Aerostar, Murder Clown, Niño HamburguesabeatAbismo Negro Jr., Monsther Clown, Texano Jr. (11:58, Aerostar top rope tijeras, ok, 01:39:34)
Blue Demon Jr., Chessman, Rey Escorpión beat Dr. Wagner Jr., Pagano, Psycho Clown (16:02, Chessman foul Pagano, ok, 02:01:05)
What happened:
Escorpion is a beer magnet
Not all that much plot-wise. Everyone who has been feuding is kept up their feud with nothing important changing. The show was full of mentions of Heroes Inmortales coming up next, but the only attempt to build anything up was Kenny Omega sending in a promo. (Strange to have an AEW promo but no AAA ones.) This event seemed to exist because it’d been a while since they had taped TV, and for no other reason.
Chessman got in a foul on Pagano to win, though the director missed the shot the first time. Blue Demon wore Joker facepaint under his mask so it could be shown off for a second when Wagner unmasked him mid-match.
Aerostar & Monster Clown ripped up each other’s masks.
Tirantes behaved fairly until a Faby Apache dropkick took him out. He was unable to count a bridging pin, then slow counted her later. They fought, with Tirantes throwing her in position for the Poder del Norte finishing sequence and fast counting the pin.
Toxin was hurt within the first couple of minutes of the second match, possibly suffering a jaw injury and bleeding from his head. Medics took him away. Aramis was stretched out after the match.
Argenis destroyed the tecnicos than complained about Myzteziz using his name on Exatlon as disrespect and said he’d go after all the Jinetes. No Jinetes were actually on this show, so maybe that’s why he never appeared again
Thoughts:
nice assist by Tirantes
The main was about what we’ve seen from Wagner & Demon when they can’t bleed. The same sort of format to the match, the same sort of brawling and tecnico run off offense at the end. There have been better versions of it before. The finish here was obscured by Dr. Wagner deciding to incite fans into throwing drinks at the ring, and cameras picking that over Chessman getting in a foul.
Monster Clown/Aerostar fighting hard in the closing minutes of the semi-main was the highlight of an otherwise unmemorable match. The tecnicos hit the usual highspots, the crowd was into Hambrugesa (even with him being less of the match than usual), but it didn’t come across anything as memorable. Eterno was doing better under his name then in the new gear and isn’t pushed any stronger.
The Poder del Norte match, much like their new music, wasn’t as good as the past one. It had a slower pace than they’re using to going to accommodate Pimpinela. Pimpinela wasn’t as over with this crowd as other, so it didn’t quite work. The Tirantes/Faby stuff made more sense than usual and got into it logically, and I still checked out when it happened. Octagon Jr. is Golden Magic wrestling the same way with no attempt to adjust his character to the gimmick or add something new. It doesn’t seem to be taking anything away from Golden Magic, either. These new characters feel as if they exist because AAA needed for legal reasons, and they couldn’t come up with a creative reason to match.
Aerostar wanted to get this one over
The mixed tag was the best match on the show, with every combination working well. Latigo and Dinastia is strong pairing, Latigo understandably doesn’t want to be labeled a mini, but he’s good with working them. Shani’s new Maestra spots came thru nicely in this match. She and Hiedra had a fun sequence, which made me angry with Dinastia for breaking it up. He did a flip later, so it was fine.
The TLC was a waste. AAA gets away with taking a lot of these sorts of risks. What derailed this one wasn’t any more serious than in other matches, because AAA does a lot of chair shots to the head and face. Toxin got caught bad in this one, couldn’t continue, and it left a match that kind of fell apart. Maybe that particular chair shot wouldn’t have happened in a non-TLC match. The bigger problem with the stipulation is they still had to go through their props after the injury despite being very thrown off by missing one of the guys meant to go through them. Aramis had a couple of cool dive spots, he and Ciclope took the big plunge through a table, and they got to a finish, so this will look fine when they cut it down for highlights. It was the long moments in between the highlights that didn’t go well. This injury stinks for Toxin, just back from a different one and getting hurt in a match AAA will never mention again. The promotion took advantage of having young wrestlers willing to do anything for their first taste of being in a major league group, and I hope they take care of them after.
The opener has plenty of Creative moves with Iron Kid being the standout. His flying looked the most impressive, and he had the biggest moves. I didn’t love the Iguana stuffed animal spots on this type of show, but it didn’t hurt anything. The bulldog spot looked better. Eclipse’s finish was pretty good, though it seemed unnecessary after the super Michinoku Driver. Iron Kid was very much dead already.
