Quebrada

by Mike Lorefice (M.L.Liger@juno.com)

October 26, 1996

There is a huge amount of turmoil in Luchaland, which probably comes as a surprise to nobody. The current situation is a lot more important than the usual squablings between promotions. I will go back a few years in an effort to try to make sense out of this, but there are so many problems that this may be a bit confusing. AAA was formed 4 years ago when EMLL's booker Antonio Pena split with the group. Televisa which is Mexico's number 1 tv network owned the company and produced AAA's tv shows. Pena brought a lot of the top EMLL talent with him, so he had big draws from the start. Their situation was similar to WCW's in that they were a small part of a large corporation, so they could operate in the red and write off debts if need be. Needless to say AAA was a big hit from the start. They built the promotion around Perro Aguayo, Cien Caras, and Konnan who were all great draws. In their 1st year, they were able to sell out a bullfighting arena that holds approximately 50,000 for their Triplemania card with a Konnan vs. Cien Caras retirement match as the main event. Konnan lost the match due to Jake the Snake's interference, but as you can guess his retirement didn't last long.

Things ran as smoothly for AAA as they ever do in Mexico, but the Mexican economy kept getting worse. Televisa was affected by the weak economy and was forced to downsize. In March of 1995 they ended their ownership of AAA. This left Antonio Pena in total control. Pena had basically the same duties as Paul Heyman in ECW in that he both ran the group and did the booking. Without Televisa AAA had to make cuts. Initially they got rid of the props such as the models that accompanied the wrestlers, the video wall, etc. They had to run fewer shows because they couldn't afford to run money losers. In May of 1995 Pena lessened his workload by dividing his group into territories. Each territory was run by an established AAA star with Pena overseeing. Konnan was put in charge of all international bookings. The other established stars got territories in Mexico, but this didn't work out well because ½ of them such as Rey Misterio Sr and Misterioso winded up leaving the promotion. AAA had so many wrestlers that it was hard to give them all enough work (at one point they had something like 200 wrestlers under contract). This was made worse by the fact that the bad economy forced the local bookers that Pena lent his wrestlers to for a commission to either run fewer shows or close shop totally. Two of AAA's biggest stars, Fuerza Guerrera and Blue Panther basically formed a new league called PROMELL. They got some AAA wrestlers to jump, but Fuerza couldn't get his own son to leave AAA because he preferred working with his friends Misterio Jr. and Psicosis. PROMELL didn't experience much success.

Konnan's took over promoting the border shows and he changed the style significantly. His new Extreme Lucha Libre was a Mexican version of ECW. The shows had excessive brawling (often with little structure), stiff chair shots, and table breaking. He re-did some of ECW's most famous angles such as Dreamer being crucified. At this point Konnan aligned himself with ECW and booked his friends Psicosis, Rey Misterio Jr., and Juventud Guerrera into the promotion. This new style brought Pena tons of heat from the commission in Mexico. The commission didn't approve of several of the angles run and they suspended Konnan and some of his wrestlers on a few occasions. These suspensions were usually reduced or dropped once the commision's palms were greased. The fans in Mexico react differently to angles than anywhere else in the world. The fans rioted during some of the shows because one of their favorites was laid out. Some of the shows particularly in Tijuana had tremendous crowd heat, but in other areas the fans didn't react at all and walked out during the show.

Konnan used basically the same group of wrestlers on all his shows. This basically alienated all the AAA workers who weren't getting booked. On the regular AAA shows that Pena booked, there was a split locker room with Konnan and his friends whom he booked and all the other wrestlers that were getting half the work because Konnan didn't book them. Konnan also had problems with the established AAA stars such as Perro Aguayo (not that they got along well before), Octagon, Cien Caras, and Los Villanos. The aforementioned wrestlers were opposed to the new style because among other things it was a lot more dangerous. They figured that at their age they didn't need to be powerbombed through a table to get over. The situation only got worse when Konnan started booking his friends into WCW. Even though the AAA wrestlers (other than Konnan) make less than anyone who is anyone in WCW they still make more working WCW than they do working AAA. You can understand why Konnan would be resented when he was shutting most of the wrestlers out of the "big money." To Konnan's defense, WCW is only going to book so many luchadores and they can't promote them using a revolving door style. WCW can't even figure out how to use the small group of Mexicans they have now without dividing the bookings between 30 wrestlers. Between Konnan's shows, WCW's shows, and for Misterio Jr. & Psicosis WAR's shows Konnan's crew had little time left to work the regular AAA shows. This was a big problem for Pena because most of his best workers were unavailable for his shows. The fans realized they were getting a watered down card and attendance dropped.

