Fenix takes on Kenny Omega in the marquee bout of AAA’s yearly Heroes Inmortales show. It’s one of three championship matches on a show missing the conclusion of any interesting ongoing AAA story. Still, Omega’s involvement means Heroes Inmortales has the most outside Mexico interest of an AAA show outside of TripleMania. Those who check it out should get a typical AAA card full of exciting action, even if it’s a bit directionless.

AAA’s annual tribute to founder Antonio Pena takes place this Saturday night in Orizaba, Veracruz. The show starts at 8 pm Central Time and will air on Spanish and English on Twitch, as usual. It is free for live viewing and part of the $5/month subscription for VOD. Matches from the show will air on TV and should end up on AAA’s YouTube channel before the end of the year.

It’s been a quiet time for AAA since TripleMania. The New York show proved to be an isolated event, a bit purposefully disconnected from the regular AAA ongoing narrative. AAA silently postponed the Los Angeles show; no one expects it to happen now. AAA has run only two Mexico TV tapings in the interim. Not much has happened outside of new masks for familiar faces. AAA’s upcoming lineups give the feeling the promotion might have decided to live off the TripleMania main event for the rest of the year and decided to put off doing anything else until 2020. The past gives hope; AAA lineups haven’t been indicative of what occurs.

AAA has stuck to their advertised lineup a bit more often here, so previewing the matches as announced seems not a complete waste of time. We do know the show won’t be perfect as billed: at least three people listed for the show are otherwise busy.

Argenis, Lady Shani, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Australian Suicide, Demus, Mamba, Vanilla

A Relevos AAA is a traditional way to kick off an Antonio Pena tribute show. He created this concept of a man, a woman, a mini, and an exotico teaming. This year’s edition requires a bit of fudging, with Vanilla & Mamba becoming rudos for at least one night. Meanwhile,

Argenis is himself now a rudo. He changed alignments a month ago, but that’s only two Mexico tapings ago, and the booking hasn’t caught up. Argenis’s reason for turning rudo is Myzteziz—he feels the only people allowed to be knockoff Misticos should be family members. The issue is Myzteziz is out off on Exatlon until who knows when leaving Argenis with both not much to do now and beef that’ll need reheating later. 

No one has a clue if the Octagoncito in this match is meant to be one of the two previous minis to use that character in AAA or a new version. Demus appeared in AAA as part of the ELITE crossover shows last year. He seems to be in more regular going forward. He’s a great addition.

Lady Maravilla & Villano III Jr. © vs. Who Knows & Látigo vs. Big Mami & Niño Hamburguesa for the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship

“Who Knows” is a replacement for Chik Tormenta, who announced a pregnancy hiatus about ten days ago. Hades, a Llave de la Gloria prospect who dropped from the TV roster after the last regime change, returned on the Lucha Capital show. She looked improved there and seems like the best bet to be the replacement.

It’s just a bit unclear why there needs to be a replacement. The issue here still is the Lady Maravilla, Nino Hamburguesa, and Big Mami triangle. Latigo and whomever he teams with may make the match better but are irrelevant to the story. AAA hasn’t done much with it since Maravilla betrayed Hamburguesa back at TripleMania. Perhaps it’ll pick back up here. Konnan’s suggested this is leading to a hair match between the women, one of whom is masked. This encounter is a good barometer to see if the fans are interested in seeing it.

Drago © vs. Daga for the AAA Latin American Championship

There is no storyline here.

Daga challenged for Drago for the belt back in July, Drago won when Daga was disqualified for using brass knucks in perhaps the only DQ in AAA this year, and no one’s talked about the match since. Daga getting a rematch only makes sense if he’s getting the same championship reward that the Lucha Brothers & Taya received for returning to the company after a past hard falling out. At the same time, there are definite Twitter hints that Daga and AAA might be tending towards a new falling out. I don’t believe Daga would be sticking around AAA unless he believed something good was about to come his way, though it doesn’t mean it actually will. 

That July championship match was in the midst of a run of disappointing Daga matches. Daga hasn’t looked like a top tier Mexican wrestler during this 2019 stint. He hasn’t looked awful either, but just good enough isn’t enough right now. AAA’s overflowing with younger hungry rudos. Daga’s needs to make a case he’s still enough of a star to be worth investing it over people who would be less of a hassle. Drago’s can have great matches, and Daga’s got to show he can too.

