TripleMania XXIII lineup (Rey Mysterio Jr. versus Myzteziz, August 9th)

AAA TV (SUN) 08/09/2015 Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
TripleMania XXIII
1) Dinastía, Drago, Goya Kong, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Daga, Mamba, Mini Psycho Clown, Sexy Star
2) Averno, Chessman, Cibernético © vs Angélico, Fénix, Jack Evans and Hijo del Fantasma, Pentagón Jr., Texano Jr. [AAA TRIOS]
3) Blue Demon Jr. & La Parka vs El Mesías & Electroshock
Blue Demon 30th anniversary match
4) Villano III, Villano IV, Villano V vs Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
retirement matches for Villano III & Pepe Casas
5) Alberto el Patrón vs Brian Cage [hair]
6) Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Myzteziz
dream match

Air Date: live, on PPV in Mexico, United States and Canada and on iPPV at http://internetvluchalibreaaa.com/. It should make up the 08/22 and 08/29 TV shows, though that seems a little fast. It wouldn’t be a big surprise if they were bumped back a week.

The lineup was officially announced at a press conference today, though the English site had posted the full card before they got started. They started the press conference by announcing one match would be a cage match, but then never announced which one. Alberto & Cage weren’t at the press conference, but it seems like that would be the match to have a cage. It’d play off the roughly five billion different interference and referee spots in their last match, not that people don’t get involve in cage matches all the time in AAA. The press conference also announced Hijo del Perro Aguayo would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, with his family there to honor him.

The noteworthy moment of the press conference was a Rey & Myzteziz back and forth, with both guys getting testy as their match draws nears. Myzteziz said he would have no problem drawing from his ‘dark side’ to beat Rey, while Rey said he’d show who was the original and who was the copy. AAA has an imbalance of tecnicos and rudos on top. They need to elevate someone or turn someone, and it doesn’t look like they’re elevating all those guys in the segunda. The next ten days are going to include a fair bit of speculation of a Myzteziz rudo turn.

Myzteziz was asked about Alberto’s Twitter comments, but declined comment. Alberto’s deleted most of his posts (though it turns out Storify keeps deleted Twitter messages!)

As it turns out, the Alberto/Cage match is the only matches built off TV matches. Rey/Myzteziz have the face to face interviews. Villanos and Clowns have those just for the internet. Everything else is just made up on the spot. It feels like there were multiple, sometimes very different TripleMania cards and they didn’t decide which one would be used until late. Something with Jarrett seemed to have been planned, then unplanned. Just as recently as last week, Dr. Wagner Jr. versus Blue Demon Jr. was thought to be happening on this card. (The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions this match too.) It’s a show that should do well if they do a lot of press for the main event. The World Cup was similarly disconnected from everything else going on and it did well because they got people to buy in to the concept too, and this is an easier concept.

As a fan, I wish the third and fourth matches weren’t happening. The Parka/Demon/Mesias/Electro crew will work hard because of the show, but everyone’s going to work hard for this show and there’s better matches which could’ve been made. I’d be happy if the Villanos/Psycho Circus match is only bad, I’m more concerned it’ll be sad. They’ll be allowed to wear their masks, so that’ll help. The WON revealed Villano III’s recent health problem was a stroke and he’s not expected to be able to do much in this match. Hopefully they go short enough that no one notices, but it’s also a situation where the Psycho Circus should win and no one is going to want to see the Villanos lose. (Maybe Villano V defeats Psycho Clown to continue that issue.) Both of these matches are also really going to be tough for casual people checking on the show on PPV.

I like the other matches on this show. Rey Mysterio Jr. versus Myzteziz is going to be an incredible moment that’ll transcend the match itself, and the match itself could be pretty good. Cage versus Alberto should get the crowd and have some good moments, and maybe they’ll learn from what didn’t work in their last match. It’d be cool if the midcard guys got actual storyline at TripleMania, and if Cibernetico got trapped in the a closet, but the guys in the trios match will not let it be anything less than great. And the opener has a pretty good lineup for that sort of thing; it’s great to see Daga instead of other people who could’ve gotten that spot, Sexy Star will play off Goya well, and Dinastia and Mamba will both do crazy things on an opener.

I totally forgot about Sexy Star possibly being the woman to face Goya Kong in the opener. Mostly it’s because she hasn’t been around – this is her first AAA TV match since Verano de Escandalo. She’s hasn’t been working house shows much either; the London show was her first known match in two months. The WON mentions she’s not going to be working with AAA as much going forward and AAA will be trying out more women because they feel they need new faces. (That doesn’t sound particularly promising for Sexy Lady and La Jarochita, who work many house shows but are never used on TV.)

The WON also mentions Dave Meltzer himself was asked to do the English language PPV but turned it down. He thinks Striker or Mike Tenay would’ve done a better job, but isn’t sure if Tenay was asked (might have not bothered since his TNA deal would’ve made it impossible.)

I’ll be at this show and will have more on it before and after it takes place.