CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 12/15/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Excelsior, FDDE, Kaiser Sprots, La Razon, Publimetro, Record, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan, Vavel]
1) Capitán Suicida & El Audaz b Grako & Nitro 
11:06
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa 
11:38
3) Dark Silueta, Hera, La Catalina b La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela
12:36
4) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible b Flip Gordon, Titán, Valiente
15:12
5) Máscara Dorada b Rocky Romero © [NWA WELTER]
18:32. Dorada wins the title on his second try, becomes the 11th (68th) champion.
6) Andrade el Idolo, Ángel de Oro, Soberano Jr. b Atlantis Jr., Místico, Star Jr.
20:28. Ex La Sombra’s return to CMLL after eight years. Atlantis and Soberano feuded following the World Tag League, with Angel de Oro and KeMalito distracting the referee from an Edgar low blow. Atlantis Jr. demanded a singles match with Soberano next week. (Soberano claimed he was all booked up until 2024.) Andrade and Mistico made singles match challenges.
Mascara Dorada and Rocky Romero was excellent. The last half of the match was all near falls. Those kept feel intense and urgent, not just required. The fact that Romero already kept this title once over Volador when no one was expecting to him helped make those near falls feel more relevant The Romero title story got a lot of time and visiblity to play out and it made it mean so much more. They played off previous matches and the expectation; when Romero got his knees up on Dorada’s SSP, those next few moments felt like it could truly end the match. Dorada nailed pretty much everything he needed to nail and the fans were excited for the win. Just a complete success.
(Early on, Dorada teased a dive off the stage and Romero just moved out of the way. It reminded me that CMLL used to have tons of dives off the stage, to the point where it lost the meaning, and now it’s a spot that feels like it’s entirely gone away.)
Andrade seemed to really enjoy his return. Metalik’s the easy comparison: he indicated it was important to be back there but didn’t seem to treat as more important than any indie booking he’d be doing. Andrade was feasting on the crowd energy, on messing with Mistico, on kicking KeMalito in the head by accident. The match itself turned more on the Soberano/Atlantis feud. Andrade’s performance wasn’t on the level of his recent AEW work, but wasn’t asked here. Andrade’s post-match interview made it sound like there are plans for 1v1 matches with Mistico and Volador, and he’d like to do one with Atlantis Jr. as well.
CJ Perry didn’t appear after being advertised hours earlier. CMLL and Andrade didn’t explain. On Twitter, Perry explained she had an infection in a finger that had traveled through her arm and was seeking medical treatment.
The Arena Mexico attendance was up, though not as much as I thought it might be. The press attention was way up; bringing in a US name greatly convinced the media that it was an important show.
The opener was good, with the rudos being more willing to try things than expected. Grako is not a strong wrestler but he is willing to take a big bump. The fourth match was the other good one; Los Barbaros are into their into concept for sure.
CMLL (SAT) 12/16/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia b Aéreo & Último Dragóncito
Mercurio snuck in a foul on Ultimo Dragoncito
2) Amapola, Olympia, Tiffany b La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Magia Azul
Magia Azul CMLL CDMX debut, in a loss.
3) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Volcano b Crixus, Okumura, Raider
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Felino, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) Euforia b Stuka Jr. [lightning]
6) Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. b Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Star Jr.
Soberano won with a foul, then snatched Atlantis’ mask after.
CMLL called the main event a legal win. Soberano on Twitter claimed everything is legal.
CMLL (SUN) 12/17/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Minos & Pequeño Olímpico b Fantasy & Galaxy
Minos & Olimpico had issues after winning
2) Sangre Imperial b Eléctrico [lightning]
3) Astral, Diamond, Fuego b El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Felino Jr., Kráneo, Sagrado b Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star, Panterita del Ring
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b Difunto, Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
6) Atlantis Jr., Flip Gordon, Místico b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
Nothing too notable outside of the minis having issues. They haven’t built to anything notable for the Christmas Day show.
