CMLL

CMLL (MON) 10/30/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Mano A Mano]
1) Mayahuel & Shitara b Astoreth & Diablita Roja 
2) Enigmática, La Pantera (Jalisco), Lady Amazona b Hella, La Maligna, La Vaquerita 
3) Centinela (Jalisco), Hera, Olympia b Adira (Jalisco), Lady Metal, Persephone 
the Mexican army appeared to celebrate (army member) Centinela before her match.
4) Makoto, Skadi, Tessa Blanchard b Amapola, Andrómeda, La Metálica 
Skadi replaced Mei Suruga (illness)
5) Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Reyna Isis b La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis [Relevos Increíbles] 

The attendance looks pretty solid for this show (and it got more meida

Mei Suruga missed this show, Sunday’s show, and the Tuesday show. She’s said to be out of action due to mild food poisoning. She’s scheduled for another match on Saturday and is still on the lineup at this point.

CMLL (TUE) 10/31/2023 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
***Dia del Muertos, 2023***
1) Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial b Astral & Robin  
2) La Vaquerita & Skadi b Metálica & Tiffany  
3) Panterita del Ring, Star Black, Valiente b Felino, Hechicero, Misterioso Jr.  
4) Gran Guerrero b Disturbio, Zandokan, Esfinge, El Coyote, Guerrero Maya Jr., Magnus, Akuma, Averno, Bárbaro Cavernario, Virus [Rey del Inframundo, semifinal] 
order of elimination: Disturbio (by Akuma), Coyote (Magnus), Zandokan (Averno), Sagrado (Guerrero Maya), Mangus (Virus), Akuma (Cavernario), Maya (Esfinge), Esfinge (Gran Guerrero), Virus (Averno), Averno (Gran Guerrero), and Gran Guerrero (Barabro Cavernario)
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario b Blue Panther, Máscara Dorada, Octagón 
straight falls, the last when Angel de Oro unmasked Dorada and rolled him up, setting up a singles match next week.

Both Angel de Oro/Mascara Dorada and Cavernario/Stuka Jr. sound good. The cibernetico was generally good but finished with two messed up spots, Gran Guerrero not really being where Cavernario expected him. Gran Guerrero was taken away on a stretcher with no other obvious injury, so maybe they were taking precautions for a concussion.

CMLL (TUE) 10/31/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadaljara, Mas Lucha]
1) Atenea, Estrella Maldad, Yemaya b Frida, Luna, Xenna
2) Diabilita Roja, Estrellita Mágica, Lady Metal b Gema Andrade, Miss Guerrera, Misteriosa
Puebla vs Laguna
3) Adira, Dulce Kitty, Náutica b La Pantera, Nexy, Universys
4) Alondra, Andrómeda, Lady Shadow b Centinela, Lady Amazona, Magia Azul
GDL vs Laguna
5) Hera, Olympia, Sexy Sol vs La Maligna, Quimera, Valkiria
6) La Catalina, Persephone, Tessa Blanchard, Zeuxis b Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Makoto, Reyna Isis

Attendance seemed solid for the two women’s shows. It was also up noticeably for the first Dia del Muertos show in Arena Mexico.

CMLL Informa has

• Rey del Inframundo: Stuka Jr., Barbaro Cavernario
• Saturday Coliseo Dia del Muertos: Águila Solitaria, Pantera, Solar, Felino, Negro Satánico, Mini Tigre Blanco
• vs Mascara Dorada next Tuesday: Angel de Oro
• I’m not really sure: Virus & Niebla Roja

Titan & Bushi are among a mass of teams at 5-3 in NJPW’s Super Junior Tag League, going into their final day match against the already eliminated YOH & Musashi. They need a couple of matches to go their way to finish top two, but so does pretty much everyone.

CMLL posted highlights of Robbie X versus Titan and Mascara Dorada versus Wild Boar. That’s the first time they’ve posted RevPro clips; I’m not even sure they’ve opted NJPW ones before. Michael Oku versus Hechicero was the best CMLL match match in RevPro but that’s also the one a CMLL wrestler lost, so maybe that’s why it’s not included.

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will hold a free show on 11/13. It’s being done to support the local CRIT children’s rehabilitation hospital. Admission if free, but they’ll have giant “piggy banks” at the arena and around Guadalajara to raise money.

El Sol de Leon highlights an upcoming (11/27) spot show in town around Gallero and Rayo Metalico returning home. Gallero mostly wrestles in Guadalajara, and Metalico mostly is a Puebla wrestler.

AAA

Pagano left Saturday’s Arena Neza show with a shoulder injury. There is a story going this is a serious injury, one which might keep Pagano out for a while. Neither Pagano nor AAA has said anything more. Pagano’s schedule to team with Psycho Clown against Sam Adonis & Texano in the main event of Guerra de Titanes in Juarez.

AAA’s running social media promos building up matches to the 11/03 Luchatitlan show. It’s notable because there’s rarely promos building up AAA TV matches. This show seems very important to 11/03.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 11/02/2023 Arena Naucalpan
***Castillo del Terror, 2023***
1) ? vs ??
2) Keyra vs Mary Caporal, Lady Maravilla, Diosa Quetzal, Lolita
3) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. © vs León Dorado & Mr. Leo [IWRG IC TAG]
fourth defense
4) Hell Boy © vs Toxin, Aramis, Noisy Boy, Bobby Lee Jr., Hijo de Canis Lupus [IWRG MEXICO]
fourth defense
5) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura, Mamba vs Gizelle, Hijo De Bobby Lee, Hijo del Fishman, Rey Espectro
6) Galeno del Mal © vs Ivan Rokov, DMT Azul, Hijo del Pirata Morgan [IWRG IC HEAVY]
2nd defense
7) Sádika vs Bengalee, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr., Gran Pandemónium, Satania, Relámpago, Spider Fly, Pig Destroyer, Pig Decapitador, Pig Pool, Pig Destructor, Águila Roja, Sagitarius, Amazonika, Tonalli [cage, mask]

I almost forgot IWRG already released this lineup. This is a Mas Lucha premium show. There are so many muli person matches for no real reason, but this show always draws well and will probably do so again. Commentary seemed to indicate match four is now a ladder match. Diosa Quetzal is the IWRG Women’s championship and this is her first match here since February, said to be due to injuries.

Shocko is said to be out a few days after a injury bit on Sunday. This seemed like a worked injury but I can’t say I was paying too much attention.

Big Lucha

I’ve caught up with the two parts of “Face 2 Face” and last Friday’s Big Lucha World. I thought the Big Lucha World episode was actually the best of the three. Big Taotao is a nice new addition, and looked impressive against Ryu Orochi. Atomico Jr. continues to look the best of the guys who don’t have a set role on the show, match up well with Radioactivo. The Tirano & Potro de Oro versus Action Jackson & Black Andromeda match was better than the Andromeda/Potro de Oro singles match, I thought.

Face 2 Face was fine, just nothing stood out positively and there were a couple things that were good. Potro de Oro and Black Andromeda worked hard to make something of their title match and the crowd that was there was into it, but it just was a little off at times for me. (This was also noticeably the smallest crowd for a Big Lucha show in some time.) Texano & Super Nova versus Radioactivo & Cometa Maya was a good professional match that fell a little short of something I’d recommend you’d go out of your way to see. Hell Flyers versus random Juniors was better than I thought it’d be; the Juniors were more giving than might be expected.

The third part is due this week. There’s also another Big Lucha World

Big Lucha World (FRI) 11/03/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Morfosis vs Ryu Orochi
2) Helios vs ?
3) Elipse, Orbita, Vengador vs Payaso I, Payaso II, Payaso III

I thought those logos on the poster where were there show was being filmed, but they appear to be sponsors; these are all in airing from the gym. Not sure which Payasos these are.

Other News

AEW announced Hijo del Vikingo vs Komander vs Penta for this Friday’s Rampage. No titles on the line.

Box y Lucha #3573 has a lot of CMLL headlines.

Octagon helped open a new gym in Lerna, Coahuila.

