Month: September 2024

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 09/20/2024 Arena México
***Dia de Luchador, 2024***
1) Legendario & Rayo Metálico vs Alom & Infarto
2) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, El Hijo De Blue Panther vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
3) Flip Gordon, Neón, Pelon Encapuchado vs Magnus, Rugido, Vegas
4) Atlantis Jr., Templario, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
5) Místico vs Averno [lightning]
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Valiente vs Esfinge, Euforia, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

“The guy who lost the Aniversario apuesta match beats the winner on the following Friday show” is one of those facts stuck in my head. It’s also a ‘fact’ that was worth checking out, because it’s been a decade since it was accurate:

• 2023: Dragon Rojo unmasked Templario for the DQ
• 2022: Stuka Jr. wins main event but Atlantis Jr. not booked
• 2021: COVID year/Night of Champions format so no apuesta
• 2020: COVID year/Night of Champions format so no apuesta
• 2019: Negro Casas not booked after he lost his hair
• 2018: neither Volador nor Matt Taven are booked after they lost their hair
• 2017: Niebla Roha and Gran Guerrero are booked but two weeks of shows are canceled due to the earthquake
• 2016: La Mascara unmasked Dragon Lee for the DQ
• 2015: La Sombra beat Atlantis in a trios match

So I guess bet on Euforia unmasking Hechicero for the DQ (or maybe some terrible disaster.)

Mistico/Avenro should be good and should get Mistico cheered, if that’s an issue. Match 4 looks great. Fuego as Pelon has been a lot of fun so match 3 should be good as well. The Panthers will see if Ola Negra can work their formula, and the opener will be a good test of Rayo Metalico’s readiness for what looks to be a big match next week. That 09/27 is the Night of Champions show, so there isn’t much room to set up stuff here.

The most striking portion of this week’s CMLL Informa was the interview with Mistico at the end. I didn’t time this one, but he and Julio Cesar Rivera spent roughly 30 seconds talking about Aniversario and about 5 minutes talking about Misitco’s matches in MLW. Mistico talked about being happy to give the fans the faceoff they wanted to see with him and Chris Jericho. He later obliquely mentioned hearing positive and negative comments and trying to learn from both. Everyone knows the match was not a success, there’s no real attempt to pretend it was something it was not. What they learn from it is up to them, but there’s no point in harping on it any more. It happened, and everyone’s moving on.

Near the end of the interview, Julio Cesar Rivera revealed that Mistico would be going to NJPW to celebrate his 20th anniversary. Details are to be announced “soon.” Mistico on the January 5th, 2025 multi-promotion WrestleDynasty show is the easiest explanation, though I’m not sure that’s going to be announced soon. The most tantalizing idea is NJPW seeing Mistico invent his own title match challenge with DOUKI back at FantasticaMania USA, deciding that wasn’t a bad idea, and bringing Mistico to Japan to do the match there. But who knows, they were very unspecific. (That NJPW announcement and the MLW Opera Cup recap might have been the other intended message of this segment: whatever happened Friday, Mistico is still an international star in demand and doing well.)

Sanely announced she was officially switching to the ruda side on Informa. She’ll face Tessa next week in a singles match, and she’s on Team Mexico for the Grand Prix. CMLL also announced Zeuxis would be in the competition Grand Prix. On CMLL’s podcast, Zeuxis talked about wanting to be on Team Mexico at some point, so it would free up an additional spot for an international wrestler. Zeuxis has a Puerto Rican father and Mexican mother. I think CMLL intentionally had people like Zeuxis and Dalys on the international side so they wouldn’t have to find and pay to bring in one more international person. The economics has changed this year, so Zeuxis is now Team Mexico.

The Gran Prix teams for now

• Mexico: Lluvia, Zeuxis, Sanely
• World: Tessa Blanchard, La Catalina, Sayaka Unagi

The full teams will be announced next week. There are 7 spots left on each team. The national champions (Reina Isis, Skadi and Kira) are a lock for Team Mexico, which leaves four spots. Hera, Olympia, Dark Silueta and Princesa Sugehit seem the safest guesses there. Persephone is from El Paso, so she’d go on the World team, but I think she’s the only other CMLL foreign woman to add. That leaves six spots there. CMLL’s usually booked 3 Japanese women and then filled the spots with random US based wrestlers, but that math may change with AEW, ROH, MLW and RevPro all possibly being included.

Informa also revealed that the Noche de Campeones matches will be announced next week; that means there will be no lineup for that show until less than 48 hours before the show—though we’ll know the champions, and it won’t be hard to figure out the matches from the poll results for the truly possessed. I think CMLL did this last year, and I blanked on it.

There is a rare show in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara this Saturday

Indy (SAT) 09/21/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Amon Ra, Colorado, Giro, Sureño Fly vs Albatros, Ave de Fuego, Golden Silver, Surgeon Clown
Arena GDL
2) Centauro, Demencía, Dragón Kid, Zigma vs Aquiles, Dark Power, Neptuno, Olimpo
Arena Roberto Paz
3) Adira, Dulce Kitty, Náutica vs Atenea, Estrella Maldita, Valkirya
4) Destrucción, Frayle De La Muerte Jr., Reycko vs Destino, Kaiju, Santi Betancourt
Arena Jalisco
5) Astro Oriental, Draego, Makara, Persa vs Eclipse Jr., Rav, Shezmu, Temerario
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
6) Obek © vs Continental [GDL LIGHT]

This appears to be a commission show for Dia de Luchador, with the four major local arenas participating. The Guadalajara Lightweight championship is an inter-promotional title they’re trying to get going,

CMLL (TUE) 09/24/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Gallo Jr., Makara, Rafaga Jr., Shezmu vs Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Draego, Persa
2) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Felino Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Robin
3) Lluvia © vs Valkiria [OCCIDENTE WOMEN]
first defense
4) Atlantis, Pantera, Panterita del Ring vs Felino, Rey Bucanero, Satánico
5) Star Black © vs Gallego [MEX HEAVY]
fifth defense
6) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Averno, Furia Roja, Soberano Jr.

A rare Pantera appearance in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara; his last match in that building was in 2016 for another promotion.

CMLL announced they’ve opened an Amazon store. There are a lot of designs here. Whoever put this one together put a lot of work in and came up with some great ideas. It’s a limited selection of wrestlers – maybe about a dozen – but it’s much better than the usual logo-only stuff. They appear to be shipping these from the US, which is good if you want to buy them there, but maybe they are a bit pricey if you’re ordering in Mexico.

CMLL’s podcast this week has Soberano Jr. as a guest. I guess recapping these is now mandatory, or maybe more interesting to you all than my AAA recaps. The show was posted late Thursday; I’ll try to catch up on it on the weekend. There are some obvious topics (Ultimo Guerrero and also Ultimo Guerrero) where they probably won’t directly address things, but I want to see what they talk about anyway. These usually have some sort of announcement, and I’m not sure what that would be for Soberano. The teaser has Soberano mentioning WWE saw him on NJPW World and offered him to come to their tryout in Chile. WWE scouts sure don’t like watching Mexican wrestlers in Mexico. Soberano did not appear at that tryout, so there’s probably more to that story.

Jornada decided to do an article about the life and working conditions of luchadors for Dia de Luchador, which is sound enough. They did it by interviewing Octagon about this (seemingly non-existent) union and his (always coming soon, never actually happening) re-possession of AAA’s office after his court victory. This article suggests Octagon is the first luchador to appear in commercials; it is an article entirely reliant on the author’s belief in everything Octagon has to say and do no additional research. (This is normal.) Octagon has been doing these same interviews for about seven years, and they’ve only changed in one significant way – he used to talk about all the big promotions being bad, and now he praises CMLL for how they take care of wrestlers since he’s working with them.

Speaking of unchanging legal issues, KeMonito has been asked about his case against CMLL and says nothing has happened in the year since he announced he was suing. There are much bigger issues with the Mexican court system at the moment than KeMonito, but he remains hopeful for a positive outcome once things get moving again.

MLW is doing daily announcements for their 11/09 show in Cicero. Mistico and Lluvia have already been announced. Lluvia is announced as a CMLL Women’s World Tag champion. Her partner is left unmentioned. MLW is selling GA tickets at $10, which means they’re going to sell out, the gate isn’t too important to them and everyone else in the area might struggle to sell tickets for a while. (I bought a $10 ticket.)

Reina Isis told the press that many great international women wrestlers have come to Mexico, and it’s great that those doors are open, but CMLL needs to make sure they’re still supporting the Mexican wrestlers because they’re the best.

La Fe has an interview with Okumura, who says he converted to Catholicism following his neck injury, and it gave him the strength to continue. He said he was told he’d be out two years after neck surgery but returned in nine months.

LuchaTalk recaps the CMLL Aniversario.

CMLL on AMX (taped)

• Astral, El Audaz, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
• Hijo del Pantera vs Hijo de Stuka Jr. in a lightning match
• Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido, Vegas

AAA

Hijo del Vikingo did press at AAA’s office in the last couple of days, saying he’ll be back in the ring by the 09/29 show. (He also said that was his plan on Tuesday, though it wasn’t reported then.) He’s happy and prepared but still nervous about how his moves will go. Mas Lucha also caught up with La Hiedra and, of course, asked her about Latin Lover’s comments about AAA’s women. La Hiedra went with pretending she had no idea what Latin Lover said and didn’t really care, but everyone in AAA knows how strong she is.

AAA TV (SUN) 10/06/2024 Auditorio Benito Juárez, Zapopan, Jalisco
1) Crazzy Steve & Havok vs Abismo Negro & Flammer © [AAA MIXED TAG]
4th defense
2) Dinámico, Myzteziz Jr., Niño Hamburguesa vs Kento, Nobu San, Takuma
3) ? vs ??, ???, ????, ?????, ??????, ???????, ???????? [Copa Antonio Pena]
4) El Fiscal vs Matt Riddle © [AAA CRUISER]
first defense
5) Mecha Wolf, Negro Casas, Vampiro Canadiense vs El Mesías, Forastero, Sansón
6) Laredo Kid vs El Patrón Alberto © [AAA MEGA]
first defense. Latin Lover and Konnan will be seconds

AAA hasn’t officially announced this lineup. Mas Lucha had it on Wednesday, and others were passing it around. It’s a little strange that AAA hasn’t put it out yet, but maybe it’ll turn up when you see this.

The top 3 matches will air live on 10/06 on Space, and the rest will air on 10/12. Laredo Kid’s role is to get a good match out of a wrestler who seems unlikely to have exceptional matches. Laredo has no chance to win, but will surely do something crazy given a main event. (It’ll be overshadowed by the Eye bit.) It’s going to be weird to have Vampiro back wrestling normal matches after that TripleMania bit.  El Fiscal has limited experience, and most of it is really wrestling the same match over and over again. Matt Riddle has limited experience with people working that style, and is clearly a diminished worker from years ago. I’m sure that match is happening because it’s a numbers thing and because AAA believes they can get heat by having Abismo cost Fiscal a title match, but the reasons people care about that feud aren’t about title matches. It seems like a waste of a plane ticket to fly Riddle in for this, but they get to say he’s actually defending the belt. Likewise, I’m sure Crazzy Steve and Havok will give it their all and good for them to get two paydays out this, but bringing in people to work a mixed tag opener that’s not been promoted much seems like an unwise use of funds for a company making obvious cutbacks. This is one place where CMLL is far ahead of AAA; if they’re going to fly someone in, they’re going to present them as a big star and they’re going to use them in important positions, no matter who it is. The Japanese guys – who may be going by the Tokyo Bad Boys – make two straight TV tapings.

AAA this weekend

• Space: part 2 of the 09/07 Showcenter card
• Unimas: part 3 of TripleMania Mexico City
• YouTube; part 1 of the 09/07 Showcenter card

AAA posted a video update with Roberto Figueroa and Jose Manuel Guillen, talking about upcoming AAA events. There’s nothing new in there, but it’s a good summary of all the stuff AAA has going on (taping in Monterrey, Verano de Escandalo in Guadalajara, GLEAT, Flammer defending her title in Australia, Spain) for people who aren’t paying attention to everything. Most people aren’t, so this stuff is needed and fills a needed gap.

Sexy Star is still mentioning upcoming AAA shows in her Instagram stories. Luchadors are fairly terrible about communicating about what’s going on with them, but it seems like she’s working those shows.

Abismo Negro Jr. and El Fiscal are back to shooting promos on each other in media interviews and on social media. It’s going to be a month and a half between TripleMania and the next time they’re on TV, they might as well do something if the company isn’t going to do much.

Karis La Momia Jr. may be out of AAA and retired, but he’s still showing up in AAA promotional partnerships.

IWRG

The Mexico State Commission has suspended Rock Power for “10 shows.” How you can suspend someone for 10 shows which no one seems to keep track of shows and he’s booked irregularly – is 10 IWRG shows regardless of if he would’ve been booked? Do other Mexico State shows count? (This is why most wrestling suspensions are for days instead of shows.) I’ve put too much thought into this.

IWRG (THU) 09/19/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Águila Oriental & Shamila b Fauno & Kali
2) Avisman b Calibus
3) Multifacetico Jr. & Tornado b Hysteriosis & Rey Halcón
4) Noisy Boy b Aquiles, Bendito, Águila Roja
5) Hell Boy & Hijo de Canis Lupus © b Jessy Ventura & Mamba [IWRG IC TAG]
first defense

Noisy Boy did a cool dive.

Todo x el Todo

I guess I should flag this lineup since it’s this weekend.

