AAA Lucha Capital Tournament recap & review: Women’s champ crowned, upsets galore for the men

Week 7 of AAA’s Lucha Capital tournament whittled down the field for next week’s men’s finale and also crowned a women’s winner. Matchups included an exotico vs a mini, a magician vs a spaceman, a kid vs a junior, a viking vs a dragon, and a crazy white girl vs la ruda de Tepito vs a reggaetona.

Before we get to the recap, you can watch the full one hour and fifty-eight minute 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.

Carta Brava Jr. vs La Mascara (at 15:00) was a solid opener. Definitely skip Mascarita Sagrada vs Maximo (at 28:00). That match was a waste of time. Golden Magic vs Aerostar (at 43:00) brought the show back around with a good bout. Laredo Kid vs Texano (at 1:06:00) continued the positive trend. Hijo del Vikingo vs Drago (at 1:23:00) was the best of the bunch. Vanilla vs Keyra vs Taya (at 1:40:00) was a little sloppy but had plenty of excitement.

On to the show...

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The winners of the men’s contests advance to the grand finale next week, while the losers go home. I would say for good, but you never can tell with this tournament.

The show opened with Jose Manuel Guillen, La Griega, and Vampiro handling the introduction. They brought up the daughter of Ciclon Veloz Jr., I think. I couldn’t understand the lady’s name. One of her luchador relatives goes by the moniker Kung Fu. I have to check out what he’s about with a name like that. Arturo “El Rudo” Rivera and Australian Suicide were on Facebook chat duty. No Konnan this week.

Bonus match: La Mascara defeated Carta Brava Jr.

The bonus match was closely contested. Highlights include a tope con hilo by Carta Brava Jr., a suicide dive by La Mascara, and La Mascara ripping off his pants to dance.

The Papi de Papis papito must have been yearning to breath free ever since La Mascara began wearing overalls with Los Mercenarios.

La Mascara won after a superkick then a victory roll into a pendulum submission.

Maximo defeated Mascarita Sagrada

This match stunk up the joint. The story was Maximo not wanting to wrestle, because Mascarita Sagrada is tiny. Maximo took far too much time doing nothing with his antics.

When they did engage, Maximo stomped Mascarita with kicks, clotheslines, a leg drop, and a running splash. Mascarita did have a cool jumping bomb attack off the apron to the outside.

The end finally came when Maximo held Mascarita down on his back. After a kiss, Maximo pinned Mascarita.

Golden Magic defeated Aerostar

Early in the match, Aerostar was busted open the hard way. I’m guessing Golden Magic’s knee knocked him in the noggin on a springboard corkscrew to the outside. The medics rushed in to wrap his head like a mummy.

Once Aerostar returned to action, the pace was quick. The two performed the types of moves you would expect; cutters, corkscrews, crossbodies, rope bouncing, and such.

For the finish, Golden Magic executed a flipping body slam off the top turnbuckle to win. It was like a Spanish Fly motion, except Golden Magic was holding Aerostar in a body slam position. Very nifty.

Halftime

Another round of arm wrestling. The special guest this week was Gronda.

Damn, I remember him. My memory recalls him being taller though. I’m wondering if that is a different dude. At least he still has finely sculpted six-pack abs.

The duel was with Ciclon Veloz Jr.’s daughter. She was losing then grabbed Gronda’s horns. He let go of her hand. The lady used both hands for round two. Gronda grabbed her hair and the hands were let go again. I’m not sure anyone actually won.

Fenix entered to do commentary for the rest of the evening. He was walking around this week instead of being in a wheelchair.

Laredo Kid defeated Texano

Vampiro said that he is not a fan of Texano’s hipster haircut. If I understood correctly, I think Fenix said Texano’s bull rope is named Larry.

This match started out in favor of Laredo Kid. He pulled off a springboard crossbody, a springboard froggy moonsault to the outside, and a frog splash inside the ring. Later, Laredo did a sweet 450 splash off the apron down to the floor.

The middle of the match was dominated by Texano. His big move was a brutal body slam off the apron to the floor.

For the finish, Laredo whipped Texano running toward the ref. Texano pumped the brakes just in time. The referee looked away, so Texano low blow kicked Laredo. Texano climbed the corner to capitalize on Laredo’s cojones pain, but Laredo sprang up for a Spanish Fly. 1, 2, 3, then back to clutching his crotch.

Hijo del Vikingo defeated Drago

The final semifinal bout delivered the goods. High pace and lost of fancy moves. Highlights include a running shooting star press off the apron by Hijo del Vikingo, a running leap over the ropes by Vikingo, a rope-hung DDT by Drago, a Mexican Destroyer by Drago, and Vikingo catching Drago off a flying crossbody then turning it into a swinging slam.

For the finish, Drago superkicked then missile dropkicked a weary Vikingo. 1, 2, foot on the ropes by Vikingo. Huge clothesline by Drago. Vikingo blocked a strike then did a spinning kick to Drago’s face. A fireman’s carry slam set up a 450 splash for Vikingo to be victorious. The 450 was a flip facing the corner inward.

Taya defeated Keyra and Vanilla to become Lucha Capital women’s champ

Time to crown a champion. Notice the Lucha Underground logo on the side plate. It is interesting that the belt doesn’t specify women. I wonder if they will literally be using the exact same belt for next week’s men’s champion.

The main event began with Keyra and Vanilla teaming up against Taya. It didn’t take long for Keyra to turn on Vanilla with a boot to the face. It was every luchadora for herself after that.

Highlights include a corkscrew crossbody by Vanilla, a slingshot elbow drop by Vanilla, and Taya being a hossette by carrying both Vanilla and Keyra for a fallaway slam.

For the finishing sequence, Taya hit a Saito suplex on Keyra. Vanilla hit a facebreaker on Taya. Keyra hit a double underhook facebuster to Vanilla. Taya did a variation of the same maneuver to Keyra. Vanilla broke the pinfall count at two. Taya blocked a suplex from Vanilla, then Taya ducked a clothesline to deliver a Northern Lights suplex followed by a double stomp to win.

Luchadora legend Martha Villalobos presented the Lucha Capital title belt to Taya as the show closed.

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Overall, Week 7 of AAA’s Lucha Capital tournament was enjoyable in the ring. Maximo vs Mascarita Sagrada was a stinker, but the rest had good action and a nice pace. I like the matchup choices. The other three men’s bouts were youngsters against veterans. It provided an unpredictable atmosphere. In fact, Hijo del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, and Golden Magic were all upset winners in my book. I was surprised that those three won.

The grand finale is set with Maximo, Hijo del Vikingo, Laredo Kid, and Golden Magic joining Australian Suicide, Pagano, Pentagon Junior, and Psycho Clown. The clowns and the ninja are the favorites, but I wouldn’t be shocked at any of those eight winning the whole thing. It should be a fantastic evening of lucha libre action.

It is too bad Aerostar busted his head. On the bright side, he may have earned a push from Vampiro. The head wound was all Vamp could talk about for the rest of the match. Vampiro praised his heart and courage. And if Aerostar dies in Lucha Underground, he has now shown that he can come back as a mummy. Maybe the Super Friends will reunite as an evil trio. We already have rabies Fenix. What would Drago’s alter ego be?

Congratulations to Taya for her women’s Lucha Capital victory. Her return to Mexico started rough with a loss to Australian Suicide, but she persevered (aided by a sudden change to the tournament format) to win the championship with a flurry of a finish.

See you next Wednesday at 8:30 pm Mexico City time (9:30 pm ET) for the grand finale. Who are you picking to win the entire enchilada? What are the odds that the tournament continues exactly as planned?