Lucha Libre AAA
Triplemania XXIX
August 14, 2021
Arena Ciudad de México
Mexico City, Mexico

Preview: voicesofwrestling.com/2021/08/12/aaa-triplemania-xxix-august-14-preview

Meet Our Reviewers

Ricardo Gallegos: Fingers crossed for another big, fun, and weird Triplemania show. Follow Ricardo @wallyrgr on Twitter.

Griffin Peltier: Excited for another exciting Triplemania, Griffin has a cold New Grist in hand ready for the wild roller coaster that is AAA’s biggest show of the year. You can follow him on Twitter @hollywd12. 

Marvel Lucha Libre Edition
Leyenda Americana, Aracno, and Estrella Comica def. Terror Purpura, Venenoide, and Picadura Letal

Ricardo: What just happened? Spiderman entered the ring via a dangerous zipline, Hulk came out to beat Thanos, and then another variant of Loki appeared on screen to terrorize Lucha Libre AAA. Beat that, Scorsese. ***

Griffin: Aracno made his entrance by ziplining from the top of the arena upside down! It looked super dangerous but was a very cool visual. There were a lot of spots in this match that made it fun but the crowd did not seem to give a single shit about the Marvel characters. The rudos had the upper hand until El Furioso (The Incredible Hulk) came out to staredown Terror Purpura that led to Americana and Aracno to double team Venenoide to get the victory. A fine opener but the true highlight was Hulk’s hairpiece that would make 90’s Vince McMahon jealous. A Loki character appeared on the screen afterward and seems to be the new main villain now that the good guys beat Purpura. ***

Copa Bardahl Triplemania XXIX
Mr. Iguana def. Drago, Mamba, Myzteziz Jr., Carta Brava Jr., Aramis, Tito Santana, Nino Hamburguesa, Mocho Cota Jr., Pimpinela Escarlata, Villano III Jr., Argenis

Ricardo: No Copa Triplemania is good. Your level of enjoyment depends on the meme quality it manages to produce, and there wasn’t much this year. AAA camera work was bad and the utter chaos everywhere didn’t help. People brawled, Mamba and Pimpi (who looked very rough) continued their feud, Aramis was great, Octagon Jr. came out to talk trash at the announce desk, many people were utterly wasted (Villano III Jr., Niño Hamburguesa, and Poder del Norte to name a few) and, in the end, the right man won: Mr. Iguana has been a constant beacon of joy and entertainment for AAA, and deservedly got a cool victory in the biggest night of the year. **

Griffin: Myzteziz Jr., holding a baby, was the first one out. Carta Brava Jr. was next but then we had to get the Hijo de Tirantes intro because that’s heel heat, baby! The time between entrants was so short that the old school alarm sound blared on the regular and was distracting. Aramis is here, that’s cool! Tito Santana (not that one!) was next and worked together with his Poder del Norte teammate Brava Jr. Drago is in this match too. Peligro! Nino Hamburguesa is next and he is here to be the hoss. Mocho Cota Jr. completed the Poder del Norte trio in the match. Hold up! Super Fly and La Parka Negra are here to run interference! Mr. Iguana is out next! I have no clue who is eliminated at this point, the camera work makes Kevin Dunn look like a master director. Aramis nearly killed himself on a dive where he may or may not have eliminated himself leading to Pimpinela Escarlata’s entrance. Villano III Jr. is out next, meaning we have more surprise entrants than advertised! Octagon Jr. joined the commentary team for some reason! Here comes Mamba! Not much wrestling is happening and then Argenis joins the match. The final came down to Mr. Iguana versus Carta Brava Jr., which provided a fun little back-and-forth that was the highlight of the match. Mr. Iguana managed to win it! Good for him! Well deserved! ** 

After the match, NGD arrived in AAA fresh from leaving CMLL. They beat the living shit out of Mr. Iguana! It’s cool to see them make the jump and they should have some fun matches in the company, especially if they do battle with the cavalry who tried to save Iguana (Octagon Jr. and Aramis). Oh wait a second, Poder del Norte is out to fight them! That match should be an absolute barnburner! Wait another second, La Empresa is here and they seem to have joined forces with NGD. La Empresa grows and we have AAA’s newest big rudo super faction.

