CMLL
CMLL (MON) 07/31/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Grada, Porra Fresa]
1) El Novato & Rayo Metálico b Espíritu Maligno & Sombra Diabólika
2) Full Metal, Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Polvora, Pierrothito b Acero, Aéreo, Angelito, Pequeño Magía, Shockercito [cibernetico] 
Pierrothito beat Angelito to win.
3) Esfinge, Pegasso, Star Black b Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
4) La Jarochita & Lluvia © b Hera & Olympia [MEX WOMEN TAG]
13th defense (11th on CMLL shows); first in five months.
5) Soberano Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. DQ Máscara Dorada 2.0, Místico, Terrible
Soberano faked a foul from Mistico for the DQ win.
Mistico was feuding with Ultimo Guerrero this week and Soberano this week. Soberano works as a rudo a lot for someone who’s a tecnico. I’m no sure, but the minis ciberneti o might have been the annual Pequeno Estrellas division celebration. If that’s the case, it definitely wasn’t promoted as much as in past years.
There was a police and national guard presence at the arena following last week’s robbery. Last week, police said they had identified five people and the car used in the robbery, but there’s no mention of arrests to this point. There was an article about another issue; shady people around Arena Puebla asking 100 pesos to ‘make sure your car stays safe.’
I didn’t know the Grada site before, but they’ve been doing full Arena Puebla recaps for some time.
CMLL (TUE) 08/01/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Grako & Inquisidor b Leono & Oro Jr. 
2) Valiente Jr. b Astral [lightning]
3) La Jarochita, Sanely, Skadi b Dark Silueta, La Catalina, Zeuxis
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Volcano b Felino, Felino Jr., Kráneo
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
6) Atlantis, Templario, Titán b Euforia, Mephisto, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
I did not pay much attention this and missed nothing. I think the lightning match was good.
CMLL (TUE) 08/01/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, thecubsfan]
1) Minotauro, Mortis, Rumbero b Avispón Negro Jr., Bello Antuan, Samurai 
2) Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico
3) Johnny Dinamo, Obek, Temerario b Halcón Suriano Jr., Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro
4) Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Sangre Imperial b Arlequín, Hombre Bala Jr., Robin
Bala and Imperial feuded.
5) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico b Akuma, Dark Magic, Raider
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0 b Soberano Jr.
The previous tecnicos hung around ringside signing autographs and picking up money for an extended time; they were still there, and Soberano stormed the ring to get them to leave finally. Soberano worked this match totally rudo.
Soberano/Mascara Dorada is not the match it would’ve been in Mexico City. Soberano loves working as Guadalajara as a rudo and spent the first half of the match just trying to get heat. It worked to get a lot of energy into the last half of the match and into the finish, but it wasn’t the all action match you might expect from those names.
Members of Spain’s Sevilla FC were at the show, and Soberano and Mascara Dorada wore Sevilla jerseys to the main event. Sevilla have a game tonight in Guadalajara as part of a pre-season tour.
The semi-main went short and then those tecnicos were in the ring forever. They might still be there if Soberano didn’t get them going.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara announced a Lucha de Naciones 2023 for 08/15. It’s their usual bit of using the Gran Prix wrestlers in a similar match a few days ahead. They also have a active YouTube channel so something from this show may turn up there.
NJPW’s 08/19 All Star Junior Festival announced Soberano as their 21st participant and first from CMLL. That’s a NJPW PPV.
CMLL Informa has Mistico, Volador Jr., Mascara Dorada, Misterioso Jr., and Futuro as guests, which seems a little bit light. I screwed up the Misterioso title challenge from Saturday – it was for Esfinge, not Star Black. Esfinge made it clear in a post-match promo on Tuesday. I’m thrown by the idea of 2023 Misterioso challenging for a light heavyweight championship.
AAA
AAA posted a video of La Hiedra and Maravilla tricking rapper Aczino into a sneak attack by Argenis (and Latigo for some reason), as payback for Aczino unmasking Argenis at TripleMania Tijuana. A celebrity is involved so this has a better chance of going somewhere than a normal AAA feud.
Flamita and Emperador Azteca both posted statements to Facebook saying they were finished up in AAA and graciously thanking the bosses there. In reality, they were both done with AAA two months ago. Wrestling on the June 2nd The Crash show meant they were done with AAA – they had either told AAA then, or AAA told them off after. These announcements were for CMLL’s benefit. AAA rarely announces wrestlers coming in and never announces them leaving, so the only people who knew they were gone were people who listened to Konnan’s podcast or those who read dumb summaries of that podcast. CMLL needed a much more public split before Flamita & Emperador Azteca could appear on the upcoming CMLL/Big Lucha show, and so the Facebook farewells.
