Author: thecubsfan

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 11/11/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Mano a Mano, Porra Fresa]
1) Grako & Rencor b Dragón de Fuego & Meyer
2) Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora b Galaxy & Shockercito
3) Pegasso, Rey Samuray, Valiente Jr. b Disturbio, El Elemental, Pólvora 
El Elemental left injured in the second fall with an abdomen injury
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Multy, Okumura b Rayo Metálico, Volcano, Xelhua
Maya beat Xelhua
5) Flip Gordon, Templario, Titán b Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. 
Flip pinned Villano III Jr. before their title match on Sunday
6) Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto 
straight falls, setting up a trios title match next week

So no Volador/Averno match here, and a trios title match instead. That’s a decent change of pace.

CMLL (TUE) 11/12/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito DQ Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Rostro De Acero   
9:50. Roster de Acero unmasked Galaxy. Challenges followed
2) El Audaz & Valiente Jr. b Alom & Infarto
2) Alom & Infarto b El Audaz & Valiente Jr.    
13:12
3) Capitán Suicida, Futuro, Max Star b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus  
16:56.
4) Arkalis, Stigma, Xelhua b Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Vegas   
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Vegas b Arkalis, Stigma, Xelhua    
12:21. Straight falls, the last when Xelhua had Maya submitting but the ref missed that and missed Maya fouling Xelhua. Stigma demanded a rematch. Vegas replaced Elemental (injury the night prior) a few hours prior to the show
5) Esfinge, Máscara Dorada, Star Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Valiente   
12:06
6) Volador Jr. b Averno   
14:08

Matches 3/5/6 were all Good. Xelhua should never beat Maya with that submission until it’s a big show. Hijo del Villano III did a crazy thing.

CMLL (TUE) 11/12/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Fuego en el RIng]
1) Eclipse Jr., Rav, Shezmu b Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy
2) Adira & Nexy b Hatana & Valkiria
3) Adrenalina, Fantástico, Yutani b Ángel Rebelde, Cris Skin, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Gallo, Ráfaga, Rafaga Jr. b Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther
5) La Catalina & Lluvia b Sanely & Zeuxis
6) Furia Roja, Gallero, Último Guerrero b Star Black, Templario, Titán

There is no obvious direction from these results, but that match 4 is a surprising upset.

CMLL (FRI) 11/15/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito
2) KeMonito vs KeMalito
3) La Catalina, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard vs Persephone, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
4) Flip Gordon vs Villano III Jr. [NWA MIDDLE, final]
vacant title
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Blue Panther vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
6) Místico, Neón, Templario vs Averno, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.

It’s a bit wild for KeMonito/KeMalito to be the big angle at the end of the show and then for it to end up second on the card – but, yea, it probably should be second on the card given the expected quality of the match. I think Flip’s winning the title but not sure. Most of the heavyweights will be busy with the Leyenda de Azul, so there may not be anything else set up for next week.

CMLL (SAT) 11/16/2024 Arena México
1) Astro Boy Jr. & Dragón de Fuego vs Enfermero Jr. & Grako
2) Eléctrico, Legendario, Robin vs Disturbio, Hunter, Nitro
3) India Sioux & Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola & Metálica
4) Explosivo, Fugaz, Star Black vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) Neón vs Magnus [lightning]
6) Blue Panther, Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible, Villano III Jr.

Neon/Magnus is a first-time match. Villano III Jr.’s presence in the main event may suggest something about Friday’s result, or it just may be a random CMLL booking. I’m not sure Akuma’s moved up by teaming with the Gemelos instead of Dark Magic and Espanto Jr. – that’s a sideways move.

CMLL (SUN) 11/17/2024 Arena México
1) Astral & Diamond vs Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Crixus, Kráneo, Sagrado
3) Princesa Sugehit vs Dark Silueta [lightning]
4) Brillante Jr., Fuego, Volcano vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Flip Gordon, Hijo de Octagón, Titán vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
6) Octagón, Templario, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Nothing going on here. I appreciate CMLL using the Octagon dates on the non-streaming shows as often as they do.

NJPW announced Hechicero versus Lio Rush for their 12/15 show. That’s a unique match, though I think Hechicero has more practice against people like Lio Rush (fast) than Lio Rush has with people like Hechicero (submission wizards.) It also seems like one where the outcome depends on whether either of those two is working the 01/05 Tokyo Dome show; both seem like possible inclusions but far from definite ones. I thought this would be another Mistico NJPW appearance, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. CMLL doesn’t seem to have mentioned this match yet.

Mistico will be on the 12/05 MLW show in New York City, defending the MLW World Middleweight Championship against Trevor Lee. It seems like MLW’s given away who’s winning by shooting an angle for Mistico/Cavernario in January, but I guess Carolina Caveman versus Guadalajara Caveman might be a thing. Atlantis has been added to the 01/11 show.

CMLL posted a statement Tuesday telling people not to believe official CMLL statements unless they’ve posted them on social media. Apparently, someone else posted a mock-up of a statement announcing CMLL was bringing back Rush and Los Ingobernables. This may be a little bit about how clear CMLL wants it that they’re not bringing back Rush any time soon. They’re not going to let that story go unaddressed. Because of the way social media works, that false Rush press still is going around. I think it’s more visible today than it was before CMLL denounced it. There’s no chance CMLL will bring Rush back any time soon; they’re still very unhappy with him.

This is one of those Wednesdays where I’d wait to do this post until after Informa if it was still airing at 4 pm. It’s too late in the evening now, but I suspect it’ll have a decent amount of news. They’ll promote the KeMonito match in some way, maybe with a KeMonito interview. CMLL will likely reveal more information on the 12/13 show sometime this week; it’s just a question of whether they’ll save everything for Friday or do it now. The usual CMLL media day is happening this afternoon, no one seems to be writing much about it, and that could mean they’re under embargo about a topic until CMLL gets to officially announce it later today. Or it could be no one feels like posting right now. Who knows.

The rest of Informa will probably be more standard fare: Flip & Villano talking about their title match, some combination of Los Infernales and Los Depredadores talking about the trios match in Puebla, and so on.

Raider says he was surprised to find out he was going to FantasticaMania; it’s something he wanted to do, but he didn’t think he’d be on the list this year. He’s doubling his wrestling and weight training and will also ask his current trainer, Ultimo Guerrero, for advice. Neon says he’s also excited for FantasticaMania, though he admits he doesn’t know much about Japanese wrestling.

AAA

On the Business of the Business podcast, Kevin Kleinrock unexpectedly gave an update on El Hijo del Vikingo’s return date. He mentioned that Vikingo would be out “about a month,” with a return date of “maybe late in the year.” Kleinrock’s role in this is helping AAA with Vikingo’s US bookings. This wasn’t the topic of the podcast, it was a comment in a discussion about other things – there’s a discussion about plans for MaskedRepublic to run more shows in the US in 2025 and how AAA doing the same would affect them that’s interesting – but Vikingo being out for a month longer is mostly what I’m concerned. I asked Kleinrock about it to make sure I understood. He clarified that he didn’t mean to say anything different than Vikingo had announced prior, that Vikingo’s return date is still not locked down as he rehabs, and for that and other reasons, there’s a pause on Vikingo US reasons.

It’s possible AAA will also take it safe, but it’s even more likely they won’t say anything about it until they feel they absolutely must. Vikingo was always questionable for the Saltillo taping on Sunday, and we can downgrade him to doubtful. AAA may have shifted plans to go with Cibernetico as the next Alberto’s opponent because Ciber is healthy (by Ciber standards), Vikingo is still a question mark, and they’ll be doing that match soon. Maybe on 12/07.

Notably, AAA still hasn’t posted that 12/08 Monterrey lineup. They may be waiting until after this week’s show to announce both it and the Mexico City one – but they’re so rarely posting results and info from tapings that I’m not sure why they’d wait. Even if they are running an angle in Saltillo, they’d have to change around how they’re doing things for most of their fans to know it happened before it airs on TV. That Saltillo taping will not air until the weekend of that next set of TV tapings.

Mas Lucha posted the usual bunch of post-AAA TV taping interviews: Tokyo Bad Boys, Mesias, Pagano, Alberto, and Cibernetico. They’re usual stuff, though Cibernetico vowing to out cheat Alberto when they wrestle is at least amusing.

GLEAT announced Mr. Iguana and Psycho Clown for their 12/30 show. Maybe they’re finally doing the Iguana vs. Takuma or Kento match.

AAA on Unimas airs at 1 p.m. this Saturday. They got the word out on Monday, which is a vast improvement.

Latin Lover and Gronda are angry at each other over some comment on Latin Lover’s podcast. I don’t know what Latin originally said, but it led to Gronda calling Latin Lover a prostitute and Latin Lover saying more things about Gronda on a Facebook Live video. As someone else pointed out, there’s far more interest on social media among Mexican fans about the controversies that come out of Latin Lover’s podcast and public comments than anything that actually happens on AAA TV. Maybe there’s some value in that, maybe it would just go over the head of others. Unimas caught up to the Copa Antonio Pena this past week, which was focused on the Latin Lover/Chik Tormenta issue. It made some sense to seize on at time but, many weeks later and being broadcast in a different country, I wonder how many Unimas viewers could make any sense of that entire hour of TV. These things flame up quickly and disappear just as quickly, and it’s tough getting that on TV while still relevant at the pace of Mexican wrestling moves.

Other Notes

The funeral for Puebla’s Roy Calavera was held as a wrestling show. They brought his casket to a building with a ring, put his masks in every corner, and wrestlers came in the ring to talk about how much he meant to him. They brought in a band to play his favorite songs, and mourners wore black t-shirts with “Roy Calavera” on them when he was buried on Tuesday. (A traditional mass was held as well.) He leaves a 13 year old behind. The theory is Calavera was killed for refusing to pay to a protection racket, but police noted they haven’t proven that’s the actual reason yet.

The wrestler known as Brillante RB (who has appeared on the AAA Showcenter events) seems to have changed his name to “Briyante RB” over the last few months. I presumed it was a weird typo the first half dozen times I saw it, and it still looks that way. Not sure if another Brillante had an issue with it, but I can’t think of a reason to make that switch otherwise.

Mascara 2000 says he plans on never retiring as long as he can get work. That’s the most honest thing an aged luchador has ever said.

Criterio Hidalgo interviews Sangre Azteca, who I forget is actually from that state.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 11/08/2024 Arena México [CMLL, El Heraldo, El Imparcial, El Universal, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Fuego en el Ring, Kaiser Sports, La Verdad Noticias, QuieroTV, thecubsfan]
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito    
6:57. (Clean finish!) Challenges followed. Scorpio Jr. was honored after the match.
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider    
13:49.
3) Esfinge © b Rugido [MEX LH]    
12:16. 7th defense. CMLL honored paralympic athletes after the match.
4) Flip Gordon & Villano III Jr. b Neón, Guerrero Maya Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Difunto [NWA MIDDLE, #1 Contenders]    
23:24. Order of elimination: Guerrero Maya (via Dragon Rojo), Dragon Rojo (Flip Gordon), Difunto (by Neon after Difunto got his leg caught in the ropes on a ramp running spot) and Neon (via Villano III), leaving Flip Gordon and Villano III Jr. to advance to next week. UFC fighter Jiri Procházka walked Flip Gordon to the ring.
5) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico b Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Soberano Jr.   
16:21. Tecnicos nearly won in straight falls, but KeMalito dropkicked Mistico after he locked Hechicero in La Mistica. A moment later, KeMonito (clearly a new one) ran out to attack KeMalito and helped the tecnicos even the sides. (Whistle never actually blew to start the third fall, because the ring announcers was busy doing a big introduction for KeMonito.) Tecnicos won the third fall. KeMonito challenged KeMalito to a singles match next week, which KeMalito accepted. The announcers and Mistico talked about this being KeMonito’s return home.

The KeMonito bit was a big, big story. It must seem crazy to people who don’t follow Mexican wrestling that a mascot showing up would be important, but it’s by far the biggest lucha libre story of the weekend – all of those media articles are about KeMonito showing up and barely mention the rest of the show. It’s almost a Mexican cultural story; KeMonito is a weird iconic Mexican character totally associated with CMLL and lucha libre. It’s that tight and important connection this whole mess of lawsuits and fake original KeMonitos is happening.

A history of QueMoniito:

