CMLL announces AEW relationship, Zeuxis advances to Universal final, great tag title match

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/13/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito b Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía
2) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
15:36.
3) Magnus & Rugido © b Futuro & Neón [MEX TAG]
13:40. 3rd defense
4) Zeuxis b Lluvia, Dark Silueta, Amapola, Tiffany, Sanely, Skadi, Hera, Náutica, Maligna, Sexy Sol, Andrómeda [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, semifinal]
25:09. Order of elimination Maligna (by Sanely), Nautica (Andrómeda), Sexy Sol (Skadi), Tiffany (Amapola), Andrómeda (Zeuxis), Sanely was medically eliminated, Hera (Silueta), Skadi (Silueta), Silueta (Lluvia), Amapola (Zeuxis), Lluvia (Zeuxis) leaving Zeuxis as the winner. She’ll face Catalina next week.
5) Místico b Templario
20:46, Mistico taking 1/3 (though not by La Mistica)

Templario/Mistico was pretty good. I think there was more nuance to some of Mistico’s other big matches while Templario is more a guy who’s just going to beat people up with big move, but he did a lot of big moves. Mistico’s pulled out the secondary submission a lot lately where he might have done a springboard senton or a Spanish Fly instead in the past. (He should still use la Mistica on Friday.)

The Universal block came down to Dark Silueta, Amapola, Lluvia and Zeuxis, and it was clear who was winning once Silueta got pinned. Not just because Zeuxis was the only one who made sense in the final, but because the 1 in the “1 on 2” finals of a cibernetico wins most of the time. The match itself was better than last week. The fans were more into it, the action had it’s flaws but not as many, and it just moved a lot better. Andromeda got a few spots to look spectacular and did exactly that. Her flying style is uncharted territory for a luchadora in CMLL and so it’s impossible to know if she’ll hold up or if the other women will be able to work with her, but there’s a lot of potential. She was easily more impressive than any of the other new women, and stood out more than a lot of the regulars. Wrestling always needs new people who are different to bring in new fans, and Andromeda’s different.

Sanely seemed to suffer a knee injury on her own dive, but it’ “seemed to” because it didn’t stand out as an injury from what we saw. She just did nothing else after that point. Sanely’s had major knee issues in the past. There’s no word on the severity for Sanely this time, though that’ll come up on Informa.

Zeuxis again brought up Martha Villalobos as the only real Diva of the ring in post match interviews. Villalobos was a regular in EMLL after the prohibition of women’s wrestling in Mexico was dropped in the mid-80s, then became a star in AAA when she jumped there as the promotion got going. Villalobos briefly returned to CMLL in 96/97 before going back to AAA and is strongly associated with that promotion. Villalobos was one of the more famous Mexican woman wrestlers of her time, been retired for many years, though she resurfaced as few months ago restarting her small promotion. Catalina’s “La Diva del Ring” is a play on her WWE time, but it is the same nickname Villalobos used (and pre-dates WWF/WWE adopting that term for their women’s division.) It’s relevant that Zeuxis brought up Villalobos, but it also feels like it might be something more – maybe a Villalobos appearance next week.

The tag title match exceeded any reasonable expectations for it. New guys like Neón and Futuro are supposed to be spectacular, but also aren’t expected to pull off everything they attempt. They somehow did it all here, including Neon’s amazing ramp running springboard dive. Magnus and Rugido went with them, especially Rugido being the suplex monster (lion?) he’s shown signs of in other matches. Neon and Futuro looking so good was the big takeaway from this match, but the Depredador title reign has been a quiet success too. 

CMLL (SAT) 10/14/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Grako b Retro [lightning]
2) Metálica & Olympia b La Guerrera & Lady Metal
3) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr., Magia Blanca
4) Amapola & Reyna Isis b Andrómeda & Skadi
5) Fugaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Black b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
6) Atlantis, Soberano Jr., Titán DQ Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
Soberano replaced Volador Jr. (double booked), but didn’t want to fight Los Infernales. Straight falls, Infernales DQed for foul/mask removal in the second.

Volador (and Cavernario and Virus) were scheduled for a show in Los Angeles. I think I miss more of those Los Angeles lineups with LuchaWorld not running any more. CMLL seems to have missed it to, since Sobreano as a replacement violates their policy against fathers and sons wrestling each other; that had to be a late decision (or realization.)

