Month: October 2022

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/28/2022 Arena México [AS, CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Excelsior, Kaiser Sports, PubliMetro, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita b Hera, Metálica, Tiffany  
9:42.
2) Esfinge & Fugaz © b Magia Blanca & Rugido [MEX TAG]   
16:01. 3rd defense
3) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr.   
16:36. Only 3 fall match of the night. The finish in theory was UG sneakily pulling off Mistico’s mask without the referee seeing it; the referee turned too late. Challenges followed.
4) Amapola, Dalys, Faby, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis b Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Ivelisse, Lady Frost, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Tae Honma [Gran Prix de Amazonas]   
Eliminations: Avispa Dorada (15:00, via Lluvia), Amapola (19:11, Lady Frost), Marcela (23:53, Mei), Shimizu (Isis, 26:28), Ivelisse (28:34, Sugehit), Isis (31:10, Vaquer), Honma (34:25, Dalys), Vaquer (36:06, Faby), Gracia (36:49, Jarochita), Lluvia (37:54, Suruga), Faby (39:32, Frost), Jarochita (41:28, Frost), Sugehit (Suruga, 42:30), Suruga (Dalys, 42:51), and Frost (Dalys, 47:20), leaving Dalys as the winner

In retrospect, CMLL moved Dalys from Team World to Team Mexico this year because CMLL planned for her to win and figured it’d be a better celebration if she did it for Mexico. It still wasn’t much of a celebration. Last year, the entire Mexico team came back out to celebrate with winner Dark Silueta. This year, Marcela and Tiffany (not in the match) came out to celebrate with Dalys. The rest of Team Mexico weren’t the only ones to check out early; there were sections where it appeared fans had left the show before the main event concluded, something very unusual for CMLL.

Dalys as winner got the usual polarizing reaction, with people unhappy for the choice and believing she got these chances because she’s Negro Casas’ wife. The bigger problem was Dalys struggled in all the ways she normally struggled and everyone kept putting her in positions to struggle. She missed catching both Garcia and Frost, letting both hit the Arena Mexico floor very hard. They got up and kept going. Dalys didn’t seem to do it maliciously, she’s just doesn’t have the skills to be in the right position after all these years. The problem is with whoever’s overseeing these matches and continually allowing Dalys (and others) to try things they can not accomplish. It’s not fun to tell Lady Frost she can’t do her moonsault at the end of the match, or that some other moves other people did don’t look good, but I’m sure they’d appreciate that more than looking bad or colliding face first with the floor. It’s fine to kayfabe build these women up as great wrestlers, but if they’re not telling them where they’re not good and what they need to avoid, they’re doing these women a disservice.

Lady Frost and Mei Suruga were the standouts. Suruga has her character down and plays it well for a big audience for a match like this, in the same way Fuego gets over to new crowds. Frost came across as super athletic, at a level unseen in CMLL among their women (and only a few of the men would be able to match her top rope move.) Frost came away as the star of the night, the person CMLL fans seemed asking the most to see again. CMLL doesn’t seem to have a budget for regular foreigner visits, but she figures to get the call at least when they run the Gran Prix again next year.

Avispa, the most athletic of the CMLL luchadoras, was eliminated first and then disappeared for the rest of the weekend. Maybe her recent issues have been injury related? Team Mexico generally ranged from fine to disappointed bad; beyond Dalys, I thought Sugehit’s exchanges looked poor. Faby looked degrees better than any one else on her side. Vaquer also wrestled well. I was surprised Sugura was featured so much more than the woman who working in the CMLL affiliated promotion in Japan – Honma and Shimizu – but maybe we’ll see more of them this week. Those two are still around, while everyone else finished on Sunday.

This women’s Gran Prix just didn’t work as well as expected. It didn’t have the same interest going and it definitely didn’t have the same crowd involvement as the men’s one in August. The intensity wasn’t there. The only time the crowd seemed to get to that higher level appeared to be because of other fans – there was loud whistling and a “MEXICO” chant, and I presume it’s because the foreign fans had been chanting for their own country. I’m not sure if this concept just works only once a year, or at least not twice in three months. It could be the Mexican fans don’t see the CMLL women as important as the men (and why would they, they’ve rarely) and it may just take time to get this concept over.

This show concludes CMLL’s October of women’s mani events and two women’s matches one every Friday. It didn’t seem like the concept particularly worked or failed. CMLL might have done a little better in the short-term with the normal focuses, but there’s a benefit in building more people up and keeping some of the familiar rivalries fresher by cutting back on them for a month. I’m not sure any of the CMLL women came out of a bigger star; Dalys and Lluvia both came across as lifetime achievement winners rather than people ascending to a new level. This concept felt like a positive branding exercise rather than any meaningful change for the women, but it’s not like someone was waiting to break out that was passed over either.

Ultimo Guerrero and Soberano did not touch in their match. They didn’t touch in their last match either. The match was constructed in a way where it didn’t stick out – Guerrero wrestled Mistico most of the match – but it’s also very weird. They’ll be back not fighting next week.

Rugido and Magia Blanca did very well in the tag match, the most I’ve liked Los Deperadores in a title match. I’m not ready to consider myself for the Rugido fan club but it’s trending in a positive direction. Fugaz had a rough match in ways not always noticed, where he struggled going up for his opponents moves multiple times. They all put in more thought than just an average midcard match and it was good when it worked.

CMLL (SAT) 10/29/2022 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha, CMLL]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Minos & Pequeño Violencia 
tecnicos took 2/3
2) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Optimus (Querétaro), Rugido, Trono 
Rugido replaced Explosivo. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Flyer, Star Black, Volcano 
Cancerberos took 2/3
4) Alex Gracia, La Vaquerita, Lady Frost b Hikari Shimizu, Mei Suruga, Tae Honma 
Vaquerita replaced Avispa Dorada. Her team took 2/3.
5) Atlantis, Star Jr., Volador Jr. b Niebla Roja, Sagrado, Terrible 
Tecnicos took 2/3.

Maybe they’re still setting up Star Jr. and Niebla Roja? It was less clear. These shows are said to be taped for Heraldo TV, which airs an hour of CMLL on Saturdays and Sundays. Heraldo TV has a DailyMotion stream but only on selected shows, and CMLL is not one of those selected shows. If you live in Mexico City, are already watching this show, and can easily record and upload it, I’d definitely put it on my drive if you sent it to me.

CMLL (SUN) 10/30/2022 Arena México [CMLL, The Gladiatores (video)]
1) Astral, Cachorro, Sangre Imperial b Apocalipsis, Inquisidor, Raider 
2) Micro Gemelo Diablo I b Chamuel © [CMLL MICRO]  
Chamuel falls on 3rd defense. Micro Gemelo I becomes second champion. Templario made his first appearance since his injury as Chamuel’s second.
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Diamond, Magnus, Rugido
Fuerza Poblana took 2/3.
4) Amapola, Dalys, Stephanie Vaquer b Alex Gracia, Lady Frost, Mei Suruga 
No Avispa Dorada for the second show, so Amapola added (and Suruga flipped teams). Team Dalys took 2/3.
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Hijo de Octagón, Octagón b Ángel de Oro, Fuerza Guerrera, Niebla Roja, Satánico 

The title change is a little bit of a surprise, but there’s nothing to do in the Micros division outside of the Gemelos and Chamuel trading the title occasionally. Maybe the title change was tipped off by CMLL identifying which Micro was involved this time.

I guess the Octagon/Satanico thing was to go against WWE? I didn’t notice a big difference in turnout.

CMLL (FRI) 11/04/2022 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Violencia
2) Dalys, Marcela, Stephanie Vaquer vs Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Tae Honma [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs El Coyote, Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III
4) Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
5) Terrible vs ? [Rey del Infrmaundo]

I keep thinking these shows need more help, but maybe the Dia de Muertos theme will be enough. Tercera could be fun. Avispa in the segunda match is obviously a question mark. Stuka still seems most likely to face Terrible. This is a double price PPV, and the only of the Dia de Muertos shows to be offered on PPV this year.

AAA

AAA aired the dark matches from TripleMania this past week. The Copa Bardahl was like every other match of this type. I guess the difference was they started with four people in the ring (or three and Diva Salvaje inexplicably standing outside to take a dive) and they paused again to do spots with four people left. No one will ever think about the match again. I will forget Taurus won by the next time I write a preview because AAA’s made it clear these are unimportant filler matches.

The Marvel match was edited quite a bit, trying to clean up the mess the match left. They included the spot with Furioso’s injury, cut away to the crowd, cut back just long enough to show an elimination while Furioso was down in the ring, cut away again, and did more editing to speed through the matches. It was about tasteful as they could’ve handled the situation without re-taping the match. Something got messed up there beyond the introduction. The Iron Man character did a pre-match promo talking about four tecnicos and four rudos facing off to see who’d be the best and advance to his tournament final, then five tecnicos and five rudos walked out. The promo was obviously taped audio and all I can figure is there was a debate over if to include the women (since there was exactly one per team) and no effort to fix the audio once plans change. The match ended with six people left, and that might be have been a Furioso-related error, though the announcers still seemed to talk about four people advancing to the final. I don’t think anyone was so invested that it mattered where four or six people advanced.

AAA has no new tapings until 11/20 in Chihuahua. AAA has five weeks of TV (Guadalajara week 2, Puebla, Showcenter final) sitting on a hard drive somewhere, so they’re in no need to do anything. The Mexicali taping hasn’t come up in a while, and it may not be until December if it hasn’t been mentioned yet. Still no matches for Tempe, a press conference should be happening this week.

Vampiro filled in for Pagano on a show in Toluca on Friday. Vampiro seems to be wrestling a lot more in the last few months.

IWRG

Ivannia Moreno Tolsa (38) passed away on Saturday morning. She was officially the “IWRG Directora de Nuevo Proyectos”; she was the daughter of promotion owner Marcos Moreno. Ivannia was most visible in their video projects over the last two years, as one of the hosts of their weekly Revolucionario program and traveling to Los Angeles and Chicago as part of setting up working agreements with RGR and GALLI. Her father Marcos is still running IWRG, and he and others are the ones working in the programming department, but general idea seemed to be that Ivannia would be the public face of the promotion while she and other siblings would take over running it someday. No cause of death was mentioned. Ivannia was on IWRG’s YouTube channel as recently as Wednesday; some of those segments appear pre-taped, but there was no sign of any health concerns. This news just shocked everyone; my first instinct was that someone got hacked and was posting weird fake messages when I first saw the news. Shows in Arena Lopez Mateos and Guadalajara held moments of applause in Ivannia’s memory and AAA noted her passing on social media.

The Moreno family held Ivannia’s funeral on Saturday, then went ahead and on with the scheduled Sunday show. They honored her during the night and posted a tribute video. This show, just because of how the calendar fell, happened to be the death-themed Castillo del Terror show. IWRG had a haunted house set up inside off Arena Naucalpan as part of the festivities, which sounded like an Ivannia concept. The event appeared to sell out, as big IWRG cage matches tend to do. I’m sure they didn’t think long about canceling this show, if it even was a thought at all.

