By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (Episode 3)
Taped January 17, 2026, in Mexico City, Mexico, at the Juan de la Barrera Olympic Gymnasium
Aired January 31, 2026, on Fox in Latin America and streamed on the WWE YouTube Page
Corey Graves, JBL, and Rey Mysterio once again provided commentary; I presume it is dubbed in and wasn’t done live. (If it was, Konnan would have undoubtedly stopped by the booth, right?)
* These shows are almost unwatchable with the constant commercial breaks — I listed off five of them in a 12-minute main event last week. I’m keeping track of them this week!
* The show opened with footage of Vikingo beating El Grande Americano from the debut episode. To the arena, where Omos came to the ring. He’s in a black suit and isn’t dressed to wrestle. Dorian spoke in Spanish; Rey provided immediate translation. [C1] He said he comes from the best family that promotes wrestling, and his uncle created this company 30 years ago. El Hijo Del Vikingo then came to the ring, also in a suit. Vikingo told the crowd that whether they like it or not, he’s the No. 1 contender now after beating El Grande Americano. He wondered why the crowd keeps supporting “a false Mexican.” He’s upset that the crowd has turned their back on him.
Dominik Mysterio appeared on the screen and spoke in Spanish, accepting the challenge, accepting Vikingo’s challenge. There were English subtitles on the screen. (The video could have been shot at any time; he’s not there in person.)
* A video aired for the Reye de Reyes tournament. [C2 during ring intros]
1. TJP vs. Chris Carter vs. Mini Vikingo vs. Elio LeFleur in a four-way. I think I’ve seen Carter once or twice; he looks like a 5’8″ version of Timothy Thatcher. As I noted last week, Mini Vikingo is young, perhaps still a teen — he’s not a ‘mini.’ TJP immediately attacked Mini Vikingo, and we’re underway. Elio hit an enzuigiri on TJP. Carter hit a huracanrana. Carter and Mini Vikingo hit stereo dives to the floor. In the ring, Vikingo hit a huracanrana on Carter, so Carter hit one back, and they both kipped up and shook hands at 1:30. TJP attacked them both.
TJP dropped Elio stomach-first on the top rope, then he tied up both Elio and Carter. JBL admires TJP’s arrogance and confidence. TJP hit a Northern Lights Suplex on Mini Vikingo, then a tornado DDT out of the corner. Rey also heaped praise on TJP, as he tied Mini Vikingo in a surfboard. However, Carter climbed on TJP for a nearfall! Elio hit a double stomp, and everyone was down at 4:00. Mini Vikingo hit an amazing corkscrew Asai Moonsault on TJP. Carter hit a corkscrew dive onto both of them!
Elio hit a springboard flip dive onto all three! TJP hit a detonation kick in the ring, but Elio hit a splash onto TJP. Min Vikingo hit a 630 Splash on Carter! However, TJP hit a Mamba Splash onto Mini Vikingo’s back! He threw Mini Vikingo to the floor and covered the prone Carter for the pin! I’ll call that an upset! (I assumed TJP was here to be the glue in the match and not earn any wins on WWE TV).
TJP defeated Mini Vikingo, Elio LeFleur, and Chris Carter in a four-way at 6:12.
* El Hijo Del Vikingo and Omos came to the ring; TJP backed out of the ring to the floor rather than confront them. TJP threw Mini Vikingo into the ring! (The commentators said during the match that El Hijo Del Vikingo didn’t like that Mini Vikingo was using his name!) Omos grabbed Mini Vikingo and hit a standing powerbomb! The crowd was irate! Hijo Del Vikingo told Mini Vikingo that this should be the last time he uses his name and steals his moves. Omos hit a second powerbomb!
* Footage aired of the La Hiedra-Lola Vice-Mr. Iguana triangle storyline.
* A video announced that the Viking Raiders are coming! (That might have meant more to me if I hadn’t just seen them get torn apart by Oba Femi.)
2. La Hiedra (w/Las Toxicas) vs. Lola Vice, with special guest referee Mr. Iguana. Graves wondered if Mr. Iguana is a licensed referee; Rey quipped that “he is now!” Both women wore green (to curry favor with Mr. Iguana?). Lola knocked her down with a shoulder tackle and danced. La Hiedra missed a basement dropkick. Lola tied a leg lock around the neck. The commentators pointed out all the green gear. Lola somehow wound up in Mr. Iguana’s arms, which made La Hiedra irate. They traded punches as they rolled on the mat.
