Month: July 2019

AAA announced the TripleMania lineup today. It is definitely a TripleMania lineup.

AAA TV (SAT) 08/03/2019 Arena Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
1) Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa © vs Sammy Guevara & Scarlett Bordeaux and Lady Maravilla & Villano III Jr. and Australian Suicide & Vanilla [AAA MIXED TAG]
3rd defense on TV, 11th defense overall.
2) Golden Magic, Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana and Mamba, Máximo, Pimpinela Escarlata
3) La Parka vs Pagano, Chessman, Súper Fly, Averno, Aerostar, Drago, Puma King [Copa TripleMania]
4) Keyra © vs Taya, Tessa Blanchard, Faby Apache, Lady Shani, Chik Tormenta, La Hiedra [TLC, Reina De Reinas]
5) Cain Velasquez, Cody Rhodes, Psycho Clown vs ?, Taurus, Texano Jr.
6) Fénix, Laredo Kid, Pentagón Jr. vs Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson
7) Blue Demon Jr. vs Dr. Wagner Jr. [mask, hair]

TripleMania is Saturday August 3rd. Like every other AAA TV taping with a listed start time of 8 pm, it will stream live in English & Spanish on Twitch. It will also air live on Space (as it did last year) and at least part of it will air live on TV Azteca.

As I wrote yesterday, AAA’s choice for TripleMania was either to tell a lot of people they’re not going to have a spot or to make a lot of nonsensical multiman person matches to squeeze everyone in. AAA – and most every other wrestling promotion on the planet – is going to choose the “more people” option. AAA’s also a promotion that has decided the best way to build up the biggest show of the year is at press conferences and those press conferences operate with a separate series of storylines. What happens on AAA TV matters, it just doesn’t matter all that much for TripleMania. It’s been this way for years now and it’s been successful enough that it won’t be changing any time soon.

Whenever people with AAA said things like “Aerostar vs Monster Clown might happen at TripleMania!”, they were lying, even if they didn’t realize they were doing it at that time. This kind of lineup is what TripleMania is and will be for the foreseeable future. This can be an immensely frustrating part of following AAA but is as part of it as the heel referee spots. For the people who just come in to AAA once a year, they want a strange Mexican variety wrestling show and they are always getting that show.

That’s where my expectations were coming into this card: this would be using AAA talent but in ways that may not match up with anything. I think it’s a good card all considered. I like the trios match at Fyter Fest and definitely, don’t have a problem seeing it again in front of a Mexican audience. The fifth match is a freak show match that actually might be good; I trust Taurus, Texano and what sure sounded like Killer Kross to be able to go along with whatever the tecnicos want to do. It’s going to be weird but it seems like it should work and I have more belief in the Cain Velazquez match working than I did initially.

The women’s match getting a TLC stipulation is completely random. AAA always has a gimmick attached to a match for no particular reason and this is that. It is also a reminder that we shouldn’t have cared all that much about Keyra winning the title at Verano de Escandalo. It is nice for her to get to be champion but she’s not going to anything meaningful with it before this match, and the TripleMania is always going to end up in a multi-women match where who comes in with the belt doesn’t have much of an advantage. The 3-way trios match would be a better quality match with just two teams in and the mixed tag story would be better with just the important people, but adding people onto matches is what TripleMania is. At some point, everyone but Mami, Maravilla, and Hamburguesa will be out on the floor and they’ll have their moment anyway.

Rey Escorpion, Killer Kross, and Daga are the three names that jumped out to me as people missing from this show. Daga’s got a title match with Drago on Saturday that I was sure he was winning; now I’m not so sure he’s really in AAA’s plans. Rey Escorpion’s heroic scheme to work his way into an apuesta feud with Psycho Clown seems to be delayed. Kross has been famously been left off the TripleMania card the last two years and my strong presumption is he came back to AAA again under the impression he would definitely get something this year. I can’t believe they’d do it again. All three guys could theoretically be the mystery man teaming with Texano and Taurus but that would still mean two of them are in Copa TripleMania or left off entirely. Alberto el Patron might also be the mystery man if not for his recent AAA issues. There’s no indication of when AAA might reveal that name; you’d think it would happen at an upcoming TV event but again this show is disconnected from TV.

