Csonka’s TripleMania XXIII Review 8.09.15

AAA TripleMania XXIII 8.09.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Revelos Atomicos de Locura Match: Drago, Dinastia, Goya Kong & Pimpinela Escarlata defeated Daga, Mamba, Mini Psyco Clown and Sexy Star @ 8:45 via pin [**]
~ Los Villanos defeated Psycho Circus @ 11:13 via pin [DUD]
~ AAA Trios Tag Title Steel Cage Match: Los Hell Brothers defeated Jack Evans, Angelico & Fénix vs. Pentagon Jr. and Hijo Del Fantasma & El Texano Jr. @ 9:30 [**½]
~ Blue Demon Jr. and La Parka defeated El Mesias and Electro Shock @ 8:19 via submission [*½]
~ Hair vs. Hair Match: Alberto El Patron defeated Brian Cage @ 15:19 via pin [**¾]
~ Rey Mysterio defeated Myzteziz @ 19:52 via submission [***3/4]

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* For those new to AAA, they use a six-sided ring.

* The set up looks good, but there are a lot of empty floor seats as they go through the show open.

* They are showing a video package, but it’s hard to see because they are showing the big screen instead of actually running it like a traditional video package. We also had a bunch of audio difficulties during the opening segment.

* The audio issues continued as the English commentary started, but was very low.

Revelos Atomicos de Locura Match: Dinastia, Drago, Goya Kong & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Daga, Mamba, Mini Psyco Clown and Sexy Star: The Revelos Atomicos de Locura match is a match featuring teams that include a male wrestler, a female wrestler, a mini and an exotico. A note for Lucha Underground viewers, Sexy Star is a rudo here. They did the basic start, where the pairs (man vs. man and so on) had their time to work, and then it just broke down into chaos with everyone in. Goya Kong is the daughter of Super Porky, and not very good. We broke down into some dives, with Drago looking the best out of everyone. Pimpinela Escarlata picked up the win over Sexy Star with a wacky standing bow and arrow style deal. Overall it had some fun moments, and was fine for what it was supposed to be. It lacked heat from the crowd as well as a solid flow; it also had some odd moments of dead time in the middle (a little too much standing around). Bottom line, some really poor wrestling (between the ladies and exoticos), with some good work from the men and minis and then some spectacular dives mixed in to make it passable.

* They brought out referee Pepe Tropicasas (the ref that always wore the headband) to honor him for his years of service. Tropicasas is the father of luchadores Negro Casas, Felino and Heavy Metal.

Psycho Circus (Psycho Clown, Murder Clown, Monster Clown) vs. Los Villanos (III, IV and V): This is Villano III’s farewell match, and Tropicasas is one of the ref for this. Villano III suffered a stroke in recent years, and is reportedly in really rough shape. Villano V was already retired, and came back for this match. In more family relation news, Psycho Clown is the son of Super Porky. Villano III and V had lost their masks but wore them out. They did explain that they petitioned the commission to wear them tonight, with the promise that they remove them after the match. They attempted some slow motion lucha, and then decided to just have everyone in and do stuff. The Villanos took control, slowly working over one Circus member at a time. The Circus made a comeback, and I knew not to expect much from this, but this match was in slow motion as the Circus tried to be extra careful with Villano III. We eventually got some cookie sheet offense; a scary tower of doom spot and then Villano IV and V managed to hit suicide dives, barely. Psycho Clown had Villano III pinned after a top rope head butt, but opted to pull up and not pin him so that he could attack Villano IV. Villano IV then kicked Psycho Clown in the balls and picked up the pin. They tied to sell this as the possible end of the feud between the families, and they celebrated as Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr came out to join in. With all due respect to Los Villanos, because I appreciated the sentiment here, this sucked. Maybe if they had been able to work a plain brawl with the weapons and blood it could have saved this, but there was nothing redeemable as far as the match goes. Again, I appreciate the sentiment here and them wanting to pay tribute, but it was bad. How bad was it? This was easily the worst match I have seen all year, and I have watched a lot of wrestling. We all knew what were getting into with this match, but this was way worse than I thought it would be. It’s so bad that it is a match you may have to see for yourselves to believe the level of suck that occurred.

* Post match they honored Tropicasas and Villano III with plaques.

* The audio issues have been really bad, especially the constant buzzing. Striker is working hard to fight through the issues, not sure if they have a regular production truck, if they do they aren’t helping him. In a way he’s dying out there trying to call the action and apologize at the same time. While I have my issues with his commentary work, dude is trying so hard.

