On Saturday night June 13th Masked Mania brought their traveling Lucha Libre show to the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine. When this show was announced earlier this year I was extremely surprised and excited, but more surprised.
I was most excited about the announcement as Sam Adonis wrestles on their shows and he's someone I have enjoyed watching over the years, especially his feud with Psycho clown going back to 2021, it was the best feud going in AAA prior to their purchase by WWE.
My buddies and I all ended up getting the front row VIP that came with early entrance and pre-show meet and greets with 5 wrestlers, lanyard, and event poster. Being honest, tickets didn't sell well, outside social media pages I didn't see any advertising for it until just a few days before the show. We kept checking ticketmaster to see how ticket sales were going, and we were concerned they would cancel the show. I'm very grateful that they didn't.
I did what I could, I shared the poster and link for tickets on my social media's and in various Facebook groups: Maine, New England, and even Canada has it's only a couple hour drive from Canada to the New Brunswick border. I wanted the event to succeed because I want them to come back. I would guess there was maybe 500 - 600 people there, but even set up half house it looks sparce as that is a 2,000 people set up.
Jay, Mikey, Calvin and I met at my house and we loaded in the van for the 75 minute drive north, stopping at Chick Fil A for dinner, 1 of only 2 locations in Maine. Calvin hadn't been to Maine since 2012 and had never been further north than Portland, so on the way to the venue I drove him past Stephen King's house.
Several wrestlers that were advertised did not appear, Juventud Guerrera, Galena Del Mal, and Ludark, according to Sam Adonis, were all flying from Mexico to Washington DC, then on to Bangor. They all had flight issues and couldn't get out of DC in time to make it to show. This would alter the main event that Juvi was advertised in. Anthony Greene was supposed to team with Sam Adonis against Juvi & Jack Evans, however he tweaked his shoulder on Thursday and wasn't able to appear either. Everyone else advertised appeared.
VIP was supposed to be in at 5:30, however we got in at 5:45, once we were all checked in they took us down to the VIP room where we got our poster and lanyard. Juvi was advertised as 1 of the 5 VIP, they made it up to us and we got 6 in the VIP, Halloween Jr, Mascarita Divina, Vampiro, Psicosis, Ray Lyn and Sam Adonis!
I got my poster signed by all, and cards signed by Vampiro, Psicosis, and Sam Adonis. What was very cool was Sam recognized me and even introduced my to Ray Lyn as his friend from twitter. We had a good chat for a few minutes, and Sam as cool as I thought he would be.
We went up to the lobby and after snagging a cool photo in front of their backdrop we headed to the tables as I had a Record Luchas card I wanted to get Jack Evans to sign. Jack was SUPER cool, he didn't charge anyone and was really into everything that people wanted him to sign. He had a lot of good to say about Record Luchas, and this guy from Boston had some VERY cool Ring of Honor posters for Jack to sign. My buddy Roy got Jack and Vampiro to sign a Wrestling Society X DVD case.
We got to our seats and as I mentioned earlier the crowd about 500 - 600 but well spread out in the venue. I will say from my perspective it was loud crowd that was into the show all night long. I made the conscious decision that I was going to cheer the technico's and boo the rudo's all night long.
I have to give all the credit in the world to these guys and gal because they all busted their asses all night long. This was not taped for TV, you're not going to find the event streaming anywhere, other than one guy filming occasionally with a camera phone set up, this show was for us. Not a single one of them, from my point of view, was "going through the motions" they made sure everyone that bought a ticket got their moneys worth and we did.
Masked Mania Bangor is my 388th live wrestling event, other than the four local wrestlers, I had only seen one wrestler in person before today and that was Psicosis. I have watched matches with Vampiro, Sam Adonis, Jack Evans, Halloween Jr. & Ray Lyn, but have never even heard of the other wrestlers that I am aware of. In each match the wrestlers established very quickly who the technico and who the rudo was, which was important.
The show opened with Vampiro coming out to thanks the fans for coming and talk about his career, he compared Thunder Bay, Ontario to Bangor size wise. Sam Adonis hit the ring and attacked Vampiro with his flag. Jack Evans ran out and made the save.
Tigre W pinned Incindior with a standing Spanish fly
The crowd was hot for this opening and were solidly behind Tigre W and much like myself, for the most part everyone cheered and booed accordingly. I thought it was great match with some back and forth action and they really showed off that Lucha Libre style that was received well.
Tigre got the win with an impressive standing Spanish fly. I was not able to find anything on the internet about Incindior or Tigre W.
Smiley pinned Chris Desmond with a swanton bomb
Smiley is a big fella and he can move, I was impressed with his athleticism. Smiley is advertised from Maine, so I looked him up as I am pretty knowledgeable about wrestlers from Maine. Perhaps he was born here, but he is mostly based out of the New York / New Jersey area. He wrestled on the GCW show as Smiley that was in Maine in November 2025.
Chris Desmond is a student of the Monster Factory debuting in 2021 and wrestling primarily in the New Jersey area. It was a fun match, there was a spot in the beginning with Ethan's cellphone that Desmond took and then Smiley took from him and they did some moves and reversals filming a video. It was fun, crowd ate it up.
23 Hazard & "World Class" Channing Thomas defeated Miracle Ones: Dustin Waller & Ichiban when Channing pinned Ichiban after spike pile driver
Most everyone in the crowd was familiar with these four and they got a great reaction. They have worked together numerous times as partners and opponents and they are all solid in the ring. I'm a fan of all of them and have been for a long time.
