AAA Lucha Capital Tournament recap & review: Three luchadores advanced to the finale

Week 5 of AAA’s Lucha Capital tournament continued with Stage 2. The matches this week were picked by Vampiro and Konnan. It featured a rematch of ladies, a spaceman vs a clown, a hamburger boy vs an exotico, and darkness vs goldness.

Before we get to the recap, you can watch the full two hour show for free on AAA’s Facebook page or skip through to the matches. You won’t be missing anything important if you just want the wrestling. Each bout was more or less ten minutes in duration.

Five solid matches. Angelikal vs Averno (at 22:00) and Lady Shani vs Lady Maravilla (at 39:00) were enjoyable. I think Aerostar vs Pagano (at 52:00) was my favorite of the evening. Niño Hamburguesa vs Maximo (at 1:17:00) was comedy with lucha libre moves. Pentagon Jr. vs Golden Magic (at 1:35:00) lived up to the main event slot.

On to the show...

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The episode opened with the band jamming. Vampiro and La Griega were joined by Bernardo Guzman, who replaced the vacationing Jose Manuel Guillen.

Vampiro did a little house cleaning about last week’s matchups. He informed us that Murder Clown’s win against Samoano will not count, and Killer Kross will be going to the wild card round instead of being able to earn a second win toward the finale. Vampiro also criticized Kross for partnering with Scarlett Bordeaux in a one-on-one tournament. That didn’t make much sense, since there is nothing stopping Bordeaux being ringside to support Kross.

Australian Suicide and Arturo “El Rudo” Rivera returned to chat with fans on Facebook.

Konnan was present as well. He did commentary duties for the first half, and Vampiro filled in on the second half. They played into their rivalry by having each one pick a luchador for the matches. It took about twenty minutes until the first bout began, but the pace was flying by after that.

The live crowd was a decent size. The peak viewership was 2,800 by my count. All of the episodes each have over 100,000 total views.

Averno defeated Angelikal

This was a bonus bout that had no relevance to the tournament. Vampiro picked Angelikal, while Konnan chose Averno.

The match started a little slow with an extended feeling out, but the pace picked up to make it nice. They looked out of breath for some reason. I generally don’t see those two huffing and puffing.

Highlights include a corkscrew over the ropes by Angelikal to the outside, a powerbomb toss onto the apron by Averno, a springboard corkscrew to the inside by Angelikal, and a Spanish Fly by Angelikal.

For the finish, the two luchadores were fighting up in the turnbuckles. Averno punched Angelikal, then Averno hooked his opponent into a double underhook facebuster off the middle rope. Pin and win.

Lady Shani defeated Lady Maravilla

Vampiro chose Lady Maravilla, and Konnan picked Lady Shani. It was actually a rematch (I believe unintentional) from Stage 1. This bout was better from what I remember of their first encounter.

The two luchadoras were more grounded than the rest of the fights. Highlights include a Northern Lights suplex by Shani and a belly-to-back style suplex by Maravilla.

For the finish, Maravilla went high-risk, Shani grabbed her hands and flipped Maravilla into a sitdown slam off the top turnbuckle. Imagine a tag team move where one steps up on the other’s shoulders, except Shani brought Maravilla over the top for a slam instead. Shani used a bridging pin for victory. Lady Shani got the sweep to prove she is superior.

Pagano defeated Aerostar

Konnan chose Aerostar, while Vampiro picked his favorite, Pagano. Without a clown, there is no party.

I was pretty excited when this bout was made. It is the type of tecnico vs tecnico match you only get in tournaments. The fight lived up to expectations.

Pagano had the size and power advantage. Highlights include a springboard splash by Aerostar, a suicide dive by Aerostar, a flying leg drop by Pagano, an outside to inside springboard splash by Aerostar, Aerostar being fancy on the ropes before executing a backcracker, and a running powerbomb/backcracker combo into the corner by Pagano.

For the finish, Aerostar was still stunned by that combo. Pagano hoisted Aerostar up to bounce him off the ropes on a suplex. 1, 2, 3 for Pagano.

