a messy Rey de Reyes, CMLL weekend results, other weird wrestling promotion

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 02/18/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronistas del RIng, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiaotores, thecubsfan]
1) Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. b Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma  
14:19 (one fall)
2) La Vaquerita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit b Dalys, Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis  
20:44. Tecnicas took 2/3, Lluvia beating Silueta to set up a MEX WOMEN title match next week. Isis & Vaquerita feuded slightly.
3) Felino, Felino Jr., Negro Casas b Blue Panther, Cachorro, Dark Panther   
16:51. Rudos took 1/3
4) Ángel de Oro © b Mephisto [MEX LH]   
14:16. Angel de Oro won cleanly with a campana.
5) Místico & Templario b Averno & Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]   
17:35. Team Mistico took 2/3, winning clean.

This was a fun Friday show. Vikingo’s match on Saturday will stick with me more than anything on this show, but I was also definitely happier after finishing watching CMLL than AAA. (And it was 1/4th the cost.) Mistico & Templario and Volador & Averno was good fun; nothing revolutionary and Mistico & Averno showed their age, but they did a lot of stuff and kept the crowd exciting. The Panther/Casas match was a flashback to the recent Tuesday main events where Blue Panther knew just how to get reactions of those tourists crowd. Both family teams are better as teams than as individual parts. Even the overly long women’s match was better than usual.

Angel de Oro versus Mephisto was nothing special, nor was it expected to be. Angel de Oro is a rudo on most shows, worked as a tecnico here, and was rejected by the crowd who cared. I don’t think it helps for Angel de Oro to not have a set alignment, but I guess I can’t blame the reaction on that – he started working rudo because the fans had already rejected him, just nothing’s changed it. It was just weird they worked a match pretending that wasn’t going to happen. It might have worked with a tourist crowd that didn’t have history with Angel de Oro, because he was doing the generic stuff a tecnico should do, but that’s not who CMLL is drawing these days.

Blue Panther, who used to say he’d retire after all his sons got started in the business, now says he wants to keep wrestling because all his sons are in the business. He’s essentially not planning to retire until/unless a major injury forces him it; he said elsewhere that he would not retire until he died. Given no wrestler sticks to a retirement plan, I expect he’ll somehow still be wrestling after death. His dream is to team with all four sons. Blue Panther Jr. hasn’t wrestled since September and there’s no public info as to what happened to him, just one report he was taking care of a long-standing medical issue.

CMLL (SAT) 02/19/2022 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, De Lucha TV]
1) Acero & Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Disturbio, Grako, Nitro b Oro Jr., Suicida, Valiente Jr. 
Oro was injured in the third fall
3) Dark Magic, Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano b Felino Jr., Okumura, Robin [Relevos Increíbles]
Felino Jr. replaced Kraneo, who has not wrestled often in the last few months.
4) Dark Panther, El Audaz, Star Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Stuka Jr. DQ Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr.
Rugido unmasked Esfinge for the DQ, seetting up a singles match next week.

Oro seemed to pick up a left elbow injury, or maybe shoulder? Both of his arms hit the mat hard on a back bump. It doesn’t stick out to me on video as something gruesome, but there’s an immediate signal for medical attention.

CMLL getting behind Rugido seems so random. Maybe it makes sense in the building and it just hasn’t come across on screen.

Coliseo drew really well for this show. There didn’t seem to be an obvious one-night reason, which makes it an even better result for CMLL.

CMLL (SUN) 02/20/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Polvora b Aéreo & Último Dragóncito
2) Akuma, Espanto Jr., Inquisidor b Halcón Suriano Jr., Leono, Sangre Imperial
3) Mercurio b Shockercito © [CMLL MINI]
Mercurio is the new champion, the 15th overall. Shockercito falls on his 7th defense; he had beaten Mercurio twice prior.
4) Atlantis, Esfinge, Hombre Bala Jr. b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Fugaz, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr.
Atlantis Jr. unmasked Stuka after the match

Atlantis/Stuka keep their issue alive going into Friday’s tournament.

The CMLL minis championship doesn’t seem to mean much to CMLL, though I’m sure it meant the world to Mercurio to get the win. That was Mercurio’s fifth challenge over the last two (long) reigns. More a happy accident than a likely plan, but Mercurio won just about every singles match he was in during the pandemic no-fans era – he was 9-1 in those, so there’s a story to this win if they had told it.

CMLL having two minis matches on one show is extraordinarily rare.

