Ola Negra upset Atrapasuenos in a suenos match, Vikingo finally beats Omega, TripleMania Tijuana exists

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/14/2023 Arena México [ASEstrellas del RingFDDEKaiser SportsThe GladiatoresThe Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr.  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)  (posted by Estrellas del Ring)  (posted by mluchatv)
16:49
2) Reina Isis b Lluvia [MEX WOMEN, final (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)  (posted by Estrellas del Ring)  (posted by mluchatv)  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
10:47. Reina Isis regains the vacant title (Silueta injury/Japan trip).
3) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © b Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. [CMLL TAG (posted by Estrellas del Ring)  (posted by mluchatv)  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
14:17. Tenth defense for Chavez, winning via double pin.
4) Akuma & Dark Magic b Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa [hair (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)  (posted by Estrellas del Ring)  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)  (posted by mluchatv)
18:38. Dark Magic eliminated Rey Cometa, Espiritu Negro beat Akuma, leaving the old teammates Akuma and Espriitu. Akuma cleanly won with a valagueza.
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Titán b Cavernario, Templario, Virus  (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)  (posted by Estrellas del Ring)  (posted by mluchatv)
10:22. Metalik (ex-Mascara Dorada)’s return to CMLL after his WWE/US time.
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Octagón b Averno, Fuerza Guerrera, Último Guerrero  (posted by Estrellas del Ring)  (posted by mluchatv)  (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
10:22. Straight falls. Atlantis 40th Anniversary celebration; he failed at getting Guerrero up in the Atlantida for the finish. Averno and UG had issues right before the finish, then punched each other after the match. Both demanded a hair match at the Anniversary, though clear they didn’t want to do a multimatch (as Volador stated on Tuesday)

CMLL finally adding VOD to their streaming offerings paid off for me within two weeks. I was actually busy interacting with people in real life on Friday, but my plan was to do what I normally do, use OBS software to capture the show and watch it later. That failed on Friday because some violent storms took out my power. There’s no way I would’ve seen most of this show under the TicketmasterLive scheme, and I would’ve gotten no refund. With neerme, I was able to see the entire show the next day. I can’t believe I need to explain why VOD is better for the customer but I thought I might as well.

This was a really good show to see everything too. Most of the matches on this show were good or better and that’s a winning CMLL formula. The big knock on the 06/30 FantasticaMania show (and the lesser 07/07 show) was a few matches getting cut short because CMLL was set on getting the whole event in a short time window. CMLL apparently didn’t have that concern this time, and everything went pretty much as long as it needed to be. I would’ve added a couple more minutes to the semimain if possible, but it’s nitpick stuff, and we’re going to get plenty of those guys next Friday.

The hair match was amazing in how it was laid out to work around Dark Magic as much as possible. It was most apparent in a few minute stretch where Akuma fought both Atrpasuenos himself while Magic stood on the apron not participating, but that’s also the general gist of the match. Akuma literally wrestled for a man in a half, dominating the action and keeping up with both opponents, so his partner didn’t have to be trusted. Dark Magic did a few things, and had to obviously be moved around by Rey Cometa and Akuma at times, but the kayfabe and real story both was Akuma carrying the match for his team. He pulled it off and became the star of the match. The Atrapsuenos were good but this was clearly the greatest performance of Akuma’s career, and something that should earn him a lot more chances  – like put him with Hechicero in a new trio and go.

Mascara Dorada 2.0 was trying to be so spectacular that he was barely pulling off moves, but he was pulling them off. Metalik appears to have watched Dorada 2,0, watched Titan and decided mid-match he’s a chop/pose guy now. Seriously, if he’s not going to do the flying he did before, some sort of pivot is needed. And he’s not going to be the flyer he was before doing a springboard elbow drop.

Chavez & Guerreros was a traditional CMLL title match, with a long bit of move turn taking that doesn’t always work for me. It was probably better being that, because it felt different than other big tag match, but it wasn’t a high-end match for me.

Mas Lucha called the Zandokan, Difunto and Furia Roja trio “El Triángulo.” I’m uncertain if that’s an official name, though it’s a good one – Loco Zandokan, Kahoz and Cuchillo were El Triangulo de la Muerte, and Difunto isn’t that far off from Kahoz. That full name seems taken but they can use something close.

The women’s match was disappointing, just didn’t feel like a great effort.

Attendance looked about as strong as the FantasticaMania show. CMLL takes really great photos of a full crowd, though they’re always from the part of the building where tickets could’ve been sold and weren’t. (I will never feel confident that we know the current maximum capacity of Arena Mexico and that we’re estimating attendance correctly.)

CMLL (SAT) 07/15/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora
2) Inquisidor, Nitro, Raider b Diamond, Flyer, Oro Jr.
3) El Audaz b El Coyote [lightning]
4) Dark Silueta, Hera, Olympia b La Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Sanely
5) Kráneo, Magnus, Rugido b Pegasso, Stigma, Volcano
6) Metalik, Soberano Jr., Titán b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Nothing notable here.

CMLL (SUN) 07/16/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Grako & Príncipe Odín Jr. b Bengala & Retro
Principe Odin’s first match here since early March.
2) Último Dragóncito b Angelito [lightning]
3) Ángel Rebelde, Brillante Jr., Futuro b Astral, Neón, Valiente Jr.
4) Okumura & Pólvora b Cancerbero & Luciferno
5) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente DQ Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Rey Bucanero
straight falls, Gemelos taking Valiente’s mask in the second fall.
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Místico b Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Mephisto

Metalik is winning every match. That’s how they usually book the foreigners. CMLL does less random mask pulls than they used to but I’m not entirely sure where Gemelos/Valiente is going.

CMLL already announced the Monday/Tuesday lineups, but they’re both streaming so I might as well put them here as a reminder.

CMLL (MON) 07/17/2023 Arena Puebla
***Arena Puebla 70th Anniversary***
1) Asturiano, Prayer, Xelhua vs Futuro, Neón, Vegas
2) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Hera & Olympia
3) Rey Samuray vs Perverso [CMLL BARROCO]
new championship
4) Magia Blanca © vs Pegasso [MEX WELTER]
3rd defense
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Stigma vs Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
6) Atlantis, Octagón, Templario vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

CMLL says they’ll stream this live on YouTube for subscribers. It’s been three years since a live stream from Arena Puebla. The start time has moved up and hour but daylight savings time has moved it back an hour.

New York: 10 pm
Chicago: 9 pm
Puebla/Mexico City: 8 pm
Los Angeles: 7 pm
London: 3 AM Tuesday
Tokyo: 11 AM Tuesday

The quality of the title matches is more interesting than the outcome. (Magia Blanca is likely to retain, it really doesn’t matter which guy wins the new title.) Fifth match has a lot of champions and might spill into something for next week.

Arena Puebla held a press event Monday morning to promote this show. That show is going to have as big a crowd as they can fit in that building.

CMLL (TUE) 07/18/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
2) Astral, Leono, Oro Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. vs Difunto, Sangre Imperial, Zandokan Jr.
4) Blue Panther Jr. & Dark Panther vs Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
5) Último Guerrero vs Averno [lightning]
6) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro & Templario [Relevos Increíbles]

This main event is the four people who challenges for Aniversario. There didn’t seem to be any reason for Ultimo Guerrero and Averno last week, and now there will be. Match 4 is Villnao III Jr.’s CMLL debut. Match 3 is Sangre Imperial’s rudo debut. I still think the CMLL YouTube subscription plan is an overcharge, but this is far bigger than a usual Tuesday show.

CMLL (FRI) 07/21/2023 Arena México
1) Angelito & Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal & Minos
2) Capitán Suicida, Halcón Suriano Jr., Valiente Jr. vs El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora
3) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Sanely vs La Catalina, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
4) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
5) Místico vs Rocky RomeroMetalikVolador Jr.TemplarioTitánMáscara Dorada 2.0Dragón Rojo Jr. [Leyenda de Plata, semifinal]

The main event is a killer group of names. I would caution that it may be a way to get Templario/Dragon Rojo back going again. The blue sky outcome is Romero versus MD2.0, to march closer to that title match. Whatever’s going on, they’ve given plenty of time with only five mtaches on this card.

I write things are “very funny” or “amusing” so much, HOWERVER if CMLL got Hechicero out of Los Infernales because they needed Averno to have a trio to feud with Los Guerreros it is indeed very funny. I guess the check is if Hechicero keeps feuding with these dudes.

Match 3 is back to The One Women’s Match That Exists on 2023 CMLL Friday shows, but I’m OK with it after the last two weeks of trying to find other matches. Reyna Isis being in for Zeuxis (and still opposite Lluvia) is the one change from normal.

The opener is young guys who will want to do a lot.

Back on Friday, I did caution everyone about the CMLL YouTube channel going forward. CMLL is either not capable or interested in spelling out what they’re fully doing, so you have to read the announcements carefully and notice what they’re not saying. Just as they didn’t specifically say the Coliseo show would air live, they didn’t say anything about that weekly Sunday upload of the Televisa TV show in their list of items that would still be on the channel. Sure enough, that upload appears to be history.

Old: CMLL uploaded 4-5 matches from the 16-day-old Arena Mexico show on Sunday afternoons
Now: CMLL uploads the full 9-day-old Arena Mexico show on Sunday evenings

It’s always possible this is an odd quirk, that CMLL decided FantasticaMania (which normally would’ve gone up this week) was a YouTube exclusive and the 07/07 show will be eventually free like normal. We won’t really know until next week because CMLL won’t address individual questions, but my understanding based on CMLL’s previous information it free stuff is just done outside of that one match a week going up Monday. It’s a disastrous decision. I can see the logic of trying to protect subscription value – it’s not as valuable to subscribe if most of the show is going up for free a week later anyway – but that’s why the subscription plan being Tuesday and Friday shows is not viable. CMLL is not going to bring in new viewers and new ticket buyers without a strong free offering, and highlights and one match a week is not strong enough. I think CMLL is absolutely good enough right now to pay for, but the way and options they’ve given to pay for it are not competitive. It’s also a lot of people’s second or third or lower promotion, and they’re just not going to spend on that many wrestling promotions unless you give them a super compelling reason to do it. I expect that the subscription channel is going to struggle to gain members and we’ll see some big changes 3-6 months down the line. Until then, I’m going to see a lot less people talking about CMLL.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 07/15/2023 Estadio Chevron, Tijuana, Baja California [AAA, El ImparcialFDDE, thecubsfan, VOWWrestlingDataWrestlingInc]
***TripleMania XXXI Tijuana ***
1) La Hiedra b Willie MackMr. IguanaJack CartwheelFlammerMyztezizRey Mysterio El HerederoPuma KingNiño HamburguesaDinámicoGringo LocoLaredo KidTaurus [Copa TripleMania]
26:11. Laredo & Taurus added on 06/21. Mr. Iguana helped La Hiedra win after he was eliminated by Flammer. Antifaz (Laredo) and Argenis (Myzteziz) both got involved. Rey Mysterio El Heredero was a surprise.
2) Dalys, Lady Shani, Sexy Star b Kamille, Natalia Markova, Viva Van
12:33. Dalys pinned Viva Van. La Hiedra earlier attacked Dalys. The two Tirantes fought once again.
3) Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Pagano NC Aramis, Jack Evans, Vampiro Canadiense
14:02. Bestia, Mecha, Pagano and Estrellita Los Nuevos Vatos Locos. Vampiro was in an out of the match with a ‘shoulder’ injury. Arez & Komander an in and attacked Bestia & Mecha, then Taurus and the masked man attacked both Pagano & Vampiro. The masked man revealed himself as Texano, back in AAA with los Mercenarios.
4) Damián 666, Nicho el Millionario, Rey Horus, Xtreme Tiger b Argenis, Chessman, Daga, Negro Casas
9:29. Baja vs Mexico City. Team CDMX was seconded by rapper Acsino, who ended up attacking and unmasking Argenis. Daga taunted Team Baja captain Brandon Moreno before the match, which led to Moreno beating up Daga during the match. Nicho won with a foul on Negro Casas.
5) Qt Marshall b Pentagón Jr. [ambulance]
19:51. Originally Laredo & Penta vs QT & Taurus. Changed to a singles match on June 21st. Both men bled a lot. Marshall won with help from Aaron Solo.
6) Psycho Clown & Sam Adonis DRAW LA Park & Rush [Guerra de Rivalidades, semifinal]
22:38. Both teammates fought each other primarily. Adonis pinned Park and Rush pinned Psycho at the same time for a draw. AAA announced all four would advance to the final next month.
7) Hijo Del Vikingo © b Kenny Omega [AAA MEGA]
19:33. Vikingo beat Omega cleanly with the Cuerno del Vikingo and some of the AAA roster celebrated. Omega and Vikingo shook hands.

The shorter version: this was a TripleMania in name only, most of the show was around building matches to another show, we have no idea when that is for most of that builds, few of the matches were any good.

I was thinking for most of Sunday about what I should put here. I feel like I usually go through all the details I hated on a bad TripleMania, but where does it get any of us? No amount of complaining feels like it’s going to change things at this point. AAA certainly believes all the stuff that I think is awful is great, because they keep on doing it. The show can have ten people interfere in the first five matches and walk away thinking they’re giving people what they want. Sometimes it’s fun to go through the ways a bad show is bad.  This one just feels like a toxic disaster I want to get as far away as possible from, not spend time sinking it to it. The bottom line is if you want to see AAA wrestlers in good matches you need to watch them in other promotions, and the good news is many of them are in other promotions having those good matches a lot.

