Starman (1974-2022), TripleMania CDMX lineup announced, Big Lucha title decided tonight

CMLL

Starman (47) has passed away. No cause of death is mentioned. His two biggest wins were a mask win over Fiero in 1997 and over Hijo del Signo in 2017.

Starman started as “Ultraman Jr.”, the second generation of a luchador from the 70s modeled after the Japanese character of the same name. He first popped up in CMLL in 1994 and appears to have been full-time by 1996. He had a falling out with the original Ultraman in 1998 and switched his look very slightly for the Starman character. (He also went to Japan to lose the Ultraman Jr. mask, which wasn’t acknowledged in Mexico; Mr. Cacao complimented that match today.) Starman was a preliminary fixture for the next two decades, a reliable if not flashy wrestler and part of a generation of wrestlers who struggled to move up on the cards. He’s a guy everyone who watched would remember even if they wouldn’t have a specific match in mind.

Starman started to break down physically in 2016, leading to long absences and short returns, and it usually seemed to be knee issues. He didn’t wrestle at all in 2019. Starman’s final match with CMLL was in August 2021; he hadn’t appeared in a match since January and he still got hurt. I’m uncertain if he was Starman was still on paper as part of CMLL’s roster at this point but he’s a been around long enough and recent enough that it surely feels like they lost a roster member.

Starman was young enough that more rest and one short return to lose his mask seemed reasonable. There was a moment where we all thought that was already going to happen: the Signo mask win came in at the end of a cage match, and Starman would’ve been favored to lose at that moment. He also would’ve been favored to lose after, with midcard winners of an apuesta match tending to lose another one soon after. (See: Isis beating Vaquerita before losing her own mask to Jarochita.) Maybe the injuries just derailed that last big match from happening. It still seemed like he was hoping it could still take place last we heard from him.

Starman was also running Gimnasio Starman, a gym that also ran some wrestling shows. He didn’t wrestle on the most recent show in August. Straman also trained wrestlers at the gym.

CMLL will likely remember Starman on tonight’s show.

CMLL

ACG (WED) 09/21/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Abadón, Dalia Negra, Neblina b Death Clown, Dengue Asesino, Great Eku
2) Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria b Aradia, Estrella Explosiva, La Pantera
3) Gallo, Nuevo Titán, Ráfaga Sr., Rey Águila DDQ Delirio, Draego, Rayman, Xtreme Fly
Arena GDL. Rayman and Gallo unmasked each other. Money thrown in.
4) Dark Pain, Demencía, Dragón Kid, Kosako Jr. b Golden Fly, Kraken, Magno, Shyru Jr.
Arena Roberto Paz
5) El Enviado, Kaiju, Riesgo b Mr. Reggae, Reyko, Sniper
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara match
6) Difunto, Explosivo, Flash, Zandokan Jr. b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Persa, Satánico

This was a free Dia de Luchador show; attendance was everyone they had space for.

Rayman and Gallo have their mask match a week from Saturday. Mas Lucha announced they’ll stream that one live. Those are two big local names and that match should for sure feel like a big deal. It’s an indie match that may be 1/4th brawling and interference but it’ll have a strong chance to be something worth watching. Shows in Arena GDL are usually a 8 pm start so figure the main event to happen around 10.

The Friday after the Aniversario is usually just rematches and not much more. There is a bit more with today’s lineup. Octagon and Hijo de Octagon to make Fuerza Guerrera’s life (more) miserable. The real draw to me is a father/son match with Blue Panther & Dark Panther against Panterita del Ring & Panterita del Ring Jr. The younger Panterita getting a spotlight chance is a possibility for great things, Dark Panther is fun when given something to do, and the fathers have had good chemistry in the past. In total truth, it’s probably a “make sure to check it out when it turns up on YouTube” show and not “you’ve got buy it and see it live” card, but I buy everything and maybe you to do. This is the link to the iPPV if you’re that weird.

