CMLL
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.
Next week is Leyenda de Azul, so probably not much in the way of angles on this show – maybe Averno cheats Mistico to build to next week. Perhaps a title match from the women, but I wouldn’t expect anything big to be set up from the top matches. That top match is another case of CMLL putting new people in main events with Difunto, Zandokan and (to a lesser extent) Neon. The rudos in the semi-main would’ve easily been in the last match in past years, and CMLL’s instead going through the tougher process of convincing fans these guys are top guys.
CMLL’s booked Flip Gordon as a semi-main/main event guy and Villano III Jr. as a fourth match/semi-main event guy, which really points to Flip Gordon winning. This will also be interesting for the crowd reactions; the Arena Mexico fans love those Villanos. Flip’s talked about being a family man, a new dad, someone who really is trying to make Mexico his new home and he’s still surely going to get booed.
There have only been two (NWA) Historic Middleweight champions from the United States, just about the same as people who’ve held that title from Spain. One American champ was Chris Jericho, who most thinks of as Canadian but was born in the US and has now lived most of his adult life there. The other is Joe Palardy (Jovite Palardis), who won for a couple of months in 1977 and I know just about nothing about. I was looking around for a bio this morning and instead stumbled upon a news report of him injured when a car drove into the Beef ‘O’ Bradys he was eating at in 2019.
CMLL Informa ended with the reveal of matches for December 13th
- Claudio Castagnoli vs Hechicero
- PAC vs Volador Jr.
- La Catalina & Tessa Blanchard vs Red Velvet & Toni Storm
Castagnoli versus Hechicero is the Gran Prix winner versus the Aniversario winner. PAC and Volador had issues during the brief Death Triangle run. The women’s match follows up Storm’s previous appearances. The expectations are going to be high for those top two matches and this show should have a lot of outside interest for them. The press articles all talk about this being a CMLL vs AEW show. CMLL doesn’t state that, but perhaps we shouldn’t expect NJPW or other people on this one. CMLL didn’t say much about the rest of the card; no idea if it’s meant to be six CMLL/AEW matches or just those three.
The other big segment was KeMonito and KeMalito hyping their match on Tuesday. KeMalito seemed about 100% more comfortable. The guy who’s been doing the character for a week felt nervous. CMLL keeps flashing that legal notice stating they came up with KeMonito every time he appears, but they clearly have decided they don’t own the famous costume that QueMoniito is wearing. The new guy has worn two different costumes so far. Informa had an original look in a promo photo behind the man wearing a new look – the mouth sticks out a lot more, and the chest plate is bigger. I think the idea is to try to have him look more like the current QueMoniito outfit, but the mouth just looks off. He looks more like a gorilla now. As for the match itself, it’ll be a pleasant surprise if it’s any good, but the reaction – by tickets sold and noise made – will be the intriguing story tonight. Maybe fans will be accepting of a new KeMonito because of their love of the character, but my bet is KeMalito will be cheered even stronger than usual. The Ticketmaster map looked like a good amount of tickets had been sold already, but they’re in no danger of selling out the place and the Gradas section has not been opened.
The Informa interview seemed to edge away from pushing KeMonito as the previous guy returning; there was a mention of this guy training in CMLL for a year before this debut match. The newspaper previews seem to still pushing it as return. Those are sometimes heavily working off what CMLL’s given them as copy. KeMonito did note this isn’t a one off and he’ll be joining the micros division going forward.
QueMoniito posted a video on Thursday talking about his time in the circus (while also promoting a candy.) He still hasn’t said anything about the new KeMonito. It’s gone long enough with nothing being said that we can begin to assume there must be a settlement or a legal ruling to end the dispute. It does not appear to affect his ability to do business as QueMoniito. The debut of the new KeMonito also seems to have spurred more interest in the recent documentary on Netflix; I’ve seen a few media outlets write about it again.
