Kenny Omega (yes Kenny Omega) AAA champion, CMLL weekend results, Cavernario/Forastero

Fenix

AAA TV (SAT) 10/19/2019 Coliseo La Concordia, Orizaba, Veracruz [AAA, AAA (Highlights)Furia de TitanesLucha Centralthecubsfan]
Heroes Inmortales XIII
1) Draztick Boy, Lady Shani, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata b Australian Suicide, Demus, Mamba, Vanilla  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
10:24. Draztick Boy replaced Argenis. Michael Nakazawa seconded Mamba and interfered freely. Lady Shani cradle suplxed Mamba to win.
2) Lady Maravilla & Villano III Jr. © b Keyra & Látigo and Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa [AAA MIXED TAG (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
9:36. Lady Maravilla hit Big Mami with a chair. Maravilla mocked Hamburguesa, Mami said she was done teaming with Hamburguesa. 3rd defense, first on TV.
3) Daga b Drago © [AAA LA (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Daga won via foul. Drago falls on 6th defense.
4) Dinastía, Octagón Jr., Puma King b Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Súper Fly  (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
9:45. Octagon beat Abismo with the 450 splash.
5) Hijo Del Vikingo b AerostarMurder ClownIron KidParka NegraDave The ClownMonsther ClownTritónLa HiedraFaby ApacheLa Parka Negra [Copa Antonio Pena (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
22:01. Order of elimination: Iron Kid (Hiedra), Parka Negra (Faby Apache), Triton (Taurus), La Hiedra (Faby Apache), Monster Clown (Aerostar), Monster Clown (Murder Clown), Dave the Clown (Murder Clown), Murder Clown (Taurus & Faby), Faby Apache (Taurus), Taurus (Vikingo pinfall), leaving Hijo del Vikingo as the winner.
6) Kenny Omega b Fénix © [AAA HEAVY (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
19:38. Kenny Omega won the AAA Heavyweight Championship. Fenix falls on third defense.
7) Psycho Clown & Rey Escorpión L Averno & Dr. Wagner Jr. and Pentagón Jr. & Texano Jr. and Chessman & Pagano [Relevos Increíbles, cage (posted by Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
19:11. The ideas of teams were ignored. Order of escape: Dr. Wagner Jr., Texano, Pagano, Averno, Psycho Clown, Chessman, Pentagon leaving Escorpion as the loser. Los Mercenarios attacked Pentagon until Fenix & Psycho made the save.

Omega/Fenix is must see, would finish among the best matches of the year if it was in a promotion more popular with people who voted in such things. (It would’ve made sense for AAA just to put it up Sunday since it was going to be pirated heavily anyway, but I think they’re unable to do that due to their TV agreements.) The rest of the card is going to be a little harder to find but still worth your time or your $5. Hijo del Vikingo winning Copa Pena over Taurus is another case of AAA doing everything right with Vikingo. The undercard was generally fun. The cage match was exactly the mess it looked like on paper.

I presume Omega’s won’t be back in AAA until December. If even then.

This was one of those AAA shows that’ll be reported as a sellout in the WON despite visually empty seats. It was still a good turnout and a strong show.

AAA’s back at the same time on Saturday, though the card isn’t quite as interesting.

The Aerostar, Taurus, and Dr. Wagner vs Rascalz Impact PPV match was moved to their Tuesday show on AXS. This had been announced days ago and I didn’t notice until the PPV. The match was fine for a six minute TV match but nothing you need to go out of the way to see. It’s jarring if not unexpected to see Taurus in a non-descript role on a US PPV on Sunday PPV after looking like one of the best wrestlers in the world on Saturday. In my head, and maybe in the head of other people who pays attention to lucha libre, I’m thinking “when’s Aramis going to expand past PWG? which US indie group is going to figure out they need to bring in Canis Lupus?”. The reality is most people in positions of power pay so little attention to Mexican wrestling that they still haven’t figured out Taurus despite him killing with guys as varied as Hijo del Vikingo and Cain Velasquez. It’s going to be slow for everyone else.

CMLL (SAT) 10/19/2019 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Bengala & Leono b Apocalipsis & Príncipe Odín
tecnicos took 2/3
2) La Comandante, La Seductora, Tiffany b La Guerrera, La Maligna, Sanely
Rudas took 1/3. Jarochita replaced Guerrera or Maligna.
3) Átomo, El Gallito, Microman DQ Chamuel, Mije, Perico Zakarías
Tecnicos took 2/3, the last when Chamuel fouled Microman.
4) Luciferno b Guerrero Maya Jr. [lightning]
5) Felino, Mephisto, Templario b Flyer, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 1/3.
6) Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Carístico DQ Euforia, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero
Euforia replaced Ultimo Guerrero (in Zamora). Niebla fouled Caristico.

Luciferno talks about his win, seems to briefly forget he’s no longer Hooligan?

