Month: December 2023

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 12/08/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladaitores, The Gladiatores (text), thecubsfan]
1) Leono & Robin b Draego & Inquisidor  
10:02
2) Akuma, Crixus, Raider b Astral, Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr.   
14:57. Astral seemed to have a minor injury at the end of the match
3) Andrómeda, Marcela, Skadi b Olympia, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis   
13:20
4) Magia Blanca © b Fugaz [MEX WELTER]   
15:59. 5th defense
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Star Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja  
18:46.
6) Máscara Dorada, Titán, Volador Jr. b Rocky Romero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero  
9:44. Stuka Jr. replaced Gran Guerrero on Thursday. A video aired officially announcing Andrade el Idolo (La Sombra) would return to CMLL next Friday. Dorada beat Romero and demanded another shot at the (NWA) Welterweight Historic Championship after Romero had cheated him to beat him in MLW the night before. Romero accepted.

There are fewer recaps of the show than usual because most of the write-ups about the show were focused on Andrade’s return video instead. It got a lot of media attention, both in Mexico and elsewhere. It didn’t get a notably big reaction in the building; it’s been eight years, and the 30% of attendees who are tourists and don’t know anyone didn’t know him either. The reaction on social media was strongly positive, and CMLL’s hope has to be that those fans who’ve drifted away from the promotion will also make a return next Friday night.

To be more accurate, the reaction to Andrade’s promo was around 85% positive, and about 15% made fun of Andrade’s promo skills. Andrade constantly gets ribbed by Mexican fans for his speaking in English and Spanish. Switching between languages is something I find difficult. For Andrade, it produced a couple of Twitter posts that were not very coherent (one of which he deleted.) The in-arena (and PPV) version of the return promo had captions on it, which might have been to help people in a big arena understand and might have been because Andrade’s not always the clearest speaker. None of that matters as far as CMLL; he’s there for the wrestling, not the speaking, but it is the weakness everyone keeps pointing at.

This show itself was OK. Magia Blanca and Fugaz tried but lacked the crowd connection or the stature to get their match over. Blanca talked up facing Fugaz in a mask match next September. It’s unusual enough for a champion to be a challenger twice in Arena Mexico. It’s at least possible to set up something bigger than that, but Friday was a poor argument for investing that much into that match.

Marcela looked better after the knee surgery and got the winning pin, but mostly seemed in the match’s background. The second match was exciting in the third fall and the rest of the way. The main event seemed hurried to get to the Dorada/Romero challenge, which did come off well.

At least on this night, KeMalito was NOT one of the Micro Gemelo Malditos. They were wrestling on a sponsored show in Guadalajara at the same time. Not sure if CMLL’s made a change or if it’ll end up a character being played by various individuals.

CMLL (SAT) 12/09/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Bengala & Retro b Grako & Inquisidor
2) Capitán Suicida, Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Leono, Scorpió Jr.
Scorpio Jr. (a new one) debuted after winning the bodybuilding contest’s school division. Leono replaced Dr. Karonte II.
3) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Arkalis, Pegasso, Rey Samuray
4) Cancerbero, Difunto, Luciferno b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
5) Felino, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II b Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente
Felino replaced Rey Bucanero
6) Rocky Romero & Templario b Flip Gordon & Titán
Templario, already eliminated, distracted Flip Gordon to set up a Romero win.

I didn’t notice Scorpio Jr. getting his bodybuilding reward here until I looked at the results. It’ll take a little time to see if it’s a one-off or if he’s a regular.

CMLL (SUN) 12/10/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Oro Jr. & Valiente Jr. b Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro
2) Hera & Metálica b La Guerrera & La Vaquerita
3) Felino Jr., Misterioso Jr., Pólvora b Fuego, Neón, Stigma
4) Hijo del Villano III, Kráneo, Villano III Jr. b Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano
5) Euforia, Mephisto, Stuka Jr. b Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Rocky Romero
6) Atlantis, Star Jr., Titán DQ Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
Dragon Rojo unmasked Star Jr.

That seems like a Sunday main event set up.

The last day of the World Tag League reset one story and left another open. Soberano Jr. and Atlantis Jr. had gotten along fine in the last few days, but Soberano attacked Atlantis from behind in the post-match interview. Soberano blamed Atlantis for them not winning and said they weren’t friends anymore. They’re back to being rivals next week. Zandokan Jr. vowed to win the World Tag League and then join LIJ. He didn’t win, and so he couldn’t join by his own rules. However, Naito and LIJ offered to team up with Zandokan when he returned to Japan. Zandokan’s return to Japan was not guaranteed prior to this tour, so getting that much of a promise is a notable achievement. CMLL played up the Atlantis/Soberano split and ignored the Zandokan storyline, at least in social media. Zandokan not being an official LIJ member is better from a CMLL standpoint; it would’ve been weird if he and Titan were suddenly obligated to team together, and there’s a lot of mileage left in the Zandokan/Villanos trio.

Fantasticamania is not until February, so it may be a while before we get those lineups. (January 14th seems like the earliest based on NJPW’s calendar if they just want to announce it with the preceding tour.) The next notable CMLL in NJPW announcement might be if Titan makes it onto the 01/04 Tokyo Dome show.

There’s also obviously a lot of interest among NJPW fans, both in Japanese and English, about what Andrade’s return to CMLL might mean for him going over to Japan. He hasn’t said anything, and NJPW’s official accounts haven’t said anything, but NJPW’s president’s reaction to the announcement suggests they’re at least working on it. Andrade’s involvement in NJPW is far less interesting to me but, because their are so many more vocal NJPW fans than CMLL ones, that’s what the story is ultimately going to be focused on.

CMLL (TUE) 12/12/2023 Arena México
1) Bengala & Leono vs Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II
2) Andrómeda, Sexy Sol, Skadi vs Amapola, Metálica, Olympia
3) Fuego vs El Coyote [lightning]
4) Brillante Jr., Futuro, Neón vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
6) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr.

Volador goes from here to the UK for RevPro’s show on Saturday. (He’ll face new TNA signee Trent Seven.)

Match 5 looks like a possible tag title set up. The fourth match could be a roller coaster. Andromeda and Skadi are teaming again, so that’s seems like an intentional pairing and not just a scheduling quirk.

CMLL (FRI) 12/15/2023 Arena México
1) Capitán Suicida & El Audaz vs Grako & Nitro
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela vs Dark Silueta, Hera, La Catalina
4) Flip Gordon, Titán, Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
5) Rocky Romero © vs Máscara Dorada [NWA WELTER]
6) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Star Jr. vs Andrade el Idolo, Ángel de Oro, Soberano Jr.

This is not as loaded as it could be for Andrade’s return, but it should still be a great match. Soberano and Atlantis are on opposite sides following the World Tag League. Soberano teaming with Andrade is interesting given Soberano’s teases. Mistico/Andrade is an obvious big match, but I wouldn’t mind seeing what Andrade could get out of Atlantis Jr. Dorada/Romero should be one of the better matches of the year, and it is the perfect night for Dorada to get another big win. CMLL’s high on Los Barbaros so they’re here. Maybe Catalina for similar reasons.

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

This is a full Arena Puebla versus Arena Coliseo Guadalajara themed card.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will release its own trading cards on upcoming shows.

AAA

Both of my attempts at recording AAA failed this week – but just find a copy of this week’s Impact, and you’ll see the matches. You won’t get to see Latigo and Eddie Edwards pretending the outcome of their random match matters and Antifaz del Norte attacking Laredo Kid once again. Still, you won’t be missing anything important. AAA had booked the Laredo/Antifaz feud as if it absolutely had to take place in Monterrey and thus had no choice but to postpone it a full year when Antifaz got hurt going into last year’s show, but it was also being set up in a random multi-man match on that show and didn’t seem to mean anything to the draw. I’m sure it’ll get a good reaction when/if it finally happens, but there seems to be no reason to drag it this long, except they got stuck on one idea.

AAA running a poll about who would win the Latigo, Eddie Edwards, and Myzteziz match and getting nine votes is a reason not to run polls. Maybe it was only open briefly, though all of AAA’s Twitter stuff gets few interactions nowadays. Maybe it’s a Twitter thing, and they have better numbers elsewhere. This is the sort of pointless stuff to speculate on when there’s almost nothing going on in a promotion, and the few things happening don’t feel like they matter.

