Mistico after a mask pull

Templario retaining is a little bit of a surprise; Dragon Rojo is usually winning a lot at this point in CMLL’s story. CMLL also usually doesn’t do quick title reigns so that may be part of it.

The lightweight tournament wasn’t so hot, with many people looking unprepared for prime time. Meyer is a guy who was around on the Monday streams pre-pandemic and never stood out. Rayo Metalico is originally from Leon and showed up in Puebla starting in March. He’s rarely lost in that time – really only to CMLL CDMX mini teams, though that may be as about Puebla wanting to start the show off with a tecnico win. Metalico didn’t impress positively in this match but maybe he’ll do better on Sunday.

(CMLL put the Arena Mexico leg of the tournament up as their free match of the week; it’s the best of the three ciberneticos so far.)

The big news from Arena Puebla happened outside the ring. Armed men robbed the ticket booth during the show. Puebla’s Cinco Radio has the security video of the crime. There were two Arena Puebla staff in the small office. One man appeared to be processing tickets (he’s writing down a ticket location and crossing it off on the map.) The other man was standing with the door half open, waiting to take those tickets to someone. Instead, a masked robber came in, threw the waiting man down on one chair, and pulled the ticket marker out of his hair chair to the floor. That robber keeps the Puebla employees away while a second robber comes and grabs the money and other items. The incident lasts less than a minute. There’s also an exterior video showing no security on the public side of the door. Additional reporting mentions private security was hired and just didn’t do their jobs. The two robbers easily rush to the ticket room. There’s so little fuss that multiple bystanders go up to the ticket window to purchase a ticket and only realize what’s going on when they look the window. Those bystanders include a family; when the group’s father figure sees what’s happening, he starts to go towards the room to help. A third burglar, this one wearing a backpack in front, blocks his path and appears to flash a weapon at the bystander, who wisely decides to back off. Local Puebla reports say there were actually four robbers, so maybe the fourth was handling the not-present security. 160,000 pesos (about 9500 USD), plus the personal effects of Arena Puebla manager Benjamin Mar and ticket seller Enrique Rivera were stolen. The robbers have so far gotten away with the crime. Fans inside the building had no idea anything was going on and CMLL has not publically addressed the situation.

CMLL (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Estrella del Ring]
1) Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito b Acero & Aéreo 
2) Capitán Suicida, Diamond, Halcón Suriano Jr. b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio 
3) Hombre Bala Jr. DQ Sangre Imperial 
Sangre Imperial unmasked Hombre Bala for the DQ.
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b El Perverso, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma 
5) Atlantis, Bárbaro Cavernario, Valiente b Esfinge, Fugaz, Niebla Roja [Relevos Increíbles] 
6) Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr. DQ Atlantis Jr., Místico, Volador Jr. 
straight falls, the last when Angel de Oro faked a foul from Volador Jr.

Hombre Bala tried really hard and Sangre Imperial shows a tiny bit of personality as a rudo, so that match was probably better than you would’ve expected. Not too much notable here otherwise.

CMLL (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Mas Lucha]
1) Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy b Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Ponzoña Jr. 
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara dubbed the winning team “Los Back Three Boys”
2) Gallo Jr. & Ráfaga Jr. b Último Ángel, Eclipse, Rav, Obek, Temerario, Persa [MEX LIGHT, torneo] 
The sons of Gallo & Rafaga advanced to the 07/30 final
3) Sanely DQ La Catalina [lightning] 
Maligna ran in to help Catalina, and Dulce Kitty made the save. This theoretically set up a tag match for next week.
4) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico b Blue Panther Jr., Cachorro, Dark Panther 
5) Averno, Euforia, Mephisto b Arlequín, Hechicero, Terrible 
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Rocky Romero b Hijo del Villano III, Soberano Jr., Villano III Jr. [Relevos Increíbles] 
Romero didn’t get along with his partners

Gallo Jr. advances to Arena Mexico in his fifth match – under that name. He and Rafaga Jr. were the Estrellas de Jalisco previously, something that’s been acknowledged on their Facebook pages but hasn’t been spelled out on the shows (or I missed it.) I guessed them because of the family connections. Everyone looked young and inexperienced in this group; it was better than the Puebla one but not as spectacular as the Arena Mexico one. The weirdest thing preceded the match: they ran a seeding battle royal, but used the Mexico cage match rule of everyone having to stay in the ring for 10 minutes before anyone could be eliminated. It was strange and not good. The final four people also worked it as if a 2v2 tag match and that may have been the rule.

The six who’ve advanced so far

• Max Star
• Futuro
• Rayo Metalico
• Meyer
• Gallo Jr.
• Rafaga Jr.

The final two will arrive from Thursday’s Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano card. Normally it’d be safe bet to be one of the Misterios and Brillante Jr., but this tournament has been all over the place. I got lucky on guessing the Guadalajara wrestlers (always bet on nepotism in Mexican wrestling) but no one had Rayo Metalico or Meyer. Maybe one of Max Star or Futuro would get through, but both was a surprise. It will not be a surprise if someone CMLL fans have never heard of makes is through from Torreon.

CMLL announced that Sunday’s final will air live for members. It sounded like it was just the match itself that would air.

CMLL (SAT) 07/29/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Kaligua & Shockercito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Crixus vs Retro [lightning]
3) La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Metálica
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Kráneo, Okumura, Pólvora
5) Esfinge, Star Black, Star Jr. vs Felino, Misterioso Jr., Rey Bucanero
6) Mephisto, Místico, Valiente vs Euforia, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

What’s not here is more important: Metalik and Romero are finishing on Friday.

CMLL announced the Men’s Gran Prix will take place August 18th. Full fields were announced for both the World and Mexico teams.

World

• Baliyan Akki (India)
• Francesco Akira (Italy)
• Adrian Quest (US)
• TJP (Philippines)
• Rocky Romero (US)
• Samuray del Sol (US)
• KUSHIDA (Japan)
• Hiromu Takahashi (Japan)

I suspect Rocky Romero may have more to do with putting this field together than in years past; most everyone has a connection with him in some way. Adrian Quest, a California/Baja California wrestler, is doing a bit as Romero’s protege on NJPW Strong shows. Akki is part of the Gatoh Move promotion; you may have seen him on secondary AEW programming with Emi Sakura and Mei Suruga, also members o that promotion. Akki speaks English and has done commentary for that Japanese group and others. Akira and TJP are “Catch 2/2” as part of NJPW’s United Empire and recently were IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag champions. You are probably familiar with the other names.

I feel about Samuray del Sol similar to Metalik. Neither are bad, but both are lost in the shadow of what they were for a time. Samuray del Sol seems disinterested in wrestling generally. It’s surprising to see him announced for both and for this weekend’s Impact tapings within minutes of each other. Those are his first two known bookings in North America this entire year. Samuray’s past incursions into Mexico have been with AAA and associated groups; he didn’t seem to mean much on TripleMania Monterrey 2021 and I’m uncertain how much he’ll mean to the Arena Mexico crowd. He seems like a name people talk themselves into believing is still a big Mexican star because he was in WWE, but it feels like time’s moved on. I guess we’ll find out.

Takahashi is paying back everyone who sent wrestlers to the All Star Junior Festival back in February, so it was a matter of when he’d show up here. Hirmou’s big feud in CMLL was with Dragon Lee. His other apuesta match was with Maximo. It’s going to be very weird if everyone in CMLL spends a week talking about the great matches he had as Kamaitachi without being able to say who they were against.

CMLL also announced Team Mexico.

• Averno
• Dragon Rojo Jr.
• Angel de Oro
• Ultimo Guerrero
• Templario
• Mascara Dorada 2.0
• Volador Jr.
• Mistico

CMLL decided they needed the six Aniversario people, which didn’t leave many spots left. Mistico and Mascara Dorada 2.0 had to be on it as part of the arcs they’re currently on. I do not think they’ll be wagering masks in September. As always, you could make another really good Men’s Gran Prix team off of those who get left off, and maybe CMLL will be some other good matches withem for that show.

This Gran Prix will be the first “important” PPV CMLL’s done since switching from TicketmasterLive to Boleita for the live streams. I assume it’ll be the same elevated price (~12 USD) but they haven’t said.

There’s a rumor that Templario is going to WWE. No one knows where the rumor came from or is taking credit, but it seems false. I believe people were looking for reasons to believe something besides Dragon Rojo will lose his mask on the Aniversario, remembered La Sombra lost his mask before going to WWE, and wished the same thing was happening with Templario. Sombra kept his jump pretty quiet and I suppose Templario could do the same, but it seems very unlikely and I’ve heard nothing to indicate it. You can’t really do this rumor with anyone else in that match, so Templario might have been picked. There will probably be a similar “chisme” about how WWE is totally signing Psycho Clown and so he’s actually going to be the one to lose his mask at TripleMania because people want to believe something else will happen, and it’ll be similarly false.