TXT (SUN) 09/22/2024 Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Azcapotzalco, Distrito Federal
1) Heddi Karaoui vs Cerebro Negro
2) Lady Apache, Shamila, Therius vs Hija de Fuerza Guerrera, Keyra, Vanilla Vargas
3) El Hijo Del Santo & Fuerza Guerrera vs Dr. Wagner Jr. & LA Park and Bobby Lee Jr. & Cinta de Oro and Ciclón Ramírez Jr. & Misterioso Jr. (Laguna) and Solar I & Texano Jr. and Cien Caras Jr. & Rayman and Hijo del Fishman & Máscara Sagrada Ng and Canek Jr. & Súper Nova [ruleta de la muerte]

I have no expectations this will stream. Everyone is a little frightened of Santo’s legal actions but I think it’ll turn up on YouTube fancams nevertheless. I probably would pay for this show on PPV but I’m also silly. Rayman looks like the most likely loser but they could go with some other names here.  There are a lot of advertisements for this show around Mexico City and it seems like either those – or some deep discounts on tickets – has caused tickets to move a bit. They’re not going to do as well as WWE or TripleMania, but it still will look fine.

The El Hijo del Santo media tour has reached El Econimista, who aren’t playing around with hiding his real name. El Santo told him son that he could run any business but he should buy real estate, that money will always work for you.

Santo also was less committed to his plan about retiring in June this year, saying maybe it’d be June or maybe he’d do it in May. He’s really doing the old luchador bit of throwing a lot of ideas out there, without really settling or committing to any of them. The announced shows are dates he’s committed to (unless they don’t sell tickets) but the rest is not locked in.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha (SAT) 09/28/2024 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Auzter & Skayde vs Platino & Tempo
2) Mexicano vs Iku
3) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
winner gets a tag title shot
4) Cometa Maya, Morfosis, Radioactivo vs Eli Isom, Kento, Takuma
5) Flamita, Mr. Win, Ricky Marvin, Viajero vs ?, Big Tao Tao, Limbo, Tonalli

I’m unclear why Black Generation is teaming with a mystery person instead of Emperador Azteca, but I will take the risk it might be a plus. Eli Isom is a US wrestler (and ex-ROH wrestler) who was around Big Lucha in 2022 and IWRG in 2023.

Lucha Brothers

Wrestlebuddy announced the Lucha Brothers have signed with WWE. Penta told Hugo no, he’s still signed to AEW. Nothing has changed in this story since it broke in August – they’re under an AEW deal and they’re signing with WWE as soon as that changes – and so there’s no point in rediscussing it until they actually show up in WWE or WWE actually admits to signing them.

This is like the AEW TV news this week; I understand why it’s news, but I also have a negative interest in reading a detailed breakdown of the rumored deal when the same people will be doing the same breakdown of the actual detail soon enough.

Other News

Tauro (Antonio Grimaldo, 89) passed away on Wednesday. Two of his brothers were also luchadors. He started under his real name in the early 50s, then switched to the masked Tauro gimmick in the 60s. He wreslted for EMLL from 1964 to 1978, and then spent a couple of years working UWA dates to finish out his career. Tauro was a lightweight when EMLL didn’t have much use for lightweights; he was a decade or so early for the UWA. The magazines seemed to praise him a lot. His biggest break was getting into a mask feud with the popular Estrella Blanca. Tauro lost, but the issue continued, and Tauro ended up winning the national lightweight championship out of it. He kept it for the better part of three years, just missing a six-month switch and back with Dardo Aguilar. Tauro was praised for his skills; El Halcon had his match with Rodolfo Ruiz as the most technical match of 1975. The local paper mentions he ended up promoting back in his home of San Luis Potosi after his in-ring career ended.

There’s a viral video of part of a light tube piercing the arm of a luchador. The video is from the Monday September 16th Arena Queretaro show and a main event of Joe Lider and local wrestler Ursus. Other video of the match shows it was stopped right away to Ursus him medical aid. Ursus posted on Facebook on Thursday, saying he was back home, recovering, and hopes to wrestle again. He thanked everyone for the well wishes.

Masked Republic announced “Lucha Libre Legend of the Mask”, a 2D side-scrolling fighting game scheduled to release March 2025. They’ll use some real people in the game; Mr. Iguana and Konnan are mentioned in the preview art as bosses. It looks good.

The 09/28 MV Promociones show (Metalik vs Dralistico) is said to be canceled. Too many shows and low ticket sales. All the Auditorio shows in Tijuana seem to be struggling the last few months, and this show was from an established promoter who’s previous show had also bombed, coming one day after an AAA spot show and with people those fans don’t see as main eventers. There was little chance it was going to turn out well.

Eduardo Valenzuela, the producer/director of lucha libre movie “El Halcon”, said it debuted in the US theaters with great success on September 13th. Box Office Mojo does not list a move by that name in last week’s gate recipets.

Periodismo & Punta has a story on Martin Karadagain. It’s a bit amazing how often he’s remembered in that culture, given his show went off TV in Argentina in the 1980s, but it is also a lot of writers in their 50s and 60s getting to write about a treasured childhood memory. That also means a lot of writing about their memories and not wanting to look too close at them; in this tale, Karadagain was an undefeated wrestler in the US before returning to his home country.

Imagen Noticias has an interview with retired wrestler El Reo.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 09/16/2024 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico b Angelito & Fantasy  
2) Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Legendario b Alom, Hunter, Infarto  
12:43
3) Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider b Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro  
13:44
4) Bárbaro Cavernario, Difunto, Terrible b Magnus, Rugido, Vegas  
13:06
5) Esfinge & Euforia DQ Hechicero & Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]  
10:07. Straight falls, Valiente attacking everyone and unmasking Esfinge for the DQ.
6) Místico © b Máscara Dorada [MLW MIDDLE]  
15:29

Mascara Dorada/Mistico was a lot of call backs to Dorada winning last year, including him going for the same La Mistica finish that had won it. Mistico was able to escape this time and put it on himself. The fans were generally pro-Dorada and anti-Mistico, which appeared to be residual unhappiness with the Aniversario main event. We’ll see if it sticks. I liked the match, but then I got feedback that there were issues with the match that I just wasn’t seeing, so maybe I need to go back and watch it closer. There does seem something with Mascara Dorada that’s not connecting with everyone.

Hechicero had his bad arm heavily wrapped, but wrestled without issue here and wrestled the previous night on a Guadalajara show (not Arena Coliseo) without noticeable issue. CMLL would not have him wrestling with a bicep torn enough to need surgery, so I presume it’s a minor issue if it is one at all.

CMLL did surprise stream this show, though not without issues. CMLL usually streams the Puebla show too, they just keep it private, and both the Arena Mexico shows and the Arena Puebla shows happening at the same time made it tricky to figure out what stream should be public. We are paying $35/month for this service, far higher than any wrestling service anywhere else, it seems like the easy thing to do would’ve been to just make them both public. CMLL instead streamed the opening of the Puebla show, killed that stream, put out a new link, that link was still Puebla, it switched over to Arena Mexico, CMLL killed that stream anyway, and put out a third link that picked up the Arena Mexico opener just as it was ending. It worked out fine for the rest of the show.

CMLL (MON) 09/16/2024 Arena Puebla [DeporPuebla, Grada, Mano a Mano, Porra Fresa]
1) Astoreth & Lady Metal b Enigmática & Lady Amazona 
2) Arkalis, Rayo Metálico, Xelhua b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio 
3) La Catalina b Reyna Isis [lightning]
8:20. The tecnico fans held up Chilean flags to support Catalina.
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther b Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma
5) Averno, Hijo de Octagón, Octagón b Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles] 
Averno beat Atlantis after a mask pull. Atlantis wanted one more fall and Averno just unmasked him again.
6) Rocky Romero, Templario, Volador Jr. DQ Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles] 
Niebla Roja unmasked Templario. Rocky Romero and Volador had issues.

The Atlantis/Avenro match doesn’t seem to be followed up next week, or maybe I just got the Atlantis confused in the results. Some matches from this show will air Sunday night.

CMLL (TUE) 09/17/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
1) Full Metal b Acero [lightning] 
5:44
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Eléctrico, Retro, Valiente Jr. 
14:11
3) Crixus, Magia Blanca, Okumura b Hijo del Pantera, Pelon Encapuchado, Volcano 
14:26.
4) Amapola, Sanely, Zeuxis DQ Kira, Persephone, Tessa Blanchard [Relevos Increíbles] 
13:25. Straight falls, the second when Sanely tossed her mask to Tessa (or really tossed it well past her, so Tessa had to turn around and pick it up before the referee turned back.) Tessa demanded a singles match with Sanely.
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Rocky Romero, Zandokan Jr. b Máscara Dorada, Neón, Volador Jr. 
13:22.
6) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja b Atlantis Jr. & Star Jr. [CMLL TAG] 
20:58. 15th defense.

The rudo teams won every match. A fine day for evil.

The tag title match was very good, though I spent the match thinking about how this title reign can’t end to a random team on a Tuesday match. I was into the near falls but probably not the way they wanted. The Chavez say they’re at 16th defenses; it’s possible there’s one I just haven’t found. It’s not like there’s an official list anywhere. Semi-main was good.

Sanely played cartoon ruda for the entirety of the match, and the announcers pushed the idea this could be a permanent character change. I’m sure CMLL will make it clear next week, or on Informa. She seemed to be having fun with it, anyway.

CMLL (TUE) 09/17/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
1) Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico
2) KeMalito, Micro Sagrado, Tengu b Átomo, Mije, Periquito Sacaryas
Mije replaced Chamuel on Tuesday morning.
3) Dark Magic, El Elemental, Yutani b Arlequín, Leo, Omar Brunetti
4) Hera, Olympia, Valkiria b La Catalina, Lluvia, Náutica
Valkiria defeated Lluvia and challenged for an OCCIDENTE WOMEN shot.
5) Espíritu Negro, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr. b Fantástico, Fugaz, Star Black [Relevos Increíbles]
Gallero beat Star Black and challenged for a MEX HEAVY shot.
6) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Titán DQ Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
DQ for mask removal

Lots of matches set up for next week.

CMLL (FRI) 09/20/2024 Arena México
***Dia de Luchador, 2024***
1) Legendario & Rayo Metálico vs Alom & Infarto
2) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, El Hijo De Blue Panther vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
3) Flip Gordon, Neón, Pelon Encapuchado vs Magnus, Rugido, Vegas
4) Atlantis Jr., Templario, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
5) Místico vs Averno [lightning]
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Valiente vs Esfinge, Euforia, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

A good looking Friday show. The main event is the usual mask match rematch; bet the house on Euforia defeating Hechicero. Mistico gets his most favorite opponent after a bad Friday. Rocky seems to be done for now, so no idea when/where the stuff with Flip will get followed up.

CMLL (SAT) 09/21/2024 Arena Coliseo
***Dia de Luchador, 2024***
1) KeMalito & Mije vs Átomo & Chamuel
2) Angelito vs Pierrothito [lightning]
3) Kira, La Catalina, Lluvia vs Persephone, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
4) Neón & Star Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Felino, Panterita del Ring vs Negro Navarro, Octagón, Pantera, Satánico [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Último Guerrero vs Averno, Soberano Jr., Templario [Relevos Increíbles]

Negro Navarro seemed to be telling people this past weekend that he was retiring. I haven’t seen a statement from him saying so, but this could be his final CMLL match. Match 4 could steal the show.

CMLL (SUN) 09/22/2024 Arena México
1) Hijo del Pantera & Hombre Bala Jr. vs Espanto Jr. & Felino Jr.
2) India Sioux, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard vs Dark Silueta, Hera, Reyna Isis
3) Difunto, Kráneo, Zandokan Jr. vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
4) Titán © vs Villano III Jr. [CMLL WELTER]
9th defense
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Flip Gordon, Neón vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Star Jr., Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Euforia, Místico, Soberano Jr. vs Esfinge, Valiente, Volador Jr.

Villano III/Titan really makes me wish we had a Sunday live stream; it should air on AMX on 10/03.

CMLL (MON) 09/23/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Black Tiger vs Prayer & Rencor
2) Arkalis & Rayo Metálico vs El Perverso & Multy
3) Rey Samuray & Xelhua vs Felino & Felino Jr.
4) Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) Atlantis Jr., Esfinge, Hechicero vs Averno, Euforia, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Flip Gordon, Templario, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.

Templario & Niebla Roja probably feud in the main event. The squad is back together in match four.

CMLL Informa has

• Hechicero & Euforia (Aniversario)
• Mistico (Aniversario, MLW)
• Octagon, Atlantis, Pantera, Felino (Dia de Luchador)
• KeMalito (????)
• Zeuxis (title win)
• Sanely (ruda?)

The CMLL Micros championship is vacant, with Micro Gemelo Diablo I’s jump to AAA. The KeMalito bit could be about CMLL addressing that situation.

In the old days, Mistico would speak his mind when things weren’t going well, often not staying on CMLL message. Mistico is a persistently positive person in this go-around, but I am intrigued to see how they talk about last Friday. I expect we’ll get a Hechicero injury update.

CMLL Informa will also probably announce the final matches for Noche de Campeones on 09/27, as determined by fan voting. When I checked this morning, the voting was:

• Atlantis Jr. defending against Soberano Jr. [NWA LH]
• Templario defending against Volador Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE]
• Futuro defending against Rayo Metalico [MEX LIGHT]
• Reyna Isis defending against Sanely [MEX WOMEN]
• Magnus & Rudio defending against Los Villanos [MEX TAG]
• Mascara Dorada, Neon, and Star Jr. defending against Los Infernales [MEX TRIOS]
• Ultimo Dragoncito defending against Pierrothito [CMLL MINI]

It’ll take a big last minute effort to change any of these matches. I haven’t dug into the exact voting totals, but almost all of these are blowouts by percentage. Calavera Jr. I is the only person who’s within 10% of the leader in their category. Akuma used to be a slam dunk in these fan voting, and that appears to have waned. Sanely got votes in part because of her current character and may be a ruda by the time that match happens.

