CMLL
Today’s CMLL show is the standard last stop before the Aniversario. The eight men in the main event tournament meet in an atomicos, with old allies and new Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero, Dragon Rojo Jr., and Atlantis Jr. face the more makeshift combo of Averno, Fuerza Guerrera, Soberano Jr., and Stuka. Fuerza should definitely win. Jarochita & Isis meet in the women’s trios as a build up to their match. The main event is Volador Jr. and seven luchadors who don’t stand a good shot of winning in the Copa Independencia semifinal. The opener is Astral, Panterita Jr., Suicida vs Dark Magic, Inquisidor, Raider, where all three tecnicos may brawl over which one of them gets to work spots with Raider. It’s on TickemasterLive. In-person tickets seem to been moving better than last week but it doesn’t look a big crowd.
CMLL is offering third row Aniversario seats for people who purchase Lucha Tour tickets. No price is mentioned; it’s probably not cheap but it’s also probably the only way to get that close right now. Reyna Isis, La Jarochita, and Ultimo Guerrero will appear. “Gradas” grandstand tickets are still available; it’s impossible to know how many are left from the way they’re sold on Ticketmaster.
The ten luchadors who are risking their mask or hair went on a media tour Wednesday to promote the Aniversario. They took the media on a TuriLuchas bus around Mexico City, like with the Gran Prix, and then stopped in front of the ‘Monumento a la Revolución’ to pose for dramatic photos. Fuerza Guerrera and Atlantis were said to be the most confrontational duo. Guerrera insisted he’ll continue on with his retirement tour even if he loses his mask; next Friday will not be his final match regardless of the outcome. He’s listed on an October show in Aguascalientes.
ESTO continues it’s Aniversario preview interviews with Soberano and Ultimo Guerrero. The latter says he’s had long hair since he left high school and he’d be crushed if he lost it at the Aniversario.
CMLL (SUN) 09/11/2022 Arena México
1) Fantasy & Pequeño Magía vs Pequeño Polvora & Pequeño Violencia
2) Leono, Retro, Sangre Imperial vs Grako, Inquisidor, Nitro
3) Audaz, Flyer, Volcano vs Hijo del Villano III, Kráneo, Rey Bucanero
4) Dark Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Jr. vs Mephisto, Niebla Roja, Terrible
5) Euforia, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr.
Just another random Sunady shows. Niebla Roja and Angel de Oro are more consistently being booked as rudos at this point, as if that matters from show to show.
CMLL (TUE) 09/13/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Capitán Cobra, Micro, Mortis vs Black Boy, Jabalí, Ponzoña Jr.
2) Flash, Mágico, Metatrón, Ráfaga vs León Blanco, Maléfico, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
3) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Reyna Isis & Valkiria
4) Rey Bucanero & Satánico vs Felino & Negro Casas
5) Euforia, Soberano Jr., Zandokan Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel
6) Averno & Místico vs Atlantis Jr. & Último Guerrero
Odd partners to build to the Aniversario show; more normal partners in the third match. Second match continues a feud between older (and occasional) local luchadors. No sign of a big show for Aniversario here.
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara advertised Mascara Infernal, Jason Styles and Julio Pedrosa for this show, and they’re not on the lineup. These guys appear to be central California wrestlers (though I had trouble finding much info about them.) Mascara Infernal commented on the announcement and Facebook denoted him as a ‘top fan’, which means he comments a lot on the Facebook page. That comment seems to have vanished.
CMLL Informa announced a special Dia de Lucha Libre y Dia de Luchador show for Tuesday on 09/20. That’s a holiday set for September 21st, so they’re celebrating it a day early.
CMLL (TUE) 09/20/2022 Arena México
1) Micro Ángel, Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo, Chamuel, Periquito Sacaryas
2) Astral, Hombre Bala Jr., Robin vs Gallego, Mr. Cóndor, Rocky Santana
3) Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Dark Silueta, Hera, Reyna Isis
4) Blue Panther, Negro Casas, Volador Jr. vs Hechicero, Negro Navarro, Solar I
5) Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero vs Averno, Mephisto, Satánico
Los Diabolicos, Negro Navarro, Solar and Satanico return, though they’re careful to not put them against each other this time around. Navarro is more active this year but any of those guys could be making their final Arena Mexico appearance without knowing it.
It’s rare wrestlers work both Tuesday and Friday Arena Mexico this year and it’s common that those who lose their hair or mask on an Aniversario show also wrestle the following Friday in Arena Mexico. Averno & Ultimo Guerrero being booked here hints they’re not involved in the Aniversario results. Isis being here is also interesting. This is a special show so those normal rules may not apply.
Dark Silueta hasn’t wrestled since her hurting her knee injury back on August 26th. She mentioned getting physical therapy on Thursday.
