AAA TripleMania XXIV: 2016-08-28 

Recapped: 08/28/2016

What happened: Psycho Clown defeated Pagano for his hair in the main event. The finish and outcome was overshadowed by Dr. Wagner Jr. first trying to cost Psycho Clown the match, then challenging Psycho Clown to a mask match at next year’s TripleMania. Psycho Clown readily accepted.

Texano retained the heavyweight championship by defeating Brian Cage. A post match attack by team Trump suggested Mesias would be the next challenger.

Johnny Mundo defeated Pentagon Jr. to win the Latin American championship when Taya betrayed Pentagon and joined Team Trump.

Aerostar & Drago surprisingly won the tag team titles, with Drago defeating Paul London. Garza Jr. replaced Fenix, who appears to be done in AAA for the moment.

Averno & Chessman versus Mary Apache & Faby Apache ended in no apparent finish. El Apache stopped the rudos when Averno attempted to gain revenge on Faby hitting him with a bottle by doing the same to her. The rudos attacked Apache, and broke a light tube over Faby when she had a visual pinfall. Apache tried to save his daughters, but was attacked by Ricky Marvin. Averno, Chessman and Ricky Marvin are now “O G T” and had new t-shirts, but we never got a good enough shot of those shirts to know what OGT means.

Australian Suicide defeated Daga to win the TripleMania Cup. Daga’s foot was on the ropes, missed by the referee, and he attacked Suicide after the match.

Rey Misterio won the Lucha Underground trios match.

Art Barr & Joaquin Roldan were added to the Hall of Fame.

What was good (and not good):  The tag title match was the best match on the show. The crowd reacted strongest to the main event, though it was technically not much good. The Pentagon/Mundo, heavyweight title, and LU trios match were at best passable good, but also nowhere as near as good imagined. Whether it’s TripleMania booking or (positive) crowd noise not being picked up as well in Arena Ciudad de Mexico, those matches all felt like they’d been better in any other situation. The Daga/Suicide ending of the Copa TripleMania battle royal was good as well.

Having a long term plan is great, and Dr. Wagner Jr. versus Psycho Clown would be a giant match if it occurred. Given AAA’s history, and Dr. Wagner’s lifetime of setting up mask matches and not doing them, it’s very hard to take seriously. The way it was announced also completely obliterated what was just the main event of their show, with AAA trampling over the Pagano/Psycho ending in a hurry to make next year’s match.

Joaquin Roldan appeared not to know he was going into the Hall of Fame, seemed very touched by the moment, and did his best to make it not about him. It was still groan inducing. The list of people who’ve made big contributing to AAA is very long, and only 12 of them are in before Joaquin. Putting yourself in your own Hall of Fame is never a good look, but it’s particularly bad optics after the last fifteen months AAA’s had. It was a poor job of reading the room, as the AAA crowd made it clear they didn’t like the idea. Much like the main event, the way they put Roldan in the Hall of Fame reduced Art Barr to a minor footnote they were racing past to get to the real news, and that’s no way to treat an introduction.

Particularly, putting a promoter in a Hall of Fame for doing such an excellent job moments after Fenix no-showed the tag team title match took some gumption. The situation with Fenix and AAA has clearly been going on since at least the Veracruz taping, and AAA opted to be dishonest about it the entire way. Fenix is a popular guy, but Fenix to Garza wasn’t going to cost them any tickets. It will cost them trust, and that’s why no one’s really going to believe them about Wagner and Psycho until they’re both in the ring next year, and Villano IV or someone else isn’t added to take the pinfall.

The English announcers, particular Matt Striker, seemed better prepped for the show than in times past. Hugo, as usual, came off as if he very little specific knowledge and talked in big generalities to avoid getting trapped on getting those details wrong. Striker knew the history of all the feuds (and even some that weren’t scheduled, like Psycho/Wagner) and came off like he somewhat followed the product. There were a lot of details he got wrong, but that part seemed like progress. The other parts of Striker’s antics were out of control and harmful to the show. Striker and Team Trump were specifically a poor mix; Striker saw the group as an opening for a discussion of his political views and verbally bristled when he got a poor reaction to them, blowing off the finish of the Pentagon/Mundo match because he was so annoyed.

Vampiro replaced Hugo for the Lucha Underground match and was awful. I don’t think he’d mind that review, because he clearly wasn’t trying to be anything but awful. It came off as both Vampiro was being required to do announcing on this show and didn’t want to do it, and also that Vampiro had been drinking or doing something before going out there. (Here’s some highlights.)

The English announcing on these shows have peaked at “below average” and usually been much worse. It’s really hard to understand why AAA continues to bring in English announcer for these shows, because they are actively making matches less enjoyable for people listening in that language. The Spanish announcers did not sound like they were much better tonight, taking time to use offensive language and expose the identity of all the Lucha Underground wrestlers (except Mil Muertes, oddly enough), but maybe that’d just be random noise to the English fans,

At any rate, this whole concept desperately needs to be re-evaluted. If the idea of English announcers it to appeal to English speaking fans, AAA’s been failing and failing repeatedly.

