CMLL

Tonight’s card

CMLL (FRI) 01/13/2023 Arena México
1) Esfinge & Fugaz vs Magia Blanca & Rugido
rematch from 2022-10-28 (then for MEX TAG)
2) Dulce Gardenia vs Virus
rematch from 2022-02-12 (Arena Coliseo)
3) Espíritu Negro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
rematch from 2022-04-19
4) Hechicero vs Euforia
rematch from 2022-08-19 (then for CMLL HEAVY)
5) Averno & Místico vs Rocky Romero & Volador Jr.
rematch from 2022-03-18 (Rocky Romero replacing TJP)

This doesn’t look as strong as last week. Hechicero/Euforia was one of the best match of 2022. Nothing else looks close. Matches 2/3 look fun but unlikely to be supe rmemorable, match 1 had obvious issues the first time. The main event is more a contest to see if either team can make it through without exploding. It’s more important show from that standpoint, it’s probably setting up for the future, but at bit of cost to this show. It’s on TicketmasterLive as always.

My guess has been that Rocky and Volador are having a isngles match soon, and quite possibly it’ll happen as part of the Fantastica Mania tour instead of in Arena Mexico. It did get me to thinking about that tour. NJPW usually has the biggest matches on Korakuen Hall shows, there’s two of them, and there’s lot of options for main events

• Volador vs Rocky Romero
• Soberano vs Templario
• Titan & BUSHI vs TJP & Akira for the IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship
• Mistico vs Ultimo Guerero (or whoever is Mistico’s opponent)

Maybe they’ll be two packed cards. (Maybe the tag title match is a pipedream.)

CMLL (SUN) 01/15/2023 Arena México
1) Acero, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito vs Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
2) El Suicida, Robin, Valiente Jr. vs Inquisidor, Magnus, Okumura
3) Dark Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hombre Bala Jr. vs Felino, Pólvora, Yota
4) Negro Casas, Star Black, Valiente vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Atlantis Jr., Titán, Volador Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Rocky Romero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

Rocky Romero is in on Sunday and seems to be around all week. He’s facing Volador all the time, so it’s not mystery where they’re going. It is a bit of a mystery why that main event is a Relevos Increibles; probably a typo.

CMLL (MON) 01/16/2023 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Meyer vs King Jaguar & Sombra Diabólika
2) Astral, Robin, Sangre Imperial vs Disturbio, Hijo del Perverso, Multy
3) Flyer, Fuego, Oro Jr. vs Felino Jr., Okumura, Pólvora
4) Arkalis, Dark Panther, Pegasso vs El Hijo del Villano III, Felino, Rey Bucanero
5) Atlantis Jr. & Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero & Rocky Romero

I really didn’t note the return of Astro and the Puebla debut of Multy (who was once Mini Multifacetico in IWRG) last week. They’re back this week.

CMLL (TUE) 01/17/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Náutica & Princesa Tiger vs Nexy & Valkiria
2) Kráneo, León Blanco, Rey Trueno vs Exterminador, Maléfico, Volcano
3) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pierrothito
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. vs Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico
5) Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black vs Leo, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
6) Rocky Romero & Templario vs Ángel de Oro & Volador Jr.

Rocky getting the full foreigner treatment (working every show possible.) Fuerza Tapatia doesn’t wrestle in Guadalajara match, and neither do the minis.

Tonight wraps up the Best of 2022 shows. Next week seems to be a Friday show without an event (a rare CMLL event in itself), and they’re back to tournament on 01/27. The Reyes del Aire returns. It’s a ten person field:

• Mistico
• Soberano Jr.
• Atlantis Jr.
• Fugaz
• Panterita del Ring Jr.
• Templario (2020 winner)
• Stuka Jr. (2022 winner)
• Barbaro Cavernario (2016 winner)
• Gran Guerrero
• Dragon Rojo Jr.

Stuka really is a rudo, since they’ve got five of them and five of the tecnicos in this match. A ten-person cibernetico is a peculiar number for a CMLL cibernetico, especially given there are a lot more tecnicos who could be added. (No Volador really sticks out.) This should still be good.

AAA

AAA is back on Space Saturday at 6:30 pm. Listed as airing

• Loco Castillo, Pekador, Reina Dorada vs Demus, La Hiedra, Maravilla
• Mr. Iguana & Nino Hamburguesa vs Kento & Takuma
• Arez & Myzteziz Jr. vs Argenis & Parka Negra
• Murder Clown & Dave the Clown vs Gringo Loco & Villano III Jr.

The preview lists all four matches; I would’ve have been sure that opener owuld air. This Sace show is going on against a couple of different things I’d like to watch but I’m going to stream it ‘live’ anyway. Kind of interested, kind of just want it done.

Ring of Honor announced they’re going to run Supercard of Honor in the same tradition as past years, on WrestleMania Weekend (Friday, March 31st) and in the area of WrestleMania (Los Angeles.) Again, that’s their normal practice, but it wasn’t clear they were going to keep doing that after Tony Khan bought the promotion. Now it is clear. ROH’s promotion of the show included teasing involvement from “other promotions around the world”. AEW wrestlers will be there, and it’s a safe bet NJPW and Stardom wrestlers will be invited to appear. It’s more of an open question about which, if any, Mexican wrestling promotions will officially appear. It’s ultimately not going to be a big deal who does – because wrestlers from Mexican promotions are rarely used in big ways on multi-promotions shows – but it’ll probably be read into heavily to figure out where AEW stands with AAA or even CMLL.

More importantly, and this is why this is in the AAA section, ROH announcing a WrestleMania weekend show reminded me I’ve heard nothing about the AAA plan to run this weekend. Highspots has similarly announced their show for Thursday of that week, and I’d expect lots more announcements as everyone tries to stake out their ground in an always busy weekend. AAA still has some time to make an announcement and my assumption is their still running, but I had heard a lot of the AAA Dallas show was on by this point and I haven’t heard much about this one since the story first came up.

