Villano V (1962-2024), Copa Independencia, Noche de Campeones, Fuerza Guerrera/Hijo del Santo

Villano V (1962-2024)

Villano V (Raymundo Diaz Mendoza, 62) passed away Thursday. He posted videos on Facebook just a few days ago and seemed to be still working in acupuncture recently. Two of his sons wrestle as Villano V Jr. and Rokambole Jr. (a name V used early in his career.) Those two and a third non-wrestling son posted on Facebook that there would be no burial, per Villano V’s wishes, but they would hold a mass with his ashes. Record reports Mendoza had a lethal heart attack while at home, and those sons discovered the body too late to do anything. Villano V’s wife Chely passed away earlier in March; many of Mendoz’s close friends noted he never recovered from that loss and took some solace in the idea that they were now reunited. Villano V is the last number in the series, but he’s the second-youngest brother. The brothers were only allowed to take on the Villano name when they had completed their education, and the youngest Villano IV got it done quicker than Villano V. AAA and CMLL posted remembrances.

The final time Villano V (or Ray Mendoza Jr., the name he tended to use after his unmasking) came up in the lucha libre news was last spring. Villano V was living in Monterrey and had been appointed as one of the commissioners there. The Monterrey Commission has been among the strictest in the country in recent years, and AAA came to them unprepared. Their big plan to make mainstream waves was to have YouTube content creator Adrian Marcelo wrestle Chessman on the first TripleMania Monterrey. To AAA’s surprise, the Monterrey Commission required Marcelo to take a competency test before giving him a wrestling license and allowing him to get in the ring. Villano V ran that workout and ran it hard. Marcelo instead decided this wasn’t what he had signed up for and quit midway through the test. I don’t believe Villano V specifically wanted Marcelo to fail the test, but he was going to make sure Marcelo earned that license. He wanted Marcelo to work as hard as he and his brothers had to become wrestlers, as expected of all wrestlers when Mendoza broke in the 70s. Villano V entered wrestling in an era where it was supposed to feel and look natural. He enjoyed that moment of protecting wrestling from the spectacle AAA wanted to present. The Villanos were tough-nosed fighters emphasizing the fight, and he demanded to see the same fight out of anyone else who wanted to call themselves a luchador.

Villano V’s style made him both a great fit at times and a tough one at other times. His biggest visibility to English-speaking fans was his time in WCW between 1997 and 2000, years that paid very well and didn’t help his career beyond that. WCW had little idea to do with most Mexican wrestlers, the Villanos included. Brothers IV and V wrestled well and rarely got much to do beyond that. In Mexico, before and after, the two Villanos were successful on their own and as a team with Villanos I and III at different times. The Villanos I, IV, and V triple mask match victory over Los Brazos is an iconic match of its time, and the feud between those families continues to this day. Both families were key parts of the promotion best known as UWA, and would’ve been champions countless times if that promotion didn’t fall apart in the early 90s. Villano V followed his brothers I and III as a singles champion in the dying dates of the promotion. Brothers IV and V made the fortunate decision to get into AAA in 1995, which meant they were along for the ride when a bunch of AAA rosters departed for both Promo Azteca and, eventually, WCW riches.

Like many ex-WCW luchadors, the Villanos floated around Mexico in the early 2000s without much of a set home. The Villanos spent a couple of years in CMLL from 2000-2002, then returned for a longer run in 2007 as sort of rudo outsiders. Villano V was part of the 74th Aniversario, a cage match where Blue Panther took Hijo del Lizmark’s mask. Villano V and Blue Panther started to wrestle constantly in early 2008. CMLL tried to play it up as a three-decade-long feud leading into the big match, which didn’t ring true. There was shared history; Panther had trained under Villano I at one point, and both had long ties back to the UWA.

Blue Panther/Villano V match felt underwhelming as an Aniversario match, even with them feuding all year. 2008 was also Mistico as hot as ever against Perro Aguayo Jr., also incredibly hot with the Perros del Mal behind him. Both Mistico and Perro got hurt in the weeks leading up the Aniversario, which seemed to scuttle the dream apuesta match. Villano V also suffered a shoulder injury leading into the show, which seemed certain to hurt the quality of the match as well. You can read back my preview from the time; I’m pessimistic about the whole Aniversario that year. I’m also dead wrong.

