CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/20/2023 Arena México
***Blue Panther 45th Anniversary***
1) Brillante Jr. & Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro
2) Johnnie Robbie, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai vs Dark Silueta, Reina Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
TBD after the Universal prelim rounds
3) Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr. vs Dulce Gardenia, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Gran Guerrero, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
Hijo de Stuka replaced Dragon Rojo (shoulder) on 10/14.
5) La Catalina vs Zeuxis [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, final]
6) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Euforia & Soberano Jr. [CMLL TAG]
12th defense

This is a lineup CMLL announced in advance, and didn’t really do anything to build up besides the Universal tournament. It sneaks up on you, but it should still be pretty fun. That main event tag match should be great. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja had a bunch of strong defenses back when this title was getting a little more action, Soberano had a strong year and he and his father seem to like teaming a bunch. There’s suspense in the finish; Soberano’s been a rudo enough that it’s totally possible the father and son team could win the titles and keep teaming up. This is a safe bet to be worth watching.

The Universal final had much more variance in everything but the finish. Zeuxis is winning unless something bizarre has gone on (and it’s a great story of her leaving CMLL, struggling on her own, and then finding herself again upon returning to her original promotion.) I don’t know if we’re going to get a well-rehearshed action packed match like CMLL’s done with other big women’s matches, or if it’ll be two people who seem to be on not great terms struggling to keep it on track in a match. I assume some part of Zeuxis trashing Catalina is to build up this match, but she was doing it long before those two were close to being opponents. Maybe this ends with Catalina proving something to Zeuxis and the fans, but I’m not sure Zeuxis is going that way.

The Panthers versus Stuka/Guerreros will be a reliable crowd-pleasing match; that all Blue Panther has done for the last decade. They may have to talk him into winning (or talk him into winning himself instead of having his sons get the win.) It’s a big night for ex-Cachorro/Hijo del Blue Panther and Hijo del Stuka Jr., who haven’t been getting anything much to do.

This is crazy talk, but it’s been a crazy week. This is Blue Panther 45th anniversary show. Bryan Danielson has repeatedly said he wants to face Blue Panther. That has a much better chance of happening now than about 10 days ago. The best bit would be Danielson sending in a video to CMLL congratulating Panther on 45 years and stating again he wants the match. Don’t care where it happens, don’t care when it happens, just putting that video out there will be good buzz. Things that I believe should be happening aren’t actually happening much this week, so this doesn’t seem too likely, but everything lines up really well for it.

The first half of the card looks just OK. I watched some NJPW trainee shows on their YouTube to get a sense of Johnny Robbie. She’s young – like under three years in wrestling – but seemed solid for that experience. Her match with Trish Adora from this spring was really good, though I kinda walked away wanting to see Trish Adora in CMLL. Maybe that’ll come some other day. Robbie should keep up with the CMLL women fine. The idea of this card is to get as many Laguneros (Torreon/Gomez Palacio and the surrounding area) on the show as possible so there are names showing up who haven’t made the Friday cut much.

It’s on PPV as usual and will go up on YouTube late October 29th.

CMLL (MON) 10/23/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Enigmática & Lady Metal vs Astoreth & Diablita Roja
2) Black Tiger, Rey Samuray, Siki Osama vs Asturiano, Millenium, Rey Apocalipsis
3) Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Disturbio [lightning]
4) Hera, Olympia, Reyna Isis, Sanely, Skadi vs Johnny Robbie, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai, Tessa Blanchard [cibernetico]
5) Euforia, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr., Stigma vs Esfinge, Hechicero, Star Jr., Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Bárbaro Cavernario © vs Ángel de Oro [CMLL LH]
3rd defense

Cavernario is on a hot streak of late, and so that main event sounds pretty good. The atomicos is a great assortment of people who are left over. (When is Stigma going to defend his title again?) Blanchard joins the crew here.

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

Guadalajara gets the Gran Prix preview Cibernetico. (Zeuxis & Catalina are the missing foreigners.) The 10/31 show looks to be all women here, so they might run it back again the week after or maybe some match is coming out this. Gardenia/Fashion continues to be a tag team here. It was Gallero that Star Black had issues with this past week.

Hatana, who’s part of the group of new woman wrestlers in Guadalajara, is out of action due to an undisclosed injury. She’s raffling off some masks to raise money.

Mistico, Volador Jr., Templario and Atlantis Jr. are doing a meet and greet in Denver on Saturday, then wrestling in the parking lot before the Broncos/Packers game on Sunday afternoon.

Mascara Dorada’s first-round opponent in the British J Cup is Robbie X. Robbie looked good on the FantasticaMania UK show and won last year’s British J Cup, so it’s at best a toss-up for the CMLL wrestler. This is a two-stage tournament, the winners of the four prelim matches meet in the final later that night. It will stream on RevPro’s RevPro On Demand service.

Titan and BUSHI kick off the Super Junior Tag League on Saturday against SHO and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. That’s a new team, Kanemaru joining House of Torture, which probably means this league won’t’ start well for the LIJ team. I have no feel for this tournament and how Titan/BUSHI will do. They could be in the top mix, but I don’t really know. All NJPW shows, as ever, will air on NJPW World.

Sanely is officially out of the Gran Prix. It seemed like she suffered a severe knee injury last week and it was confirmed on Thursday. She tore her right MCL and damaged her ACL. Surgery will put her out 6 to 8 months. This is the second time Sanely’s needed knee surgery, previously suffering an injury during training to return in 2022. Sanely is a great spokesperson for CMLL but I don’t know what her wrestling career is going to be like at this point.

Andromeda will take Sanely’s spot in the Gran Prix. This was an unplanned move, but it’s another moment where moving from AAA to CMLL seems to have benefited her. For what it’s worth, the promoter of KAOZ (Alfonso Botello) had a long video interview with Info Lucha, claiming Andromeda is still under a contract to him and exclusive to KAOZ. She’s clearly not exclusive to KAOZ, she’s wrestling in CMLL. She may have a contract with KAOZ, as they were signing up a bunch of wrestlers a couple of years, but no one in Mexico seems to be taking those contracts seriously. That Botello interview is entertaining to watch if you don’t take it seriously at all. He wants to be taken seriously and believes he’s cleverly evading answers to questions, but sort of just makes himself look silly. KAOZ has been promoting ex-NXT Yulissa Leon on their social media and the interviewer asks if KAOZ signed Leon. Bottelo tries to imply he of course has signed without stating it right out, which of course means he has not actually signed Leon. (A source says Leon has absolutely not signed with KAOZ.) Botello is asked about when his next show is, won’t give a date, and won’t even commit to answering if it’s this year or next year. In general, you should probably not agree to do an interview if you can’t answer the questions you know are going to be asked.

CMLL’s Wednesday Informa was a lot of Dia del Muertos promotion. All four cards were announced:

CMLL (TUE) 10/31/2023 Arena México
1) Astral & Robin vs Inquisidor & Sangre Imperial
2) La Vaquerita & Skadi vs Metálica & Tiffany
3) Panterita del Ring, Star Black, Valiente vs Felino, Hechicero, Misterioso Jr.
4) Gran Guerrero vs Disturbio, Zandokan, Esfinge, El Coyote, Guerrero Maya Jr., Magnus, Akuma, Averno, Bárbaro Cavernario, Virus [Rey del Inframundo, semifinal]
5) Blue Panther, Máscara Dorada, Octagón vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario

The gimmick of the Rey del Inframundo is one member per team. CMLL said Barbaro Cavernario, Dragon Rojo, and Terrible are an official team now, though not one with a name. We’ll see if CMLL keeps with it by the time Dragon Rojo returns. CMLL in past years would’ve forgotten it, this year’s CMLL is better at that. It also suggests Los Ingobernables are either done or Templario got added to the group as Terrible’s replacement. Normal CMLL booking is a tecnico/rudo final, but last year was rudo/rudo and that fits for a Dia del Muertos show.

CMLL (FRI) 11/03/2023 Arena México
***Dia del Muertos, 2023***
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Full Metal, Minos, Pequeño Polvora
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Crixus, Magia Blanca, Rugido
3) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Hijo de Stuka Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr.
4) Atlantis Jr., Fugaz, Star Jr. vs Euforia, Mephisto, Terrible
5) Máscara Dorada & Místico vs Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr.
6) Stuka Jr. vs ? [Rey del Inframundo, final]

Mascara Dorada & Mistico vs Soberano and Voaldor could be great. (These are not really great cards otherwise.) Hijo del Stuka did end up as a rudo with his father but he also hasn’t been booked enough for it to stick.

Both this show and the Gran Prix on 10/27 are up for PPV purchase, and are the elevated (10.50 USD + taxes) price. If you’re a frugal person who wants to see the Dia del Muertos shows, maybe just get the YouTube subscription this month instead.

CMLL (SAT) 11/04/2023 Arena Coliseo
***Dia del Muertos, 2023***
1) Brillante Jr., Diamond, Oro Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
2) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II vs Chamuel & Periquito Sacaryas
3) Mini Tiger Blanco vs Pierrothito
4) Dark Silueta, Lluvia, Zeuxis vs Johnnie Robbie, Makoto, Mei Suruga
5) Águila Solitaria, Pantera, Solar I vs Felino, Negro Navarro, Satánico
6) Atlantis & Místico vs Rey Bucanero & Último Guerrero

This is the first Dia del Muertos show at Arena Coliseo. They’re pushing a legends theme, both with the semimain and reuniting Rey Bucanero and Ultimo Guerrero. (Or maybe Tony Khan just asked if he could see his old favorite team again.) Note that Mexican combination in match 4 is Las Infernales.

