Mexico City will remain in the orange health code for the upcoming week.
CMLL returning iPPV
CMLL will return to live iPPVs on March 26th with Copa Junior VIP, as announced Wednesday on CMLL Informa. More details will be announced on next week’s show. The show will air on Ticketmaster, though no info isn’t up yet. That info has tended to be revealed the first Monday of the month, so maybe nothing on that until 03/01.
CMLL originally planned to run Copa Junior VIP as a Christmas Day PPV, including the titular tournament, a Volador/Bandido title match, and a Guerreros/NGD title match. That was canceled due to the red health code and CMLL has not run a live wrestling show since. CMLL did not immediately say they’d run the same lineup. I’m not sure when ROH Is taping, but that seems like the only obstacle to just running it back.
March is typically the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show. CMLL hasn’t run one of those shows since 2019; last year’s show was the first major CMLL postponed, with the idea the Barbaro Cavernario versus Felino hair match would be run once Mexico returned to normal. Normalcy still seems far away, but perhaps CMLL is planning on saving this year’s Homenaje a Dos Leyendas until they can have fans in the building as well.
CMLL has been boring for months; I struggled to find three matches even worth checking out this year so far. (Not three good matches, three matches that at least had the chance to be good.) CMLL appears to have weeks of matches still yet to air but were back at it taping new matches this week. Those matches may not air for months, or ever, but it seems immaterial. Everyone on the wrestling side seems to be getting paid if and only if there are matches being filmed, so they’ve resumed – good matches or bad, needed or needed, that stuff isn’t important to the people making the decisions and isn’t going to be addressed. The iPPVs have tended to be slightly better than the rest, but it’s hard to have much hope or interest in the rest of CMLL right now.
Konnan health situation
Konnan was hospitalized due to COVID-19, but is likely back home by the time you read this. Wrestling Observer Newsletter says Konnan told them his kidneys were failing after a tough week with the disease. It sounds like he’s going to be OK. Konnan was present at the Tlaxcala AAA TV tapings two weekends ago; he’d rarely been in person at AAA since the start of the pandemic.
AAA wrestlers taking outside bookings
Many AAA luchadors announced this week that they’re open for outside bookings, and to contact them directly. Super Fly, Texano, Murder Clown, and Pagano were some I saw earlier this week, and many more have added their names. All are insistent this does not mean they’re leaving AAA. It doesn’t seem to indicate any change in status in the promotion itself. AAA generally does not allow contracted wrestlers to take matches without going through the office and has discouraged luchadors from taking outside matches during the pandemic. (Texano notable got pulled from an early DTU show, with Ultimo Guerrero getting the spot instead.) This seems more likely to be an AAA policy change rather than wrestlers doing it on their own; we wouldn’t be seeing so many people go for it at once.
It’s less clear that there are a lot of bookings to be had. There are wrestling promotions taping quietly (or had taped quietly already this week), though those are mostly the groups who were ignoring health rules already. There’s hasn’t been a sudden influx of new shows with restrictions being lifted as of yet. US bookings may also be hard to come by. There may ultimately be problems when AAA starts to return to normal schedule while their wrestlers have committed to their own dates. For now, though, any additional work is probably a big help. It’s been close to a year of not much work.
While I’m talking about AAA: The WON also mentions AAA’s plan is still for Lio Rush to come to Mexico and defend the cruiserweight championship at some point. Laredo Kid having the belt isn’t some sort of angle, just usual wrestling carelessness. Lio Rush recently appeared at a NJPW virtual autograph signing with Rocky Romero, where Romero explained to Rush that CMLL & AAA are rivals, CMLL & NJPW are still close, and so Rush’s AAA title will not be appearing in NJPW.
upcoming TV/Streaming Notes
CMLL shows this weekend:
AMX Friday (Google Drive Fridays)
- Aereo vs Pequeno Olimpico
- Starman, Stigma vs Disturbio, Coyote
- Atlantis & Flyer (c) vs Raziel & Cancerbero for the CMLL Tag Team Championship
MVS Saturday (Google Drive Sundays)
- Sangre Imperial vs Hijo del Signo
- Blue Panther & Kraneo vs Shocker & Rey Bucanero
- Star Jr. vs Felino
Televisa (Saturday, YouTube next Sunday)
- Oro Jr. vs Akuma
- Super Astro, Sonic vs Grako, Nitro
- Rey Cometa vs Raziel
- Valiente, Titan, Stuka Jr. vs Negro Casas, Forastero, Templario
YouTube (Sunday)
- Robin & Retro vs Disturbio & Hijo del Signo
- La Jarochita & La Magnifica vs Amapola & Stephanie Vaquer
- Rey Cometa & Espiritu Negro vs Felino & Rey Bucanero
- Valiente vs Euforia
If you click those Twitter links, you may notice a lot of new handles for CMLL luchadors. It appears those who weren’t already on social media have recently been encouraged to create Twitter and Instagram accounts.
AAA on Space has Tlaxcala episode 2
- Mr. Iguana & Nino Hamburgesa vs Latigo & Arez
- Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus vs Octagon Jr. & Murder Clown
- Poder del Norte vs Pagano, Vikingo, Laredo Kid
I’m not sure what AAA will have on YouTube; we’ll get a better sense of how far behind it is on Space this week. The first Tlaxcala episode debuts on Azteca late Saturday night.