RIOT says they’ve sold out their 12/09 show already.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/27/2023 Arena México [CMLL, ESTO, Excelsior, Kaiser Sports, Mexico AS, Posta, Reforma, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (videos), thecubsfan, Tribuna]
1) Diamond & Valiente Jr. b Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II   
2) Futuro, Neón, Pelon Encapuchado b El Coyote, Inquisidor, Pólvora    
16:21.
3) Averno b Virus [lightning]    
8:44.
4) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario    
15:35.
5) Johnnie Robbie, La Catalina, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Sumie Sakai, Tessa Blanchard, Zeuxis b Amapola, Andrómeda, Dark Silueta, Hera, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Reyna Isis, Skadi [Gran Prix de Amazonas]    
50:18. Order of elimination: Makoto (by Amapola), Zeuxis (Lluvia), Andromeda (Suruga), Hera (Catalina), Sakai (Isis), Skadi (Robbie), Amapola (Vaquer), Suruga (Jarochita), Silueta (Blancard), Catalina (Lluvia), Isis (Robbie), Robbie (Jarochita), Jarochita (Vaquer), Lluvia (Vaquer) – this left Vaquer & Blanchard as the final two, both on Team World, and Blanchard beat Vaquer to win.

This is the first time since CMLL’s restarted these Gran Prix that it’s come down to two people on the same team. CMLL’s must’ve thought Vaquer/Blanchard would provide a great final. They did have a good US style match, with lots of near falls. It was just not what the Arena Mexico fans wanted to see; a final between two foreigners wasn’t going to get over unless one (or preferably both) are already really over with the crowd. Vaquer definitely has picked up popularity this year but not enough to keep this from feeling flat. I think it’ll be a long time before CMLL tries a final two with both from Team World again.

The match was generally good. These are obviously well worked through matches prior to happening and they have enough big moments to keep the crowd into it. (Lluiva and Zeuxis, who spent much of the week wrestling elsewhere in Mexico, participated less in this match.) Andromeda colliding with the ropes on her middle rope tornillo was a scary moment, and there were other parts that weren’t smooth, but it was still good in a vacuum.

Tessa Blanchard told the press that winning the Gran Prix was one of the big moments of her career, she’d like to challenge Stephanie Vaquer for her title and generally return to Arena Mexico. Blanchard said she didn’t know for a long time if she wanted to return to wrestling and that she found what she needed in this match. She said she prayed for a long time if she continued in wrestling or took another path in life, and the win convinced her to stay in wrestling.

Tessa Blanchard being the choice to win was not a surprise after the big introduction CMLL gave to her. I expect she’ll be back, probably having that match with Stephanie Vaquer, among other matches. CMLL is probably high on Tessa Blanchard for all the reasons all the promotions in the US seemed high on her from about 2017 to 2019, and only time will tell if they end up washing their hands with her like everyone else did. If you don’t like Tessa Blanchard, I think you’re going to be stuck with her making Romero (or Oraculo) like occasional visits to CMLL for the time being.

The Posta article was the only Mexico article I saw that noted the issues Tessa’s had that led her to be out of major US promotions. The flipside was watching the NJPW World show the next day, where the announcers pushed that all four women were in the Gran Prix just the day before but were (obviously) careful not to mention Blanchard’s win.

On the same show, CMLL honored Sumie Sakai on her impending retirement with a plaque and a ceremony. Sakai has worked a grand total of ten matches for CMLL in her life. They really didn’t have to do anything. It was a thoughtful gesture considering the world outside of CMLL, while at the same time ignoring it when it came to Blanchard.

The Mistico trios was really well done. Averno/Virus was quite good. The segunda had some good moments. This was another good CMLL show beyond the main event.

This was the second straight week with stream issues. Neerme wasn’t sending out links to the stream for most of the evening. I got mine after the opener, others didn’t get theirs until just before the main event. There’s VOD now, so anyone affected could go back and watch the whole show later, but it’s still frustrating not to know what’s going on or if it’ll get fixed.  CMLL was seemingly the only company using TicketmasterLive for the last year of that run. They appear to be the only company still streaming on Neerme if their “top streams” lists is accurate. (It’s six “test stream” and the two Pesos/Dollars streams for Friday.) No company is going to spend many resources working on something when there are few people using the service; I suspect whatever happened this Friday wasn’t hard to fix once it was found, but there is no one there ready to fix the problem because the service is a low priority. The long term future is Boletia/Neerme will get out of this service if it’s only CMLL paying for it, and either CMLL will find another home or move the shows to their YouTube channel (as everyone hopes.) Between now and then, we just have to cross our fingers and hope these issues never pop up in a match that actually goes well.

(The YouTube channel has its own issues. This week’s subscriber upload was missing the Dulce Gardenia, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring versus Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr. match from 10/20. CMLL had promised they would upload the full Friday shows, and this at least the third time where they’ve posted an incomplete show for subscribers.)

CMLL (SAT) 10/28/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Enfermero Jr. & Grako b Bengala & Leono
2) La Guerrera & Tiffany b La Maligna & Olympia
3) Difunto, El Coyote, Pólvora b Arkalis, Rey Samuray, Xelhua
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black b Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
5) Amapola & Tessa Blanchard b Dark Silueta & Reyna Isis
6) Máscara Dorada, Star Jr., Volador Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible

CMLL’s recap praised the El Triangulo team in a loss, stronger than they usually do for these for the events.

NJPW Strong’s Fight Spirit Unleashed happened on the same night. Neither of the CMLL matches were ones you need to go out of your way to track down, but they both achieved what they were going for. Stephanie Vaquer did a lot of cool Stephanie Vaquer things enroute to her and Zeuxis defeating Lluvia & Johnnie Robbie. The Atlantis 40th Anniversary match was more or less the Black Cat tribute matches on the FantasticaMania shows, only with more NJPW Strong names involved. It mostly went well, though Adrian Quest made a heroic attempt to get into the Atlantida and ended up falling on his own head. That should probably not be tried any more outside of experienced CMLL people, but Atlantis may not have too many matches left against non-CMLL people.

That NJPW Strong show was busy on setting up matches, as their next show is just two weeks away. these are now official matches for the 11/10 show in Garland, Texas

• Mistico vs TJP
• Mayu Iwatani vs Stephanie Vaquer for the IWGP Women’s Championship

NJPW had previously announced Mistico, Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero appearing, so I was just assuming we’d get those guys in a trios or something along those lines. Mistico versus TJP is a great bonus, something that would work well in Arena Mexico but might never ever get booked. Vaquer/Iwatani should be pretty good as well. It is also exactly the match Dave Meltzer reported a week or so ago, with everyone pretending like it was a surprise.

The flipside here is NJPW fans want these shows to be like NJPW Japan, and three matches including CMLL wrestlers is not NJPW. I sensed a little push back when it was just two on this past show, and that may be stronger if it keeps up.

CMLL (SUN) 10/29/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Brillante Jr. & Max Star b Sangre Imperial & Vegas
2) Kráneo & Raider b Hombre Bala Jr. & Volcano
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
4) Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis b Makoto, Olympia, Tessa Blanchard
Olympia replaced Makoto
5) Averno, Euforia, Mephisto b Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Zeuxis’ recent schedule is crazy, because she was one of those people on the northern Mexico tour and now has all these women’s matches to close the month:

• 10/20: Universal final vs Catalina
• 10/21: Mexico City (special women’s showcase at UNAM)
• 10/22: Saltillo, Coahuila
• 10/23: Nuevo Laredo, Tamaluipas
• 10/24: Piedras Negras, Coahuila
• 10/25: a day off!
• 10/26: Gomez Palacio
• 10/27: Gran Prix
• 10/28: NJPW in Las Vegas
• 10/29: Arena Mexico
• 10/30: Puebla
• 10/31: Guadalajara

That’s 10 matches in 11 days. Zeuxis gets some time off starting Wednesday – unless they rope her in to talk on Informa, which seems possible. Lluvia and Catalina have a similar schedule, but Lluvia seems to be off this coming week and Catalina got this past weekend off. I hope Zeuxis gets some rest and/or video game time soon.

