AAA TV Recap – luchablog

2021 AAA TV reviews catch up

July 29, 2021July 29, 2021 thecubsfan

first in a series?

AAA is really good this year. It has the talent to be great. Their strongest ability has been bringing useful talent on board, and they’ve been less impressive in using that talent. AAA cooling their heels while waiting for COVID to clear out has taken energy from the shows, as has the no-fans locations. AAA has a history of getting its own way promotion gets in its own way, and at least it’s still a very watchable product. I would prefer they invest money in a giant portable tent to cover the ring for these outdoor shows rather than outsider talent, but you can’t have everything.

Reviews by tape dates. I suspect AAA’s next two shows will be some unaired matches from these tapings, but this is otherwise everything going into TripleMania.

February 4th

Arez vs Latigo vs Aramis [great]: ended up airing on a catch up show, exactly what you’d expect out of these guys in a short TV match. Exactly what you’d expect out of AAA too, with no sign Latigo & Arez are about to become a regular team.

(rest of the episode got its own review)

February 7th

Dragon Kid & Laredo Boy vs Arez & Latigo [good]: the early matches establishing the Latigo/Arez team were fun
Aerostar, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana [good]: usual Poder del Norte solid teamwork, when they were still sort of feuding with Mr. Iguana.
Laredo Kid © vs Octagón Jr. vs Aramis [AAA CRUISER, good]: More historically notable because this is where we found out AAA was just ignoring the MLW title change. Lots of action, some actually three-way bits, and Laredo fighting them both off. Plus a silly Destroyer bit. AAA overdid three-way matches during AutoLuchas and I was tired of them here, maybe this works better out of context.
Arez & Chik Tormenta vs La Parkita & Drago Kid [good]: Arez & Tormenta dominate the minis. La Parkita crashes and burns badly on tornillo, as he does in half his matches. This is the official start of the Arez, Latigo, Chik Tormenta, which goes half the year without getting a name.
Fénix & Laredo Kid vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus [great]: Fenix is just totally on and he and Laredo Kid are an unfair team. Taurus is great too and Abismo Negro Jr. doesn’t hold the match. As good or better than the AEW matches Fenix was having at this point. It’s too bad this is it for Fenix here until TripleMania.

March 11th

Arez, Chik Tormenta, Latigo vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Lady Maravilla [good]: this is not a good moment because AAA booking the two new rudo groups against each other revealed they were using the “CMLL Hat” booking strategy. The two rudo teams do mix well; Latigo & Arez are the right sizes to work against them.
Octagon Jr. & Laredo Kid vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus: Mostly suffers from being in the shadow of the previous match.
Rey Escorpión & Taurus vs Laredo Kid & Psycho Clown great]: this didn’t air on space for months, until right after Escorpion/Psycho was announced for TripleMania. Do you give them credit for saving this for when it might matter more, or is it a vote against them for not airing a really strong match for months? A lot of sometimes boring Mercenarios beatdown just works a lot better here, Psycho Clown is great at coming back and Laredo Kid is Laredo Kid. Seems like just a normal TV match and is much better than that.

March 13th (aired out of order)

AAA skipped over this entire taping when cutting down the lag on the YouTube uploads, so I never put it up on YouTube either.
Arez, Látigo, Parkita Negra vs Aramis, Niño Hamburguesa, Octagoncito [good]: another one for “Parkita Negra would be considered one of the more exciting rudos in AAA but he’s typecast as a mini and so AAA has little use for him” file. It’s really hard to fit the name on the label. He’s about the same size as his partners and used 1/8th as much. It’s almost like he’d better off leaving AAA but moving to Mexico City, working those indies for a year to build his name, and then hoping they bring him back in a different role. It seems impossible for him to work his way out of the position he’s in.
Aerostar & Myzteziz vs Argenis & Parka Negra [good]: Parka Negra got a title shot in like his third match and has never done much since. He’s been really good and got more out of Aerostar than most this year.
Arcano vs Venenoide [good]: the Marvel Lucha Libre stuff is aggressively fine or weird, this was a nice Taurus performance with a few things changed.
Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus [good]: it’s only in doing a post like this where I really notice how often AAA ran this exact same match with a rotating Laredo Kid partner. Hijo del Vikingo started the year looking off and started to regain his form by this point. Abismo Negro Jr. is more a little more shaky.
This was the taping where Poder del Norte crossed a very imaginary line; they’re doing the same matches they’ve done well for years, but they’ve stale enough that they don’t feel like going out to watch. They shouldn’t break up or anything, but they need to add some new stuff to their routines. Poder del Norte more need a purpose, they just can’t count on AAA giving them a direction – if they were going to do it, it would’ve happened by now.

