AAA debuts new Drago and other characters in Orizaba, Lluvia/Isis advance to title final,

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/07/2023 Arena México [AS, CMLL, ESTO, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (Video), thecubsfan]
1) Kaligua & Pequeño Magía b Acero & Aéreo  
9:59.
2) Volcano b Kráneo [lightning]  
8:46. The two shook hands and embraced after the match (so maybe the feud is over?)
3) Lluvia & Reyna Isis b Amapola, La Jarochita, Sanely, Tiffany, La Vaquerita, Hera, Skadi, Olympia, La Magnifica, Valkiria, La Guerrera, Náutica, La Maligna, Metálica [MEX WOMEN, semifinal]   
36:15. Vacant title (Silueta injury/Japan trip). Order of elimination: Amapola (via Nautica), Maligna (Hera), Guerrera (Vaquerita), Magnifica (skadi), Tiffany (Olympia), Sanley (Metalica), Nautica (Lluvia), Valkiria (Reina Isis), Hera (Jarochita), Olympia (Skadi), Metalica (Reina Isis), Valkiria (Jarochita), Skadi (Isis), Jarochita (Isis) leaving Isis & Lluvia as the final two for next week.
4) Star Black b Valiente [lightning] 
6:41. Valiente got a shoulder up before three, came off as if the referee screwed up.
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Templario b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto    
11:32. Averno came out with Infernales gear but is not officially part of the trio.
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible  
9:26. Gran Guerrero beat Terrible.

A weak show with some timing issues. CMLL seemed like they got concerned with the show running long after the women’s cibernetico, and everything that followed felt like it got cut on time and was hurrying to make up for it. (Something went wrong with the minis opener had more time than the main event.) They hurried so much that the show ended a little bit earlier than usual. The Star Black/Valiente match seemed unnecessary, some scheduling quirk that would’ve given the last two matches plenty of time to sink it if removed.

The women’s cibernetico was not good; anything that features the 12th to 20th best luchadors in CMLL is usually not going to be good. The division has little depth. Post match promos pushed the idea of trouble between Las Chica Indomables (Jarochita & Lluvia) after their failed teamwork got Jarochita eliminated this week, and Lluvia previously talking about wanting to stick with the Las Infernales unit. That could just be a one-week thing. None of the other matches were all that memorable.

The main event feels like it should’ve ended with Gran Guerrero and Stuka beating Angel de Oro and Niebla Roja based on what got added to next week’s show, but it didn’t. Averno came out looking like he was meant to be the new third member of Los Infernales, then said backstage that no decision had been made. (They lost, so maybe Satanico should keep looking.) Hechicero did roast Euforia & Mephisto after the match for saying they didn’t want a leader for the group and then immediately bringing in old leader Averno. Volcano and Kraneo ended as if a blow off to their feud, but who else are they possibly going to wrestle? CMLL loves to match up people of similar size and there are not other people that size here. They’ll keep fighting as long as one of them is in CMLL.

There were a couple of hitches with the new CMLL streaming, though not anything impossible to deal with watching live. The stream website itself goes live about 15 minutes before the show, you can’t log in prior. (Ticketmaster would let you login whenever, the stream wouldn’t start until 15 minutes before.) The website has an anti-piracy system that flashes a watermark user id number, in tiny text but always in a random place, on the screen. It comes up about every five minutes and only for about five seconds. I could not stop noticing it but others watching didn’t see it until I pointed it out. (It’s not too effective, anyone who really wants to pirate the stream can get around that number easy enough.) The bigger problem was the VOD wasn’t configured right. The VOD itself was up right away, the server had the whole show, but it wasn’t playing the whole show. CMLL had the stream up and running for a couple of hours with just the logo on the screen before the real broadcast began, someone plugged in a start and end time for the VOD to cut it down just to that real broadcast, but they had the timezone configured wrong so the VOD was showing an hour of pre-show logo and then cut off during one of the matches. This got fixed by Saturday and the full show was up. It also wasn’t possible to buy the show after it went off the air, but that also got fixed after the VOD time got adjusted.

