CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 09/29/2023 Arena México [Black Terry Jr., CMLL, CMLL (web), Contrareplica, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
1) Bárbaro Cavernario © b Esfinge [CMLL LH] 
14:34. 2nd defense, first this year
2) Stephanie Vaquer b La Catalina [CMLL WOMEN] 
13:41. Vacant championship (Stephanie Vaquer neck injury). Vaquer becomes 21st champion and first CMLL champion from Chile.
3) Mercurio © b Pierrothito [CMLL MINI]
14:59. 6th defense
4) Místico © b Virus [NWA MIDDLE]
14:46. 7th defense
5) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa © [MEX TRIOS]
14:16. Atrapasuenos fells on their fifth defense (1st this year). Los Indestrucitbles are the 43rd champions.
6) Titán © b Máscara Dorada [CMLL WELTER]
20:01. 8th defense
Another strong Friday show in a year full of them. You can look at the times and figure out what they did here: everyone gets 15 minutes, the main event gets 20 minutes, go have fun. One fall matches and generally 1v1s saved some time, and the show went a little longer than usual.
Mascara Dorada/Titan completely lived up to potential. Dorada had a great night, and Titan was the perfect vet to keep up and keep pushing him. They had some spectacular sequence and a lot of drama. Just like his biggest BOSJ matches, Titan built towards the El Inmortal and fought to keep his opponents from reaching the ropes. Dorada felt like he was milli-seconds from winning most of the match, and ended up just millimeters short of reaching the ropes. He looked better for coming so close; this was another night where it seems certain Mascara Dorada is going to be a giant star.
Los Indestructibles worked very hard in their surprise title win, though it didn’t feel like one of the better Atrapasuenos performances. The loss probably bothered them. Dulce Gardenia, in an interview that seems to be from before Friday’s match, mentioned he suffered a serious injury on last year’s Night of Champions show and was out for several months. Gardenia took a middle rope destroyer on the finish, went into convulsions, and was stretchered out. He also wrestled eight days later, completely fine. Gardenia blames his infrequent appearances on dealing with the (non-existent) injury and also trying to spend more time with his family, who are still living in Torreon. His hope is to be more regularly in CMLL in early 2024. That seems like an admission he knew was going away from CMLL for some time after Friday night. Gardenia looked downcast coming to the ring, then briefly cried in the ring before hugging his teammates. Nothing is a sure thing in lucha libre but it sure appeared Gardenia is done in CMLL for now.
Mistico/Virus was a lot of Virus plugged into the Mistico formula and not as much the Virus mat wrestling style. (They finish did play off that, Mistico showing he knows more holds than just La Mistica.) Virus can still work a Mistico match well, and the crowd seemed to really behind him pulling the upset. Mistico defending his title on this show should continue to be a yearly tradition as long he’s champ, because it’s an easy match to plug in whomever wins that time and it’s usually a new opponent for Mistico. Virus and Mistico briefly met in a tournament recently, but hadn’t had a real singles match since 2004.
The counterpoint is CMLL really needs to either give the minis a year off from this idea, or switch around the choices so it’s only new people. Mercurio and Pierrothito was fine and the crowd rallied behind the more charismatic challenger as the match went along, but it felt like something seen a lot already. Both this minis match and the trios title match stood as the two matches this year that the votes really wanted to see but the general Arena Mexico going public didn’t have any reason to care.
Vaquera and Catalina was also not a natural match up, but it was a much easier sell – the two young Chileans deciding a new champion. They had a strong match planned out and it seemed to go as they planed the whole way. Vaquer looked great, as she has all this year, and makes a deserving double champion.
La Catalina used tried to use a reinera twice in that title match. On Twitter, Catalina mentioned the move and her outfit were tributes to Dark Angel, who helped train her in WWE and has been advising her since coming to CMLL.
Barbaro Cavernario coasts a lot in CMLL when he’s not given anything to do. When he gets something he feels is important – this title match, or that NJPW Strong match – he can still turn it a lot. Cavernario treated the opener like the climax of a long term feud, with incredible effort and willingness to break himself. (He brought back the splash to the floor to Arena Mexico for the first time in a very long time.) Esfinge may have regretted rallying people to vote for him with the way he got took the brunt of a lot of punishment. I wish we saw this side of Cavernario more often, though at least it’s nice to know it’s there.
