CMLL to decide king of hell to be tonight on Dia de Muertos PPV, Titan for IWGP, AAA Aguascalientes

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 11/04/2022 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Violencia
2) Dalys, Marcela, Stephanie Vaquer vs Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Tae Honma [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs El Coyote, Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III
4) Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
5) Terrible vs Stuka Jr. [Rey del Infrmaundo]

Reminder: this starts one hour later than usual if you’re in the US, and the price is double because it’s a Dia del Muertos show.

It’s not really much of a card outside of the theme. The press for this show is “can Terrible set the record for the Rey del Inframundo wins”, which is a good sign of how little there is talk about it. The semi-main should be fine (and may set up a singles match for next week), the tercera could be fun, but it’s one where CMLL expects the motif to carry most of the interest. It seems to be working: the lower bowl was about 80% sold when I checked on Friday morning.

Mistico is expected to wrestle after getting hurt on Monday and missing Tuesday; his CMLL Informa interview mentioned he was cleared to wrestle on Friday.

Avispa Dorada said she’s still COVID positive and will miss this weekend’s shows. She’s vaccinated and says her symptoms have been mild. Dalys replaces her on Saturday.

CMLL (MON) 11/07/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja, Hijo de Centella Roja, Meyer vs Espíritu Maligno, King Jaguar, Rencor
2) Asturiano, Fuerza Chicana, Millenium vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Retro
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr.
4) Arkalis, Stigma, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Dragón Rojo Jr., Hijo del Villano III
5) Hechicero vs Gran Guerrero [CMLL HEAVY]
4th defense

Hechicero posted the Dia de Muertos mask he would’ve used on those shows, had CMLL booked the leader of their top satanic faction and heavyweight champion on shows focused on death. He should wear the mask here. This is actually an interesting card, I’d like to see how the third match would go.

Also on CMLL Informa, Julio Cesar Rivera said there would be further appearances by foreigners in CMLL before the end of the year. That fits with mentions of something happening in December. This took place during the Dalys segment, and they teased a Dalys/Lady Frost match. They’re also going with the story that the other Mexican luchadors didn’t celebrate in the ring with Dalys because they were too hurt, but they also celebrated with her after she got to the back. It had a bit of a Nathan Fielder but maybe she’s telling the truth.

Titan & BUSHI challenge TJP & Francesco Akira for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship on NJPW’s show on Saturday on Osaka. They’re wrestling the opener, so that’s a 3 AM CDT start in the US and a 2 AM CST in Mexico City. (It’s close enough to think about staying up for it after CMLL, and far enough to make me pay a terrible price if I choose to do so.) The two teams had singles matches on Thursday, Titan & BUSHI won both, and that makes them heavy underdogs on Saturday by wrestling logic. The two teams hyped the match at a press conference on Friday, with Titan and BUSHI pushing that they wanted to bring the belts to CMLL and TJP saying no, he would do that instead. It’s press conference hype, it may mean nothing, but CMLL’s already established they’ll have some foreigners coming in later this year. December 16th or December 23rd would work on NJPW’s schedule if there’s anything to this at all.

NJPW will likely also announce the teams for their tag leagues during this show. Titan is certain to participate. More CMLL participation would be a nice surprise.

CMLL (TUE) 11/08/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., El Divino, Mágico vs Bobby Black, Canalla, Carlo Roggi
2) Estrella de Jalisco I, Estrella de Jalisco II, Último Ángel vs Persa, Raven, Temerario
3) Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Cris Skin, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel
4) Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria vs Maligna, Misteriosa, Stephanie Vaquer
5) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
6) Atlantis Jr., Dark Panther, Felino Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Averno, Dulce Gardenia, JKR, Rugido

Strange teams in the main event. Leo popped up last week as a replacement after not wrestling here since last September (and being a missing person for a while.)

AAA

There’s an AAA show in Aguascalientes scheduled to have Fenix & Penta vs Dragon Lee & Dralistico tonight. The local promoter has streamed matches on their Facebook in the past. No idea if they’ll do it again. It’ll usually sticks on Facebook for a while either way. The show starts locally at 8:15 but probably actually much later than that and with some unlisted matches.

