CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 03/08/2024 Arena México [AS, CMLL, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, The Gladaitores, thecubsfan]
1) Náutica & Sexy Sol b Lady Amazona & Lady Metal 
7:48
2) Marcela b Amapola, La Vaquerita, Tiffany, La Maligna, Metálica, La Guerrera, Valkiria, Hera, Olympia, Persephone, Diablita Roja [Copa Irma Gonzalez] 
26:00
3) Reyna Isis © b Zeuxis [MEX WOMEN]
16:31. 3rd defense.
4) Dark Silueta © b La Catalina [CMLL JAPAN WOMEN]
13:39. 1st defense.
5) Andrómeda & Skadi b La Jarochita & Lluvia © [MEX WOMEN TAG]
12:28. La Chicas Indomables fall on their 14th defense (3.5 years).
All the matches on this women’s only show felt like the participants had been working on them for some time, and generally the matches succeeded or failed based on how well they were able to stick with their plans. My biggest complaint with this show was the matches just felt like a lot of moves, more than normal. Maybe it was because all the matches ended up being one fall, maybe it was a self-imposed pressure to show they could do as many of the big things the men can do, but there wasn’t much flow or direction to the matches. The best match was the Reyna Isis/Zeuxis match; the moves just came off as bigger in that one and they pulled off everything they were going for. On the other hand, the main event didn’t really work because the moves (and the turn taking) were all over the place. The main event finish came out of nowhere, and so against the flow of action, that I wondered if there was an injury or time call that motivated it. (La Jarochita needed some medical attention after the match but it appeared to be selling the finishing armbar.) The opener was not up to the standards of a usual CMLL show.
Logistically, Copa Irma Gonzalez works better on a standalone show than Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. Time is always going to be at crunch on a big show and a cibernetico always eats up a lot of time that could be used elsewhere on a big show. (This is the Copa TripleMania dilemina.) The flipside is putting that match on an all women’s show every year means six to ten of the best luchadoras aren’t always going to be pulled out of it to work bigger matches, and CMLL doesn’t yet have the depth to accomdate that well.
CMLL had women in all the front facing roles. Gabi Bau, an edecan who doubles as La Catrina on the Dia del Muertos shows, was the ring announcer for the night. Ana Guiterrez and Gaby Fernandez de Lara were the announcers, with Amapola joining them after her match. Fernandez de Lara is a sportscaster who seems to do a lot on baseball. It’s been a while since I’ve heard Amapola in that role and I thought she was quite good. Princesa Sugehit was a better referee than Sanely, who was doing some slow (though consistent) counts. Neither was a big dropoff from the usual referees, which is more about the usual referees.
The women did the usual group celebration of all women to start the show, which plays better than seeing them all fight and be friends against the end of the event.
Arena Mexico attendance was less than usual for a Friday. CMLL probably was hoping the concept on this day would be a strong draw. Instead, the CMLL fans who do care about stars saw this as a show without many of them; these women have been presented as midcard acts to this point, and there’s not a hot star among them. Stephanie Vaquer being around might have helped slightly, but she hasn’t proven to be that big of a difference maker so far. The show still seemed to do OK enough that I’d expect the concept will return in 2025. March 8th will fall on a Saturday, and the pressure to draw in Arena Coliseo will be even less. The next Friday March 8th will be in 2030, and who knows where any of us will be six years from now.
CMLL (SAT) 03/09/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, La Tijera]
1) Grako & Príncipe Odín Jr. b Leono & Retro
2) Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Valiente Jr. b Enfermero Jr., Nitro, Sangre Imperial
3) Felino, Kráneo, Okumura b Audaz, Max Star, Volcano
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Misterioso Jr.
5) Guerrero Maya Jr. © b Difunto [MEX MIDDLE]
Said to be 17 minutes and great. 3rd defense
6) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Titán b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
Maya/Difunto should turn up on the CMLL highest tier this Thursday. There’s nothing been too memorable among the bonus Coliseo matches so far, though they have put on bigger name matches after the first week.
CMLL (SUN) 03/10/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Aéreo & Último Dragóncito b Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora
2) Capitán Suicida & Halcón Suriano Jr. b Felino Jr. & Inquisidor
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa DQ Apocalipsis, Arlequín, Disturbio
Disturbio had the match won but wouldn’t release la cavernaria on Dulce Gardenia and got DQed.
4) Rey Bucanero b Sagrado [lightning]
5) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
6) Atlantis, Flip Gordon, Volador Jr. b Euforia, Mephisto, Soberano Jr.
