Fletcher/Atlantis Jr., Lucha Brothers/Mistico, Rush/CMLL, smiles on faces

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.