MJF defeats Templario, Psycho Circus lose their way into a TripleMania main event

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 08/02/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Estadio Deportes, Excelsior, Fuego en el Ring, Infobae, Telediario, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Hunter & Xelhua b Infarto & Retro [Relevos Increíbles]   
7:09
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio   
10:52
3) Hechicero, Magnus, Rugido DQ Averno, Euforia, Soberano Jr.   
13:35, straight falls. Euforia wouldn’t relinquish his submission on Hechicero, drawing the DQ. Hechicero was stretched off – and Euforia attacked him again.
4) Esfinge © b Valiente [MEX LH]    
9:55. 5th defense. Valiente lost but unmasked Esfinge after.
5) Máscara Dorada & Volador Jr. b PAC & Rocky Romero    
13:11
6) MJF © b Templario [AEW AMERICAN]    
16:21. 1st defense.

The MJF/Templario segment was the most recent AAA feeling match CMLL’s run in a long time. It may have been more AAA than most of AAA’s own output this year. It had the US flag waving ugly American. It had the pre-match promo to antagonize the fans, in case they couldn’t figure out the American guy was a rudo. It had that American pushing the racism line significantly farther than they’d be comfortable doing on their own television show. It had the translation from English to Spanish, with Rocky Romero standing in for Hugo Savonvich. It had the Mexican babyface valiantly fighting for his country and then failing. There were only two differences in how AAA would run it. One was that there was no cheating involved in the finish – AAA would have the rudo cheat to maximize the heat, while CMLL was apparently fine with MJF hitting his two finishers to win. The other is Konnan wasn’t involved, a heel antagonizing the fans, pushing the limits of acceptable speech to get heat, and he obviously would’ve been part of it one way or another in AAA.

The flag-waving rudo is not foreign to CMLL. Sam Adonis was doing the same bit when he was in CMLL. Rocky Romero has done things similarly, and there’s always a lot of nation-on-nation trash talk to build to the Men’s Gran Prix. (The women tend to be nicer.) But – Rocky’s treated like a scamp, while MJF has more of an edge. And the CMLL English-speaking fanbase has turned over a lot since Adonis was a CMLL wrestler; the MJF bit is something they’re only used to getting from AAA. The international fanbase for CMLL – and let’s be clear, it’s not huge – includes people who gravitate to CMLL to get away from the style of professional wrestling that MJF believes in. MJF is showing up in CMLL and doing his most MJF performance, which understandably put off a lot of regular international fans.

Most Mexican fans didn’t seem to mind MJF’s comments. I didn’t have time for a deep search here, nor do I expect to be able to accurately poll everyone’s feelings, but the general vibe was the “oh, he’s really good at talking.” Mexican culture is more politically incorrect and more willing to shrug off comments as things said by performers and not really true words. They booed MJF strongly during the match, and they would’ve tried to get a selfie with him after had it been possible. MJF’s comments would’ve required a promotional apology had they been said on TBS, but there’s no real harm to CMLL over them in Mexico – just like there wasn’t any backlash over Sam Adonis’s comments or QT Marshall’s comments or FTR’s comments. It’s just a wacky, colorful foreign wrestling speech to the home fans.

(The problem Mexican fans had with MJF’s promo was not what MJF said. It was that Rocky Romero’s translation was way off and inaccurate. Not even in a self-censoring way, Rocky just wasn’t getting the right words across at times. It appeared Rocky didn’t know what MJF would say ahead of time, he was live translating, and live translating ain’t easy. Rocky himself winked at his mishaps in their post match promo.)

The concern I have about the bit is that it is AAA-related PSTD. Templario, one of CMLL’s top guys, lost clean to an evil outsider, and there was no indication he’d ever get revenge. That feels like it’s happened a dozen times in AAA in the last five years. This match seems to have happened primarily so AEW could air a 49-second video package about it as a minor plot point in another feud. This is not AAA, and even though it’s not the same relationship as AEW, maybe “waiting for it to play it” holds more value with CMLL this time. CMLL is also probably getting a clean in the middle Chris Jericho loss about six weeks from now, which the people who actually run the promotion will trade for a Templario loss every single day. Any wrestling company relationship is about giving and taking and getting better business for both, and CMLL is ending up with better business out of this. I’m certain they’re not as bothered about this one as I am.

