Sofia Alonso

Sofía Alonso
	Name Sofía Alonso Real name Sofía Alonso Perches Nickname Family Francisco Lutteroth (father), Salvador Lutteroth (great grandfather); see Lutteroth Family Birth date 1990 or 1991 Debut Obituary date

Overview

Sofía Alonso is the daughter of CMLL's former owner Francisco Lutteroth. She began to work as marketing manager for the promotion in 2016. Was briefly promoted to head of the company after her father's death, and quickly ousted by the rest of the family due to internal politics. Was essentially replaced by her replacement's own daughter Gala Lutteroth as the young female front-office representative.

Detailed (WIP)

Sofia became head of CMLL's marketing department in late 2016, with expectations to “modernize” the company. Initially she acted as a representative for the company at public events, major announcements, humanitarian projects, and award ceremonies (sometimes in glaring contrast to surrounding personnel). She participated in the 2018 FantasticaMania tour to familiarize herself with CMLL's international partnerships, and was repeatedly cited as a source of upcoming changes for the company, seeking to "renovate" it with younger talent & newer platforms as to attract more fans. She later claimed to have "cleaned house in the Administrative office" shortly before the Japan trip, thus possibly being responsible for the influx of popular outsider talent that year.

Was notably more invested in CMLL's on-screen product than prior ownership staff, being eager to discuss significant angles, moments & feuds. This passion for the artform itself was instilled at a young age, when she'd watch CMLL on Saturday television with her father Paco Alonso.

She was promoted to commercial director of CMLL by March 2019. I mean if you want disconcerting the actual commentary was full of JCR/Hechicero going back and forth with “haha ur gay” type banter. It was very WWE-ish in the sense the entire deal was clearly a publicity stunt to get the company & Sofia especially over as being progressive when in actuality every Wednesday on CMLL Informa taped in their own building – JCR cracks at minimum 5 gay jokes per show.

Was once in a relationship with Cuatrero. One of several names she cited as the future faces of the company in 2018 (alongside Dragon Rojo Jr., Titan, Hechicero, Soberano Jr., and Fuego).

Interview Quotes from Women's Health

" "I spent my weekends throughout my childhood and adolescence with him, watching our broadcasts and examining every aspect of production—checking if the camera angles were sharp, if the lighting was right for the live event, and how it all looked on TV,"

""having to overhaul the company's administrative staff, and then fly to Japan to negotiate with a New Japan Pro-Wrestling executive—sparking his interest and convincing him to move forward with the joint projects we have today. Ultimately, I think the hardest part has been selecting a team to lead and identifying the right people to help shape and achieve the company's new objectives.""

"“You must trust your intuition. Surround yourself with people who inspire confidence—people willing to listen to you and understand your ideas. You must stand firm in your beliefs, but always be ready with the reasoning and logic behind your actions. If you realize that certain individuals are undermining the collaborative spirit of your project, don’t waste time; replace them without hesitation.”"

"about workplace discrimination, she replies: “Yes, obviously—especially at the beginning, and not just due to gender but also age—you notice when your decisions are frequently questioned."

"“They need to consider the globalized market, not just the tastes of local fans. They must understand the importance of recognizing the value of the wrestlers or athletes—who are flesh-and-blood heroes to us—and ensuring they are always given the respect they deserve. It is also crucial to understand—speaking from my own experience—that *lucha libre* is not an improvised spectacle; simply stepping into the ring wearing a mask doesn't make someone a wrestler. Delivering a top-tier show requires professionals who have dedicated a significant part of their lives to physical and artistic training, enabling them to provide the quality and performance seen at CMLL events,”"

LuchaBlog updates

There had been no word or any indication Paco Alonso was in ill health. That is consistent with how he led his life; he did not like public attention or fame. His daughter Sofia Alonso has been the public face of CMLL’s management since 2016, though that was thought to be more because she was willing to do those public duties Paco was not interested in and not because of any imminent plans for succession. Though I guess we can’t be sure of that. Paco Alonso’s quest desire privacy survived his passing – someone had to be told to have that press release ready, but no one seemed to know until it was put out – so maybe there was a larger plan in place that was also kept quiet.

Sofia Alonso is most likely the person who will be in charge of CMLL going forward, though it is not certain. Sofia has been working in the business and marketing aspects of the promotion since 2014, but does not have experience on the wrestling side. A 28-year-old woman in charge of a lucha libre promotion in an often male chauvinistic country and industry is going to have a lot of challenges to deal with. We also have no idea how the rest of the family will react to this death and change. The story has always been that the Lutteroth family derives their true real wealth from the real estate business and CMLL is a sort of the black sheep that the rest of the family is not that interested in. It could very well end up that Sofia ends up with all the power, but there’s a lot with that family we don’t really know and shouldn’t presume to have all the answers.

The one thing that is certain is there will be change with CMLL. It may not happen right away and it may not happen in front of our eyes, but it’ll happen no matter if Sofia Alonso is truly in charge or just the face of the company. There’s just always going to be adjustments when ownership changes.

Sofia Alonso announced she had been appointed the new president of CMLL yesterday on CMLL Informa in an interview about Paco Alonso’s death and the future of CMLL. Sofia will now be in charge of the promotion. Sofia noted this was the worst possible way to get this job. Sofia said they all must do their best to hold up what Paco built.

