A new regulation appears to allow lucha libre shows at 30% capacity in Mexico State. Mexico City announced a plan to allow museums and theatres to open at 30% capacity last week. Mexico City and the surrounding Mexico State have attempted to keep their health regulations consistent. It was no surprise when Mexico State announced similar rules in place. Their rules seem to go beyond those Mexico City regulations to allow “gyms, auditoriums, and places where sports or cultural activity are practiced” to also be opened at 30% capacity. The regulation limits activity to taking place between 6 am and 10 pm. All participants are required to follow health procedures determined by the local authorities; they’re not specified in the document.
“Gyms, auditoriums, and places where sports or cultural activity are practiced” appears to include “lucha libre arenas.” It may not have meant to do that, but that’s what is on the page. It’s enough that promotions are going with the belief they can start running immediately. The Mexico State Boxing and Lucha Libre commission has previously ruled no lucha libre event – with or without fans – could take place in the state. The Mexico State regulation was published Monday and the commission has made no statement on the issue Wednesday. They may still shut the idea of fans at shows down, but the plans for those shows are already in progress.
In no way has it suddenly gotten much safer to run a wrestling event in Mexico today than it was last week. It is probably less safe in many parts of Mexico State. It also seems unlikely most promotions will be strictly limiting capacity or adhering to health procedures. There are many lucha libre buildings without clean or functioning washrooms, so expecting they’re all going to suddenly care about health conditions is unrealistic. Lucha libre shows have continued happening in the state* for the last few months even with the commission banning them. The commission is just as unlikely to be thorough with capping attendance or verifying health procedures except for the most high profile shows. This responsibility will end up with whatever local authorities want to get involved and will be enforced differently in different towns. I don’t expect much out of the promoters; all the announcements of shows so far have been completely focused on “we’re finally going to get to run!” and almost none on “here’s how we’re going to do it safely.” I’m not sure if they care or not, but they definitely don’t believe people who will be paying to watch care.
(* – Estrellas del Ring is posting a video of a secret show at the CAR The Crash tonight. La Tijera Lucha Libre posted a video of a secret show at the CAR The Crash earlier this week – and that was a different show. No idea how many shows have actually happened, but I would expect this facility to host a public show as soon as this weekend)
IWRG/Arena Naucalpan wasted no time in announcing their delayed Rey del Ring show would take place Sunday at 3:45 pm. Marco Moreno told Azteca they plan to have 30% attendance at the show. They’re also asking for donations; I’d assume no one is going to stop asking for donations as long as they’re still working.
IWRG (SUN) 08/23/2020 Arena Naucalpan
1) Chicanito vs Neza Kid
2) Puma de Oro vs Fly Star
3) Dragón Bane vs Lunatic Xtreme
4) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 [IWRG Rey del Ring, semifinal]
winner faces Shun Skywalker in final. Names not announced until day of show.
Tickets are 95/50 for kids. They appear to just be for the upper levels; IWRG is not allowing anyone on the floor.
AULL/Arena Lopez Mateos says they can’t run profitable shows with “stars” at 30% or even 50% of attendance. They’re instead planning on running a local luchadors show on Saturday, August 29, then will allow other promoters who previously had dates on the building to run their own shows. Legend has announced a show for Saturday, September 12, though haven’t specified a location yet. They had an AAA spot show booked for this arena back on 03/27. DTU & Lucha Libre Boom also had a show announced prior to the pandemic. DTU is busy with other ideas but LLB has indicated they’ll be running again soon. Lucha Memes announced a show for Arena Lopez Mateos during the pandemic and has been lately teasing a show.
CMLL is marketing their iPPVs are “if you are a true fan of lucha libre you will buy the show from the most important month of the year.” CMLL diehard fans do believe they’re the ones who truly understand lucha libre so it plays to the base well but they need more than the true fans of lucha libre to buy this. Maybe some match announcements would help.
Arena Puebla’s Benjamin Mar floated the idea of iPPVs if those in Arena Mexico are successful. They currently don’t have permission to run empty arena shows in Puebla. There’s a decent chance the era of a massive amount of free new weekly CMLL matches may already be over; it’s going to be hard to stop charging for these shows if they’re already getting money for them.
CMLL Informa will have Villano V, Rey Bucanero and Pequeno Olimpico and Pequeno Violencia on this week.
Lucha Libre Vanguardia will retry their drive-in show on August 29th. Location still publically unknown, but probably related to the Mexico State news. The previous show got shut down by the commission. There’s a winky emoji about getting permission to run. I honestly don’t know that means they’re really getting permission or they’re joking about running an outlaw show again.
