TripleMania Mexico City, CMLL road to the Gran Prix

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 08/11/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Raider & Sangre Imperial b Futuro & Neón  
9:38
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b El Coyote, Kráneo, Okumura   
10:25.
3) Esfinge b Zandokan Jr. [lightning]   
9:01
4) Adrian Quest, Baliyan Akki, Francesco Akira, Samuray del Sol b Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Mephisto, Niebla Roja  
15:07. Arena Mexico debuts for the foreign wrestlers.
5) Virus & Volador Jr. b Rocky Romero & TJP   
20:53. Rocky Romero faked a foul
6) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Soberano Jr. DQ Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero   
9:59 Stuka Jr. unmasked Soberano, and later beat up Soberano with his (Stuka’s) boot. In between, Soberano challenge Stuka to a match next week and suggested a mask/hair match for the Aniversario.

Virus & Volador vs Rocky Romero vs TJP was the match of the night, a Great match that worked even if you didn’t know they had faced twenty years ago. I was really worried it wouldn’t early on; the crowd was quiet with a few whistles early on, but they got progressively more into it as it went on. The match layout put the Mexicans over huge: Virus took out both TJP and Romero by himself in the first fall, Volador outsmarted Romero in the third fall. Romero & TJP worked together like they never stopped. I was really happy with this.

The top half of the card was the part worth watching. Match 4 was odd, laid out as if the normal CMLL rudos would still be the rudos. The fans obviously reacted differently. Akki leaned into being booed by the crowd; he and Samuray stood out the most on that team. The main event was quick but high level. I think Soberano was just running his own angles by suggesting a mask/hair match for an Aniversario card, but it’s rare to make those sort of challenges without a destination in CMLL nowadays.

Esfinge was Esfinge against Zandokan. Match 2 wasn’t much. Futuro and Neon were all over the place in the opener. Corwd seemed a bit down from recent weeks, though it’ll probably be back up next week.

CMLL (SAT) 08/12/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Grako & Retro b Bengala & Príncipe Odín Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Amapola, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita b Hera, La Maligna, Olympia [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr., Volcano
4) Pólvora b Rey Bucanero [lightning]
5) Adrian Quest, Baliyan Akki, Francesco Akira b Bárbaro Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Terrible
6) Máscara Dorada, Titán, Volador Jr. DQ Rocky Romero, Samuray del Sol, TJP
Rocky fouled Volador

TJP and Rocky Romero should’ve bullied Samuray del Sol into just doing Ricky Reyes spots all match.

CMLL (SUN) 08/13/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Minos & Pequeño Olímpico b Shockercito & Último Dragóncito
2) Enfermero Jr. b Leono [lightning]
3) Omar Brunetti & Vaquero Jr. b Astral & Oro Jr.
4) Fugaz, Star Black, Valiente b Felino, Felino Jr., Misterioso Jr.
5) Adrian Quest, Baliyan Akki, Samuray del Sol b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
KUSHIDA said hello to the crowd before the match.
6) Francesco Akira, Rocky Romero, TJP b Soberano Jr., Templario, Titán
Rocky Romero insulted the Mexican people after the match, and Soberano attacked him.

Outside the Volador trickery on Friday, the World Team is winning all their matches.

CMLL (TUE) 08/15/2023 Arena México
1) Galaxy & Shockercito vs Full Metal & Mercurio
2) Hera, La Magnifica, Sanely vs Amapola, La Guerrera, Metálica [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Blue Panther Jr., Fuego, Volcano vs Kráneo, Misterioso Jr., Sangre Imperial
4) Blue Panther vs Panterita del Ring [lightning]
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
6) Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible

Blue Panther versus Panterita could be fun. The main event is an effort match. Not much else notable here.

