Gran Prix tonight, Copa Independencia, Vampiro

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 08/23/2024 Arena México
1) Fugaz vs Villano III Jr. [lightning]
2) Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard vs Kira & Skadi
3) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Octagón vs Ángel de Oro, Bárbaro Cavernario, Soberano Jr.
4) Akira, Claudio Castagnoli, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Flip Gordon, Ikuro Kwon, Kyle Fletcher, Mansoor, Robbie X, Rocky Romero, Yota vs Atlantis Jr., Esfinge, Euforia, Máscara Dorada, Místico, Templario, Titán, Último Guerrero, Valiente, Volador Jr. [Gran Prix]

This is the biggest Gran Prix ever, with 20 participants. It might be the longest one ever. I have the 2018 match going 59:57, and this could reasonably break that hour barrier. It’ll for sure be a lot longer than hour with the ceremonies pre and post-match. (The semi-main legends are there to double as people presenting the winner with the trophy.) This match has been good even with weak lineups, because it’s the crowd energy and the top people who end up carrying it along. It gets better if there is chemistry between the two teams, and the Tuesday match was a good sign in that direction. I feel like this is going to be a good one. I still figure Claudio to win; it’ll be a great story of him criss-crossing the globe and coming back with a trophy. (He better take that trophy to All In if he wins it.) Claudio winning setting up one more Claudio match later in the year would also be very alright with me.

Nothing else looks like it will be a threat to steal the show. The semi-main puts the old guys with people to carry them. Match 2 is a special battle between the two women’s tag champs; I hope Kira has a great night in front of fresh eyes, but we’ll see how it goes. The lightning match is super high variance; it could go anywhere from a complete disaster to Ricky Marvin/Sangre Azteca.

The Ticketmaster ticket map shows about a couple dozen tickets left on the floor, and more in the balcony and upper levels. The Aniversario show is 9 tickets away from being completely sold out. AAA put a lot of people in a building for TripleMania. CMLL is going to put a lot of people in their building for two shows within weeks of each other. It’s not close.

Mansoor and Kyle Fletcher did press on Thursday. So did Templario. There’s nothing too much in there, though Mansoor is doing a good job getting over his gimmick to the press. CMLL did a similar interview session on Friday open to the media, though it seemed like all the media questions got filtered through a CMLL person to ask and perhaps screen. No Fletcher for that one; the food got him.

Hechicero rematches Zack Sabre Jr. Saturday at RevPro’s Aniversary show. Neon also defends the RevPro Cruiserweight Championship in a six-way. I don’t like the odds of the CMLL contingent winning either match, but I could be wrong. That show starts at 12:30 pm US Eastern time and will air on their streaming service. It seems to take a day or two for it to go up after, so you may need to see the show live if you want to see it this weekend.

Hechicero isn’t on the SAT/SUN/MON lineups, so he may be sticking around in the UK to be a surprise entrant in AEW’s All In Casino Gauntlet match at Wembley. I guess Neon could be as well. I think that show is going to be good, but I would not buy it solely to see a CMLL wrestler show up for a few minutes.

Signs around Wembley indicate AEW will be running their Forbidden Door show in the UK in 2025. No date is mentioned; it’s possible that show and All In just flipped spots on the calendar and Forbidden Door will be August. I’m not the one doing the visas so I can’t confirm this, but it seems easier to get Mexican wrestlers in the UK than the US right now; maybe all the visa problems that happened this year won’t be as much an issue in 2025.

CMLL (MON) 08/26/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Blue Shark, Centella Roja, El Hijo De Centella Roja vs Dreyko, El Perverso, Rey Apocalipsis
2) Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard vs Persephone & Zeuxis
3) Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible, Zandokan Jr. vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
4) Yota vs Averno [lightning]
5) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Templario vs Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr.
6) Esfinge vs Euforia,vs Valiente

The non-Hechicero participants have another preview match. The lack of other matches on the Aniversario (with both people being in Mexico) means they just keep running main event preview matches over and over again. Yota/Averno is a unique match. Match 2 may be setting up a tag title rematch.

