Alternate title: Fenix is probably not as thrilled to win the Fusion title as he thought.
AAA article is here – not sure this is most dramatic way to do it, but we’ve been there already. The storyline is Marisela made the decisions. And may have turned ruda, if these decisions are to be believed – at the least, an interview explaining some of this would be fascinating. The roster splits will not be enforced until after TripleMania.
The rosters:
That’s 41 for Fusion, 45 for Evolucion. (Missed Saturno in my first count.) There’s no explanation of why any of the decisions were made. The lists for both says ‘and more.’
Missing names
- Dr. Wagner Jr. No surprise.
- LA Park. Which confirms they know LA Park quit, and may have known for a while.
- Juventued Guerrera, which seems like an oversight but you never know with Juvi.
- Uro Rocker. He’s probably meant to be with the other Rockers.
- Sexy Star. She’s
headed to CMLLgoing to be out for a long while so it doesn’t matter. - Anyone from IWRG – no Eterno, no Dr. Cerbero, no Centviron.
- Lanzeloth of DTU, who worked both the last Fusion taping and the February Sin Limite one. As well as Dama de Hierro and Nemesis from the last Fusion taping.
- Dizzy – and the La Chiva who only show up on spot shows. None of trainesr/very part time luchadors like Angel Mortal are listed, nor really would I expect them to be.
- It would’ve been a nice touch to draft Astro de Plata to a side. He’s still far away from returning, if he ever will be, but it’s the thought and they’re already drafting many people who don’t seem like they’ll actually be wrestling any time soon.
- Teddy Hart is still listed on their roster page, but I think that’s more a roster page oversight.
Edit: Other people note Ricky Marvin and Heavy Metal are missing. Konnan probably should be listed as well, but he can be assumed to be on the Evolucion brand.
Break ups
- Consejo appears to be done as a group. Mascara Ano 2000 Jr. & Argos are on Fusion, while Texano Jr. & Silver King are over on Evolucion. (Silver is also broken up from long time ally Ulitmo Gladiador.)
- Billy el Malo has been split up from the Bizarros and from the Apaches, which might end up being a good thing.
- Maximum Velocidad is on Evolucion, away from all the rest of the DTU guys on Fusion.
- The Air Force is split up, but really hasn’t existed as anything more concrete than common entrance music in years.
- There are 7 minis on the Evolucion side, but no minis title. Likewise, there are four women on the Fusion side, but no women’s title. I don’t know that there needs to be one. It does mean the talked about Mini Abismo Negro vs Dinastia feud is either happening right now or never. (It’s also possible that the minis and women’s titles are supposed to float between the brands – it’d make some sense, but has not been said.) Dinastia instead has title defenses against the least impressive rudos (who are rudos while their big versions are tecnicos.)
There’s no escaping the Fusion side being much weaker than the Evolucion side; it’s the B-promotion from the start. There’s about three matches worth of guys who have been TV regulars, so either a lot of people will have to be added or some guys who haven’t been given chances will have new opportunities. It won’t be hard to fill out the spaces – more people from DTU, more people from IWRG, more people we haven’t heard of but will be meeting soon – but it’ll continue to be hard to draw people to the Fusion shows. We’ve seen the Rockers vs Clowns not work out well for those tapings, and you can only run Fenix & La Parka vs Parka Negra & Pentagon Jr. so many times. This looks like a situation built for another Vampiro return – he’d be a top guy as a tecnico or rudo based on lack of other options. Not a great option, but you need to have some stars before you create new ones. Ideally, a guy like Jack Evans or Chessman would be moved over – they’ve got nothing to do on the Evolucion side and would be one of the top guys on the other side. Same thing with the Apache/Atomic Boy feud, which would be at least the third biggest one on the Fusion brand, and is around the fifth on Evolucion.
The advantage to the Fusion side is it’s going to be an overall younger crew and probably more exciting matches. The fans will get some good matches. Everything could be built around Fenix, because there’s no much else going on.
I would’ve actually guessed that Evolucion would’ve been shorter on names, just because of the ultimate plan to go to the US and use wrestlers from there would mean they don’t need as many Mexican names. It’s actually gone the other way.
Overall, it looks the rosters are reflective of current feuds and current feuds only; these roster don’t take affect until after TripleMania, but most people will still be stuck feuding with the same people they’ve been against all year so far.
