05/02 AAA TV results (Minatitlan)

AAA TV (FRI) 05/02/2014 Centro de Convenciones, Minatitlán, Veracruz [AAA]
1) Drago & Faby Apache b Dark Cuervo & Mary Apache
Drago beat Cuervo with the Yamoto-Toshi.
2) Dark Ozz, Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu b Crazy Boy, Joe Lider, Niño Hamburguesa
Ozz pulled Crazy’s mask and beat him.
3) Australian Suicide b Pentagón Jr.
Moved all the way up to the tercera. Suicide won with his tornillo shooting star press. As by rule, Pentagon Jr. immediately destroyed the victorious tecnico and left him bloodied.
4) Angélico & Jack Evans b Daga & Steve Pain [AAA TAG]
Made a title match after the last taping. Angelico & Jack retained, their second defense. Jack pinned Pain after the 630 senton.
5) Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown b Hijo del Fantasma, Silver King, Texano Jr.
Psycho Clown beat Texano Jr. with the Canadian Destoryer for the fourth straight time, according to the recap. A title match was set for 06/07 in Orizaba, the site of Verano de Escandalo.
6) Bengala (AAA), Cibernético, La Parka b Black Warrior, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Psicosis
Bengala, not the current luchador in CMLL, debuted here and beat Psicosis with a piledriver.

Air Date: 05/10 & 05/17

I Googled Yamoto-Toshi so I could describe the move here, and the only wrestling results which came up was this AAA recap. I guess we’ll learn together!

Marisela Pena had mentioned AAA would be going to Orizaba and Konnan had mention Verano de Escandalo was back this year, but this is the first time both were put together and mentioned as part of an AAA event. June 7th is a Saturday. By my math, this taping and Sunday’s taping will air before Verano de Escandalo, with the Tapachula taping airing the same day and the Tuxtla show actually airing after Verano takes place.  AAA’s usual habit is to have everything in place for the major show by the TV before their major show, which means anything else major that’s happening in June has to be set up Sunday or not at all.

It’s probably going to be a lot of “not at all”, since AAA’s current policy is to only do a couple of important matches on each major show and just throw out random matches to fill out the undercard.  (That’s not a popular policy in these parts, but there’s no indication it’s changing.) Sunday’s card could set up a Demon/Chessman or Fenix/Fantasma title match, but both seems unlikely and neither seems more likely. Another Jeff Jarrett tag is more certain to be taking place on Verano de Escandalo, and possibly the first Averno/Sin Cara appearance.

There’s been no indication of Verano airing on iPPV. They still have a month and they’d be ill advised to make TripleMania their first effort since last year’s failure.

Bengala is not the CMLL opening match perennial and it’s awkward AAA would  use a name that’s already on TV with another promotion for a variety of reasons. I think there are definitely people in AAA who have no idea there’s someone in CMLL with that name – if I recall correctly, they weren’t familiar with Semental and Mortiz back when they tried out for AAA and Bengala’s in a similar position – but I’m sure someone there had to know. Maybe it’ll be changed later.

Bengala has a big shoulder pad that he’s wearing during the match. That sort of costuming is often used to obscure an identifying mark. It looks like it didn’t quite do it’s job last night; a tattoo on Bengala’s right shoulder is exposed in that picture. That body art appears similar to the skeleton foot  on Veracruz native Ricky Marvin’s shoulder. It’s not a 100%, someone else could have a similar tattoo, but few others would be brought in as a main event guy to get a big win in their debut.

Marvin was in AAA last year, but never actually seen on the main television show. His one TV match in May as a Perros del Mal member (destroying Los Mirreyes) was left off of TV and a later run-in was edited off the Televisa version of the show. He never showed up again. The whole thing was a bit mysterious and I never heard an explanation. Marvin’s been mostly working indy shows in Mexico since deciding to scale back his NOAH participation after 2013, and has been a regular (and superb) presence on the ChilangaMask shows until this most recent set of events. He’s been primarily wrestling around Veracruz. It’s strange for AAA to put him under a mask, but maybe they were just looking for a fresh start. He’s going to be a good addition if he sticks around a lot this time.

As mentioned, AAA is back again on Sunday in Villahermosa. There’s a mystery man in the semimain there, and I’d guess it’d be Bengala again.

about Abismo Negro’s death

Gawker asks “Did Steroid Panic Kill Ex-WWE Wrestler?” Well, yes, probably, but why are we talking about Chris Benoit?

The article actually turned out to be about Abismo Negro (Abismo working in WWE – and apparently as Maniaco when Maniaco was Abismo Negro; AAA is confusing, ask Dr. Lucha) and not only pushes the steroids idea and the drug violence. It’s tough rule out anything with what’s being made public here, but both seem unlikely at this point

I only bring this up because Dave wrote a detailed story – explanation? educated guess? it’s just stated as is – about Abismo’s death. Might have this out there if everything else is going to be guessed:

Abismo Negro’s last match was not Rey de Reyes on 3/14 in Guadalajara, but a house show on 3/16 in Mazatlan. He was described as despondent at the show, complaining, even though he had just returned, that he wasn’t being used well enough or paid well enough. Others felt he was lucky that he was even taken back after all the no- shows and drug problems. He wasn’t booked on another show for a few days, so he stayed in Mazatlan and went on a cocaine binge, and ended up no-showing the cards on 3/20 and 3/21, and then, apparently having run out of cash, he took a bus back home to Mexico City on 3/22 instead of going to Monterrey, where he was booked. The current belief is he suffered a heart attack, collapsed, and fell into the river where he drowned.

It is not news that Abismo Negro had a cocaine addiction, and it’s not a surprise it led to his death (just that end result was heart attack/drowning instead of the more conventional overdose.) AAA was not surprised he died a drug related death, just that he died one that particular day.

AAA’s spoken their condolences to Abismo’s family and honoring his professional career by not using his name again. What they haven’t said yet is how they’ll work to prevent this happening again. If Abismo Negro was the only one abusing drugs as he did, AAA wouldn’t have allowed it to continue. That he got away with it, and kept coming back despite continual problems with it, indicates it’s common enough in AAA where everyone’s allowed to do whatever as long as they make the next show.

I don’t run a wrestling company, so maybe I’m not seeing a lot of what they see. Thankfully, I don’t also have to console grieving widows either. AAA said anything about the underlining problems here, treating this death like a random occurrence. I hope they’re proved to be correct, but every underlining indicator suggests Abismo Negro’s passing will not be remembered as a unique moment, but as the first in a depressing trend.