AAA on Televisa: 2016-07-16 

Recapped: 07/28/2016

What happened: Brian Cage defeated Texano & Wagner, then took the heavyweight belt for himself. Fenix won a title shot at Hijo del Fantasma. Zorro attacked Fenix for unclear reasons. Los Fronterizos attacked Los Perros del Mal. (Those last three plots all appear to be dropped by the time I’ve posted this.)

What was good:  The Fenix/Drago/Aerostar three way match falls apart with Aerostar’s quick injury. They make something out of it, though it’s not what you (or they) would’ve hoped for. Main event was good and actually told a story with the results.

Where can I watch it: It’s on my channel and AAA’s channel, and there’s handhelds of the last two matches.

Previously: Pentagon Jr. won the Latin American championship. The match is shown simply as Pentagon winning clean with the double stomp…

…but the show starts off with airing that same match, edited down to about 6 minutes. Pagano’s interference is shown this time.

Match 1: Argenis & Australian Suicide vs Daga & Joe Lider
Centro Civico Nueva Aragon, Ecatepec, Estado de México, 07/03/2016
Video: thecubsfan, Lucha Libre AAA

Winner: técnicos (DQ for punching Tirantes)
Match Time: 7:05
Notes: Hijo del Tirantes is referee. Lider’s left knee is heavily taped, and he’s slow getting up at times (which is played up in commentary as if it’s part of a story.) Daga takes much of the match for his team, though the tecnicos still fight him 1v1 (and no one really goes to their corner to wait for a tag. After Daga gives Argenis a suplex into a backcracker with everyone else out, Damian and Nicho rush into stomp the Perros. Tirantes tries to stop it and gets pushed back, then looks around at the fans a bunch for a reaction. Tirantes stops Lider fro getting involved, but Lider punches him. Tirantes sells it a little, and raises Argenis hand for the win. (The run-in isn’t a DQ, but the punch is.) Security breaks up the fight, though Daga throws out the guy hold him and attacks Nicho dramatically. The rudo duos tease fighting for quite a while before the segment ends.

Review: [ok] slower paced than usual, with the rudo side being handicapped by Joe Lider’s limitations, but this was still an entertaining midcard match until the usual AAA referee madness overwrote it. I’m actually not sure why Nicho & Damian were after Lider & Daga, seeing as their buddy just helped Pentagon win ‘last week’. Maybe the story is they’re equally confused as to the Perros/Fronterizos feud being suddenly dropped. In the match itself, Argenis moved well but his timing wasn’t so good. Daga did a good job, and they found ways for Lider to get big shots in the 20-30 spurts he was OK with working, but it was rough putting him out there. The Daga/Suicide thing barely exists.

Match 2: Fénix vs Drago vs Aerostar in a Number One Contenders Match for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
Centro Civico Nueva Aragon, Ecatepec, Estado de México, 07/03/2016
Video: RUDO VISION, thecubsfan, Lucha Libre AAA

Winner: Fenix (straddle springboard 450 splash)
Match Time: 6:54
Notes: Aerostar is moving slowly (for him) from the opening sequence of three way cradles, and grabs his knee after a rolling leap to the apron. Aerostar falls to the floor, and is taken out of the match. He’s later diagnosed with a knee injury. The match proceeds as a 1v1 match.

After the match, Zorro walks in, and attacks Fenix. Fenix actually evades for a moment, but eventually takes the superkick, a cane shot, and a curb stomp. Zorro mocks Fenix on the microphone.

Review: [good] A match of big spots that the crowd takes a while to warm up towards. It being all tecnicos hurts, and Aerostar dramatically leaving the match took them out of it anyway. They deserve credit for coming up with a new match on the spot, though the new match is hampered by just being both guys taking turns and nothing more. Fenix has advanced in some ways – he’s much better at playing to the crowd in small ways than he was prior to LU – but this is more a good job salvaging a bad situation then the peak of what these two could do against each other.

Noti AAA

• Latavius Murray of the Oakland Raiders visited the AAA taping in Mexico City
• Averno & Chessman are cutting a promo about Mary & Faby when they get a phone call. Averno tells “Faby”, on the phone, to stop being drunk indians.

Match 3: Texano Jr. vs Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Brian Cage
Centro Civico Nueva Aragon, Ecatepec, Estado de México, 07/03/2016
Video: RUDO VISION, thecubsfan, Lucha Libre AAA

• Cage F5 Wagner. (7:47)
• Cage Drill Claw Texano (9:36)

Winner: Brian Cage
Match Time: 9:36
Notes: Tirantes is referee for this one too. Usual AAA three way: Wagner & Cage work together to beat up Texano, then are taken off guard by the other guy actually wanting to win the match. Wagner being Wagner, this leads to a taunting competition before they actually fight. (It’s unclear the match is elimination rules until the match continues after Wagner is pinned.)

Tirantes stops Texano from using his bullrope later on, though the chair was legal earlier. This builds like a distractions pot, only Texano surprises Cage and pulls him into a crossface. Cage is finally able to escape by rolling it into a pin. Texano goes for a powerbomb into finish off cage, but Cage escapes, hits him with a high knee, and drops him with the Drill Claw for the win.

Cage calls Texano a piece of garbage, and Wagner an idiot in the mask. Cage notes he beat both by himself, and declares himself the real champion. Cage grabs the belt. Garbage is thrown in, and Tirantes hurries Cage to the ramp to pose before Texano can get him.

Review: [good] Kind of routine three way match for AAA, but the work was solid, the results made sense for where they were going, and it was actually done well enough that it should be where they were going: Cage pretty handily won, and should be getting a title shot. This had the usual issue of all the pinfalls coming in rapid succession, but they at least were able to squeeze in a couple near endings before the pinfall. Texano and Cage match up well enough that I’d like to see more of them.