CMLL
CMLL (MON) 11/13/2023 Arena Puebla [CMLL, El Sol del Puebla, Mano A Mano, Porra Fresa]
1) Diablita Roja & Mania b Enigmática & Hela
debut of Mania (the final woman of the new class of women to debut)
2) Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja b Espíritu Maligno & Sombra Diabólika
3) Perverso & Prayer b Diamond & Robin 
4) Arkalis, Pegasso, Rey Samuray b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio © b Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. [MEX TRIOS]
first defense
6) Místico, Stigma, Templario DQ Averno, Magnus, Volador Jr.
Straight falls. Rudos fouled Stigma and unmasked Templario, setting up Volador/Templario or next week.
CMLL photographer/everything Alexis Salazar going to this show faked everyone out. He normally would show up for a title change, but Los Indestructibles cleanly made a defense instead. The main event result is a definite change of direction from last week, as happens in Puebla
CMLL (TUE) 11/14/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, PubliMetro]
1) Fantasy, Pequeño Magía, Shockercito DQ Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito 
Olimpico unmasked Fantasy to kick off another round of mask match challenges.
2) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Neón b Crixus, Difunto, Raider
3) Espanto Jr. b El Audaz [lightning]
4) Averno, Mephisto, Zandokan Jr. b Fugaz, Star Jr., Valiente
Averno appeared to pick up an leg injury but finished the match.
5) Stephanie Vaquer © b Lluvia [CMLL WOMEN]
first defense
6) Atlantis Jr. & Soberano Jr. DQ Ángel de Oro & Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
straight falls. Atlantis Jr. wore matching gear with Soberano and the two got along fine. Soberano tossed his mask to Volador to draw the DQ.
This main event didn’t make much sense on Saturday but it fit together by the time it happened. The goal was to justify Soberano Jr. and Atlantis Jr. as a functioning team for the World Tag League. Atlantis Jr. started the show with an interview about how sometimes the fans boo him, and then worked as a rudo with Soberano Jr. the entire match. Announcers pushed a story about how Soberano and Atlantis were friends (which isn’t something we’ve seen.) The CMLL duo will probably be more tecnicos when they work in Japan, but it gives both NJPW and CMLL an explanation of why they aren’t breaking up every match.
The match itself wasn’t much, just character work. I thought Lluvia/Vaquer was a bit of a disappointment; a cold match for the most part. Lluvia was unable to engage the crowd in her challenge, and even repeatedly arguing with Olimpico couldn’t get people to care. (Olimpico’s not really good at that sort of interaction.) The match was executed fine but wasn’t really memorable. You’d get more entertainment out of match 4 and 2.
CMLL (TUE) 11/14/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Eclipse Jr., Shezmu, Temerario b Obek, Rav, Último Ángel 
2) Ángel Rebelde, Optimus, Trono DQ Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
3) Andrómeda, Lady Shadow, Miss Guerrera DRAW Diablita Roja, Estrellita Mágica, Lady Metal
4) Barboza, Draego, Persa b Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
5) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther b Bárbaro Cavernario, Canalla, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel
6) Dr. Karonte I & Místico DQ Bestia Negra & Templario
I caught up with sleep rather than watching this. It was probably fine.
CMLL (SAT) 11/18/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Angelito & Kaligua vs Minos & Pequeño Violencia
2) Astral, Oro Jr., Valiente Jr. vs Grako, Inquisidor, Nitro
3) La Jarochita vs Dark Silueta [lightning]
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Felino, Misterioso Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Cancerbero, Kráneo, Luciferno
6) Titán, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Templario, Terrible, Virus
Terrible still around. The semi-main has an odd mix (though seems notable all those rudos are above Bucanero and Felino on the depth chart.)
CMLL (SUN) 11/19/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Hela & Shitara vs Diablita Roja & Mania
2) Black Tiger & Meyer vs Fénix SO & Hijo del Perverso
3) Andrómeda vs Skadi, La Vaquerita, Lady Metal, Enigmática, Reyna Isis, La Catalina, Amapola, Lady Amazona, Astoreth [Copa Mujeres Revolucionarias]
4) Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis © vs La Jarochita & Lluvia [CMLL WOMEN TAG]
2nd defense
5) Atlantis, Pantera, Solar I vs Felino, Rocky Santana, Satánico
6) Templario © vs Volador Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE]
first defense
Monday is Revolution Day in Mexico, so Arena Puebla runs a day earlier at the holiday 5 pm start time. CMLL will also surprisingly stream this show for subscribers. It fits as a special show, but I wasn’t counting on another bonus stream until the holidays. The main event is for Templario’s title, not Volador. The legends, or at least maybe the ones who can move a little bit better, are in the semimain. I don’t believe they actually participated in the 1910 revolution. The tag team title defense is one of three women’s matches on this show. The higher volume of women’s matches on these CMLL shows have caused the women wrestling of the world to hold CMLL up as a model to the rest of the world to still generally ignore CMLL women’s wrestling as they’re not the stars or looks they’re interested in. I am disappointed we get a chance to see Puebla locals and it’s a Black Tiger match. I’m good on Puebla Black Tiger matches.
No lineup for Arena Mexico Sunday yet.
