AAA Mini Line - 03/24/07 (618)

They start the show with a recap of the big angles from the previous week. What a novel concept.

On the other hand, staring a show with an introduction segment, going to break, introducing the participants in the match, and going to break again is about the coldest way possible to start a show. It's 15 minutes before the first match of the show starts, which is silly. 

Match 1: Estrellita, Mascarita Divina, Pimpinela Escarlata, Rey Cometa vs Kaoma Jr., Mini Charly Manson, Polvo de Estrella, Tiffany 
Auditorio Jose Maria Arteaga, Queretaro, 02/23/07

Winner: Tecnicos (Pimp Gory Strech Polvo)
Match Time: 12:01
Notes: No entrances. Pepe Casas is the ref. Typical AAA relevos, going with mixed match ups early. Estrellita didn't look good - well, she appeared to be wearing very little, but her wrestling was off. Beatdown at about 3:45, when Kaoma Jr. moved out of the way of Rey Cometa pescado. Rudos weren't on the same page on the beatdown. A lot of setting up people for moves, but other people in the way or not knowing what they want to do. Comeback at 7:45ish when three off the rudos (minus Kaoma Jr., who spends a lot of time here staring out at the crowd) do a double armbar/triple pose spot on Pimpi, and the other tecnicos all slowly set up synchronized dropkicks. This was directly in front of the rudos, so...yeah. Comeback switches quickly back into mixed one on ones. Cometa's maybe 3 inches taller Mini Charly, who gives him a double arm bridged suplex. Estrellita broke that up, and got to do power moves on  Mini Charly - powerslam, fisherman's suplex. People doing big moves and waiting for someone else to break up the pin. Pimpi's big move is a drop toe hold. She does get the kiss in on Kaoma Jr. Kaoma Jr.'s big move is a reverse tope which doesn't appear to come close to hitting, even though they go thru great lengths to hide it. Pimpi monkey flips him out, so Rey can get in a top rope tornillo on him, and that starts the dive spots. Pimpi does a tope con giro. The women and the minis are left in the ring, with the rudos having to accidentally walk into the pat of top rope moves and not getting much on that accidentally. There's something off between these four, with people not being in the right position multiples, or being late. They end up on the floor with a Mascarita tope and a Estrellita plancha. Exotics come back in, Polvo's no good, and Pimpinela hits the sixth or so missile dropkick of this match. And seems surprised there's no pop. Finish here. Estrellita and Tiffany get into a fight after the match, because that feud will never end and also never progress.

Promo: Cuervo isn't concerned about Alebrije and Brazo - they'll beat them onto the tag titles. And Cibernetico and the Hellbrothers are nothing next to the Sect. Cuervo and Ozz are the pair of the millennium. That next 993 years will all be downhill, I guess.

Match 2: Cuervo, Ozz vs Alebrije, Brazo in a AAA Tag Team Tournament match
Auditorio Jose Maria Arteaga, Queretaro, 02/23/07

Winner: Cuervo & Ozz
Match Time: 10:37
Other Match Notes: No entrances. They're doing the thing with people carrying the steps each time. Cuervo is listed as Dark Cuervo, and Ozz is listed as Ozz. I guess Ozz woke up on the light side of the pillow. Cuije is here, because what else is Cuije going to do. Again, we get a break after intros.

Short tecnico run, and then a beatdown to kill the crowd dead. Well, the crowd is dead at any rate. The back of Brazo's tights say "VIP" - that can only mean Very Important Posterior. You know, it's long past mattering, but why aren't the Brazos teaming with each other here? I dunno. El Brazo ducks a clothesline at 2:30 to turn things back. Don't be mistaken, this seems like a slow paced match, and that's just as we start heading into the comedy portion. This is feels like one of those matches that should be about 4 minutes, but it's 12 because everything goes for twelve, and drags on as everyone gets their spots on to make it that long. Like, Ozz gets in the tornillo the outside for no reason besides to get it on. Though, I guess it does take out Alebrije, which prevents him from breaking up Curevo's pin after he top rope splashed El Brazo, but it didn't feel likely they were building to that spot, just that it was a spot to do. 