I’ll give you one, actually a really minor thing that’s representative of the whole flawed process. Arez & Komander did not have a match on this show. They instead interfered in the trios match to attack La Rebelion. That was revenge for La Rebelion attacking Arez & Komanader after they won the titles back in Morelia. Maybe that would’ve been effective if it wasn’t already the sixth run-in over the first three matches, making them repetitive and ignorable. Many of those six run-ins were references to one-off incidents that hadn’t been referred to again; the tag title match aired a month ago and none of those characters had been on TV since then. The run-in itself was nothing special; Arez & Komander have cool moves, but nothing they did stood out. Still, let’s say this was all super effective, fans were more into seeing this tag match when it finally happens. When is the match happening? It’s not happening next Friday in Verano de Escandalo – none of them are booked. (Komander is likely part of the ROH PPV that night.) It doesn’t seem like it’s happening at TripleMania Mexico City either, Mecha Wolf’s taking other bookings on that day. Maybe it’s happening later at Heroes Inmortales, and AAA’s run an angle in May, and an angle in July for a match in October with nothing much in between. It’s hard to believe that anyone’s going to care much about those ‘heat up’ angles when the match is months later, but maybe that’s even too optimistic. Maybe AAA has told Mecha Wolf he can take an outside booking on August 12th and then belatedly tell him they need him after all in their typical disorganization.

Those date conflicts are an underlining reasons why AAA has fallen off so much from 2022 to 2023. So much of the roster has other stuff going on and AAA is their second (or lower priority.) La Rebelion were NWA people before and are going to be NWA people as long as they have those tag titles. Komander is a full time AEW guy working AAA at his leisure, just like Penta. Arez has a ton of indie work and may even make it back on TV someday if AAA & MLW ever let him out of the terrible MLW contract. (They still have not, they both blame each other, and it didn’t sound like either side was that bothered to work out last I heard.) It’s going to be rough for AAA to get those four guys in the same building at the same time in the immediate future. You know when a great time would’ve been to do that tag title match? THIS SHOW. You know what could’ve used one more good/great match? THIS SHOW. AAA instead made it a minor story in a match to get over a tag feud with Pagano & Vampiro versus Taurus & Texano. I think that feud is going to be terrible, but they didn’t even need La Rebelion to set up that match – Arez & Komander’s run-in served as an excuse for them not be there when the angle went down. Another way for La Rebelion not to be involved would’ve been for them just to have some other match, like maybe a tag title challenge. Instead, AAA did the umpteenth build to a match that’s not going to happen any time soon if ever. And on it goes.

Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer reported Don Callis was attacked by fan in a post show press conference. That is not exactly what happened, though it’s reasonable that people in the moment might have believed that happened. Callis confronted Omega at a press conference – held on the field after the show – and Konsuke Takeshita attacked him as a normal pro-wrestling bit. Security smartened up to the situation, pulled Takeshita away. Callis got in a stomp as Takeshita was getting pulled away, a normal bit for a amanger. Another person, described as an ex-security person who hadn’t been smartened up, must’ve seen the one attacker getting taken down and this attacker still going at it, and decided he needed to trip and grab him from behind violently. That sucked for Don Callis and he shouldn’t have been attacked. It was a person misunderstanding the situation, not some crazed Kenny Omega fan. Callis got attacked from behind, he probably had no idea by who, so it’s reasonable for him to assume it was a fan, but it was obviously not the situation once the video came out. AEW taped a bunch of Don Callis/Konsuke Takeshita stuff before the pair officially got together, so it’s someone’s pet idea. They also never aired almost any of it, so it seemed a fairly big waste of everyone’s time. Hopefully they’ll at least use to get something out of Omega getting hurt. The story will be told forever as a Don Callis being such a great and over heel that he got attacked in Tijuana, and no one will care much about the truth of it. This is why most promotions wouldn’t do an angle like this in an uncontrolled environment. AEW did an angle at their press conference last PPV and a media member got hurt by a flying bottle, which should’ve been a learning experience. It was not, they ran another AEW angle in an even less controlled environment because they wanted that reality, and the reality came down on Don Callis.

Callis’s attack was reportedly breathlessly while anything that wasn’t Omega/Vikingo was ignored by most wrestling websites. On one hand, that’s good, this show sucked, better that people don’t know of it. On the other hand, there’s a stereotype that Mexican fans are out of control and the Callis story being the only thing talked about here just reinforces it. This was trusting AAA to correctly handle a situation; you all can’t be this guillible.

The Kenny Omega on this TripleMania was not the Kenny Omega who worked on Forbidden Door. I’m not even arguing AAA should’ve gotten that Kenny Omega, and even a Kenny Omega going less than 100% can provide a pretty good match, but this was definitely a Kenny Omega going less than 100%. It wasn’t a Vikingo going 100% either. I wonder if I would’ve liked Omega/Vikingo 2 if I had watched it fresh without three hour of a show I very much didn’t like; that’s the way I think most English-speaking people saw (and saw it without paying for it) and they seemed significantly high on it. I thought it was good, maybe great, but didn’t feel close to the AEW match. It felt closer to Johnny Caballero/Vikingo match from last year than the AEW one, a strong exhibition for Vikingo’s ability to come back against bigger opponents but not one that felt like one of the best matches of the year. This show needed a match of the year to save it and neither he nor Vikingo had enough to do it this time.

AAA should strongly thank Kenny Omega for all his efforts for them for the last few years, and especially for putting over Vikingo cleanly in the end. AAA convincing Omega to come back again next year will likely sell some extra PPV buys, but it definitely feels like time to move on to something else. AAA struggles, and all Mexican wrestling, refuses to move on when it’s time to move on, so I expect they’ll continue to try to convince Omega to come back and float his name as coming soon to friendly press who won’t pay attention to AAA unless Omega’s name is mentioned.

The Guerra de Rivalides tag match was worked essentially the way the four way in Mexico City will be worked. It will be the same match with a slightly different finish, I’d assume. It’ll work better that time, because the format was nonsense here. The first half of the match was the partners fighting each other instead of their opponents, and the last third of the match was each person desperately trying to win a match they had long talked about wanting to lose. One of the funniest moments on the show was Sam Adonis and Rush making the final pinfall covers, then both talking and getting up quickly because they realized they had covered the wrong man. – no one understood what was supposed to be going on. It was good and bloody and still didn’t rise to the level of the best of LA Park brawls or even the best of Psycho Clown brawls; there was some drama missing.

It’s worth noting AAA again left the English announcers out to dry on the TripleMania four-way announcement. That was the most important piece of information those announcers needed to get across, and they were left scrambling on Twitter to find my explanation of what was going on. I also DM-ed it to Larry Dallas without being asked, doing a job someone who is paid by AAA or FITE should’ve done, because I felt bad for them being so lost.

Pentagon Jr. and QT Marshall was a revelation only if you had such a low opinion of QT Marshall that you were blown away by him doing the exact hardcore match that happens on every one of these TripleManias. He beld a lot; a lot of bleed a lot. (Including the people in the next match; putting this match and the Guerra de Rivalades match back to back was terrible planning.) Marshall got to do the thumbtacks spot that happens on every time. It was a far different presentation of Marshall than in AEW, and he’ll use it forever to show people what he’s capable of if given a real chance. I don’t know that it helped AAA any. Marshall & Penta blew their big double table package piledriver spot near the end, but it turned out fine because it was just meant to set up a shocking swerve that Marshall recovered quick enough to put Penta in the ambulance with help from Aaron Solo anyway.

No one knew who Aaron Solo was, Solo was never shown or mentioned in any of the videos leading up to match, AAA could’ve put used anyone on their roster in Solo’s spot, but instead they had to keep continuity for a minor character for a promotion that’s been back on TV in Mexico for two weeks. I like Aaron Solo – I think he’s exactly the sort of AEW guy who would benefit from being a regular AAA character for six months – but I have no earthly idea why AAA spent a dollar on him in this role, and they shouldn’t be allowed to declare themselves too poor to do do a lot of things if they can afford to bring in Aaron Solo to hide in ambulances. (Maybe AEW or QT paid for it themselves? That’s only rational explanation I can come up with.) The ambulance match stipulation added nothing, AAA failed at shooting it until the finish, and the finish itself as a some WWE B PPV that kills the concept as an idea on the very first match. That was straight garbage. AAA’s obsession with getting heat by doing screwjobs and interference killed this show, and QT would’ve still gotten plenty of heat if won the match by himself.

The inevitable Marshall/Pentagon rematch should also be fine, and I’d have no problem seeing in a promotion with a large amount of matches per show, but I don’t want to see it at the expense of seeing people regularly on AAA have a match at TripleMania. I don’t need to see Penta either if his involvement is just going to be bloody match with a guy who’s showing up in AEW twice a year; if they could this with QT, why couldn’t they have done it with Arez or someone else who might be working those shows that aren’t drawing in Morelia or Puebla?

The Mexico versus Tijuana match was fine. It was just a vehicle to try to get social media buzz by having Acsino beat up Argenis (who was on his team) and Brandon Moreno beat up Daga. The Moreno bit has gotten a lot more attention of the two. You probably don’t need two celebrities beating up your wrestlers on the same show but who cares at this point. That match itself was fine, which meant it was better than most of this card.

There was no finish in the Pagano/Vampiro trios match. In trying to reconstruct it later, I thought maybe the referee screwed up when La Rebelion gave Aramis their big move and that was supposed to be the finish. I watched it back, and that’s not the case, the match is still clearly going as intended at that point. I wouldn’t have wasted Aramis kicking out of his finish when four more people were going to run in; no one remembered it even happened. It was another case of AAA trying to do too much, trying to help everyone by giving Aramis a moment, but they’re doing so much of that none of it means anything and most of it just washes past you. The match may not have gone as intended at other points; Vampiro sold a serious shoulder injury that medical personal checked and treated like was nothing. (Vampiro later posted a video of him getting his shoulder wrapped while saying he would still wrestle in Aguascalientes.) I have no idea if it was terrible medical treatment or Vampiro being a weirdo, but I guess we can all look forward to what serious injury he gets in the next match because it’s not like AAA is ever going to stop booking him. Doing a non-finish in that trios match when they were going to come back and do a non-finish in the Guerra de Rivalades match was absurd.

I about lost my mind when Mecha Wolf’s band showed up, because I didn’t realize it was Mecha Wolf’s band, and I thought AAA was going to open with twenty minutes of intros, two nothing matches that lasted over an hour, and then a musical performance. It was just an intro song. It was fine, but, if you live in a country that gets AAA on HBO Max or Space, you should never actually bother to buy the show in FITE. The part you miss is not any good.

The women’s match, the one that seemed a weird inclusion, appears to have been a business deal. American Icon Autographs was doing a photo shoot that weekend as they’ve done around some previous AAA Tijuana shows. Names like Kamille and Markova were probably on TripleMania as part of an intercompany deal. The son of American Icon is the blond boy who came out with Vikingo in the main event and has been on other shows.

Konnan, on his podcast, said he feels they’ve improved the Copa Triplemanias but they’re still not good and no one likes working them. He sounded like a guy who would not book them if he had his choice. I hope whoever is actually empowered to make that decision does so before Tuesday’s press conference. This was booked like a joke because it was one, lots of nothing leading to an Iguana and Hiedra celebration. It was amusing to me that this match was seemingly booked just to get wrestlers in the building, the idea of the post-match main event was to get as many AAA wrestlers out there to help celebrate Hijo del Vikingo to feel like a big deal, and most of the guys in the Copa TripleMania appeared to be long gone by the time the Vikingo celebration took place. They did their work, they got their money, and they got out of there to have a lot better time than they would sticking around for this show.

WrestleTix reports 15,386 Tickets Distributed, which I presume is an AAA-provided number, since they don’t track attendance the same way leading up to a show for Mexican events. I wish they would note when the number comes from the promotion and not their own (really good) work but so it goes. The Tijuana crowd looked terrible during the opening ceremony but filled in greatly front what we could see as the show went on, which is why you can’t ever tell a Mexican attendance by the opening footage.

AAA hasn’t announced it – why they promote things they’re doing ahead of time – but there’s a press conference Tuesday to talk about Arnea Ciudad de Mexico. We’d normally just get the main events in a first press conference. This isn’t normal, the next TripleMania is less than a month away, so we might get the full card. Nothing’s officially on that show except the four-way match. There were a lot of angles on TripleMania, but all of the running-in-place variety. I think fans expect that some of those teased matches are finally going to happen on TripleMania, but AAA didn’t promise any of them would happen.

It does seem like an AAA’s priority is to clean up their mess of championships. The Omega/Vikingo resolved that Mega championship situation. A version of NGD will finally defend the trios titles Friday in Aguascalientes, which have been in limbo due to Cuatrero’s domestic violence investigation. As of Monday morning, AAA starting moving on the Latin American and Cruiserweight situation. Fenix published a video on Instagram, later reposted by AAA, announcing he was vacating both championships, explaining he’s busy wrestling internationally and wants to give other wrestlers a chance. (He named Arez, Komander and Latigo.) Fenix said this was goodbye for now for him and AAA, though suggested he’d be back someday. This video coming out Monday seems to tied to that press conference on Tuesday; AAA will fill one or both of those titles at TripleMania Mexico City.

