CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/18/2024 Arena México [AS, CMLL, El Grafico, Excelsior, Fuego en el Ring, Kaiser Sports, PubliMetro, Telediaro, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Futuro, Max Star, Pelon Encapuchado b Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider 
9:59.
2) Alex Windsor, Red Velvet, Samantha Black, Viva Van b Amapola, Metálica, Olympia, Sanely   
10:22
3) Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard b Sayaka Unagi & Sumika Yanagawa © [CMLL WOMEN TAG]  
14:55
4) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Neón b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero   
16:04. Neon was stretchered out after slipping on his dive
5) La Catalina b Toni Storm    
11:48. Toni Storm, upset about the loss, declared she’d return to CMLL later this year.
6) Persephone b Zeuxis [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, final]   
12:23. Catalina appeared before the match to hand over the belt. Persephone is the winner, Zeuxis fails in the final match for the second straight year.

If you’re going to go with someone, you might as well go with someone. Persephone getting to the final of the Universal tournament would’ve been a nice footnote, a small step up on the ladder, but ultimately a trivia note if that’s as far as she went. (Only total nutcases remember Texano Jr. was the runner-up in the first Universal tournament.) Persephone winning puts her firmly among the top of the division.

I’m just still surprised it was Perse who is getting that shove. I still think I would’ve gone with Kira or Olympia for that moment first, and I’d hear arguments for Skadi or Hera. Persephone is definitely in that mix, and there’s an argument she’s the better choice, but it’s not a clear-cut one. I feel like we’d learn about how CMLL thinks and evaluates their options if we ever heard the story behind this decision because it sure is an interesting one.

The match itself was good, better than Zeuxis/Willow on Aniversario. It suffered from some of the same issues as Rayo Metalico/Futuro – a lot of the crowd didn’t see them as main event players. Neither came off as the strong rooting favorite either – maybe Persephone by default of being the underdog – and this was put in a position where they had to battle uphill. The match was not booed, but it took a lot for the fans to get into it. They got a lot of time and told a unique for CMLL story of Persephone getting the win on her third try at the frog splash; your finish hardly ever works more than once in CMLL’s match style. Zeuxis was not as stiff as last year with Catlina, though she still hit pretty hard.

Catalina defeating Toni Storm wasn’t as big a surprise – Storm similarly lost the big singles match in her Stardom appearance – but it still felt like it meant something for Catalina to win. She still really could use something more impactful than her top rope splash. (She’s a Trish Stratus fan; can she just use Stratus’ Stratusfaction’s bulldog?) I still didn’t get the feeling the average CMLL fan knew or understood Toni Storm’s act, but she put forth a strong effort, and the match was good. CMLL seemed pretty aware of Storm’s character, and touches like the Instagram photos got very positive reactions.

Toni Storm announcing she’d return this year was eyebrow-raising. Storm did well enough as a one-off match, but she also lost, so there’s no obvious reason to bring her back soon for another show built around a Toni Storm match. (If/when Storm wins the AEW title back, it certainly would fit to run Catalina/Storm back as a title match, but I don’t get that sense AEW is getting to that moment before the end of year.) There isn’t much left on CMLL calendar  – the Dia del Muertos shows, the Leyenda de Azul, and the various holiday events. None of those require any international wrestlers. If we are to take Toni Storm’s comments seriously about returning this year (a danger), the only context that works is she’s coming back for an event that CMLL has yet to announce. Perhaps it’s another international tournament, or maybe it’s something specifically AEW-related. I have no idea, do not start asking me about an AEW/CMLL show, but something is up.

The trios match was good, but it could’ve been better. Neon crashing and burning did put a pale on things. (He seems to be fine.) The tag title match was just right. The women’s 4v4 was one of those matches that felt very planned out and better for it. Amapola and Metalica looked better than usual, the foreigners all fit in, and the match moved in well. The ending set up Red Velvet as the big star of those coming in. Ola Negra seemed overextended in the opener.

CMLL (SAT) 10/19/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Grako & Sangre Imperial b Astral & Astro Boy Jr.
12:14
2) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Rayo Metálico, Stigma, Xelhua
14:05.
3) Villano III Jr. TLDRAW Zandokan Jr. [lightning]
the two were brawling outside as the time ran out
4) Sayaka Unagi, Sumika Yanagawa, Viva Van b Dark Silueta, Lluvia, Zeuxis
16:37
5) Alex Windsor, La Catalina, Red Velvet b India Sioux, Princesa Sugehit, Tessa Blanchard
13:03
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., Esfinge, Místico DQ Bárbaro Cavernario, Difunto, Terrible
12:23. Straight falls, Cavernario fouled Rojo. Dragon tried to challenge for a singles match next week but kept getting beat up.

No one cares less about the Dragon Rojo versus Los Barbaros feud than Mistico did on this night. He took his time entering as Dragon Rojo got beat up by his former allies, he ignored that Rojo pinned captain Cavernario to end the first fall to get his pinfall, and he blew off the Cavernario/Dragon Rojo post-match fight to try for a third fall with him and Difunto.

Villano versus Zandokan was the one thing worth watching.

CMLL (SUN) 10/20/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Último Dragóncito b Mercurio [lightning]
2) Cancerbero & Virus b Brillante Jr. & Dark Panther
3) Samantha Black, Sayaka Unagi, Sumika Yanagawa b Amapola, Dark Silueta, Princesa Sugehit
4) Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II b Fugaz, Star Black, Star Jr.
Gemelos pulled a switch to beat Akuma
5) Alex Windsor, Red Velvet, Viva Van b India Sioux, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard
6) Atlantis Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Flip Gordon b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente
Dragon Rojo declared he was officially a tecnico going forward

Dragon Rojo is good for a tecnico turn once a decade. He tried being a tecnico in 2014, but it didn’t work well, and he was back to being a rudo in 2015. It’s hard to believe this will go any better.

The foreign women are generally beating the Mexican women, as typical for Grand Prix week.

CMLL (TUE) 10/22/2024 Arena México
1) Diamond & Eléctrico vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) Futuro, Max Star, Volcano vs Hunter, Infarto, Kráneo
3) Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola [lightning]
4) Magia Blanca & Vegas vs Barboza & Zandokan Jr.
5) La Catalina, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard vs Persephone, Reyna Isis, Sanely
6) Atlantis Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Match 4 are the oddballs who may over-deliver on a Thursday.

CMLL (TUE) 10/22/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Magia Azul & Universys vs Atenea & Quetzal
2) Hatanna & Zorah vs Lady Puma & Miss Panther
3) Candela & Metálica vs Alondra & Emperatriz
4) Adira & Nexy vs Lady Shadow & Miss Guerrera
5) Dark Silueta, India Sioux, Maligna, Olympia, Tabata, Valkiria vs Alex Windsor, Red Velvet, Samantha Black, Sayaka Unagi, Sumika Yanagawa, Viva Van

This is an all women’s show and – in an effort to run a different match here than the Grand Prix – one with almost none of the star CMLL women’s names. Dark Silueta is here because it’s Guadalajara, and she’s the big CMLL women’s Guadalajara star. Still, the choices they’ve made to keep the other Grand Prix women away will make this a more challenging draw than even past all women’s shows. It’s a great opportunity for some of the other women, though.

Fightful Select posted something rather anodyne about Stephanie Vaquer and her sudden departure from CMLL to AEW following Forbidden Door. Almost no one discussing it cares all that much about CMLL. It’s just a chance to relitigate her departure in an AEW/WWE scope again. I will not be doing that. The Fightful Select report was AEW people vaguely saying, “yea, we’re going to try to do something so anyone we build up on Forbidden Door sticks around for a bit,” a news bit which sure is worth reporting but also could’ve been reported by “Duh Magazine.” There’s no guarantee anything AEW, CMLL, and the others will try will have any meaningful effect, but of course they’re going to attempt to fix an obvious problem.

