AAA on Televisa: 2016-03-12 

Recapped: 03/12/2016

What happened: Octagon Jr. debuted. This time, it’s the former Fireball/Flamita. He was set up as opponent to Pentagon Jr. and might have beat him with a normal referee, but Pentagon Jr. ended up defeating his rival and advancing to the final of Rey de Reyes.

Apache cost Venum the opener with a drink to the face. The Xinetez continued rolling with a win over Psycho Circus.

What was good: The opener and the main event were really fun. The middle match accomplished what it set out to do.

Where can I watch it: It’s on AAA’s channel.

Previously: Pentagon retained and vacated the mixed titles. Today: Pentago in the last Rey de Reyes block, the trios champs and Ludxor/Venom vs Carta/Fly

Pentagon and Taya come to the ring to start the show. Pentagon mentions Hayabusa’s passing, calling him an inspiration and asks for a moment of applause. Pentagon transitions to talking about how the Perros are more united than ever, and praises Taya. Los Perros del Mal aren’t just the members, they’re everyone. Today, he’s going to go to the pass to the final for everyone. Pentagon says he’s ready for whoever the surprise luchador is, where ever he is from – he’s not scared of anything. Before he can say something the lights go off, and he’s interrupted by a symbol on the screen. Pentagon demands the mystery person stop being a coward and face him. A smoke machine goes off as if an entrance is going to happen, but nothing. Pentagon says that proves again that AAA’s scared of Perros del Mal.

The upcoming show lineups add a 04/08 show in Mexico City.

Match 1: Carta Brava Jr. & Súper Fly vs Ludxor & Venum
Gimnasio Agustín Millán, Toluca, Estado de México, 03/04/2016 
Video: luchalibreaaatv, thecubsfan

Winner: Rudos (Super Fly German suplex Venum)
Match Time: 10:24
Notes: Apache ran out and threw a giant cup of water in Venum’s face as he was going for a moonsault. Venum fell backwards into the ring and Super Fly, who had Tirantes attention, got a German suplex for the win.

Review: [great] whatever circumstances led to this match being added are great circumstances. So glad they added this match. Ludxor & Venum had a full match where everything was locked on, and Carta Brava & Super Fly were dedicated to just destroying them. Even the one big spot that didn’t go right – the toss into the crowd – came off as the rudos being even more vicious by throwing the tecnico just short. (The German suplex at the end looked hard too.) Ludxor & Venum had some nice dive sequences and the run of near falls added some drama to it. No clue where they could be going with the Apache stuff but more matches like this is only a good thing.

Match 2: Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Zorro
Gimnasio Agustín Millán, Toluca, Estado de México, 03/04/2016 
Video: luchalibreaaatv, thecubsfan

Winner: Los Xinetez (Scoria legdrop Murder Clown)
Match Time: 11:54
Notes: Los Xinetez have their belts and iron masks, and they jump the técnicos.

Review: [ok] something to confirm the trios champs as a top team, by having them beat the ex-top team. It wasn’t a great match but it served it’s purpose fine enough. The rudos have their look and their teamwork down already – but, as always with these guys, they feel like they’re missing something. They are trying hard to make it work and it’s the trios titles, so the bar Is low and they might as well get some more time to play out. And maybe their title match at Rey de Reyes will be more impressive. The match story here was Murder Clown is Not Very Good, and that was a very realistic story. This came up multiple times during the show: the Boing ad with figures zooming towards the screen has to go, it’s immensely distracting and pulls you out of the match. (They seemed to recognize it enough to avoid using the hard camera shot.)

Noti AAA

• AAA Medals! Rey Mysterio (not present), La Parka, and Psycho Clown. The project had been in the work for three months.
• Behind the scenes of the AAA/F1 commerical
• A creepy Los Xinetez video. They have a logo and everything.

On YouTube/UTDN, a recap of the previous Rey de Reyes blocks airs. The Quretaro taping is so much darker back to back.

Match 3: Pentagón Jr. vs Hijo del Fantasma, Fénix, Octagón Jr. in a AAA’s Rey de Reyes semifinal

Gimnasio Agustín Millán, Toluca, Estado de México, 03/04/2016 
Video: +LuchaTV, ENTRE SEGUNDA Y TERCERA, Lucha Libre AAA, +LuchaTV, luchalibreaaatv, thecubsfan

• Hijo del Fantasma Thrill of the Kill Fenix (10:43)
• Octagon Jr. Spanish Fly Hijo del Fantasma (11:22)
• Pentagon Jr. package piledriver Octagon Jr. (17:07)

Winner: Pentagon Jr.
Match Time: 17:07
Notes: The AAA music introduces the mysterious (Dragon for kanji symbol) and fades into a new music. Octagon Jr. debuts, wearing a Great Muta face covering. He unmasks coming into the ring. Announcers do not emphasis Octagon being Fireball (if they mention it at all, I missed it.) Pentagon and Octagon have problems immediately, then a brawl breaks out. Copetes slow counts a double pinfall, seemingly delayed by checking out who was down. He does the same after an Octagon Jr. 450 splash when it’s clear Pentagon is pinned. Octagon argues, and turns around into a Pentagon kick. That leads right into finish.

Pentagon cuts a victory promo after the match.

Review: [great] a four way big move match which is definitely worth checking out, even if it I’m not quite putting it the highest tier. Easily the best match of the Rey de Reyes tournament, and by some distance. These tournaments haven’t been known for good matches, and this was more akin to the recent ten man cruiserweight matches they’ve done. Everyone got in highlights and looked like they could’ve won the match. There wasn’t much story in the match, and so they really needed to nail everything, and there were a few small slipups. Crowd groaned at Fenix’s fireman carry kneelift spot and there were other moments where it seemed like the three usual guys and Octagon Jr. weren’t smooth together. And there’s the small problem of the finish, where Copetes does rudo referee slow counts that they pretend are just bad referee slow counts. It’s same old AAA. I liked Fenix’s tornillo, I liked him and Octagon working together for the top rope con giro, I liked Pentagon and Fantasma chop fight – I liked much of this match than I didn’t like.

The crowd reaction – which seemed much louder on the TV version – was pretty interesting. The match might have not spend much time telling a story, but a large part of the crowd thought Octagon Jr. debuting was bad news for Pentagon Jr. and really didn’t like the idea. Octagon did win people over the match, but that’s going to be the biggest challenge he has in this role: people really love Pentagon, and anyone set up as his rival is going to have a lot of people against him. Pentagon’s being treated as a crowd favorite heel – he beat two people on his own (mostly), he gave the tribute to the deceased luchador, he’s making promises and delivering on him. Octagon’s best path for starting might be far away from the guy he’s meant to be feuding with.