TripleMania Tijuana Saturday, Unimas, Oku & Zaddy Daddies in, more about CMLL Tunel, FantasticaMania USA

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 06/14/2024 Arena México
1) Capitán Suicida & Diamond vs Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II
2) Blue Panther Jr. & Dark Panther vs Crixus & Raider
3) La Catalina, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard vs Kira, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Flip Gordon, Neón, Star Jr. vs Bad Dude Tito, Che Cabrera, Zandokan Jr.
Flip Gordon replaced Volador Jr. on Friday
5) Michael Oku vs Templario
6) Esfinge, Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Averno, Euforia, Soberano Jr.
Mascara Dorada replaced Atlantis Jr. on Friday (leg injury)

Oku/Templario is the big one here, both in trying to get over a specific wrestler and the importance of RevPro. Oku doesn’t have a look that’s going to immediately impress CMLL fans (or wrestlers), but he should be plenty good enough in the ring to have an impactful match with Templario.

The rest of the show is a lot like last week; everything looks good and is fully capable of being Great if it works out. The third match should build towards Catalina/Vaquer. Match 4 is about the Zaddy Daddys.

Atlantis Jr. appeared on Informa to give an update on his leg injury. It sounds like it turned out to be minor – he’s resting and rehabbing, but won’t need surgery or anything like that. He’s out for now, but should be back soon.

Volador is back the next day…

CMLL (SAT) 06/15/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Galaxy vs Pequeño Violencia [lightning]
2) Eléctrico, Leono, Retro vs Grako, Inquisidor, Sangre Imperial
3) Futuro, Legendario, Max Star vs Arkalis, Pegasso, Rey Samuray
4) Lluvia, Persephone, Tessa Blanchard vs Sanely, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Terrible vs Bad Dude Tito & Che Cabrera
6) Volador Jr. vs Michael Oku

CMLL puts the foreigners on every show possible but they’re really making Oku work by booking him in two singles matches in two days. Third match might be good, but these Saturday shows haven’t been strong late.

CMLL (SUN) 06/16/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito & Shockercito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Kemalito vs Tengu [lightning]
3) Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard, Valkiria vs Náutica, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis
4) Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero vs Bad Dude Tito, Che Cabrera, Michael Oku
5) El Hijo de Octagón & Octagón vs Euforia & Soberano Jr. and Máscara Dorada & Panterita del Ring and El Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Stuka Jr. and Blue Panther & El Hijo De Blue Panther and Felino & Felino Jr. and Valiente & Valiente Jr. [Copa Dinastias]

CMLL, in a Twitter reply, announced this show will air for members the top two tiers. I’m pleased not to have to dance around how I’m seeing this shows for at least one week.

The main event will be a seven father/son team tournament. Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. were scheduled. I can’t think of an obvious father/son left in CMLL – they could bring in Rey Bucanero’s son if they really wanted to do something, but seven is fine. KeMaltio/Tengu should be something.

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
debut of the foreigners in Mexico
6) Místico vs Averno

Same card as announced. Match four is worth watching to see if they’re setting up a title match.

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.

The hair match is a late add to the rest of this card, announced previously. Seven matches is a lot of matches, especially with Guadalajara sticking close to two hour shows of late.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara posted photos of some remodeling. They’re replacing some of the wooden chairs that have been there for decades with newer and more comfortable wooden ones.

CMLL announced the 06/25 Tuesday Arena Mexico show will have an international cibernetico featuring seven Mexicans and seven foreigners. It will not be World vs Mexico – I guess the idea is they do that already for the Gran Prix – so they’ll have a battle royal to set teams.

Those in the match: Shigeo Okumura, Neon, Rocky Romero, Mascara Dorada, Volador Jr., Star Jr., Flip Gordon, Titan, Hiromu Takahashi, Dark Magic, Templario, Tajiri Ishimori, Zack Sabre Jr. and Mistico.

Titan gets that quick turnaround back. Romero, Ishimori, Sabre and Takahashi may all be headed to AEW after that Tuesday show. Titan too.

NJPW announced the first four matches for 07/13 FantasticaMania USA:

• DOUKI & Mistico vs Rocky Romero & Volador Jr.
• Stephanie Vaquer vs Lluvia
• ZSJ & Bad Dude Tito vs Hechicero & Virus
• Adrian Quest vs DKC vs Viento vs Cucuy in Copa FantastiaMania.