Chris Dickinson & Máscarita Sagrada beat Dave The Clown & Demus (8:35, Mascarita Sagrada quadruple headscissors into a cradle Demus)
Josh Alexander, Michael Elgin, Sami Callihan beat Drago, Faby Apache, Murder Clown (13:54, Michael Elgin foul → powerbomb Murder Clown, ok)
Daga beat Puma King, Flamita, Aerostarin a Number One Contenders Match for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship (10:23, Daga double underhook headcrusher Puma King, great)
Fénix & Pentagón Jr. beat Ortiz (LAX) & Santana (LAX)for the AAA World Tag Team Championship (14:04, package piledriver/double sotmp, great)
Brian Cage, Cain Velasquez, Psycho ClownbeatRey Escorpión, Taurus, Texano Jr. (12:58, Cain Velasquez Ace Crusher, good)
Dr. Wagner Jr. beatBlue Demon Jr. (10:29, Wagner rolled thru plancha, ok)
What happened:
gonna pretend Taurus won here
Wagner pinned Demon clean, though it was a bit of a fast count. Demon argued the count and attacked referee Johnny Bravo (who handled all the matches.) The Impact wrestlers, including Daga, came out to attack Wagner. The AAA wrestlers, including Cage, made the save and celebrated to end the show.
Taya regained the Reina de Reinas championship. Tessa showed respect to Taya after the match, then attacked her with the belt.
Elgin used a foul and a powerbomb to beat Murder Clown (which just seemed to set up the bit for post-main event.)
Mascarita Dorada was billed as Mascarita Sagrada, though he was wearing his normal Dorada outfit.
Thoughts:
LAX
This was a good show, with plenty of enjoyable matches. It also didn’t really give me many ideas of things to talk about. It felt like everyone was working at a big show level, at least as long as the matches went. It also felt slightly out of the canon, or at least slightly different from normal AAA. No weapons, no blood, no heel ref, only one foul, only one tecnico getting beat up after getting a win. It was cleaner than usual, an AAA show built not to really offend people (with the possible exception of the “puto” chant); they put on a family show expecting a lot of families.
Demon/Wagner from TripleMania got generally high marks, but there were definitely those in Mexico disappointed at it being a spectacle than a serious technical match. They had that technical match on this show. I’m glad they did what they did at TripleMania instead. Wagner/Demon never really got into high gear and ended so abruptly that it seemed like another bad referee count in lucha libre. Everyone progressed normally from that moment, meaning that was just the end. They could’ve gone for a little longer (and seemed to have the PPV time to do so), but Demon’s not one for finding that higher gear. What happened wasn’t much but perhaps it was good to leave people wanting more.
the timing could be better but idea is good
Cain Velasquez keeps giving people more. It seemed earlier on that his second appearance wasn’t going to be as interesting as his first. It turned out they just had more confidence in what Velasquez could do, and saved all of his big stuff for the finishing run. The handspring cutter was a little slow but still impressive. Taurus flipping him around was even more impressive. Everyone else played their role fine; it would’ve been nice to see a little more out of the rudos when they were in control, but this was mostly about giving the tecnicos a lot and so they did.
The middle matches all feel like they belong in the same box and I don’t have much interesting to say about them. (Do I ever have anything interesting to say? Feels like I could post the grades and move on.) Everyone worked hard, the matches had exciting moments, there’s not a lot distinguishing one from another. The LAX/Lucha Brothers felt at the level of the best version of that match and the finish was a superb visual. The fourway was a match I would’ve been excited for had I know it was happening, and they delivered on the promise of that match. (Though, if Puma King cut his superkicks in half, they’d mean twice as much. It was a problem by the end.) Taya & Tessa felt slightly less than the other two, seemingly it ended a little too soon, but there were moments of intensity found there and not as much in the other matches.
I liked the Impact/AAA match the least. There again was no problem with effort, it was just the wrong match for the show. Micahel Elgin, in particular, has only one way he knows how to work now – he’s more Mr. GMSI than Cage at this point. An early match on a lucha libre show feels like it should be a showcase for the lucha libre people and this really wasn’t that. The opener was off-putting in how few actual AAA people were opening the big AAA show, but there’s no real problem in booking Mascarita Dorada & Demus on any show you can. Dave the Clown vs Chris Dickinson could’ve been a disaster and was not, so that was pleasant.
Drago, Psycho Clown, TayabeatAyako Hamada, Blue Demon Jr., Rey Escorpión
(16:41, Psycho Clown torito Rey Escorpion, ok, 02:29:25)
What happened:
a good AAA camera switch!
