CMLL
Titan made it to the finals of the Best of Super Juniors tournament. I am not making this up, it really happened. Titan defeated El Desperado in a fantastic main event and will meet Master Wato (old CMLL friend Kawato) in the final on Sunday morning. The full show from this morning is free on NJPW World; you don’t need to register. The Wato/Bailey match preceding it is also well worth watching.
Titan’s story inside this tournament has been the Llave Inmortal – his Mutalock variation – being completely unbeatable and inescapable once fully locked on. I was sure Hiromu Takahashi would be the one to escape it in the league final finally. He tapped out. I was sure El Desperado would get out of it this morning. He tapped out. Titan still seems like an underdog against Wato; even with all of LIJ rooting him out, Titan is the outsider. Titan would be the favorite in any other situation, and he’s got a decent chance of winning this.
I think it was Chris Charlton who speculated, right after the main event finish, that 90% of the fans walked into the building expecting to see Mike Bailey versus El Desperado set up as the final. I was definitely in that 90%, was slightly surprised when Wato beat Bailey and then was shocked in the end. It’s a big risk to put Titan and Wato, two guys who’ve never been headliners in NJPW, against each other in what’s traditionally a big drawing show. I have no feel for how well it worked today or how well it will work tomorrow, but it’s a tremendous endorsement given to Wato & Titan to headline in this spot.
(Post Wrestling translated a Proresu-TODAY interview with NJPW’s Takami Ohabri earlier this week. The president of NJPW said that promotion was close to shutting down during the worst of the pandemic; he could count the months on one hand. NJPW’s profits relied a lot of ticket sales and in-arena purchases, like AAA & CMLL. They’ve spent the last three years diversifying and growing their sales outside of the I’ve event as well as cut expenses and he believes they’ll just barely make a profit when their fiscal year ends in June. I don’t know if anyone could get CMLL or AAA to talk with numbers about their business during the pandemic, but I suspect they might have similar stories. As far as the BOSJ, NJPW seems like they’re in a place where they can’t yet afford to experiment – both this final and Yota’s return seem like things that they’re needing to work.)
CMLL (FRI) 05/26/2023 Arena México
1) Angelito vs Galaxy [lightning]
2) Capitán Suicida, Fuego, Volcano vs Crixus, Kráneo, Raider
3) La Jarochita vs La Catalina [lightning]
4) El Audaz vs Rugido, Guerrero Maya Jr., El Coyote, Hombre Bala Jr., Felino Jr., Rey Samuray, Zandokan Jr. [MEX MIDDLE, #1 Contenders]
vacant title (Templario won CMLL MIDDLE)
5) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
6) Soberano Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr. [Copa Jr. VIP, final]
Templario got the title win, Dragon Rojo got the tournament win, maybe it’s Soberano’s turn.
The Mexican Middleweight tournamenti s a bigger question mark. Guerrero Maay Jr. is the closest guy to being pushed, but the ‘final 2 advance’ format gives CMLL a big opener for someone unusual to get a spotlight match. Maybe CMLL will go with Zandokan Jr. as hard as theorized. Maybe it’s Coyote’s big night. Maybe it’s Rugido continuing to get shots. Not really sure.
Not really sure about this card. Everyone seems like it has a chance to be good if it breaks right but nothing is a for sure great match. The PPV is up as usual. It’ll air on YouTube on 06/11.
Audaz says he feels fortunate to be in this tournament after dealing with personal problems and falling of his motorcycle and injuring his ankle. (That’s the first I’ve heard of any of that, but Audaz did disappear earlier this year.) He feels he’s fallen behind others like Titan, Hechicero, Esfinge and Templario and wants to catch up, though he really wants a match with Virus first.
Hombre Bala says winning the middleweight title would be the biggest moment of his career. (Correct.)
CMLL (MON) 05/29/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Amnesia & Brave Star vs Espíritu Maligno & Sombra Diabólika
2) Acero, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Polvora
3) Perverso, Prayer, Siky Ozama vs Crixus, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
5) Atlantis Jr. & Soberano Jr. vs Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja
The main event is a rematch.
CMLL (TUE) 05/30/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Dulce Kitty, Karisma, Sexy Sol vs Atenea, Nexy, Valkiria
2) Mágico & Metatrón vs Estrella de Jalisco I & Estrella de Jalisco II and Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno and Gran Kenut & Jabalí
3) Bestia Negra, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel vs Ángel Rebelde, Optimus, Trono
4) Crixus vs Halcón Negro Jr., Ángel Negro, El Gallero
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Dulce Gardenia, La Fashion vs Arlequín, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte
6) Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis © vs Hera & Olympia [OCCIDENTE WOMEN TAG]
first defense
Women’s tag match was set up last week (and women main eventing here is getting normal.) Match 4 is a four-way.