These splits are only for the single branded Evolucion/Fusion tapings. Both groups will still be on the Sin Limite shows. Since the Sin Limite tapings are the only places where storylines are happening, it’s unclear how much of this actually matters. AAA could create the different identities for each brand, but they could also just be running tapings with half the roster, and quickly forget who’s supposed to be on each side. There’s potential for interesting things, and there’s potential for this to be the new AAA Tag Team Tournament, a lot of effort into nonsense.
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delayed thoughts, continued:
– La Secta could’ve been placed in either “regular” or “irregular” group. But I bet Escoria would’ve enjoyed at least the pretense of being split off from his partners since he’s stuck with his own look
– a Wednesday AAA announcement of late has meant “we’re taping the TV show and including [X] in, so why not just release the info to everyone.” Maybe more will be explained on screen?
– every Fusion taping should just be a Fenix title defense in the main event. Go with what you’ve got.
I don’t like the idea of splitting rosters((
Connan, on MLW podcast, was talking about splittig and that Joaquin is “old guy, who don’t understand that time changes” & etc.
Yes, it all could be done better,but splitting…
Hope in Fusion will be IWRG guys, because, at that moment (on the list) is only 3-4 highflyers – Fenix, Flamita and other. Maybe Aerostar is way better to be on Fusion – more matches, more TV-time and other.
Does, actually, AAA have money to run two brands? Or after 3-4 montns of running there will be financial problems and they’ll be regret that idea?
“every Fusion taping should just be a Fenix title defense in the main event”
Absolutely correct. It;s my mantra from now.
Given everyone who was included in the split, its odd that Ricky Marvin was left off .
@Alan: That’s pretty funny considering he was in one of the main angles in the last tv tapings. I’d assume he’ll be in the Evolucion group, but really I would be SOOOO HAPPY if they put him in the Fusion group.
THE WORLD NEEDS RICKY MARVIN & GRONDA VS POLVO DE ESTRELLAS & NYGMA! #1 contenders for the AAA Tag Team Titles of course!
I’m still skeptical of what all this means. Clearly the FUSION group isn’t going to be running on their own with that roster. And if the goal is to hit the U.S. clearly the rosters aren’t divided that way b/c no way AAA comes to the U.S. with the FUSION roster and also no way they come to the U.S. without La Parka.
We’ll see how it plays out but I would assume aside from people being branded as Fusion or Evolucion they’ll all be working the same shows.
“Clearly the FUSION group isn’t going to be running on their own with that roster. And if the goal is to hit the U.S. clearly the rosters aren’t divided that way b/c no way AAA comes to the U.S. with the FUSION roster and also no way they come to the U.S. without La Parka.”
True. Very good thoughts.
But can i ask You a question?
What are Konnan & Dorian Roldan trying to create? A mexican version of WWE (only with blading)?
Does wrestling & lucha fans really need that?
i had a feeling sooner or later they would split the roster.a bit surprised el apache would be apart of the US brand.but it should be fun to see him wrestle in the us
Completely agree with Rob. If they plan on touring with that Fusion roster, than they better expect very low attendance for those shows. Why would you put Octagon separate from Pentagon?
Would it be wrong to just drop the brand split? Seems too contrived and confusing thus far
@CM93: I would let them actually try the split before canceling it.
Where’s Octagon Jr. ?
@cali: Where’s Heavy Metal?
Where’s Poochie?
Octagon Jr. is on the inactive list.
Heavy Metal is a good question.
Konnan is on the Evolucion brand but not listed there.
I actually think the rosters make sense. Octagon while not as good is a name that the US could know. I guess if L.A. Par-K was staying with AAA, he would have been on Evolucion. I am guessing La Parka Negra and Pentagon Jr. are in Fusion because it is not as known in America to have an evil dopleganger in wrestling (except for the Sin Caras.)
Where has Jack Evans been? I actually thought he didn’t work AAA anymore….
If only
Jack disappeared from AAA for a little bit (vacation? No mention of injury) and hasn’t been on the televisa show since he’s been back
Are they planning on doing separate tours, or is this only for their secondary television shows?
@frank: In theory, the Evolucion brand guys are a tour working the US shows (and probably Mexican shows as well), and the Fusion brand is the home team working around Mexico as a seperate tour.
In practice, they already sent out random people to random spot shows – depending a bit on how much the local promoter pays and who the local promoter pays – and I don’t expect that to change all that much. The brands will matter for TV shows, and maybe spot shows booked near the TV tapings but I wouldn’t expect more than that.