AAA should have three complete episodes from Tlaxcala, two complete episodes from Tlaxco, and a sixth episode combining leftovers from both locations. (That’s when the advertised but skipped Aramis/Latigo/Arez match could air.) That means AAA can go as far as March 19th airing new material at the current pace. They’ll either need to be taping that weekend or going back to older material.
Kenny King & Dragon Lee vs the Briscoes (where the winner will get a tag title shot the following week) and Mexisquad defending the ROH Trios Championship against Shane Taylor Enterprises will air this weekend on Ring of Honor TV. The episode goes up on their website Monday.
Rey Horus reappears on NJPW Strong tonight, teaming with Barrett Brown & the DKC vs Rocky Romero, Misterioso, and Adrian Quest. Misterioso and Horus are distant gimmick cousins (though Rey Misterio Sr.) so it’s a bit interesting to see them on opposite sides of a match. The luchadb has records of them teaming a handful of teams between 2013 to 2016, but never facing each other.
GALLI has Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus versus Gringo Loco & Taurus on Sunday, streaming on their website. The full show is listed as starting at 6:15 pm.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will be back running another empty arena show on 02/23. These are all local talent (and Satanico.) Their first show was explicitly a charity show; this just seems like something running on Facebook for their own purposes. The previous show ended with Satanico winning via foul on Fugaz, they’re back together here, so they probably were planning all along on doing a run of shows and maybe have a direction.
Indy Army Wrestling says their most recent show goes up on Mas Luchas on 02/28. Their lineup seems to have changed a bunch (original lineup), though credit them for announcing the changes. Latigo versus Jimmy remains the main event. The women’s match with Baby Love was pulled from the show. She hasn’t talked publically yet, but appears to be on a break from wrestling.
03/07 Lucha Memes at Coliseo Coacalco (“Coacalco Forever”)
- Avisman vs Perro de Guerra Jr., no rope breaks match
- Astrolux vs Skayler, win by using a Canadian Destroyer
- Alas de Acero & Iron Kid vs Aero Panther & Fight Panther
- Jimmy vs Ricky Marvin – new
The donadora campaign has nine days left and is around 50% of their goal. My understand is they’ll get the money even if they don’t get to 100%. Coliseo Coacalco is also pushing a surprise that you have to call about; seems more likely to be a secret show than a pony.
Lucha Libre Vanguardia next show still has no date. They’re still pushing “contact on us for Whatsapp for ticket info”, so it hasn’t been taped yet though maybe it’s happening this weekend and won’t stream for a few more weeks.
Other News
Jalisco luchador Demonio Blanco (Manuel Lopez Coronado, 76) passed away Thursday due to COVID. He was a Diablo Velasco trainee who started as Angel Blanco prior to the famous one, then changed it to Demonio because the other one was much more famous. He won the Occidente Tag Championship with Pantera Azul in 1974, likely defeated Manuel Robles for his hair in Arena Coliseo in 1976, and then lost his mask to Mano Negra as the main event of a sold-out December 1976 Arena Mexico show. The name disappears from results after 1978; Box Y Lucha says he was one of the Robot C3 and Fantomas.
Ciudad Juarez luchador Bestia Nazi (Juan Gonzalez) passed away.
Dr. Wagner Jr. says he’s planning on a 35th Anniversary tour, starting on April 7th if the pandemic allows it. He wants to face all of his old opponents, which sounds like he’s expecting to be an independent wrestler (though Atlantis’ name comes up as well.) Old luchadors love to talk about retirement tours. They’re dependent on promoters putting on these shows, which hasn’t worked for those old luchadors. This is more an announcement of being open for business.
BolaVIP interviews ex-CMLL referee Rafael el Maya about his YouTube channel; the shorter version is he’s not a tech guy and doesn’t understand it, but is pleased that everyone seems to like it. It’s not a shoot discussion; BolaVIP recaps a discussion about Universo’s mask loss where Maya is insistent the planned finish was not a plan.
Dalys says she was always a natural ruda and always wanted to be a luchador, but her father wouldn’t let her. She says becoming a mother at the age of 15 made her tough enough to handle lucha libre.
Atlantis Jr. says he trained for ten years before becoming a luchador. It seems much more recent than that when he first mentioned as having interest, but perhaps he first took a class ten years ago and it wasn’t consecutive.
The head of Mexico State boxing and lucha libre commission said there are more than 500 shows in Mexico State per year on a panel discussion. 500 shows a year would mean about 10 a week; there were more than 10 a day most Sundays. The luchadb has 370 shows in 2020, and 824 shows in 2018, the busiest in the nation.
The Michoacan women’s champion, Nexy, says women’s wrestling is not strong in her state. She only know of two other luchadoras. Other women trained with her but were run out of wrestling either because they got hurt and decided not to continue, or because male luchadors told them they had no place in the ring, discouraged them from continuing.
Lucha libre in Guayama hasn’t restarted, with the luchadors and promoters complaining the commission is asking for too high prices on promotion licenses.
Facebook page Solo Lucha, which knows Juarez wrestling as well as anyone, says there are plans to reopen Ciudad Juarez soon.