CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 12/08/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladaitores, The Gladiatores (text), thecubsfan]
1) Leono & Robin b Draego & Inquisidor 
10:02
2) Akuma, Crixus, Raider b Astral, Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr. 
14:57. Astral seemed to have a minor injury at the end of the match
3) Andrómeda, Marcela, Skadi b Olympia, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
13:20
4) Magia Blanca © b Fugaz [MEX WELTER]
15:59. 5th defense
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Star Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja
18:46.
6) Máscara Dorada, Titán, Volador Jr. b Rocky Romero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
9:44. Stuka Jr. replaced Gran Guerrero on Thursday. A video aired officially announcing Andrade el Idolo (La Sombra) would return to CMLL next Friday. Dorada beat Romero and demanded another shot at the (NWA) Welterweight Historic Championship after Romero had cheated him to beat him in MLW the night before. Romero accepted.
There are fewer recaps of the show than usual because most of the write-ups about the show were focused on Andrade’s return video instead. It got a lot of media attention, both in Mexico and elsewhere. It didn’t get a notably big reaction in the building; it’s been eight years, and the 30% of attendees who are tourists and don’t know anyone didn’t know him either. The reaction on social media was strongly positive, and CMLL’s hope has to be that those fans who’ve drifted away from the promotion will also make a return next Friday night.
To be more accurate, the reaction to Andrade’s promo was around 85% positive, and about 15% made fun of Andrade’s promo skills. Andrade constantly gets ribbed by Mexican fans for his speaking in English and Spanish. Switching between languages is something I find difficult. For Andrade, it produced a couple of Twitter posts that were not very coherent (one of which he deleted.) The in-arena (and PPV) version of the return promo had captions on it, which might have been to help people in a big arena understand and might have been because Andrade’s not always the clearest speaker. None of that matters as far as CMLL; he’s there for the wrestling, not the speaking, but it is the weakness everyone keeps pointing at.
This show itself was OK. Magia Blanca and Fugaz tried but lacked the crowd connection or the stature to get their match over. Blanca talked up facing Fugaz in a mask match next September. It’s unusual enough for a champion to be a challenger twice in Arena Mexico. It’s at least possible to set up something bigger than that, but Friday was a poor argument for investing that much into that match.
Marcela looked better after the knee surgery and got the winning pin, but mostly seemed in the match’s background. The second match was exciting in the third fall and the rest of the way. The main event seemed hurried to get to the Dorada/Romero challenge, which did come off well.
At least on this night, KeMalito was NOT one of the Micro Gemelo Malditos. They were wrestling on a sponsored show in Guadalajara at the same time. Not sure if CMLL’s made a change or if it’ll end up a character being played by various individuals.
CMLL (SAT) 12/09/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Bengala & Retro b Grako & Inquisidor
2) Capitán Suicida, Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Leono, Scorpió Jr.
Scorpio Jr. (a new one) debuted after winning the bodybuilding contest’s school division. Leono replaced Dr. Karonte II.
3) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Arkalis, Pegasso, Rey Samuray
4) Cancerbero, Difunto, Luciferno b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
5) Felino, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II b Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente
Felino replaced Rey Bucanero
6) Rocky Romero & Templario b Flip Gordon & Titán
Templario, already eliminated, distracted Flip Gordon to set up a Romero win.
I didn’t notice Scorpio Jr. getting his bodybuilding reward here until I looked at the results. It’ll take a little time to see if it’s a one-off or if he’s a regular.
CMLL (SUN) 12/10/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Oro Jr. & Valiente Jr. b Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro
2) Hera & Metálica b La Guerrera & La Vaquerita
3) Felino Jr., Misterioso Jr., Pólvora b Fuego, Neón, Stigma
4) Hijo del Villano III, Kráneo, Villano III Jr. b Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano
5) Euforia, Mephisto, Stuka Jr. b Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Rocky Romero
6) Atlantis, Star Jr., Titán DQ Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
Dragon Rojo unmasked Star Jr.
That seems like a Sunday main event set up.
The last day of the World Tag League reset one story and left another open. Soberano Jr. and Atlantis Jr. had gotten along fine in the last few days, but Soberano attacked Atlantis from behind in the post-match interview. Soberano blamed Atlantis for them not winning and said they weren’t friends anymore. They’re back to being rivals next week. Zandokan Jr. vowed to win the World Tag League and then join LIJ. He didn’t win, and so he couldn’t join by his own rules. However, Naito and LIJ offered to team up with Zandokan when he returned to Japan. Zandokan’s return to Japan was not guaranteed prior to this tour, so getting that much of a promise is a notable achievement. CMLL played up the Atlantis/Soberano split and ignored the Zandokan storyline, at least in social media. Zandokan not being an official LIJ member is better from a CMLL standpoint; it would’ve been weird if he and Titan were suddenly obligated to team together, and there’s a lot of mileage left in the Zandokan/Villanos trio.
