Chik Tormenta, Keyra, Monsther Clown beat Drago, Faby Apache, Golden Magic
(7:56, Monster Clown inverted crucifix tossing slam Golden Magic, good, 01:03:52)
Chessman & Taurus beat Flamita & Hijo Del Vikingo
(13:06, Taurus Rodeo Driver Vikingo, ok, 01:26:03)
Rey Escorpiónbeat Psycho Clownin a lumberjack rules match
(13:00, powerbomb, good,01:50:56)
Blue Demon Jr. & Texano Jr. beat Dr. Wagner Jr. & Pagano (10:59, Demon powder throw/small package Wagner, ok, 02:13:40)
What happened:
not sure about Golden Magic’s idea
Demon used a distraction to throw powder in Wagner’s face, though everyone had been using weapons all along.
Lady Maravilla, Poder del Norte, Chik Tormenta, Big Mami, Niño Hamburguesa, Hijo del Vikingo, Faby Apache and Myzteziz worked as seconds. They didn’t have straps. Rey Escorpión unmasked Psycho Clown after the clean win.
Faby Apache and Hijo del Tirantes had problems during the match. Faby challenges Tirantes to a singles match. And they fight for a moment until the rudos comes back to help.
Chik Tormenta
Poder del Norte tease unmasking Myzteziz Jr. after the match for a while, but just tease it waiting for a cue. They give it up and get their arm raised, then Vikingo shows up for the save. Challenges followed.
Niño Hamburguesa still doesn’t want to fight Lady Maravilla, but does accidentally take her out at times. Big Mami is increasingly annoyed, shoving down Hambuguesa at one point. Hamburguesa blocks Mami from attacking Maravilla, and gets fouled by Arez while arguing with her. Maravilla gets the pin and points to her head. Hamburguesa still doesn’t figure it out.
Thoughts:
The main event was the usual Demon/Wagner it. Wagner gets beat up for a long time, turns the tide, and is suddenly powered up. Both men bled a bunch to get the brawl over. It wasn’t much worse than usual but it didn’t do much for me. Pagano and Texano basically had their own separate match, rarely interacting with the other two. Pagano headbutted a chair as an offensive move. It definitely was one. Doing a legdrop onto a ladder for no reason seemed an even dumber idea.
Mami splash
Your enjoyment of Flamita/Vikingo vs Chessman/Taurus is dependent on how much good spots outweigh bad spots for you. Chessman was bad in this, especially in the first half. He was being asked to do complicated things, it wasn’t like he was messing up simple moves, but the results were consistently horrible. It was bad enough to take me out of the match, even with the action improving dramatically in the last few minutes. Flamita wasn’t as good as last weekend but he’s still more polished than Vikingo, who is trying a few things that he couldn’t quite pull off (and one big one that he almost killed himself on.) Taurus and Vikingo match up well; I’m surprised Vikingo keeps taking pins, but I’m hoping they get a match to themselves at some point.
AAA lumberjack matches are usually bad news. This one was the best match on the show. The lumberjack antics usually overpower matches like this. Maybe not actually have straps helped, but the bigger idea here is that everyone (except Hamburgesa) seemed to get one and just one major interference spot during the match. They gave a break to the match and they got out of the way. Rey Escorpión and Psycho Clown were entertaining on their own and the gimmick felt like it actually added to the match instead of taking it away. Just a very good TV match.
seems familiar
The mixed trios was a match where everyone was working hard and everything seemed OK, only they’d have to stop every few minutes for a Hijo del Tirantes/Faby Apache bit. Those two didn’t figure into the finish at least. (Chik Tormenta tossing Drago to the ground in the background did.) Golden Magic had a good night, Chik Tormenta and Keyra’s offense looked good. This was a borderline match for me.
The exoticos matches remain simple. This one didn’t seem to get as over as the others, but there didn’t seem to be any particular reason why. Poder del Norte are not as interesting as exotico foils as against Myzteziz but they did their part here. Myzteziz got in a few high spots and seems to be more consciously doing Mistico spots now. Not sure that’s the best idea but they’re already down the bad idea path when they decided to give him the Myzteziz Jr. gimmick.
The mixed tag did move along the dynamic a bit – Mami and Hamburgesa are close to breaking up, Maravilla actually got a win – but probably was the weakest in-ring match of this recent run. It was slow at times and had moments of people waiting around for moves or repeating spots that didn’t work. Arez was fine, trying to play over the top to fit in, but this didn’t come together as well as others ones. This part of the breakup angle makes it hard to have a good match in general.
