AAA Review – 05.02.26

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It’s time for another episode of the best WWE-related product on the market right now, AAA Lucha Libre! Tonight’s show comes to the Youtube/FOX airwaves from Auditorio José María Arteaga in Querétaro, Mexico. The announcers for tonight’s show on the WWE broadcast are Corey Graves, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, and Raymond Stereo. Let’s watch some Lucha Libre!

Then, Now, Forever…..TOGETHER

Here’s El Grande Americano Original and El Grande Americano Nuevo prior to their huge contract signing tonight. Here’s Rey Fenix ahead of his non-title match with AAA Cruiserweight Champion Laredo Kid. Here’s El Ojo backstage, with Dorian Roldan on his cel phone, while El Hijo Del Vikingo and Omos look on impassively. Roldan tells Vikingo he’s going to have a match for the Latin American championship at the big May 30th show. Vikingo loves that, and he tells Roldan he’s going to be the new GM of AAA as well. Vikingo exits, and AAA Latin American Champion El Hijo Del Dr. Wagner Jr. sidles up to Roldan to ask him what he knows about family. Omos flexes up but is held back by Roldan as DW3 makes his exit.

Mini Vikingo vs El Hijo Del Vikingo

So you can understand, Mini is Mini Vikingo, Vikingo is Vikingo. Got it? Yes. JBL decides to repeatedly call Mini a “snowflake” who stole Vikingo’s name, which…maybe pick a different word there, John? Vikingo tosses his coat at Mini and attacks prior to the bell. Vikingo dropkicks Mini and stands on him in a corner before blasting him with another running shotgun dropkick. Vikingo bullies Mini in the corner and then snapmares him over for another shotgun dropkick that gets two. Vikingo yanks up Mini and boots him in the hamstring before walloping him with a right hand. Vikingo slaps Mini around and pulls him into a camel clutch by the sides of his mouth. Vikingo yanks up Mini for another forearm and a body-scissors takedown. Vikingo works an armlock and smashes Mini’s head into the mat a bunch. Vikingo stands on Mini’s chest and takes his boot off at the two count. Mini fires up with a slap but Vikingo responds in kind and then utterly destroys Mini with a running Meteora that sends both of them to the floor. Vikingo rolls in to stop the count and then rams Mini into the ring steps head-first. Vikingo pulls Mini into the aisle and hits a vertical suplex on the ramp. Vikingo breaks the count again and dances up towards the fallen Mini. Vikingo yanks up Mini for a powerbomb on the ramp and the ref charges up to see if he should think about stopping this. Mini gets run back in and Vikingo yanks him up at two off the cover.

Mini fires up with some slaps and Vikingo just wipes him out with right hands. Vikingo misses a charge and Mini fires up with a sunset flip that gets two. Mini mashes Vikingo with a tope con hilo/torneo/crucifix driver that drops Vikingo on the ramp (The American announcers cannot believe this move, and frankly, it was fucking awesome. They are not wrong to be shocked at how cool it was.) Vikingo gets run back in and Mini’s springboard meets Vikingo’s knees. Vikingo hits a huge powerbomb and Mini kicks out at two. Vikingo whales away with rights and lefts and then blatantly chokes Mini. Vikingo removes a turnbuckle pad and of course Mini reverses an irish whip to send Vikingo into the exposed nut. Mini hits a 450 splash and Vikingo kicks out at 2.5. Vikingo notices the referee attempting to re-attach the turnbuckle so he launches Mini at the ref with a back body drop. The ref topples to the floor and Mini of course manages to snap off a rana that gets a visual three. The bell rings, and Vikingo rises to wipe out Mini with a lariat. Vikingo mounts Mini in a corner and plants him with a urunage from the top turnbuckle. (Vikingo appeared to legit hurt his shoulder on this move as they did land fairly awkwardly.) There’s still no ref to count, so Vikingo rolls away and grabs a chair while definitely favoring the damaged shoulder. Vikingo wants to use the chair but here’s DW3 to smash Vikingo and hit a Wagner Driver on the chair. Mini ascends and hits a 630 splash just as the ref crawls back in to count three!

I thought the story here was excellent. Vikingo has been so pissed at Mini for the longest time now and he finally gets a one-on-one match to bully him around, and of course the whole thing goes sideways at the worst possible time. Now, let’s hope Vikingo’s shoulder isn’t too bad because I think him and DW3 can put on a hell of a show at Noche de los Grandes, but he had to be attended to immediately after the match so we’ll just have to wait to hear. What an opener. 4*

Winner – Mini Vikingo (630 splash)

Post-match sees DW3 celebrate with Mini before Omos runs out to destroy both of them. Omos lawn-darts Mini into a corner post before hitting a massive slap on DW3. Omos runs DW3 in to the ring and then clotheslines him to the mat. Omos yanks DW3 up for a slap and then boots him in the ribs. Omos wants a powerbomb but here’s Galeno Del Mal (DW3’s real life brother!) to the rescue. Galeno and DW3 drop Omos to the floor with a clothesline and Omos backs off. Galeno and DW3 hug it out to a HUGE pop.

