CMLL

Tonight’s CMLL card has the Gran Prix. Hechicero/Euforia should be a solid title match, there’s a good group of women (and two feuding ladies) in the women’s match, and the opener should be fine.

It’s the 8v8 main event that’s going to make or break it. And it looks positive there. The world side seems deeper than past years. I’m not sure who the least impressive person is this year, but they’re better than Big Daddy (2019), Dark Magic & Okumura (2018), Johnny Idol (2017), and also Johnny Idol (2016). It’s a lot of wrestlers who’ve had experience working with Mexican wrestlers before, either past visits to CMLL or elsewhere. The finish might play into the CMLL Aniversario plans, but whatever they do is going to be better than the 2019 stuff around Big Daddy and a cage match. (It’s a real interesting question about who’s the last guy for the World Team – Mesias because he’s going to be around more? Tiger Mask because they see him as a legend? Matt Taven because he’s Matt Taven?)

Team Mexico is also almost entirely new from 2019, only Soberano & Volador coming back. Rush, Dragon Lee, Diamante Azul and Forastero are all gone, Negro Casas and & Cavernario weren’t chosen. (Casas was only on that team to set up his hair loss, in retrospect.) Mistico’s returning from injury and always enjoys large crowds. Titan and Templario have never gotten to do a match like this in Arena Mexico. Ultimo Guerrero has, and usually does well with the foreigners. Atlantis Jr. and Stuka Jr. might get spotlighted for what’s to come next. It’s a strong lineup

I always think CMLL is building to the next thing, trying to hook big crowds into coming back in a month for the even bigger show. CMLL doesn’t really work that way all the time; like we saw last week, sometimes they just do what they need to get done that day and let the promos during the week build to the next show. It’d be logical if some of the Anniversario teammates/enemies have issues during the match, but it’d also be CMLL if they just had a straight match with no issues. I still suspect Team World will win – if anything because having the invading group lose the Friday night main event in back-to-back weeks would be strange – but I’m not convinced of it.

The show will be on Ticketmaster live for 198 pesos ($10 USD).

CMLL reported Thursday that Robbie Eagles tested negative for COVID, so he’s back for the tournament. There’s never been any update on Euforia since getting his back cut up on Sunday show, but he’s presumably going to work through it.

Both Team Mexico and Team Rest of the World traveled around on the Mexico City tourist buses and talked at the World Trade Center to promote the match. There are clips on YouTube of them actually yelling at each other as the buses passed each other. The WTC promos seemed in line with those on CMLL Informa this week, though the CMLL wrestlers got to be confrontational when the foreigners were trashing them in their faces.

All of this promotion seems to have worked. It’s possible this Gran Prix will be the third highest attended Mexico City show of the year. TripleMania and Aniversario will be 1 and 2 outside of anything truly unexpected. There were no attendance restrictions on Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, but people are more comfortable going to shows now and that show didn’t have a strong lineup. The Gran Prix has some familiar names and a concept that’s worked well in past years. There were scattered tickets available on the lower level when I checked around noon. They should cross 10K with the walk-up tonight. CMLL’s strategy this year to focus on Friday shows even more (to the exclusion of doing much on the other three Mexico City shows) has worked out. It’s made CMLL a bit of a one-show-a-week promotion, but if the one show everyone watches is pretty good, then maybe they’ll watch the other ones once there’s something interesting on them.

Those Anniversario tickets go on sale Saturday morning. CMLL has not announced prices; it’s likely they won’t be public until the tickets go on sale.

CMLL (SUN) 08/21/2022 Arena México
1) Angelito, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Minos, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito
2) Astral, Leono, Oro Jr. vs Enfermero Jr., Inquisidor, Nitro
3) Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido vs El Coyote, Felino, Kráneo
4) Bárbaro Cavernario & Euforia vs Kenny King & Oráculo
5) Gran Guerrero, Tiger Mask, Titán vs Lince Dorado, Matt Taven, Volador Jr.

Sunday appears to final day for the foreginers. And not all the foreigners; Eagles is at the NJPW Strong taping. (That show also may explain why Rocky Romero is not sticking around long.) CMLL never books just a normal 2v2 match as a semi-main match, but I guess that’s how the numbers work.

CMLL (MON) 08/22/2022 Arena Puebla
1) Oro Jr. & Valiente Jr. vs Espíritu Maligno & King Jaguar
2) Perverso & Prayer vs Rey Apocalipsis & Siki Osama
3) Audaz, Dulce Gardenia, Star Jr. vs Felino, Okumura, Rey Bucanero
4) Atlantis Jr., Hechicero, Templario vs Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Titán [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Averno, Negro Casas, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]

So many relevos increibles. It’s strange the locals are ahead of the match with CMLL wrestlers.