AAA

there is no AAA news today

IWRG

IWRG (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Sumed Black & Último Caballero b Canibal King & Cosmic 
Canibal King debuted, replacing Nubilus
2) Danessa & Hatanna b Amazonika & Kali 
3) Aqueo, Balak, Cheff Benito b Rey Gato, Skanda, Súper Cometa 
4) Ajolotol & Arceus b Carnicero & Milagro 
Carnicero fell down the IWRG stairs walking to the ring
5) Águila Roja, Baby Star, Fussion, Kenji, Legado, Rey Astaroth, Spider Fly, Súper Boy b Blue Win, Chaflan, Charifas, Kuukai, Nishikawa, Rey Espartano, Ryu, Shere Khan [Copa Higher Power] 
Three mystery people attacked Kuukai when he was the last person for Team Gym Hercules, allowing Spider Fly to land a 450 splash to give the win to Team FILL. The Lion Brothers demanded the mystery men come back out, which went poorly for the Lion Brothers. The masked men revealed themselves as the Camaleons, building up the Mas Lucha trios match in the same building for Thursday

This was on at the same time as the two CMLL shows so I saw nothing but the ending angle, just a big build to the match on Thursday. (I’m not even sure about the participant list.) I was mostly thrown off by this streaming live; the last few FILL shows haven’t, but this one had the Mas Lucha angle so of course they streamed it.

Other

Mexico’s senate held a ceremony to honor “Legends and New Promises” of Mexican wrestling. You can see it on YouTube. Fantasma led the wrestling group, which included Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras, Canek, Octagon, Lola Gonzalez, and Irma Gonzalez among others. A senator said they’d help support a book that’ll tell the stories of the luchadors. “Federal government holds a special meeting to honor wrestlers” would be a big story in another country but it’s happens so often in Mexico that it didn’t feel like a big deal to me. The ancillary stuff is more interesting, like which guys no one knows snuck into the presentation. Guerrero Zulu got speaking time; he’s (at best I can tell) a Chipas wrestler most notable for losing his mask to Ultimo Guerrero but his graphic claimed him to be a CMLL world champion. Octagon told the group that he, Atlantis and Fuerza Guerrero were going to headline the 90th Aniversario except Fuerza Guerrera was too much of a coward. That may have been a bigger lie. The bit was labeled as including the new promises but none got mentioned. It’s older members of the legislature honoring the wrestlers they grew up on. The government did not announce plans for retirement benefit or expanded health insurance but everyone did get a certificate.

The actual news from this event is Fuerza Guerrera announced he is no longer planning to retire in 2024. His bookings have picked up (after being back in CMLL) and he wants to ride that wave as long as it lasts. You can list many good things CMLL has done but encouraging Fuerza Guerrera to wrestle on is a one for the negative column. He vows to retire “someday.”

Rush re-signed with AEW. No contract length was announced (as always) and I’m not sure if it’s been reported somewhere else. Looking back, the moment he decided he was going to re-sign with AEW is the moment Rush and his friends started teasing he was going to the WWE; now the story is he was never going any place. Maybe he wasn’t! CM Punk, who may or may not get to decide these things, indicated on Instagram that Rush would be appearing on the Saturday Collision shows. That means Rush would not be appearing on AAA Saturday TV tapings going forward, though who knows if he was going to be back after TripleMania at all. (And that date is not affected.) All AEW talent seems free to work Mexico on dates they’re not needed for AEW/ROH, though the interest in working AEW seems to be less once they sign that AEW deal.

Aeroboy was included in a magazine list of 100 current people from Hidalgo who transcend the state. He’s the only luchador in the list.

Site Notes

• I’m hoping to move the “thecubsfan.com” domain to a new hosting company this weekend. I wasn’t planning on moving the luchadb and luchawiki, but I might need to as well. Figure sites not working as well as they should. I have a mid-August deadline to make the move so I may postpone if other things come up.
• The @lucharobot account is more or less dead. It can only post 50 times a day, I have a lot more than 50 posts a day. I could’ve let it go for 50 posts and then get blocked for a day but that seemed unuseful. I could come up with some other way of using it but I’m skeptical it’s a good use of time to develop projects for Twitter/X right now. I’m not using a replacement app enough to make it worthwhile to do that. I might as well just make another RSS feed.
• I did have some vague ideas to improve the luchadb main page to handle some things that might have been on lucharobot before. Not sure when I’ll have the time to get it done.
• Time is the biggest issue. I just don’t have the time I used to because of other things going on and so I’m not getting as much done as I might have in the past. I do not anticipate this situation will be improving. I’ll do my best and I’m not quitting but so you know where my head’s at it (if you couldn’t already figure out from other posts of late.)

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/21/2023 Arena México [CMLL, El Universal, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Quardratin, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Angelito & Pequeño Magía b Full Metal & Minos   
10:37
2) Capitán Suicida, Halcón Suriano Jr., Valiente Jr. b El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora   
14:16.
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Sanely b La Catalina, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer   
8:43. Lluvia pined Reyna to even the score from last week.
4) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero DQ Averno, Euforia, Mephisto   
11:19. Averno fouled Guerrero and beat him up after the match.
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0 & Rocky Romero b Místico, Metalik, Volador Jr., Templario, Titán, Dragón Rojo Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, semifinal]   
22:56. Order of elimination: Templario (DQ for fouling Dragon Rojo), Mistico (by Titan), Dragon Rojo (Volador), Volador (Rocky, his own partner), Titan (Metalik), Dorada (Rocky after a mask pull) leaving Dorada and Rocky as the final 2.

This was a shorter show than usual for Friday, coming in close two hours. My head was in two places at once during this but it didn’t seem like standout matchs. The cibernetico had moments but also was weird. Rocky was allowed to eliminate his own partner, which made sense for the Volador/Rocky issue but didn’t make any sense in terms of “rules of a wrestling match.” This was also Metalik’s big moment to shine and he did not. He is not blowing moves, he’s just a guy who’s trademark was being spectacular and he’s not spectacular anymore. He’s not transitioned to being something else, he just is a guy who does a springboard elbow drop. Metalik is stuck on 205 Live and appears like he’ll never escape.

Dorada 2.0 versus Rocky is a huge decision. Rocky Romero has been so good and so good for CMLL that I’m not going to argue against him winning. Mascara Dorada 2.0 winning the Leyenda de Plata in his first try under this gimmick is putting him in a rocket. He’d no longer be “a guy who’s going to be a star in 2-3 years”, or “a prospect who’s graduated to the main events” – he’d be a top guy, someone you’d have to mention it alongside Mistico and Titan and Volador as the most important tecnicos in CMLL. And it might even be only half of it. Dorada gave up the lightweight title by saying he was going after the welterweight ones, Rocky is (still!) welterweight champion, and Dorada beating him would guarantee a big deal title match. Maybe on the All Star Junior Festival, maybe on the Aniverasrio, but it’d be putting a spotlight on him in a big way. I still have that fear the Arena Mexico diehards may turn against a young guy for getting pushed to top with ‘earning’ it, but Dorada winning the Leyenda de Plata and then the title is a way to make a guy if you really want to make them.

Dorada beating Rocky and winning the Leyenda de Plata is really strapping a rocket to him and it feels like CMLL might actually do that. I’m concerned the Arena Mexico diehards will turn on a young wrestler pushed too hard too soon but it doesn’t seem to be happening so far. For his part, Mascara Dorada 2.0 said he felt it would be almost impossible mission to beat Rocky Romero but he’s going to try his best. He did also call Rocky an elderly grandfather a few times. (If Rocky is Volador’s dad, and Volador is Dorada’s pardino then Rocky is Dorada’s abuelo.) Rocky said Mascara Dorada must be a comedian if he’s calling him old, and said he considered Mascara Dorada 2.0 a little boy even if he got a new mask. Mistico, Volador, Angel de Oro, Virus are true challenges, not Dorado. Rocky vowed to change the name of the tournament to Leyenda de Azucar after he wins next week, believed the main event would go eight minutes max, and declared he would be in the Gran Prix.

The Averno/Guerrero angle was well done. CMLL aired a video before the show pushing all three contract signings while giving no new info. That’s about it for meaningful parts of this show. Nothing was bad.

Arena Mexico had another strong turnout.

Tijuana’s Lucka Libre debut shot took place Saturday. It looks like it drew well for a CMLL focused show in Tijuana – not as well as EMW/AAA or the Crash but not too far behind, and better than some past CMLL shows in Tijuana. The Volador/Rugido vs Mascara Dorada 2.0/Mistico main event was said to be good.