Tonight’s Puebla show has a Mistico, Star Jr., Volador versus Averno, Cavernario, Templario main event, a rematch from last week. Always bet on a Volador Jr. singles match.

CMLL (TUE) 02/22/2022 Arena México
1) Leono, Retro, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Raider
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Disturbio, Enfermero Jr., Nitro
3) Marcela vs Metálica
4) Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Felino, Felino Jr., Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) Atlantis Jr. vs Euforia

Two singles matches and an eight-person tag (!), this is the CMLL version of insanity. Valiente Jr. makes his Arena Mexico debut in the opener.

MarcaClaro’s YouTube page lists a CMLL show on Friday night, available in Mexico only. It’s probably not the happy return of Friday streaming shows. The broadcast is listed at 7 pm CT, an hour and half before CMLL’s live show begins. Unless that changes, that’s probably one of the TV shows being put up on the internet. CMLL still has Friday’s show as a TicketmasterLive show and they’re probably not going to let someone stream it for free. I’ll check on Friday to see if that’s a show we already get.

CMLL put 03/18 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas tickets on sale this past week. In a true rarity, prices appear to be going down. The high ticket is the same 1200 for last year (held in September as a makeup) and the low ticket is 240, down from last year’s 300. Only the main bowl tickets are on sale, the upper level is not available so far. It’s hard to know exactly what that means as far as main event, because the pandemic has stripped a lot of context in what CMLL will do. A medium-level hair match still seems much more likely than a Stuka/Atlantis mask match in March.

An interview with Milenio mentions CMLL plans a second wave of NFTs during the first quarter of 2022, which seems to mean soon if I can read a calendar. The ones available now focus on moves, these will focus on masks. Alexis Salazar, CMLL’s lead photographer and social media community manager, is presented as the person in charge of this initiative. Perhaps that why they’re pushed so hard on Twitter. I have not spoken to anyone who’s told me they’ve had an interest in these NFTs, which are simply digital certifications saying you own a copy of an animated video. I did hear from people who asked me politely to stop writing about it so much.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 02/19/2022 Estadio Universitario Beto Ávila, Veracruz, Veracruz [AAA, Lucha Central, thecubsfan, Voices of Wrestling]
1) Arcano Ii b Arcano
shown in progress on the FITE stream, perhaps airing later. A complete mystery why two different people with an Arcano outfit were fighting each other, or why one was helped by a Terror Purpura.
2) Taya b Maravilla, Lady Shani, Flammer, Keyra [#1 Contenders, Reina de Reina]
12:06. Show opened with Fenix appearing to announce he was unable to wrestle but promised to return faster soon. He introduced the returning Taya (w/Penta), who appeared to be a tecnica and challenged Deonna even before the match. Keyra was added to the match for unexplained reasons. Flammer may have suffered an injury (or may have just sold her way to the back during a long Shani/Taya closing sequence; she was back out later.) Taya beat Shani to win the title. Hijo del Tirantes slow counted Shani at times for no apparent reason, leading to an argument with Tirantes Sr.
3) Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Psicosis II b Mr. Iguana, Myzteziz Jr., Niño Hamburguesa
11:43. Prior to the match, Cibernetico and the Vipers came out to talk. Pagano interrupted and got beat up. Myzteziz replaced Willie Mack (wrestled in Impact instead.) Vipers won cleanly.
4) Arez & Chik Tormenta © b La Hiedra & Villano III Jr. and Octagón Jr. & Sexy Star II [AAA MIXED TAG, lumberjack]
11:17. Announced as non-title, ran as an AAA MIXED TAG title match without a given reason. Also a lumberjack match for no given reason. Arez beat Sexy Star. Empresa attacked Hiedra after the match.
5) Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. DQ Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón and DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis
15:13. Microman was the new member of La Empresa, with the idea that he didn’t actually want to be part of Empresa and wouldn’t help them cheat, eventually breaking up a pin. NGD & Empresa worked together until it came to deciding who would win. Parks won by DQ for no reason anyone understood. Los Mercenarios (Hiedra, Villano and Rey Escorpion in his only appearance on this show) brawled with La Empresa repeatedly after the match in an incoherent segment.
6) Psycho Clown b Laredo Kid, Bandido, Cibernético, Heavy Metal [Rey de Reyes]
10:15. Timed entry rules (1 minute intervals) where the winner was the first person to get pinned (so the match could’ve ended before all the people were out.) Match started with Laredo Kid & Bandido, followed by Psycho Clown, Cibernetico, and surprise Heavy Metal. Pagano hit Cibernetico with a chair to set up a Psycho Clown win.
7) Pentagón Jr. b Dralistico
13:26. Advertised as Lucha Brothers versus Dragon Lee & Dralistico. Fenix could not wrestle due to injury, not announced ahead of time. Dragon Lee was there and didn’t wrestle, no reason give, but he ran out late to interfere. Pentagon cradled Dralistico for the win, who kicked out anyway. Dragon Lee & Dralistico beat up Penta after while security held back Fenix from making the save. Dragon Lee & Dralsitico challenged Fenix & Penta and FTR.
8) John Superstar b Hijo Del Vikingo © [AAA MEGA]
Hijo Del Vikingo © b John Superstar [AAA MEGA]
13:45. first defense. Listed as John Hennigan, billed as John Superstar, called Johnny Superstar during the match. Hennigan tried to use a cameraman’s camera (who would not give it up) and then a small spotlight as a weapon, with Laredo Kid making the save. Vikingo won via rope walk inverted rana and el Cuerno del Vikingo to retain.