Mini Tigre Blanco is the original Mascarita Sagrada, in his first CMLL match since 2005. He’s nearly 60 years old and still going. We have no idea if CMLL will upload anything beyond the usual Tuesday/Friday show. That match definitely should be uploaded.

CMLL (SUN) 11/05/2023 Arena México
***Dia del Muertos, 2023***
1) Aéreo & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Violencia
2) Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
3) Amapola & Reyna Isis vs Dark Silueta & La Catalina
4) Rey Bucanero vs Felino [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Averno & Stuka Jr.
6) Blue Panther, Virus, Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Terrible, Último Guerrero

The Sunday show has only wrestlers who lost their masks, and they’ll put it back on for one night. All the wrestlers did a big ceremonial unmasking at the end of the show last year. (Catalina is a sort of exception; she voluntarily unmasked.) CMLL played up Terrible, Cavernario, and Averno putting their masks back on for the ceremony and played up how much better it made them feel. Terrible and Cavernario weren’t any sort of stars until after they lost their masks.

It’s unclear how much of these show we’ll see. I think the theme is really good for one show and not really as interesting by show three, but it’s not meant to be a show people see three or four times. Not everyone can make Fridays.

AEW/CMLL

Rocky Romero versus Mistico was taped Wednesday night and will air on AEW Rampage tonight. The match was said to be good, and the crowd stuck around and was into it. I did hear people were confused by it being a best of three falls match, which AEW did to make it feel more authentic to Arena Mexico. (It actually doesn’t feel authentic to 2023 CMLL, where most singles matches are now one fall, but I get what they were going for.) Edgar Noriega worked as a referee. Salvador Lutteroth came to the show and was in the crowd during the match. CMLL put out a press release thanking AEW for their treatment and the match. There probably will be more, but we don’t know what more at this point.

Thunder Rosa was hanging around Arena Mexico on Wednesday, including doing an instagram video interview with Stephanie Vaquer. Media noticed, and thought it must be some announcement of the AEW/CMLL deal and maybe Thunder Rosa would fit in on a Dia del Muertos show. There was nothing to it, at least so far. Rosa just happened to be in Mexico. I suspect she and Vaquer wouldn’t have done the interview inside Arena Mexico a week ago, though.

While Mexican fans were speculating about Thunder Rosa coming to CMLL, US fans saw Rosa and Stephanie Vaquer as the Chilean coming to AEW as part of the CMLL/AEW deal. It’s always a possibility as long as there is a CMLL/AEW deal, and clearly she’s getting talked up by the right people if she’s making these NJPW US appearances, but I haven’t yet heard anything connecting her to AEW outside those videos with Rosa. Vaquer is good, but it is also amazing how much interest she has in the US, pretty much based on one match with Mercedes Mone. I sense most people excited about her stopped short of watching her CMLL matches. Maybe that’s the power of Mone.

AEW is now teasing a special dream match for Saturday’s Collison, to be announced tonight. Many people are jumping to conclusions Bryan Danielson is finally going to get his match with Blue Panther. I’m well behind on typing up indie posters – it’s been a busy week for some reason – but I don’t see Panther listed on any show on Saturday. I also would be really surprised if he’s there that quick. We’ll know before the end of the night.

Salvador Lutteroth III ran in to Dark Angel backstage at the AEW taping. Sarah Stock was added to the AEW staff months back, and mentioned talking to Lutteroth about the CMLL women’s division. Catalina’s mentioned talking to Dark Angel about wrestling in CMLL as well. They’re going to pull her back in for a Gran Prix one of these years if she likes it or not.

AAA

I’ve never had as much trouble finding results for an AAA taping as I have with this one in San Luis Potosi. I know Dralistico won the #1 contenders match because I saw it on an Instagram video. A fan has also put the match on YouTube. I know Octagon Jr. took the pin in his match based on social media. I spent a lot of time looking on Wednesday and Thursday for more and struck out. I’m sure there’s a Facebook page out there where some mentioned all the results but I haven’t found it yet. This is not completely an AAA story – it’s a death of local media issue too – but it’s also why it’s vital for promotions to put out their own news. They can’t count on anyone else to do it for them. AAA earlier in the year said they were bringing back live results from shows, but then it apparently slipped down the priority list. I would gladly take a press release of results the day instead, but I think AAA seems like they’re overwhelmed or understaffed at the moment.

AAA seems to have given up on Octagon Jr. about five seconds after they gave him the title match with QT Marshall. It should be utterly bizarre for him to win a title shot and then be directly pinned on his next two shows, but that’s about right for 2023 AAA. It’s also 2023 AAA for Octagon Jr. just to win the title anyway in Juarez, though that’ll create more talk about the AAA/AEW relationship than any AAA booking.

Laredo Kid either suffered a shoulder injury during the match or did a great job of selling on Taurus’ Rodeo Driver; he appeared to be getting eliminated either way and AAA seemed to be going with Dralistico/Vikingo regardless. Laredo Kid being Laredo Kid, his Instagram story this morning was him working out in the gym using one arm. Sometimes (often) I think I’m nuts for doing this blog but my insanity isn’t at the level of a good Mexican professional wrestler. Laredo Kid is scheduled on Impact’s PPV and tapings this weekend, though I don’t believe he currently has a match for the PPV.

The attendance doesn’t look pretty. They ran a 5,000 seat building, and it looks between a half and a third full in photos. The one local discussion I did see about the discussion was a fan asking if maybe it’s finally time to move the big San Luis Potosi shows from the traditional Wednesday nights to the weekend. Promociones Juniors, AAA’s affiliate here and the local promoter of this one, has done well on Wednesdays in the recent past, so it could just be something with this lineup or just this show.

Vikingo/Dralistico will be good, and will not be as close to good as Vikingo/Laredo or Vikingo/Taurus would’ve been. AAA seems like they’re making decisions for reasons based on putting together the best shows. AAA still draws well when TripleMania is in the name or if they’re attached to a fair, but the regular TVs continue to struggle. It’s not working but it’s hard to imagine it’ll be fixed.

AAA on Space should have three matches from Mexico City this week. There’s a press release (not sent to me, maybe the only person who cares about what’s on AAA TV any week) with the three matches

• Drago Kid, Dulce Kanela, Mini Vikingo vs Dinámico, Kamik-C, Skalibur
• Dralistico & Negro Casas vs Argenis & Nicho el Millionario
• Pagano vs Texano Jr. [ambulance]

The rest will air next week.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 10/19/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Tornado b Rey Astaroth
2) Dr. Cerebro Jr., Noisy Boy, Spider Fly DQ Centurion, Gannicus, Rey Espartano
Aguila Roja ran in for the DQ. Challenges followed.
3) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. b Hijo de Canis Lupus & Rey Mictlán
Lupus & Rey Mictlan announced they were new Las Bestias del Inframundo. They then lost when Cerbero Negro Jr. pulled Micltan’s mask.
4) Relámpago DQ Tonalli
Tonalli unmasked Relampago for the DQ. Challenges followed.
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. b Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana [EdM Trios]
2nd defense. La Pandemia want a shot at Poder del Norte’s IWRG trios title but Poder del Norte refused.

Lots of “challenges followed” = Castillo del Terror around the corner.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha (SAT) 10/21/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) M Doble R vs Steel Dragón
2) Mr. Win & Tirano vs Helios & Morfosis
3) Elipse & Vengador vs Odiseo Mendoza & Ursus Mendoza
4) Skayde vs Veneno
5) Viajero vs El Brujo [super libre]
6) Forneo, Limbo, Torito Negro vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
7) Cometa Maya & Radioactivo © vs Súper Nova & Texano Jr. [BIG LUCHA MIXA]
first defense
8) El Potro de Oro © vs Black Andrómeda [Big Lucha World]

Black Andromeda won the title shot on the previous show. Both that match and this overall is a test to see how this promotion works no longer with their biggest names as training wheels. Bandido’s long gone, Flamita is out hurt, the kids have to do it for themselves. Sangre Nueva is in, to get the tag title shot they previously earned. Hell Flyers have come close to putting it together in trios matches and will get another shot with La Pandemia. Viajero/Brujo is another preview to their mask match.

Other News

That Vanguardia return shows turns out to be an El Mago/Draztick Boy 15th Anniversary show on 11/15. That sounds like a good time.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 10/16/2023 Arena Puebla [Grada, Mano a Mano, Porra Fresa]
1) Hella, Lady Metal, Shitara b Astoreth, Diablita Roja, Lady Amazona 
Shitara’s side are the tecnicas, and they won this opener with many debuts.
2) Blue Shark TLDRAW Hijo del Perverso [lightning]
3) La Jarochita & Lluvia b Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis 
sets up a rematch for the new CMLL Women’s tag title match
4) Pegasso & Stigma b Felino & Felino Jr.
5) Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja b Bárbaro Cavernario, Euforia, Terrible 
sets up Angel de Oro/Barbaro Cavernario in a CMLL LH title match
6) Máscara Dorada b Último Guerrero 

Ultimo Guerrero is usually winning the lightning match he and Mascara Dorada had in Arena Mexico in years past. If he doesn’t win there, he’s absolutely winning the rematch. Times have changed.

