Lucha Underground Episode 29: Fight to the Death Review

1. Aerostar vs. Johnny Mundo

ER: Really liked this; Mundo's fluff looks much better as cocky heel offense then twisty baby offense. His flashy stuff comes off much better as mocking, and here he's always taunting Aerostar with unnecessary indulgent flash. It was kind of surprising how much of a squash this was for Mundo, as Aerostar gets a great little run of wild flying offense in the middle, but seemed like that was it and the rest was all Mundo. Still, again, the Mundo stuff works so much better as a cocky heel it's not funny.

PAS: Probably the most I have enjoyed Mundo so far in this fed. He was a lot nastier, with pretty stiff kicks to the temple and not bad looking bodyshots, for a guy who was the one of the worst strikers in this fed, it was a heck of an improvement. Aerostar seems like he is floundering a bit, I hope they find something cool for him to do, outside of just opening matches with white guys.

ER: This Sexy Star angle is going down a fairly slippery slope, as she's framing her win over Pentagon as something that "if it inspires one girl, one woman to stand up for herself when she's scared, my job will be done." Now...this will make it awkward if Pentagon wins, as depending on how hard they push the abused woman aspect then you may not want to show a evil man beating her down and snapping her arm. But at the same time you really can't have Pentagon lose anymore as he should be more of a vicious monster. Losing once to Star was eyerolling enough, again a couple weeks later would be a travesty. We...shall see.

PAS: It was a pretty good interview, Vampiro is so great at these. Still Sexy Star is one of the worst things in this fed (and I don't think they are going to have her eaten alive) and I am really sick of her monster push. Lets hope Pentagon puts an end to this for a while.

2. Hernandez vs. Prince Puma

ER: Whoa, this may be the first time I've ever seen Hernandez in actual wrestling tights/singlet. The all black with crosses actually looks pretty legit on him, more interesting than a wife beater and jorts. I liked Konnan at ringside for the second week in a row, giving advice to Puma: "Just let him blow up." I thought the match itself was awesome. Hernandez took all of Puma's crazy stuff, and took a lunatic missed tope (into a swinging chair) that just had a nasty ending. They set up some flat out great spots, loved Puma getting launched up onto the raised seating railing and then hitting a phoenix press off of it. I loved all of Puma's snap kicks, all of Hernandez's powerbomb variations ruled, and the 630 is always so damn impressive. Like I know we've all seen it a bunch now, but damn that's a fucking impressive finisher. Loved this match.

PAS: This was great, unless I am forgetting something this has to be Hernandez's career match. He has a series of cool spots, but also took all of Puma's stuff well and that tope into the chair was truly insane. I also loved his cut offs, swiping away at Puma's kick on the outside, cutting him off with the running tackle. They have mostly been running with Puma v. Monsters, which isn't something I have seen Ricochet do much in the indies. He is really good in that role, and this was the best of them. He got a chance to show off his breathtaking spots and still make Hernandez look like a huge challenge. Feels like this show is eventually setting up Puma v. Muertes and that should be incredible.

3. Fenix vs. Mil Muertes

ER: Muertes is back, he's got NEW PANTS, he's got a bunch of soulless henchmen, and he's apparently stronger than ever. Sadly that means he takes about 75% of the match (I was hoping their big rematch would have a little more for Fenix, since he's been on an absolute tear this year) but the match was still plenty awesome. I dug the starting dive that Muertes shrugs off, really establishing his new strength. Of course later in the match he also does so by literally running around while carrying Fenix. I like it. Fenix gets a couple big highspots (the top rope running is just crazy) but this was all about reestablishing the monster that is Muertes. The chairshots, the mauling, all leading to the spectacular finish. Fenix gets sent to hell through the roof, and we get the great reveal when the henchmen break down the door and Fenix is lying there crumpled in a heap. Did they move crash pads in the time they were out of camera view behind the door? Who gives a damn! Spot looked great.

PAS: I didn't mind that the match was more one sided, one of the problems with some of the matches in this fed (and wrestling in general) is that they are all 51/49 matches, there are other stories wrestling can tell. This was a pretty great example of a monster v. an underdog match. Mil Muertes was a monster coming back from the dead, he shouldn't be working 50/50 with a highflyer. Fenix did have his moments and they were pretty cool, that double jump moonsault was like TAKA's old school dive on speed, and the double stomp off the railing was a legit finishing blow. Ending was pretty incredible, the running up the stairs may have been more impressive then all of the cool dives, and the powerbomb through the roof was a nice stunt spot that didn't obviously look like a crash pad jump (like all of the Shane McMahon bumps.)

