AAA Lucha Capital Tournament recap & review: Buyazze! Laredo Kid shocked the world!

Week 8 finished off the Lucha Capital tournament with tons of excitement. It featured a teammate fight, a hoss fight, a clown fight, a Lucha Underground show-stealing showdown, and Russian roulette to determine the winner.

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

Golden Magic vs Maximo (at 11:00), Murder Clown vs Killer Kross (at 24:00), Hijo del Vikingo vs Laredo Kid (at 41:00), and Pagano vs Psycho Clown (at 56:00) were all solid bouts. Australian Suicide vs Pentagon (at 1:09:00) was the best of the bunch. The Russian roulette finale (at 1:31:00) was jam-packed with thrilling action.

On to the show...

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Jose Manuel Guillen, La Griega, and Vampiro opened up by discussing the logistics of the night’s finale. Killer Kross and Murder Clown were there, but Vampiro doesn’t know what is happening and is confused. Guillen explained, while Vampiro made funny faces. Vampiro played it off as the magic of lucha libre where anything can happen.

Guillen also explained that there will be five singles matches with the winners competing in Russian roulette over-the-top-rope elimination to become Lucha Capital champion.

Arturo “El Rudo” Rivera and Vanilla were on Facebook chat duty. Again, no Konnan this week, although, he did chime in on Twitter.

First up...

Golden Magic defeated Maximo

Maximo had fluffy, white Christmas trim on his trunks. The bout opened with a spin by Maximo turning into a superkick by Golden Magic. Highlights include a flying crossbody by Golden Magic to the outside, a suicide dive by Maximo, and a powerbomb by Maximo.

On Golden Magic’s crossbody, he landed on some pie.

Lucha Libre AAA

On Maximo’s suicide dive, he injured his ribs. The injury appeared real, since Maximo was in pain for the rest of the bout. Credit to Maximo for continuing.

The finish saw Maximo planting a kiss then a roll-up for two. Maximo missed a flying flip attack. Golden Magic immediately took advantage with a flying 450 splash to win. That must have hurt Maximo with tender ribs.

Killer Kross defeated Murder Clown

Hoss fight!!!

Vampiro was frustrated that Killer Kross was still in the tournament, but he had no problems with Murder Clown’s dubious qualification. I was hoping for a confrontation between Kross and Vampiro. Alas, it was not to be on this evening.

Scarlett Bordeaux joined Kross ringside. She didn’t play a role in this contest.

Collar-and-elbow tie ups kicked off the action. Murder Clown actually had the strength advantage, which was apparent after a flurry of dueling close range forearm strikes left Kross woozy. Highlights include an suplex overhead by Kross, a DDT by Murder Clown, a 619 by Murder Clown, and a tope con hilo by Murder Clown. Kross appeared to injury his knee on that last tope when catching all that heft.

For the finish, Murder Clown missed a flying twist attack. Kross hit a Saito suplex. 1, 2, press out. Kross was beside himself with shock. Vampiro was elated to talk crap about Kross. A second Saito suplex sealed the deal. Vampiro was silent.

Arm wrestling halftime

La Parka was the surprise guest this week. He was challenged by a young lady. La Griega tried to help her cheat in arm wrestling. Eventually, La Parka let the lass win.

Laredo Kid defeated Hijo del Vikingo

Hijo del Vikingo entered with a wicked helmet.

Lucha Libre AAA

It looked like it was too heavy as Vikingo was walking like a bobblehead.

This bout was between Trios Championship teammates. (The third being Myzteziz Jr., fka Angelikal.) The match opened with some snazzy mat work. Laredo Kid heeled up with a handshake kick. Highlights include a springboard frog moonsault by Laredo, a shooting star press to the outside by Vikingo, and Vikingo catching a flying crossbody into a swinging slam.

For the finishing sequence, a Michinoku Driver by Laredo only got a two count. Vikingo countered a suplex setup into a roll then a hooked leg suplex of his own with a cradle pin. Two count. Vikingo went high-risk with a shooting star press, but Laredo got his knees. Laredo won off a Spanish Fly. Good sportsmanship by both after the bell.

Psycho Clown defeated Pagano

Clown fight!!!

The bout began with a vicious chop exchange. Pagano had the upper hand. Highlights include a tope con hilo by Pagano, a step-off tope con hilo by Psycho Clown from the top of the ring post, and a reverse headscissors takedown by Pagano.

For the finish, Pagano missed a flying backflip maneuver. Psycho Clown cracked Pagano’s back then used la casita pin to win.

Pentagon defeated Australian Suicide

Cero miedo chants aplenty from the crowd to start the match while Australian Suicide was sitting on the top turnbuckle. Pentagon made the cero miedo hand sign in front of his opponent, so Australian Suicide smacked him then leaped to flip into a hurricanrana pin for a two count.

The action was fast and furious. Highlights include a dope running moonsault by Australian Suicide out of the corner to the outside, a knee based backbreaker by Pentagon, a military press toss by Pentagon into the corner, an Australian Destroyer by Australian Suicide followed by a running twisting flip back splash, and a vicious driver slam by Pentagon.