March 20th (AutoLuchas)

Laredo Kid vs Arez [great]: could see it higher, best of this tier at least. Both guys go all out in a situation that didn’t necessarily demand it, with the stage fall Michinoku Driver being one of the AAA spots of the year. Just a completely insane match in the best way, Laredo Kid being the best guy in Mexico and Arez not far behind.
Poder del Norte vs Faby Apache, Laredo Kid, Nino Hamburguesa [good]: maybe the crowd/honking helped a bit making this Poder del Norte more enjoyable.
Hijo del Vikingo & Psycho Clown vs Chessman & Parka Negra [good]: Vikingo finds tall thing to leap off among a few other amazing spots.

I actually wrote about the May 1st show because it was Rey de Reyes. The other matches didn’t rate. The trios title match was an underwhelming end to the Jinetes del Aire run.

May 3rd

Arcano vs Venenoide [good]
Arcano & Araña Voladora vs Picadura Letal & Venenoide [good]: i’m not good at figuring out double identities but whoever was playing Arcano on this set of shows was doing very well
Latigo vs Villano III vs Abismo Negro Jr. vs Hijo del Vikingo vs Aramis [great]: this was better than the Rey de Reyes five way but I have trouble giving a fiveway an excellent grade. Vikingo being in this one and just pushing things father made the biggest difference.

May 31st

Latigo vs Laredo Kid [excellent]: An outstanding match. They took it from cool matwork early and escalated into big spots later. Probably the best Latigo’s looked in AAA; Latigo’s always good, but this time he came off as an impressive wrestler as he does outside of AAA. Laredo’s Germans looked painful and were a good adjustment for a smaller than usual opponent. There were a couple of spots that didn’t look like they went as planned, though they did such a good job of adjusting that’s it’s hard to be sure. I can’t really articulate why this is higher than Arez/Laredo Kid, which says more about my weakpoints than these guys.
Vikingo/V3/Abismo might be worth watching if you’re looking for another match from this set; I didn’t feel strongly about it.

June 2nd

outdoor taping with no covering where it rained and everyone was slipping. Pass on all of this.

July 3rd – Verano de Escandalo

Kamikaze, Komander, Hijo Del Vikingo, Aramis, Látigo, Toxin [great]: this has Vikingo grabbing the roof and it wasn’t the most impressive spot he did in that 15 seconds.
Deonna Purrazzo vs Lady Shani [good] – I think think this was good but just couldn’t follow the previous match, but I’m not sure I’m remembering right.
Komander & Octagón Jr. vs Toxin & Villano III Jr. [good]: Komander had a great day.

July 5th

Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Toxin vs Aramis, Dinastía, Kamikaze [good]: they brought Kamikaze in to get outshined by the regular roster, weird deal but worked out fine.
Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Lady Shani, Laredo Kid [good]: notable for Vikingo’s antics over the usual Poder del Norte stuff. The three cookie sheet spot was good.
Octagón Jr., Faby Apache, Villano III Jr., Taurus © for the AAA Latin American Championship [good]: Faby Apache was a positive addition but the Rey de Reyes version of this match stood out more. (This will go up on YouTube this weekend.)

All the ratings in a table

rating	taped	match
excellent	05-31	Laredo Kid © vs Látigo for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
great	02-04	Arez vs Látigo, Aramis
great	02-07	Fénix & Laredo Kid vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus
great	03-11	Rey Escorpión & Taurus vs Laredo Kid & Psycho Clown
great	03-20	Laredo Kid vs Arez for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
great	05-01	Dinastía vs Toxin, Aramis, Látigo, Arez for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship and in a Number One Contenders Match match
great	05-03	Látigo vs Villano III Jr., Abismo Negro Jr., Hijo Del Vikingo, Aramis [Copa Hijo del Perro]
great	05-03	Picadura Letal & Venenoide vs Araña Voladora & Arcano
great	07-03	Kamikaze vs Komander, Hijo Del Vikingo, Aramis, Látigo, Toxin [Alas de Oro]
good	02-04	Abismo Negro Jr. & Texano vs Laredo Kid & Octagón Jr.
good	02-04	Mr. Iguana & Niño Hamburguesa vs Arez & Látigo
good	02-07	Drago Kid & Laredo Boy vs Arez & Látigo
good	02-07	Aerostar, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
good	02-07	Laredo Kid © vs Octagón Jr., Aramis for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
good	02-07	Arez & Chik Tormenta vs Drago Kid & La Parkita
good	03-11	Arez, Chik Tormenta, Látigo vs Flammer, La Hiedra, Lady Maravilla
good	03-11	Laredo Kid & Octagón Jr. vs Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus
good	03-13	Arez, Látigo, Parkita Negra vs Aramis, Niño Hamburguesa, Octagoncito
good	03-13	Aerostar & Myzteziz vs Argenis & Parka Negra
good	03-13	Arcano (2021) vs Venenoide
good	03-13	Abismo Negro Jr. & Taurus vs Hijo Del Vikingo & Laredo Kid
good	03-20	Faby Apache, Laredo Kid, Niño Hamburguesa vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
good	03-20	Hijo Del Vikingo & Psycho Clown vs Chessman & La Parka Negra
good	05-01	Octagón Jr. vs Taurus, Villano III Jr. for the AAA Latin American Championship
good	05-01	Faby Apache vs Lady Shani, Flammer, Chik Tormenta, Lady Maravilla, Sexy Star in a AAA’s Reina de Reinas Tournament match
good	05-01	Laredo Kid vs Texano Jr., Murder Clown, Aerostar, Drago, Abismo Negro Jr., Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. in a AAA’s Rey de Reyes Tournament match
good	05-03	Arcano (2021) vs Venenoide
good	07-03	Deonna Purrazzo vs Lady Shani
good	07-03	Komander & Octagón Jr. vs Toxin & Villano III Jr.
good	07-05	Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Toxin vs Aramis, Dinastía, Kamikaze
good	07-05	Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana vs Hijo Del Vikingo, Lady Shani, Laredo Kid
good	07-05	Octagón Jr. vs Faby Apache, Villano III Jr., Taurus © for the AAA Latin American Championship