Dinastía, Octagón Jr., Puma King vs. Abismo Negro Jr., Arez, Súper Fly

This trios match is the first look for many of the new Juniors. Octagón Jr is Golden Magic, and Abismo Negro Jr. is Eterno. Both are exchanging their indie names for more regular AAA bookings. Neither is related to the originals. Neither are trying much like to wrestle like the originals. Not a hint of faux-karate from Octagón, no martinete attempts from Abismo. They’ve come off as bodies wearing costumes strictly for legal purposes—which is probably the truth but doesn’t do much for their matches. AAA did unexpectedly strike gold trying this with Pentagon Junior. It took time for him to figure out who Pentagon Jr., and these guys seem like they’ll need that time as well.

Meanwhile, this is an intriguing trios match likely to get a dozen minutes. Everyone can go. Dinastia and Super Fly are much fun, Puma King gets good reactions and indie standout Arez appears to be an AAA regular now. He also seems like a smart bet to one of the next given a new AAA owned character.

Aerostar, Murder Clown, Dragón Bane, Dave The Clown, Monsther Clown, La Hiedra, Faby Apache, La Parka Negra and possibly other people for the Copa Antonio Pena

Did you like Copa TripleMania? Did you understand Copa TripleMania? No matter what, it’s all happening again. All of it: Vampiro’s indicated he’s wrestling this weekend, which means he’s like showing up as a surprise in this match to brawl with Konnan once more. Pagano winning Copa TripleMania and it never being mentioned again is a sound reminder to spend little time worrying about the winner.

The lineup for this match included Myzteziz Jr. & Laredo Kid, who are currently on Exatlon. AAA knew that and had to know they wouldn’t be back, and AAA continues to advertise them. The sun will rise in the West before AAA changes their lineup on a poster.


Fénix © vs. Kenny Omega for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship

The TripleMania match seems so long ago. It was, uh, polarizing to put it lightly. We did learn that AAA is willing to allow the AEW guys to do whatever match they feel comfortable with, without trying to fit it into their usual structure. That didn’t seem a decision for the best to connect with the Mexico City audience. Maybe it’ll work better for the internet audience this time around.

Maybe that also should be the goal. AAA did fine with live audiences Fenix not defending this mega championship for a full year. It’s the internet audiences which have room to improve. The Kenny Omega versus Fenix dream match attracts viewers who wouldn’t think about watching AAA otherwise. Fenix versus Foreign Big Names, provided they are huge names, seems like a repeatable strategy to get AAA some buzz outside of their usual bubble. Kenny Omega winning this title and coming back to defend it against anyone would work better, though that seems an unlikely outcome. (The lack of AEW mentions of this match appears to signal this relationship may be winding down.) The Psycho Clown mask wearing fan is unlikely to have much interest in this, but Fenix versus The World still seems like a self-contained way to make noise in a crowded market.

Psycho Clown & Rey Escorpión vs. Averno & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Pentagón Jr. & Texano Jr. vs. Chessman & Pagano in a relevos increíbles cage match

It’s a useful thing for the booker of this promotion to have a podcast; Konnan explaining why this match to his audio listeners is the only reasoning offered so far. (The Vince Russo/Disco Inferno debate which preceded it was less useful.) The concept here is that while CMLL has run these sorts of rivals team matches incessantly, this is the first one in AAA in quite a while. Something important is to happen at the end of this match, with either Pagano/Chessman or Psycho/Escorpion meeting in an apuesta match soon. Or at least that’s the idea. 

This match may then serve a purpose. It doesn’t seem to be much on its own. The Wagner/Averno & Pentagon/Texano teams are not rivals, apparently only in this match because they had to be in some match. (Pentagon’s gotten shockingly little to do outside of the Young Bucks feud, a product of AAA opting to do relatively few feuds entirely.) A regular tag match might put some meaning into a team. A lucha cage match is all about betraying people and saving yourself, making the idea of teams meaningless. A lucha cage match is also a weapons filled street fight in a confined area, rarely worth watching. This finale is unlikely to be a satisfying way to end a show, even if it’s meant to set up the next show.

Heroes Inmortales fits the structure of recent AAA big shows. Matches are overstuffed with luchadors. The matches are worse off for having to accommodate so many people. The simmering mid-card rivalries are kicked down to “the next show” with a priority of creating big moments for the most prominent names. Despite the structural weaknesses, there are still several promising matches. Omega/Fenix inevitably will end up on every pirated video site possible, but the undercard should be worth a casual fan’s time. More regular AAA viewers are left to hope that December’s Guerra de Titanes is finally the show with some payoffs.