Tag: AAA on Twitch

Recapped: 2020-03-07

Matches:

Big Mami, Mr. Iguana, Octagoncito beat Australian Suicide, Parkita Negra, Vanilla
(9:51, Big Mami middle rope splash Parkita Negra, good, 00:19:23)

Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Villano III Jr. beat Dinastía, Lady Shani, Niño Hamburguesa
(13:53, Villano III Jr. beat Dinastia hanging double stomp, good, 00:57:55)

Hijo de LA Park & LA Park Jr. beat Carta Brava Jr. & Mocho Cota Jr.
(7:59, Hijo de LA Park behind the back piledriver Carta Brava Jr., good, 01:23:17)

La Hiedra, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr. beat Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr.
(11:23, Texano & Escorpion Magic Killer Myzteziz Jr., good, 01:39:52)

Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly beat Psycho Clown, Fénix, Pentagón Jr.
(15:56, Averno foul/mask pull Pentagon, good, 02:02:06)

La Bestia Del Ring, LA Park, Rush Toro Blanco beat Blue Demon Jr., Laredo Kid, Drago
(26:37, pin Demon & Dragon, good, 00:01:31)

What happened:

The top two matches were adjusted slightly. A pair of vignettes, shown on the stream before the matches, had Vampiro encouraging Drago & Blue Demon to get along in their match. That foretold Drago being in the main event, though there was no explanation for the change. Psycho Clown saved the Lucha Brothers after an argument with the OGTs turned violent, explaining why he was now in the semi-main.

Drago & Demon ultimately did not get along, hitting each other by mistake and arguing over who got to finish off the rudos. Los Ingobernables remained undefeated.

Averno unmasked and foul Pentagon Jr. to get the win. Averno is unimpressed by the Lucha Brothers’ success outside of Mexico, feeling he’s fought the best in Mexico, and they haven’t.

Australian Suicide attacked Vikingo after the trios match (which was won cleanly by Los Mercenarios.) This attack is a follow up to a Vikingo promo asking for a rematch with Suicide. Suicide beat Vikingo two years ago in a cruiserweight title match (a rare bit of going back to a plot from Vampiro’s time in charge.) AAA showed a clip of an additional Vikingo & Suicide shoving match in the opening recap, which may have aired on TV but hasn’t made the internet.

La Hiedra ran in on the second match, attacking Shani along with Keyra & Lady Maravilla. This interference happened in full view of Piero, who simply asked Hiedra to leave rather than call a disqualification. The run-in occurred early and didn’t affect the match. There’s a vague hint of Maravilla, Kerya, and Hiedra trio.

There were unusually obvious technical problems. The stream itself was issue-free, but AAA’s production side seemed as if they suffered a partial power outage late in the first match. Only the jib camera seemed to be working, and then the jib was not used for the rest of the show. (It seemed like it was moving, but they didn’t use the angle again.) There was a delay before the second match to fix the issue, though only a couple of cameras seemed to be working at first. There were possibly connected audio issues as well. The streams were also stopped and restarted before the main event, which is it appears as two separate files if you’re watching later on Twitch.

Thoughts:

I liked everything on this AAA show, and it still felt a little unsatisfying. There’s a bit of uniformity in match style and consistency that makes even the right parts feel a bit numbing. The main event was a different beast, but the undercard was a series of rudos beatdowns, tecnico comebacks, tecnico run through their spots in turn, finish, and repeat. A match with all the comedy wrestlers might stand out better than splitting them up among a few matches. An undercard match where something progresses might make them feel more memorable. I like all these matches, and I’m not sure I’ll remember them individually next week. That’s the CMLL feeling it’s best to avoid.

The main event stood out as a strong LA Park style brawl. They even brought back the drink cart spots, though maybe one too many for Laredo Kid’s back. It had a lot of violence and was a bit too oversized, a lot like LA Park himself. The tecnicos just weren’t a great fit for getting their revenge. Drago & Laredo haven’t shown those skills, and Demon showed he needs to be that bloody rudo to work at this point. A distraction spot from others setting the comeback up made it a little too clear these guys aren’t the real stars. Drago’s botched dive also messed up things. Good on Drago on finding a way to get back in the match so they could do the planned spot, but that looked so bad.