Paco Alonso fainted on Friday and suffered cardiac respiratory arrest in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. He passed away early Saturday. (All three of the recent big lucha libre deaths – Aguayo & Silver King as well – were due to heart issues.) Sofia and her mother decided Paco would’ve wanted to have a small private service and did that, only letting the wider world know a day later. If I understood what Sofia said correctly, Paco was cremated even before they announced his death. The CMLL luchadors were told there would be a moment of applause during the show. They did find out who it would be just before they got to the ring, and that was the first they knew of it.

Sofia Alonso said she has no plans for a new era and wants to keep with the good things CMLL and Paco Alonso have already done. She would like to see the different departments working closer together while continuing the traditions of lucha libre. Sofia expects there will be differences because she comes from a different generation than her father, but doesn’t expect them to be big changes. Sofia acknowledged she’s in this position because she’s part of the Lutteroth family, but also had the choice not to be involved. She’s doing this job because she feels strongly about it. She loves lucha libre, loves going to them when she doesn’t have to because she loves lucha. Sofia wants everyone in CMLL to feel that same love of lucha libre. She promised to have an open door to the luchadors and that CMLL going down is not an option. Sofia already lost her father and she’s not going to lose her father’s work.

Sofia Alonso’s interview was exactly what CMLL needed at this moment. CMLL calls itself the serious and stable promotion and everyone around it needed a sign of stability following Paco Alonso’s death. Sofia assured everything that nothing major is changing with the change in leadership. All the people who count on CMLL as a business relationship or their household income need not worry.

I’m always of the opinion that we should always pay attention to what a wrestling promotion (or really any business) says but we should also be careful to watch they actually do to see if they actually are following those words. Sofia Alonso said the right things, but we’ll have to be patient enough to see if small modernizations are the only changes that happen. And we’ll have to wait to see if Sofia is truly in charge. Sofia was the face of CMLL prior to Paco Alonso’s death, so it would’ve only been news if anyone besides Sofia did yesterday’s interview or were announced as president. I’ve been led to believe other people would likely be involved in running CMLL alongside Sofia back as far as when she was first introduced. (Having help wouldn’t be an indictment of Sofia either; she’s stepping into a situation with both AAA & WWE aiming for CMLL’s talent and market, and were continuing an alliance with NJPW is pretty important. Take all the help you can get.) Perhaps she’ll truly end up being the sole person in charge but this is a wait and see a moment in a lot of ways.

Excelsior has an interview today with Sofia Alonso. It appears to be her first outside media appearance since the death of her father and Sofia becoming CMLL president. Sofia is her was his only child and she mentions he did things with her that he would’ve done with a son: Paco showed her how to shoot a gun at age 6, taught her chess, took her to F1 races, and of course to lucha libre. She remembers feeling like Alice in Wonderland when she was backstage at lucha libre events, seeing people like Gigante Silva, Atlantis, Universo 2000, Cien Caras, Blue Panther, and Negro Casas. She has her own collection of masks given to her when luchadors would visit her home and says the family itself has a private collection of lucha libre artifacts.

Sofia Alonso did not always plan on running CMLL though. She calls it a happy accident, something she couldn’t imagine leaving once she started, “la lucha libre es mi vida.” She instead left Mexico to study in England from 2012 to 2015, earning a masters degree in sociology with studies in gender & international development. She planned on working on gender equality back in Mexico before she got involved with CMLL about three years ago. Sofia was in charge of the advertising sponsorships, the relationships with TV networks, the partnerships with foreign companies and with the tourism departments until she became in charge of everything upon her father’s death. Paco Alonso had Sofia shadow him, so she has familiarity with the programming, press and production areas which now are also her responsibility. They have meetings every Friday and she doesn’t want to sit in her chair, she doesn’t feel like a substitute.

Sofia describes her challenges are to make sure the luchadors feel calm working with her and that CMLL remains “serio y stable”. She wants to work with the existing departments to keep their existing level of performance and see where they can evolve. Sofia says this is a big challenge but it’s a big opportunity to continue her father’s work.

Sofia’s asked how she was picked to be in charge of CMLL. She simply says “no one else knows what to do like I do.” Almost all the rest of the Lutteroth family lives in Baja California and she was the only one family member working in CMLL with her father. Sofia’s asked if people have questioned a woman being in charge of a business which consistents mostly of men. Sofia acknowledged that’s been asked while definitively stating there’s no man who could do this job better than she can. “This is not a matter of gender, but of knowledge and competence for the position.”

Sofia’s long term goals include the continued international expansion of lucha libre. They have to continue tours outside the country as well as being on over the top (OTT) services in other countries. They’re looking to make new alliances and boost talents. She’s asked about other promoters in Mexico and doesn’t see them as legitimate competition – they don’t have 86 years of history, they didn’t give birth to Mexican wrestling, they’re not comparable.

I feel good about the direction of CMLL in the long term after that interview. I also feel like it’s going to be an interesting next few years.

[ROH collaboration] is an interesting idea and fits with Sofia Alonso’s stated international expansion ideas.

