Month: June 2024

CMLL

Tonight’s show.

CMLL (FRI) 06/28/2024 Arena México
1) Chamuel, Kemalito, Micro Sagrado vs Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Tengu [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Futuro & Max Star vs Raider & Vegas
3) Lluvia, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard vs Persephone, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
4) Templario & Titán vs Star Jr. & Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Esfinge, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Averno, Euforia
6) Kyle Fletcher vs Atlantis Jr. [ROH TV]

Tw0 different key matches on this card. The main event looks like it’ll be the crowning of Atlantis Jr. as a new champion. There’s been some “CMLL Reina” championship changes in Arena Mexico in the last decade, but I think you have to go back to La Sombra defeating Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental championship in 2013 to see a major non-Mexican championship change hands in Arena Mexico. That outcome was meant to make Sombra a beloved hero both in Mexico and Japan; events that followed ended up making him one of the least favorite of Arena Mexico faithful for a time. The idea seems to be similar here: give Atlantis Jr. the big win in Arena Mexico to make him a bigger star to the home fans and make him a name that’ll mean a bit more next time he shows up in Ring of Honor. How this match goes will go a long way to how successful that effort will be; Atlantis Jr. has to be seen to “earn” the win in order to convince the people that need to be convinced.

You are entitled to feel differently but I am sure CMLL doesn’t care one bit about the finishes on AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door in the least if they’re getting an Atlantis Jr. win in Arena Mexico to with a foreign championship. They probably feel like they’re making out like bandits on this deal; since when are they going to care about Hechicero taking a singles loss in general, much less in New York?

The match with more medium term implications is the semi-main. Esfinge and Euforia feuded two weeks ago, Averno and Volador Jr. feuded last week. CMLL running those feuds out as they start to hype Aniversario is no coincidence; they want them in the fan’s minds as possible main events, even if the actual match turns out different. It will be strange to see be hard push for a September match while Mistico stands off to the side uninvolved. If the ultimate destination of all of this is another tournament, then perhaps the weird teams in the fourth match might turn out to be meaningful too. Or it might just be a good match.

I don’t know about the opener but everything else on this show looks like it’ll be good. Futuro & Max Star versus Raider & Vegas has a high ceiling, and it’s up to how consistent those guy can be. The goal of the this match is that Vaquer gets out of it in one piece for Sunday. Vaquer and Mistico are scheduled to also wrestle in Leon on Saturday night, which would mean a very long day to make it to New York on Sunday.

Earlier today, on the CMLL’s Lady Rings show in Tokyo, Unagi Sayaka defeated Dark Silueta to become the new CMLL Japan Women’s champion. (The show will go up on 07/01 on WrestleUniverse.) Sayaka asked to come to Mexico in October for the Gran Prix, Silueta agreed (because she wants a title rematch) and so that looks to be happening.

CMLL (SAT) 06/29/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Astro Boy Jr. & Rayo Metálico vs Dragón de Fuego & Infarto
2) Diamond, Eléctrico, Robin vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr. vs El Coyote, Espanto Jr., Pólvora
4) Dark Panther, Star Black, Volcano vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Zandokan Jr. vs Euforia [lightning]
6) Flip Gordon, Star Jr., Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Mephisto, Stuka Jr.

I think they could’ve spared Titan flying back to Mexico City to two inconsequential matches before flying back to New York but so it goes.

CMLL (SUN) 06/30/2024 Arena México
1) Retro vs Hunter [lightning]
2) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
3) Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Brillante Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Akuma, Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
5) Flip Gordon & Valiente vs Ángel de Oro & Soberano Jr.
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Definitely a Sunday show. I have a story about these shows that I might be able to tell next week.

CMLL (MON) 07/01/2024 Arena Puebla
1) El Asturiano & Meyer vs Blue Shark & Hijo de Centella Roja
2) Aéreo, Astro, Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Dreyko, Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito [cibernetico]
3) Hijo del Villano III, Stigma, Villano III Jr. vs Fugaz, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Felino & Felino Jr. vs Hijo de Octagón & Octagón
5) Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Volador Jr. vs Akuma, Flip Gordon, Máscara Dorada [Relevos Increíbles]

Main event Akuma? I am good with that. CMLL may be setting up a CMLL Heavyweight title program with him based on things happening a few paragraphs down. That minis match looks good, won’t see it.

CMLL (TUE) 07/02/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico vs Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
2) Astro Oriental, Gallo Jr., Rafaga Jr. vs Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Prince Drago
3) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Brillante Jr. vs Arlequín [lightning]
5) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
6) Felino & Felino Jr. vs Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr.

Not a lot notable here outside of the Felino tribute match. Fuego en el Ring posted what I believe is  a CMLL press release about the Felino 40th Anniversary matches. Whoever wrote it heroically (?) managed  to write about Felino’s career without mentioning Negro Casas or really any other Casas family member. Pesta Negra is mentioned as a group with Felino, Mr. Niebla, Barbaro Cavernario and Zacarias el Perico with no one else. This is really dumb stuff, and why no one should ever be comfortable with CMLL being the force that tells the accurate history of professional wrestling. They’re not at all interested in being accurate. Felino also did the CMLL podcast; I didn’t listen to see if they pretended his was a wrestling orphan there as well.

Dulce is showing back up after missing most of June.

Guadalajara’s Optimus says he’s been out with knee surgery prior to returning on Tuesday’s match. He’d been out since November.

Neon is scheduled to face Cameron Khai on Saturday and Will Kaven in a title defense on Sunday. He’s been quiet on Instagram since not look 100% in his match with Guerrero Maya on Monday, but he also doesn’t post much.

CMLL Informa announced the remaining Leyenda de Plata wrestlers:

• Block A (July 12): Volador Jr., Mascara Dorada, Flip Gordon, Angel de Oro, Brillante Jr., Futuro, Villano III Jr., Stigma
• Block B (July 19) – Mistico, Titan, Neon, Star Jr., Fugaz, Magia Blanca, Templario, Virus

Last year’s final was the Mascara Dorada win over Rocky Romero. Templario defeated Soberano the year before, and Titan beat Templario in 2021. To my eye, Block B is the superior block.

CMLL Informa also announced upcoming cards. The Arena Puebla Anniversary

CMLL (MON) 07/15/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Astoreth, Sanely, Skadi vs Amapola, Lady Amazona, Zeuxis
2) ? vs ?? [CMLL BARROCO, final]
3) Rey Samuray, Stigma, Volcano vs Espanto Jr., Rey Bucanero, Sagrado
4) Gran Guerrero vs Akuma
5) Hijo de Octagón & Octagón vs Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. and Euforia & Soberano Jr. and Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Stuka Jr.
6) Místico vs Volador Jr.

The Barroco tournament (a random trophy) will return after being introduced last year. It’ll be five people from Mexico City (Audaz, Vegas, Diamond, Astral, Valiente Jr.), and five from Puebla (Rayo Metalico, Multy, Xelhua, Pegasso, and one more) on 07/08, with the final two facing off on this show.

It’s disappointing these big shows don’t have local feuds any more. Mistico/Volador will be good and it’ll be a little bit of distance from the Guadalajara one by the time this happens, but they’ve done a lot of Mistico matches in a short time in this building. Gran Guerrero/Akuma might be the more noteworthy match if it becomes a title match between now and then.

CMLL (SAT) 07/20/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Astral & Eléctrico vs Gallo Jr. & Ráfaga Jr. (Jalisco)
2) Hera & Olympia vs Adira (Jalisco) & Náutica
non-title
3) Espanto Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Raider vs El Gallero, Explosivo, Halcón Negro Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Leo (Jalisco), Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
5) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Bestia Negra, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Esfinge, Titán vs Ángel de Oro, Máscara Dorada, Místico [Relevos Increíbles]

Using an unusual combination of ex-Guadalajara wrestlers in the main event makes this more interesting, but seeing the normal GDL wrestlers in Mexico City doesn’t feel like a big deal to me.

AEW

Airing on Saturday on Collision

• Stephanie Vaquer versus Lady Frost
• Hechicero versus Kevin Blackwood
  • Kevin Blackwood is an name on the indies and a big match between him and Hechicero would likely be interesting.
  • This is not the big match.

Airing on Sunday’s Forbidden Door

• Titan, Hiromu Takahashi and Yota Tsuji versus Fenix, Penta and Mistico – Zero Hour pre-show, so this will stream for free
• Hechicero versus MJF
• Stephanie Vaquer versus Mercedes Mone for both the AEW TBS championship and the NJPW Strong Championship

There are fans who understandably want the trios match to be on the more important PPV than the pre-show. I think having it on the pre-show is a potential great marketing opportunity for AEW to expose their Mexican and Spanish speaking fans who don’t often see them. AEW should be asking CMLL if they’ll stream the Spanish language version pre-show on their YouTube channel and if they’ll push that fact out to their fans. Maybe they hook a few people for the effort of putting their show in front of different people. I don’t know if AEW (or CMLL) will take advantage of that opportunity.

Fenix & Penta landing on the AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door show seems to be the answer to Penta’s mysterious reason he wouldn’t work AAA this year. Hopefully it turns into more than that (but that now may be more determined by Penta’s contract status than anyway barrier.) CMLL’s social media avoiding mentioning the Lucha Brothers by name hints not every problem has been solved, but the Lucha Brothers being booked at all means CMLL’s adequately confident they’re freelancers and not under contract to AAA.

This is really straight forward for Fenix. He lost to Vikingo on the 2022 TripleMania Mexico City show, AAA thought Fenix was coming back, and Fenix just never came back. Penta’s more complicated, I feel like I have to give three different explanations for three groups of fans:

• people who watch one AAA in show a year: no, really, Penta’s been gone all year, and he did an interview saying he wouldn’t work in AAA this year, it was quite a thing when it happened
• people who consume Vampiro’s podcast: yes, Vampiro and Penta agreed for Penta to be Vampiro’s last opponent on his podcast but no that was never going to happen. Vampiro shot his own angle, I don’t believe Penta even knew the bit was happening, and he never had an intention of doing that match. Also, I need you to understand that wrestlers lie on podcasts all the time now or it’s going to hurt later when you find out. It’s just another version of kayfabe or  character building or storytelling, whatever you want to call it.
• people who actually go to shows or plan to go to shows and see Penta on posters with an AAA logo: these are independent promoters who are using AAA wrestler and independently hiring additional wrestlers. AAA is not promoting these shows, has no part in it outside (possibly) making sure their wrestlers get there on that date and then taking a previously agreed upon amount of money from the promoter. It is confusing, and it is intentionally so. (Only the TV tapings and a few odds and ends – like the Showcenter events – are actually AAA promoted.) Penta would have a stronger argument that he’s not in AAA if he wasn’t working those extra shows every other weekend, but as long as he gets paid and doesn’t get in trouble for it, he’s going to take the money.
  • This is also the best case for why Penta might take the a WWE deal. Penta works more outside dates than anyone featured as his level in AEW, because he’s down to show up, do a few hand signals, and collect a healthy payout. Penta’s usage matters to him, and I’m sure he’d be frustrated if/when WWE has no real ideas for him after three, but the money matters first and foremost – he’s taking a WWE deal if they come decently above what AEW will offer.
    • I remain unconvinced WWE will be making that level of offer.

Random aside 1: No one but me seems to notice these things, and it’s not too important, but Tony Khan is now regularly referring to CMLL as “the #1 promotion in Mexico.” There’s ways to praise CMLL without hurting AAA’s feelings if that was a thing you were concerned about; he is clearly not concerned about that.

Random aside 2: The people who knows things seem to be hinting WBD’s exclusive window to sign a new AEW deal is expiring soon, maybe this Monday. That means the most likely time for a WBD/AEW deal to get done is this weekend, before AEW hits the open market. I have no ino if that’s going to happen, just that that news would obviously override everything in the wrestling discourse for a week if it does. Vibes are not great about AEW right now, but they could also have their typically strong PPV and a new media deal and I don’t know how people are going to process that combination. An AEW flush with new money could change how they operate and who they go after.

Let’s talk about Rush, AEW and CMLL

AEW has not said “Rush isn’t on Forbidden Door because CMLL didn’t want him there” and Rush is also a guy who typically hasn’t made AEW PPVs. The latter point gets ignored in the yearly conversation about who can and can not work Forbidden Door. I like Komander, Komander’s not missing Forbidden Door because AAA or AEW or CMLL, he’s missing it for the same reason he misses pretty all the shows – they don’t think of him as that important right now. Rush is a guy who’s been, at best, on the fringes of PPV programs when he has been around in AEW. He’s not making any AEW PPV right now unless a much bigger star specifically wants to work with him, and that’s a bigger factor than what other promotion gets involved. There’s a much longer discussion about AEW and where they slot Mexican wrestlers but this post is already going to go off in some long and fruitless tangents, I’m going to table that one for another day.

There seemed a definite possibility MJF was that bigger star that wanted to work Rush on this PPV. MJF ended up wrestling Hechicero instead. CMLL may have got involved; in fact, I’d guess they probably were involved on this one. CMLL does not like Rush. It was a big step this year for CMLL to even allow their wrestlers around him, but wrestling on the same PPV may just be too far this soon.

CMLL has it’s reasons for not liking Rush. These are the ones I know; there may be others.

• Rush quit CMLL directly after winning the ROH World champion in a Twitter video to promote his YouTube channel.. CMLL responded by firing Rush & Dragon Lee in a press release. Rush stopped appearing on CMLL shows four weeks earlier and both sides knew they were headed to a breakup. Rush admitted he was breaking just about every rule CMLL had and wasn’t happy there. There were ways where they could’ve parted ways amiably, but Rush instead quit in a manner trying to maximum attention at the cost of his relationship with CMLL. It’s likely CMLL still holds a grudge about all of that.
• The Rush split happened shortly after Salvador Lutteroth III replaced Sofia Alonso as the most powerful executive in CMLL. Rush claimed in CMLL he would’ve stayed if Paco Alonso had still been alive and likely if Sofia Alonso had still be there. Rush also mentioned he discussed a new contract with Salvador Lutteroth twice without coming to an agreement. I think CMLL wouldn’t give Rush what he wanted out of a new deal, but Rush publicly questioning the new leader and saying the old ones were better may have made it personal.
• Rush attempted to start a new promotion, Federation Wrestling in 2021. The promotion imploded without running a single show, but still left a scar. Rush bringing in ROH wrestlers ended CMLL’s working relationship with that promotion. (I guess it’s back tonight.) Rush and his allies also quietly worked to convince CMLL wrestlers of note to leave that promotion and join his. Rush has since denied any involvement with Federation Wrestling beyond appearing as a talent, but no one really believes him on this one. Even though no CMLL wrestler actually ended up leaving, CMLL said this as an attempted talent raid of their roster, and that makes Rush a forever enemy of the state. Reasonably, they figure the only thing stopping Rush from trying to steal talent again is finding another weird money guy to pay for it. Rush is considered a bad influence and CMLL doesn’t want bad influences around their wrestlers.
  • Latin Lover may not realize it yet, and likely doesn’t even care, but saying he’s talking to CMLL people about jumping to AAA probably means he’s forever vetoed by CMLL
  • To a lesser extent, I still think this plays into why Metalik was excommunicated from CMLL; telling CMLL wrestlers “this is how you have to wrestle if you want to make it to WWE like me” is filling brains with lots of ideas CMLL simply doesn’t want to be there for a variety of reasons
  • There’s probably a lesson in here in how careful AEW needs to be about CMLL talent and offering contracts going forward. AEW appears to have figured this out with NJPW.
  • (Disclaimer: Federation Wrestling still owns me about 25 USD.)
• The one big talking point on social media that I think is a little bit overblown is “CMLL doesn’t want Rush around because Stephanie Vaquer works there and he’s made pro-Cuatrero statements.” I’m not going to go on a witch hunt nor do I recommend you doing so, but I have no doubt there are people who Stephanie Vaquer works with on every CMLL show who believe Cuatrero’s right and she’s wrong. CMLL the promotion made a statement backing Vaquer, but I’m 100% certain there are individuals without that organization who disagree. There’s people in CMLL who’ve known Cuatrero since he was a child, who worked with him daily for years, and who will not or can not believe he could’ve done what accused off. When (if???) there’s ever a resolution to that case, that’s going to be a sad day where people learn things about their favorite Mexican wrestlers that they really didn’t want to know. I’m sure Vaquer would prefer not to be around people who voiced support for her accused attacker like Rush, but I think it’s unfortunately a thing she accustomed to at this point and I don’t think CMLL is blocking one person away from fixing it. (It would probably make her life even more annoying if this talking point ever jumped from the English to the Spanish wrestling discourse; she already gets constant harassing messages without people believing she’s blocking someone from working a wrestling show.)

