TripleMania Regia 5 way mega championship match, TJP/Volador & Leyenda de Azul tonight

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 11/26/2021 Arena México
1) Flyer, Magnus, Robin vs Dark Magic, Disturbio, El Coyote
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela vs Dalys, Dark Silueta, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Volador Jr. © vs TJP [NWA WELTER]
eight defense, first since March (Bandido)
4) Ángel de Oro vs Último GuerreroSoberano Jr.Bárbaro CavernarioAtlantis Jr.HechiceroStuka Jr.TerribleBlue PantherSagradoGran GuerreroGemelo Diablo IDark PantherDragón Rojo Jr.EsfingeGemelo Diablo II [Leyenda de Azul]

This remains a Ticketmaster show. I expect the amount of viewers will be up from the last show (which seemed to do poorly) and the combination of the tournament and the singles match may do well. It matters not at all who wins this tournament unless it’s going somewhere, and there’s enough danging angles that it could set up something. I think TJP is finishing up this run here, but may be back later.

Someone made the CMLL webmaster – I presume still Alexis Salazar – go back into the WordPress page to change “Gemelo Diablo I” and “Gemelo Diablo II” to “Los Gemelos Diablos”. Seems harash. Dark Panther in this match reminds me Blue Panther Jr. has vanished; he’s not been seen in a match since September 14th. Blue Sr. and Dark are working a show back in Torreon in late December and Blue Jr. isn’t on that either, so he’s going to be gone for a while. Not sure why.

CMLL (SUN) 11/28/2021 Arena México
1) Retro vs Apocalipsis
2) Eléctrico & Sonic vs Grako & Inquisidor
3) Enfermero Jr., Nitro, Sangre Imperial vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Kráneo, Panterita del Ring, Volcano vs Felino, Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno
5) Ángel de Oro, Terrible, Titán vs Euforia, Mephisto, Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

Soberano and Euforia back teaming.

CMLL (MON) 11/29/2021 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Dreyko vs Black Tiger & Dark Soul
2) Diamond, Oro Jr., Siky Ozama vs Nitro, Sangre Imperial, Toro Bill Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Princesa Sugehit © vs Stephanie Vaquer [CMLL WOMEN]
2nd defense (both against Vaquer)
4) Stigma & Titán vs Felino Jr. & Pólvora
5) Místico & Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr. & Averno [Relevos Increíbles]
Averno’s first match here since 2014

Averno’s return is about as quiet as possible; showing up in Puebla means he’s on the main roster, though it’s a strange way to re-introduce him. It somewhat reminds me of Los Invasors being introduced in Puebla, though they at least got the big appearance the week before. (I supposed if Averno ran in last week, it may have just not been written about.) We should see Averno in Arena Mexico soon enough, though he’s in Guadalajara on Tuesday.

CMLL is unusually set on keeping Felino Jr. & Polvora together for a duo that wasn’t one before winning the tag titles. That’s a good thing. Dreyko is a new name here; he’s showing up on Puebla indie shows at least as far back as 2016 (and there was a Guadalajara wrestler using the same name earlier.)

CMLL (TUE) 11/30/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino, Mágico, Mr. Samurai vs Gran Kenut, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno
2) Bestia Negra, Carlo Roggi, Difunto, Fúnebre vs Cris Skin, Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
3) Lluvia vs Dark Silueta
4) Rey Bucanero, Satánico, Último Guerrero vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
5) Atlantis Jr. & Soberano Jr. vs Averno & Mephisto

A lot of rudos on this show. Satanico’s been busy; he was named head fo the

CMLL luchadora La Maligna appears every week in the in-between match segments on CMLL’s (MVS) Guerreros del Ring show, but hasn’t wrestled a match for the promotion since November 19, 2019. I’m not sure she’s ever stated why, though my understanding is she left to have a child. She returns to the ring tonight in her hometown of Saltillo, so maybe we’ll see her back in CMLL sometime down the road.

AAA

The final AAA Mega Championship match lineup is Hijo del Vikingo vs Samuray del Sol vs Jay Lethal vs Bobby Fish vs Bandido. I expect it’s going to end up first pinfall gets the winner, though it is unlikely AAA will make that clear before hand. Bandido or Vikingo will likely end up with the title; Vikingo still has the best bet at winning it because none one else seems committed for more than a match and that appeared to be a hold up for Andrade winning the title back at TripleMania Regia. (Maybe the right call because, when AAA really needed people, they didn’t end up with Andrade again. Or maybe Andrade just didn’t want to come back and lose again.)

Bandido’s not a perfect Omega replacement – ROH has a small footprint in Mexico, he’s not been as booked strongly in his home country as he has been abroad, and even then he’s the champion of a dying promotion – but it’s probably as good as could be hoped for in the absence Omega and the unwillingness/inability to get similar top AEW names. I don’t think the other three add much value to the show from a Monterrey ticket selling point – maybe a little from being able to slap “AEW” on the poster, maybe some people who remember when Kalisto was at his best in WWE, but they’re just bodies to fill out the match. They should be good in the match, AAA already had plenty of people who would be good in a multiman match.

Daga randomly took a shot at the match on Facebook, though not on Twitter where we could all enjoy it. Daga would’ve been a better fit for this match than half the people in it.

The five men in this match were set Sunday; I had two sources give me those names (while knowing it’s AAA so it can always change.) That only matters in that if the story about when AAA decided to make a deal with Fite (“in the last couple of days”) is correct, that means those names were picked before there was going to be a worldwide audience. I don’t think those names appeal strong enough to a worldwide audience that’ll get them to pay $20 for a four match show but that also doesn’t appear to be the idea. I think it’s as simple as “the best in the world coming to AAA to get that title” and either hoping to convince the fans or themselves into being able to pass these guys off at the best.

If AAA is sure Kenny Omega is coming back and soon, then I think the best move is having Vikingo win so you could go right to it. I’d also have Vikingo refuse to accept the title until he beats Omega. If AAA is not sure, then Bandido is probably the best pick. AAA’s got to hope Bandido will still be available later, but Vikingo coming close while losing in his first chance to get the fans behind him on his next chance is the best long term way to go. This is not a promotion thinking long term outside of whatever major apuesta match is coming – and be sure we’ll get some apuesta teased as the TripleMania 30 main event on this show – so they could just go to Vikingo for the sake of doing it.

I’m going to buy this show but I buy CMLL shows so I’m not making great choices. I think these will do better than those CMLL shows at the least. FITE is a much better and known platform than TicketMaster Live, FITE allows VOD, AAA has a more favorable brand to casual lucha libre fans and a English commentary option will always get some people to check it out who would be scared off by only having a native language option. Don’t get me wrong, most of the people saying things like “wow that five way looks great, can’t wait to see Jay Lethal in AAA” are not actually going to buy this show and are going to pirate what they watch of it instead. AAA’s told people the value of watching an AAA big show is $0 for the last few years and adjusting them to a new reality is going to take a lot of time and a better card than this. Maybe changing the expectations now will pay off in 9 months when people are used to buying by the time TripleMania Mexico City comes around again, but I still believe there’s an audience that needs to be re-sold on why AAA is worth paying attention to before they’re willing to pay money, and there’s no free content available to get them on board. This would’ve been the good free content; try to get them to pay when Omega comes back.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter lists Matt Striker &  “Carlos Oacho” as the English annoucners. AAA has said nothing. I think Oacho may be a typo, because I can’t find a person by that name. In theory, it’s much harder for those guys to get ready because AAA’s very hard to watch outside of Mexico. In reality, even when you could watch AAA any time, Striker’s preparation has been along the lines of talking over the show at dinner the night before and reading over AAA prepared notes an hour before the show. There was no sign he was watching before so the current situation won’t change it much. I don’t know who the other person in the booth is; they may be great. I heop they’re as good as imagine Mas Lucha’s Adrian Mendoza would’ve been in that spot – bilingual, know the product and knows how it fits in within the greater wrestling landscape. If they’re going to use Striker because Striker sounds like a wrestling announcer to them, they have to pair him with someone who actually knows AAA. The English broadcast has to exist or some people will never buy a show but if you follow AAA enough to be reading this very niche blog, you will probably be fine with Huge and Jose Manuel in Spanish.

FITE now lists TripleMania Regia as a four match show; there seems to confusion on this point between AAA & FITE and it wouldn’t totally shock me if it’s an adjustment. I think it’s fair to expect to see a whole show if you’re paying $20 for it, but I’m not sure AAA is going to be fair. One change already is the Psycho Circus/La Empresa match appears to be bumped off the live broadcast for the Dragon Lee & Dralistico vs Laredo Kid & TBA match. That’s a better match for the PPV audience, I’m not as sure if it’s as good for the TV audience. AAA sure has put a lot of TV time into La Empresa to not include them on PPV, but that’s the same for most anything that’s featured on TV. The actual live show is listed as starting at 6:00 pm, both FITE and Space list their shows at starting at 8, so that makes sense for half the crowd. They’ll probably start late due to timing issues as normal.

I don’t know what it means, probably nothing, but AAA hasn’t plugged the FITE broadcast on their own Twitter as of yet. AAA did promise even more surprises, including the siloutte that’s meant to invoke Cibernetico. They’re also advertising 2×1 for ticket deals in cheapest areas, which suggest tickets aren’t moving as well as they hoped.

upcoming twitch plans

  • Saturday’s AAA show is the final episode from Taxco, the final AAA empty venue show in theory. I’ll stream it on Twitch as normal.
  • The following week (12/04) is one half of TripleMania Regia, that’s being sold as PPV, so I will not stream it.
  • The second half of TripleMania Regia airs on 12/11; my plan is to stream it, but I also plan to be in Baltimore at the ROH PPV while the show airs. I have made that situation work in the past but just be aware it may have a hitch.
  • I’m guessing AAA is just in Best of Mode from 12/18 on until they tape again in January, so I will probably not bother to stream past that. And maybe they’re back to normal in 2022 where shows air airing live routinely worldwide?

Other News

IWRG (SUN) 11/28/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Sol & Spider Fly vs Shalom & X-Devil
2) Artemiz (Laguna) & Bengalee vs Lolita & Satania
3) Hell Boy & Noicy Boy vs Mosca & Tonalli
4) Asterboy, Toxin, Veneno vs Arvack, Lil Blay, Sweet Dady Soul
5) Hijo del Alebrije, Hijo del Espectro Jr., Sick Boy vs Cerebro Negro, Gigante Orión, Mafioso
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro

No show on Thursday – they waited until Wednesday night to say it was off – and this is an ordinary but busy show. It is around time to start announcing matches for their big December shows.

