CMLL
CMLL (MON) 01/29/2024 Arena Puebla [Grada, Porra Fresa]
1) Asturiano & Rayo Metálico b Blue Shark & Millenium
2) La Jarochita & Lluvia DQ Dark Silueta & Reyna Isis 
excessive violence (wouldn’t stop doing mounted punches)
3) Okumura b Pegasso [lightning]
4) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
5) Bárbaro Cavernario & Último Guerrero b Atlantis Jr. & Flip Gordon [seeding battle royal]
6) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. b Flip Gordon, Máscara Dorada, Valiente Jr. [semifinal]
7) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible [semifinal]
8) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible b Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. [final]
sets up a trios title match next week
Barbaros/Tecnicos looks like the title match for 02/04. CMLL clearly wanted to get the titles to that rudo team before Dragon Rojo Jr. got hurt. The only reason they don’t it this time is because it’s Puebla – but it is a special Puebla holiday show.
CMLL (TUE) 01/30/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Galaxy & Pequeño Magía b Full Metal & Minos
2) Diamond b Halcón Suriano Jr. [lightning]
8:32
3) Andrómeda, Marcela, Skadi b Amapola, Olympia, Persephone
11:08
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. DQ Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
11:06 or thereabouts. Akuma faked a foul from Virus to get the DQ. Virus angrily demanded a rematch, Akuma accepted, then Los Cancerberos still beat up Ola Negra.
5) Flip Gordon b Ángel de Oro
16:40
6) Atlantis, Star Jr., Titán b Euforia, Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
12:45
The matches were not much. That we got to see of them, anyway. It’s been a long time since a CMLL stream died as many times as the show did tonight. Long buffering periods started even as CMLL introduced the show and took place in almost every match. It was just an annoying mess.
Any other subscriber service would immediately acknowledge the issue with the stream, promising to put up a clean version and then putting up that clean version. CMLL has said nothing as of press time.
Nothing CMLL announced with the YouTube tiers should’ve affected how CMLL streamed on Tuesday. Those new tiers don’t even matter until Friday (and so there’s no point in moving onto them yet.) It was some other issue. That issue could actually be on YouTube’s side, but I didn’t see any widespread outage noted when searching around. Streaming issues will happen, it’s all about how you handle them. Wrestling streaming sites that cost a 1/3rd of what CMLL is asking for would normally acknowledge the issue as it’s happening, promise to fix in, and then upload a clean copy. CMLL, as ever, has done none of these things. They may eventually upload something, but they won’t say a word about anything that happened until they have something up there. That’s unacceptable for how much they’re charging for this service.
CMLL (TUE) 01/30/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Mas Lucha]
1) Eclipse Jr., Gran Kenut, Relámpago Azul b Quka, Sangre Azul, Último Ángel
2) Estrellita Mágica, Lady Amazona, Lady Metal b Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria
3) Canalla, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel b Fúnebre, Johnny Dinamo, Minotauro
win via foul
4) Okumura, Elemental, Yutani b Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
5) Crixus, Difunto, Star Black b Ángel Rebelde, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.
6) Barboza & Zandokan Jr. b Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo II
straight falls
7) Averno, Soberano Jr., Templario b Atlantis Jr., Explosivo, Vaquero Jr.
Vaquero and Soberano, Gran Alternativa partners, refused to fight and Vaquero helped Soberano’s team win
The Guadalajara programming branch doesn’t seem to pay close attention to Mexico City. It means you get some different ideas, but also you get matches that the wrestlers decide don’t make much sense. The main event was essentially a 4v2 match because Soberano and Vaquero decided fighting didn’t make that much sense.
Guadalajara announced they’re running a Sunday show on 02/25 with Mascara Dorada and asked the fans if they’d rather a noon or 5 pm start. The sponsored shows they run occasionally on Sundays usually start at noon, the pre-COVID regular Sunday shows started at 5 pm. The bigger issue here is Mascara Dorada is scheduled to be in Los Angeles for Prestige Wrestling on 02/25, wrestling Rey Horus. As far as I know, right now, that Prestige match is still happening.
CMLL Informa has a lot to cover today. They said this week will cover the last six people for Reyes del Aire. They’re also set to announce the full list of participants and the format of this year’s Torneo de Escuelas. I’d expect we’ll hear more about the AEW/CMLL relationship and get a hard sell for the upgraded YouTube tiers.