• Tinieblas introduced a Star Wars Ewok-looking creature as his mascot, Alushe, around 1988. The two characters are together for about 14 years. Alushe accompanies Tinieblas to matches in Mexico City. Elsewhere, he occasionally gets physically involved in the matches, but that stuff never makes TV.
• Tinieblas and Alushe part ways in 2002.
• The now ex-Alushe goes to the CMLL office to see if they have any work for him. They offer him some work in a small blue monkey outfit.
  • QueMoniito later claimed CMLL sketched the outfit, he created it, and Alfonso Morales came up with the name. CMLL holds a trademark on the outfit.
• KeMonito accompanies wrestlers to the ring and stands on the apron watching, but doesn’t do much the first two weeks. No one, the wrestlers included, have any idea what to make of him.
• Someone in CMLL decided it’s OK for the rudos to start bullying/attacking KeMonito during matches. It’s the same basic stuff he had been doing away from Mexico City, but it hadn’t aired on TV and these fans hadn’t seen it, so the fans are surprised and amused by the gimmick.
• Shocker adopts KeMonito as his mascot, and a lot of memorable KeMonito angles happen over the next few years – the Ultimo Guerrero dropkick that sent KeMonito flipping out of the ring, the evil monkey who attacked KeMonito the following week, and the Vampiro martinete on KeMonito. These end up as viral clips in the 00s wrestling internet and beyond.
• KeMonito continues to become a mascot through the 00s and 10s, though he’s clearly slowing down and taking far lesser violence as time goes on. Shocker leaves and KeMonito ends up with Maximo for a while, then Mistico, then just becomes a friend to all the top tecnico as company mascot.
• During the 2020 COVID lockdowns, KeMonito went viral in Mexico again – being inserted into famous photos or pictured doing heroic things. He appreciates the support (and all the fake birthdays that seem to get invented.) There’s little to no wrestling income for KeMonito at this point – he’s still sidelined when CMLL starts running empty arena shows – but the viral publicity leads him to start selling merchandise and souvenirs on his own (outside of CMLL’s sphere), and that’s where he starts making his real money.
• Advertisers also decide they want to jump on the KeMonito viral trend; he’s used some in ad campaigns, including one for the Karate Kid TV show and another for Bimbo bread. The Bimbo people send the payment for KeMonito to the CMLL office, which keeps some or all of that money. This turns into a dispute between KeMonito and CMLL about who owns the character and what the split should be for use of the character  – both in these commercials and the merchandise KeMonito has been selling.
• KeMonito has also publicly discussed retiring for years as his health worsens. In a radio interview in January 2023, he said he plans to retire that year and wants it to be part of that year’s Aniversario show. CMLL initially publicly supported the decision but then went very quiet on it and give the impression he’s going to keep wrestling.
• KeMonito stops appearing on CMLL shows by July 2023. He works outside shows, and neither side acknowledges there’s an issue for months. KeMonito starts using “QueMoniito” as his name in social media, and the CMLL logo starts to vanish from the merchandise he’s selling.
• There’s no KeMonoito retirement ceremony on the Aniversario show. Instead, at a post-show part, a new character debuts – the mascot that would eventually be known as KeMalito.
• QueMoniito deduces this must mean a new KeMonito is coming – and goes to the press with his complaints. He says he’d wanted to retire for years, but Salvador Lutteroth and Gala Lutteroth both convinced him to keep on going. He mentions his pay being cut off during the pandemic, and claimed he was being brought back at a reduced price and with harder restrictions about outside work. KeMonito also said CMLL was upset with him for publicly talking about retirement; they had no problem with the idea, but they wanted him to do it only quietly so they could put someone new in the suit without the fans realizing it. QueMoniito says CMLL first demanded he sign a new contract, which he refused unless he was paid what he felt he was owed from those advertising deals. They refused, and so he decided to sue CMLL over the money and the character.
• CMLL responds with a press release, claiming they still want to make a fair contract with QueMoniito and that they’ve shown him proof that they own the gimmick.
• CMLL sidelines KeMalito for a few weeks, waiting for the QueMonito story to cool off, before having him interfere in a match to help the rudos as an introduction. They do bits in matches, on CMLL Informa, and in stand alone Christmas skits to get over KeMalito as a troublemaker and with the idea there needs to be a counterbalance.
• Los Micro Gemelos Diablos are tabbed to be the new KeMonito – the idea is they’ll take turns – but never actually debut. CMLL may still be negotiating or battling with QueMoniito at this point, but the bigger issue is KeMalito is really good at his gimmick and gets over strong with CMLL fans. The gimmick designed to get the new KeMonito over has actually become the over character first.
• CMLL starts to put KeMalito in normal micro matches, and it’s not a great idea. KeMalito is good at running in, hitting someone, and running away. He is not good at taking bumps safely or remembering a sequence. This is super frustrating for the Micro Gemelos Diablos, who were the stars of the division and are now charged with putting over someone who’s not as good at them and has also seemingly cost them their big money mascot deal.
• The Micro Diablos act unprofessional in matches – “Shawn Michaels in late 90s” displays of character-breaking frustration – and are suspended at least once. There’s also no start date in sight for them becoming KeMonito. They eventually quit, show up as a surprise on TripleMania Mexico City to attack Mascarita Sagrada, and then are never seen or mentioned again.
• That seems to end the KeMonito II concept – except CMLL is undaunted, scouts the indies, and quietly recruits micro Chaneque for the role.
• A short documentary about QueMonitto, which had been shown at film festivals for the last few years, debuts on Netflix in Mexico. It was filmed before his fall out with CMLL, though the circumstances of his life and his treatment are evident in the film. This re-ignites discussion about the character and the current legal situation. (Ultimo Guerrero and KeMalito also do a spot the following Friday to play off the famous GIF.)
• Record puts out a story claiming QueMoniito will have to give up the gimmick and will retire in mid-October as a consequence of a settlement with CMLL. QueMoniito and his lawyer respond on Instagram, saying nothing has been settled and the court case is ongoing. Nothing happens in mid October, QueMoniito keeps on making appearance, and Record doesn’t address the discrepancy.
• The November 8th Arena Mexico match seems like a return to the original plan, a year removed: KeMalito’s interference has seemingly cost the tecnicos the match, only for “the returning” KeMonito to fight him off and help the tecnicos win. This KeMonito is Chaneque, but the announcers, the wrestlers and the promotions refer to him as the original KeMonito returning to the promotion. Pretending it’s the same guy is what CMLL had wanted a year ago and why they were upset with him talking about retirement.
  • Of note, this KeMonito II outfit looks slightly different than QueMonito’s —the face on the mask is slightly different, and the fur color is a different shade. It appears CMLL is using something closer to the original 2002 costume, which QueMoniito had modified over the years.
  • It’s clear to most, but not all, fans that there’s a different human being under the mask. Some, but not all the media mentions it’s a new character. It’s a much younger and mobile person doing the gimmick now.
  • CMLL flashed a legal statement on air as the angle was happening, and reposted it on social media attached to video of the angle. The statement reads: “Las marcas y la reserva de derechos del personaje KE MONITO®️ son propiedad de Promociones México, Coliseo y Revolución, S.C. y son signos creados y utilizados desde el año 2002.” Translated, CMLL says they’ve always owned Ke Monito and they’re the ones who created it back in 2002.
    • This did nothing but make people who were already unhappy with CMLL even more unhappy
• As KeMonito II was “returning” to CMLL, QueMoniito was signing autographs prior to a The Crash show thousands of miles away in Tijuana. Even if someone only saw photos of KeMonito in CMLL, it’s fairly obvious it can’t be the same person at both shows.

The normal next step is for QueMoniito to use social media to declare that he wasn’t in the ring in Arena Mexico and mention he’s still in a legal dispute. QueMoniito (or whoever runs his social media) has not said anything about all of this. His accounts have posted photos from The Crash show and the convention he worked at this weekend, but there is nothing about what happened in CMLL. Lawyers aren’t working many weekends, it took them about four days to respond to the Record story, maybe they’ll have something to say later this week. If he doesn’t eventually say something, it’s a signal something was worked out legally. What’s happened now doesn’t seem to match Record’s version of the story – QueMoniito is still out there taking bookings, giving no indication he’s hanging up the gimmick – and it’s hard to be sure what the legal situation is.

Even more of a mystery is why CMLL is so dead set on pushing the idea that this is the same KeMonito. The tourist fans and the casual are going to believe whatever CMLL tells them and will go along with CMLL if they’re billing him as the original KeMonito. Those same fans absolutely wouldn’t care if CMLL instead announced this guy was a new KeMonito, or if they just didn’t make any big deal about it either way and let them believe whatever. The other side is there are always going be fans annoyed when CMLL (or AAA or any lucha libre promotion) introduces a new version of an old popular act – Dralistico certainly felt that resentment upon taking the Mistico gimmick. That resentment will be worse if the promotion attempts to tell the hardcore fans a lie they’re not willing to believe. All those hardcore fans immediately figured out this was a new guy and that CMLL was lying to them. Those fans are going to be heard, they’re going to be a thorn in CMLL’s side and I’m not sure what the benefit is in having a percentage of CMLL fans booing this new character. There’s no apparent reason why CMLL can have many successor/second versions of wrestling characters, but the KeMonito character has to be the same person. CMLL set foot for a battle they can not win and to no apparent benefit.

The best case scenario is some spin on Wednesday where Julio Cesar Rivera explains they meant the ‘character’ of KeMonito was returning, but of course, it’s a new person under the mask; it’ll still be a lie, but maybe people will be more willing to buy that one.

KeMalito did post show interviews to build up the match next week; he says this is now the new era of KeMalito and not KeMonito. That focus is another part of it. CMLL, the serious stable promotion, is building the biggest show of the week around an Antonio Pena invention. Mascots and mascots fighting were a Pena idea considered too silly and disrespectful to lucha libre by those running and supporting CMLL. It is now a central part of CMLL’s appeal. CMLL’s never going to become completely the AAA of the late 90s, but a heavily promoted KeMonito vs KeMalito match is a sign of how much they’ve moved in that direction and found success in doing so. 

There was a show too! The main event wasn’t high intensity, which was weird at the moment but made complete sense after the angle – anything was completely lost in the excitement and interest around the KeMonito character. The cibernetico got a decent amount of time, but struggled in the last moments. Difunto’s hit rate on his ramp dropkick is not great and Villano III Jr. managed to flip onto his head and neck a moment later. Jiri Procházka appears to be hanging around Mexico on his social media, so I presume Flip or someone else happened to meet him at a gym and just invited him to the show. Esfinge/Rugido was solidly good, hitting about the ceiling of where I’d expect them, but neither are exciting wrestlers to me. Rey Cometa was as good as Espanto Jr. was bad in match 2. The minis didn’t get much time in the opener.

CMLL honoring Scorpio Jr. but not putting out a generic graphic on social media is weird, but that’s one of those things that reflect more on CMLL than Scorpio Jr. The presentation came off as if CMLL knew they got unhappy people about not honoring Villano V in this way so they were going to do it for Scorpio, but still more perfunctory than something with heart in it. They seemed to give far more time to the Paralympic athletes. I’d gladly trade all in-ring acknowledgement of a wrestler’s death for better care for aged wrestlers (and aged people in general) if that deal was on the table; that deal is not on the table.

Attendance seemed good for a show with nothing special. Next week’s turnout for the mascot match will be closely observed.

CMLL (SAT) 11/09/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Rostro De Acero DQ Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito 
2) Astral & Eléctrico b Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II 
Calavera II was hurt on a missed dive
3) Futuro & Max Star b Stigma & Xelhua 
4) Reyna Isis & Zeuxis b La Catalina & Tessa Blanchard India Sioux 
5) Explosivo, Fugaz, Star Black b Barboza, Difunto, Zandokan Jr. 
Explosivo is a new member of Fuerza Tapatia.
6) Máscara Dorada, Neón, Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Niebla Roja 
Angel de Oro suffered an arm injury (or the existing one got worse again.)

I haven’t watched this one yet – plan is later today – but haven’t heard positive things and I’ll probably not have anything to say on Wednesday. Match 1 is building towards the yet-to-be-announced cage match.

CMLL (SUN) 11/10/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Leono & Retro b Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II b Dragón de Fuego & Legendario
3) Capitán Suicida, Hijo del Pantera, Volcano b El Elemental, Kráneo, Okumura
4) Persephone b Reyna Isis [lightning]
5) Hijo del Villano III, Magia Blanca, Valiente b Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Titán
6) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Templario b Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Stuka Jr.

Nothing built up here.

Dragon de Fuego replaces Astro Boy tonight in Arena Puebla. Astro Boy is working a Karonte Promotions show in Mexico State.

TV from this weekend, all of which is on DailyMotion, some which show up on the channel page, and some don’t

• 10/27 Arena Mexico
  • minis cibernetico
  • Lluvia, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis vs Persephone, Samantha Black, Sumika Yanagawa
• 11/04 Arena Puebla
  • Flip Gordon, Rayo Metálico, Stigma vs Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo de Stuka Jr., Okumura
  • Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
  • Místico vs Ángel de Oro

CMLL (TUE) 11/12/2024 Arena México
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Rostro De Acero
2) El Audaz & Valiente Jr. vs Alom & Infarto
3) Capitán Suicida, Futuro, Max Star vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Arkalis, Stigma, Xelhua vs El Elemental, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo del Villano III
5) Esfinge, Máscara Dorada, Star Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Valiente
6) Volador Jr. vs Averno

Volador/Averno on this show, and probably six days later in Puebla. Roster de Acero is suddenly on the “India Sioux in October” schedule.

Xelhua told El Sol de Puebla that he had two thoughts in choosing his name: something that expressed confidence and something that would be easy to change.

AAA

The matches that aired on the live portion of Guerra de Titanes:

AAA TV (SUN) 11/10/2024 Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua [AAA, thecubsfan]
***Guerra de Titanes, 2024***
5) Dinámico, Drago, Laredo Kid b Kento, Nobu San, Takuma
13:50
6) Octagón Jr. © b El Mesías [AAA LA]
21:20. Octagon had the match won, but Pierroth pulled out referee Sonrias and Mesias eventually clocked Octagon in the head with a chair. Octagon falls on his 8th defense. Mesias is 15th champion.
7) El Patrón Alberto © b Pagano [AAA MEGA]
21:20. Pagano replaced Vikingo on Tuesday prior (knee injury). 2nd defense. Tirantes was referee and messed with the counts. Dorian Roldan interfered and mostly was not stopped by Latin Lover. Roldan hit Pagano with a guitar to the head (twice), Alberto put on the armbar, and Tirantes counted it as a pinfall even though Pagano was in the ropes. Alberto & Roldan hurried to the back after the match.

Laredo Kid, Dinamico and Drago versus Nobu San, Takuma, and Kento was would’ve fit as 4th/5th match on Friday Arena Mexico – everyone did their big moves, it was a fun time, and there was nothing attached to it to make memorable. The difference with AAA is the rudos had to immediately foul and unmask the tecnico “to get their heat back.” This is so routine that no one actually gets lasting heat from it; people boo and stop thinking about five seconds later. This is the one match of the three that’s worth watching when it turns up on YouTube next Sunday.

Mesias moves very slowly and can’t do a lot, but he can punch and kick well, so that was a lot of the match with Octagon. There was also a terrible Canadian Destroyer exchange that didn’t get a reaction – most of the match didn’t get much of a reaction, even with the TV angles to build it up. It picked up after Octagon put Mesias through a table on the floor with the 450 splash. Pierroth appeared to pull and attack the referee on a three count, Laredo dove on him (mostly missed by the camera), and Mesias clocked Octagon in the head with a chair just in time for Tirantes Jr. to show up and count the pin. Octagon is the one regular roster member AAA’s built up this year – almost by accident as they needed a fill-in for Vikingo – and he’s supposedly getting a Mega title shot at some point, but this was one of those reminders that AAA doesn’t seem him as a rising star. He’s just another stepping-stone guy.

Alberto and Pagano was the match the fans were really interested in seeing, and most of the match was about antagonizing the fans into reacting: Alberto running from Pagano, Dorian Roldan interfering, Hijo del Tirantes slow counting and then fast counting. Pagano tried to show off with Vikingo-like springboard moves but also looked very banged up. They did one big near fall where Latin Lover took out the rudos and Pagano got Alberto with the Air Raid Crash on the ubiquitous cookie sheet. Hijo del Tirantes was out of it, then counted two slowly and waiting for Alberto to kick out instead of hitting three. (You have to suspend your disbelief at Hijo de Tirantes counting semi-normally the rest of the match.) They also did a bit where Alberto appeared to be submitting to Pagano’s hold but Tirantes didn’t see it – not that he would’ve called it if he did. The finishing sequence was not long after. No idea why Dorian Roldan used a guitar beyond it being part of an angle 30 years ago in another promotion that AAA can’t stop referencing. No idea why the finish on armbar was a pinfall. AAA’s live shows tend to meander around and go very long; this one got out right at the top of the hour so I wonder if Space put them under some time limitation they haven’t before. It’s not like there was something really important on the other side, just another one of the 50 old movies the channel airs repeatedly. The match was not good in terms of being a fun thing to watch but it was also not meant to be.

