robbery in Arena Puebla, Gran Prix names set, lightweight tournament field shapes up

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 07/24/2023 Arena Puebla [Porra Fresa]
1) Asturiano & Xelhua b Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja
2) Meyer & Rayo Metálico b Black Tiger, Amnesia, Astro, Fénix SO, Espíritu Maligno, Dreyco [MEX LIGHT, torneo] 
Meyer & Rayo Metalico advanced to the 07/30 final
3) Hera & Olympia b La Jarochita & Lluvia 
Valiente’s daughters (Las Valientitas) won to set up a title match next week
4) Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero b Halcón Suriano Jr., Star Black, Stigma
5) Templario © b Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE] 
first defense
6) Fuerza Guerrera, Rocky Romero, Último Guerrero b Metalik, Místico, Octagón
UG pinned Mistico after a mask pull

Templario retaining is a little bit of a surprise; Dragon Rojo is usually winning a lot at this point in CMLL’s story. CMLL also usually doesn’t do quick title reigns so that may be part of it.

The lightweight tournament wasn’t so hot, with many people looking unprepared for prime time. Meyer is a guy who was around on the Monday streams pre-pandemic and never stood out. Rayo Metalico is originally from Leon and showed up in Puebla starting in March. He’s rarely lost in that time – really only to CMLL CDMX mini teams, though that may be as about Puebla wanting to start the show off with a tecnico win. Metalico didn’t impress positively in this match but maybe he’ll do better on Sunday.

(CMLL put the Arena Mexico leg of the tournament up as their free match of the week; it’s the best of the three ciberneticos so far.)

The big news from Arena Puebla happened outside the ring. Armed men robbed the ticket booth during the show. Puebla’s Cinco Radio has the security video of the crime. There were two Arena Puebla staff in the small office. One man appeared to be processing tickets (he’s writing down a ticket location and crossing it off on the map.) The other man was standing with the door half open, waiting to take those tickets to someone. Instead, a masked robber came in, threw the waiting man down on one chair, and pulled the ticket marker out of his hair chair to the floor. That robber keeps the Puebla employees away while a second robber comes and grabs the money and other items. The incident lasts less than a minute. There’s also an exterior video showing no security on the public side of the door. Additional reporting mentions private security was hired and just didn’t do their jobs. The two robbers easily rush to the ticket room. There’s so little fuss that multiple bystanders go up to the ticket window to purchase a ticket and only realize what’s going on when they look the window. Those bystanders include a family; when the group’s father figure sees what’s happening, he starts to go towards the room to help. A third burglar, this one wearing a backpack in front, blocks his path and appears to flash a weapon at the bystander, who wisely decides to back off. Local Puebla reports say there were actually four robbers, so maybe the fourth was handling the not-present security. 160,000 pesos (about 9500 USD), plus the personal effects of Arena Puebla manager Benjamin Mar and ticket seller Enrique Rivera were stolen. The robbers have so far gotten away with the crime. Fans inside the building had no idea anything was going on and CMLL has not publically addressed the situation.

CMLL (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Estrella del Ring]
1) Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito b Acero & Aéreo 
2) Capitán Suicida, Diamond, Halcón Suriano Jr. b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio 
3) Hombre Bala Jr. DQ Sangre Imperial 
Sangre Imperial unmasked Hombre Bala for the DQ.
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b El Perverso, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma 
5) Atlantis, Bárbaro Cavernario, Valiente b Esfinge, Fugaz, Niebla Roja [Relevos Increíbles] 
6) Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr. DQ Atlantis Jr., Místico, Volador Jr. 
straight falls, the last when Angel de Oro faked a foul from Volador Jr.

Hombre Bala tried really hard and Sangre Imperial shows a tiny bit of personality as a rudo, so that match was probably better than you would’ve expected. Not too much notable here otherwise.

CMLL (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Mas Lucha]
1) Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy b Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Ponzoña Jr. 
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara dubbed the winning team “Los Back Three Boys”
2) Gallo Jr. & Ráfaga Jr. b Último Ángel, Eclipse, Rav, Obek, Temerario, Persa [MEX LIGHT, torneo] 
The sons of Gallo & Rafaga advanced to the 07/30 final
3) Sanely DQ La Catalina [lightning] 
Maligna ran in to help Catalina, and Dulce Kitty made the save. This theoretically set up a tag match for next week.
4) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico b Blue Panther Jr., Cachorro, Dark Panther 
5) Averno, Euforia, Mephisto b Arlequín, Hechicero, Terrible 
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Rocky Romero b Hijo del Villano III, Soberano Jr., Villano III Jr. [Relevos Increíbles] 
Romero didn’t get along with his partners

Gallo Jr. advances to Arena Mexico in his fifth match – under that name. He and Rafaga Jr. were the Estrellas de Jalisco previously, something that’s been acknowledged on their Facebook pages but hasn’t been spelled out on the shows (or I missed it.) I guessed them because of the family connections. Everyone looked young and inexperienced in this group; it was better than the Puebla one but not as spectacular as the Arena Mexico one. The weirdest thing preceded the match: they ran a seeding battle royal, but used the Mexico cage match rule of everyone having to stay in the ring for 10 minutes before anyone could be eliminated. It was strange and not good. The final four people also worked it as if a 2v2 tag match and that may have been the rule.