Villano V/Blue Panther is one of the great apuesta matches of the time. Two men slug it out and fight for their lives. Villano V bled from the back of his head after connecting with a chair on the dive, maybe the last time someone bled in a big CMLL match. That also leads to one of the enduring moments of the night – Villano IV coming out to help his brother change masks to clean off the blood, and Mistico accusing the Villanos of performing a diabolical switch to cheat Blue Panther. (It doesn’t appear they actually switched, but it lives on forever as an urban legend.) Villano V blocked a Blue Panther tirabuzon attempt into a unique cradle and shockingly keeps a hold of Panther for the three count. CMLL re-released matches from this Aniversario show during the pandemic and has now put it behind the paywall; that version looks very nice. I implore you to instead watch the lower res version that WarriorX2000 put up in the weeks following the show (or the versions I’ve snuck up on Daily Motion.) If nothing else, jump to the last moments of the match and watch through the next couple of minutes. The re-released CMLL version includes new commentary and some editing; they try their best, it’s professional, and it’s just impossible to meet that moment. The original commentary, the Televisa commentary, is wildly unprofessional – Leobardo Magadan, Leo Riano, and Dr. Alfonso Morales all start talking over each other, the cameras cut to fans going crazy, and it’s bedlam the production is struggling to capture. It’s an out of control moment, with no one believing what they just saw. Only the most diehard Villano fans believed he had a chance; almost everyone had chalked this up as Villano V coming in from the indies to lose his mask in his last moment in the spotlight against a CMLL stalwart. Blue Panther was already a legend and was surely going to keep his mask until the day it was time for him to step aside and help a young wrestler on the way up. There was no way Blue Panther was losing that match, and then the referee counted to three. It is the biggest surprise in the history of CMLL Aniversario shows.

(aside 1: in retrospect, Mistico versus Perro Aguayo wasn’t happening that year even if both men were healthy. Mistico simply could not lose, it made no sense for Aguayo to lose. He was too hot to lose. He was also quitting CMLL days later. The public didn’t know it, but Aguayo had already decided to quit to turn the Perros del Mal group into a Perros del Mal promotion. It would’ve made no sense for him to take the ultimate loss while trying to get his own thing going. No one had any idea though. CMLL also seems to have had plans years in advance – Blue Panther beat Hijo del Lizmark, Villano V beat Blue Panther, Ultimo Guerrero beat Villano V – so the apuesta match was happening regardless of Mistico/Perro.)

(aside 2: in looking through those blog entries, I re-discovered this Aniversario was intended to be a PPV, then CMLL or Sky pulled it in the last days with no explanation. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I believe we listened to an audio-only internet feed of the main event and talked about it in a chat on this blog, not quite believing our ears about the finish. A sports recap show on Sundays named “Accion” would air clips of AAA and CMLL each week, so that’s where we first saw some of the mask match, and the full version aired the following week. We didn’t really know how good it was until then. That part has changed a lot.)

Villano V was hunted by every wrestler from the Torreon region for the next six months, every one of them wanting to avenge their local icon Blue Panther. Ultimo Guerrero cornered him in early 2009, and got the mask match as part of that year’s Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. That match is also great, though it didn’t have the same emotional punch off the Aniversario show. Villano V couldn’t pull the upset this time, history turned back in favor of the CMLL home team. Villano V renamed himself Ray Mendoza Jr. following the mask loss, and stuck around for about a year and a half more. (As still sort of an outsider rudo, he teamed a lot with Naito, Yujiro, and Taichi as they came through Mexico on excursions.) CMLL really didn’t have much for Villano to do, and he exited in 2010 to team with his brothers again and work a lot of legend’s shows. He helped his sons, originally Kaving and Kortiz, later Villano V Jr. and Rokambole Jr., start in the wrestling business. Villano V threw his retirement show in 2013, a big ruleta de la Muerte, where he and his brother shaved Cassandro (a bit) and took Hijo del Pirata Morgan’s mask. The retirement show tanked, leaving Villano V in significant debt after the show that was supposed to see him off – so he took a few more dates. A reunion of Villano III, IV, and V to wrestle Psycho Circus went for TripleMania XXII similarly poorly. PPV viewers were treated with all sorts of production gaffs. People in the building endured the Villanos, especially Villano III, having a terrible night. (Villano IV’s future successes would’ve seemed impossible that day.) Villano V had a handful of more matches, but was essentially retired going into the TripleMania and essentially stayed that way. Villano V was honored this past July and teased fighting the newest version of the Brazos, but it didn’t seem like he was actually returning.