CMLL (FRI) 08/18/2023 Arena México
1) El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. vs Difunto, Felino Jr., Sangre Imperial
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi vs La Catalina, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Magnus & Rugido © vs Akuma & Espanto Jr. [MEX TAG]
4) Soberano Jr. vs Stuka Jr.
5) Ángel de Oro, Averno, Dragón Rojo Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico, Templario, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Adrian Quest, Baliyan Akki, Francesco Akira, Hiromu Takahashi, Kushida, Rocky Romero, Samuray del Sol, TJP [Gran Prix]

I keep thing about how the main event is more or less one full year of Rocky Romero in CMLL and what’s that meant. It’s pretty close to one full year of unmasked Stuka Jr. and it’s good to see him get a high profile match on this show. The tag title match is a surprise. A title change is unlikely in the first defense but maybe Akuma can keep his good tag match streak running. Skadi is an unusual inclusion in the usual Friday women’s trios match; that match is normally good and it’s a big chance for her to prove she can keep up. Five matches is more than a usual Gran Prix show, which might mean a short undercard match. (The title match being one fall will help a bit.)

CMLL added a 09/22 Dia de Luchador show to their September schedule. A special match or show is announced every Friday (or Saturday) from until the end of September. 08/25 is the sole exception so far; that’s likely a Hiromu Takahashi main event. CMLL’s brought back old-timers on past Dia de Luchador shows.

The NJPW All Star Junior Festival is Saturday in Philadelphia. They’re still rolling out people, one person at a time, and matches once they announce all the people in it. The only people now left without a match are the CMLL people (Soberano Jr. & Fugaz) and Dragongate’s Dragon Kid. I presume the final person will be announced tonight.

Revolution Pro’s head Andy Quildan was on Wrestling Observer Radio on Friday. Most of the discussion as on their 11th Anniversary show, part of All In weekend, but there was some brief talk about FantasticaMania UK early in the show. Quildan pointed out RevPro was using CMLL wrestlers in 2019 – Barbaro Cavernario was part of the British J Cup – and felt that relationship would’ve progressed to a more formal relationship had the pandemic not shut shows and travel down. Surprisingly, Quildan credited Yota Tsuji as the conduit to get them back together. Tsuji unusually bounced between CMLL and RevPro on his trip, which apparently gave him chances to talk up RevPro to CMLL folks after working there himself.

Wrestlenomics, on their Patreon, posted a series of charts comparing the Google Trends numbers for various wrestling promotions. That measures search metrics, and has shown some good correlation with popularity. Wrestlenomics also broke Google Trends in specific wrestling countries. For Mexico, WWE is way ahead of AAA and CMLL, even at a low ebb for them. Wrestlenomics took WWE and looked again, and CMLL’s a distance ahead of AAA in traffic. AAA’s generally been ahead of CMLL, but CMLL ticked a bit up since last October and AAA’s ticked much stronger down. (AEW also pops up on this version of the chart, slightly behind AAA.)

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 08/12/2023 Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Azcapotzalco, Distrito Federal [AAA, Criterio Hidalgo, Marca, Mas Lucha, Record]
***TripleMania XXXI Ciudad de Mexico***
1) Drago & Jack Evans b Abismo Negro Jr. & Belcegor
dark match
2) Chik Tormenta, La Hiedra, Maravilla b Dalys, Lady Shani, Sexy Star
Hijo del Tirantes attacked Shani and helped Tormenta win. Tirantes Sr. and Hijo del Tirantes fought post match.
3) Laredo Kid b Komander, Willie Mack, Dave The Clown, Pagano, Aramis, Mr. Iguana, Murder Clown, Arez, Octagón Jr., Myzteziz, Niño Hamburguesa [Copa Bardahl]
Texano attacked Pagano before he got the ring (and he never made it to the ring.) Texano pushed Pagano off a raised platform into tables (Pagano missed the landing.) Feed went out during the eliminations. Laredo Kid beat Komander to win.
4) Flammer b Taya © [Reina De Reinas]
Lady Shani, La Hiedra and Lady Maravilla interfered heavily, helping Shani win. Taya bled a lot.
5) Negro Casas b Nicho el Millionario
Azcino (Casas) and Argenis (with Nicho and masked the whole time) interfered in the match. Casas took off Nicho’s boot (a long process), smashed the foot into thumbtacks, and then won via the castia (rolling into the tacks in the process.)
6) QT Marshall b Pentagón Jr., Dralistico, Texano Jr. [AAA LA]
Texano Jr. replaced Brian Cage, said to be injured wrestling Darby Allin on Rampage. Marshall fouled and unmasked Pentagon to win the vacant title.
7) Hijo Del Vikingo © b Mike Bailey, Daga, Jack Cartwheel [AAA MEGA]
Vikingo beat Cartwheel to retain the title. 18th defense. He later collasped backstage as an angle.
8) Sam Adonis L Psycho Clown, LA Park, Rush [mask, hair]
Rush brought LFI (Dralistico, Bestia del Ring, Jose the Assistant, Preston Vance) and they all interfered near the end of the match. LA Park pinned Rush and Psycho Clown pinned Adonis at the same time, with Rush kicking out at two and Adonis not kicking out. Psycho Clown was stretchered out due to an earlier martinete. Adonis got shaved in the ring while telling off the fans.

