Month: September 2023

CMLL

I just posted the Friday lineup, you could just scroll down to see it, but I will post it again because it’s a Friday.

CMLL (FRI) 09/29/2023 Arena México
1) Bárbaro Cavernario © vs Esfinge [CMLL LH]
2nd defense, first this year
2) La Catalina vs Stephanie Vaquer [CMLL WOMEN]
vacant championship (Stephanie Vaquer neck injury)
3) Mercurio © vs Pierrothito [CMLL MINI]
6th defense
4) Místico © vs Virus [NWA MIDDLE]
7th defense
5) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa © vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio [MEX TRIOS]
fifth defense, 1st this year
6) Titán © vs Máscara Dorada [CMLL WELTER]
8th defense

There are lots of good and interesting matches on this card. Titan/Dorada has CMLL MOTYC potential if they’re on and if the fans care. Catalina & Vaquer appear to be close friends out of the ring and are going to want that match to be special. Los Indestructibles believe this is the only chance they might get at a semimain on a Friday night and are going to want to make something of it. Mistico and Virus have been in CMLL many years but haven’t had a real singles match since the earliest days of Mistico. Cavernario and Esfinge have wrestled a bunch in trios, but haven’t had a singles match since Esfinge joined the main roster. Mercurio and Pierrothito are old hands at this. It’s more a question about how much fans are going to care about these; it’s only a small portion who participates in these “fan choose the matches” polls and some of these are strange pairings to the casuals.

It’s live via Boletia and will go up on subscription YouTube on 10/08.

CMLL has not booked Dulce Gardenia in Arena Mexico since September 3rd. He’s worked only five matches there since July. He’s not turning up on next week’s cards so far. Cholo, Disturbio and Apocalipsis would be unlikely to win national gold as a team in any other situation. There’s a decent chance they win tonight.

CMLL had its usual media session with wrestlers on Wednesday. It was a slightly awkward one because it happened before Informa; no one could talk with certainty about any matches on Friday because nothing was official yet. Tiffany and Skadi promoted CMLL’s upcoming women’s wrestling month instead, but couldn’t really talk much about that because that was also on Informa. Fugaz and Dark Panther, who pretty much knew they didn’t win, could only just thank the people who did support them. Esfinge did give out an interesting fact in his interview.  He said he sold his Aniversario mask to a fan for 9,500 pesos (~540 USD), in an interview with La Posta. That’s the most he’d ever sold a mask for. Esfinge wasn’t planning on selling but he decided he could do a lot with that money. The same fan had bought his 2022 mask, and started asking about this one when Esfinge was just in the Copa Independencia tournament and unsure if he’d make the Aniverasrio.

 

CMLL Aniversario airs on Samurai TV on October 8.

Clearing up a piece of the KeMonito story I was confused on: the most recent CMLL plan was to introduce both a new person in the KeMonito suit and additionally a new KeMalito to feud with him. CMLL has cast people for the roles and those people have been told they’d be starting ‘soon.’ QueMoniito knew what he was talking about when he said they might start last Sunday; that start date just keeps getting pushed back. I’m not sure CMLL can do anything with the new characters right now without a significant backlash.

CMLL (MON) 10/02/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja vs El Malayo & Rencor
2) La Vaquerita, Lady Metal, Skadi vs Amapola, Metálica, Zeuxis
3) Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa, Volcano vs El Coyote, Kráneo, Pólvora
4) Star Black, Star Jr., Titán vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
5) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Soberano Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Soberano and Ultimo Guerrero will be back playing their game again. Lady Metal went from a last minute replacement to appearing every week.

CMLL (TUE) 10/03/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Frida & Luna vs Estrella Maldita & Yemaya
2) Avispón Negro Jr., Bello Antuan, Samurai vs Ponzoña Jr., Relámpago Azul, Rumbero
3) Flash, Metatrón, Pepe Aguayo vs Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico
4) Astro Oriental, Persa, Temerario vs El Gallero, Johnny Dinamo, Minotauro
5) Draego, Gallo Jr., Rafaga Jr. vs El Elemental, Futuro, Yutani
6) Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Ráfaga vs Barboza, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
7) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black

Less CDMX talent than usual. and less women than last week. The ex-Black Generacion duo of Elemental and Yutani popping up here is intriguing. Yutani suddenly leaving Big Lucha and showing up here suggests a stronger connection than just a one off appearance.

Thursday morning, CMLL and Roshfrans had a press conference to talk about their partnership. CMLL streamed this. I did not watch. I’m sorry for letting you all down. Roshfrans, which produces car oil and related products, resumed their sponsorship of CMLL with the Aniversario show. Roshfrans’ logo appeared from 2016 to February, quietly vanishing just prior to the pandemic. They were also sponsoring AAA that last year and went away from both companies at the same time. A great unwritten Luchawiki page would be to chart the various mat sponsors over time. There’s no mention of the length or terms, only that Roshfrans did not want a sponsored wrestler – they said they want to leave the wrestling up to the wrestling people and focus on what they do.

There were some details reported by other people who did watch this press conference.  Roshfrans was asked if they’d have a character (similar to Fuego as Pelon Encapuchado) and said no. There was talk about possibly a tournament or something along those lines. Salvador Lutteroth was asked about how CMLL takes care of the wrestlers, which seemed inspired by some of the QueMoniito press conference. He talked about how CMLL has beefed up its medical team at shows, and revealed every wrestler goes to sports medical clinic CEVAFIN to get checked out before they start with CMLL.

CMLL/MLW

“The MLW deal is not as big a deal as it was portrayed” is a frequently useful phrase. At least for now, the MLW/CMLL deal fits. The big CMLL name for the 10/14 MLW show is Rocky Romero defending the CMLL Historic Welterweight Championship against MLW Middleweight Champion Akira in a title versus title match. Romero is not losing that title outside of Mexico, so he’ll be coming back to CMLL as double champion if there’s a decision there. Romero’s defended the title on other indie shows, Romero’s worked in MLW before (though not for a couple of years), the only difference is branding it as a CMLL deal. Romero is great, but the tease was someone from Mexico and Rocky’s not flying in from Mexico. MLW is great at playing this game: they’ll get a day’s worth of attention out of hyping the CMLL deal and the Romero title match will be a small line item.

I presume there will be an actual Mexican wrestler on the November MLW taping. I’m skeptical of anything MLW does, but CMLL is only announcing something if they believe they’re getting something more out of it than a Rocky Romero booking. NJPW has also mentioned the deal and they wouldn’t position themselves to look goofy. It just very much comes off goofy to start this way.

MLW’s Court Bauer appeared briefly on Wrestling Observer Live to hype the deal with CMLL. Bauer said he was heading to Mexico at that moment, though it wasn’t clear if that was related to CMLL. He mentioned Mance Warner as someone from MLW interested in going to CMLL. Bauer was asked if there was any NJPW pressure to switch partnerships to CMLL, and Bauer said no, it was his decision to move: “we needed better a partnership in Mexico than we were experiencing [with AAA.]” Bauer and AAA go back to before this version of MLW, so it’s surprising he’d take even a mild dig at AAA.

The deal also came up in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Jacob Fatu is the only wrestler mentioned from either promotion. MLW would like to send him to CMLL, but the WON notes MLW wanted to send him to Japan for NOAH and Mexico for AAA and he never actually leaves the US due to a “legal issue.” MLW also said their wrestlers can only work for CMLL in Mexico, which seems like the most unnecessary stipulation possible. Some of the MLW wrestlers also work for GCW, the GCW guys work with Zona 23 and those two promotions are working together on 12/10 – but CMLL wouldn’t touch anyone working deathmatches anyway, no matter where they’re from.

That is the big obstacle to overcome with a MLW/CMLL deal; their rosters aren’t natural fits for each other. Looking through MLW’s roster page, it’s a lot of guys I don’t know well or that CMLL could’ve gotten before if they had been interested. I would like to see Tony Deppen but CMLL didn’t need an MLW deal to accomplish that. Some guys, like Matt Cardona, make a lot of sense in their current context but would be weird fits in Arena Mexico. Maybe Hammerstone? Maybe Thatcher? Thatcher seems like he should’ve appeared on a DragonMania show wrestling Navarro and Solar, like in a match no one outside the lucha bubble noticed but every six months someone on Twitter ‘discovers’ it on cagematch and starts desperately DM-ing me for video.

I think this is just weird trivia and not important, but it is notable that the current MLW announce team are current are AAA’s Joe Dombrowski and ex-AAA Matt Striker. I really don’t think CMLL cares.

AAA

AAA has Heroes Inmortales on Saturday:

AAA TV (SUN) 10/01/2023 Auditorio Benito Juárez, Zapopan, Jalisco [HBO Max press release]
***Heroes Inmortales, 2023***
1) Mini Vikingo, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa vs Dinámico, Kamik-C, Skalibur
2) Dulce Kanela vs Maravilla, Sexy Star, ?, ??, Lady Shani, Reina Dorada, Estrellita, Chik Tormenta [Copa Antonio Pena, semifinal]
Reina Dorada replaced Centella on Tuesday
3) Forastero & Sansón vs Dave The Clown & Murder Clown and Chessman & Parka Negra [#1 Contenders, AAA TAG]
4) Dalys & Negro Casas vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Flammer [AAA MIXED TAG]
5) Hijo Del Vikingo & Myzteziz vs Dralistico & La Bestia Del Ring
6) ? vs ?? [Copa Antonio Pena, final]
7) Alberto el Patrón & Octagón Jr. vs QT Marshall & Sam Adonis
Alberto el Patron replaced Pentagon Jr. (AEW) on Tuesday

This show is listed at 4 pm. Space and HBO Max are scheduled to pick it up at 6 pm local. (That’s the same time as the AEW PPV starts if you’re converting time zones.) My guess is the last four matches will air on Space. It’ll be the less-than-ideal bit of airing a tournament final in the first week and the rest of the tournament in the second week.

I wrote this a bit earlier. Only in coming back later did I realize I didn’t write about any of the matches. There’s just nothing too interesting here. There are ‘good’ matches in some of these will get heat, but there’s nothing I’d be trying to watch on a second screen during the AEW PPV. The main event is building to the Octagon/QT match. The two women’s matches will have lots of moves, plenty of interference in the final, and no drama, like every other AAA women’s match. Match 5 almost certainly won’t happen as advertised. The mixed titles mean nothing to anyone but Dalys and Negro Casas, so they might as well win them, and only won’t if AAA decides they get more heat out of Nicho, costing them the match. I guess Forastero/Sanson are heading towards the tag title match, but who knows when/if Komander and Arez will be around to defend. I would’ve still watched this live if this came around when I didn’t have a conflict, but that’s more just to make sure I got it watched in a timely fashion; I have no excitement for any of this. It’s going to look really great for AAA though, they should draw great in association with this fair.

This is a Sunday show. No AAA Space airing on Saturday this week.

This may be Old News that I just didn’t pick up when it was announced. Back in the women’s match at TripleMania, the tecnicas did a big arm-raised pose before the match and body spray shot out of the corner. It was a sponsored bit with Fraiche Mexico perfumes. What I didn’t know is there are actually AAA body mists as part of this collaboration. (MVS had pointed it out in an press release-ish article.) The three offerings are Mascarita Sagrada, La Parka, and Lady Shani. The Mascarita Sagrada bottle is smaller than the other two, which is cute, and they all cost between 3-4 USD.

IWRG

LLB (THU) 09/28/2023 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Hijo De Sparta b Sparta, Ryu, Príncipe Centauro, Latino Boy, Gravedad Cero, Rey Spartano 
2) Amnesia, Gaona, José Caporal b Demencia, Hijo De Brazo De Platino, Reptil 
3) Argus, Eurus, Solido b Oro Blanco, Papelito, Voltio 
Mas Lucha and Estrellas del Ring have opposite results
4) Sádika b Candela, La Brava, Marina, Princesa Azul, Jesse Jackson, Danessa, Reina Obscura, Mary Caporal 
5) Calibus, Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Puma de Oro b Aero Boy, Cíclope, Miedo Extremo, Rey Dragón 
6) Black Dragón, Bombero Infernal, Carta Brava (Llb) b Chico Che, Pantera, Último Vampiro 
Fantasma de la Opera interfered.
7) Lunatik Fly, Lunatik Xtreme, Súper Boy, Toto b Fandango, Hijo De Carta Brava, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly 
8) Espanto Jr., Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. 
Espanto Jr., Rey Cometa and Espanto Jr. replaced the Pigs (?!?)
9) Místico & Octagón b Averno & Fuerza Guerrera 

There were so many matches that both Mas Lucha and IWRG’s recaps missed two of the results. The show ended some time after midnight. The CMLL guys working as Pig replacements is weird (and also makes one wonder if the Pigs not working a CMLL show is a coincidence.) The show drew well, as Lucha Libre Boom hows always do. I watched the video to figure out who won match 3 and will now move on.

Big Lucha

They’re back on Saturday night, though I presume this isn’t airing until mid week.

Big Lucha (SAT) 09/30/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Nordico vs Sangre Nueva
2) Helios & Urzus Mendoza vs Black Skayde & Odisseo Mendoza
3) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
4) Cometa Maya & Radioactivo vs SB KENTo & Takuma
5) Emperador Azteca, Flamita, Orbita, Vengador vs ?, El Potro de Oro, Jack Evans, Watanabe

It’s a small card than usual, though it may go about as long thanks to another dreaded battle royal. Match four could be great. The mystery person in the Mexico versus the World main event is said to be a familiar face.