The Estrellas de Jalisco who are regulars were originally Estrella de Jalisco Jr. I & Estrella de Jalisco Jr. II; the Juniors got dropped quick. I think the ones in the second match are the mid 2000s versions of that character, who obviously may be related to the ones around now. It’s an all old guy match.
CMLL Informa ended with a new wrestler teaser. The wrestler wasn’t named nor fully shown, but it appeared to be someone in a Mascara Dorada mask. Metalik confirmed this is not him, though he still hopes to make it to Arena Mexico again. CMLL ended the video by teasing more information soon.
My first guess on the wrestler – and this is just a guess, I don’t have hard info on this – was Panterita del Ring Jr. based on the body type and based on him giving up his title earlier in the episode. Others have fairly pointed out Panterita is still booked on upcoming shows, which is unlike what CMLL does in these situations. Max Star and Futuro have both not been seen in a couple of weeks, though CMLL’s not booking any of the Torneo de Escuelas wrestlers frequently so it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
A very long digression about a related thing that may mean nothing but is still slightly interesting
Is this a good time to talk about the Mascara Dorada trademark and drop a minor scoop in an unrelated bit? Sure, why not. Please keep in mind that, as far as I can tell, nothing about CMLL has or is going to change. CMLL is still going to keep on keeping on. Just, when we talk about “CMLL owns the name Mascara Dorada”, that fact appears to be in legal dispute.
There are two trademarks filed for “Mascara Dorada” in Mexico. One was filed by “PROMOCIONES MÉXICO COLISEO Y REVOLUCIÓN, S.C.”, which what the Salavador Lutteroth’s have been mentioned as running since they took control of the company in 2019. (There’s never been an explanation for this specific name.) Their Mascara Dorada trademark was filed in 2021 and is listed as “In Process” in Mexico’s trademark database. The other “Mascara Dorada” trademark is registered to “MARIA SOFIA ALONSO PERCHES” (better known as Sofia Alonso.) This second trademark was filed back in 2010 originally under Paco Alonso’s name and is listed as fully registered. That trademark, along with 174 other Paco Alonso trademarks, were transferred to Sofia Alonso in 2019 following her father’s death upon her legal team’s request. This batch of trademarks includes other items we would consider “CMLL” property (including the name and logo itself.) It’s always been unclear why the names were registered under the Alonso name, but there’s been no outward sign of any issue with their usage through the changes of power.
Sofia Alonso is listed as renewing those registrations in September 2020. That’s almost a year after the Lutteroth’s appeared to cease control of the promotion from here. If you don’t remember or weren’t around, the brief version is Sofia Alonso took over CMLL following her father’s death in August 2019, then was apparently pushed out of power by other members by November of the same year. Alonso lost power but apparently kept control of her family’s trademarks. The Mascara Dorada record, and others in this batch of trademark renewals, list three more recent documents. Those all refer to a civil lawsuit between Lutteroths and the Alonsos over those trademarks. It doesn’t appear to be the renewal itself that caused the lawsuit, but instead Sofia Alonso signed an agreement with “Intellectual Property Assets Management, Inc.” in February 2021. Alonso appears to have licensed all her CMLL trademarks to this company. The full agreement doesn’t seem to be posted to the trademark site; we don’t know what she received from this deal. My presumption is the IPAM would’ve tried to extract a fee from the Lutteroth’s from using all those trademarks (which, again, include fundamental IP like “CMLL” and “Mistico” and “Mascara Dorada”.) The Lutteroth’s lawsuit was to stop all of thhs from happening, arguing Paco Alonso was not legally allowed to pass down his trademarks and they should’ve instead be invalidated. In theory, invading those trademarks would open a path for the Luttertoth’s pending trademarks to become the only official ones.
This lawsuit is all old news to the people involved and there’s not much more info on it. The US has public electronic records of civil court cases, allowing us to track things like the AAA vs Lucha Libre FMV case. Mexico does not, at least as far as I’ve been able to discover. The lawsuit was filed in 2021, and the most recent update is from 2022 (which seemed to be a ‘don’t do anything with this until the court case resolves’ statement as best I can tell.) There’s no apparent resolution to be found in the status of the trademarks: the Alonso trademarks are still active, the Lutteroths remain pending. The Lutteroth’s actions suggest they’re unconcerned; they wouldn’t be giving someone the Mascara Dorada name if they thought they were about to lose it. Most of these cases get settled, and maybe there’s some discussion happening outside of what we’re seeing in the documentation.
Panterita del Ring Jr. did give up the Mexican National Lightweight championship earlier in Informa. He said he was gaining weight, moving up to welterweight, and wanted to challenge Titan or Rocky Romero for one of the world welterweight championships. In reality, lightweight is a division CMLL has never been interested in for its 90-year history. They don’t want Panterita thought of as a lightweight if they’re going to push him big, they’re not going to have anyone that size beat Panterita in a title match, and that meant giving up the title was always the likely ending.