Monday’s Arena Puebla show is their first all women’s show. They’ll feature a group of local luchadors who’ve been training there for months. Pegasso is the lead trainer. El Sol de Puebla asked him if he felt this was a like a graduation for the Puebla luchadors, and he disagreed. This is a positive moment for them, but he feels like they can go further. Some of the women (Lady Metal) have already gone on to wrestle in other CMLL arenas and he feels they should all aspire to that. Pegasso again credits the idea to Benjamin Mar, who felt Puebla women should be represented in CMLL and asked Pegasso to lead the training. The list of luchadoras participating is listed as Diablita Roja, Mania, Astoreth, Lady Amazona, Lady Metal, Shitara, Hella, Mayahuel, and Enigmatica; Mania is the one who hasn’t been on Arena Puebla shows yet.

The Arena Puebla women’s show seems closely tied to the Arena Coliseo Guadalajara women’s show the next day, as if it’s the Guadalajara branch taking the lead on this. That also means it’s possible the Guadalajara crew could be traveling to Puebla to broadcast the show; it might be worth checking on their YouTube/Facebook channels on Monday night.

Tuesday’s Arena Mexico show starts the Dia del Muertos events. The big match is the Rey del Inframundo cibernetico, winner to face Stuka Jr. on Friday. Esfinge and Maya, as the only two tecnicos, seem like they have decent shots. If they go rudo/rudo, Barbaro Cavernario, Averno and Gran Guerrero seem the most likely.

Titan & BUSHI are now 3-3 in NJPW’s Super Junior Tag League. There’s a mass of teams with three or four wins and only one with five wins, so the LIJ group is still alive. They have DOUKI and Taka on Tuesday, then Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita on Wednesday before the next news post. Either I’ll have a long bit about tiebreakers on Wednesday or they’ll be eliminated by then.

Mas Luchas posted their Turiluchas interviews with Gran Prix women a little late for me to include on Friday. One worth checking out after the fact is with Andromeda, who says she thought hard for many days about “debuting in Guadalajara.” She doesn’t say “choosing with AAA or CMLL”, but it’s clearly what she meant. It sounds like the Andromeda name was announced before even she knew it was her; she talks about meeting with people in Arena Mexico and being told that was going to be her CMLL name and then finding out it would be here. It also sounds like she was assured she’d be on the main roster quickly, not one of the many women training in Guadalajara hoping to make it that far. None of that was surprising, but it’s useful to get more information on the story. Andromeda says it was her dream to wrestle in CMLL, which is probably the dream of a lot of luchadors from Torreon given it’s strong connection with the promotion. Andromeda’s next big dream is to go to wrestle in Japan for a few months to learn their style.

I don’t know where to put Penta talking to Mas Lucha about AEW & Mistico but I guess it’s a CMLL thing. Penta is for it; it’s good for the fans, it’s good business for the wrestlers. He and Mistico have been friends for years; Penta is happy with him and would like to wrestle him. Penta hopes “the politics” get broken down and everyone can work with everyone. (That is unlikely to happen.) Penta says his own deal with AAA is on a per night date basis, and he’s open to working for any promoter in Mexico.

Denise Salcedo had an interview with Atlantis to hype the NJPW Strong show.

AAA

I’m not a television editor, so I don’t know exactly what happened technically with the production on this week’s AAA show. What it appeared like was that the live action was on one video track, the replay and other secondary elements were on a secondary video track, and that secondary video track was about 10-15 seconds behind all episodes. The TV show would do the replay video transition, then come back to live action, and then maybe five seconds later, the replay would actually happen. Bits like showing a wrestler’s graphic before their entrance would instead appear halfway as they walked through the ring. It didn’t really affect the show, it just made added to the image of AAA feeling second rate. This episode was from a taping a month ago, so there should’ve been plenty of time to notice the mistake and fix it. That just doesn’t get done with AAA in 2023.

The AAA TV show already feels so low effort and half-thought that I kinda wish they’d just go full no effort with the booking – like stop running most of the angles and just roll out generic matches. There was no real angle with the three way match, including Octagon Jr., Drago and Bestia and it was fine. They got rid of Kento and Takuma before the main event four way match, they just had a normal elimination match, and it was pretty good. The lumberjack had lots of interference but it was just exactly the match everyone expects when AAA runs a lumberjack match, and that was OK too. It says something that AAA is a much easier watch when they stop doing most of the big stuff they’re trying to do.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 10/29/2023 Arena Naucalpan [Mas Lucha]
1) Águila Oriental b Rey Gato Jr.  
2) Rey Aztaroth (Estado de México) b Auzter, Súperboy  
3) Centvrión, Gannicus, Mr. Mike b Dr. Cerebro Jr., Fussion, Noisy Boy  
4) Ivan Rokov, Puma de Oro, Relámpago b Hell Boy, Shocko, Tonalli 
5) Big Mami b Kali, Satania, Mary Caporal, Sagitarius, Gizelle, Lolita, Danessa, Estrella Divina, Amazonika [Copa Reina del Ring]
Mas Lucha announced Big Mami as first participant in their upcoming Torneo Suprema
6) Águila Roja b Spider Fly © [IWRG IC Light] 
5th defense, 3rd against Aguila Roja

The women’s match here wasn’t the Gran Prix, judging from the clips. Big Mami isn’t great but few people have looked as out of their depth as Gizelle in an IWRG ring. There’s no point in the match where she does better than any fan pulled out of the crowd would’ve done. If you’re serious about wrestling – not just women’s wrestling, but any sort of wrestling – you can’t put people who are doing that badly in your matches.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha posted both the first half of their most recent show and Big Lucha World this weekend. I have not had the time to watch them. I mean, I guess I had that time, but it went to other vital tasks (playing Spider-Man 2, sleeping.) I’ll get to it over the next few days.

Other News

Arturo Adan Morales, who wrestled as both Bello Adan and masked man The Rose, passed away on Saturday according to Box y Lucha. He was 67. His career went from about 1977 to about 2007, spending time in LLI, CMLL and AAA in bits and pieces. He briefly had the Black Man II gimmick but mostly played exoticos and typically lost the apuesta matches.

El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. lost the GHC National Championship to Jack Morris on NOAH’s Sunday show. Los Golpeadors retained the GHC Junior tag team championship over Tadasuke & YO-HEY on the same show.

Ke Monito received an award.

Referee Yayito was honored in Tamaulipas.

RIOT 12/09 in Arena Femenil

• Takuma & SB Kento vs Arez & Latigo
• Erik Ortiz vs Bandido – new

Those are two good matches. It’s RIOT so it might be the only two matches they announce. That’s now the earliest announced return match for Bandido.

La Razon visits Arena Olimpico Laguna.

Brigada Dos de Tres Caidas is producing a series of features on young Mexico city wrestlers; the latest is on Extasis.

NviNoticas has an interview with Estrellita.

CMLL

Today’s the CMLL women’s Gran Prix

CMLL (FRI) 10/27/2023 Arena México
1) Diamond & Valiente Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II
2) Futuro, Neón, Pelon Encapuchado vs El Coyote, Inquisidor, Pólvora
3) Averno vs Virus [lightning]
4) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario
5) Amapola, Andrómeda, Dark Silueta, Hera, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Reyna Isis, Skadi vs Johnnie Robbie, La Catalina, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Sumie Sakai, Tessa Blanchard, Zeuxis [CMLL Gran Prix de Amazonas]

These matches are usually planned out well, and it’s just a matter of executing to have a good match. It’ll be interesting where Andromeda fits in, and how CMLL follows up with Catalina after winning the Universal tournament. The Mexican team has won the previous two matches, so it’s probably about time for the foreigners to take one. The foreign team looks much stronger than the Mexican one this year, generally. Tessa is the obvious favorite but Mei could be the winner too; she’s the one who got the “would you consider staying in CMLL for a long time?” question on Informa. The modern men’s foreign winners have usually been all non-CMLL regulars, for what it’s worth.