Back when control of CMLL shifted from Sofia Alonso to Salvador Lutteroth III, I and others noted that there was an issue with the CMLL trademarks. For whatever purpose, all of them had been filed in Paco Alonso’s name, not the promotion, and so they passed to someone who was had been pushed out of CMLL. Lutteroth, using the promotion name “PROMOCIONES MÉXICO, COLISEO Y REVOLUCIÓN, S.C.”, filed for those same trademarks in attempt to resolve that issue. I was checking around in the database for other info, and I noticed that action seems to have at least partly succeeded. All of the Alonso trademarks with “CMLL” in them are now “En Tramite” (the trademark office has received them, hasn’t approved them, can be here forever) and the only CMLL trademarks approved are Lutteroth controlled. Some of the Lutteroth trademarks are new ones; some look like they were transferred from Alonso’s account. There’s still a bunch that neither side has control of, but any concern about the name seems a thing of the pass. It’s impossible to know if this resulted from a legal battle or if the two parties worked it out themselves.

CMLL/Lutteroth’s most recent trademarks are for Kira, Tengu, Al Filo de la Butaca, Esto es Lucha,  and “Salon de la Fama CMLL Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre.” None of these have been approved, but that process moves at strange speeds. Kira had the weird name change; it looks like CMLL tried to get both Andromeda and Esterllita Lagunera and those were equally stuck. Al Filo de la Butaca means “On the Edge of your Seat”, and the filing description makes it sound like the name of a TV program. Esto es Lucha is the name of the CMLL podcast. The Salon de la Fama (Hall of Fame) was filed this month. Many of CMLL’s trademark applications have changed their email contact from a generic Hotmail address to the contact email of a IP legal firm in Mexico City.

On CMLL’s booking

Last Friday, I recapped a podcast where SuperLuchas’ Ernesto Ocampo said he believed Julio Cesar Rivera, not Panico, should be considered as CMLL’s booker in the “Wrestling Observer Newsletter Best Booker” meaning. I’ve got feedback from an informed source to that recap, which has a slightly different story. One of their objections is the idea that Panico is not around CMLL much; the other version has Panico around CMLL once a week. That’s a sort of difference where both versions could be saying the same thing, but they just wanted it clear Panico is still a regular. Why that bit is important is because it’s a piece of how CMLL shows are run and why the creative stuff is a mystery. Each weekly show has a CMLL backstage person in charge. (Panico is still in charge, about once a week.) I’m going to call them an “agent” because that’s the old US term, and the responsibility is similar; I don’t know exactly what they call them in CMLL. The agent is responsible for making sure the wrestling portion of show gets off without a hitch, including communicating results to the wrestlers. The agent isn’t making those decisions; they’ve been given those decisions in advance, and they’re the middleman handing out orders. The agents are not allowed to change the results themselves; they must call (or text) someone higher in the food chain with more power if an issue arises. Who are they calling? Well, the agents know, but it might as well be the Wizard of Oz for the wrestlers. They don’t know who is behind that curtain, which is also probably why we don’t know who is behind that curtain. The real purpose of the agents is to ensure the wrestlers have no direct way of complaining to the creative on the day of the show. It also makes those agents the most important to the wrestlers; they need the agents to like them enough to argue their case.

My best guess is that Jose Luis Feliciano is answering the agents’ phone calls, but no one’s quite sure. That buffer and mystery is the intention. It’s also possible that someone like Feliciano is making those snap decisions while someone like Julio Cesar Rivera (or more people) contributes to the company’s long-term direction. Salvador Lutteroth (III) is also part of the process. He’s not the booker either, but he has his ideas about who’s good and who’s he believes will attract fans, and those ideas do make it into the product. Like any owner, any really big idea with the company has to get his approval. It’s not one singular person. These categories really shouldn’t be person-specific in general; the idea of one single person making all the creative decisions without influence from others died out with the territories. The more accurate answer to “Who books CMLL?” for that award is probably best put as “CMLL”, as unsatisfying as that would be.

AAA

Hijo del Vikingo did not return to wrestling Tuesday night in Arena Aficion. He appeared at the show to explain he wasn’t medically cleared. Murder Clown replaced him, though Psicosis also was added to the match so they could do another Abismo/Psicosis break up. I had thought Vikingo would be added to a lot of Independence Day shows if he was returning on this date, but I should’ve thought about it the other way: taking only one isolated show in a flood of shows meant he optimistically took that date early and then stopped taking more dates once he wasn’t going to make it. The promotion hadn’t really pushed Vikingo’s return on the show, which seemed like weird Mexican promoting but they might have known it wasn’t actually happening and didn’t feel like updating the poster (another aspect of weird Mexican promoting.)

It’s great that Vikingo’s taking medical advice seriously and is not rushing back early. It would be better if he was healthy enough to return. The next known Vikingo booking (in my incomplete) is the September 29th TV taping.

(AEW’s 2024 program has a lot of active people and some people who have been out for a long time, like Keith Lee, Kota Ibushi, and Penelope Ford. Hijo del Vikingo isn’t in that program. That may mean something, or that may just be a weird merchandise rights issue with AAA.)

The main event of that Arena Aficion show was Mascara 2000, defeating Oriental for his hair. Mascara was always a bigger star than Oriental, so it was not a surprising outcome, but a 66-year-old man picking up hair wins still feels off. It didn’t draw—not the hair match, not the Vikingo return.

Record reports Karis La Momia Jr. is now retiring from wrestling completely. Karis had previously said he left AAA and would be coming up with a non-AAA gimmick but had indicated he’d still continue in wrestling. Maybe he really meant it when he didn’t want to just follow in his father’s footsteps and decided to do something else, or maybe he’s 23 and made a decision he’ll undo later. Record says Karis is one of “13 recognized children of La Parka.” 13 is a considerable number itself, even without throwing the loaded “recognized” adjective in there.

Today’s silly gossip is a random commenter on a Latin Lover Facebook Live claimed he saw Sanson and Forastero near Arena Mexico. That’s about nothing. Latin Lover reacted along the lines of “well, if they go they go, they’ll do good wherever”, which would be meaningful if came from someone who didn’t just say a lot of stuff without thinking about it too much. Latin Lover also said wrestlers are allowed to go where they want, which appears to be the actual situation. Forastero says this story is nothing, saying they were in that area but visiting people and picking up masks. Arena Mexico tends to be a gathering spot for Mexico City based luchadors, both in CMLL and not. I can tell you some non-CMLL wrestlers in the front row of one of CMLL’s shows this past week; it’s expected to see them around, and it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I presume NGD would have difficulty getting back into CMLL (even beyond the Vaquer/Cuatrero situation), but it’s probably also irrelevant.

Today’s other gossip bit is WWE uploading the When Worlds Collide Octagon & Hijo del Santo versus Eddy Guerrero & Art Barr match on their WWE vault match. That event – an AAA show produced by WCW and now owned by WWE – is always a bit of a legal grey area, but WWE’s included it on a best of Eddie Guerrero DVD set and other releases in the past. This is a good bit if you’re deep in the Mexican wrestling space and are grasping for signs of an AAA/WWE relationship, but I don’t think it means much in that way. The video is introduced by Dominic Mysterio, whose current look is obviously influenced by Los Gringos Locos of that time.

That WWC match is the one Mexican wrestling match that got attention from the US tape traders through the 90s. There were other AAA matches nearly as good, maybe better, but they were in Spanish, and so they didn’t get passed around as much as the one that had a WCW crew explaining it. The Aniversario mask match is getting highly praised and is being seen by a lot of people (some of whom have paid for it), but there will always be another level to reach by making good Mexican wrestling available in more languages.

AAA visited with Casa de la Amistad.

El Hijo del Santo

Record’s El Planchitas had an hour-long interview with El Hijo del Santo. He’s done so many of these but I at least skimmed through this to see if there was anything new. There was some stuff. El Hijo del Santo says the Todo x el Todo tour names came from him sitting down and making a list of wrestlers he thought might be independent who he wanted to get involved. He mentions Dr. Wagner Jr. as one name he thought might be an AAA guy, but Wagner assured him he’s not under AAA contract. I’m sure this is a true story is for some of the names; I’m a bit skeptical he came up with Misterioso and Therius in his list. Santo says he would’ve liked to book Negro Casas, Blue Panther, and Ultimo (I think Guerrero), but the problem with wrestlers is they like to be chained to companies and those guys weren’t available. Santo feels AAA and CMLL deciding to work together – and letting their wrestlers work wherever they wanted – would improve the state of lucha libre. Santo believes a national commission of lucha libre should exist, but he doesn’t want any part of doing that work. They start to go through a list of the biggest ticket sellers in the last few decades, and El Hijo del Santo argues Super Muneco is underrated as a draw at his peak. He praises Ciclon Ramirez  Jr. as a young wrestler with skills.

Santo goes over some tour dates; the Puebla one with no lineup is still on the list, though he also skips over some with lineups. He’s still insistent he wants to go the Japan and the US, but he doesn’t want to make too many plans in case he gets hurt and can’t fulfill dates. Santo says the tickets for the show are selling very well. Both Superboletos and word on the ground suggest that’s not accurate. El Hijo del Santo goes over the tour schedule three or four times, making sure that the venues get out as much as the cities. Mano Negra will be the lead referee for the shows, who he insists will call it straight and not be characters.

El Hijo del Santo is, of course, asked about working for CMLL and AAA and explains he won’t work with them because of something he likes to call “dignity”. He feels both promotions threw him out on the street, asking the interviewer how he would feel if Record threw him out if he asked for a raise or disagreed with something they were doing. El Hijo del Santo says he didn’t like AAA because he didn’t like the men versus women or men versus minis matches, and they also didn’t pay him. Santo claims he came up with the Leyenda de Plata tournament, CMLL trademarked it behind his back and then started to block him with promoters when he got angry about it. (The Leyenda de Plata story has come up before, though trademark records show it was Santo’s side who had it trademarked first.) He says he loves Mistico a lot and feels CMLL messed with plans for them to be a tag team on outside shows by lying to promoters about his availability. Santo explains that returning to either is like a bad romantic relationship; he’s broken up with these groups, and he knows it would never work if he went back. He’s asked if he believes he wants to wrestle in Arena Mexico one more time before returning, and Santo says he had great memories from that building, bringing up his late 90s feuds (Scorpio Jr. & Bestia Salvaje name-checked) and trained there when he was started out. Still, he has no dreams or interest in returning. If he were to wrestle anywhere in Mexico City for his retirement match, he’d like it to be at the Plaza de Toros. The interviewer touches on this later – isn’t the Arena Ciudad de Mexico date supposed to be the last Mexico City show? Santo explains that’s the current plan, there’s no guarantee he’ll do a retirement match in Mexico City, just an idea. El Hijo del Santo expands on his reoccurring yarn about why the mask match with Blue Demon Jr. never happened: they feuded and had some great technical matches, never brawls, but they once talked on a plane and decided the lucha libre world would be too sad if one or the other were unmasked. It would be wrong to do it. Santo also admits that his relationship with Blue Demon Jr. fractured and ended. He says it was for reasons outside of wrestling; he respects Demon, but they don’t talk. Santo treats his problems with Demon on the same level as he has with CMLL and AAA and says that he’s learned he must remove toxic people from his life. “It’s better to be alone than around bad company.”

El Hijo del Santo says he’s worked on himself in therapy for the last 42 years. “Mr. Guzman” and El Hijo del Santo have agreed that it is time for El Hijo del Santo to leave the ring, though he has all sorts of ideas of non-wrestling ways to continue the character. Most of it is the usual bit, but el Hijo del Samto mentions that he recorded conversations with his father in college about his career, which have never been released. He’s thinking about putting those out. El Hijo del Santo believes his father would adore his wife Gabriela if she was alive, because she’s done a lot to protect the Santo brand – trademarks, coming up with the store, getting the wax statue of Santo at the store, getting the statue of Santo in Tepito. Santo said he’d made good money working with the national lottery and would spend it on a car (a Jaguar!), but Gabriela said no – it makes him a kidnapping risk. She said he should buy a gift for his father instead. Hijo del Santo was confused about why he’d buy a Jaguar for his deceased father, but she explained the statue idea to him, and he was blown away. Santo notes she’s the ruda of the family, but in a way where she’s looking out for him. Gabriela has that rep among Mexican wrestling people, though they don’t see it as favorably as Santo does.

Cerebro Negro says it’s a great honor to open this show on Sunday. Besides his son Cerebro Negro Jr., he mentions his daughter is the luchadora Sinapsis.

IWRG

IWRG (MON) 09/16/2024 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del RIng, IWRG]
1) Drakula Ng, Felino Boy, Príncipe Centauro, Sacro, Shamila, Sky Man b Fauno, Kali, Rey Astaroth, Rey Halcón, Súper Boy, Tornado [Copa High Power]
2) Multifacetico Jr. © b Cerebro Negro Jr. [IWRG IC WELTER]
3) Aquila, Luka, Spider Fly DRAW Abigor, Hysteriosis, Rock Power
Rock Power gave Spider Fly a martinete.
4) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba b Arez, Látigo, Toxin
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. DQ Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool and Medico Brujo, Ovett Jr., Sick Boy
Pigs unmasked Pandemonium
6) DMT Azul, Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus b Hijo del Fishman, Vangellys, Vengador

In the tercera, Rock Power gave Spider Fly a martinete. Spider Fly was taken to the hospital. IWRG says Rock Power is suspended indefinitely. They’re trying to play this up as a real injury, but I presume it’s part of the Fake Spider Fly (or maybe Clone Spider Fly) saga.

