Arturo Rivera says Alberto Del Rio will debut for AAA at TripleMania
No one else is confirming it, and I never know what that means. Did Arturo speak too soon? Have they just not gotten around to it? Let’s assume this is all one the level (though you should read Arturo’s Twitter for people asking him questions about non-competes that he has no real answers about.)
We also don’t know anything more than that. Rivera did indicate he was coming in as Alberto Del Rio. My assumption is AAA wouldn’t be using ADR if they thought he was still bound to WWE by a no-compete (after a false start, they were careful there with Myzteziz) and there might not be one Del Rio was fired. It’s unclear if this is a one appearance deal or something more (though debut implies more.)
It’s unlikely he’ll be able to use the Alberto Del Rio name without some issue. WWE did register the trademark (Expediente numbers 1189099, 1189100, 1189101, 1189103) and will hold those trademarks for a decade more. However, as AAA has seen themselves, it’s often tough to enforce those trademarks.
Hijo de Dos Caras isn’t losing in the ring? Can’t wait for Alberto to get here.
AAA’s TV this weekend was interesting in what wasn’t shown. TripleMania is only six days away, and there’s been zero on screen mentions of the Myzteziz, Dr. Wagner Jr., Cibernetico, Perro Aguayo Jr. four way match. That looks to be the biggest drawing match on the show on paper and you would not know it’s happening if you only followed AAA on TV. It’s appeared AAA produced weeks of TV from Ecatepec at the same time and also appeared a did not have a full TripleMania card to promote as recently as two weeks ago.
Even if AAA was late to figure out the card, they had to know they’d have a press conference about the show by last week. They could’ve replaced some empty space in the show* to show highlights from the press conference or just something as simple as someone putting up a graphic for the card. Instead, the first time AAA’s TV will promote a four way featuring four of the biggest stars of the last decade will be one day before TripleMania takes place.
(* – It was an AAA three match show, so there was plenty of empty space. Those entrances kill me. Protip: best time during TripleMania to make a run for food is the relevos AAA or the Cruiserweight ten way, because both will take 10 minutes to get started.)
Let me turn this discussion on it’s head and defend AAA for a second. (!!!!!!) The TV build really has totally been about Psycho Clown and Texano Jr. Only that match and the Taya/Faby match have been built up on TV, and the Taya/Faby one is more a midcard feud (though one they’ve done well with given it’s role.) Others feuds continue on TripleMania, but you wouldn’t be certain about them if you only followed TV – the big TripleMania video package teases both a Suicide/Pentagon mask match and Psicosis appearing, neither of which is happening. There are other ways for AAA to reach potential fans – they’re doing a lot of media in the lead up to the show and so those other matches will get hyped there – but if follow AAA by only watching the TV show, the only big match on TripleMania is Psychlo Clown versus Texano Jr.
I’ve been skeptical (to underplay it) of AAA’s ability/interest in creating new stars, but they’ve backed their way into proviing it. Texano/Psycho might have been intensely boring for the long stretches but TripleMania drawing 20,000 fans would be a pretty good indication that it worked. The TripleMania name in Mexico is very strong and that would still be the #1 draw for this show, but those two young guys would be #2. If this works out, it’s a credit to those two guys and to those who trusted them with that position.
Polvora defeated Dragon Rojo last night in Guadalajara. It’s blurry, but there doesn’t appear to be any other results on the rest of the article. CMLL is back to posting Guadalajara reports on it’s website, so it may turn up eventually.
The last time they did this main event, they put drew the captains names, put them in the envelope and then pulled the names out to reveal who’s hair/mask was on the line at the end. I assume the same thing here. AULL has been pretty dominant in this feud up until now.
CMLL (SUN) 08/17/2014Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Dr. Frezeer vs Relampago Azul
2) El Ídolo vs El Acertijo
3) Sky Kid & Smaker vs Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno
4) Esfinge & Exterminador vs Espectrum & Maléfico
5) Lluvia vs Zeuxis
6) Atlantis, Cachorro, Dragon Lee vs Cavernario, Hechicero, Terrible
That seems like a fun main event.
ChilangaMask (SAT) 09/20/2014Arena Roberto Paz, Guadalajara, Jalisco
1) Astro Rey Jr. vs Dorado Jr., Reggae Boy, Sangre Fria Jr., Draego, Aero Extreme
2) Chik Tormenta vs Estrella Explosiva, ?
3) Belial & Impulso vs Arez & Psico Kid
4) Masada vs Aero Boy, Kaientai, Makabre
5) Black Terry & Tony Rodriguez vs Trauma I & Trauma II
Full lineup for the show. Mystery Guadalajara woman has long hair, judging from her photo.
CMLL (SUN) 08/10/2014Arena México 1) Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany b Dark Angel, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi Rudas took 2/3. 2) Misterioso Jr., Pierroth, Sagrado b Ángel de Oro, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. Rudos took 1/3. Sagrado and Angel continued to feud, and Sagrado beat Angel. Misterioso mistakenly hit Sagrado during the match. 3) Blue Panther, Rey Cometa, Super Porky b Ephesto, Hombre sin Nombre, Mephisto The mystery debutante was first given the name Lucifer, but it was changed to Hombre sin Nombre days later. He was wearing an outfit a lot like Ephesto’s old Hombre Sin Nombre old outfit. Tecnicos took 1/3, the last when HSN fouled Panther. 4) Oro Jr. b Metálico [mask] Seconds were Misterioso & Plata. Metalico won a quick fall one, Oro won a quick fall two. Crowd turned on the match a bit during the third fall, which Oro won on his second try at the armscissors submission. Crowd got louder after the match. Metalico was revealed to be Salvador Munguia, 44 years old, from DF, 22 a luchador. 5) Máscara Dorada, Stuka Jr., Valiente b Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas Tecnicos took the first by DQ (excessive violence) and the second clean in a nothing match. This set up a rematch to trios title match. 6) Euforia, Rey Escorpión, Último Guerrero b Diamante Azul, Rush, Volador Jr. Diamante Azul replaced Maximo (head injury). Rudos took 1/3. Rush did not get along with his partners. Rush was having trouble with his left leg near the end of the match, which seemed to cause the lackluster finish: Rush missed a limping dropkick, Ultimo Guerrero covered him, and got the ropes for the win. Rush seemed to be walking better after the match.