The semimain should be good, and maybe better than anything turned out last week. Averno versus Virus is diehard favorite versus diehard favorite, they just need Hechicero to call it. I don’t know that Futuro & Neon will be as impressive this time out but it’ll be good to see them. The opener may be a struggle. This (and next week) is a double price PPV.

The women (or at least those who were in town) did the media tour on Thursday. They rode the Turiluchas buses with the media and did a group pose at the Mexico military college. Publimetro has interviews with Stephanie Vaquer & Tessa Blanchard, and Andromeda, Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis and Skadi on the tecnica bus. Blanchard said the CMLL women were the best in Mexico. Vaquer wants three or four Chilean women in the Gran Prix next year. Andromeda is twenty years old and started lucha libre training at 10. Jarochita feels like Catalina must be very lucky to somehow beat her.

Saturday has the NJPW Strong show in Las Vegas, Fighting Spirt Unleashed. There’s two CMLL matches

• Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis vs Lluvia & Johnny Robbie
• Mistico, Atlantis Jr., Hiroshi Tanahashi, Atlantis vs Adrian Quest, Tiger Mask, Soberano Jr., Rocky Romero

This airs on FITE for $20. It should be good, though I’m not sure if it’s $20 good. The Atlantis match is just a for fun one where the outcome doesn’t match much. Vaquer’s almost definitely going over in the women’s tag.

CMLL and NJPW have said nothing about Soberano. No “he’s hurt, he won’t be there.” No, “he’s actually going to gut his way through it (he really wanted to go Vegas.)” Just silence. No one’s much pointed it out, even when previewing this show. For all CMLL is being touted as the promotion of the year or even just having a hot one, it’s the same few as always actually paying attention to the day by day stuff. Anyway, no news usually means Soberano Jr.’s not going to be there but they haven’t figured out a replacement or the replacement is going to make people unhappy.

While I’m in a strangely sour mood, this is a good place to note that whatever effect Mistico had on Rampage has not seemed to help for the NJPW Strong shows much. WrestleTix Thursday reported 730 tickets have been sold, which seems a small number. Tickets for NJPW shows tend to be higher priced and NJPW didn’t set up the building much bigger than that so maybe it’s fine, it’s just not the “extra 2000” tickets for last week’s AEW show.

CMLL (SUN) 10/29/2023 Arena México
1) Brillante Jr. & Max Star vs Sangre Imperial & Vegas
2) Hombre Bala Jr. & Volcano vs Kráneo & Raider
3) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
4) Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis vs Makoto, Mei Suruga, Tessa Blanchard
5) Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring, Valiente vs Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Only one women’s match is a rarity in CMLL this month.

Rocky Romero was on Wrestling Observer Live on Wednesday. The goal of the interview was to promote the NJPW Strong show. There was talk about the AEW/CMLL relationship. Romero confirmed that the CMLL rules are no AAA wrestlers on the same show as CMLL wrestlers. That’s generally the same rule CMLL uses in Mexico. There are Mexican local promoters that use talent from both shows, just not on the same show (and sometimes using slightly different promotion name now.) AEW is skirting those rules by considering Dynamite and Rampage as separate shows since they’re taped back to back, but Salvador Lutteroth was there and aware of it so it can’t be too much of an issue.

Romero mentioned that he hoped to see more with CMLL, AEW and NJPW in 2024, which came off as a Forbidden Door tease. It also could be read as CMLL wouldn’t be seen in AEW for the rest of this year. Romero had big plans for NJPW Strong in 2024, including invoking the planned (and COVID scraped) Madison Square Garden show from a few years back in talking about wanting to run a US show of that size sometime next year. That seems incredibly ambitious, but it would probably take CMLL wrestlers along with it so I’m all for it. Plans for NJPW Strong to return to taping weekly TV also sound like ways CMLL wrestlers may appear more in the US.

MLW’s TV show aired edited highlights of the 06/30 Volador Jr./Rocky Romero match. Heel producer for the day Salina de la Renta forced the announcers to tell the fans they’d have to buy the CMLL PPV to watch the whole show. You, of course, can not buy a CMLL PPV from three months ago – you’d have to subscribe to CMLL’s YouTube to see that full match. MLW also announced Rocky Romero & Barbaro Cavernario versus Mascara Dorada 2.0 & Ichiban for the 11/18 show on Philadelphia. Again, he hasn’t been Mascara Dorada 2.0 in three months; MLW isnt’t really locked in on this at all and it’s another reason to believe this won’t amount to much. The MLW shows do air on FITE+, so it won’t cost you much to see it. Dorada is the right name to get for MLW to get buzz. I’m also thinking this will be an eight-minute good match before it goes off the rails to serve whatever wacky angle MLW has coming up.

One thing I’ve been critical about CMLL’s YouTube channel is the lack of promised historical content. Technically, CMLL has done it. If you look at the end of the membership playlist, you can see CMLL’s moved all the Aniversario shows they’ve uploaded to that pay tier. Converting more free stuff into pay content is not what anyone was really hoping for.

The mayor’s office of Iztacalco opened up a photo exhibit for Blue Panther on Thursday. He’s lived in that Mexico City borough for 37 years. There’s video for the presentation here.

AAA

This week’s AAA TV finishes up the Mexico City taping

• Kento & Takuma vs Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa
• Octagón Jr. vs Drago vs Bestia 666 [AAA LA, #1 Contenders]
• Komander vs La Estrella vs Kuukai vs Mecha Wolf [AAA CRUISER]

Pagano, on stage in his usual paint, appeared as part of a rally for Mexican presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum in Parral, Chihuahua. Pagano told the media he’s been following the MORENA party (Sheinbaum’s party) since 2021 Ciudad Juarez elections but doesn’t consider himself part of any political group. Lucha libre shows paid for by political parties are common around elections in Mexico but it’s rare to see a luchador have a public association with a party. I guess it’s also odd to see a man in clown makeup on stage at a political rally, but I don’t follow Mexican politics closely enough to know.

AAA hosted a private show for the people in charge of Kingdom Cup. It took me a good ten minutes to figure out what the Kingdom Cup is, even with a link to their social media. (It’s a soccer league that plays 7v7 instead of 11v11, among other rule changes.)

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 10/26/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Red Power & Rey Aztaroth b Águila Oriental & Ajolotl 
2) Centurion, Gannicus, Rey Halcón b Caballero de Plata, Dr. Cerebro Jr., Tornado 
3) Último Legendario b Cerebro Negro 
4) Relámpago DQ Puma de Oro © [IWRG IC MIDDLE] 
fourth defense. Puma de Oro hit Relampago with an elbow to the chin, Relampago took a bump, and the doctor immediately stopped the match while giving the X sign. Relampago was DQed, though I’m not clear why. Titles change hands on DQs so Relampago is the new champ.
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Ivan Rokov, Pig Decapitador, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool 
Ivan Rokov replaced Pig Destroyer and wore his mask. Bengalee got involved and attacked by the Pigs post match.

The fourth match finish was baffling. The two men are doing a dramatic back-and-forth strike exchange. Puma de Oro hits Relampago with an elbow to the chin, Relampago is KOed, and Puma de Oro is disqualified for knocking out his opponent. Isn’t the goal of professional wrestling to incapacitate your opponent? The announcers tried to make sense of it but there was no sense to be had. It reads almost like they were trying to do a weird shoot angle. Typically someone shoot doesn’t get to do two interviews afterward. This must’ve made sense in someone’s head but it it came off as silly.

This show primarily aired on IWRG’s channel. It popped up on Mas Lucha during the Relampago/Puma de Oro using the same feed, but didn’t stick with it for whatever reason. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in on an IWRG feed when they’re just running the show, and the streaming number did seem up – like 600 people watching live. It used to be under 100 when Mas Lucha and IWRG would both stream it, so people have at least figured out to check the IWRG channel.

