Lucha Underground Episode 9: Aztec Warfare Workrate Report

PAS: One match show with no backstage vignettes which does take away a bit from the camp part of the show I enjoy so much. Aztec Warfare was a Royal Rumble with pinfalls and submissions which allowed guys to do dives, and we got a bunch of them. Lots of crazy flips, but again my favorite was Cuerno's bullet tope which was a missile. They did a nice job of weaving a bunch of stories through the match, the Chavo v. Sexy Star stuff, finishing how they started with Puma and Mundo. It had a very Pat Patterson rumble feel to it. Loved Ryck obliteration Sagrada, they really should have done a stretcher job. I also liked how they protected Ryck and Muertes by having them take multiple kill shots before going down.  Just solid stuff, which makes me intrigued about where they go forward

ER: "Aztec Warfare continues to change wrestling as we know it," said Matt Striker, 4 minutes into what was introduced as "the most brutal match in existence". But it's a Royal Rumble with pinfalls instead of over the top rope eliminations. They've had a couple of pretty violent matches in their short history so the build up and hype for what turned out to be a battle royal was kind of perplexing. I don't love the idea of one match taking up a whole episode, but I thought overall it worked as a large collection of spots. I did get majorly burnt out on Mundo by the end of this, especially his ultra athletic bumping. Most of the times his bumps feel really disconnected from the actual moves he is taking. It's like he takes the move, and there's a split second pause before he just does a flip. The worst was taking a nice rana from Sexy Star, he just stood afterwards and then somersaulted on his own. There were many moments of stuff just like this. A whole episode of Mundo is too mucho. But, he did blast Katrina with a crazy kick while she was on the apron, that might have gotten the biggest cheer of the entire match. Kind of came out of nowhere and made a big sound, great spot. Also felt like this match played like an In Memoriam to the superkick. Like this is the last time they were using it, so everybody was required to do a few of them. You could probably put together a pretty compelling tribute video of all the superkicks in this match, complete with Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel" playing over it. There had to be 30+ superkicks in this. It also drove me completely bonkers how Striker pronounced Blue Demon Jr. BLOO-dee-MOAN! BLOO-dee-MOAN. Just say Demon. Say fucking Demon. His emphasis is so fucking bizarre, it's like weird old movies from the 30s where they have foreign actors reading English words they don't know. I do love Vampiro pointing out stupid match strategy like breaking up pinfalls, and giving a logical reason for guys laying around all the time.

Still there was plenty about the match to like. I'd have to be a negative jerk to feel my time watching this was wasted. Almost all of the guys in here got fun moments to shine. I had complained about everybody working even with Sagrada in the last match, and this was like a direct response to me as Fenix dropkicks the shit out of him and Ryck smother clotheslines him to get him out of there quick. Chavo gets to come in and actually work the match logically, by blasting guys with chairs and eliminating them. Although it kind of made everybody else seem pretty stupid to not ever use a chair. I really dug Sexy Star's spots on Chavo, dug Mundo/Puma's 450s to vanquish a distracted and enraged Muertes, Cuerno has the best tope in lucha presently, even dug stuff like Mr. Cisco's chubby full contact sentons. Overall it felt like it was the end of a chapter, with some new stories beginning and others working towards more of a blow off, which makes for satisfying episodic television.


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Lucha Underground Episode 7: The Top of the Ladder Workrate Report

Danny Trejo is in the house for this episode!

1. Super Fly vs. King Cuerno

PAS: Super Fly shows up on Lucha Underground with a mask four days after losing it in Mexico, they should probably coordinate that stuff better. This was a fun match, with Super Fly being good in the role of enhancement guy. His Space Flying Tiger Drop was pretty great looking. Pretty much just a set up for more Cuerno v Drago, but I liked it

ER: This was a fun extended Cuerno showcase. Cuerno has nice stomps, which is not really something anybody has anymore. When you think about it the stomp used to be a pretty common thing for a bad guy to do, but you just don't see many guys using them anymore. At least the guys doing them are apparently doing them with pride. So I didn't have much problems with it in the past episodes, but pretty sure we can officially get rid of the vertical hanging camera. I don't think it adds to any shots, and often it takes away from them. Here Cuerno took what looked like a cool bump to the floor but you couldn't really get a feel for the gravity of it with the overhead shot.

PAS: Pentagon Jr. vignette was fun. I don't really get violent Ninja warrior from what he is doing so far, but I liked the Kung Fu B-Movie feel.

ER: Oh man the zoom in on the victim when Pentagon Jr. breaks the poor guy's arm during a sparring session was hilarious. He's like a villain in Bloodsport or something. Also laughed at the dual superman punch by two Aztec warriors on a sunset hillside.

