La Catalina CMLL Unviersal tournament, AAA Guerra de Titanes, TV notes

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/06/2023 Arena México [AS, CMLL, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Capitán Suicida & El Audaz b Difunto & Grako   
2) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Neón b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido   
Futuro & Neon beat Magnus & Rugido and asked for a MEX TAG title shot next week.
3) Esfinge b Misterioso Jr. [lightning]   
8:50
4) La Catalina b La Jarochita, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Persephone, Lady Shadow, Miss Guerrera, Metálica, La Vaquerita, La Guerrera, Valkiria, Olympia [CMLL UNIVERSAL DE AMAZONAS, semifinal]   
order of elimination: Lady Shadow (by Olympia), La Vaquerita (Valkiria), La Guerrera (Metalica), Valkiria (Vaquer), Metalica (Isis), Olympia (Jarochita), Persephone (Catalina), Isis (Vaquer), Vaquer (Jarochita), Jarochita (Catalina) leaving Catalina the winner
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario b Máscara Dorada, Místico, Titán   
straight falls, Templario sneaking in a foul on Mistico. Templario unmaked Mistico after the match and declared himself the new star of Arena Mexico.

The main event was good, though the point was more to build to Templario/Mistico. Templario argued post-match that because he won the 90th Aniversario main event, he’s the new Idol of CMLL. Mistico disagreed. Templario and the Chavez brothers were an effective team.

The women’s cibernetico was a lot of women who aren’t much over and didn’t do much to get herself over. Persephone did the best of the new faces, at least in getting over a personality, but there were a fair amount of moments that didn’t go well. There’s a lot of youth being injected at once, which may work out in the long term if CMLL sticks with it. Catalina winning the block as a newer face may be part of that, though it seemed a step beyond what she’s ready for at this point.

Neon looked very impressive in the tag match, just playing off his big leaping ability as much as possible. He keeps landing the jumps. Difunto worked well with both Audaz & Capitan Suicida in the opener.

There was a 5.9 earthquake in Oaxaca about a half hour after this show ended. No major damage was reported. It was a distance from Mexico City but still felt there, enough to activate the emergency evacuation procedures for those still in the building. A TikTok video captured Mistico, forced to flee like everyone else, talk to fans and reassuring them it was nothing to worry about.

CMLL (SAT) 10/07/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Cachorro, Diamond, Eléctrico b Dr. Karonte I, Enfermero Jr., Inquisidor
2) Lady Metal & Lady Shadow b Hera & Miss Guerrera
CDMX debut of Lady Metal
3) La Catalina b La Jarochita [lightning]
Jarochita argued there was a fast count and biased refereeing.
4) Fugaz, Star Black, Valiente b Cancerbero, Kráneo, Luciferno
5) Akuma & Espanto Jr. b Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte © [Arena Coliseo TAG]
Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte fall on first defense. 12th modern champion
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero DQ Atlantis, Blue Panther, Octagón
straight falls, DQ when Ultimo Guerrero unmasked Atlantis

It didn’t seem as if CMLL had plans for Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte beyond the tag title win back in March. La Catalina should be defeating La Jarochita this week if she’s in the Universal final but it’s still surprising to see it happen.

CMLL (SUN) 10/08/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Miss Guerrera & Persephone b Andrómeda & Lady Shadow
CMLL debut of Andrómeda
2) Histórico & Pelon Encapuchado b El Gallero & Raider
3) Reyna Isis b Lluvia [lightning]
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Dark Magic, Okumura, Pólvora
5) Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr. b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Volador Jr. b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

CMLL is calling the Villanos and Zandokan “El Triangulo” in their results, so that appears to be official.

CMLL (TUE) 10/10/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
2) La Guerrera & La Vaquerita vs Olympia & Persephone
3) Pegasso, Pelon Encapuchado, Stigma vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Amapola & Metálica vs La Catalina & Stephanie Vaquer
5) Máscara Dorada vs Último Guerrero [lightning]
6) Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Stuka Jr., Terrible

Stuka Jr. replaces Dragon Rojo for the title match that isn’t one. Dorada/UG could be interesting. Match four is Mexico versus Chile.