Alberto’s backstage promo signaled Ciberentico as the next challenger, which will be equally terrible. That also suggests AAA won’t be making up the Vikingo title match any time soon. It’s possible Vikingo is out for longer than expected and Ciber is a replacement. My hunch is Cibernetico/Alberto was always the plan for the next title match and making up for the the Vikingo/Alberto match is not important enough to get them to change their plan. For the style of match AAA wants to do – heavy heat and interference – Ciber’s fine and probably the guy I would rather see in the spot. AAA really can plug in any tecnico into the challenge spot, because there’s no expectations of a good match and the current challenger to Alberto is the least important person in the story. The stars are Alberto, Latin Lover and whichever heel is seconding Alberto for that match. They’re going to keep running this same play until they get to Alberto versus Latin Lover (and may still run in with him a time or two.) AEW is kind of doing a similar bit right now with Jon Moxley and Orange Cassidy, where it’s clear Cassidy is just a liked challenger to get for Moxley to put down in building towards someone like Kenny Omega or Will Ospreay or Swerve Strickland being the one to finally stop Moxley’s plan. Latin Lover is better known in Mexico than most of those guys are in the US, but Latin Lover is also a fifty something mostly retired wrestler who’s probably not going to wrestle all that much after this comes to an end. I’d feel a lot better about this AAA stuff if the end result was Alberto losing to someone who regularly wrestles in AAA and that they were going to build around going forward, but I don’t think that person is Vikingo and I don’t see anyone else who is being set up for that spot. I’d rather see Vikingo in matches that are going to use his talents, and getting in three spots with a guy who’s probably not going to a good mix with him seems like a waste. Having him get cheated by Alberto and then never getting revenge (because that’s not the plan) also seems like a poor idea.

Vampiro’s match did not air on the live portion of the show despite it being his Mexico retirement match. AAA waited until this show started to announce it would be Vampiro’s final match in Mexico. (They were still promoting it as his final Ciudad Juarez match that afternoon .) I’ve been writing here that this Juarez date must be the final date if he’s retiring – he’s already had his final matches in all the other places AAA planning to run – but I thought there must be some surprise coming if AAA wasn’t promoting it. I was wrong; AAA just dropped the ball while promoting Vampiro’s last match as an attraction. The match is airing next week, AAA could spend the rest of the week pushing the idea that this will be the last time to see Vampiro wrestle on AAA TV. I don’t expect they will.

I’m sure few in AAA believe this is Vampiro’s final match in Mexico, but that didn’t stop them from promoting the rest of the retirement tour. This was just getting thrown an easy pitch and opting not to swing.

AAA was back to not posting results of their shows on social media. I didn’t easily find the taped results and it didn’t seem like a good investment to track them down. Brazo de Oro Jr. did replace El Fiscal in the mixed tag match; that’s one where it feels like AAA didn’t announce the change because they’re too disorganized to know what change they were making.

AAA announcers did mention the upcoming schedule during a break in matches. Jesus Zuniga mentioned they had two shows left, in Saltillo and Mexico City. Jose Manuel Guillen gently corrected him, saying they had Saltillo, Mexico City, and Monterrey left. Neither mentioned the dates of the shows, though they did encourage people to check the website. There was no onscreen graphics for these dates, but there weren’t onscreen graphics for much of anything. Maybe a budget cutback.

Lo Mejor de Lucha had the poster for the Monterrey show right after the Juarez show ended, so it and the Mexico City lineup should be released by AAA at any moment:

AAA TV (SUN) 12/08/2024 Gimnasio Nuevo León Unido, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
1) Drago vs Bengala, Belcegor, Taurus [Torneo Rey del Kaoz]
2) Dinámico vs Tigre Universitario
3) Estrellato, Oro Negro, Tosscano vs Dark Zorro, Redimido, Tigre Universitario Jr.
4) La Hiedra & Mr. Iguana vs Crazzy Steve & Havok © [AAA MIXED TAG]
first defense
5) Flammer & Sussy Love vs Julissa & Valentynna Reis
6) Emperador Azteca, Hijo Del Vikingo, Oni El Bendito vs Kento, Nobu San, Takuma
7) ?, Cibernético, Octagón Jr. vs El Mesías, El Patrón Alberto, Pierroth

This is indeed a TV taping. AAA has run fewer taping this year and never tapes shows back to back days, and apparently is to close out this year. Again, I have no idea what’s going on. There isn’t an obvious name for that main event spot. Semimain should be pretty good. Sussy Love seems booked so someone will take a pin in the women’s tag match. Hiedra/Iguana would’ve been a bigger deal as mixed tag champions a year or more ago; they haven’t done much with that pairing in 2024. The rest is a lot of KAOZ filler, and KAOZ is probably paying for this taping again.

This is old news but new to me: Botchmania pointed out that TNA promoted El Hijo del Vikingo as the new X-Divison champion during the last TNA PPV in an advertisement for an upcoming match. I guess it’s possible the graphic people aren’t told who’s winning, have both sets of graphics ready for whatever result, and used the wrong one by chance. The easier explanation is Vikingo was actually winning that title at some point, TNA changed their minds to have Moose win the title later for reasons only known to TNA, and someone forgot to let the graphics person know.

The Crash

The Crash (FRI) 11/08/2024 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California [TJ Sports, Zona Ruda]
1) Galeno del Mal & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. © b DMT Azul & Raj Dhesi [The Crash TAG]
2) Gallo Xtreme © b Rey Astral [The Crash JUNIOR]
3) Tonalli b Destiny ©, Dinámico, El Enviado, Chris Carter [The Crash CRUISER, TLC]
Carter fell off a ladder onto the barricade hard, but was said to be OK. Tonalli won the title.
4) Anubis b Negro Casas, Cinico, Valentino, Emperador Azteca (Indie), Keyra, Niño Hamburguesa, Mamba, Electroshock, Que Moniito, Peluche [Copa The Crash]
Royal rumble rules. Peluche is a referee. Negro Casas was a surprise, and lost to Anubis in the end. Bleu Demon Jr. presented Anubis with the trophy. He noted he had his first match in this building and will have his last there as well.
5) Súper Crazy L Heavy Metal, Charly Manson, Juventud Guerrera [hair, cage]
Mr. Aguila no-showed, replaced by Charly Manson. Guerrera and Metal escaped, then Manson, leaving Super Crazy to get his hair cut. The Crash had trouble setting up the cage, causing a long delay, and the fans quickly turned on this match. They then also had trouble taking down the cage and a section of it fell into the crowd onto fans. Four fans were said to be hurt.
6) Dr. Wagner Jr., Extreme Tiger, Rey Horus b D Luxe, Pierroth, Rey Escorpión (Indie)
Fresero Jr,. Demonio Infernal and Nuevo Laredo promoter Roxana Cantu sat in the front row for this match, with Fresero & Demonio antagonizing Pierroth (Pierroth beat Fresero for the KAOZ title last week in Nuevo Laredo.) The distraction led to Wagner’s side winning. Pierroth and company brawled with Pierroth, then Wagner’s side was critical of Cantu for hanging out with those guys and also brawled with Fresero & Demonio.
7) Mecha Wolf b Bestia 666 [hair]
Familia de Tijuana members Rey Misterio Sr., Damian 666, Halloween, Rey Misterio Herdero, and Lady Victoria appeared to support the match. Mecha Wolf beat Bestia with a 450 splash. Bestia reluctantly got his hair cut. Halloween declared tonight was the end of Familia de Tijuana and encouraged Mecha, Bestia and Misterio Herdero to start a new group (which they kind of already have with La Rebelion.)

I’ve been really critical towards the Mecha Wolf/Bestia 666 feud all year: AAA gave it time early in the year, it’s been the focus of these The Crash shows, and it really hasn’t drawn. On the promotion’s anniversary, with more expensive than usual prices, it was an absolute success: sold out building, and that was the match they wanted to see. (There were just two matches properly advertised, just the main event and the cage one were announced, and the fans turned on the cage match.) That feud didn’t help the other shows, but it worked out exactly as they’d hoped. That match and the rest of the show may eventually turn up on The Crash’s YouTube page – they’re still missing matches from the last show.

The commission claimed The Crash was fined last month for a match that turned into a brawl outside the building between Pierroth, Rey Escorpion, Fresero and Demonio Infernal. The idea in the match 6 was The Crash was refusing to use Demonio or Fresero because of it, and so they bought ticket to create a disturbance. The Tijuana commission hasn’t participated in angles in many years but it appears they’re back to doing so.

There’s no update on the people who were hurt about the cage falling on them. Other fans saw those people leave for medical treatment during the following match, so my guess is it was painful but not serious. I’ve never heard of an incident like that before but there seemed to be some issue with the cage assembly given how long it took to set it up.

Mr. Aguila is a prolific Facebook poster and seemingly not doing it completely sober. There’s a running bit where a wrestler or promoter will hype an upcoming match, and Aguila will turn up in the comment to post “Y yo nada?” (“and nothing for me?”) That gag has been going on for years. This week, Aguila wrote messages critical of Latin Lover’s latest podcast, saying it was nothing but gossip and Latin should’ve asked Tiffany how many guys she and Estrellita slept with. That’s typical of a Mr. Aguila Facebook post. He got a reaction, so he went further and said he’d start a podcast in a week that would reveal the dark side of Latin Lover. Aguila put himself in a spotlight, then he no showed, hasn’t said a word about it, and is getting relentlessly mocked.

Blue Demon Jr. recently talked about retiring “soon”, but this show was the first time he’s talking about specifically doing in Tijuana. I wouldn’t put much stock into it, but running retirement shows in arenas this size make a lot more sense than what Santo was doing. Carter’s fall looked very bad but he said he was OK over Instagram. Penta talked to the crowd before the show, put over how much Tijuana meant to his career, and suggested he might not be wrestling there any time soon as he goes off to new things. (He’s signing with WWE as soon as both he and Fenix are able to, obviously.)

MLW

I went to MLW. It was too long. I’m not sure I’ll go back in May. I got in line to get in the venue at 6:45, it took me to 7:20 to get in the building at to my seat, and the main event didn’t finish until 11:20. They were still doing post match stuff with Mistico when I (and most people) were quickly leaving the building. I’ve definitely gone to AEW/ROH tapings that are just as long, but it didn’t feel like I had to endure as much stuff I wasn’t that interested in. This show just had a lot of people I had to sit through.

It also, bizarrely, had a TV Taping (“MLW Slaughterhouse”) prior to the show that gave away three of the results on the live portion of the show. Maybe keep scrolling to Other News if you don’t want to get MLW spoilers, but I need to go over this:

• they made it clear Mistico was retaining his title in live main event because they taped an interview with Barbaro Cavernario declaring himself the next challenger
• Same thing with the women’s (featherweight) title – the live show had Janai Kai defending against Lluvia & Persephone, but we already knew she won because the taped portion ran to set up Delmi Exo as the next challenger
• the live show had an impromptu Kojima/Riddle versus Kwon/Suzuki MLW tag team title match, where it was fairly obvious the titles weren’t going to change hands because Kwon (and maybe Suzuki) still had them on the taped portion.

All that stuff is easy to clean up if it is important: both of the title match angles could’ve been done backstage, and the tag champs could’ve just left their belts in the back. MLW seemed to want the crowd reactions to the angles, which worked with Exo – she waved around a Mexican flag to make sure people cared – and not at all with Barbaro Cavernario (who’s promo was hard to understand and done in English.) It was just lazy.

The crowd seemed like 85% fans showing up for a lucha libre show and about 15% MLW fans. Combined, they sold out the card but were basically watching different shows. Only ex-WWE star Matt Riddle got both fanbases to react when he appeared, though not to his promo. An announcement that the big title match MLW had been building to for months, Kojima versus Riddle, was finally happening got zero response from the crowd. A commercial for Eric Bischoff acting as the producer for the next MLW show got less than that. No one cares about the Salina de la Renta/Cesar Duran stuff. The other stuff I understand why MLW believes there’s an audience for it, but the Duran/Salina/LU-ish stuff seems like it’s for an audience for the one – either the person booking it or the person paying the person who books it.

The lucha libre fans reacted to few MLW matches. Tape traders of the 00s would’ve been depressed over how little reaction the idea of a Paul London/KENTA match got, and then more understanding when neither man working hard. There is a formula to getting over with these crowd. Lucha libre fans know to yell at the manager as he’s talking, they get excited for some dives (Kevin Knight was a hero) and they’re happy with a bit of silliness. Yelling a few curse words in Spanish will get a reaction, and so all the heels tried that, but it’s one that only lasts for a short time before they want to see something else.

I wouldn’t recommend much from the taped portion of the show, which will probably air in a couple of weeks under the name MLW Slaughter house. Maybe the Kevin Knight/Donovan Dijak match, but I’ve found Dijak offputting in this post-WWE run. Of the “live” portion, I would recommend CMLL matches and no more. They’re not re-inventing the wheel in Hechicero/Ultimo Guerrero vs. Kevin Knight/Esfinge and Cavernario/Felino/Magnus vs. Atlantis/Atlantis Jr/Star Jr.; it’s just the good solid medium-effort performances lucha libre fans expect from visiting Mexico star in that building. I feared Kai/Lluvia/Persephone would be a disastrous mix of styles, but it was fine, so that was nice. Titan/Mistico/Averno had all the things I don’t like about threeways, there was a lot of strikes not close to hitting and it seemed like they were mailing it for the first third. The effort picked up, and they went longer than I expected. (Maybe too long, given the length of the show – I saw a decent amount of people packing it up and heading home before the match even started.)

MLW’s other issue from the night is the stream just didn’t stream. Voices of Wrestling talked to MLW people at the show and were told the stream was an issue on YouTube’s side. That’s plausible, it’s happened before with CMLL. The result still looked Major League wrestling look minor league. I’ve written before that CMLL needs to have a backup streaming plan if YouTube ever messes up on a big show, because they’re a small fry to YouTube and won’t get much timely help if something doesn’t work. I’m sure CMLL’s plan is the same as MLW’s here – they’ll just apologize, record the show, and upload it some other day. It’s not a great plan. That streaming issue was the one bit that made me happy I was there live; I didn’t need to see this show, but there was no way I was going to be able to squeeze it in on Sunday night.

MLW announced Mistico will appear on their Dallas show on 01/11. That’s where the title match with Cavernario is happening; he talked about it being in January in his promo. Mistico is listed in the generic roster graphic for the 12/08 taping in New York but I wondered if that’s an indication they’re skipping CMLL wrestlers for that show. I’d be totally OK with no CMLL wrestlers on the Eric Bischoff show, if only to avoid the inevitable “haha Eric Bischoff is trying to unmask the luchadors again, what a wacky dude” bit. MLW’s creativity is mostly limited to remembering things that happened in far more over promotions and making lame references to them, and it’s not really for me.

Other News

Puebla luchador Roy Calavera (Rogelio Valdes Briones, 40) was murdered Saturday night. He and a second person were shot at his michelada stand by two attackers; Calavera was shot five times. The attackers and motive are unknown. Newspaper reports identify him with Arena Coliseo San Ramon, but he’d stopped working there 18 months ago. He hadn’t wrestled as much in 2024. Any time a wrestler is murdered, no matter the significance, the same story about it appears in dozens of media outlets the next few days. Roy Calavera follows May’s death of Rey Komodo in that fashion.