IWRG (SUN) 10/29/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Oriental vs Golden Power
2) Auzter & Súperboy vs Red Power & Rey Aztaroth (Estado de México)
3) Dr. Cerebro Jr., Fussion, Noisy Boy vs Centvrión, Gannicus, Mr. Mike
4) Hell Boy, Shocko, Tonalli vs Ivan Rokov, Puma de Oro, Relámpago
5) Big Mami vs Kali, Satania, Mary Caporal, Sagitarius, Gizelle, Lolita, Danessa, Estrella Divina, Amazonika [Copa Reina del RIng]
6) Spider Fly © vs Águila Roja [IWRG IC Light]
5th defense, 3rd against Aguila Roja

They’re giving the lightweights a big chance for a great match.

Tonalli talked up his feud with Relampago in IWRG leading into Castillo del Terror to Record. I can confirm this is not the same Tonali who is suspended for ten months due to gambling.

Other News

I broke the luchadb earlier this week and eventually caught in and fixed it. If dates looked weird, that was me and not you.

Lucha VaVOOM had been hyping up a mystery opponent for Taya on their Thursday show for a while. This was peculiar, as Lucha VaVOOM almost never announces any matches. All the matches are mystery matches. (I tend to wait for full cards before adding shows to the database, and I almost never remember to add Lucha VaVOOM shows because there’s never any lineup.) There was a reason for the hype; Taya’s match ended up being her and Brian Kendrick versus Maria Shafir & Ronda Rousey. That’s Rousey’s first post-WWE match, after finishing up there a few months ago. Rousey, before she was a big MMA star, then a WWE person (and also a person who posted weird conspiracy stuff on the internet), was a person who would go to southern California indie shows and have a fun time. This was probably just getting having that fun and nothing more for now.

On Tuesday, the Wolf King announced they were shutting down. On Wednesday, Mas Lucha posted a card a show for an 11/03 The King Phantom show, which maybe is being run by the same people who ran the Wolf King or maybe is being canceled who evern knows.

ESTO has an interview with Sanguinario Torres & Sanguinario Jaguar to hype the 11/03 Robles show in Mexico City. Their trio partner, Sanguinario Bin Laden, was not present.

RIOT’s 12/09 show will have Takuma & SB Kento vs Arez & Latigo. That seems like a good match.

US wrestler Charlotte Flair took part in United Nations day on Tuesday at primary school Francisco Zarco in Gomez Palacio. The article claims Andrade has two nieces there but their classmates didn’t believe they were actually related, so Charlotte and Andrade decided to pop in.

A fictional movie on luchador El Halcon aired as part of the Morelia film festival. No word on a larger release.

The San Luis Potosi state government unveiled a lucha libre themed Dia de Meurtos tribute.

Blind Magazine talks about a new luchadora photo exhibit.

An article on Latin Lover’s gym in Monterrey.

There are new people in charge of the lucha libre commission in Benito Juarez, Quintana Roo.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 10/23/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) Enigmática & Lady Metal b Astoreth & Diablita Roja
2) Black Tiger, Rey Samuray, Siki Osama b Asturiano, Millenium, Rey Apocalipsis 
3) Disturbio b Halcón Suriano Jr. [lightning]
4) Amapola, Hera, Olympia, Reyna Isis, Skadi b Johnny Robbie, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai, Tessa Blanchard [cibernetico]  
Amapla replaced Sanely (injury.) Elimination order: Olympia (by Robbie), Makoto (Isis), Hera (Sakai), Robbie (Skadi), Sakai (Amapola), Skadi (Tessa), Mei (Isis), Isis (Tessa), Tessa (Amapola after Isis disrupted a Tessa pin.)
5) Euforia, Niebla Roja, Stigma, Stuka Jr. b Esfinge, Hechicero, Star Jr., Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
Stuka Jr. replaced Soberano Jr. (injury) on Monday
6) Bárbaro Cavernario © b Ángel de Oro [CMLL LH]
3rd defense

The video we have is just of the women’s matches, so no telling how good that main event went.

Heraldo de Puebla has an interview with Lady Metal. She found out she was replacing La Magnifica that morning and cried; she wanted to debut in Arena Puebla but didn’t know she ever would. She figured CMLL was going to eventually give her and the other women training in Puebla a chance and thought maybe she’d be used as a fill in, but it wasn’t real to her until she actually got the match. She’s been wrestling mostly as a tecnica and she’s comfortable doing it, but would rather be a ruda. Lady Metal is a very quiet person without the mask, has few friends, and feels like she changes a lot when wearing the mask.

La Magnifica hasn’t wrestled since missing that show. CMLL hasn’t said anything more about her.

CMLL (TUE) 10/24/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kasier Sports]
1) Mije b Periquito Sacaryas, Micro Sagrado 
Started out as a trios, Micros Gemelos were removed on Monday, Chamuel wasn’t there on Tuesday, so this ended up as the first ever Micros three way match. Sagrado beat Sacaryas, Mije beat Sagrado
2) Olympia & Tiffany b La Guerrera & La Vaquerita 
3) Amapola b Metálica [lightning] 
4) Pierrothito b Último Dragóncito, Shockercito, Angelito, Pequeño Olímpico, Mercurio, Kaligua, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Magía, Minos, Fantasy, Full Metal, Acero, Galaxy, Aéreo, Pequeño Violencia [cibernetico] 
Dia Mundial de Las Personas con Talla Baja cibernetico. Order of elimination: Aereo (by Minos), Peq. Polvora (Full Metal), Acero (Kaligua), Fantasy (Peq. Magia), Full Metal (Mercurio), Minos (Galaxy), Kailgua (Peq. Olimpico), Peq. Magia (Angelito), Peq. Violencia (Ultimo Dragoncito), Galaxy (Shockercito), Peq. Olimpico (Angelito), Angelito (Mercurio), Shockercito (Peq. Pierroth), Mercurio (Ultimo Dragoncito), Ultimo Dragoncito (Pierrothito)
5) Blue Panther & Dark Panther DRAW El Hijo de Octagón & Octagón 
Panther Sr. & Octagon went to a double pin

The cibernetico was good, the Panthers tried to make the best of the main event, and not much is worth watching here.

CMLL (TUE) 10/24/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Carlo Roggi, Destello, Destructor b Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Hijo del Calavera 
2) Adira, Centinela, Katara, Magia Azul b Dulce Kitty, La Pantera, Sexy Sol, Universys 
3) Gallo Jr. & Rafaga Jr. b Brillante Jr. & Halcón Suriano Jr. 
4) El Gallero b Star Black [super libre] 
5) Dulce Gardenia & La Fashion b Bestia Negra & Ráfaga 
6) Andrómeda, Dark Silueta, La Maligna, Persephone, Reyna Isis, Valkiria b Johnny Robbie, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Sumie Sakai, Tessa Blanchard 
Dark Silueta beat Tessa to win the cibernetico
7) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico b Arlequín, Averno, Blue Panther Jr. 
Arelquin replaced Soberano Jr.

Not a smooth night in many of the matches – Brillante Jr. didn’t look good at all. Crowd seemed up, which might be a Mistico thing. The Mexican women have won the two lead up ciberneticos, which suggests an opposite outcome for Friday.

CMLL (SAT) 10/28/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Leono vs Enfermero Jr. & Grako
2) La Guerrera & Tiffany vs La Maligna & Olympia
3) Arkalis, Rey Samuray, Xelhua vs Difunto, El Coyote, Pólvora
4) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
5) Dark Silueta & Reyna Isis vs Amapola & Tessa Blanchard
6) Máscara Dorada, Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible

The main event sounds fun.

CMLL (MON) 10/30/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Mayahuel & Shitara vs Astoreth & Diablita Roja
2) Hella, La Maligna, La Vaquerita vs Enigmática, La Pantera (Jalisco), Lady Amazona
3) Adira (Jalisco), Lady Metal, Persephone vs Centinela (Jalisco), Hera, Olympia
4) Amapola, Andrómeda, La Metálica vs Makoto, Mei Suruga, Tessa Blanchard
5) Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Reyna Isis vs La Catalina, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis [Relevos Increíbles]

CMLL did go with the all women’s show for Arena Puebla. We don’t have full records, but it seems safe to assume this is the first CMLL all women’s show in the history of the building.