Halcon Negro challenged Crixus to a title match on Tuesday in Guadalajara. I have to admit that I had no idea what title they were talking about; I didn’t think either of them held a Guadalajara title. They did clarify it on a preview graphic; it’s the Queretaro middleweight championship. Crixus won it from Halcon Negro back on Christmas Day in Queretaro. It’s hard to imagine many fans in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, who don’t seem to pay much attention to the matches in front of them to become with, are familiar with a title change that happened 8 months ago in a different state. Those two guys have been feuding forever though, and they may under that much. They wrestle again in Queretaro this Sunday.

AAA

AAA tapes Saturday night in Saltillo. Dragon Lee & Fenix vs Aramis & Hijo del Vikingo is the main event and should be an outstanding match. Pagano and Cibernetico feud in the semi-main. Aerostar, Drago, Myzteziz vs Argenis, Parka Negra, and Villano III Jr. continues some feuds that have been hanging around for over a year now. The rest of the AAA portion seems like already booked names are just being wedged into spots, though the matches look fine. This is a co-promotion with local AAA promoter BARBA, they have two title matches as extra bonus matches, and at least one of them will likely air. Space should have these episodes on August 27 and September 3rd.

Space this weekend is a big I dunno. There’s nothing left from Verano de Escandalo except a pre-show Arkangel Divino/Ultimo Maldito match. I will at least start off streaming whatever they have on Twitch, but I’ll probably just cut it off quick if it looks like it’s no new matches so everyone can get on with their Saturdays. Space is listing the show as starting at 5:09 pm CT so it’ll probably be over before most people even realize it’s promoted hasn’t promoted the time shift.)

AAA has a Showcenter event on Sunday. These are just house shows that draw moderately well, and the routine is pretty set at this point. There will be some photos or videos posted on Sunday to show some action, a carefully framed photo to show the crowd, and the September lineup will be out instantly after this show is over.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 08/18/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG]
1) Amakuza & Baby Star b Kenji & Rey Aztaroth 
2) Feroz & Vértigo b Caballero de Plata & Jhon Tito 
Hell Boy cost Plata the match, the two agreed to a super libre match
3) Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Tackle b Andy Boy, Danger King, Tony Rivera 
4) Abc, Laser Jr., Troyano b Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Tonalli 
Laser Jr. replaced El Rebelde. Troyano beat Tonalli, and challenged him to a title match.
5) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro b Cerebro Negro, Cerebro Negro Jr., Dr. Cerebro 
Oficials snuck in a foul on Cerebro Negro

It’s possible the Hell Boy/Caballero de Plata feud is moving forward. Maybe they’ll finally have their hair match on an Indepdence Day show. Troyano made his challenge a couple of days too late to get on the title match show, unfortunate timing from him.

IWRG (SUN) 08/21/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Mini Raider & Relampgauito vs Mini Canis Lupus & Mini Spirit
2) Noisy Boy © vs Yorvak, Sol, Spider Fly, Baby Star [IWRG REY DEL AIRE]
1st defense
3) Hijo del Pirata Morgan © vs Hijo del Fishman [IWRG Rey del Ring]
1st defense
4) Puma de Oro © vs Abismo Negro Jr. [IWRG MEXICO]
1st defense. Scheduled as Aster Boy challenging but he had an injury
5) Gran Pandemónium, Hijo de Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr. © vs Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Tonalli [EdM Trios]
6th defense
6) Galeno del Mal vs Oficial AK47 [IWRG IC HEAVY]
vacant title (Rey Espectro injury)

This is a Mas Lucha premium show.

It seemed like the Puma de Oro attack on Aster Boy was a work to set up an injury, but Aster Boy is actually in an arm cast now, so he did get hurt at some point. IWRG put out the poster with his name on it and simultaneously announced he was out of the match. I guess they couldn’t get the poster changed?

It took me only like 10 episodes to notice, but the mid-week IWRG talk show on their YouTube channel has these Sunday lineups a couple of days before they’re posted.

Big Lucha

Big Lucha World (WED) 08/17/2022 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal [Big Lucha, Mas Lucha]
1) Mr. Win b Sparta (Zacatecas) 
first victory for Mr. Win
2) Gravity & Komander b Emperador Azteca & Yutani 
3) Radioactivo b Forneo [BL CHAMP, Block B Qualifying, final] 
Radioactivo wins the qualifier, faces Ricky Marvin next week
4) Galeno del Mal DQ DMT Azul [BL CHAMP, Block B, quarterfinal] 
DMT Azul unmasked Galeno del Mal for the DQ. Galeno del Mal will face Arez in the next round.