AAA had Fenix win both titles in a five way match in TripleMania Tijuana. He never defended those titles. It was the sort of troubled AAA booking they’re known for in this area. Fenix winning the belts meant Laredo Kid’s long and slightly cool Crusierweight title reign ended without him being pinned or even much caring about it, diminishing the value of it. The concept was to build interest in Fenix versus Vikingo by Fenix winning titles before hand, but Fenix versus Vikingo sold itself without title belts. AAA also believed Fenix would start bringing those belts out on Dynamite, giving AAA the US attention they desperately crave over all else. Fenix didn’t bother with that and AEW seems much less interested in having random title belts on screen. AAA could’ve had the Fenix/Vikingo match be for all the belts to take care of the situation, but they believed they could get Fenix to come back to lose the other titles at some point. They were wrong; Fenix didn’t make a title defense in December and had ROH commitments that kept him out of Verano de Escandalo. It’s also possible Fenix can’t travel to the US right now due to immigration issues; he was off the entire AEW swing through Canada. (Some sites have him working a ROH match in Toronto, but that was in Chicago, I was there.) The positive situation is this is AAA taking the loss and moving on.

AAA should learn not to put titles on people who may not be available for their big shows, but AAA put the tag titles on Arez & AEW’s Komandner so they haven’t learned anything. Maybe they can prevent these problems by not having so many titles to screw up. AAA should absolutely get rid of one of those titles; probably the cruiserweight one because weight divisions don’t make sense in AAA where most of the wrestlers are cruiserweight. Tthey should get rid of both because AAA isn’t doing much with titles anyway, they’re not treated as meaningful parts of the show, and they only serve to get their fans angry at them when those title aren’t treated well. I expect instead for AAA to pick six to ten random people in a scramble for TripleMania, and the focus to be on those feuds that aren’t going anywhere than deciding a new champion that’ll mean something.

Fenix and Cuatrero giving up their titles leaves Taya and the Reina de Reinas championship as the most obvious messed up title situation. Taya last defended the Reina de Reinas championship on last year’s TripleMania Ciudad de Mexico. Taya did defend it in a Tijuana show in February, but very few of the fans would’ve known about it – she’s just another person who’s ghosted on AAA’s fans. Either a Taya video giving up her title should pop up in the next day, or Taya should be announced as defending the title on TripleMania.

AAA will also eventually go through this issue with Hijo del Vikingo. They’re not ready for it.

(The AAA Mixed Tag team titles are nearly as bad; Abismo and Flammer haven’t defended them since winning in December. They’re around all the time, Negro Casas and Dalys ask for a title match every time, and yet they’re feeding with La Hiedra and Nicho for some reason. I’m sure AAA intends to give the Casas those titles at some point, but they’re always putting it off for another day, finding reasons not to do it that day, and annoying their most supportive fans in the process. )

I presume Texano is meant to be Daga & Taurus’ partner in the semi-main in Aguascalientes.

LuchaTalk has a recap of TripleMania and the Altantis Anniversary show.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 07/16/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha, Zona Ruda]
1) Fussion & Gannicus b Águila Roja & Kenji KICKOFF🔴| FESTIVAL DE LAS MÁSCARAS 2023 + HOMENAJE EN VIDA A BLACK TERRY (posted by mluchatv)
2) León Dorado & Mr. Leo b Leo & Mike and Noisy Boy & Spider Fly KICKOFF🔴| FESTIVAL DE LAS MÁSCARAS 2023 + HOMENAJE EN VIDA A BLACK TERRY (posted by mluchatv)
Leon Dorado has a scare of an injury but was fine.
3) Black Dragón (2000s), Bombero Infernal, Oficial AK47 b Mega, Puma de Oro, Revolucionario KICKOFF🔴| FESTIVAL DE LAS MÁSCARAS 2023 + HOMENAJE EN VIDA A BLACK TERRY (posted by mluchatv)
this appeared to be the 2000s Black Dragón, not the more recent one. Revolucionario unmasked mid match.
4) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. b Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr.
rematch challenges followed
5) Capo Mayor & Hijo de Canis Lupus b Máscara Sagrada Jr. & Rayman
6) Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool b Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. and Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
IWRG says a man named Ivan Rockov (?) interfered.
7) Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Penta 0M b Rey Espectro, Taurus (Indie), Tonalli

I was really surprised to see the original Black Dragon here. He’s quite a bit heavier than he was two decades ago but that’s the case for most of us. Revolucion unmasked during his match – and I had no idea who it was. I’m a real fake lucha libre fan. Penta put over Tonalli after the man event.

TripleMania Tijuana Saturday, Atlantis 40th Anniversary show Friday, Villano III Jr. jumps to CMLL

CMLL

Today’s show

CMLL (FRI) 07/14/2023 Arena México
1) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr.
2) Reina Isis vs Lluvia [MEX WOMEN, final]
vacant title (Silueta injury/Japan trip)
3) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © vs Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. [CMLL TAG]
tenth defense
4) Akuma & Dark Magic vs Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa [hair]
5) Cavernario, Templario, Virus vs Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Titán
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Octagón vs Averno, Fuerza Guerrera, Último Guerrero

This lacks the novelty of the FantasticaMania show. It might be as good a show. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja just have really good tag title matches. Rey Cometa usually has really good apuesta matches, though the challenge is much higher with Dark Magic involved. That semi-main is lined up to be an outstanding match. Three quality matches is enough for a high-end CMLL show.

I wrote a longer preview over on Voices of Wrestling. I’m still stuck on the finish of the double apuesta match; Atrapsuenos should win, Akuma is fine bald and Dark Magic doesn’t matter. I’m not confident they will win. The Chavez seems safe bet to win. Reina Isis figures to win the national women’s title the way CMLL spreads out the tag titles, and Lluvia becoming double champion would set off another round of “Ultimo Guerrero is controlling everything” talk that benefits no one. The big question is if the main event sets up another teased Aniversario match or if we’re free of the old men this September.

Metalik has been good a lot but rarely great in his post-WWE run. He’s either going to be great on this CMLL tour or it’s never happening.

Airing schedule of this show

  • live and VOD thru Sunday via Boletia for about 5 USD
  • Televisa Canal 9/TUDN will air the TV version of this show on July 22nd (and repeat it through the week)
  • CMLL YouTube subscribers should get this full card starting on July 23rd
  • CMLL YouTube freeloaders should get the TV version of this show on July 30th

I’m not entirely sure about that last part. CMLL should upload the TV version 06/30 Fantastica Mania show on YouTube this Sunday. CMLL technically didn’t specify they would continue putting up those TV versions, and the Coliseo live/not-live thing makes me feel like it’s better to pay close attention to what CMLL actually says. We’ll find out this weekend.

Thursday, Atlantis participated in a march and a special mass in celebration of his anniversary. CMLL had mentioned this about a month ago but not much then. Atlantis talked with the press, said the usual things about retirement (and his unwillingness to do it.)

CMLL (SUN) 07/16/2023 Arena México
1) Bengala & Retro vs Grako & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) Último Dragóncito vs Angelito [lightning]
3) Astral, Neón, Valiente Jr. vs Ángel Rebelde, Brillante Jr., Futuro
4) Cancerbero & Luciferno vs Okumura & Pólvora
5) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Rey Bucanero
6) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Místico vs Ángel de Oro, Euforia, Mephisto

Nothing too notable here. Metalik and Euforia reunite. The minis match reminds me this is the time of year where CMLL often runs a Pequeno Estrellas anniversary match. (That led to Ultimo Dragoncito losing his mask last year.) Principe Odin Jr. is back for the first time since March.

CMLL (MON) 07/17/2023 Arena Puebla
***Arena Puebla 70th Anniversary***
1) Asturiano, Prayer, Xelhua vs Futuro, Neón, Vegas
2) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Hera & Olympia
3) Rey Samuray vs Perverso [CMLL BARROCO]
new championship
4) Magia Blanca © vs Pegasso [MEX WELTER]
3rd defense
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Stigma vs Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
6) Atlantis, Octagón, Templario vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

CMLL announced they’ll stream this Arena Puebla show live for their YouTube subscribers. This is absolutely what they should be doing, and it’s a relief to see them do it.

I’m guessing Samuray & Peagsso win those title matches, but I’m not certain about it.

CMLL also had a couple of wrestler-related announcements on Informa;

Dark Panther appeared to announce the return of his brother, Blue Panther Junior. The oldest Panther brother has not wrestled since September 2019, when he suffered an eye injury that could not be fixed by surgery and seemed like it could possibly end his career. That condition has gotten better and there’s been hints he’s been back in training – he showed up in a CMLL Father’s Day promo last month – and Tuesday will be his official return. Blue Panther Jr. wasn’t putting in great performances before he left, but he’s coming back from an eye injury, I’m just happy for him that he’s healthy enough to return. And maybe having two working eyes will help his wrestling.

Dark Panther & Blue Panther Jr. will face another set of brothers on that Tuesday show. Hijo del Villano III Jr. appeared next to announce his brother was coming in. Villano III Jr. appeared, announcing he was now in CMLL (and so had left AAA.) Both sets of brothers were very emotional about being reunited; there were lots of tears on Informa.

The Villano III brothers made cameos in both AAA and CMLL with their father as teenagers. I believe both were training with CMLL, as well as wrestling some indies. Villano III Jr. must’ve gotten frustrated waiting to debut at some point, because he surprisingly popped up in the 2017 AAA La Llave de la Gloria talent search. That’s the same contest that introduced Hijo del Vikingo to AAA; Villano was one of the better wrestlers in that batch, and had since become a regular fixture in AAA. He was marginally involved in the Lady Maravilla/Big Mami feud, holding the Mixed tag titles with Maravilla for a while. Villano quietly left AAA during the pandemic, then returned to in May 2021 as AAA started taping more regularly. Villano III appeared to suffer a concussion in that return match, and AAA used that to start a feud with Octagon Jr. over it. AAA later used also used Octagon’s real eye injury as part of an angle where Villano III stabbed him in the bad eye with a key. The two continued to feud in meaningless trios matches, never having a singles match and never progressing. It came off like the wrestlers wanted to do more, but the promotion saw as something to fill TV time when the ‘real’ stars weren’t booked. Villano III thanked AAA in a statement on Thursday and said he was leaving from the front door (he told AAA he was leaving ahead of time.) Villano didn’t give his reasons for leaving AAA, but tagging with his brother seemed more interesting than waiting for AAA to get on with it. (It also seems like Villano III Jr. is not the type just to sit around and wait forever for a chance – he’s left AAA twice now and maybe CMLL once, it’d be a surprise if he just stayed with CMLL for the next twenty years.)

Villano III Jr. jumping to CMLL is great news for Hijo del Villano III; CMLL loves doing things with families, and now he’s got a family member in. It’s interesting news for Villano III Jr.’s long time partner Persephone, who probably won’t be in AAA any longer. She didn’t make a big impression on me in her AAA TV debut, but that’d still be better than many of the women in the cibernetico last week. (Persephone seems to be still based in Juarez/El Paso, so it may not be a realistic possibility right now.) It’s probably relevant news for Atlantis Jr., who now will have two Villano III brothers coming after his mask for feuds. It’s not great for Octagon Jr., who will have to wait until AAA pulls a name out of a hat for him to feud with forever. It’s also not great for people who watch AAA TV; Villano III Jr. wasn’t as exciting of late, but losing him, Bandido and Flamita from those shows while a lot of other names are off TV because of US wrestling commitments is going to cause some depth issues.

Anyway, those dual announcements lead into the Tuesday Arena Mexico card, announced much earlier than usual.

CMLL (TUE) 07/18/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
2) Astral, Leono, Oro Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. vs Difunto, Sangre Imperial, Zandokan Jr.
4) Blue Panther Jr. & Dark Panther vs Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
5) Último Guerrero vs Averno [lightning]
6) Dragón Rojo Jr. & Volador Jr. vs Ángel de Oro & Templario [Relevos Increíbles]

They’re trying here much harder than usual. I’m not sure trying hard is going to get people to pay for a CMLL subscription service but people playing might as well enjoy it while it lasts. The four people who wanted the Anniversary match team up, Ultimo Guerrero and Averno have a rare singles match, Villano III Jr. debuts and Sangre Imperial is officially a rudo.

Guadalajara is busy as well.

CMLL (TUE) 07/18/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
***Atlantis 40th Anniverasry***
1) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus, Trono vs Futuro, Max Star, Neón, Vegas
2) Gallo Jr., Ráfaga Jr., Último Ángel vs Atilus, Maximus, Rey Uranio
3) Dark Silueta, Náutica, Sanely vs La Catalina, Maligna, Valkiria
4) Barboza, Draego, Persa vs Pegasso, Perverso, Rey Samuray
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0 & Metalik vs Euforia & Soberano Jr.
6) Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia, Vaquero Jr. vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Mephisto
7) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Místico vs Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Satánico

Metalik is on the normal foreigner schedule, working every show possible.

AAA

TripleMania is Saturday

AAA TV (SAT) 07/15/2023 Estadio Chevron, Tijuana, Baja California
***TripleMania XXXI Tijuana ***
1) Willie Mack vs Mr. IguanaJack CartwheelLa HiedraFlammerMyzteziz?Puma KingNiño HamburguesaDinámicoGringo LocoLaredo KidTaurus?? [Copa TripleMania]
Laredo & Taurus added on 06/21.
2) Dalys, Lady Shani, Sexy Star vs Kamille, Natalia Markova, Viva Van
3) Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Pagano vs Aramis, Jack Evans, Vampiro Canadiense
4) Argenis, Chessman, Daga, Negro Casas vs Damián 666, Nicho el Millionario, Rey Horus, Xtreme Tiger
Baja vs Mexico City
5) Pentagón Jr. vs Qt Marshall [ambulance]
Originally Laredo & Penta vs QT & Taurus. Changed to a singles match on June 21st.
6) Psycho Clown & Sam Adonis vs LA Park & Rush [Guerra de Rivalidades, semifinal]
7) Hijo Del Vikingo © vs Kenny Omega [AAA MEGA]

This show starts

  • 6:30 pm in Tijuana
  • 6:30 pm in Los Angeles
  • 7:30 pm in Mexico City
  • 8:30 pm in Chicago
  • 9:30 pm in New York
  • 2:30 am Sunday in London
  • 10:30 am Sunday in Tokyo

FITE still has the time wrong, has no idea what timezone Tijuana is in. I’m keeping with my promise not to mention this on Twitter, letting FITE & AAA see if they can figure this out on their own.

