CMLL (FRI) 02/04/2022 Arena México
1) Suicida vs Inquisidor
2) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Skadi vs Dalys, La Comandante, Tiffany
3) Dark Panther, Esfinge, Espíritu Negro vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
4) Fugaz, Negro Casas, Niebla Roja vs Magnus, Rugido, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Titán vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto

This is a 99 pesos show. I’m not sure why. There’s some sense in just putting every show on Ticketmaster Live or even just every Friday – the overhead can’t be much if the only addition is sending a stream out to Ticketmaster of the show they’re taping already – but CMLL has tried this already multiple times and then given up on it. They’ll probably give up on it again.

Atlantis Jr. being back to a face makes no sense after ending last week as a big rudo feuding with Stuka. It turns out last week’s angle may have been unplanned. I was alerted to watch the video of the match once again, and it appears the match actually derailed in the closing minutes.  Stuka Jr. did his usual suplex one guy (Atlantis Jr.) onto another guy (Gran Guerrero) bit, only they were misaligned just enough for Gran Guerrero to take a shot around the head/throat area. Gran Guerrero signals to referee Olimpico that he’s hurt and doesn’t move much until he’s pinned by Stuka’s torpedo splash moments later. There’s some clandestine communication between Stuka, Olimpico, and Atlantis leading to Atlantis quickly ripping off Stuka’s mask, CMLL normal way of getting out a match when there’s been an injury. Atlantis Jr.’s argument with Olimpico was a well-done job of distracting the fans from Gran Guerrero quickly getting taken away. Guerrero wrestled the next day in Arena Coliseo so he must be OK later, but that likely wasn’t the finish they intended – and the big conclusion I took from it (Stuka/Atlantis are having a mask match) seems very unlikely now. I think this may stick out if/when you watch the match, but I totally didn’t notice it live.

Things go wrong, and promotion can either take advantage of it or ignore it. CMLL has decided to ignore it. So We’ve got this. Hechicero’s return should set up a good main event. Magnus & Rugido suddenly working semi-mains on Friday is a great career achievement for them and a shocking lack of depth at the moment for CMLL.

CMLL (SAT) 02/05/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Angelito & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Robin, Sangre Imperial, Volcano vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Hombre Bala Jr. vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
4) Hechicero, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Negro Casas, Sagrado [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Templario vs Último Guerrero

Templario gets his singles match. It’s hard to believe there’s an angle coming on a Saturday show but I guess we’ll find out.

CMLL (SUN) 02/06/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Fantasy & Kaligua
2) Enfermero Jr., Grako, Nitro vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Raider
3) Audaz, Hombre Bala Jr., Stigma vs Dark Magic, Disturbio, Magnus
4) Atlantis, Esfinge, Panterita del Ring vs Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora, Rey Bucanero
5) Místico, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Cavernario, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Místico, Niebla Roja, Templario vs Cavernario, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

The original main event was on CMLL’s website for about hours before is changed around. CMLL isn’t announcing people out but it’s hard to miss when one half of a tag team is on TV and the other is not. Niebla Roja sure is booked a lot this week.

There’s never been a shortage of 1st/2nd match wrestlers; there’s always been a Principe Odin Jr. or Apocalipsis or Nitro who could come in. Raider is no worse than most of them, but it’s unusual they have a need to bring someone in for that spot. Maybe it’s just a familiar favor to his mom Princesa Sugehit.

CMLL (MON) 02/07/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Asturiano & Fénix SO vs Black Tiger & Dark Soul
2) Arkalis & Suicida vs El Perverso & Prayer
3) Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr., Stigma vs El Coyote, Magnus, Rugido
4) Dulce Gardenia, Fugaz, Titán vs Felino Jr., Niebla Roja, Pólvora
5) Atlantis Jr. vs Cavernario

Cavernario might be the tecnico in that feud, who knows.

Monday’s CMLL Twitch upload was surprisingly important: it was the CMLL tag title match, Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Titan & Volador Jr. There’s no atmosphere at all and it’s a match that would’ve been greatly helped by a loud Friday night crowd, but it still came off as Good if you can get past the lack of creativity.

Atlantis, in the usual media interviews, says he’ll support his son no matter if he’s a tecnico or rudo but has zero desire to be a rudo himself.

The lucha libre mural in Arena Mexico will appear on a Mexico lottery card beginning this Sunday. The artist, Miguel Valverde, says that mural changed his life – instead of his work being seen by a few people, thousands see it every week. The unveiling of this ticket was part of the tourism press conference last week, with Salvador Lutteroth and Gala Lutteroth representing CMLL. Both have been seen representing CMLL a lot in the last couple of years. Seeing them together made it sink in how Gala has essentially taken over Sofia Alonso’s previous spot as the young female leader-in-waiting of the promotion. I’m not sure if that’s the actual plan or if it’d work out any better for her, yet it’s definitely the image they’re trying to project for now.

I love this enjoy this interview with Rugido, which believes a large and rabid Rugido fanbase exists currently in this universe and doesn’t question his goal of being more famous than El Santo. Mas Lucha also has a highly complementary column on Rugido as a future breakout star. I hope they’re all correct, CMLL could use some more great stars, but it has not come through to me at all so far.

CMLL and NJPW wrestlers are booked on a show in Tijuana at the end of the month. That’s happened recently in San Diego with the same Baja Stars promotion. It’s weird that a third-party promoter is using both CMLL and NJPW wrestlers but those two groups aren’t using each other’s wrestlers, even on North American shows. But no weirder than the rest of this stuff.

The postponed January 18th CMLL/Tury show in Chiapas is now scheduled for May 1st.

AAA

Space lists as AAA back at its normal start time. The show description originally was “Rumbo A Rey de Reyes I”, meant to be the canceled Merida taping, and later became “Pepsi Center 1”, which are the just aired episodes. I presume it’ll actually be Best of episodes for two weeks and you should likely find other things to do on Saturday night.

AAA’s repeatedly pushed the idea that the 02/19 Rey de Reyes show is “100% confirmed.” I think this comes out of the local promoters holding a follow up press conference the last few days to hype the show and make it clear nothing’s changed. The only news from that press conference was Taya again implied to be the mystery woman on the show, which is only news in that AAA hasn’t gotten around to announcing it themselves. AAA already hinted she’d debut on the 01/30 show, that show got canceled, and that plot point is just unresolved along with the new Mercenario.

A 03/05 taping in Ciudad Madero has tickets on sale, though AAA has not officially announced the date. That seems like the next taping after Rey de Reyes, though Space would have to air it live to have a new TV show that week. Perhaps there’s another show in between.

AAA and mobile game Free Fight are doing a co-promotion on YouTube Friday night. I don’t know what it involves.

Other News

The final episode of MLW Azteca is up on their YouTube channel. This was definitely episode five not because they were building to a big conclusion but because this was the last choice stuff they had left to air. Extreme Tiger & Mecha Wolf try in their singles match, but neither are MLW regulars so it feels disconnected from anything else going on. There’s a typically crazy Vikingo performance in the main event forced into the margins of an angle about MLW regular Alex Kane not wanting to wrestle in the match. Vikingo got over anyway because 2021 Vikingo with any time is going to look impressive, but I don’t think even MLW could believe they made the best use of him. MLW returns to regular MLW Fusion shows starting next week, which usually means one prelim lucha libre match over a three or four week stretch.

The AAW show tonight has Laredo Kid versus Mat Fitchett, which is also a FITE PPV for 15 USD.

GCW this weekend is also on FIT this weekend. Each show is an 12 USD, both are 20.

02/04 Houston

• Mascara Dorada vs Blake Christian vs Gringo Loco vs ASF
• Matt Tremont vs La Sadika

02/05 Dallas

• Psycho Clown vs Gringo Loco
• Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Joey Janela
• Blake Christian vs Laredo Kid

That Houston show is Mascara Dorada’s first match since leaving WWE and there’s going to be a lot of interest in how he does there. Lucha Central writes about Mascara Dorada’s last few years.

Robles held a press conference to talk about their 02/18 Mexico City lineup, which they’d already announced. Highlights included a random tease of El Hijo del Santo versus Blue Demon Jr. (Santo previously said he has no interest in wrestling Demon again so that’s probably not happening), a random shot at the TripleMania mask tournament, and the reunion of twenty-year-old faction Los Guapos with Scorpio Jr. and Shocker coming in. La Mascara led the press conference and still seems to be running the promotion. Erika Canseco, who was the head of CMLL’s edecans, was at the press conference so I presume she’s finished up with CMLL. There were rumors a couple of months ago that CMLL cutting back the number of edecanes they were using also included Canseco being let go, but I hadn’t seen her or anyone else confirm it.

I waited out this Robles press conference in hopes of updates about Arturo Rivera and Fenix. Rivera works as a master of ceremonies in this promotion; they only said he was stable. They actually forgot to talk about the main at the press conference until someone asked about in the Q&A, and even then La Mascara couldn’t remember who was actually in the match. It had been listed as Fénix, Penta 0M, Scott Steiner versus ?, Gran Apolo, La Máscara and it sounded like Dralistico was in Fenix’s spot and Pagano on in the mystery person spot. (I couldn’t tell if Mascara said Scott Steiner’s name or something else, but it wasn’t Fenix.) This Robles show is one day before Rey de Reyes, so Fenix still keeping this booking would’ve been a good sign for him to be back quick. It’s still possible Fenix could work only Rey de Reyes – that’s the one he’s going to pick if he can only work once – but February 17th always seemed like an optimistic timeline. AAA may wait until very late to announce a change but I expect to the Lucha Brothers versus Hermanos Lee match to be announced.

LuchaManiaks announced Laredo Kid versus ACH for WrestleMania weekend. No date announced; I think Laredo is going to be one of the busier people those days.

