CMLL 8M show, Titan & Mistico on AEW, AAA in Saltillo

Daylight Savings Time

If you live in the US or many other countries, Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday. Clocks spring forward an hour. Mexico does not do Daylight Savings Time (except certain US border towns), so almost all live streams from Mexico be an hour later starting Sunday morning. This will continue until November 3rd.

Last year was the first with this extended setup; it was a negative to the viewing experience. There’s also nothing to do about it.

CMLL

Tonight’s show will be the first all women’s show in Arena Mexico. CMLL has run all women’s shows in there other three owned arenas. Arena Coliseo Guadalajara and Arena Puebla both did them in recent years. Arena Coliseo (Mexico City) actually had all women’s shows in the 1940s, prior to Arena Mexico’s construction and Mexico City’s “ban” on women’s wrestling. Those show 40s shows were troupes of women who generally toured the US and would come through Mexico City for a week. Tonight’s Arena Mexico all women’s show happens to be an all CMLL roster show. There’s a few non-regulars from Puebla and Guadalajara to fill out the show, but CMLL made the decision not to bring in a Tessa Blanchard or a Lady Frost or someone else to argument. This is a women’s show, but it’s also very much a CMLL women’s show in a way even those 40s shows were not.

CMLL (FRI) 03/08/2024 Arena México
1) Lady Amazona & Lady Metal vs Náutica & Sexy Sol
2) Marcela vs Amapola, La Vaquerita, Tiffany, La Maligna, Metálica, La Guerrera, Valkiria, Hera, Olympia, Persephone, Diablita Roja [Copa Irma Gonzalez]
3) Reyna Isis © vs Zeuxis [MEX WOMEN]
4) Dark Silueta © vs La Catalina [CMLL JAPAN WOMEN]
5) La Jarochita & Lluvia © vs Andrómeda & Skadi [MEX WOMEN TAG]

The main event looks like the best shot to a great match. Both teams can do well if they’re prepped for the match, and the success may just depend on how effective the big highspots come off. The rest of the matches are lesser versions of the same story: they can put together a good match before the bell starts, but I’m uncertain about their ability to execute it. The effort will be there, but I’m unconvinced the quality is there without Vaquer and others to augment the division. This is a chance to prove otherwise.

Tonight’s show is also a chance for the women to carve out a bigger role in their promotion. CMLL running a yearly show on International Women’s Day (or the day before/after) is any easy decision to make and it’ll surely be an annual bit barring disaster. The CMLL women have talked in the past about wanting more chances, more main events, and this is a great opportunity to earn that. It seems like there’s a push in CMLL to do even more with women’s wrestling. A strong show here – by attendance, by quality of matches, by crowd reactions – could put some more force behind that push. I’m unconvinced this is the strongest lineup to make that push, but you don’t always get to pick when your chances come, you just got to make the best of them.

Making it all women’s show sounds like it’ll go beyond the wrestlers. On CMLL Informa, CMLL revealed Princesa Sugehit and Sanely will work as special referees for the show. Sugehit (neck) and Sanely (knee) are recovery from injuries, not yet cleared to wrestle but far enough along to work as referees for this show. Julio Cesar Rivera seemed to mention, at the close of the show, that there would be both a female ring announcer and female match announcers. Ana Gutierrez regularly announces the Guadalajara shows so I presume she’ll be involved. Many years ago, before CMLL had it’s current set team of six announcers, the TV shows would use cycle through various wrestlers as guest commentators. Amapola announced for a bunch of shows, so maybe she’ll end up being called back that role after her match finishes.

(If you’re someone who write or talks or otherwise regularly produces content about women’s wrestling and you’re interested in covering this show but you can’t put down the 25 USD to sign up to CMLL YouTube just for one show, please DM me and I’ll try to help.)

There’s a lot of extra press tied in with the show, though little of it is novel or worth linking here. If you want to see the one photo of Natalia Vazquez that’s used every time, that’s definitely covered today. In Zapopan, Dark Silueta and Valkiria appeared as part of panel discussion of ‘powerful women’, along side a boxer, a policewoman and a singer.

The rest of the weekend…

CMLL (SAT) 03/09/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Leono & Retro vs Grako & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Valiente Jr. vs Enfermero Jr., Nitro, Sangre Imperial
3) Audaz, Max Star, Volcano vs Felino, Kráneo, Okumura
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Misterioso Jr.
5) Guerrero Maya Jr. © vs Difunto [MEX MIDDLE]
3rd defense
6) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Maya’s trend of only defending against new-ish midcard rudos continues.

CMLL (SUN) 03/10/2024 Arena México
1) Aéreo & Último Dragóncito vs Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora
2) Capitán Suicida & Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Felino Jr. & Inquisidor
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Apocalipsis, Arlequín, Disturbio
4) Rey Bucanero vs Sagrado [lightning]
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
6) Atlantis, Flip Gordon, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Mephisto, Soberano Jr.