Hijo del Stuka Jr. won a mask match Thursday night. He defeated Gran Jefe VI in Arena Olimpico Laguna in a four-way with Gran Jefe IV and Rey Insolito (who appeared in the school tournament.) Gran Jefe VI gave his name as Marco Antonio Gaytán Nuño, 14 years a wrestler and 5 years under that name. Prior to that, he wrestled as Tarantula; he’s a historic footnote as the opponent Bandido brought to Coliseo Coacalco when WWE wanted to see him in action in person. There were two mask matches and two hair matches on that show, which seems a lot.
CMLL (TUE) 12/19/2023 Arena México
1) Bengala, Leono, Retro vs Grako, Inquisidor, Sangre Imperial
2) Kaligua, Mercurio, Pequeño Violencia vs Angelito, Full Metal, Minos [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Reyna Isis vs Dark Silueta [lightning]
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) Star Jr. & Titán vs Dragón Rojo Jr. & Terrible
6) Flip Gordon, Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
The top two matches could be good. Match three is a rematch of a title change. Match two is the build to the cage match.
CMLL (FRI) 12/22/2023 Arena México
1) Pierrothito & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Shockercito [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Futuro, Max Star, Neón vs Crixus, Difunto, Raider
3) Andrómeda, La Jarochita, Marcela vs Metálica, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
5) Atlantis Jr. vs Soberano Jr.
6) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Volador Jr. vs Andrade el Idolo, Brillante Jr., Espanto Jr.
This would be a superb card if we had access to a time machine and could grab the 1989 Espanto Jr. instead of this one. (Also, we’d probably want to talk to 1989 Espanto Jr. about his life choices and what’s on his current path.) The main event is going to be heated, as is the semimian. Zandokan Jr. returns back to CMLL action with his Villano buddies in a match that may have a lot of action. Match three is a grab bag of women’s names; there seems to be an effort to mix up the combinations a bit on Friday (though Marcela’s appeared in all of these Friday matches since her return.) Match two has thehyoung high flyers with a crew that should be good working with them, and also Crixus. The opener is the elder statesmen of the Pequeno Estrellas division meeting one more time. Never know how many more of those they’re going to get.
Fightful Overbooked’s In The Weeds show had a recent interview with Rocky Romero. (Summary here, video here.) It sounds like the CMLL/AEW talks were entirely born out of the problems AEW had in getting matches approved for the Forbidden Door show, and both Romero and Tony Khan wanting to see if something could be worked out.
Volador Jr. defeated Trent Seven on Saturday in RevPro. I heard nothing about this show, I think it just got lost in the wash of lots of other stuff going on Friday and Saturday. The match sounds unremarkable.
AAA
Both the AAA on-screen graphic and their social media posts hyped Saturday’s AAA TV main event as a 2v2 match. It was originally a 2v2 match, AAA changed it (off screen) to a 3v3 match. AAA apparently didn’t notify Impact of the correct lineup, based on their commentary. They also apparently didn’t notify their own staff of this, since the one screen graphic and the social media promotion listed the original 2v2 match. This stuff happens all the time with AAA and no one seems to care on AAA’s side and no one cares about lucha libre enough to be critical about it. Has everyone just accepted AAA is so much junk that it’s beneath criticism?
Nevertheless, AAA continues to exist and continues to run angles on this show no one cares about. One angle they ran teases Arez rejoining the Vipers. Los Vipers booted Arez out in May 2022 for showing sympathy towards Fenix. The idea was Arez, Penta, Fenix and Taya would from a group called Lucha Squad, and Arez would feud with Psicosis II to an apuesta match. In the 18 months since this angle started, Arez never teamed with any other member of Lucha Squad and wrestled Psicosis once. AAA kept running bits where the Vipers and Arez had issues behind the seconds, but they rarely actually wrestled after the first few months. There have been plenty of angles that have started and not gone anywhere, but AAA’s continued insistent that this idea was actually building to something and then absolutely refusing to book it in matches was maddening. Some television shows reward a viewer for paying close attention to details. AAA gives you at thumb to an eye. This was absolute garbage, and again it’s going to be ignored because anyone who cares about these things already believes AAA is garbage or doesn’t think AAA’s worth commenting on.
