Last month, at the Gimnasio Municipal Josue Neri Santos in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, AAA presented Guerra De Titanes 2023. It was the twenty-fourth installment of the big event and the first to be held in Juarez, a particularly hot city for the promotion. Sam Adonis, who is the younger brother of WWE’s Corey Graves and has become a top heel in Mexico, participated in two matches on the show. The first was as the cornerman for QT Marshall, who was defending his AAA Latin American Championship against Octagon Jr., and the second was in a tag team match alongside El Texano Jr. against Mecha Wolf and Adonis’ long-time nemesis, Psycho Clown.
Haus of Wrestling has learned that the show did not go as planned due to the amount of heat Adonis and a few others generated during the show. The escalation of events began when Adonis was allowed to cut a promo before Marshall’s title defense against Octagon Jr. He then proceeded to try to help Marshall cheat to win his match, but they were unsuccessful. Marshall retreated to the back after losing to Octagon Jr., but Adonis, actively provoking the fans, stuck around for his tag match.
A source explained that the tag team match had to be changed and was supposed to feature Pagano tagging with Psycho Clown, not Mecha Wolf. Pagano, described to us as a fan favorite and a local hero engaged in politics, was seated ringside for the tag match, but his arm was in a sling. We are told the injury is legitimate and that he recently had surgery. He is expected to be out for around two months. His mother, a long-time fixture at lucha events, was also seated ringside.
Had the match gone as planned, it would have featured the continuation of two prominent AAA feuds: Adonis and Psycho Clown, along with Texano Jr. and Pagano. A source described the rivalry between Texano and Pagano as “strong.” Once Texano aligned with Adonis in the ring and began taunting an injured Pagano, the temperature in the room rose.
During the match, Psycho Clown hit Adonis with a Spanish Fly, one of his signature moves, and looked to have the win put away. That’s when a masked wrestler appeared, pulled the referee out of the ring, and broke up the pinfall, causing the crowd to become more upset. The masked wrestler was joined by two other masked wrestlers in the ring, who helped Adonis and Texano beat down Psycho Clown, Mecha Wolf, and the referee. The masked wrestlers revealed themselves as local babyfaces Samuray VIP, Steven Juarez, and another wrestler we did not get the name of, who turned heel.
This was when an injured Pagano charged the ring, trying to help even the odds, and things took a turn. Pagano was quickly taken down by Adonis, Texano, and the three now unmasked men. Another referee was sent to the ring to break things up but was beaten and thrown out, extending the attack. A third referee, in street clothes, darted to the ring but was met with the same fate; however, we are told some in the arena thought the referee was actually a fan trying to get in on the action and help Pagano.
At this point, it was described to us that the fans began throwing anything they could at the ring, including full bottles of beer and Pepsi, attempting to help Pagano. As the NWO-style scene began to unfurl, Adonis and the other heels stayed in character and continued to taunt the fans in attendance, likely taking things in the direction they went. One source we spoke with said Pagano’s mother began to get very excited and was not behaving as if what was going on in the ring was supposed to be going on. Her real-life concern for her son only added to the chaos of the situation and heightened tensions.
Fans were said to be starting fights among themselves after hitting each other with objects that were being thrown during the melee. Children were crying, and the entire arena was quickly covered in beer. The heels continued to play to the crowd throughout, but at some point, the barricades began to move, and a producer instructed them it was time to evacuate the ring. By the time the situation peaked, Adonis had been in front of the live crowd for about forty-five minutes.
The wrestlers were advised to get into a single-file line and were surrounded by around thirty security team members. We were told the security team differed from the police, who were busy with crowd control. Security then threw a big tarp over all the wrestlers to protect them from flying objects and shuffled them through the mayhem. Once to the back, we are told they were locked behind a riot door, a common feature in many of Mexico’s older arenas.
There was still one more match to go, and the decision was made to wait, calm the crowd and finish the show. The main event featured El Hijo del Vikingo successfully defending his AAA Mega Championship against Dralistico. One source we spoke with said those locked behind the riot door joked that the two would be performing in a very wet arena and to ensure the ring ropes were dry, considering the amount of liquids that had just been thrown.