MJF talked for about four minutes before the match. I can recall that happening prior in CMLL; that’s another thing that’s more AAA. If he had been a full-time CMLL wrestler, MJF would’ve been suspended or at least given a stern talking-to for unauthorized dancing with the edecanes, posing on top of the stage at the end of the show, and interacting directly with individual fans, among other CMLL secret rules. Such are the advantages of being a special guest. If you give credit for MJF being a great heel wrestler, it’s worth keeping in mind he’s got incredible leeway. The rules are just different for an MJF.

The match itself was close to standard CMLL style. MJF went after Templario’s legs early, Templario turned it around and worked on MJF’s legs, neither of it mattered much in the end. MJF kicked out of most (though not all) of Templario’s biggest moves, then his his jumping Canadian Destroyer and brainbuster for the clean win. MJF was obviously winning for people keeping with AEW TV – the Templario title defense wasn’t mentioned in advance there – but most CMLL fans do not, and I think they got into at least the potential of a title change.

Mascara Dorada/Volador versus PAC/Romero was Great, an action match that seemed to flow better – or at least didn’t get overwhelmed by the crowd reaction. There’s been Arena Mexico matches that meant more, and Volador was not fully invested – the slingshot headscissors are always the tell – but Mascara Dorada looked great, and the rudos were giving him plenty of chances to shine.

Valiente/Esfinge was not much. I came into the match thinking that Valiente would definitely lose his mask if he won the title; so is the way CMLL usually books these things. Valiente didn’t win the title, but I felt no safer about his mask. He’s just not the same guy after returning from knee surgery, he was declining before, he’s far older than most people realize, and he hasn’t been able to find something extra or new on the rudo side. He’s just a ball of rage who keeps unmasking people, maybe as angry about his current state as anything Esfinge has done. He’s got a few weeks to figure it out, but this seems like the time to cash in. The trios match was a much more heated version of the same thing. Euforia’s the opposite of Valiente, someone who’s taken this chance and coming out looking like a stronger personality every week. He’s done better work in the ring against flying tecnicos, but it’s the best character work I can remember.

I’m told this Friday night show was a sell-out. And yet, it also had fewer tickets sold than last week’s sell-out—upper-level sections were visibly vacant as the main event was going on. Those are all general admission areas, and the explanation I was given is that CMLL just didn’t put those tickets on sale—or at least didn’t offer enough tickets to fill up those sections, so they were never opened.

At any rate, MJF can and will credit himself with selling out Arena Mexico. I racked my brain thinking of other people who might have sold out Arena Mexico in their debut, and it’s hard to come up with people who’d even fit – CMLL never puts new people in their main events as a matter of practice, so most of the biggest were working the middle of the card (or lower if their EMLL career before they were stars.) It would have to be someone who was already a big enough star in another promotion that CMLL would automatically put them in the main event and who didn’t wrestle in CMLL (or EMLL) earlier in their career. The list is small there. Mil Mascara technically debuted in a main event, but it was actually the finals of an eight-team tournament, and I get the sense it didn’t draw anything special. Cibernetico’s Arena Mexico debut was in the main event, but on one of those wacky Lucha Libre Elite shows that never drew. Penta debuted in the main event, and my recollection is that it had a good crowd but not as good as Friday night. (Fenix debuts in a semi-main on a different show.) PAC from last week would count. Fletcher didn’t draw anything too notable. The only name I could come up with, as far as people who debuted in Arena Mexico in a main event in front of a huge crowd, was Gronda.

