AAA on Televisa: 2018-01-06 

 

Recapped: 01/06/2018

This was the third of the annual three recap shows. The 12/23 show had matches from TripleMania (the ladder match, the four way tag match, and Wagner/Psycho.) The second show had matches from the other big shows (Rey de Reyes sword match, the Verano de Escandalo tag mask match, Ayako/Shani, and the Heroes Inmortales care match). This show focused on AAA’s charity efforts. They showed the Gold Guitar match from the Hard Rock show (which was used as charity) and the top three matches from the Luchando del Mexico show, which had not been aired previously.

The new matches were taped from Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera, on December 9^th. The arena had a different stage than usual, and they bathed the arena in a black/purple light.

Matches:

Joe Lider, Parka Negra, Súper Fly beat Aerostar, Drago, Raptor
(9:04, Super Fly springboard splash Raptor, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)

Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, La Parka beat Dave The Clown, Monsther Clown, Murder Clown  
(11:17, COR, below average, Lucha Libre AAA)

Hijo del Fantasma, Pagano, Psycho Clown beat Averno, Chessman, Texano Jr.
(18:28, Pagano pin Averno + Psycho pin Chessman, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA)

What happened: 

This is a show in Mexico City, so Fantasma (Sr.) is at ringside, and Texano taunts him while beating up his son, seemingly taking credit for his retirement. After 18 minutes of action, Tirantes slaps Fantasma in the back and grabs him, Texano kicks and gets Tirantes by mistake, Texano recovers and unmasks Fantasma, Fantasma fouls Texano and covers, and the rudos rush into break it up. Psycho and Pagano win with pinfalls on OGT and Averno ten seconds later.

Cuervo & Scoria are wresting in skeleton themed shirts underneath the straight jackets to match Parka, but we never get the big reveal because the rudos attack them first.

About 9 minutes in, with no explanation or provocation, Aerostar climbs a light tower. (He’s wearing a GoPro camera around his head as he climbs, which might be the reason. GoPro is a sponsor of this event.) No one is even outside when he does that. The announcers compare this to TripleMania, and it’s just like that in that they pretty much stop showing the match to shift to shots of Aerostar. The técnicos send the rudos out, send them around the corner teasing a dive, Scoria does dive and gets caught and dropped, and then Aerostar jumps onto everyone. (The camera is gone when we see Aerostar on the floor, he may have quickly pulled it off after he landed.) That feels like that should be a DQ, which Arturo Rivera points out at the announce table. The rudos never make it back in and are counted out.

Noti AAA focuses on the Guerra de Titanes card. All the matches are covered. Mundo/Wagner is hyped like there’s nothing strange going on there. There’s also the announcement that the Luchando de Mexico gate will be donated to charity, and a mention of Pagano’s injury.

Thoughts: 

The main event went forever, included Tirantes turning rudo about 15 seconds, and was not that interesting most of the time. All of these matches felt a bit in house show mode, which is really what this is for all three matches despite the TV cameras, though at least the Fantasma/Texano was a bit more intense. I never think Pagano is much good, but he seemed particularly bad in this match. He’s not good at being a técnico doing a lot of flashy moves and hopefully they take him back in his original direction next time we see him.

This Parka match is a setup to do a Go Pro stunt. We never see the video from the Go Pro angle, and the angle we do see shows Aerostar as a dark blob falling to the floor. There is no replay. It is never mentioned again after this show. It is dumb on every level. Even if Aerostar was totally willing and eager to do this stunt, someone with concern for his safety should’ve said no. The Clowns, once again, put up the best effort they could in catching, but could’ve been hurt in something that wasn’t worth more than 30 seconds of attention on this show. The match itself was nothing, maybe because they knew it wouldn’t matter much, and was overtaken by the stunt in the end anyway.

Nothing much going on in the opener. The rudos do the minimum on offense. They are there to set up the técnicos, but it’s not a big night of them. Nice to see Parka Negra, who’s just doing his Último Gladiador stuff in the gimmick now because who cares. Parka Negra was given a big introduction and build up for one that’s petered out gong nowhere, yet they still keep it around. It’s strange. So is Super Fly winning on a slingshot splash out of nowhere. It was made weirder by Tirantes turning away from the ring before the finish for no reason, as if he needed to avoid seeing a foul, but there was just foul.