Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide Discussion Thread

[Chris]

Quasimodo is hilarious

 

[Leon TrotSky]

10 foreign wrestlers who lost their masks in Mexico
10. Australian Suicide (an Australian indie previously known as Ryan Rollins, he kept the name after losing the mask to Daga. He had a brief run in Lucha Underground as Hexagon Dark too)
9. Black Cat (this one's cheating, because he was legit Mexican, but gimmick-American, son of a gimmick-Japanese guy and uncle of a more legendary gimmick-Japanese guy. Wouldn't it make more sense to bill him as Japanese? Especially given his decade-long NJPW run? Anyway he teamed with Eddie Guerrero and someone you'll see later)
8. Torre Infernal (New York native super-heavyweight who had a brief run in Japan as the Masked Inferno, then took the mask to UWA to lose it to Canek. After that he had a better known run in WCW as... Roadblock!)
7. Steele (the much-travelled Sean Morley had a brief run in CMLL as Steel, where he became the World Heavyweight Champion - that is, champion of the heavyweight class, he was by no means a top guy. He got signed to the WWF, vacated it, and came back for one night to drop his mask. He is of course better known as Val Venis)
6. Kato Kung Lee (you may say "another cheat, it's just a Mexican doing a Chinese martial arts gimmick" but no, Kato Kung Lee was born in Panama! He was in a trio with Kung Fu and Black Man. I only mention this because it's so weird to have a guy just called Black Man)
5. Muerte Cibernetica (a Puerto Rican heavyweight introduced as muscle for Cibernetico's stable. He didn't last long under the persona, being unmasked by AAA's La Parka, but he's had a long run afterwards, using names like El Mesias, Judas Mesias in TNA, and Mil Muertes in Lucha Underground)
4. Konnan (it's really seriously weird to think about it, but Konnan was originally a masked sorta-gladiator gimmick. The name was from Conan the Barbarian. He lost the mask to Perro Aguayo Sr. and became a huge star in AAA after that. btw he was born in Cuba and raised in New York)
3. The Blue Blazer (Owen Hart paid a visit to Mexico under his masked hero gimmick, and per tradition, did a mask vs. mask match where he lost to Canek. Also, there was another Blue Blazer in Mexico and he was Phil LaFon. I'm sad now. I don't want to think about the gimmick that killed Owen. Moving on)
2. Pegasus Kid (oh no it's another sad one because this is Chris Benoit. He actually lost this mask twice: once to Jushin Thunder Liger in NJPW, and once to Villano III in UWA)
1. Love Machine (Art Barr. INCREDIBLY over in Mexico. Eddie's frog splash was a tribute to him. So when people do the frog splash now, they're actually, by extension, paying tribute to a rapist. I think I'll do another video, I don't want to end on this)

 

[Chris]

I actually never knew Art Barr was masked. But yes he is a statutory rapist I believe it was so that would also mean pedophile

 

[Leon TrotSky]

10 best character changes in AAA
10. Dark Dragon to Pentagon Jr. (as Dark Dragon just a lower card rudo; as Penta a cool skull ninja guy who lived by CERO MIEDO. He also made the most out of his Lucha Underground appearances)
9. Aliens to Monster Clown (Psycho Circus are an awesome gimmick. Before that, Monster Clown was an alien character who had a suspiciously Xenomorph-like mask and was treated as a lower-midcard joke. You've got to see Aliens' allies, they're so stupid looking)
8. Machine Rocker to Taurus (told you this was a thing. Part of a lost-in-the-shuffle trio with the Infierno Rockers, in 2015 he became the bull-man we all know and love. His previous gimmick was as Semental; he was part of a CMLL invader group, but he was a minor member and no one cared)
7. Sexy Lady to Lady Shani (Sexy Lady's character: is attractive. Lady Shani's character: is an attractive NINJA. Sometimes you don't need to change much)
6. Karis la Momia to La Parka the second one (you know this one already; cartoony mummy gimmick - and former generic rudo Maligno - becomes the longest-tenured holder of AAA's most-beloved original character. So much so that they're bringing him back after this one died. Out of a COFFIN. Stay classy)
5. Quinto Elemento to Chessman (Quinto Elemento was a nothing-doing lower level rudo. Chessman is one of the most effective "evil" gimmicks in Mexico. The gimmick was a Pena original and inspired by Caryl Chessman, the US kidnapper/rapist. Also, prior he worked as M-357/Magnum, whose gimmick was that he was... a gun? I don't know)
4. Pathfinder to Ozz (AAA initially tried this guy as a high-flyer who did a lot of cool flips, but he wasn't all that. So they changed him completely into an evil acolyte of the Dark Family. Fun fact: this guy's main finish is a Canadian Destroyer)
3. Brazo de Plata Jr. to Psycho Clown (Psycho Circus are an awesome gimmick part 2. The legit son of Super Porky, he was floundering with the typical "family legacy" gimmick so Pena said fuck it, make him a crazy clown. Now? AAA's top babyface. When Pena's stuff works, it REALLY works)
2. Gato Eveready to Drago (he'd had a lot of gimmicks before that, mainly sexy boy Alan and corporate sponsorship character Gato Eveready. He then stopped being a lame walking battery ad and got a cool dragon mask. Another guy who made the most of Lucha Underground)
1. Winners to Abismo Negro (Winners was kind of a generic pretty-boy good guy, so it was a full 180 to a heel sadist who breaks out illegal piledrivers for fun. He was great at making guys look good, though. Sadly, he struggled with drugs throughout his life)

 

[Deadd2009]

Chessman is my favorite rudo in all of AAA. He's literally a fatter Mexican version of Wolfpac Sting.

