Ultimo Dragoncito unmasked and Templario wins Leyenda de Plata, AAA Mazatlan

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/29/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronista del RingEstrellas del RngKaiser SportsLucha CnetralR de RudoRecordThe GladiatoresThe Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Astral, Panterita del Ring Jr., Suicida b Disturbio, Inquisidor, Raider Espectacular victoria para Panterita del Ring Jr, Astral y Suicida vs Raider, Inquisidor y Disturbio (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
19:59.
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Cancerbero, Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno Victoria de los Dulces Atrapasueños frente a Hijo del Villano III, Cancerbero y Luciferno (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
13:18
3) Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero b Averno, Mephisto, Titán [Relevos IncreíblesCMLL | ¡Último Guerrero vence a Averno y lo reta por su cabellera! (posted by mluchatv)
12:22. Averno & Ultimo Guerrero shook hands on a hair match.
4) Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico [mask¡Así cayó la máscara de Último Dragoncito en la Arena México! (posted by mluchatv) CMLL - 30 ANIVERSARIO PEQ. ESTRELLAS / ÚLTIMO DRAGONCITO VS PEQ. OLÍMPICO / A. MEXICO / 29-07-22 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
14:20. Pequeno Olimpico cradled Dragoncito to win the one fall match. Dragoncito is Miguel Ángel Arciniega Peña from Guadalajara.
5) Templario b Soberano Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, final¡Así ganó Templario la Leyenda de Plata 2022 tras vencer a Soberano Jr! (posted by mluchatv) CMLL - FINAL DE LA LEYENDA DE PLATA / SOBERANO JR. VS TEMPLARIO / ARENA MEXICO / 29-07-22 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
19:55. Templario gave Soberano his own Fire Driver and Templario’s powerbomb backcracker to finally put him away. The two agreed to a mask match.

The top two matches were great. Templario and Soberano mixed it up from their previous matches and it kept their match a different feel. It was also a different audience than the previous matches; Soberano went from a crowd favorite to booed strongly by fans who wanted to see Templario get his win. They were very happy when he pulled it off. Dragoncito & Olimpico was two old guys throwing everything they had left at each other, and pulled it of pretty well. The finish was shocking for both the outcome and the moment it happened; it came out of nowhere but it felt more jarring than anti-climatic. Both matches are strong recommendations for when it turns up on YouTube in two weeks.

The rest of the show was fine. The tercera was mostly a setup to get Averno and Ultimo Guererro agreeing on an apuesta match, which happened again with Templario & Soberano after the main event. I suspect we’re getting the other two feuds this coming Friday again; I’ve got no sense when CMLL might actually announce the real plan here. Atrapsuenos got over well. Panterita looked like a rookie in the opener, with some sequence between him, Suicida and the rudos falling apart for a long moment. The first match being three falls after being one fall every Friday night for a while was confusing. Maybe they decided only two one fall matches?

The turnout seemed to be up significantly for the show. CMLL put out the “look at our big crowd” tweet, though they didn’t show it as much on the stream.

CMLL (SAT) 07/30/2022 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha, CMLL]
1) Pequeño Polvora & Pierrothito b Fantasy & Kaligua Facebook video (posted by )
2) Disturbio, Dr. Karonte I, Grako b Cachorro, Leono, Neón
Disturbio replaced Dr. Karonte II
3) Amapola, Metálica, Reyna Isis b La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Skadi Facebook video (posted by )
4) El Coyote, Kráneo, Rey Bucanero b El Audaz, Flyer, Volcano
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Panterita del Ring, Star Jr., Volador Jr. b Euforia, Felino, Mephisto Facebook video (posted by )

Nothing of note.

CMLL (SUN) 07/31/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Bengala & Retro b Cholo & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Lluvia b Hera, La Seductora, Olympia
tecnicas took 1/3
3) Angelito, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito b Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
Ultimo Dragoncito first match unmasked. Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Dark Panther, Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr.
Malditos took 1/3
5) Atlantis, Fugaz, Titán DQ Cavernario, Euforia, Terrible
Euforia unmasked Atlantis

I’m not sure CMLL needs to be doing any additional Atlantis feuds, though Euforia is going to make him look as good as possible.

Puebla tonight has Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Los Guerreros for the tag titles.

