CMLL (MON) 10/18/2021 Arena Puebla [ansuzmultimedios]
3) Arkalis & Pegasso b Disturbio & Rey Apocalipsis
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr. b Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
5) Místico, Titán, Valiente DQ Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
Mistica on Euforia but he pulled off Mistico’s mask for the DQ. Sets up a 1v1 next week.

The semi-main was praised in the news report but really all the matches are praised as if they were superb. It’s not the most useful info.

CMLL (TUE) 10/19/2021 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Estrellas del Ring, Furia de Titanes, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha]
1) Grako, Robin, Sonic b Leono, Nitro, Sangre Imperial [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Felino, Felino Jr., Pólvora b Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 1/3
3) Dalys & Princesa Sugehit b Skadi & Tiffany [Torneo Increible de Amazonas 2021, quarterfinal]
4) Lluvia & Reyna Isis b Avispa Dorada & Stephanie Vaquer [Torneo Increible de Amazonas 2021, quarterfinal]
5) Amapola & Metálica b La Metálica & La Vaquerita [Torneo Increible de Amazonas 2021, quarterfinal]
6) Dark Silueta & La Jarochita b Náutica & Sexy Sol [Torneo Increible de Amazonas 2021, quarterfinal]
7) Dalys & Princesa Sugehit b Lluvia & Reyna Isis [Torneo Increible de Amazonas 2021, semifinal]
8) Dark Silueta & La Jarochita b Amapola & Marcela [Torneo Increible de Amazonas 2021, semifinal]
9) Dalys & Princesa Sugehit b Dark Silueta & La Jarochita [Torneo Increible de Amazonas 2021, final]
Dalys & Sugehit win the first version of this tournamnet.
10) Ángel de Oro, Negro Casas, Terrible b Atlantis, Blue Panther, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]
Negro Casas replaced Templario a few hours before the show. Casas & Panther teased a hair match after.

No real surprise Dalys & Sugehit win; the women’s division is about spreading the wins around as much as possible and they had taken a back seat in the recent competitions. (The men’s division isn’t that much different.) The tournament seems to have been done with breast cancer awareness/treatment group FUCAM (Fundacion de Cancer de Mama.) October is breast cancer awareness month and this tournament or something like it would make sense as a yearly staple going forward.

Casas and Panther making apuesta challenges follows Mistico and Ultimo Guerrero doing the same on Friday night. I guess the old men have a better chance of doing that match, though it would be a change in philosophy if CMLL did any major (non-themed) show the rest of the year. CMLL went through a bit where wrestlers appeared severely injured after simple moves about a month ago (and then they’d be fine the next day.) Perhaps this is another temporary bit: capacity is going up so CMLL has the wrestlers teasing big things are coming to get more press coverage and get more people to come back for a show. It didn’t seem like UG/Mistico caught anyone’s attention and Casas/Panther was barely commented on, CMLL might have cried wolf too many times for this to work.

Friday’s lineup:

CMLL (FRI) 10/22/2021 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
2) Dark Panther, El Audaz, Flyer vs Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno, Okumura
3) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
4) Místico vs Último Guerrero
5) Titán & Volador Jr. vs Templario & TJP

Last week CMLL didn’t know when TJP was coming. Turned out to be quick. That should be a very good main event and an easy read on how TJP is going to fit in this time (when it eventually airs, which won’t be until 10/30.)

Mistico versus Ultimo Guerrero has happened a time or two, though the first time between these specific individuals using these specifical names in Arena Mexico since 2009. That’s sort of pushing the limits of nostalgia but pushing the limits of nostalgia is what 2021 CMLL is all bout, Tercera is an immediate battle between the two new trios concepts.

CMLL Informa has TJP, Ultimo Guerrero, Negro Casas, Dalys, and Princesa Sugehit. CMLL keeps calling him “Teddy James Perkins” in a way no one in wrestling ever has, but CMLL isn’t going to take a correction on that.

CMLL’s NFT products go up for bid on Friday, and CMLL usually introduces new concepts by having someone involved on the other side sit down with Julio Cesar Rivera to explain it. CMLL tends to be an anti-tech and cheap promotion – this is the group who kept getting interviews interrupted earlier in the pandemic because they were sticking to a free Zoom account – and NFTs are on the bleeding edge of tech. There’s no possible bigger culture clash. There’s still no price publically announced for these NFTs; I’m led to believe they’ll be in the hundreds of dollars, which also leads me to believe they’re entirely marketed at NFT collectors and people who actually watch CMLL will have no interest.

CMLL has opened a Discord. Do I need to explain what Discord is? It’s the 2021 version of IRC. (Now I need to explain what IRC is.) This is CMLL forming another official place for people to chat about their show, ask to be heard, and then get annoyed at not being heard. CMLL is an important Latino brand, so I suspect that – like with Twitch – someone pitched them on signing up for an official account on the service and there’s no particular plan on how to use it. The weekly bonus matches airing on Twitch have quietly shifted to Facebook, where exponentially more CMLL fans already exist. It’s theoretically possible CMLL could build out a Discord community that adds onto what they’re already doing, but that requires time and resources to build out. What CMLL actually has is maybe one or two people handling “internet stuff” among other jobs; it’s not realistic this is going to turn out useful because it’s never going to be any focus.

La Presna has an article that says there’s a rumor CMLL could sell Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo but offers no reporting on the story. They even go “no one’s confirmed it but CMLL hasn’t come out and denied it either” before laying out all the stuff any reader of this blog already knows: a bunch of people left CMLL this year and attendance haven’t been great (at least in part due to COVID restrictions) so it would make sense things aren’t going well. Presna points out there’s not much new sponsorship either, which is true, though likely connected to the low attendance. Rumors of CMLL selling will continue to exist until the business gets better or a sale actually happens, but this article doesn’t really present any evidence it actually happen, just that the situation is right for a sale. (It also seems outdated already, unaware CMLL announced a Arena Coliseo return date.) Maybe the real useful purpose of this paragraph is CMLL may take a swipe at an unnamed article on Informa today and now you know which one they’re talking about.

These lists of CMLL departures never seem to include Estrellita, even though she seemed to more willingly leave CMLL than Bandido. She also did it quietly so I’m still not sure people who cover CMLL and CMLL only have noticed. Estrellita meant more to CMLL than Vangellys but Vangellys did it in a big way after people started making those lists, so he’s always on them.

CMLL (TUE) 10/19/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara (video), Fuego en el Ring]
1) Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Relámpago Azul b Bello Antuan, Rumbero, Último Ángel
Rudos win after Antuan accidentally kissed Rumbero
2) Avispón Negro Jr., El Divino, Luminoso b Bobby Black, Fúnebre, Infierno
3) Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr. b Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro
4) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel b Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
Cavernario and his brothers were all dressed in caveman gear.
5) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Rugido b Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black
sets up a title match
5) Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black b Diamond, Magia Blanca, Rugido
Depredadores asked for a title shot despite losing

Guadalajara is bringing in Averno for their 10/26 show. The new Infernales are on that show, but the focus is going to be on Averno wrestling in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara for the first time since 2014. He’s constantly wrestling Mistico on indie shows, obviously still on good terms with the top wrestlers, and he fits CMLL’s interest in turning the clock back to 2006. CMLL hasn’t brought Averno back in to Arena Mexico, but it should be no surprise if he pops up on Informa at any point.

Anyway, the Guadalajara results feel like they should be a separate section; the difference between this and CMLL-related spot shows like the ones in (Gemelo promoted) Auditorio Matamoros is hard to demonstrate. We know CMLL owns Arena Coliseo Guadalajara and people of back and forth, but CMLL’s generally treated it as a distant cousin in a way they don’t for Arena Puebla. It would be news if CMLL’s social media advertised Averno coming back to Guadalajara because they haven’t promoted shows there since the restart. (This is the arena that someone should check-in to see if CMLL’s interested in holding onto it.)

AAA 

Dorian Roldan and Psycho Clown earlier today appeared on a zoom meeting with USG (drywall) to talk about continuing their partnership. The industry reporter helpfully had the wrong Twitter handle so I spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out if AAA was partnering with a grain consortium instead. I point this out not to impress you, but in hopes someone adds it to the list of “dumbest things luchablog has done” so I can look at it and weep later. This was announced back in August and they’ve used AAA wrestlers in marketing similar to the car parts sponsors in years past.

There was some non-drywall news from the press conference. AAA pitched TripleMania Regia as the start of their 30th Anniversary year celebrations and they’ve already got more to announce. Dorian Roldan says the promotion is planning a major event on 05/15/2022, 30 years to the first AAA show ever. May 15th helpfully falls on a Sunday in 2022. AAA could end up running three different TripleMania-level shows in a calendar year depending on how big that show is (and how successful TripleMania Regia remains.) It’s going to be tough to make three super attractive shows without either suddenly making a lot of new top stars or bringing in special outside talent, and we’ve seen which way AAA will go in those choices.

Dorian Roldan, Arturo Rivera, and Jose Manuel Guillen will appear on a panel discussion today at 6 pm. It’ll stream live on Facebook and Twitter, up on YouTube later. Maybe there will be more about the 30th-anniversary plans there.

Other News

IWRG (THU) 10/21/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star & Sol vs Limbo & Shalom
2) Diosa Quetzal & Lolita vs Diosa Atenea & Satania
3) Apolo Estrada Jr., Billy Jones, Chris Stone Jr. vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemoniun Jr. [EdM Trios, quarterfinal]
4) Caballero de Plata, Hijo del Alebrije, Toxin vs Fulgor, Medico Brujo, Sweet Daddy Soul
5) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro [EdM Trios, semifinal]

The Pandemonium guys might be a dark horse team to win that tournament, as much as anyone’s thinking about that trios tournament.

The 10/30 Castillo del Terror cage match will include Dr. Wagner Jr., Diosa Quetzal, Galeno del Mal, Satania, Toxin, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Hijo del Alebrije, Lolita, Pirata Morgan, Hijo del Dr. Wagner, Diosa Atenea, and Pirata Morgan Junior. This match is traditionally just masked people, but they’re including people who will lose their hair. It’s a bigger name match but I’m not sure anyone’s too excited over the possibility of a Pirata losing their hair once again.

The Mas Lucha Suprema tournament at Arena Naucalpan will now be on Sunday 11/21; it had been on Thursday previously. I’d think giving up a Sunday is harder than a Thursday so Mas Lucha and IWRG must have big expectations for it. The men’s version of the tournament drew well. the women’s tournament will also have an eight-person field. No names announced, but tickets go on sale Friday.

Tickets for Lucha Memes’ show on 12/18 in Arena Coliseo go on sale Friday. No prices are announced, no wrestlers yet either.

Space Latin America announced they’re re-upping their deal with AEW. There no details about length and nothing new as far as content. It’s been apparent how excited Space has been about AEW’s recent product based on their social media engagement and AEW has pretty much only aired on Turner affiliated stations (like Space) so this not a big surprise.

Relampago appeared on Mas Lucha’s show to talk about suffering an injury in Saltillo over the weekend. He’s hoping to raise money to pay for surgery.

