TripleMania Tijuana lineup, Guerrero Maya wins Cinco de Mayo, Dark Silueta/WAVE

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 05/06/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL]
1) Asturiano & Black Tiger b Fénix SO & King Jaguar
2) Espíritu Maligno & Rey Apocalipsis b Rayo Metálico & Valiente Jr.
4) La Catalina, Lady Metal, Sanely b Hera, Lady Amazona, Olympia
14:18. Tecnicas took 1/3
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Multy, Rey Samuray, Stigma, Xelhua b Disturbio, Dulce Gardenia, El Audaz, Felino, Virus [Copa Cinco de Mayo]
21:43. Felino replaced Felino Jr. Order of elimination: Multi (via Felino), Audaz (Guerrero Maya), Felino (Xelhua), Rey Samuray (Dulce Gardenia), Xelhua (Virus), Disturbio (Stigma), Stigma (Dulce Gardenia), Virus (Guerrero Maya), Dulce Gardenia (Guerrero Maya) leaving Guerrero Maya as the winner of the 2nd edition of this Copa.
5) Atlantis Jr., Flip Gordon, Místico b Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Último Guerrero
15:38. Tecnicos took 2/3.

Earlier Monday, CMLL announced they’ll air the last three matches from this show live during May, only for YouTube subscribers on the top two tiers. The stream added one more detail: CMLL Puebla shows will start airing on Televisa Puebla. No mention of day/time. The two announcement are likely linked; CMLL is more likely to stream if they’re already producing the show for TV. Maybe the mystery streams the last few weeks were piloting the broadcast for Televisa Puebla in some fashion? At any rate, CMLL will have Puebla streams for now.

The three matches that didn’t air weren’t remarkably good. The cibernetico itself didn’t have much ideas or focus. Virus forgot Audaz was on his team, the last three fought for no particular reason, no one besides Xelhua and maybe Maya stood out. That match, and all three matches that aired, did have really strong reactions. The Arena Puebla was loud and hyper-partisan; there’s no better week to restart streaming the one with a Puebla focused cibernetico and a Mistico main event.

CMLL did the “pin was broken up too late” finish again in the segunda, so it’s definitely a (weird) planned bit. Sanely struggled in the third match.

CMLL (TUE) 05/07/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Minos & Pequeño Violencia  
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Robin b Enfermero Jr., Inquisidor, Sangre Imperial  
3) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Pólvora  
4) Kira & Skadi © b Hera & Olympia [MEX WOMEN TAG]  
1st defense.
5) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, El Hijo De Blue Panther b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible 
Panther challenged for the trios title.
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Octagón b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero  
Tecnicos took 2/3

Haven’t seen this one yet. Heard the women’s match was a good effort if not problem free. I believe the Panthers are going to go crazy with a trios title match.

CMLL (TUE) 05/07/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Mas Lucha Jr.]
1) Fúnebre, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr. b Eclipse Jr., Prince Drago, Último Ángel 
2) Chamuel, Kemalito, Tengu b Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado 
3) Dulce Gardenia, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Nitro 
4) Nexy, Valkiria, Zeuxis b Adira, Náutica, Sanely 
Nexy replaced Sexy Sol
5) Arlequín, El Gallero, Zandokan Jr. b Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. 
6) Brillante Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico b Averno, Euforia, Soberano Jr. 

Match 2 is KeMalito’s Guadalajara debut but it’s also Tengu’s first CMLL win. He was 0-5 going into it.

Box y Lucha 3602 has the 10th anniversary of CMLL Informa and Flip/Templario.

05/19 RevPro FantasticaMania UK

Show 1 (noon)

• Mistico, RKJ, JJ Gale vs Templario, Gabe Kidd, Magnus
• Barbaro Cavernario vs Robbie X
• Hechicero vs Connor Mills
• Stephanie Vaquer vs Kanji
• Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Dulce Gardenia vs Okumura & Lycos Gym
• Neon, Futuro, Mascara Dorada vs Luke Jacobs & Grizzled Young Vets

Still not booked:  Angel de Oro, Ultimo Guerrero

Show 2 (6 pm)

• Zozaya vs Angel de Oro
• Stephanie Vaquer vs Rhio
• Grizzled Young Vets versus Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. for the Undisputed Tag Team Championship
• Jordon Breaks vs Neon for the Universal British Cruiserweight Championship
• Mistico vs Templario
• Robbie X, Dulce Gardenia, Futuro vs Hechicero, Barbaro Cavernario, Okumura – new
• Mascara Dorada vs Gabe Kidd vs Magnus – new

Still no booked: Ultimo Guerrero

Sunday was Titan’s last match in Mexico for now; he’s already in Japan for the BOSJ, which kicks off Saturday.