Fantasticamania is not until February, so it may be a while before we get those lineups. (January 14th seems like the earliest based on NJPW’s calendar if they just want to announce it with the preceding tour.) The next notable CMLL in NJPW announcement might be if Titan makes it onto the 01/04 Tokyo Dome show.
There’s also obviously a lot of interest among NJPW fans, both in Japanese and English, about what Andrade’s return to CMLL might mean for him going over to Japan. He hasn’t said anything, and NJPW’s official accounts haven’t said anything, but NJPW’s president’s reaction to the announcement suggests they’re at least working on it. Andrade’s involvement in NJPW is far less interesting to me but, because their are so many more vocal NJPW fans than CMLL ones, that’s what the story is ultimately going to be focused on.
CMLL (TUE) 12/12/2023 Arena México
1) Bengala & Leono vs Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II
2) Andrómeda, Sexy Sol, Skadi vs Amapola, Metálica, Olympia
3) Fuego vs El Coyote [lightning]
4) Brillante Jr., Futuro, Neón vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
6) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr.
Volador goes from here to the UK for RevPro’s show on Saturday. (He’ll face new TNA signee Trent Seven.)
Match 5 looks like a possible tag title set up. The fourth match could be a roller coaster. Andromeda and Skadi are teaming again, so that’s seems like an intentional pairing and not just a scheduling quirk.
CMLL (FRI) 12/15/2023 Arena México
1) Capitán Suicida & El Audaz vs Grako & Nitro
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela vs Dark Silueta, Hera, La Catalina
4) Flip Gordon, Titán, Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
5) Rocky Romero © vs Máscara Dorada [NWA WELTER]
6) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Star Jr. vs Andrade el Idolo, Ángel de Oro, Soberano Jr.
This is not as loaded as it could be for Andrade’s return, but it should still be a great match. Soberano and Atlantis are on opposite sides following the World Tag League. Soberano teaming with Andrade is interesting given Soberano’s teases. Mistico/Andrade is an obvious big match, but I wouldn’t mind seeing what Andrade could get out of Atlantis Jr. Dorada/Romero should be one of the better matches of the year, and it is the perfect night for Dorada to get another big win. CMLL’s high on Los Barbaros so they’re here. Maybe Catalina for similar reasons.
CMLL (TUE) 12/12/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Astro Oriental, Obek, Persa vs Espirtiu Maligno, Perverso, Prayer
2) Adira, Dulce Kitty, Náutica vs Astoreth, Diablita Roja, Mania
3) Asturiano, Meyer, Xelhua vs Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Hela, Lady Amazona, Lady Metal vs Dark Silueta, La Pantera, Valkiria
5) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs El Malayo, Rey Apocalipsis, Siki Osama Jr.
6) Arkalis, Rey Samuray, Stigma vs Bestia Negra, El Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.
This is a full Arena Puebla versus Arena Coliseo Guadalajara themed card.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will release its own trading cards on upcoming shows.
AAA
Both of my attempts at recording AAA failed this week – but just find a copy of this week’s Impact, and you’ll see the matches. You won’t get to see Latigo and Eddie Edwards pretending the outcome of their random match matters and Antifaz del Norte attacking Laredo Kid once again. Still, you won’t be missing anything important. AAA had booked the Laredo/Antifaz feud as if it absolutely had to take place in Monterrey and thus had no choice but to postpone it a full year when Antifaz got hurt going into last year’s show, but it was also being set up in a random multi-man match on that show and didn’t seem to mean anything to the draw. I’m sure it’ll get a good reaction when/if it finally happens, but there seems to be no reason to drag it this long, except they got stuck on one idea.
AAA running a poll about who would win the Latigo, Eddie Edwards, and Myzteziz match and getting nine votes is a reason not to run polls. Maybe it was only open briefly, though all of AAA’s Twitter stuff gets few interactions nowadays. Maybe it’s a Twitter thing, and they have better numbers elsewhere. This is the sort of pointless stuff to speculate on when there’s almost nothing going on in a promotion, and the few things happening don’t feel like they matter.
There’s an AAA-staffed spot show on Wednesday in Mexico State, which includes an appearance by AAA announcers Jose Manuel Guillen and Hugo Savinovich. It’s strange because Savinovich is typically only around an AAA TV taping in Mexico, and no taping has been announced. As popular as he may be, no one’s flying him into Mexico to call a show in Coyotepec only. It turns out there is supposed to be an unadvertised AAA TV taping on Tuesday, doubling as a private show for one of AAA’s sponsors. It would fit on Space after Ultraclash, where the repeats usually go.
AAA wrestlers are promoting a protest march on Wednesday morning to support Cuatrero and to promote their wishful conspiracy theory that influential people are keeping him in jail. This march, strangely, is listed as taking place at 6 AM.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha World (FRI) 12/08/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [thecubsfan]
1) Big Tao Tao b La Brava 
10:10. Big Tao Tao was a surprise wrestler.
2) Tirano b Black Skayde
9:48
3) Iku & Orbita b Black Andrómeda & Cody 1-8
14:37. Andromeda accidentally spit water in Cody’s face, leading to his team’s downfall. Locos Evans beat up Cody after for no particular reason.