Injury notes first: Psycho Clown and Hijo del Vikingo both ended the show on stretchers. It seems odd for AAA to have booked both their top starts to sell serious injuries at the same time, and I’m not sure they booked it – I get the sense that these guys may have just done it on their own. Psycho Clown is claiming he’s taking time off now to recover. Psycho was scheduled to wrestle in California on Sunday and had informed the promotion ahead of time that he wouldn’t be wrestling. He did go to the show, just not wrestling. (This is also why Mas Lucha was announcing Rey Fenix as appearing; he was scheduled to be the replacement.) Edit: Psycho Clown did end up wrestling anyway, Instagram video shows him working a main event tag match.

I’m not sure about Pagano’s status, after mostly missing the tables on his latest poorly designed stunt fall. I hope he’s fine but also he does so much dumb stuff to his own body. Brian Cage filmed a video to explain his absence before the show, but it didn’t go out until Sunday for whatever reason.

TripleMania Mexico City was a show like a lot of the recent AAA TV: the match with Vikingo was good, the rest of the stuff was not good, there’s a lot of talent that could be used better and the production was sloppy. Mexico City TripleManida did not feel as antagonizing as the Tijuana one. I didn’t like the Mexico City one either, but thought it was easier to get through. This is a minority opinion; the Spanish language reaction to the Mexico City TripleMania is significantly more negative than Tijuana show has turned negative on AAA generally. Maybe for me, I had no expectations this show would be good because I followed it every day, and lots of people turned into the TripleMania cold and didn’t like what they saw.

(The English language reaction was much smaller than usual during a TripleMania. A lot of the reaction came after the show, towards the Vikingo angle and QT stans celebrating a title win. QT is no more over in AAA than the Russian guy is in IWRG, but the point of QT winning the title is to bring up on AEW television. Doing that hasn’t helped AAA all, but that’s still the goal.)

The one hot take is AAA made a mistake to add LA Park and Rush in the main event at the last second. We don’t know how many tickets moved after they were announced as part of the match, but it looks like a smaller crowd than recent Mexico City Triplemanias; not enough people believed those two would settle it to sell a lot of tickets to see it. LA Park and Rush didn’t bring the intensity of their past big matches or even their Tijuana match, and instead only seemed to bring the consulted sequences and referee spots. LA Park & Rush and Psycho & Adonis mostly had separate matches; Psycho and Adonis were good went they had chances and may have been great on their own.

The Mega championship was the best match on the show, all four wrestlers performing well. It was missing a moment where the title genuinely felt in danger, but there were creative spots and lots of usage of more than two people at the time. Daga decided to be a Moves guy again and he was good at it. It, and even more so the Copa TripleMania, gave a lot of teases of singles matches that would be very fun to see. I don’t think that’s the direction, as much as there ever is one.