Radioactivo/Forneo was a match that justified all these nesting tournaments. It was a great match between two young guys, who wouldn’t have had a chance to have a singles match with this much meaning without all of this. Radioactivo won but both guys felt like they gained something from the match. And not just the beating Ricky Marvin is going to give Radioactivo next week. It’s really hard to break out of the pack with so many young guys in Big Lucha (and not a lot of defining personality traits between them), and matches like this help.

DMT Azul/Galeno del Mal was the opposite. There’s something I’m just not getting with Azul. He wasn’t good, he didn’t take the tournament seriously and he obviously would not take a loss here. It didn’t make sense to book him for a role he wasn’t going to do well in. Yet, that guy is in more demand than ever as an indie talent. Maybe just being really big is impressive enough, it’s hard to figure out what else is going on here.

The Mas Lucha announcers did the first match in both English and Spanish. Jose Manuel Guillen described referee/wrestler Mr. Win as a guy no one knew anything about. Only in Mexican wrestling can the guy with no mask and just plain gear be the most mysterious person around.

Next week’s show should have

CMLL , Big Lucha (THU) 08/18/2022 Arena Coliseo [Mas Lucha, SuperLuchas]
1) Blue Danger, Nix, Timida b Aqua, Dulce Luna, Shamila
2) Elipse, Orbita, Viajero b El Potro de Oro, King, Kong
3) Cometa Maya, Éxtasis, Radioactivo b Diamond, Magia Blanca, Magnus
4) Okumura, Shocko, Tirano, Yutani b Carito, Dulce Gardenia, Guerrero Maya Jr., Limbo
5) Lince Dorado b Action Jackson
match ended early due to Jackson injury
6) Atlantis & Negro Casas DDQ Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera
Atlantis and Fuerza Guerrera unmasked each other
7) Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask IV b Averno & Mephisto and Rocky Romero & Skayde and Aeroboy & Dr. Wagner Jr.

A decent crowd, though not a full house or anything. Wagner meant some fans but Wagner alone (even wearing his mask most of the night) wasn’t going to sell out this arena. Some of the CMLL fans there still saw Wagner as an AAA enemy, taunting him for selling out by losing that mask to Psycho Clown.

I’m also not sure if it matters; this is “CMLL” and “Big Lucha” because that’s the talent being used, but it seems to really be lucha libre collector Christian Cymet making it happen; as long as he’s enjoying putting on these shows (and as long as there’s a new outside name to spotlight), we’ll get one of these a year.

Accion Jackson’s injury looked terrible on video. He went for an Arez-style quick corner moonsault, but instead just slipped off the ropes and fell hard. Jackson was said to be relatively fine and the match was stopped more out of caution than need. He was making fun of the incident in his Instagram stories.

This show seemed to be under CMLL video rules (outside ‘media’ can only put up a minute or two of clips per video) on YouTube. CMLL doesn’t seem to police Instagram the same way and you can find a lot more there. Mas Lucha was in the building to do their coverage but I’m not sure if this is showing up complete on YouTube; the previous Lucah Real/CMLL/Cymet show in 2019 didn’t appear to go up. I didn’t hear positive reviews of the matches so it’s probably fine.

Komander won and Gravity lost in the first round of the West Coast Pro Wrestling West Coast cup. Both wrestle on today’s second show, Komander part of the tournament against Vinnie Massaro and Gravity in a match TBA. Both shows air on IWTV. Those two then head cross country to face Latigo & Arez on Saturday for Garden State Pro Wrestling (on FITE, $13 USD) and then Komander, Gravity and Bandido head to GALLI on Sunday. Their match there hasn’t been announced yet.

Also, Big Lucha and GALLI have a press conference on Monday. I assume this will be like the Can-Am deal where wrestlers might be going back and forth.

Other News

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

We may have Blue Demon’s birthdate wrong. Blue Demon Jr, at a movie screening to promote the 100th anniversary of his father’s death, said Blue Demon was actually born on October 12th, not April 24th as it is usually listed.

Nacion Lucha Libre has an outdoor show at the Mexico City race track on 09/03.

The original Nacion Lucha Libre press conference included Alberto explaining that IWRG’s Moreno family had generously given Nacion Lucha Libre authorization to run in their neighborhood. It turns out Alberto may have said something that wasn’t exactly true. IWRG’s Marco Moreno, speaking at that Blue Demon movie screen, said that they had talked to Nacion but didn’t give them authorization. Moreno also notes Nacion used IWRG’s logo during the press conference without permission.