Demon had the match won via foul but Wagner came out and attacked his hand with a hammer, taking him out of action.
Texano pinned Murder Clown after a distraction by La Hiedra and a foul.
Hijo del Vikingo appeared to apologize for being unable to wrestle due to injury. Averno attacked him. Myzteziz & Parka tried to make the save but were attacked by Argenis. Argenis has a beef over Myzteziz using a Mistico family mask. Argenis attacked Myteziz again after his match, causing Myzteizz to bleed from the head after a chair shot.
Abismo Negro Jr., Octagon Jr. (third version) and Bengala (third version) all made their debuts under those names on the show.
Thoughts:
The main event brawl didn’t come off as well as some others, missing some wildness that was found in other matches. There were a few headscissors that looked pretty awful once they got back in the ring, but including the women didn’t really change this from the usual AAA main event formula. Wagner being advertised this show and only appearing to hammer Demon’s hand seemed to be a let down. Maybe not for the crowd, who seemed to enjoy it.
this appeared to totally suck
The rudos sell a lot for Murder Clown and Murder Clown doesn’t sell a lot of for them, which is making Murder Clown into a big star. He’s not really given anything to do and I’m not sure what they should be doing with him, but he shined brighter than both his partners before taking the loss. Aerostar seemed to get hurt but still was going a lot of his usual stuff. The crowd liked Hamburguesa against these rudos but maybe not with the urgency of before TripleMania. Like the rest of the undercard, this was enjoyable without getting too serious.
They were going for a great match in the three-way tag and it just didn’t work. There was some good creative and an attempt to bring back a spot from the GCW/BLP spot last week, but they just didn’t work out. It didn’t seem like the match was clicking with the fans, in part due the usual unfamiliarity with the foreigners (and AAA doing nothing to introduce them, as they did with all the new people on this show.) It’s possible they may have burned out a crowd that just wanted to see Psycho Clown by this point. Everyone worked hard and there were highlights, it just didn’t work out like I think they were hoping. The cameras missing both the three count and the dive before it didn’t help.
Psycho drag
The tercera got more time than usual but it didn’t really wasn’t quite as exciting as the other ones. I think there were still some good moments but it didn’t come together any big, with the crowd getting into Big Mami’s spots but not a lot else. Octagon & Abismo worked together well but I’m unconvinced Abismo can pull off the character and nothing that happened here changed my mind. Octagon basically wrestled the same as Golden Magic, which isn’t idea for a martial arts character but at least is enough to get a reaction. Abismo Negor needed a moment of his own and since Eterno doesn’t have many, it probably needed to be an Abismo Negro one. I was waiting for a martinete that didn’t come and he’s going to need a moment like that to work. Without one, Abismo Negro Jr. is going to quickly feel like the third versions of Psicosis and Histeria, guys in suits who never got anywhere in AAA out of it.
The tecnicos looked solid in the second match. Arkangel Divino had a good debut in the new gimmick if he made it very obvious that he was under the mask. Eclipse had an inventive final stretched before Poder del Norte destroyed him. This was about at the level of most of the recent Poder del Norte matches, where they help the tecnicos look spectacular for about six minutes and then destroy them for the last three. The destruction remains good, but they remain ready for something a bit more.
The opener was the usual AAA opener match with craziness. Toxin seemed to get the high score with the diving senton to the floor but Low Rider was also doing ill-advised things. This didn’t seem to build to any particular big finish but it kept on the absurd level for most of the match. Perhaps the weirdest thing was Aramis & Toxin doing good mat work to start a match, which is not something normally done in AAA
Latigo, Último Maldito, Lady Maravilla, Parka Negra beat Dinastia, Arkangel Divino, Eclipse Jr., Big Mami
(14:08, Lady Maravilla chair shot Big Mami, good, 00:55:11)
Golden Magic & Lady Shani beat La Hiedra & Villano III Jr.
(10:10, Lady Shani jumping spinning DDT Villano III Jr., great, 01:22:23)
Dave The Clown, Chik Tormenta, Tessa Blanchard beat Faby Apache, Niño Hamburguesa, Taya
(9:21, Tessa hammerlock DDT, ok, 01:40:26)
Aerostar, Laredo Kid, Puma King beat Averno, Chessman, Eterno
(12:41, Puma King code red Eterno, good, 02:00:02)
Daga & Taurus beat Cody Rhodes & MJF
(14:00, Daga & Taurus pin MJF, ok, 02:30:23)
Dr. Wagner Jr., Pentagón Jr., Psycho Clown beat Blue Demon Jr., Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr.