Lluvia seems missing from what should be a Las Infernales trios main event; maybe she’s not going to make it back from NJPW Las Vegas in time? (Maybe she’s hanging around, since she’s not on the next couple of shows.) Sanely is out of action and Marcela still isn’t ready to return; I wonder how many of the Jalisco women were planned for this show.

CMLL (TUE) 10/31/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Luna, Rida, Xenna vs Atenea, Estrella Maldad, Yemaya
2) Diabilita Roja, Estrellita Mágica, Lady Metal vs Gema Andrade, Miss Guerrera, Misteriosa
Puebla vs Laguna
3) Adira, Dulce Kitty, Náutica vs La Pantera, Nexy, Universys
4) Centinela, Magia Azul, Sexy Sol vs Alondra, Andrómeda, Lady Shadow
GDL vs Laguna
5) Hera, Olympia, Reyna Isis vs La Maligna, Quimera, Valkiria
6) Dark Silueta, La Jarochita, Makoto, Mei Suruga vs La Catalina, Persephone, Tessa Blanchard, Zeuxis

This is also an all women’s show. CMLL is using “Liga Femenil de Naciones” (LFN) as the branding for these shows. The tickets are more expensive than usual; this card could’ve used a big singles or title match to make that work.

Match 4 works out to have Andromeda against Centienla, which is not the same person (now.)

Today’s CMLL Informa has the Gran Prix participants, Mistico, Volador, Templario, and Mascara Dorada talking about their trips, and Pierrothito talking about winning yesterday.  There probably won’t be any major lineup announcements coming – there are almost no lineups left to announce for the next ten days. There should be an update on Soberano and there will be a lot of interest in what is said about the AEW match.

NJPW officially announced the 2024 FantasticaMania tour on Wednesday morning.

• 02/12 Osaka
• 02/13 Osaka
• 02/14 Kagawa
• 02/16 Aichi
• 02/16 Chiba
• 02/18 Korakuen Hall
• 02/19 Korakuen Hall

The shift to February seems permanent, but everything else seems about normal. Seven shows is one more than last year, one less than the 2020 tour. They’ve never run Osaka two nights prior, though it’ll be two different venues. Maybe we’ll get some bigger matches on night two. They’re skipping Kyoto (the stained glassed window venue), and returning to Aichi for the first time since 2018.

After Titan & BUSHI won their Super Junior Tag League opener, they dropped the next two matches. At 1-2, they’re a long shot to advance.

I was on Alan4L’s PW Torch VIP podcast (subscription needed) to talk about the last few months of CMLL and AEW.

AAA

AAA will have EspectroFest at Luchatitlan on 11/03. Abismo Negro, Parka Negra, Myzeziz and Lady Shani will in the usual crew at the show. I wonder if AAA has pivoted with this project and they’re going to run shows with AAA names will be a regular bit.

QT Marshall defends the AAA Latin American championship against Fuego del Sol on 11/04 in Florida’s CCW.

IWRG

The normal Thursday card:

IWRG (WED) 10/25/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Águila Oriental & Ajolotl vs Red Power & Rey Aztaroth
2) Caballero de Plata, Dr. Cerebro Jr., Tornado vs Centurion, Gannicus, Rey Halcón
3) Último Legendario vs Cerebro Negro
4) Puma de Oro © vs Relámpago [IWRG IC MIDDLE]
fourth defense
5) Pig Decapitador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor, Pig Pool vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Canis Lupus, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.

Relampago has been feuding with Tonalli but is getting a title match with Puma de Oro first. I guess why not.

IWRG also had a press conference to announce the Castillo del Terror lineup

IWRG (THU) 11/02/2023 Arena Naucalpan
***Castillo del Terror, 2023***
1) ? vs ??
2) Keyra vs Mary Caporal, Lady Maravilla, Diosa Quetzal, Lolita
3) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. © vs León Dorado & Mr. Leo [IWRG IC TAG]
fourth defense
4) Hell Boy © vs Toxin, Aramis, Noisy Boy, Bobby Lee Jr., Hijo de Canis Lupus [IWRG MEXICO]
fourth defense
5) Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Jessy Ventura, Mamba vs Gizelle, Hijo De Bobby Lee, Hijo del Fishman, Rey Espectro
6) Galeno del Mal © vs Ivan Rokov, DMT Azul, Hijo del Pirata Morgan [IWRG IC HEAVY]
2nd defense
7) Sádika vs Bengalee, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr., Gran Pandemónium, Satania, Relámpago, Spider Fly, Pig Destroyer, Pig Decapitador, Pig Pool, Pig Destructor, Águila Roja, Sagitarius, Amazonika, Tonalli [cage, mask]

The theme here is “more”, with more people in the cage match than ever before and lots of people in the undercard. More doesn’t always equal better. This is a Mas Lucha premium show.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha World returns on Friday

Big Lucha World (FRI) 10/27/2023 Fuego del Barrio, Gustavo A. Madero, Distrito Federal
1) Big Taotao vs Ryu Orochi
2) Radioactivo vs Atómico Jr.
3) El Potro de Oro & Tirano vs Action Jackson & Black Andrómeda

This is a bar show, so who even knows how the stream will go. It’s a free show to promote the upcoming NASCAR Mexico show, and Big Lucha will have a show at the race track as well. (That one doens’t appear to be taped.)

The next normal show:

Big Lucha (SAT) 11/18/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Zenky vs Atómico Jr., Auzter
2) Mr. Win & Tirano vs Black Skayde & M2R
3) Viajero vs Brujo
4) Elipse, Iku, Orbita vs Cometa Maya, Morfosis, Radioactivo
5) Action Jackson vs Rey Horus, Jack Evans
6) El Potro de Oro © vs Electroshock [Big Lucha World]
2nd defense
7) Bendito, Black Andrómeda, Emperador Azteca vs Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria

Dark Family are in as promised. Electroshock challenging is new (and not exactly welcome.) I wasn’t exactly sure if Rey Horus would be back here after Golden Guns fell apart, this is his first appearance since. Viajero and Brujo keep wrestling until they have their mask match.

Other News

The Wolf King, who previously announced a show for Arena Azteca Budokan next weekend, is instead shutting down. The Wolf King mostly ran shows in Neza with scores of people booked. (They’re the ones who ran the show with five cage matches, and people not announced for those matches losing their hair or mask.) There are a few promotions running the same way, overloading their cards with fifty or more wrestlers. Either they’re paying the wrestlers next to nothing, or they’re spending an immense amount of money on unnecessary talent. Groups like AVE and Lucha Libre Boom at least draw very well; the Wolf King never seemed to do that. All of these shows with so many people booked sound awful to me – I want fewer people in matches that mean more – but someone must be buying tickets.

Daga, in an interview with Lucha Libre Ahora, mentioned that he hasn’t been under contract to AAA since 2017. That was when he left to start La Rebelion. He’s since returned and was Latin American champion up until the pandemic and got a world title match on TripleMania. The context is Daga a free agent, and is willing and happy to face CMLL wrestlers if given the chance. His big focus is on continuing to do well in NOAH.

Vanguardia’s 11/18 show has El Mago & Solar I versus Aeroboy & Super Astro as the main event. It’s Mago’s anniversary show, he should do whatever main event he wants, but I would’ve like seeing Mago vs Aeroboy as a straight up singles match much more.

Thunder Rosa, still in Mexico (or maybe this was from a few days ago?), talks about her struggles in wrestling.