A normal Sunday show. Felino Jr. quietly seems to be sinking down these lineups; he’s firmly in the category of guys who will get booked together but CMLL seems to have given up doing anything meaningful with, and he’s not yet been around long enough get a veteran push. Meanwhile, Puma King hasn’t appeared on AAA TV since July; he gets listed for some indie shows but hasn’t been seen this year.
CMLL (TUE) 03/12/2024 Arena México
1) Capitán Suicida, Halcón Suriano Jr., Valiente Jr. vs Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Inquisidor
2) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Crixus, Raider, Vegas
3) Andrómeda, La Catalina, Skadi vs Dark Silueta, Metálica, Zeuxis
4) Star Jr. vs Zandokan Jr.
5) Atlantis, Flip Gordon, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
6) Místico © vs Ángel de Oro [MLW MIDDLE]
1st defense
Beyond the two 1v1s, match 2 looks pretty good.
CMLL (FRI) 03/15/2024 Arena México
1) Halcón Suriano Jr. & Leono vs Emperador Jr. & Platino Kid
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
4) Atlantis Jr., Hechicero, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Templario, Titán [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Máscara Dorada & Rocky Romero vs Ángel de Oro & Flip Gordon and Euforia & Gran Guerrero and Akuma & Dulce Gardenia [Torneo Increible de Parejas, battle royal]
The Friday lineup came out Monday afternoon, which is about two days later than usual.
Mascara Dorada & Rocky Romero advancing out of that group is as much a lock as can be. Match four has mixed up teams but could be good. Empeador (Azteca) Jr. and Platino Kid reappear after the Torneo Escuelas.
CMLL confirmed Homenaje a Dos Leyendas is sold out.
La Aficion talks to Lady Metal, who says continuing her wrestling career means sometimes she doesn’t see her daughter for two or three days; she’s just traveling.
La Seductora, who retired about a year ago due to health issues, talked about possibly returning after her health has improved; it sounds like she just misses it.
CMLL not in CMLL
Stephanie Vaquer defeated Guilia to win the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship. This was the expected outcome with Guilia leaving Stardom, and may have happened next month anyway had Guilia decided not to leave. The match was shorter than a usual title match (around 11 minutes), and Guilia seemed to get a shoulder up during the pin, though that may have been an accident due tot he pin. The post-match included Guilia seemingly wanting to put the belt on Vaquer herself and Vaquer hitting Guilia with the belt instead. Vaquer explained she first offered a handshake to Guilia, Guilia didn’t accept, and so she wasn’t going to let her put the belt on her. A similar thing happened with Vaquer and Tessa Blanchard back in December; the next person to face Vaquer in a title match ought to remember to shake her hand.
Stephanie Vaquer is scheduled for the 04/12 NJPW Riot show, a show I bought a ticket too and just remembered it was a Friday night show as I typed this sentence. Find the person watching the Universal tournament on their phone if you’re looking for me at that one. Vaquer will likely defend the title on that show. There’s an obvious medium term path towards Vaquer and Mercedes Mone wrestling on AEW/NJPW’s Forbidden Door show (expected in June), it’s unclear if they will take that path. There’s also the reality that Vaquer beating Guilia, getting a bit of outisde-of-Mexico attention, and being involved in AEW’s plans may make her a bigger target for WWE. CMLL contracts are largely mysterious and frequently non-existent. I don’t pretend to understand NJPW deals either. Still, either Vaquer’s under someone’s contract now or she’ll end up with one before long.
Mistico defeated Angelico on AEW Collision. There’s still no overt inside AEW storyline for Mistico right now; a post-match promo just built towards the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas match (without mentioning it by name.)
Chris Jericho beat Titan on the show as well. Jericho’s more immediate issue is a tag match without CMLL wrestlers on Wednesday. There must be a reason he keeps facing CMLL luchadors, but they haven’t spelled it out yet. Both matches got favorable reactions and both CMLL wrestlers earned crowd chants.
Penta appeared in-ring during the show doing a run-in to set up a trios match for Wednesday’s show. Penta is still with AAA and this is no change of policy; AAA wrestlers aren’t allowed to wrestle on the same show as CMLL wrestlers but they can do post-match run-ins or promos segments. Those are two things CMLL seems unaware exists, so of course they’re not going to object to them.