AAA Reina de Reinas Championship and IMPACT Knockouts Championship
Deonna Purrazzo © def. Faby Apache © 

Ricardo: Finally a straightforward match. Well, a AAA straightforward match, which means chaos. Lady Maravilla (Purazzo’s second) was heavily involved in the match and Hijo del Tirantes cheated a couple of times, leaving little room for actual wrestling action. When Purrazzo and Apache got the chance, they managed to entertain through fun interactions. I wish AAA had more confidence in them, but they just went for the secure route of classic overbooked mess. Purrazzo viciously spiking Apache with a piledriver was the clear highlight here. ***¼

Griffin: I get that the Tirantes vs. Apache feud is a tradition at this point but it actively hurts the match when it becomes the main focus of the match. The wrestling was well worked but felt like it was advancing at a snail’s pace. If you took Tirantes out of the match, this probably would have been a lot of fun. Deonna spiked Faby with a piledriver and then won with a submission that looked kinda awkward while Lady Maravilla and Lady Shani jumped into the ring and fought. I think Faby and Deonna have a pretty good match in them if it happened in any other company and hopefully, IMPACT runs it back if they ever do another set of tapings in Mexico. **½ 

AAA World Tag Team Championship
Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) © def. Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid and Taurus & Brian Cage

Ricardo: Easy Match of the Night so far. This was a hypnotic spotfest that forced you to avoid the act of blinking. After a badass entrance, Vikingo and Laredo Kid worked like a perfectly oiled excitement machine; their high-flying maneuvers were everything you would expect and more. Cage got his stuff in early, and later on, his strength provided some creative and truly spectacular moments; Taurus was a beast of a base who did not miss a single step to make everyone look as good as possible. And what can you say about The Lucha Brothers? They were as reliable as always: world-class wrestlers right here. Everyone worked hard to deliver an exciting 15 minutes of lucha action. ****¼

Griffin: Vikingo and Laredo Kid had a group of badass vikings with them as they made their entrance. Vikingo is 2/2 for cool entrances tonight. It did not take long for this to descend into chaos! Cage got his shit in almost immediately and then the Lucha Brothers and Vikingo & Laredo took to the air. This match was wild because it featured six of the best wrestlers on the card. Vikingo is a human highlight reel and, as usual, stole the show with his high-flying and his power moves on Taurus. Everybody brought it and some wicked spots including a Super Gorilla Press from Taurus to Vikingo, a Vikingo 630 Splash, and a shooting star press from the guardrail were among the highlights. The Lucha Brothers got the win after they spiked Vikingo. This was great with some spectacular moments. Go out of your way to watch the replay of this match if you missed it live. The moment Vikingo makes American TV, he is going to be a star. ****½ 

La Empresa (Puma King, DMT Azul, Sam Adonis) def. Team AAA (Chessman, Murder Clown, Pagano)

Ricardo: This 6-Man was a very dumb violent match propelled by the simple and obvious storyline of Chessman and Pagano teaming up: how long could these two rivals work together? Of course, the match depended on them and when they inevitably attacked each other, La Empresa took full advantage to get the win. After a mediocre introduction in the last couple of shows, La Empresa has looked good so far in Triplemania. They are looking like a force. ***¼ 

Griffin: If you like gratuitous violence, this is the match for you! Pagano continues his streak of nearly dying at TripleMania in this action-packed trios match. Weapons were littered around at ringside and came into play immediately. The overarching story of the match was how well Pagano and Chessman would work together (they main evented TripleMania last year in a hair vs. hair match) against the invaders. They made for a fun team and I wouldn’t mind seeing them team together more in the future! This was not a workrate match at all – as was evident when Pagano brought a stapler into play! The teamwork of Pagano and Chessman imploded and La Empresa took over from there for the win. Weird finish. ***¼

AAA Mega Championship
Kenny Omega © def. Andrade El Idolo

Ricardo: Ric Flair’s surprise appearance to be in Andrade’s corner is the first time in a while that a wrestling moment manages to give me goosebumps. It immediately changed the vibe of the match, heck, it changed the vibe of the night. Suddenly, this felt huge. For the first time after his return to the pro wrestling industry, Andrade looked like a star. Unfortunately, he fell short in the wrestling department. 

The match was hurt by a start that would be considered good everywhere, but not in México; Andrade and Omega were starting to get whistled by the crowd, so they ramped up the aggressiveness. There was chemistry and some very interesting back and forth; they worked a style that would appeal to the Mexican crowd and managed to build the drama leading up to the climactic moment of Ric Flair and Andrade teaming up to chop Kenny Omega (which I’ve been told got one of the biggest pops of the night). It looked like Andrade was winning the big belt, but in a matter of seconds, Omega turned things over with a little cheating and a One-Winged Angel for the win. 

