AAA Noche de Los Grandes 2026 Discussion

[BomberPat]

The commentary was fucking diabolical. JBL sounded bored, Corey Graves on play-by-play is a dreadful decision, and Rey Mysterio was somehow even worse than both of them.

I wouldn't be quick to celebrate Undertaker (or Borash, or whoever is actually booking this stuff) as booker of the year, as the two previous matches were pretty dreadful. I can't deny that they have captured lightning in a bottle with Ludwig Kaiser, though.

I'm not as high on the match as a lot of people are. I thought it was very good, and the atmosphere was phenomenal, but there were a few things that worked against it, almost all of which were faults of the WWE-style presentation and agenting - the wrestlers who were actually in the match presumably just doing nothing because the camera was focused on all the run-ins fighting each other, the referee doing nothing to even try and sell that Americano's ankle injury might have been legit, the commentary, the camerawork, all of that just reminded me that I'm watching a WWE show, and WWE is decidedly not for me. Based on this show, I don't think WWE's version of AAA is either, no matter how good that main event was (and it was very good).

Something that really stood out for me from Ludwig Kaiser was how much selling he does with his whole body, how much he's using his arms to project and express things because he knows he's under a mask and his face can't do all the work - Orange Cassidy is really good at this too, and Mistico is maybe the best in the world at it, and it usually comes of having been accustomed to wrestling under a mask for years, yet as far as I know Kaiser had never wrestled under one before starting this gimmick, and probably wasn't even encouraged to sell like this until he started working in AAA. Chad Gable, by contrast, did a lot of sitting up and looking down the hard cam selling, the way you would expect in WWE, but it doesn't work because you can't see his face. It just shows how well Kaiser has adapted to the style, and I think it's a big part of why he's been accepted by the AAA audience - he is metaphorically, as well as literally, speaking their language.

 

I do wonder what comes next - how much momentum can they ride out of this, what next for Americano in AAA (I assume beating Dominik for the belt, presumably at Triplemania), and does this do anything for either man's standing in WWE? AAA's talent pool seems ridiculously shallow - there's pretty much no one close to Americano's level, and if WWE get bored of it and decide to stop sending main roster talent down there (which I can see happening if they don't get a US TV deal by Triplemania), there's very little to write home about. Triplemania would normally be bolstered by a big mask or hair match, and I don't see WWE going to that well again so soon, nor are the likely to try and do business with the kind of legends that AAA historically would have used in that spot - no Blue Demon Jr, no Dr Wagner Jr, no L.A. Park - and the most valuable mask left in AAA is most likely Psycho Clown's, and WWE have made it very clear that they don't see him as on anything like that top level.

 

I do find the WWE-ification of AAA a bit sad. The buy-out was likely inevitable, and I know a lot of people have been very happy with it, but it doesn't work for me. I find it very funny that between AAA and them sniffing around NOAH, the extent of WWE's international cross-promotion seems to always come down to "maybe we can give them Omos for a bit?". But surely the appeal of working in different environments for somebody like Omos is that he would gain the experience of working different styles, with different philosophies, and different audiences and approaches to wrestling, but instead he's gone to Mexico to work matches booked by WWE, produced by WWE, and filmed and edited exactly like WWE TV. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

The commentary was fucking diabolical. JBL sounded bored, Corey Graves on play-by-play is a dreadful decision, and Rey Mysterio was somehow even worse than both of them.

I wouldn't be quick to celebrate Undertaker (or Borash, or whoever is actually booking this stuff) as booker of the year, as the two previous matches were pretty dreadful. 

Commentary was even worse last week with Savio Vega instead of Rey. It's bearable and inoffensive with Rey, Graves and JBL though in my opinion.

Booking is not about the quality of the matches, it's about the angles and the stories.

The El Grande Americano angle (which has been building in AAA for months and featured some great moments) aside, there is also the Pagano/Psycho Clown dissension, El Hijo del Vikingo and his entourage bullying Mini Vikingo and others etc. As an ongoing week-by-week show that you can watch and follow along with there have been none better in wrestling than AAA so far this year in my opinion (admittedly I don't watch TNA and MLW but I'm guessing we would have heard something if they were doing compelling weekly TV).

AEW may have better top-to-bottom cards in terms of action and WWE is, well, WWE but for booking alone I am going AAA for the first 6 months of 2026, hands down.
 

Edited June 1 by Snitsky's back acne

[Lorne Malvo]

1 minute ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

 the first 6 months of 3026
 

Can you take a look in your crystal ball and let me know if Bloodline drama is still going on?

[TheScarlettChad]

Just now, Lorne Malvo said:

Can you take a look in your crystal ball and let me know if Bloodline drama is still going on?

I'm from 2028, it's still going on

[tiger_rick]

1 minute ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Booking is not about the quality of the matches, it's about the angles and the stories.

The quality of the matches can absolutely be about the booking. Putting together combinations that can't have good matches. Booking stipulations that hamper the ability to deliver or matches that don't pay off the stories. Giving a match too long or not long enough to deliver what it can. Creating an environment where match quality isn't important and so nothing is good.

Sometimes, good wrestlers don't work well or they have a problem. Bookers can't help that. They can help 99% of the rest of it though.

