AAA, From Arena Xalapa, Xalapa Veracruz. Taped Feb/18. Announcers, Arturo Rivera, Andres Maroñas and Jesus Zuñiga.
*** Las Brujas vs Migala, Fugitiva and Esther (Chiquita Azteca) Moreno.- Esther is using her Aztec ornamental dress! This is a match that takes place 4 days after the death of Rossy and Esther father, and one day earlier than Reina de Reinas.
-- The match starts at a chaotic way as soon Esther Moreno delivers an outside the ring second rope moonsault, which, of course, misses Hamada as Esther falls on her feet, then, Fugitiva and Migala do double topes suicidas on Janeth and Rossy, they also missed that... back in the ring, Esther holds Xochitl hand and walks from corner to corner over the third rope, to then perform a double springboard-armdrag on Hamada, then, delivers a couple of flying cross planchas, Fugitiva enters to do some armdrags on Rossy, then on Janeth, who takes a Fuerza Guerrera like bump after Fugitiva kicks the back of her legs ('una segadora') and sends her out of the ring. Brujas start out numbering Fugitiva, then pound Esther for a while, Migala and Rossy go back and forth, Migala does a half powerbomb on Rossy and puts her into a crab, but Janeth makes the save and does the Northern Lights suplex, but Esther makes the save at the 2 count. They start the miss-a-move (intentional) sequence, and Migala and Fugitiva end on the floor, Hamada assist Rossy into a side plancha, and then does a (not too good) tope suicida, so Miss Janeth and Esther Moreno will have to end the match, Moreno does a frankensteiner on Miss Janeth, but kicks out at 2, then, does a top turnbuckle moonsault, landing with her legs on Janeth, Tirantes does a superslow count so Janeth kicks out, Esther goes for another moonsault, but Miss Janeth rolls away, then puts Moreno on her shoulders and powerbombs her to get the pin via ultrafast Tirantes count, Esther almost kicked out...
Post match: Esther goes with the commentators and says her partners are crap, so Migala and Fugitiva beat her for a while, Rossy wants to help her!! But Miss Janeth and Hamada hold her off, eventually, Rossy scares off Migala and Fugitiva, then Janeth and Xochitl beat Rossy a little. In NotiAAA Hamada and Janeth said they knew Xochitl was not a Bruja, but a 'Momia' (mummy), and introduce their new partner... Migala!
*** Oscar Sevilla, Dollar y Niño de la Calle vs Apache, Mr. Condor and Marabunta.- Los Diabolicos are back, after spending some time with another gimmick at PAPSA. I guess they'll be doing a lot of midcard matches from now on, feuding with Niño and Sevilla, they are used to feud with young guys, I think Mr Condor lost his mask to Rey Misterio jr some years ago, while Rey jr was a rookie (btw, he also took 'los destructores' hair during that year).
-- Niño works over Apache, he even does a tope suicida, but Apache wasn't ready for the spot and blocked with his hand, almost making Niño fall on the barriers, then Sevilla does some stupid matador comedy spots over the three rudos, and then is time for Dollar's fat stuff, later Niño de la Calle hits a second rope moonsault on Apache, but Marabunta and Mr Condor take it from there brawling on Oscar Sevilla, then, triple teaming the tecnicos, who eventually react, Niño (theoretically) takes Marabunta out with a plancha from the top turnbuckle to the outside of the ring, while Oscar decks Apache with an over the third diving tope, Dollar bodyslams Mr Condor and gets ready to do a top turnbuckle fat splash, but Angel Mortal gets there and brings Dollar down, so they start beating los tecnicos, Alebrije makes the save with a chair, but somehow, the rudos take the chair and continue the beat down.
*** Vipers vs Payasos.-
1.- Picudo and Sangre Chicana come out and bad mouth both teams, so Azul, Rojo and Negro beat them and chase them to the locker rooms, but the Vipers are quadruple-teaming Coco Amarillo and Kokito!! They beat them both too much and Tropicasas DQd the Vipers. 2.- The beating continues, the Vipers are now using a baseball bat wrapped into barbwire!! Maniaco is the one who does the most damage to Coco Amarillo, ripping his mask open and leaving him a bloody mess, eventually, Payasos make the comeback, and the things cool down for a bit, as they do one-on-one work, Kokito almost gets killed after doing a senton from the top turnbuckle to the floor on Hysteria, Kokito rebounded on Hysteria and did an ugly landing on his back, later, Coco Amarillo and Maniaco are the only ones in the ring, as the Vipers nailed the Payasos with triple topes suicidas, so Amarillo fakes a foul, Tirantes saw that the foul never existed, but Tropicasas awards the match to los Payasos, after the match, Vipers beat Picudo near the locker rooms, until Chicana and Espectro Jr made the save. Payasos (team) have not lost a match since Kokito is around.