Announced but no match yet: Ultimo Guerrero, El Desperado, Yota Tsuji

Viento & Cucuy are regulars for Pro Wrestling Revolution. This full show will air on NJPW World in English as a standalone PPV. No price is announced yet, but the usual price is 20 USD. This is a good start to being worth it – the two 2v2 tag matches look fun, they’re just missing the one big match.

Felino did some media interviews to promote his Anniversary shows in July. He mention he would like his children to be at this celebration, but “one of them took a different path.”

CMLL’s tease of Hechicero going to AEW didn’t seem to come through; he didn’t wrestle on Dynamite or Rampage. Maybe later, or maybe plans got changed. The WON notes Volador, Rugido, Magnus and Esfinge found out they were need for AEW at 11 pm Tuesday night, got on a flight at 3 AM, and got to the building to 4 PM. That seems not fun.

This is a next week issue, not a this week one: Mistico has been doing so much press for his Anniversary shows. He’s seemingly talked to any media outlet in Puebla, Guadalajara or Mexico City that’ll have him. The narrative is Mistico being the most recent big star, and as someone who wants to put his name near El Santo and Blue Demon as among the biggest stars in Mexico ever. Mistico is really great, it’s also really hard to do those sorts of rankings because the context changes so much over time. Anyway, if mainstream press means fans, those shows are going to draw very well. CMLL and TuriLuchas unveiled a special Mistico themed bus as part of the celebration. I assume the driver welcomes everyone with “Buenas Noches, patron” and, if you should want to get off the bus, they encourage you to take “una parada mas.”

A funny bit is last week’s Mistico/Magnus match sure seemed booked as a end for now on the program; it was clear if you watched the match. There’s a lot of people in Mexico who watch lucha libre but don’t seem to understand it, ignored Magnus getting beat clean in the middle, and focused instead on Mistico’s demand for Magnus to shake his hand or put his mask on the line. (Magnus did shake Mistico’s hand before attacking him, getting beat up for a second time and running away.) Mistico, in Guadalajara, tried to one again nudge the interviews towards understanding that Magnus match wasn’t actually happening – he pushed for a bigger name as an apuesta opponent for an Aniversario show.

a lot about about the CMLL Tunel

The deal with the CMLL Tunel being demolished seems part local complaints and part local politics, based on an interview with one of the people who asked to have it taken (David Fukuy Fernandez) down by El Grafico’s Sergio Trejo. The idea is the group opposing it filed a lawsuit was the Tunel was even opened, because they saw it was being built on the local sidewalk and they argued it was disrupting a public space, especially on days when CMLL wasn’t running and nothing was going on. The other part of this seems like an ongoing fight between the borough mayor (Sandra Cuevas) and people who live in the borough who weren’t fond of her. Cuevas pushed for the idea, was at the opening, and had her office fighting the lawsuit. The courts ruled against the Tunel in December, but her office was still appealing the decision. Cuevas left the mayor’s office to run for Senate at the end of February, her successor was elected on June 2nd and made taking a symbol of the previous mayor one of their first acts. (And then posted a video celebrating it.) Fukuy Fernandez claimed he had nothing against lucha libre, but objected to the Tunel being used as private property when it was on public ground. Fukuy Fernandez said he may have less of an objection if the building had been open for public use, but it was locked shut when CMLL wasn’t using it.

Sergio Trejo also has an interview with Rey Bucanero on how that Tunel came to be. Rey Bucanero had a micro-restaurant with Olimpico close to the spot where the Tunel was located. Shocker eventually joined them with his own food truck. It became a fan/wrestler meet up spot after a while. Other wrestlers wanted to get in on this, but there wasn’t the space for everyone. Rey Bucanero formed an official group to petition the local government for help in finding them a space to support both current and retired wrestlers, and they came back with the idea of the Tunel. Bucanero remained in contact with both the mayor’s office and the group of wrestlers using the Tunel, so they were aware it was being shut down and cleaned out the shops before the demolition began. Bucanero says the new mayor did let them know they were going to allow the demotion, and has said they’ll find an equal or better place for them instead. Bucanero said he respected the law and the wishes of the people who live in the neighborhood, but believes the Tunel was a positive. His view is the street was abandoned, dirty and dangerous, and the Tunel brought improvements. He also say he doesn’t understand how taking up that sidewalk affected the people who live in the neighborhood, because it’s all businesses on that street.