RIOT announced their 11/27 show is moving from Arena Femenil to LLUE Showcenter outside of Monterrey due to logistics issues.

AIW has Psycho Clown versus Matthew Justice tonight as part of their show at 6:30 pm CT on IWTV.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

TripleMania Regia to air on FITE, Jay Lethal & Samuray del Sol added to Mega title match, Templario keeps title

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 11/23/2021 Arena México [CMLLEstrellas del RingMarca, The Gladiatores]
1) Fantasy & Kaligua b Acero & Angelito  (posted by ) CMLL | Angelito y Acero derrotaron a Fantasy y Kaligua (posted by mluchatv)
2) La Comandante, La Vaquerita, Metálica b Reyna Isis, Skadi, Tiffany [Relevos Increíbles (posted by ) CMLL | La Comandante, Metálica y La Vaquerita VS Reyna Isis, Tiffany y Skady (posted by mluchatv) Vaquerita, Metálica y La Comandante Vs Reina Isis, Tiffany y Skadi Arena México relevos increíbles (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
3) Felino, Okumura, Pólvora b Dulce Gardenia, El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr.  (posted by ) CMLL | Okumura, Felino Jr y Pólvora derrotan a Guerrero Maya Jr, Audaz y Dulce Gardenia (posted by mluchatv) Dulce Gardenia, Audaz y Guerrero Maya Jr Vs Felino, Pólvora y Okumura en Arena México (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
Okumura fouled Dulce, Polvora fouled Audaz. Challenges followed.
4) Templario © b Star Jr. [MEX MIDDLE (posted by ) CMLL | Templario retiene su Campeonato Nacional de Peso Medio ante Star Jr (posted by Más Lucha) Templario Vs Star Jr campeonato nacional de peso medio Arena México (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
first defense
5) Atlantis, Fugaz, Místico DQ Euforia, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero  (posted by Google Drive) CMLL | Euforia, Mephisto y Rey Bucanero son descalificados en contra de Místico, Atlantis y Fugaz (posted by Más Lucha) Místico, Atlantis y Fugaz Vs Euforia, Mephisto y Rey Bucanero CMLL Arena México (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
Euforia unmasked Mistico, Mistico challenged him to a singles match (and a mask match)

Templario/Star Jr. had some highlights but didn’t come together as a good match. There were quite a few spots where it didn’t totally fall apart but it also didn’t go the way they planned it. Both men stood on the top rope talking before the finish for so long they could’ve done a podcast. The physical tools were evident and they showed effort but they just didn’t execute their ideas well. It’s a good match for them to have at this point in their career if they’re going to learn from it, though not one you need to go out and watch.

The sound issues continue; it appears the video slows down at certain points (usually the entrances) but the audio doesn’t. This only happens on the MarcaClaro shows, so it’s likely an issue with their equipment. It’s also yet another thing in Mexican wrestling obviously messed up but no one involved will care to fix it.

Felino reports he and Polvora beat Audaz & Star Jr. in Puebla, so no tag title program there.

Atlantis Jr. & Gran Guerrero beat TJP & Hijo del Villano III in Guadalajara. TJP’s win/loss record is not as great without Jeff Cobb.

CMLL (FRI) 11/26/2021 Arena México
1) Flyer, Magnus, Robin vs Dark Magic, Disturbio, El Coyote
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Marcela vs Dalys, Dark Silueta, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Volador Jr. © vs TJP [NWA WELTER]
eight defense, first since March (Bandido)
4) Ángel de Oro vs Último GuerreroSoberano Jr.Bárbaro CavernarioAtlantis Jr.HechiceroStuka Jr.TerribleBlue PantherSagradoGran GuerreroGemelo Diablo IDark PantherDragón Rojo Jr.EsfingeGemelo Diablo II [Leyenda de Azul]

This show is available on Ticketmaster Live for 230 pesos.

last 5 Leyenda de Azul winners

  • 2020: Angel de Oro
  • 2017: Rush
  • 2016: Ultimo Guerrero
  • 2014: Atlantis
  • 2012: Diamante Azul

I know I watched those matches. I could not tell you a thing about those matches.

The poster implies the singles match is the main event, the card listing has the Leyenda de Azul in the main event.

Gran Guerrero appears to be in a tecnico spot. There sure aren’t a lot of those tecnicos here. Angel de Oro & Atlantis Jr. are leaning rudo, so it’s just five out of 16.

As noted on Twitter, Robin, Magnus and Flyer once did a bit on CMLL Informa where they announced they were now a trio and then CMLL refused to book them together as a trio ever. I assume they made the mistake of coming up with their own idea without getting permission to think. Magnus is finally supposed to be in another group, so they’ve booked him in that old trio. This is how CMLL works.

CMLL (SAT) 11/27/2021 Arena Coliseo
1) Mercurio & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Violencia & Shockercito [Relevos Increíbles]
2) Cachorro, Leono, Sonic vs Cholo, Grako, Inquisidor
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Akuma, Disturbio, Espanto Jr.
4) Hombre Bala Jr., Rey Cometa, Robin vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Fugaz, Titán vs Atlantis Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Euforia [Relevos Increíbles]

Atlantis Jr. is a tecnico but probably working as a rudo on this show. Will Hombre Bala get a big win this time? Probably not.

Dark Silueta says her goal is to set the record for most Mexican Women’s Championship defenses. Princesa Blanca and Zeuxis have eight known defenses, the most in the modern era of the championship. Hechicero has also repeatedly brought up wanting to defend his heavyweight championship at least once a month, though I’m not sure if anyone’s listening. Dark Silueta also shot down rumors of her going to another promotion; this is one where I had not heard the rumors being shot down before it was shot down.

The ex-Yago talked to El Grafico about his transition to wrestling as Enfermero. He talks about modernizing the gimmick and having success with it, which hasn’t really been evident. He doesn’t seem to be appearing a great deal more with it; he hasn’t wrestled in Arena Mexico this month and only had two matches last month.

Today’s CMLL Informa has TJP, Blue Panther, Ultimo Guerrero, Terrible, Angel del Oro and Templario. Most of those seem to be Leyenda de Azul conversations. It’ll be worth watching to see if UG responds to Soberano’s brief negative comments about him last week.

AAA

TripleMania Regia will now be available via FITE internationally. Sorta. For $20, you’ll  get to see the top four matches (Cain, Mega, FTR/LB, Psycho Circus/Empresa) live on 12/04 for $20. No one, except those there live, will see the rest of the show. Space will be covering the same four matches, and then will air the rest of the show later as a regular TV episode. FITE will include both Spanish commentary and English commentary, and I have no idea who is doing the English commentary.

$20 is a lot for four matches. People may have even wanted to do pay with Omega on it. I think this isn’t going to do great business at that price point, but I’m personally glad not to be responsible for making it work this time around.

The FITE description lists the entire show, and I’m told that’s a mistake that’ll be fixed.

AAA airing on Fite internationally obviously implies something has happened in the Lucha Libre FMV/Lucha Libre AAA lawsuit. I’m not sure what; there’s no new filling in the court case, and the other geoblocked (YouTube, Facebook) are still in place.

The TripleMania Regia Mega championship match will now include

  • Hijo del Vikingo
  • Samuray del Sol
  • Jay Lethal
  • and two more names to be announced

AAA appears to be announcing a participant a day for the new TripleMania Regia main event. AAA can’t just say “we’re announcing a participant a day” because that would be far too easy, it’s left to the people at home to figure out what’s meant to be happening. Many won’t; some news sites on Tuesday went with the idea that the match was now just Samuray del Sol versus Hijo del Vikingo.

An AAA graphic teased the idea it would be five people and I’d heard a five-way match earlier as well. I’ve heard names for all the spots, but I’ve also been warned the match may still be in flux and there’s no point in reporting them. The concepts I’ve heard had Vikingo as the only AAA regular roster member in the match; the two left include one familiar name and one as unexpected as Lethal. Samuray del Sol had been penciled in as Laredo Kid’s partner on this show according to the information I was given; I’m not sure who is meant to be teaming with Laredo now.

I think the eventual Mega title match will be good; there will be enough good people in the match that it should be at least that. The bigger challenge is to get people to care; I’m skeptical Mexican fans are aware of Jay Lethal and some of the other names in the match and that may make for a flat atmosphere. I think people online know Lethal and Samuray, but that still seems to be a smaller percentage of the AAA audience. The Fenix/Flamita/Bandido match from Aguascalientes a couple of years back, where they had a great match it seemed like no one cared about is my fear. The Monterrey crowd did seem into Omega quickly two years ago, but Omega had been around for a few months and Omega is a bigger deal than anyone’s that been added. I’ve been led to believe AAA will also be moving the Cain Velasquez match to the main event and this mega title to the semi-main, though that is also not officially yet. It’d be for the best.

It would be useful if these challenger videos aired on AAA’s show on Space and Azteca this week – they’re the last chance to hype this show to a massive audience – but that also seems like an unreasonable expectation given the state of the TV shows.

Flammer hyped TripleMania Regia for Multimedios. She notes Las Toxicas are undefeated as a team, which was brought up on TV as well this past week. Flammer says she’s in her best form, and she’s definitely improved since the start of the year.

Other News

Deceased luchador Rey Muerte was remembered in a ceremony in Salamanca; he was a wrestler and trainer, the guy who would run the licensing tests for a time. His students include Septimo Dragon, who we haven’t heard a lot about since suffering a near-fatal motorcycle accident in January. Septimo Dragon now lives in Mexicali and returned home for the first time since that accident to be part of the ceremony. Dragon looks like he’s doing OK, and his Facebook account indicates he’s continuing to train in hopes of returning to lucha libre, saying he’s getting close.

AEW Dynamite tonight has the Lucha Brothers, Pac, and Cody Rhodes against Andrade el Idolo, FTR, and Malaki Black. I’m attempting to drive downtown Chicago for that show. It probably won’t go well for me! Anyway, this match reminds me that FTR haven’t really done anything to build up their TripleMania match; maybe that video is still coming.