Of the five undercard matches, the Parks/Poder del Norte match might have been the best. It wasn’t deep, but nothing much was. It was the shortest, but the Parks did what they could do best and got it before pushing it too far. The Parks seem a little difficult to wor with, but Carta & Cota can pull together a match with anyone and adapted to being one many short. The Mercenarios match was solid, despite not having a standout Vikingo run. He wasn’t blowing things, just seemed less spotlighted. La Hiedra held up her end of the team, and Los Mercenarios showed improved teamwork leading into the title match. It wasn’t blowing away, but it was useful as a setup to the title match.

OGTs versus Psycho & the Lucha Brothers were similarly effective if not the high-end match, which might be possible with everyone involved. Fenix had the best moments of the night and good chemistry with Super Fly. They stayed away from the Averno/Pentagon stuff until the closing moments but continues to look motivated.

Villano III Jr.’s out of control nature almost broke Dinastia’s neck in the segunda, and also was a near fall to set up a less impressive-looking hanging dropkick spot. Keyra looked the best of everyone in the match. Lady Shani didn’t do her mat wrestling bits and didn’t stand out without them, though her running kick on Keyra looked sharp. The La Hiedra run-in made AAA look silly for it not being a DQ and didn’t seem to mean anything in the match. I’d be willing to believe she was out there just to pass a message out from the back to the people in the ring, but no one’s suggested that.

Suicide pulled out more daring flying moves in the opener than he’s tried of late. He then ended up with a shoulder injury that paused the match for a bit. (Not his fault, on the damage or the pausing – they could’ve just gone on without him for a moment.) Mami was so slow climbing the ropes for a spot and so much better when she was just bulldozing people. I hope someone else sees that way and points it out to her.

Recapped: 2020-02-22

Matches:

Aramis, Mascarita Sagrada, Nino Hamburguesa beat Demus, Draztick Boy, Látigo
(10:31, Hamburguesa splash Draztick Boy, good, 00:25:42)

Lady Shani lost to La Hiedra and Lady Maravilla
(8:02, Lady Maravilla top rope double stomp + both Hiedra/Marvilla covered, below average, 00:53:42)

Parka Negra & Súper Fly beat Hijo de LA Park & LA Park vs Argenis & Arez
(11:20, Parka Negra foul/unmask Hijo de LA Park, ok, 01:12:11)

Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. beat Averno, Chessman, Rey Escorpión
(15:01, Octagon Jr. rope flip moonsault Chessman, great, 01:31:21)

Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr., Octagón Jr. © beat La Hiedra, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr. to retain the AAA World Trios Championship
(1:50, Cuerno de Vikingo on Hiedra, n/r, 01:55:03)

Fénix & Pentagón Jr. beat Taurus & Australian Suicide and Laredo Kid & Puma King
(13:16, Fenix Black Fire Driver Australian Suicide, good, 02:05:04)

La Bestia Del Ring, LA Park, Rush Toro Blanco beat Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Pagano
(21:48, LA Park spear Monster Clown, ok, 02:31:39)

What happened:

Chessman attacked Pagano late in the main event, throwing him off the stage. That left the other two Clowns easy pickings for Los Ingobernables.

Los OGTs attacked Penta & Fenix after the tag title match. Averno particularly went after Penta.

Los Mercenarios attacked Jinetes del Aire after their match and demanded a trios title match right now. Vikingo accepted, the two teams fought briefly, Vikingo landed the 630 on Hiedra, and Tirantes counted a pin. The English announcers were confused if this was meant to be a real match or not, though the Spanish announcers were clearer that it was meant to be a defense.

Rey Escorpion seconded La Hiedra, interfering freely (but late needing a distraction to get involved again.) La Hiedra & Lady Maravilla fought during the match, but then both covered Lady Shani at the end. Tirantes counted three while both were covering, but was confused at what to make of it. Escorpion raised Hiedra’s arm, then Tirantes raised both arms.
Nino Hamburguesa & Mascarita Sagrada were this show’s Ingobernable beatdown victims, after the opening match, to make sure the rudos got booed later. Konnan appeared with Los Ingobernables for the first time since Guerra de Titanes, though he never got in the ring with them and only posed with them after. (By including him in that way, it only shows how extraneous he is to the concept.)

AAA advertised Daga despite him working the Impact show instead. Four of the six matches were changed around as a result. AAA had issued a new card a couple of days prior to the event when the venue was moved around but did not update the lineup.

