#UnReySeAcerca: Rey Misterio Jr. is back in AAA

Rey Misterio Jr. has returned to AAA. AAA announced Rey’s return as the surprise at a press conference today, immediately putting him with Myzteziz and Alberto el Patron for photo ops and a trios match to come. The press conference emphasized the history of AAA and it’s image to change to be a worldwide company, and Rey Misterio Jr. is uniquely part of both. Rey was announced as returning to the AAA ring on Rey de Reyes on 03/15 and for another event on 05/23. No match was announced for either show (and the Rey de Reyes card remains a mystery.)

LuchaTV has video of Rey answering questions briefly after the press conference.

This was part of a big press event, as you can see from all the people swarming Rey. The Rey announcement came at the end of about an hour presentation highlighting the new AAA: a segment highlight it’s roster (saying they had 99 wrestlers, and Rey made 100), it’s new logo (AAA Lucha Libre World Wide), and it’s expansion into the US via Lucha Underground. Their sponsors were also shown off: Televisa was given an award for their partnership, the AAA wrestlers were wearing Everlast gear, Victoria is sponsoring a special show, and other group were mentioned or posting on Twitter about the conference.

There wasn’t a lot of news on the show outside of Rey’s return, but any other news would’ve gotten completely lost. There’s a few other noteworthy things:

An “International Tournament of Lucha Libre” was announced for 05/23, sponsored by Victoria. The explanation of the competition came thru a bit muddled. It’s a team competition, with groups representing different countries, and the rest of the details may be wrong. Tercera Caida’s notes said Mexico will be represented by an AAA team, an indy team and a “Reconocidos de México” team, the US will have two teams, Japan will have a team, and the rest of the world will be on one team. That’s seven teams, an odd number for a tournament, so there’s probably something we’re missing. This is obviously going to be a big show, and possibly the big show between Rey de Reyes and TripleMania.

The AAA team will be Myzteziz, Alberto, and Rey Misterio, which is how they introduced Rey and got the photo op of all three together. They’re the obvious favorites, but it’d be an easy way to build to TripleMania by having someone cheat the dream team out of the win. Hijo del Fantasma was listed as participating, which suggests the indy team may be a different way of referring to a Perros del Mal team (or maybe they’re the eight team.) Jack Evans was also pictured in the competition, so he goes on one of the US teams. It’d be an easy way to introduce others from Lucha Underground. The Japan team is curious, since AAA doesn’t have any current relationship with a Japanese group, but are probably very enticing to a Japanese group given their current roster.  Angelico, Australian Suicide, and one more are likely the Rest of the World Team.

Dorian Roldan, when talking about Lucha Underground, mentioned it’d be coming to Mexico soon. This wasn’t emphasized by AAA, which makes it appear more something like it’s a plan but nothing solid yet.

No Rey de Reyes lineup yet, but that may be something that comes out (one way or another) in the next few days. This press conference didn’t stream anywhere, but highlights should be a part of this week’s AAA TV show.

Rey’s expected to join Lucha Underground as well, though that wasn’t announced here. There’s no hurry to do that, since they’re taped into May and his first appearance won’t air for a couple months. Lucha Underground waited until Alberto stepped into the ring (the last bit on the last show taped on that Saturday) to announce his signing, and it’s likely to be repeated for Misterio.

10 thoughts to “#UnReySeAcerca: Rey Misterio Jr. is back in AAA”

  1. Obviously Rey will bump things up and get some excitement going, and AAA seems to be hitting on all cylinders right now. If Rey can stay healthy by working smart in Trios, AAA could have some legit money matches down the line. If AAA really wanted to fill the Plaza, Rey vs Park for masks is right there…

  2. “El Mundial contará con siete equipos, tres mexicanos y cinco foráneos.”

    That’s 8. I thought they probably forgot about Puerto Rico, but then said 2 from Japan (maybe they still forgot Puerto Rico, like, they’re both islands).

    I’m starting to suspect Jarrett is involved in this, maybe “ROH” is the Bullet club, the other one LU (Evans, Mundo and Pumachet), and New Japan will have 2 teams, natives and foreigners working in NJ, commanded by Masukara Dorada + Tonga +1 xD

    Maybe GFW will end up being just another AAA brand… :p

  3. I have a question please. WAY back in WCW Rey lost his mask in a match against, I believe, Kevin Nash. Then he wrestled for a while without it while he was in The Filthy Animals. Knowing how important masks are in Mexico is any mention of that ever going to come up? Or was that all retconed when he arrived in WWE?

