mystery man, Vaquer keeps the woman’s title, KeMalito, Ultraclash

CMLL

There was a CMLL spot show in Arena Aficion on Thursday. Nothing much notable in the wrestling, crowd as OK (though that’s better than some CMLL shows there in the past.) The notable event was a wedding proposal; she said yes.

CMLL (FRI) 12/01/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, PubliMetro, Record, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Pequeño Magía, Pequeño Violencia, Último Dragóncito DQ Mercurio, Pierrothito, Shockercito [Relevos Increíbles]    
8:58. Usual challenges for a cage match followed
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Futuro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Neón    
13:08.
3) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido  
11:31. Straight falls. Fugaz challenged Magia Blanca to a title match.
4) Flip Gordon, Titán, Valiente b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto    
13:28.
5) Stephanie Vaquer © b Tessa Blanchard [CMLL WOMEN]    
12:56. 2nd defense
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible    
Prior to the match, a video aired of a mystery man coming soon to CMLL. (The video implied it was Andrade/Sombra.) La Comandante returned to CMLL as second to the newly named Los Barbaros. KeMalito made his in-ring debut (introduced at a CMLL post-Aniversary party) to help the rudos win the seond fall. Comandante & Maldito worked together to help Cavernario pin Mistico after a third fall mask pull. Referee Edgar was distracted by KeMalito far longer than normal, Cavernario held the pin for about 20 second, Mistico kicked out before three when Edgar finally counted the pin, Edgar counted three anyway, the match went onto a La Mistica. Cavernario complained he had the three count post match.

Here’s that vignette. Most are guessing it’s Andrade. I’ve been told they’re correct; this is indeed the former La Sombra’s return to Arena Mexico. Andrade’s name has come up positively in 2023 – primarily around relatives Lady Shadow and Brillante Jr. making CMLL appearances and doing interviews – where he wasn’t talked about at all when he was working AAA shows. There are must’ve been some work to smooth things over before this point. I believe Andrade’s return will lead to more attention on his other family members.

La Sombra was actually never a notable draw in CMLL the first time around; he was a star but not that kind of star. Returning to Arena Mexico after many years away will definitely make him that attraction. There are the obvious big mask match rematches with Volador Jr. and Atlantis, the dream match with Mistico, and new top stars like Mascara Dorada & Soberano he can work against.

(I don’t think AEW ‘sent’ Andrade as part of CMLL/AEW deal. The people who need to understand this won’t read this, but there is no massive talent-sharing deal. There is just an open line of communication. It’s much more likely Andrade is using his freedom to take outside dates and making an agreement with CMLL for some shows on his own. It helps that AEW and CMLL have talked, and I would assume Andrade gave the top people in AEW a heads-up. Andrade/CMLL probably means nothing towards Rush or Dralistico status for the moment; they will be separate peace accords, ones I don’t expect in the near future.)

There are a lot of unknowns, even going with this mystery person as Andrade. There’s also lots of reckless speculation to be had for the moment. Does Andrade’s return have anything to do with the surprises Soberano teased? (Soberano teased something Monday morning.) Is it simply a coincidence that CMLL’s stopped using the Los Ingobernables for Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, and Terrible? Is Brillante Jr.’s surprise inclusion on the FantasticaMania roster related to this? Will Andrade in CMLL now clear the way for Andrade to appear on NJPW shows? When is this guy even showing up? (Does Andrade’s presence on a 12/21 show with AAA wrestlers indicate it won’t be any time soon?) Will Andrade’s personality and expectations fit in CMLL’s culture than Metalik did? All we know is that CMLL is having a good year and adding another big outside name seems like a strong positive.

KeMalito is obviously one of the Micro Gemelo Diablos and an idea that was meant to be rolled out months ago alongside a new KeMonito. It appeared the original KeMonito making public his complaints about CMLL delayed both ideas. Debuting KeMalito in the second fall of the match seemed to set up the new guy showing up to help the tecnicos in fall three. Instead, there was a poorly performed finish that felt like something got changed and confused. Introducing a new KeMonito will be controversial unless CMLL’s somehow made things right things with the original blue monkey. It’s just a matter of time until something happens. I’d suggest doing it on the Christmas show, but what do I know.

(I might not know things but the outside vendors sure do; Dr. Landru noted mask sellers had KeMalito masks for sale that night when they hadn’t in previous weeks.)

