Month: December 2023

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 12/18/2023 Arena Puebla [Grada, Mano A Mano]
1) Espíritu Maligno & Siky Ozama b Amnesia & Rayo Metálico
2) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
3) Lady Amazona b Skadi [lightning] 
8:10.
4) Arkalis, Asturiano, Meyer, Pegasso, Rey Samuray b Crixus, Difunto, El Coyote, Pólvora, Raider [cibernetico] 
Order of elimination: Asutriano (via Polvora), Meyer (Raider), Polvora (Pegaso), Raider (Samuray) Pegaso (Difunto), Samuray (Crixus) leaving Arkalis against Crixus, Difunto and Coyote. Arkalis beat Coyote, Difunto, and Crixus in order to win. Arkalis had earlier revealed his father had passed away that afternoon but he wanted to fufill his scheduled booking here.
5) Guerrero Maya Jr. © b Rugido [MEX MIDDLE] 
2nd defense, rematch of tournament final
6) Averno, Místico, Stigma b Euforia, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Volador replaced Templario

During the Monday event, CMLL announced Andrade would appear on the 12/25 holiday show in Arena Puebla. Guadalajara also announced he’ll be there on 12/26. Working the full loop is how CMLL used all the outside names who’ve come in for short stints over the last few years. I wasn’t as sure it’d be the same for Andrade, between working AEW regularly and the holiday stretch, but he seems up for it.

CMLL (TUE) 12/19/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Bengala, Leono, Retro b Grako, Inquisidor, Sangre Imperial  
2) Angelito, Full Metal, Minos DQ Kaligua, Mercurio, Pequeño Violencia [Relevos Increíbles]  
straight falls, Mercurio DQed for unmasking Angelito
3) Reyna Isis b Dark Silueta [lightning]  
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II 
5) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Terrible b Star Jr. & Titán  
Tecnicos had the match won, but KeMaltio ran in and broke up the submission holds in view of the referee. Rudos immediately won.
6) Flip Gordon, Máscara Dorada, Místico b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto 

A generally good show for a Tuesday, with a typical fan friendly main event.

The KeMalito interference spots have become a bit much. The other mascots interfere, but usually not directly on the finish and not directly in front of the referee. My assumption is it’s meant to be setting up the new KeMonito coming in to stop him, but hopefully they’ll tone it down a bit after that happens.

Today’s CMLL Informa should have a KeMonito tease. It’s the last talk show before Christmas, which makes the most sense for a debut day. CMLL seems to be already promoting his appearance on a 12/29 Lucha Tour event, opposite KeMalito.

CMLL (TUE) 12/19/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Ángel Rebelde, Gran Jefe VI, Insólito b Minotauro, Mortis, Shezmu 
2) Adira & Dulce Kitty b Emperatriz & Misteriosa 
ref stop when match fell apart?
3) Gallo Jr., Ráfaga, Rafaga Jr. b Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro, Misterioso Jr. 
4) Halcón Suriano Jr., Hijo de Stuka Jr., Hijo del Soberano DQ Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico 
Gran Jefe VI ran in to attack Hijo de Stuka Jr., following their mask match last week. Gran Jefe unmasked in the post match.
5) Andrómeda, Lady Shadow, Miss Guerrera b Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria 
6) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, La Fashion b Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte 

The second match ended with a 2 on 1 suplex, a cover, the person stopping covering to end instead to get on all fours (to set up a boost?), a two count, a headscissors by the others, and then the referee (Thelma Barron) retroactively declaring that two count was a match ending three count. She had seen enough.

Gran Jefe VI wrestling his match masked and later running in attack Stuka while still still masked seem to defeat the point, you can’t complain to be that upset about being unmasked if you’re still running around wearing it. (Also, it’s notable something outside of CMLL got treated as relevant in CMLL. It’s odd what they pick up on.) Edit: I don’t what I thought I saw, but he was definitely unmasked in his match.

Today’s Informa scheduled guests: 

• Soberano Jr. (versus Atlantis Jr. on Friday)
• Volador, Magnus, Magia Blanca (versus Andrades on Friday)
• Dragon Rojo Jr., Flip Gordon, Averno (?)
• Mascara Dorada (title win)
• Apocalipsis (maybe talking about losing his mask at last year’s Sin Salida)
• Ultimo Dragoncito & Full Metal (this year’s Sin Salida)

Nothing pops out from the Friday show prices on Ticketmaster for January and February. Two of them (01/26 and 02/16) actually list no tickets on sale, so maybe there’s something more there. All ticket prices seem to be going up 2 pesos with the calendar switch, which sounds like an added tax or fee.