Villano IV, who recently began working as lucha libre commissioner in Mexico City and also runs a candy store, is now the last remaining of the five Villanos brothers. Villano II passed away young, and really I, III and V all never got to enjoy their later years. (The anniversary of Villano III’s death was just a few days ago.) 62 seems old when you’re young, but you figure out it’s not near long enough as you get older.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 08/30/2024 Arena México
1) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Xelhua vs El Coyote, Felino, Felino Jr.
3) Lluvia vs Persephone [lightning]
4) Esfinge, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Yota
5) Máscara Dorada vs Templario, Neón, Star Black, Stuka Jr., Akuma, Difunto, Villano III Jr. [Copa Independencia, semifinal]

The main event should be great and might be more than that. The semi-main is an Aniversario build with Mistico alongside. The lightning match will determine the difference between Persephone working with Tessa and Persephone working with Lluvia. Xelhua gets to do some holds in the second, and the minis should be good in the opener.

The Villanos have been over as an act since Villano III Jr. jumped over. The fans like their act, their energy, and the history of that name. They seem sure to win their Noche de Campeones fan polling and would’ve done so even before Villano V’s passing. I doubt CMLL planned to have Villano III Jr. win this block, or even last close to the final. Those fans will understandably want something more tonight, and we’ll see if CMLL gives it to them.

NJPW also has Capital Collision on Friday, with the pre-show starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. It’s another 20 USD stand-alone PPV, with Titan vs. ZSJ and Virus & Hechicero vs. TMDK. That show should wrap before CMLL starts, though I never feel safe saying that.

CMLL (TUE) 09/03/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Astro Oriental, Obek, Último Ángel vs Rav, Shezmu, Temerario
2) Gallo Jr., Ráfaga, Rafaga Jr. vs Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Satánico
3) Pelon Encapuchado vs Arlequín [lightning]
4) Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. vs Bestia Negra & Vaquero Jr.
5) La Catalina, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard vs Dark Silueta, Persephone, Zeuxis
6) Flip Gordon, Máscara Dorada, Titán vs Furia Roja, Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr.

That’s an odd CMLL CDMX versus CMLL GDL main event. The semi-main is called out as a rematch from last week, but there’s nothing obvious to set up a rematch – Tessa just beat Silueta clean. I can tell you that because the video is now available; CMLL did put up last Tuesday’s show on Thursday night. It appears to be up in full and free, no change in that from usual. It does appear edited; there’s no time between the matches and they’re using the Mexico City graphics instead of the Guadalajara ones. They also replaced the music; the show cuts off after the main event rather quickly, maybe so they didn’t have to replace Mistico’s song. There is no explanation of what happened or if this is a one-time thing. Maybe it was a production issue.

Pelon Encapucahdo makes his way to Guadalajara, so guessing that was an Arena Mexico gimmick only is another wrong stab by me.

Mistico defeated Atlantis Jr. in MLW’s Opera Cup on Thursday. It’s up on their YouTube. The match was good, though it didn’t pull me completely away from the stuff I was working on.

CMLL made a ton of announcements on Informa.

The 09/06 Copa Independencia cibernetico is

• Dark Panther
• Dulce Gardenia
• Star Jr.
• Zandokan Jr.
• Averno
• Crixus
• Titan
• Hijo del Villano III

Tonight will give everyone a better sense of what they’re doing here. If it’s meant to be a big singles match at Aniversario, than Titan’s probably the pick. If it’s meant to showcase younger guys, then maybe a Zandokan or a Star Jr. could be involved.

CMLL added two more matches to Aniversario

• Los Viajeros del Espacio (Futuro, Max Star, Hombre Bala Jr.) versus Los Depredadores (Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido)
• Team CMLL (Atlantis Jr., Volador Jr., Ultimo Guerrero) versus Team Other Promotions (Rocky Romero, Orange Cassidy, Kojima)

That’ll be Orange Cassidy’s debut in Mexico. He’s probably meant to work with Atlantis Jr. based on the pairings, but Ultimo Guerrero being frustrated by this impossible man may be the best way to use him. That other trios match will likely open the show and go shorter than people expect, but be really good while it lasts. I believe CMLL said they would have seven matches for the show, which means probably a women’s trios match and probably one more all star match that’s waiting for people to get eliminated from the Copa.