ROH announced a series of “Road to Final Battle” matches to air for free on YouTube the week prior to Final Battle. Notable lucha libre matches

  • 12/06 (Monday): Dragon Lee vs Jonathan Gresham
  • 12/10 (Friday): Demonic Flamita vs EC3

ROH also announced a Pure title match for Final Battle but did not announce who (or if) Dalton Castle would be defending the TV Title he just won from Dragon Lee. Gresham seems a lock to defeat Dragon Lee in their singles match, it’d be strange for Dragon Lee to be challenging for the TV title after losing two straight singles matches, so maybe he’s not in that title match and not on Final Battle. It could also be ROH just doing Gresham/Lee while they can and not worry about the consequences; there are no real consequences for them now.

11/27 RIOT (Mark Tank)

12/18 Lucha Memes Universal at Arena Coliseo

That main event seems like a terrible mismatch of styles but one I’m excited to see. It’s a car crash.

Bandido was announced for the 01/16 debut of the Terminus promotion, an Atlanta group led by ROH’s Jonathan Gresham and familiar AEW Dark face Baron Black.

Laredo Kid was announced for the 01/23 GCW show in Hammerstein Ballroom. Gringo Loco was among the initial wave of GCW announcements for that show.

Komander talks about how he came up with the name. It is after the singer, but there’s a reason for the singer.

Konnan Big appeared on Multimedios to announce he was retiring from lucha libre. This isn’t especially binding, he’s retired before. Konnan Big last wrestled in September.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Omega no longer champ or coming to TripleMania Regia, United Empire sweep the weekend, Chik Tormenta wins Mas Lucha Suprema

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 11/19/2021 Arena México [CMLLEstrellas del RingKaiser SportsR de RudoThe Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Oro Jr. & Sonic b Grako & Inquisidor Sonic y Oro Jr Vs Grako e Inquisidor en Arena México del CMLL (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
15:24.
2) El Audaz, Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr. b El Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora CMLL | Guerrero Maya Jr, Esfinge y Audaz derrotan a Pólvora, Felino Jr e Hijo del Villano III (posted by Más Lucha) H. del Villano III, Pólvora y Felino Jr. Vs. Esfinge, (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
19:51. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus CMLL | Virus, Raziel y Cancerbero vs Dulce Gardenia, Rey Cometa y Espíritu Negro (posted by mluchatv) CMLL- DULCE GARDENIA-ESPÍRITU NEGRO-REY COMETA VS RAZIEL- CANCERBERO - VIRUS / ARENA MÉXICO 19/11/21 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Rey Cometa, Espíritu Negro y Dulce Gardenia Vs. Virus, Raziel y Cancerbero (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
13:03. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero b Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Titán CMLL | Último Guerrero, Rey Bucanero y Gran Guerrero vs Stuka Jr, Atlantis y Titán (posted by mluchatv) CMLL- STUKA JR -TITÁN-ATLANTIS VS REY BUCANERO- GRAN GUERRERO - ULTIMO GUERERO/ARENA MEXICO 19/11/21 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Último Guerrero, Rey Bucanero y Gran Guerrero Vs Stuka Jr. Titán y Atlantis (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
14:21. Rudos took 1/3.
5) Jeff Cobb & TJP (Teddy James Perkins) b Atlantis Jr. & Volador Jr. CMLL vs NJPW | Jeff Cobb y TJP vs Atlantis Jr y Volador Jr (posted by mluchatv) CMLL- ATLANTIS JR. - VOLADOR JR. VS TJP - JEFF COBB/ ARENA MÉXICO 12/11/2021 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
19:19. One fall. Rudos, TJP primarly, attacked Volador’s left knee to the point where he was unable to finish the match. Cobb pinned Atlantis. TJP challenged Volador to a NWA WELTER match next week, Volador accepted.

This wasn’t a PPV caliber show. Nothing was bad, but the only match worth seeing is the main event and that’s mostly for the angle. CMLL matches are naturally very even affairs, but this was heavily one-sided towards the United Empire team. (Perhaps the actual reason Atlantis Jr. was in the match instead of Titan is they didn’t want both tag team champions to get beat up, and Atlantis Jr. taking some hard losses is probably good for fans who believe he’s another over pushed young guy.) Volador seemed like he was accepting a title challenge where he’s in more danger than usual.

TJP should win the title on Friday if CMLL believe he’s going to be back around to defend it. It’s too soon for the United Empire to leave if CMLL believes they’re going to be coming in frequently. Obviously, ensuring that you’ll eventually and definitely get the win over the outsider is an important topic today.

The new CMLL pattern seems to be the opener will be a one fall match and the most important match (the title match or the main event) will also be a one fall match, and everything else will be a three fall match. It doesn’t make sense when you stop to think about it so I guess don’t? This is quickly announced by the ring announcer and flashed on the big screen but it’s not mentioned enough by the commentators. Too often I’m confused at which it is until the “first fall” starts to go very long. The guys in the opener seem to struggle at pacing out a one fall match, but maybe they’ll get better as time goes by. It’s impossible to know what CMLL is thinking about all of this; it’s just as possible they go back to three falls for everything as to switch all the one fall next year.

CMLL (SAT) 11/20/2021 Arena Coliseo [CMLLMas LuchaR de RudoThe Gladiatores]
1) Fantasy & Shockercito b Acero & Último Dragóncito CMLL | Shockercito y Fantasy vs Último Dragoncito y Acero (posted by Más Lucha)
2) Apocalipsis, Enfermero Jr., Nitro b Eléctrico, Leono, Sonic CMLL | Sonic, Leono y Eléctrico vs Nitro, Apocalipsis y Enfermero Jr (posted by mluchatv)
3) La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Lluvia b Amapola, Dalys, La Metálica CMLL | Jarochita, Lluvia y Vaquerita vs Dalys, Amapola y Metálica (posted by mluchatv)
4) Dark Magic, Luciferno, Okumura b Hombre Bala Jr., Robin, Star Jr. CMLL | Luciferno, Okumura y Dark Magic vs Hombre Bala Jr, Star Jr y Robin (posted by mluchatv)
Hombre Bala & Robin reward match leads to a loss
5) Jeff Cobb & TJP (Teddy James Perkins) b Euforia & Terrible CMLL vs NJPW | El Terrible y Euforia vs TJP y Jeff Cobb (posted by mluchatv)
Euforia tried tossing his mask to Cobb to draw the DQ, but Cobb covered him and him and got the pin

Bala has one win where he got mask removed for a DQ and one loss. Could be going better, let’s see what next week brings.

CMLL (SUN) 11/21/2021 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Leono b Apocalipsis
2) Cachorro, Panterita del Ring Jr., Robin b Eléctrico, Retro, Sangre Imperial
Team Robin took 1/3.
3) Dalys, La Comandante, Stephanie Vaquer b La Vaquerita, Marcela, Skadi
rudas took 2/3
4) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Negro Casas, Sagrado
tecnicos took 1/3
5) Jeff Cobb & TJP (Teddy James Perkins) b Hechicero & Terrible
Cobb & TJP go 3-0 over the weekend

Cobb noted he beat the heavyweight champion in post match interviews. This show will turn up on 12/03.

Cobb seems to be headed back to Mexico today. TJP goes on his own to Puebla, teaming with Atlantis Jr. against Fugaz & Volador.

CMLL (TUE) 11/23/2021 Arena México
1) Acero & Angelito vs Fantasy & Kaligua
2) Reyna Isis, Skadi, Tiffany vs La Comandante, La Vaquerita, Metálica [Relevos Increíbles]
3) Dulce Gardenia, El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Felino, Okumura, Pólvora
4) Templario © vs Star Jr. [MEX MIDDLE]
first defense
5) Atlantis, Fugaz, Místico vs Euforia, Mephisto, Rey Bucanero

Templario versus Star Jr. is a new title match and a variable one. It should be fine, it could be great, I’m not really sure what that’s going to be like.

It occurs to me that Skadi is like Atlantis Jr. in that she seems to be booked a ruda when not teaming with her mother, only it’s Skadi so it’s far less important.

This show will likely air on MarcaClaro, though they’re 2 for 2 in airing these shows with weird sound issues.

CMLL (TUE) 11/23/2021 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Avispón Negro Jr., Micro, Temerario vs Jabalí, Persa, Relámpago Azul
2) Bello Antuan, El Divino, Luminoso vs Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre, Quka
3) Bestia Negra, Cris Skin, Difunto vs Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) La Jarochita & Lluvia vs Dark Silueta & Náutica
5) Atlantis Jr. & Gran Guerrero vs Hijo del Villano III & TJP

Atlantis faces TJP once, teams up with him once. Semimain may be a tag title match setup.

AAA

AAA is in the midst of announcing new plans for TripleMania Regia. Dorian Roldan announced there’d be an announcement on Sunday, and has slowly been revealing details on social media on Monday. If you didn’t pay attention to this or are reading this years from now to find out what happens, the slowness is what stuck out to me at the time. It was a lot of waiting, a news bit with “more news soon” and then more waiting. It didn’t appear the waiting was intentional.

Dorian Roldan first revealed Kenny Omega was unable to wrestle at TripleMania Regia due to injuries, the AAA Mega championship would be vacant, and Vikingo was still in line for the title.

AAA later shared a Kenny Omega promo, where he (in-character) said he enjoyed defeating all the Mexican heroes and believed AAA was taking the title away because it was the only way they could get it off him. He said he still wanted to face Vikingo and/or whoever is champion, so he could resume his reign and go even longer. Omega ended his bit promising he’d return to AAA.

I believe Omega was sincere about wanting to come back to AAA. I hope it happens, the best thing for AAA is still doing that Vikingo/Omega match.

AAA TV was a generally good version of the usual shows: wrestlers working hard, intense feuds that haven’t budged an inch since May. They mentioned the Hijo del Vikingo/Kenny Omega match for the first time after word had gotten out it wouldn’t actually be happening, so that’s unfortunate.

The show ended with Cain Velasquez announcing TripleMania Regia would air on Space. It kinda has to be airing, there’s only one more week of taped TV left and nothing beyond that. I presume this is going to be the full show aired live, but there were no additional details given. I think this is going to work out OK for people who are still interested in seeing this.