AAA

AAA on Unimas aired one hour early. AAA did get the word out. It turns out the baseball game did disrupt the schedule – or more, that Unimas didn’t want to disrupt its usual block of movies, so all the other shows had to move up an hour that day, and AAA just happened to be the first in line.

I tried four times recording AAA this week, and all I got was the opening match and part of the in-ring promo. On Sunday, I got two recordings of The Rundown, the 2003 film starring the Rock, so I guess that’s as good as watching AAA. It’s fine. I’ve got the Unimas version of this taping to watch if I’m in a hurry. I’m not. I need to circle to some of this later this week because I’ve realized there’s something I want to explain in more detail, and it’s better if I have a bit more time.

The one match I got was the Exoticos versus the Guapos. It was okay. About a few minutes in, they stopped shooting the match to show Mesias at the announce desk complaining about Octagon Jr. from an incident they had in June. Octagon, with excellent hearing and speed, came out and brawled with Mesias. The Exoticos were kind enough to wait to return until Mesias and Octagon were done.  They went for longer after the ‘break’; the Guapos did well in that portion, and Pimpinela lost after being tripped off to the top rope.

The part of AAA TV I did included an upcoming show video for the first time in nearly a month.  The previous one listed TV tapings in Mexico City on 10/26 and 12/07. Those are missing from the latest listings, with an 11/17 Saltillo taping added. The Saltillo promoters are the same ones promoting the canceled Torreon show, so maybe there’s a make-good there. That lineup should roll out this week through AAA’s usual efforts. It’ll take care of TV through December 14th, and AAA usually runs repeat/Best of programming through the holidays. AAA will often tape a show in December and hold it over to air in January, so maybe later, Mexico City taping will show back up, or maybe they’ll go back to Acapulco. It is strange and not exactly confidence building that AAA’s shifting tapings around so close to them taking place.

For TV-watching purposes, this schedule means another “preview” episode is coming up on Space on 11/02. Unimas will get the 11/03 Showcenter tapings before they air in Mexico. Space and Unimas will start airing the same episode on the same day, with the Saltillo taping airing on December 7th, though that may not last long. There is no telling what AAA will do with Unimas when they go into their typical Best of programming on Space during the holidays.

That 11/17 Saltillo date is notable because AAA’s old partners BARBA is running a CMLL spot show in that city two weeks later. It’s also notable because Vampiro is already retired in Saltillo. he had his last match back in March. In theory, if Vampiro is truly retiring this year, that means his last TV appearance and his probable last match is the November 10th show in Ciudad Juarez. AAA hasn’t indicated that’s his final date by any means, so it probably isn’t the end.

There’s an AAA spot show tonight in Leon. The big draw is the Vampiro retirement tour, but it’s also notable as the show Sexy Star 2 previously said would be her final date with this promotion.

Other News

Mas Lucha steamed the 10/13 Todo x el Todo show (as if it was live) for paid subscribers on Sunday night. The next Hijo del Santo retirement shows are the 11/01 and 11/02 shows in London, being done by a local promoter. The following Mexico shows are the 11/09 show in Puebla and 11/10 in Veracruz. The Puebla show has never had a lineup, never had ticket information, and has never seemed like it’s happening. The other shows may be in question as well; there’s been a persistent rumor this week that the rest of this tour has been postponed or canceled. There’s not much to back it up beyond a screen grab of an LA Park comment on another post, and who knows if LA Park is ever serious. There doesn’t seem to be recent advertising for this Veracruz show as of yet, though tickets remain on sale, and most of the Todo x el Todo work seems to be done the week of the show. I thought there might be some big promotion following Mas Lucha’s stream of the show, but it doesn’t seem to have happened or at least it didn’t make it out their socials. I wouldn’t say the rest of the tour is off at this point, but it’s a suspicious situation. I’d still buy a ticket to the shows if I wanted to see Santo one last time, but I’d be checking the language on the ticket website about refunds.

Flammer won Mas Lucha’s Torneo Surprema on Saturday. She beat Faby Apache in the final, which meant it was a replay of the TripleMania women’s match. That match memorable was in front of a fraction of the audience because AAA told people the show wouldn’t start until a half hour later (and Mexican fans tend to be a late-arriving crowd anyway.) This rematch was in front of another disappointing crowd; Arena Lopez Mateos looked less than a quarter full for this annual tournament. Mas Lucha will try again in that building with the men’s version, Torneo Supremo, on November 16th. with Aerostar, Bestia 666, Chris Stone Jr., Imposible, Ozz, Rey Escorpion, Sanson and Solar. That’s a good field, but I’d also expect it to be another tournament with lots of interference to “set up matches in other promotions” (or to make sure no one has to really lose.)

This is as good as any since Imposible just came up to mention that Imposible and Trauma I made mask versus mask challenges on the AVE/TC show last weekend, with the idea of it happening in 2025. I’m not 100% sure that a match will happen, but they took it a bit more seriously than usual. This group put together the Wotan/Trauma I match earlier this year. Imposible is a guy who had an indie name, was a prospect for a while, never got a shot in CMLL or AAA, tried to be Fuerza Guerrera NG but never really got anywhere with that gimmick and seems to be fading out of wrestling towards other pursuits – it’s fairly plausible he’d wager his mask at this point in his career. Both Trauma I and Imposible are scheduled to be part of a five team tag match on the 11/09 AVE/TC show.

I was very skeptical Sabu would make it to Cancun for an indie show. In fact, here are photos of Sabu at the wrestling show in Cancun. All credit to Sabu.

There’s a new lucha libre art exhibit in Cuernavaca.

There was a lucha libre workshop in Oaxaca.

A profile of Payaso Pura Santa Jr.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/18/2024 Arena México
1) Futuro, Max Star, Pelon Encapuchado vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
2) Amapola, Metálica, Olympia, Sanely vs Alex Windsor, Red Velvet, Samantha Black, Viva Van
3) Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard vs Sayaka Unagi & Sumika Yanagawa © [CMLL WOMEN TAG]
4) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Neón vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
5) Toni Storm vs La Catalina
6) Zeuxis vs Persephone [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, final]

CMLL changed the card order on Thursday, with Persephone/Zeuxis now as the final. I don’t know if that’ll be a great match – Zeuxis didn’t quite deliver on Aniversario and Persephone is in a spot she hasn’t been in before – but they’ll have the advantage of working on their match all week.

Zeuxis is the favorite to win the tournament final. Catalina defeating Zeuxis was a big surprise last year, and Persephone isn’t featured even as much as Catalina was at that point. I can’t rule out Persephone, CMLL’s really into giving wins to new people, but it would be a shock. I don’t get the sense that Toni Storm is as big a deal to Mexican fans as past ex-WWE AEW people, and I’m not really sure what the outcome will be.

Match 4 is just a good match for the sake of a good match. Matches 2 and 3 will give some insight into how smoothly that Grand Prix is going to go. (A title change seems unlikely.) Ola Negra get another Friday night appearance in the opener, again a group of wrestlers likely to want to do a lot.

Toni Storm did the usual AEW guest star press conference on Thursday. I didn’t watch this one; I heard it had some streaming issues.

CMLL (MON) 10/21/2024 Arena Puebla
1) Blue Shark & Rey Samuray vs El Malayo & Siky Ozama
2) Pegasso, Rayo Metálico, Volcano vs Kráneo, Multy, Okumura
3) India Sioux vs Samantha Black [lightning]
4) Maligna, Metálica, Olympia, Tabata, Zeuxis vs Alex Windsor, Red Velvet, Sayaka Unagi, Sumika Yanagawa, Viva Van [cibernetico]
5) Místico, Stigma, Xelhua vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.

