May 2024 – Page 2

FantasticaMania UK this Sunday, Copa Junior starts in CMLL, AAA to Juarez

May 17, 2024May 17, 2024 thecubsfan 2 Comments

CMLL

Tonight’s show.

CMLL (FRI) 05/17/2024 Arena México
1) Átomo, Chamuel, Kemalito vs Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Tengu
2) La Catalina, Lluvia, Sanely vs Persephone, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
3) Blue Panther & Hijo de Blue Panther vs Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Stuka Jr.
4) Star Black © vs Akuma [MEX HEAVY]
2nd defense
5) Volador Jr. vs Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Averno, Hijo de Octagón, Niebla Roja, Dragón Rojo Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Villano III Jr., Brillante Jr. [Copa Junior VIP, semifinal]

Volador pointing out, on Informa, that he’s never won this tournament makes him the favorite to come out of this block. On the other hand, it’s Copa VIP and it doesn’t really matter. Copa Junior VIP comes off as one of the least important of the annual tournaments. The Universal tournament, Leyenda de Plata, Leyenda de Azul, even Rey del Aire feel like they brought up more often after the fact. Soberano Jr. over Dragon Rojo Jr. won Copa Junior VIP last year, something that was definitely building towards a three way mask match with Templario – and then Soberano didn’t end up in and the win wasn’t mentioned much. This is just something to get through three more weeks and so there’s a bit more wide opening for an upset than most of these tournaments.

(It is useful as a reminder that it’s late May and there’s no sign of an Aniversario main event. CMLL had a direction last year, even if it changed. Stuka Jr. and Atlantis Jr. were feuding in the 2022 Copa VIP Junior tournament. If there’s a September match being set up, it’s not obvious to me right now.)

Hijo del Octagon would like to be a full time CMLL wrestler. Tonight a rare appearance for him without Octagon involved.

The momentum seems to be all swinging Akuma’s way in the semimain, but CMLL’s consistently been much higher on Star Black than I’ve expected. Panthers versus Stukas could be good, first two matches don’t seem too interesting.

The other Copa Junior Block, to take place May 24th:

Esfinge
Hijo del Villano III
Mephisto
Mistico
Felino
Stuka Jr.
Dark Panther
Ángel de Oro
Atlantis Jr.
Magnus

Mistico (who has one one of these) and Atlantis Jr. (who has not) are the obvious favorites. Angel de Oro is a regular tournament runner up. Mephisto used to be at the level, and Esfinge may be headed there.

CMLL (SAT) 05/18/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Minos & Pequeño Violencia
2) Capitán Suicida, Diamond, Eléctrico vs Enfermero Jr., Forneo, Sangre Imperial
3) Kira, La Maligna, Sanely vs Amapola, Metálica, Olympia
4) Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa, Volcano vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Flip Gordon, Fugaz, Valiente vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo
6) Volador Jr. vs Soberano Jr.

Not sure Soberano and Volador are going to be giving max effort on a Saturday but they could be fun fooling around. Volcano is the third Atrapsueno with Dulce in the UK. I hope Forneo and Suicida work opposite each other again.

CMLL (SUN) 05/19/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito & Galaxy vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito
2) Leo (Jalisco), Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Kira, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard vs Hera, Sanely, Zeuxis
4) Magia Blanca vs Hijo del Villano III
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Star Black vs Niebla Roja, Terrible, Zandokan Jr.
6) Star Jr., Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Magia Blanca versus Hijo del Villano III strangely turns out not to be a title match, which also means it’s a rare CMLL 1v1 three fall match. CMLL continues to book Tessa on the tecnica side a lot without committing to the change. La Mafia Tapatia visit from Guadalajara in match 2; Los Indestucitables are still trios champions so a title program is not out of the question.

Some clean up from Tuesday’s Arena Mexico show

Max Star was announced as the official third person in a trio with Neon and Futuro. They’re Los Viajeros del Espacio, the Space Travelers. I wasn’t quite as high on that match as consensus – it ended too suddenly – but it was the best on the show.
Flip Gordon’s injury was a planned storyline.
I was let down by the Panthers/Barbaros trios match. The great Panther matches of the past had great through put into where to put the moves, building to getting the crowd crazy at the end. This was a lot of the same sequence that would be in one of those matches, but without getting the fans excited for them. They had the time – it was a fifteen minute match – but it wasn’t the usual standards for the Panthers in a big match. A missed chance.

Titan hasn’t wrestled a tournament match in the BOSJ since last update; he’s sitting at 3-0 atop the A block. He’s tied there with Blake Christian, and those two will wrestle early Saturday morning. He’ll face Clark Connors on Sunday.

MLW announced Mistico versus Star Jr. for the MLW Middleweight Championship on their 06/01 show. (This show appears to air free on YouTube, though maybe not this portion live.) Star Jr. seems to have gotten over well on the MLW shows and he’d be an easy guy for MLW to build around; he doesn’t have a lot keeping him in CMLL. However, Mistico is Mistico.

FantasticaMania UK

It’s this Sunday:

CMLL , RevPro , 1pm (SUN) 05/19/2024 York Hall, London, United Kingdom
1) JJ Gale, Místico, RKJ vs Gabe Kidd, Magnus, Templario
2) Bárbaro Cavernario vs Robbie X
3) Hechicero vs Connor Mills
4) Stephanie Vaquer vs Kanji
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Dulce Gardenia vs Kid Lykos I, Kid Lykos II, Okumura
6) Futuro, Máscara Dorada, Neón vs James Drake, Luke Jacobs, Zack Gibson
7) Michael Oku & Zozaya vs Ángel de Oro & Último Guerrero

CMLL , RevPro , 6pm (SUN) 05/19/2024 York Hall, London, United Kingdom
1) Zozaya vs Ángel de Oro
2) Stephanie Vaquer vs Rhio
3) James Drake & Zack Gibson vs Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. [Undisputed TAG]
4) Jordon Breaks vs Neón [Undisputed CRUISER]
5) Místico vs Templario
6) Dulce Gardenia, Futuro, Robbie X vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Okumura
7) Máscara Dorada vs Gabe Kidd vs Magnus
8) Último Guerrero vs Michael Oku [Undisputed HEAVY]

Start times:

Show 1: 1 pm local, 6 am Mexico City time
Show 2: 6 pm local, 11 am CDMX time.

These will air on RevPro On Demand for about 10 USD. If I remember right from last year, these shows air live but there’s no rewind button and it may be a day or two before they go up as VODs. RevPro is planning on a two hour break between shows. The announcers did a pleasant job of knowing the luchadors and their bigger moves last year.

Beyond the obvious singles matches, match 6 on the early show sticks out as a chance to see what Neon & Futuro will do against people they’re unfamiliar with. Zozaya, a Spanish wrestler, has the best chance of impressing the right people with a good Sunday. Gabe Kidd will likely end up being a top champion in NJPW if he sticks with them for a few more years and it’s going to be weird to look back at him wrestling Mistico and Mascara Dorada (and Magnus too, sure.)

The cards look good, though I’m not thrilled with all the RevPro title matches on the afternoon show. None of those title seem likely to change hands, and CMLL losing three title matches isn’t the strongest way to get over the concept. Maybe I’ll be surprised.

AAA

AAA TV this week should finish out the March 16 AAA TV taping; matches airing will have been taped 63 days earlier:

Adelicious, Belcegor, Taurus vs Colmillo de Plata, Garra de Oro, Reina Dorada
Faby Apcahe, La Parkita, Mr. Iguana, Pimpienla Escarlata vs Bengala, Dalys, Jessy QUeen, Parkita Negra
Oscar Sevilla & Super Calo vs Charly Manson & Nygma

AAA also announced a TV taping in Juarez, part of a local fair. Albert , in the comments, mentioned there was advertising for this already:

AAA TV (TUE) 06/11/2024 Plaza de la Mexicanidad, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
1) ?, Miss Kath, Ráfaga Jr., Sakura vs Felina, Samuray VIP, Steven Juárez, Venus
2) Aéreo vs Kempo Jr. [JUAREZ ABSOLUTO]
3) Colmillo de Plata & Garra de Oro vs Kamik-C & Skalibur
4) Faby Apache, Pimpinela Escarlata, Sexy Star vs Dalys, Flammer, La Hiedra
5) Dinámico, Drago, Laredo Kid vs Abismo Negro, El Fiscal, Taurus
6) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Octagón Jr. vs CIMA, Sam Adonis, Satnam Singh
7) Negro Casas & Psycho Clown vs Forastero & Sansón [AAA TAG]

Psycho Clown & Negro Casas vs NGD was good last time, though I’m surprised to see them go back to it. CIMA, Adonis and Satnam is an “only in AAA trio.” This show is four days before TripleMania Tijuana so it’ll be easier for people to stick around for both. Don’t know what Dinamico is doing on the tecnico side beyond “we had the Meixcali guys booked and this was the best idea we had.” The poster lists Piero and Hijo del Tirantes as referees, so Suspenders Jr. is apparently back.

I should give up on figuring on how this all airs but I can’t help myself. If my hunch about the 06/22 CDMX show being add late (because the others have done great), then it would make sense if AAA just wiped out two low effort weeks to accommodate it. Verano de Escandalo goes back to being two weeks, and there’s no filler week of TV before TripleMania Mexico City. The schedule would go

05/18: remainder of the March CDMX taping
05/25 & 06/01: the May CDMX taping
06/08: a TripleMania Tijuana preview show
the rest of June: TripleMania Tijuana
07/06 and 07/13: this Juarez show
07/20 and 07/27: Verano de Escandalo in Aguascalientes
08/03 & 08/10: the June CDMX taping
08/17: TripleMania Mexico City

Watch this all be wrong.

