AAA Triplemanía XXXIII (2025)

WWE's purchase of historic Mexican wrestling brand AAA seemed to promise many great opportunities for cross-overs, but also the chance to see a lot more of lucha libre in general. It turns out, we were getting both, and we were fortunate enough to get AAA's biggest event of the year streamed for free on YouTube. I for one was extremely excited - I had only ever seen a relatively limited amount of Mexican lucha libre before this.

After introductions were out the way, it was time to kick off the night's action with 'La Copa Bardahl' - a similar match to the 'Royal Rumble' in WWE. This immediately caught my attention, particularly when the first entrant was familiar character of La Parka - the third iteration. Unsurprisingly, the action was fast and frenetic, and featured wrestlers from both AAA and WWE. It was surprisingly nice to not know who was a favourite, and to really have no clue who would win. The match was a lot of fun, and mixed classic lucha wrestling with humour and surprises. The winner made sense to me, and will be interesting to see what they do next.

The next match on the card saw El Mesías take on El Hijo Del Dr. Wagner Jr. for the Latin American Championship, in a match that was multi-generational and historic in its rivalry. The match was physical and back-and-forth, and the live audience seemed to love it. Seeing the history between Wagner's father and Mesías was very cool to see, and the way it played into the match worked very well. I ended up getting really into the match, and when the finish came, it felt like a big moment.

In the third match, Lola Vice, El Nino Hamburguesa, and Mr. Iguana, took on Judgement Day's Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, and Raquel Rodriguez, in a six-person tag match. This match felt a little more predictable, but I couldn't wait to see it play out. This was a really fun tag team match, which had so many fun little moments, particularly in regards to one confrontation between Iguana and Balor, which was genuinely awesome. As illuded to, this wasn't really a match where the result was in question, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.

Next up, Pagano and Psycho Clown challenged Los Garza in a street fight for the AAA World Tag Team Championships - a match that looked very fun on paper. The challengers are legends of hardcore wrestling in Mexico, and they put that reputation on display, taking Los Garza into deeper, more dangerous, waters than they had really ever been to previously. The crowd was heavily invested in this match and so was I. Once it got going, this was a hugely exciting match, which very quickly became my favourite match of the night so far. It was even, exciting, and very watchable.

After a ceremony in which the legendary Rey Mysterio inducted Konnan into the AAA Hall Of Fame, it was time for Flammer to defend her long-held Reina de Reinas Championship against Faby Apache and Natalya. I don't know what Natalya had for breakfast before this match, but she was on fire in a way that she has not been for arguably her entire career. Flammer very quickly showed herself to be an excellent performer, and it was easy to see why she had been champion for so long. The crowd was deafening at times during the match, which was brilliant. The finish came a little bit put of nowhere, but I didn't really mind it too much.

At last, it was time for the main event; a huge fatal-4-way match, which pitted reigning AAA Mega Champion El Hijo Del Vikingo against a trio of WWE stars in El Grande Americano, Dragon Lee, and WWE Intercontinental Champion Dominic Mysterio. This was a tremendous match, with all four men showing out in a big way, and the crowd being their loudest and most passionate. Despite the crowd clearly rejecting him, Vikingo put in a heroic performance, showcasing his insane high-flying ability. The atmosphere seemed to elevate those in the ring, making the match even more exciting and high energy than it already was. The final few minutes of this main event were absolutely incredible, and the finish was great. I will admit, the level to which Vikingo was booed by the live audience was a little surprising, but he seemed unaffected.

Overall, I thought this was a great evening of wrestling, and another wonderful opportunity for me to explore one of Mexico's greatest traditions. I think it would have been a special show to attend live, but it was still more than a little exciting to stream it as well. I hope WWE continues to showcase its latest asset, and here's hoping that some of the many talented names in AAA get to make appearances in more WWE events in the future. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled come 'Royal Rumble' time in particular.