CMLL’s arrangement for luchadoras in Japan over the last decade or so seems to have been working with one small group, who will run a show or two while also arranging work for the CMLL women in other promotions. CMLL currently works with a promotion called “CMLL Lady’s Ring” for that purpose. They previously worked with a group called REINA from 2011 to 2019; the promotion went on “indefinite hiatus” after a 2020 Christmas show. Surprisingly, REINA is coming back out of hiatus to run a show with Dark Silueta and Amapola on 06/30.

This is a good moment to also ask: did you know Titan is not the only Tapatio in a league style tournament this month? Dark Silueta is part of WAVE’s Catch The Wave 2024 tournament and has already picked up two points. I kept waiting for CMLL to put out a press release on this to write about it and then they did not do that. Dark Silueta is part of the “Lucha Block” with Tae Honma, Kohaku and Ancham. It’s a four block tournament with two people advancing. (There’s also some extra blocks that aren’t really involved, if I’m reading the explanation correctly.) Silueta defeated Ancham in her first match on Monday.

AAA

AAA held their TripleMania Tijuana press conference Wednesday midday. As usual, they did not stream – they’ll put up a video of it tomorrow or after – and I watched some iffy Facebook streams on Twitter. It’ll probably be better in Mexico City but it’s still not great..

AAA TV (SAT) 06/15/2024 Estadio Chevron, Tijuana, Baja California
1) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
2) Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla vs Havok, Rosemary, Tasha Steelz
3) Komander, Laredo Kid, Octagón Jr. vs CIMA, Kyle Fletcher, Nick Wayne
4) Cibernético, Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz vs Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu, El Mesías
5) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
6) Brazo De Oro Jr., Negro Casas, Psycho Clown vs ??????, Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno del Mal
final member will be revealed in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera
7) Alberto el Patrón, Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Vampiro vs Parker Boudreaux, QT Marshall, Sam Adonis, Satnam Singh

Rayo de Jalisco, Halloween and Damian 666 will also be honored on the show.

Everything announced so far is tag matches. Match 5 is probably another one – Bestia, Destiny and Nacho de O crashed the press conference to beef with Konnan and Mecha Wolf. Something’s being set up on the 05/18 taping. The Wagner partner will be announced Saturday on AAA’s TV taping. Latin Lover will also make an announcement for this show; I’d assume it’ll be something significant, though the match graphics are clear on the top two matches. I’d guess AAA’s not seeing Nemeth again until the Mexico City TripleMania.

AAA is not truly running three TripleManias this year. They’re running one TripleMania in Mexico City, and two other shows they’re calling TripleMania because they’re running in a stadium. They’re TV taping lineups with some foreigners, but you can safely miss them and catch up whenever that Mexico City press conference comes along. Maybe the Crash/AAA match will have something significant, but this is just stuff to talk about for the Mexico City press conference, not anything that is meaningful on it’s own.

I would wager sums of money that Konnan took another run at getting Will Ospreay on TripleMania, was told no but hey Kyle’s available, and that’s how a chunk of match 3 came about. It turns out a) AAA could book a good match on their shows and b) they can call anything Copa Bardahl so there was there was no reason to keep running a royal rumble that everyone (wrestlers included) hated. Nick Wayne is probably coming in through The Crash, CIMA is coming in through CIMA things. Komander finally making it back to an AAA card is the big shocker; AAA should 100% ask him to bring the cruiserweight belt and leave it with them just to be on the safe side.

The rest of the card is not much. The secret of the Satnam Singh match in Monterrey is there were small people bouncing off of him to make him look impressive, then he did one spot with Murder Clown at the end. There are going to be no one bouncing off him in this one, and that match could be a fiasco. Match 4 looks likely to be bad after what those wrestlers produced in Monterrey. Match 5, the Wagner/Casas match, could have some hope depending on who the last person is. (It won’t be El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., who was said to be busy in Japan. Galeno del Mal himself was announced for a GCW show this same date; I’m guessing he’s working AAA.)

The women’s itself isn’t interesting to me – Las Toxicas are going to keep winning until AAA figures out an idea for them or they get bored and split – but it is remarkable Rosemary is returning to AAA. Havok & Rosemary are partners, but TNA could’ve still sent anyone else. (TNA seems to be involved just to say they were involved; sending three women to work a prelim match is about the least they could do.) Rosemary’s sole previous match was the 2017 TripleMania, a fourway with Sexy Star (I), Lady Shani, Ayako Hamada for the Reina de Reinas championship. Lady Shani and Ayako Hamada clearly couldn’t stand the original Sexy Star by that point – many people who worked for AAA had enough of her – and spent the match stiffing the future Sexy Dulce. She couldn’t do much to them, so she took it out on Rosemary, turning a normal working arm submission into an attempt to actually injure her arm. The person at most fault was Dulce Garcia, and AAA apologized and has never used Garcia again – but AAA still put Rosemary in a match that was destined to fall apart the moment it was put together. If that happened to me, there’s no way I’d come back to AAA ever, and definitely not for a 10 minute prelim match that’ll probably be forgotten before the show even ends. (It’s not that AAA is likely paying so great to make it worth it.) Wrestlers do things normal people do not, so maybe that’s just it. Maybe Rosemary just wants to face the past head on to move on.

