Angel de Oro advances in Copa Jr., Magnus/Mistico, AAA TV

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 05/24/2024 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, Publimetro, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Átomo, Chamuel, Kemalito b Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Tengu  
7:12. Chamuel beat Micro Gemelo I to set up a title match
2) Persephone, Tessa Blanchard, Valkiria b Kira, La Catalina, Skadi   
12:48.
3) Magia Blanca & Rugido b Kojima & Okumura   
12:41. Okumura was honored by the Japanese embassy and Salvador Lutteroth Lomeli for 20 years in Mexican wrestling. Los Depredadores challenged for a MLW tag title shot and Okumura accepted.
4) Star Jr. b Templario [lightning] 
7:32
5) Ángel de Oro b Místico, Atlantis Jr., Mephisto, Esfinge, Felino, Stuka Jr., Magnus, Dark Panther, Hijo del Villano III [Copa Junior VIP, semifinal]     
28:55. Order of elimination: Villano III (via Felino; Villano III also left injured), Dark Panther (Esfinge), Felino (Atlantis), Mephisto (Magnus), Esfinge (Angel de Oro), Atlantis Jr. (Mistico), Stuka Jr. (Magnus), Magnus (Mistico), Mistico (via Magnus distraction, Angel de Oro foul and Michinoku Driver), leaving Angel de Oro the winner. He will face Star Jr. in the final next week. Magnus continued to attack Mistico and unmasked him after the match.

This Copa Junior Block was better than last week, though still nothing must see. It also appeared Magnus mistimed his interference spot, causing some confusion (and a repeated sequence) for Angel de Oro and Mistico. Star Jr. & Templario was good. The MLW tag team title match was not; it was a heavy Okumura showcase and he’s long past that point of that being a good idea.

The last week has featured

• Magnus costing Mistico a tournament final appearance
• Euforia fouling Atlantis Jr. repeatedly
• an inexplicable Averno/Volador team up for FantasticaMania.

Maybe these are all isolated incidents of not great CMLL booking. Another, probably over thinking it, is there are all the sorts of rivalries that could fill out an apuesta tournament. The comparison is the 89th Anniversario, where the four team tournament had Averno/Ultimo Guerrero, Fuerza Guerrera/Atlantis and Templario/Soberano as other possible finals in a tournament with Stuka Jr. and Atlantis. I don’t think CMLL would headline with any of those other three rivalries, but they’re definitely good enough to fill out a tournament around the one that is happening. (And I have no idea what is so far.)

CMLL (SAT) 05/25/2024 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito b Acero & Aéreo
9:44.
2) Diamond, Leono, Robin b Dragón de Fuego, Inquisidor, Sangre Imperial
12:29.
3) Hera, Olympia, Tessa Blanchard b Amapola, Metálica, Reyna Isis
11:34. Team Tessa took 2/3.
4) Hechicero b Terrible [lightning]
9:58, Hechicero getting the submission right before the time limit.
5) Difunto, Kojima, Okumura b Hijo de Stuka Jr., Magia Blanca, Villano III Jr.
14:11. Magia Blanca (sub for Hijo del Villano) reminded Kojima & Okumura he was coming after the tag titles on Tuesday
6) Atlantis, Flip Gordon, Valiente b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
13:22. Tecnicos took 2/3

The lightning match was good, but otherwise a skippable show. The Kojima match here was better than Friday, the women’s match was worse than usual.

CMLL (SUN) 05/26/2024 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito b Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
10:55
2) El Audaz b Legendario [lightning]
8:05.
3) Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis b Lluvia, Sanely, Tessa Blanchard [Relevos Increíbles]
11:25. Team Tessa took 1/3.
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Kráneo b Brillante Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Volcano
10:43. Rudos took 1/3.
5) Averno, Kojima, Okumura b Blue Panther, Esfinge, Fugaz
12:36. Rudos took 1/3.
6) Máscara Dorada, Neón, Star Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
11:41. Tecnicos took 2/3.

This was the better show. The main event tecnicos looked really good, and Audaz/Legendario was totally watchable.

CMLL Puebla tonight has Esfinge/Cavernario. CMLL originally said they’d stream the last three matches for the month of May for the top two tiers, which would mean this would be the last week of streaming. Of course, last week they streamed the top four matches and only for the top tier, so they’re making it up as they go.