An interview with Xalapa’s Dragork, a Tirantes trainee.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/20/2023 Arena México [AS, CMLL, Kaiser Sports, PubliMetro, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (videos), thecubsfan]
***Blue Panther 45th Anniversary***
1) Brillante Jr. & Halcón Suriano Jr. b Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro    
16:20
2) Dulce Gardenia, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring b Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr.   
11:31.
3) Johnnie Robbie, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai b Dark Silueta, Reina Isis, Stephanie Vaquer   
11:41. TBD after the Universal prelim rounds.
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther b Gran Guerrero, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero    
13:04. Hijo de Stuka replaced Dragon Rojo (shoulder) on 10/14.
5) La Catalina b Zeuxis [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, final]    
15:24. Catalina won clean with a top rope splash to wint he tournament.
6) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja b Euforia & Soberano Jr. [CMLL TAG]  
12th defense. Soberano suffered a low body injury and left the match early. Euforia beat Angel de Oro but then lost to Niebla Roja.

I had high hopes for the main event and it didn’t work out. It didn’t seem to be going as good as hoped when stream joined in (more on that in a couple of paragraphs.) The match broke down after Soberano suffered a low body injury after a high kick. Soberano could not finish the match, and there was a lot of visible discussion about how the remaining three wrestlers were going to finish the match. I am guessing the Chavez brothers were intended to stay tag champs and the issue was more that Soberano was supposed to be the final person left on his team, but I don’t know that for sure. There’s no update on Soberano’s status, only that he’s been pulled from shows.

La Catalina and Zeuxis was the type of match I expected after the lead up comments. Zeuxis connected very solidly on another of kicks and other moves, and Catalina just did her best to survive. (If this match happened in one of the two main US TV promotions, there’d be a week-long debate about working stiff versus intentionally hurting your opponent.) I was stunned that Catalina won. She has some popularity and tries, but she’s not that far along as a worker and this sort of win feels way too soon. CMLL does seem to want to push fresh faces and Catalina is exactly that, but it would’ve meant more if Catalina was ready for it.

The rest of the show was just sort of there. The Blue Panther tribute was nice and his match was the best on the show. The foreign women did OK; Suruga gets the biggest reactions. The undercard wasn’t much.

CMLL’s stream failed right before the main event and did not turn back on for 11 minutes. It came off like someone set a timer to turn off the stream at just over two hours then no one could get it started again, but we don’t know if that’s actually the case. Boletia/Neerme took down the link to the show at some point over the week. That’d make sense if they were going to send out a link to a new complete stream, but that didn’t seem to happen either. This is  where a refund would be useful; I haven’t personally been told I’d be getting one.

This is what you’re going to get with CMLL (and generally Mexican wrestling) digital products; you buy these things knowing the promotions probably won’t get involved if something goes wrong. It’s lucky it didn’t happen on a bigger show; this main was messed up anyway as soon as Soberano got hurt.

Kaho Kobayashi, who wrestled in CMLL in 2018 and 2019, was back in Mexico this weekend and went to this show. She just missed out on the Gran Prix by a couple of years.

Mistico defeating Rocky Romero aired on Rampage. It was good and seemed to be generally positively received. AEW brought up the match again the next day on Collision. Nothing more has been announced with AEW and CMLL. The match got some attention in Mexico. There wasn’t any mention or hint of Bryan Danielson on Friday’s Blue Panther celebration. There will probably be more but it was never going to be an every week show. Both AEW’s swings in California next month and in Texas again in December seem like logical places for more Mexican wrestlers, regardless of promotional affiliation, though there are latino wrestling fans everywhere.

CMLL (SAT) 10/21/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Leono b Bengala [lightning]
2) Lady Metal & Olympia b La Guerrera & Maligna
Olympia replaced Andromeda (moved up)
3) Akuma, Crixus, Dark Magic b Arkalis, Halcón Suriano Jr., Volcano
4) Johnnie Robbie, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai b Amapola, Andrómeda, Dark Silueta
Andromeda replaced Sanely (injury)
5) Magnus, Rey Bucanero, Rugido b El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Black
6) Averno, Terrible, Virus b Blue Panther, Fugaz, Valiente
Blue Panther replaced Soberano (injury) a few hours before the show

Just a normal Saturday show.

CMLL (SUN) 10/22/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, thegladiatores.com (Video)]
1) Miss Guerrera & Tiffany b La Guerrera & Lady Shadow 
2) Capitán Suicida, Eléctrico, Valiente Jr. b Grako, Inquisidor, Vegas 
3) Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Neón b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio 
4) Andrómeda, Hera, Metálica, Olympia b Johnnie Robbie, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai 
first lost for the visitors. Tessa Blanchard appeared before the crowd after the crowd.
5) Esfinge © b Mephisto [MEX LH] 
2nd defense
6) Octagón, Star Jr., Valiente b Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible 
Valiente replaced Soberano Jr. (injury) early Sunday

The foreigners needed to lose or they’d have no chance at winning the Gran Prix.

BUSHI & Titan won their opening match in the Super Junior Tag League on Saturday. They face DKC & Ryusuke Taguchi on Tuesday. This is a ten-team round-robin tournament with the top two advancing to the final. BUSHI & Titan will probably need at least seven wins to move on, and likely more.

Mascara Dorada lost in the finals of the British J Cup. He beat Robbie X in the first round match, and pinned Harrison Bennett in the final four way. Wild Boar unmasked Dorada and pinned him to win. (Leon Slater then beat Boar to win.) Dorada got revenge on Sunday, defeating Wild Boar.

I thought Dorada had impressive moments in all three of his matches and the announcers sold him as an important person. I’m just not sure he stood out enough; fans going in cold would’ve thought he was good but maybe not as great as hyped. This may be a lucha eyes thing; there are times where I think matches are featuring lucha libre talent are good and people who aren’t using to seeing them as often are blown away by the same thing.

Slater is about the RevPro version of Dorada, in terms of a young (19!) exciting wrestler who everyone around the promotion believes will have big things ahead of him. That British J Cup final included a moment where they worked together, then faced off – and then got attacked by the other two wrestlers before they could actually go at. They never got to wrestle again before Dorada was eliminated. RevPro seems to be a more intricately side booked promotion than most. I wonder if that lack of interaction was purposeful and they’re planning a Dorada/Slater match for another day. Hope they get to it.

Mistico, Volador, Templario and Atlantis Jr. spent the weekend with the Denver Broncos. They did a meet and greet on Saturday, then had their match before Sunday’s game. Mistico & Atlantis Jr. defeated Volador & Templario in the match CMLL reported on. (They looked to have actually wrestled twice, and there was a match including local wrestlers – whomever they got the ring from, I presume.) The CMLL wrestlers appered to be treated like important guests all weekend long. The Broncos even won, so it went about as well as it could go. It seemed like a one off but, maybe they’ll be back next year if the feedback was good.

CMLL (TUE) 10/24/2023 Arena México
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado vs Chamuel, Mije, Periquito Sacaryas
2) La Guerrera & La Vaquerita vs Olympia & Tiffany
3) Metálica vs Amapola [lightning]
4) Último Dragóncito vs Shockercito, Pierrothito, Angelito, Pequeño Olímpico, Mercurio, Kaligua, Pequeño Polvora, Pequeño Magía, Minos, Fantasy, Full Metal, Acero, Galaxy, Aéreo, Pequeño Violencia [cibernetico]
Dia Mundial de Las Personas con Talla Baja cibernetico
5) Blue Panther & Dark Panther vs El Hijo de Octagón & Octagón

Hijo de Octagon suffered a leg injury back in February and was out of action for many months. His name has shown up on indie posters lately, but I haven’t seen him actually wrestling until now. It’s a unique main event. CMLL ran this same “World Day of Short People” cibernetico last year as well.

CMLL (FRI) 10/27/2023 Arena México
1) Diamond & Valiente Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I & Dr. Karonte II
2) Futuro, Neón, Pelon Encapuchado vs El Coyote, Inquisidor, Pólvora
3) Averno vs Virus [lightning]
4) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Místico vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario
5) Amapola, Andrómeda, Dark Silueta, Hera, La Jarochita, Lluvia, Reyna Isis, Skadi vs Johnnie Robbie, La Catalina, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Stephanie Vaquer, Sumie Sakai, Tessa Blanchard, Zeuxis [CMLL Gran Prix de Amazonas]

The Gran Prix is on but I was wrong about thinking this would be the full women’s show. Perhaps next year. I don’t think most people complain (and those who are unhappy about not enough women’s wrestling in their mixed promotions don’t seem to check out CMLL anyway.) The semimain could be great. Averno/Virus is a fun weird match; their only other singles match was part of the 2011 Universal tournament.