CMLL (SUN) 09/25/2022 Arena México
1) Bengala & Neón vs Cholo & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Cachorro, Leono, Valiente Jr. vs Disturbio, El Consejo, Raider
3) Audaz, Diamond, Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs El Coyote, Felino, Hijo del Villano III
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado

“El Consejo” in the second match sticks out. Nitro previously used this name in 2017, spending a late July weekend as a tecnico. The poster indicates it’s meant to be Nitro again. CMLL didn’t really explain what was going on, but it was thought this was just something strange CMLL was doing to make sure they owned the name (and AAA or someone else couldn’t use a wrestler over that name.) Maybe they needed to renew it after five years.

CMLL (TUE) 09/27/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Logan, Luminoso, Quka vs Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Minotauro
2) El Divino, Hijo del Solar, Mágico vs Cris Skin, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
3) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
4) Hombre Bala, Robin, Suicida vs Omar Brunetti, Principe Daniel, Vaquero Jr.
5) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs Bestia Negra, Dragón Rojo Jr., Joker, Misterioso Jr.
6) Blue Panther, Fuerza Guerrera, Solar I vs Atlantis, Black Warrior, Satánico

A legends main event with Black Warrior returning. Hijo del Solar doesn’t seem to wrestle outside of shows where his father wrestlers.

I plan on putting the CMLL Aniversario show on the Google Drive on Saturday. The timing may be a little bit funky because I prefer to wait for it the CMLL Televisa show to air and that overlaps a bit with AAA this week, but it’ll be there sometime Saturday night. My Twitter bit of donating money to get the show still stands today but you can also just wait a day. Someone must’ve pirated a copy by now because there are definitely people who’ve seen the show who I don’t think I’ve sent a link, so that option exists as well.

CMLL announced the night of champions lineup on Wednesday. The matches were as I expected on Wednesday. Magia Blanca & Volador didn’t get enough late votes to go ahead of Dulce Gardenia & Espiritu Negro. They did get enough late votes to swap places with the women’s tag team match on the card. (The men are now 4th, the women 3rd.)

The 09/23 CMLL/Ice Ribbon show (scheduled to be part of a Mexican festival in Tokyo) has been moved to 09/25 at Ice Ribbon’s gym due to an incoming typhoon. That show has the Dalys vs Tae Honma match for the CMLL Japan Women’s championship. Stephanie Vaquer challenges for an Ice Ribbon title on their show on 09/24.

CMLL’s sponsoring a 5/10 KM race on 10/08. Valiente appeared at a press event to promote this and indicated he’d be returning to the ring soon.

AAA

AAA finally held their press conference for TripleMania Friday morning. The complete card:

AAA TV (SAT) 10/15/2022 Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Azcapotzalco, Distrito Federal
1) Arcano, El Furioso, Leyenda Americana vs Picadura Letal, Terror Purpura, Venenoide
Marvel Lucha Libre match. These are the photos on the poster but lineup isn’t final, may include many more characters, somehow leads to a title tournament. 
2) Microman vs ChessmanTaurusSexy StarNiño HamburguesaMr. IguanaLady ShaniFlip GordonDiva SalvajeJessy VenturaAerostar? [Copa Bardahl]
3) Látigo & Toxin vs Komander & Myzteziz and Arez & Willie Mack and Dragón Lee & Dralistico [AAA TAG, #1 Contenders]
4) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Bandido, Laredo Kid, Psycho Clown and Brian Cage, Johnny Caballero, Sam Adonis [AAA TRIOS]
first defense
5) Taya © vs Kamille [Reina De Reinas]
Kamille replaced Thunder Rosa (injury)
6) Cibernético vs Pagano [hair]
7) Fénix vs Hijo Del Vikingo [AAA MEGA]
8) Pentagón Jr. vs Villano IV [mask]

This show will air in English and Spanish on FITE. The FITE feed is listed at 7 pm. Dorian Roldan says the show will start airing at 8pm; I assume that’s the FITE version, with the first couple of matches being held over to air the next week as we’ve seen on previous shows.

The two announced matches (Pentagon/Villano, Ciber/Pagano) were skipped over, focusing on the six ones that still needed to be completed. AAA showed a poll saying 32% of the respondents wanted Fenix, 24% of Kenny Omega, 15% Bandido and 29% others. The numbers may be a work and the numbers may have always been planned to be a work depending on who was available, but it’s a less believable work with Bandido in the results and Juventud Guerrera not in there. Guerrera’s campaign to get people to vote for him was very clearly working.

