CMLL is planning on announcing the full Aniversario lineup this afternoon. CMLL’s website quietly lists it already. Here’s what we got.
CMLL (FRI) 09/25/2020 Arena México
CMLL 87th Aniversario
1) Chamuel © vs Microman [CMLL MICROS]
first defense since belt was decided
2) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero © vs Hechicero, Templario, Terrible [CMLL TRIOS]
fourth defense
3) Volador Jr. © vs El Bandido [NWA WELTER]
sixth defense
4) Marcela © vs Princesa Sugehit [CMLL WOMEN]
sixth defense
5) La Metálica © vs Lluvia [MEX WOMEN]
3rd defense, first since last year’s Aniversario
6) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus [MEX TRIOS]
15th defense (previous announced 15th defense was canceled)
7) Carístico & Místico © vs Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa [CMLL TAG]
second defense
The poll closed yesterday with no late surprises. The match order is determined by votes for each match. Mas Lucha noticed that the polling script CMLL lists the actual amount of votes for each option in each poll if you dig around in the code. These are the match totals they came up with (plus the Micros one that was missing)
- CMLL World Tag: 37,251
- Mexican Trios Title: 36,196
- Mexican Women’s Title: 36,581
- CMLL Women’s Title: 35,525
- NWA Welterweight Title: 35,037
- CMLL World Trios: 34,989
- CMLL Micros: 34,049
The order Mas Lucha has doesn’t quite match up with the votes they’re listing. The votes look correct. The main event is correct but some of the other matches move around. There’s something they’re doing I’m not understanding; I put it up there in the vote order. We’ll know for sure in a few hours anyway.
There wasn’t a whole lot of difference between each of the polls, just about 10% between highest and least. It’s close enough that just a slight push in a direction probably was enough to change order. There’s no obvious pattern. The first poll on the page finished second to last in votes. Some near the bottom were blows outs but so was the top one.
Maybe the pattern to notice is the matches CMLL absolutely wouldn’t book under normal circumstances are the ones who are on the top of the card. Espiritu Negro & Rey Cometa, Los Cancerberos, and Lluvia do not get these sort of title matches under normal circumstances and they’re the three top vote-getters.
Informa will talk to the challengers today.
Ke Monito has a new twitter account as @kemonito_cmll.
NJPW airing CMLL matches this week, which are either empty arena matches we haven’t seen or oddly photographed old matches. Those matches appear to be airing on TV in Japan, not on NJPW World.
Finn Balor says he’d like to see an NXT versus CMLL show. Finn Balor knows what to say to get his name in the paper.
Today is Mexican Independence Day. It’s normally one of the busier days of the year for lucha libre. It remains one of the busiest days in a while: twelve (advertised) shows is a lot by pandemic standards. It’s well down from usual: there were 33 shows last year, and 79 in 2018 when it lined up on a Sunday. Three shows stick out as notable:
- Lucha Memes & Lucha Libre Boom runs Double Power in Arena Lopez Mateos. Arez and Ricky Marvin meet in a cage match, with Arez still looking for that first win over Arez. Aramis meets Baby Extreme in a battle of two young flyers (though not actually a first-time match as advertised) and Freelance meets Miek Segura in a battle of two old flyers. This show is said to be going up at IWTV “in a few days.”
- CAR The Crash is advertising a Ricky Marvin vs Arez vs Skayde vs Latigo main event. I think this one might happen before the Lucha Memes show; it’s scheduled to start about a half-hour earlier and has fewer matches. Even in a pandemic, people are getting double-booked with shows which will be challenging to make. These shows (with no obvious promoter but probably run by Ancla) have been making YouTube lately.
- Arena Neza has a show listed on the poster as iPPV, but I don’t see any place to actually order it. The main matches have been put on YouTube a day or so later for free by approved bootleggers, reducing the reason to buy anyway. The main event has LA Park vs Dr. Wagner vs Black Taurus.
There are likely many more shows going, just not being advertised on social media to avoid being shut down.
Lucha Memes says they’ll announce their next card today. If you’re reading this, either it hasn’t happened yet or I forgot to delete this sentence. You’ll never know unless you read the whole post.
AAA posted a promo of CIMA challenging Fenix. Daga already challenged Fenix, so I think we’re just getting rudos cutting promos on various people that may not be all that meaningful but still fun.
A tribute to La Parka & Taboo was held in their hometown of Hermosillo.
EMW’s plans for running drive-in shows have been postponed, which means Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf may have jumped for no show, or maybe didn’t jump at all, or I don’t know.
It turns out the relaunch of the Turiluchas bus (where patrons end up in a brewery to watch the show) is the only themed Turibus running. That article about the business mentions they’re hoping to open up more bus routes by the end of the month.
El Sol de Tampico has an interview with Blackman III, who talks about wrestling in IWRG (under a different name?)
Xalapa luchador Barret passed away. He seems to have wrestled between 2013 and 2015.
Mas Lucha has a new edition of En+Carados.
Lineups
CMLL (FRI) 09/18/2020 Arena México
1) Diamond vs Súper Astro Jr.
2) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Amapola & Reyna Isis
3) Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa vs Hechicero & Mephisto
4) El Bandido, Místico, Valiente vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
5) Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero
This card isn’t going to excite anyone who isn’t already in for these shows. I don’t know that Bandido/Gran Guerrero would’ve been a better draw but it feels like it would’ve been a better idea to use Bandido as if he won’t be available again soon. They can run that Volador/Gran Guerrero match any time and it’ll mean the same. The fans in the poll seem to be high on Bandido and CMLL’s high enough to include him on every PPV, but they haven’t really utilized him more in any special way.
It’s strange because CMLL does seem to be going with the poll results in other ways. Rey Cometa & Espiritu Negro are probably going to get three wins in a row to set up the tag title match, which feels like the only match being built up and surely wouldn’t happen if they weren’t getting so many votes. Lluvia, who seems to stand as good a chance as anyone as winning a title on the Aniversario, is actually booked.
I like that Super Astro Jr. exists again.
IWRG (SUN) 09/20/2020 Arena Naucalpan
1) Legendario vs Atomic Star
2) Fulgor I vs Black Danger
3) Jessy Ventura & Pasion Kristal vs Hijo De Kahoz & Hijo Del Espectro [IWRG IC TAG, #1 Contenders, quarterfinal]
4) Dragón Bane vs Shun Skywalker
5) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Capo del Norte & Capo del Sur [IWRG IC TAG, #1 Contenders, quarterfinal]
6) Toxin © vs Puma de Oro [IWRG MEXICO]
first defense
Dragon Bane gets a chance to avenge his loss in the Rey del Ring tournament.