The whole Lucha Underground presentation was also a failure. Five of the six guys were thrown out with no introduction. AAA presented the guys like unknowns being shoved out on a major show, and the fans whistled at them to get off the stage so the real stars could appear. If this was an idea to get Mexican fans to push for Lucha Underground to be shown in Mexico, it was rejected. If this was an appeal to American fans to try TripleMania, they probably went away excited to see these guys back in their normal environment but disinterested in seeing them treated like non-entities in AAA.

The video quality of the show was mostly fine, but the production choices were aggravating. They fell in love with crowd shows, hoping for big reactions, and often cut away from the ring during moves or during pinfalls. Important spots and action were missed during live action repeatedly. There was a loud buzz over the sound system during the later portions of the show, though they got it under control at some points.

This show was overall much better than last year’s shows, but there’s still plenty of issues. I didn’t feel this was a waste of time, simply that it could’ve and should’ve been better

Where can I watch it: It’s still available on iPPV and will start to air on TV a week from Saturday. Given the length of the show (around 3.5 hours), much will be cut or edited.

What’s next?: Heroes Inmortales on 10/04. Mesias/Texano seems like a lock, and matches like Garza/Mundo, Drago/Aerostar vs Cage/Hernandez, and all three Apaches versus Ricky/Chessman/Averno seem plausible. AAA’s clearly planning on actually doing Suicide/Daga sometime soon, and it may even happen this time.

Match 1: La Parka vs El Elegido, Taurus, Hernandez, Pimpinela Escarlata, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Daga, Súper Fly, Zorro, Australian Suicide, Mamba, Argenis [TripleMania Cup]
Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 08/28/2016

• Mamba, Australian Suicide, Daga & La Parka start

• Taurus enters (1:18)

• Super Fly enters (2:24)

• Mamba eliminated by Taurus (3:09)

• Hernandez enters (3:26)

• Argenis enters (4:36)

• Hijo del Pirata Morgan (5:34)

• Pimpinela Escarlata enters (6:54)

• Pimpinela Escarlata eliminated (8:02)

• El Elegido enters (8:11)

• El Zorro enters (9:14)

• Argenis eliminated (10:26)

• Taurus & Hernandez double eliminated (10:58)

• Eleigdo eliminated (12:03)

• Zorro eliminated by La Parka (12:30)

• La Parka eliminated by Daga (13:34)

• Australian Suicide tornillo shooting star press Daga (21:13)

Winner: Australian Suicide
Match Time: 21:13
Notes: Argenis turned out to be the mystery man. The final was Suicide & Daga, being to one fall. Daga grabbed the microphone and talked about wanting to win this match since Perro Aguayo Jr. won it last. Daga & Suicide had about a six minute match to themselves. Daga had his bottom foot on the rope at the pin, which Piero missed. (AAA’s camera misses in on the first two Daga attacked Suicide, which caused the trophy to break, and unmasked Suicide.

Review: [ok/good] the battle royal was a normal battle royal, with guys standing around most of the time, or just feeding themsleves to the new guy. Argenis being the surprise luchador feels like something fell through. Super Fly and Hijo del Pirata Morgan took crazy falls to the floor, though I think Pirata and Daga were trying for something else. The Daga/Suicide was almost separate match, and a good bit by itself. They meshed pretty well, and should have a good mask match if they get to it. Daga dedicating the match to Perro and then losing was a good way to get Suicide booed for winning, which I’m not sure was really a great idea.

Match 2: Faby Apache & Mary Apache vs Averno & Chessman
Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 08/28/2016

Winner: no result is announced – maybe no contest, maybe even Averno & Chessman by referee stop.
Match Time: 9:07 (to the point where Apache called for medical help)
Notes: The English announcers refer to Averno & Chessman as the Hell Brothers, which they haven’t been since Cibernético left in January. As it turned out, Ricky Marvin ran in post match with a new t-shirt and group name. Averno attempted to hit Faby with a beer bottle as Faby had done to him, but Apache broke it up. Chessman literally kicked Apache out of the ring, Faby got Chessman with a super huracanarna, and Averno hit Faby with a lightube to break the pin. (Faby’s bleeding from the forehead, somehow.) Chessman spears Mary and the rudos hang Faby upside down for something that’s never made clear, but El Apache returns to hit both Hell Brothers with a chair. Ricky Marvin shows up, wearing the OGT shirt, to hit Apache with a chair. The rudo briefly attack the doctors who try to help, and the Apaches end up bleeding. The rudos put on OGT shirts, completely missed by the cameras, and try to hold up OGT letters to the camera (but can’t get them in order)

