Tonight’s the final AAA taping before TripleMania from Aguascalientes. The stream starts at 9 pm Central Time (with a dark match starting around 8:30 pm.) The main event is one last Blue Demon/Dr. Wagner trios match, the tenth streamed match they’ve had this year. That remains the focus of AAA going into the biggest show of the year, though this one might get a little different attention with Pentagon Jr. being involved for the first time. Penta’s not been in AAA at all this year outside of the Young Bucks feud. AAA actually getting a date on Penta while only making him the third man on a team doesn’t seem like great usage unless there’s a bigger plan.
Taurus ran over Cody Rhodes back at Rey de Reyes, aggravating his injured knee. AAA teased Cody being back at Verano de Escandalo, and he’s actually making his return tonight. He teams with the debuting MJF against Taurus & Daga. The Young Bucks are Konnan-aligned rudos in AAA, while Cody was presented as anti-Konnan in his previous appearance. That was all handwaved at the time and probably will be again. (There’s also the weirdness of Cody being a tecnico in AEW and MJF being a rudo, but that seems more of an intentional plot point than an inconsistency.) Taurus is great but this tag match has a lot of variance to it. I’ve thought Daga is better than he’s shown lately and I’m not sure how those two will mesh with Cody & MJF. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was really good or a slight disaster.
Brian Cage versus Killer Kross looked on paper like possibly Kross continuing his undefeated run with a win over an impressive foreigner to launch him into the TripleMania trios match. I have no idea what it is is now that Cage appears to be off this show due to injury. I would’ve put Murder Clown in Kross’ spot, but Murder hasn’t indicated he’s on this show. Your guess is as good as mine. (Latigo‘s indicated he’s now on this show, but I don’t think he’s replacing Cage.)
The rest of the show are interchangeable tag matches. They’ve already been changed up once, so it would be no big surprise for them to change again. Averno & Chessman are scheduled to team with Eterno against Puma King, Laredo Kid, and Aerostar, in what might be the best trios match of the night. The fourth match was announced as Faby, Hamburguesa, and Taya versus Dave, Tessa, and Keyra, but Keyra’s certainly out due to injury as well. Golden Magic & Lady Shani are listed as facing La Hiedra & Villano III Jr. in a mixed tag. Big Mami and Lady Maravilla open the streamed portion of the show, with Dinastia, Eclipse, Parka Negra and Ultimo Maldito expected to be their partners. That should continue the Nino Hamburguesa drama, though certainly not resolve it before TripleMania.
This looks about an average show of matches, but an average AAA show has been an enjoyable one lately. There will be some added curiosity because of the AEW wrestlers involvement, though their match happening a couple of hours into a late starting taping will mean most people will hear about it rather than see it. The goal here might just be to create enough noise that those people make sure to see it themselves when TripleMania comes around.
AAA is off Twitch until 08/03 for TripleMania after this one.
Lucha Central has a preview of the AAA show.
Cain Velasquez posted a moderately boring promo that’ll also probably be played tonight.
AAA posted a vignette last night with La Parka convincing Los Jinetes del Aire to sort of break up. La Parka’s been treated as their mentor character since giving Angelikal the Myzetziz Jr. gimmick and setting up the trio late last year. (It’s a smart way to give Parka a vital player/coach role without giving him a big feud.) In the video, La Parka tells Myzteziz, Vikingo, and Laredo Kid that they’ve been a great team, but Laredo Kid can grow even bigger and deserves a place in the main event. He recommends Laredo Kid leaving the group to make a mark on his own and suggests Golden Magic as the replacement in the team. Parka explains AAA gave the new team permission to continue to be trios champions. Los Jinetes del Aire agree with Parka’s idea and Parka assures Myzteziz & Vikingo that they’ll be top stars within a couple of years. Golden Magic was already announced as teaming with Myzteziz & Vikingo on TripleMania. AAA had earlier hinted that would somehow be a trios title match and will probably make that clear during today’s TV taping.
