CMLL
CMLL (MON) 02/13/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) Astro & Centella Roja b Espíritu Maligno & King Jaguar
2) Multy, Rey Apocalipsis, Siki Osama b Halcón Suriano Jr., Hijo de Centella Roja, Millenium
3) Amapola, Hera, Olympia b La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit 
Amapola challenged Sugehit to a title match.
4) Difunto, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
Difunto replaced Dulce Gardenia
5) Averno, Euforia, Oráculo, Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Atlantis Jr., Místico, Rocky Romero [Relevos Increíbles]
Usual feuding by the H2L four, but it was Euforia beating Mistico and Averno the same to Atlantis Jr. for the win.
Seemed like a good turnout for this show. The women’s title match has been brewing for a few weeks and might have been saved for the first Monday of Fantastica Mania.
Difunto, theoretically based in Guadalajara, is an unusual sub for a Puebla show. He actually hasn’t wrestled in Guadalajara since January 25th.
CMLL (TUE) 02/14/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores]
1) Mercurio & Pierrothito b Angelito & Shockercito 
2) Cholo, Dr. Karonte I, Nitro b Cachorro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Oro Jr.
3) Capitán Suicida b Astral [lightning]
9:11
4) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela b Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Tiffany
5) Esfinge, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b El Felino Jr., Felino, Hijo del Villano III
Esfinge replaced Dulce Gardenia
6) Euforia, Místico, Stuka Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Niebla Roja, Titán [Relevos Increíbles] 
Team Mistico won, but Euforia & Stuka got annoyed at Mistico and attacked and unmasked him after the match. Niebla Roja hurt his shoulder again.
Stuka & Euforia were standoff-ish from Mistico the whole match before the beatdown. Niebla Roja seems to have a chronic shoulder injury.
Dulce Gardenia’s disappearance is said not to be serious.
The Toreno de Escualas kicks off here next Tuesday with the fourway between the capitans.
CMLL (TUE) 02/14/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Canalla, Demonio Maya, Demonio Rojo b Avispón Negro Jr., Bello Antuan, Eclipse Jr. 
2) Átomo, Chamuel, Periquito Sacaryas b Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Sagrado
3) Maligna, Náutica, Sexy Sol b Nexy, Valkiria, Zeuxis
4) Atlantis Jr. b Volador Jr. [lightning]
6:16. unannounced lightning match; both were scheduled in the main event. Atlantis Jr. won clean with La Atlantida in a short match.
5) Optimus, Satánico, Trono b Asturiano, Black Tiger (Puebla), Siky Ozama
6) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Zandokan Jr. b Arlequín, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr.
7) Dark Panther & Oráculo b Ángel de Oro & Rocky Romero
Changed main event. Angel de Oro & Oraculo had problems leading to their loss.
I don’t understand the deal with Volador Jr. and Atlantis Jr., but this is the second time they’ve been moved up in about three weeks. They moved the entire main event early last time. Volador & Atlantis’ match wasn’t much – and the main event wasn’t something spectacular early – but this crowd is into having a good time and seeing the locals guys win so it worked fine for them. Not something you need to go back and watch.
CMLL (SAT) 02/18/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy, Galaxy, Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora
2) Eléctrico, Leono, Neón vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Inquisidor
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr., Robin
4) Esfinge vs Misterioso Jr. [lightning]
5) Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr., Star Black vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
6) Místico vs Bárbaro Cavernario
It’s rare to see Star Black without Fugaz and Esfinge, but his partners are split off into lightning matches this week. Tercera could be setting up an Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship.
CMLL (SUN) 02/19/2023 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Minos & Pequeño Violencia
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Skadi vs Amapola, Hera, Olympia
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Dark Magic, Disturbio, Espanto Jr.
4) Fugaz vs Dark Panther [lightning]
5) Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Kráneo, Rey Bucanero
6) Atlantis, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
This looks like it’ll be the last night for the FantasticaMania crew before going to Japan, and most of them aren’t wrestling here.
