Posted By Caroline Walsh on 04/30/21
It was reported earlier this week, CMLL ended its partnership with Ring of Honor, which had been going since 2016. According to the latest the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, this was due to ROH wrestlers working the debut show for Federacion Wrestling in Mexico this June. This includes Rush, Dragon Lee, Bandido, Matt Taven, Bestia del Ring, Rey Horus and Kenny King. However, it’s believed that ROH wasn’t involved in the booking, but that Rush convinced them to appear.
There are rumors that ROH officials found out about the end of their partnership with CMLL by reading it on social media but were “caught off guard.” However, ROH boss Joe Koff said this wasn’t the case and they spoke about it ahead of time.
Federacion Wrestling is the new company that Rush created. The debut show will also feature Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix, as well as Andrade El Idolo. They will hold a press conference today with more information.
It was also noted that Diamante Azul, the Mexican national heavyweight champion for CMLL, could also be part of hte show. Azul is a friend of Rush and recently removed mentions of CMLL from his Instagram. He listed himself as an independent wrestler, then later deleted the word “independent.” Federacion is hoping to sign talent from CMLL and AAA, offering more money but wanting the talent to be exclusive to them. Azul has also said he will appear for CMLL today in Guadalajara. His name is a CMLL name, but it was trademarked by Paco Alonso, not CMLL. Sofia Alonso now owns the name and since she is out of power in the company, will allow Azul to use it. Meanwhile, Mexican national titles are recognized national titles and are not supposed to be limited to one company. This means that Azul could defend it in other companies.
CMLL talent have been contacted and offered more money than previously available for Mexican wrestlers working in their country. Some of the talent was offered $7,000 per show and one offered $10,000. Talent have been told they will be doing monthly shows.
CMLL reportedly contacted ROH and told them to block their talent from appearing for Federacion, but ROH couldn’t do that legally since their talent can only be stopped from working for companies that run in the US and Ontario. CMLL was particularly upset about Taven, who they viewed as a huge star, working wit ha new promoter. This all resulted in the company ending its partnership with ROH. CMLL also increased the pay from its key talent that had been thinking about leaving.