The six who’ve advanced so far

• Max Star
• Futuro
• Rayo Metalico
• Meyer
• Gallo Jr.
• Rafaga Jr.

The final two will arrive from Thursday’s Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano card. Normally it’d be safe bet to be one of the Misterios and Brillante Jr., but this tournament has been all over the place. I got lucky on guessing the Guadalajara wrestlers (always bet on nepotism in Mexican wrestling) but no one had Rayo Metalico or Meyer. Maybe one of Max Star or Futuro would get through, but both was a surprise. It will not be a surprise if someone CMLL fans have never heard of makes is through from Torreon.

CMLL announced that Sunday’s final will air live for members. It sounded like it was just the match itself that would air.

CMLL (SAT) 07/29/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Kaligua & Shockercito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Crixus vs Retro [lightning]
3) La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Metálica
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Kráneo, Okumura, Pólvora
5) Esfinge, Star Black, Star Jr. vs Felino, Misterioso Jr., Rey Bucanero
6) Mephisto, Místico, Valiente vs Euforia, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

What’s not here is more important: Metalik and Romero are finishing on Friday.

CMLL announced the Men’s Gran Prix will take place August 18th. Full fields were announced for both the World and Mexico teams.

World

• Baliyan Akki (India)
• Francesco Akira (Italy)
• Adrian Quest (US)
• TJP (Philippines)
• Rocky Romero (US)
• Samuray del Sol (US)
• KUSHIDA (Japan)
• Hiromu Takahashi (Japan)

I suspect Rocky Romero may have more to do with putting this field together than in years past; most everyone has a connection with him in some way. Adrian Quest, a California/Baja California wrestler, is doing a bit as Romero’s protege on NJPW Strong shows. Akki is part of the Gatoh Move promotion; you may have seen him on secondary AEW programming with Emi Sakura and Mei Suruga, also members o that promotion. Akki speaks English and has done commentary for that Japanese group and others. Akira and TJP are “Catch 2/2” as part of NJPW’s United Empire and recently were IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag champions. You are probably familiar with the other names.

I feel about Samuray del Sol similar to Metalik. Neither are bad, but both are lost in the shadow of what they were for a time. Samuray del Sol seems disinterested in wrestling generally. It’s surprising to see him announced for both and for this weekend’s Impact tapings within minutes of each other. Those are his first two known bookings in North America this entire year. Samuray’s past incursions into Mexico have been with AAA and associated groups; he didn’t seem to mean much on TripleMania Monterrey 2021 and I’m uncertain how much he’ll mean to the Arena Mexico crowd. He seems like a name people talk themselves into believing is still a big Mexican star because he was in WWE, but it feels like time’s moved on. I guess we’ll find out.

Takahashi is paying back everyone who sent wrestlers to the All Star Junior Festival back in February, so it was a matter of when he’d show up here. Hirmou’s big feud in CMLL was with Dragon Lee. His other apuesta match was with Maximo. It’s going to be very weird if everyone in CMLL spends a week talking about the great matches he had as Kamaitachi without being able to say who they were against.

CMLL also announced Team Mexico.

• Averno
• Dragon Rojo Jr.
• Angel de Oro
• Ultimo Guerrero
• Templario
• Mascara Dorada 2.0
• Volador Jr.
• Mistico

CMLL decided they needed the six Aniversario people, which didn’t leave many spots left. Mistico and Mascara Dorada 2.0 had to be on it as part of the arcs they’re currently on. I do not think they’ll be wagering masks in September. As always, you could make another really good Men’s Gran Prix team off of those who get left off, and maybe CMLL will be some other good matches withem for that show.

This Gran Prix will be the first “important” PPV CMLL’s done since switching from TicketmasterLive to Boleita for the live streams. I assume it’ll be the same elevated price (~12 USD) but they haven’t said.

There’s a rumor that Templario is going to WWE. No one knows where the rumor came from or is taking credit, but it seems false. I believe people were looking for reasons to believe something besides Dragon Rojo will lose his mask on the Aniversario, remembered La Sombra lost his mask before going to WWE, and wished the same thing was happening with Templario. Sombra kept his jump pretty quiet and I suppose Templario could do the same, but it seems very unlikely and I’ve heard nothing to indicate it. You can’t really do this rumor with anyone else in that match, so Templario might have been picked. There will probably be a similar “chisme” about how WWE is totally signing Psycho Clown and so he’s actually going to be the one to lose his mask at TripleMania because people want to believe something else will happen, and it’ll be similarly false.

