Recapped: 2021-05-01
Matches:
Látigo beat Dinastía, Toxin, Aramis, Arez to earn a shot at the AAA Cruiserweight Championship
(12:47, Latigo Lariat Aramis, great, Google Drive)
Taurus defeats Octagón Jr. and Villano III Jr. to win the AAA Latin American Championship
(12:16, Rodeo Driver, good, Google Drive)
Faby Apache beat Lady Shani, Flammer, Chik Tormenta, Lady Maravilla, Sexy Star to win the AAA’s Reina de Reinas Championship
(16:11, good, Google Drive)
- Chik Tormenta Styles Clash Flammer (7:21)
- Sexy Star One Winged Angel Marvilla (9:26)
- Lady Shani modified Indian deathlock Sexy Star (10:55)
- Chik Tormenta meteora Lady Shani (12:15)
- Faby Apache top rope superplex Chik Tormenta (16)11
Laredo Kid beat Texano Jr., Murder Clown, Aerostar, Drago, Abismo Negro Jr., Hijo Del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. to win AAA’s Rey de Reyes Tournament
(17:03, good, Google Drive)
- 00:00 Laredo Kid & Hijo del Vikingo start
- 01:00 Myzteziz Jr. in
- 02:00 Abismo Negro Jr. in
- 03:00 Texano Jr. in
- 04:00 Murder Clown in
- 05:00 Myzteziz Jr. out (Laredo Kid)
- 06:00 Drago in
- 07:00 Aerostar in
- 08:19 Aerostar out (Murder Clown)
- 09:24 Drago out (Murder Clown)
- 09:45 Vikingo out (Texano Jr.)
- 10:58 Abismo Negro Jr. out (Laredo Kid)
- 12:19 Murder Clown out (Texano Jr.)
- 17:03 Laredo Kid Laredo Fly on Texano
Pagano & Psycho Clown went to an apparent no-finish with Chessman & Sam Adonis
(10:13, ok, Google Drive)
What happened:
Two challenges were made for TripleMania, by wrestlers who do not work for AAA.
A video of Andrade appeared after a main event angle, with the former La Sombra declaring his was coming to AAA with two goals in mind. He wanted to face Psycho Clown, though that was the secondary goal. Andrade first wants Kenny Omega at TripleMania for the AAA Mega Championship, so he can bring the title back to Mexico.
Earlier, Impact Knockout Champion Deonna Purrazzo did commentary during the Reina de Reinas match, with the idea of challenging the winner. Faby Apache won and Purrazzo demanded a champion versus champion match at TripleMania. Faby initially wasn’t interested but agreed when TripleMania was added. Purrazzo then took out Apache with an armbar and powerbombed her.
No date for TripleMania was announced.
The main event also saw Sam Adonis debut as Chessman’s surprise partner, only to reveal (much later) he was actually part of an invading group known as La Empresa. Diamante Azul and Puma King appeared as the other members. Diamante Azul seems to be using the Diamante Azul name and mask; Puma King actually made more changes in his gear to look eviler than Azul did from normal.
Villano III Jr. returned to AAA as the mystery participant in the Latin American championship match. He then was seemingly knocked out by an Octagon Jr. kick early on, returned later in the match, and finished it. Taurus won that vacant title.
Laredo Kid defeated Texano Jr. to win the Rey de Reyes title after interference from Rey Escorpion otherwise backfired.
Latigo won the opener and earned a title match with Laredo Kid, though he refused to shake his hand afterward.
Thoughts:
Rey de Reyes authentically felt like a big AAA show. There was the crazy undercard to start, the big angle at the end, and a lot of randomness in between. There continues to be a struggle for energy on these shows, something that probably won’t be fixed until fans are allowed back at them again. The main event particularly was so flat that it telegraphs some big surprise was coming; they couldn’t end the show the way it was going.
The main event angle was not great. I’ve liked Puma King and Sam Adonis and even (seemingly a long time ago) Diamante Azul matches, but that’s not an impressive main event faction in 2021. When AAA did this in 2013 with El Consejo, Toscano & Texano were at least recent top guys making the jump. Diamante Azul is a top guy in name, but he hasn’t done anything in CMLL for a long time. It may be impossible for anyone to feel like a big deal coming from CMLL with how cold CMLL is right now. (Maybe Volador or Ultimo Guerrero, but it’s rough beyond this.) CMLL is so currently troubled that bringing people over as a top rudo faction just makes your own guys look lesser, and these guys wouldn’t be a top rudo faction in normal times. They tried to associate Andrade with these guys via the video, but Andrade’s clearly not going to be working outside major shows. This group feels like a rehash of something AAA’s done so many times and not a particularly inspired version of it. It’s not a flop, it’s not dead on arrival, it’s more disappointing because it’s going to be sucking up AAA time when there’s no payoff that’d be worth it.