Chik TormentabeatLa Hiedra, Faby Apache, Lady Maravilla
(9:27, Chik Tormenta Styles Crash Lady Maravilla, good, 00:22:46)
Jack Evans beat Villano III Jr., Australian Suicide, Taurus
(7:44, Jack Evans 630 senton Villano III Jr., good, 00:45:14)
Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Flamita, Hijo Del Vikingo, Golden Magic
(11:04, Mocha Cota frog splash Golden Magic, good, 01:04:26)
Killer Kross beat Puma King
(9:56, powerbomb, ok, 01:29:32)
Murder Clown, La Parka, Niño Hamburguesa beat Averno, Chessman, Dave The Clown
(17:00, Hamburguesa splash Dave the Clown, ok, )
Laredo Kid, Psycho Clown, Puma King beat Rey Escorpión, Taurus, Texano Jr.
(15:45, Laredo Kid powerbomb Rey Escorpión, good, 02:30:45)
What happened:
He lived.
The main event started as Psycho Clown & Laredo Kid versus the three rudos. Psycho Clown explained that originally scheduled partner Puma King was unable to wrestle after being beat up by Killer Kross earlier but they’d go it 2v3. Hijo del Vikingo ran out to turn the tide a few minutes in, continuing his staple of running in every main event that way. It was still 3v4 with La Hiedra getting involved with no problem. The rudos attacked Laredo about five seconds after he got the win, only for La Parka to walk out and hit each rudo with a chair to run them off.
Lady Maravilla did distract Nino Hamburguesa in the semi-main. It worked as a distraction but his team still rallied to win.
Killer Kross had been talking about becoming the Diablo of Monterrey – his nickname when he came back to Mexico as part of MAD’s beginnings. He wore white facepaint and had some Undertaker flourishes, including the pin.
Poder del Norte repeated their challenge for a trios title match after the their win.
The second match was originally a three way and originally for a cruiserweight title shot. It did not appear the title shot was still on the line, though it is possible Jack Evans will get one anyone.
Lady Shani, who is wrestling but not on TV cards for the next few weeks, did appear before the opener to offer a title shot to the winner. Chik Tormenta got the win.
Thoughts:
Villano III Jr. just got over
I have no notes for the main event, which kind of many want to throw out the whole recap and just handle it differently. This Nogales show was a slightly different iteration from the Mexicali show two days prior. Most of the matches were pretty good, though it lacked something with the emotion or performance to feel must see. There was a match where someone won a title shot, with no explanation of when that match would be (and reasonable doubt that it would ever be a singles title match.) Both had really good Poder del Norte matches and Vikingo making main event run-ins. The Nogales show had a little less star power, with most of the Impact crew heading to Tornto, but slightly better overall matches. None of the matches which happened were advertised that way; AAA appears compelled to release lineups before they actually have decided what matches they’re going to run, and so this is going to keep on happening until they decide to release updated lineups when they figure it out.
This was a relatively small roster for these shows, but it was pretty much the right people. I have no idea why Taurus worked twice, but Taurus was good twice, just being a great base in both matches. Los Mercenarios never win, all the post-match attacks they do can’t really hide that, but they’re good opponents for the brawling & weird flying Psycho Clown wants to do. Laredo Kid & Vikingo are good and better off for being around Psycho; Vikingo especially seemed over earlier in the show, and teaming with Psycho earlier probably has helped break him out as much as the moves.
this is a pretty sure way to win
Poder del Norte had a better match this time out, the best match of the night, with Flamita, Golden Magic and Hijo del Vikingo fitting better as opponents. They were on fire on offense and also setting up the tecnicos. Vikingo appeared to have springs for legs at times. Both four ways were good, though it was truly odd to have two four ways back to back. Chik Tormenta is a surprising pick for a title match, but she’s been good in her most recent matches. There’s also almost no chance Chik Tormenta is facing Lady Shani one on one; most of the women are probably going to be involved.
The La Parka match is Not For Me, but the crowd seemed to like. More this La Parka’s moves, they always seem twice as long as they need to be. More than the young flyers, Parka seems to do more than he needs to do in every match. I think he just likes being cheered out there and I can’t blame him for that. I’d just prefer shows closer to two hours rather than three.
Killer Kross probably should’ve lost. It does seem like a waste for a multi-year undefeated streak to end on a random AAA TV taping, but the streak and Kross are not over – they know it, he wouldn’t be trying out a new look if he was over – and it’s hard to imagine it turning around enough that someone ending his streak is going to mean anything more than a single loss. This was just another instance of Kross giving some power moves and looking mean at the camera. It was fine, Puma did a better job of seemed outmatched by Kross than most people but my patience is long exhausted on this one.
