Today is Dia de Inocentes in Mexico (and much of the Spanish speaking world), a day media sites like to put out fake stories as joke. The ones I’ve seen so far are Mas Lucha joking about Tonalli going to WWE and Mr. Iguana appearing on CMLL Informa, but be careful believing out there today
CMLL
CMLL (MON) 12/26/2022 Arena Puebla [Arena Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) Black Tiger & Hijo de Centella Roja b Dark Soul & Espíritu Maligno
2) Centella Roja & Rey Samuray b Rey Apocalipsis & Siky Ozama 
Rey Samuray replaced Milenium (moved up)
3) Astral, El Suicida, Fuego, Milenium b Disturbio, El Perverso, Prayer, Raider
Milenium replaced Valiente Jr
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Leo (Jalisco), Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. (Jalisco)
Vaquero pulled Maya’s mask to pin him
5) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Negro Casas b Soberano Jr., Titán, Valiente
Soberano replaced Volador (COVID) on Friday. Negro Casas beat Titan for the win, setting up a title match for next week.
Another good crowd for the new start time; Porra Fresa believes it was very close to a sell out.
CMLL (TUE) 12/27/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Acero, Aéreo, Shockercito b Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia 
2) Flyer, Fuego, Volcano b Enfermero Jr., Kráneo, Okumura
tecnicos took 2/3
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Akuma, Dark Magic, Raider
Depredadores took 1/3
4) Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero b Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma
Rudos took 2/3.
5) Euforia, Místico, Soberano Jr. b Hechicero, Templario, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Mistico took 2/3.
Just a normal show. Attendance was notable stronger than usual for a Tuesday show, which might be a holiday effect. Guadalajara saw a strong turnout as well.
CMLL (TUE) 12/27/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [CMLL, Fuego en el RIng]
1) Destello, Destructor, Minotauro b Bello Antuan, Mortis, Tigre Blanco 
2) Estrella de Jalisco I, Estrella de Jalisco II, Obelisk b Carlo Roggi, Raven, Temerario
3) Ángel Rebelde, Draego, Omega b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
4) Cachorro, Hijo De Stuka Jr., Rey Insólito DQ Barboza, Difunto, Persa
mask removal DQ
5) Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico b Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel © [OCCIDENTE TRIOS]
2nd defense, first since January. Title change
6) Blue Panther & Dark Panther b Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. and Gran Guerrero & Zandokan Jr. and Bestia Negra & Satánico
Dark Panther submitted Atlantis JR. for the surprise win
Lots of changes to this lineup. Ultimo Guerrero skipped out on the main event. Mafioso & Epydemius were at the show, but didn’t wrestle for unknown reasons. Rey Espectro didn’t appear at all.
Dark Panther beating the likes of Atlantis Jr. is unlikely, even in the venue where unlikely things seem to happen. Hope that means they’re doing something with him.
They started at 9 pm and opened this show with a boxing match, which meant this went into Wednesday morning.
CMLL (SUN) 01/01/2023 Arena México
1) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Okumura, Virus
2) Marcela vs Faby
3) Cavernario, Místico, Templario vs Averno, Gran Guerrero, Titán [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Difunto vs Apocalipsis, Zandokan Jr., Príncipe Odín Jr., Nitro, Inquisidor, Bengala, Neón, Millenium, Oro Jr., Valiente Jr., Retro [cage, mask]
This is the Sin Salida card. CMLL didn’t announce a lineup for this one when they did all the other December/January cards, because they were waiting to set up the women’s match. The diehards are very into that match as a historic deal and CMLL’s positioning it as something that will draw fans. I expect Marcela is winning.
CMLL will air this Sunday show on TicketmasterLive for the regular 99 pesos Fridays price. They put a Sunday Dia del Muertos shows on PPV in 2021, and none in 2022.
CMLL Informa has Marcela and Faby to talk about that match, Los Micros Malditos to introduce that team, Neon, Bengala and Oro Jr. to talk about Sin Salida, and Angelito and Mercurio to talk about their rematch on 01/06.