AAA

there is no AAA news today

IWRG

IWRG (TUE) 07/25/2023 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Sumed Black & Último Caballero b Canibal King & Cosmic 
Canibal King debuted, replacing Nubilus
2) Danessa & Hatanna b Amazonika & Kali 
3) Aqueo, Balak, Cheff Benito b Rey Gato, Skanda, Súper Cometa 
4) Ajolotol & Arceus b Carnicero & Milagro 
Carnicero fell down the IWRG stairs walking to the ring
5) Águila Roja, Baby Star, Fussion, Kenji, Legado, Rey Astaroth, Spider Fly, Súper Boy b Blue Win, Chaflan, Charifas, Kuukai, Nishikawa, Rey Espartano, Ryu, Shere Khan [Copa Higher Power] 
Three mystery people attacked Kuukai when he was the last person for Team Gym Hercules, allowing Spider Fly to land a 450 splash to give the win to Team FILL. The Lion Brothers demanded the mystery men come back out, which went poorly for the Lion Brothers. The masked men revealed themselves as the Camaleons, building up the Mas Lucha trios match in the same building for Thursday

This was on at the same time as the two CMLL shows so I saw nothing but the ending angle, just a big build to the match on Thursday. (I’m not even sure about the participant list.) I was mostly thrown off by this streaming live; the last few FILL shows haven’t, but this one had the Mas Lucha angle so of course they streamed it.

Other

Mexico’s senate held a ceremony to honor “Legends and New Promises” of Mexican wrestling. You can see it on YouTube. Fantasma led the wrestling group, which included Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras, Canek, Octagon, Lola Gonzalez, and Irma Gonzalez among others. A senator said they’d help support a book that’ll tell the stories of the luchadors. “Federal government holds a special meeting to honor wrestlers” would be a big story in another country but it’s happens so often in Mexico that it didn’t feel like a big deal to me. The ancillary stuff is more interesting, like which guys no one knows snuck into the presentation. Guerrero Zulu got speaking time; he’s (at best I can tell) a Chipas wrestler most notable for losing his mask to Ultimo Guerrero but his graphic claimed him to be a CMLL world champion. Octagon told the group that he, Atlantis and Fuerza Guerrero were going to headline the 90th Aniversario except Fuerza Guerrera was too much of a coward. That may have been a bigger lie. The bit was labeled as including the new promises but none got mentioned. It’s older members of the legislature honoring the wrestlers they grew up on. The government did not announce plans for retirement benefit or expanded health insurance but everyone did get a certificate.

The actual news from this event is Fuerza Guerrera announced he is no longer planning to retire in 2024. His bookings have picked up (after being back in CMLL) and he wants to ride that wave as long as it lasts. You can list many good things CMLL has done but encouraging Fuerza Guerrera to wrestle on is a one for the negative column. He vows to retire “someday.”

Rush re-signed with AEW. No contract length was announced (as always) and I’m not sure if it’s been reported somewhere else. Looking back, the moment he decided he was going to re-sign with AEW is the moment Rush and his friends started teasing he was going to the WWE; now the story is he was never going any place. Maybe he wasn’t! CM Punk, who may or may not get to decide these things, indicated on Instagram that Rush would be appearing on the Saturday Collision shows. That means Rush would not be appearing on AAA Saturday TV tapings going forward, though who knows if he was going to be back after TripleMania at all. (And that date is not affected.) All AEW talent seems free to work Mexico on dates they’re not needed for AEW/ROH, though the interest in working AEW seems to be less once they sign that AEW deal.

Aeroboy was included in a magazine list of 100 current people from Hidalgo who transcend the state. He’s the only luchador in the list.

Site Notes

• I’m hoping to move the “thecubsfan.com” domain to a new hosting company this weekend. I wasn’t planning on moving the luchadb and luchawiki, but I might need to as well. Figure sites not working as well as they should. I have a mid-August deadline to make the move so I may postpone if other things come up.
• The @lucharobot account is more or less dead. It can only post 50 times a day, I have a lot more than 50 posts a day. I could’ve let it go for 50 posts and then get blocked for a day but that seemed unuseful. I could come up with some other way of using it but I’m skeptical it’s a good use of time to develop projects for Twitter/X right now. I’m not using a replacement app enough to make it worthwhile to do that. I might as well just make another RSS feed.
• I did have some vague ideas to improve the luchadb main page to handle some things that might have been on lucharobot before. Not sure when I’ll have the time to get it done.
• Time is the biggest issue. I just don’t have the time I used to because of other things going on and so I’m not getting as much done as I might have in the past. I do not anticipate this situation will be improving. I’ll do my best and I’m not quitting but so you know where my head’s at it (if you couldn’t already figure out from other posts of late.)