KeMonito talk reminded me to take a look at the trademark database. CMLL asked to register “LFN LUCHA FEMENIL NACIONES”, what they called the all women’s shows in Guadalajara and Puebla. They’ve also put in requests for “Andromeda” and “Esto Es Lucha.” None of these have been officially approved yet.

AAA

Daga announced he’s finished up with AAA for the moment and will solely be focused on NOAH right now (where he’s the current GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion.) Daga hadn’t wrestled there since September and was not a regular. He did explain in a Mas Lucha interview that he was heading to Japan for a long stint in NOAH, but there’s no outward explanation of why he had to declare he was no longer with AAA.

On his podcast, Konnan mentioned Dralistico departure as he and AAA just not being able to come to an agreement for a big deal but said Dralistico is still a possibility for TripleManias. My guess is both the Daga and Dralistico departures are the effects of AAA trying to sign people to contracts. They both have international deals where it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to sign with AAA unless it was an overwhelming deal, and they just want it extra clear they’re not committed to AAA in case it matters.

Daga leaving clicked to me that pretty much everyone Hijo del Vikingo defended the title against this year in AAA is no longer working with AAA. About half the list is the usual AAA bringing in people for one night, but even the people who are regulars have faded out. The only one left is Komander, which may be a matter of time. He’s an AEW signed guy, so we’re just waiting for the day when AAA books a cruiserweight title match out of nowhere to write him off. Part of this is AAA doesn’t bother to do title defenses outside of their major shows, and they’re not going to book a (to pick a name) Toxin versus Hijo del Vikingo match on TripleMania.

EMW says they’ll be back running Tijuana on 02/17, so no show in January.

IWRG

There are now two teams claiming to be the IWRG trios champions. Poder del Norte member Super Comando explained Monday on Facebook that he and the rest of the team never reached an agreement to participate in the IWRG Aniversario show. “Working conditions stipulated prior were not met”, so they didn’t agree to the match, so they can’t be stripped for not defending and are still rightfully champs. My guess at what actually happened is IWRG’s track record of people leaving unhappy due to pay issues caused Poder del Norte to want a significant amount of their money up front, IWRG balked at that request and spent the money on bringing back other people instead. This is the dumbest story.

Other News

KAOZ claims they’re running a show on March 24, 2024. Most of the comments on the post are laughing at the promotion, which has canceled many shows, will be running this one. Promoter Alonso Botello did a 25 minute interview with Mas Lucha as well, though I suspect this was taped back around Ultraclash. Jose Manuel Guillen asked him why they were signing people to contracts, unlike most Mexican wrestling promotions. Botello said he and Dorian Roldan talked a lot about trying to make the business a professional and then ranted about how all the wrestlers know the deals they’re signing. He commends Komander and Cibernetico for exiting their contract professionally and says his dealings with Roldan have been good about the KAOZ contracted wrestlers who work in AAA. These Botello interviews mostly serve to as legal threats towards Andromeda for working in CMLL without permission (and probably money), though it’s been months of legal threats and no known action. This is the same story as Arena Coliseo Monterrey: people involved keep on making motions like something very important to happen but it’s gone on so long that we’re all kind of numb to it.

Rey Fenix is officially off the 01/05 Prestige Wrestling show, where he was scheduled to face Samuray del Sol. I’ve heard no indication Fenix is returning to the ring any time soon.

Box y Lucha 3582 has Mascara Dorada and Andrade on the cover.

There’s a benefit show for luchador Ultratumba in Cancun.

Am interview with Tulancingo’s Amo de la Noche.

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.

A bio of Titanes en el Ring’s Benito Durante.

CMLL

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.

Mascara Dorada and Rocky Romero is not the biggest star power match on the show, and it likely won’t even be the most scene lucha libre title match taking place on Friday. Dorada/Romero still feels like the most important match happening on Friday. These last twelve months have been about building Dorada towards a big time victory. He already got one of those over Romero to win Leyenda de Plata. Now he has a chance to do it again in front of a big audience, made up of a lot of people checking back in on CMLL for the first time in a long time. Everything is lined up perfectly to get over a new star to the audience – most of all having the two right people involved in it.