Today’s CMLL Informa has the incredible pairs finalists and Team Puebla. They’ll also announce the Copa Irma Gonzalez field. I’ve figured CMLL held back announcing the names because they’ll generate some extra attention with someone unusual included. (As with last week, only media are allowed to attend Informa today.) Princesa Sugehit, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis, Marcela and Amapola seem like solid bets for eight of the spots, and then it gets harder to figure. Is Lady Frost or any of the other foreigners back? Is Dark Silueta cleared to return? Is it time for another Faby Apache appearance?
That last possibility has been the subject Facebook rumors and counter rumors for the last week. Newspaper columnist El Planchitas hadn’t been heard from in quite a while before resurfacing last week with a claim Faby and CMLL had a falling out, she’s done in CMLL, and CMLL has banned their wrestlers to work on any show with her. The idea is CMLL didn’t want Faby working for KAOZ (on the 02/25 Saltillo show, and the since canceled 02/26 Monterrey show) and she didn’t want to cede control of her dates when she’s not a contracted CMLL wrestler (and doesn’t seem to have interest in being one.) There’s been push back that this story isn’t true and there’s some reason to think it might not be, but it doesn’t feel worth digging through it when we’ll know in a few hours. If Faby is part of the 10, then the story was nothing or the issue was worked out somehow. If Faby is not booked, then Marcela/Faby goes down as the first big feud of 2023 that CMLL kinda dropped the ball on and that story will be the public reason why.
Fuerza Guerrera says his retirement tour has been postponed to December, but he’ll still going to have a tour of all the CMLL arenas. Guerrera has been out of wrestling due an operation and is expecting to be back in March. It’s not immediately clear why that requires his retirement to be postponed by nine months.
AAA
AAA held another press conference to announce the opening matches for the 03/19 Lucha Libre World Cup in Guadalajara
- Mexico (Lady Flammer, Sexy Star, La Hiedra) vs Japan (Emi Sakura, Mayumi Ozaki and AKINO)
- USA (Deonna Purrazzo, Kamille and Jordynne Grace) vs Team World (Christi Jaynes, Taya and Natalia Markova)
- Canada (Josh Alexander, Vampiro, PCO) vs Europe (Joe Hendry, Heddi Karaoui, and Thomas Latimer)
- USA (Sam Adonis, Johnny Caballero, Christopher Daniels) vs Japan (La Estrella, Nishikawa and Kuukai)
- Mexico (Taurus, Pentagon Jr., and Laredo Kid) vs World (Classy Ali, Rage, Bhupinder Gujjar)
- Mexico (Psycho Clown, Alberto el Patron, Hijo del Vikingo) vs Latin America (Carlito, Hip Hop Man, Zumbi)
AAA didn’t give a bracket; I assume the two Mexican teams are not slotted to face each other in a semifinal.
Emi Sakura and Christopher Daniels were listed as “Indy” in the previous press conference and were listed as “AEW” in these graphics. It’s really only notable in that the graphics wasn’t there before, I wouldn’t take it as more than that. I believe Jaynes is a NWA regular and was still listed as Indy, so whoever’s doing these graphics may just not be really researching these things closely. AAA did tag AEW in the announcement both last time and this time, so I think the “logo” issue is low on the list of the problems.
This is an international tournament. It exists to sell tickets to Mexican (and traveling) fans. It also exists to get international exposure. Nothing was communicated about how international viewers can see the show. I assume it’ll be on FITE.
The team of Laredo Kid, Pentagon Jr. and Taurus should win this tournament. They should win this tournament because they are good and cool, they should win this tournament because Laredo Kid outdoing Hijo del Vikingo continues a build to a meaningful title match, and they should win this tournament because Alberto el Patron coming in off the street to be anointed as better than almost anyone AAA has on their roster is destructive. The team of Laredo Kid, Pentagon Jr., and Taurus will not win this tournament; they’ll probably lose to either the US or Canada team because the team with Alberto is the real star team.
The Mexican women seem a safe bet to beat Japan. The other one seems is tough for me. The USA team seems like the obvious winners except Taya is Taya and don’t lose much. It also would be awkward to have two Team USA vs Team Mexico finals, and the men’s US team seems more likely to win for various reasons.
The tournament will also include a panel of judges for individual awards (best match, best wrestler, best move.)
