CMLL
CMLL (FRI) 11/15/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Estadio Deportes, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores (text), The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito DQ Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía 
7:56. Kaligua unmasked Galaxy for the DQ as the usual minis challenged followed
2) KeMonito DCOR KeMalito
7:09. In-ring debut of the new KeMonito after running in last week. Both fought outside the ring follow a KeMonito dive.
3) Persephone, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis b La Catalina, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard
10:16. Straight falls, Persephone cheating Tessa in the second fall to set up a singles match next week.
4) Flip Gordon b Villano III Jr. [NWA MIDDLE, final]
16:38. Tournament final for vacant title. Second were Neon and Hijo del Villano III Jr. Former champion Mistico (vacated – moving up weight classes) presented the belt to Gordon, who is the 9th/94th champion.
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Blue Panther b Bárbaro Cavernario, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
14:38
6) Místico, Neón, Templario b Averno, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
16:39.
CMLL got the answer to one big question and had a whole new one by the end of the night.
What to do with Villano III Jr.? The CMLL highlight package gives a slice of the reaction, which came through even stronger watching live. Villano III Jr. was over as if he was one of CMLL’s top stars. The crowd did not react like a random title match, they treated the near falls like a mask was on the line and chanted “Villano” throughout. Arena Mexico gave him a top guy reaction, when he’s not been pushed that level so far. This is not the first time this has happened. It wasn’t as strong in the tag title match with Magnus & Rugido or the Rey del Inframundo, but that reaction was present. It was very present when the Villanos won the Arena Coliseo Tag Team championships. Part of it was probably the Mexico/US bit; part of it is the kind of fan who dislike the Atlantis family rally behind the Villanos. A lot of it is because Villano III Jr. is really good, wrestles a little bit more of a reckless style than the CMLL standard, and always shows his emotions. CMLL has something with Villano III Jr., but the question is if those Villano III Jr. reactions are of support from a fanbase that CMLL is already bringing in or if big Villano matches are pulling new people.
There’s only one real way to find out, and it’s putting him in more meaningful spots. Villano’s reactions for his -rare – Saturday night main event were back to normal levels for a regular trios match. Villano attacked Star Jr. before the match and fouled him to end it, and those two will be wrestling in a 1v1 on the 11/23 Arena Coliseo card. That match is a good test to see how sustained the Villano III reaction is, if people show up for a big match of his, and if CMLL’s decided he’s something more than a foil to give Star Jr. a win.
Flip Gordon’s post-match promo included him saying he wants to defend it against anyone in the world, which came off as a hint of a defense against someone outside the promotion. Could be a 12/13 thing, could be something else. A NJPW US show would fit, though there doesn’t seem to be room on the upcoming one. Flip has delivered whenever CMLL’s given him a big singles match during his year in CMLL. (Among the US people who’ve ended up in CMLL for Reasons, Flip’s output has easily exceeded Tessa’s.) It hasn’t changed his perception among non-CMLL internet fans, but an active Gordon title reign will likely produce a lot of good matches and is probably a good thing for CMLL watches. In the ring, Flip smirked at the negative reaction to him – nothing much else he could do.
CMLL did get an answer on the new KeMonito: it’s going to be fine. The social media reaction to this roll out has been largely negative towards CMLL, and the social media reaction didn’t carry over to reality. Everyone just enjoyed the match. It was built to get KeMonito (II) over, he hit everything he needed to hit, and KeMalito had his best match performance against him. There may have been people booing him, but they were barely audible against the loud cheering and chanting. The Arena Mexico fans accepted him as KeMonito. This is a clear victory. The non-finish makes sense; these two are destined to keep fighting forever. Maybe we’ll get a rematch on Kid’s Day.
(There are still some annoying aspects about the KeMonito presentation – not only does CMLL flash up their legal statement about owning the character before his match, but the announcers also repeat it as the match goes on. CMLL owns most of the characters and names seen in CMLL. There’s no legal disclaim read and said whenever Mistico has a match. The emphasis on pointing out this particular one suggests an out-of-control lawyer insisting on it.)