CMLL (FRI) 10/13/2023 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
3) Magnus & Rugido © vs Futuro & Neón [MEX TAG]
3rd defense
4) Lluvia vs Zeuxis, Dark Silueta, Amapola, Tiffany, Sanely, Skadi, Hera, Náutica, Maligna, Sexy Sol, Andrómeda [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, semifinal]
5) Místico vs Templario

This will be the sixth full-length Mistico singles match in Arena Mexico this year (Stuka, Titan, Hiromu, Soberano, Virus), plus a lightning match with Atlantis Jr. That’s a very active year by CMLL standards. I probably should find a few extra hours to research this.

La Catalina is a ruda, which would normally signal a tecnica coming through the other block. CMLL must be going another direction: Lluvia won last year so she’s not making the final and Sanely  or Skadi would be stretches. Either Zeuxis or Dark Silueta work as overall winners, and Silueta returning from injury to go to the top makes the better story. Andromeda does indeed make her Arena Mexico debut. It’ll take years to see if going from AAA to CMLL was really the right move, but the signs are good for here here (and the signs for women in AAA are not promising.) Notably Puebla’s Lady Metal does not make the cut here; I think that means she’s turning up on a Friday later in the month.

AAA

AAA announced the Guerra de Titanes card a little earlier than usual.

AAA TV (SUN) 11/19/2023 Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
***Guerra de Titanes, 2023***
1) Arez & Komander vs Forastero & Sansón [AAA TAG]
first defense when announced
2) Lady Shani vs Chik Tormenta
Sexy Star will second Lady Shani, Dalys will second Chik Tormenta
3) Negro Casas & Pentagón Jr. vs La Bestia Del Ring & Taurus
4) QT Marshall © vs Octagón Jr. [AAA LA]
sixth defense as announced, first in AAA
5) Pagano & Psycho Clown vs Sam Adonis & Texano Jr.
6) Hijo Del Vikingo © vs ? [AAA MEGA]
winner from 10/18 San Luis Potosi. 22nd defense when announced, 7th in AAA.

This poster came out Saturday, Arez & Komander’s opponents were still listed as “winners of the elimination match”. Forastero & Sanson won that last week. Vikingo is supposed to face the winner of the Dralistico, Taurus, and Laredo Kid match in San Luis Potosi. Taurus being listed in third match sure suggests it won’t be him advancing. Dalys is listed as seconding Chik Tormenta. Dalys and Chik Tormenta are actually feuding; they just found a poor way to get Dalys onto the card. Whatever, it’s AAA.

Part of this show will air live on HBO Max and Space in Mexico. Unless there’s a late change, there will be no legal way to watch in the US; we can all support the weird Space Twitch stream instead of AAA I guess.

AAA, both in commentary during Heroes Inmortales and in social media, keeps saying Guerra de Titanes will end 2023. AAA’s year doesn’t typically end in mid-November. AAA’s year won’t actually end then, they’ve got the UltraClash Impact show the following weekend, but maybe this is it for regular AAA TV tapings for the year. UltraClash is a seven-match show, AAA can make that stretch for three weeks, and that would take them to the holidays. They’re really just about done. That also means any incomplete work is not getting resolved until March, if ever.

AAA TV shows continue to be forgettable. The top priority is delivering on the live specials for Space/HBO Max/WBD. The second priority is to make sure the live crowd reacts to things. The weekly TV is the third priority, at best. AAA made sure to run a tournament final and the main event on the special to take care of that. They ran the angle and match, building it up for the live crowd. They aired that angle and match this week on the regular TV show, which makes for bad TV but the TV isn’t the important thing. AAA’s never going to fix the TV show, the only ‘fix’ likely is AAA to make the full live shows available again in some method. This week’s episode is just something that had to air to fill the time.