- Negro Casas
- Cien Caras
- Mascara 2000
- Shocker
- Fantasma
Shocker, Negro Casas, and Alberto appeared to promote the show.
Space will air the four Rey de Reyes semifinals this week, and presumably the rest of the show next week. It’s the logical way of doing it.
AAA’s stop in Culiacan on Saturday seems to have drawn very well. AAA seems to have lost their international cool points but they’re still doing well at selling tickets in Mexico.
Slam Wrestling has a profile of Gringo Loco.
IWRG
IWRG , LLB (THU) 02/16/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Gravedad Cero, Oro Blanco, Voltio vs Rey Azteca Jr., Rurus, Súper Boy
2) Barba Azul II, Barba Gris, Brazo Azul vs Brazo de Platino, Demencia, Sangre Suicida
3) Mary Caporal & Princesa Azul vs ? & Sagitarius
4) Cerebro Negro Jr. & Hijo De Carta Brava vs Impulso & León Dorado
5) Gallego, Hell Boy, Romano García vs Carta Brava, Cerebro Negro, Fantasma de la Ópera
6) Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II vs Puma de Oro & Tonally and Lunatik Xtreme & Ovett Jr.
7) Atlantis Jr. & Místico vs Hijo del Villano III & Volador Jr.
This lineup was announced weeks ago, just a refresh since it’s coming this week. It’s a member-only show on Mas Lucha, billed as an IWRG show but really more of a Lucha Libre Boom lineup. CMLL wrestlers being on this show is a big deal but I’m not sure what to expect from them.
IWRG (SUN) 02/19/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Roja & Súper Boy vs Alan Extreme & Tortuga Leo
2) Spider Fly vs Kenji [IWRG IC Light]
2nd defense
3) Luka & Súper Mario 47 vs Oficial 911 & Oficial Fierro
4) Puma de Oro vs Jhon Tito [IWRG IC MIDDLE]
1st defense
5) Cerebro Negro Jr. & Travis Banks vs Hell Boy & Rey Espectro and Hijo del Fishman & Rey Halcón and Maniacop & Yorvak and Baby Star & La Momia and Aster Boy & Hijo del Alebrije and Hip Hop Man & Shocko and Imposible & Noisy Boy [El Protector]
6) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Tonalli vs Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero
This joins Thursday’s show as a Mas Lucha premium show. I can’t think of back to back Naucalpan shows that were premium shows. It’s also very rare for CMLL luchadors to wrestle in Arena Naucalpan for IWRG – Rey Bucanero was supposed appear to a couple of weeks ago and just didn’t appear. Ultimo Guerrero did appear with Tonali for his mask match in December and did press this week to hype this appearance, so it looks like it’s happening.
The rules for El Protector (IWRG’s veteran/rookie team) this time around sounds like it’s all eight teams simultaneously, and teams can only be eliminated by beating the younger team member. Eli Isom was originally pictured in Maniacop’s spot when IWRG previewed the tournament on Sunday.
Travis Banks is just Travis on the poster. Mas Lucha had it the same way, so maybe that’s a name change. I’m not sure why; no one’s going to be confused as to who it is.
Other News
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
Box y Lucha #3538 has returned to having a dozen different photos on the cover.
Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre has a new edition of its magazine.
Lourdes Grobet’s lucha libre photos will be part of a collection of works by 30 different Mexican women in Madrid, Spain’s Casa de Mexico en Espana museuem.
La Notica has an interview with Ricardo Ordaz, the promoter of Mucha Lucha Atlanta. In 2013, he was working as a radio announcer. The promoter for a local lucha libre show vanished on the luchadors, and they came to him to ask for help with it. His father was a wrestler and he caught the bug to become a promoter after that first show. He’s run around 35 shows so far. Ordaz says his earliest obstacle is fans and sponsors didn’t believe he was really bringing in Mexico stars in his first shows, and he had to prove it by doing it. 80% of the fans who come to the show now are Mexicans, and about 10% of the rest are other latinos. He’s considering running shows in the Carolinas; he helped local promoters run a show with Hijo del Santo but those promoters are taking a break. The long term plans are to set up a gym and an arena in Atlanta.
A Cholitas de Bolivia article.
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