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CMLL

CMLL (MON) 08/15/2022 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla]
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma b El Audaz, Fugaz, Star Black
Arkalis replaced Guerrero Maya
4) Kenny King, Matt Taven, Último Guerrero b Lince Dorado, Oráculo, Volador Jr.
UG fouled Volador
5) Templario b Soberano Jr. 
Templario replaced Robbie Eagles (COVID) on Saturday

The main event was an off-night match, nothing you need to go out of your way to see.

Regular Arena Puebla Guerrero Espacial (Isidro Gonzalez Gonzalez, 43) passed away Monday. Arena Coliseo San Ramon’s Facebook mentioned the passing early Tuesday morning. No cause of death is mentioned. Guerrero Espacial was a preliminary wrestler in the CMLL arena since 2013 and had most of his spotlight matches outside of it. His last known match was July 10th. Guerrero Espacial’s brother, Ares el Guerrero, passed away back in 2020. Fellow Arena Puebla luchador Toro Bill Jr. also passed away back in April.

CMLL (TUE) 08/16/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Kasier Sports, Marca]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico b Acero & Aéreo  
2) Grako, Inquisidor, Raider b Cachorro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr.  
third fall was messed up
3) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Marcela b Amapola, Olympia, Tiffany  
Marcela replaced Skadi (injury?)
4) Hombre Bala Jr., Panterita del Ring, Volcano b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero   

5) Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero b Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado  
Barbaro Cavernario replaced Ultimo Guerrero

Panterita Jr. was supposed to kick out and didn’t actually kickout strong enough. The referee was innocent for once, but still had the rudos angrily insisting to them that they only got a two on their three-count victory.

CMLL (TUE) 08/16/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara (Match 1), Arena Coliseo Guadalajara (rest of the show)]
1) Atilius, El Divino, Rey Urano b Aurelius, Jhonny Dinamo, Maximus
2) Ángel Rebelde, Optimus, Trono DQ Cris Skin, Mr. Trueno, Rey Trueno  
Rafaga and La Mafia ran in to attack the Queretaro team for the DQ.
3) Halcón Negro Jr. b Crixus [lightning]  
Halcon Negro Jr. challenged Crixus to a title match
4) Niebla Roja & Terrible b Hijo del Villano III & Zandokan Jr.  
5) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa © b Furia Roja, Guerrero de la Muerte, Joker [MEX TRIOS]  
2nd defense
6) Ángel de Oro & Atlantis Jr. b Kenny King & Matt Taven and Lince Dorado & Oráculo and Averno & Dark Magic [torneo]  
Dark Magic replaced Robbie Eagles (COVID). Elimination order: Dark Magic, Angel de Oro, Kenny King, Oraculo, Lince Dorado, Matt Taven, Averno leaving Atlantis Jr. as the winner

The sound was about 8 seconds off on this show on Facebook; it’s a little bit better on YouTube and my upload. The sound was about 3 seconds off on the Arena Mexico shows. Maybe we’d be complaining about the streams if they were still easily available. Trios title match wasn’t much. This arena may be getting something similar to Arena Mexico, with Halcon Negro Jr. and Crixus having a mask match and some additional multiman apuesta match based on all the interference. The main event got a lot of time and was all about putting Atlantis Jr. over big in the end. He does need to get either a lot better with that flapjack cutter or cut it out, it’s not helping as is.

Friday’s card has Dark Panther replacing Esfinge (hand injury) in the opener. Both Euforia & Robbie Eagles are currently listed.

CMLL (SAT) 08/20/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Neón & Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis & Cholo
2) La Vaquerita, Maligna, Marcela vs Amapola, Hera, La Seductora
3) Arkalis, Pegasso, Stigma vs Cancerbero, Disturbio, Luciferno
4) Kenny King, Matt Taven, Oráculo vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Terrible
5) Lince Dorado, Robbie Eagles, Tiger Mask IV vs Atlantis Jr., Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Rocky Romero is the odd one out; he’s only on Thursday and Friday shows. Eagles still being listed seems a sign they haven’t given up on him wrestling.

CMLL’s posted video of all the Gran Prix wrestlers making it to Mexico; Rocky Romero was the final one to arrive late Tuesday night. (They didn’t post a video of Mesias, but he’s just assumed to be around.) Eagles is still scheduled to wrestle first tomorrow night in Arena Coliseo as part of that special show. COVID is a day by day situation, it’s possible he could miss Thursday and still be cleared by Friday. There hasn’t been any update yet; maybe Informa will have one. Dark Magic replaced him in Guadalajara and is likely the replacement for the Friday show if need be; not sure what they’d do for Thursday.

