taped 2011-06-18 @ Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City
file
recap – was 11 pages. I need help. No one should read this and I need to apologize to the English language, which I have murdered.
Just a couple general thoughts: the look of the show was good, but the production of this show was not very good. It took them about seven matches to get something simple like the microphone levels right, it really should’ve taken them about two minutes and there’s no reason for there to be a buzzing noise for two matches. I lost track of how many spots were completely missed. They always could find the action on the replay, which means they had enough cameras and the cameramen themselves were getting the right shots, but whoever was choosing between the shots was making the wrong choice time after time. This is not a new thing for AAA – it’s an old trademark – but it’s something they have not been doing on TV late, which really stuck when I saw it here. This all points towards this being a Televisa issue and not an AAA one, but it made the PPV less enjoyable to watch than it probably was live.
Also, I understand the importance of tradition and continuity, but at some point you’ve got to put more emphasis on the best show for the fans. I’m thrilled Arturo Rivera is out of the hospital and appears to be doing better, but he was in no vocal shape to be out at the announce both for four hours. One match would’ve been fine. I want to say the same about Octagon, but this was a very casual fan dominated audience, and he was still a star to this crew because they smartly had him work a minute and get out.
There are TEN gifs next, but they’re smaller than usual. Your computer still may explode.
Cinthia Moreno, Fabi Apache, Lolita, Mari Apache vs Angelina Love, Mickie James, Sexy Star, Velvet Sky: Better than I would’ve figured it’d be. Not everything worked out well, but they had a good plan and were able to stick to it. The TNA girls were fine and I wouldn’t mind seeing Mickie James come back for the rematch. Really good night for Lolita.
Chessman, Silver Kain, Último Gladiador vs Electroshock, Heavy Metal, Joe Lider [TLC match with nothing hanging above the ring]: what would’ve they have hung, anyway? A chair? A guitar? Trolli? Anyway, this started out really good and then kind of lost focus in the second half with a lot more setting up of stuff. There probably should’ve been time between Nicho running wild on everyone and Metal replacing him for Metal’s run-in to mean anything. A lot of these matches looked well laid out beforehand – the opener and this match definitely seemed to go from A to B to C without people having to stop to figure out what C was – which made all the shot missing stand out more. They knew where they were going, even if the director did not.
Billy el Malo, Charly Manson, Cibernético, Escoria vs Drago, La Parka, Octagón, Ozz: I timed it: Cibernético and La Parka fight for 20 seconds before Taboo turns up. The whole match is build up to that fight, they throw some chops, Parka punches Cibernético down, punches him some more, runs out of punches, and that’s it. There’s a little more after the discussion. This was a good match for all the other action, and I think people tuning in for that feud would be happy to get the next twist in the storyline, but it’s amazing how little they got away with doing here. It’s a credit to everyone else.
Extreme Tiger & Jack Evans vs Abyss & Mr. Anderson for the AAA World Tag Team Championship in a cage match: the least of the matches so far. Neither American actually knew cage match rules in Mexico, Abyss can not catch a dive to save his life, and Anderson did about nothing of note. The cage allowed the guys to do the three big spots they wanted to do, but a normal match might have them to have an actual good match instead of just three big spots. Then again, with these challengers, I don’t know how much was possible.
Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Damián 666, Halloween, X-Fly in the AAA World Trios tournament final: a stunt show after a few stunt shows, not quite as good of them (but this had explosions!) Those matches generally had some semblance of selling – there was no such thing here. Guys were getting taking chair shots directly in the head, and then getting up five second later to kick someone it. Nothing sunk in.
Zorro vs Jeff Jarrett for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship: way too slow for this audience and too much of playing off the usual US things that Mexican fans aren’t going to react to. The sleeper spot was the peak of it, doing a three arm drop bit where those are almost never done, and expecting people to get into it because people have done them in US for years. There’s also the problem that it really was still a rudo vs rudo match – Zorro was a rudo who got turned on by his partners, and then disappeared completely until now. He never had a moment where he actually was a técnico outside of wearing the colors of the flag here. This match layout may have worked with a técnico that the crowd was way into, to being into every move that was done, but that was not Zorro. They should’ve realized it and picked things up at some point, but never did. The Zorro reign will not be fondly remembered, but I’m not looking forward to Jarrett matches more.
LA Park vs El Mesías in a mask vs hair match: This was a lot of big moves, just from the start, and not building in any particular until the last ten minutes. I liked Guerra de Titanes better because it felt like the violence was escalating, but this was still a show worth seeing. The fake submission came off much better than I thought it would, and was really inventive – it was so good, it made the finish work (and maybe you can even explain the early attack –> table bit as Park making sure he wasn’t checked for weapons, though no one ever is and this was otherwise no DQ.) The table spear spot worked perfectly too – most everything they tried in this match went really. I wish there had been more logic to it but I can’t fault the effort.
Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Rob Van Dam for the AAA Latin American championship: Anticlimactic in both the finish and positioning. This did not seem like a big deal match compared to the last, and the finish was not a move people were expecting (better announcers might have helped.) It was last because AAA loves ending TripleMania with all the técnicos in the ring celebrating – see the last few TripleMania – but it felt forced. There was nothing wrong with the match, but it didn’t feel like a main event.
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Honest question for debating purposes: Do you think Jarrett/Zorro was worked the way it was because Zorro is/was hurt, or because Jarrett has no clue how to work a style aside from Memphis/WWE Attitude styles?
@Nikita: I think Jarrett’s just very comfortable working his style of match, and was trying to do that as much as possible with a guy who wasn’t moving much.
Original Story about Wagner vs. RVD as main event was (luchaworld’s words not mine) that AAA was told that the ppv would end after 3 hours and they wanted it to end with the mask vs. hair Match. But like we know, it went on for another hour, which was way too long.
@Charly Manson Jr.: That story ended up being incorrect.
@thecubsfan:
Oh okay thanks. Never checked luchaworld since then.
@thecubsfan: I guess that is maybe where I am different than some guys… I do not get why you would have any desire to have a match on a big show like this (because lets be honest, Jarrett hasn’t wrestled in front of a crowd that big since his WCW run), and just mail it in and do the absolute minimum, and not try to get the most out of your opponent. I can understand how it might be easier for Jarrett to make Zorro look good by leading the match, and thus working it more in his style, but to me it just looked like Jarrett decided to try to get some good ol’ fashioned Memphis heat and made Zorro look like shit (rather than trying to hide the injury or whatever).
Seems to my like typical carny-ism. Jarrett is in AAA strictly to get himself over and to advance his own angle in TNA, rather than to (heaven forbid) get over in another company/country/style.
@Charly Manson Jr.: I don’t know why anyone would think that AAA would close a show with a stip match. A stip match involving two full-time employees when they can close with a title match featuring a TNA guy? It’s AAA.
@Nikita: I think TNA wants to target Hispanics so they are going to once again try to work with AAA. These deals usually fall apart but for now, I expect to see AAA start appearing in Orlando and maybe even a few house shows in bigger markets. I think it goes beyond Jarrett simply wanting to work in front of a big crowd again, although that’s always a perk.