CMLL (TUE) 08/02/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Bello Antuan, Cosmos vs Jabalí, Ponzoña Jr., Relámpago Azul
2) Estrella de Jalisco I, Estrella de Jalisco II, Último Ángel vs Destello, Destructor, Temerario
3) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus, Trono vs Huitzil, Omar Brunetti, Sangre Azteca, Vaquero Jr.
4) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Perico Zacarías
5) Tonalli, Troyano, Último Guerrero vs Persa, Raven, Satánico
6) Rugido & Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr. & Gran Guerrero

Rugido getting a rare main event. You can tell this isn’t the normal CDMX person doing the poster because Zacarias is still getting spelled the ?old? way.  Troyano was supposed to be on the AVE/Arena Lopez Mateos show on Saturday with NGD on top and didn’t appear – but then he was also booked in Arena Rey Bucanero the same night, so maybe it was just a double booking.

Dalys & Stephanie Vaquer won their debut tag team match in Japan.

Milenio has an interview with Los Gemelo Diablos.

Star Jr. is participating in a karaoke battle on Thursday.

AAA

Both episodes of AAA in Mazatlan are up on my Twitch channel. Dragon Lee/Dralistico vs Penta/Vikingo (week 2) was the best match of the taping. The Aramis/Komander vs Empeador/Mini Abismo and Aerostar/Myzteziz/Shani vs Parka/Argenis/Tormenta were good from week 1. The venue, and the announcers’ voices echoing around in the emptiness, really made it difficult for me to enjoy it much; it felt at times like a COVID era show with a worse set.

The angles on the show were just keeping things in place; Penta’s promo building up his match with Villano IV was the most effective. That obviously has a destination and AAA’s being clear Cibernetico/Pagano and Vikingo/Fenix are meant to be thought as TripleMania matches, though they’re also waiting to make that official on Verano de Escandalo on Friday. Aerostar/Parka Negra, Arangis/Mytzeziz, even Mr. Iguana’s romance with La Hiedra continue to exist without the benefit of an end point. This was AAA’s first taping in Mazatlan in three years and AAA ran a video package looking at the previous show, which was interesting in what has and hasn’t changed. That time feels like it would’ve been better used promoting what’s going on now, but not much is actually happening now. AAA did air the Hard Rock lineup from the press conference and had plugs to buy Verano de Escandalo tickets all show, though the only time that lineup comes up is the Space commercial for airing it next week.

Verano de Escandalo is coming up Friday night, with Space scheduled to air the top 3 matches starting at 9:30 pm. It’s not a FITE PPV. It does not feel like a PPV lineup so I was against it airing as a PPV. I’m kinda flipping on that. Going to June to October with no English language AAA content is a hard way to build momentum. AAA does at this moment have some momentum – the Laredo/Fenix/Taurus/Bandido fourway on the Ric Flair show Sunday was easily the best match of the night – and getting a show in front of people where Vikingo and Fenix fight and also set their match for October would be taking advantage of the situation. AAA doesn’t do live free streaming anymore, and there’s probably reasons for that, but this would be an opportune time to go back. (I’m planning on streaming on Twitch if they’re not.)

The general reaction to that “Dralistico only wants to work tag matches” story is everyone has a hard time believing it’s real. The Dralistico/Penta match at Rey de Reyes (thrown together when Fenix couldn’t wrestle) was the only singles match Dralistico’s wrestled all year as far I can tell.

AAA has some tie up with the Mexico secretary of tourism that’s to be announced on Tuesday. SECTUR has been promoting this for a while.

As far as anyone on the outside has been able to tell, the AAA/FMW lawsuit is no longer an issue – AAA’s been able to put their names on show in the US and their social media video is no longer blocked outside of Mexico. There just never was an official update to their court record acknowledging a settlement and the end of case, but everyone assumed something was worked out. There was finally an update in that lawsuit record on July 28th, it just wasn’t the settlement either. Back in June 2021, the court noted FMW had never actually served AAA with the lawsuit of the case and ordered them to do so immediately or drop the case. FMW spent the following months filling documents proving they were trying to get the lawsuit to AAA in Mexico, culminating in December with proof they’d handed the lawsuit over to Mexican authorities to give to AAA and were just waiting for that to take place. The judge came back and approved of all of that seven months later and said the case can remain open indefinitely. If FMW is still actually purseeing this, that means they can keep waiting indefinitely for AAA to acknowledge the lawsuit. I still tend to believe this is a dead issue; maybe the court notifying it’s still open will get one or both side to notify the judge they’ve solved it.