Informa today is all Gran Prix.

Lluvia announced she’d opened an OnlyFans account. You can find it here. Her description sounds like it’s the same sort of stuff that would be posted on Instagram, she’s just trying to monetize that content. It’s similar to Mystique’s setup, only Lluvia is an active CMLL luchador and Mystique is not. The other important difference is Lluvia is listed as a free site, at least for the moment. A crazy amount of websites wrote about Mystique’s OnlyFans and I suspect many of the same will do the same about Lluvia’s, but none of them seem like they’ve actually done more work than read their posts on social media and posted some photos.

AAA

Villano IV told TV Azteca that he’s suffered injuries in both TripleMania matches so far. He says he broke a rib wrestling LA Park. With Psycho, he had “two head wounds that wouldn’t stop bleeding” and also a left ear injury.

Miedo Extremo & Ciclope were on Tuesday’s Mas Lucha Llave y Contrallave, talking about their return to GCW and their short-lived tag title run. It got me thinking about Konnan’s comments about bringing in a US tag team that’s never been in AAA before. The first guesses I saw were Briscoe Brothers and the evidence seems to point that way. They just happened to beat Los Macizos for the tag team titles. GCW wrestlers are working Vanguardia and Zona 23 on either side of TripleMania and I’d already been wondering if that meant any GCW wrestlers would show up on TripleMania too. The Briscoes working all three shows would fit; they can even do the rematch in Vanguardia. AAA is also big on making a play on whoever is hot in the US at the moment, and the Briscoes are coming off a run of good matches on ROH PPV. Don’t know that it’s happening as a fact, the pieces just seem to fit.

IWRG

IWRG (THU) 08/18/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Amakuza & Baby Star vs Kenji & Rey Aztaroth
2) Caballero de Plata & Jhon Tito vs Feroz & Vértigo
3) Big Boy, Big Chico Che, Big Tackle vs Andy Boy, Danger King, Tony Rivera
4) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro vs Cerebro Negro, Cerebro Negro Jr., Dr. Cerebro
5) Dick Angelo 3G, Legendario, Tonalli vs Abc, El Rebelde, Troyano

The main event is IWRG vs Ultimo Guerrero Gym.

Rey Espectro, said by IWRG to be out an extended amount of time, is listed as wrestling on the 27th in Arena San Juan. I’m not sure if that’s a false advertisement or if he’s really back that soon. I do think IWRG just really wanted to have a heavyweight title match this Sunday no matter who was in it.

LLB (THU) 09/01/2022 Arena Naucalpan
1) Gravedad Cero, Power Bull, Sparta vs Federal I, Federal II, Federal III
2) Dankar, El Divino, Jhon Tito, Juan Diego vs Demencia, Hijo De Brazo De Platino, Milagro, Platino
3) Tonalli vs Aster Boy, Cerebro Negro Jr., Puma de Oro, Hijo De Carta Brava, Hijo del Alebrije, El Mafioso
4) Carta Brava Jr. (LLB), Cerebro Negro, Fantasma de la Ópera vs Chico Che, Freelance, Pantera I
5) Lunatik Xtreme, Toto, Venganza vs Chicanito, Fly Star, Sobredosis
6) Místico vs Atlantis Jr. vs Averno

The full rescheduled Lucha Libre Boom show. Just CMLL wrestlers in the main event and the usual Lucha Libre Boom names on the undercard.

Other

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

AEW tonight has Dragon Lee, Rush and Andrade against the Young Bucks and (probably) Kenny Omega in the first round of their trios title tournament. The match is about (probably) Omega but Dragon Lee is going to go absolutely nuts.

Big Lucha World is on tonight as normal. Komander and Gravity are scheduled to wrestle late Wednesday night, then go to West Coast Pro Wrestling on Thursday for the first round of their West Coast Cup. Komander faces Midas Kreed, Gravity faces Viento. Aerostar will appear on Friday’s show.

Impact Thursday has Black Taurus vs Laredo Kid vs Rey Horus vs Trey Miguel and Bandido in a #1 contenders six man elimination match. Both are worth watching. Impact also posted a dark match from the Friday PPV with Black Taurus & Crazy Steve against Laredo Kid & Trey Miguel for subscribers only. It was just six minutes but on the level of the usual TV stuff. There’s a crazy Miguel Brillo Dorado into a tiejras, which I would recommend never trying on anyone but Black Taurus or about two or three other people.

