Recapped: 04/17/2017
Matches:
All matches were taped at Arena Neza on March 31, 2017 and can be seen on AAA’s channel. There are also handheld highlights on Estrellas del Ring’s channel.
- Mamba defeated Estrella Divina (4:58, powerbomb, OK)
- Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria defeated Aerostar & Drago to win the AAA World Tag Team Championship (7:00, Cuervo crossface on Drago, OK)
- Australian Suicide, Dr. Wagner Jr., Lanzeloth, Máscara de Bronce, Psycho Clown beat Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Soul Rocker (6:48, Wagner casita Mocho Cota Jr., good)
What happened:
The main event is originally billed as a trios match with Lanzeloth, Mascara de Bronce (in a new and totally different outfit) and Australian Suicide against Nuevo Poder del Norte. About two minutes into the match, with the rudos in control, Dr. Wagner’s music played him to ringside. He didn’t actually get in the ring, just stood on the ramp watching as Psycho’s music also played and he came down to the ring. The match came to a stop as they face off, and then they both attacked the rudos who attacked him for a DQ. This was not a DQ. Monster and Murder Clown ran in, first throwing the referee to the floor, then attacking Wagner & Psycho (and also Carta Brava, for whatever reason.) Everyone brawled for about a minute before Vampiro made his own appearance, though he had to wait until the music kicked into his part to appear. Vampiro played to the crowd and made a 5v5 match, though Wagner wasn’t much interested in teaming with the técnico 4. Wagner eventually participated with no issues, but did steal the pin from Psycho Clown.
Aerostar, already hurting from his match with Super Fly, was attacked by Cuervo & Escoria in the locker room. Aerostar proceeds not not really sell the attack in any noticeable way – he’s not hurt, he’s not delayed to the ring, he doesn’t angrily go after the Sect, he just does his normal entrance. The rudos gave Aerostar a spike martinete late, then submitted Drago soon after. In true AAA form, the new champions haven’t even been handed their belts before they’re interrupted by Pagano’s (very well done!) music video. Pagano hands over the belts himself, mugs for the crowd, gets in his catch phrases, mocks the new champions to their faces, steals their champagne, and lays them both out when they try to come after him.
There’s a one second shot of Texano getting his neck looked at by a doctor. Texano is back wrestling on non-TV shows, so this injury can’t be as bad as it’s being teased
Estrella vs Mamba is explained was Vampiro ordered it. Both this and the first part of the main event were officiated by a new unnamed referee.
An argument between Super Fly & Ricky Marvin aired, which seemed to foreshadow Super Fly replacing him last week! It’s one week off, but I guess at least they filmed it.
Thoughts:
The main event was pretty fun, though I can only imagine what people at home thought when they started that trios match as the final match of the TV show and actually committed to letting it play out for a few minutes. (It’s the sort of slow play bit that AAA could use in other things and it was good to say it here.) The crowd was inescapably there for Wagner & Psycho and no one else, but having a hot match and hanging out with a top guys as near equals did a lot for the others here. The skinny flying técnicos got to do their flashy offense in a match that mattered to the crowd, and did not seem overshadowed at all. Nuevo Poder del Norte got beat, but they got in some on Wagner and Psycho and it didn’t feel just perfunctory. This was also just a really fun match for the time it lasted, and one the crowd actually cared about. This was totally enjoyable.
The tag title match never really found it’s rhythm, and just seemed awkwardly slower than expect at parts. Aerostar getting attacked and nothing really coming of it also threw me off, but I figured the two times the rudos got cut off going for a dive was going to lead to them finally hitting it on the third time as part of a really hot finish. And then Scoria & Cuervo did a totally illegal martinete, and did a sequence with Drago that seemed messed up, and somehow that was it. Cuervo & Scoria often seem like they could be good in trios and have a habit of not coming up big in big matches, and it happened again here. There was surprisingly little to this match and the crowd didn’t care about any part of it, even the martinete spot especially done to get heat. It seemed like it could’ve been a micing issue until Pagano came out, and then it was just clear the fans cared about that guy and not the rest of this. Same could be said about the people in charge. No one takes Cuervo & Scoria seriously to begin with, the tag titel win didn’t do much for them, and the bit with Pagano made sure everyone knew the new tag team champions were jokes. I don’t understand why AAA even bothered with this – they could’ve easily gone Aerostar/Drago vs Pagano/Mesias if they wanted. Maybe Cuervo & Escoria agreed to do some crazy stunt with Pagano coming up, maybe there’s some other reason that makes this worthwhile. It came off as a worthless waste of time here.
Mamba/Divina was a short if moved filled take on a CMLL lightning match. (They could’ve gotten to a more normal CMLL length by doing the pointless mat work, but they skipped it.) This was billed, as if it was a surrpise match but they had clearly worked out it long in advance. Mamba gave Divina most of the match, getting in a few key shots and the powerbomb at the end, but Divina doing a lot of moderately agile spots without an issue. Divina wrestled fine for a (virtual) TV debut, good enough to be used more and with better potential for good matches than Pimpi, though not anything must see. Neither woman did the usual exotico spots, interestingly.