Other News

WWE NXT’s Yulisa Leon left the promotion last week. She was among a mass group of cuts but clarified she had asked for her release. Leon was the first Mexican born woman signed to WWE. (Pantera Surena had worked for WWE on a per-night basis in the past.) She’s also the daughter of Monterrey’s Bronco, who wrestled in CMLL in the mid 90s and lost his mask to Black Warrior. She’d never wrestled in Mexico prior to going to WWE, though she’d trained with CMLL (Tony Salazar) and in Monterrey; her background was more in powerlifting. It was uncertain if she was interested in continuing in wrestling. Leon is now apparently counting until her 30-day no-compete period concludes, which sure seems like she’s planning on doing more wrestling. She’d be free just in time for the CMLL Gran Prix if they were very much interested in using her.

Aerostar and Dios del Inframundo (Drago) randomly started teasing a mask vs mask feud on an indie show. It’s probably going nowhere, but it’s a different way to get bookings than teaming. If Dios del Inframundo was really willing to lose his mask at indie prices, he would’ve done it before switching gimmicks.

El Sol de Hidalgo has an interview with Aguila Solitaria. He says he was on break due to COVID and an unspecified operation. He debuted when he was 25, which is late for a Mexican luchador. He says his trainer told him not to wrestle until he got invited to wrestle on big shows, because he’d end up liking the small shows and staying there if he worked those.

The Dragon YouTube channel has a video on Komander’s top 10 moves.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 09/25/2023 Arena Puebla [Porra Fresa]
1) Centella Roja, Hijo de Centella Roja, Xelhua b Dreyko, El Malayo, Sombra Diabólika
2) Hera b Lady Metal [lightning] 
3) El Perverso, Prayer, Vegas b Historico, Novato, Valiente Jr. 
4) Crixus, Difunto, Kráneo b Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Volcano
5) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Máscara Dorada, Soberano Jr., Titán 
UG snuck in a foul on Dorada
6) Ángel de Oro b Templario

Templario continues to fill the role of Volador, taking the loss to the person Volador beat at Aniversario. I need to work on some of this tecnico/rudo coding. CMLL’s definitely landed on Vegas as a rudo. Lady Metal may be a tecnica in Puebla but a ruda elsewhere.

CMLL (TUE) 09/26/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
1) Acero, Aéreo, Galaxy b Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia  
2) Brillante Jr. & Oro Jr. b Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II 
3) Neón b Raider [lightning] 
best match of the night
4) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma 
5) Dark Panther, Fugaz, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Hechicero 
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible b Atlantis Jr., Blue Panther, Star Jr. 
Blue Panther replaced Volador (shoulder) earlier Tuesday.

Neon/Raider was for the luchadorks not so dissimilar from Virus/TJP. The style of match was different and the older guys tried to make it a battle, but both were about doing a lot of cool stuff for nine minutes and putting together a finish. Neon is Mr. Leap To The Top Rope and he did a lot here. Raider occasionally crushed him. It was great fun. The rest of the show was an ordinary Tuesday show.

Volador was a late sub and isn’t on any of the upcoming bookings, which sounds not good about his AC joint. It did read like he was coming back too soon, but we have no idea when he’ll be back now.

Someone asked in the comments if the CMLL subscription channel was now a good value. I’m still not high on it. The “bonus matches” have dried up off recent and the historical content never showed up. You’re just getting the Tuesday stream live and the Friday stream really late on Sunday night. CMLL seems to purposefully book more matches subscribers might like on Tuesdays than they did before, but it’s still generally “wrestling you have on in the background” rather than must see stuff. The channel is overall a decent amount of content compared to other streaming services but having to wait for the Friday makes it worse than most and there’s no great additional content to make it up. (It’s too late now, but CMLL should’ve tossed a bone like ‘the subscriber members only get to pick of the night Night of Champions matches’.) The CMLL YouTube channel works if you just want a good way to dip in to catch up on CMLL and will grow stronger with that in time, but it lacks any also sort of collation or easy way to navigate to find the best stuff; you have to really know what you’re looking for already. If your standard is comparing to other streaming offerings, CMLL’s YouTube channel isn’t great, but it’s also still the easiest way to CMLL.

(All that said, I’ve kept the Aniverasrio show off the Google Drive so far because I feel unfair to the people who actually paid for it. I’ll add it eventually. I’m sure there are other ways to find it if you really want it and can’t/won’t pay.)

CMLL (TUE) 09/26/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Mas Lucha]
1) Atilus, Maximus, Rey Urano b Black Boy, Calavera I Jr., Yaky Boy 
Calavera I Jr. replaced Thunder Boy
2) Adira, Andrómeda, Katara, Magia Azul b Centinela, Hatana, Lady Metal (Puebla), Perse 
Andromeda is the ex-Estrellita Lagunera/ex-Centella.
3) Arlequín, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. 
4) La Catalina b Sanely [lightning] 
Catalina used the ropes to beat Sanely.
5) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Valkiria b La Maligna, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis 
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada b Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Último Guerrero 

Soberano Jr. and Ultimo Guerrero are still banned from touching each other during matches, which makes being a team very hard. They both were in the ring at the same time and slightly interacted, but mostly were wrestling separate matches that happened to be taking place at the same time. They’re apparently not even allowed or interested in tagging each other, which led to a moment where Ultimo Guerrero tagged Gran Guerrero, and then Gran Guerrero just turned on the apron tagged Soberano in. It could not be sillier. The main event wasn’t otherwise that worth watching; it was not said to be not a good Mascara Dorada day.

The former Super Estrella (sister of La Magnifica, daughter of Gran Cochisse) is working as a referee for some women’s matches in Guadalajara.

CMLL (SAT) 09/30/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía
2) Hera & Skadi vs Metálica & Reyna Isis
3) Hombre Bala Jr. vs Misterioso Jr. [lightning]
4) Arlequín, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Panterita del Ring, Star Black, Valiente vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
6) Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Niebla Roja vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Match 4 is a home/home match from Arena Coliseo Guadalajara.

CMLL (SUN) 10/01/2023 Arena México
1) Cachorro & Grako vs Leono & Retro [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Diamond, Robin, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Astral vs Sangre Imperial [lightning]
4) Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Pelon Encapuchado vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
5) Soberano Jr., Titán, Valiente vs Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Templario, Terrible

Gran Guerrero and Stuka haven’t been around Arena Mexico much of late, but are back here.

One of the prime goals of the KeMonito press conference was to get attention and that part has been a definite success. That story has gotten picked up in most every news story has gotten picked up everywhere in Mexico, so that part of the press conference was a definite success. (There’s almost no other lucha news because that was the news.) One of the threats in the press conference was a demonstration that would shut down Arena Mexico. Ironically, there were demonstrations that affected Tuesday’s crowd – streets near the arena were shut down and wrestlers arrived late – but they weren’t lucha libre or KeMonito related.

CMLL Informa announced the October run of Friday night shows

• 10/06: Torneo Universal de Amazonas Block A
• 10/13: Torneo Universal de Amazonas Block A
• 10/20: Torneo Universal de Amazonas Final/Blue Panther 45th Anniversary show
• 10/27: Gran Prix Femenil

The 10/20 lineup will be announced next week on Informa. Minus the tournament final, of course.

Estrellita Lagunera/Centella/Andromeda/(whatever her name is this week) jumps to CMLL

La Andromeda is the now former AAA wrestler Centella, who was Estrellita Lagunera in the indies. AAA believed she quit because she had a CMLL offer, and they turned out to be absolutely correct. The Guadalajara poster with “Andromeda” on it was out last Thursday, which means CMLL was advertising her before she even gave AAA notice. She probably knew for weeks and just didn’t tell AAA until the last moment. AAA’s inconsistent TV schedule meant she hadn’t actually worked for them in five weeks (since the 08/20 Showcenter card), though she was figured in shows going forward.

Whatever you want to call Andromeda, she showed up wearing a Gran Jefe headdress. Her brothers are Gran Jefe IV and Gran Jefe V, and V appeared in the Torneo de Escuelas earlier this year. They seem to be a CMLL family and likely “guided” her towards CMLL once that became an option. I don’t think AAA did anything specifically wrong. The issue is just they were AAA. She’d barely been in AAA (two TV matches) though it still feels like a blow. Konnan had talked about wanting a high flying luchadora for some time and seemed excited to have her part of their roster. Andromeda probably would’ve stood out more in the short term in AAA, because she’d work mixed tag where men could base for her. She might have more success long term in CMLL, who seem more interested in putting their homegrown talent in higher positions.

CMLL appears to be recruiting women heavily, especially for these Guadalajara shows. It took me until now to realize the Centinela that’s here is the same one who popped up on AAA’s military base show earlier this year. CMLL’s big advantage here is volume. That eight women’s match can more easily exist because CMLL has 40+ matches every week, and they can easily set aside one a week to a bunch of young luchadoras who may be years away from making Friday night Arena Mexico shows. AAA, as they currently run, has about three matches a week. It’s not a fair battle. AAA has Luchatitlan too, but I’m not sure how much development can be done when everyone’s doing the show night after night; maybe they’ll get very good in a specific way.

(Irrelevant fact: There was a previous La Andromeda between 1999-2001 in CMLL, when CMLL’s women’s division was essentially one match every couple of months before dropping the concept entirely for years. That Andromeda returned to CMLL when the division got relaunched and wrestled as Rosa Negra from 2006 to 2009. In a trivia note, TNA wrestling ran vignettes for an Andromeda in 2009, but the person never debuted. That person was supposed to be current movie star Cassandro.)

Centella’s match on this week’s AAA TV was the one I wasn’t able to record. If I can’t catch it on a repeat and if AAA cuts it out of their YouTube (which I would totally do if I were them), it will be lost for all time and it’ll drive me mad.

Noche de Campeones

CMLL revealed the full lineup and card order on Informa on Wednesday.

CMLL (FRI) 09/29/2023 Arena México
1) Bárbaro Cavernario © vs Esfinge [CMLL LH]
2nd defense, first this year
2) La Catalina vs Stephanie Vaquer [CMLL WOMEN]
vacant championship (Stephanie Vaquer neck injury)
3) Mercurio © vs Pierrothito [CMLL MINI]
6th defense
4) Místico © vs Virus [NWA MIDDLE]
7th defense
5) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa © vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio [MEX TRIOS]
fifth defense, 1st this year
6) Titán © vs Máscara Dorada [CMLL WELTER]
8th defense

The trios title match swung back and forth in the last few hours. Los Indestructibles won by 295 votes, the closest contest of the six. La Catalina eeked out Stephanie Vaquer for the most votes among the women, though it doesn’t really matter who is one and two between them.

All the challengers appeared on Informa to discuss their finish, some of them talking about how much they were encouraging friends and family to accept. The Indestrucibles team of Cholo, Apocalipsis and Disturbio might have been the happiest; none of them thought they’d be in a title match, much less the semi-main on a Friday night Arena Mexico show. All those guys have been in apuesta matches, but seem to feel as if this is as big of any of those. Friends and countrywomen Catalina & Vaquer were also beaming up about the chance to wrestle each other in a title match. Titan/Dorada should be great but everyone seems motivated to reward the people who voted for them with a good performance.

Vote entirely was up 42% for last year. CMLL seems pretty happy with how it went and will surely be running it back in 2024.

(Mercurio did tell the press he’d rather face Minos, because he’s defeated Pierrothito & Angelito already. He’s out of luck. They may want to give the minis a year off next year.)

CMLL also surprised Mascara Dorada with an announcement that he’d be going to the UK as part of RevPro’s British J Cup on October 21st. Hechicero and Atlantis Jr. earlier talked very positively about their FantsticaMania UK experience.

CMLL now working with MLW and NJPW

CMLL Informa had a brief mention of a new promotional alliance with Major League Wrestling. MLW confirmed a three-way deal between CMLL, MLW, and NJPW starting next month. The press release mentions the leaders of the three organizations and Rocky Romero, which may be a tell. This is probably the same sort of deal CMLL has going with NJPW Strong: a few wrestlers going to a US based TV taping every one or two months. MLW shows air live as PPV before getting cut up for TV. MLW’s next show is 10/14 in Philadelphia.

It’d be a sound idea if this wasn’t MLW. MLW’s alliance with AAA ended with a weird title change or two, some matches that didn’t get anyone over, and a couple of wrestlers trapped under a lowball contract without being used. It helped in AAA in that it was a couple of extra paydays and as something for people to put on their resumes, but not much beyond that. Maybe CMLL will be fine with the same. AAA and MLW’s brand of weird seemed a much better fit.

I don’t follow MLW closely, but I did see manager Salina de la Renta returned to the promotion recently and noticed promo included a line about questioning why all the luchadors have disappeared. That was foreshadowing, I just assumed it was the Parks coming back again or something along the lines. Just browsing the YouTube channel, they also seem to have suddenly written out Sam Adonis and Dario Cueto, as well at least teasing Microman being out of the group. This was all probably a plan for a bit.

MLW/CMLL will probably amount to some extra CMLL matches on a different YouTube and a few extra bookings for a while. MLW tapes about once a month, so it’s not going to much work. It’s also probably not long for this world; MLW seems to shift promotional alliances every 4-5 anyway. (They’ve had deals with Dragon Gate, NOAH, AJPW along with AAA, all of which quietely disappeared.) We’ll all get through it fine as long as no one signs a contract.

AAA

Alberto el Patron will replace Penta on Sunday in Guerra de Titanes. AAA acknowledged Penta had a commitment with AEW and that they’re be changing the match. Alberto & Octagon Jr. versus Sam Adonis & QT Marshall is the new main event. I was suspicious AAA wouldn’t announce a change and they did in advance this time.

