Submitted By Rob Bihari

Show began with technical issues as audio was too low or non-existent and then both announcing crews were talking over each other but it
cleared up before the first match. Aside from that everything went smoothly from an iPPV perspective. The only other technical glitch was the pre-match video screen promos had no audio which was disapointing since some of them looked great, especially the one with ACH.

The show started with everyone around the ring as the Mexican anthem was played & the Mexican army stood on the stage. Felt like a major show immediately.

The English announce team was Vampiro & Striker who did a great job and I personally thought were very entertaining. They were a bit lost at times when it came to the rules but more than made up for it by being witty & Vampiro going crazy. In fact I would go as far as to say if you are on the fence about ordering, Vamp’s commentary alone is worth your iPPV purchase. Trust me.

The Spanish announce team was Hugo Savinovich, Arturo Rivera & Leonardo Riano. I didn’t get to hear them except when their feed bled over into the English version but apparently they were not very good with Riano in particular being racist all night long towards the Japanese wrestlers especially.

Alberto El Patron/Rey Misterio Jr./Myzteziz vs Taiji Ishimori/Atsushi Kotoge/Yoshihiro Takayama

Huge reactions for all the Mexican team as you’d expect. Rey wore his old school tights & ended up going through 3 outfits before the night was done. The Japanese team didn’t do much while on offense before the Mexican team made the comeback. Rey hit a silla dive as Alberto superkicked Takayama on the floor. Great nearfall where Kotoge/Ishimori did their Tomikaze/450 combo on Myzteziz and looked to break him in half. Finish came when Myzteziz hit La Mistica on Kotoge. Huge pop.

Texano Jr./Hijo Del Fantasma/Psycho Clown vs Brian Cage/Moose/ACH

Brian Cage came out with ACH on his shoulders in a cool visual. The Mexican team got a huge reaction with Psycho Clown in particular super over. This was a good back-and-forth match. Crowd went nuts when Psycho Clown took off his belt and started whipping all the Americans and then even his own partners & the cameraman. It built to a dive train spot where ACH did his step-up somersault plancha, Psycho Clown hit a plancha, Fantasma did his tope of death, Cage hit a moonsault & then Moose lept off the ramp leading to the ring with a plancha onto everyone.

Finish was a trainwreck as they were supposed to draw as Cage pinned Texano but the guest NOAH referee didn’t hold up his count at 3 like he was supposed to. Cage was confused, power bombed Texano again & the ref counted 3 even though the time limit was up. He then raised the hands of Cage/Moose/ACH but the announcers kept screaming the time was up. Konnan came out (off camera but audible) and said it’s a draw so they are going to OT. It was all very confusing. In less than 20 seconds Cage pinned Texano with a power bomb into the turnbuckles. Good match until the mess at the end.

Dr. Wagner Jr./Solar I/Blue Demon Jr. vs Kenzo Suzuki/Tiger Mask III/Masamune

This is a recording – Team Mexico got a huge reaction. Wagner was easily the biggest non-Dream Team star here. Tiger Mask did his usual spots with Wagner including the corner bootscrape. They worked the majority of the match together. Solar took out Masamune with a pescado followed by Kenzo taking out Demon with a dive over the top. A bit later Tiger Mask hit a tope suicida at the same time Masamune did a running corkscrew dive. With about 2 minutes to go Demon made Masamune submit to a scorpion deathlock variation which got a big pop.

Angelico/Mesias/Drew Galloway vs Ken Anderson/Matt Hardy/Johnny Mundo

Easily the best match of the first round. Angelico & Mundo had a kung-fu style exchange to start off. Galloway looked really good working with Mundo & Hardy. Show was already going long even by this point so the crowd began whistling (a sign of boredom in Mexico) but these guys worked hard to get them back into it. Angelico did a wild somersault dive over the  ringpost. Mundo did a 450 splash to the floor. Mesias did a tope suicida. Galloway did a running somersault plancha. Mundo had his finisher set up but Galloway knocked him to the floor and the time ran out. The same two got picked for OT and in just over 2 minutes Mundo was finally able to knock Galloway off the top rope and hit the Fin de Mundo for the win. Crowd applauded everyone afterwards.

Jeff Jarrett came out to join Vampiro/Striker for commentary on both semi-final matches.