Those future Panterita matches include the Copa Dinastia, coming to CMLL in June. This is different than usual tournaments in that it’s a Sunday show event so it can have the final on Father’s Day. Seven of the eight teams are father/son. There will be two blocks of four teams:
- June 4th: Euforia & Soberano Jr., Valiente & Valiente Jr., Stuka Jr. & Hijo de Stuka Jr., Misterioso Jr. & Misterio Negro
- June 11th: Mistico & Dr. Karonte I (brothers), Atlantis & Atlantis Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. & Panterita del Ring, Felino & Felino Jr.
- June 18th: final
Euforia & Soberano beat Gran & Ultimo Guerrero last year. They’re the only returning team from that version of Copa Dinasita; CMLL has so many related people that they can reload the tournament year to year.
CMLL Informa also included Barbaro Cavernario, Virus and Stephanie Vaquer talking about their matches in New Japan Strong. They were all pleased how it went, how they got cheers from the fans (maybe not the people up close but Virus thought the fans a little farther back knew them) and the praise they got from their fellow wrestlers. Cavernario said Okada, Tanahashi and Juice Robinson completed him for their match. Vaquer said KENTA complimented her work, and Vaquer told KENTA she had actually taken a seminar with him way back when she was first starting out in Chile. KENTA did not remember her, they hadn’t run into each other in the decade-plus since. They brought up Virus/ZSJ, Vaquer/Mone and even Bad Dude Tito/Cavernario happening in Arena Mexico – it sounded like something CMLL would like to do and said they would work on, but they weren’t promising any of it actually happening yet.
La Maligna talked to MedioTiempo about balancing lucha libre with her home life. She took four years off or her most recent child (a daughter), because she just didn’t want to miss important moments. She had missed birthdays (including her older son’s) in the past. Maligna’s father passed away back in October; he wrestled most often as Chavo Lomeli, but used the name “Maligno” for a while, and that inspired her name.
Electrico led a discussion at his university about lucha libre. There’s a photo of him and his right hand is heavily wrapped. Electrico last wrestled on May 9th.
AAA
AAA TV (THU) 05/25/2023 Feria Santa Rita, Chihuahua, Chihuahua [AAA]
1) Genio del Aire, Kamik-C, Skalibur (Baja California) b Arkángel Divino, Fantastik, Último Maldito
Fantastik replaced Drago Kid (moved up)
2) Chik Tormenta, Kempo Jr., Maravilla b Dalys, Drago Kid, Sexy Star
Drago Kid & Kempo Jr. added to the match. Maravilla and Sexy Star are feuding. Pagano appeared after the match to announce his return from injury. He was attacked by a mystery man again.
3) Aerostar, Arez, Octagón Jr. b Parka Negra, Psicosis, Villano III Jr.
mask ripping
4) Argenis & Gringo Loco b Myzteziz & Zorro
5) Emperador Azteca, Látigo, Toscano b Aramis, Mr. Iguana, Willie Mack
Tosscano snuck in a foul on Willie Mack
6) Sam Adonis b Psycho Clown [flag]
Gringo Loco, Argenis, and Samuray VIP all got involved.
There’s not much on this taping either, but it’s only been a few hours since it happened. The few camera angles shown suggest a low turnout, but I think that’s just how the venue was set up: it’s a small area relative to indoor AAA tapings and there were no risers, just people standing farther and farther back. (The fair said the space was ‘close to full’.) It may not look good in-ring on TV but it’s a free show at a fair, they may have gotten a lot of scenery footage to dress it up.
Pagano had a cane, but it seemed to be for fashion reasons rather than medical needs.
Maravilla and Sexy Star haven’t wrestled on TV since February and weren’t feuding them. AAA needs to publish its chart of rivals so we can discover who’s been assigned to whom.
The AAA Aguascalientes promoter also officially announced Verano de Escandalo for July 21st. Dorian Roldan had previously mentioned the show would take place in Aguascalientes. AAA’s taping schedule is wild for early summer. There’s one taping in the next 44 days, then three tapings (including a TripleMania) in 13 days.
AAA on Space this week has the first part of the Tijuana taping from April 22nd. No idea what will air this week. What was taped:
- Arkángel Divino, Fantastik, Rayo Star, Último Maldito vs Dinámico, Genio del Aire, Kamik-C, Skalibur
- Aramis & Willie Mack vs Látigo & Parka Negra
- Dalys, Octagón Jr., Persephone vs Chik Tormenta, Flammer, Villano III Jr.
