Jericho returns to CMLL, Atlantis Jr. new TV champion, Lucha Brothers/Mistico, Verano de Escandalo

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 06/28/2024 Arena México [AS (Atlantis), AS (Chris Jericho), CMLL, ESTO, FDDE, Fuego en El Ring, Record, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan, thegladiatores.com]
1) Chamuel, Kemalito, Micro Sagrado b Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Tengu [Relevos Increíbles]
9:11
2) Raider & Vegas b Futuro & Max Star
10:57
3) Persephone, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis b Lluvia, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard
9:53.
4) Star Jr. & Último Guerrero b Templario & Titán [Relevos Increíbles]
10:16. Ultimo Guerrero wore his infamous AEW mask to the ring, then won in straight falls when he unmasked Templario in the second.
5) Esfinge, Místico, Volador Jr. DQ Ángel de Oro, Averno, Euforia
11:01. Esfinge and Euforia feuded, Averno fouled Volador. Mistico hung around the ring after everyone left (or was rushed off), and was surprise attacked by a mystery person in a Mistico mask. The person didn’t do much other to hide their identity, and revealed himself to be a returning Chris Jericho. Jericho said this was his house when he was Corazon de Leon. Mistico said it was his house now. Both agreed to a match though it was left unclear when.
6) Atlantis Jr. b Kyle Fletcher [ROH TV]
19:54. Match set up by video challenges the previous week. Atlantis Jr. defeated Kyle Fletcher to become the 32nd Champion, winning with a Canadian Destroyer and two frog splashes. Fletched asked for a rematch on his turf.

The big news came from those top two matches, and more so from the semi-main. Chris Jericho has a few trademark bits, and this was one of his favs: a wrestler showing as a mystery man under a mask, revealing himself once with his moves, and then revealing himself again by removing the mask. (The theory is it gets multiple and building reactions as people figure out what’s happening, even though there’s no logical reason for the attacker to be masked.) Jericho and people he’s worked with have done it many times in AEW; it was new to CMLL. Jericho didn’t do his recent Learning Tree bit from AEW, instead a simpler Corazon de Leon act, and spoke Spanish to make sure the promo got over with the surprised Mexican fans. Mistico responded back well – in both English and Spanish – and it came off as effectively. Jericho’s AEW matches against Titan and Atlantis Jr. were laying the groundwork for this appearance, and it was just a matter of timing when it would happen. Jericho did tours of CMLL from 1993 to 1995 as Corazon de Leon, won a hair match and had a run with the NWA (now Historic) Middleweight Championship. The best modern comparison I can make is to Flip Gordon – Jericho was much earlier in his career but a similar role, slightly better slotting, and if Flip actually won more of his big singles matches.

The social media reaction to Chris Jericho coming in to CMLL was totally different from English language (mostly negative) and Spanish language (mostly positive). There’s a lot of baggage attached to Chris Jericho in the US – for reasons both inside and outside the ring – and one of the beliefs US fans have is that Jericho attaches himself to anything that’s hot to take some of that heat for himself. The great news there is US fans perceive CMLL as a hot thing, and I’m certain Jericho seeing the crowd reactions for the BCC/AEW convinced him this was the time to return to Arena Mexico. But this isn’t a Jericho driven decision. This is CMLL getting what they’ve wanted for a long time, though it was something not even a possibility until recently. (Remember when CMLL went nuts for just a Jericho video message about the then-recently passed away Paco Alonso?) Jericho is an beloved megastar to CMLL Mexican fanbase and especially to that office.