(I also totally screwed up, yet again. I had been told Juventud Guerrera wanted to interference in the press conference as a stunt and he had made some indication on his own social media he was going to do something. When the press conference stopped and everyone stopped to react to something off camera, then Fenix joked about that being Juventud Guerrera adding himself to the match, I thought that really was Juventud Guerrera adding himself to the match. It turns out it was just some random music practice they could hear and I could not, and Juventud Guerrera had nothing to do with it.)

Fenix versus Hijo del Vikingo will be outstanding. I think it’s the right match no matter how they got there. This whole poll bit still seems like a way for AAA to get out of the Omega/Vikingo match if it couldn’t happen, but I’m not sure it met that goal. Mexican fans hoping for a big AEW or outside name to be added to the show were probably left disappointed by no Omega, no FTR and no Sammy/Tay. There are surely reasons for all of them and AAA will once again spell them out in podcasts and newsletters, but those fans are still going to be disappointed. For those fans who spent the last year imagining some big cross over with AEW, this lineup will leave them disappointed.

Dorian put a lot of hype on Kamille/Taya match, saying it might be one of the best women’s matches anywhere and expected a lot of international attention. It kind of came off as a defense as why AAA was doing that match instead of the Flammer/Taya one, though Flammer was not mentioned. Dorian also brought up a 19,000 attendance figure and explained to Kamille this was the biggest show in lucha libre. I don’t know that CMLL is even on Dorian Roldan’s radar in 2022 so it might have been unintentional but, for the people who do pay attention to both groups, the moment came off like him stating Kamille/Taya was going to beat Jarochita/Isis. That’s a tall task.

(Flammer isn’t listed on the card but I suspect she’s working as one of the Marvel characters.)

The other matches is the usual TripleMania bit of trying to cram everyone on the card and people being a little short-changed on oppurtinties. Psycho Clown being used a three way trios match on TripleMania Mexico City feels like something fell through, it’s such an underutilization. NGD did interviews happily talking about how they were going to get to wrestler foreginers on this show and I wonder if they knew they were going to face the same three foreigners who are on this show all the time.

The fourway tag match should be great. It was also undercut by Dragon Lee & Dralistico correctly pointing out it shouldn’t be happening, they should be facing FTR already. Everyone’s going to work to create drama to believe anything other than a Dragon Lee & Dralistico victory is happening. I think I would’ve put Flip in the fourway tag and Willie in the battle royal, but AAA must think they need Willie’s charisma to liven it up.

I like Flip more than most in AAA, I’m sure he’ll do something fun, it is absolutely confusing that a promotion that says it doesn’t have enough resources to do what they want is bringing in Flip Gordon to work a battle royal. I’m sure there’s a reason I do not understand, because on the outside it seems like AAA could just put Parka Negra or Argenis or Dave the Clown in the spot for the same difference. Flip doesn’t any sort of a draw at this point – he’s a guy who’s so slipped off the radar that people are surprised he’s still around when he turns up. Relationships are everything in wrestling, I guess. I have none and that’s why I’m doing a blog instead of something meaningful.

Roldan pushed the Marvel Lucha Libre concept strongly. It hasn’t been on TV since April and, if you search around Amazon reviews, it seems like a concept the Marvel fans never really got into and have already moved on from. AAA must be getting a different indication because they’re talking about this match (participants based on graphics, may not be the actual list) as the start of a title situation that’ll peak in a big show in Acapulco. A standalone Marvel Lucha Libre show still seems on the books. It seems weird but it’s great business for AAA if Disney/Marvel is still into it.

AAA’s switched around the people wrestling under the Marvel Lucha Libre characters many times. Taurus as Venenoide has been one of the few constants; perhaps he’s got a big role on this show and that’s why he’s not doing much elsewhere. (The downside of AAA having so much talent is you always feel like someone’s not getting to use all of theirs.) Arcano has most often been Hijo del Vikingo and he actually did that gimmick the last time he defended the Mega title on screen, so I guess he might do it again. Picdura Letal was Sexy Star originally. The other names have changed multiple times.

TripleMania felt like it was missing something at the press conference but, again, they didn’t talk about Penta/Villano, they didn’t talk about Ciber/Pagano. I’m confident those and the Mega title match to feel like TripleMania matches. Everything else is the usual everything else on a recent TripleMania card. It’ll be good.