IWRG (THU) 09/19/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Oriental & Shamila vs Fauno & Kali
2) Calibus vs Avisman
3) Multifacetico Jr. & Tornado vs Hysteriosis & Rey Halcón
4) Aquiles vs Noisy Boy, Bendito, Águila Roja
5) Hell Boy & Hijo de Canis Lupus © vs Jessy Ventura & Mamba [IWRG IC TAG]
first defense

Other Notes

Sinaloa luchador El Tigre del Ring (Francisco Montero Cota, 99) passed away Monday. He worked as a wrestler, referee, and promoter. The debate bio lists him as the Mexican National Welterweight champion in 1968. My records have that title being held by Humberto Garza and Alberto Munoz. Sinaloa is a region where with little information from that period, maybe there was a title change we didn’t know about, but I have no records of one outside this mention.

Ernesto Ocampo mentioned Tauro (Antonio Grimaldo Martinez) passed away as I was finishing up. I’d like come back to write about him Friday with more time; he was not a big star, but he’s a guy who’s name I saw a lot reading through 70s magazines so it feels like I was seeing him a couple of years ago.

Tribuna de Queretaro has a long interview with Queretaro’s Dragon de Oriente I. He was the original Rey Cometa; he wanted to be Cometa Halley as an astronomy fan, but went with the different name in fear of being rejected. He (Raul), his brother and his friend (Marcelino) went to the commission to get their name changed approved when they decided to become Los Dragones del Oriente. Marcelino came up with the idea but the commission decided to make Raul #1.

The KeMonito short documentary debuts on Netflix (in Latin America only) on Thursday.

Latin Lover’s podcast had promoters Nacho de la O (The Crash), Alonso Botello (KAOZ), and Arturo Serna (Panther) to talk about the ups and downs of the wrestling business. The Crash you may already know, KAOZ runs like three shows a year if even, Panther runs weekly or close to weekly in Reynosa. There is a speedy summary in this post. They praise La Parka (AAA) and Mistico as the best ticket sellers, and Botello and Serna call Penta the most overvalued wrestler. Nacho disagreed with them, saying Penta’s always been good for him in Tijuana. Serna said Penta and Psycho cost the most, and everyone agreed it is actually Hijo del Santo who costs the most but he’s not worth the cost so he sort of costs nothing because no one wants to pay him. Botello and Serna praise Komander as someone good to work with.

The city of Juarez held a press conference to talk about the Lucha Libre festival on Sunday. It runs from noon to midnight; I counted 31 matches on between the two posters. Komander versus the Beast Mortos is listed as the main event, though the last four matches are listed in a way where any of them might be it. They’ll have a tribute to Eddie Guerrero on the show, with Vickie in attendance.

Longtime weekly Veracruz promotion UVLL announced they’re closing down this Sunday. They’ve been running that place for 15 years, since 2009, pretty much every Sunday. The promoter talked about the closing and the history they have there, but hasn’t given a story about what happened (outside of saying it’s for bad reasons.) Some of their fans are hoping it’s just a change of location as a surprise. Stephanie Vaquer sent in a video to promote the show; she wrestled there in a lot in 2014 when she moved from Chile and she and Ricky Marvin were living in his hometown of Veracruz. She’sthe most famous person to come out of that arena.

Aniversario

CMLL (FRI) 09/13/2024 Arena México [CMLL, El Grafico, El Universal, Excelsior, Gamavision, Kaiser Sports, Milenio, Post Wrestlng, Record, Telediaro, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (videos), thecubsfan, Voices of Wrestling]
***CMLL 91st Aniversario***
1) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido    
8:37
2) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. b Neón, Star Jr., Templario    
17:11.
3) Titán b Máscara Dorada [Copa Independencia]     
14:40.
4) Zeuxis b Willow Nightingale © [CMLL WOMEN]  
11:07. Willow falls on first defense. Zeuxis becomes 23rd champion.
5) Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. b Kojima, Orange Cassidy, Rocky Romero  
Flip Gordon, who earlier did an anti-Rocky Romero interview, got into a shoving match with Romero from the crowd, then tried to jump the rail and attack him. He was ejected, but rooted for the home twm to win (which they did.)
6) Euforia L Hechicero, Esfinge, Valiente [mask]  
Euforia submitted Esfinge at 10:32, Hechicero submitted Magia Negra at the 14:14 mark, and Hechicero submitted Euforia at 36:06. Soberano Jr. and Mephisto consoled Euforia after his loss. He gave credit to Hechicero for the win, and unmasked him as Jose Leobardo Moreno Leon, 49 years old, from Torreon. Hechicero suffered a left bicep injury early in the match.
7) Místico b Chris Jericho  
22:11. A three fall match. Big Bill seconded Chris Jericho and interfered on his behalf. Mistico won via La Mistica after an earlier attempt was reversed into the Wall of Jericho. Bill and Jericho attacked Mistico after the match until Orange Cassidy made the save. Cassidy put his sunglasses on Mistico (and immediately fled.)

The four-way match was incredible. The action from the start was fast and intense; they went for some tough spots, and they pulled off everything they needed. Three people catching a big man life Euforia as he’s flying at them is tough to coordinate, and they made it look easy. Both Valiente and Esfinge hit the spots they needed to hit, with Valiente wrestling like his old self for the first time in years. They even did the little things correctly; matches like that typically use pinfall breakups for drama, but everyone correctly realizes that breaking up pins under those rules would’ve been counter-productive, and they didn’t do them. It’s one of those things only noticed when it’s done wrong, but they did it very right. Both eliminations were genuinely stunning; Esfinge and Valiente were the most logical finalists and ended up being the two on the outside. Hechicero/Euforia was the best match on paper and the one with the most history, but it took vision and some trust to put those two guys in that spot. It worked out beautifully. CMLL’s typical match structure – best of three matches means everyone’s finish is seen often and well established – played into the drama of the final two. Everyone following CMLL has seen Euforia use the Euforia Special hundreds of times in the last couple of decades to put away opponents instantly and understood it was certain doom for Hechicero if he got caught in it. Even for fans who didn’t know the finishing moves, Hechicero & Euforia sold them so big and so important that the meaning of that offense became obvious. Hechicero & Euforia milked every bit of drama out of their moment, sold the moves big, sold the exhaustion and desperation bigger. There was no logical way someone getting an international rise like Hechicero was going to lose his mask, but he and Euforia absolutely made fans believe it was going to happen. The emotion after the result was super compelling. Nothing in any other form of wrestling can compare to the feelings after a big mask match; wrestling, people elsewhere barely seem to even understand or grasp it. It would be outstanding if this leads to a bigger role for Hechicero in CMLL, but it doesn’t need to lead to anything else to be still remembered as one of the great Aniversario apuesta matches of all time. I can not say enough good things about this match.

Mexico is a country that still covers important wrestling results as news and sports, and most of those outlets considered the mask match the main event of this show: Record, Excelsior, Milenio, El Universal, El Grafico, Telediario, and Publimetro all went with that match on top. ESTO and Marca went with Jericho & Mistico. The more wrestling-focused sites like Kaiser Sports and The Gladiatores went with the mask match, and it’s the entire cover of this week’s Box y Lucha. Wrestling sites that don’t cover CMLL as frequently tended to go with Jericho & Mistico. The record book will list Mistico & Chris Jericho as the final match of Aniversario, and Jericho has claimed his goal of being the trivia answer to various “who has headlined [X], [Y] and CMLL’s Aniversario show” answers. The mask match will be remembered as the main event.

That Chris Jericho/Mistico match was a disaster. It was hurt by the show going unusually long. It still would’ve been bad on an average show. It was hurt by following the mask match, and it still would’ve been bad in the semi-main. It would’ve been bad in front of an all-AEW crowd, it would’ve been bad in front of an all-CMLL crowd, it would’ve been bad on any other Friday night, and it would’ve been bad on a random match in another arena. Everyone was at fault. Most of the blame goes to Chris Jericho, who earned a lot of it. Mistico was at fault, too. Big Bill, unable to catch a telegraphed dive, was at fault. Referee Edgar was at fault. CMLL and AEW themselves were at fault. It was a group effort, and the whole team lost Friday.

That match shouldn’t have been twenty minutes and three falls long, not after how long that show had gone and not with those two wrestlers. It likely would’ve been bad at 12 minutes and one fall. When the story of the match is La Mistica versus Walls of Jericho and then Mistico jogs into applying the worst La Mistica in a very long time, the issue isn’t the factors around the match. It was the match. (And then they did the spot again, just as bad.) The rest of the match was clunky and ill-designed. Jericho wrestled Titan and Atlantis Jr., working in their big spots while generally wrestling his style of match. Those matches were generally well received. The idea didn’t work with Mistico this night, wouldn’t work with Mistico on a good night, and certainly didn’t work at all here. It wasn’t all Mistico either, there were Jericho issues that were Jericho issues. He nearly took a header on the Lionsault, and he was gassed by the end of the match. He didn’t have the fitness for a twenty minute match in Mexico City altitude and paid for it by the end. I’m not sure the Mistica’s would’ve looked good in minute 1, but he didn’t show up in condition for the match he wanted to do. Jericho seems desperate to prove the ‘haters’ wrong – he’s still vital, he still can go, he’s still capable of headlining big shows. A Jericho who was more accepting of his limitations, Mistico’s abilities and the expectations of this match might have put together less ambitious. He did it his way, did it to make a point, and the point he made was that his detractors were right.

Mistico’s got to take his share of the blame. This is his building, his show, his promotion – if anyone has earned the way to say “this is what we’re going to do it”, it is Mistico. And he influenced how the match went; the missed tornillo dive is his trademark when he’s teasing losing a big singles match. He knew the importance of the match, he deferred, and now he’s going to hope the stars will align to give him another chance at a Aniversario main event. CMLL is at fault for talking themselves into the main event, and not putting bigger limits on it. I do not believe “Jericho forced CMLL to put him in the main event” or “Mistico demanded the main event for not getting a mask match with Magnus.” Unless someone provides hard proof, those guys headlined the show because CMLL thought they were the biggest stars by far and worthy of the spot. The people who run CMLL are not children; they’re not people who bend to their will to wrestlers, for better or worse. AEW’s at fault, too. People who claim to be as big as worldwide wrestling fans should’ve known Jericho going after a mask match would’ve been a hard sell at best and convinced him and CMLL Jericho to just bill it as a double main event and wrestle in the semi-main. There are a lot of people who could’ve thrown themselves against this match in the best interest of the show, and no one stepped up enough to do it.

AEW’s biggest crime was treating the finale of CMLL’s biggest show of the year as a good playground for a heat-up angle for an Orange Cassidy versus Chris Jericho. It was worthless, because it was always only going to be a blink and you missed it clip on AEW’s b-show – that’s how AEW uses all their international footage. It was worthless because Jericho and Cassidy had already taped an entirely separate, stronger heat-up angle for those two on that same Collision show, one that was obviously going to overshadow whatever AEW showed from CMLL. It was worthless because it was the exact kind of low-impact angle that adds no value and exists just to say you’ve done something, but no one watching the show from Arena Mexico needs anything to build up a match. Most of them aren’t even going to see. (For a thousand time, I will remind you that AEW has no TV in Mexico. There are hardcore AEW fans who find a way to watch, and they did make noise. They were the minority, bitterly disappointed that the entire crowd wasn’t singing along with Judas, or that CMLL didn’t play it longer.) The Orange Cassidy/Chris Jericho bit is the typical midcard feud that’s going to draw or not draw based on whatever it does because of pre-existing affinity for the character, not because they did a post-match run-in in Arena Mexico or because they did a choking angle no one took seriously on Collision. It was intensely disrespectful to end a CMLL show with a meaningless attack and run-in for another promotion (a promotion which may not draw as many people this month as CMLL drew for this one show), entirely out of tune with the rest of the show. CMLL’s not a promotion where people run out to make a save while their music plays and their entrance video is shown, and there was no reason to make the last few minutes of CMLL’s biggest show of the year an AEW production. There’s not a chance AEW would ever allow CMLL or someone else to end All In with an angle for one of their matches; AEW didn’t even go as far as mentioning the existence of this show until after it happened, they’re not going to let CMLL (or anyone else) run their heat up angles on AEW TV.

The very specific bit with Orange Cassidy endorsing Mistico just showed how out of touch the idea was. That is Mistico’s house, Mistico is the star. I like Orange Cassidy, Orange isn’t close to the star Mistico is. Orange also was a complete rudo three matches earlier, and there was no reason for anyone to react to him as a good guy, except that’s what AEW needed for their story, so forget what happened the rest of the show. The angle died a death because it followed a disaster of a match, but it would’ve died a death even in better circumstances. None of this was what anyone watching CMLL wanted, it existed for AEW purposes and for the minority of AEW fans who came to Aniversario. And you could tell both the match and the post match angle wasn’t for the CMLL fans, because every wide angle showed a bunch of empty seats where CMLL fans were a match earlier. I didn’t like it,

This ending is a CMLL problem at the core, not an AEW one. AEW will ask for as much as possible until they’re told no. That’s what AEW did with AAA, and what we all expect WWE will do with AAA should that deal ever happen. AEW should have the common sense to know ending CMLL’s biggest show of the year with their own angle is as smart as jumping out of a plane without a parachute, but CMLL’s show is CMLL’s responsibility. They went crazy for the idea of Chris Jericho, they approved the show ending with Orange Cassidy putting his glasses on Mistico’s head, the buck stops with them. They’ve been pretty fortunate that big stuff with AEW this year has worked out well, probably even better than they hoped. There’s a limit to everything; everyone has gone far past it here, and you can only hope they learn from it. CMLL’s popular phrase is “no one is indispensable,” and that’s just as true for ideas or alliances that don’t work for CMLL. That bit didn’t work for CMLL.