CMLL (SAT) 08/03/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito b Full Metal, Mercurio, Pequeño Polvora 
13:11
2) Amapola, Hera, Metálica b Kira, La Vaquerita, Skadi 
13:58
3) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus 
13:56
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring b Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero 
13:20
5) Hechicero DQ Valiente [lightning] 
8:40. Valiente unmasked Hechicero for the DQ. Hechicero doubted Valiente’s abilities to be a true rudo and talked up the mask match
6) Templario, Titán, Volador Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr. 
14:09

Far less to talk about this. Minis opener was the best for me.

CMLL (SUN) 08/04/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía b Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) Astral b Diamond [lightning]
3) Kráneo, Okumura, Vegas b Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Volcano
4) Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II b Blue Panther Jr., Fugaz, Panterita del Ring
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Gran Guerrero, Zandokan Jr. b Atlantis, Dark Panther, Star Black
6) Esfinge, Templario, Volador Jr. DQ Averno, Euforia, Terrible
Straight falls, Euforia unmasked Esfinge.

Standard stuff.

On these Sunday shows: Last week, I recorded all of Friday night and Saturday to see if AMX moved the first airing of the show there. No luck. This week, I tried Thursday night and all of Friday, and didn’t find it again. They are still airing the show on Sundays, but the stream’s having issues. I got part of the Xelhua trios from 07/21, but the third fall is just gone. That’s why it was nice to have two airings, in case something went wrong. I’ll try to just record the whole week in case it turns up. It’d be nicer if CMLL had just made these available.

CMLL (TUE) 08/06/2024 Arena México
1) Acero, Aéreo, Fantasy vs Full Metal, Mercurio, Pequeño Polvora
2) Astral, Dragón de Fuego, Robin vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pelon Encapuchado, Xelhua vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
4) Neón vs Valiente [lightning]
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Difunto, Terrible
6) Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard vs Persephone & Zeuxis [CMLL WOMEN TAG, final]
vacant title (Vaquer to WWE), winners become second champions

Lluvia & Tessa are strong favorites to win the tag titles. Match five is an increasingly rare Fuerza Tapatia team-up. Match four is Neon versus his trainer. Match three is the return of the sponsored character Pelon Encapuchado, who was portrayed by Fuego last year. Dragon de Fuego may have been flipped to the tecnico side.

CMLL (FRI) 08/09/2024 Arena México
1) Eléctrico & Leono vs Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial
2) Capitán Suicida, Legendario, Valiente Jr. vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Okumura
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Difunto vs Dragón Rojo Jr. [lightning]
5) Atlantis, Octagón, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Templario vs Ángel de Oro, Bárbaro Cavernario, Soberano Jr.

The Gran Prix wrestlers should start to fill in by 08/16, so this is a down week between tournaments or title matches. The marine could be great, but the semi-main will not, and there’s not much interest for the rest of this card.

CMLL (SAT) 08/10/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) La Vaquerita, Magia Azul, Maligna vs Amapola, Candela, Metálica
3) El Audaz, Volcano, Xelhua vs Crixus, Okumura, Vegas
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Felino Jr. [lightning]
5) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
6) Flip Gordon, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Dragón Rojo Jr., Soberano Jr.

Like old times, a Saturday lineup was posted on Monday afternoon. Sure, it’s not a good lineup, but you can only ask for so much.

CMLL will eventually fill Stephanie Vaquer’s spot with someone new. It’s not as if they will bring someone to replace Vaquer at her level, but just to have the same number of people for scheduling purposes. (They’re also still missing Tabata, although she hadn’t appeared all that much before she needed elbow surgery.) Magia Azul is making her first appearance since April. Candela is a Mexico City-based luchadora who’s appeared in Guadalajara twice – including this coming Tuesday – and this is the first time she’s appeared in Mexico City at all. This could also be updating the emergency substitute call list, though Dr. Landru teased there was a CMLL women’s announcement coming just seconds before this lineup was posted.