CMLL (SAT) 07/22/2023 Arena Coliseo [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, CMLL, Mas Lucha]
1) Hera, Olympia, Skadi b Dulce Kitty (Jalisco), Nexy (Jalisco), Sexy Sol  
2) Barboza (Jalisco), Draego (Jalisco), Persa (Jalisco) b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio 
3) Bestia Negra, Cris Skin (Jalisco), Ráfaga (Jalisco) b Fuego, Halcón Suriano Jr., Volcano  
4) Halcón Negro Jr. b Misterioso Jr. [lightning]  
5) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Leo (Jalisco), Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.  
6) Metalik, Soberano Jr., Titán b Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Terrible 
billed as Metalik, Soberano, Terrible vs Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Terrible, switched around for no given reason

Not only did CMLL CDMX bring in a bunch of GDL people, they put them over on the Mexico City guys. I hope it make the GDL guys into bigger stars, and it’s impressive to get the Mexico City guys to go along with it.  Not sure why the main event changed; the new one is the better match, the old one would’ve fed into Metalik/Titan better.

I was expecting at least one of the veterans to make it to the final from the Mexico City group and it is instead two of the Torneo de Escuelas kids. It’s a big feather in both Max Star and Futuro’s cap to make it this far this fast.

CMLL (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito
2) Capitán Suicida, Diamond, Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Hombre Bala Jr. vs Sangre Imperial
4) El Perverso, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Atlantis, Bárbaro Cavernario, Valiente vs Esfinge, Fugaz, Niebla Roja [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr.

Volador Jr. and Angel de Oro should be the focus of the main event, though I wonder about seeing Atlantis Jr. and Stuka back against each other. Perverso gets a Tuesday booking following winning the Puebla title. Bala/Imperial is listed as a full match, not a lightning one.

CMLL (FRI) 07/28/2023 Arena México
1) Astral, Oro Jr., Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
2) Blue Panther Jr., Cachorro, Dark Panther vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
4) Averno, Templario, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Titán vs Metalik
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0 vs Rocky Romero [Leyenda de Plata, final]

Metalik has been protected in every match so far, which hopefully means they’re saving the big win for Titan. Villano III Jr. makes his Friday debut in a fun trio. (There’s some history there; Villano IV took the original Zandokan’s mask.) Cachorro is the big winner from Blue Panther Jr.’s return, rescued from undercard obscurity to round out the family team.

El Universal talks to the people behind the KeMonito documentary, currently touring film festivals. It recently aired in Leon and is said to be heading to India soon. The article says the film is expected to be fully released on a platform in early 2024. They also bring up KeMonito saying earlier this year that he’d probably retire in 2023. There hasn’t been anything about that recently. The theory back then was KeMonito’s retirement would be part of the Aniversario. I kind of think we’d know by now if that was happening, because there’d be a string of retirement countdown events.

AAA

AAA TV (FRI) 07/21/2023 Arena San Marcos, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes [Lucha Central, Me gusta Box y Lucha, Record, thecubsfan]
***Verano de Escandalo, 2023***
1) Bestia Infernal, Príncipe Seir, Sauron ?? Águila De Guerrera, Drakus, Pigman
2) Dinámico, Kamik-C, Skalibur b Diva Salvaje, Dulce Kanela, Jessy Ventura 
Dinamico snuck in a foul on Diva Salvaje
3) Jack Cartwheel, Laredo Kid, Willie Mack b Antifaz del Norte, Látigo, Tosscano 
4) Dalys, Drago (2023), Negro Casas b La Hiedra, Nicho el Millionario, Puma King 
the new Drago was the surprise wrestler
5) Abismo Negro, Psicosis, Toxin b Forastero, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Sansón [AAA TRIOS] 
8th defense, 5th on TV. Hijo de Mascara 2000 replacing Cuatrero (jail). Latigo hit Mascara 2000 with a chair and Psicosis (II) landed a top rope senton with the same chair to win.
6) Octagón Jr., Pagano, Vampiro Canadiense DDQ Daga, Taurus, Texano Jr. 
Texano Jr. was the surprise wrestler. Rudos handcuffed Vampiro, then later handcuffed Pagano and beat up the the other two. Match didn’t seem to have an ending, the rudos just were done beating up the tecnicos and left without trying to win the match. Piero ruled it a no decision, Marisela Pena demanded he change it to a DQ, he explained it was a no DQ match, Pena said she didn’t care and Piero agreed to call a DQ (but it was reported a double DQ?)
7) El Patrón Alberto, Hijo Del Vikingo, Psycho Clown b Cibernético, Gringo Loco, Sam Adonis 
Adonis destroyed Psycho’s mask. Gringo Loco superpowerbombed Vikingo through a table for the win. Vikingo was stretchered away.

A skippable show. The main event was on the lines of the Team Baja/Team Mexico City match – a relief at something closer to OK after some annoying booking and lackluster undercard before it, but it’s nothing you have to go track down.

I’m not sure what happened with the semi-main. The post-match stuff came off like a chance to spotlight Marisela, but it also came off as absurd to have her call for a DQ in a no-DQ match. The match itself felt like something went wrong (a missing handcuff key?) and AAA couldn’t get to the finish they wanted. AAA is also fully capable of just not doing finish. The trios match had no particular energy or memorable moments. The Latigo bit seemed more like giving NGD some relief losing the titles rather than setting up something for the future.

Japanese site Me Gusta Box y Lucha was very helpful in confirming the undercard results and tracking down additional video. I don’t know when the undercard matches are airing; AAA hasn’t said and their taping schedule is a mess. Maybe next week, maybe the week after, maybe who knows. The results do not account for a Daga promo to talk about the title match. I think they could’ve given feature Daga more in his title match, but there’s not really anything they were going to do in one match to make him suddenly a strong challenger. You’re in or out on Daga already.

I’m not sure what the future is for NGD in AAA. There was a story going around amongst AAA people that this was NGD’s final match in the promotion for now. Something like that often gets followed up quickly with a announcement on Instagram, and those guys haven’t appeared to say anything. NGD were believed to have signed a two year contract in August of 2021 and they’re not booked on TripleMania, so it would make sense if they were done. Being done on an AAA contract doesn’t means the same thing as it would for a WWE or AEW deal – AAA uses a people on handshake or informal deals – but looking how they were used here and have been used over the last year, it’s easy to believe a story about NGD being done for now.

NGD was just used as a trio in AAA, they’re not as good a trio without Cuatrero, and they’re an act that AAA never seemed to have plans for after their initial push. Or, they had plans for them and they weren’t ever a big enough priority to execute those plans. They had a brief friend with Poder del Norte, those guys left, and NGD just floated around for the remainder of the two years. They didn’t show much better performances than in their last CMLL days and they were in a promotion that’s overload with heel outsider groups. The title change did not feel like a start of a program with the Vipers. It felt a lot like when NGD won the belts from La Empresa, where the belts were moved because AAA was done with one heel team and gave them to another until they came up with time to do something with them. It didn’t happen with NGD, hopefully it’ll go better for the Vipers.

It seemed reasonable to believe NGD leaving CMLL and going to AAA would revitalize their careers. That has not happened; they’re colder, less special, and probably headed to a lot of Arena Lopez Mateos shows. It’s a shocking fall for guys who seemed like they’d be perennial top stars for CMLL and potential international breakout stars. Cuatrero’s arrest and charges of femicide make it impossible to have any sympathy for his career right now, but NGD rarely looked special even before the arrest. AAA could’ve done more with NGD but they also weren’t forcing the issue. NGD have a big name and gimmick and will get along in Mexican wrestling fine if that’s what they continue to do, but they feel like they’re at a career crossroads. Forastero seemed to start an indie feud with DMT Azul on Saturday and will face him on 08/26; the team going their separate ways for a while is probably a good refresh.

Carlos Cabrera filled in for Hugo Savanovich for the show. The announcers felt less loud on this show, to the point where I was wondering if they had stopped pipping them over the in-arena audio. Live video revealed AAA did not make that change, it was just switching from Savanovich being loud all the time to the more mellow Cabrera made it a better experience.

Since “AAA isn’t drawing fans” is now stuck as a Facebook lucha libre discussion point following the bad turnout in Orizaba, every AAA TV taping is now a contest of finding photos to prove what they already believe. People who already don’t like AAA circulated photos of this building being fairly empty, omitting the part about those photos being taken during the pre-show dark match. AAA people fired back with their own photos from later in the evening. The things we can learn from this is AAA is frustrated with their poor image, but also AAA doesn’t seem to have drawn as well for this show as they did last year. Both were held in Aguascalientes in about the same size building*, the 2022 show (with the Tirantes/Shani hair match) was a sell out, the 2023 show is still a strong crowd but there are visible empty sections even in AAA’s careful chosen photos.

(* – I’m honestly confused if this was the same building as last year and they changed the name or if it’s a different building, google isn’t helping much.)