Scorpio Jr. is on the cover of Box y Lucha 3629.

AVE announced their February 2025 anniversary show will have a four way mask cage match with Trauma I, Trauma II, Hijo de LA Park and Imposible. That obviously means Imposible is losing his mask if the match actually happens like that.

A bio of Cien Caras mentions he fell in love with wrestling when he happened upon a show while living in the US for a year at the age of 19. He returned to Mexico a year later, but his parents wouldn’t let him train wrestling for two more years. It seems odd that his parents were OK with letting him live in another country, but wrestling was too much. He also ended up training with Diablo Velazco in Guadalajara almost by accident; he was training in Leon when his trainer just kept training, and he ended up in the CMLL system instead.

Sean Ross Sapp and Andrew Zarian report ROH’s Final Battle will take place at Hammerstein Ballroom. AEW/ROH still haven’t made an announcement about that show. After writing about Ring of Honor here, someone not with AEW/ROH did mention Final Battle does have a date and was happening. This was so important to me that I’ve already forgotten the date, but the crux of the conversation was Final Battle wouldn’t conflict with the 12/13 CMLL international show. I expect we’ll see someone from CMLL on Final Battle but I have no idea whom, or if those Reyna Isis wins are going anywhere.

(Actually, I think we can work this out without me remembering anything. ROH PPVs are usually Fridays, and Final Battle are December shows, so that means the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th. AEW’s schedule lists shows through December 12th; they’d probably have announced it already if it was the 6th to do some sort of ticket package deal. AEW will not run a ROH PPV the day before the 12/28 AEW PPV, so cross off the 27th. If I’ve been told correct that CMLL has the 13th to themselves, that means Final Battle is likely December 20th. Make your plans accordingly.)

On Bluesky/Twitter

I’ve been on bluesky (@luchablog) since shortly after it launched. I experimented with some stuff early on bluesky, but there just weren’t enough people there for me to find interesting stuff about lucha libre. My usage over the last few months has generally just been

• post the text and link to this blog post manually on Twitter
• post the same text and link to this blog post manually on Bluesky
• click the notifications button to see if there’s anything interesting
• there’s usually not, so I close up Bluesky for another couple of days.

Friday, I clicked on that notification button and saw rows and rows of new followers – like the number of people following me went up in 20% in days. It looks to be up 50% up today – like I’ve gone from about 1000 followers to about 2000 in a week. It took me a moment, maybe a moment too long, to realize what was going on: lots of people decided the results of the US election was a good time close their Twitter account and find somewhere else for short message blogs. (Twitter followers are down about 200 people.) Some people will not be get what they want out of Bluesky or whatever else they switch and end up back on Twitter, but I’m sure a chunk are just done.

I’ve been thinking maybe I should take some of the stuff I’m doing on Twitter and start doing it on Bluesky – but maybe that should be energy should be on Instagram instead because that’s where the Spanish-speaking Mexican wrestling fans actually are. Or maybe I’m just stuck on Twitter because all the news and all the weird stuff is still inevitably going to be on it until there’s a much bigger fall off? Or maybe I should give up on all of this social because the Twitter engagements don’t drive the readers to this blog or the database and those are things I really care about? Or maybe I can never get up that Twitter account because I’ve worked/lucked into some important people in this wrestling business taking what I say seriously – not that they’re always happy about the Twitter posts (they’re rarely happy about the posts) but it’s a tool I’ll probably never have on another system? I’m sure there are a lot of great Discords I could join, but I feel like communicating with a small self-selected audience runs counter to my efforts to make lucha libre more accessible to more people. Typically I have a plan of action here, this is how I will try to handle things. Maybe it doesn’t always get executed as well it should, but I know the direction. I’m not sure of the direction right now, which probably means I’ll keep doing what I’m doing while being increasingly unhappy about it. The part of this can use is maybe some of the stuff I pu ton Twitter will be on other places, or maybe it won’t exist at all.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 11/08/2024 Arena México
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
3) Esfinge © vs Rugido [MEX LH]
7th defense
4) Flip Gordon vs Villano III Jr., Neón, Guerrero Maya Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Difunto [NWA MIDDLE, #1 Contenders]
last 2 advance to final
5) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Soberano Jr.

An important reminder: if you’re someone who switched clocks this week and only tune in on Friday shows, this is an hour earlier than you’re used to watching.

The main event looks inconsequential but should be pretty fun. The semi-main is just strange; CMLL only does six way matches for the Kid’s Day title. Who knows how this one will work. I don’t have great instinct on who’s going to come out of this, so I’m just going to guess Flip and Guerrero Maya. Esfinge/Rugido is interesting for two guys who usually are counting on the other person in the match to make it work; we’ll see what they can figure out on their own. Match 2 is one seen prior (though more often with Akuma), match 1 is a rematch from last week and probably another disputed finished.

11/09 MLW Lucha Apocalypto

• Kevin Knight, Esfinge vs Ultimo Guerrero, Hechicero
• Alex Kane vs BRG in a chain match (not a bull terrier match)
• Lluvia vs Janai Kai vs Persephone for the MLW Featherweight Championship
• Bad Dude Tito vs Matthew Justice in a falls count anywhere for the Openweight Championship match
• Star Jr., Atlantis Jr., Atlantis vs Barbaro Cavernario, Magnus, Felino
• Titan vs Mistico vs Averno for the MLW Middleweight Championship

You, a smart person, can watch this for free on YouTube starting at 9 pm. Me, a dummy, will probably be watching it live and sitting through two hours of MLW tapings before this starts. It’s probably nonsense that I will sit through a two-hour ROH taping with few complaints, but the idea of sitting through a two-hour MLW taping is annoying. I have a stronger affinity for ROH and many of their wrestlers than I do for MLW and that’s a big part of it, but also ROH feels like a (lowercase) version of AEW. The MLW & CMLL continue feel like two different universes living alongside each other strictly for business purposes. (You can say a lot about ROH, but you definitely can’t say it currently exists just for business purposes.) I’ve heard NJPW fans have similar criticism of NJPW US shows, but I feel like the US-based talent are trying their best to wrestle a NJPW style or fit along to it. If there’s any attempt to fit here, it’s the CMLL wrestlers who are trying to fit along MLW.

The strongest part of this CMLL/MLW relationship is that it seems pretty reliable; there’s been no public drama since MLW worked with AAA. Again, MLW has already announced that they’ll be back in Cicero in May for the next one of these, because they continue to sell very well. I may not like this mix but it certainly is working for enough people. (And enough people don’t really follow CMLL to care about MLW’s presentation.) I can’t say I understand the business plan here – cheap tickets and YouTube revenue don’t seem to cover all these flights – but it’s not my bank account.

Fightful posted their interview with Atlantis Jr. promoting this show. It’s fine, though I cringed when Sean Ross Sapp asked Atlantis Jr. if he or his father would ever consider being a rudo. They, of course, both have been rudos – Sapp compliments Atlantis Jr. for his mask match with Stuka without realizing Atlantis Jr. was actually a rudo in that match. It was fine otherwise and Sapp is ahead of the Mexican press in realizing what show they were trying to hype here.

CMLL (MON) 11/11/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Astro Boy Jr. & Meyer vs Grako & Rencor
2) Galaxy & Shockercito vs Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora
3) Pegasso, Rey Samuray, Valiente Jr. vs Disturbio, El Elemental, Pólvora
4) Rayo Metálico, Volcano, Xelhua vs Guerrero Maya Jr., Multy, Okumura
5) Flip Gordon, Templario, Titán vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
6) Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Volador/Averno continues to be matched up, but there is no singles match yet.

Guerrero Maya Jr. has made noise about leading a new Puebla group to take out Fuerza Poblana. It’s likely just talk, but Multy is a Puebla guy CMLL has used in Mexico City at times.

CMLL (TUE) 11/12/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Eclipse Jr., Lince Del Baijo, Shezmu vs Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy
2) Adira & Nexy vs Hatana & Valkiria
3) Adrenalina, Fantástico, Yutani vs Ángel Rebelde, Cris Skin, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Gallo, Ráfaga, Rafaga Jr.
5) La Catalina & Lluvia vs Sanely & Zeuxis
6) Star Black, Templario, Titán vs Furia Roja, Gallero, Último Guerrero

Yutani may be a tecnico now that he’s no longer teaming with El Elemental.

MLW announced they’ll continue the semi-annual CMLL shows in Cicero with Azteca Lucha on 05/10. Tickets will go on sale on 11/13.

CMLL said its 12/13 show will be an international event. A trailer aired at the end of Wednesday’s CMLL Informa. Based on Toni Storm’s comment about returning to CMLL sometime in 2024, this show appears to include AEW wrestlers. NJPW personnel re-tweeted the announcement, so wrestlers from that promotion presumably are also appearing. Some of NJPW wrestlers will already be on the continent for the 12/15 NJPW Strong Style Evolved show. CMLL pointed people to the ticket-purchasing site without explaining more. Ticket prices are slightly elevated for that show. I don’t know anything about this show beyond this paragraph.

I don’t believe this announcement has anything to do with ROH’s missing Final Battle show. There’d be no point in building up matches on ROH TV to plop them down in front of a CMLL crowd utterly unfamiliar with them.

This CMLL Informa was one of the more newsworthy shows, beyond the teaser:

• Capitan Suicida was on the show, and he was presented as talking about his Super Junior Tag League tour. The real goal was for Capitan Suicida to talk about his Max Moon outfit and explain he got the idea from seeing that acrobatic wrestler who portrayed him, Paul Diamond.
  • If you didn’t know this story, it was still a strange digression, enough to alert you that something had happened. If you did know the story, they want it clear that Sucidia was not doing Konnan tribute without every mentioning Konnan’s name
  • I 100% believe Capitan Suicida had no idea who Paul Diamond was and equally had no idea Konnan wore the outfit. Many luchadors just see cool clips on Instagram or Tiktok and don’t go deeper than that.
• 11/18 is the Revolucion Day holiday in Puebla, so the show will start at 5 and include the Copa Mujeres Revolucionarias tournament, as in 2023. Reyna Isis won that tournament, which was an eight-women cibernetico split between Puebla and CDMX women. This year’s tournament will be all CDMX: La Catalina, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard, Kira, Lluvia, Zeuxis, Reyna Isis,  Persephone, Hera and Sanely.
  • The CMLL Puebla luchadoras did not appear much during Women’s Month. They wrestled the opener on the 10/07 show – Astoreth & Centinela beat Enigmatica & Lady Amazona, and not all during the rest of women’s month. That match was booked prior to the disastrous Arena Coliseo indie luchadora match, and I wonder if the Puebla luchadoras also got sidelined as the indie women did.
• The bodybuilding contest was officially announced for 11/27. JCR hinted there’s new rules or groups or something with it, and that they’d explain more later.
• Fuerza Tapatia (Esfinge, Star Black, Fugaz) officially added Explosivo to the group. They pushed the idea it would be a foursome.
  • It seems more CMLL is elevated Esfinge from the group, and Star Black and Fugaz aren’t joining him right now. More or less what happened with Akuma and Ola Negra a few months ago, but they’re being nicer about it. Explosivo gets a good spot as a regular, much like Barboza seems to be paired with Zandokan. Both are recent Guadalajara to Mexico City full time moves.
• The NWA Middleweight Championship will be a two week affair with the six people wrestling tonight. The final two will wrestle for the title next Friday. Mistico will present the winner with the title belt.
• The first two Fridays of the month will have the middleweight tournament. The last two Fridays of the month will have the Leyenda de Azul, featuring the light heavyweights and heavyweights. This year’s participants are Blue Panther, Gran Guerrero, Star Black , Averno, Angel de Oro, Soberano Jr., Euforia, Hechicero, Mistico and the winner of Esfinge vs Rugido Friday. The idea is that every light heavyweight and heavyweight champion is automatically included, so the winner of the title match gets a spot.
  • CMLL announced that Mistico would be in this tournament back in September, right after the Aniversario show. At that point, JCR explained it as Mistico getting a sort of exemption into the tournament despite not being a light heavyweight so he could try to win both Leyenda de Plata and the Leyenda de Azul. CMLL, especially the CMLL of the last few years, is concerned about their internal logic making sense. I wonder if one of the motivations in Mistico giving up the middleweight championship is because he was going to be in the light heavyweight tournament (and eventually going to be light heavyweight champion.) I can’t believe that would be the only reason, but I can see it factor into their thinking.
  • Atlantis Jr. is the (NWA) Historic Light Heavyweight Champion. He’s not in the Leyenda de Azul. Again, CMLL is big in trying to make everything fit their rule set, so Julio Cesar Rivera explained Atlantis Jr. would be missing the tournament do to personal reasons. I immediately assumed “personal reasons” meant “World Tag League”, but that currently doesn’t appear to be the case. No CMLL teams were announced for NJPW’s World Tag League. There is a spot left open, Alex Zayne’s partner has not been announced, but a Mexican teaming with a man whose lifestyle is “I really love Taco Bell” seems like it would cause some sort of international incident. I’ve got no idea what Atlantis Jr. is up to.

NJPW US’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed show takes place tonight. There is no CMLL presence on the card, the first time there’s been no CMLL wrestler on a normal NJPW US show since 2022. It might be a scheduling quirk with MLW the next day. That streak is also a little bit exaggerated. Some of the CMLL presence on those cards was just “Stephanie Vaquer defends her title.” Vaquer was a unicorn; NJPW has used Mistico a bunch, but it’s more been just the 2-4 luchador who happened to be picked and are in a match off to the side of the main NJPW stories. Stephanie is the only male or female CMLL luchador who transitioned into becoming a full time NJPW US roster member until leaving for WWE. None of the other CMLL luchadors have really been put in the same role as challenging a famous US star like the Vaquer/Mone spot, but I’m sure NJPW has reasons for picking people as they do. And I’m sure CMLL wrestlers will be back on the next NJPW show in California.

The 11/21 CMLL show in Veracruz is canceled.

This week’s viral video is a female fan asking Diamond to sign her chest. Diamond wisely declined, but he did sign her forehead with lipstick instead.

In another interview with Fightful, Rocky Romero said he apologized to Mercedes Mone this past week about not helping her with the CMLL show – he actually fell asleep during the conversation.

I really enjoyed Soberano Jr.’s post-match promo from Guadalajara.

AAA

No Space show on Saturday. Guerra de Titanes is Sunday, AAA’s last live show of the year.