CMLL (SUN) 10/20/2019 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Robin & Sonic b Cholo & Yago
tecnicos took 2/3
2) El Coyote b Eléctrico [lightning]
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr. b Cancerbero, Raziel, Universo 2000 Jr.
tecnicos took 2/3
4) Hechicero, Pólvora, Vangellys b Blue Panther, Kráneo, Volcano
rudos took 2/3
5) Mr. Niebla, Rey Bucanero, Terrible b Atlantis, Atlantis Jr., Dulce Gardenia
rudos took 1/3.
6) Forastero, Negro Casas, Valiente b Ángel de Oro, Cavernario, Niebla Roja [Relevos Increíbles]
Forastero beat Cavernario, setting up a title match

I didn’t mention which title, leaving it as a pop quiz for you.

CMLL’s overdoing the Forastero spotlight matches – Cuatrero exists too, I’m pretty sure – but at least Cavernario will be a different kind of opponent than usual. CMLL posted Cavernario & Forastero promos to build that up. Coyote talked about his win. It may seem like bad news for champion Electrico to leave, but at least it made it clear where he stands in CMLL’s pecking order.

Dragon Rojo mentioned he was back in his gear for a public function recently, though he is still not wrestling. I have no idea what to expect from him when does return.

Exterminador won the vacant Occident Heavyweight Championship.

Mr. Aguila defeated Ozz in a hair match in Ozz’s hometown Saturday. It’s the first time Ozz has lost a hair match. The former AAA luchador doesn’t show up on cards a lot nowadays. He did say he’d be looking for revenge in a post match promo.

El Divino saved his mask and took Juan Diego’s hair in Arena Lopez Mateos.

EMW has quietly replaced Laredo Kid with Hijo del Vikingo, teaming with Puma King against Pentagon & Fenix in a tag title match on 10/25. Scarlett Bordeaux and Killer Kross are also off the show, with La Hiedra and Tiago. Bordeaux’s WWE deal could be formally announced at any moment.

NOAH officially announced Dragon Bane & Hijo de Canis Lupus as coming in on 12/03 (to 12/12.) IWRG had mentioned this tour a while ago, though they didn’t have a date at that point. Dragon Bane is currently out of action after a head injury last week.

AAA on Twitch: 2019-10-19 (Heroes Inmortales)

Code Vikingo

Recapped: 10/19/2019

Matches:

Draztic Boy, Lady Shani, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata beat Australian Suicide, Demus, Mamba, Vanilla, Michael Nakazawa
(10:24, Lady Shani cradle suplex Mamba, good, 00:34:05)

Lady Maravilla & Villano III Jr. © beat Keyra & Látigo and Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa to retain the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship
(9:36, Lady Maravilla chair shot to the Big Mami’s skull, good, 00:57:51)

Daga beat Drago © to win the AAA Latin American Championship
(14:26, Daga foul, good, 01:20:03)

Dinastía, Octagón Jr., Puma King beat Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Súper Fly
(9:45, Octagon Jr. 450 splash Abismo Negro Jr., ok, 01:44:03)

Hijo Del Vikingo defeated Aerostar, Murder Clown, Iron Kid, Iron Kid, Dave The Clown, Monsther Clown, Tritón, La Hiedra, Faby Apache, La Parka Negra to win Copa Antonio Pena
(22:01, good, 02:10:28)

00:00 Parka Negra & Hijo del Vikingo start
01:22 Triton joins
02:37 Taurus joins
03:47 Iron Kid joins
05:10 Faby Apache joins
06:21 La Hiedra joins
06:53 Iron Kid out (by La Hiedra)
07:35 Parka Negra out (by Faby Apache)
07:36 Aerostar joins
07:56 Triton out (by Taurus)
09:02 Monsther Clown joins
10:15 Dave the Clown joins
11:10 La Hiedra out (by Faby Apache)
11:19 Aerostar out (by Monster Clown)
11:30 Murder Clown joins last
11:44 Monster Clown out (by Murder Clown)
13:21 Dave the Clown out (by Murder Clown)
14:13 Murder Clown out (by Taurus & Faby Apache)
14:43 Faby Apache out (by Taurus)
22:01 Hijo del Vikingo Cuerno de Vikingo Taurus

Kenny Omega beat Fénix © for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship
(19:38, One Winged Angel, excellent, 02:42:08)

Psycho Clown & Rey Escorpión lost to Averno & Dr. Wagner Jr. and Pentagón Jr. & Texano Jr. and Chessman & Pagano in a relevos increíbles cage match
(19:11, ok, 03:14:59)

08:28 Dr. Wagner Jr. escapes
08:58 Texano escapes
10:31 Pagano escapes
11:42 Averno escapes
12:38 Psycho Clown escapes
14:54 Chessman escapes
19:11 Pentagon escapes

What happened:

Villano III welcomes back Keyra

Pentagon Jr. “won” the cage match by being second to last out. Los Mercenarios attacked him after the match until Fenix & Psycho Clown made the save. Psycho Clown had earlier done the required cage dive.

Kenny Omega is AAA Megachampion. Fenix’s nose was busted open during the match. Lady Shani showed up as a second midway thru the match, though it didn’t appear to lead to anything.