I didn’t want to see Pagano/Chessman and I didn’t want to see Faby/Tirantes and I don’t have to see again. The lack of Pagano/extreme match on the show is probably the most surprising match decision, as AAA has steadfastly used those on big shows a way to make themselves distinct from WWE & CMLL. Perhaps some elements from that will come up in the Copa TripleMania.

Fenix will officially go one full AAA calendar year without defending the AAA megachampionship in AAA. (He did defend it in GALLI, I was there.) It feels like there should be a Mega title defense on this show, but it also doesn’t matter. The title is devoid of meaning and has been even since before Fenix had it. A single TripleMania title match isn’t going to fix that, because it didn’t fix it last year. It makes more sense to throw Fenix in the best match you can get a finish out of. Omega/Fenix might have been more interesting but I don’t think AAA or AEW can get to a good finish out of that right now. A rematch of the trios match will be good, though makes me wonder what exactly was booked for this spot before Verano de Escandalo.

AAA started this year with a press conference announcing the Demon/Wagner match, and saying TripleMania would have eight matches. Those would be six big main events, a Copa Triplemania, and Llave a la Gloria match. A lot can happen between January and July. I was still waiting for them to mention the Llave a la Gloria match as an aside when the press conference ended; that’s how they handled it last year.

AAA’s Saturday show has a venue change

Saturday’s AAA TV taping is changing. It’s still in Zapopan and it’s still at the same start time; none of this really matters if you are the 99% of people who are just watching it on Twitch. It’s just no longer in Auditorio Benito Juarez. AAA fans noticed a couple of banners at the building yesterday, saying the show was canceled due to no fault of the building itself. AAA & the local promoter didn’t say anything for a while and tickets remained on sale. Late last night, the local promoter posted a statement on Facebook saying the show 100% remained on but at a new venue. The new building, PALCCO, looks like it’s held some boxing events. It’s is around the size of Arena Naucalpan, while Auditorio Benito Juarez is a huge 10K+ building.

This may seem familiar. This would be AAA’s first show in the Guadalajara area since the 2015 Rey de Reyes, where the show also moved venues and was rescheduled twice due to various issues. This also included a bus accident with AAA staff which cost one person their life and left others permanently injured and came days before Perro Aguayo Jr.’s death. It was a pretty horrible time for AAA and I had wondered if they just didn’t want to go back to Guadalajara because it was so bad. It looks more like finding a reliable venue might be more of a problem.

Other Notes

CMLL (MON) 07/01/2019 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Lucha Central]
1) Espíritu Maligno, Joker, Rey Apocalipsis b Rey Samuray, Robin, Sonic 
Rudos took 1/3
2) El Malayo, El Perverso, Toro Bill Jr. DQ Arkalis, King Jaguar, Tigre Rojo Jr. 
straight falls, Perverso sneaking in a foul on King Jaguar
3) Drone, Dulce Gardenia, Stigma b Tyson La Bestia, Universo 2000 Jr., Virus 
tecnicos took 2/3, Drone surprising Virus with a small pacakge
4) Místico, Soberano Jr., Titán b Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas 
tecnicos took 2/3
5) La Bestia Del Ring, Mr. Niebla, Terrible DQ Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón 
Team Niebla took 1/3, the last with Sanson fouling Terrible

Not much of a notable Puebla show.

Arena Mexico’s main event is Angel de Oro, Dragon Lee & Caristico vs Cavernario, Negro Casas and Cavernario, that seems like fun. Hechicero, Vangellys, and Kawato against Audaz, Blue Panther and Guerrero Maya might be good too. It also might tell us if Audaz & Kawato are ongoing rivals. 7:30 pm on YouTube.

Forever rivals Niebla Roja and Gran Guerrero meet once again in Arena Coliseo Guadalajara.

