CMLL
Gran Guererro defeated Hechicero to win the CMLL Heavyweight championship Monday in Puebla. Only Gran Guerrero and his family seem happy about the title change. This is a bit of normal CMLL policy: they like to spread out the titles and other wins as wide as possible, Hechicero and Los Infernales won the trios titles, so Hechicero gives up the heavyweight title. Essentially, the fans voting Los Infernales into the trios title match at Night of Champions caused this change – CMLL had to change those titles to make sure something happened on this show and that left Hechicero with two belts. I’m not sure the fans would’ve voted Hechicero into the spot if they knew that was going to happen. Hechicero seems happy in CMLL and I don’t think this title change will change much.
Gran Guerrero’s not an inspiring choice but CMLL’s not overrun with great heavyweight choices. I would’ve preferred the trios titles just get passed on to someone else but maybe this was just the easier move. No one’s going to consider Gran Guerrero one of the top heavyweights in his promotion (much less the world) because he suddenly has this title, but CMLL’s purpose for their titles is to make as many people as happy as possible by making as many people title holders as possible. CMLL probably could’ve gotten much more out of this title match than a one week build on the one show a week we know isn’t taped for TV, but maybe that’s a fair representation of the importance of this title. CMLL is the only major wrestling promotion in the world where where the world heavyweight title can change hands and not many people talk about it and it didn’t appear anyone outside of the CMLL fan bubble even noticed. I don’t know that CMLL cares all that much.
The title match itself was fine, nothing special. Gran Guerrero is a patterned CMLL wrestler, a lot like his older brother. The parts of the match that were streamed on Facebook turned into the same big move->kickout->other person’s big move->kickout endgame seen in Ultimo’s matches. He’ll be fine as the champion because not much is expected of champions.
CMLL (TUE) 11/08/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores]
1) Mercurio & Minos b Acero & Aéreo 
2) Cholo, Inquisidor, Nitro b Astral, Cachorro, Diamond
Rudos took 1/3
3) Flyer, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring Jr. b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
Tecnicos took 2/3
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b El Coyote, Felino, Kráneo
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Stuka Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr.
Villano III Jr. surprised Angel de Oro to defeat him, and asked for a MEX LH title match
I had video problems, so no files on the Google Drive until later. I haven’t even been able to see if Panterita del Ring Jr. did anything neat. Angel de Oro has a sneaky wrestler of the year candidacy if he can get a good match out of Villano III Jr.
CMLL (TUE) 11/08/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Fuego en el Ring, thecubsfan]
1) Avispón Negro Jr., El Divino, Mágico b Bobby Black, Canalla, Carlo Roggi
2) Estrella de Jalisco I, Estrella de Jalisco II, Último Ángel b Persa, Raven, Temerario
3) Cris Skin, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel b Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Maligna, Misteriosa, Stephanie Vaquer b Náutica, Sexy Sol, Valkiria
5) Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga b Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico
6) Atlantis Jr., Dark Panther, Felino Jr., Soberano Jr. b Averno, Dulce Gardenia, JKR, Rugido
I didn’t get it when the lineup came out, but the main event gimmick is sons of wrestlers teaming against people who aren’t second-generation. There are so many 2nd generation wrestlers in CMLL that I guess it didn’t stick out, but they’re running another family-focused show next week.
CMLL (SAT) 11/12/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy & Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Sangre Imperial, Valiente Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Soberano Jr. vs Último Guerrero, Vincent, Yota
5) Místico vs Ángel de Oro
Hey, it’s an Angel de Oro singles match. He’s going to have a busy week.
It’s rare to get injury updates out of Mexican wrestling promotions. Luchadors just disappear, and maybe you’ll catch sight of an injury update on their social media. There’s apparently a new source for that news; Excelsior notes the clinic of Roberto Rodriguez (Chief of Medical Service for CMLL) has been posting injury updates about various CMLL wrestlers on Instagram. Not sure how long that’s going to last but for now we have some news:
- Terrible underwent right knee surgery for a torn ACL on Monday, and is expected out 6-8 months. The injury had been bugging him for a while, it reads like the Stuka match was just the final one he was working through.
- Skadi is out with shoulder surgery back on August 25th
- Templario is out with left shoulder surgery, though that one was already public
- Grako had bicep surgery on October 1st.
- Audaz is out with an ankle dislocation, but needs rehab and not surgery
- Electrico is also rehabbing a leg injury.
Julio Cesar Rivera closed out Tuesday’s show by saying they’d announce participants in the Leyenda de Azul tournament today. There’s been no mention of that tournament until now.
In addition to the Leyenda de Azul, CMLL Informa will have Blue Panther, Titan, Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Yota, Okumura and Volcano. I’m guessing that means Vincent isn’t arriving until Thursday. Yota arrived early Wednesday. I presume they’re going with “Yota” figuring it’s easier to pronounce than “Tsuji.”
