Laredo Kid wins Showcenter tournament but undergoes surgery, Lluvia CMLL Universal champ, NLL

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.