AAA Cruiserweight Champion Laredo Kid vs Rey Fenix

Laredo grabs a side headlock and then trucks Fenix down. Fenix tries an armdrag that sees Laredo land on his feet. There’s some more acrobatics to a standoff, and then Fenix lays in a shotgun chop. Fenix walk the ropes to hit an armdrag that sends Laredo to the floor. Fenix takes forever to make up his mind on his next move so a recovered Laredo mashes him with a lariat. Laredo covers and gets two. Laredo kicks Fenix in the back and gets a one count. Laredo smacks Fenix in the back of the head before snap-maring him over to waffle him with a shotgun dropkick. Laredo covers twice and gets two both times. Fenix fires up with some kicks but Laredo cuts it off with a right. Laredo snaps off a Michinoku Driver and that gets two.

Laredo ascends and hits a big splash that gets two. Fenix shakes that off and waffles a charging Laredo with a superkick. Fenix drives Laredo into a corner and boots him in the neck. Fenix hits a rope walk-punt that gets two. Laredo goes to the apron and Fenix goes out with him. Laredo slaps Fenix and then drops him back into the ring. Fenix hits an enziguri that sends Laredo to the floor. Fenix hits a rana and tosses Laredo back in before ascending. Fenix hits a moonsault and covers Laredo for two. Fenix hits a springboard reverse thrust kick and then mounts him in a corner. Fenix wants the Muscle Buster but Laredo slips off and wallops Fenix with a running forearm. Laredo hits a twisting springboard moonsault and a Mexican Destroyer that gets a ONE count. Fenix snaps off a cutter and covers Laredo for two.

A chop battle breaks out and they rise to start throwing rights. Fenix gets caught on a charge with a big right, and Laredo ascends again. He waits way too long and Fenix rises to clobber Laredo with a right. Fenix pulls Laredo onto his shoulder and hits the Mexican Muscle Buster. Fenix covers and gets three.

I would assume this sets up a full defense for Laredo against Fenix at Noche de los Grandes, and that just adds another phenomenal match to an already stacked card. I thought tonight was a great warm-up for what could be a show-stealer on May 30th. These two have great chemistry and the story here was them pulling out everything they had to try to beat the other, but Laredo taking a second too long to throw out a taunt cost him the entire match. Fenix kept a lot of his show-offy stuff muted tonight, so I ended up enjoying this a lot. 3.75*

Winner – Rey Fenix (Mexican Muscle Buster)

Post-match sees the fans throwing coins into the ring to thank the wrestlers for their display. Laredo is not interested in returning the show of respect that Fenix had shown him. So so good.

Here’s the Los Psycho Circus saga in highlights form including all of the interactions with the War Raiders. There will be a confrontation between Psycho Clown and Pagano on next week’s show! Also next week, we will see La Catalina make her AAA in-ring debut!

It’s time for the main event Contract Signing between the El Grande Americanos. Here’s a Dorian Roldan introduction to a chorus of boos. El Grande Americano Nuevo emerges to a GIGANTIC pop. Here’s El Grande Americano Original out to a chorus of boos and a raft of lies from JBL on commentary. Nuevo puts the stink-mouth on Original as they are separated by like fifteen security goobers. Roldan says that his family has always presented the best matches in lucha history and this mask vs mask match is no different. Original pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Roldan, who tells us that Original’s attorney has petitioned for no physicality from now until May 30th and if there’s any kind of attack, the other wrestler would lose his mask automatically and the match would be cancelled. Nuevo signs the contract and then demands Original sign. Security is dismissed and Andrea Barzate is asked to leave because of her “assault” on Original. Nuevo doesn’t want her to leave, but Barzate insists on leaving so Nuevo can take Original’s mask. THE GODDAMN DRAMA RIGHT HERE IS OFF THE CHARTS. Original now signs the contract and tosses the pen at Nuevo’s head. Original goes to the floor and Nuevo grabs a microphone. Nuevo tells “Shorty” that he has no idea what he’s done, and here are Brutus and Julius Creed out to attack Nuevo before putting him through the signing table and draping an American flag around themselves. Here’s Rayo and Bravo out to even up the numbers. Original poses at the top of the ramp as Nuevo is still suffering from being put through the table. The credits roll and we are out.

The best hour of wrestling every week did NOT disappoint this week. My goodness, two terrific matches and a heat-seeking missile of a main event contract signing. I think you should be telling your friends about this show and I’ll be honest, I am HYPED for the Noche de los Grandes show on the 30th.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Enjoy your Sunday.