*** Latin Lover, Hijo del Perro Aguayo and Alebrije versus Sangre Chicana, Espectro Jr and Picudo.- AAA is pushing Espectro jr as one of their top rudos now, winning and keeping the middleweight title. During the match, the announcers said that Antonio Peña is the original Espectro's nephew, and that's why Peña used the gimmick some years ago, that also means that Picudo is Peña's cousin!
1.- Rudo brawling, rudos win this fall. Espectro---- 2.- The brawling goes on, after some time, Picudo and Sangre Chicana go to their corner, and Latin Lover can take Espectro to the tecnico's corner, so now the tecnicos are the ones dominating the brawl, they take the fall after Latin makes Chicana quit with a half crab and Perrito chases Picudo around the ring. 3.- Almost nothing happens here, only some comedy spots with Latin and Perrito making the rudos made a lot of mistakes and hit each other (and Tirantes), after a short time, los Vipers arrive with a chair and the baseball bat, and beat Picudo down, Espectro tries to help Picudo and Chicana is triple teamed so he is easily pinned.
How is it that in AAA the tecnicos win helped by Tropicasas more often that the rudos helped by Tirantes? I mean, shouldn't the tecnicos get a clear victory now and then? It seems that the only way they can win is either by DQ to the rudos, or by not illicit tactics...
PAPSA is now pushing Payasos as top tecnicos, and they're really doing a big effort to put them over with the crowd, Kokito? Think of him as another Alushe, he has the same function, Payasos have to face AAA's top rudos: Vipers and Vatos Locos to establish themselves as credible tecnicos. I've read about the Reina de Reinas results, and I'm looking forward to see if Rossy has quit the Brujas, or it was all a scam to get Esther beaten, besides, there should be some surprises, but I don't think they will change that much before Rey de Reyes.
CMLL from Arena Mexico, taped Feb/26 --first match from the 23rd at Arena Coliseo. Announcers: Alfonso 'not Tinieblas' Morales, Leobardo 'rudisimo de 5 estrellas' Magadan and Javier 'el gusano' Yañes.
*** Black Warrior, Villano III and Mascara Año 2000 vs Shocker, Tinieblas Jr and Emilio Charles.-
1.- TinieblasJr tries to jump on Mascara Año 2000, but that doesn't work, soon Mascara is pounding him, Black Warrior does so with Shocker, unlacing his mask, while Emilio Charles jr can't even get into the ring, as Villano III attacks him and uses on of Warrior's champion belts to beat him, Tinieblitas submits to a half crab from Mascara.
2.- Rudos keep the control of the match for some time, until the expected reaction occurs, Tinieblas jr beats Mascara Año Dos Mil in the ring side, while Shocker and Charles unlace Warrior's and Villano's masks, things cool down a little, and both teams go to their corners, Charles makes Mascara and Villano crash with each other, then makes Black Warrior to dropkick both of them, then, Shocker hits and inside the ring plancha on Warrior, followed with a hiptoss on him which makes him go out of the ring, Shocker runs as if to do a tope suicida, but Villano elbow smashes him, but Charles makes him submit to an armbar, while Tinieblas jr hits another inside the ring plancha and pins Mascara Año 2000.
3.- Warrior flings Shocker to a corner, but then misses a knee splash, and takes a bump out of the ring, instead of flying to nail him, Shocker slides and starts kicking Black Warrior, Mascara and Villano III try to double team Tinieblitas, but he dropkicks them both and sends them to the floor, then, hits a side plancha on Mascara, Warrior and Shocker made it back to the ring, and Shocker puts Black Warrior into a spinning lateral torture rack or something like that to take the match. Shocker asks for a title match, but they didn't say anything about it.