CMLL (TUE) 08/27/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Logan, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy vs Fúnebre, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Gallo Jr., Markara, Rafaga Jr. vs Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Prince Drago
3) Brillante Jr., Neón, Xelhua vs Arlequín, Barboza, El Coyote
4) Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II vs Demonio Maya & Principe Daniel
5) Adira, Kira, Sanely, Tessa Blanchard vs Dark Silueta, Hera, Olympia, Persephone
6) Gran Guerrero © vs Yota [CMLL HEAVY]
7) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Templario vs Furia Roja, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Yota seems to be the last guy sticking around. He challenged Gran Guerrero for this title in May 2023. I thought it would’ve been fun to have him win and take it to Japan for a while. CMLL did their usual thing, racking up a defense against a foreigner as he was leaving town. A title change feels even less likely this time.

This week’s CMLL Informa featured many interviews with the foreigners in for the Gran Prix. That always turns into one of the most out-of-control episodes; this year, Mansoor demonstrated poses, and Robbie X wanted confirmation that his head was shaved and not bald. The show also announced that the Copa Independencia tournament would return, and the final would take place in the Aniversario. There will be blocks on 08/30 and 09/06. The 08/30 block

• Templario
• Mascara Dorada
• Neon
• Star Black
• Stuka Jr.
• Akuma
• Difunto
• Villano III Jr.

The Kaiser Sports media generally gets the CMLL press releases, so, notably, they have “Futuro” listed instead of “Difunto”. Either way, that’s a high profile list of names. CMLL’s general practice is they won’t announce matches while people are still competing in a tournament to get on to the show. That was less of an issue last year, where CMLL used many people in the Copa Independencia who wouldn’t be on otherwise. Templario and Mascara Dorada figure to be on this show even if they don’t win the tournament, so this field may mean CMLL waits until the Saturday before the show to announce a full card. I guess it doesn’t matter if they’re selling out the arena (and they’re very close to selling it out now), but people will complain about it.

CMLL put up a teaser for an upcoming announcement for someone showing up at the 91st Aniversario show. The globe means a foreigner. The timing suggests a video tonight. My guess is CMLL will eventually add a women’s match to the show so the international wrestler would fit in that. There is no rule that there must be a women’s match in every Aniversario. There just has been for the last nine of them, so betting on ten in a row seems safe. CMLL has two singles matches and four-way; anything else being added is probably a trio. Homenaje a Dos Leyendas had Willow, La Catalina, Tessa versus Lluvia, Stephanie Vaquer, and Zeuxis. That can’t precisely happen again, but Willow (or someone else from AEW) would fit and could set up a title match for October’s women’s month.

Informa also mentioned the annual Dia de Luchador show is on 09/21 in Arena Coliseo, and will honor older luchadors as past years.

Honor of Kings confirmed it was Blue Panther Jr. as Lian Po. They meant to stream the match as an ad for their game, but their stream started three minutes into it.

Hechicero hypes the Aniversario show, noting that none have much experience with a four-way match.

Tessa Blanchard, in an interview on the Straight Talk Wrestling YouTube show, mentions she got an apartment in Mexico about a month ago. A running bit in her Informa appearances was Julio Cesar Rivera (on behalf of CMLL) encouraging her to move to Mexico full time and Blanchard considering it while noting she also had things going on in the US.  In talking about how packed the CMLL weekly schedule is, Tessa says the women are training on Thursday mornings with Ultimo Guerrero. After the usual (sort of) explanation of the end of her Impact time and how she coped with it, Blanchard says she’s had talks with other companies about coming in recently. She says it hasn’t felt right to go, and her happiness is her biggest priority. Blanchard talks about having severe anxiety issues as a result of what’s happened, issues that affect her daily life, and contemplated suicide at the worst of it. She credits her ex-husband (Daga) and therapy for helping her pull herself back and figure out who she is beyond wrestling. Blanchard talks about going back to college, joining their ROTC program – basically officer training for the US military – being encouraged by them to sign a six year commitment to go full time into the military, and ultimately deciding that she couldn’t give up her wrestling career yet, that there was something still waiting for her there.