I also wrote a longer preview for Voices of Wrestling on this one. That I’m writing bits about how I don’t want to offer the slightest bit of help to AAA kind of tells you where mind is on this promotion. It could still be good, my bitterness aside. Vikingo/Omega could be the match of the year, the tag match could be amazing, Pentagon/QT could surprise people, and I’m just so tired and frustrated with this promotion. I guess, at least we’re getting good matches this week – Verano de Escandalo next week isn’t even promising that – but the other half this card is stuff that won’t be good or is a waste of the people involved.

Rush released a video Wednesday, announcing he was not scared of LA Park and that he would be professional and show up at TripleMania Tijuana out of respect for everyone who’s followed their rivalry. This seemed like the more likely outcome when AAA never announced a replacement, but they sure waited until late to get word out. Weirdly, AAA themselves has not gotten word out – they didn’t post Rush’s announcement video and haven’t restarted promoting the match.

AAA posted a vignette late Thursday night announcing Don Callis would second Hijo del Vikingo on this show. (Callis is also doing careful Spanish promos.) Callis is feuding with Kenny Omega in AEW, and so either Callis or his charge Konosuke Takeshita are now seem likely to get involved in the finish. I don’t want the main event of AAA shows to be angles to heat up AEW storylines, I think it’s something that’d make me annoyed with both promotions if they got involved before the match was over. I also don’t get a vote here.

Where will there be a clean finish on this TripleMania?

  • Vikingo/Omega: AAA has usually done clean finishes in the Mega titles during this era, but Callis getting involved suggests that may change
  • LA Park & Rush vs Psycho Clown & Sam Adonis: not only is it impossible to believe these guys would do a clean finish, everyone would be offended if they did not produce something weird that made for good GIF content.
  • QT Marshall vs Pentagon: the default ambulance match finish is QT and a bunch of heels stuffing Penta inside to win
  • Team TJ vs Team CDMX: I have less of a feel if this is meant to be something beyond this show (Casas has to get involved with the mixed tag titles at some point right?), but Nicho cheating to beat Casas also feels possible
  • Team Pagano vs Team Vampiro: someone’s doing a “shocking” turn here, funniest possible option is Aramis, but this is intended to set up a CDMX match
  • Team Mexico vs Team Rest of the World: maybe Kamille just wins again? And then AAA just runs back Taya/Kamille at TripleMania again? And all the AAA women’s wrestling fans would be so so so angry – this would be a dream Elmo posing in front of fire scenario of fan anger on Facebook. Anyway, this seems like a decent chance for a clean finish because it’s not a storyline match
  • Copa TripleMania: usually ends clean, seems the safest best

SEScoops has an interview with QT Marshall, who explains the origin of this Pentagon feud came from when the Lucha Brothers were negotiating a contract and asked him to leave the room because they had no idea why he was. Marshall was personally offended and vowed to run Penta’s life. Like most foreginers, he sees this AAA match as a stepping stone to get a bigger role someplace else (that actually matters to him.) Can’t knock the mindset.

QT did film a video to promote the match; he wants to make it a big deal for his purposes, but it helps AAA in the process. All the hype for this match has been those QT videos (or Penta response videos), and one of the big questions for this show is if those videos are enough to get Mexican fans excited for a match featuring someone they’ve never seen in AAA before. Those vignettes air on the Space and other TV airings, as well as going up on AAA’s social media. Azteca usually cuts out the non-wrestling portion of the program when they air AAA. The Azteca airing is believed to be the most viewed weekly AAA telecast because it’s free over the air, but I’m not confident sure if that’s still true given the post-midnight timeslot. (It wasn’t the most viewed this past week; Azteca didn’t air an AAA episode.) A good discussion about AAA’s woes on Mas Lucha’s Llaves y Contrallaves cited Azteca moving the AAA TV show from an afternoon spot to post-midnight as one of the reasons they’re struggling to draw right now.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says Andrade has interest in returning to AAA. You may remember Andrade from “complaining AAA lied to him in multiple interviews” and “blaming AAA for not being able to work Forbidden Door.” Time/money heals all wounds.

There’s apparently a AAA meet and greet in Tijuana tonight with Vampiro.

Mecha Wolf is scheduled to wrestle Mamba for Martinez Entertainment on 08/12. That’s the day of TripleMania. Is it confusion over the date? Is it a guy who’s been featured heavily on AAA all year not working the biggest show of the year? No idea.

Konnan, doing an interview with Record, said Kenny Omega will not appear again in AAA this year. That’s two finishes from this card he’s given away in interviews, after previously explaining on his podcast there was no way Rush & LA Park had their apuesta match this year. (Counterpoint: plenty of people are not appearing in AAA this year, have no clear return date, and are still champions. Omega might still have a shot.)

He also said AAA is not competing with CMLL, but instead with US companies like AEW, WWE, ROH, and Impact for US eyeballs. This is delusional about a promotion that will cease to exist for US fans as soon as the Mexico City TripleMania happens. AAA may aspire to compete with those promotions but they don’t exist in the US outside of the TripleMania shows. Konnan’s bigger point was that AAA’s coming to the US next year. Konnan did an interview with Nick Haussman a couple of weeks ago when he said AAA coming to the US in two years. I don’t think the timeline has sped up that much in the last month, I think this is an aspiration goal that keeps getting sold as a real plan, and they should stop talking about it until they have something to announce. They won’t though, they want the attention and they’re not getting it from talking about Mexico stuff.

Konnan also popped up on the Muscle Memory YouTube show to promote TripleMania. He did so, but he also said some things that just didn’t make sense for a regular AAA viewer. Konnan mentions a bit where QT Marshall tied Pentagon to a chair and explained why he was feuding with him. No such skit has aired on AAA TV or on social media. I guess it was filmed and Konnan saw it, and just assumed it was on TV at some time. Maybe it’ll turn up later.

Later, Konnan explains that the Pagano and Vampiro feud is between two babyface factions, specifically calling Mecha Wolf & Bestia 666 as faces. La Rebelion are clearly rudos on TV; they won their last match via foul, they jumped Komander and Arez after they won the tag team titles, they’ve argued with Psycho Clown. They’re pretty terrible babyfaces if they’re meant to be babyfaces (and the original storyline was Vampiro thought they were bad guys and Pagano should stop hanging out with them for that reason.) I guess, if they are babyfaces, we’re supposed to be shocked if/when they turn on Pagano.

Gronda feels AAA’s new wrestler Belecgor is a rip off his character – and that anyone wearing a red mask with devil themes is stealing from him. It’s a bit of a stretch.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 07/13/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Adrenalina & Kenji b Latino Boy & Legado LIVE🔴 | H. de Canis Lupus vs H. de Pirata Morgan + Noisy Boy (C) vs Águila Roja (R) (posted by mluchatv)
2) Danessa & Lolita b Alisha La Guerrera & Princesa Legna LIVE🔴 | H. de Canis Lupus vs H. de Pirata Morgan + Noisy Boy (C) vs Águila Roja (R) (posted by mluchatv)
3) Noisy Boy © b Águila Roja [IWRG REY DEL AIRE] LIVE🔴 | H. de Canis Lupus vs H. de Pirata Morgan + Noisy Boy (C) vs Águila Roja (R) (posted by mluchatv)
first defense. Match stopped after a Aguila Roja suffered an elbow injury after being hit with a tornillo suicida.
4) Imposible, Relámpago, Tonalli DQ Hell Boy, Puma de Oro, Spider Fly LIVE🔴 | H. de Canis Lupus vs H. de Pirata Morgan + Noisy Boy (C) vs Águila Roja (R) (posted by mluchatv)
Hijo del Pirata Morgan attacked Spider Fly after the match, then beat up the other Mexa Boys as they tried to make the save. Hijo de Canis Lupus finally made ran out to segue into that match.
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus DDQ Hijo del Pirata Morgan LIVE🔴 | H. de Canis Lupus vs H. de Pirata Morgan + Noisy Boy (C) vs Águila Roja (R) (posted by mluchatv)
both brawled outside, then tossed the referee when he tried to separate them. The commission stopped the match. They somewhat tried to sell it like the match really broke down.

The main event “post match” was those two guys punching, then people getting in the middle, then people getting out of the middle, and then repeat again for about five minutes. Pirata seems to be having fun destroying the Mexaboys; it’s very much the old Electroshock/Super Fly feud.

An impossible thing happened on this show: IWRG ran a show that was just two hours. A reasonable time! It took a match getting cut short by injury and no deadtime between match four and five, but still a small miracle.

IWRG (SUN) 07/16/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fussion & Gannicus vs Águila Roja & Rey Halcón
2) Leo & Mike vs Noisy Boy & Spider Fly and León Dorado & Mr. Leo
3) Mega, Puma de Oro, Revolucionario vs Black Dragón, Bombero Infernal, Oficial AK47
4) Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr. vs Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. [super libre]
5) Máscara Sagrada Jr. & Rayman vs Capo Mayor & Hijo de Canis Lupus
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. and Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool
7) Hell Boy, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Penta 0M vs Rey Espectro, Taurus (Indie), Tonalli

This is the Festival of la Mascaras show. Black Terry will be honored but is not wrestling. They’re running out of old luchadors who can put their mask back on one night (and so Rayman is back in to feud with some Dinamitas.) This is a member-only show. Quite a group of bases in the main event.

There was a Revolucionario briefly in 1996 IWRG; I have no idea if that’s meant to be the same one back here, or if we’ll find out who it was.

Other Notes

DTU and Mas Lucha announced a open entry tournament in Tulancingo. It costs 100 pesos to enter, various wrestlers and Mas Lucha personalities will be judges, and the winners get prizes like new gear and a booking in Cancun’s TWS promotion. The local government is sponsoring this, and local governments seem to love talent search concepts.

Rush/AAA non update, CMLL early week results, Vangellys Entertainment

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 07/10/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol del Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) Astro & Rayo Metálico b Espíritu Maligno & Fénix SO
2) Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio b Black Tiger, Centella Roja, Meyer
3) Perverso & Rey Samuray b AmnesiaAsturianoMilleniumXelhuaEl MalayoPrayerRey ApocalipsisSiki Ozama Jr. [CMLL BARROCO, semifinal (posted by )
Rey Samuray & Perverso advanced to next week’s final. Listed as the 2023 championship.
4) Averno, Pegasso, Templario b Dragón Rojo Jr., Magia Blanca, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles (posted by )
straight falls, setting up Pegasso to challenge Magia Blanca for the MEX WELTER next week
5) Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Último Guerrero b Euforia, Mephisto, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles (posted by )

Porra Fresa guessed it’d be those two in the final. I guessed the other title match. (The other title match was easy to guess.)

CMLL (TUE) 07/11/2023 Arena México
1) Galaxy & Shockercito b Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito
2) Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr. b Cachorro, Eléctrico, Robin
3) Espanto Jr., Felino Jr., Sangre Imperial b Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr., Misterioso Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Sangre Imperial used the ropes to beat Hombre Bala, may be turning rudo.
4) Stephanie Vaquer b La Catalina [lightning]
first time match between the two Chileans; Vaquer won via submission in 8:18.
5) Blue Panther, Star Jr., Valiente b Bárbaro Cavernario, Niebla Roja, Terrible
6) Dragón Rojo Jr., Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. b Ángel de Oro, Místico, Templario [Relevos Increíbles]
Angel de Oro attempted to foul Volador, but he blocked him and spun him in to a backcracker. Dragon Rojo powerbombed Templario for a pin. Dragon Rojo again demanded a mask match with Templario, Templario accepted – but Angel de Oro also demanded a hair match with Volador, who said he’d only accept if it was a normal match (no cage, not like the H2L match.) Mistico and Soberano were long gone by the time of those challenges.

So, Soberano Jr. is definitely out of the Aniversario mix and Volador & Angel de Oro Jr. are now in. This might be not be the final configuration, with Atlantis, Fuerza Guerrera and Octagon all in the main event on Friday. Volador pre-emptively burying the idea of a multi-man match hopefully means they’re going somewhere else with this concept.

If CMLL has the energy to do a Sangre Imperial heel turn angle, they should use that energy more constructively.

Vaquer/Catalina worked hard for a Tuesday lightning match; it was a big deal to them.

