AAA announced this year’s TripleMania will be held on August 25th in Arena Ciudad de Mexico as part of a press conference today.
The big news from that press conference was the announcement of Alberto el Patron’s return to the promotion. He’ll wrestle at least at TripleMania, in a singles match against “an international wrestler” to be named later. Patron, who’s now also going with “El Presidente” as a nickname, will make media appearances on March 15th and 16th to talk more about his plans.
Alberto el Patron was close to appearing on last year’s TripleMania show. AAA and Patron could not reach an agreement over money for that show. Negotiations seemed to continue off and on past that show. Dorian Roldan hinted about an Alberto return earlier this year. Record/AAA’s Leo Riano talked about happening Record. Roldan and Alberto have had talks at recent Impact tapings, which led to Hijo del Fantasma working Patron’s charity show in February and to this announcement.
Alberto’s biggest public complaint about AAA after this 2014-15 run was the disorganized way the promotion was run. Sunday’s Rey de Reyes suggests that hasn’t really be fixed. Alberto will be facing a yet to be named non-AAA wrestler on TripleMania. I assume Alberto’s picking is actually going to be picking his opponent. We’ll find out more on those media appearances, but this sets up to all Alberto to be self contained from the rest of AAA (except for how much time they give him for his match.)
It’s a busy day for Alberto news. PW Insider says Alberto recently visited WWE about a return. Alberto’s deal with Impact is said to be close to expiring, and he’s also talking about staying with them. Alberto remains in demand because of the lack of latino draws in the US. It’s debatable if Alberto has actually drawn in a meaningful fashion, but he’s a former WWE world champion and that’s close enough for WWE.
(In related news, today’s Record has an interview with WWE’s Sin Cara. He wishes Mexican and Latin wrestlers more had more chances to be in main events. He’d like it for himself, or to do it as a team with Kalisto or Gran Metalik.)
The TripleMania XXVI card now stands at
- Hijo del Fantasma vs Psycho Clown vs TBA vs TBA in a four way mask match
- Lady Shani vs Faby Apache, mask vs hair
- Copa TripleMania XXVI
- Alberto el Patron vs an international wrestler
Arena Ciudad de Mexico had some shaky internet today, and it seemed to cause the press conference feed to be cut off early. The bulk of what we saw was focusing on Psycho Clown and Hijo del Fantasma building up their for way match. It may no longer be a cage match; Fantasma was petitioning for the bit to be dropped “so the fans could see the action better” (or so the guy with the cool dive could actually do the cool dive.)
They made a point of challenging people not in AAA right now for that extra spot. Psycho brought up Atlantis, Mr. Niebla and LA Park. Fantasma brought up Rush, though Dorian Roldan had earlier stated it would only be masked people in the match. Atlantis will never be in AAA. Mr. Niebla probably should leap at taking this payoff is really being offered. CMLL has been so loyal to Niebla that it’s unlikely he’ll go. LA Park remains a real option, as does Blue Demon. Those two spots will almost have to come from outside of the current AAA if they’re to be big names. Only La Parka of their current roster comes close to fitting as a big enough star to be in that match.
Tickets will go one sale tonight. The prices have gone up this year, 305 pesos for the cheapest ticket and 5124 ($274 USD) for the closest. CMLL’s gone higher on the low end (363 for last year’s Anniversario), but not anywhere close on the high end. The 5124 ringside ticket appears to be the most expensive ticket for lucha libre in Mexico, surpassing the 4680 cost for last year’s TripleMania ringside ticket.
Last year’s high price was attributed after the fact to Dr. Wagner Jr. getting the biggest payoff for a mask loss ever. It’s even higher even this year. AAA has added expenses of Alberto, his chosen opponent, and the loser of the Shani/Faby match. It still suggests they’re planning for a big payoff for someone, which means it also probably won’t just be the cheapest guy in the mask. AAA doesn’t need high ticket prices to pay for Dave the Clown’s mask. Or even Fantasma’s. Or maybe even Psycho’s. This is an inversion of our usual beliefs about cage matches: it’ll be the biggest star who’s most likely to lose their mask, not the smallest one. AAA’s going to take a big profit off those ticket prices, but they could’ve taken the same big profit by just lowering the amount they were going to pay to a regular AAA wrestler. It’s not going to be a regular AAA wrestler. If LA Park or Blue Demon really do end up in this match, then they become the favorites to be unmasked.
(“Blue Demon” is one of the most merchandised characters in lucha libre. It helps to have a real Blue Demon masked out there. If he shows up in AAA, LA Park would become the most likely suspect.)