Xelhua gets his first main event. It may be a product of trying to squeeze him onto the show when there are few men booked – he’s definitely ahead of the three tecnicos in match 2 – but they could’ve also just booked someone else and they trust Xelhua in the spot. The Mexican side in the women’s cibernetico are women not in the Gran Prix and Zeuxis.

No Tuesday Guadalajara lineup yet. They have announced it’ll be just women’s matches, no men wrestling.

I’m now semi-obsessed with checking the graphic for all wrestlers on CMLL shows, checking to see if CMLL (or whoever runs the graphic department) has decided they’re actually CMLL wrestlers or not. I don’t know exactly what it means – is it an administrative thing? A union thing? – but it sure means something to someone. Candela, Hijo del Pantera, and El Elemental have all appeared in Mexico City with the generic “Luchador(a) Profesional” tag, so they’re not considered on the roster. While scanning through the Guadalajara show, I noticed Adira is listed as “Amazona del CMLL”, so she is part of the CMLL roster. Everyone else in her match was “luchadora professional.” Satanico is “luchador professional”, while the other people in his match were Luchador del CMLL. Lady Shadow is listed as Amazona del CMLL, and that one seems so surprising that I’d want to see it a second time, to be sure. (Especially because they also list Olympia as Lady Shadow.)

CMLL Informa announced some of the Dia del Muertos plans. The emphasis is every show that week will have both that theme and also a special match. The Monday and Tuesday shows have the qualifiers for the Rey del Inframundo, the Friday show has the final, Saturday will focus on historic rivalries, and Sunday will be all unmasked wrestlers wearing their masks for one last show.

The qualifiers for the Rey del Inframundo are city-centric. Puebla, Guadalajara, and Mexico City will determine a winner each, and they’ll join last year’s winner, Barbaro Cavernario, in a final on Friday.

• 10/28 Puebla qualifier: Arkalis, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Pegasso, Rey Samuray, Xelhua, Multy, Perverso
• 10/29 Guadalajara qualifier: Barboza, Malefico, Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Bestia Negra, Furia Negra, Arlequin, Gallero
• 10/29 Arena Mexico qualifier: Vegas, Crixus, Difunto, Espanto Jr., Villano III Jr., Magnus, Coyote, Zandokan Jr.

The Rey del Inframundo stuff started with the semi-main wrestlers, and now seems to be moving down a level. Whoever comes out of the Guadalajara branch is getting their biggest Friday night appearance of the year, and it may be the same with the Puebla branch.

All shows that week will stream on Fan Leyenda. If you’re willing to give CMLL money for streaming content right now, it probably should be Fan Leyenda or don’t bother. CMLL appears to moving the next two Friday shows to Fan Leyenda, and likely the 10/29 shows. Fan Leyenda will also get two bonus shows (10/28 Arena Puebla and 11/03 Arena Mexico.) The Guadalajara show is likely also to be behind the Fan Leyenda wall – and not posted for free – the next two weeks.

CMLL also announced that the annual minis cibernetico in honor of “people of lesser height” day on 10/27 will include, uh, every healthy mini. There are normally 16 of them, Minos is out, CMLL said it’d be a 16-person match anyway. I presume Rostro de Acero wrestles again to round out the match, but CMLL listed everyone besides him. The micros will also be in action on that show. This cibernetico is a Sunday show and is not normally streamed.

Mistico was on to talk about his trip to Japan. He was announced as in the Leyenda de Azul – it’s something he hasn’t won, but that’s also because it’s been meant for the bigger weight classes in recent years. Julio Cesar Rivera did mention the hair/mask challenge with Hiromu, and Mistico quickly blew it off while focusing on other things. The idea that Hiromu and Mistico are having a hair versus mask match in 11 months is not a real thing at this point.

Sanely is this week’s guest on CMLL Informa.

AAA

I caught up with Heroes Inmortales. I guess that’s a good thing? It’s a good thing in that I can sit around and do anything else Friday before CMLL starts and I’ll probably enjoy that more than I will enjoy AAA Heroes Inmortales.

The overarching story to this episode is that the Eye team and Latin Lover are both trying to recruit people to their sides. It’s totally unclear what they hope to accomplish in doing this, just like it’s totally unclear what the Eye team is trying to accomplish. (JBL almost gets to it but he gets cut off.) Konnan and Alberto try and fail to recruit El Fiscal. Latin Lover tries and fails to recruit Flammer. Vampiro, a whole bunch of prelim wrestlers, and Negro Casas & Mecha Wolf (since they were in the next match) end up standing with Latin Lover at some point. The Eye Team just sort of wanders away. JBL was there and part of the segment to say some racist stuff for heat, most of which Jose Manuel Guillen was taking out or softening when he was translating it to Spanish. It’s still not clear what JBL is contributing in the racism department that Konnan can’t provide himself, though they did tease a Latin Lover/JBL match this time. It’s probably not happening.

A weird bit in that segment was Pagano’s music playing, then Konnan revealing he had set it up as a prank, Pagano wasn’t there to back Latin Lover up. Psycho Clown’s music played, and Konnan revealed it was the same bit done twice. The big reveal was Vampiro’s music playing and him being there, but he was the center of the show advertisement, of course he was going to do. It did draw attention to Psycho and Pagnao not being at this taping (they worked a lightly attended Arena Neza show) and not being on a lot of AAA tapings this year. The lack of star power on the AAA roster was showcased in the Copa Antonio Pena, stocked with people who are seldom on TV: Mini Vikingo, Black Andromeda, Money Machine, and Brazo de Oro Jr., among them. When Pierroth Jr. (just introduced on the last taping) and Panic Clown (the least important member of the Psycho Circus) are the bigger names, it looks like a promotion in trouble. Chik Tormenta won because AAA had an angle in mind, but there also were many other choices – maybe it would’ve been a present for Dalys otherwise. I think there’s potential in these prelim wrestlers, and I can work out how they ended up with a battle royal with just prelim people – some people in Japan, some people not brought from Japan, and the Retro guys seemingly dropped after TripleMania – but it looked like a sad state of affairs to a regular viewer.

The casual crowd who goes to those big Guadalajara shows seemed to have little awareness of the Chik Tormenta/Latin Lover social media controversy. They tried to play it up big on TV with multiple Chik Tormenta promos. It’s also a classic modern AAA angle where there’s no discernible payoff to any of it.

Laredo Kid tried as hard as you’d expect out of him in the main event, with an Alberto who is still looking for every shortcut he can to get through these matches. This time, it included Mesias coming out and seemingly interfering in half the match. It’s tough to get a good match out of either immobile Mesias or generally washed Alberto in 2024, and it’s a credit to Laredo that he was having a good one with both of them at the same time for a while there. The in-ring bit with the Eye guys and the rest got great heat for the racism and profanity, but it didn’t translate to the match. AAA’s hard camera shot right at the stage, and that stage was looking barren during that main event (even as the rest of the arena was fine.) The Vampiro match was either the last thing they needed to see, the show was too long, or they didn’t care much about who the mega-champion was. This match also played off a weird pattern for the night: apparently, fouls are legal, though everyone’s meant to be still using them to get heat. The mixed tag match (nothing special) ended with Crazy Steve fouling Abismo Negro before Havok chokslammed Steve on top of Abismo for the title switch. The trios match ended with Takuma fouling Epydemius and then doing a top rope poison rana for the win. Laredo fouled Alberto – in front of the referee, just like the other two – but he was unable to get the win. They may have meant to do more post-match, but the earlier in-ring promo went very long. So did the Copa Antonio Pena; AAA has never figured out how to time those out.