AAA could combat disinformation about their attendance by simply releasing the actual attendance number. They choose to post photos instead and should be taken as seriously as people who choose to post photos instead. (AAA is never going to release attendance routinely; they’d have to acknowledge bad news alongside of good news and it is taboo to acknowledge bad news.) AAA don’t even release results anymore – that was a big thing they were going to get back to doing earlier this year, and it became another AAA idea that faded away. Even a TV live broadcast didn’t get results mentions: AAA posted about the finish of the trios title match and then just stopped. Maybe they had as hard time figuring out the semi-main result as I did.

AAA is off for two weekends, returning next on TripleMania. AAA hasn’t officially announced anything beyond TripleMania. It’s a bold take but I feel certain AAA will continue to run TV tapings after TripleMania. AAA drew a full house Thursday in San Luis Potosi, and the local promoter announced they’d tape TV there in October. Roberto Figueroa was also teasing a TV taping in Monterrey soon but who knows with that guy.

Konnan’s podcast includes a discussion of TripleMania. The headline is definitely finding out AAA didn’t decide the finish to Adonis/Psycho vs Park/Rush until during show (“two matches before”), which Konnan tells in explaining why the finish and the match they were setting up didn’t get communicated until then. It’s unclear if that meant the finish changed or if they just didn’t have one until then. I can only guess why something so important was set so late. I’m sure it must happen in other places – like recent-era WWE – but hearing it said out loud in relation to AAA. Konnan also wasn’t clear how the TripleMania Mexico City final would work. It sounded like he was told the plan was for two singles match and a final, and knows that’s not happening only because he doesn’t seen it on the card. He hoped to get the scenario from Dorian Roldan by next week’s podcast. It has seemed like the whole tournament has been a Roldan-driven project.

Konnan’s generally very positive on TripleMania Tijuana. He believes the dark match opener wasn’t as good as those guys usually do, and wanted Vampiro and Pagano to show more aggression at each other given the angle going into it, but otherwise thought the negative internet criticism for the show was overblown and invalid. He says he talked to “25 people” right after TripleMania who are always honest with him and all 25 said they loved the show. He feels he’s booking towards the Mexican audience, knows the Tijuana fanbase better than anyone, and is giving them exactly what they want. He pushed back about criticism of too many run-ins, saying “how many run-ins are too many?” He also said that not every feud belongs on a TripleMania, they’ve got to put on people that are going to draw, and they will get to those other matches on other shows.

I feel like AEW has too many run-ins too. A big difference between AAA and AEW is that viewers tend to know where those run-ins are going in AEW; a graphic will pop up later announcing a match that follows up on the run-in. CMLL doesn’t promote that way, but it’s safe to assume that any angle is going to be followed up on an upcoming show if only because they have so many shows. If AAA followed the Komander/Arez versus La Rebelion bit with an announcement that the match would be happening in September in San Luis Potosi (or wherever), people might be disappointed with the wait but they’d be at least content there was a real endpoint. AAA’s instead asking fans to trust that they’ll get to those matches, when they’re broken the trust by not delivering on those matches (and then not bothering to write a way out of them, like never having Puma King address not getting his title match.) Every run-in is like asking to borrow $20 from a friend with the promise of paying it back later, and AAA’s deeply in the hole.

(This is a galaxy brain aside but the real AAA problem is not having enough TV. More hours of TV – be it longer telecasts or a second show – would give more room to pay off more angles or build up wrestlers. There’s room for arguments about if AAA is using their current TV effectively, but some of the issues would be fixed almost by default if AAA had more content. Flammer & Abismo Negro wouldn’t go half a year without defending the mixed tag team belts because AAA would eventually have to book that match just to fill up space. Some of the most “internet liked” AAA content prior to the pandemic was the ‘extra’ AAA tournament shows, because they were just people out there having matches, and those deals haven’t come together of late. I’m sure there a plan somewhere in AAA’s offices to bring back Fussion or whatever and I’m sure there’s a reason it hasn’t been done. AAA seems to operate in that they’re not going to make additional content unless they’ve got someone already agreed to pay for it in advance, and I hope they can find someone who will pay for some extra TV.)

Konnan argued Verano de Escandalo was booked in the style of “Mexican Wrestling”. Others would argue “Mexican wrestling” is the style CMLL provides, which is markedly different than what AAA does. My opinion is “Mexican wrestling” is not just one style, it’s whatever works and draws people in. (An AAA show with maybe three less run-ins might work as well, but we will never know.) What AAA does is Konnan’s style of wrestling, he’s just been doing it so long that it’s AAA style. The argument that they’ve got to put people in position who are going to draw falls flat when AAA’s running Vikingo/Cartwheel/Bailey/Daga and Pentagon/QT/Cage/Dralistico matches on TripleMania. There are some draws in there, and there are some people who don’t mean much in with them. To draw a line under it, last week Konnan was doing interviews saying AAA is competing with Impact, AEW, ROH, WWE, and this week he’s saying they’re doing a Mexican wrestling show only for Mexican audiences. I think he’s correct this week.

The podcast description also mentioned an AAA/Marvel question in the mailbag, but I couldn’t find it skipping around and it’s not important enough to track down any further. Sorry.

Larry Dallas is on the Fight Game podcast talking about TripleMania and his career as an announcer. I liked the interview.

El Tiempo MX has an interview with Flammer.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 07/23/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Centurion & Mr. Mike b Baby Star Jr. & Billy Jones 
2) Leo Cristiani, León Dorado, Mr. Leo b Fussion, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly 
3) Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr. b Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. [super libre] 
The Doctors will finally get their title shot (and it’s been stretched out this long because IWRG has a Carvana de Campeones show coming up)
4) Hijo del Fishman & Shocko DQ Hell Boy & Puma de Oro 
5) Laredo Kid b Tonalli 
Tonalli fouled Laredo Kid to win, then proclaimed a win is a win no matter how it happened.
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Hijo del Pirata Morgan DQ Capo Mayor & Ivan Rokov  
Wagner cheated to beat Capo Mayor, faking a foul

The Mas Lucha chat seemed to dislike Rokov but I thought he was fine for what he was meant to be – someone who hits hard and may or may not have any idea of what he’s doing. Hijo del Pirata and Canis Lupus hit very hard and that’s what they want out of that inevitable match. I do stand with the Mas Lucha chat that Capo Mayor is terrible. He was doing the out-of-shape guy thing of wearing a vest to cover up his gut, but the vest was being stretched very far by his gut and it only made him look worse.

Laredo Kid/Tonalli was a fun enough B-show match until they blew a poison rana (at least I think that was the idea) and then got into the IWRG finish of it all. I do like the indie wrestling of it all that somehow Laredo Kid was willing to take a low blow and pinned but they couldn’t get a finish out of Tonalli and Hell Boy a few days earlier.

IWRG (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Cosmic & Nubilus vs Sumed Black & Último Caballero
2) Danessa & Hatanna vs Amazona & Kali
3) Aqueo, Balak, Cheff Benito vs Rey Gato, Skanda, Súper Cometa
4) Águila Oriental, Ajolotol, Arceus vs Carnicero, Milagro, Thunder Storm
5) Águila Roja, Baby Star, Fussion, Kenji, Legado, Rey Astaroth, Spider Fly, Súper Boy vs Blue Win, Chaflan, Charifas, Kuukai, Nishikawa, Rey Espartano, Ryu, Shere Khan [Copa Higher Power]

This is a Gym FILL vs Gym Hercules rematch. Are Kuuaki and Nishikawa really training with the Lion Brothers or did people just get assigned to teams? We will know the real answer if Mr. Leo starts getting Dragon Gate tours in a couple of years.

Thursday’s show is the Mas Lucha Anniversary

Mas Lucha (THU) 07/27/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Chaflan & Charifas vs Fussion & Rey Eclipse
2) Princesa Águila & Sakura © vs Mary Caporal & Reina Obscura and Bengalee & Zuzu Divine [LLM TAG]
3) Mariachi & Rey Pantera Jr. vs Hip Hop Man & Maradó
4) Yorvak © vs Chris Stone Jr., Kauris [GDL HEAVY]
5) Baby Camaleón, Camaleón Jr., El Camaleón vs León Dorado, Mr. Leo, Último Legendario
6) Groon XXX & Psycho Clown vs El Elemental & Sam Adonis

This is a grab bag from various friendly promotions and ideas. Elemental/Groon was a match on a previous Mas Lucha show. Semimain follows up on the Ruleta de la Muerte. Mariachi & Rey Pantera Jr. are from Xalapa’s Lucha Libre Radioactivo promotion, which helped with that tournament. I don’t know if LLM (Lucha Libre Magazine) is actually publishing magazines but they do like to help women’s matches. Chaflan and Carifas are gimmicks that got over on a past IWRG FILL show. Nothing on this show appeals to me but maybe it’s a cool jam show if you’re into everything on Mas Lucha.

