AAA TripleMania XX: For the Biggest Show of the Year, Not Much Happened Here

Triple Mania XX
Date: August 5, 2012
Location: Arena Ciudad De Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: 21,000
Commentators: Andres Maronas, Arturo Rivera, Jesus Zuniga, Leo Riano

This is another request as I’m actually building up a bit of a history with AAA. I did their famous When Worlds Collide show (not sure why it’s famous but it kind of is) and Triplemania 18, which is their biggest show of the year. At that show, a group called Los Perros Del Mal debuted and started an invasion storyline. Since then, the group has merged with like five other groups to form La Sociedad, which has about 25-30 members. The main event tonight is a member of one of those stables, Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. in a mask vs. mask match. I speak enough Spanish to get the gist of this show so let’s get to it.

This show is also an annual memorial to Antonio Pena, the founder of the company who died in I think 1994. The opening video is a partial tribute to him and also a rundown of the card, which has two tag teams representing Joaquin Roldan and Dorian Roldan (father and son who hate each other) with the losing team’s boss getting his head shaved. Dorian’s team is Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle so you’ll at least know some people.

We open with house show dates. That’s not exactly the best way to fire up an audience for a super show.

The opening video in the arena is about the Roldans and their drama. Basically one heads AAA and one heads La Sociedad, which is the invading group I mentioned earlier. This is treated as the main event of the show even though there’s another lucha de apuesta match (betting match, usually mask vs. mask or hair vs. hair or something like that) and a world title match after it.

The set is basically a Titantron sat on the stage which is similar to what late WCW had, meaning it’s not bad at all.

A bunch of girls in barely there dresses bring out banners and flags to open things up in the arena. This is set to the instrumental montage music from Rocky IV. That’s totally awesome.

Faby Apache/Fenix/Octagoncito/Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Dark Dragon/Mini Charly Manson/Sexy Star/Yuriko

From what I can tell, this is a Relevos Atomicos de locura match, which means there’s a male wrestler (Fenix/Dark Dragon), a female wrestler (Faby Apache/Sexy Star, who is women’s champion), a mini (Octagoncito/Mini Charly Manson) and an exotico (Pimpinela Escarlata/Yuriko), which is literally a transvestite wrestler. Now there’s a cultural difference for you. As best as I can gather, the rules are your usual eight person tag rules. I think Sexy Star is on the heel team.

I have almost no idea who these people are so I’ll do my best to keep track of this. The referee gets an ovation too for some reason. The exoticos start things off and Escarlata is the one with short hair. Got it. The ring is HUGE and six sided ala old school TNA. Escarlata runs the ropes a lot and takes Yuriko over with a sloppy headscissors before strutting a bit.

Off to Apache vs. Star which I believe is a big rivalry. This is lucha rules (duh) which means sending someone to the floor is the same as them tagging out. Star is sent to the outside and I think Dark Dragon comes in to mess with Faby’s hair. An armdrag puts Dragon down and it’s off to Octagoncito. Yeah that was Dragon because Octagon (yes I’m well aware that Octagon is a totally different guy but I’m calling Octagoncito Octagon in this match for the sake of it’s easier to type) gets to face Mini Charly Manson for a bit now. I apologize for explaining so much but I have almost no idea what’s going on and I’m watching the stuff.

Octagon flies around a lot and uses a lot of spins and dives to annoy Manson before it’s off to Dragon who kicks Octagon’s head off. Now Dragon is headscissored to the floor and Octagon takes him out with a dive. The rest of the heels work on Fenix who is sent to the floor and into the apron by Dragon. Now it’s Escarlata getting worked over by the heels. This is REALLY fast paced stuff. Dragon comes off the top with a double stomp I think to the groin, and now it’s Faby’s turn to get beaten up.

Everything stays broken down and Octagon takes a gutbuster from Star. The heels are in total control at the moment and everyone is beating up everyone. Escarlata is quadruple teamed in the corner but Fenix and Octagon come back in off the top for the save. Now the face team is alone in the ring until we get down to Star vs. Fenix. Star wears a mask and has long blonde hair for you visual people out there. Fenix hits an awkward looking kick to the head in the corner before it’s back to Dragon. Dragon tries to throw Fenix into the air but gets caught in an INSANE midair flip into a rana. That looked AWESOME.

A top rope knee drop to Dragon’s head looks to finish but Yuriko makes the save. Octagon comes in with a HARD kick to the back and hits what we would call Wasteland to set up a corkscrew plancha off the top for two. Off to Escarlata vs. Star with the exotico hooking an over the back backbreaker. Manson comes in and takes Escarlata down with a northern lights suplex, only for Faby to take him down with a sitout Pedigree for two.

