Rey Destoller, Vampiro/Penta, CMLL title matches

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 03/04/2024 Arena Puebla [Grada, Porra Fresa]
1) Astro, Black Tiger, Millenium b Dreyko, Espíritu Maligno, Sombra Diabólika
2) Diablita Roja & Lady Amazona b Astoreth & Lady Metal 
3) Arkalis, Meyer, Pegasso b El Perverso, Multy, Prayer 
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Ángel de Oro, El Hijo de Stuka Jr., Niebla Roja 
5) Místico, Stigma, Tiger Mask b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero 

Another big turnout this week, this time in Arena Puebla. Again, there’s no obvious reason beyond CMLL convincing people it was a big deal to see Tiger Mask.

CMLL (TUE) 03/05/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Mercurio, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito b Fantasy, Galaxy, Shockercito
14:48
2) Astral, Capitán Suicida, Diamond b Dr. Karonte I, Grako, Inquisidor
14:35
3) El Coyote & Pólvora b Fuego & Hombre Bala Jr.
16:13. Hombre Bala was shaken up after hitting his knee on the middle rope on a corner dive and coming up very short.
4) Brillante Jr., Futuro, Neón b Crixus, Hijo del Villano III, Raider
13:33
5) Hechicero, Magnus, Zandokan Jr. b Flip Gordon, Star Jr., Titán
14:01. Zandokan unmasked and pinned Star Jr., setting up a singles match between them next week.
6) Místico & Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro & Soberano Jr.
Angel de Oro beat Mistico, then challenged for the MLW Middleweight Championship

A good show on paper, a not good show in execution. Low effort in some matches and bad nights by some people. Dr. Karonte I is always a strong contender for worst wrestler in CMLL and proved it on this show. Brillante Jr. was way off most of his match. Hombre Bala got hurt on a dive. The Tuesday matches also feel like they’re thrown together with not a lot of time, so sometimes things aren’t thought out – like the rudos being on different pages for their triple team move, or whatever was going on in the third fall of the main event. There are worst shows but you can take a pass on this one if you missed it.

CMLL setting up two singles match for one show is odd; it’s possible Mistico/Angel de Oro is a Friday build that just can’t take place on Friday this week.

CMLL (TUE) 03/05/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Mas Lucha]
1) Johnny Dinamo, Minotauro, Principe Drago b Quka, Sangre Azul, Último Ángel
2) Emperatriz, Lady Shadow, Miss Guerrera b Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria
3) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Lluvia b Dark Silueta
Lluvia replaced La Catalina
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring b Felino, Rey Bucanero, Satánico
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
Guerreros asked for a trios title shot, which Los Barbaros accepted

CMLL’s Twitter had live results on this show, for the first time in years. I hope that doesn’t mean they’ve noticed there’s a live stream of CMLL matches outside their paywall.

La Catalina was double booked by CMLL and worked their spot show in Arena Aficion. Edgar was there as well. CMLL double booking their own dates helps explain why it’s tough for foreign promotions to work with them.

CMLL Informa today has

• Mistico (all things Mistico)
• Lluvia, La Jarochita, Andromeda, Skadi (title match)
• Dark Silueta, La Catalina (title match)
• Reyna Isis, Zeuxis (title match)
• Magnus, Rugido (AEW)
• Guerrero Maya Jr., Difunto (title match)
• Star Jr. & Zandokan Jr. (title match)

Tiffany, in promoting Friday’s show, talks around the idea of retiring at the end of the year. She wants to get out healthy, so it’s more an idea of leaving rather than working through injuries at some point than a strict timeline. Zeuxis says she wants her match with Reina Isis to be the best match of her life.

It’s good to have goals. CMLL’s asking fans to wear pink or white to the show on Friday, though they haven’t pushed in strong on the streams as of yet. Purple is the color associated with International Women’s Day, and that’s the color CMLL is using in their publicity. I wonder if we’ll see purple ropes or canvas.

CMLL (MON) 03/11/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger, Blue Shark, Hijo de Centella Roja vs King Jaguar, Rencor, Sombra Diabólika
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Meyer, Xelhua vs El Malayo, Enfermero Jr., Rey Apocalipsis
3) Arkalis, Rey Samuray, Volcano vs El Coyote, Kráneo, Okumura
4) Akuma, Espanto Jr., Flip Gordon vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Titán
5) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Neón vs Averno, Brillante Jr., Euforia

This lineup makes it clearer which two Ola Negra members are getting a title shot. The main event is still doing Gran Alternativa follow up.

Okumura and Star Jr. will appear on the 03/29 MLW show. Okumura is in an eight man cage match, Star Jr. is still TBA. It’s not the most impressive names though getting the most impressive name is tough on the same day as Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.

