April 2019 – Page 4

CMLL Parejas Increibles Block B tonight

April 19, 2019April 19, 2019 thecubsfan

Today’s the second block of the annual Parejas Increibles tournament. Tonight’s tournaments teams

Overwhelming favorites: Último Guerrero & Volador Jr.
Reasonable alternatives: Niebla Roja & Terrible, Cuatrero & Místico
Would be real surprises: Rush & Vangellys, Atlantis & Negro Casas, Gran Guerrero & Valiente, Hechicero & Stuka Jr., and Audaz & Templario

Hechicero versus Stuka Jr. is probably a bigger potential mask match than Gran Guerrero & Niebla Roja and putting those two in the final would be a strong way to set it up for September, but CMLL hasn’t seemed interested in pursuing it. Atlantis & Negro Casas is fun in theory but putting Atlantis in a big match with Titan & Cavernario seems unwise. Audaz & Templario would be huge but they’re lucky to even be included. Maybe I’m underrating Rush’s chances but it doesn’t seem like a great fit of the final either. The interesting thing there is Vangellys mentioned on Informa that he was a sub for Diamante Azul, meaning Rush was originally in this tournament as a rudo and now is a tecnico. Valiente’s chances of winning are best summed up by this article which believes he’s teaming with Ultimo Guerrero tonight.

Ultimo Guerrero & Volador were in the final last year, lost, and had a strong match in that final. CMLL could just do that again. Niebla Roja & Terrible is recent apuesta match participants following up their feud, while Cuatrero & Mistico has one rising star in CMLL. It is still strange that star is not Mistico, though a block win here could turn that around a bit.

The rest of the show is not super interesting, but everything looks solid. Hijo del Villano III & Atlantis Jr. resume their matches in the fourth match, with Angel de Oro, Caristico, Rey Bucanero, and Sanson around them. It is unclear if CMLL is going to do anything beyond the tournament final next week. Running the first Hijo del Villano/Atlantis Jr. lightning match would be interesting, though I’m not sure if they’re ready yet.

I am definitely not sure if the people in this week’s lightning match are ready for each other. Rey Cometa will likely be fired up to do exciting things with Japan eyes on his match and always does a lot of dives. He’ll be doing it with Kawato San, infamous for his inability to catch dives or do much of anything cleanly in CMLL. This is going to be a challenge. This is also about the point where the NJPW visitor starts to get in a focused rivalry. A hair versus hair match with Kawato San & Rey Cometa makes as much sense as anything. On the other hand, Rey Cometa has changed his character around to be an undead spirit and may come a lot closer to the gimmick after this match. It is pretty exciting!

Japan’s Tae Honma debuts in the second match, teaming with Princesa Sughiet and Kaho Kobayashi against Amapola, Dalys, and Reyna Isis. I have no idea how good Honma is or will be in Mexico but that lineup seems like they’re hoping for a good match. Miruhon has an article about Honma’s week so far, which includes training at Arena Rey Bucanero.

Coyote & Grako, who need a team since they actually do team up all the time, face Arkalis & Halcon Suriano Jr. in the opener. The former Stukita seems to take a lot of his own bookings and so isn’t featured much by CMLL. This is his first Friday night match since December 14th. The four guys in the opener are capable of a good match, but just have to put it together.

CMLL airs on Marca and Facebook and I’ll stream it on YouTube as well.

Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

The FILLM show for tomorrow in Arena San Juan, with an NGD trios title defense, has been canceled due to family reasons.

05/04 The Crash

AAA has a TV taping in San Luis Potosi on 07/03. Taya is on the poster, though something this early doesn’t mean much. Also, there’s a Monterrey TV taping coming up in June, but they’ve made a bizarre choice to remove the day it is happening from the poster. You can see the top of either a 2 or a 9 right below the Domingo. Maybe it’s changing, maybe lucha libre is just weird.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

The latest in the Fantasma losing his gym story is he and friends blocked traffic to force a meeting, but still didn’t get to see the mayor. It may happen next week. Fantasma says he doesn’t want the space back, just people to be the general vengeance of seeing someone pay legally.