CMLL (SUN) 10/15/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Hera & Tiffany b La Vaquerita & Lady Metal
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Cancerbero, Difunto, Luciferno
3) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring b Felino Jr., Kráneo, Misterioso Jr.
4) Reyna Isis & Stephanie Vaquer b Andrómeda & La Jarochita
Andromeda replaced Sanely on Sunday afternoon
5) Atlantis, Fugaz, Valiente b Felino, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero
6) Euforia, Mephisto, Terrible b Esfinge, Octagón, Star Jr.
Octagon replaced Volador Jr. on Sunday afternoon. Straight falls, Mephisto beating Esfinge to set up a MEX LH title match between them next week.

Mephisto/Esfinge doesn’t sound too exciting. Mephisto used to be a frequent title challenger/holder and was generally as interesting as his opponent made the match. He’s now doing these about once a year.

CMLL (TUE) 10/17/2023 Arena México
1) Andrómeda & La Vaquerita vs Persephone & Tiffany
2) Astral, Brillante Jr., Oro Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Raider
3) Espíritu Negro, Pelon Encapuchado, Rey Cometa vs El Coyote, Kráneo, Pólvora
4) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Zeuxis
5) Star Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Mistico working a normal schedule next week, including a Tuesday main event before heading out to Houston. That match could be fun, as could the semimain. Brillante Jr. and Raider seem made for each other.

CMLL (TUE) 10/17/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Luna & Universis vs Dulce Kitty & Venus
2) Ángel Rebelde, Arhgo, Trono vs Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico
3) Crixus, Star Black, Vegas vs Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus
4) Adira, Alondra, Lady Shadow vs La Pantera, Miss Guerrera, Nexy
5) Dulce Gardenia, La Fashion, Soberano Jr. vs Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Draego
6) Atlantis vs Blue Panther, Felino, Panterita del Ring, Satánico, Américo Rocca, Solar I, Pantera, Negro Navarro, Black Terry, Águila Solitaria, Rocky Santana [cibernetico]

Same idea of a legend’s match as in Arena Mexico. Octagon is out, Fuerza Guerrera was briefly pictured as replacing him, and Americo Rocca ends up in that spot.

I’ve seen the strangely spelled “Arhgo” on posters from Michoacan for years. That’s also where some of the luchadoras have come from, so there’s some connection there.

CMLL (FRI) 10/20/2023 Arena México
***Blue Panther 45th Anniversary***
1) Brillante Jr. & Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro
2) Johnnie Robbie, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai vs Dark Silueta, Reina Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
TBD after the Universal prelim rounds
3) Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr. vs Dulce Gardenia, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Gran Guerrero, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
Hijo de Stuka replaced Dragon Rojo (shoulder) on 10/14.
5) La Catalina vs Zeuxis [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, final]
6) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Euforia & Soberano Jr. [CMLL TAG]
12th defense

The tag title match didn’t appear to be the main event original, but it is now. That could be as good as this past week’s tag title match, just in a different way. Catalina/Zeuxis could be a challenge. The younger Stuka gets his biggest-ever CMLL match as a fill-in (though he makes more sense as a match up for Cachorro/Hijo de Blue Panther.) Robbie is in earlier than CMLL seemed to have originally announced.

KeMonito appeared on Nacion Deportes earlier this week to talk about his fight with CMLL. A standout moment from the interview actually had to do with the interviewer, Marco Antonio Ocampo. He attended KeMonito’s press conference back on September 25th, then saw a message on his phone informing him he’d been kicked out of the CMLL media (Whatsapp) group and understood it as punishment just for going to the press conference. Antonio Ocampo send a salute to “Hugito and Sandra”, the CMLL press people he expects were responsible.

Fuerza Guerrera says his retirement has been indefinitely postponed, because he believes he would immediately die if he retires. He thinks he should keep wrestling, I think he should look into some therapy. This article actually turns into an ad for tequila and mezcal that Fuerza Guerrero is promoting.