(15:39, Wagner Driver on Blue Demon, ok, 02:54:52)
What happened:
Laredo Kid tornillo
Dr. Wagner cleanly defeated Blue Demon in the main event. The show actually opened with Demon declaring Wagner had made it personal and he’d beat him at TripleMania. Wagner ended the show saying the support of the Wagnermaniacos fans would help him get the win.
Taurus spent a lot of his match Cody Rhodes avoiding fighting him. He and Daga did manage to defeat MJF. Cody singlehandedly took Daga & Taurus out post-match until Texano & Escorpion ran in. Cody got revenge by beating up Escorpion & Texano after the main event, with Taurus ducking out on him again.
Monster Clown, not otherwise on the show, destroyed Aerostar after his match. Aerostar had about destroyed himself on a dive moments earlier and seemed a bit out of it.
Tormenta does a full somersault on a dropkick
Tessa, through the benefit of some questionable counting skills by Hijo del Tirantes, beat Taya in their trios match.
Villano III Jr. was clearly in the ropes for the finish of his match with Lady Shani, but that was also obviously the planned finish. The announcers didn’t ignore it, but it did not appear to be an angle.
Lady Maravilla won her match with a blatant chairshot to the head of Big Mami. An upset Nino Hamburguesa blew off Maravilla’s advances to check on Mami, then stormed off.
The announced Cage versus Kross match did not happen. Neither man was mentioned.
Thoughts:
Arkangel and Maldito
The last show before TripleMania was a lot like many of them leading up to this point. The early matches were full of energy, some of it producing great results. The late matches were heavy on brawling and the crowd emotion even if the work itself wasn’t that impressive. Those last couple of matches suffered from the show being long and starting at a late hour, though the live crowd seemed to enjoy it. The audience generally seemed more into the show than previous Aguascalientes shows, with one noticeable extension.
The main event wasn’t quite as maniac as the previous matches. There was blood and punches, but it wasn’t as over the top as it had been in Zapopan. Wagner & Escorpion brawling over to the announce booth was fun, there just wasn’t as much fun moments in this one. The crowd loved Penta, he just had basically nothing to do here. I hope they got him to tape vignettes or something while he was there because otherwise this seemed like an under-utilization of finally having him in. The Cody/Mercenarios fight during the post-match felt artificially forced in and was rightly swiftly ignored to get back to the final Demon/Wagner match. Demon & AAA managed to turn the crowd against Demon and for Wagner, which was a good sign. Wagner works better as the tecnico and Demon as the rudo right now, so hopefully, they can get the same reactions at TripleMania.
The AEW/AAA match didn’t work at all. It was a repeat of the Young Bucks match at Rey de Reyes, where it came off as an AEW issue dropped into an AAA show. That’s despite this actually being something that was built up on an AAA show and Konnan trying to make it clear that Cody was the face in this feud. It didn’t work. Cody spending the first few minutes trying to get the crowd to chant for him also didn’t work. I enjoy MJF’s act generally and he did a good job of playing his character on this show, but the cute AEW bit of MJF being a heel while Cody is unaware actively harmed the chances of this match getting over. The crowd already didn’t know what to make of this match and they were even more confused with people on both teams playing heel and the only face being the foreigner. Taurus playing chicken from Cody seemed totally out of character too; that’s how Rey Escorpion might play it, but Taurus has always been a killer monster with a weakness of over aggression, not a chicken. Daga was fine, Daga didn’t use any knucks so I have no problem with Daga (except he probably shouldn’t have been involved with the pinfall.) The only good news here is none of this likely matters; Cody will be teaming with Psycho Clown at TripleMania and so the crowd will know what the story of the match is supposed to be. But they could’ve used Psycho Clown or someone like him in this match in MJF’s spot.
Aerostar would keep hopping up forever if there was enough ropes
The Aerostar match was good solid fun until his dive went very wrong at the end. It’s one he never has an issue with and seemed pretty shook up. Eterno probably needs a bigger win to have his credibility at this level, but he worked well enough to be that high up on the card. (And they’ve had Dave this high too, without ever giving him a win.) Laredo Kid was more in the background than usual this year.
The Tessa/Taya trios barely had any Tessa. She seemed to disappear for a long stretch in the middle and wasn’t getting in the ring for much of anything besides interacting with Taya. That doesn’t suggest much for the TLC match. Faby & Hamburguesa got over as much as usual and Tormenta had a lot of work bumping for them. The biggest problem with the match was it being a normal one after some insanity, but it was fine for the spot on the card.