AAA
AAA TV (SAT) 03/09/2024 Lienzo Charro Prof. Enrique Gonzalez, Saltillo, Coahuila [El Heraldo, Saltillo Al Raz De Lona, Vanguardia] Attendance: 3000
1) Biker Jr., King Rap, The Rocker b El Líder, Mini Hator, Sexy Andre, Ultra
4 vs 3? Saltillo defeating Monterrey
2) Drago, Epydemius Jr., Estrellato b Hijo del Picudo, May Flowers, Nygma
3) Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla b Dulce Kanela, Jessy Queen, Pimpinela Escarlata
4) Antifaz & Hator b Toscano & Zorro
5) Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria b Aerostar, Charly Manson, Myzteziz
Charly Manson replaced Negro Casas. Los Vatos Locos attacked La Secta after the match.
6) Forastero & Sansón b Negro Casas & Psycho Clown [AAA TAG]
4th defense (2nd on TV). Negro Casas replaced Pagano (shoulder injury)
7) Mr. Iguana, Octagón Jr., Vampiro Canadiense b Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown
Latin Lover appeared before the main event, asking fans to support Rey Destoller’s family and saying he’d sign autographs for donations. AAA said they’d contribute as well. Psycho Circus earlier attacked Vampiro. Mr. Iguana replaced Hijo del Vikingo. All the wrestlers came to the ring to celebrate Vampiro’s final match in Saltillo at the end of the show.
Latin Lover‘s appearance on the taping was unadvertised, though he had mentioned it on social media a few hours prior. It seems truly done just to raise money for Rey Destoller’s family; he wasn’t involved in storyline segments. A benefit show for Rey Destoller in Monterrey on Friday was said to draw 12,600. There’s no public statement on Rey Destoller’s condition.
I may not buy into Vampiro’s retirement much, but the fans attending these shows do seem to be taking it seriously. It comes off as the biggest deal on these show. “3,000” attendance is what the local newspaper reported; it appears to be a full house.
Pagano did make it to Saltillo and doesn’t look to have the sling on anymore, but health concerns kept him sidelined. Negro Casas & Psycho Clown is actually a better idea for a team.
I don’t have detailed results, but there didn’t seem to be any indication of Hijo del Vikingo’s status, plans for the Megachampionship, or TripleMania Monterrey ideas. It looks like Los Vatos Locos have been slid into Los Vipers role as La Secta opponents, but it’s tough to assume directions here. AAA tapes again Saturday in Mexico City – the final taping before TripleMania – and it’s possible they’re saving their bigger news for that show.
Nothing too notable on TV that wasn’t already evident from the live viewing; just some generic promos. I was slower than usual on putting up the show but it did go up on the drive Sunday night.
IWRG
IWRG (SUN) 03/10/2024 Arena Naucalpan [thecubsfan]
1) Vato Filas b Galavinco [IWRG TRYOUT] 
2) Príncipe Centauro b Látigo 2000 Jr. [IWRG TRYOUT]
3) Shamila b Arcues [IWRG TRYOUT]
4) Laberinto Jr. b Xolotol [IWRG TRYOUT]
5) Loko Boy b Golden Power [IWRG TRYOUT]
6) Sacro b Dracula Ng [IWRG TRYOUT]
7) Fly Star b Aries Jr. [IWRG TRYOUT]
8) Príncipe Tezca b Sky Man [IWRG TRYOUT]
9) Galvánico b Príncipe Centauro [IWRG TRYOUT]
10) Shamila b Laberinto Jr. [IWRG TRYOUT]
11) Sky Man TLDRAW Fly Star [IWRG TRYOUT]
12) Sacaro b Golden Power [IWRG TRYOUT]
13) Lolita b Sagitarirus
Sagitarius replaced Keyra, which Lolita pointed out. Sagitiarus said Keyra was missing due to work issues.
Results are who won the match, not the following judges balloting. Principe Centauro, Shamila (the sole woman remaining), Skyman and Sacro advanced to the semifinals. They cut the matches from 10 minutes to 8 on this show, though I’m still not sure why they crammed in two rounds on one event. It didn’t seem a great experience for anyone. Just to be clear, that’s Skyman and Fly Star of mid-10s Arena San Juan’s “Skyman & Rayo Star vs Fly Star & Toxin Boy” fame. They’re doing the same veteran indie guy looking for one more shot bit that Centvrion did last year. They also seemed to go to the time limit draw and fought after the match to build to another match somewhere.
Time I could’ve been using to write a history post or a match round up post (or making some progress on Mario RPG probably) went instead to skimming through this show to get results. I don’t know that was a good use of time. It did make it clear to me that I would pretty much stop bothering with IWRG shows if I had to spent an hour figuring out results twice a week. Luckily, this tournament is back down to a small size – semifinals on Thursday, finals on Sunday – and the promotion may even get around to reporting results next week.