CMLL (TUE) 07/11/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [thecubsfan]
1) Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno b Avispón Negro Jr., Cosmos, Hijo del Calavera MARTES DE GLAMOUR 11JULIO 2023. Arena coliseo de Guadalajara. REPATRIADOS TAPATIOS. (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
2) Johnny Dinamo, Mortis, Omega b Halcón Suriano Jr., Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro MARTES DE GLAMOUR 11JULIO 2023. Arena coliseo de Guadalajara. REPATRIADOS TAPATIOS. (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
finish didn’t air on the stream
3) Demonio Maya, Leo, Omar Brunetti b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio MARTES DE GLAMOUR 11JULIO 2023. Arena coliseo de Guadalajara. REPATRIADOS TAPATIOS. (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
4) Ángel Rebelde, Optimus, Trono b Akuma, Dark Magic, Raider MARTES DE GLAMOUR 11JULIO 2023. Arena coliseo de Guadalajara. REPATRIADOS TAPATIOS. (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
5) Crixus, Difunto, Zandokan Jr. DQ Dulce Gardenia, Halcón Negro Jr., Vaquero Jr. MARTES DE GLAMOUR 11JULIO 2023. Arena coliseo de Guadalajara. REPATRIADOS TAPATIOS. (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
Halcon Negro Jr. unmasked Crixus for the DQ as their long feud continues.
6) Bestia Negra, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black MARTES DE GLAMOUR 11JULIO 2023. Arena coliseo de Guadalajara. REPATRIADOS TAPATIOS. (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
Bestia Negra beat Esfinge using the ropes, which may set up a title match

There are a lot of little ways you can tell Guadalajara is on in a bubble separated from the rest of CMLL, and there are big ways like beating the guys who are about to be in a double hair match on Friday. The main event makes more sense now that it’s setting up a Esfinge match (but also they’re setting up an Esfinge match.)

Articles on Tuesday marked the anniversary of Atlantis’ official EMLL debut on July 11, 1983. (As noted previously, someone named Atlantis was wrestling on EMLL shows back into 1982, and no one’s ever figured out what the deal is there.) In Record, Atlantis claims he was planning to wrestle only two years and ended up wrestling forty so far. He also says he may just quietly disappear one day instead of announcing a retirement show, but also that he would accept a retirement show if CMLL thought that was a better idea. This is the same Atlantis who said he’s never ever going to retire last time it came up.

CMLL (SAT) 07/15/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Full Metal & Pequeño Polvora
2) Diamond, Flyer, Oro Jr. vs Inquisidor, Nitro, Raider
3) El Audaz vs El Coyote [lightning]
4) La Magnifica, La Vaquerita, Sanely vs Dark Silueta, Hera, Olympia
5) Pegasso, Stigma, Volcano vs Kráneo, Magnus, Rugido
6) Metalik, Soberano Jr., Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

You can tell Metalik is coming in on the “foreigner” schedule because they’re going to work him in every show possible.

Dark Silueta: not able to defend her title on Friday, good to wrestle on Saturday. Maybe it’s a singles versus trios issue?

Fuerza Guerrera revealed the surgery that put him out of action earlier this year was intestinal surgery. He says the injury is so old that he got it wrestling Perro Aguayo – the senior, not the junior. Guerrera never wanted to get it operated on because his mother had similar pains, it turned out to actually be the stomach cancer which killed her, and I guess he was scared they’d discover the same thing. He was internally bleeding, with blood coming out of his mouth, and was in a lot of pain before he finally got the operation done.

CMLL Informa will have Atlantis & Octagon (40th Anniversary), Metalik (return!) Rey Cometa & Espiritu Negro (hair match), Lluvia & Reyna Isis (Mexican Women’s Championship), Magnus & Rugido (new tag champs) and Dark Panther & Hijo del Villano III (???)

CMLL announced an upcoming tie up with the Denver Broncos. Maybe I need a chart to decide which lucha libre promotion each NFL team has decided to ally with.

AAA

Tu Plan de Juego has a report on the Orizaba taping. They cite the weather (rain flooding nearby streets), a fan still burnt by a show that didn’t happen as promised last year, and a general lack of interest in AAA as reasons for the low turnout. Money was thrown in the TV opener (the one with the debuts) and the show was said to be the best lucha libre show in Orizaba this year, but they didn’t motivate enough people to come out and see it.

Even Dralistico’s not sure if Rush is working the Tijuana show on Friday. He hopes Rush does, but doesn’t think people want to see the 2v2 match, they want to see LA Park vs Rush. Dralistico believes only Dorian and Rush know what happened, and says Rush is the sort of person who be really mad at you one moment and then call you five minutes later to tell you how much he loves you. Dralistico himself sounds like he’s fine continuing to work with AAA, though he’s off to NOAH this weekend and would like to challenge Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. for his title.

Sam Adonis listed his upcoming schedule on Twitter, including a press conference next Tuesday. Everyone assumes he’s and Psycho are advancing in the tournament on Sunday and main eventing in Mexico City. I don’t think Sam is going to the press conference to talk about participating in the Copa TripleMania.

Albert, in the comments of the last post, mentioned the last Lucha Juarez promoted Guerra de Titanes coming to that town. That makes sense – HBO said the show takes place November 19th, and that’s the week AAA always runs Ciudad Juarez (when there’s no global health emergency.)

Cibernetico, in a post-Master Chef media tour, says he plans on wrestling for three more years.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 07/13/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Latino Boy & Legado vs Adrenalina & Kenji
2) Danessa & Lolita vs Alisha La Guerrera & Princesa Legna
3) Noisy Boy (c) vs Águila Roja [IWRG REY DEL AIRE]
first defense
4) Hell Boy, Puma de Oro, Spider Fly vs Imposible, Relámpago, Tonalli
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan

It would be surprising if Noisy Boy lost the title he just won before he has the match with Latigo they set up in the post match. Main might be good.

IWRG is putting all their results in one post the day after the show. It’s so much better that way, glad they’re doing it.

Other News

El Hijo del Dr. Wagner retained the GHC National Championship on Monday, defeating Amakusa for his fifth defense.

Promociones Cruz says their show on Saturday in Arena Azteca Budokan is canceled. I presume this is due to the Neza government inspecting and temporarily shutting down some local arenas (and non-wrestling venues) following the deaths at Arena San Juan last week. I didn’t catch it until now, but the Robles show this Friday at Arena San Juan has also been canceled.

Sussy Love, who hasn’t been seen in months, popped back up on Big Lucha’s social media in an interview role, with Foreno in this one. She mentioned she’s been gone with an injury; I believe she was actually working on Luchatitlan and is now off that show with an injury.

Mas Lucha announced a 17th Anniversary show for July 27th in Arena Naucalpan, with Psycho Clown & Gronda XXX vs DMT Azul & Sam Adonis. That sounds fairly terrible. It’s a membership only show, maybe they’ll have some good matches too.

Vangellys announced the founding of Vangellys Entertainment in a press conference on Tuesday. That sentence alone should tip you off that this is not a serious thing to cover, but it’s here so we can look back at it fondly down the road. Vangellys says he’s going to help promote MMA, Bikini (American Women’s) Football, bodybuilding, boxing, and lucha libre all in one event on July 29th at Sala de Armas. The post says it’ll be a 12 hour show running from 11 AM to 11 pm. There must be a very particular money person involved, and that person is very particularly going to lose lots of money. Vangellys was supposed to be involved with the Arena CM project last year, quietly disappeared from that project, and will quietly disappear from this one as well when the money runs out.

A local legislature proposed the state of Quintana Roo officially endorse lucha libre as part of the state’s cultural heritage. This concept passed in Mexico City last decade. The article noting the proposal also points out almost no lucha libre arena from the heyday of regional lucha libre (70s); just the bullring, which is mostly used by concerts. The article also says there’s no regular lucha libre gym in the state, and that many of the “stars of Quintana Roo” mentioned in the legislation are wrestlers who came from elsewhere. The one regular venue I know of post-pandemic is an outdoor show put on by a food truck company every other Thursday. They do bring in a national name to headline it (often CMLL wrestlers.) That’s not mentioned in the article. The article also doesn’t much Luchatitlan; given that project’s ties with local government, I guess that’s where the idea came from.

An article in La Voz de Queretaro about women’s wrestling in that state notes that there’s not much of a local scene; the women who are into wrestling find there are not many opponents or opportunities to continue.

Torreon luchador Urban X and referee/radio host/YouTube uploader Angel el Elegante had a brief skirmish at Arena Campeones last Saturday. The YoDeportivo article says the Torreon Box y Lucha commission may punish both men.

Terror Infernal fell hard out of the Arena Aficion ring on Sunday, when the top rope broke after he hit. I haven’t seen video, just an article noting the incident and that Terror Infernal was OK enough to return to the match after a few minutes of concern.

Box y Lucha #3559 congratulates Atlantis on the cover. This is no article about Atlantis inside the magazine.

AAA debuts new Drago and other characters in Orizaba, Lluvia/Isis advance to title final,

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/07/2023 Arena México [AS, CMLL, ESTOKaiser SportsR de RudoThe GladiatoresThe Gladiatores (Video), thecubsfan]
1) Kaligua & Pequeño Magía b Acero & Aéreo  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)  (posted by mluchatv)
9:59.
2) Volcano b Kráneo [lightning (posted by mluchatv)  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
8:46. The two shook hands and embraced after the match (so maybe the feud is over?)
3) Lluvia & Reyna Isis b AmapolaLa JarochitaSanelyTiffanyLa VaqueritaHeraSkadiOlympiaLa MagnificaValkiriaLa GuerreraNáuticaLa MalignaMetálica [MEX WOMEN, semifinal (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)  (posted by mluchatv)  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
36:15. Vacant title (Silueta injury/Japan trip). Order of elimination: Amapola (via Nautica), Maligna (Hera), Guerrera (Vaquerita), Magnifica (skadi), Tiffany (Olympia), Sanley (Metalica), Nautica (Lluvia), Valkiria (Reina Isis), Hera (Jarochita), Olympia (Skadi), Metalica (Reina Isis), Valkiria (Jarochita), Skadi (Isis), Jarochita (Isis) leaving Isis & Lluvia as the final two for next week.
4) Star Black b Valiente [lightning (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
6:41. Valiente got a shoulder up before three, came off as if the referee screwed up.
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Templario b Averno, Euforia, Mephisto  (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)  (posted by Estrellas del Ring)  (posted by mluchatv)
11:32. Averno came out with Infernales gear but is not officially part of the trio.
6) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible  (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)  (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
9:26. Gran Guerrero beat Terrible.

A weak show with some timing issues. CMLL seemed like they got concerned with the show running long after the women’s cibernetico, and everything that followed felt like it got cut on time and was hurrying to make up for it. (Something went wrong with the minis opener had more time than the main event.) They hurried so much that the show ended a little bit earlier than usual. The Star Black/Valiente match seemed unnecessary, some scheduling quirk that would’ve given the last two matches plenty of time to sink it if removed.

The women’s cibernetico was not good; anything that features the 12th to 20th best luchadors in CMLL is usually not going to be good. The division has little depth. Post match promos pushed the idea of trouble between Las Chica Indomables (Jarochita & Lluvia) after their failed teamwork got Jarochita eliminated this week, and Lluvia previously talking about wanting to stick with the Las Infernales unit. That could just be a one-week thing. None of the other matches were all that memorable.

The main event feels like it should’ve ended with Gran Guerrero and Stuka beating Angel de Oro and Niebla Roja based on what got added to next week’s show, but it didn’t. Averno came out looking like he was meant to be the new third member of Los Infernales, then said backstage that no decision had been made. (They lost, so maybe Satanico should keep looking.) Hechicero did roast Euforia & Mephisto after the match for saying they didn’t want a leader for the group and then immediately bringing in old leader Averno. Volcano and Kraneo ended as if a blow off to their feud, but who else are they possibly going to wrestle? CMLL loves to match up people of similar size and there are not other people that size here. They’ll keep fighting as long as one of them is in CMLL.

There were a couple of hitches with the new CMLL streaming, though not anything impossible to deal with watching live. The stream website itself goes live about 15 minutes before the show, you can’t log in prior. (Ticketmaster would let you login whenever, the stream wouldn’t start until 15 minutes before.) The website has an anti-piracy system that flashes a watermark user id number, in tiny text but always in a random place, on the screen. It comes up about every five minutes and only for about five seconds. I could not stop noticing it but others watching didn’t see it until I pointed it out. (It’s not too effective, anyone who really wants to pirate the stream can get around that number easy enough.) The bigger problem was the VOD wasn’t configured right. The VOD itself was up right away, the server had the whole show, but it wasn’t playing the whole show. CMLL had the stream up and running for a couple of hours with just the logo on the screen before the real broadcast began, someone plugged in a start and end time for the VOD to cut it down just to that real broadcast, but they had the timezone configured wrong so the VOD was showing an hour of pre-show logo and then cut off during one of the matches. This got fixed by Saturday and the full show was up. It also wasn’t possible to buy the show after it went off the air, but that also got fixed after the VOD time got adjusted.

CMLL (SAT) 07/08/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico b Fantasy [lightning]
2) Oro Jr., Robin, Valiente Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Raider
3) Dark Panther, El Audaz, Magia Blanca b El Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr.
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr.
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Soberano Jr., Valiente b Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Stuka Jr.
6) Místico b Volador Jr.

They drew an unusually large crowd for this show; the numbered tickets were sold out, and no one was quite sure the last time that happened. It’s all on the Mistico/Volador singles match. Mistico appears hot.

CMLL (SUN) 07/09/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Bengala b Inquisidor [lightning]
2) Cachorro & Retro b Enfermero Jr. & Grako
3) Astral, Diamond, Flyer b Futuro, Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Magnus & Rugido b Esfinge & Fugaz © [MEX TAG]
Esfinge & Fugaz fall on their fifth defense. Magnus & Rugido are the 34th modern champions.
6) Atlantis Jr., Hechicero, Máscara Dorada 2.0 b Euforia, Soberano Jr., Titán [Relevos Increíbles]

That title seemed likely as soon as they started the program. Esfinge got a singles title so he won’t be keeping the tag team titles. Magnus & Esfinge aren’t a particularly strong team but these titles have consistently gone to midcard teams since CMLL restarted the title in 2020.