AAA hinted Cibernetico was returning to the promotion to join the Vipers back at Heroes Inmortales and on the TV tapings that immediately followed. There hasn’t been as much hinted about him on this set of tapings. This weekend, Cibernetico told La Tijera Lucha Libre that he wasn’t appearing at TripleMania Regia and that rumors of him leaving the Cl4n (the group with Charly Manson and Zorro) were similarly false. I’m not sure if something happened; the AAA teases weren’t subtle.

Similarly, Konnan shot down any ideas of Sexy (Dulce) Star 1 versus Sexy Star 2 happening any time soon.

Other News

Mas Lucha (SUN) 11/21/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Dehyna, Sagittarius, Satania b Diosa Nix, Dulce Luna, Sakura
2) Estrellita b Sussy Love [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinalEstrellita VS Sussy Love en el #TorneoSuprema 2021 (posted by Más Lucha)
billed as Estrellita’s first ever match at Arena Naucalpan, which seems impossible (and is inaccurate; she wrestled here on 2013-09-22)
3) Sexy Star 2 b Artemiz (Laguna) [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinalArtemiz VS Sexy Star en el #TorneoSuprema2021 (posted by Más Lucha)
money thrown in
4) Chik Tormenta b Keyra [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinalKeyra VS Chik Tormenta en el #TorneoSuprema 2021 (posted by Más Lucha)
Abismo Negro & Psicosis interfered to help Chik Tormenta win
5) Cinthia Moreno b Black Widow [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinalCinthia Moreno VS Black Widow en el #TorneoSuprema 2021 (posted by Más Lucha)
6) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro DQ Abismo Negro Jr., Psicosis II, Toxin Los Oficiales VS Los Vipers en el #TorneoSuprema 2021 (posted by Más Lucha)
Arez, Latigo and Chik Tormenta ran in for the DQ.
7) Sexy Star 2 DQ Estrellita [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, semifinal]
Estrellita ripped off Sexy Star’s mask for the DQ.
8) Chik Tormenta b Cinthia Moreno [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, semifinal]
Moreno left on a stretcher
9) Jessy Ventura b Cerebro Negro © [IWRG IC WELTERCerebro Negro (C) VS Jessy Ventura por el Campeonato Intercontinental Welter de IWRG (posted by Más Lucha)
title change. Ventura becomes 38th champion. Cerebro Negro loses on the 4th defense (and his first since April 2019.)
10) Chik Tormenta b Sexy Star 2 [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, final]

I hope everyone enjoyed the show and it did well monetarily, but seeing the tweet pop up that Tormenta/Keyra ended via Abismo Negro getting involved made me feel good with my decision to skip out on this. I don’t have it written in the notes, but I believe the Vipers may have gotten involved in the other matches as well – this story of this tournament was that faction and these continue to be angle heavy shows. Toxin picked up a head injury in his match and needed stitches.

Hijo de Canis Lupus announced on his Facebook that he was changing his name to Alpha Wolf to avoid issues with IWRG since he’s also now going independent. Bane and his brother Dragon Bane appear to be living in the US this year, though they haven’t wrestled much – I see 7 matches from June on. I presume this means Bane is also out of IWRG. Arena Naucalpan was still promoting Los Golpeeadors as part of their roster a few months, back even though they haven’t wrestled there since May. I hope they’re happy with whatever it is they’re doing, because it feels from afar like something’s gone off the rails with their careers with how little we see them right now and I hope there’s more to it.

Dragon Lee versus Dalton Castle for the ROH TV Championship is available on the ROH TV show now up on their website. This is where I’d normally write around the finish of the match, but waiting for AAA took so long that you’ve probably had a chance to see it and I can just move on talking about it in the next paragraph

Dalton Castle defeated Dragon Lee to win the ROH TV. It’s a bit confusing, but this title change was taped before the tag title change – that’s why Dragon Lee’s entrance is edited out – and so was taped prior to ROH’s announcement that they would no longer be offering contracts to wrestlers. It’s impossible to know for sure what would’ve happened, but ROH’s booking of Dragon Lee over these two tapings suggested they didn’t expect to have him or Rush back in 2022. It’s a reason why Dralistico tell the press he was going to sign with ROH in 2022 seems false, because the rest of the family wasn’t going to be there. ROH also could’ve brought in Dralistico this year, once LFI was down a man and never do it or even hinted at doing it. I think there’s less interest there than people in Mexico might expect. I also remain skeptical Rush & Dragon Lee are going to walk into AEW.

Dragon Lee is probably still on Final Battle and doing a rematch with Dalton Castle, but it wasn’t explicitly said on the TV show.

Mesias told Record that he’s legally won the right to use that name from AAA. For what it’s worth, Mexico’s trademark office lists an approved trademark for AAA and additional pending requests by both AAA & Glibert Cosme. The Cosme one is specifically for “RICKY BANDERAS EL MESIAS GUSTE A QUIEN NO LE GUSTE” which seems long for a poster. These announcements to the press are usually done to assure/convince indie promoters it’s safe to advertise the wrestler under that name. TV may be another matter.

Travis Banks appeared on the Pro Lucha Femenil show this Saturday and was reportedly recognized for supporting women’s wrestling by appearing on the show, by people who just know he’s an ex-NXT UK guy. (He was also probably on the show because his girlfriend was in the main event.) It stuck out to me that Mas Lucha covered that show but specifically didn’t mention Banks match. I prefer keeping a light on him, but I’m not sure a policy of wiping him from existence is wrong either.

Bandido retained the PWG championship on Sunday night over Alex Shelley. Dragon Lee defeated Demonic Flamita & Rey Horus in a three-way match and Aramis beat Jack Cartwheel in the opener. No next show date was announced, which seems a sign they’re not coming back until 2022.

GCW announced Tony Deppen versus Bandido for 12/04 in Dallas, which would mean no Bandido at TripleMania Regia.

WCWP announced ACH vs Bandido for 10/10.

11/27 RIOT (Mark Tank)

I humbly request the Unmexicans open the show so the rest of it has commentary

12/18 Lucha Memes Universal at Arena Coliseo

I don’t know exactly what Volador and Ricky will be – both are guys who very much want to work their own style and no more – and that makes that match really intriguing. This is a good card now that I will watch in half sometime in 2022.

El Sol de Irapuato profiles a father/son lucha libre street performers duo. The young child plays La Parkita, and I think this might be the same one who went viral and met with La Parka a few years back.

Box y Lucha mentions Mr. Odio (Javier Quevedo), a Mexicali luchador, passed away on Thursday. No age given. He was active in the 70s/80s.

 

Acapulco photographer Ruben Herrera Carreto passed away on Saturday.

Coahuila luchador Brujo Asesino (Jose Antonio Garza Arellano, 62) passed away on Saturday, according to local promotion LLPN. I have lineups with that name as old as 1974 and as recently as 2017; not sure if that’s all him, but he probably was around for a long career.

Box y Lucha 3495 has Estrella Blanca among a dozen other things on the cover.

Omega off of TripleMania Regia, Cobb & TJP on CMLL iPPV tonight, Mas Lucha Suprema Sunday

CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 11/19/2021 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Sonic vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) El Audaz, Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs El Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
4) Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero
5) Atlantis Jr. & Volador Jr. vs Jeff Cobb & TJP (Teddy James Perkins)
one fall

Tonight’s CMLL show is a TicketMaster PPV for 230 MXN/11 USD. It’ll also (mostly) air for free on TV in a week and on YouTube the week after. There’s no great reason to see this show outside the novelty of seeing Jeff Cobb & TJP. Next week’s show is priced the same, with the Leyenda de Azul as the draw. These are silly things to buy even by the standards of wrestling shows, just terrible values, and I’ll probably end up getting them anyway. The one thing I learned here is the US Dollar seems to have gotten stronger against the Mexican pesos since Dia del Muertos so these are very slightly cheaper.

CMLL is pushing a reunion of Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero as a secondary draw of this show, as the first time they’ve teamed in many years. Rey Bucanero and Ultimo Guerrero teamed three days ago in Arena Queretaro, last month in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, and in Arena Mexico during the empty arena period this year.

Ultimo Guerrero, reminiscing his feud with Satanico, says his mask got ripped up “49 or 59 times.” He says he kept sowing the masks back together and looked like Frankenstein at points.

CMLL (SAT) 11/20/2021 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero & Último Dragóncito vs Fantasy & Shockercito
2) Eléctrico, Leono, Sonic vs Apocalipsis, Enfermero Jr., Nitro
3) La Jarochita, La Vaquerita, Lluvia vs Amapola, Dalys, La Metálica
4) Hombre Bala Jr., Robin, Star Jr. vs Dark Magic, Luciferno, Okumura
5) Euforia & Terrible vs Jeff Cobb & TJP (Teddy James Perkins)

Hombre Bala and Robin get their reward for winning. Dark Magic & Okumura get a semimain just for being Dark Magic & Okumura.

CMLL (SUN) 11/21/2021 Arena México
1) Leono vs Apocalipsis
2) Cachorro, Panterita del Ring Jr., Robin vs Eléctrico, Retro, Sangre Imperial
3) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Skadi vs Dalys, La Comandante, Stephanie Vaquer
4) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Panterita del Ring vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Negro Casas, Sagrado
5) Hechicero & Terrible vs Jeff Cobb & TJP (Teddy James Perkins)

TJP versus Hechicero could be interesting.

CMLL (MON) 11/22/2021 Arena Puebla
1) El Malayo vs Rey Apocalipsis
2) La Jarochita & Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola & Stephanie Vaquer
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs El Perverso, Prayer, Toro Bill Jr.
4) El Audaz & Star Jr. vs Felino Jr. & Pólvora
5) Fugaz & Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr. & TJP (Teddy James Perkins)

Atlantis Jr. teaming with Volador on Friday, against him on Monday. Atlantis Jr. did an interview last Friday where was in Los Guerreros del Atlantida, then did one on Tuesday saying he wasn’t in quite yet. This is the storytelling we should expect. The semimain seems like an obvious national tag title setup.

CMLL introduced two Micro Gemelos Diablos on Informa. The story is they’re from Matamoros like the normal-sized Gemelos, and also twin micros and have been wrestling as Mini Gemelo Panteras in Matamoros. There are Mini Gemelo Panteras, but they’re absolutely not these people – those Mini Gemelos are much bigger. I suspect these are existing micros being regimmicked. The unstated message is CMLL lost Microman but they got two new people so they’re better off, but I’m skeptical they actually got two new people.