Rush can talk about wanting to work with CMLL guys if AEW lets him, but it’s a lot more to repair that trust. CMLL eventually took Octagon back, so nothing is impossible. Octagon’s choices were to sue AAA (which it doesn’t seem like Rush can do) and to publicly apologize repeatedly for ever leaving CMLL. It also helped that Octagon had been gone a long time, any bad memories were faded, and he was a beloved children’s figure from the past. Rush’s path back probably would involve some public admission and apologies he may not want to make, and even then the wounds may still be too fresh.

I’m sure Rush would like to be on a PPV fighting MJF, but I’m not sure if appearing on this particular PPV is important to him. His bigger focus should be on positioning himself best for the 46 weeks a year AEW is doing their own thing, rather than 6 they’re doing Forbidden Door stuff. The match with MJF seemed to go very well, and Rush has shown he’ll deliver when AEW calls his number against a big name. He’s just going to find ways to stay relevant in AEW’s system in between those big matches.

AAA

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says they were able to confirm AAA did talk WWE. Dorian Roldan has denied it previously. The story is WWE didn’t want it out publicly, so Hugo was used to shoot it down. The WON points to Alberto’s unexplained use of the WWE trademarked “Alberto del Rio” name as additional proof there is something going on with WWE/AAA, though says it’s not a big deal at this point.

AAA on Space should have part one of Juarez fair taping. AAA has four weeks of TV taped and five weeks until Verano de Escandalo, so they will be inserting a filler episode or extending a taping for a third week at some point.

AAA on Unimas will have part one of the May Mexico City taping. They teased the Dorian/Latin/Konnan segment and Octagon Jr. multiman tag match.

Octagon Jr. makes his Japanese debut with GLEAT early Monday morning Mexico City time. That show is scheduled to stream. Dorian Roldan is also to be there to announce an agreement between AAA and GLEAT. Weird no one from GLEAT is on that TripleMania lineup right now now that I type that it; maybe that’ll be one of those many lineup changes that seem to happen with AAA. Roldan being in Japan suggests the Verano de Escandalo conference isn’t happening for a while longer. I was greatly amused by AAA reminding every of this booking in the middle of people freaking out about the Lucha Brothers being on the Forbidden Door show.

AS caught up with Dorian Roldan after the TripleMania press conference, and asked him a question about how CMLL is doing. Roldan praised the CMLL’s current success but said they’re doing something totally different that what they do in Arena Mexico, that they’re very different companies. Roldan also shared some odd sentiments: “if you come to a show, you want great matches but you want a smile and you can’t always do both.” He hopes Laredo/Riddle will be a great match and Vampiro’s farewell will probably not be. “You have to come to have fun, if you a fan who wants high quality matches, you have to go to places where you see those matches.” It’s rare for a promoter to tell fans they’d be better off going elsewhere to see good matches.

As Cult pointed out, this “smile” line is simply Roldan borrowing a WWE bit that they’ve used for years to differentiate the work they were doing compared to promotions like AEW. (Up to you if you want to use that as evidence Roldan has been talking to WWE after all.) It doesn’t hold up is if you think about for more than a second, and it’s a harder case to make in Mexican wrestling – all the promotions are intended to be places where you can safely drink and have a fun time, everyone’s putting smiles on faces. The bigger picture issue is CMLL’s changes over the last two years make it harder for AAA to pinpoint places where they’re better. In the past, AAA’s had the bigger foreign names – Roldan accurately points out AAA had the important names (of that time) from AEW first. AAA still has useful imports, but CMLL is getting the bigger ones at the moments. AAA had the edge in “dream matches” in the past, but this year’s cards aren’t really hitting that – no Vikingo takes out one avenue. AAA has solid stuff but haven’t come up with the buzz of LA Park/Rush or ended up clicking like Villano IV’s tournament this year. AAA does still have some differences, some advantages. If I was being paid to explain to people ways AAA was distnict/better than CMLL, I have some ideas I might try if I was in Roldan’s position. Some of them the stretch the truth a bit, but he’s a promoter, he’s used to that.

• “AAA is and remains the innovative force in lucha libre. Our founder was the most creative force in the history of Mexican wrestling, and AAA continues to break new ground in his spirit. The plans we have for Vampiro’s cinematic casket match will be the latest example; we’re going to try things no one else has ever tried in Mexico wrestling. We’ve come up with the six sided ring, we’ve continued to improve our presentation, and we even came up with the idea of mascot luchadors running around that our competition has since copied. Not everything is going to work, and not everything will be everyone’s tastes, but we’re always going to push the boundaries and bring out fans new concepts. We’re never going to settle for doing the same thing over and over again.”
• “AAA is the ambitious Mexican wrestling promotion. We’ve taken big shows to Japan, to the US, and explored new concepts like Lucha Underground and Luchatitlan. We were first to offer internet PPVs, we were streaming live specials with Twitch, we’ve had English commentators for years, and we’ve even tried items like shooting TripleManias in VR. We’re not afraid of new ideas; we embrace them.”
• “AAA is the lucha libre mexicana for the Mexican fan. We embrace our fans from the United States or Japan, but we’re not here just for the tourist coming to Mexico City for a weekend who hasn’t ever seem a masked person before. Our target audience are fans who came to arenas to watch La Parka when they were a child and now are bringing their children to get to see his son Karis La Momia wrestle. They’re the people who’ve followed the careers of Faby Apache, a Psycho Clown, a Pagano, a Hijo del Vikingo and they’re coming out to cheer for their favorites. There are many people who go to Arena Mexico and never even know the name of the promotion they’re watching – they just went to see ‘lucha libre’. People who come to an AAA show know they’ve been to an AAA show. That brand loyalty makes for more return visits, makes for a stronger association for our sponsors, because they all feel a tighter connection.”
• “We’re not trying to run the most shows we can. We’re trying to run the best shows possible. The atmosphere our competition has had on their best days is tough to beat, but I encourage you also to report on those other days of the week where the feeling is different. When AAA comes for a TV taping in Mexico City, as we’ve done a few times already this year, you’re going to see the best AAA has to offer. We’re always trying to make the best event for the fans.”
• “Look, you’re talking to me right now, that’s a significant difference between what we’re doing and what our competition does. I stand here and talk to the press many times a year, at press conferences like this and at other times, and answer as many questions as possible in the time I have. I know sometimes I’ll hear positive comments and sometimes not quite as positive comments, which is part of the job of being in charge of a brand people care a lot about. My impression is you, the press, are not afforded that opportunity to talk on the record with the people who run the other organization. I make our Director of Talent and Director of Creative available at these press conference; I don’t believe that’s something that’s being done at Arena Mexico. We know the fans want to be heard, through social media, live at shows and through the questions the press asks us, and we do our best to respond to their comments. We always make adjustments, made changes on what feedback we hear from the fans. We always do everything fans want us to do, they may be sometimes disappointed with our answers, but we’re the Mexican wrestling company that’ll keep an open line of communication with the people who pay for the tickets. We live among our fans, not above them.”

There are flaws with all these cases, but they’re a lot better than “they have good matches but we have put smiles on people’s faces.”

Flammer says her dream opponent for the TripleMania match would be Faby Apache. That fits with the Origenes theme (and Faby coming up with it.)

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 06/27/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Carnicero & Celta b Cosmic & Génesis
2) Hijo Del Seminarista & Kato Xtreme Jr. b Ángel Kid & Tiatnium
3) Black Dragón Ng & Shura King b Fobia & Pitbull
4) Águila Guerrera, Arceus, Drakula Ng, Príncipe Centauro, Sacro, Shamila, Xoltol b Fauno, Histeriosis, Kali, Rey Aztartoh, Súper Boy, Tornado, Vudu Max [Torneo FILL]
Fill vs Tryout
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool
sets up a title match next week

IWRG’s show didn’t stream last night due to technical issues. They say they’ll upload it Saturday. I’m not sure what takes two days to upload a file; Hector Godfrey has video of the main event already.

Other News

Big Lucha is back Saturday night. I would guess they’re streaming this but I haven’t seen them say anything specific (and streaming hasn’t gone great for them.) The card look good but my enthusiasm is not.

A bio of Destructor Xtreme, who used lucha libre to recover from dug addicition.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 06/24/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, El Sol del Puebla, Mano a Mano, Porra Fresa]
1) Astro, Asturiano, Black Tiger b El Malayo, Fénix SO, King Jaguar
2) El Audaz, Futuro, Xelhua b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Multy 
3) Guerrero Maya Jr. © b Neón [MEX MIDDLE] 
fourth defense
4) Zack Sabre Jr. b Virus 
5) Templario b Hiromu Takahashi 
6) Máscara Dorada & Místico b Rocky Romero & Taiji Ishimori 

Templario beat Takahashi is a surprise; CMLL’s booked him strong against the outsiders. Virus did get one submission victory in the three falls against Sabre but not the overall victory. This show will stream against hour 3 of AEW Forbidden Door, so 50/50 I remember to screen record it.

Neon was said not to look good in his title match. He hasn’t a lot of singles matches, but also missing the next day’s show suggests there may have been an illness or injury. Neon is scheduled to return to England to defend the RevPro Undisputed Cruiserweight Championship on Sunday against Will Kaven.

CMLL (TUE) 06/25/2024 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Aéreo, Fantasy, Galaxy b Full Metal, Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico
10:28
2) Kira, Sanely, Skadi b Hera, Metálica, Olympia
Tecnicas took 2/3. 13:38.
3) Soberano Jr. & Zandokan Jr. b Magnus & Rugido
11:37.
4) Místico b Hiromu Takahashi, Volador Jr., Zack Sabre Jr., Máscara Dorada, Taiji Ishimori, Templario, Flip Gordon, Rocky Romero, Titán, Fugaz, Star Jr., Dark Magic, Okumura [cibernetico]
31:17. Sides set by battle royal. Fugaz replaced Neon. Elimination order: Dark Magic (by Hiromu), Okumura (Star), Fugaz (Mistico), Star (ZSJ), Flip (Volador), Hiromu (Romero using the ropes), Titan (Taiji), Romero (Dorada), Dorada (Templario), Tempalrio (Volador Jr.), Volador Jr. (Taiji), Taiji (Mistico), ZSJ (Mistico) leaving Mistico as the winner. Salvador Lutteroth, Jose Luis Feliciano and Villano IV (new commissioner) presented Mistico with a trophy.

The cibernetico was good, especially down the stretch. I’m surprised the CMLL wrestlers have gotten this many wins over the NJPW guys; I would’ve wagered this was a victory for one of them to balance the scales a bit.

Whoever decided Fugaz and Dark Magic should work together must’ve wanted to see them fail (and got their wish.)

I liked the semimain but I was on a very lonely island on that one.

CMLL (TUE) 06/25/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Mas Lucha]
1) Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Rumbero b Fúnebre, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Draego & Persa b Optimus & Trono
3) Cris Skin, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr. b Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther b Bárbaro Cavernario, Canalla, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel
5) Zeuxis b Lluvia [lightning]
Zeuxis won in 12:40 (lightning matches are 15 minutes in Guadalajara for some reason)
6) Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero b Averno & Mephisto
Guerreros won cleanly after being cheated last week

They’ve kept the raised prices – not as much as last week, but still higher than they were before – and attendance was still up with nothing too special on this show. People like to go these shows right now. Referee Willy Estrada was honored a couple weeks after his passing.

Friday’s full lineup:

CMLL (FRI) 06/28/2024 Arena México
1) Chamuel, Kemalito, Micro Sagrado vs Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Tengu [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Futuro & Max Star vs Raider & Vegas
3) Lluvia, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard vs Persephone, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
4) Templario & Titán vs Star Jr. & Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Esfinge, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Averno, Euforia
6) Kyle Fletcher vs Atlantis Jr. [ROH TV]

Kyle Fletcher was originally scheduled for AAA’s TripleMania in the three way tag. He was replaced (and then replaced again) likely because he took the booking through The Crash perhaps without realizing there would be an issue, and NJPW explained to him that there’s an issue.  Fletcher ends up main eventing Arena Mexico out of it. I wish Jeff Cobb got a random CMLL main event too, can someone please work on that. The Ring of Honor World Championship has been defended three times in Mexico, but I believe this is the first time their TV title will be defended in Mexico.

Semimain has both Esfinge/Euforia and Volador/Averno. I don’t think anyone would be very happy with a Volador/Esfinge vs Averno/Euforia Aniversario main. Some of Star Jr.’s biggest mistakes have come in Ultimo Guerrero matches, so it’s odd to see them teaming.

CMLL Informa today has

• Mistico (on being Mistico)
• Atlantis Jr. (Kyle Fletcher match)
• Esfinge (Euforia?)
• Brillante Jr., Futuro (Leyenda de Plata)
• Audaz, Vegas (also maybe Leyenda de Plata but Block B?)
• Hera & Olympia (CMLL Pekes?)

Crime reporter (and now reoccurring figure in this blog) Carlos Jimenez posted photos of a satanic altar set up in the apartment of some drug traffickers. They were all recently arrested, and the photos of this set up got out. Jimenez pointed out their satanic items included a KeMalito doll. I didn’t notice it at first, but it also appears there’s a Taurus mask hanging on the wall. Jimenez’s point (?) was neither the devil nor KeMalito prevented them from getting arrested.

Mistico is on the cover of Box y Lucha 3609. Mistico joined charity SimiMETI. It got lost in the FantastcaMania talk, but Mistico’s MLW Middleweight Championship defense against Star Jr. aired on MLW’s YouTube channel this past weekend.

AEW

Titan teams with Himou Takahashi and Shingo Takagi against Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta on Dynamite tonight. That’s a match set to build Takagi/Danielson (on commentary) and Moxley/Naito (will arrive fashionably late.)

Stephaine Vaquer will wrestle Lady Frost on Saturday’s AEW Collision (which will be taped immediately after Dynamite. ) Vaquer and Frost have wrestled in CMLL, and Frost is there to lose to people who are getting pushed, so that always seemed the most logical first opponet.

Hechicero is probably showing up on one of these shows. MJF has a promo on Wednesday, so that’s the most likely time.

There’s still no announcement about that last person in the TNT title ladder match (or if it’ll involve a CMLL person.) Mistico and Atlantis Jr. being on Informa means they’re probably not involved in that match and are less likely to be on Forbidden Door.

Penta addressed his contract situation on Lalo Elizarrarás (Tlaloc!)’s “Comiendo Carnitas” YouTube interview show. Fightful has a translated transcript of the relevant parts. Penta confirms his contract comes up in the August/September range, but says he didn’t know that until Lucha Libre Online report about his impending free agency – he had to check with his agent to see if it was true. Penta says he didn’t put out that story. He says he’d look at deal from WWE but hasn’t talked to them yet (and legally can not.) Penta feels the next contract he signs is probably the last big one and he has a lot of people who rely on him, so he’s going to look at everything, but there’s nothing he can look at right now.

AAA

AAA announced the preliminary lineup for TripleMania Mexico City. As often with first TripleMania card announcements, it’s full of TBA spots. This is by design, they want to have more stuff to announce later on.

AAA TV (SAT) 08/17/2024 Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Azcapotzalco, Distrito Federal
1) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 [Copa Bardahl]
2) Flammer © vs ? [AAA REINAS]
3) Laredo Kid vs Matt Riddle
4) Negro Casas & Psycho Clown © vs Dr. Wagner Jr. & Galeno del Mal and Raj Dhesi & Satnam Singh [AAA TAG]
5) Vampiro Canadiense vs ? [casket]
6) Nic Nemeth © vs El Patrón Alberto [AAA MEGA]
7) Dark Cuervo vs Dark Ozz, Cibernético, El Fiscal, Abismo Negro Jr., Psicosis II, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 [dome cage, hair, mask, cage]

Part of the issue with the TBAs is the 08/02 Verano de Escandalo card still has to both be announced and actually happen. Match 7 will feature two more teams, to be set on that Verano de Escandalo show. Flammer’s opponent will be set from an elimination match at Verano de Escandalo. Copa Bardahl is back to being a Royal Rumble of surprise names, some from the past and some from current roster. Those names probably will be surprises on the day of the show. There was no indication of when Vampiro’s opponent will be announced.

Los Apostoles del Mesias (Mesias, Espiritu, Escoria) would make sense for the cage match based on feuding with Cibernetico, but Espiritu has no hair and Escoria lost his in a match earlier this year. Psycho Circus also fought with Los Vipers on the most recent AAA TV taping. Carlos Garica on Twitter suggested Sam Adonis, QT Marshall, and Parker Boudreaux as a unit for the cage match. That didn’t occur to me because those guys have been isolated from the rest of the rudos. It would still be very strange to feature them on two straight PPVs without them being in the third.