CMLL (SUN) 08/11/2024 Arena México
1) Kemalito, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo, Chamuel, Periquito Sacaryas
2) La Catalina, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard vs Dark Silueta, Persephone, Zeuxis
3) Brillante Jr., Hijo del Pantera, Hombre Bala Jr. vs El Cobarde, Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
4) Titán vs Flip Gordon [lightning]
5) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. vs Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther
6) Esfinge, Hechicero, Último Guerrero vs Averno, Euforia, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]

Match 3 is the big news. Hijo del Pantera and Cobarde Jr. were teased earlier in the day, though I don’t think anyone figured it out. Pantera is back after his good performance on the Felino show. Cobarde – who sometimes goes by Cobarde NG or Hijo del Cobarde – is a Texas based wrestler who’s generally been more in the AAA orbit. (You may vaguely remember his brother, who normally wrestles as El Dragon, getting hurt while wrestling as a Marvel character a couple of TripleManias ago. They often team, and it’s possible Cobarde was quietly working for AAA as a Marvel character too.) Cobarde’s family has history with CMLL. The original Cobrade was a star in the 70s, before passing away at an early age due to a battle with cancer. This Cobrade lost his mask to Fishman in Arena Mexico, and so is one of the masks memorialized in the mural they have at the front of the building. His brother, who had been wrestling as El Imposter, took over the Cobarde name in memory of his brother and later ended up as one of the Coco Rojos in AAA. The new Cobarde is the son of this second Cobarde. He’s always been alright and in a company so attached to history – everyone in that match is carrying on someone else’s mask – it fits that they’d give him a shot.

That emoji bit this morning did get me thinking back to the emoji signaling MJF’s appearance: an hourglass, a globe, and a USA flag. The globe is the signifier that the wrestler is outside

The US flag didn’t make sense when CMLL did it – MJF had not yet become the AEW International Champ, much less changed into the American title and taken on his current super patriot aspect. It obviously makes a lot more sense after that character twist. Maybe AEW indicated CMLL that was coming.

Going back to the Sunday card, note that the Micro Gemelo Diablos are back after a six week break. Perhaps teaming team up with KeMaltio will solve the apparent issues between them and him.

NJPW announced Virus & Hechicero will challenge TMDK’s Shane Haste & Michael Nicholls for the NJPW Strong Tag Team Championship. Haste & Nicholls are also the IWGP Tag Team champs, NJPW’s on a kick to keep the Strong titles only on the Strong shows for now, and it’s not completely impossible the CMLL team wins to help facilitate that. Not completely impossible is relatively strong chances for CMLL wrestlers competing for an NJPW title. Hechicero and Virus seem less likely to get picked up by WWE than other recent CMLL NJPW champions.

Dark Panther, Brillante Jr., Star Black, and Fugaz appeared at Spartan Race Mexico.

AAA

AAA TV (FRI) 08/02/2024 Palenque de la Feria, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes [AAA, thecubsfan]
***Verano de Escandalo, 2024***
1) Faby Apache b La Hiedra, Sexy Star, Reina Dorada, Maravilla, Sussy Love [Reina De Reinas, #1 Contenders]
2) Crazzy Steve & Havok b Dalys & Negro Casas and Aerostar & Estrellita [AAA MIXED TAG, #1 Contenders]
unclear when the team will get a shot
3) Dulce Kanela, Jessy Queen, Pimpinela Escarlata ?? Alan Stone, Scorpió Jr. (original), Zumbido
finish unknown. Bello Greco (debuting Chris Stone Jr.) got involved.
4) Octagón Jr. © b Taurus, Belcegor, Drago [AAA LA]
Octagon beat Drago to retain the title.
5) El Patrón Alberto, Psycho Clown, Vampiro Canadiense b Cibernético, Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz
Vampiro beat Cuervo with a chokeslam. Los Vipers attacked La Secta post-match.
6) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown L Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu, El Mesías and Forastero, Fresero Jr., Sansón [cage]
Fresero Jr.’s return to AAA. Murder Clown was last left in the cage.