Everything else on this show was a multi-person match, which hurt the last few matches. They couldn’t match the out-of-control nature of the first two, and there wasn’t any added story to compensate. AAA’s royal rumble format made for a long and disappointing match at TripleMania and wasn’t a whole lot better here. It’s repeated sessions of a new person entering to do their moves for half a minute, while everyone else carefully stands near the ropes and makes minimal attempts at eliminating people. Having so many people not get eliminated until everyone in makes the problem worse, though at least this time it made sense because they simply didn’t have time to throw people out while getting the spots in. (When people did get eliminated, the cameras tended to miss it. It wasn’t a good day for AAA camerawork.) Texano & Laredo did much better than Shani & Maravilla in the ending sequence at least.
The women’s match had a lot of big moves and action and still came off a bit cold for reasons I couldn’t put my finger on. Sexy Star debuting and slipping on her first couple of spots didn’t help; it was important to get her the pinfall win because that and the spear were her only memorable notes in this match. Shani & Maravilla surprisingly being eliminated before the final two and Faby winning is a big reversal in how they’ve been positioned for quite a while; it sure seems a statement about who AAA trusts to work with foreigners (though Faby’s history with Americans hasn’t always been great.) Likewise, it was nice to see Chik Tormenta advance so far – even if she almost crushed Shani’s head doing it – but it came out of nowhere.
Purrazzo being asked to do fifteen minutes of commentary while either not knowing any of the wrestlers or being asked to pretend to not know them wasn’t a great listening experience. She had about a minute of material and seemed asked to do something she wasn’t great at. Purrazzo’s bit is intended to put herself above everyone else, but it probably should’ve played out like “these women are good but I’m much better” and not “who even are these women?”
The three-way for the Latin America championship got derailed early on by Villano III Jr., who then returned to have a few more incidents where he could’ve also left with a head injury. The guy is great and I wonder how long he’s going to last. Between Villano III Jr. being taken away and Texano appearing out of nowhere to yell at the commentators, the match seemed like it was spiraling out of control. They regained their footing by the time Villano III returned and it turned into guys just killing each other in entertaining ways. Octagon Jr. needs to think about scrapping the moonsault slam bit because he’s just barely making it, and Taurus seemed to take a hard hit from it this time. Taurus winning was the right call because it means more Taurus.
The opener was the complete insanity expected. It was better when it was insane; when it became a rote bit of everyone getting a turn to do a run of moves, it was a bit too predictable. Everyone was generally on point, though Dinastia looks slower and heavier than he used to. Arez had the best run, inventively using other people to finish his backbreaker, though Toxin’s incredible monkey flip tornillo was a great way to end that stage of the match. It found a higher level once everyone got involved near the end, and I didn’t have a strong feeling about who would win until Latigo nailed the last lariat. He got in a few moves in a row, so it felt like a real winner and not the musical chairs finish that happens sometimes in these multiperson matches.
Villano III Jr must be a great guy to have a match with, it seems like he puts his hand up to take every big spot in every match he’s in. Hopefully it gets rewarded at some point.
Neither Puma or Adonis have been in CMLL for probably 2 years, which makes Azul’s jump seem lesser. Do you think he’ll show up with the Heavyweight title? The good thing about that main event angle was it cut short a very poor main event.
You haven’t posted about it yet, but I going comment on it. Looking at the Caristico match, and who was involved, it looks like Averno is back in the CMLL fold. If that’s the case, and if CMLL are smart(HA!), they’d look to build to an apuetas match for Caristico.
Caristico has been back with them for a long while now, and has not been a problem for them whatsoever. Whatever bad ego he developed from the WWE has seemed to have disappear. It makes no sense not to build him back up as the companies flagship, now that Atlantis can’t be that anymore again. I know they have done stuff with him(Double Tico’s team). It just comes off as support, and not in the staring role like he had once.
run-ins are always better when you ride in on some sort of vehicle
it’s basically science
but yeah that was a fun enough show
between repackaging somebody with a name AAA owns and Random Heel Invasion it was suitably AAA