IWRG (SUN) 10/30/2022 Arena Naucalpan [Cronista del Ring, IWRG, R de Rudo, Zona Ruda]
***Castillo del Terror, 2022***
1) Hip Hop Man & Lucio b Águila Roja & Jhon Tito 
2) Keyra & Spider Fly b Limbo & Lolita 
3) Cerebro Negro b Hell Boy [super libre] 
Still heading to a hair match.
4) Puma de Oro © b Tonalli © [IWRG MEXICO, IWRG IC MIDDLE] 
Tonalli 3rd defense of the Middleweight title, Puma de Oro 3rd defense of the IWRG Mexico championship (all against Tonalli). Puma de Oro won once again, taking both titles.
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Bugambilia, Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura
Jessy and Bugambilia had issues.
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan © b Galeno del Mal [IWRG Rey del Ring]
3rd defense
7) Garra Mortal Jr. L Hijo De Canis Lupus, Hijo del Fishman, Rey León, Dick Angelo 3G, Asterboy, Noisy Boy, Rey Halcón, Bengalee, Satania, Hijo del Alebrije, Luka [cage, mask]
Rey Leon won Garra Mortal’s mask. Garra Mortal Jr. is Jorge Jesus Rios.

Garra Mortal Jr. has been around for less than two years, so it’s not a big mask loss. The bigger issue is Garra Mortal Jr. appears to be Maniacop 360, so this is him losing one mask as he switched character. This is normal IWRG behavior. Maybe it would have worked if one of the announcers didn’t slip up and called Maniacop “Garra” in one of his recent matches. I don’t think this hurts IWRG at all, because fans keep coming out for these cage matches even with similarly silly finishes before. Enough people know that IWRG might do something to cast doubt on the double identity.

The show goes on. One of the recent topics on the IWRG Revolucionarios show has been a rare IWRG event outside of Arena Naucalpan; that’s still scheduled for Saturday.

Nacion Lucha Libre

I’m a dummy. I wrote that I thought Nacion Lucha Libre was running Alberto/Wagner on 11/06, not thinking about how that would mean one of those two guys would have to lose to each other. That’s just not realistic. This week’s Nacion Lucha Libre TV instead ran an angle where the foreigners beat up Alberto before he could end his tournament match. Texano Jr. won instead, so he’ll face Dr. Wagner on Sunday for the new Nacion Lucha Libre, a fine title match that probably won’t send anyone rushing to buy tickets. Alberto will likely face Carlito and the rest of that crew.

Samuray del Sol announced he’s off the 11/06 show for health reasons.

WWE

WWE’s shows in Monterrey and Mexico City seemed to do fine, not great, but not terrible turnouts either. Mexico City’s show seemed to draw fewer fans than TripleMania – it’s likely the 5th or 6th biggest show in Mexico City this year, though they had higher ticket prices. The shows didn’t feel important but still got important levels of media attention; I think ESTO has six different articles on the Mexico City this morning.

Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo defeated Legado del Fantasma on both shows. The WWE rule is the good guys win the house show matches whenever possible but I didn’t realize Los Lotharios went meant to be the good guys. WWE held a 10 bell salute for Humberto Garza on both shows, and Fantasma appeared with Legado del Fantasma on the Mexico City show. Those are smart touches for a company planning on running more in Mexico someday.

Other News

Shocker held a press conference Friday to tell his side of his incident in Tuxtla Gutierrez. Shocker’s lawyer suggested they’d sue to local police department for their contact. There’s not much new from what he told previously, it was more for a larger audience. He did say he was hoping to get his jaw fixed in January 2023, would be out of action for some months, and was going to run a “Shockerton” of merchandise sales in December to raise money to help him out while he wasn’t wrestling.

Saltillo luchador Chavo Lomeli (52) passed away Sunday. He was part of a large family of local luchadors, including his daughter CMLL’s La Maligna. He was wrestling as recently as last year and was active on Facebook last week. No cause of death is mentioned. A moment of remembrance was held for him in Saltillo.

Titan & BUSHI challenge TJP & Francesco Akira for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team championship on 11/05 in Osaka. TJP and Titan also have a singles match on 11/03. November 1st seems like a decent time to jump into a NJPW World subscription.

Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. challenges Masakatsu Funaki for the GHC Nacional Championship on 11/10 in Korakuen Hall.

Bandido beat Senza Voltio to win Belgium’s BodyZoi Wrestlng championship.

12/17 RIOT “Christmas Extravaganza On Ice (Sin Hielo)”

• Erik Ortiz vs Blake Christian – new

Daylight Savings Time

Mexico ends Daylight Savings time late Saturday/Sunday night. The US ends it next week. That means all Mexico shows starting Saturday will be one hour later than usual.  My AAA on Space Twitch stream will be 7:30 pm this week, and next week’s CMLL Friday stream will start at 9 pm. (Tonight’s Gran Prix is unaffected.) Everything goes back to ‘normal’ on November 6th.

That’s all you need to know for this week. There is a bigger change coming. Until now, there’s been a one-week DST gap in the autumn, and a four-week DST gap in the spring. The good news is this is the last time for the autumn gap. The bad news is the spring one is extending to about 34 weeks. Mexico’s legislature approved a law to end daylight savings time on Wednesday (except for towns that border the US.) It still has to be signed into law, but that’s considered a formality, the Mexican president has pushed for this change personally. The clock switch Mexico makes this week will be the final one it makes. The US has considered making this change many times but never gets around to passing the legislation. The end result is there will be “winter” and “summer” times for US viewers of Mexico streams, with shows airing later during the warmer months. People streaming from Mexico who want a US audience must be very careful at explaining the different start times. It’s going to be a challenge.

CMLL

Today has the Gran Prix:

CMLL (FRI) 10/28/2022 Arena México
1) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita vs Hera, Metálica, Tiffany
2) Esfinge & Fugaz © vs Magia Blanca & Rugido [MEX TAG]
3rd defense
3) Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
4) Amapola, Dalys, Faby, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis vs Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Ivelisse, Lady Frost, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Tae Honma [Gran Prix de Amazonas]

Team Mexico figures to win, figured to win even before Team World won the lead up match in Guadalajara. CMLL’s tendency to spread out wins means Dalys or Reyna Isis or Marcela seem like favorites. I would really like to see more with Avispa Dorada; she was the first eliminated in Guadalajara and seemed to get the short end of the stick last Friday. There’s going to be more international eyes on this show than usual – maybe more than the men’s Gran Prix because of how women’s wrestling fandom works – and it’d be great if Avispa got to show a new audience why we’ve been fans of hers for the last few years. I’m generally curious who will be the last few people on that Team World team; Ivelisse and Surgua being the final 2 was surprising in Guadalajara. Honma and Shimizu make sense as the two sticking around a little longer, but maybe we’ll be surprised again.

The biggest outsider name to the Mexican fans is Team Mexico’s Faby. The Rest of the World team has done lots of press and the Guadalajara announcers put over their quality, but they’re just a lot of new people or rarely seen people. Faby showing up CMLL remains the big deal; the fans seemed excited for the idea on Informa and I’m really curious how tonight goes with reactions.

The two men’s matches should be good, though the tag match guys will likely be pushing themselves a lot harder than the trios ones. Los Depreadores are unlikely to win but could really use a good performance. They just haven’t had enough standout matches. Magia Blanca is the champion most people would forget is champion. Rugido did fine playing Mistico’s foil and could show more of his own style here. The opener looks like a struggle.

This will air on Ticketmaster Live for 200 pesos (double price show) and will go up on YouTube around 11/10.

Informa had some teases of future plans. Julio Cesar Rivera made a point of saying how great it would be to see Ivelisse return for a longer stay, and Ivelisse said that was a goal of hers. Ivelisse also brought up the idea with Mas Lucha, so it’s something in the air. Ivelisse did mention she plans to take some time to rest her body after 20 years of wrestling. CMLL hasn’t brought back any of the men from the Gran Prix, though Lince Dorada has hinted at a December return on social media. (That one might be waiting for Mascara Dorada’s immigration status to ever be cleared out, now that I think about it.)

Informa had a strong tease of a Marcela/Faby match. Faby said she’d do it if the fans want it, and then noted fans always bring up Marcela as an opponent for her. Cesar Rivera said they’d team up first, and then CMLL would make the match if the fans demand it. Faby isn’t announced past tonight’s show, but it came off as it’s just a matter of announcing a date.

This is really the first of back-to-back weeks of big Friday night shows, with the Dia del Muertos show next week. That one has the same double PPV price, though nothing is announced for that date so far except the Rey del Inframundo final. (CMLL’s returned to Saturday posting of Friday lineups.)

CMLL (MON) 10/31/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
2) El Suicida & Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Disturbio & Raider
3) Dalys, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Reyna Isis vs Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Stephanie Vaquer, Tae Honma
4) Atlantis Jr. vs Hijo de Octagón
5) Gran Guerrero, Místico, Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Hechicero, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

Atlantis Jr. & Hijo de Octagon are great friends on Sunday, arch-rivals on Monday, and great friends on Tuesday.

I wouldn’t expect to see more fan-cams from here any time soon. The video of last week’s women’s match got taken off YouTube by CMLL copyright strikee. If you pay really close attention, CMLL seems to have a rule that ‘media’ videos of shows last have to be under two minutes. This has never been explained to the general public, and CMLL does not announce rules against video taping at shows. There are plenty of CMLL videos that are longer than two minutes, including by the same YouTube user sitting in the same Arena Puebla and on the same channel. (You won’t find them now; he’s wisely marked them as private.) The difference here was I mentioned the video on Twitter to let non-lucha fans know where they might see their wrestlers, rather than just mentioning it on a post here or linking to it on the database as I did with past videos. CMLL seems to pay attention only to my Twitter account, so I’m probably at fault for that video getting a strike.

CMLL doesn’t appear to be taping Arena Puebla shows, there’s no obvious harm to CMLL by having that video online. There also were many other steps CMLL could’ve taken, like posting a comment asking the video to be taken down before they struck, but CMLL remains terrible at internet community management and engagement.

CMLL (TUE) 11/01/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Flash, JKR, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Cris Skin, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
2) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus, Trono vs Adrenalina, Crixus, Explosivo, Fantástico
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Náutica, Sexy Sol vs Maligna, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Valkiria
4) Felino Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
5) Atlantis Jr., Hijo de Octagón, Místico vs Averno, Hijo del Villano III, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

This is a Dia del Muertos-themed show. Panterita del Ring Jr. against the GDL young guys should be interesting. A lot of Hijo de Octagon lately.

Somehow, we all forgot Maligna existed when it came to the Universal tournament (and the odd number of people involved.) It’s not too big of a miss: she returned in May but has only wrestled in CMLL five times since, the last on August 20th. I’m guessing she’s been unavailable or she would’ve appeared in October given all the other women who were included.

FantasticaMania

Thursday, NJPW announced the return of their FantasticaMania tour for February 2023. The 2020 tour turned out to be some of the final NJPW shows before the pandemic hit Japan, and this will be the first FantasticaMania since that time.