Maybe I just need to give it a little more time. AAA’s 2022 rollout press conference, where they announced the 3 TripleMania schedule among other plans, took place a few days before the first scheduled taping last year. That taping didn’t happen because of COVID, but the plan seemed to be to make that news before they started taping again. Next Saturday is the first AAA taping this year, so perhaps we’ll hear more about 2023 next week.

Dr. Wagner Jr. took his Instagram complaints to his newspaper column, criticizing Bandido and Vikingo not having the same kind of title matches he had with guys like Mesias and Zorro, and others. He says he’s never seen them apply a llave, a suastica, a cerrajera or even a quebradora. I tend to ignore “past star man complains wrestling isn’t like when he was on top” because it only exists as poison. Bandido & Vikingo aren’t going to hear about this and start doing half crabs (though they should do it if it’s going to be funny.) It’s not that fans support wrestlers who do good quebradoras, or Guerrero Maya Jr. would be the biggest wrestler in Mexico. Fans support people who they think are cool, who win a lot, and who face challenges the fans find interesting – and what defines all those qualities change over time. These complaints are not going to get Wagner brought back for a title run, which is he what he’s obviously looking for. It’s also a reframing of history, because Dr. Wagner Jr.’s title matches weren’t the totally technical bouts he’d like people to believe he had. The only reason I bring it up is that Bandido/Vikingo match has only aired on FITE so far, and it’s very funny to imagine Dr. Wagner Jr. opening his FITE app, paying 23 USD and sitting down on a Wednesday night to catch the AAA action. He surely only saw that GIF of the one spot, which tells you how big that GIF got if Wagner saw and couldn’t stop seeing it until he started complaining about it.

Big Lucha

They’re back running at Bandido’s Gym on Saturday. The show is scheduled to start at 7 pm, which means the first couple of matches will likely overlap with AAA. This is a Mas Lucha subscriber-only show, like the last Bandido’s Gym event.

Big Lucha (SAT) 01/14/2023 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Metal Shadow & Votice vs Estrella Del Ring & Zenky
2) Elipse & Orbita vs Black Skayde & Hijo Del Skayde and Andy Panda Jr. & Little Star
3) Galeno del Mal, Gravity, Rey Horus vs Iku, Jack Evans, Vengador
4) Bendito & Flamita vs Cometa Maya & Radioactivo
5) Mr. Win vs Éxtasis, Elemental, Forneo, Potro, Accion Jackson [Golden Ticket]
6) Emperador Azteca vs El Bandido © [BIG LUCHA WORLD]

Emperador Azteca has always struck me as technically solid but missing some excitement. Bandido is good at getting people excited. The title match might work. The fourth match is another possible standout and there’s other promising stuff. The question with these is where Big Lucha is at drawing fans without special guest stars.

I’d like to see Extasis, Elemental or Forneo get the win if it means they get the next title shot. Mr. Win getting a title shot is a fun Big Lucha World thing but not something for a normal show. Elemental is the Black Generation we seem to get the least of, so he seems more interesting than Jackson (though maybe they need to do someone else to break up the Black Generation challenges.) Big Lucha ran an angle where Flamita & Emperador Azteca cut Potro’s manager Maximillino’s hair, so there’s probably something going on with them next.

Bandido faces former Toryumon Mexico lucahdor Bryan Danielson on Wednesday.

Other News

Publimetro says Black Warrior passed due to bacteria in his bloodstream, forming after a poorly treated injury. He’d been hospitalized for a few days.

I figured I’d get something wrong with the Black Warrior gimmick timeline and I sure did. He was La Mascara from 1988 to into 1992, not 1991 as I had. He still became Bronce that year.

Black Taurus challenges Trey Miguel for the X-Division Championship on Frida’ys Impact Hard to Kill show. This is a full priced $40 PPV. Taurus is unlikely to win but there’s a least a possibility of it.

Hijo del Santo has his first known wrestling match since July on Saturday in Arena Lopez Mateos in a trios with other ‘second generation’ wrestlers. It’s for “Innova”, which ran three show at the end of 2022; they used Dr. Wagner Jr. on one of their shows, but there’s not a lot that distinguishes them over the many other AVE/TC promotions that run that arena. Santo doesn’t work much because Santo wants a good amount to wrestle, and this is probably more about the joy of getting to book Hijo del Santo than any business plan. There’s a good chance this will air on AYM Sports and stream on their InternetvDeportes YouTube channel. Every notable Arena Lopez Mateos show gets a bunch of YouTube handhelds as well.

MLW previously seemed to write off Cesar Duran (Dario Cueto) as a matchmaker, but he’s apparently sticking around as a manager and teasing bringing people to Mexico. Hugo Savinovich also appeared on the show, which seems new. (MLW’s recap struggles to spell ‘Savinovich’ and ‘Boyle Heights’; I still have to Google the name to make sure I don’t screw it up regularly.)

ImagenTV is said to be advertising boxing in the timeslot previously occupied by Nacion Lucha Libre. I haven’t been able to find the ad myself and Imagen’s website still lists Nacion in the spot, but Mexican TV network listings are often inaccurate so I can believe it. A YouTube video report reported that as a cancelation of Nacion Lucha Libre and I’m not sure that’s accurate. Nacion’s stated plan was to tape three times, last in December, and then go away for a while again. They ended up only running two public tapings and repeated the last four weeks of TV, but this is about when we’d expect them to go away. ImagenTV keeping them on this long was more the story: either they’re really into lucha libre or really into Alberto specifically or Nacion bought the timeslots (and kept paying even when they ran out of new TV.) Everyone involved with Nacion Lucha Libre has gone quiet publicly about it, but ImagenTV airing those repeats made me think they’d be up for another ‘season’ if the people funding Nacion Lucha Libre want to lose more money on it.