Mascara Dorada’s great. Romero might be greater this year. A couple of weeks ago, Wrestling Observer Radio had the briefest discussion about their upcoming fan-voted Mexico MVP award. The only two people mentioned were Mistico and Vikingo. Mistico is a great pick for a winner, but any conversation about the most important wrestler in Mexico in 2023 which doesn’t include the name Rocky Romero is an unserious discussion. CMLL is an engine with a lot of parts moving well, but their 2023 would be fundamentally different without Romero being part of that feud with Volador, then sticking around to face Mistico and Dorada. If Dorada gets the win we all assume he’s going to get here, it’s going to mean a lot because it’s coming over the top villain in Mexico, and because it’ll be a great match with him being involved.

Rocky Romero told the press on Wednesday that this match will be Mascara Dorada’s final chance to challenge him for a long time. Mascara Dorada is hopeful the CMLL referee will pay attention to Romero’s tricks so he won’t get cheated like he did in MLW. Good luck with getting the CMLL referees to pay attention. Romero also stated Romero versus Mistico or Romero versus Andrade would be good 91st Aniversario main events.

CMLL has the Gradas section – the highest area, 90 pesos – available on Ticketmaster tonight. CMLL will sell those tickets in person for Friday shows and only online for the biggest shows. That’s what they expect from Andrade returning tonight: a big crowd, people who might normally not show up outside of the two biggest shows of the year. Andrade’s return has gotten a lot of extra press attention for this show, and I think they’ll probably crack 10,000 fans. It’ll also be a good match! Andrade’s been superb in AEW of late and got strong reviews for his recent GCW matches. He’ll no doubt be excited for this return match, and everyone else seems hyped up to be part of it.

CMLL announced late Thursday night that CJ Perry would accompany Andrade for this show. That’s probably more Andrade wanting to get over his AEW character than AEW insisting on it; AEW hasn’t mentioned this match happening. I suspect the first time AEW fans will hear it’s happened is on Saturday’s Collision.

The rest of the card is fine. It’s not the top-to-bottom super card CMLL could’ve thrown out there. Maybe they just want to keep the spotlight on the top stuff, maybe it just worked out that way. Los Barbaros make a Friday appearance to face Flip, Titan and Valiente. Marcela teams with Las Chicas Indomables against the odd ruda combination of Hera, Dark Silueta, and La Catlina. All those people often team with other people, and Hera’s not usually on the Friday night shows. Dulce Atrapsuenos face the top Fuerza Poblana combination, in a match that’s been pretty good in the past. Capitan Suicida & Audaz face Grako & Nitro, which doesn’t seem like a great fit.

This show is available for about 100 pesos (about 6 USD) through Boleta/Neerme. CMLL Friday shows go up on YouTube on a nine-day delay – I think I’ve been counting that wrong lately.

CMLL already announced a match for next Friday. Andrade’s appearance on CMLL Informa ended up as a video sent in, challenging Volador to a trios match next week. Andrade wants to team up with his two relatives in CMLL (Brillante Jr. & Espanto Jr.) against Volador and two of his students. Everyone else agreed, though Voaldor said he’d take a couple of days to pick which of his four Depredores would team with him. (“Four” seems to mean the angle where Max Star was invited into the group hasn’t been forgotten, even though it’s not been mentioned since.) That trios match will headline the 12/22 show.

Both Volador and Mistico loom as singles matches. The issue is AEW wrestlers generally do not lose matches outside their company to wrestlers who do not work for them. It’s not a 100% rule – Eddie Kingston didn’t go undefeated in NJPW’s G1 – but it is the usual guideline. Andrade himself hasn’t lost much outside of AEW this year.  AAA seemed generally content with just having AEW wrestlers mostly defeat CMLL wrestlers. Maybe CMLL will be different but it’s a looming obstacle.

CMLL (SAT) 12/16/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Aéreo & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
2) La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Magia Azul vs Amapola, Olympia, Tiffany
3) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Volcano vs Crixus, Okumura, Raider
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus vs Felino, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) Euforia vs Stuka Jr. [lightning]
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Star Jr. vs Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.

Match 2 is the Mexico debut of Magia Azul. She’s been on Guadalajara cards the last few months, and is originally from Hidalgo. She says she’s the only one in her family who is a luchador. CMLL/EMLL had a previous Magia Azul in the late 80s and early 90s, but that was a male prelim wrestler. La Maginifica is reportedly out long-term due to a knee injury. Sanely is the same, and Princesa Sugehit is still out. There are some matches open for a tecnica and CMLL may be giving the different prospects chances to fill in, in the same way Sexy Sol popped up on Tuesday.

Volador is wrestling Trent Seven in RevPro on Saturday. That will stream on RevPro on Demand starting at 11:30 AM Central US time.