MexaWrestling announced a Travis Banks vs Toxin vs Demonic Flamita match on Monday. People noticed Travis Banks was booked, MexaWrestling quietly removed the match, and now Demonic Flamita will face Aramis instead. Travis Banks is not off the card, I think you just won’t see him in any matches including people who have US deals or believe they’re close to them.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/15/2021 Arena México [CMLL, DeLuchasTV, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo, The Gladiadores]
1) Oro Jr. & Sonic b Grako & Inquisidor   
2) Esfinge, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Dark Magic, Disturbio, Luciferno   
Luciferno replaced Okumura. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit b Amapola, Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis    
Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Satánico b Atlantis, Blue Panther, Negro Casas, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]      
the new Infernales cheated to win in the first Arena Mexico. Infernales took 1/3.
5) Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero DQ Místico, Titán, Volador Jr.    
Guerreros took 1/3. UG tricked Mistico into fouling referee Noriega, Mistico got UG in La Mistica, the referee called the DQ. Mistico challenged UG to a mask versus hair match. UG said he’d think about it.

As expected, the Infernales were treated as the big story but the feud CMLL wanted to get over was UG/Mistico. CMLL pushed the idea of a hair/mask match happening next week, which is obviously not happening. A singles match might take place.

CMLL (SUN) 10/17/2021 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Kaiser Sports]
1) Apocalipsis & Cholo b Bengala & Leono
2) Cachorro, Robin, Sangre Imperial b Diamond, Magnus, Panterita del Ring Jr.
Team Robin took 1/3. Panterita was hurt in fall 1.
3) El Audaz, Kráneo, Volcano b El Felino Jr., Luciferno, Pólvora
tecnicos took 2/3
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring, Rey Cometa
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Fugaz, Star Jr., Volador Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Terrible
tecnicos took 2/3

I would like to think Sagrado got put with Los Gemelos because he’s a veteran who was teamed with inexperienced guys before but it may just because their masks look kinda the same.

Nothing much notable tonight in Puebla. Tomorrow in Arena Mexico:

CMLL (TUE) 10/19/2021 Arena México
1) Grako, Robin, Sonic vs Leono, Nitro, Sangre Imperial [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Felino, Felino Jr., Pólvora
3) Dalys & Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola & Marcela and Dark Silueta & La Jarochita and Lluvia & Reyna Isis and La Vaquerita & Metálica and Avispa Dorada & Stephanie Vaquer and Skadi & Tiffany and Náutica & Sexy Sol [Torneo Increible de Amazonas 2021]
11) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Valiente vs Ángel de Oro, Templario, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

Templario & Volador Jr. won the men’s version of this tournament back in June. There’s nothing here I’m excited to see (and we probably won’t unless CMLL’s TV changes suddenly in the next week) but they might as well. The umpteenth tournament isn’t interesting, but neither is the Tuesday shows where they do nothing at all.

The Second match has the current and most recent tag champs, which might be a thing.

We keep getting a trickle of information on the CMLL NFTs. I promise it’ll be done soon: they’ll be out October 22nd, it’ll be a thing that day, and then we’ll probably never think about it again. The two NFTs to be released are short video of Mistico and Titan spots. Only 3125 numbered copies of the same exact video will be available. They’re not for sale yet, but magically more than a third of the videos are already claimed. (If you just want the video, you can also right click and download it – you’re not really buying a video, but the artificial scarcity associated with it.) The cost has not been announced, except for revealing you’ll need to use the LEAF cryptocurrency. The concept here is probably not to be successful to make money off these videos themselves but to get people on board with NFTs (and give their banking info) so they might spend more money in the market over time; my guess is these will be cheap just to get people to get a shot. It’s still very hard to imagine CMLL’s fanbase caring about this at all.

Trying to be positive: one way these NFTs could be a positive development is if a portion of the money went directly to the wrestlers. Masked Republic is doing that with their own NFTs and it solves a problem no one else seems much interested in solving in terms of getting money to wrestlers. If I want to buy something to support Titan right now, I pretty much have to see him at a show. It’s hard to buy or support a wrestler from a distance in Mexico, and it’s extremely hard if you’re outside of Mexico. The NFT stuff would be worth supporting if the money was actually going to wrestlers. I imagine this is more a CMLL licensing deal where the promotion already got paid in advance a flat fee and no one’s getting more or less money no matter how well these do. Someone’s in Mexico is eventually going to have their Pro Wrestling Tees moment, being the universal standard connecting luchadors and fans, and make a lot of money doing the transactions. Maybe it’ll be Masked Republic getting there or maybe it’ll be something else, but it’s the most obvious untapped source of revenue in Mexican wrestling.

Tuesday’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara line is not impressive

CMLL (TUE) 10/19/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., El Divino, Luminoso vs Bobby Black, Fúnebre, Infierno
2) Bello Antuan, Rumbero, Último Ángel vs Gran Kenut, Jabalí, Relámpago Azul
3) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro vs Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel vs Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.
5) Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black vs Diamond, Magia Blanca, Rugido

The Depreadores as local trios title challengers works, but it’s a weak main event compared to recent matches here.

The Friday Guadalajara shows return on 10/30:

CMLL (SAT) 10/30/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Bello Antuan, Gran Kenut, Temerario vs Destello, Destructor, Thunder Boy
2) Avispón Negro Jr., Dalia Negra, Flash I, Flash II vs Fúnebre, Great Eku, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
3) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro vs Cris Skin, Joker, Vaquero Jr.
4) Sexy Sol & Valkiria vs Dark Silueta & Náutica
5) Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr. vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
6) Explosivo, Fantástico, Místico, Star Black vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Crixus, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel

Maybe Mistico coming will be a big deal.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will be running their own Dia de Muertos show on 11/02.

ESTO talks to Silueta, who explains her crazy schedule when she was training, working and going to school. She ended up putting school aside for now.

AAA

AAA held a press conference to officially announce TripleMania Regia. Two matches were officially announced.

AAA TV (SAT) 12/04/2021 Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
6) Kenny Omega vs Hijo Del Vikingo [AAA HEAVY]
7th defense
7) Cain Velasquez, Pagano, Psycho Clown vs ?, Rey Escorpión, Taurus

(It’s a 6 pm CT start.)

The main event is a similar to Cain’s previous TripleMania appearance, with Pagano replacing Cody Rhodes and Rey Escorpion and a mystery person replacing Kross & Texano on the other side. Dorian Roldan invited fans on social media to write in who they’d like to see and they’d do their best to get that person in. That’s a hard promise to live up to; there’s not going to be a majority pick without heavy coaching from the promotion, so most people are not going to get the person they were asking for.

The Psycho Clown match was announced first. Vikingo was brought on second and it seemed obvious it had to be for him to face Kenny Omega. Vikingo still seemed like he didn’t believe it was actually going to happen until Dorian Roldan said those words; he was visibly emotional and a lot for words about the opportunity. The build to Vikingo getting this show has been indisupitably poor. Vikingo is a special wrestler where people are going to want to see him face Omega for the first time no matter how bad of a job AAA does to get there. It was impossible to screw this match up, as AAA seemed to go out of their way to prove. I think Omega will have no problem losing to Vikingo if that’s the decision AAA makes. I don’t know if that’ll be the AAA’s call.

Dorian Roldan also suggested the Lucha Brothers and Hermanos Lee (Dralistico & Dragon Lee) will be in a tag match, though that wasn’t officially listed on the poster. Roldan explained that was going to be the tag title match, but now FTR have won the AAA tag team titles and Roldan is talking to AEW about bringing them in for the show. Bringing in FTR for a three-way match with Dralistico & Dragon Lee is ignoring what either team does well, but it’s about star power and not fit. I’m also not sure if FTR will mean a lot as the third outsider act on the show.

Roldan mentioned Psycho Circus and NGD will also appear. Some people watching the press conference took that as they’ll be in a match with each other (probably with Dave replacing Psycho) but I didn’t get that sense. We’ll find out as the lineup comes up. No mention of La Empresa or Deonna Purrazzo. The focus was really on those top two matches they expect to sell the tickets, nothing else really matters.

AAA and the owner of the baseball stadium said they drew 17,000 for the 2019 TripleMania Regia and hoped for 20,000 this time. Around 12,000 tickets were actually put on sale. Tickets run from 200 to 1200. That’s a bit higher than the 1000 max last time, but those ringside tickets starting moving the moment the matches were announced and they’re 40% gone already.

I don’t know how this will air. The previous TripleMania Regia, back in 2019, aired on the Multimedios cable channel on a one-week delay. We can be sure this will at least air on Multimedios, since they’re tied up to the promotion of this show. We just don’t know when and it’s possible this’ll air on a one week delay again. The reason people want to see Omega versus Vikingo is because fans have seen highlights of Vikingo for years, but AAA (and almost all lucha libre companies) care only about selling tickets for the show and remain light years behind the times in any other measure of business. TripleMania Regia would be an easy show to sell on PPV internationally, only AAA still has an outstanding lawsuit about it’s international rights. There are still people from Veracruz to Guadalajara to Merida to Puebla who would like to see Vikingo versus Kenny Omega and don’t have the spare change to travel to Monterrey and buy a ticket but maybe would pay for it some other way. They, and the rest of us, will have to wait until AAA gets around to talking about how they’re distributing the show.

Adictos al Ring appears to have removed their post about the AAA 12/04 show happening in Orizaba, and the group promoting the Heroes Inmortales locally have changed their Facebook. I have no idea what that was all about, maybe just a miscommunication.

Some notes from TV: The AAA trios match from Heroes Inmortales was the second best match from that show. It’s all action in the style of the tag title match and it came together better than the Jinetes versus Poder del Norte one on TV a couple of weeks back. The post match had a slight tease of Villano III Jr. joining up with Los Mercenarions, which would probably produce even better trios title defenses if he ends up defending the trios titles instead of Hiedra.

The one result I didn’t have correct from that show is the Pagano/Chessman/Shani trio actually won by DQ over the new Vipers when Psicosis (Ripper) ran in. DQs are exceedingly rare in AAA, the few that have happened this year were mask pulls or fouls right in front of the referee (and even those aren’t always called DQs.) Interference regularly happens in AAA matches and there was no obvious reason why this should be treated differently.

It came off like a compromise result, that AAA didn’t want the Vipers to lose in their debut under that name but the other team wasn’t interested in losing either. I’ve mixed feelings on the entire Vipers idea, but my feelings are less important than its chance of success. The biggest obstacle is convincing the fans that these are now important guys and that’s going to be though if the current top wrestlers see them as small guys they don’t see the value in putting over. AAA’s solution may be to give Psicosis and Cibernetico – who was all but mentioned by name as showing up soon – a prominent role since the top AAA guys may see them as real stars though that won’t get any of the existing guys over.

A DQ being called in a situation where it hasn’t been called for months was not really a point of discussion. No one’s surprised when AAA does nonsense, they’re a nonsense promotion.