We can’t be sure where things are headed. Or at least I can’t be that sure. In the women’s match, I thought I was seeing a build to Tessa Blanchard winning the title. The reality ended up being different. I do not know what she was like to deal with behind the scenes (and that seems to be where she causes most of her problems), but she seemed completely professional in the ring. Blanchard worked hard and put Vaquer over strong in Guadalajara and strong against in Mexico – to the point where she got humiliated in the post-match. She lost again to Vaquer in Tijuana on Saturday; there was no face-saving win or outgiven. I am sure Tessa Blanchard will be back in CMLL someday if she wants to be back in CMLL, and I also feel confident CMLL would give a strong recommendation on her if asked.

The title match itself though I’m not as positive about it. They worked hard, they hit each other hard. They had one spot that went very badly on the outside, but they recovered naturally and moved on. Stephanie Vaquer and Tessa Blanchard would’ve gotten over great in NJPW Strong or maybe Impact or some other US TV promotion, but it didn’t feel of Mexican wrestling enough to work for this Arena Mexico. After her last NJPW appearance, I saw comments praising Vaquer for being a great babyface and I didn’t understand it. Still don’t; in the context of lucha libre, she’s a total ruda and doesn’t really have that connection to the crowd a good tecnica needs. Vaquer gets cheered because she does some showy things and is better at the physical portion of wrestling than any other luchadora does, but she also comes across as cold and distant in the ring, like nothing would be changed if she was still doing this match in empty arena times. That works for a ruda, that works in situations elsewhere, just not as well with the casual Arena Mexico fanbase that thrives on well-defined good people and bad people. It left this particular title match as two people who were emotionally shut off from the crowd and capped the excitement it could provide. The match was not at all bad, it was pretty good, but it didn’t fit the vibe, and they’re not over enough to change the vibe just with the presence. Bringing in Blanchard was a good experiment, but CMLL needs to look at finding more babyface characters to throw at Vaquer if they’re going to have their biggest successes.

(The resulting feeling does make me wonder about Mercedes Mone. I don’t know that it’s ever actually happening but I would figure she’d expect to be the similar outsider ruda if she ever came to Arena Mexico, and the match would probably go a lot better with her as the hero of the story.)

There were other matches on the show. The main event finish – two people cheating for the rudos, Cavernario getting a three count that was not a three count, the losers doing the usual post-match winners interview – would make more sense if the new Los Barbaros were initially meant to win. Most of the undercard was fine. Not really sold on another Fugaz/Magia Blanca match, and everyone’s really ready for the minis cage match setup to move on to another chapter.

CMLL (SAT) 12/02/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Aéreo, Angelito, Minos DQ Acero, Full Metal, Galaxy [Relevos Increíbles]
today’s DQ was Galaxy unmasking Minos
2) Hera, Metálica, Tiffany b La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Skadi
Skadi replaced La Malgina
3) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Capitán Suicida, El Audaz, Halcón Suriano Jr.
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hombre Bala Jr. b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
5) Flip Gordon b Ángel de Oro
crowd was negative towards Flip. Angel de Oro needed post match medical attention.
6) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Octagón DDQ Atlantis & Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
Terrible & Atlantis took fall 1, Dragon Rojo & Octagon took fall 2, Terrible and Dragon Rojo betrayed their partners in fall three for a rare double DQ.

CMLL’s recap noted Flip Gordon’s got booed. Nothing is impossible, but a white guy wearing US military fatigues who does not speak Spanish is going to have a very tough road to get over as a face in Mexico. This has generally been Gordon’s problem his entire career: he presents as a classic 1980s babyface so every booker wants to push him that way, but tastes has changed and he’s missing some sort of edge or bigger personality trait to make it work. (In the Being the Elite universe, that trait became “dumb as a rock but likable”, and then he lost a lot of his support by being dumb as a rock in unlikable ways on social media.) CMLL will eventually turn him rudo, it’ll work better, and he may get over enough to end up a tecnico again down the line – the Marco Corleone path worked out.

CMLL no longer provides live results of their Mexico City shows on Twitter or Facebook. Those can only be found on their Whatsapp channel. The Whatsapp channel has less than a 1,000 followers, a lot less than either of those other two platforms. The Friday results did later pop up on Twitter. CMLL used to post delayed recaps on their website but has only done it once in the last six months. I think this is a short-term attempt to build up that follower count on WhatsApp, which may or may not be necessary if Twitter (or X) becomes less viable as a platform.