Arez was a really useful partner to Latigo and Toxin and the rest of the younger Los Vipers before the split (and before they were even Los Vipers.) Arez’s spent the last year often teaming with Latigo or Toxin on US indy shows, because US indy fans known some of the AAA guys but AAA’s creative is completely irrelevant to them. Arez ending up back in the group in Mexico is absolutely for the best, but it doesn’t excuse how dumb this all is and how annoying it is to watch. The only apology is to do whatever they’re going to do and move on.
QT Marshall and Harley Cameron also turned up on AAA TV, in a video that looked not to have the video quality of most of Marshall’s other segments. Cameron claimed Penta messed up her flight plans and that’s why she didn’t come to Juarez. Marshall insisted he’d back in AAA at some point. Marshall, Cameron and Aaron Solo all have not been seen on AEW TV since Marshall announced he’d been leaving AEW at the end of the year. Johnny TV, who was named that because he was part of QTV, has now been put in his traditional role with Taya on Ring of Honor. That suggests QTV itself is done, and Cameron and Solo may be in AEW limbo. Marshall sending in a video post-departure announcement would suggest he’s not going to WWE and will continue to be available but, as discussed to death in this section, AAA is not limited by choices good television shows would make.
While I’m doing hot takes: The AAA/NWA show was bleh. The only things I remember from it months later is Daga’s weird injury, Cuatrero getting questioned about Vaquer’s accusations at the show, and the influencer running his angle for a match that never happened. The AAA/Impact Ultraclash matches were better but the show was forgettable. These dual promotion shows are supposed to be twice as exciting and ended up being completely skippable. AAA’s inevitably going to do them again and maybe they can actually book exciting matches in 2024.
Hijo del Vikingo retained the AAA Megachampionship over Black Taurus in Ring of Honor on Friday night. The match was great. It was a perfect showcase of what Taurus can do as a monster (Vikingo got thrown everywhere and may have been shaken up after a powerbomb on the floor) and what he can do as a base. It is as hard as it is been to get in to the AEW/ROH sphere at the moment – even they have a capacity limit – but Taurus did all he could to give himself a chance.
AAA did not acknowledge or mention the Taurus/Vikingo title match until after it happened on ROH’s Final Battle. That matches AEW’s pattern: they won’t mention any upcoming match for their wrestlers in any other promotion unless they’re directly making money. They’ll wait to mention it after the fact; AEW talked about Andrade’s CMLL return for the first time the day after on Collision. It didn’t click to me that AAA was intentionally mirroring AEW’s strategy until this time, perhaps out of frustration of AEW doing the same to them many times in the past. I don’t know that it’s a good idea for anyone but I certainly can understand why AAA would act that way.
Komander had a great match on the Ring of Honor show, just as he was part of a great trios match on AEW Rampage that night. He also took the deciding pin in both. The model here seems to be Konosuke Takeshita, who had great matches all the time and lost most of them until AEW decided to pull the trigger on a character change. I have no idea what that change would be for Komander or when it’s coming, but that’s probably what we’re waiting for.
Forastero, Sanson and friends are again trying that march for Cuatrero’s freedom this upcoming Wednesday. It’s a 2 pm kickoff time this time, with the idea of ending at the National Palace (the home of the Mexico executive branch.)
Capital 21 has a story on the Lucha x el Barrio tryout. Still no sign of who’s wrestling on 01/06. AAA’s program description was wrong: they showed a video package on one of the Lucha x el Barrio but they actually aired the dark match from Mexico City instead.
IWRG
IWRG (SUN) 12/17/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
***IWRG 61st Anniversary***
1) Puma de Oro b Caballero de Plata, Tornado, Auzter, Rey Espartano, Noisy Boy, Gannicus, Yorvak, Dr. Cerebro Jr., Cerebro Negro Jr., Spider Fly, Águila Roja, Rey Halcón, León Dorado [Copa IWRG] 
2) Keyra b Diosa Quetzal [IWRG IC WOMEN]
first defense after winning it last year
3) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. © b Aster Boy, Hijo del Alebrije, Puma de Oro [IWRG IC TRIOS]
Poder del Norte scheduled to defend, but did not appear. Commission ruled La Pandemia winners by forfeit. Poder del Norte were ordered to return the belts in 15 days. Pandermia noted one of them was wrestling with a hand injury but still wrestling, unlike Poder del Norte. Pandemia apologized on behalf of IWRG for the lack of the unadvertised match. Puma de Oro interrupted, leading out of a trio of people who had left IWRG coming back to challenge as a surprise.
4) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba, Sádika b Ivan Rokov, Kesenia, Látigo, Toxin [lumberjack]
5) Hijo de LA Park, Hijo del Fishman, LA Park Jr., Rey Espectro b Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool
Pig Pool ended up hurt and Decapitador got his head (well mask) taken off.
6) Hell Boy b Cerebro Negro [hair]
7) DMT Azul b Dr. Wagner Jr., LA Park [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense
This show sold out, as it does every year.
The news is mostly in the third match. I can’t believe I’m retelling this story again. IWRG lost those trios six years ago when the Navarros left the company. They had amazingly returned to Naucalpan after Poder del Norte won them and agreed to come in. Cota, Comando and Santana defended the title three times, any of which time IWRG could’ve done a switch to get them off them, but they were saving the big change for this show. And then Poder del Norte just don’t show, and IWRG still doesn’t have the belts. Poder del Norte will theoretically be suspended in Mexico State if they don’t send the belts if they don’t return them in a couple of weeks, but those guys haven’t really wrestle much in Mexico State prior to doing this title program. It’s not the scariest of threats. Cota & Santana worked the Big Lucha show the night prior without incident and this is IWRG, so it’s probably a pay dispute.
The replacements guys are all people who had their own disputes with IWRG. I’m not sure what Hijo del Alebrije’s deal was (he indicated he was leaving, he came back once, he left again, he went to Japan and worked some low level shows), but Aster Boy and Puma de Oro wrote long Facebook posts how they mistreated by IWRG and how they wouldn’t be going back. Of course, they end up coming back. And, obviously, IWRG knew Poder del Norte weren’t going to show for a few days to make some deals to get those guys back. Indie wrestling drama remains silly.
The hair match sounds like it was good. Cerebro Negro debuted a daughter somewhere during it. The Pigs match and the main event were said to not be good.
IWRG has Guerrero de Acero, an all cage match show, on 01/01. I think they may be dark until then; Rosales is running the building on 12/25 and IWRG’s dropped running midweek shows. They have mentioned the IWRG Retro shows will continue to go up on YouTube through March. Or at least that’s the plan.
Big Lucha
I caught up with the November and December Big Lucha shows in the same weekend. It was a lot. The November show is up in individual matches on Big Lucha’s YouTube channel. Most of it was OK at best. I could live my life happily to never see another Mr. Electro match. The Lokos Evans/Delta Force was the best match of that show for me. The crowd seemed to be more into Jack Evans vs Rey Horus vs Accion Jackson and it didn’t do a lot for me, but maybe I just have three way fatigue.
The December show, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say about how to see it. Big Lucha streamed the show live, that’s for certain. They streamed it publicly long enough for me and others to find the link and then switched it unlisted. I assume I’m not supposed to have seen the show or share the show. I assume they’ll either make it public or release it on some schedule.
Big Lucha (SAT) 12/16/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [Big Lucha, thecubsfan]
1) Big Tao Tao & Zenky b Morfosis & Sangre Nueva
5:07
2) Cometa Maya & Radioactivo b Dios del Inframundo & Súper Fly and Limbo & Torito Negro [#1 Contenders, Big Lucha NEXO]
4:27 Winners face Texano & Super Nova at a future date.
