AAA TripleMania XXIII iPPV Review

This is the first time we've covered an AAA show on ATPW, in fact it's the very first time that we've covered Mexican wrestling at all, as we continue to branch out in the content that we offer to you. The show featured Rey Mysterio Jr. battling Myzteziz in the main event, with the bout being billed as a "Dream Match", whilst Pentagon, Jr., Brian Cage, Angelico , El Hijo del Fantasma, Cibernetico and more featured on the card. But was it any good?

Stupidly, I had the opening of the show on with Spanish commentary, so I sat pretty confused through the opening five minutes or so, however there was a nice Mission Impossible themed opening video package.

One Fall Revelos Atomicos de Locura Match

Dinastia, Drago, Goya Kong & Pimpinella Escarlata 

vs.

Daga, Mamba, Mini Psycho Clown & Sexy Star

This match featured a good cross-section of what AAA has to offer, with a member of each side representing the four singles division within the company, Male, Female, Mini-Estrella and Exotico. As an opening match this worked alright from a home viewing perspective, with the action keeping a fast-pace throughout, whilst providing some good contrasts in the collisions between the performers of different divisions. The crowd lapped up the comedy from characters like Pimpinella Escarlata, and although it wasn't really my cup of tea, it's clear that the live audience were big fans of Pimpinella's antics throughout the match.

Sexy Star was one of the stand out's of the bout for me, alongside fellow Lucha Underground competitor Drago, with both providing some of the best action in the contest, with no one else really threatening to break out of the pack. Out of that pack, Goya Kong especially looked sluggish and seemed to be holding back the match from really lifting the pace, although her cannon ball off the apron, during a series of high-flying dives, was impressive. The finish saw Pimpinella manage to get a submission out of Sexy Star, seemingly coming out of nowhere, which left the match feeling a little flat at the end.

Winners - Dinastia, Drago, Goya Kong & Pimpinella Escarlata 

Referee Pepe "Tropi" Casas was honoured, with Matt Striker informing us of his legendary status and that he would be refereeing his last match tonight (In fact the bout had two referees, for reasons). There was also a video package on Los Villanous before their match.

One Fall Six Man Tag Team Match

Los Villanos' Villano III, Villano IV & Villano V

vs.

Los Pyscho Circus

This match was marred with technical issues, both audio and visual, that certainly affected the match from where I was watching it. It's hard to concentrate when there's a constant buzzing, and only Matt Striker's commentary can be heard (including the face-palm inducing line "There's no leg slapping here") in a match that needed Hugo Savinivich to really get over the history of the two families involved in the bout. The visual issues meant that the match was very choppy and therefore difficult to follow. 

From what I did see the match seemed like a little bit of train wreck. Even if I had been completely up to date on Los Villanos and the history they had in the industry, I don't think I would have been into the sluggish action that the trio provided. Having three guys in the ring over fifty years old was always going to create this kind of action. Perhaps the bout could have been saved by having a decent story to follow, but that never really occurred, beyond both trios ripping one of the others masks. The finish was very confusing as Psycho Clown refused to pin Villano III, supposedly out of respect, but Psycho Clown ended up getting pinned by Villano IV after a low blow, like what? 

Winners - Los Villanos' Villano III, Villano IV & Villano V

A celebration of Villano III's career followed, with this PPV beginning to build a theme of honouring the past, more than looking to the future. The funky cage was lowered, complete with billboards around the side, in preparation for what Striker described as the "Aerial Assault" match, whether that is the actual name I have no idea.

Three Way Trios Aerial Assault Match for AAA World Trios Championships.

Los Hell Brothers (C)

vs.

El Hijo del Fantasma, El Texano, Jr. & Pentagon, Jr.

vs.

Angelico, Jack Evans & Fenix

The gimmick was essentially a combination of a steel cage match and TNA's Ultimate X, with the World Trios titles being suspended on a beam across the top of the cage. A big ol' clusterfuck of a match. The spots in this one were big, Fenix's moonsault of the top of the cage, Angelico jumping to the middle beam of one edge of the cage and some big bumps through a tables, here and there. I imagine the match looked much better inside the arena, as the camera work was shoddy throughout, making it difficult to feel like you were catching everything that was going on and making some of the spots look not quite as impressive as they could have. 

Personally, I think having three teams, or nine different wrestlers in the match, hurt the contest, as there was just too many bodies standing around inside the cage, especially at the start of the match. Six performers would have been enough to keep the spot count high, whilst keeping people busy from start to finish. In a comparison to WWE's Money in the Bank concept this match lacked a slickness and the spots seemed to be more for the sake of it, rather than in an attempt to get hold of the title belts. Almost certainly the best match of the show so far, but still didn't deliver on the promise of an intriguing gimmick and the talents involved in the match. 