CMLL (SAT) 09/30/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía b Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito
2) Metálica & Reyna Isis b Hera & Skadi [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Misterioso Jr. b Hombre Bala Jr. [lightning]
Misterioso dropped Bala on his head and neck with a powerbomb to win, Bala was is in a neckbrace after the match
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Arlequín, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte
Akuma & Espanto Jr. won and asked for an Arena Coliseo Tag Team championship match. Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte accepted.
5) Panterita del Ring, Star Black, Valiente DQ Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
Virus fouled and unmasked Valiente
6) Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Niebla Roja b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
This was the fifth singles match Misterioso has been in since the start of August, and he’s got another one coming up Friday. I’m not sure why that is happening.
CMLL (SUN) 10/01/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Cachorro & Grako b Leono & Retro [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Diamond, Robin, Valiente Jr. b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Astral b Sangre Imperial [lightning]
4) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Pelon Encapuchado
5) Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja b Soberano Jr., Titán, Valiente
6) Euforia, Templario, Terrible b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
Just a normal show.
CMLL (TUE) 10/03/2023 Arena México
1) Shockercito vs Pierrothito [lightning]
2) La Vaquerita & Lady Shadow vs Miss Guerrera & Tiffany
3) Astral, Robin, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Hera, Lluvia, Zeuxis vs Amapola, Sanely, Skadi [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther vs Felino, Felino Jr., Hechicero
6) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
Volador again tries to return (and CMLL again tries to set up a trios title match.)
La Laguna’s Lady Shadow and Miss Guerrera make their Arena Mexico debut. Lady Shadow is part of the Andrarde family, and is the sister of Brillante Jr. She’s wrestled in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. Miss Guerrera hasn’t appeared on a CMLL show prior. Guerrera is the daughter of long-time local rudo Mr. Guerrero. Shadow and Guerrera have wrestled each a lot, though they haven’t wrestled Vaquerita and Tiffany. It appears CMLL is expanding their women’s division, not just replacing people. Still, that’s a match of the past and the future of the division and an immediate test to see how much the past is going to be willing to go along with the changes.
CMLL (FRI) 10/06/2023 Arena México
1) Capitán Suicida & El Audaz vs Difunto & Grako
2) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Neón vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
3) Esfinge vs Misterioso Jr. [lightning]
4) La Jarochita vs Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, La Catalina, Persephone, Lady Shadow, Miss Guerrera, Metálica, La Vaquerita, La Guerrera, Valkiria, Olympia [CMLL UNIVERSAL DE AMAZONAS, semifinal]
5) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Titán vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario
CMLL had two ten-women blocks last year, and are expanding to twelve this year in their ‘best woman in CMLL’ tournament. New entries are Catalina, Lady Shadow, Miss Guerrera and Persephone, who’s been wrestling as Perse in Guadalajara. Maybe someone checked and found AAA never registered that name? It’s a bit surprising she’s getting an Arena Mexico debut this quick, and suggests Andromeda will be around next week.
Lluvia won last year’s tournament, La Jarochita the year before that, which probably eliminates them from winning this year. It would be equally unlikely for Stephanie Vaquer to win both world titles and this competition. Maybe Dark Silueta, who should be back in time for the next block? Maybe Zeuxis?
QueMoniito, in doing press for his lawsuit, said CMLL didn’t pay for his medical treatment. He specifically cites needing an operation following the famous Ultimo Guerrero spot, was left to pay for it himself, and CMLL did not pay him in the meantime. QueMonitto was back on screen the week after that GIF and I don’t recall him disappearing for any extended amount during that period, but it’s possible injuries there needed surgery later on.
Amapola and Princesa Sugehit spoke at univerisity UNAM about being women in lucha libre.
AAA
I did catch up with last week’s TV. Three different three way matches on one TV show wasn’t ideal.
- Ultra/Gemelo Tapia/Dulce Kanela felt like a random indie match. Tapia looked better of the two non-AAA guys but no one really stood out.
- Belcegor/Iguana/Epydemius was heavily comedy in the first half with Belcegor & Epydemius working against Iguana, then they just had start fighting each other so they could have a normal match. Belcegor seemed to know right away that he got hurt on his dive and they went quickly to the finish after he came back in.