Match 3: Alan Stone, Zumbido vs Charly Manson, Pirata Morgan in a AAA Tag Team Tournament match
Auditorio Jose Maria Arteaga, Queretaro, 02/23/07

Winner: Guapos
Match Time: 8:07
Notes: No pre-match promo. We get entrances instead, which make sure we've got a 20 minute segment. If you recall, this Charly Manson/Pirata Morgan team was supposed to be Charly/Abismo - it's lucky Abismo was suspended at that time, because we would've had people teaming here who would fight in the main event. Though that may have given this match a point, which is better than it is right now. Pirata and Charly have to work double this taping because someone didn't plan something out. Why not use Elegido and Intocable here? Probably booked elsewhere. Tirantes is the ref, and we get a break after the entrances, but we still get introductions. Is Pirata a tecnico here? I think it's a parajes incredible situation.

Actually, they start off the match with the dueling corner poses, Pirata going second like a tecnico, so there you go. Crowd seems slightly more behind Zumbido, actually. They like Charly most of all. Has Zumbido always had scars on his midsection? They're really standing out here, and I think they're new. Guapos knock both guys out of the ring around 4:30, following after with topes. Guapos brought it back inside (after some replays) but the tecnicos turned it around to get in some pinfalls, which nice for a change. Guapos took right back over, and had Charly down after a top rope 'ran and a splash, but Pirata broke up the pinfall. Pirata backdropped Charly out of the ring, but Alan got him with a dropkick to the knee and an enziguri. Alan stood around a bit much, allowing Charly drop to dropkick him, before a running dropkick was avoided an Charly flew out. Alan followed with his springboard plancha, and that got a few replays as the other two were fighting. Pirata got a near fall, but Zumbido fought back, slammed him, went up - and crotched all on his own. Pirata got up top to join him, and superplex him off! They're not taking it easy, even with that next match coming. Alan and Charly climbed back in the ring and covered an opponent each, actually getting the three count (7:12) This left Charly and Alan, which was great planning because the fans immediately got into the match to root for Charly. Charly rallied the crowd and got a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but Alan turned the table and got in his own. Alan charge into a spinebuster, and spin in a reverse figure. It wasn't too pretty of a move, but Alan was giving up - only Zumbido had Tirantes attention. Charly let go to celebrate, which was dumb, and Alan got him in a bodyscissors roll. One two three. Finish was a little bit flat, but this was one of the better tag matches for sure.

Pirata tries to get his friend Tirantes to overturn the decision, but go go. Somehow, Alan's belt came off during this, and so he screws around with this as his pants fall down slightly.

Noti AAA
- Rey Mysterio Jr. will appear at Rey de Ryes. Why are they using stills from Halloween Havoc '97? No one tell WWE.
- Fabi Apache and Billy Boy had lunch at a Pinera Bread, and then Billy tried to murder el Apache, at least in Fabi's view. They're not doing good. The second year is always tough
- HIDDEN CAMERA FOOTAGE catches Billy talking to a blond women on a car as they claps hands and hug. They try to blur her face and aren't really good at it. They make the point that it's not someone we've seen before, I believe. Apache had to shoot this video, right?
- Hellbrothers and Vipers - not amigos
- Juvi - still Juvi. Juvi looks like he's slept an hour in the last week, but he's actually broken up with what's gone down with him and his dad. Juvi explodes into whiny anger. Juvi's trying to do a serious angry promo, and - uh, no. Not this time, anyway.
- Cuervo wants a monument to Pena. Okay.  

Vignette: The Mexican Powers walk down the sidewalk in gear while their music plays and they get funky. Oh, how I've missed AAA's interviews on the street. Anyway, they talk about how great they are because they have no idea who they're facing.

Match 4: Black Bufalo (c), Josh Raymond, Nate Webb vs Crazy Boy, Joe Lider, Psicosis II (c)
Auditorio Jose Maria Arteaga, Queretaro, 02/23/07

Winner: Mexican Powers
Match Time: 13:02
Other Match Notes: Black Buffalo has a Japanese flag, and a baseball bat. (And a Team Japan baseball uniform.) He probably shouldn't let his flag drag on the floor, but who am I to argue with him. His jersey spells his name Buffalo, but you lose a 'f' when you translate it into Spanish, though the graphic here has two 'f's. Josh Raymond and Nate Webb are WSX guys working a trailer park gimmick, or guys I've seen in person wrestle in small buildings holding about 1/20th of the crowd that's here, depending on how you want to look at it. Webb is the guy wearing a shirt, Raymond is the guy with star outline tattoos. They come out to "Born In The US" because they're evil Americans. Outside of Arturo Rivera's introduction, they don't appear to do anything to get over these randoms to the crowd. Everyone - wrestlers, and valets - are wearing " crazyboy.com.mx" on their bodies. That website has a lot of Flash and little substance - hey, that's pretty good! Intros before the break. Hijo de Tirantes is the ref, because he has to be on this show because we've got a Vipers match to come.