AEW & CMLL are officially working together

On a Forbidden Door media call last June, Tony Khan was asked if there were any promotions he’d like to do cross-promotional shows with or just work in general. Khan brought up Conjseo Mundial de Lucha Libre, recollecting his time in watching the promotion in the early to mid-00s, and his fandom of Mistico and Los Guerreros del Infierno in particular. (“I heard Mistico is doing well.”) He stated he’d like to work with CMLL too, but both didn’t want do anything to hurt existing partner AAA’s business and didn’t want to get involved in any promotional war between AAA and CMLL. Khan’s bigger goal was to work with everyone and hoped CMLL could be a part of that.

The idea in June that AEW would be working with CMLL was a “LOL, no.” It is now a “LOL, yes!?!” CMLL announced an official relationship with AEW in a press release on Friday. They mentioned the Romero/Mistico match on Rampage and talked about the start of a new era between CMLL and AEW. AEW’s Collision included a Romero narrated video package talking about Mistico and their feud. It was well done. Wrestling Observer Radio reported that there idea for Friday is to give Mistico an autethnic CMLL presentation, including music. There’s no great consensus on what that music should be but the effort is good. All I really ask is all trampolines be banned from the building.

CMLL acknowledging the relationship is a significant jump, moving this from a one-off novelty to a real relationship. I still think people are expecting more out of this than they should. AEW’s closest ties are with NJPW and their talent is appearing in AEW on an infrequent as needed basis. AEW is appearing in NJPW even less than that. It’s safe to expect both sides will try to make Bryan Danielson’s dream match with Blue Panther happen. It is unsafe to expect Soberano Jr. matches on every Saturday Collision. (US audiences couldn’t handle him.) It should still be considered a bonus if AEW wrestlers come to Arena Mexico, not a guarantee. 

The WON has said AAA and CMLL wrestlers can be on the same show but not in the same matches. I don’t believe that restriction will ever change; CMLL won’t drop it and AEW will part ways with the relationship if CMLL asks them to block contracted wrestlers. They’re already getting the Mistico match, if they get the Panther one too AEW has already checked their big items off the list. Forbidden Door makes everyone lot of money, so AEW and NJPW would be motivated to work things out if they ever had issues. AEW and CMLL are just at the start of that road. 

Vikingo’s status is the one AAA/AEW question I’ve seen. CMLL won’t care about him as long as he’s not pictured alongside CMLL wrestlers, and it’s still in AAA’s best interest to keep working with AEW. Of course, sometimes promotions don’t act in their best interest, and AAA always has the option of pulling Vikingo from AEW. I remain unconcerned; the most likely outcome would be a few months of drama and Vikingo ending up back in AEW anyway. 

(There’s a thread of this fandom that wants to see AEW working with CMLL as some karmic justice against Konnan, more over his comments about AEW things than even anything AAA’s done. I’m sure that makes a great story, but I don’t think that’s what happening. AEW working with CMLL is motivated by wanting to bring in CMLL guys – and very specifically Mistico and Panther – and wanting to work with all companies in general. AAA doesn’t have Mistico and they don’t have Blue Panther, and so AEW will go get them from elsewhere, but they still do have Vikingo and they’ll have other guys AEW wants to use, and AEW will keep working with AAA for them. It’s hard for people living with the CMLL/AAA issues for 30 years to wrap their around a third company working with both and everyone getting along – history has shown that usually ends with one or the other Mexican companies pulling out. AEW is going to try it anyway, and it’s going to stay open as long as the Mexican companies are willing to do business..)

Rocky Romero won the MLW Middleweight Championship from Akira and retained the CMLL Historic Welterweight championship in the process on Saturday in MLW. He completely cheated but that’s OK, MLW doesn’t seem a rules based organization. This aired on FITE+ and will pop up on MLW’s YouTube channel in upcoming weeks. It doesn’t seem like CMLL needs to be working with MLW if they’ve got something going with AEW, but it’s just an extra booking for some people once a month. It’s not going to hurt.

It was only a few months ago when I wrote here that, even with CMLL getting some buzz, there weren’t really any places for CMLL wrestlers to get booked outside of Mexico. Everything besides small shots in NJPW (US & Japan) seemed blocked off. Coming up soon:

• Mistico on Wednesday’s AEW taping
• Mascara Dorada on Saturday’s RevPro British J Cup.
• Mistico, Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr., Zeuxis, Stephanie Vaquer and Lluvia on next Saturday’s NJPW Strong show in Las Vegas

MLW will theoretically announce someone from CMLL for their 11/18 Philadelphia show at some point. This situation has changed drastically in a short amount of time.

