AAA Star Battle Japan: 2016-10-26 

Angelico barely escapes
Angelico barely escapes

Recapped: 11/12/2016

What happened: Pagano got a rematch win over Psycho Clown, though it took a lot of Tirantes helping. Nothing much else – this wasn’t really an angle show, but more of a loaded house show for the foreign audience. (Theoretically, this is the newest “maybe last ever Rey Mysterio appearance in AAA!” but who knows.)

At least on SamuraiTV, this seems a bit like a vehicle to promote Lucha Underground airing on the station – it was brought up even by NOAH guys.

What was good: Nothing jumped out as must see but the show overall was easily more enjoyable than Heroes Inmortales. The Angelico/Fantasma vs Hidaka/Tanaka match was the best match on the show to me, with the three way and main event watchable too. Nothing was bad, though the times indicated the first few matches were decently edited (probably as much for time as spots.)

Where can I watch it: It’s in the RealHero archive. AAA’s teased they may show it complete on their own show at some point – they probably should show 2/4/5/6.

Match 1: Dinastía, Kenzo, La Hiedra, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Sumire Natsu, Toshizo
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 10/26/2016

Winner: técnicos (Dinastia Spanish Fly Mini Abismo Negro)
Match Time: 7:13 (official time as 9:12)
Notes: Kenzo’s the biggest star in this match, which is a thing to experience. Hiedra’s a tecnica (because Faby Apache skipped out on this trip.) Kenzo randomly breaks up the beatdown to slap everyone and everyone seems thrown off for a moment. A dive train leaves the minis alone in the ring to settle it.

Review: [ok] a normal Relevos AAA in a not normal setting. I could’ve used a lot more Mini Abismo Negro & Dinastia and a bit less of everyone else, but this match was about everyone getting to have a moment and they achieved that. Abismo fouling Dinastia and DDTing him just crotch himself on the top rope was odd. Tecnica Hiedra has less clothing than ruda Hiedra. Kenzo was over, but the Japanese wrestlers didn’t add a whole lot – I can’t remember what Toshizo did. (I rewatched it just to see, and he had one kick and got slapped and shoulderblocked. I wonder if Kenzo screwed up the timing or if he just got edited out.)

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Dinastia springboard moonsault

Match 2: Angélico & Hijo del Fantasma vs Ikuto Hidaka & Masato Tanaka
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 10/26/2016

Winner: Tanaka & Hidaka (sliding D)
Match Time: 11:25 (official time was 13:43)

Review: [good] This wasn’t exactly the match I was expecting – I should’ve seen the tables and chairs coming and did not – but it was exciting nonetheless. Angelico was the standout, working hard all over the place even besides barely escaping on his corner dive. Maybe he felt had something to prove, being back here for the first time in four years, but he did some cool mat work to start, had two cool dives, and took some big bumps (the corner headscissors especially, even more than the table bit.) Fantasma didn’t stick out as much, and they didn’t have the teamwork they would’ve with Jack & Angelico, but Fantasma’s big tope got over huge.

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this isn’t an authentic AAA show, the table actually broke
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flecha negra
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Angelico upside down into the corner

Match 3: Drago vs AerostarTaiji Ishimori
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 10/26/2016

Winner: Drago (Dragn’s Tail cradle on Aerostar)
Match Time: 8:25 (official time as 9:53)

Dragon’s post match promo here, like some of the others, pushed Lucha Underground as much or more than AAA.

Review: [good] I liked this. There seemed to be light editing and Aerostar didn’t have a great night, but this was build around the big dive spots and those dives looked huge. Three way matches are not my favorite, but they did a lot of three way spots to keep it moving and didn’t have a lot of one person just hanging out on the floor. Aerostar seemed to get the lion share of the time, but his moves looked more intentionally creative while Drago seemed more effective. Aerostar setting Ishimori in one corner, and hurrying back to the adjacent corner so he could walk the middle rope back was peak showing off. (It also seemed like they edited out at least one blown spot with him.) Ishimori meshed well with these guys.

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Drago surging tope con giro
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Ishimori over the top plancha
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Aerostar springboard reverse tope to the floor
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Aerostar attempts to fly back home

Match 4: Daga & Taya vs Aja Kong & Australian Suicide
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 10/26/2016

Winner: Daga crossface
Match Time: 11:11
Notes: Daga is wearing a sombrero and a wool vest, probably in tribute to Perro. He and Taya enter thru the crowd to the Perros del Mal music, though they have a staredown down before they walk to the ring.

