CMLL
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.
All eyes on the meeting of the 80th Aniversario participants in the main event. It was the apuesta match the fans (very loudly) didn’t want to see ten years ago and would very much like to see today. Andrade looked great and greatly motivated last week, and mixing it up with Volador should be good.
The direction of the main even is a bit cloudy. CMLL seems headed to an eventual Volador/Andrade match and 12/29 would normally be the logical date for it. However, 12/30 is the next AEW PPV and it’d be logical if Andrade was required to be in town for that the night prior (even if he doesn’t figure into their tournament final.) CMLL Informa repeated that the 01/05 and 01/12 shows are meant to be the Best of 2023 events, which means no space for Andrade. CMLL could just ignore that and do whatever, but it’s possible this is the end of Andrade for a bit.
Volador, on CMLL Informa, criticized Andrade’s decision to team with his family. He noted Brillante Jr. was just a raw rookie and called Espanto Jr. a guy who’s been in CMLL for years without ever accomplishing anything. Espanto Jr. is one-half of the Arena Coliseo Tag Team champions with Akuma; it’s up to you if that counts as “anything.” It is unlikely Espanto Jr. will ever again headline a Friday night show outside of this Andrade storyline. Brillante could (and very well may) have a bad day and it can be written off as inexperience. Espanto Jr. is bad fairly often but few notice because it’s in prelim matches (or because teammate Dark Magic is worse.) There’s no hiding tonight.
Atlantis Jr. and Soberano Jr. are just starting their own Volador/Sombra rivalry, and figure to get off to a good start. The rest of the show is really solid: the Villanos and Zandokan reunite and promisng matches in the 2/3 spot. It’s going to take a lot to steal the show with the top matches but I think it’s possible the minis try to do it from the openers. We’ve seen in the past that when an older generation gets a rare opportunity for a match together on a Friday night, that they tend to greatly exceed expectations. Time is running out for the Pierrothito, Pequeno Olimpico, Ultimo Dragon trio in particular, I think they know it, and they might want to go out big.
It’s on PPV as usual, just in Pesos like the other shows this month.
Soberano Jr. says he’s signed a one year contract with NJPW. NJPW (and CMLL) haven’t said anything. This came up in one of the Wednesday media sessions. It well into the interview and Dr. Landru of the Gladiatores was the only one who seemed to notice it as news.
There’s something off about this news. NJPW typically doesn’t have all of those who would be consider ‘regular’ roster members under contract. Locking down someone likely to work three or four tours and not part of a faction is unusual. Either Soberano’s going to get added to a NJPW faction soon (which would be a minor story), NJPW greatly expanding the number of people they have under contract (which would be a major story), or something got lost here (which would make it a non-story.) Soberano seems serious about this, but there’s clearly a piece we’re not getting.
CMLL (SAT) 12/23/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Eléctrico & Oro Jr. vs Enfermero Jr. & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Astral, Capitán Suicida, Diamond vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) El Audaz, Stigma, Volcano vs Cancerbero, Felino Jr., Kráneo
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Valiente vs Rugido, Sagrado, Virus
5) Flip Gordon vs Hechicero [lightning]
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
Another Barbaros main event. Flip Gordon/Hechicero has a chance to make a lot of people very mad.
CMLL (MON) 12/25/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
2) Aéreo, Fantasy, Pequeño Polvora vs Acero, Galaxy, Pequeño Magía
3) Hombre Bala Jr. vs Rugido [lightning]
4) La Jarochita, Marcela, Skadi vs Dark Silueta, Hera, Reyna Isis
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Valiente vs Felino, Hechicero, Sagrado
6) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Soberano Jr., Templario
Special holiday show doesn’t have any special matches to it. The main event could be good. I made fun of it on Twitter, but the lightning match could be good. The minis match should be fun before the finish. It is notable the Gemelos are in the building.