IWRG (SUN) 02/06/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Kunay & Spider Fly vs Kenji & X-Devil
2) Jessy Jackson & Sagitarius vs Baronessa & Lolita
3) Bengalee vs Satania
4) Alpha Wolf & Dragón Bane vs Accion Jackson & Travis Banks [super libre]
5) Big Mike vs Black Dragón, Tortuga Leo, Hell Boy [hair]
6) Hijo del Fishman & Tonalli vs Noisy Boy & Relámpago and Hijo del Pirata Morgan & Puma de Oro and Aster Boy & Hijo del Alebrije and Black Terry & Legendario and Dick Angelo 3G & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. and Caballero de Plata & Veneno and Galeno del Mal & Limbo [El Protector]

This is as Mas Lucha premium show. El Protector is their Gran Alternativa tournament and had been a normal single elimination deal in past years. This time, it’s going to be an eight-way match where you can only eliminate a team by beating the rookie.

Mas Lucha has started to upload Travis Banks matches individually after not doing so earlier. I’m guessing just no one cares.

Mas Lucha posted a video from Misterioso Sr. and the California/NJPW Misterioso. It’s presented as an interview though the host is there mostly to summarize and re-enforce the points the Misterioso are making. It’s a 50-minute video but you can skip to around 30:30 to get to the meat of it: they’re (again) upset the CMLL Misterioso is using that name and says he has no legal right to do so. The story seems to be he was given permission to use “Misterioso II”, started using Mistieroso Jr., and Misterioso Sr. found that as breaking their deal. The California two are going through again because they’re upset CMLL Misterioso has given his children similar names: Misterioso Negro, Misterioso Blanco, and La Misteriosa, feeling that’s way over the line.

There are a couple of issues. The biggest is those are not actually the names the kids are using. The boys are Misterio Negro & Misterio Blanco. They’ve wrestled on shows under those names, they’re on Facebook under those names, it’s not hard to get that correct, and it’s hard to imagine Misterioso has all the rights to “Misterio” too. Or to female version “La Misteriosa”. The second issue is CMLL Misterioso clearly doesn’t care what the California guys saying – he joked on Facebook about this video giving his family more publicity. This disagreement is about money, which doesn’t up come up at all in the video. This is a situation Misterioso Sr. created by selling his name rights to many people and there are no amount of videos that are going to ever fix it. Maybe he could fix it legally, but that probably would cost much more than it’s worth, so we’ll continue to get these videos every 18 months.

A son of Super Muneco says his father is back home, still isolated because of COVID-19 but said not to be in the hospital. Super Muneco is said to have received three vaccine doses and is on oxygen. The Super Muneco Jr. Facebook account also says Super Muneco is doing fine and they’re not soliciting financial help.

Dragon Lee said he caught COVID. No more details beyond that.

Arturo Rivera is apparently looking for blood donors, which first was reported by Teleformula report and then spread everywhere. It’s one of those stories that got picked up in a ton of places with zero information outside of the original Twitter post. I’m not sure what the situation is beyond the need for blood even a day later. The Robles press conference today mentioned Arturo Rivera is stable, so I guess it’s not too serious.

Diamante is back in Dragon Gate, as part of the new rudo group Z-Brats. I mistakenly had hopes of Diamante turning up someplace interesting while he was in Mexico, but he worked a very low-level show and was gone.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report, including the missing Guadalajara results.

Hola.

These are the results for 2021 Tapatia Awards, honoring the best in lucha libre. Thanks to everyone who voted, and thanks to those who didn’t for still reading this. We had 61 ballots this year, once I took out the person who seemed to vote twice. This was slightly up from last year, despite me still not doing much of a job promoting it.

Full results from past years: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.

Best Wrestler

2004: LA Park
2005: Perro Aguayo Jr.
2006: Mistico
2007: Gran Apache
2008: Blue Panther
2009: Negro Casas
…
2017: Volador Jr.
2018: LA Park
2019: Hijo del Vikingo
2020: Laredo Kid
2021: Hijo del Vikingo

Luchador	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place	Point Total
El Hijo del Vikingo	28	10	3	176
Arez	7	5	5	60
Laredo Kid	6	3	8	55
Hechicero	5	4	6	49
Bandido	2	9	5	47
Fénix	2	5	4	33
Dark Silueta	2	2	1	18
Psycho Clown	1	2	3	17
Villano III Jr.	3	0	0	15
Aramis	0	5	0	15
Titán	2	1	0	13
Pentagon Jr.	1	2	1	13
Ricky Marvin	1	2	1	13
Látigo	0	0	3	6
Volador Jr.	0	0	3	6
Black Terry	0	1	1	5
Soberano Jr.	0	1	1	5
Taurus	0	1	1	5
LA Park	0	0	2	4
Mistico	0	0	2	4
Atlantis Jr.	0	1	0	3
Faby Apache	0	1	0	3
Ineligible	0	1	0	3
Jessy Ventura	0	1	0	3
Lady Flammer	0	1	0	3
Thunder Rosa	0	1	0	3
Virus	0	1	0	3
Barbaro Cavernario	0	0	1	2
Big Mike	0	0	1	2
Hijo del Espectro Jr.	0	0	1	2
Mr. Condor	0	0	1	2
Perro de Guerra Jr.	0	0	1	2
Puma King	0	0	1	2
Rush	0	0	1	2
Sexy Star	0	0	1	2
Stephanie Vaquer	0	0	1	2
Templario	0	0	1	2

El Hijo del Vikingo wins for the second time in three years, with no one else particularly close. Arez moves up one spot from last year. Thirty-seven luchadors got at least one vote.

Best Match
2004: 09-03 Averno vs Zumbido
2005: 02-25 Mistico vs Ultimo Guerrero
2006: 09-29 Black Warrior vs Mistico
2007: 07-29 Mistico vs Dr. Wagner
2008: 09-19 Blue Panther vs Villano V
2009: 06-13 Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Mesias
…
2017: 02-27 Barbaro Cavernario & Volador Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero & El Valiente
2018: 06-22 L.A. Park vs Rush
2019: 06-09 Hijo del Vikingo vs Laredo Kid
2020: 12-12 Laredo Kid vs Kenny Omega
2021: 03-21 Hijo del Vikingo vs Arez

Match	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
03-21 Hijo del Vikingo vs Arez	17	2	0	91
10-09 Fenix & Pentagon Jr. vs Hijo Del Vikingo & Laredo Kid	10	5	5	75
03-26 Bandido vs Volador Jr.	3	6	6	45
03-20 Arez vs Laredo Kid	3	2	5	31
05-03 Látigo, Villano III Jr., Abismo Negro Jr., Hijo Del Vikingo, Aramis	2	5	3	31
11-12 Hechicero vs Bárbaro Cavernario	2	2	2	20
12-05 Black Terry vs Mr. Condor	1	2	2	15
08-14 Andrade vs Kenny Omega	0	3	1	11
09-18 Erik Ortiz vs Hechicero	0	3	1	11
09-24 Hechicero vs Último Guerrero	0	3	1	11
02-06 Virus vs Soberano Jr.	2	0	0	10
05-05 Chucho el Roto vs Mr. Potro	1	1	1	10
10-18 Amapola, Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Reina Isis vs Avispa Dorada, Dalys, Momo Kohgo, Sonya, Stephanie Vaquer, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi	1	0	2	9
08-14 Fénix & Pentagón Jr. vs Hijo Del Vikingo & Laredo Kid vs Brian Cage & Taurus	0	3	0	9
01-22 Ricky Marvin vs Tony Deppen	1	1	0	8
01-30 Virus vs Pólvora	1	1	0	8
04-25 Ricky Marvin vs Black Terry	1	1	0	8
09-18 Arez vs Latigo	1	1	0	8
12-04 Hijo del Vikingo vs Bandido vs Jay Lethal vs Bobby Fish vs Samuray del Sol	1	1	0	8
07-03 Hijo Del Vikingo vs Kamikaze vs Komander vs Aramis vs Látigo vs Toxin	0	2	1	8
08-22 Black Terry vs Perro de Guerra Jr.	1	0	1	7
11-26 Volador Jr. vs TJP	1	0	1	7
05-31 Laredo Kid vs Latigo	0	0	3	6
04-17 Villano III Jr. vs Toxin	1	0	0	5
04-25 Eterno vs Fresero Jr.	1	0	0	5
06-05 Laredo Kid vs Black Taurus vs Gringo Loco vs Arez vs El Hijo de Canis Lupus vs Aramis vs Dragon Bane vs Golden Dragon	1	0	0	5
06-25 Templario & Volador vs Virus & Caristico	1	0	0	5
06-27 Titán vs Negro Casas	1	0	0	5
09-05 Fenix & Pentagon Jr. vs Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson	1	0	0	5
11-04 Rey Escorpion, Taurus, Villano III Jr. vs. El Hijo del Vikingo, Octagon Jr., Psycho Clown	1	0	0	5
11-20 Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf vs Fenix & Pentagon Jr.	1	0	0	5
11-26 Soberano Jr., Ángel de Oro, Último Guerrero, Bárbaro Cavernario, Atlantis Jr., Hechicero, Stuka Jr., Terrible, Blue Panther, Sagrado, Gran Guerrero, Gemelo Diablo I, Dark Panther, Dragón Rojo Jr., Esfinge, Gemelo Diablo II	1	0	0	5
12-17 Ricky Marvin vs Virus	1	0	0	5
12-25 Brazo Celestial, Brazo Cibernetico, Brazo De Oro Jr. vs Estrellato, King Charro, Toscano	1	0	0	5
07-03 Hechicero vs Blue Panther	0	1	1	5
07-30 Titán vs Templario	0	1	1	5
05-01 Laredo Kid, Texano Jr., Murder Clown, Aerostar, Drago, Abismo Negro Jr., Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. [Rey de Reyes]	0	0	2	4
08-14 Psycho Clown vs Rey Escorpion	0	0	2	4
10-09 DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis vs Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown	0	0	2	4
01-31 Cíclope, Crazy King, El Mago, Miedo Extremo, Símbolo Azteca vs Billy, Dayami, Devitt Rodríguez, Jeff Killer, Luigi	0	1	0	3
02-04 Arez vs Látigo vs Aramis	0	1	0	3
03-13 Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus vs Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid	0	1	0	3
04-17 Skayde vs Toro Negro Jr.	0	1	0	3
05-01 Látigo vs Dinastía vs Toxin vs Aramis vs Arez	0	1	0	3
05-01 Octagón Jr vs Taurus vs Villano III Jr.	0	1	0	3
07-04 Ricky Marvin vs Negro Navarro	0	1	0	3
07-10 Arez v Aramis	0	1	0	3
07-11 Tony Deppen vs Dragon Lee	0	1	0	3
10-03 Negro Navarro vs Jonathan Gresham	0	1	0	3
12-03 ASF, Drago Kid, Chris Carter vs Gringo Loco, Demonic Flamita, Low Rider	0	1	0	3
02-24 Fenix vs Lance Archer	0	0	1	2
04-08 Arez vs Aramis	0	0	1	2
04-20 Blue Panther vs Satánico	0	0	1	2
07-02 Princesa Sugehit v Stephanie Vaquer	0	0	1	2
07-09 Nick Gage vs Sadika	0	0	1	2
07-17 Rush vs LA Park	0	0	1	2
07-31 Baby Extreme vs Villano III Jr.	0	0	1	2
09-01 Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Rey Horus vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón	0	0	1	2
09-18 Demonio Del Aire, Kratoz, Prometeo vs Iron Kid, Jimmy, Toxin	0	0	1	2
10-01 La Amapola, La Jarochita, Marcela vs Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi	0	0	1	2
10-08 Amapola, Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Reina Isis vs Avispa Dorada, Dalys, Momo Kohgo, Sonya, Stephanie Vaquer, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi	0	0	1	2
11-04 Kenji & Limbo vs Hell Boy & Spider Fly	0	0	1	2
12-05 Sick Boy vs Mafioso	0	0	1	2
12-16 Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane vs Aster Boy & Demonic Flamita	0	0	1	2

