Aniversario 91, CMLL booking, Dark Scoria out of AAA, Sexy Star out of AAA?, Catalina

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 09/13/2024 Arena México
***CMLL 91st Aniversario***
1) Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
2) Neón, Star Jr., Templario vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.
3) Máscara Dorada vs Titán [Copa Independencia]
4) Willow Nightingale © vs Zeuxis [CMLL WOMEN]
first defense
5) Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Kojima, Orange Cassidy, Rocky Romero
6) Hechicero vs Esfinge, Valiente, Euforia [mask]
7) Chris Jericho vs Místico

I wrote a preview for this on Voices of Wrestling, and I’m talking more on their Flagship podcast this week. I wanted to try not to repeat myself but I think I could’ve done better at that. I’m also doing a recap of this show for Post Wrestling, which should go up on Saturday morning if I do my part. I’ll be back here Monday and turn into a puddle the rest of the week.

Jericho/Mistico should have a lot of crowd emotion, but those two working together in 2024 seem a bit of a challenge. Jericho’s coming off a run where most of his singles matches came in weapons matches, and that’ll be something different. Valiente remains the favorite to be unmasked tonight, though not as big a favorite as Dragon Rojo or Stuka in past years. If he is the final two, I’m hopeful he can pull out one big performance on the night. (Will we get one last Valiente Special?) Esfinge is the most likely winner, but the Hechicero and Euforia fit better with Valiente for a long singles match. Euforia versus Valiente would be the final with the most suspense on the outcome. How Orange Cassidy does in CMLL is the biggest question; he’s a guy who could end up getting very over and becoming a recurring character if it goes well enough (and if that’s what he wants to do.) Willow and Zeuxis seem motivated to have a great match, and the same can be said for Dorada & Titan. Time and a little bit of luck are the only questions there. The openers have all interesting people, and probably not enough space to go all out. The AEW fans are expecting something with Orange & Jericho here based on them feuding there, but I don’t know that it would mean much to CMLL fans. I’m more curious if CMLL does anything to build to upcoming tag title match coming of the match 2.

The two important reminders:

• You must subscribe to Fan Leyenda tier to watch this show. You are out of luck on the other tiers, they never get this show.
• The mask match doesn’t work like normal Mexican four ways. The first two beat are out of the match entirely, and it’s the two remaining (the two winners) who will face off to decide the mask match. The person unmasked will be the 2nd place finisher, not the 4th place.

CMLL held their now traditional Friday press conference with those in the top matches. It was effective if not revelatory. Zeuxis and Willow took a respectful tact. Rocky Romero did Rocky Romero things, and Orange Cassidy wants to do some lucha. Big Bill is seconding Mistico, so he’ll likely interfere in the match. Jericho seemed enthusiastic about doing more matches in CMLL, though I would guess CMLL’s getting this one a little cheaper than they might get the future ones – Jericho really just wants to main event this show. He and Mistico did some pushing and shoving, Mistico acknowledged the fan sentiment that the mask match should be last in saying that he has a responsibility to make sure people go home happy with the decision to end with himself and Jericho instead.

CMLL wrestlers appeared at the opening of new lucha libre art exhibit on Thursday. This came on Informa this week. The CMLL woman who handles outside relations for all sorts of projects seems like an intensely busy person with all the stuff she’s set up lately. There wasn’t much news on Informa beyond that – it was a lot of final interviews with Aniversario participants. They did an update on the voting for the Noche de Campeones, though voting is still open. I haven’t been keeping up with it, so I was surprised that Rayo Metalico was winning in his effort to face Futuro for the lightweight championship. CMLL hasn’t outright said when voting will end, but it’ll probably be next Wednesday.

Next Tuesday’s Arena Mexico lineup isn’t out yet (or I forgot to put it here.) CMLL did confirm the Hermano Chavez vs Atlatnis/Star tag title match is on.