Winners and still AAA World Trios Champions - Los Hell Brothers

Plenty of replays followed, alongside the celebrating Los Hell Brothers, who managed to retain their titles. We got some good shots of fans dicking about for a bit, which was slightly better than the wide shot of the arena that was the usual go to between matches, with the commentary randomly switching to Spanish for a little while.

One Fall Tag Team Match

Blue Demon, Jr & La Parka

vs.

El Mesias & Electroshock

The highlight of this match for me was realising that Electroshock looked like a gimp Giant Gonzales, in his ridiculous get-up. Things felt rather short here, in what was a basic tag team encounter, set up to celebrate the career of Blue Demon, Jr, as the theme of the PPV continued. There was nothing that stood out as particularly good or bad, but for the biggest PPV of the year, I was expecting a little bit more here than a basic tag team match. The finish saw Demon, Jr. able to get Gimpy Giant Gonzales to tap out with his El Pulpo submission, which made for a decent send off for the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion. 

Winners - Blue Demon, Jr. & La Parka

An emotional celebration followed and it was clear that Blue Demon, Jr. meant a lot to everyone involved in the show.

Hector Garza and El Hijo del Perro Aguayo became the 10th and 11th inductees into the AAA Hall of Fame. An emotional experience for the live crowd and the families of the inductees, due to both having passed away in recent years, with Aguayo's death being particularly recent. Unfortunately, Hugo Savinivich's commentary was missing for the initial induction meaning that most of the speech was lost on me, however, he returned for the second induction, adding to the moment and really helping me to understand the significance of the duo and their group, Perros del Mal, in Mexican wrestling.

One Fall Lucha de Apuestas Hair vs. Hair Match

Alberto el Patron 

with Fenix

vs.

Brian Cage 

with El Hijo del Fantasma

One of two main event calibre matches on the show, this was the first match to genuinely deliver on the show. The Mexico vs. USA storyline is a simple one, but one that is particularly relevant at the moment, with Brian Cage capitalising on this by wearing a "Trump 2016" t-shirt. Because of this, the crowd seemed into everything the two men did in the ring, lifting the action and adding a certain level of importance to it, with the Hair vs. Hair gimmick also adding some weight to the bout, despite El Patron's AAA World Heavyweight Championship not being on the line.

This was an enjoyably, brutal clash between the two, that told a good story and was easy to get involved in, despite the potentially alienating Mexico vs. USA element. El Patron getting busted open early doors provided some strong visuals, with Lucha Underground regular Cage dominated the early goings with the use of a folding chair and baking tray. The deck being stacked against the former WWE Champion throughout the bout after Cage and El Hijo del Fantasma had taken out Fenix on the ramp and the referee had been revealed to be in Cage's pocket, put El Patron in an underdog role that he seemed to revel in. His comeback, following a missed double jump moonsault from Cage, was heated with plenty of spot-on strikes, before he was able to pick up the victory via submission with a Cross Armbreaker. A special shoutout to the Bret's rope powerbomb through a table by Cage that worked a great near fall.

Winner - Alberto el Patron

Following the bout, TAFKA Alberto Del Rio cut a blistering promo, well it sounded blistering anyway, I don't speak Spanish. Personally, I could have done without Cage attempting to attack El Patron after having his head shaved, as with Cage already tapping out in the match, having El Patron quickly get the upper hand with a powerbomb seemed a bit superfluous. Unless perhaps Cage is done with the company.

One Fall Match

Rey Mysterio, Jr.

vs.

Myzteziz

The match that seemed teased to happen at two separate WrestleMania's headlined the show, with Matt Striker taking great glee in pointing that out. The entrances of both men made the match feel very special indeed, with Myzteziz dropping down from the ceiling with the Mission Impossible theme (The upcoming spin-off film was sponsoring the show, with Simon Pegg making an appearance on the screen before the match), in a truly spectacular entrance. This gave the match a bit of glits and glamour, contributing to it's "big match feel", as AAA continued to provide some astounding visuals.

This was certainly the match of the night for me, with the pair creating a sprawling match that took in a variety of different styles. This kept the match interesting and played to the strengths of the two workers, who may have struggled to keep up a balls to wall bout, in the style that they are perhaps best known for. The opening section focused on a more brawling style with Mysterio busting Myzteziz open early with a head-scissors onto the ringpost, before TAFKA Sin Cara hit a powerbomb on the announce table and both tumbled through a table on a clunky suplex spot. Before the middle of the bout turned into both men attempting to get the pinfall with a series of different pinfall combinations, with the slower count used in Mexico playing into this section well.