AAA AutoLuchas episodes 9, 10, and 11

February 9, 2021February 15, 2021 thecubsfan

I’m still going through these three at a time, though it’s mostly just to check it off a list. It’s not the fault of the luchadors – even ‘ok’ here is a much more palatable watch than equally aged CMLL – but these can’t help but feel very stale when we’re up to episode 9 of seeing them perform at the same drive-in. There are few angles, with some intending to lead-in to TripleMania matches which happened months ago (or didn’t end up happening) and others just running in place. They’re easy shows to throw in the background while you’re doing something else, but it’s also transparent the purpose of these show are just to keep the TV slots warm and not to do anything too interesting.

AutoLuchas 9:

10-18: Lady Shani beat Faby Apache and La Hiedra for a title shot at the Reina de Reinas championship [good]
10-18: Big Mami & Myzteziz Jr. b Australian Suicide & Hades [ok]
10-18: Niño Hamburguesa & Octagón Jr. b Carta Brava Jr. & Mocho Cota Jr. [ok]
10-18: Pagano b Chessman [ok]

Chessman gives Pagano a martinete after their match, which came off like it was meant to lead into TripleMania. Lady Shani seemed previously owed a title shot, would seem likely to get the title match even without one, and that match might have been designed when AAA believed Taya would be available for TripleMania. Shani cleanly submitting Apache seems worth nothing, though here it was more about leading into a Maravilla & Hiedra post-match attack.

That contenders match is about as good as you’d expect with the names. It’s a shame the women’s division had their worst match of the year on the one show non-AAA people watched, but so it goes. Pagano vs Chessman is a more wrestling moves ordinated version of their match, though that’s also with Chessman going through a table and coming in the neighborhood of hitting his head on cement.

Octagon mostly sits out of his match. Hades displays more ruda personality than usual in the other tag match.

AutoLuchas 10:

10-17: Australian Suicide b Mr. Iguana and Tito Santana [ok]
10-17: Argenis b Myzteziz Jr. and La Parka Negra [good]
10-17: Big Mami & Lady Shani b Faby Apache & La Hiedra [ok]
10-17: Chessman b Psycho Clown and Texano [ok]

Argenis unmasks Myzteziz (after an ugly Destroyer) to keep that feud ticking over. I liked that three-way a bit better than the previous one, but this was the point where I was again tired of seeing threeways. Big Mami didn’t look sharp this weekend but the women’s match was more about Faby & Hiedra not getting along.

AutoLuchas 11:

10-17: Faby Apache b Lady Shani [good]
10-17: Texano Jr. b Octagon Jr. [good]
10-17: Murder Clown beat Tito Santana and Parka Negra [ok]
10-17: Maximo & Niño Hamburguesa beat Carta Brava & Mocho Cota [ok]

Texano fouled and piledrived Octagon, who seemed a little shook up afterward. Argenis attacked Octagon after the second match for no reason other than to set up a Myzteziz making the save. Maximo hurt his right hand (maybe fingers?) on a dive early on, sat out while it was taped, and then essentially tried to do the rest of the match with one good arm.

That main event wasn’t much as a result of Maximo’s injury. Semi-main went very long for something that was mostly Murder Clown throwing around two smaller guys. The two singles matches were enjoyable but missing any increased drama as the match went along; they started off hot (or maybe more warm) and then just stayed on that same note for the entire match. There’s not much build, which is a common issue. Faby being willing to lose Lady Shani makes a lot more sense knowing she won the day before; the two matches should’ve aired in the opposite order. It’s a CMLL thing to do it this way.

