Rey Fenix Holds Off Ricky Saints’ Mask Attack to Keep AAA Cruiserweight Title on SmackDown

Rey Fenix successfully retained the AAA Cruiserweight Championship on the October 30 episode of WWE SmackDown after a violent, back-and-forth encounter with Ricky Saints in which Saints repeatedly targeted the champion’s mask.

The third meeting between Fenix and Saints picked up where their previous encounter — which ended in disqualification — left off. Early in the match Fenix used his speed and aerial offense, hitting a suicide dive and several high-impact maneuvers. Saints shifted momentum by sending Fenix over the announce table during the commercial break.

When the broadcast returned, Saints escalated the confrontation by grabbing at Fenix’s mask in an apparent attempt to unbalance the champion. Saints later landed a superplex and an avalanche Jackhammer that produced a near fall. Fenix countered with a spinning kick, a double-underhook buster and a standing moonsault, but Saints repeatedly kicked out and answered with counters of his own.

Saints thwarted a Rolling Cutter with a Revolution DDT and followed with a Death Valley Driver; he also hit a powerbomb that still fell short of a three-count. Fenix rallied with consecutive Rolling Cutters and escaped another Revolution DDT attempt before striking with a Shotei and finishing the match with the Mexican Muscle Buster for the pinfall.

WWE posted clips of the match to X (formerly Twitter) highlighting Fenix’s offense and the finish. With the victory, Fenix remains the AAA Cruiserweight Champion and Saints is left without the title after coming close multiple times during the bout.

The rivalry between the two now carries additional heat after Saints’ attack on a defining element of Fenix’s presentation. For the moment, the champion keeps both his mask and the championship; the feud appears likely to continue.