Dragon makes the save and pulls Apache’s hair before hitting a freaky kind of spinning driver for two. Escarlata jumps into Dragon’s arms and kisses him, sending Dragon to the floor. A big dive takes the Dragon out so Star dives on both of them (looked awesome too), followed by a dive from Octagon. Fenix hits a 360 moonsault to take out all four, as Yuriko slams Faby down. Apache pops up and grabs a rolling armbar on Yuriko for the submission out of nowhere.

Rating: C+. I have no idea who most of these people are or what in the world was going on with the exoticos, but this was a very fun opener. The crowd was into it the whole time and the big dives were awesome. This Fenix guy seems like someone who could do very well as a high flier ala Sin Cara or an old school WCW cruiserweight. Star is good looking and can dive, but she seems content to be the top chick in AAA and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Tribute video to Antonio Pena.

La Hermanadad 187 vs. Chessman/Juventud Guerrera vs. La Familia de Tijuana vs. Hart Foundation 2.0

La Hermanadad is Joe Lider and Psychosis, La Familia is Extreme Tiger and Halloween and the Hart Foundation is Jack Evans and Teddy Hart. This is a Parejas Suicidas cage match, which means it’s escape rules. The only team left in the ring has to face each other later in the night in a lucha de apuesta match. Apparently Lider and Psychosis are back together for one night only after Psychosis (who is wearing his mask again) was burned by an errant fireball.

Chessman is a tag champion with Abyss here but is teaming with Juvy for some reason. Speaking of Juvy, he’s Cruiserweight Champion, back in his mask, and comes out to Enter Sandman of all songs. As the announcer is doing the intros, La Hermanadad destroys everyone with chairs. Tiger gets up too and works over Lider, hitting a big double stomp off the top onto his chest.

Halloween climbs to the top of the cage for a huge dive, thinks better of it, and climbs down to escape. Smart man that painted freak. There are weapons in the cage too. That’s about the extent of the commentary I can give you here as everyone is fighting everyone and there’s no structure to the match at all, which is fine. Halloween is sitting in the aisle with a soda cheering Extreme Tiger on.

Someone ranas Tiger onto a trashcan and Lider hits a knee to the face of Evans. Tiger dropkicks a trashcan into Psychosis’ face as Guerrera escapes. Tiger gets on one of the beams across the top of the cage as Psychosis does the Terry Funk spinning ladder spot. Tiger hits a HUGE dive onto Halloween and Juvy, officially taking La Familia out of the match. In your twist of the match, Psychosis and Lider are fighting on top of the beam with Psychosis firing staples into Lider’s head. They’re partners but they entered the match for a chance to fight each other later. Psychosis gets to the floor.

To recap we have Lider, Evans, Hart and Chessman in the ring still. Evans does one of his WAY overdone flips to Lider before climbing the cage and moonsaulting off the beam. Evans escapes, leaving us with three people inside the cage. Halloween now has some popcorn to go with that soda. Hart hits some backbreakers on both guys followed by a moonsault off the cage.

Hart easily escapes and we’re down to Chessman vs. Lider. Lider crushes Chessman against a ladder and goes up, accepting help from Psychosis despite wanting to fight him. Chessman kicks Lider down though and escapes to send La Hermanadad to a match later tonight.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t so much of a match as much as it was a trainwreck with the focus entirely being on Lider and Psychosis. They were a long running feud so the blowoff being here tonight is a good thing and makes the most sense. The other teams were just kind of there but we got dives off the cage and the fans were into it which is a good thing.

Vampiro pops up post match and sends Chessman off the cage and through some tables. Chessman does a stretcher job.

Perry Aguayo is announced as the next inductee into the AAA Hall of Fame. Aguayo comes out and receives a plaque after giving a speech. As Perro celebrates, Mascara Ano 2000 and someone else from El Consejo come out and Mascara talks about losing his mask to Perro years ago. A challenge is thrown out for a hair vs. hair match, but since Perro is in his mid 60s he turns it down. For clarification’s sake, this is Mascara Ano 2000 senior. It’s his son that’s in the main event tonight.

Dorian Roldan, the Jarretts and Angle say they’ll win.

We recap the Psycho Circus vs. Consejo match. Best I can tell, they don’t like each other.

Los Psycho Circus/La Parka vs. El Consejo/Octagon

This is different than L.A. Park who we’ll see later. It’s the same gimmick but played by a different guy, which doesn’t sound like much but it was a HUGE ordeal back in the day and actually main evented this show two years ago. Los Psycho Circus is a group of clowns famous for a long winning streak and comprised of Murder Clown, Monster Clown and Psycho Clown.