CMLL (TUE) 09/17/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico vs Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
2) KeMalito, Micro Sagrado, Tengu vs Átomo, Chamuel, Periquito Sacaryas
3) Dark Magic, El Elemental, Yutani vs Arlequín, Leo, Omar Brunetti
4) La Catalina, Lluvia, Náutica vs Hera, Olympia, Valkiria
5) Fantástico, Fugaz, Star Black vs Espíritu Negro, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.
6) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Titán vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Nothing extraordinary beyond Elemental and Yutani’s monthly appearance.

The Queretaro foursome of Halcon Negro Jr, Angel Rebelde, Optimo and Trono are quietely split up. Optimo and Trono are going as Los Colosos del Ring.

CMLL AMX matches airing last night (taped 09/01)

• Arkalis, Astral, Valiente Jr. vs Alom, Grako, Hunter
• Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
• Máscara Dorada, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

La Catalina 

La Catalina was on the CMLL podcast. There’s typically a match announcement alongside these; Alexis Salazar told La Catalina she was in this year’s Gran Prix. Most of the podcast was on Catalina’s journey to CMLL, some stories she’s told in other outlets, all presented together here. Catalina adorded Barbie growing up, played some Barbie game a lot, it stopped working, and so she decided she’d play with her father’s Playstation 2 and try out the Smackdown vs Raw 2 game he had. She loaded up the character screen, saw a girl who was blond like Barbie and wore pink like Barbie (Trish Stratus), and then saw highlights of her slapping people around, and decided that’s what she wanted to do with her life. Catalina got into wrestling barely a teenager, and says it wasn’t a good scene at that time – barely any women, those who were there were mostly just valets, and the crowds were rough. (Catalina cites Alison Evans as one Chilean woman who was doing wrestling the way she wanted it to be; Evans did a tour of Mexico in 2011-12.) Her original trainer was a good wrestler who was terrible at teaching, and mostly just took her money. Catalina did enough to get on WWE’s radar when they were scouting through Latin America, and got invited to that 2017 tryout. She figured she was going up against some tough competition and needed to train hard for it, but her original trainer blew her off, telling Catalina would have no chance against the models they’d bring in. She ditched him, found other trainers, who really helped her. Catalina’s parents had always showed her the good parts of the world, and she learned about the bad parts of it through those wrestling experiences. Catalina was also going to university during this time, and her finals happened to fall on the same day as her finals. She talked to her teachers about cramming them in, barely slept that week, and did well at both school and the tryout. She nd did well enough at the tryout that William Regal told her they’d be signing her, even though she wasn’t quite 18. She signed when she was 18, and believes she’s the youngest signing in WWE history. Catalina says she’s tried to help the Chilean scene from afar and it’s better than when she was there. Her father got into wrestling to support her and stayed helped some of the Chilean promotions. It hasn’t always worked out – he brought them lights and audio equipment and it all got stolen. The wrestlers in the promotion were crushed, so Catalina returned to Chile, catered a show with seafood for all of them, then ran a training seminar and donated the proceeds back to the promotion. She talks with some of the trainers there now, passing along stuff she’s learned to help them, and she flet really great about a recent tournament for a national women’s title that had 15 women participating; that was unthinkable when she was there.

Getting a WWE deal was the dream, but it quickly turned bad. They had her spend the first month adapting to the US, but were frustrated with her by month two. She was in training class with a Mexican and two Brazilians, all of them kind of knew English but weren’t doing the drills right because they didn’t totally understand what the teachers were telling them. Catalina remembers getting called in on the weekend, which was very unusual, and told by Matt Bloom that her career was changing quick – she was going up to the main roster to accompany Sin Cara. Catalina felt she was unprepared; they had her practice with Zelina Vega a bunch before she wrestled, but she didn’t really know how to work towards the cameras, had little promo experience, and had no practice doing a live promo before they threw her out there. She had no real idea what she was supposed to say, just going with the idea it was supposed to be a more Mexican character. Catalina credits her great friend Raul Mendoza/Cruz del Toro for supporting her, calling her to calm her down and building her confidence before that match.

