Recapped: 10/26/2017
Matches:
Ashley, Pardux, The Tigger beat Ángel Mortal Jr., Chicano, Hahastary
(6:38, Ashely Canadian Destroyer Hahastary, good, via Lucha Libre AAA )
Lanzeloth beat Johnny Mundo © Máscara de Bronce, Venum, , Hijo Del Vikingo, Solaris, Dragón Solar, Villano III Jr., Angelikal, Tiger Boy to win the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
(10:11, Lanzeloth moonsault Villano III, good, via Lucha Libre AAA )
Lady Shani beat Ayako Hamada to win the AAA’s Reina de Reinas championship
(8:21, Lady Shani guillotine choke, ok, via Estrellas del Ring)
Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Soul Rocker beat Aerostar, Drago, Raptor for the AAA World Trios Championship
(9:30, Carta Brava frontcracker, good, via Lucha Libre AAA )
What happened:
Aerostar does a big dive off the light tower, which wipes out Mocho & Tito. Drago and Carta are left in the ring for about 20 seconds before OGT get involved. Dragon has Carta in his cradle, but the referees pull referee Copetes away. Drago argues, and Carta gives him a backcracker and an odd looking cradle for the win. Carta was posited so oddly that he might have also had the ropes, but they didn’t really show it.
Averno says his guys want a shot at the trios titles (which was teased between these two teams before the start of this, though no one brings it up), and it’s not important what Vampiro thinks of it. An angry Drago demands Vampiro come out to fix the result. Averno says Drago’s scared of them as Drago continues to yell for Vampiro. Vampiro does show up to salute the crowd. Drago rather angrily gets in Vampiro’s face and demands he do something about his team being cheated out of the titles. Poder del Norte says his side is the real champs. Vampiro stops for a Vampiro chant. Vampiro’s solution is to put Drago’s team in the cage match so they can get revenge on OGT. Drago likes this idea. Poder del Norte like this idea too, which seems to say it’s a bad idea. Vampiro reacts by putting Poder del Norte in the cage match too. They storm out.
Ayako teased fighting Shani after the match, but instead put the belt on her and they hugged.
All the Llaves guys came out as a group for the Cruiserweight, which makes it quicker but just gets people to think of them as a “Llave” guys. They haven’t done anything to help the fans get into them as individuals and it’s probably not happening any time soon. Everyone attacks Mundo at the opening, which eventually leads to him just rolling out. Mundo stayed outside a long time, and then refused to participate in the dive train. Leo Riano is confused on the finish; referee counted one as he was doing an over dramatic flop to the mat.
Noti AAA has Marisela congratulating Pagano & Psycho for winning the LWC belt back from the Americans. Psycho and Pagano also talk about their win while still in Japan.
Thoughts:
The two trios had better matches earlier in the series then they did to end it. This is definitely one of those things where what I’m looking for in matches just doesn’t fit with what they feel will get the best reaction. The Aerostar dive is incredible, but it also ceased the momentum of the match, which really could’ve used a more dramatic ending for being the fifth in a five (or really six) match series, but neither team was close to winning before the interference kicked in. And the interference didn’t make a lick of sense, as the OGT could’ve just as easily challenged the técnicos if they won – there was no reason for them to care who won this match enough to get involved. Before, the work was generally good, though off in small places. Raptor’s outfit now looks better than his shaky wrestling. It’s good AA did this series because the matches were good early on, but the idea of doing a five match series is to build upon what you’ve done before, and this one just felt like it could’ve been announced the day of the show for all the meaning it had. I guess I liked it enough to be good, but I don’t feel strongly about it.
Lady Shani and Ayako Hamada went for it – and missed. They were self consciously trying for a great match and ended up with a sloppy fight that the fans never really got into it. It felt closer to the fans turning on it when Shani messed up the Gori Special, but they were mostly polite and there were enough of fans of Shani cheering for her win that this wasn’t embarrassing. It just didn’t come together at all, with moves looking off, strike exchanges looking messy, and no real build to the finish. Ayako’s offense looked better, crushing Shani with a powerbomb later. Shani’s choke came out of nowhere, isn’t a move the fans are used to seeing a finish, and no one seemed to think it was the finish until the referee stopped the match. They can do better than this, but the OK is a generous grade.
The Cruiserweight match had some enjoyable moments amid stuff that didn’t work out go anywhere. The good stuff was good enough for me, but it also felt like they could’ve had more with less people. The match was split up into parts: everyone stomping Mundo, everyone else taking a turn of offense, Mundo beating up everyone one on one, and a very quick wrap up to a finish. The non-Mundo offense was the most entertaining, but it was hard to miss the story of the match being Johnny Mundo being much better than these scrubs. I don’t know that they’re really trying with anyone here, but it doesn’t help for Mundo mow thru each one of them as if he’s much above their level. Bronce’s big revenge after all of this was a DDT on the floor, which was cut away from as quick as possible (even though Bronce was taking a Spanish Fly on the floor.) The one on ones were quick and exciting, but so numerous that it was tough for anyone or anything to have a singular impact. There were some rough points, and they could’ve done them favors by editing around the Villano III spots with Solar and Hijo del Vikingo. (Even despite this, V3 looked like the best rudo.) Mascara de Bronce and Venum’s experience in AAA for the last year should’ve helped them stand out, but they looked as shaky as everyone else. This win seemed to mean a lot to Lanzeloth, but he came off like the winner of a door prize than obviously the best guy, and there’d be a lot more to do if they wanted to get him or this title over. Not sure they’re that invested in it.
The opener was an enjoyable Llave de la Gloria match. The rudo team carried it for me for the most part, coming off as an effective unit for an improvised trio. Chicano seems like he’s always in the right position and both he and Mortal took big bumps. Hahastray had one of her better matches. Pardux stands out with his dives, and I’m kind of surprised he wasn’t in the cruiserweight match – I guess not everyone could be.