El Consejo is Semental, El Texano Jr. and Toscano (the leader). La Parka comes out to Thriller and has ZOMBIE DANCERS, thereby making him awesome. This is a Relevos Australianos match, meaning the only way to win is to beat a captain, which would be Parka or Octagon. Usually these matches are 2/3 falls but this is one fall to a finish for no apparent reason.

Octagon jumps Parka in the aisle and the fight is on quickly. They’re old partners who hate each other now. I know I say this a lot, but I have absolutely no idea who most of these people are. One of the Consejo guys gets whipped by a belt to the back. As best as I can tell, Murder Clown is the big guy, and also the one launched through the air into a splash on a member of Consejo against the ropes. It doesn’t help that tagging doesn’t seem to be a rule in this tag match.

I think Psycho Clown gets triple teamed in the corner and triple kicked in the ribs as Octagon beats on Parka in the corner. Now we actually do settle down into a regular tag match with La Parka avoiding some double teaming, resulting in heel miscommunication. La Parka causes Octagon to kick two of his own partners before heading to the floor. Psycho and Monster come in and cause more heel miscommunication, followed by Murder Clown accidentally dropkicking both of his tent mates.

We get a WAY overdone six man tower of doom double superplex out of the corner before Parka dives on a heel on the floor. I believe it was Texano who got in a kick to one of the clowns before being sent to the floor as well. Apparently that was Monster Clown and he follows the guy I believe to be Texano to the floor with a big dive.

Psycho backdrops the other Consejo guy onto the two already outside before diving on both of them. Murder Clown goes up for the HUGE dive to take everyone out. That leaves the captains alone in the ring until Semental (FINALLY I’m sure who one of them is) tries to hold La Parka, only to get kicked low by mistake. In the confusion, Parka rolls up Octagon for the pin.

Rating: C-. Despite the fact that I spent most of the match trying to figure out who in the world I was watching, this was only ok. They basically took two feuds here and put them together into a single match, which is usually ok but when you have eight guys in those two feuds, it can be a little hard to keep track of. Also, Octagon and Parka came off as guys who happened to be opponents rather than people that hate each other, which brought the match down even more. It’s not bad though.

Post match Consejo attacks Octagon until La Parka makes the save. He asks Octagon to leave La Sociedad, but Octagon walks away. Consejo attacks Los Psycho Circus as a consolation prize.

Psychosis vs. Joe Lider

Psychosis hits Lider in the head with a chair before Lider’s name graphic can appear on screen. Lider shrugs it off and smacks Psychosis with a chair of his own before taking Psychosis’ mask. Apparently he’s insisting that this is a hair vs. hair match instead of a mask vs. hair match. That makes sense because, in the words of Chris Rock regarding Psychosis: “WE KNOW WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE!”

Lider, who has his head taped up from the staplegun attack earlier, goes after Psychosis with the same gun and the fans freak out. A neckbreaker puts Lider down because staples into the head doesn’t slow anyone down apparently. Psychosis grabs a pair of chairs (where do these things come from? No one went to the floor to get them and they were in the ring when the match started. Did I wake up in WWF War Zone?) and crushes Lider’s head a few times.

Psychosis goes up but has a trashcan (again, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?) placed on his head before getting slammed down onto the mat. Lider finds a ladder and smacks Psychosis in the head with it as we head to the apron. Psychosis fights back and slams Lider’s back into the apron before loading up a table against the apron. Back in and Psychosis goes up while holding a chair, only to get crotched on the top.

A top rope rana sends Psychosis into a trashcan for a VERY close two, which seems to be due to a crooked referee. Psychosis is part of Los Perros Del Mal which is part of La Sociedad. A chair shot puts Psychosis down and we’ve got a table. It’s already bent though, so Psychosis piles stuff on top of it. He goes up top and gets crotched again but as Lider loads up a superplex, Psychosis counters into a flip piledriver onto the ladder for the pin and Lider’s hair.

Rating: D. This match comes down to one question: do you like hardcore wrestling? If you do, you’ll like this match. If you don’t like it, you’ll hate this one. I’m not a fan of it and the match didn’t work as a result. Apparently this is a big and long feud so the people watching this would be more impressed with it than I was. I didn’t like the match for the most part but at least it was relatively short.

Psychosis puts Lider onto a pile of tacks before Lider gets a haircut.

