Triplemania 34, the premier event for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and better known as AAA, will take place in the United States for the first time. Night 1 will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Friday and will showcase some of the best pro wrestling the sport has to offer. Night 2 will take place at Arena CDMX in Mexico City on Sunday.
The spectacle will showcase the talents who regularly perform on AAA programming on Saturday nights with a handful of familiar stars mixed in.
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"So, I think most people would be familiar with WrestleMania. Most people, if you're not a pro wrestling fan, you're familiar with that brand. It's been massive for over 40 years. This is about to be the 34th installation of Triplemania, and Lucha Libre in Mexico is yes professional wrestling as we know it in America or around the globe, but it's very different. It's a unique cultural touchstone," he said. "There are bright colors and incredible action, and there's a lot of stuff that you will see on Raw or SmackDown including superstars who are heavily influenced by the Lucha Libre style. It's not exactly like you see on WWE, but it's the same.
"And I've used the analogy quite a few times lately because I'm a big baseball fan. If you're a Major League Baseball fan, WWE is Major League Baseball. AAA, to me, is sort of, and I mean this in the best way possible, like the Savannah Bananas. It's still baseball. All of the things that you know and love about baseball still take place. It's just through a very different lens. It's about these insane characters and costumes and pageantry and the action. You have a lot of people who can't sit through a nine-inning major league game who will spend their last dollar on tickets to go see the Savannah Bananas because it's an event. It's a happening. That's kind of how Lucha has always been in Mexico. And now this is an opportunity to bring that to an American audience in Las Vegas. And a lot of people, Savannah Bananas aren't for them, but they still like baseball. You get both. It's kind of the closest way I can explain it without betraying everything. "
Graves said fans want to be a part of the action even though they may not fully understand the long history of Lucha Libre in Mexico.
Essentially, it’s all about being there.
"And I wouldn't expect a lot of our audience to — that's sort of my job, to sort of bring everybody along and explain to them why these characters are important and what they mean and why it is different, and it's important to me to maintain some difference. You don't want to lose that flavor. You don't want to lose the essence of Lucha Libre. We can clean up the production. We can sprinkle in a few WWE superstars here and there. But at its core, it's still Lucha Libre and TripleMania is AAA's WrestleMania. "
It’s been a busy 18 months for WWE and Las Vegas.
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"This is just me speaking off the top of my head. I can't say this with any sort of authority, but I would assume it shows the higher-ups, the people who make these decisions as to where to book the shows, when to book them, what to pour our resources into, specifically the fact that we were originally booked to be at the Luxor Hotel, and within days we were forced to move to the MGM Grand Garden Arena for capacity purposes because there was such a demand," Graves told OutKick Dropkick.
"Now, obviously, there's a heavy Latino population around Las Vegas but hopefully it's showing that English-speaking audiences as well are learning or curious about this new product. It's available for free every Saturday night on YouTube if you're in the United States or around most of the globe, obviously, we have television in Mexico and into Central and South America, but no matter where you are, Saturday nights 10 o’clock, you can tune into this and see what it's about. And it's such a visual product. And I say that almost discrediting myself because my job is to explain why it's important, but you can put it on mute and you can just watch and be captivated by the masks and the costumes and there's so much pageantry in Lucha. It's really, not that there isn't in WWE, it's just different. It's a completely different animal. "
Night 1’s card features a bout between – the AAA general manager – and Omos. If Omos wins the match, he will be welcomed back to AAA. But if he loses, he will be forever shunned. Dominik Mysterio is set to be in Omos’ corner, while El Grande Americano will be behind Rey Mysterio.
Dominik Mysterio and El Grande Americano are pulling double duty to a point. The two will be featured on the Night 2 card as Mysterio defends the AAA Mega Championship against El Grande Americano.
You can see the rest of the match cards below.
- Dave the Clown, Murder Clown and Panic Clown (c) vs. Daga, Angel and Berto for the AAA World Trios Championship.
- Roxanne Perez vs. Faby Apache vs. Nattie vs. La Hiedra for a shot at the AAA Reina De Reinas Championship.
- Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde vs. Rayo Americano and Bravo Americano vs. Kento and Nobu San vs. Nathan Frazer and Axiom in an elimination tag team match.
- La Parka (c) vs. Laredo Kid vs. Mr. Iguana for the AAA Latin American Championship.
- Adelicious, Mini Vikingo and Mascarita Sagrada vs. Lady Shani, Jack Cartwheel and Mini Abismo Negro in a mixed Relevos Australianos match.
Night 2
- Rey Fenix or Ricky Saints (c) vs. Jack Cartwheel vs. Mini Vikingo vs. Nathan Frazer for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship.
- Flammer (c) vs. La Catalina for the AAA Reinas de Reinas Championship.
- 15-man Copa Bardahl.
- Erik and Ivar (c) vs. Damian Priest and R-Truth vs. TBA for the AAA World Tag Team Championship.
- El Carnicero vs. Psycho Clown in a Mexican Street Fight.
Both nights of Triplemania 34 can be seen on YouTube.