CMLL (SUN) 12/17/2023 Arena México
1) Fantasy & Galaxy vs Minos & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Eléctrico vs Sangre Imperial [lightning]
3) Astral, Diamond, Fuego vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star, Panterita del Ring vs Felino Jr., Kráneo, Misterioso Jr.
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Difunto, Rey Bucanero, Sagrado
6) Atlantis Jr., Flip Gordon, Místico vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Last week was Dragon Rojo unmasking Star Jr., but that’s not being followed up this week. CMLL keeps teaming up Averno, Euforia and Mephisto but still aren’t officially calling them Los Infernales. Disfunto is in a higher spot than might be expected.

CMLL (MON) 12/18/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Amnesia & Rayo Metálico vs Espíritu Maligno & Siky Ozama
2) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
3) Skadi vs Lady Amazona [lightning]
4) Arkalis, Asturiano, Meyer, Pegasso, Rey Samuray vs Crixus, Difunto, El Coyote, Pólvora, Raider [cibernetico]
5) Guerrero Maya Jr. © vs Rugido [MEX MIDDLE]
2nd defense, rematch of tournament final
6) Averno, Místico, Stigma vs Euforia, Soberano Jr., Templario [Relevos Increíbles]

The cibernetico looks like a way to make the scheduled number of wrestlers fit around the title match. A title change would be unexpected.

CMLL (TUE) 12/19/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Ángel Rebelde, Gran Jefe IV, Insólito vs Johnny Dinamo, Minotauro, Shezmu
2) Emperatriz & Misteriosa vs Adira & Dulce Kitty
3) Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro, Misterioso Jr. vs Gallo Jr., Ráfaga, Rafaga Jr.
4) Halcón Suriano Jr., Hijo de Stuka Jr., Hijo del Soberano vs Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico
5) Andrómeda, Lady Shadow, Miss Guerrera vs Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria
6) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, La Fashion vs Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte

Last week was Guadalajara versus Puebla, this is Guadalajara versus La Laguna. Guadalajara also streamed a two match sponsored show on Thursday night.

CMLL will open ticket sales on January and February tickets on Saturday. I don’t end up on the CMLL Ticketmaster page nearly as often now that the iPPVs have moved elsewhere. It’s still worthwhile to browse through to see if some Friday night has much higher ticket prices than others as a clue when a big show might be happening.

AAA

AAA will air the final two matches of Ultraclash on Saturday. In addition, they’ll air “a never before seen match from Lucha x El Barrio.” That’s the AAA talent that’s been going on. I wasn’t expecting it to air on TV outside of clips but it’s cool if we get to see a talent search match (and less interesting if it’s just the AAA coaches filling in some time.) AAA still hasn’t announced the finalists of that competition, and maybe it’ll be part of this airing.

The soon-to-be TNA promotion announced they’ll be bringing Hijo del Vikingo for their 01/13 and 01/14 shows in Las Vegas. It works out well that he was the one AAA guy Impact hyped on the Ultraclash show. No opponent has been announced. That 01/014 TNA show will also include matches with NJPW wrestlers Kazuchika Okada and (at least for a couple of more weeks) Will Ospreay. AAA wrestlers have not worked on shows with NJPW talent when they’re NJPW promoted (like Forbidden Door), but there continues to be this loophole when it’s a third party booking both promotions.

Jessy Ventura announced on Facebook that they have officially signed a contract with AAA. Ventura has been on AAA TV since March 2022 but hasn’t been under a contract until now.

AAA were using a lot of people without contracts (or at least their own contracts) coming out of COVID, and wrestlers at various levels on the shows were working on basically handshake deals. That gave wrestlers lots of freedom to take their own dates and work outside of Mexico, but it also meant they were hustling for their own bookings and there might not be any help there if they got hurt. It made sense for AAA not to have those commitments when times were tight, but they’d understandably prefer to know they can count on having around. The Villano III Jr.’s disappearing off to CMLL because nothing was holding is something AAA surely like to not happening as much in the future. (There are other factors as well why these contracts are happening now and not earlier.)

Current AAA wrestlers are making decisions about their future with AAA. Some people will look at the new terms of the deal and decide to try to go on their own, and others will decide they’re better off sticking around. (I don’t have a list of names, and it would be useless to guess who’s doing what. It’s wrestling, so there will be people who privately insist they’re taking one choice and then end up going the other way.) I’m not sure everyone will be as public about their decision as Jessy Ventura, but it also shouldn’t be a sign of bigger issue within AAA if some people leave. It’ll not be great for AAA to lose people, but many contract decisions coming due in the same vague amount of time (instead of spread out over a year) will make AAA look more chaotic than it might be.