La Mascara said Maximo’s “retirement announcement” has caused him to think about the same idea. I don’t believe any luchador that age is actually retiring, but La Mascara has wrestled infrequently the last few years and looked so disinterested that I’d be more willing to believe it with him. That’s also why it seems more likely he (and Maximo) will keep wrestling; it seems easy to just pick up a match or two a month and cruise through without doing much if that’s all you want.

A fan spotted Superboletos listing a WWE Extreme Rules show on February 17th in Arena Naucalpan. Clearly not happening but I’m curious what wires got crossed to put that show up.

What actually is happening that weekend in Naucalpan is a Lucha Libre Boom show with Volador & Mistico announced.

 

the (end of) 2022 Tapatia Awards are still open until the end of this month. Maybe I’ll even remember to keep mentioning it?

CMLL

CMLL (MON) 01/09/2023 Arena Puebla [Arena Puebla, Porra Fesa]
1) Hijo del Perverso & Multy b Astro & Black Tiger 
2) Átomo, Chamuel, Micro Ángel b Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado
Micro Angel replaced Zacarias
3) Disturbio, El Perverso, Prayer b Hombre Bala Jr., Rey Samuray, Robin 
Rey Samurai was stretchered away with a knee injury but was said to be doing fine later.
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
5) Atlantis Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr., Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero  

Turnout was good, though doesn’t look as strong as the holiday shows. The Guerreros lost the main event but the team continued to the next night.

CMLL (TUE) 01/10/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports]
1) Angelito & Galaxy b Mercurio & Minos   
Galaxy debut
2) Leono, Oro Jr., Sangre Imperial b Cholo, Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II 
Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Pólvora 
Tecnicos took 2/3. Black Warrior was remembered with a moment of applause after the match.
4) Blue Panther, Titán, Valiente b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Yota 
Tecnicos too k1/3.
5) Atlantis Jr., Místico, Templario DQ Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]   
Mistico replaced Atlantis on Monday. Stuka Jr. unmasked Atlantis Jr. for the DQ, then one again asked to be a rudo and join Los Guerreros. Ultimo Guerrero accepted.

Footage of the moment of applause for Black Warrior. Mistico had the Black Warrior design on the back of his mask.

CMLL was building towards Stuka being the newest Guerrero for a while and seemed like it was going to happen soon. It’s still a little bit of a surprise they did the team up angle on a Tuesday; Tuesday gets almost no angles. Though I guess none of those guys are on Fridays during this Best of stretch.

Show was fine. Galaxy looked good. Nothing you had to see.

CMLL (TUE) 01/10/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Bello Antuan, Cosmos, Eclipse Jr. b Demonio Rojo, Relámpago Azul, Thunder Boy 
2) Atilius, Maximus, Rey Uranio b Black Boy, Carlo Roggi, Cris Skin 
3) Diamante Jr., Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro b Estrella de Jalisco I, Estrella de Jalisco II, Último Ángel 
4) Halcón Suriano Jr. b Ángel Rebelde Jr. 
5) Cachorro, Hijo De Stuka Jr., Rey Insólito (Laguna) b Barboza, Draego, Persa 
6) Dalys, Maligna, Náutica, Valkiria b Gema Andrade, La Misteriosa, Lluvia, Sexy Sol 
Sexy Sol replaced Stephanie Vaquer
7) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring Jr., Soberano Jr. b Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr. 

A big Guadalajara/Laguna (or Mexico City) theme on the show, which also worked out with them honoring Black Warrior before the main event. The Laguna team won most of the matches. The main event was a usual good B-show match. The women’s match felt very long.

Guadalajara seemed to tease Rocky Romero (“El Azucar Esta de Regresa“) would be on the 01/17 show, which suggests he’s around for more than Friday’s show. Romero and Okumura are booked in Costa Rica on Saturday.

CMLL (SAT) 01/14/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado vs Átomo, Chamuel, Mije
2) Astral, Diamond, Eléctrico vs Apocalipsis, Disturbio, Enfermero Jr.
3) Flyer, Fuego, Volcano vs El Coyote, Felino Jr., Raider
4) Blue Panther, Dulce Gardenia, Panterita del Ring vs Felino, Hijo del Villano III, Rey Bucanero
5) Místico, Panterita del Ring Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Mephisto, Templario

Panterita del Ring Jr. getting another main event. Maybe he’s not going to Fantastica Mania because CMLL needs him to hold the promotion together while everyone is gone.

CMLL Informa has Atlantis Jr., Fugaz, Rey Bucanero, Hechicero, Euforia, Magia Blanca and Rugido. Most of those are Friday previews but I’m not immediately sure why Bucanero and Atlantis Jr. are on the show.

A note on Black Warrior’s funereal mentioned Black Warrior fractured his cervical spine last year, along with a previously acknowledged leg injury.

AAA

Not much new here. AAA did post the two Best of episodes I didn’t stream as one large YouTube file. Again, nothing there you need to see if you’ve watched AAA all year long.

AAA posted on social media about the new Marvel Lucha Libre start date (next Wednesday) about the same time as all the press releases came out; it sort of came off like they found out the same time as everyone else. There’s no indication this show will be available outside of Latin American, though I’m told Disney+ is easy to fool locations based on VPN.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 01/15/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Baby Star & Kenji vs Rey Eclipse & Rey Minos
2) Diosa Quetzal & Lolita vs Black Fury & Satania
3) John Tito, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Rey Halcón
4) Alan Extreme, Imposible, Mr. Leo vs Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr.
5) Hijo De Canis Lupus, Puma de Oro, Tonalli vs Hip Hop Man, Karaoui, Shocko
6) Hell Boy © vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan [IWRG Rey del Ring]
4th defense

The main event was set up last week. Alan Extreme and Mr. Leo are back around.

