CMLL
Arena Puebla held a moment of applause for Toro Bill Jr. on Monday’s show, with his friends and family. He was also remembered at Puebla’s Arena Coliseo San Ramon on Sunday. I didn’t mention it in the recap, but Stigma brought a Toro Bill Jr. mask with him to the Arena Mexico ring on Friday.
CMLL (TUE) 05/03/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha]
1) Minos & Pequeño Olímpico b Fantasy & Pequeño Magía 
2) Apocalipsis & Raider b Leono & Metatron
Rudos took 2/3. Metatron, replacing Sangre Imperial and in his first Arena Mexico appearance since 2019.
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi b Amapola, Dalys, Metálica 
tecnicas took 2/3
4) Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring b El Coyote, Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora
tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Místico, Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero DQ Averno, Mephisto, Stuka Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Mistico took 2/3, when Averno & Mephisto were DQed for excessive violence on Bucanero, who demanded a singles match with Mephisto.
The tag match from last week was good but I’m not sure about Rey Bucanero/Mephisto as a singles match. The sound is missing from the top two matches of my upload due to YouTube issues but is present on the (geoblocked) stream. I’ll give it another try tonight.
Metatron disappeared from Mexico City after November 2019, was in Guadalajara only for a few months, then vanished entirely at the onset of the pandemic. His name was listed on a Guadalajara indie show a few weeks back. Metatron, Metal Blanco and Metalik were a trio as La Fuerza M in Guadalajara around 2007. It worked out better for some of those names than others; Metatron has been an opening match wrestler and deservingly so in his Mexico City time. Metatron is also Sagrado’s brother, though it’s rarely mentioned. Metatron wasn’t wearing his old full body pajama outfit, so either he’s decided to change up his look or this was a last-minute replacement call. Metatron told the press he’d been focused on other work during the pandemic but now is focused back on CMLL. I generally feel for people who had to give change plans due to the pandemic and feel like they should get a chance to regain what they lost, but Metatron was so not good that it seems a slight on the CMLL training system for not having better people in that spot.
CMLL (TUE) 05/03/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Mas Lucha]
1) Bello Antuan, Cosmos, Último Ángel b Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Tigre Blanco
2) Omar Brunetti, Optimus, Trono b Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Javier Cruz Jr.
3) Ángel Rebelde, Espíritu Negro Jr., Halcón Negro Jr., Samuray Azteca b Obelisk, Persa, Raven, Temerario
4) Hera, La Magnifica, Olympia b Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria
5) Cris Skin, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
6) Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II DQ Adrenalina & Fantástico
Dr. Karonte I tossed his mask to draw the DQ.
I feel dumb for not understanding these city versus city matches were points based, but also they haven’t mentioned it outside of the broadcasts until now. The current standings:
2 Laguneros (1-0) 2 Mexico City (1-0) 2 Queretaro (1-1) 0 Guadalajara (0-2)
CMLL (FRI) 05/06/2022 Arena México
1) Panterita del Ring Jr., Robin, Valiente Jr. vs Astral, Eléctrico, Suicida
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
3) La Jarochita vs Reyna Isis
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black, Titán vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Último Guerrero vs Averno
Ultimo Guerrero and Averno have traded wins in the CMLL Universal ages ago, and UG won their only full-length singles match way back in 2009 Arena Puebla (which we have video of.)
Atomicos could be fun. It’s funny it’s a relevos increibles because Magnus may still be a rudo, though he doesn’t team with any rudos. Electrico may be back from getting dumped on his head. Jarochita/isis could be good.
CMLL (SAT) 05/07/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Átomo & Mije vs Chamuel & Micro Ángel
2) La Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Skadi vs Hera, Olympia, Tiffany
3) Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. vs Enfermero Jr., Nitro, Okumura
4) Dark Panther, Esfinge, Star Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Blue Panther, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja
This main event is not a relevos increibles, though it’s impossible to care. Nothing was set up here last week.
CMLL Informa today has Mistico, Titan, Ultimo Guerrero, Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Euforia, Dalys, and Dulce Gardenia, as well as some fans in attendance. I suspect a lot o baseball talk.
Titan will head to Costa Rica’s CWE promotion to defend the CMLL Welterweight Championship against Escualo on June 18th.
At the opening of Dark Panther’s cake shop, Blue Panther Jr. says he could return in a year. He wasn’t as clear on a timeline on Informa. I thought he had the eye surgery then, but it sounds like he still needs additional work done.
Dhani Ledesma, the promoter of Lucha Memes, says he was asked about CMLL for ideas for international wrestlers for the Gran Prix. CMLL has not had the best track record when it’s come for independent foreign talent on their own (Big Daddy Yum Yum) so maybe anyone else adding a voice will be a help.
