AAA Cruiserweight Title mystery, IWRG Tryout, Vikingo/Arez in RIOT

This week’s AAA TV included a bit where Laredo Kid talked about being AAA Cruiserweight Champion, then was challenged by both Octagon Jr. and Aramis for a title match. Laredo agreed to face either of them, leaving it up to AAA to decide. It is a wrestling cliche that if two people ask for a title shot, it’ll inevitable be a ‘surprise’ three-way match (and indeed, a three-way match with those people appeared to be part of those tapings.) Laredo Kid, in another universe, lost the AAA Cruiserweight Championship to Lio Rush weeks ago on MLW TV in a match taped last year. It would be reasonable to suspect these are two different universes, only AAA Laredo Kid specifically mentioned defending the title recently against Zenshi from MLW. Laredo then lost the title two weeks later, so maybe we’re meant to believe the Tlaxco taping is happening in between those shows, or maybe they rightfully assume no AAA fan knows/cares what’s happening on MLW and so they can just resolve it on the next taping. Octagon/Aramis/Laredo should be great and I wish AAA didn’t choose to create a Cruiserweight Title Mystery to detract from their really good matches.

AAA’s YouTube posted a La Parka special on YouTube Sunday night, which means the first new episode of 2021 to go up won’t be until next week. That’s a change from previously announced plans. Again, because AAA’s YouTube is blocked outside of Mexico, the only people who have legitimate access to it have access to their TV shows as well, so fans could keep up quicker if they like. That still means five new 2021 AAA episodes will have aired on Space before any appear on YouTube. It’s not AAA’s biggest social media issue but it’s still a strange choice.

AAA’s show mentioned two weeks of TV in Tlaxco, which means both they’re leaving a few matches on the cutting room floor and new TV could start as soon as March 20th. That could get extended a week; I’m not sure that La Parka special has aired on TV.

Cineapolis used Psycho Clown, Lady Shani, and Chessman for an advertisement promoting its health safety measures. They’re also apparently airing TripleMania soon. TripleMania originally was scheduled to air on a few day delays on Cineapolis theatres back in December; that was right when the second shutdown started, so I’m not sure if it actually happened. It seems weird to air it months later after it’s aired on TV multiple times and is on YouTube, but there are also not many movies to actually show at theatres.

San Luis Potosi luchador Aster Boy won IWRG’s Tryout competition Sunday night. The prizes include a trip to Lucha Time and a five-year contract with IWRG; I would like to bet heavily against Aster Boy working IWRG matches in 2026. Still, any more attention is good for him – San Luis Potosi has an active lucha libre scene but there’s no real path from there to larger places like Mexico City or Monterrey. (Outside of Mil Mascaras family members, Lolita is the only person to come from SLP to the national scene I can recall in recent times.) Aster Boy had worked a Vanguardia show and a little elsewhere in the greater Mas Lucha bubble of promotions, but this is a big spotlight he wouldn’t have gotten without this reality show.

IWRG had fans back in Arena Naucalpan for this show. It seemed less than the amount they had previously, but it wasn’t immediately clear if that was a newly reduced “30%” capacity or if it was a result of not really announcing the re-opening much in time to get people to come. The Mas Lucha broadcast was promoting the previously postponed cage match show as coming soon (and still being a Mas Lucha premium show.)

(I watched the first three episodes of IWRG’s Tryout and skimmed the next three. It didn’t do much for me; it felt like we were seeing the same scenes being done with different people repetitively on long episodes. It felt like an indie take on Tough Enough, though maybe Mexican fans who didn’t see that show or didn’t hear in their own language might get more out of this version. There was so many random trainees present (usually with no names shown) that the only people getting over were the constants – the trainers and mean judge Eterno. That might have been the idea. There also seemed to be some audio issues on later episodes; I think that clears up by the final.)

Bandido versus Tracy Williams versus LSG will go up on ROH’s YouTube channel tomorrow at noon CT.

Tuesday’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara stream has the Fugaz versus Satanico match they’ve been building towards since the restart.