You may recall IWRG trios championships are in possession of people outside of IWRG (and that’s why the Mexico State trios titles are being used as the top belts.) Dinastia Navarro were the trios champs and eventually, the whole family stopped working with IWRG. What normally happens is the people who left just keep the belts forever, or at least until they return. The Navarros, after four years of doing nothing with the trios, instead lost them in Saltillo to local wrestlers Espartaco, Latino and Tempestad. They defended them often in 2022, more than most IWRG titles actually get defended in IWRG. The champions had a defense on Sunday, Espartaco and Latino betrayed each other during the match, and the challengers took the belts and left at the end. The commission got involved today, saying the referee had called a DQ for partners attacking each other and the champions (Espartaco, Latino and Tempestad) are still the champions even if they’re not getting along.

Other Notes

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

The debut show for “New Exotic” is the first Juan de la Barrera show since Nacion Lucha Libre drew badly there back in November.

AAA , New Exotic (SAT) 02/18/2023 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Último Soldado & Último Soldado Jr. vs Brazo de Platino Jr. & Kauris
2) Bugambilia & Máximo vs Alas de Oro & Alas De Plata
3) La Parkita & Octagoncito vs Mini Psycho Clown & Parkita Negra
4) Demonio Infernal, Fresero Jr., Trauma I, Trauma II vs Pig Decapitador, Pig Desenterrador, Pig Destroyer, Pig Destructor
5) Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, Sexy Star vs Carta Brava, La Hiedra, Parka Negra
6) Pagano & Psycho Clown vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Chessman

Maximo’s story is he was going to be too busy getting his New Exotic promotion of the ground to wrestle. This is the debut of that promotion and Maximo is still wrestling (in the second match on the card). I didn’t think his retirement was real but now I wonder if it’s really his promotion or if he’s just the front person for something. It’s a generic AAA Mexico City spot show, which should draw fine. There’s roughly a 0.0000% chance anyone will get pinned cleanly in the fourth match.

Rey Mysterio Jr. and Super Astro held a surprise party for Rey Mysterio Sr.

Black Warrior, Jesus Toral Lopez, passed away early Tuesday, according to his son. He turned 54 earlier in the week. No cause of death has been mentioned. Black Warrior had a long and varied career wrestling career. He’s best remembered as half the CMLL 73rd Anniversario (2006) main event mask match. Mistico cemented himself as the new gigantic star of Mexican wrestling with the win, and Black Warrior remained linked to him for the rest of his career.

Black Warrior was part of a lucha libre family. He was the nephew of Blue Panther and married into the Mano Negra family. He was trained in Torreon by legendary local trainer Halcon Suriano, started wrestling in 1984 as Destroyer, then came to Mexico City soon after as Camorra. What followed was one of the most dizzying series of gimmick and promotions changes on record. This is our best guess at when and where:

• started in EMLL as Camorra from about 1985 to 1988
• jumped to LLI as La Mascara from about 1988 to 1991
• returned to (now) CMLL as Bronce, one of Los Metalicos, from 1991 to May 1992
• joined AAA as Super Star at the founding in May 1992 until around October 1992
• stayed in AAA but switched to Dragon de Oro in October 1992 and kept that until July 1994
• stayed in AAA but switched to Bali (AAA suddenly had TV in India) from July 1994 to February 1995
• moved to PROMELL/Promo Azteca using the Dragon de Oro name in February 1995 to August 1995
• returned to AAA as Vegas for a few dates in September 1995
• returned to CMLL as Black Panther in October 1995
• stayed in CMLL and switched to more copyright-safe Black Warrior in May 1996, which he stayed with for the rest of his carer.

It was a wild time of promotions rising and falling. The eventual Black Warrior often followed his uncle Blue Panther from group to group but didn’t have the name recognition or power to keep a gimmick. He still stood out – he had size and potential – and fans could pick him out even as he changed identities.

As Black Warrior, he became famous for his bullet tope – a high-speed, big-impact dive that would smash his opponents into the front row of fans in the days before ringside barricades in Arena Mexico. (Aramis and Black Warrior’s nephew Dark Panther come closest today, but just come close.) Warrior had a lot of high impact moves and a cool personality that would get cheered as a rudo. It never translated as well as a tecnico and he didn’t seem to enjoy that role as much. The luchawiki bio notes Black Warrior once went in the Box y Lucha magazine to ask CMLL to return him to rudo side. That was in 2005, and he got his wish in 2006.

Black Warrior, Negro Casas and Mistico defeated the trio of Averno, Mephisto and Toscano on February 10th, 2006 in Arena Mexico. Averno & Mephisto were the CMLL tag team champions at the moment and a skit aired on TV with Casas, Warrior and Mistico debating which two of them should go after the titles. They decided on Mistico & Warrior, and the two challenged the following week. The Warrior/Mistico team nearly won, but ran into problems. Mistico collided with Warrior on a dive in the third fall, leading to his elimination. Warrior tried to come back in anyway, when Mistico seemed to have the match won, and the referee DQed the challengers. The two teams rematched two weeks later, and more miscommunication between Warrior & Mistico led Warrior to betray Mistico and return to the rudo side.

Mistico was already taking off as a young superhero. He’d won the Gran Alternativa in 2004, then the NWA Middleweight Championship from Averno on New Year’s Day 2005. By May of the year, CMLL was throwing him in an unrelated Dinamitas/tecnicos cage match just because he was already starting to draw. He’d beat Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero in singles matches later that year, but CMLL hadn’t found his big mask rival yet.

