AAA #648

AAA# 648, taped 09/16/07, aired 10/27/07

In abstract, it actually works
– rudo secretly uses knuckles to advance in the tournament, many times
– ref lays the rules down in the finals and takes a hardline on the knucks
– knucks are confiscated before the match
– rudo pulls out second knucks and attempts to use them
– tecnico stops him, gets the knucks, and socks him for the win
– referee notices the tecnico has the knucks and has to overturn the finish based on what he said earlier.

It’s a bit that’s been in tons of places and tons of time, and often well, because it’s an easy thing to do. William Regal did a fine variation of this in WWE 3-4 years ago. I can see why someone thought it would work here…

…but it can’t in the context of the rest of the match. You can either have a weapons match with plenty of weapon shots or you can have a match where one weapon shot reverses the finish. They’re mutually exclusive. If you can hit a guy in a head with a ladder, if you can hit a guy in the head with a chair, if you can drive a guy’s head thru a table (as they tried) and that’s all okay, why should hitting someone with “knucks” (or a small empty roll of tape) be any different?

I don’t even have to point out how horrible bad the stunt went (and the planning of the stunt – that ladder was far too weak) to show how counterproductive it was.

My other problem is the AAA runs this big tournament for a title belt and can’t decide what the belt is called. Roldan and other sources say it’s the AAA World Heavyweight Championship, and the announcers keep finding a way to squeeze MEGA in there. Stuff like that, like Extreme Tiger and Decniis’ shifting spellings, all the DQ-ible stuff in a match built about one spot being a DQ – AAA is lacking someone who either cares about the details or has the power to make sure everyone else does.

If I could have a third problem, it’s that they should’ve done a Mesias vs Chessman rematch within two tapings of this show to capitalize on the controversy of the finish. If you’re going to do a screwjob, it should lead somewhere to make money, not just exist as an out.

I imagine the screwjobs in the Guapos/Stones stuff is leading somewhere, though probably nowhere anyone will be happy with (Piero getting his hair cut again) and I’m thinking it’s not worth months of Piero overshadowing quality matches to get to that.

As much as I appreciate the Billy Boy/Fabi Apache recap video, 90 minutes of complete filler and replays from last week is horrible. They knew they were going to be short on content for this week’s show, and they pretty much shrugged and didn’t care. It’s a testament to how AAA’s show is still under most radars that they’re not held accountable for television shows that would be shredded if a US based promotion did the same. I’m happy for the people who like the show, but it could and should be a lot better.