Tickets for Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite/Rampage are moving well since Mistico announcement, though reasonable people would give much more credit to the steep ticket discount in certain areas. I still think Mistico is a little part of it. I may have to end the blog, end the twitter account, shut everything down after this week. Mistico in AEW and doing well feels like the end scene of a video game more than a real thing that should be happening. I may just be wandering around and finishing out sidequests after this one, there’s no more main story to be found.

AAA

AAA on Space aired the two tag matches from Jalisco and the fourway women’s match from Mexico City. That meant AAA aired two different Dalys matches, both of where she ended up getting DQed. It came off as ridiculous. Dalys attacked Tirantes Sr. in the first aired match, and the idea was she was totally out of control by attacking the referee and a sign she was going ruda. Dalys attacked Hijo del Tirantes in match three, and was treated as her actions being totally justified. Those matches were taped in the opposite order and set up opposing directions for the promotion. I’m not sure if the plans changed or if there simply are no plans, just whatever they felt like doing that day. The matches themselves were fully designed to put over Dalys as the best even though she technically didn’t win. The three way tag match in the middle was the best of the matches, where everyone worked hard but it was just a collection of spots.

AAA says they sold out Friday’s special Luchatitlan show with AAA wrestlers. That Friday was also the last day of the Cancun Travel Mart, an expo promoting activities for travel agencies. It’s possibly the reason why AAA brought in extra people for the Luchatitlan show and wanted that event to go well.

Fenix took a booking on The Crash’s 11/03 12th Anniversary show. That caused AAA to sever ties with Fenix, at least for now. This might be the third different time Fenix and AAA have severed ties, so it doesn’t seem too alarming. It also seems for naught; Fenix’s injuries (as seen on recent AEW shows) will keep him from wrestling on that 11/03 The Crash show after all. Andrade will replace him.

If you’re expecting some big explosion from AAA about the AEW/CMLL deal, you’re going to have to keep waiting. Nothing has been said publicly and that didn’t change with Konnan’s podcast.  I’m not certain the timing of the recording; there was no lucha minute, and they could’ve done the rest before that news started to roll out this past week. The only AAA topic I noticed was a listener-prompted discussion of AAA’s title belts; Konnan felt like they were all pretty good. He thought the tag title belts could use a reissue; the design is still good but the physicals belts themselves are old and could use new versions. The Reina de Reinas title didn’t come up and I would suggest that’s the one that badly could use a refresh. I don’t believe there was any discussion about the MLW/CMLL deal, but I haven’t been diligently listening to that podcast.

IWRG/Mas Lucha

Mas Lucha (SUN) 10/15/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Keyra b Bengalee, Zuzu Divine, Sádika, Lilith Dark, Shamila, Quimera, Dulce Luna [Copa Sahori] 
2) Hell Boy b Súper Caló [Torneo Supremo, quarterfinal] 
Claudio Yarto (of the Calo group that inspire the Super Calo gimmick) seconded him for this match.
3) Súper Crazy b Súper Fly [Torneo Supremo, quarterfinal] 
4) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Mr. Leo [Torneo Supremo, quarterfinal] 
5) Zorro b Último Legendario [Torneo Supremo, quarterfinal] 
Charly Manson and Reina Dorada attacked Zorro after the match, as members of the RCH promotion.
6) Súper Crazy b Hell Boy [Torneo Supremo, semifinal]
7) Águila Roja & Relámpago b Spider Fly & Tonalli 
8) Princesa Azul & Reina Dorada ?? Jessy Jackson & Mary Caporal 
match happened, neither IWRG nor Mas Lucha posted a result
9) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Zorro [Torneo Supremo, semifinal]
10) Diva Salvaje, Intocable, Jessy Ventura b Chris Stone Jr., Scorpió Jr., Zumbido
Zumbido replaced Shocker
11) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Súper Crazy [Torneo Supremo, final]

The attendance seems decent for this show, maybe better than last year. I haven’t invented the time machine that would’ve allowed me to watch this, but I was told there were a lot of short matches on the free portion of the card.

