Lucha Underground Episode 27: Ancient Medallions Workrate Report

1. Aerostar vs. Jack Evans

ER: Vampiro informs us that Jack Evans literally worked 385 dates in past years, by working Japan and Italy as well as Mexico. No doubt Jack Evans has access to Hulk Hogan's magical space time continuum machine. I enjoy Jack Evans, even though he does focus so much more on spins and twists than on actual landings or selling or the point of it all. But really this fed has some guys that do flips and flops, and while his actual flips might be more impressive, and flops are often to far up his own ass. There's a hesitance, a disconnect. Moves rarely look like they are causing him to flip, rather, he often looks like he decided to do a bunch of flips after he happened to receive a move. There was some neat stuff here, the Evans 450 off the raised seating railing, Aerostar selling his knee fairly convincingly, but it was pretty jerk-offy. Every person watching thought the flipping piledriver from the top was going to get kicked out of. That it ended the match, was a pleasant surprise.

PAS: I agree with Eric about Evans selling, his fall to the floor was disconnected from the move, it almost looked like one of those awful Bob Backlund bumps. Still a lot of crazy shit, in a match designed for crazy shit. I think Jack will end up being big in this fed. Also this match ended when it should have, that means a lot to me in these spotfests, knowing when to take it home.

2. Pentagon Jr. vs. King Cuerno vs. Cage vs. Killshot vs. Sexy Star vs. The Mack vs. Fenix

ER: Maybe it's not this way, but I've been conditioned from decades of wrestling TV that the big stars get the entrances, and the losers are just waiting in the ring when we come back from commercial. So not only are Pentagon and Cuerno tossed into a random 7 way, but they're waiting in the ring with a scrub like Killshot while Sexy Star of all people gets an entrance. This is for one of Dario's "Aztec medallions" which is really getting a little too close to Legends of the Hidden Temple. Will Pentagon win a trip to Space Camp or an Eastpak backpack? Also, WHY IS KILLSHOT ON TELEVISION SO MUCH!? Who is going to the wall for this guy for him to be getting so much damn screen time!? He is completely dreadful through much of this, with his trademark offense that always ends with him taking a bigger fall than his opponent. You've never seen worse waistlock go behinds during a mat sequence. It was stunning. It looked like an uncle wrestling with a nephew he hadn't seen in a couple years. BUT, I will give him credit for two things later in the match, as even though he landed on his face his wild dive into Cage (who was suplexing Fenix) was a glorious sprawl, and after that he manned into Cuerno's tope. I fully expected him to wuss right out of the way. And he didn't. Sexy Star also existed horribly in this match. Every time things reallllly got going there she was, trying her damndest to muck things up and slow things to a crawl by falling over when she was supposed to land on her feet, making others futz around while she tries to gain her balance before hitting a trademark sloppy rana, and somehow always managing to sell offense less than any other person in a match. So those two are horrible. But 5 out of 7 ain't bad! I mean, if it were a test you'd have a C-, but here you can mostly work around it. I thought Fenix looked GREAT. All his kicks looked cool, his flying was crisp, he leaned into everything, really came out looking like a big deal in every exchange. It's easy to get shuffled over in this type of match, but he managed to stand out. The booking was tough as there were guys in this (Pentagon, Cuerno) who should really be kept separate and not tossed in with a bunch of guys, as Cuerno especially seems generous to a fault and really gives guys tons while kind of disappearing. We will see where the booking goes with this. For all of my complaining, the match was a real blast. There were tons of great spots, tons of neat sequences, and while a couple of duds hogged too much time, there was more than enough great stuff here.

PAS: I thought the guys that are good, were really good in this, Pentagon and Fenix looked awesome, Cuerno got to shine a bit and Cage hit his big spots and looked cool. The Mack was a little subdued for a guy who had been a world beater in his previous outings. Killshot and Sexy Star sucked but this kept moving enough to hide them a bit, and Pentagon trying to kill her does add a craziness to his character. Fenix has had a hell of a 2015, he seemed like an overpushed dude when this fed started, but he has been killing it this year, along with some fun indy stuff he may be growing into his push.

ER: Dario slapping Ivelisse down with some logic was awesome. "I only need my arms to beat their punk asses." "Yes...well, you will also need your legs if you want to retain your trios titles."

ER: So Catrina's plan was for Fenix to bury Muertes...so that he can come back stronger than ever before...I'm probably going to need more of an explanation. I am fairly clueless to the restorative powers of losing casket matches. Although I guess within wrestling Undertaker *did* always come back stronger, so....is this like the Reviving Elbow Logic or something?

3. Hernandez vs. Albert el Patron

ER: I figured something was up when the match went on with just 5 minutes left in the program. My Nitro Main Event red flags were going up. Match really wasn't much until Mundo comes out and launches AdP through Dario's office window. The move got actual heat and it looked awesome. Dario played it unexpectedly, but awesomely, laughing at AdP before walking over to his bar to pour a drink. Awesome segment to end the show. Plus Mundo's excessiveness works better as a smirking asshole than as a giving it all he's got babyface.

PAS: I thought the match was fine before the angle, I wouldn't mind watching those guys hook up for a real match. Angle was pretty awesome, looked super brutal, and I loved Dario in the office. Just basic wrestling booking at its best and it got me really excited to see a Alberto Del Rio v. Johnny Mundo grudge match and I wouldn't have guessed that a month ago.


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