The biggest issue for Catalina was her weight. She came to WWE as a thin girl, and then started gaining weight on her lower half. She thought she looked physically awful in that TV debut, and she got lambasted by her fellow Chileans on social media for her physique. Part of the issue was she was signed when she was 18, and her body was still maturing. Part of it was she’s latina, and so she’s going to have a bigger butt and not be shaped like people in the US. Still, Catalina was dieting hard to try look better. Too hard – she believes the worst thing she did to herself was going on a diet of only lettuce and water, with absolutely no sugar. She was really struggling mentally at that point, while also trying to keep it quiet from her parents so they wouldn’t worry about their young adult daughter who was living on another continent. Catalina realizes now that if she had talked to her mother, it might have helped her figure out things. Catalina probably also would’ve realized issues quicker if she went to a doctor – but because health insurance is so expensive in the US, she kept avoiding and putting it off for a long time. She finally saw a gynecologist named Tara, and she the actual issue – Catalina had undiagnosed polycystic cists, and those had changed her body. Getting those addressed helped – though obviously it’s an issue she’s still dealing with this year, needing surgery after FantasticaMania Mexico.

Catalina did better physically after getting her issues diagnosed, but seems to have had lots of mental damage from the ordeal. It got worse during COVID lockdowns. She says she never wanted to go out, and her life was just going to three places: the WWE PC, the supermarket, and the doctor’s office. She had no motivation and felt totally isolated. She wanted to quit, but felt she couldn’t quit. She made some progress, got some matches on WWE, but was not into it. She cried when WWE told her she was fired, but they were tears of happiness that it was over. Catalina remembers it as happening the day after a month of taping, one her father had come to support her at. Catalina called him and told him the news when he was at a stop over in Texas on the way back to Chile and seemingly hoping he’d turn around and take her home right then. He said he could not return for a month, and she’d have to wait. Catalina immediately started selling everything in her apartment. The way she describes it, she was having a mental health crisis and expressing it by trying to get rid of everything from the US. Within two weeks, she had sold everything but her bathroom supplies and her cat, was sleeping on her floor, and was not doing well. Some Chilean friends found her, and took her in and took care of her last days in the US.

Catalina was done with wrestling when she returned to Chile. She saved up a money from her WWE time to pay for the rest of her university, so she was planning to get her degree and become a licensed physical trainer. Her father wouldn’t let Catalina give up on her dream, found out a promotion called Big Lucha had a couple of Chilean wrestlers, and encouraged her to give it a try. She went for three months, training quietely but not putting it out there on social media. Big Lucha invited her to wrestle, and she didn’t really feel it in the first match. Two things turned it around for her. One was making a couple of friends – Carito and another gay friend, she laughed about how they happened to be gay – who took her out sighting seeing and living life again. The other was wresting a second show for Big Lucha in Ecatepec,  where fans threw in a Dr. Simi doll (as they had done to popular concert artists) and supported her a lot – she realized these people really liked her, and this was what she wanted wrestling to be.

Three months turned into six months because Catalina was enjoying it a lot, but she had to go back to Chile. (She was probably on a six month visa.) Catalina says thet before she left, she talked to “another promotion” about coming in and may have visited their offices. She returned to Chile, told her family she wasn’t going ot be staying and was going back to live in Mexico, but had a change of mind of what she wanted to do. She didn’t want to be a “clown”, she didn’t want to do someone else’s role, she wanted to be a “respected professional wrestler” and decided to instead knock on CMLL’s door. CMLL already knew about her – she had quitely participated in an Ultimo Guerrero training class – and welcomed her to join. Catalina decided to ditch the mask – it was a Mexican thing and she wasn’t Chilean, it was from a bad period, she wanted to be herself, and she figured she’d get attention if she unmasked in her debut.