Black Destiny beat Skalibur, Fantastik, Rayo Star, Drake, Genio del Aireto win the EMW Middleweight championship (5:53, Black Destiny top rope Canadian Destroyer on Skalibur, good, 00:21:00)
Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa beat Jonathan & Lady Maravilla (9:06, stereo middle rope splashes, ok, 00:37:18)
Hijo del Tirantes & Chik Tormenta beat Faby Apache & Taya (8:59, DQ; Hijo del Tirantes faked foul, 00:56:28)
Hijo Del Vikingo beat Golden Magic, Villano III Jr., Flamitaina Number One Contenders for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship (16:39, great, 01:16:13)
medical stop Villano III Jr. (8:57)
Flamita superbomb Villano III (11:57)
Hijo del Vikingo inverted 450 splash Flamita (16:39)
Daga & Taurus beat Brian Cage & Laredo Kid (11:01, Taurus Rosa Driver Laredo Kid, good, 01:43:18)
Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santanabeat Australian Suicide, Daga, Jack Evans (11:35, Mocho Cota Jr. splash Australian Suicide, good, 02:06:36)
La Parka, Psycho Clown, Puma Kingbeat Chessman, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr. (17:53, Psycho Clown torito Rey Escorpion, good, 02:26:53)
What happened:
this has been a rough year for Parka
After about 8 minutes of the main event, Taurus arrives to take out La Parka with a spear, which leaves La Parka injured and out of the match. Laredo Kid runs in for the save and takes him out with a dive. Poder del Norte attack Lareod and take him out. Vikingo shows up with a stick but the numbers get the better of him, and they all quickly brawling to the back. Murder Clown shows up next and – much like happened six weeks ago in Sinaloa – he substitutes for La Parka’s place in the match. Kross shows up about 16 minutes in, pulls Puma King out, and powerbombs him thru a table. It really doesn’t matter, because Psycho beats Rey Escorpión clean a moment later with a torito and Puma celebrates with this team. Puma is in the middle of challenging Kross to a singles match when Texano attacks him from behind. Taurus comes back out to help and is now wearing a Rey Escorpión shirt. Escorpión and Taurus come over to the announce desk later to scream about. Konnan points out that makes him a new Mercenario.
Killer Kross replaced Daga, who moved into Guevera’s spot in the next match. Daga is anti-Perros del Mal but using the Perros del Mal music. For AAA reasons, Jesus Zuniga introduced the Poder del Norte trios match before the Taurus tag match. Poder del Norte came out seemingly randomly to distract Laredo Kid at the finish. Vikingo makes the save after the match, and it sets up a trios title match.
Murder Clown
The cruiserweight match was temporary stopped just about 9 minutes in when Hijo del Villano suffers a right shoulder injury. It is treated with grave seriousness, though it also looks like it might have been a work.
The mystery person is never given a name but is someone wearing Averno’s gear and mask. It becomes quickly clear it is Hijo del Tirantes, and Faby unmasks him by about six minutes in. Hijo del Tirantes has Faby Apache seemingly defeated with a Devil’s Wings, but holds up the count. Faby immediately gets up and cradles him, but referee Copetes holds up the count for no apparent reason. (It is possible Chik Tormenta was supposed to grab him from outside the ring; Copetes turns to her to react to nothing we see.) Hijo del Tirantes fakes a foul to draw the DQ.
Jonathan does not keep up with the show, because he seems wrongly concerned when Maravilla starts flirting with Niño Hamburguesa. Big Mami is rightly concerned. Again, Niño Hamburguesa & Big Mami are almost enough to win despite Hamburguesa refusing to hit Maravilla, but Mami is violently annoyed with Hamburgesa’s refusal to hit the woman who definitely is not her girlfriend. Hamburguesa checks on Maravilla after the match, so Big Mami fakes a fainting spell to get attention instead. Hamburguesa catches her, but then dumps her off on Jonathan and carries Maravilla off.
A video from Drago (who is in Australia) airs before the match, announcing he has to give up the EMW Middleweight Championship due to being so busy elsewhere. This was the championship he was originally to defend on the previous taping in Tijuana.
Neither Hugo nor Vampiro is around. I didn’t catch an explanation. Jesus Zuniga replaces Hugo for most of the show, with Konnan kicking him out and taking over for the last two matches. Konnan starts doing impressions of Hugo’s catchphrase, which is funny the first couple times but as much not the dozen or so that follow.
The May 2nd Elite show was promoted.