There’s an AAA-staffed spot show on Wednesday in Mexico State, which includes an appearance by AAA announcers Jose Manuel Guillen and Hugo Savinovich. It’s strange because Savinovich is typically only around an AAA TV taping in Mexico, and no taping has been announced. As popular as he may be, no one’s flying him into Mexico to call a show in Coyotepec only. It turns out there is supposed to be an unadvertised AAA TV taping on Tuesday, doubling as a private show for one of AAA’s sponsors. It would fit on Space after Ultraclash, where the repeats usually go.

AAA wrestlers are promoting a protest march on Wednesday morning to support Cuatrero and to promote their wishful conspiracy theory that influential people are keeping him in jail. This march, strangely, is listed as taking place at 6 AM.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha World (FRI) 12/08/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [thecubsfan]
1) Big Tao Tao b La Brava 
10:10. Big Tao Tao was a surprise wrestler.
2) Tirano b Black Skayde 
9:48
3) Iku & Orbita b Black Andrómeda & Cody 1-8 
14:37. Andromeda accidentally spit water in Cody’s face, leading to his team’s downfall. Locos Evans beat up Cody after for no particular reason.
4) Demonic Flamita b Ditto 
11:50. Ditto spent the previous match flirting with Andromeda. Flamita stormed the ring and demanded one more match on the final Big Lucha World of the year. Ditto requested the match, and Flamita offered him a kiss from Andromeda if he won his match, then revealed himself as Ditto’s opponent. Andromeda occasionally helped Ditto but he and Flamita beat up Ditto after the match. Flamita declared he’d control all of Big Lucha after the Culmination show next week.

The one thing you can say about these shows is they give a lot of time for the inexperienced wrestlers to try stuff. These were some long-feeling matches and a main event where Flamita seemed to want to see if he could get a three-star match out of a mascot. Big Tao Tao/La Brava was better than it sounds on paper, if very weird.

“Culmination” is next Saturday. Big Lucha still hasn’t posted most of their previous show on their YouTube channel, and there’s no indication when that will happen. Not a great sign. The last few months have been built around the lead heel feuding with the promoter, also usually not a good sign. I’ll see how that Saturday show goes, but Big Lucha might be shifting into a group that is not interesting enough to follow as intensely as I’ve done the last few years.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 12/10/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Rey Aztaroth b Águila Oriental 
2) Kaho Kobayashi, Kali, Sádika DQ Bengalee, Ksenia, Sagitarius 
Miss Kath inexplicably came over the rail and did a terrible top rope splash on Sadika fro the DQ.
3) Keyra b Diosa Quetzal 
Keyra wants a match for Quetzal’s title.
4) Latin Star, Lion Dog I, Lion Dog II b Hell Boy, León Dorado, Mr. Leo 
5) Dragón Yuki & Hijo de Canis Lupus b Hijo del Fishman & Rey Espectro and Águila Roja & Hijo del Pirata Morgan 
Canis Lupus wants another title match with Pirata Morgan
6) Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana © b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. [IWRG IC TRIOS] 
third? defense. The Lion Dogs and Latino Star distracted la Pandemia, and Poder del Norte snuck in a foul.

“Ksenia”, which is probably not the ladies’ actual name, appeared to be a Russian woman trained in combat sports but not lucha libre. She was alright in there with Kobayashi, because Kobayashi is a good enough wrestler to work a match to her opponent’s strengths. She was terrible with Sadika. Sadika can only work the Sadika match and she wasn’t prepared at all for that (or for much.) Miss Kath may be worse than the lightly trained Russian lady though.

IWRG (SUN) 12/17/2023 Arena Naucalpan
***IWRG 61st Anniversary***
1) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 [Copa IWRG]
2) Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana © vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. [IWRG IC TRIOS]
3rd defense
3) Diosa Quetzal vs Keyra [IWRG IC WOMEN]
first defense after winning it last year
4) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba, Sádika vs Ivan Rokov, Kesenia, Látigo, Toxin [lumberjack]
5) Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool vs Hijo de LA Park, Hijo del Fishman, LA Park Jr., Rey Espectro
6) Hell Boy vs Cerebro Negro [hair]
7) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs LA Park, DMT Azul [IWRG IC HEAVY]
first defense

Hell Boy versus Cerbero Negro talked me into this show, everyone else talked me out of this show. It’s all the act who’ve taken over Mexico City area indie wrestling over the last eighteen months; I don’t need to subscribe to Mas Lucha to see most of this, because they’ve got twenty other shows with these same basic matches. My opinion is also irrelevant; IWRG’s Anniversary is a Big Event and LA Park and Dr. Wagner being confirms it as such. This will be another full house.

Not sure if it says something about IWRG to bring in Latigo and Toxin to work a goofy comedy lumberjack strap match (instead of putting literally any two people on their roster they book already), or if it says something about AAA that two guys who are regularly on TV are looked as incidental guys in a comedy match. Anyway, there are reasons why a lot of the best stuff with AAA wrestlers this year have taken place outside of Mexico: Mexican promoters aren’t interested in putting together good matches in the same way.

AAA , ROSALES (MON) 12/25/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Daimon, Galio, Golden Jecket, Kingoo vs Rey Halcón, Skayler, Toxin, Visonario
2) La Parkita, Máscara de Bronce, Mini Psycho Clown vs Astuto, Dizzy, Mini Charly Manson
3) Faby Apache & Lady Shani vs Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura
4) Dave The Clown, Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown vs Abismo Negro Jr., Joe Lider, Súper Nova, Texano Jr.
5) Hijo Del Vikingo vs Taurus [AAA MEGA]

This is the exception to that Mexico City indie bookers not caring about having good matches. Vikingo/Taurus, if they want it to be and if they’re not working three other shows that night, could be the best AAA match of the year.

Other News

It was not a great weekend for Mexican wrestlers off US TV headlining indie shows. Lucha Time shows with Alberto el Patron and Cinta de Oro as headliners in Texas on Friday and especially Sunday drew poorly. A DMT Azul/Andrade RGR show in California reportedly drew less than 100.

A profile of Cordoba’s Infierno Negro.

Segudna Caida catches up on the latest IWRG retro.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 12/08/2023 Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Draego & Inquisidor
2) Astral, Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Akuma, Crixus, Raider
3) Andrómeda, Marcela, Skadi vs Olympia, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
4) Magia Blanca © vs Fugaz [MEX WELTER]
5th defense
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Star Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja
6) Máscara Dorada, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Rocky Romero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
Stuka Jr. replaced Gran Guerrero on Thursday.

It’s a big Friday night with the return of a no-doubt CMLL hall of famer after a long absence. They’ve provided some great moments, defined an era, and will help guide a new generation of their family to stardom. I refer to, of course, Marcela’s return to CMLL after knee surgery back this spring. She explained on Informa that she had issues in both knees for years and worked through torn ligaments but was finally told she had to get surgery on both knees or she risked serious damage. Marcela says she’s a very disciplined person, and that’s helped her get through all the therapies. Marcela will probably never be peak Marcela again (see this match with Ayumi), but she’s had really slowed down the last couple of years. Maybe the knee surgery will help her regain some of her old form.

The main event has Rocky Romero back in town, fresh off beating Mascara Dorada via mask pull in MLW to keep both of his titles. Romero seems to be matched up with Titan a bit on the shows listed so far, so he may have a new opponent. Flip Gordon and Angel de Oro are again on opposite sides of the semi-main. Fugaz and Magia Blanca have a title rematch from May; it’s unusual to do a title match like in the same building, and it usually means a different result. Hopefully it means a better match than last time. Match 2 is the bodybuilding special.

CMLL Informa announced there’d be more about the mystery person on tonight’s show. It sounded like it’d be the reveal of Andrade, but they didn’t absolutely promise that. (Also, they’re going to put on social media the moment it happens so don’t buy the show just for that.) Andrade himself is headed to GCW in Los Angeles on Saturday.

CMLL is offering the show on PPV as always, but they’re only selling it in pesos now. I wrote about this on Twitter but not here: the USD price was screwed up for all the December shows last week, and that’s maybe why no one can buy USD shows now. The prices for the regular CMLL PPVs shows is normally 4.95 on the USD stream, and 86 pesos on the MXN stream. The USD streams were mistakenly set as 4.95 pesos, which is obviously about 95% discount. There must be a reality check minimum of 1 USD, which showed up on my card when I bought the shows. At any rate, they’re not risking it now, you can only buy in pesos (and you may be paying a currency exchange fee when you do.)

