Death Triangle “lose” in their sell out Arena Mexico return, Leyenda de Plata, TxT

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/26/2024 Arena México [AS, CMLL, Fuego en el Ring, The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Kira, Náutica, Skadi b Hera, Olympia, Valkiria
5:18
2) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
11:32
3) Hechicero & Valiente b Esfinge & Euforia
8:22. Euforia got DQed in the first, then Valiente beat him cleanly in the second. Valiente challenged Esfinge to a MEX LH title match, while Euforia demanded a mask match with everyone.
4) Ángel de Oro b Star Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, final]
11:55. Angel de Oro joins Atlantis as those who’ve won both Leyenda de Plata and Leyenda de Azul.
5) Templario & Titán b Rocky Romero & Último Guerrero
14:40. Templario submitted UG cleanly with Pulpo Guerrero to win. After the match, an MJF promo belittled Mexico and talked about his sure win next week.
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. b King, Lucha Brother, PAC
20:29. King and Lucha Brother are Fenix and Penta’s latest names. Volador and Dorada had Lucha Brother, and King beat in the third fall, but Pac ran over referee Edgar Noriega for the DQ, then fouled and unmasked the tecnicos.

The CMLL guys got the victory in the scorebook plus had the visual winning scenario when the DQ happened* – and yet the Death Triangle still came off as the true winners. They got the bulk of the chants, and they got to stand over their opponents and humiliate them. It was their night. The fact the outsiders were cheered over Mistico, Volador, and Dorada seemed to frustrate them. I expected Penta and company to be very over, but I assumed it would be more of a 50/50 split. It was 75/25 to the AEW team.

(*—please note that PAC making contact with the referee was the DQ – the fouls and mask pulling after was beside point. You can get away with hitting a referee in every other promotion nowadays, but it’s still an instant DQ in CMLL in this post-Rush era..)

There were mixed messages post-match. Death Triangle, Fenix, most obviously, wanted to do a promo in-ring post-match. CMLL didn’t hand them a microphone, but it appeared Edgar was directing the staff not to hand it over. Meanwhile, Julio Cesar Rivera (acting as the voice of the promotion) assured the fans at home there would be much more to this to come, signaling the CMLL guys would get revenge for this humiliation. There is a danger of falling into the same trap AAA did, of focusing on the guest stars so much that the promotion makes their current stars look lesser and misses chances to create new stars. This was not a good night for the home stars, and next week’s big attraction is probably going the same way for the home star. Wins should be coming- Mistico’s probably beating Chris Jericho in six weeks, someone may be beating Claudio Castagnoli in four – and Atlantis did win over Kyle Fletcher. It’s not been one-sided. Still, running that match with the CMLL team left laying and also without a set idea of when that’ll follow up is a little bit concerning.

The match itself was great, memorable similar to the BCC match. I think the BCC was better quality; the guys on this show got a little bit overwhelmed by the reaction and that reaction didn’t produce the best out of the CMLL team. It’s still one worth going out of your way to watch. The excitement over Penta and friends being there was so much that he got mobbed in the parking lot.

Both the top two matches were really building towards CMLL/AEW ideas. It feels like the Ultimo Guerrero/Templario feud wasn’t an Aniversario build after all – instead, just a short-term program to give Templario a big Friday night victory leading into this MJF match. Ultimo Guerrero disappeared into the background as MJF’s promo played. MJF currently owes title matches to Will Ospreay, PAC, and – added this weekend – Michael Oku in RevPro next week. Making all those matches signals Templario’s not winning far more heavily than I’d like in this sort of scenario. (The tag match was good, although again, I’m disappointed the Los Principes team is being treated like a Chilean luchadora going to WWE, never to be mentioned again.)

CMLL drew a sell out. They’re probably heading to another one on Aniversario. Match 3 narrowed down the focus for that main event: it’s more clear a four-way mask match between Hechicero, Euforia, Valiente, and Esfinge, and they’ve turned into a heated deal. Euforia did a strong promo and left the other three looking silly at the end.

