Lucha Libre Thread - AAA, CMLL, & the rest of the masked lads

[BomberPat]

21 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

I'm not overly familiar with AAA. Is there anyone there worth a squirt? I've had a quick look over their current roster and don't recognise most of the names bar Del Rio and Cibernetico. 

According to a couple of reports going around, only 13 or 14 people are actually under AAA contract. They tend to rely on bigger unsigned names for the main events of their bigger shows, usually the likes of Dr Wagner Jr, L.A. Park and Blue Demon Jr., who can afford to not sign contracts and just work big dates wherever they can, especially if they're willing to put masks or hair on the line. But they've downscaled that a bit in the past year. 

Even before the WWE buy-out, they were in a bit of an identity crisis - every show last year was Origenes-themed, which was a '90s nostalgia gimmick, and that meant a lot of old names popping up who probably wouldn't have been sticking around this year whether they were bought by WWE or not. They were also running Vampiro's retirement tour last year, which added on the nostalgia and old-timer appearances.

 

A lot of their bigger and better names have departed to WWE, AEW, or CMLL over the last couple of years anyway, so there's only a handful of names worth mentioning now.

El Hijo del Vikingo is the obvious one; I haven't seen much of him since his spate of injuries, so I don't know if he's as good as he was, but WWE have clearly earmarked him as the star they want. 

Laredo Kid is brilliant - he's worked a lot in TNA, though never really getting a big push. He fits WWE's idea of what a luchadore is, so he will either have a better shot at being brought in and made something of than most, or he'll be overlooked because they already have the likes of Fenix and Dragon Lee anyway. Same goes for Octagon Jr to a lesser extent.

Psycho Clown is their top babyface, by quite a wide margin, though probably coming towards the end of that run. Notably, he's taking more bookings outside of AAA, and has a name (Psicopatia Del Ring) that he sometimes uses for non-AAA bookings, meaning they don't get a cut of his fee. That suggests to me that he's already weighing up his options outside of AAA anyway, though I'm not sure what that would mean - I'd be amazed if CMLL touch him at all, based on long-running bad blood between his family and CMLL, and Ultimo Guerrero in particular. I can't picture him in WWE, though. Incidentally, he is also the son of Super Porky.

El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr is brilliant, and he signed with AAA only a few months ago, after turning down a WWE deal. His explanation was that WWE wanted him to unmask, because he's a heavyweight and doesn't fit their idea of a masked luchadore. He rightly believes there's money to be made from his mask, and I expect he'll want a big mask match with Psycho Clown before agreeing to lose it - Psycho Clown took his dad's mask, so there's history there. It's interesting that he turned down WWE only to end up de facto working for them anyway, I'll be curious to see how that goes. WWE could do a lot worse than picking up him and his enormous brother, Galeno del Mal, who's currently signed to NOAH.

I absolutely love Mr. Iguana, he's a great undercard comedy worker, but also an underrated flyer and technician. He wears a green bodysuit and facepaint, and has a stuffed Iguana mascot that sometimes he will throw at his opponents and make do "moves" on them - he's been entangled in a romance angle with heel luchadora La Hiedra forever, and also is currently in a story where the Tokyo Bad Boys have stolen his iguana and turned her against him, and he also seems to be potentially turning heel? He doesn't fit WWE's idea of what a luchadore is, or really the American idea of a luchadore at all, so doesn't get anything like the foreign bookings I think he deserves - he should be due a breakout match outside of AAA, but I doubt WWE will look twice at him.

Sam Adonis is another one that could be interesting to watch - he's Corey Graves' brother, and used to be in WWE's developmental system. He's been in Mexico for years, and has been AAA's go-to American heel and perennial rival to Psycho Clown for a long time. The family connection might see him brought into WWE, or pushed strongly in AAA, and they might see him as a useful bridge between the two styles.

[Olly1984]

Debut of the new La Parka, wonder how quick WWE decide to give him shit music instead of paying up for "Thriller"

 

 

[poetofthedeed]

Fuck the new LA Parka, L.A Park for life.

 

 

[Kamran]

WWE have released the Worlds Collide poster and has announced 2 matches:

• Chad Gable vs. El Hijo del Vikingo
• Legado Del Fantasma (Angel, Berto, and Santos Escobar) vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Pagano, and Psycho Clown

Edited May 25, 2025 by Kamran

[Vamp]

Pagano and Psycho Clown on a WWE promoted card is wild. 

Interesting ghat Alberto isn't shown on the poster. 

[simonworden]

I hope they've done the decent thing and given him the boot. But my gut tells me they're going to keep him and make him some "unscripted" surprise on the night. 

[wordsfromlee]

59 minutes ago, simonworden said:

I hope they've done the decent thing and given him the boot. But my gut tells me they're going to keep him and make him some "unscripted" surprise on the night. 

They signed him to a new contract a few weeks ago. Plus he's the AAA champion.

[Infinity Land]

1 hour ago, Vamp said:

Pagano and Psycho Clown on a WWE promoted card is wild. 

Interesting ghat Alberto isn't shown on the poster. 

They've rushed a Vikingo v. Alberto title match that will happen a week before Worlds Collide. Could have done it at Worlds Collide or wait a week for the first Triplemania of the year.

Doesn't mean Alberto's done with the company but looks like they're going to switch the title to make Vikingo the poster boy.

 

[Lorne Malvo]

I'm very much looking forwards to how the WWE Twitter lot (WWEGareth and the like) will take to Vikingo considering they absolutely slaughtered his match against Omega. It can't be that they all suddenly decide he's class, right?

[Arch Stanton]

5 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I'm very much looking forwards to how the WWE Twitter lot (WWEGareth and the like) will take to Vikingo considering they absolutely slaughtered his match against Omega. It can't be that they all suddenly decide he's class, right?

Why would you give a fuck what these kinds of Twitter fan accounts think?

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Wonder what Rey’s role will be for the show given he’s injured? If it’s not as corner man for a Dragon Lee match then maybe have him be on the commentary team in Booker’s place to offer some info on the Triple AAA talent ala what Mike Tenay used to do in WCW back in the day

[wordsfromlee]

Del Rio attacked Vikingo (and then a member of the studio staff) on a live TV show while promoting his upcoming title match. The TV station is saying that it wasn't a work - and I wouldn't put it past Del Rio to do something like that - but you never know.

 

[DavidB6937]

That rug slip might be the best thing he's ever done.

[Chili]

Eh, I thought DDP and Raven did a better job of the attack on a TV show thing. Says A LOT for how much people view Del Rio as a cunt that it could or couldn't be a work. Depends on the coke I suppose. Amazing rug slip though, best bit.

[Arch Stanton]

That's not Vikingo is it? It's a little fat old fella.