AAA Triplemania 22: Donde Esta El NJPW?

Triplemania 22
Date: August 17, 2014
Location: Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: 21,000
Commentators: Hugo Savinovich, Vampiro

Well I recently butchered a Japanese show so why not a Mexican show too? I’ve seen a few shows from AAA before and I’ve liked it so far, but that might be because I can understand a bit of Spanish so I’m not completely lost. I’m really not sure what’s going on here but a good wrestling show should be able to tell stories without being able to understand every single thing. Let’s get to it.

HOKEY SMOKE THERE’S ENGLISH COMMENTARY! Oh I feel a lot better all of a sudden.

The ring announcer welcomes us to the show. I think he says the show is being broadcast in the US as well as Mexico. One more note: AAA uses the six sided ring ala TNA.

Opening video, which is just shots of a lot of the roster. There’s a good chance I’ll know a lot of these people from Lucha Underground.

With music from Rocky Balboa vs. Ivan Drago from Rocky IV playing in the background (I already like this show), an SUV pulls up. Out walks Mexican legend Dos Caras (two faces) and his son, Alberto Del Rio (Alberto El Patron here). This isn’t really a surprise as Alberto was in the montage of faces in the opening video.

The father and son come to the ring with Hugo introducing Alberto and listing off all of his WWE accomplishments. Alberto talks about returning home (with a name graphic for Sexy Star) and belonging to Mexico. Seven years ago he went to the United States to pursue a dream but now he has been humbled by God. He claims racism in WWE and says it doesn’t matter if you have money or not. Dos Caras taught him how to be a man and nothing can ever take away his pride. He’s so proud to be Mexican.

Cue Konnan and Los Perros Del Mal (heel stable, coming out to Eye of the Tiger, making them awesome) with Konnan running down Mexico and Alberto in particular. Perro Aguayo Jr. makes fun of WWE catchphrases and my goodness they need to turn up the commentary volume as it’s being badly drowned out. He calls Dos Caras an old man and shoves him down so the brawl is on. The Perros being chased off with ease as Vampiro brings up an interesting point: Alberto can’t officially wrestle for 90 days. Alberto challenges Aguayo to a fight and says Perro Sr. should have raised his son better. The surprises belong to Alberto.

Aero Star/Jennifer Blake/Mascarita Sagrada/Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Mamba/Mini Abismo Negro/Sexy Star/Super Fly

The idea here is you have a masked man, a mini, an exotico (transvestite) and female wrestler with the idea being a strange combination tag match. This is the definition of a cultural difference but the matches can be fun. Star and Fly used to be teammates but have recently split. Sexy Star is half of the Mixed Tag Team Champions but the commentators call it the Women’s Title. Mamba recently beat Escarlata in a hair vs. hair match so there are even more stories going on.

The camera stays on a wide shot so it’s kind of hard to tell what’s going on. Super Fly accidentally kicks Sexy Star to the floor, allowing Aero to get a quick rollup for two. Fly is sent to the floor and the camera completely misses the dive. Off to the girls with Sexy taking Blake down by the hair but getting armdragged out of the corner and down to the floor. Negro, who is the mini but is taller than the top rope, gets caught in a spinning DDT from Blake, followed by a running seated senton from the apron to take Sexy down.

Off to the exoticos with Escarlata rolling around and walking the top rope into an armdrag to Mamba and a headscissors to Fly at the same time. The minis come in and Vampiro has to explain that usually there isn’t this big of a height differential. Sagrada climbs onto Negro’s shoulders and then the top of his head into a hurricanrana. Aero backdrops Fly to the floor and Sexy Germans Blake for no count. Blake gets two off something like a TKO but I can barely see what’s going on because of the stupid wide shot. Everything breaks down and the exoticos stop for some “comedy” with Escarlata getting two off a sunset flip.

Sexy and Blake trade rollups for two each before Aero hits a top rope Falling Star to the floor to take out Fly. Negro blocks a kiss from Escarlata so Pimpinela dives on…..someone the camera misses. The minis go at it again with Sagrada hitting a big dive onto Negro but Fly misses his dive a few seconds later. Blake dives over the top onto Super Fly, followed by a corkscrew plancha from Sexy. The announcers have issues with the sound and Escarlata finally gets to kiss Negro. Sagrada throws Negro in AJ Lee’s Black Widow for the submission.