If you do what a “AAA is chaos and not in a good way” story instead, this paragraph may be better for you. AAA posts video clips on their Facebook on a regular basis. It’s just a random clip from any match in the last few years, no reason or content to it, nothing they’re building up. A clip they happened to put up Thursday was the Leyenda Azul Blue Demon championship match, won by Arez last December. This helpfully (?) served as a reminder that AAA promoted this as a championship that would be defended once a year every year. No one asked for another title or something that had to be defended every year, AAA just promised to do it themselves – and then, as typical, completely failed to live up to it.

ROH Final Battle

Hijo del Vikingo defending the AAA Megachampionship against Black Taurus will take place tonight as part of ROH’s Final Battle. It is available through Ring of Honor’s Watch ROH website as part of their monthly $10 USD subscription. It is not available on PPV or through other websites. The show is listed as starting at 6 pm CT, though that usually means an hour before the show, and the regular show starts an hour later. This is a different set up than usual (and ROH hasn’t communicated their plans as of yet.) AAA title matches have tended to open Ring of Honor shows. Komander is also scheduled on that show in a Survival of Fittest six-way match, where the winner will become the new TV champion.

Vikingo and Komander will also appear the same night on AEW Rampage, teaming with Penta against Top Flight and Action Andretti. That match was taped Wednesday night and is said to be outstanding. The ROH PPV and Rampage will overlap; I suspect the luchadors will be done with their matches on the Ring of Honor before the Rampage matches start.

So. The elephant in the room is I asked for Black Taurus versus Hijo del Vikingo to be booked and then it was booked. What I know is that people inside of AEW have pitched the idea of bringing in Taurus since the start of that promotion. He was pitched recently, but nothing had ever come together to make it happen. My Twitter post was in reaction to his performance in the great trios match in West Coast Pro Wrestling. I believe working for AEW saw the same performance, had a similar reaction, and maybe saw an idea that could work for everyone. The past lucha libre matches on ROH PPVs have delivered well, and one here might standout enough to draw in AEW/ROH fans who would consider skipping this show. I don’t really think I had much to do with it happening; Taurus did it, the people inside AEW did it.

As best as I understand, Black Taurus has been working in Impact/TNA without a contract. Same with AAA. He isn’t signed long-term with Ring of Honor or AEW either at this point, though I believe that’s the goal. Taurus has his best opponent to work with, he’s Vikingo’s best opponent as well, and this is 100% a “let’s try to get someone a contract” match. Watch out.

If I actually was one of the people booking this, I’d do the title change. There’s no reason for Vikingo to continue to be the champ except to break a longevity record that doesn’t even matter to AAA fans. This is also the third major AAA mega championship match running where I’ve talked about a possible title change, so maybe I’m wrong or maybe this idea needs some freshening up. It should be a great match, and a title change on an AEW show and a rematch in AAA ring is a perfect way to get people who’ve tuned out on AAA to tune back in. (It’s essentially what happened with the FTR tag title run.) A title change also seems unlikely. AAA had little to do with this title match coming together, and they typically don’t want any part of something if it wasn’t their idea.

Other News

La Cobra (Gabriel Hernandez) reportedly passed away Thursday. This is not the NJPW George Takana Cobra, but one who wrestled Villano III in a mask match in 1974. He wrestled in Arena KO, the predecessor to Arena Naucalpan. Cobra was just honored On the luchawiki, we don’t have a birth date and we do have a debut date of 1947. That would suggest he was well into his 90s, and I’m skeptical that’s accurate based on recent photos. Cobra was just honored on a Coliseo Morelos show this past weekend.

Cartoon Brew, in an interview with the creators, says the Rey Mysterio cartoon series, “Rey Mysterio vs. The Darkness”, will be released in the US “sometime in 2024”.

IWRG put up a new edition of IWRG Retro that’s so old and I don’t even know when it’s from. The main event is Fantasy, Neblina, Guerrero del Esapcio vs. Bombero Infernal, Azor, and Viento Negro. The ring announcement mentions this is Neblina’s debut under that name after previously being Rey Gallo. The earliest Neblina known match is February 25, 1996. The previous run of Retro shows would include the date, but IWRG has a new person putting them together now – they only mention this show happened in 1996. We don’t know many January/February shows, so it’s in there but I don’t know when. I probably should just ask someone.