RIOT’s Hijo del Vikingo versus Arez match is the first one outside of AAA or CMLL to win overall (though perhaps one would’ve done that in the stretch I took off.) Sixty-five matches received a vote. CMLL did not seem to finish as well as in past years; they had a lot of matches receive votes but lacked the one match that everyone gathered around.

I also broke down the match votes by promotion:

Best Match by Promotion	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
AAA	17	25	24	208
CMLL	13	14	18	143
RIOT	18	6	2	112
Lucha Memes	3	4	1	29
Zona 23	1	2	2	15
IWRG	1	0	3	11
AULL	1	1	1	10
Mexa Wrestling	1	1	0	8
AEW	1	0	1	7
GCW	0	1	2	7
Warrior Wrestling	1	0	0	5
LAWE	1	0	0	5
La Cueva del Dragon	1	0	0	5
Robles	1	0	0	5
Vanguardia	0	1	0	3
MLW	0	1	0	3
ROH	0	1	0	3
Invasion Indy	0	0	1	2
Lucha Libre Boom	0	0	1	2
The Crash	0	0	1	2

RIOT somehow ended up with the most 1st place votes while running just two shows.

Best Promotion

2004: CMLL
2005: CMLL
2006: CMLL
2007: AAA
2008: CMLL
2009: CMLL
…
2017: CMLL
2018: CMLL
2019: AAA
2020: AAA
2021: AAA

Promotion	Votes
AAA	34
RIOT	6
CMLL	5
Lucha Memes	5
Big Lucha	3
AULL	1
IWRG	1
Loko Wrestling	1
MexaWrestling	1
NOAH	1
No Promotion	1
Zona 23	1

Not a lot of people watch Lucha Memes but those who do seem to really enjoy it. A lot of people watch CMLL but it doesn’t seem like a lot of people have it as their #1.

Best Unit
2004: Guerreros del Infierno (as Best Tag Team and Best Trio)
…
2006: Los Guerreros del Atlantida
2007: Real Fuerza Aerea AAA
2008: Oficiales
2009: Peste Negra
…
2017: Nueva Generación Dinamita
2018: Nueva Generación Dinamita
2019: Poder del Norte
2020: Lucha Brothers
2021: Lucha Brothers

Best Unit	Votes
Lucha Brothers	12
Poder del Norte	9
Jinetes del Aire	6
NGD	5
La Empresa	4
Los Cancerberos del Infierno	4
Negocio Traumado	4
Las Tóxicas	2
Los Mercenarios	2
Los Vipers	2
Infernales	1
La Jaucan (Dick Angelo 3G, Tonalli & Puma de Oro)	1
La Pandemia	1
La Rebelión	1
Los Atrapasueños	1
Los Infernales	1
Los Parks	1
Mexa Boys	1
Psycho Circus	1
Strippers Big	1

Best Rivalry
2004: El Hijo del Santo vs Perro Aguayo Jr.
2005: Mistico vs Ultimo Guerrero
2006: Mistico vs Black Warrior
2007: Billy Boy vs Gran Apache
2008: Blue Panther vs Villano V
2009: Negro Casas vs Mistico
…
2017: Princesa Sugehit vs Zeuxis
2018: L.A. Park vs Rush
2019: Big Mami vs Lady Maravilla
2020: Chessman vs Pagano
2021: Rey Escorpión vs Psycho Clown

Best Feud	Votes
Rey Escorpión vs Psycho Clown	17
La Empresa vs Psycho Circus (or AAA in general)	7
There were none	6
AAA vs FMV	3
Arez vs Aramis	2
CMLL vs it’s Fans and/or the 21st Century	2
Hechicero vs Último Guerrero	2
Arena Coliseo GDL vs Arena Queretaro	1
Arez vs Laredo Kid	1
Bandido vs COVID & bad decisions	1
Bandido vs Flamita	1
Bandido vs Rush	1
Chucho el Roto vs Mr. Potro	1
Diosa Atenea vs Diosa Quetzal	1
Erick Ortiz vs Hechicero	1
Fresero Jr vs Eterno	1
Jessy Ventura vs Toxin	1
Konnan vs New Booking Ideas	1
La Empresa vs Psycho Circus	1
Mistico vs Averno	1
Mistico vs Ultimo Guerrero	1
NGD vs PDN	1
Soberano vs Ultimo Guerero	1
Ultimo Guerrero vs Everyone	1
Vikingo vs Taurus	1
Wotan vs Difunto	1

This is the third straight year an AAA feud won Feud of the Year. I don’t want to take away from it, yet this year’s choice seemed more about those two having a clear rivalry in a year without a lot of them. This category always provokes some creative entries, though more so this year.

Most Improved
2004: Olimpico
2005: Maximo
2006: Black Warrior, Marco Corleone, Mistico (tie)
2007: Super Fly & X-Pac (tie)
2008: Sombra
2009: Mascara Dorada
…
2017: Soberano Jr.
2018: Templario
2019: Atlantis Jr.
2020: Diosa Quetzal
2021: Komander

Most Improved	Votes
Komander	7
Atlantis Jr.	6
Látigo	4
Aramis	2
Arez	2
Coyote	2
Drago Kid	2
Hechicero	2
Mr. Iguana	2
Noisy Boy	2
Sexy Star II	2
Stephanie Vaquer	2
Villano III Jr.	2
Abismo Negro Jr	1
Bad Bunny	1
Blue Win	1
Dark Silueta	1
Dayami	1
Diosa Quetzal	1
DMT Azul	1
Dragon Bane	1
Gran Guererro	1
Jessy Ventura	1
Lluvia	1
Octagon Jr	1
Panterita del Ring Jr.	1
Soberano	1
Taurus	1
Titán	1
Toxin	1

This one often is about as much increased visibility as increased ability, though Komander did seem to stand out more on AAA TV than he had prior. Atlantis Jr. came dangerously close to winning the most improved two years in a row, another effect of not having many standout candidates.

Favorite Wrestler
2017: Barbaro Cavernario & Hechicero (tie)
2018: Pentagon Jr.
2019: Hijo del Vikingo
2020: Hijo del Vikingo
2021: Hijo del Vikingo

Favorite	Total
Hijo del Vikingo	11
Hechicero	5
Místico	5
Arez	3
Titán	3
Fénix	3
Laredo Kid	3
Virus	3
Andrade El Idolo	2
Aramis	2
Bandido	2
LA Park	2
Mr. Iguana	2
Ricky Marvin	2
Taurus	2
Villano III Jr.	2
Artemis Spencer	1
Atlantis Jr.	1
Avisman	1
Black Terry	1
Flamita	1
Microman	1
Pentagon Jr	1
Templario	1

I’m not sure what it would take for Hijo del Vikingo in-ring not to win this award at this point. Maybe a multi-year stay in the US to the point of him not coming to mind as a luchador pick, like Fenix? Maybe Fenix wrestling more in Mexico? Not sure even an injury would take him out. Someone else would have to get very hot to unseat him.

I suspect these votes are going to seem unfair to CMLL fans, so this is a good one to end out. Two of the top three and five of the top nine wrestlers are from CMLL. People, at least among the voters, are still big fans of many of the CMLL luchadors – just not as much in what they’re doing.

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 02/01/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Pólvora b Aéreo & Fantasy 
Rudos took 2/3, giving Pequeno Polvora his first victory.
2) Eléctrico, Robin, Sangre Imperial b Diamond, Leono, Oro Jr. [Relevos Increíbles] 
Team Electrico took 2/3.
3) Amapola, La Metálica, Reyna Isis b La Vaquerita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit 
Rudas took 1/3. Reyna Isis used the ropes to beat Vaquerita. Vaquerita demanded a singles match.
4) Dark Panther & Esfinge b Dragón Rojo Jr. & El Coyote 
Tecnicos took 1/3.
5) Blue Panther, Fugaz, Volador Jr. b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado 
Tecnicos took 1/3

Isis & Vaquerita is a strange feud, especially with champion Isis winning the first match. Vaquerita getting any feud is surprising; she seems to be the least important tecnica with La Guerrera not around. This would definitely be leading to Isis racking up an apuesta win if the participants were male. It’s a little less clear with women; Isis might have decided she could make more money unmasked and CMLL made a strange pick to beat her. Guess we’ll find out more as this goes along (to Homenaje a Dos Leyendas?)

Coyote’s brush with Tuesday greatness ends with a loss. This show didn’t stream.