The schedule:

• 02/22 (Wed) Takamatsu (Kagawa)
• 02/23 (Thu) Kyoto
• 02/24 (Fri) Osaka
• 02/26 (Sun) Makuhari Hall (Chiba)
• 02/27 (Mon) Korakuen Hall
• 02/28 (Tue) Korakuen Hall

It’s a smaller tour than the last few (8 shows, 4 in Korakuen Hall), but that’s OK. NJPW wants to run as many shows as possible to mitigate the costs of flying so many people over, but the cards themselves felt stretched thin the last couple of years. A few years off will do wonders for that, though CMLL still doesn’t have a super deep roster. CMLL sent 21 wrestlers in 2020, and I expect that number will be a little lower with fewer shows.

The tour also was moved from January to February; a common NJPW English-speaking fan complaint about this tour was it broke up the momentum following the 01/04 Tokyo Dome show to hand the shows over to another promotion. It’s not as much an issue this year – NJPW isn’t as hot, FantasticaMania indicates a return to pre-pandemic normalcy (and perhaps full attendance cheering crowds, which Japan has yet to permit.) CMLL fans in Japan are happy to see this back at all too, and the wrestlers are probably thrilled.

Luchador announcements for this tour are still TBA; we might not hear about them until early next year. The late February schedule means a bunch of top wrestlers are going to miss a Friday night show during the build to Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. It’s only one Friday so it shouldn’t be too big of an issue, and maybe whoever’s feuding will stay in Mexico. (Or maybe CMLL could run an angle to build up H2L on Tokyo to get someone besides CMLL fans to notice.) CMLL could still fit on a three-week tournament on starting on 03/07 and a final on a Homenaje a Dos Leyendas on 03/21.

This actually feels like bigger news in NJPW than CMLL at the moment. The Gran Prix tonight and the Dia del Muertos shows next week are getting the big attention. The attention will be increased once those names get announced and people start trying to figure out matches. I’m hoping Panterita del Ring Jr. makes because he’s got the best chance of wow-ing people who haven’t been paying attention to CMLL. NJPW and CMLL likes running those family tag team tournaments so there’s a chance. Panthers/Panteritas match 3 happening in Tokyo would be be fun if we’re going to dream.

AAA

AAA on Space will air at 6:30 pm CT this week. They almost have to be airing those two missing matches from TripleMania this week. The rest of the televised portion (tag, trios, women) goes up on YouTube Sunday.

AAA, EMW and American Icon Autographs have a show on 11/12. This is not a TV taping, though shows from this venue routinely show up on YouTube via fan cams.

AAA , EMW , ICON (SAT) 11/12/2022 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Ju Dizz & Ryan Kidd vs Kal Herro & Rayo Star and Kamikaze & Skalibur and Fantastik & Mirage
2) Reina Dorada & Sexy Star vs La Hiedra & Maravilla
3) Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa vs Máscarita Sagrada & Viva Van
4) Vampiro vs Nzo
5) Arez & Rey Horus vs Flip Gordon & Marty Scurll
6) Komander vs Taurus vs Argenis
7) Hijo Del Vikingo, Pentagón Jr., Psycho Clown vs Gringo Loco, Moose, Sam Adonis

I think a lot of the names that don’t work here normally may be brought in by American Icon. It’s still got the big AAA logo, so some people got annoyed with AAA for using Marty Scurll. The top two matches could be good. Vampiro vs Nzo (ex-WWE Enzo Amore) sounds like a prank.

WrestleTix said Thursday that 425 tickets have been distributed (purchased or given out) for the 12/03 Tempe show. Another way of speaking is the building is at 8.6% capacity. Tickets have been on sale for four weeks. There was no meaningful promotion for the show on TripleMania, and no matches have been announced. AAA usually releases lineups a month ahead of time, so they should have an Tempe card out next week.

The press release for the 12/28 show says the trios titles (NGD) and two sets of tag titles are on the line, which suggests a trip to Acapulco for Sammy & Tay. That leaves one more title match, either Taya or Fenix. Probably Taya. It’s also possible those three matches weren’t announced because those decisions aren’t settled and the plans can change.

Dorian Roldan, talking to Mas Lucha, mentioned an AAA show with “a good friend” taking place in the first few months of 2023 that’ll be announced in the next few weeks.

He was very happy with how TripleMania went and how the luchadors did, and was relieved El Furioso’s injury was not more serious. He’s asked if it’s a TV taping and Roldan says it’s a “test of the US market” which really doesn’t answer the implicit “is anyone outside of Tempe going to be able to see this show” question. Roldan refers to the show as a trial by fire. He also clarifies Marvel Lucha Libre match in Acapulco is a five-person match; we had four winners from TV, so something’s unclear. (The Iron Man analog was shown watching the match with the belt, so maybe he’s meant to be part of the final too.) Dorian’s evasive about which other matches will be added.

With Laredo Kid out, the non-TV AAA show in Aguascalientes is now bringing in Bandido to wrestle Vikingo and Flamita. That show sometimes streams on the promotion’s Facebook page.

Abismo Negro Jr. told the Sin Mascaras podcast said he was originally offered three gimmicks by AAA: Abismo, Octagon and a third he doesn’t name. He didn’t like the third gimmick and didn’t want the responsibility of taking over the Abismo name, so Octagon was the pick. He took photos in the gimmick and was going to debut on September 9th, but Konnan talked to him and convinced him that was the role he was made for. He got a lot of hate the day he debuted and told his parents he was going to talk to AAA to quit the gimmick, but his father told him AAA gave him the character for a reason, that he’s right for it. Abismo just got off social media for a week. Abismo Jr. said he reached out to Abismo’s family after they started posting negatively about the gimmick on social media, they talked for a time but the family ended up blocking him and continuing on his campaign. He sounds like he’d have no problem being in a match with Abismo Negro’s son, who since started wrestling.

IWRG

Thusday’s IWRG Retro

• 2002-08-01: Scorpio Jr., Enterrador, Kick Boxer vs Tinieblas Jr., Hijo de Anibal, Hijo de Lizmark
• 1999-04-11: Kato Kung Lee, Ultimo Vampiro, Mike Segura vs SUWA, Dr. Cerebro, America
• 2002-02-21: Asteroide vs Erick Daven

They’ve aired 3 of the matches from that 1999 show so I guess the other two may come yet.

Luka is out of the Castillo del Terror for health reasons. How can Luka possibly get hurt? Yorvak will replace him. That Castillo del Terror show is Sunday. Can’t believe WWE is running against Castillo del Terror.

IWRG is also posting spooky videos. Go to 1:05 to see a mystery face.

Big Lucha

Tonight’s Big Lucha World

• Black Skayde, Metal Shadow, Nix vs Hatana, Zenki, Andy Panda Jr.
• Orbita, King vs Kong, Elipse
• Bendito, Emperador vs Gravity, Viajero

They’re listing a 9:30 pm start time.

Sol won the INJUVE El Lance a La Victoria’s tournament, earning 5000 pesos, a free wrestling license renewal, and a 1-year contract with Big Lucha. Only in Mexico would someone already wrestling for a promotion win a tournament to find a new wrestler to join the promotion. Second place was Little Star, and third was Night Fury. I am heartened to see Night Fury do well, because he’s a Mistico family member and so we’ll be seeing him for a long time and it’s useful if he’s actually good. The winner of the lucha libre comic contest was Erick Sanchez Garcia, who also received a cash prize.

Big Lucha (FRI) 11/11/2022 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Metal Shadow, Sussy Love, Zenky vs Andy Panda, Diosa Nix, Estrella Del Ring
2) King & Kong vs Black Skayde & Hijo De Skayde
3) Carito & Skayde vs Action Jackson & Potro
4) Galeno del Mal vs Limbo
5) Cometa Maya, Éxtasis, Radioactivo, Viajero vs Forneo, Hannya, Sol, Torito Negro Jr.
6) El Bandido, Gravity, Komander vs Elemental, Bendito, Flamita

The end of the last Big Lucha show seemed to tease tag matches, and tag matches is what they have. Seems a little lacking in a marquee attraction for a monthly show; it’s just the regular roster plus Galeno del Mal, which is unusual for this promotion. This lineup already went through one revision, which hs not unusual.

WWE

They’re running in Monterrey on Saturday and Mexico City on Sunday. Matt Riddle vs Seth Rollins is the main event, with the Mysterio family feud and Legado/Lotharios earlier in the shows.

There’s no obvious social media buzz for these shows and I don’t see many articles about them, but I’m not in Mexico City so maybe I’m missing it. I’ve been tracking the Mexico City sales closer and those seem like they’ve picked up; the map lists many sections as “unsold” where it’s really just a few scattered seats that are unsold. The map wasn’t overly optimistic regarding TripleMania, so we’ll have a better idea looking at pictures on Sunday. There’s a good chance the Gran Prix on Friday outdraws the WWE show on Sunday.

Other News

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

The Laredo Kid/Black Taurus X-Division tournament match is up on YouTube. You can tell they’re actually trying to push Black Taurus now because they’re giving Crazy Steve more mic time; such is the strange way US promotions work. Taurus’ next match should air in two weeks.

As of Thursday, the person in charge of the San Luis Potosi Box, Lucha and MMA commission is Blanca Rodriguez, better known as Princesa Blanca.

An AAA/DTU show in Ciudad Victoria on Thursday seems to have drawn well.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 10/24/2022 Arena Puebla [@Tribunadeportes]
1) Centella Roja, Leono, Retro b Dark Soul, Dreyko, Rencor
2) Mercurio b Shockercito [CMLL MINI]
4th defense
3) Alex Gracia, Ivelisse, Lady Frost b Hikari Shimizu, Mei Suruga, Tae Honma 
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Gran Guerrero b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible
5) Hijo de Octagón, Negro Casas, Octagón DQ Atlantis Jr., Averno, Fuerza Guerrera 
Atlantis Jr. fouled Hijo de Octagon

An Atlantis Jr. vs Hijo de Octagon match doesn’t do much for me personally, but I could see it as a second-generation curiosity.

CMLL (TUE) 10/25/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Ángel b Átomo, Chamuel, Periquito Sacaryas 
2) Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring b Kráneo, Okumura, Rey Bucanero 
Panther was “knocked out” in the first fall, rudos took 1/3.
3) Angelito b Último Dragóncito, Pierrothito, Shockercito, Mercurio, Aéreo, Acero, Pequeño Olímpico, Kaligua, Fantasy, Pequeño Polvora, Minos, Pequeño Magía, Pequeño Violencia [cibernetico] 
a Dia de Mundial de Personas Con Talla Baja (World Drawf Awareness Day) special. Eliminations: Acreo (Aereo), Pequeno Magia (Kaligua), Fantasy (Ultimo Dragoncito), Aereo (Pierrothito), Pequeno Polvora (Pequeno Olimpico), Minos (Shockercito), Kaligula (left after a dive), Pequeno Violencia (Angelito), Pierrothito (Ultimo Dragoncito), Shockercito (Ultimo Dragoncito), Pequeno Olimpico (Angelito) and Ultimo Dragoncito (Angelito) leaving Angelito as the winner.
4) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto b Negro Casas, Stuka Jr., Valiente 

Blue Panther was fine backstage and didn’t go to the hospital. He posted a video to indicate he was fine, saying he suffered a bruise to his cervical vertebrae from Kraneo’s legdrop.  Blue Panther was selling being knocked out before the legdrop, but it never looked like he suffered a serious injury. He fell to the mat after being tripped by Bucanero, falling as safely as you’d expect for an older wrestler. No one- the wrestlers, referee Olimpico or the medics – thought it was a serious injury until Panther wouldn’t get up to continue the match. Panther has worked serious injuries in the past, sometimes without apparently telling everyone in the match, and that appears to be what happened here. This is the second time in about a month that a wrestler in CMLL has simulated a life-threatening injury. As with Dulce Gardenia, the media covering the show (and a lot of media not covering the show but seeing clips pop up elsewhere) seriously covered it as a real injury. A Facebook account went as far as saying they believed Blue Panther died, which is probably what caused CMLL to have Panther come out and say he was OK (and not dead). The part CMLL or Panther probably weren’t ready for is this injury has led to fans telling CMLL that Panther needs to retire before he gets hurt worse; that’s definitely not their intention..