  4. IIRC, it was Rey/Konnan vs Nash/Hall Rey’s mask vs Miss Elizabeth’s hair. Rey has worked unmasked in Mexico (including CMLL). Here is were AAA having Hijo del Fantasma helps as Sr is the head of the DF lucha office, (and F Jr being a good performer is a nice bonus) so they have some leverage there. Doubt they would make any (Rey jr) Mask vs anything, though, leverage only gets you to some point…

  5. Since we’ve seen 7 in both places, and 2 Japan team seems tough for them to do (*1* japan team seems tough for them to do), I’m guessing the 2nd Japan team is just a typo. Given how they’re still holding back Rey de Reyes info, I expect them to fully explain this about 3 days before the show. Maybe earlier if they’re really doing a tournament to decide one of the Mexican teams.

    I do think that if they’re doing one US team of ROH and we’re guessing another for Lucha Underground (either branded like that or unofficially teaming Jack with Willie Mack and Cage or something), then that doesn’t leave an obvious spot for Jarrett. I don’t see AAA springing for Bullet Club/Young Bucks, and I’m sure the gimmick isn’t over enough to the Mexican casual fan to be worth it. I don’t know that anyone coming in from ROH is actually going to mean much, but they’re just there add the air of being an international tournament and so you might as well go easier to get guys in that case.

    (AAA wrestlers going back to ROH, and how that would work with Lucha Underground is an interesting concept.)

    Not only did Rey have that WCW mask loss, they tried to do it again in Tijuana before the commission shut them down. (This means they have to be doing the TJ taping this year at some point, right?)

    Rey’s going to wear his mask. I have no idea how they’ll technically get around it (probably the same way Silver King is – bluffing and claiming it’s legal and forcing people to call you on it.) The fans will accept it as long Rey never wagers it, so they’ll never have him do that.

  6. With ROH having an agreement with NJPW, which has an agreement with CMLL, would that pretty much rule out ROH?

  7. @Chk: No, no more than Jarrett working with NJPW was a problem. CMLL has an agreement with NJPW, doesn’t have an agreement with anyone else, doesn’t care who has an agreement with whomever else, is likely unaware of anything else going on in the industry.

  8. ” I don’t see AAA springing for Bullet Club/Young Bucks, and I’m sure the gimmick isn’t over enough to the Mexican casual fan to be worth it. I don’t know that anyone coming in from ROH is actually going to mean much, but they’re just there add the air of being an international tournament and so you might as well go easier to get guys in that case.”

    It doesn’t look as if Bullet Club (and ROH) means much to Japanese fans either, but as long as Konnan marks out for Bucks it is likely they’ll be brought here (seeing how LU shut that down). IF Jarrett is working to get it as a PPV to the US, maybe he’s working to get a deal done with NJ, where does that leaves CMLL… who knows…

    Or maybe Alberto is the one who’s making the deals, he could have been talking with Wrestle-1 to fill up the Japanese teams, as well as making connections with ROH. Tourney could still have 2 LU teams, one would be Fenix, Drago and King Cuerno and the other Evans + 2 LU USA guys. Even 3 LU teams if rest of the world has Mil Muertes, Angelico and Big Ryck…

    IF ROH does ends up in the tourney, maybe they’ll be doing a LU vs ROH angle for the next season…

  9. Alex Garcia is one of the Lucha Underground producers (listed along Dorian and Cue Sanchez -former Chivas USA president). It’s a common name, but he’s probably the “Anima Studios” president, they guys who made the AAA movie a while ago, they’ve done several other animated films, but their biggest hit has been “El Chavo” cartoon, which is into its 7th season and supported by a huge marketing campaign from Televisa.

    My guess is that a LU/AAA animated series might be in the works. Probably since before LU aired they were working on it and now Rey Jr is that little piece they needed as he’s a household name, the series could be more marketable even than el Chavo for non Hispanics markets, and with Televisa marketing backing it, no way of telling how big they could get. Or maybe Televisa is not involved and Univision is the one trying to come up with their franchise…

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