The Tuesday Guadalajara show did happen as planned. They posted video but not results; I may add them later if I get time to go through them and see which names actually appeared. I had been archiving the shows on the Google Drive at the start of the pandemic, because the Facebook video is hard to link to, not sure if I need to keep doing that.

CMLL wrestlers Mistico, Averno, Mephisto were pulled of Tuesday’s LEGEND show in Arena Queretaro on late notice. All sent apology videos. Blue Demon, Murder Clown, and Dave the Clown ended up on the card This follows CMLL apparently removing Ultimo Guerrero from the Vanguardia show on Sunday; there’s talk of other shows being affected though they haven’t been announced. Speculation varies on if this is a money issue (these groups booking the wrestlers directly to get around the CMLL office getting their cut) or a COVID issue (CMLL not wanting to expose their wrestlers to places which may or may not be testing.) Whatever the reason, this is definitely causing angst for CMLL wrestlers. Arena Mexico is not drawing near well enough for wrestlers to be happy working there only, they’re taking these outside dates because they need them. If this is a long-term situation where people have to choose between CMLL and outside dates, there may be a few more people who decide to take their chances elsewhere.

This change also seems to confirm Averno is still around CMLL and considered part of its roster; he hasn’t been on a CMLL show in nearly a month.

Hechicero appeared on Mas Lucha’s En+carados confirming his absence from CMLL was due to COVID. The sound goes in and out on his segment, but I believe he says he’s currently testing negative and feels fine, it’s just CMLL’s protocols requiring him to sit out a certain amount of time keeping him out. He expects to be back this weekend.

Mascara Dorada is officially free from his WWE commitments today; his 90 day no-compete has expired. His first match will be with GCW this weekend. He’s avoiding working shows with AAA wrestlers, which is among the reasons I believe he’s going back to CMLL. It’s possible CMLL will announce this on Informa, though they might be better off waiting out the current COVID wave.

Dragon Rojo shared with ESTO how he got healthy enough to wrestle again. He was getting nowhere around for eighteen months before meeting a doctor who had a plan. Dragon Rojo was told to fast for 14 to 16 hours at a time without eating, only drinking things like water, coffee, or tea. It sounds like he did this cleanse four times. He was also told to sunbathe for 20 minutes in the morning, walk barefoot in the park and relax his stress level. Dragon Rojo did the last by moving back to the Torreon area. I’m not sure how this makes your knee better but good for him if it worked.

The Mexico secretary of tourism announced his part of the government be working with CMLL again on upcoming campaigns. Salvador Lutteorth and Gala Lutteroth appeared in the announcement (though it may be an old photo; another features Delta from when the TuriLuchas tourbus launched.) The tourism secretary had worked with AAA last year on the empty arena shows. That was to encourage more traveling inside of Mexico, this one might be more to bring people into the country.

Other News

Super Muneco was hospitalized in serious condition since Sunday. SuperLuchas reports it’s a lung issue. Muneco recently was honored at a Los Angeles show and appeared in a wheelchair. This led to speculation Muneco could no longer walk, which he claimed was false, it was just for comfort. TV Azteca talked to Babe Richard, who outlines Muneco’s health problems: an ongoing battle with diabetes, a head injury suffered in Los Angeles requiring the wheelchair, and a belief that he’s battling COVID now. Richard is clear he doesn’t know it as a fact, but the hospital Super Muneco is at is focused on COVID patients at the moment and no one’s been allowed to visit him. Super Muneco was supposed to be part of the Cholo de Tijuana shows this past week (as was Mano Negra) and didn’t appear, but those shows had so many people it was hard to notice. There are mask raffles on Facebook to raise money for medical bills.

Heavy Metal took to Facebook to clear up his own health status; he’s only wrestled twice since the start of the pandemic, causing people to wonder if he was OK. He says he’s fine, implies he’s not wrestling because of COVID (not that he has it, but because of what’s it done to wrestling). is working on other projects, and does plan to return to the ring at some point.

Black Taurus wrestles Raj Singh on this week’s Before the Impact Thursday. That’ll air on YouTube. Recent Impact spoilers suggest Black Taurus will have a meaningful match soon for the first time in months.

The AAA/EMW 02/04 show in Mexicali has been canceled due to COVID. EMW also has a show on Saturday in Tijuana, which still appears to be on. Hijo del Vikingo has now been added to the Friday show, which will be his second match in that building in a week.

Lucha Memes (MON) 02/07/2022 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
1) Moria vs Cobre vs Taurino
2) Astrolux, Calibus, Perro de Guerra vs Dante, Kilvan, Thunder Storm
3) Lunatik Fly & Noicy Boy vs Alas de Acero & Iron Kid and El Bendito & Shocko
4) Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr. vs Epitafio & Leviatham
5) Komander & Mike vs Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako
6) Black Terry vs Tonalli
7) Ricky Marvin vs Demus

Monday is a federal holiday in Mexico, so the odd day for a show. This is a more packed Coacalco lineup than Lucha Memes has been lately. Marvin/Demus looks interesting. Lucha Memes and Legend announced Hechicero versus US indie name Matt Makowski for 03/06 in Arena Queretaro. That sounds like a really good match, though I’m not sure if it’ll happen given all the above. Tony Deppen and Dante Leon are also coming in future shows.

IWRG (SUN) 02/13/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star vs Kenji
2) Sol & Spider Fly vs Limbo & Rey Halcón
3) Diosa Quetzal & Jessy Jackson vs Baronessa & Satania
4) Apolo Estrada Jr., Billy Jones, Chris Stone Jr. vs Cerebro Negro, Cerebro Negro Jr., Dick Angelo 3G
5) Aster Boy, Hijo del Alebrije, Relámpago vs Hijo del Fishman, Tonalli, Toxin
6) Diva Salvaje & Jessy Ventura vs Accion Jackson & Travis Banks

This is the regularly scheduled benefit show for the Red Cross. There is a show this Sunday. No lineup yet, but Mas Lucha says it’s the El Protector tournament (IWRG’s version of Gran Alternativa) and it’ll be a subscriber-only show. It seems weird to me to do a rookie tournament at the same time they’re doing a reality show about presumably a different group of rookies but the ways of IWRG remain mysterious to me.

The Accion Jackson here wrestles as Demetri Jackson elsewhere.

02/19 JCW (subbrand of GCW) has Azrieal vs Drago Kid in New Jersey.

Highspots announced their turnaround on posting PWG shows to their $10/month Highspots Wrestling Network has reduced from one year to six months. It’s still a long wait, but if you’ve heard about those matches and want to watch without getting a DVD, the first show after the pandemic is now up. I actually ordered the show and it disappeared somewhere along the way, and I was going to just buy another one until this showed up. I’m not sure if that’s a win or not.

Forbes Mexico includes Dorian Roldan in a list of most important people in Mexico sports this year, focusing on the jersey deal.

Paltrocast has a rare English language interview with Laredo Kid.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Today’s the last day to vote in the Tapatia awards.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 01/28/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronista del Ring, Estrellas del Ring, Furia de Titanes, Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan, Yahoo! Deportes]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Átomo & Chamuel  
12:28.
2) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido b Eléctrico, Flyer, Oro Jr.  
20:58. Depreadores took 2/3. Oro Jr. replaced Pegasso
3) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Dark Panther, Esfinge, Espíritu Negro   
13:58. Rudos took 1/3. Dark Panther replaced Rey Cometa
4) Stuka Jr. DQ Titán, Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Templario, Atlantis Jr., Cavernario, Volador Jr., Negro Casas, Dragón Rojo Jr. [Reyes del Aire]  
25:03. Tecnicos versus rudos. Order of elimination: Negro Casas (by Titan), Dragon Rojo (Soberano), Titan (Cavernario), Soberano (Gran Guerrero), Cavernario (Volador), Templario (Atlantis), Volador Jr. (Gran Guerrero), Gran Guerrero (Stuka), then Atlantis was DQed for unmasking Stuka seconds later. Stuka won, but the focus was more on demands for a restart (which didn’t work) and challenges for a mask match.
5) Místico b Último Guerrero   
12:29. One fall. UG rolled through the first La Mistico attempt but was caught clean a second time for the win. Mistico said the win means it’s him, not UG, who is in charge of CMLL and so he was going to demand a mask versus hair match with Ultimo Guerrero. UG refused to answer and walked out instead.

Stuka Jr. versus Atlantis Jr. will likely be a mask match sometime this year. It may be a title match first, it will definitely be led to them teaming in the incredible pairs tournament. I’m not sure if the match will happen in March or September (or get scuttled by another COVID wave), but I’m sure it’s happening – it follows the normal pattern of an out of nowhere feud stemming from a major tournament in the first few months of the year. Atlantis Sr. won big masks early and often; Stuka Jr. will likely be to Atlantis Jr. as Talisman or Hombre Bala were to Atlantis Sr. Stuka has a son he’s trying to get into CMLL, and agreeing to lose his mask surely will help a lot with that. Stuka Jr. is enough over to the CMLL loyalists that they’ll care about the match, even if few would believe Stuka Jr. has a chance. That match-up is also a great explanation for the Atlantis Jr. rudo bits – he’s going to be booed for being a young wrestler in that spot, they might as well have a plan for it.

Mistico doing his own challenge to Ultimo Guerrero got the headlines, even though it probably is going nowhere. The people covering the shows latch onto it because it’s the biggest names, but it’s a “boy who cried wolf” situation to the people who follow CMLL closely. Mistico makes a challenge for a mask match about every third show and has had no mask matches since returning to CMLL. Mistico/Ultimo Guerrero in an apuesta match would draw big, UG would be unhurt by losing, but CMLL doesn’t seem interested in actually booking it.

The first and last match of the show was good, the rest is skippable. I’m glad there is a big angle coming out of the Reyes del Aire because it would’ve been a big disappointment with how they laid it out without a reason. The first ten or so minutes were really hot, and then all the guys you’d want to see in a final of a tournament started getting eliminated. The unmasking DQ came off strangely like maybe they were going to end up in the same place but didn’t mean to do it so quickly. The Micro Gemelos Diablos looked good and Mistico and Ultimo Guerrero tried in the main event. There were portions of the other matches that worked but not the whole way.

