Recapped: 03/13/2017
All matches taped 03/05/2017 in Plaza de Toros Rodolfo Rodriguez el Pana, Apizaco, Tlaxcala. Full epsiode is on AAA’s channel.
Matches
Argenis [O], Big Mami, Dinastía, El Elegido beat Dave The Clown, La Hiedra, Mini Abismo Negro, Parka Negra [X] (moonsault, 7:02, ok)
Super Fly defeated Bengala (powerbomb, 5:09, good)
Faby Apache beat Ricky Marvin © to win the AAA World Trios Championship (Chessman chair show→inside cradle, 4:32, good)
What happened:
Faby Apache (and presumably Mary Apache & El Apache) are the new AAA Trios Champions. Faby won the titles for her team all by herself, defeating Ricky Marvin in an impromptu one on one match. Announcer Jesus Zuniga, as part of many moments on the show where he spoke for Vamprio, explained the scheduled Apaches vs OGT match was off because Apache was away with “personal issues” and Mary had been hurt in an accident. (One very short clip of Mary in ambulance was shown twice; it appeared to be something filmed from a previous angle being reused.) Averno – not Vampiro – proposed Faby put up her and her families’ career for a shot at ‘their dream’, the AAA trios championship. Faby accepted without hesitation, and won when Chessman accidentally hit Marvin with a chair. OGT seemed slightly upset with each other after the match, but not to the point of breaking up (at least yet.)
Super Fly defeated Bengala in another match announced by Announcer Jesus Zuniga as being a decision of Vampiro when Aerostar was ruled unable to compete. Super Fly earlier said he’d been looking all around for Vampiro to ask him about this match and could not find him anywhere. Everyone was certain Aerostar would still compete at Rey de Reyes, though Super Fly believed Aerostar wasn’t as much hurt as scared of him.
(AAA hyped both of these matches as if they would happen as scheduled during the show, a break from times where they’d give away the changes in the lineup screen.)
Texano Jr. visited the AAA offices in his own search to find Vampiro. He did not find him, but found a closet marked as Vampiro’s office. Inside was a note and a candle. The note explained Texano would have to defend his heavyweight title against Psycho Clown & Dr. Wagner. Texano was displeased to read that, and more so when the light mysteriously blew out.
More La Llave de la Gloria footage was shown, with Villano coaching and in-ring highlights shown. Some of the eventual ‘winners’ in this round (Papillon, Douki, Hanaoka) got interview time, though the winners haven’t been announced on the show yet.
The Lucha Retro segment was on the first Relevos Mixicos de Locura match, as an innovative match part of AAA’s 25 year history
Carta Brava Jr., who talks to the son of the original who accompanied his fathers to all his matches. Calls out Argenis.
The técnicos won an atomicos opener.
Thoughts
Vampiro! Vampiro! VAMPIRO! Not five seconds afrer the opening mentioned, the announcers screaming about an announcement Vampiro made. Super Fly’s promo was tangentially about Aerostar ducking him, but pointedly about Super Fly not being able to find Vampiro. Bengala doing well in the match was about Vampiro putting him into that position. Vampiro was put over in the NotiAAA. Vampiro was specifically the one for knowing the Apaches weren’t there. Texano had to find Vampiro’s office and it was another Vampiro mystery, with Vampiro’s non appearance the real biggest story of the show. Vampiro!!!
This was way too much Vampiro. It would be way too much anyone. They sure seemed to set up Vampiro as the biggest and most important person on the show, which might even work in the short-term but doesn’t address any of their long term issues. There hasn’t been any show domination like this on AAA TV since Konnan and the Roldans were at their most visible, and even then it seemed to be split among them. This was all a lot of attention one one guy, including in some parts (like announcing the people who were missing the show) were it didn’t seem to be needed.
Vampiro not actually being on-screen, but being refereed to as some all-powerful Oz, doesn’t make it better. And Vampiro as a mysterious shadowy guy doesn’t work when we’re seeing him as just a normal wrestling dude in the La Llave de la Gloria segments. I’m guessing they purposefully lead the show off with that segment to get it as far away from the spooky message at the end, but those two concepts can’t really work on the same show together.
Maybe this was one just one weird taping and it’ll get better on a more normal show (or after they actually watch this show.) There are more changes on there than Vampiro. Both the Super Fly/Aerostar and Apaches/OGT feud got video packages to make it clear how things got to this point, and Super Fly got an actual in ring promo before a match. I’m sure this isn’t right, but it feels like Super Fy hasn’t done a promo since season 1 of Lucha Underground (and he seems much more confident in his role here than there.) The Apaches/OGT video package even made a note of Secta’s win last week, so it doesn’t just feel like a random outcome that was never mentioned again.
The Hijo del Tirantes deal deserves it’s own space. It’s clear this week that not only has he been told not to do rudo referee spots, everyone’s been told to treat him like he’d never done one. The announcers stay away from the obvious Faby/Tirantes issues and even Faby’s in the same spot. There was a moment in the Marvin/Apache match where the crowd that Faby got a three count. It was two, a fair two, the crowd was just a bit anxious to see her win, but any count where the fans disagree with Tirantes is usually a moment for Faby to get in Tirantes face for a reaction. She just moved right along this week. I’m really fine with no more rudo referee spots, it’s what I’ve wanted all along, but I still feel cheated there’s this years long story about Tirantes cheating Faby and the payoff is everyone agrees to never talk about it again. I’m cautious at asking for even more Vampiro, but there needs to be some in front of the camera bit where Tirantes is told to knock it off to mirror whatever’s clearly happened behind the scenes. Right now, we’re mostly expected to forget something that’s been a focus of the promotion for years.
The Super Fly/Bengala was the most effective match of the show, with Bengala looking good in a rare singles chance for him and Super Fly getting the clean win he needed. It lacked a bit in drama; Super Fly won on the first big move he tried, and Bengala never felt that close to winning. (A problem here is even I can’t remember what Bengala’s using as a finisher, it doesn’t come up much.) Super Fly seems much more comfortable as a rudo now than he even did a few years ago, and there’s reason to have hope for the mask match.
Faby/Marvin had drama, but the stakes didn’t mean anything. I don’t believe the fans really thought for a second Faby was at risk of losing her career, because she didn’t spend a second thinking about it herself. OGT freaked out about losing their trios titles for minutes, selling the idea it meant a lot to them. The crowd got into the idea of Faby defeating a man in a singles match, but the idea of winning titles for her not present family members didn’t mean anything. Remember, this match was never supposed to be a title match – it was a lumberjack match of all things – so everything about the stipulations for this match was strange in the recap and just as strange on TV. The one difference on TV is it came across like they were opening the door for the OGTs to be done soon. That’d be quick, it’d make sense to take the titles of them while they could, but I’m not sure. The match itself was alright and helped by the energy, with the short time making it feel like a midstoryline Lucha Underground match than anything AAA usually provides.
Super Fly/Bengala also felt different from what normally airs on TV, which was a nice change from the opening atomicos. That followed the same formula as usual, including the super rushed heel beatdown segment in the middle of the match. Everyone seemed motivated to work really hard, but that didn’t mean it looked all that good. Elegido was the leader in doing a lot without doing much well, but Argenis ending moonsault looked particularly poor. Big Mami seemed to get a lot more attention than Dinastia, a worrying development. Mami even got to do her comedy back bridge spot while didn’t get to do his cool one.