Cholo did end up needing nose surgery; he said on Instagram that he’ll be back soon. Guadalajara’s Arlequin gets the call as a temporary Indestructible.

CMLL (TUE) 03/12/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Cowboy, Garabato, Halcón de Plata vs Fúnebre, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico vs Atilius, Maximus, Rey Urano
3) Apocalipsis, Arlequín, Disturbio vs Draego, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
5) La Maligna, Lluvia, Marcela vs Hera, Olympia, Reyna Isis
6) Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. vs Bestia Negra, Persa, Templario

Last week’s show ended with Los Guereros asking for a trios title shot against Los Barbaros. None are on this week’s show.

Informa had a bunch of announcements for upcoming events:

• Zandokan Jr. versus Star Jr. and Mistico versus Angel de Oro for the MLW Middleweight Championship are set for next Tuesday
  • Zandokan remains a really good promo
• There will be Homenaje a Dos Leyendas shows in Puebla on 03/12 and Guadalajara on 03/13, honoring Tony Salazar on both.
• The Arena Coliseo Anniversary show will take place on 04/06. Nothing announced for it yet.
• The Universal tournament will take place on Fridays in April: blocks on 04/05, 04/12, 04/19, final on the Arena Mexico Anniversary on 04/26.
• The ambassador of the children tournament will take place over two shows this year: a elimination match on 04/28 and a final on 04/30

Last year’s Universal Tournament ran elimination matches by title family. Right now, that’d be

• CMLL:
  • Stigma (Lightweight)
  • Titan (Welterweight)
  • Templario (Middleweight)
  • Barbaro Cavernario (Light Heavyweight & Trios)
  • Gran Guerrero (Heavyweight)
  • Angel de Oro (Tag)
  • Niebla Roja (Tag)
  • Dragon Rojo (Trio)
  • Terrible (Trio)
• Historic (NWA):
  • Mascara Dorada (Welterweight)
  • Mistico (Middleweight)
  • Atlantis Jr. (Light Heavyweight)
• National:
  • Futuro (Lightweight),
  • Magia Blanca (Welterweight)
  • Guerrero Maya (Middleweight)
  • Esfinge (Light Heavyweight)
  • Star Black (Heavyweight)
  • Magnus (Tag)
  • Rugido (Tag)
  • Cholo (Trio)
  • Disturbio (Trio)
  • Apocalipsis (Trio)

A Mascara Dorada, Mistico, Atlantis Jr. match would be a very big deal, and one where it’s hard to figure out the finish. The national title is hard to figure out too but for very opposite reasons; there’s no one you’d say would belong in a Universal final except someone has to win.

Salvador Lutteroth also appeared on the show. He put over the Japanese shows (both FantasticaMania and CMLL Lady’s Ring), praised the fans and the management they worked with, and talked about how hard the jet leg was traveling around. There was a tease we’d see some wrestlers from the promotions CMLL has been sending talent to soon.

The CMLL Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show appears sold out. CMLL’s been promoting “tickets left only in the Gradas” section for the last few days, and those are listed as sold out. Ticketmaster shows a couple tickets left in the Freedom restaurant, but that seems like an error based on CMLL messaging. Homenaje a Dos Leyendas is three weeks away and it is unprecedented for a lucha libre show in Mexico to sell out that early. It was news when Aniversario sold out a week in advance, and this is far sooner.

CMLL & AEW running Estadio Azteca still seems unreasonable to me; it’s not a great precedent for CMLL to say “when we’re running the biggest of shows, it won’t be in our building” when they’re trying to get people to come that building 200 days a year. It’s also unclear if there will be the same ticket buying for AEW people will exist on the second or third time they come in. Still, for this specific Homenaje a Dos Leyenda shows, CMLL surely could’ve run a big building (or charged higher prices; scalpers are going to make a killing.)  It’s very obvious both CMLL and AEW have something here, and it’s just a question of how they’re going follow up on it.

Bengala left matches in January and February with a leg injury, and hasn’t wrestled since that February 24th exit. Thursday, he posted a post-surgery photo so he’ll be out for a while. (A reminder you’re reading the CMLL section and this is the CMLL Bengala, not the new AAA Bengala.)

CMLL not in CMLL

Titan wrestled on the FanasticaMania tour, then stuck around on a vacation of Japan with his family for a couple of weeks. He returned to Mexico in time to wrestle Tuesday’s Arena Mexico, then traveled home to Veracruz on Wednesday afternoon. It was the first time Titan was home in three weeks. He was not home for long. CMLL called: was he available to wrestle for AEW tomorrow? Titan got right back on the road, flew out early Thursday morning, and wrestled Chris Jericho on AEW Collision in Atlanta on Thursday night. (The show will air Saturday at the regular time.) Titan on US national TV is cool, this again hints as to how late AEW pulls the trigger on some of those ideas. Titan could’ve skipped the Mexico City->Veracruz->Mexico City voyage, a five hour trip each way, if he had been told one day earlier.