Thoughts:

Ingobernables matches work best when the crowd loudly reacts to their wild antics. The acoustics of this building (or the micing of it) didn’t allow for that all night. It was a problem and most of all for the main event. The violent beatdown by the rudos came off less so than in previous matches when it felt like no one was reacting to it. It also went on for a lot longer; these are always going to be long matches with LA Park involved, but they didn’t quite have the people for it to work. The holes in this matchup stood out more with a weak atmosphere.

The Lucha Brothers three-way tag was a step below the Guerra de Titanes equivalent, though Australian Suicide seemed to make more out of his involvement here than in that match. It may have been hurt by being yet another match of people doing big moves and someone else breaking them out; no one seems to kickout of moves and the saves aren’t particularly dramatic. Only Suicide near the end got in a near fall during the match, the rest was just more moves. The high points of the action were good and sometimes dangerous, but there were off-track moments and people getting in each other’s way. Fenix was upset about something at one point, but it stood out more when Puma & Taurus went through a table and Penta & Laredo picked the same side of the ring to do a package piledriver and nearly fell off onto them. Laredo came off as a guy in the mix but not a particularly important one, which is weird going into a title match (but admittedly not so weird for AAA.)

Chessman crashed and burned on a tornillo so the Jinetes del Aire match was great. That’s pretty much it. The tecnicos looked good, even without going full out. The rudos worked very hard to keep up with their moves, with Averno especially seeming to do more than usual. This match built better than anything else on the show, and the action held together the best. It was the best match of the night. The two minute title match leading out of it was at least a pleasant change from just having rudo teams beat down the tecnicos after most matches. Doing an actual pinfall was truly weird. The booking felt like an indie show but the action was nice while it lasted.

The early three way tag was a clunky match built around the Hijo de LA Park & Parka Negra feud. Parka Negra usually looks good but didn’t as much in this feud. I can’t say anyone really did; there were a few moments for everyone, but it never came together. Rudo versus rudo matches have worked in AAA but they have the intensity to make this one work, and this just felt like a lot of people thrown together. The six-man suplex was all-time bad, from Arez tripping jumping into Argenis being lost at where to stand to everyone being on different timing. It felt like this was missing someone in charge directing things – both the suplex spot and the match in general.

The worst AAA match of the year isn’t saying much because it’s been a pretty good year. The women’s match effort wasn’t terrible and there will be worse matches than this in most year. It was just such a mess, far below their usual standards. The three way match on Lucha Capital were all better thought out than this one. Rey Escorpion interfering all match but then needing a distraction to interfere again made no sense. Hiedra & Maravilla fighting each other and then getting a pin together made no sense. This went wrong.

AAA concerned they didn’t have all six man match shows, so they added Demus & Hamburgesa to this. The opener didn’t get to the insanity of previous shows, a more solid match building around Mascarita Sagrada highlights. Draztick Boy drew Nino Hamburguesa so he didn’t get to show much, but the crowd loves Hamburguesa so it worked fine for them. The Aramis & Latigo sequence at the start was creative and held together, which doesn’t often work.

Recapped: 02/08/2020

Matches:

Drago Kid, Iron Kid, Laredo Boy beat Látigo, Low Rider, Parkita Negra
(9:03, Drago Kid snap huracanrana Latigo, good, 00:22:49)

Big Mami, Dinastía, Mr. Iguana beat La Hiedra, Lady Maravilla, Parka Negra
(8:22, Dinastia twisting splash Parka Negra, good, 00:48:35)

Myzteziz Jr. & Octagón Jr. beat Hijo de LA Park & LA Park Jr. vs Súper Fly & Villano III Jr.
(12:24, Myzteziz moonsault powerslam Villano III, great, 01:08:13)

Hijo Del Vikingo, Puma King, Rey Horus beat Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Texano Jr.
(13:18, Vikingo Cuerno de Vikingo Taurus, great, 01:29:46)

Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown beat Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
(9:31, Monster Clown neckbreaker slam Tito Santana, good, 01:54:00)

La Bestia Del Ring, LA Park, Rush Toro Blanco beat Laredo Kid, Fénix, Pentagón Jr.
(18:12, LA Park & Besita pin Laredo Kid & Fenix, good, 02:12:38)

What happened:

Laredo Kid returned after match one, thanked the fans for supporting him on Exatlon, and was beaten up by Los Ingobernables. LA Park claimed Laredo Kid embarrassed lucha libre by not winning on the show. Rush pointed out his brother Dragon Lee did not lose on the show (he left due to an ear injury) and was a much bigger star.