Thoughts:
Vikingo
The main event had at least seven run-ins and was chaos, though better than usual La Parka main event chaos. He wasn’t really involved much when he was around. Chessman wasn’t much good either, but the waves of people getting involved kept a long match more fun than a standard match would’ve been. Murder Clown does well in técnico offense runs, which still seems weird. Psycho Clown was good as usual. Puma vs Kross is a weird use of both those guys but better than the no use they’ve been on.
The semi-main wasn’t good enough to overcome being a rudo versus rudo match where the two teams didn’t have much reason to fight. (They really needed to come up with a reason, even if just for one night.) It’s tough to have matches just for matches sake when you get this late into an AAA card and have seen just about everything. There was some iffy-ness here – Jack Evans didn’t have a strong night – through the Poder del Norte being a machine helped make this at least worthwhile. This was not bad by any means but it may be one working better out of context on its own because it didn’t have much of one on this show.
The 2v2 match was about doing a big man Cage/Kross standoff, which got a little reaction. Taurus & Laredo Kid were the more interesting pair. Cage & Laredo worked well for a makeshift team and Taurus destroying people is always fine. The Rodeo Driver on Laredo looked especially brutal. There finish of Laredo Kid diving onto people who just showed up at ringside was a bit cheesy but the match they’re setting up should be as good fun as always. Not sure when they’re going to do all these matches though.
Suicide springboard code red
The four ways stupendous, strong use of elimination rules to give some great chaotic action early and a good back and forth at the end. All four men had strong nights. Golden Magic had a positive night, looking on point with his flying before being powerbombed out of the match. Villano III Jr. was fighting out of his experience class and fitting in fine before his demise. Flamita had one of his best individual showings in AAA, really making the ending series with Hijo del Vikingo really come together. His offense looks great and he probably is the only one in this match with the experience to lean into the Vikingo reaction and switch to leaning more rudo at the end to make the finish a bigger deal. This Flamita is a luxury as an extra midcard person in AAA. I have no idea how long he’ll be happy just working the middle of the card matches, but he’s so the right guy to work the AAA young guys who have only faced each other so far, and I hope we get more of him and Vikingo somehow. The Villano injury bit derailed the match and there was a double cutter spot that was quite bad, but the match entirely is something you should go out of your way to see.
The (mostly) women’s match was fine, though it couldn’t help but think it would’ve been better with an actual fourth woman. Tirantes wrestles and was fine as a base, but he didn’t do much early. Chik Tormenta looked impressive with what was basically a showcase for her, but it limited the match. It also meant nonsense to end it. The finishing sequence is very unsatisfying, with Hijo del Tirantes passing up a deserved win for an undeserved win for no particular reason. Faby and Taya was fine, though it didn’t seem like Taya was hitting well with everything.
The mixed tag story needs to move on to another chapter already. Hamburguesa & Mami aren’t as fun right now and they’ve been hitting the same beats with this for three months. It doesn’t even really make sense right now: Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa are actually so dominant, they win when Hamburguesa is not even trying half the time. Lady Maravilla has definitely been successful in seducing Hamburguesa but she’s still losing every match so it seems like a dumb plan. There’s drama but no movement and everyone is looking silly (and not the good kind of silly) by standing in the same spot. Jonathan was fine but I think I came away glad he was being used in this match rather than replacing anyone in the opener.
Genio del Aire & Rayo Star
The opener was almost a replay from Tijuana, with Skalibur taking Jonathan’s spot. It seemed less frantic than that match. Everyone got a moment early on without a rush or without as much time as the last match. The last minute or so was just typical Baja California lucha libre insanity, where the AAA cameras couldn’t totally capture it but it would’ve been tough for anyone. Drake finally got caught on a dive and it didn’t end up going any better for him. Genio del Aire remains super smooth in everything; in another era, he’d be under some weird Antonio Pena gimmick and working openers every year for a year. Skalibur is a crazy person.
La Máscara & Texano Jr. beat Joe Lider & Pagano
(13:45, Texano/La Mascara wheeelbarrow frontcracker Joe Lider, ok,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown beat Blue Demon Jr. & Rey Escorpiónin a cage match
(15:33, ok,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
9:35 Psycho Clown escapes
11:18 Rey Escorpión escapes
15:33 Dr. Wagner Jr. escapes
What happened:
the power of Hamburguesa
Dr. Wagner Jr. escaped the cage by unmasking Blue Demon Jr. as they were both sitting on top of the cage.
La Hiedra escorts La Mascara to the ring. She is the newest member of Los Mercenarios and gets involved with the match many times.