CMLL (SAT) 12/09/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Retro vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) Capitán Suicida, Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Scorpió Jr.
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Rey Samuray vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Difunto, Luciferno
5) Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Rey Bucanero
6) Flip Gordon & Titán vs Rocky Romero & Templario

This is what I mean by Titan and Romer booked against each other.

CMLL (SUN) 12/10/2023 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Valiente Jr. vs Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro
2) La Guerrera & La Vaquerita vs Hera & Metálica
3) Fuego, Neón, Stigma vs Felino Jr., Misterioso Jr., Pólvora
4) Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano vs Hijo del Villano III, Kráneo, Villano III Jr.
5) Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Rocky Romero vs Euforia, Mephisto, Stuka Jr.
6) Atlantis, Star Jr., Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Lots of Los Barbaros main events are coming.

Atlantis Jr. & Soberano Jr. defeated Zandokan Jr. & Yota Tsuji in the final league night of the NJPW World Tag League. Zandokan took the loss and then a bigger defeat: Naito said no to him joining LIJ. Naito did allude to Zandokan getting another chance someday. The reviews on the CMLL wrestlers were generally positive, stronger for the experienced two. Zandokan, even doing just OK, is a good sign, given where he’s at in his career. All three CMLL wrestlers participated in Friday morning’s show (where Soberano & Atlantis won with AEW’s Gates of Agony over an all-star NJPW team, and Zandokan surprisingly didn’t take the pin in his match.) They’ll finish up the tour on Sunday with matches TBA. Soberano teased something after his tag losses but has returned to calm down the last couple of matches.

Rocky Romero beat Mascara Dorada in MLW to retain their MLW Middleweight Championship and Historic Welterweight Championship. The match was said to be all right. There is no news on further CMLL appearances in MLW, though I expect there will be at some point.

KeMalito is showing up on CMLL video a lot, including holiday TikToks. My guess is KeMalito has a reign of terror for a few weeks and KeMonito is a Christmas present to combat him.

The 01/01 (Monday) Arena Mexico show is officially the latest edition of the Sin Salida cage match, with all the minis putting their hair or mask on the line. They all signed contracts on Wednesday’s Informa.

CMLL announced on Informa that La Jarochita & Lluvia will head to Japan in February. They’ll work a Ladies’ Ring show on 02/25 and probably more shows to be announced.

AAA

Ultraclash aired on Impact Thursday night. They aired almost the entire taping, skipping the locals match and the NGD tag title match. It was presented as filler TV, with the announcers heavily focusing on Impact’s (many) upcoming shows and paying only cursory attention to the matches. The announcers were respectful, but there were no stories to tell, and there were a lot of wrestlers they and their audience just didn’t know, so there was only so much they had to work with. There was a good amount of talent here and both promotions could’ve used them in ways to make their wrestlers feel like stars on TV; the goal here was just to eat up a few hours of TV.

Impact didn’t have perfect notes here; Dinamico and Myzteziz were pronounced incorrectly, they believed Sexy Star was the original one, and they decided Abismo Negro Jr. was Toxin in the main event. I think they were given bad information, I don’t think the announcers were getting it wrong intentionally. It’s less clear if they noticed it and missed that it was a different person or if they just decided it was AAA and it didn’t matter. (Seemingly, no one else watching the show noticed.) If AAA had a significant English fanbase, they’d be upset about ‘their’ promotion being treated badly. AAA doesn’t have much one, so no one noticed enough to care. That’s where AAA is at right now.

The plus side for me personally is I can skip the next two weeks of AAA TV; I’ve seen everything I need to see. AAA will have different in-between-match promos, but they were pointless on week one and probably won’t be any better on the next two. It’s tough to have a worthwhile promo without a direction and AAA is completely directionless. (I’ve also got other obligations on Saturday so if you’re counting on me to put the show up, you may be waiting a bit.) If you are going to track Impact, the main event trios and the Octagon/Josh Alexander versus Moose/Toxin match are the two to watch, though nothing you have to go out of your way to see.

The next special Luchatitlan show is 12/16 with Psycho Clown, La Hiedra, Mr. Iguana, and Nino Hamburguesa participating.

A Cuatrero/Vaquer update

Record reports Cuatrero was denied a request to leave jail and switch to home confinement on Wednesday. Cuatrero has been imprisoned since March 11th on charges of family violence and feminicde against then-girlfriend Stephanie Vaquer. There’s been little publicly revealed about the case since the imprisonment. The next meeting before the judge is December 22nd and the case is expected to be resolved in the first two months of 2024. The judge ruled against releasing Cuatrero because he felt he still had an aggressive nature and was a possible risk to his victim. The judge additionally cited “constant harassment towards the luchadora, both in person and on social media, by friends and family of Cuatrero” as a reason Cuatrero should not be allowed to leave jail.

Cuatero’s supporters have been harassing Vaquer the last eight months; they might be arguing the phrasing but not the actions. Cuatrero fans and friends have mobilized under the slogan “#JusticiaParaCuatrero” to question Vaquer both online and in person. They’ve also come up with conspiracy theories to explain what is going on; once you’ve decided that Cuatrero couldn’t have possibly committed the crime, you apparently open your mind to many strange possibilities. The one possibility the group has latched on is a vast international plot, where Vaquer is now dating wealthy lucha libre memorabilia collector Christan Cymet, and he’s using his political influence all the way to the top of Mexico’s government to keep Cuatrero in jail. Powerful people do abuse their power, and Mexicans have reasons not to trust their institutions, but there’s no strong reason to believe that is what’s going on here. It’s a person who was charged with a violent crime whose job involved violence; it’s not a big surprise they’re going to be concerned about letting him out of jail prematurely.

A great conspiracy is an absurd idea to myself but not to Cuatrero’s fans and Mexican wrestling vloggers looking for ways to get more views. They’ve been spinning up the intensity of this story for months. It got enough attention to be vaguely asked in one of the most public places in Mexican political life: the President’s daily press conference. Neither Cuatrero nor Vaquer’s name is mentioned by name, but it’s a question about a luchador who’s been stuck in jail without a trial for an extended period of time by powerful people. Only the people inside the bubble of this weird story would have any idea what that dialogue was really about. The president of Mexico is not inside that bubble and gave an answer that wasn’t addressing the question, as politicians tend to do.

It is a tremendous backfire by those people seeking to help Cuatrero to act in such a fashion that they are partially responsible for keeping Cuatrero in jail. I would still be surprised if they saw the flaws in their choices, and I expect those people would instead see his continued dentition as another sign of their grand conspiracy. The bigger problem is that harassment has reached a notable level already. It will be much more intense whenever this case comes to a decision, and Mexico may become a tough place for Stephanie Vaquer to work and live.

Big Lucha

They’re back streaming Big Lucha World.

Big Lucha World (FRI) 12/08/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) ? vs La Brava
2) Tirano vs Black Skayde
3) Iku & Orbita vs Black Andrómeda & Cody 1-8

This might be the final Big Lucah World of the year. The main Big Lucha show is next Saturday and then it’s holiday team.

Google Drive

I will begin removing non-essential 2020 and 2021 CMLL videos from the Google Drive in the near future, likely the last last week of te year. These will be the sorts of regular TV matches that no one remembers exist a week later. The matches I deem important – title matches, apuesta matches, tournament finals, other newsworthy matches – will stay up, just as they’ve stayed up for previous years.

It’s mostly just a matter of getting close to the 2 GB limit and having no intention of paying for increased storage for matches no one’s probably going to ever watch. I’ll still have a copy of the matches if someone ever needs them, but everyone’s stopped needing those for a while. I’ll wait to see how much is left before looking at other promotions, but I expect this will be an annual thing.

Other News

12/09 RIOT

• Takuma & SB KENTo vs Arez & Latigo
• Erik Ortiz vs Bandido Erik Ortiz vs Demonic Flamita
• Aramis vs Prometeo – new

Those three matches sound good. No idea what they’re doing for the rest.

The Rey Mysterio cartoon debuts tonight on Mexico’s Cartoon Network at 7 pm and on demand on HBO Max. There’s no known air date for the US; I’m not sure if it’s actually coming.

