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Expanding on Cubs in daily update: CMLL was not doing iPPV's b/c they needed a cash influx. It was a concept sold to top management by the usual folks to try & keep CMLL relevant in their own little bubble. They'll return to free YouTube & have a buzzing chat. All is well, right? https://twitter.com/luchablog/status/1323299844295831552
Not really. This was an indictment on what the immediate future holds for CMLL. The braintrust in Arena Mexico is waiting for "normalcy" to return. As soon as they let fans into buildings, CMLL will be back to 3 shows a week @ Arena Mexico w/ 30% attendance allowed. One problem:
CMLL is a company that has existed for at *minimum* now 4 years not having to put any thought into how to get fans into the building. It was a tourist haven. When "normalcy" returns the tourists are not gonna be there. At least for a while. That 30% needs to be paying local fans.
When you run 3x a week in same building & have a show on free TV every week - you're not going to easily fill even just that 30%. I've been to Arena Mexico many Friday nights where I hear more English/other langauges than I do Spanish. CMLL's hardcore fanbase has been eradicated.
These last 2 months were the first chance for the current office under Lutteroth to show they could generate interest in their own product. They failed. Miserably. Forget growing CMLL... their own little bubble wasn't even paying for these shows. Very troublesome if you ask me.
An actual business that needs to make $$$ would take this as a learning lesson. Prepare for the "new normal" when fans are let back in & realize we can't do what we've been doing for the past couple years. If the current regime can't get it done, new people need to be in charge.
But we all know how CMLL operates. They'd rather double down than admit fault or consider change.
One of the main reasons for this verbalized the biggest CMLL problem on his own news show.
One of the main reasons for this verbalized the biggest CMLL problem on his own news show.
I do worry about the future of CMLL. I've always said the only things that could kill CMLL were the family deciding they were done with lucha or a natural disaster. A pandemic is close enough to a natural disaster & the family part of CMLL has kinda fallen apart since Paco died.
Lutteroth is a businessman first & nobody w/ a financial stake in CMLL has shown any interest in the actual wrestling. Sofia just walked away. If the "new normal" involves 20% full buildings, who's to say the decision isn't made to sell? The name/business to WWE, the property
to local investors. Lutteroths would make MILLIONS. I don't see this as unreasonable at all. It's the type of thing @loscoliseinos_ should be discussing instead of trying to explain why Sanely/Dalys wasn't really as bad as some people say. What a weird bubble CMLL can be.