CMLL (TUE) 07/11/2023 Arena México
1) Galaxy & Shockercito vs Pequeño Violencia & Pierrothito
2) Cachorro, Eléctrico, Robin vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Fuego, Hombre Bala Jr., Misterioso Jr. vs Espanto Jr., Felino Jr., Sangre Imperial [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Stephanie Vaquer vs La Catalina [lightning]
5) Blue Panther, Star Jr., Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Niebla Roja, Terrible
6) Ángel de Oro, Místico, Templario vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

The main event is another one of those matches that seems good but then it turns out to have Tuesday effort. The three guys who may be in the Aniversario main remain together, but there’s no progress on that for a while.

The two Chileans facing off is the actual sort of weird stuff you need to get a subscription service going. Either you go very mainstream (which CMLL will never do) or you go very niche to appeal to the people who will pay whatever to see their favorites. What’ll actually happen in this case is people will just play dumb about how to subscribe and ask me if I can give them the match after, but you’ve got to keep trying that. (That said, there’s no chance these Tuesday shows are being booked with a ‘what’s appealing to our YouTube fanbase’ in mind, it’s too much of a stretch for them to care.)

CMLL (FRI) 07/14/2023 Arena México
1) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr.
2) Reina Isis vs Lluvia [MEX WOMEN, final]
vacant title (Silueta injury/Japan trip)
3) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja © vs Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. [CMLL TAG]
tenth defense
4) Akuma & Dark Magic vs Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa [hair]
5) Cavernario, Templario, Virus vs Máscara Dorada 2.0, Metalik, Titán
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Octagón vs Averno, Fuerza Guerrera, Último Guerrero

The tag title match was added to the original lineup and feels like something got missed setting it up on Friday.

It’s a strange look to have the three stipulation matches in the middle of the card, underneath two trios matches with no stakes. It certainly suggests something is coming out of that main event.

CMLL has been sensitive on time of late, probably too much so. That opener will be short, and the women’s match may not go a long time either.

No Otro Podcast de Lucha has Stephanie Vaquer on as a guest in their latest episode; she’s on around the 90 minute mark.

AAA

AAA TV (SAT) 07/08/2023 Coliseo La Conordia, Orizaba, Veracruz [AAA, LuigirockerMe Gusta Box y Lucha]
1) Brazo De Oro Jr., Centella, Drago (2023) b Belcegor, Dinámico, Maravilla
Debuts of Centella, Belcegor, and a new Drago. Centella is Estrellita Lagunera and the other two are known indie luchadors.
2) Flammer, La Hiedra, Viva Van b Lady Shani, Reina Dorada, Sexy Star  (posted by )  (posted by )
Reina Dorada replaced Persephone (who was probably meant to be removed from the card when Villano III Jr. was removed.) Maravilla and Dinamico got involved.
3) Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Psicosis b Diva Salvaje, Dulce Kanela, Jessy Ventura and Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown
4) Argenis & Puma King b Myzteziz & Octagón Jr.  (posted by )
Puma King replaced Villano III Jr. by 06/19. Argenis beat Myzteziz.
5) Dalys & Negro Casas DQ Chik Tormenta & Daga  (posted by )
La Hiedra ran in for the DQ when Dalys had Tormenta in the sharpshooter.
6) Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Pagano b Aramis, Jack Evans, Pentagón Jr.

The stories coming out of this taping aren’t about the matches. Some of that is because the only notes we have on this one are AAA’s brief results tweets, and photos of the show. The photos aren’t kind. A photo of a mostly empty building for this show went viral, as sort of a crisis point for lucha libre. That photo is a misrepresentation, one taken before the taping actually started and more people came in. There are videos and photos of the show in progress with more people – but even those have a startlingly low amount of people for such a big building even in those ‘better’ photos. AAA is not drawing on tapings; they didn’t do well in Morelos, it didn’t look good in Chihuahua (though it’s said to look better in person) and the Puebla taping reportedly had low ticket sales when it was canceled due to “environmental issues.” AAA has been cold since TripleMania Monterrey, and even that wasn’t the great number they promoted it would be. One Orizaba fan blamed high ticket prices for this show, though AAA was doing a lot of discounts in the last week (and has been doing those for all their shows this year.) Dr. Landru heard AAA changed local promoters for this show, which may explain why it did worse than usual for this venue.

And I’m not sure any of that matters right now! AAA’s upcoming taping schedule is TripleMania, Aguascalientes (one of their best cities) and TripleMania again. Those shows will have a bigger weight on the scale than what’s happened recently. If they do great, then the last few months can be brushed off and maybe they’re hotter going into the last third of the year. If the same weakness in ticket sales happens with those big shows, then it’s a much bigger problem for AAA than it is now.

This is a good spot to note that AAA’s TV show this week, already up on YouTube, was a TripleMania Tijuana preview. They focused so heavily on the Psycho Clown/Sam Adonis half of the tag match heavily in the first half of the show, so much so that it seems too obvious they were going to the final. It’s probably more a product of having access to Adonis & Psycho to come in and do new promos, and LA Park & Rush aren’t going to do that. AAA acted as if nothing strange had happened with Rush since the Monterrey show. They’ve never publicly addressed Rush saying he’s off the show and Rush still hasn’t said he’s back on the show. I assume he’s going to be there but I wouldn’t bet any sum of money on it. Until Rush says something himself, you can’t completely trust he’s going to be there. The TV show mentioned Vikingo/Omega more near the end. They had a Negro Casas promo talking about his issues with Nicho and Pagano promo that was much more about him transforming back into Pagano than anyone else. AAA’s show was shorter than usual, AAA surely could’ve spent a couple of minutes simply listing the matches on TripleMania, and never mentioned a few of them. They also never really hit hard how to watch it, the basic stuff I’m used to seeing from decades of watching US PPVs; by those standards, this just felt like AAA’s focus was on adding just enough new content to not be accused of sending in a rerun rather than getting people to fans to take action by buying a ticket or purchasing the PPV or even just tuning into Space next week. There were the usual QR codes to buy tickets but nothing more than usual in that extent.

Centella is Torreon’s Estrellita Lagunera, who promoted the gimmick change on her Facebook page. Belcegor and the new Drago did not publically acknowledge their changes, but the AAA Facebook commenters quickly figured it out. Belcegor is Fulgor (I), doing a similar character with a more theatrical mask but the same recognizable beard. Drago is wearing body paint to cover some of his tattoos, but enough remains visible to give it Baby Xtreme’s identity.

Just to be clear on the sequence of events

  1. AAA had plans for a new Drago for a while
    • Konnan hinted at someone taking over an existing character on his podcast months ago, this was that tease
  2. Lucha Underground Drago either was told or found it would be happening soon
  3. Lucha Underground Drago got ahead of the story by announcing his switch to Dios del Inframundo
  4. AAA introduced their new Drago here.

The original Drago got a big introduction, pushed hard to start, paired up with La Parka in his first few matches, and used on the top half of the card. This Drago worked an opener with no particular fanfare and probably will be just another person in the Copa TripleMania next week. It’s great if he gets over but they’re setting him just to be someone to maintain the copyright to the gimmick. All these new AAA people are in the same spots as they would’ve been in the old identities, just with names AAA now owns. (Comparing these gimmick changes to the Mascara Dorada 2.0 one is a bit one-sided.)

A footnote here is Centella and Drago are under contract to KAOZ, or at least KAOZ announced them as signing a deal recently enough that I assume it would still apply. Not sure about Belcegor.

Dios del Inframundo didn’t mention the new Drago but did thank fans and promoters for all the support.

An HBO Max press release seemingly inadvertently announced the dates for future AAA shows. The end of this press release says Heroes Inmortales will take place October 7 and Guerra de Titanes on November 19th. AAA hasn’t mentioned those shows so far. The press release doesn’t mention the Noches de Campeones event AAA held last December. That one was meant to be a new annual event, but it also did fairly poorly last time around and hasn’t been mentioned much since. (I was dumbstruck when Arez came in Chihuahua out wearing the Blue Demon championship he won on that show, I forgot that thing existed.) Guerra de Titanes in November does leave plenty of time for another event in December, though.

HBO Max does have the TripleMania Monterrey show up on VOD to watch already. I’m told the AAA shows will be available in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina at the start, and other Latin American countries may be added this week.

Brandon Moreno, who is seconding the Baja California team at TripleMania this week, lost his title match Saturday in UFC. He also broke a hand in the match. You can still walk to the ring with a broken hand, but he’s probably not as excited to come to TripleMania as before his fight.

In another painful defeat, Cibernetico was eliminated from Azteca’s MasterChef on Sunday night. He lasted on the show nine weeks and seemed to enjoy the experience.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 07/09/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Rey Aztaroth b HisteriosisÁguila Oriental LIVE🔴 | Las Shotas y Hellboy vs La Pandemia y El Capo del Norte + El debut Dr. Cerebro Jr. (posted by mluchatv)
no Golden Power, so this 2v2 became a three way
2) Candy Swing & Mr. Mike b Danessa & Kenji LIVE🔴 | Las Shotas y Hellboy vs La Pandemia y El Capo del Norte + El debut Dr. Cerebro Jr. (posted by mluchatv)
Mr. Mike & Kenji replaced Sagitarius & Satania
3) Águila Roja, León Dorado, Mr. Leo b Fussion, Relámpago, Spider Fly LIVE🔴 | Las Shotas y Hellboy vs La Pandemia y El Capo del Norte + El debut Dr. Cerebro Jr. (posted by mluchatv)
Relampago betrayed his partners.
4) Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr. b Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. LIVE🔴 | Las Shotas y Hellboy vs La Pandemia y El Capo del Norte + El debut Dr. Cerebro Jr. (posted by mluchatv)
Dr. Cerebro Jr. debut with a win.
5) Capo Mayor, Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Diva Salvaje, Hell Boy, Jessy Ventura, Mamba LIVE🔴 | Las Shotas y Hellboy vs La Pandemia y El Capo del Norte + El debut Dr. Cerebro Jr. (posted by mluchatv)
6) Noisy Boy b Puma de Oro © [IWRG REY DEL AIRE] LIVE🔴 | Las Shotas y Hellboy vs La Pandemia y El Capo del Norte + El debut Dr. Cerebro Jr. (posted by mluchatv)
Puma de Oro falls on 3rd defense. Noisy Boy new champion. Latigo showed up to annoy both Noisy Boy and coach Black Terry after the match.

IWRG announced Penta for next Sunday’s Festival de Mascaras show. (He should have to wrestle as either Dark Dragon or Sairus – except they’re trying to sell tickets so maybe he has to be Penta.) My guess is the Latigo/Noisy Boy interaction is to set up something there as well.

Other News

Segunda Caida watches a Hijo del Santo/Kato Kung Lee match from Hijo del Santo’s Patreon.

Panama lucha libre promoter Virgilio Cabrera passed away on Wednesday.

Diamante announced he was taking a break from Dragon Gate and returning to Mexico. I’m not sure if he’s actually injured or just taking time off ask his mask loss to set up a big return; could be both. The mask loss got little attention in Mexico.

Juventud Guerrera is teasing the debut of Juventud Guerrera Jr. It’s not a son, it’s a known indie luchador, though they’re keeping that part quiet (going as far as to remove some tattoos from the promo photo.) There’s no announced date of when Juventud Guerrera Jr. will debut.

Reynosa luchador Super Chucky says he’s retiring due to injury. He defeated Super Boy in his final match. Local Rey Astral is Super Chucky’s son.

AM.com.mx profiles Pachuca’s Karis la Momia, who’s been wrestling for 44 years and also works as a lawyer. There’s been a few different people to use that gimmick over the years.

NetNoticas interviews mask maker Ricardo Diaz.

NVI Noticias talks to Oaxaca’s Diosa Quimera, who’s out of action with an injury and will need surgery.

normal Arena Mexico show tonight, CMLL talks subscription plans, AAA in Orizaba

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 07/07/2023 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Kaligua & Pequeño Magía
2) Volcano vs Kráneo [lightning]
3) Lluvia vs AmapolaLa JarochitaReyna IsisSanelyTiffanyLa VaqueritaHeraSkadiOlympiaLa MagnificaValkiriaLa GuerreraNáuticaLa MalignaMetálica [MEX WOMEN, semifinal]
vacant title (Silueta injury/Japan trip)
4) Valiente vs Star Black [lightning]
5) Averno, Euforia, Mephisto vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Templario
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

This is not last week’s show to say the least. The top trios matches could be fine but lack excitement. Match five continues the Infernales split, match two brings back the Gorillas del Ring. That series is one win to one win.

Kaiser Sports posted the interviews with Sanely (who would like to face Jarochita in the final), Tiffany (who picks Amapola or Skadi), Skadi (Amapola or Tiffany), and Reina Isis (Amapola). Isis wants a rematch from 2015, when she was last minute fill-in against Amapola and wrestled the match with Arkangel’s gear. None of those sound like matches I’d like to see. Isis does seems like a decent choice for the winner, just to give the division a second focus in addition to the Zeuxis/Vaquer vs Lluvia/Jarochita feud. This match will be a bigger struggle than usual without those hometeam foreigners being involved.

This is the first PPV on the new service, though vaguely the same price. The fees are a tiny bit higher. My impression is you’re getting the same feed no matter if you buy in USD or Mexican Pesos, they just save you any additional conversion fee you may have been paying.

