(the end of 2022 Tapatia awards voting is closing in a few days, vote now)
This post is the annual summary of hundreds of hours of work building and maintaining a database of every known Mexico and lucha libre event in the past year. You can find the typical list of disclaimers at the end of this post and can see the complete win/loss records and other data on this Google Sheet.
This is the first “full year” of lucha libre in 2019, or at least 95% of one. CMLL was closed for a short span in January 2022. Other indie venues were slow to return following the pandemic or just didn’t come back and will never be back. I expect the total normal of shows to rise slightly in 2023, assuming I continue to enter in dozens of new lineups each week. I have, as of this paragraph, 3,670 videos to sort through and potentially add to the luchadb. I’ll probably find a few more shows in there, and others may turn up during the next few months. For now, these are the numbers I’ve got.
Shows for each year, over the last ten. (Number in parenthesis indicates the change since I ran these numbers a year ago – ‘new’ shows discovered or duplicates removed.)
Year Count
2013 2879
2014 5589
2015 6424
2016 7117
2017 6108
2018 6344 (-2)
2019 6922
2020 2161 (-1)
2021 4000 (+7)
2022 6138
Not quite up to 2019 form, but not far off from previous years. Also, a lot less deep dives into Facebook to put together fuller lists of shows for weekly buildings.
Events Actually Added To LuchaDB In During The Year (No Matter What Year They Happened)
2015: 11,532
2016: 9,771
2017: 8,629
2018: 9,680
2019: 7,694
2020: 5,903
2021: 12,315
2022: 10,372
10,372 is a lot of data entry. Maybe I should get into that.
Most Matches
2008: Ultimo Guerrero (228)
2009: La Parka Jr. (211)
2010: Mistico (204)
2011: Último Guerrero & La Mascara (188)
2012: Último Guerrero (189)
2013: Último Guerrero (205)
2014: Atlantis (215)
2015: Atlantis (207)
2016: Atlantis (217)
2017: Último Guerrero & Psycho Clown (204)
2018: Último Guerrero (205)
2019: Caristico (223)
2020: Joe Lider (67)
2021: Psycho Clown (138)
2022: Psycho Clown (158)
I omit GCW and most other US indies, so it’s possible Psycho Clown is probably into the 160s. Still lower numbers than in years past. AAA wasn’t running spot shows early in the year, and CMLL really still isn’t.
There were 44 wrestlers with at least 100 matches this year, up from 10 the year prior. 8 wrestlers had as much as Psycho Clown did last year
158 Psycho Clown
157 Último Guerrero
153 Diva Salvaje
152 Volador Jr.
150 Mistico
145 Jessy Ventura
140 Abismo Negro Jr.
138 Atlantis Jr.
Most Wins
2008: Blue Panther (97)
2009: Mistico (110)
2010: Mistico (128)
2011: Último Guerrero (90)
2012: Atlantis (93)
2013: La Mascara (102)
2014: Atlantis (99)
2015: Volador Jr. (113)
2016: Volador Jr. (120)
2017: Volador Jr. (120)
2018: Caristico (115)
2019: Caristico (126)
2020: Caristico (37)
2021: Mistico/Carisico (68)
2022: Mistico (83)
This is where I annually note a lot of the “most” categories are CMLL names because CMLL runs a lot and reports six shows of results a week. Most indie shows get no results. (Some get videos, but my ambition to figure out unreported results for most indie shows via watching videos is very low; the finishes just don’t matter.) The winner of this is generally whoever is the top tecnico in CMLL, which continues to be Mistico.
Psycho Clown had the most wins of an AAA wrestler at 41.