AAA TV on Space this week is from the Hard Rock Hotel Rivera. No idea what matches. Space is listing the show about 45 minutes early this week, at “5:43 pm”.  I’ll stream it on Twitch if the feed plays OK and it’ll stay up there if you forget the starting time.

AAA also has a Showcenter event on Sunday. There are only five matches announced; most shows have had six or seven. Not sure if something is going to be added with Octagon Jr. They’ve consistently announced the next date and lineup during these shows and there’s a hint something may be coming with the tournament on that date.

Hijo del Vikingo

Hijo del Vikingo, in an interview with Heraldo de Puebla, says he is expecting to hear about his US visa in October. I’ve been told that he and the others in the long stuck Masked Republic group were told they would be getting approved in October. It also apparently wasn’t RGR getting involved after all, even though RGR broke the news

That was not the only Hijo del Vikingo news of the day. Hijo del Vikingo posted a photo of himself with a baby Wednesday night. This photo so angered Hades, the baby’s mother, that she wrote a lengthy post on Facebook talking about the circumstances of both the photo and her relationship. She specifically didn’t refer to Hijo del Vikingo by name, though she posted a photo of him sleeping near a crib from some other time. Everyone reading the post is meant to be already aware she’s talking about Vikingo. (“Hades” is the name the women used at the end of her AAA run and in her Instagram posts, her Facebook is still using her “Hahastary” indie name. I’m using Hades to make this consistent.)

Hades version of her and Vikingo’s history begins with him moving into her place when he was homeless. Hades says she and Vikingo’s previous girlfriend (who he also has a child with) had broken up, he needed a place to live, she let him live with her, and only then did they start a relationship. Hades says the relationship was positive at first – he asked her parents for permission to see their daughter, they took care of some his medical bills – but it reads as though they broke up at some point. Hades doesn’t seem to explain what happened, instead moving to them getting back together and the relationship becoming sour. Hades says Vikingo become misogynistic and egotistical, someone that isolated her from all her friends to get her to stay home and take care of him. Hades knew things were gong bad but convinced herself to stay for reasons she now feels silly. Hijo del Vikingo moved his sister into the place where he and Hades were leaving, and then moved another woman. Hades only later realized Vikingo had started a relationship with that woman; those two are now a couple. Hades eventually took her baby and left that place, and said she has not seen Vikingo for six months before that photo. Vikingo has been getting negative posts on social media following Hades talking about their relationship last month. Hades believed Vikingo met with her just so he could take that photo for Instagram as a response to social media hate and said he only spent five minutes with them.

Vikingo responded on Friday, posting a receipt of a bank transfer from about a week ago. He wrote that he wants to keep his private life private, but the social media comments about his post relationship were starting to affect his personal and professional life. Vikingo hopes the receipt was proof that he was taking care of his two children; Vikingo said he sent them money every two weeks and other times when necessary. He seemed to confirm he did only spend five minutes with Hades and their baby, though he said that was more due to issues with not wanting to be around Hades, who he feels has lied to him and misrepresented him. Vikingo suggests it was a toxic relationship with no solution and he had to get out to rebuild his life. Vikingo ends by apologizing for exposing his private lives to the fans, who he feels shouldn’t have to deal with it. Hades has responded with more Facebook posts that vaguely hint at the situation.

I can’t tell you what to believe, but I believe parts of Hades or Vikingo’s stories and not others. Hades’ story that she only got together with Vikingo after he broke up with the previous woman is suspicious; the previous woman loudly indicated otherwise at the time. I’m also not sure if “2 babies” is the true total of Vikingo kids; there are other women on Instagram who suggest the total could be 3 or 4. There are other discrepancies. It’s not worth breaking down every word they’ve said: it’s a messy situation and one where the truth can’t and shouldn’t be determined through emotional social media posts.

Vikingo’s the one wrestling right so he seems more relevant. He seems like he’s made some very poor choices. I don’t think they rise to “canceling” him. Vikingo wouldn’t be the first terrible spouse or absentee father who went onto US wrestling stardom – but it’s fair and understandable if the story changes anyone’s feelings towards him. I like watching Hijo del Vikingo matches but I’d want to know there’s not going to be more or worse revelations to come out if I was someone who ran a wrestling company and wanted to sign him and invest in him long term. On the other hand, Vikingo seems like a guy who could use a contract with a US company to pay for all the promises he’s made.