CMLL (SUN) 07/09/2023 Arena México
1) Bengala vs Inquisidor [lightning]
2) Cachorro & Retro vs Enfermero Jr. & Grako
3) Astral, Diamond, Flyer vs Futuro, Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
5) Esfinge & Fugaz © vs Magnus & Rugido [MEX TAG]
fifth defense
6) Atlantis Jr., Hechicero, Máscara Dorada 2.0 vs Euforia, Soberano Jr., Titán [Relevos Increíbles]

This is the third time Los Depredadores are challenging. Esfinge’s picked up a singles title since the last challenge, which means him losing this other title is likely.

CMLL (MON) 07/10/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Rayo Metálico vs Espíritu Maligno & Fénix SO
2) Black Tiger, Centella Roja, Meyer vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
3) Amnesia, Asturiano, Millenium, Rey Samuray, Xelhua vs El Malayo, Perverso, Prayer, Rey Apocalipsis, Siki Ozama Jr. [CMLL BARROCO, SF]
listed as the 2023 championship
4) Dragón Rojo Jr., Magia Blanca, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Pegasso, Templario [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Euforia, Mephisto, Soberano Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Hechicero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

Any CMLL show with two relevos increibles seems like a mistake. There’s reasons: the semi-main is headed to Pegaso/Magia Blanca, the main continues the Infernales feud (and not the Soberano/UG one.)

CMLL hyped the Barroco deal as a new championship belt for Puebla local wrestlers, but it reads more like an annual tournament in the description. (Also, Xelhua may not be a Puebla local wrestler.) Final two meet for whatever it is next week.

CMLL (TUE) 07/11/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Cosmos, Hijo del Calavera vs Infierno, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
2) Johnny Dinamo, Mortis, Omega vs Halcón Suriano Jr., Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro
3) Demonio Maya, Leo, Omar Brunetti vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Ángel Rebelde, Optimus, Trono vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Raider
5) Dulce Gardenia, Halcón Negro Jr., Vaquero Jr. vs Crixus, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
6) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Bestia Negra, Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte

The big idea here is “the Guadalajara guys have returned from Mexico City” but these Guadalajara guys haven’t been gone too long. Dulce Gardenai, noticeably absent in Mexico City of late, resurfaces here.

CMLL announced the Leyenda de Plata will return later this month. There will be a one-night eight-person elimination match on July 21st, and the final two will meet on July 28th. The wrestlers announcers:

  • Mistico
  • Metalik
  • Rocky Romero
  • Volador Jr.
  • Mascara Dorada 2.0
  • Titan
  • Templario
  • Dragon Rojo Jr.

Templario beat Sobearno Jr. in last year’s final. Templario figures to be in the final again; until CMLL announces a Aniversario match, every tournament feels like a teaser to that outcome. It seems a little notable that Templario and Dragon Rojo are involved and Soberano is not. That’s a really good field, especially if they went with a non-Dragon Rojo final. I’m a little surprised to see Rocky Romero back again so soon, and he gives a path to that non-Dragon Rojo ending. I’ve started this paragraph in one place and ended up in an entirely different place, that’s probably not helpful for you.

There is also a second simultaneous tournament* happening at the end of the month. The vacant national lightweight title will be decided in a more complex manner than usual. CMLL will hold four satellite tournaments across Mexico, with two winners from each group advancing to a grand final in Arena Mexico. The satellite tournaments will take place

  • 07/23 Arena Mexico
  • 07/24 Arena Puebla
  • 07/25 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
  • 07/27 Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano (Torreon)
    • this block will include Brillante Jr., Misterio Negro, Misteroio Blanco, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Sparko, Platino, Clasico and Principe Dragon
  • the final will take place on 07/30 in Arena Mexico

Edgar Noriega announced this at press conference in Torreon on Wednesday, where Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano was also said to be an official part of CMLL’s programming department going forward. They’ve been using Mexico City and Guadalajara talent about once a month. They probably will just continue to do so unchanged. I believe Magia Blanca’s family is involved with that promotion.

(* Earlier this week, Dave Meltzer stated CMLL is different from AEW because CMLL will only run one tournament at a time. I would like a retracement and apology for that false statement.)

Arnea Coliseo Guadalajara also teased “CMLL Talentos” coming soon., mentioning wrestlers from Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, Torreon, Tijuana, Queretaro, and Morelia will be involved. Morelia stuck out to me as an unusual CMLL pick but some of the more obscure luchadors working in Guadalajara are from that area so that’s probably the deal.

Akuma argues that instead of Espiritu Negro leaving Ola Negra to team with his brother, Espiritu Negro should’ve convinced Rey Cometa to join Ola Negra. I don’t know that would’ve worked but it would’ve been funny to see them try.

CMLL’s new PPV and subscription plans

CMLL did a rollout of their paid options going forward on Informa. They will not make you happy. I’m still unhappy like two days later.

  • Friday shows are still PPVs, still 99 pesos. They’re now using a different service (ticket sellers Boletia, and their Neerme.TV streaming service.) You will now get the option to watch shows on VOD for 48 hours after the live airing.
  • CMLL’s YouTube subscribers will get the Friday shows. The bad news is they’ll get those shows nine days after they air, or one day after they air on TV for free.
  • I think the TV versions of the Friday shows are still going up on YouTube eventually, but that was not said.

The PPVs seem like a solid improvement, though we’ll have to see how well the new provider does. I want to give CMLL credit for switching to a more friendly live-streaming partner. The reality is CMLL might have had no choice by to look for someone new; CMLL seemed to be the only group left in Mexico using the TicketmasterLive option, Ticketmaster may have decided they no longer need to be in the live streaming business and the new people just happened to have VOD as a default option.

The YouTube subscriber deal is just bad. No one wants to pay for Tuesday shows where the wrestlers are going 1/4th effort. Anyone into CMLL enough to pay for it will buy the PPVs, so ideas like “you get to see the Friday show on a nine-day delay” are inducements for no one. The nine-day length also seems plucked from thin air, since they put up the FantasticaMania show on six-day delay.

CMLL’s YouTube subscription is such a terrible deal for the customer that xI believe no one should sign up for it, in hopes that it does badly enough CMLL rethinks the whole thing. When the worst that can happen is no one sees a bunch of OK at best matches, it’s not a significant loss.

The only ways CMLL subscription plans are going to work is “Friday shows live” or “literally every other bit of CMLL content possible besides Friday night.” CMLL is taping Saturday shows, they are taping Sunday shows, they are taping Monday shows – I don’t know if that one doesn’t has commentary, but if it’s video CMLL is already producing, it only requires uploading it to be in that package. Put the Guadalajara shows also on that channel, it hurts nothing and saves people a click. It only costs CMLL the upload to put these shows up; there’s no sign these TV networks care. Either give people the one show they want, or give them so much stuff they can dig through and find a few things they like.

(That lightweight tournament mentioned above will take place over five shows, is exactly the thing that super dork CMLL fans would pay to see, and not a single match from that tournament will be part of CMLL’s subscription plan as it’s currently stated. All the matches are happening on shows that aren’t included in the package.)

CMLL’s Alexis Salazar pushed the idea they’ve got 90 years of history they can put up on that channel. It’d be great to me if they just put up anything, but I don’t have much faith. The same presentation discussed putting matches on Twitch (and soon Twitter) every Monday at 8 pm. CMLL (probably Alexis) have not made uploaded a match to Twitch in two months. They weren’t uploading them regularly before that, either. CMLL’s skilled at keeping to their live event schedule. Everything else, like uploading one free match a week, falls by the wayside. It seems like it’s one guy doing all of this and I, as another guy doing everything, know how hard it is to keep up with everything you want to do. It’s why the idea of more live/weekly current wrestling is better because those require CMLL to stay on schedule. Posting a old show, just like posting a free match of the week (or posting a roundup of match ratings) is something that can more easily be pushed off and pushed off until it’s not done at all. Salazar, on Instagram, teased more news about this service to come next month.

I’m not entirely sure what I will do with the Google Drive section for CMLL going forward. Like, some CMLL has to keep going up – CMLL’s not uploading the Sunday matches, I can get the Sunday matches, I should keep making them available. My philosophy on the Friday matches is airing them over the air on TUDN means they’re not much of exclusive content, so I start putting them on the Drive after that TV airing eight days later. (Maybe the lesson here is I should’ve been charging 199 pesos a month for my Google Drive all along.) I would just encourage people to give CMLL the money themselves and sign up for their service instead of relying on me, if their service was at all reasonably priced. If I’m telling people not to use their service, it is kinda on me to provide another option. I dunno.

AAA

AAA tapes Saturday in Orizaba. It’s their first taping in six weeks, an extraordinarily long time for any wrestling promotion. They were supposed to tape three weeks ago in Puebla, they didn’t tape then, and this is just the next show. AAA will go from not doing much to three tapings this month.

The card itself is not much, just a bunch of matches in usual 2023 style.

AAA TV (SAT) 07/08/2023 Coliseo La Conordia, Orizaba, Veracruz
1) ?, ??, Brazo De Oro Jr. vs ?, Dinámico, Maravilla
2) Lady Shani, Persephone, Sexy Star vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Viva Van
3) Diva Salvaje, Dulce Kanela, Jessy Ventura vs Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Panic Clown and Abismo Negro Jr., Látigo, Psicosis
4) Myzteziz & Octagón Jr. vs Argenis & Puma King
Puma King replaced Villano III Jr. by 06/19.
5) Dalys & Negro Casas vs Chik Tormenta & Daga
6) Aramis, Jack Evans, Pentagón Jr. vs Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Pagano

The main event theoretically continues the Pagano/Vampiro storyline, since Jack and Aramis are (for no great reason) Vampiro’s allies. I wonder if they’re going with the ‘shock’ bit where Vampiro is indeed behind the attacks on Pagano but has also been working with La Rebelion all along and they all beat up Pagano. That would catch up with the angle they did in NWA. Maybe QT will show up to mess with Penta? Dalys & Chik Tormenta vaguely have an issue. Myzteziz and Argenis still have a thing. Viva Van is also on the TripleMania show against some of those same women. The three way tag match might be meant to set up the trios title match on Verano de Escandalo, though it’s a different Vipers combination challenging then.

AAA may run angles to build up matches to build up TripleMania. It would be kind of useless, this show isn’t airing until after TripleMania (and very likely not until after the Mexico City TripleMania) but AAA’s pattern this year is to tape shows as if they’re airing live.

This week’s AAA TV is listed as a TripleMania preview. That’s the best use of the blank week (this is when the Puebla taping would’ve started airing.) It’s also necessary – if Rush is still wrestling, AAA could use him saying something to clarify that. I presume there will be one more press conference in Tijuana to promote the show next week and we’ll have the answer then because they’ll have to give one. Until then, it’s things like watching this week’s TV show to see if AAA”s still promoting the tag match as is. AAA ceased the Rush/Park vs Psycho/Adonis tag match on social media since Rush’s Facebook post, which is what they do always when they’re unsure a match is still on. (It’s how they handled Adrian Marcelo/Chessman on the last show when that fell apart.) Psycho Clown and Sam Adonis have continued to do their part to hype their part of the match, and LA Park has done LA Park things. It’s fairly possible Dorian Roldan and Rush are still working through it and so there’s nothing yet to announce, but the clock is ticking. TripleMania is eight days away.

AAA (SUN) 08/20/2023 Showcenter Complex, San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon
1) Reyna Shaori vs Baby Love
2) Dulce Kanela vs Ultra vs Gemelo Tapia
3) Delta, La Momia, Niño Hamburguesa vs El Líder, Medico Brujo, Toscano
4) Mr. Iguana vs Epydemius vs Octagón Jr.
5) Dave The Clown & Pagano vs Antifaz & Chessman

Alberto el Patron appeared at the press conference and will be on hand for this show in a non-wrestling capacity. It’s a nothing show, something that looks like AAA is fulfilling agreed-upon contract before moving on; these started as full AAA shows and now have a handful of people mixed with Lucha Time locals. Antifaz promoted this show by pushing his feud with Laredo Kid, who he is oddly not wrestling on this show.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 07/06/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Legado & Rossel b Adrenalina & Thunder Storm
2) Centvrión & Rey Halcón b Chaflan & Charifas
3) Águila Roja b Fussion
4) Dr. Cerebro DCOR Cerebro Negro
5) Hijo del Pirata Morgan, León Dorado, Mr. Leo b Hijo de Canis Lupus, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly
Pirata beat both Mexaboys at the same time. The Lion Brothers continued to beat up the Mexaboys after until La Pandemina made the save. Challenges followed.

People got a little bit heated in the run-ins post main event. You should not be allowed to get too angry on a Thursday IWRG show, especially with how low the lights were on this one.

The Sunday lineup came out quicker than usual.

IWRG (SUN) 07/09/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Oriental & Golden Power vs Histeriosis & Rey Aztaroth
2) Candy Swing & Sagitarius vs Danessa & Satania
3) Fussion, Relámpago, Spider Fly vs Águila Roja, León Dorado, Mr. Leo
4) Dr. Cerebro & Dr. Cerebro Jr. vs Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr.
5) Puma de Oro © vs Noisy Boy [IWRG REY DEL AIRE]
3rd defense
6) Diva Salvaje, Hell Boy, Jessy Ventura, Mamba vs Capo Mayor, Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.

Noisy Boy got stacked up and pinned on Thursday and got beaten within an inch of his life on the Thursday prior, so he’s not exactly coming into this title match hot. Match four seems like it should be a title match now, but maybe they’re stretching it out to the Festival de la Mascaras show. (That show will honor Black Terry.)