- Centella/Maravilla/Sexy Star was rough in the first few minutes. Centella was so far on a different page that I started to wonder if there was some sotry we missed here. It settled down into a normal three way match, with Centella getting a few showcase spots near the end. It probably would’ve bene the best on the show if recorded the whole show.
AAA’s Heroes Inmortales took place Sunday:
AAA TV (SUN) 10/01/2023 Auditorio Benito Juárez, Zapopan, Jalisco [Lucha Central, Mas Lucha, thecubsfan]
***Heroes Inmortales, 2023***
1) Mini Vikingo, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa DQ Dinámico, Kamik-C, Skalibur
Dinamico faked a foul
2) Chik Tormenta & Maravilla b Dulce Kanela, Sexy Star, Faby Apache, Lady Shani, Reina Dorada, Estrellita [Copa Antonio Pena, semifinal]
Reina Dorada replaced Centella on Tuesday. Faby Apache was a surprise wrestler. The Tirantes fought again.
3) Abismo Negro Jr. & Flammer DQ Dalys & Negro Casas [AAA MIXED TAG]
Dalys hit Tirantes Sr. with a back elbow for no obvious reason (in the short clip seen) so Tirantes DQed them.
4) Forastero & Sansón b Dave The Clown & Murder Clown and Chessman & Parka Negra [#1 Contenders, AAA TAG]
5) Dralistico & La Bestia Del Ring b Hijo Del Vikingo & Myzteziz
12:09. Bestia del Ring fouled and unmasked Myzteziz in front of Hijo del Tirantes to set up the win (which was a purposeful rudo referee move rather than Tirantes being oblivious.) Dralistico was again upset with his father cheating during the match and for the win.
6) Chik Tormenta b Maravilla [Copa Antonio Pena, final]
8:00. Hijo del Tirantes attacked Tirantes Sr. before the match and took his place as referee. Straight match between rudas, no interference. Tormenta won clean with a Styles Clash. Tirantes Sr. returned immediately after the match to attack Hijo del Tirantes, but all three rudos beat him up.
7) Alberto el Patrón & Octagón Jr. b Qt Marshall & Sam Adonis
13:57 (unclear when match started.) Alberto el Patron replaced Pentagon Jr. (AEW) on Tuesday
The last three matches aired live. (They aired about a second of the post match of the tag title match.) I thought the booking of this show felt different than recent AAA shows. I mentioned that on Twitter and got a lot of good-hearted people pushing back that I should stop trying to delve deep into AAA booking, there’s nothing to be found there. They’re probably right. Still, the Konnan booked EMW Tijauan show on Saturday looks a lot more like this year’s AAA TV than what happened here in Jalisco. It was an easier show to watch, not sure if it was a better one.
The main event was theoretically about establishing the Marshall/Adonis team, tough Alberto took a bunch of the spotlight himself. Octagon Jr. may have won the next shot at QT Marshall but came across as the least important part of the match. Alberto reportedly picked up a knee injury the night before in Tijuana; he had one wrapped here. He wrestled a fair amount but didn’t actually do much, if that explanation makes sense.
Myzteziz/Hijo del Vikingo vs Dralistico/Bestia del Ring was more about Dralistico/Bestia issues. Dralistico tecnico/rudo status has inconsistent during his entire run, but he was definitely a rudo when he helped his brother at TripleMania Mexico City. Dralistico is now acting like a tecnico who has issues with Bestia del Ring cheating. Vikingo was way toned down, though he still took some painful looking slams from Bestia for a guy with a bad hip.
Vikingo’s going through things. He wrestled on Friday for LuchaManiaks in Texas, only to leave that match early due to injury. Vikingo talked to Mas Lucha after and seemed about as depressed as I’ve ever seen him in one of those interviews; he was hurting, his hard work at rehabbing his injury weren’t helping enough, and he really was unsure if he’d be able to make all his scheduled bookings. Vikingo was most concerned about making the Guadalajara show and the GCW Japan tour; he didn’t seem to think he’d do either. (Vikingo did clarify that when he said he’d be out “two weeks”, he was counting the one week he’d already sat out – this was his planned return weekend.) Vikingo went on to wrestle Saturday in Dallas and then Sunday on this Guadalajara show. He was in a clearly limited state on Sunday.
