Recapped: 04/20/2018
Matches:
All matches aired live from Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California.
Genio del Aire, Arcángel Divino, Black Destiny beat Mirage, Ultimo Maldito, Black Danger
(9:01, Arcangel Divino high speed Mistica Último Maldito, excellent, Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch) )
Ashley, Estrella Divina, Faby Apache beat Big Mami, Mamba, Pimpinela Escarlata
(8:09, Faby Apache German suplex Mamba, ok, Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch) )
Lanzelot beat Hijo Del Vikingo, Dinastía, and Máscara de Bronce, to become the Number One Contenders Match for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
(6:32, Lanzelot double stomp Mascara de Bronce, good, Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch) )
Rey Escorpión & Texano Jr. beat Aerostar & Drago for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
(11:08, Rey Escorpión pin Aerostar after a mask pull, great, Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch) )
Pagano beat Joe Lider, La Parka, Cuervo, Escoria, Hijo del Fantasma, Parka Negra, Histeria, Psicosis, Teddy Hart in a TLC match
(13:46, Pagano pin Joe Lider, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch) )
Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly beat La Máscara, Máximo, Psycho Clown
(9:00, mask pull and fouls, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch) )
Dr. Wagner Jr. © beat Hernandez for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship
(7:08, Wagner Driver on Hernandez, ok, Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch) )
What happened:
The MAD rudo faction, previously only seen in Monterrey based MDA, invaded the AAA show and revealed themselves after the main event. Vignettes showed opening card wrestlers laid out in the back with the MAD logo displayed on the walls. The logo as seen in the arena during the main event, and masked men representing the group attacked both the técnicos and rudos involved in the main event. The masked men revealed themselves as Juventued Guerrera, Teddy Hart and Kevin Kross, with Guerrera acting as spokesperson for the invaders. Konnan, who had lead the MAD group, was not seen in person or mentioned by name, but was teased to be in the arena and part of this invasion in a very brief video clip.
The final match on the show had been scheduled as Rey Wagner/Vampiro vs Hernandez/Hijo del Wagner. Vampiro appeared on the big screen before the match, explaining he was too busy with the (unseen) invasion to participate and changed the match to a Rey Wagner/Hernandez title match. Hijo del Wagner interfered frequently until Vampiro – suddenly not so busy? – came down to counter him after about three minutes. Rey Wagner won cleanly before the MAD angle started.
Earlier, Teddy Hart was introduced as the mystery wrestler in the TLC match but did not appear. The match started without him, with Teddy Hart only appearing in the last moment to help Pagano beat Joe Lider, then to attack Pagano with a chair afterwards. Teddy Hart was wearing an ELITE shirt for this segment, presumably to disguise the idea he was with MAD.
OGTs cheated to beat the Alvarados, and Escorpión & Texano did the same to keep the tag titles.
Faby accidentally hit Ashley during their match. Ashley stood up to Faby and walked out on her afterwards.
Thoughts:
Hernandez & Dr. Wagner were put in an unwinnable situation. It’s a match that was unlikely to be good, a match no one had been clamoring to see, and a title match where the title was unlikely to change hands. Even if it had things going for it, it was overshadowed by the big angle obviously coming after the match, and by Vampiro running out during a match he said he was too busy to participate in. They might as well have done the angle a couple minutes into the match for all it meant.
The semimain was almost a standard CMLL match on an AAA card. A CMLL match would’ve have a finish with two guys being fouled and a third getting their mask pulled at the same time, that would be too much for even the blind CMLL referees, but the action was similar to what the Hijos del Infierno would’ve done. They started the match hot, and having a relatively normal match in the midst of a lot of abnormal stuff was a helpful contrast, but the match itself wasn’t anything special.
The TLC match had the same problems as all of AAA’s matches of this type. There’s no reason to have the match, there’s no direction during the match, it’s just a lot of prop violence with no meaning to it. The effort was there, Psicosis & Escoria trying to commit suicide mid match was a thing, but it was unclear why some guys were killing themselves and not actually trying to win the match in any way. These matches do not do much for me.
In their first real defense, Texano & Escorpion immediately found the groove as a rudo tag team and gave Aerostar & Drago a strong title match. Escorpión was the great base both técnicos have lacked of late, catching Aerostar’s craziest dives without a problem. They pulled off the Mistico catch spot just as good as Mistico & Euforia do. Texano got to look more threating and powerful by beating up the two smaller guys. Tirantes was referee, but his role was significantly played down from recent shows; it was Texano who got to look like the dangerous one this time. His powerbomb on Aerostar looked like it ended him. The finish was cheap, but perfectly fine if it sets up a rematch.
The #1 contenders match would’ve stuck out more as a crazy action match on a show that didn’t have an even crazier action opener. They packed about ten minutes of spots into six and half minutes of time. No time was wasted; there was some good planning here to keep the action going with all four guys almost all of the time, trying to maximize the opportunity. Like the opener, it was so frantic that it was tough for any one to stand out, and Lanzelot seemed like he won just because he was the last man surviving at the end. The Spanish Fly to the floor spot here seemed more risky the one earlier, and it’s amazing there were two of those on the same show.
The usual Pimpinela/Mamba tag match isn’t something I like to see in normal occasions. It was in a worse spot to follow the opener, though nothing was going to follow that. It was fine by it’s own standards, and at least they moved along the Ashley/Faby storyline (far quicker than I was expecting.)
The guys in the opener have been doing crazy matches for a while. The Crash adding foreigners and trying to move up some of these guys has meant the four core guys haven’t worked as much in the last years as they were before. Putting them back together created some incredible magic, exceeding the high expectations people had for that match. Even the stuff they’ve done before, like the doomsday tope, came off bigger here. (Getting to see it on actual cameras helps a lot.) The volume of big spots were incredible; I think Arcangel & Maldito had the best night of everyone, but there was so much stuff that I might have missed someone being even more incredible. This is a match you need to go out of your way to see.