Most Losses
2008: Averno (84)
2009: Negro Casas (86)
2010: Negro Casas (75)
2011: La Mascara (72)
2012: Último Guerrero (79)
2013: Último Guerrero (84)
2014: Último Guerrero (82)
2015: Último Guerrero (80)
2016: Último Guerrero (91)
2017: Último Guerrero (92)
2018: Último Guerrero (99)
2019: Mephisto (91)
2020: Stuka (29)
2021: Toxin (38)
2022: Volador Jr. (58)
This is usually a rudo award, so it’s strange to see Volador Jr. up there. He simply wrestled a lot, and rarely outside of CMLL, so he has a lot of reported losses. (He also had a 57% winning percentage.) The next five names on the list are CMLL rudos, followed strangely by IWRG’s Noisy Boy with 46 losses. Abismo Negro Jr. clocks in at 39 losses, but he’s also wrestling a lot in IWRG. Sexy Star II is the highest of people who just wrestled in AAA at 31.
Last year, I noted that Demonio Infernal and Fresero Jr. had a high amount of draws – a lot of their matches go to no finishes because neither side likes to lose, and they believe their fans are OK with not getting an outcome. They had a lot of draws in 2022 as well – Fresero 7, Demonio 5. They were joined by Guadalajara’s Gallo at 7 draws; he and Rayman battled as equals prior to their mask match.
Best Win % (with at least 10 known results)
2008: Psycho Clown & Zombie Clown (100%)
2009: Psycho Circus (100%)
2010: Tondar (GDL) (100%)
2011: Mini Monster Clown (90%)
2012: Rayo de Oro (Guatemala) (97%)
2013: Tinieblas Jr. (90%)
2014: William Rock/Pequeno Violencia (92%)
2015: Súper Muñeco (93%)
2016: Huracán Ramírez (85%)
2017: Huracán Ramírez (90%)
2018: Tinieblas Jr. (91%)
2019: Microman (87%)
2020: Muerte Extrema (90%)
2021: Estrella de Jalisco I (2021) (90%)
2022: Octagón (88%)
Octagon went 16-2 in known matches (and had 19 matches with no recorded results.) Micro Gemelo Diablo II went 25-5 in CMLL., while Micro Gemelo Diablo I is 26-9; he gets credit for matches where CMLL doesn’t list a number. Sanson went 19-6 as the best of the full-time AAA guys.
This is a good place to mention that not every wrestler gets tracked in the database. It’s mostly to prevent duplicates and to avoid permanent entries for people who are quickly gone. Generally, I won’t start to add a new wrestler to database until a name turns up 100 times, mostly because it’s a nice big round number. I’ll do it quicker if it’s a name in a notable promotion, but even people in Guadalajara may have to wait until they show up 20 times. These are very arbitally lines.
Worst loss % (with at least 10 known results)
2008: Carrona (0%)
2009: Espectrito (0%)
2010: Metailk II (GDL) (11%)
2011: Akron (13%)
2012: Mini Talisman (8%)
2013: Estrella De Fuego (5%)
2014: Psicosis I/Nicho el Millionario (0%)
2015: Lady Shani (5%)
2016: Nahual (Morelos) (10.53%)
2017: Pitbull I (Jalisco) & Flayer Boy (9%)
2018: Rey Muerte (Guerrero) (0%)
2019: Mije (0%)
2020: La Guerrera (CMLL) (0%)
2021: Quca (0%)
2022: Guapito (0%)
Guapito went 0-11 in recorded results, mostly with Robles. If we raise the bar to 25 results, Parka Negra’s 2-25 recorded (a 7% winning percentage) puts him on ‘top’ of the list. Polvora had the worst luck of the CMLL regulars, with a 10-33 record for a 23% percentage.
top 10 states with the most events
Estado de México 926
Coahuila 712
Jalisco 589
Distrito Federal 564
Veracruz 446
Puebla 387
Tamaulipas 313
Hidalgo 211
Texas 160
Chihuahua 157
These numbers are always going to have a Mexico City/Mexico State bias because those shows get covered more often, so Coahuila and Jalisco approaching those numbers just tell how much wrestling there was in those areas. Coahuila has a very active scene in Torreon (/Gomez Palacio) and a separate group in Saltillo and Monclova.