AAA

Arez, Latigo and Toxin officially announced they had left AAA and were free agents on Tuesday night. That was what had been expected, but it was not official until then. They all posted the same message, almost down to the same wording, thanking Dorian Roldan, Jorge Flores, and Konnan. AAA themselves have said nothing about the situation, though Konnan posted a positive reply to Arez’s message.

last four recent AAA trios titles champions, in reverse

• Abismo Negro Jr., Psicosis, Toxin
  • Toxin leaves company while champ
• Cuatrero, Sanson, Forastero
  • Cuatrero is jailed, Mascara 2000 Jr. fills in for title loss
• DMT Azul, Sam Adonis, Puma King
  • dropped suddenly because DMT Azul is quitting
• various combinations of los Mercaniros
  • Texano quits while champion, five different people end up being champions during the reign

These titles haven’t had a normal title run in at least four years. And prior to that was the bit where Laredo Kid gave up the title while champion.

Pagano says he was diagnosed with a shoulder separation – his third in the last two weeks – and he will rest a few days before returning. That sounds like he’s making Saltillo. There’s probably enough wrong in the shoulder a few days of rest are going to fix and continuing to work on it is not the wisest idea, but it is Pagano.

Vampiro’s newest episode of his podcast is an interview with Pentagon Jr and the two ran an angle on it for a TripleMania match. Vampiro asked Penta to give him a rematch of their Lucha Underground match at TripleMania Mexico City, as Vampiro’s retirement match. Penta said it was fine with him, as long as Dorian Roldan signed off on it. Vampiro’s latest return to AAA played off his podcast with Latin Lover, so they’re willing to use it to set something up and so this may have been pre-arranged to reach a wider audience. The Penta/Vampiro Lucha Underground match is memorable match from the season 1 finale of the series, though in large part due heavy work by editors. It did not go well live, and a rematch a decade later is likely to go worse. Still, it holds a special place for fans of that era, and it would get curious foreign fans to tune into TripleMania out of curiosity. Vampiro and Penta are big names and that would be enough to make it one of the bigger matches on the show for Mexican fans, even if Lucha Underground never connected the same way with them. There’s little chance that match will be good in any conventional sense and I’m not sure anyone believes Vampiro is actually going to stick to a retirement, but those parts hardly matter.

Penta talked about his life during that podcast, while Vampiro made stories up as usual. I’ve not had a chance to listen to it myself.

Rey Destroller

Monterrey’s Rey Destroller (22) suffered a life threatening brain injury Saturday night while wrestling on RIOT’s show. He is in grave condition with severe brain damage at last report. The family is holding out hope of a miraculous recover to prevent him from being declared brain dead, but that seems like it might happen in the next few days.

Destroller (also spelled Destroyer and pronounced that way) collapsed during a tag match teaming with his brother Black Spider Jr. against local regulars Los Un-Mexicans, Byron and Kaientai. The planned spot was Destroller ducking a clothesline, then both he and his opponent (Byron) kicking each other as a typical double knockdown. Destroller ducked the clothesline, but then just fell to the mat without being touched. Destroller kicks his foot in the air from the mat, which may have been his body spasming. It looks like nothing happened on the video.

Monterrey indie wrestling promotions are running a benefit show in Arena el Jaguar on March 22nd. RIOT is running a raffle with donated items to help pay medical expenses; tickets are 100 pesos each (about 6 USD) and can also be purchased by Paypal. There’s also a bank account Mexican fans can donate too;

Members of Rey Destroller’s family have gone on TV to say RIOT hasn’t taken care of Destroller properly, and blamed the injury on a bad fall from a headscissors earlier in the match. I reached out to RIOT to get more information, and they provided me with clips of Destroller’s collapse and the headscissors spot. In the latter, Destroller attempted to step from the top rope, to one opponent (Kaientai)’s shoulders, and to finally step off into a headscissors on to the opponent (Byron). That headscissors didn’t go correct at all and Destroller does fall hard to the mat – but he turns lands on his shoulder and back. It’s clearly visible that Destroller’s head never touches the mat. The video is not public – I don’t think RIOT plans on making it public for obvious reasons – and I can understand why Black Spider Jr. and the rest of his family thinking back to that spot in trying to figure out what could’ve happened to cause the injury. It’s clear in the video there’s no impact to Destroller’s head on that landing.

RIOT does not believe there’s any place else where Destoller could’ve suffered a head injury during the match. The Un-Mexicans matches on RIOT shows are intended to be unserious comedy matches, and this one had a lot of silliness as well; it’s not one where they’re hitting hard or taking big risks. RIOT says the medical personal on hand immediately realized Destroller’s injury was serious, put him on a stretcher, and took him to a hospital via the ambulance that was already on hand, as required by Monterrey’s lucha libre commission. There’s third party video circulating from Destroller being put on a stretcher to confirm that part. Members of Destroller’s family were critical of RIOT for not paying Black Spider Jr. and Rey Destroller’s wages for the match; RIOT’s explained their focus was getting Destroller in the ambulance and to the hospital as quick as possible and they could figure out getting them the wages later. RIOT says they plan on paying medical bills, they’re just trying to figure out if it makes more sense to pay the Destroller’s mother (who’ve they’ve been in frequent contact with) or the hospital directly.