Felino still wants his hair match with Barbaro Cavernario, is leaving it up to CMLL to decide when it happens. I think the match is unlikely to happen at Aniversario unless Ticketmaster proves to be extremely successful. Even 30% capacity isn’t going to generate the ticket revenue to make that hair loss worth it; we may not see a major apuesta match until arenas are allowed to have 100% capacity.
Dalys had no idea she was listed in the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women In Central America list until her sister told her. It doesn’t sound like they ever contacted her about it. She’s proud to be included and noticed in Panama, given lucha libre isn’t a big deal in her home country.
Planeta Wrestling lists the Arena Neza women’s match as Lolita & Diosa Quetzal beating Black Widow & Miss Delicious. La Tijera Lucha Libre also posted video of the match, so it wasn’t a singles match as ESTO had listed. La Tijera also posted video of luchadors getting COVID testing, which seems to include people who didn’t wrestle on the show.
Mas Lucha upped the price of its subscription plan for its premium service. You now subscribe directly through their YouTube channel for $7.99 USD. They’re advertising it as 149 pesos, which is more like $6.50 USD. This is replacing the 99 pesos option via canal.maslucha.com, though the video explainer mentions current subscribers will not have to pay more. The higher price is likely building in Google’s cut of the price. $8/month for the service Mas Lucha provides during regular times still seems like a fair deal, and switching to YouTube may alleviate some of the streaming and capacity issues from early shows.
Luchadors from Chinampalucha, who’ve been running unauthorized lucha libre shows with no COVID testing, will be part of a local health campaign for compliance with health measures. Maybe I’m just wrong about everything. I always think that but now more than ever. Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia main event the promotion’s next show, which doesn’t seem to have a date on the poster. The price is now 40 pesos, up from 30 previously.
ESPN has photos of many football-themed Aerostar masks. Aerostar tells Record (via Critero Hidalgo) he discovered lucha libre by seeing people practice while he was actually playing a soccer game. He gave up soccer for lucha libre. If only he had gotten to do a gimmick that combined those two passions.
Bandido, Flamita and Rey Horus may not be wrestling in Ring of Honor but they have new shirts. “Penguin” is not spelled correctly on this shirt but that makes it feel more Flamita.
Oaxaca’s Arena Pepe Cisneros is planning on an anniversary show including wrestlers from other local promotions for either 08/29 or 09/05, and are hoping to be able to have some fans in the building.
Torreon’s Arena Azteca is now the El Tirabuzon Car Wash, since car washes are legal and wrestling shows are not.
Ciudad Juarez announced Polo Guerra passed away.
Huracan Ramirez was a source of viral conversation on some social media because some thought it was a name for a current hurricane.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
Lineups
DTU (SUN) 08/30/2020 Pachuca, Hidalgo
1) Crazy Boy vs Blaze
2) Aero Panther, Dragón Suicida, Príncipe Aero vs Dariux, Meta Tiger, Samuray Jr.
3) Kaleth vs Yoshioka, Baby Extreme, Kevin, Hormiga, Fly Warrior
4) Black Fire, Paranoiko, Pesadilla vs Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico Jr., Brazo De Oro Jr.
5) Avorto vs Corsario Negro Jr., Chaneke, Hijo De Dr. Pólux Jr., Sick Boy
6) Shun Skywalker & Último Guerrero vs Audaz (CMLL) & Camuflaje
The full lineup for the next iPPV, 50 pesos in advance and 70 pesos day of the show. The semi-main is a no-ring match so expect weirdness in their bar set for this show. The mystery of the DTU title seems to be put off for another day. Crazy Boy in the opener seems odd. DTU’s made a point of saying this show will not be up for free later on; I’d presume all Mas Lucha produced iPPVs will be on Mas Lucha’s subscription service and not for free going forward.
ANLPL (SUN) 09/06/2020 Distrito Federal
1) Hijo de Máscara Sagrada vs Hijo del Fishman
2) Solar I vs Satánico
3) Súper Astro vs Pirata Morgan
4) Octagón vs Fuerza Guerrera
5) Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs Canek
That main event will not get its due as the likely worst match of the year because it is happening on a 112 pesos iPPV and no one will see it. Everyone who still sees these guys as people worth paying to see are too old to understand how to buy a streaming show over the internet.
The real belief of wrestling expounded here is no one actually cares about the quality of wrestling matches, they just care about the brand identities the wrestlers represent. That’s why the “young” wrestlers are gimmicks from this time period too, why people are encouraged to become the third different Mascara 2000 Junior. It’s a depressing concept – that lucha libre froze in time three decades ago and no one who tries to come along since means a thing – and I’m not even sure it’s a profitable concept.