La Hiedra hit a buttbump to the face in the corner. Las Toxicas tried to interfere, so Mr. Iguana ejected them at 3:00. La Hiedra tied up Lola on the mat. Lola escaped and applied a sleeper! La Hiedra flipped over and got a nearfall. She argued with Mr. Iguana! They fought to the floor. Lola hit a Thesz Press off the apron to the floor, and she danced again. They got back into the ring at 5:30, and Lola hit some Bailey-style Speedball kicks to the ribs and thighs. She hit a butt splash in the corner and rubbed her rear in La Hiedra’s face, and she got a nearfall.
La Hiedra hit a Flatliner for a nearfall. Rey wondered if Mr. Iguana was keeping a fair count. La Hiedra hit a missile dropkick for a nearfall at 7:30. She grabbed the Iguana stuffy! Mr. Iguana stopped her from using it. Hiedra got a rollup with a handful of trunks; Mr. Iguana saw it and stopped counting. Lola got a rollup with her own handful of trunks, but Mr. Iguana didn’t see that, and he made the three-count!
Lola Vice defeated La Hiedra at 7:58.
* Backstage, Ethan Page and Chelsea Green were watching the action. They grumbled about their next match. Back in the arena, La Hiedra was fuming about her loss as she headed to the back.
* A nice video package was done to reintroduce Santos Escobar. Strangely, there are no subtitles on this video package. (They had them for the Dominik video earlier!) [C3 during ring intros; they haven’t come as fast and as furious as last week, which was just ridiculous.]
4. Apollo Crews vs. Jack Cartwheel vs. La Parka vs. Aerostar in a Rey de Reyes qualifying match. I wasn’t aware that Crews was healthy; Rey said Apollo is hungry and eager to show what he can do. This new La Parka is ridiculously thin; there is just no size to his torso at all. Apollo immediately grabbed Jack and hit a Gorilla Press, tossing him onto an opponent. Apollo hit a dropkick on La Parka, then a big back-body drop on Jack! He hit a Pump Kick on Aerostar. Aerostar and Apollo fought to the floor. Jack hit a dropkick on Aerostar in the ring, and he celebrated by doing some cartwheels.
Jack hit his slingshot elbow drop on La Parka, then a flip dive to the floor on two guys at 2:00. Apollo hit a flip dive onto all three opponents! In the ring, Crews hit a slingshot senton on La Parka, then a delayed vertical suplex. La Parka caught Crews and hit a Michinoku Driver for a nearfall at 3:30. La Parka flipped Jack into a corner, then he dove through the ropes onto Crews, then he hit a frog splash on Cartwheel for a nearfall, but Aerostar made the save. Aerostar hit a springboard flip dive to the floor onto two guys at 5:00, then a handspring-back-elbow on Apollo in the ring.
Aerostar hit a Lungblower to La Parka’s chest. Apollo hit a Samoan Drop. Jack hit a Poison Rana on Apollo, and everyone was down. Wow, this has been sharp, and we got an “Esta lucha!” chant. Jack hit a double neckbreaker. Jack nailed a Sasuke Special to the floor onto Aerostar and La Parka. In the ring, Jack hit a top-rope Phoenix Splash on La Parka, but Apollo made the save. Apollo powerbombed Jack onto La Parka! Aerostar hit a stunner on Crews at 7:30. La Parka hit a top-rope Spanish Fly on Aerostar, then a twisting slam on Aerostar for the pin. That was an absolute blast.
La Parka defeated Aerostar, Jack Cartwheel, and Apollo Crews at 8:13 to qualify for the Rey de Reyes tournament.
Final Thoughts: I loved this episode. Both the opener and main event were sharp, near-flawless lucha action. I loved seeing Cartwheel out there, Elio out there, and TJP. Good to see Apollo in there, looking healthy, and looking like a beast. As an unabashed fan of TJP — he is still one of the top 10 cruiserweights going today — I’m thrilled to see him not just on WWE TV, but actually picking up a win. The middle match was decent enough action, but I can do without the silliness of them fighting over Mr. Iguana. Lola Vice is just incredibly over with these fans.
Last week I was just inundated with commercial breaks, but this was back to what it should be — three quick ones over a show that lasted about 60 minutes.
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