A Grafico gossip column claims rent (paid by CMLL?) on the building cost 18,000 pesos a week, no one knows who got the money, and the city itself paid five million pesos to construct it. Those numbers are hard to believe. As usual with Mexican wrestling promotions, this is a story that all their fans are talking about but CMLL itself has not said a word.

AAA

I have AAA TV results. Well, someone else had them and then I put them in my database, that’s generally the process.

AAA TV (TUE) 06/11/2024 Plaza de la Mexicanidad, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua [Adverture Producciones, Invaxion Wrestling (FB), Mas Lucha, Vlissmag]
1) Miss Kath, Payaso Balin, Ráfaga Jr., Sakura ?? Felina, Samuray VIP, Steven Juárez, Venus
Dark match? Mystery person appeared to be a Japanese person (whoever was seconding CIMA on this trip.)
2) Aéreo b Kempo Jr. [JUAREZ ABSOLUTO]
Kempo did a dive off the the light scaffold (and mostly missed). Foreigners beat up the wrestlers after the match.
3) Kamik-C & Skalibur b Colmillo de Plata & Garra de Oro
4) Dalys, Flammer, La Hiedra b Faby Apache, Pimpinela Escarlata, Sexy Star
5) Dinámico, Drago, Laredo Kid b Abismo Negro, El Fiscal, Taurus 
6) Negro Casas & Psycho Clown b Forastero & Sansón [AAA TAG]
Title change, NGD fall on their fifth defense. Casas & Psycho are the 31st champions. NGD attacked and unmasked Psycho after the match.
7) CIMA, Sam Adonis, Satnam Singh b Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Octagón Jr. 
Jeff Jarrett seconded the rudos. Latin Lover got involved, but the foreigners still won.

I didn’t see it in the recaps I read, but another poster said they did a show ending angle where Latin Lover and Konnan agreed to get along. We’ll see if that lasts even one show.

Clips of Kempo’s dive (a crossbody that came up a little short) is already all over the place. They did use the miss to explain the finish, Kempo’s miss cost him the title. Pagano appeared for the title match since they were in Juarez. The giant Juarez X in the background looks really cool for a wrestling show.

GLEAT’s Check Shimatani was at the show and turns in the photos getting beat up by the foreigners, so he probably got added somewhere in that opener. GLEAT did already announce they’re partnering with AAA.

Jesus Zuniga and Jose Manuel Guillen did the announcing for this show. They also did it in Mexico City. Hugo is not gone – he’ll be back for TripleMania.

I wrote a lot about TripleMania Tijuana over for Voices of Wrestling. The show starts at 9:30 US Eastern time on Triller. Space, Max and Claro Sports pick it up two hours later. This show is going to drift into Sunday morning for most of the country; maybe take a nap that afternoon.

TripleMania Tijuana not a PPV card. Everyone in AAA should thank Faby Apache every day for coming up with the Origenes idea, and they should thank Vampiro every day for going viral on a podcast, because his retirement tour and nostalgia are carrying a badly booked promotion. Neither “old AAA wrestlers” or “Vampiro having another retirement match” is going to get people outside of Mexico to pay for this show in great numbers, and the rest of this card doesn’t make up for it. There’s also a WWE PPV earlier in the day, which seems to decrease viewership for all other wrestling even if not head to head. Triller doesn’t make PPV purchase numbers public, but I suspect TripleMania Tijuana is going to end up the least bought TripleMania on that platform.

I’m tired of writing about AAA not being any good. It would be easier if they were good. They can’t do that for me. So I’ll try anyway. What’s the best case scenario for every match?

1) Anubis, Keyra, Mamba, Toto vs Faby Apache, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, Pimpinela Escarlata

An easy stressful fun match where a guy like Anubis does something impressive that makes you want to keep following him. The foreigners don’t come down to the same attack and same promos they do on every show.

2) Flammer, La Hiedra, Maravilla vs Havok, Rosemary, Tasha Steelz

Las Toxicas get over with their dancing and outfits in an fine enough match. No one gets hurt.