Tirantes did an angle with his son, so maybe the endpoint of this version of the Apache/Tirantes feud is something with the referee’s hair on the line as seconds. The bigger story is Tirantes teasing an issue with Konnan. Abismo Negro Jr. also wore a half Konnan mask; he wore a half Vipers mask earlier to foreshadow that group’s return. Cibernetico, Psicosis and Tirantes all are guys who left AAA in the early 2010s after Konnan got more power with the promotion and some haven’t been on the best of terms with him since, so it’s a bit interesting they’re all coming back. (Cibernetico quit once, came back, and then left later than the there two.) I’m not sure the fans know that history though. Konnan hasn’t really been involved onscreen in AAA this year except for inserting himself into the Andrade/Omega match. There’s no reason to be referencing him except if he’s going to be coming back on screen soon. It’s hard to imagine why AAA needs to spend time on Konnan angles when they’ve got a lot of other people to balance, but Konnan likes to feature himself on the one or two AAA shows people outside of Mexico watch to make sure he’s still perceived as a big star to that crowd. This’ll probably go somewhere for one of the December shows.

(Konnan and Psicosis did bury the hatchet after the viral Psicosis slapping Konnan moment from early 2020; Psicosis wouldn’t be back here if they hadn’t.)

FTR won the AAA tag team titles on Saturday’s edition of AEW Dynamite. This was spoiled by the photo of Tony Khan’s leaked Full Gear lineup; while some things on that photo will change, the bulk of the matches seem to be still on. The Lucha Brothers/FTR was on that sheet and this match on Dynamite was to set that up in the same way as AEW’s done for other titles. I had a pretty good idea it was going to be FTR only because of that spoiled line but didn’t know for sure until they showed up as the Super Ranas.

I thought the FTR masked gimmicks in the title change match was lame – a homage to a territorial idea without the context of those angles – but lots of people nowadays enjoy nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake and I think I’m in the minority not liking. The bit is also something that gets heat on the promotion, for teasing an actual Mexican wrestling team and delivering guys mocking lucha libre, and I’m sure that wasn’t the attention. You could see in real-time AEW realize they had a fanbase thinking they were going to get Dragon Lee & Dralistico or some other lucha libre team and trying to reel back in those expectations by having Andrade declare it wasn’t going to be Los Ingobenables and Taz hint that it was going to be people under a mask and not luchadors on Friday’s show. I’m not sure it worked and doing an 80s territory angle for a lucha libre title doesn’t really make any sense, but again most of the people watching are 80s wrestling fans and not lucha libre.

I expect FTR will lean heavily into either lucha libre parody or anti-lucha libre bits for the next few weeks because it’s what they’re comfortable with doing and is the sort of stuff Konnan and AAA likes. FTR did well in a similar fashion with their feud with the Young Bucks and did great work with the end of that feud. I just don’t know that AAA has any idea what that feud is going to be – AAA clearly has no plans for what to do with Deonna Purrazzao after winning the Reina de Reinas title. The Vikingo/Omega match is happening not because of any AAA master plan, but because Vikingo is so exceptionally talented AEW had no choice but to book it. (Maybe literally no choice to get another Omega match.)

Maybe FTR will lose the titles right back at TripleManai Regia, but most likely they’ll just keep holding on to them in hopes AEW will do something to promote them. AAA clearly wants to be a bigger deal in the US and they’re not willing to do the work themselves to do so themselves – that lawsuit exists, their entire marketing strategy is hoping someone like me does the work for them in English – and so the plan seems to get titles on to people on US TV in hopes to build a brand that way. Maybe it’ll work, it just makes watching AAA an unfulfilling proposition outside of the 5-6 big shows a year.

Nerd stuff

the tag team titles FTR hold are not the same ones Art Barr & Eddie Guerrero held. Those were the AAA/IWC Tag Team championships, which were never seen again after Barr passed away in 1994. They likely would’ve been dropped anyway in 1996 when AAA and IWC had a falling out. AAA used the Mexican National Tag Team Championship as their primary 2v2 belt for years, then supplanted it with the current AAA World Tag Team Championship in 2007 in a tournament. Those are the belts FTR hold, long removed from Los Gringos Locos. I’ve heard this wrong multiple times in the past week. It’s lucha libre history so I’m not sure it matters. I’m not exactly going to correct a widow about it.

It would be sporting of AAA incorporate the AAA/IWC tag title belt in their current history, but they haven’t in the past. I can’t tell you what they recognize now; the tag team title history page on AAA’s website has been broken for years, like many of the links on the mostly forgotten page. We list them as separate titles on the luchawiki but I’m not the keeper of Mexican wrestling history.

Other Notes

IWRG (SUN) 10/17/2021 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, Furia de Titanes, IWRG, R de Rudo]
1) Death Metal & Satania b Sagittarius & Sol 
2) Heddi Karaoui b Fulgor 
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Rasputín b Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Mike 
4) Toxin b Freelance, Puma de Oro, Aster Boy 
ten minute time limit. If no one ones, everyone loses.
5) Sick Boy b Medico Brujo, Hijo del Fishman 
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Giant Orión, Máximo, Lolita, Diosa Quetzal, Hijo del Alebrije, Halloween Jr., Villano V Jr., Caballero de Plata, Súper Nova, Cerebro Negro 
Wrestlers win 5000 pesos for each wrestler eliminated. Match goes on until wrestlers agree to stop or one wrestler remains. All wrestlers a surprise. Pirata was the last person standing to get all the money.

IWRG threw themselves into the Squid Game concepts with homage outfits in the main event, but I’m not sure if it meant enough to get more people to show up.

The 10/03 Lucha Memes show, with Negro Navarro vs Jonathan Gresham, is up on IWTV. Lucha Memes getting a show up in two weeks is really fast for a non-Mas Lucha production.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/15/2021 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Sonic vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) Esfinge, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Dark Magic, Disturbio, Luciferno
Luciferno replaced Okumura
3) Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Negro Casas, Valiente vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Satánico [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Místico, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero

I saved over a version of this post, so just pretend I had something really insightful to say if I missed something. Satanico returning is the big story tonight and might as well be the main event. Last week’s show had an UG/Mistico finish they’re probably going back to tonight. This show won’t air until next Saturday.

CMLL (SUN) 10/17/2021 Arena México
1) Bengala & Leono vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) Cachorro, Robin, Sangre Imperial vs Diamond, Magnus, Panterita del Ring Jr.
3) El Audaz, Kráneo, Volcano vs El Felino Jr., Luciferno, Pólvora
4) Espíritu Negro, Panterita del Ring, Rey Cometa vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Fugaz, Místico, Volador Jr., Star Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Terrible

The Sagrado/Gemelo trio seems to be sticking for the moment. Magia Blanca is wrestling on a show in Saltillo with other CMLL names so Panterita del Ring Jr. fills in as Depredador. Mistico is also on that Saltillo show, which means it’s bizarre he was booked on this card to begin with. Rugido is working Valiente’s show the same night with Magnus & Diamond but continues not to be booked in Arena Mexico.

CMLL announced a women’s parajes incriebles tournament on 10/19 to celebrate breast cancer awareness. It’ll be an eight-team, one-night tournament. The teams

• Lluvia & Reyna Isis
• La Vaquerita & La Metalica
• La Jarochita & Dark Sileuta
• Princesa Sugehit & Dalys
• Marcela & Ampola
• Avispa Dorada & Stephanie Vaquer
• Tiffany & Skadi
• Sexy Sol & Nautica

The last two are from Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, where women’s matches have been more regular since the post-pandemic restart.

CMLL also held a Dia de Muertos on Wednesday. The big news is CMLL says they’ve been given permission to open to 70% capacity for those shows. CMLL seems like they’ve had more space open recently, but 70% would be even higher – that’s about 11,000 people. The Dia del Muertos shows usually draw well so that added capacity is a big help. I don’t really understand how 70% is safe & 100% is not safe but I don’t expect it matters. Arena Mexico generally only is more than 70% full for a few shows a year – they’re fine if they can get to 100% by March – so this is essentially saying Arena Mexico is fully open for business. The timing also suggests Arena Coliseo’s re-opening is due to a similar pullback on restrictions.

Dia de Muertos show will include the yearly Rey del Inframundo tournament. Terrible beat Euforia last year. (Sanson had been champion prior, missed the show due to COVID.) CMLL will hold a cibernetico on Tuesday 11/02 to pick a new challenger, and the winner will face Terrible on 11/05. The cibernetico includes Volador Jr., Valiente, Templario, Los Gemelo Diablos, Gran Guerrero, Felino, Atlantis Jr., Angel de Oro and Mistico. The 11/05 show will be a streaming show. A press member asked CMLL if there’d be a women’s tournament; CMLL directed them to the women’s tag team tournament instead and noted there would be female Guardians included in the presentation for the first time.

CMLL announced TJP will be coming to CMLL. They narrowed it down to “October” at the Dia del Muertos show and indicated he wouldn’t be on those. TJP is working for MLW along with NJPW, and I believe he’ll be in CMLL in between those already scheduled dates – this isn’t a full-time residency like an NJPW young lion on an excursion.

Long time CMLL fans may remember, and TJP reminded on Twitter, that TJP actually wrestled in the promotion back in 2003. He was one of four people in the Havana Brothers trio (there were injuries) wrestling the likes of Volador, Virus, and Ricky Marvin in well-regarded matches at the time. TJP has wrestled rarely in Mexico since, though he has wrestled in US-based lucha libre indies a bit more often. Maybe his most recent high-profile lucha libre connection was beating Gran Metalik in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic, which unfortunately seems to have been the high water mark for both in that promotion.

The reaction to TJP coming to Mexico from generally non-Mexico fans has been harshly negative. TJP’s online presence has rubbed many fans the wrong way for years, but taking anti-mask among other strong alt-right takes has polarized people’s views of him. TJP is not the only wrestler to have these views, but he might be the loudest sharing them among high-profile wrestlers. His views won’t matter at all in Mexico, as we’ve seen in the recent past and will continue to see. Most of the people unhappy about TJP are unhappy he’s a part of NJPW and wouldn’t be watching CMLL at this point anyway. If you watch CMLL, it’s hard to be too picky about the people they’re using – they just need fresh people.

CMLL was obviously thrilled about being able to announce TJP, treating it as a major surprise as if it was Kamaitachi or Okada returning. I think their real excitement proofing the relationship between CMLL and NJPW is still in place by bringing in an NJPW guy. TJP had basically been an outside wrestler used to fill out NJPW USA shows until recently being added to the United Empire group. (The timing of that addition and this CMLL trip are suspiciously close.) This is a much bigger deal on the CMLL side than it is for NJPW. It’s also the sort of thing that seemed like it should’ve been happening already – NJPW has wrestlers they’re training or otherwise using in the US who might benefit from the Arena Mexico experience – and hasn’t seemed to happen maybe because of the pandemic. That original TJP/Havana Brothers tour happened with a different iteration of NJPW’s US aspirations, but it was the same seasoning idea that led NJPW to send those guys to CMLL for months and it seemed to benefit both sides. Perhaps this is just a short term idea on the NJPW side while they’re waiting for Japan to open up and can send more people there, but it sure seems like it’d be beneficial for both sides to be the start of regular exchanges.