AAA went back to 10-18 for episode 12, which I’ll have in the next batch. They can get at least one more episode of the 10/17-10/18 weekend. (We haven’t seen the minis much, and they’re all over those.) AAA also largely skipped over most of the 10/10-10/11 weekend, that’s 4-5 episodes. This can go on for a while longer, though I’d probably also be ok with it wrapping up soon.

AAA Autoluchas episodes 1, 2, 3

December 1, 2020January 24, 2021 thecubsfan

I don’t expect to have a lot to say about these matches, but one show a week makes this more palatable to watch everything than the three shows CMLL is running. The AAA luchadors are generally working hard than the CMLL ones in addition to having a better roster. There’s no storyline, which is normally a drag though also slightly better than what CMLL is doing. I’m still going to do these in batches so there’s some length to these.

Stats/results are for the unaired matches only.

Episode 1

Laredo Kid beat Drago © for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
(10/03 1^st show, 12:11, good, Lucha Libre AAA)
Murder Clown & Octagón Jr. beat Abismo Negro Jr. & Dave The Clown
(10/03 2^nd, 12:30, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)
Faby Apache beat Hades
(10/03 2^nd, 6:29, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)
Carta Brava Jr. & Tito Santana beat Dinastía & Myzteziz Jr.
(10/03 3^rd, 8:17, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)

Notes

Myzteziz’s shooting star press to the floor splits the rudos in the main event, and that’s where he picks up an injury. He finishes the match but misses the next day’s shows. Mocho Cota ran in after the match with Mr. Iguana making the save; there are plenty of Iguana/Poder del Norte matches to come
I’m not entirely sure if this is the Faby Apache/Hades match from the 2nd show or the third.

The Drago/Laredo Kid match was a little bit less than the Octagon/Laredo Kid. That match the next day was more spectacular, though this had a good story of Drago continually taking advantage of Laredo Kid mistakes. It never got close enough to where Drago felt like he could win (and given how these two have been positioned, it should feel like Drago could win.) Of all the guys who were just working one show a night, Laredo Kid was doing the craziest stuff.

The rest was fine matches. Faby Apache & Hades didn’t go a long time but made the most of it as usual. Faby wasn’t great at basing for Hades’ headscissors but did destroy Hades on a powerbomb. It must have been a long weekend for the young ruda, Faby seemed to be putting her through the wringer. (I suspect these were meant to be Shani/Apache matches and I wonder how those would’ve gone.) There seemed to be editing issues with Murder/Octagon versus Abismo/Dave, with them cutting away right after the finish. The camera switching was overwhelming during that match. The main event was going well until Myzteziz got hurt, and it’s was still enough to show they could have a very strong match if given the opportunity.

Episode 2

Myzteziz Jr. & Octagón Jr. beat Dave The Clown & La Parka Negra
(10/03 1^st, 4:10, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)
Pentagón Jr. beat Texano Jr.
(10/03 2^nd, 11:28, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)
Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa beat Abismo Negro Jr. & Mamba
(10/03 3^rd, 6:08, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)
Drago & Psycho Clown beat Chessman & Súper Fly
(10/03 3^rd, 13:42, good, Lucha Libre AAA)

The main event was nothing more than usual AAA main event style (in 2v2 form instead of 3v3), but the formula generally worked well. The brawl on the outside was the weakest section. Chessman teasing Psycho throwing into multiple cars and holding up (because he’d clearly been told not to do that) looked awkward and they were just meandering early on. The action picked up back in the ring, with the Drago boost headscissors to start the comeback being timed very well. Super Fly’s salida de bandera was excellent, looking like he clocked his head on the apron unless you really slow it down. Super Fly took a table bump too (and it broke!) so he was doing a lot for an Autoluchas show.

The Pentagon/Texano match is much longer than the time; Penta’s entrance alone last longer than the opener. Penta spent the first half of the match just selling and it felt too slow to me. That one had a lot of playing to the live crowd that didn’t work well on video. Cutting to a camera showing Texano’s shoulder not even close to being down on the finish was no bueno.

The other two matches weren’t offensive but not much notable. Abismo and Mamba didn’t play to the tecnicos strengths. The opener was one of the shortest AAA TV match you’ll ever see.

Episode 3

Hades & Mamba beat Big Mami & Faby Apache
(10/03 1^st, 9:07, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)
Myzteziz Jr. beat La Parka Negra
(10/03 2^nd, 9:07, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)
Mr. Iguana beat Mocho Cota Jr.
(10/03 3^rd, 8:30, ok, Lucha Libre AAA)
Texano Jr. beat Octagón Jr. and Laredo Kid
(10/03 3^rd, 7:03, good, Lucha Libre AAA)

Notes

Poder del Norte ran in after Cota’s loss, with Myzteziz and Dinastia running them off.
The rope finish set up a Mamba/Faby challenge which seems to have gone nowhere.