PROMELL now owned by TV Azteca became Promo Azteca or ProAzteca depending on where you see the name. TV Azteca is a major network, but not as powerful as Televisa. Azteca got Cien Caras to jump from AAA to join his two brothers and reform Los Hermanos Dinamitas. Luckily for AAA they got a new tv contract with Televisa in late 1995 where Televisa had some money interest in AAA.

Pena took some of Konnan's power away including reclaiming the Baja California territory which was doing good business. This pulled the plug on what would have been Konnan's biggest show to date. The show was planned for 11/1 in Tijuana with a Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Misterioso in a mask vs. mask match. Pena was also unhappy that he didn't receive a commission for lending his talent to WCW. Pena was able to work out a deal with WAR for a commission. Psicosis and Misterio Jr. were told by WAR they were getting a raise from $1,500 per shot to $2,000 per shot, but when they got their check they were for $1,600 per shot and they were told the missing $400 was Pena's commission. Many of the wrestlers are unhappy about low pay.

Konnan & Pena also disagreed about AAA being on the new 24 hour combat sports channel in Japan. Konnan thought Pena should take roughly $1,750 a week for the show, but Pena decided to hold out for more money. I am not a business man, but when you look at all the money AWF is shelling out for middle of the night time slots this seems like a decent deal to me. It's not like they have to produce another show. This would also be good for AAA because they don't have a tv show in Japan. It would be easier to get their wrestlers booked in Japan if they had tv exposure. With no tv exposure in Japan the fans are only familiar with the wrestlers through the magazines. Instead of being a name that could put fans in the seats, every new guy booked in Japan, no matter how talented, has to get over in Japan.

Konnan and Pena split and Konnan took his crew to Promo Azteca. The deal reported in the Wrestling Observer between Konnan and TV Azteca (Promo's owners) looks pretty good for Konnan. The following points should assure that most if not all of his crew will jump because they are guaranteed to make at least what they were making with AAA. The deal states that Azteca won't charge any commissions for deals already done with the wresters that jump. WCW (which pays better) gets priority on all dates with the wrestlers they are currently using. The wrestlers would be allowed to be booked by any promotion worldwide with the exception of Televisa shows. This means that they could work EMLL house shows (the matches couldn't air because EMLL is also on Televisa), but not AAA. They will earn the same amount per match as they got with AAA. The group will have two tv shows per week on TV Azteca. One will be the traditional Lucha libre style and the other show will be Konnan's extreme Lucha libre style. Konnan will be in charge of the extreme show which is on a two-month trial basis. I can't imagine what will happen is Azteca decides to cancel the show on Konnan. The extreme show will be held outside of Distrito Federal which means the commission won't be able to do as much about the content of the show.

There is going to be a big scramble for talent in the next week or so. Misterio Jr., Juventud Guerrera, Psicosis, & Super Calo have jumped. I am not sure if this will affect WCW in any way. I think all these wresters will stay with WCW because that's where they make the best money. The only way they will lose their WCW job is if Pena works out a deal with WCW. WCW is supposed to be interested in EMLL's Miguel Perez Jr., Felino (brother of Negro Casas and Heavy Metal) and Mr. Niebla. Perez is a super worker and he is fairly big, so would be a real asset to WCW. If those three jump, they will most likely end up with Azteca. There was a press conference televised on TV Azteca this week where Konnan ripped Pena several new holes. This was reported on RSPW by Bob Barnett. Konnan said you have to perform sexual acts to get pushed by Pena. He also said Pena is a cocaine addict and he keeps wrestlers as addicted indentured servants. Obviously they don't have an FCC in Mexico. Konnan should be careful of what he says because the way things go in Mexico he may be looking to return to AAA down the road. Supposedly Perro Aguayo, Los Destructores, and the original Mascara Sagrada where there and said they were jumping. This makes absolutely no sense to me. Destructores and Aguayo have been against the extreme style all along. Aguayo doesn't get along with Konnan and probably likes his booking less than any of the AAA wrestlers. I can see Sagrada because he wasn't getting along with Pena and jumped to EMLL. Sagrada also wasn't happy with Pena for keeping the gimmick and using another wrestler in it. To Pena's defense Mascara Sagrada (which means sacred mask) was the first gimmick Pena ever created, so it obviously has sentimental value and he wanted to keep the gimmick in his promotion. This isn't nearly as bad as the imposter Diesel or Ramon's because Sagrada wears a mask and a full body outfit. The new Sagrada is also a far superior worker than the original.