For the finish, Pentagon attempted a super package piledriver, but Australian Suicide countered into a super hurricanrana. Australian Suicide took flight for a shooting star press, however, Pentagon kicked him in the solar plexus. A standard package pilediver gave Pentagon the victory.

Luchador Favorito award

Fenix came out to announce the winner of the Luchador Favorito award, as voted on Facebook. Pagano!

El Fantasma, father of Hijo del Fantasma and King Cuerno, came out as the honorary guest to crown the Lucha Capital winner.

It was mentioned that Killer Kross would be out of the final fight due to a knee injury against Murder Clown.

Russian Roulette

AAA’s version of Russian roulette is basically the Royal Rumble. The final four entered in one minute intervals, complete with a timer graphic. Eliminations were of an over-the-top-rope nature.

Golden Magic and Pentagon were the first two in the ring. Golden Magic did some fancy rope work and also hit a suicide dive then a rolling back splash from the top turnbuckle inside the ring.

Laredo Kid entered third. He hit a Laredo driver on Golden Magic and connected on a 450 splash off the apron onto Pentagon on the floor.

Psycho Clown entered fourth and last. He wasted no time with a suicide dive at Pentagon and Laredo.

Golden Magic climbed the corner, and Pentagon pushed him off down to the floor. Golden Magic decided to make it look cool by basically doing a back senton onto the concrete floor. Not a wise decision. He was later taken out on a stretcher.

Golden Magic has been eliminated.

The other three were kicking and chopping in the ring. Psycho connected on a twisting flying crossbody.

Killer Kross! Killer Kross! Killer Kross!

Kross came to the ring with Scarlett Bordeaux to wreak havoc. Vampiro started shouting that the knee injury was a trick. “I knew it!”

Suplex to Psycho. Suplex to Pentagon. Powerbomb to Laredo. Psycho fought back. Discus clothesline to Kross. Scoop slam to Laredo. Mexican Destroyer to Pentagon. Psycho ran the ropes to attack Kross, but Scarlett grabbed his foot. Kross rushed over to dump Psycho to the floor.

Psycho Clown has been eliminated.

Pentagon chopped Kross in the corner. Kross got out, and Pentagon attempted a rope bouncing mule kick or something. Kross caught his legs then kicked him in the nuts. Adios, Pentagon. Kross tossed him over the ropes.

Pentagon has been eliminated.

Down to two. Laredo Kid against the unofficially official Kross. Huge suplex by Kross. Closed fist punch. Scarlett handed Kross a foreign object of the stabby variety. It looked like a long screw. At least it was shiny and not all rusty with tetanus.

Scarlett caressed the referee, El Hijo de Tirantes, and pointed her derrière at him as a distraction. Pentagon snuck into the ring to punt Kross’ cojones from behind.

Slap by Laredo. He ducked a clothesline and connected on a headscissors takeover. Superkick. Kross put a halt to that offense by turning Laredo inside out with a big clothesline. Unfortunately for Kross, he was still in testicular pain.

Kross went for a powerbomb. Laredo punched his way out at the top. Tornado DDT by Laredo. Kross was tossed!

Killer Kross has been eliminated. Laredo Kid is the first champion of Lucha Capital.

Laredo Kid celebrated in falling confetti as Papa Fantasma strapped on the Lucha Capital belt.

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The first edition of Lucha Capital is a wrap. On the plus side, it provided entertaining lucha libre singles bouts for each of its eight weeks. We got to see extended action from non-AAA luchadores such as Puma King, Golden Magic, and Laredo Kid. There were enough upsets to keep the fans guessing. Also, the pinche gringo jokes will never got old for me with Vampiro getting upset every time they mentioned the venue’s name, Pinche Gringo BBQ.

On the downside, the format was twisted quite often. Injuries and non-injuries eliminated some contestants. Others received an unfair third chance. The women had their own title out of nowhere. The finale was a mishmash in legality. If you are a stickler for consistency in logic, then Lucha Capital may have made you want to pull your hair out.

As for the finale, it was a nice ending to the tournament. The pacing was quick as there were no pre-match interviews by La Griega. The wrestling kept me on the edge of my seat, but the quality had some hiccups due to rope botches and several injuries. The Russian Roulette finale was crazy AAA booking yet it was exciting as well.

I liked the matchups. We had a teammate fight, a hoss fight, a clown fight, and a Lucha Underground show-stealing showdown. Australian Suicide plays Vampiro’s master in Lucha Underground. If season five never comes to fruition, at least we were treated to a taste of what could have been in Australian Suicide against Pentagon.

The Dumbest Ass award goes to Golden Magic. Climbing the corners is never a smart strategy in Royal Rumble matches. Not to mention, he took an unnecessary bump when being eliminated. I hope he’ll be alright after the medics removed him from the area.

Laredo Kid as the winner of Lucha Capital was a cool choice. Personally, I did not expect his success, so it was a bit of a shocker to me. It is nice to see AAA didn’t lean on an obvious star to win. That will give an air of unpredictability to future Lucha Capital tournaments. On the booking side, the win will give Laredo Kid more street cred as he awaits a Mega Championship shot against Fenix.

Buyazze!

Which was your favorite match of the entire Lucha Capital tournament? Thoughts on Laredo Kid as the winner? Do you want to see Lucha Capital again next year? What changes would you make, if any?