ER: Don't recall ever saying the match needed to be worked 50/50 style. I can't think of a time I've ever requested a match be worked 50/50. Literally all I said was that "I was hoping their big rematch would have a little more from Fenix", which hardly seems like somebody who's dying for some 50/50 mirror spots. We cannot - as two men who through writing recommend to faceless readers what wrestling to watch or not watch - we cannot just go make up arguments as we please.

PAS: I am not sure why they ran two structurally similar flyer v. monster matches back to back, seems like you could have had one of these be next weeks main event. Still both were pretty great matches and this was the best in-ring episode this promotion has done.

ER: Annnnnd WOW I did not see the show ending with a guy getting his head and face eaten off by an unseen monster. This is making some pretty lofty shoes for the wrestler who portrays Matanza: A giant who eats human faces. But it's also a hopeful story for all of us. Because now we KNOW that it's possible that if Dario is unpleased, he can have guys eaten. That means that in our hearts we know that there's always a chance Killshot will have his head chewed off for being awful. It's a wonderful thought to have.

PAS: I think wrestling is always better when it is connected somehow to the rules of the real world. I never liked the over the top Undertaker super powers stuff, and hate shit like the Chikara slow motion wrestling. The presentation of this Matanza stuff is pretty cool, and I fully endorse no more Bael, but I am not sure how this fits narratively with pro-wrestling.

ER: I understand the positives of the rules of the real world applying, but up above you spoke positively of Muertes as "a monster coming back from the dead" to justify him running through Fenix, and to me a monster coming back from the dead isn't too far removed from a monster eating the faces of the weakest link in a trios team (your face is next, Killshot!)


LUCHA UNDERGROUND MASTER LIST

Read more!

New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV Episode 15 Review (feat. more Matt D/Young Bucks feud data)

1. The Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) vs. The Young Bucks (6/21/14)

I really dug this! Bucks worked a super effective heel RnR style and other than my complaint of them  never using the springboard tombstone as a finish, thought this was one of their best performances. They bumped around (especially Matt), their tandem offense looked good, and Matt threw some nice mule kicks, flashier spots (the tornado DDT to Shelley after Matt floated through to the apron was slick). This actually had the best usage of their double tombstone, as it clearly looked like it would have finished the match had Shelley not burst in with a great save. The build to the hot tag was really good, and the heel schtick came off more legit here than it does on the indies, for reasons I can't easily explain. Possibly because they toned down the more cornball antics (which I actually like from them in certain situations) and worked with a slight sinister edge. Crowd was hot, work was good, match was time well spent.

FOUR SAMPLE MATT D YOUNG BUCKS MOOD CHECKER:

We now have four Bucks samples since I....well flat out forgot about this gimmick. Matt still seemed a little bull-headed about the Bucks last we checked in, but maybe there was a hint of retreat. I thought they looked good here and I love the vibe of a heel RnR who work less cute, more dickhead. I'm giving this one easily to the YB.

MATT: 1
BUCKS: 3

2. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano (6/21/14)

I dug this one too! Suzuki and Iizuka are a fun tag team, and seeing Suzuki tangle with Saku was a kick. The end run had Saku going for all sorts of subs and every time it looked like Suzuki was about to tap. The triangle was locked in and the rolling Americana looked great, and they kept getting broken up. Both teams had some nice convincing saves, and I love a great save in a tag match. Loved Yano rolling up Suzuki in a beautiful high cradle, really thought he was pinning Suzuki, so didn't notice Iizuka creeping up to pull the ref. I love Suzuki being the one guy in wrestling who understands running physics, so knows how to actually just stop running when Irish whipped. I love the sequences that followed both those physics spots. Really fun match.

3. Kota Ibushi vs. Ricochet (6/21/14)

Awesome little spotfest that would have been viewed as an instant classic on Lucha Underground, but kinda got a bit ignored on this show. We don't get tons of selling, but when the spots are this fun who cares. Tons of neat springboard spots, with Ricochet hitting a snug dropkick and later a massive shooting star. Ric landing on his feet and casually strutting away was one of several holy shit rewind that! moments, one-upping his earlier flip dive over the ringpost that spilled him way into the crowd. Ric's kicks all looked nice and Ibushi's weren't too shabby, all the "missed" stuff looked good, and there was a bunch of really terrific strike blocking. It always looks cool when you chop attach a guy's clothesline or something, and both guys got cool strike blocks here. Ricochet front kicking an Ibushi clothesline, both men tossing out blocks during fast strike exchanges. They all ruled. This was just satisfying as fuck moves based wrestling.

This was a real satisfying episode of NJ TV. Tons of variety, episode went by in a flash.

Read more!