AAA Trios Tag Title Steel Cage Match: Champions Los Hell Brothers (Cibernetico, Averno and Chessman) vs. Jack Evans, Angelico & Fénix vs. Pentagon Jr., Hijo Del Fantasma & El Texano Jr.: You can enter and leave the cage at any time, you win by retrieving ONE of the trios titles, which means your team wins. Lots of standing around, with the team of Jack Evans, Angelico & Fénix constantly getting beaten on. Chessman took a bump off the side of the cage onto tables that really didn’t break, which had to suck. Hijo Del Fantasma, Angelico and Averno were all on the truss battling for the title, and Angelico got knocked off and then Fantasma, allowing Averno to pick up the win and retain the titles for his team. Unfortunately there was nothing special about the match, no real wow factor. They stood around, they did some stuff, they climbed, we got some falls and then the finish. The main problem here was the fact that you had some amazing high flyers, and you put them in a cage, where they couldn’t do what they do best. This match likely would have been worlds better without the cage, which failed to enhance the match in any way.

* The audio issues were at their worst during that match. It’s making this almost unwatchable. Post match, Hugo was finally back on commentary.

Blue Demon Jr. and La Parka vs. El Mesias and Electro Shock: This match is being held to celebrate Blue Demon Jr’s 30-years in the business. If you can believe this, the audio issues may be worse here. It would be fine, then drop and then come back with the annoying buzzing. Blue Demon Jr. submitted Electro Shock with his version of the sharp shooter to pick up the win. There were sections that were fine, but there was also a lot of bad here. Striker did his best to sell the importance of the match for Blue Demon Jr, but between the bad match and the audio issues, it never came across well.

* They did a special ceremony for Perro Aguayo Jr. and Hector Garza going into the AAA Hall of Fame. The video packages are not part of the feed, and instead, we have to watch the camera focused on the big screen. Poor production is not helping an already bad show.

* The audio has stabilized for now.

* These next two matches have to be awesome to pull this PPV out of being a complete disaster.

Luchas de Apuestas – Cabellera Contra Cabellera: Alberto El Patron w/Fenix vs. Brian Cage w/Hijo Del Fantasma : Hijo del Tirantes is the referee here, he’s a heel. Cage tried to sneak attack Patron, but Patron fought back and took control, hitting a suicide dive and then brawling with Cage on the floor. Cage would escape the arm bar early, and then use a chair to take control and bust open Patron as the seconds battled on the floor. Tirantes would keep Fenix on the floor and allow Cage and Fantasma to work over Patron. Both Fenix and Fantasma then got in the ring, they brawled and Fenix hit a dive. Cage took him out with a powerbomb to the post, and then Fantasma hit an overhead suplex on the ramp. Fenix has been the best man so far in this overbooked match. Cage would miss the pop up Merosault, and that allowed Patron to make the comeback. Cage is limping badly now. We then got the table and the big board set in the corner, which appeared to be cheap drywall as Patron went through it and it exploded. Tirantes would refuse to count for Patron, and then when he did counted 1 and stopped. Patron would take him out, allowing for Cage to put Patron through a table. Cage was sitting on the ropes and hit the move, but Cage didn’t really jump off to do the move, which leads me to believe that he did hurt his knee pretty bad. We got a fresh ref; Patron made the comeback and got the win with the arm bar. This was one of the better things on the show so far, but didn’t exactly deliver in the co-main event spot. The layout was good, a lot of the action was as well and the story of Patron having to overcome the odds was perfect for the live crowd, but it was way too overbooked for my tastes. Credit to Cage for working through the knee issue.

* Post match patron did the technico “hooray Mexico” speech. Cage then got his haircut. He tried, and failed to attack Patron post match as Patron laid him out with a powerbomb. Fantasma just stood there and watched, Fenix has apparently already started the car and left, looking for season two of Lucha Underground.

* They did the Mission Impossible tie-in stuff, with Myzteziz being lowered to the entrance from the ceiling. This got no reaction. Then Rey appeared, and instead of the big entrance that many expected, he came to the ring looking like he stole Drago’s gear (all black with big wings).