La Hiedra seems unhappy about being a tecnica before the match, with the rudas trying to convince her to come over to their side. She plays fair most of the match, but pushes Niño Hamburguesa off the top rope when he hesitates after a Maravilla distraction. Hiedra cuts a promo upset about being booked on a tecnica side, she’s a ruda. V3 seems thrilled with these events and escorts her to the back. Niño Hamburgesa carries Lady Maravilla to the back again, which seemed to surprise Keyra. Keep up with the show, Keyra!
Thoughts:
Myzteziz
AAA spent 20 minutes setting up a cage and then all these guys in the main event just to decide to brawl outside off the ring. It didn’t last too long but it was still dumb. Otherwise, it was like most lucha cage matches, with lots of brawling and the rudos destroying the técnicos for an exhaustingly long time until they made a mistake with a whip. The cage bit added little to the match and felt unnecessary after just doing the same bit on the last show. They even did a very similar powerbomb spot to set up Psycho Clown’s escape. Demon had some good punches. Psycho and Escorpión fought strongly enough that I’m looking forward to their singles match. It still felt like a long match. The only interesting thing here is how Wagner cheated and was loudly booed for it. Blue Demon was the cheered one last time out too. Maybe they’re heading to TripleMania with both men cheered or Demon being the face.
Los Mercenarios had a trademark average match, keeping up with Pagano’s messy brawling while not really creating much to remember themselves. La Hiedra seemed alright as a second, probably will get better with more time, shouldn’t have been laid on in her first match in the role but it doesn’t matter. This was a CMLL midcard match that I will never remember.
The exoticos worked hard in their match. It just didn’t connect much with me. The crowd seemed to enjoy it and there was a lot of life to it, it just seemed like the same standard match we’ve seen before with a few more dives. It is good to have (seemingly) escaped the La Mascara/Maximo feud but these only really work as buffer matches. It would’ve been much better placed as the second match on the card.
fun for all
The tercera could’ve been a little bit shorter; it was a long way to go for a partner betraying her team finish. The action still seemed good enough. Lady Shani showed a little more personality than usual and Hiedra adapted fine to the tecnica side. Most of the rest was the usual Lady Maravilla/Nino Hamburguesa story but it developed better than some of the recent matches.
The biggest problem for the second match is it followed the first match. This was the better of two multi-man matches, but having them back to back dulled the impact. There’s only so long you can see two people do moves and a third person rush in to do their move next. I thought the luchadors in this looked better, with Hijo del Vikingo & Myzteziz working as opponents better than I would’ve expected and they peaked the match towards the end a lot better. It still all sort of blended together.
The opener was the usual collection of non-stop moves. It suffered a bit because the action never rose or fell, it just kept going at the same level for ten minutes. Keeping it going seemed more important than what was going on, with the key being to roll out of the way so the next two guys could do their moves more than the moves. That’s not to bury the match but it was a limitation of it. This had a lot of GIF-able moments but wasn’t much deeper than that. Drake fit in fine despite probably never working with these other five before. The only spot of his that went wrong was his dive, and that was more Genio del Aire not being in the spot. Despite that, I still thought Genio del Aire looked the best in this match and should be a regular on non-Tijuana shows. Black Destiny seems to have gained weight, though it didn’t affect his offense.
Daga, Sammy Guevara, Texano Jr. beat Brian Cage, Hijo Del Vikingo, Laredo Kid
(13:58, Sammy Guevera SSP Laredo Kid, good,01:46:40)
Chessman, Monsther Clown, Rey Escorpión beat Aerostar, Pagano, Psycho Clown
(13:18, Monsther Clown reverse neckbreaker into a faceslam Aerostar, ok,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
Blue Demon Jr. beat La Parka and Dr. Wagner Jr. [Copa Perro Aguayo Jr.]
(15:49, Demon foul Parka, below average,Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))
What happened:
Star Fire Tiger suplex
After about 10 minutes, Rey Escorpión and Texano run in to attack La Parka. Laredo Kid tries to make the save and is quickly handled. Myzteziz, Vikingo, and Kahn-el-Mal try to help a couple of minutes later when Parka is loaded on the stretcher, and get beat up as well. Wagner sneaks in a foul on Demon, but the referee is down. Demon does the same, and the referee recovers to count the three.
Guevera stole Laredo’s mask to break up a Laredo Fly attempt, then landed the SSP to win. Cage attempted to chokeslam Guevera after the match and had to hold in place an awkward moment for Jack Evans & Australian Suicide to show up and break it up. Cage ended up beating up the Gringos after, then Myzteziz showed up after just in time to do some dives, which the cameras missed. After all that, Rey Escorpión, Daga and Texano beat up the tecnicos anyway. It was not the best executed post-match segment.
