AEW Crossover Star Mistico Reportedly Injured After Appearing On Crutches At CMLL Show

After winning the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Wrestler of the Year award for 2025, AEW/CMLL star Mistico had shown no signs of slowing down in 2026. The luchador has continued to sell out Arena Mexico, including again this past Friday, signed a dual CMLL/AEW contract in March, won the AEW World Trios Championships with Kevin Knight and Mike Bailey that same month, and recently picked up the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championships with El Desperado in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Unfortunately, injury woes may be putting Mistico on ice for at least the foreseeable future.

During CMLL's Monday night show in Arena Puebla, where he was supposed to wrestle in the main event tag match with Sky Team partner Neon, Mistico was instead seen needing crutches to move around as he made his way down to the ring. The luchador apologized to fans for being unable to wrestle that evening, but provided no further update on his condition. He was replaced by Esfinge, who along with Neon was defeated by Don Callis Family members Hechicero and Rocky Romero.

Mistico came to Puebla on crutches pic.twitter.com/ifQ4b0aREp

— luchablog (@luchablog) May 19, 2026

On Bluesky shortly after the Arena Puebla show ended, luchablog noted that Mistico had been dealing with a right leg injury for some time, and that the injury had been aggravated on Sunday, when Mistico wrestled a match in Monterrey. No timetable was provided for when Mistico would be back in the ring, though he's expected to take time off; to that end, the luchador was not announced for this Friday's Arena Mexico show, headlined by Bandido defending the Ring of Honor World Championship against Volador Jr.

As a lucha libre fan, I think I'm saying the obvious when I say that this Mistico injury news isn't good at all. I would stop short of saying it's a massive problem, as CMLL business has continued to do fine even when Mistico isn't around for whatever reason (FantasticaMania, AEW, MLW, or New Japan dates), but that's a small comfort. Mistico is as important to CMLL and lucha libre as Roman Reigns is to WWE business; there is a reason many had Mistico as the wrestler of the year in 2025 after all. And this injury couldn't come at a worst time, given that CMLL is about to start running shows on Wednesday next month, hoping to get World Cup fans into Arena Mexico, and was going to rely on Mistico to help fill cards. And that's not even taking into account the fact that AEW has Forbidden Door next month (which Mistico was likely going to be featured on) or that he's a New Japan Champion right now.

So yeah; this is less than ideal for everyone involved right now. If there's any blessing in disguise I suppose, it's that Mistico will slow down a bit, something that was sort of necessary given he was working one of the craziest schedules in wrestling today. In the last three years alone, Mistico wrestled a combined 650 matches, averaging approximately 217 matches a year, and was on pace to get close to that, or surpass that, again this year. Last year alone, Mistico wrestled 246 matches, and that was despite him missing most of March with an injury. If anyone deserved a rest, it's this guy; you just wish it was under better circumstances. Alas, it isn't, and if Mistico is forced to miss a month or more, his value to CMLL, AEW, New Japan, and other promotions could be proven again, unfortunately in a way that no one wanted.