Mexican wrestling cages matches are both universally awful and seems to be a gimmick that draws, especially in Mexico City. The dome cage match is worse – it’s tough to climb out, it’s hard to do teases of climbing out – but it’s also a novelty the fans rarely see and so it’s probably even more of a draw. That match will be a whole lot of nothing for a long time and it doesn’t matter much. AAA’s had discussions about Psicosis II losing his mask previously; I think fans will expect someone like Cuervo to lost their hair as the least painful option, and Psicosis being unmasked would be seen as overdelivering to close the show.

Alberto had an extraneous line in his promo on TV this Saturday about “passing the tests.” My theory from the start of the year was Alberto would end up as champion in Mexico City as long as AAA felt like he proved trustworthy the rest of the year. Vikingo getting hurt through a monkey wrench into it. AAA seems to have opted to just make Nemeth a missing in action champion over giving the Alberto this title before they were confident in doing so. It’s made for a boring title year but it was probably the safer option (if those were the only two options.) Alberto has stayed out of negative headline. He’s also shown little to be excited about in the ring. It doesn’t matter, he’s not going to lose twice, and he’ll be going on talk shows with the belt.

(Alberto also continued to refer to himself as Alberto del Rio, and AAA did as well. No one seemed to ask what that was all about.)

Vampiro’s match will be a cinematic match. That pre-taped and edited match fell out of style as soon as fans were back in buildings post pandemic. It’s likely going to be AAA & Vampiro trying to do their version of a Lucha Underground skit; I’ll be pleasantly surprised if it comes anywhere near the mark instead of feeling like an MLW angle. The more likely positive outcome is it’s so hokey it becomes amusing. Being cinematic opens up possibilities in opponents: Mesias fits as a historical opponent, but maybe they could edit one last Vampiro/Konnan match together. Maybe Pagano will be healthy enough to be part of it. Maybe Vampiro could fight a fake Sting. Maybe Vampiro could fight Vampiro. (Vampiro did acknowledge it won’t be Penta.) The opponent wasn’t focused on as a mystery or reveal to come, so maybe I’m thinking it incorrectly as a match. Roldan later remarked that if this match went the way they hoped, it could open up new possibilities for the promotion going forward.  the post show Q&A, Latin Lover mentioned there will be various wrestlers and celebrities’ there to see Vampiro off. Vampiro said he’d still be working wrestling companies around the world in various roles after he retires, and Roldan suggested Vampiro would have a backstage role waiting for him in AAA.

AAA previous announced Vampiro’s match on TripleMania Mexico City would be his final match ever. The graphic now lists Vampiro as his final match in Mexico City. Vampiro himself talked about it being his last match in the press conference. That booking he has in Xalapa later in August and the wording on the graphic sure seems like’s not retiring in Mexico City and likely instead wrestling for rest of 2024. AAA’s had the big show in Guadalajara the last few years, Vampiro has history there. The typical sequence here is AAA lets people believe Vampiro’s final match in Mexico City, people get upset when they realize he’s still wrestling, and AAA gets mock upset about people getting upset. It’d be nice if that could be handled differently once.

Raj Dhesi is former WWE star Jinder Mahal. My knowledge of Mahal is he wasn’t much over even when WWE desperately wanted him to me, and he wasn’t much good at wrestling either. There seems like there’s some post-WWE revision of his his career that he’s was actually good, but I never saw it in him. Dhesi is of Indian descent, so he’s here to team with Santam. Wagners versus Casas straight for the tag team titles would be a stronger match on it’s own, though it’s certainty a match you’d only see in AAA. Singh has won both his previous matches.

Laredo Kid versus Matt Riddle is there to be the great match on the card. Hopefully it will be. I haven’t watched the fan cam of the Wagner match, but Riddle hasn’t impressed me as being great when I’ve seen him on the NJPW US shows. I’d really like to see Laredo Kid win and I’m sure that’s not going to happen; Riddle getting a win and getting next in line to face Alberto seems more fitting for AAA>

(It seems to makes no sense for Wagner3 to beat Riddle last Saturday on their TV taping when Riddle is on TripleMania and Wagner is not. Wagner may have NOAH obligations, he may have even told AAA he couldn’t lose, but why did AAA book that match anyway? Why not book Riddle literally against anyone else he could’ve beat?)

AAA Reina de Reinas matches by year
2021: Faby Apache versus guest star Deonna Purrazo
2022: Taya versus guest star Kamille
2023: Flammer versus guest star Taya

The pattern has been to bring in a foreigner to face a Mexican woman on this show. Perhaps AAA didn’t want to spring for one this year with the other people in there, but there’s no one really built up in AAA as a challenger either. AAA also announced Flammer & Abismo Negro will defend the mixed tag team championship on that Verano de Escandalo show, but no challengers will be announced there.

I’ve been thinking AAA has done a good job with Octagon Jr., picking him as a young star to get behind and get some wins. There’s no spot for him on TripleMania Mexico City show unless he’s in Copa Bardahl, a match where the older wrestler cameos are going to be the real stars. The fans are going to want to one of the older wrestlers to win and they should.

AAA says the show pre-show will start at 7:30 and the actual show at 8:00 pm. It’ll probably be another four hour one.

This is a card that feels much more like a TripleMania than any of the other shows. They’re giving a hair or mask in the main event. They’re doing some bizarre matches. They may have an utter disaster in the cinematic match, the type that people who like to watch AAA for it being terrible will enjoy. They’ll have more of the old names in the opener. This’ll come close enough to satisfying their audience that there will be fewer complaints about the show on social media. It’ll also like be good enough for the group that watches TripleMania for laughs (and probably doesn’t pay for it.) If you’re an international viewer looking for one of the best matches or shows of the year, it’s probably still not that.

The post interview Q&A included Dorian Roldan, when addressing the Televisa story again, mentioned AAA would announce the media partners they’re working with for TripleMania at the next press conference. Maybe that’s a story. That next press conference will be the first week of August (after Verano de Escandalo.) Roldan was asked about a hall of fame induction or tribute, and he implied that would be revealed at that press conference. An interviewer pushed for the idea of a Psycho/Alberto match should Alberto win and they both were OK with it. Roldan teased it might happen later this year but there’s a lot more to go before they get there.

Latin Lover did a scrum after the show. He said the first week on the show was great, everyone was congratulating and welcoming him. The second week everyone started telling him their problems with AAA, their fears about keep a job, and complaints about not getting a work. (In an earlier Q&A, Latin says his new job is much harder than actually wrestling.) Latin’s talked to every wrestler and they worked on creating stories for all the wrestlers. Some stories will start at Verano de Escandalo, some stories will start at TripleMania and a few people will actually not get stories. Those people will be free to leave if they want to find work elsewhere, and be welcomed back later on if they choose to return. Latin insists he’s not wrestling – he notes he gets a good reaction when he runs-in and simply can’t listen to the foreigners belittle Mexicans, but he has no plans of wrestling. Latin did not seem to know Satnam or Raj’s names, mentioned they’ve already sent in videos, and seemed to believe they were actually living in India and could one day bring in AAA wrestlers to work in their promotion.

On the WWE story, Dorian Roldan said he remains open to talking to anyone but felt that was a case of people making assumptions about things that didn’t and haven’t happened yet. He says AAA – or at least him – have not had any conversations with WWE. Alberto seemed to contradict, saying that AAA was opening doors to companies they never thought would work with them, “and you know exactly which company I’m talking about.” Alberto teasing something happening with WWE never ends.

Mas Lucha also posted their usual set of interviews from the AAA Mexico City taping on Tuesday as well. Hijo del Dr. Wagner, when asked about main eventing this show, remembered that he was one a rookie who opened the show in a singles match with Centvrion. I did not remember that. Wagner’s asked about his status with AAA and says he’s under contract with NOAH through January 2nd, he knows he’ll have lots of options, and will wait until closer to that date to make any decision. He’d like to wrestle in Mexico for a couple years but seems to feel he’ll probably end up wrestling outside of Mexico. Wagner is happy his brother Galeno del Mal will joining him in NOAH and that sounds like it may be more than one match. Wagner says he was asked on social media why he didn’t go to CMLL. Wagner says he knows CMLL well, started there, knows every hallway and room, but he returned to AAA for one reason – one day he wants to give his father Psycho Clown’s mask. He can’t finish with AAA until he’s done that. (He also suggests there may be political reasons.)

Octagon Jr. hopes his upcoming trip to GLEAT is the first of many.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 06/27/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Cosmic & Génesis vs Carnicero & Celta
2) Ángel Kid & Tiatnium vs Hijo Del Seminarista & Kato Xtreme Jr.
3) Fobia & Pitbull vs Black Dragón Ng & Shura King
4) Fauno, Histeriosis, Kali, Rey Aztartoh, Súper Boy, Tornado, Vudu Max vs Águila Guerrera, Arceus, Drakula Ng, Príncipe Centauro, Sacro, Shamila, Xoltol [Torneo FILL]
Fill vs Tryout
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. vs Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool

This is a Torneo FILL show, though the concept – wrestlers who came into IWRG from the 2024 Tryout versus wrestlers who came in from the school – is not the strongest concept. The old bit here was to bring in an outside school so their friends and families would all buy tickets to see them wrestle in an important building like Arena Naucalpan. It doesn’t quite work when it’s two teams that are there all the time. It is a low cost show with the Pigs and Pandemia headlining.

Other News

Sonoran luchador Javi Cortez will have his retirement match Saturday.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 06/21/2024 Arena México [El Universal, ESTO (Mistico), ESTO (Moné), Record]
***FantasticaMania Mexico 2024***
1) Futuro, Max Star, Vegas b Astro Boy Jr., Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II   
7:20
2) Magnus & Rugido b Bad Dude Tito & Che Cabrera   
8:21
3) Stephanie Vaquer © b La Catalina [NJPW STRONG WOMEN]  
14:09. Fourth defense when announced. Mercedes Moné confronted Vaquer after the match; the two fought and were pulled apart.
4) Rocky Romero & Taiji Ishimori b Máscara Dorada & Templario [Relevos Increíbles] 
14:25. Ishimori snuck in a foul on Templario. (Edgar seemed to blow a count on a Dorada SSP to Romero prior.)
5) Michael Oku & Zack Sabre Jr. b Averno & Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]  
11:58. Both teams had issues, though it only ultimately cost Averno & Volador. Averno belittled Volador after the match.
6) Místico b Hiromu Takahashi   
23:26. Mistico entered to Me Muero; fans sang along even after the music stopped. Gabriel Pereyra, a soccer player in 2006 (and a coach now) who put on Mistico’s mask as a goal celebration until the practice got banned appeared as the celebrity Mistico fan. Mistico thanked his family, his trainers, the Lutteroths, and Jose Luis Feliciano for designing the mask. Mistico cleanly won with La Mistica, surviving the family, then again thanked the fans and the people of CMLL.

An excellent show. Everything was as good or better than it looked on paper. Much more importantly, the main event and everything around it came off as a special moment. The Arena Mexico crowd was as behind Mistico as they ever have been. The main event could’ve done really well just being a “greatest hits” exhibition, and they went for an epic back and forth match instead – they tried to make people believe Mistico might actually lose this one. Of course he didn’t, of course he finally got La Mistica at the end. It was the most predictable thing possible and they were thrilled with it being predictable, in getting to see what they wanted to see.

The big miss was the audio during Mistico’s introduction. The streamed audio was solely the Me Muero audio, with the fans muted. It didn’t appear to be a copyright issue, it was just someone hitting the wrong buttons at the wrong time. CMLL fixed it in the highlight package the posted for the match (which is why the “highlight” package goes nearly ten minutes.) Audio issues on television are ever present in CMLL and Mexican wrestling in general. It’s an obvious place for big improvement. There are many things that I’ve written about today that I would be going on long angry rants about on different times or previous years, because they’re dumb unforced errors, and today I’m just feeling exasperated and resigned about them. CMLL messing up what should’ve been the highpoint of the night because the audio tech didn’t push the right button coming out of the video package is one of them.

(Weirdly, CMLL also used a version of the song from Natalia Jimenez’s 20 year celebration, instead of the original from when she was part of La Quinta Estacion. It was slightly different; I thought she may have been doing a live performance for a moment. Not sure if the version an artistic choice for the 20 year symmetry or a copyright issue.)

(I didn’t appreciate in the moment, but the CMLL screen split in two parts to form a new entrance just for Mistico in that moment. That was a really nice production touch I wouldn’t have expected from CMLL.)

The Mercedes Moné appearance was the second biggest moment of the show, but the match behind it was worth remembering. It was the best Catalina match in CMLL where she was carrying the action (and not just getting pulverized and surviving.) She came across as more effective and focus; the story going in was Vaquer and Zeuxis didn’t think she was a serious fighter, and Catalina got the “win” of proving she was a serious fighter even if she didn’t actually win the match. That’s the last of La Catalina for a moment. She underwent surgery on Saturday. Catalina revealed, both on IG and Twitter, that she had been dealing with an painful cist the size of an ovary. (Others translated this as a cist ON her ovary; I’m not sure if I’ve got it right.) She pushed through to work the match anyway and got it removed Saturday morning. Catalina thanked her doctor and CMLL for helping her and says she’ll be back in a few weeks.

CMLL doesn’t release or reveal numbers of their YouTube paid subscribers, so all we can do is rely on guesses and discussion. My guess, based on the anecdotal evidence, is CMLL saw a Aniversario like surge in Fan Leyenda memberships on Friday night. Mercedes Moné drove a lot of interest from outside of Mexico, Mistico and the outside names drove a lot of interest inside of Mexico. Surely not all of those people paid – maybe not even most of them! – but CMLL got 35 USD from a chunk of people just to see Moné mess with Stephanie Vaquer. Mercedes hinted heavily she plans on wrestling in Arena Mexico at some point, which would do as well. Aniversario makes sense, but saving her to draw fans for a show in women’s wrestling month of October could make a bigger impact. The hold up there is figuring out a finish when Moné’s probably going to be holding AEW and NJPW title belts and neither are going to want her take a loss. (It’s not out of the question that CMLL simply brings in Moné to beat Vaquer again.)

The Averno/Volador team up was an angle setup, as I guessed when that was announced. There were no hair/hair challenges for Aniversario, but that match seems in play for that show. Romero/Ishimori versus Dorada/Templario was great until the air got sucked out of in the messed up three count. (Edgar should’ve counted three, held up, Rocky talked to Edgar from the mat, and Edgar just sort waved Romero out of the ring as if he had counted three all along.) Templario’s outstanding no matter how they use him. Magnus/Rugido versus the Zaddy Daddys was the one match that got shorted on time, though the show still ended up going long for them. The opener was much better than it seemed like it was going to be. My assumption is the Karontes knew how much this show meant, and there was a little more preparation because it was a Friday night show anyway.

A event with the kind of buzz Fantastica Mania got is exactly what AAA needed to get people watching that Unimas show. No one outside of Unimas and maybe AAA knows how many people are actually watching that show, but it would obviously be better to have something like Friday (a lot of people talking about a promotion) than what happened Saturday (no one talking about a promotion.) Maybe AAA didn’t know when that TV was coming but it’s the hidden cost of that TripleMania Tijuana being a nothing show. The other side of it is CMLL kind of lacked that next big moment that people who saw or heard about this great CMLL moment to jump on; they don’t have their equivalent of a Unimas to promote. They have the Aniversario, but that’s months away with nothing announced. Mercedes seems to be returning, but there was no date for that. Kyle Fletcher/Atlantis Jr. will be a good match but not so compelling. (The CMLL push back might be that they’ve now had a few of these moments this year and they seem to be doing OK, don’t worry about it.)

CMLL (SAT) 06/22/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado b Átomo, Chamuel, Kemalito
11:53.
2) Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider b Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma
17:38.
3) Kira, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard b Hera, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
10:52
4) Ángel de Oro TLDRAW Rocky Romero [lightning]
Angel de Oro escaped la caballo and had Romero in la campana when time ran out. Oro asked for five more minutes but the commission said no (they always say no)
5) Hechicero b Zack Sabre Jr.
19:09. Hechicero had his foot hooked under the ropes on the winning cradle. The two talked about doing a third match but didn’t agree on where it should be held.
6) Místico & Taiji Ishimori b Hiromu Takahashi & Volador Jr.
10:47. Ishimori’s left (?) shoulder went out on a handspring in the third fall. Mistico finished it himself, getting La Misticas on both Volador & Takahashi. Mistico went back and forth post match with the rudos post match, with Takahashi claiming he’d accept a mask vs hair match for the Aniversario. (This is not happening.) Stream was cut while Mistico was doing a second post match promo.