CMLL (MON) 11/18/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger & Millenium vs Hijo del Perverso & Rencor
2) Capitán Suicida & Hijo del Pantera vs Perverso & Prayer
3) Tessa Blanchard vs Lluvia, La Catalina, Skadi, Kira, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis, Sanely, Persephone, Hera [Copa Mujeres Revolucionnarias]
4) Místico, Stigma, Templario vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
5) Averno, Euforia, Mephisto © vs Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. [CMLL TRIOS]
first defense
The Depredadores are in a tecnico role in the main event. I’d rather see match 2 than another women’s cibernetico. I’m sure TV will show the women’s cibernetico, and there’s no mention of streaming this special holiday show. (They did end up streaming it last year.)
CMLL (TUE) 11/19/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Astro Oriental, Logan, Último Ángel vs Infierno, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Gallo Jr., Obek, Rafaga Jr. vs Rav, Shezmu, Temerario
3) Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II vs Draego & Persa
4) Atlantis & Blue Panther vs Rey Bucanero & Satánico
5) Kira & La Catalina vs Dark Silueta & Persephone
6) Dulce Gardenia, Esfinge, Star Black vs Barboza, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
Good for CMLL going through the effort of plugging Explosivo in Fuerza Tapatia to fill out the trio, and they end up teaming with Dulce Gardenia a couple of weeks later.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara showed off some maintenance and remodeling on Facebook.
Capitan Suicida told the media he really liked his tour of Japan, would love to team with Titan some day, and is aiming for Magia Blanca’s welterweight championship.
A CMLL show in San Luis Potosi this past Wedensday., delayed for a couple of weeks, seemed to draw pooly.
Magia Blanca is listed for a Chinampaluchas show this weekend. He says the listing is a fraud, and he will not be there. Atlantis, Rey Bucanero and Rugido are also listed; Blanca says he has no idea if they’re appearing.
Mascara Dorada, Atlantis, Olympia, and KeMalito will appear an autograph signing for the Teleton charity on 11/23.
MLW announced Kojima against Ultimo Guerrero for the MLW Heavyweight Championship on 12/05. That’s part of their TV taping, so it’ll probably air two weeks later. MLW already announced Kojima will defend that title against Matt Riddle; I don’t think many assumed Ultimo Guerrero was becoming MLW champion anyway.
Noriteru Fukushima, the excitable Japanese ambassador to Mexico seen on CMLL shows the last couple of years, has finished his time in Mexico and is headed back home.
In a local (to me) story, the Chicago Bulls, Blackhawks, and White Sox decided to launch a TV network this fall. It’s been a failure on all counts. They’re belatedly offering a digital offering. Their strange scheme offers 20 USD for one team or 30 for everything on the channel. I saw those numbers, stunned that anyone would pay that much for one channel. A beat later, I recalled I pay 35 USD a month for CMLL. I’ve gotten used to it, maybe you’ve gotten used to it, but it is worth stepping back every so often and reflecting on that being an absolutely insane price point. CMLL’s probably making more money on digital than any previous year, and probably by leaps and bounds. I still think they’re costing themselves money by making the paywall so high that people aren’t even going to bother to sample. That 12/13 show will be widely watched, but mostly on pirated Facebook feeds among people who might’ve paid a less ridiculous price.
(Oh, by the way, if you’re on the $9 lowest tier, the reason you haven’t been getting any Friday shows lately is the last two have been Fan Leyenda only. Those don’t go to the lowest tier. CMLL also doesn’t explain this and really hasn’t put on that guide for how the tier system works for a while now. Good customer service would be sending out a reminder every time that tier doesn’t get a show, and it might convince a couple to the higher tier.)
AAA
AAA TV this weekend
- Space has part 2 of Guerra de Titanes
- Unimas maybe has part 1 of the Halloween Showcenter event.
- This will air an hour early.
