AAA
The third TripleMania was held this weekend in Mexico City, to celebrate AAA’s 30th anniversary. I maintain these events are always worth watching, even for the terrible parts, because there’s no other shows quite like them. This sounds like it lived up the AAA’s values, with the culmination of the Ruleta De La Muerte, a tournament where wrestlers had to win their matches in order to reach the final and the chance to take the other finalist’s mask; the gimmick being that the tournament is so prestigious it’s worth risking your mask for. Mask vs Mask matches are the biggest events in Lucha Libre.
Sadly I don’t think this was available to watch anywhere outside of Mexico; not even Cubsfan was streaming it on Twitch. For now the crazy spots can only be enjoyed in GIF form on social media:
In a bloody main event, Pentagon Junior defeated Vilano IV.
The rest of the card:: Hermanos Lee (Dragon Lee & Dralistico) defeated Arez & Willie Mack, Komander & Myzteziz Jr, Los Vipers (Latigo & Toxin) in a AAA World Tag Team Title #1 Contenders Four Way Match // El Hijo del Vikingo defeated Rey Fenix to retain the AAA Mega Championship // Pagano defeated Cibernetico in a hair vs hair match // Brian Cage, Johnny Caballero & Sam Adonis defeated Bandido, Laredo Kid & Psycho Clown, Nueva Generacion Dinamita (El Cuatrero, Forastero & Sanson) for the AAA World Trios Championship // Taya Valkyrie defeated Kamille for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship
WWE
The big event from last week was the televisual return of Bray Wyatt on Smackdown, where he will apparently be exclusive (although that “rule” always lasts as long as cabbage and always has). Love him or hate him, it can’t be denied he is over huge with the fanbase. His first promo has racked up millions of views across social media:
AEW
Renee Paquette has signed with All Elite and was warmly welcomed by the crowd in Toronto on Wednesday’s Dynamite. Oh, how I would love an AEW version of Talking Smack, perhaps with Renee and RJ City? Still, one of the main attractions of the show was that people could go on it and talk (somewhat) freely, which made it feel exciting; that and the fact Bryan Danielson clearly did not give a shit and was seeing if he could get fired. Considering the chaotic nature of AEW anyway, perhaps a similar show just wouldn’t work.
Elsewhere Moxley and Adam Page had a great promo to build to their championship match next week, but the true highlight was Orange Cassidy defeating PAC for the All Atlantic Championship. The weak half-raise of the belt and orange confetti were just *Chef’s Kiss*
NJPW
Here’s a fun free match from New Japan Strong!
Anyway, if you watched any wrestling this past week, why not share your thoughts?