3) Platino & Skayde b Black Terry & Negro Navarro
13:56
4) Elipse, Iku, Orbita, Vengador DQ Atómico Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Nova, Tito Santana
12:49. Santana & Cota fouled Iku & Elipse
5) Emperador Azteca, Flamita, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. NF Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria
11:31. Battle for the control of the promotion. Scoria was headed to the top rope for a legdrop when Elipse and Orbita attacked him, and then attacked Flamita. Referee called it a draw. Crowd chanted Fraude. Black Generation declared themselves the real winners. La Secta said they came here to have a real match with Black Generation to decide the promotion, felt disrespected by Mr. Big allowing people to run in, and were done helping him. Wagner was upset too. Flamtia declared the fans didn’t understand words, but understood actions, and attacked Mr. Big. Locos Evans ran in for the save. Loco Evans held Flamita for Mr. Big to say they were going to settle it with a rematch. Orbita hit Flamita with a cookie sheet, but Elipse hit Mr. Big to the shock of his teammates. (Mr. Big bladed.) Elipse said Mr. Big was his and Orbita’s father, which the announcers seemed to state was real. Orbita was shocked at Elipse and checked on Mr. Big. Potro de Oro belatedly ran in for the save (the people who were in the match long gone by now), but Iku & Vengador helped Elipse take him out. Tirano, Cody 1-8 and Mr. Win made the third save of this segment. The tecnicos and Mr. Big declared war on Locos Evans and Orbita seemed to leave Locos Evans. It was unclear who controlled Big Lucha.
6) Viajero b El Brujo [mask]
16:45. Viajero won by submission despite a slow count the moment before. Brujo is César Amir Chan Meneces.
It’s a problem that I had to use so many words to explain the fifth match, but it’s a bigger problem that angle stunk. Spending all that time hyping a match for control of the promotion and doing no finish was terrible. They knew it was terrible, they did a half dozen things after the fact to quickly move away from the terrible finish. Maybe just don’t book the bad match with the stipulation you didn’t want to deliver if you don’t have a finish.
I assume Elipse & Orbita truly are related to Mr. Big because a) Mr. Big sold for Elipse and didn’t bother to do so for Flamita and b) Elipse & Orbita are fine right now but there’s no way they’d be picked to be part of the central storyline in a wrestling promotion if they weren’t related to someone. Big Lucha lost one Gravity and ended up with two new ones, maybe.
Viajero/Brujo was good, borderline great. There’s a bit of the referee trying to steal the show in the last couple of minutes but the wrestlers completely ignore him. It’s the best match of the show. The first matches were going along fine but were absurdly short. I can’t believe they brought in notDrago and Super Fly to have a 4 minute match where they were outside of the ring for most of it.
Big Lucha is done for 2023. No date was given for their first 2024 gym show. (They’ve previously announced a trip to southern Mexico.) I think I’m probably on a pick and choose plan with Big Lucha in 2024. There are some interesting people here, and Big Lucha is most interesting to me when it’s guys trying to do exciting matches that aren’t wrapped in the usual lazy tropes seen in most Mexico City area wrestling. Bringing in vets who aren’t going to do much and making it like everything else means it’ll go with the rest of the promotions I don’t spend a lot of time on. Running angles that go nowhere doesn’t help either; I have an AAA already.
Other News
Bandido posted Saturday that he did end up getting the second surgery. He says it was successful and I hope he’s correct this time.
The New Exotico show in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera looked like it drew terribly; Maximo did an interview talking about all the money he lost on the show. The group otens runs Gimnasio Olimpcio Juan de la Barrera despite it being too big of a building for them (or pretty much anyone outside of AAA.) There must be some deal there I just don’t know, because there’d be other places where a 1,000 or so fans would look great and presumably cost a lot less.
The New Exotico included Atomik Star defeating Super Brazo for his hair, one of the more cynical mask decisions you could make. Super Brazo has lost his hair countless times, and Atomik Star really isn’t far behind.
Telediaro has an article on Arena Coliseo Monterrey. The article talks about the history, but has the wrong date for the most recent show in the building; it’s December 18, 2022. There have been no shows in the building in 2023. There’s been talk of the building being imminently demolished to redevelop into something else for years. This article comes off as if the reason it existed was to mark the final farwell of the building, but also ends up noting the future of Arena Coliseo Monterrey remains uncertain.
The Tinieblas book is for sale on Amazon for about 30 USD.
Segunda Caida writes about El Hijo del Santo versus El Ninja.