Lineup

CMLL (TUE) 04/23/2019 Arena México
1) Angelito & Fantasy vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Magia Blanca, Pegasso, Star Jr. vs Metálico, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
3) Drone, Fuego, Rey Cometa vs Kawato San, Pólvora, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Flyer vs Templario [lightning]
5) Audaz, Blue Panther, Kráneo vs Rey Bucanero, Sansón, Shocker
6) Carístico, Rush, Titán vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Caristico/Ultimo Guerrero as the Arena Mexico 04/30 main event? A trios title match with a very odd team? A random cibernetico?

Flyer/Templario just happened two weeks ago. (I just watched it this week.) It was fine. It probably shouldn’t be happening again.

How to Watch AAA

April 19, 2019February 13, 2020 thecubsfan 1 Comment

(maybe a series? trying to figure out how to make this work)

updated 2020-02-13

AAA airs TV tapings on Twitch for free. Those shows are (usually) edited into two TV episodes, air on TV, and then those TV episodes are uploaded on to AAA’s YouTube channel.

TWITCH

AAA streams live events on Twitch on an irregular schedule. All live shows are free with commercial breaks for all. Those breaks can happen during matches. A $5/month subscription will give you a commercial-free version and VOD capabilities.

AAA has separate Spanish and English language channels. Both channels now broadcast every live event. The Spanish feed broadcasts a never-ending stream of old AAA TV episodes. The English channel is dormant between events.

There is no set schedule for AAA events. In 2020, they’ve aired on alternate Saturday nights on at 8 pm CT and appear to be staying on that slot for a while to come. It probably won’t stay that way for all year. AAA will mention the show dates among many other dates on their social media. I have also started a Twitter account (@aaanextshow) that focuses only the next AAA show start time. The first match usually begins about 20 minutes after the listed start time and run between two and three hours.

If you pay for Amazon Prime, there is a (complicated) process to get VOD free for a Twitch channel of your choice. It could be either AAA one, though not both. The free subscription lasts for 30 days and does not auto-renew. You can change channels, or even just want until the next time you want to see VOD free.

YouTube

AAA also posts an episode of their show on their YouTube channel most Sunday nights. It includes three or four matches and may include character content not shown on the live stream. The matches are also uploaded individually later in the week.

The YouTube show is always well behind the Twitch live stream. It’s always at least three weeks and can greatly increase during the year. Some matches may be cut from live shows and not-safe-for-YouTube entrance music will be removed or dubbed over.

Facebook

AAA has aired a limited run series called Lucha Capital on their Facebook page. The series usually airs Wednesday nights in the Fall. AAA has said the series will return in 2020 but has not announced a date.

PlutoTV

An AAA stream airs on Pluto TV Channel 218. This airs old episodes of AAA TV similar to the Twitch stream, though they show different episodes at different times. It does not show live events.

Worldwide TV

If you live outside of Mexico, you can not currently watch AAA on your TV. It is not on Galavision in the US and has not been for many years. It is not on any other US-based network.

Mexico TV

AAA airs on three networks in Mexico

Azteca7: Friday afternoons at 4:30 pm CT
Space: Friday evenings at 6:30 pm CT
Multimedios: Sunday afternoons at 3:00 pm CT

Space also airs in many South American countries. Multimedios is available on some US cable systems.

AAA staggers the TV episodes, so each channel is getting a different show each week. Matches will generally air on Azteca7 the first week, Space the following week, and Multimedios (& YouTube) the third week.

WATCH GUIDE

Following AAA storylines is a double edge sword. AAA expects you to remember everything that happened and also forget everything when they do too. You need a lot of forgiveness or little investment.
no matter what is hyped, the only match guaranteed to actually happen is the main event at TripleMania and even that is only after they’ve done a public contract signing
There will be giant evil groups formed. Those first shows will be fun. There will be many more shows. The group will wither away without the good guys doing anything. Accept that going in.
Titles are very important when they’re on screen and might as well not exist when they’re off-screen. Personal feuds take precedence.
AAA does spotfests and hardcore matches very well. They have no interest in technical matches. They do encourage everyone to have the best match they possibly can, which means the openers are sometimes the best matches for the disregard of their own safety.
the underlining theme of AAA is to get the crowd to react. If that is done with a cool move or a satisfying finish, great. If they can accomplish it by a referee refusing to count, that works for them just as well. AAA covets having an internet/worldwide fan base but the product is almost all directed at the live audience. They’re going with what works for those folks and the rest of us are along for the ride.

lucha TV preview for weekend of April 19th, 2019

April 18, 2019April 18, 2019 thecubsfan

full size

Still no new AAA. Check back next week.