Laredo Kid replaced Dr. Wagner in the main event. Wagner was unmentioned outside of appearing in the Nutrideli ad. After Piero was taken out, Averno ran out and attacked Pentagon for reasons no one seemed to know. Los Ingobernables (using that name) pulled Fenix & Laredo’s masks before pinning them. Psycho Circus ran out to make the save and challenged Ingobernables to a match.

Puma & Taurus brawled to start the match and feuded the rest of the way, which the announcers claimed had been an existing issue. (Not in anything we’ve seen, perhaps something taped for TV which hasn’t been shared to the internet.) Mercenarios beat up the tecnicos and essentially pretended they won, promising the same in the trios title match at Rey de Reyes.

Parka Negra attacked Hijo de LA Park after the third match, as did Argenis attacked Myzteziz again. Parka Negra & Myzteziz left together as if a team.

Thoughts:

The overall effort level on this show was very high for an early February TV taping, all the way through to the main event. LA Park & Rush gave everything they could and took everything they could from the tecnicos. It’s night and day the lever of performances Rush is giving in AAA as compared to the last year of CMLL. Laredo didn’t shine as much as his partners but it’s remarkable how much he’s able to pick back up after being out for so long. There’s were a lot of previews of great singles matches which might not actually happen but were still appealing. There’s a certain level of funny business expected in Rush & LA Park finishes. Averno showing up and attacking Pentagon for no given reason (maybe the tag titles?) was a bit too random and took this down a little for me.

The Psycho Circus reunion could’ve gotten by on nostalgia and a squash and instead had a fiercely competitive match. Poder del Norte lost but looked like equals who were just out done in the end. The Clowns worked hard. Murder Clown looking impressive with the press slam over the post and then dive following it. There weren’t as many old spots (no piggy backsplash) but the Psycho Circus still looked impressive as a team, setting them well for their next feud.

Los Mercenarios had another very strong match in usual fashion against a team including Vikingo. They switched some stuff up – flying Escorpion was new! – and everything came off solid. Vikingo was on and the crowd was into him. Horus meshed well with these rudos and the random feud with Puma & Taurus gave them a lot as well. There’s not a lot of deviations from usual Mercenarios matches – except maybe flying Rey Escorpion – but they were sharper in front of an excited crowd. Texano may not want to take that casadora bomb again. It’s strange for the Mercnarios to lose and then act as if they won, but it did take a lot to put Taurus down.

The three-way tag match overachieved. The three teams meshed well and they kept the action going well for one of the longer match times on the show. Myzteziz looked sharp and pulled off big spots thru the shooting star press at the end. Villano III Jr. took the worst of everything as he did, but did get to shine a little bit. The crowd was strongly into this match because of the Parks, but they weren’t against the other teams. These sorts of multiperson matches seem like the best environments for the Parks at the moment, asking them to hit big moves and not carry the action themselves. This had an unbreaking pace like many AAA matches and held together to the finish.

Lady Maravilla probably shouldn’t be doing splashes to the floor in meaningless TV segunda matches, though that seemed much worse for Big Mami than her on that landing. The second match was a solid if a little less spectacular – though they still have space for Dinastia flying all over the place. The tornillo and his splash at the end looked good. They needed a little more time if this was going to be bigger, but it fit the purpose it was intended for.

The opener was the usual chaos, though sloppier than usual. The finish looked impressive and more so given how much Drago Kid was struggling to that point. Credit to Latigo for making it look sharp. Parkita Negra looked like the best guy in this match to that point, though Iron Kid was also really good as well. There are better openers but this was still worth a watch.

