He defeated Kenny Omega in the main event of AAA Triplemania Tijuana on Saturday to retain his title. The finish saw Vikingo hit a poisonrana from the turnbuckle and a 630 senton to score a clean victory. The two hugged and Vikingo celebrated in the ring to end the show.
Don Callis had originally been scheduled to be in Vikingo’s corner for the match. However, before the bout could get underway, Konnan came out and ordered Callis to leave the ringside area.
Gran lucha por el Megacampeonato. 🔥😎@KennyOmegamanX e @vikingo_aaa dejaron todo en esta lucha. 😱💥
— Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (@luchalibreaaa) July 16, 2023
The head-to-head series between the two is now tied 1-1. Omega defeated Vikingo on the 3/22 AEW Dynamite earlier this year in a match our own Dave Meltzer rated five stars.
Vikingo vs. Omega in AAA was originally scheduled to take place at TriplemanÃa Regia II on December 4, 2021 during Omega’s reign with the Mega Championship. However, Omega announced just weeks beforehand that he was pulling out of the show and vacating the title due to an accumulation of injuries.
— Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (@luchalibreaaa) July 16, 2023
Also on Saturday’s show from Tijuana, the Guerra de Rivalidades tournament match had an interesting finish. Rush, who seemingly quit the promotion last month, teamed with LA Park against Sam Adonis and Psycho Clown. The match was ultimately ruled a draw after both Adonis and Rush scored pins. Since the stipulation had been the losing team would face each other on August 12 in a mask vs. hair match, now they will all meet in a four-way match on that show.
QT Marshall and Pentagon Jr. had a bloody ambulance match. The finish saw Aaron Solo spray Penta with a fire extinguisher, allowing Marshall to hit his opponent with a light tube and a cutter before locking him in the ambulance.
Former UFC Flyweight Champion Brandon Moreno was in the corner of Team Baja despite suffering a broken hand in his loss to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 290. He got involved in the finish by locking Daga in an arm bar.
Former Mega Champion Texano Jr. returned to the promotion for the first time in more than two years as well. He came out wearing a mask with Taurus and attacked Pagano. After unmasking, Texano cut a promo saying he and Taurus are the new Mercenarios and he was behind the recent attacks on Pagano.
AAA Triplemania Tijuana 7/15 results:
La Hiedra won Copa TriplemanÃa
Entrants: Gringo Loco, Jack Cartwheel, Myzteziz Jr., Dinámico, Niño Hamburguesa, Willie Mack, Argenis, Flammer, Rey Misterio El Heredero, Mr. Iguana, Laredo Kid, Puma Kingo, and Taurus.
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo will defend his title against former champion Kenny Omega in the main event of tonight’s AAA Triplemania from Tijuana.
The match was originally slated to happen in AAA in 2021, but Omega’s injury-related absence from wrestling put that on pause. That was until a March episode of AEW Dynamite when the two faced off in what was billed as a dream match. Omega picked up the victory in one of the most-discussed matches of this year.
Another highlight of the card will see L.A. Park & Rush vs. Psycho Clown & Sam Adonis where the losers will square off in a hair vs. mask match at the final Triplemania of the year in Mexico City. Last month, Rush had claimed he was leaving the company, but then announced this week he would be there after all.
Among the other bouts on the show, Pentagon Jr. will take on QT Marshall in an ambulance match.
This was just a match to get everyone on the card. It’s a delayed entry elimination match.
Gringo Loco and Jack Cartwheel were the first two entries, followed by Myzteziz Jr., who took them both down with tijeras. Dinámico was in next. He completely whiffed on a crucifix bomb against Myzteziz but recovered to hit a sweet step-up cutter on Cartwheel.
Niño Hamburguesa came in and crushed Dinámico with a senton. Willie Mack followed, but during his entrance, Argenis ran out and eliminated Myzteziz. Las Tóxicas (La Hiedra & Flammer) came out together. A surprise entry was Rey Misterio El Heredero, who is the WWE Rey Mysterio’s cousin.
To this point, the match had been pretty much all entrances. Mr. Iguana, a fan favorite, was next, followed by Laredo Kid. Laredo Kid decided to actually bring some wrestling to this match, taking out Iguana before having a good exchange with frequent opponent Gringo Loco.
Puma King’s entrance made it more than 10 people in the ring at once. Taurus came in next and took out like a half dozen people. The timer stopped, so I guess he’s the final entrant. Antifaz Del Norte came out and distracted Laredo Kid, which led to them brawling in the crowd.
Gringo Loco was eliminated followed by Misterio. Hiedra pinned Dinámico with a cutter, then she and Iguana worked together to eliminate Taurus. The alliance was short-lived as Flammer dumped Iguana over the top rope.