The plan seemed to be to build Octagon Jr./QT Marshall, but that seems less likely to happen with Alberto involved. Alberto’s a downgrade for my interest but that event is going to draw a very casual audience – they’re people coming for a fair who decide to stick around for a wrestling show – that I think it’ll be fine. AEW may not be pleased to have one of their VPs be in the ring with Alberto though. Alberto being involved is a heavy negative to the US audience but the US audience has no real way to watch this show normally and the people who’d be upset are probably going to be watching the AEW show instead. I wouldn’t want Alberto around but this is the easiest place

Reina Dorada also replaces Centella in the Copa Antonio Pena. (The two mystery spots remain a mystery.) Hijo del Vikingo is still listed on the card, but then he was listed on last week’s card too. My impression was Vikingo was going to be out two weeks so I wouldn’t expect him to wrestle.

Tickets for Sunday’s AAA show go from 250 to 600. They got a huge crowd in that arena last year and will get the same.

AAA officially announced Guerra de Titanes would take place November 19th in Ciudad Juarez. We worked this out earlier, it’s just now official. It would make sense to have one more big Pagano/Texano match on Pagano’s hometown show; he’s over huge every time they run that city.

Roberto Figueroa announced the 11/26 Showcenter will have 8 matches and include 10 wrestlers from US/Canada. Impact previously told their wrestlers they’d be taping in Mexico this year, so I presume this is them. I’m just not sure if this is the taping itself or if they’re doubling up on the weekend with an Impact taping elsewhere. Impact tends to tape twice at a time. Figueroa said the card would be announced this Wednesday, which turns out to mean October 4th and not today.

Komander returned to Reynosa to a big reaction.

IWRG

Thursday’s show is a Lucha Libre Boom show with a hundred people

IWRG (THU) 09/28/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sparta vs Ryu, Príncipe Centauro, Latino, Hijo De Sparta, Gravedad Cero, Rey Spartano
2) Demencia, Hijo De Brazo De Platino, Reptil vs ?, Amenesia, Gaona
3) Oro Blanco, Papelito, Voltio vs Argus, Eurus, Solido
4) Sádika vs Candela, La Brava, Marina, Princesa Azul, Jesse Jackson, Danessa, Reina Obscura, Mary Caporal
5) Fandango, Hijo De Carta Brava, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Lunatik Fly, Lunatik Xtreme, Súper Boy, Toto
6) Chico Che, Pantera, Último Vampiro vs Black Dragón, Bombero Infernal, Carta Brava (LLBL)
7) Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
8) Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Puma de Oro vs Aero Boy, Cíclope, Miedo Extremo
9) Místico & Octagón vs Averno & Fuerza Guerrera

I will not watch this show. I apologize to Aeroboy.

IWRG (SUN) 10/01/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Dinastía & Tornado vs Kurama & Superboy
2) Príncipe Arkano vs Low Rider, Lanzeloth, Águila Roja, Rey Aztaroth
3) León Dorado & Mr. Leo vs Elemental & Puma de Oro
4) Dr. Cerebro Jr., Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Mr. Mike, Relámpago, Tonalli
5) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. vs Hell Boy & Shocko [seconds hair]
referee Reyes Rosas (Cerebros) and Sonrisas (Hell Boy) hair on the line
6) Galeno del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Hijo de Canis Lupus & Ivan Rokov

The referees have been feuding lately. I think the Wagners were rivals last time here but I guess Canis Lupus & Ivan Rokov aren’t friends either. Dinastia showing up to Naucalpan to work an opener is strange, but maybe he won’t show up.

Other Notes

Ensenada’s government website has a story story on how successful it’s “La Lucha Libre es Cultura” event was last weekend. AFN Noticias has a bit on a part of the event that goes unmentioned; the wrestlers invited fans in the ring to take a chop to see how hard it hit, and a minor got chopped repeatedly and needed medical treatment. The dad threatened criminal complaints against everyone. I think the issue starts with the parent saying it was OK for the child to go get hit.

Other Notes

An interview with Puebla’s Astaroth.

Box y Lucha 3570 has Cassandro, KeMonito and the CMLL show.

Cassandro was honored by the El Paso government. I remain confused if not surprised by the wrestling sphere in totally ignoring this movie. It’d be less weird if they just watched and decided they didn’t like it, but people who seem to absorb anything tangentially related to wrestling seem to have let this one slip by. I’ll stop writing this paragraph after today.

Impact Wrestling “Before the Impact” (the show that airs for free on YouTube) has Laredo Kid & Black Taurus versus Sami Callihan & Rich Swann on Thursday. I assume it’s a Callihan farewell match, as he’s said he’s finishing with the promotion and Swann is one of his good friends. Did you know: Laredo Kid has won two matches over the last calendar year in Impact. He has lost many more than two.

Segunda Caida digs more into Panamanian wrestling.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 09/22/2023 Arena México [AS, CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, The Gladaitores, thecubsfan]
1) Difunto & Espanto Jr. b Hombre Bala Jr. & Pelon Encapuchado  
First loss for Pelon Encapuchado.
2) Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis b La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi  
11:17.
3) Virus b TJP [lightning]  
9:36
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Negro Navarro, Pantera, Panterita del Ring, Rocky Santana b Águila Solitaria, Black Terry, Felino, Octagón, Satánico, Solar I [cibernetico]  
30:17. Order of elimination: Rocky Santana (via Black Terry), Aguila Solitaria (Pantera), Panterita (Satanico), Pantera & Felino double pin, Black Terry (Negro Navarro), Solar (Atlantis), Satanico (Blue Panther), Negro Navarro (Octagon), Blue Panther (Octagon), Atlantis (Octagon) leaving Atlantis as the winner.
5) Ángel de Oro, Místico, Templario DQ Dragón Rojo Jr., Rocky Romero, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]  
14:16. Dragon Rojo unmasked Templario for the DQ. Soberano and Rocky Romero antagonized Mistico post match.

This was about as good as it looked on paper. TJP/Virus was exactly the battle people who wanted to see those guys hoped it to be; there just weren’t a lot of them in Arena Mexico. The old guys were very over and very old. The main event ended up more about Sobreano and Rocky against a strongly over Mistico than the normal Dragon Rojo/Templario follow up, though they still figured into the finish.

Luchadors in attendance included Dos Caras, Mano Negra, Rambo, El Halcon, Ringo Mendoza, Americo Rocca, Irma Gonzalez, Irma Aguilar, Kahos, Talisman, Enrique Vera, Tony Salazar, Tinieblas along with all the guys who were in the match. Fantasma was there as Mexico City commission. Famous fans Guillermina Sarzosa (La Cavernaria) and Jesus Ornelas (Chabelo) were also included, as well as CMLL barber Alfonso Penaloza.

We learned the feed you get if you buy the CMLL show in Mexican Pesos and if you buy it in USD is different this week. The Pesos feed worked at the start of the show, the USD one did not. I bought the USD one and Neerme sent me a link to the working Pesos about a half hour in, but I had already figured out what had happened and bought a second PPV by that time. Both were working by the time VOD went up. There was also an issue with the crowd sound, which seemed way turned up. At least this all happened this week and not last week.

CMLL (SAT) 09/23/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Leono b Inquisidor [lightning]
2) Max Star, Oro Jr., Valiente Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Amapola, La Jarochita, Sanely b La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
Amapola replaced Lluvia
4) Star Black, Valiente, Volcano b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo
5) Blue Panther & Felino b Negro Navarro & Solar I
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Slightly surprising that Dragon Rojo didn’t get the win in the main event. It doesn’t mean much. Felino won the battle of maestros with a flying elbow drop.

CMLL (SUN) 09/24/2023 Arena México
1) Angelito b Minos [lightning]
2) Amapola, Hera, Olympia b La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Skadi
3) Cancerbero & Luciferno b Felino Jr. & Pólvora
4) Crixus, Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr. b Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma
5) Averno, Euforia, Mephisto b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Misterioso Jr.
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., Stuka Jr., Terrible b Ángel de Oro, Fugaz, Místico [Relevos Increíbles]

Just a normal Sunday show.

CMLL (TUE) 09/26/2023 Arena México
1) Acero, Aéreo, Galaxy vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia
2) Brillante Jr. & Oro Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II
3) Neón vs Raider [lightning]
4) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
5) Dark Panther, Fugaz, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Hechicero
6) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Volador Jr. is indeed back on Tuesday. That still seems too soon. Neon/Raider could be a lot of fun.

Atlantis Jr. was double booked here and Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. The Jalisco arena re-issued their lineup, with Pantera del Ring taking the spot there.

CMLL (FRI) 09/29/2023 Arena México
1) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa © vs ?, ??, ??? [MEX TRIOS]
fifth defense, 1st this year
2) Místico © vs ? [NWA MIDDLE]
7th defense
3) Mercurio © vs ? [CMLL MINI]
6th defense
4) ? vs ?? [CMLL WOMEN]
vacant championship (Princesa Sugehit neck injury)
5) Bárbaro Cavernario © vs ? [CMLL LH]
2nd defense, first this year
6) Titán © vs ? [CMLL WELTER]
8th defense

We won’t have the full lineups until Wednesday (which means another late Wednesday update FWIW), and this is just the match order at the moment. Even it may change; the women are pushing into the second spot. The voting wasn’t as nuts as it was on Friday, but it is all over the map and much higher than it was before Wednesday. CMLL’s promoting the contest a little bit more on social media with it being the next show, but it’s more than that. The votes for all the matches have narrowed to the point where I don’t really have any great clue on who’s going to be in any of the matches.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara announced the Lucha Femenil Naciones would take place October 31st. That’s their version of the women’s Gran Prix. Those matches usually precede the Arena Mexico version. I don’t think that’s happening this time, because that Friday would typically be a Dia del Muertos show. I suspect instead the Women’s Gran Prix will be October 27th. CMLL will officially announce the date on Wednesday.

KeMonito press conference

KeMonito (or QueMoniito) held a press conference on Monday afternoon to explain his side of the CMLL breakup. It went over two hours. It felt longer. The facts explained were generally the same as released to the press last week: the person wanted to retire, CMLL didn’t want to “the gimmick” to retire, he decided he wanted to leave, and he’s arguing he has the right to continue being KeMonito anywhere. In the press conference, he acknowledged CMLL drew a sketch of the character and gave him the colors they wanted to use. He made the costume. Dr. Alfonso Morales, technically a Televisa employee (who’s primary job was to call CMLL matches) came up with the name. CMLL trademarked the KeMonito name and outfit as intellectual property. KeMonito (or more his lawyers) are arguing he’s actually more of an artist, and so such be able to take the art he created with him outside the promotion.

I don’t know Mexican law enough to that it will work. It did not seem like it would. The lawyers – and one of the primary themes is there were a lot of lawyers – brought up Psicosis, Histeria, Kraneo and Latin Lover as people as success stories in. They may have actually won the case that they’ve got an artistic right to their name, but they were unable to use those AAA-born characters in CMLL. They did sort of get away with it on non-TV indie shows, in the idea that indie shows aren’t usually worth AAA’s time to threaten over it. Maybe CMLL’s indicated to KeMonito they’ll threaten him over it, but that wasn’t made clear here. This was more a pre-emptive strike, KeMonito (and his lawyers) asserting he had the right to do what he was planning on doing, and accusing CMLL of not paying money owed for past work.

The facts just don’t see strong in KeMonito’s case. A lot of the press conference turned instead to sympathy for the rights of luchadors, talking about how they’re mistreated and underpaid. They emphasized how much punishment KeMonito took in this role, and the injuries to his body. It doesn’t seem to help the legal argument, but it may gain more attention for his case. That seemed the true goal of this bit, to get attention for KeMonito’s plight, maybe to get some governmental attention, and for all these lawyers to get a moment in the spotlight. There’s not money to be found – KeMonito says he doesn’t have a lot, and he wouldn’t get a lot more if he kept the gimmick. It came off like he was being used for the attention.

One of the people who most seemed to soak in the attention was “Sindicato Nacional de Luchadores y Referees de la República Mexicana” leader Jose Contreras. He dominated the last hour of the press conference, talking about how strong the syndicate (union) is, how many members they’ve got, how they all know the promotions are mistreating the wrestlers but only KeMonito is brave enough to take a stand against them. Contreras suggested there’d be a demonstration in support of KeMonito. Contereras turns up this way every year or so, people take him seriously, and then there’s nothing heard of him for a long time. He made up for that absence by speaking for and forcefully about how important he and his job is. As best I can tell, they haven’t gotten as far as making a Facebook page, but they usually make enough noise to last a few weeks at a time. Some public spectacle seems likely.

CMLL responded a few minutes after the press conference ended with a Comunicado Oficial. Their position is they would sign a fair deal with KeMonito right now if he came back to the table. They say it was KeMonito’s decision to walk away and KeMonito who talked about retiring previously. CMLL says they informed and showed documents to KeMonito to prove they owned the rights to the characters and made it clear they wanted to continue the character after he left because it was so over. They say they met with KeMonito and his lawyers about this multiple times and they’re willing to do it again to find a deal that benefits both sides (and not any third parties getting involved.) CMLL says they’ve treated every part of the CMLL family with respect and dignity they deserve over the last 90 years, and asks people not to believe any false declarations or charges from third parties.

CMLL’s side is too much different in broad strokes than what KeMonito presented, it’s the details. CMLL says they want a fair offer, KeMonito says CMLL offered almost nothing. Both agree that KeMonito talked of retiring, but KeMonito says it was required to be a secret retirement. CMLL is definitely portraying it like some people are influencing KeMonito to make some bad decisions so they themselves can benefit. (Unfortunately, that press conference had a vibe that supported CMLL on that one.) It’s hopeful that CMLL is at least taking the public posture about trying to work a deal out; this seems like something that should be settled instead of going to court.