Vampiro has been doing a podcast. I’ve not paying it too much mind because the combination of “Vampiro”, “other old wrestlers” and “podcast” means there’s a high chance of stuff just being made up. Whatever the validity, Vampiro’s a rare Mexican wrestler podcast to talk about the behind-the-scenes of Mexican wrestling. There’s an underserved Spanish language fanbase who gets constantly fed those types of stories about US wrestling but rarely about their own countries’ wrestling, so they will have a great thirst for this sort of content. (And, as we’ve seen in English, accuracy is beyond the point.) Vampiro had Latin Lover on a recent podcast, and two clips from that got a lot of attention: one where Latin Lover talks about how Jaque Mate was the person he got along least within CMLL, another where he talks about having issues with Konnan early on.

With the actor’s strike settled, Gael Garcia Bernal is on a belated press tour to promote the Cassandro movie on Amazon Prime. He’s interviewed in Variety about the movie. In Deadline, he credits Pimpinela Escarlata and Rudy Reyna as being as important exoticos in addition to Cassandro.

Wrestlers in Guadalajara and Torreon had special holiday masses.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 12/04/2023 Arena Puebla [Porra Fresa]
1) Dreyko & Rencor b Black Tiger & Rayo Metálico
2) Astro & Xelhua b El Malayo & Hijo del Perverso
3) Perverso, Prayer, Rey Apocalipsis b Halcón Suriano Jr., Meyer, Valiente Jr.
4) Último Dragóncito © b Mercurio [CMLL MINI]
1st defense, title rematch. Mask challenged followed.
5) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Valiente
Rugido beat Maya after a mask pull
6) Hijo del Villano III, Templario, Villano III Jr. DQ Atlantis, Octagón, Volador Jr.
Villanos unmasked Atlantis & Octaogn’s mask for the DQ.

Porra Fresa notes it was a weaker turnout than usual. I assume they’re heading to a Rugido/Maya title match, maybe something out of the main event as well.

Pegasso told El Sol de Puebla that he’s proud to represent his home city on the FantasticaMania tour.

CMLL (TUE) 12/05/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Átomo & Chamuel 
2) Galaxy, Minos, Pierrothito DQ Fantasy, Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico [Relevos Increíbles] 
Pequeno Olimpico’s turn to unmask Pierrothito
3) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Futuro, Max Star, Neón 
Max Star suffered an injury on a Brillo Dorada attempt at the end of the third fall.
4) Virus b Difunto [lightning] 
7:22
5) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther b Felino, Rugido, Sagrado 
Rugido replaced Rey Bucanero just prior to the show
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Octagón b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto 

The CMLL stream died during the Tuesday main event; right as Mistico and Mascara Dorada were about to dives. CMLL uploaded the main event later that night, as well as the missing 11/24 show they didn’t go up on its Sunday schedule. CMLL has a very good product this year but their subscription product is still not up to standard. On the other hand, other promotions seem to have staffed departments to handle these sorts of tasks and CMLL seems to have one person doing when they’re not doing four other jobs.

CMLL really needs more variety in their minis finishes to set up this match. I liked Difunto/Virus. Max Star messed up his dive pretty badly and seemed to get out of OK all things considered. That match wasn’t going great. Panthers match was trying to do their usual bit. Main event wasn’t much to talk about it, but it also died in the middle of the second fall comeback.

CMLL (TUE) 12/05/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Mas Lucha]
1) Gallo Jr., Rafaga Jr., Temerario b Avispón Negro Jr., Luminoso, Quka 
2) Ángel Rebelde, El Gallero, Trono b Insólito, Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro 
3) Astro (Puebla), Blue Shark (Puebla), Fénix SO, Rayo Metálico (Guanajuato) DQ Arlequín, Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Star Black 
Gallero attacked Star Black, who a was a replacement for Halcon Nero Jr.
4) Barboza, Draego, Persa b Brillante Jr., Felino Jr., Halcón Suriano Jr. 
5) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. 
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible b Halcón Negro Jr., Niebla Roja, Principe Daniel 
Halcon Negro Jr. replaced Angel de Oro (nose injury against Flip Gordon Saturday.) Principe Daniel had issues with his partners and ended up helping Los Barbaros (and his brother Cavernario.)

Crowd seemed a bit down for this one. Not a strong show and a weak main event story. Maybe the idea was to set up the Chavez/Cavernarios as a match for next week, but I’m still not sure it would’ve worked.

Draego told Mas Lucha that he cried tears of joy when he found out he was going to debut in Arena Mexico on Friday.

There was a private show at Arena Coliseo Tuesday night for the Inter-American Associate of Intellectual Property (ASIPI).

Thursday is the final league night of NJPW’s World Tag League, with Zandokan Jr. & Yota Tsuji versus Soberano Jr. & Atlantis Jr. in a match where neither team has a realistic chance to advance to the final. Zandokan Jr. is still requesting to join LIJ, Soberano and Atlantis are still simmering towards an explosion. Neither story must resolve on Thursday, there’s shows on Friday and Saturday as well, but it seems likely something is going to happen.

Thursday also has Mascara Dorada against Rocky Romero in MLW, for both the (NWA) Historic Welterweight Championship and the MLW Midldeweight Championship. It airs as part of Fite+. That match will certainly be better than the NJPW one, it may be historically more important and yet I’m thinking about getting up around 2 AM to watch the NJPW one and can’t find any interest in the MLW one.

CMLL (MON) 12/11/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Blue Shark vs Dreyko & El Malayo
2) Meyer & Xelhua vs Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II
3) Pegasso, Rey Samuray, Valiente vs Perverso, Prayer, Rey Apocalipsis
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Valiente vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
5) Ángel de Oro & Rocky Romero vs Flip Gordon & Titán
6) Atlantis, Octagón, Volador Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III, Templario, Villano III Jr.

4/6 are rematches. I’m sure the Villanos will actually be thrilled to main event against Octagon and Atlantis, no matter how bad the match will be. Anyway, this is just a reminder that while “Octagon and El Hijo del Santo” is the team remembered as the big deal from tape traded in the 90s, Atlantis & Octagon seem to be a much more enduring pair in fans’ memories.

There’s the usual list of guests on CMLL Informa, but the thing to watch for is Andrade news. The big CMLL announcements have tended to come on Informa this year. The KeMalito/KeMonito news might also come on that show. No knowing which week, it’ll be a surprise.

The guests officially on the show:

• Templario – ???
• Marcela – return from injury
• Fugaz/Magia Blanca – title match Friday
• Pequeno Estrellas – the usual
• Astral, Akuma, Diamond, Olympica, Hombre Bala Jr. Scorpio Jr. – bodybuilding

Just to make it extra clear, “Scorpio Jr.” is not the guy who was around CMLL in the 90s/00s. I believe this is the one who’s been going as Scorpio NG in Mexico State indies. The graduation rate from the Student group Scorpio Jr. won to the main roster is very low, so this might be his biggest CMLL win.

I’m sure I’ll remember why Templario is being interviewed as soon as I finish this post but nothing comes to mind. Maybe it’s another international booking.

CMLL officially announced they’d be running Arena Mexico on Mondays 12/25 and 01/01, in place of the usual Sunday shows. The moves are as expected – anyone looking at a calendar could’ve figured them out – but formally announcing these shows as happening clears the way for CMLL to announce a match for them. Like a minis cage match.

Puebla’s also running 12/25 and 01/01. A good chance Guadalajara will run as well.

CMLL will have an art sale on Thursday in Mexico City. I actually don’t think I know what’s happening. there.

Mascara Dorada will appear on Prestige Wrestling’s 02/25 show at the Los Angeles Globe Theatre The Vermont Hollywood. It is notable to see him booked out to a English speaking US indie.

Voices of Wrestling looks back at the month of November for CMLL.

On TJ Sports new YouTube wrestling channel, there’s an interview with Tessa Blanchard where she seems to say she’s got a deal with CMLL on a per date basis but has more dates scheduled. There’s notes in the other one. Stephanie Vaquer mentions she’s booked on the January NJPW show (presumably the 01/13 San Jose card.) Titan says his US work visa has actually expired, he’s in progress of getting it renewed, but he’s just working in Mexico and Japan for the moment.