3) Komander, Laredo Kid, Octagón Jr. vs CIMA, Nick Wayne, Willie Mack vs D Luxe, Destiny, Noisy Boy

AAA comes up with a fun replacement for Nick Wayne. Willie Mack’s dancing happens in the first minute and then the match picks up. There’s lot of cool spots. Octagon Jr. keeps his momentum going and fan start to pick up that there’s something positive happening with him.

4) Cibernético, Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz vs Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu, El Mesías

It’s short. La Secta look better than Tijuana (and remember the finish.) There’s a direction other than Cibernetico and Mesias next.

5) Rey Horus vs Bestia 666 vs Mecha Wolf

It’s a violent brawl. Bestia comes out looking strong to keep the rivalry hot for the Tijuana fans.

6) Brazo De Oro Jr., Negro Casas, Psycho Clown vs Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno del Mal, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.

The Wagner sons impress the AAA fans who haven’t seen them (or haven’t seen them in a very long time.) There’s a tag team title match set up for TripleMania Mexico City.

7) Alberto el Patrón, Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Vampiro vs Parker Boudreaux, QT Marshall, Sam Adonis, Satnam Singh

Vampiro’s not asked to sell much and gets to make the superhero comeback in the third fall. Match is centered more on QT Marshall and Sam Adonis as the key rudos. There’s a direction that’s not another atomicos match for Mexico City.

The WON confirms Nick Wayne is not appearing at TripleMania, though neither AAA or AEW would confirm it. AEW was running a commercial promoting Collision that implies Wayne would be on that show. I think there’s a chance Konnan absolutely loses his mind on this one. AEW has Wayne under contract, they have the absolutely legal right to do this, but they’ve done it a bad way. It’s not like “Father’s Day” and “One Year Anniversary of Collision” were late breaking ideas, it was obviously the idea of Christian doing a promo that came together late.

Unimas is running a commercial for the AAA show. I haven’t seen any mention elsewhere, but that’s Unimas viewers are the people who most need to know it exists.  The extent of AAA’s push is a post on social media every couple of days. In their defense

AAA on Unimas is starting with TripleMania Monterrey. That show was terrible but it fits with AAA’s priorities: they want to look have a major league presentation, so they’ll run a show with the biggest crowd and entrance possible. AAA on Space is about a one hour show without commercials, and the Unimas slot is 15-20 minutes shorter than that.

Mas Lucha, as they often do, posted a bunch of videos from the Juarez taping. (I still don’t have results. No one cares.) It does not make logic how Mas Lucha can produce all this social media content for AAA shows and AAA can not. Laredo Kid explained La Fraternidad as three friends, inside and outside the ring. Octagon Jr. is overjoyed to go Japan for the first time, and says he’s been preparing every second to have the best match on the show. He jokes that he’s even preparing in his dreams.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 06/13/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Avisman b Freelance 
2) Arez b Príncipe Centauro 
3) Spider Fly b Oni El Bendito 
Spider Fly won with a Dragon Rana (referee coutned three when Oni
4) Puma de Oro b Relámpago 
5) Cerebro Negro & Tonalli DRAW Látigo & Toxin 
Scheduled as a tag title defense but Cerebro Negro Jr. had a leg injury (and appeared to say he will be out three weeks.) Tonalli made a surprise return as a replacement.

I’ve never seen someone fight off a referee to try and stop his hand from being raised, but Spider Fly innovated. They obviously had more to do, the referee messed up the count, but also you can’t actually do that. Everyone should be home for a bit. Anyway, Bendito surely had this appearance in mind when he said he was quitting Big Lucha – there’s bad history between IWRG and Big Lucha – and he’s a welcome addition to Naucalpan if this is more than a one off. Iron Kid was also shown as one of the possible Lucha Random people, Tonalli’s back around again and IWRG could accidentally turn into a good promotion if they keep improving their roster. On the other hand, Spider Fly fighting off a referee.

IWRG (SUN) 06/16/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Auzter & Sky Man vs Rey Aztaroth & Simon Blanco
2) Multifacetico Jr. & Tornado vs Príncipe Centauro & Rey Halcón
3) Aramis, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
4) Pantera vs Misterioso Jr.
5) DMT Azul, Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Arez, Látigo, Toxin
6) Estrella Divina vs Shamila, Bugambilia, Miss Gaviota, Sexy Star, Keyra, Bengalee, Paymon, Zoy Raymunda, Mary Caporal [mask, hair]

After their singles match here, Keyra and Sexy Star said they would like to face each other again but not the IWRG women – they didn’t consider them worth fighting. Well, too bad. Welcome to the La Jaula de Las Locas. My guess is Zoy Raymunda is losing, but it could just as easily be Bugambilia or Paymon.