The bits and pieces I could see of the cibernetico looked fun.

Micro Gemelos Diablos are doing a Micro Malditos act with Angel.

CMLL (TUE) 10/25/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, thecubsfan]
1) Hera, Misteriosa, Olympia b Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria 
2) Amapola & La Vaquerita b La Seductora & Tiffany 
3) Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Ivelisse, Lady Frost, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Tae Honma b Dalys, La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Lluvia, Marcela, Metálica, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis 

I caught part of this cibernetico and saw quite a few moments where the women showed they weren’t that familiar with wrestling each other. It’s good to have this match before the Gran Prix. The crowd seemed on the lower end of normal, which is to be expected when people who don’t usually main event are in the main event. (Many fans seemed to be waiting for another match after the cibernetico, as if not aware there were only three matches.) Still, the crowd seemed into the concept, reacting well to the match. The announcers also put over the quality of the outsiders in the match. The last four were Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit, Mei Suruga and Ivelisse, which was surprising on the World side; it felt like there’s been more attention on Honma and Shimizu. They usually change these around in the rematch on Fridays.

For other people running match databases, I did belatedly work out the results for the free show on Sunday in Guadalajara.

“Antigua Casona de Xicoténcatl” was an old building that hosted the Mexico senate from 1931 to 2011 and had other functions prior. They’ve since moved to the current location on Paseo de la Reforma, remodeling the old building to the pre-Senate look and using it as a place to host cultural events. Today, the cultural event they were scheduled to host is a CMLL show with free attendance. That was the plan; there’s some push back from government people who believe lucha libre doesn’t belong in that venue, and the show was rumored to be canceled at one point Tuesday.

CMLL (SAT) 10/29/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Minos & Pequeño Violencia
2) Explosivo (Jalisco), Optimus (Querétaro), Trono vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
3) Flyer, Star Black, Volcano vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada, Lady Frost vs Hikari Shimizu, Mei Suruga, Tae Honma
5) Atlantis, Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Niebla Roja, Sagrado, Terrible

No Star Jr. vs Niebla Roja singles match quite yet, but it’s probably happening next week. More Guadalajara wrestlers filtering in on the second match.

CMLL (SUN) 10/30/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Astral, Cachorro, Sangre Imperial vs Apocalipsis, Inquisidor, Raider
2) Chamuel © vs Micro Gemelo Diablo I [CMLL MICRO]
3rd defense
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Diamond, Magnus, Rugido
4) Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada, Lady Frost vs Dalys, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Hijo de Octagón, Octagón vs Ángel de Oro, Fuerza Guerrera, Niebla Roja, Satánico

Satanico came all the way to Mexico City to wrestle Octagon. We all make bad choices. This is another foreigner/foreigner trios, even with Honma and Shimizu wrestling in northern Mexico on this day. The Mexicans and foreigners are only wrestling on the two Gran Prix shows this week; Honma and Shimizu will mix in with the regular roster next week.

CMLL (TUE) 11/01/2022 Arena México
1) Fantasy, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Olímpico
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Princesa Sugehit vs Hikari Shimizu, Metálica, Tae Honma
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Stuka Jr. vs Niebla Roja, Star Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Esfinge, Sagrado, Panterita del Ring, Rey Bucanero, Dark Panther, Rugido [Rey del Infrmundo, cibernetico]

CMLL has Tuesday and Sunday lineups up already. Nothing important on this one outside of the cibernetico. CMLL seems to have sorted it by chances of winning this cibernetico to face Terrible; Stuka seems like the favorite.

The 11/06 Sunday lineup was announced prior. I was missing the micros trios match, which is dumb of me because there’s CMLL only has one micros trios match.

Dark Silueta announced she underwent knee surgery and would be out for two months so we won’t see her in the ring again until 2023. She’d already been removed from the Gran Prix due to the knee injury; it seemed like she was trying to keep it together long enough to make it through this month and it didn’t work out.

CMLL Informa has the Gran Prix participants, Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja, Esfinge, Panterita del Ring, Rugido and Rey Bucanero. They also will have fans in the studio for the first time in two and half years. That sounds like a very long show.

VH1’s Surreal Life visited Arena Mexico to do a wrestling challenge of their debut episode Monday night (a bit taped some time back.) There’s a duality of the Arena Mexico being a very sacred place and also any TV production can come to the ring to film something for the right amount of money. That’s also the money AAA is chasing with the idea for venues in Spring Break locations.

AAA

AAA held a press conference on Tuesday to announce matches for the 12/28 Acapulco show:

AAA TV (WED) 12/28/2022 Arena GNP, Acapulco, Guerrero
1) Arcano vs El Engañoso, Gran Mazo, Picadura Letal
2) Dave The Clown vs Panic Clown, Murder Clown, Vampiro, Pagano, ?????, ??????, ??????? [Copa Mundo Imperial]
number of participants unknown
3) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
4) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
5) ?, ??, ??? vs ????, ?????, ??????
6) Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood © vs Dragón Lee & Dralistico [AAA TAG]
fifth defense
7) Hijo Del Vikingo © vs Bandido [AAA MEGA]
Seventh defense, third on TV

A big surprise in theme: it’s a night of champions theme. The three TBA matches will also be title matches. I’d bet on NGD defending the trios titles and Taya against Lady Flammer so AAA will stop hearing about it. That leaves either Sammy/Taya defending the mixed tag titles or Fenix defending the two belts he holds, and that might go down to who AEW will let go that day. Dorian Roldan noted this was a Wednesday show and thanked Tony Khan for allowing FTR to appear.

Vikingo/Bandido will be outstanding. Wheeler/Harwood vs Dragon Lee/Dralistico should be interesting (can FTR lose directly?); they worked an FTR-style match way back in Merida. AAA running a big arena only for title matches is a special challenge. Mundo Imperial is the co-promoter of this show, so they get the sponsored match this time around. Mundo Imperial said they wanted this December Acapulco show to become a tradition, and hoped to have AAA in the city for three shows in total.

As always, AAA’s focus is on tickets – they hoped fans from far away from Acapulco would make this a holiday vacation – and so no mention of if it’ll air on FITE. The poster lists it as a TV taping but AAA didn’t even especially talk about that. This is a Wednesday show, there is AEW talent booked, I’d be surprised if AEW gave the ok for FTR to appear on a broadcast directly competing with Dynamite. (Bandido may be an AEW talent by the time this show happens, for all we know.) The lineup screams “PPV” but I wouldn’t count on that happening, at least live. Maybe Space will air it live and I’ll have a very strange Wednesday.

There’s still nothing announced for the Tempe show.

Laredo Kid is still hospitalized at last weird, but that’s expected with his condition and he’s believed to be doing fine all considering. The situation is eerie. Back in 2017, DJZ (now Joaquin Wilde) suffered a perforated small intestine after Laredo Kid landed on him following a 450 splash. Five years later, Laredo Kid suffered a perforated small intestine Hijo del Vikingo landed on him after a move. It’s not an injury that happens often. Laredo Kid, according to Mamba in a YouTube video about the incident, felt pain after his match with Hijo del Vikingo. He took photos with fans and with the belt but looked pale and felt like he needed to vomit. The medics on site urged him to go to the hospital immediately, and doctors discovered Laredo Kid’s small intestine had ruptured. He was feeling bad because he was filling up internally with blood. Laredo underwent operations to remove the damaged part of his small intestine and then reconnect the remainder, and he’ll be in the hospital until they’re certain everything is OK. Laredo’s been told no strenuous physical activity for at least two months, so he’ll be sitting out for a while. My guess is it’ll be a bonus if we see him back in the ring before Rey de Reyes 2023. It obviously could be a lot worse.

AAA put out a statement saying Laredo Kid underwent surgery and was stable. I was critical of how AAA held the Dragon/Furioso injury. This one seems like AAA handled everything well; Laredo might be in far worse shape if AAA’s doctors didn’t urge Laredo to go to the hospital immediately.

The Laredo Kid injury news got some mainstream attention based on him being on the Extalon TV show years ago and his fellow participants wishing him well.

Impact just finished a month of taping last week, so Laredo Kid will be on that show for a while longer. His match with Black Taurus in the first round of Impact X-Division title tournament airs on BTI on Thursday, which means it’ll be on Impact’s YouTube channel for free. I didn’t spot Laredo listed as wrestling on the second day of taping, so that may be it for him in Impact for now barring a backstage bit. Impact did wish Laredo Kid well and he’ll be back there when he’s healthy.

I meant to note this Monday: La Hiedra winning the Showcenter title and Lluvia winning the CMLL Universal tournament was two daughters of Sangre Chicana winning the biggest women’s tournaments AAA and CMLL will hold this year on the same weekend. The timing is a coincidence, though it says something about how far they’ve both come.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 10/30/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Roja & Jhon Tito vs Hip Hop Man & Lucio
2) Keyra & Spider Fly vs Limbo & Lolita
3) Cerebro Negro vs Hell Boy [super libre]
4) Puma de Oro © vs Tonalli © [IWRG MEXICO, IWRG IC MIDDLE]
Tonalli third defense of the Middleweight title, Puma de Oro 3rd defense of the IWRG Mexico championship (all against Tonalli)
5) Bugambilia, Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan © vs Galeno del Mal [IWRG Rey del Ring]
3rd defense
7) Hijo De Canis Lupus vs Hijo del Fishman, Rey León, Dick Angelo 3G, Asterboy, Garra Mortal Jr., Noisy Boy, Rey Halcón, Bengalee, Satania, Hijo del Alebrije, Luka [cage, mask]

Castillo del Terror is an all masked person match, loser is unmasked. Is this the end of the giant stuffed animal Luka? This will be one very long show with the cage match and six undercard matches. It’s a Mas Lucha premium show.

No sign of a Thursday show.

Other Notes

LuchaWorld hast this week’s Poster-Mania and the latest Lucha Report.

DTU luchador Camuflaje has been hospitalized since October 20th with pneumonia; a message from his mother on Facebook alarmed people about his status.

Nacion Lucha Libre announced kid’s music group Picus will appear on their 11/06 TV taping.

Puebla will have a licensing test for luchadors on 11/27.

