CMLL at Palms Slam Fest 2026
3:00 PM
Pearl Theater
Las Vegas, Nevada
Get Tickets
Watch Live on TrillerTV / Palms Slam Fest Package
WrestleMania Week 2026 Full Schedule & Events
CMLL’s return to the United States should feel like a celebration after their hot streak in Arena Mexico these past few years. But instead, it has arrived with more confusion than excitement.
The show has struggled to find its footing from the jump. It was announced late in the game with little runway to build any real momentum weeks after everyone had already planned their WrestleMania Weekend schedules and bought tickets accordingly. The lack of urgency from the show’s promoters extends to the card itself. The card took far too long to come together and the announcements trickled out in the most un-CMLL way possible. In what would usually just be posted to social media or through Julio Cesar Rivera’s Informa show, the matches were announced through outlets like Fightful and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter/F4WOnline.
It all makes the show feel inauthentic, even before you get to the point that tickets to the traditionally family-friendly show start at a steep $71.
If you are looking for tickets to the show and don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, Mojo Rawley of the Paragon Talent Management group has advertised on LinkedIn that there are comped tickets available.
The whole Palms Slam Fest weekend looks to have been a disaster.
Even once the card started to take shape, it didn’t exactly inspire confidence. The main event was quietly reshuffled just a few days before the show in a move that seems to protect an undercard match on the also-failing Maple Leaf Pro show. While it’s just my speculation, it certainly feels like the switch to a tag is to protect the CMLL World (Heavyweight) Champion Hechicero before he defends his title against the 175-pound (not a heavyweight at all) Jonathan Gresham the next night in the same venue. It reeks of a promoter favoring his bad wrestling show over the imported one.
There’s also the situation with Tessa Blanchard, who they seemingly tried to keep as a surprise to avoid the kind of backlash her involvement tends to bring online. If you want to book Tessa Blanchard, book Tessa Blanchard and deal with it. You’ve had fans speculating for weeks that Persephone’s big challenger would be someone like a Mercedes Mone, Thunder Rosa, or maybe even a joshi wrestler from STARDOM. Instead, it’s Tessa Blanchard, and the announcement got the reception they feared. Good luck to them when the fans in the building turn on the match.
All of this ties into a bigger picture issue with CMLL right now. The shift toward a more American-style product is becoming harder to ignore. They eliminated Captain’s Falls rules, one-fall matches are showing up more often, and more American-friendly matches like singles and tag team matches are a bigger part of the mix. Whether that evolution is necessary modernization or a loss of identity depends on who you ask, but it’s impossible to ignore when you have this very Americanized card happening in America.
By the time Slam Fest actually happens, the wrestling itself will certainly deliver but the path to get there has been messy enough that it already feels like a snapshot of where CMLL is at right now.
Mistico & Templario vs. Hechicero & Angel de Oro
This is being advertised as a “golden main event” because all four guys are World champions in CMLL. You would think if they were concerned with a champion taking a fall they’d make sure to not include any champions in this match. Ah well, nevertheless here we are. The originally announced main event between Mistico and Hechicero was going to be one of the best matches of WrestleMania Weekend. That was a pairing that felt big and worthy of the main event spot on this supposed “big” CMLL show. Swapping that for this tag, even one this strong on paper, feels like a step down.
This should still deliver bell-to-bell, no question. But as a replacement for what could’ve been the Match of the Weekend, it comes off a bit underwhelming. Naturally you’d think the ace Mistico would win this one but I think the bookerman wants his fake Heavyweight title match to have some sort of momentum heading into the Multiverse show. This could go either way.
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Atlantis Jr.
This is one of the easier matches on the card to get excited about. Claudio Castagnoli had a surprisingly fun run as CMLL World Heavyweight Champion and has proven to be one of the few recent American-based wrestlers who actually understands how to work the lucha style. He plays his role perfectly and doesn’t try to force the match into something it shouldn’t be. On the other side, Atlantis Jr. keeps building his case as one of the best wrestlers in the world under 30 and this feels like another chance for him to show that on a bigger stage.
Not a ton of mystery here, and that works in the match’s favor. It should be crowd-pleasing and consistently strong from start to finish. Claudio feels like the safe pick to win given his positioning and name value.
Mascara Dorada & Neon vs. Flip Gordon & Capitan Suicida
Mascara Dorada and Neon are two of the brightest young stars in CMLL right now and already hold the CMLL World Trios titles alongside Mistico, so anything involving them is going to have a spotlight on it. They bring speed, timing, and big match energy to these types of matches. On the other side, Flip Gordon and Capitan Suicida are a brand new team who have experience working together in India’s Wrestling Xtreme Mania promotion. Two good tag teams working against each other but they couldn’t find two other guys to put in there for a traditional trios match?
This is guaranteed to be a spot-heavy sprint with Dorada and Neon steering most of the highlights in this straightforward showcase for them to shine.
Esfinge, Xelhua, Valiente Jr. vs. Soberano Jr., Difunto, Barboza
This looks a bit thrown together on paper, but still has enough pieces to work. Esfinge, Xelhua, and Valiente Jr. bring a solid mix of experience and rising potential on the tecnico side, and this is a pretty important spotlight moment for Valiente Jr., especially with his upcoming Best of the Super Juniors run. It’s the kind of match where he’ll be expected to stand out and show he belongs in bigger international spots. I have no doubt he’ll rise to the occasion. He’s great.
On the rudo side, Soberano Jr. teams with Difunto and Barboza, with Difunto and Barboza forming La Galeón Fantasma as one of the more effective heel units in CMLL right now. Soberano stands apart from that group and brings his own flashy style where all the women love him and the men hate him. Dumb people will say he’s doing Andrade’s gimmick.
There is potential here for a fun, chaotic trios match, but you can also expect the usual Soberano theatrics to show up in spots. Still, with the talent involved, this should land comfortably as an entertaining midcard tag.
Blue Panther vs. Ultimo Guerrero
Easily my most anticipated match of WrestleMania Weekend.
Blue Panther vs. Ultimo Guerrero is one of those pairings that just never stops delivering, no matter how many years go by. Panther is 65 and Guerrero is 54, but you would never guess it watching them work. They still move with timing, precision, and a level of physical creativity that most younger wrestlers would struggle to match.
The crazy part is how often they still manage to outdo expectations. These matches do not feel like nostalgia acts or “for their age” performances. They just rock, plain and simple.
The safest bet on the entire weekend to overdeliver.
Persephone © vs. Tessa Blanchard for the CMLL Women’s World Championship
A big spotlight match for the CMLL Women’s World Championship, but a lot of the attention will likely be on the reaction as much as the wrestling. Persephone is a solid enough champion who still has some rough edges in bigger spots, but she’s clearly trusted in this position and should be able to hold things together well enough in a high-profile title defense. Tessa Blanchard is walking into a situation where the crowd is very likely to be heavily against her, which will shape the match from the start and add an extra layer of pressure to everything she does. In the ring, this should land in the fine-to-good range rather than anything standout.
KeMalito & Periquito Sacaryas vs. Chamuel & Tengu
This is the micros showcase, and it’s unlike anything you really see on recent American TV, with the entire division built around wrestlers with dwarfism. KeMalito is clearly the focal point again and should be the standout with his usual antics and crowd work. Chamuel is one of the more underrated workers in the division and usually helps keep these matches together, with Tengu filling in the rudo side.
This is not about crisp execution, it’s about vibe and crowd reaction. Sacaryas is rough all the time, but that’s not really the point here. Expect a fun party match where KeMalito gets the big moments and probably leads his team to the win.