• The Cachanillas and Mini Vikingo all looked impressive in moments and really green in a lot of the rest of their match. One of AAA’s top trope is the tecnicos win a match and then are immediately destroyed by some rudos. They flipped it here, where Dinamico faked a foul for the DQ win and then he and his guys got completely beat up by the tecnicos. Wins and losses do not matter.
• The Copa Antonio Pena was the same royal rumble they’ve done a half dozen times this year, just with all women and one exotico. Faby returning got the biggest reaction, Lady Shani the second. They were there really just to set up Hijo del Tirantes costing them both the match so his father could attack him again. Same as always. Estrellita wrestled poorly but that’s not why she’s there.
• The Cachanillas are still trying to force Sexy Star to join their group, going as far as interfering as Copa Antonio Pena to help them. She’s not interested.
• AAA aired a show opening bit where Konnan came out to praise the Jalisco fans before getting confronted by Sam Adonis, QT Marshall and Harley Cameron about Harley not being in the Copa Antonio Pena. QT forced Hugo to translate for him in the exact same way FTR did last year and Jeff Jarrett has done before; it’s the same angles run over and over with different people in them. Alberto and Octagon ran the heels off in a way that would’ve made clear they were losing the main event had we seen this last week.
• Marshall and Adonis also did a victorious promo and teased naming themselves as Los Gringo Locos for heat. It came off very forced.
• Dralistico tried to explain his position of being a rudo in the US but 100% tecnico in Mexico. La Bestia del Ring thought this was nonsense. It’s hard when Bestia del Ring has the correct take.

AAA put up the first part of Heroes Inmortales on YouTube. They’re back to releasing shows on YouTube a week after they air. They’re also filling in a lot of individual matches that didn’t get posted earlier this year (or last), making it a little more work to find the new stuff.

AAA will have an “AAA versus Luchatitlan” show on 10/13 at the Cancun venue. The side panels of AAA’s ring also promoted Luchatitlan. That seems like the priority at the moment.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 10/08/2023 Arena Naucalpan [Zona Ruda]
1) Fussion & Tornado b Águila Roja & Kurama 
2) Bengalee, Caballero de Plata, Sagitarius DRAW Amazonika, Gannicus, Satania 
3) Cerebro Negro Jr., Karaoui, Rey Halcón b Dr. Cerebro Jr., Noisy Boy, Spider Fly 
4) Tonalli DQ Relámpago 
mask challenged followed
5) Hijo del Pirata Morgan, León Dorado, Mr. Leo b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. 
6) Cerebro Negro b Hell Boy 
7) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura, Sádika b Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool 
mask challenges followed

Mas Lucha was in Jalisco this weekend and didn’t stream this show. The YouTubers I follow went to CMLL instead too. It is on the IWRG channel.

The draw doesn’t look anything special. Castillo del Terror is coming up at the end of that month and that always draws for IWRG, but I’m wondering if the Pigs have expired. I think they’re still OK against name opponents but shows centered around them in Mexico State the last couple of weeks have drawn poorly. Neza has introduced new groups for them to feud with but it’s possible the concept has passed the novelty point.

Other News

I went to GALLI on Sunday night. I was going back and forth about it. I knew I wouldn’t be much interested in the undercard, and there’s were more satisfying things I could do with that time. But – they had Mistico and Mascara Dorada in the main event, and I felt like I needed to be there just in case. I strategically showed up about an hour late to skip some of the undercard; GALLI ended up starting an hour late anyway. What can you do. I felt right about the undercard; there were three US style 2v2 tag matches that told the same story, a lucha libre trios that I decided I need to walk around and stop watching after they blew one too many spots, and a way women’s match where the most impressive person was the one who’s name I didn’t catch. (I worked it out that it’s Pescadita; she stands out even just being a year in.)  It was in fact not a great use of time.

