CMLL announced around 3 pm Tuesday that the promotion and the members of Nueva Generacion Dinamita have decided to part ways. Sanson, Cuatrero and Forastero were the current CMLL World Trios Champions, Cuatrero the CMLL World Middleweight Champion. Both titles are vacant and will be decided in a tournament. All are under 30 years old and figured to be the backbone of CMLL for decades to come. The NGD members have not said anything about their departure as of yet; the most we’ve got is a Cuatrero RT of a meme comparing them to Leo Messi’s recent team change.
NGD’s last match in CMLL was last Friday night, when they defeated the Los Guerreros Laguneros trios of Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero, and Templario. (That trios are now most likely to win the vacant world trios titles if other parts of this story do not come into play.) NGD was scheduled to headline again this Friday, and CMLL immediately replaced them with Titan, Templario, and Volador Jr.
There’s no real replacing them full-time on the roster. CMLL’s roster is full of 40+ wrestlers who are struggling to get around, and there’s not a group of 20s just waiting to get the spot. NGD should’ve been around to main event CMLL’s biggest show for years to come and that’s not a spot they can pull three guys out of the gym to take it. Sanson, Cuatrero, and Forastero had not lived up to their potential as in-ring wrestlers (though there were signs of life lately) and it’s tough to call anyone a draw in the current CMLL client, but they were one of the more popular acts CMLL has and they are still young enough that they’ve could improve. CMLL can put guys in their spots and they will, but it’ll take a lot of work to get fans to follow them as much as they had the NGD trio. CMLL hasn’t shown they’re capable of doing that work much lately.
Times are tough, the pandemic has crippled the Mexican lucha libre business, and the most likely answer to all of the questions here remains “money.” Maybe NGD wanted more, maybe CMLL wanted to cut it, I don’t know. I do know that those guys are exactly the guys you make the exceptions for, pay a little more to keep around, because you’re going to make more money off them in the long run. NGD only leave CMLL if CMLL doesn’t want them or someone just totally outbids them. It looks like the first option.
Responding to a discussion about the announcement, Soberano Jr. pointed the finger at Ultimo Guerrero for ruining CMLL , saying he could say so because he was inside and has seen it happen. Soberano Jr. also defended the Lutteorth family, saying they’d always supported him, and he felt the real cancer of the promotion was elsewhere. Ultimo Guerrero is not known to have any official role in the company beyond wrestler and lead trainer, but he’s believed to be a major center of power in how things are run, having an influence in the booking and hiring of talent. The stories are many and varied; this past week on Mas Lucha’s broadcast of IWRG, Miguel Reducindo talked about Demasiado’s very short stint in CMLL. Demasiado was targeted for the full-time role of CMLL exotico, only ‘a certain unnamed wrestler’ put a stop to it because he wanted the spot for their own connection. Torreon’s Dulce Gardenia got the spot instead. NGD leaving CMLL because of an Ultimo Guerrero-related issue seems odd because Forastero was dating Ultimo Guerrero’s daughter last we knew and they were considered one of his guys. Maybe they broke up, maybe Guerrero saw NGD surpassing him as the top rudo act as a threat to his own position. Whatever the case, they’re gone and a lot of people aren’t happy about it.
Soberano’s post lead to a back and forth with Dragon Lee, who hinted Soberano was on his way to Ring of Honor soon. That would likely mean Soberano is on his way out of CMLL. Euforia, Soberano’s father, is believed to have had real-life issues with Ultimo Guerrero that mirror their own screen breakup. Euforia has been kept away from Ultimo Guerrero since June and Their feud was quietly dropped. Soberano hasn’t wrestled in CMLL since an injury in May, though he has appeared at press events. There’s no word when he’ll return and it’s now a question of if he will. Euforia is scheduled to the main event tonight’s Arena Mexico show.
Rush and LA Park have also dunked on CMLL and endorsed NGD’s move.
The names Sanson, Cuatrero, and Forastero are trademarked by CMLL. If they show up at TripleMania Saturday, which certainly seems a possibility now, they’d need new names. (They do seem to own the “NGD” monicker, though.) I wouldn’t put it past AAA to bring them in for a big show – maybe Copa TripleMania in La Empresa shirts this weekend – but the stripped down 2021 TV tapings suggests NGD go in the Rush/LA Park pile of outside names AAA would like to use and maybe can’t make the numbers work for the no fan shows.
NGD are obvious Konnan’s picks. There’s an existing connection there – Sanson worked the (we’re pretending we’re not) KAOZ show earlier this year, and that’s a part of the Konnan cinematic universe. They’ve worked The Crash as well and would be a natural fit for those Azteca Underground tapings in Tijuana next month. They’ll also be in high demand for whatever indies can run during the current pandemic. Sanson & Cuatrero also probably have the size to at least get consideration from WWE, whenever they next feel like making a play for Mexican wrestlers. Most top wrestlers who’ve left CMLL have seemed to be happy with the move, and it’s not likely to be different for NGD.
For CMLL, it’s yet another black eye. They’re also a promotion seemingly uncaring with how disheveled they look to the outside world, and with total faith in their training system to replace anyone who’s left. They’ve lost quite a few and those replacements haven’t look good lately. Maybe they’ll come up with the next great star but the promotion appears to be trapped in a rough spiral downward and there’s no telling where it may end.