Rating: C. Well that…..happened. I remember hearing Sean Waltman say there’s no psychology in lucha matches and that’s very clear here. This was all over the place with no particular rhyme or reason for anything that was going on. They were just doing random spots to each other and if they made sense then great but it didn’t really matter either way. I did however find Escarlata a lot easier to sit through here than in Lucha Underground, though that might have something to do with not having to listen to Striker call him Pimpy every ten seconds.

The announcers get the sound back and Hugo makes me laugh by asking why things always happen to him around tables.

Sexy Star dances post match.

World Cruiserweight Title: El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Daga vs. Fenix vs. Angelico vs. Australian Suicide vs. Bengala vs. Drago vs. Jack Evans vs. Joe Lider vs. Pentagon Jr.

This is a ten way elimination match (oh joy) to unify Daga’s Cruiserweight Title with Fenix’s Fusion Title. You may know Hijo del Fantasma as King Cuerno, as well as a few other names from Lucha Underground. I’ll do my best to keep track of these guys but I make no promises whatsoever. From what I can tell, neither title ever changed hands in a singles match. That must be a cultural thing because it’s rather insane otherwise. Pentagon Jr. comes in as Sexy Star’s partner in the World Mixed Tag Team Champions while Evans and Angelico are the World Tag Team Champions. Fenix has a posse with him.

Thankfully there are only two people in the ring at once and the other eight stay on the floor until someone is sent outside. One last note: Ricochet (Prince Puma) was supposed to be in this match but is being replaced by Drago due to some flight issues. Bengala quickly sends Pentagon outside and follows him out with a huge moonsault, which impresses Vampiro greatly. Fantasma runs over Evans with a clothesline and Angelico comes in to help. Pentagon and I think Suicide double team Jack before Lider comes in, only to get knocked to the floor, setting up a HUGE corkscrew plancha from Drago to take down all ten guys.

Lider rolls Bengala up for two back inside but Bengala grabs a rollup of his own with a nice cradle for the first elimination. Pentagon powerbombs Suicide as Savinovich has no idea who all is in there. A big spinning DDT plants Pentagon before Drago runs the ropes to hurricanrana Fenix. That’s fine with Fantasma though as he gets his knees up to block Suicide’s Shooting Star. This is going so fast that you can really only call spots because there’s no story or flow to the match to speak of. Pentagon hits a running package piledriver (looked sick) to eliminate Suicide and get us down to eight.

Drago comes in and flips all around Pentagon but gets knocked to the floor. Evans backflips to avoid a clothesline from Pentagon and hits a kind of Pele kick, only to have Daga kick him down as well. Of course Jack isn’t interested in selling and loads up a 450 but has to bail out, setting up another package piledriver from Pentagon. Daga adds a suplex into a backbreaker for a double pin, leaving seven guys in the running.

It’s off to Bengala and Fenix to trade running kicks in the corner. That bores them so they try exchanging tombstone attempts until Bengala is dropped HARD on his head for an elimination. Doctors come out to check on Bengala as Fenix is backdropped into the air but turns around into a sweet hurricanrana. The fans, as they have been all night, are mostly uninterested. Either that or they’re very badly mic’d as there haven’t been many substantial pops over an hour into the show.

Fenix dives through the ropes into another hurricanrana on Pentagon but Fantasma jumps him from behind. A whip sends Fenix into a powerbomb into a backbreaker on the ramp, which doesn’t make a ton of difference here. Daga hits a suicide dive to take out Fantasma for a big crash. Well in theory it was a big crash as the camera missed it again. I can live with that a bit more in a major free for all like this, especially once it gets on the floor.