- Titan, Templario, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. (Rey del Aire? the weekly Arena Coliseo interview)
- Tessa Blanchard (she’s back)
- Lluvia, La Jarochita, Katara (Katara introduction)
- Neon & Brillante Jr. (Gran Alternativa)
- Torneo de Escuelas
Mascara Dorada, Mistico, Volador Jr., and Hechicero are in New Orleans for the AEW Dynamite/Rampage tapings. Their Rampage match (or matches) will likely be announced during Dynamite. I still think it’s notable AEW hasn’t just announced the default tag match.
CMLL (MON) 02/05/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Millenium & Rayo Metálico vs Hijo del Perverso & Perverso
2) Fuego vs Prayer [lightning]
3) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Reyna Isis & Tessa Blanchard
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. & Stigma vs Brillante Jr. & Espanto Jr.
5) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
6) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible [CMLL TRIOS]
first defense
This is a 5 pm holiday start. There’s no mention on the poster of this being a streaming event. We did keep thinking Los Indestructibles would lose their trios titles and they haven’t left, so there’s at least some hope for this random trios champ.
Brillante Jr. & Espanto Jr. are teaming up again as Andrade family. I’m unsure if there’s any interest in them without La Sombra, but they’re probably there to lose to the locals.
On Saturday, Hechicero talked with Estrellas del Ring and mentioned how excited he is to go over the place. He says he’s doing to three continents and five countries. Mexico, the United States, and Japan are well known. Hechicero brings up Costa Rica’s CWE, which regularly works with CMLL and foreign wrestlers; he’s there on March 17th. That leaves a country and continent; Hechicero just mentions surprises. The safe guess is he’s booked for RevPro again; they’ve talked about CMLL news to come.
(It looks like Hechicero pops up on a NJPW FanasticaMania preview too, if I’m guessing right about the person behind the ? bubble)
Rodrigo Barba, of Saltillo’s Barba Producciones, posted a photo of himself with Salvador Lutteroth to promote CMLL and BARBA working together on the Vive Latino shows. He pushed the two groups will continue to work together. BARBA had previously worked with AAA, who seem to be using other local promoters for their upcoming Saltillo taping.
A luchador named Rey Diablo debuted Sunday in Arena Coliseo. In a post-match interview, Rey Diablo revealed he’s the son of Rey Bucanero and La Diabolica (del Caribe.) Rey Bucanero confirmed the story and says he hopes to pass on the Rey Bucanero name to him, and that he makes it to the CMLL roster.
Box y Lucha 3588 has the Gran Alternativa final.
AAA
AAA held a press conference on Monday in Monterrey. It mostly repeated a lot of info given in Mexico City last week for the local press while pushing that tickets are on sale for both the upcoming events in the area. It was a rare AAA press conference not attended by Dorian Roldan, which signaled its importance. Alejandro Montes was the AAA representative instead.
There were a few news bits. The plan is for four Showcenter events in 2023. AAA hasn’t kept strictly to those numbers in the past year. The plan is for those four to be TV tapings, which the Showcenter means will be a big percentage of AAA’s TV this year. It also means less of AAA’s roster appearing on these shows; they seem to send fewer people and fill out TV matches with locals for those shows. It will be hard for a fringe AAA roster member to be on TV much in 2024 between those shows and the Origenes concept.
The “Taurus” appearing on the 02/18 Showcenter event was said to be a debut, acknowledging the previous one has left.
Vampiro and Alberto were brought on to talk about appearing on TripleMania Monterrey. There is a Big Idea that Alberto’s opponent (or maybe opponents) would be a singles match against (probably) a foreign wrestler. It wasn’t clear to me how this was supposed to work, but an Alberto interview suggests AAA already has three outside names, and fans will pick from one. Asking fans on social media something involving Alberto is asking for mayhem. There will be a follow-up press conference in late February, after the Showcenter event, and they’ll announce some of the matches then. There was a mention that the deal between Multimedios (which owns the baseball stadium) and AAA for TripleManias at this venue had originally been for five years and now was extended. They didn’t mention how long it was extended and hadn’t mentioned it was a five-year deal prior, as far as I can find.
That press conference did not mention a Laredo Kid/Antifaz del Norte mask match. It wasn’t hinted at.
AAA had an additional press conference on Saltillo on Tuesday and mentioned the top four matches for that show. Tickets for that show go on sale today.