- Hijo Del Vikingo, Jack Cartwheel, Komander vs Emperador Azteca, Puma King, Taurus
- Juicy Finau, Negro Casas, Rey Horus vs Forastero, Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
- Laredo Kid, Pentagón Jr., Psycho Clown vs Nicho el Millionario, Rey Escorpión, Sam Adonis
GCW in Las Vegas (Fite+) tonight has Hijo del Vikingo vs Komander vs Gringo Loco.
Northeast Wrestling has Hijo del Vikingo vs vs Toxin vs Komander on June 9th in Connecticut.
Gringo Loco defends the Dreamwave Alternative Championship against Hijo del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Arez and Aramis on 06/17 in LaSalle, Illinois. This show airs on IWTV.
Jersey Championship Wrestling announced Mike Bailey vs Psycho Clown for their July 9th show. Those shows always air free on YouTube.
(All these AAA matches outside of AAA sound far more interesting than anything going on in AAA. It’ll be better at TripleMania.)
IWRG
IWRG (THU) 05/25/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Legado b Súper Boy 
2) John Tito & Spider Fly b Histeriosis & Mr. Mike
3) Lolita, Rey Halcón, Satania b Aeroqueen, Danessa, Éxtasis
4) Aster Boy, Hell Boy, Noisy Boy b Dick Angelo 3G, Elemental, Legendario
5) Cerebro Negro Jr., Nosaki, Shocko b Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba
Nosaki injured Jessy Ventura
I presume the main event is setting up Jessy Ventura being in peril in the upcoming cage match.
IWRG (SUN) 05/28/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Ei Bi Ci vs Rey Aztaroth
2) Éxtasis, Fussion, John Tito vs Águila Roja, Mr. Mike, Rey Halcón
3) Demasiado, Sagitarius, Zoy Raymunda vs Bugambilia, Mary Caporal, Óscar El Hermoso
4) Caballero de Plata, Relámpago, Spider Fly vs Elemental, León Dorado, Mr. Leo
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. vs Canek Jr., Nosaki, Shocko
6) Hell Boy & Puma de Oro vs Heavy Metal & Rocky Casas
The Casas/Hell Boy feud continues. Extasis and Elemental are working more than with Big Lucha but they’re not in great spots now.
IWRG announced Laredo Kid would be the sole Mexican rep in their upcoming World Lucha Libre Championship. IWRG’s been announcing names for the 16 wrestler field periodically, a mix of obscure foreigners who’ve been in IWRG in recent years and people I’ve never heard of; Laredo is the first interesting person. I’ll go over the list once they have a full field.
Big Lucha
It exists. They have shows on Friday and Saturday, which is the Gym show. They’re back on their own production starting with this show, and I’ve got no idea if that means both shows air, or if they’re still even airing live. It doesn’t feel like a great idea to preview these shows not knowing if they’re really going to be available.
Other News
With AEW & NJPW’s Forbidden Door around the corner, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter posted a list of the Mexican wrestlers in AEW as speculation they may all not be able to appear on that joint show due to NJPW/CMLL alliance. It’s an educated list but not yet official. It’s a safe bet those on upcoming AAA TV like Vikingo and Rush aren’t going to be allowed on a NJPW show, but it’s less clear about Andrade. He was upset with AAA about this situation last year and clearly wants to fix it somehow – maybe he’s had time to work on it. (I wouldn’t bet on it, but CMLL people seem like the ex-La Sombra a lot more than other people who’ve left and I wouldn’t rule out something quietly being fixed either.)
AEW fans who absolutely do not care about either CMLL and AAA outside of the way they impact these four weeks of television are up in arms a 30 year old Mexican feud hasn’t be resolved to make booking the undercard matches for a US-based promotion. It’s annoying. It’s also distances from reality. AEW could’ve booked whatever they’d like for this weekend’s show, there’s no NJPW/CMLL relationship holding them back, and the Mexicans who are booked are in a ‘get everyone on the card’ battle royal. (Vikingo isn’t booked; still holding out hopes he makes the pre-show, but again that’s the pre-show.) AEW is still the preferred option for Mexican wrestlers in the US in my eyes, because they’ll pay better Mexican wrestlers than anyone outside WWE, and they’ll give Mexican wrestlers more regular chances to get over than WWE or any of the other group, and they have been more open to Mexican wrestlers on the Ring of Honor brand. But they’re also not so featured in AEW proper that it’d be a sure thing that any of them would be certain to make Forbidden Door. I know Andrade said he was going to face Ospreay last year, but he’s in a different place now than then. Maybe the Lucha Brothers would defend their tag titles in a multiperson match, that’s about the extent of it. A lot of that isn’t a NJPW decision.
RIOT says their next show is on 07/22.
An interview with Salvador Rodriguez, author of the “Olvidemos el Circo, Maroma y Teatro” book. He started out writing about lucha libre on the old El Martinete board of all things.
A profile of sponsored wrestler 4 Aseses.
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