CMLL also announced the torneo incredible de parejas is returning. In WWE, they push the idea that certain major shows are “the only time Raw and SmackDown superstars will meet”, but most of the people watching stopped taking that seriously a long time because it turns out there’s a lot of times where wrestlers from different brands will meet. That’s kind of where CMLL is with rudos & tecnicos; when it happens on pretty much every show, there’s no specialness left for a tournament where it happens.

CMLL announced the tournament would take place on February 25th, which will be a PPV. Everyone, myself too, presumes this means blocks on February 18th and February 11th. CMLL didn’t actually say that though and the promotion has thinned out that there’s a bit of a chance this just a one-night deal. Stuka Jr. & Atlantis Jr. are favorites to go the final but lose to continue Atlantis Jr.’s streak of losing in every tournament final. (This runner-up deal is something that is definitely happening but the press hasn’t hyped it and CMLL isn’t pushing it yet.)

CMLL (SAT) 01/29/2022 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia b Fantasy & Kaligua
2) Grako & Inquisidor b Eléctrico & Leono
rudos took 1/3
3) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit b Amapola, Dalys, La Metálica
tecnicas took 1/3
4) Cavernario & Gran Guerrero b Blue Panther & Dark Panther
rudos took 2/3
5) Atlantis Jr. & Último Guerrero DQ Templario & Volador Jr.
Team UG took 1/3, the last when he tricked Olimpico into believing Templario had tricked him. Templario challenged UG to a singles match next week and UG accepted.

The Templario/UG match seems to actually be happening now, and the idea of Templario ending up outside of Los Guerreros has some momentum with Atlantis Jr. being the rudo in an ongoing feud. It’d be weird to do a permanent breakup angle in a lesser Arena Coliseo show, but that’s where CMLL did the Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero breakup many years ago. The pattern is Templario winning after losing two weeks in a row, though Ultimo Guerrero doesn’t win much.

CMLL aired a minute highlights of the top two matches from this show before the Friday night stream. The main event highlights had previously aired on Informa, I think the other highlights may have aired on there as well. It’s just a single camera video, though I can’t figure out why they don’t try to monetize this stuff. Maybe it wouldn’t be many people subscribing to a CMLL site, but there can’t be many people paying for Ticketmaster Live right now. (And if there is, all the more reason to put more paid content out there.) I think the TicketMaster Live stuff must only happen because CMLL had the existing relationship there and they simply just need to stream the show, so a subscription site would also require someone who already works with CMLL doing most of the work. The killer part is it seems like CMLL has a partner like that – it’d just require inputting some information on the YouTube channel they already run to add a subscription section – but it hasn’t happened.

CMLL (SUN) 01/30/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Pequeño Polvora & Pequeño Violencia
Tecnicos took 1/3. Debut of Pequeno Polvora.
2) Diamond, Oro Jr., Sangre Imperial b Cholo, Grako, Inquisidor
tecnicos took 2/3
3) Flyer, Magnus, Robin DQ Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
Magnus replaced Guerrero Maya on Thursday. Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Akuma unmasked Robin
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus b Felino Jr., Rugido, Sagrado
Sagrado replaced Felino on Thursday. Team Virus took 1/3.
5) Cavernario, Euforia, Mephisto b Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Niebla Roja
Dragon Rojo replaced Terrible on Thursday

Pequeno Polvora made his debut. Not much else notable here.

Puebla has Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, and Ultimo Guerrero against Cavernario, Euforia and Mephisto.

CMLL (TUE) 02/01/2022 Arena México
1) Aéreo & Fantasy vs Mercurio & Pequeño Pólvora
2) Eléctrico, Robin, Sangre Imperial vs Diamond, Leono, Oro Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
3) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, La Metálica, Reyna Isis
4) Dark Panther & Esfinge vs Dragón Rojo Jr. & El Coyote
5) Blue Panther, Fugaz, Volador Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado

This day of the week was building towards a Star Jr./Coyote match on this show and now Star Jr. is nowhere to be found. Hope he’s OK. Not sure if they’ll just run a Coyote/Dark Panther match next week or if this the end of his run. Coyote might end up staying near the top for lack of other options.

Mas Lucha posted an interview with Shocker where he said he was out of CMLL and a free agent. Shocker has not wrestled on CMLL show for at least 14 months; he appeared on TV shows in October and November and had otherwise been missing during the pandemic. Shocker seems long gone, if the only way you interact with CMLL is watching it on a screen, but he also runs a food truck that’s often operating near Arena Mexico on show days and perhaps that’s why fans still think of him as being in CMLL.

(Shocker and his food truck went viral about two weeks ago over a negative interaction – Shocker yelling at someone for taking a photo of him while he was serving foods – first showed up on Tiktok and then various news sites. Shocker apologized in a later video.)

Shocker also has had a visible jaw injury for years, and it is always possible CMLL finally decided to bench him until it was fixed but hadn’t cut ties until recently. Shocker’s performance had dipped greatly in prior years, but he might still be around if he was healthy because CMLL is so low on names. The change here is Shocker pushes’ that he’s willing to wrestle anyone – in other words, he’s taking bookings wrestling AAA people and others CMLL might’ve gotten angry with him for wrestling.

Milenio has an interview with Stephanie Vaquer; this may be the same interview that was in Playboy Latin America this past week. She talks about the struggles of coming from Chile to Mexico to become a wrestler, a place where she had no family to lean on. Her worst experience was a very bad injury that left her out of wrestling for a year. Vaquer took a title match in Merida, says she wasn’t experienced enough for it, and ended up with a nose broken in three places from a knee smash and a concussion from a chair shot to the head. The promoter paid for the hospital trip but she had no way of getting home if she stayed; she has no idea how she got out of the hospital but she made it to the airport and back to Mexico City, where she had someone watch her to avoid a blood clot. Vaquer spent a year out of wrestling recovering – she worked as a waitress at a restaurant near Arena Mexico.

(The names and dates are kept vague, maybe on purpose. A quick look at the luchadb shows Stephanie Vaquer/La Sadica title match in Merida in October 2014, then Vaquer showing up barely at all for a year.)

CMLL (TUE) 02/01/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Cosmos, Estrella de Jalisco II, Micro vs Carlo Roggi, Gran Kenut, Persa
2) Capitán Cobra, Cris Skin, Quka vs Mr. Apolo, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
3) Adrenalina, Crixus, Fantástico vs Demonio Maya, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Bestia Negra & Difunto vs Exterminador & Maléfico
5) Joker, Star Black, Zandokan Jr. vs Flash, Principe Daniel, Ráfaga [Relevos Increíbles]

Shows resume here on Tuesday (and will likely be back to streaming live.) Locals only and they’ve had a big poll of them, so it’s tough to be sure which people are still out. Estrella de Jalisco II hasn’t been said without his partner, though. Guadalajara classes also re-opened Monday.

AAA

Arez & Latigo versus Laredo Kid & Aramis from this week’s AAA TV is just as good as you’d think with those four involved. It’s up on Google Drive and worth watching. AAA should have it up on their YouTube channel next Sunday if that’s what you prefer. It’s a shame Latigo doesn’t have a visa, he’s just as good as those other three guys who are all over the US indies at this point. Every AAA PPV in 2022 needs to have a match like this one, because it’s something AAA can do on a major league level that almost no one else can do, and it’ll be something to fall back on upon if the typical surprises or legends don’t come through.

Argenis/Myzteziz was just Keyra interfering a lot and Argenis cheating to win. Maybe they’re setting up a mixed tag out of it but mostly it was just the weirdness of the audience supposed to know Myzteziz & Keyra are a couple without the promotion outright saying it. The match wasn’t going to be good regardless of how they worked it, but it could’ve used a promo to explain what context we were supposed to see it in. NGD and Poder del Norte got a lot of time and NGD worked hard enough by the end for it to be one of the better matches yet.

I still have no what AAA’s airing this upcoming week. They may have no new content again until February 19th for Rey de Reyes.

Mas Lucha Radio did mention that the 2022 Space plan for covering AAA major shows is the same as 2021, where they’ll be split up over two shows. That makes sense for TV. It’s a terrible idea if they do it for FITE PPVs, which seemed to be the idea for TripleMania Regia before AAA lost all track of time. Hopefully, AAA has worked that out this time, but also it’s not a thing I would bet on.

Still no update in the court file for the AAA/FMV lawsuit, though AAA’s still outwardly acted like it’s settled or close to it. FMV seems required to post an update every three months, so the next update is due around March 8th.

Canek assured local paper Diario Presente that he will not lose his mask in the TripleMania tournament. He’d like to wrestle Rayo de Jalisco.

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 01/30/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Mini Canis Lupus & Mini Spirit b Mini Raider & Relampaguito 
2) Bengalee & Sagitarius b Baronessa & Satania 
3) Black Dragón & Tortuga Leo b Big Mike & Hell Boy 
hair match challenges (Mike/Leo, Hell Boy/Dragon) continued
4) Puma de Oro & Tonalli b Asterboy & Freelance 
Puma & Tonalli want title matches
5) Accion Jackson & Travis Banks b Dick Angelo 3G & Fulgor 
6) Hijo del Alebrije & Relámpago DRAW Hijo del Fishman & Hijo del Pirata Morgan  

I had forgotten that Black Dragon/Hell Boy was meant to be a feud and it seems like their must be a big show coming up with a lot of stuff set up. IWRG’s focus turns to the Tryout series for the next week, with shows airing every night at 8 pm. That many shows seems like too much to me, though it’s more normal in Mexico with daily series.