Latin Lover did a Facebook live stream on Wednesday. Latin seems very responsive and willing to listen to fan comments, which may not always be in his or AAA’s best interest. The one piece many sites pulled out of this stream was Latin going along with an idea that AAA should bring back retro announcers to go with the retro shows. The idea would be Hugo Savinovich and Jose Manuel Guillen out Jesus Zuniga, Andres Maronas, and Leobardo Magadan (because both Arturo Rivera and Dr. Alfonso Morales are deceased.) The sites reporting this idea like it because those were the voices they heard on AAA shows when they were young and everyone seems to want wrestling to stay exactly as it was when they were nine. It’s an idea that doesn’t make sense beyond that. Magadan works for CMLL. Maronas didn’t get brought along when AAA split with Televisa, and seemed to have hard feelings about it. He’s never been back, even when AAA was making a point of bringing back everyone they could. The collage of AAA past and present they put out a couple days ago to celebrate 32 years of the promotion did not include Maronas.

If you’ve listened to Dave Meltzer for any decent length of time, you’ve heard him tell the tale of Bill Watts: ahead of his time booker in the 80s, got pushed out of wrestling, and frighteningly out of date when he was brought into WCW in 1992. (Both in booking and in other areas.) Every Latin Lover interview has a Bill Watts in 1992 moment; he hasn’t yet banned moves from the top rope but maybe give him a month or two. Latin Lover getting (perceived) power in AAA is super popular among a vocal segment of the Mexican online fanbase, a bit because it’s Latin Lover and a bit because he’s Not Konnan and that fanbase desperately wants a Not Konnan (and, to a less intense level, a Not Dorian) creative direction. That fanbase, like Latin Lover appears to be, does not seemed attached to the reality of the Mexican pro wrestling business in 2024. I, and I think many people reading this blog, would like to see a Not Konnan direction to AAA. What I fear we’re close to getting instead is a repeat of the damaging Vampiro one year run in that position. The only difference is, so far, AAA hasn’t seemed to empower Latin the same way they’ve did Vampiro. I wish there was a better option than Konnan or Latin Lover.

El Hijo del Santo

The Santo retirement tour press conference is next Tuesday, but Superboletos has already put up two of the dates

09/22 Arena Ciudad de Mexico (tickets run from 251-5600)
10/13 Arena Monterrey (314 to 3765)

Those are high priced ticket. I’m sure the Mexico City will be loaded up, might have see someone lose their mask to Hijo del Santo one last time, but it’s a big ask. Vampiro’s retirement tour has done amazingly well and El Hijo del Santo is a bigger cultural name than Vampiro, but Vampiro’s shows aren’t costing that much. We’ll see what they have on Tuesday.

IWRG

IWRG , LLB (THU) 05/16/2024 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring]
1) Basuroloco I, Basuroloco II, Demencia b Koi, Macho I, Macho II
2) Gravedad Cero, Minos II, New Level, Príncipe Centauro b Argus, Hijo De Sparta, Oro Blanco, Sparta
3) Canis Lupus NG, Carta Brava Jr. (LLB), Paranoiko b Águila Oriental, Miss Gaviota, Sol
Paranokio left hurt
4) Canek, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Solar I b Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool
mask vs mask challenged followed (won’t be happnening)
5) Venganza L Lunatik Extreme, Súper Boy, Toto, Águila Roja, Fandango, Hell Boy, Puma de Oro [cage, mask, hair]
Venganza lost his hair to Aguila Roja’s hair on the show called Venganza.

Never participate in a cage match on a show named after you, it’s just a bad idea.

They’re back to a normal show on Sunday:

IWRG (SUN) 05/19/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sacro & Sky Man vs Hysteriosis & Príncipe Centauro
2) Shocko & Vudu Max vs Auzter & Rey Halcón
3) Caballero de Plata, Luka, Multifacetico Jr. vs Abigor, Sangre Azteca, Yorvak
4) Hellboy, Misterioso Jr., Veneno vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
5) Hijo del Fishman © vs Máscara Sagrada [IWRG JUNIORS]
5th defense

Misterioso ending up in IWRG seems so obvious that I feel dumb for not seeing it ahead of time. Maybe they’ll end up running him and his sons versus La Pandemia.

Big Lucha

They’re streaming on Saturday:

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

Nothing here pops as a must see match; maybe something will surprise, but this seems like one that will get lost for me this weekend.

They also have an outdoor show with INJUVE next Friday

Big Lucha World , INJUVE (FRI) 05/24/2024 Monumento a la Revolución, Cuauhtémoc, Distrito Federal
1) Diosa Nix, La Brava, Mary Caporal vs Danessa, Sairely, Satania
2) Black Skayde & Skayde vs Dankar & Platino
3) Cometa Maya, Morphosis, Radioactivo vs Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Shere Khan, Sol
4) Cósmico, Ryu Orochi, Wisin El Dog vs Osiris, Rey Espectrito, Rey Halcón
5) Caballero de Plata, Mexicano, Orbita, Viajero vs Atómico Jr., Auzter, Elipse, Vengador
6) Súper Nova & Texano Jr. vs Emperador Azteca & Hijo del Pirata Morgan

INJUVE says this is part lucha libre, part music (Lost Acapulco, Rebel Cats, the Evil Ones and La Tremenda Korte.) They’ll have a similiar show in August in another Mexico City location.

The Crash

They’re running tonight.

The Crash (FRI) 05/17/2024 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Mirage vs Anubis, Gallo Extreme, Bamboo, Rey Furia, Ángel Metálico [Trofeo Querubin]
2) El Rey, Keyra, Mamba vs Goya Kong, Mr. Maldito, Tony Casanova
3) Destiny, Noisy Boy, Toto vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota, Tito Santana
4) Daga vs Gringo Loco (Indie), Jeff Cobb, The Beast Mortos, Willie Mack [Copa Hector Garza]
5) Galeno del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Dinámico & Laredo Kid and Nick Wayne & Timothy Thatcher [The Crash TAG, #1 Contenders]
6) Bestia 666 vs Rey Horus, Mecha Wolf [cage]

The Crash attempted to stream on YouTube last time around. It didn’t really work. Who knows this time around. They’re probably doing an angle for TripleMania Tijuana, so maybe AAA will put that out (though that’s not sure either.) Jeff Cobb said he was off this show roughly 30 seconds after it was announced is still listed on the poster.

Other News

Republic of Lucha announced their 06/01 show at the set of the old Lucha Underground Temple will no longer take place at that venue. Their story is they got the permits, then the city of Los Angeles had another look and decided it was unusable for a public event. There were countless stories about how run down that building from LU personal at the time; they got fans in there because they billed it as a TV production. It was surprising anyone else would get permission to run an indie wrestling show there. (There’d be a lot more options for indie shows if promoters could use barely functional warehouses for them in general.) Still, if Republic of Lucha got approval to run the show, it’s a bit harsh to pull that back after tickets were sold. (There’s a lot of fans who bought tickets for that show specifically for the venue, and they’re not happy. ROL is not offering refunds, though they did point out there’s plenty of people looking to buy it off people who want to sell their tickets.) The show will take place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center instead. The card includes the Lucha Brothers vs the Nemeth brothers; your guess on Fenix’s status is as good as mine.

Sinaloa Serpiente Marina will have his retirement show tonight.

Record put up the Perro Aguayo documentary on their DailyMotion site. I heard it’s very good.

El Sol de Cordoba interviews transexual luchadora Reina Gitana, who says she struggled to find someone willing to train her at first.

The next Mexico City lucha libre exam is June 15th.

El Hijo del Santo retirement plans, CMLL results, AAA title change

May 15, 2024May 15, 2024 thecubsfan 4 Comments

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 05/13/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Porra Fresa, thecubsfan]
1) Amnesia & Blue Shark b Dreyko & Sombra Dibaolika
2) Meyer, Novato, Xelhua b El Perverso, Enfermero Jr., Sangre Imperial
CMLL didn’t post results.
3) La Catalina, La Enigmática, Skadi b Lady Amazona, Mayahuel, Reina Isis
14:22. Reina Isis replaced Zeuxis on Monday afternoon.
4) Fugaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Black b El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
14:39.
5) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Volador Jr. b Máscara Dorada, Stigma, Templario [Relevos Increíbles]
14:29. Stigma took out Dorada with a dive by mistake, setting up the Depredadores win

The women’s match had plenty of issues, some of it with execution and some with just thought. Catalina and Isis did a third fall sequence where Catalina connected on her pedigree, to set Isis reversing a corner whip to Catalina could escape, to set up them both running the ropes the normal direction, to set up a clothesline (that didn’t connect.) The order of moves made no sense. The other two streamed matches were fine, nothing special. It did strike me that Fugaz has gotten passed up a lot, not that he’s much worse than before but he was briefly the exciting guy and there’s a lot more exciting people than him.

CMLL (TUE) 05/14/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Leono & Robin b Dragón de Fuego & Inquisidor
2) Alom, Infarto, Persa b El Audaz, Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr.
3) Futuro, Max Star, Neón b Crixus, Difunto, Vegas
4) Flip Gordon b Esfinge [lightning]
7:17. Flip won, though he was selling the back injury from Friday and got stretchered out again.
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible © b Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, El Hijo De Blue Panther [CMLL TRIOS]
3rd defense
6) Averno, Euforia, Mephisto DQ Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico
Euforia tossed his mask to Atlantis Jr. draw the DQ.

Didn’t see it. Heard match three was good and the title match wasn’t much. Atlantis Jr. versus Euforia in coming for next week.

CMLL (TUE) 05/14/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Canalla, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel b Destructor, Jabalí, Rumbero
2) Cris Skin, Draego, Prince Drago b Fúnebre, Mortiz, Ponzoña Jr.
3) Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga b Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico
5) Atlantis & Panterita del Ring DQ Rey Bucanero & Satánico
Straight falls. Bucanero & Satanico unmasked Atlantis & Panterita del Ring in the 2nd.
6) Hechicero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Fugaz, Star Black, Star Jr.

I did catch all of Sunday’s show through mysterious means. Nothing you need to see there when it turns up on the AMX stream in a couple of weeks. (Has anyone besides me watched that stream in the last year?) The main event was professional. The Villanos had a dozen ideas in their match and didn’t hit on them all; they’re at least trying.

Friday’s lineup:

Informa will have the second group of Copa Junior VIP participants.

There’s also a lineup for the Alto Voltaje show in Arena Monterrey.