4) Demonic Flamita b Ditto
11:50. Ditto spent the previous match flirting with Andromeda. Flamita stormed the ring and demanded one more match on the final Big Lucha World of the year. Ditto requested the match, and Flamita offered him a kiss from Andromeda if he won his match, then revealed himself as Ditto’s opponent. Andromeda occasionally helped Ditto but he and Flamita beat up Ditto after the match. Flamita declared he’d control all of Big Lucha after the Culmination show next week.
The one thing you can say about these shows is they give a lot of time for the inexperienced wrestlers to try stuff. These were some long-feeling matches and a main event where Flamita seemed to want to see if he could get a three-star match out of a mascot. Big Tao Tao/La Brava was better than it sounds on paper, if very weird.
“Culmination” is next Saturday. Big Lucha still hasn’t posted most of their previous show on their YouTube channel, and there’s no indication when that will happen. Not a great sign. The last few months have been built around the lead heel feuding with the promoter, also usually not a good sign. I’ll see how that Saturday show goes, but Big Lucha might be shifting into a group that is not interesting enough to follow as intensely as I’ve done the last few years.
IWRG
IWRG (SUN) 12/10/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Rey Aztaroth b Águila Oriental
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Kali, Sádika DQ Bengalee, Ksenia, Sagitarius
Miss Kath inexplicably came over the rail and did a terrible top rope splash on Sadika fro the DQ.
3) Keyra b Diosa Quetzal
Keyra wants a match for Quetzal’s title.
4) Latin Star, Lion Dog I, Lion Dog II b Hell Boy, León Dorado, Mr. Leo
5) Dragón Yuki & Hijo de Canis Lupus b Hijo del Fishman & Rey Espectro and Águila Roja & Hijo del Pirata Morgan
Canis Lupus wants another title match with Pirata Morgan
6) Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana © b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. [IWRG IC TRIOS]
third? defense. The Lion Dogs and Latino Star distracted la Pandemia, and Poder del Norte snuck in a foul.
“Ksenia”, which is probably not the ladies’ actual name, appeared to be a Russian woman trained in combat sports but not lucha libre. She was alright in there with Kobayashi, because Kobayashi is a good enough wrestler to work a match to her opponent’s strengths. She was terrible with Sadika. Sadika can only work the Sadika match and she wasn’t prepared at all for that (or for much.) Miss Kath may be worse than the lightly trained Russian lady though.
IWRG (SUN) 12/17/2023 Arena Naucalpan
***IWRG 61st Anniversary***
1) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 [Copa IWRG]
2) Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana © vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. [IWRG IC TRIOS]
3rd defense
3) Diosa Quetzal vs Keyra [IWRG IC WOMEN]
first defense after winning it last year
4) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba, Sádika vs Ivan Rokov, Kesenia, Látigo, Toxin [lumberjack]
5) Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool vs Hijo de LA Park, Hijo del Fishman, LA Park Jr., Rey Espectro
6) Hell Boy vs Cerebro Negro [hair]
7) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs LA Park, DMT Azul [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense
Hell Boy versus Cerbero Negro talked me into this show, everyone else talked me out of this show. It’s all the act who’ve taken over Mexico City area indie wrestling over the last eighteen months; I don’t need to subscribe to Mas Lucha to see most of this, because they’ve got twenty other shows with these same basic matches. My opinion is also irrelevant; IWRG’s Anniversary is a Big Event and LA Park and Dr. Wagner being confirms it as such. This will be another full house.
Not sure if it says something about IWRG to bring in Latigo and Toxin to work a goofy comedy lumberjack strap match (instead of putting literally any two people on their roster they book already), or if it says something about AAA that two guys who are regularly on TV are looked as incidental guys in a comedy match. Anyway, there are reasons why a lot of the best stuff with AAA wrestlers this year have taken place outside of Mexico: Mexican promoters aren’t interested in putting together good matches in the same way.
AAA , ROSALES (MON) 12/25/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Daimon, Galio, Golden Jecket, Kingoo vs Rey Halcón, Skayler, Toxin, Visonario
2) La Parkita, Máscara de Bronce, Mini Psycho Clown vs Astuto, Dizzy, Mini Charly Manson
3) Faby Apache & Lady Shani vs Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura
4) Dave The Clown, Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown vs Abismo Negro Jr., Joe Lider, Súper Nova, Texano Jr.
5) Hijo Del Vikingo vs Taurus [AAA MEGA]
This is the exception to that Mexico City indie bookers not caring about having good matches. Vikingo/Taurus, if they want it to be and if they’re not working three other shows that night, could be the best AAA match of the year.
Other News
It was not a great weekend for Mexican wrestlers off US TV headlining indie shows. Lucha Time shows with Alberto el Patron and Cinta de Oro as headliners in Texas on Friday and especially Sunday drew poorly. A DMT Azul/Andrade RGR show in California reportedly drew less than 100.
A profile of Cordoba’s Infierno Negro.