Rey Cometa vs Kawato San has a chance to be amazing.

King Jaguar vs Policeman is a thing that is happening on Monday.

CMLL relationships, Garza/WWE, LU/UK

April 18, 2019April 18, 2019 thecubsfan 2 Comments

Today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter reveals Sofia Alonso and Cuatrero are a couple. The news is new but the relationship is not; they’ve been together for quite a while. Alonso attended the most recent The Crash show which included Cuatrero, which seemed like a bad move if they wanted to continue to keep the relationship secret. It is not meant to be public knowledge and it is unclear how much of CMLL knew this before now. I assume many did because it had gotten to me, but they didn’t want it out for the obvious drama reasons. The section also mentions Forastero and Ultimo Guerrero’s daughter are together.

Lucha Memes posted a video of a Diamante Azul promo, saying he will still be facing LA Park at the Generacion XXI show this Sunday at Arena Naucalpan. I’m not sure how a Diamante Azul who’s too hurt to wrestle in CMLL is going to handle wrestle LA Park but I’m not the target audience for Diamante Azul matches at this point anyway. Maybe it’ll be fine for those who want to see him.

El Planchitas says that, after a month, CMLL and Televisa are having issues. Televisa isn’t happy with the ratings and wants CMLL to modernize the product. Planchitas track record of late has been questionable but this story is easily believable. I never know what “modernize” means (and I’m not all that sure Televisa does either), only that CMLL wasn’t interested in doing it prior and that lead to CMLL leaving last time. CMLL & Televisa need something out of the ring on those shows to introduce the wrestlers to new fans and make them more distinguishable. They’re just rolling out edited matches and expecting people to care because lucha libre, and that is only going to hook people who were already interested in lucha libre.

CMLL took out the offending music from Monday’s stream, so it is back working. I’ve had this music issue come up plenty of times and it is not a hard process to fix. There’s a button with the video on YouTube itself that will remove the song from the audio track of the video. It can take about 15 minutes and works about 95% of the time. Just finding the button and knowing to do it is the tough part. AAA’s stream on Twitch runs into the same problems but Twitch seems like it just automatically strips out the offending songs, which would be ideal for most YouTube people.

Garza Jr. was officially announced as starting with WWE yesterday. He’s been in Orlando a few weeks. He did a video promo mostly in English, which was fine if having room to improve. As has been seen time after time, Mexican wrestlers will only go as far in WWE as WWE has confidence in them speaking English before a live crowd. It shouldn’t be that way but that the situation it is, and anyone who wants to follow Garza’s path would be wise to make the same efforts to learn English. With Garza signed, there’s no obvious next guy to go WWE – maybe Fantasma? Probably not Dragon Bane right now. All we should be sure of is there probably will be more WWE signings as they continue to sign everyone.

El Fantasma had a rented a building to be a gym next to his Mexico City lucha libre commission. On Wednesday, Fantasma found all the gym equipment on the sidewalk and outside of the building. He’d apparently been evicted without being told. Fantasma said he had been in the building 11 years and had not yet paid the previous month’s rent but was good until then. The building is owned by the mayor of Venustiano Carranza borough, and Fantasma accused him of being up to something. This was covered with more intensity than anything Fantasma has done as lucha libre commissioner in a long time. I had not heard of this gym before this came up but The Gladiatores has photos of what it looked like intact.

