AAA Lucha Capital tournament preview & results: Men’s semifinal and Taya going for gold in women’s final

Week 7 of AAA’s Lucha Capital tournament returns with another show of surprise matchups. It will be eight luchadores battling in the men’s semifinals and the women’s three-way final between Taya, Keyra, and Vanilla.

Yes, the format appears to have a major change. The original plan was an epic finale to the 24 luchador tournament. Now, the women will have their own winner separate from the men. The finale next week should still be epic, just less so.

(If you have previously read previews of past weeks, then I’ll save you some time. The next few paragraphs are roughly the same in case any new viewers jump aboard this week.)

The Lucha Capital tournament will span over eight consecutive Wednesdays at 8:30pm Mexico City time (9:30pm ET). The event is hosted at Pinche Gringo BBQ. Best of all, you can watch for free live on AAA’s Facebook page. If you can’t view live, don’t worry. The replay should be posted in short order.

The format awards points to match winners, but it is simpler to think of it as everyone gets two singles bouts during the first six weeks. Those with two wins will move on to the final evening. During week seven, those with one win will attempt to qualify for the finale.

The finale (Dec. 19) will have quarterfinals of three-ways with the winners moving on to singles bouts in the semifinals and final.

International talent comes from AAA, MAD, Elite, Impact, and Lucha Underground. In reality, most of them are pretty much AAA even if not officially recognized as such. The list of participants is Psycho Clown, Murder Clown, Pagano, Taurus, Pentagon Jr., Puma King, Vanilla Vargas, La Hiedra, Killer Kross, Hijo del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, Drago, Aerostar, Maximo, Lady Shani, Lady Maravilla, Fenix, Golden Magic, Texano Jr., Niño Hamburguesa, Australian Suicide, Taya, Mascarita Sagrada, and Keyra.

If you need to get caught up, jam on Week 1 (preview, recap), Week 2 (preview, recap), Week 3 (preview, recap), Week 4 (preview, recap), Week 5 (preview, recap), and Week 6 (preview, recap).

Join us here for the show to chat in the open thread. If you have never used Facebook to watch live shows, check out this handy video to help. It is about WWE’s Mixed Match Challenge, but the process is the same. Go to facebook.com/luchalibreaaa instead.

Let’s preview tonight’s action as best we can.

Men’s semifinals

Let’s start with one thing we know for certain. Scratch that. Nothing is ever certain in AAA. Let’s start with one thing we think we know for certain. Australian Suicide, Pagano, Pentagon Junior, and Psycho Clown earned the right to be in the finale next week.

Tonight is the semifinals to join that foursome. I assume we will get four singles bouts among the eight participants of Aerostar, Golden Magic, Laredo Kid, Hijo del Vikingo, Texano, Maximo, Drago, and Mascarita Sagrada. Expect high-flying, fast-paced, lucha libre goodness from those competitors.

One glaring omission is Killer Kross. Is he bounced from the tournament? Kross won his first bout then never wrestled his second bout against Mascarita Sagrada. He was supposed to be present for the semifinals. That would be lame if he never returns for the tournament.

Women’s final

Speaking of lame, having a women’s final all of a sudden is lame. Might as well hand out participation trophies to all. The Lucha Capital tournament was supposed to be intergender winner takes all. I was curious to see luchadoras in the originally planned three-way quarterfinals bouts. Oh well. On the bright side, Taya, Keyra, and Vanilla should have an entertaining match as they vie for their own Lucha Capital championship.

Last week’s surprise appearance by Lady Shani to confront Taya now makes a lot more sense. Offering a title shot to Taya if she could win the 24 luchador tournament seemed like pie in the sky. Winning the three-way tonight is a much more manageable achievement. Unfortunately, it does kind of make Taya the obvious winner.

Predictions

I’m going with all the champions to advance; Texano, Laredo Kid, Hijo del Vikingo, and Drago. Texano is tag champs with Rey Escorpion. Laredo Kid and Hijo del Vikingo are newly crowned trios champs along with Myzteziz Jr. (fka Angelikal). Drago is Latin American champ after dethroning Hijo del Fantasma at Guerra de Titanes. Drago wasted no time in changing his Twitter picture to showcase his glory.

For the women, Taya all day all the way. Even if Lady Shani didn’t issue the challenge last week, I still would have picked Taya from the finals trio. She is by far the biggest name and most experienced of the group.

The tougher prediction is when will we get to watch Taya vs Lady Shani. I’m going to predict never. If it doesn’t happen at the finale next week, the odds of it ever happening decrease dramatically. I suppose the bout could go down at one of AAA’s major shows (maybe Rey de Reyes in March), but long-term planning actually coming to fruition is not one of AAA’s strong suits.

Quick results:

Women’s final: Taya won the three-way against Keyra and Vanilla to win the Lucha Capital championship. Taya pinned Vanilla after her patented Northern Lights suplex followed by a double stomp.

Men’s semifinal: Hijo del Vikingo defeated Drago via inward 450 splash. Hijo del Vikingo advances to the finale.

Men’s semifinal: Laredo Kid defeated Texano via Spanish Fly. Laredo Kid advances to the finale.

Men’s semifinal: Golden Magic defeated Aerostar via something like a Spanish Fly body slam. Aerostar legit busted his head open under his mask. They wrapped him up to continue the match. Golden Magic advances to the finale.

Men’s semifinal: Maximo defeated Mascarita Sagrada via kiss then lying on top to pin. Worst match of the tournament by far. Maximo advances to the finale.

Bonus match: La Mascara defeated Carta Brava Jr. via pendulum submission.

Tune in tomorrow to Cageside Seats for a recap and review.