Latigo ends Arkangel
Villano III had a performance for the ages. He took all the energy he usually uses to take silly bumps to instead make Golden Magic take silly bumps instead. He may have been a bit too rough – everyone seemed more concerned about Lady Shani early on than would be expected for just selling. At least Shani was more willing to fall into the crowd than Cody. Golden Magic still looked good despite being on the wrong side of most of the violence and Shani got a win she needed at the end.
The segunda had about as much action as the opener with a little bit more steadiness. Ultimo Maldito & Arkangel Divino did the same things they always do but, if we’re only seeing them every six months, they’re still pretty impressive. Latigo worked well with the smaller guys and continues to be the glue guy in these matches. Big Mami was super over, easily the most over character in this match. The finish was a bit lame after near 15 minutes, but at least it did serve an immediate purpose.
The opener had great energy, with all four guys trying for something memorable. It sure was memorable when Astrolux about killed himself a few times. It’s a hard match to recommend because there are spots so blown that the crowd laughs at them. That’s balanced out by the effort level; these guys were doing everything they could. And many things they could not. Freelance was the only luchador who looked exciting and didn’t have something go wrong, while everyone else could stand another shot at it.
Daga & Keyra beatPuma King & Star Fire
(18:10, Daga knucks→double underhook facebreaker Puma, below average)
Aerostar, Lady Shani, Nino HamburguesabeatTaurus, La Hiedra, Monsther Clown
(11:37, Aerostar splash Monster Clown, good)
Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly beat Hijo Del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Myzteziz Jr.
(14:49, Averno super Devil’s Wings Myzteziz, good)
Blue Demon Jr., Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr. beatDr. Wagner Jr., Pagano, Psycho Clown
(16:12, Demon pin Wagner, ok)
What happened:
Chik suplex
In some classic AAA over-dramatics, a bloody Dr. Wagner was given a lethal piledriver by Blue Demon and rushed to the back by his older son. Wagner heroically returned in a neckbrace but was ultimately beaten by Blue Demon. Demon was not satisfied with Rey Wagner’s blood as he also busted open Galeno del Mal and spread that blood on his father as well.
The OGTs cleanly defeated Los Jinetes del Aire. Averno demanded a trios title shot so they could demonstrate that they’re the better team, Laredo Kid accepted, and the OGTs ended up laying the champions out. It wasn’t said if this title match would happen on Saturday’s taping, but everyone involved appears to be scheduled for that show.
Daga continues to use a hidden set of brass knucks during his matches to get victories, knocking out Puma here. Daga was much more visible in showing off the knucks in this match to make it clearer what was happening, though he was also clearly punching Puma with them while Tirantes was watching at the finish.
Chik Tormenta versus Golden Magic versus Drago was made a Latin American championship, making it the first time an AAA luchadora had challenged for a nominally male only championship. This was noted by commentary before the match but it wasn’t treated as some big broken barrier. Daga attacked Drago with the knucks after his successful defense, saying he’d win the title in Guadalajara. Drago repaid Daga by blowing mist in his face after the following match.
Perro Aguayo was announced as having passed away a few hours before the show began. There was a moment of remembrance before the show started.
Taya was advertised and didn’t appear. Dave the Clown more or less replaced her, though the matches were changed around slightly.
Thoughts:
Lucha physics are different
This was a strong AAA show. I’m not sure how many people ended up seeing it live – this was a 9 pm start on a Wednesday where the pre-show had streaming issues, giving people a reason to pass. It’s easily worth watching later. Most of the matches were pretty good, with one disappointment. Nothing huge happened on the show, but they do have some non-TripleMania things moving along.
It is possible this will end up being the final show the day before TripleMania on TV Azteca. (They’ve got five episodes, which might just cover these last three tapings.) Blue Demon badly blooding Dr. Wagner Jr. and giving him a near neckbreaking piledriver would be a strong way to lead into the mask match. They might not have a chance to do any more than in front of a massive audience and they might not need to do any more. There’s the slight problem that the piledriver looked Terrible and Demon can’t really do much, this match isn’t going to get any plaudits on a technical nature. It’s going to get over great anyway, these guys have their match down, they’re going to take the same sort of shortcuts they took in this match, and the crowd is going to care because it is the Blue Demon’s mask on the line. I am suspicious that all these Blue Demon rudo heat up angles are only for the lowly AAA diehard’s edification and that most of the Arena Ciudad de Mexico crowd is going to cheer for him anyway because that’s the mask they’ve known for the entire existence and Wagner is a guy just defending his peculiar hair. If it is even possible to get Demon booed by a TripleMania audience, they’ve worked as hard as possible on the TV shows to make it happen. It may just not be possible. It also may not matter at all if the match is just over. This match was over even though it as a lot the same as usual. Pagano did give us his one very botched spot of the night, but the cameras did a much better job of hiding it this night.