Of related note, CMLL published a trademark for KeMalito on Wednesday. They filed it last Thursday, which would’ve been the last non-holiday before he was introduced.

FantasticaMania UK

I gave the FantasticaMania (Japan) it’s own section, so I guess I should do this as well.

RevPro , CMLL , 2 pm (SAT) 09/23/2023 Manchester, United Kingdom [@britwrestling1, RevPro, thecubsfan]
1) Magia Blanca b Levi Muir
6:07
2) Audaz (CMLL), Ricky Knight Jr., Zak Knight b Kid Lykos, Kid Lykos II, Sangre Imperial
10:28
3) Titán (CMLL) b Robbie X
11:04. Moved down to before an intermission. (No intermission on show 2.)
4) Wild Boar b Capitán Suicida
9:53.
5) Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews b Okumura & Zandokan [BRITISH TAG]
13:42. Lykos Gym ran in post match and Zandokan helped them beat up Subculture until Titan evened the numbers.
6) Hechicero (CMLL), Trent Seven, Último Guerrero b Atlantis Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Michael Oku
18:10

(Both shows on Revpro’s on-demand site – click the Revpro link up there – costs $9.50 a month.)

I missed the first two matches of the first show but caught up with everything after that, as well as the seocnd show. Hechicero/Oku was easily the best match on the show, an easy and strong recommendation. Robbie X/Titan was pretty good and easily the best thing on the afternoon card. Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero and the trios on the evening show were also worth checking out. The show ended with everyone coming to the ring to celebrate in FantasticaMania fashion, and promos from Oku and Atlantis Jr. (in English), saying they’d be back next year. (Hechicero also made it clear he wasn’t done with Oku or the title.)

Both shows actually streamed live and are up RevPro’s VOD now (though distractingly both listed as “Part 2”.) This was at a taco fest but indoors, in a building that had the feel of a warehouse. The sound bounced around nice enough. I didn’t catch the commentator’s names on either show, but they seemed excited for the CMLL wrestlers and into the show. There were the odd technical glitches; one commentary was quieter than the other, and it felt like there was an open mic transmitting some conversation during most of the Robbie X/Titan match. The fans seemed to have a good time and easily got into the show; everyone seemed happy with the idea of CMLL wrestlers coming back in 2023. CMLL luchadors seemed happy with seeing the sights (or the football arenas) or Manchester the day after the show.

CMLL wrestlers are expected to be part of more RevPro shows going forward, so I may not be able to quickly cancel my subscription. There’s some discussion of other CMLL/RevPro collaborations.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 09/23/2023 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [@robviper, Record]
1) Éxtasis & Shere Khan ?? Mini Psycho Clown & Rey Espectrito
dark match
2) Dinámico, Kamik-C, Skalibur b Drago Kid, Dulce Kanela, Mini Vikingo
3) Dalys DQ Krissta, Chik Tormenta, Lolita
scheduled as Chik Tormenta/Centella (Centella apparently quit?). Elimination match. Tormenta got DQed and fought with Dalys later.
4) Kento & Takuma b Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa [lumberjack]
Kuukai and La Estrella helped Kento & Takuma win, Komander and Mecha Wolf made the save. Konnan appeared, and showed footage of Vikingo’s injury. Vikingo appeared, announced he wouldn’t be wrestling, and suggested a fourway between Komander, Mecha Wolf, Kuukai and Estrella for the vacant cruiserweight title. Konnan agreed.
5) Octagón Jr. b Drago, Bestia 666 [AAA LA, #1 Contenders]
Octagon Jr. earns a shot at QT Marshall
6) Dralistico & Negro Casas b Argenis & Nicho el Millionario
Earlier, three mystery men attacked Negro Casas and Nicho, and revealed themselves to be Argenis, Nicho and Texano. Dralistico ran them off. La Mistica on Argenis. Bestia del Ring attacked Negro Casas, with Dralistico breaking it up. Casas challenged Nicho to a hair match afterwards.
7) Komander b La Estrella, Kuukai, Mecha Wolf [AAA CRUISER]
Scheduled to be Komander/Vikingo for the AAA Mega champion, Vikingo unable to wrestle due to hip injury, suggested a four way based on interference in the lumberjack match. Vacant title, given up by Fenix back in August. Komander is 15th champion, beating Mecha Wolf.
8) Texano Jr. b Pagano [ambulance]
Texano drove away with Pagano in ambulance (with the implication we’ll see more on TV)

Lots going on here. The Centella thing is a mystery to all. The word from the AAA side is she never came to the building, instead calling the promotion in the afternoon to say she would not be there today and would no longer be working for AAA. That’s wildly unprofessional if true. Centella/Estrellita Lagunera has said nothing on social media. The assumption is she got an offer to go to CMLL and quit AAA to take it, but that’s mostly the assumption because no one seems to know what the deal is and everyone’s guessing. CMLL Informa on Wednesday will be talking all about their women’s wrestling plans on Informa, and maybe we’ll get an answer as part of that. Dalys was already at the building with Negro Casas but AAA planned on doing Dalys/Tormenta as a standalone match later on, so they needed more people. Lolita and Krissta just happened to be around or nearby for an emergency call and are not factored into plans beyond this show.

Nothing AAA really could do about that. Nothing AAA can really do to prevent Vikingo from getting hurt. It’s wrestling, people can get hurt.  (AAA showed ROH footage to ‘prove’ it was a real injury.) There’s a lot AAA could’ve done after Vikingo got hurt. They could’ve told people the match might not be happening. AAA did not do that; they waited until midway through the show to say Vikingo would be off (and had Vikingo do it.) AAA could’ve found a replacement of equal value, as it often promised in boilerplate text on lucha libre cards. With all due respect to La Estrella and Kuuaki, AAA didn’t come to doing that either. It was an especially difficult weekend for AAA to find a late replacement – Psycho Clown was in Japan, Laredo Kid & Taurus had Impact obligations*, Arez, Latigo & Gringo Loco were in Europe among other bookings – and we don’t know how hard they tried to get someone. We just know they used two foreigners already in Mexico, and filled the vacant Cruiserweight championship to say they’ve done something. I didn’t sense any huge outrage over this; I think anyone who’s would go to AAA just to see specific matches either has stopped going or has accepted that you can’t trust AAA to deliver anything they promise at this stage.

Vikingo walked out with crutches but doesn’t actually need them, it was just a way to get across that he really was injured. He was saying he’d be out for two weeks, but then he also thought he could make this show. Vikingo is still expected to wrestle on Defy’s 10/13 show in Yakima, Washington. I suspect he’s planning going to Japan for GCW’s shows; he was announced as facing Gringo Loco on 10/12. (Probably one flight leads to the other one.) Two weeks would leave him on schedule for those.

It appears AAA will be missing main event wrestlers on back-to-back weekends. The Heroes Inmortales show is scheduled to be headlined by Octagon Jr. & Pentagon Jr. vs QT Marshall & Sam Adonis. On Saturday, AEW announced Penta & Rey Fenix will be on WrestleDream as part of a four team tag match. Those shows are on the same day. I know it can be confusing with names, but it’s the same Penta booked for two different countries on the same day. It’s still possible AEW TV will write Penta out of the WrestleDream match this week – that just happened last month with other PPV matches – but it would be unwise to expect AAA to say anything about this situation before Sunday. Penta is absolutely going to work the AEW show if he remains booked in both; he’s under contract to AEW and not to AAA, so the priority is not in doubt. This unavailability (and maybe late surprise unavailability) will increasingly become an issue in 2024 if reports of AEW running 12 PPVs in 2024 prove correct. It’s also curious that AEW VP QT Marshall would be wrestling in Jalisco on the same day as an AEW PPV, but that’s someone else’s issue to figure out.

I didn’t put together Heroes Inmortales and WrestleDream on the same day until this Penta situation came up. I was actually thinking that since Heroes Inmortales is airing live – on Space and HBO Max in Mexico – maybe it was time to bring back the stream. I guess not, so much if myself and may people who would watch the stream are watching AEW instead. There is a greater issue here more than my dumb streams: AEW adding two more hours of TV and more monthly PPVs continues to shift some eyeballs away from non-major US wrestling promotions. There’s just only so much time in a week.

The Heroes Inmortales card has at least three matches that will need to be changed since Vikingo and Centella were both advertised. Your guess at what they end up doing is as good as mind. We can guess when AAA might have been clued in on some change: they last promoted the lineup on September 12 and cropped on the lineup starting on September 18th.

There was a show here! Again, the fourway cruiserweight was said to be the best match on the show. There was an angle with Hip Hop Man disapprovingly watching matches and taking notes. Texano and Pagano weirdly went for pinfalls in the ambulance matches, which the referee would not count. They figured it out eventually. Dralistico and maybe Mecha Wolf appear to have flipped to the tecnico side off camera. The angle they ran in the lumberjack match is the same angle they ran in the last lumberjack match with those two teams (only replacing Nishikawa with La Estrella.) It probably says something important about La Estrella’s status with Dragon Gate that he was fine doing an angle with Takuma & Kento, who are very much out of Dragon Gate. I refuse to believe AAA is actually doing a Negro Casas/Nicho match because it’s too sad. There was no commentary over the sound system; there’s no definite decision if that’s a one show pause or a full time change. Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera looked about 60% full for this show, which seems a little disappointing for a Mexico City show. It’s not a great sign for the drawing power of Komander/Vikingo, which is why I’m finding it harder to get worked up about it.

I didn’t get to watch this week’s AAA on Space show as of yet. You probably can’t totally either if you’re relying on me. I took five tries and I couldn’t get find one complete recording of the women’s match, which turned out to the be main event. There doesn’t appear to be any skits or angles on the show, just matches. The video quality is superb this week though.

AAA airing on “AMas” move to Sundays at 4pm. AAA’s been on this channel, a subchannel of Azteca, since they jumped over in 2019. It’s a much better time to watch it the 1 AM slot on the main Azteca channel, but obviously a lot fewer people checking out the channel.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 09/24/2023 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG]
1) Fussion & Sagitarius b Diablo I Jr. & Maggie Girl
No one can agree if it’s Maggie Girl or Magic Girl (which is what it actually sounds like)
2) Karaoui b Dr. Cerebro [Cero Cuerdas, semifinal]
3) Hell Boy & Shocko b Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr.
feuding referees, setting up a Reyes Rosas/Sonrisas seconds hair match.
4) Judas el Traidor b Avisman [Cero Cuerdas, semifinal]
5) Ivan Rokov, Relámpago, Súper Comando b Dr. Cerebro Jr., Puma de Oro, Último Legendario
Super Comando is 1/3rd of the IWRG IC Trios champions, having won them elsewhere.
6) Hijo de Canis Lupus, León Dorado, Mr. Leo b Hijo del Fishman, Tonalli, Toxin
7) Heddi Karaoui b Judas el Traidor [Cero Cuerdas, final]

Heard this was a fun show.

More Lucha Elsewhere

I caught the NOAH show from Sunday morning, as part of my deep and unhealthy fascination with Psycho Clown matches not in AAA. I thought his match with El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. was good, but disappointing if you (like me) wanted to see what Psycho would do in a straight match. I mean, it was a straight match compared to an AAA match, but also Psycho’s just not going to do a completely straight match – they did as much blood, mask ripping and brawling in the crowd as the NOAH format would allow. I did really like the story of the normally confident and successful Wagner being absolutely thrown off his game by the man who unmasked his father, and resorting to a mask pull and a foul to escape. It was not cheating just because that’s what an evil character to do, it was cheating because the man had lost all confidence he could win any other way. Psycho talked post match about doing a rematch, and there’s obvious ground to do one, but it seems unlikely he’s going to spend another few weeks in Japan. he got to bring his family for a trip and that was fun, though it would be surprising to see him as more regular presence there with his Mexico schedule. Likewise, there’s probably some mileage of Wagner 3G as a new Psycho opponent in AAA but I don’t know if he’ll be around Mexico enough to do anything more with it.

Elsewhere on the show, Los Golpeadors defeated Ninja Mack and Alejandro for the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag team Titles. This surprised me; I was sure Mack & Alejandro were winning once they showed off matching gear in NOAH colors. It was exactly the sort of “tons of moves, some of them work, some of them make sense” you’d expect from these guys. There were more moves and a lot of effort because it was a title match, but there were holes you could point out if you wanted to. It achieved it’s goal. The Alpha Wolf/Dragon Bane tossed dive is really over as a GIF.

The titles were vacant because Daga’s partner Chris Ridgeway left NOAH for personal reasons. Daga himself won a singles match on the show and looks to be getting the next shot at the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship.

The Gringo Loco, Arez, and Latigo trip through Germany (for both wXw and GCW) seems to have gotten good reviews. Haven’t seen it, would like to see it, don’t know when I would find time for it.

The Galeno del Mal/Dinasita freak show match in Prestige didn’t happen. No Dinastia; the word I’ve heard it was completely a Dinastia issue.

Other News

Hijo del Santo say he’s still training every (week)day because his body wouldn’t know what to do if he stopped.

Blue Demon Jr. helped promote a wrestling book.

Salon Los Angeles, the same place that hosted the CMLL afterparty last week, held an event to celebrate Dia Nacional de la Lucha Libre. Among those in attendance were Villano IV, Hijo del Villano III, Black Shadow Jr. and Canek (who told the press he had not been invited to the CMLL celebration.)

Milenio has a “what are (Jalisco) wrestlers like in real life” article. Valkiria turns out to be from Zacatecas.

Lucha libre annual awards were handed out in San Luis Potosi. I’m not typing all 19 awards. Best luchadors appears to be Rey Aguila (rudo?) and Gavilan Jr. (tecnico), best luchadoras are Luz Viva (tecnico) and Dark Moon (ruda.)