If I translated it correctly, Miguel Linares Jr. said after the finish: “He had the ropes, but what an insignificant detail.” That’s how I felt watching; it was a “dirty” win but not a comprised won. Hechicero just outsmarted Zack Sabre Jr. at the end. Neither man played it up as a point of contention, Sabre just looked more flabbergasted that he got beat. The match lived up to being a dream match, helped by a very strong pro-Hechicero crowd that treated him like he was Mistico on this night. (The people who write in Facebook comments saying they want more Hechicero did show up for him.) This match is probably going to end up in my top 10 best matches of the year; one of my favorites too.

The main event wasn’t really in a high gear even before the injury. Mistico did a lot after the match seemingly to make up for it going short, but it was also clearly driving the CMLL people mad for going so long. (The ZSJ/Hechicero post match also went long.) Angel de Oro/Rocky Romero was good. Women’s match wasn’t really notable. (People who don’t follow CMLL often are surprised about Vaquer losing to Tessa, but everyone loses to everyone a lot in CMLL; it’s booked more like baseball than US wrestling.) Espanto went after Stigma hard at the end of their match and I dunno what that was about. Announcers seemed to say Raider was in Ola Negra, but he kept out separate and wasn’t doing the gangster look they do. Kemalito got shaken up taking a powerbomb; powerbomb seemed normal but he just didn’t know how to take it. Training is an issue, but there’s also a bunch of spots that the Micro Gemelos do that no one else in that division is used to dealing with. It’s not the right time at the moment but I think those guys might have been better off being opponents than partners.

The initial word was Ishimori’s injury wasn’t too serious and might just keep him out a couple of days. He made his match on Sunday.

Sunday night’s Wrestling Observer Radio saw or heard about Hiromi accepting Mistico’s challenge for an apuesta match and reported as happening. It’s not happening. Mistico beat Hiromu cleanly two nights in a row, they did on a Saturday, they did it after the third fall got cut off early due to injury – all of those were really clear signs they were just goofing around. If Mistico is going to have a major apuesta match in CMLL, they’re going to make the challenge on a Friday night and someone is going to have to had beat him first so there’s a real reason he wants revenge. The next result down has Mistico challenging Magnus match again – that one isn’t happening either. If Magnus one day fouls Mistico and then actually beats him, we’ll talk. If Hirmou beats Mistico, we’ll talk. If Bryan Danielson shows back up and beats Mistico, we’ll have that conversation. Until someone actually beats Mistico, these are not real conversations to have. I could not believe my ears listening to that podcast this morning, both Dave and Bryan know CMLL better than that, it was ridiculous.

CMLL (SUN) 06/23/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito b Angelito, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito
2) El Coyote, Kráneo, Okumura b El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr.
3) Sanely & Tessa Blanchard b Olympia & Persephone
4) Averno b Rocky Romero
Averno snuck in a foul to win
5) Hijo del Villano III, Taiji Ishimori, Villano III Jr. b Hiromu Takahashi, Magia Blanca, Rugido
6) Máscara Dorada & Místico DQ Magnus & Zack Sabre Jr.
Straight falls. Magnus unmasked Mistico in the second fall. Mistico is back to challenging Magnus to a mask match.

Mistico’s just trying to keep the buzz of this weekend going; I don’t think they set up the main event of the Aniversario on a Sunday show.

Today’s Arena Puebla show has ZSJ/Virus, Tempalrio/Takahashi and Dorada/Mistico vs Romero/Ishimori among matches to air on TV. Maya/Neon is also scheduled. I may be sneaking these shows up on my old Dailymotion account until someone notices.

CMLL (TUE) 06/25/2024 Arena México
1) Aéreo, Fantasy, Galaxy vs Full Metal, Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico
2) Kira, Sanely, Skadi vs Hera, Metálica, Olympia
3) Magnus & Rugido vs Soberano Jr. & Zandokan Jr.
4) Místico vs Hiromu Takahashi, Volador Jr., Zack Sabre Jr., Máscara Dorada, Taiji Ishimori, Templario, Flip Gordon, Rocky Romero, Titán, Neón, Star Jr., Dark Magic, Okumura [cibernetico]

The cibernetico was announced earlier. Who’s in charge of explaining how the battle royal works to Zack Sabre Jr.? Can they film it and put it on line? It can’t be Flip doing it, ZSJ will understandably just think it’s another “the earth is flat” theory. It is odd to see Star Jr. and Neon in that match and Soberano not be in the match. Romero talked about paying a fine; Soberano appears to still be paying his.

The Friday lineup continues to come out later than usual. CMLL has revealed one match. Atlantis Jr. showed up on ROH TV on Thursday to challenge the winner of Kyle Fletcher and Lee Johnson to defend the ROH TV Championship in Arena Mexico. Fletcher won, then popped up in a video on Friday’s Arena Mexico show accepting the challenge for next week.

As I wrote Friday, I expect Atlantis Jr. to win that match. I don’t think it’s a “CMLL demands a win” thing; CMLL seems pretty thrilled just to get these foreigners in and to be associated with all these different promotions. I think the wins/losses mean a lot to the fans – like the fans would’ve gone nuts of Hechicero lost on Saturday – but I’m certain CMLL’s not as bothered. I believe Atlantis Jr. is winning because it’s good booking – it gives the CMLL people a meaningful win (something needed more for AEW) and it helps with future plans. Ring of Honor has a PPV coming up on July 26, they need matches for that show, and Fletcher getting a rematch against Atlantis Jr. checks one match off the to do list. Ring of Honor will be taping a lot of TV in Arlington Texas over the next couple of months, they probably should try to have some Mexican stars, Atlantis Jr. being in the mix helps with that agenda item as well.

There was loud criticism from Mexican fans about the quality of the mask Ultimo Guerrero wore on AEW Collision; it made the news and is something of an international incident. Ultimo Guerrero took to Facebook to defend the situation. He says wasn’t aware AEW would need him in a mask, so he didn’t bring one and feels the AEW employee who worked very hard to make a mask in an hour deserves credit for doing it as well as he did. Guerrero wants it clear he was very appreciative of the work that person did for him, that the people behind the scenes in wrestling don’t get enough credit for their hard work in general, and that he was going to keep that mask with pride. That last part came up in Mistico’s thank yous on Friday, taking time to appreciate all the people who work in Arena Mexico to make the shows happen.

(Ultimo Guerrero does still wear his mask to start the match for some FantasticaMania appearances. Other unmasked wrestlers will do that from time to time. Often, it’s done because the wrestler has already made a deal to sell that mask to a collector later on. Wearing the mask, even just for a few moments, makes it game worn – it creates a photo opportunity of the luchador wearing the mask in the ring as proof it’s not just a mask off the street. Selling used gear is an important revenue stream for star Mexican luchadors. If UG was working a familiar place or promotion, he might have had a deal done before getting on the plane, or he might have just brought one on the odds he could make a sale later on. AEW was an unfamiliar promotion, it’s possible Ultimo Guerrero didn’t even know there was an “Allentown” before he had to get there, so I’m sure he thought there was no point to even throw a mask in his bag.)

The Matt Menard/Hechicero match turned out go poorly either, but there was no mask story so it didn’t blow up. Mexican fans aren’t watching AEW in great numbers – if it wasn’t for screen shots of the iffy mask, not sure most of them would’ve been aware it happened. CMLL’s social media team didn’t watch; the AEW photos they posted including a front superplex spot that was cut out of the show. (I haven’t watched the match; I didn’t see the point in watching something I wasn’t going to be so disappointed by.)

AEW tapes both Dynamite and Collision in Buffalo on Wednesday. No CMLL wrestlers have been announced or hinted at yet. It still seems a safe bet Hechicero and Stephanie Vaquer will be there to hype their PPV match. (Vaquer getting a win on Collision would make sense.) I do not have any information about other CMLL wrestlers appearing on Forbidden Door, but I would suppose anyone appearing on that show will be there.

AAA

Results from Saturday’s taping:

AAA TV (SAT) 06/22/2024 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [AAA, AS, Luigirocker, Mas Lucha]
1) Adelicious, Bengala, Jessy Queen, Nobu San b Bengala, Black Andrómeda, Chik Tormenta, Pathfinder
A debuting Path Finder and Bengala were added to the match. AAA debut of Black Andromeda, a Guatemalan exotico seen in Big Lucha (and this year’s tryouts.) Nobu San is Check Shimatani (they used his real first name.) Tormenta beat Adelicious.
2) Abismo Negro Jr., El Fiscal, Taurus b Aerostar, Brazo De Oro Jr., Karis La Momia Jr.
Vipers won despite Fiscal and Abismo having problems. Fiscal seemed out of the group in some of the many Viper segments on this show, though he was back in the end. The Vipers later confronted Latin Lover, and said they didn’t trust him or Konnan. Psicosis had to be held back from fighting Latin Lover. Hijo del Tirantes and Latin Lover got into a dance off after this.
3) Octagón Jr. © b Drago, Dinámico, Galeno del Mal [AAA LA]
billed as a #1 contenders match for the cruiserweight title, turned into a Octagon Jr. title defense with Galeno del Mal (not a cruiserweight) added. Fifth defense, fourth on TV. Mesias, Scoria and Espiritu, now calling themselves Los Apostoles del Mesias, attacked Octagon after the match. That attack led into the new match
4) Cibernético & Dark Cuervo b Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu, El Mesías
Leading straight into the match helped disguise that Ozz didn’t show up. Cibernetico’s team won despite the numbers disadvantage. Cibernetico beat Mesias, returning the result from Tijuana. Los Vipers attacked Cuervo and Cibernetico after the match, still upset Cibernetico betrayed them at the start of the year.
5) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown b Alan Stone, Scorpió Jr. (original), Zumbido
Alan Stone was the mystery wrestler (and not Decnnis, who had said he’d be on this show earlier in the week.) Stone used his Desvelado theme and AAA used old audio clips of Arturo Rivera singing along and talking over, as he used to do when Los Guapos were around. Guapito was with Los Guapos. The Vipers, making their fourht appearance of the night, attacked Los Psycho Circus after the match and took Psycho’s mask.
6) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Matt Riddle 
Wagner won with some help from Galeno, a foul and a Wagner Driver.

I’m not complaining, this is not a complaint: I’m curious why there were match by match recaps of this AAA show when there has not been for any other AAA Mexico City taping this year. Makes my life so much easier.

“The Vipers run wild for a TV taping” seems to be a yearly tradition with AAA. The same general thing happened on the dire October taping in San Luis Potosi. I’m sure AAA is sincere about pushing them, just as they’re sincere about doing something with every young flying wrestler. The foreigners, NGD and others will show up for the next month of tapings, AAA will go with those guys instead, and the Vipers will be back to middle of the card goon squad until the foreigners disappear again. There’s no follow through, there’s always a belief that these guys aren’t the ones they can trust on a big show, and they layout the shows to keep it through. Luigirocker, in the video linked above, had a theory that maybe this is all going to a multi-group cage match at TripleMania. That certainly fits, but I don’t know if AAA’s going to make sense.

The Alan Stone/Arturo Rivera bit got a big reaction, both live and on social media. Adding voice bits from Rivera singing along and talking over it was really effective in making it feel a much bigger moment than just (usual midcarder) Alan Stone returning.

The title match switch for the Octagon Jr. match was late enough that AAA’s social media still was posting that it was for the cruiserweight title shot as the show was going on. It may have just been that they wanted to put Galeno in the match, it couldn’t make sense as a Crusierweight Title match, and they can just give Octagon the match with Komander if they’d like. Or maybe it means Komander’s not coming back as soon as AAA thought. Not sure. The Mesias post match bit reads like they’re not really going to a Mesias/Octagon match, but just needed to make things happen to distract from Ozz not being there. I’m very uncertain who the tecnico is in the Cibernetico/Mesias feud, but they’ve split both matches now so we’ll endure a third one at TripleMania.

The original Pathfinder was an attempt at a high flying ace with a very Jyshin Lyger look. It didn’t work out, for unexplained AAA reasons, and he ended up being reintroduced as Dark Ozz. (Odd timing for Ozz to miss this show.) AAA has given the suit to other people for short periods of time but it hasn’t stuck. Noisy Boy would’ve made a lot of sense for the newest Path Finder but he was actually in the match.

Attendance looked around the same number as the previous Mexico City tapings. Maybe like 95% instead of 100%. This June Gimansio Juan de la Barrera stop appeared to be added because the previous ones had done so well, and AAA was well rewarded to run it again. The risk in running Mexico City this often is people will be less likely to show up for TripleMania Mexico City as well. I don’t see it as an issue unless the lineup is even weaker than Tijuana, and I don’t expect that to happen.

AS’s recap of the main event mentions AAA will announce TripleMania Mexico City’s lineup Tuesday at the Azcapotzalco’s mayor office. AAA hasn’t officially announced anything yet.

This is nothing about nothing but I was at the NJPW Windy City Riot show back in April where Riddle lost to ZSJ and Riddle had an air of “I’m done in NJPW after this one.” Other people picked up on it too, figured that was Riddle’s final NJPW appearance for now because of stuff other stuff that happened while he was champion. Reports came out reputing that belief, saying Riddle had more scheduled dates. Riddle has since not appeared in the G1 field and worked an actual AAA show. I’m not trying to dispute the reporting but, if Riddle did still have some NJPW connection, that seems done and dusted by now. AAA just saw a bunch of people pull off of an AAA show to not offend NJPW, and this guy Riddle was unconcerned enough to work an AAA show anyway. I don’t think anyone but me is still thinking about Riddle & NJPW as a pairing but it just struck me seeing him in that AAA ring that it must be over.

Ozz also missed a Friday night spot show in Xalapa. Alberto beat LA Park and Chessman (Ozz’s replacement in the main event.) That show, promoted by Hijo del Tirantes’ group, was said to sell out. Their next show is said to be on 08/30 with Vampiro, Penta and Pimpinela. 08/30 is after TripleMania Mexico City, which has been billed as Vampiro’s last match. Maybe he’ll appear in Xalapa in a non-wrestling role.

Saturday’s Space TV episode did something that can not happen on a professional TV show – but also it happens every few months with AAA. AAA aired a post-match celebration with Komander, Octagon and Laredo talking about winning the Copa Bardahl. Then, after a commercial break and a Mr. Iguana video, they aired the actual Copa Bardahl. The editor didn’t put the videos in the right order, and no one checked to see if the editor did it right before putting on the air. Not the first time, not the last time with AAA, but still unusual enough it feels wroth mentioning. Perhaps they’ll fix it before it goes on YouTube next week. (The Unimas version includes no vignettes, so that problem can’t happen there.)

Edit: I’m totally wrong. I forgot it was team The Crash who won that three way. Even AAA is not going tape a skit where the wrong guys talk about the match. They aired it in the correct order, it was the three AAA guys talking about how they’re GOING TO win the match, not how they did win the match. I can’t believe I didn’t get called out on this but I had it wrong.

AAA aired the entire rest of TripleMania Tijuana on that show, so they’ll be off to Ciudad Juarez starting next week. There were three other notable skits on the show

• Alberto declared that he had passed the tests and he would get a title rematch with Nic Nemeth in Mexico City. Alberto ends by saying the title belongs to Mexico, and belongs to “Alberto del Rio, el Patron”, specifically using that WWE name.
  • that got me to check the Mexico trademark search to see if there’s any movement; WWE still owns that name
• Nino Hamburguesa says there’s a locker room rumor that La Hiedra may be seeing someone besides Mr. Iguana, who can’t seem to get a hold of her. Yeska confirms the story.
• Konnan and Latin Lover chatted after the show. Latin Lover was gently critical of Konnan’s harsh comments towards people, including The Crash folks at the start of the show. Konnan explains as being the result of disagreements between them and AAA in the time Latin Lover’s gone, but he put it aside to do business. Konnan is gently critical of Latin Lover – he got physically involved both in Tijuana and Juarez, which is not correct for a Director of Talent. Latin Lover says it hurts him as a Mexican to see foreigners come in and speak bad about the Mexican people and he felt he had to do something but agrees he should be staying out of a director. Konnan notes that while he was with the foreigners for many years, he’s staying out of now, and compares his passion about The Crash to Latin’s about the foreigners. They both agree to put it beyond them and agree to continue to work together.

AAA did put up the live version of TripleMania Tijuana a week after it aired. This version doesn’t include those vignettes. They’ve always kind of done this, putting up the portion that airs on Space a week later. The change this is year is they’ve put up the entire shows that quickly, including the portion that doesn’t air on Mexico and only on Triller live. I think a promotion can get away with this when there’s something that you must see live not to miss but that Tijuana card had nothing along those lines. You really don’t need to see it even now.