CMLL (MON) 12/25/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Meyer & Millenium vs Fénix SO & Siky Ozama
2) Estrellita Mágica & Lady Metal vs Olympia & Persephone
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Rey Samuray vs El Perverso, Pólvora, Prayer
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, El Audaz vs Crixus, Difunto, Felino Jr.
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Hijo de Stuka Jr., Terrible
6) Euforia, Místico, Stigma vs Andrade el Idolo, Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
The Puebla show will be the bonus holiday stream, showcasing Andrade’s return to the arena. Nothing too special here otherwise, though the matches may good. Gran Guerrero finished higher than Andrade in the PWI so maybe he can give Andrade some tips.
Estrellita Magica is a curiosity to me. She was a fringe CMLL Mexico City roster member from 2009 to 2011, and somehow ended up in Puebla the last few years. She would’ve fit in Pegasso’s women’s wrestling class, but maybe they specifically wanted people from Puebla, not those who ended up there.
CMLL (TUE) 12/26/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Adira, Dulce Kitty, Náutica vs Atenea, Estrellita Mágica, La Pantera
2) Astro Oriental, Gallo Jr., Príncipe Dragón, Rafaga Jr. vs Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Eclipse Jr., Temerario
3) Brillante Jr., Crixus, Star Black vs Bestia Negra, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Barboza, Draego, Persa
5) Arlequín, Difunto, Esfinge vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Andrómeda, Persephone, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis vs Dark Silueta, Lady Shadow, Sexy Sol, Valkiria [Relevos Increíbles]
7) Máscara Dorada & Místico vs Averno & Furia Roja
Both the Andrade and the building seemed to indicate he’d be there on this show. Furia Roja seems to be in his spot, and Esfinge is a weird spot himself.. Could be something has come up. It’s a long trip from a late night Tuesday Guadalajara show to Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, though I don’t know if that’s the reason. Maybe we’ll know later.
Match 6 is foreigners versus Mexicans, just as long as you pretend Andromeda is from outer space.
Satanico wrestled in Arena Aficion this past week, which he believed was for the first time in 15 years. He told the press he doesn’t believe wrestlers wrestling the way today will have 30 year careers, much less the 50 he did, because their bodies just won’t hold up that long.
Ciudad Olinka has a story about Salavador Lutteroth’s birth town of Colotan, Jalisco. He moved to Mexico City as a child, but did travel back to support the town by building a school and nursing home among other actitives. This past September, the town unveiled a bust of Lutteroth, which sits in the media of a major street.
AAA
AAA’s episode description is “Especial de Navidad.” A holiday recap show? New matches? No idea.
Many people have big goals and aspirations for 2024. I sadly lack any good ideas on that front. Perhaps our friends at AAA do have a dream of accurate TV taping lineups for 2024. AAA updated the 01/06 lineup to remove Aramis from the opener and replace him with Arez. Mexican wrestling shows, not just AAA, often have a lot of changes and they’re usually brushed off and mean little. It means a little bit more if a card change happens in AAA in early 2024.
When Jessy Ventura signed with AAA last week, I assumed that long-time Las Shotas tag team partner Diva Salvaje would be doing the same. I think I even wrote that in a poster and then backspaced out of it; might as well let it play out. It is playing out, in that Diva Salvaje sounds like they’re planning on staying independent at the moment. Salvaje says there is no issue with them and Jessy Ventura. I think it’s more an issue wit hAAA’s contracts than any issue between the team members.
Vix streaming series Cada Pasion Tiene Su Sabor is about visiting famous sports event travelogue, combined with eating food and visiting locations. Episode 8 of their most recent season is about TripleMania Tijuana. (It played for me without signing up for anything; I can’t promise it’ll work for everyone.) I can’t recall hearing about it at all, and I know about it because of a mention on social media. Vix is Televisa owned, the rival of AAA’s partner Azteca. It’s weird this even exists, and maybe that’s a reason why it hasn’t been promoted.