I want to say the Mascara Dorada/Robin vs Mistico/Dr. Karonte II made it worth it, but that wasn’t really the case. You’re rarely getting the top effort from guest wrestlers on these lucha libre indie shows and it would’ve been pushing it to say they even give a full 50%. The match was a lot of crowd interaction and a few trademark spots, with Dorada doing less than usual as a rudo and Mistico a bit thrown off by the fans randomly cheering for Robin. (They went with teams of friends/brothers, instead of putting Dorada with Mistico and having the better match.) That cruise control match made the finish all the crazier: Mistico climbed the light tower and leaped off for a plancha, as if was the top of a CMLL cage. It went safely and I guess it wasn’t truly so dangerous, but there was no build or context to it, Mistico just decided he wanted to be Aerostar tonight.

The draw for the CMLL guys was nothing special. I think Psycho Clown was more over than Mistico in this same venue. It didn’t feel like anyone knew who Mascara Dorada was, or at least no more than the other three guys. He got to do a couple of cool things but not enough to make a big impression. Vikingo and others are scheduled to be in next week, though in a city about 30 minutes north of Chicago.

Daga appeared on Saturday’s Ring of Honor tapings, challenging QT Marshall for the AAA Latin American championship. His appearance was probably about ROH wanting a Mexican to challenge for an AAA title more than any set long term plan. Daga’s due back in NOAH soon too. Still, even a one match Daga cameo in Ring of Honor has to be a career highlight for a guy so clearly influenced by that promotion. The match should air a week from Thursday.

Big Lucha says “Big Lucha World” will return on Fridays starting this upcoming week. Those were standalone mini shows before, and might be episodes of the monthly big show now

Alberto el Patron wrestled Thursday in Aguascalientes. In a press conference to promote the show, Alberto mentioned it’d be his last match of the year due to the knee injury he picked up Heroes Inmortales weekend. Alberto appeared on the August 20th show Showcenter card, making a big announcement he’d wrestle when AAA returned their on November 26th. He’s obviously not on that card. I don’t think it’s the injury, I think that’s a sign that the AAA/Impact deal came together sometime after August and Impact didn’t want Alberto around. (Alberto also did his usual bit about how he was going back to the WWE last year until Vince McMahon got in trouble and hasn’t heard back from them since.)

Mas Lucha did the drawing for their Mas Lucha Supremo tournament on 08/15. First round matchups

• Super Calo vs Hell Boy
• Super Fly vs Super Crazy
• Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Mr. Leo
• ? vs Zorro

The “?” used to be Elemental. Mas Lucha said he was unable to participate due to commitments with other promotions, which sounds like CMLL (either entirely or just the Guadalajara branch) asked him not to participate.

Wagner seems like the favorite. He’d seem like the favorite regardless but also seems unlikely to lose while he’s a NOAH champion; maybe he could take a DQ.

Vanguardia has a long interview with Pimpinela Escarlata about his life and career. Pimpinela notes some people have told him the Cassandro movie should’ve been a Pimpinela one instead, and he disagrees – he knows how much Cassandro struggled and deserved to have his story told. The movie did sneak Pimpinela in the movie, as someone Saul watched on TV when deciding to wrestle as an exotico. It doesn’t actually make sense if you know the real story, because it’s a clip from an AAA match about a decade after “Cassandro” debuted, so I assume it’s just in there as a nod. Pimpinela is down on current lucha, feeling the crowds are going down and the wrestlers don’t really know how to fight, and does the empty “I’m retiring in two or three years” talk.

KAOZ Lucha Libre promoted former WWE wrestler Yulisa Leon as “Julissa” on their social media. They did it as a link to their website, where the “next show” listed is the February 23, 2020 show. KAOZ hasn’t run since early July 2023. I have no idea why they did that or when they’re running again, but presumably, Julissa is part of the plans for that show. KAOZ used to be very friendly with AAA, then was very unfriendly with AAA and now it’s uncertain. I don’t think we can use this to figure out her plans beyond that appearance.

The Orizaba lucha libre commission says they have 30-40 wrestlers under their jurisdiction, and their goal is to get their wrestlers to international work.

The Food Tech has a story on Pelon Encapuchado.