I still haven’t put anything about this on Twitter because I found it too complicated for 280 characters, and that was before Vikingo posted today. I don’t know that posting scandalous stuff on Twitter actually accomplishes much in Mexican wrestling beyond dramatic quote tweets – all the energy on Travis Banks only meant he’s not working Big Lucha, but he’s working every other indie fine at the moment. Ineffective drama is just annoying.

IWRG/Mas Lucha

Mas Lucha (THU) 09/22/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Hannya, SB Kento, Shocko, Tirano b Cometa Maya, El Viajero, Éxtasis, Radioactivo Kickoff de ¡Viva La Lucha! | Mano a Mano en la Arena Naucalpan: El Mesías vs Último Guerrero (posted by mluchatv)
2) Princesa Águila & Sakura b Artemiz & Princesa Azul [LLM TAG] Kickoff de ¡Viva La Lucha! | Mano a Mano en la Arena Naucalpan: El Mesías vs Último Guerrero (posted by mluchatv)
3) Hijo de Payaso Purasanta & Payaso Purasanta Jr. b Hip Hop Man & Mosca (Argentina) Kickoff de ¡Viva La Lucha! | Mano a Mano en la Arena Naucalpan: El Mesías vs Último Guerrero (posted by mluchatv)
4) Karaoui & Zumbi © b Blaze & Camuflaje [TWS TAG] Kickoff de ¡Viva La Lucha! | Mano a Mano en la Arena Naucalpan: El Mesías vs Último Guerrero (posted by mluchatv)
5) Accion Jackson & Yutani b Alas de Oro & Alas De Plata Alas de Oro y Alas de Plata se enfrentan a Action Jackson y Yutani en ¡Viva La Lucha! (posted by mluchatv)
6) Ciclón Ramírez Jr. b Shun SkywalkerTravis Banks [TWS CHAMP] ¡Desde las gradas! Así se lanza Shun Skywalker sobre sus rivales en ¡Viva La Lucha! (posted by mluchatv)
7) Último Guerrero b El Mesías ¡Lucha de titanes! Último Guerrero y El Mesías reparten derechazos en ¡Viva La Lucha! (posted by mluchatv)
win via foul. Hair vs hair challenges followed.

These Mas Lucha shows have all drawn pretty well. This one bombed; it was the turnout of a poor normal Thursday night show. I don’t think this lineup was all that worse than the last few but it definitely didn’t work out. Maybe the timing wasn’t great coming off the big shows in this building and in general around Mexico City this week. It would give me pause if I was running CMLL and thinking about doing this Mesias/Ultimo Guerero feud; no one cared.

The first four matches all aired for free. That’s cool as a viewer but I think Mas Lucha is probably hurting themselves by giving away so much stuff. They need to be meaner.

This week’s IWRG Retro

  • 2005-03-03 Universo 2000, Black Terry, Scorpio Jr. vs Blue Panther, Blue Demon Jr., Mascara Sagrada
  • 2001-07-12 Kato Kung Lee, Super Astro, Pantera vs Hijo del Diablo, Dr. Cerbero, Nosawa
  • 2000-06-15 Felino, Black Dragon, Suicida vs Maniac Cop, Super Mega, Mega

Again, these are all matches known to exist on tape lists but weren’t available online. It’s relevant in that the hope is IWRG has access to this big library of matches of unseen material, but the reality might be IWRG mostly might be working off those same tapes that got passed around long ago. Either way, most people haven’t seen this stuff since it airs or ever, so I hope they keep posting it.

IWRG (SUN) 09/25/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Súper Boy vs Kenji
2) Baby Star & Jhon Tito vs Feroz & Rey Aztaroth
3) Noisy Boy, Paymon, Spider Fly vs Limbo, Nishikawa, Rey Halcón
4) Hijo del Alebrije, Luka, Relámpago vs Garra Mortal, Maniacop, Yorvak
5) Hell Boy, Oficial 911, Oficial Fierro vs Caballero de Plata, Cerebro Negro, Cerebro Negro Jr.
6) Abismo Negro Jr., Aster Boy, Tonalli vs Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Puma de Oro

Abismo Negro back to be part of this Jacuan feud. Hell Boy is an Oficial for the night. AK-47 must actually be hurt because he’s not around to continue the feud.