A story about the history of lucha libre in Tulancingo. The annual celebration at El Santo’s statue in Tulancingo took place.

Wrestlers in Oaxaca celebrated national lucha libre day.

A profile of retired Cuernavaca luchador/wrestler Kaliman (Baltazar Jayer Gomez.) He started at the age of 17, and was still working as a referee until a couple years ago. He’s 77 now.

The Ciudad Juarez government pledged 45,000 pesos (~2,600 USD) to various local lucha libre arenas as part of their upcoming lucha libre marathon.

El Universal vists Zona 23.

CMLL

Today’s CMLL show, with the correct opener this time:

CMLL (FRI) 09/22/2023 Arena México
1) Hombre Bala Jr. & Pelon Encapuchado vs Difunto & Espanto Jr.
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi vs Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
3) Virus vs TJP [lightning]
4) Águila Solitaria, Black Terry, Felino, Octagón, Satánico, Solar I vs Atlantis, Blue Panther, Negro Navarro, Pantera, Panterita del Ring, Rocky Santana [cibernetico]
5) Ángel de Oro, Místico, Templario vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Rocky Romero, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

The main event is the usual Aniversario rematch, which means Dragon Rojo is either beating Templario or unmasking him. The legends match is interesting as a concept and we’ll see how it works. Virus versus TJP should be great. The opening matches look fine. Not a PPV you must get but probably will be good.

CMLL (MON) 09/25/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja, Hijo de Centella Roja, Xelhua vs Dreyko, El Malayo, Sombra Diabólika
2) Lady Metal vs Hera [lightning]
3) Historico, Novato, Valiente Jr. vs El Perverso, Prayer, Vegas
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Volcano vs Crixus, Difunto, Kráneo
5) Máscara Dorada, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
6) Templario vs Ángel de Oro

Templario continues to stand in for Volador. Lady Metal gets a singles match. Historico gets a match at all; I probably need to add him and Novato to the database already.

CMLL (TUE) 09/26/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Atilus, Maximus, Rey Urano vs Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy
2) Adira, Andrómeda, Katara, Magia Azul vs Centinela, Hatana, Lady Metal (Puebla), Perse
3) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. vs Arlequín, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte
4) Sanely vs La Catalina [lightning]
5) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Valkiria vs La Maligna, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada vs Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Último Guerrero

Three women’s matches, Soberano as a rudo, this is definitely a Guadalajara card.

This Saturday is FantasticaMania UK, with shows at 2 pm and 8 pm local. I don’t think RevPro has specified what they’re doing here, but I still assume they’re showing up as VOD in the days after the show.

You can pretty much throw out anything I told you about the Night of Champions on Wednesday, and I’m sorry for wasting your time. I don’t think I did something wrong, but what I failed to consider is someone with a voting script using it so intensely as to push their favorite people through. The voting is off the chart. Fugaz/Dorada has been the closest race so it stands out there, but it looks like someone or someone put in between 1,500 and 2,000 votes for a chosen candidate on the ballot. There may be multiple people do it, because everyone’s getting more votes than they were before.

• In the Mistico race, both Dragon Rojo and Virus have picked up over 1600 votes. Dragon Rojo got more and will go ahead if this keeps pace.
• In the Cavernario race, Dark Panther got 2000 more votes than his rivals and will come from 3rd place to win if that keeps up. He almost doubled his entire vote total in single day.
• Nearly 6,000 votes were cast for Titan’s opponents; this is where it seems likely multiple people are trying the same thing. Fugaz’s people were more successful and are ahead now.
• The women’s race, which had been over as Catalina/Vaquer since day once, now has Zeuxis getting 1,800 votes a day. She’ll catch up tomorrow.
• Los Indestructibles are the lucky winners in the trios title match, and they’ll catch up by the end of the weekend if the pattern holds up.
• Angelito is the chosen mini winner, and he’ll get to first place on Saturday

CMLL never throws out script votes, they just try to use a better script the next year, so the numbers are what they are. People should vote to support their wrestlers but it’s going be decided by what the people who run scripts want to see.

KeMonito out of CMLL

The original KeMonito has indeed left CMLL, and it’s a bad breakup. An article in InfoPolitano on Thursday (which appears to actually be a KeMonito press release) explains his side of the story. KeMonito worked as Tinieblas’ mascot Alushe prior to 2002, they had a falling out, and Paco Alonso brought him to CMLL under the mascot character. Alfonso Morales named him on commentary, and it was working with Shocker that first really got him over. KeMonito claims he’s wanted to retire for many years, but was convinced by Salvador Lutteroth and his daughter Gala to continue. Then, the pandemic happened, and KeMonito says he was paid nothing – he had to make all his money off KeMonito items he sold on social media. CMLL brought KeMonito back when they resumed shows, though his salary was cut and he was newly restricted from working certain events and functions. CMLL also asked KeMonito to sign a contract. He refused, citing CMLL not paying money for a Grupo Bimbo commercial campaign he appeared in. KeMonito also mentioned in interviews that he’d like to retire, which upset CMLL – they wanted the character to be timeless and didn’t want to acknowledge any change in the person portraying it. CMLL was OK with KeMonito retiring, but wanted him to do so confidentially and without telling people. The issue stood still for a while when KeMonito took time off due to health issues, and he came back with his own proposal about payment when he returned. CMLL lawyers rejected his proposal, and KeMonito felt he was pressured by various people to just retire with no money. (He names Ultimo Dragoncito and “Terror”, probably referee Terror Chino, as part of this pressure.) KeMonito left the negotiations without signing what he believed was a fraudulent and abusive contract. KeMonito believes CMLL will introduce his replacement this Sunday and wanted his story out in advance. There will also be a KeMonito press conference about the situation on Monday.

The last time I can find KeMonito’s appearing on a CMLL card is the July 21st show. He’s hanging out with the tecnicos in the segunda that week. KeMonito is on the poster the following week,but he’s not around. He’s been on the poster for the Sunday shows every week, including when he was still around, though he hasn’t appeared on them since July as far as I could determine. KeMonito may have heard there’s a replacement coming, or he may be seeing his face on that poster and believe that means it’s happening. It’s unclear where the red devil KeMonito fits in this; it could be meant as a rival to the new character, or it’s possible it’s the replacement. The original KeMonito seems to be using “QueMoniito” on Instagram as his new name.

CMLL hasn’t said anything about this. I thought we might get a trademark “Comunicado Oficial” talking about a separation, but maybe the idea is they still believe they can change out the character without most people noticing, and so they want to keep it as quiet as possible. It’s going to be tough to do that as the media attention for this story picks up, especially after that press conference on Monday.

The idea of replacing KeMonito has precedent; Tinieblas Sr. & Jr. found someone else to wear that Alushe suit, and may have changed that role again over the years with no one noticing. Multiple people using the same character or being changed from one to another happens a bit with the minis and smaller wrestlers. Still, this all seems a delusional plan as stated: any change would’ve gotten out quickly in the gossipy world of professional wrestling (if it wasn’t already physically obvious), and it would’ve been on CMLL how to manage the fallout. I think I would’ve gotten a big crowd out of a show around the original KeMonito retiring, paid him to endorse the replacement (either in a new costume or same), and moved on that way. It’s not my money, though.

Lawsuits over who owns a lucha libre character also have precedent, though they’ve almost always been luchadors suing AAA about it. Mascara Sagrada did get control of his name, and Octagon certainly claims to have won many lawsuits. Wrestlers like LA Park, Kraneo, and Ripper (now back in CMLL as Psicosis) haven’t been as lucky. The people portraying sports mascots are replaced without much fanfare, though there have been some high-profile cases where fans figured out the change, and it became a story for some time.

In a Mas Lucha interview two years or so ago, Dorian Roldan said the one thing he’d like to take from CMLL is KeMonito. He could actually do that now. Roldan did get Microman, though he seems to have finished up last year. Microman was still in CMLL when KeMonito told the promotion he wanted to retire pre-pandemic, and I wonder how much that played into his retirement decision then or how much it played into Microman deciding to take (likely better paying US) bookings.

AAA

AAA tapes Saturday night in Mexico City.

AAA TV (SAT) 09/23/2023 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Drago Kid, Dulce Kanela, Mini Vikingo vs Dinámico, Kamik-C, Skalibur
2) Centella vs Chik Tormenta
3) Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa vs Kento & Takuma [lumberjack]
4) Octagón Jr. vs Mechawolf, Drago, Bestia 666 [AAA LA, #1 Contenders]
5) Dralistico & Negro Casas vs Argenis & Nicho el Millionario
6) Pagano vs Texano Jr. [ambulance]
7) Hijo Del Vikingo © vs Komander [AAA MEGA]

Vikingo is going to wrestle as best I can tell, though he obviously won’t be 100% and I wouldn’t count on him working a full schedule for a while. The last ambulance match had someone help the heel win and this seems likely to be the same finish. (This is the same arena where the Pagano injury angle started.) Nicho looked so done on TripleMania but AAA doesn’t seem it or they just believe they have to have old wrestlers. Octagon Jr. seems likely to get the title shot based on future booking. The last time Kento and Takuma were on TV six months ago, they were facing the same guys in the same lumberjack match; nothing changes on these TV tapings. Centella/Tormenta is a match to showcase Centella. Opener is a lot spots and hopefully most of them will work.

This is not airing, as best I can tell, until 10/15. This week finishes off the Showcenter, next week starts Heroes Inmortales, then this one airs. Maybe.

To finish off Showcenter, AAA is airing:

• Dulce Kanela vs Ultra vs Gemelo Tapia
• Mr. Iguana vs Epydemius vs Blecegor
• Sexy Star vs Centella vs Lady Maravilla

The Space press release mentioning this lineup seems to mention the regular AAA shows are going up on HBO Max. That’s new to me, it’s only been the live TripleManias mentioned prior.

AAA and governmental group INJUVE announced a strategic alliance on Thursday. INJUVE had been working with luchadors dating back to the pandemic, when Ciclon Ramirez Jr., Bandido and other worked on campaigns to promote wearing face masks and entertained people getting vaccines. There’s been at least an informal Big Lucha/INJUVE alliance, and it looks like that’s being extended to AAA. More details are to come later, but it reads like there’s a plan for another talent search.

Dorian Roldan sat down with Mas Lucha for about a half hour after the show, and also pointed in the direction of this being a talent search. I feel like the Big Lucha version of this showed that Mexico City has been picked pretty clean – it’s hard to find an undiscovered CDMX talent at ths point – but AAA’s history with talent searches is fantastic and it makes sense to try again in case someone from elsewhere shows up. There’s also talk of working with the people who’ve been working in campaigns with INJUVE already.

Roldan also mentions AAA will have 23 TV events this year, and last year they had 22. My count is AAA’s announced 20 TV tapings so far; are there three more coming after 11/19 Juarez? He believes the number will be about the same in 2024. Roldan pushed the idea of a new concept for a TV show, which is likely the “Drive to Survive” style reality show they’ve been shopping. There’s also talk about Luchatitlan here – it’s still being mentioned, and comes up later as a place where some AAA wrestlers are working, but there’s nothing new to discuss at the moment.

Jose Manuel Guillen asked him about people leaving AAA, and specifically Fenix working on The Crash. Roldan gives a very long and winding answer involving Lucha Underground and the differences in media rights between Mexico and US which he acknowledges is a very long and winding answer. The specific part about Fenix is everyone in AAA was told in January 2022 that The Crash is off limits, Fenix feels he owes a personal debt to that promoter, but AAA’s policy on not working for them is very clear. That made it sound like Fenix wouldn’t be back soon. On Villano III Jr., the AAA door is very large to come or to go, and he seemed alright with Villano II Jr. deciding to go. Roldan feels most wrestlers are happy working with AAA, bringing up The Crash trying to get Vikingo to jump over to them during the pandemic (!) but Vikingo opting to stay in AAA.

Roldan says the focus for year 32 of AAA is “to grow new talent, new characters for new audiences.” Roldan praises Vikingo for being high on the PWI list again and for the effort he puts in each day. (Vikingo’s status for Saturday never comes up.)

Roldan says he rated the TripleManias in order they happened – Monterrey most, then Tijuana, and Mexico City least. At this point, Jose Manuel Guillen tells Dorian Roldan that he thought TripleMania Mexico City was one of the worst TripleManias in many years. Roldan seems a little taken back, and answers that different fans and spectators see shows in different ways. He brought up friends he brought to a show going crazy for the Vampiro/Konnan confrontation at the end of a Copa TripleMania many years ago as something that hit differently for different people. He thought big moments from this year’s shows were QT Marshall becoming a giant star, Omega/Vikingo proving Vikingo’s top place in wrestling and seeing Alberto, LA Park, and Rush all in the same ring.

Roldan feels that new talent focus needs to be part of next year’s TripleManias, and that an issue is the fans don’t want to see the same wrestlers on all the shows. He also notes there’s been a lot of commentary on how AAA has some great wrestlers, but their rivalries are not followed up on and implies they need to work on that. Roldan says the toughest moment of the year for AAA is when TripleMania is over and they have to figure out what’s next. The results vary. Roldan feels TripleMania 25 (Psycho/Wagner) was great, 26 (four-way) was one of their worst, and 27 (Wagner/Demon) very good. Guillen asked if there would be three TripleManais next year and Roldan said AAA is still working on the plan, but there definitely would be major events in Monterrey, Tijuana, and Mexico City in 2024. They started to wrap up with a chat about Juan de la Barrera and Dorian Roldan talking about all the AAA history in that building. (It was a regular TV taping location for many years, especially in the mid-90s.) Roldan pushed that AAA was focused on championship matches and a strong narrative to finish on the year. He wants to grow new personality, says the luchadoras are part of their upcoming plans, and that they’re looking for new minis. Roldan ends by hinting at big things coming in the first quarter of 2024. Guillen asked about the story of Impact taping in Mexico City this year, which Roldan acknowledged was true but said/joked they were out of time to talk about it now. More on that later.