AAA

Pagano and Texano was now the second ambulance match AAA’s done, and so it’s safe to say they don’t really work out well in AAA. The WWE matches they’re trying to copy put the ambulance in the entrance walkway, so the wrestler can tease “near falls” easily. The ambulance in Mexico City was on the street, so most of the match happened nowhere near where either man could win. (It did not stop Pagano and Texano trying to win by pinfall and submission, which made them come off as goofs.) They eventually did some weak brawling to go down a hallway and outside the building, one tease of Pagano winning, and then Texano moving out of the way so Pagano could throw himself into the ambulance. The idea was Pagano hit his head on a metal object inside of the ambulance to knock himself out, which looked better on TV than it had live. Honestly, it felt like the main reason the match existed was so Pagano could retry his failed fire spot from TripleMania. It worked as planned this time around, but with 1% of the people noticing it compared to a TripleMania. I haven’t made the GIF and I haven’t seen anyone else even mention it, and that virality is that’s the entire reason to do the spot. Still, if you like Pagano hardcore matches maybe it’s worth your time.

The opener threeway was a usual high effort but low logic match. Negro Casas challenging Nicho to a hair match is dire. It’s saved by the fact that AAA almost never delivers any of these matches, maybe we’ll be spared this as well. The results Dralistico/Negro Casas vs Argenis/Nicho match was unmemorable. AAA cut to break immediately after the finish, removing a segment with Bestia del Ring attacking Casas and arguing with Dralistico. The TV show drew attention to Hip Hop Man watching the match from the stage, but no one had any idea why he was watching the match. I didn’t have any idea why I was watching either.

The AAA spot show in Queretaro with Dralistico & Texano Jr. vs Pagano & Hijo del Vikingo on Friday drew very well; looks like a sell out.

A bizarre thing happened on Twitter over the weekend. AAA’s been taking advantage of their Twitter Blue status to post full matches, and AAA’s also been posting matches from the last couple of years on all their social media channels. They’re all matches that have been posted before, but maybe AAA’s only posted the full show previously and so now they’re posting the individual match and highlights. (The idea seems to have a complete archive of every match, but they are noticeably skipping over anything that includes Cuatrero. They also skipped the two Centella matches.) This strategy may help AAA in the long term but it’s made their YouTube channel difficult to follow at thhe moment – there’s a swarm of old stuff around every ‘new’ video – and it also means sometimes old footage makes it’s way to Facebook and Twitter. Unless you look closely or already follow the promotion, it’s hard to tell what this footage is and where it’s from.

That’s what happened with this post, the full length of Tyrus/Daga match from April. For some reason, the Twitter machine fed that match to a whole bunch of people who don’t follow AAA, had no idea if the match was live or taped, and had very loud questions about why Tyrus was wrestling if he retired last month. There were who urgently needed to let Tyrus know he was a poor professional wrestler and thought replying to a post he’ll never see would do the trick. The match is terrible, though for once it wasn’t Tyrus’ fault – that was the match where Daga suffered a knee injury on an otherwise unnoteworthy stomp and was out for a couple of months. (Recent IWRG visitor Takuma Nishikawa did something similar after returning to Dragon Gate; Daga was out for a couple of months and has obviously returned, while Nishikawa has no return timeline.) The Tyrus/Daga match went so poorly that I would’ve buried in six feet under the earth, but AAA posting it on Twitter has gotten them over “1 million” Twitter views already. Maybe they know what they’re doing.

Milenio has an interview with Lady Shani.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 10/22/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha, Zona Ruda]
1) Ajolotl & Fussion b Blue Win & Tornado 
2) Amazonika, Bengalee, Sagitarius b Kali, Lolita, Satania  
3) Águila Roja b Spider Fly   
these two will finally have their title match on 11/02
4) Hell Boy © b Heddi Karaoui © [IWRG MIDDLE, AWIF LA]  
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Shocko b Puma de Oro & Relámpago 
Relampago and Puma de Oro didn’t get along.
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Ivan Rokov, Gizelle, Estrella Divina 
Gizelle was the mystery person

The newest random person in IWRG is Gizelle Azure. She has two known matches, and one of them was on a Nightmare Factory training showcase show. (She must be wrestling more than that based on her Instagram photos.) She’s also a Playboy model.

The AIWF championship is from a North Carolina indie promotion. I have no idea why it ended up in IWRG.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha (SAT) 10/21/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (videos)]
1) Atómico Jr. & Reiyel b Big Taotato & Zenky
dark match
2) M Doble R b Steel Dragón
Steel Dragon lost in a minute, asked for an immediate rematch and vowed to no longer wrestle in Big Lucha if he lost
3) M Doble R b Steel Dragón
Steel Dragon lost again, declared he’d now only be a commentator.
4) Mr. Win & Tirano b Helios & Morfosis
5) Forneo, Limbo, Torito Negro b Canek Jr., Hijo De Dos Caras, Hijo del Pirata Morgan
Canek’s team replaced La Pandemia. Juniors wanted a super libre rematch.
6) Cometa Maya & Radioactivo © b Súper Nova & Texano Jr. [BIG LUCHA MIXA]
Detla Force fall on their first defense. Sangre Texana are 2nd champions. Moved down the card because Texano and Super Nova had another booking.
7) Elipse & Vengador b Odiseo Mendoza & Ursus Mendoza
8) Skayde b Veneno
good technical match
9) El Brujo b Viajero [super libre]
10) El Potro de Oro © b Black Andrómeda [Big Lucha World]
Black Generation attacked Potro and Mr. Big Lucha after the match. A mystery man hit the ring and revealed himself to be Accion Jackson, rejoining Black Generacion. Mr. Big announced the Black Family would come in to battle Black Generacion on the next show (11/18)

Flamita bringing up the guys who had left Black Generacion was foreshadoing after all. It is strange that Accion Jackson left with Elemental and Extasis, disappeared from Mexico, and then ended up back in Big Lucha without those two. Big Lucha had Jackson show up in a mask and a Chicago Blackhawks jersey; I don’t know if fans were expected to believe CM Punk was about to debut in Arena Big Lucha but it didn’t get much of a reaction. Turnout wasn’t strong for this one.

Texano Jr. win a Big Lucha belt and no sign of any CMLL wrestlers for a third straight show makes it seem like that partnership with Big Lucha was very short lived.

The Steel Dragon quick loss bit is Dragon Gate’s Stalker Ichikawa old bit, one of those Dragon Gate things that have turned up here through a Mexican wrestling filter.

Other News

Republic of Lucha says neither Rey Fenix nor Bandido will be cleared in time for their 10/30 show. It caused a lot of lineup changes, as we continue to wait to see when they’d be back.

Latin Lover says he was hospitalized for two months and ran up a bill of over seven million pesos while dealing with a bacteria infection. He was in constant pain and did not believe he would leave the hospital alive, but his doctor credited his healthy lifestyle in helping him get through it. Also helping was his insurance; out of the 7 million pesos (385,000 USD),  he only ended up paying 130,000 pesos (7,000 USD) on a deductible.

El Sol de San Juan del Rio has an interview with original Mini Psycho Clown.

ESTO interviews Death Magic and visits Arena Neza. While on lucha libre in Neza, Arena Azteca Budokan had it’s first show since July this weekend. All the Neza arenas appeared to face inspections after the July 5 fire near Arena San Juan that cost two children their lives. Azteca Budokan and Arena San Juan both stopped running, and Arena San Juan has not reopened.

In normal lucha libre weirdness, The Crash announced Rey Fenix was off their show and then republished a lineup with Rey Fenix still on it. The Crash’s cards appear to be just a Word document, I feel like they should be able to just backspace a few times and fix it.

Segunda Caida reviews more Monterrey lucha libre.