RIOT says their 10/08 show will take place at Palestino Libanes in San Pedro Garza Garcia, which was the announced location for their previous show before it was moved.

Box y Lucha #3514 has the Gran Prix and Kalimaco.

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CMLL

CMLL (FRI) 08/12/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Cronista del Ring, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, The Gladiatores, The Gladiatores (video), thecubsfan]
1) Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II b Átomo & Chamuel  
9:24. Gemelos worked as rudos for the first time.
2) Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso, Stigma b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.   
19:02.
3) Blue Panther, Negro Casas, Soberano Jr. b Atlantis Jr., Cavernario, El Hijo del Villano III   
16:06. Atlantis and Soberano fought a lot.
4) Euforia, Hechicero, Templario b Atlantis, Titán, Volador Jr.  
15:06. No Hechicero/Euforia tension before their title match.
5) Dragón Rojo Jr. © b Robbie Eagles [CMLL MIDDLE]   
17:37. first defense for Dragon Rojo. Eagles worked rudo after being a tecnico last week. Eagles went for the Ron Miller special, Dragon kicked him off into the referee Edgar, Eagles pulled Rojo’s mask and cradled him, but Dragon Rojo’s second (Dark Magic) pulled out the refere at 2. Eagles argued with Dark Magic and turned into an Rojo cradle for 3.

I don’t know why it’s Dragon Rojo Jr. who gets the big singles wins over the foreigners, yet it’s clearly a thing. The best theory I heard is this was supposed to be Mistico/Eagles until Mistico got hurt and CMLL just kept it in the same weight division (Mistico’s the NWA Middleweight champion), but that’s also kind of insane. This is no slight to Dragon Rojo, who understood what he was been given and gave as much as Dragon Rojo can in 2022. It’s just not at the level of so many other people in this promotion. The match was good but nothing you have to go out of your way to see.

The big news turned out not to be the outcome. CMLL announced Robbie Eagles had tested positive for COVID Sunday afternoon. Tests for wrestlers on Friday shows have been done on Thursdays in the past, but CMLL’s press release says this was a test done on Saturday. CMLL originally left Dragon Rojo still on the lineup for Saturday but he didn’t end up appearing. Eagles’ status for the Gran Prix is doubtful but not out; if he’s not having symptoms and he tests negative repeatedly, he’ll probably be allowed to wrestle.

There’s not much notable else from this show. They did have Soberano and Atlantis fight in their match but it wasn’t a big deal. They did nothing to heat up Hechicero/Euforia. The great attendance was the other talking point. The Gran Prix is expected to do well – it’s just a question of if it’ll surpass Homenaje a Dos Leyendas – but just the build up title match featuring a guy one week into the country and another guy who isn’t pushed consistently drew a surprisingly big crowd by 2022 standards. The tourists are back but they’ve been coming back for months. CMLL’s more overall in a stretch of good Friday night shows and fans will still come out if they’re getting good shows. (That also may be why they’re not coming out the same way on Tuesday and Fridays.)

CMLL (SAT) 08/13/2022 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha, CMLL, Cronista del Ring]
1) Fantasy, Pequeño Magía, Último Dragóncito b Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Polvora 
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Oro Jr., Valiente Jr. b Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr. 
Halcon Suriano Jr.’s first match in CMLL in a couple of months
3) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Skadi DQ Hera, La Seductora, Tiffany 
excessive violence DQ (after Skadi was hurt in the first fall)
4) El Audaz, Panterita del Ring, Star Jr. b El Coyote, Felino, Rey Bucanero
5) Negro Casas, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. b Atlantis Jr., Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr. 
Volador Jr. replaced Robbie Eagles (COVID), Atlantis Jr. replaced Dragon Rojo (unexplained). Tecnicos took 2/3.

In a backstage interview, La Magnifica mentioned her father Gran Cochisse was in delicate health. She declined to talk about the exact situation. Fuego en el Ring’s Ana Gutierrez mentioned Cochisse was going to need an operation and was looking for blood donors in the Guadalajara area.

CMLL (SUN) 08/14/2022 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Full Metal, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito b Acero, Aéreo, Shockercito
2) Grako, Inquisidor, Nitro b Halcón Suriano Jr., Robin, Sangre Imperial
Rudos took 1/3
3) Kráneo, Magnus, Okumura b Dark Panther, Flyer, Hombre Bala Jr.
rudos took 1/3
4) Dulce Gardenia, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa b Cancerbero, Luciferno, Pólvora
Tecnicos took 2/3
5) Euforia, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Titán, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
Volador Jr. replaced Robbie Eagles (COVID), his team took 2/3

Euforia ended up with a bloody back after his match. Euforia gave Stuka a monkey flip off the ramp, landing on the edge of the ramp with his own back and cutting it up pretty decently. I suppose he’ll wrestle Friday because it’s a title match but it’s a situation worth keeping in mind.

