AAA TV (FRI) 07/08/2016 Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal [+LuchaTV, AAA, Kronosport]
1) Big Mami, Faby Apache, Mary Apache b La Hiedra, Lady Shani, Taya
Big Mami (indie Big Mama) debuted as the surprise luchador. She got the win.
2) Dave The Clown, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Súper Fly b Garza Jr., Niño Hamburguesa, Venum
Dave the Clown debuted as the surprise luchador. Apache distracted Venum.
3) Fénix b Daga
Very good match
4) Aerostar, Bengala, Drago b Averno, Chessman, Ricky Marvin
Earlier, Averno & Chessman appeared as India Maria to mock the Apaches and insist they’re never getting a title shot. Sure enough, the Apaches music distracted Ricky Marvin into a loss.
5) Damián 666, Nicho el Millionario, Pagano COR Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown
Bestia 666 to help to interfere. Pagano beat Psycho Clown again, Pagano putting Psycho Clown thru a table on fire on the outside, and Psycho was unable to return. Pagano said this was the 5th time in a row he had beat Psycho Clown. He demanded a hair vs mask match at TripleMania. Psycho Clown didn’t respond.
6) El Mesías, Hernandez, Johnny Mundo b Hijo del Fantasma, Pentagón Jr., Texano
Hijo del Fantasma made his return as the surprise luchador. Mundo beat Pentagon and demanded a title match
Air Date: 07/23 & 07/30
AAA’s recap headlines this as a night of challenges. It was not a night of responses. It’s obvious Pagano/Psycho, Pentagon/Mundo and Averno/Chessman vs the Apaches are planned to occur at TripleMania, but none of those matches were agreed up on this show. We kind of figured most of those were happening already, so it was just a matter of the characters voicing the matches the announcers had already given away. It’s possible there’s more to come in some of those stories – Angelico/Jack or other teams being added to the tag match are a possibility. Still, in their last appearance in Mexico City and on a show that’ll air about a month before TripleMania, they could’ve started selling tickets to that show based on matches and opted to wait (probably for the less dramatic choice of announcing the sames matches via press release or NotiAAA segment.)
The surprise luchadors were definitely surprising. Everyone guess Fantasma, but no one guessed Big Mama, who does something not far off from Goya Kong’s character. She’ll get over, even in a secondary role like Shani & Hiedra. Dave the Clown is a more random choice. We’ve seen a lot of people jump to Elite from AAA, and he’s technically a rare jump the other way. Of course, Dave’s Elite match was a disaster, a match so horrendous that the normally mild mannered Guerrero Maya & Rey Cometa appeared to shoot unmask Dave at the end of the match. Dave was not used again. Dave’s appeared on AAA TV before, once as part of circus performers at ringside for a Psycho Circus TripleMania entrance, and once when he went into business for himself, jumping out of the crowd (in full gear) to hug Psycho Clown to try make his own storyline. There are literally 100 other luchadors who would be better pick for this spot than Dave – and maybe Dave wasn’t the pick. I don’t know him, but his history marks him as a guy who’s hanging around, hoping for an extra spot a lot, and maybe was a last second fill in for someone else (or maybe Bestia 666 balked at being in a match with opening card guys, since that was definitely an issue in his last AAA stint.) We’ll see if Dave’s used again going forward or if this was just a one off thing.
It’s strange how much AAA’s present booking mimics WWE rather than LU (more successful in creating stars) or even Pena era AAA (which always seems to bet the goal here.) People dressing up in silly outfits to mock their rivals and people losing simply because their rivals music is playing are very much WWE tropes, and not particularly beloved ones.
At least on this night, they did take the idea of “putting two good wrestlers in a match and letting them have a good match” from Lucha Underground. Fenix/Daga sounds like what we’d hope it would be. Konnan’s podcast (a couple paragraphs down) seemed to be trying to stir up trouble between Fenix and AAA, saying the Roldans don’t like Fenix and want to keep him down. He’s got two big wins in two shows for a guy they don’t like. We didn’t get many quality reports on the other matches, but at least that one seems worth checking out when it turns up. Not a lot about the attendance either; Marislea posted a photo talking about good attendance, but it was shot of all the lights being out while people held up cell phones, and that’s not the easiest way to judge a crowd.
Johnny Mundo may be playing a Trump supporter on screen, but confirms he’s very much not one in reality in an interview with Record. Johnny Mundo seems like a good guy.
Related: The latest Podcast Boom includes Konnan talking about Sexy Star, Ludxor and Psycho Clown. LigerFever has the translation in one two parts. The Pagano feud is sort of explained as AAA being stuck on finding heavyweight opponents for Psycho Clown. Uro Rocker was intended for that spot, but wasn’t good and hurt people. Konnan mentions AAA looking at a Brazilian wrestler for that feud but he didn’t do well. That would’ve been Xandao, who wrestled a dark match in Naucalpan right before Rey de Reyes. That may also explain why Pagano started feuding with Pentagon Jr. and was shifted over to Psycho Clown with no resolution – even AAA might have not been sold on Pagano being in that spot until he was around for a month. I’m still something less than sold about a guy who normally walks around bald putting up his hair as the main event of your biggest show of the year.
But, that appears to be the cards that we’ve been dealt. And so, this is what it looks like is happening for TripleMania right now
- Psycho Clown putting up his mask against Pagano’s hair.
- Texano Jr. defending the Heavyweight championship against either Dr. Wagner Jr. or Cage or both
- Pentagon Jr. defending the Latin American championship against Johnny Mundo
- Averno & Chessman defending the tag team championship against Faby Apache & Mary Apache
- some match to get a whole lot more people on the card
- maybe Hijo del Fantasma versus Fenix for the Cruiserweight championship
- maybe some relevos AAA atomicos along the lines of Taya/Mini Abismo/Mamba/Apache vs Big Mami/Dinastia/Pimpi/Venom
Next taping is Sunday in Oaxaca, with the three way tag title match and Pentagon vs Fenix.