AAA’s booking certainly comes off as if Latin Lover is going to end up wrestling the foreigners in Mexico City. We’ll know in tomorrow.

The “AAA & NXT” story is weird. Order of events:

• Thursday, Lucha Libre Online reports they’ve heard WWE is looking to partner with promotions in Puerto Rico and Mexico in a similar fashion that they’ve partnered with NOAH and Marigold in Japan.
  • Everyone immediately understands “a partner promotion Mexico” as implicitly meaning “AAA”, as CMLL is with AEW/NJPW and anyone else would be a giant step down.
• Later Thursday, Planeta Wrestling says their owner has been told in meetings that it’s AAA in Mexico and WWC in Puerto Rico. They also promise a more detailed story on the situation later.
• Friday morning, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter references the Lucha Libre Online report and adds on that Dorian Roldan has been talking to NXT.
• Lucha Libre Online points out the Planeta Wrestling and WON reports, saying it confirms their own reporting.
• Later Friday morning, Hugo Savinovich goes on Lucha Libre Online’s YouTube channel to report – in both Spanish and English so it’s correctly understood – that he talked to Dorian Roldan and Roldan states he has not talked to NXT or WWE at this time. He does not rule it out happening some day, but he directly addresses the WON report as false and did not want WWE thinking AAA was responsible for planting a false story.
• Planeta Wrestling’s longer report never appears. (There is simply a an article repeating the Wrestling Observer story.) Hugo and the rest of Lucha Libre Online do not reconcile how they’ve seemingly reported opposing versions of the same story; they just posted the refutation in the comments of the original report. The WON does not address the situation either.

This is bizarre. I tend to believe Dorian Roldan did not talk to NXT, but that’s because of that long podcast I listened to where encroaching globalization seemed to Roldan’s biggest concern. Almost none of you listened to that podcast and may be predisposed to not believe a wrestling promoter. I can’t fault you there. I also kind of believe everyone was reporting exactly what they heard, but that different people in AAA were giving out different stories. The lesson might be to have a higher bar out of reporting anything from AAA.

Nic Nemeth successfully defended the AAA Megachampionship in WWC against Eddie Colon on Saturday. AAA typically does not acknowledge title defenses outside of their TV tapings. Though this one might be different but so far no mention.

Still no AAA ratings. Unimas is in a weird blind spot – the Spanish language over the air networks aren’t reported on much, and the third most important is even less. Far less watched cable channels get numbers reported more often than Unimas. I assume this is because the purpose of ratings is to sell ads, and the ad buyers watching these ratings aren’t the ones selling to Spanish language channels.  I’m keeping my eye on US TV DB for numbers, and their TUDN ratings information is weeks ahead of the Unimas info. There’s a good chance the number of the repeat airings on TUDN will turn up prior to the Unimas.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 06/23/2024 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG]
1) Fauno b Murcy (Chiapas) 
3) Histeriosis & Rey Aztaroth b Águila Roja & Vudu Max 
4) Mike, Príncipe Centauro, Rey Halcón b Freelance, Multifacetico Jr., Tornado 
Principe Centauro challenged Multifacetico JR. to a title match.
5) Jessy Ventura, Puma de Oro, Veneno b Imposible, Ivan Rokov, Misterioso Jr. 
6) Hell Boy © b Khlan [IWRG MEXICO] 
7) Cerebro Negro, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Vangellys b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. 
La Pandemia want revenge

Not a well attended show.

Other Notes

Jessy Queen took Bizhota’s mask in Arena San Juan. Bizhota is Omar Mendoza, 30, 5 years a wrestler from Naucalpan. Jessy and Bizhota had been feuding in Arena Naucalpan in the lead up to IWRG La Jaula de La Locas, but Bizhota stopped appearing suddenly and neither ended up in the cage match. Maybe there was some plans changed about where that match was going to happen. Mas Lucha aired that The King Phantom show at Arena San Juan show for their members, which seemed a weird decision and now I’m more curious about that.

Guadalajara luchador Willy Banderas was found after being missing for a couple of days. The story is for someone else but the version I will tell is his friends/family called around to the usual places you might contact about a missing person, was told by those people he wasn’t in any of those places, then called back again a few days later and found out they were not told the truth by the people in charge and he had been safe all this time.

CHV Noticias has a story on Bolivia’s Cholitas.

El Luchador, a short film combining lucha libre and modern architecture,  is available on YouTube. One of the main characters looks familiar (though just different enough to avoid the lawsuit.)

Segunda Caida watched El Signo versus Villano III.

A visit to Big Mami’s store.

An interview with director Jose Medina about his upcoming “Érase una vez en el ring” lucha libre movie.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 06/21/2024 Arena México
***FantasticaMania Mexico 2024***
1) Astro Boy Jr., Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II vs Futuro, Max Star, Vegas
2) Magnus & Rugido vs Bad Dude Tito & Che Cabrera
3) Stephanie Vaquer © vs La Catalina [NJPW STRONG WOMEN]
fourth defense when announced
4) Máscara Dorada & Templario vs Rocky Romero & Taiji Ishimori [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Averno & Volador Jr. vs Michael Oku & Zack Sabre Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Hiromu Takahashi vs Místico

This show is going to sell out. This crowd is going to be amped. They’re going to play Me Muero (or Ameno or both) before the main event, and the crowd is going to wild. Someone’s going to post the clip on X or IG or somewhere and a bunch of people who don’t watch CMLL are going to get the impression CMLL is the hottest promotion in the world. There’s a pretty good argument it will be on this day. I don’t know that there will be any match on this card that people call one of the best in the world of 2024, but it should be among the best feelings watching wrestling you’ll get this year.

I wrote a long preview on Voices of Wrestling, though it’s more just a bunch of takes that are sort of attached to these matches, because it’s not a story show. Oku cheated Volador but that’s not a big deal. Templario and Rocky Romero are supposed to be partners but that hasn’t been played up as a big deal. This is more of an all-star show, where it’s just about seeing an unusual collection of names in one place. I think it’ll work on that account (and maybe more so if you skip the opener.)

Mercedes Mone will be in attendance for this show.

Mistico’s mass took place on Thursday. He did press on the way there. He’s done so much press for these shows that I think he’s going to appreciate the moment and also appreciate the break when it’s over.

CMLL held a press conference for the FantasticaMania foreigners on Friday afternoon. It was a lot like the AEW one before Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, an amusing and interesting listen. The one one really notable thing that popped out to me was Rocky Romero doing a normal rudo bit about how everyone is going to pay if he loses and threw in a line (in Spanish) of “I already paid a penalty for breaking that trophy.” That trophy would be the incredible pairs trophies that both Rocky and Soberano broke at the end of that tournament. Rocky hasn’t been back in CMLL since his tour around that show ended, Soberano disappeared from Arena Mexico for some time. I’ve been wondering if those guys broke the trophies without approval and have been downplayed as punishment for it. Romero said that’s what happened, though he was also in character the rest of the time.

CMLL (SAT) 06/22/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado vs Átomo, Chamuel, Kemalito
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
3) Kira, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard vs Hera, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
4) Ángel de Oro vs Rocky Romero [lightning]
5) Hechicero vs Zack Sabre Jr.
6) Místico & Taiji Ishimori vs Hiromu Takahashi & Volador Jr.

This is the “put your money where your mouth is.” CMLL is running the biggest possible Hechicero match, will people show for it? I think this match will be better off for being in front of this crowd and with a looser time control than on a packed Friday show.

CMLL (SUN) 06/23/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. vs El Coyote, Kráneo, Okumura
3) Sanely & Tessa Blanchard vs Olympia & Persephone
4) Averno vs Rocky Romero
5) Hiromu Takahashi, Magia Blanca, Rugido vs Hijo del Villano III, Taiji Ishimori, Villano III Jr.
6) Máscara Dorada & Místico vs Magnus & Zack Sabre Jr.

This seems like the most random card of the weekend. Match five could be great if the foreigners are into it but I’m least worried about missing this one.

CMLL (MON) 06/24/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Astro, Asturiano, Black Tiger vs El Malayo, Fénix SO, King Jaguar
2) El Audaz, Futuro, Xelhua vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Multy
3) Guerrero Maya Jr. © vs Neón [MEX MIDDLE]
fourth defense
4) Zack Sabre Jr. vs Virus
5) Templario vs Hiromu Takahashi
6) Máscara Dorada & Místico vs Rocky Romero & Taiji Ishimori

Friday’s show will have better vibes but this might be the better card if everything hits. I don’t know how much the foreigners are going to be in their fourth match in four days but Templario/Takahashi and ZSJ/Virus have high ceilings. Neon/Maya could be great too, and why not the main event. Plus there’s Xelhua wrestling so ZSJ can learn some new holds. The issue is – unless CMLL makes an announcement – this is a Televisa Puebla show only, which means just the top three matches will air. Hope Porra Fresa has a good view of the title match.

CMLL (TUE) 06/25/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Fúnebre, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr. vs Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Rumbero
2) Draego & Persa vs Optimus & Trono
3) Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Cris Skin, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Canalla, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel
5) Lluvia vs Zeuxis [lightning]
6) Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero vs Averno & Mephisto

Back to normal. Euforia unmasked Gran Guerrero last week but Mephisto replaces him this week.

CMLL Informa had it’s usual bit of announcements:

The Felino shows in July will be headlined by Felino and Felino Jr. against other father/son teams

• 07/01 Arena Puebla: Felino & Felino Jr. vs Octagon & Hijo del Octagon
• 07/02 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara: Felino & Felino Jr. vs Blue Panther & Dark Panther
• 07/05 Arena Mexico: Felino & Felino Jr. vs Pantera & Hijo del Pantera

(Internacional) Pantera has been in CMLL for legends matches in recent years. This will be Hijo del Pantera’s CMLL debut. CMLL pushed the idea that Pantera is Felino’s greatest rival, which there’s a fair case.

CMLL will have the first leg of the Leyenda de Plata on July 12nd. This tournament is open to lightweights, welterweights and middleweights. Those in the first block are Volador Jr., Mascara Dorada, Flip Gordon, Angel de Oro, Brillante Jr., Futuro, Villano III Jr. and Stigma. I don’t think Flip or Angel fit the weight categories, based on how CMLL’s booked them before, but it’s not too important.

The full FantasticaMania USA lineup

CMLL , NJPW (SAT) 07/13/2024 Mt. Pleasant High School, San Jose, California
1) Adrian Quest vs The DKC, Viento, Cucuy
2) Stephanie Vaquer vs Lluvia
3) Yota Tsuji vs Bárbaro Cavernario
4) Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hechicero & Virus
5) Último Guerrero vs Gabe Kidd [NJPW STRONG]
6) Okumura & Satoshi Kojima vs Magnus & Rugido [MLW TAG]
7) Douki & Místico vs Rocky Romero & Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

It’s not an overwhelming show. It should be a fun one, though I can see CMLL people who are already spending $35/month not feeling like it’s totally necessary to pay another 20 for this (if that’s what it turns out to be.) Tickets are still available; I thought it would be a quick move given the size of the venue, but maybe 30% of tickets are still left.

CMLL also debuted a new podcast, the first episode talking to Mistico and all the other participants in his first match. The podcast is 2 hours and 30 minutes long.

Michael Oku, Amira Blair and Okumura visited with officials at the UK embassy in Mexico.

AEW

Saturday’s AEW Collision will include Kazuchika Okada versus Ultimo Guerrero. The match was said not to go well. AEW promoted Ultimo Guerrero under his masked identity. Ultimo Guerrero has not been a masked wrestler in 10 years come this September, though he was masked when AEW CEO Tony Khan was watching CMLL. Khan’s interview style is like lucha libre, where he repeats not moves but full sequences, and so I think I’ve heard/read some of the same greatest bits many many times. His go to story about CMLL is talking about watching Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Tarzan Boy and many others in the early 2000s – about the same time I started doing the same – and explaining that fandom to the various Mexican wrestlers who come to CMLL. As he has so warm memories of that time, that was my guess as why AEW asked Ultimo Guerrero to wrestle masked. Another theory is someone in AEW just grabbed the wrong Ultimo Guerrero graphic and, once he was shown as a masked man on Dynamite, AEW felt like they had to present him that way.

FantasticaMania viewers know Ultimo Guerrero wrestling masked is usually not an issue – as best I know – Ultimo Guerrero was not aware he was going to be asked to wrestle masked and did not bring one with him. That led to a mad scramble to find a mask or mask up a mask, and Ultimo Guerrero ended up wearing a mask that wasn’t really suitable and would not stay on his head. It appeared Guerrero tried to cut out a lot of spots that would’ve risked his mask coming off, which resulted in a lower quality match – and the mask still came off multiple times during the match. The match was not what Guerrero and Okada are capable of doing, and even editing around the mask issues probably won’t work. I hope UG gets another chance to show what he can do.

Hechicero and Matt Menard also had a match on Saturday’s Collision. Not as much drama there.

06/30 AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door

• Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs Mercedes Mone for the AEW TBS Championship and the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship
• MJF vs Hechicero – new

Thursday’s Ring of Honor show included a promo with Atlantis Jr., apparent taped backstage an AEW/ROH event. (CMLL doesn’t use the red lighting.) Atlantis Jr. challenged the winner to the Kyle Fletcher/Lee Johnson TV title match to defend it again him in Arena Mexico. Fletcher won – match was said to be great – so he’ll be coming to Mexico City at some point. Kyle Fletcher was one of the many foreigners scheduled to appear at TripleMania who didn’t end up appearing; it would’ve been tough for him to appear in Arena Mexico if he did work TripleMania, so maybe he got a heads up. (Fletcher is managed by Don Callis, who has appeared in AAA and I suspect will not be in CMLL.) Atlantis Jr. has not yet returned from his minor leg injury, but I believe ROH ran this promo expecting this match will happen soon. Maybe we’ll find out on next week’s Informa. AEW’s booking is the their guys nearly always beat the CMLL guys in AEW, but the CMLL guys tend to beat the AEW guys in Arena Mexico. I expect Atlantis Jr. will be the next ROH TV champion.

In non CMLL related stuff, Metalik was back in AEW this week. He had not wrestled in AEW/ROH since October, when he had a falling out with management about taking too many losses. AEW’s booking suggested they were just looking for another available luchador to be a partner of Komander for the week, so maybe Metalik made some amends. It’s notable that AEW brought Metalik back and that AEW didn’t pick someone else – Dralistico for one. He hasn’t been used by AEW since November, and it certainly seems like the promotion is moving away from the LFI idea.

AAA

AAA tapes TV Saturday in Mexico City

AAA TV (SAT) 06/22/2024 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Adelicious, Jessy Queen, Nobu San vs Bengala, Black Andrómeda, Chik Tormenta
2) Aerostar, Brazo De Oro Jr., Karis La Momia Jr. vs Abismo Negro Jr., El Fiscal, Taurus
3) Octagón Jr. vs Drago, Dinámico [AAA CRUISER, #1 Contenders]
4) Cibernético, Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz vs Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu, El Mesías
5) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs ?, Scorpió Jr. (original), Zumbido
6) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Matt Riddle

Matt Riddle was back in training, so presumably he’s good for this match. That main event remains weird: not sure why it’s happening, not sure if the fans will care, not sure if they’ll work well together.

Decnnis is likely the mystery person in match five. Scorpio Jr. was pretty close to being done when they originally did this gimmick so I’m not sure bringing him back is going to be pretty. Match four is the rematch from Tijuana, so maybe Cibernetico’s getting his pin back and then they’ll make some match for Mexico City. I’m advocating for going all in with Octagon Jr. – it would help if someone here was to be a rising star – but AAA may just spread the wins around. Maybe match 2 is a good, maybe match 1 just a collection of people. Maybe there will be a direction for TripleMania, I don’t know. This taping won’t air for 3-4 weeks; AAA has the rest of TripleMania Tijuana and the Juarez taping prior to it.

Space this week will have some of the TripleMania Tijuana undercard. Unimas will have a couple of matches from TripleMania Monterrey.

The WON said “the building” reported attendance for TripleMania Tijuana at “13,000”, and fans in attendance as between 10,000 and 13,000. It certainly looked like less than 10,000 in the overhead shots AAA used.

Nic Nemeth will indeed be defending the AAA Megachampionship at least once between TripleManias. It’ll just be in Puerto Rico’s WWC, not AAA. He’ll defend this Saturday against Eddie Colon (the former WWE’s Primo Colon.) Some WWC shows have been iPPVs, this one doesn’t appear to be at this point. AAA has not acknowledged this title match as of yet.