CMLL (MON) 05/20/2024 Arena Puebla
1) KeMaltio & Tengu vs Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Rey Samuray vs Crixus, Difunto, Raider
3) Tessa Blanchard vs Zeuxis
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Star Black vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Fugaz, Star Jr., Valiente vs Hijo de Stuka Jr., Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr.
6) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Soberano Jr.

Blanchard is back; CMLL leaving her off the stream seems unlike them. Raider hasn’t been around in a month and that’s the Occidente Trios team.

Opener is KeMalito’s Puebla debut.

CMLL , Alto Voltaje (SUN) 06/16/2024 Arena Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León
1) Ángel de Oro & Atlantis vs Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
2) Magnus vs Espanto Jr.
3) Bárbaro Cavernario & Soberano Jr. vs Futuro & Neón
4) Máscara Dorada, Templario, Volador Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Stephanie Vaquer vs La Catalina [Alto Voltaje WOMEN]
6) Flip Gordon vs Hechicero [Alto Voltaje CHAMP]

Tickets aren’t on sale yet, though the promoter says they’ll be from 400 to 1100. Note that the 400 price is about the same as WWE’s cheapest tickets for their stop here a month later. (WWE’s high end is much higher though.) Robles Promotion is running the same day as Alto Voltaje in Arena Jose Suliaman with Penta, Samuray del Sol, Metalik and others; their tickets are 100 to 800 pesos. There’s a good chance they’ll out draw the CMLL show.

The lineup is bizarre, like someone got a list of tecnico and rudo names from CMLL but can’t figure out who normal wrestles who. I think I would like to see Flip Gordon and Hechicero wrestle a singles match, but I would not put them in a main event singles of a 16K seat building if I wanted to do well. The announcement of an unknown promoter announcing they’ve going to make title matches is always the biggest red flag they have no idea what they’re doing. What sells tickets are good experiences and hot feuds, and only the Vaquer/Catalina match comes close to meeting one of those. Wait for the inevitable 2×1 sale to buy tickets I suppose.

RIOT announced Stephanie Vaquer will no longer appear on its June 15th Padrisisisimo show. The story, as I’ve heard from RIOT, is they booked her and other yet-to-be announced CMLL wrestlers through CMLL itself. (The “Padrisisisimo” name was a reference to the famous CMLL/AAA show; this was going to be a CMLL/RIOT copromotion.) About a day after RIOT announced Vaquer, CMLL decided they would no longer allow her to work the show.

What I think happened is CMLL people approved the Vaquer booking, publicity went out, people higher up in the CMLL food chain noticed the publicity, those people only knew RIOT as “that place where someone died recently” and put a stop to it. That is a pattern with some of CMLL’s recent issues, including the visa issues – there’s people doing the day to day work, and there’s other people above them who either haven’t communicated well how they want work to be done, or aren’t paying attention to what’s going on until it gets brought to their attention. The easier example came on a Misterioso Jr. CMLL exit podcast; he mentions getting suspended for being overweight by Salvador Lutteroth Lomeli, but it’s not like showed up to work one day forty pounds heavier. He’d been that way for months; he got suspended because Lutteroth happened to be paying attention to the matches that day. CMLL’s well within their rights to decide RIOT isn’t a place they want to send their wrestlers to right now, but that’s something that should’ve been decided on the first contact, and not something changed after the fact.

Titan defeated NOAH’s HAYATO earlier this morning to move to 3-0 in the NJPW Best of Super Juniors. He’s not going 9 and 0; some losses are coming. Titan’s next tournament match is against Blake Christian on Friday.

El Hijo del Santo

El Hijo del Santo informed the press he’ll have a press conference next Tuesday to announce a retirement tour. Proceso has more details on the plans: nine Mexico shows produced by Bobo Producciones, cities to be announced, and tickets to go on sale on May 22nd. There’s a mention of plans to run in US and Canada but those seem less definite. There was also a York Hall UK poster floating around on social media with Santo earlier this month, though I don’t think he’d officially mentioned it yet. It’ll surely come up here.

El Hijo del Santo’s retirement is not a surprise. He’s been carefully picking and choosing dates for the last few years and had talked about finishing up soon. El Hijo del Santo is 61; he lasted near his peak for a long time, but he (and many of his peers) seem to have reached a point where it’s hard and rare for them to wrestle even close to their peak. El Hijo del Santo could easily stick around forever unconcerned about his performance, like a Canek or a Mil Mascaras, but he’s always seemed set on wanting people to remember him a certain way. It’s time.

A nine show (at least) tour is still ambitious. Bobo seems to specialize in nostalgic music acts, so maybe they’ll be a good group to capture the spirit of a farewell tour even if they don’t necessarily have the wrestling knowledge. The release to the media uses the Todo x el Todo name and I’d expect the usual group of names to work those shows. Hijo de Fishman has a busy next few months.

The two big questions that’ll be asked during the press conference will be if anyone else will carry on the Santo name, and if he’ll work with anyone broken up with. I’d love to see El Hijo del Santo back in Arena Mexico one last time or to team with Negro Casas once, but both are very unlikely. Santo’s son briefly wrestled as Santo Jr. but hasn’t been back in a few years; it’s always possible he’ll wrestle one last time with his father during this tour but it seems unlikely he’ll ever become a regular. There will always be people (CMLL’s Diamond) who will try to evoke the memories of El Santo but it’s more possible than not that the El Hijo del Santo’s retirement is the last time we see that name officially carried by a member of that family.

(I would expect AEW will have some interest in finding a way to bring in Santo before he goes – a tag team match with Bandido as partner would work given their history together – though they should be sure not to accidentally annoy CMLL in the process.)

AAA

AAA turned 32 today. The family graphic is worth browsing though to figure out who’s still there and who’s not there, because it’s the closest AAA will get to releasing an active roster. I spot Drago but not Drago Kid. Kento and Takuma made the cut even without making TV much.

Some clean up from Saturday’s TV taping

That Vipers/Secta match turns out to be a title match. Maybe it’ll be clearer on TV, but it reads like AAA declared the titles were vacant after Toxin quit and the Abismo/Psicosis/Fiscal trios are new champion. That’s an extra reign for the first two.
AAA changes lots of wrestlers names as they debut so they can clearly own the name. That may be part of the reason “Noisy Boy” was “Noisy”, but told Mas Lucha he wanted to drop the “Boy” himself. He’s not a kid any more and presumably didn’t want to get stuck in a Laredo Kid situation. (This may also means he’s in store for another name change if AAA uses him again.)

Other Notes

The Cirujano Jr. who lost his mask on the Mas Lucha show Sunday is the former Vamprio Metalico.

Un Mexico Perro, a 2021 documentary about Perro Aguayo that’s been shown at film festivals but hasn’t been made widely available, will be available on Record+. Record+ is their YouTube channel if I understand correctly; it’s not up yet.

There’s reporting saying “Sexy Dulce is now using the name Sexy Xtar”, but I think that’s just a goofy name she’s using for Juventud Guerrera’s Supex show on 05/17. All the “Super X” gimmicks are names with X replacing a normal letter, and those wrestlers don’t use those names outside of the (rarely run) Super X shows.

Box y Lucha 3603 has a lot of MLW stories.

Nuevo Leon turned 200 as a state on May 7th, and the government decided to honor 15 illustrious people in the state’s history. One of those fiffteen was Blue Demon. Blue demon Jr.. accepted on his behalf.

A profile of luchadora Toxic Woman.

An article on Wisin el Dog.

An interview with Brandon Storm, a luchador from Morelia.

MLW/CMLL, Templario & Vaquer remain champs, AAA CDMX (Latin/Konnan)

May 13, 2024May 13, 2024 thecubsfan 1 Comment

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 05/10/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Excelsior, FDDE, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores (text), The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II b Emperador Jr. & Platino Kid
8:23
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma b Difunto, El Coyote, Felino Jr.
12:03
3) Lluvia TLDRAW Reyna Isis [lightning]
ten minute draw
4) Akuma, Soberano Jr., Zandokan Jr. b Neón, Star Black, Valiente
12:02. Akuma beat Neon and Star Black to win, setting up a MEX HEAVY match between Star Black and Akuma next week.
5) Templario © b Flip Gordon [CMLL MIDDLE]
16:27. 2nd defense. Flip Gordon was strechered out after the finishing powerbomb/backcracker (but appeared to be fine.)
6) Esfinge, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja
10:20.

Templario has just one type of big match – unload every move possible – but the match worked well enough with Flip Gordon. CMLL made some effort to make Flip Gordon the face in the match up, but it didn’t really take. It still worked out well enough that the crowd was invested in the outcome, even as they’re still learning Flip’s finish.

Matches 1, 4 and 6 were good. The main event was just a standard match with talented people. Akuma won strong and seems likely to win the title next week. Los Calaveras continue to overperform, and Platino Kid and Emperador Jr. looked better here than in previous matches.

Lluvia and Reyna Isis appeared to have no real plan and were on diferent pages during the match. The ladies in the Tuesday match (Hera, Olympia, Skadi and Kira) came off as so far as ahead of these two.

CMLL (SAT) 05/11/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Kaligua & Pequeño Magía b Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora
9:44
2) Amapola, Metálica, Persephone b La Vaquerita, Maligna, Tabata
16:00
3) Volcano b Crixus [lightning]
7:38
4) Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa b Dark Magic & Espanto Jr.
17:18.
5) Brillante Jr., Dark Panther, Fugaz b El Hijo de Stuka Jr., El Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero
13:11.
6) Mephisto, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr. DQ Blue Panther, Valiente, Volador Jr.
11:16. Soberano tossed his mask to Volador to draw the DQ, setting up a singles match next week.

I spent all of the time I was ‘watching’ this also writing this update, so I wouldn’t say I was locked in. The opener was good and the rest of the show didn’t stick out. Match four had some problems, and a finish where Metalico had to be convinced it was a three count.