El Pais has a big profile of QueMoniito. It appears to have been done before the new guy showed up; there’s no reference to that situation. They did ask him about how he’d feel about a new person showing up in the costume. QueMoniito said it would be logical for CMLL to do so, he would support the person behind it, but caution him that the fans will expect a lot of them. He figured he’d feel like he would wish it was him, but knows he’d have to retire and give up the role anyway. That retirement is what he’s hoping to get out of the lawsuit from CMLL: enough money that he doesn’t have to find ways to sell merchandise or get sponsored, that he can instead set up a sustaining business, relax, and retire.
In that article, QueMoniito says he split from Tinieblas because he was bored and needed a change. SuperLuchas’ Ernesto Ocampo explained the real story in a video Friday talking about QueMonitto. The Tinieblas/Alushe relationship fell apart at a show in Tijuana. It was a well-attended show. Alushe was making some money from wrestling, some but not a lot, and finally got up the nerve to go to the promoter to ask him why they weren’t paying him more if they were drawing so many people. The promoter told Alushe he thought it was a fair amount, but also told Alushe that amount. See, that promoter and the others had been giving the money to Tinibelas to pay for both him and Alushe, and it was only in that conversation when Alushe found out the true price promoters believed they were paying him. Tinieblas had secretly been pocketing 2/3rd to 3/4ths of Alushe’s payday for himself; he’d likely been doing it for years. Alushe/QueMoniito thought highly of Tinieblas, he was the guy who got him into the weird world of wrestling, and he was crushed to find out Tinibelas had been taking advantage of him all along. That led to the split.
Ocampo also mentions KeMonito’s name was never meant to be KeMonito. That was slang Dr. Alfonso Morales came up with that caught on. Ocampo said, before that happened, he went to CMLL to ask what to call him in the magazine, and they said his name was “Gori” as in gorilla. (And maybe Gori Guerrero.) That may explain the more gorilla look in the new outfit.
(CMLL’s dropped the kiss cam for the last month or so. This whole situation explained why. The old Kiss Cam graphic had the old KeMonito on it; it was the only trace of him in CMLL left for the last year and a half. They brought the graphic back on Friday with the new KeMonito. Why they couldn’t use a non-KeMonito kiss cam graphic is left to the gods to determine.)
The rest of that Friday show: the main event was good in typical ways. The minis match didn’t get the time they needed to be great, but they did a lot with what they had up to the mask-pulling finish. Still no progression there. The women’s match didn’t do much for me outside setting up next week’s match, and the semi-main was just alright. Strong turnout for the show.
CMLL (SAT) 11/16/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Astro Boy Jr. & Dragón de Fuego b Enfermero Jr. & Grako
13:15.
2) Disturbio, Hunter, Nitro b Eléctrico, Legendario, Robin
3) India Sioux & Princesa Sugehit b Amapola & Metálica
13:44
4) Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II b Explosivo, Fugaz, Star Black
13:36
5) Neón b Magnus [lightning]
9:07
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible, Villano III Jr. b Blue Panther, Star Jr., Volador Jr.
16:05. Villano III snuck in a foul on Star Jr. to set up a singles match next week.
Not a lot here of note beyond Star Jr./Villano. The main event was the best match and there’s not a lot of the rest worth watching. KeMonito started working as a mascot with this show. Notable, he did a dive at the end and Volador was careful not to do one. Volador is protecting his body and choosing his spots more carefully the last few months; there’s probably some knee injury he’s working through.
The Lucka Libre (CMLL) show in Tijuana on Saturday seems like it drew about a half full building. One of the matches on the show was Mistico versus Ultimo Guerrero versus Soberano Jr., notable becuase CMLL hasn’t allowed UG and Soberano to be in the ring in the same time on their shows in years. I believe they were allowed to wrestle here. Ultimo Guerrero won, though it appears he pinned Mistico.
