AAA announces Psycho/Wagner (again), Puebla, Mexico

CMLL (SUN) 01/22/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Domingos Familiares]
1) Avispón Negro Jr. & Capitán Cobra b Destello & Destructor
Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Fugaz & Johnny Dinamo b Linterna & Mr. Brisa
Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Neutrón, Sky Kid, Smaker b Évola, Relámpago, Thunder Boy
Tecnicos took 2/3.
4) Flash II, Star Black, Vaquero Jr. b Exterminador, Gran Kenut, León Blanco
Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Joker © b Frezzer [OCCIDENTE MIDDLE]
Joker took 2/3. Furia Roja helped Frezzer in the first, then was DQed for involving in the second. 2nd defense

Sadico was Joker’s second, which sets up Sadico/Furia Roja next week. Joker & Star Black still seem like the names to watch here.

CMLL (MON) 01/23/2017 Arena Puebla [Plantilla Deportiva]
1) Lestat, Rey Samuray, Zaeta Roja b King Jaguar, Perverso, Rey Apocalipsis
Perverso (Hijo del Perverso)’s debut.
2) Acero, Aéreo, Asturiano b Espíritu Maligno, Mini Joker, Pierrothito
3) Esfinge, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Kráneo, Olímpico, Ripper
4) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Diamante Azul b Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible
5) Johnny Idol, Marco Corleone, Valiente DQ La Máscara, Máscara Año 2000, Vangellys
La Mascara fouled Marco.

So La Mascara/Marco is the feud. Show was said to be bad, with the last couple matches being very boring.

In an interview from about a week ago, Máscara Año 2000 says he considered retiring until CMLL brought him back. Why, CMLL. Why.

Today’s starts the return of the FantasticaMania crew, though most aren’t on the Arena Mexico show, which remains a weak directionless show. Atlantis & Stuka return to team with Valiente against Rey Bucanero, Shocker and Terrible. The semimain has Angel de Oro, Guerrero Maya, Rey Cometa against Ripper, Adonis and Vangellys in the best sounding match on the show. Misterioso & Sagrado team up with Virus to face Pegasso, Stigma and Triton. Fuego versus Skandalo is the lightning match, which is not the greatest use of a lightning match. Flyer, Star Jr. and Metatron (first match in DF since November) face Arkangel, Canelo and Hijo del Signo in something you’ll want to skip. The opener is not much better: CMLL’s two worst mini rudos Pequeno Universo & Pequeno Violencia against Acero & Aereo. Aereo has not had a match without Acero since November, and that was only because Astral was hurt that week. They should get matching gear and a team name at this point. The show will air at 7:30 pm on CMLL’s YouTube channel. You probably shouldn’t turn up until at least half way thru, if you watch it at all.

Guadalajara has Negro Casas vs Mephisto and Dragon Lee, Mistico and Volador against Cavernario, Gran Guerrero, Ultimo Guerrero. Tercera is Blue Panther, Esfinge, and the Panther versus Disturbio, Puma and Tiger. I have no idea how hard they’re working on Guadalajara shows but this is a very good card on paper.

AAA had a press conference for TripleMania today. The plan was for Psycho Clown and Dr. Wagner to sign for their mask match in Arena Ciudad de Mexico, the site of the match on August 26th. Unfortunately, Dr. Wagner is still in Torreon, stuck due to plane issues. (It must be a mechanical problem, because the weather looks great in the photos.) Instead, the story they went was Psycho and Wagner had actually already signed the contract. A lawyer insisted it was a legal deal and Wagner phoned in to hype the match. They made a point of  no one else will be added to the match and it will remain a one on one match. That’s been the most obvious failsafe leading up to the match, adding a third person to lose if Wagner holds AAA up at the last second and they don’t want to Psycho Clown to lose or Psycho doesn’t want to lose either. (What it does mean is they’re now confident they can get Psycho Clown to do business if Wagner does not – or they’re just not afraid to go back on their word later.) Psycho went as far as saying no one else would interfere and Joaquin mentioned that’s part of the contract, which is hard to believe in an AAA big match. Dorian also said the match would have a winner, no draw.

Tickets will go on sale for TripleMania today. The entire point of this press conference was to convince people who might be tickets that the main event is actually going to happen. (Having their money for up to seven months is a nice benefit.) This wasn’t succesfull in making myself care, but I think it was good enough to sell some tickets. They would’ve sold more if Wagner was there in person. Dorian mentioned there’d be future press conferences to talk about TripleMania, and I expect they’ll try to do what they couldn’t do here with a Wagner/Psycho confrontation.

Edit: Tickets are on sale here, though the website wasn’t working for me on Chrome. It’s 264 Mexican Pesos (12 USD) for the cheapest seats on sale today, and 4680 Mexican Pesos ($218 USD) for ringside. Despite mine feelings or maybe yours on AAA, those ringside tickets usually go fast and probably will go quick again. AAA holds back a few, which means they’ll go faster, but there’s always super AAA fans who will spend a lot to be up close for the biggest show of the year. It’s the rest of the arena that needs seven months of hype to sell.