They took a break to let Mack dance, then the Tóxicas eliminated both Mack and Cartwheel. They were the final three alongside Puma. An assist from Iguana allowed the Tóxicas to pin Puma, meaning they were the final two and had to fight.
Flammer avoided a senton atómico, but Iguana tripped her up, allowing Hiedra to eliminate her for the win.
The Mexican team established control early on until their opponents moved out of the way of a Sexy Star dive, allowing Viva Van to take advantage with a dive of her own. There was a good extended Dalys vs. Kamille sequence towards the middle of the match — those two are probably the best wrestlers on their respective teams.
Kamille climbed the ropes, but Sexy Star cut her off and landed a superplex. A German suplex from Sexy Star to Viva Van got two, and then we got a parade of big moves. Kamille and Markova hit a doomsday dropkick on Sexy Star, but Dalys broke up the pin. A facebuster from Dalys got two in return.
Dalys locked in a submission on Markova, but then Hiedra (who just won the Copa TriplemanÃa) came out and attacked Dalys with a cookie sheet. They brawled all over as Sexy Star took out Kamille with a crossbody to the outside.
Shani had Markova pinned, but Hijo del Tirantes gave a slow count, so Shani just beat him up. Viva Van landed diving knees and got a visible pinfall but there was no ref to count. Tirantes himself ran out and counted a Shani Northern Lights suplex three for the win.
– After the match, there was some nonsense with Tirantes and his son. Tirantes said his son didn’t have any respect for lucha libre and slapped him and whipped him with his belt.
The story here is that Pagano and Vampiro are feuding. Evans outwrestled Mecha Wolf at the start, then Aramis did the same to Bestia 666. Pagano and Vampiro had their first encounter before Aramis came out of nowhere to level Pagano with a dive. Mecha Wolf followed up with a dive of his own.
Pagano and Vampiro were left in the ring. They had an awful sequence — Vampiro can’t do anything anymore. Taurus then came out with a masked man and they attacked Pagano. The masked man unmasked to reveal himself as a returning Texano Jr. I guess the match ended?
– After the match, Texano said that he and Taurus are the new Mercenarios.
**********
Team Baja (Nicho El Millionario, Damian 666, Rey Horus, & Xtreme Tiger) (w/ Brandon Moreno) defeated Team Chilango (Negro Casas, Chessman, Daga, & Argenis)
Nicho El Millionario is Psicosis from ECW/WCW. His team was accompanied by UFC fighter Brandon Moreno, fresh off a loss.
They all paired off early on. Horus landed a corner tope on Argenis. The 63-year-old Negro Casas and 61-year-old Damian 666 fought each other. Nicho bloodied Negro Casas with a chair shot to the head. Casas returned the favor in the ring.
There was a parade of big moves with dives and signature offense all around. Horus took out the pile with an inverted tornillo. Moreno attacked Daga in the ring and locked him in an armbar before Casas broke it up.
Nicho low blowed Casas with the official distracted for the win.
**********
QT Marshall defeated Pentagón Jr. in an Ambulance Match
Penta dominated early until QT ripped at his mask and smashed him with a chair, bloodying him. He broke light tubes over Penta’s head. They brawled into the crowd and the action became kind of hard to see for a while.
Back in the ring, QT handcuffed Penta’s hands together. He attempted to strike him with a barbed wire-wrapped chair, but Penta avoided it and was able to choke QT with the handcuffs. He was freed and returned fire on QT with the chair.
Penta broke a light tube over QT’s back. Both men were bloodied bad at this point. QT produced a bag of thumbtacks and dumped them over the canvas. Penta countered a cutter and sent QT back-first into the tacks, then shoved them in QT’s mouth and thrust kicked him.
QT fired back with a pop-up powerbomb onto the tacks. He walked Penta to the crowd area where the ambulance was set up and fought his way out of the vehicle with a destroyer. They set up some tables and climbed some boxes, but there was some miscommunication as they mostly whiffed on a Penta attempt to put QT through them with a package piledriver.
Penta was about to win, but Aaron Solo appeared in the ambulance and sprayed a fire extinguisher in Penta’s face before smashing him with a light tube. The Diamond Cutter followed, allowing QT to put Penta in the ambulance and win.
**********
Guerra de Rivalidades finals: L.A. Park & Rush vs. Psycho Clown & Sam Adonis went to a no contest
The losing team will face each other in an apuesta match at the next TriplemanÃa show.