Alberto el Patron headlined some very bad drawing shows last weekend. Not the first, not the last, but a clip of him walking out into an empty building went viral as “look how far he’s sunk.” Lucha Libre Online, as Alberto’s public relations department, did a damage control interview so Alberto can assure everyone it was just a fluke thing where the promotion had bad luck that had nothing to do with the wrestlers. Alberto said he can’t see the future, but he’s pretty sure he’s going to be on a reality show and fill 50-60 buildings next year. I’d be surprised if he actually wrestled 50-6o times in 2024. I felt maybe this was too harsh a paragraph, and then I saw Lucha Libre Online’s defense of him in a Facebook post, where they complain about all the stuff he does that he gets no credit for and gets blamed for a crowd where he was a last second fill in because everyone’s out to get him. For what it’s worth, he was advertised on that show for weeks, and they even tried doing a $15 iPPV for it. It’s hard for me to see someone’s side in arguement when they’re blatantly making up stuff.

Tinieblas (and a co-author) has published an autobiography, though it appears you have to message him on social media to be able to purchase it or find it through select Mexican bookstores. This site, which is selling the IWRG book (at a markup), will probably do the same with the Tinieblas book eventually.

Zuzu Divine was awarded the Hidalgo Premio al Merito Deportivo, the first luchadora to win that sports award.

hIf you are an email subscriber (and the email service is actually working), you saw a very early version of this post-Tuesday evening. I hit Publish on the wrong post. Sorry for the wasted email.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 12/11/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Grada, Mano A Mano]
1) Dreyko & El Malayo b Astro & Blue Shark
2) Meyer & Xelhua b Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II
3) Arkalis, Rey Samuray, Valiente b Perverso, Prayer, Rey Apocalipsis 
Arakalis replaced Pegasso
4) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Valiente 
straight falls, setting up Rugido versus Guerrero Maya
5) Ángel de Oro & Rocky Romero b Flip Gordon & Titán 
6) Atlantis, Octagón, Volador Jr. b Hijo del Villano III, Templario, Villano III Jr. 

Maya seems to test the younger CMLL rudos in title matches.

CMLL (TUE) 12/12/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II b Bengala & Leono 
2) Andrómeda, Sexy Sol, Skadi b Amapola, Metálica, Olympia 
3) El Coyote b Fuego [lightning] 
Coyote got the submission win with 3 seconds left.
4) Brillante Jr., Futuro, Neón b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. 
Espanto Jr. refused to fight his cousin Brillante Jr. during the match, though it didn’t figure into the finish.
5) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hombre Bala Jr. 
6) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. 

About a normal Tuesday show. The Brillante/Espanto thing pops out on a week where their cousin Andrade is back in town, but it felt more like Espanto reacting to the random match up than laying a seed for a bigger angle. Coyote/Fuego was a good solid lightning match, and I was impressed by them getting to the finish at the right time without even hurrying. Everyone in the opener seemed unhappy.

CMLL (TUE) 12/12/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Espirtiu Maligno, Perverso, Prayer b Astro Oriental, Obek, Persa 
2) Adira, Dulce Kitty, Náutica b Astoreth, Diablita Roja, Mania 
3) Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. b Asturiano, Meyer, Xelhua 
4) Dark Silueta, La Pantera, Valkiria b Hela, Lady Amazona, Lady Metal 
5) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico DQ El Malayo, Rey Apocalipsis, Siki Osama Jr. 
DQ for unmasking. Batallon wants an Occidente Trios title match, Magnificos accepted
6) Arkalis, Rey Samuray, Stigma DQ Bestia Negra, El Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr. 
Halcon Negro unmasked Arkalis

The Guadalajara/Puebla show didn’t seem to draw anything extra – no surprise, only the most diehard know who the Puebla guys are – but they did set up a match out of it.

Magia Azul, a luchadora seen in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, was part of CMLL’s press day and announced she’d be debuting in Arena Coliseo this Saturday.

Boletia sent out notices canceling orders for the USD PPV airings of the upcoming December CMLL shows and refunded the cost. Those were the shows with a price error. I bought the whole month at once assuming CMLL would just cancel them right away, and I ended up getting 12/01 and 12/08 shows at steep discounts. Now that everything has played out, I’m surprised they’re just doing the normal 99 MXN pesos price for Friday. The audience that’ll pay for La Sombra crosses over well with the audience that’ll buy an iPPV for a few dollars more.

Dave Meltzer on Monday’s Wrestling Observer Radio mentioned Andrade agreed to work five dates for CMLL. That’s a little more than I would’ve expected, but it fits how much they use guest wrestlers. The guest men’s Gran Prix guys were in for 6 matches, though that was all self-contained in a short time. Andrade’s busy on AEW TV so he’ll probably be more in and out, not around for a week at a time. All these agreements can be extended or truncated and are likely to be more informal handshake deals than a written contract.