With the pair running through a series of nice back and forth counters, the conclusion of the bout focused around Mysterio Jr's 619 and Myzteziz's La Mistica. Both men attempted each others' signature moves, with Myzteziz getting a good near fall off a 619 and Frog Splash combination, before Mysterio was able to make Myzteziz tap out with the second time that The Ultimate Underdog was able to utilise La Mistica. An enjoyable close to a bout that picked up it's pace heading into the final stretch of the match. Whilst the holds weren't always as slick as one would hope for in the biggest match of the year for AAA, there was still plenty to enjoy here, with the pair able to put together a match that they wouldn't have been able to if it had been booked for on a WWE show.

Winner - Rey Mysterio, Jr.

Things got interesting post-match with Averno, Joe Litre and Pentagon, Jr. heading to the ring to attack Myzteziz, with Joe Litre carrying a staple gun, because he's extreme according to Hugo Savinivich. Of course, eventually Mysterio, Jr. made the save with the pair hitting a double 619 to clear the ring of their foes. This all seemed good and well until BOTCH CARA returned and Myteziz screwed up a suicide dive onto Averno, with Mysterio having to cover for him. A slightly messy conclusion to the show, but at least it seemed to vaguely make some kind of sense.

But, that wasn't the conclusion. Myzteziz spitting in Mysterio's face and cutting a promo challenging the former WWE Champion to a Mask vs. Mask bout further down the line was, with Myzteziz seemingly siding with Perros del Mal and Konnan. I couldn't get my head around why Myzteziz seemed to be teaming with the people who had just tried to attack him with a staple gun. The mask vs. mask bout is intriguing, but having the show end with our hero, Rey Mysterio, Jr. getting the shit kicked out of him in the ring was a sour finish to the show.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.03

The show picked up with the two main events that both delivered on expectations, perhaps even above with the Mysterio vs. Myzteziz bout, however the earlier matches didn't do much for me at all, and weren't helped out by the audio and visual issues, as well as some shoddy production. The three way trios cage bout was the highlight of the undercard, for the sheer silliness of the gimmick and some good spots.

The show had a strong focus on the past of the company, with many legends being honoured, which felt like it watered down the Hall of Fame ceremony part of the show. It would have been nice to see the company focus on some new faces, with Brian Cage the only name that seemed to be getting a big push up the card for his semi-main with Alberto el Patron. 

For my first proper look at AAA there was perhaps just enough to make me want to check out the companies next PPV in September, but they're going to have provide a little more on that effort to keep me interested in the company for the long run.

Lucha Underground 7th January 2015 Review

           Those Lucha Underground chaps only went and crowned their first champion on their first show of 2015! But was the show actually any good? Let's take a look

Lucha Underground Championship Aztec Warfare

Fenix vs. Johnny Mundo vs. Mr. Cisco vs. King Cuerno vs. Son of Havoc vs. Pimpinella Escarlita vs. Prince Puma vs. Ivelisse Velez vs. Drago vs. Bael vs. Cortez Castro vs. Ricky Mandel vs. Big Ryck vs. Pentagon, Jr. vs. Super Fly vs. Chavo Guerrero, Jr. vs. Mascarita Sagrada vs. Sexy Star vs. El Mariachi Loco vs. Mil Muertes

       Aztec Warfare is essentially a Twenty Man Royal Rumble, but with pins and submissions instead of over-the-top rope eliminations. This style of match, of course, suited Lucha Underground's performers much better than your traditional battle royal, as it allowed them to pull off some exciting flips and tricks over the top rope, whilst also allowing the ring to be cleared at times to allow for some more exciting action inside the ring. Unlike your traditional WWE-style Royal Rumble, which more often than not has a lot of guys standing around or dicking about by the ropes, this match was full-on action from start to finish.

      Alongside the quite frankly ridiculous action, a few storylines and feuds were weaved into the match. There was the struggle of Big Ryck's Crew to stay in the match before Big Ryck arrived, in which they ultimately failed, leaving Big Ryck to get eliminated thanks to a three pronged flippy floppy attack by Johnny Mundo, Prince Puma and Fenix. There was rascally veteran Chavo Guerrero, Jr's steel chair based madness, as he twatted many a wrestler in the head, before Sexy Star continued the pairs feud. The return of Blue Demon, Jr. to attack Guerrero felt like an important moment and the set up to a chair shot from Star allowed that story to reach a satisfying conclussion in the match.

