Tag: preview

Maybe it’s better there isn’t much going on with Guerra de Titanes 2013. Look back at all the major events from last year’s Guerra de Titanes:

• Daga wins the cruiserweight championship
• Octagon Jr., Parka Negra and Pentagon Jr. debut
• Texano Jr. wins the heavyweight championship
• the Jarretts make a surprise appearance to attack LA Park.
• Vampiro loses his hair
• Konnan announces he’s taking all the rudos and forming his own promotion.
• Joaquin announces Konnan can’t leave because he’s under contract for one more year.

Wow, tonight being Konnan’s last show has been vastly underplayed! Or it’s one of many storylines thrown out as big deal which were never went anywhere. The teased split in the same segment was never really was explained again, one of two teased splits in the last twelve months which were trumped as huge deals then completely ignored. (That they couldn’t be bothered to explain why the second one didn’t happen was particularly amazing.) It’s amazing AAA appears to be laying the groundwork for a third split when they’ve got no credibility left with that bit.

The title changes haven’t amounted to a lot. Both men are still champions, but the championships haven’t been that important. Texano has done better, but the title win felt like a breakthru to the top tier of protected AAA guys (Mesias, Cibernetico, Perro, La Parka.) It hasn’t turned out that way – Texano’s remained on the tier just below, important enough to get things for most every PPV but not important enough to even feud with those top guys (because that would mean they would have to lose, and that’s not happening.) AAA hasn’t used the cruiserweight title since this match; the implosion of the Perros del Mal meant Daga was pulled into the tag team feud to an extent, but that’s also a declaration that Crazy Boy & Joe Lider are more important to AAA than Daga. AAA seemed genuinely excited about Daga in 2012, but he’s just been floating around in 2013.

The Jeff Jarrett & LA Park thing was absurdly stretched out and had no ending, which is the pattern for Jeff Jarrett feuds in AAA. AAA doesn’t seem to get much out of them outside of Jeff’s Twitter feed. It’d be surprising if whatever Jeff does tonight goes anywhere.

The debuts were all reality checks of some sort. AAA appeared to think Samuray del Sol would mark out so much for being Octagon Jr. that he’d make AAA his top priority. Instead, he never appeared on AAA TV again. Parka Negra was an attempt to put an existing top level guy in another identity and keep it quiet until for a long time. It took a week before people figured it out. (Still think they should’ve seen it thru, but maybe they just lost interested in this as well.) The reality check with Pentagon Jr. is you can be very good in AAA, AAA can acknowledge you’re very good, and you can still drift thru a year with nothing much to do. Tonight’s the first AAA major show Pentagon Jr. has wrestled on since Rey de Reyes, and he only made that one because Fusion was still a thing.

We’ve already been told something major will happen tonight. We probably should wait a few months to see if it still is major.

1) Dinastía, Ludxor, Venum vs El Apache, Machine Rocker, Mini Charly Manson

Also at Guerra de Titanes 2012, the Rockers took their first loss ever. Like Pentagon Jr., Machine Rocker is great and hasn’t been part of a major show since Rey de Reyes (which means he hasn’t had a feud since Rey de Reyes.) There’s a complicating situation with the Rockers – one of the other Rockers asked out of the trio – but there were imminent plans for a new person to be placed into the role back in September. It’s December, and it still hasn’t happened.

The tecnicos are the latest young high flyers and they’re set up against guys who will make them look good. Tecnicos should win.

2) Angélico, Fénix, Jack Evans vs Eterno, Pentagón Jr., Steve Pain

Eterno’s not wrestling, AAA refuses to stop false advertising this match. It’s even a free show, it’s not going to cost them any tickets at all, and they can’t say Carta Brava or whoever is filling in here. It could be stubbornness, or it could just be lack of internal communication.

This should be the best match of the show, possibly great. Jack & Angelico are in the argument for tag team of the year; they didn’t really get together until midway thru the year, but every match they’ve been in has been very good and they’ve been featured frequently on television the last few months. (Maybe Delta & Guerrero Maya are close, but there’s not many teams who’ve been together as much and had big matches.) Eterno & Steve Pain would’ve made a lot of sense as tag team challengers sometime in the future, but that’s not possible. Maybe Pentagon gets a win on Fenix instead.

3) Pimpinela Escarlata, Taya Valkyrie, Mamba, Jennifer Blake, Faby Apache, Pasion Kristal, Yuriko, ? [cage, hair]

My favorite part of this Wednesday’s Tercera Caida was when their guests were guessing who the mystery person might be and appeared to guess every single person in the world with the exception of Sexy Star. Which I take to mean it’s really Sexy Star.