The podcast interviews goes a lot into her big wins in her year and a half in CMLL from there. She trained with Ultimo Guerrero and Virus, and now with notoriously strict Tony Salazar. They talk about Stephanie Vaquer and show highlights of her but don’t mention her name in talking about Vaquer & Catalina battling for the vacant title at last year’s Night of Champions. Catalina says they were great friends and expected Vaquer to get to the final but was surprised so many people were behind her despite being so new. Catalina says she knew Mexican wrestling just from what she had seen on TV, but didn’t really know Irma Gonzalez when the Copa Irma was announced, so she studied up a lot on her. Catalina cried in the ring after winning the Universal tournament later that year, says the photo taken of her “celebrating” was the most horrible picture of her ever, but she is really proud of the winning the match and having that belt. She’d like to keep having it after this year’s match. Catalina has always called herself La Diva del Ring but she wants to seen as a princess – she wants a sort of classy image. She mentions once wrestling in Coacalco, her butt was hanging out of her gear and she got all sorts of rude comments and decided that’s not the kind of wrestler she wants to be. Catalina wants to be the kind of luchadora that’s an aspirational figure and a role model to little girls, like Trish Stratus was to her. (They did meet when she was in WWE, and she also credits Rikishi for inspiring her running butt smash spot.) She plans on being in CMLL for a long time to come, and she wants to represent the company around the world – she wants to be the face of the CMLL women’s division.

Who Books CMLL?

I’ve written a lot about my confusion around CMLL current booking structure during the promotion’s improvement over the last couple of years. CMLL has billed Panico as the head of CMLL’s Programming Department continuously, while at the same time obvious changes have been made to the way CMLL programs their promotions. There are big picture changes, there are small touches that pre-COVID programming department would not have thought about, and there are changes in how the stories are told. “Panico” is the name I give to others when they ask who to vote for booker of the year, but that’s for the lack of a better understanding.

Rob brought up this issue on Twitter, speculating that I and he should do  podcast figuring out the history of the department while noting we should probably also ask SuperLuchas’ Ernesto Ocampo. Ocampo and co-host Milton Eloir did one better, just doing the podcast themselves to talk about the history of the EMLL/CMLL programming department. It’s a half hour, there’s a lot of history in there and some related stories. They get to the current booking situation at the end, and that’s the part I want to get here. It’s a touch complicated:

• Panico doesn’t have anything to do with CMLL’s programming nowadays. It’s possible CMLL has a piece of paper saying Panico is the head of the Programming Department, but it’s not his actual job. He may be an advisor to the current team, but he’s not really that involved and he’s almost retired completely.
• Jose Luis Feliciano runs the Programming Department, with referees Edgar Noriega and Terror Chino working for him.
• Julio Cesar Rivera is a creative advisor to the programming department in addition to his role of CMLL Media Director. Ocampo believes Julio Cesar Rivera is the one who’s probably coming with most of the fresh ideas, and is the person who should be credited with booking the promotion in the way US fans thinks about that role.

This all seems plausible. It triggered a memory of a conversation I had with Dr. Lucha Steve Sims – an old one, given how long ago he’s moved on from lucha libre – where he mentioned Panico was considering moving on from the programming department to another (less stressful) job. Sims believed it would be related to managing the Arena Mexico concessions. Ocampo mentions retired luchador Skandalo – Panico’s son – who is running CMLL concessions now. Panico took over the merchandise department when CMLL decided to do that in-house. Ocampo mentions Panico is rarely at Arena Mexico due to issues with a hip injury from his years of wrestling and may retire soon.

CMLL’s used Jose Luis Feliciano as the face of the programming department when they’ve had wrestlers sign contracts for mask versus mask matches the last few years. That changed with this year’s Aniversario, where Salvador Lutteroth III appeared on Informa to preside over the contract signings. That’s the other part of it that doesn’t come up in the podcast; everything creative in CMLL runs through Julio Cesar Rivera’s CMLL Informa. He either knows all the creative plans, or he’s the one making most of the plans, and Ernesto Ocampo believes it’s the latter. Ocampo notes that the changes in CMLL’s creative style include a greater appreciation of CMLL’s history and a better awareness of international wrestling than the previous crew showed. Both traits fit Cesar Rivera, who wrote and edited lucha libre magazines before coming aboard to CMLL. Ocampo also reveals Cesar Rivera booked for the 90s Promo Azteca promotion for a time.