I got around to watching last week’s Thursday Arena Naucalpan show a week late due to illness. I thought that was the Twitter post that everyone was going to be angry with me today. I’m not sure I took enough points off for the terrible finishes in the Cerebro match and the main event. Puma de Oro seems to have watched a lot of highly regarded international wrestling matches and can do (some of) the moves, but has no idea why the moves worked in that moment and doesn’t have have people around him who will help him do what he’s trying to do in smarter ways.

A photo exhibit of IWRG luchadors is opening in Paris today. It runs to August 24th.

Other News

Two children died in a fire next to Arena San Juan Pantitlan on Wednesday. News reports say the two children, aged five and four, were left alone by the mother and trapped in a store connected to Arena San Juan when caught on fire. Neighbors saw the smoke and heard the children yelling for help, but neither they nor the fire department were able to put out fire quick enough to save the children. The police were investigating for criminal charges. The wrestling arena sounds like it was untouched, but it’d be weird to hold a wrestling show there any time soon and the authorities may not allow it. Arena San Juan is scheduled to next host a Robles promotion show on July 14th, though that show seems like to move or be canceled. The Wolf King is scheduled there on July 28th, and asked for patience while figuring out their next step.

Bandido was said to undergo wrist surgery on Thursday.

Apple released “Huracán Ramírez vs. La Piñata Enchilada”, a 15 minute film part of their series of movies shot entirely on iPhones. This is the first one from Mexico. Dr. Wagner Jr. makes a cameo in addition to whichever Huracan Ramirez they used. It’s a lot of fight scenes and scenery; I felt like they gave big introductions to characters who quickly disappeared.

first CMLL Tuesday paid show, AAA/WBD, AEW/VIX

I don’t know how your Twitter experience is going. Mine is pretty unsatisfactory; I can’t tell if no one is posting or if I can’t see their posts. I expect it’ll get better at some point. I am posting more over at BlueSky at the moment but I don’t know if I’ll end up there either. I still have Mastadon other profiles I don’t really use. We’ll see how the wind blows. You can still always find me here.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 07/03/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) Amnesia, Astro, Xelhua b El Malayo, Fénix SO, Rey Apocalipsis
debut of Xelhua
2) Black Tiger, Perverso, Prayer DQ Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
Los Indestructibles excessive violence DQ
3) Capitán Suicida, Rey Samuray, Volcano b Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr.
4) Atlantis DCOR Satánico
brawl outside for the countout
5) Pegasso, Stigma, Templario, Último Guerrero DQ Hechicero, Magia Blanca, Rugido, Volador Jr. [Relevos IncreíblesFacebook video (posted by )
Pegasso, working rudo for the night, DQed for unmasking Magia Blanca.

CMLL’s advertised a month full of important shows here. The Puebla exclusive title belt should debut soon, the main event may set up a Pegasso/Magia Blanca title match, and even the second match feud may be important.

Porra Fresa oddly didn’t stream any matches this week. In a post, he mentioned El Novato’s debut in Arena Mexico and said another Puebla wrestler would be debuting there soon. He spoke to these as changes by the “new CMLL administration.” That’s probably nothing; CMLL moves on geological time so ‘new’ might still be the Lutteroth-led group coming aboard four years ago. There sure are changes with whomever is running it.

CMLL (TUE) 07/04/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
1) Mercurio, Minos, Pierrothito b Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía CONSEJO MUNDIAL DE LUCHA LIBRE PRESENTA FUNCION DE MARTES DE ARENA MEXICO CON STREAMING GRATUITO (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
9:42
2) Leono b Sangre Imperial [lightningCONSEJO MUNDIAL DE LUCHA LIBRE PRESENTA FUNCION DE MARTES DE ARENA MEXICO CON STREAMING GRATUITO (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Match relámpago del CMLL: Sangre Imperial Vs Leono en la Arena México (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
7:52
3) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico CONSEJO MUNDIAL DE LUCHA LIBRE PRESENTA FUNCION DE MARTES DE ARENA MEXICO CON STREAMING GRATUITO (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
12:52. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Astral, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa CMLL relevos australianos: Akuma, Dark Magic y Espanto Jr Vs Rey Cometa, Espíritu Negro y Astral (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre) CONSEJO MUNDIAL DE LUCHA LIBRE PRESENTA FUNCION DE MARTES DE ARENA MEXICO CON STREAMING GRATUITO (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
11:19. Straight falls by the rudos, last via Akuma foul on Cometa
5) Blue Panther, Octagón, Panterita del Ring b Felino, Fuerza Guerrera, Virus Blue Panther, Octagón y Volador Jr vs Felino, Fuerza Guerrera y Virus. (posted by ) CONSEJO MUNDIAL DE LUCHA LIBRE PRESENTA FUNCION DE MARTES DE ARENA MEXICO CON STREAMING GRATUITO (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Leyendas del CMLL: Octagon, Blue Panther y Panterita del Ring Vs Fuerza Guerrera, Virus y Felino (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
12:37
6) Místico, Soberano Jr., Templario b Niebla Roja, Titán, Volador Jr. [Relevos IncreíblesCONSEJO MUNDIAL DE LUCHA LIBRE PRESENTA FUNCION DE MARTES DE ARENA MEXICO CON STREAMING GRATUITO (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Lucha estelar del CMLL: Místico, Soberano Jr y Templario Vs Volador Jr, Titán y Niebla Roja (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
14:28. Team Mistico took 2/3.

This show was no different than usual in quality. All the matches were OK at best, and the old guys match was worse than that. There were a lot of big names in the main event doing a by the numbers match. (There was even an unusually big and loud crowd for a Tuesday show, which didn’t affect the working standards at all.) The early return is there’s no reason to pay for this subscription plan unless you absolutely must see everything in a promotion where 80% of the matches are completely missable.

And yet, that first impression doesn’t matter at all. If CMLL announces on Informa that they’re adding Friday shows, then it’s a great deal. If CMLL announces they’re doing anything else with Friday shows, then it’s a terrible deal. That’s the sum of it. The Friday shows are not listed for sale on TicketmasterLive at this point, and they normally would have the whole month by today. The most optimistic way of looking at it is the Friday shows were always meant to be part of the package starting in July, but CMLL decided to wait a week to fully announce that so people would’ve be confused on the 06/30 show would air.

Even the Leono/Sangre Imperial feud thing seemed dropped here. They just had a normal lightning match, Imperial won, they’re all moving on.

Subscriber counts are kept deliberately obscure to the public by YouTube, so we have no idea exactly how many people CMLL has signed up. One stand in might be to see how many likes each video got, since that is public. As of Wednesday midday:

734: the last free Tuesday stream
49: the 07/01 Arena Coliseo show
10: the 07/04 Arena Mexico show

That’s not very scientific, but it’s a starting point. I have to believe CMLL knows Tuesdays alone will not be enough and we’re getting another announcement.

CMLL (TUE) 07/04/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Mas Lucha, thecubsfan]
1) Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy b Astro Oriental, Avispón Negro Jr., Bello Antuan
2) Atenea, Náutica, Nexy b Alondra, Dulce Kitty, Sexy Sol [Relevos IncreíblesMARTES DE GLAMOUR 04 JULIO 2023. arena coliseo de Guadalajara (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
3) Átomo, Chamuel, Mije b Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado MARTES DE GLAMOUR 04 JULIO 2023. arena coliseo de Guadalajara (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
4) Ángel Negro, Brillante Jr., Rey Bucanero b Arlequín, Bestia Negra, Cris Skin MARTES DE GLAMOUR 04 JULIO 2023. arena coliseo de Guadalajara (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
5) Dark Silueta, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis b La Jarochita, Lluvia, Valkiria MARTES DE GLAMOUR 04 JULIO 2023. arena coliseo de Guadalajara (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )
6) Dark Panther & Máscara Dorada 2.0 b Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero MARTES DE GLAMOUR 04 JULIO 2023. arena coliseo de Guadalajara (posted by Martes de Glamour Oficial )

The main event was said to be pretty good.

The 07/01 Arena Coliseo show went up for CMLL’s YouTube subscribers on Monday night. They mentioned it on Facebook a couple of hours before (and not on YouTube, maybe due to the issues there.) The show was alright, something fun to see but not something you’re missing if you’ve decided not to describe. There’s a different feel to Arena Coliseo shows, but none of the match were great. The best stuff was the minis opener and match four, with Difunto & Zandokan doing a lot comedy. The LIJ/LI was worked like just another match, and with the NJPW guys not working especially hard. Mascara Dorada 2.0 had a noticable worse match this time out in the main than he did on Friday.

As hot as a CMLL at their home arenas, it doesn’t seem to extend beyond that so far. A CMLL focused show in Arena Lopez Mateos on Saturday drew poorly. It was a new local promoter running it, which may have hurt promotion.

This Saturday’s show:

CMLL (SAT) 07/08/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy vs Pequeño Olímpico [lightning]
2) Oro Jr., Robin, Valiente Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Raider
3) Dark Panther, El Audaz, Magia Blanca vs El Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr.
4) Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Soberano Jr., Valiente vs Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Stuka Jr.
6) Místico vs Volador Jr.

They showed the set up the latest Mistico/Voaldor match but apparently won’t show the match itself. Difunto & Zandokan are quickly becoming the guys CMLL was hoping the Gemelo Diablos would be.

AAA

AAA will have a press conference at the Showcenter Complex tonight at 5:30 pm. Back in March, AAA announced they’d start running shows at this venue in May and would run five shows this year. It’s July, they have yet to run a show, but are apparently going to announce some dates at this press event. Alberto el Patron will be in attendance, which tells you this is a Roberto Figeuroa project.

TripleMania Tijuana will air additionally in HBO Max. It’s still airing everywhere else it normally airing, and this is really just a duplication of what airs on Space but for people who are only subscribing to the streaming service. A press release has this as all Triplemanias, so it’ll probably be true for Mexico City as well. This is Space’s parent WBD changing how they’re distributing their premium content rather than anything AAA is doing, though it’s a good sign that WBD considers TripleManias important enough to distribute this way.

A list of upcoming WBD specials additionally lists Verano de Escandalo as airing live on Space on July 21st. No time is listed, but it’s a Friday broadcast instead of the usual Saturday show. Space aired Verano de Escandalo last year; that’s how we saw the horrifically bad Hijo del Tirantes/Lady Shani match. Last year Verano de Escandalo didn’t airing on FITE or live anywhere besides Space, and I assume the same here. Even HBO Max seems like only a TripleMania show. I’d think about passing on CMLL to stream it but there’s nothing notable on that lineup. I’ll have it on the drive later that night if my stream of Space goes OK.

Drago told el Blog de Lucha that he left AAA because he no longer felt “indispensable” to them, and realized AAA wasn’t essential to him either. He doesn’t rule out returning to the character someday. In a Mas Lucha interview, Drago said he may actually work a few more matches with that name but he’s transitioning to the name he owns. It’s really a usual Mexican wrestling story: they didn’t have any plans for him at an important level, and it’s a better deal for him to go on his own than and not have to give AAA a cut. The question that’s going to linger with him forever is if he should’ve made this decision back when the Lucha Brothers did and trying to cash in on his US popularity then, or if he was better being a guy who stayed with AAA. I don’t have a great answer.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 07/06/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Legado & Rossel vs Adrenalina & Thunder Storm
2) Chaflan & Charifas vs Centvrión & Rey Halcón
3) Fussion vs Águila Roja
4) Dr. Cerebro vs Cerebro Negro
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan, León Dorado, Mr. Leo

Pirata versus MexaBoys continued.

The semi-main is a singles match with a lot of IWRG history, though it’s likely just a platform for the sons to run-in today. This will be the first time those who have had a singles match in a decade (a hair match in December 2012.)

Other News

Mas Lucha addressed the Ruleta Suicida situation on their Monday show. Dante’s story is he was given no formal agreement to put up his mask. Mas Lucha insists there was such an agreement, and that everyone who agreed to do the tournament 100% knew they could end up losing their mask,. They called seven of the eight people involved were professional. (Mas Lucha specifically didn’t mention Dante’s name in the entire explaination.) They heavily praised Camaleon for the professionalism he showed in losing his mask on the day. They did allude to working with the commission on how to handle the situation. The day of the show, Mas Lucha wanted to added Aerostar, Drago, and Hijo del Tirantes to the apuesta match, but were told it could only be people who were in the tournament originally. The entire show

AEW starts on Televisa’s ViX streaming service tonight. They issued a press release: ViX is getting everything AEW for Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean markets. They get all three shows, they get the Battle of the Belts, they get the back catalog VOD (including PPVs a month after they air.) Now, the only question anyone in Mexico ever asks about this is “can we get the English commentary” and I still don’t know about that. There’s also no mention about about the future of AEW on FITE in this region, but that’s probably going away (and this deal is why Collision was never added to that service.) I had some serious doubts when AEW dropped off of Space to get a better deal, but this looks like a better deal for them. I think it’ll be a better deal for AEW fans but that’ll remain to be seen.

Big Lucha teased the return of the Big Lucha World shows.

An luchador for Torreon was arrested in Mazatlan was arrested for beating his significant other. The man’s name is given as “Wilfredo”, and there’s no mention of his luchador name. The woman is in very serious condition from head trauma and was found to be pregnant.

Box y Lucha #3558 has a dizzying amount of things on the cover as often. One of those things is ex-CMLL wrestler Chicago Express being honored in the US. There’s no actual article or mention of Chicago Express in the magazine.

Segunda Caida reviews more Panamanian lucha libre.