With Robbie Eagles out, CMLL is running Templario vs Soberano Jr. as the main event in Arena Puebla tonight. No sub has been announced for Guadalajara as of yet.

CMLL (TUE) 08/16/2022 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Cachorro, Halcón Suriano Jr., Panterita del Ring Jr. vs Grako, Inquisidor, Raider
3) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, Skadi vs Amapola, Olympia, Tiffany
4) Hombre Bala Jr., Panterita del Ring, Volcano vs Cancerbero, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero
5) Bárbaro Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Templario vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado

Nothing much going on.

Reyna Isis explained her strange comment that “the world is going to find out which one of us looks the better after our mask match” by further explaining La Jarochita is actually very ugly and everyone’s going to find out when Isis unmasks her. We will have no choice but understand Isis must be prettier. Isis says she’s not herself calling Jarochita ugly, that’s simply the conclusion everyone will come to after Jarochita is unmasked.

Mesias, in doing Gran Prix press, mentioned that Vampiro invited him to come to Mexico for 3 months and then it turned into 17 years. Mesias repeated that he won the rights to that name last year.

AAA

AAA aired the two unaired main roster matches from Guerra de Titantes, as well as the locals trios match. I haven’t watched the show yet; it sounded like the trios title match was good and the locals match was very much not. They also aired an angle to build up the Pagano trios match that aired last week; that’s not the first time they’ve aired things out of order this year. The show is up on my Twitch channel and Google Drive. Verano de Escandalo part 1 is up on AAA’s YouTube and Facebook as they promised and I’d guess that’ll be the same for this show on Sunday.

The thing I’m going to be too obsessed with this week is “what exactly is airing on AAA TV this week?” I’m not sure this is important to AAA. Verano de Escandalo is their most recent taping and they’ve aired everything from that that will air. AAA is taping in Saltillo on Saturday night, but it’d be unusual for a non-named taping to go air live in 2022. Weirder still is AAA on Space is currently listed as a 5:09 CT start this week, and the AAA TV taping starts later. Maybe it’ll be the Puebla episode that only went up on YouTube, maybe they taped more Showcenter matches and we’ll see those, though most likely it’ll just be random repeats.

Konnan talked with Hugo Savinovich this past Friday on Lucha Libre Online’s YouTube. As always, the news that comes out of these conversations is Konnan teasing even more people coming into AAA. He said he was talking to a US tag team that has never worked in AAA, a ex-WWE women’s wrestler who has never worked in Mexico and a star from AEW no one would expect. He didn’t give names. It was implied these were TripleMania announcements but that also didn’t seem definite. He was definite that fans should not expect a Chris Jericho or a CM Punk level guy, going in depth about how those guys make millions of dollars in AEW and it’s out to AAA’s price range. Konnan was asked by a fan if AAA would return to Acapulco soon, and said they’d be back for a big show near the end of the year. He also suggested the Argenis/Myzteziz feud would resolve this year.

Psycho Clown and Lady Maravilla were in Orizaba to do promotional work for an AAA staffed show there on 08/27, and mostly to reassure fans that this show would go be better than the show that fell apart there last month.

On XPW’s show Saturday night, Juventud Guerrera cut a promo again looking to be Hijo del Vikingo’s opponent at TripleMania. It’s not going to happen; in that Konnan interview, he framed it as choice between Fenix & Kenny Omega (not saying other people would be exclude, but that there’s no sense to choose anyone else when those two are options) but Guerrera is the self-promoter seizing on the idea AAA threw out last week. He may work his way into getting on the TripleMania card or AAA in general, when he previously seemed excluded from the 30th Anniversary celebration for various past infractions. (They’ve really had enough of that guy if he doesn’t show up in Copa TripleMania or something.) Still, if AAA checked social media in the fashion they said they would at the press conference, Guerrera would have the most votes because he’s literally the only person campaigning.

No one’s yet reported Kenny Omega will be back in AEW on Wednesday. It’s just that lots of signs point that way and AEW likes to do returns in this fashion. Perhaps AAA will give more structure to the “Fenix or Omega or whomever?” concept once Omega is around to participate.

