Recapped: 2020-05-02
Matches:
La Hiedra beat Big Mami
(9:30, powerbomb, ok, 00:11:45)
Lady Shani beat Lady Maravilla
(5:27, submission, ok, 00:26:58)
Psycho Clown beat Texano Jr.
(8:13, Canadian Destroyer, ok, 00:40:26)
Chessman beat Pagano
(6:59, foul, ok, 00:57:21)
Pentagón Jr. beat Hijo Del Vikingo
(9:44, Factor Miedo, great, 01:10:37)
LA Park beat Dr. Wagner Jr.
(7:47, LA Park spear, good, 01:27:40)
What happened:
Wagner argued with Piero on a two count, and Piero shoved him into LA Park’s spear. Chessman snuck in a foul on Pagano.
Big Mami and Lady Maravilla exchanged attacks after each match.
Psycho Clown suffered a shoulder injury in his match but still won his match.
The announcers were not on set for this taping, calling the matches instead from what appeared to be a TV studio. (They were shot as if they were separated though they had the same furniture behind them.) Maximo and Vanilla were also shown commenting on social media and appeared to be in a TV studio somewhere. AAA used crowd noise for the first match and then for some of the entrances later on.
Thoughts:
The early mat exchanges between LA Park and Dr. Wagner played out as you’d expect from two guys proving they could do something other than brawl, right before they start brawling anywhere. The Wagner/Park match never got to that second part, ending when it just felt like it was about to get going. These guys were going at a measured pace, which also suggested a longer match than it happened. It was still enjoyable for how it lasted and shocking for how relatively straightforward it was, but the shortest singles match they’ve had is probably not going to be one people need to seek out much later.
Pentagon Jr. figured to be one of the least invested performers in this tournament. AAA is his side job and this could’ve just been something to fill time while waiting for the ability to return to AEW. Penta’s also been getting by with a lot of help from his charisma and crowd connection, which weren’t going to be in play here; he’d stand out more here if he was just coasting. Pentagon instead has turned into the MVP of the tournament so far. Hijo del Vikingo was great here, pulling off moves no one in the world is even trying, but he wasn’t really asked to do more than his flashiest high spots in this match. A match with Octagon Jr. or Myzteziz Jr. would’ve been less exciting but it’d be hard to find another rudo who could’ve pulled off Penta’s side of it. The match structure, especially Vikingo’s desperate attempt to end it before Pentagon even got started, was remarkable. Penta gleefully beat up on Vikingo and did in such a way that there was no question who everyone was supposed to be cheering for in this match. (Perhaps Pentagon is better at playing a complete heel with no crowd rooting him on for being evil.) They built well into Vikingo’s comeback and his near chances at winning, making Vikingo look as good as possible before he took the loss. This was different than Hamburguesa being smothered, as it should’ve been. It was same in being another strong Pentagon performance.
Chessman defeating Pagano was standard AAA booking leading into TripleMania. (You’d have to go back to their similar TripleMania apuesta to find a time where Texano actually beat Psycho Clown.) It’s still hard to believe Chessman’s going to get the same outcome there but it is hopeful that AAA is booking their matches as if TripleMania is still happening. It’s equally hopeful these two had a match that didn’t fall apart. AAA doesn’t seem to be editing these, so Pagano putting together a move heavy match where he doesn’t have a major flip is a positive sign. The execution of the moves still aren’t pretty – the neckbreakers look worse than the dives to me – but Pagano’s not going to be a guy with pretty looking offense and probably shouldn’t be one. This is close to a border line match but I can’t imagine someone sitting down to watch this who wasn’t a big Pagano fan already. Chessman still has looked better in this tournament than recently though.
The action in Psycho Clown/Texano Jr. was fine, but it wasn’t memorable enough to overcome the obvious outcome. Texano hasn’t won these matches for about six years and this wasn’t about to be a different outcome. It was about as dramatic as a Tuesday CMLL lightning match, where maybe Psycho Clown’s shoulder injury was more meaningful than anything they had in the match.
Shani/Maravilla was the better of the two women’s matches easily, so it was strange it went so short. Maravilla comes across as a lot more aggressive than she used, making it a bigger deal when Shani’s able to turn the table and put on holds. Maravilla still needs to keep it up at all times; her stomps are not so good.
La Hiedra’s strategy of doing nothing and just getting hit by Big Mami worked out for the win – she just pulled Mami off the ropes for a powerbomb – and worked out better for the quality of the match. They didn’t do a whole, so nothing went wrong. It was a better result than last week but it wasn’t something anyone will need to see again.