Review: [ok] There might have been a good match in here, but it got completely lost in the storyline overdrive by the end. They had the possible strengths, with Chessman and (especially) Averno selling big for Faby and Mary’s offense, but it also felt randomlly back and forth and eventually killing time until they could get to the run. No one was particularly close to winning at any point, or seemed very concenred about the outcome. The match mostly made me think it’s a shame Faby’s never gotten a run someplace else which could better make use of her; she came off as a star at times, but was destroyed at the end. I was shocked when they did light tubes in the second match, given the style of the main event. They did everything but light tubes in the main event, and they wanted to end the match with the women badly beaten. Now this entire feud looks like a weird way to put a lot of heat on Chessman & Averno, who got away with everything they did and humiliated their rivals at the end. Very strange.

The AAA/Panini album was announced here. The album is free, the stickers to put in the album are very much not free. 

Match 3: Angélico & Jack Evans © vs Matt Cross & Paul London and Aerostar & Drago and Garza Jr. & Hijo del Fantasma for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 08/28/2016

Winner: Aerostar & Drago (Drago Mist->Dragon’s Tail Paul London)
Match Time: 11:49
Notes: Aerostar wore a half Abismo Negro mask. Garza Jr. replaced Fenix. This was first pinfall to a winner. Tirantes didn’t seem to see the mist, but it’s not been treated like a DQ in the recent past.

Review: [great] best match on the show to me, with a fast pace and big moves pretty much going all right. They rotated people in and out of the match to try and give everyone a few moments, and to always keep the match moving. The crowd didn’t react as strongly as I did. I’m not sure if it’s Arena Ciudad de Mexico not being miced well, or this TripleMania fanbase not being as into these guys, but this same match would’ve gotten a crazy reaction in Naucalpan or Toluca and seemed to get a respectful one. (Still, that’s better than some later ones received.) London & Cross both looked great and fit in with the other guys perfectly. Fantasma looked like star from the moment he entered with his gear, and made a big impression with his tope. Too bad for him Aerostar was coming right after. It felt like we got some Jack early, and he disappeared late (as Angelico kept trying to win with the crucifix powerbomb.) Garza replacing Fenix is a problem – his character and style slows down a frantically paced match like this – but it was probably only a one show problem. I’m not sure if the trail of the tag team titles really makes any sense, but it’s neat to see Drago & Aerostar finally get a moment of glory in their own promotion after being successful elsewhere. (It would not last.)

Joaquin Roldan appeared to induct Art Barr into the Hall of Fame. A short video plays – we’re shown the video playing on the monitor from far away, but not the video itself, which makes it hard to impossible to watch. Joaquin also unveils a plaque. Jesus Zuniga interrupts to announce a surprise, and sends it to a video of Joaquin Roldan. Marisela and Dorian join him. Joaquin seems surprised and touched. Dorian and Marisela both talk about Joaquin. There’s a good bit of whistling as this goes on (and it goes on longer than the Love Machine induction as a result.) The whistling continues as Joaquin accepts the award, and accepts it on behalf of the entire AAA team and thanks the fans.

German Sanchez is also honored. He’s already got the OGT shirt on (with cut of arms and a hoodie, so it might be Avenro’s actual shirt.) A silver medal got him a second row seat, got to get a gold to be in the front row I guess.

Match 4: Pentagón Jr. © vs Johnny Mundo for the AAA Latin American Championship
Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 08/28/2016

Winner: Johnny Mundo
Match Time: 15:05
Notes: Hernandez seconded Mundo. Taya, Joe Lider and Kahn-Del-Mal accompany Pentagon to the ring. (Neither announcer knows Kahn, who leaves at the start of the match.) Pentagon brings his Mucha Luchas title and Perros del Mal title. Joe Lider is bleeding during the match, and I’m totally uncertain how or why even after watching it twice. Hernandez and Taya both tyr to help out from the apron around 13 minutes in, which lead to Piero taken a superkick. Pentagon got a visual pinfall in the process. Taya and Lider wake the referee, then Taya fouls Pentagon to give Mundo the win. Taya and Mundo embrace after the match.

Review: [good] This felt better on the rewatch than it did live. I think I was more prepared for Striker, who was at his absolute worse during this match. This was a finish with a lot of important things happening: Mundo winning the title, Pentagon being cheated out of the win, and Taya defecting from the Perros del Mal, but the most important thing for Matt Striker in that moment was to get in his self described political rhetoric and then yell at people for not embracing it. It was about the last effective way to get over a major angle, and it was Striker attempting to be edgy or funny or controversial and just coming up annoying and distracting. The only knowledge I gained from this is Arena Ciudad de Mexico’s wifi must have improved over the last year, because Striker appeared to be reacting to Twitter comments during the show.