Mexico figure skater Donovan Carrillo did a lucha libre themed exhibition routine. F1 driver Sergio Perez has a lucha libre themed helmet for the Mexico GP this weekend. Arez appeared at a Chicago Blackhawks game.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/21/2022 Arena México [AS, CMLL, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Kasier Sports, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black   
10:22. Set up Magia Blanca & Rugido against
2) Dalys, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer b Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit  
17:47.
3) Gran Guerrero, Místico, Volador Jr. b Averno, Euforia, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]  
16:27
4) Último Guerrero b El Mesías   
16:41. UG used the ropes to pin Mesias in the third fall. Mesias demanded a rematch, UG demanded a hair match, and absolutely nothing was solved.
5) La Jarochita b Lluvia [CMLL UNIVERSAL DE AMAZONAS]   
14:49. Lluvia defeated Jarochita with La Roca to become the 3rd Universal champion

I thought the Universal match was alright, though nothing close to the mask match. Really, the two top matches were opposites that both didn’t completely work. UG and Mesias kept it simple and very slow, relying on chops and the same offense they do in every match to get to the same ending. Jarochita and Lluvia was fast-paced and trying harder for bigger ideas, but those ideas didn’t always work out. Lluvia in particular struggles at catching topes, crumbling in a way that makes it look like the dives have little impact; Jarochita doing a series of them early on got off the match to a hard start. A lot of the match turned into the usual CMLL turn-taking, each person taking turns going on offense with no particular logic in between. Maybe the big achievement here is the women’s matches have the same flaws as the men’s ones stumble into. The fans weren’t into this match as much as the mask match, which is to be expected – it’s going to take years for this tournament to mean a lot (and I’m not sure if the men’s tournament has ever gotten there.) The Universal final match was generally steady, it just had place to improve.

The third match, with Soberano having fun playing a rudo, was the best on the show. The rudas made the tecnicas look bad in the second match and the crowd supported them over it; crime wins. The turnout seemed down for this show.

CMLL (SAT) 10/22/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Apocalipsis & Príncipe Odín Jr. b Neón & Retro 
2) La Seductora, Olympia, Tiffany b La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita 
3) Crixus, Hombre Bala Jr., Robin b Dark Magic, Halcón Negro Jr., Nitro 
Crixus and Halcon Negro CMLL CDMX debut. Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Fuego, Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr.
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible DQ Místico, Star Jr., Valiente 
Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Niebla Roja unmasked Star Jr. to set up a singles match next week.

Star Jr/Niebla Roja sounds good. It occasionally looks like CMLL is taping these shows, but they don’t turn up any channel I have access. (We don’t have access to the Heraldo TV show or the Megacable show, if those exist.)

CMLL (SUN) 10/23/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Átomo & Chamuel
Micro Gemelo I asked for a title match
2) Cachorro, Oro Jr., Sangre Imperial b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
tecnicos took 1/3
3) El Coyote, Kráneo, Okumura b Stigma, Suicida, Volcano
Rudos took 2/3. Coyote replaced Felino (missed two matches in a row)
4) Místico, Valiente, Volador Jr. b Felino, Hijo del Villano III, Sagrado
Tecnicos took 1/3
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja b Gemelo Diablo I & Gemelo Diablo II [CMLL TAG]
6th defense.

No title change, hooray. AMX will air 3 matches from this show on 11/04. Usually but not always that means the title match.

Hikari Shimizu and Tae Honma appeared on the show to promote the Gran Prix. Alex Gracia, Lady Frost, and Ivelisse arrived Sunday night. CMLL hasn’t posted the Mei Surgua twitter post but she (and Emi Sakura) are in Japan.

Guadalajara had a free (government-sponsored) noon show on Sunday for health care workers and the families in gratitude to their work. A few of the matches streamed on Facebook, though the streaming didn’t go as smoothly this time. There’s been no promotion or talk about the all women’s show on Tuesday outside of Guadalajara.

CMLL (TUE) 10/25/2022 Arena México
1) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Ángel vs Átomo, Chamuel, Periquito Sacaryas
2) Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring vs Kráneo, Okumura, Rey Bucanero
3) Último Dragóncito vs Pierrothito, Shockercito, Mercurio, Aéreo, Acero, Pequeño Olímpico, Kaligua, Fantasy, Pequeño Polvora, Angelito, Minos, Pequeño Magía, Pequeño Violencia [cibernetico]
a Dia de Mundial de Personas Con Talla Baja
4) Negro Casas, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto

I didn’t know “world short people day” was a thing, but it’s a thing CMLL is celebrating this Tuesday.

CMLL (FRI) 10/28/2022 Arena México
1) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita vs Hera, Metálica, Tiffany
2) Esfinge & Fugaz © vs Magia Blanca & Rugido [MEX TAG]
3) Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
4) Amapola, Dalys, Faby, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis vs Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Ivelisse, Lady Frost, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Tae Honma [Gran Prix de Amazonas]

Atlantis Jr. finally returns to Arena Mexico (and Sobernao & Volador are back being friends.) The tag title match is an interesting test for those teams. CMLL continues to run two women’s matches every Friday, though the lack of depth is obvious in that opener. This is a 10 USD PPV compared to the usual 5 USD.

AAA

AAA (SUN) 10/23/2022 Showcenter Complex, San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon [@thekoko666]
1) Laredo Kid b Villano III Jr., Toscano [Showcenter Tournament, semifinal]
2) La Hiedra b Lady Shani, Sexy Star, Artemiz [Showcenter Tournament, semifinal]
3) Hijo Del Vikingo b Puma King, Taurus [Showcenter Tournament, semifinal]
Taurus attacked Vikingo after the match, Vikingo left hurt
4) Octagón Jr. b Aramis, Myzteziz Jr.
non-tournament match. V3 attacked Octagon again after the match.
5) Chik Tormenta b Zeuxis, Dulce Canela, Lady Flammer [Showcenter Tournament, semifinal]
6) La Hiedra b Chik Tormenta [Showcenter Tournament, final]
non-tournament match. V3 attacked Octagon after the matches.
7) Laredo Kid b Hijo Del Vikingo [Showcenter Tournament, final]
Laredo worked rudo during the match

Jose Manuel Guillen called Vikingo/Kid a MOTYC. A fan in attendance (who’s been very helpful with results for these shows) said he thought Laredo/Vikingo was better than anything on TripleMania. It would be deeply, deeply annoying if AAA finally ran the Vikingo/Laredo rematch after three years and didn’t tape it – but worry not, AAA revealed they did tape this Showcenter event after all. It’ll air on Space at some indeterminate point in the future.

The feelings about the match took a turn Monday morning. Laredo Kid’s Instagram (seemingly written by others) announced Laredo was taken to the hospital via ambulance following the match and underwent emergency surgery Monday morning. An accompanying photo seems to show incisions on Laredo’s midsection. The post asks promoters who have Laredo booked in upcoming months to contact via text or message (do not call) if they have questions about Laredo’s availability. It’s written as if they’re unsure at this point when exactly Laredo will return, and there’s no indication of the actual injury. Laredo was in good enough shape after the show to pose with the belt for backstage photos, so I’m not even sure if he knew something was wrong immediately. The Instagram post thanks Taurus and AAA staff among others for helping Laredo get help. Laredo had been announced for the Tempe show, seemed to have a feud with Caballero, and the winner of this tournament was supposed to get a Megachampionship match if AAA still remembered it; all of those are on hold for now.

This Showcenter event seemed to draw the best of the shows they ran in that venue. They got helped out by Monterrey’s soccer teams not playing, but the idea of a tournament final still is a draw even if the tournament itself made no sense. AAA hasn’t indicated if/when they’ll return to the Showcenter. It appeared AAA only had one belt on hand for the winners; La Hiedra held up a belt that indicated it was the men’s championship.

This week’s AAA Space episode were the matches that aired on FITE but not on Space last week: the two multi-man tag matches and Taya/Kamille. There were small edits, which is a bit unusual for AAA. Komander’s rope walk bit was cut out before his dive. They cleaned up a bit around the Taya/Kamille failed table bit. Taya putting her winning submission on Kamille twice was left in, though rewatching I better understood the idea was supposed to be that Kamille was close to the ropes and Taya was pulling her back to the center of the ring. The production just failed them, as it often does.

An unseen video package explaining the Taya/Kamille feud also aired on the TV. I believe this video was the first time AAA showed Taya winning the title from Deonna Purrazzo, plus the finish of Kamille beating Taya. Live, AAA aired the Rey Mysterio video for a second time, which was obviously a mistake but we had no idea something else was meant to have aired. All of that should’ve been airing for weeks before the show and not five minutes before the match, but it would’ve been nice if it aired before the match too.

The Taya/Toxicas post-match fight from digital aired, notable for the story of the Kamille changing from “Taya didn’t make the match” to “Taya demanded a rematch with Kamille after Kamille beat her.” (It’s no longer the promotion booked a match no one wanted, it’s a match that at least Taya wanted.) A vignette also aired of Los Vipers beating up Arez to keep that feud going, though airing it before Arez walked out to be Taya’s second made it come off dumb. Another vignette aired of Johnny telling Aramis he should stop listening to Laredo Kid – the same thing AAA did two about two weeks ago, though the Hard Rock Hotel one had decent audio and this TripleMania one was miced terribly. It’s hard to imagine someone watched and listened to it and decided it still has to air.

The ‘dark’ TripleMania matches should air next week.

Konnan’s podcast had Conrad Thompson on his podcast to talk TripleMania. There’s not much to say about it; Thompson genuinely like TripleMania but this wasn’t a segment where he was going to be critical of AAA. Konnan asked Thompson why AAA isn’t respected and, since it would be impolite to suggest a lot of the reason lies with AAA itself, he landed on “lack of weekly English language content similar to NJPW during their expansion” and “Dave Meltzer favoring Japanese wrestling over Mexican wrestling.”

These podcasts seem to be taped earlier in the week, so neither Thompson or Konnan would’ve seen the Wrestling Observer that covered TripleMania and generally praised the event. He even gave the once-coveted five-star rating to the Vikingo/Fenix match. That probably already stopped meaning something useful to AAA by the time you read this; everyone’s moved onto the next thing. The English language content piece is part of the puzzle but there’s more issues. A benefit of the attention on TripleMania is there is a ton of thoughts, reviews and podcasts of the show out there to find if AAA or anyone else is interested. No one really needs to consider my opinion on this show, there’s plenty of other opinions available if AAA is looking for thoughts about their show.

The Lucha Brothers are releasing limited edition sneaks. Republic of Lucha will have an early in-person only sale on 10/31 (reservations start on line 10/25), and they’re available for general purchase on 11/09. The Young Bucks did a similar deal last month so this seems like a larger AEW deal. I never buy merchandise so I’m not sure why the shoes have piqued my interest, but they definitely have.

Nacion Lucha Libre

I caught episode #2 of Nacion Lucha Libre’s return. It’s on the Google Drive if you’d like to take a look and I plan to keep putting it up there every week I can record it. (The streaming link changes every week and, in a non-surprise, Alberto saying the shows would be available on YouTube and other social media sites has been false so far.)

I watched Nacion just to get a sense of it. It’s not really worth your time unless you’re insistent on watching everything. It’s firmly in the “generic Mexico City indie” tier; mostly the same names seen on plenty of shows, no strong matches or interesting ideas. The main difference between it and a Robles Promotion show is Nacion is produced with TV in mind first. It’s three matches and the same length as CMLL TV, but Nacion leaves in all the entrances and ends up with short (for Mexican wrestling) TV matches; the main event went about six minutes.