Black Warrior was that man for Mistico. He was a near-top wrestler, someone who’d won the Leyenda de Plata tournament previously, beaten an important name in El Dandy to win the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and again from (at the time) fellow young star Shocker. He’d had an Arena Mexico mask win over Bronco (who’s daughter is now WWE wrestler Yusila Leon.) Warrior had toured Japan for both CMLL Japan and Michinoku Pro and brought a lot of credibility and veteran experience. He was a true challenge for a guy on the way up like Mistico.

The 2006 Mistico/Black Warrior feud was huge business for CMLL. It was the start of the “Mistico’s working four times a Sunday and drawing big crowds” era, and Warrior was his tough opponent. The two worked against each other everywhere and often for the whole year. They brought in a massive amount of new and young fans into lucha libre; a lot of parents bringing their children to lucha libre show in 2023 became fans around this time. Averno was more important to Mistico’s development and Ultimo Guerrero and El Hijo del Perro Aguayo would become bigger potential matches, but it was the Black Warrior feud where Mistico truly took off.

Warrior beat Mistico for the NWA Middleweight Championship on May 12, 2006, the first time Mistico lost a singles match in Arena Mexico since taking that identity. Mistico got the win back in the semifinal of that year’s Leyenda de Plata, before winning over Atlantis in the final. Mistico and Black Warrior agreed to a mask match on the CMLL 73rd Anniversary show, and Mistico defeated Black Warrior in one of the most famous matches in modern lucha libre history.

Black Warrior seemed to have regrets about taking the feud to a mask match, covering his face as he unmasked. He’d recover well. The feud with Mistico remained hot into 2007 and Warrior remade himself as “El Dennis Rodman de lucha libre” for his every changing multicolored hair styles. He’d get another big match in 2007, teaming with Rey Bucanero to lose a hair match against Shocker & Hijo del Lizmark at the then traditional end-of-the-year show. Warrior became the third man in a Poder Mexica trio with Sangre Azteca and Dragon Rojo in 2009, a fun group that didn’t get to do a lot, and then put over NJPW’s Yujiro in a hair match at end of 2009 before leaving the promotion.

Warrior returned to his iterant ways in 2010. He worked briefly with the shortlived Perros del Mal promotion, then appeared with them when they ‘invaded’ TripleMania as part of Perro Jr’s return to the group. (All the Perros del Mal wore black for the angle, except Black Warrior found the whitest outfit possible.) He was in and out of AAA (brought back again later as a Mistico/Myzteziz opponent when he returned from WWE), returned to CMLL at times (including a brief trios title reign with Volador and Mr. Aguila) and showed up ELITE, among other places. Warrior appeared less and less often as the 2010s went on. The nickname of “El Dennis Rodman de lucha libre” may have referred not just to his hair, but also to the persistent rumors of Warrior having outside-the-ring substance issues. He’d allude to those issues in later years, and it seemed like those issues got the best of him after his Mistico peak.

Black Warrior had returned to a more active role in wrestling in the last few years, spurred on by his sons Warrior Jr. and Hijo de Black Warrior starting their own lucha libre careers. Black Warrior made a one night return to CMLL in 2018 as part of honoring his uncle Blue Panther’s 40-year career, and worked occasional indie shows with his sons. Warrior Jr. began training with CMLL for an eventual debut, before suffering a (still unclear) accident in training and suffering a severe neck injury. Black Warrior continued wrestling himself, returning to Arena Coliseo Guadalajara to face Mistico once again in 2021, and again in March 2022 after Warrior Jr. passed away due to his earlier injuries. Black Warrior, either motivated by his son’s passing or just caught by the wrestling bug, started getting more involved in wrestling once again in 2022. He was training wrestlers for both the small Welcome to Mi Barrio promotion in Mexico City and Arena Mama Luchas in Mexico State, and was booking recent shows for Mama Lucha. He’d worked there on New Year’s Day and WTMB had built towards a Pantera/Black Warrior match for their February restart.

Both Black Warrior and his nephew Dark Panther used the name “Black Panther” for a while, and are linked with a similar style. Dark Panther even seems to be dressing himself a little like the kilts Black Warrior use to wear of late. Dark Panther is scheduled to main event Area Coliseo Guadalajara tonight. Black Warrior will no doubt be honored there and on many other shows this week.

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 01/06/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, R de Rudo, thecubsfan]
1) Mercurio b Angelito
15:04. rematch from 2022-05-27 (minis title match)
2) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr. b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus 
12:32. rematch from 2022-11-25. Original lineup mistakenly listed Blue Panther instead of Panterita Sr.
3) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja b Guerrero Maya Jr. & Titán
22:59. rematch from 2022-01-23 (CMLL tag title change); Maya replacing Volador Jr. Guerrero Maya wrestled wearing a Guerrero del Futuro mask.
4) Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado 
14:57. rematch from 2022-09-30 (then a trios title match)
5) Soberano Jr. b Templario  
17:05. Rematch from 2022-07-29 (Leyenda de Plata final)

Soberano/Templario felt the most alive of the rematches here; that rivalry is still building on itself, and probably will build further in Tokyo next month. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja versus Titan & Guerrero Maya Jr. felt different enough by having Maya in it (and Maya wrestling knowing it was a big chance for him.) CMLL’s done enough 1 vs 2 comebacks that I was actually a little surprised when Titan didn’t find a way to win against both Chavez brothers in the end. Panthers/Cancerberos were well worked and finished strong. Angelito/Mercurio had a lot of moves but not a lot to it. Gemelos Panteras repeated the one spot that probably got the match into this spot in the first place, but there wasn’t much more than that.

This airs on YouTube on 01/22. This week’s CMLL YouTube upload is the Gran Alternativa final, a must see match.