The main event was just enough to get one match over the line. The three-way portions made sense, with Laredo and Octagon competing enough for the win to justify working against each other at points. This had Lots of impressive power spots for Texano, making him feel like a bigger deal than usual before the win. Laredo Kid probably should be winning all the way to Omega but I guess at least he didn’t take the pin and Texnao winning is a decent idea.

The opener turned into a lot of the usual Faby/Tirantes stuff. Fewer matches this year has made some repeated bits feel fresher. Not Faby Apache & Hijo del Tirantes though. Myzteziz was up and down in his match with Parka Negra, messing up a 450 splash before a perfect picture shooting star press for the finish. (What a world where those are done back to back in a midcard match.) Parka Negra is good but would better with a few less unserious pins. Iguana/Cota was solid.

AAA on Twitch: 2019-12-14 (Guerra de Titanes)

December 30, 2019December 29, 2019 thecubsfan

Recapped: 12/14/2019

Matches:

Disturbio, Harley, Hijo Del Eclipse, Lumino beat Patriarca, Pekador, Shura, Sindrome
(11:07, Canadain Destroyer, ok, 00:08:08)

Aramis, Dinastía, Octagoncito beat Arez, Mini Psycho Clown, Parkita Negra
(9:48, Dinastia standing shooting star press Mini Psycho Clown, great, 00:47:41)

Máscarita Dorada, Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa beat Demus, Látigo, Villano III Jr.
(7:58, Mascarita Dorada armdrag into a cradle Demus, good, 01:14:34)

Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana beat Faby Apache, Octagón Jr., Taya and Abismo Negro Jr., Ayako Hamada, Keyra in a lumberjack rules match
(11:32, Mocho Cota Jr. frogsplash Faby Apache, good, 01:36:08)

Chessman, Killer Kross, Taurus, Texano Jr. beat Willie Mack, Murder Clown, Pagano, Puma King in a TLC match
(13:04, Killer Kross back suplex Willie Mack, ok, 02:00:23)

Fénix & Pentagón Jr. © beat Australian Suicide & Rey Horus and Hijo Del Vikingo & Myzteziz Jr. for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
(12:00, Factor Animo Suicide, great, 02:30:37)

Big Mami beat Lady Maravilla for the hair
(16:30, splash, excellent, 03:02:37)

Dr. Wagner Jr., Drago, Psycho Clown vs Blue Demon Jr., Rey Escorpion, Rush Toro Blanco
(18:28, Rush powerbomb thru a table Psycho Clown, ok, 03:35:37)

What happened:

LA Park got involved in the main event, helping put Psycho Clown through a table. He attacked and unmasked both Drago and Blue Demon. Rush announced a new Faccion Ingobernable with himself, LA Park, Killer Kross, La Bestia del Ring (not there) and Konnan to end the year.

Keyra, Villano III Jr. and Hijo del Tirantes all tried to help Lady Maravilla. Nino Hamburguesa helped out Big Mami, who got the win. Maravilla got most of her hair cut in the ring. Big Mami & Nino Hamburguesa reconciled and Hamburguesa brought in Strippers Big to help celebrate the win.

Sin Cara made the save for Pagano after the TLC match and announced he’d be back in 2020. Those two may be teaming.

Tirantes fast counted Faby Apache after refusing to count for her moments earlier. The usual.

Thoughts:

There was nothing that could follow the emotion of the apuesta match, but it wasn’t the main event. It was logical for it to be the Rush given the group introduction, but it also didn’t need to go twenty minutes to get there. This was just a set up for angle, and getting there in half the time would’ve been better.

The Big Mami & Lady Maravilla match absolutely delivered. The story deserved a dramatic final and it got one. Even the AAA tropes – tons of interference and an evil referee – worked in giving Mami more overcome in a match she actually does overcome. Mami was asked to do a lot physically, in probably her longest ever singles match, and came thru well. Lady Maravilla was a total professional, willing to play totally rudo and lose without problem in the end. Hamburguesa was used well, not attacking Maravilla until she did something to him and not doing so much that it took the moment away from Mami. The post-match celebration was great, and a pure happy moment with no attacks so uncommon in AAA. This was perfect.

The tag match was the fast paced match expected from those names. Horus made a great first impression with some good spots, though it didn’t feel like he was a big part of the story by the end of the show. Vikingo and Mytzeziz were really good, Myzteziz didn’t feel like he had been gone for long. Wish Suicide showed more than piledrivers; he was the obvious guy getting pinned, but it was a moment for him to show he belonged in this mix rather than the openers he’s been this year, and it didn’t really happen. This wasn’t peak Fenix & Penta but they were putting in good effort. The three-way aspect kept it from a big ending – Myzteziz & Vikingo essentially eliminated themselves to clear out of the way for the finish.