I’ve finally split “1990s AAA Shitara” and “2010s Puebla Shitara (Tigre Rojo family member)” in my database. A big achievement. That’s a strange enough name that I’m sure they have to be connected somehow, but I’ve never seen a mention.

CMLL (TUE) 10/17/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores]
1) Andrómeda & La Vaquerita b Persephone & Tiffany
2) Astral, Brillante Jr., Oro Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Raider
3) Espíritu Negro, Pelon Encapuchado, Rey Cometa b El Coyote, Kráneo, Pólvora
4) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi b Amapola, Dark Silueta, Zeuxis
5) Bárbaro Cavernario b Star Jr.
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Titán b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Everyone worked a bit harder than you’d expect in the main event given the big week ahead. Barbaro Cavernario/Star Jr. was good, though it was mostly Barbaro Cavernario. Star Jr. had a couple of dives and was off on a lot of headscissors. There was a large group of and from Hershey’s in green t-shirts at the show. They produce the candy that Pelon Encapuchado is named after, rooted loudly for their guy (and got some fans booing them.) CMLL has never gotten on the same page on the spelling of match 2 rudo “Raider”; his sign board had it spelled “Rider.”

CMLL (TUE) 10/17/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Mas Lucha]
1) Dulce Kitty & Venus b Luna & Universis
2) Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico b Arhgo, Ráfaga, Trono
3) Adira, Alondra, Lady Shadow b La Pantera, Miss Guerrera, Nexy
4) Crixus, Star Black, Vegas b Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus
Star Blaclk Jr. won via mask pull (on Optimus?)
5) Dulce Gardenia, La Fashion, Soberano Jr. b Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Draego
6) Blue Panther b Atlantis, Felino, Panterita del Ring, Satánico, Américo Rocca, Solar I, Pantera, Negro Navarro, Black Terry, Águila Solitaria, Rocky Santana [cibernetico]

Bringing in the legends didn’t seem to do anything as far as drawing in extra fans for this show. Alondra in match 3 is Torreon’s Raven. She needed a new name because they already had a Raven/Rav here.

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

In addition to the tecnicos heading places this weekend, there’s also a tour of northern Mexico with a bunch of CMLL people. That may contribute to some of the weird pairings here.

CMLL (SUN) 10/22/2023 Arena México
1) La Guerrera & Lady Shadow vs Miss Guerrera & Tiffany
2) Capitán Suicida, Eléctrico, Valiente Jr. vs Grako, Inquisidor, Vegas
3) Halcón Suriano Jr., Hombre Bala Jr., Neón vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
4) Andrómeda, Hera, Metálica, Olympia vs Johnnie Robbie, Makoto, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai
5) Esfinge © vs Mephisto [MEX LH]
2nd defense
6) Octagón, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible

Makoto joins the foreign women on Sunday. She and Suruga did a press conference earlier this week; I believe Makoto said something along the lines of hoping she won the Gran Prix and then she’d celebrate with a photo shoot in Cancun. Still the same person as the last visit. Still no word over who will replace Sanely (if she needs a replacement) in the Gran Prix.

Esfinge getting Misterioso and Mephisto as title opponents isn’t the greatest breaks.

This week’s Box y Lucha indicates both the 10/30 Puebla and the 10/31 Guadalajara show are “Lucha Femenil Naciones.” Guadalajara’s been promoting that show under that name for quite a while. Their announced talent lineup suggests the Guadalajara show will be an all-women show. Maybe the shared name means the 10/30 Puebla (or even the 10/2 Arena Mexico card) will also be women only.

CMLL Informa is pushed back tonight until 7:30 pm. They’ve done this in years past for the Dia de Muertos announcements – CMLL wants more media there to sell the ambiance of the special shows in person. It’s fair to expect the lineup for the Rey del Inframundo cibernetico, and CMLL will probably toss out a few more matches during the show.

Wrestling Observer Radio mentioned Stephanie Vaquer is scheduled to wrestle Mayu Iwatani, likely for the IWGP Women’s Championship on 11/10 in Texas. That match probably would be officially set at next week’s NJPW show in Las Vegas.

Mistico/AEW

Mistico debuts in AEW tonight in Rosenburg, Texas. His match against Rocky Romero airs Friday night on Rampage. AEW may promote the match on Dynamite tonight in some way; I don’t know it for a fact, but I just assume that’s what they’ll do. If you’re a lucha libre fan who really wants to stay unspoiled, you’ll probably need to stay off social media for a couple of days, I don’t expect it’ll be easy to avoid otherwise.

Tickets for this show have sold very well in the last week, which bucks a trend in AEW of late. Discounted ticket prices and strong local promotion probably are big reasons for the ticket sales, but those surge of ticket sales also is after Mistico and Rocky Romero were announced. I was skeptical of Mistico being a significant reason at first, but that factor seems inescapable now.

This is also one of those situations where ticket sales are a combination of all those factors and not one single reason. Wrestling discussion struggles with these sorts of situations, where the answer is more complicated than one single answer. You can see that today, with people saying the reason “has to be” the ticket discounts in the reply to any post that says it “has to be” Mistico. It’s all of those things, and it’s great for Mistico to just be part of it.

Mistico likely has made a difference, but the true test is going to be what kind of reaction he gets and how that match is received. That’ll be closely watched. I’m not at all worried about the quality of a Rocky Romero versus Mistico match itself. I’m sure it’ll be good (just as sure I’m there will be a report trying to say he’s still WWE Sin Cara.)

Mistico is scheduled to go to Xalapa on Thursday, but it’s possible he’ll end up being replaced there. He, Volador Jr., Templario and Atlantis Jr. are scheduled to be in Denver for a meet and greet on Saturday and a match on Sunday. (It seems unlikely Mistico is going to do all those border crossings in a short time, but who knows.)

In other traveling news, Titan is off to NJPW for the next month following that Tuesday’s show. Mascara Dorada is heading to the UK for the British J Cup either today or soon after. He’s also sticking around to wrestle Wild Boar on Sunday in Sheffield.

AAA

There’s an AAA TV taping tonight in San Luis Potosi.

AAA TV (WED) 10/18/2023 Palenque de la Fenapo, San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
1) Brazo de Oro, Drago, Reina Dorada vs Diva Salvaje, Dulce Kanela, Jessy Ventura
Reina Dorada replaced Centella (quit the promotion)
2) Lady Shani, Niño Hamburguesa, Sexy Star vs Chik Tormenta, Látigo, Toxin
3) Octagón Jr. & Willie Mack vs Forastero & Sansón
4) Negro Casas & Zorro vs Abismo Negro & Psicosis
5) Dralistico vs Laredo Kid vs Taurus [#1 Contenders, AAA MEGA]
6) Pagano & Psycho Clown vs Sam Adonis & Texano Jr.

Wednesday is historically lucha libre night in SLP, but it’s been unusual for AAA to run midweek tapings since the post-COVID restart. They had the Thursday show in Chihuahua earlier this year that was linked to a fair. My best guess is this show will air on Space on November 4 and 11th.

There are more obvious connections between this taping and the next one than has been common with CMLL this year. The main event here is the semi-main on Guerra de Tiantes, the #1 contenders match leads there, the third match features the two other people challenging for titles in Juarez. Shani and Tormenta set up a six person cage match back in May that never happened, but I suspect it was to be something like these teams. They have a 1 v 1 in Juarez too.

The best thing AAA can do here is have Laredo or Taurus win the #1 contenders match and make Guerra de Titanes available internationally to give potential fans a positive feeling about AAA to close out the year. Right now, the last memory most people have of AAA is a TripleMania that even AAA didn’t think go well. It appears AAA’s strategy for Vikingo and TripleManias is him wrestling foreign names. We can have a (lengthy) debate on if that’s the best use of him but, if AAA’s going to stick with that idea, that means there’s no reason to save a Vikingo/Laredo or a Vikingo/Taurus for a big arena show. Run them now, and run them before something weird happens (which always does with AAA) and you’re unable to run them. Run them in a way where people who still like Vikingo will be able to see them. Run it in a way where when the match gets incredible buzz, there’s a place you can direct interested people to go see it. (“YouTube weeks later” just doesn’t count.)

What I’m afraid is going to happen is either Dralistico wins or AAA does Laredo/Vikingo but doesn’t bother to put it on FITE. The second choice might actually be better for me personally – I’ll end up streaming it on Twitch, and Twitch will end up paying me for doing it – but it’s terrible for AAA if they were to run a match that would get favorable attention and not make it available as wide as possible. The first choice, Vikingo/Dralistico, is just a plain miss and another sign that decisions being made aren’t with the goal of running the best possible shows.

This is a layup of a decision. I shouldn’t even be writing the last couple of paragraphs because it’s too obvious. I have lost all confidence in AAA doing the easy, obvious thing. Put aside everything you’ve seen from AAA this year and just look to the show after Guerra de Titanes; AAA/Impact Ultraclash is this weird show of seven straight 2v2 matches. The matches are all going to be fine but no one would’ve asked for a card like that, and it takes a strange series of decisions to end up with that sort of card. AAA feels like they’re working with an entirely different set of information than we are and making decisions that are impossible to figure out or make much sense of from the outside. I expect another one of those decisions otnight.