Pantera versus Misterioso is a rematch of a infamous mask match. Both were in CMLL, both were in a cage match, Pantera lost his mask to Misterioso. Pantera left CMLL a few months later and put the mask on, claiming he hadn’t been paid so he had the right to put it back on. (Pantera looked much older with the mask off, which might be the real reason it went back on.) Pantera came back to CMLL last year for some legend’s matches, with his mask on, so whatever happened there seems settled. This match probably addresses the rest of it – and I wonder if anyone would remember Misterioso was the one who unmasked Pantera if there wasn’t this controversy around Pantera remasking.

IWRG , LLB (SUN) 06/30/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Cybercan, Demencia, Robo Can vs Juanma Sanchez, Mr. Koi, Mr. Maicool
2) Príncipe Centauro vs Hijo De Sparta, New Level, Sparta, Oro Blanco, Perro Wisin, Pinochito, X-Devil, Sol
3) India Mazahua & Mary Caporal vs Princesa Azul & Shamila
4) Fandango, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico, Brazo De Oro Jr.
5) Lunatik Xtreme & Toto vs Demus & Joe Lider and Hell Boy & Puma de Oro
6) Charly Manson, Cibernético, Electroshock vs Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno del Mal, Máximo

That’s definitely a Lucha Libre Boom show.

Other Notes

Baja California Vaquero Jr. (Gabriel Tirana, 34) passed away on Thursday. He started wrestling in 2010, mostly in Mexicali, and seems to mostly stopped around 2022. This is not the Vaquero Jr. who wrestles primarily in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara.

CMLL isn’t the only promotion with a busy international show on Friday. Robles is running probably one of the most expensive cards in the history of Arena Neza:

Robles (FRI) 06/14/2024 Arena Neza
1) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
2) Máscarita Sagrada & Mircroman vs Gallito & Guapito
3) Hijo de Mr. Niebla & Reiyel vs Majestic & Medieval III
4) Aero Queen, Big Mami, La Chapita, Sagitarius vs Goya Kong, La Perra, Pequeña Tiffany, Tiffany
5) Estrella Divina, Intocable, Pimpiebla vs Alan Stone, Jessy Ventura, Mamba
6) Laredo Kid, Marco Corleone, Metalik vs Austrailan Suicide, Marty Scurll, Rey Horus
7) Penta 0M vs Samuray del Sol

Penta/Samuray del Sol is explicitly playing off Samuray’s very short time as Octagon Jr. This Pentagon Jr. was created specifically and only to be a foil for Samuray del Sol Octagon Jr., someone who was a good base for his big moves, but not to get any push outside that feud. AAA gave Samuray del Sol the gimmick without getting him locked down, maybe guessing he’d mark out at getting to be an Octagon Jr. Samuray instead went to WWE and made a lot of money. AAA stumbled into Penta becoming the star they hoped Octagon Jr. would be. Samuray hasn’t killed it since leaving WWE and Penta’s not been doing all that great lately either, but the match still means nothing.

Marco Corleone has a booking coming up in Guadalajara too. “Pequena Tiffany” and “La Chapita” look like micros; I wonder if they’re from the same Micro promotions Microman and those guys work. Lot of people getting on flights to Tijuana in the morning. There’s no way to see this one live – the YouTube fan cams will make their money on this one.

06/15 RIOT

• Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Demonio del Aire
• Zuzu Divine vs Dulce Tormenta
• Erik Ortiz (c) vs Travis Banks vs Rene Rocks for the RIOT Championship
• Arez, Toxin, Latigo vs Prometo, Kratoz, Vengador
• The Beast Mortos vs King Rex
• Iron Kid vs Aero Boy
• Willy Banderas vs Gravity – new

NOAH on Sunday has Daga vs Starboy Charlie for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. NOAH tags me on every Mexican wrestler tweet and it’s really annoying but I probably wouldn’t have thought to put their match here otherwise.

SuperLuchas has a podcast talking about forgotten and probably lost Mexican wrestling video.

There’s a benefit show for Tabasco luchador Gatubeda.