The TLC match was fine for whatever it was. It had a lot of tables broken if you wanted that but didn’t seem to be building to anything in particular. A million weapon spots led to a suplex winning the match over a guy who’s not a regular. Everything that happened here was forgotten as soon as Sin Cara showed up, so it’s another good reason for them not to have done much.

The lumberjack match was built around throwing people out to get strapped until the referee got strapped, same as every other lumberjack match. The ending was more Tirantes/Faby stuff, same as always. There was better than expected in between, with AAA taking advantage of having so many people for the crazy Octagon Jr. headscissors spot. He had the best match, with Abismo Negro Jr. looking the best since taking over the gimmick. Ayako did better here than she’s done of late; they did an unexpectedly good job of managing all the different people involved in this. It wasn’t a mess and that’s a remarkable achievement.

The tecnico trio in the second match of Hamburguesa, Dorada and Iguana fit together well as a fun crew. Iguana did the one doll spot this time and flew around a lot more. He got tossed around a bit too, a bit by Hamburguesa, who was asked only to hit his biggest spots. Villano looked good and didn’t kill himself, which is a step up from usual. Dorada & Demus pulling off five rotations in the headscissors was impressive.

Demus pulled off Dorada’s mask during the match, which somehow was missed for a DQ. A child jumped the rail and gave him his mask, which just happened to be a professional Mascarita Sagrada mask.

The true opener was a high-speed match in the way the Dinastia + other tecnicos have been. He’s so quick and AAA’s found people who can actually keep up. The Aramis/Arez tope caught into the Spanish fly was incredible and the rest of the match met that level.

It was nice to get to see the locals opener on the twitch stream for once but there was really nothing much to them. They did a lot of stuff that didn’t look good and went longer than an opener like this needs o go. Sending eight people out there doesn’t help.

AAA TripleMania Regia: 2019-12-01

December 18, 2019December 18, 2019 thecubsfan

Recapped: 2019-12-08/17

Matches:

Casandro, Dave The Clown, Demus, Lady Maravilla beat Big Mami, Dinastía, Máscarita Dorada, Pimpinela Escarlata
(10:57, Lady Maravilla frog splash Demus, good, 00:00:00)

Hijo de LA Park, Hijo del Volador, LA Park Jr. beat Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
(11:06, DQ [Hijo de LA Park unmasked], ok, 00:15:41)

Taurus & Villano III Jr. beat Aramis & Hijo Del Vikingo and Dulce Canela & Octagón Jr. and Cage & Puma King
(10:41, Taurus Rodeo Driver Vikingo, good, 00:30:30)

Niño Hamburguesa beat Mr. Iguana, Abismo Negro Jr., Michael Nakazawa, Súper Fly, Drago, Australian Suicide, Averno, Mamba, Murder Clown, La Hiedra for Copa TripleMania Regia
(18:13, below average, 00:48:35 )

- 00:00 Mr. Iguana & Mamba start
- 02:01 Abismo Negro Jr. in
- 03:22 Mamba out (via Mr. Iguana)
- 04:38 Michael Nakazawa in
- 06:12 Super Fly in
- 07:31 Drago in
- 08:43 Australian Suicide in
- 09:53 Michael Nakazawa out (Drago)
- 09:53 Averno in
- 10:38 Drago out (Super Fly)
- 10:54 Australian Suicide (Super Fly)
- 11:18 Nino Hamburguesa in
- 11:55 Abismo Negro out (Nino Hamburguesa)
- 12:10 Murder Clown in
- 13:32 La Hiedra in
- 14:14 Super Fly out (Murder Clown)
- 14:39 Murer Clown out (Averno)
- 15:19 Mr. Iguna out (La Hiedra)
- 17:32 Averno out (Nino Hamburguesa)
- 18:13 La Hiedra out (Nino Hamburguesa)

Taya beat Faby Apache, Ayako Hamada, Keyra, Lady Shani in a AAA’s Reina de Reinas Tournament match
(11:44, Taya double chicken wing front suplex Keyra, ok, 01:13:31)

Kenny Omega © beat Dragón Lee (Munoz) for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship
(19:25, Kenny Omega One Winged Angel, great, 01:28:42)

Rush beat Pagano and LA Park
(19:16, Rush pin Pagano, ok, 01:52:39)

Monsther Clown lost to Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr., Chessman, Blue Demon Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Aerostar, Psycho Clown in a cage, loser loses hair/mask
(23:47, ok, 02:21:44)