Fenix pops right back up and even Vampiro is saying he should still be down. A HUGE top rope hurricanrana and standing moonsault are enough to eliminate Pentagon, leaving us with Fenix, Daga, Angelico and Fantasma. Bengala is just being taken out. Angelico pounds on Daga in the corner as Fantasma goes outside, leaving no one for Fenix to handspring elbow. Angelico joins him on the floor, allowing Fenix to run from one corner to another for a huge double turn corkscrew dive. Daga hits a Canadian Destroyer and discus lariat to Fenix, setting up a rear naked choke for the submission.

Down to three now as Daga tornado DDT’s Angelico into a guillotine choke but Angelico powers up to his feet for the break. Angelico kind of break dances into a kick to the head to stagger Daga, setting up a running Razor’s Edge into the buckle. More doctors are out to check on Fantasma as Angelico gets the pin to put us down to one on one. Fantasma pops up and dropkicks Angelico to the floor for a big suicide dive. Vampiro: “He knocked that South African all the way back to Japan!”

Both guys crawl back in at the 19 count and we actually have a breather. Fantasma’s top rope sunset bomb is countered and Angelico gets two off another running Razor’s Edge into the corner. He loads up another from the middle rope but Fantasma slips off to escape a bad case of death. They chop it out on the ropes with Fantasma getting the better of it, setting up what was supposed to be a reverse hurricanrana but winds up just being Angelico taking a back bump. A fireman’s carry into a tombstone (called a flying inverted neckbreaker into a brainbuster by Hugo) is enough to give Fantasma the title.

Rating: D+. The high flying was fun here at times but the ridiculous amount of botches and complete lack of flow drove me crazy. They were all over the place and I get the idea behind a wild fight like this, but would a little bit of order have killed them? It doesn’t help that I have absolutely no idea if any of these guys are faces or heels as they all wrestle about the same style. Total mess but some fun high spots helped it a lot.

Commissioner Fantasma presents his son with the new green title belt post match. Vampiro implies that Hijo is a heel for the first indication of alignment all night.

We get the announcements for the Hall of Fame, which I don’t think are announced prior to the show. This year’s class include El Brazo and someone to be named later. Vampiro tells a nice story about Brazo’s family taking care of him when he showed up in Mexico when he was just 19 years old. AAA boss Joaquin Roldan presents the Brazo family with a plaque for the induction.

Video on Taya vs. Faby Apache for the Reina de Reinas (Queen of Queens, meaning the Women’s) Title. There’s a cool visual here with a chess board showing only two queens slowly moving closer to each other.

Reina de Reinas: Taya vs. Faby Apache

Apache is defending and has Drago in her corner while Taya has Sexy Star and some of Los Perros Del Mal. Referee Hijo de Tirantes (Son of Suspenders. Seriously) gets his own introduction, complete with flexing. Feeling out process to start with Faby easily taking the challenger down and cranking on the legs. It turns into a battle of hair pulling, which Vampiro excuses because it’s Mexico. A running double knee to the face has Apache in trouble early and we hit one of the only chinlocks of the night.

Back up and Faby superkicks a charging Taya to send her out to the floor. Tirantes, a known heel referee, won’t let Faby follow Taya out. Faby goes after her anyway but eats a fall away slam back inside. A fisherman’s suplex, with Taya being nice enough to lift her leg to be grabbed, gets two for Faby. Taya looks to have a busted nose as she gets two of her own off a facebuster. The champ grabs an Orton DDT but the referee stops the count at two to check on the injured nose. Works well enough I guess.

Taya is in the ropes so Faby charges, only to get caught in a kind of guillotine choke. The referee has no interest in breaking up the hold despite it being in the ropes so Faby escapes and puts on a rolling armbar instead. That goes nowhere so it’s off to a heel hook instead but Tirantes grabs Faby’s hair to break up the hold. Commissioner Fantasma is nowhere in sight. A superplex gets two for Faby as the referee just stops counting at two. It’s better than Nick Patrick’s overblown shoulder spasms at least.

That earns him a missile dropkick and draws in Sexy Star, only to have Faby drop her longtime rival with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Cue a second referee and Fantasma (senior) for some actual law and order. Taya misses a moonsault (on a broken nose remember) and gets kicked in the face for two. Taya comes back with a northern lights suplex and a double stomp for the pin and the title out of nowhere.

