AAA TV (FRI) 01/22/2016 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [AAA, Estrellas del Ring, MT (1-3, 6), MT (4,5), SuperLuchas]
Guerra de Titanes
1) Dinastía, Niño Hamburguesa, Pimpinela Escarlata b El Apache, Mamba, Mini Charly Manson
Nino plancha on Apache for the win.
2) Keira, Lady Shani, Taya b Faby Apache, Goya Kong, Maravilla [lumberjack strap]
Keira replaced Sexy Star (injury – she was in a neck brace). Wrestlers from the opener and Mr. 450 were lumberjacks. Taya beat Goya with two double stomps.
3) Australian Suicide, Fireball, Jack Evans b Daga, Parka Negra, Súper Fly
Fireball was the surprise wrestler and did a tornillo off a balcony onto Super Fly. Suicide beat Daga with a Spanish Fly thru a table.
4) Averno & Chessman b Aerostar & Fénix and Máscara Año 2000 Jr. & Villano IV [AAA TAG]
Announced as a match for title shot down the line. Instead, Jack & Angelico vacated the titles due to Angelico’s injury prior to the match. La Sociedad interrupted to complain (and for Konnan to mock the people who had left.) Aerostar & Fenix beat Villano IV to eliminate them, then Chessman & Averno beat Aerostar with help from Joe Lider to win the titles. Lider demanded he (and Pentagon) get the first shot, and La Sociedad beat up the new champions.
5) Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Zorro b Electroshock, Garza Jr., La Parka and Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Hijo del Fantasma, Taurus [AAA TRIOS]
Championships are vacant (former champions are Hell Brothers.) Garza Jr. had an injured shoulder. Taurus, Pirata and Fantasma were eliminated first, and Zorro submitted Electroshock to win the trios title for his team. The champions had matching outfits with denim jackets.
6) El Mesías & Texano Jr. b Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown [AAA HEAVY, semifinal]
Winning team faces off as Rey de Reyes for the vacant heavyweight title (Alberto el Patron). All four came out at the start of the show to make the case they’ll be the next champion, with Psycho and Wagner fighting. Those two had problems in the match as well, opening the door for the rudos to win. Mesias and Texano Jr. will face off at Rey de Reyes. La Sociedad attacked Mesias after the match.
Air Date: 01/30 & 02/06.
Attendance looked good in the places where it was open. There were some sections of the upper level which didn’t look to be sold (and not just those completely behind the entrance.)
AAA’s default move is to make the heel groups strong, and that’s what happened here. All three championships had rudo victories and there’s at least two rudo vs rudo feuds. Mesias turned rudo in this same building about nine months ago; it’s unclear if he’s meant to be tecnico or if he’s just outside of La Sociedad. Same thing with Averno & Chessman. They all seem to be out side of Los Sociedad; maybe the change is we’ll finally have a good idea of who’s in that group and who’s not.
Mesias and Texano is a strange Rey de Reyes main event, but they’ve had good matches before and this could be one again. I wonder if the decision came down to AAA not feeling safe trusting Dr. Wagner to do whatever they needed him to do (because he’s a tough guy to rely on.) Psycho Clown still has a singles title, one Wagner used to have, so they could easily still do that singles match if they’d like.
Chessman & Averno versus Pentagon & Joe Lider is a weird concept for a feud, and one that’ll probably play into Lider’s style. AAA was kind of handcuffed – if they wanted to keep Chessman & Averno for the moment, they had to prove to them that it was worth their time to stay there and not jump to Elite – but the tag division is less interesting than it was last night. There’s really no reason for Pentagon to be involved in this feud, his issue was with Jack and this program isn’t going to do anything to help get him where he needs to be in AAA. It’d be very easy to slip someone in to his place as Lider’s partner (obviously Nicho if he was healthy) but they gave no indication of making that change.
The trios championship outcome was the expected result and I don’t have a lot of problem with it: might as well give them a chance to see what they can do, and there’s lot of tecnicos who can be thrown at them with the promise of an interesting match.
The third match sounds like the best on the show – Apolo Valdes mentioned the card was better than it looked on paper. – and AAA posted video of Flamita’s insanity
Keira last appeared in AAA in May, amidst AAA giving lots of people tryouts (and without anyone really sticking.) I would assume this is just a last minute replacement until something else is announced, though CMLL’s weirdness might mean Keira’s indie versus CMLL trios match next weekend may need to be changed. Poor La Jarochita: she might have actually been used in AAA had she waited a week longer to leave.
This show seemed to go long. The opening talking segment meant the first match wasn’t in the ring until 9:30, and the main event seemed to run until around 12:20. It’s late enough that it might effect the crowd response to the main event, though I didn’t see people complaining it on Twitter.
Prior to the show, AAA announced a continuation of the deal with Everlast as a sponsor, with the luchadors showing off their gear.
Today’s AAA TV taping announces the next two tapings:
02/06: Cuautitlán
02/19: Querétaro
The scheduling suggests they’re two weeks of TV each. Today’s TV show also suggested the heavyweight title match and women’s lumberjack match from this show would air next week.