WrestleMania weekend matches
04/08 (Thursday 11 am CT): GCW Jimmy Lloyd’s Degeneration-F (Fite/13 USD)
- Gino Medina vs Hijo de Canis Lupus
04/08 (Thursday, 3 pm CT): GCW the Acid Cup: Day 1 (Fite/14 USD – or 22 USD for both days)
- Arez vs Aramis
- Laredo Kid vs Brayden Lee
- Dragon Bane vs KTB
(All tournament matches, with the winners moving on to the next show.)
04/09 (Friday, 3 pm CT): GCW the Acid Cup: Day 2 (Fite/14 USD – or 22 USD for both days)
- anyone who won on the previous show
- maybe a scramble with the losers (and Hijo de Canis Lupus if he’s around)
04/09 (Friday, 7 pm CT): GCW rSpring Break 5 (Fite/20 USD)
- Gringo Loco, Black Taurus, Arez vs Laredo Kid, Dragon Bane, Aramis
04/09 (Friday, 10 pm CT): Violence X Suffering (Fite/13 USD)
- Jack Evans vs Tony Deppen
The quantity is well down from the last normal WrestleMania year (2019), which is to be expected during a global pandemic when international travel is also impacted by visa issues. The quality should be there: Arez/Aramis will be great and I’m sure they’ll go for crazy things in a trios match. I think I’m going to spend around $45 for shows with just a few matches I want to see, but I guess it’s less money than I spent getting there last time.
In actual WWE matches, Wednesday’s NXT has a three-way tag title match with Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde’s best chance at winning a title. Santos Escobar faces Jordan Devlin with a tag title match on Thursday, which will air on Peacock/WWE Network. The main roster lucha libre crew will all be on the SmackDown prior to WrestleMania – either in a battle royal or a multi-team tag title match – and it doesn’t look like anyone who started in a Mexican wrestling promotion will be on the show itself. If I checked correctly, that’ll be the first time that happens since 2012 – though many of the years are just people in forgettable battle royals or Mascarita Dorada in a bull outfit. It’s not a big surprise they didn’t make the cut once most of the “get everyone booked” matches were moved off the main show. (For the purposes of this bit, if they don’t make it into the arena where WrestleMania is held, it doesn’t matter what they brand the show.)
No luchadors have been announced for AEW’s Dynamite as of yet. The Death Triangle is scheduled for the AEW non-televised show this weekend so they’ll be around, though around may be “kicking people very hard on AEW Dark.”
Other News
CMLL Informa has Caristico, Mephisto, Guerrero Maya Jr., Polvora and Blue Panther Jr. on Informa today. I’m not writing much about CMLL so it hasn’t come up yet, but it’s worth taking a glance at a recent Blue Panther Jr. match to see his current proportions. It’s like a caricature.
IWRG luchador Hijo del Alebrije has been hospitalized due to COVID for two weeks. He was last seen as one of the coaches on the IWRG Tryout shows and hasn’t wrestled since. X-Fly revealed the situation on Twitter in a plea for wrestlers to help donate. (Something similar happened with Ovett, which makes this even more concerning.) Kriminal announced plans to run a benefit show ASAP. Bandido was also soliciting donations.
Villahermosa luchador Rey Argos (Reyes Vazquez Jimenez) passed away last Thursday. He appears to be a 60s/70s luchador based on the opponents listed; his granddaughter is training to debut as Lady Argos.
Mexicali luchador Pepe Luis (Jose Luis Figueroa Solis, 73) passed away on Sunday. He wrestled in from the 60s to 90s.
The poster for Bandido’s Gym lists the show on April 24. On Facebook, Bandido explained the show is actually on April 17th, and it’s going up on YouTube on April 24th. Everyone is confused.
Laredo Kid & Lio Rush are among those announced for the 05/07 AAW show. Rush put up a statement yesterday disavowing Konnan’s (and the “AAA” statement in WON”) versions of events for the cruiserweight little, including seemingly posting text messages from Konnan. He deleted it after a couple of hours. This story seems concluded for now unless/until Konnan rips me a new on his podcast Thursday (and even then, no one but me will be really affected.)
I didn’t really think about it ahead of time, but Lady Maravilla and VIllano III Jr. both being booked on the Arena Neza show gave them a chance to cut a promo about still being AAA Mixed Champs even without Villano III being in AAA. I think that’s the first time they’ve been booked on the same show since Villano III Jr. quit AAA – ironically, Villano III Jr. quit to work the sort of indie shows AAA is allowing their roster to work for the moment. I really don’t want to poke the bear anymore about AAA titles but the clip is worth watching just to see some joyous people.
Vanguardia announced they’ll debut their single championship, “Extraordinario”, on their next show. That’ll be on May 15th, and will air live on Mas Lucha.
MexaWrestling teased a return show soon.
Reforma talked to Blue Panther Sr. and Cachorro Laugnero about the latter’s debut.
Komander talked about his two-month trip to Mexico City with his local paper.
Lineups
IWRG (SUN) 04/11/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Guerrero Olímpico vs Carillo
2) Gravity & Origen vs Rey Halcón & Tonalli
3) Jessy Ventura & Pasion Kristal vs Zorayita & Zoy Raymunda
4) Apolo Estrada Jr., Canek Jr., Hijo del Fishman vs Fuerza Guerrera NG, Hijo Del Máscara Sagrada, Súper Nova and Guadalajara, Monterrey, Sinaloa
5) Aster Boy, Dragón Bane, Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Baby Xtreme, Hijo del Espectro, Toxin
6) Demonio Infernal & Fresero Jr. vs Dick Angelo 3G & Eterno
The poster for this show looks cool; they should’ve saved it for a bigger show. “Lucha Estilo Toreo” has become the Mexican equivalent of puroresu’s “Strong Style”; no one agrees upon what it actually means but it’s a successful marketing slogan because the diehard fans believe it to mean something important.
Lucha Memes (SUN) 04/18/2021 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Mandroop & Yutani vs Futuro & Slingshot
Ricky Marvin trainee offer match
2) Astrolux & Black Metal vs Mike & Voltrex and Noicy Boy & Súper Cometa and Blue Monsther & Taurino
3) Perro de Guerra Jr. vs Freelance
4) Iron Kid vs Baby Xtreme
5) Jimmy vs Puma King
6) Virus vs Látigo
7) Daniel Garcia vs Aramis
8) Ricky Marvin vs Villano III Jr.
There are some good matches here that I would be more excited for if Memes had a better rate of delivering on their matches. The main event feels like it has two different ideologies and I’m not sure how it’s going to work out.
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