Mistico 20th Anniversary celebration, AAA in Mexico City, UG’s mask, AAA/NXT

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.