A recap of the IWRG Tag Team Championship

  • Aramis & Imposible are champions, titles are vacated because Imposible became Fuerza Guerrera NG
  • Chicago wrestlers Bryce Benjamin & Marshe Rockett come in for a tournament, win the vacant tag titles
  • a pandemic happens! Benjamin and Rockett can’t return to Mexico for a long period
  • Benjamin & Rockett defend the titles in Chicago once but they’re mostly forgotten about
  • IWRG holds a #1 contenders tournament, with the idea that the winners might go to the US to win the tag titles to bring them back
  • Demonio Infernal & Fresero Jr. win the tag team tournament
  • Demonio Infernal & Fresero Jr. quit IWRG
  • 16 months later, Atomico Jr. & Golden Dragon win the tag team titles from Benjamin & Rockett on a GALLI show, with the idea either they’ll go to Mexico or someone will come to Chicago to win the belts.
  • Golden Dragon and maybe Atomico Jr. quit GALLI
  • this week IWRG announces Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura’s visit to GALLI this Sunday will include a decision match for the vacant IWRG tag team titles. The belts should finally go back to Mexico after three years.
  • Fuerza Guerrera NG is Imposible again.

Looking at that, we all understand something will go wrong and the belts will still be in Chicago after this week. But, while we’re at this, it appears GALLI has shifted video providers again and are now going to be streaming on IWTV.

Mas Lucha announced their field for the 10/06 Torneo Supremo

  • Aeroboy
  • Charly Manson
  • Dragon Lee
  • Jack Evans
  • Komander
  • Puma King
  • Shun Skywalker
  • Tonalli

I watched last year’s Torneo Supremo and was unsatisfied by the quality of matches and turned off by the overbooking. It’s a big reason I haven’t gone back to subscribe since, it felt like shows that just weren’t meant for my tastes. I may get suckered in again by that lineup – there are some really good names in there and also strangely Charly Manson??? – and I’ll have only myself to blame if it turns out the same way.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha runs tonight in Bandido’s Gym with Alas de la Independencia. The show will stream on Mas Lucha. The poster says a 6:30 pm start, but they’re actually starting at “8:30” as normal.

Big Lucha’s first anniversary was a few shows back, but this feels like the true end of Season 1 for the promotion. The main feud for this promotion has been Bandido versus Flamita and they’re meeting in the main event for the promotion’s new singles title. I keep thinking about how Big Lucha ought to do something to move onto a new direction after getting into a rut on the Big Lucha/Black Generation feud that I think I’m overlooking the obvious stuff. This is the first time Bandido and Flamita have wrestled in a singles match in Big Lucha, the first time they’ve wreslted in a singles match since Flamita became Demonic Flamita. It should be an outstanding match in a month already with plenty of outstanding matches. Whatever happens (or doesn’t happen) next can wait until after they have their match.

The rest of the card has the usual mix of young in-house talent and reoccurring ousiders. Skayde vs Blue Demon vs Dr. Wagner meet in a three way. A 5v5 pits teams of Mexico versus the Rest of the World, and there’s an early scramble that could similarly produce some cool spots. Ex-WWE Catalina makes her Bandido’s Gym debut teaming with Sussy Love against AAA’s La Hiedra and Sexy Star and there’s an opening 3 team tag. The Big Lucha shows haven’t completely hit on every match yet. Maybe this will be that show.

They did an angle on Thursday’s Big Lucha show in Torreon where Black Generation beat up Bandido’s father. I think that means Bandido has to win tonight. Attendance in that building was much higher than the usual local Sunday shows there. That full show is up on Angel’s channel.

Mexico’s INJUVE (government sponsored youth insititue) announced “El Lance a la Victoria‘, a lucha libre talent search content, at a Dia de Lucha Libre press conference. The winner will receive a one year contract with Big Lucha, a Mexic City wrestling license or free renewal, and a 5000 pesos. Second place gets 3000 pesos the same wrestling license deal, third place just gets the free license. INJUVE worked with Bandido and friends on mask and vaccination awareness previously. I’m not exactly sure what a one year contract with Big Lucha means in practice; probably just a regular part of their roster.

