Tag: CMLL

Former CMLL Star Stephanie Vaquer Signs With WWE Instead Of AEW

Stephanie Vaquer is bound for WWE. The former CMLL and NJPW champion is set to debut with the United States-based promotion, but there’s been some question about her status with CMLL ahead of her signing.

According to the Wrestling Observer, Vaquer was under contract with CMLL but the promotion and its partner NJPW knew that Vaquer would be negotiating with both AEW and WWE. However, both promotions asked that she still work the upcoming NJPW/CMLL Fantasticamania show in San Jose, CA, as she had been advertised for the show. CMLL also asked her to lose her CMLL Women’s title on her way out.

Vaquer signed with WWE but was unable to commit to the original Fantasticamania show and she vacated her title, leading to a Three-Way Match for the CMLL Women’s Championship taking place that night. CMLL and NJPW have already announced Vaquer’s departure, which signaled her going to WWE, as AEW is a business partner of both companies and would’ve allowed her to complete her booked dates.

WWE Hall of Famer and “NXT” creative head Shawn Michaels confirmed the news on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday, formally welcoming Vaquer to the white-and-gold brand.

https://twitter.com/ShawnMichaels/status/1811151655544496619

According to reports ahead of the announcement, Vaquer had entered WWE’s radar specifically after her outing against Mercedes Mone at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. She was booked in two appearances, wrestling Lady Frost prior to Forbidden Door during “AEW Collision,” and had reportedly been offered a deal to continue with Tony Khan’s company. However, she decided to join WWE, foregoing any of her future bookings with NJPW and CMLL and allegedly upsetting all three promotions. CMLL is said to be upset they were unable to have Vaquer drop the CMLL Women’s World and Women’s Tag Team titles prior to her departure as they had intended; they were vacated instead. Vaquer lost the NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship to Mone at Forbidden Door, simultaneously failing to capture the TBS Championship. She is the latest international women’s talent to be brought into WWE after Giulia agreed to terms to join the “WWE NXT” brand in the near future.

Dave Meltzer is reporting that WWE has no plans to change Vaquer’s ring name. This approach contrasts with WWE’s typical practice of creating new names for talents joining from other promotions, allowing the company to retain intellectual property rights.

However, it is essential to note that WWE can always change Vaquer’s ring name in the future.

Wrestle Dynasty With NJPW, AEW, ROH, STARDOM And CMLL Set For January 2025 At The Tokyo Dome

During Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view, a promo from NJPW aired for Wrestle Dynasty, which will feature stars from NJPW, CMLL, AEW, ROH and STARDOM.

The event is set to take place on Sunday, January 5, 2025 from the Tokyo Dome.

Wrestle Dynasty will take place just one day after Wrestle Kingdom, which will also be held at the Tokyo Dome.

The promo video is below, along with the official announcement from NJPW.

https://twitter.com/njpw1972/status/1807609267824054316
Wrestle Dynasty comes to the Tokyo Dome January 5!

Five promotions in one mega card after Wrestle Kingdom

A huge announcement was made during Forbidden Door as it was revealed the Tokyo Dome will play host to Wrestle Dynasty on January 5 2025.

Five promotions will come together for one mega card as NJPW, AEW, CMLL, ROH and STARDOM will all be under the roof of the Dome just 24 hours after Wrestle Kingdom 19. A night of dream matches is in store to kick off the year!

Source: WrestleView

Chris Jericho Appears At CMLL Viernes Event, Ambushes Mistico

Chris Jericho made a surprise appearance at the CMLL Viernes Espectacular event in Mexico City on Friday night.

The former AEW World Champion, under a luchador mask, interfered during a match between Mistico and Averno, attacking Mistico.

Jericho subsequently challenged Mistico to a match, delivering a promo to express his intentions.

He said, “I’m very happy to be here. A huge part of my life was Mexico and wrestling in Mexico City and living in Mexico City, all across the country. Many people say I am the greatest of all time. But tonight, [Translated from Spanish], I am the best wrestler of all time. Mistico, you are not on my level. You are not in my nest. I am the heart of a lion. You are the heart of a mouse.”

Jericho continued in English, “Mistico, I will challenge you anytime, anyplace, anywhere. You say the word. You call Arena Mexico your house. Thirty years ago, Arena Mexico was my house, and I’m coming back to take my house away from you.”

You can check out Jericho’s promo below:

CMLL Announces First-Ever Arena Mexico All Women’s Show On International Women’s Day

After a tremendous 2023, CMLL has kept the momentum going in 2024, forging a strong working relationship with AEW, even as visa issues attempt to neuter some of the partnership’s impact. But before CMLL holds its big AEW vs. CMLL match in late March, where the Blackpool Combat Club will face top stars Blue Panther, Mistico, Ultimo Guerrero, and Volador Jr., the promotion will do something it’s never attempted in its 91-year history.

During last night’s edition of “CMLL Informa,” CMLL announced that the March 8 edition of “CMLL Super Viernes” will be an all-women’s show. Taking place on International Women’s Day, the show will feature a five-match card, headlined by a Mexican National Women’s Tag Team Championship match where the champions, La Jarochita and Lluvia, will defend against Andromeda and Skadi.