These Tuesday shows continue to air on MarcaClaro, which limits their live videos to Mexico only. (I’m not sure if this is a CMLL decision.) I’ve had limited success with VPNs watching those shows. Many of them that say they work for Mexico seem to be found out by YouTube, so you may want to check that it’s working before using one. I’ll probably have it on the Google Drive Wednesday.
CMLL polls for the Night of Champions have remained mostly stale. Rugido has stretched out his lead over Soberano, who’ll need to start pushing people to vote if he wants that title match. Suicida is blowing everyone else away with number of votes, and the race between the two singles title matches for the main event spot is the closests battle. I’m a little concerned about how a show with Rugido/Mistico and Suicida/Titan is going to draw, but that’s the gamble inherent in doing one of these contests and it’s not like CMLL is knocking them dead at the box office every Friday anyway.
NJPW announced they’ll be running their World Tag League and the Super Junior Tag League together from November 21 to December 14th. No names have been confirmed. CMLL wrestlers usually participate in the Super Junior Tag competitions and rarely in the World Tag League. The most recent tournaments to include outside wrestlers were 2018 (Volador Jr. & Soberano appeared) and 2019 (Volador Jr. & Titan.) Based on history, NJPW will likely include Mascara Dorada if Mascara Dorada is available to travel internationally by that time of that tour. Everything else probably depends on working around Dorada’s availability. I always prefer to see younger wrestlers to get experience (and so NJPW just doesn’t treat top CMLL wrestlers like pin eaters), but it’s usually the biggest names they can get dates on.
Netflix Latinoamerica produced a short video to promote Cobra Kai season 5 featuring KeMonito watching the series to train and get revenge on Ultimo Guerrero for the dropkick so many years ago. The video is well done and may also go viral. It also looks like there’s someone else in the KeMonito suit for part of it; he’s more mobile than usual.
AAA
AAA TV on Space this week is at 6:30 pm. They’ll air some matches from Torreon. We probably won’t know which ones until Saturday.
AAA has a taping tomorrow at the Hard Rock Hotel Rivera Maya. Fans who bought the tourist package left for the shows this morning.
Octagon Jr. is scheduled in his first match since the eye injury angle (which appeared to be a cover for a real injury; he’s been listed on lineups but hasn’t been known to wrestle in months.) Octagon & Vikingo vs Dragon Lee & Dralistico and Aramis & Arez vs Komander & Latigo are two most promising matches on the show. Laredo Kid & Taya vs Christi Jaynes & Johnny Caballero is scheduled; Taya is having a bad travel day. Pagano, Pentagon, and Psycho Clown face Parka Negra, Taurus, and Villano III Jr. in the scheduled main event. It is a resort weekend show and those don’t always have the highest effort for obvious reasons. There’s no connections between this card and anything announced for TripleMania Th.e show should air on 09/24 and 10/01, leaving AAA with one week to fill before the big show. Not sure if that means AAA will squeeze in one more taping or if they’ll just use that week to hype TripleMania.
AAA also has a Showcenter-style show in Merida on Sunday. That’s not expected to be filmed.
Whitepaper.mx has a story about the business of AAA. You can always tell when these business interviews are primarly based on interviews with AAA people (Dorian Roldan is quoted a lot) based on how the New York show is handled. Here, it is “they ran Madison Square Garden and attracted a lot of fans, though not as much money as they hoped.” There’s no mention they didn’t make as much as hoped because they moved the show from the arena to the theatre attached to Madison Square Garden. That reliance on AAA does give us some important insight: Roldan mentions a plan to run a show in Arizona in December as part of the latest attempt at US expansion. The show is mentioned as having a “new format”, with no more details. There are also ideas for a reality documentary show similar to Netflix’s “F1: Drive to Survive”, with the hopes of bringing in new fans similar to what’s happened with F1 in the US. Roldan explains the Showcenter and similar shows also as ways to bring in new fans, or fans who might be more comfortable going to more a modern venue than usual lucha libre arena (and pay more for the experience.) He also says they’re working on with Fibra Uno and Ventura Entertainment on the previously mentioned shows based in Cancun, hoping to turn it into a lucha libre tourist destination.
There’s no update on the Chessman story. He’s posted nothing publically and the Facebook site accusing him hasn’t followed up.
In this week’s WON (and drawing from a podcast episode I haven’t listened to), Konnan expressed some doubt about Thunder Rosa’s injury. His version is Rosa told him originally it was a knee injury, then changed it to back injury in a later conversation and he called her out on that. Konnan said his conspiracy side thinks AEW might have put Rosa on break, though he admits he could be totally wrong about that. He believes she’s really dealing with an injury but there may be more it. The WON itself notes that sort of back injury is something doctors would tell people not to wrestle on, but wrestlers often do. Either way, it sounded like Konnan was frustrated with Thunder Rosa.
Under the Ring has an interview with AAA announcer Larry Dallas.