Nothing big on Keepin in 100 this week, though there’s an interesting development if you’re reading between the lines. Maybe overreading. This takes a lot of explaining though. Konnan, with not much setup, asked if it was a good idea to have someone suffering from Alzheimer’s as an announcer. There was also hinting around about a particular Konnan Twitter post from earlier this week. Everyone was very careful to keep it vague enough for plausible deniability but it is not hard to figure out they were talking about Vampiro’s recent social media. A week ago, Vampiro posted on Facebook that he has the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s. It is critical to understand that Vampiro is to dramatic posts on Facebook what models are to carefully composed photos on Instagram. It is their bit and is never the full picture. Vampiro likely didn’t expect it to get picked up as a news story and has spent the last few days trying to put the genie back in the bottle in Facebook videos and Twitter posts. That hasn’t quite worked so now he’s trying to launch a YouTube channel about healthy living. Whatever works for him, and none of this was worth writing about until it affected the actual product. That may be happening now. Konnan seems skeptical of the entire story but also of having Vampiro in his current role. Additionally, there’s a discussion of an (English speaking) announce that Kevin Kleinrock apparently recommended – I believe it was Joe Dombrowski – and Konnan seemed to think was good. (Dombrowski was on the Masked Republic PPV show and was good there.) If you put 2 and 2 together, there’s seems to be a discussion about replacing Vampiro as English announcer. It does not seem a definite thing if they’re just hinting about it.

Aside: If AAA (or the Mexico City Lucha Libre Commission) believe Vampiro is telling the truth and he does have the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s, can they allow him to wrestle Konnan at TripleMania? I’m not a doctor, I have no real idea if they can do it in a safe way or if they’re risking making it much worse. The obvious comparison is WWE’s Daniel Bryan, who was not allowed in the ring until he could show the wound on his brain had improved. (He credited cryogenic therapy for it, something Vampiro has mentioned as trying now.) Healthy/safety standards are so much less in Mexico that I’m sure it’ll happen if Vampiro wants to wrestle, but I hope someone’s asking questions.

Getting back to the podcast, Konnan mentions the Guardians concept includes the winners of each weight divisions defending the titles back in their home promotions and the possibility of it getting picked up as a full-time thing. I know we are all looking forward to seeing these belts defended on Elite and AroLucha shows. Those shows finally have a match announced:

LA Park (ELITE) vs Pagano (AAA) vs Fatu (MLW) vs Taurus (AroLucha) in the heavyweight division

I assume that is part of a tournament and not the final. Maybe five weeks means four first-round matches and a four-way final, along the lines of the Rey de Reyes format?

Lucha Underground, seasons 1 thru 3, have popped up on Amazon’s MGM VOD service in the UK. It’s part of a $4.49 Euros ($5 USD) month subscription. It is not available in the US. I assume everyone who wanted to see the show has found a way to see the show, but that’s still a pretty good price.

05/04 The Crash

WON believes this might Fenix & Penta’s last show for The Crash, which sounds like great news for Mexablood. WON also mentions Flamita’s performance on the Impact show was impressive enough that Impact may end up signing him.

Fightful talks to Drago about his mask.

SuperLuchas looks back at the Dark Angel vs Amapola mask match.

LuchaTalk has a new episode.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 04/22/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Astro & Asturiano vs Espíritu Maligno & Fuerza Chicana
2) Magnus & Rey Samuray vs Toro Bill Jr. & Tyson La Bestia
3) Marcela vs Metálico [lightning]
4) Guerrero Maya Jr., Stigma, Titán vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Templario
5) King Jaguar vs Policeman [hair]
6) Carístico, Cuatrero, Sansón vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

Maybe they’re running Caristico versus Volador for the Kid’s Day Even show? it is always Volador.

Neither King Jaguar nor Policeman have won a singles match in Arena Puebla in a decade. Both are near the end of their careers. This show should be a draw but it is hard to figure out why they would do this feud unless the winner is losing their hair later (on July’s Arena Puebla Anniversary show?) or unless an old favorite is being given a payoff. King Jaguar got beat up this past week so he’s the favorite.

Marcela & Metalica are both champions and maybe one of them defends a title next week.

The second match is one Tyson la Bestia away from being interesting.