Fightful Select reported QT Marshall finished up with AEW already. That AAA video looked like it was filmed somewhere outside of AEW.
The Cuatrero march did take place on Wednesday. While not a big number, they did seem to have a few more people than the first try a few days, and got some additional media attention. Cuatrero’s next court date was today (Friday), and a third protest march was held outside the jail.
IWRG
No Thursday show. Or Sunday show. Rosales runs the show on Monday.
This week’s IWRG show is the top two matches from December 12, 2010. They were posted online back in the day (and before they could be posted in one part.)
I have results from that show, and linked to six different sources. Estrellas del Ring still exists, but they’ve long abandoned their Blogger site where the recap was posted (and have almost totally pivoted to video.) The Gladiatores still exists and resumed posting on their website after a hiatus, but there’s some encoding error causing issues with the recap. MedioTiempo still exists but the link doesn’t work; not sure if they’ve changed their site or just removed old content. Mi Lucha Libre is distant memory. Al Filo del Ring might exist behind what Blogger has as a locked page, but I suspect it’s gone as well. Black Terry Jr. is still around, but he long ago took down or turned private most of his content; he just wasn’t getting enough out of it to keep it up. The internet turns over, especially when there’s not money to keep this going.
Other Notes
Andrade’s latest return to his home town took place in Arena Olimpico Laguna on Thursday night. Andrade, Penta, Cinta de Oro, DMT Azul had a four way ladder match in front of what seemed to be an overcapacity crowd. Penta might have been more over. This match was for the IOWC championship, a in-theory “independent championship” that is in practice a Cinta de Oro vanity belt. Andrade had won the title from Cinta previously, so they ran a ladder match here just to find a way to get Cinta back his belt without Andrade taking a pin.
Black Taurus worked the undercard on that show. I don’t think he’s under AAA contract, but he’s still a guy CMLL would consider an AAA guy. In previous years, CMLL would frown on guest wrestlers working shows with AAA wrestlers when they’re taking dates from CMLL. (Lady Frost worked an indie show with AAA wrestlers, and that’s the guess why CMLL stopped bringing her in.) It could be CMLL policy has changed, or it could be CMLL sees Andrade as a big enough deal to overlook the issue just for him.
The Black Taurus match also included Gravity, filling in for Bandido. It was a rare appearance for Gravity in Mexico, and he doesn’t wrestle much in the US outside Ring of Honor. I assume he’s concerned about getting hurt and hurting his US deal, but he’s a guy who could use more work.
Hijo del Vikingo and Black Taurus will wrestle again for the AAA Megachampionship tonight on AEW Rampage. I would be surprised to see any official announcement of Taurus’ status tonight, but I’ve been told to expect to see Taurus in AEW/ROH more going forward. Tony Schiavone, in talking about the Final Battle match on his podcast, said Vikingo was “really hurting” after the match. I believe he was banged up on the powerbomb on the floor, which affected his performance for the rest of the match. It was not serious enough to keep him from wrestling a few days later.
An El Universal article interviews older wrestlers about why they keep wrestling, and comes to the conclusion that it’s because the fans want them to keep doing themselves. Solar says the people demand he doesn’t retire because he does a style no one does before (even if it’s a poor and slow imitation of that style by now.) Mil Mascaras is quoted as saying wrestlers will stop when they no longer feel they have the qualities to be good wrestlers. The issue is more wrestlers will convince themselves they still have the qualities to be a good wrestler as long as a promoter calls them up and opens the job. Mascaras himself was not good for decades before he (seemingly) stopped wrestling.
Segunda Caida reviews LA Park & Sayrus vs Pimpinela Escarlata & Kaoma Jr..
Site Notes
The posting schedule will be couple of weeks for reasons both obvious and not as much. There may be Sunday updates instead of Monday updates for the next couple of weeks, and posts may come out as weirder times.
I’m still planning on doing La Tapatias starting on 01/01, although this is the first time I’ve thought about it.