CMLL also re-announced the Chris Jericho versus Mistico match on Informa. Jericho did press on Thursday, saying he’d consider an apuesta match down the road but wants a classic match with Mistico on the Aniversario. He said he was returning to CMLL as a tribute to Paco Alonso, who’s name doesn’t otherwise get mentioned much around CMLL these days. (Jericho thanked Salvador and Matias too, so he does have lowdown of the place.) Jericho was asked, like every single foreigner, if he would consider coming to Mexico for a longer period of time and visiting more cities. Like every single foreigner, he said sure, he’d love to go back to Guadalajara and Puebla and all the places he wrestled before.

CMLL will take September 15th off, as they do every year. The scheduled Sunday show will become a Monday show (09/16), with a special main event

• Mistico vs Mascara Dorada for the MLW Middleweight Championship

CMLL will also run the usual Arena Puebla show but at a holiday start time of 5 pm. Matches announced for that show:

• Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero, Atlantis Jr. vs Octagon, Averno, Hijo de Octgon
• Volador Jr., Rocky Romero, Templario vs Soberano Jr., Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja

CMLL’s previously announced Dia de Luchador show on 09/21 now has two matches announced

• Atlantis, Felino, Blue Panther, Pantera del Ring vs Octagon, Satanico, Pantera and Negro Navarro
• Mistico, Ultimo Guerrero and Atlantis Jr. vs Templario, Soberano and Avenro

Negro Navarro has not wrestled since May. It’s well at the point where every match he has in a CMLL ring could be his final one. Yet, it’s also likely part of the reason Navarro (and Pantera) are booked here is to keep them off the Todo x el Todo shows. Note that Solar is working those shows, so he’s not here. (That may also be why there are fewer legends.)

Finally, the Noche de Campeones date is the 09/27 show I had guessed earlier. The rules will be the same as the last four years: CMLL chooses the champions and challengers, fans can vote for their favorites on CMLL’s website, and the title matches will go to the people with the most votes. Votes will determine the match order in the poll.

The seven titles on the line:

• Atlantis Jr.’s Historic light heavyweight championship
  • possible challengers are Soberano Jr., Akuma and Barbaro Cavernario
• Templairo’s CMLL world middleweight Championship
  • possible challengers are Dragon Rojo Jr., Volador Jr., Flip Gordon
• Futuro’s national lightweight championship
  • possible challengers are Calavera Jr. I, Rayo Metalico, Electrico
• Reyna Isis’ national women’s championship
  • possible challengers are Hera, Sanely, and Princesa Sugehit
• Magnus & Rugido’s national tag team championship
  • possible challengers are Los Villanos, Difunto & Zandokan, and Dark Panther & Hijo de Blue Panther
• Mascara Dorada, Neon, Star Jr.’s CMLL world trios championship
  • possible challengers are Los Guerreros Laguernos, Los Infernales, and the legends team of Atlantis, Octagon and Blue Panther
• Ultimo Dragoncito’s CMLL world pequeno estrellas championship
  • possible challengers are Angelito, Pierrothito, Mercurio

These championships are linked by their lack of defenses in CMLL. The trios champions are relatively new champs, but the next most recent defense among these titles is three months ago. The minis title and Atlantis Jr.’s title have not been defended in a CMLL arena this year, and Futuro has never defended the lightweight title in Mexico City since winning it last year. (He did have a defense in Torreon.) These are far from the most interesting titles, though the Magnus/Rugido run has been pretty good.

The Pequeno Estrellas (minis) title is on the line for the third year. There are only five people ever included. In 2022, Mercurio was defending against Pierrothito with Minos and Ultimo Dragoncito in the voting. In 2023, it was Mercurio against defending against Pierrothito, with Minos and Angelito also in the voting. CMLL has prevented the same match for a third year in a row, with Ultimo Dragoncito winning the title. They also can’t include Minos this time after his injury in June. It’s just the other four guys. I swear, there are other interesting people in that division. It will probably be Pierrothito winning the vote for a third year.