The roles in the creative field are in some ways flipped in CMLL from what might be done elsewhere. In the old WWE structure (and probably in AAA to this day), the primary department would be a creative team, and those people make the TV decisions. There would also be a lesser member of that team, or even someone in a different department, who would figure out the house show lineups based on those creative plans. CMLL’s programming department’s primary role is figuring out those event lineups – their work is more on crewing people for shows, both inside and outside of CMLL. The creative comes from elsewhere, including sometimes from the wrestlers shooting angles on their own in hopes the programming department will run with it. It’s how Jose Luis Feliciano can be the head of the programming department but not necessarily the creative lead. Ocampo is deeply skeptical of the Panico-led era of the programming department, noting how often they’d just repeat ideas from the past and how the wrestlers or other outsiders would actually come up with the big ideas. (He points to the Sagrado/Mistico characters as an example of a repeat and how it was Babe Richard who pushed for Astro Boy to get the Mistico spot as an idea coming from elsewhere.)

Ernesto Ocampo states Julio Cesar Rivera should be the CMLL name included in the Wrestling Observer Booker of the Year voting if a CMLL name is going to be included. He is careful to say he believes Cesar Rivera is the effective CMLL booker in the way sheet readers think of bookers based on the overwhelming evidence, not that he knows it for an absolute fact. It sounds good to me, though I also wouldn’t be surprised if there were some pushback on this idea during next week’s CMLL Informa.

In a side note, Erneseto Ocampo explains why there was no Villano V tribute moment last week: he sued CMLL after leaving the promotion, seemingly related to a labor issue. Ocampo says Villano V was on the “he’s not allowed in Arena Mexico” list before his death, and that’s why he wasn’t honored.

AAA

AAA airings:

• Unimas: Part 2 of TripleMania Mexico City
• Space: likely Part 1 of the August Showcenter (new)
• YouTube: the missing matches from Verano de Escandalo

Dark Scoria is out of AAA. He explained the situation on Estrellas del Ring “Hablamos de Lucha” video podcast on Wednesday night. Scoria (who’s name has also always interchangably been spelled Escoria) says he didn’t like with the idea of splitting up La Secta, wasn’t happy with what AAA was doing with him after the split, and actually finished up back in Aguascalientes. Mesias said the mystery person he’s teaming with in Monterrey on 09/29 would be his new apostol, and I didn’t realize that meant someone was out of the group. Scoria says Dark Espiritu is semi-retired and Mesias is in and out of Mexico, so putting Scoria in a group with them was bad news for him. Scoria felt the idea of him, Cuervo and Ozz back together was getting over and didn’t like the idea of a split at all (and seems to credit both Latin and Konnan was the idea.) Scoria says he left in 2018 on bad terms and it was more peaceful this time. Scoria has built up his professional life outside of wrestling in the interveining years, so he doens’t need wrestling as much. AAA wished him well, and he was not under any contract.

Sexy Star may also be out of AAA. She posts a wrestling-typical vague post about the end of the chapter and knowing when to move on when you’re not unhappy, which always sounds like quitting a company. It especially sounds like quitting AAA after she was posted negatively about Latin Lover’s comments last week – but those are relationship words, and she could’ve also just been breaking up with someone for how unspecific it was. Sexy Star was reposting news reports on her stories that are saying this is her leaving AAA  – luchadors repost just about anything, but maybe she wouldn’t be reposting those if there weren’t anything to them. She flipped her account to private during the day as this story caught attention. You can still see her bio, and she seems to have removed AAA from there.

Meanwhile, Latin Lover is running Facebook angles where he will team up with Cibernetico to lead AAA against the eye guys.

Hijo del Vikingo teams with Soma Watanabe against Richochet and CIMA on GLEAT’s show on 10/06 in Oaxaca. It struck me how this is a main event big dream match, while Vikingo’s return seems to be in semi-mains or lower in Mexico starting next week. I’m not sure either side is doing it wrong for their business – if anything, the Mexican promotions seem to be running a more sensible businesses than GLEAT – but it does illustrate the difference betwen how Vikingo is percieved by promoters in Mexico and outside. Vikingo in Mexico is booked as a really good highflyer, but a star only a smidge bigger than the Octagon Jr.’s of the wrestlers – not as a former or current top guy. Elsehwere, he’s a unique once-in-the-lifetime amazing flyer who is a draw upon himself. I chart some of that onto how AAA’s booked him – him getting shrugged off by Alberto, or even going back to when he sat there while the Young Bucks goofed on him while pinning him for a long three count – but also a stronger bias among AAA fans that a wrestler has to be a true heavyweight (or an ex-WWE champion) to be a top guy, and Vikingo just not being big enough for them. CMLL fans don’t have an issue with Mascara Dorada in the same way, but then CMLL has never given Dorada a “heavyweight” title and that’s the crux of the issue.

