CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 10/20/2023 Arena México [AS, CMLL, Kaiser Sports, PubliMetro, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (videos), thecubsfan]
***Blue Panther 45th Anniversary***
1) Brillante Jr. & Halcón Suriano Jr. b Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro 
16:20
2) Dulce Gardenia, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring b Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr.
11:31.
3) Johnnie Robbie, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai b Dark Silueta, Reina Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
11:41. TBD after the Universal prelim rounds.
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther b Gran Guerrero, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
13:04. Hijo de Stuka replaced Dragon Rojo (shoulder) on 10/14.
5) La Catalina b Zeuxis [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, final] 
15:24. Catalina won clean with a top rope splash to wint he tournament.
6) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja b Euforia & Soberano Jr. [CMLL TAG]
12th defense. Soberano suffered a low body injury and left the match early. Euforia beat Angel de Oro but then lost to Niebla Roja.
I had high hopes for the main event and it didn’t work out. It didn’t seem to be going as good as hoped when stream joined in (more on that in a couple of paragraphs.) The match broke down after Soberano suffered a low body injury after a high kick. Soberano could not finish the match, and there was a lot of visible discussion about how the remaining three wrestlers were going to finish the match. I am guessing the Chavez brothers were intended to stay tag champs and the issue was more that Soberano was supposed to be the final person left on his team, but I don’t know that for sure. There’s no update on Soberano’s status, only that he’s been pulled from shows.
La Catalina and Zeuxis was the type of match I expected after the lead up comments. Zeuxis connected very solidly on another of kicks and other moves, and Catalina just did her best to survive. (If this match happened in one of the two main US TV promotions, there’d be a week-long debate about working stiff versus intentionally hurting your opponent.) I was stunned that Catalina won. She has some popularity and tries, but she’s not that far along as a worker and this sort of win feels way too soon. CMLL does seem to want to push fresh faces and Catalina is exactly that, but it would’ve meant more if Catalina was ready for it.
The rest of the show was just sort of there. The Blue Panther tribute was nice and his match was the best on the show. The foreign women did OK; Suruga gets the biggest reactions. The undercard wasn’t much.
CMLL’s stream failed right before the main event and did not turn back on for 11 minutes. It came off like someone set a timer to turn off the stream at just over two hours then no one could get it started again, but we don’t know if that’s actually the case. Boletia/Neerme took down the link to the show at some point over the week. That’d make sense if they were going to send out a link to a new complete stream, but that didn’t seem to happen either. This is where a refund would be useful; I haven’t personally been told I’d be getting one.
This is what you’re going to get with CMLL (and generally Mexican wrestling) digital products; you buy these things knowing the promotions probably won’t get involved if something goes wrong. It’s lucky it didn’t happen on a bigger show; this main was messed up anyway as soon as Soberano got hurt.
Kaho Kobayashi, who wrestled in CMLL in 2018 and 2019, was back in Mexico this weekend and went to this show. She just missed out on the Gran Prix by a couple of years.
Mistico defeating Rocky Romero aired on Rampage. It was good and seemed to be generally positively received. AEW brought up the match again the next day on Collision. Nothing more has been announced with AEW and CMLL. The match got some attention in Mexico. There wasn’t any mention or hint of Bryan Danielson on Friday’s Blue Panther celebration. There will probably be more but it was never going to be an every week show. Both AEW’s swings in California next month and in Texas again in December seem like logical places for more Mexican wrestlers, regardless of promotional affiliation, though there are latino wrestling fans everywhere.
CMLL (SAT) 10/21/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Leono b Bengala [lightning]
2) Lady Metal & Olympia b La Guerrera & Maligna
Olympia replaced Andromeda (moved up)
3) Akuma, Crixus, Dark Magic b Arkalis, Halcón Suriano Jr., Volcano
4) Johnnie Robbie, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai b Amapola, Andrómeda, Dark Silueta
Andromeda replaced Sanely (injury)
5) Magnus, Rey Bucanero, Rugido b El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Black
6) Averno, Terrible, Virus b Blue Panther, Fugaz, Valiente
Blue Panther replaced Soberano (injury) a few hours before the show
Just a normal Saturday show.