WrestleCade (Winston-Salem in North Carolina) announced Hijo del Vikingo versus Andrade for their show on 11/25. SuperLuchas points out this is a bit interesting given Andrade’s past attempts to distance himself from AAA and outright stating that Hijo del Vikingo should leave the promotion. More recent WON reporting has Andrade returning to AAA at some point, though even that was now months back, and there’s no sign of him showing up in AAA this year.

Rey Mysterio Jr. is doing a press tour this week to promote an upcoming celebrity match. ESPN asked him about Hijo del Vikingo, and Mysterio confirmed earlier stories that he talked to Vikingo about trying to do a little less to make it mean more. This conversation is at least six months old, probably longer, and there’s no great indication Vikingo listened. Mysterio noted he also didn’t listen when people told him the same thing at his age, but he had to try nonetheless.

Aerostar talked to Record to say he’s not left AAA and is in fact still under contact to them. He believes they’re just giving his character a rest on TV.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 10/19/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Tornado vs Rey Astaroth
2) Dr. Cerebro, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Centurion, Gannicus, Rey Espartano
3) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. vs Hijo de Canis Lupus & Micltan
4) Tonalli vs Relámpago
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. vs Mocho Cota Jr., Súper Comando, Tito Santana [EdM Trios]
2nd defense

The Castillo del Terror is just around the corner and IWRG is probably loading up for that. Mas Lucha earlier indicated the Cerebro Negros will be defending the tag titles on that show. Poder del Norte winning the these tag titles and doing the rematch in a couple of weeks would work there as well. Tonalli and Relampago are probably headed to the cage.

Big Lucha

I did finish off the last Big Lucha show and the Big Lucha World. Not a lot to report. The Takuma/Kento vs Radioactivo/Maya match was disappointing, all four have done better in other matches. This felt like the Japanese team trying to recreate their match against Aero Panther and Fight Panther Jr. and it just didn’t work out nearly as well. The main event had a lot of strange people and struggle once Flamita left.

You probably should skip the Big Lucha World. The announcers had audio. The other microphones seemed turned off, and it’s just a weird watch. There’s a little crowd noise by the main event but not much. They did promos and no one watching could hear them. The matches were not great, and all could’ve been shorter. A six minute match on a free stream is fine.

(If you are running live video of a wrestling stream, you need someone in another room watching the stream to let you know if it’s working OK. Mexican wrestling promotions don’t seem to do this.)

Big Lucha’s next show is Saturday.

Other News

Ring of Honor Thursday has Komander versus Metalik in a first-time-ever match. Back in May, Metalik lost his mind at the idea of wrestling and losing to AAA’s Hijo del Vikingo in GCW. Times (and places) have changed.

Lucha Libre Vanguardia teased a return in November. They haven’t run since April.

Hidalgo’s Zuzu Divine is headed to Edmonton to wrestle. She mentions Aeroboy made the connection.

A month of lucha libre finished up in Coatepec this past weekend.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/13/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito b Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía
2) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
15:36.
3) Magnus & Rugido © b Futuro & Neón [MEX TAG]
13:40. 3rd defense
4) Zeuxis b Lluvia, Dark Silueta, Amapola, Tiffany, Sanely, Skadi, Hera, Náutica, Maligna, Sexy Sol, Andrómeda [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, semifinal]
25:09. Order of elimination Maligna (by Sanely), Nautica (Andrómeda), Sexy Sol (Skadi), Tiffany (Amapola), Andrómeda (Zeuxis), Sanely was medically eliminated, Hera (Silueta), Skadi (Silueta), Silueta (Lluvia), Amapola (Zeuxis), Lluvia (Zeuxis) leaving Zeuxis as the winner. She’ll face Catalina next week.
5) Místico b Templario
20:46, Mistico taking 1/3 (though not by La Mistica)

Templario/Mistico was pretty good. I think there was more nuance to some of Mistico’s other big matches while Templario is more a guy who’s just going to beat people up with big move, but he did a lot of big moves. Mistico’s pulled out the secondary submission a lot lately where he might have done a springboard senton or a Spanish Fly instead in the past. (He should still use la Mistica on Friday.)

The Universal block came down to Dark Silueta, Amapola, Lluvia and Zeuxis, and it was clear who was winning once Silueta got pinned. Not just because Zeuxis was the only one who made sense in the final, but because the 1 in the “1 on 2” finals of a cibernetico wins most of the time. The match itself was better than last week. The fans were more into it, the action had it’s flaws but not as many, and it just moved a lot better. Andromeda got a few spots to look spectacular and did exactly that. Her flying style is uncharted territory for a luchadora in CMLL and so it’s impossible to know if she’ll hold up or if the other women will be able to work with her, but there’s a lot of potential. She was easily more impressive than any of the other new women, and stood out more than a lot of the regulars. Wrestling always needs new people who are different to bring in new fans, and Andromeda’s different.

Sanely seemed to suffer a knee injury on her own dive, but it’ “seemed to” because it didn’t stand out as an injury from what we saw. She just did nothing else after that point. Sanely’s had major knee issues in the past. There’s no word on the severity for Sanely this time, though that’ll come up on Informa.

Zeuxis again brought up Martha Villalobos as the only real Diva of the ring in post match interviews. Villalobos was a regular in EMLL after the prohibition of women’s wrestling in Mexico was dropped in the mid-80s, then became a star in AAA when she jumped there as the promotion got going. Villalobos briefly returned to CMLL in 96/97 before going back to AAA and is strongly associated with that promotion. Villalobos was one of the more famous Mexican woman wrestlers of her time, been retired for many years, though she resurfaced as few months ago restarting her small promotion. Catalina’s “La Diva del Ring” is a play on her WWE time, but it is the same nickname Villalobos used (and pre-dates WWF/WWE adopting that term for their women’s division.) It’s relevant that Zeuxis brought up Villalobos, but it also feels like it might be something more – maybe a Villalobos appearance next week.

The tag title match exceeded any reasonable expectations for it. New guys like Neón and Futuro are supposed to be spectacular, but also aren’t expected to pull off everything they attempt. They somehow did it all here, including Neon’s amazing ramp running springboard dive. Magnus and Rugido went with them, especially Rugido being the suplex monster (lion?) he’s shown signs of in other matches. Neon and Futuro looking so good was the big takeaway from this match, but the Depredador title reign has been a quiet success too. 

CMLL (SAT) 10/14/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Grako b Retro [lightning]
2) Metálica & Olympia b La Guerrera & Lady Metal
3) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Diamond, Hombre Bala Jr., Magia Blanca
4) Amapola & Reyna Isis b Andrómeda & Skadi
5) Fugaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Black b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
6) Atlantis, Soberano Jr., Titán DQ Averno, Euforia, Mephisto
Soberano replaced Volador Jr. (double booked), but didn’t want to fight Los Infernales. Straight falls, Infernales DQed for foul/mask removal in the second.

Volador (and Cavernario and Virus) were scheduled for a show in Los Angeles. I think I miss more of those Los Angeles lineups with LuchaWorld not running any more. CMLL seems to have missed it to, since Sobreano as a replacement violates their policy against fathers and sons wrestling each other; that had to be a late decision (or realization.)

CMLL (SUN) 10/15/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Hera & Tiffany b La Vaquerita & Lady Metal
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Cancerbero, Difunto, Luciferno
3) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring b Felino Jr., Kráneo, Misterioso Jr.
4) Reyna Isis & Stephanie Vaquer b Andrómeda & La Jarochita
Andromeda replaced Sanely on Sunday afternoon
5) Atlantis, Fugaz, Valiente b Felino, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero
6) Euforia, Mephisto, Terrible b Esfinge, Octagón, Star Jr.
Octagon replaced Volador Jr. on Sunday afternoon. Straight falls, Mephisto beating Esfinge to set up a MEX LH title match between them next week.

Mephisto/Esfinge doesn’t sound too exciting. Mephisto used to be a frequent title challenger/holder and was generally as interesting as his opponent made the match. He’s now doing these about once a year.

CMLL (TUE) 10/17/2023 Arena México
1) Andrómeda & La Vaquerita vs Persephone & Tiffany
2) Astral, Brillante Jr., Oro Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Raider
3) Espíritu Negro, Pelon Encapuchado, Rey Cometa vs El Coyote, Kráneo, Pólvora
4) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi vs Amapola, Dark Silueta, Zeuxis
5) Star Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario
6) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero

Mistico working a normal schedule next week, including a Tuesday main event before heading out to Houston. That match could be fun, as could the semimain. Brillante Jr. and Raider seem made for each other.

CMLL (TUE) 10/17/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Luna & Universis vs Dulce Kitty & Venus
2) Ángel Rebelde, Arhgo, Trono vs Exterminador, Javier Cruz Jr., Maléfico
3) Crixus, Star Black, Vegas vs Gallero, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus
4) Adira, Alondra, Lady Shadow vs La Pantera, Miss Guerrera, Nexy
5) Dulce Gardenia, La Fashion, Soberano Jr. vs Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Draego
6) Atlantis vs Blue Panther, Felino, Panterita del Ring, Satánico, Américo Rocca, Solar I, Pantera, Negro Navarro, Black Terry, Águila Solitaria, Rocky Santana [cibernetico]

Same idea of a legend’s match as in Arena Mexico. Octagon is out, Fuerza Guerrera was briefly pictured as replacing him, and Americo Rocca ends up in that spot.