Halftime was back at the arm wrestling table. The special guest this week was Blue Demon Jr. His opponent was no problem. Blue Demon let that dude tire himself out, but Blue Demon probably could have won whenever he wanted. Blue Demon was itching for more action with a request to do it left-handed. Request denied.

Maximo defeated Niño Hamburguesa

Vampiro went with Niño Hamburguesa, while Konnan chose the charismatic Maximo.

Maximo and La Griega goofed around prior to the bell ringing. Maximo said she was envious, stole her mic, then challenged her to take it back. La Griega busted out a kung fu stance.

The match itself was silly yet serious. Highlights include a flying crossbody by Maximo off the apron, Maximo failing to slam Niño Hamburguesa, and two bowling ball splats by Niño Hamburguesa.

The finish was a smooch-fest. Maximo used his agility and rhythm. First was a front kiss. Second, Maximo grabbed Hamburguesa to dip himself and plant a kiss. Third, Maximo grabbed Hamburguesa’s hair from behind to bend him backwards for another kiss. That led to a roll-up pin to win.

Fenix came out for an interview at the announce table. He was in a wheelchair. That must be one heck of a groin injury. Fenix is out of the tournament. He stuck around for commentary of the main event. Fenix must be studying old-school promos. He said, “Here at Pinche Gringo BBQ,” a handful of times.

Pentagon Jr. defeated Golden Magic

There was no pretense of choosing sides this time, since only two luchadores remained for the evening. This was Golden Magic’s second main event of the tournament. Fenix introduced Pentagon as the best luchador on the planet and his brother chulo.

Pentagon began with tons of Cero Miedo hand signs to pump up the crowd. Golden Magic had enough and attacked with a tope con hilo. Highlights include a corkscrew by Golden Magic to the outside, a super hurricanrana by Golden Magic, an apron Mexican Destroyer by Pentagon, and a flying double stomp by Pentagon.

For the finish, Golden Magic missed a 360 splash. Pentagon made the most of the opportunity by breaking Golden Magic’s arm. A package piledriver followed to finish the match.

Pentagon may have tweaked Golden Magic’s neck on the piledriver. They brought out a stretcher to take him away. It looked legit rather than part of a story. Golden Magic might have have broken his nose too, since there was a little bit of bleeding. Pentagon went over to raise Golden Magic’s arm as a show of sportsmanship. Golden Magic either sold his ‘broken arm’ or was in real pain when it was lifted.

All the winners gathered in the ring for selfies, as per usual.

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Status check

Two wins gets a luchador into the finale. One win sends them to the wild card round.

I believe Vampiro ruled that Killer Kross forfeited his match last week in essence, so he will be going to the wild card. Murder Clown’s win against Samoano didn’t count. I’m not sure where that leaves Murder. He is either eliminated or will get another match next week.

• Advanced to the finale: Lady Shani, Pagano, Pentagon Junior
• Advanced to Week 7 Wild Card: Aerostar, Drago, Hijo del Vikingo, Keyra, Killer Kross (?), Mascarita Sagrada, Maximo, Vanilla
• Eliminated: Fenix (injury), Golden Magic, Lady Maravilla, Niño Hamburguesa, Puma King

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Week 5 of AAA’s Lucha Capital tournament was enjoyable. The main event was the only match where the winner was obvious. There was no way that Golden Magic was going to defeat Pentagon Jr. The unpredictability for the other bouts enhanced the viewing experience.

I will usually prefer a pre-announced match lineup, but I thought this week was handled well by having Vampiro and Konnan pick the competitors. In case anyone was wondering, Konnan’s choices were 3-1. He owns Vampiro. They didn’t really bicker as they do in the TV storylines. Vampiro had a couple of snide comments, but Konnan played it cool. For the most part, the Lucha Capital tournament has been separate from ongoing beefs.

Which match was your favorite from Week 5? Are there any eliminated luchadores that you would like to see get another chance? What are the odds that the math works out so that the wild card flows seamlessly into the finale in terms of the correct number of luchadores?