A common thread in the TJ Sports CMLL interviews is the interviewer asking these guys who they’d be interested in wrestling in AEW and Titan, Vaquer and Dorada having no answers to that question. Vaquer focuses on the people she’s faced before (Mayu and Mone), Titan says he’ll go whevever CMLL wants to send them, and Dorada seems to know “Daniel Bryan” only from his WWE work. The AEW stuff is far off the radar of even three of the most internationally facing luchadors.

AAA

Dralistico announced he’d finished up with AAA and was going to take independent bookings on Tuesday. Dralstico’s challenged for the mega championship, lost, and there’s no indication AAA had any plans for him beyond that, so it’s a smart time to check out. His last angle – insisting he was going to be a tecnico unlike the rest of his family – ends up being weird. The title match may have gone better if he just worked rudo. Maybe it says something about when this was all decided but it doesn’t really matter. Dralistico is a known enough names that he can get booked without TV exposure in Mexico, and he’s probably going to be fine just on his AEW deal alone. Dralistico didn’t seem important to AAA’s business and I don’t think they’re going to be hurt by him leaving individually, but it does add to an overall feeling of AAA not being the place to be and being cold.

If AAA knew who was leaving in advance, that Guerra de Titanes was well booked out: both Dralistico and QT Marshall apparently finished putting over tecnicos on their way out. It also fits with the WON story about AAA wanting to get away from using people who have AEW commitments. It’s just so unlike AAA for the right thing to happen on purpose.

Publicly distancing yourself from AAA is often a prelude to working with CMLL wrestlers. My immediate guess with Dralistico is that he took a booking with the Crash, though. They’re also off limits. It may make it easier to book Dralistico on the same show as CMLL wrestlers in AEW, but AEW hasn’t booked any CMLL wrestlers outside of one Mistico booking.

Rush hasn’t worked AAA since the last TripleMania, and his status is unclear. He was on a handshake deal for those, so he’s unlikely to them at all, but he also hasn’t distanced himself from AAA. TripleManias are going to come up again, AAA’s going to need names, and they’re probably going to talk again.

Sunday was the one year anniversary of AAA running the Mullet Arena in Arizona. At the time, AAA told the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the show was successful enough to run in the area again, though they may run in a different Arizona city. There has been no mention of running AAA running in the US at all this year.

Impact has their airing of Ultraclash Thursday on AXS.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 12/10/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Oriental vs Rey Aztaroth
2) Bengalee & Sagitarius vs Kali & Sádika
3) Diosa Quetzal vs Keyra
4) Hell Boy, León Dorado, Mr. Leo vs Keyra, Lion Dog I, Lion Dog II
5) Hijo del Fishman & Rey Espectro vs Águila Roja & Hijo del Pirata Morgan and Dragón Yuki & Hijo de Canis Lupus
6) Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana © vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. [IWRG IC TRIOS]
third? defense

Poder del Norte are going to keep having to defend these titles until someone finally beats them.

Dragon Yuki is back from Japan for at least the rest of December. The Lion Dogs are from Leon. They primarily work for a group called “Toffy’s”, which is bringing in La Pandemia later this month. Bobby Lee Jr. may be involved.

IWRG is changing its format to their annual Tryout show; it’s essentially The Voice (or La Voz). The judges sit in swivel chairs, pick teams, turn around when they’ve seen enough, and the match gets stopped if all the judges turn around. These shows always focus heavily on the judges and’ll be even more so in this format.

Other News

The Rey Mysterio cartoon series debuts (in Mexico) on Friday on Cartoon Network and HBO Max. The first season has 10 episodes. Misterio was in Mexico promoting the show with a lot of press, with Crazy Boy, Fight Panther Jr., and Aero Panther helping show kids lucha libre. This is outside the WWE project, so they won’t be mentioning it all, but there seems to be good interest in Mexico about it. A common statement by people who only watch lucha libre when presented in WWE is Rey Mysterio is the best luchador ever. Rey Mysterio himself says he would like to be considered among the top three luchadors ever, granting El Santo, Mil Mascaras and Perro Aguayo also had outstanding careers.

Damian 666 is the new lucha libre commission in Tijuana. Damian also said he might retire from wrestling next year. There was talk about more harmony between the commission and the locker room, which makes me wonder about the recent suspensions.

Box y Lucha 3580 has lots of CMLL photos.

Big Lucha will have a press conference on Friday to discuss their “Culmination” show on December 16.

CMLL

There was a CMLL spot show in Arena Aficion on Thursday. Nothing much notable in the wrestling, crowd as OK (though that’s better than some CMLL shows there in the past.) The notable event was a wedding proposal; she said yes.

CMLL (FRI) 12/01/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, PubliMetro, Record, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Pequeño Magía, Pequeño Violencia, Último Dragóncito DQ Mercurio, Pierrothito, Shockercito [Relevos Increíbles]    
8:58. Usual challenges for a cage match followed
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Futuro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Neón    
13:08.
3) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido  
11:31. Straight falls. Fugaz challenged Magia Blanca to a title match.
4) Flip Gordon, Titán, Valiente b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto    
13:28.
5) Stephanie Vaquer © b Tessa Blanchard [CMLL WOMEN]    
12:56. 2nd defense
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible    
Prior to the match, a video aired of a mystery man coming soon to CMLL. (The video implied it was Andrade/Sombra.) La Comandante returned to CMLL as second to the newly named Los Barbaros. KeMalito made his in-ring debut (introduced at a CMLL post-Aniversary party) to help the rudos win the seond fall. Comandante & Maldito worked together to help Cavernario pin Mistico after a third fall mask pull. Referee Edgar was distracted by KeMalito far longer than normal, Cavernario held the pin for about 20 second, Mistico kicked out before three when Edgar finally counted the pin, Edgar counted three anyway, the match went onto a La Mistica. Cavernario complained he had the three count post match.

Here’s that vignette. Most are guessing it’s Andrade. I’ve been told they’re correct; this is indeed the former La Sombra’s return to Arena Mexico. Andrade’s name has come up positively in 2023 – primarily around relatives Lady Shadow and Brillante Jr. making CMLL appearances and doing interviews – where he wasn’t talked about at all when he was working AAA shows. There are must’ve been some work to smooth things over before this point. I believe Andrade’s return will lead to more attention on his other family members.

La Sombra was actually never a notable draw in CMLL the first time around; he was a star but not that kind of star. Returning to Arena Mexico after many years away will definitely make him that attraction. There are the obvious big mask match rematches with Volador Jr. and Atlantis, the dream match with Mistico, and new top stars like Mascara Dorada & Soberano he can work against.

(I don’t think AEW ‘sent’ Andrade as part of CMLL/AEW deal. The people who need to understand this won’t read this, but there is no massive talent-sharing deal. There is just an open line of communication. It’s much more likely Andrade is using his freedom to take outside dates and making an agreement with CMLL for some shows on his own. It helps that AEW and CMLL have talked, and I would assume Andrade gave the top people in AEW a heads-up. Andrade/CMLL probably means nothing towards Rush or Dralistico status for the moment; they will be separate peace accords, ones I don’t expect in the near future.)

There are a lot of unknowns, even going with this mystery person as Andrade. There’s also lots of reckless speculation to be had for the moment. Does Andrade’s return have anything to do with the surprises Soberano teased? (Soberano teased something Monday morning.) Is it simply a coincidence that CMLL’s stopped using the Los Ingobernables for Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, and Terrible? Is Brillante Jr.’s surprise inclusion on the FantasticaMania roster related to this? Will Andrade in CMLL now clear the way for Andrade to appear on NJPW shows? When is this guy even showing up? (Does Andrade’s presence on a 12/21 show with AAA wrestlers indicate it won’t be any time soon?) Will Andrade’s personality and expectations fit in CMLL’s culture than Metalik did? All we know is that CMLL is having a good year and adding another big outside name seems like a strong positive.

KeMalito is obviously one of the Micro Gemelo Diablos and an idea that was meant to be rolled out months ago alongside a new KeMonito. It appeared the original KeMonito making public his complaints about CMLL delayed both ideas. Debuting KeMalito in the second fall of the match seemed to set up the new guy showing up to help the tecnicos in fall three. Instead, there was a poorly performed finish that felt like something got changed and confused. Introducing a new KeMonito will be controversial unless CMLL’s somehow made things right things with the original blue monkey. It’s just a matter of time until something happens. I’d suggest doing it on the Christmas show, but what do I know.

