By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
January 17, 2026, in Mexico City, Mexico, at the Juan de la Barrera Olympic Gymnasium
Aired live on Fox in Latin America and streamed on the WWE YouTube Page
Corey Graves, John Bradshaw Layfield, and Rey Mysterio provided our English commentary. (It is unclear to me if Graves and JBL are there in person or if the commentary was done in post-production.) The production quality is pretty good. The venue is a small arena, but it was packed. The listed capacity for basketball is 5,242.
* Rey Mysterio came to the ring, wearing his street clothes. He spoke in Spanish and welcomed the crowd. He talked about this being a new era for AAA with their airing episodes on Fox. (Hey, I can still pick up a few words in Spanish here and there!) He spoke for a couple of minutes, entirely in Spanish. Corey was quiet and didn’t give any interpretation. The crowd loudly booed the mention of El Hijo Del Vikingo. He then sat down with Graves and JBL to call the action.
1. Mr. Iguana, La Parka, and Nino Hamburguesa vs. “Los Vipers” Taurus, Abismo Negro, and Histeria. The on-screen graphics only read “Los Vipers.” Histeria and Negro wore nearly identical blue gear. Nino and Taurus opened. Again, Taurus is dressed just like Beast Mortos when he competed in Mexico. Nino hit a leaping Earthquake-style butt splash to the chest of Abismo Negro, then a rolling cannonball. The rudos began working over Hamburguesa in their corner. He hit a frog splash onto both Negro and Histeria.
La Parka tagged in at 3:00. Graves noted “this iteration of La Parka” was introduced by Vampiro, so they are acknowledging it’s someone new in that outfit. La Parka hit a satellite headscissors takedown. La Parka hit a moonsault to the floor. Hamburguesa hit a rolling cannonball dive through the ropes to the floor. It allowed Mr. Iguana to slam Taurus and pin him. That was a lot of action in a match that short.
Mr. Iguana, La Parka, and Nino Hamburguesa defeated “Los Vipers” Taurus, Abismo Negro, and Histeria at 4:34.
* In the locker room, a woman interviewed Penta. They spoke entirely in Spanish. Rey jumped in with some quick translation, saying Penta noted it has been 15 years since he was last in AAA.
2. Flammer vs. Lady Shani. Flammer had a title belt over her shoulder. Her two teammates, Maravilla and La Hiedra, wore nearly identical gear and joined her to ringside. They traded rollups, and Flammer hit a double stomp to the stomach. Shani hit a Lungblower to the back.
Lola Vice ran to ringside at 3:00 and attacked La Hiedra! Meanwhile, Maravilla tripped Shani. It allowed Flammer to hit a dropkick in the corner for the pin. Lame; not much of a match at all.
Flammer defeated Lady Shani at 3:31.
* The female interviewer knocked on Vikingo’s door to his private locker room. He came out and answered a few questions. The crowd booed everything he said.
* Hijo Del Dr. Wagner Jr. came to the ring, holding a title belt. He was not dressed to wrestle; he got a massive babyface pop. A masked man got in the ring; they argued, but then the masked man attacked him. The person removed the mask… it’s Santos Escobar!
* A nice video package aired for Dominik Mysterio.
3. El Hijo Del Vikingo (w/Dorian) vs. El Grande Americano to become No. 1 contender to the AAA Mega Championship. I really never thought I’d see Americano so cheered in Mexico. Standing switches to open. Vikingo ripped at the mask and was booed. He hit a spin kick to the head in the corner and a basement dropkick at 2:00; loud boos for everything he was doing. Americano hit an armdrag, then a series of punches in the corner. Dorian hit some cheap shots on Vikingo behind the ref’s back. Vikingo hit some stiff kicks in the corner, and he now hit a series of punches at 5:00; the crowd booed him rather than counting along.
Vikingo marched out of the corner and hit a suplex that was almost a Muscle Buster, then a back-body drop. He hit a dropkick that sent Americano to the floor at 6:30. They fought on the floor in front of an announce table, with Vikingo stomping on Americano, and he whipped Americano into the ring post. In the ring, Vikingo hit a top-rope 450 Splash for a nearfall at 8:30. That looked good. Americano fired up and hit some clotheslines, then a second-rope flying clothesline. He tied up Vikingo on the mat and cranked back on his head.
Dorian again distracted Americano. They traded spin kicks. Americano got his metal plate, which he often puts in his mask, but he threw it to the floor. He pulled down the straps of his singlet and cranked back on Vikingo’s head. He nailed an Air Raid Crash for a nearfall at 11:30 (and I love that Corey knows all the names of the moves.) Americano went for a superplex, but Dorian grabbed the ankle, and Americano crashed to the mat. The ref saw all of this and ejected Dorian at 13:00. Americano saw the metal plate on the floor and went to grab it, but Omos appeared and stopped him! Vikingo dove through the ropes onto Americano. He threw Americano back into the ring and nailed the 630 Splash for the pin!
El Hijo Del Vikingo defeated El Grande Americano at 13:44 to become No. 1 contender to the AAA Mega Championship.
* Americano ran across the ring and hit repeated headbutts to Omos’ chest, but Omos didn’t budge. Omos caught him with a big boot. Rey — who had left commentary — ran to the ring while holding a kendo stick. Vikingo and Omos left the ring without fighting Rey.
Final Thoughts: A good first episode. It’s still surreal to see the crowds so into Americano and so loudly booing Vikingo. Everything else was short but some really entertaining action. I would have liked to have seen that six-man tag go longer. The Flammer-Shani match had barely gotten started when it ended; clearly more of an angle to set up a different match.
The trio of Graves, Mysterio, and JBL really worked for me on commentary. Graves does such a fantastic job and he carries the team, and JBL offers some decent insight.
* The episode was about 78 minutes in length.
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