CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 01/26/2024 Arena México
1) Capitán Suicida & Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Diamond & Oro Jr.
2) Guerrero Maya Jr. & Hombre Bala Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
3) Akuma vs Zandokan Jr. [lightning]
4) Max Star & Volador Jr. vs Furia Roja & Último Guerrero and Atlantis Jr. & Futuro and Bárbaro Cavernario & Draego and Máscara Dorada & Neón and Soberano Jr. & Vaquero Jr. and Valiente & Valiente Jr. and Averno & Guerrero de la Muerte [Gran Alternativa, semifinal, battle royal]
Mistico & Brillante winning the first block really knocks down the possibilities from this half of the Gran Alternativa. Max Star & Volador could work as rudos against them in the finals, and it’s hard to come up with alternativs. Furia Roja & Ultimo Guerrero and Draego & Barbaro Cavernario make sense on paper, but both of those “rookies” haven’t been featured in Arena Mexico when they’ve made visits from Guadalajara. They’re fine, but they’re also not standouts in their home building either, and not obvious fits for Mistico & Brillante opponents. Everyone else would be a big surprise, though thee should be good matches getting there. Even if Mascara Dorada & Neon ‘can’t’ win, they should go to the block final and that should create some fun action.
I have high hopes for Akuma/Zandokan, and the tag match prior could be really good as well.
This is on PPV as always. It’ll be up on YouTube on 02/04.
CMLL (SUN) 01/28/2024 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Mije & Periquito Sacaryas
2) Halcón Suriano Jr. & Robin vs Grako & Nitro
3) El Audaz, Pegasso, Stigma vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Kráneo, Raider, Sagrado
5) Atlantis, Star Jr., Titán vs Crixus, Euforia, Zandokan Jr.
6) Flip Gordon, Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
Could be a good main event. Maybe match 5 would be good if they can work around people.
CMLL (TUE) 01/30/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Quka, Sangre Azul, Último Ángel vs Eclipse Jr., Gran Kenut, Relámpago Azul
2) Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria vs Estrellita Mágica, Lady Amazona, Lady Metal
3) Canalla, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel vs Fúnebre, Johnny Dinamo, Minotauro
4) Dark Magic, Elemental, Yutani vs Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
5) Crixus, Difunto, Star Black vs Ángel Rebelde, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.
6) Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo II vs Barboza & Zandokan Jr.
7) Atlantis Jr., Explosivo, Vaquero Jr. vs Averno, Soberano Jr., Templario
An odd mix of people in the main event, and lots of the Guadalajara guys from the main roster coming back in matches 5/6.
CMLL Informa announced half the field for the 02/06 Rey del Aire show
- Zandokan Jr.
- Villano III Jr.
- Flip Gordon
- Esfinge
- Angel de Oro
- Mistico
The other half will be revealed next Wednesday. They’re going for bigger names than usual for a Rey del Aire. That’s normally a useful thing to do, except this year’s crop of midcarders (Neon, Futuro, Brillante, Max Star) would’ve been fun all by themselves. It’s unclear if anyone of them will be included.
The other bit is both the advertisement and Julio Cesar Rivera are careful to say “the Rey del Aire starts on 02/06″, with no clarification on what “starts” is meant to imply. It could mean the final two meet in a singles match on 02/13, but CMLL will usually just outright say that it if it’s the plan. A two week tournament would also eliminate Mistico from winning since he’ll be off to FantasticaMania by the 13th, unless the plan is to hold the final some other time or place. There’s some game being played here but I’m lost at what it is.
Informa also announced the 02/05 Arena Puebla show would be a holiday (Constituion Day) 5 pm start. Stigma & Pegasso versus Brillante Jr. & Espanto Jr. and Villanos & Zandokan Jr. (this week going by El Tringulo Imperial) versus Los Guerreros Laguneros are already announced. I expect at least one title match will come out of this Monday’s show. A holiday show means CMLL is more likely to record and air the show up as a YouTube subscriber bonus, though far from a guarantee. The 12/25 Puebla show was advertised as going on the subscriber channel, appeared to be taped, and never was posted to the YouTube channel.
CMLL will additionally announce the Torneo Escualas field and format next Wednesday.