CMLL (TUE) 04/23/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Fantástico, Fugaz, Mr. Samurai vs Mr. Trueno, Paymon, Rey Trueno
2) Magnum, Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante vs Difunto, Espanto Jr., Hijo del Signo
3) La Guerrera, Lluvia, Tae Honma vs Dalys, La Comandante, Metálico
4) Atlantis, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Terrible
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. vs Mephisto, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

The women don’t often make TV here but do with Honam in for the moment. Sanson is apparently seperated from his brothers for the moment.

great match roundup, week of 2019-03-30

April 18, 2019April 17, 2019 thecubsfan

All 2019 round-up posts – 2019 MOTYC list is up now.

This was a strange week where the Tuesday CMLL show was the best one. I really liked the trios title preview. It was also good that the AAA Tijuana taping had the weird locals match to make it memorable. There were other matches but it blends in with a lot of tapings this first third of the year.

Recommended Matches

rating	matches	TV Show	taped
great	Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-02	2019-04-02
good	Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-01	2019-04-01
good	Rey Cometa vs Templario in a lightning match	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-02	2019-04-02
good	Black Destiny vs Genio del Aire, Drake, Jonathan, Rayo Star, Fantastik	AAA on Twitch: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
good	Drago © vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr., Aerostar, Argenis for the AAA Latin American Championship	AAA on Twitch: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
good	La Hiedra, Lady Shani, Niño Hamburguesa vs Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Villano III Jr.	AAA on Twitch: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
good	Hechicero vs Felino in a lightning match	CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05

Other matches

rating	matches	TV Show	taped
ok	Lluvia, Marcela, Sanely vs Dalys, La Magnifica, Tiffany	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-01	2019-04-01
ok	Esfinge, Flyer, Rey Cometa vs Kawato San, Olímpico, Tiger	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-01	2019-04-01
ok	Carístico, La Bestia Del Ring, Último Guerrero vs Euforia, Mephisto, Valiente in a relevos increíbles match	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-01	2019-04-01
ok	Guerrero Maya Jr., Titán, Tritón vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-02	2019-04-02
ok	Mamba, Máximo, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly	AAA on Twitch: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
ok	Joe Lider & Pagano vs La Máscara & Texano Jr.	AAA on Twitch: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
ok	Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown vs Blue Demon Jr. & Rey Escorpión in a cage match	AAA on Twitch: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
ok	Magnus & Robin vs Metálico & Sangre Azteca	CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
ok	La Jarochita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany	CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
ok	Audaz, Flyer, Stuka Jr. vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto	CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
ok	Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Titán vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas	CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
below average	Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Gilbert el Boricua, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible	CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2019-04-05	2019-04-05
bad	Arkalis, King Jaguar, Robin vs El Perverso, Policeman, Tyson La Bestia	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-01	2019-04-01
not rated	Fantasy & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-02	2019-04-02
not rated	Metatrón, Star Jr., Súper Astro Jr. vs Cancerbero, Hijo del Signo, Raziel	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-02	2019-04-02
not rated	Black Panther, Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. vs Kawato San, Nitro, Sagrado	CMLL YouTube: 2019-04-02	2019-04-02

This was also WrestleMania weekend, so how about a detailed yet unthoughtful list of rating for stuff I saw live, as best I can remember two weeks later.

04/04 Mark Hitchock WrestleCon Supershow:

Masato Tanaka vs Eddie Kingston: good
Rey Fenix vs Pentagon Jr: great
Tajiri, DJZ, Puma King, Samantha Heights vs Sammy Guevera, Santana, Ortiz, Diamante: good
Robbie Eagles vs Arez vs Flamita: good
Jushin Liger, X-Pac, Hurricane Helms vs Caleb Konley, Zane Riley, Jake Manning: ok
Dragon Lee vs Cavernario: great
Zach Sabre Jr. vs Shane Strickland: good
SCU vs Orange Cassidy & Best Friends: good
Will Ospreay vs Bandido: great

(favorite match: Dragon Lee/Cavernario)

04/04 AIW
(from where I got there)