The matches are shorter and there weren’t any hardcore spots or brawling in to the crowd. They also have giant videoboards that make the show look more upscale than an average group. I didn’t think of it myself, but someone on Twitter pointed out Nacion copied Impact’s look, and that seems to be close enough for you to get the idea. Impact runs smaller buildings and the big crane shots Nacion used exposed the emptiness of the building in an unhelpful fashion. (The production company also seemed to be a sponsor, so that look of the show probably will only exist as long as they’re happy with the advertisements they’re getting.)

The three matches

• Princesa Azul beat Bengalee, Saggitarius, Satania, Miss Delicious, Hija De Fuerza Guerrera in a five way
• El Greco, Faraón De Oro, Simon Blanco, Verdugo beat Black Avalon, Relámpago, Wagner Kid, Zumbi
• Dr. Wagner Jr.  beat Súper Beast, VIP, Hijo del Fishman, Súper Nova to advance to the finals of the Nacion Imperial (heavyweight) Tournament

All of there were effectively multiperson scrambles. Even the 4v4 match was elimination rules, so it felt the same (and existed primarily to build up a Relampago/Simon Blanco feud.) There’s a lot of family and friends involved but also some curiosities. Black Avalon appears to be a Spanish luchador. I have it my head that El Greco works in California or Texas under a different name. VIP is originally a Texas guy but seems to be working more places now. This Verdugo showed up in the last iteration of ELITE – the one that was working AAA in 2019 – and nowhere else, so he might be someone we know but not under that name.

I got the impression more people were watching Nacion this week than last (because there was no TripleMania this week), but no one came away particularly impressed with wanting to see more.

Nacion Lucha Libre is offering more, though. They’re running at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera on Sunday 11/06.  The same names are announced, and no matches. It’s likely a series of TV tapings again. Nacion had previously indicated they would be in Nacuapan for all three shows, so they’re unexpectedly changing to a larger building after not drawing well. That doesn’t sound great. The ticket prices are absurd for this 11/06 show; the front row costs 1456 pesos, which is much more than CMLL charging for the Friday CMLL Dia del Muertos show. The cheapest tickets are 280, which was pricey for a Mexico City show. Maybe Alberto is winning the other part of the heavyweight tournament next week, and Nacion is banking on Alberto/Wagner being a draw. That still seems a long shot. Turnout seemed down at every lucha libre show this past week and WWE is coming in this upcoming weekend to soak up more money. Nacion Lucah Libre has challenges simply based on being Nacion Lucha Libre but they’re really sailing into headwinds on this one.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 10/23/2022 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Hip Hop Man & Lucio b Águila Roja & Jhon Tito  
2) Satania b Bengalee 
Satanica and Bengalee both declared for the Castillo del Terror
3) Rey Halcón b Spider Fly  
Spider Fly replaced Noisy Boy (not medically cleared), Castillo del Terror challenges followed
4) Garra Mortal b Aster Boy  
Both added themselves to the Castillo del Terror
5) Cerebro Negro b Hell Boy 
Both added themselves to the Castillo del Terror (which is usually just masked people, perhaps they meant a non-cage hair match?)
6) Hijo del Alebrije, Luka, Tonalli b Dick Angelo 3G, Hijo del Fishman, Puma de Oro 
Alebrije and Dick Angelo added themselves to Castillo del Terror
7) Galeno del Mal b Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Hijo De Canis Lupus 
Galeno wants a shot at Pirata’s IWRG Rey del Ring title

Not sure if you could tell Castillo del Terror is coming up.

The 10/14 show with lots of singles matches made it to YouTube (with timestamps!)

IWRG , RGR (THU) 11/17/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star & Jhon Tito vs Rey Halcón & Súper Boy
2) Aster Boy & Noisy Boy vs Dick Angelo 3G & Legendario
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Mamba vs Bugambilia, Máximo, Pimpinela Escarlata
4) Rey León © vs Hijo De Canis Lupus [RGR MIDDLE]
5) Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr.

This card isn’t released by IWRG yet but it’s really an RGR card because they’re promoting it. LA Park hasn’t been in Arena Naucalpan since last December, so this may be a draw.

Other News

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Shocker gave his side of his incident in Tuxtla Guiterrez to gossip site TV Notas. It unsurprising exist to say that every bad story someone told about him was false. He blames any bad actions on a weight loss pills he was taking, and implies he’s not taken drugs since going to rehab in 2006. Shocker wasn’t attacking a car, the car and the people in it had been bothering him from blocks and he confronted the driver when they wouldn’t leave him alone. Shocker wasn’t charged with a crime, he was just ticketed. He was only fighting prisoners in self defense, he stripped naked only because the police gassed him and all his clothes itched, and he didn’t try to commit suicide. It’s a sound enough story that people who want to book him can point to it and keep booking him.

Los Macizos won the GCW Tag Team championships for a third time on Saturday.

An interesting article about Santo movies (or maybe not interesting if you know the behind-the-scenes more than I do.)

Box y Lucha 3524 has Lluvia on the cover. It also has a story on the death of The Renegade – stories about the death of some wrestlers from the past seem to be a staple. This one was notable because the cover originally used a picture of the Ultimate Warrior instead of the Renegade. Box y Lucha is only digital at this point so they’ve fixed the cover at little cost. It’s too bad they needed to change; They had the easter egg of Ultimo Guerrero and Ultimate Warrior next to each other.

Andrade, who has not wrestled a lot lately, is scheduled to wrestle Dralistico in RGR promotions on 11/20.

A profile of Columbian luchador Tigre Colombiano.

CMLL has invited a bunch of outsiders in for their annual Gran Prix de Amazonas tournament. You may be interested in watching and don’t normally follow CMLL. Here are some details:

the quickest version

The most important show is the Gran Prix. It takes place Friday October 28th. It will stream live (and ONLY live) via TicketmasterLive for 200 pesos. That’s just about 10 USD. The show begins at 8:30 pm Central Time (and all times in this post are Central Time.) CMLL will post highlights of the match later that night on their YouTube channel. CMLL will also post the match in full on their YouTube channel about two weeks later, Sunday, November 6th.

The easiest show to watch is the Guadalajara show. All outsiders in for Gran Prix (and most of the women they’ll face) will be part of the main event on Tuesday night October 25th show in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. This show is now available on Facebook and and remains there indefinitely.

the details

What is the Gran Prix?

CMLL runs annual men’s and women’s Gran Prix cibernetico matches. They’re a borrowed Survivor Series elimination match concept, stretched to eight people on each side. Eliminations happen via pinfall, submission, or disqualification (usually mask removal.) These Gran Prix events have been “Mexico versus The World” themed since the concept was brought back in 2016. Winning for Mexico is the most important thing for the home side. The last remaining person is declared the overall winner of the match and gets a giant trophy.

The Mexican men are 4-1 since this concept was brought back. The Mexican woman won their inaugural version last year. The 2022 women’s Gran Prix also serves is the climax of an unprecedented month of CMLL shows focused on their luchadoras, with a tie-in to breast cancer awareness month.

Who is in the Gran Prix?

The two teams are

Team Mexico

• La Jarochita (Mexico Tag Team champion)
• Lluvia (Mexico Tag Team champion)
• Dalys (CMLL Lady’s Ring/Japan champion)
• Marcela
• Reyna Isis
• Princesa Sugehit (CMLL World champion)
• Amapola
• Faby Apache

Amapola is a replacement for Dark Silueta (Mexico National Champion), who aggravated an existing knee injury and is out of action. Dark Silueta won last year’s Gran Prix and would’ve likely had a big role in this match. Princesa Sugehit’s title is the most important, but it’s Lluvia and La Jarochita who are doing best at the moment. “Las Chicas Indomables” just passed two years as tag champions, La Jarochita defeated Reyna Isis in a mask match last month, and Lluvia defeated Jarochita to win the CMLL Universal de Amazonas this past Friday. Marcela and Amapola were the dominant top of the division rivalry from about 2005-2015 and have taken a step back in recent years.

Faby Apache, going by just “Faby” in CMLL, is the biggest media story of this show and the person likely to get the most attention. Faby spent 23 years in AAA, becoming at times the best and most beloved luchadora in the Mexico. She won everything AAA had to offer, was part of one of the most remembered storylines/melodramas AAA’s told, and had one of the best all time AAA matches against her sister Mary. Faby finished up with AAA a few months ago – they wanted to focus on newer women, Faby’s never happy taking a secondary role, it was time for both sides to move on – and announced she was wrestling as an independent going forward. CMLL announced Faby on Team Mexico as a surprise. Faby Apache in CMLL is a ‘you never thought you’d see it’ situation and this might be the only time to see it. As of right now, this is her only announced CMLL appearance.

Jarochita is probably the best wrestler on her team, someone’s who gone from just a face in the crowd to a standout over the last three years. Sugehit is just behind her. Isis and Lluvia can be good in the right situations. Amapola and Marcela were great, but age and a thousand matches have taken their told, more so on Amapola of the two. Faby Apache is also not as great as she was a few years ago, but still pretty good. She has a reputation of holding matches to high standards and taking it out on opponents when they don’t meet her standards. Dalys can look impressive on offense and clueless or disinterested in taking other people’s offense. CMLL’s women’s matches often feel rehearsed, but they’re consistently solid and sometimes pretty good when they can stick on their plan. They can also derail pretty badly when someone forgets the plan, and those have happened a few times lately.

Team World

• Ivelisse (Puerto Rico)
• Lady Frost (USA)
• Alex Gracia (USA)
• Avispa Dorada (USA)
• Stephanie Vaquer (Chile)
• Mei Surgura (Japan)
• Tae Honma (Japan)
• Hikari Shimizu (Japan)

You probably know many of these women better than I do, that’s why you clicked on the post, I won’t re-explain them to you. A couple of them are CMLL regulars. Avispa Dorada is likely unknown to you if you don’t watch lucha libre; she’s a Pacific Northwest wrestler who joined CMLL in late 2018 and was a regular until the pandemic shut shows down. She came back in October last year and returned again this year. Stephanie Vaquer became the first Chilean wrestler in CMLL history when she joined in 2019 (and took the nickname “La Primera” in reference to the achievement.) Both are fun additions; Avispa flies more than other luchadoras and Vaquer has developed into one of the best all-around wrestlers in the division.

There are some other Mexico connections. Ivelisse of course was part of Lucha Underground but actually has only wrestling rarely in Mexico. Alex Gracia appeared briefly in CMLL in 2020. Tae Homna toured CMLL for a week back in 2019.

Tae Honma and Hikari Shimizu have been announced as appearing on an 11/06 Arena Mexico show, so they appear to be sticking around for a while. Nothing has been said about Ivelisse, Lady Frost, Alex Garcia and Mei Sugura, so they’re likely staying in CMLL just for a week – Monday to Sunday.

What’s the schedule?

CMLL runs a weekly schedule with events just about every day of the week. CMLL also has weekly media spots on television and radio shows to promote their events, and even a hosted bus tour to their Mexico City and Guadalajara shows. You’ll probably see these women popping up on social media in more places than the ones I’ll cover here.