I hate lucha libre cage matches. I will probably hate this lucha libre cage match. Betting on Mamba to do the dive off the top, and Pimpinela to get an early holiday bonus.

4) Blue Demon Jr. vs Electroshock [AAA LA]

I don’t understand the people who believe Electroshock is an awesome technical luchador, but those people do seem to exist. They are confusing people. This would actually be a halfway decent spot for Electroshock to turn rudo to give both of the guys something to do; this was definitely build up like the first match of a long feud where something turns one of these guys. But, AAA could only get Texano to beat Demon by giving Demon a win right back on TV, and that’s probably more effort than it’s worth for Electroshock. Demon retains.

5) Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Hijo del Fantasma, Silver King, Texano Jr. [AAA TRIOS]

anything other than the Clowns beating Silver King would cause my brain hurts.

6) Cibernético, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, El Mesías, La Parka vs Daga, Jeff Jarrett, Parka Negra, Psicosis

Zorro’s not listed, but he appears to be something akin to crow Sting now. Something’s got to be set up for Zorro to need to make the save. Maybe Jeff has a random unbiled TNA guy playing bodyguard. The Big Angle will probably come after the main event, and the big angles always seem to come after the rudos beat up the tecnicos. I assume that happens here; the rudos get the win, Zorro comes in to make the save, Zorro gets laid out because he’s a tecnico and then whatever whatevers

The big angle has to be someone turning. That tecnico side is the 4 top guys in AAA, and AAA doesn’t work if they’re all on the same guys. Everyone else, including those four guys on the other side, are treated as if they’re no challenge to the top guys. (Look at the Secta feud.) It should be fixed by the end of this show. Either the Perros del Mal are doing a fake breakup to set up tecnicos for a beatdown (and a return to the TripleMania status quo), or some other tecnico is turning to replace him. Cibernetico wouldn’t make any sense, and La Parka didn’t work last time. Maybe it’s time for Mesias to be a rudo again.

Tonight!

1) Fuego, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. vs Ishii, Namajague, Shigeo Okumura

From the main event of Dos Leyendas to the opener of the Anniversary show! At least they made the card. The five guys who aren’t Ishii have had good matches (when Namajague hasn’t been hurt), so this works as long as they can figure out how to get Ishii involved. Or how to just keep him out of the way until the finish, as they did with Taichi. I originally thought Team Japan would win, but now believe the tecnicos will get a good opening victory.

2) Brazo de Plata, Máximo, Titán vs Euforia, Mephisto, Niebla Roja

Comedy match to get easy reactions from the crowd, and get Titan and Niebla Roja in a decent spot. Titan should get in a couple crazy spots and the Brazo family will get the win in the end.

3) Negro Casas, Shocker, Terrible vs Marco Corleone, Rush, Vangelis [Relevos Increíbles]

(We had this lineup wrong in the podcast.) That’s like the Alliance to End Rushamania in one trio. Rush hates a lot of people, but not many more than Negro, Shocker and Terrible. I’m not sure how his teammates will fit in with Rush, but it may not matter. The only person Rush is friends with in this match is Marco, and something where Rush’s team loses and Rush and Marco argue after fits with everything else that’s gone on. I’m picking team Casas in a good match.

4) Blue Panther vs Averno [hair]

The most fitting finish would be Blue Panther winning in 0:12 in a wristlock. That’s not going to happen. The onscreen story, or at least the on the internet story, is Panther ended Rodolfo Ruiz (Averno’s father) career and now Averno will do the same to Panther. That should mean Rodolfo in Averno’s corner and maybe one of Panther’s sons in his. My hunch is the actual seed of this idea comes from the Arena Coliseo anniversary show, where Averno was included in the maestros match, there was push back that Averno wasn’t actually good enough to be in that match, and Averno was actually very good – but also good enough to be spun into a feud with Panther where Averno is actually not a maestro at all. I believe that storyline will fade away a bit in this match. Averno and Blue Panther have always been really good against each other and have unique rules to play with. If the fans get into this, this could actually end up the best match on the show, and they’ll need to believe Blue Panther is really in danger to get into this feud. Still, Panther feels like the pick.