The Latin American championship match was the flipside of the Mega title match, a highly uncreative generic four way match. The finishing bit with the table fell apart would’ve got mocked loudly by the fans on the lowest-level indie show, but it had to be done to protect Dralistico, just like Dralistico had to get in all of his finishes and have something prevent him from winning. (That’s also something that may have been improved if AAA didn’t use Rush and LA Park on this show; I think Dralistico being in this match was a concession.) QT showing up doing the Ugly American gimmick when there is a guy in the main event doing the same thing was bemusing. He needs to either find something of his own – lean into the rich/powerful guy bit from his vignette maybe – or lean into that he’s unaware of anything else going on in AAA except his matches. (QT is an AEW wrestler though and so the reaction to his performance was really positive from people who didn’t watch the show.) I suspect Dorian Roldan will be proven correct, and we’ll be treated to a lot of QT Marshall title defenses on upcoming AAA TV; he’ll be crushed when he finds out those only show up in the US on a massive delay.

Nicho and Negro Casas was bad in the ways everyone, AAA included, knew it would be bad. The two women’s matches were the usual. The trios was an attempt at a Moves match where the moves didn’t always work, too much happened for anything to stick out and the women were really just there to get over the Tirantes/Tirantes feud. The title match had a bunch of interference to set up the title match, done in a way where the new champion (Flammer) came off much worse than the challenger. AAA has the least enjoyable women’s division because they really don’t have any faith in putting them over. The Copa TripleMania was interrupted by the streaming going out about the time eliminations really got going. The first few minutes were good because the match was stacked with good wrestlers who can all have a great one minute of offense, but it’s hard to rate.

There was a lot of sponsorship on this show. The women’s trios had the tecnicas raise their arms to set off in their entrance a “perfume” spray, a tie-in with a perfume sponsor. AAA added “Cassandro” to their Hall of Fame, strictly to promote the upcoming “Casandro” bio movie. (I don’t know why the different spellings.) Casandro wrestled about two dozen TV matches in AAA, and never had a big role on a big show. AAA’s considered non-AAA work in their Hall of Fame before, but they were obviously selling a spot in their HOF to promote a movie. The Mortal Kombat I stuff wasn’t much – the “Dia del Muertos Sub Zero” skin had been announced earlier and is limited only to Latin America for whatever reason. The Dr. Simi-sponsored spot was trying to get the whole stadium to dance at once; the cameras did not find many takers. There may have been a Solura water bit in there briefly, too; it was twenty minutes plus of commercial segments. TripleMania was worse for having them, but AAA made money and doesn’t seem concerned about putting on good shows.

AAA’s production was uncommonly bad on the show, with cameras zoomed in too far and missing moments or directors choosing the wrong shot at the wrong time. AAA’s never great but this was definitely worse than usual. AAA brought in everyone – including those guys in the dark match – to rehearse the show night prior. Those rehearsals are usually done to make sure the cameras know where to be on the big spots, and still, AAA missed the big shots. Maybe let everyone stay and have the night off year; it couldn’t be worse. The audio mixing was as bad as usual, with no ambient noise outside of the Spanish announcers echoing through the building. The crowd suddenly got audible for things like Pagano’s entrance and Penta doing the 0M and then blinking out of existence a moment later. AAA is lightyears behind CMLL right now in that area.

There was no next show announced. There was no reason given to keep watching for English-speaking fans, much less a method to do so. These are all things a promotion serious about expanding in the US would have locked down, but AAA is not a serious promotion. English commentary for them at this point is just a thing to say they have it, to be a bullet point on a Powerpoint slide for investors.

Rush was asked on Facebook about commentary over the speakers and said he hates it; it takes the emotion and connection with the public out of the match. There was a lot of complaints about that style of commentary from Mexican fans in attendance on Saturday.