CMLL (SAT) 07/08/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico b Fantasy [lightning]
2) Oro Jr., Robin, Valiente Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Raider
3) Dark Panther, El Audaz, Magia Blanca b El Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr.
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr.
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Soberano Jr., Valiente b Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Stuka Jr.
6) Místico b Volador Jr.

They drew an unusually large crowd for this show; the numbered tickets were sold out, and no one was quite sure the last time that happened. It’s all on the Mistico/Volador singles match. Mistico appears hot.

CMLL (SUN) 07/09/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Bengala b Inquisidor [lightning]
2) Cachorro & Retro b Enfermero Jr. & Grako
3) Astral, Diamond, Flyer b Futuro, Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Magnus & Rugido b Esfinge & Fugaz © [MEX TAG]
Esfinge & Fugaz fall on their fifth defense. Magnus & Rugido are the 34th modern champions.
6) Atlantis Jr., Hechicero, Máscara Dorada 2.0 b Euforia, Soberano Jr., Titán [Relevos Increíbles]

That title seemed likely as soon as they started the program. Esfinge got a singles title so he won’t be keeping the tag team titles. Magnus & Esfinge aren’t a particularly strong team but these titles have consistently gone to midcard teams since CMLL restarted the title in 2020.

CMLL (TUE) 07/11/2023 Arena México
1) Galaxy & Shockercito vs Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito
2) Cachorro, Eléctrico, Robin vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr., Misterioso Jr. vs Espanto Jr., Felino Jr., Sangre Imperial [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Stephanie Vaquer vs La Catalina [lightning]
5) Blue Panther, Star Jr., Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Niebla Roja, Terrible
6) Ángel de Oro, Místico, Templario vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

The main event is another one of those matches that seems good but then it turns out to have Tuesday effort. The three guys who may be in the Aniversario main remain together, but there’s no progress on that for a while.

The two Chileans facing off is the actual sort of weird stuff you need to get a subscription service going. Either you go very mainstream (which CMLL will never do) or you go very niche to appeal to the people who will pay whatever to see their favorites. What’ll actually happen in this case is people will just play dumb about how to subscribe and ask me if I can give them the match after, but you’ve got to keep trying that. (That said, there’s no chance these Tuesday shows are being booked with a ‘what’s appealing to our YouTube fanbase’ in mind, it’s too much of a stretch for them to care.)

CMLL (FRI) 07/14/2023 Arena México
1) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr.
2) Reina Isis vs Lluvia [MEX WOMEN, final]
vacant title (Silueta injury/Japan trip)
3) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © vs Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. [CMLL TAG]
tenth defense
4) Akuma & Dark Magic vs Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa [hair]
5) Cavernario, Templario, Virus vs Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Titán
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Octagón vs Averno, Fuerza Guerrera, Último Guerrero

The tag title match was added to the original lineup and feels like something got missed setting it up on Friday.

It’s a strange look to have the three stipulation matches in the middle of the card, underneath two trios matches with no stakes. It certainly suggests something is coming out of that main event.

CMLL has been sensitive on time of late, probably too much so. That opener will be short, and the women’s match may not go a long time either.

No Otro Podcast de Lucha has Stephanie Vaquer on as a guest in their latest episode; she’s on around the 90 minute mark.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 07/08/2023 Coliseo La Conordia, Orizaba, Veracruz [AAA, Luigirocker, Me Gusta Box y Lucha]
1) Brazo De Oro Jr., Centella, Drago (2023) b Belcegor, Dinámico, Maravilla
Debuts of Centella, Belcegor, and a new Drago. Centella is Estrellita Lagunera and the other two are known indie luchadors.
2) Flammer, La Hiedra, Viva Van b Lady Shani, Reina Dorada, Sexy Star  
Reina Dorada replaced Persephone (who was probably meant to be removed from the card when Villano III Jr. was removed.) Maravilla and Dinamico got involved.
3) Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Psicosis b Diva Salvaje, Dulce Kanela, Jessy Ventura and Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown
4) Argenis & Puma King b Myzteziz & Octagón Jr. 
Puma King replaced Villano III Jr. by 06/19. Argenis beat Myzteziz.
5) Dalys & Negro Casas DQ Chik Tormenta & Daga 
La Hiedra ran in for the DQ when Dalys had Tormenta in the sharpshooter.
6) Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Pagano b Aramis, Jack Evans, Pentagón Jr.