Carta Brava fouled Pimpinela with the referee turned away but then Máximo kissed Carta Brava and faked a foul to draw the same DQ
Australian Suicide and Sammy Guevera came to the ring beat up the tecnicos for no real reason afterward. It was a bit random, but they were there form a group with Jack Evans.
Thoughts:
Myzteziz
The main event was a long tedious brawl, taking about twice as long as it needed to be. The long and eventually pointless period before the run-ins could’ve been hacked down to a third of the size without losing anything. This is also at least the third time Los Mercenarios have destroyed La Parka, which hasn’t yet to really go anywhere. Demon played the técnico all match long and it got him a nice reaction for stealing the win but it really isn’t worth your time to watch most of this.
The Monster Clown/Aerostar trios match didn’t come across as anything special. It was generally performed well and they made Aerostar & Monsther Clown seem on the same level as the other four, but it just was a little less exciting than the match that preceded it. The Pagano table mishap is something only Pagano can provide.
The fourth match was good if pretty pinned to the purpose of the finish and not a lot more. Cage felt more a part of the post-match than the match itself, likely a consequence of his (unplanned) late arrival to the show. Daga wrestled Laredo Kid a lot and it is easy to look good doing that, but he came off less important than Guevera and Texano, who has having fun bullying around Vikingo. The post-match mayhem kind of drove home the idea that none of those rudos are actually partners and most everyone should be teaming with someone else, but it was good for a grab-bag match.
The exoticos match served its purpose as comedy break between more serious matches. They’ve managed to get something out of Pimpinela, who looked very much done this time last year. They get a reaction and that’s the idea. Poder del Norte seem out of the trios title picture for the moment so perhaps they should get used to being foils for this técnico team.
Taurus
The tercera was another action trios match, with Myzteziz the best of the técnico side and Taurus looking good mauling people. Kind of weird that Taurus got the win since he’s the one non-Villano in the match with not going on but maybe that’s the answer. Villano had a hilariously bad moment on a giant swing but otherwise was fine. I was more excited about Jack/Sammy/Suicide challenging for the trios title than this match afterward.
The women’s tag match was pretty good, a lot of action packed in a little bit of time, with everything looking sharp. There’s a huge difference in how impactful everything looks here compared to CMLL. The team members seemed to just pass each other on the way in and out of the ring, but that worked with the story of Keyra & Faby Apache fighting after the match. Star Fire had a better performance than the last time out, looking at the level of the other luchadoras. This is another situation where Shani seems a bit in the background and it never seemed close to ending until it suddenly did, but it was a typically good performance otherwise.
Dinastia got a showcase match in the opener. Baby Xtreme (who must really love that name if he used it on AAA TV instead of Demonio del Aire) and Orquidea got a few moments. This was mostly Dinastia getting to show off a lot of offense in exchange for being bumped to the dark match. He did well and Baby Xtreme made it thru a match without getting hurt. It seems like the first time I’ve seen him manage that. Orquidea did kiss spots but not much else standard exotico bits.
Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Daga, Joe Lider, Taya (12:14, Cota double stomp low blow with chair Joe Lider, ok, 01:15:55)
Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly beat Drago, Pagano, Puma King (14:04, Averno super Devil’s Wings Drago, ok, 01:37:51)
Mamba, Máximo, Psycho Clownbeat Jeff Jarrett, Killer Kross, La Máscarain a cage match
(19:02, ok,02:10:52)
07:50 Jeff Jarrett escapes
08:33 Psycho Clown out
09:19 Psycho Clown back in
09:43 Mamba out
11:57 Killer Kross out
13:43 Máximo out
19:02 Psycho Clown out
Aerostarbeat LaredoKid, Hijo Del Vikingo, Jack Evans, Sammy Guevara, Australian Suicide, Taurus, Golden Magic, Myztezizto win the AAA’s Rey de Reyes (26:24, great, 02:54:07)
00:00 Vikingo & Myzteziz start
01:00 Eclipse Vengador Jr. enters
04:23 Taurus enters
05:41 Laredo Kid enters
07:08 Sammy Guevara
08:30 Jack Evans enters
08:30 Golden Magic enters
08:46 Taurus Rodeo Driver Eclipse Vengador
09:30 Aerostar enters
13:55 Taurus Rodeo Driver Myzteziz Jr.