Maravilla/Tormenta had a lot of moves but was missing some emotion. It was a ruda/ruda match where both were wrestling as tecnicas; there was no spark there. The crowd seemed to rally behind Tormenta as the hometown woman but the wrestlers didn’t take advantage of it. It was still better than the usual interference heavy women’s a singles match and the crowd stuck with them, but I would’ve thought they had better in them. AAA is doing the Tirantes fight in every women’s match and it’ll never go anywhere.
Heroes Inmortales was an overall easier-to-watch show due to improved audio (no Hugo & JMG over the PA) and none of the matches were bad. It was still more the type of episode you watch all the episodes, not some special show you need to catch if you’re looking for a special event. The size of the crowd made it feel special but the matches really were just normal TV stuff.
Mas Lucha had clips of the finishes for the undercad. They mention Faby Apache as the singular surprise in the women’s match; I haven’t found a full list of participants. Apache worked her last AAA match nearly a year to the day, leaving with plans of working for CMLL. That stint lasted two matches before CMLL tried to clamp down on Apache’s outside work and she took her leave. I presume this is a one night surprise that may lead to more occasional spot work but not a full time return.
Dalys hitting Tirantes makes no sense in the clip, but maybe there’s a better content when AAA shows the full match next week. That result seems like an “everyone thought they’d win, so we swerved them”, but even thinking that much about this is too much.
AAA has a press conference to talk about their November Showcenter show. I may just wait to do the next update for that and for the CMLL lineup. It’s not like these are coming around midday lately, anyway.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha (SAT) 09/30/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [@robviper]
1) Sangre Nueva b Nordico, Autzer
2) Helios & Urzus Mendoza ?? Black Skayde & Odisseo Mendoza
3) Andrómeda b Súper Nova, Tirano, Bendito, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Andromeda (Guatemala) defeated Super Nova to win. Flamita invited Andromeda to join Black Generacion as long Andromeda changed his name. It’s Black Andromeda now. Flamita also said Black Generation didn’t need Yutani or Elemental.
4) Cometa Maya & Radioactivo b SB KENTo & Takuma [BIG LUCHA MIXA]
tournament final scheduled as Delta Force vs Sangre Texano, but Texano Jr. had a conflicting booking in Tijuana. He and Super Nova will get a future title shot. Delta Force (Cometa Maya & Radioactivo) become first champions.
5) El Potro de Oro, Jack Evans, Watanabe, Zumbi b Emperador Azteca, Flamita, Orbita, Vengador
Zumbi was the surprise wrestler. Elimination match. Flamita left the match for a long portion due to a nose injury, then returned to set up Watanabe pinning him for the win. Flamita challenged Potro de ORo first, but Potro de Oro felt Black Andromeda should get the first title match by winning the earlier match. Mr. Big announced it’d be Potro de Oro & Black Andromeda and Loco Evans vs Black Generation on the next show (no date given?)
Not a good show. The top two matches both were affected greatly by injuries (Flamita in main, Cometa Maya apparently shook up in his.) The battle royal didn’t go well, and the opener matches were inexperienced guys who looked inexperienced. Attendance was done, which may have been the lineup or the Canelo fight happening the same night.
There was a lot of talk at the start of the show about GLEAT and Big Lucha working together. It sounded like GLEAT announced they’d have the Big Lucha shows on their streaming service. GLEAT’s streaming service is YouTube, same as Big Lucha, though GLEAT has about 30K subscribers and Big Lucha has about 4K. The idea of the main event may have been to make Watanabe look good as part of the partnership, but it didn’t happen as planned with Flamita out of a large chunk of the match.
There was some talk about Big Lucha World returning, but the promotion doesn’t seem to have anything definite. A low key part of losing Golden Guns is Big Lucha lost a lot of experience, and they could really use more work to start building that up again.
IWRG
IWRG (SUN) 10/01/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Kurama & Superboy b Águila Oriental & Tornado
Aguila Oriental replaced Dinastia (not working an opener!)
2) Príncipe Arkano b Fussion, Águila Roja, Rey Aztaroth
No Low Rider or Lanzelot, Fussion filled in
3) León Dorado & Mr. Leo b Elemental & Tornado
4) Cerebro Negro Jr., Noisy Boy, Spider Fly b Mr. Mike, Relámpago, Tonalli
Tonalli and Relampago had issues.
