Dragon Lee picks up another title, Tirantes pulls another Tirantes, NGD still tag champs

CMLL (TUE) 03/19/2019 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Lucha Central, Notimex, Ovaciones, The Gladiatores]
1) Angelito & Fantasy b Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico 
tecnicos took 2/3
2) Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Nitro b Magnus, Robin, Star Black 
Rudos took 1/3 on a messed up finish.
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr. b Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Tiger 
Tecnicos took 1/3. Tirantes counted Misterioso down on a pinfall where he kicked out.
4) Hechicero, Kawato San, La Bestia Del Ring b Blue Panther, Kráneo, Volcano 
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Atlantis, Místico, Valiente b Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Templario 
Tecnicos took 2/3.
6) Dragón Lee b Mephisto © [CMLL WELTER] 
Dragon Lee took falls 2/3 to win, becomes the 33rd Welterweight Champion and 2nd person to hold both the Welterweight and Lightweight title (Mascara Dorada.) Mephisto falls on his 14th defense

The main event was good if maybe not great; there’s a limitation of what Mephisto can do at this point, though he did come up with a valagueza GTS out of nowhere. Mephisto is much better than his usual teammates at this point and still one of the better older guys, but he’s also 50 years old and showing it at times. Mephisto has been a singles champion four different times. I expect he’ll keep being used a title challenger but it would be a bad sign for CMLL if he’s a singles champion again.

Dragon Lee talks about his big win. Well, maybe to too big – he told the press the belt he really cares about is the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. The belt I slightly care about is the lightweight title and there’s no word of that being vacated. Dorada held both for a while (mostly so they could have the photo of him with four belts.)

The third match was ended early when Tirantes counted Misterioso down when he had clearly kicked out at a point where the match does not usually finish. It appeared to me Tirantes had just decided he was finished with the match, not that it was bad or that someone was hurt, but he just felt he was done with it. The incredulous reactions of the announcers was amusing – I need to isolate the “TIRANTES NO!” audio for future use – but someone in the production area has smartened up to a degree. They still showed the replay of the messed up count, but they avoided showing the ring after the finish and stuck to crowd shots, likely to hide whatever argument the wrestlers were having with Tirantes at that moment. You can tell how tight Tirantes is with the people who actually matter since someone less politically connected would’ve/should’ve been fired so many times by now. This is what having no consequences looks like.

CMLL (TUE) 03/19/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL]
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas 2019, Salvador Lutteroth & Americo Rocca
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Fantástico, Tigre Blanco b Carlo Roggi, Mr. Trueno, Ráfaga
tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Gran Kenut, Guerrero de la Muerte, Maléfico b Black Sugar, Explosivo, Joker
Malefico cheated Explosivo.
3) Átomo, Gallito, Microman b Chamuel, Mije, Perico Zakarías
tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Flyer, Soberano Jr., Vaquero Jr. b Difunto, Ephesto, Luciferno
tecnicos took 1/3.
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Esfinge, Titán, Tritón [MEX TRIOS]
NGD took 2/3 to retain. 9th defense
6) Carístico b Cavernario
Cavernario lost fall 1 by DQ, won fall 2, and Caristico won fall 3 to win.

Americo Rocca spoke about being honored. The “rudo is DQ in the first fall for something dumb” is the official CMLL booking layout of rudos losing the big match.

CMLL Informa’s preview mentions Rey Bucanero will have an important announcement. I hope the announcement is he’s streaming his upcoming show. I don’t think that’s the announcement.

AAA’s recap of Rey de Reyes mentions Dr. Wagner Jr. responded to Blue Demon’s promo on Twitter, a thing I didn’t know happened and am not motivated to look up now. They also say that Cody promised more surprised for TripleMania, which I don’t remember actually happening but does indicate it is going to be a while before we see AEW in AAA again.

There’s a poster out for an AAA TV taping on 05/03 in Los Mochis. It is listed on AAA’s website. This was news to the local box y lucha commission, who says a boxing show has that date on that building and so there will be no AAA taping that day. The local commission can’t even figure out who the local promoter is to find out why they’re advertising that day. That’s part of a two taping weekend with Hermosillo, so AAA couldn’t easily be rescheduled.

+LuchaTV has an interview with Damian 666 & Bestia 666.

Latigo, hyping his match with Templario this weekend, says he’s come back from China more mature but with the same hopes and dreams.

Lucha World has the latest Lucha Report, with Garza Jr. messing with people about where he’s going. Garza Jr. was doing more of it today.

Lucha Central is running a tournament of luchadors.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 03/25/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Astro, Asturiano, Meyer vs Black Tiger, Fuerza Chicana, Policeman
2) Arkalis, Pantera Blanca, Súper Astro Jr. vs Gemelo Pantera I, Gemelo Pantera II, Hijo del Signo
3) Audaz, Drone, Stigma vs Misterioso Jr., Olímpico, Sagrado
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Valiente vs Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible
5) Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Main event is the rematch. It seemed like they were headed to a singles match for 04/01 but they can always change their minds.

Olimpico continues to exist. There must be dozens of guy in the CMLL gym plus opener guys like Coyote who are all apparently not trusted in that spot.

If Pantera Blanca sticks in the second, that would be another case of a father facing his sons (Gemelo Panteras.) The rule may not apply to guest wrestlers like them.