#now the actual booking of luchadors in aew is another issue

[zedxspacess]

So Atlantis Jr won the ROH TV Title from Kyle Fletcher in the main event of the Friday CMLL show! I'm so happy for Atlantis Jr, it was a good outing for both wrestlers and another young CMLL star wins an outside promotion's title.

The reactions I've seen from AEW/ROH only fans vs fans of both promotions and fans of CMLL only are amusing. It's a legit criticism of modern ROH that it's titles aren't given lots of meaningful defenses on the show, that the "proving grounds" don't feel important and there's lots of squash matches. The men's division is particularly weak in having consistent players and stories in it's title scenes. So I'm not surprised there's AEW/ROH fans who don't like or understand why Kyle Fletcher lost the TV title when he's one of the more noteworthy players in the men's division. But I think this is a plus for the men's division. If there aren't many strong singles guys in the main event picture, then dividing the attention between three titles stretches things thin. By having the secondary title away for a bit, it can narrow the focus more on the world championship, and I think Kyle is destined to move on to bigger titles and plots like that.

Plus, if an ROH title HAS to be defended outside the company, it SHOULD be on a stage like an Arena Mexico main event. Like, how are you not hyped about that? Main eventing in the oldest wrestling promotion in the world in an arena that holds 16k people? That placement is a big deal and should be a huge honor.

On the CMLL side of things, the reactions are like night and day because the fans I follow have been so hyped for this. ROH got the promo from Atlantis Jr, but CMLL have been advertising the match pretty well with some great video packages and promos from the wrestlers, even an interview from Atlantis Jr on Informa. It felt like a proper big match, and a bunch of CMLL fans, myself included, thought it was OBVIOUS Atlantis Jr was winning. I guess it's because of the language barrier and CMLL programing not so cheap/easily accessible to international audiences made AEW/ROH fans feel like it wasn't a big deal unless you seek it out.

There's also the Jericho shaped angle where he attacked Mistico and there seems to be a match up on a later friday show, and the reactions to it. Lord knows I'm tired of his act on AEW, but I don't know why some fans see him popping up on CMLL as a negative. Consider this: him doing programs in Mexico could potentially mean he gets less screentime in AEW. I get there's the kneejerk reaction of rolling your eyes when seeing him, but Jericho is still a big deal in CMLL. When the partnership was first announced, Jericho was one of the main guys CMLL fans were begging to show up in Arena Mexico. Titan and Atlantis Jr, who AEW fans did not enjoy their matches with Jericho, still saw it as an honor to wrestle him. Honestly, by all means let Jericho have the feud with Mistico, have him stay there for a few months! Hopefully he gets revitalized in his time there.

Overall, this move just strengthens the promotions' partnership even further. Atlantis Jr is a young star, and this just pushes him more. Some hardcore fans are hard on him because they view his push as nepotism because his dad is Atlantis, but I've even seen some of them praise the match for making him look strong and hope he carries this momentum into the future. And even though the title is away from ROH, it's going to get a lot of international exposure with Atlantis Jr in Mexico. I have no doubt now that Atlantis Jr will show up on Death Before Dishonor and the various ROH shows in Texas, and having CMLL stars will definitely move more seats for ROH. Having a cross promotional rivalry between two young stars is also just cool by itself and opens the potential for it to be a long term thing that can tie the two companies together. CMLL also gets a returning older idol in Jericho that they've been clamoring for, and AEW fans don't have to see him on tv as often. I'd say this whole partnership has been a win win for everyone.