The Tokyo Bad Boys vs Dinamico, Hamburguesa, Epydemius trios match was a good match, uninterrupted every 20 seconds for a lumberjack strap bit. The lumberjacks walked to the back in the last two minutes for no reason other than pro wrestling being fake and AAA being the fakest pro wrestling possible, the lumberjacks left so the guys could do spots to the outside again. Vampiro was the usual Vampiro match and the usual retirement speech. The Riddle/Fiscal match seemed to be worked at a slow speed to accommodate Fiscal’s level, but he still gassed and blew spots near the end. It didn’t seem like these fans had any particular who Riddle was – or Havok or Steve were either. They all won their title matches, then disappeared in to the background as Fiscal and Abismo fought. AAA is all in on that feud.

AAA on TV this weekend

• Space: Monterrey part 1
• Unimas: Monterrey part 2
  • Charro Negro, Drago, Dianamico, Redimido, Toscano in a five way
  • Los Vipers versus Psycho Circus
  • Hijo del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Octagon Jr. versus Belcegor, Emperador Azteca, and Taurus
• YouTube: Guerra de Titanes part 2

I was critical of AAA and Unimas’ work at promoting their weekly show earlier this week. AAA people – Alberto, Octagon,  Dorian, Roberto – are in Miami today to appear on Unimas and Univison shows to promote their shows. That’s great. The issue is not fixed by one day of publicity. It’s fixed by promoting the show every week, and there’s no immediate sign that’s changed. AAA could’ve been pushing “Hijo del Vikingo returns to US TV this Saturday on Unimas” all week in a myriad of ways, and the most they’ll end up doing is a still photo.

TNA officially announced Hijo del Vikingo versus Mike Bailey for the TNA X Division championship on their 10/25 Bound for Glory show. There’s a very good chance Vikingo will win that title; he doesn’t lose often when AAA sends him places.

IWRG

IWRG , LLB (THU) 10/17/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, thecubsfan]
1) Ángel Kid & Titanium b Fobia & Haku 
2) Argus, Máscara De Hierro, Súper Boy b Águila Dorada, Argus Fly, Gaius 
3) Lunatik Fly b Águila Roja, Skayler, Príncipe Centauro, Diablo Fly, El Cometa, Sol, Águila Oriental 
4) Black Terry, Carta Brava Jr., Fandango b Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano García 
5) Hell Boy DDQ Tonalli, Aquiles, Puma de Oro, Lunatik Extreme, Toto 
Hell Boy unmasked Tonalli, Tonalli fouled Hell Boy
6) Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo De Silver King, Simon Blanco b Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. 

Looks like it drew well, as typical. IWRG managed to give results of about four of these matches, though didn’t explain the changes in at least of them.

IWRG (SUN) 10/20/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Felino Boy vs Legado
2) Águila Oriental & Vudu Max vs Drakula Ng & Príncipe Centauro
3) Multifacético & Shamila vs Demonio & Puma de Oro
4) Noisy Boy & Tornado vs Águila Roja & Látigo
5) Aquiles, Luka, Veneno vs Abigor, Cerebro Negro, Vengador [super libre]
6) Hijo de Canis Lupus, Hijo De Silver King, Máscara Sagrada vs Ayden Cristiano, Toxin, Vangellys

Ayden Cristiano is Houston-based.

Other News

Open the Voice Gate had me on to talk about Gran Hamada’s career in Mexico and case for the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. I think that his importance to the UWA, especially the early years, as well as his long run of quality wrestling, merits his inclusion. Even if you’re not interested, you should click the link for a great run of Hamada matches. The 12/16/96 5v5 was my favorite; some of the earlier matches are technically proficient, and that match was where the feud felt like it had shifted into a more heated personal fight. The tight room, the weird green walls and the loud crowd made that one specifically feel more like a very long lunch room brawl.

Rob appeared on the Flagship Patreon’s discussion of WON HOF candidates from Mexico. It’s behind a paywall but, if you pay up, you’ll be able to hear the same very detailed pro-Volador Jr. takes I’ve had to hear for the last 12 months.

(I think I’m going Gran Hamada, Sangre Chicana, Huracan Ramirez and Mascarita Sagrada but I haven’t sent it in yet and I can be moved more than in past years.)

Karis La Momia confirmed he’ll continue wrestling, just under a new name. Record had reported the opposite. There are about two days left for QueMoniito to reach a settlement with if Record is going to be correct on that story.

The viral video of the week is entrance music gone wrong.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 10/14/2024 Arena Puebla [CMLL, DeporPuebla, Mano a Mano, Porra Fresa]
1) Astro & Meyer b Multy & Prayer
2) Skadi b Hera [lightning]
8:21.
3) Pegasso, Rey Samuray, Stigma b Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star 
rematch of last week’s tie
4) La Catalina, Samantha Black, Tessa Blanchard b Persephone, Reyna Isis, Sanely 
scheduled debut of Costa Rica’s Samantha Black
5) Neón b Stuka Jr.
Stuka got DQed in fall 1, won fall 2, and Neon won fall 3.
6) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Soberano Jr. b Esfinge, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

CMLL ran a private show on Monday to promote the upcoming Venom movie. Volador has dressed up as Venom roughly 400 times, and this time he got to do it as an official sponsorship. He wrestled Hechicero. Sony put out some mock movie posters. Star Tom Hardy showed up to do interviews later, wearing a CMLL shirt.

CMLL (TUE) 10/15/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
1) Angelito & Kaligua b Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito
9:29
2) Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Hijo del Pantera b Disturbio, Hunter, Infarto
14:11.
3) Crixus, El Elemental, Okumura b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
12:50
4) Sanely b Reyna Isis [lightning]
8:29
5) Samantha Black, Tessa Blanchard, Zeuxis b Dark Silueta, India Sioux, Princesa Sugehit [Relevos Increíbles]
17:11.
6) Máscara Dorada, Templario, Titán b Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible
14:44. Mascara Dorada replaced Volador Tuesday afternoon.

A mostly uninteresting show. It picked up a little in the main event but even that wasn’t as good as you’d think with those names. Match four had a classic “ref stops at 2 thinking it’s a near fall but it’s actually the finish” moment. Match 5 had Dark Silueta and Tessa Blanchard on two different books for the finish. Elemental looked fine in his debut and mentioned he’d been training with Tony Salazar in his promo.

CMLL (TUE) 10/15/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Fuego en el Ring, Mas Lucha Jr.]
1) Eclipse Jr., Shezmu, Temerario b Fúnebre, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Exterminador, Kráneo, Maléfico b Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno, Volcano
3) Adira, Alondra, Emperatriz b Miss Guerrera, Nexy, Quetzal
Adira replaced Lady Shadow (moved up) on Tuesday.
4) Hera & Olympia b Lady Shadow & Skadi
Scheduled as MEX WOMEN TAG defense, Lady Shadow replaced Kira (shoulder) on Tuesday morning.
4) Atlantis & Blue Panther DQ Felino & Satánico
Satanico unmasked Atlantis
6) Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero b Averno & Euforia

Mascara Dorada & Titan will be on opposite sides of a trios match at NJPW’s Royal Quest this Sunday. Dorada teams with TMDK’s Ryohei Oiwa and Robbie Eagles against LIJ’s Naito, Hirmou, and Titan. This show will stream live in English on RevPro’s service and in Japanese on NJPW’s service. (I definitely know the name “Royal Quest” and surely haven’t been calling it “Royal Road” previously.)

A fake graphic for a Mascara Dorada/Konosuke Takeshita match on Dynamite is floating around on Twitter. It is a fake, the person who put it out said it was a joke that they didn’t think it would get picked up on. I almost got worked by this morning; I didn’t see it listed on Twitter, so I looked around AEW’s Instagram and TikTok to find an announcement.  (There wasn’t one because it’s a fake match, but that’s why you should go through the bother of looking for the origin of these things instead of just believing whatever you see on Twitter.) As far as I know, Dorada still hasn’t gotten his US work visa. For that reason, Dorada being on Dynamite would’ve been news beyond of the match, but it doesn’t look like it’s happening yet.