AAA

AAA airs on Space at 5 pm this week with the second half of Heroes Inmortales

• Hijo del Tirantes, Parka Negra, Súper Fly vs Faby Apache, Mr. Iguana, Nino Hamburguesa
• Aramis, Myzteziz, Octagón Jr. vs Hiedra, Rey Escorpión, Taurus [AAA TRIOS]
• Abismo Negro Jr., Chik Tormenta, Látigo vs Chessman, Lady Shani, Pagano

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says the 12/04 show in Orizaba will be Guerra de Titanes. (Pedantic alert: the newsletter writes Guerra de Titanes was announced. A show was announced by they definitely didn’t use that name on the show.) There are still plans for a Monterrey baseball show but those haven’t been finalized. Dorian Roldan teased more news in a few days, which probably means something about this next week.

Rey Fenix and AAA are doing a bit teasing Vikingo versus Fenix. The match would be good. AAA’s big matches teases don’t have a strong rate of happening. It’s more possible if AAA is running two big shows in December (and more possible if Omega isn’t coming.)

A possible card for AEW’s upcoming Full Gear card leaked. The circumstances around the photo are very strange and Tony Khan poured cold water on the idea that it’s the final card, but we’ll go with what’s on there for now. The planned Lucha Brothers title defense is against FTR, which suggests FTR is likely involved in the AAA tag team challenge on Saturday. It’s obviously not for sure and everything on the card might change – might change because it got leaked, might change because it wasn’t final. I would have very strong feelings if the reason AAA didn’t give the tag titles to Vikingo & Laredo was that AEW was giving them FTR instead. It’s probably best not to get feel anything about this until whatever happens on Saturday happens.

Other News

IWRG (THU) 10/14/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Baby Star Jr. b Shalom 
2) Diosa Atenea & Satania vs Diosa Quetzal & Lolita  
Lolita replaced Bengalee (injury); Atenea/Quetzal continue to feud
3) Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli b Akbal, Caballero de Plata, Mexica [EdM Trios, quarterfinal] 
Caballero de Plata was the surprise partner, it didn’t help.
4) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura b Fuerza Guerrera NG, Mictlan Mx, Súper Nova [EdM Trios, quarterfinal] 
Mictlan was hurt during the match
5) Galeno del Mal, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Karaoui, Lil Blay, Sweet Daddy Soul  
Piratas and Wagners had issues but won.

All the issues headed to the Castillo del Terror show.

Dragon Lee & Kenny King defend the ROH tag team championships against SOS on ROH TV this week. I wouldn’t be surprised of a title change – SOS have been the rising stars of the promotion in 2021 and ROH either has to announce a new deal with Dragon Lee or start moving titles off of him – but it didn’t feel like a title changing coming when the build-up aired on TV this past week.

The US will re-opening the land borders with Mexico and Canada for travel on November 8th for fully vaccinated people. There obviously had been movement already – flight had always been open for essential travel and essential was an increasingly fuzzy concept  – but this will make it easier for those traveling back and forth.

Mexico City announced they’re moving into green health code and will start to ease restrictions. Outdoor shows can have full capacity. Bars and night clubs can have 50% capacity, though face masks are still required. I don’t know if any of this is a good idea, just that they’re trending to dropping more requirements as time goes by.

Octagon counter suing two men who are believed to be his sons over child support came back up in the news yesterday. Octagon revealed these men as his son at a 2016 press conference, when he was angry with AAA using Flamita as Octagon Jr., with it being quietly revealed these were children from an affair with the late luchadora Sahori. In 2020, one of the twins revealed Octagon had actually lost a case for child support years back, just never paid what he was ordered to pay, and a friendly lawyer had offered to re-open the case. Octagon said he was suing them back and wouldn’t accept them as his sons without a DNA test, which seems like something maybe he should’ve asked for in the original court case. Nothing seems to have changed in the year and a half; Octagon still wants that DNA test and says he’s living on retirement money and these kids don’t deserve anything.

SuperLuchas has a great piece on the history of the UWA, focusing on the US promotion with that name.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

CMLL (MON) 10/11/2021 Arena Puebla [Ansus Multimedios]
3) Pegasso & Stigma b Okumura & Rugido
4) Dalys, La Jarochita, Lluvia b Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi
5) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto b Místico, Titán, Valiente
Mistico replaced Volador, lost when the rudos pulled his mask.

That may be the start of a Mistico program, it also may just be the random thing they did that day. For a very deep cut, an AAA spot show in San Luis Potosi appears to include Arena Puebla’s Mini Joker. The Multy opposite him has to be the Puebla guy so I assume it’s that Joker. You can never be too sure with the Jokers though.

CMLL (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena México [CMLL, KaiserSports, Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores]
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Skadi, Stephanie Vaquer, Tiffany b La Comandante, La Vaquerita, Metálica [Relevos Increíbles]
Skadi is back from injury. Tiffany asked her to consider joining the ruda side.
3) Akuma, El Coyote, Espanto Jr. b Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr.
4) Negro Casas, Raziel, Virus b Dark Panther, Magia Blanca, Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 2/3.
5) Ángel de Oro b Felino © [MEX LH]
Angel de Oro is the 74th known champion. Felino falls on his first defense. One fall match.

Felino loses the championship he won only to heat up the Cavernario hair match. No one remembers this, and I’m not sure anyone cares, but the recently concluded Barbaro Cavernario/Felino feud started as an Angel de Oro/Felino feud. The two had a 1v1 match on 11/15/2019 show, the crowd booed Angel de Oro, he challenged Felino to a hair match, the two continued to feud through the end of the month, CMLL stopped paying attention to it like they do so many things, Mr. Niebla passed away, and CMLL decided to do a Cavernario/Felino instead. Angel de Oro ended up turning rudo anyway, even if CMLL keeps listing him as a tecnico, and surely would’ve gotten the hair win over Felino had that finish out. He gets a meaningless title belt instead.

Speaking of things I’m not sure anyone cares about, I think I’ve figured out CMLL’s TV scheme at the moment

• 4 Friday matches go to Televisa
• 3 Sunday matches go to AMX
• 3 Tuesday matches go to Heraldo Televison
• 3 left over matches go to 52MX (but much later than other shows)

I can’t be sure of this because no one watches or talks about the Television show, but I believe all the missing Tuesday matches are ending up there.

Skadi as a ruda would make sense but it feels like we’re going to get a lot of red herrings as the wrestlers do post-match promos in front of the crowd and are looking for something to say.

CMLL (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara (Video), Mas Lucha]
1) Cosmos, El Divino, Micro b Destello, Destructor, Thunder Boy
2) Joker, Rugido, Vaquero Jr. b Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre
3) Crixus, Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black b Ángel Rebelde (Querétaro), Halcón Negro Jr. (Querétaro), Optimus (Querétaro), Trono (Querétaro)
4) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
5) Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi b Dark Silueta, Lluvia, Náutica
6) Satánico b Último Guerrero [FLLM MASTER]

Satanico retains his title; the match starts around 2h5. The Ice Ribbon crew winning their last match was a bit surprising; perhaps that means they’ll be back sooner rather than later.

Friday’s lineup

CMLL (FRI) 10/15/2021 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Sonic vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) Esfinge, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Dark Magic, Disturbio, Okumura
3) Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis
4) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Negro Casas, Valiente vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Satánico [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Místico, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero

These won’t stream again until 11/02, so the first time you’ll be able to see this on a screen is the 10/23 TV show.

Satanico turns 72 on October 26th. This is his first match in Arena Mexico since defeating Solar I in a match on the 2019 legends show. It’s possible he’s the oldest wrestler to have a match on an CMLL show in Arena Mexico but I’m not digging to find out today. Satanico’s also working spots shows against Ultimo Guerrero. It’s not great that a 70+ year old man is the big new addition for CMLL but it probably appeals very well to the remaining CMLL fans. They’re not much interested in making new ones anyway.

Satanico hasn’t lost in Arena Mexico since 2008 (which was the last time he was a regular.) He won legends matches in 2016 and 2017.

It’s to no one’s surprise that Hechicero defeating Ultimo Guerrero for the heavyweight didn’t change the actual order of things. Ultimo Guerrero is still in the main, still getting the feuds with Mistico.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Avispa Dorada was sticking around past the Gran Prix. It’s good to see her back, and it’ll probably be better after getting into the rhythm again. I normally mock CMLL for doing things like leaving a tournament winner off the show the week after they’ve won, so let’s give them some credit for remembering to book Dark Silueta.

CMLL announced Arena Coliseo will re-open on Saturday 11/06 for weekly shows. Lucha Memes had previously announced they were running the venue on 12/18, so the re-openinig has probably been in the works for a while. Saturday Arena Coliseo is the last main roster weekly spot not running since the start of the pandemic. Sunday Arena Coliseo Guadalajara hasn’t returned, though trended to being local wrestlers. The number of wrestlers booked still remains down – cards have fewer matches and smaller matches than before the pandemic and fewer people are sent to Guadalajara – but it’s another waypoint on the way back to normal. Or whatever the new normal is going to be.

Arena Coliseo shows are unlikely to be taped, though it’s more likely we’ll get results than Arena Puebla. CMLL said the 11/06 show card will be a special one.

CMLL will announce Dia del Muertos details on Wednesday. That’ll probably include a cibernetico on 10/29 with the winner facing Terrible for the Rey del Inframundo title on 11/05.

CMLL Informa will have Satanico, Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto, Marcela, Reyna Isis, Metalica and Avispa Dorada as guests. I guess CMLL will truly be back to normal until there are fans attending Informa for long ticket giveaway bits.

AAA 

Multimedios’ Willy Gonzalez says TripleMania Regia is still on, so now there’s conflicting information on when/where that 12/04 show will happen. Or maybe AAA will run two shows in Monterrey as the original plan. Eventually, AAA will make this clear themselves.

Arez & Chik Tormenta won the Mixed Tag Team titles from Villano III Jr. & Lady Maravilla at Monday’s night tapings in Xalapa. This should air either on 10/22 or 10/29. It was the first time the titles had been defended since January 2020. (It’s been so long that two of the challengers then – Keyra & Vanilla – have subsequently gotten pregnant, had a child, and have returned to wrestling in between defenses.) Tormenta & Arez won the title shot back on July’s Verano de Escandalo. It’s possible the title match was put on hold until AAA could pull the trigger on the Vipers angle, though I’m not sure if all four wrestlers were actually together at a taping since TripleMania.

Results for the full Heroes Inmortales show, including the portion airing this week, are up in the luchadb. I’ll skip mentioning them here if you’re trying to get to Saturday without finding out.

IWRG

IWRG (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Furia de Titanes, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Carnicero & Perseo b Blue Win & Súper Cometa 
2) Chef Benito & Gran Felipe b Karma I & Karma II 
3) Sagitarius & Therius b Amazonika & Mary Caporal 
4) Big Boy, Big Mike, Rey Halcón b Noicy Boy, Sol, Spider Fly 
money thrown in
5) Hijo Del Payaso Pura Santa, Manchas, Payaso Pura Santa Jr. b Aster Boy, Caballero de Plata, Hell Boy 
Puma de Oro helped the WTMB team get the win.

IWRG says they’re going run these Tuesday shows every two weeks. They’re said to be built around flyers, though it appears to be a trainee show with the addition of outsiders as well. IWRG running three shows in a week in the same venue makes them as busy as CMLL for the moment, though not as successful – attendance seemed minimal for this one.