People on Twitter are saying one of NJPW’s sites accidentally and briefly revealed Zandokan Jr. as Yota Tsuji’s partner for the World Tag League. I did not see this and could not confirm this myself, just totally missed it if it happened, but everyone seems sure it happened. “Z”‘s first match 11/19, so we’ll know for sure then – if not revealed earlier.
Voices of Wrestling has an interview with the director of the Kemonito: The Final Fall documentary. There’s a lot of insight on the film and KeMonito, and the fun bit that when she asked CMLL for footage, they just told her to take whatever she could find off YouTube. (She did visit CMLL’s archives, which are set to be very disorganized.) That documentary is available online right now as part of a package of documentaries for 13 USD.
- Atlantis Jr – World Tag League
- Euforia – Heavyweight Title Challenge
- Stuka Jr., Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, El Sagrado, Volcano, Esfinge – Leyenda de Azul
- Lluvia & La Jarochita – Tag Challenge in puebla
- Pequeno Estrellas – cage match?
- Rugido & Sangre Imperial – bodybuilding contest?
Former CMLL wrestler Solomon Grundy is running a GoFundMe to raise money for his mother’s funeral expenses and his own dialysis. It’s bare bones, but his Twitter has a link to it and the Twitter seems real.
AAA
AAA held their first Lucha X el Barrio testing for their talent search on Tuesday. INJUVE said they had 156 people tryout, 132 male wrestlers and 24 women. The info I had read seemed to indicate it’d only be fitness testing, but they did in-ring as well. ESTO has an article on the tryout, which sounded like a normal tryout. The ring mat looked cool. Photos show a lot of names familiar from Mexico City wrestling. It’s funny that the previous INJUVE talent search contest was for the winner to get a contract in Big Lucha, and this contest has a bunch of people from Big Lucha trying out. AAA doesn’t really need to a wide scale talent search to find Calibus or Caballero de Plata, but wrestlers like that would be better off coming in to AAA rather than just being thrown on TV like Belcegor or the new Drago. The next stage of the tryout on 11/21; those who advance are supposed to find out in the next few weeks.
I will not be streaming Sunday’s AAA show after all. I’ve been kindly forewarned that attempting to stream AAA show will get my channel instantly shut down. I still think it’s burning money for AAA to run a Vikingo title match that’s Mexico-only live, but it’s their content to do (or not to do) whatever they want with it. You’ll be able to find if you try hard enough and I’ll still be watching it, but I won’t be linking to it. It’ll turn up on YouTube eventually.
I know one of Konnan’s recent podcasts asked why Mexican wrestling isn’t as big in English language discussion as wrestling elsewhere. There are a lot of reason for it, but none bigger than “no one outside of Mexico can actually watch the big shows.” That’s not a Konnan problem either; it’s whoever decided that going six months without an English-language broadcast was a viable idea. I don’t really have great hopes for this show on Sunday – I’m more interested in it because it could turn out Important than good – but it’s a complete and total failure by AAA not to have it broadcast in English at least to keep English language interest in AAA warm.
It’s probably too late. Even on the scale of “no one talks about lucha libre”, there’s no talk about this show. I’m sure the people who will attend will have a great time, but the general interest in AAA and specifically this Guerra de Titane show is close to nil. It’s a problem that people outside of Mexico can see this show, but it’s a much bigger problem that almost no one outside of Mexico cares to see this show or even knows that it’s happening.
Sunday’s show is not actually AAA’s final show of the year. That’s the following Sunday at the Showcenter, the crossover show with TNA with all 2v2 tags, but that’s the third cross over show (Lucha World Cup, NWA) AAA’s done this year and they’ve all felt non-cannon. This UltraClash show was promoted as being on FITE, it hasn’t turned up yet. AAA’s been slow at getting that info out in the past, so it may be nothing. AAA’s sharing that poster on social media with the lineup cropped out, which has meant the lineup is going to change in times past. (On the other hand, they’re not giving that treatment to the Juarez lineup, so it could just be random.
Luchatitan has a Thanksgiving themed show on 11/24. They’re running these ‘special’ shows precisely every three weeks, with about four AAA names added to the daily performers.
Other Notes
Los Angeles’ The Globe Theatre, most notably the home of PWRG since mid 2018, told those who booked the building that they were closing immediately. There were great lucha libre matches in that building, and it’s the place where Bandido really made his name. PWG itself is on hiatus until 2024, and it’s far too soon to know where they’ll end up running.
Cibernetico stars in a commercial for mobile game Warcraft Rumble. That seems like something that would’ve gone through AAA or CMLL in years past and directly went to Cibernetico right now.
Laredo Kid, Black Taurus and Juventud Guerrera face Trey Miguel, Myron Reed and Zachary Wentz on Impact Thursday. This is a match on the actual show, not the free portion on YouTube.
Criterio Hidalgo has a good interview with El Mago about his career.
The Puebla government held a press conference to promote the 12/03 licensing exam.
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As a long time lucha fan, AAA steps over a dollar to pick up a penny. They should broadcast every event for free to the USA to generate enthusiasm for the product, and then slowly start introducing the PPV stuff again. The problem is, however, AAA looks like crap on PPV. Hire an f-ing producer with control, let Konnan set up the matches, and act like a professional business. IMO, AAA has gotten worse in recent years. Schizophrenic angles, no follow through, wasting talent, etc….and for what? It is not like it improved business. At least CMLL is consistent in what they do.