One of the great myths Mexican wrestling tells about itself is wrestlers from all over the world come to Mexico to learn how to wrestle. There’s some truth in that, and there’s some stretching the truth at times. Jericho is held up as great evidence of that belief; he was an unknown wrestler who came to Mexico and went onto become a worldwide star. He proved the quality of CMLL by succeeding. Jericho is included in the photos of Arena Coliseo for that legacy more than anything he actually did in CMLL (though he did do well in CMLL.) Jericho coming back to Arena Mexico means as much to their fans and staff as Andrade did last year – maybe more, because it’s been longer and because Jericho’s been much more successful. Jericho would’ve been the #1 dream pick of anyone CMLL could get from AEW – it’s a bigger get for them personally than Danielson or Okada or Omega or whomever else you’re thinking about but I forgot to put here, and it’s something that felt completely impossible until the last few months. The danger here isn’t Jericho latching himself onto a hot thing, the danger is that CMLL’s relationship with AEW may have peaked, because it’s tough to imagine a bigger and more important surprise than this to both the fans and the people in charge.

(The side story of this is Chris Jericho is finally appearing in Mexico but not in the promotion where his long time close friend Konnan works. They’re still friends – Jericho’s been on Konnan’s podcast, Jericho appears to have gotten Konnan in to AEW for cameos a couple of times. Konnan personally and AAA generally has wanted to bring in Jericho since he left WWE. Maybe it’ll still happening someday, but it’s not happening now. Some of that is “CMLL cool, AAA not”. A lot of it is “CMLL’s in the club, AAA is not in the club.” My understanding is CMLL is not paying what AAA would’ve had to pay to bring Jericho in. As dearly as CMLL loves Jericho, they also would not have brought him in if they had to pay the AAA prices. Membership has its privileges.)

The Mexican fan base had negative comments about the angle, but not about Jericho or Mistico. They were unhappy about the announcers and the audio. You can get a better sense of it in the Instagram comments. There wasn’t a huge pop for Jericho showing up, which may have been the usual CMLL micing issues; this is an issue something that is so commonplace that I wrote about it just last week with CMLL messing up the Mistico entrance. The announcers also reacted calmly and quietly stunned to the Jericho appearance, where the fans watching later wanted to them be as over the top as they were watching it. It’s possible their reactions were by design – they didn’t give it away it was Jericho until he unmasked, though it was clear it was him prior. They announcers (not the same exact group) reacted a bit bigger to Mercedes Mone appearing the week prior, who came in with her entrance music and video playing. There’s a bit of “the announcers I grew up on were the best and everyone is bad” in the criticism, of course.

Announcer Juan Carlos Castellanos had a line near the end of this segment along the lines of “will we see [Mistico/Jericho] next week?”, which left it very ambiguous what was meant to be happening. It’s one of those things CMLL could’ve immediately cleared up, but will leave it way up in the air until that lineup comes out Monday night or Tuesday. Dave Meltzer has since confirmed the match is not happening next week, but is happening eventually.

(If the Euforia/Esfinge and Averno/Volador feuds were just fake outs to throw us off the scent of Jericho/Mistico at Aniversario, then CMLL is doing some fifth dimensional chess game I can’t even imagine. Normal CMLL booking would have Mistico/Jericho happens on some other show and those are two real feuds, but those matches are going to struggle perception-wise as a main event in the context of everything else CMLL is doing this year.)

On Wednesday, Atlantis Jr. said he was 100%. On Friday, after winning the title, Atlantis Jr. said he wasn’t actually 100%. I’m not sure if that affected the match; the pace was slower than expected for a big CMLL match, and something that didn’t totally pick up. Fletcher and Atlantis Jr. hadn’t worked together before, hadn’t worked each other’s styles much, and those came through in moments. The crowd seemed positive about the title change and CMLL played it up as a big moment, but it was missing something for me. AEW stands to benefit from bringing in more Mexican wrestlers and pushing the ones they have them during their upcoming stint in Arlington, and Atlantis Jr. looks to be one of the wrestlers picked. Letting people know they exist and getting them to show up is the next task.

I thought the Ultimo Guerrero/Templario stuff was setting up a match next week, but it may have just been playing off the AEW mask issue. Ultimo Guerrero wore the much talked about mask to the ring (though not during the match) and the mask pull finish was what he and Okada were originally planning to do in their match. Euforia/Esfinge and Volador/Averno played up like they were meant to have big matches later this year.