the men need to get on the women’s suplex level
OGT versus Jinetes gave us a great deal of Averno and friends destroying people instead of the comedy foils they’ve been more often this year. The press slam into the totally unsuspecting crowd was a strong rudo moment in a match with a lot of them. The tecnicos did a lot of synchronized flying and everyone seemed to have a much better night than Verano de Escandalo. I thought this was really good, a positive including to the Jinetes year, but kind of felt like they were holding back a bit. It’s really dumb that a post-match challenge for a match I want to see downgrades how I rate a match, but this was a borderline match for me and it’s easier to rate it good and leave space for the (theoretical) rematch to be better than for that to blow this away and both of them be great. This is all very dumb. Was the OGT/Jinetes match what you’d want to see out of both teams? Yes, it was. Did the OGT do the triple swandive headbutt spot? Yes, yes they did.
The Aerostar/Monster Clown trios was a professional midcard match, not the most memorable thing but done well in the moment. Taurus reminded me of that early Lucha Underground match where Pentagon convinced people Sexy Star was a spectacular wrestler because of his basing. Lady Shani is better than that Sexy Star but still was helped out a lot by Taurus. So was Aerostar. Taurus didn’t get to help himself out as much, with this more being an exhibition for the tecnicos and the rudos just getting in what they needed to get the heat. The Aerostar/Monster Clown feud isn’t dead but it doesn’t feel much alive either.
Daga/Keyra vs Puma/Star Fire was the true disappointment of the night. The match started slow, took a long time to pick up, and had a bunch of iffy moments. There were enough impressive spots to turn this into a short highlight video. That’d be the better idea than airing it fully. Puma didn’t have a good night. I was excited to see Star Fire back and she got one suplex that woke up the match but seemed off at other times. Keyra didn’t make a strong impact and her entire deal is making a strong impact. Brass Knucks Daga isn’t making much of an impression. Whoever came up with this idea (Tessa, one would assume) probably saw this bit done in a context where it makes a lot of sense. Great. It doesn’t work in AAA. The following matches including people using cookie sheets and trash cans. Trying to push the idea that Daga is doing some despicable act by using a weapon in a promotion where everyone uses weapons and every match is functionally no DQ is just not going to work. Daga doesn’t come off as a cheater for using the knucks, he comes off as dumb for not using it all the time. To their credit, they did realize most of the fans had no idea what was meant to be going on when he used the knucks on the last couple of tapings and had Daga be really obvious about them this time. To their discredit, he was so obvious about using them that even Hijo del Tirantes saw him use them and didn’t call the DQ. Maybe they could someone actually got DQed for using it because it was so violent to explain the idea of why Daga needs to be sneaky, but this was the same show where Blue Demon tried to break Dr. Wagner’s neck with the oh so illegal piledriver. It wasn’t illegal. Nothing in AAA is illegal beyond a mask pull and maybe a foul. Stick with those.
tough to be a Vikingo some times
Drago’s title match was good when Chik Tormenta was around to suplex people. It was less good when she vanished after (sort of) catching a Golden Magic dive. Magic & Drago were fine together, Magic took the finish impressively, it should help with Saturday’s title match. Still, Tormenta was the start of this match for the first half and it left a void without her. There do feel like missed opportunities here to get characters over – Chik Tormenta talking about challenging for a male title, Rey Escorpion/Daga/Star Fire’s feelings about being left off TripleMania at the moment – but there wasn’t much time for talking. Then again, the show went for three hours, so maybe no more talking is fine.
Villano III Jr. thought spearing two men to the floor was a good idea and that’s why I enjoy watching him wrestle. I may not get to see him wrestle much pass the age of 30 but there are tradeoffs everywhere. Dave had some Dave moments trying to get over the top rope but didn’t handicap things too much. Eterno didn’t quite fit into this as well as he has with against flyers in his AAA return. He still made an impression with the new look and him getting the win over a regular TV guy was totally unexpected.