Relevant results from Saturday’s show

Guerrero Maya Jr., Atlantis, Jose Rodriguez b Virus, Villano III Jr., Felino
Atlantis Jr. beat Ultimo Guerrero
Okumura & Kojima beat 1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice to win the MLW Tag Team Championship
Averno & Magnus defeated Fuego & Star Jr.
Mistico defeated Barbaro Cavernario to retain the MLW Middleweight Championship

The matches were better than usual MLW matches though maybe slightly below how they would’ve been done in Arena Mexico. Mistico and Cavenario had a lot of time and did pretty good, though there was no point where the caveman seemed like he was going to win. Averno & Magnus versus Fuego & Star Jr. was maybe a little better than you’d expect; I don’t think the MLW crew was prepared for how easily Fuego would get over. This show aired on Triller as part of their $8/USD month and I’d say it was easily worth that money.

I was wrong in my guess of when Barbaro Cavernario/Mistico would happened; it was even later in the night than I guessed. The Cicero fans stayed until the end and stayed into the show, but were also rushing out of that building when the taping ended around 11:15 pm. That’s just too long and too late. If they’re going to tape a MLW show prior to the CMLL matches again in November – and I assume they will – they really need to look at starting earlier.

The announcers were sort of both overprepared and underprepared. Joe Dombrowski had a lot of wikipedia history to get in about every wrestler, which sometimes detracted from focusing on what was actually happening. and often didn’t feel like it fit in the context of the match. At the same time, it felt like both announcers had read about CMLL but not seen or heard it; when the opening match starts by mispronouncing Virus’ name, it’s a easy signal they’re not too familiar with that they’re talking about. It’s the old “Titan” test I used to have watching NJPW shows; it’s an instant signal to CMLL fans that the people calling the action aren’t CMLL fans. There was a Guerrero Special call on a move that was not the Guerrero Special that felt the same way, and the other announcer (Christian Cole) didn’t seem to recognize La Mistica at the end of the show. The announcing was not fatal – people who don’t watch CMLL were probably fine, but it was off-putting to those who do.

The goofy Salina de la Renta/Cesar Duran angle/feud ended with de la Renta’s character apparently being killed off (for at least the second time!) Her segments also felt very taped – like they took place at the previous MLW taping and were being inserted in here. I also can’t get over how every “office” in MLW always happens to be in a corner; it really sticks out when they ran the video package summing up the angle to start the show. I guess there’s some portable wall they’re bring from place to place.

Salvador Lutteroth appeared before the crowd before the PPV, thanking MLW and receiving a bust – of his head or his grandfather’s head, I’m not sure. MLW announced Mistico (and Okumura) will appear on their 06/01 Battle Riot show in Atlanta.

MLW sent out Atlantis, Atlantis Jr. and Mistico to do press for this show, which amusingly turned out to be both the CMLL wrestlers and the interviewers talking about how much they’d like to see the CMLL wrestlers back in AEW soon. The AEW headlines are going to get more clicks than the MLW ones, I get the deal, but it’s also where MLW is in the scheme of things.

In talking about AEW, there was also a Rocky Romero interview with Fightful which really didn’t advance anything, at least to me. Romero said CMLL would “probably” be part of Forbidden Door, but that’s something people should’ve assumed already based on how those two companies are working together. There’s a section of fans who need to see the CMLL (and the Stardom) logos on the Forbidden Door poster to understand these promotions are working together, but I don’t that’s ever going to happen. Forbidden Door is a NJPW/AEW co-promoted show, everyone else is going to be there as invited guests but they’re also not going o be the ones ever footing the bill for the party.

Over on NJPW USA’s Resurgence show, Stephanie Vaquer defeated Alex Windsor to retain the STRONG Women’s Championship. The match was said to be good if shorter than hoped. No challenger stepped forward, and I’m guessing that’s because her next challenger will be Forbidden Door related. Vaquer is one of the signature stars of the NJPW USA brand now and that’ll be reason enough to get her involved.

The big CMLL news from that show was the announcement of Fantastica Mania USA, a CMLL/NJPW/Pro Wrestling Revolution show in San Jose on 07/13. Dave Meltzer reported it’ll be at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. That’s a 3,000 seat auditorium, so it shouldn’t be too big off a challenge to do well. This it the fourth Fantastica Mania country, joining shows in Japan, UK (next weekend) and Mexico (next month.)

The video and graphic for the Fantastica Mania show features Mistico, Stephanie Vaquer, Zack Sabre Jr., Hechicero and Ultimo Guerrero. Hechicero sticks out, as he was in the list of CMLL wrestlers affected by the visa snafu a couple of months ago. NJPW would not put Hechicero on the poster unless he was cleared to work. A source had previously told me Hechicero had or was about to get his US work visa, and that graphic appears to confirm it. I believe Hechicero’s deal was separate from the others who are trying to get their visas repaired/replaced, so his situation doesn’t impact others. Still, NJPW running this show suggests they feel safe they’ll have a good enough number of luchadors on hand to put on an autentic CMLL show.

It’s impossible not to note that CMLL has ended up with the US expansion AAA has been desperate for over the last couple of decades. CMLL is doing with established groups, while AAA tried it with business partners who were never heard of in wrestling again. I believe AAA still had a higher attendance in Arizona (~3,000) in 2022 and CMLL can’t meet that in the building that they’re running. CMLL’s business has been more sustainable though. There were grand talks about how that Arizona show was definitely going to be followed up and it never happened, while the next MLW/CMLL show got announced with a real date right away. None of these mean a lot of CMLL’s bottom line – they’re probably just being paid a fee for using their talent, not living and dying with the gate – but it was also money CMLL wasn’t exactly planning on.

The part of this success sticking out to me is CMLL isn’t making much changes to their presentation in the US to find this success. AAA (and Konnan specifically) always how their Mexican product can’t be judged by US fans because they’re making it only for Mexican fans and they’ll definitely make changes when they come to the US. CMLL is essentially offering the same sort of show they’re doing in Arena Mexico wherever they run. There are some stylistic changes to fit US TV formats and expecations – no six match cards, no best of three matches – but the content and make up of the matches is essentially the same in London or Cicero as it is in Mexico City. The long running knock against CMLL is they were doing an outdated presentation that wouldn’t work outside of Arena Mexico, and obviously it is now working well elsewhere. I’m not sure to credit CMLL for being so set in their ways that they’ve ended up with something unique as everyone else has changed, or to chalk this up as an unexpected side benefit to making those Mexico City shows so tourist friendly. Once you have a style that’s easy for a non-fan to understand and enjoy, it doesn’t matter as much where that non-fan is located.

It may be notable that 07/13 FantasticaMania USA date is the same date WWE is coming to Arena Ciudad de Mexico. CMLL probably isn’t going to fight that show too hard this year, and probably wouldn’t have much luck doing so.

CMLL (SUN) 05/12/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito b Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Legendario, Leono, Xelhua
Indestructibles took 1/3
3) Kráneo, Okumura, Sagrado b Dulce Gardenia, Panterita del Ring, Volcano
4) Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. b Magia Blanca & Max Star
Hijo del Villano III beat Magia Blanca, setting up a MEX WELTER match for next week.
5) Blue Panther b Felino [lightning]
6) Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Star Jr. b Hechicero, Terrible, Último Guerrero
tecnicos took 2/3

I have video of this show but I have not had time to watch it yet.

The CMLL show at Monterrey’s Showcenter Sunday didn’t draw as well as the AAA ones in that building but it was not the disaster it seemed early on; maybe 1,000 fans in attendance. Ticket discounts helped. Illogically, the local promoter of that show announced they’re running Arena Monterrey on June 16. It’s a good card and there’s not many good midsized buildings in the area but it’s also insane to step up to the NBA sized arena. This show is not currently listed on Arena Monterrey’s upcoming events.

(At times, CMLL wrestlers have gone “US show on Saturday”->”Texas or Monterrey show on Sunday”. AEW is Youngstown, Ohio on that Saturday and that’s two weeks out from the Forbidden Door PPV.)

You can see the Rugido/Magnus vs Neon/Futuro tag title match from Torreon on Angel’s YouTube channel. You will be one of the few to see it; those Sunday CMLL Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano show continue to draw very few people.

CMLL (TUE) 05/14/2024 Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Dragón de Fuego & Inquisidor
2) El Audaz, Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Alom, Infarto, Persa
3) Futuro, Max Star, Neón vs Crixus, Difunto, Vegas
4) Esfinge vs Flip Gordon [lightning]
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible © vs Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, El Hijo De Blue Panther [CMLL TRIOS]
3rd defense
6) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

A title change seems unlikely but I don’t bet against the Panthers in a big match. Not really sure who wins between Flip and Esfinge.

CMLL (TUE) 05/14/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Canalla, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel vs Destructor, Jabalí, Rumbero
2) Draego, Persa, Prince Drago vs Fúnebre, Mortiz, Ponzoña Jr.
3) Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
4) Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico vs Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
5) Atlantis & Panterita del Ring vs Rey Bucanero & Satánico
6) Fugaz, Star Black, Star Jr. vs Hechicero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Persa is booked in both buildings. CMLL’s fallen in love with posting emojis on social media to tease various announcements, and they’re not all super important. Last week’s Guadalajara lineup was preceded by a monkey/devil post. This week was a flame to hint at Hechicero being on this show. They did it again with the FantasticaMania USA annoucement, but they’re really over doing it.

No sign of a Friday lineup yet. The one big of news is the Copa Junior Block changed from Wednesday to Friday. Zandokan Jr. was in the tournament, then removed for Octagon Jr. Zandokan wrestled on Friday after that change was revealed (via standard video package) so it wasn’t an injury issue.

Did you know there was a Arena Coliseo Guadalajara show last Wednesday? IMSS, a Mexican government agency, sponsored it as a late Kid’s Day deal. It featured the end of a multibuilding (and so multipromotional) tournament for a Guadalajara lightweight champion. It took place in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, so unsurprisingly their wrestler (Obek) won. Most of the wrestlers were the ones who participated on Tuesday’s show. Guadalajara Facebook news page De Golpes y Caidas was down on the event, saying it was announced last minute and run in a way where it was hard for the fans of the other arenas to get tickets, even though it was a free show.