CMLL (SUN) 11/17/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial b Astral & Diamond
2) Crixus, Kráneo, Sagrado b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
3) Princesa Sugehit b Dark Silueta [lightning]
4) Brillante Jr., Fuego, Volcano b Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Flip Gordon, Hijo de Octagón, Titán
Straight falls, Blanca pinned Titan after a mask pull.
6) Octagón, Templario, Volador Jr. b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
Looks like Titan/Magia Blanca on this show, the one that doesn’t stream and the top matches don’t always make TV, in on 11/24 or 12/01.
CMLL has the holiday Puebla show today at 5 pm. They did stream this as a surprise last year. They have made no statement about streaming it this time, but that’s normal when they’re afraid of hurting the ticket sales. I have a basic script that checks the CMLL lineup pages for changes and tells me when they happened. I can tell you that someone logged into the CMLL site, took out Lluvia & Sanely, put in India Sioux & Olympia, and made these changes around 4 AM in the morning. I guess we all have trouble sleeping sometimes.
CMLL (TUE) 11/19/2024 Arena México
1) Astral & Robin vs Astro Boy Jr. & Dragón de Fuego
2) India Sioux, Skadi, Tabata vs Amapola, Metálica, Olympia
3) Capitán Suicida vs Hijo de Stuka Jr. [lightning]
4) Arkalis, Stigma, Xelhua vs Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Vegas
5) Flip Gordon, Star Jr., Titán vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
6) Atlantis Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Máscara Dorada vs Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero, Valiente
Suicida/Kid Stuka is one for the people who watch a lot of CMLL. It should be great. Match 4 is setting up Maya versus someone for 11/26 – maybe Xelhua, could always be Stigma.
CMLL’s Guadalajara broadcast mentioned the holiday schedule. Tuesdays fall on December 24th and December 31st this year and CMLL prefers not to run those days. The shows Guadalajara will instead move to Fridays on those week on December 27th and January 3rd. (No idea what does to the upload schedule.) I expect the Arena Mexico shows will move to Christmas and New Year’s, like usual.
On Saturday, AEW announced CMLL wrestlers would be returning to the promotion in the upcoming weeks. I had the sound down on Collision, misunderstood the graphic, tried to figure out on Twitter, got it wrong a second time, and then just shut up until they explained it. It was not my greatest hour. Here’s the correct info from AEW:
- Hechicero, Mascara Dorada and Atlantis Jr. will be on the 11/20 Dynamite/Rampage taping in Reading. (There is no Collision this week.)
- Mistico & Mascara Dorada will be on the 11/27 Chicago, which is believed to be a Dynamite/Rampage/Collision five hour marathon taping.
AEW hasn’t announced any specific matches for these wrestlers yet. Atlantis Jr.’s “personal issues” for missing the Leyenda de Azul might be a cover story for a yet to be announced AEW match on Full Gear or their pre-show; we’ll find out Wednesday.
About a month ago, two Twitter users conspired to create fake a graphic of Mascara Dorada facing Konosuke Takeshita on Dynamite. They just really wanted to see that match. Many people, including some who really should’ve known better, believed that was a real AEW announcement. Sometime later, AEW’s Tony Khan told Dave Meltzer after that he’d be interested in booking that match. This might be that point; that faked match may happen in the next two weeks.
AEW announced Mascara Dorada as Mascara Dorada 2.0, to the confusion of anyone who follows CMLL, but maybe it helps people who don’t understand that he’s still not Metalik. Dorada’s the real news here; he was part of the group of wrestlers whose US work visas got canceled back on 02/28. Most of the group spent the last eight months trying to re-establish their rights to work in the US. Blue Panther was also in that group, and MLW announced him for their 01/11 Dallas show Monday morning. I wasn’t sure if he’d bother, but it might have been worth the effort. If Panther and Dorada are cleared to work, I’d presume the other bigger names from that group – Soberano, Templario and Volador – all have their work visas or will have them shortly. Volador had been used on AEW TV prior. Soberano seemed to be getting some NJPW US work prior, though that was mostly in the since-dropped Rocky Romero/Soberano partnership.