My cowardly rating of the Jinetes/OGT match leaves the opener as my match of the night. It wasn’t perfect, it was just very creative and super energetic. The three guys who aren’t regulars worked very hard given the chance. Arez showed off spots that everyone in CMLL is going to continue to steal, Iron Kid did his fearless highspots and Latigo made everything look good. The crowd saw these as four guys who didn’t matter much. They hooked them in by the four-way submission spot and everything worked well from there. There’s probably better in them, but this was pretty good.
Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho ClownbeatBlue Demon Jr. & Taurus
(17:23, Wagner Wagner Driver Demon, ok)
What happened:
everyone lived
Dr. Wagner defeated Blue Demon cleanly with a Wagner Driver in the main event (following a slow-motion table break.) This is not the last time these two will face before TripleMania, but it was a rare clean pin on the last major show prior.
The Lucha Brothers defeated the Young Bucks to win back the AAA Tag Team championship. A second referee was involved to count the pin, which normally doesn’t mean anything in AAA but the Jacksons did point it out in the post-match. No one came out to challenge the new champs.
Vikingo beat La Hiedra to win the sixth match, then was immediately attacked by the rudos. Myzteziz, who had second earlier been powerbombed thru a table, ran off the rudos with a chair. Vikingo being attacked was part of a run of three of five matches having post-match attacks with the rudos laying out the victorious tecnicos.
Aerostar attempted the same dive (or fall) from high up on a light tower. The landing did not go as well, with Aerostar bouncing off of Monster Clown and landing badly on the ground. He was checked out on the floor and then rushed on a backboard to the back. AAA’s Twitch moderator said Aerostar was ok but there’s been no other public statement about his status. (I’m skeptical of the story that Aerostar is ok but have nothing to report.) Kross attacked Puma after the match.
Pagano
Daga attempted to use brass knucks to knockout Laredo Kid, but missed and got Tessa instead. The concept was that left Tessa unable to stop the count after Laredo got the Laredo Fly this time as she had done in Cancun, though the execution wasn’t perfect. (The knucks played off the finish in Cancun, where Daga actually did use knucks to the midsection to knock Laredo out, though AAA didn’t do the best job of showing it.)
Chik Tormenta seconded Hijo del Tirantes and inteferred frequently. Faby Apache eventually took her out and defeated Tirantes. Tirantes & Tormenta beat up Faby after, suggesting the feud will continue.
Keyra cleanly beat Lady Shani to win the Reina de Reinas championship.
While promoted last night, and even early on the show by the English announcers, Cody never appeared on the show nor did anyone else with AEW.
Thoughts:
die die die
Verano de Escandalo lived up and down to expectations. The first card this year not to undergo changes from what was advertised seemed to have few surprises in match quality. The matches that looked weak on paper happened as scheduled and were weak. The matches that look good on the card were good. Keyra winning the Reina de Reinas championship was the only surprising outcome on the night, and even there it’s arguable that Shani’s title reign had been important enough for a change to mean something. I guess Cody not being there was a surprise, but no one seemed to think Cody was meant to be at Verano de Escandalo except the AAA announcers.
Frustratingly, AAA’s technical problems on big shows appeared once again. There were no huge issues during Rey de Reyes or Guerra de Titanes or any normal AAA TV Instead, those show up with the most people they’ve had watching since last year’s TripleMania. The show was shifted to a half hour later start during the day, the transmission died during the opening match for about five minutes, the video packages either had no sound or the same audio playing twice. It wasn’t a disaster as others shows, but causal people tuning in probably were left with the impression of AAA being messy as always.
(There also seemed to be some general Twitch issues which didn’t relate to anything AAA but still cause people to have problems watching. The Spanish stream played smoother than in the past for me and reports were the English stream was better than last night. The crowd didn’t seem miced well early on but was better later in the show.)
I think casual fans were also left with the same sort of wild variety they might get out of TripleMania every year. This show lacked the match to match greatness found on TV shows earlier this year and substituted with a lot of freak show elements. There are some heel flyers versus exoticos, there’s lots of blood in the main event, there’s a guy falling from 30 feet and there are so many cookie pan shots. It was a more a spectacle than a showcase of wrestling matches, a choice AAA seems to make every time they have a very large crowd.