CMLL (SAT) 01/07/2023 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, R de Rudo]
1) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito b Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit b Hera, La Seductora, Olympia
3) El Suicida, Hombre Bala Jr., Robin b Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma
4) Blue Panther, Panterita del Ring Jr., Volcano b Kráneo, Pólvora, Rey Bucanero
5) Atlantis, Místico, Titán b Averno, Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr.
Atlantis replaced Negro Casas on Saturday. Mistico beat Averno, challenged him to a mask vs hair match

Another good turnout for CMLL in their return here after two weeks off. I think Coliseo seems to draw well generally but this seems better than usual.

CMLL (SUN) 01/08/2023 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Full Metal, Minos, Pequeño Polvora b Aéreo, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía
2) Astral, Diamond, Sangre Imperial b Disturbio, Enfermero Jr., Inquisidor
tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Flyer, Fuego, Valiente Jr.
rudos took 1/3
4) Blue Panther, Valiente, Volcano b Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
Tecnicos took 2/3. Volcano replaced Audaz.
5) Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero b Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Guerreros took 1/3.

Usual Sunday show of no note. This is a tourist issue; there’s no sense in doing angles if a big chunk of the fans don’t know the characters and are going to be out of town by the next show anyway.

CMLL (TUE) 01/10/2023 Arena México
1) Angelito & Galaxy vs Mercurio & Minos
2) Leono, Oro Jr., Sangre Imperial vs Cholo, Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Pólvora
4) Blue Panther, Titán, Valiente vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Yota
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Templario vs Gran Guerrero, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

Stuka either needs to make peace with Atlantis Jr. or he’s going to keep hanging out with the Guerreros a lot. CMLL again teased the possibility of Stuka joining the trio after Sunday’s show, though Ultimo Guerrero seems hesitant.

Yota is still around, after all. Polvora was acutally a Cancerbero a long time ago. Galaxy makes his debut.

CMLL (TUE) 01/10/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Bello Antuan, Cosmos, Eclipse Jr. vs Demonio Rojo, Relámpago Azul, Thunder Boy
2) Atilius, Aurelius, Maximus vs Black Boy, Carlo Roggi, Cris Skin
3) Diamante Jr., Misterio Blanco, Misterio Negro vs Estrella de Jalisco I, Estrella de Jalisco II, Último Ángel
4) Cachorro, Hijo De Stuka Jr., Rey Insólito vs Barboza, Draego, Persa
5) Dalys, Maligna, Náutica, Valkiria vs Gema Andrade, La Misteriosa, Lluvia, Stephanie Vaquer
6) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Bestia Negra, Difunto, Zandokan Jr.

Gema Andrade and Diamante Jr. (also of the famous Andrade family) make their debuts. The main event could be exciting. It’s a very young show; Dalys is (well) over 40 and Carlo Roggi may be as well, but there’s a lot more people who appear to be in their 20s.

NJPW would’ve announced the Fantastica Mania lineup over the weekend back when it was taking place in January. It’s doesn’t start until February 22nd this time around, after NJPW’s usual New Beginning shows instead of before them. The final New Beginning show is February 11th and it’s possible NJPW could wait as long as the day after that show to make an announcement. It could be as early as after Friday’s show, since the Volador/Rocky Romero vs Mistico/Averno match seems likely to set up a main event for that tour.

RGR’s next show is January 29th, promoted as “Inicia la Alianza” and featuring CMLL wrestlers on the show. If they’re working with CMLL, that’s bad news for the batch of AAA wrestlers who got their visas through RGR (and who’s visas are thought to be coming up in the next few months.)

AAA

Marvel Lucha Libre is now listed as debuting on January 18th.

Some positive news for people who follow AAA: they’re back to covering their own TV tapings. AAA used to do live results and more prior to the pandemic and stopped during empty arena taping. They did not resume that coverage as they returned to taping in front of fans. That coverage will resume this year: AAA’s posted a preview of next week’s Queretaro show, and says they’ll resume posting live results during the show and a recap afterwards. This is great for me (and people like me) to no longer need to look through Facebook and Instagram accounts to find out what’s happening, and better news for AAA itself because it things like live results give people more of a chance to talk about AAA.

Naturally, the very first response was “so, can you air the AAA shows live on Twitch again?” AAA says nah, they’ll largely be following the plan from last year with certain events on PPV. AAA got paid by Twitch up front to air those shows and will only return to that sort of plan if someone else comes along with a big bag of money. I still think there’s revenue to be made off a subscription service that airs live AAA tapings, but I can’t be certain there’s enough of a demand to make that profitable. AAA knows what that first Showcenter event did and there wasn’t a second. I would really like to pay for live AAA (or even a clean feed of the AAA on Space show that aired at the same time and I didn’t have to run myself), but those are also low hanging fruit things AAA isn’t interested in going after.

While I’m just meandering on a slow Monday, the actual idea solution would be for AAA to be on the ROH Honor Club service. Hiroshi Tanahashi let it slip over the weekend that NJPW’s Strong shows were going to be supplanted by whatever co-promotion ROH, AEW and NJPW are doing for the Honor Club service. Tony Khan had previously heavily hinted the same back at ROH Final Battle, and I’m kind of surprised there hasn’t been a formal announcement yet. I still don’t think it’ll be enough to make Honor Club and ROH self-sustaining and I don’t think it’s going to catch on to a major degree given what we know, but there’s still value to be found. The person who is going to spend money on Honor Club to watch ROH, AEW and NJPW wrestlers are English-speaking fans who are interested in non-WWE major promotions and very willing to spend money on them. That’s a very valuable audience for AAA to get in front for the US expansion plans. It would be for CMLL as well.