CMLL wrestlers returning to AEW TV will mean the return of people complaining about CMLL people on AEW TV. They should be ignored. Not yelled at, not convinced, just ignored. Many of them have been complaining about CMLL people being on TV too often even when they haven’t been on TV. Some of them just want something to yell about. Some of them have misguided thoughts; AEW is not deciding between Mascara Dorada and Ricky Starks to put on TV. Some are plainly just racists who are using “CMLL” as a stand-in for “Mexican” or some less friendly verbiage. All of them are not worth your time. You can only convince people to be less dumb on social media if they want to learn; these people do not want to learn. People are allowed not to like CMLL (or AAA or any other type of wrestling), they’re allowed to like wrestling in what strange way they want. ,You also benefit little from engaging with them.
There are worthwhile discussions to be had about AEW’s usage of Mexican wrestlers in a post-Lucha Brothers world – I had some thoughts on Saturday. I also had a concern back in September that’s played out (so far) precisely as feared. I don’t think I got any useful feedback about it on Twitter, not that I expected it. Some messages are better sent via Twitter than blog, is all there is to it. Not so much discussions. There’s stuff to dig into like Dralistico seconding LFI on Rampage and vanishing by Collision if you want to have discussions. Twitter and maybe all of social media just isn’t the place to have it; it’s a lot of time wasted talking to people who aren’t listening to anything besides people who tell them what they already believe. I know people have hope Bluesky will be something different; I’m not exactly confident.
Lucha Libre Acapulco had previously said Atlantis Jr. and Hechicero would be appearing on their show on 11/20. They’re off that show now. CMLL is sending Templario and Atlantis as replacements. The social media fans seems happy with Templario and not as happy with Atlantis given his limitations at this point in his career.
AAA
This is a confusing section; there are four TV tapings to discuss in various stages because AAA is a strange creature. I usually do results first and TV second, but I try to put them in the order they were taped to see if it’s easier to follow.
Unimas started the 11/03 Showcenter taping this week. This is the oldest taping, but Unimas is the first to air it. (Space skips around if they have a live show to air.) I may write more about the matches when they start airing on Space next week, but there wasn’t much to any of the three. The one notable angle was Chik Tormenta and Flammer having a pull-apart backstage, which may have been intended to set up something in Saltillo.
AAA aired part 2 of Guerra de Titanes on Space Saturday. (If you’re running a database, my results should be complete and accurate now.)
- Mascarita Sagrada & Pimpinela Escarlata teamed with locals Payaso Balin and Sakura to defeat Mini Abismo Negro, Zafiro, Eddy Maceyra, and Monaguillo. Bringing in Sagrada to work a prelim match was weird. (The Micro Gemelo Diablos have not been seen since showing up at TripleMania Mexico City; maybe there was something with them planned for this show at one point.) This match was obviously heavily edited. There’s a point where luchadoras Sakura and Zafiro step into the ring, AAA cuts to a generic crowd shot and cuts back to show them both replaced in the ring. They use a replay to cover up another edit; Sakura and Zafiro just materialize in the ring, and Sakura gives Zafiro a German suplex for the win. AAA does not edit shows, especially live ones, unless something seriously goes wrong. Those women must’ve not had a good night.
