Claudio Castagnoli’s Next CMLL Title Defense Will Be Against Fellow AEW Star

With AEW Revolution now in the rearview, it’s CMLL’s turn to hold a big event, with Homenaje a Dos Leyendas taking place this Friday in CMLL’s homebase of Arena Mexico. At the end of last week, the primary draws for the show were the retirement match of El Satanico, and AEW stars Jon Moxley, Daniel Garcia, and Wheeler Yuta challenging Mistico, Mascara Dorada, and Neon for the CMLL World Trios Championships.

But a late announcement reveals both will be taking a backseat to the show’s actual main event. Taking to X on Tuesday morning, CMLL revealed the full card for Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, including its new headlining match, which will see Claudio Castagnoli defend the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship against the Don Callis Family’s Hechicero.

A Castagnoli-Hechicero match was first teased two weeks ago on “AEW Collision,” when Hechicero prevented Castagnoli from using the CMLL World Title belt as a weapon during his match with Konosuke Takeshita. But the issue fully boiled over this past Friday in Arena Mexico, where Hechicero served as a commentator for Castagnoli’s successful title defense against Ultimo Guerrero. After the match, Hechicero took exception to Castagnoli’s claims he was the best luchador in CMLL, hopped the barricade and challenged Castagnoli to defend the title next week. Castagnoli accepted and the two brawled briefly before Castagnoli retreated.

This will be Castagnoli’s seventh defense of the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship, while Hechicero will look to regain the title he held from September 2021 till October 2022. Castagnoli and Hechicero have faced off three times in their careers, twice in tag/trios action and once in singles action back in December 2024. In all three matches, Castagnoli has emerged the victor, including scoring the pinfall victory over Hechicero in tag team action last week on “AEW Dynamite.”