The 2020 Tapatia awards for excellence in the field of lucha libre remain open until at least 02/01. Maybe 02/02 if I’m tired on Sunday. These are very serious!
CMLL (MON) 01/27/2020 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Lucha Central, Tribua Noticias]
1) Black Tiger & Rey Apocalipsis b Asturiano & Rey Samuray 
Asturiano replaced Milenium. Rudos took 2/3.
2) La Comandante, La Infernal, Reyna Isis b Marcela, Mystique, Sanely
rudas took 1/3
3) Stigma b Kawato San [lightning]
4) Shocker, Templario, Vangellys b Audaz, Dulce Gardenia, Flyer
rudos took 2/3
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Carístico, Soberano Jr., Titán
rudos took 1/3, Sanson cheating to beat Caristico
The matches went longer to make up for not having as many of them. Matches going longer just fill time makes for worse action. A better solution would’ve been to have six more people on the card as usual. Hopefully everyone got paid more for doing more. (That probably didn’t happen.)
Today’s CMLL show has another NGD main event, this time with Atlantis, Carisitco and Soberano Junior. Blue Panther, who was given another sports awards (this time from Iztacalco) yesterday, teams with his sons versus Hechicero, Rey Bucanero and Terrible. Hechicero and Panther will probably do something weird. Diamond has a rare match without Espiritu Negro in the fourth match. Super Astro & Coyote meet in the lightning match. It is possible some of the undercard or other matches may change with the Nitro trainees around. The show will stream at 7:30 pm on CMLL YouTube.
Los Guerreros face Angel de Oro, Diamante Azul and Niebla Roja in Guadalajara.
AAA wrestlers on Impact tonight (7 pm CT on AXS, also streaming on Twitch)
- Daga & Dr. Wagner vs Reno Scum
- Josh Alexander vs Hijo del Vikingo
- Pagano & Murder Clown vs Dez & Wentz
Karis La Momia Jr. told the press at Sunday’s Arena Neza show that it is way too soon for him to start using the La Parka name and he’ll only do so when it becomes necessary.
I missed this, but Konnan did show up with Faccion Ingobernable on Saturday’s AAA show. It was just after the show, making a run-in with their post-match interview.
As has an interview with Laredo Kid about his time in Exatlon. The surprising part is he says he won’t be returning to AAA until March. That’ll be about a six-month break between matches. Laredo has a family that he’s been away from for 17 weeks, so he can’t really argue with him with wanting to spend the next five or so weeks with them.
Lucha Memes has started a YouTube channel and said they’d be posting matches once they get to 100 subscribers. They did reach 100, so Demus vs Neptuno from New Year’s Day is up. I’d go with a bigger name match but they’re Lucha Memes, Neptuno was basically a meme, it makes some sense.
Andrade (La Sombra) is suspended from WWE for 30 days for a Wellness Policy violation. Pro Wrestling Sheet reported the story first. Andrade was written off of TV last night.
Diosa Quetzal & La Baronessa talk about their paths to wrestling.
I neglected to write about the shows I went to last weekend. I went to both AAW and GALLI primarily to go see Aramis’ matches. The one on GALLI – I bootlegged it for YouTube – was the better of the two. The simplest way to get Aramis over to a new audience is to for him to show his most spectacular offense – the tope, the spinning torture powerbomb (la Desnucadora del Mosquetero) and the rope walk tope con giro. Aramis got in the rope walk dive in AAW and spent much of the match selling, which was to be expected with Juventud Guerrera as a partner. (Juventud took most of the spotlight in the match, but he talk up Aramis before and after it.) He got that dive and the powerbomb in the second match, which felt like a better showcase. Aramis did take the pinfall in both matches, which was more confusing with GALLI since it set up a return date for a title match. The GALLI people fans interested in seeing the match so it seems fine. I’m not sure if he impressed enough in AAW to for certain to get brought back (though it’s more likely if AAW & GALLI weekends lineup again), though the crowd did give him a nice reaction after the match. Really though, the indie/fringe AAA luchador who got over the most in front of US audiences this past weekend seemed to be Arez on the GCW PPV.
The Mexa Squad ROH trios title win is now free to watch on Fite.TV. Entrances starts around 28:23. That match was helped with strong reactions from Atlanta fans who seemed to be Mucha Lucha Atlanta. That promotion hasn’t run since October but announced a return soon. No date given, but they do mention they’re getting Rush, Dragon Lee, and Bandido for the show through Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor recently has allowed their wrestlers only to work in the US for them and PWG, but seems to be opening that up slightly.
02/22 The Crash
- Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf (c) vs Los Traumas for The Crash Tag Team championship in a cage match
- Mesias & Orcaulo vs Jack Evans & Angelico
- Terror Azteca (c) vs Baby Xtreme vs Dinamico for The Crash Cruiserweight Junior Championship
- Zarco, Starboy, Arandu vs Hijo de Octagon, Hijo de Mascara Sagrada, Brazo de Oro Jr. – new
- Bandido & Dragon Lee vs Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham – new
03/07 MexaWrestling in Monterrey’s Arena Femenil
There’s a lucha libre inspired art exhibit in Dallas for the next couple of weeks.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and this week’s Poster-Mania.
+LuchaTV has this week’s podcast.
Segunda Caida has made it to episode 4×19 of Lucha Underground.
Lineups
CMLL (SUN) 02/02/2020 Arena México
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pierrothito
2) Aaron Sykes, Remington, Retro vs Akuma, Jerome, Nitro
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. vs Misterioso, Pólvora, Tiger
4) El Audaz vs Vangellys [lightning]
5) Kráneo, Soberano Jr., Volcano vs Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Sansón
6) Ángel de Oro, Diamante Azul, Niebla Roja vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
Jerome appears to be Jerome Gryffen; I can’t find anything under that name. Remington is Ryan Remington. Aaron Sykes name is spelled correctly, and they’re all on the Arena Rey Bucanero card next Saturday. Maybe all the trainees are getting one match, which would leave two more spots to fill.
It’s no coincidence that La Sombra failed a drug test so close to the announcement of his engagement to Charlotte Flair.
When I heard La Sombra and Charlotte Flair got engaged, I thought, “They’re going to mess with him now”. But I thought it would be his push, not this.
She’s Charlotte!!! There are many reasons why many people would not want her to get married to La Sombra. WWE has long term plans for her and a babies most likely aren’t in those plans. If they fear motherhood will derail their plans, they’ll do whatever to keep things on track. Just my opinion.