Lider and Psychosis brawl even more in the back, meaning this likely isn’t over.

Jeff Jarrett/Kurt Angle vs. Electroshock/L.A. Park

Jeff, ever the super heel, throws tortillas to the fans as he comes to the ring. This is the battle of the Roldans, which is Dorian vs. Joaquin respectively. The losing team’s Roldan gets his head shaved. I always forget how hot Karen Jarrett is. Park has Bad to the Bone as his theme music, making him the coolest luchador I’ve seen so far tonight. Also he’s dropped the skeleton attire and looks like a big monster in blue which is pretty awesome.

Electroshock and Angle start things off and Kurt will have none of this handshake stuff. Instead he easily takes Electroshock to the mat and we start with some technical stuff. Angle snaps off an overhead belly to belly but gets dropkicked in the back when he poses. Off to Jarrett, who I believe holds the record for longest time as AAA World Champion. A spinwheel kick takes Jarrett to the floor as we hear about the members of the Foreign Legion over the years, which is almost every major non-WWE star since 1994 (yes even Sting).

Off to Park who fires off some kicks to Jeff but gets suplexed down by Angle for two. Park avoids a charge in the corner and dances a bit before snapping off a powerslam on Angle.

Jeff jumps Park from behind to take over but Electroshock gets the tag anyway. Park gets knocked to the floor and double teamed before Angle goes back in to beat on Electroshock a bit more. Kurt puts on a chinlock and Dorian comes in for some cheap shots as Jeff has the referee.

Jarrett comes back in and decks Park as Electroshock rolls to the outside. Karen tries to interfere but the referee grabs her by the hair and shakes her around. TAKE THAT HEBNER! Jeff kicks Electroshock low and Dorian gets in again. He gets in some more cheap shots and his papa weakly comes in to chase him off. With Electroshock in trouble, Dorian comes in AGAIN. The fans go nuts for something but the camera is so all over the place that I have no idea what I’m supposed to be happy over. Oh Dorian got ejected. Makes sense now.

As Dorian is leaving, he runs into Abyss of all people. Apparently Abyss is part of La Sociedad and escorts Dorian back to ringside because who is going to tell him not to? Karen kicks Park on the floor as Abyss pounds on Electroshock. Back in and Electroshock gets in a shot to Kurt’s face and we FINALLY get the hot tag to Park. House is cleaned but Abyss comes in and takes Park down. That doesn’t last long as Park knocks Abyss down and out to the floor, followed by a suicide dive for a BIG pop.

Dorian tries to come in again but his dad FINALLY does something about it. I’m not sure what that something was but apparently it was supposed to be a clothesline. The referee gets bumped (like it matters) and can’t count the pin on Jarrett. Abyss chokeslams Park (which is a confusing name given Abyss’ real name/brother character in TNA) but Electroshock comes in out of nowhere and hits a cutter on Angle for the pin to blow the roof off the place.

Rating: C+. It was overbooked but I think that’s more par for the course in Mexico than it is in America which means I can’t criticize it as a result. Good formula tag match here with the ending being exactly what the fans wanted to see. This would be the same as an AMERICAN team beating some foreign invaders which is one of the best and most sure ways to fire up a crowd. Good stuff here.

Dorian tries to run but Joaquin says come get what you earned. Konnan is here too and looks to be in shock. From what I can find/translate, Joaquin offers to let Dorian keep his hair if he’ll disband La Sociedad and rejoin the family. That must be what Konnan (the co-leader) was freaked out by. Dorian actually agrees, sending Jarrett into panic.

Joaquin says it’s done then but Park says no it isn’t and wants the hair gone. I think he tells Joaquin to be a father…..so Joaquin shaves his own hair? The father and son embrace…..BUT IT’S A SWERVE!!! Dorian decks his father and Angle, Jarrett and Abyss hold off Electroshock and Park so Dorian can shave his father’s head.

AAA World Title: Hijo De Perro Aguayo vs. El Mesias

Mesias is defending and Aguayo is the leader of Los Perros Del Mal and basically started the whole invasion. The fans are split here because Mesias (and his second, Cibernetico) are really popular but so are Los Perros. Apparently Aguayo put Mesias out for a few months earlier in the year to set this up. Oh and Aguayo won the King of Kings tournament. It’s a fast start with both guys running the ropes, only to have Aguayo clothesline Mesias down.

They trade some very fast armdrags before the champ hits a Thesz Press and some very slow punches. The fans don’t seem thrilled by Mesias so far. Aguayo misses a charge and falls to the floor where Cibernetico and Hector Garza, Aguayo’s second, talk a lot of trash to each other. Mesias rams Aguayo into the announce table a few times before heading back in for an X Factor for no cover.

