CMLL early week results, Vikingo

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 11/11/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Mano a Mano, Porra Fresa]
1) Grako & Rencor b Dragón de Fuego & Meyer
2) Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora b Galaxy & Shockercito
3) Pegasso, Rey Samuray, Valiente Jr. b Disturbio, El Elemental, Pólvora 
El Elemental left injured in the second fall with an abdomen injury
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Multy, Okumura b Rayo Metálico, Volcano, Xelhua
Maya beat Xelhua
5) Flip Gordon, Templario, Titán b Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. 
Flip pinned Villano III Jr. before their title match on Sunday
6) Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto 
straight falls, setting up a trios title match next week

So no Volador/Averno match here, and a trios title match instead. That’s a decent change of pace.

CMLL (TUE) 11/12/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito DQ Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Rostro De Acero   
9:50. Roster de Acero unmasked Galaxy. Challenges followed
2) El Audaz & Valiente Jr. b Alom & Infarto
2) Alom & Infarto b El Audaz & Valiente Jr.    
13:12
3) Capitán Suicida, Futuro, Max Star b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus  
16:56.
4) Arkalis, Stigma, Xelhua b Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Vegas   
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Vegas b Arkalis, Stigma, Xelhua    
12:21. Straight falls, the last when Xelhua had Maya submitting but the ref missed that and missed Maya fouling Xelhua. Stigma demanded a rematch. Vegas replaced Elemental (injury the night prior) a few hours prior to the show
5) Esfinge, Máscara Dorada, Star Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Valiente   
12:06
6) Volador Jr. b Averno   
14:08

Matches 3/5/6 were all Good. Xelhua should never beat Maya with that submission until it’s a big show. Hijo del Villano III did a crazy thing.

CMLL (TUE) 11/12/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Fuego en el RIng]
1) Eclipse Jr., Rav, Shezmu b Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy
2) Adira & Nexy b Hatana & Valkiria
3) Adrenalina, Fantástico, Yutani b Ángel Rebelde, Cris Skin, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Gallo, Ráfaga, Rafaga Jr. b Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther
5) La Catalina & Lluvia b Sanely & Zeuxis
6) Furia Roja, Gallero, Último Guerrero b Star Black, Templario, Titán

There is no obvious direction from these results, but that match 4 is a surprising upset.

CMLL (FRI) 11/15/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito
2) KeMonito vs KeMalito
3) La Catalina, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard vs Persephone, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
4) Flip Gordon vs Villano III Jr. [NWA MIDDLE, final]
vacant title
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Blue Panther vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
6) Místico, Neón, Templario vs Averno, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.

It’s a bit wild for KeMonito/KeMalito to be the big angle at the end of the show and then for it to end up second on the card – but, yea, it probably should be second on the card given the expected quality of the match. I think Flip’s winning the title but not sure. Most of the heavyweights will be busy with the Leyenda de Azul, so there may not be anything else set up for next week.

CMLL (SAT) 11/16/2024 Arena México
1) Astro Boy Jr. & Dragón de Fuego vs Enfermero Jr. & Grako
2) Eléctrico, Legendario, Robin vs Disturbio, Hunter, Nitro
3) India Sioux & Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola & Metálica
4) Explosivo, Fugaz, Star Black vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) Neón vs Magnus [lightning]
6) Blue Panther, Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible, Villano III Jr.

Neon/Magnus is a first-time match. Villano III Jr.’s presence in the main event may suggest something about Friday’s result, or it just may be a random CMLL booking. I’m not sure Akuma’s moved up by teaming with the Gemelos instead of Dark Magic and Espanto Jr. – that’s a sideways move.

CMLL (SUN) 11/17/2024 Arena México
1) Astral & Diamond vs Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Crixus, Kráneo, Sagrado
3) Princesa Sugehit vs Dark Silueta [lightning]
4) Brillante Jr., Fuego, Volcano vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Flip Gordon, Hijo de Octagón, Titán vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
6) Octagón, Templario, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Nothing going on here. I appreciate CMLL using the Octagon dates on the non-streaming shows as often as they do.

NJPW announced Hechicero versus Lio Rush for their 12/15 show. That’s a unique match, though I think Hechicero has more practice against people like Lio Rush (fast) than Lio Rush has with people like Hechicero (submission wizards.) It also seems like one where the outcome depends on whether either of those two is working the 01/05 Tokyo Dome show; both seem like possible inclusions but far from definite ones. I thought this would be another Mistico NJPW appearance, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. CMLL doesn’t seem to have mentioned this match yet.

Mistico will be on the 12/05 MLW show in New York City, defending the MLW World Middleweight Championship against Trevor Lee. It seems like MLW’s given away who’s winning by shooting an angle for Mistico/Cavernario in January, but I guess Carolina Caveman versus Guadalajara Caveman might be a thing. Atlantis has been added to the 01/11 show.

CMLL posted a statement Tuesday telling people not to believe official CMLL statements unless they’ve posted them on social media. Apparently, someone else posted a mock-up of a statement announcing CMLL was bringing back Rush and Los Ingobernables. This may be a little bit about how clear CMLL wants it that they’re not bringing back Rush any time soon. They’re not going to let that story go unaddressed. Because of the way social media works, that false Rush press still is going around. I think it’s more visible today than it was before CMLL denounced it. There’s no chance CMLL will bring Rush back any time soon; they’re still very unhappy with him.