This show streamed on IMSS’s Facebook page. Those bonus shows used to stream on Arena Coliseo Guadalaraja’s pages directly. It certainly seems Guadalajara has been told not been to stream shows on their own, and CMLL didn’t stream itself. The solution looks like the sponsor streaming the show and the Guadalajara Facebook page mentioning it.

Titan defeats Desperado to win his opening Best of Super Juniors match on Friday, then defeated BUSHI on Monday morning. I haven’t seen that one, but the Titan/Desperado match was pretty good.

Skadi says she wants to wrestle around the world. I have no idea about her and Kira’s visa status but I think they’re a unique enough act that someone should put them on US TV as a one off.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 05/11/2024 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [AAA, Lucha Central, LucharlandoMx, Mas Lucha]
1) Karis La Momia Jr. b Noisy, Bengala
TV debut for Karis and Noisy (Boy)
2) Brazo De Oro Jr. b Vengador, Tigre Blanco
3) Adelicious, Centella, Faby Apache b Dalys, Flammer, Tiffany
Faby and Tiffany (returning) teased a feud.
4) Octagón Jr. © b Dinámico, Taurus, Belcegor, Australian Suicide [AAA LA]
3rd defense, 2nd on TV. Drago on the lineup but didn’t appear. Suicide did a shooting star press off the upper level.
5) Abismo Negro, El Fiscal, Psicosis b Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria
debut of the newest version of Los Vipers
6) Electroshock & Zorro b Charly Manson & Mecha Wolf
Scheduled as a trios with Pagnao (shoulder surgery) and a mystery person, switched to a 2v2, no finish known
7) El Patrón Alberto & Vampiro b Cibernético & Dr. Wagner Jr.
La Secta, Los Vipers and Latin Lover got involved. Vampiro beat Cibernetico

This looked like another full house. I think the AAA shows haven’t been good but there’s not much motivation to make any changes when they’re still drawing this well. All three Mexico City shows have been sell outs or close to it.

Even in Mexico City, getting a full report on an AAA TV taping is rough. I don’t have the answers to the two important things that were supposed to happen here: Latin having a TripleMania Tijuana announcement and Wagner’s partner. Mas Lucha does have a (crowd noise heavy video) of Dorian Roldan announcing Latin Lover as the Director of Creative. Konnan is still Director of Talent, so they’re people who don’t get along who are being forced to work together.

Latin Lover spoke after the show on various topics after the show. “Latin Lover says stuff in a five to fifteen minute interview” is the hot new content genre of 2024. He’s got takes, he’s unafraid to let it fly, and he may not totally know what’s going on. I find myself agreeing strongly with some parts, disagreeing with others, and then finding him distressingly out of touch with modern wrestling at times. AAA is also running a storyline about how Konnan and Latin Lover do not get along and how it’s more likely one will be gone than they’ll end up working together. The storyline is based on everyone knowing Latin and Konnan do not like each other, but also it’s evident Latin really doesn’t like Konnan. I guess the best stories are grounded in a bit of reality, and also I guess this is not going to be a status quo that’s going to hold for a long time.

(The twists the AAA ‘succession’ has gone is worth exploring by people smarter than me. When Pena needed help with AAA, he brought back Konnan where he could’ve trusted instead in a Heavy Metal or a Cibernetico. When Pena passed away, the Roldans made a similar decision to go with Konnan above all else. Konnan has had limited use for the people who were on top when he was outside of the AAA – the Ciberneticos, the Latin Lovers – and weeded those guys of the company. There’s been some successes and failures with Konnan in charge, but the current success is built around nostalgia for the pre-Konnan’s era. There are some ways – like building everything around Vampiro retiring – that 2024 matches Konnan’s expressed vision of wrestling the least. Turning backstage turmoil into an onscreen drama does fit his vision though, as does bringing in a bunch of foreigners to say Mexican wrestling is bad.)

Early on in the interview, Latin Lover says he thought him taking the Director of Creative job would mean Konnan would be gone from AAA, and will have to find a way to work with him. That seems part of the story. Latin talking about the various ways Konnan bullied him (and others) does not completely. (Latin brings up Konnan filling his boots with excrement or putting potato chips in his boots or underwear before matches.) Latin brings up Konnan being vocally harsh to some of the wrestlers working the openers at this show – telling them they were going too fast or too slow – and Latin didn’t like how Konnan was doing that. In the same breath, Latin mentions he hadn’t talked to those opening match guys and didn’t appear to know their names. Latin says he didn’t put his hands on Konnan today (in the ring, as part of their scripted bit) because he’s in poor health, and it’s going to stay that way as long as Konnan doesn’t mess with him.

In other topics, Latin Lover says there are wrestlers who are spending too much time in the air and not enough on the basics of mat wrestling and telling stories. Latin talks about starting basic and wanting to building to the big moves in the third fall. (AAA has not had three fall matches in twenty years.) Doing all those acrobatic early on is why those wrestlers are getting hurt, and why their careers are shorter. Latin says he’d like to do a talent search reality show at all the TV tapings they go to around Mexico, where they’d have local wrestlers get judged by maestros and bring the best ones back for a competition at the end of the year. The problems there is AAA just did this talent search bit and also AAA doesn’t go around Mexico much at this point for TV tapings. Latin Lover says AAA is also missing “great stories”, where fans want to follow along week from week.

AAA announced they’d be back on in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera on June 22nd with Matt Riddle. Riddle is a big name as an ex-WWE wrestler. Riddle is also living life like a live grenade, likely to blow up in someone’s face – he’d still be in WWE and wouldn’t be working AAA except for his own issues. Riddle coming in on a TV taping probably means he’s in for one or both TripleManias.

FWIW, FantasticaMania is June 21st and that AAA Mexico City taping is June 22nd. If you someone every wanted to hit up everything, that’s a decent weekend to go to Mexico City. It’ll be a weekend of comparisons. (If I was AAA, I would book Kento and Takuma on the Mexico City taping as a bit; this is why I should not be booking.)

That date for a new TV taping made no sense to me at first – AAA doesn’t need three TV tapings in a month, and they already had TripleMania and a Showcenter card announced. It took closer examination to notice there’s no TV taping logo on that 06/30 Showcenter card, it’s not a taping. AAA could’ve made that a TV taping if they wanted, so this is a mild hint business in Mexico City is so good that AAA may have added more dates.

Centella turns out to be Mexico City luchadora Candy Swing. She’s some up in IWRG some, but more notable is another person from Luchatitlan being brought onto the main roster.

Jesus Zuniga worked as one of the announcers instead of Hugo Savinovich. I presume it was a one off date conflict and not a permanent change, but I don’t have any more info. It appeared as if Hijo del Tirantes didn’t referee this show either.

AAA TV had a bunch of interviews to fill time. Some of them were just people bragging about wins. Others were important.

Not technically on the show, but going up on social media just as it ended: Lady Shani thanked the fans for her support, talked about her recent marriage, and then showed an ultrasound – she’s pregnant. Shani says she’ll return. She hasn’t wrestled in a bit.
- I keep thinking Lady Shani is the Reina de Reinas champion. She isn’t, that’s Flammer. Flammer hasn’t defended the title since last TripleMania Mexico City.
Hijo del Vikingo spoke at the the Expo Lucha prior to TripleMania, about his knee injury. Vikingo was very positive about how his knee surgery and rehab was going, saying he expected to be ahead of schedule. How far ahead of schedule? Vikingo rejected the idea he would miss all of TripleMania this year, defiantly laving open the idea he’d somehow be back for the Mexico City show.
Psicosis revealed to Abismo Negro Jr. that he had brought in two new members to Los Vipers: El Fiscal and (the new) Taurus. Abismo Negro seemed OK with this; they’re not doing the Fiscal/Abismo feud at this point.
- Psicosis made sure to mention Chik Tormenta was still in the group; more about her a few paragraphs down.

In that interview last week where Hijo del Tirantes mentioned he was suspended by AAA, the original question was if him missing the Monterrey show ended Hijo del Tirantes’ streak of making everyone TripleMania. He jokingly argued that the streak was still on as long he makes the Mexico City one. Friday US referee Jarrod Fritz mentioned he was working TripleMania Tijuana (and he was sponsored to do so, which begs a lot of questions I’m not going to get in here.)Those stories together makes me think maybe Hijo del Tirantes isn’t working Tijuana too and that’s why he was focused on Mexico City one.

Chik Tormenta disappeared from wrestling from December until turning up for a few dates earlier this month. Tormenta told Mas Lucha Jr. she purposefully took time off to spend time with her family; she felt she was away too often from her son. She says she’s still working with WOW in the US and AAA.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 05/12/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Hysteriosis & Príncipe Centauro b Bumbu & Sacro
2) Ovett Jr. & Súper Boy b Águila Roja & Sol
Sol replace Puma de Oro, betrayed Aguila de Oro
3) Bengalee, Keyra, Shamila b Bugambilia, Jessy Ventura, Kiki Roberts
Bizhota hit Jessy Ventura
4) Hell Boy & Hijo de Canis Lupus b Imposible & Ivan Rokov
Hell Boy and Hijo de Canis Lupus are friends again
5) Máscara Sagrada b Fishman Jr.
Sagrada wants an IWRG JUNIOR title match
6) Vangellys b Vito Fratelli © [IWRG Rey del Ring]
Vangellys says his next goal is winning DMT Azul’s mask

This stream went out after the opener for about twenty minutes, came back showing matchup graphics for Mas Lucha’s premium show, and showed the end of the third match, and then showed the second match. I dunno.

IWRG’s La Jaula de las Locas, a cage match usually featuring exoticos and women, will take place on June 16th. That usually means more of both appearing on IWRG shows in the lead up, you can see it in the Bizhota appearances.

Other News

Tabasco luchador El Noruego (Nerio Soto de la Fuente, 82) passed away Saturday. He wrestlers in the 70s and 80s and is credited with training Abismo Negro.

Mexico State luchador Nikky Star (Jesus Martinez) passed away recently He seemed a young luchador, just having turned up in the last couple of years..