There are no Atrapasuenos or Los Indestuctibles this year. Both literally and figuratively; there’s no first half of the card veteran act that’s far out of the title pictures normally but might be able to change their fortune via voting. CMLL has its favorites, but it will be content with whoever wins. The one slight exception, where a career could still turn on the outcome, is that lightweight match. Maybe Los Calaveras and Rayo Metalico go onto grand careers, but this would be the first time either of them has been challenged for a title in Arena Mexico, and it could turn out to be the only time given their fringe roster status. Electrico was pushed in CMLL in the past and hasn’t been in years – there’s no guarantee he’ll ever get another title match if he fails to win this one.

It sticks out to me that Dark Panther is teaming up with his youngest brother, Blue Panther Jr., which is usually how CMLL does these things. The Legends team getting the trios title shot might draw, and it would be a challenging match. I would rather see Flip Gordon as Templario’s challenger in a fresh match, but campaigning for Flip Gordon to win an internet award is about as bright as throwing a rock at your head.

In past years, I’ve put together daily updates to the poll numbers as this competition goes on. It’s a task that’s not hard, but is time-consuming. (That’s a lot of the luchadb stuff, to be honest.) This year, I wanted to figure out how to automate it, but getting a script to consistently scrape a javascript rendered page has proven to be difficult and even more time-consuming. I spent a lot of time on it Thursday without making great progress. I may keep trying this weekend, but I’m probably not going back the other way – I either figure it out, or I give up on the idea this year.

CMLL officially announced Sayaki Unagi as coming in for the 10/25 Women’s Gran Prix. She’d previously won the spot on a CMLL Japan show, but that’s not exactly followed by most Mexican fans. She joins Tessa Blanchard and Lluvia in the match so far.

The Kris Statlander/Willow Nightingale street fight at All Out is now a non-title match. On Dynamite, Willow briefly explained that CMLL wouldn’t sanction the match. I missed it live, which may be more me than Willow’s audio.

On Sunday, a manic Kris Statlander fan on Twitter kept tweeting me during the All In pre-show about how CMLL Women’s World championship wasn’t on the line between Statlander and Nightingale any longer, that it wasn’t being mentioned in the promos. I pointed out it had been mentioned previously, and that person kept replying and replying without reading what I was writing. I muted him, though now I wonder if some verbiage change signaled a change in plans even before they announced it as a street fight. It’s weird for a CMLL title to be on the line for a street fight, but I’m not sure if CMLL would necessarily get involved; they’ve seemingly let NJPW do what they want with CMLL titles in the past (though they did draw the line at Tanahashi putting the Universal title on the line.) The maniac Statlander fan’s actual was her taking another loss so soon after her heel turn, and she figured there was no way around that outcome if it was a title match. CMLL would probably prefer Willow be the one who inevitably loses the title to a CMLL luchadora, since she’s the one who they’ve introduced to their fans. Maybe the manic Statlander’s concern is AEW’s concern here, too, and why it’s now a non-title match.

AAA

If AAA is turning this Sunday’s Showcenter card into a TV taping, they’ve made no attempt to advertise it.

AAA on Space has part 3 of TripleMania. I guess the big JBL interview will air. Unimas will air part 2 of Verano de Escandalo.

KAOZ is teasing an announcement on Monday with the AAA eye logo and other teases.

Todo x el Todo

The vigorous campaign to get people to pay attention to the El Hijo del Santo retirement shows continues to ramp up. The promotion held a press conference on Wednesday, which was mostly a stage to play out a social media angle for TV cameras. Fuerza Guerrera keeps talking about wanting to challenge El Hijo del Santo for his mask, they’re now partners in the ruleta de la muerte on the show on 09/22, and Fuerza Guerrera crashed the press conference to say he’s going to take El Hijo del Santo’s mask. This group would sell thousands of extra tickets if they were to book a straight up 1v1 El Hijo del Santo versus Fuerza Guerrera match – they’re doing a tournament instead, so that’s surely not the final. There are other matches for that show, but the possibility that Santo might wager on his mask is the only thing they’re really selling.

The full list of teams for that ruleta de la muerte

• Fuerza Guerrera & El Hijo del Santo
• LA Park & Dr. Wagner Jr.
• Cinta de Oro & Bobby Lee Jr.
• Misterioso Jr. & Ciclon Ramirez Jr.
• Solar & Texano Jr.
• Rayman & Cien Caras Jr.
• Mascara Sagrada & Hijo de Fishman
• Super Nova & Canek Jr.

Maybe the Rayman/Cien Caras Jr. team is the favorite to lose. Rayman could lose his hair.