The two top foreign stars in Mexico Konnan and Vampiro will form a tag team. This is interesting because the two have been rivals since Konnan left EMLL and to put it mildly they haven't been the best of friends. I am not sure if these wrestlers have jumped yet, but I expect Halloween, Leon Negro, Damian, Tinieblas Jr., and probably Pierroth Jr. to jump. Hijo Del Santo may join the group, but so far he hasn't. Ultimo Dragon may leave if it will help him get a job in WCW. Octagon and La Parka probably can't leave AAA because Pena owns the rights to their gimmicks. Both got over because they have strong gimmicks, so unless they cand get the rights they aren't going anywhere. Fuerza Guerrera who was one of the founders of PROMELL is now returning to AAA. He no showed his first date with AAA though. Latin Lover should stay with AAA because Pena likes to have wrestlers with the pretty boy stripper gimmick. I don't expect Los Villanos or Heavy Metal to jump either. The only thing that is definite about all this is that there will be a lot of talent movement back and forth for the next month or two.

The 10/18 Triple Crown Title match between champion Kenta Kobashi and Toshiaki Kawada was a 60:00 draw. I haven't heard about the quality of the match, but it should be on this weeks tv show. Based on last January's 60:00 draw this will probably be a match of the year candidate. Budokan Hall wasn't sold out again. I don't know if this is a sign that Kobashi isn't over as a champion or people figured they could watch the K-1 special on tv for free. K-1 had the return of Masaake Satake who was the best of the Japanese kickboxers a couple of years ago. Satake has been out with an injury for a year and a half and his return match was a title shot against Andy Hug. That match drew a 27.5 rating which is phenomenal. The entire show averaged a 15.6 which is a better rating than the Tokyo Dome shows get these days. Despite being the premier wrestler in All Japan and possibly the world, Kobashi doesn't really have any big wins under his belt. When he won the title from Taue it was the first time he ever pinned him in a singles match. He has never pinned Kawada or Misawa in a singles match. Since perception is more important than ability when it comes to drawing power, he could be considered a weak champion. This does not mean that the Japanese fans do not respect Kobashi because he is very popular and they knew he was something special years ago. All Japan is a traditional group and their philosophy has been to let the youngest wrestler get pinned in the big matches. Kobashi is younger than Misawa, Kawada, and Taue so he was usually the one doing the job in the major tag and singles matches. Kobashi had been teaming with Misawa for the past couple of years and Misawa does about 1 job a year, so every time the team lost (which wasn't often) Kobashi went down. Now they have Kobashi teaming with Patriot, so Patriot does the jobs, but he limits the match. It is possible All Japan is changing the youngest does the job philosophy because on this show Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba, and Akira Taue beat Misawa, Jun Akiyama, and Tomomi "Jumbo" Tsuruta when Taue used his nodowa (chokeslam) on Tsuruta. Traditionally Akiyama would have done the job here. Tsuruta who was one of the biggest stars in Japan from the 1970's-early 1990's, but he got hepatitis and hasn't been close to the same since. Tsuruta is now a mid-level wrestler who generally fights in the comedy match with all the other wrestlers who are passed their prime. This was actually the first job he has done since he returned from hepatitis.

If you have any interest in legitimate fighting then you should check out Pancrase PPV on November 3. In my opinion Pancrase has the most talented group of fighters. Due to the high talent level and their familiarity with each other (basically all the natives train with Masakatsu Funaki and all the foreigners trained with now departed Ken Shamrock) it was becoming nearly impossible to get a submission and most of the matches were draws. They made some rule changes that started on this show such as standing the fighters up when there was a stalemate or no action. This resulted in a lot more strikes which leads to more victories by knock out. The new style is more like muay thai with submissions. While I would rather see a strategic technical match, that style has less overall appeal because most people haven't been educated to it. This show was said to have been far more exciting and brutal than any Pancrase show to date. It has also been billed by some as the greatest Pancrase show to date. Yuki Kondo vs. Frank Shamrock and Bas Rutten vs. Masakatsu Funaki were supposed to be incredible matches. Both were mainly stand up fights with a lot of high impact blows. I look forward to seeing them for myself.