AAA TV (SUN) 11/10/2024 Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
***Guerra de Titanes, 2024***
1) Máscarita Sagrada, Payaso Balin, Pimpinela Escarlata, Sakura vs ?, Eddy Maceyra, Mini Abismo Negro, Zafiro
2) Kempo vs Pierroth Jr., Aéreo
3) El Fiscal & Reina Dorada vs Crazzy Steve & Havok
El Fiscal likely to be replaced due to injury.
4) ?, Mecha Wolf, Vampiro Canadiense vs Abismo Negro, Psicosis, Taurus
5) Dinámico, Drago, Laredo Kid vs Kento, Nobu San, Takuma
6) Octagón Jr. © vs El Mesías [AAA LA]
7) Pagano vs El Patrón Alberto © [AAA MEGA]
Pagano replaced Vikingo on Tuesday prior (knee injury)

Space will pick up this show around 7:30 pm CDMX Time. It show starts at 5 pm local; Juarez is Mountain Time, so that means they’ll have about 90 minutes of matches prior to the live portion. The top 3 always air, and I think match 4 is likely based on those times.

Guerra de Titanes is meant to be AAA’s last major show of the year and AAA has plots – JBL/Dorian’s takeover bid, Latin Lover’s contract ending – that seemed headed to a year-end conclusion. This year, AAA has at least two more tapings to go so it’s possible that stuff gets saved for later.

Pagano getting the title shot was a story in the hometown paper, got played up by the city itself on their page. That match will not be good by “quality of wrestling moves,” but it’ll be heated. Pagano winning would be a great story for that day, but I’m not sure it would mean much beyond that. AAA posted a video of Alberto calling someone to thank someone for injuring Vikingo and laughing about the idea he’d face a clown now. I don’t think that’s meant to be a mystery person angle, they just needed a way to get to the promo – it’s the old WWE cliched bit of talking to someone on the phone to explain the story.

Fiscal posted a photo of him in the hospital after surgery a month ago. Reina Dorada told Mas Lucha more recently that Fiscal wouldn’t be on this show, but she didn’t appear to know who she’d be teaming with instead. That weird Dorada promo on AAA TV this week teased a singles match with Havok, so maybe one idea is to move Crazzy Steve up into Pagano’s spot instead of sending an extra person. AAA seems less likely to send a replacement to show, though they could always move Pierroth or Aereo up to team with Reina Dorada.

Octagon should probably beat Mesias if AAA remembers he’s owed a title shot, but who knows. Mesias has looked better in this run, but it’s unrealistic to expect him to put in Mil Muertes/Fenix-level performances in 2024. Nobu San pointed out on Twitter that this city is where he started his AAA stint and it’ll also be where he’s finishing it up – he’s headed back to GLEAT, at least for now. That seems to suggest La Fraternidad will win. Notorious hothead Psicosis II is still teaming with the guy who cost him his mask; maybe he’s turned over a new leaf.

AAA on Unimas will have part 3 of Heroes Inmortales, which appears to be just the Copa Antonio Pena. AAA will have the Guerra de Titanes preview show on YouTube.

Psycho Clown was listed on the 11/17 GALLIMania show. He is no longer listed on the GALLIMania show.

Scorpio Jr. (1966-2024)

Scorpio Jr. (Rafael Nunez) passed away Thursday. He was 58. Record reports Scorpio Jr. passed away after an ulcer burst.

Scorpio Jr.’s started his career at the age of 18. His father was a regular in UWA and his son started there in the late 80s, continuing through the effective in off the promotion in the mid 90s. His biggest win during that time would’ve been a mask victory over Black Scorpio (a touring Too Cold Scorpio.) Scorpio Jr. had a brief stint in 1995 AAA alongside other UWA refugees but landed in CMLL for the long term. (Scorpio’s father, who was a Mexico City lucha libre commissioner by this point, may have had a role in that move.) Scorpio Jr. was an upper-level rudo for that CMLL run, running from 1995 until 2004. He was a jacked-up muscle guy in a promotion where there weren’t many of that type. His biggest role was as a character in the Negro Casas/El Hijo del Santo drama in the late 90s. The Arena Mexico crowd started cheering rudo Casas over tecnico Santo, including on the 63rd Aniversario show. El Hijo del Santo left Arena Mexico for a few months, Casas turned tecnico in the interim, and Santo shockingly decided to become a rudo for the first time in his career to continue to fight him. Santo teamed up with Scorpio Jr. and Bestia Salvaje for that run. When it was time for Hijo del Santo to turn back tecnico, Scorpio Jr. first beat Santo in the first-ever Leyenda de Plata tournament a year and a half later, a match he talked about with CMLL back in 2020. Salvaje & Scorpio also attacked Santo in a trios tournament, and fate happened to have Negro Casas as one of those saving him. That led to a tag team program between Santo/Casas and Salvaje/Scorpio and a hair/mask match at the first ever Homenaje a Dos Leyends in 1999. Santo & Casas won, of course.

(Around this time, Scorpio Jr. also had a run on WWF’s Super Astro’s programming, which used a lot of CMLL talent booked through Victor Quiñones. Scorpio wrestled as the unmasked El Bandido on five matches, most taped before he lost his mask in Mexico.)

Santo also beat Scorpio Jr. in a 1999 Leyenda de Plata rematch, closing the book on that story (and ending Scorpio’s run on top.) Scorpio Jr. had already moved onto a new angle. He and Bestia Salvaje teamed with rising star and recent rudo convert Shocker to form Los Guapos, a tongue-in-cheek idea of these not-conventionally-handsome men playing off like the world’s most beautiful men. (Scorpio’s Sr. had been billed as ‘the ugliest man in the world,’ so Scorpio Jr. was a natural.) The gimmick wasn’t successful from a box office standpoint, but it became the iconic version of those wrestlers. Shocker and Scorpio Jr. are still playing that same Guapos character to this day, and AAA currently has a group based on this two-decade-old angle. (The Guapos did better business on Tijuana shows.) In the early 2000s, Shocker was an incredibly charismatic wrestler, too big for this semi-comedy group. CMLL eventually added Emilio Charles Jr. to the unit with the idea of him pushing Shocker out. This was CMLL’s peak period of doing outside-the-ring vignettes, so there were bits about Shocker and Emilio feuding over a woman and Shocker messing with their hair dye that are well remembered. Shocker would win Emilio’s hair to end that program and Scorpio Jr.’s hair in the last days of his time in CMLL. Before that – and after Shocker had messed up the Guapo’s good looks – Scorpio Jr., Emilio Charles Jr., and Bestia Salvaje found religion and became Los Talibanes following the 9/11 attacks. It was meant as a parody and not to be taken seriously, though it may have played differently outside of Mexico. (Scorpio also briefly played a masked Sadam gimmick in Pierroth’s gang, but it didn’t go anywhere.) Scoprio Jr.’s last Arena Mexico booking came on February 13, 2004, though he hung around most of the year working smaller shows before leaving the promotion.

Scorpio Jr. got one more run in the big time, thanks to Shocker. He had jumped to AAA in 2005, who thought they were getting the star of just a couple of years prior and instead got someone dealing with significant substance abuse issues. (Shocker has since said he doesn’t remember a thing of his 14 months in AAA.) After running with Shocker as a tecnico didn’t work out, AAA pulled from the past to redo Los Guapos. Emilio Charles Jr. and Bestia Salvaje were still in CMLL, but Scorpio Jr. was available. So were ex-CMLL wrestlers (and participants in later Shocker Guapos concepts) Alan Stone and Zumbido, as well as the new addition of micro manager Guapito. Shocker bailed back to CMLL in 2006, but AAA kept the idea going without him. Scorpio Jr. got a feud and hair loss to Super Porky (a rare achievement to lose a hair match with Brazo de Plata), and Decnnis eventually also got added to the group. Scorpio Jr., a poor in-ring wrestler during this AAA run, was quietly phased out of the group. He continued to work about 30-50 matches, a lot for Tiniblas’s micro-promotion FULL. Scorpio Jr. also introduced a Mini Scorpio, a Scorpio 2G and a Scorpio 3G at different times; SuperLuchas bio says at least one of those was his real son.

Scorpio Jr. wrestled twice on AAA TV this year, wrestling the June Mexico City show and again in August on Verano de Escandalo, back again with Alan Stone and Zumbido. He looked old and far past his prime, but he also had looked far past his prime in the 2006-2008 Guapo U run they were referencing. AAA apparently thought there was more they could do with the Guapos, but again, not with Scorpio Jr. That second appearance included an injury angle to replace Scorpio Jr. with Bello Stone (Chris Stone Jr.), and Scorpio hadn’t been mentioned since. I don’t have a record of him appearing on other cards past that night. Scorpio Jr. and his wife spent his last years running a food stand in Mexico City, which he appeared to enjoy. The great El Arte de Gotch YouTube channel caught up with Scorpio Jr. back in September. The title has Scorpio talking about retiring in a year. Visually, he looks much thinner and older in the face than he had even a month prior in AAA, as if there was some illness he was battling.

AAA mentioned Scorpio Jr.’s passing. IWRG had a moment of appluse on Thursday’s show. CMLL has not said anything, as of this writing.

Other News

Ayako Hamada wrestled on a show this past Sunday, then took the microphone to say that her father, Gran Hamada, was seriously ill again. Gran Hamada was in serious condition earlier this year and recovered then, and Ayako said this latest is Gran Hamada is in a day-by-day situation.

Thursday, El Hijo del Santo’s Instagram stories mentioned the remaining 2024 shows on the Todo x el Todo are canceled. Instagram Stories are pretty unhelpful places to put this info, but it’s also on the ticket websites. The Merida show, scheduled for 12/08, has been canceled altogether. This Sunday’s show in Veracruz is now scheduled for March 2nd – but Todo x el Todo had previously said they were running in Xalapa that day. No shows are scheduled until March 2nd, and I presume we won’t hear much more about all of this until the anniversary of El Santo’s passing on February 5th.

(Credit to LA Park for breaking this story.)

The Crash has its 13th Anniversary show tonight in Tijuana. It’s a strange card: Bestia and Mecha Wolf have a long-built hair match, but then the rest of the show is out of nowhere four-way hair match with Heavy Metal, Super Crazy and Mr. Aguila and Juventud Guerrera, and then a bunch of title matches with no one announced. The Crash has a list of talent for the show, and it’s possible to work out who’s probably in the title matches, but it also doesn’t seem to matter much. Matt Riddle was supposed to be in one of them, probably challenging for the heavyweight title, but The Crash announced he’s off the show (due to “reasons outside of the control of the promotion”), and Raj Dhesi is in. Dhesi has not worked for AAA since winning the tag team titles in August. Notably, Riddle is still advertised to work the MLW taping the next day. Ticket prices are much more expensive than usual for this show; the promotion is going to be feeling great if it draws.

Jack Cartwheel was a regular in AAA in 2022 and 2023, then disappeared from the promotion in 2024. Most of the regular foreigners have disappeared from AAA this year, either due to AAA focusing on the Orignes wrestlers or AAA cutting back on expensive. Cartwheel has still worked the EMW shows in Tijuana. Friday, WWE revealed Cartwheel was part their WWE ID program – a new concept where WWE is reportedly paying indie wrestlers a monthly stipend in exchange for WWE refusal on a contract. (The details on WWE ID seems heavily speculated on and lightly reported, so I could have this wrong.) Cartwheel’s worked Ring of Honor a bunch – if AEW wanted to sign him now, WWE would have the right to offer him a deal (probably with terms already set) and

I’m certain many Mexican wrestlers would jump at the same offer, and it’s more a question of WWE having any interest in wrestlers who only wrestle in Mexico. WWE typically has not been interested in Mexican wrestlers until they wrestle in Japan or Mexico. Someone like Galeno del Mal, who works in NOAH but doesn’t seem to have a contract there or with anyone in Mexico, would seem to be a logical person for WWE to approach for this WWE ID program.

(I’m far astray off topic but – if AEW wants/needs any information on this WWE ID program, they probably should offer Cartwheel a contract to find it out. They’re already using Cartwheel enough where he might already be a roster guy if Ring of Honor was running a bigger schedule, they’re not heartbroken if WWE scoops him up, and they better know the gameplan if/when this become a bigger deal. This is totally just pushing a button to see what it does, but it’s a good test candidate to push the button. Wrestling companies generally have far more information on what other wrestling companies are doing with contracts than we do, so it also may be totally unnecessary to push that button and get that information.)

Diosa Quetzal announced Wednesday she’s pregnant in a series of photos with partner Angel Mortal Jr. (ex-Parka Negra). I don’t have a result for her since June. It says something about what AAA must be paying people on Angel Mortal’s level that he seemingly found out he was going to be a father and decided the responsible thing to do was to quit AAA. What stuck out to me, though, was Quetzal’s previous posts – “really enjoyed being at this concert!”, “just got done at the gym” that are now exposed as photos from some distant time in the past that she was pretending were recent. Social media is a scam. (Meanwhile, Bengalee’s social media accounts vaguely refer to some issue recently, but otherwise, they are just resuming posting like usual, whoever’s behind them. )

Tao Lucha libre said they were still running Arena Queretaro on 11/15. However, they also suspiciously pushed their press conference from Wednesday to next Monday – perhaps something still needs to be figured out.

The Sun has a “reporter learns how to wrestler” piece with Hijo del Santo and Santo Jr. This piece puts Santo Jr’s age as 27 and implies he’s going to keep wrestling after his father retires, but also the idea entire idea of the article is he doesn’t know anything about any of this so I wouldn’t take that too seriously.

A culture writer for El Sol del Mexico raves about Quien Mato A Shocker, saying it belongs alongside Raging Bull and The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky) version. The documentary is still making its way around film festivals.

Dragon Bane challenges Daga for the GHC Junior Heavyweight championship on 11/17.

A profile of Mexico City teen indie luchador Steven Manson.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 11/04/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, En Linea Deporitva, Mano A Mano, Porra Fresa]
1) Astro & Asturiano b Espíritu Maligno & King Jaguar 
Astro left the match early via injury.
2) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito b Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
3) Disturbio, El Elemental, Infarto b Arkalis, Millenium, Pegasso 
debut of El Elemental here; he beat Pegasso to win.
4) Flip Gordon, Rayo Metálico, Stigma DQ Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo de Stuka Jr., Okumura 
Guerrero Maya unmasked Rayo Metailco.
5) Averno, Euforia, Mephisto DQ Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. 
Averno faked a foul from Volador
6) Místico b Ángel de Oro

Elemental getting wins is surprising, but it’s not like these results really matter

CMLL (TUE) 11/05/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Rostro De Acero b Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía
9:11. Polvora won via mask pull on Angelito
2) El Coyote b Fuego [lightning]
9:04
3) Sanely & Tabata b Candela & India Sioux [Relevos Increíbles]
14:56
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther b Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
13:50. Hijo de Blue Panther replaced Blue Panther.
5) El Hijo de Octagón, Octagón, Star Jr. b Mephisto, Niebla Roja, Rey Bucanero
13:11.
6) Averno, Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible b Templario, Titán, Volador Jr.
13:51.

It’s an all-around good show – matches like the Panthers/Diablos were going harder than most of the matches last week. It seemed like a bigger crowd than usual for Tuesday for no particular reason.