CMLL (TUE) 05/28/2024 Arena México
1) Angelito & Galaxy vs Minos & Pequeño Violencia
2) Fuego, Legendario, Xelhua vs Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, El Gallero
3) Sanely vs Olympia [lightning]
4) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, El Hijo De Blue Panther vs Felino, Felino Jr., Rey Bucanero
5) Kojima & Okumura © vs Magia Blanca & Rugido [MLW TAG]
1st defense
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Flip Gordon vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Terrible

Kojima/Okumura vs Los Depredadores will probably turn up on MLW television at some point too. Match 2 could be fun.

CMLL (TUE) 05/28/2024 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Destructor, Javier Cruz Jr., Trono vs Draego, Lince Del Bajío, Persa
2) Exterminador & Maléfico vs El Perverso & Prayer
3) Kira, Náutica, Skadi vs Persephone, Tessa Blanchard, Valkiria
4) Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. vs Akuma, Raider, Vegas
5) Star Black © vs Stuka Jr. [MEX HEAVY]
3rd defense
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Soberano Jr., Templario

Stuka Jr. hasn’t gotten as many chances at singles matches this year but could make something out of that one with Star Black.

Lucha Libre Alto Voltaje, the promoter saying they were going to run a CMLL show at giant Arena Monterrey, said the show as moving from June 16th to August 4th. They announced this in the comments of their original post. Tickets never went on sale for the June 16th date. It’s hard to believe they’re going to be running on August 4th either.

06/28 CMLL Lady’s Ring (Lucha Fiesta #2) will include:

• Dark Silueta (c) vs Unagi Sayaki [CMLL JAPAN WOMEN]
• Amapola vs Momo Kohgo

AAA

The big focus of AAA’s TV was on the Latin Lover/Konnan in-ring confrontation from the 05/11 taping. AAA had posted the video prior. The gist is Dorian Roldan noted Konnan had often asked for more help in the office, many wrestling organizations have a head of talent and a head of creative, and so Roldan was helping Konnan (and AAA) by bringing in Latin Lover as the head of creative. Konnan remains head of talent. Those can be different jobs in reality, but AAA seems to be treating them both as equal on screen match makers. Konnan, who believes he’s a respected face, wanted to put the past behind both of them and work together. Latin Lover, who believes Konnan is a heel, cut a passionate promo on Konnan for being rotten behind the scenes and said he’d never trust him. Later, when Latin Lover saved Vampiro in the main event, Konnan tossed a barbed wire bat to Latin to help, and Latin discarded it because he doesn’t trust Konnan. The fans are completely on Latin Lover’s side.

The Latin Lover stuff is good, because the fans believe him and like seeing a star from the past come back to voice their complaints with the product and the people who run it. It’s hard to figure out how it’s going to get to a satisfying end: either Konnan wins Latin Lover’s rust (which the fans aren’t going to want to see) or Konnan turns again and there’s yet another power struggle over the control of AAA. But AAA usually isn’t concerned about where an angle is going when they start it.

The other big bit on the show is proof of that. The “eye” video was back. It interrupted the show a couple of times, including after Konnan’s segment with Latin Lover. They went through the trouble of having showing Konnan walk to the back to question Dorian about the video (he said he didn’t know anything about it) and then walk to the production van to ask them (they said they didn’t know what was happening.) Konnan complained that everyone was blaming him for it. I think he’s being too hard on himself – no one cares about this angle at all, so no one’s getting blamed for it. The TV episode ended with the prelim guys having been attacked in the locker room, with the idea it was by the mystery people. That’s exactly the angle they did in January, only they’ve moved it from top guys to bottom guys. Nothing of note has happened in four months.

TV also featured a skit where Alberto asked Latin Lover for a rematch with Nic Nemeth, saying he got cheated in Monterrey. Latin said there was a rematch clause in the contract so Alberto would get his shot, and they implied it’d happen at TripleMania Mexico City. Nemeth posted on Twitter about wanting to defend the AAA title around the world, but has so far made no defenses and has no announced next appearance in AAA.