They don’t have any issues during the match, but Taya & Daga argue over who should get credit. I think the idea might be to explain to the eventual AAA audience that Taya’s still a heel and Perros del Mal Daga is not happy with her, but it doesn’t come off that way. Taya slaps Daga, Daga pulls her down by the hair, and the crowd boos. Aja gets in the middle and Daga doesn’t want to fight her, but it allows Taya to get in a free forearm. Taya taunts Daga some more, in a definite heel manner, but it’s Daga who slaps her (to boos) and walks off, leaving Taya to regroup with the faces.

Review: [ok] kind wavering on this grade. This was a fine match either way, but Aja didn’t really add a lot – in all seriousness, her best moments were brushing off Taya’s offense at the start – and it didn’t really get into a higher gear. If you’re a Taya fan, you’re probably hoping for a bit more out of here, but the guys did well. The last few minutes of this were what I wanted the mask versus hair match to be, but never was (and probably should not have been expected to be.)

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this is a problem for Taya
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Aja Kong dancing
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Suicide tornillo
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SSP to the floor (mostly)

Match 5: Psycho Clown vs Pagano
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 10/26/2016

Winner: Pagano (Noa Noa Driver)
Match Time: 14:34
Notes: About four minutes in, Pagano pulls a barbed wired panel out from under the ring. As always, he’s the one who goes into it. Tirantes suddenly becomes a rudo about 9 minutes into the match, refusing to count a pin after a Psycho Clown shiranui and up to his usual pinfall issues the rest of the way. He’s taken out long enough to allow Psycho Clown to count his own pinfall (and for the fans to chant for the NOAH referee to replace him), but recovers to count the pinfall for Pagano. Pagano reversed a (second) top rope Canadian Destroyer into a Noa Noa Driver thru a table. The finish was telegraphed a bit by how Psycho Clown set up the table; it didn’t make sense for the move he was ‘trying’ to do.

Review: [ok] I liked about a good potion of this match, with both guys being more creative than we’ve seen in Mexico. They used the building in ways I wouldn’t have expected. Psycho Clown stealing the computer men’s bench to jump off was something we don’t see on FantasticaMania and that spot stuck out to me more than the barbed wire. They lost me when it got to Tirantes evil referee time. Pagano defeating Psycho Clown, even with Psycho getting many visual wins, is still inexplicable. Psycho Clown is going to be the lead guy if they go back to Japan, Pagano isn’t a sure bet. Instead of Psycho doing the post match speech and all the screwiness, you could’ve just had the hopeful top guy win.

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Psycho Clown ringpost headscissors!
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tiny bench springboard
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AAA’s found a safe way to do chairshots to the head
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ringside people panicking as the can goes off screen is my favorite part

Match 6: Akebono, Marufuji, Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Brian Cage, Pentagón Jr., Texano Jr.
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 10/26/2016

Winner: técnicos (Rey Mysterio splash onto Cage)
Match Time: 12:52
Notes: Cage uses his Lucha Underground music (with Machine soundbite.) Texano Jr. does not have the heavyweight title. Pentagon Jr. gets a noticeable reaction. Rey’s the biggest star on the show to this crowd, without a doubt. Akebono, Marufuji and Rey thanked the crowd after the match and teased a show next year.

Review: [good] perfectly suitable all star main event. The surprise was Rey working more with primarily Cage, instead of Pentagon as in the past. They got along fine, though there seemed to be otherwise more timing issues between unfamiliar people in this match than the other ones. Mysterio got in his big spots, and I guess looked more impressive getting in his DDT on Cage. The double dive with Marufuji at the end was nice. Marufuji to stuck in the ring with the rudos and it felt like they were teasing a match with him and Pentagon that I’d really like to see someday. Akebono is probably the reason this match happened at all, so it’s too bad he looks slower and even more unsteady than he did this summer. I don’t think this is necessary watching outside the novelty – it’s very much like the World Cup – but they did more than enough to satisfy the fans.

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teamwork
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Misterio spinning DDT

One thought to “AAA Star Battle Japan: 2016-10-26 ”

  1. Watching Angélico’s pathetic strikes in Korakeun hall (the land of the hard hitters) was a sight to see.

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