ASISTENCIA ASESORÍA Y ADMINISTRACIÓN
REY DE REYES 2019
MARCH 16, 2019
PUEBLA, MÉXICO
ACRÓPOLIS PUEBLA

Preview of the show

AAA has had a great 2019, delivering consistent, fun shows, pushing young talent and announcing a working agreement with All Elite Wrestling. And precisely, Cody is supposed to be involved in this show and The Young Bucks can’t be far behind so that immediately makes Rey de Reyes a newsworthy event.

Also, we have the traditional Rey de Reyes tournament that has standout AAA talent like Hijo del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Taurus, Aerostar and Mystezis as well as trustworthy spectacular guys like Jack Evans and Sammy Guevara. So, this shows looks like it could be a lot of fun. Let’s hope that AAA doesn’t disappoint.

AAA MIXED TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
BIG MAMI & NIÑO HAMBURGUESA (c) DEF. LADY MARAVILLA & VILLANO III JR.

The story here is that, after being influenced by her ‘Comadre’ Keyra, Lady Maravilla has seduced Niño Hamburguesa in order to manipulate him but finally, Big Mami is here to establish order. And that was the focus of this match.

Hamburguesa and Big Mami are an excellent act to open shows: they are always over, work hard and are very fun to watch. We got a solid encounter highlighted by a crazy Tope from Niño Hamburguesa and a great performance by Big Mami. When it was time to finish off their opponents, Niño Hamburguesa refused to attack Lady Maravilla. Big Mami got upset, but instead of losing concentration, she attacked Villano III Jr. with a Sidewalk Slam. Niño crushed Villano with a Splash and pinned him for the win. However, Niño was still annoyed at Big Mami for commanding him to attack Maravilla, so he left the ring and carried Maravilla to the back while a romantic Kiss Cam highlighted this chivalrous act. ***¼

Spanish announce team member Hugo Savinovich interviewed Cody in the middle of the ring. Cody said he wanted to bring AEW’s big stars like Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho to México. This got zero reaction from the crowd. Then, flanked by his cronies, Konnan interrupted the segment to insult Cody. Konnan put Black Taurus over and Cody kind of accepted a match with him for another time. Cody stood to Konnan, calling him a ‘simple employee’ but got jumped by Texano, Taurus and Rey Escorpión. The tecnicos – led by Psycho Clown – immediately came out to save Cody. Psycho said he has Cody’s back and Taya welcomed him to AAA and México.

REINA DE REINAS CHAMPIONSHIP
LADY SHANI (c) DEF. LA HIEDRA, KEYRA, CHIK TORMENTA

This match was a street fight that delivered a fun hardcore spotfest. We got a spanish fly to a table outside the ring, Keyra’s delivered a dropkick to Chik Tormenta in the corner (with chair included) and we saw many chairshots. Shani got the win after powerbombing HIedra to a chair. This was a breeze to watch thanks to the fast paced action and the good execution of every major spot. Also, Tessa was talking trash in the Twitch Chat… that might not mean anything but then again, it could also lead to her eventually appearing on a AAA show. ***½

Faby Apache came out and insulted everyone including Hijo del Tirantes, who attacked her with a horrible clothesline. However, Faby quickly recovered and beat the crap out of him. This Faby/Hijo del Tirantes feud is horrible and it better not lead to a Triplemania match.

We saw some luchadores come out to give away some sponsored dairy products to the kids in the crowd. I can’t wait to see Kenny Omega doing that in a Mexico City show. This AEW working agreement is a blessing.

EL PODER DEL NORTE (CARTA BRAVA JR., MOCHO COTA JR. & TITO SANTANA) DEF. LOS PERROS DEL MAL (DAGA, JOE LIDER & TAYA)

A little Perros del Mal reunion ended in sadness as Daga – who looked sharp in the match – betrayed Joe Lider, hitting him with a chair and leaving him defenseless against the implacable Poder del Norte who ganged up on him to get the win. The rest of the match was solid and entertaining, but nothing jumped out except for Taya’s ferocity and El Poder del Norte excellent teamwork. ***¼

Daga just returned to AAA a couple of weeks ago but is now involved in a little feud that could end up being extended all the way to Triplemania: the Perros del Mal stable is always a draw, so that would definitely be a good business idea.

After the match, Taya got attacked by Keyra, Lady Maravilla and Chik Torment (who now looks to be a Comadres member). Faby Apache came out to save Taya. While all of this was happening, we saw Joe Lider being stretchered off the arena. AAA is a weird place.

AVERNO, CHESSMAN & SÚPER FLY DEF. DRAGO, PAGANO & PUMA KING

Another wild trios match with weapons involved that was mostly a repetition of previous stuff we’ve already seen in this show. This one, however, had Averno wrestling in a hilarious Batman cosplay and some nasty table spots, including a horrible one where Puma King hit Super Fly with a Sunset Powerbomb… unfortunately, they messed up and Super Fly hit the back of his head with the edge of the table. Soon after, Averno pinned Drago to continue their little rivalry. ***¼

The Super Fly spot was scary and even Vampiro immediately left the announce table to check on him. Thankfully he was quickly stretchered off. Also, Puma King, Pagano and Chessman looked badly hurt when the match ended. A little while after this, we got notice that fortunately everyone was okay.


CAGE MATCH
MAMBA, MÁXIMO & PSYCHO CLOWN DEF. JEFF JARRETT, KILLER KROSS & LA MÁSCARA

Overall a very long, atrocious professional wrestling match with some funny stuff here and there. WWE creative team member Jeff Jarrett was the first to escape the cage and started humiliating Brazo de Plata who was giving moral support to his family. Psycho Clown quickly escaped just to shoo Jarrett away and then climbed back to the cage. What a nice, easy paycheck for Double J.