AAA announced that the losing team from the Verano de Escandalo cage match would advance to the TripleMania cage match and that telegraphed the finish. The Psycho Circus abruptly started feuding with the Vipers on the previous taping. The Vipers were already in the TripleMania cage, so the Psychos were sure to join them. The cage match was a nothing match, as all AAA cage matches are – the only booking was people coming back in the cage to help their friends leave. The result is a TripleMania main event resembling CMLL at their most cynical. Cibernetico is a TripleMania main event star biggest. Maybe there are arguments that a Murder Clown or Psicosis or a Dark Ozz might fit with the right opponents – or at least be as big of names as Valiente and Esfinge. What are Dark Cuervo, Panic Clown, and El Fiscal doing in a TripleMania main event? I’ll hold off on going harder on this because there are still three more names to be announced, but it’s currently in the argument for the weakest TripleMania main event since they moved to Arena Ciudad de Mexico.

The Psycho Clown participants in the cage match may change; Mas Lucha’s post-match interview with Dave and Panic mentions Murder Clown possibly fractured his arm in the match. He obviously will not be wrestling in two weeks.

Fresero Jr. was in the match. He did nothing remarkable, nor did he seem particularly over. I’m including this sentence here just to remember it happened at all because the only noteworthy bit was the items he brought to the ring to pay tribute to both his mother and father before the match. I can’t think of much he did in the match.

The trios match was the usual AAA main event trios style. The tecnicos leaving La Secta to get destroyed was funny.

I thought Belcegor stood out the most in the four-way match. It was the best of the three, though the second half of the match was a lot of slowly setting up spots and nothing much between them. Drago seems to be less exciting than he was six months ago, and La Hermandad is a group of friends who dress similarly, rarely actually team, and lose singles matches all the time. (They’re basically a lower-level AEW faction.) New Taurus would’ve been so much better off with a year of getting used to wrestling in AAA before taking on that gimmick, but putting him under that character quickly appeared to be a decision made out of anger and not in the best interests of the wrestling they’re trying to present. AAA’s doing fine, there’s no cost in doing business that way.

A mysterious Eye guy walked behind the announcers as they were talking between matches, and the eye cut off the end of the broadcast. AAA has given no indication of where they’re going with any of this or why anyone should care. It should finally go somewhere on TripleMania Mexico City, but perhaps that’s too optimistic for the glacial speed of anything getting done in AAA.

Faby Apache getting the title shot was the expected outcome; AAA doesn’t trust these other luchadoras to have a singles match. (And they still have the Faby/Dalys feud to happen.) Havok and Crazzy Steve winning the tag title match is random. There may be another AAA/TNA Ultraclash coming later this year – Konnan responded to someone on Twitter affirming that Kazarian would be back in Mexico at some point this year – and so maybe that title match is intended for that show.

Mas Lucha has an interview with Chris Stone Jr., who is said to have wrestled as Bello Stone on this show. (His grandfather wrestled as Bello Greco.) It’s not said who he replaced. I honestly didn’t search too hard to figure out that match.

Verano de Escandalo was said to be a sellout, and it looked that way in the shows. This building has a capacity of 5,000, so that’s a nice number. Aguascalientes is always a good stop for AAA. Notably, the local promoter ran bigger venues in past years—a 7,000-seater last year and an 8,000-seater in 2022. I’m unsure why they picked the smaller venue this time around; maybe it had something to do with the cage?

While I’m on the topic of attendance, the promoters of the 09/07 Torreon AAA TV taping said the building is also a 5,000-seater, and they plan to sell it out. They also promoted the 03/09 Saltillo show and said that did sell out at 5,000.

The live broadcast returned about five seconds before the announcers got their cue on most of the breaks, so we got to hear them hype up the crowd before they came in. AAA struggles with this sort of stuff on live production. Hugo Savonvich was not on the show once again. Konnan’s segment has a podcast interview with Hugo before Verano de Escandalo (though airing after), where Konnan asks Hugo if he’s working the show, and Hugo informs him he’s not – he’s only working TripleMania and two other dates the rest of the year. “I’m out of a lot of dates,” Hugo says he’s been told it’s a money situation. Konnan explains, “Without getting into details, we’re [AAA] in a transitory period.” There are other comments on the podcast about how great AAA business is doing, with all the tickets sold, and a suggestion that TripleMania Mexico City tickets are selling out faster than ever. If you believe Konnan is being completely honest about AAA business metrics and they’re doing great, it makes it even more concerning that they’re making cutbacks. If you’re running at a loss when you’re selling out buildings, how does this business even work?

