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.