The rest of the show was built around ensuring the top matches got off without a hitch or a time crunch. Five minutes for an opening trios is almost not worth having it but they tried to cram in as much as possible in the time. Angel de Oro and Star Jr. would’ve gone much longer on another show. They were probably blessed to only need to go as short as they were here; the indie wrestling crowd for this card saw them as non-star obstacles to what they wanted to see and chanted “otra lucha” at them just a couple minutes in. That match turned out fine but will not be much remembered.

I think I probably come off harsher on this show than I mean. The matches were all good and enjoyable, and it’s a show worth seeing. The biggest problem to some was seeing the show: CMLL heavily advertised it as airing on the Leyenda and Campeon Mundial levels, then only streamed it live on the Leyenda show. It was quickly added to the lower level during the show, but that didn’t help anyone wanting to watch it live. Just the usual bumps for the CMLL streaming project.

I guess I should mention the names. It was clear something was up with the names when CMLL used “Los Lucha Brothers” in all promotions instead of individual names, and “King” and “Lucha Brother” were what they went for on the show. I am now so inured to weird lucha libre name issues that I just shrugged and went with it. I think that was the common reaction.

As best as anyone can figure, this name change was what Konnan referred to in his latest “threat.” Penta and Fenix could use variations of their names in their 2018-2019 visits to Arena Mexico, but AAA was in a happier mindset place, and Penta and Fenix were still working on AAA shows that time. My guess is Konnan’s post on Saturday about “marks” is also a reference to this situation. CMLL likely didn’t pay Penta as much as AAA might for a big match – like say a TripleMania match with Vampiro – and Konnan’s point is getting paid the sole point of any of this. But also, it’s notable that both of these instances are Konnan quietly going against two of his prize proteges; that’s very unlike him. Loyalty means the most to him, but perhaps he feels they’ve broken an oath to him by working in opposition. All of the name changes meant nothing but a funny story; CMLL sidestepped the issue, and these guys were over anyway.

(It is not in AAA’s interest to have their Director of Creative post on Twitter like a teenager in the midst of a bad breakup, but it’s a moot point – there’s not a single person there who could get him to cut it out without Konnan lashing out in some other way. You don’t employ Konnan for his professionalism, after all.)

Atlantis Jr. retained the Ring of Honor TV Championship on the Death Before Dishonor show Friday night. Ring of Honor taped several matches on Sunday, and I believe Atlantis defended his title against NJPW’s Robbie Eagles on one of the shows.

CMLL (SAT) 07/27/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora b Angelito & Pequeño Magía
9:21
2) Amapola, Metálica, Persephone b La Maligna, La Vaquerita, Lluvia
11:36.
3) Dark Magic, Okumura, Rey Bucanero b Capitán Suicida, Fuego, Volcano
14:31
4) Fugaz b Espanto Jr. [lightning]
9:07
5) Akuma, Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr. b Brillante Jr., Dark Panther, Star Black
17:38.
6) Flip Gordon, Star Jr., Volador Jr. b Averno, Dragón Rojo Jr., Stuka Jr.
11:22.

There was stuff to like in the opener and the fifth match, but this was not a show that you need to go out of your way to see if you missed it.

Valiente won Rey Pantera’s hair in Xalapa on Saturday.

Willow Nightingale defeated Deonna Purrazzo on Saturday in what turned out to be an eliminator match for the CMLL Women’s championship. She’ll face Kris Statlander in the same situation – Statlander gets a title match only if she wins – on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite. (Statlander is probably winning.)

CMLL (SUN) 07/28/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Rayo Metálico & Retro b Grako & Inquisidor
2) Arkalis, Astral, El Audaz b Disturbio, Enfermero Jr., Nitro
3) Kira, Sanely, Skadi b Hera, Persephone, Reyna Isis
4) El Hijo de Stuka Jr., Felino Jr., Zandokan Jr. b Brillante Jr., Hijo de Octagón, Hombre Bala Jr.
5) Titán b Stuka Jr. [lightning]
6) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Octagón b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Just a show.