The stories coming out of this taping aren’t about the matches. Some of that is because the only notes we have on this one are AAA’s brief results tweets, and photos of the show. The photos aren’t kind. A photo of a mostly empty building for this show went viral, as sort of a crisis point for lucha libre. That photo is a misrepresentation, one taken before the taping actually started and more people came in. There are videos and photos of the show in progress with more people – but even those have a startlingly low amount of people for such a big building even in those ‘better’ photos. AAA is not drawing on tapings; they didn’t do well in Morelos, it didn’t look good in Chihuahua (though it’s said to look better in person) and the Puebla taping reportedly had low ticket sales when it was canceled due to “environmental issues.” AAA has been cold since TripleMania Monterrey, and even that wasn’t the great number they promoted it would be. One Orizaba fan blamed high ticket prices for this show, though AAA was doing a lot of discounts in the last week (and has been doing those for all their shows this year.) Dr. Landru heard AAA changed local promoters for this show, which may explain why it did worse than usual for this venue.

And I’m not sure any of that matters right now! AAA’s upcoming taping schedule is TripleMania, Aguascalientes (one of their best cities) and TripleMania again. Those shows will have a bigger weight on the scale than what’s happened recently. If they do great, then the last few months can be brushed off and maybe they’re hotter going into the last third of the year. If the same weakness in ticket sales happens with those big shows, then it’s a much bigger problem for AAA than it is now.

This is a good spot to note that AAA’s TV show this week, already up on YouTube, was a TripleMania Tijuana preview. They focused so heavily on the Psycho Clown/Sam Adonis half of the tag match heavily in the first half of the show, so much so that it seems too obvious they were going to the final. It’s probably more a product of having access to Adonis & Psycho to come in and do new promos, and LA Park & Rush aren’t going to do that. AAA acted as if nothing strange had happened with Rush since the Monterrey show. They’ve never publicly addressed Rush saying he’s off the show and Rush still hasn’t said he’s back on the show. I assume he’s going to be there but I wouldn’t bet any sum of money on it. Until Rush says something himself, you can’t completely trust he’s going to be there. The TV show mentioned Vikingo/Omega more near the end. They had a Negro Casas promo talking about his issues with Nicho and Pagano promo that was much more about him transforming back into Pagano than anyone else. AAA’s show was shorter than usual, AAA surely could’ve spent a couple of minutes simply listing the matches on TripleMania, and never mentioned a few of them. They also never really hit hard how to watch it, the basic stuff I’m used to seeing from decades of watching US PPVs; by those standards, this just felt like AAA’s focus was on adding just enough new content to not be accused of sending in a rerun rather than getting people to fans to take action by buying a ticket or purchasing the PPV or even just tuning into Space next week. There were the usual QR codes to buy tickets but nothing more than usual in that extent.

Centella is Torreon’s Estrellita Lagunera, who promoted the gimmick change on her Facebook page. Belcegor and the new Drago did not publically acknowledge their changes, but the AAA Facebook commenters quickly figured it out. Belcegor is Fulgor (I), doing a similar character with a more theatrical mask but the same recognizable beard. Drago is wearing body paint to cover some of his tattoos, but enough remains visible to give it Baby Xtreme’s identity.

Just to be clear on the sequence of events

1. AAA had plans for a new Drago for a while
   • Konnan hinted at someone taking over an existing character on his podcast months ago, this was that tease
2. Lucha Underground Drago either was told or found it would be happening soon
3. Lucha Underground Drago got ahead of the story by announcing his switch to Dios del Inframundo
4. AAA introduced their new Drago here.