There are encouraging signs in those answers; a focus on new stars and continuing rivalries is positive. A promise to focus at all is great. Roldan mentioning trying to mix up the talent on the TripleManis is interesting; a reason it’s the same talent is AAA has been running a tournament that requires the same people in key roles on all those shows. Does that mean no tournament in 2024? I do think we may need to retire asking Konnan or Dorian Roldan if they think a AAA show is great. JMG got a good response here, but only after the standard “some people didn’t like it but we consider them a small portion of the fans (that we can take or leave) and here’s a personal story of someone who told me they liked a show” deflection. The only time you’re going to get them to say a show is bad is years after the fact (and I was caught off guard even by Roldan saying 26 was one of the worst.) Maybe asking them once how they decide if a show is good or bad would be a better use of time; how do they tell if they’ve achieved their goal?

Dorian Roldan also has a column in Reforma, but it’s either behind a paywall or the website isn’t working.

There’s an AAA/Mortal Kombat ad. It’s unrealistic; an AAA referee DQing someone for using a weapon seems fake.

AAA EMW’s 09/30 show in Tijuana is not a TV taping but worth putting here:

AAA , EMW (SAT) 09/30/2023 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) El Rey vs Anton Carrillo, Éxtasis
2) Centella, Kitsune, Lady Shani vs Flammer, Lady Lee, Viperss
3) Jack Cartwheel & Rey Horus vs Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa and Matt Vandagriff & Willie Mack and Myzteziz & Octagón Jr. [AAA TAG, #1 Contenders]
4) Juicy Finau, Laredo Kid, Xtreme Tiger vs Danny Rivera, Rey Misterio Heredero, Silce Boogie
5) Bestia 666, Damián 666, Mecha Wolf vs Antifaz del Norte, Charro Negro (Nuevo León), Toscano
6) Alberto el Patrón, Negro Casas, Pagano vs Daga, Marty Scurll, Texano Jr.
7) Arkángel Divino, Fantastik, Rayo Star, Último Maldito vs Dinámico, Genio del Aire, Kamikaze, Skalibur [cage]

There sure are a lot of people on this card. American Icon isn’t listed on the poster, so this is AAA or EMW bringing in Marty Scurll on their own. Since AAA booking seems entirely frozen in the mid 90s, the main event is probably intended to bring back memories of a “Tijuana star of death” cage match of weapons. Those that were there said it was an outstanding match, impressive photos turned up in a magazine, and it’s an infamous missing match. There were US fans often going to Tijuana to record shows, one who planned to go that show was told nothing special was happening and he could skip and so there’s no known recording of it. 30 years later, they’re doing the same thing – by which I mean hoping someone else records it because the promotion doesn’t seem to be doing it.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 09/21/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, thecubsfan]
1) Psycko Kid b Leo Cristiano, Príncipe Arkano, Ajolotol, Dragón Fly, Torbillno Azul, Manchas, Diablo Jr., Dr. Cerebro, Magic Girl, Hip Hop Man, Black Terry Jr., Sagitarius, Adrenalina, Ivan Rokov, Sammy Guerrero, Omega, Mariachi, Vampiro Aztaroth, La Mosca, Epidemia, La Masa, Mini Scorpió, Canibal Jr., El Canadiense, Buk Danger, Caballero dE Plata, Hell Boy [Copa Mexico Argentina]
all wrestlers a surprise
2) Avisman b El Mimo [Cero Cuerdas, quarterfinal]
3) Judas el Traidor b Aramis [Cero Cuerdas, quarterfinal]
4) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Mr. Mike b Dr. Cerebro Jr. & Spider Fly
5) Karaoui b Súper Comando [Cero Cuerdas, quarterfinal]
6) Dr. Cerebro b Cerebro Negro [Cero Cuerdas, quarterfinal]
7) Galeno del Mal © b Hijo del Pirata Morgan [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense

I watched the first four matches, half paying attention the last two. The battle royal was very long and that’s why I want all battle royales to go away. (Maybe the CMLL ones are the good ones?) Photographer Black Terry Jr. was the non-wrestling surprise, as they seem to do every year. He did well. The Canadian guy was awful and everyone was confused on the finish. The grappling matches (“Cueo Cuerdas”) seemed watchable and they sure did a lot of moves in match four. And then I went to bed because the IWRG show started late, I was already sleepy and I thought extra sleep might help me get this post done in a timely matter today. Clearly should’ve just stayed up.

IWRG (SUN) 09/24/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fussion & Sagitarius vs Diablo Jr. & Maggie Girl
2) Dr. Cerebro vs Karaoui [Cero Cuerdas, semifinal]
3) Hell Boy & Shocko vs Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr.
4) Judas el Traidor vs Avisman [Cero Cuerdas, semifinal]
5) Dr. Cerebro Jr., Puma de Oro, Último Legendario vs Ivan Rokov, Relámpago, Súper Comando
6) Hijo de Canis Lupus, León Dorado, Mr. Leo vs Hijo del Fishman, Tonalli, Toxin
7) ? vs ?? [Cero Cuerdas, final]

This tournament finishes up here. “Maggie Girl” is pronounced “Magic Girl”, so either the luchadora or the people putting together the post don’t know how to spell Magic. Could go either way.

Other News

Psycho Clown challenges El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. for the GHC National Champion on NOAH’s show from Nagoya (early) Sunday. You can watch it on WrestleUniverse, (900 yen/~6 USD a month, 1 week free trial for new people.) I’m always intrigued to find out how Psycho Clown can do outside the AAA style. The outcome is in little doubt – Wagner’s surely retaining – but the match itself is really interesting.

The Cassandro movie is up on Amazon Prime. It’s entertaining but still a movie; if you’re looking for something totally realistic, you’re better off with the documentary. There’s a ton of media on the movie, though not anything recent with the principals involved because of the actors and writer’s strikes. The release is probably the biggest wrestling story of the week – even the WWE/SmackDown deal isn’t getting brought up in the New York Times and the Rolling Stone – except it doesn’t seem talked about at all in the wrestling sphere.

Criterio Hidalgo interviews a La Parkita, who says he’s been the one in AAA for the last four years. AAA hasn’t really booked minis for the last couple of years, but they do show up on spot shows. (La Parkita is one gimmick I’ve given up trying to track in the luchadb, because it’s clear there is and have been multiple indistinguishable people using the gimmick at the same time.) The article is more La Parkita’s frustration of over the lack of Hidalgo lucha libre commission. There’s been talk of doing a state-wide once a few times in recent years but it’s never been made official. There are a lot of active luchadors and promotions in the state and no oversight or protections.

There were a lot of “what is lucha libre” articles for Thursday’s 90th Aniversario of CMLL.

• CMLL wrestlers visited a new photo exhibition.
• Record has a lucha libre explainer
• ESTO has a history of the icon molded plastic lucha libre figures.
• US ambassador Ken Salazar talks about EMLL being inspired by Salvador Lutteroth seeing a wrestling show in El Paso as an example of the connection between the two companies.
• Momento Digital profiles San Luis Potosi on local Rayo de Plata Jr. for the holiday
• A visit to the Tijuana lucha libre musuem.
• Wrestlers and governmental officials came together for a celebratory meal in Guadalajara.
• A similar event happened in Arena Aficion. The local promoter believes there’s more than 130 luchadors in Pachuca, a city of 270,000 people.
• Luchadors in Chiapas want some social security.

CMLL

Volador is hopeful of returning to action as quickly as Tuesday. I had to listen to the CMLL Informa segment about this three times before I was sure I heard correctly. Volador suffered a third-degree separation of his AC joint; had it been any worse, he’d need surgery and the doctor probably would’ve stopped the match on Saturday. Quick googling tells me people usually need more than a week of recovery time for a third degree separation; I’m sure he’ll be wearing a brace but he wouldn’t be right for a while.

CMLL (MON) 09/18/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) El Novato & Xelhua b Espíritu Maligno & King Jaguar
2) El Perverso & Prayer b Rey Apocalipsis & Siky Ozama
3) Hera, Olympia, Reyna Isis b La Maligna, Lady Metal, Skadi
Lady Metal replaced La Magnifica, making her CMLL Arena Puebla debut. This is not the Lady Metal of the 90s/00s, but a Puebla luchadora and the first local luchadora to wrestle on a CMLL show here in modern times.
4) Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. b Lince Dorado & Samuray del Sol 
Villanos won with pulls of the trunks
5) Arkalis, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma DQ Kevin Knight, Rocky Romero, TJP 
Romero unmasked Maya.
6) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Templario DQ Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Niebla Roja
Originally a CMLL Trios title match, changed due to Volador injury on 09/16 with Templario stepping in earlier on 09/18. Angel de Oro unmasked Templario, seemingly setting up a singles match

CMLL usually has extra women available on short notice to fill in for an absence in Guadalajara. The same for the Mexico City shows. Puebla was the one stop on the current circuit where one woman missing a show meant someone else had to sit out to keep even numbers. (Other promotions would just book a five way or a three way match, but that’s not how CMLL works.) That seems to have changed now. I don’t know if Lady Metal or the other Puebla luchadoras will have memorable CMLL careers, but just filling in that gap helps the rest of the women. It’s a small thing and it shouldn’t have taken long to figure out, but it’s still good they got there. Lady Metal debuting was a (small) story locally; El Sol de Puebla played up the significance of one of their own luchadoras making to the city’s biggest regular arena.

The Villanos truly did beat the Lucha House Party, you can check the video. I didn’t screw that result up. I think it was Villano III Jr. who pulled the trunks so hard that Lince wasn’t actually pinned but close enough. Samuray & Lince defeating Titan and Soberano and losing to the Villanos is not something I would’ve guessed.

CMLL (TUE) 09/19/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Átomo & Chamuel b Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II
2) Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia b Aéreo, Galaxy, Shockercito
3) Futuro & Neón b El Coyote & Pólvora
Polovra ended up with a bloody nose
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Volcano b Akuma, Kráneo, Okumura
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible b Atlantis Jr., Esfinge, Titán
Terrible was cut underneath the eye in the ending dive sequence.
6) Máscara Dorada b Soberano Jr.
Dorada took 2/3

Because I’m dumb, I kinda got distracted by a search for a super obscure Chicago indie luchador when I should’ve been watching this main event. It’s a mystery why I did that like it’s a mystery why TKG always tweets me at my non-lucha account. Soberano & Dorada seemed to be doing a lot of stuff, and it almost all worked – they slipped trying while both rope walking to set up a Spanish Fly, a spot made famous by Ricochet/Flamita. It was a GIF that was everywhere for a moment, and now I can’t find it at all. I’ll give this a better watch later, but it sounded like people who are better at focusing liked it quite a bit.

CMLL (TUE) 09/19/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, thecubsfan]
1) Obek, Rav, Temerario b Fúnebre, Infierno, Mortis
2) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus, Trono b Cris Skin, Demonio Maya, Omega, Principe Daniel
3) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio, Virus b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga, Satánico
4) Reyna Isis & Sanely b La Catalina & La Maligna
Sanely beat Catalina with a mask pull
5) Dulce Gardenia & La Fashion b Bestia Negra & Vaquero Jr.
Gardenia & Fashion pushed to become the first exotico team in CMLL history
6) Dark Magic, Lince Dorado, Samuray del Sol b Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico
7) Arlequín, Averno, Místico b Kevin Knight, Rocky Romero, TJP
Mistica on Rocky

Seemed like a standard Guadalajara show.

ACG (THU) 09/21/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Alex Romano, Demencía, Roberto Paz Jr., Sobek vs Centauro, Dragón Kid, Olimpo, Santi Betancourt
2) Águila Guerrera, Makabre, Maravilla Azteca vs Kaiju, Rey Plata, Rey Tritón
3) Valkiria vs Sexy Sol, Dulce Kitty, Náutica, La Pantera, Atenea, Fría, Yemaya, Xenna, Adria, Estrella Maldita, Luna [cibernetico]
4) Brian Villa, Colorado, Gallo, Giro vs Delirio, Dr. Clown, Rayman, Xtreme Fly
5) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga

Seems like an unusual Guadalajara show. This is a Dia de Luchador special, with wrestlers from the other Guadalajara arenas pulled in. Everything from Guadalajara ends up streaming.

CMLL (FRI) 09/22/2023 Arena México
1) Kaligua & Pequeño Magía vs Mercurio & Pierrothito

1) Hombre Bala Jr. & Pelon Encapuchado vs Difunto & Espanto Jr.
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi vs Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
3) Virus vs TJP [lightning]
4) Águila Solitaria, Black Terry, Felino, Octagón, Satánico, Solar I vs Atlantis, Blue Panther, Negro Navarro, Pantera, Panterita del Ring, Rocky Santana [cibernetico]
5) Ángel de Oro, Místico, Templario vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Rocky Romero, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

This is the Dia de Luchador show; the holiday is on the 21st, the legend’s cibernetico is in their honor. There will also be a blue (red) carpet showing off in various legends. Sobreano steps in for Volador in the main event, which actually works perfectly for the Templario feud. Virus versus TJP is a real treat for the Luchadorks. Samuray, Lince and Kevin Knight appear to have finished up already.