IWRG (THU) 10/14/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star vs Shalom
2) Benga Lee & Diosa Quetzal vs Diosa Atenea & Satania
3) ?, Akabl, Mexica vs Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli [EdM Trios, quarterfinal]
4) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura vs Fuerza Guerrera NG, Mictlan Mx, Súper Nova [EdM Trios, quarterfinal]
5) Galeno del Mal, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs Karaoui, Lil Blay, Sweet Daddy Soul

Some of the Canadian guys seem to have stuck around – Giant Orion is setting up a title match over in Welcome to Mi Barrio – so maybe they’re going somewhere with them. Las Shota and the Tonalli trio seem like favorites to advance. Shalom showing up suggests we’ll see Cerebro Negro back soon.

The women’s match will be changed: Bengalee fractured her elbow in San Luis Potosi.

IWRG (SUN) 10/17/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sagittarius & Sol vs Death Metal & Satania
2) Heddi Karaoui vs Fulgor
3) Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura, Rasputín vs Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Mike
4) Freelance vs Toxin, Puma de Oro, Aster Boy
ten minute time limit. If no one ones, everyone loses.
5) Sick Boy vs Medico Brujo, Hijo del Fishman
6) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Wrestlers win 5000 pesos for each wrestler eliminated. Match goes on until wrestlers agree to stop or one wrestler remains. All wrestlers a surprise

This is the Decide Tu fan-submitted winner, a homage to viral Korean drama Squid Game. I didn’t get this at first – I haven’t seen the very popular Netflix show! – but Record helpfully explains it and then it’s very obvious. This is surprisingly current for lucha libre and makes sense as a winner. They got a concept, not just matches. If you don’t understand the gimmick matches here, just assume they have something to do with this show. The big concept of the TV show has a bunch of people competing in deadly versions of children’s games with the last person left alive getting a big money prize. That’s sort of the idea of the main event.

Ricardo Yáñez, who lives now in Quintana Roo but resided in Naucalpan for many years, submitted the idea and lineup among “near 300” sent in. IWRG says they were pleasantly surprised how many entries they had from around Mexico, feeling this showed them they’re not just a local promotion.

Rasputin is an Oaxaca wrestler making his IWRG in the third match.

IWRG announced the bracket for the Estado de Mexico Trios tournament, helpful if you can remember when team is Los Mexicanos and which one is Los Mayan Rules. The final first-round match on the 21st.

too many Espectros

Antonio Hernandez Arriaga was the first match in Mexico to use the Espectro gimmick back in 1953. The character got over well but he had a short career due to a neck injury, with his run for all purposes over by 1960. Hernandez became a trainer and, likely to make a little extra money, started renting out the Espectro characters to others. I’m not sure if he was the first luchador to exactly do that, but he seems the famous one to start the trend through my readings of 70/80s magazines. AAA founder Antonio Pena got the right to be the first Espetro Jr. Pena’s career stalled due to injuries and the Espectro Jr. was given to a second man. (Both Pena and Espectro Jr. II are billed as the original’s nephews; I wonder if we should be a little bit skeptical of that given the decades of fake relatives that followed.)

Espectro Jr. II kept wrestling under the name for many years. He hasn’t really been active for a decade and a half. He has apparently though followed in the footsteps of his mentor/namesake Espectro Jr. by renting the name to a Torreon-based wrestler. That man is now known as the wordy El Hijo del Espectro Jr. (which we’ll shorten to Hijo del Espectro because most of the posters do as well.) Hijo del Espectro, though work in both Monterrey and Mexico City, has become one of the most well-known indie wrestlers among those who’ve not been in a major promotion. Everything seemed fine.

It’s no longer fine. Espectro Jr. II took to Facebook to call out El Hijo del Espectro Jr. for many offenses, but most of all trying to trademark the “El Hijo del Espectro Jr.” name to stop paying him and calls upon all wrestling promoters to stop using him immediately. Espectro Jr. used Hijo del Espectro’s real name in the statement to make a point about them not actually being related. Espectro Jr. II’s actual family also has posted photos of an unmasked Hijo del Espectro Jr., including from when he was using an exotico gimmick earlier in his career, as an attempt to embarrass him.

What seems to have happened here is Hijo del Espectro Jr. has indeed attempted to trademark that name in Mexico through IMPI in July. Espectro Jr. II never had, and then tried to file his own claim from Espectro Jr. a few days later. (Mexico also has an INDAUTOR service for personal name registration; that database isn’t online so we can’t tell if Espectro Jr. registered it there.) Neither name request has actually been approved – the only one who actually owns the trademark on the name of Espectro Jr. is actually AAA, who registered ownership over years back because it was one of Pena’s own characters.

My guess is Espectro Jr. doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on – like most everything else in lucha libre, the agreement to rent the gimmick may have not been done in an official notarized way – and that’s why he’s gone the guilt/embarrassment route. Hijo del Espectro, and his allies at Lucha Time, have argued what Hijo del Espectro Jr. filing for that name was perfectly legal. I don’t pretend to know enough about Mexican law to know for sure.

What I do know that “Hijo del Espectro Jr.” is a mouthful, something that sounds giffy unless you’re in the lucha libre bubble. Hijo del Espectro Jr. wants to hold on to that name because he feels he’s a big deal under it. I think that if he got to the actually big places he’s talked about wanting to go to, the first thing they’d do is to change the name into something more sensible. This is a great chance to make that change now instead of getting into a dumb fight over something that probably won’t matter in the long run. If “Hijo del Espectro Jr.” wins and is still using that name 10 years from now, that likely means his career didn’t go the way he hoped.

In other headspinning name ownership news, Capo Mayor appeared on Mas Lucha’s En+carados show to talk about his old rented name. This came off like an issue over who has the commission wrestling license to use the name Mascara 2000 Jr. even though Capo Mayor said he was giving up, but I didn’t pay enough attention to understand it. It’s Mascara 2000 Jr., it is probably not too important.

I wonder if the commission actually has a list of names that actually have been licensed. That’d be a useful thing to know for wrestlers trying to come up with their own names and making it public would pressure the unlicensed wrestlers to actually get licensed. The commission doesn’t seem that organized to do something.

Other Notes

Arez faces Ninja Mack on the 10/23 GCW show in Los Angeles. That show also has Psycho Clown, who doesn’t have a match as of this point.

IAW announced their next show will be 11/07 at Gym Valiente, with Mr. Leo versus El Bendito and Cometa Maya vs Kunay as the matches announced so far. The bit that sticks out to me is they’re offering a 2 for 1 ticket deal if you show your vaccination form, which I can’t recall seeing before.

RIOT says their 11/27 show will be back to Arena Femenil.

ROH’s Final Battle will take place on 12/11 in Baltimore. It’ll be their first show in front of fans since the last PPV. ROH tapes their empty arena TV around the PPVs, so it may not be the final show for a bunch of people, but we may have a good idea of pending free agents like Rush, Dragon Lee, and Bandido after that night. I still suspect Bandido versus Jonathan Gresham for the ROH Title will be the main event of that show but that’s far from official.

ROH put up the LFI vs Shane Taylor Promotions match up on YouTube for free.

Andrade says his mystery team for Saturday is not Los Ingobernables. This has led to people people suggesting Los Ingoberanbles names to him. Twitter is great. I think I’m easing off my “Hermanos Buenos” bit because it feels too much like something WWE would do.

The head of San Luis Potosi Boxing, Wrestling and MMA commission will remain in charge. The article isn’t clear if their term had ended, just that the director of spots said they’ll stay in power. They’re promising all lucha libre licenses in the state will be free, which may make it a popular place for out of towners to get licensed in. San Luis Potosi lucha libre doesn’t get a lot of national attention, but they seem to have a lot of people working some very small shows.

Tulancingo has declared November the month of lucha libre. There hasn’t been lucha libre much in Tulancingo this year due to COVID, maybe it’ll be different in November.

Box y Lucha 3492 has a long interview with Hechicero.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report and this week’s Poster-Mania.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/08/2021 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Furia de Titanes, Kaiser Sports, Mas Lucha, R de Rudo, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Akuma, Espanto Jr., Okumura b Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus   
7:39. Okumura won via cutter.
2) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus   
13:30. Diablos took 1/3. No obvious trio challenges (though it did seem like Sagrado was meant to be teaming with these two going forward.)
3) Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero b Místico, Titán, Volador Jr.    
13:59. Rudos took 1/3. UG blocked La Mistica twice in a row and pulled his mask to win.
4) Amapola, Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Reina Isis b Avispa Dorada, Dalys, Momo Kohgo, Sonya, Stephanie Vaquer, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi [Gran Prix de Amazonas]     
36:23. Order of eliminations: Amapola (Dalys), Vaquer (Sugehit), Avispa (Vaquerita), Sonya (Marcela), Isis (Dalys), Lluvia (Tsukushi), Kohgo (Silueta), Marcela (Dalys), Jarochita (Tsukushi), Dalys (Sugehit), Sugehit (Fujimoto), Tsukushi (Silueta), Fujimoto (Silueta) leaving Silueta as the first ever Gran Prix winner.

The Gran Prix is one thing modern CMLL does well. The build up and pre-match presentation make it feel like a very important deal. The fans were totally into a match with a lot of people they don’t normally care about (and didn’t really care nearly as much about a couple of weeks ago when they main evented the Aniversario show.) It was an imperfect match at times, but enough went well that they kept the crowd and there was a stong reaction for Silueta winning. That finish puts it over the previous women’s cibernetico for me, a good match though nothing you have to go back and watch.

The Gran Prix does seem to be a draw; attendence looked in the neighborhood of the 09/24 show. It looked like there were a few people in the upper deck as well; CMLL hasn’t sold tickets up there on Ticketmaster since the start of the pandemic. There are still seats blocked off but I know Mas Lucha mentioned the possiblity of Mexico City capactiy limits being increased and I wonder if that’s happened here.

The semi-main felt like everyone’s used to the finish coming after Ultimo Guerrero reverses La Mistico once, so they did it twice, only it made La Mistica look very ineffective. Titan was the best wrestler in the match as usual. Los Depreadores came out with Volador, disappeared after, and are losing in the first matches. It’s great they got to be a team but it doesn’t seem to mean anything. There’s nothing you need to see from this outside the main event.

The iPPV went off fine this time around, though there didn’t seem to much talk about it. The CMLL announcers said without saying that the 11/05 Dia del Muertos show will be the next one. It’ll probably be headlined by Terrible defending the Rey del Inframundo against someone winning a match on 10/29.

CMLL (SUN) 10/10/2021 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO]
1) El Gallito & Guapito b Chamuel & Mije
2) Grako, Inquisidor, Nitro b Halcón Suriano Jr., Oro Jr., Robin
Rudos took 2/3.
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Kráneo, Volcano b Cancerbero, Hijo del Villano III, Okumura
tecnicos took 1/3
4) Dark Silueta, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis b Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi [Relevos Increíbles]
Mexico took 1/3
5) Atlantis, Fugaz, Stuka Jr. DQ Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
Tecnicos took 2/3 (foul)

The main event was the first time the new Infernales teamed up after being put together on two and half weeks ago. It happened with no real notice. Mephisto hadn’t wrestled since September 14th, so something was up with him to prevent it until now. The team lost, though CMLL sold it as a moral victory.