NJPW uploaded the full November 18, 2022 CMLL show to their YouTube channel. It’s the full show as it aired on Ticketmaster Live, so it includes a women’s match that isn’t in CMLL’s own YouTube upload. NJPW briefly made it available worlwide and now seems to have restricted it to Japan only. If you’re one of the (few) people who still upload CMLL content to YouTube, you now have to dodge not only a CMLL copryight strike (seems to be done infrequently) but also a NJPW one (seems to be very frequent.)
AAA
Noche de Campeones is tonight. If you’re someone who’s already watching AAA weekly, you’ll probably find something to like. If you’re someone who only tunes it for TripleManias or have other interests, you probably haven’t even considered watching this.
AAA TV (WED) 12/28/2022 Arena GNP, Acapulco, Guerrero
1) Arcano vs El Engañoso, Gran Mazo, Picadura Letal, Leyenda America [MLL CHAMP]
2) Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo © vs Lady Shani & Octagón Jr. and Komander & Sexy Star [AAA MIXED TAG]
3rd defense, 1st in AAA vacant championships
3) Aramis, Myzteziz, Willie Mack vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © [AAA TRIOS]
3rd defense (2nd when announced)
4) Dave The Clown vs Panic Clown, Murder Clown, Vampiro, Pagano, Aerostar, Blue Demon Jr., Niño Hamburguesa, Mr. Iguana, Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Parka Negra [Copa Mundo Imperial]
5) Arez vs Taurus, Villano III Jr. [AAA DEMON]
new title
6) Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood © vs Dragón Lee & Dralistico [AAA TAG]
fifth defense
7) Hijo Del Vikingo © vs Bandido [AAA MEGA]
Eighth defense, third on TV
I have a long preview on Voices of Wrestling. It is amazing AAA has a ~90-minute TV show each week and hasn’t done anything more than 30 seconds promos to build up most of these matches. They’re still building up another set of matches which may or may not ever happen. If you can handle AAA, the main event should be a classic, and a couple of other things on the show should pop. The best thing AAA has going for it is it’s talent recruitment because they can just throw random stuff out there and it’ll be good enough for diehards.
It’s a good show, $23 is a bit much for it, but only the diehards are going to buy it. Joe & Larry (who is back) might be able to say hi to each of us who ordered individually. FITE lists the starting time at 6:15 pm CT (45 minutes before Dynamite). They had 7 pm listed until this week, so that could mean the show is starting early or we’ll all kill time for 45 minutes.
Vikingo’s a heavy favorite to retain over Bandido, but both are good enoguh to make people believe otherwise. The funniest scoop of the week was Fightful’s Patreon reporting “wrestlers inside AAA think FTR are losing the titles tonight”, because anyone watches AAA knows FTR is losing the titles and leaving town tonight. Ares vs Taurus vs Villano III Jr. should be very good, and another big chance for Villano to demonstrate he’s on the same level as the other two – I’m sure he’d like to get some of the US booking they get. No one cares about the Copa. NGD are obviously going to win and it doesn’t matter who wins the mixed tag title matches or the Marvel one, but they all could be good. AAA is doing well at having ‘good matches’ and they really need to improve ‘giving people a real reason to care about their good matches’ in 2023.
I was worried about ticket sales last week, but it looks like they’ve picked up big. It’s still a very big stadium and AAA was only planning on selling a fraction of the tickets, but the show exists only because the people who own the big building wanted to put a show there.
This show is not airing on Space, which is strange for a major AAA show. Space/WBD sent out a press release promoting it’s Mexico offerings on Wednesday and AAA was mentioned as airing on Space, so it’s no change in the relationship. AAA hasn’t returned to Azteca since the World Cup, but they did promote this show on social media.
It’s an AAA show, so matches are going to change. One has already changed.
AAA Mixed Tag Titles are vacant
The Wrestling Observer reported on Monday that Tay Melo and Sammy Guevara would not be coming to Acapulco and the AAA Mixed Tag Team championships are vacant. The story is the AEW Melo & Anna Jay match against Ruby Soho & Willow Nightengale was originally scheduled to be taped this past Wednesday, but one of the participants was ill, and the match got pushed back a week. AEW pulled Melo off the AAA show in effect. Soho & Nightengale wrestled on Dark Elevation at that taping, Melo & Jay did not appear as far as I can tell and recall. AAA, as always in these situations (and there sure have been a lot of these situations), stopped promoting the specific match but has made no update of the lineup or acknowledgment of the issue. The match is still listed on FITE’s preview, which seems to be maintained by FITE and not AAA.