Raider looked great in match 2, which might have bene the most fun one of the night.

As a wrestler, KeMalito is a really good meme. He’s much better at being a mascot than having real matches, where he seems to be get hurt or nearly get hurt in most of his matches later. I assume KeMalito being so green and so pushed is also the reason the Micro Gemelos Diablos are ending a lot of matches seeming very angry – one of them stormed off before the match was over, the other one took the pin and left immediately in a huff. Their antics look completely unprofessional and they’d probably be getting a long sit down for them if they were in a division with more than a half dozen wrestlers. It’s tough to punish them without hurting everyone else, but it a bad situation getting worse.

CMLL (SAT) 06/29/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Astro Boy Jr. & Rayo Metálico b Dragón de Fuego & Infarto
10:45
2) Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr., Vegas b Diamond, Eléctrico, Robin
18:04. Vegas replaced Dr. Karonte I
3) El Coyote, Espanto Jr., Pólvora b Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr.
19:14.
4) Dark Panther, Star Black, Volcano b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
12:04.
5) Euforia b Zandokan Jr. [lightning]
9:03
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Mephisto, Stuka Jr. b Flip Gordon, Star Jr., Titán
13:59. Cavernario used the ropes to pin Flip, setting up a singles match between them last week.

Maybe the main event was the best, maybe the semi-main. Nothing terrible, nothing great. Most remarkable thing was the CMLL wrapping up the show, then Cavernario sprinting from backstage to attack Flip again as the stream ended. CMLL wants those shows when they want them done, so they weren’t extending the show a moment later to show them fighting.

Last week, there was a noticeable wet spot on the mat – in the near right corner as seen on the hard cam. They did their best to clean it between matches. It was back again this week. Will CMLL be able to fix the roof or will Mexico’s rainy season end first?

CMLL (SUN) 06/30/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Retro b Hunter [lightning]
2) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía b Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
3) Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Valiente Jr. b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Brillante Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Akuma, Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
Hijo del Villano was eliminated but interfered to help his team win.
5) Ángel de Oro & Soberano Jr. b Flip Gordon & Valiente
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
Terrible challenged Gran Guerrero to a title match for next week.

Terrible doesn’t seem likely to win the heavyweight title. Maybe match four is heading to an Arena Coliseo Tag title defense.

The Felino tour starts on Monday in Arena Puebla against the Octagons. Felino, in doing interviews to promote these shows, noted that Arena Puebla ran shows on Saturday/Sunday/Monday when he first started. Saturday drew the worst, and wrestlers tended to give the worst effort. Felino also acknowledged fans would’ve liked to see the Casas Brothers (Negro Casas, Heavy Metal, Felino) as a team – but that’s not what he wanted out of his celebration. He says he never liked teaming with them and wanted to wrestle as an individual.

Last week’s Puebla matches

CMLL (TUE) 07/02/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal, Mercurio, Pequeño Polvora
2) La Vaquerita & Náutica vs Metálica & Olympia
3) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Fugaz vs Magia Blanca [lightning]
5) Flip Gordon, Star Black, Valiente vs Akuma, Mephisto, Zandokan Jr.
6) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr.

Main event is one of those matches that could be good if they want it to be. No one really needs another Fugaz/Magia Blanca match. Opener might be best match on the show.

CMLL posted a message in support of International Pride Day. Dulce Gardenia, who portrays a exotico character but himself is hetrosexual, talked about that experience with Milenio. It’s great CMLL is sending out support, it’s always worth noting they never put forward one of their wrestlers or staff members who are LGBTQIA+ for this day. CMLL takes a risk even just celebrating the day – check the replies and comments on Facebook to see people who say they’re very unhappy with CMLL for doing so – but they also don’t go as far as other companies might. (AAA did not denote the day, and I didn’t notice any other major Mexican wrestling company doing so.) I have this same paragraph about every year so to mix it up, here’s a mention of indy luchador (and one match CMLL luchador) running a government show specifically for Pride Day.