- Pierroth Jr. versus Kempo Jr. versus Aereo happened. They explained it was a three-way title match; the winner got the loser’s title, but the third person kept them. Pierroth Jr. beat Kempo Jr., so he kept the KAOZ Heavyweight Championship and won the Norteste Light Heavyweight Championship. Aereo remained the Juarez Metropolitan Champion. The match was every three-way ever, with Kempo playing the tecnico against two rudos. There is something there with Kempo as the local spectacular high flyer (Aereo used to be that guy), but it was also just a random match with two guys who won’t be seen in AAA again for six months. AAA seemed to have rules against allowing non-AAA belts to appear on their TV in the past, and both these guys and those in the opener had them here. They mocked the KAOZ promoter pretty hard on TV, but they’re booking his guy Pierroth in a way that keeps him happy.
- Aereo has a fake KeMonito named KeMadito. This is one of those moments that reminds you that almost no one who talks about wrestling is watching AAA because it would’ve been a big topic on the weekend of the other KeMonito debuting had anyone cared.
- Crazy Steve & Havok defeated Brazo de Oro Jr. & Reina Dorada to retain the AAA Mixed Tag Team championship. This was not advertised as a title match going in. Brazo de Oro Jr. replaced the injured Fiscal, but they also did an arm injury angle to sideline Brazo de Oro for the first half of the match. If you want Reina Dorada wrestling on her own and selling, maybe this is for you. Steve & Havok pinned both opponents.
- Cibernetico, Mecha Wolf, and Vampiro beat Absimo Negro, Psicosis and Taurus in a lucha de obscures match. As the announcers drilled into our heads, this idea of turning the lights off and having the wrestlers work in glow-in-the-dark outfits was an Antonio Pena concept. Not all of Antonio Pena’s concepts were good. Absimo Negro’s gear looked good; Psicosis and Cibernetico both tried. Mecha Wolf and Taurus both had some glow-in-the-dark tape on to help. Vampiro just showed up in his normal gear and didn’t want any part of this. The finish was Vampiro pinning Abismo with a small package while hooking the ropes for whatever reason. Vampiro gave a goodbye speech ending with him being too emotional to go on, then put his leather jacket in a casket to signal his retirement.
The Vampiro retirement didn’t come across as a big deal as previous times, because it was the fifth or sixth time he’s retired on TV in the last year. There was no feeling this was any different than the other ones. They tried to invoke a sense of finality with the casket, but it didn’t come across strongly. It was in some ways a lesser version than some of those other farewells: the roster dind’t come out to celebrate him, just Mecha Wolf hanging around for the match.
Vampiro’s last match should’ve been the Arena Ciudad de Mexico match, which seemed the original plan. That match had a sense of finality. Vampiro’s wrestled twice on TV since this show and Heroes Inmortales, in matches didn’t mean much and weren’t any good. Both of those shows draw well every year and did not need to have a Vampiro retirement boost. Doing a glow-in-the-dark match as Vampiro’s AAA retirement match almost felt like a prank on him, one he decided to blow off by not participating. That Mexico City match was weird and not great, but also very from the mind of Vampiro. Almost everything else he’s done, including this one, felt like stuff forced upon him and he didn’t have much investment in – he cared about the post-match promo and would’ve been just as fine doing that without wrestling.
(AAA also didn’t know what they wanted this to be; this match was advertised on the poster as his last match in Juarez, then on social media as his last match in AAA period, then on TV as his last TV match. Someone may have belatedly realized he’s still booked on non-TV matches. Vampiro is 100% going to wrestle outside of Mexico and everyone inside of wrestling believes Vampiro will eventually wrestle in Mexico again someday.)
The show ended with a quick teaser of Cibernetico as the next mega championship challenger, which would become official in Saltillo. Cibernetico’s addition to the Vampiro match was unpromoted – I’m unsure if AAA wants to make surprises a bigger deal again or if they just didn’t get around to advertising him.
AAA taped TV Sunday night in Saltillo
AAA TV (SUN) 11/17/2024 Lienzo Charro Prof. Enrique Gonzalez, Saltillo, Coahuila [AAA, Lo Mejor de Lucha]
1) King Rap, Pingüino Jr., The Rocker b Buirrito, Fly Boy, Rey Dorado
2) Inferno, Krator Jr., Latino b Bebote Valdes, Mini Hator, Símbolo
3) Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa b Andrómeda & Belcegor
Tokyo Bad Boys may have gotten involved.