Silueta is back in CMLL just two weeks after announcing she was out of CMLL. On Informa, Silueta said Sofia Alonso personally contacted Silueta and invited her to participate in the tournament. Alonso is also quoted as telling the programming department that she wanted Silueta in CMLL, the first public mention of Sofia making that sort of claim. Silueta mentioned Sofia wants to support women’s wrestling and not running off everyone under 35 who shows a bit of talent would be a good way to start.

This week’s WON mentions Sofia Alonso will be meeting with Ring of Honor officials in late August about working more together between the two promotions. With NJPW pulling back from working ROH shows in the US, there’s an opening for more CMLL spots, but it’s just as important for those CMLL wrestlers to come off as stars the same way the NJPW guys did. I hope Ian, Colt, and Caprice get to pitch doing the Aniversario show in English to Sofia because that’s a necessary first step in that goal.

CMLL revealed their 86th Aniversario show, their biggest show of the year, will take place on 09/27. That’s later than anyone had anticipated, including the 09/13 date that had been most heavily rumored. CMLL made this announcement in between falls of last night’s CMLL Puebla show and then posted a press release at 10:55 pm. There’s no apparent reason why they had to hurry to get it out in such a less than ideal fashion. Sofia Alonso is a marketing person so she had to know that’s not an ideal way to do it. I’m curious why it was announced without getting a bigger rollout.

A Facebook post says Sofia Alonso has been ousted as head of CMLL and replaced by an unnamed son of Chavo Lutteroth. I’ve never heard of this Facebook page before and portions of the post don’t seem accurate to me, but I can’t specifically disprove it. If I had to guess, I’d guess it’s false but I don’t know that as a fact. This is mostly just something I feel like acknowledged just to make you aware it’s out there if this does turn into something, but don’t think much of in the moment. (It’s the CMLL/WWE story, complete with people overreacting to it.) The speed everyone’s running with a story from a random outlet is kind of terrifying. People will believe anything as long as the story is juicy enough.

If Paco Alonso was still around, none of this is happening like this. Rush says so in his video. Rush also supports Sofia Alonso in the video. My hunch is he might have still worked dates in CMLL as an independent – like Ciber is right now – had CMLL not fired Dragon Lee and himself. Rushing to fire them out of fear they were both going to quit first is not a decision that’s going to hold up well.

Sofia Alonso is still in charge of CMLL according to multiple sources. The Facebook-based rumor that people were in a hurry to jump with had Chavo Lutteroth III coming in to take over. The problem is Chavo Lutteroth III had been part of running the company all along when Paco Alonso was running CMLL and just continued in his role on the business side of the company with Sofia. It is possible people weren’t used to hearing Chavo’s involvement and reached a poor conclusion. It’s also possible someone had an ax to grind with Chavo and wanted him to be blamed for things going on. It’s surely not the last time people are going to gossip about changes in the way CMLL has been run and it seems like a decent idea to take most of them with a grain of salt. Sofia is going to be in charge of CMLL as long as she wants to be in charge of CMLL. There’s talk about this on +LuchaTV’s podcast.

CMLL announced an absurd 13 people for CMLL Informa this week. They’re having groups of people to talk about their Aniversario matches and Gran Alternativa. Reycko was mentioned and he’s not yet in either, though I guess he’s in the tournament. The Rush/Dragon Lee story has gotten enough attention that CMLL probably needs someone more in an official position of power than JCR to assure the type of diehards who come to Informa that everything is alright. The issue is that that message has to come from Sofia Alonso, or it would confirm she’s doesn’t have the power she did last time, and who knows if she wants to be the public face of this mess. Whoever made the call to send out that press release should stand behind it and explain it to the true believers who are at Wednesday talk show, but often it seems like the only brave people in CMLL are those in the ring.

Both the WON and Konnan on Keepin it 100 have the same basic theory on what happened with Sofia Alonso and her power in CMLL, mostly going with the idea of a coup. The long-time CMLL office employees and perhaps some of the older wrestlers feared changes Sofia would make. They were concern she wasn’t ready to run the company, or that she was prepared to sweep those long time people out. Those employees went to Chavo Lutteroth to convince him to take back over the company, and the family gave him power over Sofia Alonso. This was presented as what they think happened, though it didn’t seem completely clear if it was fact or extrapolation.

Konnan takes this a few steps forward and suggests the possibility of Sofia Alonso leaving CMLL and running opposition. This bit is not meant as disrespect to Konnan but, we’ve arrived in crazy town. Please use this section carefully and do not treat it like anything that has a chance of happening because you will be out ahead of yourself. LA Park has been suggesting the possibility of Sofia Alonso leaving all week, and much of LA Park says is a bit to get attention. (Konnan’s definitely not above that either.) Dragon Lee & Rush making a point of saying they’ll support Sofia Alonso in whatever she does suggest they’ve had similar thoughts. Sofia Alonso doing something outside of CMLL should be out of the question. CMLL is essentially her father’s company, her inheritance, and maybe even something she believes she’ll get back in the near future. It also may be something that is hers on paper already. Many of the CMLL trademarks (including some on the promotion’s name) were in Paco Alonso’s name. Some of those are now in Sofia Alonso’s name. Most businesses would have those trademarks under the business name, but very few of the CMLL ones appear that way. That’s been an immaterial difference to this point – CMLL & Alonso have been the same – but would give Sofia leverage if craziness broke out. And who knows how much that same policy of putting everything in Paco (& then Sofia) Alonso’s name extends to the rest of the business. It could be a messy divorce if she wanted a divorce.