 

[Leon TrotSky]

To the surprise of zero people, the first show of many in this foreign tour by the coldest wrestling company in the world today is cancelled

 

[Leon TrotSky]

At this point I'm just waiting for AAA to die. I'm just waiting for it to fucking die already because it's a genuinely depressing promotion to watch existing. And I'm sad that so many talented luchadores are being wasted by association with AAA, where the only gimmick direction is Konnan and Vampiro yanking themselves off. And I'm sad that TNA has decided to staple itself to it.

 

[Deadd2009]

AAA will never die, sadly

 

[Leon TrotSky]

Modern AAA is depressing so here's old AAA. Forgotten characters.

• Nino de la Calle - his character was that he'd been picked off the street. Rumour has it that he was actually picked off the street and trained to wrestle for real. More salacious gossip has it - because Antonio Pena was Antonio Pena - that he had to trade sexual favours for training.
• Brazo de Plata Jr. - you know this one. Before he was Psycho Clown he was just another junior trading off his father's name. Fun fact, he's 6'2" and 236, which is just regular guy in WWE terms but makes you a giant in the world of lucha.
• Rellik - you know this one too. Johnny the Bull brought his TNA character (which started as his AJPW character, loooooong story) to Mexico for a few months and was part of Legion Extranjera but made zero waves. He then appeared in Lucha Libre USA. His name is the word "killer" spelled backwards. To be fair that's a lot more clever if you don't speak English.
• Mujer Demente - this is the opposite end of the spectrum to Manicomio for playing a mental illness gimmick well. It just looks like shit. She gimmicked rather than doing any actual wrestling.
• Tio Lucas - such a weird one-off. For one show AAA had a stable called the Monsters, which was this guy, two other guys, and Chucky. Tio Lucas (based on Uncle Fester) carried Chucky to the ring like a life-size doll. The gimmick died and one of the other guys became the better-known Monsther. Tio Lucas was played by El Brazo, a man always up for a silly gimmick.
• Loco Valentino - a fairly unremarkable unmasked rudo at the time. The story of how this gimmick ended was quite interesting; he was repackaged as the second Mosco de la Merced, and actually inherited a Mexican National Tag Title reign from the first (aka X-Fly).
• Payasos del Mal - yes, really, AAA did try to do the "crazy evil clowns" thing before Psycho Circus hit it big. How long before? Only a few months, actually. What can I say, Antonio Pena loved clowns. They were repackages of an indie stable called Los Porros, but thankfully none was played by Angel o Demonio, the "cinderblock thrown at head" guy.
• Dracula - third mention in this thread! I guess I'll say something interesting about Masakre, the guy who portrayed AAA's Dracula. He was a legit firefighter before he started wrestling. So it's him, Jake from Tough Enough 2... pretty sure they're the only wrestling firefighters.
• Oriental - this guy isn't a forgotten luchador, come on, he's quite well known. Fittingly for his gimmick, he toured Japan a lot and spoke Japanese meaning he was basically the liaison between Japanese talent and AAA. He was in AAA from 1999 to 2009 after which he briefly was in CMLL to drop his mask. Very well-travelled man. Was also in CHIKARA.
• Kumbia Kids - think No Limit Soldiers / 3-Count meets the Spirit Squad. They were rappers, but they were also small guys who worked handicaps. One of them was the aforementioned X-Fly, one was Jessy El Vasco Jr. and one of them was El Pollo in that one great ass IWRG match

 

[Deadd2009]

3 Count meets the Spirit Squad? That sounds terrible lol.

 

[Leon TrotSky]

The current La Parka Negra is gone. No word on the worker that played him, the character is over now

 

[Leon TrotSky]

The current La Parka Negra is gone. No word on the worker that played him, the character is over now

confirmed gone

 

[Comrade Khan]

lel

 

[Death By Looch]

At this point I'm just waiting for AAA to die. I'm just waiting for it to fucking die already because it's a genuinely depressing promotion to watch existing. And I'm sad that so many talented luchadores are being wasted by association with AAA, where the only gimmick direction is Konnan and Vampiro yanking themselves off. And I'm sad that TNA has decided to staple itself to it.

AAA and NWA really... both are promotions who basically only survive on nostalgia and name "value" alone at this point.

 

[Leon TrotSky]

This promotion is so fucking dead and yet it continues to stumble along