The actual matches (or the parts I was able to see of them) were alright. Karis, Noisy and Bengala were all over the place but at least entertaining. Brazo de Oro, Vengador and Tigre Blanco were better; Vengador’s skilled at wrestling but has no look. It’s surprising AAA hasn’t pulled another gimmick out of their closet to put him under it already. The Alberto, Vampiro versus Cibernetico, Dr. Wagner Jr. match was not good at all; AAA has a really weak main event scene in terms of having decent matches right now. It also came off as if the Vipers were told to do their run in way early. They got fought off once, disappeared, and turned back up again about eight minutes later to do the same run-in (and get beat up again.) It was truly just a match that existed to set up the Latin Lover spot and give Vampiro his farewell win in this building, it didn’t need to go as long as it did.

The next Mexico City taping is June 22nd, with only Matt Riddle announced. This is about the time in advance where that card comes out, so maybe something to look for this week.

Negro Casas took Scorpio Jr.’s hair in Orizaba.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha World , INJUVE (FRI) 05/24/2024 Monumento a la Revolución, Cuauhtémoc, Distrito Federal [Estrellas del Ring]
1) Black Skayde & Skayde b Dankar & Platino 
2) Diosa Nix, La Brava, Mary Caporal b Ariana Mami, Sairely, Satania
3) Cometa Maya, Morphosis, Radioactivo b Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Shere Khan, Sol
4) Cósmico, Ryu Orochi, Wisin El Dog vs Osiris, Rey Espectrito, Rey Halcón
4) Caballero de Plata, Mexicano, Orbita, Viajero b Atómico Jr., Auzter, Elipse, Vengador
6) Black Shadow II, Súper Nova, Texano Jr. b Emperador Azteca, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Oni El Bendito

Big Lucha streamed one match, then it died, and the rest of us it didn’t go up. It’s probably fine. Photos looked cool. Oni el Bendito (and Black Shadow II) was added to the match. He and Emperador Azteca were wearing Black and White, not the usual black and red Black Generation colors, for whatever it’s worth.

This free show was said to have drawn 15,000 people. That’s an open area near a monument, so it was probably more like 15,000 people passing through during the concert and the show.

IWRG

IWRG again didn’t post results of their show. But, since CMLL took forever to post the Friday lineup, I skimmed through for results.

IWRG (SUN) 05/26/2024 Arena Naucalpan [thecubsfan]
1) Ángel Celestial Jr. & Xtreme Kid b Fobia & Shura King 
2) Arceus, Carnicero, Skanda b Águila Guerrera Jr., Cosmic, Felino Boy 
3) Bumbu & Sacro b Estrella del Ring & Thunder Storm  
4) A. Jolotol, Auzter, Histeriosis, Pequeño Centauro, Rey Astaroth, Sky Man, Tornado, Vudu Max ?? Azteka, Cisne De Plata, Escarlata Negro, Ice Killer Jr., Pentagoncito Black, Príncipe Arión, Rayado, Steel Rock [Torneo FILL 113] 
IWRG vs Lucha Libre CM. No finish known; stream cut off and no results were posted.
5) Bengalee, Estrella Divina, Veneno b Bugambilia, Ivan Rokov, Vangellys 

IWRG didn’t always post results, it used to be that it was the other news sites who would be covering. They’re not there any more – kinda weird for Estrella del Ring to make his IWRG debut without this namesake YouTube channel present – and also nothing IWRG is doing is well worth the effort of figuring out results own my own. If the IWRG section disappears, that’s why.

Other News

CMLL did one of their vague emoji tweets, which has meant someone’s showing up somewhere. This one included a prayer hands (Mistico) and a wizard (Hechicero). CMLL posted this a few minutes before AEW Collision, which led me to believe there’d be some announcement on there. There was not, and neither was there on the PPV. AEW still has that gauntlet match on Wednesday, teasing outside wrestlers but not announcing someone. It is promotional malpractice if Mistico shows up Wednesday in Los Angeles in that match unannounced. Even if AEW announces him Monday night, they’ve missed two chances where they could’ve gotten the word out to larger audiences than social media. I would like to see Mistico on Dynamite, because it would be good and funny, but it would a terrible lapse in judgment if Mistico shows up as a surprise.

Former IWRG wrestler Dragon Fly was accused of elder abuse towards his elderly aunt and uncle. Dragon Fly moved back in with his mother earlier this year, and then had at least incidents with other family members, who live in an connected area. Dragon Fly seems to be out of wrestling; he showed up for the Hip Hop Man Anniversary show last September and hasn’t wrestled since.