Shinjiro Otani vs Eddie Kingston: good
Scott Steiner vs Swoggle: OK
Eddie Page & MJF vs Colt Cabana & Space Monkey: OK? good? do not trust my memory of it, delivered exactly what you’d think
Mance Wagner vs Nick Gage: good? not my thing?
PB Smooth vs Tom Lawlor vs Tim Donst vs Matthew Justice: good

(favorite match: Otani/Kingston)

04/05 US vs the World

Brian Pillam Jr. vs Emil Sitoci: ok?
Ethan Page vs MJF: ok?
Daga vs David Starr: great
Darby Allin vs Black Taurus: good
Jiro vs Rich Swann: good
Dezmond Xavier, Trey Miguel, Zachary Wentz vs Adam Brooks, Australian Suicide, Robbie Eagles: great
Hart Foundation vs LAX: below average
Puma King vs Sammy Guevera: ok – crowd was so cold that it hurt the enjoyment of the match
Brian Cage vs Masato Tanaka: good? have no memory of

04/05 RevPro

Jonathan Greshman/Chris Brooks vs Alex Coughlin/Karl Fredericks: good/great borderline
A-Kid vs Carlos Romo vs Kid Lykos vs Flamita: good
Brian Cage vs Michael Oku: good but too long
Hiroshi Tanahashi/Willy Ospreay vs Minoru Suzuki/Zack Sabre Jr: great
Rocky Romero vs Ryussuke Taguchi: OK? So loooong.
Tomohiro Ishii vs David Starr: have no memory of, good?
RPG3 vs Aussie Open: not good enough to stop me from leaving early

04/05 NXT

Street Profits vs Fabian Aichner & Marcela Barthel: missed most of it
Jaxson Ryker vs Danny Burch: initially confused why the bald Euro guy was in two straight matches, OK I guess
Candice LeRae vs Aliyah: shaky enough that I thought they would cut it from TV
War Raiders vs Aleister Black & Ricochet: great
Velveteen Dream vs Matt Riddle: great
Watler vs Pete Dunne: great
Shayna Baszler vs Io Shirai, Biana Belair, Kairi Sane: good
Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole: excellent
- (I left my seat before Ciampa came out, am dumb)

04/06 Pancakes & Piledrivers
(wandered in during the show with no one checking me for a ticket, so good value)

Hoss Fight: seemed good while I was talking to people
Ricky Shane Page vs Tessa Blanchard: seemed good while I was talking to people
oVe vs Joe Gacy, Eddie Kingston, Shane Strickland: did not seem good while I was talking to people

04/06 NJPW/ROH

Kagetsu, Jenny Rose, Hazuka vs Hana Kimura, Stella Grey, Sumie Sakai: ate a pizza and checked Twitter during most of this. Sumie wore Kamaitachi gear so this is “good”
Honor Rumble: OK
Jeff Cobb vs Will Ospreay: great
Rush vs Dalton Castle: good
Kelly Klein vs Mayu Iwatani: went on a journey including looking for a nacho bar that turned out to be closed, sounds like I had the better experience?
Flip Gordon, Juice Robinson, Mark Haskins vs Bully Ray, Shane Taylor, Silas Young: OK, too long.
Dragon Lee vs Taiji Ishimori vs Bandido: excellent, “that’s not a real move”
the four-way tag match: OK? actually “good” for PCO’s latest death
Zach Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi: technically good but it did move my heart
Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito: great, so so close to being excellent
Matt Taven vs Jay Lethal vs Marty Scurll: great, did not feel long to me and maybe only me
Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White: great

AAA on Twitch: 2019-04-05

April 17, 2019April 15, 2019 thecubsfan

Recapped: 04/11/2019

All matches aired from Auditorio de Tijuana.