A thing to throw in at the end here: in talking up the Ric Flair match, promoter Conrad Thompson mentioned he was able to get Jeff Jarrett in the main event tag team match because Jarrett had agreed to the appearance before going back to WWE, still wanted to do it, and WWE allowed him to complete the pre-existing deal. AAA & Jarrett obviously had plans for TripleMania Mexico City based on the Monterrey angle, though we don’t know if Jarrett’s still interested or if WWE would OK that one as well. AAA’s pattern this year is a big event followed by a press conference for the next big event one or two working days later, so I expect we’ll get the first TripleMania Mexico City matches next week and may have more answers then.

AAA (SUN) 08/28/2022 Explanada Pachuca, Pachuca, Hidalgo
1) La Parkita & Octagoncito vs Mini Gronda & Parkita Negra
2) Lady Shani & Sexy Star vs Flammer & La Hiedra
3) Aerostar & Aramis vs Látigo & Toxin
4) Drago, Mr. Iguana, Myzteziz vs Argenis, Dave The Clown, La Parka Negra
5) Dragón Lee vs Taurus
6) Charly Manson & Hijo Del Vikingo vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Cibernético

This is another non-AAA TV show that AAA is promoting on social media card; they must actually be promoting these to some extent. Dragon Lee/Taurus on a house show is probably not as good as Dragon Lee/Taurus on a TV show, but who knowss if we’ll ever get that with the way AAA TV is booked. It is good to see AAA running more non-TV shows after being a bit slow earlier this year.

IWRG

IWRG (SAT) 07/30/2022 Arena Naucalpan
Torneo FILL 98
1) Rosel & Último Caballero b Milagro & Rey Fuego
2) Súper Boy & Súper Cometa b Rey Minos & Steven Manson
3) Ajolotl, Cheff Benito, Heredero Maya b Balak, Rey Eclipse, Skanda
4) Sol, Spider Fly, X-Devil b Águila Oriental, Kenji, Rey Aztaroth
5) Black Dragón, Vértigo, Wagner Kid b Estrella de Oro, Genex, Jhon Tito
6) Cerebro Negro Jr., Dick Angelo 3G, Garra Mortal, Hell Boy, Legendario, Leo, Limbo, Rey Halcón b Aaron Sykes, Abc, Charly Madrid, Lasser, Pasion, Tackle, Troyano, Último Rebelde [Copa Higher Power]
Hell Boy beat ABC to give FILL the win over Team UG.

This was originally supposed to air on Wednesday and now is listed as airing on Saturday.

IWRG (SUN) 07/31/2022 Arena Naucalpan [Cronista del Ring, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Baby Star, Sol, Spider Fly b Garra Mortal, Limbo, Rey Halcón LIVE | Por el Campeonato Welter IWRG: Jessy Ventura (C) VS Paymon (R) | 5 luchas más (posted by IWRG tv)
2) Cerebro Negro Jr., Hell Boy, Yorvak b Caballero de Plata, Noisy Boy, Vértigo LIVE | Por el Campeonato Welter IWRG: Jessy Ventura (C) VS Paymon (R) | 5 luchas más (posted by IWRG tv)
Yorvak beat Noisy Boy (replacement for Freelance) to set up a IWRG Rey del Aire title match
3) Fly Warrior, Fulgor, Travis Banks b Diva Salvaje, Heddi Karaoui, Rey León LIVE | Por el Campeonato Welter IWRG: Jessy Ventura (C) VS Paymon (R) | 5 luchas más (posted by IWRG tv)
Galeno del Mal challenged Fly Warrior & Fulgor after the match.
4) Jessy Ventura © b Paymon [IWRG IC WELTER] LIVE | Por el Campeonato Welter IWRG: Jessy Ventura (C) VS Paymon (R) | 5 luchas más (posted by IWRG tv)
2nd defense. Hair match challenge follows.
5) Travis Banks b Galeno del Mal IWRG | Galeno del Mal VS Travis Banks, Fulgor I y Murder Clown | Lucha completa (posted by mluchatv) LIVE | Por el Campeonato Welter IWRG: Jessy Ventura (C) VS Paymon (R) | 5 luchas más (posted by IWRG tv)
Travis Banks & Fulgor I replaced Rey Espectro (car accident). Monster Clown shoed up to challenge Galeno del Mal.
6) Galeno del Mal b Fulgor I LIVE | Por el Campeonato Welter IWRG: Jessy Ventura (C) VS Paymon (R) | 5 luchas más (posted by IWRG tv)
7) Galeno del Mal DCOR Monsther Clown LIVE | Por el Campeonato Welter IWRG: Jessy Ventura (C) VS Paymon (R) | 5 luchas más (posted by IWRG tv) Murder Clown Vs Galeno del Mal, mano a mano de gigantes en la Arena Naucalpan (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
the two brawled out of the building, then came back to make challenges.
8) Aster Boy & Rey Horus b Puma de Oro & Tonalli LIVE | Por el Campeonato Welter IWRG: Jessy Ventura (C) VS Paymon (R) | 5 luchas más (posted by IWRG tv) Puma de Oro y Tonalli vs Rey Horus y Aster Boy, duelo estelar en IWRG Naucalpan (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
Rey Horus’ tope con giro wasn’t caught by Tonalli and Horus landed very badly. Aster Boy challenged Puma de Oro to a title match.