I don’t think anything like that has a chance to happen. Sofia Alonso probably wouldn’t be showing up a CMLL lottery presentations if she was thinking of leaving the promotion. An internal battle over CMLL would be costly to everyone involved. It would significantly damage the company Sofia’s father has built. (It’s something that would primarily serve to help AAA, which Konnan happens to work for, in grabbing a larger market share and talent left adrift. AAA already benefits from the chaos though.) We also have so little information about how Sofia, Chavo, and any other Lutteroths reached this point. It could be Chavo took over and that’s that. It could be Chavo’s in control for now with a stated plan of easing Sofia in. It could be something completely different. We have little information about how CMLL works. Any little information we get it ends up gets taken as the complete truth and entire picture. Not because we know it’s correct but because there’s a vacuum in concrete knowledge of what’s going on.

CMLL will have a press conference Friday night before the usual Arena Mexico show. It’s a rare time for a CMLL press conference. It’ll likely be focused on the Dia de Muertos imagery to hype those shows for the press. They may announce the Rey del Inframundo qualifying lineup for the 25th but probably nothing more than that. This is a marketing department deal, so it may be the first appearance of Sofia Alonso in a CMLL press event since she was demoted from the position of president. There’s no chance anyone will ask about it.

The column also says Sofia Alonso is returning to CMLL soon, after having been on vacation in Asia for a while. There’s also a suggestion that the reason she was moved out of power is stories of CMLL losing money while she was in charge. It’s not clear if CMLL was actually losing money, or if that was something exaggerated to give push her out. It’s hard to figure out what she would’ve done to cause that in the short time she was in charge, though it would fit with Chavo Lutteroth cutting pay immediately upon getting taking over.

Dragon Lee mentioned he intends to keep using that name for now. He believes the name is his, and he believes it’ll take a long time to settle in court if CMLL wants to go that route. (Sofia Alonso is listed as the Mexico trademark owner.) Dragon Lee mentioned that the older wrestlers would always tell him that CMLL would kick him out the door when he got too old and no longer needed him but didn’t expect to be too old at 24. Dragon Lee says now it was the best thing that could’ve happened to happen, he didn’t realize how many opportunities were waiting for him.

Tiger Hattori was honored with a plaque after the tercera match. Both Chavo Lutteroth’s were part of the presentation, in their first public appearance since taking over the promotion. Sofia Alonso was in the building, did not appear.

This whole Hattori being honored bit was something Sofia Alonso would’ve been in charge of in the last few years, even when Paco was still alive. Sofia was back, she turned up on social media, but she wasn’t officially on the show. I’d be interested to find out if that was her choice or the Salvadors’ decision. It may not be as big a deal to the fans in the building as it comes across on the internet. Every show uploaded to YouTube has plenty of “give the company back to Sofia!” comments, but there wasn’t any noticeable negative reaction to the Lutteroths in front of the crowd as has been seen in other similar situations.

(Arena Puebla did not have ring girls regularly before the Roshfrans sponsorship; it appeared the positions were added just to find another surface to put the Roshfrans logo on.) Sponsor relationships inevitably come to a close, but it’d be a financial hit for CMLL if they don’t have another company ready to replace it. CMLL can stand financial hit, though mostly by passing on that pain to the luchadors. This might have been something Sofia Alonso would’ve handled a year ago this time and it’s unclear who’d be in charge of that now.

Pasala has an interview with Mariela Rodriguez, the widow of Mr. Niebla. He passed away last December 23 and she’s upset with the treatment CMLL offered him. She says Niebla suffered an elbow injury in Oaxaca, where liquid came out. Kraneo, who also works as a chiropractor, saw the injury and told Niebla he had an infection. Rodriguez told CMLL Chief of Medical Services Omar Palacios that Niebla was still ill, and Palacio insisted Niebla only had a high temperature and no infection. Niebla apparently later got checked on elsewhere and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and kidney failure. Rodriguez feels Palacios didn’t listen to her or her husband’s concerns, didn’t sound the necessary alarms, never apologized, and didn’t even show to the funereal – though that part was probably for the best since she’s not sure how she would’ve reacted. Pasala writes Omar Palacios was recommended to CMLL by Brazo de Oro and believes he is technically a physical therapist, not a doctor. They also pass on a rumor that Palacios was close to being removed from his position, but was saved when the Lutteroths took control of the company from Sofia Alonso.