Rating: C. After all of the insane messes I sat through in the first two matches, this insanity was kind of a necessary step down. I can get behind a good crooked heel referee idea and that’s what we got here. Not a great or even a really good match but this is the best story I’ve seen all night.

Vampiro talks about all the hard work Taya has put in to get here, which really doesn’t jive with the whole crooked referee story or the fact that Taya was clearly the heel here. Then again, neither does Taya winning with a clean wrestling move after all the cheating but I’ll take what I can get.

The other inductee into the Hall of Fame is Rayo de Jalisco (Lightning from Jalisco) but Los Perros come out to jump Rayo Jr. Blue Demon Jr. comes out to help break it up and a big brawl breaks out.

A steel cage is lowered as the Star Wars theme plays. I’m digging this company’s music selections.

Video on the upcoming six way cage match where the last man in will either have his head shaved or lose his mask.

El Mesias vs. La Parka vs. Electroshock vs. Chessman vs. Averno vs. Blue Demon Jr.

This is in a cage and the last man in loses his mask or hair. Mesias is subbing for Jeff Jarrett, who is also missing due to travel issues. Averno, Mesias, Electroshock (I think at least as he wears a half mask) and Chessman (the reigning Latin American Champion) can have their heads shaved and the other two can lose their masks. Mesias is better known as Mil Muertes in Lucha Underground at the moment.

Averno and Chessman jump Mesias before everyone else make it to the ring and Electroshock gets the same treatment. Chessman climbs to the top of the cage and drops a leg to drive someone through a table. None of this is SHOWN OF COURSE because we needed to see Blue Demon high fiving fans. This company is making my head hurt. While all this is going on, La Parka has his admittedly awesome entrance to Thriller.

So everyone is in now and it’s La Parka getting the first advantage that we can actually see. Mesias is already bleeding and everyone not named Electroshock (or La Parka of course) jump La Parka. That’s fine with La Parka who gets to the top of the cage (having lost a boot somewhere in there) and is out less than two minutes after getting in. Electroshock is busted as well as the announcers finally explain the idea. Granted they’re not sure if Electroshock’s hair or mask is on the line either.

Averno tells Chessman to load up Mesias for a double team move but runs up the cage to make the second escape. We’re already down to four and Demon shrugs off all three other guys and makes it out. They’re flying through this match. Mesias superplexes Chessman down but Chessman pops up and grabs a guitar. Averno is back though and throws powder at Electroshock, allowing Chessman to nail him with the guitar. A spear from Mesias drops Chessman but he quickly pulls Mesias down and escapes.

So it’s Mesias vs. Electroshock as the final pairing and they stare each other down. Mesias’ tombstone doesn’t work an Electroshock nails an RKO, only to have Mesias make a quick save. Mesias sends him shoulder first into the cage but can’t escape either as Electroshock pulls him down. Vampiro: “What a bump.” An Alabama Slam plants Mesias and draws about the 1000^th OH MY GOD of the night from Vampiro. They chop it out on the top rope until Mesias hits something like a super Backstabber, allowing him to escape for the win.

Rating: D. Well let’s see. Or don’t see actually, which is the case with the big spot through the table. Other than that, the majority of the match was spent on quick escapes and people fighting with no reasons given. That’s one of the major issues of the night: I have no idea why these people are fighting most of the time. English commentary is nice, but these guys are REALLY bad at giving us backstories.

Electroshock has his head shaved. Mesias gets back in and a brawl breaks out.

Now we have clowns bringing out ice cream. Vampiro is annoyed that he doesn’t get one. I have no idea what the point of this was. Apparently these two are part of the Psycho Circus, which we’ll get to now.

Video on Psycho Clown vs. Texano Jr. which is part of a long feud between Texano and the Clown. Psycho had a few World Title shots at Texano earlier in the year but kept getting screwed out of the belt. Thank you Wikipedia, as the announcers just say it’s a generational battle.