Other

The WWE shows in Mexico City and Monterrey seem like a big success; WWE said they broke the gate record for any event held in that venue, and drew the most amount of fans since WWE was back on Televisa and TV Azteca. (WWE claims it was the highest attended event in Arena Ciudad de Mexico as well, and that seems dubious – WWE cuts off a 20-25% of the building for a stage, AAA has a much smaller stage and has filled that building in the past. But AAA also doesn’t publish numbers so who knows.) WWE charges – and has always charged for Mexico City events – a significantly higher top end price than AAA does in Arena Ciudad de Mexico. It’s more than CMLL charges for Aniversario tickets as well. They weren’t able to get people to pay the last couple of years, they had no problem doing so this year. (I think the low end of the tickets were a little bit cheaper this year than past, but I haven’t been tracking it.) A constant refrain from Mexican wrestling fans is that the cost of tickets is too high and it keeps fans away. That didn’t seem to be a problem for these WWE shows.

There’s a push from Mexican WWE wrestlers (Cruz del Toro, Santos Escobar) to now have a WWE PLE (PPV) in Mexico following this success. They were part of the success WWE had in Puerto Rico earlier this year and want thhe same in Mexico City. Puerto Rico’s government paid a fee to bring WWE in for that show. That is increasingly common for WWE’s big events, especially PPVs. I’m uncertain how willing Mexico City would be to pay a foreign wrestling promotion to come in to run shows on Friday and Saturday nights; there’s a chance that could become a big thing. Monterrey might work better, though I have no idea if they’d be willing to pay either.

ESTO has about eight different stories on the WWE event and stuff around it; here’s the recap of the matches. ESTO recapped some Alberto podcast interviews just to have more WWE-related stuff. (New bits include claiming he heroically beat up Gran Khali and that his WWE return was going to come on the Mexico City/Monterrey shows last year but Vince was out of power. Alberto is an unreliable narrator.)

The big WWE attendance doesn’t seem to have affected other shows; Arena Lopez Mateos looked around full for a show built around Blue Demon versus DMT Azul. Arena Neza, also on Saturday, seemed to draw in the normal range.

If you thought stories about Shocker being in rehab due to a massive drug problem would stop promoters from using him, Shocker is promoting his appearance on a September Robles show in Monterrey.

Vix, late last year, published a series called “Cenizas de la Gloria” (Ashes of Glory), profiling famous or semi-famous Mexicans who turned to the crime. It must’ve not gotten much attention at the time among wrestling people because I just noticed it being talked about today and didn’t know about it earlier. There’s an episode on serial killer “Juana Barraza” (Mataviejitas), the same story that gets retold because she was a low level wrestler. The episode before it is on a luchador who actually a Monterrey indie name, Voltaje Negro. In his other life, he was also a member of a cartel and tried to rob a casino. It did not go well; 42 people died in a fire. That’s a story that needs to be retold more.

Debate has an interview with Sinaloa wrestler/promoter Cahucy Rubio.

Friday’s weird schedule (Central US Time)

• ROH starts at 6 pm
  • preshow at 5 pm though it’s not necessarily relavant.
• CMLL starts at 9:30 pm
• AAA starts to stream on Space/HBO Max at 10:30 pm
  • it’s been a while since this was the only option, so a reminder: Space/HBO will only stream the later

ROH should be almost over by the time CMLL starts. Komander also pops up on AEW Ramapage but it’s a battle royal so you may not see him for long.

CMLL

News outlets are dutiful reporting as if CMLL will have all three apuesta matches on the Aniversario show. (La Presna, Publimetro, AS, and Kaiser Sports, Record) Some directly say it’s happening, others report the three matches being signed without the necessary caveat of CMLL doing the exact same thing last year and only doing one apuesta match. ESTO is the only one who calls out what’s actually happening.

CMLL did not say they were doing three apuesta matches, they just led people to believe that might happen. People will be upset when CMLL reveals it’s a tournament or something, but they will still go to the Aniversario show. Maybe the lesson of the week is you can still safely annoy the fans if the show you’re running is big enough.

Three teased apuesta matches is an odd number. I wonder if there might be yet a fourth to be added and, of course, CMLL couldn’t explain the rules for whatever they’re actually doing until that fourth feud gets revealed. There’s no one else making challenges that would immediately fit into that spot, but Averno & Ultimo Guerrero also didn’t exist as a feud until seven days ago.

The one non-Aniversario announcement on Wednesday’s Informa was the National Lightweight title tournament. I wrote about this when it was unveiled in Torreon a week so, and now we’re getting full fields as the lineups are announced. As a reminder, this competition will have four qualifying tournaments with local wrestlers for that region. Two wrestlers will come out of every region, and those four wrestlers will meet in a final next Sunday.

• 07/23 Arena Mexico: Astral, Diamond, Neon, Oro Jr., Futuro, Max Star, Inquisidor, Halcon Suriano Jr.
• 07/24 Arena Puebla: Rayo Metálico, Black Tiger, Amnesia, Astro, Fénix SO, Meyer, Espíritu Maligno, Dreyco
• 07/26 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara: Gallo Jr., Ráfaga Jr., Último Ángel, Eclipse, Rav, Obek, Temerario, Persa
• 07/28 Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano (Torreon): Sparko Jr., Platino, Clasico, Hassan, Brillante Jr, Misterioso Blanco, Misterioso Negro

This is nothing like CMLL would’ve done in 2022 and 2019. The people who don’t follow CMLL regularly won’t see it but this a promotion making serious changes.

Today’s show:

CMLL (FRI) 07/21/2023 Arena México
1) Angelito & Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal & Minos
2) Capitán Suicida, Halcón Suriano Jr., Valiente Jr. vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Sanely vs La Catalina, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
4) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
5) Místico vs Rocky Romero, Metalik, Volador Jr., Templario, Titán, Máscara Dorada 2.0, Dragón Rojo Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, semifinal]

Templario and Dragon Rojo fighting to continue their Aniversario feud makes sense in isolation. However, they’re already scheduled to do that match in Puebla on Monday, so CMLL’s unlikely to do it again on Friday. It would also be surprising to see one without the other. That leaves the other six, and plenty of possible combinations. (Reminder: this is a final two advance to next week situation.) I kept thinking Dorada/Romero had a chance for the final, but it seems too soon for 2.0 to win this tournament and there’s no sense in him losing it either. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but it should be pretty good. The rest of the show is fine. It’s on boletia as the new normal.

CMLL (SAT) 07/22/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Hera, Olympia, Skadi vs Dulce Kitty (Jalisco), Nexy (Jalisco), Sexy Sol
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio vs Barboza (Jalisco), Draego (Jalisco), Persa (Jalisco)
3) Fuego, Halcón Suriano Jr., Volcano vs Bestia Negra, Cris Skin (Jalisco), Ráfaga (Jalisco)
4) Misterioso Jr. vs Halcón Negro Jr. [lightning]
5) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus vs Leo (Jalisco), Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
6) Metalik, Soberano Jr., Terrible vs Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Titán [Relevos Increíbles]

Likewise, a Mexico City versus Guadalajara show is also something CMLL of even last year wouldn’t have tried. The prior priority above of all was “make sure the Mexico City guys get [x] amount of bookings per week” and now they’re much more open to other ideas.

This is not Omar Brunetti’s Mexico City debut. He debuted in Arena Coliseo as Black Metal in 2013. He and another Guadalajara guy worked a weekend of shows as a sort of tryout. Black Metal returned to Guadalajara and eventually lost his mask. His Guadalajara opposite also went back to Guadalajara for the rest of the year, but Barbaro Cavernario came back to Mexico City the next January and basically never left.

CMLL (SUN) 07/23/2023 Arena México
1) Bengala & Robin vs Grako & Raider
2) Amapola, La Maligna, Tiffany vs La Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Metálica [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Astral vs Diamond, Neón, Oro Jr., Futuro, Max Star, Inquisidor, Halcón Suriano Jr. [MEX LIGHT, semifinal]
final 2 advance
4) Panterita del Ring, Star Jr., Valiente vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Rocky Romero

The elimination order of this group is going to be as interesting as the final two. Astral seems the highest ranked of this batch and Inquisidor is the only person who challenges for this title, so they’re the default best two to move on. Diamond, Oro Jr., and Halcon Suriano Jr. are regulars who have stalled or fallen backwards. Neon, Futuro, and Max Star are the new class – have they surpassed the regulars?

The main event could be fun. The semi-main does continue whatever’s going on with Valiente and Los Malditos. I don’t like it that Raider’s slipped into the opener but I guess he doesn’t pass as lightweight?

CMLL (MON) 07/24/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Asturiano & Xelhua vs Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja
2) Rayo Metálico vs Black Tiger, Amnesia, Astro, Fénix SO, Meyer, Espíritu Maligno, Dreyco [MEX LIGHT, torneo]
3) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Hera & Olympia
4) Halcón Suriano Jr., Star Black, Stigma vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Templario © vs Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE]
first defense
6) Metalik, Místico, Octagón vs Fuerza Guerrera, Rocky Romero, Último Guerrero

Match 3 is probably setting up a rematch for next week, and probably not a great one. Note Rocky and Metalik both seem to be hanging around after the Leyenda de Plata.