Nacion Lucha Libre – Alberto, La Mascara, Hijo del Fantasma among them – did some appearances on ImagenTV yesterday to promote their debut. That first show is July 11th, the TV debut was said to be July 20th. In another media appearance with Marca, Alberto says he plans on having his retirement MMA fight in November in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. Alberto fighting plans should always be taken with a grain of salt but those are more details than he usually mentions. No opponent announced; I think they were teasing Tito Ortiz at one point.

MexaWrestling on 07/14 in Arena Naucalpan

• Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, Cerebro Negro vs Freelance, Mike Segura, Pantera I
• Los Oficials and Los Megas will appear.

Lucha Memes on 07/20 in Gimnasio Hercules

• Tag Team Tournament
  • Diablolicos (Gallego & Romano Garcia)
  • Generacion XXI (Murcielago Plateado Jr. & Faby Lee)
  • Los Lunatik (Lunatik Fly & Lunatik Extreme)

I assume this an eight-team tournament.

Ring of Honor announced Rush faces Dalton Castle again on their 07/21 Honor Club show from Lowell, Massachusettes.

LuchaWorld has the latest Poster-Mania.

+LuchaTV has a new edition of the podcast.

Liger’s opponents are on the cover of this week’s Box Y Lucha.

Ovaciones posted their full interview with El Hijo del Santo.

Lineups

CMLL (SAT) 07/06/2019 Arena Coliseo
1) Bengala & Leono vs Apocalipsis & Inquisidor
2) Eléctrico, Magnus, Príncipe Diamante vs Cholo, El Coyote, Grako
3) Skadi vs Tiffany [lightning]
4) Drone, Fuego, Stigma vs Okumura, Sangre Azteca, Universo 2000 Jr.
5) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
6) Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Templario

Skadi vs Tiffany sounds challenging.

CMLL (SUN) 07/07/2019 Arena México
1) Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
2) Halcón Suriano Jr., Magia Blanca, Magnus vs Cancerbero, Príncipe Odín Jr., Raziel
3) Avispa Dorada, Lluvia, Mystique vs Amapola, La Seductora, Tiffany
4) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Niebla Roja vs Dark Magic, Ephesto, Luciferno
5) Terrible © vs Valiente [MEX HEAVY]
5th defense
6) Dragón Lee, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas

This title match is a rematch from the same building three months ago.

Mystique returns from her latest stint in Japan.

RO , WR (SAT) 07/06/2019 Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
1) Ancla, Atomic Star, Thunder Storm vs Príncipe Rebelde, Shalom, Tromba
2) Dalys & Lilith Dark vs Lolita & Sanely
3) Demonio Infernal, Eterno, Lunatik Extreme vs Herodes Jr., Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Hijo de Sangre Chicana
4) Metaleón vs Negro Casas
5) Emperador Azteca vs Black Warrior [KAOZ CRUISER]
6) ? vs Warrior Jr. © [PROANCL JLH]
7) Mano Negra & Pirata Morgan vs Cerebro Negro & Fresero Jr.

This one has multiple promotions listed. Both Warriors being in title matches make me sure this is a RO Wrestling programmed card. Metaleon being on the card seems incredibly unlikely since he just suffered that wrist injury.

CMLL , LEGEND , UWE (THU) 07/18/2019 Arena Lopez Mateos
1) Bucker & Devitt Rodriguez vs Alex Pain & Bestia Del Caribe
2) Princesa Azul vs Hetzza, Skarlet, Lady Cat, Candy Swing, Samira, Stephanie Vaquer, Sexy Ángel [Liger Woman Tournament]
3) Ricky Marvin & Último Gladiador vs Fuego & Stuka Jr.
4) Ángel Cósmico, Drástico, Terry 2000 vs Príncipe Cóndor, Sádico, Yoruba
5) Aero Boy, Emperador Azteca, Imposible vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
6) Jushin Liger, Místico, Valiente vs Carístico, El Bandido, Titán

First stop in Liger’s retirement tour, with an all-star trios match main event.

a section where I digress once again on Hijo del Vikingo’s visa

PWG started listing names for their Battle of Los Angeles tournament yesterday. People would like to see Hijo del Vikingo in it. I would too. More importantly, I think it has a very high chance of happening if Vikingo can travel to the US. Various promotions are excited to use Vikingo on their shows as soon as they have the opportunity; he’s surely going to be working for any promotion Konnan is working with right now at the least. No promotion has announced matches with Vikingo, which means he doesn’t have that ability to work in the US yet. At best – at best! – the visa process is underway and just not completed. I’m not sure of that. I would be a lot more sure of it if Vikingo’s name did get announced somewhere.