There were other matches on this show! I think I’m the only person who liked Mascara Dorada/Titan as much as I did; it didn’t seem to be what anyone else wanted out of that match. Likewise, I thought Zeuxis/Willow was fine, but the consensus seems much lower. There was a spark that was missing. I’m having trouble making sense of Zeuxis’ post-match reaction; my (very wild) guess is they got cut on time since that was shorter than all the big matches, and she was unhappy about it. The all star trios was exactly what it should be. I was surprised Orange’s “you’re going to see different from me than in AEW” meant he was going to work rudo, but it worked very well for that match. Orange seemed as upset as everyone else at the main event, and I don’t know what he thinks about the experience, but he’s a guy who would work again in another match. The Flip/Rocky stuff was also very “not CMLL”, but Rocky has earned a lot more leeway (and there’s a fair case the element CMLL has been missing this year is the out-of-the-box stuff Romero did in 2023.) The Viajeros/Deperdadores was good for how long it lasted, but obviously not the match they’d have on any other show. The Chavez/Soberano vs Neon/Templario/Star match was superb, with everything hitting you want on a big show. I don’t want to dog AAA anymore here, but that match showed the difference between AAA and CMLL in 2024. CMLL can just throw six guys out there that they have no particular plans for on that show and have a great match, AAA has to specificy engineer circumstances to have a great match (and even that doesn’t always work for them.)

Hechicero’s left arm has a bicep tear – the one that was wrapped. The Gladaitores reported the other way, but it was late and it was the right arm from the way they were looking at him. I thought I had missed the injury, but it happened during the match and was dealt with quietly. He’s told people it happened on the Valiente armdrag. Hechicero showed the injury to Alexis Salazar at ringside before both the CMLL and the commission doctor checked on Hechicero off-camera and wrapped the arm. Hechicero said there was a hole in the muscle, and they’d have to do an MRI to figure out how bad it was. (The holiday weekend probably means that’s going to take longer than normal to schedule.) Hechicero is scheduled to wrestle Monday in Arena Mexico, but that seems unlikely.

In CMLL post-match promos

• Euforia said he dreamed of having Hechicero’s mask in his hands, but it didn’t work out. He says his mask in good hands, but Euforia will continue.
• Hechicero thanked everyone for their support, feel he proved he was meant for great things.
• Chris Jericho really wanted to do his in Spanish, but he struggled a bit with remembering the words. He said he wanted to come back and now remembered how thin the air was in Mexico City.
• Zeuxis said she lived up to her promise of bringing the belt back home and is ready to defend it anywhere in the world.

In the longer media interviews

• Hechicero noted he hadn’t wrestled in Arena Mexico since August 11th, and on a Friday show since August 2nd, so he was a bit nervous and at a disadvantage. Hechicero noted that some people don’t like his style, and some of his fellow wrestlers don’t like it (think it is outdated), but the same style opened doors for him internationally this year. It’s been a great year for him internationally and he felt a need to do the same in his home arena. He was very happy with the fan reaction; the fans got into the match, and it didn’t matter their position. Hechicero explained that he had to think about a hold that would work against a wrestler Euforia’s size and strength. Hechicero says he tore his left bicep early in the match. There’s a hole in it, and he’s started crying a bit out of despair about his big chance ruined by injury. He just kept going. He notes the ring is one place where you’re free to express your emotions and everyone supports you for showing them. Hechicero says there were a lot of factors in making this match happen and believes the fan reaction to the Zack Sabre Jr. versus Hechicero, the crowd support he got on the day, was an essential factor. Hechicero noted that the object of matches and nights like this is to build loyalty to lucha libre, from new fans and from returning fans, and he feels they accomplished that goal. Hechicero praised Euforia. To move forward and advance, everyone has to have great rivals who will push them. Hechiero’s set on continuing the momentum from this win; he feels he didn’t do that with the heavyweight title but won’t let it again. Hopefully, the bicep injury won’t leave him out long.
• Euforia says someone had to lose, he respects Hechicero, but this is not the outcome he wanted and not one he ever thought would happen. He’s hopeful he can turn being unmasked into a rebirth for him, and he’ll keep trying to get stronger. He’d been under that mask for 18 years, and a masked in general for 32 or 34 years. He doesn’t regret being in the match or staying in the match; Euforia said he was pretty sure that it would Hechicero would beat Valiente when those two were left in the ring and that was the match he wanted – he wanted to face Hechicero at the end because that was the personal issue and Hechicero was one he dreamed he was going to beat. Euforia is going to look for revenge and if he can’t get it against Hechiero, he’ll look for it against Esfinge or Valiente, he won’t forgot those issues. Euforia said that Soberano told him “tu un chingon, papa” when he consoled him after. Euforia did not want to cause controversy but believed main event wrestlers prove they’re main event wrestlers in whatever spot they’re booked, and the four in that mask match did that.

I barely check in on the Televisa airing of CMLL, but I can’t wait to check in next week on commentary Hechicero breaking down luchador Hechicero’s mask victory. I’d love to know how many viewers that show gets, though it’d be hard to know what it means without context.

I don’t think this bad night affects the entire AEW/CMLL relationship much. CMLL sold tickets to people who appeared there just to see the AEW people, and any wrestling promotion will keep going with a ticket selling ideas until the moment it stops selling tickets (and probably three moments beyond, just to be sure.) If you follow CMLL enough to be reading this blog regularly, you already know CMLL will imminently announce between 3-5 AEW wrestlers coming in for the Women’s Gran Prix at the end of October. (There’s a hint of one person already if you know where to look.) Will Ospreay probably turn up at some point, and likely others will.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Orange Cassidy again. This was a bad experience, but it doesn’t outweigh the very good experiences both sides had earlier this year, with matches like Bryan Danielson versus Chris Jericho. The Aniversario main event will instead directly affect the wrestlers involved. Chris Jericho talked a lot about wanting to have matches against a lot of CMLL’s top wrestlers, and that’s going to be a much harder sell after that match. This match will also fall on Mistico’s reputation, typecasting him further as a guy who can have really good matches with specific people in specific places. I’m sure both would like another chance to prove it was just a bad night, but I also doubt they’ll get it.

A relatively minor subplot was AEW’s Collision show airing a video package covering the CMLL Aniversario, showing the first fall finish and a voiceover talking about Chris Jericho defeating Mistico. The often ridiculed AEW social media team got blamed for making this mistake but appeared innocent – “Chris Jericho beat Mistico” was exactly how it appeared on TV, and the social media was just following that lead. That team reacted first, changing their social media posts. AEW posted on social media out a new video package on Sunday morning, instead noting that Jericho won the first fall and Mistico won the final two. AEW’s actions in this don’t affect CMLL at all – everyone who CMLL cares about knowing the results knows Mistico won. It is just AEW who is harmed and looks like goofs to the parts of their audience who know better. AEW also bills Mistico as forever undefeated, so they’re killing their own gimmick there. I know the leading theory is AEW was confused as to who won, but it is hard for me to accept that a half dozen people edited, produced and put that on the air without someone raising their hand and questioning the basic premise of Jericho beating Mistico. (But maybe that’s how we get to people thinking ending the biggest CMLL of the show with an AEW angle is a good idea, just living in an AEW-centric world.)

The CMLL YouTube stream played well. There were a couple of graphics issues and the audio always can be better, but the stream worked and there’s no reason to take that granted. I’m told the big illegal Facebook stream that peaked at 13K viewers (and then went down during the main event) also worked well.

Dralistico took advantage of the poor reaction to Jericho/Mistico to pitch a Mistico/Dralistico match on social media. I think that match would draw, I’m not sure if it would be good given the egos of the people involved, and I’m sure it ain’t happening. Dralistico is way out of the news in Mexico (and the US), so it was smart of him to find a way to get some attention.

Satanico praised Hechicero and Euforia for their performance.

Everything Else CMLL

CMLL (SAT) 09/14/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Grako b Sangre Imperial [lightning] 
8:13
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Leono, Retro, Robin 
15:20
3) La Catalina & Tabata b Amapola & Olympia 
15:11
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero 
13:06
5) Dark Panther, Fugaz, Star Black b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo 
12:38
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. b Flip Gordon, Rocky Romero, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles] 
11:54. Flip and Rocky had issues, cost each other the match, and teased a singles match afterwards.

Grako and Sangre Imperial are among the least impressive CMLL wrestlers, and they were surprised by a perfectly accepting lightning match. Everyone on this show was OK.

The Sunday show is a Monday show for this week only, with a 5 pm local start time. CMLL is intentionally obtuse about these holiday shows airing. It comes off as antagonistic to the people who are subscribing to their subscription service, though I believe the intention is to make sure everyone who might buy a ticket does that by making no promises of it airing. CMLL likely will not reveal the show airing until shortly before it starts. My guess is it’ll stream, but I also wouldn’t recommend you build your Monday around expecting to see it. If it doesn’t stream, matches will air on AMX on 09/20. The Mistico/Mascara Dorada match will likely air on the next MLW stream (09/28) as well.

Mistico won the MLW Opera Cup on Saturdays with wins over Bad Dude Tito and KENTA. Both were fun matches, nothing you have to see, but a breath of a fresh air after the show before. The Mistico/KENTA battle happened because the people who run MLW love 00s wrestling and those were the two big international junior heavyweight stars of the 00s. 2024 KENTA is nothing close to the KENTA of that era most nights, and this match was no different – but that was fine. It might have even been better that way. Mistico works best against someone playing a conventional rudo, and a lot of KENTA’s tricks and shortcuts boil down to typical rudo actions. (2024 KENTA is not Averno but their playbooks overlap a bit.) The fans seemed completely satisfied with both matches.

MLW will run Ultimo Guerrero versus Kojima for the MLW Championship on their 10/04 show in St. Petersburg, Flordia.  Kojima suggested the idea on the Friday press conference, Ultimo Guerrero (watching the stream) accepted, and UG won on Friday. This show will air on YouTube.

CMLL (TUE) 09/17/2024 Arena México
1) Acero vs Full Metal [lightning]
2) Eléctrico, Retro, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Hijo del Pantera, Pelon Encapuchado, Volcano vs Crixus, Magia Blanca, Okumura
4) Kira, Persephone, Tessa Blanchard vs Amapola, Sanely, Zeuxis [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Máscara Dorada, Neón, Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Rocky Romero, Zandokan Jr.
6) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Atlantis Jr. & Star Jr. [CMLL TAG]
15th defense

That main should be great, and the semi-main might be pretty good as well if they’re up for it.

The 09/18 Lucha contra Hambre show appears to have been quietly canceled. Tickets are no longer available and people were told the show was off when asking why. I do not believe they’ve solved the hunger issues in Mexico so it must be another issue.

Televisa Puebla aired matches from 09/07

• Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard © vs Persephone & Zeuxis [CMLL WOMEN TAG]
• Atlantis, Flip Gordon, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Averno, Niebla Roja
• Esfinge, Hechicero, Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Soberano Jr., Valiente in a relevos increíbles match

I was late at hitting the buttons to record MVS this weekend, so I don’t know what aired as the opener. It reads like the other person in the comments watching this show also didn’t get it; it was off on Sunday for holiday programming.

AAA

I didn’t get to watch AAA on Space this week. My recording of the Saturday night show failed (which happens a lot) and I wasn’t actively monitoring it to find an alternate source. Space repeats AAA on Sunday mornings and did again this week, but strangely repeated the last two TripleMania episodes rather than this week’s new episode. That Showcenter episode should air next Sunday and go up on YouTube later that night. I’ll catch it then. The matches that appeared to air, based on AAA’s social media, were all from the 09/01 taping:

• Brillante RB vs Reykco vs Black Raven
• Estrellato & Lider vs Epydemius & Sayrus
• Dinamico, Drago, Laredo Kid vs Antifaz, El Mesias, Pierroth Jr.
  • Mesias recruited Pierroth Jr. for his group, though Pierroth’s identity was kept secret for whatever reason.
• A video aired with Cibernetico pledging his support to Latin Lover. This one looked like it was taped at the press conference to announce the next Monterrey show, rather than at Showcenter itself.

Can you imagine how bad an Alberto/Cibernetico title match would be? If it happens, Cuervo and Ozz will be the only ones taking bumps. Pierroth Jr. being officially added to Mesias’ group and Mesias adding another member on the next taping likely means Dark Espiritu also won’t be around much going forward, in addition to Dark Spiritu’s departure. That Secta split was just a colossal failure of an angle, everyone was less over than when it started, no good matches were had, no one drew any money, just a whiff when they would’ve been better off doing nothing. But, if they did nothing, the important people wouldn’t get to say ‘here, look at what I did’, so something had to be done.

El Lindaman, Octagon Jr., and Faby Apache take on Michiko, Chris Ridgeway and Sam Adonis on the 10/06 GLEAT show. Octagon Jr. talked to AS about working the recent ELITE shows, in part because they were so helpful in getting him to his current AAA spot.

The 09/14 EMW show, built around freelance AAA wrestlers but no longer AAA affiliated, drew what looks to be their worst crowd in a very long time.

Laredo Kid wrestled Jonathan Gresham on the Impact tapings this Saturday. I have not heard if it was an actual match or if it ended in two minutes.

IWRG

No show here Sunday for the same Independence Day reason. They’re running this evening.

IWRG (MON) 09/16/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fauno, Kali, Rey Astaroth, Rey Halcón, Súper Boy, Tornado vs Drakula Ng, Felino Boy, Príncipe Centauro, Sacro, Shamila, Sky Man [Copa High Power]
2) Multifacetico Jr. © vs Cerebro Negro Jr. [IWRG IC WELTER]
3) Aquila, Luka, Spider Fly vs Abigor, Hysteriosis, Rock Power
4) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba vs Arez, Látigo, Toxin
5) Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. and Medico Brujo, Ovett Jr., Sick Boy
6) DMT Azul, Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Hijo del Fishman, Vangellys, Vengador

Lucha Libre Boom has also announced a show for the end of the month.

