Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
Triplemanía XXXI: Monterrey
April 16, 2023
Estádio de Beisebol Monterrey
Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

Watch: FITE

They opened with an army marching band and I couldn’t help but notice that Tim Hortons sponsors this baseball stadium. I didn’t know Timmies had locations in Mexico. Does the coffee suck there too? Anyway, lots of empty seats but the vibes are alright. My man Hugo Savinovich looks sharp. The urn is ringside. Onto the show!

Cage Match, Final Two Advance To An Apuestas Later
Myzteziz Jr. & Argenis advance over Abismo Negro Jr., Aerostar, Antifaz del Norte, La Parka Negra, Laredo Kid, Octagón Jr., Taurus, & Villano III Jr.

Lots of talent in this match where “blood feuds” come to a head! Antifaz and Laredo Kid have been feuding so Antifaz cut off Laredo’s entrance and they started brawling before anybody else came out. You would think the two guys beating the crap out of each other with beer bottles and chairs before the match would be the ones to advance to the apuestas, right? Wrong. Laredo kicked his ass and entered the match but Antifaz didn’t so there was no way the mask vs. mask match could happen on this show. Weird. Other than a few dives from the top, including a sick Myzteziz Shooting Star onto the rest of the field, this was a basic multi-man match. Everyone got a chance to hit a cool move and shine but the rest was nothing special. **½

Vampiro def. Chessman

No Adrian Marcelo on this show so Vampiro steps up against Chessman. A ten minute Vampiro singles match in 2023. Good lord. The longest ten minute match ever that would just not end. Mr. Iguana and La Hiedra’s (Vampiro and Chessman’s seconds, respectively) antics could not save this. After some arguing, Hiedra fouled Chessman and Vampiro tried to spear him through a wooden board for the win. DUD

Copa Triplemanía
Team Regio (Baby Extreme, El Hijo de LA Park, El Zorro, Flammer & Toscano) def. Team Chilango (Arez, Dave The Clown, Látigo, Negro Casas & Niño Hamburguesa)

Eliminations happened after a pinfall, submission, or being thrown over the top rope in this five versus five tag team match. Baby Extreme was eliminated by Látigo via pinfall, Látigo was thrown over the top rope by El Zorro, Dave The Clown was eliminated by Toscano via pinfall, El Hijo flew over the top rope when Negro Casas jumped out of the way, Niño Hamburguesa was eliminated by El Zorro & Flammer via pinfall, Zorro was thrown over the top rope by Casas, Arez was eliminated by Flammer via pinfall, Flammer was eliminated by Casas via pinfall. The final two came down to Toscano and Negro Casas. After a ref bump, Nicho el Millonario (Psicosis) stumbled down to the ring to hit Casas with a weapon, leading to Toscano’s pinfall win. Looks like we’re getting Nicho vs. Negro Casas in the future. The match was alright. Some good spots here and there but the standard midcard Copa match. **½

Guerra de Rivalidades Semi-Final
Alberto el Patrón & Pentagón Jr. def. Psycho Clown & Sam Adonis

Like last year’s Ruleta de la Muerte tournament, the losers advance to the next match. Alberto was dressed like a cowboy for some reason. Mammas don’t let your babies grow up to be like ol’ Berto.

The match was boring and felt like a very paint-by-numbers match that was worked to get the Psycho Clown and Sam Adonis story over ahead of the next Triplemanía show. Adonis kept interfering against Psycho and refused to be tagged in at points. Pentagón and Alberto worked together the entire match because they are not, and never have been, rivals despite being billed as such in this tournament. ***

Mask vs. Mask
Myzteziz Jr. def. Argenis

Dulce Kanela and Sexy Star seconded Myzteziz. Lady Maravilla and La Hiedra seconded Argenis. This was missing something. They tried to work this as the end of a blood feud but it didn’t really feel like one. There was a spot where Argenis tapped out right in front of the referee but it wasn’t acknowledged at all. A powerbomb through a door on two chairs followed by a nice Shooting Star Press led to the winning pinfall. Myzteziz has won the mask of Argenis. ***1/4

Argenis is Mirzha Adán Uribe Nava, originally from Tepito, Mexico City. He is 36 years old and has been a luchador for 22 years.

Guerra de Rivalidades Semi-Final
Blue Demon Jr. & DMT Azul def. LA Park & Rush

LA Park vs. Rush is the biggest apuestas match that could be booked for Triplemanía XXXI: Mexico City (the real one). LA Park and Rush both know that, so it was no surprise that the two true rivals started fighting at the end and Park threw the match so he could be one step closer to getting the big match. Before that moment, however, the match rocked and told a very unique story. It looked like the teams were reversed when Rush and DMT Azul took control of the first part of the match, beating the shit out of Demon and Park, respectively. The two legends were a bloody mess but fought back as the roles were reversed. They took their time giving receipts to Rush and Azul until they got into a chop battle in the middle of the ring. Whenever the teams tried to work together, something went awry and it never quite worked out for them which was a nice touch as these are not normal teams. La Bestia del Ring rushed the ring but was thwarted by LA Park Jr. so the families were a non-factor in the finish. Shortly after that, Park kicked a field goal through Rush’s legs and dragged Demon’s limp body on top of Rush for the finish. This rocked. Blue Demon lost a ton of blood. The rivalry dynamic came across a lot better in this match than the other match earlier on the show. Even though he sabotaged the match for his team, Park still came across as the winner. ****

AAA Mega Championship
El Hijo del Vikingo © def. Komander, Rich Swann, & Swerve Strickland

The result was never in question as Vikingo has two upcoming defenses of the Mega title in the Tony Khan Wrestling Universe (against Gringo Loco in Ring of Honor and against Dralistico in All Elite Wrestling). As expected, this was great and was full of high spots that you may have never seen before. Komander’s rope walk is always impressive. Swann hit a cool running flip from the stage on all three guys. Swerve’s brainbuster looked wicked. All that being said, Vikingo was the star of the show once again with his mastery of the ropes. A springboard tornillo turned into a poisonrana was just a transition move! He hit a rope walk 630 from top rope to the floor on all three other guys just to follow it up with turning splash from the middle rope from the outside of the ring into the ring. Vikingo’s moveset is just incredible and I feel bad for any commentary booth that has to describe it via War of the Worlds-esque audio only PPV feeds. Komander and Vikingo hit poisonranas and then tope Destroyers on Swerve and Swann to get to a one-on-one battle for the end of the match. Vikingo hit the high-speed knees and the 630 for the pinfall win. I will never get tired of Vikingo vs. Komander matches. ****

Konnan came out with the belt to present it to Vikingo because of course he did. The main event post-match ends with Konnan’s music blaring during Vikingo’s celebration.

Overall Thoughts

The semi-main and main event saved this show. The undercard felt like a boring television taping with not much going on despite having Negro Casas’ Triplemanía debut and a mask vs. mask apuestas match. Hopefully LA Park vs. Rush and the continuation of this Vikingo vs. Komander international feud breathes some life into the company, but we’ll probably get more Vampiro singles and pointless El Patron matches instead. This is AAA after all.