Capitan Suicida will team with Tiger Mask IV in the NJPW Super Junior Tag League. They’re unlikely to do well in the tournament, but Suicida should have fun in that environment, as it’s a big trip for him. His schedule

• 10/24: vs BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
• 10/27: vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SHO
• 10/28: vs Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney
• 10/30: vs Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita
• 11/01: vs Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Dia

The tour runs from 10/24 to 11/02, and Suicida will probably hang around for the 11/04 Power Struggle show. No Titan this year – the LIJ team will be Hiromu and BUSHI –  so only one CMLL participant among the twenty-four wrestlers (unless someone else unexpectedly turns out to be Taiji Ishimori’s yet-to-be-announced partner.)

CMLL (SAT) 10/19/2024 Arena Coliseo
1) Astral & Astro Boy Jr. vs Grako & Sangre Imperial
2) Rayo Metálico, Stigma, Xelhua vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
3) Villano III Jr. vs Zandokan Jr. [lightning]
4) Dark Silueta, Lluvia, Zeuxis vs Sayaka Unagi, Sumika Yanagawa, Viva Van
5) India Sioux, Princesa Sugehit, Tessa Blanchard vs Alex Windsor, La Catalina, Red Velvet
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., Esfinge, Místico vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Difunto, Terrible

CMLL’s full on Grand Prix preview matches for the next six days. Match 3 is a battle between partners who will happily fight each other anyway. Match 2 is the first appearance of Rayo Metalico since his title win; a lot of the match 1/2 types are getting most of this month off as a result of the increased number of women’s matches. Metalico & Xelhua might be official Fuerza Poblana after that match.

CMLL (SUN) 10/20/2024 Arena México
1) Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio [lightning]
2) Brillante Jr. & Dark Panther vs Cancerbero & Virus
3) Amapola, Dark Silueta, Princesa Sugehit vs Samantha Black, Sayaka Unagi, Sumika Yanagawa
4) Fugaz, Star Black, Star Jr. vs Akuma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II
5) India Sioux, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard vs Alex Windsor, Red Velvet, Viva Van
6) Atlantis Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Flip Gordon vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente

The main event on both Saturday and Sunday is listed as a normal match, not an incredible partners match, so Dragon Rojo will probably “officially” join the tecnico side in the next couple of days. Dragon Rojo Jr. for Guerrero Maya Jr., I think the rudo side won that trade.

CMLL posted a teaser for another announcement Tuesday night. They haven’t officially announced the Royal Quest participation, so it might just be that.

No Informa list as of yet. Many of the foreign wrestlers are in town, so that might be the bulk of the show.

11/09 MLW

• Titan vs Mistico vs Averno
• Esfinge & Kevin Knight vs Ultimo Guerrero & Hechicero
• Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., and Star Jr. vs Barbaro Cavernario, Felino & Magnus

They’re only missing matches for Okumura, Lluvia, and Persephone.

Persephone is on the cover of Box y Lucha 3625.

La Jarochita is hinting at a return in November. I neglected to mention it last week.

A story profiling a Guatemalan referee because he’ll be working a CMLL-staffed show in Chiapas.

AAA

I still haven’t gotten to watching AAA. I’ve been busy coughing up stuff. As much as I’m down on AAA in 2024, I would rather watch them than continue coughing up stuff.

SoloWrestling reports the 11/30 Barcelona show has been canceled. Tickets are still on sale but Live Nation sources (via a report by Pere Hernandez) say the show is off. SoloWrestling expects the other two announced dates (11/21 in Madrid and 11/22 in Bilbao) to be canceled shortly.

No one is all that surprised if these shows are canceled, it sadly always seemed a matter of when we’d hear this announcement. This is AAA’s brand: promise a big new idea, show little effort in accomplishing the idea, and then quietly pretend you never said anything when the idea isn’t immediately a success. It’s this tour to Spain, it’s Unimas, it’s Luchatitlan, it’s half the stuff they put on TV. This deal probably won’t hurt AAA as much, they probably passed most of the risks and costs so far to whoever was promoting in Spain, and they’re just out the money they would’ve made off sending the wrestlers over. (The wrestlers, who thought they were getting a great trip to Spain, might hold a bigger emotional cost from this experience, but at least this appears to be getting canceled early enough to find other work.) There was no chance on paper that “AAA running a series of shows in giant venues in Spain, despite having no real TV or interest in the market” was ever going to work, people in AAA had to know that, and they still ran with the idea instead.Are they just delusional? Are they trying to work some investors by pushing themselves as international? I don’t get it.

El Fiscal underwent (I think) nose surgery. AAA ran an angle where Abismo Negro Jr. broke Fiscal’s nose in a fight to set it up.

Latin Lover had Puerquiza Extrema on his podcast, which is a good deal for them and worrying sign he’s already running out of guests. (I think he had a hypnotist on last week.) As always, the guests said they’d like to help Latin Lover out in AAA and he said he’d go to AAA to talk about it with management. Isn’t he feuding with management? Ah, no matter.

IWRG

Thursday’s show was announced previously and is another Lucha Libre Boom card.

IWRG , LLB (THU) 10/17/2024 Arena Naucalpan
1) Ángel Kid vs Titanium, Fobi
2) Argus, Máscara De Hierro, Súper Boy vs Águila Dorada, Argus Fly, Gaius
3) Águila Roja vs Skayler, Príncipe Centauro, Diablo Fly, El Cometa, Lunatik Fly, Sol, Águila Oriental
4) Gallego, Rocky Santana, Romano García vs Black Terry, Carta Brava Jr., Fandango
5) Hell Boy & Tonalli vs Aquiles & Puma de Oro and Lunatik Extreme & Toto
6) Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. vs Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo De Silver King, Simon Blanco

This is titled Last Dance – like the Venom movie – but I’m fairly certain this will not be the last Wagner/Park match.

Other Notes

Tinibelas’ FULL promotion announced they’d be going to Dubai from 11/02 to 11/09. Wrestlers announced include Lady Apache, Pirata Morgan, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Lolita, Huracan Ramirez Jr. and a new Tinibelas 3G.

Pantera Jr. won the Michinoku Pro Fukumen World League. It sounds like he’s sticking around with Michinoku Pro for a bit.

Box y Lucha Norte says Arena Monterrey was 80% full for the Santo show.  They out drew both CMLL and AAA if accurate.

Club Lucha has a new edition of their podcast.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/11/2024 Arena México [CMLL, El Grafico, Esquina Caliente, Excelsior, Fuego en el Ring, Kaiser Sports, Telediario, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Crixus, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Okumura b El Audaz, Rey Cometa, Volcano  
10:00. Rey Cometa (returning from injury) replaced Hijo del Pantera on Monday night.
2) Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider DQ Barboza, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.  
11:49. Straight falls, pirates getting DQed for excessive violence in the second.
3) Dark Silueta & Zeuxis b La Catalina & Samantha Black   
13:41. Replaces scheduled Toni Storm/La Catalina match. Mexico debut of Costa Rica’s Samantha Black.
4) Volador Jr. b Hechicero   
10:57. Hechicero tried tossing his mask to Volador to draw the DQ again, but Volador avoided the mask (and Edgar caught it), then Volador cradled Hechicero to win.
5) Persephone b Tessa Blanchard, Lluvia, Sanely, Reina Isis, Skadi, Kira, Tabata, Valkiria, Hera [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, semifinal]   
31:03. Order of elimination: Valkyria (via Kira, 12:28), Tabata (Skadi, 14:11), Hera (Isis, 19:12), Kira (Sanely, 20:48), Skadi (Lluvia, 21:46), Sanely (Persephone, 22:30), Isis (Blanchard, 23:16), Blanchard (26:43, Lluvia), Lluvia (31:01, Persephone) leading Persephone as the winner.