The Tessa Blanchard status wrestling status quit, as expressed by her is that she believes she could wrestle in a notable US company if she wanted to do it, that companies want to bring her in. (Given MLW has a CMLL connection and has a tendency to use people with black marks, it’s entirely plausible they’ve reached out to here.) She also knows that a sizeable backlash will come to if that happens, and she doesn’t think she can handle that – or at least, it’s not worth the tradeoff to her right now. In CMLL, she’s just a wrestler, that particular drama doesn’t exist, she’s having fun, and so she’s will stick around a while. It’s Tessa Blanchard, so people understandably have a hard time believing her, but it at least explains her situation with CMLL – between that, and finally moving to Mexico, it does convince me she’ll be around for the long haul.

AAA

AAA on Space should air the rest of TripleMania. AAA on Unimas – I don’t know. The next episode in their order is the Verano de Escandalo part 1 – the matches that haven’t aired in Mexico yet. No idea if Space has rights to get first airings (or if AAA would even remember to respect those rights.) There’s a decent chance Unimas is a repeat or goes out of order, but it’s a TV show AAA doesn’t care all that much about so it’s no concern.

AAA uploaded their “Lo Mejor de TripleMania XXXII” video, which is 2.5 hours long. I never go through watching that, but I assume that time is all the in-ring time. This video is worse than usual. AAA appears to have put up a version of the show recorded from TrillerTV with a visible mouse cursor for the entire show. That’s the second upload of that video; it went up briefly on Sunday night, got deleted, and then reuploaded a day or two later. Maybe someone spotted the cursor, looked for a better video, and then remembered they worked for Lucha Libre AAA, so terrible performance was expected, and they might as well upload a clean version. If someone from Lucha Libre AAA would like a better capture of the show from Triller without a mouse cursor, they can send my 25 USD back for the show, and I will happily provide it when I get around to it. Contact me via DM.

Alberto el Patron will defend his AAA Mega championship against Nick Nemeth in WWC on 08/31. There have been exactly as many AAA Mega championships in WWC as AAA this year, but since they’re Nemeth and Alberto matches, who cares?

Vampiro had a retirement press conference on Wednesday. He has not retired, but he talked about all the projects he has going on as soon as he retires. He did not mention when he will retire, just saying it ends in 2024. I’ve read about five different news stories, and all of them vary on what was announced, which seems correct for a Vampiro press conference. I could watch it and figure it out, but I’ve written about good and bad uses of time this week, and deciphering a Vampiro press conference is definitely in the bad category. Vampiro promoted his comic book, which will be part of DC Comics; it’ll be released in English, Spanish, and Italian, and television producers have talked about turning it into a show after the great reception it had at New York Comic Con. He’s going to do an occult podcast, he’s going to do a one man show, he says he’s getting married in 2025, and he will be in control of creative for Italy’s NWE promotion so he’ll tape podcast episodes live before a crowd there. (I believe a few parts of those statements are accurate. Vampiro can’t remember what comic con he was actually at and which one he’s going to.) Vampiro also explained that his Alzheimer’s diagnosis was a misdiagnosis all this time – he has a hundred other issues (including memory loss and inability to control his body movements), but not that one with a particular name that people could call him on. Vampiro said he hadn’t watched the Latin Lover and Konnan podcast, but if they said he was a big liar on their show, he agreed. There was notable no AAA mention or visible presence at this Vampiro press conference. Vampiro is scheduled to headline the AAA TV taping on 09/01 in Torreon.

One of the reality shows gripping Mexico right now is “La Casa de los Famosos” – it’s celebrity Big Brother, if it helps. One of the celebrities in the house is 2023 lucha libre reoccurring figure Adrian Marcelo. He’s the YouTuber who was going to wrestle Chessman in Monterrey, then both and AAA got caught off guard by the commission requiring him to actually be licenses – that’s one of those moments of AAA being a promotion run by goofs that gets lost because there are so many other goof moments. Marcelo appears to still be upset with how that went down; there was a conversation in the house about lucha libre, and Marcelo talked about AAA being terrible and CMLL being much better. He said that without even having watched TripleMania! Anyway, Chessman played off it, saying he wants to go into the house and slap Marcelo around.

IWRG

IWRG filled Arena Naucalapan on Wednesday for a show for politician Isaac Montoya. I assume it was a free show. No full results from Thursday’s show. Spider Fly did retain his title and they seem to be setting up a Mala Fama feud with Puma de Oro and the rest of the pirate guys.