CMLL (SAT) 09/23/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Leono vs Inquisidor [lightning]
2) Max Star, Oro Jr., Valiente vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Sanely vs La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
4) Star Black, Valiente, Volcano vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo
5) Negro Navarro & Solar I vs Blue Panther & Felino
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario

You have to show up early, can’t miss that Leono/Inquisidor tilt. Navarro/Solar versus Panther/Felino is a match that should show up as a subscriber bonus.

I was assuming CMLL’s Noche de Champions votes closed today. That’s the normal pattern: they have to announce on the Informa 10 days ahead of time, because the CMLL card will come out before the next Informa. That’s not the case this time: CMLL is leaving the voting open for another week. That means the 09/29 show will have no advertised matches until a couple of day prior. It’s not a first time ever- CMLL used to run cards in the 60s and earlier where the entire show was determined by a battle royal – but it is a unique bit.

The 09/29 card looks like this as the moment, in card order:

1) Mistico vs Virus for the NWA Welterweight Championship
2) Rey Cometa, Dulce Gardenia, Espiritu Negro vs Villano III Jr., Hijo del Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. for the Mexican National Trios Championship
3) Barbaro Cavernario vs Esfinge for the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship
4) Stephanie Vaquer vs La Catalina for the (vacant) CMLL World Women’s Championship
5) Mercurio vs Pierrothito for the CMLL Pequeno Estrellas Championship
6) Titan vs Mascara Dorada for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship

Most of this is set. There’s three stories that still seem to exist

• Mascara Dorada leads Fugaz by 885, a decent amount. Fugaz has picked up an average of 162 votes a day for the last week. If that stayed the same, Fugaz will pass Dorada on Tuesday. It probably won’t stay the same, but going the extra week makes that title match a 50/50 bet.
• Dragon Rojo has gotten the expected sympathy votes following losing his mask. He’s nowhere near passing Virus for the title match with Mistico (1362 lead to Virus), but those extra votes for Dragon Rojo may help Mistico’s title match to get out of the opener. They’re about a 157 votes behind.
• The 3/4/5 matches are all close enough in votes that they could change order if people got motivated.

CMLL said they’d have info on the Women’s Gran Prix and Universal tournament on next week’s Informa.

CMLL put up tickets for October Arena Mexico on Ticketmaster. That also is normally a way to figure out which of those shows are the big ones (probably the Gran Prix), but all the Fridays are the same price. The Tuesday 10/31 tickets are a little more expensive than the rest of the month on the low end, but you could’ve guessed that was a Dia del Muertos show just by the date.

LuchaTalk returns to talk about the CMLL Aniversario.

Box y Lucha 3569 has lots of Aniversario coverage.

AAA

Hijo del Vikingo’s status still seems up in the air. AAA’s said nothing and continued to promote Saturday’s card as if it’s still on. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer was doubtful that Vikingo would be wrestling on Komander on that show; it sounded like AAA thought it was unlikely but Vikingo is still trying to rehab his way into still wrestling.

There’s a lot more uncertainty in Vikingo’s situation. It’s understandable if they want to give Vikingo as much time to see if he can make it or not. But AAA could also announce “hey, we’re not sure if Vikingo is going to be medically cleared but, just so you know, we’ll give you a worthwhile replacement if he can go”, and they’ll never do that. The only way we’ll get an update on this before Saturday is if they rule Vikingo out, and even that isn’t a sure thing. If Vikingo can do, AAA historically won’t take advantage of the story to promote around it early – they normally just won’t talk about it until the show starts Saturday. AAA really could use some noise. This isn’t the way they’d want to make it, but it’s weird they won’t take advantage of it.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 09/21/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 [Copa Mexico Argentina]
all wrestlers a surprise
2) Avisman vs El Mimo [Cero Cuerdas, quarterfinal]
3) Judas el Traidor vs Aramis [Cero Cuerdas, quarterfinal]
4) Súper Comando vs Karaoui [Cero Cuerdas, quarterfinal]
5) Dr. Cerebro vs Cerebro Negro [Cero Cuerdas, quarterfinal]
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Galeno del Mal © [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense

True IWRG hours: Rey Espectro was IWRG heavyweight champion, IWRG got mad at him for whatever reason, and vacated the title after eight months with no defenses. Galeno del Mal won the title, and IWRG’s getting around to his first defense thirteen months into his reign. Galeno went five months without appearing in Naucalpan until this past week’s RGR show. I first wrote Hijo del Pirata Morgan was champion because no one keeps track or cares about any of these IWRG belts, but also IWRG has no interest in changing.

The Cero Cuerdas tournament is the no ropes “grappling” battle, or at least that’s the idea. Mexican wrestlers have a tendency to ignore the rules in these sort of matches. Mimo seems to have gotten the spot originally announced as Travis Banks. The opening battle royal is a Hip Hop 10th Anniversary match where everyone is a surprise.

Other News

Yutani announced he’d left Big Lucha on Tuesday. He frames it as “to explore new opportunities and grow my career.” Yutani was left off the 09/30 Big Lucha card, which seemed weird for a Mexico versus the World theme. I had wondered if he’d be the mystery person in the main event, but I’m told that’s planned to be someone else. I’m not sure if Yutani is returning to Japan or wrestling elsewhere in North America. Elemental and Extasis are the names that left Big Lucha earlier this year; both have definitely been booked a bit more often on their own, but in the interchangable “action” area with no obvious sign of individual growth or opportunities to move up.

Former CMLL luchador Halcon Negro will be honored in Arena Tigre Padilla on Thursday. I read this news bit praising him and going over his career and I was concerned he must have died but, no, they’re just honoring him while he’s there for it.

Record has an interview with “Alebrije AAA” and “Black Alebrije” about their feud. It doesn’t say where this feud is happening, and comes off usual “newspaper outlet writes about wrestlers as if they’re a big star, without actually checking.” This Alebrije claims he’s been given permission by Dorian Roldan and Marisela Pena to use the gimmick even though they’re not using him on TV “right now.” He appeared as Alebrije AAA TV between 2012 and 2014, so “right now” is going on about a decade. My theory is he’s involved in promoting AAA shows in Puebla somehow and letting him keep the gimmick is part of the promotional agreement (at least until AAA decides they need it again for something.) He works in Puebla a lot on indies, and that’s where the Black Alebrije feud is actually happening The Record interview seems to confirm he’s the former Mascara Divina, as we have in the wiki but not in the database (until now.)

Segunda Caida continues its deep dive into Panamanian wrestling.

CMLL

 

CMLL (SAT) 09/16/2023 Arena México [CMLL, ContraReplica, Criterio Hidalgo, Cronista del Ring, El Universal, ESTO (Dragon Rojo), ESTO (general), ESTO (Volador), ESTO (women), Grada, Heraldo Deportes, Infobae, Kaiser Sports, La Lista, Lucha Central, Record, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis b La Jarochita & Lluvia [CMLL WOMEN TAG]   
12:58. Vaquer & Zeuxis win the new championships (and vacate the Occidente Women’s Tag Team championships in the process). Salvador Lutteroth III and El Fantasma appeared before the match to sanction the match, and also for Lutteroth to thank the fans.
2) Esfinge b Rugido [Copa Independencia]   
11:11 via Nudo Egipcia. US ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and Lutteroth appeared; Salazar was heckled.
3) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Octagón b Fuerza Guerrera, Satánico, Virus   
11:36.
4) Lince Dorado & Samuray del Sol b Soberano Jr. & Titán   
20:09
5) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico b Kevin Knight, Rocky Romero, TJP   
20:34. Mistico won cleanly, but Romero unmasked him post match (and his fellow partners followed suit.)
6) Ángel de Oro & Volador Jr. b Averno & Último Guerrero [winners advance]   
8:12. Guerrero hit Averno twice by accident, Averno clotheslined Guerrero on purpose, leading to their loss. They fought post between matches.
7) Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro [hair] 
13:27. Volador apparently suffered a right shoulder injury in the first minute of the match, off a swing into the barricade. CMLL’s doctor stopped the match twice to check on Volador, but he continued through and wrestled (and won) with one arm. Seconds were Magia Blanca and Niebla Roja. Angel de Oro got his head shaved in the ring.
8) Templario b Dragón Rojo Jr. [mask]   
14:47. Dragon Rojo attacked Templario prior to the match. Seconds were Nitro and Chamuel; Dragon Rojo attacking Chamuel led to his demise. Dragon Rojo Jr. tearfully unmasked as Anselmo Rivas Castro, 42 years old, 22 years a wrestler. His wife and daughter joined him.

This show was outstanding. My top criticism going into the show was that it lacked a hugely historically important match for a 90th Aniversario. What CMLL did instead was making it feel like historically epic. The card went over three and half hours; I can’t think of another recent CMLL show that went even three. Twenty minute matches are rare outside of ciberneticos, and there were two different tag matches that got that much time. (The hair match sequence combined also went over twenty.) Nothing felt cut on time, everything got go about the length it needed to have the best possible show. This could’ve exhausted a CMLL crowd, but it seemed made up far more of diehard fans who knew the characters and less of tourists than normal. I’m not sure hit a consensus MOTYC level – though Angel de Oro/Volador will get some votes – but the show in its entirety blew away any other show in Mexico this year.

On each match:

• the opener was a “let’s do as many moves as possible” classic, it just happened to be with women instead of men. The two teams had their expected great chemistry and never lost the thread no matter how fast they were going. It might have worked with a little bit more time, but I think the frantic pace of it was part of it. Zeuxis breaking out the Spanish Fly to the floor for the first time in maybe a decade was unexpected, as was the totally clean and totally at the same time victory. (My predictions were so bad on this show, but this likely means Vaquer is coming out of this month as double women’s champion.)
• Esfinge and Rugido had a well enough constructed match that I remember very little from two days later. This match made it clear the crowd was heavy with people who actually follow the promotion: most anyone can figure out Esfinge’s crazy Nudo Egipica cradle is something important, but you’ve got to be a big CMLL dork to know Rugido’s finish is a German suplex. The crowd reacted as if was a big deal when Esfinge kicked out of it.
• Blue Panther was the star of the legend’s match, as the only legend on his side who could do anything. Virus took most of the offense because he was the guy who could move. It was a generous crowd who wanted to have fun. The old guys looked old but never were painfully exposed.
• Samuray del Sol went for a complicated dive at the start of the second fall, it didn’t go right, and then he seemed to be off a bit the rest of the match. I’m not sure if something happened there, and it wasn’t a huge issue, it was just there if you were looking for it. Lince did well, as did the CMLL too. Titan & Soberano losing here when there’s no obvious plan for the ex-Lucha House Party guys is weird. I suspect the idea was to split the CMLL versus outsiders matches and they just didn’t want Mistico to lose, even though it would’ve made more sense to go that way given the directions.
• The NJPW team played strongly rudo, and did a good of shocking Kevin Knight to make him look like an important inclusion on this show. Just like the other tag match, there was a lot of action and it all was pretty good. Rocky seemed like he planned to take Mistico’s mask, and the other two guys realized they might as well too.
• The leading tag match got a decent amount of time and a straight enough forward story: the team that couldn’t work together quickly lost. I was wrong about Averno losing his hair here, but the post match brawl made it seem most definitely happening sooner or later.
• Angel de Oro swinging Volador into the barricade happens a lot in big matches and never much comes of them. (CMLL did put in self-promotional stickers on the barricades, among a lot of other dressing up the building for the 90th Aniversario – but it didn’t seem like the barricades themselves were any stiffer.) CMLL seems like they have two medical staff; the guys who are part of the commission who are slow to check on the wrestlers no matter what has happened (and tend to be involved in worked stuff) and the new-ish medical staff that’s always sprinting out from the back (and seems to get worked by wrestler’s selling from time to time.) This was the new doctor who hurried out and checked, much to Angel de Oro’s visible frustration. Volador wasn’t ever letting the match be stopped, it couldn’t really be stopped given the finish, and the doctor’s attempt at helping wasn’t much help, so maybe that whole procedure could be refined. It did lend some credibility to the drama of Volador wrestling the match with one arm, taking big risks where he would be unable to protect himself if they went wrong, and pulling of pretty much everything he could. We won’t know what got cut out, but it came off like they basically did the match they had planned from the start, a really good match under normal circumstances and a memorable one with one arm.
• Dragon Rojo/Templario was well put together. He didn’t have to do anything too complicated as far as setting Templario up for moves. (Templario’s big spots were landing on Dragon Rojo or picking him up.) Dragon Rojo’s offensive limitations were fixed by having him use every surprise cradle in the CMLL playbook to tease nearfall after nearfall. Even the finish was the lucha libre classic of a luchador wrestling his perfect match only to make one mistake that immediately costs him. Templario probably could’ve done more with someone else but looked spectacular with what he did, and that match layout worked a lot better with two people than it would’ve with three. Dragon Rojo’s emotions about losing the mask seemed very much real, and probably were to a large extent. It makes a mask match feel like a hugely significant deal if the loser is inconsolable, rather than brushing it off as happens more often nowadays.

You should absolutely watch this one. The VOD is still up for a few more hours as I post this. (Tech nonsense: the video itself still seems to be on the server much longer than tonight, it’s just the page that plays the video gets taken down.) If you don’t get it tonight, you should absolutely sign up for CMLL’s YouTube on Sunday when it’ll go up there.

Dragon Rojo Jr. was highly emotional after his mask loss, sobbing in the ring and in post-match interview. He told the press he was in a lot of (emotional) pain, that the mask let him open up in a way he hadn’t before, and he wasn’t sure how he would continue without it. Dragon Rojo talked about maybe putting his hair on the line against Templario, but that seemed more like just throwing an idea than a real plan. (Likewise, Templario mentioned facing Soberano in a mask match next, but that wasn’t a story CMLL pushed at all.)