There seems to be an attempt to use different people then in the BARROCO championship. Black Tiger, Astro and Espiritu Maligno have gotten shots in Mexico City before; two out of those three is the most likely outcome. I’m rooting for Fenix (Siki Osama) for maximum confusion.

CMLL (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy vs Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Gallo Jr. vs Ráfaga Jr., Último Ángel, Eclipse, Rav, Obek, Temerario, Persa [MEX LIGHT, torneo]
3) Sanely vs La Catalina [lightning]
4) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Blue Panther Jr., Cachorro, Dark Panther
5) Arlequín, Hechicero, Terrible vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Rocky Romero vs Hijo del Villano III, Soberano Jr., Villano III Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

I know it’s a Tuesday Guadalajara show, but Villano III Jr. main eventing a show this quick is going to make him feel like he absolutely made the right decision. That main event is headed to a Soberano/Metalik match.

Averno hanging out with Los Infernales again, versus Hechicero. It’s Guadalajara, so Satanico would be around to be part of any angle.

I have no guess on who’s coming out of this block. These eight are all guys who haven’t even been pushed much in Guadalajara. I guess the second generation guys are the best bet?

AAA

The Verano de Escandalo lineup

AAA TV (FRI) 07/21/2023 Arena San Marcos, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
***Verano de Escandalo, 2023***
0) Bestia Infernal, Príncipe Seir, Sauron vs Águila De Guerrera, Drakus, Pigman
1) Diva Salvaje, Dulce Kanela, Jessy Ventura vs Dinámico, Kamik-C, Skalibur
2) Jack Cartwheel, Laredo Kid, Willie Mack vs Antifaz del Norte, Látigo, Tosscano
(Space/HBO Max may pick up around here)
3) ?, Dalys, Negro Casas vs La Hiedra, Nicho el Millionario, Puma King
4) Forastero, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Sansón vs Abismo Negro, Psicosis, Toxin [AAA TRIOS]
8th defense, 5th on TV. Hijo de Mascara 2000 replacing Cuatrero (jail).
5) Octagón Jr., Pagano, Vampiro Canadiense vs ?, Daga, Taurus
6) El Patrón Alberto, Hijo Del Vikingo, Psycho Clown vs Cibernético, Gringo Loco, Sam Adonis

Gringo Loco is coming all the way from Japan for this – a match with Vikingo to continue a feud with no destination. (Those weren’t followed up on TripleMania Tijuana, but you can add that and the Psicosis/Arez stuff to feuds that haven’t gone anywhere.) It’ll be impressive if Gringo makes it from Tokyo and Aguascalientes and it would be impressive, but I’m fine if the man takes a belated birthday break and skips out on this one.

It would be weird for NGD to stay champions while Cuatrero is in jail, but I don’t know that AAA has many plans for the Vipers as champions, either. It doesn’t feel like it matters who has any of these belts, which is the problem wit AAA titles. There has been no update on Cuatrero’s status in months.

I was unaware, but lucha libre Facebook has apparently talked themselves into the mystery person teaming with Dalys and Negro Casas being another member of the Casas family – maybe Heavy Metal or Felino. I just figured it was meant to be a mixed tag match and Puma was meant to defend wrestle Fenix, they combined the two when Fenix wasn’t around and the mystery person is the new Drago or whoever is available. Felino hasn’t been around CMLL much in the last few months so I guess it’s possible. He is booked Monday though. Felino jumping doesn’t seem likely given the terrible experience Felino says he had last time he jumped to AAA. Heavy Metal’s made cameos the last couple of years in AAA so that could fit.

Match 2 probably was intended to keep warm midcard feuds – Latigo/Cartwheel, Laredo/Antifaz, the Toscano/Willie one everyone forgot existed – and now might be more about building Cartwheel up for a title match. Note that match and the opener likely won’t air on the live stream. It may air next week or the week after, who knows.

The sentiment I saw about TripleMania Tijuana from English-speaking fans was mostly (and heavily negative), so it’s worth pointing out the Wrestling Observer Newsletter poll on the show leaned slightly positive. 26 people liked the show, 20 people didn’t like the show, 6 people were in the middle. It’s a smaller number of respondents than most PPV polls, but a win is a win.

Facebook page La Realdidad de la Lucha Libre points out Texano Jr. actually couldn’t have physically been the person who gave Pagano that martinete all the way back in February because he was wrestling in a show in Tlaxcala that day. It was two guys who attacked Pagano back then and just one guy in Chihuahua, so I wonder if plans changed or if there just weren’t real serious plans.

ROH

ROH’s Death Before Dishonor tonight includes two lucha libre matches

• Lucha Brothers (c) vs the Kingdom vs Aussie Open vs Best Friends for the ROH Tag Team Championship
• Komander vs Gravity

This show is a 40 USD show, sold on Bleacher Report and Honor Club in the US and on FITE internationally. It is not part of the ROH weekly Honor Club subscription, and some fans are going to struggle with that concept.

Komander versus Gravity is truly just “Komander’s on TV and never wins, who can we put him against to get a win that’ll be exciting, we have Gravity’s number that’ll work.” It probably doesn’t warrant more thinking than that. HOWEVER, I’m going to do more thinking. Gravity is good, people will like some of the signature things he does in this match, but there are also like a dozen wrestlers in Big Lucha who are as good or better than Gravity who also have visas. The one big thing Gravity has over everyone else is a brother under AEW contract, and everyone knows that. It’s how he got those Dark bookings, and those Dark bookings led him to be on AEW/ROH’s call list for a spot like this. It’s great in the short term for Gravity, it’s probably going to cause more problems in the long term for happiness there. (It may have already been a factor in Exastis and Elemental exiting.)

I like Gravity, I’m glad he’s getting a PPV chance and I hope he makes the most of it. I would’ve really liked to see someone like Flamita in that spot. (There are a bunch of other names I would’ve picked over Gravity as well; many of them are scheduled to work the AAA show.) I like face/face match ups – tonight’s CMLL main event will be great – but if AEW wants to showcase their young high flyers, they need to give them some rudos to work off of. Right now they have Gringo Loco and not much help for him.

The Lucha Brothers haven’t defended these ROH tag titles since winning them in April. The ROH explanation is they’ve been busy with lucha libre commitments and won’t be going forward. That was an important lucha libre story if ROH’s saying Penta will be working less lucha libre (AAA) dates the rest of the year. To people who follow ROH, it was an explanation that didn’t hold a lot of water – Fenix and Penta have been around a decent amount, working six/eight man tags with Komander & Vikingo instead of defending those titles.

There’s no particular build to this tag team match beyond them being four teams that exist in the great AEW/ROH sphere. The show is overall like that – the men’s title match was set up two days ago (and changed a couple of times), the women’s match was set up less than a week ago, the TV title was set up with a tournament that might have not been meant to be a tournament when they started filming because something changed there, the trios title match features challengers who haven’t been part of this version of ROH. The TV itself is behind a paywall, which started out with a 12K subscribers and quietly seems to have diminished because the promotion doesn’t feel vital enough to justify the cost when so much is availabe. (CMLL’s in the same situation.) ROH is not a good place and it’s hard to know what’s it’ll look like in a year, or if it’ll even continue to exist in this form.

Death will probably still be a good show, but not one people are all that excited for. It’s a show that’s happening because ROH scheduled a PPV for this date, not because they had a PPV card ready. There are a lot of fair questions to be asked about if this version ROH needs to exists. I think they’ll prove it to some extent with the quality of this show but it needs to be much more than that.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 07/20/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Baby Star & Legado b Adrenalina & Rey Aztaroth 
2) Candy Swing, Lolita, Rey Halcón b Danessa, Fussion, Hatana 
3) León Dorado, Mr. Leo, Puma de Oro DQ Imposible, Relámpago, Shocko 
4) Tonalli NC Hell Boy 
Tonalli attempted to give Hell Boy a martinete, the referee broke it up, so Toanlli gave the referee a martinete. Seems like a DQ but the commission ruled it a no contest maybe because Hell Boy fouled Tonalli after.
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Noisy Boy DQ Hijo del Pirata Morgan & Puma de Oro 
Puma de Oro replaced Latigo. Mystery Russian Ivan Rockov attacked Hijo del Pirata Morgan. Announcers seemed to think it was a DQ with Pirata’s team winning, but IWRG’s results said it was a DQ with Lupus’s team winning.

I was going to go back and watch those two top matches and I have less interest in doing so after seeing the finishes.

