02/21 AAA TV Results (DF) – Black Warrior to Rey de Reyes final, Sin Cara appears

AAA TV (FRI) 02/21/2014 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [AAA, MT, R de Rudo]
1) Mini Abismo Negro, Mini Charly Manson, Mini Histeria b Dinastía, Mascarita Sagrada, Mini Drago
Mini Drago’s debut. Charly beat Dinastia with a dragon suplex, then challenged for a title match (that’s already been announced!) Sagrada was strechered out.
2) Pentagón Jr., Sexy Star, Taya Valkyrie b Drago, Faby Apache, Jennifer Blake
Pentagon Jr. looked great, beat Drago. Sexy and Pentagon challenged Drago & Faby to a mixed tag title shot, which the tecnicos accepted.
3) Angélico, Australian Suicide, Zumbi b Demon Rocker, Machine Rocker, Soul Rocker
Zumbi returned and had his full drum entrance. After the tecnicos won, Pentagon came out and stole Suicide’s mask, then declared there’d be no more Suicide.
4) Daga, Juventud Guerrera, Steve Pain b Crazy Boy, Fénix, Joe Lider
Tecnicos looked to win by Lider putting Pain thru a flaming table, only for Eterno to return and distract Lider. Lider went thru a table instead. Post match promos set up a Mexican Powers & Fenix vs Anarquia domed cage match with weapons for Rey de Reyes, with the last one left losing mask or hair.
5) Black Warrior b Psycho Clown, Texano Jr., Psicosis [Rey de Reyes]
Group 4. Black Warrior was introduced before the group as a new (or returning) member of Perros del Mal, which left this 3 Sociedad against Psycho Clown. Psycho Clown beat Psicosis with the Canadian Destroyer, Texano was DQed for fouling Psycho Clown, and Black Warrior beat Psycho Clown to advance to the final (Parka, Zorro, Perro, Warrior.)
6) Chessman, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Jeff Jarrett, Zorro b Cibernético, Electroshock, Jack Evans, La Parka
Perro cheated to beat Cibernatico again. A post match brawl followed, interrupted by a mystery figure appearing on the stage. The mystery person vanished, and the tecnicos cleared the ring.

Air Date: 03/01 & 03/08

Let’s begin with the end. The usual post match fight between the tecnicos and rudos was interrupted by a mysterious man in black on the stage. He slowly posed on the stage, keeping his head down and a hood over his mask  as “Ameno” played over the audio. The lights went out after 30 seconds, and the mystery figure disappeared. R de Rudo has video.

This was Sin Cara. The actual, original Misitco. AAA’s doing the a slow reveal of him, maybe part for dramatics, but definitely part because they still haven’t quite figured out what to call him. Except another tease in Irapuato, and then the first full appearance in Monterrey.

I thought teasing it like this gives people the impression AAA might be setting up some swerve; they’ve not actually doing that and I didn’t think they would, but people who don’t trust AAA or lucha libre surprises in general have reason to believe AAA could be pulling a bait and switch. AAA’s picking building anticipation over clarity, though the people in the building seemed pretty excited already. (I’m also not sure about hyping shows around a Great Surprise and then only giving 30 seconds of that surprise, but people at the building seemed OK with it.)

As promised, Sin Cara wasn’t the only new face last night. Black Warrior returned to AAA as a member of Perros del Mal, and surprisingly qualified for the Rey de Reyes final. Warrior’s thought of a CMLL guy, but this is actually his fourth stint in AAA over the years dating back to the beginnings of the company. Black Warrior missed out on AAA’s first ever show, but might have already been under contract at that point and debuted as Superstar at the end of May 1992. Black Warrior has a numerous list of previous characters in his bio, and many of those were Antonio Pena concepts; Pena saw that he had talent and kept coming up with ideas to use it. Warrior finally found success in CMLL, and never was more successful than his mask versus mask feud with Mistico. This AAA stint looks like it’s going to pull Warrior back from the fringes of lucha libre back to a hugely meaningful position in that old feud. He should be Sin Cara’s first feud in AAA, and I believe there’s a good chance Black Warrior vs Sin Cara, hair vs mask, would take place as soon as TripleMania.

That leaves us with one person who didn’t jump, at least last night. There were rumors Maximo was going to jump to AAA, loud enough that even Maximo was making jokes about Maximo jumping. Rumors is probably putting it too soft; people were sure Maximo was coming to AAA. I think they still may be right. There’s still the matter of the mystery man in Irapuato. It’s a spot for a tecnico, which excludes Black Warrior. AAA’s not going to slow play the Sin Cara reveal in week 1 and throw him into a tag match with Axel and Electroshock in week 2, so it has to be someone else. That place is more a fit for a guy like Maximo. Maximo is currently booked Sunday in Neza, Monday in Puebla, Tuesday in Mexico and Wednesday in Queretaro, but CMLL’s let others work their scheduled dates until the moment they started with AAA and this might be no different. We’ll find out a week from Monday.

Pentagon Jr. had a busy day – between getting himself a probable Rey de Reyes match and stripping Australian Suicide of his identity, he also got strong reviews for his performance in his match. He’s been very good for quite a while, and it’s nice to see him get to do something with it. The Suicide bit was weird and didn’t quite fit with the other angle; my first thought was this might be a character change (but then I so dislike that name that maybe you shouldn’t trust me thinking clearly on this.) It could go another way: Mary & Cuervo had previously challenged for the same titles, and Jennifer Blake randomly asked people on Twitter who would be a good male partner for her if she challenged for the tag titles. Maybe this mixed tag match turns into a four way and the Suicide/Pentagon issue gets picked up by Suicide being Jennifer’s pick?

Here’s what they’ve got so far for Rey de Reyes

• Zorro vs La Parka vs Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Black Warrior in the Rey de Reyes final (3 rudos and 1 tecnico)
• Psycho Clown vs Texano Jr. (still not announced, so still possible it’s a trios title match)
• Juventued Guerrera, Steve Pain, Eterno, Crazy Boy, Joe Lider, Fenix in a domed cage weapons apuesta match (Nino Hamburguesa figures to be involved too, so maybe one more rudo? many more rudos?)
• Faby Apache & Drago vs Sexy Star & Pentagon Jr. (vs Mary Apache & Cuervo vs Jennifer Blake & ?) for the mixed tag titles
• Blue Demon vs Chessman for the Latin American championship
• probably a trios or atomicos with Cibernetico/Jarrett/others?

That leaves room for one or maybe two matches. If Maximo is jumping, he could fit in the main event or they could add the usual Relevos AAA. Elegido should be free by then, and that’s his match. There’s the Aerostar/Super Fly issue that could be turned into a match, but neither of those guys are guaranteed to make major shows. Jack, Angelico, Daga and Psicois figure to make the show too. That’s the right number for a tag title match, but maybe they end up being wedged into a different one. Not having the tournament semifinals on the show clears some space, but there’s still a lot here.