CMLL announced Monday afternoon that Volador Jr. is out indefinitely with a right shoulder injury. There was no mention of the severity or specificity of the injury, just a mention there may be more information on this week’s Informa. Templario will replace Volador Jr. tonight in Puebla, and that will no longer be a CMLL trios title match. Voaldor Jr. was also scheduled to team with Templario against Mascara Dorada and Mistico in Queretaro on Tuesday; there’s no replacement for that yet.

Volador Jr. has been incredibly durable with CMLL. He’s never missed a long period with an injury despite wrestling (by my database), an average of 160 matches a year. Volador seemed distraught about his injury status in his post match interview, which seems to foreshadow a long absence.

Boletia/Neerme passed its biggest test: there were no issues with the stream, the VOD was quick and had no issue, and no one really complained about how to use it – when they eventually figured out the show wasn’t on TicketamsterLive anymore. CMLL’s website went down for a time, probably with people trying to find out that new way to order the show at the last minute – it’s still new to most people. We’ll never see the numbers, but I suspect this was the most bought CMLL PPV of all time CMLL’s hotter than last year and this Aniversario the show people will actually try to buy. It also was a rare CMLL show actually to get pirated; I see that with TripleManias but never outside of Aniversarios. People taking screengrabs of action should be more careful to crop out the Facebook “Live” indicator.

Arena Mexico was a sell out, and one where the crowd seemed to be there very early and into the show. The after party at Salon Los Angeles also sold out in advance; La Jornada says it was about 2,000 people. (Guesses for Arena Mexico capacity was all over the place; no one really is sure how much that building holds right now but it’s probably not the old 16,800 number.) This seems like a one-show blip – attendance was back down to ‘normal’ a day later – but it’s a good blip to have. CMLL pushed the Dia de Luchador show for next Friday and the Noche de Campeones for the Friday after that, but no more.

CMLL had announced there’d be a new person debuting at that after-party. The big reveal from that was a new mascot, a red version of the KeMonito outfit with devil horns. CMLL hasn’t mentioned the new character on their social media, the photo was only shared by the party goes and the building hosting the after-party. There’s no name for him yet. The look makes it seem as if he’s a rival for KeMonito, which only makes sense if KeMonito (or a KeMonito) is aorund. There’s no sense in having a third rudo mascot also standing bored in the corner like Mije and Zacarias have been doing since late July. Their bit only works if they have someone to bully. There’s probably more coming.

No one’s saying what the deal is with the original KeMonito. The best chances to get an answer are when CMLL talks about this new guy, or if he does press around the KeMonito La Ultima Comida documentary. He did make it to Poza Rica for the show on Sunday, so he’s healthy enough to get around and so that’s probably not the issue. It feels like KeMonito is gone, but CMLL is weird and it could be some something else. Maybe some double secret suspension for unclear reasons no one knows about, maybe some very Mexican wrestling argument about who exactly owns the rights to the character.

(This is not the first ‘other’ KeMonito. A week after Ultimo Guerrero kick that sent KeMonito flipping into viral GIF infamy, Guerrero debuted Ultimonito – an evil monkey to fight KeMonito. The gimmick, portrayed first by Tzuki and then by the eventual Mini Maximo, only lasted a few months.)

CMLL (SUN) 09/17/2023 Arena México [@robviper, CMLL]
1) Hombre Bala Jr. & Pólvora b Nitro & Sangre Imperial 
Polvora replaced Flyer, wrestled the match without issue, then helped the rudos beat up Bala afterwards.
2) Magnus b Blue Panther Jr. [lightning] 
3) El Audaz, Magia Blanca, Volcano b Kráneo, Misterioso Jr., Okumura 
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero 
Guerrero Maya Jr. replaced Rey Samuray.
5) Kevin Knight, Rocky Romero, TJP b Lince Dorado, Samuray del Sol, Valiente
6) Esfinge, Templario, Último Guerrero DQ Ángel de Oro, Averno, Dragón Rojo Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Esfinge replaced Volador. Straight falls, Dragon Rojo unmasking Templario in the second.

Not the turnout from the Aniversario show, but the sort of finish you’d expect following it.

Dark Silueta won the vacant CMLL Japan Women’s Championship on Sunday, defeating Kohaku. Silueta encouraged Kohaku to challenge for it in Mexico; it’s a safe bet she’s on the list for the Women’s Gran Prix.

The Tuesday and Friday lineups were out days later than usual, probably because the Aniversario threw everything off.

CMLL (TUE) 09/19/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo & Chamuel
2) Aéreo, Galaxy, Shockercito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
3) Futuro & Neón vs El Coyote & Pólvora
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Volcano vs Akuma, Kráneo, Okumura
5) Atlantis Jr., Esfinge, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible
6) Máscara Dorada vs Soberano Jr.

Though, CMLL could’ve pretty much released this card on Wednesday. The Dorada/Soberano show was set up last week, and the rest is just filling in names. Soberano/Dorada is a rematch from Guadalajara, and might be subject to Tuesday effort limits.

There’s still no Friday lineup. I left this space blank to put it here and waited and waited. I gave up if you’re seeing this sentence.

Revolution Pro announced the lineups for their FantasticaMania UK shows. It’s two shows on the same day, an afternoon and an evening one:

RevPro , CMLL , 2 pm (SAT) 09/23/2023 Manchester, United Kingdom
1) Magia Blanca vs Levi Muir
2) Audaz (CMLL), Ricky Knight Jr., Zak Knight vs Kid Lykos, Kid Lykos II, Sangre Imperial
3) Capitán Suicida vs Wild Boar
4) Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews vs Okumura & Zandokan [BRITISH TAG]
5) Titán (CMLL) vs Robbie X
6) Hechicero (CMLL), Trent Seven, Último Guerrero vs Atlantis Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Michael Oku

These cards are mostly RevPro vs CMLL, or at least mixing it so there’s only one CMLL vs CMLL show between both shows. (It’s on the next one.) Robbie X is a well regarded wrestler who seems to be missing something; maybe he’d have found it under a mask if he grew up in Mexico. You may know Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews from various WWE subpromotions; they’re teaming as Subculture now. Suicida/Boar is a delightfully weird match. The Knights are relatives of AEW’s Sayara; you may have seen them shown at AEW’s All in. The Kid Lykos team wrestled Arez and Latigo and Gringo Loco over this past weekend, so they’re getting a full Mexico experience.

RevPro , CMLL , 8 pm (SAT) 09/23/2023 Manchester, United Kingdom
1) Levi Muir & Trent Seven vs Capitán Suicida & Guerrero Maya Jr.
2) Audaz (CMLL), Ricky Knight Jr., Zak Knight vs Okumura, Sangre Imperial, Wild Boar
3) Magia Blanca vs Robbie X
4) Flash Morgan Webster, Mark Andrews, Titán (CMLL) vs Kid Lykos, Kid Lykos II, Zandokan Jr.
5) Último Guerrero vs Atlantis Jr.
6) Hechicero (CMLL) vs Michael Oku [BRITISH HEAVY]

In true FantasticaMania fashion, the last show is meant to be the best card. The Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship is RevPro’s main belt, so this is a big match for Hechicero in their world. It should be great beyond that. Ultimo Guerrero/Atlantis know each other well, the trios match could be pretty good too.

RevPro has experimented with live streaming, but these are outdoor shows at a taco festival so that seems like a stiff challenge. I expect these probably go up on their VOD service within a few days. European fans always seem to complain about the production quality of these shows so keep maybe keep that in mind.

AAA

Hijo del Vikingo was injured on Saturday’s Ring of Honor taping, needing to be helped to the back midway through match. It appeared to be a leg injury to those in attendance. WOR reported it was actually a hip injury, I’ve seen a mention that it was feared to be a rib injury; there are lot of details missing here, obviously. All I know for sure is he was encouraged to go to the hospital to get it checked out, and passed on that option on Saturday night. Logically, the injury means Vikingo is doubtful for Saturday’s AAA TV taping in Mexico City, where he’s scheduled to defend the Mega Championship against Komander. It is Vikingo though and he’s worked through enough scares and actual injuries that I just default to assuming he’ll find a way to work no matter what. It’d be a surprise if AAA gave any update before Saturday as well (and, to be fair, AAA and Vikingo may still be figuring out Vikingo’s status at this point.)

Vikingo, if he’s in one piece, will wrestle Swerve Strickland on 10/13 in Yakima.

You can skip AAA TV if you’re looking for good matches. AA is airing the full taping after all, which meant we got Baby Love and Reyna Zahori in a green looking match. They also aired Delta, La Momia, Niño Hamburguesa vs El Líder, Medico Brujo, Toscano, which was a comedy match where the referee seemed to count the pinfall when he wasn’t supposed to. Chessman & Antifaz versus Pagano & Vampiro was about what you’d expect for that match, really just building to Alberto interfering to give the tecnicos the win (and give the announcers reason to scream very loudly.) They did air Vampiro’s retirement speech, but cut it off so suddenly I was left wondering if something got cut out.

One thing you can say in favor of this taping is you could hear the crowd. I swear, there crowd reactions came through better on this show than TripleMania Mexico City (and eons better than Orizaba.) The last two matches interest me at all but it was much easier to make the case the fans in the building cared, because you could actually hear the fans in the building.

Alberto el Patron did his own promo during the show, announcing he’d wrestle on the 11/26 Showcenter card.

(My recording has the sound off a bit; I’m not sure I’m going to bother to fix it. I think I generally would’ve bene better off going through a couple more 1957 Box y Luchas; they might have been more relevant to today’s lucha libre than this obvious time filler taping.)

AAA put up Verano de Escandalo as a full show on Sunday. This appears to be the show as it aired live. That means it includes Daga promo and a Sam Adonis attack on Psycho Clown building up TripleMania that didn’t air on the TV version for whatever reason. It does helpfully catch up AAA’s YouTube a bit; they’ll be only three weeks behind now.

Fightful reported QT Marshall was working without a contract with AEW and recently signed a short team deal. QT Marshall confirmed the extension through the end of the year in an interview. He seemed to indicate that was his talent contract (he’s got an additional VP contract.) It would be very funny if a) AAA put a title on a guy (in part) so it’d be on AEW TV and then he was no longer on AEW TV and b) if they had to vacate a title because the champion got scooped up by WWE again, but both of those seem very unlikely. It does seem likely Marshall knew his contract was coming up, wanted to position himself the best, and maneuvered his way into getting a high profile program in AAA in an attempt to raise his value. That’s smart in a way where more wrestlers aren’t as savvy. It doesn’t make me like having a third different guy doing the evil foreigner bit and having uncreative matches in AAA, but credit to him for working the system if the story is true.

Marshall claims he’s trying to reach 33 defenses before losing its title, which would explain his rapid rate of defenses in some obscure places. I hope he’s keeping track of the defenses because I know I’m having a hard time keeping up: add another one on 10/22 in New Jersey.

IWRG

IWRG , RGR (SUN) 09/17/2023 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Águila Roja & Histeriosys b Legado & Ryu  
2) León Dorado & Mr. Leo b Noisy Boy & Spider Fly 
3) J-Rod & Keyra b Satania & Zyra 
4) Vito Fratelli b Hijo de Canis Lupus [IWRG Rey del Ring] 
5) Diva Salvaje & Mamba © b Hijo del Fishman & Rey Espectro [RGR TAG]
Mamba left the match injured but Diva won anyway. Lion Brothers asked for the next show.
6) Diamante Azul (Indie) b Forastero [RGR SUPREMO]
went to a draw, asked for an extra fall, Diamante Azul won
7) Coronel VIP L Galeno del Mal, Hell Boy, Cerebro Negro, Tonalli, Dr. Cerebro, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Jessy Ventura [cage, mask, hair]
Match came down to Pirata & Hell Boy, but VIP came back in to help Pirata, Hell Boy and Pirata escaped, and VIP got shaved.

Mamba got a long and deep cut on the head, so leaving the match was no angle.

There’s no lineup for Thursday’s IWRG show yet, but they’ve announced a no rope “grappling” tournament and a Hip Hop Man 10th Anniversary battle royal. IWRG’s YouTube show announced the eight participants on their YouTube show, and that list included Travis Banks. IWRG then started promoting the names on Instagram, but left off Banks name. My guess was they were just trying to avoid negative responses about Banks, but IWRG’s now posted a teaser with the first round match-ups and there’s no Banks there either. There’s a blank spot instead. Those match ups are

• Aramis vs Judas
• Dr. Cerebro vs Cerbero Negro
• Avisman vs ?
• Super Comando vs Heddi Karaoui

IWRG did see the note about their other wrestlers in the top 500.

Other Notes

I did go see the Cassandro movie on Friday. I occasionally do the things I say I’m going to do in these columns. I thought it was good and worth your time but I’m not a movie person so it’s hard for me to put in context. The movie debuts on Amazon Video on Thursday and I presume that’s where most people are going to see it, so it seems a better idea to wait to talk about it until then. (The theatre release is apparently an eligibility requirement for some movie awards, but it was nice to see it on a movie screen.) The movie is in English and Spanish (with subtitles in English), and 1h47m minutes long. The length means the wrestling itself gets cut down and simplified; there is still plenty of in-ring scenes in the movie, but the movie is much more interested in how wrestling affects the character than the wrestling itself. They’re going for a character study (and trying for one that can win some awards for the lead character), not a fully accurate depiction of lucha libre. I don’t feel like I can write more without actually talking about the movie, so maybe we’ll pick up here next week.

Segunda Caida watches more 90s Monterrey.

El Sol de Orizaba interviews local Rey Cobra, who estimates there are about 50 “professional” luchadors in the city and the same amount of amateurs.