This is one of those Wednesdays where I’d wait to do this post until after Informa if it was still airing at 4 pm. It’s too late in the evening now, but I suspect it’ll have a decent amount of news. They’ll promote the KeMonito match in some way, maybe with a KeMonito interview. CMLL will likely reveal more information on the 12/13 show sometime this week; it’s just a question of whether they’ll save everything for Friday or do it now. The usual CMLL media day is happening this afternoon, no one seems to be writing much about it, and that could mean they’re under embargo about a topic until CMLL gets to officially announce it later today. Or it could be no one feels like posting right now. Who knows.

The rest of Informa will probably be more standard fare: Flip & Villano talking about their title match, some combination of Los Infernales and Los Depredadores talking about the trios match in Puebla, and so on.

Raider says he was surprised to find out he was going to FantasticaMania; it’s something he wanted to do, but he didn’t think he’d be on the list this year. He’s doubling his wrestling and weight training and will also ask his current trainer, Ultimo Guerrero, for advice. Neon says he’s also excited for FantasticaMania, though he admits he doesn’t know much about Japanese wrestling.

AAA

On the Business of the Business podcast, Kevin Kleinrock unexpectedly gave an update on El Hijo del Vikingo’s return date. He mentioned that Vikingo would be out “about a month,” with a return date of “maybe late in the year.” Kleinrock’s role in this is helping AAA with Vikingo’s US bookings. This wasn’t the topic of the podcast, it was a comment in a discussion about other things – there’s a discussion about plans for MaskedRepublic to run more shows in the US in 2025 and how AAA doing the same would affect them that’s interesting – but Vikingo being out for a month longer is mostly what I’m concerned. I asked Kleinrock about it to make sure I understood. He clarified that he didn’t mean to say anything different than Vikingo had announced prior, that Vikingo’s return date is still not locked down as he rehabs, and for that and other reasons, there’s a pause on Vikingo US reasons.

It’s possible AAA will also take it safe, but it’s even more likely they won’t say anything about it until they feel they absolutely must. Vikingo was always questionable for the Saltillo taping on Sunday, and we can downgrade him to doubtful. AAA may have shifted plans to go with Cibernetico as the next Alberto’s opponent because Ciber is healthy (by Ciber standards), Vikingo is still a question mark, and they’ll be doing that match soon. Maybe on 12/07.

Notably, AAA still hasn’t posted that 12/08 Monterrey lineup. They may be waiting until after this week’s show to announce both it and the Mexico City one – but they’re so rarely posting results and info from tapings that I’m not sure why they’d wait. Even if they are running an angle in Saltillo, they’d have to change around how they’re doing things for most of their fans to know it happened before it airs on TV. That Saltillo taping will not air until the weekend of that next set of TV tapings.

Mas Lucha posted the usual bunch of post-AAA TV taping interviews: Tokyo Bad Boys, Mesias, Pagano, Alberto, and Cibernetico. They’re usual stuff, though Cibernetico vowing to out cheat Alberto when they wrestle is at least amusing.

GLEAT announced Mr. Iguana and Psycho Clown for their 12/30 show. Maybe they’re finally doing the Iguana vs. Takuma or Kento match.

AAA on Unimas airs at 1 p.m. this Saturday. They got the word out on Monday, which is a vast improvement.

Latin Lover and Gronda are angry at each other over some comment on Latin Lover’s podcast. I don’t know what Latin originally said, but it led to Gronda calling Latin Lover a prostitute and Latin Lover saying more things about Gronda on a Facebook Live video. As someone else pointed out, there’s far more interest on social media among Mexican fans about the controversies that come out of Latin Lover’s podcast and public comments than anything that actually happens on AAA TV. Maybe there’s some value in that, maybe it would just go over the head of others. Unimas caught up to the Copa Antonio Pena this past week, which was focused on the Latin Lover/Chik Tormenta issue. It made some sense to seize on at time but, many weeks later and being broadcast in a different country, I wonder how many Unimas viewers could make any sense of that entire hour of TV. These things flame up quickly and disappear just as quickly, and it’s tough getting that on TV while still relevant at the pace of Mexican wrestling moves.

Other Notes

The funeral for Puebla’s Roy Calavera was held as a wrestling show. They brought his casket to a building with a ring, put his masks in every corner, and wrestlers came in the ring to talk about how much he meant to him. They brought in a band to play his favorite songs, and mourners wore black t-shirts with “Roy Calavera” on them when he was buried on Tuesday. (A traditional mass was held as well.) He leaves a 13 year old behind. The theory is Calavera was killed for refusing to pay to a protection racket, but police noted they haven’t proven that’s the actual reason yet.

The wrestler known as Brillante RB (who has appeared on the AAA Showcenter events) seems to have changed his name to “Briyante RB” over the last few months. I presumed it was a weird typo the first half dozen times I saw it, and it still looks that way. Not sure if another Brillante had an issue with it, but I can’t think of a reason to make that switch otherwise.

Mascara 2000 says he plans on never retiring as long as he can get work. That’s the most honest thing an aged luchador has ever said.

Criterio Hidalgo interviews Sangre Azteca, who I forget is actually from that state.