Forneo popped up in the press conference as backing Fuerza Guerrera. Foreno and Hija de Fuerza Guerrera are dating, and that’s a reason Forneo ended up leaving CMLL. The family went with Todo x el Todo, and he decided to go with them. He may end up with a Fuerza Guerrera gimmick. Imposible was about as promising as Forneo, got the Fuerza Guerrera NG gimmick, got booked a fair bit, but never really became a star and his career has gone nowhere since that point. I don’t know if it’ll go any better for Forneo, who is not even booked on these Todo x el Todo shows.

Mas Lucha heavily promoted this press conference and the clip of Fuerza Guerrera crashing it, so maybe they have some deeper involvement with this promotion. Or maybe they just thought it’d be a great viral clip.

There are still two announced shows on the Todo x el Todo tour which don’t have lineups. There is answer on one of them. The tour schedule announced at this press conference seems to indicate the 11/24 show in Guadalajara is now a March 16, 2025 date. There is still no lineup for the 08/09 date in Puebla, but it remains on the schedule.

The London shows are promoted by a different group. That group posted a talent list on Instagram: El Hijo del Santo, Cinta de Oro, El Hijo de Fishman, Bobby Lee Jr, El Verdugo, Xtreme Tiger, Máscara Sagrada, La Hija de Fuerza Guerrera and more. British wrestler Nina Samuels is also listed on the website. Tickets for the 11/01 and 11/02 appear to run from 38.50 to 71.50 GBP (50.60 to 93.98 USD.x)

In the Q&A, El Hijo del Santo was asked if there would be another Santo family member wrestling. The newest explanation on Santo Jr. is he quit wrestling because it was hurting his university work, and then he ended up getting into other things and just didn’t make his way back to wrestling. Santo mentions Santo Jr. is back in training and hopes that his son surprises him on this retirement tour. (Santo Jr. is probably El Hijo del Santo’s unannounced partner on the Monterrey show.) El Hijo del Santo says he doesn’t believe there will be a fourth generation, that the children of his son or daughter will wrestle. I would suspect that when that decision is actually made, he probably won’t be the one making it. El Hijo del Santo says he plans on wrestling through April or maybe July 2025. Maybe “plans” is too firm of a word.

Lady Apache also says she plans on retiring next year.

IWRG

 

There’s a fake heel Noisy Boy who’s been attacking Spider Fly. Original flavor Noisy Boy says it wasn’t him. Maybe IWRG Noisy and AAA Noisy are actually two different people.

There’s an issue where someone is pretending to be an evil Spider Fly.

IWRG (SUN) 09/01/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Drakula Ng & Súperboy vs Arceus & Fauno
2) Princesa Azul & Shamila vs Danessa & Demonia
3) Multifacetico Jr. vs Cerebro Negro Jr.
4) Freelance, Tornado, Willy Banderas vs Águila Roja, Hysteriosis, Puma de Oro
5) Aquiles, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Hijo Del Silver King vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
6) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba vs Arez, Látigo, Toxin

Other News

I took a field trip to AEW Dynamite in Champaign on Wednesday. My upper back has been hurting me for two days, I think because of all the time (2.5 hours each way) I spent driving, but I liked the show otherwise. I’m sure AEW appreciated the extra ticket sold; it was a big building and wasn’t very full. There’s a Konsuke Takeshita versus the Beast Mortos versus Komander versus Lio Rush match taped for tonight’s Rampage that is exactly the very good match you’d expect with all those people. It went about 14 minutes live, but Rampage always seems longer than an hour when I watch in person, so maybe it gets edited down.

Laredo Kid is part of TNA’s Emergence show tonight, which airs on TNA+ (10 USD/month) starting at 8 p.m. ET. He’s in the six-way Ultimate X match. It’s Laredo Kid and TNA, so I presume he’s losing, but it’s a new match type for him and a chance to come up with a cool highlight. My San Antonio talked to him about the show and his recovery from the 2022 near-death.

Aramis, who wrestles a lot like AEW’s Hologram, is still wrestling in Coliseo Coacalco on 09/15.

“KeMonito: La Ultima Caida” is coming to Netflix in Mexico on 09/19. It’s only available in Latin American countries at the moment.

There’s a new lucha libre photography exhibit in Xalapa.

A profile of Sinaloa’s Mercury, who’s also the promotor of the Project Lucha Mazatlan shows.