With in 1:30 (including some standing around sorting things out), Nate Web is taking a  dragon suplex with his feet hitting the corner buckle on the way down, sot hat's the way this one is going. Rudos go straight to the  beatdown, with Black Bufalo using his bat without a warning. Hijo de Tirantes looks the other way, both literally and figuratively, I guess. Black Buffalo has a ridiculously baseball windup chop, I think, but we miss the need of it to Lider take a chair to the throat on the outside. 

Everything you need to know about what I like in wrestling, in a one sentence: I wanted to see that baseball windup chop a million times more than the chair spot.

So, of course, the rudos come in for chair spots. Bodyslams on chairs, elbwo drops on chairs on people. The editing crew looks to been working hard today - there's something (bad) Raymond did that the crowd mocked, but we never saw. That's the idea. Moonsault with a chair. No pin with a chair, oddly. I think Hijo de Tirantes shirt has six pack lines. Or it's really really tight. A bit of both. Nate misses a top rope moonsault chair splash on Lider, and there's the comeback, about five in. Maybe this won't go long and I'll be wrong, but the beatdowns don't really seem to be going long in AAA of late. We get an extra helping of tecnico showcase instead. Mexican Powers clear the ring and run off the ropes as if they're going to do a triple dive, but there's no one standing there for it, so the baseball slide out in stereo. That's sorts of silly. Psicosis uses the metal boxes Raymond and Web brought - are those supposed to jugs? Announcers mention CZW, though not in the negative fashion I'd probably go with. The one positive is they're doing relatively safe stuff. All the tecnicos get to wacky spots, mostly with Raymond. Raymond gets a big imprint of a chair on his back. Crazy Boy is last, which is good, because he KOs Raymond with a wheel kick. You're not supposed to kick a guy in the face and knock him out for real, and Raymond was really knocked out here - Crazy Boy pulls him up, and minimally conceals the effort - but you'd think Raymond would have protected himself on this move, and he seemed to make no effort for it. Maybe he wasn't expecting that move. Raymond is obviously out of it, but he and Crazy very slowly try to get thru the next spot till it falls apart and we make believe it's an odd cradle. Raymond says something to Crazy Boy, who uncovers himself, starts to pick up Raymond, Raymond can't get up, so Crazy kicks him over to his corner and Black Buffalo comes in on his own. Crazy Boy gets in a handspring jumping side kick before tagging out. Psicosis gets tagged in, and Buffalo does the big beg  off. Raymond is still down on the apron - Webb is checking on him, but a medic isn't over for a while longer. Meanwhile, Buffalo is now beating Psicosis on the mat with a chair. No idea where Hijo de Tirantes is supposed to be here, though he does start watching it and letting it go. Back on their feet, Buffalo tries to behead Psicosis with his bat, but Psicosis ducks a swing, kicks the bat free, throws the chair to Black Buffalo, and bats it into Buffalo. Web comes in with a chair, and Psicosis bats it back at him too. Crowd pops for that. Lider comes in to face Webb, and Webb gets Lider with a kick square to the side of the head quickly. Meanwhile, there's still a lot of people checking on Webb, who's now on the floor. Webb gets in a moonsault cross ring dropkick, which is probably more impressive to people who are used to seeing the normal version. He gets no pop here, sadly. Crazy Boy breaks up the pin attempt. Crazy Boy slams Webb and heads up for a twisting moonsault, but no one's home. Webb DDTs him, Crazy rolls to the apron, Web follows him out and carefully positions him for a spinning DDT to the floor. Webb holds it to tease it (and because Lider is a moment late to break it up), but there's no reaction for the teased spot, because it's not the kind of near death tease they're familiar with. Of course, the better question is - why does Joe Lider have an old keyboard that he's using to break this up? Like, an old beige one from about Windows95 with the old connector. (I'm three feet away from that exact model about every weekday.) That's a random foreign object. Crazy Boy takes on control and gives Webb a 'rana to the floor. Again, I don't think the fans realized what Crazy was doing till he did it. Lider out to get in an Asai corkscrew moonsault. I think we were probably supposed to have a Raymond dive in between here, because Psicosis and Black Bufalo go to the end game. Psicosis get in a top rope elbow drop. Black Buffalo starts to protest to the fans, and then realize he has to be dead (and he has to be dead a little closer to the corner) so Psicosis can land his top rope move. I guess it works out, because Buffalo moves out of the way of the top rope tope con giro. Side suplex, one two NO. Buffalo puts Psicosis on top as they search for some Psicosis cheering fans. Psicosis reverse to a Juvi Driver - and now it all doesn't matter because Cuervo, Ozz, and Head Hunter ? are running it. Cuervo and Ozz pull out Tirantes and drop him on the floor. Raymond being stretchered out of the ringside area in the meantime. Head Hunter kicks and slams Psicosis. Charly Manson and Chessman are out, and they stop him from chairing Psicosis. Charly gives him the cheer instead, and Chessman get in his spear. Psicosis pulled on top of Black Buffalo - this is shot from a different angle and in replay-like slow motion, so I guess they missed it live - and Hijo de Tirantes counts the three. 