No matter what I or possibly you (if you’re also a primarily English-speaking person trying to follow lucha libre) might think is the biggest story off Rey de Reyes, the biggest story for those who speak Spanish appeared to be the reunion of the long time WWF/WWE commentary duo Hugo Savinovich and Carlos Cabrera. AAA brought on Cabrera at the beginning of the live part of the Space broadcast, and he sat in with Savinovich and Jose Manuel Guillen for the rest of the show. Savinovich’s Lucha Libre Online spoiled the news earlier in the day, then deleted it. Reports were Cabrera didn’t seem familiar with AAA at all but most were just delighted to hear the announce team of their youth reunited.

All three announcers did an interview posted on Mas Lucha’s channel, mostly talking about the surprise of WWE letting go Cabrera and the happiness to reunite the team. It sounded like Cabrera is around for the long haul, not just a one-off. Savinovich makes a big pitch for them to be the TV Azteca announcers as well; that station uses it’s own announcers for AAA and did so back when they had WWE. (There were plenty of fans asking to hear the ‘real’ WWE version at that time too.)

It’s too bad they got reunited for such a mess of a show. A lot of the problems of AAA came to a head in one show:

• AAA has prioritized booking as many people as possible, leading to matches overstuffed with people where it takes a miracle for it to come off well.
• AAA has too many people who are apparently refusing to lose, or need some interference losses, so there were terrible finishes up and down this card. AAA is unable to get these people to agree to lose.
• AAA doesn’t respect the people who pay to watch or attend their shows, and so will take their money rather than admit when they’re not going to be able to deliver on a promise.
• There is so much stuff – just STUFF – going on that nothing sinks it or means anything; even the stuff with the more important guys at the end is just another angle after you’ve seen half a dozen.

It’s really great that AAA is heavily recruiting talented wrestlers, but they serve no purpose if they’re getting in the ring for two minutes in a nine-person match. I’ve really enjoyed the work of Dragon Lee over the years, but there’s no point in booking the Munoz family if they’re refusing to lose in any meaningful way. You can’t book a Lucha Brothers/Hermanos Lee match to chase star ratings if you can’t get a finish out of it, it’s never going to work the way you want. The Fenix situation was completely inexcusable, something the promotion should be apologizing for, will not apologize for, and will wonder later why everyone keeps them at an arm’s reach. (If a PPV purchaser were sufficiently motivated, you probably could go to FITE and argue for a refund for not delivering that match.) It was nice to see Heavy Metal and seemed in good shape for a legend, and he was also around for so little time that I don’t think anyone’s going to remember he was there.

Vikingo/Johnny was really good, maybe Great considering the stuff they did near the end of the match would’ve been crazy even if there wasn’t a downpour. Dralistico/Pentagon was fine, with a lame finish and insulting sell to build up a match everyone watching the show had already been promised to see. (If that was the best finish they had, why not just do it with Dragon Lee and Penta? Or should we assume Dragon Lee wouldn’t even agree to the “I’ll get rolled up but kickout before three” finish Dralistico did?)