Soberano Jr. also did appear on this week’s Informa. He mentioned he hurt his knee in March, put off doing an x-ray and wrestled until he was in a lot of pain. Euforia convinced his son to get the x-ray and they discovered Soberano had a torn cruciate ligament and a torn meniscus. Coming back in 6 months from that is actually pretty impressive. Soberano also took a shot at Ultimo Guerrero, calling him a boring wrestler and saying he wanted to fight UG outside the ring but UG refused. This still appears to be a real issue and not something to build a match, though it may eventually end up that way.

CMLL’s Friday night show on AMX has moved from 7 pm to 10 pm. CMLL hasn’t announced this; the show was just missing the last two weeks until the channel updated their listings. (I left my recording go long last week and stumbled upon it.) This is the Sunday matches TV show.

AAA

Kenny Omega is off of TripleMania Regia according to a report from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Omega is getting surgery on at least a shoulder, a knee and his abdomen and may also be getting septum surgery. That’s a numerous amount of injuries, but the report says none are considered major and Omega believes he’ll be able to return to AEW as soon as late February. AAA was reportedly told Omega was off the show on Wednesday. The WON reports AAA has an idea for a backup plan and that’ll it’ll be announced soon. There’s no indication what that plan will be and it’s AAA so “soon” may not mean what others consider soon to be.

The Omega title reign was never about the mega title, it was about portraying Omega as the best wrestler in the world who came into AAA and beat everyone until someone finally stopped him. AAA could strip Omega of the mega title and have someone else win it, but it won’t transfer or resolve that story. If AAA believes Omega’s return timeline – and it seems fair to be a bit skeptical about February with that list of injuries – and Omega’s willing to come to Mexico next year to lose then, then there’s no urgency or reason to wrap this up now. There are AAA fans anxious to have the mega championship back in AAA, but AAA’s not really doing all that much with the titles they do have currently. Stripping Omega of the Mega championship would be a symbolic move but not a meaningful business one and likely not a creative plus. It has taken a long time to get to the point where an AAA wrestler could beat Omega, they might as well wait a little bit longer. This might still go wrong – it’s AAA, so it almost surely will in a way no one can predict – but it’s a worthwhile gamble.

Long term, this might be a benefit to AAA to postpone the match if AAA believes they’ll be resolving the global rights lawsuit any time soon. There’s no sign it’s going to happen, and no sign it’s going to happen before TripleMania Regia, but I think AAA believes it’s going to happen and it’s just a matter of when. If AAA can get that settled by the time Omega comes back, it’s obviously a really big benefit for them to do the big Omega title change on a show they can promote worldwide and not one just streaming on my rinky-dink Twitch channel. Half the point of using Omega is to expose AAA for international fans and they might as well hold onto that if they have sincere belief the lawsuit is going to be resolved.

There will definitely be people disappointed Omega isn’t wrestling at TripleMania Regia, but I think the show has enough other stars that they can reconfigure and still do well. There’s also the possibility AEW could send someone else; I don’t know that Bryan Danielson coming in on short notice makes sense or is even something he’d want to do, but that’s the most popular choice on Twitter. AAA could bring in a native Wagner/Rush level guy as a replacement. Cibernetico’s been heavily hinted as coming back in soon, though probably not in a top position. AAA could also move some money around and see if anyone in the Empresa/Psycho Circus match might be willing to lose their hair or a mask to make that match a bigger deal. There’s no obvious answer, there’s a lot of choices that would be fine. I would be cool just getting that overdue Vikingo/Laredo rematch in Monterrey but I don’t think that’s what I’m getting.

11/19 AAA on Space should be Taxco episode 2. The previews seem to have moved to Saturdays.

Space’s online programming grid lists the 12/04 episode of AAA as TripleMania Regia. Space’s timeslot for that episode is wrong, the grid has been very wrong in the past, and I don’t really trust it more than a few days out. It’ll take an onscreen ad or a AAA announcement for it to be 100% locked in but the signs are promising to see the entire show live.

Chik Tormenta mentioned she’s not signed to AAA and still independent in an interview with La Tijera Lucha Libre.

Other News

IWRG (THU) 11/18/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Shalom b Calibus La Pandemia vs Los Oficiales | Thursday Night Wrestling (posted by Más Lucha)
2) Limbo & Satania b Legendario & Sagitarius La Pandemia vs Los Oficiales | Thursday Night Wrestling (posted by mluchatv)
3) Cerebro Negro, Lil Blay, Sweet Dady Soul b Asterboy, Noicy Boy, Rey Halcón La Pandemia vs Los Oficiales | Thursday Night Wrestling (posted by mluchatv)
4) Mafioso b Sick Boy La Pandemia vs Los Oficiales | Thursday Night Wrestling (posted by mluchatv)
Mafioso used a foul to win
5) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro b Gran Pandemónium, Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. La Pandemia vs Los Oficiales | Thursday Night Wrestling (posted by mluchatv)
Abismo Negro Jr. got into with the Oficials to hype Sunday’s match

There was a lot of promotion for Sunday’s show on this one, so might as well go on with that lineup:

Mas Lucha (SUN) 11/21/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Dehyna, Sagittarius, Satania vs Diosa Nix, Dulce Luna, Sakura
3) Sexy Star 2 vs Artemiz (Laguna) [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinal]
4) Sussy Love vs Estrellita [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinal]
5) Keyra vs Chik Tormenta [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinal]
6) Cinthia Moreno vs Black Widow [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, quarterfinal]
7) Abismo Negro Jr., Psicosis II, Toxin vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro
8) ? vs ?? [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, semifinal]
9) ? vs ?? [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, semifinal]
10) Cerebro Negro © vs Jessy Ventura [IWRG IC WELTER]
11) ? vs ?? [Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha, final]

This is a Mas Lucha Members-only show, as part of the $8/month subscription. The men’s tournament didn’t do much for me and I don’t expect I’ll spend my time on this show. Still, if you’re interested in getting a sense of the strengths and weaknesses of the current independent Mexican scene, this seems like a good primer. And Keyra/Chik Tormenta could be pretty good.

IWRG also followed AAA’s statement about signing Toxin by thanking him for his time in IWRG and saying they gave permission for him to leave. This has to be a bit about showing IWRG contracts are real, not just something they were doing for publicity and that they wouldn’t hold anyone (Los Negociantes) to a deal if they had a chance to go elsewhere. I’m not sure why else AAA and IWRG are doing it. though, I’m not sure anyone beyond me gets the bit and it’s not really convincing me.

A very weird deal: El Universal reported Thursday WWE has closed their Mexico City office quoting people who worked there, only for WWE to tell people the office had not been closed. At least one person who worked for the office posted a message on Twitter nothing had changed, though that tweet seems to have since vanished.

WWE later announced another series of “budget cut” related talent releases, which may be connected. It’s possible that the Mexico office was another considered budget cut and that got out incorrectly or it got out too early. WWE has closed up their Japanese office this year so it’s didn’t seem out of the question that the Mexico office might go away.

Those WWE releases include familiar faces John Morrison and Shane Strickland. I’d presume Morrison has an open door to come back to AAA if he’s interested (and if the money is fair.) Stickland mostly appeared in Lucha Underground, but had some The Crash appearances and turned up in TripleMania once (I’ll never forget the springboard attempt.) I wouldn’t be surprised to see him around again. The bigger obstacle is the number of people available making it hard for anyone to get through. 80 people have been cut from WWE this year alone, and it gets more crowded with every wave. Weirdly, those who got fired during the worst moments of this pandemic may have been more fortunate, there were more spots available then.

Tinieblas Jr. claims a documentary on Tinieblas will be released on Netflix sometime soon. The promise doesn’t always mention the delivery on these things. Tinieblas Jr. also says there are three members of his family who are going to carry on the Tinieblas name soon, which is the first time that’s come up.

Steve Maclin did beat Laredo kid on Impact, so they’ll both be part of the X-Division Title match with Trey Miguel on Saturday at 9 pm CT. That’s a live show from Las Vegas, hence the latter start time than you might expect. That’s an Impact Plus show for $8/month. I would be very surprised if Laredo Kid won.

IAW announce they’re stripping Baby Love of their women’s championship. They have a match to fill the championship planned for their next show and cite health as the reason Baby Love won’t be able to wrestle. She hasn’t wrestled since early this year

The Crash announced their 12/03 combo show with MLW on Facebook. MLW had previously announced it. The Crash didn’t announce matches last time around, not sure if that’ll be any different with MLW.

GCW announced Bandido versus Tony Deppen for their 12/04 show in Dallas. That’s a good reminder Bandido won’t be on TripleMania Regia. Both Deppen and Bandido have been in ROH this year but I don’t believe they’ve wrestled.

Aramis defends the Warrior Wrestling Lucha Libre championship against Flamita on their 12/12 show. That show is going to be a challenge for the luchadors, who are also scheduled to work GALLI about an hour away at a show starting an hour later.

12/18 Lucha Memes Universal at Arena Coliseo

That’s the first match I’m excited for on this card.

Robles Promotions hyped a 240 cm (7′ 10″) tall man for their 12/25 show in Mexico City. A press from Puerto Rico’s OIL promotion reveals this is former NBA draft selection Peter John Ramos, who has gotten into wrestling since retiring from an itinerant wrestling career and is a friend of Robles regular Gran Apolo. The press release mentions John Ramos as actually being 7′ 3″, same as Wikipedia, which is still very tall for wrestling. The press release also lists Alberto el Patron as among the wrestlers in Robles promotion, though he’s not been mentioned since early September despite being the face of the promotion at the time. Robles will be sending wrestlers to OIL in Puerto Rico as part of the deal.

KAOZ Lucha Libre is teasing a Sexy Star 2 vs Sexy Dulce match to take place next year. They could book the match – they have an AAA relationship and brought in Dulce on other shows – but they probably don’t have a finish. KAOZ hasn’t run a show since shutting down for COVID related reasons in August.

Andrade faces Carlito on WWC’s 01/15/2022 48th Anniversary show. I think that’s the first 2022 match I’ve mentioned on blog.

Segunda Caida looks at some 2017 ChilangaMask.

Mascara 2000 posted a message on Instagram demanding Omar Reyes/Capo Mayor stop using the Mascara 2000 Jr. name. He hasn’t used that name in quite a while as far as I’ve seen and Mascara 2000 has made this same statement multiple times, so I’m not sure what going on.

LucahWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Dark Silueta becomes Mexico champ, IWRG notes, Sick Boy

CMLL

CMLL (TUE) 11/16/2021 Arena México [CMLL, De Lucha TV, Estrellas del RingKaiser SportsKaiser Sports (2)Mas Lucha, The Gladiatores]
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito b Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia Lucha Libre CMLL en vivo | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | Arena México (posted by Marca Claro)
2) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma DQ Cholo, Disturbio, El Coyote Lucha Libre CMLL en vivo | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | Arena México (posted by Marca Claro)
Stigma replaced Sangre Imperial earlier in the day, then Pegasso replaced Retro at show time. Coyote fouled and unmasked Stigma. Mask challenges followed.
3) Akuma, Espanto Jr., Okumura b Diamond, Flyer, Panterita del Ring Lucha Libre CMLL en vivo | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | Arena México (posted by Marca Claro)
TV character Dona Margara Francisca (Eduardo Espana) brought out the card for the third fall in this match.
4) Dark Silueta b Reyna Isis © [MEX WOMENLucha Libre CMLL en vivo | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | Arena México (posted by Marca Claro)
Reyna Isis falls on her 3rd defense. 22nd defense
5) Fugaz, Místico, Star Jr. b Dragón Rojo Jr., Euforia, Templario Lucha Libre CMLL en vivo | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | Arena México (posted by Marca Claro)
Star Jr. challenged Templario to a MEX MIDDLE title match.

Dark Silueta’s year:

  • switched to being a ruda (and Dark)
  • won the revived Occidente (Guadalajara) women’s championship
  • won the revived Queretaro women’s championship
  • runner up in the CMLL Universal de Amazonas tournament
  • won the first-ever CMLL Women’s Gran Prix
  • won the Mexican National Women’s Championship

Dark Silueta has also generally been good in those big matches. It’s not an overwhelming year for women’s wrestling in Mexico (or any wrestling in Mexico) but Dark Silueta is the obvious luchadora of the year now. It is very unlike CMLL to give one person all these wins, but it makes sense to do if you’re trying to build someone into a bigger star and they’re doing it was Silueta.

All CML title matches appear to be one fall, at least until CMLL changes their mind again. They haven’t announced this policy, it’s just what’s happening. Friday’s main event will also be one fall. It’s an inversion of what you’d see elsewhere, where one fall is normal and you might get three falls in an important match.

MarcaClaro streamed this on their YouTube channel. CMLL never promoted it, but it looks like MarcaClaro is going to air Tuesday shows on the regular going forward. I didn’t think to check until the show was already over.

The bigger issue is MarcaClaro geoblocks all of their live content. It’s not a CMLL specific issue; they have local Mexico rights to events like the Olympics that can’t be aired worldwide, and so they just leave the block up for everything. I would not recommend getting a VPN to watch geoblocked YouTube content, because YouTube seems to be identifying blocking VPNs – both ExpressVPN and VpyrVPN do not work for me going to these channels. The best way I have of getting around these blocks at the moment is to download something like the free Tor browser, and then follow instructions like these to set your ExitNodes to Mexico. It’s not hard to do but it requires a bit of tech knowledge. I will also be putting these up on the Google Drive, though the process to do so is ponderously slow – this show will not be available until late tonight or tomorrow.

I don’t know who Margara Francisca is but I’m sure it’s important to someone that she walked out with a ring card.

CMLL (FRI) 11/19/2021 Arena México
1) Oro Jr. & Sonic vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) El Audaz, Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs El Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Pólvora
3) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
4) Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero
5) Atlantis Jr. & Volador Jr. vs Jeff Cobb & TJP (Teddy James Perkins)

That’s an odd main event for Atlantis Jr., but perhaps that’s the point – getting fans to accept that Atlantis Jr. is now a top level star. He may take the pin but he’ll remain in the mix. It is very CMLL to book a big angle about Atlantis Jr. joining the Guerreros, have him back as a tecnico back, and have another old Guerrero partner in his place.

Dulce Gardenia hasn’t been around for a while – the last streaming appearance I see is June. No sign of the Cometa/Akuma ossie this week.

Writing “FantasticaMania is not happening in January” should elicit a “yea duh” response from you, the reader. Japan has recovered quite a bit from COVID and started to pull back restrictions, though they’re still not back to normal. NJPW still hasn’t announced plans for any new foreigners and that sure wasn’t going to restart with two dozen CMLL wrestlers coming in January. NJPW and CMLL did not make any statement on FantasticaMania, NJPW instead announced their January tour will be the “New Years Golden Series”, the beginning of celebration for the promotion’s 50th anniversary. It’s possible NJPW might have done this sort of anniversary tour at this point of the calendar in a normal year anyway, but it takes the calendar space of what would be the CMLL/NJPW tour. This week’s Wrestling Omakase podcast starts out with a detailed discussion about the state of COVID regulations in Japan; the shorter version is late March/early April is the best guess at when the country might be fully open to travelers. It’s possible individual Mexican wrestlers might make it in before then, but any full-scale tour would probably have to wait until after that point.

Record says they’re hearing the Elite return is in January 2022. Mas Lucha had said December, so that’s about the same thing. Elite still hasn’t said anything except for the video teaser of returning to Arena Mexico.

CMLL Informa will have Los Gemelos Diablos, Volador Jr., Jeff Cobb, TJP, Atlantis Jr., and Soberano Jr., who scheduled but did not appear last week. TJP is listed on next Tuesday’s Guadalajara show so he may be sticking around longer than a weekend this time; a California indie says TJP is booked for four dates this time around. Maybe Friday/Sunday/Tuesday/Friday?

I’m not sure if this is a decline of local journalism thing or a decline of lucha libre popularity thing, but none of the Puebla news sites I normally check had a story on Estrella Blanca beyond a wire story heavily borrowing from SuperLuchas obit. If they did something to honor him on Monday at Arena Puebla, it hasn’t been reported.

AAA

There have been reports for months about Kenny Omega being some level of injured from years of a hard wrestling style. It goes back to when he won the AEW title last year if not further. Those reports have picked up in intensity in the last few days, with PWInsider’s report saying Omega will likely need shoulder surgery and be out for an extended amount of time the latest in the string. That report says Omega/AEW are hoping to figure out what they’re doing this week. The context of the reports is Omega is no longer AEW champion, AEW has plenty of other people who can carry the load now, and there’s nothing stopping him from taking care of his own health. Those reports appear oblivious to the fact TripleMania Regia Omega/Vikingo match; no one’s saying that match is no longer happening because they don’t know/remember it was scheduled in the first place. (Such is the low level of awareness of AAA in the US; the promotion has a tremendous amount of work to do if they ever want to rebuild their place there.)

My guess is Omega will wrestle the TripleMania Regia match unless a doctor tells him he absolutely can not. It does make it slightly more likely Vikingo is winning the title, though it is important to remember Omega’s made three defenses of this title in the last two years and AAA has kept on AAA-ing. Having the Mega title around often hasn’t a big deal to them. There probably will be further reports on Omega’s health in the upcoming days, though the thing to watch is if AEW/Omega sends a promo in to AAA to hype the match. I wouldn’t get too concerned about the match unless there’s a specific report that Omega’s out or it gets to a week before the match and there’s still no sign of Omega doing anything to promote it. I have no idea what AAA would do if they couldn’t do Vikingo/Omega. They have plenty of options before even figuring out if AEW might send someone else, everyone’s ideas are good, there’s no obvious one that they’d have to do.

Speaking of injuries, Fightful’s Select Patreon reported Dax Harwood was knocked out or nearly knocked out during the AEW Tag Title match; he was notably absent when his partner ran-in later. They also mention there was some unhappiness about Fenix not checking out Harwood after the match, though no heat. The two teams are scheduled to meet again at TripleMania Regia and haven’t really gelled in their matches.

While trying to figure out if CMLL’s show on Friday was an iPPV or not (still don’t know), I noticed a listing for a 12/19 AAA show at Mexico City’s Pepsi Center. AAA ran there in 2019 and 2020 for TV tapings and the plan appeared to be to make it their Mexico City TV home. I though the 12/19 show must be Guerra de Titanes. Then I saw the lineup.

AAA (SUN) 12/19/2021 Pepsi Center WTC
1) La Parkita & Pimpinela Escarlata vs La Parkita Negra & Látigo
2) Big Mami & Faby Apache vs Keyra & Lady Maravilla
3) Dave The Clown & Murder Clown vs DMT Azul & Puma King
4) Aramis, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana and Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

That’s a spot show lineup. I’ve since got it confirmed it was a non-televised show. I’m not sure why this is happening at an expensive venue to run, but it should be a fine AAA spot show.

Other News

IWRG

IWRG (TUE) 11/16/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Carnicero, Pereseo, Rey Astaroth b Blue Win, Mini Vikingo, Rey Minos EN VIVO: Nueva Generación de Talentos | IWRG (posted by Más Lucha)
2) Guerrero Olímpico & Súper Cometa b Águila Oriental & Neón EN VIVO: Nueva Generación de Talentos | IWRG (posted by mluchatv)
3) Noicy Boy b Spider FlySolBilly JonesCalibus [IWRG IC Light, #1 Contenders] EN VIVO: Nueva Generación de Talentos | IWRG (posted by mluchatv)
4) Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako b Amnesia & Big Mike EN VIVO: Nueva Generación de Talentos | IWRG (posted by mluchatv)
5) Asterboy, Fly Warrior, Hell Boy b Fly Star, Sick Boy, Vudu Max EN VIVO: Nueva Generación de Talentos | IWRG (posted by mluchatv)
show was promoted as IWRG vs Big Lucha, but no Big Lucha guys and no explaination given

IWRG announces shows on two days notice. This is an irregularly scheduled Tuesday show (canceled last time it was supposed to happen) with no names; unsurprisingly it drew very poorly. The Big Lucha cancelations seem last minute – there were IWRG and Mas Lucha posts promoting their appearance when the show started, which were quietly scrubbed during and after the show. I only watched a bit of the show and no one seemed to explain what happened there or elsewhere. The simplest guess is there was a pay issue connected to their lack of attendance

IWRG (THU) 11/18/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Calibus vs Shalom
2) Legendario & Sagitarius vs Limbo & Satania
3) Asterboy, Noicy Boy, Rey Halcón vs Cerebro Negro, Lil Blay, Sweet Dady Soul
4) Sick Boy vs Mafioso
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro

Oficials and Pandemonium seem headed to an end of year apuesta match.