No stories have come out from Mexico. Please do not take that as some proof there are no similar situations in Mexico. There’s instead a lot less belief that victims speaking out will be listened to or be supported. I’m not entirely confident people in charge anywhere will make changes when needed, but there’s at least more public pressure for them to at least acknowledge the problem in the US or Europe. In Mexico, there have been situations as high profile as (then ex-AAA booker) Konnan outing AAA referee Copetes as a stalker of women, and Konnan’s since returned to AAA where Copetes’ position seems unchanged. Sofia Alonso removing Magnum from his position in running Arena Coliseo Guadalajara after Silueta revealed a pattern of sexual harassment is a rarity. There’s a lot of other Magnum’s out there preying on young women in lucha libre and there’s very few Sofia Alonso’s taking action about it. The Angel o Demonio situation also showed that there’s almost nothing that would get someone liked by others exiled from the Mexican wrestling community. The only hope is seeing these stories come to light elsewhere will help strengthen those in Mexico to take actions of their own, though I don’t expect to see a similar flood of reveals.

MLL did a one-day tribute to Paco Alonso, marking the one year anniversary of his death. Some of the 10 items listed as part of his legacy are a bit of a stretch, but the most glaring part of the tribute was the omission. Paco Alonso’s literal legacy, Sofia Alonso, isn’t mentioned at all. CMLL’s wiped luchadors like Rush and Konnan from their history for leaving the promotion, and CMLL’s essentially done the same thing with the person who was running the place this time last year. Sofia herself doesn’t appear to have publicly marked the date either; her rarely updated Instagram has no recent photos, nothing to indicate the date. The Instagram account lists her as CMLL commercial director, but she’s very quietly doing that job if she’s still involved with CMLL at all. The videos of CMLL wrestlers talking about how much they love Paco Alonso as a boss fit oddly alongside the reality of how they allowed his daughter to be pushed aside after a few months. Sofia’s lack of involvement is not truly surprising, a testament to how much she’s been completely pushed out of the picture.

Lutteroth Lomeli is again listed as “CEO of Promociones México, Coliseo y Revolución”, and not CEO or President of CMLL itself. There must be significance to distinction. Maybe Sofia got to keep the old title (but none of the power and) so they’ve created something new to put above it on the organizational chart? I have no idea.

It’s hard to figure if AAA could buy CMLL unless the Lutteroths were selling it piecemeal. I suspect the land Arena Mexico sits on, because of the size and the location, is more valuable than either wrestling promotion. It’s hard to imagine AAA has enough access to capital to buy that property, and buying the building would require a total rework of how they run their own promotion. An AAA purchase of CMLL, which is unlikely to occur, would make more sense along the scale of WWE buying WCW. Maybe AAA would pick up the tape library, the trademarks (even though they’re still in Sofia Alonso’s name), and the few wrestlers who are under contract, but it’d only happen after the Lutteroths had already decided they were selling or repurposing the lands and had no room for a wrestling promotion. I don’t think that’s happening.

Sofia Alonso hasn’t been seen in a lucha libre in around a year, since Salvador Lutteroth (father and son) apparently took over management of the promotion from her. She’ll be back in a public forum as part of a panel discussion of women in lucha libre on Facebook. It’s being put on by the Mexico Consulate in Houston and will air on their page on Friday at 5 pm. The Salvador Lutteroth III’s appearance on the Comic-Con appearance didn’t break any big news and this similar panel likely will not, but speaking appearance by Lutteroth’s are so rare to all be notable. CMLL promoted the Comic-Con appearance and has not mentioned the Sofia Alonso one. It’s only been announced for a day so maybe that’ll change.

Sofia Alonso will apparently not be appearing as part of a panel on women in lucha libre today. Lady Shani replaces her on the discussion taking place on the Mexico Consulate of Houston’s Facebook page. AAA’s been promising Shani’s appearance heavily, while CMLL never mentioned Alonso appearing. There was no explanation of the change.

Salvador Luttertoth Lomeli (III) appears in the video as CMLL’s boss. He’s been referred to that way for quite a while now, but I think this might be the first time he’s been pictured on screen in a skit like this. NJPW refers to him as President of CMLL, while CMLL continues to use the lengthy “Director de Promociones Coliseo, Mexico and Revolucion” title that no one understands. Likely Sofia Alonso got to keep her title if not the power, and Lutteroth has a strange description that only makes sense if you know deep CMLL lore.

Sopitas published an interview about how CMLL’s shifted during the COVID-19, telling a story about how they’re trying digital shows for the first time and how they’ve suddenly found out they have fans outside of Mexico. It’s one of those stories where the author did no work except to transcribe the quotes given to them by the company – CMLL’s done more digital in the last year, but they tried (and failed) at iPPVs in the past too and they knew previously they had international fans – so the real notable thing is this another CMLL piece where Gala Lutteroth ends up as spokesperson for the company in the way Sofia Alonso was for a time. Alonso getting press probably contributed to her ouster (over jealousy and territory marking), so it’s probably a good thing Lutteroth doesn’t do many of them. (One wonders what CMLL’s press department is doing to not be the person answering these calls themselves.)^[1]

Salvador Lutteroth III appeared with Daniel Aceves; it’s possible to chart the changes in CMLL by which person is there over the last three Copa Bobby Bonales presentations. I believe it was Sofia Alonso last time, back in 2019, and Panico prior to that. The common thread is CMLL treats Daniel Aceves as a very important person when he appears, and likely even more so as a government sports official at a time when CMLL is much in need of support for the government.

Federacion Wrestling announced Matt Taven will be on their first show. It’s notable that a ROH wrestler is working a non-CMLL show, especially one so prominently featured in CMLL. I don’t believe the ROH deal is exclusive to CMLL but this is obviously a booking to poke at Arena Mexico management.