The Crash (FRI) 01/28/2022 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California [El Imparcial, TJ Sports, Zona Ruda]
Attendance: 3500
1) Mirage, Próximo, Terror Azteca b Gravity (Indie), Ryan Kid, Toto
Proximo and Toto fueded.
2) Sexy Star b Lady Maravilla, Lady Flammer © [THE CRASH WOMEN]
title change
3) Black Danger, Dinámico, Oráculo b Black Destiny, El Dragón (Chihuahua), El Impostor (Chihuahua)
4) Hijo Del Vikingo b Flip Gordon [The Crash HEAVY]
Fenix showed up to challenge Vikingo and Konnan said the match would happen in Tijuana. Konnan also challenged Toto & Proximo to prove they beloned in the company.
5) ACH, Rich Swann, Willie Mack DQ Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Rey Horus
Mecha Wolf DQed for excessive violence, which seemed to surprise even his partners; Mecha Wolf said he was angry the fans were supporting Willie Mack over them. Microman came out with the Willie Mack team and was attacked by the rudos.
6) Penta 0M b El Bandido, Dragón Lee (Indie), Jack Cartwheel 

All the matches had money thrown in. Konnan promises for matches don’t always come true, but I specifically don’t think that Vikingo/Fenix match is happening on the next The Crash show. Hijo del Santo, Octagon and Fuerza Guerrera were announced for 02/18. Santo & Octagon seem unlikely to work shows with AAA wrestlers.

TJ Sports says Fenix was supposed to be in the main event originally; maybe it would’ve been Lucha Brothers vs Bandido & Dragon Lee?

Nominal Tijuana group Cholo de Tijuana ran shows in Arena San Juan on Friday and Arena Lopez Mateos on Sunday. They’ve never run the Mexico City area before, so it was a little bit of a surprise they did so well. It looks like a full house in Arena San Juan and maybe a little less than that in Arena Lopez Mateos; that seems better than the Robles shows have done in that venue. The Cholo de Tijuana shows are typical name indies where nothing of importance seems to happen; Blue Demon Jr., Dralistico and the latest Rey Misterio clone were the headliners. The Shocker story came from his appearance on Saturday’s show. The group was scheduled to run in Iguala, Guerrero on Sunday; the video I found shows a spare crowd, but I have no real context of how that compares to most Iguala shows.

Vanguardia’s show this Saturday was meant to have a Miedo Extremo versus Ultimo Guerrero main event, as well as an unnamed CMLL wrestler appearing in an undercard match. Instead, Ultimo Guerrero sent a video in the day before announcing he was off the show through no fault of Vanguardia. It certainly came off as if CMLL blocked Ultimo Guerrero from working for the group, and even UG couldn’t get it reversed. Vanguardia announced Cibernetico as a replacement, though the main event eventually turned into a trios with Abismo Negro & Latigo showing up. The show also included a Jimmy/Brazo de Oro Jr. match that got a good review and an explosion match. The explosions look good. This show will probably turn up on Mas Lucha in two or three weeks.

Big Lucha’s December show ended with Demonic Flamita’s new heel group (Black Generacion) winning control over Bandido Gym and kicking all the tecnicos out. Big Lucha’s January show was canceled due to COVID. The promotion instead apparently decided to tape an empty arena show to continue the story – a Black Generacion show where the tecnicos had a chance to win back control) and posted it last night on their YouTube channel. I’m guessing it was taped in early January since the group of Canadians are part of it and they’ve since disappeared. (Flamita is also given an excuse not to be around for the matches, so maybe those were taped when he was out with COVID.) It is good storytelling and there’s more noise than most empty arena shows, though none of the matches really stand out. They’re back with a regular show on 02/20

Big Lucha (SUN) 02/20/2022 Bandido Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Limbo, Reina Dorada, Viajero vs Eclipse, Orbita, Sussy Love
2) Accion Jackson, Mil Almas, Potro vs Cometa Maya, King, Kong
3) Éxtasis vs Skayde
4) Bendito & Elemental vs Gravity & Komander
5) Yutani vs Arez
6) Emperador Azteca & Flamita vs Dragón Lee & Dralistico and Ciclón Ramírez Jr. & El Bandido

The main event is the standout, though the fourth and fifth might be really good as well.

Daniel Garcia won the 2022 PWG Battle of Los Angeles. Matches between Aramis & Rey Horus, Speedball Mike Bailey & Bandido, and Black Taurus & Aramis were said to be among the best of the tournament. The shows will be out on DVD in the new couple of months.

Mr. Leo won the IAW Junior championships from Ciclon Infernal on their show on Saturday. IAW does a lot of title defenses and the champions hold on to those titles for a long time, so it actually feels like noting when one of them changes hands.

AAW announced Laredo Kid will challenge Mat Fitchett for the AAW Heavyweight Championship on Friday. This came out of nowhere for me – Laredo hasn’t been in AAW since the first day of October – but it may be one of those situations where they booked a match just because it’ll be a really good match. Fitchett isn’t known much out of the midwest but he’s very good.

GCW announced Mascara Dorada vs Gringo Loco for their 02/26 show in Los Angeles. Nothing is for sure until it’s announced, but that seems like a decent place to make up that missing Negro Casas match. Dorada faces TJP the next day in Oxnard.

Pachuca’s Arena Aficion turns 70 years old today. That article is useful for both the history of the building and where it fits in the city; all the other spots buildings build that long ago have been torn down or repurposed. Arena Aficion was built by Francisco Flores & Benjamin Mora, who used their success to construct other lucha libre arenas, then used those arenas to power the promotion best known as UWA.

Diaro de Colima has a history of lucha libre in Colima. They call 70s/80s luchador TNT as the biggest name who’s come from the small state. TNT was a traveling opponent of Mil Mascaras when he wrestled in Mexico, a wrestler who’s probably underplayed in history because much of his work came away from Mexico City and didn’t make it into the magazines. A Box y Lucha column had a weekly reoccurring joke about TNT misinterpreting something each week.

Angel Garza announced he’d have a child soon. Garza had been posting a specific date on Twitter a few times and the general WWE atmosphere suggested it might be a contract thing, though the surprise instead turned out to be an ultrasound.

Segunda Caida watched some El Santo & El Hijo de Santo.

Box y Lucha 3499D covers the Friday CMLL show, continues the Year of the Tiger feature they’ve been doing on their Facebook page.

The 2021 Tapatia Awards close Monday at midnight CT. You’ve got all weekend to get in your vote.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 01/28/2022 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Átomo & Chamuel
2) Eléctrico, Flyer, Pegasso Oro Jr. vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
3) Esfinge, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
4) Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Templario, Atlantis Jr., Cavernario, Volador Jr., Negro Casas, Stuka Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr. [Reyes del Aire]
5) Místico vs Último Guerrero

This seems like a good value for a 99 pesos (5 USD) Ticketmaster show. I’d be more excited for it if it felt there was going to be something novel here; the top matches will be solid if unsurprising.

Mistico versus Ultimo Guerrero is a dish from a fast-casual restaurant. You know exactly what you’re going to get whenever or wherever you get it, and it should be fine if you’re in the mood for it.

Reyes del Aire includes a couple of people who aren’t exactly high flyers, though it could just be who’s available rather than who fits best. The roster is just thin at this point, which is even more obvious on these other lineups.

CMLL (SAT) 01/29/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy & Kaligua vs Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
2) Eléctrico & Leono vs Grako & Inquisidor
3) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, La Metálica
4) Blue Panther & Dark Panther vs Cavernario & Gran Guerrero
5) Templario & Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr. & Último Guerrero

Templario and Ultimo Guerrero don’t meet in a singles match quite yet, though it still seems like it was headed there.

It looks like CMLL’s cut these shows down to 22 luchadors for the time being, which might explain a couple of the cutbacks last week.

CMLL (SUN) 01/30/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Pequeño Polvora & Pequeño Violencia
2) Diamond, Oro Jr., Sangre Imperial vs Cholo, Grako, Inquisidor
3) Flyer, Magnus, Robin vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
4) Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus vs Felino Jr., Rugido, Sagrado
5) Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Niebla Roja vs Cavernario, Euforia, Mephisto

This one underwent changes just after it went up: Terrible out of the main event for Niebla Roja, Felino out of the semi-main for Sagrado, Guerrero Maya out of the tercera for Magnus. Those are most likely COVID positives but it could be other issues. Flyer, Magnus and Robin was the opening card trio (Compadres del Mal) that group wanted to do and CMLL clearly didn’t want to do, now getting accidentally put together because CMLL just needs bodies. I wonder if the idea of the semi-main was to team Rugido with the other two cat characters. It sounds crazy enough to be true.

Cavernario continues the Hechicero fill-in. Felino Jr. took Hechicero’s place on Televisa this week, which continues to point towards Hechicero being out with COVID since a normal injury wouldn’t stop him from commentary. CMLL lead announcer Julio Cesar Rivera was also noticeably missing from both CMLL Informa and last Friday’s broadcast. That show last Friday had only Leobardo Magadan and Miguel Linares Jr. as announcers when they’ve had three or four people talking in past shows. I’m not sure if that’s COVID issues or further cutbacks.

Note that out of the 18 people in the top three matches on Sunday, there are only four tecnicos. One of those is Niebla Roja, who’s labeled a tecnico though he usually works as a rudo. I’m entirely unsure what Rugido and Magnus are meant to be from show to show, and I’m not sure if they’ve been given consistent direction either.

Lluvia disappeared from Tuesday’s Arena Mexico lineup but did a TV appearance on Thursday, so it’s not a COVID issue for her.

Andrade was interviewed on Escorpion Dorado‘s YouTube channel. Infobae latched onto one part, talking about wrestler pay. Andrade said he was very poor when he was starting out in Mexico City, having to choose between buying clothes, food, or paying rent. Note that he was a CMLL wrestler right away after coming to Mexico City wrestling in Arena Mexico fairly regularly in better times than now. Then, as is now, wrestlers are paid on the percentage of the attendance – he says he started out at 2000 to 3000 pesos per match and found he ended up getting paid more as he wrestled less (because he moved up the card.) Andrade didn’t talk about his WWE pay, just noting he got paid more and got paid even when he didn’t wrestle, but also everything costs more in the US.

Those Arena Queretaro shows which appeared to be an extension of the Arena Coliseo Guadalajara office are being rebranded as “QROLL“, Queretaro Lucha Libre. The next show is 02/19.

AAA

AAA airs one hour than usual this week on Space, a 5:30 CT start time. I’ll stream it on Twitch, The remaining Mexico City lineup

• Myzteziz Jr. vs Argenis
• Aramis & Laredo Kid vs Arez & Látigo
• Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

That seems better than last week.

