AAA Rey de Reyes 2021

AAA Campeonato Crucero #1 Contendership Match
Dinastia vs. Toxin vs. Aramis vs. Latigo vs. Arez - 7.5/10

This was your 2010 X Division match, just a stopfest with the craziest moves you've seen. To no one's surprise, I thought Arez and Aramis stole the match, I was just way into their dives, but at the end, Latigo gets the win over Aramis with a lariat. Latigo earns a shot at Laredo Kid.

Post-match - Laredo Kid came down and congratulated Latigo. He told him he is a great wrestler, one of the best new ones in AAA. Kid wanted to make this match a title shot because he wasn't getting these shots when he started. He offered Latigo a hand shake, but Latigo flipped him out and walked away. Laredo's promo sounded like he was barely offering the shot, so Latigo walking away only came off as rejecting the shot. it was a matter of Laredo's wording, but the match should still be on.

Vacant AAA Campeonato Latinoamericano Match
Octagon Jr. vs Taurus vs Villano III Jr. - 8/10

The former champion Daga vacated the championship a couple of weeks back after claiming that AAA didn't have enough challenges for him, and he wasn't wrong, but also, AAA hasn't been booking as many shows as they would want.

This was great, also full of great spots from all men included. Villano seemed to hurt himself, but eventually came back, so either he worked through the pain to finish the match, or it was just a scare. Taurus pinned Villano for the win. Taurus won the Copa Antonio Peña back in 2015, but this is the first time winning a AAA title.

Deonna Purrazzo joined commentary for the next match. Per Konnan, Purrazzo can challenge the winner of the Reina de Reinas winner tonight.

Vacant Campeonato Reina de Reinas Match
Faby Apache vs Chik Tormenta vs Maravilla vs Lady Shani vs Lady Flammer vs Sexy Star - 6.5/10

Title is vacant after Taya Valkyrie retired from Pro Wrestling and became an entertainer. She was the current champion at the time of the signing, but since she couldn't travel to Mexico, she wasn't able to drop the title to anyone. Not that the Fed would had allowed it anyway.

Lady Maravilla is just going by Maravilla now, not sure when this changed happened. This Sexy Star is not THE Sexy Star, but a wrestler called La Hija de Gatubela. A la Mexican Lucha and the magic of masked wrestling, they simply took the gimmick and mask and gave it to another wrestler. They didn't even call her Sexy Star II, it's just Sexy Star and it was super awkward at first because before she walked out, we just saw the graphic for "Sexy Star".

Match as ok, nothing special. I have no idea if there was a stipulation here or just weird ass wrestling, because for a while during the match, wrestlers were just standing on the apron, like they were waiting for a tag, and then for no reason, finally decide to enter the ring and start wrestling. I'm a big fan of Flammer and Shani, so I personally really liked what they did in this match, especially Flammer. For that matter, I wasn't that impressed by the new Sexy Star, but it's also her first match under this name. At the end, Apache pinned Tormenta after a Superplex that felt like it took 5 minutes to set up.

Post-match - Deonna Purrazzo said she was a friend of Konnan and challenged Apache to a match. Apache didn't really care for Purrazzo and tried to ignore and bail. Purrazzo demanded a AAA/Impact title vs title match. I take it Impact is trying to get all their titles in different promotions. The challenge was made for Triplemania, but god knows when AAA will book that show this year. It's usually towards the end of the summer.

Rey de Reyes
Laredo Kid vs El Hijo del Vikingo vs Myzteziz Jr. vs Abismo Negro Jr vs Texano Jr. vs Murder Clown vs Drago vs Aerostar - 7/10

Rey de Reyes rules are the same as an Impact Gauntlet, with entrants coming in every 60 seconds. Eliminations are over the top rope only, until the last two wrestlers are left, and the match becomes a pins and submissions only match. Aerostar is the last winner of the RdR sword, as there wasn't a match last year.

First three were Laredo, Vikingo, and Myzteziz, so we had a the Jinetes del Aire colliding. Myzteziz Jr was the first eliminated, he was taking a BRAINBUSTAAAHH, but with a shitty landing, he actually lasted quite a while, there were 8 wrestlers in the ring by the time he was eliminated.

The second eliminated was Aerostar, the current 'champion', he was eliminated by Murder Clown, who just Military pressed him over the ropes. He also eliminated Drago. Texano eliminated Vikingo. Laredo eliminated Abismo Negro Jr., Texano eliminated Murder Clown.

The final two came down to Texano vs Laredo Kid. They had a good little match, power vs speed. At one point, Rey Escorpion came down and tried to aid Texano to the win, but Laredo Kid took them both out, hit the Laredo Fly on Texano, and won the match and Rey de Reyes sword.

Psycho Clown & Pagano vs. Chessman & Sam Adonis - Dud

Chessman has grown some hair now, and dyed it red, he looks like Mark Hamill's character from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Chessman's mystery partner was Sam Adonis, who had worked a lot of Mexico, mostly CMLL, but is making his debut for AAA now.

Pagano and Chessman are still hot with each other, while Adonis really targeted Psycho Clown, he was trying to rip the mask within minutes. The match was your usual chaotic AAA weapons main event, where everyone just goes spot to spot, no psychology, just weapons galore!

Suddenly, a truck drove down and a bunch of masked people started attacking Pagano and Psycho, one was obviously Puma King, you could see his mask under the hood. Sam Adonis turned on Chessman. The masked guys took their hoods off and revealed Puma King and Diamante Azul. Between the three, they beat up all 4 wrestlers and referee Piero.

Puma King introduced a video of La Sombra, AKA Andrade. He said he's been all over the world in the best companies, but he quit WWE because he didn't want to waste his prime years sitting and cashing checks. He said he now can wrestle wherever he wants and he wants a match with Psycho, but before that, he wants the AAA Megachampionship. Andrade challenged Kenny Omega at Triplemania.

The group's name is 'La Empresa'.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Good show from AAA, it felt perfectly packaged. The direction of the show felt like a soft reset, trying to set up some direction after the chaotic year they've had due to COVID cancellations. They crowned some new champions, set up some feuds for the future, some even for Triplemania, and at the end, introduced a big new faction with big debuts.

The issue with all that stuff, is that AAA is really good at starting big things, but have a LOT of problems paying them off down the line. I'm sure Omega vs Andrade will happen, neither man is joining WWE any time soon, and Omega is not likely to defend the AAA title until then anyway, but for Andrade vs Psycho to be a thing, that is harder to believe down the line. The existence of "La Empresa" is also that is likely to change a lot down the line.