5) Galeno del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Hijo de Canis Lupus & Ivan Rokov
6) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. b Hell Boy & Shocko [seconds hair]
referee Reyes Rosas (Cerebros) and Sonrisas (Hell Boy) hair on the line. The referees fought during the match.
Usually when guys like Low Rider and Dinastia work an IWRG show, it’s because they’re also working a Saturday show somewhere and are picking up an extra booking on the way home. I never saw a second booking for those guys so something may have happened.
Other News
Nayarit luchador Micro Boy (José Antonio Mendiola Arteaga, 26) passed away on Friday when he was shot to death in Tepic. Another brief mention of his death noted Micro Boy had just gotten out of jail a couple of days ago, and a third says the shooting happened when a “couple of people went over to his house to ‘talk'”, and then shot him when the talking ended. No one’s been arrested. Micro Boy also wrestled as Mini Elegido, and I believe there were multiple of those over the years. That news report has him as a former AAA wrestler but it looks like it was just something he put on his Facebook without being true. This is a luchador I might not know existed if I didn’t stumble on posters for local Arena La Cantera earlier this year.
Impact Wrestling is coming to Cicero Stadium in Illinois on 10/21 for Bound for Glory and Sunday 10/22 for the Bound for Glory Fallout TV taping. Bound for Glory is a PPV and will include a guest appearance by Will Ospreay among other matches; they should have no problem putting people in the building for that. The TV taping needed a draw too, so Impact’s billing it as “Lucha Libre Legacy” night. Konnan, Juventud Guerrera and Samuray del Sol will join regulars Laredo Kid and Black Taurus for the events. They’ll have a $100 ticket fan fest to meet the wrestlers, eat some tacos, and participate in other activities.
I can see this as a good business move: it’s Cicero, fans might be more into luchadors, Samuray’s around Chicago a bunch but Juventud and Konnan are not so there may be some interest there. 100 USD is pretty pricey but you don’t need a lot of people to make that worth. From an irrational emotional point of view, Impact shouldn’t be allowed to celebrate lucha libre. The only time luchadors appear on Impact is to lose. Impact should push and focus on the wrestlers they think are going to be the most help for Impact. They just can’t bury the Mexican wrestlers and also run a Mexican wrestler appreciation day. It’s insincere, even by the standards of professional wrestling.
(There’s a lot of drama over how luchadors are used in AEW and WWE. I participate in it, sometimes I even cause it. So does one of the people appearing on this Impact show. Impact’s much worse treatment somehow escapes the same criticism.)
There’s is a business case here that if you’ve made the luchadors look like jobbers, the fans of the luchadors are going to stop coming out to see them – but, like, the fans Impact are trying to draw here aren’t probably watching Impact shows so it might not matter. The people who run Impact also seem to believe, by their choices here, that the people who are going to draw to this audience are strictly people who’ve appeared on US TV (no matter how long ago that TV is.) I don’t think that’s true.
The main event (match 31) of Juarez’s lucha libre marathon was Cinta de Oro versus Andrade. The problem there is AEW doesn’t usually want their wrestlers losing outside of AEW and Cinta de Oro isn’t going to want to lose in his hometown area (if at all). They had a bunch of people run in for a no-contest. A weird way to end a very long show. The shows did draw really well and the government agencies that put them on had glowing press releases.
The garbage indie finish of the weekend is Halcon Lucha Libre’s main event, where Ice Killer Jr. lost his hair to Ciclon Ramirez Jr. in a 17 person main event. Ice Killer wasn’t announced for the match. Ice Killer is also a masked wrestler and instead just got his hair cut.
Thunder Rosa gave a motivational speech at a Tijuana university. She did some press with the local newspaper as well, said she still considers himself AEW champion because she never was beat, but she still seems to have no idea when she’s going to return.
Heraldo Public visits new-ish Puebla wrestling venue Arena Solis. They opened in January, and the owner/promoter is Joaquin Solis Melendez. They have capacity for 250 people. Policeman, Pequeno Joker, Charly Zargoza and Hechiceor Maldito are teaching classes at the building. They’ve hosted DTU and Lucha Memes shows, and their events have shown up on Mas Lucha. Their long-term goal is to expand into a bigger building in another part of Puebla.
There was a wrestler’s licensing exam in Tijuana. They plan on running them every six months. No word on how many people participated.