CMLL (FRI) 12/28/2018 Arena México [Claro, CMLL, ESTO, Lucha Central, Ovaciones, The Gladiatores]
1) El Coyote & Grako b Arkalis & Oro Jr. 
2) Estrellita, Lluvia, Marcela b Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany
3) Audaz, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Kawato, Okumura, Vangellys
4) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Titán DQ Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Terrible
straight falls, weird finish
5) Dragón Lee, Místico, Volador Jr. b Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
6) Penta 0M DQ Carístico
Caristico tossed his mask to Penta.
Arena Mexico drew an unexpectedly large crowd for this show. I guess there was more juice left in Pentagon versus Caristico than I thought (or maybe they would’ve sold out the place if they had done it sooner.) CMLL’s largest crowds have been on special occasions and big matches between CMLL wrestlers and outsiders. They haven’t done these crowd with CMLL versus CMLL matches on normal shows.
CMLL (SAT) 12/29/2018 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Apocalipsis & Cholo b Bengala & Sonic
rudos took 1/3.
2) Angelito, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Disturbio, Pólvora, Universo 2000 Jr. b Black Panther, Pegasso, Rey Cometa
rudos took 1/3.
4) Metálica b Princesa Sugehit © [MEX WOMEN]
Surprise title switch, with Metalica taking falls 2/3 to become the 20th modern champion. Princesa Sugehit falls on her 6th defense. Metalica wins the title in her first ever title shot.
5) La Bestia Del Ring, Máscara Año 2000, Shocker b Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Volcano
rudos took 1/3.
6) Carístico, Titán, Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
Caristico replaced Dragon Lee mid-week. Titan replaced Diamante Azul. Tecnicos took 2/3, the last by DQ when UG fouled Caristico. Money thrown in.
CMLL posted a video of an ecstatic Metalica with her new belt, in the aftermath of the biggest win of her career by a fair margin. Metalica winning is a shock in a division that could use a shock. We have Metalica as 24 on the luchawiki, and I’m not sure when the last time a Mexican woman that young has won the title. (Zeuxis is close, but a couple years older.) I need more time to do research because the answer at the moment seems to be “never”. Metalica was one of the better indie luchadoras when she was mainly competing outside of CMLL and has seemed one of the better young luchadors but hasn’t had a great or really notable match. If they were going to make someone, Metalica makes as much sense as anyone, but we’re not going to know if this is going to work for a while. Then again, recycling the same people in the same positions sure wasn’t working.
CMLL (SUN) 12/30/2018 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Leono & Robin b Inquisidor & Príncipe Odín Jr.
tecnicos took 2/3.
2) La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica b La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Maligna
Rudas took 1/3.
3) Nitro, Sangre Azteca, Virus b Black Panther, Drone, Magnus
Nitro replaced Sagrado. Rudo stook 2/3.
4) Titán b Felino [lightning]
Titan beat Felino with a casita
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Atlantis, Shocker, Valiente
Rudos took 1/3, Shocker replaced Diamante Azul but didn’t really want to be a tecnico and betrayed his team.
6) Carístico, Místico, Volador Jr. DQ Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero
Caristico replaced Dragon Lee on Wednesday. Tecnicos took 2/3. UG unmasked Caristico to end the main event in a DQ for two straight nights.
Diamante Azul seems to have vanished (gone to France?) without CMLL being aware. That makes for some replacements for the last two nights. It also makes for a serious problem for Tuesday, where Diamante Azul is scheduled to challenge Terrible for the Mexican National Heavyweight championship. It’s going to be tough to send a sub when there are two other shows going on. I suspect local Furia Roja will get the shot instead.
I think they’re doing better building up Caristico/Ultimo Guerrero than the apuesta match, but they have much better material to work with.
CMLL Guadalajara did not post results tonight, but +Lucha mentioned Smaker lost his mask to Gran Kenut. Smaker is Alejandro Ramos Garcia, 27, 13 years a wrestler. Difunto helped Kenut won the match. Smaker made TV a handful of times in 2014/2015 when the 52MX Guerreros del Ring was showing Guadalajara matches.
Sofia Alonso has a five-minute recap of the year in CMLL that’s pretty complete. I think I saw people upset Okada & Naito appearing didn’t get a mention, but not much else was. (There is a noticeable edit when it appears Alonso is about to talk about the Anniversario match early on.) I’m just impressed someone in some sort of ownership role in CMLL seems aware of everything that happened in CMLL this year, which seems so much different than the previous years.
CMLL also has text look backs at July, August, and September.
La Parka’s column in Record says AAA is deciding between three matches for the main event of TripleMania. That’s a remarkable change from this year’s TripleMania ending with AAA stating LA Park vs Dr. Wagner would definitely headline the 2019 TripleMania. I’m not sure the other possibilities would be any more aesthetically pleasing: Wagner/Blue Demon and Konnan/Vampiro loom as possibilities.
Diaro Basta talks to the people in the CMLL New Year’s Day Apuesta match. Signo & Yago are under the belief that a win would launch them to “luchas estelares”. I believe they are mistaken.
Laredo Kid will replace Flamita on the 01/18 PWG show. Flamita is still on the New Year’s Day MexaWrestling show. Caristico sent in a promo to assure that he will also still be on the show even though he’s main eventing Arena Mexico at a show starting a half hour earlier. MexaWrestling says that show will feature a surprise debut and a farewell.
Violento Jack says he’s planning on staying in Japan “indefinitely”, or at least thru December 2019. Jack points out that an independent wrestler in Mexico has to deal with promoters not paying what they promised, events being canceled at the last moment and poor hotel stays, and he had not had those issues wrestling in Japan. Violento Jack was recently included in the top 10 of the ShuPro Wrestling Gran Prix fan voting for the best foreigner, the only Mexican wrestler to be included.
LuchaWorld has the latest news update, including an update on Tinieblas and Garza.
Lineups
CMLL (FRI) 01/04/2019 Arena México
1) Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Gran Guerrero, Templario
2) Titán vs Tritón [lightning]
3) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
4) La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible vs Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo
5) Dragón Lee vs Cavernario
6) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.[MEX TRIOS]
7th defense
This is not the best of the previous year card CMLL’s done in this spot the last few years. It’s a good substitute, with an unexpected but likely strong main event and a really great semi-main. Youth are getting a spot at top and some of the familiar names are working the midcard spots instead. The first two matches probably won’t be worked like the normal first couple of matches.
There are no hints of anything special for the 01/06 Sunday show, which is strange. Maybe a surprise is coming.