- YouTube has part 1 of Guerra de Titanes
AAA is in Saltillo on Sunday
AAA TV (SUN) 11/17/2024 Lienzo Charro Prof. Enrique Gonzalez, Saltillo, Coahuila
1) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
2) Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa vs Andrómeda & Belcegor
3) Flammer & La Hiedra vs Chik Tormenta & Dalys and Julissa & Valentynna Reis
4) Dinámico, Drago, Laredo Kid vs Kento, Nobu San, Takuma
5) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown vs Abismo Negro Jr., Psicosis, Taurus [AAA TRIOS]
6) Hijo Del Vikingo & Octagón Jr. vs Alberto el Patrón & El Mesías
No idea what’ll happen with that main event. Vikingo posted IG Story video of him doing his rehab work Friday morning. I’m guessing that means he’s not cleared but who knows. Psycho Circus should be winning the trios titles from the feuding Vipers, but they’ve dragged that out for months and might keep dragging it out. Match 4 is a rematch from Juarez and seemed to be the match there. Match 3 is Toxias and Julissa/Valentynna (new worse spelling) being storyline unprofessional with each other and maybe in real life too. Match should be fun, match 1 is probably locals and will air on TV. My guess is this airs the first entire weekend of December.
The WON says Konnan has been hospitalized for the last 26 days with diverticulitis and related issues. He’s still in the hospital, though he hopes to be released this weekend. He was missing from Guerra de Titanes – he’d normally do an interference spot in that main event or a promo – but no one had publically disclosed why.
Mr. Iguana said he’s going to Japan for two weeks and teased he’s on more shows than just that 12/30 date. It’ll be his first time there.
Vampiro, who is theoretically done in AAA, is wrestling for RGR on 11/24 in what is also billed as a retirement match. They don’t say for where, so maybe he’s just having his last ever Huntington Park match. Vampiro made no mention of his AAA retirement on social media.
Back in September, Keyra and Myzteziz Jr. had a very public custody battle. The two were once a couple, had a son, and have since split. Keyra had brought her son to the hospital, where he was admitted for what she said was a blood transfusion. At some point, the child was released from the hospital but released into Myzteziz’s custody instead. He and his family took custody of the child without telling Keyra and without telling her where he was. Keyra pleaded for help, but the story quickly faded away. Myzteziz disappeared from wrestling for about a month, then returned two weeks ago. Thursday, Myzteziz posted on Instagram, claiming he’s won the legal battle against “the boy’s mother” – he’s been granted custody and an order of protection. He accused Keyra of lying in a way that has now gotten herself in trouble. (Myzteziz does not show the legal notice.) People who know this situation a lot better than have cautioned not to pick a side and I don’t think that changes much with the news. It’s still very messy.
Myzteziz’s AAA career is the least important part of this – they’ve barely used him on TV this year, even before this came up – but this legal situation being resolved for the time being may mean AAA will bring him back to tapings.
Other News
Arena Jalisco usually streams the top few matches from their shows. Mas Lucha has picked up the feed in the past. This past week, they didn’t stream live, and they strangely cut out the main event. Facebook comments provided some hints why that may be the case. Guadalajara lucha libre video channel lucha libre select 11 posted their video of the main event, and it’s not hard to see why. Veneno appears to be in no condition to wrestle, or stand. Some of the others are questionable, but Veneno definitely won the race. (The Beast Mortos is in the match and seems to be a professional in a world of unprofessional. Such can be Mexican indie wresting.)
I’m pretty close to clearing out my backlog of videos to add to the luchadb and happened to skim through the Todo x el Todo Mexico City show Mas Lucha posted a month or so ago. The show is not good, you should not spend time watching it. What stuck out to me is there was a lot more money spent on production, both from a live event perspective (huge TripleMania-like screens) and also in capturing the shows. I wonder if there was some thought these would be TV (or PPV) broadcasts, and that fell through. It would help explain why they ran the big arenas, those that would look better on TV but they had little chance of filling. The whole business part of that promotion is odd.