Master Wato is off all upcoming NJPW shows due to an ACL injury. He was booked on most of the FantasticaMania shows, and NJPW announced replacements Thursday. Dragon Gate wrestler Strong Machine J will take the spot in Osaka, while MUSASHI fills in the rest of the shows. MUSASHI wrestled in Mexico in 2018 and 2019, even trained in the CMLL school. He never made it onto a regular CMLL show but did wrestle on CMLL spot shows (including teaming with Kawato/Master Wato.) MUSASHI teamed with old friend YOH in last year’s Super Junior Tag League and recently announced he’d leave his home promotion of Michinoku Pro at the end of February. Those two things in combination have caused people to guess he’s ending up in New Japan, and wrestling more New Japan shows will fuel that speculation. Strong Machine J is a second-generation wrestler, so of course, he belongs on a CMLL tour. His father was a long-time NJPW wrestler; his son ended up in Dragon Gate instead and wrestled in NJPW as part of an occasional series of matches where NJPW guys wrestle outsiders in prelim matches. Dragon Gate included Strong Machine J – who started off wrestling as if he was a robot and now is a breakdancing robot – as one of their six young guys who will lead the promotion, though J seems like he’s in the lower half of that six. They’re all just doing trios and atomicos matches, so it may have taken longer to read this paragraph than you’ll see either of them in the ring on any show.
AAA
AAA this Saturday looks to be starting around 4:29, two hours early. They’ll have the second half of the Mexico City taping:
- Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Reina Dorada vs Colmillo de Plata, Garra de Oro, Lady Wing
- Arez, Jessy Ventura, La Parkita, Lady Shani vs El Elegido, Estrellita, Mini Charly Manson, Pimpienla Escarlata
- Forastero, Sanson and Negro Casas vs Charly Manson, Super Calo, Zorro
Sanson appeared seconding his cousin Forastero at last week’s Guerra de Campeonatos, and that turned out to be the most newsworthy part of that show. Jorge Livan of Mas Lucha asked him a general question about a lot of news about him and NGD the last few days. It’s something Sanson could’ve quickly answered with a non-answer. You ask those questions because sometimes people will do what Sanson did here and just give you way more information than you would’ve expected. Sanson said the WhatsApp conversations between Vaquer & Hiedra should’ve only stayed in the prosecutor’s office, and he questions how the journalist got ahold of it. That fits his theory of a conspiracy against the Dinamitas, but also confirms those are real messages. His defense is that it’s the bits and pieces of the story manipulated to paint them in a bad light but isn’t telling the full story. Sanson says he and La Hiedra will film a video soon to explain their truth of the matter. Sanson vaguely but repeatedly mentions these allegations affecting his work. Sanson has not appeared on any AAA TV lineups this year. That doesn’t definitely mean anything because the Retro/Origenes gimmick means a lot of spots that would’ve gone to regulars are instead filled with names from the past. Sanson’s comments make it worth watching AAA to see if there’s anything more to his status.
Today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions Alberto el Patron has a zero-tolerance agreement with AAA; he’s gone if there’s another incident. The WON mentions that “another controversial wrestler looking to rehab their career” is also coming to AAA this year. There’s no more information on the name. AAA’s Tijuana affiliate EMW has been using Marty Scurll regularly and Konnan’s involved in the booking of those shows, so he’d be the logical name. However, there are plenty of other “controversial” wrestlers in Mexico and elsewhere, so it’s no certainty. AAA would get a strong negative reaction from foreign fans on social media if they brought Scurll onto TV events, but AAA has largely forsaken that audience anyway and are unlikely to be moved by a negative reaction. These people are likely to be in top matches; “rehab” here isn’t really changing their US image (impossible to do while working in AAA or Mexico in general) but rehabbing their value as wrestlers in hopes a promotion elsewhere will want to bring them in and sell them as changed people.
Other News
Big Lucha has their Zocalo show today at 5 pm. Again, they’ve said they will stream it, but I wouldn’t hold them to it. They had trouble streaming in their own gym last week, an outdoor show in a busy area is asking a lot. A press release on the show mentions it as an INJUVE/Big Lucha combo show. For what it’s worth, Los Traumas and Ciclon Ramirez Jr. are listed as Big Lucha wrestlers, and Extasis as an INJUVE one. Ciclon Ramirez was originally part of the Big Lucha roster but left in 2022. Some of that may just be trying to source up the numbers on the Big Lucha side, since they’ve got another group (Potro, Lokos Evans, Tirano, Big Tao Tato) heading to southeast Mexico for the weekend, and all of Black Generation still in Japan for GLEAT. The Zocalo show is going to be most of impressive but I wonder if the southeast shows are actually the most important; it’d help the promotions and the wrestlers a lot if those were successful and led to more regular work. The Zocalo show is going to do well because it’s part of a free festival, the GLEAT shows are more a GLEAT deal, those shows in Campeche, Merida and Cancun are more a test to see what the Big Lucha brand name means far away from home.
ESTO interviews Los Serial Killers (Sable King and Necro Mastema), who say they were influenced by lucha libre and documentaries about Ted Bundy.
Penta will wrestle in GALLI on 05/19. He’s back doing US indie matches after only doing meet and greets for a while.