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Welcome to my live, ongoing WWE Worlds Collide blog.
This should be an interesting show, since it’s going to basically be a pilot event to showcase and get the AAA Lucha Libre over to the masses not already indoctrinated into the lucha style. WWE is basically using the WWE talents as a way to bring their audience over and expand the audience.
They had a great opening video package narrated by Rey Mysterio in Spanish, getting over the idea that this would be a major moment in time.
Corey Graves and Konnan are the announcers. Konnan is on the creative team, so it makes sense to have him in this role, not just because he was the first major AAA babyface in the Antonio Pena era but because he’ll know exactly what they are trying to get over to the masses.
They did a lot of pageantry, including officials and stars in the ring for the Mexican and American national anthems. It was a classy opening.
Gabriel Iglesias is sitting behind the announcers.
Aerostar & Mr. Iguana & Octagon Jr. vs. Lince Dorado & Dragon Lee & Cruz Del Toro is our opener. Konnan explained they are going to be watching Mexican wrestling, not American wrestling. Octagon and Cruz went back and forth before facing off. Iguano and Lince tagged in. Iguana brought in his stuffed mascot for some fun spots. Dragon Lee and Aerostar each tagged in. The crowd chanted for lucha libre. They took athletics up a notch. Iguana used his stuffed iguana in a felonious manner against his opponents. They started pulling out all sorts of big dives and it was super enjoyable. Del Toro hit a big spinning torneo off the top. He was able to work in a way he usually doesn’t on the WWE main roster. Octagon and Dorado chopped the hell out of each other. Octagon pinned Lince with a backflip fallaway slam off the top. Team AAA gets the win, which was the smart move. Entertaining opener and I can see a lot of people falling in love with Iguana's gimmick.
Dominik Mysterio, who was ringside with Liv Morgan, had a live mic and said that they are big Rey Mysterio fans, but Rey is a deadbeat while Dom is the champion. He cut the promo in both English and Spanish. Octagon Jr. confronted him and they started brawling. They fought on the floor and into the ring before being pulled apart and fighting again. Dom challenged Octagon Jr. to fight him later tonight at Money in the Bank and said he’s even put the WWE Intercontinental title on the line. Good angle!
They aired a very good tribute video to Antonio Pena. As someone who really enjoyed the early era of AAA watching it on Galavision back in 1993, this was an enjoyable look back at the early days of AAA and what Pena brought to professional wrestling.
They showed AAA legends Latin Love and Mascarita Sagrada at ringside.
They are selling AAA talent shirts on WWEShop.
IYO SKY and Tiffany Stratton were ringside. Money in the Bank is taking place across the street.
Lola Vice & Stephanie Vaquer vs. Chik Tormenta & Dalys is next. Huge pop for Vaquer. She had some nice back and forth with Dalys. Tormenta tagged in. Lolo tagged in and she was hit pretty snug by Tormenta before being take back. Dalys tagged in but was caught with a series of kicks and then nailed with a hip attack. Tormenta nailed Lola with a clothesline on the floor and got in Stratton's face. Smart to tease interpromotional tension. They showed Negro Casas, who is married to Dalys, at ringside. Lola was worked over for a long time in order to set the stage for Vaquer's hot tag. Vaquer controlled the AAA stars. She nailed Dalys with SVP, which Konnan put over as the student defeating her teacher as Dalys helped train her. After, Stephanie said she was ready for MITB. A lot of this felt disconnected. Vaquer is ridiculously over.
Chad Gable promised to the AAA Mega title and said everyone was welcoming the new greatest luchador of all time, El Grande Americano, who was going to win Money in the Bank tonight. The live crowd booed the mention of Americano.
They showed Chavo Guerrero in the crowd. They then showed The Street Profits.
Legado del Fantasma versus El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Pagano, and Psycho Clown was third. Legado came out dressed in camoflouge, like they were going to war. All three of these guys are great and it's nice to see them (HOPEFULLY) getting to show everything they have to offer. So weird to see Psycho not coming out to Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi. Santos rescued Humberto from a Clown dive. Psycho crashed down hard outside. Legado worked over Pyscho for a long time. Team AAA made a comeback and hit a trio of big dives. Legado double pressed and slammed Wagner from the top to the ring. Lots of near falls. Very physical with lots of big moves. Escobar hit a top rope rana on Wagner for a two count. They battled and Escobar pinned Wagner with a Michinoku Driver. Good lucha action.
They aired a video package on the 1994 When Worlds Collide PPV, which was a hell of a fun show. They noted the show opened the doors for talents to come to WCW and WWE, but didn't mention ECW??? They presented it as this was the spark of lucha in the States. I guess that would be true for PPV but AAA was doing shows in LA, Chicago and NYC before that PPV.
They showed Savio Vega and Damian Priest at ringside.
They showed Blue Demon Jr.
Ethan Page vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Laredo Kid vs. Rey Fenix for the NXT North American Championship is fourth. Very happy to see Laredo in this as he's great and extremely underrated. Page played his brash character well but was attacked and tossed from the ring. The challengers all whipped out very athletic action. Fenix and Evans had some great exchanges. Page returned and hit a rana but was dropkicked out of the ring Evans. Laredo hit an awesome moonsault to the floor. Fenix scored with a big Torneo dive. They spotlighted Evans hitting some BIG TIME dives and leaping moves. Lots of near falls. All action. Evans nailed a cutter but Ethans attacked him and tossed him into Laredo, then picked the bones and pinned Laredo. Really fun match and especially if you are an action junkie who likes big spots.
They aired a video package putting over the importance of Triplemania. They pushed tickets for the event in August.
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Chad Gable will close out the event. Back and forth chants. They had some nice back and forth hold for hold wrestling before facing off. Gable missed a charge in the corner, allowing Vikingo to hit a missile dropkick. Vikingo got caught up in the ropes but came back with a rana and hit a Meteora through the ropes to the floor. Vikingo went to the top and hit a springboard 720 to the floor, smashing Gable to the floor. Vikingo went for a running shooting star off the apron but Gable pulled the knees up. Oof. Gable tried to German suplex him through a table on the floor but Vikingo fought him off. Gable gained control and tossed him back into the ring, scoring several two counts. Lots of good back and forth action as Gable's in-ring work helped ground Vikingo and made his big spots mean more. Gable missed a moonsault. Vikingo was caught off guard on the top and nailed with a top rope sitout powerbomb. Vikingo barely kicked out. He came back to hit a top rope Destroyer onto the outside of the ring apron. Gable barely kicked out. Vikingo placed him on a table but Gable rudely shoved him off the top to the floor. Gable placed him atop the table and nailed a moonsault through the table, smashing it. Almost counted out, they returned at the nine count and resumed the battle. Gable cinched in an anklelock but Vikingo escaped and nailed a spinkick. Vikingo seemed to have hurt his knee but fought through it and hit a Poisonrana. He nailed a 630 off the top and pinned Gable.
So, AAA wins the event, 3-2, which is the smart move to establish the brand to new eyeballs. The roster celebrated with Vikingo in the ring.
A very enjoyable show that felt more like a WWE event with lucha elements as opposed to a full blown Lucha show. It will be interesting to see how things go as they continue to assimilate AAA into the WWE pantheon.
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