The Rey Horus injury was frightning. Tonalli was too close to the corner to catch Horus’ usual top con giro, Horus turned over to try to absorb the blow, and landed violently. Horus was grabbing his shoulder and seemed to be in real discomfort as he was loaded onto a backboard. (Like all luchadors, he was back reposting Instagram stories the next day.) Horus hasn’t wrestled in Naucalpan more than a dozen times but he’s had some bad luck there; he suffered a neck injury wrestling Dragon Lee back in 2016. Horus’ next high profile booking is the Impact PPV on 08/12 vs Bandido; no idea if he’s going ot be able to make it.

It was a bad weekend for injuries. Roberto Figueroa reported Rey Espectro, his wife, his two kids, and fellow luchador Enfermero Jr. were all hospitalized after getting into a car accident on the way to a show in Ciudad Acuna on Friday. Espectro was out of danger but held for observation. No other word on his specific injuries.

Laredo Kid will be on IWRG’s Instagram this week so he must be back in this week.

Other

Recent Arena Lopez Mateos luchador Mysterio (Mario Blancas) passed away on Saturday. No cause of death was mentioned. He was active as recently as January and there was a show honoring him back in April. Misterio was honored for 30 years in wrestling just last year.

Los Negocio Traumado presented Teelo with a check for 11,000 pesos on Saturday’s Arena Lopez Mateos show, money they’ve raised in his quest to get a prosthetic leg.

Cerebro Maligno took Alex Segura’s hair in Arena Lopez Mateos on Sunday.

Hijo del Santo’s match with Ultimo Dragon in Dragon Gate on Saturday lasted just a few minutes before it was turned into a tag match, which also turned into a tag match for Sunday. Santo is now wrestling in NOAH on Friday and back in Dragon Gate on 08/10. I’ve read the Diamante/Skywalker tag match on night 1 of that Dragon Gate doubleheader was outstanding, I hope to watch it today.

Flamita beat Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. to win the first phase of the Big Lucha World championship tournament. The tournament concept (with a couple of other matches but nothing big) didn’t draw well; it looked like the least attended Big Lucha show so far. The middle of the tournament turned into a lot of Black Generation interference, making it all the more surprising that Flamita just cleanly beat Wagner at the end. Wagner ended up joining Black Generation in the post-match and Flamita revealed he was opening his own gym. If you’re going to watch the show, I’d suggest watching the first three matches (Flamita/Super Nova, Cometa Maya/Wagner, Rey Horus/Emperador Azteca) and then skip all the way until the final.

Los Macizos (Ciclope & Miedo Extremo) regained the GCW Tag Team Championships Friday night in Nashville. They were previously champions from 2018 to 2021, though the length of that run was extended because of visa and travel issues. Los Macizos were some of the wrestlers who got a work visa, so the rest of GCW has at least the better part of two years to try and beat them. The lucha libre trios match on that show was great.

Box y Lucha #3512 has Ultimo Dragoncito, Templario and the AWF.