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Triplemanía IV-A was a major ''
lucha libre ''Lucha libre'' (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...
'', or
professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
, show promoted by the Mexican-based
AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...
and was the first of three Triplemanía IV shows held in 1996. The event took place on May 11, 1996 at the
International Amphitheatre The International Amphitheatre was an indoor arena located in Chicago, Illinois, that opened in 1934 and was demolished in 1999. It was located on the west side of Halsted Street, at 42nd Street, on the city's south side, in the Canaryville neig ...
in
Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and marked the first time AAA held a Triplemanía outside of Mexico and one of the few times Triplemanía was an international event. The annual Triplemanía show(s) are AAA's biggest show of the year, serving as the culmination of major storylines and feature wrestlers from all over the world competing in what has been described as AAA's version of WrestleMania or their
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
event. The main event featured a
Lumberjack match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...
between the team of
Konnan Charles Ashenoff (born Carlos Santiago Espada Moises; January 6, 1964),''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'', Dave Meltzer, ed., May 10, 2010, issue.Sims, Steve"Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame/Founded by Dave Meltzer - Konnan". Accessed August 1, 2016. On ...
and
Perro Aguayo Pedro Aguayo Damián (18 January 1946 — 3 July 2019) better known as "(El) Perro Aguayo" (Aguayo the dog) and El Can de Nochistlan (The Nochistlan Dog) was a Mexican wrestler through the 1970s to the 1990s. Aguayo was the first person crown ...
fighting Pierroth, Jr. and
Cien Caras J. Carmelo Reyes González (born May 11, 1949) is a Mexican retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Cien Caras ("Hundred Faces"). He is best known for his appearances with the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Personal life ...
. The under card featured a guest appearance by Japanese wrestler
Último Dragón , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to Dragon Gate (wrestling), Dragon Gate, where he acts as an in-ring talent, trainer and senior advisor. In addition to having trained in Japan, ...
, who had begun a tour of Mexico weeks before the show, teaming up with
Octagón Octagón (born March 27, 1961) is a Mexican luchador enmascarado (masked professional wrestler). He is best known for working for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), having worked for the company since it was founded in 1992. In 2011 ...
and
La Parka Adolfo Margarito Tapia Ibarra (November 14, 1965) is a Mexican ''luchador enmascarado'' ( masked professional wrestler), who currently performs as L. A. Park for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) in Mexico and various other independent promotio ...
to lose to
Cibernético Octavio López Arreola (born April 12, 1975), better known by the ring name Cibernético, is a Mexican professional wrestler, currently working for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). During AAA's short partnership with the World Wrestling Federat ...
, El Picudo and
Mosco de la Merced Mosco de la Merced (Juan Valdez Valentino) (June 26, 1964 – August 19, 2024) was a Mexican '' Luchador'' or professional wrestler, best known for his time in Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) where he was a part of ''Los Vipers'' f ...
in a traditional best two-out-of-three falls six-man "Lucha Libre rules" tag team match. The show only featured two additional matches, making it the Triplemanía show with the fewest matches.


Production


Background

Just like in 1994 and 1995
AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...
planned out three Triplemanía events in 1994, the first slated for May 11, the Second Triplemanía IV show was booked for June 15 in Orizaba, Veracruz and the Third Triplemanía IV on July 15 in Madero. AAA promoter
Antonio Peña Antonio Hipolito Peña Herrada (June 13, 1951 – October 5, 2006) was a Mexican professional wrestling promoter who founded the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion in 1992. Peña's promotion reached its height of popularit ...
wanted to expand AAA into the United States, building on the success they had so far in both
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
up to that point and the first Triplemanía IV would take place in Chicago at the
International Amphitheatre The International Amphitheatre was an indoor arena located in Chicago, Illinois, that opened in 1934 and was demolished in 1999. It was located on the west side of Halsted Street, at 42nd Street, on the city's south side, in the Canaryville neig ...
, a building with a capacity to hold 9,000 people for most events. The show in Chicago was filled with a number of behind the scenes problems that plagued the event. AAA had chosen exactly the same date for the show as the wedding of Óscar Gutiérrez, one of AAA"s top stars known under the
ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...
Rey Misterio Jr., which meant that both he and his
best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usuall ...
Dionicio Castellanos, better known as
Psicosis Dionicio Castellanos Torres (born May 19, 1971) is a Mexican Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Psicosis (sometimes Anglicisation, Anglicised as Psychosis) and Nicho el Millonario. He is best known for ...
would not be able to work the show. Despite the two not being able to work the show AAA still promoted them for the show. AAA was also adverting that
Eddie Guerrero Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005) was an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures in WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and World Championship Wrestling ...
would appear on the show, but Guerrero was working in Japan at the time and was never contacted to be part of the show. The local event promoters in Chicago that AAA had partnered with did not do a very good job of promoting the event either, leading to only 2,676 people showing up for the event, filing less than one-third of all the seats in the Amphitheater. The attendance was the second lowest in the history of Triplemanía, with only Triplemanía VIII having a lower attendance number, 1,700 but took place in the much smaller
Korakuen Hall is a sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with a capacity of approximat ...
with a capacity of around 2,000. The show was reportedly hit with a number of "no shows" beyond Rey Misterio Jr. and Psicosis, which caused AAA to have to rebook the entire event on the night of the show. In total only 20 wrestlers worked the show, the lowest number of wrestlers to ever appear at a Triplemanía show at that point. It is not clear if the show was taped for later broadcast or not, but no footage from this particular show has ever been shown, making it the only Triplemanía not to be accessible to anyone outside of the arena.


Storylines

The Triplemanía show featured four
professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...
with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either heels (referred to as ''rudos'' in Mexico, those that portray the "bad guys") or
faces The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect the ...
(''técnicos'' in Mexico, the "good guy" characters) as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.


Reception

In a 2000 article about the history of the Triplemanía up until that point
Canadian Online Explorer Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' in ...
wrestling writer John Molinario described the show as "the worst show in TripleMania history". He also stated that the overall booking of the Triplemanía IV shows was "uninspired and repetitive. Pena recycled old angles that no longer registered with his audience." Wrestling commentator and ''lucha libre'' expert
Mike Tenay Michael William Tenay (born March 1, 1955) is an American podcast presenter and retired professional wrestling play-by-play announcer known for his time as an announcer for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. T ...
noted that "Chicago was a joke, a real disaster" and that " Pena's poor promotional background and track record finally haunted him" stating that at this point AAA no longer had the big name stars to overcome the lack of advertising from AAA's side.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Wee ...
editor
Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist, author, and historian who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter' ...
noted that by 1996 the Triplemanía show became "just a name for a bigger than average house show rather than the first year where it was like a WrestleMania."


Results


References


External links


Triplemanía IV at LuchaLibreAAA.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Triplemania 04a 1996 in professional wrestling Triplemanía 1996 in Chicago Events at International Amphitheatre Professional wrestling shows in the Chicago metropolitan area May 1996 in the United States es:Triplemanía IV