Mother’s Day with luchadoras article roundup:

Mas Lucha ran a subscriber only show in Arena Azteca Budokan on Sunday. It didn’t draw well, they never seem to, though Mas Lucha seems to be trying to run these often enough to build some stories over the shows. One match with no story was a late added Daga/Aramis match for the KAOZ Heavyweight Championship. As best I can figure, Daga won the KAOZ Heavyweight belt on July 1st, 2023 – but I’m not sure, because the promotion didn’t announce results from that show and there’s no way to know who holds any KAOZ belt without checking a third party match database. Anyway, Daga defeated Aramis to retain the title and then said he was vacating the belt because he was much too busy in Japan. Daga is still NOAH GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, so maybe KAOZ decided they want their belt back and Daga just can’t lose while holding a NOAH title – they take their titles seriously in a way none of the Mexican promotions do.

Penta has opened a restaurant, said to be near the Teotihuacan pyramids.

It’s been two weeks since the Lucha Libre Elite show. They’ve made no mention of a follow up.

Dalia Negra, who say he got his name and mask from Antonio Pena, will be honored in Minatitlan on June 22.

The News Tribute writes about Tacoma’s Lucha Libre Volcanica.

Gordon/Templario, MLW/CMLL, RevPro/CMLL, AAA in CDMX

May 10, 2024May 10, 2024 thecubsfan

CMLL

Tonight’s show:

CMLL (FRI) 05/10/2024 Arena México
1) Emperador Jr. & Platino Kid vs Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Difunto, El Coyote, Felino Jr.
3) Lluvia vs Reyna Isis [lightning]
4) Neón, Star Black, Valiente vs Akuma, Soberano Jr., Zandokan Jr.
5) Templario © vs Flip Gordon [CMLL MIDDLE]
2nd defense
6) Esfinge, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja

Templario in a big match should be a good time. The Chavez in the main event again suggests a tag title match, but Volador is already accounted for next week and Dorada will probably be off to the UK by the time this show happens. Maybe it’s just a match.

Match 4 is Soberano’s first Arena Mexico match since Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. Opener is a Torreon/Guadalajara match.

CMLL (SAT) 05/11/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Kaligua & Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora
2) La Vaquerita, Maligna, Tabata vs Amapola, Metálica, Persephone
3) Volcano vs Crixus [lightning]
4) Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa vs Dark Magic & Espanto Jr.
5) Brillante Jr., Dark Panther, Fugaz vs El Hijo de Stuka Jr., El Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero
6) Blue Panther, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Mephisto, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr.

Volcano versus Crixus is going to be a thing.

CMLL (SUN) 05/12/2024 Arena México
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
2) Legendario, Leono, Xelhua vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Dulce Gardenia, Panterita del Ring, Volcano vs Kráneo, Okumura, Sagrado
4) Magia Blanca & Max Star vs Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
5) Blue Panther vs Felino [lightning]
6) Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Star Jr. vs Hechicero, Terrible, Último Guerrero

Mostly standard Sunday stuff, with the exception of the odd tag match in spot 4. It’s the same amount of people as usual, just the minis are getting a trios opener instead of two people being added later.

CMLL (MON) 05/13/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Amnesia & Blue Shark vs Dreyko & Sombra Dibaolika
2) Meyer, Novato, Xelhua vs El Perverso, Enfermero Jr., Sangre Imperial
3) La Catalina, La Enigmática, Skadi vs Lady Amazona, Mayahuel, Zeuxis
4) Fugaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Black vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
5) Máscara Dorada, Stigma, Templario vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

Top 3 airing means the women’s match makes the cut but Xelhua one does not.

I really liked the Hera/Olympia vs Kira/Skadi match from Tuesday. Hera and Olympia have improved greatly in the last year, and they were good opponents for the unusual Kira/Skadi team. I thought that was a match CMLL would go back to because they don’t have many teams, but that’s also a match they ought to go back to because both teams showed a lot. Few things are as exciting in pro-wrestling as young wrestlers figuring things out and showing growth and that match had a bunch of that.

CMLL Informa announced the ten people for the 05/17 Copa Junior block. The entire tournament will be two blocks of ten, each winner determined by cibernetico. That first block is

Star Jr.
Guerrero Maya Jr.
Villano III Jr.
Niebla Roja
Volador Jr.
Soberano Jr.
Averno
Dragon Rojo Jr.
Brillante Jr.
Zandokan Jr.

Volador Jr. noted this is one tournament he hasn’t won (yet.) The 05/24 block will likely be announced next week.

Satoshi Kojima will return to CMLL on May 24th. Kojima and Okumura are challenging for the MLW tag team titles Saturday and then coming to Arena Mexico next weekend. That may be a hint how that title match is going. Kojima says that 05/24 show is the start of a tour.

CMLL Informa also officially announced Hiromu Takahashi as the last name for 06/21 FantasticaMania Mexico. He will wrestle Mistico in a 1v1 match, which will also be a celebration of the Mistico character reaching 20 years. Mistico and Takahashi wrestled to a draw last August in Arena Mexico for Mistico’s NWA Middleweight Championship. Takahashi was IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion at the time, Mistico couldn’t win without NJPW setting up a match for their title, that wasn’t the plan at the time, and so it ended up as a draw. Takahashi has since lost the title and is on a losing streak against big outside names.

Last year, Naito, BUSHI, Desperado, Tiger Mask IV and DOUKI ended up coming in for FantasticaMania Mexico on June 30th. Naito and Desperado also wrestled on AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door on 06/25, while DOUKI worked on TV in the days prior. Forbidden Door 2024 is after FantasticaMania Mexico this year, on June 30th, but it does allow AEW to split the flight with CMLL and use the same NJPW people on their shows. It is reasonable to expect Hiromu Takahashi and Zack Sabre Jr. to appear on AEW programs around that time, and it’s possible Tajii Ishimori will appear as well.

NJPW’s Best of Super Juniors kicks off on Saturday (morning Mexico City time.) Titan’s matches over the next few days:

05/11: El Desperado versus Titan (the main event and a free show)
05/12: Titan versus BUSHI

Titan should be competitive to the final day of the tournamne.

MLW has 05/11 Azteca Lucha

Mistico (c) versus Barbaro Cavernario for the MLW World Middleweight Championship
Atlantis Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero
Atlantis, Jesus Rodriguez, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Felino, Virus, Villano III Jr.
Star Jr., Fuego vs Averno, Magnus
One Called Manders & Matthew Justice versus Satoshi Kojima & Okumura for the (vacant) MLW World Tag Team Championship

This will air on TrillerTV as part of it’s TrillerTV+ monthly subscription. The PPV portion will include two non-CMLL matches. One happens to feature Bad Dude Tito (Escondido), who’s heading to Arena Mexico for FantasticaMania Mexico. The other is a Matt Riddle match. This show is a sell out.

One downside here is the PPV is a 9 pm start, something I just realized putting this together. Bell time is 7 pm. MLW typically tapes their YouTube content before and after their live PPVs. Since MLW expected to have a big audience there primarily to see the CMLL wrestlers, they’re going to hold them all until last and tape everything else – lots of non-CMLL related stuff – prior to going live. (There’s a good chance Barbaro Cavernario and Mistico aren’t hitting the ring until 10:45 local, which isn’t great for anyone.)

I bought one of those cheap General Admission tickets, which means I ought out be in the building around an hour early to snag the sort of seat I want (far off in a dark corner), and may need to leave my house an hour prior to that to make it there. Most of the time I think I’d just eat – get there early, watch the stuff that’s good, mess on my phone on the rest, but this week has been rough outside of the blog stuff and next week’s probably not going to be much better. I’ve got very few hours where I can sit in my house and do nothing and I’m reluctant to give some of those for a promotion that might actually be good but I don’t care about much. I could just as easily eat the ticket, buy Triller+ for a month and not go. On the other hand, the actual boss (Salvador Lurreroth Lomeli) is going to be there so the CMLL guys will likely be working hard. It also feels about cheesey to complain about promotions not focusing on luchadors and then not show up to the one that actually does. I don’t know. I’m a game time decision I guess.

MLW announced Okumura will appear on the 06/01 Battle Riot show in Atlanta.

05/19 RevPro FantasticaMania UK

Show 1 (noon)

Show 2 (6 pm)

RevPro confirmed this is everything. The show will stream live on RevPro’s OnDemand service, then go up in better quality later. (There seemed to be a maybe a day gap between when the live stream ends and the OnDemand stuff goes up.) London is 7 hours ahead of Mexico City.

Hera and Olympia told ESTO their goal is to reach the standards of the Moreno sisters and other families of women who’ve succeeded in lucha libre.

AAA

AAA tapes Saturday night in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera

AAA TV (SAT) 05/11/2024 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Karis La Momia Jr. vs Noisy Boy, Bengala
2) Adelicious, Centella (Aaa), Faby Apache vs Dalys, Flammer, Tiffany
3) Octagón Jr. © vs Dinámico, Taurus, Drago, Australian Suicide, Belcegor [AAA LA]
3rd defense, 2nd on TV
4) Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria vs Abismo Negro, El Fiscal, Psicosis
5) Charly Manson, Mecha Wolf, Pagano vs ?, Electroshock, Zorro
6) El Patrón Alberto & Vampiro vs Cibernético & Dr. Wagner Jr.

Beyond the matches, Latin Lover is supposed to make announcement about TripleMania. Dr. Wagner Jr. is also supposed to reveal who will team with him and Galeno del Mal at TripleMania Tijuana. My math has this show airing on 05/25 and 06/01, as the last new show prior to TripleMania Tijuana. (June 8th will be another ‘preview’ show from the studio if I’m guessing right.)

Match 5 is still being advertised as is even with AAA saying Pagano is out with shoulder surgery. Match 4 should have La Secta implode, but I’m more interested in finding out if the El Fiscal/Abismo Negro Jr. issue is a social media thing or a real thing. Octagon Jr. defends his title against people who are non-factors on TV, though at least it might be good. The new Taurus desperately needs a better performance. Faby Apache & Dalys, oddly missing from the Tijuana lineup, will continue their feud in the second match. Karis la Momia Jr., the son of La Parka AAA, makes his in-ring TV debut in the opener. Noisy Boy too, but Noisy Boy doesn’t have quite the same expectations on him.