Recapped: 11/30/2019

Matches:

Australian Suicide, Lady Maravilla, Vanilla beat Big Mami, Dinastía, Mr. Iguana
(13:33, Lady Maravilla frogsplash Big Mami, ok, 00:25:31)

Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Bengala, Draztick Boy, Eclipse
(10:23, Cota Spanish Fly Eclipse, good, 00:50:37)

Monsther Clown, Súper Fly beats Aerostar, Máximo
(11:45, Monster Clown elbow drop Aerostar, ok, 01:10:54)

Dulce Kanela, Faby Apache, Niño Hamburguesa beat Abismo Negro Jr., Keyra, Villano III Jr.
(11:13, Nino Hamburguesa splash Abismo Negro Jr., ok, 01:31:12)

La Hiedra, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr. beat Hijo Del Vikingo, Drago, Octagón Jr.
(9:47, La Hiedra sunset flip Drago, ok, 01:52:46)

Averno, Chessman, Taurus beat Pagano, Psycho Clown, Puma King
(12:00, Chessman foul Pagano, ok, 02:15:06)

What happened:

Chessman snuck in a foul to beat Pagano again. A brawl with all the TripleMania Regia participants except for Demon & Wagner (but including the earlier comatose Aerostar) ended the show.

Blue Demon distracted Drago during the match, then attacked him with a hammer after. Demon had earlier declared that the hammer was his only friend (though the Mercenarios seemed to be on his side here.) There was no explanation why Demon would be going after Drago, though they coincidentally meet in the Guerra de Titanes main event.

Monterrey exotico Dulce Kanela (spelled here Canela) debuted in the fourth match.

Aerostar, who came in with an arm injury, went out on a stretcher after being put thru a wood panel by Monsther Clown.

Nino Hamburguesa tried to help Big Mami, ultimately failed, and Big Mami shoved him away.

Thoughts:

Taurus going through two different wood panels as just things that happened during the match for no particular reason was a bit too much. They did use it to set up Taurus not going thru a third, but it was a strong reminder that none of this stuff really matters except for the finish (where a low blow is the most painful move possible.) It’s fine it doesn’t matter if it was still entertaining and this just came thru as a lot of stuff taking up time before the finish and the run-ins.

The semi-main was one of two matches where Piero looked foolish because someone else didn’t break up a pin as planned. This time, Demon forgot to pull him out and so Piero had to stop counting at nothing. The finish didn’t go great from there, and Demon feuding with Drago came out of left field. This match started hot and the Mercenarios looked well coordinated as a team, but there was a big tecnico comeback expected that never really arrived. You could say this served its purpose but it was not clear what purpose that was; I’ll believe a Drago/Demon match is happening when I see it.

Dulce Kanela had a good debut, getting in a few flashy spots and a big dive near the end. The rest of the match was normal, with maybe Villano III Jr. killing himself a little less than usual but nothing extraordinary. Faby and Keyra kicked each other hard, that’s about it. This was weird being so late in the card, but maybe they wanted to break up the heavy angle matches.

Didn’t find most of the Aerostar/Monster Clown tag match interesting. Maximo was not invested much in this despite being off Twitch since TripleMania. Most of the work was going after Aerostar’s arm, which made sense but doesn’t really fit Monster Clown’s style. It got better late, and a big finishing spot was almost worth the time it took to set it up.

Poder del Norte changed a few things up, which definitely helped in making the match feel a little bit more novel. The first half of the match was a bit of their usual stuff, but they added more and stayed away from the usual ending run, making the pin feel like a bit of a surprise. Bengala also looked like he had different ideas from his usual set pattern. Not everything came off smoothly – Draztick Boy had a sequence that was up and down late in another wise solid match – but this turned out to be a reliable fun PdN match while not feeling like the other ones.

The opener was a lot of fun that got derailed when either Big Mami didn’t kick out or Nino Hamburguesa was way late in showing up. Iguana continues to get a bigger reaction every time he does one of this and Big Mami came off as a huge star. Dinastia didn’t get to do as much as in other matches but still stood out. Suicide & Vanilla are enjoyable goofy opening match people

Recapped: 10/26/2019

Matches:

Dinastía © defeated Laredo Boy, Mini Psycho Clown, Demus, Drago Kid to keep the AAA World Minis Championship
(9:00, Dinastia rana Psycho Clown, great, 00:22:59)

Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Nino Hamburguesa, Mr. Iguana, Octagón Jr.
(8:41, Cota frog splash Mr. Igauna, 8:41, good, 00:43:56)

Bengala, Big Mami, Dinastia beat Keyra, Lady Maravilla, Último Maldito
(11:11, Bengala high speed Mistica, ok, 01:05:47)

