Vaquer/Blanchard, TripleMania Tijuana, QT/AA

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 11/27/2023 Arena Puebla [Grada, Porra Fresa]
1) Astro & Meyer b King Jaguar & Sombra Diabólika
Meyer replaced El Novato
2) Angelito, Galaxy, Pequeño Magía, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito b Full Metal, Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito [cibernetico] 
Shockercito won after Mercurio helped cheat for him to beat Pequeno Magia. Dragoncito earlier pinned champion Mercurio. Challenges followed.
3) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma 
4) Tessa Blanchard b La Catalina [lightning] 
5) El Hijo de Stuka Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr. b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
Villanos beat Esfinge & Fugaz
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Templario, Terrible b Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Niebla Roja 
Cavernario & Terrible beat Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja.

I presumed 5 or 6 was building up a tag title match, but none of those are happening next week. Blanchard and Catalina had some bad communication on a sequence.

CMLL (TUE) 11/28/2023 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Aéreo, Fantasy, Kaligua DQ Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora
Full Metal pulled off Kaligua’s mask in the usual mini madness.
2) Brillante Jr., Max Star, Valiente Jr. b Grako, Raider, Vegas
3) Hombre Bala Jr. b Misterioso Jr. [lightning]
4) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Zeuxis b Andrómeda, Reyna Isis, Skadi [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. b Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo II
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Atlantis, Blue Panther, Volador Jr.

Villanos/Gemelos had a lot of ideas and missed something in between. Brillante looked great and terrible within seconds of each other. Max Star looked great all the time. The minis seem to believe they’re doing a cage match (a reverse cibernetico is the other option they’ve tried recently, guess a ruleta de la muerte is also possible.)

CMLL included mentions of capitans and how many falls each match is on their graphics on this show. It’s nice to see that basic stuff explained a little easier.

CMLL (TUE) 11/28/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Mas Lucha]
1) Astro Oriental, Lince Del Bajio, Último Ángel b Eclipse Jr., Ráfaga, Rav
2) Hatana, Katara, Magia Azul b Estrella Maldad, La Pantera, Yemaya
3) Adira b Lady Amazona [lightning]
4) Dulce Gardenia, La Fashion, Star Black b Gallero, Ráfaga, Stolas
debut of Stolas
5) Dark Silueta, La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer b Mystique, Persephone, Tessa Blanchard
return of Mystique
6) Barboza, Difunto, Guerrero de la Muerte b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
7) Dark Panther, Máscara Dorada, Místico b Averno, Flip Gordon, Furia Roja

Vaquer beat Blanchard with her own move in Guadalajara. I believe Blanchard is now likely to win the CMLL title on Friday. Maybe I’m just too used to the 50/50 nature of modern wrestling booking, maybe I’m crediting Guadalajara with being too plugged into what’s the plan is in Mexico City. Still, the long CMLL pattern is that whoever loses in the last lead up match wins in the title match. Blanchard lost in Guadalajara in the lead up to the Gran Prix as well.

Tessa Blanchard beating Stephanie Vaquer outcome will upset a fair amount of people; most of which don’t watch much CMLL and probably won’t be watching much CMLL anyway, but not just them. I don’t know a title change is happening as a fact, just the signs are pointing that way.

Stolas appeared to be a re-gimmicked veteran; he has no social media I can find. He didn’t appear to be Extasis or Yutani under a mask; much heavier.

CMLL Informa starts at 2:30 pm today to lead into bodybuilding contest. Guests

• Terrible, Dragon Rojo and Barbaro Cavernario: maybe they have a team name
• Tessa Blanchard & Stephanie Vaquer: title match preview
• Flip Gordon & Angel de Oro: Saturday singles match
• Hechicero: Leyenda de Azul
• Pequeno Magia & Shockercito: Puebla minis, general mini madness

The bodybuilding starts at 4 pm. No mention of a training session beforehand; they did it in previous sessions. Astral, Crixus, Fugaz, and Olympia did interviews to promote today’s bodybuilding contest. All talked about how it’s tough to balance bodybuilding with lucha libre. Olympia said they’re like oil and water; lucha libre needs elasticity and strength to prevent injuries, which bodybuilding reduces. It seems to suggest that doing both of these at a high level is not a great idea.

Atlantis Jr. & Soberano Jr. went to a 30-minute time limit draw against Hiroko Goto and YOSHI-HASHI in the World Tag League. That’s a bit of a surprise; the CMLL team doesn’t usually battle evenly against NJPW champions. They’re now at 5 points (3rd place) with 3 matches to go against teams all around their point level. Zandokan took the fall in his tag match, with he and Yota Tusji losing to Jack Bonza & Bad Luck Fale. The next tournament day for both teams is Saturday. Atlantis/Soberano face Yuya Uemura/Taichi, Zandokan/Tsuji against YOSHI-HASHI/Goto.

Costa Rica’s Einar el Salvaje was profiled in his home country’s La Teja media outlet. In this telling, CMLL recruited Einar to come to them. He compares wrestling in CMLL to playing soccer for Barcelona or Real Madrid for soccer players. Fellow CWE wrestlers Ares, Sonya, Heyden Sixx and Escualo came to Mexico City for Einar’s debut on Sunday; all of them except Sixx have wrestled in CMLL prior.

Full Metal explained to La Presena that his father worked as a beer vendor at CMLL shows, he’d come along with and fell in love with lucha libre.

CMLL (SAT) 12/02/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Aéreo, Angelito, Minos vs Acero, Full Metal, Galaxy [Relevos Increíbles]
2) La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Maligna vs Hera, Metálica, Tiffany
3) Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Halcón Suriano Jr. vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Flip Gordon vs Ángel de Oro
6) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Octagón vs Atlantis & Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

Two safe bets here: the opener will end with people making challenges and the main event will be a rough match.

