Last night AAA Lucha Libra Worldwide presented their biggest show of the year in Triplemania 25. For the first time ever it was beamed on Twitch in both English and Spanish, and unfortunately for me, I picked the English language version. Kevin Gill and Gabriel Ramirez were the commentators and were not really prepared for the matches. During the course of the show, they didn’t know the rules to many of the matches and didn’t know many of the stars that appeared on
The show was advertised to begin at 8 pm EST, but at that time, the building was empty and they were testing the cameras. It was closer to 8:30 before some of the fans started coming in.
“Key to Glory” match:
The pre-show matches were under the “Key to Glory” banner, which was explained as Vampiro (The booker for AAA) trying to bring in new talent. The idea was that the participants in these matches were the best of the best of the recruits. Vampiro, Faby Apache, and La Parka sat outside the ring as judges. The only person I recognized was Villano III Jr. because of the mask he wore looked just like his father’s.
Marisela Pena (Widow of AAA founder Antonio Pena) was sitting in her usual spot at ringside and was introduced to the crowd. She had both the urns with the ashes of Pena, as well as her brother Joaquin Rodan, who had taken over for Pena but passed away a few months ago sadly.
We get the Mexican national anthem by a military guard band and then a music video to Aerosmith’s “Dream on” showcasing the history of Triplemania.
Mini Psycho Clown, Hernandez, Hiedra & Mamba defeated Mascara de Bronce, Dinastia, Big Mami & Estrella Divina
The opener was an 8 person match with two teams of a heavyweight, a mini, a woman, and an
AAA Reina de Reinas Title: Champion Sexy Star defeated Rosemary, Lady Shani & Ayako Hamada to retain her title
This match turned into an absolute trainwreck. The commentators had no idea what was going on. During part of the match, Hamada and Rosemary tried to do a spot against Shani with her sitting in a chair with a trash can over her head, but the chair was broken and didn’t work, making for a LONG and fruitless spot on the match. There are reports that Sexy Star and Shani broke script and were legit fighting and with Rosemary having her arm legit dislocated by Star in the finish. After the match, former women’s wrestler Martha Villalobos presented the belt to Sexy Star. Reports are Star then hightailed it out of the building. That can’t be good.
Vampiro came out and made the announcement of the winners of the “Key to Glory” series and
AAA Tag Team Title: Monster Clown & Murder Clown won in a four-way tag match with Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria, DJZ & Andrew Everett, and Drago & Aerostar
Another cluster of a match, but this went a little more smoothly. There was a lot of interference as The AAA Trios Champions Nuevo Poder del Norte came out and attacked, along with Raptor who came out to assist Drago and Arrowstar, and Dave the Clown (who the English Commentators did not recognize) and Marty the Moth interfered for the clowns, leading to Murder Clown flattening Cuervo and Escoria with a top rope splash to win the belts. The beest
Marisela Pena with Dorian Rodan and I believe her daughter came out on stage to memorialize Antonio Pena and Joaquin Rodan, leading into a video paying tribute to those AAA stars who have passed away. Hijo De Perro Aguayo got the biggest response.
This match was REALLY hard to follow. The idea was that they brought back several names from the past. Trios teams would enter but since there could only be one winner, it was just confusing, and the lackluster commentary did not help. Someone must not have clued Jeff Jarrett in because he, Moose, and Lashley all got their own entrances. Jarrett was just there to suck up camera time and didn’t really do much. The ending saw La Parka against all three members of the OGT team, but the OGT’s secretly started eliminating each other, leaving only Averno, who La Parka then pinned. Meanwhile, Jeff Jarrett, who had already been eliminated, wandered around ringside until the match ended and then wandered to the back. Latin Lover made a surprise appearance at the end to present La Parka with a 25th Anniversary belt for winning.
Much like every other
AAA Mega Championship, Latin American Championship, and Cruiserweight Title Ladder match: Johnny Mundo defeated Texano Jr. and El Hijo del Fantasma in a ladder match to retain his triple crown of AAA championship
A decent match with lots of tables, chairs, and plenty of interference. Both Hernandez and Kevin Kross came to help Johnny and Mascara de Bronce interfered based on the feud he has with Kross and Hernandez. Phantasma and Texano fought each other and eliminated each other from the match so that Mundo could climb the ladder and get all three belts. After the match, he called out Vampiro, cursed him out, and demanded Vampiro strap the belts around his waist. Vampiro eventually had enough and choke-slammed Mundo in the ring. After that Phantasma and Texano started fighting again as the story was that they cost each other the titles again
Psycho Clown defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. in a mask vs. mask match
By this point, we were 5 1/2 hours into it, but this match was everything that the fans had hoped for. Wagner was accompanied by his family, including his son who is also an active wrestler. It really was a back and forth battle, and thankfully very little interference. Psycho won the match with a Code Red and got the pinfall.
After the match, Maximo and La Mascara joined their relative Psycho Clown in the ring for what was a legit touching moment. Wagner gave a speech saying he was Juan Manuel Gonzalez Barron, age 52, and while he will take off the mask his son will now carry on the name and tradition of Dr. Wagner
Overall it was a good show. The multi person matches got really confusing at times and the awful commentary team was no help whatsoever. It seemed like these guys haven’t watched AAA in ten years or so the way they were rattling off the older names, but didn’t recognize a bunch of the current guys. There were some production issues, but I have seen worse in Triplemania’s past. Fun experience to watch live!