AAA also announced upcoming shows in Toluca,  Cuautitlán, Tlaxcala, Monterrey, Ciudad Juárez, Aguascalientes, Neza, and San Luis. Those appeared to be tapings (they said there would be 17 tapings total before TripleMania.) We know some of them already. Toluca is Friday, Cuautitlan is 02/11, Tlaxcala is 03/05 and San Luis Potosi is 04/12. If the taping list is in order, AAA would be taping pretty every week in between Tlaxcala & SLP. That doesn’t seem right. I think Monterrey has to be Rey de Reyes, because none of the other cities fit for it.

AAA kept with the line their wrestlers have been saying elsewhere on the jumps: everyone’s there wants to be there, and they wish the others good luck. Psycho Clown framed it as just normal talent movement and said AAA was stronger than ever, while switching the topic to hoping his father could be his second on the card if legally permitted. Dorian said the future of the Perros del Mal group is the decision of the Aguayo family; it’s the families trademark and not AAA. (I suspect that means we won’t see Lider with the shirt and music on Friday.)

Updated AAA lineups without Pentagon, Daga and Garza started to be advertised last night. Friday night’s taping in Toluca will have Chessman & Averno now teaming with Daga to fight the Clowns and La Parka replacing Garza with Australian Suicide & Angelico to face the Xinetez. The La Parka match is now the semifinal, La Parka isn’t working the fourth match on a TV taping. There’s also updated lineups for Sunday’s Arena Neza show, 02/01 in Madero and the 02/03 Arena Campeones show, all replacing Pentagon & Daga. There’s plenty more of those to come, but getting replacement posters is a nice improvement from usual. (I don’t want to give a round of applause for something that should be standard, but I’m appreciative of the effort.)

Every full time AAA star is now booked in Toluca. Mundo, Taya and other foreigners aren’t around, extra unpushed guys like Bengala & Parka Negra can still be fill ins, and there’s miscellaneous minis and women missing, but no else important. That lineup is pretty much what AAA is at this point, for better or worse. The smaller roster is going to put a bigger strain on those who are left: Psycho Clown replaces Pentagon in Arena Neza, but he’s also still listed as main eventing Arena Lopez Mateos the same night. This seems like the time for an big influx of people (the return of Cibernetico and friends if Elite doesn’t run tapings?), but there’s no sign of that happening and it’s unclear if AAA is able to bring people at this point.

Garza Jr. told Record that one of the main reasons he left was AAA was situations where indie promotions would call up the office to try and book him, AAA would tell them Garza Jr. was booked somewhere, and then Garza wouldn’t end up booked at all. It was costing him money, and he knew he could get the bookings on his own, so he wasn’t included to stay. Record has a deal with AAA, so it’s notcable to see negative AAA stories there.  (I can not wait to see the spin in Leo Riano’s column in the next could days, should be amazing.)

Drago & Pentagon Jr. will be in New York on 02/19. AAA doesn’t seem to be pulling their guys from US indie shows which book Pentagon.

Juan Diego Frias was named new lucha libre commissioner in Tijuana. The article mentions promotions the Crash, Cholo, and EMW are the only three licensed in the area right now (which usually only refers to the Auditorio or bigger arenas.)

Luchas 2000 #858 has highlights from Guerra de Titanes & Villano III being honored. Box Y Lucha #3268 has an upcoming boxing match, Astral and Villano III. This is one of those times where those magazines had to be finished off at just the wrong time and they won’t have anything on the jumps until next week.

Los Reyes del Biutiful have had Arez, Centvrion, and Latigo on as a recent guests. I want to find out what they had to say but haven’t listened yet.

LuchaWorld has the latest Poster-Mania.

AAA’s put up this week’s TV show, the last show taped in 2017. I think they probably should make an effort to make it seem less dated next time (no Christmas outfits for something airing in mid January), but I suppose they have bigger issues at the moment.

Long time Tijuana luchador Tury Gonzalez passed away Monday.

CHIKARA announced Emperador Azteca would be coming in for their National Pro Wrestling show on February 4th. He’s never worked in the US as far as I know. He’s not as flashy as other IWRG to super indie guys, but he’s very consistent. CHIKARA streams this show free via Facebook Live, and it’s probably a chance for him to work more if he does well and is willing to travel.

Chicago’s Gringo Loco is back wrestling for AIW on 02/17. He had said he hoped to be back in the ring by February so that’s right on track.

Penta 0M faces Will Ospreay on 03/12 in London for XWA.

A profile of the SAW WAG promotion in Colombia.

Lineup

CMLL (MON) 01/30/2017 Arena Puebla
1) Meyer, París, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Ares, El Malayo, Sombra Diabólika
2) Acero, Aéreo, Asturiano vs Demus 3:16, Mini Joker, Pierrothito
3) Drone, Rey Cometa, Tritón vs Bobby Z, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
4) Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Titán vs Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero
5) La Máscara, Máscara Año 2000, Rush vs Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy [Relevos Increíbles]

One more week of build for La Mascara & Marco. Main event is listed as Relevos Incredibles even though Rush & Mascara are rudos by every definition. Middle matches might be good. Another week with a minis match.