I had about five paragraphs written about this, but I decided none of this matters. No one’s going to change their actions.
- Is it cheating their customers for AAA to advertise a match that isn’t happening? Yes, but AAA’s not going to stop doing that – or at least this won’t be the one changes their mind on it.
- Is it unfriendly of AEW to pull Melo from AAA’s PPV? Yes, but AAA’s still going to work with them.
- Do Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo look terrible for winning the belts and never returning? Yes, but they don’t care – they got to say they were tag team champions together, and they don’t care about looking into a bad place they were never planning on working again.
- Should AAA stop putting championships on foreigners who never end up losing them in the ring? Yes, but AAA’s will keep seeing those outsiders as people who will elevate their own wrestlers, even if that never happens.
- Does this make AAA look bad? No, because everyone already sees AAA as a place that has good wrestlers but is constantly doing things that make itself look foolish and not worth investing in, so this is nothing new.
Everyone’s going to keep on keeping on. AAA will never change.
Even More AAA
On Konnan’s podcast, Cain Velasquez said he and Daniel Cormier had talked about doing a match for AAA. It reads like a ‘wouldn’t that be fun’ idea, not something that’s firmly happening.
Hijo del Vikingo faces Joey Janela on the GCW 12/31 show. I presume Vikingo’s match is not airing. Vikingo’s match in DEFY against Nick Wayne did air on their streaming service, but they have a situation unique to them.
IWRG
No show on Thursday.
IWRG (SUN) 01/01/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Rosel vs Baby Star, Legado, Pequeño Jocker, Tiger Fly, Cometa Boy, Troyano, Limbo, Pasion, Genex, Rey Eclipse, Kenji [cage, hair, mask]
2) Mr. Leo vs Imposible, Rey Halcón, Paymon, Spider Fly, John Tito [Cofre del Pirata Moreno, cage]
3) Rey Espectro vs Hijo del Alebrije, Rokambole, Cerebro Negro Jr., Máscara Sagrada Jr., Villano V Jr., Gran Pandemónium, Rocky Casas [IWRG JUNIOR, #1 Contenders, cage]
4) Dick Angelo 3G vs ? [Ladder, cage]
5) Aramis vs Hell Boy, Hijo De Canis Lupus, Puma de Oro, Noisy Boy [mask, hair, IWRG MEXICO, IWRG REY DEL AIRE, cage]
This is the Guerreros de Acero show, with every match as a cage match. The first and the last are last one in loses something, the middle three are first ones out win something. Cofre del Pirata Moreno is their Money in the Bank suitcase. This is as Mas Lucha Premium show.
Other News
LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania and the latest Lucha Report.
KAOZ announced Konnan Big, Marty Scurll, The Tiger versus Loco Arreola, Cibernetico, and Emperador Azteca as their 02/26 main event. That main event was Rush, Dralistico, and Bestia del Ring versus Enzo Amore, Marty Scurll, and EJ Nduka a few days ago. The other five people are now in a match with Erick Redbeard. Arreola is a local popular MMA fighting. Konnan Big retired on the last KAOZ show; there’s no angle explaining why he’s back, he’s just back.
Vampiro says he’s filming his own reality show over the next two years. He also says he signed an AAA contract for exactly two years and will retire at the end. “Two years” remains a mythical unit of lucha libre time.
RIOT says their next show will be 02/04, one of their usual “Tonto Evento Sorpresa” events where every match is a surprise. RIOT will end the year without releasing a single show on VOD, which means I probably should stop covering them because it’s useless for me to write anything about them.
The San Pedro Museo de Arte in Puebla has a lucha libre poster exhibit, up until March.
A year in review with Toluca luchador Fuego Jr.
Mini Escoria taught a self-defense course for women in Orizaba.