CMLL (SUN) 12/03/2023 Arena México [La Tijera]
1) Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial b Leono & Robin 
2) Astral, Diamond, Halcón Suriano Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr. 
3) Crixus, Kráneo, Okumura b Fuego, Stigma, Volcano 
Kraneo snuck in a foul on Volcano.
4) Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero b Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring, Rey Cometa 
5) Hechicero, Niebla Roja, Templario b Star Jr., Valiente, Volador Jr. 
KeMalito, who earlier disconnected the CMLL Christmas Tree, distracted Volador and helped Hechicero get the pin.
6) Máscara Dorada b Gran Guerrero 
said to be more than 20 minutes

I make this point like three times a year and it’s a useless point but I’m going to do it anyway: the CMLL heavyweight championship is not the centerpiece of CMLL like that title is for any other promotion. CMLL has no title that occupies that role. It’s never been clearer than that main event, where Mascara Dorada beat heavyweight champion Gran Guerrero in a match that is absolutely not setting up a heavyweight title match. Dorada is instead next challenging for the welterweight championship, which is three divisions lighter than the heavyweight title.

This only matters in that every year Pro Wrestling Illustrated puts whoever is the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship way high in their rankings based on having the most important title, and it may be the least important “CMLL” branded title most years. PWI’s lists are based on kayfabe accomplishments, but the heavyweight title is not the biggest kayfabe accomplishment in CMLL; it’s not even in the top ten. This is a very CMLL-only way of doing things and I’m happy with a lot of the weird CMLL-only stuff they do, and it doesn’t work if you treat them like any other promotion.

CMLL did a tree-lighting ceremony prior to Sunday’s show. The half-hour streamed card was mostly wrestlers who had big 2023’s reflecting on their success. KeMolito snuck in and unplugged the tree as the big ending bit. (They plugged it back in.)

Both CMLL teams were eliminated from advancing in the World Tag League on Monday morning. Soberano and Atlantis lost to Hikuelo and ELP in a must win match. Zandokan Jr. and Yota Tsuji won the main event, but appear to be mathematically eliminated by other results. (Announcer Milano Collection AT argued that if two other teams go to a double DQ and get 0 points as a result, Tsuki and Zandokan could still advance. That is not happening.)

Soberano again was upset with Atlantis after their loss and then went heavily rudo in the post match promo. The split is coming, it’s just a matter of which show. The two CMLL teams happen to wrestle each other on the final league night of the tournament, Thursday morning.

CMLL (TUE) 12/05/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo & Chamuel
2) Fantasy, Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico vs Galaxy, Minos, Pierrothito [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Futuro, Max Star, Neón vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Virus vs Difunto [lightning]
5) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther vs Felino, Rey Bucanero, Sagrado
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Octagón vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto

Atlantis and Soberano need to get back home quickly to spare us from these Octagon main events. CMLL seems short on good rudos on this card. Difunto/Virus could be fun.

CMLL (TUE) 12/05/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Gallo Jr., Rafaga Jr., Temerario vs Avispón Negro Jr., Luminoso, Quka
2) Ángel Rebelde, El Gallero, Trono vs Insólito, Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro
3) Astro (Puebla), Blue Shark (Puebla), Fénix SO, Rayo Metálico (Puebla) vs Arlequín, Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Halcón Negro Jr.
4) Barboza, Draego, Persa vs Brillante Jr., Felino Jr., Halcón Suriano Jr.
5) Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Disturbio, El Cholo
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Principe Daniel vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Terrible versus his old friends the main event. Los Indestructibles defending against local teams would make some sense.

CMLL (FRI) 12/08/2023 Arena México
1) Leono & Robin vs Draego & Inquisidor
2) Astral, Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Akuma, Crixus, Raider
3) Andrómeda, Marcela, Skadi vs Olympia, Reyna Isis, Zeuxis
4) Magia Blanca © vs Fugaz [MEX WELTER]
5th defense
5) Esfinge, Flip Gordon, Star Jr. vs Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja
6) Máscara Dorada, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Rocky Romero, Último Guerrero

Dorada & Rocky are coming here from MLW on Thursday; I didn’t really process that was an odd day of the week (and so MLW might get a little more attention than getting lost in the usual weekend rush.) Angel de Oro and Flip Gordon matched up again the semimain. Blanca/Fugaz is a rematch from May, which was not a memorable match. It’s hard to beat a challenger twice in the same building.