Crowd is happy, more for the run in than the win, so I guess that justifies it. Replays and time killing.

Promo: Cranky old men Fuerza Guerrera, Sangre Chicana, and look, La Fiera is still alive talk about those young punks. La Fiera sounds like he smokes a pack for a breakfast, a pack for lunch, and three for dinner

Match 5: Intocable, Octagon (c), Zorro vs Fuerza Guerrera (c), Sangre Chicana, La Fiera
Auditorio Jose Maria Arteaga, Queretaro, 02/23/07

Winner: Tecnicos (DQ)
Match Time: 8:49
Other Match Notes: So I guess that explains why Pirata Morgan was working hard - he doesn't work twice, I had that wrong. Maybe my memory is going, but La Fiera looks like he's added quite a bit of weight. Very little muscle. I'm trying to think of who he reminds me of in the face now - Hugh Morrus? Maybe. Fuerza will not shake hands with tecnico announcers. No backup dancers this time for Intocable. A small girl jumps the rail. Break after entrances.

Rudos are jumping the tecnicos after the break. Tirantes is referee, of course. He gets in a punch on Octagon when Pepe Casas, the other ref, is not looking. Fuerza wastes no tie in trying Octagon's mask to the ropes. You'd think Octagon would have a counter strategy for that at this point. Octagon gets untied so they can do one one threes. La Fiera still throws neat kicks, but he has so much gut. Fuerza and Sangre are obviously not what they were, but Fiera is like the missing Brazo here. Fiera missing a corner spin kick on Zorro, and that starts the comeback. He takes a superkick form Zorro to be sent to the floor, and Zorro beats him up around ringside. He's surprises me by actually taking a bump off a superkick. He takes another one off a Zorro jumping spinning heel kick during the tecnico showcases. Break just as Fuerza and Octagon are about to lockup.

If they actually fought, it doesn't make it to my TV. Sangre's yanking Octagon out as he's about to dive on to Fuerza as my video returns. Not sure if a local commercial cut something out or if it was edited that way. Intocable takes over on Sangre, knocks him down a few times, and gets Zorro's kendo stick. Swing, Sangre ducks, and Zorro's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sangre topes Zorro, Intocable topes La Fiera. Fuerza gets the cane himself and waits for Octagon to get in the ring. Meanwhile, Pirata Morgan is out on the stage. I guess Pepe Casas looks at him and pays no attention to the match, because Fuerza cranks Octagon with the cane, and then Tirantes stomps him and pulls him up for Fuerza to hit again. Pepe Casas is definitely seeing this part. Fuerza swings, Octagon ducks, and Tirantes gets it. Pepe Casas argues with Pirata as Octagon gets revenge cane shot. Octagon gets in more moves, but Pepe Casas still is looking when Fuerza get sin his low blow kneelift, and Tirantes makes the fast count. And then Tirantes over turns the victory anyway. 