There’s another bit that may have people talking – but it’s a El Planchitas bit, so the track record isn’t perfect and the story is so over the top I’m not sure I’d believe it even if they nailed every story. The column says Sofia Alonso has been back at Arena Mexico meeting with the wrestler’s union (Nitro & Ultimo Guerrero) and the gossip is she’s involved with Federacion Wrestling. They go on to say Dorian Roldan may be as well. Stories about Alonso getting involved with a breakaway CMLL group go back to 2019, when Rush & Dragon Lee suggested they probably would’ve stayed with the promotion had Sofia Alonso or her father Paco still been in charge and they would support her if she did her own promotion. The Munoz family were the first to be announced for this group, so maybe it’s actually happening – or more likely it’s people just connecting the dots to make up some juicy gossip.

Random legal note that may or may mean anything in the next few days. (Not being coy, just don’t know.) The Diamante Azul gimmick is a CMLL creation – they came up with the look to evoke the image and name of Blue Demon without getting violating his trademarks. CMLL did file their own trademarks, as they’ve generally done for new characters and top wrestlers since around 2011. However, those trademarks generally were filled directly under Paco Alonso’s name, not as CMLL corporate policy or the general Lutteroth family. This always seemed really odd but didn’t seem to be accidental. When Sofia Alonso took over CMLL in 2019, she re-filled for many of those trademarks, also in her own name instead of CMLL. If you look up in IMPI online search for “Diamante Azul” trademarks, Paco Alonso and Sofia Alonso are listed as those who filed the trademarks, not by the Luttertoths’ who currently operate CMLL. (Most of them seem to be stuck in a status of filed but never approved for unclear reasons.) It reads like Diamante Azul can keep being Diamante Azul elsewhere if Sofia Alonso permits it and CMLL is powerless to stop it, though I’m far from a Mexican legal expert and I have no idea how it would hold up. Diamante Azul is not the only wrestler in this situation; the Lutteroths filed their own trademarks for “CMLL”, logos and other items, but the wrestler names generally seem to be an oversight. Diamante Azul might also better decide to be take a name he owns to be free from issues going forward

Monterrey luchador Quinto Elemento started wrestling as Hijo del Volador in 2018. As far as I know, this man is actually a son of the original Volador, Remo Banda. He’s on an upcoming poster as Hijo de Remo Banda. He told 2A3Caidas that CMLL warned him they own “Volador” and all variations, and so he had to change to names. The Mexico trademark office lists “Volador Jr.” as trademarked by Sofia Alonso and no trademark for Hijo del Volador, though I wouldn’t be surprised if CMLL threatened him anyway.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports there was talk “a few years back” about WWE buying CMLL. It does not appear this is an active discussion, though it’s relevant up because everyone’s fairly wondering about the future of CMLL. The WWE hold up was CMLL wanted to sell their buildings along with it, and WWE didn’t want to pay for old buildings. A few years back suggests this was likely when Paco Alonso was alive, prior to the current management. WWE’s philosophies on buying companies elsewhere seemingly has changed (and continues to change), though company officials have talked about establishing something in Mexico as recently this year. WWE buying CMLL at any point would be devastating to the Mexican wrestling scene and likely not work out well for WWE either. (Given how the CMLL lifers pushed out Sofia Alonso, a WWE suit coming would need to clean house to survive – but they’d be left with little knowledge of the market.) The report mentions WWE felt like if they owned CMLL, they had their top talent and could also easily recruit AAA’s top talent.

Tuesday was Dia de Lucha Libre y Luchadors, a day to celerbate lucha libre. It also was a leaping-off point for three press conferences, unrelated except for all being tied to this holiday day. The most notable of the three press conferences was “Juntos por la Lucha Libre“, a movement to create better-living conditions and a safety net for luchadors.

This press conference was notable because the person leading it was Sofia Alonso Perches, who was the director of CMLL for a short period of time following the death of her father until she was pushed out of power by relatives. She’s rarely appeared in public since that time and has become a sort of heroic figure among disaffected CMLL fans as the promotion’s struggle has deepened, a messiah who would have fixed all the problems if she’s been allowed. (No one knows for sure how it would’ve gone, though her actions before and during her time in charge suggest there would’ve been changes.) Alonso said believed she knew the daily struggles of luchadors from being a part of CMLL, feels like people in power (as she was) should’ve taken action sooner to help out luchadors, and the pandemic exposing the full scope of the problems. The others who’ve tried to get conditions fixed have generally been wrestlers, occasionally promoters, working from the bottom to reach people at the top. Alonso is presumed to be still a wealthy person from her family’s fortune, and maybe she’ll have access to make changes from the top that aren’t available to most luchadors. She said more information about the campaign would be announced in future months.