4) Flammer & La Hiedra DCOR Chik Tormenta & Dalys and Julissa & Valentynna Reis
All six people fought outside for the countout.
5) Dinámico, Drago, Laredo Kid b Kento, Nobu San, Takuma
Mr. Iguana helped cost the Tokyo Bad Boys the match
6) Hijo Del Vikingo & Octagón Jr. DQ Alberto el Patrón & El Mesías
Alberto and Mesias were DQ for excessive violence. Latin Lover introduced Cibernetico, said he’d challenge for the mega title on 12/07 and that Hijo del Tirantes would not be allowed to referee that match
7) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown b Abismo Negro Jr., El Fiscal, Psicosis [AAA TRIOS, cage]
Earlier, Psicosis put Fiscal back on the team in place of Taurus to force team harmony. It failed, Abismo betrayed Psicosis in a cage match for a second time. Psycho Circus won the trios titles and are 18th champions. Vipers fall on their 3rd defense
Takuma and friends seem to have stolen Yeska from Mr. Iguana somewhere during this show. That seems like a setup for a match back in GLEAT, where Mr. Iguana has already been announced. Psicosis seems quite dumb for allowing the man who cost him his mask back on his team and then have him also cost him his trios titles, but maybe it plays differently on TV. (Edit: It probably does play differently, but still weird – the Vipers all betrayed Fiscal and lost the trios titles in the process.) Likewise, match 6 reads like shoveling some dirt on Vikingo and Octagon, but maybe it’ll look different when we see it. We probably won’t see it until at least 12/07 on Space and 12/14 on Unimas. That finish and Cibernetico being the next challenger makes it feel like AAA is definitely moving on from Vikingo’s challenge for now. They’ve still got a lot of TV to fill between now and the next show that matters, TripleMania Monterrey, so maybe they’ll eventually wander back to it. The women’s count out seems like a tease to a bigger match, but it also may have been AAA just not having a finish to that one.
AAA did live some results on Instagram, and little for Twitter. That makes it a touch more difficult for me, but is seems like the right move for their audience. I can’t be certain if this current wave of people abandoning Twitter will continue – I don’t think it’s totally for real until more official brands move off Twitter – but it’s best to get stronger elsewhere right now.
This show looked maybe 70% full, maybe a little more. It was not the sellout of March but that still seems a positive number.
Monday, AAA announced that 12/07 taping, where the Cibernetico/Alberto match was made official:
AAA TV (SAT) 12/07/2024 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Adelicious, Mini Vikingo, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Andrómeda, Mini Psycho Clown, Sussy Love
2) Emperador Azteca, Niño Hamburguesa, Tigre Universitario Jr. vs Kento, Nobu San, Takuma
3) Reina Dorada vs Flammer, Julissa, Valentynna Reis
4) El Fiscal & Octagón Jr. vs El Mesías & Pierroth Jr.
5) Laredo Kid vs Matt Riddle [AAA CRUISER]
3rd defense
6) Cibernético vs El Patrón Alberto © [AAA MEGA]
3rd defense
AAA is billing this as the end of the Origens tour. They’re also billing the show the next day as the end of the Origenes tour.
Ciber’s been pretty popular on these Mexico City tapings, so that title match should get a good reaction. Cibernetico stands about the same chance of winning as having a five-star match. The gimmick is Tirantes won’t cheat to help the rudos, but someone else will, and then we’ll find out what the next chapter in this story will be. (There was no mention of the “Dorian/JBL takeover” story on any of the TVs, though Unimas did show some of the Dorian/JBL promo that had aired elsewhere.)