I was surprised to see Channing and Hazard get the win. When it was announced that locals would appear on the show, I knew Ichiban would be on the show as the number 1 luchador in New England.
Blitzkrieg II pinned AMB: Austin Michael Baldridge with a phoenix splash
Before the match AMB came out cut a promo stating he wants to beat the legends of Lucha Libre solidifying himself as the rudo. Blitzkrieg II made his entrance to great fanfare, and his did some tumbling during his entrance the popped the crowd. I was excited for a different reason as I know that Jack Evans is Blitzkrieg II, he was given the gimmick in 2004 by the original Blitzkrieg from late 1990's WCW fame. Evans has not wrestled as Blitzkrieg II since March 2007 so seeing him being the character back was special.
Timing seemed to be a bit off on this one, the crowd was also a bit quieter as they had been hyped the last three matches and needed time to recover, cheering is tiring. Blitz got the pin with a phoenix splash that was gorgeous. My buddy Mikey took the video of his entrance.
Chris Nasty & Ultimo Maldito defeated Rayo Star & Anubbis when Maldito pinned Anubbis
This match was excellent! These four tore it up, and got the crowd hopping once again. Rayo got the crowd chanting in Spanish, to me it was very traditional Lucha Libre with the quick tags, high flying offence and just visually pleasing all around. Everyone was great!
Chris Nasty I thought was very impressive. He is based out of California and trained at the Santino Brothers Wrestling Academy, competing the last 6 years primarily on the West coast. This was his first time wrestling on the east coast. I hope Randy brings him in for Limitless. Maldito has been wrestling for 12 years and is based out of Mexico, but has had several matches on the west coast of the United States as well.
Rayo Starr has been wrestling 14 years and according to cagematch was trained by the legendary Cynthis Moreno. He also has wrestled primarily in Mexico with some West Coast US matches. Anubbis, if I found the right one, seems have been wrestling for 10 years and is based out of Tijuana.
This was a tremendous match! I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy watching it!
We got a 15 minute intermission that was needed to rest up after that match.
Ray Lyn & Mascarita Divina defeated Terror Oscuro & Guerrero del Cielo when Ray Lyn pinned Oscuro
This lucha libre to me as well as we have a luchadora and a mini teaming up against a couple rudos. Divina is based in Mexico City and is a 21 year veteran who has wrestled primarily in Mexico. Ray Lyn has been wrestling for a dozen years, trained by Al Snow and Nick Dinsmore. Has wrestled in US, Canada, Japan, and even in China. She's had 3 matches with AEW and 1 with WWE, with Heather Monroe as Blonde Force Trauma held the BCW Tag Team Championships for 813 days.
Del Cielo was clearly Chris Nasty and I'm fairly certain Oscuro is Rayo Star. They didn't hold back at all with Ray and Divina taking a beating. This match spilled on the floor and around the ring. It was great and the crowd was really into it! Lyn got the pin on Oscuro.
Main Event: Vampiro & Jack Evans defeated Sam Adonis & Halloween Jr. by pinfall with a double school boy that saw Vampiro pin Sam Adonis and Evans pin Halloween Jr.
Vampiro was the surprise tag team partner for Evans and it popped the crowd. I had found before the show that Vampiro was going to come out of his near two month retirement to wrestle in the main event. I messaged Roy Lucier, the biggest Lucha fan that I know letting him know as I knew it was surprise him.
The crowd was up for this one, and the action started on the outside of the ring as Adonis and Halloween jumped them. They brawled around the ring and through the stands. The finally made it back to the ring and even tagged in and out a bit until Vamp and Jack rolled the rudos up for the double pin to send the fans home happy. I loved the match, Sam is awesome watching him work the crowd and control the flow of the match was fun for me.
I had never seen Vampiro wrestle in person before and thought I never would. I loved the match for what it was. It was my favorite match of the night because I got to see Sam and Vampiro wrestle live.
After the match Vampiro said a few words, asked if we wanted Masked Mania to comeback, I mean hell yeah I do, but I can't imagine they will. If they do, they should really run in the Portland area.
It was such an awesome show, like I said everyone busted their asses to make sure we got a great show. If they are in your area, don't miss out, buy a ticket, go yell and scream and have a good time.
For those wondering these are the two matches I had seen Psicosis wrestle in before tonight. Incidentally he made and appearance in the VIP and then a merch table before the show, but that was it. He didn't come out during the show and didn't work the gimmick table again.
June 9, 1997 WCW Monday Nitro in Boston, Ultimo Dragon, Super Calo, & Juventud Guerrera defeated Psicosis, Silver King, & La Parka and
December 5, 2005 WWE Smackdown House Show Lewiston Colisee, Maine, WWE Tag Team Champions: MNM: Johnny Nitro & Joey Mercury w/ Melina defeated The Mexicools: Psicosis & Super Crazy
I'm very happy for my pals Ethan, Greenleaf, and Gina who got to work the show, Ethan as the ring announcer and Greenie and Gina as the only two referees.
We hit the road stopping at Dysarts for drinks and snacks. I was in my home just after 11pm which isn't bad at all. Of course, first thing I did when I got home from wrestling, was to watch more wrestling.
Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check sout my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page. You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.
Until next time!
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