You may not care about PWG or American indie wrestling. That is cool. The lucha relevant thing here is Battle of Los Angeles is a week after AAA show in MSG. AAA’s not going to announce anything firm for that show until late (probably after TripleMania) because that’s how AAA operates, but you can get a readout of how it’s going from PWG. If Vikingo shows up on the BOLA participant list, he’s obviously going to be in New York. If BOLA reaches entrant 24 and Vikingo is not involved, that’s a bad sign for AAA’s show in New York and the one soon after in Los Angeles. Vikingo is not close to the most important person on that show, but he’s pretty high on the list of guys they should want to work those shows and it’d throw in to question who else might not make it.

There’s also a window open right now that might not be open forever. Two years ago, the Hijo del VIkingo breakout star was Arkangel Divino & Ultimo Maldito. Those guys wanted to come to US and they probably would’ve been given chances by US promoters. They never could – as mentioned in The Wrestlers episode a few weeks ago, they were not able to get a visa to travel to the US due to US policies two years ago. I’m not sure if that’s still the same case, but they’re obviously not been booked in the US much. I think they might still do get a look in the US if they got a chance to do their match with each other again, but the possibilities aren’t there like they were two years ago. Like a young basketball player who stays in college instead of going to the NBA, more time with Divino has exposed some of his weaknesses and lowered his perceived ceiling. Nothing AAA or anyone else has done with him in the last two years has made him as hot or as in demand as when he was the guy breaking out on The Crash undercards as well. AAA’s done better with Vikingo, but there will come a time where people get a little bit used to him being great and novelty gets taken away if he stays in the same spot forever. He’s not the only one in this situation. Not getting things done promptly has a price.

Ok, no more about this again for at least a month if I can help it.

MDA (SUN) 06/30/2019 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Auzter, Blue Monster Jr., Tempo b Eurus, Magnético, Puma de Oro
2) Ludark Shaitan b Chik Tormenta
3) Demasiado b Cerebro Negro, Dinamic Black
4) Hijo de Canis Lupus & Imposible b Ovett & Sádico
5) Aeroboy & Extreme Tiger b Aramis & Dragón Bane
There was talk about putting together a group with Canis Lupus and the winning side but it wasn’t clear who was involved.
6) La Máscara, Trauma I, Trauma II b Demonio Infernal, Eterno, Lunatik Xtreme and Black Warrior Jr., Herodes Jr., Hijo de Pirata Morgan
Mascara is inexplicably still wearing jumpsuits.
7) Canek & Villano IV b Máscara Sagrada & Octagón and Fuerza Guerrera & Pirata Morgan and Black Terry & Black Warrior
Eliminations: Black Warrior & Black Terry, Fuerza Guerrera & Pirata Morgan and Mascara Sagrada & Octagon

Nothing sounded like it was great except the fifth match, but MDA drew a huge crowd for this show.

Lucha Time (SUN) 06/30/2019 Gimnasio Nuevo León Independiente, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon [Lo Mejor de Lucha]
1) Dulce Sexy, Lady Flammer, Reina Obscura b Baby Love, Linda Llamarada, Princesa Quetzal
2) Baby Extreme b Damián 666, The Tiger, Epydemus, Hijo de LA Park, Hijo De Dos Caras, Mr. Warrior, La Park Jr., Greco Baez [Copa Impulso III]
3) Carístico b Rey Horus, Bestia 666
4) Alberto el Patrón, Hijo del Fantasma, LA Park b Carlito, El Mesías, MVP

Very few details on this as well, though the photos show this drew much better than the last trip here, maybe better than The Crash show here a couple of years ago. The promotion says they raised 520,000 Mexican Pesos ($27K USD) for a charity helping vision-impaired adults and children.