CMLL (SUN) 10/22/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, thegladiatores.com (Video)]
1) Miss Guerrera & Tiffany b La Guerrera & Lady Shadow
2) Capitán Suicida, Eléctrico, Valiente Jr. b Grako, Inquisidor, Vegas
3) Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Neón b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Andrómeda, Hera, Metálica, Olympia b Johnnie Robbie, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai
first lost for the visitors. Tessa Blanchard appeared before the crowd after the crowd.
5) Esfinge © b Mephisto [MEX LH]
2nd defense
6) Octagón, Star Jr., Valiente b Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible
Valiente replaced Soberano Jr. (injury) early Sunday
The foreigners needed to lose or they’d have no chance at winning the Gran Prix.
BUSHI & Titan won their opening match in the Super Junior Tag League on Saturday. They face DKC & Ryusuke Taguchi on Tuesday. This is a ten-team round-robin tournament with the top two advancing to the final. BUSHI & Titan will probably need at least seven wins to move on, and likely more.
Mascara Dorada lost in the finals of the British J Cup. He beat Robbie X in the first round match, and pinned Harrison Bennett in the final four way. Wild Boar unmasked Dorada and pinned him to win. (Leon Slater then beat Boar to win.) Dorada got revenge on Sunday, defeating Wild Boar.
I thought Dorada had impressive moments in all three of his matches and the announcers sold him as an important person. I’m just not sure he stood out enough; fans going in cold would’ve thought he was good but maybe not as great as hyped. This may be a lucha eyes thing; there are times where I think matches are featuring lucha libre talent are good and people who aren’t using to seeing them as often are blown away by the same thing.
Slater is about the RevPro version of Dorada, in terms of a young (19!) exciting wrestler who everyone around the promotion believes will have big things ahead of him. That British J Cup final included a moment where they worked together, then faced off – and then got attacked by the other two wrestlers before they could actually go at. They never got to wrestle again before Dorada was eliminated. RevPro seems to be a more intricately side booked promotion than most. I wonder if that lack of interaction was purposeful and they’re planning a Dorada/Slater match for another day. Hope they get to it.
Mistico, Volador, Templario and Atlantis Jr. spent the weekend with the Denver Broncos. They did a meet and greet on Saturday, then had their match before Sunday’s game. Mistico & Atlantis Jr. defeated Volador & Templario in the match CMLL reported on. (They looked to have actually wrestled twice, and there was a match including local wrestlers – whomever they got the ring from, I presume.) The CMLL wrestlers appered to be treated like important guests all weekend long. The Broncos even won, so it went about as well as it could go. It seemed like a one off but, maybe they’ll be back next year if the feedback was good.
CMLL (TUE) 10/24/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado vs Chamuel, Mije, Periquito Sacaryas
2) La Guerrera & La Vaquerita vs Olympia & Tiffany
3) Metálica vs Amapola [lightning]
4) Último Dragóncito vs Shockercito, Pierrothito, Angelito, Pequeño Olímpico, Mercurio, Kaligua, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Magía, Minos, Fantasy, Full Metal, Acero, Galaxy, Aéreo, Pequeño Violencia [cibernetico]
Dia Mundial de Las Personas con Talla Baja cibernetico
5) Blue Panther & Dark Panther vs El Hijo de Octagón & Octagón
Hijo de Octagon suffered a leg injury back in February and was out of action for many months. His name has shown up on indie posters lately, but I haven’t seen him actually wrestling until now. It’s a unique main event. CMLL ran this same “World Day of Short People” cibernetico last year as well.
CMLL (FRI) 10/27/2023 Arena México
1) Diamond & Valiente Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II
2) Futuro, Neón, Pelon Encapuchado vs El Coyote, Inquisidor, Pólvora
3) Averno vs Virus [lightning]
4) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario
5) Amapola, Andrómeda, Dark Silueta, Hera, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Reyna Isis, Skadi vs Johnnie Robbie, La Catalina, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Sumie Sakai, Tessa Blanchard, Zeuxis [CMLL Gran Prix de Amazonas]
The Gran Prix is on but I was wrong about thinking this would be the full women’s show. Perhaps next year. I don’t think most people complain (and those who are unhappy about not enough women’s wrestling in their mixed promotions don’t seem to check out CMLL anyway.) The semimain could be great. Averno/Virus is a fun weird match; their only other singles match was part of the 2011 Universal tournament.