CMLL caught up to Unagi Syaka defeating Dark Silueta for the CMLL Japan championship. Amapola defeated Momo Kohgo on the same show. Dark Silueta missed the REINA show (a reopening of that promotion) the next day, said to be due to an elbow injury. It does not sound like a serious one.

Xelhua won Lucha Memes’ Battle of Coacalco. That’ll go up on IWTV soon.

Canelo Alvarez visited Arena Coliseo Guadalajara on Friday.

AEW

Results from Forbidden Door were all as expected

Mistico, Penta & Fenix defeated LIJ (free here)
MJF defeated Hechicero
Mercedes Mone defeated Stephanie Vaquer to win the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship

Vaquer did very well in her big match. She always does, and she had someone who worked with her well. The crowd flipped on the match late, rooting against Mone for Boston versus New York reasons, and because Vaquer was doing well enough to rally behind. In the short term, Vaquer’s performance means she’ll probably be around AEW a bit more. In the long term, the already strong chance Vaquer is going to end up going to AEW or WWE full time increased on that performance, and maybe even the speed of when that’ll happen. That situation is going to be the biggest test for the CMLL/AEW relationship.

MJF off the Hechicero match as no big deal on a Wednesday promo. AEW positioned and played it off that way to some extent. Hechicero was used as a skilled opponent who had no real chance of winning (not so dissimilar than Kyle O’Reily has been used on AEW’s TV in recent weeks.) Both men gave a fair effort but it will

The MJF/Rush match was more impactful and probably would’ve stood out better on this show; this one overlapped a bit with Orange Cassidy/ZSJ later on and that was the one that felt bigger (and got more time.) Tony Khan was very positive about Hechicero on his media call this week, so maybe he’ll stick around in some other role later this week. This one will be mostly remembered as a “did that match really happen?” situation years from now.

The trios match on the pre-show was one of the better match of the night, worked like the big deal match the fans saw it as being. Mistico got overshadowed a bit by his partners but still came off as special. The big news was a post match video that teased issues between Penta and Mistico, and Penta returning to Arena Mexico to settle them. Mistico has a lot of people gunning for him right now.

People who do not watch all Mexican wrestling did not appreciate how bizarre it was to see Jeff Jarrett and Rocky Romero in the same pre-show panel discussing the shows. The Lucha Brothers do not work for AAA right now, but I watched Jarrett on AAA TV about five hours before seeing him sitting down with one of the biggest rudos in CMLL. Mexican fans picking up the pre-show to see the Lucha Brothers & Mistico vs LIJ were surprised by that one.

Outside the ring, AEW & NJPW announced “Wrestle Dynasty” for 01/05 in the Tokyo Dome, the day following NJPW’s usual big show in that building. Tony Khan had been hinting for at least a year that AEW would eventually go do a show with NJPW, and that it wouldn’t be Forbidden Door. Wrestle Dynasty will also include wrestlers from Ring of Honor, Stardom and CMLL. (This was the Japanese news CMLL teased earlier in the weekend.) Titan, Ryu (Dragon) Lee, and Mascara Dorada have appeared in the Tokyo Dome for NJPW when they were working for both CMLL and NJPW. Atlantis, Valiente and Dorada in 2012 would’ve been the last CMLL wrestlers on a Tokyo Dome show strictly as CMLL reps.

AEW pulling CMLL closer into it’s group of associates means WWE and AAA will talk and make some sort of deal. There’s too much strategical benefit for both parties not to happen. When that happens and on what terms it happens are the big unknowns. I don’t think it’ll end up being a gamechanger of a deal – TNA is getting NXT wrestlers who are on TV but not heavily pushed – and I think 2024 AAA and 2024 NXT are two very different flavors of ice cream, but I feel it’s inevitable.