There’s no “CMLL Network” or central streaming service to watch all of CMLL’s matches. They’re instead scattered around to a variety of TV networks and media partners. It can be very challenging to track down everything, and some of the events take weeks (or months) to air. The silver lining is everything is that, if you can find it, much of it is available for free. I also try to archive all the freely available CMLL (and AAA) matches on a Google Drive account, which is free to use for anyone.

CMLL has announced these shows so far. I’ll try to update this as future shows get announced.

Monday, October 24

Alex Gracia, Ivellise, and Lady Frost wrestled Hikara Shimizu, Mei Suruga, and Tae Honma in Puebla. CMLL used to stream these shows live, but discontinued them after the pandemic and doesn’t appear to tape them.

There was a fan cam of this match on YouTube. The video has since been struck off CMLL by copyright. CMLL doesn’t tape Arena Puebla shows so there’s no way to see this match.

Tuesday, October 25

In Guadalajara,  Team World (Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Ivelisse, Lady Frost, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Tae Honma) wrestled slightly different Team Mexico (Dalys, La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Lluvia, Marcela, Metálica, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis) in a preview of that Gran Prix match.

The match aired on Facebook and remains up for viewing.

This Guadalajara show was a historical first, the first CMLL show to include only women wrestlers. No AAA show has ever been an all-women show, no previous major promotion is known to have have held one.

Wednesday, October 26

CMLL has its weekly “Informa” talk show on Wednesday afternoon. Team Rest of World and Team Mexico appeared on the show for interviews. The segment begins at 57:28.

Thursday, October 27

There is no live event on this day. CMLL ran a big media event to promote the men’s Gran Prix on the Thursday prior to their show, and presumably will do the same with the women. It’ll be similar in style to the Informa chat the day before and clips will turn up on social media

Friday, October 28

The CMLL Gran Prix takes place in Arena Mexico. The show starts promptly at 8:30 and the Gran Prix is the main event. It typically runs between 45 minutes to an hour.

There are two official ways to watch this show (and any CMLL Friday night event.)

1. TicketmasterLive streams the show live at 8:30 pm Central Time. It is a LIVE ONLY stream; there’s no VOD, there’s no rewinding, you’re just treated as if you bought a ticket to physically go to the event. The PPV broadcast costs about 10 USD.
   • TicketmasterLive shows (and all CMLL shows) are in Spanish only; there is no English language version of any of these streams. TicketmasterLive shows require a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, AMEX) to purchase unless you live in Mexico. TicketmasterLive shows can be Chromecast. TicketmasterLive streams have worked almost all of the time and they’ve (eventually) sent refunds and make goods when they have not.
2. CMLL posts an abbreviated version of their Friday events on their YouTube channel on a 16-day delay. This Gran Prix will go up on the afternoon of Sunday, November 13th. (I mistyped that is the 6th before, but it’s the 13th) It’s a free YouTube upload and remains available forever.

CMLL will also post highlights and backstage interviews on their YouTube channel immediately following the conclusion of the show.

(There is a third, unofficial way. Mexico’s Televisa Nueve station airs the Friday shows the following weekend on Saturday afternoons. I upload PPV matches to my Google Drive after they’ve aired for free, so you’d be able to find this show on that drive on the evening of November 6th.)

Saturday, October 29th

Aaex Gracia, Lady Frost, Avispa Dorada face Mei Suruga, Hikari Shimizu and Tae Honma in Mexico City’s Arena Coliseo. These shows occasionally appear to be taped, but strangely don’t appear to be aired anywhere. We’re unlikely to see full matches. Highlights may appear; Box y Lucha’s Facebook page typically posts clips of all the matches.

Sunday, October 30th

Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada and Lady Frost wrestle Dalys, Mei Surgua and Stephanie Vaquer in Arena Mexico. These shows are taped for TV.

About half the card will air about two weeks later (November 11th) on Mexico public TV station “Mexiquense TV” at 10 pm local time. I record this shows and upload them to my Google Drive; that’s typically the easiest way to find them. There’s no rhyme or reason to which matches will air; I assume they’ll air this match but I won’t know for sure.

Tae Honma and Hikari Shimizu will appear on outside show at Arena Lucha Time in Monterrey and Arena Pavillon del Norte in Saltillo, Coahuila on 10/30. They’ll wrestle Queen Panther and Miss Panther on both shows. Semi-official fan cams of the Saltillo event appear on the Estrellas del Ring YouTube channel. I don’t have any good information on the Monterrey show airing.

Honma & Shimizu appear to be sticking around past this week. Everyone else appears to be finishing up on Sunday.

Monday, October 31st

Dalys, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Reyna Isis will wrestle Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Stephanie Vaquer, Tae Honma in Arena Puebla. This match will not be taped for and it is unlikely anything more than clips (if that much) will be shared.

Tuesday, November 1st

CMLL is celebrating Dia del Muertos on all of their Arena Mexico shows the week of 11/01, with a special set and costuming. That also may change the way these shows air; my notes below are based on usual patterns.

CMLL’s Tuesday 11/01 show has La Guerrera, La Magnifica and Princesa Sugehit facing Hikari Shimizu, Metalica and Tae Honma. This show airs live on YouTube, but the transmission is limited to Mexican IP addresses only. (YouTube is very good at sniffing out VPNs and Tor.) I expect to be able to upload this show on my Google Drive by Wednesday.

Future dates

CMLL’s Sunday 11/06 show has Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit wrestling Amapola, Hikari Shimizu, and Tae Honma. That match may air on 11/18.

CMLL

Today’s CMLL lineup

CMLL (FRI) 10/21/2022 Arena México
1) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
2) Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Gran Guerrero, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Euforia, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Último Guerrero vs El Mesías
5) Lluvia vs La Jarochita [CMLL UNIVERSAL DE AMAZONAS]

Lluvia/Jarochita will be better than Ultimo Guerrero/Mesias and I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying that. It’s just hard to see Guerrero and Mesias getting out of cruise control, even in a match that’s teasing a hair match. Jarochita & Lluvia will not hold back; their danger is only trying too hard. Lluvia seems the favorite because Jarochita won last year. Matches 2/3 look solid. I’m not as sure about the mix in the first match but there are worse matches. This show is on TicketMaster Live and will go up on YouTube on 11/04.

La Jarochita and Lluvia are pushing the idea they’ll be professionals and fully fight against other tonight, then going back to being friends after. They did tease a little bit of tension on Informa, Jarochita noting she came out to celebrate with Lluvia after her win but Lluvia didn’t do the same when Jarochita won.

Guadalajara has a free show on Sunday as part of breast cancer awareness month.

CMLL (MON) 10/24/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja, Leono, Retro vs Dark Soul, Dreyko, Rencor
2) Mercurio vs Shockercito [CMLL MINI]
4th defense
3) Alex Gracia, Ivelisse, Lady Frost vs Hikari Shimizu, Mei Suruga, Tae Honma
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Gran Guerrero
5) Hijo de Octagón, Negro Casas, Octagón vs Atlantis Jr., Averno, Fuerza Guerrera

It’s unusual to see all the foreigners facing each other; it’s usually some of Team Mexico included in there. I suspect we’ll not see anything but the main event unless a fan shoots a video, which does happen from time to time with Puebla.

CMLL (TUE) 10/25/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Hera, Misteriosa, Olympia vs Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria
2) Amapola & La Vaquerita vs La Seductora & Tiffany
3) Alex Gracia, Avispa Dorada, Hikari Shimizu, Ivelisse, Lady Frost, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Tae Honma vs Dalys, La Jarochita, La Magnifica, Lluvia, Marcela, Metálica, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis

This is the first all women’s CMLL show as far as anyone knows. This is a promotion that didn’t have women’s matches in about half the 90 years of the promotions, so getting to a full women’s show is a significant benchmark. An unexpected one too: CMLL’s been focusing more on women this month and generally giving putting women in bigger roles, but an all women’s show felt like something still a few years away. This doesn’t look like the best-ever show – the second match will be diabolical, and the opener has a lot of inexperienced people – but it’s a significant show and a vote of confidence for the division. The one part that’s not a surprise is it’s happening in Guadalajara, where the lineups have been experimental since returning from the pandemic and with more women empowered to make decisions.

The 8v8 match is almost the Gran Prix, with a couple of changes on Team Mexico. Amapola is in the Gran Prix as Dark Silueta’s replacement, but off in the 2v2 match on this show. Faby (Apache) appears to only be in for one night right now. Magnifica is the home town woman so she probably is taking Faby’s place, with Metalica in for Dark Silueta.

Stephanie Vaquer said she saw Dalys was on the Team Mexico side of the Gran Prix and hopes someday she can do the same because she’s been in Mexico long enough to feel at home. She notes she’ll be teaming with the women she just faces in Japan and facing the women she often teams with. Vaquer mentions about the progress women have been making in CMLL and talks about maybe a Reina del Inframundo tournament or a CMLL all women’s show, and hopes they can achieve that with more work. (Didn’t take much more work on one of those; I presume she knew.)

Ivelisse talked about always having a lot of support from Mexico (especially around Lucha Underground) and being excited to back there. She’s only faced Marcela & Alex Gracia of those in the Gran Prix.

Tae Honma is set up to defeat Dalys, after Dalys defeated her back in Japan. She felt it was important to build some trust between Team World before the big match.

Hikari Shimizu said she wrestled La Jarochita four years ago and wants to face her again because she’s looking at facing the strongest CMLL has. She’s studying Spanish so she can talk to everyone when she gets to Mexico.

Mei Suruga is in the US (and showing up on AEW Dark), and has talked to people who’ve gone to Mexico City before. They’ve warned her about the altitude. The Gran Prix is a long match too, so she’s focused on her conditioning. She’d like to be invited back to CMLL for a longer tour someday.

All the foreign women are being polite and respectful and I think it would be better if they had at least one Rocky Romero-like unhinged woman to spice this match up in the promos. This should’ve been Ivelisse’s niche.

Niebla Roja talked to the Sin Mascaras podcast about emigrating to the United States during the pandemic and working odd jobs because he was running out of wrestling money. (He notes he could pick up different jobs quickly, unlike Angel de Oro “who can’t change a light bulb or set up a table.”) Niebla Roja thought about staying in the US but decided he missed his old life too much. This sounds similar to Fuego’s situation.

Valiente & Fuego appeared at a breast cancer awareness event on Wednesday on behalf of CMLL.

AAA

Hijo del Vikingo his US visa and will start working in the US this year, Masked Republic and Vikingo told SI. AAA immediately announced Vikingo will make his US debut on the 12/03 Tempe show and work “select worldwide dates” going forward. Masked Republic, through it’s Lucha Libre Agency, will be in charge of booking Vikingo in the US.

All these work visas have a US company as a sponsor; this group of visas Vikingo was is associated with Seattle’s DEFY wrestling. DEFY has a show on 11/26, though they tamped down expectations of seeing Vikingo there. Everyone’s been waiting for Vikingo to come to the US for years, the fans will live if they have to wait six more weeks. The other indie promotions who might be interested will just bring him in when they can later on if they have to wait for the Tempe show.