The sequence of thought in those last few eliminations

• “nice vote of confidence for Persephone to make it this long”
• “oh, I guess Tessa’s going to beat three people straight to win, they’re really going with her”
• “huh, Tessa’s out, they must be doing Lluvia/Zeuxis, weird that Persephone is still here”
• “wait, Persephone won?!?!”

I never believed Persephone was winning that match until the moment she won it. It’s not a wrong decision; it’s an interesting and good call to go so strong with someone so new. The good/bad portion is just totally overwhelmed by the shocking result. CMLL picking one of Kira, Skadi, Olympia, or Hera to go to the final would’ve been a surprise but fit along with how they’ve been focused on stronger in the last six months. Persephone had a well-received lighting match with Blanchard a couple of months ago and has been a solid part of trios matches, but there was no sense she was going to the final of a tournament any time soon. Persephone is also a ruda, which made it unlikely she’d face fellow ruda Zeuxis in the final by CMLL’s typical booking practices. This match isn’t going to draw but it is a surprising investment in a new name.

Persephone’s teamed a bit with Zeuxis since Stephanie Vaquer’s left, but played down that relationship in a post match promo. Persephone’s big line was that she’s the future of CMLL, and the future is now.

Volador/Hechicero was fun but not their best work. Samantha Black is as green as should be expected from someone who works only a dozen times a year in Costa Rica. They still got the crowd into the end of that match. Match two seemed to be pointing toward a Zandokan/Espanto Jr. feud, but Zandokan’s not on Fridays the next two weeks. It is that point of the calendar where something gets set up for 01/01.

CMLL (SAT) 10/12/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Galaxy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito b Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora, Rostro De Acero
9:12. Galaxy replaced Fantasy
2) El Coyote, Nitro, Pólvora b Diamond, Eléctrico, Robin
16:07.
3) Kira, Skadi, Tabata b Candela, Maligna, Metálica
15:31. Tabata & Kira replaced Dulce Tormenta & Jazmin Allure on Tuesday. Kira left the match early with a shoulder injury (and missed her match the next day.)
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. © b Xelhua [MEX MIDDLE]
14:44. 5th defense. Maya refused to shake hands with Xelhua post match, declared he was joining the rudo side, and that he’d destroy Fuerza Poblana.
5) India Sioux, Princesa Sugehit, Tessa Blanchard b Dark Silueta, Persephone, Zeuxis
14:25
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Soberano Jr., Terrible b Dragón Rojo Jr., Flip Gordon, Máscara Dorada [Relevos Increíbles]
11:45. Straight falls, Cavernario using the ropes to beat Dragon Rojo – Dragon Rojo wants a singles match.

The Guerrero Maya story is interesting. Maya sees Xelhua as a young guy getting too much hype and appears to be jealous of that attention. Earlier in the week, Xelhua mentioned he’d be interested in joining Fuerza Poblana if offered a spot, and Guerrero Maya Jr. (on Instagram) threatened to leave that group if they brought in someone who didn’t earn it. He said he would consider it a betrayal for Fuerza Poblana to add Xelhua. Pegasso and Stigma both left comments saying the group is a family, they’ve always welcomed any Puebla wrestler with sufficient ability because the strength of the group has been that unity, and that group existed before Maya came aboard. Jumping back to Saturday, Maya refused to shake hands with Xelhua post-match, declared the match showed the difference between someone giving a lot of cheers and someone actually good, and declared he’d now be the #1 rudo. He also vowed to destroy Fuerza Poblana for not standing with him, then attacked Xelhua. Fuerza Poblana members Stigma and Arkalis responded Sunday, saying Maya was the one who wanted to leave, Fuerza Poblana would be stronger together, and they’d welcome Xelhua to the group if he wanted to join. I suspect there’s a lot of energy from the wrestlers themselves into this angle – building an issue up through Instagram posts is novel for CMLL – but new rudo Maya running his way through the Fuerza Poblana guys would be fun.

The match itself was pretty strong, too. They wrestled as a totally technical match, in classic title match fashion. They played off the story in the build-up: Xelhua demonstrated a lot of new holds but couldn’t always get them locked in, and Maya went back to an old standard (la suastica) to defeat him. I think it’s a match that’ll will be interesting even outside the feud.

Roster de Acero is Pequeno Polvora’s brother and that seems to be the main reason he’s in the mini division. He’s taller than all the other minis (and the minis who are no longer minis.) CMLL’s graphics listed Rostro de Acero as “Luchador Profesional”, rather than the normal “Luchador del CMLL.” I guess he’s not meant actually to be on the roster. Looking back, CMLL did the same for the four women in the indie women’s match and continues to do so for Candela.

Nitro did a promo celebrating reaching 40 years of wrestling while insisting he’s got a lot left in him.

CMLL (SUN) 10/13/2024 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito b Angelito & Pequeño Magía
2) Arkalis & Stigma b Disturbio & Pólvora
3) India Sioux, Náutica, Skadi b Amapola, La Maligna, Olympia
4) Hijo del Villano III, Star Black, Villano III Jr. b Akuma, Fugaz, Magia Blanca [Relevos Increíbles]
5) La Catalina, Princesa Sugehit, Tabata b Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis, Sanely
Tabata replaced Kira (on Sunday), but got hurt during the match
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. b Flip Gordon, Templario, Volador Jr.

Villanos seemed in full Villano mode on match 4.

Mistico lost to Hiromu Takahashi in NJPW. That was always the most logical outcome – Mistico wins in Mexico, Hiromu wins in Japan – but it was fun to imagine something more. Speaking of having fun imagining something that is not going to happen, Mistico and Hiromu made challenges for a mask versus hair match to the main event of the CMLL Aniversario show. That’s not going to happen.

CMLL (TUE) 10/15/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito & Kaligua vs Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito
2) Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Hijo del Pantera vs Disturbio, Hunter, Infarto
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Crixus, El Elemental, Okumura
4) Sanely vs Reyna Isis [lightning]
5) Samantha Black, Tessa Blanchard, Zeuxis vs Dark Silueta, India Sioux, Princesa Sugehit [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Templario, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible

Elemental, a former Big Lucha wrestler who’s wrestled about once a month in Guadalajara this year, makes his Arena Mexico debut. He usually teams with Yutani, who isn’t here (yet?) and either Dark Magic or Okumura. Sanely/Isis is a rematch of the recent title change.

CMLL (FRI) 10/18/2024 Arena México
1) Futuro, Max Star, Pelon Encapuchado vs Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider
2) Amapola, Metálica, Olympia, Sanely vs Alex Windsor, Red Velvet, Samantha Black, Viva Van
3) Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard vs Sayaka Unagi & Sumika Yanagawa © [CMLL WOMEN TAG]
4) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Neón vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
5) Zeuxis vs Persephone [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, final]
6) Toni Storm vs La Catalina

CMLL was unspecific when it came to when the Storm/Catalina match would take place, which makes it a bit of surprise it is just getting pushed back a week. Seems like they would’ve had that figured already. There’s going to be some CMLL fan discontent about the tournament final being semi-main to an AEW wrestler coming in, again. I see it a bit more palatable than the Aniversario decision: Persephone is not as big a star as anyone in that four-way match, and it’s not a mask match. On the other hand, Toni Storm isn’t as big a deal as Chris Jericho; it didn’t seem like she was any special draw when she was advertised last week. This might be one where it can be better explained once we know the result: if Catalina is beating Toni Storm, yea, might as well make it the main event. If Toni Storm is winning, that’s not going to go over great as a main event.