AAA
Pagano and Texano was now the second ambulance match AAA’s done, and so it’s safe to say they don’t really work out well in AAA. The WWE matches they’re trying to copy put the ambulance in the entrance walkway, so the wrestler can tease “near falls” easily. The ambulance in Mexico City was on the street, so most of the match happened nowhere near where either man could win. (It did not stop Pagano and Texano trying to win by pinfall and submission, which made them come off as goofs.) They eventually did some weak brawling to go down a hallway and outside the building, one tease of Pagano winning, and then Texano moving out of the way so Pagano could throw himself into the ambulance. The idea was Pagano hit his head on a metal object inside of the ambulance to knock himself out, which looked better on TV than it had live. Honestly, it felt like the main reason the match existed was so Pagano could retry his failed fire spot from TripleMania. It worked as planned this time around, but with 1% of the people noticing it compared to a TripleMania. I haven’t made the GIF and I haven’t seen anyone else even mention it, and that virality is that’s the entire reason to do the spot. Still, if you like Pagano hardcore matches maybe it’s worth your time.
The opener threeway was a usual high effort but low logic match. Negro Casas challenging Nicho to a hair match is dire. It’s saved by the fact that AAA almost never delivers any of these matches, maybe we’ll be spared this as well. The results Dralistico/Negro Casas vs Argenis/Nicho match was unmemorable. AAA cut to break immediately after the finish, removing a segment with Bestia del Ring attacking Casas and arguing with Dralistico. The TV show drew attention to Hip Hop Man watching the match from the stage, but no one had any idea why he was watching the match. I didn’t have any idea why I was watching either.
The AAA spot show in Queretaro with Dralistico & Texano Jr. vs Pagano & Hijo del Vikingo on Friday drew very well; looks like a sell out.
A bizarre thing happened on Twitter over the weekend. AAA’s been taking advantage of their Twitter Blue status to post full matches, and AAA’s also been posting matches from the last couple of years on all their social media channels. They’re all matches that have been posted before, but maybe AAA’s only posted the full show previously and so now they’re posting the individual match and highlights. (The idea seems to have a complete archive of every match, but they are noticeably skipping over anything that includes Cuatrero. They also skipped the two Centella matches.) This strategy may help AAA in the long term but it’s made their YouTube channel difficult to follow at thhe moment – there’s a swarm of old stuff around every ‘new’ video – and it also means sometimes old footage makes it’s way to Facebook and Twitter. Unless you look closely or already follow the promotion, it’s hard to tell what this footage is and where it’s from.
That’s what happened with this post, the full length of Tyrus/Daga match from April. For some reason, the Twitter machine fed that match to a whole bunch of people who don’t follow AAA, had no idea if the match was live or taped, and had very loud questions about why Tyrus was wrestling if he retired last month. There were who urgently needed to let Tyrus know he was a poor professional wrestler and thought replying to a post he’ll never see would do the trick. The match is terrible, though for once it wasn’t Tyrus’ fault – that was the match where Daga suffered a knee injury on an otherwise unnoteworthy stomp and was out for a couple of months. (Recent IWRG visitor Takuma Nishikawa did something similar after returning to Dragon Gate; Daga was out for a couple of months and has obviously returned, while Nishikawa has no return timeline.) The Tyrus/Daga match went so poorly that I would’ve buried in six feet under the earth, but AAA posting it on Twitter has gotten them over “1 million” Twitter views already. Maybe they know what they’re doing.
Milenio has an interview with Lady Shani.
IWRG
IWRG (SUN) 10/22/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha, Zona Ruda]
1) Ajolotl & Fussion b Blue Win & Tornado
2) Amazonika, Bengalee, Sagitarius b Kali, Lolita, Satania
3) Águila Roja b Spider Fly 
these two will finally have their title match on 11/02
4) Hell Boy © b Heddi Karaoui © [IWRG MIDDLE, AWIF LA]
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Shocko b Puma de Oro & Relámpago
Relampago and Puma de Oro didn’t get along.
