Things have been active enough on this front that I figured it was worth updating the list from July. This time around, I’m just using names who were around AAA on the day Antonio Pena passed away, so those who’ve come and gone since (Niebla, Juvi, Espectro, Junior Piratas, Head Hunters, others) don’t fit.
Faded away off roster (7)
Brandon
Hombre Sin Miedo
JJ de la Borbolla Jr.
Kaoma Jr.
Mungo
La Hechicera
Miss Janeth
Ultraman Jr.
This group was only part time at best and probably most would’ve been gone anyway, or continued to just been used periodically (Janeth and Hechicera brought back for Reina de Reinas.) It’s years later and I still don’t get the whole JJ/Shocker feud. We never figured out who Mungo was, so he may have been recycled into someone else. Same thing with Brandon, really.
Left (27)
Antifaz del Norte – working sporadic local shows, not traveling
Brazo de Plata – IWRG, high end indies
Cibernetico – Perros, high end indies
Angel – we’ll see
Alebrije – IWRG
Hator – northern indies
Histeria – high end indies, his own shows
Mascara Divina – maybe gone and working Villalobos shows? maybe not?
May Flowers – brought back to fill out spot shows
Mr. Condor – UWE
Pegasso – CMLL
Intocable – high end indies
Pirata Morgan – ?
Psicosis II – high end indies, his own shows
Rey Cometa – CMLL
Sangre Chicana – not working
Shocker – CMLL
Silver Cat – maybe brought back to fill out spot shows?
Scorpio Jr. – seems to be not working again
Zumbido – high end indies
La Diabólica – ?
Martha Villalobos – her own shows
Rossy Moreno – Azteca shows, Martha’s shows
Cuije – IWRG
Mascarita Sagrada 2000 – CMLL
Mini Psicosis – CMLL
Monsther – smaller Mexico City indies
Of those who’ve left, only Pegasso, Rey Cometa, Mascarita Sagrada and Mini Psicosis have made it to CMLL for the first time. Shocker’s returned.
AAA would want to point out that very few of these guys have made much of an impact, either in leaving AAA or joining somewhere else. Cibernetico and Sagrada/Dorada are the two who’ve really meant something. Those both appear to be disagreements with management over how they’re being used rather than AAA freezing them out. Mini Psicosis, Pegasso and Cometa are helpful role players for CMLL but not difference makers. No one’s had grand success on the indies.
Deceased (1)
Abismo Negro
That’s 35 gone. At the time of Pena’s death, I count 87 people on AAA’s roster, so it’s been a 40% turnover. I don’t know how best to provide context for that number without doing a lot more research, but lucha libre rosters are generally seem much more static than that.
Going the other way – here’s the additions since Pena’s death (who are still in AAA)
US Indies (3)
Jack Evans
Teddy Hart
X-Pac
Actually, that header should be “WSX”.
Returning (6)
Black Abyss
Extreme Tiger
Latin Lover
Nicho el Millionario
Vampiro
Mari Apache
Latin and Nicho would’ve made their way back eventually. Probably Vamp too. Mari was Lady Venum way back in 1997. The whole “Super AAA”/”Triple A” characters chronology is vastly confusing to me, so Black Abyss might have been around post-Nautilius, but he didn’t really start as full time guy until 2007. Extreme Tiger was around just before Pena’s death, gone a year, and then brought back to join the Mexican Powers.
Japan (1)
KENTA – part time, but he’s worked more TV than Argenis
Mexico Indies (10)
Argenis
Tigre Cota
Tito Santana
Último Gladiador
Yuriko
Sexy Star
Atomic Boy
Mascarita de la Muerte
Mascarita Sagrada 2007
Silver King
It’s always possible Pena had plans for some of the Mexican indies and they just didn’t make it on screen in time. The Poder del Norte guys have worked as local dark match wrestlers (Rio Bravo was on a lot around the cut off time, so he’s not listed as a return.)
CMLL (7)
Alex Koslov
Chris Stone
Dr. Wagner Jr.
Kenzo Suzuki
Marco Corleone
Psycho Clown
Rocky Romero
Chris didn’t start in the ring till much after Alan, though they he may have been doing the run-ins by this point.
??? (1)
Killer Clown
Still don’t know much about this one.
That’s 28 adds. My count is 83 wrestlers on the roster (with guys like Javi, Ricky and Angel Mortal thrown in), so about 1/3rd of the roster has been added in the last 2.5 years.
Who did I forget?