All the Grand Prix participants start with this show, except for Willow Nightingale. The Japanese duo get a tag title match, the rest are in an atomicos. Match four should be a good match for those who aren’t interested in the women.

Octagon says he has no plans to retire; he says everyone thinks he’s older than he actually is. (He’s 62.)

Felino’s asked about the same thing and answers about the same way. He does mention his initial mask was hard to see out of, which must’ve lead to the change.

Los Hermanos Calaveras, Trono, and Optiums made an appearance at Opening Day for the Charros de Jalisco baseball team.

AAA

Last week, I missed AAA because my grey market feed didn’t work. This week, I missed AAA because my gray market TV service expired and I didn’t realize it. I could’ve watched AAA on Unimas, but that show aired 2.5 hours early because Unimas was airing an MLB playoff game. (Some online listings had the change, but my DVR didn’t get it.) I should be able to get the Tuesday repeat on UTDN, and AAA did post the first part of Heroes Inmortales on Sunday night, so I plan to try to catch up through those the next couple of days

Neither AAA nor Unimas publicized the time change of their show. This is unsurprising on AAA’s part, as they do little to promote their TV shows on all their networks outside a generic social media post or two, and I usually pick up on a time change before they do. This inaction makes no sense to me – AAA’s big hope has been to do well enough on Unimas to get promoted to Univision and earn real money, so they should be incentivized to do as much as possible to make that Unimas show successful. AAA, instead, seems to do as little as it can get away with. I don’t know if that means they’ve already given up or they just don’t understand what’s required of them.

The other half of this issue Unimas also does as little as possible to promote AAA or seemingly keep them in the loop. It would’ve been simple for Unimas to give AAA a heads up on a possible time change – “if this series goes five games, you’re going to be moved to a different time” in enough time for AAA to promote the change. Either Unimas didn’t bother, or AAA didn’t pass that message along to their viewers. It’s no different from when Unimas moved the permanent start time up an hour, or when TUDN moved the repeat of the episodes. If you’ve been around long enough, it’s no different from the various time changes and even promotional changes Galavision used to do when it aired CMLL and AAA. The circumstances were the same there: AAA had great hopes of getting on Univision, and the network had treated them like filler programming. It’s not a bad relationship, more a disinterested one – like they’ve got one person behind them to get them on there, but the rest of the network doesn’t care all that much. We still don’t know the number of viewers watching those AAA shows, but this could be another sign – if AAA was doing strong numbers, Unimas would be making a better effort.

To get back to something you can actually use; next Saturday would have at most one MLB playoff game, it’d be a night game, so AAA will (probably) be back on it’s normal time.

AAA put up a video with CIMA talking about wanting to run a TripleMania in Japan. AAA ran TripleMania 8 in Korakuen Hall, at a point in their history where they were struggling to draw in Mexico City and happily took a deal to put the show elsewhere. It drew a reported 1,700 fans, something like 16% of the numbers AAA claims today. AAA’s different now, running multiple TripleManias a year, and they could certainly add a TripleMania Tokyo to the group if GLEAT wants to pay for it. The risk of AAA stretching the name of TripleMania too far and ruining the value has already passed; AAA’s fans already know the only ‘real’ TripleMania is the one in Mexico City.

AAA also put up a promo with JBL

Pagano hypes up an upcoming spot show match with Chessman.

Todo x el Todo

Sunday’s stop in Arena Monterrey looks to be the best drawing show of the run. I know there was a late-minute special discount and other things were probably going on. Still, there were way more people in that building than when CMLL and Alto Voltaje ran that building two weeks prior. The bulk of the show was a tag team tournament, unsurprisingly won by Hijo del Santo and Santo Jr. They defeated the Bobby Lees, Dralistico & Bestia del Ring (by DQ) and Dr. Wagner Jr. and Silver King Jr. to win.

Mas Lucha streamed the 10/06 Leon show on 10/13 for members. I expect they’ll do the same with the Arena Monterrey show, though it may not be for a couple of weeks; the Torneo Suprema takes priority this weekend. The Mexico-based Todo x el Todo tour is off until 11/09 (the Puebla show with no lineup announced); the next Santo show will be the London shows on 11/01 and 11/02.

Other Notes

Medico Asesino Jr. will take over as Tijuana commissioner, with a term running until 2027. I’m uncertain how that’ll affect those recent street fight related suspensions. A Medico Asesino has been working EMW shows.

Violent People has a recap of the best lucha matches of July.

Coloso Colosetti is said to be in a bad health situation.

A story on a teacher using a luchador outfit in school.

Noro writes about Rubi Gardenia.

CMLL

Tonight’s lineup, which changed Thursday:

CMLL (FRI) 10/11/2024 Arena México
1) El Audaz, Rey Cometa, Volcano vs Crixus, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Okumura
Rey Cometa (returning from injury) replaced Hijo del Pantera on Monday night.
2) Dark Magic, Espanto Jr., Raider vs Barboza, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
3) Dark Silueta & Zeuxis vs La Catalina & Samantha Black
replaces scheduled Toni Storm/La Catalina match
4) Volador Jr. vs Hechicero
5) Tessa Blanchard vs Lluvia, Sanely, Reina Isis, Skadi, Kira, Tabata, Valkiria, Hera, Persephone [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, semifinal]

Toni Storm is off the show. CMLL Informa explained she was in doubt to make the show due to Hurricane Milton. She’d already had multiple flights canceled but would try again on Thursday. Both Tampa and Orlando’s airports remained closed Thursday, so it just wasn’t going to happen. CMLL sent out a press release Thursday afternoon officially confirming Storm off the show, and promising that the match would be rescheduled for a future date. CMLL should get credit for being upfront about this situation with the fans and media.

Samantha Black was already in Mexico – she appeared on Informa – so CMLL will do a Grand Prix preview tag match as a replacement. She’s going to be an interesting one to be on a Friday night following last week’s struggles. Costa Rica Embassay is about a once a month promotion and she’s the least experience person in the tournament.

Volador and Hechicero should be good, though they’ve never really had a great match with each other. Maybe the main event will be better than last week. I still suspect Blanchard is winning.

CMLL (TUE) 10/15/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Eclipse Jr., Shezmu, Temerario vs Fúnebre, Mortis, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Exterminador, Kráneo, Maléfico vs Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno, Volcano
3) Alondra, Emperatriz, Lady Shadow vs Miss Guerrera, Nexy, Quetzal
4) Kira & Skadi © vs Hera & Olympia [MEX WOMEN TAG]
3rd defense (all against Hera & Olympia)
5) Atlantis & Blue Panther vs Felino & Satánico
6) Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero vs Averno & Euforia

Kira & Skadi should defend against someone else at some point but this match will probably still be good.

CMLL announced the full lineup for the Gran Prix

CMLL (FRI) 10/25/2024 Arena México
1) Dulce Gardenia vs Difunto [lightning]
2) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Magnus & Rugido
non-title match
3) Averno © vs Zandokan Jr. [CMLL LH]
2nd defense
4) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Templario vs Cavernario, Euforia, Soberano Jr.
5) Amapola, Dark Silueta, Hera, Kira, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis, Sanely, Skadi, Zeuxis vs Alex Windsor, La Catalina, Persephone, Red Velvet, Samantha Black, Sumika Yanagawa, Tessa Blanchard, Unagi Sayaki, Viva Van, Willow Nightingale [Grand Prix de Amazonas]

Nothing huge supports the main event, but everything should be fun. Difunto’s on the rise of late. Match #2 is made up of two efficient and well-coordinated teams. March 4 could be great. Averno and Zandokan had a good match back in Coliseo in August, with Averno out rudo-ing fellow rudo Zandokan. That’s sort of what I expect here.