make room for Psycho Clown
The Young Bucks versus the Lucha Brothers was the great wrestling match that needed to balance this show out. I feel like I’m the only person in the world who’d care to see their Double or Nothing match who has not seen it yet, so I understand that’s probably the right comparison to make and I’m not equipped to make it. This was a much hotter and longer version of the Rey de Reyes match, but that felt likely just barely a real match. They made a good choice here to start fast and go quick, a slow building twenty-minute match would’ve have worked as well on a show destined to get three and a half hours. It didn’t feel like the two teams brought a lot they didn’t do before, but they did what they normally do well and very much worked for a crowd that isn’t as numb to this style as American fans might be. It also helped that the Bucks played more overtly heel during the match, with the fans finally catching on why they should be invested in the outcome during the match. (All the video packages and the attack earlier in the show didn’t mean as much as the first few minutes of the match, it seemed.) Tirantes being involved seemed like a very bad idea. He was slow to get in position on some pins but otherwise did everything they needed him to and didn’t stray into getting himself over. There probably should’ve been something at the end to attach this very AEW feud to the rest of the AAA. There was no particular sense of even when we’ll see the Lucha Brothers again or if it’ll happen before TripleMania. The Lucha Brothers won and didn’t get stuck into something that might not be good, so it’s fine with me.
I don’t have a strong take on what was the second best match on the show. There was a whole bunch of matches that were close enough to throw a sheet on, which could all be rated ok or good but I’d have a hard time calling them better than that. The main event was the same AAA main event you know and either love or are exhausted by, just with a couple less people than usual. Psycho got to do his thing in front of a big crowd that loved him. Wagner made the critical mistake of winning cleanly in the last big match before TripleMania.
sucide murdered
The La Parka trios was similar to last night, with two matches going on alternatively. Parka & Texano had some very weird interactions, while Vikingo & Myzteziz flipped around a lot when they got a chance. Be it injury or luck, Vikingo was more off tonight than he’s been for a while. People who’ve heard the name but not seen him might have gone away thinking Myzteziz was just as good if only Myzteziz didn’t nearly end himself on a springboard shooting star press.
Laredo Kid & Taya versus Daga & Tessa hit a slow stretch during the rudo control period. Daga & Tessa seemed eager to try out some teamwork spots together, but the pace wasn’t there. It could’ve still worked if it picked up a lot on the comeback, it just never really got to the top level of Laredo Kid matches. The brass knucks stuff felt out of place in this match (though it made a lot more sense when I got the explanation of how it happened last night) and didn’t seem like it went totally as intended. I liked the Laredo Kid matches better without the screwy finishes; maybe this dynamic will work better with Drago & Daga.
I want to give the women’s match the benefit of the doubt because a chunk of it was missing. It was fine while it lasted. Tormenta breaking out the knee drop to the floor was different. Lady Shani’s reign suffered from being an afterthought in so much. Stuff like her double submission spot here suggests she’ll still be useful in the future even if she’s just back in miscellaneous tag matches. Keyra got in some of her signature stuff, but her finish – a roll thru a cradle and a double stomp – really isn’t anything associated with her (more Taya) and didn’t come off as impactful. If AAA was going to do a clean finish where the champ loses, there were more impressive ways for Keyra to get her first championship.
I guess it worked.
You sort of have to hope something was wrong with Pagano. If Pagano was that bad healthy and clean, there’s really no hope. I’m not sure those other problems could necessarily be fixed either, but at least there’s a chance. He was quite bad, Aerostar’s light tower dive would’ve been unnecessarily even if it worked right (it definitely did not) and this feels like the millionth time we’ve seen someone win and get beat up by Kross. This match could only be considered a success in that I have no new GIFs of Scarlett that will get people angrily quote tweeting me for the next three days. I’m good there.
That match could’ve gone missing without being missed. Same thing to Guevara & Suicide versus the Exoticos. Maximo & Mamba didn’t get to do much of their gimmick last night, so you could charitable watch this as Sammy & Australian helping their opponents get over. You could also watch this as the foreign rudos goofing around for large portions of an overly long match. (Not everything needs 10 minutes. This did not need 10 minutes.) No one in this match seemed particularly motivated to be part of it, everyone seemed aware that they could do whatever and it didn’t really matter. This is not a good formula for a suitable big show match.
Faby Apache & Hijo del Tirantes was not as bad as feared. It was helped by Chik Tormenta wrestling roughly 40% of the match for Tirantes. (In a better world, this would set up Tormenta as Tirantes surrogate going better. In reality, Tormenta was just the person who couldn’t do much.) This was another match that felt like it went well too long. Hijo del Tirantes going 50/50 with Faby Apache might keep him strong for his indie work but I don’t know that it actually helps this feud or these matches. Tirantes being able to take some headscissors did help, though not as much as if Faby Apache had a real opponent to work with.