IWRG’s gone with both Ivan Rockov and Ivan Rokov so far; I guess they don’t have to decide until he wrestles. He’s wrestled elsewhere as “Ivan Markov”; that’s the name you’ll find him in the match databases. He’s said to be husband of Natalia Markova but there was some uncertainty if that was an active relationship. IWRG seemed to be a three-way match with Ivan, Pirata and Lupus, but also it’s IWRG so Rokov could disappear before it ever happens. He doesn’t seem to have any particular knowledge of IWRG outside of it being a place in Mexico where he could wrestle and they’d treat him like a big star.

Other News

WWE makes a visit to Mexico this weekend. They’re in Mexico City on Saturday and Monterrey in Sunday. WWE’s weirdly billing this as the first ‘Supershow’ since 2019 and the first ever in Monterrey. They ran both of those buildings last year, but I guess they weren’t brand-combined super shows. Roman Reigns will defend his title against Rey Mysterio in Mexico City only; that should draw better than the last few WWE shows in Mexico.

WWE top ticket prices are much more expensive than AAA in the same building, but their expenses are also much higher. The ticket map on SuperBoletos indicates WWE will cut off about 25% of the arena, so AAA should outdraw WWE in terms of people in the building.

In the distant past, WWE trips to Mexico City included quiet tryouts and WWE wrestlers quietly popping up at CMLL venues. That hasn’t seemed to happen as much the last few years, and COVID might have been part of it. It’s less of an issue now.

Shocker is back in rehab. Shocker’s mother, Sanjuana Reyna, appeared on TV Azteca talk show Ventaneado on Wednesday to talk about her son’s condition and ask that his fellow wrestlers run a charity show for him. (Radioforumla has a summary.) Reyna mentioned it was the third time Shocker has gone to rehab. Shocker was living with her after a previous stint, knew that many addicts relapsed after three months, and was so concerned that he moved out at that mark rather than make her deal with it. He did relapse; she believes this was due to a love relationship gone bad. She says some promoters were paying Shocker with drugs rather than money. Reyna talks to Shocker every Sunday in his treatment center and says he’s feeling good, but she wants him to go from rehab to a psychiatric clinic, and then to the long-needed jaw operation. The problem is the cost of the jaw operation is out of reach; she couldn’t afford it even if she sold her home, and that’s why she’s asking for help. Reyna says she’s told by others she needs to cut ties with Shocker and his issues, but can’t bring herself to do it as a mother.

Milenio interviewed Torreon luchador Cavernario Galindo Jr., who is in the hospital after suffering a stroke. It reads like he’s been there for a while and may not be able to leave it; he mentions various aliments he’s had and that he was given last rites at one point. Galindo Jr. retired in 2017 and tells some colorful stories about his life, including two times when he thought he was going to be killed by fans.

Record interviews current Leon luchador Latin Star (Jose G. Sanz), who’s bigger wrestling business is making boots for wrestlers in WWE, AEW and Impact as Wrestling Boots Zahar. He started out being the sales guy and his friend Martin Zavala the boot maker in 2013, and had to take over making the boots when Zavala passed away in 2017. He was still also wrestling, including some shows in the US. Lance Archer saw his boots on a show in Texas, and that opener the door to some international business. Business among US wrestlers really picked up aaf Mickie James showed the boot on social media.

Periodico La Voz interviews Monclova’s interviews Mario Ayala.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 07/17/2023 Arena Puebla [CMLL, El Sol de Puebla, El Tiempo, ESTO, thecubsfan]
***Arena Puebla 70th Anniversary*** Attendance: 2400
1) Asturiano, Prayer, Xelhua b Futuro, Neón, Vegas 
10:54
2) La Jarochita & Lluvia DQ Hera & Olympia 
5:51. Hera landed badly on Jarochita in the second fall, and they sped through the third fall with Jarochita out of action. Challenges followed.
3) Perverso b Rey Samuray [CMLL BARROCO] 
14:05. This appears to be a new yearly competition, a sort of CMLL Universal championship for Puebla-only wrestlers. Perverso won clean with a Gedo Clutch after cheating earlier in the match.
4) Magia Blanca © b Pegasso [MEX WELTER] 
11:33. 3rd defense
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Stigma b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black 
11:33.
6) Atlantis, Octagón, Templario b Dragón Rojo Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles] 
12:20. Tecnicos won clean, then Dragon Rojo unmasked Templario post-match and demanded a title match next week.

CMLL doesn’t give out attendance, but this looked like a complete sell-out. It was a hot crowd, too. They really helped make the two title matches feel really big. Nothing else on this show is necessary to watch, though most of it was fine. The stream had some issues all night – it seemed like the video was dropping frames – but it was still watchable. It was nice to have Puebla back for one night, and I don’t understand why it’s just one night.

Perverso is a solid rudo who would’ve been wrestling here for about twenty years without doing much – maybe losing his hair at some point – under the way CMLL was handling this venue previously. This new tournament gave him a chance for a big win and it was clear how much it meant to him.

Prior to the show, Atlantis was honored by the Puebla government with a plaque.

CMLL (TUE) 07/18/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, thecubsfan]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Chamuel & Mije 
Mije replaced Periquito Sacaryas. Joined in progress on the stream.
2) Astral, Leono, Oro Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr. 
13:38.
3) Difunto, Sangre Imperial, Zandokan Jr. b El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. 
9:31. Sangre Imperial is officially a rudo, stole Hombre Bala’s mask and pinned him. Bala challenged him to a singles match next week (and lost his mask again.)
4) Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. b Blue Panther Jr. & Dark Panther 
15:18. CMLL debut of Villano III Jr.; the Villano brothers got a win in the first team up.
5) Último Guerrero TLDRAW Averno [lightning] 
the two continued to fight after the match. Averno demanded a singles match with Ultimo Guerrero, and definitely not a cage.
6) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Volador Jr. DQ Ángel de Oro & Templario [Relevos Increíbles] 
12:47. Volador faked a foul from Angel de Oro. Dragon Rojo/Templario and Angel de Oro/Volador made challenges.

Volador Jr. was having a good time trolling Angel de Oro in the main event. Ultimo Guerrero and Averno were far more serious. It was clear nothing here mattered as much they were going to announce on Informa, so this post went up quite later than usual.

Villano III Jr. did well in his debut and Blue Panther Jr. was fine in his return. There are easy comparisons to the Puma/Tiger vs Panthers matches from when the Panthers first came in, and this was about on the same level. Hijo del Villano III still seems too passive for me and hopefully, Villano III Jr.’s aggressiveness will rub off on him. They had a ton of tag team ideas to use in this one. This was great and worth checking out if you can find it.

Sangre Imperial shows no more charisma as a rudo, though it still seems like a better use.

CMLL (TUE) 07/18/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Mas Lucha]
***Atlantis 40th Anniverasry***
1) Atilus, Maximus, Rey Uranio b Gallo Jr., Ráfaga Jr., Último Ángel 
2) Futuro, Max Star, Neón, Vegas b Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus, Trono 
3) Barboza, Draego, Persa b Pegasso, Perverso, Rey Samuray 
4) Dark Silueta, Náutica, Sanely b La Catalina, Maligna, Valkiria 
5) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Vaquero Jr. b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Mephisto 
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0 & Metalik b Euforia & Soberano Jr. 
7) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Místico b Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Satánico 

Haven’t seen it but the crowd looked good for the last of the Atlantis Anniversary swing.

CMLL Informa teased news on the road to the Aniversario. I guess they delivered. Angel de Oro and Volador Jr., Averno and Ultimo Guerrero and Templario and Dragon Rojo all signed contracts to wager their mask or hair on September 16th. And that was it – the show ended with on explanation of what’s going on. CMLL talk about a format or anything, they just signed the contracts and moved on. CMLL left open the possibility that all three matches would happen, but they absolutely did not promise that and I don’t think that’s what is happening here. I’m no more sure about what is happening here than I was on Tuesday. I shouldn’t have waited to do this post!

There was a tease of the Gran Prix at the end of the show; Jorge Livan reported details for that will be announced next Wednesday. I sort of miss the days when I could ignore Informa and go out and get some fresh air.

CMLL put up the Magnus/Rugido vs Fugaz/Esfinge match as their free match of the week.

AAA

AAA announced their TripleMania lineup on Tuesday. It’s a show.

AAA TV (SAT) 08/12/2023 Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Azcapotzalco, Distrito Federal
***TripleMania XXXI Ciudad de Mexico***
1) Dalys, Lady Shani, Sexy Star vs Chik Tormenta, La Hiedra, Maravilla
2) Komander vs Laredo Kid, Willie Mack, Dave The Clown, Pagano, Aramis, Mr. Iguana, Murder Clown, Arez, Octagón Jr., Myzteziz, Niño Hamburguesa [Copa Bardahl]
3) Negro Casas vs Nicho el Millionario
4) Taya © vs Flammer [Reina De Reinas]
5) Pentagón Jr. vs Qt Marshall, Dralistico, Brian Cage [AAA LA]
6) Hijo Del Vikingo © vs Mike Bailey, Daga, Jack Cartwheel [AAA MEGA]
7) Sam Adonis vs Psycho Clown, LA Park, Rush [mask, hair]

This is listed as an 8 pm start, which means it’ll air directly after AEW Collision for people interested in both.