Iron Kid & Hijo del Vikingo replaced Laredo Kid & Myzteziz Jr. in the Copa TripleMania. The debut (Rey) Triton was the mystery wrestler. Vikingo defeated Taurus in a one fall finish to win Copa TripleMania. Aerostar & Monster Clown continue to rip each other’s mask and fought backstage after the match.

The Octagon/Abismo Negro match was made a lumberjack match.

Keyra replaced Chik Tormenta. Maravilla faked an injury again in the title match, which Hamburguesa fell for again. Maravilla mocked Hamburguesa for falling for her. Big Mami told Hamburguesa they were done, though she’s still going after Maravilla.

Fenix

Michael Nakazawa was added to the opener. He was there with Kenny Omega. Draztick Boy replaced Argenis (in New York.) Octagoncito appeared to be a new luchador, not one of the past ones returned.

La Parka started the show with a promo, which talked about Antonio Pena and appeared to be building towards bringing in his son. Konnan interrupted instead. He was with Latigo, Arez and Parka Negra, who all got laid out after Parka Negra talked too much. Dave the Clown ran out for the rudo save. Vampiro made the save for the tecnicos until Konnan cheap shoted him. This is all we saw of La Parka, Konnan and Vampiro.

Thoughts:

The cage match was the expected mess from the moment the whistle blew. Everyone immediately ignored the concept of teams and reverted to the usual rudos/tecnico splits. The meandering weapons brawl never works. The AAA cage match is the reverse of the AAA battle royal, and lacked the sequence of big moments the earlier Copa Antonio Pena had. The Pentagon package piledrivers on chairs looked impressive. It just took a long time to get there. There’s no reason to watch this main event.

Draztick Boy coming thru

The One Winged Angel’s protection is pretty useful. Omega landing it gave me a full moment to process he was the new AAA champion before it happened. It also signaled the match was coming to the end at a perfect moment. This was a twenty-minute firefight of a match, not the thirty plus drawn-out IWGP championship version which might have played for an AAA crowd. Omega kept it slow early, seemingly the first man in years to go after a body part in AAA, and it ramped up nicely into craziness from there. Fenix’s busted nose only added to the match, showing his reliance to keep on surviving all the big moves until it got to the biggest one. Fenix only rarely came close to winning, though he still came off as Omega’s equal and pulled off things Kenny seemingly could not. This is nose and nose with Laredo/Vikingo as best match of the year; that one had the advantage of coming together at an unexpected level, while this one simply delivered the sort of match hoped for when this was announced.

This was the best Copa Antonio Pena they’ve done. It was a combination of having a talent rich group of wrestlers, a willingness to ignore the rules when need be (over the top rope dives aren’t elimination) and obvious if smart decision making on the final two. It is a luxury when you can have guys like Triton and Iron Kid show up basically just to do their coolest dives and get out of the way. This succeeded better than TripleMania at getting people to do their hot moves and get out of the way for the next bit. The Vikingo/Taurus finish played a lot into that, with the two given plenty of time to settle things. People came away impressed with Vikingo on a night where he seemed far from his best, with moves coming up a bit short. He still did amazing things and had an impressive opponent to go against. Taurus & Vikingo can probably do even better than this. Hopefully, they get more chances.

combo Daga is best Daga

Dinastia/Arez had a good sequence and then it turned into weirdness between the lumberjacks. That stipulation always overpowers whatever match it is in. They gave the crowd the usual lumberjack strap matches, the crowd liked it, but it wasn’t really novel if you’ve seen a lot of them. There were moments to enjoy in this match, it just didn’t live up to the names involved.

Daga & Drago went at a slow pace, which suffered followed the craziness which happened before. It might have followed the lumberjack match a little bit. They were generally smooth, but this was more a super solid match that didn’t find a high gear. Daga took a lot of the match and seemed sharp, but there wasn’t as much excitement as you’d hope from a match like this. The camera issues in the final minutes really exposed the match. This was a borderline match; there were a lot more flaws in the earlier matches yet those had a lot more excitement.

The mixed tag had so many big spots. The crazy Spanish Fly to the floor spot stood out, though Maravilla took a suplex to the floor just before that looked as vicious. Villano III was wild as usual and Latigo fit in well with this mix. The chair shot to the head was unnecessary; Maravilla could’ve done any spot there and gotten the same reaction for the win. The excuse for the chair shots is that’s just the way the experienced luchadors are used to doing it, but Mami & Maravilla aren’t doing a chair shot to the head spot unless that’s the call for the finish. The Big Mami break up was a big move that felt like it moved this story on.

The opener was a strange alignment just to do a traditional relevos AAA match, and then the first half of the match was lots of Michael Nakazawa related silliness. This relied on people know who Nakazawa was (which the English announcers did not) and knowing his slippery baby oil gimmick. That part didn’t really work. It got a lot better when everyone just decided to do crazy dives. Some of which were caught, occasionally by the barricade. It’s nice to have Draztick Boy around and matching him up with Demus is something which ought to happen more often. Octagoncito looked good in his debut, more faithful to the character than Octagon Jr. & Abismo Negro. This was fun live, though it may be too out of control for some.

Vikingo so good that Dave looked good