Nuevo Leon/Monterrey shows:
2018: 323 events
2019: 258 events
2020: 96 events
2021: 190 events
2022: 147 events
The policies the Monterrey lucha libre commission have applied in the last year have been nearly as successful at reducing lucha libre in the entire state as COVID itself.
Events by arena
153 Arena México
98 Arena Naucalpan
83 Arena 23 de Junio, Nicolás Romero, Estado de Méxic0
70 Arena Roberto Paz, Guadalajara, Jalisco
63 Arena Aficion
62 Arena Olimpico Laguna, Gomez Palacio, Durango
60 Arena Colon, Torreón, Coahuila
57 Coliseo Fraternidad, Veracruz, Veracruz
56 Arena GDL, Guadalajara, Jalisco
56 Arena Lopez Mateos
Arena 23 de Junio is a tiny Coliseo Coacalco arena that sometimes will run a free noon show on Sundays before a Sunday show (but whose posters are hard to track down some weeks.) Arena Roberto Paz is a rare arena that runs twice a week. I have no idea how Arena Aficion stays in business, and I may be missing a few of those shows since they don’t always put out posters. The other ones are weekly venues that sneak in an extra show or two at times.
Most Matches on AAA TV Tapings
21 Taurus
19 Hijo del Vikingo
19 Pagano
18 Sexy Star II
17 Mr. Iguana/Nino Hamburguesa/Laredo Kid
Taurus and Vikingo are up top because we knew when their Marvel Lucha Libre characters (and so they have them marked down as working twice on some tapings.) Others were less clear.
Most Matches in CMLL-owned buildings (Arena Mexico/Coliseo/Guadalajara/Puebla)
136 Volador Jr.
110 Soberano Jr.
105 Gran Guerrero
101 Último Guerrero
100 Atlantis Jr.
Negro Casas wrestled 84 matches. Reyna Isis wrestled the most matches for women at 72. Mercurio had 57 to lead the minis, Micro Gemelo Diablo I had 37 among the micros.
Most Arena Naucalpan matches
68 Spider Fly
62 Puma de Oro
60 Tonalli
60 Hell Boy
60 Aster Boy
60 Noisy Boy
It’s a noticeable drop off from those four to Cerbero Negro and Dick Angelo at 45, and no one else has more than 40.
Most Friday night Arena Mexico appearances
37 Volador Jr.
31 Soberano Jr.
30 Último Guerrero
28 Titán/Místico/Atlantis Jr.
The people who had the highest percentage of their CMLL matches take place on Friday Arena Mexico shows were all women. 47% of Avispa Dorada’s CMLL matches were on Friday Arena Mexico shows. Dalys has 42% of her CMLL matches on CMLL’s biggest show of the week, and then it’s Isis, Vaquer, Sugehit, Silueta, and Jarochita before the first man (Templario.) CMLL’s both featured women more and prioritized their better wrestlers on Fridays, which means it’s a small group of women who appear a lot. Dalys’ departure means there are about 22 Friday night appearances that’ll go to others. There are 21 Negro Casas appearances to replace.
Aéreo, Pequeño Polvora, Fantasy and the Dr. Karontes did not appear on a Friday night Arena Mexico show in 2022.
Zanodkan Jr. (34) had the most Tuesday Arena Coliseo Guadalajara matches. Averno was the top among the ‘regular’ CMLL roster, though his usage indicates there was some unusual deal there: he appeared more often in Guadalajara than Friday Arena Mexico matches.
Stigma (33) appeared the most in Arena Puebla, followed by Volador Jr. and 26. Rey Bucanero & Terrible tied with most Tuesday Arena Mexico matches at 21. Volador wrestled the most on Saturday Arena Coliseo shows at 23. Inquisidor strangely had the most Sunday Arena Mexico matches at 25.