I’ve seen the strangely spelled “Arhgo” on posters from Michoacan for years. That’s also where some of the luchadoras have come from, so there’s some connection there.

CMLL (FRI) 10/20/2023 Arena México
***Blue Panther 45th Anniversary***
1) Brillante Jr. & Halcón Suriano Jr. vs Misterio Blanco & Misterio Negro
2) Johnnie Robbie, Mei Suruga, Sumie Sakai vs Dark Silueta, Reina Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
TBD after the Universal prelim rounds
3) Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr. vs Dulce Gardenia, Magia Blanca, Panterita del Ring
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Hijo de Blue Panther vs Gran Guerrero, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero
Hijo de Stuka replaced Dragon Rojo (shoulder) on 10/14.
5) La Catalina vs Zeuxis [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, final]
6) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Euforia & Soberano Jr. [CMLL TAG]
12th defense

The tag title match didn’t appear to be the main event original, but it is now. That could be as good as this past week’s tag title match, just in a different way. Catalina/Zeuxis could be a challenge. The younger Stuka gets his biggest-ever CMLL match as a fill-in (though he makes more sense as a match up for Cachorro/Hijo de Blue Panther.) Robbie is in earlier than CMLL seemed to have originally announced.

KeMonito appeared on Nacion Deportes earlier this week to talk about his fight with CMLL. A standout moment from the interview actually had to do with the interviewer, Marco Antonio Ocampo. He attended KeMonito’s press conference back on September 25th, then saw a message on his phone informing him he’d been kicked out of the CMLL media (Whatsapp) group and understood it as punishment just for going to the press conference. Antonio Ocampo send a salute to “Hugito and Sandra”, the CMLL press people he expects were responsible.

Fuerza Guerrera says his retirement has been indefinitely postponed, because he believes he would immediately die if he retires. He thinks he should keep wrestling, I think he should look into some therapy. This article actually turns into an ad for tequila and mezcal that Fuerza Guerrero is promoting.

AEW & CMLL are officially working together

On a Forbidden Door media call last June, Tony Khan was asked if there were any promotions he’d like to do cross-promotional shows with or just work in general. Khan brought up Conjseo Mundial de Lucha Libre, recollecting his time in watching the promotion in the early to mid-00s, and his fandom of Mistico and Los Guerreros del Infierno in particular. (“I heard Mistico is doing well.”) He stated he’d like to work with CMLL too, but both didn’t want do anything to hurt existing partner AAA’s business and didn’t want to get involved in any promotional war between AAA and CMLL. Khan’s bigger goal was to work with everyone and hoped CMLL could be a part of that.

The idea in June that AEW would be working with CMLL was a “LOL, no.” It is now a “LOL, yes!?!” CMLL announced an official relationship with AEW in a press release on Friday. They mentioned the Romero/Mistico match on Rampage and talked about the start of a new era between CMLL and AEW. AEW’s Collision included a Romero narrated video package talking about Mistico and their feud. It was well done. Wrestling Observer Radio reported that there idea for Friday is to give Mistico an autethnic CMLL presentation, including music. There’s no great consensus on what that music should be but the effort is good. All I really ask is all trampolines be banned from the building.

CMLL acknowledging the relationship is a significant jump, moving this from a one-off novelty to a real relationship. I still think people are expecting more out of this than they should. AEW’s closest ties are with NJPW and their talent is appearing in AEW on an infrequent as needed basis. AEW is appearing in NJPW even less than that. It’s safe to expect both sides will try to make Bryan Danielson’s dream match with Blue Panther happen. It is unsafe to expect Soberano Jr. matches on every Saturday Collision. (US audiences couldn’t handle him.) It should still be considered a bonus if AEW wrestlers come to Arena Mexico, not a guarantee. 

The WON has said AAA and CMLL wrestlers can be on the same show but not in the same matches. I don’t believe that restriction will ever change; CMLL won’t drop it and AEW will part ways with the relationship if CMLL asks them to block contracted wrestlers. They’re already getting the Mistico match, if they get the Panther one too AEW has already checked their big items off the list. Forbidden Door makes everyone lot of money, so AEW and NJPW would be motivated to work things out if they ever had issues. AEW and CMLL are just at the start of that road. 

Vikingo’s status is the one AAA/AEW question I’ve seen. CMLL won’t care about him as long as he’s not pictured alongside CMLL wrestlers, and it’s still in AAA’s best interest to keep working with AEW. Of course, sometimes promotions don’t act in their best interest, and AAA always has the option of pulling Vikingo from AEW. I remain unconcerned; the most likely outcome would be a few months of drama and Vikingo ending up back in AEW anyway. 

(There’s a thread of this fandom that wants to see AEW working with CMLL as some karmic justice against Konnan, more over his comments about AEW things than even anything AAA’s done. I’m sure that makes a great story, but I don’t think that’s what happening. AEW working with CMLL is motivated by wanting to bring in CMLL guys – and very specifically Mistico and Panther – and wanting to work with all companies in general. AAA doesn’t have Mistico and they don’t have Blue Panther, and so AEW will go get them from elsewhere, but they still do have Vikingo and they’ll have other guys AEW wants to use, and AEW will keep working with AAA for them. It’s hard for people living with the CMLL/AAA issues for 30 years to wrap their around a third company working with both and everyone getting along – history has shown that usually ends with one or the other Mexican companies pulling out. AEW is going to try it anyway, and it’s going to stay open as long as the Mexican companies are willing to do business..)

Rocky Romero won the MLW Middleweight Championship from Akira and retained the CMLL Historic Welterweight championship in the process on Saturday in MLW. He completely cheated but that’s OK, MLW doesn’t seem a rules based organization. This aired on FITE+ and will pop up on MLW’s YouTube channel in upcoming weeks. It doesn’t seem like CMLL needs to be working with MLW if they’ve got something going with AEW, but it’s just an extra booking for some people once a month. It’s not going to hurt.

It was only a few months ago when I wrote here that, even with CMLL getting some buzz, there weren’t really any places for CMLL wrestlers to get booked outside of Mexico. Everything besides small shots in NJPW (US & Japan) seemed blocked off. Coming up soon:

• Mistico on Wednesday’s AEW taping
• Mascara Dorada on Saturday’s RevPro British J Cup.
• Mistico, Atlantis Jr., Soberano Jr., Zeuxis, Stephanie Vaquer and Lluvia on next Saturday’s NJPW Strong show in Las Vegas

MLW will theoretically announce someone from CMLL for their 11/18 Philadelphia show at some point. This situation has changed drastically in a short amount of time.

Tickets for Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite/Rampage are moving well since Mistico announcement, though reasonable people would give much more credit to the steep ticket discount in certain areas. I still think Mistico is a little part of it. I may have to end the blog, end the twitter account, shut everything down after this week. Mistico in AEW and doing well feels like the end scene of a video game more than a real thing that should be happening. I may just be wandering around and finishing out sidequests after this one, there’s no more main story to be found.

AAA

AAA on Space aired the two tag matches from Jalisco and the fourway women’s match from Mexico City. That meant AAA aired two different Dalys matches, both of where she ended up getting DQed. It came off as ridiculous. Dalys attacked Tirantes Sr. in the first aired match, and the idea was she was totally out of control by attacking the referee and a sign she was going ruda. Dalys attacked Hijo del Tirantes in match three, and was treated as her actions being totally justified. Those matches were taped in the opposite order and set up opposing directions for the promotion. I’m not sure if the plans changed or if there simply are no plans, just whatever they felt like doing that day. The matches themselves were fully designed to put over Dalys as the best even though she technically didn’t win. The three way tag match in the middle was the best of the matches, where everyone worked hard but it was just a collection of spots.

AAA says they sold out Friday’s special Luchatitlan show with AAA wrestlers. That Friday was also the last day of the Cancun Travel Mart, an expo promoting activities for travel agencies. It’s possibly the reason why AAA brought in extra people for the Luchatitlan show and wanted that event to go well.

Fenix took a booking on The Crash’s 11/03 12th Anniversary show. That caused AAA to sever ties with Fenix, at least for now. This might be the third different time Fenix and AAA have severed ties, so it doesn’t seem too alarming. It also seems for naught; Fenix’s injuries (as seen on recent AEW shows) will keep him from wrestling on that 11/03 The Crash show after all. Andrade will replace him.

If you’re expecting some big explosion from AAA about the AEW/CMLL deal, you’re going to have to keep waiting. Nothing has been said publicly and that didn’t change with Konnan’s podcast.  I’m not certain the timing of the recording; there was no lucha minute, and they could’ve done the rest before that news started to roll out this past week. The only AAA topic I noticed was a listener-prompted discussion of AAA’s title belts; Konnan felt like they were all pretty good. He thought the tag title belts could use a reissue; the design is still good but the physicals belts themselves are old and could use new versions. The Reina de Reinas title didn’t come up and I would suggest that’s the one that badly could use a refresh. I don’t believe there was any discussion about the MLW/CMLL deal, but I haven’t been diligently listening to that podcast.