Facebook page Zona Ruda, which appears based in Tijuana and watches a lot of Mexican and American wrestling, was down on this TripleMania and the whole series. What stuck out to me is they believed the run-ins and the interference and the heel referees is something done to appeal to the US fans. Konnan’s talked a lot on his podcast about how they/he does all of that because that’s what Mexican fans want, and he’s aware he’ll have to change some things when they book in the US.

AAA’s next taping is the Showcenter card next Sunday. They’ll probably air the first few matches from TripleMania on Space next week and maybe the dark match.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 08/13/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, La Tiejra, Mas Lucha]
1) Águila Roja & Rey Astaroth b Ajolotl & Ryu 
2) Centurion, Lolita, Rey Halcón b Eli Surge, Gannicus, Sagitarius 
3) Hip Hop Man, Karaoui, Shocko b Dr. Cerebro, Dr. Cerebro Jr., Último Legendario 
Win via foul. After the match, the commission stripped the EDM TRIOS champions (HIp Hop Man, Karaoui and Shocko) of the belts and announced a tournament next week. The Hip Hop Man, Karaoui, Shocko trio broke up after, with Hip Hop Man attacking Shocko.
4) Cerebro Negro, Ivan Rokov, Tonalli b León Dorado, Mr. Leo, Spider Fly 
Hip Hop Man helped Rokov’s team to win by throwing power. Hip Hop Man and Rokov formed a post match alliance.
5) Hell Boy DQ Hijo del Fishman 
Scheduled as a tag match with Rey Espectro and Puma de Oro. Hell Boy and Fishman fouled/unmasked each other but ref only noticed the foul.
6) Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.  
Teams teased putting their masks on the line in Castillo del Terror (October)

the sequence of an IWRG angle

1. someone gets an idea for a bit and other people go along with it
2. it gets all over the shows for a few weeks, pushed as a huge thing
3. it quietly but quickly fades away for no obvious reason and with no conclusion
4. it may pop up a few weeks or months later to be firmly killed off because they need the people for another new idea
5. go back to step 1

It’s rarer for there to be a satisfying ending to any of this. This is a general Mexican wrestling problem, not just an IWRG issue. It’s why, at best, Mexican wrestling fans get invested in the individual but not the stories they’re in, because those stories aren’t usually any good. Though, even by IWRG standards, stripping the trios title to set up a tournament instead of just having one of the teams beat them is weird.

Other News

Big Lucha posted the second half their latest show earlier this week. I have not gotten to it yet, heard it shouldn’t be a priority. In an interview from last week’s Anniversary press conference, Flamita said he’d believed Bandido would be totally successful with AEW and talked about having an alliance between Big Lucha and GLEAT. (That relationship appears unaffected by Bandido’s departure.)

Segunda Caida has reviews of some of the 90s Monterrey lucha libre.

In Arena GDL on Saturday, Samuray Jr. defeated Faraon de Oro for his mask in a cage match. Faraon de Oro is Cesar Maldonado Madrigal, 33, 6 years a wrestler. Faraon de Oro came from nowhere to a peculiar part of indies coming out of the pandemic: he main evented against Mesias, he was in matches with Alberto and Dr. Wagner, he was on Nacion Lucha Libre. I assumed he was a money guy, but a money guy wouldn’t normally be losing their mask in a place like Arena GDL.

Also on Saturday, but in Arena Neza, Jaque Mate 2000 (Carlos Sanchez Rangel, 62, 38 years a wrestler) lost his mask to El Divino. Jaque Mate 2000 was not originally in the lineup for that match so something happened where they needed a fill-in to lose. He claims he started out on Pavillon Azteca/SuperLibres/AWWA as Magnum back in the 80s.

That Arena Neza was an all cage match show with people losing masks or hair. In order

• Jaque Mate 2000, not advertised for the match
• Dios Azteca, not advertised for the match
• Nikky Star, appears to have only worked one match under that identity before losing it
• Lunatik Fly; the Ovett children lose their hair often
• Atomic Star, who loses his hair every six months (this time they set up it so they got Demonio Infernal got the win)

The Wolf King may be the king of the garbage Mexico State indies.