new trios champs (different trios titles), Arena Puebla sell out

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 07/15/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, El Sol de Puebla, Fuego en el Ring, Grada]
***71st Anniversary***
1) Astoreth, Sanely, Skadi b Amapola, Lady Amazona, Zeuxis
Astoreth helped get the win after her father (Muerte Negra) passed away the previous week.
2) Xelhua b Vegas [CMLL BARROCO, final]
Local Xelhua is the second champion of this new annual tournament. His father (00s regular SWAT) seconded him.
3) Rey Samuray, Stigma, Volcano b Espanto Jr., Rey Bucanero, Sagrado
4) Gran Guerrero b Akuma [lightning]
5) Hijo de Octagón & Octagón b Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. [semifinal]
6) Euforia & Soberano Jr. b Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Stuka Jr. [semifinal]
7) Euforia & Soberano Jr. b Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. [final]
8) Místico © b Volador Jr. [NWA MIDDLE]
9th defense

CMLL reported Arena Puebla was sold out hours before the show. Puebla is a walkup town; there have been sell outs, but they’re usually after the doors open. CMLL was very proud of this achievement. Others weren’t as thrilled. Local fans claimed others purchased large blocks of tickets – one commenter on super fan Porra Fresa’s Facebook page said he saw a woman by 65 seats in the balcony, followed by a man buying 90 seats. Those were scalpers, obviously – the ticket office knows what they’re doing when they’re selling 65 tickets to a single person, if that’s what happened. CMLL make their money off the tickets either way and are unconcerned about feedback. The scalpers did make their money, those seats look full, but it did apparently push out of some of the local fans. It appears Porra Fresa himself decided to skip the show rather than supporting scalpers, so he has no videos of the show. He does mention there’s typically about 8 scalpers working around the show, and there were at least 20 on Monday.

CMLL also didn’t post video clips from this show. as they’ve done for the Arena Puebla shows the last few months. That suggests it wasn’t being streamed to the CMLL  The event should air on TV this upcoming Sunday and there’s really nothing to stay about the matches until someone outside the building can see them.

CMLL (TUE) 07/16/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Mas Lucha, thecubsfan]
1) Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito b Kaligua & Pequeño Magía 
9:15
2) Metálica & Valkiria b La Vaquerita & Maligna  
12:56
3) Fuego b Difunto [lightning]  
9:26
4) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star b Cancerbero, Crixus, Vegas  
10:38
5) Atlantis, Brillante Jr., Flip Gordon b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido  
12:29
6) Máscara Dorada, Neón, Star Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible © [CMLL TRIOS]  
13:55. Dorada/Neon/Star become 36th champions. Los Barbaros fall on 4th defense. Despite the loss, Cavernario challenged Neon for his RevPro Cruiserweight Championship title next week, and Neon accepted.

The main event was a better version of the previous week’s match, where the champions kept the match going but really never came close to defeating their young challengers. Running two title changes on two straight Tuesday suggests some urgency in at least getting something done. (Maybe there’s a trios title defense in the plans for Aniversario.)

Neon defending the Rev Pro title in Mexico was also obviously on the To Do list and Cavernario is a name that would mean something to the UK fans in a defense. This title match was good (one big Star Jr. slip near the finish aside) and next week could be better if Cavernario’s up for it.

Match 4 was a good showing by the new champs.

CMLL (TUE) 07/16/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Mas Lucha]
1) Ángel Rebelde, Optimus, Torno b Rav, Shezmu, Temerario 
2) Adira, Kira, Sanely b Hatanna, Lady Amazonas, Persephone 
3) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio, Virus b Bestia Negra, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Satánico 
4) Star Black b El Gallero 
5) Barboza & Zandokan Jr. b Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. 
6) Euforia, Hechicero, Soberano Jr. b Atlantis Jr., Esfinge, Valiente 
Euforia, Hechicero, Esfinge and Valiente all feuded (and Atlantis and Soberano did on the side.)

Hechicero and Valiente feuding here follows Sunday’s issues. Valiente also has issues with Esfinge from Friday, and Euforia helped boot out Hechicero from Los Inferanles last year. This version of Los Infernales exists in part because Euforia quit Los Guerreros over Ultimo Guerrero getting COVID in 2020 and the whole team getting pulled from that year’s Aniversario as a result. Euforia’s been historically consistent about valuing appearing Aniversario over all else, which fit with his comments last Wednesday on Informa – he doesn’t seem to care particularly about Esfinge but wants that main event. It sure looks like all these guys are going to be part of it this year.

The semmian was pretty good, I think helped by crowd reactions.

CMLL (FRI) 07/19/2024 Arena México
1) Capitán Suicida & El Audaz vs Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
3) Lluvia, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard vs Hera, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
4) Atlantis Jr., Esfinge, Hechicero vs Euforia, Último Guerrero, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Místico vs Titán, Templario, Neón, Star Jr., Fugaz, Magia Blanca, Virus [Leyenda de Plata, battle royal]

Hechicero and Valiente are matched up in #4, so that’s another sign of it being a real program. Templario switching to the tecnico side last week makes him a favorite here – but last week’s show makes me not too excited for this show. Those who watch the opener for free on Facebook might end up with the best match of the night. (Or maybe I’m just convincing myself this show isn’t special because I’ve got other plans Friday.)

CMLL Informa has

• Angel de Oro (Leyenda de Plata Block A)
• Templario (a tecnico)
• Mascara Dorada, Neon, Star Jr. (new trios champs)
• Valiente (in a bad mood)
• Fugaz, Magica Blanca (Leyenda de Plata Block B)
• Vaquero Jr., Furia Roja, Espanto Jr., Raider, Gallero, Halcon Negro Jr., Nautica, Adira

Stephanie Vaquer is the cover image of Box y Lucha 3612. I totally forget she was a part of the women’s wrestling mural outside Arena Mexico until a couple of people pointed it out on Tuesday. CMLL will ignore her in many ways going forward but that one might be trickier.

AAA

Latin Lover will be part of a Verano de Escandalo press conference later today. That show is still two Fridays away. There’s still a mystery person scheduled to team with Forastero and Sanson in the main event, and Latin Lover may reveal that identity.

Lucha Libre TM points out Fresero Jr. wears a necklace that looks a lot like the eye symbol AAA’s used for their invaders for months. The three people who attacked Octagon Jr. and Psycho Clown this week sure seemed to the match the sizes of Fresero, Demonio Infernal and Atomic Star. If AAA is spending eight months building up the debut of Los Negocios on TripleMania, I can’t argue that AAA is going to be worse if it becomes about Los Negocios because most of you think it’s fairly terrible as it is, and they would bring a certain energy/excitement from Mexico City fans to replace the Origenes guys. I’ve generally given up watching a lot of Mexico indie wrestling because I’ve got no Los Negocios and their counterparts are the dominant influence in that scene and it’s producing a lot of stuff I have no interest in. I don’t think I can stop watching AAA to avoid them, so I may be stuck. Or I may just walk into the ocean never to return. Hard to say.

Other

The promotion that put on that badly attended AAA reunion show says they’re going to run the same concept a second time. Mexican wrestling economics are impossible to figure out.

Vanilla Vargas talked to ESTO to hype a match against Keyra on 07/19, though at no point does the article mention where the match is happening. (It’s maybe happening on the CVW show that day, though the match isn’t actually being promoted. What useless publicity.)

Shocker appeared on TV Azteca said his rehab is going good and he’s on the path to getting his jaw fixed. He’s been on that path since it was broken seven years ago.