Lideres Mexicanos has a 40 minute interview with Dorian Roldan. The interview was conducted about two weeks ago; the AAA appearance at the King’s League just happened and the taping in Juarez was about to happen. I listened it very late at night and tried to gather some of the key points.

Early on, when talking about Roldan’s transition into the lead role, the interviewer assumes he was criticized early on and then less so as people got used to him in the position. Roldan redirects by saying he wants criticism, he tells all his work teams he wants honest feedback on what’s working and what needs to be better. He goes onto say he’s very concerned about feedback from the fans, and what they say about the show, because they’re trying to get them leave a smile and hook them to keep buying tickets for the next show in their town.

Roldan talks about all the work that goes into putting together and producing a show, with maybe 90% happens before a show happens – but the most important part is that last 10%. They can have the best graphics, the best pyro, the best presentation, but if the luchadors don’t have a good match for the 10-20 minutes it lasts, none of that matters. Roldan says the three biggest Revenue sources for AAA are sponsorships, media rights, and ticket sales.

Roldan’s asked about one time he had a big failure, and he says he believes he’s had more failures than successes. I think he was joking. Roldan talks in the usual way about how they learn and improve from all these failures. The example he brings up is an US agreement they signed that turned into a big lawsuit, but that led them to create Lucha Underground – which also ended up in a big lawsuit, but also led them to the great partners they had today. (I think he meant Unimas here.) Roldan also brings up Luchatitlan as a notable failure. He says all the investment bankers they talked to, all the people in that industry, all of them saw it would be a great success. Then, the numbers came in, now how they expected, and he had to accept that it was a failure. He compares it to losing a child, they put so much energy and hope to it and it didn’t work out. It sounds Luchatitlan isn’t totally dead – they’re talking to people about it, and maybe they’ll be able do something in a few months or at the end of the year. Roldan notes it’s an equally valid possibility that project is just done, and they don’t want to make the mistake of getting on something that’s not working.

Roldan mentions the changes in the ways young people are consuming content. Not on TV is one thing, but also more where they’re consuming it from. His comparison is that a young Mexican football fan a couple decades would have America or Chivas or Pumas or one of the other big Mexican league teams as their favorite. Today, that same young fan may be supporting Barcelona or Miami or other teams outside of Mexico due to globalization. Roldan noted that when AAA wrestlers went to the King’s League games, he noted there was a full stadium of Mexican fans of teams from Spain and other countries (and not Mexico.) Roldan said there were a lot of famous Mexican brands that don’t really exist any more as outside brands have replaced it. He sees WWE as the same challenge for his industry; AAA has to get stronger to be able to defend themselves if WWE ever comes to Latin America, and getting on Unimas is part of that. Roldan mentions they’ve also had discussions with private capital about an influx of money to help them better compete, but he’s got to weigh that against trying to preserve the family DNA of the company.

There’s a bit more, but “private capital” stands out to me as a big big deal. The usual bit is someone gives the company a bunch of money, expects to that chunk plus a lot more back in a few years time and gets some control on how the company goes about making that extra money. That may mean directing the investment of that capital, strategy shifts, big cut backs, and/or risky moves with little long term concern past the length of the deal. Sometimes private capital helps a business really grow, and you can read your local news source to find plenty of times people from the outside suddenly directing things hasn’t worked out great. I think considering private capital it’s telling about the spot Roldan sees AAA in – they’re at risk at losing the essence of AAA if they let other people have control, but he must feel they’re at the risk of losing WWE bigfooting their way into Mexico and losing AAA that way.

My big takeaway from was how much Dorian Roldan sees WWE as a threating invader, and AAA possibly disappearing like other Mexican brands if powerful outside brands come into Mexico. I though it as AAA wouldn’t be a logical NXT partner for Mexico – anything that would help WWE become stronger in Mexico would seem to be a threat to AAA’s existence. All the news that’s come out surprisingly has talk of AAA and WWE working together. A report in today’s WON that Dorian Roldan had contacted WWE about working with NXT, in the context of Lucha Libre Online’s story about AAA wanting to find partners in Puerto Rico and Mexico. Planeta Wrestling adds on to the story saying they’ve heard NXT is talking to AAA & WWC to be those partners, “as a way to highlight the global nature of wrestling.” Shawn Michaels is the point person for NXT, and there’s an idea WWE championships may be defended in these promotions. NXT’s Shawn Michaels is said to be talking to these promotions. Planeta says they’ll have a longer story about all of this in a few hours.

This idea of working AAA working with WWE doesn’t seem to fit with AAA being concerned with WWE coming in to Latin America. WWE’s idea at the moment is proving they’re great partners with promotions around the world. The history is those WWE partnerships are just a way for them to get a sense of the market before they try to take it for themselves. Dorian Roldan is aware of that threat in the podcast, but is still exploring making a deal if those reports are correct. Maybe he sees the risk in one match or one title defense as not a big deal, and worth it at time where AAA really wants to increase their US visibility to get people to the Unimas show. Maybe AAA’s willingness to talk about private capital investment signals they’re willing to talk about any possibility, even if they don’t ultimately go with it. None of the reports say that AAA (or WWC) has agreed to this, though they’re written from the perspective that of course they’d agree to work with the benevolent WWE. Listening to that podcast, I didn’t get the feeling WWE saw as benevolent.

Big Lucha

There is an actual next Arena Big Lucha lineup for next weekend. It’ll end up being six weeks between shows in their building:

Big Lucha (SAT) 06/29/2024 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Depasyman vs Reiyel, Helios, Nordico
2) Átomo & Ryu Orochi vs Epidemia & Uzumaki
3) Lady Apache vs Sussy Love
4) El Cobarde, Mexicano, Orbita vs Elipse, Iku, Vengador
5) Cometa Maya & Radioactivo © vs Mocho Cota Jr. & Tito Santana [BIG LUCHA MIXA]
6) Texano Jr. vs Emperador Azteca (Estado de México), Limbo, Big Tao Tao, Jack Evans, Súper Nova [TLC, Golden Ticket]

“Golden Ticket” is their Money in the Bank type prize. Potro de Oro won it last year and became champion. (Potro de Oro is not on this show.) The tag title match could be good or could be a lot of shortcuts to get heat; I have more hope for it than most of the matches. Sussy Love telling a newspaper “one day I’d really like to face Lady Apache” when she probably knew she was going to face Lady Apache next is actually fantastic.

Big Lucha has a sit down interview with Big Tao Tao.

If you were concerned Black Skayde was leaving Big Lucha, he wants to assure you he’s not.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 06/20/2024 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG]
1) Sacro b Fauno 
Sacro suffered a knee injury
2) Shamila b Mary Caporal, Kali 
3) El Bendito b Spider Fly 
This time, the referee screwed up and counted a Bendito pin when “he wasn’t supposed to”
4) Khlan, Misterioso Jr., Vangellys b Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Jessy Ventura 
Khlan beat Hell Boy to set up a title match
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Luka, Pandemónium Jr. b Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool 
mask mask challenges followed, as ever

They’ve turned last week’s melt down into an angle, but I’m sure if you want to make an angle out of your referee being bad. Oh well.

IWRG (SUN) 06/23/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Ajolotl & Sacro vs Luxor & Mursy
2) Sky Man & Vudu Max vs Histeriosis & Rey Aztaroth
3) Freelance, Multifacetico Jr., Tornado vs Mike, Príncipe Centauro, Rey Halcón
4) Internacional Pantera, Jessy Ventura, Veneno vs Imposible, Misterioso Jr., Puma de Oro
5) Hell Boy © vs Khlan [IWRG MEXICO]
6) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. vs Cerebro Negro, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Vangellys

Khlan is a Costa Rican wrestler.

Other Notes

There’s a new mural of Dos Caras in Leon.

A new lucha libre movie, Muerte Negra, will be filmed in Jalisco starting in November.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 06/17/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, El Mano a Mano, El Sol de Puebla, Estadio Deportes]
***Mistico 20th Anniversary***
1) Amnesia, Blue Shark, Millenium b Rencor, Rey Apocalipsis, Sombra Diabólica
2) Rayo Metálico b Dragón de Fuego [lightning]
8:32
3) Multy, Perverso, Prayer b Astral, Diamond, Eléctrico 
Diamond messed up a space flying tiger drop and was stretchered out (but was fine and seconding Mistico later)
4) Brillante Jr., Max Star, Neón b Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Xelhua 
Neon beat Guerrero Maya this week, setting up a title match
5) Bad Dude Tito, Che Cabrera, Michael Oku b Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. 
6) Místico b Averno 
Actor/comedian German Ortega and Benjamin Mar appeared before the match to give Mistico a plaque.

Last week’s match (DailyMotion) between those teams in match 4 was great, though it seemed to be setting up a different title match. Neon/Maya will be better than Neon/Stigma for sure, but less of a chance of a title change.

Diamond has gone from a promising wrestler to a disappointing one to one of the most error prone guys in the promotion. The latest mishap just joins the blooper reel. With CMLL seemingly moving some guys out for new people, I’m surprised Diamond is still appearing frequently.

CMLL (TUE) 06/18/2024 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Hunter & Infarto b Emperador Jr. & Rayo Metálico 
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Leono, Robin, Valiente Jr. 
12:48
3) Akuma, Crixus, Felino Jr. b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus 
14:00.
4) Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis © b Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard [CMLL WOMEN TAG] 
19:54. 2nd defense. Vaquer cheated to beat Tessa (used the ropes), and Tessa declared she’d switch to the tecnica side to keep fighting Vaquer
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Star Black DQ Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible 
10:47. Straight falls, Cavernario wouldn’t let go of his armbar to win the second fall for the excessive violence DQ.
6) Michael Oku © b Ángel de Oro [REVPRO HEAVY] 
17:19. 13th defense, submitting Angel de Oro to the half crab.

The women worked very hard and got a lot of time in the tag title match. Lluvia’s definitely the lesser half of the team with Jarochita. CMLL’s been booking Blanchard in tecnica situations and portraying her as one on Informa for a while, so you’d be forgiven for assuming she already was one. I liked the Oku/Angel de Oro match; they treated it like a serious big title match. Cavernario was going after Flip all match but that may have just been a way to explain the quick exit from that match.

CMLL (TUE) 06/18/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Fuego en el Ring, Mas Lucha Jr.]
***Mistico 20th Anniversary Celebration***
1) Ángel Rebelde, Gallo Jr., Rafaga Jr. b Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Prínce Drago
2) Adira & Náutica © b Hatana & Valkiria [OCCIDENTE WOMEN TAG]
3) Exterminador & Maléfico b Perverso & Prayer [hair]
Team GDL beats Team Puebla
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring DQ Felino, Rey Bucanero, Satánico
5) Brillante Jr., Máscara Dorada, Valiente b Gallero, Hechicero, Soberano Jr.
Gallero replaced Templario earlier in the day
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
7) Místico b Volador Jr.
Olympic swimmer German Sanchez helped award Mistico a plaque before the match.

Mistico used Me Muero as his entrance music here, with the fans singing along as he got in the ring. It sounds like great reactions on the show in general. Even with CMLL raising ticket prices for this show, it appeared to be the biggest Arena Coliseo Guadalajara crowd of the year. Mural has it as about 6,000, which is not quite a sell out but still the highest here in some time despite CMLL raising prices for this show and moving up the start time. It appeared most people weren’t aware of the start time moving up an half hour and many people arrived late.

The big Friday CMLL shows (H2L, FantasticaMania, the 2 Gran Prix, Aniversario, and Dia del Muertos) are Fan Leyenda tier only. Apparently, the Tuesday Guadalajara shows that fit with those Friday shows will also be Fan Leyenda tier as well. CMLL hasn’t explained this, but H2L was the first Guadalajara show to be subscriber only and this FantasticaMania week show was also Fan Leyenda show.

CMLL uploaded Mistico’s debut to their YouTube channel for subscribers on the Fan Leyenda tier. It’s the full match with original commentary, though the music and has been dubbed over (and some of the ring announcements were lost along the way.) It appears to be a CMLL version of the show; it’s first-generation quality, and there is no Televisa logo bug. Putting up old matches is something has talked about doing since launching the YouTube subscription about one year ago, but this is the first time they’ve actually done it. CMLL designed a logo for these types of uploads but there’s no indication if this will become regular content. I think it’s very unlikely we’ll ever get a massive amount of old footage; the very most you should hope for is occasional matches that align whatever’s going on in current CMLL – like maybe there will be something with Felino for his Anniversary shows in a few weeks, but you’d be foolish to expect full shows or stuff from last decade.

CMLL is teasing another Hechicero appearance in AEW. AEW is taping on Wednesday and Thursday this week, and there’s no telling which day he might show up. His win over Dalton Castle on Saturday on Collision teased a following match against Daniel Garcia soon. AEW has said they’ll announce the brackets for their Owen Hart tournament on Wednesday, and perhaps Hechicero will be in there.

07/12 MLW

• Atlantis Jr. vs Okumura in a Opera Cup first round match – airing live on YouTube
• Mistico vs Magnus in a Opera Cup first round match – being taped to air later

The Opera Cup is a 16 person tournament, brackets have not been announced. Outside of limited interactions in the Battle Riot battle royal, Mistico has wrestled only familiar CMLL opponents and won every match he’s been in for MLW so far. He’ll either face someone new, or take a loss, or both, before this tournament is over.

Today’s CMLL Informa show will talk about the Felino anniversary main events. Again, if there’s any chance Puma King is showing back up in CMLL, it would be announced tonight. It’s not something I’d bet on.

Titan will appear on Friday’s ROH show, facing Aaron Solo. This was taped over a week ago. NJPW has a break after Sunday’s show, so he (and others) will be traveling to AEW’s shows next week – there’s a good shot Titan’s wrestling a BCC member on next week’s Dynamite.

A Univision video report on the CMLL show to raise awareness of climate control.

AAA

Decnnis indicated he’s appearing on the AAA TV taping this Saturday, so he’s probably the mystery person teaming with Zumbido and Scorpio Jr. I hadn’t considered it until now, but three way with Octagon Jr., Drago and Dinamico really makes no sense if Drago and Dinamico are supposed to be partners now.

Marisela Pena was named in Forbes Mexico’s list of the 100 most powerful women in Mexico.

AAA/Unimas ratings have not surfaced at this point.

IWRG

Bengalee announced she’s left IWRG. That promotion usually does a lot with exoticos and women leading into the La Jaula de las Locas cage match, then stops using most of them immediately after. I might have not noticed Bengalee was missing unless she said something.

Other News

Tabasco exotico luchador La Gatubeda (Gabriel Reyna Perez, 53) passed away Tuesday due to complications with diabetes. Gatubeda was a local start of the 90s/00s.

Excelsior quotes Julio Cesar Chavez a as saying he believes Shocker’s chances of relapse to his drug issues are very high. Chavez, who’s taken Shocker into one of his rehab clincs, had his own battle with cocaine addiction and knows how it easy it is to fall back into it. He’s specifically concerned that Shocker will be around the same “friends”, he’ll end up back with the same problems. Chavez plans on helping Shocker get work to get stay busy, and he’s talked to some doctor friends about getting his jaw fixed after all these years.

Monday’s Arena Coliseo Monterrey show was scheduled to be headline by the indie Rhino Extreme trio against locals Babe Rap, Thunder Black, and Estrella Maldad. Whatever actually happened got the police called and left families leaving angry after the “extreme lucha” spilled out of the arena and into the street in bloody fashion. One of the wrestlers hit a fan, which led the police to be called in. There are more photos and details here. It reals like these guys were still working when they brawled outside, expecting the fans would be thrilled by them breaking the rules and norms like extreme wrestling fans might, but this was a family crowd who didn’t like it at all. It’s possible the arena will be put on timeout for a couple weeks The promoter put up a 30 minute Facebook live movie discussion the situation while driving. I didn’t make it through that whole thing, but it sounded like he was trying to see the street fight was a planned bit and not a real fight. He alludes to other buildings doing similar bits – he may have been thinking of wrestlers doing it Tijuana, which both went viral and got everyone suspended.

Medico Asesino Jr. is being added to the Tiuana hall of fame.

