CMLL
CMLL (MON) 02/05/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, El Sol de Puebla, Grada, Kaiser Sports, Porra Fresa]
1) Hijo del Perverso & Perverso b Millenium & Rayo Metálico
2) Fuego b Prayer [lightning] 
3) La Jarochita & Lluvia b Reyna Isis & Tessa Blanchard
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. & Stigma b Brillante Jr. & Espanto Jr.
5) Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible b Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. [CMLL TRIOS]
first defense. Cavernario beat Volador
Atlantis, Star and Volador go down as a footnote. They were the team that happened to be around when Los Infernales broke up, defended the belts zero times, and held it as long as they did only because Dragon Rojo Jr. got hurt at the wrong time. Maybe this match will go up on subscription site.
El Sol de Puebla has an article on local “super hero”/police officer Pegasso heading to Japan.
CMLL (TUE) 02/06/2024 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Grako & Sangre Imperial b Astral & Oro Jr.
Oro suffered a serious seeming knee injury right before the finish
2) Hera & Olympia b La Vaquerita & Maligna
a bad match
3) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible b Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma
Los Barbaros first appearance in Arena Mexico since winning the trios titles on Monday
4) Atlantis Jr. b Niebla Roja [lightning]
9:52. Atlantis Jr. won via frog splash right before the time limit.
5) Místico b Soberano Jr., Máscara Dorada, Ángel de Oro, Volador Jr., Templario, Flip Gordon, Zandokan Jr., Titán, Villano III Jr., Esfinge, Star Jr. [Reyes del Aire]
Mistico won his first ever Reyes del Aire.
This was the second straight week with a disaster stream. The feed was fine for the first hour of the show (the wrestling was not fine), and then started buffering and sputtering during entrances during the Reyes del Aire. CMLL, as is their pattern, ignored that it was happening during the show despite getting a lot of messages about it. CMLL took down the VOD immediately after the show. (I was scrolling through it to see it was any better without the buffering; it was not.) I imagine they’re going to put up a VOD at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet if you’re still reading this sentence. Subscribers should start sending in complaints if there’s no explanation given on Informa.
CMLL’s live streams since the new YouTube issues were introduced tiers
- 01/31 Arena Mexico: stream has issues
- 02/01 Informa: stream has issues (and the studio has some dead mics)
- 02/03 Arena Mexico: stream was fine!
- 02/06 Arena Mexico: stream has issues
CMLL did not put up a fixed VOD when the subscriber feed failed last Tuesday. They did put up a fixed VOD of the free Informa show, because that’s the one the people in charge actually care about. This failure was so embarrassing that CMLL may act upon on it, but there’s still no plan to handle bad nights. It’s just a pattern of pretending nothing bad will ever happen, and then ignoring that it happened.
The rest of the show was fine at best. The opener ended badly, the women looked out of their depth and the two other tag matches were fine. The Reyes del Aire didn’t look super memorable from what I could see, but I was put in a bad mood by the whole thing.
Oro Jr. seemed to severely injury his right leg in the opener; it was bent the wrong way when he was tied in the ropes. SuperLuchas writes that Oro Jr. on his Facebook (in a video only visible to follows I think) posted a video where he says he tore a ligament and meniscus in his right knee and will need surgery. He’s expected to be out 5-6 months.
CMLL Informa has:
- Los Barbaros (new Trios champs)
- Marcela & Skadi, Panterita del Ring, Felino (Arena Coliseo chaht)
- Futuro & Neon (team name?)
- Brillante Jr. (Gran Alternativa)
- Hombre Bala (?)
- Magnus, Pegasso, Difunto (FantasticaMania)
Forneo was doing one of CMLL’s usual radio spots to promote Friday’s show, which suggests they see him as one of the more important people in Torneo de Escuelas. (And, yes, CMLL wrestlers do radio spots in Mexico City every week to promote their shows.)
Hechicero, Mascara Dorada and Volador Jr. face Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson tonight on AEW Dynamite in Phoenix. My impression is Mistico will also be in Phoenix and may wrestle. Other CMLL people may be there as well.
CMLL (SAT) 02/10/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Eléctrico & Leono vs Inquisidor & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Capitán Suicida, Diamond, El Audaz vs Felino Jr., Misterioso Jr., Vegas
3) Panterita del Ring vs Felino [lightning]
4) Andrómeda, Marcela, Skadi vs Hera, Olympia, Tessa Blanchard
5) Fugaz, Star Black, Valiente vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo
6) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Flip Gordon vs Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja
CMLL announcing they’d upload two matches from these shows has me taking a harder look at which two matches I’d actually want to see. (This is not a real issue because CMLL hasn’t uploaded anything yet.) I guess the main event by default, but I’m not even strong about that.
In a Mas Lucha interview from a show this past weekend Guadalajara show, Rey Horus teased that fans might see him soon in Arena Mexico. There is something to this, but I don’t have anything definite about how or when.
Brillante Jr. and Mistico are on the cover of Box y Lucha 3589.
Guerrero Maya Jr. is celebrating reaching 20 years of wrestling.
AAA
Mesias is on some AAA spot shows lineups. That could be local promoters adding him, but it seems likely he’ll show back up on TV during the Origenes tour. He and AAA had issues over the name after he left in 2018, but that’s a long time ago in wrestling time.
Hijo del Tirantes, promoting a show on 03/15 in Xalapa, feels people are still just returning to lucha libre following the pandemic.
TNA president Scott D’Amore is no longer TNA president; parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment announced Wednesday they had fired him and replaced him with a Anthony Cicione, a non-wrestling person already in their employ. Impact sort of cruised along for many years doing just OK and Anthem seemingly being OK with Impact just being OK. Over the last few months, Impact reverted back to that old TNA name and Anthem seemed to be increasing spending on the product. Increased resources are always great but are typically paired with increased expectations. It was going to be a big challenge to move TNA away farther from the NWA/MLW level of promotions and closer to AEW and I was skeptical that could be achieved even with a great effort. It was a situation I had back in my head to keep an eye on, it was something where I figured D’Amore would get at least the calendar year to see what he could before any changes might be made. He got two tapings – two that even seemed successful! – before getting the axe. The timing of D’Amore’s firing is so sudden that I’m waiting for another shoe to drop. If D’Amore was removed for purely business reasons and even the last couple of shows weren’t good enough, then TNA not only returned to the old name but the old fears about it’s long term viability.
Where this leaves the AAA/TNA relationship is unknown for the moment; Scott D’Amore and AAA were close. I suspect the new guy in charge (Cicione) will be handing off the creative end to someone else, but we don’t know who that else yet or how they’ll feel about AAA or lucha libre in general. D’Amore (like QT Marshall) is a useful wrestling brain for promotion’s looking to break into the US market, assuming he hasn’t done something here that makes him untouchable.
Other Notes
IWRG issued a press release demanding Blue Demon Jr. return the IWRG IC Heavyweight Championship he never actually won. Ivan Rokov and his masked accomplice presented it to Demon, though DMT Azul actually won their title match by DQ. This seems like IWRG playing off their issues over the trios title belts.
RIOT announced Erik Ortiz vs Low Rider for 03/02.
El Horizonte has a piece on lucha libre arenas in Monterrey, focusing on Arena el Jaguar.
Chicago Mag has a photo article on Chicago luchadors. To show how little I know, I’ve been watching el Torero for years and never realized he was the son of the GALLI promoter.
Somos Hermanos has an article on the Brazo Celestial promoted show this past weekend, which supported hurricane relief. No amount is mentioned.
An update on the Arena Coliseo Monterrey destruction; the venue now has no roof. It’ supposed to be finished in mid-March.
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