CMLL X-Mas Day lineup, AAA Rey de Reyes card, Aro Lucha

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 12/21/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Cronica, De Lucha TV, Estrellas del Ring, Kasier Sports, Mas Lucha]
1) Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia b Acero, Aéreo, Último Dragóncito   
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Inquisidor, Robin b Arkalis, Grako, Oro Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]  
Oro Jr. replaced Electrico. Team Inquisidor took 1/3.
3) Dark Magic, Misterioso Jr., Okumura b Diamond, Guerrero Maya Jr., Magia Blanca  
Rudos took 1/3
4) Dark Panther, Místico, Titán b Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]   
Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Stuka Jr. © b Mephisto [NWA LH]   
6th defense

Cronica’s recap puts the attendance at “over 600” people. That sounds about normal for a Tuesday Arena Mexico show, unfortunately.

I haven’t watched this show, just flipped through a little bit to see if my recording came out OK. It seems like MarcaClaro has mostly finished the audio lag issue. The new bit is the announcers only coming through on the right side of the audio; if you watch this show with just a left earbud plugged in, it’s just the crowd/ring sound.

CMLL (TUE) 12/21/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Fuego en el Ring, Mas Lucha]
1) Destello, Persa, Ponzoña Jr. b Estrella Del Jalisco I, Estrella Del Jalisco II, Obelisk 
2) Crixus, Optimus, Trono b Ángel Rebelde, Estrella Oriental, Halcón Negro Jr. 
Halcon Negro & Crixus continue to feud.
3) Adrenalina, Omega, Valiente Jr. b Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr. 
debut of Valinete Jr. here. Zandokan ended up hurt, left the match early.
4) Explosivo, Fantástico, Gallo b Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel 
5) Atlantis, Felino, Negro Casas b Al Carrillo, Rey Bucanero, Satánico 

The semimain got money thrown in. Al (“All”) Carrillo is a long time Jalisco indie luchador; a local legend counterpoint to the CMLL names. The luchadb has matches for Carrillo back to 2013 but he’s clearly been along for decades prior. This is the only time we have him as wrestling in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara but again I think we’re just missing information.

CMLL (SAT) 12/25/2021 Arena México
1) El Gallito, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zacarías
2) Dalys, Princesa Sugehit, Stephanie Vaquer vs La Jarochita, Marcela, Reyna Isis [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Fugaz, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Templario
4) El Coyote & Euforia vs Atlantis Jr. & Sangre Imperial [Gran Alternativa]
5) Místico © vs Averno [NWA MIDDLE]

This show should be OK. This is the first Mistico/Averno match in Arena Mexico since 2010, since before Mistico left to WWE. Averno’s actually won the last two. It would be a good idea for Averno to win if they’ve got long-term plans; CMLL usually does not.

CMLL isn’t advertising this show for TicketmasterLive streaming. Maybe it’s an oversight that’ll be fixed later. It’s possible they’re streaming this on YouTube or Twitch as a Christmas surprise, but then they will probably not mention that fact until the stream starts. It’s also possible CMLL is bizarrely not streaming this at all while choosing not to tell anyone so people won’t get angry with them. They’ve done both before. It’ll turn up on TV on 01/08 at any rate.

CMLL (SUN) 12/26/2021 Arena México
1) Disturbio, Pegasso, Stigma vs Espíritu Negro, Nitro, Sangre Imperial [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Dulce Gardenia, El Audaz, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Okumura, Pólvora, Virus
3) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
4) Titán vs Negro Casas
5) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto vs Atlantis Jr., Místico, Volador Jr.

Sangre Imperial is in the opener because that’s part of the cage build, but it isn’t a good sign if he’s in the opener the day after he’s in the Gran Alternativa final.

I hope Titan/Casas is one fall, Casas works better that way.

CMLL Informa only has Averno and the two Gran Alternativa finalists as guests. That probably means there’s a surprise coming. CMLL is teasing a surprise on Thursday Friday, though it comes off as a humble offering, not some big news.

AAA

In a surprise, AAA announced the full lineup for Rey de Reyes at a press conference Wednesday.

AAA TV (SAT) 02/19/2022 Estadio Universitario Beto Ávila, Veracruz, Veracruz
1) La Hiedra & Villano III Jr. vs Octagón Jr. & Sexy Star II and Arez & Chik Tormenta
2) Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Psicosis II vs Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, Willie Mack
3) Maravilla vs Lady Shani, Flammer, ? [#1 Contenders, Reina de Reina]
4) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. and DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis
5) Laredo Kid vs Bandido, Cibernético, ?, Psycho Clown [Rey de Reyes]
6) Dragón Lee & Dralistico vs Fénix & Pentagón Jr.
7) John Hennigan vs Hijo Del Vikingo © [AAA MEGA]
first defense

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, so that’s why this was announced today. LA Park & Hijo del Vikingo were in attendance. Veracruz is the site of AAA first show, so it made sense AAA would run a major show on their 30th Anniversary; it’s more surprising they’d run it in February, but that avoids baseball conflicts. AAA rarely has big shows in February, so that may be about spacing out events. As always, the events of the TV show have little to nothing to do with the big shows.