CMLL , LLB , IWRG (SUN) 09/29/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fobia & Pitbull vs Ángel Kid & Titanium
2) Arashi, Argus, Máscara De Hierro vs Águila Dorada, Argus Fly, Gaius
3) Karma I, Príncipe Centauro, Willy Banderas vs Águila Oriental, Águila Roja, Multifacético
4) Carta Brava Jr. (LLB), Fandango, Fantasma de la Ópera vs Cíclope, El Mago, Miedo Extremo and Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano García
5) La Catalina & Mary Caporal vs Persephone & Sagitarius
6) Hijo de Octagón & Octagón vs Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr.

Other News

Zacatecas luchador Tormenta Roja (Santiago Cervantez) passed away Saturday night. He was stabbed twice at a residence during an argument. He looks to have wrestling since the 2010s, though lineups from Zacatecas are sparse. Big Bear Promotions mentioned he was working behind the scenes for them recently.

With TripleManias and Aniversarios passed, the next big show is El Hijo del Santo’s Mexico City retirement show, next Sunday in Arena Ciudad de Mexico. There’s a “buy 3, get 1” ticket sale going on for that show through tonight. El Hijo del Santo continued on a national media out to promote show; El Manana caught up with him in Monterrey to promote the show there on 10/13. He continues to hint heavily that his son will wrestle on that show. The article’s last section mentions El Hijo del Santo’s last match will take place on July 26, 2025. He’s done many of these interviews, so maybe I’ve missed it, but I haven’t seen him put a firm date on the end prior. The gimmick is that the July 26 date was the first El Santo match, and it’ll be the last El Hijo del Santo match (and seemingly the final match for anyone wearing the mask.)

Hijo del Fishman hypes up his feud with Mascara Sagrada to promote the Todo x el Todo.

El Paso Inc. has interviews with Cinta de Oro, Manny Hernandez of 915-616, and Michelle Delgado of “God fo the Ring” about the business of promoting shows in the city. All of them say the market is cooled, and they’re greatly supplemented by sponsors; Hernandez said he spends $15,000 per show of sponsor money to pay for talent, equipment, and logistics.

Segunda Caida reviews some 1993 Arena Coliseo Monterrey.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 09/13/2024 Arena México
***CMLL 91st Aniversario***
1) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
2) Neón, Star Jr., Templario vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.
3) Máscara Dorada vs Titán [Copa Independencia]
4) Willow Nightingale © vs Zeuxis [CMLL WOMEN]
first defense
5) Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Kojima, Orange Cassidy, Rocky Romero
6) Hechicero vs Esfinge, Valiente, Euforia [mask]
7) Chris Jericho vs Místico

I wrote a preview for this on Voices of Wrestling, and I’m talking more on their Flagship podcast this week. I wanted to try not to repeat myself but I think I could’ve done better at that. I’m also doing a recap of this show for Post Wrestling, which should go up on Saturday morning if I do my part. I’ll be back here Monday and turn into a puddle the rest of the week.

Jericho/Mistico should have a lot of crowd emotion, but those two working together in 2024 seem a bit of a challenge. Jericho’s coming off a run where most of his singles matches came in weapons matches, and that’ll be something different. Valiente remains the favorite to be unmasked tonight, though not as big a favorite as Dragon Rojo or Stuka in past years. If he is the final two, I’m hopeful he can pull out one big performance on the night. (Will we get one last Valiente Special?) Esfinge is the most likely winner, but the Hechicero and Euforia fit better with Valiente for a long singles match. Euforia versus Valiente would be the final with the most suspense on the outcome. How Orange Cassidy does in CMLL is the biggest question; he’s a guy who could end up getting very over and becoming a recurring character if it goes well enough (and if that’s what he wants to do.) Willow and Zeuxis seem motivated to have a great match, and the same can be said for Dorada & Titan. Time and a little bit of luck are the only questions there. The openers have all interesting people, and probably not enough space to go all out. The AEW fans are expecting something with Orange & Jericho here based on them feuding there, but I don’t know that it would mean much to CMLL fans. I’m more curious if CMLL does anything to build to upcoming tag title match coming of the match 2.

The two important reminders:

• You must subscribe to Fan Leyenda tier to watch this show. You are out of luck on the other tiers, they never get this show.
• The mask match doesn’t work like normal Mexican four ways. The first two beat are out of the match entirely, and it’s the two remaining (the two winners) who will face off to decide the mask match. The person unmasked will be the 2nd place finisher, not the 4th place.

CMLL held their now traditional Friday press conference with those in the top matches. It was effective if not revelatory. Zeuxis and Willow took a respectful tact. Rocky Romero did Rocky Romero things, and Orange Cassidy wants to do some lucha. Big Bill is seconding Mistico, so he’ll likely interfere in the match. Jericho seemed enthusiastic about doing more matches in CMLL, though I would guess CMLL’s getting this one a little cheaper than they might get the future ones – Jericho really just wants to main event this show. He and Mistico did some pushing and shoving, Mistico acknowledged the fan sentiment that the mask match should be last in saying that he has a responsibility to make sure people go home happy with the decision to end with himself and Jericho instead.

CMLL wrestlers appeared at the opening of new lucha libre art exhibit on Thursday. This came on Informa this week. The CMLL woman who handles outside relations for all sorts of projects seems like an intensely busy person with all the stuff she’s set up lately. There wasn’t much news on Informa beyond that – it was a lot of final interviews with Aniversario participants. They did an update on the voting for the Noche de Campeones, though voting is still open. I haven’t been keeping up with it, so I was surprised that Rayo Metalico was winning in his effort to face Futuro for the lightweight championship. CMLL hasn’t outright said when voting will end, but it’ll probably be next Wednesday.

Next Tuesday’s Arena Mexico lineup isn’t out yet (or I forgot to put it here.) CMLL did confirm the Hermano Chavez vs Atlatnis/Star tag title match is on.

CMLL (TUE) 09/17/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico vs Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
2) KeMalito, Micro Sagrado, Tengu vs Átomo, Chamuel, Periquito Sacaryas
3) Dark Magic, El Elemental, Yutani vs Arlequín, Leo, Omar Brunetti
4) La Catalina, Lluvia, Náutica vs Hera, Olympia, Valkiria
5) Fantástico, Fugaz, Star Black vs Espíritu Negro, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.
6) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Titán vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Nothing extraordinary beyond Elemental and Yutani’s monthly appearance.

The Queretaro foursome of Halcon Negro Jr, Angel Rebelde, Optimo and Trono are quietely split up. Optimo and Trono are going as Los Colosos del Ring.

CMLL AMX matches airing last night (taped 09/01)

• Arkalis, Astral, Valiente Jr. vs Alom, Grako, Hunter
• Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
• Máscara Dorada, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

La Catalina 

La Catalina was on the CMLL podcast. There’s typically a match announcement alongside these; Alexis Salazar told La Catalina she was in this year’s Gran Prix. Most of the podcast was on Catalina’s journey to CMLL, some stories she’s told in other outlets, all presented together here. Catalina adorded Barbie growing up, played some Barbie game a lot, it stopped working, and so she decided she’d play with her father’s Playstation 2 and try out the Smackdown vs Raw 2 game he had. She loaded up the character screen, saw a girl who was blond like Barbie and wore pink like Barbie (Trish Stratus), and then saw highlights of her slapping people around, and decided that’s what she wanted to do with her life. Catalina got into wrestling barely a teenager, and says it wasn’t a good scene at that time – barely any women, those who were there were mostly just valets, and the crowds were rough. (Catalina cites Alison Evans as one Chilean woman who was doing wrestling the way she wanted it to be; Evans did a tour of Mexico in 2011-12.) Her original trainer was a good wrestler who was terrible at teaching, and mostly just took her money. Catalina did enough to get on WWE’s radar when they were scouting through Latin America, and got invited to that 2017 tryout. She figured she was going up against some tough competition and needed to train hard for it, but her original trainer blew her off, telling Catalina would have no chance against the models they’d bring in. She ditched him, found other trainers, who really helped her. Catalina’s parents had always showed her the good parts of the world, and she learned about the bad parts of it through those wrestling experiences. Catalina was also going to university during this time, and her finals happened to fall on the same day as her finals. She talked to her teachers about cramming them in, barely slept that week, and did well at both school and the tryout. She nd did well enough at the tryout that William Regal told her they’d be signing her, even though she wasn’t quite 18. She signed when she was 18, and believes she’s the youngest signing in WWE history. Catalina says she’s tried to help the Chilean scene from afar and it’s better than when she was there. Her father got into wrestling to support her and stayed helped some of the Chilean promotions. It hasn’t always worked out – he brought them lights and audio equipment and it all got stolen. The wrestlers in the promotion were crushed, so Catalina returned to Chile, catered a show with seafood for all of them, then ran a training seminar and donated the proceeds back to the promotion. She talks with some of the trainers there now, passing along stuff she’s learned to help them, and she flet really great about a recent tournament for a national women’s title that had 15 women participating; that was unthinkable when she was there.

Getting a WWE deal was the dream, but it quickly turned bad. They had her spend the first month adapting to the US, but were frustrated with her by month two. She was in training class with a Mexican and two Brazilians, all of them kind of knew English but weren’t doing the drills right because they didn’t totally understand what the teachers were telling them. Catalina remembers getting called in on the weekend, which was very unusual, and told by Matt Bloom that her career was changing quick – she was going up to the main roster to accompany Sin Cara. Catalina felt she was unprepared; they had her practice with Zelina Vega a bunch before she wrestled, but she didn’t really know how to work towards the cameras, had little promo experience, and had no practice doing a live promo before they threw her out there. She had no real idea what she was supposed to say, just going with the idea it was supposed to be a more Mexican character. Catalina credits her great friend Raul Mendoza/Cruz del Toro for supporting her, calling her to calm her down and building her confidence before that match.

The biggest issue for Catalina was her weight. She came to WWE as a thin girl, and then started gaining weight on her lower half. She thought she looked physically awful in that TV debut, and she got lambasted by her fellow Chileans on social media for her physique. Part of the issue was she was signed when she was 18, and her body was still maturing. Part of it was she’s latina, and so she’s going to have a bigger butt and not be shaped like people in the US. Still, Catalina was dieting hard to try look better. Too hard – she believes the worst thing she did to herself was going on a diet of only lettuce and water, with absolutely no sugar. She was really struggling mentally at that point, while also trying to keep it quiet from her parents so they wouldn’t worry about their young adult daughter who was living on another continent. Catalina realizes now that if she had talked to her mother, it might have helped her figure out things. Catalina probably also would’ve realized issues quicker if she went to a doctor – but because health insurance is so expensive in the US, she kept avoiding and putting it off for a long time. She finally saw a gynecologist named Tara, and she the actual issue – Catalina had undiagnosed polycystic cists, and those had changed her body. Getting those addressed helped – though obviously it’s an issue she’s still dealing with this year, needing surgery after FantasticaMania Mexico.

Catalina did better physically after getting her issues diagnosed, but seems to have had lots of mental damage from the ordeal. It got worse during COVID lockdowns. She says she never wanted to go out, and her life was just going to three places: the WWE PC, the supermarket, and the doctor’s office. She had no motivation and felt totally isolated. She wanted to quit, but felt she couldn’t quit. She made some progress, got some matches on WWE, but was not into it. She cried when WWE told her she was fired, but they were tears of happiness that it was over. Catalina remembers it as happening the day after a month of taping, one her father had come to support her at. Catalina called him and told him the news when he was at a stop over in Texas on the way back to Chile and seemingly hoping he’d turn around and take her home right then. He said he could not return for a month, and she’d have to wait. Catalina immediately started selling everything in her apartment. The way she describes it, she was having a mental health crisis and expressing it by trying to get rid of everything from the US. Within two weeks, she had sold everything but her bathroom supplies and her cat, was sleeping on her floor, and was not doing well. Some Chilean friends found her, and took her in and took care of her last days in the US.

Catalina was done with wrestling when she returned to Chile. She saved up a money from her WWE time to pay for the rest of her university, so she was planning to get her degree and become a licensed physical trainer. Her father wouldn’t let Catalina give up on her dream, found out a promotion called Big Lucha had a couple of Chilean wrestlers, and encouraged her to give it a try. She went for three months, training quietely but not putting it out there on social media. Big Lucha invited her to wrestle, and she didn’t really feel it in the first match. Two things turned it around for her. One was making a couple of friends – Carito and another gay friend, she laughed about how they happened to be gay – who took her out sighting seeing and living life again. The other was wresting a second show for Big Lucha in Ecatepec,  where fans threw in a Dr. Simi doll (as they had done to popular concert artists) and supported her a lot – she realized these people really liked her, and this was what she wanted wrestling to be.

Three months turned into six months because Catalina was enjoying it a lot, but she had to go back to Chile. (She was probably on a six month visa.) Catalina says thet before she left, she talked to “another promotion” about coming in and may have visited their offices. She returned to Chile, told her family she wasn’t going ot be staying and was going back to live in Mexico, but had a change of mind of what she wanted to do. She didn’t want to be a “clown”, she didn’t want to do someone else’s role, she wanted to be a “respected professional wrestler” and decided to instead knock on CMLL’s door. CMLL already knew about her – she had quitely participated in an Ultimo Guerrero training class – and welcomed her to join. Catalina decided to ditch the mask – it was a Mexican thing and she wasn’t Chilean, it was from a bad period, she wanted to be herself, and she figured she’d get attention if she unmasked in her debut.