14:16 Taurus Rodeo Driver Golden Magic
16:10 Hijo del Vikingo reverse 450 splash Jack Evans
17:37 Laredo Kid 450 splash Sammy Guevera
19:33 Aerostar super plancha Taurus
22:17 Aerostar splash Vikingo
26:24 Aerostar springboard rolling cutter Laredo Kid
Fénix & Pentagón Jr.beat Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr.to win the AAA World Tag Team Championship (7:55, Fenix double stomp/Pentagon package piledriver Texano, good, 03:25:27)
the chair is a shield but Keyra still gets a foot thru
A chaotic main event sequence saw the tag team titles change hands twice and end up on the waists of the Young Bucks. Pentagon & Fenix defeated Los Mercenarios to first win the titles in a match that was obviously shorter than usual for reasons. As Texano & Escorpión disappeared into the ether, Konnan confronted Fenix & Pentagon for their refusal to join him. This was a distraction for the lights to go out and the Young Bucks to show up in the ring. Fenix & Penta superkicked Konnan, and a match spontaneously started. (It was only clear it was meant to be a match because Piero stayed in the ring, there was no announcement or signal a new match was starting.) The Bucks dominated the early portion of the match, the Lucha Brothers made a comeback to their usual finishing sequence, and the Bucks kicked out. Fenix took an Indytaker on the floor and Penta was eventually defeated 2 on 1 after a Meltzer Driver.
The crowd did not react to the Young Bucks as they might in the US or Japan. They did eventually get into the match during the Lucha Brothers comeback, but it was probably the quietest crowd the Bucks have been in front of in a long time. Earlier in the night, Konnan had been an anti-AEW heel against face Cody Rhodes, so anyone following this angle had to be confused about it.
Aerostar won the Rey de Reyes, defeating Laredo Kid in what turned out to be an elimination match with timed entries. Both Vampiro & Jesus Zuniga said there were 11 people in the match, which was odd because 9 people were announced and only 9 people ended up being in the match. (The best guess is this was supposed to tease the Young Bucks being in that match instead, though it didn’t seem to work.) The 9 people weren’t the original 9 anyway, as Australian Suicide was missing for unexplained reasons and replaced by “Sombra Vengador Jr.”, a character from the “Por La Mascara” TV show on Space. He was portrayed by Lanzelot on this occasion.
end of Los Perros del Mal
Psycho Clown won a six-man escape the cage match after putting La Mascara thru a table. Brazo de Plata was at ringside for the Brazo family fight and gave Jeff Jarrett a mighty chop. This seemed a pretty definite win that should end the road to a hair match (though the hair match is still probably happening.)
The OGTs versus Puma, Pagano and Drago match had a few severe moments which appeared to be serious injuries and were later said not to have been them. Puma King attempted to give Super Fly a high-velocity sunset flip powerbomb thru a table to the outside, but the table was not correctly positioned and Super Fly’s head smacked on the edge of the table instead. A Pagano/Chessman backward plunge off the top rope thru a table seemed to go as dangerously as planned, though Chessman’s fist punched a hole thru the table on impact instead of it being broken. Chessman was checking his hand like it was broken, but AAA insisted he and Super Fly were OK.
Daga betrayed Joe Lider in the closing moments of the Perros del Mal reunion match, giving Poder del Norte the win. Daga told the announcers, Perros del Mal was done, they needed him but he didn’t need them. Poder del Norte put Joe Lider thru a table during the post-match, in something that was mostly in a small window while other things were happening.
Villano III senton
This post-match also played into an earlier bit in the women’s match. Faby Apache confronted Lady Shani (wanted a rematch), Keyra (want her to close her mouth) and Hijo del Tirantes (want him to leave her alone) after Shani retained her title. This just got Faby attacked first by Hijo del Tirantes, then Keyra & Tormenta. Tormenta seemed to be Keyra’s new ally, at least for this night. Shani & Taya surprisingly made the save for Faby, who didn’t want much to do with them then. Later, when Keyra & Tormenta again attacked Taya after the Perros del Mal match, Faby returned the favor with a save and was friendly towards Taya. This seemed to be setting up a Faby/Shani/Taya vs Keyra/Tormenta/someone else (Maravilla? Tirantes?) direction.
Cody appeared in an in-ring segment with Hugo Savonvich to talk about the partnership between the two companies. Cody teased the idea of Chris Jericho & Kenny Omega coming to AAA and offered Hugo a spot as working on the Spanish media. Hugo accepted. They were interrupted by Konnan, with Taurus, Escorpión, and Texano. Konnan demanded that everything in Mexico run thru him, while Cody pointed out that Konnan was now just an employee in AAA and not an executive like him. This escalated into a fight, with Cody taking out Los Mercenarios (long night for them) until Taurus speared him. Psycho Clown led a group of AAA técnicos – Taya, Shani, Aerostar, Drago – in running off the rudos and then posing for photos.