It’s also just possible everyone’s going to lose six weeks waiting for a show that doesn’t happen. If Vikingo is going to pass up thousands of US dollars in the next month, AAA should putting forth the same sort effort to promote this show in Tempe. They haven’t done it. The promotional work for the Tempe show has been pitiful – it’s inexcusable for that event not to be pushed hard during TripleMania. Announcing Tempe as Vikingo’s first date will help, but it will not solve all their problems. History shows us that AAA will just cancel or move a show when the tickets aren’t selling, and tickets haven’t sold much. Telling Vikingo to wait a month to take US money for a show, and then not doing the show, would be a disastrous way to start off this new phase in their relationship. I don’t want to see that happen, so AAA’s really got to improve what they’re doing for Tempe.

The SI article is clear that it’s Masked Republic/Lucha Agency who are Vikingo’s conduit for bookings in the US. That’s not AAA. AAA still control Vikingo’s bookings in Mexico, but those aren’t all the most important places for him to work now. The power dynamic in this relationship changed a lot with this visa.

AAA has the final of the Showcenter tournament Sunday. We know nothing except a bunch of people pictured on the poster and I’m not even entirely sure if those are the people who will be on the show. AAA should probably do all posters this way – it’s better than advertising matches they know won’t happen – and I guess this show could be a good gauge to see if that has any effect on attendance. Sure makes it hard to preview.

AAA on Space (6:30 pm) might be.

• Marvel Lucha Libre
• Copa Bardahl

I’m not sure, because AAA seems to be splitting it up in three parts like other TripleManias, and that means Space will be airing the women’s, tag and trios matches at some point in the next two Saturdays. Can’t be certain which of those five matches will air this week. I plan on being back on Twitch with whatever.

Part 1 of TripleMania, covering Ciber/Pagano, Fenix/Vikingo and Penta/Villano IV, goes up on YouTube on Sunday. That’s a quick turnaround; $23 got you to see those matches a week early. I guess boxing historically does that too.

One thing I’ve picked up (10 month into the year) is AAA never puts up the previous TV episode for TripleMania/big show weeks. It’s a good thing they tacked on the Vikingo/Laredo/Taurus match to another upload because who knows when or if the rest of that episode will turn up.

WrestleTix reported 14,100 tickets distributed for TripleMania Mexico City. There’s no indication of how many of those were sold. AAA had repeatedly talked about aiming for 19,000 so that’s a disappointment by their own expectations (though 14,100 for an expensive show is still probably very solid.) The same source had 13,637 tickets for Monterrey and 16,732 for Tijuana, so Mexico City would slide in as the second most attended. Mexico City tickets were higher priced than the other two shows so it’s still probably the biggest gate.

I expect AAA will run three TripleManias again next year. TripleManias are the only shows AAA runs themselves, they drew big crowds with them, and it makes sense to keep going back to Tijuana if you’re going get that kind of turnout. We don’t know what the actual profit margin is – AAA spent a lot on production, especially in Mexico City – and the annual show is tougher to draw than the first time ever one, but it seems from the outside that it did well enough to keep trying. Figuring out the main events for these shows is the challenge: AAA’s passed on building up anyone on their roster outside of Vikingo this year, and they’re going to be reliant on outside names to be part of the matches. It’s not that AAA just wants Kenny Omega back to face Vikingo, it’s that they probably really need that sort of main event for one of these shows. And then they have to come up with two more.

I haven’t been seeking out as much non-lucha TripleMania coverage this time around as in the past, but the stuff I’ve been sampling is universal in their negativity on the audio issues. People watching at home feeling like they can’t hear the action, people in the arena feeling like four hours of Hugo yelling over the loudspeakers grating on his nerves. AAA is insistent those talk to like this idea and have shown no signs of changing it. I’m not sure what it would take to get AAA to stop doing this at this point.

Big Lucha

They’re back with a Big Lucha World tonight at 9:30 pm (or there about.)

Big Lucha World (FRI) 10/21/2022 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Éxtasis & Radioactivo vs Forneo & Hannya
2) Accion Jackson vs ?
3) Mexicano & Viajero vs Black Skayde & Vengador

The November Ecatepec show is canceled (someone needs to update Big Lucha’s Facebook header), so we don’t know when exactly the next big show is happening. It’ll have Hannya/Radioactivo whenever it does happen.

La Catalina says she always wanted to go to Mexico and assumed that would be her next big step outside of Chile, but WWE offered her a job at 18 and of course, she was going to take that. (Catalina is still only 22.) She’d like to go back to WWE but now she gets to wrestle in Mexico like she originally thought.

IWRG

IWRG , FILL (THU) 10/20/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Chef Benito, Milagro, Skanda b Estrelaris, Legado, Osogbo 
2) Jhon Tito, Rey Minos, Spider Fly b Kenji, Rey Aztaroth, Súper Boy 
3) Fly Star & Torito Negro b Comando Stone & Neza Kid [Torneo FILL 100, quarterfinal] 
Gym Mexawrestling defeats Gym Freelance
4) Hijo de Payaso Purasanta & Payaso Purasanta Jr. b Karma I & Perseo [Torneo FILL 100, quarterfinal] 
Gym WTMB defeating Gym MSLL
5) Dick Angelo & Legendario b Güero De Tijuana & Taurino [Torneo FILL 100, quarterfinal] 
Gym FILL defeating Gym Zeus
6) ABC & Troyano b Alom & Historico [Torneo FILL 100, quarterfinal] 
Gym Ultimo Guerrero defeat Gym Hip Hop man
7) Hijo de Payaso Purasanta & Payaso Purasanta Jr. b Fly Star & Torito Negro [Torneo FILL 100, semifinal] 
Gym WTMB defeat Gym MexaWrestling
8) Dick Angelo 3G & Legendario b ABC & Troyano [Torneo FILL 100, semifinal] 
Gym FILL defeat Gym UG
9) Dick Angelo 3G & Legendario b Hijo de Payaso Purasanta & Payaso Purasanta Jr. [Torneo FILL 100, final] 
Gym FILL defeat Gym WTMB to win

Naturally the in-house team wins the 100th show tournament.

IWRG (SUN) 10/23/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Roja, Jhon Tito, Spider Fly vs Brad Alexis, La Mosca, Lucio
2) Satania vs Bengalee
3) Noisy Boy vs Rey Halcón
4) Aster Boy vs Garra Mortal
5) Cerebro Negro vs Hell Boy
6) Hijo del Alebrije, Luka, Tonalli vs Dick Angelo 3G, Hijo del Fishman, Puma de Oro
7) Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Galeno del Mal, Hijo De Canis Lupus

Not sure why all the singles matches but some of those might be good. Just sort of marking time before Castillo del Terror; I’d guess we’re heading to everyone in the semi-main declaring themselves in the match.

IWRG’s Revolucionando show announced an 11/05 show with Psycho Clown & Myzteziz Jr. vs Hijo del Fishman and Hijo del Canis Lupus, but the location of the event is a secret so far. That’ll be announced next week.

They also aired a bit saying Maniacop 360 will be out of action with an injury after his match with Oficial 911 last Friday. If Maniacop is who I think it is (don’t have it confirmed), then that’s a worked injury, and he’s still wrestling under another identity.  I’m less sure I’m correct because of this angle, so that’s working.

Aster Boy says his name came from Astroboy, spelled differently. He was a big fan off Volador Jr., maybe too big of a fan in his mask design, and ended up changing it. Aster Boy teases a big surprise coming soon.

Mas Lucha announced their Torneo Suprema field, 11/20 in Arena Naucalpan.

• Princesa Azul
• Lady Shani
• Jessy Jackson
• Bengalee
• Satania
• Zuzu Divine
• La Hiedra
• Sakura

The depth is much more of an issue in the women’s tournaments when they can’t use the same women every year. They can find eight women, but it’s tough to find eight with the same level as the men. It might be interesting to see Hiedra & Shani in a non-cookie sheet environment.

Other

On Facebook, Shocker’s account shows him back home and says he’ll tell his version of what happened soon.

There’s not much news in the El Hijo del Santo Mas Lucha interview or the other ones Hijo del Santo did for his 40th Anniversary. There was no big message to get across, he just wanted to talk about the career and mostly the early stages of it. The notes I have are a relatively small portion of the running time. Santo would really like to wrestle Negro Casas or Blue Panther once again, and promoters in the US tried to make Casas/Santo happen. Casas backed out; everyone in the interview seemed to imply it was CMLL urging Casas not to do the match. He praised Dragon Gate and their wrestlers and seemed to enjoy his recent tour there. Santo put over Bandido as a great young wrestler (as he always does in these) and was aware enough of what’s gone on this week to reference Fenix and Penta as wrestlers doing well internationally, though he couldn’t remember their names. Santo said he wants to raise the level of younger wrestlers and wrestle them instead of the older guys. (Santo looking less old by facing younger guys is an unspoken factor.) Santo brought up Hijo del Fishman as a good opponent for that. Hijo del Santo said Santo Jr. would likely wrestle in Japan if he wrestles again, feeling it’s a better environment for younger wrestlers, but believed Santo Jr.’s future was more in film than in the ring. Santo repeatedly said it was more important to him that his children (both son and daughter) were happy than they would carry on the Santo name. Reaching 40 years of wrestling was a big goal but he doesn’t have a retirement date in mind.

Mas Lucha noticed Nacion Lucha Libre debuted a few day ago and posted their interviews from the show. Alberto is hyped, as he tends to be, pushing how great everything is. The way he keeps talking about their doors being open for CMLL and AAA makes me wonder if he thought he might be able to get some from their promotion to get in when he was pitching this season. The second episode airs Saturday night and I will again try to record it.

AEW has Rush vs 10 vs Orange Cassidy for the All-Atlantic championship tonight on a live show. Orange’s gimmick is that, on a scale of intensity from 0 to 10, he’s normally about a -3. Rush is normally about a 11. They might work great as foils.

Hidalgo indie promotion CWF announced they would be running their final show on 10/30. They closed down the building they were running, and they’re selling their ring, so that seems more final than most retirements. No reason is given, but owner Zoom Driver is shutting it down on the group’s 15th Anniversary.

In a friends-only posts on his Facebook, Lucha Memes promoter Daniel Ledesma has a series of (dramatic) posts teasing winding down the promotion. It ended up in another donadora post, theoretically raising money for Coliseo Coacalco’s rent. You can get a link to watch last week’s Universal II show (Gresham/Hechicero among other matches) for about 10 USD.

Impact Wrestling is running a tournament for the vacant X-Divison Championship with a final on their 11/18 YouTube PPV. Laredo Kid and Black Taurus meet in the first round, in a match airing on BTI next Thursday. That means it streams for free on YouTube too if you don’t have AXS. That match (and likely everything else besides the final) will be taped in Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday night. This sentence may rapidly look dumb but I think Taurus might actually go some distance in this tournament. The winner of Laredo Kid/Black Taurus will face the winner of PJ Black/Yuyu Uemura, which means Black wins or some people will be very upset. People will probably be upset if Black beats a NJPW young guy too.

Box y Lucha is selling digital copies of their 2016-2020 issues. I would pay for any 60s/70/80/90s issues I don’t have but this is good too.