CMLL (TUE) 07/30/2024 Arena México
1) Valiente Jr. vs Inquisidor [lightning]
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
3) Gran Guerrero & Valiente vs Hechicero & Terrible
listed as rudos versus rudos
4) La Catalina & Princesa Sugehit vs Persephone & Zeuxis and Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard and Dark Silueta & Valkiria and Kira & Skadi and Metálica & Reyna Isis and Náutica & Sanely and Hera & Olympia [CMLL WOMEN TAG, battle royal]

A reminder that the women’s tag team tournament is only the first two rounds; the final will be next Tuesday.

Valiente appears to actually be a rudo starting on this show.

AAA

AAA on Space was a Verano de Escandalo special, a collection of past matches from that show and seemingly random matches from the last year. The show went over the lineup for Verano de Escandalo. “Lucha Sorpresa” was still listed in the main event, not Fresero Jr. This is common with AAA – they get these episodes taped well ahead of time and don’t fix them. It is the same with the lineup posters they use for social media. It would take little expense to put Fresero in, but it’s not what AAA does. I’m typically critical of AAA for not updating lineups when there’s a negative change. This is one where AAA believes they’re making a positive change – Fresero is supposed to be a cool addition – but they’re hiding it just the same. AAA is the only major wrestling company that does things like this.

AAA on Unimas aired the first three matches from TripleMania Tijuana. In this version of the show, AAA used footage from their ‘invasion’ of The Crash to explain the backstory of that feud quickly. (They both showed up in each other’s places, so they’re wrestling.) It was a more useful presentation than AAA did on their Mexican TV.

Verano de Escandalo airs on Space on Friday. They’re listing a 9:45 start time, which means it starts about halfway through the CMLL show.

Hijo del Vikingo was part of an AAA crew at an autograph signing on Sunday; AAA was promoting new athletic wear. He noticeably wasn’t wearing a knee brace. He did an interview saying he was given the green light from doctors to start training again, though he now sounds like he’s accepted he won’t be on TripleMania Mexico City and was instead looking forward to challenging the winner of the Mega Championship match.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 07/28/2024 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG]
1) Fauno b Sacro, Íkaro
2) Gravity, Vudu Max, Willy Banderas b Halcón Dorado, Histeriosys, Mr. Mike
3) Águila Roja & Puma de Oro b Auzter & Avisman
4) Príncipe Centauro b Multifacetico Jr.
Centauro wants a title match.
5) Hijo De Silver King, Hijo del Fishman, Misterioso Jr. b Estrella Divina, Máscara Sagrada, Veneno
Willy Banderas tried to help Veneno
6) Hell Boy & Hijo de Canis Lupus b Látigo & Toxin © [IWRG IC TAG]
Mala Fama fall on first defense

Other

Masked Republic announced they’d release a trading card game/wrestling sim called “Lucha Throwdown” for all the usual video game systems. Trailer is here. The final product will include both created wrestlers and current luchadors (Dr. Wagner Jr., LA Park, Tinieblas JR., and Keyra are mentioned.) There is no release date, though they did say “later this year” on Twitter.

The 8/16 Lucha Libre Real show, honoring Felio for his 40 years, has Mistico & Felino facing Pantera and a mystery person. The silhouette appears to be Puma King. Sometimes they just throw a random silhouette up there.

Todo x el Todo wrestlers for their 09/22 Mexico City show:

I’m not sure if that’s the complete list, but it’s the sort of names expected: people who’ve worked Todo x el Todo in the past, people who have Santo has worked with on his occasional indie dates, and other reoccurring indie names. I don’t know about this filling up Arena Ciudad de Mexico.

An update on lucha libre in Sinaloa.

An Article about the great rudo wrestlers from Torreon. It’s basically just a link.

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