Lady Maravilla continues to have Niño Hamburguesa under her spell. Hamburguesa would not hurt her and stopped Big Mami from doing the same a couple of times. The champions managed to get it together enough to beat Villano III Jr., but there were more problems after the match when Hamburguesa carried Maravilla off to the back.
Blue Demon appeared. It was unclear why.
Thoughts:
a dive
The “double” main event sacrificed both matches to get to the storyline. Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. versus Pentagon & Fenix came off as a match rushing to fit in on TV time. There were a few the highpoints of a Lucha Brothers match. It was also very obviously off in some ways, and Rey Escorpion wasn’t having a good match. The Young Bucks match had more of a story to it, and more offense to the Lucha Brothers than I had felt the first time I saw it. It’s a weird compromise of a situation: they would’ve had more time for everyone if Texano & Escorpión weren’t treated as equals to the other teams and not just disposable people in the way of the match they really wanted to do, but they also clearly didn’t want to give away a ‘real’ Lucha Brothers versus Young Bucks match two months out from Double or Nothing. What we got was something that’ll probably be sufficient as a highlight package but wasn’t alone enough to get the Young Bucks over to a very unfamiliar AAA audience, and didn’t really satisfy anyone who came into the show believing Los Mercenarios versus Lucha Brothers were the main event. (The match got little reaction, so maybe there weren’t many of those people to begin with.) This AAA match was sacrificed to get AEW’s big match over. If it’s the start of a well-told story that gets a rematch over for TripleMania, it’ll be worth it. It’s tough to give scattershot AAA that much faith.
The Rey de Reyes delivered on lots and lots of crazy spots, and actually tried to get people over in the booking too. Taurus had his best night since his return by far, with the interaction earlier with Cody and beating people one after another impressively. It would help if there was some follow up from this, but it was a good start. Once Taurus was out, this seemed like Vikingo’s match to win. He did well with the time (except for the tough landing on Jack Evans) but really didn’t get any special focus before he was out. The Aerostar win was helped by it being over Laredo Kid, the guy who meant to most coming in. It did sort of feel like it came down to people everyone likes but no one’s quite sure if they’re meant to be a top star; it was a better field than Aerostar’s long ago Copa Antonio Pena win but it also was a bit of a self-contained universe. The big positive here is they had enough time to give everyone a moment, including Sammy & Jack further establishing their team (without Suicide for whatever reason.) It wasn’t perfect but it was a lot of fun.
Golden Magic headscissors
The AAA cage match was very much an AAA cage. It coalesced into something coherent after they got rid of half the field and had enough space (physical, mental) to actually tell some story beyond people wandering around a small space and hitting each other. The Brazos story was the only thing that mattered here. They got a lot out of Brazo de Plata at ringside. La Mascara seemed to actually try and got laid out at the end. They don’t really need to do more with the La Mascara versus his family feud after this, but it’s also obviously going to keep going.
This will always be the match where Averno wrestled in a Batman outfit for no particular reason and Super Fly went the back of the head into the corner of a table on a powerbomb. The match was alright, hitting the usual high spots with these guys, but most of it was immediately flush from my mind. I had to go back and watch it later to figure out how Averno actually won. They didn’t do a bad job but it is not a match I’d want to rewatch.
The Perros del Mal was a solid action match that wasn’t really sinking in with me until the angle at the end, and then five hundred things happened at once. Poder del Norte wasn’t at all the focus here but did well taking the Perros offense and making an impression with the time they got. AAA did a good job of selling the importance of the Perros del Mal with the pre-match video and the shirts, though the turn still came off as a bit random. Daga seemed motivated to have a good night and was a lot better than in Monterrey. Borderline match, could’ve gone OK or good on it.
Chik Tormenta Clash
The four-way women matches make up for some of the limitations of the women by just speeding up the action and not giving a moment to think about what just happened. They did it more so here, with the weapons added just to give more craziness. Not everything came out smooth, especially early on, but it became quite a spectacle by the end. Also, the chair might have saved Chik Tormenta’s life from the Keyra corner dropkick. The Spanish Fly spot to the outside looked impressive, relatively safe, and kept Keyra out of the ring at the finish. This also was an effective win for Lady Shani, who could’ve used one. The angles after the match seem to be only clear in that we’re never getting any of the singles matches that are being set up, but it did feel like something was happening.
The opener wasn’t as crazy as some of their multi-team defenses. It is a lot to ask the técnicos to carry the speed of the action by themselves, but they still had some impressive moments. The match actually more one-sided than I would’ve figured, with Maravilla and Villano’s involvement being more about the storyline than anything they showed on. The storyline moved on, so I liked it.
