AAA on Televisa: 2016-07-30 

Recapped: 08/10/2016

What happened:  Johnny Mundo beat Pentagon Jr. and said he’d be taking his title. Hijo del Fatnasma returned. Fenix and Daga had a really good match. Gran Apache attacked Venom for the 500^th time.

What was good: Fenix versus Daga! There were parts of the other matches which were good but neither totally came together for me.

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

Previously: Pagano defeated Psycho Clown again. Chessman & Averno did not win, thanks to Faby Apache. Chessman & Averno made fun of the Apaches.

Match 1: Garza Jr., Niño Hamburguesa, Venum vs Dave The Clown, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Súper Fly
Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 07/08/2016
Video: Lucha Libre AAA

Winner: rudos (Hijo del Pirata Morgan cross armed piledriver Venum)
Match Time: 7:09
Notes: Dave the Clown gets last introductions for his team. Gran Apache caused Venum to lose, as always.

Review: [ok] borderline match; could see rating it higher because there were really good parts of the show. I’m not sure if it was intended to be a Venum showcase, but he certainly stood out with his flying moves early on (and of course was involved in the finish.) Pirata & Super Fly are good rudos for him to work against, and Dave the Clown was best when he was wandering outside the ring away from the action. Garza Jr. was so over with the women, it overpowered the normally negative reaction to those type of characters on Mexico City AAA shows. He and Hamburguesa teasing a tandem dive made me think they’d be an odd couple tag team, and they’ll probably at least keep running into each other on these trios. There wasn’t too much to story of the match, putting Dave in to take Niño spots was not a good idea for anyone, and the Apache interference stuff is beyond tiresome, but this wasn’t bad.

Match 2: Fénix vs Daga
Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 07/08/2016
Video: RUDO VISION, Lucha Libre AAA

Winner: Fenix (springboard Spanish fly)
Match Time: 12:36

Review: [excellent] superb match. The first few minutes were a lot of exchanging their usual bits of tag/trios offense, as if it was a better than average lightning match, but they elevated it from there into a more surprising fight. They got the crowd for a while, and Fenix’s reversal into a huracanrana. It was quite back and forth for the last half without feeling like a turn taking exhibition; the pace was good, and they messed with the rhythm to keep it feeling organic.

This might have been Daga’s best ever 1v1 match; I’d have to look back to find one better, because these sort of opportunities are rare for him. (I easily liked it better than Texano/Daga, and that was a pretty good one too.) He’s definitely felt more complete than his big indie run years ago. Both guys are more – theatrical is what I want to says, but that seems demeaning in a wrestling context and I don’t mean it like that, maybe emotive? Maybe just no longer feeling like they’re doing a match in an empty room. They’re not overacting, but they’re reacting better and smarter – Daga messing with the crowd covered up what looked like a Fenix slip before late, and that’s not something he would’ve thought to do before. I want more of this every week.

Noti AAA is from the TripleMania press conference.

• The Apaches talk about their match

• Copa TripleMania. This includes footage of the multiman cruiserweight match from two years ago and a quick shot of Perro; we’re doing the same competition he won, but trying to make it look more like the cruiserweight one.

• Four way tag match is mentioned, with special attention to London/Cross and Fenix/Fantasma

• Pentagon Jr. talks about his match with Johnny Mundo as we see clips of the Lucha World Cup.

• The Lucha Underground trios match is hyped by Joaquin, though only Puma & Rey Mysterio are mentioned. We may never know what Dragon Azteca’s name is.

• Texano, Wagner and Cage talk about the heavyweight title match.

• Psycho Clown and Pagano fight. They do not listen to request to tranquillo.

Match 3: Hijo del Fantasma, Pentagón Jr., Texano vs El Mesías, Hernandez, Johnny Mundo
Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 07/08/2016
Video: RUDO VISION, Lucha Libre AAA

Winner: Team Trump (Fin de Mundo on Pentagon)
Match Time: 13:56
Notes: Hernandez has Puetro Rico flag and Mundo a US flag. Mesias is wearing his Muerte Cibernética mask again and throwing on tortillas to the crowd. He also takes the microphone after Texano & Pentagon arrive, but not their mystery partner – he’s that in a hurry to praise his man Trump. He asks his partner’s their opinion on Mexico City people – they both agree they’re trash. Texano argues the rudos are the only three trash people. Texano says his team is the best of Mexico: Cero Miedo Pentagon, the megachampion, and their partner. Texano welcomes back Hijo del Fantasma. Fantasma even has his belt! Fantasma charges the ring – and immediately gets beat up, because sometimes AAA can’t help being AAA. Rudos beatdown the técnicos for quite a while, but it is Fantasma who starts the comeback three minutes later. Fantasma distracts Tirantes from seeing Texano use the bullrope, which might mean it’s a DQ.

Mundo taunts the crowd in English and Spanish, the best part of which is the captioning correcting Mundo’s Spanish errors. Mundo says it’s now his mission to bring the Latin American title away from Pentagon. They cut Mundo off after he threatens to take everyone to slam time.

Review: [ok] This really felt like it should’ve been something more than it was, and maybe those expectations are hurting me more than the match deserves. The crowd was definitely buying into it, but the match never came off as more than a random trios. Maybe this was more on the rudos, who didn’t do much interesting with their domination of the match, or maybe it was because they weren’t really building any particular feud during the match until the very end. I would’ve figured Fantasma would be spotlighted more in the match for his big return, but he felt no more important than anyone else, and Mesias screwed up the timing of his tope. The last minute of Pentagon/Mundo was pretty good and give sme great hope for their singles match.