This weekend was supposed to be the AAA show in Merida, only the pandemic got worse and the lucha show, a boxing show, and a bullfight were all canceled. Except now, the boxing show is still going on. Just weird.

You should watch the Hijo del Vikingo versus Aramis match from MLW TV. You should just expect an MLW finish. The match is the important part, the weirdness around is usual MLW. The promotion used The Crash Heavyweight championship belt as the AAA Megachampionship, even with the ring announcer calling it The Crash Champion. MLW is built on this idea that their fans are vaguely familiar and positive towards AAA but don’t really know much about it, it’s a strange needle to thread.

If I was AAA, I’m not sure I’d want my wrestlers working for MLW on these Tijuana tapings again. It gets their wrestlers a little US attention, but they’re mostly used as fodder to MLW’s contracted guys. It’s no different from how Laredo Kid was used by MLW during their empty arena era, something that wasn’t supposed to happen again. I don’t fault MLW for focusing on their guys on their TV show, but they could just as easily do it with the local Tijuana crew who wouldn’t be seen otherwise. AAA hyped the recent Reina de Reinas defense on Impact and didn’t say a word about this MLW match or any of these shows, so maybe I’m making a case for a decision that’s already been made.

GCW

I didn’t mean to have a GCW section, it happened. There’s just a lot of lucha libre announcements. I had ordered words and paragraphs here but now we’re going to descend into bullet points first

• 02/04 GCW in Houston
  • Mascara Dorada vs Gringo Loco vs Blake Christian vs ASF – new.
  • Matt Tremont vs Sadika
• 02/05 GCW in Dallas
  • Laredo Kid vs Blake Christian – new
    • The two had a good match on Before the Impact Thursday
  • Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Joey Janela
  • Psycho Clown vs Gringo Loco
• 02/19 GCW in Atlantic City
  • Mascara Dorada vs Joey Janela – new
• 04/01 GCW in Dallas
  • The Wrld on Lucha, a GCW lucha libre themed show at 8 pm at the Collective venue WM weekend

All shows air on FITE TV, the lucha one will likely be included in a package with the rest of GCW’s shows.

Stacking these together, you can see there are shows with Mascara Dorada and shows with Psycho Clown and Laredo Kid, but not shows with all of those names. (Drago Kid was listed for Houston at one point, hasn’t been named in recent posts.) This continues to point towards Dorada returning to CMLL in the near future and also GCW learning from the Negro Casas situation. Booking shows without AAA talent would also allow them to make up that Casas show if they can find a date that would work.

Mascara Dorada returning in a four way is a good start, though the Janela match was an eeye raiser. It’s a challenging match for both of those guys to give what people are expecting out of each of them individually together.

Participants and matches to be announced for Gringo Loco’s The Wrld on Lucha for April 1st at 9 pm. That show is months away yet that time slot is now pretty packed for lucha libre stuff already

• 8:00 pm: ROH Supercard of Honor
  • Bandido versus Jonathan Gresham
• 8:30 pm: a Martinez Entertainment Legends show
  • Hijo del Santo, Matematico, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Ultimo Dragon announced
• 9:00 pm: The Wrld on Lucha
• 9:00 pm: Impact Wrestling
  • nothing’s been announced, but they’re presumably planning on AAA wrestlers given the relationship there; Laredo Kid & Black Taurus seem locks.

There should be a lot of luchadors in Texas, maybe the most ever for a WrestleMania weekend, and some of them are going to be very busy.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 01/30/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Mini Raider & Relampaguito vs Mini Canis Lupus & Mini Spirit
2) Bengalee & Sagitarius vs Baronessa & Satania
3) Big Mike & Hell Boy vs Black Dragón & Tortuga Leo
4) Asterboy & Freelance vs Puma de Oro & Tonalli
5) Accion Jackson & Travis Banks vs Dick Angelo 3G & Fulgor
6) Hijo del Alebrije & Relámpago vs Hijo del Fishman & Hijo del Pirata Morgan

The main event was set up last week. Travis Banks is around even without Los Golepadors as opponents.

IWRG & Mas Lucha introduced the teams for their Tryout competition late Thursday night, which will begin airing next week. This is broadly modeled on the WWE Tough Enough/UFC Ultimate Fighter concept, with hopefuls split into teams coached by a familiar face, and one winner who will earn a spot on the IWRG roster and a title match. Other standouts will probably be added as well; it’s an efficient way to find new (and cheap) talent for the shows. The teams, heavily borrowing from Mas Lucha’s list

• Team Hijo del Alebrije: Baby Daddy, Efecto, Gran Felipe Jr, Heredero Maya, Huitzil, Poison, Reina Marina, Ska Boy
• Team Apolo Estrada: Alkymia, Diabolous, Kid Fuego, Poético, Lugia, Rey Eclipse,Rey Sultán, Visitante del Futuro
• Team Cerebro Negro: Alkaid, Águila Roja, Amnesia, Estrella de Oro, Mandíbula Jr, Prince Turbo, Sexy Flama, Uzumaki Otai
• Team Fulgor I: Arcángel de Oro, Backter, Joey Chaos, Nativo, Rey Mortis, Sumed Black, Tadashi, Tiger Man
• Team Lolita: El Hijo del Astro, Khavall, Kid Jaguar, El Potro, Príncipe Kira, Resplandor El Elegido, Tláloc
• Team Jessy Ventura: Iron Love, Iron Strong, Lemuria, Nicky Star, Pyrot, Trueno, Tito Morán Jr, Tigre Blanco
• Team Toxin: Aztec Fly, Demon Boy, Engendro Negro, Genex, Krimen, Lady Drago, Paramédico Jr., Príncipe Bengala
• Team Veneno: Acústico, Bichota, Gato Salvaje Jr, Tony Díaz, Rey Amon, Vudú Max, X Boy, Yorvak

That’s 64 people. I’ve watched reality show competitions were twelve people in the cast is too many to remember. Tryout attempts to handle that by focusing on one team an episode, though in practice that means the attention is on the coaches leading the session and the judges (Karaoui, Terry and Ivannia Moreno, with Hip Hop Man, Big Mike and Aster Boy also participating) making the cuts. It was a great vehicle for Eterno to get over as the mean judge last year, more so than any of the prospects. Most of the names up there will end up as just faces in the crowd and it may take a while before the eventual winner gets some spotlight. It is a statement about how many people are training in and around Mexico City that they could find 64 people who are generally unknown (though many are from far away from Mexico City.)

The Tryout show has a recap show tomorrow on Mas Lucha, then will start airing new episodes daily. Those episodes appear to have been taped this past month, not sure if they still have more to tape beyond the final. The timing works out for Mas Lucha; this show luckily starts to air during a time when the indies are a little slow due to COVID shutdowns.

Affiliated Monterrey promotion Lucha Time is also doing their own tryout in February. Some of their wrestlers participated in this IWRG competition.

Yahoo! Deportes has an interesting read about IWRG’s Mexico State trios champions La Pandemia, who came out of obscurity to become a fun team. Most people logically assume these are existing names doing a COVID-themed gimmick, but it turns out they’re actually a family that’s been using the name since 2008 (just before the swine flu pandemic.) Manuel Garcia was an ex-wrestler/programmer in Arena Santa Maria Aztahuacan, and his son started wrestling as Pandemonium after a time as a tecnico. He decided he wanted to retire in 2019, and his oldest son asked to take over the gimmick and create a new trio. The three who are in IWRG are Pandemónium Jr. (31, 8 years a wrestler), Gran Pandemónium (27, 7 years a wrestler), and Hijo del Pandemónium (23, 4 years a wrestler). There’s a fourth brother training, and the father wants to get back in after seeing how well his sons are doing. The trio did a tryout with Black Terry, who approved of them, they got a test match in June, did well there, and have become regulars since. La Pandemia hasn’t been around of late because Pandemónium Jr. suffered a lumbar injury in December. He’s on bed rest but says he feels better, hoping to beat a stated return time of “between March and April.” It reads like IWRG would be willing to book the other two in the meantime, but they want to only appear as a unit.

Other News

The Crash originally announced Microman for their show tonight in Tijuana, then didn’t list him on the poster. He will be appearing at the Meet & Greet after all. The main event on that show is Penta vs Bandido vs Dragon Lee vs Jack Cartwheel, with Vikingo vs Flip Gordon. As with most The Crash shows, it’s only the bootleggers who stand to make money off video of the show. Bandido, Aramis, Rey Horus and Black Taurus head to Los Angeles on Saturday for BOLA. It’s a long shot for any one of them to win it, but they should all have great matches.

GALLI will beat GCW to the Psycho Clown/Gringo Loco match by a weekend.

West Coast Pro Wrestling will have Arez vs Gringo Loco vs Nick Wayne on 02/11, airing on IWTV. 17-year-old Nick Wayne seems a bit old to be a lucha libre rookie but he has good padrinos.

Vanguarda has Ultimo Guerrero vs Miedo Extremo Sunday in Pachuca.

Lucha World has the latest Lucha Report.

Segunda Caida watches some 1992 Andre in UWA.

(the 2022 Tapatia awards voting is closing in a few days, vote now)

This post is the annual summary of hundreds of hours of work building and maintaining a database of every known Mexico and lucha libre event in the past year. The number of those shows remains down from 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will likely remain down for 2022 as well. You can find the typical list of disclaimers at the end of this post and can see the complete win/loss records and other data on this Google Sheet. It’s all on one sheet, I thought to just set up filters this year.

Shows for each year, over the last ten. (Number in parenthesis indicates the change since I ran these numbers a year ago – ‘new’ shows discovered or duplicates removed.)

Year: Shows
2012: 2901 (0)
2013: 2879 (+20)
2014: 5589 (+1)
2015: 6424 (+4)
2016: 7117 (+6)
2017: 6108 (+4)
2018: 6346 (+1)
2019: 6922 (-5)
2020: 2162 (+5)
2021: 3993

It seemed like the difference between 2020 and 2021 was even bigger than that number. It’s still a long way off from normal. This number felt like maybe I hadn’t done as much as I thought in 2021.