The Laredo, Octagon, Komander versus Kyle Fletcher, Nick Wayne and CIMA match seems to have caught the most attention out of anything from that TripleMania Tijuana lineup. Japanese fans seemed to pay attention more than usual because CIMA (and because they thought maybe he’s one step away from being back in AEW.)

I didn’t catch it, but Zona Ruda notes Konnan at the TripleMania Tijuana press conference took a veiled shot at LA Park (and DMT Azul) drawing badly in Tijuana a few weeks back. I believe LA Park will inevitably be back in AAA but it sure comes off as if AAA people are annoyed with him and Rush after last year.

AAA’s given no indication about how long Pagano’s out. Not being on that TripleMania Tijauan lineup may be a tell – or maybe he’ll be added in when the Crash match is added. Something to watch for.

AAA announced the 06/30 Showcenter lineup earlier than usual. It might be motivated by CMLL running the Showcenter on Sunday, or it might just be a coincidence.

AAA TV (SUN) 06/30/2024 Showcenter Complex, San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon
1) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
2) Bomba & Granada vs Oro Negro & Vasco Jr.
3) Drago vs Charro, Epydemius Jr., Ultra
4) El Lider, Toscano, Zorro vs Dulce Kanela, Pimpinela Escarlata, Yaretzi
5) El Elegido & Laredo Kid vs Antifaz & Hator
6) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria

Latin Lover will also appear on the show. Scoria teaming Cuervo and Ozz makes no sense given the split two months prior in this same city, but they don’t really exist as anything beyond stooges for someone else to beat up. They’re stooges for the Psycho Circus to fight here, and they’re stooges for Cibernetico and Mesias to beat up at TripleMania Tijuana. They’re not booked as actual people.

The rest of this forgettable card will eat up two more weeks of TV, keeping costs low by using Monterrey/northern Mexico drive-ins for the rest of the card. It’s possible that some of these matches may be held back to air as late after TripleMania Mexico City to fill out a week of TV.

This week’s of AAA TV should be the Copa TripleMania from Monterrey and probably one match from the March 16 TV taping to fill out time. It’s intended for people to skip.

Sam Adonis will challenge EC3 for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on May 18th at the Crockett Cup in Forney, Texas. The NWA is using the AAA logo in promoting it, and AAA sent wrestlers to last year’s Crocket Cup. NWA events no longer air live but go up on the CW App at some point; they’ve fallen into a blind spot for me since going to that app.

Takuma & Mr. Iguana seem to be doing a Twitter back and forth to set up Iguana & Nino Hamburgesa showing up in GLEAT. I could be reading too much into it, but I think those AAA guys would get over there as an act.

IWRG

They’ve got a show Sunday, then a Lucha Libre Boom one on Thursday.

IWRG , LLB (THU) 05/16/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Demencia, Macho I, Macho II vs Basuroloco I, Basuroloco II, Mr. Ko
2) Argus, Hijo De Sparta, Oro Blanco, Sparta vs Gravedad Cero, Minos II, New Level, Príncipe Centauro
3) Canis Lupus NG, Carta Brava Jr. (LLB), Paranoiko vs Alas de Oro, Alas De Plata, Miss Gaviota
4) Lunatik Extreme, Súper Boy, Toto, Venganza vs Águila Roja, Fandango, Hell Boy, Puma de Oro [cage, mask, hair]
5) ?, Canek, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool

A similar main event took place in Arena Lopez Mateos. It wasn’t much good and this won’t be either. The Lucha Libre Boom cards are just about booking people they hope will draw and not about good matches or building up anything; they’re impossible to analyze outside of the attendance.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha announced Thursday they were pulling their wrestlers from the 05/12 Lucha Memes show. Nothing stirs up mexican indie wrestling gossip like a Lucha Memes/Big Lucha dispute. The Big Lucha statement doesn’t say what happened, just that still they’re trying to work to resolve the situation. Lucha Memes promoter Daniel Ledesma responded in the comments, implying he found out Big Lucha was off the show only due to a fan pointing him to this gossip, and calling Big Lucha unprofessional and saying working with them was the “worst experience of his life.”

Ledesma also posted a seven minute video explaining his side of the video, which appears to be set for only friends to be able to see. (It’s odd he does it that way.) Ledesma talks about the relationship Lucha Memes has had with other promoters, blaming it in Big Lucha being specifically hard to deal with. (Some of those relationships don’t appear current.) Ledesma bemoans the money had already spent on advertisements. Lucha Memes released a new lineup on Friday. I’m confused because I could’ve sworn the video mentioned Tonalli wouldn’t appear anyway, and now Tonalli is listed in the main event. Also notable is Tirano is added; he announced earlier this week that he was leaving Big Lucha.

If this Big Lucha/Lucha Memes thing reads like a money issue, it because it probably is one. Ledesma briefly mentions Big Lucha wanting to let all their gym members in free. Big Lucha’s side is they did want free tickets, but not to that extent. Big Lucha claims they let in about five or so people from Lucha Memes for free to their show, wanted that same number of free tickets from Memes, and Memes was giving them no free tickets. This is a dispute of about 1000 pesos, 50 USD, though Big Lucha says it was more the attitude behind that caused the issue. There are claims of other unresolved money issues stemming from the first show.

Other News

Daga versus Aramis has been added to the 05/12 Mas Lucha subcriber show from Arena Azteca Budokan.

El Diario MX profiles Princesa Maya for Mother’s Day.

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

May 8, 2024May 8, 2024 thecubsfan 3 Comments

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)

Still not booked: Angel de Oro, Ultimo Guerrero

Show 2 (6 pm)

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.

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.

Misterioso leaves CMLL, Templario/Flip, Latin Lover, Cinco de Mayo

May 6, 2024May 6, 2024 thecubsfan 1 Comment

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 05/03/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Esquina Cal, ESTO, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (Text), thecubsfan]
1) Draego & Persa b Astro Boy Jr. & Rayo Metálico
7:32
2) El Audaz, Legendario, Max Star b Alom, Crixus, Infarto
12:12
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Hijo de Stuka Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
15:12
4) Hechicero b Zandokan Jr. [lightning]
9:00
5) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
11:48.
6) Ángel de Oro, Flip Gordon, Niebla Roja b Máscara Dorada, Místico, Templario [Relevos Increíbles]
20:55. Flip beat Templario, setting up a title match between them next week.

There’s a small group of people who are watching these shows on YouTube and a smaller set who are talking much about them on Twitter. The opinions on the shows are usually in the same ballpark in that group but were more varied this time. I liked this show; 2, 3, 4 and 6 were all good. The Villanos continue to go all out in their matches. The tall trio of Alom, Crixu and Infarto was unusual for CMLL and for an ealry match; big guys usually get moved up quick.

CMLL (SAT) 05/04/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Pequeño Polvora & Pequeño Violencia b Aéreo & Fantasy
9:28
2) Diamond, Eléctrico, Leono b Dragón de Fuego, Hunter, Inquisidor
15:32. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Amapola, Hera, Metálica b La Maligna, Sanely, Tabata
13:57. Rudas took 2/3.
4) Fugaz, Star Black, Volcano b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo
16:32
5) Euforia b Esfinge
11:29
6) Místico, Neón, Star Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja
18:20

Nothing great on this show. The main event was the best match without being anything extraordinary. Esfinge/Euforia played out a lot like Flip/Euforia, down to the finish. There were two different matches (2/4) that ended with someone breaking up the pinfall at 3.2 and referee Bestia Negra ignoring it. Not sure if they were meant to break up the pin in either case.

There was a sponsored show in Arena Mexico in the afternoon. The ring announcer for that show was supposed to make it to this one, but didn’t show up until match 3. Some random person was doing their best to fake their way through it for two matches. They had the voice but didn’t have intros down; talking about the great international career of Pequeno Violencia clued me in that something was up.

CMLL (SUN) 05/05/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Shockercito b Galaxy [lightning]
2) Astral & Valiente Jr. b Nitro & Sangre Imperial
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
Fureza Poblana defeat the forces of Hell (not France) on Cinco de Mayo
4) Difunto, Rey Bucanero, Sagrado b Espíritu Negro, Hombre Bala Jr., Rey Cometa
5) Hijo del Villano III, Mephisto, Villano III Jr. b Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther
6) Titán, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Nothing notable inside. Outside, there was a fight before the show that made the news.

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

Kira & Skadi and Hera & Olympia seem likely to have many tag team title matches, as two of the three set women’s tag teams.

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

A bigger name main event than usual for Guadalajara, as well as KeMalito’s debut. Prince Drago was in the Guadalajara Gran Alternativa back in February and is returning here.

Beyond the title match, the notable thing here is Sobearno’s first Arena Mexico appearance since the incredible pairs final. It’s a little bit lower position than normal for him, doesn’t totally make sense unless something’s coming out of his match (or something’s coming out of Hechicero being in the main.) The title match should be good, and everything else seem fine or better.

Misterioso Jr. announced Friday he was leaving CMLL. He’d been in CMLL since 2004. His last match was March 16th in Arena Mexico. He had also been advertised for the 04/23 Arena Mexico show but did not appear.

That last non-appearance is part of the story. Misterioso was a guy averaging two matches a week pre-pandemic, then found that cut in half from 2021 on. He was firmly in the pool of veteran names with Felino and Rey Bucanero where CMLL is going to keep giving them some work for a long time to come, but not a lot of work and no push. The difference between them is Felino and Bucanero live in Mexico City, Misterioso moved back to Torreon, and it’s not worth making the trip for one midcard booking a week. Misterioso seemed content to bear with it as long as CMLL was giving his sons (Misterio Negro & Misterio Blanco) work; he was really just wrestling to help get them work at this point. The death of on his daughter Zulema in 2019 sent Misterioso into a depression, one he’s talked about publicly since, and his two sons and other daughter getting into wrestling was the one thing that pulled him out of it. CMLL seemed to stop using the kids after this year’s Torneo de Escuelas, which meant the father didn’t have much of a reason to stay. If CMLL’s not going to book him here, he was obviously going to use what name value he has to go get them booked on indie dates.

