KeMonito has left CMLL

[sek69]

Spoiler

KeMonito out of CMLL

The original KeMonito has indeed left CMLL, and it’s a bad breakup. An article in InfoPolitano on Thursday (which appears to actually be a KeMonito press release) explains his side of the story. KeMonito worked as Tinieblas’ mascot Alushe prior to 2002, they had a falling out, and Paco Alonso brought him to CMLL under the mascot character. Alfonso Morales named him on commentary, and it was working with Shocker that first really got him over. KeMonito claims he’s wanted to retire for many years, but was convinced by Salvador Lutteroth and his daughter Gala to continue. Then, the pandemic happened, and KeMonito says he was paid nothing – he had to make all his money off KeMonito items he sold on social media. CMLL brought KeMonito back when they resumed shows, though his salary was cut and he was newly restricted from working certain events and functions. CMLL also asked KeMonito to sign a contract. He refused, citing CMLL not paying money for a Grupo Bimbo commercial campaign he appeared in. KeMonito also mentioned in interviews that he’d like to retire, which upset CMLL – they wanted the character to be timeless and didn’t want to acknowledge any change in the person portraying it. CMLL was OK with KeMonito retiring, but wanted him to do so confidentially and without telling people. The issue stood still for a while when KeMonito took time off due to health issues, and he came back with his own proposal about payment when he returned. CMLL lawyers rejected his proposal, and KeMonito felt he was pressured by various people to just retire with no money. (He names Ultimo Dragoncito and “Terror”, probably referee Terror Chino, as part of this pressure.) KeMonito left the negotiations without signing what he believed was a fraudulent and abusive contract. KeMonito believes CMLL will introduce his replacement this Sunday and wanted his story out in advance. There will also be a KeMonito press conference about the situation on Monday.

The last time I can find KeMonito’s appearing on a CMLL card is the July 21st show. He’s hanging out with the tecnicos in the segunda that week. KeMonito is on the poster the following week,but he’s not around. He’s been on the poster for the Sunday shows every week, including when he was still around, though he hasn’t appeared on them since July as far as I could determine. KeMonito may have heard there’s a replacement coming, or he may be seeing his face on that poster and believe that means it’s happening. It’s unclear where the red devil KeMonito fits in this; it could be meant as a rival to the new character, or it’s possible it’s the replacement. The original KeMonito seems to be using “QueMoniito” on Instagram as his new name.

CMLL hasn’t said anything about this. I thought we might get a trademark “Comunicado Oficial” talking about a separation, but maybe the idea is they still believe they can change out the character without most people noticing, and so they want to keep it as quiet as possible. It’s going to be tough to do that as the media attention for this story picks up, especially after that press conference on Monday.

The idea of replacing KeMonito has precedent; Tinieblas Sr. & Jr. found someone else to wear that Alushe suit, and may have changed that role again over the years with no one noticing. Multiple people using the same character or being changed from one to another happens a bit with the minis and smaller wrestlers. Still, this all seems a delusional plan as stated: any change would’ve gotten out quickly in the gossipy world of professional wrestling (if it wasn’t already physically obvious), and it would’ve been on CMLL how to manage the fallout. I think I would’ve gotten a big crowd out of a show around the original KeMonito retiring, paid him to endorse the replacement (either in a new costume or same), and moved on that way. It’s not my money, though.

Lawsuits over who owns a lucha libre character also have precedent, though they’ve almost always been luchadors suing AAA about it. Mascara Sagrada did get control of his name, and Octagon certainly claims to have won many lawsuits. Wrestlers like LA Park, Kraneo, and Ripper (now back in CMLL as Psicosis) haven’t been as lucky. The people portraying sports mascots are replaced without much fanfare, though there have been some high-profile cases where fans figured out the change, and it became a story for some time.

In a Mas Lucha interview two years or so ago, Dorian Roldan said the one thing he’d like to take from CMLL is KeMonito. He could actually do that now. Roldan did get Microman, though he seems to have finished up last year. Microman was still in CMLL when KeMonito told the promotion he wanted to retire pre-pandemic, and I wonder how much that played into his retirement decision then or how much it played into Microman deciding to take (likely better paying US) bookings.

 

The whole story is in the spoiler tag for length, but the tl;dr is KeMonito has wanted to retire for a while and was convinced by CMLL to keep sticking around until the pandemic hit and they left him high and dry.  CMLL cheaping out on paying their talent is fairly common, but he was such a well known icon it's a little surprising they did it to him. 

I suppose CMLL just believes they can stick someone else in the monkey suit and no one would notice, but KeMonito was small even by mini standards and anyone else in the suit would be immediately noticeable by anyone even slightly paying attention. 

[NintendoLogic]

In fairness, none of the Mexican companies took care of any of their talent during the pandemic. Psycho Clown had to work as an Uber driver and he's probably the most popular wrestler in the country.

[sek69]

2 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

In fairness, none of the Mexican companies took care of any of their talent during the pandemic. Psycho Clown had to work as an Uber driver and he's probably the most popular wrestler in the country.

This is true, but CMLL has (allegedly) not been paying him still, even though business is pretty much back to pre pandemic levels