*** Cien Caras, Apolo Dantes and Dr Wagner jr vs Headhunters and Brazo de Plata.-
1-2-3.- They run an angle video before the match, in it, with Rob Bihari's dream team there-- Brazo de Plata, Tinieblas jr, Salomon Grundy, Atlantis and the HeadHunters are talking at a restaurant, a waitress turns out to be a spy from los Capos, so she goes to los Hermanos Dinamita to tell them what were the tecnicos up to, Apolo enters and tells them not to worry, that he has a surprise for Super Porky... the taxi driver who is suing him!!! Well, I made that up, it was, Gran Markus Jr, of course. Well, that sucked, almost as much as the match itself, which had the usual fat guy stuff with the fat guys taking it 2-1.
It's not that Hunters and Porky are THAT bad, I mean, if you've never saw them before, they would surprise you b/c the stuff they do, for instance, Porky did a tope suicida and one of the Head Hunters did a top turnbuckle missile kicks, but, after seeing them over and over again, they get boring, besides, since they're too fat, it makes sense that they should win based on their weight advantage, so seeing them actually win, turns this too predictable, imo, they should be rudos so that way, the smaller tecnicos have to use their skill and tricks to win, avoiding the punch, punch, kick, slap, slap, kicks, slap, punch, fat plancha, punch... etc. booking.
*** Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio Jr vs Hijo del Santo and Negro Casas.- For the CMLL's tag team championship. Video with Negro watching the tape of the previous show, Santo arrives and sees that Negro is injured because of Scorpio and Bestia being a pair of cheaters (actually, it was Dr Wagner jr who 'hurt' Negro's leg), they said it was time to stop them.
1.- They forget about the usual matwork, and start with all of them trading slaps, the Scorpio jr and Negro go at it, nothing important there, Santo vs Bestia, nothing happens, Negro vs Scorpio, Scorpio uses his abdominal stretch into backdrop on Negro, who then reverses a second try (I think Negro had to reverse the move into a reverse DDT, but didn't come off well at all), Negro pins Scorpio with 'la casita', meanwhile Santo does a frankensteiner on Bestia Salvaje, and gets the pin. 2.- More of the same in the second fall, which ends with Bestia Salvaje hitting a diving somersault senton on Negro, and pinning him, while Scorpio uses a weird cradle move to put Santito out. During the first two falls, they showed Universo 2000 on first row for several times, at least it wasn't Perro...
3.- Bestia and Scorpio use their rudo tactics, as they beat the tecnicos, Santo gets his mask ripped open, and they double team on Negro, the tecnicos react and punish the rudos for a brief time, but the rudos make them crash to each other, but then Bestia kicks Scorpio out of the ring, Negro takes Bestia down so Santo can get his diving senton on Bestia, but he can't get the double tope as Scorpio clotheslines him... Santo and Scorpio trade pin attempts and Santo defeats Scorpio via ' la de a caballo ', Bestia has to go versus two tecnicos, so he dropkicks Negro out of the ring, but then, Santo dropkicks him, and delivers a near cornerpost tope suicida!! But hits Negro!! Negro is momentarily out, as Santo and Bestia made it to the ring, Santo climbs to the top turnbuckle, but Scorpio shakes the ropes and Santo falls down, and submits to a 'cristo invertido', Negro returns to the match and has Bestia under his control, as he gets ready to perform the 'Romero Special', Scorpio enters (while both referees kept Santo from entering the ring) and fouls Negro, so Bestia takes the match and the belts!!!
Why was Universo 2000 there? He didn't do anything at all. Apparently, he was taken out before the third fall. After the match, Santo almost took Scorpio's mask off, and Santo proposed the hair/mask match!! The crowd was infuriated and all kind of stuff flew to the ring, and the security staff was extra busy. Hot crowd, some good spots, hot ending, not a good match. Why? Because this was a title match!! CMLL should keep their titles clear from screw endings, to give them some credibility, they normally do that (save Olimpico-Halcon Negro jr) but now, in 3 weeks they've thrown away the tag belts. This match would have been good if it was a 'revancha supelibre', not a title match. If anything, Scorpio jr and Bestia Salvaje get their belts back, not as the rightful champs they should be (b/c Negro fouled Bestia in the second fall of the Feb/5 match, when the rudos were ahead 1-0), but by the old cliché of 'blind foul'. It is better for the CMLL titles to be held by them, as they should drop them to Shocker and Mr Niebla as soon as the Santo/Negro/Bestia/Scorpio angle resolves. I hope the proposed match is done on the season closer (March 19, IIRC), and is done indeed as a tag match, I expect to see them playing with the 'injury' angle again. Since Santo missed a tope and hit Negro, it is likely that Santo will take the match by himself and that Negro will turn on him...