The standouts in the bodybuilding contest get a Friday night match in the segunda. Olympia and Reyna Isis, the two CMLL women in the contest, are together in the third. Drago, a former Guadalajara indie standout who’s been on the Arena Coliseo Guadalajara shows the last year or so, also gets an appearance following his bodybuilding performance.

Some of the CMLL bodybuilders appeared at a contest put on by the same bodybuilding commission who judged the CMLL contest. Crixus won the men’s division, while Reyna Isis was recognized in the “Amazon Fitness” category. It appears Astral and Olympia did not compete; they participate in bodybuilding contests unmasked under their real names, so maybe they didn’t want to double up here.

Match three would be Marcela’s return from her knee injury, but they’ve announced her and pulled her back previously.

AAA

AAA aired part one of the Ultraclash on Saturday, airing three matches.

• the locals match was guys doing all the spots they could think to do in the time they had, with no logic or structure to it
• Chris Sabin looked great in the tag match with Trinity, Dinamico, and Chik Tormenta; it’s good he’s showing up again.
• NGD worked hard again versus Arez & Kazarian, and I was mildly surprised Kaz took the pin

This was a short broadcast, even with lots of filler to stretch it out. They aired interviews between the matches, but no one had anything to talk about or ask about. There is no plot to this, just some matches, so asking, “wouldn’t you like to challenge for [X] title” makes sense as a generic question, but it also is frustrating to the viewer – why aren’t they challenging for those titles instead of doing all these meaningless matches? Sabin pointing out he hadn’t wrestled Taurus and Laredo all the time they’ve been in AAA was surprising to me.

Impact will air this show Thursday. They look like they’re going to air in one week in what AAA will stretch out for three weeks; Impact needs their TV to build to a show, AAA is just killing time.

The INJUVE Lucha X El Barrio finalists don’t seem to have been announced at the same pace as the previous rounds. Maybe there’s another press conference coming for that announcement. Big Lucha wrestlers appeared at a concert INJUVE put on this weekend.

West Coast Pro Wrestling had a great Latigo, Toxin, Black Taurus versus Wicked Wickett, Iron Boy, and Aramis match on Sunday night. It was pretty great and you should check it out if you can: it streamed for free on YouTube and will pop up on IWTV later on. WCPW seems to be making Iron Boy as their own find; he wins these lucha matches every time. The only problem with it is Black Taurus is always really good and really cool and so he’s the one who’s getting most over with the crowd.

The bigger picture is that a match with five AAA guys was better than maybe one or two AAA TV matches had all year. AAA used to make a point of having a hot match on each show but hasn’t gotten it done, and bringing them back would be the #1 improvement they could make in 2024. My friends at the ThROH The Years podcast, reviewing early Ring of Honor, occasionally touch on how TNA got annoyed/frustrated/bitter about ‘their’ wrestlers having more critically praised matches and those wrestlers talking more positively about working ROH than the company that actually had their contracts. That end result was not TNA doing those things that made those fans and critics happy with ROH, but changing their outside bookings rules to make it more difficult for TNA wrestlers to work Ring of Honor.  If I had a crystal ball to see in 2024, that sort of drama is kind of what I fear we’re headed toward.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 12/03/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Rey Aztaroth b Thunder Storm  
2) Danessa & Shocko b Auzter & Deyna  
3) Auzter, Freelance, Tornado b Centurion, Rey Espartano, Rey Halcón  
4) Carnicero, Lendaor, Minero b Caballero de Plata, Dr. Cerebro Jr., Último Legendario  
5) Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool b Jessy Ventura, Mamba, Sádika, Shocko  
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium © and Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana © [IWRG IC TRIOS, EdM Trios, hair] 
Piratas won the EDM Trios titles after fouls and mask pulls. Pirata Morgan said he would retire if he had lost his hair again here, a stipulation that got little attention.

Pirata Morgan went on social media and said if he lost his hair one more time, he was definitely going to retire. I don’t think any one believed he would retire, and the show drew nothing special. Maybe down a bit.

IWRG is introducing a book on the 61 year history of their family running shows in Mexico State. I would very much like to acquire that book.

Other Notes

Zeta has an interview with Lucka Moreno, the titular promoter of Tijuana’s Lucka Libre, which works with CMLL. He is a teenager. I do not believe the local commission has actually licensed a teenager to run a wrestling promotion; this is a misdirect. The past Lucka Libre shows have drawn well, but this Saturday’s show was half full or less, less than what The Crash and EMW have done in their most recent shows.