04:57 Dr. Wagner out
04:57 Blue Demon out
09:22 Psycho Clown out
10:20 Chessman out
13:23 Rey Escorpion out
13:23 Texano out
23:47 Aerostar out

What happened:

doom (also doom for me since they uploaded the show in 24 fps and I didn’t adjust)

Demon & Wagner were out first in the main event and continued to brawl. Texano & Rey Escorpion stayed at ringside after they escaped, with Escorpion throwing a beer at Aerostar to stop him from escaping. Psycho Clown ran them off (while getting his broom smash.) Murder Clown & Psycho Clown help unmask Monster Clown after the match. Monster Clown is Rafael Ramirez of Tepeji del Rio, Hidalgo, 43 years old, 23 years a wrestler.

Two people in Pagano makeup ran in the match late to break up a Rush pin on Pagano. They were quickly beaten up and it really didn’t matter much. Bestia del Ring and Konnan came out after, set up a table, and failed at putting Pagano through it twice. LA Park protects Pagano after the match, but Rush & Konnan pitch him on joining Los Ingobernables and taking down AAA. LA Park agrees that he hates AAA and decides to join them.

Konnan, Taurus, and Villano stomped Vikingo after the match. Vampiro apparently fought them off, though we didn’t see that on YouTube due to editing for music rights.

Mamba ran in and attacked Pimpinela in the opener. Dulce Canela ran Mamba off and did a tornillo. Mamba taunted Pimpi & Canela post-match.

Thoughts:

TripleMania was a watchable show but on the weaker end of AAA major shows. There’s something here for you if you’re a visiting fan of Kenny Omega & Dragon Lee, or if you’re invested in finally seeing the conclusion to the Monster Clown/Aerostar feud. There’s not a lot strong here; Guerra de Titanes was easily the better show of the two December AAA events.

There’s no way to recommend a lucha libre cage match and this wasn’t so different from the other ones to change that. It was a good lucha cage match on that smaller scale, with plenty of time given to Monster & Aerostar fighting at the end. The first couple of minutes of action were good until it meandered in the middle with having to kill time before each escape spot. Texano & Rey Escorpion staying friends instead of needlessly betraying each other was nice to see. A straight Monster Clown/Aerostar match would’ve been more interesting because this format really limited the dramatic ending moments until one or two (and one of those Monster Clown was not even involved in.)

Rush & LA Park not fighting much and working together to beat up Pagano made sense for where their story was going. It is hard to justify them trying to kill each other and then agreeing to be partners right after the finish. That still meant this wasn’t a Rush vs LA Park like the past, but a lot of Rush vs Pagano and LA Park vs Pagano with some crossover, which isn’t exactly what the match promised on paper. This wasn’t their best work either; LA Park felt off and had a bad moment with a corner flip spot in the back. The table spot failing twice for the finish was hilarious, so much so it didn’t really take away from the match. The rest of the match just felt like a long set up to the angle they were running after.

Omega continues to put in full effort performances as a guest champion, which shouldn’t be taken for granted. The title match with Dragon Lee didn’t connect with me as much as the Fenix one. The effort was there, it was just harder to believe Dragon Lee had a chance. Omega dominating so much of the early portion of the match made it seem like just a matter of time until it ended. Even when Dragon Lee hit both of his finishing moves, it never felt all that close and that took an edge out. There were still amazingly smoothly executed sequences and it was worth watching, it was just missing a bit of emotion.

avoiding GIF-ing Omega/Dragon Lee because that seems well trod by now but had to GIF the tope

The women’s match was the unsatisfying type of multiperson match seen a lot a couple of times on this show. There wasn’t really any story going on, it was just a lot of moves, and the moves themselves were not impressive enough alone to carry it to something interesting. (Some of the moves were not good; it’s amazing Taya’s GTS aired as it did on an edited show.) None of the women really stood out, and everyone’s had better matches. This was fine but there are better things to watch.

The TripleMania Regia battle royal was outright terrible in stretches, especially early on. It reached a level of competency later on but it was never close to being good. There’s no purpose to these matches except to find spots for people who aren’t booked otherwise, but it didn’t feel like they even made the most of the people they had; it felt like the leftover idea with guys who knew they were leftover and might as well not try much. There were also people like Abismo Negro Jr., who might have been trying but still looked bad. He blew multiple spots badly and this is a trend. AAA has plenty of talented people going better they could be putting in that spot – either replacing him in matches or in the suit – and they’d be well within their rights to do it at this point.

The four-way tag resembled the usual four-way junior heavyweight tag matches on NJPW dome shows: there’s was almost a numbing amount of high end stuff done and a quiet reaction to all of it. They just went fast through everything, most of it looked good and little felt like it had time to an impression before something else came thru. It was also non-stop one team breaking up another team’s pin, which made it feel strange when Taurus was able to beat up two people by himself and the other five people had vanished. Watching a match like that and hearing like one person clap after the finish makes it a hard atmosphere to enjoy.