The original Drago got a big introduction, pushed hard to start, paired up with La Parka in his first few matches, and used on the top half of the card. This Drago worked an opener with no particular fanfare and probably will be just another person in the Copa TripleMania next week. It’s great if he gets over but they’re setting him just to be someone to maintain the copyright to the gimmick. All these new AAA people are in the same spots as they would’ve been in the old identities, just with names AAA now owns. (Comparing these gimmick changes to the Mascara Dorada 2.0 one is a bit one-sided.)

A footnote here is Centella and Drago are under contract to KAOZ, or at least KAOZ announced them as signing a deal recently enough that I assume it would still apply. Not sure about Belcegor.

Dios del Inframundo didn’t mention the new Drago but did thank fans and promoters for all the support.

An HBO Max press release seemingly inadvertently announced the dates for future AAA shows. The end of this press release says Heroes Inmortales will take place October 7 and Guerra de Titanes on November 19th. AAA hasn’t mentioned those shows so far. The press release doesn’t mention the Noches de Campeones event AAA held last December. That one was meant to be a new annual event, but it also did fairly poorly last time around and hasn’t been mentioned much since. (I was dumbstruck when Arez came in Chihuahua out wearing the Blue Demon championship he won on that show, I forgot that thing existed.) Guerra de Titanes in November does leave plenty of time for another event in December, though.

HBO Max does have the TripleMania Monterrey show up on VOD to watch already. I’m told the AAA shows will be available in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina at the start, and other Latin American countries may be added this week.

Brandon Moreno, who is seconding the Baja California team at TripleMania this week, lost his title match Saturday in UFC. He also broke a hand in the match. You can still walk to the ring with a broken hand, but he’s probably not as excited to come to TripleMania as before his fight.

In another painful defeat, Cibernetico was eliminated from Azteca’s MasterChef on Sunday night. He lasted on the show nine weeks and seemed to enjoy the experience.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 07/09/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Rey Aztaroth b Histeriosis, Águila Oriental 
no Golden Power, so this 2v2 became a three way
2) Candy Swing & Mr. Mike b Danessa & Kenji 
Mr. Mike & Kenji replaced Sagitarius & Satania
3) Águila Roja, León Dorado, Mr. Leo b Fussion, Relámpago, Spider Fly 
Relampago betrayed his partners.
4) Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr. b Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. 
Dr. Cerebro Jr. debut with a win.
5) Capo Mayor, Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Diva Salvaje, Hell Boy, Jessy Ventura, Mamba 
6) Noisy Boy b Puma de Oro © [IWRG REY DEL AIRE] 
Puma de Oro falls on 3rd defense. Noisy Boy new champion. Latigo showed up to annoy both Noisy Boy and coach Black Terry after the match.

IWRG announced Penta for next Sunday’s Festival de Mascaras show. (He should have to wrestle as either Dark Dragon or Sairus – except they’re trying to sell tickets so maybe he has to be Penta.) My guess is the Latigo/Noisy Boy interaction is to set up something there as well.

Other News

Segunda Caida watches a Hijo del Santo/Kato Kung Lee match from Hijo del Santo’s Patreon.

Panama lucha libre promoter Virgilio Cabrera passed away on Wednesday.

Diamante announced he was taking a break from Dragon Gate and returning to Mexico. I’m not sure if he’s actually injured or just taking time off ask his mask loss to set up a big return; could be both. The mask loss got little attention in Mexico.

Juventud Guerrera is teasing the debut of Juventud Guerrera Jr. It’s not a son, it’s a known indie luchador, though they’re keeping that part quiet (going as far as to remove some tattoos from the promo photo.) There’s no announced date of when Juventud Guerrera Jr. will debut.

Reynosa luchador Super Chucky says he’s retiring due to injury. He defeated Super Boy in his final match. Local Rey Astral is Super Chucky’s son.

AM.com.mx profiles Pachuca’s Karis la Momia, who’s been wrestling for 44 years and also works as a lawyer. There’s been a few different people to use that gimmick over the years.

NetNoticas interviews mask maker Ricardo Diaz.

NVI Noticias talks to Oaxaca’s Diosa Quimera, who’s out of action with an injury and will need surgery.