In 2020, similar young luchador Principe Aereo collapsed during a match in Arena San Juan Pantitlan and passed away before he made it to the hospital. The original belief was Aereo had a heart attack, but further examination revealed he had ruptured artery in his head and suffered an aneurysm. That fatal injury was thought to be caused either by some unknown previous impact that took days to show itself, or was due to a defect that had always been lurking without anyone’s knowledge. That’s the best guess at what’s going on with Rey Destroller, but no one knows for sure at this point.

IWRG

I made a questionable choice in judgement: I watched all seven episodes of IWRG’s tryout shows posted a week or so ago. Now, in my defense, I did it most of it while watching the matches a 1.5-2x speed and just skipped over any point where people were talking. I have some limits. Still, the one thing these IWRG tryout have going for it is they draw in people from all over. Most of the entries were from Mexico City or Mexico State, but it’s also a rare chance to see luchadors from Zacatacas or Cuernavaca or whatever other random lucha libre spot that doesn’t get much attention. There’s always a chance to discover someone remarkable. I don’t think it was that successful this time; I did see some promising wrestlers though no sure fire great ones.

the best of the bunch

• Bebote Valdez (son of Monterrey’s Simbolo, already popping up Showcenter AAA TV tapings)
• Xolotol
• Aries Jr.
• Principe Centauro

Other positive standouts

• Drakula (not to be confused with Drakula NG)
• Hijo del Sparta
• Argus
• Vato Pilas
• Shamila
• Infarto
• Jitsu (same Jitsu as always, had a good night)

best five matches

1.  Principe Centauro vs Hijo del Esparta (episode 5)
2. Aries Jr. vs Drakula (episode 3)
3. Fanastik Jr. vs Bebote Valdez (episode 2)
4. Vato Pilas vs Shamila (episode 6)
5. Infarto vs Loko Boy (episode 7)

Centaruo and Esparta work on the same shows all the time; more often as partners than opponents, but it sure seemed to help. Who people ended up work with was a huge factor in how they did; a lot of the matches I liked had a big guy/small guy dynamic that gave them something to work with (and they were smart enough to go with it.)

Worst Match

• Chester Jr. vs Emperador Guerrero (episode 5)

The big gimmick this year’s tryout is that the judges were choosing teams, or choosing to stop watching the match and turnaround if they decided neither wrestler was worth picking. The ads played it up like that turn around bit could happen a lot, and matches may be stopped if all four judges gave up. In reality, the judges rarely gave up on matches, and this was the only one that ended up stopped. The wrestlers weren’t working together at all.

I have no idea how the rest of the tournament works (and I’m not sure it’s that important to me.) IWRG lists round of 16 matches on Thursday; I’m unclear how they cut down from 60 wrestlers among four teams to 16 wrestlers. That Thursday show will also have a Vanegllys & Ivan Rokov vs Hijo del Canis Lupus & Hell Boy tag match.

Big Lucha World

Big Lucha World (FRI) 03/08/2024 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Orbita vs Atómico [first blood]
2) Sussy Love vs Satania
3) El Potro de Oro vs Caballero de Plata [bull terrier]
4) Skayde vs Platino [submission]
5) Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Ricky Marvin [knockout]
6) Emperador Azteca vs Ciclón Ramírez
Toreo Cuatro Caminos style
7) Flamita vs Jack Evans [lumberjack]

A few more singles matches for next week, and a whole bunch of stipulations. I’m disappointed by Jack/Flamita having lumberjacks, because that always means a comedy match in Mexico. Toreo de Cuatro Caminos had many styles of matches, but it’s been dumbed to meaning “brawl where we hit each other hard and bleed” in modern times. Sussy Love/Satania is the token women’s match because it’d look bad without one on International Women’s Day. It’ll also look bad for having one with Satania involved. Orbita/Atomico Jr. might actually be pretty good.

Other News

The viral Mexican wrestling video of the week involves Sadika. Sadika often does a bit where she “accidentally falls” onto a person in the front row and grinds her butt on an unsuspecting fan for a bit. She did that Saturday in Arena San Juan on a female fan and another (male) fan slapped her on the butt. Sadika angrily slapped the man in the face in response. Sadika, as one of the more in demand women on the indies for certain styles of shows, can pretty much do whatever she wants.

A “Tigre Blanco” will participate on this season of Survivor Mexico. There’s been many Tigre Blancos in Mexico; I believe this is one who’s been wrestling as a son of the original Mascara Sagrada. (“Tigre Blanco” was a nickname for that wrestler.) Survivor is not the cultural institution in Mexico as it is in the United States, but this is airing on over the air on Azteca Uno. That’s the network partnered with AAA; it’s unclear if AAA passed on participating or Azteca went a different direction.

There are very vague plans for a women’s wrestling reality show/contest, to be unveiled on Monday. Mascara 2000, Lady Apache and Tinieblas Jr. are said to be involved; some of those names have been part of similar ideas in the past that got a big roll out and then vaporized.