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Ivan Rokov, Gizelle, Estrella Divina
Gizelle was the mystery person
The newest random person in IWRG is Gizelle Azure. She has two known matches, and one of them was on a Nightmare Factory training showcase show. (She must be wrestling more than that based on her Instagram photos.) She’s also a Playboy model.
The AIWF championship is from a North Carolina indie promotion. I have no idea why it ended up in IWRG.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha (SAT) 10/21/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (videos)]
1) Atómico Jr. & Reiyel b Big Taotato & Zenky
dark match
2) M Doble R b Steel Dragón
Steel Dragon lost in a minute, asked for an immediate rematch and vowed to no longer wrestle in Big Lucha if he lost
3) M Doble R b Steel Dragón
Steel Dragon lost again, declared he’d now only be a commentator.
4) Mr. Win & Tirano b Helios & Morfosis
5) Forneo, Limbo, Torito Negro b Canek Jr., Hijo De Dos Caras, Hijo del Pirata Morgan
Canek’s team replaced La Pandemia. Juniors wanted a super libre rematch.
6) Cometa Maya & Radioactivo © b Súper Nova & Texano Jr. [BIG LUCHA MIXA]
Detla Force fall on their first defense. Sangre Texana are 2nd champions. Moved down the card because Texano and Super Nova had another booking.
7) Elipse & Vengador b Odiseo Mendoza & Ursus Mendoza
8) Skayde b Veneno
good technical match
9) El Brujo b Viajero [super libre]
10) El Potro de Oro © b Black Andrómeda [Big Lucha World]
Black Generation attacked Potro and Mr. Big Lucha after the match. A mystery man hit the ring and revealed himself to be Accion Jackson, rejoining Black Generacion. Mr. Big announced the Black Family would come in to battle Black Generacion on the next show (11/18)
Flamita bringing up the guys who had left Black Generacion was foreshadoing after all. It is strange that Accion Jackson left with Elemental and Extasis, disappeared from Mexico, and then ended up back in Big Lucha without those two. Big Lucha had Jackson show up in a mask and a Chicago Blackhawks jersey; I don’t know if fans were expected to believe CM Punk was about to debut in Arena Big Lucha but it didn’t get much of a reaction. Turnout wasn’t strong for this one.
Texano Jr. win a Big Lucha belt and no sign of any CMLL wrestlers for a third straight show makes it seem like that partnership with Big Lucha was very short lived.
The Steel Dragon quick loss bit is Dragon Gate’s Stalker Ichikawa old bit, one of those Dragon Gate things that have turned up here through a Mexican wrestling filter.
Other News
Republic of Lucha says neither Rey Fenix nor Bandido will be cleared in time for their 10/30 show. It caused a lot of lineup changes, as we continue to wait to see when they’d be back.
Latin Lover says he was hospitalized for two months and ran up a bill of over seven million pesos while dealing with a bacteria infection. He was in constant pain and did not believe he would leave the hospital alive, but his doctor credited his healthy lifestyle in helping him get through it. Also helping was his insurance; out of the 7 million pesos (385,000 USD), he only ended up paying 130,000 pesos (7,000 USD) on a deductible.
El Sol de San Juan del Rio has an interview with original Mini Psycho Clown.
ESTO interviews Death Magic and visits Arena Neza. While on lucha libre in Neza, Arena Azteca Budokan had it’s first show since July this weekend. All the Neza arenas appeared to face inspections after the July 5 fire near Arena San Juan that cost two children their lives. Azteca Budokan and Arena San Juan both stopped running, and Arena San Juan has not reopened.
In normal lucha libre weirdness, The Crash announced Rey Fenix was off their show and then republished a lineup with Rey Fenix still on it. The Crash’s cards appear to be just a Word document, I feel like they should be able to just backspace a few times and fix it.
Segunda Caida reviews more Monterrey lucha libre.
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