Hechicero unmasks Euforia, Jericho/Mistico, El Hijo del Santo sets his retirement date

Aniversario

CMLL (FRI) 09/13/2024 Arena México [CMLL, El GraficoEl UniversalExcelsiorGamavisionKaiser SportsMilenioPost WrestlngRecordTelediaroThe GladiatoresThe Gladiatores (videos), thecubsfan, Voices of Wrestling]
***CMLL 91st Aniversario***
1) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido  (posted by mluchatv) 91 Aniversario CMLL: Hombre Bala Jr, Max Star y Futuro derrotan a Magia Blanca, Rugido y Magnus (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) CMLL - MAGNUS - RUGIDO - MAGIA BLANCA VS MAX STAR - HOMBRE BALA JR. - FUTURO/ARENA MÉXICO/13-09-24 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL PRESENTA TOTALMENTE EN VIVO FUNCION DE 91 ANIVERSARIO VIERNES 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
8:37
2) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. b Neón, Star Jr., Templario  (posted by mluchatv) 91 Aniversario CMLL: Soberano Jr, Ángel de Oro y Niebla Roja vencen a Neón, Star Jr y Templario (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) CMLL - SOBERANO JR.- ÁNGEL DE ORO - NIEBLA ROJA VS NEÓN - STAR JR. - TEMPLARIO/ARENA MÉXICO/13-09-24 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL PRESENTA TOTALMENTE EN VIVO FUNCION DE 91 ANIVERSARIO VIERNES 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
17:11.
3) Titán b Máscara Dorada [Copa Independencia]  (posted by ) 91 Aniversario CMLL: ¡La Copa Independencia es del Inmortal! Titán logra rendir a Máscara Dorada (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) 91 Aniversario CMLL: Titán recibe la Copa Independencia de M. Lutteroth, Fantasma y JL Feliciano (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) CMLL | Titán gana la Copa Independencia 2024 tras derrotar a Máscara Dorada (posted by mluchatv) CMLL PRESENTA TOTALMENTE EN VIVO FUNCION DE 91 ANIVERSARIO VIERNES 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
14:40.
4) Zeuxis b Willow Nightingale © [CMLL WOMEN91 Aniversario CMLL: Zeuxis y un poderoso suplex dan cuenta de la importada Willow Nightingale (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) CMLL PRESENTA TOTALMENTE EN VIVO FUNCION DE 91 ANIVERSARIO VIERNES 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
11:07. Willow falls on first defense. Zeuxis becomes 23rd champion.
5) Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. b Kojima, Orange Cassidy, Rocky Romero 91 Aniversario CMLL: Ú.Guerrero, Volador Jr y Atlantis Jr vencen a Kojima, Orange Cassidy y R.Romero (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) CMLL PRESENTA TOTALMENTE EN VIVO FUNCION DE 91 ANIVERSARIO VIERNES 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
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 HechiceroEsfingeValiente [mask91 Aniversario CMLL: Euforia reconoce la derrota y a su rival Hechicero (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) CMLL PRESENTA TOTALMENTE EN VIVO FUNCION DE 91 ANIVERSARIO VIERNES 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
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 91 Aniversario CMLL: Místico derrota a Chris Jericho en el mano a mano del CMLL y AEW (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) CMLL PRESENTA TOTALMENTE EN VIVO FUNCION DE 91 ANIVERSARIO VIERNES 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
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: RecordExcelsiorMilenioEl UniversalEl GraficoTelediario, 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 [lightningCMLL - ARENA COLISEO 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
8:13
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Leono, Retro, Robin CMLL - ARENA COLISEO 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
15:20
3) La Catalina & Tabata b Amapola & Olympia CMLL - ARENA COLISEO 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
15:11
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero CMLL - ARENA COLISEO 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
13:06
5) Dark Panther, Fugaz, Star Black b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo CMLL - ARENA COLISEO 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
12:38
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. b Flip Gordon, Rocky Romero, Terrible [Relevos IncreíblesCMLL - ARENA COLISEO 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
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

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.
  • 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.