It sounded like Keyra took another booking over IWRG, and it wasn’t clear the promotion knew she wasn’t coming – the announcers were still hyping her in the main event early on in the show. Lolita buried her a bit in pre/post match promos. Announcers acted like a Lolita/Keyra title match was still happening Thursday but I don’t feel so sure about that.
Big Lucha
Big Lucha World (FRI) 03/08/2024 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [Estrellas del Ring, thecubsfan]
1) Platino b Skayde [submission] 
7:48. Platino caught Skayde with a cradle
2) El Potro de Oro b Caballero de Plata [bull terrier]
9:52. Touch all four corners rule.
3) Sussy Love b Satania
9:03
4) Atómico Jr. b Orbita [first blood]
Orbita told Elipse and the rest of Lokos Evans to stay out of the match. Elipse naturally got involved in the finish, accidentally hitting Orbita with a cookie sheet which caused him to bleed and lose the match.
5) Jack Evans b Flamita [lumberjack] 
12:18.
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan NF Ricky Marvin [knockout]
16:08. Announcers said neither man won after Emperador Azteca and Flamtia ran in to attack Pirata. Ciclon Ramirez made the save, flowing into the main event.
7) Emperador Azteca b Ciclón Ramírez
17:07. Toreo Cuatro Caminos style. Emperador Azteca celebrate with two masked wrestlers, said to be new members of Black Generation. The three then surprise attacked Ricky Marvin and Demonic Flamita, kicking them out of the unit. Flamita said he’d now focus on ridding Big Lucha of Black Generation, he was leaving “Demonic” Flamita behind and he’d now be 100% tecnico.
A lot of “good, but” on this one. Announcers said Pirata/Marvin was actually last man standing but they still worked were trying to knock someone out (not the WWE “trap someone under a bit of the stage” style.) It was going along really well, until they just didn’t have any sort of ending. Totally disappointing, and it just turned me off for the main event until the angle hit. Not that Azteca/Ciclon were going to work something that appealed to me anyway. Evans/Flamita showed plenty that they could have a compelling serious match but it was a Mexican lumberjack match so the real point is only for everyone to laugh at the lumberjacks hitting the wrestlers (and finally the referee.) They probably shouldn’t have bothered. Atomico Jr. was so clearly ahead of Orbita in their match that I really want to see what he could do with someone good. He’s got the most Villano III Jr. energy of anyone who is not Villano III Jr. The Orbita/Elipse repeated breakup stuff isn’t good and isn’t going anywhere. The only good bit was Big Lucha revealing them to be the sons of the owner so I could at least understand why it’s happening. Satanico wasn’t as bad as usual, someone got her to not do the shooting star press this time. Potro/Caballero was maybe the most complete match; they had their stipulation, they worked it fairly, they didn’t even do anything weird on the corner touch bit. The stream cut out for about one-third of the Platino/Skayde match, but Platino looked better here in what we could see.
The news is that main event angle. Black Generation as the lead rudo group in Big Lucha had run it’s course; either turning the entire group or doing a big shakeup seemed needed, and Big Lucha went with the second option. Emperador Azteca as leader does not suggest this group is going to be an important deal for much longer. Big Lucha had posted a video earlier in the week of Ricky Marvin and Flamita giving Emperador Azteca and Oni el Bendito the cold shoulder, which looks like a setup to this turn. Bendito wasn’t at the show last night so no idea where he figures into this., but it wouldn’t surprise if it ended up being familiar faces. No idea where this leaves the GLEAT version of this unit. Since it seems like it’s just me and CIMA watching Big Lucha (and I’m not even sure about CIMA right now), it’s possible they just ignore all of this.
Big Lucha World is moving from Fridays to Saturdays at 7 pm. I end up watching the show on Saturdays anyway, though that means it’s against AEW Collision most weeks.
Other News
The viral video of the weekend is from Matamoros, where the top rope snapped during the match and LA Park tumbled hard to the floor. LA Park said he suffered a leg injury; it could’ve been much worse.
Plan de Juego has a bio of Veracrus’s Eslabon Perdido, who got the gimmick from a playwright.
There’s a fundraiser to help pay Damain 666’s medical bills following his heart attack. He’s out of the hospital and posted a video update on Instagram.
Segunda Caida writes about some 1989 CMLL.
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