The women’s match was hard for me to follow, that’s mostly because FITE played the Spanish and English feeds over the top of each other for the first 45 minutes and it was incredibly distracting. The match on its own was anticlimatic – Taya’s promo (and the lack of anything for the other women) made it clear to everyone Taya was winning, and there was no time to breathe before the Tirantes/Tirantes stuff started again. Like with Fenix, AAA clearly knew Willie Mack was going to Impact instead and kept advertising him anyway – even sent out a graphic with him in the match as it was going on! – and the match was very up and down. The mixed tag match had people trying in a completely unwatchable situation. The three way trios match was never going to work on paper – Parks aren’t going to take a loss, NGD aren’t going to take a loss, and AAA doesn’t want Empresa to take a loss – and came off worse in reality. The Microman turn bit was too clever by half, there was no reason to care about him being with Empresa or turning on them because he’d never been seen before. Only people insanely dedicated to watching all of AAA’s social media had any idea what was supposed to be happening there, and anyone that dedicated would also notice all of the rest of AAA didn’t make any sense. You can’t do subtle bits in a promotion where you’re also telling people not to pay attention to the big parts not working. The Rey de Reyes match was rushed and incomplete; you could tell someone believed Laredo & Bandido could save it if they were just allowed to have their own match and nearly did, but they were also just non-factors by the end to get over another feud so it didn’t feel like meant anything.

This criticism is all probably going to be interrupted as a shot at Konnan. I don’t think this is all Konnan’s doing. I have followed Konnan and his tastes long enough to guess that a lumberjack strap bit being added is something he’d hate as much I hated. He’s not blameless either, for sure. Mostly I don’t really care to try to figure out who is responsible for what, I just know that “AAA” is responsible and AAA needs to get better.

I didn’t think Rey de Reye was good, clearly. I don’t have much hope for TripleMania Monterrey after this one either. We know there are four matches in the mask tournament booked. I’m not sure how AAA is going to convince half of those guys to lose if they can’t convince Dralistico to take a three count. Four matches also means that’s about half the card, which means AAA either has to tell a lot of people “sorry, you’re sitting this out”, or there’s going to be even more multi-man matches that devolve into nonsense. There’s no reason to have confidence in AAA addressing their issues. The best case is more like “maybe the Monterrey Showcenter singles tournaments will be more hands-off like the other tournaments they’ve run and more focused on regular AAA wrestlers who will be willing to lose” or “perhaps Tijuana only having two tournaments matches will give more breathing space.”

The FITE broadcast of the show started with two people in matching Arcano (Marvel Lucha Libre Spider-Man) outfits fighting each in mid-match, in something that was probably meant to be a dark match but AAA both ran late and didn’t tell someone to hold off starting the stream. That’s was a good sign about how the night was going to go.

Pagano, Rey Escorpion, and Dragon Lee were all flown to Veracruz not to wrestle. Someone in a Terror Purpura/Thanos outfit – the latest guess is Parka Negra – also was just there to do a run-in as well. AAA certainly had the bodies to do a Dragon Lee/Dralistico vs Penta/ANYONE match if they wanted to.

It rained all night in Veracruz. There have been shows with worse storms and it never seemed close to being stopped. It was still plenty to affect the performances. Vikingo noted the bad weather condition hampered movement on the show and was happy no one got hurt. AAA had no covering over the ring for this show, which is typical for their events. They have two more major outdoor shows this year and having some way to cover the ring at least on those events seems like it’d be a good idea. It’s just another issue AAA’s never been motivated enough to solve.

Vikingo also mentioned in that interview that he’s still waiting for Kenny Omega. He’s going to have to wait a while longer. In an interview with WOR, Omega said he’s farther away from returning than hoped and is going to be out about two more months due to hernia surgery. It’s not clear yet when he’ll be able to have that surgery, so the wait could be longer than that. It’s unlikely he’d be ready for TripleMania Regia. Maybe Omega/Vikingo will happen on the TripleMania Tijuana show, though it seems less likely the longer it gets put off. It didn’t come up in that podcast.

AAA’s referee brigade at the moment

• Hijo del Tirantes, who cheats the rudos at times
• Tirantes Sr., who is there to get himself over (and good at it)
• Piero, who seems to have an injury making him unable to count normally

I’m not sure if Copetes is still around, and he was also doing rudo referee spots last we saw him. I’m sure AAA could find another person to referee a match, maybe even a normal person might count at a normal speed, and that they instead have a guy going out there whose counting arm doesn’t appear to be working.  Maybe is says something about how fiercely people in AAA protect their spots. I hope Piero gets better both because I’d like him not to be in obvious discomfort and also because it’s embarrassing for AAA as it is.