This week’s AAA TV was strange, even by AAA standards. It was a lame duck show, with one match building up a match (Sammy & Tay defending the mixed tag titles) that didn’t happen, and one match anti-climatic by another result we already knew – though it’s not like the NGD title reign has had a lot of suspense to it. It’s a lot like the La Empresa title reign prior to it, where it’ll just meander around and sometimes the matches will even be good, but it’ll probably end when someone quits or someone gets bored and they absolutely have to change it that day.

The main event was a mess, an intentional mess but also still a mess. Taurus breaking up with Pagano and Cibernetico having issues with Rush & Dralistico could be good if they were going somewhere, but it’s AAA and it was a thrown-together main event so there’s no reason to hope for that. “Komander gets the main event win” reads much better on paper than it did in reality; a fluke main event win that felt meaningless as it was happening and was all but reversed in the post-match. Maybe this was an important show if this is the start of a lot of LFI in important feuds in AAA, but LFI in Mexico feels played out and AAA already has so many slightly different heel factions that another is too much. Maybe it’ll be better in the future. There are far worse AAA shows but I’d be OK if this one didn’t go anywhere.

Anyway, for scorekeeping purposes, AAA still clearly thought Sammy & Tay were coming to Acapulco when they taped this TV show. They also seemed to know Dragon Lee was finishing up in Acapulco; the FTR tag title match was mentioned, but the focus was on a new image for Dralistico after the breakup. It seemed both LFI and the announcers like they were not mentioning “AEW” by name, but I may just be reading too much into things after the Acapulco show.

NOAH announced that Dralistico would debut for their promotion on 02/12.  Dralistico had been teasing a deal to go to Japan prior and family friend Andrade had previously mentioned considering going to NOAH just to go to Japan. That’s a standalone show, so it’s not clear if he’ll be around for more than that. It’s about 10 days before CMLL’s own tour of Japan starts. They used a lot of Rey de Reyes footage in their intro video, though are pushing him as the former CMLL star.

Other News

There’s no real news peg here, but I’m starting to believe there’s a chance Blue Demon & DMT Azul are headed to a mask match this year. I’d say the odds are still 30/70 against, but we’re talking about a sort of rivalry that’s usually 5/95 against. It’s the usual indie lucha libre rubbish feud on the surface: every finish has the referee get knocked down and three or four fouls so both sides can claim victory (and both sides can say they didn’t lose, which seems more important.) That is exactly what is happening to Blue Demon Jr. & DMT Azul too. The thing that sticks out to me is even the garbage finishes are usually 50/50, and DMT Azul seems to be winning far more than that. Mas Lucha aired the 01/01 Arena Lopez Mateos show for subscribers this weekend, and DMT Azul got a (shaky) victory there. Demon technically got the win back in Arena Neza that night, but that was more Demon’s partner Rey Espectro betrayed him and joined Azul & Hijo del Fishman in beating Demon. This last Sunday, DMT Azul & Hijo del Bandido got a (shaky) win over Blue Demon Jr. & Hijo del Fishman. Demon does win some – he won on 12/18 – but Demon wouldn’t be losing even this much unless he thought there was a payoff coming. The problem with this theory is there’s no one promotion where this feuding is happening, it’s a feud they’re taking all over Mexico State. Nothing happens unless someone puts up the money to make a mask match happen, and there’s no obvious candidate for that. The feud is stronger if DMT Azul picks up more of the wins and fans want to see Demon get revenge, but Mexican indie matches are usually booked just for what’ll work that night, not with the idea of a longer feud. I just have a general feeling of Something Is Fishy Here.

The Azul/Demon feud and the Puerquiza Extrema team – the five Pig luchadors – seem like the most popular acts on that style of indie show. I haven’t written about anything on the Pigs because there’s nothing much to write about their shows (nothing that happens seems to mean anything on the next show, so it’s just meaningless results) and their style isn’t my favorite style, but they’ve definitely built up a fanbase in the last year and are one of the indie success of 2022. This Saturday’s Arena Lopez Mateos show ended with the Pigs and the Capos teasing a mask match, which would do very well if it actually happened. Just like with Demon/Azul, a big problem is that no one typically wants to lose (or no one wants to lose for the amount of money that’ a promotion of this scale could reasonably offer) but that feels like a match someone should actually do if possible.

Former AAA wrestler Speedball Mike Bailey defeated Konosuke Takeshita to win PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles. This year’s BOLA a lot of Mexican wrestling participation, but it didn’t seem like any of them had a great chance of winning coming in. Komander went the farthest of the Mexicans, losing to Takeshita in the semifinals. Komander previously beat Bandido in the semifinal; this seemed like a real attempt at elevating a name to be a bigger star on future shows, as opposed to what aired on AAA the night prior. (It was also probably keeping the Bandido/Takeshita match as an unseen match for another night, I’d assumer.) Latigo & Black Taurus beat Aramis & Rey Horus in a night 2 match in a bit of a surprise.

Hijo del Vikingo, Bandido, and Taurus main evented the first night. Bandido did the moonsault powerslam on Vikingo to the floor, landing on Taurus, in some real insanity. The ending of the match saw Vikingo leave the match injured and Bandido get the win. Fans were very concerned about Vikingo’s health; I’m told he’s fine. Bandido is the one who may be hurt; he apparently had neck issues after he and Vikingo retried (and didn’t pull off) the imploding poison rana spot from Noche de Campeones and it hampered him on Night 2.

Former CMLL luchador Corazon de Leon made his PWG debut in a bonus match on night 2. Good for him.

Box y Lucha says the confusion around el Magnate’s ‘death’ (he’s still not dead) is a case of mistaken identity over his mask. The wrestler who passed away on January 2nd was former Guadalajara wrestler El Milionario (Antonio Botello). Both wrestled with a dollar sign on their mask. It’s not the IWRG wrestler under that name, since he’s now Oficial Fierro.