AAA
AAA TV (SAT) 05/21/2022 Showcenter Complex, San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon
1) Baby Extreme, Dulce Canela, Komander vs Dinámico, Emperador Azteca, Látigo
2) Natalia Marakova vs Zeuxis [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
3) Rey Horus vs Gringo Loco [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
4) Faby Apache vs Diosa Quetzal [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
5) Bestia 666 & Mechawolf vs Dragón Lee & Dralistico vs Antifaz & Willie Mack
6) Aramis vs Flamita [Showcenter Tournament, torneo]
7) Fénix, Heavy Metal, Laredo Kid vs Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Psicosis II
Aramis/Flamita and Horus/Loco sound like two good singles. I’d like to escape Hermanos Lee to have a normal match at one point in AAA but that match should be good. The main event could be wild, and the guys in the opener did well last time out. All of these events are scheduled to be on FITE; the purchase link isn’t up yet.
The previous Showcenter event included
- an angle setting up a RIOT versus AAA match on this show
- an angle setting up Laredo Kid teaming with Antifaz del Norte on this show
0 for 2. This is not “we didn’t have room for them because we need the big names to draw for a baseball stadium”, this is just deciding booking doesn’t matter. RIOT came up with their own answer for the first one, though whatever happened with RIOT’s show being moved probably plays a part into it. If AAA does run a full year of shows here, I’d guess it’ll be figured out eventualy.
The Second one is harder: Antifaz & Laredo are there, just not teaming. Likewise, the part no one remembers about Vikingo/Flamita from the last show is it was a tournament match and Flamita’s back in it on the next show. We have no idea of the tournament rules, it could be league or double elimination or whatever. It’s probably whatever. There’s a clear difference between how AAA’s presented the Ruleta de la Muerte (rules explained in detail and frequently) and how they’re running this one (never explained, no one knows what it’s supposed to be.) I think this tournament exists just to sell the concept to the venue, who just need their name mentioned but aren’t really tracking brackets or anything. It just comes off as something AAA is required to do but doesn’t care much about.
Which is weird because the women’s part of this tournament seems a massive concern, enough to cast a very wide net for participants. Markova, from Russia, has been in the NWA and made some appearances on AEW Dark. This is her Mexico debut. Markova had been tweeting about wanting to come to AAA since last November; I’m not sure if it was something in the works for a while or if she just tweeted it into existence. (That bit wouldn’t work now; most tweets that tag AAA are people reacting to Guevara and Conti and anything else is lost in their wake.) Zeuxis hasn’t been in AAA since a 2018 one-night stint in 2018 which seemed to leave both AAA and her unhappy with the experience. She’s wrestled about a match a month since. Diosa Quetzal is making her AAA debut; there’s a decent chance she would’ve shown up earlier had the last two years been a bit more normal.
Joe Dombrowski announced he had signed a contract with AAA to be the primary English play by play. Larry Dallas announced he’d signed a similar deal last week.
Latin Lover says he picked up a leg bruise in the TripleMania fight. He posted photos on Instagram. It didn’t sound serious, just needed some rest.
Other
IWRG (THU) 05/05/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star & Nativo vs Kenji & X-Devil
2) Bengalee & Therius vs Casandra & Satanica
3) Caballero de Plata, Dinamic Black, La Momia vs Hell Boy, Mafioso, Toxin
4) Aramis, Aster Boy, Noisy Boy vs Accion Jackson, Gregory Sharpe, Shaun Moore
5) Laredo Kid vs Travis Banks
Gregory Sharpe appears California-based but seems to work a lot of small shows around the world. I keep wrongly thinking the Banks/IWRG/Negocio Tramuado thing is a tug of war, when it looks like it’s more everyone thinks he’s so awesome that they’re giving him favors they wouldn’t allow for almost anyone else who works with IWRG. Like get a spotlight match with Laredo Kid.
IWRG has a graphic up with past Rey del Ring winners. The tournaments IWRG (and CMLL) run feel weightless in part because the results tend not to be mentioned a week after it happens, so anything that can look to the past is going to be a bit of help. IWRG also posted the next part of its Big Stripper trio search.
Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Rene Dupree won the GHC Tag Team championships earlier this morning.
Violento Jack successfully defended his mask in FREEDOMS.
Vanguardia interviews Coahuila’s Latino, who reveals he was wrestling as Patán on Toryumon Mexico shows.
Huracan Ramirez complained to ESTO that wrestling is too much of a circus today. This is not the person who gave any particular fame to the Huracan Ramirez, but someone who got the rights to the name many years later. The article ends by noting today’s wrestling that Ramirez says is killing wrestling is also well-liked by fans.
La Silla Rota has interviews of Pachuca luchadors Bufalo & Aspid. There’s a lot of talk about the effort to start a local commission, with hope it’ll come up for a government vote in June.
LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.
A Titanes en el Ring 60th Anniversary show will take place on May 29th.