From January 16 to 18, CMLL held its Fin De Semana Internacional events (translated to International Weekend) in Arena Mexico, and a number of CMLL talents went head-to-head with the stars of AEW. However, according to Dave Meltzer, one match was on course to be an early contender for one of the best matches of the year, only for it to be disrupted by a fan jumping the barricade and trying to get himself involved in the match, causing the match and the event to stopped for several minutes. Meltzer wrote about the incident in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, where he detailed how the incident was handled compared to how it would have been handled many years ago.
The match in question was the CMLL World Middleweight Championship match between Templario and Bandido, where a fan decided to try and make a name for himself at around the seven minute mark. The fan wouldn’t leave despite security, the referee, and even Bandido himself ordering the fan to get out of the ring, but the fan wouldn’t budge. With that said, the fan didn’t attack either of the wrestlers which helped matters.
Meltzer called the incident “embarrassing” due to how slow security got to the ring, and how no one even attempted to stop the fan until he was sat on the turnbuckles. The rest of the crowd weren’t happy as they booed the incident loudly, but they did cheer when the fan was eventually escorted out of the ring. However, CMLL weren’t happy with the situation and took down the feed for the show on their official YouTube channel. Despite the incident, Meltzer still thought that Bandido and Templario had a great match, even if it won’t be in the match of the year conversation at the end of 2026.
Comparing the situation to how things would have transpired a few years ago, Meltzer stated that fans would have gotten the life beaten out of them for jumping the guardrail, with wrestlers even thinking it was their duty to teach people a lesson. Nowadays, lawsuits are always a threat if a wrestler or staff member lays a hand on the fans, regardless of whether it’s warranted, and everyone is instructed to not attack the fans even if they jump the guardrail, which is why Templario and Bandido left the ring while security dealt with the issue. CMLL higher ups also don’t want footage of their staff or wrestlers attacking fans as they wanted Arena Mexico to be a safe place for tourists and families.