The March 8 show will not be the first all-women’s show in CMLL history, as the promotion previously ran two such events in Puebla and Guadalajara during October 2023, and is believed to have held all-women’s shows in Arena Coliseo during the promotion’s early years. However, this will be the first-ever all-women’s event the promotion has run in their home base of Arena Mexico, considered the most iconic venue in the history of lucha libre. Though unconfirmed, should the show prove to be a success, it would likely lead to the event becoming a yearly tradition going forward.

In addition to the main event, the show will also feature former WWE Mae Young Classic competitor Zeuxis in singles action, challenging Reyna Isis for the Mexican National Women’s Championship, as well as Dark Silueta defending the CMLL Japan Women’s Championship against former WWE star La Catalina. One notable name missing from the show is Stephanie Vaquer, who will be traveling to Japan to challenge Giulia for the New Japan Strong Women’s Championship on March 10.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tessa Blanchard Is Coming To CMLL

Tessa Blanchard will be appearing at the CMLL Women’s Grand Prix.

CMLL took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce that Blanchard will be teaming up with Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis, La Catalina, Johnnie Robbie, Makoto, Sumie Sakai, and Mei Suruga on Team World for the Grand Prix.

The team will face off against Marcela, Lluvia, La Jarochita, Reyna Isis, Dark Silueta, Skadi, Hera, and Sanley in Team Mexico.

https://twitter.com/CMLL_OFICIAL/status/1709714977399984384

WWE Reportedly Trying To Buy The CMLL Tape Library For The WWE Network

It was reported earlier this summer, via the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that WWE officials were having some sort of talks with the legendary CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) wrestling promotion of Mexico.

The original reports led to speculation on a possible talent exchange between WWE and CMLL, but the talks are actually for CMLL content to be featured on the WWE Network, according to Planeta Wrestling. WWE has reportedly approached CMLL about purchasing access to their video library.

The report from Planeta Wrestling noted that CMLL content would potentially be available under the tiered pricing system (details here and here) that will be introduced in the near future. It’s been reported that WWE will likely offer various indie wrestling content from other promotions under the tiered pricing system.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Mark Briscoe Dealing With Knee Injury, Out Of CMLL’s Grand Prix Tournament

Ring of Honor announced that Mark Briscoe will be out of tonight’s CMLL’s Grand Prix tournament because of a knee injury. The injury happened during an ROH live event last weekend.

Delirious will be replacing Briscoe on Team Resto del Mundo. The other team members include ROH World Champion Matt Taven, Jay Briscoe, Kenny King, Big Daddy, Luke Hawx, Mecha Wolf 450, and Oraculo.

During CMLL’s Grand Prix press conference, Jay Briscoe commented about his brother’s injury, “It sucks that he’s hurt. We do double-team moves like no other tag team in this world, so that was definitely going to be a blow to the Mexican team, but it ain’t going to matter. We still gonna win.”

Mark Briscoe is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Sofia Alonso Announced As New CMLL President

CMLL owner Francisco “Paco” Alonso Lutteroth passed away last week at the age of 67. CMLL announced that Paco’s daughter, Sofia Alonso, will be taking over the company. Sofia said that the cause of her daughter’s passing was cardiorespiratory arrest and that the news of his passing was kept quiet for nearly an entire day to respect his memory.

“Unfortunately, this is the way I present taking from my father, the company has appointed me as the director of CMLL,” Sofia said, via Media Tiempo. “It’s the worst way that I would have liked to get this position. I think I paid for this position in advance, and what cost it me is the most in life, which is the love of my father.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jushin Thunder Liger To Have His Final Match For CMLL In July

Jushin Thunder Liger will be making a very special appearance for CMLL on July 19 as part of his his retirement tour.

In his final bout with the promotion, Liger will face off against Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero and Caristico in a traditional fatal four-way match. The rules of the match are that only two men will be allowed in the ring at once, with competitors tagging in and out to enter and exit the match.

https://twitter.com/CMLL_OFICIAL/status/1144013368358948864

Liger made a few appearances for CMLL starting in 2007. He ended up becoming CMLL Universal Champion, World Middleweight Champion and a World Tag Team Champion with Hiroshi Tanahashi. He held onto the Middleweight Championship for 564 days.

The 54-year-old Liger is set to retire from pro wrestling following the NJPW Tokyo Dome shows in January 2020.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Announces The Return Of The Super-J Cup

For the first time since 2016, the Super-J Cup will be making its return. New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the junior heavyweight tournament will be held in August, with three shows taking place in the United States for the first time. Talent from New Japan, CMLL, Ring of Honor and various other organizations will be involved.

The first round of the Super-J Cup will be held inside the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. On Saturday, August 24 the second round takes place inside the San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in California. Long Beach will be the last stop of the tour, as the semifinals and finals will take place inside the Walter Pyramid on Sunday, August 25. Tickets for all three shows go on sale Monday, June 24.

The Super-J Cup was created by Jushin Thunder Liger in 1994. Wrestlers from AAA and ECW were involved during its inception and it has become a true platform for talented wrestlers. Winners of the tournament include Chris Benoit (1994), Jushin Thunder Liger (1995, 2000), Naomichi Marufuji (2004, 2009) and Kushida (2016).

Liger is set to be a producer for the 2019 Super-J Cup.

https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1137964355838980096

Source: Wrestling Inc.