This was Flamita’s third stint (at least) with AAA. It’s wrestling, there may be a fourth. I’m not sure AAA is a great place for a wrestler at his level. It’s a few extra TV appearances, but it’s also going to make wrestlers at his level seem less of a star. If AAA can’t find room to consistently do stuff with more ‘home grown’ guys like Laredo Kid and Taurus, there’s no chance for a Flamita there. Or an Emprador Azteca.
Cibernetico is listed on the next The Crash show, which means he’d be gone like Flamita & Emperador Azteca by AAA’s normal rules. I presume Cibernetico gets a pass for being Cibernetico.
WBD sent out about TripleMania Mexico City airing on Space and HBO Max, talking about “seven stellar matches”. That’s a mistake, they’re doing the same late start time and airing the last few matches as ever.
IWRG
IWRG (THU) 08/03/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Ryu vs Ángel Oriental
2) Rey Espartano & Súper Boy vs Centvrión & Rey Aztaroth
3) Máscara Sagrada Jr., Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Kuukai, Nishikawa, Rey Halcón
4) Hell Boy & Puma de Oro vs Ivan Rokov & Tonalli
5) Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
The Pigs are back to help a Thursday.
Aster Boy announced he was done with IWRG in a Facebook post on Tuesday. Wrestler leaves IWRG is bordering on a “dog bites man” level story and Aster Boy himself hadn’t worked in IWRG since July 2nd. It is instructive on the great situation of Mexican indies. Aster Boy came in to IWRG as winner of the 2021 tryout, moved up and made himself a regular there, and wanted to get paid now more than IWRG was offering. IWRG wasn’t offering more because there’s an oversupply of wrestlers, and they can always find someone else half as good who costs a fourth as much. Aster Boy was that ‘someone else’ two years ago, the new/younger/cheaper talent IWRG could use to replace some of their existing wrestlers, and now he’s on the other end of that cycle. There’s a hard ceiling to what an IWRG level promotion is going to pay their regular talent, Aster Boy hit his head on the ceiling and is just the latest to leave in hopes of doing better.
Most of the guys who leave do end up coming back later. Not all of them – everyone’s still expecting Los Traums, Fresero Jr. and Demonio Infenral to pop back in a surprise someday, but it hasn’t happened yet. Aster Boy probably will as well, but it may depend if he’s sticking around Mexico City or going back to San Luis Potosi.
Other News
New-ish promotion The Wolf King has a show on August 11th. This event is an Arena Neza show and that promotion had been Arena San Juan only until this point. No one’s run in Arena San Juan since the neighborhood fire that cost two children their lives and a show like this getting moved suggests no one’s expecting to run that building for a while longer.
The KeMonito documentary is coming to the Ambulante film festival (but that’s a multi-city Mexico festival from August to October, and they haven’t said when or where yet.)
A few articles popped up in my news feed Tuesday about Gael Garcia Bernal promoting the Casandro bio movie. It turned out they were referencing a mid-June Instagram post. (He gives the Amazon Prime release date as September 22nd, which is slightly different than Amazon had said before.) Mining whatever content you can find, no matter how old, takes me back to those early pandemic days. Actors aren’t promoting much right now doing their current strike, and understandably so, but that will also affect how this Casandro movie does.
Mexican serial killer Juana Barraza gets some added attention because of her supposed double life as luchadora La Dama del Silencio. It came up again last month; Barraza broke her leg in prison and it was a story for a couple of days. No one can find a record of her actually wrestling and other wrestlers around that time believe she may have promoted small shows but never actually wrestler. The case for her being a wrestler is a photo of here with a title belt that’s circulated around. SuperLuchas, in reviewing the recent Netflix documentary about her life and his victims, reveals that the photo is from SuperLuchas issue 61. Barrza talked the photographer into including her in a reoccurring wrestler roundup feature they did, complete with a title belt and a concocted story about her winning it in Los Angeles. (It an obvious WCW replica belt with Goldberg’s name on it.) The one trace of her wrestling is a known fake story. I wonder how many of those quick profiles weren’t what they seemed; probably quite a few.
Segunda Caida reviews some found lucha.
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“CMLL Informa has Mistico, Volador Jr., Mascara Dorada, Misterioso Jr., and Futuro as guests, which seems a little bit light.”
I noticed during this past Tuesdays Arena Mexico show them doing the opening promo bit they did with Rocky, and 2.0. But this time it felt like a mini Informa(All the luchadors were dressing very formal here). This is just me speculating, I actually think they might phase out informa if they keep doing these.
I think JCR loves doing that show and it would only disappear if he wanted it gone or if he himself was gone. (That they’re doing the Aniversario reveal there and not in a press attended event shows a lot of focus on it.) But I did notice the interview stuff on Tuesday too and I wonder if it’s another way to ty to make these shows earlier to follow for casual Mexican fans.
it’s sad seeing AAA sinking like a stone