    The final two in the match were Prince Puma and Johnny Mundo, with Mundo having been in the match since the very beginning. With the pair having main evented the first Lucha Underground, this felt like fitting finish to the match to crown the first champion. The pair had an engaging battle, with both going back and forth with a series of exciting moves. A top rope reverse rana from Mundo was perhaps the highlight of the bout for me. Puma's selling was also particularly impressive, especially with Mundo looking to see up for a Spanish Fly on the top rope, Puma looked genuinelly out of it. The finish saw Puma knock Mundo off the top turnbuckle, crotching him on the rope, before delivering a kick and a beautiful 630 splash to pick up the victory and become the first Lucha Underground Champion. It was refreshing to see a match end in such a fashion, as both men are big stars for the promotion so to see one of them gain a clean victory over the other on TV, was a nice change to WWE's usual shitty finishes. 

      This was a great watch from start to finish, which felt like the action didn't stop one bit, and the action was always exciting, with each wrestler getting an opportunity to show off, at least some of their style in the ring. If you hadn't seen Lucha Underground before this would be a good match to start with, as you get to see twenty of the promotions top stars, pulling out some of their most exciting moves. Put quite simply, this match was an awful lot of fun to watch.

Finally...

I thought having only one match take up the entire show was an interesting concept that having only an hour long show affords Lucha Underground the chance to do. As the show went to commercial breaks you had a reason to continue watching to see how the match would unfold, and unlike WWE's commercial breaks you didn't go into the break with a rest hold, you went in with a Tope Conhilo or some other flippy move.  This show is steadily become on of the strongest and most unique on the market at the moment, if you're not watching Lucha Underground, you should be.

Lucha Underground Ep. 1 - (Mundo vs. Puma) Review

Earlier this week a brand new wrestling product began to air on the El Rey network, which incidentally only air on the other side of the pond. But of course, with the power of the internet these days, if something airs somewhere in the world, it is available everywhere else within 24 hours. So I thought I'd give it a cheeky look and let you fine people know if you should be checking out the show as well. 

Presentation

One of the most important parts of any wrestling television show is the presentation, television is a visual medium after all. Lucha Underground is supposedly set in head honcho Dario Cueto's make-shift temple, which is a bit of hodge-podge, truth be told. I found it difficult to believe Dario Cueto when he spoke about his wrestlers needing to have respect to fight in his temple, when the visual didn't quite match up. It looked as if there hadn't been a clear brief on what was needed from the set, to me. What is important though is that this setting looked visually different from any other wrestling show at the moment. It would have been silly to try to reproduce WWE's look on a smaller budget, TNA is still undecided on how it wants to present it's product and Ring of Honor has the Indy look nailed on, so I commended the Lucha Underground team for trying something different with this.

Talking of differences between Lucha Underground and other products, the backstage segments are completely different from what I've seen a wrestling company do before. The scenes were filmed very theatrically, with multiple cameras and even incidental music added on top. This won't be everyone's cup of tea, to be honest I'm not sure if it's mine, but this style makes the product instantly stand out and that can only be a good thing. Although, I think if this was the style they could have brought in a better actor to play the owner of promotion, Cueto.

On Commentary duty, Matt Striker comes across as extremely knowledgeable, comfortably calling the matches and adding any extra details that he think will add to the story. This felt much more like the Striker that used to commentate on WWE's version of ECW, rather than what he presented later in his WWE career. Unfortunately, his partner Vampiro, often feels like a fish out of water. Floundering all over the shop, randomly naming moves and genuinely sounding like he was getting on Striker's nerves throughout. Hopefully, AAA will notice this and quickly replace Vampiro with someone else, better suited to the role.

Johnny Mundo vs. Prince Puma

The main event of the show saw, Johnny Mundo, better known as John Morrison, taking on Prince Puma, better known as Ricochet. Before the match got under way, there were a number of segments geared toward building up the main event. The first of these saw Cueto talking to Konnan in his office. I found this segment utterly bizarre and devoid of all logic. Cueto had apparently "signed (Mundo) to make an example of him" and wanted Konnan's new protege Puma to take him out and collect the $100,000 prize that Cueto had offered up at the top of the show. Please someone explain to me how that makes any sense? 

A video package explaining the relationship between Konnan and Prince Puma was later shown. There was a lot of cool stuff thrown in here, like the explanation as to why Luchadores wear masks and it allowed the fans to get an idea of what to expect from Puma in the ring later on, for anyone not familiar with Ricochet. I do find Konnan a very odd choice as his manager though, as he's never been someone I'd considered a great mic worker. 