Neither IWRG nor Mas Lucha has a finish for the women’s tag match. IWRG gave up reporting results before thhe main event. The RCH promotion has not run a show since 2019, though they’ve teased running shows prior.

Mas Lucha says Shocker missed the show “due to a grave sickness that he’s battling day by day“, which reads like a reference to his substance issues.

Big Lucha

I’m still catching up through the most recent show (and the Big Lucha World card.) I’ve made it through the first three matches, which are all fine for people at their experience level.

The Copa Independencia was heavy on story, to the point where I’m sure not all of it sunk in. “M Double R” is the new name for Potro de Oro’s previous manager “Maximiliano Rivera Romero”. He and Steel Dragon are feuding after eliminations, Viajero and El Brujo kept brawling after their own. Loco Evans’ Iku seemed to repeatedly eliminate his allies but that wasn’t played up too much. The fans were into Andromeda getting the win and joining Black Generation as Black Andromeda. (Carito/Carolina was nowhere to be seen, not sure if that’s another person who’s out of here.) The opening matches were inexperienced guys getting some work. The matches all are obviously heavily worked out in advance and they’re really good when they can remember their spots and really lost when something goes wrong. Especially with the second match, you could make some great highlights that would disguise what actually happened in the match.

Flamita had his nose operation on Saturday.

Field Trip: GALLI’s GALLIMANIA in Waukegan

I went to GALLI again last night. I had last minute thoughts about going to Berywn for Lucha Libre Total instead; I hadn’t seen the poster until Sunday and didn’t realize all of Atlantis Jr., Blue Panther and Villano III Jr. were going to be there. I’ve found the GALLI shows to generally be better and it was at a place I hadn’t seen before, so I ended up there. Lucha Libre Total seemed to do pretty well anyway.

The big draw on the GALLI show was a four-way with Vikingo, Aramis, Aeroboy and Rey Hours. Vikingo is over huge to this audience – they know and are into the other three guys because they’ve been here many times over the years, but I think Vikingo being a TV star (and being Vikingo) helps make him clearly the biggest star. They worked hard and it was a pretty good four-way match, though they’ve done the fourway style of match so often you can kind of figure were things are going ahead of time. I did not see Aramis getting the clean win coming, and post-match promos explained it meant Aramis would get a title show at Psycho Clown at a GALLI show in December.

I generally liked the show better than last week; there was more variety. The Discovery title match was complete US style and worked fine. Mechawolf versus Toxin was pretty good. This was a GALLI promotional anniversary show, I was watching it thinking about MechaWolf coming in as a special guest. Then I remembered that long ago he was “Mr. 450 Hammet” and worked a bunch for them in the early years under that name before relocating elsewhere.

The show moved along for the most part and I got home at about the same time I usually get back from GALLI shows despite this venue being much farther away, so it worked out for me. Attendance seemed around 150, with few empty seats, so I assume it worked out for the promotion too. Like all GALLI shows, they were taping it and doing announcing; they’ve got a Pluto-like FAST channel that some of this shows up on, though I don’t pay enough attention to know the timing.

The “Brothers of Funstruction” clowns tag title match had lots and lots of ideas and felt like it went too long to get through all of them, though the crowd was definitely into the idea early on. Yabo and Ruffo earlier attacked Mecha Wolf, then did a post-match interview connecting it to their NWA feud with La Rebelion. It was unusual building up an NWA match on GALLI show, especially when that NWA show is happening in Cleveland. The clowns asked fans if they were watching and more people cheered than I would’ve guessed so maybe it’ll sell some PPVs (and maybe it’ll circle back around to GALLI at some point.)

I really would like a Sunday home all night so I can work on this post a bit more, so hopefully no one runs anything interesting.

Other Notes

Hijo del Vikingo’s weekend also included appearing in Yakima for DEFY. Vikingo took a rare US loss to Shane Strickland on that show. Cagematch lists 26 Vikingo singles matches in the US, and he’s only lost to Kenny Omega in AEW and this match in DEFY. (He also has the draw with Metalik in GCW.) The DEFY show will go on their VOD service eventually.

Hidalgo luchador Dayami is currently wrestling in Canada, after getting recommended there by Sexy Eddie when they were both wrestling in Africa.