Mas Lucha announced the first round matches in their Torneo Suprema Mas Lucha

  • Sexy Star 2 vs Artemiz
  • Sussy Love vs Estrellita
  • Cinthia Moreno vs Black Widow
  • Keyra vs Chik Tormenta

If I liked the last tournament better, Keyra/Tormenta might be enough to get me to check out this show. I still suspect this is an Estrellita tournament victory, in such the same way that Sexy Dulce was the biggest name in last year’s tournament and won it as well.

One of the challenges on my lucha libre database is dealing with the immense amount of shared names. There’s no universal database of in use character names and most wrestlers don’t seem to pay attention to anything beyond the shows they’re working, so even some of the most popular names get used by multiple people at once. I’ll often come along situations where there’s a “Vengador Jr.” active in Veracruz and “Vengador Jr.” active in Sonora, and I’ll have to look at a map and guess which Vengador Jr. it is that’s wrestling in Guadalajara or if it’s an entirely different person. It’s a messy process and one I’m sure I get wrong all the time, though the consequences of getting a name wrong in a database are slight. It’s much worse if you, let’s say, confuse which wrestler just was accused of murder.

“Carlos Serrano” was arrested in Mexico City for allegedly killing a taxi driver. That is horrible. Serrano was identified as a wrestler who worked under the name Chico Enfermo and had changed his name to the English version Sick Boy in August; He’s a very low level guy – I have no Chico Enfermo matches in my database – but a luchador killing someone is an easy headline to grab attention. When the media started looking for info on “Sick Boy luchador”, they hit upon the more well known Monterrey/Lucha Time/IWRG wrestler and mistook him for the killer. That man isn’t being accused of killing anyone but had his face plastered on TV reports on Monday. Sick Boy took social media and to Mas Lucha’s En+carados show in an attempt to clear his name, then appeared on TV shows on Tuesday for the same thing. The initial story as all over the place, Sick Boy correcting it made it some of the later stories.

Laredo Kid faces Steve Maclin on Thursday’s Impact show. Maclin gets added to the Laredo/Trey Miguel X-Division championship match at Turning Point if he wins. Impact’s presented Maclin as the real rising challenger and Laredo as just a wrestler. Maclin probably is beating Laredo this week and there’s a good chance it’ll happen again on the PPV so Maclin can win the title while saving the Maclin/Miguel match for another show.

Dr. Wagner Jr. got a traffic ticket in Sonora, which was enough to get an article out of it. They tested him for alcohol and he tested negative, so it was just a monetary fine and he was on his way.

RIOT has sold out their 11/27 show before the full lineup has been announced.

12/18 Lucha Memes Universal at Arena Coliseo

Legacy.com has an obituary for Alessi Huelga, who passed away Monday. The obituary briefly mentions he wrestled as Bestia Negra; it seems to be in the 50s and briefly based on the description.

LuchaWorld has the weekly Poster-Mania and latest Lucha Report.

Estrella Blanca (1938-2021), Atlantis Jr. joins Guerreros, CMLL weekend results

CMLL (FRI) 11/12/2021 Arena México [CMLLDiario BastaEstrellas del RingKaiser SportsMas LuchaR de RudoThe Gladiatores]
1) Kaligua, Mercurio, Shockercito b Acero, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia [Relevos IncreíblesCMLL | Shockercito, Kaligua y Mercurio vs Pequeño Olimpico, Acero y Pequeño Violencia (posted by Más Lucha) CMLL- MERCURIO-KALIGUA - SHOCKERCITO VS ACERO -PEQ. OLÍMPICO -PEQ. VIOLENCIA ARENA MÉXICO 12/11/2021 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Viernes de Arena México: Shockercito, Mercurio y Kaligua Vs. P. Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia y Acero (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
Peq. Violencia replaced Pierrothito on Thursday
2) Dark Magic, Disturbio, El Coyote b Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma CMLL | Disturbio, El Coyote y Dark Magic vs Stigma, Pegasso y Arkalis (posted by mluchatv) CMLL- ARKALIS - PEGASSO - STIGMA VS DARK MAGIC - COYOTE - DISTURBIO / ARENA MÉXICO 12/11/2021 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Viernes de Arena México: Arkalis, Pegaso y Stigma Vs Dark Magic, Disturbio y Coyote (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
Tecnicos are La Fuerza Poblana. Rudos took 1/3.
3) Felino Jr., Okumura, Pólvora b Dark Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Panterita del Ring CMLL- GRO. MAYA - D. PANTHER - PANTERITA DEL RING VS OKUMURA - FELINO JR.-PÓLVORA/A. MÉXICO 12/11/21 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Felino Jr, Pólvora y Okumura vs Guerrero Maya Jr, Dark Panther y Panterita del Ring (posted by mluchatv) Viernes de Arena México: Okumura, Felino Jr. y Polvora Vs. Dark Panther, Panterita D.R y G. Maya Jr. (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
Rudos took 2/3
4) Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Euforia, Mephisto, Volador Jr. [Relevos IncreíblesCMLL | Último Guerrero, Atlantis Jr y Gran Guerrero vs Volador Jr, Euforia y Mephisto (posted by mluchatv) CMLL- MEPHISTO - EUFORIA - VOLADOR JR. VS ATLANTIS JR. - LOS GUERREROS /  ARENA MÉXICO 12/11/2021 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Viernes de Arena México: Guerreros de la Atlantida Vs.  Euforia Mephisto y Volador Jr. (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
Guerreros took 2/3, asked Atlantis Jr. to join with them to reform Los Guerreros de la Atlantida and Atlantis Jr. accepted.
5) Hechicero © b Bárbaro Cavernario [CMLL HEAVY (posted by Revista BOX Y LUCHA) ¡El Alquimista del Ring se levanta y retiene su cetro, pese al impacto que se llevó en el muro! (posted by Revista BOX Y LUCHA) CMLL | Hechicero vs Bárbaro Cavernario por el Campeonato Mundial de Peso Completo (posted by mluchatv) CMLL- CAMPEONATO MUNDIAL COMPLETO / HECHICERO VS B. CAVERNARIO  ARENA MÉXICO 12/11/2021 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) Hechicero Vs. Bárbaro Cavernario, por el campeonato mundial de peso completo del CMLL (posted by La Tijera Lucha Libre)
One fall match. First defense for Hechicero.

Barbaro Cavernario looked like he went all out in this match.

Atlantis Jr. accepting the offer to join Los Guerreros in a post-match interview would seem to resolve that story, except this is a promotion where tecnico Angel de Oro is still teaming with the rudos and maybe rudo Magnus is teaming with tecnicos. I think I just may be slow in accepting the tecnico/rudo thing is getting faded out. I still feel like it’s much better for luchadors to have a static personality and identity, not to shift radically depending on who they happen to be teaming with that day.

CMLL (SAT) 11/13/2021 Arena Coliseo [CMLL, CMLL]
1) Apocalipsis & Cholo b Leono & Retro
2) Angelito, Fantasy, Último Dragóncito b Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
tecnicos took 2/3
3) Akuma, Enfermero Jr., Espanto Jr. b Cachorro, Panterita del Ring Jr., Sangre Imperial
rudos took 1/3
4) Hombre Bala Jr., Stuka Jr., Titán DQ Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
Hombre Bala’s reward ends with him getting beat up so badly that the ref called an excessive violence DQ
5) Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero
Volador took 2/3

Bala getting humiliated in his reward match would be something, but it’s probably the first week of a longer program. No video of this show this week. Arena Coliseo might be going like Arena Puebla, where it got a lot of coverage the week they came back and the not much after.

CMLL (SUN) 11/14/2021 Arena México [CMLLKaiser Sports]
1) Grako b Retro
2) La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi b Amapola, Metálica, Tiffany
3) El Audaz, Esfinge, Magnus b El Coyote, Espanto Jr., Misterioso Jr.
4) Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero b Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
5) Fugaz, Místico, Titán b Ángel de Oro, Felino, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

No angle of not this week. Magnus is now teaming with non-Depredaror tecnicos so maybe he’s back to being a tecnico? Maybe Depredadores are meant to be side-less.

Puebla tonight has a rematch of Ángel de Oro, Cavernario, Volador Jr. vs Atlantis Jr., Felino, Templario. I’m not sure which singles match it’ll be, but Volador always seems like a safe bet.

CMLL (TUE) 11/16/2021 Arena México
1) Angelito, Kaligua, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
2) Arkalis, Retro, Sangre Imperial vs Cholo, Disturbio, El Coyote
3) Diamond, Flyer, Panterita del Ring vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Okumura
4) Reyna Isis © vs Dark Silueta [MEX WOMEN]
3rd defense
5) Fugaz, Místico, Star Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Euforia, Templario

The women’s title match could be good. I think Euforia & Templario are supposed to be rivals. Euforia should actually be pointing out to Templario how he got bumped out of his unit.

AAA

I uploaded this week’s AAA show on Twitch. (Twitch makes it hard to find uploads but it’s there.) AAA TV seems to be built on the idea that everyone who cares about AAA is following their social media and will get all their AAA info that way, because the TV show has nothing to say about what’s going on. It seems like they knew the TripleMania Regia lineup going into this show – there’s a Viper/Poder del Norte brawl that happens for no reason outside they wrestle in Monterrey – but the announcers and the production feel no need to explain where this is all going. Maybe it’s too hard to squeeze in a video of the LA Park/Cain Velasquez bit so quickly and it’ll be there later, but there’s no reason I can grasp for AAA never mentioning the Hijo del Vikingo/Kenny Omega match. Instead, they spent two matches getting over the very well-established Hijo del Tirantes/Faby Apache beef, and they don’t have a match scheduled anywhere at any time. Maybe the metrics really are all up and this is working for them, but I do not understand the thought process behind these TV shows.

If you are going to watch, the best use of time is just to watch the mixed tag title match in the main event. There are some overambitious moments – they clearly have a lot of faith in Sexy Star 2 to do things – but the action is pretty fun and the random thrown together teams fell less random in practice.

FTR indeed didn’t make this set of AAA tapings – there were weather issues flying in – so they won’t be seen in AAA until TripleMania Regia. Aerostar was also unable to make it to those tapings, so we may have seen the last of him in AAA this year. He’s not currently on TripleMania Regia. Nothing’s been announced past that, though it stands to reason AAA’s got to tape again this year.

