AAA Invading NY: 2019-09-15

Recapped: 09/15/2019

Matches:

Chris Dickinson & Máscarita Sagrada beat Dave The Clown & Demus
(8:35, Mascarita Sagrada quadruple headscissors into a cradle Demus)

Josh Alexander, Michael Elgin, Sami Callihan beat Drago, Faby Apache, Murder Clown
(13:54, Michael Elgin foul → powerbomb Murder Clown, ok)

Daga beat Puma King, Flamita, Aerostar in a Number One Contenders Match for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
(10:23, Daga double underhook headcrusher Puma King, great)

Taya beat Tessa Blanchard © to win the AAA REINA DE REINAS championship
(10:10, double underhook facecrusher, good)

Fénix & Pentagón Jr. beat Ortiz (LAX) & Santana (LAX) for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
(14:04, package piledriver/double sotmp, great)

Brian Cage, Cain Velasquez, Psycho Clown beat Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Texano Jr.
(12:58, Cain Velasquez Ace Crusher, good)

Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Blue Demon Jr.
(10:29, Wagner rolled thru plancha, ok)

What happened:

Wagner pinned Demon clean, though it was a bit of a fast count. Demon argued the count and attacked referee Johnny Bravo (who handled all the matches.) The Impact wrestlers, including Daga, came out to attack Wagner. The AAA wrestlers, including Cage, made the save and celebrated to end the show.

Taya regained the Reina de Reinas championship. Tessa showed respect to Taya after the match, then attacked her with the belt.

Elgin used a foul and a powerbomb to beat Murder Clown (which just seemed to set up the bit for post-main event.)

Mascarita Dorada was billed as Mascarita Sagrada, though he was wearing his normal Dorada outfit.

Thoughts:

This was a good show, with plenty of enjoyable matches. It also didn’t really give me many ideas of things to talk about. It felt like everyone was working at a big show level, at least as long as the matches went. It also felt slightly out of the canon, or at least slightly different from normal AAA. No weapons, no blood, no heel ref, only one foul, only one tecnico getting beat up after getting a win. It was cleaner than usual, an AAA show built not to really offend people (with the possible exception of the “puto” chant); they put on a family show expecting a lot of families.

Demon/Wagner from TripleMania got generally high marks, but there were definitely those in Mexico disappointed at it being a spectacle than a serious technical match. They had that technical match on this show. I’m glad they did what they did at TripleMania instead. Wagner/Demon never really got into high gear and ended so abruptly that it seemed like another bad referee count in lucha libre. Everyone progressed normally from that moment, meaning that was just the end. They could’ve gone for a little longer (and seemed to have the PPV time to do so), but Demon’s not one for finding that higher gear. What happened wasn’t much but perhaps it was good to leave people wanting more.

Cain Velasquez keeps giving people more. It seemed earlier on that his second appearance wasn’t going to be as interesting as his first. It turned out they just had more confidence in what Velasquez could do, and saved all of his big stuff for the finishing run. The handspring cutter was a little slow but still impressive. Taurus flipping him around was even more impressive. Everyone else played their role fine; it would’ve been nice to see a little more out of the rudos when they were in control, but this was mostly about giving the tecnicos a lot and so they did.

The middle matches all feel like they belong in the same box and I don’t have much interesting to say about them. (Do I ever have anything interesting to say? Feels like I could post the grades and move on.) Everyone worked hard, the matches had exciting moments, there’s not a lot distinguishing one from another. The LAX/Lucha Brothers felt at the level of the best version of that match and the finish was a superb visual. The fourway was a match I would’ve been excited for had I know it was happening, and they delivered on the promise of that match. (Though, if Puma King cut his superkicks in half, they’d mean twice as much. It was a problem by the end.) Taya & Tessa felt slightly less than the other two, seemingly it ended a little too soon, but there were moments of intensity found there and not as much in the other matches.

I liked the Impact/AAA match the least. There again was no problem with effort, it was just the wrong match for the show. Micahel Elgin, in particular, has only one way he knows how to work now – he’s more Mr. GMSI than Cage at this point. An early match on a lucha libre show feels like it should be a showcase for the lucha libre people and this really wasn’t that. The opener was off-putting in how few actual AAA people were opening the big AAA show, but there’s no real problem in booking Mascarita Dorada & Demus on any show you can. Dave the Clown vs Chris Dickinson could’ve been a disaster and was not, so that was pleasant.