Lady Shani did not appear at the press conference. Australian Suicide, Lady Shani, Bengala and Hades (the former Hahastary) are headed out in the wilderness today to film the Reto 4 Elementos reality show judging from social media. The show is scheduled to start airing on March 19th on Canal 5 in Mexico. The show will air on Unimas in the US at some point. I’m not sure exactly how they’ll be gone filming the show. There are some indications it they’re not expected back until April. Shani & Suicide are next scheduled on a 04/02 show in Leon and none of the four are on TV tapings for this month.
AAA also announced their Cuernavaca taping lineup, which will be the next show to air on Twitch.
AAA TV (SAT) 03/17/2018 Unidad Deportiva Miraval, Cuernavaca, Morelos
1) Dinastía, Dragón Solar, Pardux vs Bronco González Jr., Fetiche, Mini Histeria
2) Mamba & Pimpinela Escarlata vs Ashley & Estrella Divina
3) Histeria & Psicosis vs Monsther Clown & Murder Clown
4) Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria © vs Joe Lider & Mr. Águila [AAA TAG]
3rd defense (2nd on TV)
5) La Máscara & Máximo vs Averno & Chessman and Carta Brava Jr. & Mocho Cota Jr.
6) La Parka & Pagano vs Dave The Clown & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.
That’s not good. Opener should be fun. Semimain are OGT and Poder del Norte having a match right after their Last Match Ever. Usually that takes a couple matches. That main event is going to be terrible.
That’s the Saturday night show, one of three tapings in eight days. They’re in San Luis Potosi three days later.
AAA TV (WED) 03/21/2018 Domo de San Luis, San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
1) Mamba & Pimpinela Escarlata vs Ashley & Estrella Divina
2) Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, La Parka vs Joe Lider, Mr. Águila, Parka Negra
3) Aerostar, Drago, Hijo del Fantasma vs El Mesías, Rey Escorpión, Texano Jr.
4) La Máscara, Máximo, Psycho Clown vs Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
5) Dr. Wagner Jr., Pagano, Vampiro vs Blue Demon Jr., Dave The Clown, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.
6) 1 vs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 [Copa Perros del Mal]
This is a much more loaded card, as Lucha Underground tapings end on the 18th and San Luis Potosi usually gets big shows. It’s the same mixed opener. And Cuervo/Scoria vs Perros del Mal, with whoever Parka Negra turns out to be. The fifth match looks unpleasant. The Copa Perro del Mal is probably Twitch/live only. A lot of these matches are going to be Twitch/live only unless AAA suddenly gets a lot more TV time or is OK with their TV being so backloaded that matches are airing three months after they’re taped.
AAA TV (SUN) 03/25/2018 Arena Jose Sulaiman, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
1) Mamba & Pimpinela Escarlata vs Ashley & Estrella Divina
2) Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria vs Monsther Clown & Murder Clown and Joe Lider & Mr. Águila
3) Hijo del Fantasma vs La Parka Negra [AAA CRUISER, #1 Contenders, bull terrier]
4) Aerostar & Drago vs Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr.
5) Máximo, Pagano, Psycho Clown vs Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. & La Parka vs Blue Demon Jr. & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. and Hernandez & Vampiro [Copa Leyendas]
It’s the same opener again! They’ll really going to get it worked out well. Some of the other stuff is similar too, and the main is a dire.
Fantasma’s match seems beneath him at the moment. That match, and Fantasma/Suicide, are potentially good, but AAA’s treating the Cruiserweight championship like a 1st/2nd/3rd match title right now. I’m all for rebuilding it. Making it third on the card where a guy who never wins a match is in line for a shot doesn’t rebuild it. The bigger priority is treating Fantasma as a big star and being in that spot does not help with that.
Bigger picture: that’s three tapings, all on Twitch, within eight days. I’m going to watch everything, because I’m a person who thinks deeply on Parka Negra win statistics. You are a dedicated follow of lucha libre to be reading this website and making it this far on this post and still you should not even attempt to watch all of it. Twitch isn’t as easy to pick and choose as YouTube because everything goes behind a pay wall pretty quick, but pace yourself and don’t feel any need to watch all of this. Check out that Cuervanaca opener on Saturday if you’re around and then get away from it until those good matches on Wednesday, or you’ll be sick of this promotion on Sunday.
AAA really doesn’t need this much television taped in such a short term. I don’t think Twitch cares how many live events they’re showing either. This seems as a way to keep the local promoters happy – the San Luis Potosi & Monterrey appear to be among the strongest – and so AAA’s helping out the gate by bringing the TV cameras there. If this is the one time they do it, it’s going to be fine. If three tapings in a short time become a regular thing, people will start to learn the same lessons as they have with CMLL, where watching all repetitive streams feels unnecessary.