Hijo del Tirantes did all the usual bits he does with Faby Apache with Lady Shani instead on this show. (Shani isn’t as skilled at playing to the crowd on them.) Almost everyone else of Faby Apache’s generation has left AAA at some point, and AAA & Apache have had points where they seemed unhappy with the relationship. It feels inevitable she’ll be out the door at some point, but it’s felt inevitable for years and it hasn’t happened yet. She’s listed on the Merida taping, though we just saw that being listed doesn’t mean much.

Fenix had also been scheduled for the Robles Promotiones show on Friday and appeared there to say he was unable to wrestle and would not wrestle on Rey de Reyes as well. It wasn’t a secret Fenix wasn’t going to wrestle, it was just a problem AAA wasn’t interested in addressing.

AAA really pushed a Cibernetico/Pagano feud, so some big match between the two must be planned. There were so many other things going on that I don’t know that it connected with people at all. AAA will either keep doing and it’ll stick or they’ll just forget about it. In theory, AAA needs a lot of big matches for big shows this year, and Cibernetico agreed to do a hair match would go a long way to explain why AAA brought him back. (I’d still think Pagano is more likely to lose if it comes to it.)

On Facebook, Forastero called his match one of the worst he’s been in because people didn’t know what they were doing and challenged LA Park and his family to an extreme match. Neither of teams are likely to agree to lose in a match like that.

Joe Dombrowski and Larry Dallas did a good job as English announcers with a show that was incredibly tough to keep up with, once they got their own audio track. Their best work was on the final two matches, where they actually had time to do more than talk and fewer people to introduce. I hope AAA and FITE sticks with them for the long haul, they’ll surely get better the more chances they have to call AAA, and the more time English fans get to hear AAA in their language and know who these people are. It was a really rough show for a newcomer. It’s a victory that I didn’t even have to write about them until this far down, it’s nice to have one problem solved.

AAA’s next taping is March 5th, in Ciudad Madero. That’s a week from Saturday. AAA hasn’t said anything about streaming the show, though the Merida taping indicated it AAA would be streaming shows. Madero is another show just overstuffed with people, which might mean good matches but definitely will mean utter chaos and some disappointments.

The 03/13 Merida promoters put out their poster after a delay, and it’s unclear why there was a delay: It’s the same card they had for the 01/30 show, down to La Hiedra being replaced by a surprise wrestler. AAA cleared that up by just putting Hiedra back in the lineup, but there’s no reason to trust AAA feels any requirement to deliver a lineup they advertised months ago. Fenix would have to beat his month more recovery time to be there. There’s also no reason to trust that Lucha Brothers/FTR match will happen unless we get more information closer on, like Fenix saying he’ll be there.

That Hiedra injury appeared to be dropped on Rey de Reyes, and she might be back in the match. The local promoters just took the old graphic and threw a new date on it. There’s no reason to trust this means the Fenix/Penta vs FTR match will be happening unless we get more information.

Psycho Clown and Andrade had a Twitter back and forth on Sunday night, Andrade calling Psycho Clown’s Rey de Reyes win another “gift” from the promotion, Psycho taking issue with that and asking Andrade who he ever beat, and an arguing who’s mask/hair is worth more. AAA teased a match between the two last May when Andrade debuted in the promotion and may have been planned for TripleMania Regia at one point. The timing and style suggest AAA’s trying to set up that match again.

Arturo Rivera’s daughter told TV Notas that Rivera died of multiple organ failure. He had heart issues many years ago, kidney issues more recently then caught pneumonia.  He fought until the end, and his family got to say goodbye before he passed away. Arturo Rivera was honored both at the Robles show and the AAA show this weekend, including a great highlight video.

The Crash

The Crash (FRI) 02/18/2022 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California [TJ Sports]
1) Kamik-C & Skalibur b Lazer & Mirage
Mirage replaced Terror Azteca
2) Black Danger, Dinámico, Oráculo b Black Destiny, Emperador Azteca (Indie), Komander (INdie)
3) Próximo b Toto
The 4:20 Brothers (Skalibur & Kamik-C) helped Proximo win
4) Arandú, Star Boy, Zarco b Súper Astro Jr., Trauma I, Trauma II
Super Astro Jr. wore a Super Muneco tribute match
5) Rey Horus b Demonic Flamita
Jack Cartwheel was announced but didn’t appear. Flamita unmasked Horus after the match.
6) El Hijo Del Santo & Octagón b Fuerza Guerrera & Hijo del Fishman
Three falls (unusual for Crash), tecnicos took 2/3 with Octagon beating Fuerza and Fishman not returning after a Santo tope. Mariachis came out to honor Santo for his 59th birthday but Fishman attacked him. Mask match challenges followed.