5) Atlantis & Último Guerrero vs La Sombra & Volador Jr. [winners advance]

Back in March, when Atlantis versus Ultimo Guerrero was signed, I argued that while that match was probably the biggest match they could do at the moment, the better matches for the long term would’ve been Sombra/UG or Volador/Atlantis. This is an attempt to do a little of both, but in only the most casual way. There’s been only slight interaction between the four luchadors. CMLL building as two separate mask matches, with this match being minimized into a coin toss to decide which one is happening. CMLL could’ve used this match as a springboard to build speculation into which match will happen and springboard new feuds out of it. So far, it’s just been used as a roadblock.

The match should still be good, with the weirdness of close team work prior to each team facing each other. Both teams nearly breaking up but keeping it together seems right. This match was good in March and probably will be good here, though likely with a lesser amount of time.

I had a hard time believing CMLL would ever really do Sombra vs Volador before the match was actually announced to happen. I still have a hard time believing it will ever happen. Ultimo and Atlantis advance.

6) Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Rey Escorpión [CMLL TRIOS]

This might be a good match on another day, but it’s one begging to not get much time and likely to get cut farther if the rest of the show goes long. (I imagine that’s why it ended up as the semimain.) This should be an Estetas win and just an opportunity to do their big spots in front of a big crowd. Mistica on Dragon Rojo to finish it.

7) ? vs ?? [mask]

Longer, more extended format of the singles matches Atlantis has done this year. (Except for the first two falls.) A Gran Guerrero switch that gets caught seems likely; they’ve told that “Villanos pulled a switch to beat Panther” enough to try and draw upon it here. This should be a good match turned great by the crowd reactions, and Atlantis wins it with an Atlantida in the middle of the ring.

live coverage schedule: Rey de Reyes starts at 5pm local. Due to Daylight Savings Time, that’s 6pm Central. It’s the same time as CMLL’s broadcast on Terra.com.mx AAA’s been much improved about with their live updates, but it’s still only text updates every 15 minutes. (There is no known audio or video ways to see this show outside of being in the building, or waiting until it starts airing on TV on March 30th.) We’ll probably end up talking about the CMLL show as much.

There’s less to actually preview for Rey de Reyes. Part of the reason is just the  way I do things – I did a sort of preview 12 days ago. The more important reason is this just isn’t as consequential a show as Dos Leyendas. It should draw well, but CMLL’s show was designed to be an end point in some ways, while AAA’s show is a milestone onto something bigger. TripleMania is a place where big feuds get resolved, but it’s rare the big issues even get teased ending elsewhere. Heroes Inmortales’ big match was ‘a lot of guys in a cage’ and Guerra de Titanes big match was ‘a lot of guys in a cage’. There is no cage tonight, it’s the different ‘a lot of guys in a tournament that may not mean anything.’

AAA TV (SUN) 03/17/2013 Plaza de Toros La Monumental, Monterrey
***Rey de Reyes, 2013***
1) Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Devil Rocker, Machine Rocker, Soul Rocker

The pattern of late is Uro Rocker distraction leads to Rockers winning, and beating up the Clowns. This match – the same match that was important enough to main event the Fusion taping but is an opener here – may not even air, so there’s no real reason to do anything different. These guys will have plenty of practice against each other by the time they finally get to the title match (TripleMania?)

The Rey de Reyes tournament

a brief checklist of recent winners and recieved mega title shots

2008: Zorro – Yes, at TripleMania
2009: Electroshock – Yes, but not until the following year’s Rey de Reyes
2010: Chessman – No.
2011: Extreme Tiger – No.
2012: Perro Aguayo Jr. – Yes, at TripleMania

The winner of the tournament hasn’t been brought up much if it at all. Easiest way to look is if a minor guy wins the tournament, they’ve got other plans for the title match (and might come back to him later on.) If a major guy wins, then he will get the title shot.

2) Canek, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Cibernético, Electroshock, Silver King, Toscano [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]

Canek is in possession of a reality distortion field which makes people believe it’s about 1985 whenever he’s around. He and Cibernetico have feuded back to the early days of Cibernetico’s career (which Cibernetico was a big muscle guy who won all the time but none thought he was much good in the ring; a lot has changed.) Perro should just offer Canek a PdM t-shirt to start the mach. Those three should cancel themselves out, Silver King and Toscano should cancel each other out, and Electroshock wins because they like Electroshock.

3) El Mesías, Heavy Metal, La Parka, Parka Negra, Octagón, Pentagón Jr. [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]

I love Pentagon Jr., but I have no idea who he’s supposed to be working with here now. Parka Negra is a friend (so they’ll fight for no reason, because that’s the way AAA works), Octagon & Heavy Metal should not be trusted, La Parka is well aware of his limitations. I don’t know that Pentagon Jr. and Mesias works together, but that’s what they need to try. Parka Negra has come off as just a guy – that’s a big problem with introducing new acts at Guerra de Titanes every year, the new car smell wears off while you’re still airing Best Of shows – but it wouldn’t be unreasonable for him to win. I still think Mesias has the best shot here.