John Hennigan was called Johnny Mundo at the press conference and set in a promo with the idea that Vikingo is a prodigy who’s done well but not on former champion Mundo’s level. I wouldn’t read too much into the name bit; it could just be AAA being weird. Kenny Omega came up during the press conference so they’re still keeping the carrot of that match with Vikingo still happening sometime down the road.

Dragon Lee & Dralistico posted a promo a few days ago teasing the match with the Lucha Brothers happening soon, so the surprise is it happens in AAA and not an indie show. (That promo has since disappeared.) I think the chances of a clean pin in that match are close to zero.

Cibernetico is an odd fit in the fifth match but he’s going to be in a top position as long as he’s booked. He actually should win if he’s going to be pushed in a major way. Given who else is coming back on this show, there’s a decent chance the mystery person is Killer Kross, who would also be a favorite to win.

I guess NGD and La Empresa aren’t friends now? Who can say.

Dorian Roldan explained no Deonna Purrazzo because of travels issues with Canada, which doesn’t seem to make sense because she’s American and I think she lives in the US. Maybe she’s working a show in Canada and can’t make it to Mexico? Something wasn’t explained clearly or doesn’t make sense. At any rate, the fourway is for a future title match. Roldan says the mystery woman will appear on a 01/30 taping in Merida. That’s the first we’ve heard of any other taping in 2022. Everyone assumes the mystery person is Taya, and she’ll probably win if she’s the person.

No one seemed to ask why FTR weren’t appearing.

Willie Mack is back after doing well at TripleMania Regia. The opener includes the current mixed tag title champs (Chik Tormenta & Arez) but wasn’t said to be a title match.

I presume this will be a FITE PPV show. It would be foolish to believe the problems from the past show will be addressed. They never are. I think this is an overall better card than TripleMania Regia, and one where there are more matches which are intended to be good rather than just be setups for other stories (that still haven’t really been told.)

Parka Negra says he’s doing fine after appearing knocked out two weekends ago, says the doctors called it a head injury.

Other

Aramis was announced for PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles.

RIOT’s 02/11-12 La Rina participants

1. Blake Christian
2. Demonio del Aire
3. El Mago
4. Jimmy
5. Mr. Iguana
6. Erik Ortiz
7. Aeroboy – new
8. King Rex – new
9. Komander – new

I believe there are 12 spots.

Aro Lucha announced Starlight Runner would be another new partner for the promotion, following announcing Pencilish Animation back on December 9th. AroLucha mentions Starlight Runner working on many projects, including Lucha Underground. This blog is older than dirt, which is only good in that I can easily find and point you back to a 2013 Los Angeles Times article about AAA & Starlight Runner working together. That story had Starlight Runner creating a show bible for AAA, but what it actually turned to be were the concepts for Lucha Underground – coming up with the new characters and general show ideas, including doing research to make it feel authentic. It’s a safe guess that many of those ideas eventually ended modified as more people got involved in the process of getting them to screen, but what this announcement is really saying is AroLucha is investing money in developing a concept. The previous AroLucha concept just seemed to be “here’s an indie lucha show with whichever Mexican wrestlers could get themselves across the border”, this is a bit more developed than that.

I suspect the end result of all these AroLucha announcements is another round of crowd-funding, with the idea of building up credibility by announcing these working agreements first. Arolucha hasn’t hinted in that direction yet, but there’s no real point in doing periodic announcements unless you’re trying to build buzz for something, and these aren’t the sort of announcements to make if they’re just running another TV taping. (They’re also not teasing a next show date.) They’re selling themselves to someone and since it keeps going to their fan mailing list, they’re hoping those fans contribute something.

Alberto el Patron claimed Nacion Lucha Libre will tape their TV shows at the Pepsi Center as well as run shows every other week at the Carpa Astro venue. He also says they’re planning to run the interior of Mexico (outside of Mexico City) in February and they’ll have a full calendar of events in January. The track record is some of these things will start off this way but then quietly get dropped. La Mascara says Nacion Lucha Libre and Robles Promotions are friendsworking for the common benefit of lucha libre. I think we’re going to find out if that’s true if/when they both start promoting shows at the same time.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and this week’s Poster-Mania.