A superplex gets two on Aguayo but he comes back with a knee to the ribs to take over. There’s another of those magically appearing chairs but it doesn’t get used yet. Now we’ve got a table in the corner which isn’t going to be used yet apparently. Aguayo puts the chair on Mesias’ chest and hits a top rope double stomp for two as Cibernetico pulls the referee out. Aguayo loads up a tombstone (illegal in Mexico) but Garza comes in and stops him. Hector misses a chair shot, putting Aguayo down and probably cutting his head. Mesias knocks Garza to the floor and gets two off a running powerslam.

Aguayo is busted open. A standing rana gets two for the champion and the fans are starting to get into this. Mesias gets two more off a Codebreaker and Perro is bleeding like crazy. It’s so bad that the doctor comes in to look at him, but Aguayo says keep it going. The doctor isn’t sure, so Perro DROPKICKS THE DOCTOR! A fast small package gets two for Perro but he walks into a jumping Downward Spiral and a bad spear through the table to keep the title on Mesias.

Rating: C. The blade job here was awesome but the moves around it weren’t so great. Mesias doesn’t look so much like a tough guy as he does a brawler with a beer gut. The fans were WAY into this though which makes me think the build to it was very solid stuff. Good enough stuff though for a newcomer and the crowd treated both guys like stars. That works for the world title match at the biggest show of the year.

Cibernetico gets in a shoving match with Aguayo’s father, only to have Mesias pull him away.

In the back, Garza is blamed for the loss. He would be thrown out of the group five days later.

We recap Wagner Jr. vs. Mascara Ano 2000, which is basically a battle of families. Both are from famous Mexican wrestling families and Mascara has beaten Wagner about five times setting up the match. Silver King, Wagner’s real life brother, is here with him. Wagner’s son (El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., literally meaning the son of Dr. Wagner Jr.) is there too, as is Mascara Ano 2000 Sr.

Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Mascara Ano 2000 Jr.

This is also mask vs. mask. They slug it out to start with Wagner chopping Mascara down. A Samoan drop does the same thing as Wagner controls early. Mascara guillotines him down onto the top and we head to the floor. That goes nowhere so we go back in for a powerbomb for two for Mascara. The fans are totally behind Wagner. The beating continues until Wagner is busted open from the eye.

Mascara Sr. gets in and pounds away as well which is all cool apparently. All of that gets two as Silver King and Wagner III are all cool with letting this double team continue. Mascara Sr. has some kind of a spike that he keeps pounding at Wagner’s head with. Mascara Jr. accidentally kicks Mascara St. and the comeback is on. We head to the floor where Wagner hits a flip dive off the apron to put Mascara down again.

Wagner goes after Mascara Sr. and takes the spike from him before heading back in to shove the referee down. A Batista Bomb gets a VERY slow two on Mascara, causing Silver King to finally complain about something. Another powerbomb gets the same result and Wagner is getting ticked off. Mascara Sr. interferes again and his son finds a chair. Silver King FINALLY comes in with a chair….and turns on his brother. Fans throw in trash and Wagner III tries to come in but is beaten down as well.

Even that just gets two on Wagner though as the match continues. With Las Mascaras distracted, Wagner III sneaks a glass bottle to his dad (old plot point from 1993 when Mascara Sr. beat Perry Aguayo with a bottle shot to the head) and dropkicks down by Mascaras. The bottle shot to the head FINALLY puts Mascara down for the pin.

Rating: C-. Too overbooked for my taste again but this was the “send the fans home happy” moment and apparently Wagner is insanely popular so what better way to end the show with? The match was mainly Wagner getting double teamed and then turned on by his brother, but it didn’t do a very good job at building drama or anything, as Wagner hit one shot with the bottle to win and that was it.

Wagner Jr. and Mascara Sr. argue a lot about whose house this is until Mascara Jr.’s daughter does the unmasking. This is a MUCH bigger deal than it sounds like. Wagner Jr. celebrates for a long time before a highlight package ends the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This is a pretty big culture clash for me, as I’m used to the biggest show of the year feeling more serious than this. However, the fans seemed to love this and I think the good guys won every major match on the card. The show isn’t bad though and if you’ve never seen some lucha libre and can’t track down When Worlds Collide, this isn’t the worst show you could see. It’s available in full on Youtube from AAA themselves, but the matches are out of order as it was aired as three TV specials instead of one show, so the big matches are all at the end of episodes. Not bad, but not my style for the most part.

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