Events Actually Added To LuchaDB In During The Year (No Matter What Year They Happened)

2015: 11,536
2016:  9,774
2017:  8,629
2018:  9,682
2019:  7,696
2020:  5,909
2021: 12,315

I was stunned to discover that 12,315 number. I can put together what happened – I got through the 80s lucha libre magazines, where the Box y Lucha weekly calendar of events becomes standard, and I worked on them to the exclusion of a lot of other work – but I didn’t anticipate it going up that much. I really don’t know what I’ll do once I finish the rest of those magazines, and I’ve only got a couple of dozen left from the original set at this point.

Most Matches

2008: Ultimo Guerrero (228)
2009: La Parka Jr. (211)
2010: Mistico (204)
2011: Último Guerrero & La Mascara (188)
2012: Último Guerrero (189)
2013: Último Guerrero (205)
2014: Atlantis (215)
2015: Atlantis (207)
2016: Atlantis (217)
2017: Último Guerrero & Psycho Clown (204)
2018: Último Guerrero (205)
2019: Caristico (223)
2020: Joe Lider (67)
2021: Psycho Clown (138)

I don’t count US ‘mainstream’ indie events like GCW and AIW, so Psycho Clown may have nudged over 150 for the year. It’s an incredible amount of matches given how little work there was for most people, but it’s consistent with Psycho Clown’s work ethic.

Psycho Clown matches each year:
2015: 130
2016: 191
2017: 204
2018: 200
2019: 208
2020: 57
2021: 138

Ten wrestlers had at least 100 recorded matches

138 Psycho Clown
134 Hijo del Espectro (Laguna)
126 Místico (Myzteziz, Carístico)
126 Jessy Ventura
113 Último Guerrero
112 Atlantis Jr.
111 Volador Jr.
107 Pagano
102 Toxin
100 Joe Lider

Joe Lider’s done media interviews where he said he did crazy things in matches because he wasn’t sure if he would get booked elsewhere and wan’t sure what was there for him when he left for AAA. What’s turned out be there are a lot of bookings. Most low level show, but he’s hustled.

Most Wins

2008: Blue Panther (97)
2009: Mistico (110)
2010: Mistico (128)
2011: Último Guerrero (90)
2012: Atlantis (93)
2013: La Mascara (102)
2014: Atlantis (99)
2015: Volador Jr. (113)
2016: Volador Jr. (120)
2017: Volador Jr. (120)
2018: Caristico (115)
2019: Caristico (126)
2020: Caristico (37)
2021: Mistico/Carisico (68)

As always, this is a measure of which tecnico is both at the top and wrestling the most. Volador, Atlantis Jr., and Titan are right behind; I guess the mystery here is if/when Atlantis Jr. gets to the lead. IWRG wrestlers fared well simply because we get those results and very few other results turn up.

Most Losses

2008: Averno (84)
2009: Negro Casas (86)
2010: Negro Casas (75)
2011: La Mascara (72)
2012: Último Guerrero (79)
2013: Último Guerrero (84)
2014: Último Guerrero (82)
2015: Último Guerrero (80)
2016: Último Guerrero (91)
2017: Último Guerrero (92)
2018: Último Guerrero (99)
2019: Mephisto (91)
2020: Stuka (29)
2021: Toxin (38)

Poor Toxin makes the list not because he’s a big loser, but because he shows up in a lot of places that actually bother to put out results of their shows (or air on TV and I pay attention to them.) Atlantis Jr. & Mephisto are right behind at 36.

I don’t do yearly draw stats. I’ll note here Demonio Infernal ended up with 9, nearly 20% of his matches with finishes. Fresero was right behind at 8. Los Negociantes have a lot of matches where neither side feels like losing, even in a scene where there are plenty of cheap and meaningless wins and losses.

Best Win % (with at least 10 known results)

2008: Psycho Clown & Zombie Clown (100%)
2009: Psycho Circus (100%)
2010: Tondar (GDL) (100%)
2011: Mini Monster Clown (90%)
2012: Rayo de Oro (Guatemala) (97%)
2013: Tinieblas Jr. (90%)
2014: William Rock/Pequeno Violencia (92%)
2015: Súper Muñeco (93%)
2016: Huracán Ramírez (85%)
2017: Huracán Ramírez (90%)
2018: Tinieblas Jr. (91%)
2019: Microman (87%)
2020: Muerte Extrema (90%)
2021: Estrella de Jalisco I (2021) (90%)

Estrella de Jalisco I (or maybe Estrella de Jalisco Jr. I) is an Arena Coliseo Guadalajara guy I added to the database just before doing these stats. He’s mostly a prelim guy, usually teaming with Estrella de Jalisco II. An Estrella de Jalisco I of a previous era became Guadalajara mainstay Gallo, so there’s a decent chance those are his sons. 90% here translates to 9-1. Brazo Celestial, one-third of Los Bad Boys, went 8-1-1.

If we raise the minimum matches to 25

77% Ultimo Dragoncito (21-6)
75% Psycho Clown (26-8-2)
73% Chik Tormenta (20-7-1)
70% Mistico (68-28-2)
68% Legendario (29-13-1)
68% Vangellys (17-8)

Worst loss % (with at least 10 known results)

2008: Carrona (0%)
2009: Espectrito (0%)
2010: Metailk II (GDL) (11%)
2011: Akron (13%)
2012: Mini Talisman (8%)
2013: Estrella De Fuego (5%)
2014: Psicosis I/Nicho el Millionario (0%)
2015: Lady Shani (5%)
2016: Nahual (Morelos) (10.53%)
2017: Pitbull I (Jalisco) & Flayer Boy (9%)
2018: Rey Muerte (Guerrero) (0%)
2019: Mije (0%)
2020: La Guerrera (CMLL) (0%)
2021: Quca (0%)

Quca/Quka/Cuca is a prelim Arena Coliseo Guadalajara wrestler who was on both tecnico and rudo sides and didn’t win either way.

with a minimum of 25 decisions:

24% Electrico
29% Noisy Boy
30% Drone/Hombre Bala Jr.
31% Blue Panther
31% La Metalica

Events by State (at least 100 events)

648 Estado de México
413 Jalisco
406 Coahuila
395 Distrito Federal
255 Veracruz
190 Nuevo León
157 Tamaulipas
153 Baja California
152 Puebla
140 Texas
139 Durango
115 Hidalgo

There’s been a half dozen arenas running regularly in Coahuila and Jalisco, where that hasn’t been possible Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Or, they’ve kept it quiet.

Events by arena

176 Arena México
 81 Arena Naucalpan
 56 Arena Lopez Mateos
 54 Arena Roberto Paz, Guadalajara, Jalisco
 49 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
 47 Arena Olimpico Laguna, Gomez Palacio, Durango
 44 Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México
 44 Arena Azteca, Torreón, Coahuila
 42 Arena Lucha Time, Monterrey, Nuevo León
 41 Arena Colon, Torreón, Coahuila

Arena Roberto Paz runs twice a week when it can get away with it.

Most Matches on AAA TV Tapings

27 Octagon Jr., Hijo del Vikingo, Laredo Kid
23 Latigo & Abismo Negro Jr.

Most Arena Mexico matches

45 Volador Jr.
40 Mistico/Caristico
37 Euforia
36 Terrible
34 Titán/Ángel de Oro

Negro Casas, who was 61 most of 2021, was sixth at 33.

Most Arena Naucalpan matches

53 Aster Boy
49 Puma de Oro
47 Tonalli
41 Dick Angelo 3G
40 Jessy Ventura
40 Toxin
37 Rey Halcón Jr. (2017)
36 Legendario (Estado de México, 2013)
33 Satania (2015)
33 Sol (2017)

This includes the Tryout matches, or at least the Tryout matches I was able to record. It probably helped Aster Boy get all the way into first. A lot of midcard guys on this list; the top guys come and go.

Specific limiting factors

• As with 2020, 2021 saw a fewer amount of shows run because it was either unsafe or unprofitable to run events. It also saw an unknown but likely significant amount of shows run with no or minimal only advertising to escape notice from the authorities.
• I’m doing this a little earlier than usual, so there are some lineups being added (usually because a video posted on YouTube for a show I wasn’t previously aware of and may have led to other lineups)
• CMLL numbers remain messy, brought on by the unknown taping dates of the empty arena shows. Most empty arena matches are recorded on the date they first aired, though we know these tapings were combined into weekly mass tapings. The last round of empty arena matches was recorded in the luchadb instead with a single taping day per month. (That’s the new plan going forward if CMLL is forced to return to empty arena tapings in 2022.)
  • There are also a few indie promotions with similar taping date issues from the first three months of the year, though far fewer than last year. Monterrey’s KAOZ and Lucha Time are the two that stick out the most.
• AAA records are potentially missing a handful of empty arena matches taped but never aired on Space. A couple aired on Azteca that didn’t air elsewhere. There may be more didn’t air elsewhere, though probably less than 10 total.
• Up until 2019, I’d do an end of year check where I’d look at buildings that had 25 shows, determine if there were running on a regular schedule, then look to see if there were obviously missing shows in that schedule. I’d know to hunt in Facebook if a building was running every Thursday and there was a couple of Thursdays missing. That usually found 50-100 extra events. I haven’t done this check the last couple of years because schedules have been to erratic to find those patterns.
• I’ve tried to mark matches as canceled (no match) on shows which did not take place, and those matches are not counted before. Cancelations aren’t always announced or recorded, so many of them are probably in the ? (unknown outcome) pile.
• There’s also general exhaustion and lesser curiosity on my part; I’m putting in the posters that get to me (which still is a lot) and not as much rooting through Facebook to find missing venues. If I’ve got extra time devoted to typing in lineups, I’ve shifted it towards the old magazine research project I’ve been doing – it seems more sound to spend that time adding missing lineups from big promotions rather than obscure groups that don’t exist to me outside of a hastily designed JPG.
  • In the same vein, there are a lot of matches where no one posted results and I could’ve still worked if I spent a minute watching video of the match I have in the database, but those minutes collectively felt better spent elsewhere. This is probably always going to be a one-person project but I’ve hit the ceiling on what one person can do and that ceiling seems like it’s coming downward.