Titan won’t be going alone. Thursday, AEW announced Mistico versus Angelico would also be taped for Collision to air Saturday. Angelico hasn’t been seen on AEW TV much lately, but he’s heard quite a bit – he’s doing Spanish language announcing for the Saturday shows. One of the great reasons to announce Mistico for your wrestling card is he is a rare wrestler who can sell a bunch of tickets. It is harder to sell those tickets when announced roughly five hours before bell time. That’s not a hot take, it’s a problem people in AEW must be aware of, it’s just hard from the outside to understand the processes that lead to these last minute decisions. I presume Angelico has been dying to wrestle some of these CMLL guys and was thrilled to do stuff with Mistico.

Bringing in Mistico while Chris Jericho is going through a gauntlet of CMLL wrestlers suggests those two stories are linking up. It’s not yet linking up – Jericho also has a thread on with Hook – but it fits Jericho’s attention to business numbers and facing CMLL tecnicos the last couple of weeks. A properly promoted Mistico/Jericho match would sell some tickets in the US, though maybe much more in Mexico.

Getting back to Titan trips out of Mexico, NJPW announced this year’s Best of Super Juniors will run from May 11th to June 9th. In a break with recent tradition, the final of the tournament will take place on NJPW’s Dominion show rather than a stand alone event. (The winner of the tournament tends to challenge for the title at Dominion; it’s unclear where that will happen now.) Titan is a lock to be involved in the tournament. I suspect NJPW wants Mascara Dorada to be part of it as well, and that’ll just depend on what else CMLL has going with him during that time span.

Stephanie Vaquer and Guilia had a contract signing Friday for their NJPW Strong championship; strong wardrobe choices for both of them. Vaquer’s matches in Stardom are a trios on Saturday and the title match on Sunday. The Sunday match is on PPV, and eventually turns up on their Stardom World subscription service. Vaquer seems likely to win, though Guilia is professionally suggesting she’ll go defend against Mercedes Mone after this match. Of note, when hyping this tour, both CMLL and Vaquer talked about her going to NJPW and not Stardom. The title match is NJPW Strong match, it doesn’t really make a difference, but it is weird they’re not mentioning Stardom.

CMLL and Barba Promotions are working together on wrestling shows for the Vive Latino music festival March 16th  & 17th. This was announced a while back and CMLL’s running ads for it in Arena Mexico. These are live shows only; we won’t see them unless one of the YouTubers gets motivated to film them. The lineups for both days came out Wednesday, and the March 16th main event stands out: it’s currently Atlantis Jr. & Star Jr. against Soberano Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero. CMLL secretly has prohibited Soberano and Ultimo Guerrero from having any physical contact in matches, to the point where they don’t even tag each other. The situation between those two wrestlers is kept so quiet – the Mexican press averts their eyes as pretends it isn’t happening – that I bet Barba put together these matches without knowing there was an issue. Still, it’s hard to believe someone in CMLL didn’t see that card before it went out. File that with the CMLL Showcenter event as something which seems likely to change before it happens.

AAA

AAA is taping Saturday night in Saltillo. This is the currently advertised lineup.

AAA TV (SAT) 03/09/2024 Lienzo Charro Prof. Enrique Gonzalez, Saltillo, Coahuila [Saltillo Al Raz De Lona]
(a local match)
2) Drago, Epydemius Jr., Estrellato vs Hijo del Picudo, May Flowers, Nygma
3) Dulce Kanela, Jessy Queen, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla
4) Toscano & Zorro vs Antifaz & Hator
5) Aerostar, Myzteziz, Negro Casas vs Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria
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

Vikingo isn’t wrestling. This will be the first taping since Vikingo’s injury, so there is at least the opportunity for AAA to (finally) give an update on Vikingo’s recovery and the status of the AAA Mega Championship. The WON reported last week that Vikingo’s expected out at least five months, which means he’ll probably miss all three TripleManias. It would be too hard for AAA (and the more vocal fans) to go three TripleManias with no title matches; AAA’s going to vacate the title at some point if the timeline is correct. There are no good outcomes from there.

Pagano is promoting appearing shows next weekend, so I suspect he’ll try to make this show. It’s hard to figure out what will happen in that tag title match regardless. NGD are in that familiar AAA pocket of being protected in the booking but never being pushed into a meaningful drawing position – think La Empresa and Killer Kross. They seem likely to keep winning without going anywhere here, but it’s weird for Psycho Clown to be floating around with no direction. Maybe not given it’s AAA. The matches aren’t really worth thinking that much about.