CMLL teased a Volador/Averno on back-to-back days, which might mean they have two singles matches next week. The minis who weren’t involved in Friday or Sunday’s angle are feuding here, which again points to a division-wide cage match coming on New Year’s Day.

CMLL (TUE) 11/05/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Mas Lucha, Fuego en el Ring]
1) Astro Oriental, Avispón Negro Jr., Último Ángel b Infierno, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Prince Drago b Obek, Rav, Temerario
3) Bestia Negra, Guerrero de la Muerte, Halcón Negro Jr. b Arlequín, Leo, Omar Brunetti
straight falls. Omar Brunetti left the match early and was injured.
4) Brillante Jr., Neón, Xelhua b Draego, Makará, Persa
5) Barboza & Zandokan Jr. b Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
6) Máscara Dorada b Soberano Jr.

Dorada won cleanly in the main event. No word on how match 5 went. Video shows Brunetti walking away from the match, so it’s an upper body injury and/or Guadalajara doesn’t strap everyone to a stretcher.

Kaiser Sports has their version of general media interviews with Akira and Bad Dude Tito. This was better than the ESTO version because Kaiser Sports wrote down what show they were building up (the MLW one this weekend.) It was unsuccessful in getting people to a YouTube stream to watch it. Mexican wrestling media does not care about watching shows on the internet, doesn’t even process they go to the show live, and doesn’t seem to process that there are people who may watch shows they’re not at. But if the goal is to get MLW mentioned in the Mexican press, this was successful. MLW had Atlantis Jr. and Atlantis Sr. talk with Fightful, and that’ll be released for free on Thursday and they’re more likely to get the YouTube stream over.

Capitan Suicida finished his NJPW run on Monday with a dark match appearance. He’s worn different outfits throughout the tournament, and the Monday outfit was inspired by Max Moon. WWF created the character, though Paul Diamond also wrestled in that mask in 1994 NJPW – maybe that was the inspiration. The Max Moon gimmick was initially designed for Konnan, who left WWF before he made TV. A CMLL wrestler seemingly paying homage to a Konnan character isn’t a brilliant idea. I’d bet it was unintentional that Capitan Suicida had no idea that mask had anything to do with Konnan. Most CMLL people aren’t paying attention to 2024 WWE; it seems a safe bet he doesn’t know the story of an obscure character from three decades prior in another promotion. Capitan Suicida may still be in hot water, nevertheless.

CMLL (SAT) 11/09/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito vs Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Rostro De Acero
2) Astral & Eléctrico vs Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II
3) Futuro & Max Star vs Stigma & Xelhua
4) La Catalina & Tessa Blanchard vs Reyna Isis & Zeuxis
5) Explosivo, Fugaz, Star Black vs Barboza, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
6) Máscara Dorada, Neón, Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Niebla Roja

Main event looks good. Match 3 might be interesting.

CMLL (SUN) 11/10/2024 Arena México
1) Leono & Retro vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Dragón de Fuego & Legendario vs Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II
3) Capitán Suicida, Hijo del Pantera, Volcano vs El Elemental, Kráneo, Okumura
4) Reyna Isis vs Persephone [lightning]
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Titán vs Hijo del Villano III, Magia Blanca, Valiente
6) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Templario vs Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Stuka Jr.

A regular Friday show. Elemental and Pantera get a Sunday spot.

AAA

Sunday’s Guerra de Titanes’s new main event will be Pagano challenging Alberto for the AAA Mega Championship. Pagano announced he was in the spot Tuesday on a Facebook video. AAA officially announced the change about an hour later. Pagano was scheduled to team with Mecha Wolf and Vampiro in a trios match; no replacement was announced.

Guerra de Titanes is in Pagano’s hometown of Ciudad Juarez, and that crowd should be very excited to see him in a big match. Vikingo going for the title he never lost is a bigger story in the melodrama of AAA, but Pagano’s challenge for the title will be a much bigger deal for the people in the building.

The Alberto/mega title story seems to be planned out in more detail and in a longer term than AAA stories in the recent past. It feels as though AAA had plotted out the Alberto/Vikingo match for Guerra de Titanes and Alberto/Octagon (off winning a title shot in the Mexico City Copa) for Rey de Reyes so they could clear out all the old business before going to their perceived money match in Latin Lover versus Alberto. Vikingo not being available for this show throws a bit of a monkey wrench in that, but AAA can do big matches outside of names shows. AAA could just reschedule it for that 12/07 show that doesn’t have a lineup if both men are available.

Pagano is the much better selection for selection for that show, even though he’s probably going to struggle to have a long singles matches; he’s spent a lot of the last two years out with injuries or looking like a man who will soon be out with injuries. Pagano hasn’t challenged for this title in 2017.  AAA’s goal shifted to get high WON star ratings with the title, and Pagano didn’t fit that mold. Alberto as champion means that goal has changed, and Pagano’s a better fit for a title reign that’s simply about building heat for Alberto. Vikingo was in the spot because AAA wanted to close the book on that chapter of the title, and Alberto cheating a smaller guy seemed like a good way to get heat but Pagano’s disappearing act from AAA also meant he wasn’t in consideration until they needed someone. He’s been as scarce on AAA TV as Psycho Clown: Pagano worked the first two tapings of the year, then two of the Triplemanias (Monterrey/Mexico City) and hasn’t appeared since. (He was listed on the canceled Torreon show.) Pagano is still working AAA spot shows, but Guerra de Titanes being in Juarez is probably the main reason Pagano took this TV taping.

Local promoters RCG Media held a press conference on Monday to promote the 11/17 show. They said the previous Saltillo show, back in March with Vampiro, sold out to around 4,500 people and hope for the same here. They’re also hoping they can bring a TripleMania or a Verano de Escandalo to Saltillo at some point—they’re eyeing the local baseball stadium for a bigger-scale event. That baseball stadium sits around 11,000, so probably not a TripleMania but another named event seems plausible.

Other News

Flamita and Kzy won the Open the Twin Gate championship in Dragon Gate.

Shocker told Record he’s going to start wrestling again in December, with six dates already booked – the first is 11/01 in Veracruz. He’s working the Christms Day Neza show among hem. He was asked if AAA’s offered him a job, seeing as Latin Lover was one of the people responsible for Shocker going to rehab – Shocker credits AAA for paying for the plane tickets to get him there. Shocker says AAA has not, but he wants to get in better shape before he even tries to go back on TV with anyone. Shocker heading back on the road to wrestle following rehab seems like a risky idea, but it’s the easiest way for him to make money quick.

The Facebook page for Arena Queretaro posted a strange note from the owners on Tuesday, seemingly saying they no longer owned or managed the building. Two promotions – TAO and “Indy Wrestling” have been running the building, and the post says they’ll need to find a new location. TAO already had a press conference scheduled later today for their show on the 15th in that building, so maybe there will be more info on what is happening then.

AVE says they’ll have a 4 person mask match in February 2025. They were the same group that did the Wotan/Trauma match this past year, and it seems like that’s where Imposible is putting up his mask.

Club Lucha has a new edition of their podcast.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 11/01/2024 Arena México [CMLL, El Grafico, Esquina Caliente, Estadio Deportes, Estrellas del Ring, Excelsior, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores (Text), The Gladiatores (vide), thecubsfan]
***Dia del Muertos, 2024***
1) Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito b Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito   
7:44. Pierrothito snuck in a foul on Shockercito, setting up a rematch next week.
2) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Pelon Encapuchado b Disturbio, Felino Jr., Okumura     
13:45.
3) Kira, La Catalina, Tessa Blanchard b Reyna Isis, Sanely, Zeuxis     
11:06
4) Difunto b Bárbaro Cavernario, Xelhua, Barboza [Rey del Inframundo, final]     
Xelhua submitted Barboza in 7:45, Difunto defeated Xelhua in 9:32, and Difunto defeated Cavernario in 19:34 to win the 2024 Rey del Inframundo
5) Magia Blanca, Rugido, Volador Jr. b Esfinge, Místico, Neón     
19:44. Rugido beat Esfinge and challenged him to a MEX LH title match next week. As Mistico was being carried to hell (Dia del Muertos tradition), a fan tried to pull him to safety, but he was taken out by security.

The Rey del Inframundo was the one match to watch. Difunto put together all the high spots he’s been showing off in trios and lightning matches late for a big match and pulled off nearly all of them. The finishing springboard didn’t work, but he was level-headed enough to add on sentons until Cavernario was good and dead. Difunto is about as weirdly spectacular as CMLL is right now.

The rest was not much. Five matches meant the show went short, even with all the extra Dia del Muertos stuff (and a paddle presentation)—the main event felt like they were asked to kill a few extra minutes. The unplanned post-match bit was the most memorable part.

The minis feud could be setting up the New Year’s Day match. It could also be the title match, but it’s rare that MCLL runs programs for the minis title, especially on a Friday.

CMLL (SAT) 11/02/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico 
8:01
2) Diamond, Dulce Gardenia, Valiente Jr. b Apocalipsis, Disturbio, Espíritu Negro [Relevos Increíbles] 
11:22
3) Felino b Pantera 
7:39
4) Zeuxis b Princesa Sugehit, Dark Silueta 
Sugehit beat Silueta in 10:44, Zeuxis beat Sugehit in 16:51.
5) Atlantis Jr. b Stuka Jr. 
16:19
6) Místico & Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro & Averno 
17:24

The theme here was seeing all these big rivalries again, but they didn’t feel big. Most of them were worked like regular matches, or with less effort than usual. All the matches, being one fall, seemed to throw off the flow, too, and it felt like the main event was (again) stretched out because the rest of the show went short. Pantera/Felino may have been meant to take up some of that time. Pantera hit the ropes on a through-the-corner tope, then hit the floor hard and short of Felino. CMLL kept the cameras on the ring as the doctors checked on Pantera; he continued the match, but it didn’t go much longer.

Atlantis Jr./Stuka Jr. was the best of the bunch by far. They started hot, they kept on each other, and a loud portion of the crowd got behind Stuka (because he’s pretty good.)

CMLL (SUN) 11/03/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
***Tzompantu de Mascaras, 2024***
1) KeMalito & Periquito Sacaryas b Átomo & Tengu 
10:37.
2) Pequeño Olímpico & Último Dragóncito DQ Mercurio & Shockercito [Relevos Increíbles] 
9:16. Straight falls. Mercurio refused to let go of a Cavernaria on Ultimo Dragoncito, causing the DQ.
3) La Catalina b Reyna Isis, Princesa Sugehit, Dark Silueta, Tabata, Amapola, La Vaquerita, Persephone [Copa Tzompantli] 
Tabata (14:40, via Sugehit), Amapola (16:08, Isis), Vaquerita (18:30, Persephone), Dark Sileta (22:37, Sugehit), Princesa Sugehit (23:10, Isis), Isis (25:08, Catalina), Persephone (28:04, Catalina), leaving La Catlaina as the winner. This was La Vaquerita’s retirement match.
4) Virus b Felino [lightning] 
6:42
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © b Bárbaro Cavernario & Terrible [CMLL TAG] 
16:36. 17th defense (Chavez counting it as 18th)
6) Averno, Euforia, Volador Jr. b Blue Panther, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles] 
12:30

Chavez vs Terrible/Cavernario was good; I think the costuming took me out of it a little bit (though I was distracted for a portion during it.) The cibernetico held together fine. Catalina used three moves on Persephone that would be better finishers, then won with her actual splash. The main event was good.

The cibernetico was paused after Vaquerita was pinned so that everyone left in the match could applaud for La Vaquerita, and they got the crowd to applaud her as well. When she put her mask in the chest at the end of the show, she put on a referee shirt to indicate her change in role. It was a nice send off.

The gimmick of this show is that everyone is wearing their old mask again, but it’s not entirely accurate. Everyone’s wearing a Dia del Muertos version of their mask, which is different than others who’ve done this bit. The idea at the end of this show is all these mask losers put their mask back in the sacred trunk until next year. Vaquerita put hers in the trunk for the final time; she put on a referee shirt to show her role change. Ultimo Guerrero was one of the last to go, so he threw his mask into the crowd instead. Many people in the ring reacted like a student just talked back to the teacher and was about to get sent to the principal’s office. Maybe someone in CMLL had a word with everyone about how that was supposed to go, but UG didn’t take it well. Look, he may need that mask before next November if he gets booked in AEW again gotta keep it out of the box.

This is a weird coincidence, but it is still amusing to me. Most of the Arena Mexico Dia del Muertos has been done with the lights turned low (but not off), so the special Dia del Muertos glow-in-the-dark gear the wrestlers wear pops out to the live audience. Next Sunday, AAA’s scheduled to run a Lucha A Oscuras match, where they turn the lights off and the wrestlers wear glow-in-the-dark gear. I’d assume neither AAA nor CMLL knows the other group is doing essentially the same gimmick match.

It’s not much hidden that much of the “talking” to tell the Guardians to drag losers to Hell is pretaped. It’s been live in the past, but even La Catrina’s speeches were dubbed bits. It’s fine, whatever makes for a good show, except it stuck out a bit during the women’s cibernetico when they seemed to play the same generic soundbite every two minutes for an elimination.

CMLL (TUE) 11/05/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Rostro De Acero
2) Fuego vs El Coyote [lightning]
3) Candela & India Sioux vs Sanely & Tabata [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) El Hijo de Octagón, Octagón, Star Jr. vs Mephisto, Niebla Roja, Rey Bucanero
6) Templario, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible

It’s back to regular Arena Mexico shows. Fuego is no longer a humanoid candy, merely a humanoid flame. Normal is relative—I have no idea what’s going on in match 3. Rostro de Acero hanging around might be yet another sign they’re building to a minis cage match—CMLL needs even numbers for those, even though it doesn’t matter.

CMLL (FRI) 11/08/2024 Arena México
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
3) Esfinge © vs Rugido [MEX LH]
7th defense
4) Flip Gordon vs Villano III Jr., Neón, Guerrero Maya Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Difunto [NWA MIDDLE, #1 Contenders]
last 2 advance to final on following week
5) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Soberano Jr.

That middleweight field is a strange one that explains how we got here; CMLL’s going to have Mistico lose a few times a year, but probably not to any of those six in 2024. There are levels. The sudden rise of Difunto makes him a favorite. I would like to see what Neon and Villano III Jr. might do in a title match but I fear they might not survive. The world is divided into people who saw that lineup as “oh no, Flip Gordon might win a title” (people who don’t watch CMLL) and those who saw it as “oh no, Dragon Rojo might win a title (again)” (people who do watch CMLL.)

Esfinge losing would be surprising. The rest might not go anywhere; Leyenda de Azul is probably starting soon.