Alberto El Patron/Rey Misterio Jr./Myzteziz vs Brian Cage/Moose/ACH

Pretty good match with ACH in particular standing out due to his natural charisma. Alberto/Cage was one of the main focuses. Alberto took out Cage with a tope suicida out of nowhere during the big comeback. They ended up brawling onto the ramp and Cage suplexed Alberto. This came full circle later in the match when Alberto returned the favor to a huge pop. Then ACH attacked Alberto and got suplexed for a bigger pop. Finally the Mexicans all suplexed Moose on the ramp for the biggest pop. This reaction was fantastic and I imagine the wrestlers were happy to be working in front of such an easy crowd.

They did a bunch of nearfalls as time ran down. Key spot ended up being when Rey went for his silla off the apron but hit Myzteziz taking them both out. The ROH/LU team couldn’t finish off Alberto inside the ring. Myzteziz/Rey eventually made it back and Myzteziz did a tope suicida through Rey’s legs which was followed by Rey doing an asai moonsault dive onto everyone. With 40 seconds left Alberto ended up using his armbar to tap out Moose. It should be noted during the match Alberto shoved Jarrett and the two had a brief staredown.

Dr. Wagner Jr./Solar I/Blue Demon Jr. vs Ken Anderson/Matt Hardy/Johnny Mundo

Very clunky match with the obvious style clashes. It was only a 7 minute match but seemed to drag with nobody doing much of anything until Solar & Wagner did dives. The finish was never in doubt as Solar took the Fin de Mundo from Johnny. Crowd was unhappy to see the legends team lose.

After the match, Jarrett seperated the two teams who were arguing on the ramp. The Mexicans challenged the TNA/LU team to get back in the ring which they did but then the Mexicans chased them off. 60 year old Solar almost out ran Ken Anderson.

There was some confusion afterwards with the announcers not knowing if it was time for the finals or 3rd place match and what the rules were. Eventually it was announced the 3rd place match would be automatically sudden death rules.

ACH & Blue Demon Jr. were chosen as the first representatives to go at it. It was clear they were doing a draw as they weren’t rushing and Demon even grabbed a headlock with 30 seconds left in the 5 minute time limit. It was interesting when the time ran out it was ACH who had the visual pinfall.

Next up were Brian Cage & Dr. Wagner Jr. who only went about 2 minutes before in a huge shocker – Cage pinned Wagner clean with an F5. Great booking since Cage is headlining the next AAA major show & whoever talked Wagner into doing a clean job should win booker of the year. Wagner did an injury angle afterwards to save face and had to be stretchered out. Cage ended up posing on the ramp to lots of boos.

Alberto El Patron/Rey Misterio Jr./Myzteziz vs Ken Anderson/Matt Hardy/Johnny Mundo

Myzteziz came out in a cool shirt that looked like he had bodypaint on. Rey wore his formerly yearly traditional comic book outfit along with a giant Aztec headdress. Very very very slow match early on which telegraphed the draw coming up. A couple of okay nearfalls but nothing noteworthy. For the first overtime Myzteziz squared off with Anderson and they had the longest 5 minutes you will ever experience. They did less than nothing. 2OT featured Alberto vs Matt which was much better. Matt got a great nearfall with the Side Effect. Alberto ended up locking on the armbar with seconds left but Matt refused to give up until AFTER the time expired.

So 3OT came down to Rey vs Mundo which was a super hot match with great nearfalls. Rey hit the 619/splash combo which everyone
thought was the finish. Mundo hit the Fin de Mundo which won two matches already but Rey kicked out. Both ended up on top and Rey used
a cool Victory Roll for the win. Crowd was ballistic. During the celebration they showed the trophies being engraved at that very moment
rather than being pre-done which was a nice touch.

Post-show was awards time. Angelico’s dive won Best Move. Dream Team vs Team ROH/LU in the semi-finals got Best Match. Rey Misterio Jr. won MVP. They gave bronze medals to Cage/Moose/ACH for 3rd place & silver medals to Anderson/Hardy/Mundo for 2nd place. Finally the Dream Team got their trophies & celebrated with the Mexican flag as ‘We Are The Champions’ played.

From a pure wrestling standpoint it wasn’t a blowaway show by any means but there was lots of solid wrestling and nothing was actually bad. But from the standpoint of a major event it completely delivered with the big entrances, huge crowd that stayed into it the entire time & all the drama in the finals. Really felt like a spectacle, even moreso than your typical AAA major show. This is the type of thing you could never do in the U.S. unless it was on a much MUCH smaller scale so kudos to AAA for pulling it off. Hopefully they can do it again next year.