The podcast interviews goes a lot into her big wins in her year and a half in CMLL from there. She trained with Ultimo Guerrero and Virus, and now with notoriously strict Tony Salazar. They talk about Stephanie Vaquer and show highlights of her but don’t mention her name in talking about Vaquer & Catalina battling for the vacant title at last year’s Night of Champions. Catalina says they were great friends and expected Vaquer to get to the final but was surprised so many people were behind her despite being so new. Catalina says she knew Mexican wrestling just from what she had seen on TV, but didn’t really know Irma Gonzalez when the Copa Irma was announced, so she studied up a lot on her. Catalina cried in the ring after winning the Universal tournament later that year, says the photo taken of her “celebrating” was the most horrible picture of her ever, but she is really proud of the winning the match and having that belt. She’d like to keep having it after this year’s match. Catalina has always called herself La Diva del Ring but she wants to seen as a princess – she wants a sort of classy image. She mentions once wrestling in Coacalco, her butt was hanging out of her gear and she got all sorts of rude comments and decided that’s not the kind of wrestler she wants to be. Catalina wants to be the kind of luchadora that’s an aspirational figure and a role model to little girls, like Trish Stratus was to her. (They did meet when she was in WWE, and she also credits Rikishi for inspiring her running butt smash spot.) She plans on being in CMLL for a long time to come, and she wants to represent the company around the world – she wants to be the face of the CMLL women’s division.

Who Books CMLL?

I’ve written a lot about my confusion around CMLL current booking structure during the promotion’s improvement over the last couple of years. CMLL has billed Panico as the head of CMLL’s Programming Department continuously, while at the same time obvious changes have been made to the way CMLL programs their promotions. There are big picture changes, there are small touches that pre-COVID programming department would not have thought about, and there are changes in how the stories are told. “Panico” is the name I give to others when they ask who to vote for booker of the year, but that’s for the lack of a better understanding.

Rob brought up this issue on Twitter, speculating that I and he should do  podcast figuring out the history of the department while noting we should probably also ask SuperLuchas’ Ernesto Ocampo. Ocampo and co-host Milton Eloir did one better, just doing the podcast themselves to talk about the history of the EMLL/CMLL programming department. It’s a half hour, there’s a lot of history in there and some related stories. They get to the current booking situation at the end, and that’s the part I want to get here. It’s a touch complicated:

• Panico doesn’t have anything to do with CMLL’s programming nowadays. It’s possible CMLL has a piece of paper saying Panico is the head of the Programming Department, but it’s not his actual job. He may be an advisor to the current team, but he’s not really that involved and he’s almost retired completely.
• Jose Luis Feliciano runs the Programming Department, with referees Edgar Noriega and Terror Chino working for him.
• Julio Cesar Rivera is a creative advisor to the programming department in addition to his role of CMLL Media Director. Ocampo believes Julio Cesar Rivera is the one who’s probably coming with most of the fresh ideas, and is the person who should be credited with booking the promotion in the way US fans thinks about that role.

This all seems plausible. It triggered a memory of a conversation I had with Dr. Lucha Steve Sims – an old one, given how long ago he’s moved on from lucha libre – where he mentioned Panico was considering moving on from the programming department to another (less stressful) job. Sims believed it would be related to managing the Arena Mexico concessions. Ocampo mentions retired luchador Skandalo – Panico’s son – who is running CMLL concessions now. Panico took over the merchandise department when CMLL decided to do that in-house. Ocampo mentions Panico is rarely at Arena Mexico due to issues with a hip injury from his years of wrestling and may retire soon.

CMLL’s used Jose Luis Feliciano as the face of the programming department when they’ve had wrestlers sign contracts for mask versus mask matches the last few years. That changed with this year’s Aniversario, where Salvador Lutteroth III appeared on Informa to preside over the contract signings. That’s the other part of it that doesn’t come up in the podcast; everything creative in CMLL runs through Julio Cesar Rivera’s CMLL Informa. He either knows all the creative plans, or he’s the one making most of the plans, and Ernesto Ocampo believes it’s the latter. Ocampo notes that the changes in CMLL’s creative style include a greater appreciation of CMLL’s history and a better awareness of international wrestling than the previous crew showed. Both traits fit Cesar Rivera, who wrote and edited lucha libre magazines before coming aboard to CMLL. Ocampo also reveals Cesar Rivera booked for the 90s Promo Azteca promotion for a time.

The roles in the creative field are in some ways flipped in CMLL from what might be done elsewhere. In the old WWE structure (and probably in AAA to this day), the primary department would be a creative team, and those people make the TV decisions. There would also be a lesser member of that team, or even someone in a different department, who would figure out the house show lineups based on those creative plans. CMLL’s programming department’s primary role is figuring out those event lineups – their work is more on crewing people for shows, both inside and outside of CMLL. The creative comes from elsewhere, including sometimes from the wrestlers shooting angles on their own in hopes the programming department will run with it. It’s how Jose Luis Feliciano can be the head of the programming department but not necessarily the creative lead. Ocampo is deeply skeptical of the Panico-led era of the programming department, noting how often they’d just repeat ideas from the past and how the wrestlers or other outsiders would actually come up with the big ideas. (He points to the Sagrado/Mistico characters as an example of a repeat and how it was Babe Richard who pushed for Astro Boy to get the Mistico spot as an idea coming from elsewhere.)

Ernesto Ocampo states Julio Cesar Rivera should be the CMLL name included in the Wrestling Observer Booker of the Year voting if a CMLL name is going to be included. He is careful to say he believes Cesar Rivera is the effective CMLL booker in the way sheet readers think of bookers based on the overwhelming evidence, not that he knows it for an absolute fact. It sounds good to me, though I also wouldn’t be surprised if there were some pushback on this idea during next week’s CMLL Informa.

In a side note, Erneseto Ocampo explains why there was no Villano V tribute moment last week: he sued CMLL after leaving the promotion, seemingly related to a labor issue. Ocampo says Villano V was on the “he’s not allowed in Arena Mexico” list before his death, and that’s why he wasn’t honored.

AAA

AAA airings:

• Unimas: Part 2 of TripleMania Mexico City
• Space: likely Part 1 of the August Showcenter (new)
• YouTube: the missing matches from Verano de Escandalo

Dark Scoria is out of AAA. He explained the situation on Estrellas del Ring “Hablamos de Lucha” video podcast on Wednesday night. Scoria (who’s name has also always interchangably been spelled Escoria) says he didn’t like with the idea of splitting up La Secta, wasn’t happy with what AAA was doing with him after the split, and actually finished up back in Aguascalientes. Mesias said the mystery person he’s teaming with in Monterrey on 09/29 would be his new apostol, and I didn’t realize that meant someone was out of the group. Scoria says Dark Espiritu is semi-retired and Mesias is in and out of Mexico, so putting Scoria in a group with them was bad news for him. Scoria felt the idea of him, Cuervo and Ozz back together was getting over and didn’t like the idea of a split at all (and seems to credit both Latin and Konnan was the idea.) Scoria says he left in 2018 on bad terms and it was more peaceful this time. Scoria has built up his professional life outside of wrestling in the interveining years, so he doens’t need wrestling as much. AAA wished him well, and he was not under any contract.

Sexy Star may also be out of AAA. She posts a wrestling-typical vague post about the end of the chapter and knowing when to move on when you’re not unhappy, which always sounds like quitting a company. It especially sounds like quitting AAA after she was posted negatively about Latin Lover’s comments last week – but those are relationship words, and she could’ve also just been breaking up with someone for how unspecific it was. Sexy Star was reposting news reports on her stories that are saying this is her leaving AAA  – luchadors repost just about anything, but maybe she wouldn’t be reposting those if there weren’t anything to them. She flipped her account to private during the day as this story caught attention. You can still see her bio, and she seems to have removed AAA from there.

Meanwhile, Latin Lover is running Facebook angles where he will team up with Cibernetico to lead AAA against the eye guys.

Hijo del Vikingo teams with Soma Watanabe against Richochet and CIMA on GLEAT’s show on 10/06 in Oaxaca. It struck me how this is a main event big dream match, while Vikingo’s return seems to be in semi-mains or lower in Mexico starting next week. I’m not sure either side is doing it wrong for their business – if anything, the Mexican promotions seem to be running a more sensible businesses than GLEAT – but it does illustrate the difference betwen how Vikingo is percieved by promoters in Mexico and outside. Vikingo in Mexico is booked as a really good highflyer, but a star only a smidge bigger than the Octagon Jr.’s of the wrestlers – not as a former or current top guy. Elsehwere, he’s a unique once-in-the-lifetime amazing flyer who is a draw upon himself. I chart some of that onto how AAA’s booked him – him getting shrugged off by Alberto, or even going back to when he sat there while the Young Bucks goofed on him while pinning him for a long three count – but also a stronger bias among AAA fans that a wrestler has to be a true heavyweight (or an ex-WWE champion) to be a top guy, and Vikingo just not being big enough for them. CMLL fans don’t have an issue with Mascara Dorada in the same way, but then CMLL has never given Dorada a “heavyweight” title and that’s the crux of the issue.

El Planchitas has returned to Record in what seems like a regular column. His first edition is hinting around at the possiblity of AAA and WWE working together. There doesn’t appear to be any new information, it’s the same speculation I and others have had for months, though he stretche to present things like JBL and the ex-WWE interviewer showing up as proof they’re working together. WWE is working with TNA and NOAH, and so actual WWE (or NXT) wrestlers appear on those shows. It won’t be any secret when AAA itself if/when works with WWE, everyone would see the WWE people on the shows. There are no AAA people on the shows, just people who don’t work there any more. AAA’s clearly interesting in doing some deal and it hasn’t happened yet. One big difference between how people are percieved in Mexico and elsewhere is Planchitas sees Alberto del Patron as champion as a positive for a WWE relationship, while US sources have repeatedly reported how much WWE never wants to work with Alberto ever again.

Vampiro is doing a one-man show in Tijuana on 10/31 and Mexcali on 11/02, with the idea of touring through Mexico if successful. It’s being produced by comedian Franco Escamilla, who does a lot of touring shows himself. (You may remember Escamilla as the narrator of the Marvel Lucha Libre series on Disney.)

Slam Wrestling has an interview with Laredo Kid, from his media tour of San Antonio this week. TNA has a show tonight, sent Laredo around because he speaks Spanish but has not actually put him on this show so he had no match to promote.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 09/12/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Águila Roja b Puma de Oro
2) Hijo del Fishman b Tornado
3) Vangellys b Multifacetico Jr.
4) Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Aquiles
5) Hellboy & Hijo de Canis Lupus b Noisy Boy & Spider Fly
Spider Fly and Noisy Boy had issues, with Spider Fly saying it was only pay back for Noisy Boy costing him a previous match (which Noisy Boy still insists was someone else pretending to be Noisy Boy.)

Other Notes

Big Lucha says they’re no longer running an 09/14 show at the racetrack due to issues with the organizers. That seems like something that should’ve been figured out more than two days before.

The viral bit Facebook drama of the day is two old friends no longer being friends. Reina Dorada posted a supportive message about her trainer Mascara 2000, who has a hair match with El Oriental on Tuesday. Reina Dorada called him a good person. Stephanie Vaquer popped in the comments to question her calling someone who’s supported the lies of “a delinquent” (Cuatrero) a good person. Reina Dorada seems to have hidden that comment, though not from a billion screenshots. Before Stephanie Vaquer was a WWE signing, before she was even in CMLL, Reina Dorada and Stephanie Vaquer were an indie tag team act. (They were one specifically trying to play to male fans with kissing spots and offering a raffle for a date with the both of them; it’s an era wiped from history as Vaquer has changed her in-ring persona.) Vaquero & Dorada was still close last I knew – they posted a photo together when Dorada came to AEW – but Vaquer has drawn lines between people who support her and people who support the Reyes/Dinamita family, and Dorada posted her way to other side of that line.

Record had a story that Stephanie Vaquer would be coming to the US this week. They’ve been pretty plugged with Vaquer since the case with Cuatrero started, but I’m not sure that’s true since Vaquer was training at Arean Big Lucha on Thursday. The other thing that sticks out from that picture is the large black curtains. WWE uses similar curtains in their Performance Center when they’re preparing a special match and don’t want it to leak out to other wrestlers. Vaquer can’t wrestle in WWE, probably can’t even work out with other wrestlers in their PC until her work visa gets approved. I don’t know the Big Lucha gym set up well enough to know if that’s a usual thing, but that could be a convivent way to get Vaquer some practice time with whomever she’s working with in WWE whever that visa does get approved.

Estrellas del Ring has an interview with Wild Ram.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 09/09/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, El Sol del Puebla, Elineanoticas, Porra Fresa]
1) Prayer & Sombra Diabólika b Asturiano & Blue Shark
2) Inquisidor b Astro [lightning]
3) Espíritu Negro, Pelon Encapuchado, Stigma b Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
4) Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard © b Persephone & Zeuxis [CMLL WOMEN TAG] 
first defense
5) Atlantis, Flip Gordon, Volador Jr. DQ Ángel de Oro, Averno, Niebla Roja 
Averno unmasked Atlantis for the DQ.
6) Euforia, Soberano Jr., Valiente b Esfinge, Hechicero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles] 
Valiente pinned Hechicero after a mask pull (and after a series of fouls)

CMLL Twitter’s new favorite bit is to do a blur effect on the video when someone gets unmasked to obscure their face. I wonder if Averno can get a good singles match out of 2024 Atlantis.

CMLL (TUE) 09/10/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores (videos), thecubsfan]
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito b Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico  
8:59
2) Astral, El Audaz, Valiente Jr. b Capitán Suicida, Diamond, Eléctrico   
17:36
3) Metálica, Reyna Isis, Sanely b Hera, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi [Relevos Increíbles]   
12:29.
4) Magia Blanca b Difunto [lightning]   
8:28
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr. b Atlantis, Blue Panther, Flip Gordon  
14:21
6) Atlantis Jr., Neón, Star Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.   
11:43. Star Jr. and Atlantis Jr. demanded a tag title match and got unmasked.