Rey Mysterio vs. Myzteziz: They have hyped this hard as a dream match. Commentary played up that Myzteziz was getting heel heat from the crowd, and that it was frustrating him. The early story was Rey using clean wrestling to get the better of Myzteziz, and then Myzteziz using not so clean tactics to take control. He powerbombed Rey on the ENGLISH commentary table, but it bent but did not break. Rey would battle back and get a RANA on Myzteziz, into the post, causing Myzteziz to get the juice. They then did a SCARY spot as Myzteziz (on the apron) tried to suplex Rey from the ring through a table on the floor, and they almost died…

Uh….damn #TriplemaniaXXIII pic.twitter.com/IdMANDsMMQ

— LARIATOOOOO!!! (@SenorLARIATO) August 10, 2015

That led to a near fall for Myzteziz. Myzteziz tried the corner powerbomb too many times, leading to Rey sending him to the floor and then hitting the seated press off the top and to the floor. They did what I guess was a near fall spot, when Rey hit a tilt a whirl on Myzteziz into a cradle, but the count was so fucking slow that it was impossible to buy. I “get” that this is how it is done, and commentary noted that, but it kills the near falls. And its not just me, the crowd is mild as hell for this dream match. Myzteziz then hit a sweet pop up senton, for a near… …fall. The worst part is that they were doing some really nice things here, but the action would be fast and then the ref would fix his pants, slowly get down and then count super slow. Myzteziz would hit the 619 to mock Rey, and then hit a big frog splash for a near fall. The counts have gotten a little better. Rey would then fight back and hit La Mistica for a near submission. They then did more spots, and Rey hit La Mistica to score the win. The story as a basic one, the younger Myzteziz upset because he doesn’t get the same love and respect as the returning veteran hero who is beloved. Myzteziz didn’t go full heel, but did what he had to in order to make the match work. Myzteziz was a huge star in Mexico, but feels he is in Rey’s shadow and wanted to prove himself to the point where he even stole Rey’s moves. While the near falls were really lacking for me, due to the counts, I felt that they told the right story and worked a good (at times very good) match. Was it save the show good? No, but it was easily the best thing all night in the ring.

* Post match, Joe Lider, Pentagon Jr and Averno attacked Myzteziz and ripped off his mask. Rey tried to make the save and they hung him in the tree of woe and beat him down. Myzteziz came back, he and Rey cleared the ring and then used the staple gun, that the heels brought out, on Lider. Everything was going well until Myzteziz caught his legs on a suicide dive and came up short, as this heatless brawl continued. Rey tried to cut a promo, and Myzteziz shoved him down and then cut a promo saying that he likes when the crowd boos him. Konnan limped out to be with Pentagon and his boys, and Myzteziz challenged Rey to a rematch; mask vs. mask. He then powerbombed Rey onto the table again, which again did not break. Myzteziz laid out Rey, and then Konnan and his guys attacked Rey as the show then went off the air. Apparently when the show went off the air, Myzteziz joined with the men that just kicked the shit out of him. This felt as if it lasted a year, and we didn’t even get to see all of it.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

2.5

The final score: review Very Bad

The 411

With all due respect to those that worked hard to bring TripleMania to US PPV, this was pretty much a disaster. The audio issues, which lasted for around 75% of the PPV, are something that cannot happen when you are making a first impression on a new audience. Not only that, your production needs to be on par when we live in an age where you can get the WWE Network for $9.99. You’re asking people to pay $20-$30 on a new product, which I found fair, but you have to make the show look clean. I do not need it to look exactly like WWE, but it you have clean production and a big time feel, that’s half the battle won. Add in the fact that none of the video packages were linked into the feed, and had to be shown by pointing a camera at the big screen (I didn’t pay for a bootleg or Periscope version of the show) on top of the fact that the show got cut off before the big finish (in a straight out of WCW moment) and it was pretty much the worst case scenario.

To add onto the production issues, the show was not well received by many die-hard AAA fans, the ones that regularly follow the product. Most felt as if the company used every AAA booking troupe that they could (I agree), which makes the show confusing for new fans, and even the AAA fans I know were either watching or in attendance. It largely felt like a mess.

The wrestling on the show was all over the place. The opener was fine for what it was, but not even an average match. The Villano retirement special we all knew would be pretty bad, but it was the worst match I have watched this year, and maybe in a long time. The trios title match was handicapped by the cage, and featured no flow and too many guys standing around. They didn’t even make good use of the stipulation they added where the guys could leave and enter whenever the hell they wanted. The Blue Demon Jr special was just not good. Then we came to the first of the two main events, and besides the lack of heat for the match, the heavy overbooking hurt the Cage vs. Patron match; it also lacked the big time feel. The Rey vs. Myzteziz match actually came off well, with a good work and good story, partially hurt by the way that they work the count and near falls. But then the closing angle was so long, so disjointed and then got cut off; so we didn’t even get to see what actually happened.

I came into the show excited that AAA was on US PPV, and was hoping that they would have a successful debut. Because if that was the case, it would have possibly led to more choices for wrestling fans. Unfortunately when this show was done, it was a complete failure and the worst major show I have watched this year.