AAA TV (SAT) 03/09/2024 Lienzo Charro Prof. Enrique Gonzalez, Saltillo, Coahuila [Saltillo Al Raz De Lona]
4) Aerostar, Myzteziz, Negro Casas vs Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria
5) Dulce Kanela, Jessy Queen, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla
6) Pagano & Psycho Clown vs Forastero & Sansón [AAA TAG]
4th defense (2nd on TV)
7) Hijo Del Vikingo, Octagón Jr., Vampiro Canadiense vs Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown
That’s the first Forastero TV appearance since La Hiedra’s WhatsApp messages were released. Pagano & Psycho Clown could certainly be tag champs, but AAA also usually takes no action unless there are criminal charges. I do no know what they will do, though that outcome looks more interesting on paper than the quality of any matches. Jessy Queen is the newest name for Jessy Ventura.
SuperLuchas notes Konnan was asked if AAA would bring in former NXT wrestler Patrick Clark (Velveteen Dream), who’s been on a recent image rehab tour. He was bounced from the WWE system following allegations of an improper relationship with a minor, among other misdeeds. (He was never formally charged for those incidents, though he’s had other brushes with the law.) Konnan said no, AAA wasn’t running the Red Cross and fixing everyone. He was then asked the difference between Clark and Alberto el Patron and Marty Scurll. Konnan said he knows those two guys “personally and professionally” enough to trust them, and they both know they’re gone if anything happens. Konnan allowed that he may give Clark that same allowance if he got to know him, and just doesn’t know him. That bit matches a recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter bit where AAA was said to be bringing in Alberto and another unnamed controversial person to TripleManias this year under a zero-tolerance policy. Most assumed Marty Scurll was that unnamed person, and Konnan confirmed it. I will get screamed at on Twitter during some TripleMania card announcement when AAA mentions him in a match; it’ll be quite a time. He might be one of Alberto’s opponents, which would just multiply it.
IWRG
Big news: La Pandemia got IWRG trios title belts on Tuesday’s Revolucionando news show. The short version, again: Navarros walked out of the promotion as champion half a decade ago, the belts passed through various hands before Poder del Norte got them, Poder del Norte was supposed to lose them to La Pandemia, Poder del Norte no-showed and claimed it was a pay issue. IWRG had threatened legal action if Poder del Norte didn’t return the belts. IWRG showed off belts, and La Pandemia now has gotten what they won by forfeit. There is the very small matter that the belts La Pandemia have are very clearly different title belts – meaning Poder del Norte likely didn’t give back those trios belts after all and IWRG just had some new ones made, something they could’ve just done years ago to cut off all this madness – but perhaps we’re not supposed to notice that.
Hijo de Canis Lupus is out two weeks selling a martinete DMT Azul gave him this past Sunday. DMT Azul and Blue Demon headline this Sunday’s RGR show in Naucalpan.
Other
Saltillo luchador Aguila Mixteca was hospitalized with a serious head injury; he was riding on his motorcycle when hit by a car. (The driver tried to run, but was stopped by other drivers.)
On the 01/28 Big Lucha show in Merida, Potro de Oro kept their title over local Eterno Alcander. You may remember Alcander for popping up on AAA TV last year as a fill in on Rey de Reyes, seemed to fit in fine. Potro retaining the title is no surprise. The surprise was Eterno Alcander announcing he was retiring immediately, unmasking himself and revealing his real name is Jesus Antonio Patron Romero, 37 years old. He handed his mask down to his young son. 37 is oddly early to retire as a luchador, but his area of Mexico doesn’t have many shows.
Bestia 666 announced he’s leaving the NWA on Instagram Tuesday. He seems to have left AAA with him working The Crash. There’s probably another announcement coming.
RIOT says they’ll run 03/02 in Monterrey’s “867 Venue”. It’s a small concert hall with overhangs, so plenty of room for someone to do something crazy.
KAOZ says they’ll introduce a Blue Demon III on 03/24. Demon Jr. had recently talked about introducing a successor this spring. It reads like he’s appearing but not necessarily wrestling. Blue Demon III feels like it should be a big deal, but it’s KAOZ – they’ve got a history of announcing stuff and it not going anywhere. They’ve also put a lot of people in gimmicks (old and new) that get placed in main events but don’t really mean anything, like the new Pierroth. Blue Demon Jr. surely has completely control over who’s Blue Demon III, but that doesn’t inspire confidence eithher.
El Sol de Hidalgo has a history of Arena Aficion, which turns 72 years old this week. A column elsehwere notes it’s a building that is showing it’s age and could use a lot of fixing up. When Arena Coliseo Monterrey finally started getting torn down and I thought about other buildings that are in similar stages of decline which may not survive, Arena Aficion was first to come to mind.
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