Another Micros match without Microman. MicroMan hasn’t appeared in Arena Mexico since June 25. He did wrestle on the August 9th Arena Puebla return and wrestled an indie show the following weekend, but hasn’t been seen since.

CMLL (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena México
1) Fantasy & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Violencia
2) Skadi, Stephanie Vaquer, Tiffany vs La Comandante, La Vaquerita, Metálica [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Eléctrico, Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. vs Akuma, El Coyote, Espanto Jr.
4) Dark Panther, Magia Blanca, Stuka Jr. vs Negro Casas, Raziel, Virus
5) Felino © vs Ángel de Oro [MEX LH]
1st defense

The main event is Felino as a rudo and Angel de Oro as a tecnico, but Angel de Oro is the guy you’re supposed to boo and Felino is the guy you’re supposed to cheer. I like Magia Blanca but these are pretty barren when Magia Blanca is suddenly a semi-main guy. The second match is Vaquer, Metalica and the women CMLL definitely wasn’t booking while the Ice Ribbon people were around.

CMLL (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Cosmos, El Divino, Micro vs Destello, Destructro, Thunder Boy
2) Joker, Rugido, Vaquero Jr. vs Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre
3) Crixus, Explosivo, Fantástico, Star Black vs Ángel Rebelde (Querétaro), Halcón Negro Jr. (Querétaro), Optimus (Querétaro), Trono (Querétaro)
4) Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel vs Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Ráfaga
5) Momo Kohgo, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi vs Dark Silueta, Lluvia, Náutica
6) Satánico (c) vs Último Guerrero [FLLM MASTER]

Satanico defended this title over Blue Panther earlier this year. Ultimo Guerrero doesn’t go long without holding a title belt but I’m really not sure if he’ll win this one. The semimain appears to be the end of the trip for the Ice Ribbon crew.

CMLL announced its NFT launch will be on 10/22 while giving no useful information on what they’re actually offering. I did the NFT rant already. You should not spend any money on these unless you’re doing it on a lark.

Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. versus Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero headlined a show in San Luis Potosi last Saturday. The show appears to have drawn terribly. It’s one show, but CMLL wrestlers don’t seem to have much drawing power outside of Arena Mexico at the moment.

El Sol del Tlaxaca interviews new champion Templario, who talks about his career so far.

AAA 

AAA TV (SAT) 10/09/2021 Coliseo La Concordia, Orizaba, Veracruz [AAA, thecubsfan, Voices of Wrestling]
Heroes Inmortales, 2021
4) Pimpinela Escarlata b Mamba, Keyra, Sexy Star II, Aerostar, Argenis, Toxin, Villano III Jr., Arez [Copa Antonio Pena]
15:12. Rules were four people were picked to start, could be replaced when they went out of the ring by anyone, and eliminations by pinfall, elimination or going over the top. (Toxin did an over the top rope dive, then came back in.) Nine names announced, poster advertised 12 people, it turned out to be the nine names. Order of elimination: Aerostar (by Super Fly after Parka Negra interference again), Argenis, Toxin, Arez, Villano III Jr. (after Octagon Jr. distraction), Keyra, Sexy Star 2, then Pimpinela beat Mamba to win. Mamna attacked Pimpinela after the win with Mr. Iguana made teh save.
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón b Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
12:42. NGD beat Carta Brava clean with Catapult Dinamita. The two teams continued fighting after the finish.
6) Fénix & Pentagón Jr. © b Hijo Del Vikingo & Laredo Kid [AAA TAG] 
16:01. Factor Miedo on Vikingo. Dralistico & Dragon Lee appeared post match to tease fightning both teams.
7) DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis b Dave The Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown [cage]
17:11. In a skit earlier, Puma & DMT attacked Monster Clown, leaving him unavailable for this match. Dave the Clown offered to take his place, was rejected, and ended up climbing in the cage anyway. He apparently counted as part of the team. Estrellita officially debuted as a member of La Empresa after only appearing backstage on the previous show. Order of escape: Psycho, Murder, Adonis, then DMT Azul & Puma King handcuffed Dave the Clown in the corner, unmasked him and climbed out. (AAA made effort not to shoot Dave’s unmasked faced, which was covered in blood and hair.)

I liked this show. The tag match was what I hoped it to be, better than any match at TripleMania and among the best matches of the year. The Copa Antonio Pena wasn’t any better than usual except it was half the time as usual. The last two matches were better than I guessed. It was nice for an AAA big show to be done in two hours (or relatively close to two hours.) I have a lot of complaints that’ll make it seem like I didn’t like the show but I did like the show I swear.

The tag title match was fifteen minutes of insanity that could’ve been stretched to twenty five. There was no real feeling out portion, they were just going full speed from the start – they could’ve easily spent six minutes getting to where they were in minute two if that makes any harder. It’s harder to build to bigger moments when you’re going so hard from the beginning, but they still managed to get some huge moments near the end. It definitely ended up among the best matches from Mexico of the year.

AEW essentially gave away the finish of the tag team match before it happened by saying Fenix & Penta would be defending the AAA titles next Saturday during Rampage. That show was more a week away, AEW could’ve easily said the same bit on Sunday or Wednesday or whenever. They definitely would’ve if it was NJPW, and probably would’ve if it was Impact or NWA. Fans in Mexico either saw it announced on Space or became very aware, especially since the match is against a masked tag team. I can’t believe AEW giving away an AAA finish isn’t a thing outside of the people who watch AAA, but it just tells you how really few people watch AAA and how little AAA is covered.

Vikingo/Laredo really should’ve won. They couldn’t, because AEW was getting the belts. AAA will do fine because they make their money on big shows and those are built around dream matches with outsiders. Maybe they’re confident they can keep that up for as long as they need to, but if they were ever going to flip Vikingo & Laredo from being the b-side of every “star rating” match on big shows and make them the stars on their own, that felt like the night to do it. It’s not the end of the world, it just feels like those guys are continually bumping their heads on a ceiling they can’t break. And probably won’t be able to break until they go somewhere else and do it.

Dragon Lee & Dralistico showing up on AAA to confront the Lucha Brothers on AEW on Saturday, as Andrade’s mystery surprise team. People thought that before Saturday to be honest. I still don’t think it’s happening, but I don’t know as a fact either way. I don’t think Saturday’s appearance changes it at all. AEW’s very clearly ignoring anything that happens in AAA, so the Hermanos Lee showing up in AAA is likely irrelevant – if it was going to be them already it’ll still be them, but these are definitely not two promotions working in harmony.

Tirantes was not as annoying here as on Mas Lucha Supremo, because he just screwed everyone rather than strangely picking like he did Thursday night. It’d be nice if AAA just didn’t use referees who have a gimmick of being terrible at their jobs to get themselves over, but I guess there are bigger issues. (On their radio show, Mas Lucha had no second thoughts about using Tirantes for their show, feeling people complain online but he was over in the building and that’s all that matters. That is a lot of Mexican wrestling promotion in a nutshell.)

Psycho Clown explained on Twitter that he didn’t trust Dave – figured he was just setting Psycho Circus up for a betrayal – and that’s why they rejected Dave. Psycho was impressed by Dave and hinted they may add him to the Psycho Circus team from now on.

It really doesn’t make any sense that Psycho Circus lost the match when Dave was the last guy left and specifically not in the match, but so it goes in AAA. It was an odd feeling for the last few minutes of the main event being built around making Dave the Clown look like a star, but it was likely a tradeoff to get him to do the unmasking bit for La Empresa heat at the end (and they did make Dave look better than he ever has.).

NGD showed more life than usual, though it might have been Poder del Norte bringing out of them. I was shocked that there was actually a clean finish. It didn’t feel like the end of the bit and I wonder if we’ll get the same the other way later.

The long term planning in AAA: last major show ends with Goya Kong turning heel, this show has Goya Kong effectively as a face helping Poder del Norte. She was used much less in the match than she has been involved on TV.

Copa Antonio Pena was changed to four people in the ring at a time, anyone can come in if someone goes out, and eliminations by over the top, pinfall, or submission. It was vastly confusing at first, including to some of the performers (Toxin smh) but it’s an idea they should stick with. The match was not much better than Copa TripleMania, they even did some of the same run-in spots as TripleMania to make it feel like a repeat, but the match went three minutes shorter, and the shorter it can go the better. The problem here wasn’t the dead periods and the overcrowded that’s an issue with the Royal Rumble style match, it was just execution. Toxin eliminated himself twice before getting pinned, there was a messed up three count, people didn’t seem to understand when they were supposed to get in. That stuff could get ironed out with more repetitions. Pimpinela didn’t really need the win but it doesn’t mean anything anyway so it’s fine.

By the way, it would’ve taken ten seconds for someone on social media to say “hey, we’ve moved the Lucha Brothers tag back to the semi-main” or “remember how we said there are 12 people in Copa Antonio Pena? We meant only 9” but very basic human interaction is not something AAA nor most Mexican wrestling companies are built to handle.

I’ve seen results for the non-televised portion but I’m not totally sure I’ve got them correct.  The one big angle that came out of it was the reveal of Psicosis II (Ripper) as the guy behind the text messages that put the Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Latigo, Toxin, and Chik Tormenta group together and they’re now the Vipers. Psicosis is happy to be back in AAA. This has been in the works for most of the year. The angle was rumored to happen on TripleMania at one point, and that seems to check out because AAA was doing a lot of it until that point and didn’t do much after. The other rumor was this group were all going to get old Viper gimmicks – someone would be Histeria, someone would be Maniaco and whatever else – which doesn’t seem to have come through. Mining the past for a current idea can be useful, though I’m not sure what calling these guys the Vipers and sticking a guy who’s long past his better days is going to help. Mexican wrestling fans have longer memories than most, but the Vipers are also three or four eras of AAA ago now.

AAA announced Cain Velasquez would be returning. The on-screen graphic said “December” and that’s what AAA put on social media. The AAA announcers said “December 4th”, a Saturday. No location was named. No show name was mentioned. I’m not really sure what we can do with this information beyond pencil in that date for something, though they didn’t even say where you could watch it. That spot on the calendar was originally supposed to go to TripleMania Regia, a show in Monterrey’s baseball stadium. Veracruz lucha libre Facebook page Adictos al Ring report it’ll instead be back in Orizaba, the same venue as Heroes Inmortales. That site is plugged on the local scene and seems to be getting the information from the local promoters, so that’s as close to as confirmed as we can get without AAA saying something. Monterrey’s opening up capacity for shows slowly, while Orizaba seemed to be 100% open on Saturday. The building in Orizaba is much smaller, but the reliability to run a show without sudden changes may be more important right now.

Still, with AAA running this show in Orizaba, I’m now a lot less sure Kenny Omega is coming back to AAA in December. Look at the card so far

• Cain Velasquez returns
• probably some big blow off with La Empresa
• probably something with Lucha Brothers/Hermanos Lee/Vikingo & Laredo
• probably some gimmick match with NGD/Poder del Norte
• maybe Deonna Purrazzo returns (seems more likely than Omega since she sent in a promo)

That’s enough for a 6,000 capacity bullring. Really, it might have been enough for 22,000 capacity Monterrey. It’s always possible AAA could run a second major show elsewhere in December and Omega could show up on that. Or they could just load up Orizaba. But an Omega title defense has gone from a definite to a maybe.