There’s a strange situation going on with Monclova luchador Baby Rap (Diego Rene Sanchez Coronado). Police entered his home on Saturday accused some bricklayers of working on the house. Baby Rap got involved and the police took him into custody, but they wouldn’t tell his family where he actually was. They went to press about it. A few hours later, the family found out where he was being held and went to bail him out, only to find out the police were charging Baby Rap with dealing drugs. That charge meant the money they brought to bail Baby Rap was suddenly not enough any more, and he’s still in jail at last word. This looks terrible on the police, but I’m not sure I should take anything for certain this far away.

An Oaxacan wrestling reunion took place.

Segunda Caida watches the really good Cuernavaca trios.

CMLL

Tonight’s show:

CMLL (FRI) 01/06/2023 Arena México
1) Mercurio vs Angelito
rematch from 2022-05-27 (minis title match)
2) Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring, Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Virus
rematch from 2022-11-25. Original poster mistaken listed Blue Panther instead of Panterita Sr.
3) Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Guerrero Maya Jr. & Titán
rematch from 2022-01-23 (CMLL tag title change); Maya replacing Volador Jr.
4) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado vs Euforia, Hechicero, Mephisto
rematch from 2022-09-30 (then a trios title match)
5) Soberano Jr. vs Templario
rematch from 2022-07-29 (Leyenda de Plata final)

This is the first of the Best of 2022 shows, and so it should be a really good show. Soberano & Templario was one of the top matches of the year last year. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs Titan & Volador was a great match just one week ago, and Maya will give it a fresher feel. The other matches should be at least good. I don’t expect anything important to happen, but you don’t need anything to happen if you’re just going to have good matches. It’s a TicketmasterLive PPV show as always.

KeMonito is likely to retire this year. He said as much in a recent radio interview and has made similar statements in the past. CMLL’s press department told SuperLuchas this was his real sentiment; this is not so far along that they have an end date or it’s not yet 100% KeMonito is retiring, but just the way it’s going. I would expect him to be around at least for the 90th Aniversario, since that is supposed to be such a big show. KeMonito says he doesn’t expect his sons to take over the character but leaves it open that someone else might take it over. A very long time ago, he was replaced as Alushe so he’s had that happen before.

Microman, Kemonito’s son who seemed to be destined to take over the KeMonito character before leaving CMLL, was mentioned in the Wrestling Observer as going independent. It wasn’t clarified if that means he’s leaving AAA, but he’s not listed with Mr. Iguana & Nino Hamburguesa on the upcoming taping. It would be nice if he’s returning to CMLL, but I don’t believe that’ll happen.

A local media outlet between soon-to-debut Galaxy is the first person from Quintana Roo to be a regular CMLL roster member. That seems hard to believe but I can’t think of a counter-point and Quintana Roo has never been a big lucha libre place. Other Quintana Roo luchadors have appeared in Arena Mexico before – the article notes Corsario Jr. appeared on the 2019 Dragonmania show – and this is just about full-timers.

AAA

AAA starts 2023 with a mid December TV taping. They have part one of the Madero show. We probably won’t know which three (or four) of these matches will air:

• Loco Castillo, Pekador, Reina Dorada vs Demus, La Hiedra, Maravilla
• Mr. Iguana & Nino Hamburguesa vs Kento & Takuma
• Arez & Myzteziz Jr. vs Argenis & Parka Negra
• Aramis, Octagon Jr. Willie Mack vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sanson for the AAA Trios Championship
• Aerostar & Sexy Star vs Lady Flammer & Abismo Negro Jr., winner is #1 contenders for the AAA Mixed Tag Championship
• Dave the Clown & Murder Clown vs Gringo Loco & Villano II Jr.
• Komander, Pagano, Taurus vs Cibernetico, Dralistico, Rush

AAA’s live commentary might make that mixed tag match very strange, especially if they’re building to a match that didn’t happen. This doesn’t seem like a strong taping but maybe it’ll be better when we see it.

AEW taped Bandido versus Christopher Daniels in Seattle on Wednesday. You may recall Bandido versus Christopher Daniels was one of the matches announced for the AAA’s Showcenter tournament, in a brief window where AAA put out a bracket of matches before apparently shifting gears and giving up on that setup entirely.

Marvel Lucha Libre is now listed as “Coming Soon” on Disney+. It had not been listed at all previously. There’s no sign of an air date outside of a “2023” year. It was always weird to me that AAA & Marvel were holding the title match after the related streaming show went up; maybe they taped something else that was meant to be a conclusion to that finale. Or maybe they changed their mind.

Other News

Vince McMahon apparently is returning to power in WWE – or he’s back to exercising his power, at least. He’s saying he’s doing it as lead in to a sale (and that’s why the stock price is up) and that he’s staying out of their creative, though it would be unwise to take anything in that situation at face value.  This will definitely affect Mexican lucha libre, and I can only guess at what that effect will be. In the short term, AAA’s attempt to build a bridge with WWE is less likely to work out for them. I think Dragon Lee would’ve still signed with WWE had he known Vince McMahon was coming back but it’s less likely to work out for him if McMahon has real power.

MLW Fusion had Microman, Komander, and Laredo Kid vs Gino Medina, Black Taurus and Mini Abismo Negro. The gimmick was the loser of the fall was out of MLW. Microman only wins on the show, Gino Medina only loses, and the other guys are never booked in MLW, so there wasn’t much drama. There was plenty of time, a long match followed by another long match to fill out the hour. There were a few good spots and an over-complicated finish; you won’t mind seeing it but you don’t really need to. MLW is using a lot less luchadors going forward.

Former AAA wrestler El Magnate was falsely reported as deceased this week. He’s still alive.

Segunda Caida watches more LA Park in Panama.