(I might not know things but the outside vendors sure do; Dr. Landru noted mask sellers had KeMalito masks for sale that night when they hadn’t in previous weeks.)

We can’t be sure where things are headed. Or at least I can’t be that sure. In the women’s match, I thought I was seeing a build to Tessa Blanchard winning the title. The reality ended up being different. I do not know what she was like to deal with behind the scenes (and that seems to be where she causes most of her problems), but she seemed completely professional in the ring. Blanchard worked hard and put Vaquer over strong in Guadalajara and strong against in Mexico – to the point where she got humiliated in the post-match. She lost again to Vaquer in Tijuana on Saturday; there was no face-saving win or outgiven. I am sure Tessa Blanchard will be back in CMLL someday if she wants to be back in CMLL, and I also feel confident CMLL would give a strong recommendation on her if asked.

The title match itself though I’m not as positive about it. They worked hard, they hit each other hard. They had one spot that went very badly on the outside, but they recovered naturally and moved on. Stephanie Vaquer and Tessa Blanchard would’ve gotten over great in NJPW Strong or maybe Impact or some other US TV promotion, but it didn’t feel of Mexican wrestling enough to work for this Arena Mexico. After her last NJPW appearance, I saw comments praising Vaquer for being a great babyface and I didn’t understand it. Still don’t; in the context of lucha libre, she’s a total ruda and doesn’t really have that connection to the crowd a good tecnica needs. Vaquer gets cheered because she does some showy things and is better at the physical portion of wrestling than any other luchadora does, but she also comes across as cold and distant in the ring, like nothing would be changed if she was still doing this match in empty arena times. That works for a ruda, that works in situations elsewhere, just not as well with the casual Arena Mexico fanbase that thrives on well-defined good people and bad people. It left this particular title match as two people who were emotionally shut off from the crowd and capped the excitement it could provide. The match was not at all bad, it was pretty good, but it didn’t fit the vibe, and they’re not over enough to change the vibe just with the presence. Bringing in Blanchard was a good experiment, but CMLL needs to look at finding more babyface characters to throw at Vaquer if they’re going to have their biggest successes.

(The resulting feeling does make me wonder about Mercedes Mone. I don’t know that it’s ever actually happening but I would figure she’d expect to be the similar outsider ruda if she ever came to Arena Mexico, and the match would probably go a lot better with her as the hero of the story.)

There were other matches on the show. The main event finish – two people cheating for the rudos, Cavernario getting a three count that was not a three count, the losers doing the usual post-match winners interview – would make more sense if the new Los Barbaros were initially meant to win. Most of the undercard was fine. Not really sold on another Fugaz/Magia Blanca match, and everyone’s really ready for the minis cage match setup to move on to another chapter.

CMLL (SAT) 12/02/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Aéreo, Angelito, Minos DQ Acero, Full Metal, Galaxy [Relevos Increíbles]
today’s DQ was Galaxy unmasking Minos
2) Hera, Metálica, Tiffany b La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Skadi
Skadi replaced La Malgina
3) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Halcón Suriano Jr.
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hombre Bala Jr. b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Flip Gordon b Ángel de Oro
crowd was negative towards Flip. Angel de Oro needed post match medical attention.
6) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Octagón DDQ Atlantis & Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
Terrible & Atlantis took fall 1, Dragon Rojo & Octagon took fall 2, Terrible and Dragon Rojo betrayed their partners in fall three for a rare double DQ.

CMLL’s recap noted Flip Gordon’s got booed. Nothing is impossible, but a white guy wearing US military fatigues who does not speak Spanish is going to have a very tough road to get over as a face in Mexico. This has generally been Gordon’s problem his entire career: he presents as a classic 1980s babyface so every booker wants to push him that way, but tastes has changed and he’s missing some sort of edge or bigger personality trait to make it work. (In the Being the Elite universe, that trait became “dumb as a rock but likable”, and then he lost a lot of his support by being dumb as a rock in unlikable ways on social media.) CMLL will eventually turn him rudo, it’ll work better, and he may get over enough to end up a tecnico again down the line – the Marco Corleone path worked out.

CMLL no longer provides live results of their Mexico City shows on Twitter or Facebook. Those can only be found on their Whatsapp channel. The Whatsapp channel has less than a 1,000 followers, a lot less than either of those other two platforms. The Friday results did later pop up on Twitter. CMLL used to post delayed recaps on their website but has only done it once in the last six months. I think this is a short-term attempt to build up that follower count on WhatsApp, which may or may not be necessary if Twitter (or X) becomes less viable as a platform.

CMLL (SUN) 12/03/2023 Arena México [La Tijera]
1) Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial b Leono & Robin 
2) Astral, Diamond, Halcón Suriano Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr. 
3) Crixus, Kráneo, Okumura b Fuego, Stigma, Volcano 
Kraneo snuck in a foul on Volcano.
4) Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero b Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring, Rey Cometa 
5) Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Templario b Star Jr., Valiente, Volador Jr. 
KeMalito, who earlier disconnected the CMLL Christmas Tree, distracted Volador and helped Hechicero get the pin.
6) Máscara Dorada b Gran Guerrero 
said to be more than 20 minutes

I make this point like three times a year and it’s a useless point but I’m going to do it anyway: the CMLL heavyweight championship is not the centerpiece of CMLL like that title is for any other promotion. CMLL has no title that occupies that role. It’s never been clearer than that main event, where Mascara Dorada beat heavyweight champion Gran Guerrero in a match that is absolutely not setting up a heavyweight title match. Dorada is instead next challenging for the welterweight championship, which is three divisions lighter than the heavyweight title.

This only matters in that every year Pro Wrestling Illustrated puts whoever is the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship way high in their rankings based on having the most important title, and it may be the least important “CMLL” branded title most years. PWI’s lists are based on kayfabe accomplishments, but the heavyweight title is not the biggest kayfabe accomplishment in CMLL; it’s not even in the top ten. This is a very CMLL-only way of doing things and I’m happy with a lot of the weird CMLL-only stuff they do, and it doesn’t work if you treat them like any other promotion.

CMLL did a tree-lighting ceremony prior to Sunday’s show. The half-hour streamed card was mostly wrestlers who had big 2023’s reflecting on their success. KeMolito snuck in and unplugged the tree as the big ending bit. (They plugged it back in.)

Both CMLL teams were eliminated from advancing in the World Tag League on Monday morning. Soberano and Atlantis lost to Hikuelo and ELP in a must win match. Zandokan Jr. and Yota Tsuji won the main event, but appear to be mathematically eliminated by other results. (Announcer Milano Collection AT argued that if two other teams go to a double DQ and get 0 points as a result, Tsuki and Zandokan could still advance. That is not happening.)

Soberano again was upset with Atlantis after their loss and then went heavily rudo in the post match promo. The split is coming, it’s just a matter of which show. The two CMLL teams happen to wrestle each other on the final league night of the tournament, Thursday morning.

CMLL (TUE) 12/05/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo & Chamuel
2) Fantasy, Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico vs Galaxy, Minos, Pierrothito [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Futuro, Max Star, Neón vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Virus vs Difunto [lightning]
5) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther vs Felino, Rey Bucanero, Sagrado
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Octagón vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Atlantis and Soberano need to get back home quickly to spare us from these Octagon main events. CMLL seems short on good rudos on this card. Difunto/Virus could be fun.

CMLL (TUE) 12/05/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Gallo Jr., Rafaga Jr., Temerario vs Avispón Negro Jr., Luminoso, Quka
2) Ángel Rebelde, El Gallero, Trono vs Insólito, Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro
3) Astro (Puebla), Blue Shark (Puebla), Fénix SO, Rayo Metálico (Puebla) vs Arlequín, Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Barboza, Draego, Persa vs Brillante Jr., Felino Jr., Halcón Suriano Jr.
5) Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Disturbio, El Cholo
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Principe Daniel vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Terrible versus his old friends the main event. Los Indestructibles defending against local teams would make some sense.

