Hijo del Fantasma quits AAA?, Garza Jr., Aguayo

Hijo del Fantasma apparently quit AAA Wednesday night. I have to write “apparently” because it is a little strange. Fantasma posted photos of his time in AAA on Twitter and Instagram, saying thanks. +LuchaTV somehow knew this meant Fantasma was quitting AAA and declaring himself a free agent. Other people went on with that as the story and Fantasma was on Twitter for the next few hours responding to people and not saying the stories were wrong. Maybe there was some behind the scenes message that communicated what Fantasma was doing clearer than his original posting.

Hijo del Fantasma’s lawsuit against Lucha Underground was reported publically on February 6th. Fantasma wrestled as previously scheduled on the AAA tapings on 02/08 & 02/10. He took a distraction pinfall loss to Puma King on the second show, which was surprising given how AAA had been setting Fantasma up for a title match with Fenix to that point. Hijo del Fantasma appeared in a long sit down interview with +LuchaTV a few days later, saying everything was OK with him and AAA, particularly Dorian Roldan. Fantasma has not been on TV since and his understanding of the situation must have changed; Fantasma was teasing a departure from AAA in a new interview with +Lucha this weekend.

Fantasma’s options are limited. He’s suing Lucha Underground because of those limited options. He can’t sign with WWE. He would need approval from LU to work for any other TV promotion in the US. LU appears to have given that to anyone who’s gotten a TV offer, but it may be different with him suing the holding company. Fantasma may also be restricted from appearing even on CMLL TV, if his earlier statement about being under contract to AAA until the end of the year is correct. He could still work indies in the US & Mexico. He may have more freedom in work the Japan or UK (where he appears to have been added to the Lucha Libre World show in London), but Fantasma’s options are limited until the LU situation is resolved.

The Crash is now pushing their meet and greet this weekend as the last time you’ll be able to see Garza Jr. at their events. This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentioned Garza passed medicals and has a new WWE offer. Garza is playing games about where he’s going for social media fun, but he’s been going to the obvious place all along.

Today’s the fourth anniversary of Perro Aguyao Jr. sudden death from in-ring injuries. Diario Basta recaps the situation, going with the theory that Aguayo had been dealing with neck pain and just didn’t tell anyone about it. Damian 666 & Mr. Aguila talked with Record about their memories of that time; Damian was at the show but didn’t grasp the severity of the injury until he was told Perro had died. Damian is critical of promoters running Perro Aguyao Jr. tribute shows that don’t send some of the money they’re making from Aguayo’s name to his family. (There was one in San Luis Potosi yesterday, no idea if Aguayo’s family got anything.) The Gladiatores has brief interviews with Juventud Guerrera, Texano Jr., Toscano, Terrible, and Konnan talking about Perro Aguayo.

Lucha Central has this week’s ratings

• AAA on Azteca7: 2.5 rating with 3.9 million viewers
• AAA on A+: 0.6 rating with 1.2 million viewers
• CMLL on Televisa9: 0.6 rating with 1.3 million viewers

AAA’s rating went up while the actual viewers went down a half million. CMLL’s viewers stayed the same while the rating went down. This was the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas airing of CMLL (Rey de Reyes is weeks away from airing on AAA), though it was also an episode starting a half hour earlier for no particular reason.

Rey de Reyes was covered in the latest The Road to Double or Nothing, the Cody Rhodes half of AEW’s YouTube shows. For the purpose of this show, the attack on Cody is mostly important in that Cody’s healing knee was re-injured during it and he may now end up missing Double or Nothing. Taurus and Konnan get name-checked but aren’t a big part of it. The Lucha Brothers/Young Bucks build up also gets some promos.

CMLL says they’ll announce their first team for the Torneo Increible de Parejas on Facebook today.

Mije wants the CMLL programmers to have more for the Micros; he’s hoping for a mask match.

Mystique appears headed back to Japan. Maybe. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out what the REINA website or social media accounts are now and then decided I should move on with my life.

There’s a free preview of the first few pages of the Konnan comic book here.

Lineup

CMLL (SUN) 03/24/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Micro vs Quka
2) Blaze & Hijo Del Tigre vs El Yaqui & Linterna
3) Baron Blanco Jr., El Divino, Paymon vs Avispón Negro Jr., Rey Hechicero Jr., Thunder Boy
4) El Rielero, Kempo Dragón, Vaquero Jr. vs Maléfico, Príncipe Kisho, Terremoto King Jr.
5) Explosivo, Joker, Star Black vs Difunto, Hijo del Rambo, Príncipe Odín Jr.

The Sunday Guadalajara show is notable only for some odd names. I’m guessing they must be working with the old Juniors promotion, since Principe Odin & Rambo usually worked with them. Rey Hechicero Jr. is not believed to be related to Hechicero but has been around Mexico City indies since 2015.

I’ve scaled back at including people who just work these shows until they show up a lot, because there’s just so many random names who show up less than 5 times and then disappear forever.

CMLL (TUE) 03/26/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Fantástico, Principe Daniel, Rielero vs Demonio Maya, Exterminador, Sádico
2) Magnum, Príncipe Diamante, Star Jr. vs Difunto, Espíritu Negro, Metálico
3) Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis
4) Blue Panther, Kráneo, Volcano vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Vangellys
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Místico vs Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

That semi-main is troubling. Main event is a near H2L rematch.