Hijo del Fishman was a weird inclusion in the match but would make sense as a Hijo del Santo opponent. Even just a teased opponent; most of Santo’s feuds over the last decade haven’t really materialized. Santo returning to Tijuana did seem like a big draw: the Auditorio looks like a sell-out. They’ve got to bring back Santo more if he’s willing.

The next show is on March 18th, a week before AAA’s taping in the same building.

The Crash has not publically addressed its fallout with AAA, but there was other promotional news on this show. Monterrey’s Roberto Figueroa showed up to announce a partnership between The Crash & KAOZ. That news also meant KAOZ was no longer working with AAA after their wrestlers had been a significant part of their promotion in recent years. (A KAOZ video seems to confirm a break in the relationship; AAA was referred to as “another promotion” with some vague idea they might out do TripleMania Monterrey.) I’m not sure exactly what caused that falling out. Just like with The Crash, AAA’s worked with other promotions in Monterrey and will probably work with KAOZ again sometime down the road. Without AAA, KAOZ is now some ex-AAA guys (Charly Manson-types), some indie wrestlers, some Monterrey wrestlers, and some teases of bringing in Alberto.

Figueroa has shown up in The Crash to announce alliances with Monterrey groups prior – once, they were to going to be on the streaming network he was going to launch (and never really launched), so I don’t know that KAOZ/Crash stuff will end up meaning much.

Robles

ROBLES (FRI) 02/18/2022 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [Estrellas del Ring, The Gladiatores]
1) Arcángel Azteca, Íkaro, Pelotero b Intenso, Tio Korton, Troyano 
2) Caramelito, Microman, Tzuki b Doble Cara, Guapito, Mini Fussion  
Tsuki and Guapito (leaving CMLL) were surprises
3) Baronessa, Diosa Quetzal, Joe Lider, Pimpinela Escarlata b Big Mami, Bugambilia, Máximo, Vanilla Vargas 
Joe Lider & Maximo made hair match challenges. Post match scrum included Billy Boy returning to back up Maximo
4) Atómico Jr., Demonio Infernal, Fresero Jr. b Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico, Brazo De Oro Jr. © [ROBLES TRIOS] 
bloody match
5) Diamante Azul & Texano Jr. b Beast Mode, Cibernético, El Elegido, Puma King, Canek Jr., Diosa Quetzal, Baronessa, Microman 
Puma King replaced Toscano. The Sons of Samoa were advertised but didn’t appear. Whoever slammed Beast Mode would win 500,000. DMT Azul & Texano Jr. worked together to do it, then argued about the money and finally agreed to a match for it.
6) Dralistico, Pagano, Penta 0M b Gran Apolo, La Máscara, Scorpió Jr., Shocker 
Dralistico replaced Fenix (and Pagano announced as mystery person) on 02/04. Shocker and Scorpio replaced Scott Steiner. Dralistco fouled Mascara to win. Mascara bled during the match from a light tube. Dragon Lee, La Besita del Ring and Dementor attacked La Mascara, kicking him out of Los Ingobernables.

If you’re going to watch one match from the usual Robles spectacular, I would recommend the Beast Mode match. It’s not good, it’s just fun to see people who are not into bumping going down for the basketball player who seems barely trained. Paychecks are good. At least they have the good sense to build Beast Mode’s gimmick around him doing as little as possible. Everyone’s got have their cake and eat it too here just as much as AAA, so the Beast Mode bodyslam challenge doesn’t actually end with anyone bodyslamming Beast Mode. Puma and Azul lift him up and left him straddling on the ropes, he sits there doing nothing for a real minute while everyone else nonsense, and then Azul & Texano shove Beast Mode over, where he takes the gentlest bump possible. People in CMLL are of the opinion that they’re the true real wrestling and everything else is a circus. Often they think too highly of themselves, but these Robles shows are true circus stuff.