This show appears to be airing March 30th and April 6th. This week’s AAA TV will be the second half of the January 20th Queretaro taping; I didn’t like the matches that are left to air.

TNA says Laredo Kid was scheduled to challenge Crazy Steve for the Impact Digital Championship on their PPV tonight but will not be on the show due to travel issues. (There had been no evident build towards that match that I knew of, the match hadn’t been announced before it was changed.) Joe Hendry replaces Laredo Kid on the show. I presume Laredo Kid will still be on the tapings on Saturday if it’s just a travel issue. Laredo might be more helpful replacing Vikingo in this Saltillo main event rather than working a Xplosion match though.

Abismo Negro Jr. wished his now former teammates well and hoped they’d team again down the road. AAA wrestlers have positively commented on Latigo, Arez and Toxin’s free agency notices; everyone is making it clear they’re happy for them and there’s no animosity.

Mike Santana officially announced his departure from AEW on Friday. Santana and then LAX partner Ortiz worked AAA shows in 2019, and Konnan of course managed Santana in Impact/TNA. Konnan still seems close; some of the info on the problems Santana and Ortiz were having came from Konnan’s podcast. I expect AAA to have interest in bringing in Santana now.

IWRG

IWRG had an absurd four hour fourty minute show on Thursday night, ending close to 1 AM. They were doing the second round of their tryout deal, which means they had lots of matches and had judges breaking down the matches after. I think it was ten matches, including two non-tournament matches. Not sure, haven’t gone through the whole video again. IWRG didn’t post results for most of the shows. La Tijera did for a while but appear to have given up before the main event. Most of the results they do have were matches that ended around the ten minute time limit. Tack on another ten minutes of talking afterwards and you can understand why it went so long. It’s unclear why IWRG just didn’t break this round up into different shows.

Those who moved in IWRG’s tryout: Shamila, Fly Star, Sky Man, Galvanico, VatoPilas, Golden Power, Acustico, Sacro, Xolotl, Principe Tezka, Laberinto, Arceus, and Principe Centauro. That’s thirteen; the other spots will be decided by fan vote. The other results saw Japan’s Kagura beat Aguila Roja to set up a title match and Hell Boy betray Canis Lupus in their main event against Vangellys & Ivan Rokov. Maybe Hell Boy was just crank for having to wait that long to wrestle.

IWRG announced they’ve signed Vangellys to a contract. The majority of IWRG’s Facebook comments are people making fun of IWRG signing Vangellys to a contract.

AAA , ROSALES (FRI) 03/29/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Cobre, Dragón Suicida, Golden Jacket vs Belzebu, Calibre Star, Kingoo
2) Daimo, Galio, Máscara de Bronce vs Belcegor, Rey Halcón, Rey León
3) Dizzy & Karis La Momia Jr. vs El Fiscal & Joe Lider
4) ?, Faby Apache, La Parkita, Niño Hamburguesa vs El Elegido, Estrellita, Mini Charly Manson, Pimpinela Escarlata
5) Myzteziz, Octagón Jr., Vampiro vs Cibernético, Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria

AAA/Rosales shows usually draw well in Naucalpan but they sure picked a hard night to have a wrestling show. I guess the good thing is all the tickets are already sold for the other event.

Other News

Damian 666 suffered a heart attack. Bestia 666, posting about his father on Instagram, said Damian is stable and recovering and the family will have more updates when they can. Damian 666, one of the most liked veterans in Mexican wrestling, has previously spoke about retiring from the ring this year and seemed to have a firm date in August.

Blue Demon Jr., who a couple of weeks had one “son” who was about to debut as a wrestler, now has two “sons” who are debuting soon.

Tonalli announced he signed with KAOZ. KAOZ has a show scheduled on March 24th, which would be their first in eight months. It’s been that long as they’ve repeatedly canceled previous shows. It’s absurd to sign a contract with a promotion that runs no shows (and, even in the best of times, is never going to run 12 shows a year) so either Tonalli is making some silly decisions or KAOZ is throwing around some silly money.

A news columnist promotes a Vampiro Index as a candidate evaluation measure. The big idea here is that anyone running for office should be at least as well known as Vampiro and at least do as much charity work as Vampiro. Many politicians perform well against a Vampiro Index, but the criteria would be more about fictional tales.

House of Glory is advertising Rey Fenix as wrestling on their Cinco de Mayo show. The WON frames this as a “the current plan”, but it comes off as if they’re just guessing this poster is correct like anything else. I haven’t heard a firm return window for him as of yet.

Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1st, and the death was announced early Friday in Japan. Dragon Ball is and remains hugely popular in Mexico and the rest of Latin America; it’d be a long list of people who wore Saiyan inspired gear. There might be some costume tributes this weekend.

Baby Love was interviews for International Women’s Day.