[1992-06-12-AAA] El Hijo del Santo & Octagon & Perro Aguayo vs La Parka & Blue Panther & Fishman

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

So this will chronologically be the first AAA match on any yearbook. It's a fitting first match -- you see that they've snagged several big names. It's also a fitting match because it nicely demonstrates a big part of what often stinks about AAA, namely that it isn't CMLL or even the UWA. This is intended to be a crazy brawl, but compare it to the 3/1 trios from CMLL. That match was full of intensity and hatred, and this match is all show. I like Perro sometimes, but he is really old and not very good in this match. The first fall's finish isn't really clear. You'd assume a DQ since the technicos were blocking the ref from intervening so Perro could tap each of the rudos on the head with a chair, but the technicos raise their hands in victory, so who knows?

 

This reminds me in many ways of 80s WWF. They've signed a bunch of guys who made their name somewhere else, and the match is not as good as you'd expect if the match happened in a different promotion. They work a match with lots of crowd-pleasing spots, but it all feels strangely sanitized. This isn't all bad, but it just really did nothing for me. Standards for lucha libre are high in 1992 and this falls short.

[Tim Evans]

I'm a big fan of early days AAA so I liked this. The crowd was pretty hot for the tecnicos and almost looked like they wanted to riot in the 2nd fall. Panther and Fishman don't do much but Octagon and Santo were awesome. Especially Octagon who looked motivated in his new place. I've been watching a lot of 1992 CMLL lately from discs I got from Fredo and the difference between CMLL and AAA is like night and day at the time. Looking forward to seeing more AAA matches from 92.

[shoe]

I thought this was alright. Nothing too bad in it. Their were some cool moments. The 2nd caida the fans wanted Fishman's head on a stick. Loved when he wanted a chair they were throwing their drinks on him.

[Kevin Ridge]

Was confused on the whole first fall decision. Had to go back and watch to see the submission. Thought it was a disqualification myself. Second fall was fun with Fishman was trying to get a chair from the crowd but they weren't too receptive to this. Aguayo ends up getting busted up but then annoys me but just walking around the ring trying to fire himself and the fans up with his team mates are being outnumbered in the ring and then get beat. That was just dumb. Third fall seemed to have a split decision. I don't see how the tecnicos thought they were winners though as they didn't beat anyone.

[Zenjo]

It had it's moments and Grizzled Vet was super over. That's Perro Aguayo in case you're wondering. I love that guy with his fluffy boots. Alas the match was also very messy at times and descended into mask related lameness.

[WingedEagle]

Perro looks like someone's fun uncle. Octagon and Parka looked like stars here, and Santo's work was stellar as well. Parka's armdrag to the floor looked awful, but he sold it so well I almost thought he somehow managed to avoid having it hurt that badly. Really fun to see the company launched here with a hot crowd and stars with big charisma. I had a little trouble tracking the finishes to some falls but still a solid show. Perro bleeds to make sure we all go home happy and there are a couple spots with mask ripping that I don't think ever built to a climactic match.

 

***1/4

[PeteF3]

This had to be one of the very first AAA shows, if not the first. And they sure as hell aren't skimping on the names in this one. Dig La Parka working a full-on Undertaker/Bray Wyatt gimmick, coming out all somber and stoic, with a lantern. I'm pretty sure the first fall ended with Santo getting a submission on Panther with the camel clutch, and all the chair-related stuff outside was extracurricular and post-fall. Loss summed this up for me--crowd-pleasing with lots of big names, but Aguayo looked his age and Fishman looked pretty awful. The brawling especially at the beginning was pretty tepid, and they got my attention much more effectively with Santo's way cool headscissors and Octagon finding new ways to do armdrags. More goofiness in the third fall as Fishman tears off Octagon's mask and Aguayo immediately tears off Fishman's. Both referees are in disagreement as to whom gets disqualified. Pretty sure the technicos had their mask taken off first. Speaking of '80s WWF, all three technicos beat up the official who ruled against them because they're babyfaces and anything they do is justified.

 

There were some fun parts to this but I wanted more takedowns and flying instead of the brawling we've got. Lucha can give us some awesome-looking brawls but this wasn't it.

[MikeCampbell]

I like a bunch of these guys, but, as a whole, this really didn't do much for me. Plus, I hated the finish with each side unmasking someone and the ref's arguing about who actually won.

[garretta]

This really wasn't a match; it was a twenty-minute six-man pull-apart brawl. I don't think we had two men in and four men out for more than a minute total, which made the whole mess very hard to follow.

 

Octagon's armdrag to the floor on Parka is about the only thing related to wrestling that I'll remember about this. It looked okay to me, but I've never seen the move before so I'm not sure how it should look.

 

I agree with Kevin about Perro walking around the ring for no reason while the match was going on. I'm guessing that he was trying to sell being disoriented, but if he was, he did a terrible job of it.

 

I've never seen a heel look for a foreign object from the crowd before like Fishman did here. I would have laughed if someone had actually given him one with no problem.

 

I've never seen a lucha match end in a double unmasking before. I'll say this: it's a novel way to have a draw finish. I know the tecnicos end up getting their hands raised, but I'm not sure if it's because they won or if the officials just wanted to prevent a riot on AAA's first night.

 

Overall, this was another trios match that frustrated me. Very few of these matches have clicked with me at all for whatever reason, either on the DVDVR set or the Yearbooks. As I've said before, it's not lucha itself; I've enjoyed most of the singles bouts very much. But the tag and trios matches continue to miss the mark.

[dawho5]

I thought Parka was great bumping around for the tecnicos while that kind of thing was actually happening.  Not only did Perro wander around ringside forever, he also completely sold not one but two low blows from Parka.  Perro and Fishman seemed to be the most over guys in the match and I was anticipating a big brawl between them to decide the match, which the build suggested.  Instead we got a refereee disagreement and both teams being declared winners?  Kind of a mess, but with fun stuff.