Recapped: 12/04/2017
Matches:
Ángel Mortal Jr., Australian Suicide, Tiger Boy, Villano III Jr. beat Angelikal, Chicano, Hijo Del Vikingo, Lanzelot
(6:03, Australian Suicide layout frontcracker Chicano, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA)
Aerostar, Drago, Raptor beat Argenis, Bengala, Máscara de Bronce
(6:06, Drago flipping DDT Mascara de Bronce, good, via Lucha Libre AAA)
Ashley, Hahastary, La Hiedra beat Big Mami, Faby Apache, Lady Shani
(8:53, Hiedra powerbomb Faby, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA
Lanzelot © vs Australian Suicide for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
(10:40, bodyscissors cradle, good, via Lucha Libre AAA)
Thoughts:
The episode is centered around an Australian Suicide/Lanzeloth cruiserweight title match. The layout of AAA show stayed the same (as it’s stayed for seemingly forever), but it seems like an attempt to tell a story from beginning to end in one episode, which definitely is different.
Prior to the opening tag match, Suicide interrupts Lanzeloth’s attempt at a generic promo to demand a title shot tonight if his team beats Lanzeloth’s team in the opener. Lanzeloth accepts, though adds on that Suicide will not get another shot if he loses this one.
Vampiro introduced a new sit down interview segment with Australian Suicide as new guest. (This felt like an attempt to recreate the Lucha Underground first season Vamprio sit down interviews.) They talk in English, subtitled in Spanish. Suicide talks about being rained in Australia but wanting to come to Mexico to be the best. He says AAA told him to put on the mask and how to act when he came to the group, but what we’re seeing now is the real him. He argues that he would be a better world champion than Lanzeloth, because Lanzeloth only wrestles in Mexico and Suicide’s wrestled around the world.
The title match is built around a knee injury. It’s nothing Suicide actively does, but instead caused when Lanzeloth flips to the floor. The injury comes and goes during the match. Lanzeloth catches Suicide with a cradle, against the momentum of the match that that moment.
There are other stories on the show. The intro to the show has a (unlabeled) clip from the July 15th episode of this show, where OGT stormed Poder del Norte’s locker room to demand a trios title shot after Santana & Brava lost their masks. Neither team has anything to do on this show, but Poder del Norte come out post match to protest the existence of the tecnicos/tecnicos match, and OGT come out to attack them. It turns into a 12 man brawl.
The women’s match had Shani take out both Hahastary & Ashley with a dive, leaving the other three women in the ring. As Faby went up for a moonsault onto Hiedra, Villano III Jr. ran in (right in front of the ref, no DQ) and dropkicked Big Mami out of the ring. Hiedra pulled Faby off the ropes into a powerbomb for the win. Even though the one and only time we saw Hiedra & Villano III Jr. together ended with them breaking up, it appears they’re still together.
Texano explains that the fans taunting him are as dumb as the dummies he’s found. He’s the rightful champion, and the better luchador than Hijo del Fantasma. Texano gets into an argument with a dummy he think is calling him a liar (with the voice helpfully supplied by Zuniga) and demands his trophy.
They push the next day’s Juarez taping during the show, including Wagner looking for revenge on Mundo for faking the DQ in their title match.
There is no story to Chicano and Ashley being on different sides than usual. Ashley is probably a numbers thing, Chicano might just be the guy they wanted to take Suicide’s finish.
Review:
The atomicos was exciting early, but increasingly sloppy as it went by, with more missed spots than you’d want for something that was this short. The Tigger Boy had a rough match, though I’m not sure if it’s him or he just gets stuck with the tricky stuff. The big move firework spot was done really fast, though ending with the reverse huracanrana that didn’t go well was a downer (and Angelikal just roll out without getting hit after it didn’t make a lot sense.) The shooting star press breakups looked amazing, but also looked like they were landing on people in awkward and pinfall fashion. Vikingo is the most eyecatching of the eight guys here. Angel Mortal catching Hijo del del Vikingo was impressive but takes a little too long to get to the powerbomb, and the camera losses them for part of it.
The men’s trios match is the superior of the two highspot tag matches. There’s nits to be picked, but it’s a lot more solid match while keeping the excitement level up. Even beyond the moves themselves, stuff like breaking up every cradle with another cradle was good. Argenis throwing people around as counter to all the flying moves gave the match something different. The biggest problem is this just wasn’t long enough, and using the time for an OGT/Poder del Norte promo was not the a less exciting use of time.
The women’s match was alright, with the usual flaws. Big Mami has poor timing at times, but I was impressed that at least one of the two headscissors Hahastary tried with her worked. It really is asking too much to expect those spots to go right for her, and the double boot spot with Faby later on was similarly comedic. It’s like AAA or Big Mami can’t bring themselves to admit that there’s some stuff the other women do that she does not do as well. Hiedra appears to be 90% cleavage at this point. Ashley shows no hidden ruda characteristics – she waves to the crowd after every move – but she and Hahastary did not feel out of place here. Hahastary seemed to work well with both Shani & Faby in limited time.
There was some good action here, though the story took away from the potential of the match. Lanzelot sold his knee fine and this audience is more willing to buy into that story, but it hurts the concept when he has to suddenly feel a lot better so he can pull off his offense or get in position for Suicide. They at least had Suicide keep hammering on the bad knee, but these guys just doing big spots for ten minutes would’ve been fine with me. The finish, getting beat by a weak cradle while being in control, makes Suicide look like a chump who shouldn’t be getting any more shots, but they could’ve given Lanzeloth a stronger win to establish him. He needs to come across as the best cruiserweight after not sticking up out really into this leadup, and he’s coming off like a fluke. Suicide looked like the better guy most of the match, with his tornillo coming off really good. The only way he’s not getting a shot is if he’s leaving AAA too, but I hope he gets more things to do in between his inevitable inclusion in a multiman match.