WWE informed three wrestlers Friday that they would soon no longer be WWE wrestlers. One of them was Australia’s Samantha De Martin, who wrestled in WWE as Indi Hartwell. La Catalina, who overlapped with De Martin’s time in WWE, immediately brought up the idea of bringing De Martin to CMLL. (De Martin is also of Chilean and Italian heritage.) This wouldn’t mean much except CMLL also RT-ed Catalina’s post later that night. I have not watched much of WWE during Indi Hartwell’s run, but reviews I’ve heard is she’s solid at the backstage skits and not solid in the ring. That’s the reverse of the CMLL’s desired skill set. You could look on the bright side and argue Catalina was good at neither and she (and CMLL) turned it around outside of the WWE system and maybe it’d happen again. The bigger bit is, as I wrote Friday, CMLL is always looking for novel countries to include in the Grand Prix. CMLL’s had male Australians in the Grand Prix, but never in the women’s version of the event. That likely means she’ll at least be considered if she’s still interested and available 11 months from now. (There’s no news peg to it but, for similar reasons as De Martin, I would bet Spain’s Zozaya will turn up in CMLL in 2025 if he doesn’t get scooped up by someone else prior.)

The Chilean embassy in Mexico has an article about La Catalina at the Grand Prix. I didn’t realize her outfit was supposed to be inspired by the Chilean military.

ESTO has an interview with Akira, presumably to promote the MLW show this weekend but it never comes up. The interview teases Akira coming back to Mexico soon. Over on Instagram, Akira mentions he’s going to Japan (for Big Japan) in December and is planning to be there for several months whenever he’s not working MLW.

AAA

The AAA Spain shows were never going to happen from the moment they were announced. They are now officially not going to happen. The 11/21 Madrid, 11/22 Bilbao, and 11/30 Barcelona shows are now listed as canceled on Ticketmaster and LiveNation; Ticketmaster put out saying the organizer (unclear if AAA or the local group) has canceled the shows. Refunds will start arriving on 11/08.

It was absurd for both AAA and the local promoters to believe they could fill big Spanish arenas with a promotion that had no real presence in Spain, but there is no big enough idea that AAA would not try on the chance it might work. (None of them seem to work but that’s beside the point.) In a heel promo on TV this week, Dorian Roldan bemoaned he doesn’t get the credit or credibility for his successes. There’s some truth to that, but you can either have credibility or you can associate yourself with ludicrous often. Can’t do both.

(AAA may attempt to blame the announcement of WWE shows coming to Spain; please remember these shows were dead on arrival months before anyone knew WWE was going to run shows in the country.)

The AAA on Space show was as weird even for a filler episode. No one will give you a deeper breakdown of this show than me. No one else is that silly.

• Vikingo/Alberto was still on whenever this episode was taped. It may have been taped weeks ago. It may have been taped last Wednesday. Do not take any promotion as proof the match is still on; Vikingo’s not supposed to be wrestling until the week after in the most optimistic outcome. AAA’s usual behavior is not to address the situation until the event starts, so they’ll continue to advertise the match until then.
• AAA aired more from the JBL/Dorian sit-down in Guadalajara; getting something with JBL on every episode seems a point of emphasis. Dorian stated that every big idea from AAA since Antonio Pena passed away has been his – the video game, the movie, Lucha Underground – but he doesn’t get the credit or credibility. Dorian considers himself to be carrying on Antonio Pena’s vision by taking AAA out of Mexico. JBL compares Dorian and Marisela to Vince McMahon Sr. and Junior, where Dorian needs to take control of his company to push it to its worldwide success.
  • is it amusing AAA is on TV talking about how close they’re to worldwide success as they’re canceling their only shows outside of Mexico
  • AAA is the only wrestling promotion in 2024 that talks about how great Vince McMahon is. They’re supposed to be heels, but it doesn’t come across as an odd way to get heel heat. They just live in a different world where the outside-the-ring stuff doesn’t matter. That is kind of a Mexican wrestling thing in general, but it still comes across as an alternate universe.
    • This is nothing about nothing, but I was listening to a science podcast this week, and the discussion about how the human body absorbs and recovers from physical trauma drifted into wrestling. Two hosts, neither professional wrestling fans, had seen the Netflix doc and unreservedly referred to Vince McMahon as a horrible monster of a human being. Not a second thought, not a complicated discussion, he just is. If you are deep in the wrestling bubble – and you are if you are reading this blog post – you will hear/read wrestling people also in the bubble try to explain McMahon as some nuanced figure, someone who was very successful or important to their childhood. And if you tried to defend that version of Vince McMahon to a normal person, especially someone who has seen that doc, they’d look at you as insane and quickly run the other way.
  • Marisela appears at the start of each episode but participates in these angles about once a year. That’s probably coming before the end of the year – the JBL/Dorian bit ended with the two deciding to meet with Marisela about JBL’s friends buying her out.
    • Latin Lover has said he has power until the end of the year, so – if we trust AAA to tell a complete story – there is some plot twist coming in the new few weeks.
    • Maybe this is doing Succession instead of the usual WWE-inspired power struggle and Dorian is going to be one of the kids who turns out to never get control of the company? I will turn around on AAA if Marisela tells Dorian he’s not a serious person.
• The other half of this storyline is Latin Lover had an offscreen meeting with Marisela, who agreed to raise the talent budge to bring in some new wrestlers, wrestlers he said AAA fans had been asking for. He did not say who.
• Reina Dorada did a promo against “Jessica Havok.” It was presumably for Guerra de Titanes, though she never actually talked about Guerra de Titanes – you would’ve come away thinking about it being a singles match. The weirder issue is this promo on a Mexican wrestling show by a Mexican was spoken in English and sub-titled in Spanish. There’s almost no one speaking English watching AAA on Space in Mexico, very few people who speak English are going to see it later as far as I can tell, and it’s not like those people are going to be able to figure out what show she’s talking about if they do see it. Good for Reina Dorada to be able to do English language promos, but that was an inexplicable decision.
  • The decision to frame it as a singles match may make more sense; Dorada’s supposed to be teaming with Fiscal, Fiscal is out with an injury, and AAA is incapable of saying someone is out with an injury. Maybe it’ll end up being a singles match, or maybe AAA just taped a promo in English for a Spanish-speaking audience when they hadn’t decided what match would actually happen.
  • Konnan had nothing to say in a promo later but he did a much better job of saying the name and date of the show.
  • Alberto did an interview in which he sarcastically apologized for saying Vikingo was a member of Los Kumbia Kids and then laughed at the idea that Vikingo would be a challenge to him.
• The upcoming events video did not list the 12/07 show in Mexico City. AAA does not run the video listing upcoming events during live shows – maybe it’s too difficult for them to advertise upcoming shows during their biggest events. If they continue that way, they will not mention the Mexico City taping on TV until about two weeks before it happens.

La Tijera Lucha Libre caught up with Psycho Clown at his gym and asked him why he hadn’t been on AAA TV in months. Psycho Clown insists he’s on good terms with AAA and will be forever thankful for what they’ve done in his career, but the AAA TV schedule just hasn’t accommodated his schedule. Psycho goes through his list of bookings, focusing on the international ones, making the case he’s just been too busy to be on AAA TV.

The message is that Psycho Clown is still with AAA, but he’s working on AAA shows (especially TV tapings) only if he can’t find a booking elsewhere. Hugo Savinovich, back when he got let go, said that Dorian Roldan told him to find work elsewhere if he could because AAA could no longer afford him. What Psycho Clown said sounds like he got the same message sometime this year. Psycho Clown is not gone from AAA – he could not still be Psycho Clown if he ever left AAA. However, he’d be working AAA TV tapings if AAA was offering him the best deal on those dates or if they had some contractual power to force Psycho Clown to appear on TV tapings. Neither seems to be true.

The results from last night taping in Monterrey

AAA TV (SUN) 11/03/2024 Showcenter Complex, San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon [Lo Mejor de Lucha]
1) La Fashion & Sexy Andre b ? & Rey Sultan
2) El Original b Sick Boy, King Charro
3) Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa b Estrellato & Líder
4) Chik Tormenta & Flammer b Dulce Kanela & Pimpinela Escarlata
Chik Tormenta replaced La Fashion (bumped down to the opener)
5) Drago b Epydemius Jr., Antifaz del Norte
Pierrothio was moved up and this was turned into a three way.
6) Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown b Galeno del Mal, Pierroth Jr., Taurus
Pierroth replaced Fiscal (nose injury)

Pierroth Jr., who just appeared in AAA one day and was never introduced or explained, has now main evented three of the last four TV tapings. This taping will probably air in the US before it airs in Mexico.

As soon as this event ended, AAA announced a new show on 12/08 in Monterrey’s Giminasio Nuevo Leon Unido. It was presented as if it was a new TV taping, but I believe it’s simply a KAOZ show. That seems like good news if you’re interested in KAOZ – there’s a decent shot it’ll be live on MasLucha’s channel, instead of taped and airing weeks/months down the line.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 10/31/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, thecubsfan]
***Castillo del Terror, 2024***
1) Príncipe Centauro, Rey Astaroth, Rey Halcón b Caballero de Plata, Felino Boy, Sky Man 
2) Águila Roja © b Gravity, Águila Oriental, Cerebro Negro Jr., Iron Kid [IWRG IC Light] 
3rd defense
3) Julissa & Valentina b Big Mami & Shamila  
Big Mami replaced Keyra.
4) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. © b Pig Decapitador, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool [EdM Trios, Ladder] 
2nd defense. They only had one ladder and they had kind of destroyed it before the finish but held it in together long enough to finish the match.
5) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba b Látigo, Noisy Boy, Toxin © [IWRG IC TRIOS]  
2nd defense. Arez is part of the champions but was off in GCW. Noisy Boy was his surprise parnter.
6) Aquiles, Galeno del Mal, Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus b Abismo Negro Jr., Colmillo de Plata (AAA), Garra de Oro (AAA), Octagón Jr. (AAA)  
7) Rock Power L Pig Destroyer, Bendito, Multifacetico Jr., Abigor, Villano V Jr., Tornado, Luka, Máscara Sagrada NG, Brazo De Oro Jr., Pandemónium, Spider Fly [cage, mask]   
Spider Fly defeated rival Rock Power as the final two with help from Noisy Boy (teased betraying his partner but instead helped him out.) Rock Power is Tomas Villar Palomeque, 20 years a wrestler, from Minitalian, Veracruz.

A couple of Facebook sites – not sure who had it first – say Rock Power previously wrestled as Asesino Cervical in Minitalan. I can’t find any lineups with that name, maybe my spelling is wrong, but obviously this is someone who was working with a different name – he said he was wrestling for 20 years but Rock Power showed up just a few months ago.

Other News

El Hijo del Santo’s usual York Hall shows sounded like they were well attended and received well.  (Video here.) Those two shows drew better than the RevPro/CMLL Fantastica Mania shows in the same venue. This show was build around it being El Hijo del Santo’s farewell. Santo Jr. instead announced that, because the shows were so successful, they’d come back in March for El Hijo del Santo’s actual retirement show. That’s the same bit he did in Arena Ciudad de Mexico.

The Mexico-based portion of the tour is supposed to be in Puebla & Veracruz this week. Both those shows and the 12/08 Merida date may have been secretly canceled. Bobo Producciones had an Instagram story up the 03/16 GDL date but not for any of the shows this year. Tickets are still on sale for the Veracrus show, a local media outlet says the show is still on, but LA Park previously hinted the rest of the 2024 events were canceled. Santo hasn’t said anything. Bobo Producciones has typically released an updated lineup the week prior to the show, so maybe we’ll have a better idea in a few days. I had a belief that the El Hijo del Santo retirement tour concept would be handled a bit more dignified last carny than normal Mexican wrestling retirement; that was a dumb belief. At least people are enjoying the shows.

Box y Lucha 3628 goes with the GWAS show as the cover. The GWAS show from 2000.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 11/01/2024 Arena México
***Dia del Muertos, 2024***
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Pierrothito
2) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Pelon Encapuchado vs Disturbio, Felino Jr., Okumura
3) Kira, La Catalina, Tessa Blanchard vs Reyna Isis, Sanely, Zeuxis
4) Bárbaro Cavernario vs Difunto, Xelhua, Barboza [Rey del Inframundo, final]
5) Esfinge, Místico, Neón vs Magia Blanca, Rugido, Volador Jr.

This would be a weak lineup without the Dia del Muertos theme. The main event features people who aren’t typical Friday main events, the tournament has people who haven’t been pushed at that level prior, and there’s not much support. CMLL didn’t put their strongest effort forward – and still it will be a big crowd because it’s Dia del Muertos. The Ticketmaster map shows ticket sales ahead of last week’s Grand Prix than this time last year. Those top two matches could be pretty good. So could be the opener.

Most CMLL Informa was of the “I’d really like to win/I’m happy that I already won that match” interview territory. There was a surprise at the end: Mistico appeared to announce he was relinquishing the Historic Middleweight Championship. He said he was worn down and felt like he had added too much muscle to be a middleweight anymore. He said he would rather new people get a chance at it rather than continue to defend it. Julio Cesar Rivera announced that a tournament would be held soon.

Mistico won this belt in 2018, though I guess that’s technically that’s not correct. “Caristico” won this championship in 2018, and it still was officially referred to as the NWA Historic Championship at that point. Mistico held the championship for an absurdly long time – 2262 days – but defended it only ten times. That’s about one defense every nine months. Caristico beat Ultimo Guerrero to win the title, Guerrero held it half as long and defended it fifteen times – an average of once every two months. Mistico wrestles plenty of singles match, CMLL just doesn’t make them title feuds for whatever reason. This year, when it has been a title feud, it’s been for the MLW Middleweight championship as often (twice) as the Historic one. Mistico once again became the most popular star in CMLL during this title reign but the title had little to do with it.

CMLL’s origins are closer to boxing than most wrestling promotions, and Mistico giving up his title was the same one a boxer might give. He was beat up making these defenses, had added more muscle, and thought it would be better to move up in weight classes rather than continue to defend the title. To wrestling fans, this comes across as Mistico just doesn’t want to lose. Mistico doesn’t lose much in singles matches, but he does lose on occasion – to Star Jr. in the Leyenda de Plata tournament, to Hechicero on the Arena Monterrey Alta Voltaje show, to Hirmou Takahashi in NJPW – and it comes across more like CMLL sees those Mistico losses as very valuable and wants to give them out as rarely as possible. The other part of this announcement is how it directly follows the Fantastica Mania lineup. The biggest shows (that we know about) in CMLL’s near future are those two shows in Korakuen Hall. Those tend to have more title matches than normal CMLL shows. CMLL occasional shuffles titles this time of year to set up those lineups. Averno is (light heavyweight) champion, so he and Mistico can still have a title match as one of the final two matches on the last show for that belt, and maybe two other people will be wrestling for this middleweight championship. We’ll know this was all about Fantastica Mania if someone else on the tour ends up the new middleweight champion.

Mistico is still the MLW Middleweight Champion, or at least he is through his next defense on the 8th. They don’t have a light heavyweight championship there, but they do have a three-way where he could lose the belt without being pinned. I don’t think this says anything about Mistico’s status with CMLL, but there will be people wondering about that if he loses that title as well.