Misterioso Jr. was a promising newcomer, later a good rudo and then eventually a guy who spent the back half of his career not doing much. CMLL’s a great place to work because you can have a job for life if you make it through the first few years and obey their (sometimes confusing) rules. Having a job for life doesn’t meant CMLL will actually do anything with you, and Misterioso found himself on the midcard treadmill. He became so lazy that his gimmick itself became of a lazy wrestler; he spent a lot of years dropping falls via surprise cradles. Misterioso had lost weight and was in a better condition in 2023, motivated by his children, and even got put in a title match. There was still no chance CMLL would do much more with him. Misterioso’ time had passed. Misterioso is probably is still well remembered enough that he can get Robles Promotions-level bookings if that’s what he’s looking for (and if they’ll take his son too), but he wouldn’t be a great fit in something like AAA. He’ll be a perfect candidate to lose his mask some promotion with a lot of money; he’s a recognizable name that can make a lineup look like a major league one.

The bigger picture issue is CMLL adding luchadors – through the Torneo de Escuelas, the increased focus on women, and other pickups. That’s good news for CMLL viewers, who are generally going to get hungrier people in the spots that had been going to Misterioso (or Tiffany or Halcon Suriano Jr.) It’s bad news for the veterans, who are going to get squeezed into smaller schedule and are less likely to be awed by just having a CMLL spot as younger wrestlers. As long as CMLL keeps bringing more people in, there probably will be more people leaving.

AAA

Reminder that the TripleMania Tijuana press conference is Wednesday at 11 AM local (or sometime later.) The next news post will be after that lineup is revealed.

AAA TV had part of TripleMania Monterrey. No Copa TripleMania, so they’ll stretch it over a third week. As usual, there were a bunch of videos that didn’t air on the PPV itself:

Dr. Wagner Jr. previewed his tag match with Negro Casas
Dalys and Faby Apache fought backstage
Cibernetico, Ozz and Cuervo made vague threats towards Mesias, Escoria and Espiritu
Bestia 666 talked to a Mystery Person about challenging for the tag titles. NGD mocked him, and distracted Bestia from seeing Mecha Wolf clock Bestia with a traffic cone. Mecha Wolf taunted Bestia and brought up their cage match in The Crash (on 05/17)
Konnan and Latin Lover had a face off; video stopped before they did anything

Couldn’t get the vibe if Bestia and whomever (NGD suggested it was Damian) are really challenging for the tag titles or if that was just a way to have NGD be involved with the skit. Something physical with Bestia and Mecha to make people understand they’ve broken up with necessary. I don’t know that AAA fans are paying attention to The Crash cage matches.

Latin Lover sat down with Lucha Por Lucha to talk about TripleMania and AAA. Latin Lover’s story now is he never thought he was going to take Konnan’s job away from him by being creative director, and he absolutely wasn’t going to come to AAA to take someone’s job. I can believe both Latin Lover didn’t want the full responsibility that come with that sort of job and that Dorian Roldan pitched it as coming to help and not take over. Still, adding someone who would be above Konnan in the org chart would inevitably lead to issues with Konnan. (It’s instructive that when Konnan talked about this situation on his podcast, his ideas for utilizing Latin Lover are non-creative roles.)

At any rate, the Latin Lover/Konnan stuff is being also used as an onscreen angle. There was the vignette at the end of the TV show to push in that direction. Latin said everyone will know where he stands on the upcoming Mexico City taping.

Hijo del Tirantes was notably missing from TripleMania Monterrey. In an interview with La Tijera, Hijo del Tirantes seems that was punishment from AAA for some offense. No explanation of what Tirantes got in trouble for. There were people who hated that show much more than even I did, but imagine if that show also had Hijo del Tirantes doing Hijo del Tirnates things on it.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 05/05/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Príncipe Centauro & Rey Aztaroth b Sacro & Sky Man
2) Multifacetico Jr. © vs Rey Halcón [IWRG IC WELTER]
Random Match
3) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. DQ Látigo & Toxin
unmasking DQ
4) Vangellys b Kiki Roberts, Vudu Max, Shocko, Soy Raymunda, Abigor, Pandemónium Jr., Danessa, Gran Pandemónium, Tornado, Hijo de Pandemónium, Spider Fly, Águila Roja, Bengalee, Sol, Freelance, Luka, Ivan Rokov, Tony Rivera, Veneno, Noisy Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Máscara Sagrada Jr., Estrella Divina, Jessy Queen, Imposible, Caballero de Plata, Axel, Cerebro Negro Jr., Sangre Azteca [Rey del Ring]
Ivan Rokov helped Vangellys win. DMT Azul showed up, setting up a feud between Azul & Lupus and Rokov & Vangellys

True story: this match started around 7:30 my time, I really had to get to sleep at 8:30 (this week is bad), so I watched the Rey del Ring to jot down all 30 people and then I turned off the stream before they finished it. I do not feel I made the wrong choice missing out on a big Vangellys win.

Luka seemed like he came from the wrong side of the ring or he ran in on the match, but I wrote him down and it added up to 30.

If you’re wondering when Multifacetico Jr. won the title, he didn’t – Dr. Cerebro Jr. did, and then changed gimmick.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha (SAT) 05/04/2024 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [thecubsfan]
1) Helios, Nordico, Wisin El Dog b Golden Dragón (Illinois), Ryu Orochi, Sangre Nueva
9:55
2) Marishika & Sairley b Diosa Nix & Sussy Love
14:15. Members of the WWS roster helped Marishika win, taunted la Brava for nto showing up.
3) Auzter, Borgdan Klimov, M2R b Cósmico, La Bomba, Reiyel
13:26
4) El Brujo, Limbo, Torito Negro Jr. b Caballero de Plata, El Potro de Oro, Mr. Win
6:31. Chaman Jr. accompanied the rudos and interfered a lot. Sol helped the rudos, who said they were the Heel Flyers. Potro wanted a super libre rematch for the next show.
5) Atómico Jr., Elipse, Iku b El Mexicano, Orbita, Viajero
17:01. Mexicano replaced Big Tao Tao (health issue), though he only turned up after the rudos attacked Mr. Big. Elipse got the win this time.
6) Ricky Marvin b Australian Suicide
13:14. Marvin and Suicide praised each other post match.
7) Cometa Maya & Radioactivo b Súper Nova & Texano Jr. © [BIG LUCHA MIXA]
18:42. Maya & Radioactivo are the third champions, champ for a second time.

Didn’t feel strongly about show, where the first five matches all changed. The main event was the best match, something more than Sangre Texana style than the Big Lucha huge moves, and it did feel like a big moment when the titles changes hands. Australian Suicide was the same Australian Suicide, just a little bit older, a little bit rusty and with a few more tattoos. A pivot or new ideas to freshen up would’ve been helpful; he’s just bald and doing a lot of what other people are doing here.

The Heel Flyers wore the red and black of Black Generation but were also very clear they were the Heel Flyers; they were added to the Black Generation a couple of shows back, and that seems like a u-turn. Wisin, a luchador in a dog sports mascot offense, has gotten over as a Mexico City area act over the last few months. He hasn’t figured out how to rig his gear without needing to constantly need to hold his head in place.

I didn’t understand the WWS angle at all but – Diosa Nix is WWS champion and she was on the Big Lucha side? Nix & Sussy worked that match as rudas too, and the people who ran in just complained about the non-present La Brava. I didn’t help that I couldn’t really hear the announcers or the fans in the first match, and then I could hear the announcers but not the fans later on.

Other News

The saga of “will Fenix make the 05/05 House of Glory show” ended with Fenix not making the show – not wrestling, not appearing. It’s the second time this has happened with Fenix and House of Glory. This time, Laredo Kid was shuffled around to face and lose to Penta in Fenix’s place. It was not a banner Cinco de Mayo all around; Gravity missed GCW, and Arez and Laredo only made one of their two scheduled bookings.

Both House of Glory and GCW used Cinco de Mayo to bring in Mexican wrestlers as novelty, and to have them lose to their regular talent whenever possible. On the HOG show, Mexican wrestlers went 0-3 in HOG versus outsiders matches – and probably only that “good” because Laredo got moved out of a likely loss to KC Navarro. On the GCW, Mexican talent went 0-5 against GCW talent. (Cole Radrick beating Demus is the one that stands out the most as an odd choice; maybe there’s some long term booking thing with Radrick that explains why that finish couldn’t be flipped but it seems a strange choice to a non-watch.)

Both shows ended with a Mexican wrestler winning, in matches including other Mexican wrestlers, so the shows could end on a ‘happy’ note. Mostly the Mexicans were there so they could call it a Cinco de Mayo show and be a novelty; there doesn’t seem to be more investment than that. This is not an issue limited to these two promotions by any means. This may be a ME problem and not one for everyone; the other takes on saw on both shows were fairly positive. The GCW main event between Gringo Loco & Arez and Jack Cartwheel & Aramis sounds like it was the best of the bunch.

05/04 NOAH

Kaito Kioyomiya defeated Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. to win the GHC Championship
Daga beat Alejandro to retain the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship
Tadauke & YO-HEY beat Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane and Shuji Kondo & YASSHI to retain the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

Wagner’s title run comes to an end. It sounds like he generally did well as far as match quality for this reign. Wagner made the most of his unexpected title run and did the best he could to position himself for another one. Los Golpedores have gotten continued strong reviews this year. Daga too; NOAH set up a next title defense against Starboy Charlie.

Dragon Bane coming up here reminded me of the TripleMania 2019 pre-show match. It was a trios match where the idea of putting six young guys to do an incredible match, showcasing the future of the promotion. AAA did a great job of identifying people who would be great then and (mostly) would get better in future years. The problem is that five of them – Dragon Bane, Arkangel Divino, Aramis, Arez, Toxin – never progressed in AAA and left for better opportunity elsewhere. The sixth was Astrolux/Mini Drago, who still works AAA spots but has been used twice on TV in the last year.

Segunda Caida watches more early 90s Monterrey.

ESTO talks to elephant luchador Bumbu.

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