Here’s what I think is happening, as clearly as I can make it: AAA poured a lot of money into Luchatitlan, it failed, and now AAA’s got a big hole to fill. (Maybe it’s something else, but that’s the biggest money hole I can come up with.) AAA’s making money on their live events, but they’re not enough money to fill that hole and not as fast as it needs to get filled, so cutbacks have to be made to prevent the hole from getting bigger. Using Jesus Zuniga instead of flying in Hugo from New York is one. Perhaps not booking world champion Nic Nemeth outside TripleManias is another, and maybe it’s worth looking at some of the other talent decisions (and main events of TripleManias) as related.

Konnan talking about a “transitory period” means Konnan has been told there’s a big solution coming to fix it. Back in June, Dorian Roldan talked about possibly making a private capital deal for AAA, which would mean outsider investors pouring money into the company. The goal would be enough to pour enough to fill up that hole so the wrestling income can be spent back on wrestling things again, like flying in Hugo to call shows. Whatever you think of Hugo, AAA loves him, and cutting his dates isn’t about any issues they have with him—Konnan makes that clear in the interview. The tradeoff – and perhaps a reason why this has been a rumor all year and not something that’s been acted upon – is that there’s no free money. AAA has to give up something to outside investors to make it worthwhile, and maybe both sides haven’t figured out the parameters to make it work. Konnan saying it’s a transitory period means he believes it’s going to be temporary cutbacks, though Hugo saying he lost a bunch of dates through the rest of the year suggests “temporary” is going to linger for a while.

(I can’t believe they left that bit in the podcast, but I appreciate the insight)

Hugo is meanwhile working on getting lucha libre in Panama and Costa Rica. He mentions that they haven’t returned to Chile because of high taxes and because the people there (and Peru) are trying to get a WWE show. Konnan pushed the idea that AAA is now focusing on people who don’t have US commitments, feeling not being able to get consistent dates on those people was the problem with their storylines. This is in between hyping TripleMania matches built around Nic Nemeth and Matt Riddle.

Konnan and Hugo have a discussion about the Unimas show (though no one remembers to say Unimas) – Konnan thought the first episode of that TV show sucked, and he and Hugo are part of the group sending recommendations. The Unimas show is slightly different than the Space one, but it’s close enough that I wonder if they haven’t been watching their TV regularly and are only now seeing what it’s like weekly since it’s airing in the US.

I expect AAA to hold a TripleMania press conference this week, but I have not heard a date mentioned yet.

Many names from Verano de Escandalo ended up in Tijuana the next night for an AAA EMW show. That show tanked; it’s the most empty I’ve seen an EMW or The Crash show in the Auditorio in a long time. Both promotions have suffered since TripleMania Tijuana. I don’t recall them being hurt nearly as badly after previous TripleMania Tijuana shows, and this year’s was particularly built around building up local feuds.  That seems to have backfired. The other missing piece is TripleMania Tijuana, which had Vampiro as his last match in Tijuana. Vampiro continued to do really good business elsewhere on his retirement tour, and he was the most popular guy at Verano de Escandaldo. At some point, Vampiro will run out of locations to have his last match ever in, and I can’t help but be curious to see how it goes for AAA after that fact. (Or how AAA figures out a way to keep him around.) This is going to make me sound like an insane person – and let’s be honest, I probably am one – but Vampiro should be given some consideration as a wrestling MVP candidate if you’re a person who votes for MVP strictly on business reasons. By “given some consideration”, I mean a top 10 guy in the world, maybe top 3 in Mexico – Mistico would still be ahead of him, and so would be others. Still, Vampiro’s been a consistent and strong draw ever since this retirement tour started, and there’s now a difference between when Vampirio is on these shows and when he’s not. You can vote for Vampiro for any other reasons besides business; his matches are all bad, but he’s made AAA some useful money this year. Clearly they need it.

