Azteca Siete announced AAA would be joining their network early in the post-game of tonight’s Super Bowl. The teaser video was posted to Twitter.
There are no more details. There are lots of questions about what this means and we don’t even know when we might know more. Monday is a holiday in Mexico so it may be a few days. Until then, we know so little about this that it is impossible to figure out if this is a really good thing or just a mildly good thing. Having a deal on TV Azteca over the air in Mexico is almost certainly better than not having one, and that’s about all we can say right now.
Another almost definite is Arturo Rivera & Jesus Zuniga, long time voices of AAA, are probably done with the promotion. They’re Televisa employees despite seemingly only working for the network to call AAA shows. No announce team has been announced. Another Televisa AAA announcer, Andres Maronas spoiled the announcement on Facebook earlier today, so I don’t think he’ll be back. (He seemed to have been replaced a lot this past year, but it was tough to keep track of the Televisa crew with them no longer being on YouTube.) There’s really a lot bigger parts of this deal that will determine if it’s a success or favorably received than the announcers, but “who’s going to be calling the wrestling matches” seems like the biggest immediate reaction on Facebook and Twitter among fans. I do not think Rivera & Zuniga were good – Rivera’s a personality and Zuniga is a good ring announcer but neither added to my enjoyment of matches – but they were as part of AAA as La Parka for some section of long-time viewers.
Everything AAA did this weekend makes a little more sense in the context of this announcement. They said a classy farewell to AAA, they informed some people of the pending move, and they start off Monday with the big change over. It’s unclear how long this has been in the works, but it’s obviously not something that just came together since the Televisa announcement.
The video Azteca used starts off with a LA Park clip, which seems pretty meaningful giving his current weird status with the promotion. If you keep watching, it becomes clearer it is just a random highlight video from this part TripleMania with likely no real meaning.
My pet theory of the moment is AAA shelving their yearly kick-off press conference for some generic face to face interviews had to do with this AAA/Azteca deal (or maybe just the TV picture in general) not being finalized. If/when AAA holds a press conference to announce this move, maybe along with it will come the missing TripleMania main event announcement and the schedule for the year.
CMLL weekend results of nothingess
CMLL (SAT) 02/02/2019 Arena Coliseo [CMLL]
1) Príncipe Diamante & Retro b Grako & Príncipe Odín Jr.
tecnicos took 2/3.
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Oro Jr. b Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Nitro
tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Magnus, Pegasso, Stigma b Sangre Azteca, Universo 2000 Jr., Virus
tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Okumura b Drone [lightning]
5) Felino, Pólvora, Rey Bucanero b Audaz, Soberano Jr., Súper Astro Jr.
Super Astro replaced Flyer. Rudos took 1/3, the last when Bucanero cheated to beat Soberano.
6) Ángel de Oro, Diamante Azul, Volador Jr. DQ La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Villano IV [Relevos Increíbles]
tecnicos took 2/3, Rush fouled Azul and Bestia unmasked him
Villano IV and Rush were buddies again in the one promo CMLL put up from this show. Rush can’t time travel back to the 80s so he’s bringing the 80s to now.
CMLL (SUN) 02/03/2019 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Pequeño Olímpico & Pierrothito b Angelito & Fantasy
straight falls
2) Grako, Inquisidor, Metálico b Arkalis, Halcón Suriano Jr., Leono
rudos took 1/3
3) La Jarochita DCOR La Comandante [lightning]
a double counout draw!
4) Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Tritón b Kawato San, Universo 2000 Jr., Virus
tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Kawato
Kawato replaced Vangellys. Rudos took 1/3.
6) La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible b Diamante Azul, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
Los Ingobernables took 1/3 cleanly, but still unmasked Diamante Azul after just to keep regular.
La Jarochita & La Comandante want a rematch. Probably should happen, probably won’t happen. A double countout seems like something went wrong but I’ll never check the pictures to find out. Rush & La Bestia del Ring make a point of congratulating Terrible for beating Dragon Lee, Los Ingobernables ahead of family. Both weekend finishes involving Diamante Azul seems like a hint.
Other News
RIOT (SAT) 02/02/2019 Arena Femenil, Monterrey, Nuevo León[@robviper]
1) Erick Ortiz b Madness
2) Chik Tormenta & Willy Banderas b Kratoz & Prometeo
2) Kratoz & Prometeo b Chik Tormenta & Willy Banderas
3) Látigo b Belial
top rope Angel’s Wings. Excellent match.
4) Laredo Kid b Aeroboy
Excellent match
5) Kaientai & Lord Bryon b Golden Boy & Símbolo
6) Demonio del Aire b Aramis
good match
7) Bandido b Sammy Guevara
good match
RIOT sold out this show without announcing a single wrestler on the show. That seems good. Reviews are based on Rob’s Tweets, may not be trusted. But it sounds like it was a really good show.
The Lucha Brothers lost the MLW tag team titles on Saturday. MLW posted a storyline message on Twitter than Fenix & Pentagon had left the building without comment after the show. Court Bauer seemed to confirm tonight that was the end of the duo in MLW, which would seem to throw the announced LA Park vs Pentagon Jr. match for WrestleMania weekend into flux. MLW had previously announced Penta & Fenix would be working with MLW all 2019.
This will probably be a pattern of Penta & Fenix wrapping up. Even if they’ve only signed non-exclusive deals at this point, those could switch to exclusive as soon as LU is done. Impact’s next PPV is April 28th and I’d take a guess that’ll be the end of the Lucha Brothers there, if not sooner. AAA’s made the opposite decision, at least where it comes to Sammy Guevera, so maybe we won’t see Fenix lose his mega title in any big hurry. ExpoLucha stated they (still) will have Penta & Fenix on August 7th & 8th.
A scheduled Fly Warrior/Bam Bam match on Saturday ended with Demus attacking Bam Bam to resume their old feud and challenge him to a hair match. This seems more likely than the Satanico/Romano Garcia match scheduled for the same night. The most likely match to happen is a Caifan/Ultimo Guerrero singles match, since that’s already been announced (though tentatively) for 02/16.
Another version of that Rey de Reyes poster turned up and I didn’t lose it this time. The date posted here is 03/16 (Saturday) in Puebla, with the user saying it’ll be in the same building as last year but the building not listed on the poster as of yet. Photos on the posters are not binding, but they’ve got Fenix, Penta, Kross, Cage, and Taya among non-regulars at this point. Vikingo and Myzteziz have also graduated to being on the poster.
AAA promoter in Monterrey KDNA is advertising a TV taping there on 03/03. They also said their December show would be a TV taping and it was a normal spot show. I didn’t see the whole AAA on Multimedios show but it did not appear they were advertising this show heavily.
El Pasala has a long interview with Rugido, who presents himself as a two-year vet who hopes to make it to CMLL someday. They do not have space to mention Rugido appeared on AAA TV in 2016 and appeared to be long-time veteran Dizzy under yet another gimmick. Perhaps they’ve changed the person under the mask. Still seems like something worth bringing up.
LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.
An interview with Reynosa’s Imagen II.
Kratos team won 2da! And I can’t be trusted! Pfft