Drago, Murder Clown, Puma King beat Abismo Negro Jr., Súper Fly, Texano Jr.
(9:30, Puma King Code Red Abismo Negro Jr., ok, 01:30:38)

Taurus beat Hijo Del Vikingo, Arez, Aramis
(13:50, Taurus Rodeo Driver Aramis, great, 01:51:33)

Pagano, Pentagón Jr., Psycho Clown beat Averno, Chessman, Rey Escorpión
(19:06, Psycho Clown Torito, good, 02:18:12)

What happened:

Pentagon Jr. issued an open challenge for the tag team titles. Los Mercenarios beat him (and the other tecnicos) up after the main event, with Texano & Escorpion seemingly wanting that rematch.

Lady Maravilla attacked Big Mami after the match. Nino Hamburguesa made the save. He even attacked Lady Maravilla, though he was conflicted about it. Mami challenged Maravilla to a hair versus hair match. (Mami would later explain she didn’t want to force the public to see Maravilla’s ugly face by challenging for a mask.) Maravilla rejected the idea. Mami also wanted a rematch for the tag team titles, but told Hamburguesa he wouldn’t be her partner.

Laredo Boy (Freelance) and Drago Kid (Astrolux) were surprise wrestlers in the opener. Dinastia worked twice, replacing Maximo the second time.

Piero was wearing a personalized InvadingNY shirt, a show he didn’t end up getting to work.

Thoughts:

The main event didn’t vary from the usual form. They’ve just got better people doing it nowadays. Well, not all better people, Pagano did some Pagano stuff, but the rudos are really good and the other tecnicos are watchable. Near 20 minutes is a bit too long for this but it was entertaining while it happened.

The four-way was super. They went for everything here, a bit to their determent. They had trouble keeping up with their own setups. It stuck out early on, where it was clear what they were going for but also clear they didn’t have the timing to pull it off. There’s no reason to discourage the idea of innovation, but a little less of it might have made this match go a little better. Vikingo looked healthier than on Copa TripleMania, even if he ended up still needing medical attention at the end. He wasn’t coming up short as often, and he was fluid with what he was doing. Aramis & Arez being small dudes helped Taurus look like even more of a monster. Arez did well, though some of his spots may have worked better in a singles match where they had time to sink in rather than this fast-paced multi-man match. Aramis’ tope looked great and his big moves are slowly getting over to the AAA crowd. If AAA had a highlight package of spots to show at every show, the Vikingo moonsault off the guardrail should be on all of them. (But only as long as he doesn’t do another one for six months, and it doesn’t turn into the CMLL ramp dives.)

The fourth match didn’t stand out among wild matches. There was action and it was easy to watch, but it was a lot of these guys running their usual bits along with a couple of off moments. (There was a Puma/Abismo spot that didn’t go well. This and the trios preceding it were fun live and maybe nothing you need to see later.

The Mami led trios was enjoyable if not novel; the storyline progression was more interesting than the match. It held together well. The Bengala/Maldito bits were the same ones as always, were the more memorable part of it was Bengala taking out a fan in the process of his dive. Keyra/Dinastia were fine but there’s better stuff of them recently. This was a borderline match, though one helped a lot by the crowd.

The Poder del Norte match was fun in the usual fashion for them. The tecnicos got in a good run of offense before being mowed down by the rudos. Octagon Jr. looked better here than against designated opponent Abismo Negro Jr., which is strange. Mr. Iguana’s character fit better in AAA in this match than his debut. Poder del Norte seem to be an extended holding pattern; wish AAA had the foresight to give them the trios titles at TripleMania so both they and the belts would have something to do.

The minis match was all action, just lots of moves in a short period of time. Adding Laredo Boy & Drago Kid is amusing in isolation, but they and Demus give Dinastia so many good opponents to work with than he had before. The two Mini Parkas, Octagoncito and maybe Mascarita Dorada are out there too. This division seemed pretty much done a year ago and now there’s enough depth to have good matches on every show. Neither Drago nor Laredo did a whole bunch to hide their identities, the same as we’ve seen with all the new gimmicked people. That worked fine here, seeing a masked Freelance and a re-gimmicked Astrolux do the usual is fresh given how rarely they’ve been around. Demus seems significantly more motivated to than he was at the end of his CMLL run, and also seemed to catch all the dives.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.