CMLL announced they’d have a Christmas Tree lighting on Sunday, prior to the start of the Arena Mexico show. Any other promotion and this is the setup to an angle. I’m like 99% sure CMLL’s just going to turn the lights on a tree. Maybe we’ll also get the holiday show date announcements (but I think you might already be able to figure out when Christmas and New Year’s Day will take place.)

CMLL (SUN) 12/03/2023 Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial
2) Astral, Diamond, Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Fuego, Stigma, Volcano vs Crixus, Kráneo, Okumura
4) Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring, Rey Cometa vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Star Jr., Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Templario
6) Máscara Dorada vs Gran Guerrero

(I forgot to put this here so if you got the email you’re not reading this.)

Ultimo Guerrero pushed off his work on his little brother. It is intersting they got a non-title non-touranment main event. Not too much of note otherwise.

CMLL (MON) 12/04/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger & Rayo Metálico vs Dreyko & Rencor
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Meyer, Valiente Jr. vs Perverso, Prayer, Rey Apocalipsis
3) Último Dragóncito © vs Mercurio [CMLL MINI]
1st defense, title rematch
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Valiente vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
5) Atlantis, Octagón, Volador Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III, Templario, Villano III Jr.

The minis match wasn’t quite set up by the cibernetico. That division is purposefully chaotic, so a title change is plausible. The rudos are going to have to work hard in the main event.

Box Y Lucha 2023 has Hechicero on the cover.

AAA

Zeta has an interview with EMW promoter Mario Fuentes Jr., who’s happy how their 2023 went. They ran only five shows, taking a break around TripleMania, and seemed satisfied with that experience. So much so that Fuentes states TripleMania will return to Tijuana next year as part of their events. Dorian Roldan was asked about the three TripleMania strategy by Mas Lucha around a month ago, didn’t commit to it, but did indicate they were going into planning for 2024. A Tijuana TripleMania on the schedule suggests they will be running (at least) three again next year.

AAA held the semifinal of the Lucha X El Barrio tryout on Tuesday. They posted footage from about three of the practice matches on Instagram Stories. It looked like other people were there, so maybe more footage will turn up. (It’d actually be a great idea to turn these tryouts into an episode of TV to build some interest in who wins, but that seems unlikely to happen.) Mas Lucha posted photos, with a lot of familiar names. Jornada reports 64 people participated, out of 132 who were part of the earlier rounds. Those include Monster Xtreme, who is 13 and wanted to be a wrestler since 7.

AAA has been releasing the t-shirt numbers of those who advance in each round after a couple of days. We may find out how many people are set to advance to the final in January, but perhaps not whom right away. I’d expect they’ll get that part out eventually.

QT Marshall announced on Twitter he was leaving AEW at the end of the year. From a pure Best Job Available, it seems like he’d be going to WWE – he’d easily fit in with their Performance Center, he has friends there, and it seems like they’ve had interest in him for that sort of position before. It may not be that simple; Marshall’s talked a lot about wanting to make it big as a wrestler. (The Latin American championship reign and the gimmick of defending it all over the place, was clearly about trying to raise his stock. It didn’t seem to work out.) WWE is unlikely to use him any stronger than AEW did; maybe not at all. If he wants to still be a wrestler, he probably needs to do it elsewhere – and so then he’ll be more likely to stick around AAA. It could be Marshall

(Aside 1: I don’t know who does what and how well they do it, I just know the final product that AAA puts on Space is not good. QT Marshall was heavily involved in putting AEW TV shows together for their first few years, and those were generally pretty good shows. AAA is another beast entirely but Marshall seems like a decent bet to bring aboard to see if he can help make things better, if he’s interested in working for AAA beyond the in-ring. I have no indication that’s even in play here.)

(Aside 2: I don’t actually believe QT quit AEW because he thought it was becoming too much like NJPW.)

IWRG

Mas Lucha did the drawings for their first round matches in Torneo Suprema 2023 on Thursday. (No IWRG show tonight.)

• India Sioux vs Julissa
• Big Mami vs Mary Caporal
• Sadika vs Mary Apache
• Kaho Kobayashi vs Diosa Nix

Guessing the final is Kobayashi losing to Julissa, but I would wager no money on it. Sadika/Mary Apache could be explosive in good and bad ways.

Sunday’s lineup:

IWRG (SUN) 12/03/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Súper Boy Jr. vs Golden Power
2) Águila Oriental & Danessa vs Dehyna & Rey Astaroth
3) Auzter, Freelance, Tornado vs Centurion, Rey Espartano, Rey Halcón
4) Caballero de Plata, Dr. Cerebro, Shocko, Último Legendario vs Carnicero, Granjero, Lendaor, Minero
5) Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool vs Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba, Sádika
6) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium © vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. and Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana © [IWRG IC TRIOS, EdM Trios, hair]

Piratas have their hair on the line (and surely not losing.) Maybe they’re moving the national titles to the Piratas before they win the IC ones? Maybe Poder del Norte wins both sets of trios titles because IWRG doesn’t really need to have two sets of trios titles?

The new names in match 4 are the Sindicate del Terror, teased as coming in on a recent IWRG broadcast. They briefly popped up in Arena Neza feuding with the Pigs and will do the same here, probably on IWRG’s anniversary show.

 

Other News

Big Lucha announced Elipse, Iku, and Orbita won the IWT trios titles. IWT is a Tijuana group – I believe they’re where the Payasos came from. I haven’t seen their posters in a while though. They seem to be running an angle in the comments where Locos Evans will wrestle champions from Costa Rica.

Big Lucha also poster their matches for Big Lucha World on Wendesday, but I’ll handle that later.

Ring announcer at Monterrey’s Arena el Jaguar Juan David Rodriguez Cadena has passed away.