Next week, AAA’s TV show moves to a different time because AAA is airing live at 7 instead. Couldn’t tell you when, AAA didn’t think it was important to mention. Space’s listings suggest AAA’s airing at 5 pm, though that can change between now and Saturday. I can tell you the three other matches from Orizaba will air, but AAA did not communicate that at all. They’re not a TV company, they’re just a live events company that puts shows on TV.

(AAA getting pushed out of its timeslot on its own channel by AEW after AEW gave away the result of a PPV-level match feels like it is a bigger story. But we’ve already gone too deep on this show.)

AAA is taping today in Xalapa; they’re back to no fans for these shows. Xalapa should air on 10/22 and 10/29. AAA will just need one more weekend of tapings to cover November and they’ll be good through Unnamed December 4th Show That’s Probably TripleMania Regia.

Histeria seems annoyed Psicosis II didn’t tell him he was reforming the Vipers.

Random fact that didn’t click to me until being frequently reminded about Antonio Pena passing away 15 years ago: the Roldan family has now run AAA longer than Pena did. Pena was in charge for 14 years and some days; the collective Roldans surpassed them in days in chargeback in March.

Other News

The Crash (FRI) 10/08/2021 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California [TJ Sports, Zona Ruda]
1) Terror Azteca, Torito Negro, Toto b Kamik-C, Próximo, Skalibur
the two teams asked for one more match
2) Black Danger, Dinámico, Súper Beast b Aramis, Destiny, Funny Bone
Funny Bone and Super Beast were added to the match
3) Christi Jaynes & Deonna Purrazzo b Faby Apache & Sexy Star II
4) Hijo Del Vikingo b Rey Horus, Demonic Flamita, Rich Swann
Best Match of the night.
5) Masada & Moose b Pagano & Psycho Clown and Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf
Results describe this as a six way though it was advertised as a tag match. (Masada won, not sure if Moose also won.) Set up for a Pagano/Masada match for the 11/05 Aniversario show.

Good to learn the next 11/05 date. I will never mention a The Crash poster on Twitter again, not because I have anything against the promotion, but I’m tired of answering the same thing about video again. Answering that question is actually the thing that makes me hate The Crash more.

Dralistico wrestled on the Sunday Arena Neza show, explaining he hadn’t been wrestling because his CMLL contract didn’t allow him to wrestle for three months. I think this is Dralistico pretending he has a WWE style 90 day non-compete, but Dralistico left CMLL two months ago and has since wrestled in Queretaro. Dralistico just doesn’t seem to have a lot of interest. The Munoz Familiy got in a backstage fight with La Empresa to tease future matches. The Neza show, with the Munoz versus the Wagner family, looked to have drawn badly on the Mas Lucha stream. Drawing in Arena Neza is rough for anyone, but I wish it caused a reality check in what kind of stars the Hermanos Lee tag actually are in Mexico. Those two guys are 100% beating Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid if that match happens because they’re convinced promoters and their friends they’re big money, but they haven’t convinced the people who actually buy the tickets.

IWRG (SUN) 10/10/2021 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Cheff Benito & Sol b Kenji & Shalom 
2) Hell Boy & X-Devil b Garra Mortal & Limbo 
3) Dick Angelo 3G & Puma de Oro b Legendario & Noicy Boy 
4) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo De Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Akbar, Mexica, Rey Quetzal 
5) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro b Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Mike [EdM Trios, torneo] 
restart of this tournament. Medico Brujo cost the Strippers the match.
6) Hijo del Alebrije & Toxin b Hijo del Espectro Jr. & Hijo del Fishman and Medico Brujo & Sick Boy and Halloween Jr. & Hijo del Pirata Morgan 

I have no notes on this show.

IWRG (TUE) 10/12/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Blue Win & Súper Cometa vs Carnicero & Perseo
2) Karma I & Karma II vs Chef Benito & Gran Felipe
3) Sagitarius & Therius vs Amazonika & Mary Caporal
4) Noicy Boy, Sol, Spider Fly vs Big Boy, Big Mike, Rey Halcón
5) Hijo Del Payaso Pura Santa, Manchas, Payaso Pura Santa Jr. vs Aster Boy, Caballero de Plata, Hell Boy

I’m not sure why IWRG is running this many shows but they sure are. Main event spills out of the Mas Lucha four way tag match. I believe the Payaso Purasantas are some of the better WTMB guys but your opinion may differ. The semimain has the Mexa Boys versus Big Mike and so crazy things will probably happen.

Ricardo Yañez of Quintana Roo won the IWRG “Decide Tu” fan books the show contest. IWRG says over 200 people set in lineups. There were supposed to be 2nd and 3rd place winners, which have not yet been announced. IWRG says they’ll announce the card (and I guess the date) at a press event on Tuesday’s show, as well as talking about their Castillo del Terror show. That’s a specific public appeal for press to come to the show, which IWRG doesn’t normally do – normally that’s more of a Whatsapp group thing.

Lucha Libre Vanguardia says they’re returning on 10/31. They haven’t run standalone shows since July due to pandemic restrictions in Hidalgo. They’ll be running Arena Aficion, the most well known Pachuca arena but not the place Vangaurida usually runs shows.

ROH this week has Bandido & Rey Horus versus the OGK; you can see it on their website now. The LFI vs Shane Taylor Enterprises match from the most recent PPV will go up on ROH’s YouTube channel tomorrow; that was better than we all though it was going ot be.

Blue Demon Jr. told ESTO that he’s now looking for a family member to carry on the family name. Blue Demon Jr. actually brought a teenager in a Blue Demon mask to the AAA events around the 2019 TripleMania to balance out Dr. Wagner Jr. bringing his sons, but that person was never explained or referenced again. It may have just been someone handy to play the role. Demon gives no hints of who might carry it on, and it just seems more like an idea that’s popped in his head, not something you should expect imminently. Demon does note his father wrestled for 42 years and he’s wrestled for 37, which seems like a strong hint he’ll be around through 2026. The bulk of the interview is more of the normal Demon myth-building rather than the successor,

WWE’s Angel Garza wrote a post critical of Zona 23 and Ciclope, though he makes it clear he doesn’t want to give him any attention by using his name. Ciclope did a spot with a syringe injected near each eye and Garza thought it was a horribly unsafe bit.

ESTO has an interview with Relampago about his career.

RIOT says their next show will be on 11/27. No location was announced.

Milenio talks to Ciclon Ramirez Jr. about his barbershop, which is part of Bandido’s Gym. Ramirez was cutting hair himself but turned out to be bad at it and now just manages the place.

Segunda Caida writes about some 1995 CMLL.

Infobae interviews ex-Titanes en el Ring luchador Adrian Vazquez, who now reancts midevil battles.

CMLL 

Tonight’s the CMLL Gran Prix de Amazonas

CMLL (FRI) 10/08/2021 Arena México
1) Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Okumura
2) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
3) Místico, Titán, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero
4) Amapola, Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Reina Isis vs Avispa Dorada, Dalys, Momo Kohgo, Sonya, Stephanie Vaquer, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Tsukushi [Gran Prix de Amazonas]

The show remains a $11 iPPV. Ice Ribbon, Mr. Cacao, and other Japanese outlets have strongly pushed the show based on their wrestlers appearing. I hope it works for them. This should air on TV on 10/16 and YouTube 10/24, though it’s always possible the main event won’t air on Televisa like recent major show main events.

2021 CMLL knows how to lay out a good elimination match. Those have tended to get a bit fuzzy and turned in 3/4 ways as they get down to the final two, but the Gran Prix Mexico versus the World structure should prevent that. I’m sure the women will work very hard and this will be a match where the simple things are done well but they’re not going to be as complicated/difficult in moves as seen elsewhere. The hometeam usually wins the patriotic match, especially when many of the foreigners won’t be around next week to set up a rematch, but I wouldn’t rule out Stephanie Vaquer getting a win to make up for one she might’ve gotten during the August’s women’s match. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea for an Ice Ribbon woman to win the spotlight that new relationship. It’d be a nice moment for whoever gets to lift the cup but there’s no real right or wrong answer.

There are plenty of logical title matches coming out of the semi-main and it’s hard to believe Ultimo Guerrero will be without a precious belt for long. Los Gemelos Diablos and Sagrado did separate interviews pushing the idea of them as a regular trio so the segunda might be the start of it. (Note that Sagrado’s partner Misterioso hasn’t appeared in Arena Mexico since the empty arena tapings stopped airing in June; he’s still wrestling in Torreon but obviously, something is up there.) For all the talk about the Deperdadores having five to six moments, it’s effectively been a set Diamond/Magia Blanca/Magnus opening card trio.

ESTO has an interview with Princesa Sugehit, going with the idea that CMLL fans wanting her and Zeuxis in the main event of the 2017 Aniversario show started the promotion down the path to the women’s main events CMLL’s had this year. Even back then, the argument wasn’t totally just “Sugehit/Zeuxis should main event” but also “Gran Guerrero/Niebla Roja isn’t a big deal as a feud, maybe this is a chance to try something different for attention sake.” That’s about the same reason the CMLL women are in top positions now. Their star power or in-ring work hasn’t gotten suddenly better in four years (it’s arguably gotten worse), it’s more those same factors have declined much for the men. The bar is just lower in 2017. Sugehit/Zeuxis was not some legendary feud and didn’t necessarily merit the main event, but it would’ve been a decent attention-getting marketing bit. Gran Guerrero/Niebla Roja was a really good match that no one remembers four years later.

Sugehit also mentions she signed a three-month deal with WWE back when she worked the Mae Young Classic but quickly figured she wasn’t going to be kept around past because she was too old and they wanted to invest in younger wrestlers. Luckily that’s not an issue in CMLL. Sugehit praised opponent Kay Lee Ray, saying she saw the abilities in her to be a champion in that match.

El Universal interviewed many of the foreign women. Avispa Dorada & Sonya both indicate they were surprised to get a call from CMLL; they both seem to want to return to Mexico but did not have immediate plans to do so before getting called in for this tournament.  CMLL talked about the Gran Prix de Amazonas becoming an annual tournament and I’m sure they’d like to do that – current CMLL likes following the WWE pattern of monthly gimmick events. I also suspect what happened here is the Ice Ribbon ladies were scheduled to come in, someone belatedly got the idea to do a Gran Prix, and Avispa and Sonya were among those urgently contacted to fill out the teams. (The smaller than usual 7v7 field hints an 8th foreign woman was asked and turned it down, though I have nothing but guesses at whom.) If Ice Ribbon sends enough women to fill out a Gran Prix team each year, then CMLL will keep having a women’s Gran Prix. NJPW hasn’t sent people this year, and so there’s no men’s Gran Prix.

Lucha Memes says their Arena Coliseo debut will be on Saturday 12/18. Tickets will be on Ticketmaster soon. It’ll be fascinating to find out if this is Lucha Memes announcing their show before CMLL reveals they’re returning to regular Saturday Arena Coliseo shows or if Memes is running a show in a building CMLL isn’t any more. It’s a big deal for Memes to run Arena Coliseo and they should be congratulated for finally pulling it off.