CMLL (FRI) 12/08/2023 Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Draego & Inquisidor
2) Astral, Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Akuma, Crixus, Raider
3) Andrómeda, Marcela, Skadi vs Olympia, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
4) Magia Blanca © vs Fugaz [MEX WELTER]
5th defense
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Star Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja
6) Máscara Dorada, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Rocky Romero, Último Guerrero

Dorada & Rocky are coming here from MLW on Thursday; I didn’t really process that was an odd day of the week (and so MLW might get a little more attention than getting lost in the usual weekend rush.) Angel de Oro and Flip Gordon matched up again the semimain. Blanca/Fugaz is a rematch from May, which was not a memorable match. It’s hard to beat a challenger twice in the same building.

The standouts in the bodybuilding contest get a Friday night match in the segunda. Olympia and Reyna Isis, the two CMLL women in the contest, are together in the third. Drago, a former Guadalajara indie standout who’s been on the Arena Coliseo Guadalajara shows the last year or so, also gets an appearance following his bodybuilding performance.

Some of the CMLL bodybuilders appeared at a contest put on by the same bodybuilding commission who judged the CMLL contest. Crixus won the men’s division, while Reyna Isis was recognized in the “Amazon Fitness” category. It appears Astral and Olympia did not compete; they participate in bodybuilding contests unmasked under their real names, so maybe they didn’t want to double up here.

Match three would be Marcela’s return from her knee injury, but they’ve announced her and pulled her back previously.

AAA

AAA aired part one of the Ultraclash on Saturday, airing three matches.

• the locals match was guys doing all the spots they could think to do in the time they had, with no logic or structure to it
• Chris Sabin looked great in the tag match with Trinity, Dinamico, and Chik Tormenta; it’s good he’s showing up again.
• NGD worked hard again versus Arez & Kazarian, and I was mildly surprised Kaz took the pin

This was a short broadcast, even with lots of filler to stretch it out. They aired interviews between the matches, but no one had anything to talk about or ask about. There is no plot to this, just some matches, so asking, “wouldn’t you like to challenge for [X] title” makes sense as a generic question, but it also is frustrating to the viewer – why aren’t they challenging for those titles instead of doing all these meaningless matches? Sabin pointing out he hadn’t wrestled Taurus and Laredo all the time they’ve been in AAA was surprising to me.

Impact will air this show Thursday. They look like they’re going to air in one week in what AAA will stretch out for three weeks; Impact needs their TV to build to a show, AAA is just killing time.

The INJUVE Lucha X El Barrio finalists don’t seem to have been announced at the same pace as the previous rounds. Maybe there’s another press conference coming for that announcement. Big Lucha wrestlers appeared at a concert INJUVE put on this weekend.

West Coast Pro Wrestling had a great Latigo, Toxin, Black Taurus versus Wicked Wickett, Iron Boy, and Aramis match on Sunday night. It was pretty great and you should check it out if you can: it streamed for free on YouTube and will pop up on IWTV later on. WCPW seems to be making Iron Boy as their own find; he wins these lucha matches every time. The only problem with it is Black Taurus is always really good and really cool and so he’s the one who’s getting most over with the crowd.

The bigger picture is that a match with five AAA guys was better than maybe one or two AAA TV matches had all year. AAA used to make a point of having a hot match on each show but hasn’t gotten it done, and bringing them back would be the #1 improvement they could make in 2024. My friends at the ThROH The Years podcast, reviewing early Ring of Honor, occasionally touch on how TNA got annoyed/frustrated/bitter about ‘their’ wrestlers having more critically praised matches and those wrestlers talking more positively about working ROH than the company that actually had their contracts. That end result was not TNA doing those things that made those fans and critics happy with ROH, but changing their outside bookings rules to make it more difficult for TNA wrestlers to work Ring of Honor.  If I had a crystal ball to see in 2024, that sort of drama is kind of what I fear we’re headed toward.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 12/03/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Rey Aztaroth b Thunder Storm  
2) Danessa & Shocko b Auzter & Deyna  
3) Auzter, Freelance, Tornado b Centurion, Rey Espartano, Rey Halcón  
4) Carnicero, Lendaor, Minero b Caballero de Plata, Dr. Cerebro Jr., Último Legendario  
5) Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool b Jessy Ventura, Mamba, Sádika, Shocko  
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium © and Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana © [IWRG IC TRIOS, EdM Trios, hair] 
Piratas won the EDM Trios titles after fouls and mask pulls. Pirata Morgan said he would retire if he had lost his hair again here, a stipulation that got little attention.

Pirata Morgan went on social media and said if he lost his hair one more time, he was definitely going to retire. I don’t think any one believed he would retire, and the show drew nothing special. Maybe down a bit.

IWRG is introducing a book on the 61 year history of their family running shows in Mexico State. I would very much like to acquire that book.

Other Notes

Zeta has an interview with Lucka Moreno, the titular promoter of Tijuana’s Lucka Libre, which works with CMLL. He is a teenager. I do not believe the local commission has actually licensed a teenager to run a wrestling promotion; this is a misdirect. The past Lucka Libre shows have drawn well, but this Saturday’s show was half full or less, less than what The Crash and EMW have done in their most recent shows.

Bandido spoke more in-depth about his injury issue with Mas Lucha, though you’ll be mostly distracted by his daughter seizing on the microphone as a new toy. Bandido has three options in front of him: his US doctors are giving him two surgical options, one of which would involve inserting a screw and limiting mobility. His Mexico doctor is suggesting rehab, and Bandido’s taking that tactic for right now to see if it gets any better. I’m not a doctor, but I’d normally suggest just getting the surgery. If you had the surgery and it didn’t work, it does make sense to try rehab. Bandido is positive because he’s always that way, but he’s also clearly bugged that he used to go someplace to wrestle every few days, and now it’s been months between matches with no clear path back.

The government of San Luis Potosi held a free lucha libre show with lots of names on Saturday. It drew well, as free shows often do. Someone named Mini Regio Rayado, who I have no other known matches, lost his mask to (one of the two) Mini Psycho Clown(s) on the show. No name is mentioned in the article about the show. That article also bills a Travis Banks/Jesse Jackson vs Ludark/Septimo Dragon match as “US versus Mexico” so they may not have been paying close attention.

At a press conference for the event on Saturday, Blue Demon Jr. claimed he will retire soon. Demon claims he will introduce his own junior in March or April of next year and then run a 12-18 month retirement tour. 0% of luchadors who talk about retiring years in advance actually retire when they say they will. Fuerza Guerrera exposed the game a few months ago, saying that announcing his retirement increased booking, and now he doesn’t want to retire. (It’s worked out the same for Dark Scoria, of all people.) The wrestlers know the deal, so this is Blue Demon saying his bookings are getting a little bit light, and he’s running his own angle to get people interested again.

La Mascara, who hasn’t been around wrestling this year, popped up Thursday on the JAALL show. He was backing his fellow Brazo/Alvarado family members against Negociantes Traumados. La Mascara looked increasingly physically and mentally struggling during his last few active years as a luchador. Hopefully, he’s doing better; he looked better in the brief video and talked about returning in 2024 in another one. His family’s trade is lucha libre, and I don’t know him at all, but he looked so much better after getting away from lucha libre for a while that I wonder if he’d be better off staying that way.

San Luis Potosi luchador Johnny Ventura passed away. I have a couple of lineups with him wrestling in 1979, and he seems like a 70s/80s guy. His nephews, Mini Maniaco and Black Ventura, are more recent wrestlers.

56 men and 9 women attended Puebla’s lucha libre licensing exam on Saturday. Pegasso, Asturiano, Prayer, and Sombra Diabolica worked as teachers. The way they’re phrasing it is that wrestlers have to get licensed to have a chance to wrestle for CMLL and AAA, which sidesteps the reality that some of them have already been wrestling for years for small Puebla groups. The hopefuls had to do “about an hour” of physical tests and an hour of tumbling. 36 of the 65 people who started were left then and went on to do three hours of Olympic wrestling and lucha libre. This seems no different from what the influencer got in Monterrey before TripleMania, which he felt was unfair treatment. The license winners will be announced in January.

Mexico City indy workers Drako and Ancla are setting up a hair match on 12/25 in Coliseo Ecatepec. This is not interesting in itself; most people will forget who won and lost by 12/27. The gag here is Drako showed up wearing a Puerquiza Extrema t-shirt in a match where all four Pigs were wrestling. Drako and long-time partner Corsario Negro Jr. have wrestled less often since the Puerquiza Extrema debuted.  They’re working small shows, but not the bigger shows where the pigs are now working. There’s also just not a lot of people around the sizes of those pigs. It’s commonly assumed Drako & Corsario Negro are two of the wrestlers under the pig masks, to the point where Drako showed up here during their match and wearing their shirt to play off it. I belief he is truly one of the Pigs and this is an intentional misdirect.