Everyone eventually escaped the cage except Psycho Clown and Máscara, who then engaged in a bloody brawl whose finish I greatly enjoyed. Máscara took Psycho Clown’s mask, put it on his own head and started climbing the cage. But he was unaware that Máximo sneaked another mask to Psycho, who – with his identity now protected – stopped Máscara, dragged his pants down and powerbombed him from the top of the cage to a table. Psycho climbed out (again) to win the match. **¾

AAA REY DE REYES TOURNAMENT
AERO STAR DEF. LAREDO KID, HIJO DEL VIKINGO, JACK EVANS, SAMMY GUEVARA, BLACK TAURUS, GOLDEN MAGIC, MYZTEZIZ & ECLIPSE VENGADOR JR.

This year’s Rey de Reyes tournament was a Royal Rumble style elimination match. To be honest, the whole ‘one luchador entering every minute’ was unnecessary but it helped the match to not get messy. The field of competitors was excellent and every single one of them delivered a great spectacle, full of crazy high flying action. Three quarters of the match were dominated by Black Taurus who looked absolutely unstoppable and came out looking like a star: Hijo del Vikingo, Aero Star and Laredo Kid had to team up in order to eliminate him.

The match finished strong with Hijo del Vikingo, Aero Star and Laredo Kid being the last performers alive. After a display of beautiful moves, Vikingo was eliminated by Aero Star, who then proceeded to have a cracking finale that ended being the highlight of the night. Aero Star managed to block Laredo’s Spanish Fly, and countered with a fantastic Super Frontcracker, followed by an Ace Cutter to get the win. I am very happy for Aero Star, a highly creative man that has worked very hard throughout his career, always delivering top notch action and that just recently has finally been getting the recognition he deserves. ***¾

This was the order of elimination:

  • Taurus eliminated Eclipse Vengador Jr.
  • Black Taurus eliminated Myzteziz with Rodeo Driver.
  • Black Taurus eliminated Golden Magic eliminated Rodeo Driver.
  • Hijo del Vikingo eliminated Jack Evans with Inverted 450º Splash.
  • Laredo Kid eliminated Sammy Guevara with 450º Splash.
  • Aero Star eliminated Black Taurus with a Splash and some help from Hijo del Vikingo and Laredo Kid.
  • Aero Star eliminated Hijo del Vikingo with a Splash.
  • Aero Star eliminated Laredo Kid with an Ace Cutter.

AAA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
FÉNIX & PENTAGÓN JR. DEF. REY ESCORPIÓN & TEXANO JR. (c)

A fast, nice little match that seemed a bit rushed (we would soon find out why) in which the Lucha Brothers dominated 75% of the match. Escorpión was a bit sloppy and Texano’s work was just okay. We got a cool finish with Fénix taking out Rey Escorpión with a tope suicida, thus allowing Penta to pin Texano and win the titles. ***

After the title win, Konnan came out and talked about a couple of brothers that want the Lucha Brothers’ heads. Lights went off and the Young Bucks appeared in the ring to zero reaction. Suddenly another match started and Hugo Savinovich told us that the AAA Tag Team Championship was on the line.

AAA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
THE YOUNG BUCKS DEF. FÉNIX & PENTAGÓN JR. (c)

The Young Bucks immediately went for the flippy stuff in order to get some reactions from a tired, disinterested crowd that have never heard of them, and whose ‘climax’ had come with the Psycho Clown match. Konnan is a key figure to get unknown wrestlers over and here, he kept insulting the crowd and trying to get some heat for the match. With a combination of fun wrestling, dives and seeing the Lucha Brothers in danger, finally we got some noise from the fans, mainly in the form of ‘Si Se Puede’ (You can do it) chants. We got a good finale in which the Young Bucks used the Lucha Brothers own finisher to try and beat them but Penta kicked out. Soon after, the Young Bucks hit what might have been the first ever Meltzer Driver to get zero reaction. ***½

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Young Bucks winning the AAA Tag Team Championship was a great idea to create buzz. I’m already seeing huge excited reactions all over social media, but at the end of the day that won’t matter too much in AAA or México (except maybe Tijuana).

Look, México doesn’t know much outside AAA, CMLL or WWE. If Misawa returned from the dead during a AAA show, not a single soul in the crowd would care and I’m not exaggerating. That’s how things are here. AAA and CMLL cater to their own fandoms and it will be extremely hard for any AEW talent to get over in México. If tomorrow Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page were to be announced for Triplemania, that would sell some tickets from hardcore fans but it wouldn’t make any noteworthy difference. So, I really think this relationship will benefit AEW the most: if they are smart they can use guys like Taurus, Vikingo or even Poder del Norte to open shows and even enhance their roster and storylines. (Right here, you can read a list of AAA wrestlers that would be of great service to AEW).

As far as Rey de Reyes 2019 goes, this was a fun AAA show. With an emphasis on the ‘AAA’ part. You know what you get with this company: multi-man matches, chaos, overbooking and weird storytelling… that’s the AAA charm and if you enjoy their stuff, you definitely enjoyed this show that, to be fair, didn’t have terrible stuff. Even the cage match had some entertaining parts. The Rey de Reyes match was easily Match of the Night thanks to Taurus’ fantastic powerhouse performance and the Laredo/Vikingo/Aero Star finale.

While I enjoyed more yesterday’s big CMLL show, I don’t care about their upcoming stuff which is contrary to AAA: I’m looking forward to it’s future. I want to know how the Triplemania card shapes up. I want to see where this AEW relationship will take us and I definitely will keep watching their shows in order to see more fantastic action delivered by guys like Hijo del Vikingo and Laredo Kid. In my mind, there is no doubt as to what company is the best in México right now.