Poder del Norte versus the Parks is an easy skip. It feels like an unfocused indie match most of the way, with neither the AAA rudos nor the Parks showing their best. Hijo del Volador (as Hijo de Remo Banda) doesn’t look good. There are some timing issues late, and the ending stretch is more about making sure all parties are protected than a good match.

I can’t hate any match with fun Dorada & Demus spots, though this relevos AAA was not as exciting as the recent openers. Casandro looked good – the dive was great – but barely was featured. Mami was exposed a bit but still way overdoing her big dive before getting pinned. The Mamba/Pimpi feud seems to be the same thing they were doing before, nothing is done to freshen it up.

AAA on Televisa: 2018-01-20

February 14, 2018February 14, 2018 thecubsfan

Recapped: 1/25/2018

All matches were taped in Plaza de Toros Monumental, Apizaco, Tlaxcala on 12/16/2017

Matches:

Faby Apache went to a double countout of the ring with Lady Shani © in a AAA’s Reina de Reinas championship match
(7:08, DCOR, ok, via luchalibreaaatv)

Dave The Clown & Mr. Águila beat La Parka & Pagano
(12:32, Dave top rope splash Pagano, ok, via luchalibreaaatv)

Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria beat Monsther Clown & Murder Clown © and Histeria & Psicosis to win the AAA World Tag Team Championship
(8:35, Cuervo & Scoria pin Murder, good, luchalibreaaatv)

What happened:

La Secta won the tag team titles. They aren’t afforded a moment to celebrate, as the Clowns destroy the new champions. They also take out the referee when he tries to take the belts away from the Clowns.

Histeria wrestles the mask masked, which is really not a surprise at this point. The surprise turned out to be Histeria partially unmasking at some point, off screen after the match concludes while the Clowns are beating everyone up. You can see it’s off and even the front of his face if you look for him on the outside. He puts it back on before he leaves.

Dave kicks out of a Noa Noa Driver thru a chair, to Pagano’s surprise. Dave gives Pagano a horrendously poor piledriver and a top rope splash for the unlikely win.

Faby & Shani had the makings of a pretty good match with an inconclusive finish. I wouldn’t say it even necessarily ended early. They just kind of sped thru to get to the end match sort of offense before spilling outside for the countout. The hard back and forth right before that portion was pretty good, and they definitely did enough to think the rematch could be pretty good. Shani had one of the better outings, even if Faby was obviously leading/pulling Shani thru spots at time. Faby was subtly working ruda at time, though it didn’t like she could totally commit to it, and she sold the result like she was a wronged face by Tirantes bad decision, ignoring Shani at all. This was interesting if incomplete.

Pagano was awarded a sports award in Ciudad Juarez, possibly given to him before they realized he lost to Dave the Clown. Six different titles are mentioned to be on the line at Guerra de Titanes.

Thoughts:

The main event trios is an all action match for due to the people included. It keeps the pace going better than the normal tag match last week and covered up their weaknesses better by not giving much time to linger on them. The downside is didn’t feel like it was building anywhere – the finish sequence itself seemed to come as a surprise to the crowd – even though they kept the general idea of everyone being desperate to finish someone off.

I don’t know about the post match. That kind of felt like the Clowns were not thrilled about losing and decided on their own to beat up anyone. It would explain Histeria’s strange reaction and the referee not seeming like he was planning to be taking bumps. Even if it was planned, it really took the spotlight and the meaning out of Cuervo & Scoria winning if they were simply destroyed after the fact. They’ve got to give the fans a moment to care about those guys winning if they’re going to gain some support.

It’s really quite a battle to see who is the worst wrestler between La Parka & Dave The Clown. Parka is bad for long periods of time, Dave his singular moments of terribleness. That piledriver in this match was a thing of wonder. Dave’s also horrible at selling, either completely dead or not bothering to register an impact at all while moving to his next position. Pagano was easily the second best guy in the tag match, maybe the best because Mr. Aguila was checked out on this mess. Maybe Pagano was lucky to get hurt if AAA was going to have him taking losses to Dave the Clown. I was waiting for a post match angle where he would snap or something. He just lost.

Tirantes doesn’t immediately break Faby’s armbar when Shani is on the ropes. After the fact, it’s clear that help from Tirantes is supposed to be an indication Faby is now a ruda. Both women are counted out while they’re fighting outside. Well, maybe it’s more like Shani is balled up on the ground and Faby’s too busy hitting her with a chair to think about coming back in until it’s too late. This was one of those countouts telegraphed because the referee and the announcers were making a big deal out of the count they usually ignore.

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