Match two was the lightweight sort of trying to have a go-go-go match and then seeing why some of them are stuck in second-match purgatory. Capitan Suicida probably takes risks that he should not be he’s still good and a cut ahead of the other five. Diamond had a Diamond moment. Magia Blanca slipped badly on a springboard; otherwise, the lightning match was good. The crowd got into the last couple of matches. I forgot that it was Mascara Dorada, not Atlantis Jr., as a world trios champion, so I missed that they were setting up a tag title match there.

CMLL (TUE) 09/10/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Fuego en el RIng, Mas Lucha]
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Cosmos, Último Ángel b Quka, Sangre Azul, Shezmu
Shezmu replaced Funebre (though CMLL still lists Funebre)
2) Draego, Makara, Persa b Cris Skin, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
4) Lluvia, Tabata, Tessa Blanchard b Olympia, Valkiria, Zeuxis
4) Barboza & Zandokan Jr. b Optimus & Trono
Trono was streteched out after a dive
5) Esfinge, Máscara Dorada, Místico, Star Black, Templario b Averno, Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Valiente [cibernetico]
Mistico defeated Averno for the win.

CMLL again didn’t tweet out video highlights of this show, which they usually do right off the unlisted CMLL stream. They must not even be streaming it at this point, just only putting it up as (copyright-safe) VOD later on. Arena Coliseo Guadalajara could simply stop doing the things that are causing issues, but the live experience matters more to them than the free stream on YouTube.

I’ve been wondering if Mistico might pop up in AEW tonight, but I haven’t heard any indication of it happening.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will host “Al Ring por Ellas y Ellos” on 09/29, a charity show they annually run 09/29. They’ve streamed that on their own YouTube channel in the past, but that’s gone. They did sneak a sponsored show up on the sponsor’s Facebook page this past year, but I wouldn’t count on seeing it again.

CMLL (SAT) 09/14/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Sangre Imperial vs Grako [lightning]
2) Leono, Retro, Robin vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) La Catalina & Tabata vs Amapola & Olympia
4) Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Dark Panther, Fugaz, Star Black vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. vs Flip Gordon, Rocky Romero, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

Aniversario and the day are a distance apart. Congrats to Rocky for picking up an extra match on his trip. I was going to say that Orange and Jericho have to get back to the US for Collision, but Collision is taped on Thursday this week.

CMLL (MON) 09/16/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito & Fantasy vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Legendario vs Alom, Hunter, Infarto
3) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
4) Magnus, Rugido, Vegas vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Difunto, Terrible
5) Hechicero vs Esfinge, Euforia, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Místico © vs Máscara Dorada [MLW MIDDLE]

This Sunday show is moving to Monday due to the holiday. CMLL tends to stream major holiday shows, but they’ll unlikely announce it ahead of time. (Matches from the show will air on 09/27 otherwise.)

CMLL (MON) 09/16/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Astoreth & Lady Metal vs Enigmática & Lady Amazona
2) Arkalis, Rayo Metálico, Xelhua vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) La Catalina vs Reyna Isis [lightning]
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero vs Averno, Hijo de Octagón, Octagón [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Rocky Romero, Templario, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

This is the regular Puebla show, though at the earlier holiday time of 5 pm.

Match five is a 2v2 match, but CMLL will wait for the outcome of the Aniversario match to set teams—it’ll probably be the final two against the two who got eliminated first, and they’re not telling you (or these guys) which is which right now.

CMLL is offering 50 tickets for a meet-and-greet with Chris Jericho and Mistico at 2,500 pesos (about 125 USD) per person. That seems like the most expensive meet-and-greet in Mexican wrestling history, but I really don’t know that area well. CMLL indicated they were almost sold out of tickets by Tuesday afternoon.

Box y Lucha 3260 has the Aniversario top matches.

Octagon says he’s a Shokotkan karate black belt, second dan. I have no understanding of karate; I don’t know if that’s believable or an old wrestler’s tale.

AAA

The viral moment of the week is a slap. Monday, La Hiedra posted a TikTok video of a fan walking to the ring and slapping Hiedra’s backside as she stood on the apron. Hiedra retaliated by kicking at the fan, then dropping off the apron to slap the fan, and eventually got into a short fight with a woman the attacker was with. The rest of Las Toxicas de-escalated the situation. Hiedra explained she posted the clip because someone else had posted a video of the fight between the women, and she wanted to show what had led up to that.

That clip has gone viral because it’s pretty easy to trash the fan, and the fan should be trashed for their actions. I can’t figure out what match the clip is from – reports say it was a match in the US, I can’t find that match, but lucha libre posters for the US are harder to find than the Mexico ones. Las Toxicas are wearing their new gear from TripleMania Tijuana, so it must have been in the last few months.

Other Notes

Kuniaki Kobayashi (68) passed away Monday after a battle with cancer. He would’ve been 24 when he landed in Mexico, and he wrestled in both UWA and EMLL rings from 1980 to 1982. His wins include a triple hair match victory alongside Gran Hamada and Enrique Vera over Los Misionarios del Muerte in 1982, though the Misionarios won a rematch (with Kobayashi now teaming with George Takano and Hiro Saito.) The UWA pushed him as a near-top guy and a small show headliner; he had matches with Canek, Perro Aguayo and Villano III. Dr. Lucha’s column this week talks about meeting Kobayashi in 1981 and the freedom he felt living in Mexico after enduring the rigorous NJPW training.

The Villano V memorial mass took place Monday. Rokambole Jr. talked about his father’s final days with Estadio Deportes. He says Villano V’s health started to decline after his wife’s death, but he also had longer-term illnesses that he didn’t treat or didn’t follow the doctor’s instructions. Villano V suffered from Parkinson’s – his left hand shook a lot – and he believes it started after the Blue Panther match. (One of the moments of that match is Villano V hitting his head on a tope.) Villano V also had diabetes, though he didn’t tell his family. Rokambole Jr. had been living with his father for the last few months – they were both already living alone, and Rokambole suggested they live together in an apartment near the same building where Villano V Jr. lives. Rokambole Jr. remembers his father wore a distinctive cologne, so much so that they could smell him coming before seeing him, and that smell is part of his memories now.

Rey Mysterio Jr. was Latin Lover’s guest on his podcast this week, The much discussed bit from the match was Mysterio talking about the death of Perro Aguayo Jr. Mysterio said he was more depressed about having to tell Aguayo’s family what happened than about being accused as the one who caused it. Mysterio also says he was always planning on going back to WWE and believes he would’ve taken Aguayo with him. It’s a nice thought, though there was little chance WWE would have the vision to sign Perro Aguayo Jr. for a deal that would be worth his while, it was a few years between Aguayo’s death and Mysterio returning to WWE. If I had to guess, I figure Aguayo would’ve first followed Mysterio to Lucha Underground and then got caught in their one-sided contracts for many years.

Mr. Aguila responded to this Latin Lover podcast on Twitter, saying that neither Latin Lover nor Rey Mysterio Jr. knew what Perro Aguayo Jr. was going through before his death, and only his best friends knew the truth of what happened. There have been theories that Aguayo was aware of pre-existing health issues that factored in his in-ring death, but no one’s ever come forward to confirm them. Mr. Aguayo is also notoriously a weird Facebook guy, sometimes lovably so, and could just be saying stuff. He’s been posting videos about how Latin Lover doesn’t understand real hard work for the day or so after.

Promotion Legend (obviously) runs a lot of legend shows and the occasional fan fest. Those convention occasions haven’t ever really taken hold in Mexico as in the US. I think that’s why older wrestlers still keep taking wrestling bookings; there’s not enough of an autograph circuit to make money only that way. Legend seems to do these annually, and they’ll have one billed as a UWA reunion on the afternoon of 09/14, the day after the Aniversario. Canek, Dos Caras, el Halcon, Irma Agular, Super Pinocho, Rmabo, Sismo, and Mano Negra are billed as appearing.

Hidalgo University’s UAHG Gazette September issue is all about lucha libre. The big piece is a solid history of Mexican wrestling. There are also stories about the rise/fall of lucha libre films, the history of lucha libre posters (and the special font those posters used), bisexual luchador Medusa, mask maker/luchadora Casandra, and the lack of luchadors labor’s rights.

ELITE said they drew “nearly 1,000 people” to their shows over the weekend, though it’s unclear if they mean the total over the two shows or each. (500 each night seems more likely.)

An interview with Sangre Azteca & Huitzil.

El Sol de San Luis has an interview with Trebol Negro Jr.

CMLL’s Aniversario takes place Friday. Some of you may be subscribing to the CMLL YouTube channel, and want to catch up on matches leading to the big show. Others may have drifted in and out and needed a refresher on the deal with the announced lineup. The good news is there really isn’t much you have to watch to get caught up. Only two of the seven were built on matches that happened. The rest are just CMLL putting some names together by fiat or running angles that didn’t involve a match. There’s not a lot of essential viewing, as common with a CMLL big show.

As requested by a reader, I’ve thrown together a list of the few essential matches worth watching. Also, so this post wouldn’t just be five matches long, I threw in a bunch of matches if you want to get a sense of what the other wrestlers have been up to lately. This is absolutely not a list of Every Good Match in CMLL; there’s been stuff like the Gran Prix and the Depredador cibernetico that are good which just didn’t fit.

I’ve broken it down match by match on the Aniversario. If you just have time for one show, the 07/26 CMLL card has the main feud and many of the other major players. I might argue that other shows are better, but that’ll cover enough of what you need to cover.

Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido

Required Viewing

• nothing! This is a match announced with no build. Both teams are regular units, but there’s no feud here – CMLL just thinks this will be a good match.

Related viewing

• 07/08 Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star match with Los Indestructibles: this is where the tecnicos unexpectedly become a set unit
• 07/26 Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr, Max Star vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido: same two teams, good match

Neón, Star Jr., Templario vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.

Required Viewing

• nothing! This is a “get everyone on the show” match.

Related Viewing

• 05/31 Star Jr. vs Angel de Oro in the Copa VIP final: It’s fine.
• 07/26 Star Jr. vs Angel de Oro in the Leyenda de Plata final: yes, again. It’s fine.
• 08/02 MJF vs Tempalrio: it’s probably good but CMLL working as AEW lucha libre fantasy camp leaves a certain taste in my mouth
• 08/23: Angel de Oro, Barbaro Cavernario, Soberano Jr. vs Atlantis., Blue Panther, Octagon Jr.: a great performance in getting a lot of the vets, maybe have gotten a couple of people their spots in this match
• 08/27 Angel de Oro vs Atlantis Jr.: shockingly good for a Tuesday, brace for an angle at the end

Máscara Dorada vs Titán in the Copa Independencia final

Required Viewing

• 08/30: Copa Independencia cibernetico A
• 09/06: Copa Independencia cibernetico B

Related Viewing

• 09/29/2023 Mascara Dorada vs Titan – last year’s MOTY is the reason they’re running this back
• 07/26 PAC, King, Lucha Brother vs Mascara Dorada, Volador Jr., Mistico: weird at the time, weirder now as the apparent AEW swanswong
• 08/02 PAC & Rocky Romero vs Mascara Dorada & Volador Jr.: like this one better

Willow Nightingale © vs Zeuxis for the CMLL Women’s Championship

Required Viewing

• Nothing! CMLL just announced the match (and also asked AEW not to change the title on their PPV)

Related Viewing

• 03/29 Willow Nightingale, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard vs Zeuxis, Stephanie Vaquer, Lluvia
• 06/12 (AEW): Zeuxis vs Mercedes Moné
• 07/13 (NJPW): Willow Nightingale vs Lluvia vs Viva Van for the (vacant) CMLL Women’s Championship

Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Kojima, Orange Cassidy, Rocky Romero

Required Viewing

• Nothing. The idea is this is a cross-promotional match with people you’d never expect to see.

Related Viewing

• 05/28 Kojima & Okumura vs Magnus & Rugido for the MLW Tag Team Championships: one of Kojima’s better appearances in Mexico
• 06/28 Atlantis Jr. versus Kyle Fletcher for the Ring of Honor Television Championship: a technically good match that left me a little cold
• 07/26 Ultimo Guerrero & Rocky Romero vs Templario & Titan: very good, blow off to a short Templario/UG feud
• Volador Jr. is in a lot of the matches listed elsewhere

Hechicero vs Esfinge vs Valiente vs Euforia [mask]

Required viewing

• 07/26 Euforia & Esfinge vs Hechicero & Valiente: watch the post match too
• 08/26 Esfinge vs Valiente vs Euforia [DailyMotion]
• 09/02 Esfinge vs Valiente vs Euforia vs Hechicero [Daily Motion] – you don’t absolutely have to see both of these. Note that Friday’s match has slightly different rules.

Related viewing:

• Every Friday match they’ve done against each other in the last 100 days is one option, though this definitely is overkill.
  • 06/14: start
  • 06/28
  • 07/12: Valiente gets involved
  • 07/19: Hechicero got involved on other shows but now is firmly in it
  • 07/26: mentioned above
  • 08/02: OK Valiente/Esfinge title match, better Hechicero/Euforia trios match
  • 08/16: Valiente/Esfinge trios
  • 08/30: Esfinge/Euforia trios
• 08/06: Valiente vs Neno: Valiente’s best match in this span
• 08/03: Valiente vs Hechicero: a lightning match
• 08/17: Esfinge vs Euforia: a lightning match

Chris Jericho versus Mistico

Required viewing

• 06/28: Chris Jericho surprise attacks Mistico

Related viewing

• Both Jericho and Mistico appeared on CMLL Informa to hype this, but you don’t have to watch it
• Fun Mistico matches appear in previous match previews.