Sofia Alonso appearing in public was a rare opportunity for the media to ask her why exactly she’s not in CMLL any more. ESPN.com.mx has a thorough interview, in both text and video, where most of the questions are about CMLL and Alonso. Her official explain is she expected to be in charge of CMLL following her father’s death, but there were discrepancies in the decisions that had to be made within [CMLL] with the “current administration” and she was “presented from moving forward with my responsibility and position. Sofia Alonso is now not working for CMLL and unaware of the day-to-day decisions, though she retains some knowledge about how things are run based on her own time there. An amusing theme in the interview is the reporter wants Alonso to agree CMLL is in crisis and to blame the people in charge, and she’s too classy to do both. Alonso agrees CMLL is in crisis but put all of the blame on COVID – COVID for shutting down the shows and for reducing the turnout, causing wrestlers not to get paid enough and look for work elsewhere. She passes up many chances to blame the Salvador Lutteroths in charge of CMLL now, though she coldly refers to them as the “current administration.” Alonso also shoots down the idea of starting her own promotion, a dream idea teased by ex-CMLL wrestler, saying her focus is on the Juntos por Lucha Libre campaign and feels it’s more important than any wrestling promotion.

CMLL is a sensitive promotion. Sofia Alonso went out of her way to be kind to them in this interview, but even the slightest hint at criticism might be enough to cause a reaction.

[Also:] I was researching Mascara Dorada’s names in trademark databases. I could’ve sworn he said registered “Metalik” near the end of his CMLL run (likely knowing it would be the end of his CMLL run and he wouldn’t be able to use Mascara Dorada unless he came back), but I don’t see it there. I do see the Mascara Dorada name trademarked, one of the many originally filed by Paco Alonso and transferred to Sofia. I also noticed a new filling for Mascara Dorada under the name “PROMOCIONES MÉXICO COLISEO Y REVOLUCIÓN, S.C.” filed back in June. That’s the strange business name the younger Salvador Lutteroth has used for his CMLL title in announcements since taking charge. Digging deeper, “PROMOCIONES MÉXICO COLISEO Y REVOLUCIÓN, S.C.” filed a whole bunch of trademarks. A few are older ones, most were filed in June. Here’s the complete list, which is freely accessible to anyone who navigates Mexico’s online trademark search database.

Only the Noches de Campeones name has moved from “pending” to “registered” (finished). The June timestamp makes me think this is related to Diamante Azul’s departure. I haven’t checked all of them, but many of them seem to be names previously registered to one of the Alonso family, and maybe this is someone now in charge of CMLL just going through the list of Alonso names to try and pull them back. It’d explain why Averno, Mephisto, and Ephesto are listed but not Lucifierno; these are an older group of names. (Averno is actually registered by both Sofia Alonso and Promociones Antonio Pena as well as this new trademark, but it hasn’t seemed to affect him wrestling as an indie at all.) Ultimo Guerrero and Blue Panther are older ones and stick out because both those wrestlers used those names before coming to CMLL and have attempted to register themselves. Blue Panther’s people put it in as “The Blue Panther” and it’s still pending. Ultimo Guerrero has his name approved, though there are other non-CMLL people also trying to register for wrestling purposes. I don’t know what that means so let’s move on to something else.

The lucha libre mural in Arena Mexico will appear on a Mexico lottery card beginning this Sunday. The artist, Miguel Valverde, says that mural changed his life – instead of his work being seen by a few people, thousands see it every week. The unveiling of this ticket was part of the tourism press conference last week, with Salvador Lutteroth and Gala Lutteroth representing CMLL. Both have been seen representing CMLL a lot in the last couple of years. Seeing them together made it sink in how Gala has essentially taken over Sofia Alonso’s previous spot as the young female leader-in-waiting of the promotion. I’m not sure if that’s the actual plan or if it’d work out any better for her, yet it’s definitely the image they’re trying to project for now.^[2]

Is this a good time to talk about the Mascara Dorada trademark and drop a minor scoop in an unrelated bit? Sure, why not. Please keep in mind that, as far as I can tell, nothing about CMLL has or is going to change. CMLL is still going to keep on keeping on. Just, when we talk about “CMLL owns the name Mascara Dorada”, that fact appears to be in legal dispute.

There are two trademarks filed for “Mascara Dorada” in Mexico. One was filed by “PROMOCIONES MÉXICO COLISEO Y REVOLUCIÓN, S.C.”, which what the Salavador Lutteroth’s have been mentioned as running since they took control of the company in 2019. (There’s never been an explanation for this specific name.) Their Mascara Dorada trademark was filed in 2021 and is listed as “In Process” in Mexico’s trademark database. The other “Mascara Dorada” trademark is registered to “MARIA SOFIA ALONSO PERCHES” (better known as Sofia Alonso.) This second trademark was filed back in 2010 originally under Paco Alonso’s name and is listed as fully registered. That trademark, along with 174 other Paco Alonso trademarks, were transferred to Sofia Alonso in 2019 following her father’s death upon her legal team’s request. This batch of trademarks includes other items we would consider “CMLL” property (including the name and logo itself.) It’s always been unclear why the names were registered under the Alonso name, but there’s been no outward sign of any issue with their usage through the changes of power.