AAA has to be planning on seriously going all the way with Laredo Kid. There’s no need to pull him out of the team unless Laredo is going to be wrapped up in that for a while and they don’t want to put the trios titles on ice. Having Laredo Kid team with Myzteziz & Vikingo has made for much steadier trios matches than I expect they’ll have with the talented but inconsistent Golden Magic. I like the idea of Top Star Laredo Kid, though there’s the same looming they’ve had with Fenix – Laredo’s not exclusive to AAA, does not appear to be under contract to AAA, could be less available in Mexico if bookings elsewhere pick up, and could be completely unavailable if a WWE offers him a deal. (I’d be surprised if there hasn’t been any recent contact there following Laredo appearing in AEW’s show.)
I think this may have aired on TV as part of either the Monterrey or Cancun TV taping; it’s obviously been taped a while back because Parka’s mask fringe is sporting a Pride Month color scheme. It did not air on Twitch. The first I’ve heard of it was when AAA posted it on YouTube and everything on YouTube usually airs on TV earlier.
Ayako Hamada pops up on the AAA show in Nuevo Laredo on Monday. It’s possible she’s just grabbing an extra booking while being in the area for Pro Wrestling Mexico on Sunday, but she still seems like someone who could turn up in AAA at any time.
Ring of Honor quietly released the Dragon Lee & Rush versus Briscoe Brothers match on their website for free this morning. This was taped at their most recent TV taping in Philadelphia and is worth your time to check out. I don’t think it’s airing on TV – there’s a moment with Rush and blood that local TV networks may not be thrilled with – but it’d be a great match without it.
Silueta made a surprise appearance at the Arena Jalisco show on Sunday, attacking Chik Tormenta after she won a match. Silueta was a regular CMLL luchadora thru the end of 2017 and re-appeared for one match in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara this past May. She had not seen since in CMLL and had not been seen much. On Twitter, Silueta explained she’s outside of CMLL for the moment, thanking CMLL for giving her “temporary permission” to wrestle outside the company and letting promoters know she’s free to take bookings. The El Planchitas gossip column has an alternate version of what happened, saying Silueta had been blocked from getting much working by the Arena Coliseo Guadalajara programming department. They go on to say the person in charge (Magnum?) told close friends that if Silueta wanted to get booked, she would have to give him a sexual favor. Planchita immediately notes the programmer could’ve just meant that as a joke, but that’s not something people in power should even be joking about. Even if this story isn’t true – and Planchitas doesn’t have a great accuracy rate of late – it does make sense for Silueta to go independent. There’s not much opportunity for luchadoras in CMLL and there may be more on her own.
Meanwhile, the thing CMLL is very concerned about is fans might not understand the rules of a Relevo CMLL. Back in reality, I’d be half the fans coming to CMLL shows now don’t understand the rules of the basic trios matches they run every week.
Fly Star ran in on the DTU main event and ended up with seven stitches from a Demus light tube smash, which should be a lesson against running in.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions the WWE October PPV is probably 10/06, which means the AAA show in Los Angeles will be going up against a WWE live event in Anaheim but it won’t be a PPV. That’s slightly better.
MexaWrestling next show is 08/10 in Arena San Juan.
“how many people can actually fit in Arena Puebla” watch: this article about the 66th Anniversary has the capacity as just under 3,000 people.
Did you know: Dulce Gardenia also was (is?) in modern pentathlon. That’s pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding, and cross-country running unless I’m confused about which pentathlons he’s in. I’m definitely confused as to why Dulce hasn’t wrestled in Arena Mexico since that big introduction; he was back in Torreon this past weekend.
The New York Times has a write up of the latest documentary on Cassandro.
Lucha Talk has a new episode up.
Lineups
CMLL (TUE) 07/23/2019 Arena México
1) Bengala & Sonic vs Cholo & Inquisidor
2) La Jarochita, Maligna, Mystique vs Amapola, La Seductora, Reyna Isis
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Star Jr. vs Dark Magic, Okumura, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Tritón vs Pólvora [lightning]
5) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Flyer vs Felino, Hechicero, Hijo del Villano III
6) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Terrible
A Tuesday show. Would you believe this is the first time Triton and Polvora have had a lightning match despite being in the same trios matches for about a decade. They did meet in the 2012 En Busca de un Idolo.