CMLL/RevPro

Neon beat Cameron Kai on Saturday, then kept the RevPro Undisputed Cruiserweight Championship over Will Kaven on Sunday. It sounds like the Sunday match was easily the better of two, though Neon’s still not hitting on all cylinders in these singles matches. It’s unclear if Neon will be back in RevPro before their big show in London on 08/24. RevPro announced a new date for 08/11 today, so maybe that might be it.

RevPro have announced two CMLL matches for that 08/24 show

Hechicero versus Zack Sabre Jr.
Stephanie Vaquer versus Dani Luna for the Undisputed British Women’s Championship

This is the show the day before AEW’s All In show in London, which means it’s possible (though not a certainty) the CMLL wrestlers will pop up on that event as well.

All of RevPro’s title being “Undisputed” throws me. There are so many dispute about championhips in Mexico – CMLL has multiple champions in every division – that I can’t wrap my head around something being undisputed.

AAA

No press conference for the Verano de Escandalo lineup, it was just posted on Twitter as they do for regular TV shows.

AAA TV (FRI) 08/02/2024 Palenque de la Feria, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
1) La Hiedra vs Sexy Star, Reina Dorada, Maravilla, Sussy Love, Faby Apache [Reina De Reinas, #1 Contenders]
2) Crazzy Steve & Havok vs Dalys & Negro Casas and Aerostar & Estrellita [AAA MIXED TAG]
3) Dulce Kanela, Jessy Queen, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Alan Stone, Scorpió Jr. (original), Zumbido
4) Chessman vs Octagón Jr. ©, Belcegor, Drago [AAA LA]
5) El Patrón Alberto, Psycho Clown, Vampiro Canadiense vs Cibernético, Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz
6) Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu, El Mesías vs Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown and ?, Forastero, Sansón [cage]

Latin Lover was in Reynosa promoting a show this weekend. He repeated one of his favorite talking points; he wants to see the legends mixed with the young wrestlers to help them both. That’s not showing up in these cards. There’s no sign of “new stories” either; it basically looks like typical AAA Origines cards – there’s no stamp of a new era.

There’s no explanation of why the main event is a cage match; I mean, I know the explanation is “cage matches draw and this card needed something to draw”, but there’s no story reason for a cage to be there. No idea who will team with NGD. There’s no indication anything has changed about Cuatrero. Maybe that’s meant to be “person who might come in from CMLL”, though debuting anyone of significance in a cage match seems a waste.

Most of this card is a waste. Matches 2, 3, 5, and 6 seem unlikely to be good in the way I think of good matches. Octagon Jr. continued to be booked like he’s Hijo del Vikingo and here to save the show. Octagon isn’t that good, but at least it’s showcasing one new star.

Crazzy Steve and Havok are TNA reps – though Steve hasn’t appeared in TNA since April and Havok’s been missing there of late as well. Negro Casas & Dalys had a very long vignette earlier this year about how they were going to go their separate ways in AAA and definitely not go for the mixed tag team titles. I have no idea if Estrellita is a tecnica or ruda or part of Pagano’s group or something else.

Faby Apache is the favorite to get the title shot, but Sussy Love is the real curiosity. Last I knew, she and AAA were on very bad terms with each other. Sussy Love was part of the Luchatitlan roster, suffered a knee injury, and how AAA did or did not handle parts of that situation left hard feelings. Sussy Love posted the Verano lineup in her Instagram stories, so she must’ve planned to work the show and something’s been worked out.

Verano de Escandalo is a rare Friday show, scheduled to start at the same time as CMLL. Space (and Max, in a couple of non-US countries) will likely the last three matches live. Last year, I tried to watch both CMLL and AAA shows at the same time. There doesn’t seem the urgency this year.

AAA ran the Showcenter on Sunday. They claimed a sellout, which they do every time. Nothing notable in the results, unless you count Antifaz/Laredo feuding as still being notable at this late order. They announced a returned date as a TV taping for 09/01. That slots in as the first taping post TripleMania Mexico City.