IWRG , LLB , CMLL (SUN) 08/25/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Karma I & Mr. Koi vs Ikaris & Rocky Bulldog
2) Forbia & Pitbull vs Ángel Kind & Indra
3) Hijo De Sparta & Príncipe Centauro vs Argus & Máscara De Hierro and Águila Oriental & New Level and Águila Dorada & Nubilus
4) Sol & X-Devil vs Skayler & Visionario and Águila Roja & Fandango
5) Lunatik Fly, Súper Boy, Toto vs ?, ??, ???
6) Astro Boy Jr., Dr. Karonte II, Hell Boy, Hijo del Alebrije, Puma de Oro vs Carta Brava Jr. (LLB), Hip Hop Man, Ivan Rokov, Okumura, Veneno
7) Místico vs Magnus vs Soberano Jr. vs Ángel de Oro

Lucha Libre Boom loves their four-way matches.

TxT

TXT (SUN) 12/08/2024 Foro GNP, Mérida, Yucatan
1) ? & ?? vs ??? & ????
2) Lady Apache & Therius vs Julissa & Valentina
3) Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Hijo de Máscara Sagrada, Huracán Ramírez Jr. vs Hijo del Fishman, Súpernova, Texano Jr.
4) Cinta de Oro vs Bobby Lee Jr. © [IOCW WORLD]
5) El Hijo Del Santo vs Dr. Wagner Jr. vs LA Park

That match is the best-looking match of everything announced so far, though I know in my head these aren’t the same guys they were 5 years ago. (Also, there aren’t great odds we will will be able see this outside of Merida.) The IOCW title is essentially the Cinta de Oro title, and running a title match for it on this show probably gives the answer on who’s actually booking these shows. Lady Apache is going to hate those ex-WWE women; I can already see her post-match interview where she buries them for not being trained properly (in other words, working the way she wants to work.)

The next show to announce is the oddly scheduled Xalapa one in March 2025; might be a while. The tour announcements have skipped the announced 11/24 date in Guadalajara after skipping the 11/09 date in Arena CCU in Puebla. (The York Hall show lineups also haven’t been announced, but that’s probably a different production company.) I wonder if those shows are still happening. The ticket sales for the show in 30 days in Arena Ciudad de Mexico look low on Superboletos. I see a Santo interview posted just about every day, so they understand they have work to do, but I don’t know about the economics of any of this.  This show could’ve done well at 6,000-seat buildings, and they went for 10-15K buildings. Maybe they got a great deal.

Other Notes

08/31 RIOT

• Prometeo & Kratoz vs Spider Fly & Noisy Boy
• Erik Ortiz (c) vs Lord Byron [RIOT CHAMP]
• Latigo & Toxin vs Hijo de Canis Lupus & Demonio del Aire
• Aero Boy vs Rene Rocks – new

Laredo Kid won the qualifier on TNA Impact Thursday, and will be in a six way Ultimate X ladder match on the 08/30 Emergence PPV. That’s on their TNA+ service, at $10/month.

A masked Japanese wrestler in Mexico has been using the name Kurama since last December. They started out in IWRG and have been floating through random indies—teaming a bunch with Kuukai lately. Peps Wrestling says the person under the mask is former NOAH wrestler Yastuaka Yano, who became a former NOAH wrestler in May 2023 after he and fellow wrestler Kinya Okada were arrested for obscenely touching a woman a month prior. We’re getting close to the day when someone could put together an entire show just using foreigners trying to find a place to wrestle after getting booted from their home scenes over sexual misconduct allegations. Yano said the charges were dropped in December in a statement admitting to and apologizing for his actions. Admitting guilt and apologizing puts him ahead of most wrestlers in this situation.

Tinieblas presented his book in Xalapa. That article mentioned that Tinieblas wrestled 9,604 matches, and I’m dying to know where they came up with that number. Tinieblas was active for about 45 years, so he’s saying he wrestled 213 matches a year on average. It would have to be much higher in his peak, because he sure wasn’t doing that at the end or at the start either. I know luchadors wrestle a lot, but it seems high.

Rey Cosmico was honored in Durango. That article has the opposite problem of the Tinieblas article, because they have him down as 500 matches over 35 years; you’re probably not honoring someone who’s had one match a month, it’s got to be more than that.

Ursus Promotions announced they’re going to run a month of shows in Coatepec.