What does Claudio being CMLL heavyweight champion mean?

And now, because I can’t think of a way to get through this cleaner and I don’t have an editor to tell me not to do this, a Q&A:

Q: Is the CMLL heavyweight title now the most important title? A: No. The title that is most important in CMLL is the one that the most popular wrestler holds. That’s Mistico, so it’s either the CMLL trios or the Mexican Light Heavyweight title. Q: But doesn’t this mean Claudio is the most important person in the promotion? Is he going to be on CMLL every week? Q: No, that’s just not how CMLL chooses to promote their wrestling. The promotion doesn’t revolve around the men’s heavyweight championship and the challenger, and there are not monthly PPVs that they’re booking towards. Champions are part of CMLL. They’re not the main focus as they are in US and Japanese promotions. Castagnoli will return down the road to defend the championship but he probably won’t be seen in CMLL more than once every couple of months. Q: Does Claudio mean the CMLL heavyweight title will be defended more or less often? A: Probably more. CMLL hasn’t done defenses often, seemingly because neither title nor Gran Guerrero is much of a draw. CMLL historically also just hasn’t had that many heavyweights. That’s a lesser issue if Castagnoli potentially defends it in AEW, though I’d guess the majority of the challengers will still be CMLL ones. We’ve seen Mercedes Mone defend the women’s title more often than most CMLL luchadoras, and Castagnoli has indicated he’d like to do the same. A defense probably won’t happen soon, since Castagnoli is in the AEW C2 competition. I’m guessing we’ll eventually see someone like Esfinge challenging Claudio on a Collision before Castagnoli has a bigger match on Dynamite. Q: As an AEW fan with limited CMLL knowledge, will this mean people I’m familiar with, like Mistico & Mascara Dorada, will now challenge for the heavyweight title? A: Probably not. CMLL takes weight divisions more seriously in title matches. There have been times when CMLL (and the commissions) have bent the rules to allow someone to go up or down in classes, but the gap between Dorada and Castagnoli is so large that CMLL would likely be unwilling to book that match. Mistico is currently light heavyweight champion, and that was pushing him one class up (and MJF one class down.) There’s a three-class difference between Dorada and Castagnoli, a massive difference. It would be pushing to put Mistico in that match.

         It would also be a misunderstanding of what Mexican fans of wrestling are looking for in a heavyweight champion. It is not a “this is the best guy in the promotion” title, it is a “this is the best heavyweight in the promotion” expectation, and Mistico and Dorada can’t pass as heavyweights. It’s unclear how closely CMLL pays attention to AAA, but Hijo del Vikingo being a heavyweight champion is a key factor in why their fans started to reject him. The CMLL fans could react differently, but that’s a risk not worth taking. The heavyweight title is not the ultimate career achievement in CMLL; the benefit of winning that specific title is not as strong in the US, and the chance that fans might turn against Dorada is much greater. You can do anything in wrestling if you build hard enough towards it, but CMLL would need to put in a lot of work over a long time to get there.
  

         (Now that I’ve written this all out, I’m afraid that AEW is going to have Dorada beat Claudio in the C2 to set up just that match. The heart would be in the right place, and a failed challenge is not the end of the world, but I don’t believe that title match is what CMLL’s Mexican fans would want. They could do the exact match without the title, and it would get over more.)
  

        Q: If not them, who figures to dethrone Claudio?
        A: Hechicero is always the safe pick. There’s a built-in story of Hechicero avenging his loss to Castagnoli in 2024 by beating him this time. There are other options. Esfinge was talking about wanting to challenge for this heavyweight title earlier this fall. It was one of those Informa comments that seemed to be setting up something, but it hasn’t paid off yet. Zanodokan Jr. would fit well as someone the crowd is already behind, but there’s no public estimate of when he’ll be back from his knee injury. Atlantis Jr. will likely win the heavyweight title at some point. This reign might be too soon, but he’d fit as a challenger before the title change, and one CMLL fans would believe might win.
    Q: AEW now holds the CMLL women’s and CMLL heavyweight championships? How is this different from what’s going on with AAA and CMLL?
        A: The issues in AAA are less about who has the titles, but who the promotion is focusing on. Wrestlers coming in from WWE are the clear stars. There are a few wrestlers who’ve definitely benefited from the changes, but many have been de-emphasized or otherwise changed to better accommodate the WWE acts. These title belts are not the focus of CMLL, and that promotion remains about the same wrestlers and the same tournaments as ever. Mercedes Mone being champion gets brought up in commentary during women’s matches, but CMLL has not yet become a promotion about Mercedes Mone. CMLL wrestlers are having great matches with wrestlers like Jetspeed and winning some of them. If CMLL suddenly and inorganically became a promotion about Jetspeed and other AEW acts, there’d be the same sort of pushback as AAA.
            (And, again, most AAA Mexican fans are perfectly pleased with AAA  – more than WWE fans seem happy with WWE at the moment.)
    Q: Are the people upset about Gran Guerrero being champion going to be happy now?
        A: For now, sure. Those fans were convinced Gran Guerrero wasn’t good and that Gran Guerrero was only champion because his brother, Ultimo Guerrero, used his backstage sway to get him in that spot. That’s not their problem now, and they’ve got a big international name holding the belt.

  

            I think they’re ultimately going to be disappointed, though. The online fan has grown up thinking that every way WWE does something must be the correct way. CMLL’s not suddenly flipping a switch and changing to a heavyweight title-centric promotion with this title change; their bookers are going to do the way they’ve always done things. That may happen one day, when the people in charge are no longer in charge and replaced by people who’ve grown up understanding the WWE way as the only correct way, but that’s many years off.  I think this reign will give those fans a little bit more of what they’re looking for, but won’t signal a permanent, meaningful change.