RoL (SAT) 09/17/2022 Republic of Lucha, South Pasadena, California
1) Black Danger & Látigo vs ? & Zokre
2) Máscarita Dorada vs Demus
3) Matt Sydal vs Lince Dorado
4) Brian Cage vs Willie Mack, Black Taurus (Indie)
5) Taya Valkyrie vs Lady Flammer
6) Penta Zero Miedo & Rey Fénix (Indie) vs Aaron Solo & QT Marshall
This isn’t an AAA show but close enough to put in this section. This Republic of Lucha show will stream live on FITE (past ones have been on delay) for $12 standalone or part of FITE’s $5/month subscription. I’m always a little bit cautious on “first show live streaming show.” Mascarita Dorada vs Demus is always a good time.
Death Triangle (PAC, Rey Fenix, Penta el Zero M) won the AEW World Trios Championships on Wednesday over the Best Friends and Orange Cassidy. It was a good match and a nice moment for them to win, though everything felt weird because of how it happened; there was a gigantic elephant in the room for the show and it could only halfway be acknowledged. I’m not sure what’s next for them as champions and maybe even AEW hasn’t decided yet. It’s possible they could still be champions by the time TripleMania comes around and Fenix could be going for his fourth belt at the same time.
IWRG
IWRG (SUN) 09/11/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Oriental vs Rey Aztaroth
2) Baby Star & Jhon Tito vs Kenji & Rey Halcón
3) Estrella de Oro, Genex, Junta vs Feroz, Paymon, Vértigo
4) Bugambilia & Máximo vs Asterboy & Tonalli and Dick Angelo 3G & Puma de Oro
5) Caballero de Plata & Hijo del Alebrije vs Hell Boy & Hijo del Pirata Morgan
6) Cerebro Negro, Cerebro Negro Jr., Dr. Cerebro vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [super libre]
Cerebros and Oficials continue to feud. Caballero de Plata and Hell Boy with their final lead up match. Maximo making a rare appearance in Arena Naucalpan; he and Bugambilia picked up tag titles in Acapulco.
IWRG announced Mesias and Ultimo Guerrero for a Mas Lucha premium show on Thursday 09/22. I reported it as “no IWRG shows on Thursday’s” but it was actually only the first Thursday and last Thursday of the month (09/29) looking at the graphic closer.
To fill those Thursday, IWRG is airing “IWRG Retro” episode. The first episode includes matches from 2001, 1999 and 1996. It appears to be the show which aired on ESPN2 in Mexico, with the ESPN graphics blurred out and present day announcing. The matches themselves were nothing special, but it was stuff that hasn’t turned up before (the 1999 edit: and the 2001 matches were on a tape list, the 1996 was new.) It’s unclear how much old footage IWRG actually has – did they pick these three matches because they didn’t have a big selection, or do they have a lot and just picked three random matches? They’re likely doing another one of these shows on 09/29.
Other News
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
Bandido faces Kevin Giza on Circle 6’s show in Detroit tonight. It airs on FITE, part of the $5/month FITE+ package or $15 standalone.
The Crash has DMT Azul & LA Park vs Dr. Wagner Jr. & Pierroth.x
MLW added Lady Shani vs Lady Flammer vs La Hiedra vs Reina Dorado to their 09/18 show. Winner faces Taya at some other time. It’ll be great if Flammer is owed a Taya title shot in two promotions.
Warrior Wrestling announced the Lucha Brothers versus the Briscoe Brothers on 10/02. Those shows usually air on FITE.
Fantasma was at a government press conference, talking about how there will be lucha libre as part of a cultural event that’s being held in October. (This is the second time it’s come up, and I haven’t got a handle on it beyond a vague list of names and shows on 10/28 and 1029; we’ll probably hear more later and I’ll go over it then.) This was the first public chance for someone to ask head of the Mexico City lucha libre commission Fantasma about Dr. Wagner Jr.’s intention to put his mask back on. Fantasma basically doesn’t believe Wagner is actually putting his mask back on, saying it would be a huge sign of disrespect to lucha libre and Wagner has a habit of being full of hot air. That’s a fair point when it comes to Wagner.
KAOZ held a press conference yesterday. They promoted video to air later. It has not been posted; I scanned through video taken by media and saw Konnan Big was back. If they announced a date for a next show, they didn’t announce it. They instead announced a new Cibernetico stable “Creaturas del Kaoz”, with Heronia, Charly Manson, Steel Angel and Iron Demon. I presume the last two are Monterrey wrestlers being regimmicked. They also teased the new Pierroth getting his own group. Again, this promotion has no next show date announced.
Critero Hidalgo has an interview of Arena Aficion’s Barkai, billed as the best new wrestler in the arena.
A profile of Veracruz’s Danessa.
A Blue Demon inspired art exhibit opened in Puebla.
There’s a benefit show for Leon luchador Black Evil.