El Texano Jr. vs. Psycho Clown

This is mask vs. hair and Texano’s World Title isn’t on the line. He’s also taken the hair of. Psycho’s brother and father so there’s a long story here. Hijo de Fantasma is in Texano’s corner and might slip him a foreign object. It’s a brawl to start as the Spanish commentary is bleeding in. Psycho sidesteps Texano to send him outside, setting up a nice suicide dive. It’s Texano up first though and a chair to the ribs slows the Clown down.

Back in and Texano goes after the mask before just blasting Psycho in the head with a chair twice in a row. Fantasma hands Texano a spike of some kind and we’ve got a LOT of blood early on. Back in and we get more stabbing as Vampiro talks about hatred between these two but, as usual, doesn’t explain WHY they hate each other aside from they apparently have for a good while. Psycho fights up but gets tripped by Fantasma as the referee is being very lenient.

Texano bites at the cut on the forehead and rips away with the spike even more. Mini Clown was dropped somewhere in there as Psycho kicks out of a rollup with feet on the ropes. Now it’s off to the knee but Texano opts for the bullrope. I can’t even get away from that thing in another country. Cue Monster Clown (over 400lbs) with a towel and a few guys in suits. Another referee comes down and I guess the first one was corrupt? If he was he didn’t seem to be very good at it.

Psycho gets a quick rollup for two but Texano stomps him right back down. The Clown is getting fired up though and scores with a powerslam for two followed by a hurricanrana for the same. Texano gets thrown to the floor (guess how much we saw of it) and taken down by another suicide dive. This time it’s Texano getting chaired in the head to show a bad cut of his own. Something like Kevin Owens’ Cannonball over the ropes connects but Texano comes back with chair shots of his own in the ring.

Fantasma helps as well and loads up a table but Psycho gets a breather with right hands to the ribs. A HUGE superbomb through the table gets two on Texano and the fans are actually stunned. Commissioner Papa Fantasma FINALLY comes out and ejects his son before Texano rolls through a high cross body for two. A wicked Batista Bomb gets two for the champ but Psycho throws him to the floor and dives over the referee to take Texano down in a huge crash. Vampiro looks STUNNED in a great visual.

Since selling isn’t a thing around here, Texano pops up and hits a flip dive of his own (better one too) to put the Clown down one more time. Back in and Texano hooks a chinlock with two knees in the spine….before just letting go. Psycho grabs White Noise for two and it’s time for another table. As per Wrestling Law, Texano is able to suplex Psycho through the table because the Clown introduced it. Texano gets crotched on top and taken down with something like a running Codebreaker for two.

A superplex drops the Clown as the stamina (and lack of selling) here is remarkable. Back up again and Texano misses a bullrope shot and gets caught in a Canadian Destroyer (Vampiro: “I have never seen this before!” Hugo: “A flipping neckbreaker!”) for a very close two. Time for yet another table and Texano puts him up on top, but gets caught in a SUPER CANADIAN DESTROYER THROUGH THE TABLE to finally give Psycho Clown the pin.

Rating: B. Well that was……REALLY long. They easily could have cut out about five to ten minutes from this and made this feel a lot tighter. I got the idea behind the match with the Clown doing whatever he could to get revenge and finally beat Texano by taking him to a place he’s never had to go before. It’s good stuff and by far the best match of the show, but it could have been a classic brawl if you cut out some of the filler, which felt like they were just extending the match more than once.

The Clown family comes into the ring to celebrate as Texano is shaved, despite trying to run off. The bloody guys FINALLY shake hands after staring at each other for the better part of ever.

We get a quick video showing the four people in the main event: a fourway elimination match for the Copa Triplemania XXII. From what I can tell the Cup has been a thing before, but my goodness this doesn’t feel like much of a main event.

Copa Triplemania XXII: Cibernetico vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. El Hijo de Perro Aguayo vs. Myzteziz

Elimination rules. Myzteziz is the original Sin Cara and Wagner is returning after some issues with the organization. He also has his son, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner in his corner. Apparently the Cup hasn’t been defended in thirteen years. Oh yeah this is a lame out. Everyone goes after Wagner to start with Perro sending him into the crowd for a beating with a cup. Back inside, Myzteziz, who now has his back and chest covered in tattoos, gets chopped into the corner. Perro knocks Wagner up the ramp with a chair and Cibernetico joins in.