CMLL (SAT) 11/02/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico
2) Diamond, Dulce Gardenia, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Disturbio, Espíritu Negro [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Pantera vs Felino
4) Zeuxis vs Princesa Sugehit, Dark Silueta
5) Atlantis Jr. vs Stuka Jr.
6) Místico & Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro & Averno

These are all one fall matches. Many of them are rematches of past apuesta matches. Pequeno Olimpico unmasked Ultimo Dragon. Dulce Gardenia shaved Disturbio. Apocalipsis lost his mask to Valiente Jr. in a cage match. Espiritu Negro lost his to Diamond (then Principe Diamante) in 2020. That one seems an unlikely result nowadays. Pantera and Felino never unmasked each other but CMLL’s pushed this as a great early 90s rivalry in recent years. Zeuxis won by (Dark) Silueta and Princesa Sugehit’s masks. Atlantis and Stuka famously main evented an Aniverasrio. Angel de Oro took Volador’s shoulder but not his hair. La Mascara, not Mistico, unmasked Averno, but 2024 La Mascara only turns up in YouTube videos where he’s either talking about recovering from issues or seemingly back in the middle of those issues.

CMLL (SUN) 11/03/2024 Arena México
***Tzompantu de Mascaras, 2024***
1) KeMalito & Periquito Sacaryas vs Átomo & Tengu
2) Pequeño Olímpico & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Shockercito [Relevos Increíbles]
3) La Catalina vs Reyna Isis, Princesa Sugehit, Dark Silueta, Tabata, Amapola, La Vaquerita, Persephone [Copa Tzompantli]
4) Virus vs Felino [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Terrible [CMLL TAG]
17th defense (Chavez counting it as 18th)
6) Averno, Euforia, Volador Jr. vs Blue Panther, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

CMLL’s poster indicates this will stream live on the Fan Leyendas tier. If you live in the US, this will be the first stream in winter time – it’s a 5 pm US Central Time start. (I’ll also be up on VOD like all YouTube shows.)

This is the show where everyone who lost their mask gets to put it on for one night (plus the Cuicas wrestle in the opener.) Some of these masks are very famous in the history of the wrestling. Some are Terrible and Barbaro Cavernario, who lost their masks well before becoming national stars. The Chavez will tie the Bucanero/Guerrero tag title defense record if they retain the titles there, at least by their count.

La Catalina, Tabata, and Persephone are all voluntary unmaskings. Persephone wrestled as the masked Black Widow in Texas; here’s her versus the wrestler now known as Roxanne Perez in NXT in a match from three years ago but seems much more distant. Black Widow unmasked upon her AAA TV debut/farewell in April 2023. One of CMLL’s stock images they use of Persephone – the one they used for the Grand Prix – is still in her Black Widow gear; you can see the little spider logos.

CMLL (MON) 11/04/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Asturiano vs Espíritu Maligno & King Jaguar
2) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
3) Arkalis, Millenium, Pegasso vs Disturbio, El Elemental, Infarto
4) Flip Gordon, Rayo Metálico, Stigma vs Guerrero Maya Jr., Hijo de Stuka Jr., Okumura
5) Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
6) Místico vs Ángel de Oro

Mistico and Angel de Oro was set up last week. Elemental makes another appearance. Rayo Metalico is much higher than he would’ve been six weeks ago. I keep booking defenses for him that aren’t going to happen but Rayo Metalico defending against Stuka would be fun.

CMLL (TUE) 11/05/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Astro Oriental, Avispón Negro Jr., Último Ángel vs Infierno, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Prince Drago vs Obek, Rav, Temerario
3) Arlequín, Leo, Omar Brunetti vs Bestia Negra, Guerrero de la Muerte, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Brillante Jr., Neón, Xelhua vs Draego, Makara, Persa
5) Barboza & Zandokan Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
6) Máscara Dorada vs Soberano Jr.

This is a strong-looking Guadalajara card. Dorada/Soberano probably won’t be going 100% on a Tuesday, but they are still special enough to make that interesting. The guys in Match 5 will be going 100% because they’re insane and don’t know another way. Match 4 is an interesting test for the locals against highly regarded younger members of the CDMX crew.

This week’s Guadalajara upload went up for free briefly on Thursday, then went behind the paywall. Either way, the show was missing the end of the main event. They re-uploaded the show Friday afternoon. That broadcast also was airing promos for the Rey del Inframundo in between matches, spoiling anyone who didn’t know Barboza was winning the qualifying match on that show.

Mercedes Mone writes a weekly magazine-style newsletter for fans interested enough to sign up. In this week’s issue, she mentioned she was in Oaxaca – not Mexico City – this past Sunday, saw a poster for a CMLL show, and wanted to do a surprise appearance. The problem is her CMLL contact is Rocky Romero, and Rocky Romero is on Japan time because he’s part of the Super Junior tag league, and he didn’t see her message until it was too late to help. I think Rocky Romero may be off the hook there. Mone did the thing most foreigners figured saw a show a show with CMLL logo, and figured CMLL people must be running it. Mexico and Mexican wrestling just works very different and very less rigidly than the US. There is a CMLL logo on that poster because they got ahold of someone who has a CMLL contact, and that person went to the CMLL office to book out talent for that show. That’s the extent of CMLL’s involvement. Rocky would’ve had to work out who was coordinating with CMLL on the show to help out. (Maybe Robin, maybe on of the Karontes since they’re booked on the next show in that promotion.) But also it’s a random show in Oaxaca, Mercedes could’ve just wandered in and been welcome. These are not the very formal things.

Explosivo and Barboza were part of CMLL’s weekly media interviews on Wednesday. Both mentioned they’re now full-time in Mexico City. They’ll be among the people competing for those match spots in the 2/3/4 range. Barboza always seems to have found a place with Zandokan. Explosivo was part of the tecnico trio with Adrenalina and Fantastico. I guess his moving to Mexico City helps explain why they never won the Occidente Trios titles back from Raider, Crixus, and Difunto.

Barbaro Cavernario is the guest on the CMLL podcast this week.

Capitan Suicida and Tiger Mask avoided the goose egg, winning their first match on the last day of group place over Ryusuke Taguchi and Dragon Dia. The match sounds like it was a showcase for Suicida, and he did pretty well with the opportunity. I assumed Suicida pinned Taguchi this morning because it’s Taguchi. I looked at the results closer and saw he actually beat Dragon Dia, who is currently the Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate champion. NJPW hasn’t booked Dia strongly (they’ve instead booked him like a CMLL luchador) so it’s probably not meant to be leading anywhere.

Suicida’s tour appears to finish up with the 11/04 (Monday) Power Struggle show. That show will also likely announce the participants in the World Tag League. Soberano Jr., Atlantis Jr. and Zandokan Jr. wrestled on that tour last year after a long stretch of no CMLL participation. The tournament runs from the 11/19 to 12/08.

MLW announced their 11/08 show as a sell out. As with the previous taping in Cicero, the event will start at 7p, the CMLL focused YouTube live stream will start at 9pm. Much, though not all, of that crowd is coming for CMLL luchadors and will see only Okumura wrestle in the first two hours. In a sense, this is like an authentic CMLL spot show in Mexico – like the one Mone saw in Oaxaca – where the preliminary matches are non-CMLL (and usually local) luchadors, and the local promotion is paying CMLL to bring in their stars while mostly running the shows. I have tried MLW shows before, they’re not for me, but maybe I’ll try again. Or maybe I’ll read some books on my phone while I’m sitting in the GA bleachers for those first two hours. Notably, the MLW press release says the only way to see this show will be on YouTube, which suggests MLW implies no longer producing shows for US TV partner BeinSports. It may be just meaningless hype.

Last Wednesday, Sanofi (a pharmacy company) sponsored an event in Arena Coliseo to urge people to get their flu vaccine shots. I really need to get mine, so this is a useful reminder. The thrust of the event was to find unconventional ways to reach people like me and make sure they get it done. As part of the event, Team Vaccine (Mascara Dorada & Audaz) defeated Team Flu (Disturbio & Raider). There are some highlights on Instagram here and here. Never has a show more called for a Virus booking. I don’t know why he wasn’t there. CMLL doesn’t like to publicize these types of events for whatever reason – maybe they don’t want fans showing up uninvited – but this one in particular seems like good and easy PR to put out there.

Back in 2017, CMLL ran a Torneo Natalia Vazquez. That name was unknown to almost anyone, but CMLL explained that she was a Mexican-American who was technically the first Mexican woman to wrestle in Mexico in 1935. CMLL’s historians did note that there wasn’t much known about her beyond a publicity photo or two for the tour – not much about her career before or after. Turns out there are some great reasons no one knew more about the career of Natalia Vazquez: SuperLuchas wrote an explainer and released a podcast to reveal there wasn’t a real Natalia Vazquez, it was a gimmick name used by a non-Mexican American to try to get her over in Mexico, and it didn’t actually get her over. (The fans instead got behind a Canadian – who also wasn’t actually Canadian.) SuperLuchas makes the case that an 18-year woman named Celia Torices appears to be the first Mexican woman wrestler – she was wrestling men in 1913. There’s more in the story if you want dig in..

That press conference rollout of Torneo Natalia Vazquez included someone in the press asking why CMLL was using this name; no one knew much about Vazquez, why not honor someone with more historical significance like Irma Gonzalez? I don’t recall the exact the CMLL answer. I do remember that CMLL never ran a Natalia Vazquez tournament again. They’ve recently started running Copa Irma Gonzalez in the spring each year. I thought CMLL eventually agreed with the media member’s take and that’s why the concept was brought back under a different name. Now I wonder if after the first Vazquez tournament, perhaps another researcher quietly revealed her true identity to CMLL folks, and that’s why we haven’t heard her name mentioned much again. It would be unlike a wrestling promotion to admit to a mistake, and like one to move onto another subject quietly.

AAA

Thursday on Instagram, Hijo del Vikingo announced doctors found no damage to any ligament or muscle in his right knee. He’ll still be out 15-20 days, but that’s a relief after it seemed serious. Vikingo’s recovery timeline means he’ll definitely miss Guerra de Titanes in Juarez, and he may be back in time for the show in Saltillo the following week.

TV this weekend:

• Space: a “road to Guerra de Titanes” filler show
• Unimas: Heroes Inmortales part two (of three total parts now)
• YouTube: Monterrey part 2

The 12/07 AAA TV taping in Mexico City taping is back on schedule. This one was advertised about five TV episodes ago, then immediately disappeared from the upcoming events, and now is happening anyway. It’ll be back in Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera. AAA usually announces a lineup a week out, so it may not be long until a lineup is out. The matches themselves may not air until 2025 on Space, as they usually take a long holiday break. It might pop up sooner on Unimas.

AAA starts a stretch of three weeks of Sunday tapings with the final Showcenter event of the year. The main event, the Psycho Circus versus Fiscal, Taurus and Galeno del Mal, sort of continues the current trios title match. The rest looks to be unexciting filler. This taping will likely air out of order in Mexico.

This week’s Pollock and Thurston podcast noted they had spotted the attendance and gate for this year’s TripleMania Mexico City on Pollstar. They also sent me the data; the Pollstar arena charting site’s subscriber-only database lists 18,986 attendance and a gate of $420,561. Pollstar, for unknown reasons, has some but not all of the recent TripleManias in their database. Let’s put that number in some context:

Date	Show	Location	Reported #	Pollstar #	Capacity	Gate (USD)	Notable	Avg Ticket
8/9/2015	TripleMania	Arena Ciudad de Mexico	18000	14713	16,909	$153,441	Rey Mysterio vs Myzteziz (Mistico)	$10.43
8/28/2016	TripleMania	Arena Ciudad de Mexico	14000	14038	15,750	$125,994	Psycho Clown vs Pagano, hair vs hair	$8.98
8/25/2018	TripleMania	Arena Ciudad de Mexico	no report	12803	19,691	$282,328	LA Park vs Pentagon Jr. vs Psycho Clown vs Hijo del Fantasma, mask match	$22.05
8/14/2021	TripleMania	Arena Ciudad de Mexico	4500	5007	19,691	$149,666	Psycho Clown vs Rey Escorpion, mask/hair match (COVID attendance restrictions)	$29.89
8/17/2024	TripleMania	Arena Ciudad de Mexico	no report	18986	19,691	$420,561	Domed cage match, Alberto/Nemeth	$22.15

It is striking that this year’s TripleMania – one with a weak main event that came together later – drew 4,000 more people than the closest known show while also doubling the average ticket price. (The Dr. Wagner/Psycho Clown mask match, the show that most would figure drew the most fans to a TripleMania show, took place in the unrecorded year 2017.) Visually, TripleMania did not look like it drew this well – I feel like I could go back and spot more than 700 empty seats, though I know it doesn’t work exactly like that. AAA’s also not behaved in a way where they drew nearly 19,000 fans to a show – they’re prone to bragging when something goes well, which is undeniably excellent. That number would inspire a normal promotion to run in Mexico City a lot more often. AAA instead stayed away from Mexico City until December. If “18,986” came from other sources, I would just roll my eyes and ignore it. Pollstar is an industry-standard trade organization that could care less about (stupid) wrestling arguments about who’s a draw; they have no motive to make up a number. These numbers exist because venues want to know which acts sell tickets before booking them. That means the number probably was submitted by the venue, Arena Ciudad de Mexico. AAA’s run this venue for years, and they have a strong relationship. Still, there’s no strong reason for the venue to jeopardize their credibility by submitting false numbers on behalf of a group that’s using the venue for one show a year. It’s possible to come up with conspiracy theories about how that number came to be, but it doesn’t seem possible to prove any of those theories.

18,986 makes no sense based on what I know, but I know there’s no reason for Pollstar’s database to have a false number. It’s a poor idea to discard facts just because they don’t match what you already know; the only way to learn anything is to absorb unexpected information, and this number is really unexpected. That gate of $420K is the number for a company that should be flush with success and cash. AAA instead saw those ticket sales, saw that huge gate, and immediately told their color announcer they could no longer afford to bring him in and he should find a job elsewhere. Did Luchatitlan cut such a big hole in AAA’s budget that even this sort of number can’t fix? It doesn’t add up otherwise.

In an interview with La Tijera Lucha Libre, the now-former Parka Negra said he’d return to the Angel Mortal Jr. and will be wrestling in the independents. That news confirms his time in AAA is done. Off the top of my head, AAA’s seen Aramis, Black Taurus/Beast Mortos, Arez, Latigo, Toxin, Sexy Star II, and now Parka Negra all leave this year among featured television performers. They’ve certainly added new people along the way, but it’s been a fair bit of turnover.

Other Notes

Rock Power lost his mask in the Castillo del Terror. IWRG didn’t post results and I don’t have time today to put them together for them.

Penta will be appearing at 11/08 The Crash show in a non-wrestling capacity.

A new lucha libre art exhibit opens in Loen on 11/21. This one focuses on local luchadors.

Migala says all the young women wrestling today are making wrestling worse because they’re not trained enough.