El Planchitas has returned to Record in what seems like a regular column. His first edition is hinting around at the possiblity of AAA and WWE working together. There doesn’t appear to be any new information, it’s the same speculation I and others have had for months, though he stretche to present things like JBL and the ex-WWE interviewer showing up as proof they’re working together. WWE is working with TNA and NOAH, and so actual WWE (or NXT) wrestlers appear on those shows. It won’t be any secret when AAA itself if/when works with WWE, everyone would see the WWE people on the shows. There are no AAA people on the shows, just people who don’t work there any more. AAA’s clearly interesting in doing some deal and it hasn’t happened yet. One big difference between how people are percieved in Mexico and elsewhere is Planchitas sees Alberto del Patron as champion as a positive for a WWE relationship, while US sources have repeatedly reported how much WWE never wants to work with Alberto ever again.

Vampiro is doing a one-man show in Tijuana on 10/31 and Mexcali on 11/02, with the idea of touring through Mexico if successful. It’s being produced by comedian Franco Escamilla, who does a lot of touring shows himself. (You may remember Escamilla as the narrator of the Marvel Lucha Libre series on Disney.)

Slam Wrestling has an interview with Laredo Kid, from his media tour of San Antonio this week. TNA has a show tonight, sent Laredo around because he speaks Spanish but has not actually put him on this show so he had no match to promote.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 09/12/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Águila Roja b Puma de Oro
2) Hijo del Fishman b Tornado
3) Vangellys b Multifacetico Jr.
4) Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Aquiles
5) Hellboy & Hijo de Canis Lupus b Noisy Boy & Spider Fly
Spider Fly and Noisy Boy had issues, with Spider Fly saying it was only pay back for Noisy Boy costing him a previous match (which Noisy Boy still insists was someone else pretending to be Noisy Boy.)

Other Notes

Big Lucha says they’re no longer running an 09/14 show at the racetrack due to issues with the organizers. That seems like something that should’ve been figured out more than two days before.

The viral bit Facebook drama of the day is two old friends no longer being friends. Reina Dorada posted a supportive message about her trainer Mascara 2000, who has a hair match with El Oriental on Tuesday. Reina Dorada called him a good person. Stephanie Vaquer popped in the comments to question her calling someone who’s supported the lies of “a delinquent” (Cuatrero) a good person. Reina Dorada seems to have hidden that comment, though not from a billion screenshots. Before Stephanie Vaquer was a WWE signing, before she was even in CMLL, Reina Dorada and Stephanie Vaquer were an indie tag team act. (They were one specifically trying to play to male fans with kissing spots and offering a raffle for a date with the both of them; it’s an era wiped from history as Vaquer has changed her in-ring persona.) Vaquero & Dorada was still close last I knew – they posted a photo together when Dorada came to AEW – but Vaquer has drawn lines between people who support her and people who support the Reyes/Dinamita family, and Dorada posted her way to other side of that line.

Record had a story that Stephanie Vaquer would be coming to the US this week. They’ve been pretty plugged with Vaquer since the case with Cuatrero started, but I’m not sure that’s true since Vaquer was training at Arean Big Lucha on Thursday. The other thing that sticks out from that picture is the large black curtains. WWE uses similar curtains in their Performance Center when they’re preparing a special match and don’t want it to leak out to other wrestlers. Vaquer can’t wrestle in WWE, probably can’t even work out with other wrestlers in their PC until her work visa gets approved. I don’t know the Big Lucha gym set up well enough to know if that’s a usual thing, but that could be a convivent way to get Vaquer some practice time with whomever she’s working with in WWE whever that visa does get approved.

Estrellas del Ring has an interview with Wild Ram.