Matches:

Black Destiny beat Genio del Aire, Drake, Jonathan, Rayo Star, Fantastik
(9:55, Black Destiny Spanish Fly Drake, good,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Drago © beat Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr., Aerostar, Argenis to retain the AAA Latin American Championship
(9:21, Drago Dragon’s Tail cradle on Argenis, good,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Villano III Jr. beat La Hiedra, Lady Shani, Niño Hamburguesa
(11:20, Keyra cradle Lady Shani, good,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Mamba, Máximo, Pimpinela Escarlata beat Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
(13:50, Pimpinela cradle Super Fly, ok,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

La Máscara & Texano Jr. beat Joe Lider & Pagano
(13:45, Texano/La Mascara wheeelbarrow frontcracker Joe Lider, ok,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown beat Blue Demon Jr. & Rey Escorpión in a cage match
(15:33, ok,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

9:35 Psycho Clown escapes
11:18 Rey Escorpión escapes
15:33 Dr. Wagner Jr. escapes

What happened:

Dr. Wagner Jr. escaped the cage by unmasking Blue Demon Jr. as they were both sitting on top of the cage.

La Hiedra escorts La Mascara to the ring. She is the newest member of Los Mercenarios and gets involved with the match many times.

La Hiedra seems unhappy about being a tecnica before the match, with the rudas trying to convince her to come over to their side. She plays fair most of the match, but pushes Niño Hamburguesa off the top rope when he hesitates after a Maravilla distraction. Hiedra cuts a promo upset about being booked on a tecnica side, she’s a ruda. V3 seems thrilled with these events and escorts her to the back. Niño Hamburgesa carries Lady Maravilla to the back again, which seemed to surprise Keyra. Keep up with the show, Keyra!

Thoughts:

AAA spent 20 minutes setting up a cage and then all these guys in the main event just to decide to brawl outside off the ring. It didn’t last too long but it was still dumb. Otherwise, it was like most lucha cage matches, with lots of brawling and the rudos destroying the técnicos for an exhaustingly long time until they made a mistake with a whip. The cage bit added little to the match and felt unnecessary after just doing the same bit on the last show. They even did a very similar powerbomb spot to set up Psycho Clown’s escape. Demon had some good punches. Psycho and Escorpión fought strongly enough that I’m looking forward to their singles match. It still felt like a long match. The only interesting thing here is how Wagner cheated and was loudly booed for it. Blue Demon was the cheered one last time out too. Maybe they’re heading to TripleMania with both men cheered or Demon being the face.

Los Mercenarios had a trademark average match, keeping up with Pagano’s messy brawling while not really creating much to remember themselves. La Hiedra seemed alright as a second, probably will get better with more time, shouldn’t have been laid on in her first match in the role but it doesn’t matter. This was a CMLL midcard match that I will never remember.

The exoticos worked hard in their match. It just didn’t connect much with me. The crowd seemed to enjoy it and there was a lot of life to it, it just seemed like the same standard match we’ve seen before with a few more dives. It is good to have (seemingly) escaped the La Mascara/Maximo feud but these only really work as buffer matches. It would’ve been much better placed as the second match on the card.

The tercera could’ve been a little bit shorter; it was a long way to go for a partner betraying her team finish. The action still seemed good enough. Lady Shani showed a little more personality than usual and Hiedra adapted fine to the tecnica side. Most of the rest was the usual Lady Maravilla/Nino Hamburguesa story but it developed better than some of the recent matches.

The biggest problem for the second match is it followed the first match. This was the better of two multi-man matches, but having them back to back dulled the impact. There’s only so long you can see two people do moves and a third person rush in to do their move next. I thought the luchadors in this looked better, with Hijo del Vikingo & Myzteziz working as opponents better than I would’ve expected and they peaked the match towards the end a lot better. It still all sort of blended together.

The opener was the usual collection of non-stop moves. It suffered a bit because the action never rose or fell, it just kept going at the same level for ten minutes. Keeping it going seemed more important than what was going on, with the key being to roll out of the way so the next two guys could do their moves more than the moves. That’s not to bury the match but it was a limitation of it. This had a lot of GIF-able moments but wasn’t much deeper than that. Drake fit in fine despite probably never working with these other five before. The only spot of his that went wrong was his dive, and that was more Genio del Aire not being in the spot. Despite that, I still thought Genio del Aire looked the best in this match and should be a regular on non-Tijuana shows. Black Destiny seems to have gained weight, though it didn’t affect his offense.

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