Psycho Circus and Mesias are wrestling in Puerto Rico on 10/22.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 08/04/2024 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG, La Tijera]
1) Histeriosis & Rey Aztaroth b Sacro & Sky Man
2) Gravity, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly b Águila Roja, Mr. Mike, Puma de Oro
3) Estrella Divina & Jessy Ventura b Hell Boy & Hijo de LA Park [ruleta de la muerte, semifinal]
4) Hijo de Canis Lupus & LA Park Jr. b Hijo De Silver King & Vangellys [ruleta de la muerte, semifinal]
5) Cerebro Negro, Cerebro Negro Jr., Lady Maravilla b Auzter, Big Mami, Veneno
6) Hell Boy & Hijo de LA Park b Hijo Del Silver King & Vangellys [ruleta de la muerte, final]
7) Multifacetico Jr. © b Príncipe Centauro [IWRG IC WELTER]
2nd defense
8) Hijo De Silver King b Vangellys © [AIWF LA]

There were three recaps of this show. All of them called the main event title a different name. It was truly an important championship. The two title matches were bloody and mask-ripping.

Other News

Fray Tormenta is battling glaucoma. He can’t see anymore, but doctors believe it’s possible to fix the situation. There was a benefit show for him Saturday in Arena Rey Bucanero and Tormenta thanked Salvador Lutteroth for allowing his wrestlers to participate.

Wisin el Perro got noticed by the AP. Wisin started a public service mascot for Mexico City but he (or the person in the mascot outfit) has been picking up bookings around Mexico lately.

There was a story last week about Penta and Fenix securing a lot of new US trademarks. Fenix is looking to get Fuego, Rey Fuego and King Fuego. Penta filed for both variations of Cero Miedo and Zero Miedo as well as AN!MO. My assumption is that’s related to them running into problems with their names last Friday; they want to have non-Penta and non-Fenix options if AAA tries to fight them over it in the US as they’ve apparently done in Mexico. (And better ones than King and Lucha Brother.) I don’t think it has to do with them possibly signing with WWE – that would come later and would come with some WWE involvement. However, I didn’t see any trademarks filed for these names in the Mexico trademark database as of yet.

The 08/16 Lucha Libre Real teased a mystery luchador in their Felino 40th Anniversary show, the tease was of Puma King, Puma implied he wasn’t cleared medically to wrestle, Lucha Libre Real revealed the mystery person was – Puma King. I dunno. Ciclon Ramirez Jr. is no longer on that card, which he says is due to CMLL blocking him from working on the same show as their wrestlers. He doesn’t say why they blocked him; my guess is people working the El Hijo del Santo Todo x el Todo shows are state enemies. Ciclon Ramirez mentions he trained in CMLL’s school for seven years – he never debuted.

If all TxT wrestlers are blocked from working CMLL, Fuerza Guerrera will not be allowed there for now. Solar I also appeared in Legends shows last year. I thought IWRG’s Shamila could end up in CMLL but obviously, she must believe differently if she’s working those shows.

In a similar story, CMLL told a Monterrey area promoter that Ultimo Guerrero would not wrestle local El Mafioso on Saturday. El Mafioso also wrestles as “El Lider” on AAA cards in the Showcetner, including some televised matches. Mafioso/Lider believed he was too under the radar to get blocked, and found out differently.

ELITE announced Demonio Infernal as the mystery person facing DMT Azul and Pagano in the main event of their 08/11 show. I can only believe Demonio Infernal was not the original plan because I’m not sure why they’d make that a mystery.

Psycho Clown, Ricky Marvin, Fight Panther and Aero Panther are headed to Hong Kong on 08/31.

Segunda Caida watches Shocker vs Santo from 2001.

Calibus and his mom opened a pastry shop.