[BomberPat]

Booking isn't just "angles and stories". It's putting together matches people want to see, and pairing off wrestlers who will work well together, and it's fair to criticise the matches on those grounds, because it's the booking that they suffered from far more than the ability of the wrestlers.

It's the booking that has taken Psycho Clown from a generational headliner who could get a good match out of practically anyone to a midcard act less important on the pecking order than Mr Iguana, (badly) working WWE tag psychology, and Pagano from someone who, while always a bit shit, used to be booked to his strengths in big mad plunder brawls and is now equally struggling as a midcard tag guy.

It's the booking that has taken an absolute unit of a wrestler like Galeno del Mal and put him in a spot where he has to stand next to Omos - it reminds me of the old Jim Cornette criticism of WWE booking Matt Morgan to team with Brock Lesnar, Nathan Jones, and Big Show; why would you take this guy and put him in the one position where he doesn't look huge? 

[LaGoosh]

I'm tempted to watch this but imagine I'll probably like it a bit less than most of you and I typically find that anything WWE produced that is above average is almost always over-hyped but I'd still like to give it a go.

Where can I watch it with Spanish commentary? Because I wouldn't even watch Joe/Necro with that absolute talentless cunt Corey Graves on it.

[gmoney]

1 minute ago, LaGoosh said:

I'm tempted to watch this but imagine I'll probably like it a bit less than most of you and I typically find that anything WWE produced that is above average is almost always over-hyped but I'd still like to give it a go.

Where can I watch it with Spanish commentary? Because I wouldn't even watch Joe/Necro with that absolute talentless cunt Corey Graves on it.

 

 

[LaGoosh]

Gracias, mi amigo.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Booking is not about the quality of the matches, it's about the angles and the stories.

An interesting post, but I think this sentence is missing a ‘just’. 

The one thing that strikes me about AAA is how WWE-ified it feels. There are a lot of the same production choices and tropes, which I can’t imagine was the case beforehand (although admittedly I don’t know that for sure)

Having said that, the mask vs mask match was fantastic; not my personal match of the year, but a very justifiable pick if it was yours. 

I think AAA, from what I’ve seen (and I checked it out of the back of Marc Haynes complimenting it) is entertaining. I wouldn’t go as far as to call Undertaker booker of the year, but he’s producing solid WWE-style programming. 

[gmoney]

I wonder if that match was how Taker hoped his Summerslam 94 match would have gone if he'd been given more time. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

1 minute ago, RedTwoster said:

An interesting post, but I think this sentence is missing a ‘just’. 

The one thing that strikes me about AAA is how WWE-ified it feels. There are a lot of the same production choices and tropes, which I can’t imagine was the case beforehand (although admittedly I don’t know that for sure)

Having said that, the mask vs mask match was fantastic; not my personal match of the year, but a very justifiable pick if it was yours. 

I think AAA, from what I’ve seen (and I checked it out of the back of Marc Haynes complimenting it) is entertaining. I wouldn’t go as far as to call Undertaker booker of the year, but he’s producing solid WWE-style programming. 

Agreed. A "just" would have made the point better.

I will say that the caveat to my proclaiming Undertaker booker of the year (so far) is that he has 1 hour of TV a week to book, with the occasional special like Saturday, which is undoubtedly easier than the 4-5 hours AEW and WWE have to do every week, as well as PLE's etc. 

In fact, he can "block book", as I believe AAA tapes every 3-4 weeks, so there is a bit of breathing room between tapings like when HHH booked NXT.

WWE is an absolute chore to watch and AEW has had it's moments but nothing has had me invested in watching week-to-week since the Toni Storm/Mariah May storyline.

AAA has drawn me in and continues to be an enjoyable experience to watch. It's all subjective at the end of the day but that's all I ask of my wrestling viewing these days. 

 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I wonder what the chances of seeing Ludwig Kaiser wrestle again are? I know nothing of Lucha history really, but has there been a German born wrestler of such prominence in Mexico before? 

[HandsomeButchIII]

They've spent more time on Raw tonight talking about it than anything else (Even Michael Cole saying "It's everything Pro Wrestling is all about") and even included A SPECIAL ENCORE PRESENTION of it on Netflix at the end of the Raw episode. Well deserved. Also, it was piss funny to see Chad Gable also getting a worked middle name seeing as he has a worked name anyway.

Edited June 2 by HandsomeButchIII

[HandsomeButchIII]

6 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I wonder what the chances of seeing Ludwig Kaiser wrestle again are? I know nothing of Lucha history really, but has there been a German born wrestler of such prominence in Mexico before? 

Has there really been many German wrestlers of prominence anywhere? I can only think of Axel Dieter, who's Kaiser's dad anyway, and Das Wunderkind. Brakkus was only good for making the tea. Otto Wanz was Austrian so he was out. Ditto Gunther. I suppose Dragunov is probably more German than Russian these days but he's still Russian, and Aleister Black got his start in WXW too but he was Dutch. Actually, he still is Dutch, as he's not dead.

 

Edit: ULF HERMAN!

 

Edit 2: Alpha Female!

Edited June 2 by HandsomeButchIII