“Lucha World Cup” Review
May 25, 2015
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
Last night all eyes in the wrestling world were on AAA and the first ever “Lucha Libre World Cup.” On a night where not much else was going on in wrestling AAA brought together multiple wrestling companies from around the world and some of the biggest non-WWE stars in the world to compete for the first ever Lucha World Cup. Teams from Mexico, America, Japan, and the “Rest of the World” all battled it out on iPPV it what could be considered one of the biggest Lucha events ever. The hype leading up to the event was huge but the atmosphere that AAA created for the show itself helped make it feel like something special. AAA held a ceremony before the event that included the Mexican National Anthem that made feel almost like a Super Bowl level sporting event. Another part of the spectacle was the fact that three of the biggest box office draws in the history of Mexico: Rey Misterio Jr., Myzteziz, and Alberto el Patron were teaming together for the very first time. Also, a lot of new eyes would be on AAA for this event because of the growing popularity of Lucha Underground as well as Rey Misterio Jr. being a part of the event. A special atmosphere is one thing though, because the luchadors/wrestlers had to deliver in the ring as well.
All four quarterfinals matches were solid with the MexLeyendas/AJPW match being the least of the matches. Putting The Dream Team on first was a good idea because it the crowd into things early. The match with NOAH was fun and Masamune really impressed in his short time in the ring. ROH-AAA was a really good match that was hurt by the screwup by the referee who for some reason only counted a two count at the end. Then the wrestlers kept going after the bell and he counted a pin then anyway. Konnan came out to book on the fly and send it to a short OT. TNA/Rest of the World was really fun with Galloway really standing out in the match.
The semifinals match between ROH and Dream Team was the best match of the night. Everybody went all out and they did really a little of everything. There was some mat wrestling, lots of high flying, and even brawling. ACH really stood out during the show with his charisma as well as his athleticism. The other semifinals match between TNA and the MexLeyendas was easily the worst match of the night. Part of it was because it was the shortest match of the night but also the timing between the legends and Americans was just off. Solar had trouble all night with the timing, everytime he attempted a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (which was multiple times) he dropped the guy he was trying to hit it on.
The show was going really long so for the third place match they decided to go straight to OT rules and do 5-minute singles matches. The interaction between ACH and Blue Demon was really good but I was truly shocked that Wagner was pinned clean by Cage. I have no idea how AAA convinced him to take that clean pin but it was good for Cage. I didn’t too much care for the injury angle after, especially because they were acting as if it was a neck injury. After everything with Perrito back in March we really don’t need to revisit that right now.
The Main Event was really good and they built it up more traditionally like an American style match with things slowly building up. All the guys were really tired at this point too but they all busted their asses. The third OT with Rey and Mundo was very fun and the crowd lost their minds when Rey won it. They were really rowdy for that last fall.
Rey got to prove himself to a lot of his naysayers that have said he should have retired and he didn’t have anything left in the tank. He worked his butt off for three matches in one night and really showed what he can still do. I think ACH was the guy that stood out the most during the show for me and is someone I would surely think Lucha Underground and AAA are going to try to bring in at some point. Jeff Jarrett’s inclusion was kind of pointless other than for Alberto to shove him at one point which may set up an angle between the two in the future.
The biggest con of the show was the technical difficulties early on in the show. The video feed itself was pretty solid most of the night though early it was choppy at times. The audio was pretty horrible throughout however, for the first few matches you could hear both English and Spanish commentary at the same time. I noticed later on in the show that they really didn’t fix the issue, they just simply turned down the Spanish commentary so you could barely hear it but because they did that it also turned down the audio from the crowd some. You couldn’t hear any of the video packages or promos during the show either. Also, the show ran very long and there were times where there were long breaks between anything happening. Those are all things that can be fixed in the future and AAA’s iPPV’s are thankfully getting better with the quality. Vampiro continues to be a big “con” everytime he is on commentary. He is just horrible and I honestly believe he was under the influence of something during the show. Matt Striker did his best to reign him in at times but at other times he seemed to kind of throw his hands in the air with the situation. Striker was very good however. The rest of the world got to see how bad some lucha referee’s truly are. Lucha Underground’s referee was by far the best of the referee’s used and he was thankfully the one in there for the Finals. NOAH’s referee was okay except for the botched finish in the second match. AAA’s Piero was horrible as usual with his stupid slow pinfalls. He’s still not as bad as Tirantes.
Rey was given the MVP Award, Angelico got the “dive of the night” for his corner post somersault plancha in the quarterfinals, ROH-Dream Team was match of the night, and the Dream Team won the best team award. The top three teams (Dream Team, TNA/Underground, and ROH/Underground) were awarded medals and the Dream Team also got a trophy. All in all the show was awesome with a special atmosphere and I truly hope this becomes an annual event, and if CMLL is smart they will accept their invitation next year. That would easily be the biggest show ever in Lucha if they do.
-Match of the Night: The Dream Team vs. Team ROH/Underground (****)
-Move of the Night: ACH’s ring post spinning head scissors on Rey
-Overall Grade: A
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