Everyone gets back inside and Perro just throws the chair at Wagner’s back. He bites the Dr.’s shoulder before switching over to Myzteziz but can’t get the mask off. Instead Perro ties him in the Tree of Woe as Cibernetico does the same to Wagner. That goes nowhere so Aguayo blasts Myzteziz in the face with a chair. Wagner has a huge hole in his shoulder and Vampiro says you can see the bone coming out of the skin.

Myzteziz, who is busted wide open, finally does something by dropkicking Cibernetico down and hurricanranaing Perro out to the floor. A 619 drops Aguayo but the Dr. gets back in and kicks at the other masked man. Myzteziz kicks him in the bad arm as the fans rally behind Wagner. They head outside with Dr. hitting a cannonball off the apron, followed by a catapult to send Myzteziz into the post. Back in and Cibernetico misses a charge in the corner and gets caught in a Samoan drop. Wagner’s arm is just GONE and it’s clear that he needs to get out of there.

Wagner gets back up and rips at Myzteziz’s mask to the point that you can see both eyes. Myzteziz goes for the Dr.’s mask in turn as Vampiro keeps saying something looks wrong with Cibernetico. The very bloody Myzteziz dives into a cutter to give Wagner two but he gets caught in La Mistica (Fujiwara Armbar). That brings Perro back in to break it up though and everyone takes shots at Wagner. It’s almost uncomfortable how much they’re focusing on him. Myzteziz tries an Asai moonsault onto Perro but hits raised boots.

Back inside and Wagner’s son breaks up a chokeslam, only to eat one of his own from Cibernetico. Wagner goes after the knee but takes a chokeslam for the elimination and a big reaction. That makes Cibernetico smile for the first time and he looks like a completely different person. There’s a chokeslam to Myzteziz for no cover but the second attempt is countered into La Mistica for an almost immediate tap. It’s down to Myzteziz vs. Perro and Aguayo has to break up an early Mistica attempt. The referee breaks up a chair shot from Perro but a quick low blow gives Aquayo the Cup.

Rating: D. The only reason this is so high is the artery that Myzteziz (so glad I don’t have to type that again) tapped into during the match. This felt like a gang beating on Wagner and a lot more real than it should have been. The match wasn’t even entertaining and felt like a major downfall after the previous war. It’s a perfect way to cap off such a messy show.

Perro celebrates but here’s Alberto again. He rants about Perro ruining the evening for so many legends, but Aguayo will respect El Patron. Alberto talks about wanting to fight no matter what no compete clauses he has. Perro jumps him but gets caught in the cross armbreaker, which still should be called Destiny. Los Perros run in for the save but Alberto is the biggest hero that has ever heroed in the history of Mexico.

Not shown on the PPV, but Rey Mysterio showed up in a video post show, saying he was ready for his great exit. This has yet to happen about six months later.

Overall Rating: D-. Yeah the Psycho Clown match was really good, but hokey freaking smokes this was a borderline disaster. There were six matches on this show with a ridiculous THIRTY TWO wrestlers in the ring, not counting run-ins and Alberto. There is so much packed into this show, but somehow it feels like nothing happened. Let’s see. Alberto debuted, some cruiserweight titles were unified, some guys got their heads shaved and a heel wins a competition that hasn’t been around in thirteen years. What in the world was this show supposed to be other than an ad for Alberto?

I’ve liked the AAA that I’ve seen before but this was such a mess and a disaster that it’s almost impossible to get much out of it. Yeah Del Rio looked good, but shouldn’t Psycho Clown get a shot now? In theory the hair means more than the title, but it feels really anti-climactic. This show needed to slow down and breathe for a LONG time (and it’s not like they didn’t have time with nearly four hours) instead of just pouring in another multi-man match.

On top of that, the commentary was almost more of a burden than a good thing. I’ve never been a fan of Savinovich’s commentary and somehow Vampiro was the better guy out there tonight. I have no idea what the stories were for most of these matches and it’s really annoying having to try to figure it out based on the few clues you can pick up. I really didn’t care for this show and it really hurt what I thought of the company as a whole.

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