Not much going into Arena Puebla tonight. CMLL set up a Volador/Sanson match and then just didn’t do a Volador/Sanson match. That’s fine. The main event is almost NGD versus Los Ingobernables, except Rush is replaced by Mr. Niebla. Mistico, Soberano, and Titan face the rest of Peste Negra in a match that seems good on paper. Dulce Gardenia debuts in Arena Puebla teaming with Drone and Stigma against Tyson la Besita, Universo 2000 Jr. and Virus. Sonic and Robin slip in amongst the locals; their team with Rey Samuray versus Espiritu Maligno, Joker and the returning Rey Apocalispis has an outside chance of being notable. The show streams at 9 pm.

Niebla Roja was booked to main event both Arena Coliseo Guadalajara & Arena Mexico tomorrow. He’ll be replaced by Caristico in Mexico City. My hunch is a Volador/Sanson match planned for tonight and perhaps a Volador/Gran Guerrero match for tomorrow night were both pulled. CMLL forgot where they had Niebla Roja booked in the process. Volador isn’t going anywhere, he’s still on Friday’s CMLL card, but a break seems like it’d be good for him. Either he’s hurt and picking his spots or he’s mentally burnt out. I’d like not to watch bored Volador matches so I hope he gets better either way. The bigger issue is there’s no Marco Corleone in CMLL any more because of this same sort of overexposure leading to burnout and CMLL can’t really afford to do the same thing with Volador.

Tomorrow is the AAA TripleMania press conference. In the fine tradition of recent AAA press conferences, they have yet to announce this publicly. I’m not even quite sure when it is, except these things are always around noon (give a take an hour.)

The only two matches which have been announced so far is Blue Demon’s mask versus Dr. Wagner’s hair and Cain Velasquez facing someone at TripleMania. Cain was introduced with a big mystery/dilemma over who which guy would get the chance to face him. Pentagon, Texano and Psycho Clown all stepping up to face him. That seemed like something that would play out over the next few months of AAA events. It has instead not been mentioned again. I think everyone expects it to pick right back up at the press conference, which seems to exist in an almost different continuity with the regular TV shows. It’s not that they’re necessarily in conflict with each other, but it would also be a totally coherent way to follow AAA just to go from press conference to big show to press conference, as that’s the only place where those bigger stories get advanced.

I’d be pleasantly surprised by a TripleMania card that turns out more coherent than Verano de Escandalo. This is less a knock on the programming and more the issues of trying to fit in the entire rest of the roster in six matches, assuming AAA sticks with their original plans. AAA has to be willing to run a lot of multiperson matches who’s only purposes are squeeze in people or make some very tough choices to tell people they’re not wrestling. I didn’t even have to deal with the actual reality of telling people they didn’t make TripleMania for the card I threw together last week, and I still struggled when I had to leave off people I’ve enjoyed in AAA this year.  Adding more matches is not a strong solution; the show runs into the next day last year and there’s only so much time you can add. AAA’s got a really deep roster this year and that’s great. It’s also going to make tomorrow tough.

From a business standpoint, the TripleMania is pretty strong after years of shows people have come away liking a lot so the creative doesn’t matter as much as long as they have a big match. Blue Demon versus Dr. Wagner is that big match. There’s almost no chance Demon is losing but if “almost no chance” actually happens, that would be front page news the next day. Velasquez being involved is the great stab at getting a different audience interested in. I’m uncertain if people used to UFC’s style and presentation will be enthralled with four and half hours of a show leaning much heavier towards entertainment, but it’s worth a shot. What AAA announces tomorrow is going to be a much bigger factor in why people who read this blog like this show or not but AAA’s going to make their money either way.

This is too boring to link but there’s some back and forth with Blue Demon and others being critical of Wagner wearing his mask for the AAA in LA press conference and the of adding hair extensions before a hair match. That seems like something that may come back up again tomorrow.