IWRG

IWRG (SUN) 08/14/2022 Arena Naucalpan [IWRG, Mas Lucha]
1) Sol & Spider Fly b Rey Aztaroth & Vértigo 
2) Diosa Quetzal & Sagitarius b Casandra & Satania 
3) Puma de Oro & Yorvak b Noisy Boy & Spider Fly 
Spider Fly replaced Aster Boy (injury)
4) Big Boy, Big Chicoche, Big Tackle b Alan Extreme, Fulgor, Hell Boy 
5) Gran Pandemónium, Pandemónium Jr., Paymon b Caballero de Plata, Relámpago, Zumbi 
Hellboy cost Caballero de Plata the match
6) Galeno del Mal & Oficial AK47 b Hijo de Pandemónium, Simon Blanco, Drako, Karaoui, Maniacop 360, Tony Trivado, Dr. Wagner Jr., Fly Warrior [IWRG IC HEAVY, semifinal]  
match came down to Capo Mayor, Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno del Mal and Oficial AK 47. Capo got pinned, but distracted old rival Wagner Jr. into getting pinned by AK 47. Galeno and AK 47 meet for the title next week.

A big week for Galeno del Mal singles matches coming up. He’s got this one on 08/21 and a few days before…

Big Lucha

Big Lucha World (WED) 08/17/2022 Bandidos Gym, Iztapalapa, Distrito Federal
1) Mr. Win vs Sparta
2) Emperador Azteca & Yutani vs Gravity & Komander
3) Forneo vs Radioactivo [BL CHAMP, Block B Qualifying, final]
4) Galeno del Mal vs DMT Azul [BL CHAMP, Block B, quarterfinal]

They’re getting these lineups ready quick. Galeno del Mal and DMT Azul will be much different than Arez/Komander

I didn’t realize this until it was explained to me, but the Block B graphic is actually meant to show the first round matchups. That means the final two qualifiers on the 08/24 show will be Gravity vs Bandido and Ricky Marvin vs the winner of Forneo & Radioactivo.

Other News

70s/80s EMLL luchador Kalimaco passed away on Sunday. SuperLuchas has an obit, mentioning Kalimaco had lost a leg in a battle with diabetes and decided to end his own life. He was a lightweight wrestler in a promotion that didn’t do a lot with lightweights at that time, so many of his bigger victories came in the smaller Mexico City area arenas.

All shows in Ciudad Juarez were canceled by the local commission due to cartel-related violence. Tijuana and other border towns also suffered great amounts of violence this past weekend.

I didn’t watch AAA this weekend because I went to the Impact TV taping on Saturday. Impact’s not a promotion I pay much attention to beyond when Mexican wrestlers are involved, but I found the taping easily worth the $25 ticket. Speedball/Bay (this coming Thursday) and Horus/Taurus/Laredo/Miguel and VBD/Time Machine (next Thursday) were the best matches. The six-way #1 contenders match (including Bandido) this Thursday was also good, though that one had to be more in service of storylines while the others were less encumbered. The Chicago lucha libre fans showed up with their drum and Bandido came off as the biggest star in his match as a result; I’m interested in how that plays on TV. Horus/Bandido on Friday’s PPV was also great, around the level of their ROH work. I think they did good enough to get brought back, but I haven’t heard any indication of more appearances. There was nothing in front of the fans that brought them into storylines past these two shows.

Los Macizos as GCW Tag Team champions was short-lived. They lost the titles to The Briscoes on Saturday.

A show promoted by “Union Universal de Lucha Libre” on Saturday in Cuernavaca was canceled after two matches; the promoter didn’t have enough money to pay the wrestlers. The main event was scheduled as Texano Jr. vs Super Fly vs Rey Espectro. I think Emperador Azteca was meant to be in Rey Espectro’s spot, not that it really matters now.

MLW announced their 08/27 show in El Paso is now a house show and wrestlers some wrestlers originally scheduled for that show will now be booked elsewhere. The stated reason is the host promotion, 915-656, was not paying for as many MLW wrestlers as MLW originally thought. It’s apparent MLW was expecting to have a new TV deal by that taping and it still is done, or they’d be making greater efforts to tape a show with the people they needed. The next MLW scheduled taping is 09/18 in Atlanta.

Arez, Prometo, Kaientai, Epydemius, Century Jr., King Rex, Super Fly and Kratoz are appearing at the Vive Latino Zaragoza (Spain) festival on September 2 & 3. That’s like half the Mexico RIOT roster, they could invade the Spain RIOT if not for geography.

Segunda Caida found a random 2003 Satnaico hair match.

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