IWRG/Mas Lucha

Mas Lucha (SUN) 10/15/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Keyra b Bengalee, Zuzu Divine, Sádika, Lilith Dark, Shamila, Quimera, Dulce Luna [Copa Sahori] 
2) Hell Boy b Súper Caló [Torneo Supremo, quarterfinal] 
Claudio Yarto (of the Calo group that inspire the Super Calo gimmick) seconded him for this match.
3) Súper Crazy b Súper Fly [Torneo Supremo, quarterfinal] 
4) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Mr. Leo [Torneo Supremo, quarterfinal] 
5) Zorro b Último Legendario [Torneo Supremo, quarterfinal] 
Charly Manson and Reina Dorada attacked Zorro after the match, as members of the RCH promotion.
6) Súper Crazy b Hell Boy [Torneo Supremo, semifinal]
7) Águila Roja & Relámpago b Spider Fly & Tonalli 
8) Princesa Azul & Reina Dorada ?? Jessy Jackson & Mary Caporal 
match happened, neither IWRG nor Mas Lucha posted a result
9) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Zorro [Torneo Supremo, semifinal]
10) Diva Salvaje, Intocable, Jessy Ventura b Chris Stone Jr., Scorpió Jr., Zumbido
Zumbido replaced Shocker
11) Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. b Súper Crazy [Torneo Supremo, final]

The attendance seems decent for this show, maybe better than last year. I haven’t invented the time machine that would’ve allowed me to watch this, but I was told there were a lot of short matches on the free portion of the card.

Neither IWRG nor Mas Lucha has a finish for the women’s tag match. IWRG gave up reporting results before thhe main event. The RCH promotion has not run a show since 2019, though they’ve teased running shows prior.

Mas Lucha says Shocker missed the show “due to a grave sickness that he’s battling day by day“, which reads like a reference to his substance issues.

Big Lucha

I’m still catching up through the most recent show (and the Big Lucha World card.) I’ve made it through the first three matches, which are all fine for people at their experience level.

The Copa Independencia was heavy on story, to the point where I’m sure not all of it sunk in. “M Double R” is the new name for Potro de Oro’s previous manager “Maximiliano Rivera Romero”. He and Steel Dragon are feuding after eliminations, Viajero and El Brujo kept brawling after their own. Loco Evans’ Iku seemed to repeatedly eliminate his allies but that wasn’t played up too much. The fans were into Andromeda getting the win and joining Black Generation as Black Andromeda. (Carito/Carolina was nowhere to be seen, not sure if that’s another person who’s out of here.) The opening matches were inexperienced guys getting some work. The matches all are obviously heavily worked out in advance and they’re really good when they can remember their spots and really lost when something goes wrong. Especially with the second match, you could make some great highlights that would disguise what actually happened in the match.

Flamita had his nose operation on Saturday.

Field Trip: GALLI’s GALLIMANIA in Waukegan

I went to GALLI again last night. I had last minute thoughts about going to Berywn for Lucha Libre Total instead; I hadn’t seen the poster until Sunday and didn’t realize all of Atlantis Jr., Blue Panther and Villano III Jr. were going to be there. I’ve found the GALLI shows to generally be better and it was at a place I hadn’t seen before, so I ended up there. Lucha Libre Total seemed to do pretty well anyway.

The big draw on the GALLI show was a four-way with Vikingo, Aramis, Aeroboy and Rey Hours. Vikingo is over huge to this audience – they know and are into the other three guys because they’ve been here many times over the years, but I think Vikingo being a TV star (and being Vikingo) helps make him clearly the biggest star. They worked hard and it was a pretty good four-way match, though they’ve done the fourway style of match so often you can kind of figure were things are going ahead of time. I did not see Aramis getting the clean win coming, and post-match promos explained it meant Aramis would get a title show at Psycho Clown at a GALLI show in December.

I generally liked the show better than last week; there was more variety. The Discovery title match was complete US style and worked fine. Mechawolf versus Toxin was pretty good. This was a GALLI promotional anniversary show, I was watching it thinking about MechaWolf coming in as a special guest. Then I remembered that long ago he was “Mr. 450 Hammet” and worked a bunch for them in the early years under that name before relocating elsewhere.

The show moved along for the most part and I got home at about the same time I usually get back from GALLI shows despite this venue being much farther away, so it worked out for me. Attendance seemed around 150, with few empty seats, so I assume it worked out for the promotion too. Like all GALLI shows, they were taping it and doing announcing; they’ve got a Pluto-like FAST channel that some of this shows up on, though I don’t pay enough attention to know the timing.

The “Brothers of Funstruction” clowns tag title match had lots and lots of ideas and felt like it went too long to get through all of them, though the crowd was definitely into the idea early on. Yabo and Ruffo earlier attacked Mecha Wolf, then did a post-match interview connecting it to their NWA feud with La Rebelion. It was unusual building up an NWA match on GALLI show, especially when that NWA show is happening in Cleveland. The clowns asked fans if they were watching and more people cheered than I would’ve guessed so maybe it’ll sell some PPVs (and maybe it’ll circle back around to GALLI at some point.)

I really would like a Sunday home all night so I can work on this post a bit more, so hopefully no one runs anything interesting.

Other Notes

Hijo del Vikingo’s weekend also included appearing in Yakima for DEFY. Vikingo took a rare US loss to Shane Strickland on that show. Cagematch lists 26 Vikingo singles matches in the US, and he’s only lost to Kenny Omega in AEW and this match in DEFY. (He also has the draw with Metalik in GCW.) The DEFY show will go on their VOD service eventually.

Hidalgo luchador Dayami is currently wrestling in Canada, after getting recommended there by Sexy Eddie when they were both wrestling in Africa.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 10/13/2023 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía vs Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. vs Hijo del Villano III, Villano III Jr., Zandokan Jr.
3) Magnus & Rugido © vs Futuro & Neón [MEX TAG]
3rd defense
4) Lluvia vs Zeuxis, Dark Silueta, Amapola, Tiffany, Sanely, Skadi, Hera, Náutica, Maligna, Sexy Sol, Andrómeda [CMLL Universal de Amazonas, semifinal]
5) Místico vs Templario

Mistico in big singles matches has been fun all year, and Templario will likely be no different. It still seems either Dark Silueta or Zeuxis in the Universal tournament. The third match has a high ceiling. This seems like a reliably good CMLL Friday night. It’s the usual 6 USD on Boletia.

(A thing to watch is CMLL hasn’t put up the 10/27 Gran Prix show up yet, so that may be a 12 USD event. Budget appropriately.)

La Malgina, Zeuxis, and Lluvia did press to promote this block. Zeuxis criticized La Catlina harsher than normal for these interviews. Zeuxis said Catalina needs to be put in her place, she was in WWE but did nothing there, blowing kisses isn’t lucha libre Mexicana, and the only real Diva del Ring is Martha Villalobos. Zeuxis also said she’d prefer team with Lluvia as Las Infernales, which is a strange thing to say when you’re world tag team champions with another woman. Zeuxis said that as much as she’d like to be Universal champion, winning the Gran Prix for Team World is actually her bigger goal. Lluvia has many plans on how to defeat Catalina if she gets that far. They’re all secret plans that she didn’t want to tell the press. Maligna talked about wanting to show her ruda side. She’s from a family of rudo luchadors, she’s mostly wrestled as a tecnico in Mexico City, but she’s also primarily been booked in Guadalajara this year. This is her first Arena Mexico match since July.

CMLL (SUN) 10/15/2023 Arena México
1) La Vaquerita & Lady Metal vs Hera & Tiffany
2) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Difunto, Luciferno
3) Blue Panther Jr., Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring vs Felino Jr., Kráneo, Misterioso Jr.
4) La Jarochita & Sanely vs Reyna Isis & Stephanie Vaquer
5) Atlantis, Fugaz, Valiente vs Felino, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero
6) Esfinge, Star Jr., Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Mephisto, Terrible

Volador keeps working, though probably in a limited fashion if the last few matches are a sign. Nothing really going on except continuing to have two women’s matches per show. It is producing more clear tiers in the women’s division because they can actually be split up that way.

CMLL (MON) 10/16/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Hella, Lady Metal, Shitara vs Astoreth, Diablita Roja, Lady Amazona
2) Blue Shark vs Hijo del Perverso [lightning]
3) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis
4) Pegasso & Stigma vs Felino & Felino Jr.
5) Ángel de Oro, Hechicero, Niebla Roja vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Euforia, Terrible
6) Máscara Dorada vs Último Guerrero

Dorada/UG sounds fun, will be interesting if they do the same finish here. Match 3 seems to be setting up the first world tag title defense for Vaquer & Zeuxis.

the CMLL Puebla 8-person women’s division appears to be

• Lady Metal
• Mayahuel
• Shitara (father Tigre Rojo and brother Tigre Rojo Jr. both used to wrestle here)
• Lady Amazona (the former Adelita with Rey Apocalipsis and Toro Blanco
• Hella
• Astoreth
• Diablita Roja (actually from Chilpancingo)
• and one more, because the articles about the training class said it was eight deep

There is an Astaroth in Guadalajara but the Puebla woman spells her name Astoreth. I got it wrong last week, will try to get it better this week. Shitara is actually putting up her mask this Sunday in a singles match, seems likely to still have it on Monday.

On Informa, Julio Cesar Rivera made a point of saying that the only women from the Guadalajara who are “Amazonas”  are Sexy Sol, Nautica, and Valkiria and everyone else is still trying out. (A lot of women have worked a match or two in Guadalajara this year and I presume someone angered CMLL by claiming they were part of the roster. Don’t know who.) I presume that means these Puebla women are also not “Amazonas” yet, with the exception of perhaps Lady Metal.