Box y Lucha 3608 has Rayo de Jalisco & Felino.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 06/14/2024 Arena México [CMLL, The Gladiatores (text), The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II b Capitán Suicida & Diamond   
7:56
2) Blue Panther Jr. & Dark Panther b Crixus & Raider   
16:25
3) La Catalina, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard b Kira, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis [Relevos Increíbles]   
9:57. Lluvia & Blanchard beat Vaquer & Zeuxis and demanded a tag title shot for Tuesday. Vaquer & Zeuxis accpeted. Catalina, who defeated Vaquer in fall 2, said she’d win the NJPW Strong championship next Friday.
4) Bad Dude Tito, Che Cabrera, Zandokan Jr. b Flip Gordon, Neón, Star Jr.   
11:14. Flip Gordon replaced Volador Jr. on Friday. Tito and Cabrera win their CMLL debut.
5) Templario b Michael Oku   
13:45. Oku (w/Amira Blair) loses cleanly in his Mexico debut, worked as a rudo.
6) Esfinge, Máscara Dorada, Místico DQ Averno, Euforia, Soberano Jr.   
17:02. Mascara Dorada replaced Atlantis Jr. on Friday (leg injury) Straight falls. Euforia unmasked Esfinge for the DQ after ducking out on him all match. Averno and Soberano unmasked Mistico and Dorada after the fact. CMLL announced the Aniversario date directly before this match.

The original design of the main event probably had Soberano Jr. with recent rival Atlantis Jr,’s mask, Averno with forever rival Mistico’s mask and Euforia with Esfinge’s mask, maybe trying to get that match on the same level. There was no special chemistry, it would’ve come off simply as the feud of the week, but suddenly doing an Esfinge/Euforia feud right after the Aniversario show got announced is eyebrow raising.

Templario/Oku was Great, with the two meshing well together. Oku played rudo here and stronger so as the week went on, and Templario’s offense is flashy enough that he always work fine when he’s on the tecnico side. I don’t think the finish came off as intended but it was still impactful enough – and kind of a surprise, with Oku taking a singles loss before he defends his title. Templario made belt motions, so perhaps that’s going somewhere later.

The Zaddy Daddys did well and had a useful group of people to throw around and make big comebacks. The women worked very hard in the time they were given, though the title match came out of nowhere. First two matches weren’t quite as good as they looked on paper.

CMLL officially announced the Aniversario as taking place on September 13th. They announced the 91st Aniversario show 91 days out, just like they announced they 90th Aniversario show 90 days out. I’m kicking myself on this; I saw a reminder of that countdown earlier this week – it tied in with the Tunel – and didn’t think to bring it up or do the math. Assume CMLL will do this every year until they don’t: next year’s announcement will likely come on (Thursdays) June 12th, June 19th or June 26th for those same dates in September.

CMLL also immediately put tickets on sale for the Aniverasario. You should still have plenty of time to get tickets if you’re thinking about going, though the best tickets are scooped up (and probably not on sale.) The ticket prices run from 305 to 3294, slightly higher than last year’s 300 to 3000 prices. That’s probably more fees/inflation than a change in the quality of people involved in the match. Last year’s mask loser was Dragon Rojo (with Angel de Oro losing his hair for the first time), 2022’s loser was Stuka Jr. (with Reina Isis also being unmasked.) The profile is someone who main events occasionally on the secondary show and usually works 4/5 from the top on the other shows. That certainly fits Euforia but I really prefer to table this conversation for a week. FantasticaMania and the Leyenda de Plata are the two places where CMLL might heat something up for that Aniversario. One of those is happening Friday, we may have more info following that, and I’ve got so much else to write about now.

CMLL (SAT) 06/15/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Galaxy b Pequeño Violencia [lightning]
7:34.
2) Eléctrico, Leono, Retro b Grako, Inquisidor, Sangre Imperial
16:51
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Rey Samuray b Futuro, Legendario, Max Star
12:19.
4) Kira, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard b Hera, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis [Relevos Increíbles]
10:56. Lluvia and Tessa again said they’d beat Vaquer and Zeuxis on Tuesday for the tag titles.
5) Bad Dude Tito & Che Cabrera b Dragón Rojo Jr. & Terrible
12:48.
6) Michael Oku b Volador Jr.
14:10. Volador may have had the match won on a backcracker but Amira threw in her shoe as a distraction. Oku later won with a sunset flip grabbing the ropes.

I didn’t like Oku/Volador as much as Oku/Templario; Volador didn’t seem as into it and they didn’t seem to gel as well. The semimain guys didn’t really gel together, but that was to be expected. I thought match three was the best of the bench.

CMLL (SUN) 06/16/2024 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Angelito & Shockercito b Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
joined in progress on the stream
2) Kemalito b Tengu [lightning]
5:49
3) Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard, Valkiria b Náutica, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
10:42. Lluvia & Tessa again said they’d win the tag titles on Tuesday
4) Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Bad Dude Tito, Che Cabrera, Michael Oku
13:33
5) El Hijo de Octagón b El Hijo De Blue Panther, El Hijo de Stuka Jr., Felino Jr., Máscara Dorada, Soberano Jr., Valiente Jr. [Copa Dinastias, battle royal]
6) Máscara Dorada & Panterita del Ring b Valiente & Valiente Jr. [Copa Dinastia, quarterfinal]
6:06
7) Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Stuka Jr. b Felino & Felino Jr. [Copa Dinastia, quarterfinal]
8) Euforia & Soberano Jr. b Blue Panther & El Hijo del Blue Panther [Copa Dinastia, quarterfinal]
6:02
9) El Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Stuka Jr. b Máscara Dorada & Panterita del Ring [Copa Dinastia, semifinal]
10) Euforia & Soberano Jr. b Hijo de Octagón & Octagón [Copa Dinastia, semifinal]
4:47
11) El Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Stuka Jr. DQ Euforia & Soberano Jr. [Copa Dinastia, final]
9:15

The Copa Dinastia was in the range of most recent CMLL one night tournaments. Matches were slightly better than average but the final was slightly worse for the underwhelming finish. Euforia pulling Esfinge’s mask on Friday seemed to heat up a feud, Euforia pulling Hijo del Stuka Jr.’s mask felt like they just needed a way for the Stukas to win but not actually win. It seems reasonable Atlantis and Atlantis Jr. were scheduled to win this and then CMLL shrugged and threw a dart at the wall to choose a winner after Atlantis Jr.’s injury. The Stukas winning do give them some credible win to fall back on as perennial title challengers. The Octagons may have been a more prestigious fall back plan, but Octagon struggled to get through a single three minute match. Hijo del Octagon continues to have moments where there might be something there and then some where he’s completely out of his league.

Almost all of the lineups for this week were previously announced, but since it’s been some time.

CMLL (MON) 06/17/2024 Arena Puebla
***Mistico 20th Anniversary***
1) Amnesia, Blue Shark, Millenium vs Rencor, Rey Apocalipsis, Sombra Diabólica
2) Rayo Metálico vs Dragón de Fuego [lightning]
3) Astral, Diamond, Eléctrico vs Multy, Perverso, Prayer
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Xelhua vs Brillante Jr., Max Star, Neón
5) Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. vs Bad Dude Tito, Che Cabrera, Michael Oku
6) Místico vs Averno

I expect Mistico’s going to draw three very big houses this week.

Match 4 is a rematch off a really great match from last week. (I recorded it, but my Puebla recording is all janky; I’m going to try and see if I can get the Tuesday re-air to go better.) If Neon pins Stigma again, that’ll be a title match next week. Perverso and Prayer have a hair match in Guadalajara the next night; Tuesday is going to be a lot of bus rides for them.

CMLL (TUE) 06/18/2024 Arena México
1) Emperador Jr. & Retro vs Hunter & Infarto
2) Leono, Robin, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Akuma, Crixus, Felino Jr. vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis © vs Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard [CMLL WOMEN TAG]
2nd defense
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Star Black vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible
6) Michael Oku © vs Ángel de Oro [REVPRO HEAVY]
13th defense

This is the one ‘new’ lineup for the week, though the singles title match was set weeks ago and the tag title one was official on Friday. Angel de Oro talked up his title match with Michael Oku in good English on Sunday’s show; he was far ahead of Andrade. (Andrade is not the bar; the bar is significantly better than Andrade.) Tessa & Lluvia seemed like they had a chance to actually win the belts after their challenge on Friday; winning all the lead up trios suggests otherwise. Vaquer seems likely to pick up two title defenses in a week before heading back to AEW TV. Nothing else really needs to be seen here.

CMLL (TUE) 06/18/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
***Mistico 20th Anniversary Celebration***
1) Ángel Rebelde, Gallo Jr., Rafaga Jr. vs Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Prínce Drago
2) Adira & Náutica © vs Hatana & Valkiria [OCCIDENTE WOMEN TAG]
3) Exterminador & Maléfico vs Perverso & Prayer [hair]
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring vs Felino, Rey Bucanero, Satánico
5) Brillante Jr., Máscara Dorada, Valiente vs Hechicero, Soberano Jr., Templario
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
7) Místico vs Volador Jr.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will move their Tuesday start times from 9:00 pm to 8:30 pm, a permanent change. This wasn’t officially announced until the poster came out Friday; Arena Puebla’s time change was talked about for weeks ahead of time. The start time for Guadalajara has bounced around a bit more than the other arenas: it was 8:45 up until the pandemic shutdown, and 8:30 prior to that. Arena Coliseo Guadalajara has always appeared to be the most heavy drinking of the CMLL buildings and sending them home a little earlier in the night might be a good idea. Or it might just give them time to hit up another bar. The other factor is CMLL’s cut about a half hour off of these Guadalajara shows this year, and perhaps starting earlier will let them go a little longer.

CMLL’s also raising the prices for this show. They were 100 to 500 pesos last week, and they’re now 200 to 800. It’s possible this is just a one week Mistico 20th Anniversary price.

El Informador has an interview with Satanico, who hits 51 years of wrestling as of Monday. He has mentioned no plans of retiring. Satanico is a wrestler because he was enamored with El Santo movies and dreamed of how he would try to defeat him. (He says they wrestled five times, and Santo let Satanico see his unmasked face on the third one.) Satanico says the Guadalajara gym at one point supplied 80% of the wrestlers to the Mexico City based EMLL. There were sure a lot but it would be hard to get to that number unless they greatly expanded the definition of training at the gym. There’s a general history of Arena Coliseo Guadalajara article as well leading into Tuesday’s show.

CMLL (FRI) 06/21/2024 Arena México
***FantasticaMania Mexico 2024***
1) Astro Boy Jr., Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II vs Futuro, Max Star, Vegas
2) Magnus & Rugido vs Bad Dude Tito & Che Cabrera
3) Stephanie Vaquer © vs La Catalina [NJPW STRONG WOMEN]
fourth defense when announced
4) Máscara Dorada & Templario vs Rocky Romero & Taiji Ishimori [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Averno & Volador Jr. vs Michael Oku & Zack Sabre Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Hiromu Takahashi vs Místico

Takahashi showing up here – and not a day prior – makes me wonder if he’s got a sidetrip to AEW this week. Volador does get a chance for revenge in the semi-main (but ZSJ probably isn’t losing.) Catalina is going to have a long painful night.

There’s a Mistico themed Turibus to celebrate his 20th Anniversary. I wonder how much money CMLL and the Mexico tourist department have made for each other on these busses since they started working together; special themed busses suggest they’re doing pretty OK. Mistico says he’d like to face Octagon or Atlantis in a mask match to make his name even bigger. CMLL ain’t running those matches any time soon at the prices they’re charging.

There are no CMLL wrestlers in NJPW’s G1 tournament or their smaller qualifying tournaments for the final spot. This is not a surprise. It does mean it feels time go back to a previous statement and re-evaluate it. Back in December, Soberano Jr. told a group of CMLL press that he had two contracts, one with CMLL and one with NJPW. I found it surprising at the moment – NJPW doesn’t sign typically sign CMLL people and have been slow to put regularly used foreigners under contract – but Soberano brought it up himself and appeared honest about it. Since December, Soberano has only appeared in NJPW Japan’s shows for the CMLL wide FantasticaMania cards. He was additionally appearing on the NJPW US shows until he had visa issues, but Soberano’s not appeared in the G1, in the NJPW Cup, in any other tour besides the one a year that NJPW has with all CMLL wrestlers. I have no additional or new information on Soberano’s contractual status with NJPW, but it seems clear this point that “Soberano says he has a NJPW contract” does not mean what anyone would’ve thought it mean. Maybe plans changed, maybe the US visa issue affected things, maybe whatever’s kept Soberano downplayed in CMLL this Spring has affected his work elsewhere, maybe it’s a classic example of a wrestler telling a tall tale that they think will never come back to hurt them, maybe NJPW really does have Soberano under contract and they’re just not using him now but he’ll pop up around World Tag League again. I don’t have any idea, just that we probably shouldn’t think about “Soberano has a NJPW contract” as a meaningful news item at this point. This topic doesn’t even come up in CMLL circles  any more but I did spot it still mentioned around NJPW discussion and I think it’s a dead topic.

AAA – TripleMania Tijuana and other notes

AAA TV (SAT) 06/15/2024 Estadio Chevron, Tijuana, Baja California [AAA, Claro Sports, FDDE, Lucha Azteca, thecubsfan, Triller]
***TripleMania XXXII (Tijuana)***
1) Faby Apache, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, Pimpinela Escarlata b Anubis, Keyra, Mamba, Toto
12:03. Faby pinned Keyra with a Dragon suplex. Hijo del Tirantes returned as referee in this match.
2) Havok, Rosemary, Tasha Steelz b Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla
8:03. Steelz frogsplashed Maravilla. Las Toxicas had been undefeated as a trio since forming.
3) D Luxe, Destiny, Noisy Boy b Komander, Laredo Kid, Octagón Jr. and CIMA, Dinámico, Willie Mack
15:05. Originally announced with Kyle Fletcher (NJPW.) Fletcher replaced by Blake Christian on 05/15, and the match changed to a three way tag match with The Crash team (Destiny, D Luxe, Noisy Boy) added. Match changed once again on 05/28 with Willie Mack replacing Blake Christian (NJPW.) Match changed a final time day of the show, with Dinamico replacing Nick Wayne (AEW/father’s day). D Luxe beat Dinamico after a foul.
4) Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu, El Mesías b Cibernético, Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz
9:07. Moved up a spot (meaning it made the live Space/HBO/Claro broadcast.) Mesias pinned Ciberentico cleanly after a spear through a table. Cuervo & Ozz helped Ciber away, and it appeared to be the end of the feud.
5) Mecha Wolf b Rey Horus, Bestia 666
13:18. Moved down a spot. Earlier, Bestia and officials from The Crash attempted to present Damian 666 with a plaque, but were interrupted by Mecha Wolf and Konnan. They promised to beat AAA tonight, and Bestia and Mecha brawled. All three men fought as equals, even with Mecha and Bestia (unsucessfully) working together. Mecha defeated Horus.
6) Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno del Mal, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Brazo De Oro Jr., Negro Casas, Psycho Clown
Originally, the final member of team Wagner was said not to be Wagner 3 and to be revelaed in 05/11 Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera. No one was revealed at Gimansio Juan de la Barrera and Wagner 3G was added on 05/28. (A) Silver King Jr. and Simon Blanco appeared with the Wagners as part of the full family. Wagner3 beat Brazo de Oro clean. Psycho fought all three Wagners after the match.
7) Parker Boudreaux, QT Marshall, Sam Adonis, Satnam Singh b Alberto el Patrón, Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Vampiro
13:18. Jeff Jarrett accompanied the foreigners. (Karen did not this time.) Earlier, both Jarrett and Adonis taunted the crowd and Marisela Pena. Faby Apache fought Jarrett off during the match, but was eventually held at bay by Hijo del Tirantes. Latin Lover ran in for the save, then left and stood outside for the last minutes. Jarrett returned to the ring to foul Vampiro. Satnam got the win.

There was no moment you missed by missing this show, no match that everyone was talking about the next day. The Wagners/Casas match was the best of the bunch, a professional trios match that would’ve fit in fine on a CMLL Tuesday show. It was not the kind of match you expect to be the best match on one of the biggest shows of the year, nor was it setting out to be that. The three way trios and three way singles back to back magnified their weaknesses; there were some really cool spots, but no story or flow because the circumstances left the participants with no space beyond taking turns to get in offense. They’ll make for strong highlight package but left me cold in real time. The rest was either fine but forgettable or bad but possibly intentionally so as a heat getting mechanic (the main event.)

Nothing on this show felt important. The foreigners won by foul, same as they’d do on a TV match, same as D Luxe had done earlier in a meaningless match. Mesias pinned of Cibernetico and it was treated with the reverence and meaning of a lame duck late season game between two teams that aren’t coming close to the playoff. The “eye” video played, preceding Konnan and Bestia’s introduction at the start of the show and to suddenly close out the show, reminding people that “story” exists while continuing to not advance an iota since January. The AAA/Crash “score” ended up an unresolved 2-2; you were lonely if you were the one person who cared about that, but you didn’t get anything meaningful there. The Bestia/Mecha/Horus match was specifically booked to make sure that nothing happened, that Horus was the one to take the pin from ally Mecha Wolf so they could run the real meaningful matches later on (on much smaller shows.) All these TripleManias will eventually be packaged into a video package to be shown at future TripleManias and I have no idea what moment they’ll choose that’ll be immediately identifiable as Tijuana 2024. There were a lot of cool dives, but there are always are. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. got honored, but that video package also showed him being honored very similarly last year – it’ll be hard to keep those straight. Maybe it’ll be something as random as Tasha Steelz getting the pin or Rosemary dancing, because who knows if we’ll ever see them again.)