Working backwards:

AAA backtracked on the rules for the main event. It was the first person who lost loses hair or mask on Saturday. At this press conference, Dorian Roldan said the rules were still to be determined. AAA prefers to have multiple press conferences for these events and needed something to announce on the second one. AAA may not know what the rules but it gives them something to get attention about in a few weeks.

The big advantage to the non-finish in Tijuana is AAA can say they’re the ones who finally ran LA Park and Rush in an apuesta match. It’s about as accurate as AAA saying they ran Madison Square Garden; it’s adjacent to the truth, and they’ll get credit from some places for doing it, but they’re not truly running that match. If AAA could get LA Park or Rush to lose, they’d run that 1v1 match, and Sam Adonis would be in another match. The big question is if Psycho Clown is still going to that win, or if it’ll be like 2018 where suddenly LA Park won Hijo del Fantasma’s mask.

Rush and friends have been teasing a big announcement, which is intended to lead people to think he’s jumping to WWE. You should read that as Rush’s AEW contract expired, he hasn’t gotten the contract offer he wants yet, and he’s trying to exploit any leverage he has. Good on him. It’s always possible WWE tries that, but I don’t think it would affect this match.

The title match is a lot like the replacement TripleMania Monterrey event when Omega pulled out: AAA doesn’t feel like they had a star name, so they added as many people as possible. It did not work for that show, it didn’t really work for Monterrey this year’s four-way and it doesn’t realy work here. Jack Cartwheel is a mid level guy who’s got throw out of Copa TripleMania as no big deal and is now getting a shot at the biggest title. Daga was last seen getting put in a submission hold by UFC’s Brandon Moreno and is now getting a title match. Both AAA and Daga seem to strongly believe Daga is one of the best wrestlers in the world; this is not a belief shared by others.

Roldan led into the AAA Latin America championship match by talking about how AAA’s fans had asked for more title matches and the titles defended more often. He then announced the vacant title would be decided between four people who all work for AEW and will find it hard to return to AAA to defend this title. It was the sort of logic that only makes sense to AAA. This four way match which belongs more on a US indie like North East Wrestling than an AAA show. It really doesn’t matter who wins that title, it’s not going to mean a thing to anyone but the winner. AAA never books Brian Cage for any other AAA show but TripleMania Mexico City, and he’s booked for this one every year.

Taya is finally giving the title shot she offered after 13 months. I would assume Flammer wins but it’s a bad idea to assume things.

I didn’t include in the match listing but there’s some Dr. Simi surprise bit in the middle. It’s a sponsor tie in so AAA’s getting paid, but it’s also the now mandatory attempt to go viral on every TripleMania.

Negro Casas was struggling to have ten minute singles matches in his last CMLL year. Nicho looked better in Tijuana but no great shakes either. They’ll use weapon shots and interference to disguise this. Their match is honoring the legends by giving them a singles match but I’m not sure you’re really honoring someone by putting them in a position to struggle. There were hair and career challenges thrown out in that feud and the one good thing AAA did was not to add either of those stipulations. No one believes a career stipulation and neither man losing their hair would be taken seriously. Nicho trashed “the place where Negro Casas came from” in his promo at the press conference, which got some CMLL superfans very upset. It’s kind of weird that the guy defending AAA is the heel but it’s AAA.

The Copa Baradahl might actually be good if it was a cibernetico with all that talent, but it’ll be a royal rumble like always. It’s a lot of people who were part of angles on TripleMania Tijuana for no real reason since they weren’t going to follow up on them here. AAA’s pattern is to have those feuding people come out and interfere – we may see Antifaz stroll out and fight with Laredo again, we may see Texano & Taurus attack Pagano again – so it’ll probably be worse than it looks on paper.

The women’s match will be fine. Most of the card will be fine. I have a fear the Casas/Nicho match may fall apart, but we’ll probably actually be surprised by what turns out to be the worst match. I’m the only person in the world disappointed we’re not getting the straight-up Sam Adonis/Psycho Clown match. Maybe Sam is with me on this one. It’s a much bigger match with LA Park and Rush involved and has the chance to have the best match on the show. Everything else should be fine to good. The four ways have a ceiling on them because of that style, and everything has a drag on them due to AAA’s presentation and style. This show should be fine. I’m not excited or particularly interested in at all. It felt like this show got much interest from the English-speaking wrestling fans either; the only thing that popped from my posts was a mention of a Mortal Kombat tie in (and people wishcasting that into a Marvel Lucha Libre style match.)

We can safely assume Villano III Jr. was told he was in the Copas for these if he was booked and decided to explore other options. More people should probably explore other options. Flamita and Bandido also missed some great chances to be thrown out midway through a battle royal by taking those The Crash bookings. On the other side, it’s strange AAA was in a hurry to debut Drago and other gimmicks in Orizaba if they weren’t going to be on another show for months. Maybe the TV will be reordered in a way that they debut after the TripleManias and get some momentum after that, maybe Drago will be a mystery person on Verano de Escandalo. It doesn’t make much sense to me as is.

Local estimates had the Estadio Chevron 90-95% full on Sunday, which fits with the reported attendance. I may not like the TripleMania shows but they’re drawing great and there’s not going to be a compelling reason for them to change how they’re done. If you also do not like the shows, I would not suggest waiting out AAA to make change right now – it’s not happening.

Record has a profile of Arkangel Divino, which mentions his most recent match was on TripleMania Tijuana, That must’ve been the dark match. Arkangel Divino and Ultimo Maldito were famously street performers with their father, eventually getting into (slightly more) organized wrestling. Diving mentions that during the pandemic, with no work to be found, he and his son went back to making money in the streets for a while.

On an AEW media call, Tony Khan was talking about the ROH tag title match for their PPV and mentioned they’re had issues getting the Lucha Brothers on ROH TV at times because of lucha libre commitments elsewhere when they’re taping on Saturdays. Fenix & Penta haven’t defended those tag titles since winning them in March, which has been as big a pain point there as Fenix not defending his AAA titles. Khan indicated those commitments are being wrapped up and they’ll be available on Saturdays for the Collision/ROH tapings. I’m certain TripleMania Mexico City is an exception, but that would mean Penta won’t be available for AAA tapings on Saturdays.

This may affect other Mexican wrestlers, since ROH has tended to more of a lucha libre focused show. That may mean people like Komander, Rush, Gringo Loco, Dralistico, and Hijo del Vikingo become unavailable for AAA on Saturdays. Heroes Inmortales is a Saturday show, Guerra de Titanes is a Sunday show, we don’t know any other date. Maybe AEW will also let those guys go for big AAA shows, we don’t know that either.

Psycho Clown showed off his new gym. A Superluchas article argues a bigger role for Psycho Clown: booker for AAA. Psycho’s “Psycho Producciones” shows have generally been a success, including a strong turnout in the same Orizaba venue that AAA struggled in a few weeks ago. It’s a fun thought, though making the top star always the booker of the promotion has never worked out well (and I wonder how much of Psycho Producciones is actually Psycho Clown’s work.) Again, as long as AAA is drawing well for TripleManias, there’s zero chance anything is changing.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 07/20/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star & Legado vs Adrenalina & Rey Aztaroth
2) Danessa, Fussion, Hatana vs Candy Swing, Lolita, Rey Halcón
3) León Dorado, Mr. Leo, Puma de Oro vs Imposible, Relámpago, Shocko
4) Tonalli vs Hell Boy
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Noisy Boy vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan & Látigo

Top two matches look fun.

Other News

Box y Lucha #3560 covers the Atlantis anniversary show.

The Israel-based Global Pro Wrestling Summit show, featuring a lot of big names while looking exactly like the kind of show that falls apart before it happens, fell apart before it happened. Psycho Clown and Hijo del Vikingo were booked for the show that never was going to happen.

At a talk in San Luis Potosi, Alberto el Patron claimed he was going to be in one of the John Wick movies but issues related to COVID prevented it. Like most things Alberto says, it’s hard to believe. Alberto believes he’ll be in a movie soon. There was also another bit of “Vince loved me but HHH hated me” that I can’t bother to link.

PWG returns on August 13th, after an extended hiatus. It’s a Mystery Vortex show with no announced matches. That’s the day after TripleMania and I’m sure there will be people on both shows who have a much better match on PWG.

GCW on August 19th in Atlantic City has Hijo del Vikingo vs Girnog Loco vs Komander vs Alex Zayne vs Ninja Mack vs Arez.

A profile of Tlaxcala’s Guerrero Inca.