 

MLW announced Gringo Loco vs Gino for their show WednesdayMLW is also teasing Aerostar coming in. This fits with MLW telling the Wrestling Observer that they’d be bringing in other former Lucha Underground talent to build up the Azteca Underground idea, and I guess they can’t beat Laredo Kid every week. Putting an AAA gimmick on TV during the current legal issues seems risky. Maybe MLW has permission from Lucha Libre FMV, but it would seem like they wouldn’t be doing a knockoff version of Lucha Underground if they had a deal with the people who own the actual Lucha Underground. That lawsuit reaches four months of no new papers filed tomorrow, so I can’t be sure of what’s going on.

Undated IAW Show “El Club de La Lucha 2”

The Mas Army Cup appears to be two four-way matches and a final.

03/20 RIOT “COVIDIOTAS”

That should be a great show with just those two matches.

GALLI is bringing in Mesias & Taurus for a 03/20 show in Berwyn, and those two plus Mecha Wolf, Sam Adonis, and Vary Morales on 03/21 at their main arena.

Lucha Libre Vanguardia’s show is now up on Mas Lucha. Scanning quickly, I don’t see a tease for their next show; their Facebook page says they’ll be back in March, but no date yet.

24 Horas has an interview with CMLL’s La Vaquerita. She mentions she was an Olympic-style wrestler who didn’t know anything about lucha libre until happening to go to a show with women’s wrestling. She started training two weeks later and debuted in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara at the age of 16.

Hades told her followers on Instagram that she was considering opening an OnlyFans account, and asked her followers what they thought. Lucha Noticias reports that some responses were people very negative towards her for the idea. Hades responded and also clarified that she was planning on posting bikini photos and “exclusive/creative work”, not nudity.

In Record, Super Porky wants to clear up that he is not broke because of drug addictions or medical issues. He is in need of money – his children are helping support him economically and emotionally, and some sell his merchandise for him. He does need a prosthesis for a knee, hip, and shoulder which he can not afford (he says the price is “two million”) but Zacatecas Box y Lucha commission doctor Jorge Fernando sends him all his medication so he’s OK. Super Porky is broke, he was to clarify, because he alleges a woman named Claudia Juana Medina del Valle scammed him out of his money. The article offers no more details into the situation. Brazo de Plata has said this before, but the details really make it.

El Planchitas interviews LA Park for his podcast; LA Park feels the lesson of the pandemic was luchadors should rebel against all promoters because the promoters only care about money and not luchadors. LA Park also appeared on Mas Lucha Contra this weekend.

At a one-year anniversary for Halcon Lucha Libre magazine, held inside in close quarters because they’re taking COVID so seriously, Fantasma said he was talking to people about opening Mexico City arenas at 30% capacity. This is what you’d expect he’d be doing, though it’s unclear if he can any affect – what openings there have been for lucha libre in Mexico City have been driven by other parts of the government.

Box Y Lucha #3463 has Bandido, Dragon Rojo and Cibernetico on the cover. Dragon Rojo coming back from injury to wrestle in the Copa Junior gets a full article. He replaced Niebla Roja, and a notes column mentions Niebla Roja is out due to “personal problems in the United States” according to Angel de Oro. No idea what that’s about. Box y Lucha does a lot of reporting from the CMLL interviews during the week, so this might’ve been mentioned already on Informa already. A different column mentions Lucha Libre Boom’s teased next show will be on 04/17 at Arena Lopez Mateos.

The administrators of Cibernetico’s Facebook account say his condition has improved, and he’s already working on resuming his Zoom interviews.

Famous Mexican clown/entertainer Cepillin passed away Monday. Furia de Titanes remembers a 2016 incident with him and Pirata Morgan. Cepllin, as a celebrity entertainer, had other crossovers with lucha libre through the years; there are photos with him and El Santo in the early 80s in stuff I’ve recently read; I didn’t previously realize how far he went back. Lots of luchadors are posting photos they took with him during the years. The popularity of Cepllin and similar clowns likely inspired kid-friendly characters like Super Muneco. SuperLuchas has an article talking about Cepillin’s connection to lucha libre.

Guanajuato luchador Viuda Negra passed away on Saturday

LuchaWorld has this week’s Lucha Report.