An El Grafico article starts “Drago is perhaps more recognized as a collector of lucha libre items than as a professional wrestler.” Seeing as this is not either of the two AAA Dragos, nor any other Drago I’m familiar with, I would have to say that’s a fair statement.

Queretaro referee Rielero Cortes (José Jesús Rosales Machica) retired after a show on Friday. He’d been working as a referee since 1985.

Segunda Caida reviews more early 90s Monterrey

The CMLL bodybuilding contest took place Wednesday. I forgot how very long it can be. This year’s edition clocked in at over two hours fourty minutes. The winners in every division:

Beginner (School): Scorpio Jr. (a new one)
Beginner (2): Akuma
Novato 1: Hombre Bala Jr.
Novato 2: Diamond
Women: Olympia
Main: Astral

Astral was the overall winner for winning the main men’s class. They’ve had the winners of each division pose off at the end in previous years. There would’ve been no point here anyway, the top male division would win.

The women’s division has gone from Dark Angel winning all the bodybuilding contest and almost no one else participating to Dalys and almost no one else participating, and now it looks like it’ll by Olympia who wins all the time. Reina Isis and Bengalee were the runners-up this year.

CMLL (FRI) 12/01/2023 Arena México
1) Pequeño Magía, Pequeño Violencia, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pierrothito, Shockercito [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Futuro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Neón vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
4) Flip Gordon, Titán, Valiente vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
5) Stephanie Vaquer © vs Tessa Blanchard [CMLL WOMEN]
2nd defense
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Los Barbaros debut (under that team name) in the main event. Match four should be a solid match. Match three is a rematch from last week. Match one will end up in a DQ. I originally had Vaquer as a 60/40 favorite, and now I think it’s 60/40 Blanchard.

The PPV link is here. For what it’s worth, Boletia has links up for all Friday nights through December. They’re all 5 USD. The minis cage match is likely to be 01/01, and I wonder if that’ll just be part of the CMLL YouTube subscription. Lining up the big shows with the PPVs has not been a priority in the past.

The new Stolas gimmick in Guadalajara appears “borrowed/inspired” from a character of the same name on the YouTube anime series Helluva Boss about an assassin business in heell. I’m completely unfamiliar with this series (and hoping not to sound a million years old.) Plenty of people seem to know it; the channel has close to 9 million followers. I stumbled upon that mention of that show Tuesday when trying to find social media info on the luchador, just thinking it was a similar name. The “Stolas” name for a Demon does reach back to a far older creative work. The fans of the anime seem certain it’s the inspiration for the gimmick’s look. I can see it.

AAA

AAA will air an hour and a bit ore early on Saturday. It’s a 5:19 pm CT start time. They’ve got a live sports event later in the night bouncing everything around. This week’s episode will be the first part of AAA/Impact Ultraclash, which might last three weeks. No knowing what’ll air. Impact is also starting on Ultraclash next Thursday.

AAA’s 01/06 Retro show is headlined by La Secta. They’re also on the 01/19 The Crash show. AAA’s rule is no one can work both; the rule isn’t consistently applied and may not apply at all to guest talent. Cibernetico previously worked The Crash shows and is back again in AAA on the 01/06 show.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter briefly mentioned Konnan hadn’t had a chance to QT Marshall this week following his announcement that he was leaving AAA. It was left unsaid if AAA was among those who knew about Marshall’s plans in advance (and is that affected the AAA booking) or if it was just a lucky break to change the title.

IWRG

Mas Lucha (THU) 11/30/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Arceus, Drakula, Thunder Storm, Tornado b Caballero de Plata, Nativo, Sol, X-Devil 
Drakula pinned Caballero after a foul, setting up a hair match
2) Julissa b India Sioux [Torneo Suprema, quarterfinal] 
3) Mary Caporal b Big Mami [Torneo Suprema, quarterfinal] 
4) Mary Apache b Sádika [Torneo Suprema, quarterfinal] 
5) Kayo Kobayashi b Diosa Nix [Torneo Suprema, quarterfinal] 
6) Cerebro Negro, Cirujano Jr., Relámpago b Hell Boy, Tonalli, Yorvak 
Relampago beat Tonalli. Hell Boy and Cerbero Negro had a pull apart post match to build to their 12/17.
7) Julissa b Mary Caporal [Torneo Supremo, semifinal]
8) Kaho Kobayashi b Mary Apache [Torneo Supremo, semifinal]
9) Flammer & Maravilla ?? Cinthia Moreno & Reina Dorada
no finished reported
10) Julissa b Kaho Kobayashi [Torneo Suprema, final]

I haven’t seen much of Julissa and came away with a positive impression. She was working a power style for a luchadora, and seemed to mesh fine with India Sioux. She’d fit in fine with CMLL. She’s the sort of person AAA would get very excited about six months before getting very excited by something else.

The finish of Caporal/Mami appeared to be Flammer distracting the referee and Maravilla hitting Big Mami with a chair when Mami turned around, but Mami didn’t do her part and time stood still until Marvilla just hit her in the back. It was not good. Apache/Sadika was as wild as expected, Kobayashi/Nix was fine.

Cerebro Negro/Hell Boy fought ‘for real’ after their match. I think that’s going to be the best IWRG match all year and they’re probably going to to talk me into the Mas Lucha subscription on 12/17.

IWRG will have its annual holiday party on 12/15. It’s back open to the public this year.

Big Lucha

They’re back streaming tonight.

Big Lucha World (FRI) 12/01/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Ditto vs Morfosis
2) Radioactivo vs Skayde
3) Vengador vs Black Andrómeda

Ditto finally gets a singles match, might be the biggest match on the show.

The next big show is

Big Lucha (SAT) 12/16/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) ? vs ??
2) Dios del Inframundo & Súper Fly vs Cometa Maya & Radioactivo and Limbo & Torito Negro
3) Platino & Skayde vs Black Terry & Negro Navarro
4) Elipse, Iku, Orbita, Vengador vs Atómico Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Nova, Tito Santana
5) Viajero vs El Brujo [mask]
6) Emperador Azteca, Flamita, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria

The main event is for control of the promotion. I would prefer new control of the promotion; one match with guest stars is good, all of the matches with guest stars is less of what I’m hoping for. Seeing Super Fly and Drago in the second match is cool but it seems to reduce their importance to bring them in for a low level match. It seems weird to have spent so much time on someone like Black Andromeda for them not to be on the show, but that’s the direction they’re going.

Other News

Gran Hamada has been hospitalized all week in “delicate” condition, according to his daughter Ayako Hamada on Thursday. She seemed hopeful things had gotten better on Thursday. Gran Hamada has seemed frail in his public appearances this year.

Black Taurus, Latigo and Toxin wrestle Iron Kid, Aramis, and Wicked Wickett on Sunday in West Coast Pro Wrestling. That match streams for free on their YouTube channel.

12/09 RIOT

• Takuma & SB KENTo vs Arez & Latigo
• Erik Ortiz vs Bandido – canceled
• Aramis vs Prometeo – new

Bandido is off the 12/09 RIOT because he has not been medically cleared since undergoing wrist surgery. Bandido took to Twitter to clarify the situation: his wrist hasn’t gotten better, he’s got three paths he can choose to get them fixed. Two would be more surgery, the other therapy, but he’s got to wait long to see how it’s healing. He does not have a return date at this point; it may be a long wait.

Komander defeated Gringo Loco on Thursday’s ROH on Honor Club, as part of the Survival of the Fittest tournament. That means Komander will wrestle in a six way on the 12/15 Ring of Honor PPV for the vacant TV title. (Dalton Castle is the only other wrestler who’s advanced so far.)

AAA Cruiserweight Champion Komander being on that show means there will be no CMLL talent. I had looked at that Final Battle as maybe a side door for some CMLL/AEW involvement – being a different show and promotion in name could help with the issues and Texas always seems like a good place to bring in luchadors. Instead, there has really been no CMLL wrestlers in AEW outside of that one Mistico match on Rampage nearly two months ago.