People who want to participate need to be betwee 12-29, have trained in wrestling for one year and must live in Mexico City. There’s an audition on on September 28th to cut down to fourty wrestlers, who’ll be split amongst four trainers. They’ll have matches on Thursdays at Bandido’s Gym, with four judges rating the performances. That’ll be a further cut down to six finalists who will participate on a show on 10/27. I presume this will be additional Mas Lucha streams on Thursday nights but I’m not certain. The set up sounds broadly similar to what Mas Lucha has done with the IWRG Tryout series (and CMLL’s En Busca de un Idolo prior.)

There is also an associated lucha libre comic book drawing contest for people between 12-29 who live in Mexico City. More details can be found in a PDF on INJUVE’s website.

Nacion Lucha Libre

Nacion Lucha Libre begins “season 2” on Saturday. You can click here to see what they advertised as the lineup, but it’ll probably be different when it actually happens. Notably, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. is listed in both Nacion Lucha Libre and in NOAH, so he’s not appearing in Nacion Lucha Libre. Alberto has done a lot of press for the show. I don’t feel any buzz for the show or any of the matches, but then that was obvious when they announced the matches. It is intended to be a TV product so maybe it’ll be a bigger deal when it airs; there’s still no exact date for the start. This is more interesting as a business story than a wrestling one at this point.

Other Notes

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Dayami is wrestling in Cincinnati, Ohio’s Ascend Pro Wrestling on Saturday. That’s a random booking. She apparently came to the US in August and will be around for six months.

10/08 Riot (Nuesta Raza, Nueva Lucha)

Negro Navarro will wrestle Tony Deppen on the 10/09 JCW show. That show airs for free on YouTube. I’m not sure what Tony Deppen did to deserve this challenge.

10/22 GCW in Detroit has Komander vs Shun Skywalker.

The 10/14 Vanguardia show will have Ciclope & Miedo Extremo vs Drew Parker & El Mago in an explosion match.

Psicosis II said he’s in discussion to start a wrestling school in Puebla in association with the local BUAP university.

San Luis Potosi handed out awards on Dia de Luchador, which isn’t the worst idea. The best local tencico was Bogar Jr., the best local rudo is Demencia Jr.,, and the best luchador was Luz Viva. Many more awards were given out.

5 thoughts to “Starman (1974-2022), TripleMania CDMX lineup announced, Big Lucha title decided tonight”

  1. Hey Cubs – three random questions for you if you wouldn’t mind,,,

    What happened to Universo 2000 Jr, did he exit CMLL a shortly after NGD or is ge injured?
    Any update on Felino Jr? Feels like he’s missing an opportunity with all the changes in booking at CMLL
    What’s the current breakdown on CMLLs B shows, are they taken from Sunday and Tuesday shows?

    Thanks

  2. lol imagine the almost dozens of people you might get your spam in front of by hitting the comments on cubsfan

  3. Not really sure what happened with Universo 2000 Jr. He disappeared from CMLL about a month after NGD did, but he also had an obvious chronic shoulder injury. I haven’t seen him mentioned as actually wrestling since.

    Tiger/Felino Jr. is still active on IG, every so often says he’s returning “soon” but that soon sure has taken a while. There’s probably a bigger story but that’s another one I don’t know.

    CMLL on AMX is getting 3 matches from a recent Sunday show, same as it was pre-pandemic. I’m guessing the other two matches from that show air on Heraldo TV or Megacable, but I have no way to watch or record those shows. And of course Televisa is airing 3 matches from Friday.

    The CMLL MVS Guerreros del Ring show is airing matches from about 7 weeks back and with no particular pattern as far as day of the week. I am still recording it but it’s matches that have turned up already about every 4 out of 5 weeks so you’ll rarely see me upload anything. It’s the same with the irregular CMLL on Twitch broadcast: those are many weeks behind and usually airing something that already streamed on Tuesday or Friday. They’re also usually highly irrelevant matches but then most Tuesday & Sunday matches are that way.

Comments are closed.