CMLL Informa has

• Andrade el Idolo (return)
• Volador Jr. (RevPro)
• Mascara Dorada, Rocky Romero (title match)
• Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr., Zandokan Jr. (World Tag League)

This is the 500th edition of CMLL Informa, so expect celebrations and maybe a surprise.

Box y Lucha has La Sombra on the cover of issue 3581

AAA

AAA ran a show with sponsored Bardahl at their headquarters in Toluca on Tuesday. Record mentions it. AAA mentioned it Wednesday morning. Their wrestlers have it all over their social media. It appears to be a TV taping with the six sided ring. I can figure out some of the matches:

• Takuma, Kento, and Kuukai versus Mr. Iguana, Nino Hamburguesa (?) and ?
• Lady Flammer & Abismo Negro Jr. vs Drago ?, ?? for the AAA Mixed Tag Team Championship
• Octagon Jr. vs Argenis vs Mecha Wolf for the AAA Latin American Championship
• Dalys, Maravilla, Argenis vs Lady Shani, ??, ???
• Psycho Clown, Negro Casas, Laredo Kid vs Texano, Taurus, La Bestia del Ring

Photos show they used a six sided ring and it appeared to be a TV taping. Lady Flammer posted on Instagram that she and Abismo Negro retained their mixed tag titles. Psycho Clown, Texano Jr., Octagon Jr., Psicosis and Lady Shani were mentioned as appearing.

Vaquer/Cuatrero

I don’t live in Mexico. I’m an outsider to all of this. I think that even if I did live in Mexico, I’d still be an outsider – there would still be important stuff that would fly over my head. (I live in the US and often feel this way here.) This is not a new piece of information, but it cropped up again in the last few days. Anyone could notice the “6 AM” start time on the Cuartero march poster, but a true Mexican might have put together the location and the time and realized what it meant. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador holds a daily 7 AM (ish) press conference; he started doing it during COVID and just never stopped. At one of those press conferences about a week ago, a reporter obliquely brought up Cuatrero’s imprisonment and wanted answers about the shadowy people using their influence to keep him in jail. President AMLO didn’t answer the question, taking the response instead in a different direction. The plan for the Cuatrero protest on Wednesday morning was to get that answer and a lot of attention by interrupting the president’s press conference.

The plan didn’t go far. Cuatrero, Forastero, La Hiedra (who is dating Cuatrero Sanson), and about 20-30 fans appeared to be there at 6 AM Zocalo with the idea of marching towards the press conference – only to realize there were police roadblocks set up to stop anyone from getting close. The roadblocks are because of an unrelated protest. It didn’t seem like the Cuatrero group had known this in advance or figured out how to handle the situation; they just figured they’d show up and work it out from there. The group protested at the edge of a secured area, with more people showing up during the morning. Mascara 2000, Lady Shani, DMT Azul, Piero, one of the Mascara Sagrada kids, and lesser-known indie wrestlers were among the later arrivals. A few more fans arrived. It was not a big turnout; it was one of those internet things that everyone talks about doing but don’t actually do.

I didn’t think they’d ever make it, but I thought the wrestlers might make trouble (mostly for themselves), and instead, it seemed like it worked out peacefully. The expressed idea of this protest is demanding justice for Cuatrero without causing trouble for others but, if you look at the signs they were holding, the fans who showed up knew it was more about exposing the conspiracy holding Cuatrero in jail and criticizing the government for favoring the word of a foreigner over a Mexican. I was watching the AMLO press conference this morning to see if a reporter would ask about the situation again, and they did not as long as I could stick with it. I didn’t see it mentioned later. There were more important issues in Mexico today.

The Cuatrero/Vaquer situation (somewhat) got noticed by the English-language Twitter wrestling audiences this week. This situation is now nine months old, because many people who are now fans of Stephanie Vaquer don’t actually follow anything that happens in Mexico, all the stuff with Cuatrero and Vaquer was unknown to them. It became known because someone screengrabbed a section of Monday’s post, rudely didn’t attribute it, and then everyone decided they knew everything they needed to know. It also meant that all the AAA wrestlers posting the #JusticiaParaCuatrero meet-up graphic suddenly were on the radar of fans who knew that meant they were supporting someone in jail for attacking his girlfriend. This caused problems for the people who work for US promotions. Rush posted the graphic and then deleted it when he started to get negative attention. Dralistico tried to defend himself as not picking sides by posting a graphic that supported a side. (No one bought this.) Those are the ones who were noticed.