Really disappointing show. Oro did not show much in his big opportunity and may have locked himself into a lifetime of working the first half of the card (a lot like Metalico.) Super Halcon Jr. and Hombre Bala Jr. had a better big apuesta match and they’re no farther; there are dozens of more promising guys than Oro looked today. Rest of the card just fell apart from there, with the semimain being almost a joke (and hurt the interest in the trios title match next week instead of helping it just by the booking), while the main event had some laughably short falls and a short circuited finish.
Hombre sin Nombre didn’t look like Hechicero. He didn’t look like anyone in particular, except a guy wearing Ephesto’s old gear. He didn’t look like the mask CMLL posted on Facebook, which suggests that was the Lucifier gimmick and they just dug out something from closet when plans changed there.
The Arena Coliseo Guadalajara Twitter was quiet today.
On the latest MLW Radio podcast, Konnan mentions the plan was to tape AAA El Rey show at the end of August over 3 days. That plan may change to early September, because they want to use guys who are working PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles and they would be unavailable. That tournament starts 08/29. The El Rey tapings will take place in Los Angeles at a building El Rey owns, but Konnan was not allowed to say where. That suggests it’s a closed set (a building they’re filling with extra and not fans, as with previous LA based wrestling projects.)
Pushing the tapings back to the following weekend would mean a conflict with the AAA tapings in Mexico, but that may actually be an issue. (It may be pushed back later than that, as everything has been so far.) I don’t have the rest of this information confirmed, it’s very second and third handy, but it’s also clearly word that’s gotten out to various people the last few weeks based on bits and pieces which have turned up elsewhere: my impression is that the El Rey show will heavily use wrestlers from the US and not be built around those from AAA Mexico. There was a plan all along to bring in some US indy guys to augment the roster and to work as the evil lucha hating opposition. It’s going to be more than now. My impression is people in charge somewhere along the line decided those watching the show wouldn’t be able to tell the ethnicity of the people under the mask and gear, and then also decided it would just be easier to use Americans. And so it’s a show now waiting to tape based on the availability of the Southern California indy guys and not so much the Mexicans. This would not be an AAA call – they don’t have the reigns here – but more likely a Mark Burnett decision since he’s producing.
(I’m completely unclear if this means there will be a whole bunch of new characters for AAA US or if they’ll be “US” versions of the existing AAA characters. I don’t even want to think about it much, honestly.)
If this is right – and again, this is unconfirmed but based on what I’ve heard the last few weeks – that would also greatly harm if not killed the greater idea of a touring promotion. The US Indy guys can get work on their own, aren’t tied to AAA in the same way the Mexicans are, and really just playing a role on a TV show than working on a wrestling gimmick. I’ve also heard vague notions about the show being way out there in a way where it might not translate well to a traveling promotion. PWInsider alluded to that. It was asked elsewhere if this show would be like the “Power Rangers”, and I’m not sure I can rule that out. The little I know suggests the show is more an active adventure stage show than a sports event; people do travel around doing those shows (occasionally On Ice), but that’s a lot different product than AAA is presenting in Mexico. At any rate, the TV show is being produce like a TV show, and not something supposed to lead to AAA touring the Southwest or any of the big ideas they had when this project started
This El Rey show, whatever it’s called, may actually turn out to be good. The guys in PWG put on a really great shows and the knowledge about the concept is so thin that I don’t want to knock it before I’ve seen. It also may yet turn out successful in itself; El Rey doesn’t really have much reach on it’s own, but there’s been consistent talk about the show eventually reairing on Univision and that’d be a difference maker.
At the same time, this would be a complete disappointment in terms of what AAA planned and promoted for this project. They might get their name out to the US, but even that’s not a sure thing – they might call it something else. What AAA has for sure is credit and some money for coming up with the idea, but they may be legally bound to a product that doesn’t have much else to do with them and prevents them from making a better deal elsewhere. (AGAIN.) AAA loudly declared they were coming to the US. Something which credits AAA at the end of the show may be coming to the US, but the promotion itself does not appear to be expanding out of Mexico.
Rarely have I wanted people to start yelling at me about getting a story wrong than this one. It’s depressing. I have a lot more thoughts about this, but the story’s more interesting than anything I think.
Ingobernables versus Gran Guerrero is your lure to not go to TripleMania. Good luck with that. Thinking there’s a really good shot of Rush/UG happening here as well before the Anniversary show; the finish might have been botched but it probably was where they were going in the end.
Mr. Niebla won’t be in the Universal tournament (with Volador, who’s name I couldn’t remember Saturday) until after his title match here. They’ve done title matches during the Universal tournament prior and usually the champion just wins. Assuming the same here, but Niebla probably keeps his spot regardless.
Sagrado not fighting Angel de Oro is good, Sagrado being stuck with those two lunkheads is bad.