4) LA Park, Jack Evans, Villano IV, Psicosis, Drago, Chessman [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]

This match is not improved by having Villano IV in it, but it is the best chance for a good match out of all these blocks easily. This is also the place where an inexplicable Jeff Jarrett appearance might occur, but Jeff’s Twitter account sounds like he’s home today. That leaves no one really able to stop LA Park (though it means 3 sort of tecnicos in the finals.)
5) Juventud Guerrera, Daga, Fénix, Crazy Boy [AAA FUSION, final]
vacant title

I’m not sure why this tournament needed to happen to have this match. Daga is champion. Juvi is the last champion who was never beaten for the title (and made sure we all knew that on Tercera Caida), Fenix has been gesturing for title belt matches for the last month and even Crazy Boy is probably designated as a cruiserweight even though he’s seems to have increased his fighting weight on this return. The whole tournament was sort of cruiserweight guys, but these finals are even more specifically a cruiserweight title match without the proper title.

I understand the point of this is to have a title which could be defended on FUSION, but couldn’t the Cruiserweight title just be that title? It ought to be defended some place! This is going to be the same style of match – lots of moves, lots of pinfall breaks up for no reason (if it’s an elimination match, you want to see other people eliminated, you don’t care who eliminates them, I can’t believe I have to explain this) – and a couple crazy spots which don’t lead to eliminations for no particular reason. I think this is Crazy Boy’s title, because the other three could be messing with other title, but I don’t know that it matters much.
6) Fabi Apache, Mari Apache, Taya Valkyrie, LuFisto [Reina De Reinas, final]
vacant title

Regardless of the reasons Sexy Star gave up this title, they still allowed her to go on TV and do a promo where she go to vacate this title while still declaring she was better than anyone who might hold their title. This was the same week where Dorian and Konnan were being sent packing by the entire lockerroom. I didn’t think there was enough revenge there, but   Sexy Star was allowed to leave with zero revenge by the tecnicas. Sexy Star is pregnant and she should not have done a match if she didn’t feel comfortable doing one, but couldn’t she have been at least fired as well?

There’s two possible answers. There’s always weirdness that prevents Faby Apache and Sexy Star from losing to each other in a big match, so maybe this is just how they’re getting the title back to Faby this time. The other solution is the title is staying on the ruda side, and they didn’t want a ruda vs ruda match. I’m thinking the latter actually the correct one this time, because Faby challenging for the title is the easiest way to go in the future. Mary already has a title. I didn’t think LuFisto’s debut was good until the final minutes of that match, but she’s better than Taya and they’ve already teased a match between LuFisto and Faby in the future. Might as well go with her.

7) Texano Jr. vs Blue Demon Jr. [AAA HEAVY]
Texano Jr. is champion. Third defense (first announced prior to the show)

Texano as champion seems to be working okay. He’s been positioned as a secondary act so far, which isn’t great, but this title match will help. If he can get away from Psycho Circus feuds and wrestle in the actual top matches going forward, that’d be a help too. the fans take him seriously. There’s no reason for him to lose the title this early, though some sort of weirdness on the finish to allow Demon to save some face should be expected.

This is Demon’s biggest singles match since the 2002 matches with Hijo del Santo matches in Arena Mexico. He’s had other singles matches, he’s been NWA champion, but this is the biggest audience in a long time. Texano’s title win at Guerra de Titanes was as important for proving he could wrestle main event matches as it was to actually win the title. This is the same match, but for Blue Demon. Those who have worked with Blue Demon Jr. the last few years seem to really believe in him; he’s got a chance here to sway some of us doubters.

8) Group 1 Winner vs Group 2 Winner vs Group 3 Winner [Rey de Reyes, final]

I’ve got Electroshock, Mesias and LA Park, and do not like how looks now that I’ve actually written it. This is the one tournament Mesias hasn’t won yet, so him taking it and moving on to a title rematch at TripleMania is the easiest answer.

Roldans!

The Marisela Pena decision on Dorian & Konnan’s firing hasn’t been promoted much online or on the poster, but it’s been brought up on TV the last few weeks. This surely will get Dorian and Konnan back around, and maybe the way to start a roster split for the eventual US group.