Those AAA wrestlers defending Cuatrero are friends or long-time coworkers who know him personally, believe he’s a good guy, and can’t accept that he’s capable of what he’s accused of. It’s primarily an AAA wrestler thing, but it’s not being led by AAA itself – they’ve distanced themselves from this and have gone out of their way not to mention Cuatrero since his arrest. It’s also not just an AAA thing; there are CMLL wrestlers who also worked with Cuatrero when he was there and are sympathetic, but also are aware that taking a public stance would be seen as going against their co-worker.

These Cuatrero surprising wrestlers are not pro-feminicide. Obviously. These are people who are family or friends (or friends of friends) of someone who’s been accused of a terrible crime, who haven’t been able to process it so they’re living it out in a strange fashion. This movement is not healthy or positive, but I can understand why it exists. I also, knowing precious little about the Mexican legal system, believe that it’s unfair that anyone is jailed for nine months without a trial. (The most recent update had a court date set for January.) The accused and the victim deserve a timely resolution instead of this very slow process. And people using their political or economic power to influence governmental decisions is not just a problem in Mexico, but I definitely understand why Mexicans are less trusting of their institutions than most.

At the same time, these wrestlers and their fans are supporting someone who was accused of violence, whose victim had visible marks on her, and who was then (anonymously) accused by a previous romantic partner of doing the same thing to her. It looks terrible because it is terrible, and they would see how terrible it looks if they took a second to step out of their bubble. It was just people living in their own worlds, where everything they were doing felt completely justified, and being oblivious that there’s a bigger world out there that hasn’t spent the last month mainlining twenty-minute conspiracy videos with the same three photos repeatedly.

I was critical earlier this week of Cuatrero fans just coming up with conspiracy theories as a way of blinding supporting their favorites. It felt like it went the other way yesterday, people just the same supporting their favorite without knowing or caring to know much more about what was going on. This goes for anything involving famous people disagreeing: it’s a foolish idea to decide which ones are the goodies and which ones are the baddies; you will end up disappointed far more than you’d like. No matter how much you see these people in front of cameras, on social media, or even in person, you don’t know these people or what’s really going on with them.

The #JusticiaParaCuatrero campaign has been nonsense that hasn’t helped Cuatrero and seemed to be specifically the sort of harassment the judge cited as a reason to keep Cuatrero in jail awaiting trial. Yelling at those same supporters on social also isn’t going to actually help anyone. It’s very hard to be patient, especially when the people involved have already had to be patient a lot longer than should’ve been asked, but that’s all there is to do. This behavior is one of the reasons I’ve been extremely reluctant to discuss this story on Twitter; I definitely believe Cuatrero’s side is in the wrong and handling this situation in a self-destructive fashion and also trying to be understanding of them struggling to process a difficult situation. Few want to try to understand why someone else is doing what they’re doing. It’s easier just to treat it like a sporting event and start yelling about how Team Green or Team Yellow is the better one, and that’s what almost any discussion of a complex subject on Twitter turns into.

Other News

Ring of Honor will be adding a notable lucha libre match to Friday’s ROH Final Battle show. I expect it’ll be announced tonight during AEW Dynamite.

MLW announced Azteca Lucha for 05/11 in Cicero, Illinois. The name and the location suggest MLW is bringing in lucha libre wrestler, MLW is currently working with CMLL, so that means some amount of CMLL wrestlers could be on this show. It is also MLW and they seemed to change strategies often, so who knows what’ll be happening six months from now. Mostly, I saw this notice and was filled with dread that I’d have to go to an MLW show.

Japanese Dr. Lucha’s column this week is on the career of Fuerza Guerrera, who is coming to Japan next January for a talk show.

Maximo says one of his biggest goals in wrestling is defeating Ultimo Guerrero in Arena Mexico in a hair match. I may have a better chance of defeating Ultimo Guerrero in Arena Mexico in a hair match than Maximo. Neither Maxino nor the ESTO author of the piece addresses the reason why Maximo is outside of CMLL: he and his vandalized and damaged Ultimo Guerrero’s car to the point where CMLL had no choice but to fire him. That interview theoretically exists to promote this weekend’s New Exotic show.

Republic of Lucha is moving from its current location in South Pasadena on Christmas Eve. They’re moving to a small place in 2024, location TBA.

NVINoticas profiles of the Cisneros lucha libre family of Oaxaca.