Dark Angel Done In CMLL?

An interesting riddle is arising surrounding the future of CMLL‘s Dark Angel, Sarah Stock (also known as Sarita in TNA) as a result of her current tour of Japan for the STARDOM promotion. Apparently CMLL executives are intensely unhappy at Dark Angel for booking herself for an extended tour of Japan off her own back when CMLL’s chosen business partners at REINAxWORLD have been unable to secure dates on the Canadian. Not only that, but by securing her own deal with Stardom, CMLL are missing out financially on the booking fee they would otherwise command from REINA (or any other international promotion looking to book her).

Dark Angel last worked for STARDOM back in March for a couple of dates, to help celebrate Io Shirai‘s 5th anniversary in wrestling, and to be presented with flowers and a plaque to commemorate her own ten year anniversary. However, since agreeing to go back over there for the an extended STARDOM tour (including the currently running 5*Star GP), CMLL have continued to advertise Dark Angel for shows in Mexico while apparently *in full knowledge* that she will be unable to make the bookings. So far, during her Japanese tour, CMLL have knowingly domestically misadvertised her at Arena Puebla on August 20th (where she was replaced by Luna Magica), at Arena Mexico on August 24th (where she was replaced by Dalis) and at Arena Coliseo Guadalajara on August 28th (where she was replaced by Goya Kong). More distressingly for Dark Angel, noted lucha libre expert Steve Sims (who writes for Superluchas magazine) suggests that “…she might not have a job for much longer in Mexico, it’s sad to say”. Sims, who was speaking on Figure Four Daily on the Wrestling Observer website, explained the reasoning behind the false advertising.

“As soon as they know they’re not available for bookings they start listing them on their posters and assigning them bookings that they know they’ll miss. That way, they get rid of them – which appears to be their intention (they’ve done it with Tony Rivera, Dr X and others,) and they can say ‘Look. Here’s the poster. Here’s the actual poster that we sent to the promoters. We said Dark Angel’s going to be there on such-and-such-a-time and she didn’t show up for work.’”

Dark Angel, for her part, has done her best to keep fans informed and ensure that people know where she is in the world. On August 5th on her official fanpage on Facebook, she wrote “I’m very excited to announce that in less than 2 weeks I’ll be leaving for a 2 month tour of Japan with STARDOM, and to compete in the 5 STAR GP2012 tournament. I’ll miss you, Mexico!”. More recently, when it became clear that CMLL were continuing to advertise her, she clarified

“Just letting you all know that I’m still in Japan and will not be wrestling in Guadalajara in the upcoming weeks. Sorry for the confusion.”

So far, so confusing. However, the real question is what happens when Dark Angel’s tour of Japan is over? According to Sims, it’s quite possible that CMLL will simply not book her – and since they control her work permit for Mexico, they can essentially freeze her out of working anywhere in the country without their say-so, meaning that she couldn’t just jump to AAA – or do anything – without CMLL’s blessing. According to Sims…

“…it appears that CMLL is doing it deliberately to issue a punishment to her, and I think because of the work permit situation, what we will find out is that they simply don’t book her, at least until such times as her work permit comes up, and hope that teaches her a lesson that she can work in Japan but only if the CMLL office gets a cut of her bookings.”

Let’s be clear here – there would be nothing stopping Dark Angel going to make money in TNA as Sarita, or get herself booked in Japan (or indeed anywhere else) and still be able to make money – just simply that she may be frozen out of Mexico until her annual work permit is due for renewal. Seems petty, but Sims confirms that “They are very stubborn in CMLL and they’re going to make their point with Sarah Stock whether she likes it or not.”

The story continues…