It would be kind of nonsense for Matt Riddle to win the AAA Cruiserweight belt, defend it against Fiscal once, and then lose it to Laredo Kid, but AAA is capable of nonsense. I’m rooting for it. AAA has booked Riddle fairly often but it’s hard to see a way where it’s made a difference; this show will probably do well based on how much people care about that main event. AAA puts Laredo with Riddle to get star ratings, but few people who care about star ratings are bothered by AAA, especially not on their very delayed TV tapings. (This may not air until mid-January.) I appreciate another great Laredo Kid match, even one I have no reason to suspect he’ll win, but I’m unsure what the point of this is all. They’re trying to sell something to people who don’t seem interested.
Some of the other stuff feels like it’s being sold to people besides the conventional audience here. Sure a lot of KAOZ people here for no obvious reason. Mini Psycho Clown is making his first TV appearance in a year for some reason. Actual Psycho Clown again nowhere to be seen.
Coloso Colosetti
Coloso Colosetti (Elio Carlo Colosseti Drazich, 76) passed away Saturday. The cause of death has not been announced, but he’d been in poor health for years.
Colosetti started wrestling in his home country of Argentina and showed up in EMLL in 1969 as the threatening import of the year. He seemed positioned as a foil for top tecnico Ray Mendoza, doing the usual title switch to set up a hair match. Coloso stayed. He was taller than most wrestlers, closer to being a heavyweight, and a good-looking guy – he got over well and fit in well in EMLL. He had five hair matches at Arena Mexico in the 1970s, including the 1975 Aniversario main event. He won 2, lost 3. He went to the UWA, winning and losing hair matches and feuding with Canek. (If EMLL had a heavyweight title open to non-Mexicans, he’d likely have won in more than once.) He’s talked up as a good wrestler, and the magazines loved interviewing him and the attractive women he always seemed to be dating. He appeared in Santo movies, was the unofficial third counter-culture Los Hippes team member, and toured the US and Japan in the late 1970s. Colosetti always comes across as the coolest guy in the room in those magazines. He faded into the background in 90s, and seemed to have hit hard times in the last few years. He seemed to live an extraordinary life in his best moments.
It bummed me out a bit that his passing got far less attention. Colosetti is the cover of this week’s Box y Lucha and hopefully they’ll have something good inside. The general sports media didn’t cover it as much as Scorpio Jr.’s passing, which seems like a product of Coloso living two decades longer. His run is now far in the past, and without the TV footage to look back on it. I wish more of those older magazines were around and accessible so people could see him as a bigger star. There’s a few matches from later in his career that are on YouTube; I watched this one from 1983, where he’s one of the rudos trying to get the visiting Kevin Von Erich over to the Arena Mexico crowd. If you knew nothing but that one of the wrestlers in that match was a WON Hall of Famer, it might take you five or six guesses to identify the correct one. (Pirata Morgan would be the first guess – or maybe it’d go “either Pirata is a hall of fame wrestler or he was completely broken out of wrestling three years later wrestling that way” and somehow neither are true.)
Other News
Ayako Hamada posted a video saying her father Gran Hamada is in very bad health and asking for prayers. She still seemed hopeful.
La Jornada has a profile on Fray Tormenta. He’s living off merchandise sales and donations from people he’s helped raise.
Sanson won the 2024 Mas Luchas Supremo over Bestia 666. That show did not draw well, and the women’s tournament didn’t either, and I wonder if they’ll keep running those tournaments. We don’t know if they’re seeing a surge in subscribers for those shows, and that’d be the biggest factor.
The Lucha Bowl, a flag football tournament, occurs in Mexico City from December 6th to the 8th. They’ll lucha libre alongside the flag football, and they’re working with IWRG. There’s some family history in that connection: the promoter is the daughter of former Arena Naucalpan Rams. Rams was a football-themed rudo, so now she’s putting on a lucha libre-themed football event. I think it’s a safe bet that Rams loved football beyond his wrestling gimmick if his daughter ended up playing flag football.
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