Mas Lucha

Mas Lucha (THU) 10/07/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha, thecubsfan]
1) Dick Angelo 3G, Puma de Oro, Tonalli b Mexica, Noicy Boy, Sol 
10:40.
2) Laredo Kid b Emperador Azteca [Mas Lucha Supremo, quarterfinal] 
9:56. Laredo Fly.
3) Sangre Azteca b Villano III Jr. [Mas Lucha Supremo, quarterfinal] 
11:43. Sangre Azteca landed the low blow dropkick (estacas aztecas) to win
4) El Bandido b Jessy Ventura [Mas Lucha Supremo, quarterfinal] 
6:45. Bandido suddenly submitted Jessy Ventura.
5) Cuatrero b Rayman [Mas Lucha Supremo, quarterfinal] 
9:12. Cuatrero beat Rayman after Saruman and Hijo de Mascara 2000 got involved.
6) Laredo Kid b Sangre Azteca [Mas Lucha Supremo, semifinal] 
8:34. Tirantes refereed and favored Laredo Kid, including ignoring a tights pull on the finish.
7) El Bandido b Cuatrero [Mas Lucha Supremo, semifinal] 
7:47. Rayman hit Cuatrero with a guitar to set up the 21 Plex. Rayman, Saruman, Hijo de Mascara 2000, Forastero and Sanson all got involved in the post match.
8) Kratoz & Prometeo © b Caballero de Plata & Manchas and Cometa Maya & Elemental and Ciclón Infernal & Mr. Leo [IR TAG] 
12:11. Announced as a 4v4 match, challenges changed it to a tag title defense. Manchas betrayed Caballero de Plata before Kratoz & Prometo won. Hip Hop Man and La Mosca appeared to attack various people.
9) El Bandido b Laredo Kid [Mas Lucha Supremo, final] 
10:12. Tirantes refereed and refused to count for Laredo at one point before fast counting for Bandido on the finish.

I thought this was a standalone tournament. This actually was a jam show, mostly about building rivalries for other Mas Lucha partner promotions. There’s an inverted world where this makes sense – this is the free show to get people onto the service and you have to pay to see the blowoffs. Instead, I saw a big chunk of the paid show dedicated to hyping a Rayman/Hijo de Mascara 2000 match that’ll eventually show up for free. (To be fair, there’s no way I’d pay for that match after seeing them both here so maybe it’s for the best.) I have nothing against Hip Hop Man, but when he and La Mosca showed up to get over whatever bit they’re also doing in some other promotion and not the show I was actually watching, that’s when I finally grasped this show was not for me at all – somewhere, there’s a person with both the interest in all of the promotions Mas Lucha puts up and the time to watch it all, and maybe they’re going to enjoy seeing where is going. Assuming any of this goes anywhere.

the tournament finishes again

• Laredo Kid beats Emperador Azteca clean (!)
• Sangre Azteca lands his usual low blow dropkick and V3 Jr. make sure we knew it was a foul
• Bandido submits Jessy Ventura suddenly, Ventura sells it like she had an injury and couldn’t continue, the next few minutes are Bandido praising Ventura until Ventura will finally get up
• Cuatrero uses interference and a foul to beat Rayman
• Tirantes randomly helps Laredo Kid to beat Sangre Azteca
• the 500th recreation of the Rayo Jr/Cien Caras guitar spot sets up Bandido’s win (and then they run three more angles to hide that Cuatrero lost)
• Tirantes randomly works against Laredo Kid to help Bandido win

That’s not including the tag title match where partners turned on each other to set up the pinfall. None of this protects anyone or gets anyone excited to see these matches when it’s done this match, it’s just a lot of annoying noise.

It’s possible to have a long debate (probably on Whatsapp) if the reason there are so many crap finishes on shows like this is either because any Mexican wrestler with the slightest bit of star power refuses to lose clean in Mexico or because promoters are convinced fans go to shows so they can argue about the crap finishes later. It’s like some of both. Whatever the reason, crap finishes and they ruin my enjoyment of many of the matches. That’s a personal thing – plenty of people in the chat seemed to like the shenanigans and the crowd live enjoyed it – but it was certainly enough to put me off from paying for another one of these.

Arturo Rivera not only didn’t seem to know much about the wrestlers, he didn’t even seem to remember the names of the other announcers who were talking to him. That’s exactly what you expect out of him in 2021 or for many years prior. The same goes for Tirantes. The audio mixing was terrible – your choice was either hearing a little bit of the crowd and very loud announcers or turning the announcers down to normal audio and hearing nothing beyond them – but that too is about what we get all the time for these shows. I hoped the wrestling would just surpass. It did not. I liked the main event the most but it probably won’t be among the best 25 matches Laredo Kid and Bandido will have this year. Most of the other matches were fine. The tag matches had some moments of brilliance and a lot of sloppiness. This was not a terrible show. Like many CMLL shows, this would’ve been a decent thing to watch for free if it was available and you were bored. This was also another recent experience where I wondered why I was spending my time on lucha libre. If this is good then maybe it’s just not for me.

The women’s Mas Lucha Suprema tournament was announced for 11/18 and I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d pay for that. That show will likely have worse wrestlers and near the same amount of silliness, it’s not worth my time. I’m not against giving Mas Lucha money; I don’t mind that they got my $8 here because they do a lot and the Mexican wrestling would be incalculable different without them. I may even consider staying a subscriber if they offered more compelling perks – early releases? ad free viewing? just spitballing – but the premium video content is not for me.

Again, Mas Lucha seemed to do well. The attendance was far better than a usual Thursday night IWRG show. Not a sellout, but in line with a well-attended Sunday show. YouTube doesn’t show the viewer count on screen for Mas Lucha’s subscriber-only videos, but you do apparently get a glimpse at it if you watch on your phone. I was told it peaked just above 250 live viewers (so actual subscribers are likely significantly more when you factor in people who just didn’t watch the show live.) That’s a bit more than I would’ve guessed, given most of Mas Lucha’s content remains free. I’d guess it’s higher than the number of buys CMLL is getting on their PPVs.

AAA

I wasn’t really happy with the Mas Lucha tournament, the CMLL show is probably going to be fine but the iPPV stuff still has me seeing red … and so should I be fearful Vikingo/Laredo versus the Lucha Brothers is not going to go well? It’s not going my way right now.

Here’s the card for the show that’ll air on Saturday

AAA TV (SAT) 10/09/2021 Coliseo La Concordia, Orizaba, Veracruz
Heroes Inmortales, 2021
4) Fénix & Pentagón Jr. © vs Hijo Del Vikingo & Laredo Kid [AAA TAG]
5) Pimpinela Escarlata vs Mamba, Keyra, Sexy Star II, Aerostar, Argenis, Dave The Clown, Villano III Jr., Arez, 10, 11, 12 [Copa Antonio Pena]
6) Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
7) DMT Azul, Puma King, Sam Adonis vs Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown [cage]

The Space broadcast is supposed to start at 8 pm CT. It’s possible AAA will run like a well-oiled machine and get the three matches for next week (along with whatever locals matches they’re doing) all done in time. People do win the lottery every day. My plan is to stream this on my Twitch, and I may start the feed around 7:30 and play old matches until the feed starts assuming this isn’t going to confuse everyone. It seems like a better idea than watching non-stop ads, as happened with Verano de Escandalo’s delay. The flipside of AAA starting late is the best match is airing first – one that should be a MOTYC unless AAA goes out of their way to screw it up – so you want to be there at the start of the show, be it 8 pm or some later time. They won’t screw it up, right? Please tell me they won’t.

Copa Antonio Pena probably won’t be any better than the other Copas but also probably will have some new names showing up. (A thing to watch is how AAA handles any angles that might be taped in the first half of the show; I expect there are things that’ll happen that’ll affect these matches.) There’s 0% chance of a clean finish in Poder del Norte versus NGD; hope instead to get more of feel if this is going to be like NGD’s last CMLL work or Poder del Norte/OGT. La Empresa should win a bloody match in the main event if there’s a TripleMania coming up again in December, but we still don’t know if that’s happening.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has a paragraph talking about AEW having a plan for the AAA Tag Team Championships. That seems to necessitate the tag titles staying with the Lucha Brothers here. Maybe someone in AEW and AAA had a talk between when that angle was started last week and when it wasn’t mentioned this week and the titles will change hands after all, but I’d bet again it. In the big picture, Vikingo’s likely losing the tag title match, and Psycho Clown’s team almost has to lose the main event to keep the La Empresa going, and one of those two dudes are going from that to challenging Kenny Omega in a couple of months. Not ideal! That’s nothing new with AAA and titles though. In the kayfabe storyline world, they might as well steal a bit from Dragon Gate and throw a dart at a board to determine who gets the next shot.

Next week’s half may be the better all around card, but nothing’s beating that tag match.

Other News

Alberto el Patron is involved in a lawsuit, but in a change from usual, he is the person suing instead of being the defendant. Alberto is suing former employer Combates America, which is covered in many places including the WON. The short version is Alberto says he wasn’t paid for his 2019 fight and that the MMA promotion took control of his social media and won’t give it back. If you are bored/deranged enough to check out Alberto’s Twitter account, or occasionally get it RT-ed into your timeline like me,, you can see that he sure does seem to have control of the account there. The tweets are bad attempts at getting attention, I would try to blame someone else for them if I was writing them, but I don’t think Combates America is spending time hyping Alberto’s friendship with the Robles promoter. Maybe he’s talking about his Instagram, which hasn’t been updated since the pandemic.

The WON also reports Alberto is telling people he’s going back to the WWE in six months while noting Alberto constantly lies that he’s going back to the WWE in six months and it never happens. I think Alberto is telling people this not because he sincerely believes it, but as a way to convince indie promoters that they better pay for him to come in now while they still can and to generally make him a hotter item for those indie promoters to want in the first place. The fact that he has to keep on doing this suggests he’s not getting booked on his own all that much.

A documentary on Perro Aguayo, “Un Mexico Perro. El héroe verdadero”, premieres as part of the DocsMX film on October 14th. It’ll be available online to a limited amount of people. Trailers for the movie appeared early last year; it seems to be a lot of talking-head interviews with people who knew Aguayo. The directors previously indicated that the movie was essentially finished last year but they were holding off in hopes film festivals would be able to go back to normal. This isn’t exactly normal but they’re doing outdoor showings of some of the movies in the festival.

Dr. Wagner Jr., in his weekly column, talks about his memories of Antonio Pena. Wagner claims Pena wanted him to jump to AAA on immediately, but Wagner insisted on serving out his contract, and Pena brought in Shocker instead. That would put the jump in June 2005. Wagner says he was contacted while in Monterrey and he did work Monterrey a couple of days before Shocker debuted.

An article listing Super Crazy‘s international work says he missed his GCW appearances with an ankle injury.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report, including a recap of this week’s Informa.

Critero Hidalgo has a story on two returning wrestlers; el Aspid from a gas tank explosion and Principe Salvaje Jr. from COVID-19.