The match was good, but – Jack Evans match aside – it’s been the weakest of Omega’s Mega Championship title defenses so far, and it wasn’t his fault. Andrade underdelivered again; it was a step in the right direction, particularly after such a dreadful couple of months, but he still hasn’t managed to be his old self, and tonight he couldn’t match the quality of Omega. ***¾

Griffin: Kenny Omega had Konnan in his corner. Meanwhile, Andrade had RIC FLAIR in his corner! A TripleMania semi-main featuring Kenny Omega, La Sombra, Konnan, and Ric Flair is one of those things that demonstrate just how great wrestling is when one company doesn’t have a complete monopoly on the worldwide scene! This was the best Andrade match since he left the WWE and was actually a lot of fun! Kenny Omega continued to demonstrate why he is the best wrestler in the world right now. Omega and Andrade have a lot of chemistry together in the ring and did not take this match lightly. They traded some quick pinfall attempts and some beautiful reversals that made this feel like it could go either way. I’m not sure if having Flair in his corner helped his confidence, but Andrade looked like a million bucks and carried a presence that we have not seen much of while in AEW. Ric Flair stopped Omega from cheating using the Mega title and then he and Andrade locked in dual Figure Fours on Omega and Konnan! What a wild moment! Omega still used the title and then hit the One-Winged Angel to win the match and retain the Mega Championship. I was not expecting that finish! Andrade looked great in defeat and Omega’s reign of terror continues. I’m not sure who will be the one to dethrone Omega but I hope this leads to an eventual title match against Vikingo that’s been teased for a while now. A great match and a lot of fun! ****1/4

Mask versus Hair
Psycho Clown def. Rey Escorpion

Ricardo: The match started perfectly with Rey Escorpión interrupting a Brazo de Plato (Psycho Clown’s father) tribute to get himself over, take a Brazo painting, and smash it on Psycho’s head. God tier rudo work right there. The match was a lot of fun and my favorite of the night. The first half was a bloody brawl featuring some nasty cuts, and the second was a straight-up heated wrestling match where both men exchanged german suplexes, and other cool moves. Then, the traditional Triplemania main event interference started. 

At this point, it’s impossible for Psycho Clown to lose his mask, but it’s a testament to how well these two worked together that they managed to stop my heart a couple of times. The first was after Escorpión hit Aguijón Negro for a millimetric nearfall, and the second was when Goya Kong betrayed Psycho, which allowed Escorpión to roll him up for another nearfall. This “family betrayal” spot is a standard Triplemania trick, but it was effectively used here to create drama. Psycho’s recovery was swift and cool as he used a Torito to get the three count. However, the big mistake of this bout was not using the Guerrero Special to create even more drama; during the build-up for tonight, Escorpión used that move to defeat Psycho two times! Using it once again during the Apuestas match would’ve been a glorious moment of drama. A wasted opportunity to cap off a very fun Triplemania XXIX show.

After Escorpión got his head shaved, we got a magical moment. “Those were the best beatings I’ve exchanged with an asshole”, said a bloodied clown with a mohawk while two children jumped with joy in a ring filled with confetti. God, I love AAA so much. ****¼

Griffin: Rey Escorpion had La Hiedra, Taurus, and Samoano as his seconds. Psycho Clown, the ace of the universe, had Goya Kong in his corner. In a beautiful tribute, Psycho Clown wore his late father’s “Super Porky” jacket to the ring. Psycho Clown carried a painting of Porky before the match and Escorpion promptly smashed it over Psycho’s head! This is heated as soon as the bell rings as it doesn’t take long for the match to spill out into the crowd. This was a gang beating as Psycho Clown was attacked by Escorpion and all of his seconds, including being busted open by a lighttube and being stabbed in the head with the broken glass. Escorpion absolutely brutalized Psycho who was a bloody mess but started his comeback with a tope suicida into a wooden board at ringside! Escorpion was busted wide open after Psycho broke a beer bottle over his head and dug the glass into the forehead as a matter of revenge. After the glass spots, this dragged as both men traded impact moves to get nearfalls. Weird pacing to start with the violence and transition to the standard wrestling match. The rudos tried to work together to beat up Psycho but the ace was just too much as he knocked them all out of the ring and nearly had the match won with a rollup. Goya Kong handed Psycho a hammer but then kicked him in the nards to turn on her brother! Escorpion then missed and knocked Kong out, leading to Psycho to do a torito to win the match and take the hair of Rey Escorpion in honour of his father Super Porky! This felt clunky at times but it really connected when it needed to. It went twenty-four minutes total and could have probably been better if they shaved around five minutes off the match. This worked fine for a pandemic era TripleMania but it felt overshadowed by recent TripleMania main events. After the match, Rey Escorpion shook Psycho’s hand and had his daughter cut the first part of his hair before it was shaved off. ***3/4