Rudos decide to stomp down Octagon anyway. La Parka Jr. is out for the save. Intocable stands and watches with a cane in hand, which turns out okay because La Parka Jr. clears the ring by himself. It helps that the rudos just stand there to let Parka hit them. That's always nice. Zorro gives Intocable when Intocable goes to raise his hand in victory. Zorro opts to grab his cane instead, and Intocable attempts peace with him. I think they're all good, but that's not really focused on and we switch to Octagon and Pirata cutting promos anyway. Zorro disappears during this too, which makes me wonder if we're getting the slow burn on something. Anyway, Pirata and Fuerza want a tag title shot - I kinda forget about this because it's six weeks later and they haven't brought it up again. You kinda get the impression it'll happen real soon here, the way they hard sell it. Octagon, of course, wants mask/mask or mask/hair. 

Vignette: Cibernetico is LIFTING. Up walk Head Hunter, Black Buffalo, Nate Webb, and Josh Raymond. They've got a chair and a bat and lot of words, but they don't got an idea that Chessman and Charly Manson are behind them with metal rods. Foreign Legion decide that 3 on 4 is bad numbers and duck out, though not before Cibernetico can yell at them.  

Match 6: Charly Manson, Chessman, Cibernetico (c) vs Abismo Negro (c), Antifaz, Histera, Mr. Niebla
Auditorio Jose Maria Arteaga, Queretaro, 02/23/07

Winner: Hell Brothers
Match Time: 6:13
Other Match Notes: Abismo wonders out loud what happened to the war between AAA and LLL, and calls Cibernetico a traitor for turning his back on LLL. Well, that explains why his opening is still like that. Cibernetico reminds Abismo that HE was the leader of the Vipers. Abismo begs to differ. Cibernetico started the revolution, Cibernetico says. Are they AAA or LLL? Cibernetico says it doesn't matter. They're the Hell Brothers, the revolution in lucha libre. And the fight starts in the ring aisle. It's still 3 on 4, which seems to be bad for the Hell Brothers. Pepe Casas and, of course, Hijo de Tirantes are refs. Vipers battle Tecnicos to the ring, and I don't think we ever get an official opening whistle. Oh, there we go.

Beatdown. Nothing special. Abismo's still using two bats. I guess that's his thing. Maybe the beatdowns don't seem to go on for long because it's one fall, and they can't carry thru the end of one fall into a second. Vipers do a lot of four way moves - kicks and dropkicks. Hijo de Tirantes kicks Antifaz out of the ring for some reason - I can't figure it, because he's letting the other three in. Maybe he thinks this is a trios match and not a handicap one? Cibernetico side steps a corner charge at 4:20ish, and spends much time standing while waiting for people to rush at him. This is far from the hottest comeback, although he's at least got an idea of what moves he wants to do now. Chessman looks really good doing his comeback spots, imagine that. Charly gets moves in, and Antifaz is isolated in the ring for a triple something, but the Hell Brothers spend time teasing it, and it allows the other Vipers to retake the advantage. So, of course, Elegido appears and dances on the stage. Abismo walks to the aisle to get in a fight with Elegido, which makes the numbers even. Vipers hurt their chances more by starting out of the ring at the fight in the aisle, and Chessman (Histeria) and Cibernetico (Mr. Niebla) get cradle pins. Two is apparently enough to win this time. 

The Vipers decide to beat up Elegido for costing them the match. They beat him up in the aisle, and bring him back to the ring as the Hell Brothers watch from the outside. Mask ripped up, Histeria chair shot to the head. Hell Brothers are leaving, though Chessman appear to be asking if the fans think they should go back. Hell Brothers get chairs, discuss it, and charge back to the ring. Vipers decide to leave. Hell Brother check on Elegido and sit him down on a chair. And then Charly and Chessman hold chars in front of him, and Cibernetico smashes his chair into them. Stompdown on Elegido. Fans not sure how to react. I think the Vipers are cool with it. Cibernetico looks back up towards the stage - I like to imagine he's making eye contact with Abismo, and this random act of destruction is supposed to be a hidden message to the Vipers that the Hell Brothers are still LLL and they should be ready for the big turn down the road. In reality, I think Cibernetico was looking at the aisle because he figured Zorro and Intocable would be running for the save already. They're a couple seconds later. Hell Brothers leave without a fight.

A girl jumps the rail to check on Elegido, and no one notices it for a moment. That's great. She's pulled off of Elegido.