Tuesday’s Arena Coliseo Guadalajara will be a legends show, similar to the Dia de Luchador show in Arena Mexico. No matches have been announced yet, though there is a talent list and you can sort of work it out. An early poster had Fuerza Guerrera pictured, and Americo Rocca is now in his place. Rocca was participating in a wrestling match in 2021 but never actually got in the ring. He hasn’t been a regular wrestler since 2000.

Marcela is out of the women’s Gran Prix. CMLL doctor Erika Carmona explained on Informa that her rehab from knee surgery was going slower than hoped and she was at risk of reinjury if she returned too soon. Amapola, who replaced Dark Silueta last year when she had a knee injury, will replace Marcela this year.

Titan is the sole CMLL wrestler in NJPW’s Super Junior Tag League. It would’ve been nice to see more CMLL wrestlers but NJPW seems to be going with a mostly in-house lineup. There is technically still a mystery spot, as YOH needs a new partner due to Lio Rush being sidelined due to illness. The tournament runs from 10/21 to 11/02. The heavyweight tag league runs the same time, and I’d be stunned if a CMLL wrestler was included in that.

An article from Denver7 talks about both the local lucha scene and the Denver Broncos/CMLL cross promotion. That one came about simply: some of the Broncos staff went to a show at Arena Mexico in April, had a good time, and though it’d be a cool to work with them on something. The article also mentions luchalibre.life, which promotes the local Denvver lucha libre arenas.

AAA

Gonna be a strange TV show this week. The listings say both Heroes Inmortales and Juan de la Barrera will air. Left to air from Jalisco

• Abismo Negro Jr. & Flammer vs Dalys & Negro Casas
• NGD vs Psycho Circus vs Chessman & Parka Negra, winners get a shot at the men’s tag team titles

I’m just guessing at the additional match from Ciudad de Mexico; my guess is either the TV opener (Cachanillas versus Drago Kid, Dulce Kanela and Mini Vikingo) or the Octagon Jr. vs Drago vs Bestia #1 contenders match – but that’s just taking a guess.

AAA did tape 7 matches in Juan de la Barrera, so they had this scheme planned out. They’ll have three matches in the next two weeks, just like normal. It’s a weird plan, but it’s a plan nevertheless, and I want to make sure to note they have a plan when I’m usually critical about them not having such.

Hijo del Vikingo defeated Gringo Loco in Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall Thursday for GCW. That match was said to be great. Los Macizos also won the GCW Tag team titles on that show. It was startling how few fans GCW seemed to draw for that show.

DEFY will hope to do a lot better with their PrimoLucha show in Yakima, Washington tonight. Vikingo faces Swerve Strickland on that show, and Gringo Loco wrestlers Arez and Galeno del Mal for the Primolucha title. Vikingo is scheduled for GALLI on Sunday in Waukegan, Illinois, in a four-way with Aramis, Rey Horus and Aeroboy. That’ll be pretty good.

Penta appears in an ad with San Francisco 49er’s George Kittle for the Chubbies clothing line.

AEW is bringing in Mistico [exploding head emoji]

Just the facts:

• Mistico and Rocky Romero have been teasing a 1v1 match since the Gran Prix
• Mistico and Rocky Romero will be having that match
• in the US, but not for NJPW Strong or MLW – for AEW.

Mistico versus Rocky Romero will air on AEW, Rampage October 2oth (so next Friday). It’ll be taped three days prior, in Rosenberg (near Houston), Texas. AEW is calling it for “Mexico’s Poud for Pound Crown.” Romero is the (NWA) CMLL Historic Welterweight Champion, Mistico the (NWA) CMLL Historic Middleweight Champion, and so AEW’s rolling it out like a boxing or MMA match between different weight division champions. The CMLL name has come up on AEW (and more in ROH where Romero’s wrestled a bit) of late, but Mistico had never been mentioned before in AEW to my knowledge. They’ll have a week of shows to talk about.

It’s unusual for AEW to announce a match this far out, especially for Rampage. I wonder if there’s a hope of pushing some people on the fence into buying a ticket. Houston does have a lucha libre scene – Laredo Kid is working Coliseo Houston this weekend. AEW’s also going through an attendance downturn, and throwing something like this at the wall like is always a worthwhile try in those situations. I’m not sure it’s truly about attendance – AEW likes to see if they can bring in a hot wrestler or match from elsewhere in wrestling if they can, and Rocky and Mistico have gotten a lot of praise this year – but announcing it so early is unusual enough to wonder at a great purpose.

That one show is not what most people are concerned about; that’s what it means for AEW’s relationship with CMLL and AAA. The real answer is probably “everyone involved will see how this match goes and then figure it out”, but that requires more patience than allowed for discussion of wrestling matters. I’ll go with what I know right now. These are two different relationships:

The AEW/AAA “partnership” has always been overstated. AEW will use AAA’s titles when it suits them for an angle and will talk it over with AAA first. AEW will allow their wrestlers to take a booking from AAA if they want to work there. That’s about it. AAA’s not sending wrestlers to AEW, and AEW’s not sending wrestlers to AAA, they’re just giving a free path for their wrestlers to take work from the other company. They’re friendly with each other, but AAA and AEW aren’t sitting down to plan combined shows like NJPW does with CMLL and AEW, or even does AAA with the NWA. They may be a little less friendly after AEW booked a CMLL wrestler, but I don’t see AAA giving up on QT Marshall because AEW booked Mistico – they’re neither that tight nor that reliant on each other. It’s been obvious for a while that when AEW needs Mexican wrestlers for a bit, they’re doing their own thing and not working with AAA on the idea. Drago does not leave AAA and show up on AEW TV as Dios del Inframundo if AAA has any influence in the decision, and they’re not reaching out to AAA for info on Lince Dorado or Gravity. AEW’s not opposed to using AAA wrestlers like Aerostar or Daga, but they’re doing their own thing.

(It’s worth noting here, for like the umpteenth time, that most of the luchadors AEW employs aren’t under contract to AAA. It might just be Vikingo. Komander is famously under contract only to AEW. He, and others like the Lucha Brothers and LFI, will take dates with AEW but are really no different than any other AEW wrestler appearing in AAA – they’ll work for the Mexican promotion but aren’t tied to them long term. AEW is their number one and what they’d be require to pick if there’s ever a conflict. If AAA were upset about this situation and forced people to choose between AAA and AEW, they’d just lose some people. That’s also why AAA’s not going to make much of a fuss about this, even if it did annoy them – it’s an argument they can’t win.)

The “AEW/CMLL” relationship is really “CMLL has an unprecedented amount of faith and trust in Rocky Romero and will go along with (most) anything he suggests.” A few days ago in this space, I wrote how the Wrestling Observer Newsletter should combine “best booker”, “best promoter” and “best promotion” awards, because their voters treat them essentially as the same category. I suggest, as a replacement, the newsletter adds a “best front office person who’s not the promoter or booker” award and then just give it to Rocky Romero by fiat the first year. This doesn’t happen without him and exists for now only as long as he can keep everyone satisfied with the agreement. CMLL (the Lutteroths, the programming department, who knows who else) have given a lot of trust in Romero making good deals for them in the US and must be pleased with what they’ve seen so far with both the increasing wrestlers on NJPW Strong shows and the MLW deal. They’re allowing him a little more rope.

Maybe Tony Khan and Salvador Lutteroth will sit down in a room and chat at some point, but this is not yet that. This is a toe in the water to take the temperature so far. It’s a dip so tentative dip that CMLL is treating this no different than that GALLI show last week or any other of Mistico’s irregular US indie bookings – CMLL so far has not even acknowledged the AEW match is happening. It is a huge step in the relationship for AEW and CMLL to get even this far, but it’s just one match so far. Maybe AEW can get a Blue Panther or a Mascara Dorada or whomever in if it goes well. It is still likely to be AEW calling CMLL (or more likely, AEW calling Romero) for a particular wrestler on a particular date, and not some big partnership beyond that. That’s more how AEW seems to work with outside promotions, and it fits CMLL as well.

One relationship doesn’t preclude the other. AEW clearly wants to work with everyone willing (maybe except for WWE and, somedays, I’m not even sure if he’s building an angle there.) AAA will work with AEW as long as AEW has wrestlers they want to use and are willing to come to Mexico. CMLL, in allowing Mistico to appear on a live event with AAA’s Penta (scheduled for Dynamite), is showing an unprecedented willingness to bend their own rules. Maybe it never bends more than this – AAA & CMLL can be on the same US live event but not on the same TV show – but even that much is breaking longstanding tradition.

(Sidenote 1 that only interests me: the answer to “will Mistico help Rampage’s TV ratings?” is “probably no, and does it even matter, it is Rampage, it’s just cute they’re running a very CMLL match on a Friday night.” Rampage seems to live in the 300,000 viewer range regardless. I presume Mistico appearing on Rampage will be billed as his return to US TV, and then you’ll have to mentally fill in “English speaking” because people who report on these things forget that CMLL has had US TV on some Spanish TV outlets and post-WWE Mistico was on some of that. Even if we throw that out, I think it’s possible Mistico’s matches in 2019 Ring of Honor TV (over a few cameos) might have bene seen by more people than Mistico on a 2023 Rampage. That era of Ring of Honor was on local stations around the country, there was no real easy way to find out how many people saw them, but ROH people claimed they were drawing 250,000-500,000 people on those shows. Everyone not in ROH seemed to doubt that reach, so who knows.)