Bandido spoke more in-depth about his injury issue with Mas Lucha, though you’ll be mostly distracted by his daughter seizing on the microphone as a new toy. Bandido has three options in front of him: his US doctors are giving him two surgical options, one of which would involve inserting a screw and limiting mobility. His Mexico doctor is suggesting rehab, and Bandido’s taking that tactic for right now to see if it gets any better. I’m not a doctor, but I’d normally suggest just getting the surgery. If you had the surgery and it didn’t work, it does make sense to try rehab. Bandido is positive because he’s always that way, but he’s also clearly bugged that he used to go someplace to wrestle every few days, and now it’s been months between matches with no clear path back.

The government of San Luis Potosi held a free lucha libre show with lots of names on Saturday. It drew well, as free shows often do. Someone named Mini Regio Rayado, who I have no other known matches, lost his mask to (one of the two) Mini Psycho Clown(s) on the show. No name is mentioned in the article about the show. That article also bills a Travis Banks/Jesse Jackson vs Ludark/Septimo Dragon match as “US versus Mexico” so they may not have been paying close attention.

At a press conference for the event on Saturday, Blue Demon Jr. claimed he will retire soon. Demon claims he will introduce his own junior in March or April of next year and then run a 12-18 month retirement tour. 0% of luchadors who talk about retiring years in advance actually retire when they say they will. Fuerza Guerrera exposed the game a few months ago, saying that announcing his retirement increased booking, and now he doesn’t want to retire. (It’s worked out the same for Dark Scoria, of all people.) The wrestlers know the deal, so this is Blue Demon saying his bookings are getting a little bit light, and he’s running his own angle to get people interested again.

La Mascara, who hasn’t been around wrestling this year, popped up Thursday on the JAALL show. He was backing his fellow Brazo/Alvarado family members against Negociantes Traumados. La Mascara looked increasingly physically and mentally struggling during his last few active years as a luchador. Hopefully, he’s doing better; he looked better in the brief video and talked about returning in 2024 in another one. His family’s trade is lucha libre, and I don’t know him at all, but he looked so much better after getting away from lucha libre for a while that I wonder if he’d be better off staying that way.

San Luis Potosi luchador Johnny Ventura passed away. I have a couple of lineups with him wrestling in 1979, and he seems like a 70s/80s guy. His nephews, Mini Maniaco and Black Ventura, are more recent wrestlers.

56 men and 9 women attended Puebla’s lucha libre licensing exam on Saturday. Pegasso, Asturiano, Prayer, and Sombra Diabolica worked as teachers. The way they’re phrasing it is that wrestlers have to get licensed to have a chance to wrestle for CMLL and AAA, which sidesteps the reality that some of them have already been wrestling for years for small Puebla groups. The hopefuls had to do “about an hour” of physical tests and an hour of tumbling. 36 of the 65 people who started were left then and went on to do three hours of Olympic wrestling and lucha libre. This seems no different from what the influencer got in Monterrey before TripleMania, which he felt was unfair treatment. The license winners will be announced in January.

Mexico City indy workers Drako and Ancla are setting up a hair match on 12/25 in Coliseo Ecatepec. This is not interesting in itself; most people will forget who won and lost by 12/27. The gag here is Drako showed up wearing a Puerquiza Extrema t-shirt in a match where all four Pigs were wrestling. Drako and long-time partner Corsario Negro Jr. have wrestled less often since the Puerquiza Extrema debuted.  They’re working small shows, but not the bigger shows where the pigs are now working. There’s also just not a lot of people around the sizes of those pigs. It’s commonly assumed Drako & Corsario Negro are two of the wrestlers under the pig masks, to the point where Drako showed up here during their match and wearing their shirt to play off it. I belief he is truly one of the Pigs and this is an intentional misdirect.

An El Grafico article starts “Drago is perhaps more recognized as a collector of lucha libre items than as a professional wrestler.” Seeing as this is not either of the two AAA Dragos, nor any other Drago I’m familiar with, I would have to say that’s a fair statement.

Queretaro referee Rielero Cortes (José Jesús Rosales Machica) retired after a show on Friday. He’d been working as a referee since 1985.

Segunda Caida reviews more early 90s Monterrey