People reacted to this show as if it was not worth remembering even before it happens. I expected the English speaking internet in TripleMania Tijuana to be low and it was that. It was just the very few people who talk about any major lucha libre shows talking about it; I heard a story that even the pirate sites weren’t interested enough to keep their stream of it working at one point. What was a bit surprising is the visible empty seats. AAA TripleManias, especially the outdoor ones, always start off with a lot of visible empty seats for the first few matches. Those usually fill in by the middle of show. They did not fill in nearly as much here; the overhead angle that AAA kept going showed plenty of floor seats and closer stadium seats empty until it got too dark to see it all. It was more full in cheaper areas, so price for this card was part of the issue, but it appeared to be the lowest attended TripleMania since they started going to Tijuana, and under 10,000 fans easily. I thought the poor TripleManias – and there’s a streak of them going back to last year – would erode attendance slowly. There’s tradition to these things, it’s the one big show a year these cities get, the assumption is they’ll take something not great over nothing. Saturday’s turned suggested the decline is happening a bit faster. Mexico City remains AAA’s strongest city so I expect AAA will do better for that TripleMania. It just doesn’t feel like a sure thing AAA will be back to Tijuana for another one of these in 2025 right now.

Nothing was definitely set for TripleMania Mexico City. There’s vague ideas in multiple directions. The TJ/The Crash stuff was probably just for this show and is staying in TJ. The foreigners will surely wrestle at TripleMania Mexico City but it wasn’t clear again who. Vampiro will retire at TripleMania Mexico City but no one’s going to know until the press conference. Maybe there’s more stuff with the Wagners and Psycho Clown.

An interesting reaction was some disappointment and anger from Mexican fans, but not towards usual heat magnets Konnan or Dorian Roldan. Latin Lover talked about changes and surprises in AAA, and specifically unadvertised people appearing on this show. None of that happened. This was still largely the same AAA show, and those fans expecting an immediate difference felt they Latin had lied to them. There were slight changes – only the main event had a run-in, Hijo del Tirantes did not cheat for the rudos in his matches – but it was not what people had dreamed up based on Latin’s comments. Latin had also remarked that he didn’t get involved in Monterrey’s bad match because he knew it was a bad match and didn’t want to be part of it. Tijuana’s main event was just as bad and Latin Lover was happy to do a heroic run in, which came off as going back on his word. Latin Lover had repeatedly talked about wanting to be behind the scenes and that his time in wrestling is done, but every show since he’s started has included Latin Lover running in on the main event and running through the rudos. (Even when it doesn’t make sense; doing the superman act here made it very silly when he stood outside doing nothing as Vampiro got fouled and pinned.) If you ignore what’s being said and just watch what’s happening, AAA is building to Latin Lover wrestling in Mexico City against Jeff Jarrett and/or his crew. That may be actually what’s happening, AAA may need something like that to draw, but it would expose Latin Lover’s words pretty badly. It’s unfair to expect real changes in a short time, but one of the skills Latin Lover probably needs to pick up is how to manage expectations.

The opening segment was scheduled to be Halloween and Damian being honored and a video aired promoting such. Only Damian appeared. AAA officially said nothing. There is a story that Halloween was there but in no condition to perform. Halloween has a history of those sorts of issues, and has talked about it publicly, which is the only reason I’d pass it on without getting confirmed.

AAA has posted a near two hour Best of TripleMania Tijuana video on YouTube for free. It was blocked in the US due to a music issue, but maybe they’ll see I posted that and fixed it by time you read this. The full show will probably be up later in the week.

TJ Sports posted an media scrum with Latin Lover from before TripleMania. He mentions he really needs two or three more weeks to get a grasp on this job, because he’s meeting a lot of people for the first time – including the sons of La Parka and Abismo Negro. He does mention he’d like to some changes already, like no more heel referees especially in big matches. (1) He also talked about wanting to overdeliver for fans by giving them more than was advertised, so people feel rewarded in coming. He says there will be unexpected people who appear on TripleMania Tijuana – unless that’s the owner of the Crash and Violent J, it doesn’t seem to have happened. Latin does caution people that changes are coming, but he isn’t the decider on these things. Latin mentions announcing him as Director of Talent and the Unimas deal at the same time was a Dorian Roldan plan, hoping that the attention would get more attention for the new TV show. I’m not sure it actually worked out that but it was definitely worth a shot.

Latin again mentions two CMLL people who’ve reached out to him about coming aboard and that’s those are Dorian decisions, not part of his powers. He teases one of the people may debut in Mexico City or Aguascalientes. Latin praises CMLL and their wresters, and accurately notes that one big difference is the CMLL shows in Mexico City are different (and better) than the ones CMLL wrestlers are around outside of their arenas, while the AAA show is the same quality no matter what city they go to.

Latin mentions that when Vampiro came to talk about the podcast they did together – the podcast that is partially responsible for AAA’s success this year and that AAA had nothing to do with, it needs to be continued to be said – Latin thought Vampiro was actually getting a hold of him because Vampiro was between apartments and needed a place to live. Latin was going to offer Vamp a room at his gym, but Vampiro was actually fine.

(Aside 1: As mentioned earlier, Hijo del Tirantes returned to TripleMania after missing Monterrey, did outside the ring bits with the Jarrett group, but otherwise called the matches without doing any of his characters bits. This also happens every few years, and then he just starts doing heel referee stuff again and no one seems to stop him.)

AAA has tended to announce the next TripleMania lineup in the week after the last TripleMania ended. It might wait a little big longer this week; there’s no sense in announcing anything until after Saturday’s TV taping in Mexico City. Perhaps they’ll get they’ll announce the Verano de Escandalo and TripleMania Mexico cards at the same time.

Matt Riddle missed his shows this past weekend, saying he got concussion while riding an uber to the airport. He announce this before the shows happened, which was better than most. (Better than the Nick Wayne/AEW situation.) Matt Riddle is also kinda sketchy, to put it charitably. Matt Riddle is schedule to headline that AAA TV taping on Friday. Likely he’ll be there. Likely AAA should already be coming up with an in-house back up plan in case he can not be there. Likely AAA will not come up with an in-house back up plan because they don’t do those sorts of things.

Lucha Libre Online reports that WWE, after making deals with promotions in Japan and the UK, would like to do so with promotions in Puerto Rico and Mexico. I would think that would mean only CMLL and AAA in Mexico – but Puerto Rican wrestling isn’t in a strong place right now. If WWE is really willing to partner with a group there right now, perhaps there’s smaller groups they’d partner with just for the sake of having a partner.

This note is in the AAA section though because that’s the most obvious partner – their relationship with AEW is no more than “we’ll let you book our guys if we don’t need them (but maybe we’ll still need them and you won’t have them.)” There sure seemed an attempt at a AAA/WWE deal around the time of Dragon Lee’s departure but nothing seemed to come from it. That’s it didn’t happen that time and that this is a vague rumor not directly linking WWE to AAA when they’re the glaring obvious partner at least hints there’s other reasons those two groups aren’t working together. To put it more plainly: if there was going to be a WWE/AAA deal, it seems like there either would’ve been one or LLO would’ve specifically telegraphed that was WWE’s preferred partner. There may be a piece we’re not getting.

(AAA would obviously benefit in the short term from a WWE deal. Those deals haven’t worked out in the longer term. It’s a reasonable argument that AEW should’ve worked harder to keep their relationship with AAA while working with CMLL to hamper WWE’s progress in Latin America, but the biggest factor in WWE coming to Latin America is if WWE is serious about it or not.)

It’s worth remember that this is coming from Lucha Libre Online, so their main focus is on the Puerto Rico aspect, but they would be better aware than most of any WWE/AAA direction given Hugo’s involvement.

AAA – Unimas

AAA kicked off it’s run on Unimas this Saturday with two matches from TripleMania Tijuana:

• Tigre Blanco, Bestia 666, Negro Casas vs Dr. Wagner, Sanson, Forastero
• Nic Nemeth vs Alberto el Patron for the vacant championship

The strategy is transparent: debut with a big show and with names (Alberto, Nemeth, Casas, Wagner) that the average Unimas viewer may already know. There wasn’t anything to explain what was going on in these matches, but this was a new video package to sell the importance of TripleManias and to highlight Alberto and Vampiro. A lot of the before/after the bells, like entrances and in-ring promos, were edited down to move along faster. The matches themselves may have been cut down. I think any match editing was for time reasons rather than quality ones, judging from what was left in.

There’s no new material here on these shows; you’re not missing anything if you’ve been keeping up through AAA’s YouTube or an illicit viewing of one of the many Mexican TV airings of AAA. If you prefer to watch it on Unimas and are unbothered about being weeks behind, you now have that option. This Unimas show is not for the people reading this blog, it’s hoping to find a new audience that hasn’t been paying to attention to AAA in the hopes they stick around. There could’ve been more done on that account – could’ve been done more to alert people that this is a weekly show, not a one time appearance, could’ve pointed people stronger to AAA’s socials for more information, could’ve aired more to explain what was going on in AAA – but evaluating it critically for the on screen portion is beyond the point. The point is for to exist and exist at some professional level. It did both.

A positive sign for AAA is Unimas has no problems in selling ads during this show; there were all sorts of national and big brand commercials during the breaks – one break had Pizza Hurt, Sam’s Club, Macy’s, and Oreos among others. I presume it’s just Unimas selling the entire day or weekend of shows as one package than selling against AAA specifically, but it’s great for AAA if Unimas can just sell it like any other time. That hasn’t been the case for wrestling historically.

Next week’s show has the Mexico/Foreigners match and the Vampiro main event. AAA re-edited the Nemeth/Alberto finish to hide how badly that went. There’s no real reason for me to keep close eye on a show that’s airing repeat material and nothing new, but I am curious in how they try to salvage the finish bit of that Vampiro match.

One curious thing is the onscreen graphics going in and out of breaks promoters “TripleMania Monterrey”, almost as if that was the name of the show. We really don’t know anything about this deal beyond “AAA is on Unimas.” They haven’t said for long, they haven’t said for which episodes. AAA previously had deals to air Best of TripleMania shows on TUDN and just the TripleManias on Estrellas TV. It’s conceivable this is a deal that’s just for the TripleManias and the rest is dependent on how those shows do.  It’s also possible this is just a normal long term deal between and AAA/Unimas and those parties decided TripleMania Monterrey was just the best starting point.

Eitehr way, Unimas could and likely will just air TripleManias for quite a while. They’re on pace to get four weeks out of TripleMania Monterrey and could get four weeks out of TripleMania Tijuana following that – it’d be early August before they needed to air anything else beyond TripleMania. Unimas airing two matches a week also means they’ll be forever behind AAA’s Mexico airings and still be picking and choosing what to air. That’s the same situation NJPW has had with their AXS airings and that worked out fine for them when the product was hot. My favorite part of those original NJPW shows were the framing interviews they’d have before and after the matches, talking to one of the wrestlers involved in a calm sitdown interviews about what that match meant to them. That sort of context helps with new viewers. I’m just not sure there’s a lot of coherent context to AAA’s matches to make that work.

I believe Saturday TV ratings numbers tend to turn up on Tuesdays, so that may be when AAA’s numbers will be known. Public ratings sites typically have numbers for the top 150 shows. My guess is AAA will be in that top 150 but I’m be afraid to bet any real money on it. It’s not an AAA issue, it’s just way outside my knowledge.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 06/16/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, La Tijera]
1) Puma de Oro b Hysteriosis, Sky Man 
Match was listed as Auzter & Sky Man vs Rey Aztaroth & Simon Blanco
2) Príncipe Centauro & Rey Halcón b Multifacetico Jr. & Tornado Jr. 
3) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Aramis, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly 
4) Misterioso Jr. DQ Pantera 
Misterioso Jr. got DQed for shoving the referee (he got the visual pin before the ref raised Pantera’s hand so both could claim victory.)
5) DMT Azul, Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus b Arez, Látigo, Toxin 
sets up an EDM trios title match
6) Bugambilia L Estrella Divina, Shamila, Miss Gaviota, Sádika, Keyra, Bengalee, Paymon, Zoy Raymunda, Mary Caporal [mask, hair] 
Estrella Divina and Bugambilia were the final two, raced down the side of the cage to escape, and Bugambilia idiotically kicked Divina off the cage to cost himself his hair. Sadika replaced Sexy Star

Long ago, IWRG infamously had a similar finish with El Golpeador (father of Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf) and Golden Magic (now Octagon Jr.) were climbing down the cage at the same time and fighting. Golepeador, who was not really built for that kind of spot at that point in his career, slipped and touched the ground before Golden Magic, messing up the finish. IWRG just sort of ignored that, but it killed Golden Magic for a while. They were not going to mess it up the same way this time, but Bugambilia actions – attacking his opponent in a way that could only cost himself the match – makes him come off as the dumbest person alive. The reason IWRG – and most wrestling promotions – do these escape the cage rules is to purposefully have controversial finishes, but the only controversy here is why a purposed sporting event would decide a winner and loser in such a fashion.

I’m sure there are other reasons, but I really enjoy Sexy Star saying she had no interest in wrestling these IWRG people and then no-showing the big cage match. (IWRG had replaced her with Sadika on the poster prior.) Good turn for the IWRG cage matches, as always happens.

IWRG (THU) 06/20/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sacro vs Fauno
2) Mary Caporal vs Shamila, Kali
3) Spider Fly vs El Bendito
4) Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Jessy Ventura vs Khlan, Misterioso Jr., Vangellys
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Luka, Pandemónium Jr. vs Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool

Through various mishaps I’ve typed this lineup three times, so I can identify with Spider Fly and Bendito wanting another shot at it. I’m not sure either of us should bbe getting it – the referee messed up in that match, but Spider Fly and Bendito kinda messed up in their reaction. (Also, I think everyone should call him Oni El Bendito, it’s a much better name.)

Other Notes

RIOT (SAT) 06/15/2024 Venue867, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon [@thekoko666]
1) Aero Boy b Iron Kid
2) Dash, Kaientai, Lord Byron DRAW Nossivo, Radar, Ultra
3) Willy Banderas b Gravity (Indie)
4) Hijo de Canis Lupus b Demonio del Aire
5) Dulce Tormenta b Zuzu Divine
6) The Beast Mortos b King Rex
7) Arez, Látigo, Toxin b Kratoz, Prometeo, Vengador (Querétaro)
8) Erik Ortiz © b Travis Banks, René Rocks [RIOT CHAMP]

Matches 4/5/6 sounded like the were the best ones. No idea when/if this will turn up.

Alejandro Zermeno was among four people arrested in Mexico City in association with a bust of a marijuana greenhouse recently. Reporter Carlos Jimenez says Zeremeno has been wrestling as “Diablolico” locally. He posted the photo of Diabolico in his gear so I’m sure that’s true, but I can’t find any lineups with an Diabolico/El Diabolico in it; he’s a very low level guy if he’s active. (Or maybe it’s “[something] Diabolico.”)

Chica Yeye was remembered by his family and friends with a special wrestling show this weekend, one year after Yeye passed away from cancer.

Texano, Super Nova and Sussy Love were interviewed at the Big Lucha show at the racetrack this week. Texano & Super Nova shared memories of their father for Father’s Day. Sussy says getting to wrestle in ROH was a big moment in her career; everything has been going well for her since returning from her long term knee injury. She’d like to return to ROH. Her next big goal is to wrestle either Faby Apache or Lady Apache. A lot of the Mexico City area luchadoras wrestle people of basically the same experience and achievement levels and she wants to instead face some of the best who’ve ever done it.

La Tijera has video of the Mexico City lucha libre licensing exam. This is normal for Mexico but trying to think how it would go if someone filmed some sort of US wrestling exam.

Galeno del Mal debuts in NOAH on 07/13, teaming with his brother against El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. against Los Golpeadors.

El Sabor del Ring writes about long time San Luis Potosi luchador Asesino Maldito.

A profile of Salamanca’s Kraken.

There was an organized group bike ride (the one you peddle, not motorcycles) to promote a lucha libre show in Oaxaca this weekend. About 100 bikers participated.