AAA posted a tweet implying Toxin had been let out of an IWRG contract to sign a AAA one without actually saying that. Toxin posted something similar on Facebook. I can’t remember the last time AAA announced someone signed a contract with them, so this is probably more about some favor to IWRG than it is about Toxin.

Adictos al Ring says Rey de Reyes 2022 is taking place in Veracruz on 02/20, which I’m not sure is correct. They previously had the incorrect report that TripleMania Regia was moving out of Monterrey, and there’s no obvious reason Rey de Reyes would move to February next year from its normal March slot. It’s possible there’s a TV taping on that date that’s on the road to Rey de Reyes and it got confused along the way.

Other News

60s/70s/80s star Estrella Blanca (83) passed away Monday morning according to his son on Facebook. Both SuperLuchas and Furia de Titanes have obituaries. You can catch a late career match on YouTube. Maybe the quickest way to sum him up is to direct you to his luchawiki page, and the very long lucha de apuesta section. There are over 200 matches there; he’s given numbers as high as 700. Estrella Blanca was nicknamed “Santo Poblano”, Puebla’s Santo, their local hero. He’s reported to have won hundreds of mask matches; it’s probably either him or Super Munceo who actually won the most. Estrella Blanca was a star outside of Puebla too – his national lightweight championship runs raised the profile of a title that had mostly been left to the small arenas – and reads like he was a pretty good worker. Blanca wasn’t in the top spots in the main arenas, because EMLL just didn’t use lightweights outside the early matches, but his fame made him a great value to bring to all the smaller shows around Mexico. Santo can’t work every date, every show can’t afford Santo, so a guy like Estrella Blanca did a good job of taking up those spots. It’s an intentional connection; his mask design is very similar to Santo, with the namesake white star separating it. Estrella Blanca introduced a whole lot of billed sons – a Junior, a II, a III – in the 80s, and it reads like he took a step back in his own career to try to get them over. None really had the success he did. Estrella Blanca is still well remembered in Puebla. He was honored at Arena Puebla Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show in 2019 and I’m sure he’ll be remembered again tonight. The SuperLuchas article notes Estrella Blanca promised his wife he’d never get unmasked and have his real name and identity revealed, and he apparently held true to the death. His name will eventually come out, but the early articles and condolences on it don’t include it because apparently, it’s not public knowledge.

IWRG , FILL (SAT) 11/13/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Odiseo & Perseo b Desastre & Último Caballero EN VIVO:  Torneo Fill 91 | IWRG vs Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre (posted by Más Lucha)
2) Rey Aztaroth, Súper Boy, Súper Cometa b Blue Win, Rey Minos, X-Boy Jr. EN VIVO:  Torneo Fill 91 | IWRG vs Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre (posted by Más Lucha)
X-Boy Jr. ended up hurt
3) Garra Mortal Jr., Guerrero Olímpico, Huitzil b Gran Felipe Jr., Perro de Guerra, Tito Mortan Jr. EN VIVO:  Torneo Fill 91 | IWRG vs Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre (posted by Más Lucha)
4) Black Dragón II, Hell Boy, Spider Fly b Kenji, Limbo, Skanda EN VIVO:  Torneo Fill 91 | IWRG vs Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre (posted by Más Lucha)
Black Dragon II replaced Carnicero
5) Black Dragón, Caballero de Plata, Cheff Benito, Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Rey Halcón DQ Eurus, Full Contact, Karma II, Kunay, Minos, Villareal [Copa Higher Power] EN VIVO:  Torneo Fill 91 | IWRG vs Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre (posted by Más Lucha)
IWRG vs Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre. Dick Angelo 3G defeated Villareal via DQ.

The IWRG team winning by cheating is not usually how these things go.

IWRG (SUN) 11/14/2021 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Kenji b Spider Fly
2) Legendario & Noicy Boy b Limbo & Mosca EN VIVO: Piratas Infernales vs La Pandemia | IWRG (posted by Más Lucha)
3) Bazooka, Granada, Mafioso b Asterboy, Hijo del Alebrije, Toxin EN VIVO: Piratas Infernales vs La Pandemia | IWRG (posted by Más Lucha)
Mafioso snuck in a foul on Aster Boy
4) Jessy Ventura b Cerebro Negro EN VIVO: Piratas Infernales vs La Pandemia | IWRG (posted by Más Lucha)
sets up an IWRG IC WELTER title match on next week’s show
5) Espectro Jr., King Charro, Sick Boy, Símbolo (Monterrey) b Diva Salvaje, Estrella Divina, Hijo del Fishman, Villano V Jr. EN VIVO: Piratas Infernales vs La Pandemia | IWRG (posted by Más Lucha)
Mafioso attack Sick Boy; they’re actually brothers
6) Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. DCOR Gran Pandemónium, Hijo Del Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. EN VIVO: Piratas Infernales vs La Pandemia | IWRG (posted by Más Lucha)
Morgans are now Pirata Infenrales in an attempt to talk someone into a feud with the CMLL Infernales. Both teams fought outside for the draw.

The Pirata Morgan Jr. who lost his hair two weeks ago wore a mask for most of this match. So it goes with lucha indies. The Ventura/Cerebro title match is happening on Mas Lucha’s Torneo Mas Suprema women’s tournament next Sunday. No brackets are announced yet; that might be something happening Monday.

IWRG (TUE) 11/16/2021 Arena Naucalpan
1) Blue Win & Rey Minos vs Carnicero & Rey Astaroth
2) Águila Oriental & Neón vs Guerrero Olímpico & Súper Cometa
3) Spider Fly vs Noicy BoySolBilly JonesCalibus [IWRG IC Light, #1 Contenders]
4) Big Chicoche & Big Mike vs Corsario Negro Jr. & Drako
5) Asterboy, Fly Warrior, Hell Boy vs Cometa Maya, Elemental, Gravity

The Tuesday flyers shows seem to have been rebranded (after one show) to NGT (Nueva Generacion Talentos) events. This one has a IWRG versus Big Lucha show. I’m not sure if it’s recruitment or training, but whatever the Big Lucha guys are doing seems to be working, they seem more complete than the usual indie lucha wrestler. They were that way before Travis Banks got in the picture, which made it worse that people with potential were associating with him. They’re at least given the impression they’ve separated from Banks, though Banks is still around elsewhere.

Asterboy is the current IWRG Lightweight Champion.

Miguel Reducindo’s Mas Lucha column says ELITE could end up on as Wednesday or Thursday Arena Mexico shows. I think there are additional problems for ELITE outside of day of the week, but either of those days are probably going to be a problem. Miguel pointed out elsewhere that the best ELITE did was when they took over the Sunday shows, which is a better date and also means they’re not the fourth show running Arena Mexico a week.

Robles held their shows at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera and Arena Lopez Mateos this weekend. They didn’t draw but that’s normal by now; these shows are for one person. The other normal thing is AAA seems not to want their wrestlers to appear on Robles shows, at least in Mexico City. Big Mami did wrestle on the Saturday show in Arena Lopez Mateos. She’s barely been on AAA TV this year, last in August, though she’s still on the rare spot shows AAA are running. Big Mami is a wrestler who’s going to work much better in front of fans than empty arena shows, and I wonder if maybe she’s shifted to a per night deal with AAA for now. Estrellita continued to work for Robles, so she may not be under AAA contract. Goya Kong, who has been on AAA TV a lot the last few months, was advertised and didn’t appear.

Microman did wrestle on both shows, added to the shows in mixed matches against a Mini Fussion. Negocio Traumado joked that they were going to sign Microman before WWE did.

ROH aired Honor For All on Sunday night. I thought Flamita/Bandido on the show was good, but the similar Horus/Bandido match was better. LFI versus OGK was also good and had the big news of the night; Dragon Lee & Kenny King lost the tag team titles. Final Battle, the final major ROH show, is on 12/11. Lucha related matches on that show:

  • Dragon Lee seems out of the tag title picture (King already has his own Final Battle match set), so it’s probably a TV title match. He’s defending it against Dalton Castle next week. Either that match sets up a rematch or a challenger shows up.
  • Commentary indicated Flamita is facing EC3, a tremendous mismatch of styles
  • Bandido will probably be defending the ROH title against Jonathan Gresham on Final Battle, though they keep insisting it’s not definite yet in a way that suggests another title match or something else is happening between now and then.

That 12/11 show is ROH’s last event, but it appears they’ve already taped TV for two weeks after that. Those are going to be the lamest of lame ducks shows; I will definitely watch. The vibe I got from Honor for All is everyone in ROH is staying on message about the promotion returning in 2022, but whatever they’ve heard has them believing Final Battle is it for the group. It may be good news for the rest of you if these ROH bits disappear.

Bandido, Flamita, Rey Hours, La Empresa, Mr. Iguana, Aramis, Aeroboy, and Rok-C are all wrestling in GALLI the night after Final Battle.

Leon Dorado and Centviron had a good match on the MexaWrestling show this past Saturday. They usually have good matches. They also usually challenge each other to a mask match and they did that again. I think they’ve been talking about that match since 2017.

12/18 Lucha Memes Universal at Arena Coliseo

Both men have lost their hair many times, but I guess now they’ll do it in a new venue.

This is a week old, but maybe still worth sharing. Mary Apache wrestles sparingly these days, almost opposite her daughter Natsumi in tag matches. One of those happened in Nuevo Leon last Saturday. A clip of a post-match incident went viral last week. (I think it was probably the La Desnucadora YouTube channel who recorded it, but it’s not on their YouTube now.) Mary Apache appears to be very upset with her daughter, stalking her around the ring. Other people in the match try to get in the middle. Apache attacks one of them, teenager Reyna Zahori, smacking her, pulling her to the ground by her hair and continuing to go on the attack. The clip cuts off as Natsumi and two other people try to pull Mary Apache off. There’s obviously a lot of people angry with Mary Apache over that attack; she’s said nothing, but she’s been disappeared from another upcoming booking in Nuevo Leon for Lucha Libre Femenil.

DigitalMex has an interview with Lady Apache about her career. She believes she’s been vetoed by major promotions for trying to create a women’s lucha libre foundation in 2014. Lady Apache did worth the 2016 AAA Lucha Libre World Cup but hasn’t been with a major promotion outside of that.