Informa also had Guerrero Maya and Dragon Rojo Jr. on in separate segments. Maya was insistent he wasn’t turning rudo while everything else he said to Xelhua was rudo-tinged. Julio Cesar Rivera asked if Xelhua wanted to join Fuerza Poblana; Guerrero Maya Jr. later declared he’d quit the group if they ever added Xelhua. (Stigma replied on Instagram, pointing out Maya is the one causing problems and Fuerza Poblana existed before he came aboard.) Maya doesn’t think Xelhua has earned what he’s been given so far. Dragon Rojo felt Los Barbaros fell apart after the trios title loss and wasn’t sure if he’d end up being tecnico or rudo.

Amapola said this Grand Prix may be her last or second to last because she feels her retirement is soon. My guess is it’ll probably take some injuries for her to make the field next year. I still think Olympia should be in the match and Marcela probably is in this if she’s healthy (though who knows how that’ll go.) Luchadors aren’t really good at sticking to retirement ideas.

Tessa Blanchard says she wasn’t sure how well she’d be liked turning tecnica and feels the fans have totally embraced her. She says speaks Spanish well enough that she gets mistaken as latina on the street.

Lluvia and Tabata are on the CMLL podcast this week.

Stuka Jr. attacked Neon during a post match promo in Puebla on Monday.

MLW announced Titan vs Mistico vs Averno for the MLW Middleweight Championship for their 11/03 show. It’s more possible there’s a title change if they can do a finish without Mistico getting pinned, though my guess it is more about MLW already running Averno/Mistico twice and wanting to do something else.

Hechicero is among those announced for NJPW Strong’s 12/15 show in Long Beach.

AEW

Fox Sports Mexico announced they’d air AEW, starting with this Saturday’s WrestleDream show airing on Fox Sports Premium. The subsequent PPVs will also air on that added-cost service. Fox Sports Mexico will also air Dynamite, Collision and Rampage at some point. No start dates are listed on the press release, but there’s a graphic floating around that indicates they’ll start on TV on Monday. (An AEW source also indicated they were hoping to start on Monday.) The shows are airing on Fox Sports 2 and Fox Sports 3. Dynamite and Rampage look to be airing live, Collision on a three hour delay. I’m told this deal covers Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay.

AEW will eventually take WWE’s place on the station. WWE programming in Mexico will move to Netflix starting on January 1st, and Fox Sports Mexico is bringing AEW on board as replacement wrestling content. I was amazed that WWE didn’t have some exclusivity deal on the network; both AEW and WWE programming will air on the network for the next three months. Fox Sports Mexico produces a WWE recap show called Saturday Night Slam, and that’ll flip to being “All Elite Show” with this new deal; that’ll start airing this Monday following WWE RAW. AEW’s been hoping WWE going to Netflix would lead to international channels looking to AEW to fill that gap, and that seems to be exactly what’s happened in this case.

Fox Sports Mexico seems a stronger outlet than Space, which carries AAA and carried AEW for a time. (It’s definitely stronger than VIX, Televisa’s attempt at creating a streaming network that’s never really taken.) Fox Sports Mexico doesn’t have as strong sports content as they did when WWE first came aboard, but they do have some stuff that’ll still draw eyeballs, and Space is 95% reruns of old movies. AAA’s deal with Azteca has downgraded from an afternoon over-the-air slot to a late night over-the-air slot to back being in the afternoon but on a digital subchannel. AAA is also on less visible channels like ClaroTV and Multimedios. AEW and AAA are at least in each other’s neighborhood and I’d need a better understanding of those digital channels to really tell which one more people do watch. CMLL would still have a lot more exposure than both; they remain on a traditional over-the-air next work. Anyone with a TV can watch CMLL’s Televisa show. Anyone with a TV can watch AAA’s show, but it’s on a channel that may take some work to find. Mexican fans still need a cable (or equivalent) subscription to watch AEW.

This seems like slightly good news for CMLL, whose fans may be more interested in and knowledgeable about AEW wrestlers when they come in. It’s also obviously good news for AEW, which gets visibility in Mexico and some more revenue. An AEW show in Mexico is now a possibility.

AAA

AAA announced the lineup for Guerra de Titanes.

AAA (SUN) 11/10/2024 Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
***Guerra de Titanes, 2024***
1) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
2) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
3) El Fiscal & Reina Dorada vs Crazzy Steve & Havok
4) Mecha Wolf, Pagano, Vampiro Canadiense vs Abismo Negro, Psicosis, Taurus
5) Dinámico, Drago, Laredo Kid vs Kento, Nobu San, Takuma
6) Octagón Jr. © vs El Mesías [AAA LA]
7) Hijo Del Vikingo vs El Patrón Alberto [AAA MEGA]

The main event looks like Patron getting past Vikingo on the way to the seemingly inevitable Latin Lover match. (Dorian Roldan and Latin Lover will be the seconds.) A brawl in Monterrey set up Mesias and Octagon. Pagano wrestled in the Vampiro TripleMania “match”, but hasn’t had a real match on TV since August and is still dealing with shoulder injuries. He’s also just never going to miss a big Juarez show. TNA never seemed to acknowledge Havok and Steve winning the AAA titles and neither has worked there since May, but they’re still RT-ing TNA content. I still don’t know the story there.

AAA previously announced a Mexico City TV taping on 10/26. They usually announce tapings in order, so I’m unsure if something’s changed. I’ll figure this back out when I watch the TV.

AAA TV this weekend

• Space will have the preliminary matches from Heroes Inmortales
• Unimas will have part 1 of the Monterrey TV taping, which hasn’t aired in Mexico Yet
• YouTube will have the top matches from Heroes Inmortales

I liked Wednesday’s Hologram/Komander match from AEW’s Dynamite show. An amusing subplot was Jeff Jarrett, on commentary for the week, losing his mind whenever they didn’t go for a pinfall after a big move. Jarrett has a very traditional, back-to-basics approach to pro wrestling, and his brain must explode every time he comes to AAA.

Lady Shani announced she had her son on Monday.

Dave the Clown teased he’d be the new Parka and then chided people for believing he’d be the new Parka.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 10/10/2024 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Águila Oriental & Black Dragón Jr. b Arceus & Legado  
2) Multifacético, Shamila, Tornado b Argus, Datura, Fandango  
3) Vangellys b Príncipe Centauro  
4) Rock Power b Spider Fly, Noisy Boy  
Rock Power is apparently unsuspended three shows early.
5) Águila Roja & Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Hell Boy & Hijo de Canis Lupus  

Misc

The Quien Mato a Shocker documentary premiers this weekend. El Planchitas talked with the film’s director, Alejandro Carper, who described it as a film school project that turned into something more. He was a fan of Shocker growing up, saw him featured in the Lucha Mexico documentary, and Shocker wasn’t very honest about what was really going on with him at first. The original plan was the story was just going to be out his jaw injury – how it happened, getting the surgery to fix it, and betting his hair against Diamante Azul’s mask for revenge. It turned it into a more personal relationship, Carper being on of the last people sticking with Shocker as he sunk deeper and deeper into his addiction. Carper says he tried to keep the truth of the situation in there; he didn’t want it to be the type of the biography where all the bad things are cut out or ignored. Shocker is still in rehab in Culician and Carper feels this documentary isn’t really successful until Shocker gets a chance to see it.

Daniel Aceves has a column in Excelsior asking for a national wrestling commission. He’s got about as much chance of getting it to happen as anyone, but people have been asking for a national commission since the 1950s. Aceves makes the case the regulations already allow for one (and os it just needs to be funded.)

ESTO has a big interview with Fresero Jr.

Tu Plan de Juego has a profile of Veracruz luchador Jack Lee, grandson of Tirantes and nephew of Hijo del Tirantes.