Rush and Adonis started the match by attacking their own partners and trying to unmask them. Rush broke a bottle and cut open Park’s forehead. Adonis laid in chair shots on Psycho.
The heels beat down their babyface partners for a long, long time. Eventually, Psycho and Park made comebacks on their partners. Psycho perched Adonis up on a chair and landed a flip dive off the stage.
Having taken control, Park and Psycho decided to do the right thing and fight it out against each other in the ring. After an exchange, the rudos came in and decided to fight too. They traded chops before Adonis hit a Rainmaker and Rush, like, halfway kicked out.
Adonis hit a blockbuster for two. Rush feinted on the Bull Horns and decided to do the Ingobernables pose instead. Psycho re-entered the fray with an Orihara moonsault onto both men, then Park hit a crazy plancha onto everyone.
Psycho rolled up Park for a good near fall. Rush came in and attacked everyone (including Tirantes, the official) with a chair, but Park took him out with a spear. Rush low blowed Park and Adonis blew a fireball in Psycho’s face, allowing Rush to pin Psycho for the win.
…or so we thought! After the match, Tirantes went to the announcers’ booth called the match a draw, and booked these four in a four-way apuesta match for the next TriplemanÃa show.
**********
AAA Mega Championship: Hijo del Vikingo (c) defeated Kenny Omega
Before the match, Don Callis showed up, but Konnan kicked him out.
Vikingo wasted no time getting to the high-flying, but was quickly cut off with an Omega knee that countered a tope suicida. Omega beat him down at ringside. He mocked Vikingo, putting on the viking mask as he continued to beat him down.
There was a long heat segment. Vikingo eventually flipped out of a German attempt and dropped Omega with an enzuigiri and a springboard dive. Omega rolled out of the way of a frog splash. He hit the first part of You Can’t Escape before adjusting to land a powerslam for two.
A powerbomb into a V-Trigger got two. Vikingo escaped a One-Winged Angel attempt but ran into a V-Trigger. Omega went for the avalanche One-Winged Angel, but Vikingo escaped and hit a powerslam and a spinning kick.
Vikingo hit his inverted 450 to the outside but landed hard on the ground. He then hit a corkscrew 450 back into the ring for a near fall. The inverted 450 followed, but Omega managed to kick out for a good near fall. Vikingo attempted a shooting star press, but Omega got the knees up and hit Croyt’s Wrath for two.
They jockeyed for position on the top rope, where Vikingo managed to hit an elevated reverse hurricanrana. The 630 senton followed for the completely clean win.
AAA held a press conference on Thursday to announce the full card for Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana on July 15.
UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno is set to manage Team Baja California against Team Chilango on the show. ESPN’s Mark Raimondi confirmed with Moreno’s manager that he will not be wrestling on the show.
Raimondi would later add, “AAA approached Moreno about being at the same show in Tijuana last year, but he had to turn it down because he was in training camp. This event is one week after UFC 290 when Moreno defends against Alexandre Pantoja.”
QT Marshall was revealed as the mystery man stalking Pentagon Jr recently. AAA posted a video featuring Marshall attacking Pentagon in a stairwell before later announcing Marshall & Taurus vs. Pentagon & Laredo Kid in an Ambulance match for Tijuana.
Also announced for the card: a women’s trios match featuring talent from Mexico (Sexy Star, Lady Shani & Dalys) vs. talent from around the world (Kamille, Viva Van & Natalia Markova).
Vampiro will team with Jack Evans and Aramis to face Pegano, Bestia 666 and Mega Wolf as well.
The show is scheduled to air on FITE TV.
AAA Triplemania: Tijuana 7/15 lineup:
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo defends against Kenny Omega
LA Park & Rush vs. Sam Adonis & Psycho Clown in the Guerra de Rivalidades tournament. The losing team will wrestle in a mask vs. hair match at Triplemania: Mexico City on 8/12
Pentagon Jr & Laredo Kid vs. QT Marshall & Taurus in a Lucha de Ambulancia match
Team Chilango (Dana, Argenis, Chessman, & Negro Casas) w/Aczino vs. Team Baja (Nicho el Millionario, Damian 666, Rey Horus, & Xtreme Tiger) w/UFC Flyweight Champion Brandon Moreno
Aramis, Jack Evans & Vampiro vs. Pagano, Bestia 666 & Mega Wolf
Sexy Star, Lady Shani, & Dalys vs. Kamille, Viva Van, & Natalia Markova
Copa Triplemania entrants: Willie Mack, Mr. Iguana, Jack Cartwheel, La Hiedra, Flammer, Myzteziz, Luchador Sorpresa, Puma King, Nino Hamburguesa, Dinamico, & Gringo Loco