NJPW announced Atlantis Jr. and Virus against Rocky Romero and Adrian Quest for their NJPW Strong show on 11/20 in Los Angeles. That’s the debut of both CMLL wrestlers. Atlantis Jr. getting outside exposure and experience makes a lot of sense. Romero spoke positively about wanting to wrestle Virus again when he was around CMLL for the Gran Prix, remembering their mid 2000s rivalry; Virus was out with a leg injury then. Romero has a significant role in running NJPW Strong so it’s not a big surprise it got done there. Mascara Dorada will team with the debuting Lince Dorado on that show as well. These tapings seem to air about 4-6 weeks later; Mistico’s appearance on 09/11 didn’t air until 10/29.
AAA
Dorian Roldan, Vamprio and Blue Demon will be part of the AdvertisingWeek LATAM’s conference today. Vampiro, Demon and Rodlan will appear on a panel called “Play Local, Win Global: The Power of the Mask on Global Marketing” today, which will stream Thursday at 1 pm. Roldan will have an individual sitdown interview today at 4:30 pm CT, and that one is streaming live. It appears you only need to create an account (and subject yourself to some marketing emails) to watch these streams. There are not usually deep insights on these panels – it’s usually surface level information for people who don’t follow wrestling and I expect the hosts just to be excited about Vampiro and Demon for that one – but maybe we’ll get something.
Saturday’s AAA/EMW/American Icon show is said to be the start of Vampiro’s retirement tour and taped for TV. I don’t think it’s a Space taping but I guess it’s possible someone could tape it for their own use.
There’s a benefit show for Laredo Kid in Nuevo Laredo on 11/20.
IWRG/Naucalpan
Mas Lucha is running on Thursday with its annual women’s tournament, Mas Lucha Suprema. They drew the bracket on a Monday stream. Everyone seemed to have fun drawing names, but it was one time where I missed CMLL’s battle royals. Those get done in five minutes, and this took an hour. The opening match ups:
- Lady Shani vs Bengalee
- Satania vs La Hiedra
- Zuzu Divine vs Jessy Jackson
- Princesa Azul vs Sakura
The results of the draw are unexpected, feeling so random as to be real. The four people most likely to win the tournament all ended up in the same half of the bracket, and the four people who seemed most likely to lose in round one are all on the other half of the bracket. Maybe a Princesa Azul would’ve pulled an upset to mix it up, but it’s unlikely any of them would’ve gone far. With this draw, one of those four will have a big night and advance at least as far as the final. There’s a chance to really make someone tonight, as far as a premium show on Mas Lucha is going to make someone.
Other Notes
The person shot to death outside of Arena Coliseo Monterey on Sunday was nicknamed “El Padrino” and from Reynosa, according to El Note. He was a known mask collector, known by other fans and luchadors and often came to shows. His actual name was not mentioned, and he’s just said to be between 35 and 40 years old. The police believe there was someone else inside the arena who was watching him and signaled the attacker to approach as he was leaving. SuperLuchas posted video of people taking refuge back inside the building during the shooting; Fresero Jr. is visibly helping direct people and calm them down during the chaos.
An interview with Morelia’s Infinity makes the case that the lack of women wrestlers in lucha libre is actually a good reason for women to join: there’s more opportunity for women because there’s less competition. Infinity wrestles for SCW and is the only women wrestling there. She mentions a couple of other women are in training. This was a part of a press conference to hype SCW’s next show, which all air on YouTube on a slight delay. SCW is a promotion I want to check out to see what it is about but I never get around to it. (They also did a big show with Travis Banks, like a lot of other Mexican promotions, and it’s probably a reason I haven’t got to it.)
Thunder Rosa will be added to a Tijuana walk of fame on Thursday.
A mural in Perro Aguayo’s memory will be created in his hometown of Zacatecas.
Arena Jalisco hasn’t run in four weeks for some unspecified government issues and announced Monday that they’d be able to reopen soon.
The Leyenda de Azul tournament was announced at Informa three weeks ago: https://twitter.com/_LosColiseinos/status/1582858171810738176
Random Thoughts:
-Gran Guerrero winning that title reminds of when EMLL had one of the hotter heavyweight lucha feuds ever and passed the Mexican Heavyweight Championship to..,Popitekus and El Egipcio…
-Averno is not considered a second generation luchador?…i mean he is the son of Rodolfo Ruiz and nephew of Rizado Ruiz.
-The walk of fame that Thunder Rosa will be part of is actually: “She says that is from Tijuana and does something, let’s put her in just for the hell of it” walk of fame…it does not have a physical location,just some photos on a local mall that nobody cares about, it’s just ego stroking for the guy that runs that stuff.