If you have AAA Billy Boy in your mind and you want to keep that as your image of him, do not look up the videos of the heavy Billy Boy who showed up here. Time comes for us all. Whoever’s in charge of booking for Robles, be it La Mascara or others, seems to be desperately trying to get as many friends a payday as quick as possible, as if even they belief this company isn’t going to be around for the long haul. This show didn’t draw well – between a third and a half of Juan de la Barrera – but that doesn’t appear to be a factor here.

Guapito last worked in CMLL in November, so he may have left a while back and we just didn’t pick up on it. La Mascara is now officially the leader of the Perra Sociedad instead of being part of Los Ingobernables. It appears to be a stable dreamt up by Robles himself and La Mascara is the face of the promotion, so of course he should be leading it. It was always weird that Scott Steiner was advertised for this show; I presume someone at some point talked to Steiner but who can even be sure.

The next Robles Mexico City show appears to be April 29th, with Rush appearing. That’s the first Rush known booking since he left ROH last year with a knee injury. I expect he’ll wrestle before then. It’s hard to tell with him right now.

Here’s a thing I don’t understand but am compelled by events to explain anyway. (Maybe that’s the whole blog.) If you look through the YouTube videos, there are multiple wrestler interactions with a man named Alfredo Adame. He is a 63-year-old actor and a TV host of some fame, though that’s not what he’s famous for at the moment. About a month ago, a video of Adame getting into a literal street fight with a man and a woman went viral. It’s short and wild enough without context, a famous person involved just made it bigger. Adame’s version is he was getting mugged, and he was just trying to get his phone back. I guess that’s possible, it just doesn’t seem like what’s happening in that video. Anyway, it’s 2022 so all publicity is good publicity and he was getting into skirmishes with people. (This isn’t even the only time he’s coming up with wrestling; Alberto joked on social media about booking Monterrey’s baseball stadium between Adame and old rival, which somehow got reported as news by outlets, who were less credible for doing so.) I’m not sure if this or Billy Boy is the better example of how Robles Promotions is just spending money to spend money.

IWRG (SUN) 02/20/2022 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring, IWRG]
1) Sol & Spider Fly b Águila Oriental & Súper Cometa  
2) Lolita & Satania b Bengalee & Sagitarius 
3) Hell Boy, Noisy Boy, Relámpago b Apolo Estrada Jr., Billy Jones, Chris Stone Jr. 
4) Tonalli b Asterboy 
bloody match, setting up a title match next week
5) Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane b Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura  
6) Cerebro Negro b Travis Banks, Zumbi, Dr. Cerebro, Veneno, Hip Hop Man, Shocko, Action Jackson [Copa Internacional]  
Cerebro beat Travis Banks to win

I heard good things about the opener (joined in progress on the Mas Lucha stream) and strong reviews for the fourth match.  The IWRG broadcast indicated the IWRG Tryout semifinals will also air next week, which seems like a good enough time to pick it up.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha (SUN) 02/20/2022 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Eclipse, Orbita, Sussy Love b Limbo, Reina Dorada, Viajero
Limbo and Viajero had issues
2) Cometa Maya, King, Kong b Lil Blay, Mil Almas, Potro
Lil Blay replaced Accion Jackson (IWRG). Mil Alams hit Cometa Maya with a guitar after the match.
3) Skayde b Negro Navarro
Scheduled as Extasis versus Skayde but Black Generacion forced Extasis out of the match and replaced him with Negro Navarro.
4) Bendito & Elemental b Gravity & Komander
5) Yutani b Arez
Yutani snuck in a foul on Arez. Black Generacion dared Arez to bring the rest of the Vipers to Big Lucha.
6) Ciclón Ramírez Jr. & El Bandido b Demonic Flamita & Emperador Azteca and Dragón Lee & Dralistico
Extasis tried to interfere and got beat up by Black Generacion, sent to an ambulance.

I present these results mostly because I had thought that maybe AAA didn’t do Dragon Lee/Penta because Dragon Lee had some sort of injury. He wrestled here so nope. The Extasis injury angle was played up big, though I think Black Generacion turned face in some places by forcing a Skayde/Navarro match to happen.

Other News

Black Taurus lost to JONAH on the Impact PPV Saturday, as expected. Deonna Purrazzo defended the ROH title on the show, not the AAA one. Taurus had no significant involvement in the TV tapings that followed and Laredo Kid does not appear to have been brought in on those Sunday tapings.

Ringo Mendoza is on the cover of Box y Lucha 3501D.