AAA has an episode of TV on Space at 6:30 pm local time on Saturday. (Reminder: that’s one hour later than usual if you’re in the US.) The episode title says “Guadalajara 2”, so it’s the remaining matches from Zapopan:

• Toxin vs Drago Kid (might not air; seemed to be an extra taped match)
• Mini Vikingo, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa vs Dinámico, Emperador Azteca, SB Kento
• Aramis, Arez, Komander vs Abismo Negro Jr., Flamita, Látigo
• Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown vs Carta Brava Jr., Chessman, Puma King

Add 12/17 Ciudad Madero to the list of upcoming AAA tapings. Tickets are on sale and Fenix and Konnan are advertised as appearing. (I’ve seen mention of Penta too, and that’s probably right with who’s saying it, I just haven’t seen it promoted yet.) The schedule AAA is putting out says Tempe and Acapulco are their last two shows of the year, so they haven’t even acknowledged this one is happening.

IWRG

I’m not sure if Friday’s Mexico City show is recorded; I’d guess it’s a show turning up later if it turns up at all.

IWRG (SUN) 11/06/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Jhon Tito & Spider Fly vs Kenji & Súper Boy
2) Diosa Quetzal vs Satania [IWRG IC WOMEN, quarterfinal]
3) Caballero de Plata, Freelance, Paymon vs Brad Alexis, Limbo, Yorvak
4) Dr. Cerebro, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Imposible vs Garra Mortal, Hell Boy, Rocky Casas
5) Aster Boy vs Hijo De Canis Lupus vs Abismo Negro Jr.vs Puma de Oro
6) Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura vs Bugambilia & Máximo

IWRG did say they’d have a women’s champion crowd at the end of the year, and the tournament starts here. IWRG Revolucionando said it’s an eight-women tournament also including Lolita, Lady Maravilla, Bengalee, Keyra, Sagittarius, and Mary Caporal. That IWRG Revolucionando episode is an emotional watch, with a lot of time spent remembering Ivannia and everyone still being in shock over her passing away. Lolita’s interviewed about the tournament and mentions how great it was to have a woman in power she could go to if she had a problem or just wanted to talk someone woman to woman.

IWRG Retro Thursday got posted late but it did go up

• 1999-01-17 Mike Suicida, Bruly, Fantasy vs Starboy, Power Punch, Mercurio
• 2005-03-10 Black Dragon, Fabian el Gitano, Tony Rivera vs Carta Brava, Fantasma de la Opera, Nitro
• 2005-02-03 Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Canek [UWA HEAVY]

The 1999 stuff is before anyone outside of Mexico knew IWRG was actually taping TV, so fair to say that’s new.

Big Lucha

Tonight’s Big Lucha World

• Extasis & King vs Hijo de Skayde & Kong
• Carito (w/Skayde) vs Accion Jackson (w/Potro de Oro)
• Gravity & Cometa Maya vs El Elmental & Forneo

Next week is the the next full strength Big Lucha show (Guerra de Poder), so the main event here is a preview of the top two matches and the seconds are the tag partners on the 11th. King and Kong are supposed to team against the Skaydes on that 11th show, but it doesn’t seem likely at the moment.

Other News

Los Negociantes’ Fresero Jr., Demonio Infernal and Atomic Star have been doing press this week to promote tonight’s Robles show in Arena San Juan, with the idea Los Negociantes are the hottest indie group since Los Perros del Mal. Fresero and the guys are main eventing the show, but for a promotion that has scaled down significantly from running Gimansio Juan de la Barrio. Los Neogciantes have done well for themselves but they’re much more the new Los Porros than the new Los Perros del Mal (and I think they wouldn’t be much offended by that comparison.)

Nacion Lucha Libre, who is running Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera Sunday, is now saying they’ll have a match with Alberto el Patron and LA Park. Nacion had previously announced the LA Parks were appearing but this is the first time I’ve seen them mention a specific match, and this may someone just trying to make sense of the poster. Nacion hasn’t announced any matches officially. LA Park’s made a nice living of promoters in over their head calling him to add save some show. The ticket map only shows the floor seats for that one, and there’s a lot left unsold.

KAOZ returns to Arena Coliseo Monterrey for the “Konnan Big farewell show.” Mas Lucha is streaming this as part of their membership Sunday (6 pm local start) and is treating Emperador Azteca versus The Tiger mask match as the actual main event; I’m not sure if they’ve mentioned Konnan Big. Not a sole believes Konnan Big is actually retiring, and not just because he’s got matches on 11/11 in Ciudad Madero and 11/24 in Gomez Palacio. I’m mildly interested in the mask match but KAOZ doesn’t have a great track record of the really big matches coming through at that memorable level; this might be a good one to go back later if it seems worth the time.

GCW announced Pagano, Komander, and Arez for their 12/16 Los Angeles show. Arez hasn’t been on GCW shows in a while.