There was some good drama in the match if you could tune people out, with the matching building from a rather slow start to an exciting conclusion. The problems were too much interference spots (especially early if they were going to come back to it at the end for the finish), and some of the offense didn’t look as good as hoped. Pentagon “shoving” Mundo into a flip off the top rope really came off badly, but they got the real near falls well. The turn makes no sense unless you know Mundo & Taya are a couple in both Lucha Undeground and in real life. They didn’t really build to it at all to make it a shock, and still most everyone figured out it was coming.

Match 5: Marty Martinez, Matanza, Mil Muertes vs Dragón Azteca Jr., Prince Puma, Rey Misterio Jr.
Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 08/28/2016

Winner: técnicos (Rey Mysterio frog splash Marty Martinez)
Match Time: 11:55
Notes: Only Vampiro and Rey got enterance. The rest all walk out while Vampiro is speaking. Vampiro speaks while Hugo’s left the booth, so we got nothing but a confused Striker trying for a bit, then giving up entirely. Vampiro joins Striker for the match, and seems quickly uninterested in being there and also as if he’s not completely there. He takes off his headset the very moment the match ends, though he makes sure to hug Marisela. Rey wears a Perros del Mal cut shirt as a ring jacket, Perro’s boots, and “Perrito” on his back. The rudo team does not get along, which the announcers do not pick up on.

Review: [good] this is another one that felt a little bit better watching it a second time. The match was very much harmed by the entire presentation, from the non-Misterio guys being treated like meaningless talent to Vampiro and Striker entertaining themselves and outright disrespecting the match as it was going on. (Nothing raised the stock of the behind the scenes LU people than the level of performances Striker & Vampiro give when they’re left to their own devices.) The problem was, with six guys, who were mostly unknown, it wasn’t look enough or well done enough to make anyone besides Rey feel all that meaningful. They tried a bit with Puma & Azteca, who had some fun double team stuff, but it got lost in the mix. They did enough stuff that I liked – just the changing partners when trying to get the big monsters out of the ring stuck out to me – that I’m giving this a positive grade, but it’s not nearly as good as much as it looked on paper and you really have to overlook the announcing and the crowd’s negative reaction. Mil Muertes looked a lot like not impressive Mesias during parts of this match. I’d forget Marty was in the match at times, and Matanza just being a guy in a match is so strange compared to his Lucha Underground work. I’m not sure what this was supposed to accomplish, but unless this was a situation where Rey was only going to work with LU guys, it didn’t accomplish much.

Match 6: Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Texano Jr. ©, Cage for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship
Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 08/28/2016

Winner: Texano Jr. (small package)
Match Time: 11:16

After the win, Mesias, Taya, Mundo and Hernandez attacked Trump. Drago and Aerostar attempted to make the save but it didn’t go well. Garza Jr. almost got to Taya, but Mundo made the save and they double teamed. Mesias poses with the belt.

Review: [good] This was alright, but again not as good as I’d hoped, missing some sort of flow. Both the three way aspect and Wagner in general didn’t help out, and Texano bleeding so much was reduced by it being the third match already to have heavy blood. (He also bled off a kick to the head, which is pretty random for a blood spot in this promotion.) The best sections of the match were the closing bits with Texano and Cage at the end, just because it gave it a bit more of a focus.

Match 7: Pagano vs Psycho Clown for the hair and for the mask
Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, 08/28/2016

Winner: Psycho Clown
Match Time: 27:46
Notes: Damian & Nicho ran out to attack Psycho Clown after about 25 minutes of weapon shots and props (mostly set up by Pagano, who would then have the move backfire on him.) Dr. Wagner made the save, only to foul Psycho Clown and drop him with a Wagner Driver. Pagano covers after a delay, and only gets two. Wagner and Pagano set a table in the corner on fire, with AAA turning down the lights. (It takes a wile for the table to get on fire. They never actually try to do something to Psycho, Psycho just spears them both (mostly Pagano) into the flaming table. Pagano rolls around the table, then Psycho covers him for three. Tirantes has no problem counting.

Murder and Monster show up to celebrate. Dr. Wagner stops things from going out any father, and challenges Psycho Clown to a mask match at TripleMania XXV next year. Psycho Clown accepts. Pagano speaks last, saying he will get his hair cut, and does so to end the show.

Review: [below average] a garbage match that went on and on and on, repeating the same bits and meaning nothing after. None of it makes sense afterwards – why did the other Clowns not help? Why did Wagner try to cost Psycho’s mask if he wanted to make the challenge? Why did Pagano and Wagner just let Psycho spear them into the table – but it was supposed to be a big spectacle and not a logical match in the least. It was a match full of crazy spots, some of which worked well, some of which looked pretty bad. They put a lot into it, which made the post match minimizing it pretty defeating. They turned this match into just a prleude for the actual important match next year and made you wonder why you had spent money on the build up.