AAA on Space was one of the shorter episodes I can remember, only airing two matches and a long promo setting up the main event. The women’s match built to a Dalys/Faby match that doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. The main event was the usual Foregin Legion/Mexicans match, complete with Latin Lover run-in that didn’t end up meaning much. The common link was Hijo del Tirantes cheating for the rudos in both the match. Neither matches were noteworthy in terms of quality. The show ended with another eye tease and Pagano being taken out.

Unimas aired the women’s match, the Electroshock/Zorro vs Manson/Wolf match and the five way Latin American title match from the May Mexico City taping. They also aired the Latin/Konnan confrontation. That’s a lot of stuff! I didn’t sit there and time it, but it appeared they edited parts out. A big chunk of Latin Lover’s speech was cut out, the matches seemed shorter. AAA’s got to cut out 25 minutes a week of what airs on Space to fit on Unimas and they’re trying to do it seemingly.

These Unimas shows also sound like AAA’s adding crowd audio; it’s loud but the noise isn’t reacting to the moves. It could use some work. It’s striking that AAA had terrible sound issues for years and all it took was a US deal for them to try and work on it. There’s probably not that many people who are watching both the Mexico and Unimas versions of AAA but, to those few, it is striking that there’s some extra touches being put in the US version that isn’t there for the Mexican one. Nothing game changing, but it’s easy to see which one is the important one. Perhaps that’s just the Unimas money being re-invested in that version of the product.

Octagon Jr. Suma Watanabe & beat TAKUMA & SBK in GLEAT earlier this morning. I heard the match was generally good though a couple of things didn’t go well near the end. Dorian Roldan appeared as part of building an alliance between this promotion and AAA, though I don’t see anything that was specifically announced. Octagon got the deciding pin with the flipping powerslam.

In a series of Instagram Stories, Karis la Momia Jr. mentioned he was asked a lot on recent shows when he’ll take over the La Parka gimmick and mentioned he doesn’t want to do that. The stories are preserved here. Karis said he took that gimmick only because his father was so disappointed when his brother rejected that idea, but his dream is to have his own character; he’s been designing them for years. (He even says he gave up training when he was young after his father said he wanted him to take on the Parka name.) He notes his father could’ve easily worked for his father at a factory, but charted his own path to become a luchador and that’s the example he wanted to follow – he wants to also chart his own path and not just do what his father did. Karis claims that if AAA offers him the Parka gimmick, he’ll turn it down.

This is wrestling and AAA’s invested a lot in the La Parka character, so I could see Karis one day being persuaded to change his mind for business reasons. Maybe it’s even he’s La Parka but doing his own interpretation of Parka that’s different from what his father or LA Park has done. Or, maybe someone else becomes La Parka later on – it doesn’t sound like the family would object to it.

IWRG

IWRG , LLB (SUN) 06/30/2024 Arena Naucalpan [La Tijera]
1) Cybercan, Demencia, Robo Can b Arturo Gaona Jr., Rocky Bulldog, Terry Bulldog
2) Príncipe Centauro b Hijo De Sparta, Súper Boy, X-Devil Jr., Sparta, New Level, Mr. Koi, Águila Dorada
ropes broke during the match.
3) Princesa Azul & Shamila b India Mazahua & Mary Caporal
4) Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico, Brazo De Oro Jr. b Fandango, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly
5) Demus, Hell Boy, Joe Lider b Lunatik Xtreme, Puma de Oro, Toto
6) Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno del Mal, Máximo b Charly Manson, Cibernético, Electroshock

It against looks like Lucha Libre Boom drew well (but the lights were turned down low)

Other News

Big Lucha had their show on Saturday, though their stream had issues at one point and no one seems to have done results. I’ll see if I can get it watched for Wednesday.

Cinta de Oro signed copies of a new autobiography in Leon. He’s there to hype a title match against Bobby Lee Jr. on July 7.

Segunda Caida writes about more 1992 Monterrey.

A profile of a mask maker in Leon.