The match itself was a lot of fun to watch, as the two pulled out a series of tricks and flips. The pair seemed to have a chemistry in the ring, flowing nicely through a series of back and forth exchanges. There was little in the way of psychology, but I don't think that's what this match needed to be, anyway, being the debut programme, it was a lot more important that the new audience got an opportunity to see what these two could do in the ring. Both men were allowed to look good, with Puma standing up nicely against the former WWE star, with a missed Standing Moonsault being turned into a Standing Shooting Star Press being one of the highlights of Puma's offence. 

The slight bit of story that the match was given was Mundo's multiple attempts to hit the move formerly known as Starship Pain and now rechristened The End of the World. Firsty, Puma would thwart Mundo by catching him with a School Boy Roll up for a nice near fall. The second attempt saw Puma rolling out of the ring and hitting his signature Chocolate Rain for another well worked near fall. Finally, after a nice sequence saw Puma slip out of Mundo's powerbomb attempt, Mundo was able to hit a Solo Spanish Fly, before dragging Mundo to the corner and hitting The End of the World to pick up the victory. This was a nice inclusion as it built a little bit of drama into the match, with the crowd knowing if Mundo hit the move it would be the end of the match.

Following the match, Cueto was out to offer Mundo the $100, 000, only to remove the offer, as three men ran into the ring and destroyed both Mundo and Puma, firstly with a cool double team 3-D/Codebreaker construct, before the bigger of the three nailed Mundo with a huge Ura-nage slam. These three men were former WWE wrestler Ezekiel Jackson, now going by the name Big Ryck, former ROH wrestler Ricky Reyes, going by the name Cortez Castro and Lil Cholo, going by the name Mr. Cisco. It was revealed they worked for Cueto. I have to admit a ground a little at the conclusion to the show, as the Heel faction with the boss as their leader, really has been run into the ground. I'm happy to give Lucha Underground the benefit of the doubt for now on this angle however.

Lucha Underground have even put this match up on Youtube. Give it a look.

The Undercard

On the undercard for the show, Chavo Guerrero took on Blue Demon Jr. in a match that I just couldn't get my head around. The two had an awkward match, with a confusion over who was supposed to be playing the heel or babyface. For example, Demon would be slapping Chavo hard in the face and then begin to clap to attempt to get the crowd involved in the match. This could have been forgiven if the action in the ring was any good, but it simply wasn't. A terrible looking headscissors from Demon, a dodgy Tornado DDT and a horrible top rope powerbomb complete with a awkward set up, and that's the three big moves in the match that all looked piss poor. Demon would go on to pick up the win as Chavo tapped out to El Chulo, which at least made some sense considering Chavo had probably broken his back taking that nasty top rope powerbomb.

Later on in the show, Chavo was seen getting a verbal beating from Cueto, who really is all over this product. Cueto told Chavo he would have to find a new opponent for Demon, seeing as Chavo couldn't get the job done. I'm not sure why Cueto wants Demon to be taken out, as this wasn't explained, and meant that Demon playing the heel for some of the previous match made even less sense. 

Elsewhere, Son of Havoc (previously known as Matt Cross on WWE's Tough Enough, as well as ROH, Chikara, Wrestle Society X and elsewhere) took on AAA's Sexy Star. Sexy Star's gimmick is that she's a girl. There was some good back story put into it via a video package, but when you boil it down that's what her gimmick is. That meant that the story of the match was the Havoc should be booed because he's fighting a girl who has chosen to wrestle him. I just couldn't buy into it and therefore didn't feel any sympathy for Star. There were some nice moments and everything looked alright in the ring, but when a match goes less than two minutes, it's difficult to really judge anything. Havoc picked up the win with a Side Slam Backbreaker. The commentators also insinuated that Havoc was grabbing the tights during the pin, but it just looked like he was copping a feel of Star's arse.

Finally...

There was a lot to like about Lucha Underground, the look and feel are completely different from anything that's on TV at the moment, in both terms of what is shown from the arena and the backstage footage. The main event was also a lot of fun to watch, with both Mundo and Puma standing out as wrestlers who could offer a lot for the promotion going forward. That being said, the other two matches on the show did absolutely nothing for me, Chavo Guerrero and Blue Demon Jr's match especially was unforgivably poor, especially considering Guerrero is supposedly a driving force behind the direction of the show.

However, I would certainly recommend this show to anyone who is tiring of WWE's output, to at least give it a try, as you may find that some of the new things that Lucha Underground is doing will appeal to you. If they don't you've wasted 45 minutes and can send me angry message on Twitter, if you so wish. I know I'll be checking out Episode Two anyway.

Quick Results and Match Ratings

Blue Demon, Jr defeated Chavo Guerrero - DUD

Son of Havoc defeated Sexy Star - N/A

Johnny Mundo defeated Prince Puma - *** 1/4