Sofia Alonso is listed as renewing those registrations in September 2020. That’s almost a year after the Lutteroth’s appeared to cease control of the promotion from here. If you don’t remember or weren’t around, the brief version is Sofia Alonso took over CMLL following her father’s death in August 2019, then was apparently pushed out of power by other members by November of the same year. Alonso lost power but apparently kept control of her family’s trademarks. The Mascara Dorada record, and others in this batch of trademark renewals, list three more recent documents. Those all refer to a civil lawsuit between Lutteroths and the Alonsos over those trademarks. It doesn’t appear to be the renewal itself that caused the lawsuit, but instead Sofia Alonso signed an agreement with “Intellectual Property Assets Management, Inc.” in February 2021. Alonso appears to have licensed all her CMLL trademarks to this company. The full agreement doesn’t seem to be posted to the trademark site; we don’t know what she received from this deal. My presumption is the IPAM would’ve tried to extract a fee from the Lutteroth’s from using all those trademarks (which, again, include fundamental IP like “CMLL” and “Mistico” and “Mascara Dorada”.) The Lutteroth’s lawsuit was to stop all of thhs from happening, arguing Paco Alonso was not legally allowed to pass down his trademarks and they should’ve instead be invalidated. In theory, invading those trademarks would open a path for the Luttertoth’s pending trademarks to become the only official ones.

This lawsuit is all old news to the people involved and there’s not much more info on it. The US has public electronic records of civil court cases, allowing us to track things like the AAA vs Lucha Libre FMV case. Mexico does not, at least as far as I’ve been able to discover. The lawsuit was filed in 2021, and the most recent update is from 2022 (which seemed to be a ‘don’t do anything with this until the court case resolves’ statement as best I can tell.) There’s no apparent resolution to be found in the status of the trademarks: the Alonso trademarks are still active, the Lutteroths remain pending. The Lutteroth’s actions suggest they’re unconcerned; they wouldn’t be giving someone the Mascara Dorada name if they thought they were about to lose it. Most of these cases get settled, and maybe there’s some discussion happening outside of what we’re seeing in the documentation.

CMLL does appear to have gone on another trademark spree in June and July, filing for Atlantis Jr., Templario, Vaquero Jr., and “Titan Inmortal”, the last of which are among those also still filed under Sofia Alonso’s names. The introduction of Atlantis Jr. is listed as May 12th, 2017, which seems well before his actual debut. There are also requests for FantasticaMania (one word), Copa Atlantis and “3rd Caida.” The people behind Mas Lucha were previously te people behind TV show Tercera Caida. I assume the CMLL trademark is unrelated – it’s also an Alonso trademark so they’ve probably wanted to recapture for a while.

The Rush split happened shortly after Salvador Lutteroth III replaced Sofia Alonso as the most powerful executive in CMLL. Rush claimed in CMLL he would’ve stayed if Paco Alonso had still been alive and likely if Sofia Alonso had still be there. Rush also mentioned he discussed a new contract with Salvador Lutteroth twice without coming to an agreement. I think CMLL wouldn’t give Rush what he wanted out of a new deal, but Rush publicly questioning the new leader and saying the old ones were better may have made it personal.

Back when control of CMLL shifted from Sofia Alonso to Salvador Lutteroth III, I and others noted that there was an issue with the CMLL trademarks. For whatever purpose, all of them had been filed in Paco Alonso’s name, not the promotion, and so they passed to someone who was had been pushed out of CMLL. Lutteroth, using the promotion name “PROMOCIONES MÉXICO, COLISEO Y REVOLUCIÓN, S.C.”, filed for those same trademarks in attempt to resolve that issue. I was checking around in the database for other info, and I noticed that action seems to have at least partly succeeded. All of the Alonso trademarks with “CMLL” in them are now “En Tramite” (the trademark office has received them, hasn’t approved them, can be here forever) and the only CMLL trademarks approved are Lutteroth controlled. Some of the Lutteroth trademarks are new ones; some look like they were transferred from Alonso’s account. There’s still a bunch that neither side has control of, but any concern about the name seems a thing of the pass. It’s impossible to know if this resulted from a legal battle or if the two parties worked it out themselves.

My thinking is that this is a B2B dispute that’s not as interesting as a fan. It’s also probably going to eventually involve hiring 20 or so people to work that space again. Freedom shouldn’t have continued to operate that restaurant for years without a deal, because it put them at risk of exactly this happening. That 2017 deal was made by the Sofia Alonso administration, and there’s a new person in charge who might not honor prior agreements. It also put them in a vulnerable position once CMLL got hot; there are likely other restaurant companies that are happy to get that business, and CMLL will likely end up with a much better deal than they had prior

There are useful bits from getting [Miguel] Castro on the record. He lists his position as a consultant who works on business development, as a senior aide to Salvador Lutteroth, as managing the relationship with AEW, and as providing English-language commentary. He notes that much of his job didn’t actually exist when he started working with CMLL eight years ago.1 He credits the tourist board with being a big help to their success. I think this has come up before, but that means he was hired before Salvador Lutteroth – he’s probably actually a Sofia Alonso hire that CMLL stuck with through that transition.

Gallery

w/ Daniel Aceves & the 2017 Copa Bobby Bonales

at Metro Guerrero station's lucha display in 2017

w/ CMLL wrestlers at the Boing sponsorship announcement

during FantasticaMania 2018 tour

ditto

w/ then-NJPW president Naoki Sugabayashi

w/ her father, Roberto Figueroa Salazar & Multimedios execs

Links

• Official Instagram Account