IWRG

IWRG is off this Thursday. They’re back on Sunday:

IWRG (SUN) 05/12/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Bumbu & Sacro vs Hysteriosis & Príncipe Centauro
2) Águila Roja & Puma de Oro vs Ovett Jr. & Súper Boy
3) Bugambilia, Jessy Ventura, Kiki Roberts vs Bengalee, Keyra, Shamila
4) Hell Boy & Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Imposible & Ivan Rokov
5) Máscara Sagrada vs Fishman Jr.
6) Vito Fratelli © vs Vangellys [IWRG Rey del Ring]

Tickets are free for mothers but your mother may disown you if you bring her to a Vangellys title match.

Big Lucha

They’re back on the 18th.

Big Lucha World (SAT) 05/18/2024 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Wisin El Dog & Zenky vs Skailer & Visionario
2) ?, Danessa, Vecinita vs Ishtar, Killer Frost, Marishka
3) Caballero de Plata & Mr. Win vs Bogdan Klimov & M2R
4) Cósmico & Skayde vs Platino & Reiyel
5) Cometa Maya, Morfosis, Radioactivo vs Big Bulldog, Rocky Bulldog, Terry Bulldog
6) Mexicano, Orbita, Viajero vs Atómico Jr., Elipse, Vengador

Main event is a rematch. Match 2 is the Big Lucha versus WWS match but most would have trouble figuring out who is representing whom. (Neither Danessa and Vecinta have wrestled on a Big Lucha show in the last six months but they’re the “home” team.)

Terry Bulldog and Rocky Bulldog were a team in promotion Legend in 2022. Terr disappeared after September 2022; I assume they took another gimmick or left wrestling, and there’s just been the odd bit of one person doing a Bulldog tag team gimmick. Maybe it’s a new one? Big Bulldog, Bestia Bulldog and Power Bulldog have popped up since then. This is too much about people in bulldog masks. Who aren’t related to the Dog Mascot gimmick.

Prior to this show:

Lucha Memes (SUN) 05/12/2024 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) ? vs El Potro de Oro
2) Osiris & Sol vs Atómico Jr. & La Bomba
3) Corsario Negro Jr., Drako, Miike vs Cometa Maya, Morfosis, Radioactivo
4) Argus & Gaius vs M Doble R & Mr. Win
5) Sagitarius vs Sussy Love
6) Tonalli vs Viajero
7) Fly Star vs Ricky Marvin

This is the return show for the Memes/Big Lucha show and I can actually tell who are the Big Lucha reps are on this show. Tonalli/Viajero sound interesting. Match 3 could be spectacular.

Other News

Monterrey luchador Tequilita (Oscar Martinez) passed away suddenly. He was active in the area between 2007 and 2019.

Chicago referee (in lucha libre and other shows) James Staublein passed away Tuesday. YoDeportes interviewed Yakuza of Lucah libre Total, who said Guapito’s dream was to referee a match with Hijo del Santo and he got to do one with both Santo and Rey Misterio Jr. in 2017.

Dragon Gate’s TN Revolucion, who wrestled in Mexico in 2022 and 2023 under his real name of Takuma Nishikawa, announced he was retiring immediately. This is a crazy deal: he went back to Dragon Gate, changed his name, and was very much positioned as the future top star of the position. Two weeks into that push, he hurt his knee on a stomp – just a normal stomp. That was September 2023. There weren’t much substantial updates on him since then, just hints it was a bad knee injury, until Tuesday’s news confirming he tore his ACL in his left knee way back in September. The retirement notice hints that recovery wasn’t going well either – he mentions it would’ve been sometime before he was able to return (a longer than normal rehab), consulting with his doctor and having concerns of his own.  TN Revolucion was also older (27) for a new-ish Japanese wrestler. It’s still bizarre to have a career end just on a stomp.

Laredo Kid retained the TNA Digital Media championship over KC Navarro on TNA’s Countdown to Under Siege. That was a preshow match so it’s up on TNA’s YouTube channel.

WWE NXT’s Valentina Feroz is no longer WWE NXT’s; she was among a group informed they’ll no longer be under contract after June 1st. Feroz and Julissa/Yulissa Leon were a regular NXT tag team. I’m not sure how much that actually matters in Mexico to fans, but I can see and sort of expect someone in Mexico to book Feroz and Julissa as a tag team.