(Sidenote 2: It’s great AEW is bringing in another cool Mexican wrestler. It would be greater still if the Mexican wrestlers they had any sort of direction or purpose. Currently, your best bet at seeing a Mexican wrestler on AEW TV is showing up on Collision in random combinations to lose to Bullet Club Gold or in the last Ring of Honor match of the night after most of the crowd has gone home. It’s not great. It was cool that Fenix won a title. The coolness was somewhat diminished by it being an unplanned accident and AEW wanting to get it back off him as fast as humanly possible. Maybe we can charitably believe AEW would’ve kept Fenix more in the mix if he hadn’t been hurt, but it’s hard to get there when there’s no way he would’ve been gotten it in the first place if not for a horrible accident. They see him and Penta at the “credible guys to lose to the top guys” level, and they don’t even see the rest of them as important enough to use them as more than interchangeable bodies. If they’re even around to get used; I keep thinking LFI are the answer to a (maybe dropped?) mystery man angle, if only because I don’t understand the point in reintroducing them in vignettes without a plan to put them back in matches. And they’re still not in matches.

If Mistico takes the loss to Rocky Romero, I will also lose my mind, but that doesn’t fix the underlying issue. I know it’s not just a “Mexican wrestling in AEW” issue, it’s “they have way more people than ideas for them or the bandwidth to execute those ideas”. It wouldn’t be hard to plug Top Flight or Action Andretti or whoever your favorites are; it’s an epidemic issue of having such a large roster of interesting people. It just sticks out a bit more when it’s an entire class of wrestlers being treated similarly. I hope it gets better.)

(sidenote 3: AEW’s going to keep people separated here but still my dream is a backstage bit where Mistico is so happy to see his good friend Dralistico again and Dralistico is quietly depressed that he can’t escape this man. I would absolutely not book the Spider-Man point, that’s played out.)

(sidenote 4: I will believe Bryan Danielson wrestles a CMLL wrestler when I see the graphic. I believe he wants it to happen but it also has never happened. I maintain that he is in fact un cobarde.)

(sidenote 5: A previous AAA selling point for wrestlers coming aboard with them is the ability to get them booked in the US, pointing to work with AEW, MLW and Impact as the potential. There are reasons to work for AAA but that one no longer seems a strong point; the AAA wrestlers who are doing well internationally seem to be doing it on their own.)

Lucha Central writes about Mistico being Mistico.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 10/12/2023 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Zona Ruda]
1) Rey Astaroth & Rey Halcón b Blue Win & Tornado
2) Águila Roja, Danessa, Lolita, Satania b Amazonika, Bengalee, Glamurosa, Spider Fly
setting up a Aguila Roja/Spider Fly as a title match
3) Puma de Oro & Relámpago b Tonalli & Último Legendario
Relampago wants a title match with Tonalli
4) Ivan Rokov, Súper Comando, Tito Santana b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
Poder del Norte want a EDM trios title match next weekend
5) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. b Hell Boy & Shocko [IWRG IC TAG]
3rd defense

I know noting about this show but it’s funny they added the guys to the women’s trios to set up their title match.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha World (FRI) 10/13/2023 Arena Big Lucha, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Odisseo Mendoza & Urzus Mendoza vs ? & Sangre Nueva
2) Mr. Win & Tirano vs Auzter & Platino
3) El Potro de Oro & Viajero vs Andrómeda & El Brujo

Big Lucha World is genuinely returning in the old format (or at least that’s the plan.) This should stream on Big Lucha’s YouTube channel at 8:30 pm local, or the same time the CMLL show starts. The main event is a preview of next week’s title match (and the end-of-year Viajero/Brujo mask match.)

Other News

RIOT announced their next show will be 12/09, returning to old home Arena LLF. Fans have to buy tickets to the previous show on 10/21 to be able to buy presale tickets for the December show. The 10/21 show still only has one match announced.

DDT announced that Demus will be coming to their promotion from 11/16 to 11/26. I don’t follow DDT closely but it seems to me they like big characters and Demus is going to fit in well there.

For reasons only understood by the algorithms that control our lives, the video of Kaho Kobayahsi as La Pidita got picked up all over again on news sites. It’s the same video from August and I’m sure some of the same sites are posting it again.

This is a rather quiet middle of the week for lucha libre. Maybe there’s some big announcement coming on Informa today I don’t see coming, but all I’ve got right now is some results and not much news.

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 10/09/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol del Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) Astaroth & Lady Amazona b Mayahuel & Shitara 
debuts for all four women, part of a training class alongside Lady Metal and led by Pegasso.
2) Blue Shark & Rayo Metálico b Espíritu Maligno & Fénix SO
3) Meyer, Retro, Valiente Jr. b Perverso, Prayer, Siki Osama
4) La Jarochita & Lluvia b Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis 
5) Felino, Felino Jr., Hechicero b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
6) Atlantis Jr., Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. DQ Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero 
Ultimo Guerrero unmasked Mascara Dorada for the DQ

Porra Fresa believes this is the most debuts of Puebla based wrestlers in any year. There’s no way of knowing for sure, our Puebla records aren’t that complete, but it sure feels true with four more women starting. Match 4 could be setting up a tag title match, though the foreigners might actually be in first.

CMLL (TUE) 10/10/2023 Arena México [CMLL, thecubsfan]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Chamuel & Mije 
9:55. Mije replaced Periquito Sacaryas
2) Olympia & Persephone b La Guerrera & La Vaquerita 
11:07.
3) Pegasso, Pelon Encapuchado, Stigma b Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio 
12:16.
4) Amapola & Metálica DQ La Catalina & Stephanie Vaquer 
12:13, Vaquer DQed for using the rope hanging armabr for too long
5) Máscara Dorada b Último Guerrero [lightning] 
9:08, Dorada winning clean with the SSP
6) Bárbaro Cavernario, Stuka Jr., Terrible b Atlantis Jr., Star Jr., Volador Jr. 
17:31. Cavernario pulled Star Jr.’s mask and cradled him for the win, setting up a singles match next week

Cavernario whipped Star Jr. hard with his own mask after the match, and then beat Star Jr. up when he tried to rush the rudo for revenge. Cavernario is in a mean mood.

Dorada and Guerrero were good, it seemed like they could have a significantly better match with more time, will get that time next Monday probably. Dorada winning clean over UG is surprising but consistent with about the last twelve months: Ultimo Guerrero is not protected in results like he used to be. He still wins a fair bit of the time but nothing like the old days. He has one draw and two losses in his Arena Mexico singles matches this year.

CMLL (TUE) 10/10/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, thecubsfan]
1) Adira, Dulce Kitty, Yemaya b Atenea, La Pantera, Maldita Estrella 
2) Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Eclipse Jr. b Destello, Pesadilla, Shezmu 
3) Halcón Suriano Jr., Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro b Obek, Rav, Último Ángel 
4) Demonio Maya, Kráneo, Nitro b Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno, Volcano 
5) Ángel Rebelde, Halcón Negro Jr., Optimus, Trono b Crixus, Max Star, Neón, Vegas 
6) Barboza & Zandokan Jr. b Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. and Felino Jr. & Vaquero Jr. and Furia Roja & Guerrero de la Muerte 
four way elimination tag match, though Villanos and pirates worked together as a team. Pirates beat Zandokan/Barboza, Villanos got DQed for dropkick the referee, Barboza & Zandoakn beat Vaquero Jr. for the win.
7) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Templario b Arlequín, Averno, Sagrado 

The semimain was listed as four way tag, then listed as just eight people in a match, then finally as an 4v4 match – and ended up back being a four-way tag. Someone just didn’t want the Villanos and Zandokan to fight.

The most interesting running bit is Zeuxis making it clear she’s not a fan of La Catalina, despite both of those women teaming with Stephanie Vaquer.

AAA

There is no AAA news. Next taping is a week from today in San Luis Potosi.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 10/12/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Blue Win & Tornado vs Águila Roja & Rey Astaroth
2) Amazonika, Bengalee, Glamurosa vs Golden Girl, Lolita, Satania
3) Tonalli & Último Legendario vs Puma de Oro & Relámpago
4) Ivan Rokov, Súper Comando, Tito Santana vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
5) Cerebro Negro & Cerebro Negro Jr. vs Hell Boy & Shocko [IWRG IC TAG]
3rd defense

Hell Boy and Shocko seem much more like a team put together to break up and feud than a title team.

Other Notes

Daga’s Ring of Honor match actually airs this Thursday. I don’t know the Ring of Honor taping schedule, apparently.

Box y Lucha 3572 has a lot of CMLL luchadoras, including La Catalina, on the cover.

There’s a new lucha libre photography exhibit in Leon.

Mini Charly Manson (Nestro Armando N., 43) was arrested in Ecatepec on charges of rape. This is not the more famous Mini Charly Manson who appeared on AAA TV and has since switched to wrestling as Tiago or the Chicago based Mini Charly Manson, but a third person who took over the gimmick. This is one where 99% of people would have no idea who it was based on their fame (or lack there of), but it got picked up on many news sites because “luchador” was in the police report.

The 11/19 Clase Mundial (Hijo del Tirantes) show in Xalapa will raise money for a local food pantry.

Ludark will appear in a panel discussion about women in wrestling on Sunday in Neza .