2. Fenix v. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

ER: Did not love this, although it actually had a bunch of individual moments that I liked. I loved the spot where Fenix was taking Chavo apart with leg kicks and Chavo levels him with a clothesline. Fenix took the clothesline great. Loved Chavo twisting his boot on Fenix's mask. Loved Pentagon's interference. But it was very disjointed and at the end felt like a bunch of things happened, but it didn't add up to a lot. We've talked about how Fenix has trouble stringing his big spots together as he doesn't seem to know what to do between the big moments. We had the return of the overhead camera shot as I had no idea what happened with a miscommunication spot, as both men ran towards the ropes but Chavo ended up falling through them to the floor or…something. It looked clunky from that camera, and it's possible it was a bad looking spot that looked worse than clunky when shot normally, so they opted for the overheard traffic cam, but either way I'm no fan. Also did not like the Chavo reversal spot on Fenix's big double knees from the top. Almost every reversal spot I've ever seen from a top rope move looks bad, as the reverser ends up taking the full brunt of the move, then just rolls through to do his thing as if the move didn't happen. Here Chavo takes the double knees, then just grabs a half crab. It "looked cool" but it also made the double knees (which I thought was a pretty great spot) look like garbage. I get those moves being risky, but the risk shouldn't be "ah HA! You hit the move flush but *I* just chose to ignore that even happened!!"

PAS: I really enjoyed Chavo in this, as I think he is pretty good in the rudo base roll against high flyers, and I liked the double knee reversal thing, I buy if you know something is coming you can brace yourself and prep a roll through. Fenix is sort of a mess though, he has some cool highspots, but they aren't any cooler then Drago or Puma and he looks very lost in between them, and that is with a vet like Chavo and editing, he is obviously being built for bigger things in this fed and I am not sure he can live up to them

ER: We get a Cage vignette which is really nothing more than a throwaway UFC pre-fight video, with him flipping tractor tires and doing bicep curls. Brian Cage is a huge gassed up guy who 18 months ago was about 50 pounds of muscle lighter. This is an extreme case of wrestling body dysmorphia. He still has some surprising agility that occasionally breaks through the layers of mass, kind of like early super gassed era Scott Steiner. You know, how most of the time he looked like a guy who couldn't properly put his arms down at his sides, but would from time to time break out some impressive things the way he used to. I've seen Cage look good in matches, and I've seen matches hurt by his newfound physique. Curious to see how he does here.

PAS: I had kind of assumed the key was to unlock the Brian Cage, but him in this vignette seem to suggest that he is going to be used in a different way. With Cage and Big Ryck it is weird that this lucha fed has more roid monsters then the WWE.

3. Big Ryck vs. Johnny Mundo vs. Prince Puma ($100,000 LADDER MATCH)

ER: Ladder match is starting at just the 30 minute mark of the episode which seems kind crazy, but intriguing (but made more sense when the show went off the air at the 54 minute mark). But by the end of this match I was still just kinda bored. Everything I loved about the street fight a couple weeks back was lacking here. All of the run ins and garbage spots in that match felt very organic, and here the run ins operated much more on super obvious spot set up. All the garbage spots were integrated really seamlessly into the street fight, and here the set up for all of them was clunky and obvious. Plenty of great individual moments, such as Puma's cool dive through the ladder, and an ESPECIALLY  awesome Steamboat Bill  spot with Puma and a falling ladder. Never seen that before outside the magic of the cinemaplex and I fell in love all over again. Puma and Morrison both pulled out some pretty crazy stuff, with Puma breaking a ladder in half by falling through it on the way to the floor, Morrison making a slingshot spot look brutal by going in nose first. But I thought almost all of the run in moments were bad, as opposed to them being a strength like they were in the street fight. The match still had its strengths, and I really liked Big Ryck in this. While the set up for the crazy spots was at times bad, the crazy spots themselves all looked great. The worst thing about the match was the run in. Phil told me afterwards on the phone that it was B-Boy, who I have seen live a bunch (jeeeeez dating back over a DECADE!) and when he ran in Striker was all "who is this some sort of fan or something? Jesus get security out here" and I was rolling my eyes because it sounded like "That's Lance Storm!! HEEEE doesn't work HEREEEE!!!" but then all of this mystery man's strikes looked insanely bad , like he was fake fighting a little kid with progeria and had to be extra gentle, and then he took the worst ever bump off a Mundo superkick, kinda pausing for a goofy "Did I do that!?" look at a camera that wasn't there before falling the wrong direction. After all that I thought "oh shit that HAD to have been a fan, Striker was right!! because clearly a guy who had actual wrestling training wouldn't have looked that bad." But again, Phil told me it was B-Boy. Now, in fairness to B-Boy, maybe he's a method wrestler and really got into his character and thought "okay, you have to look bad. Bad enough for the announcer to confuse you for some lowlife fan. Wear cargo shorts. Pooch out your belly a bit. Throw punches that wouldn't break wet paper. Look like a man who has not had formal training in any sort of occupation, least of all pro wrestling. BEEE that possible fan, running in, confusing announcers." So that's a possibility.

PAS: I liked this but didn't love it. Mundo has looked pretty bad brawling during this entire show, and it was rough when he had to exchange punches. I also thought this went long, I like that give main events this long without commercial breaks, but this dragged a bit. Also kind of silly to have a surprise run in, have it be a guy nowone knows, in a match where there are already lots of non-surprise run ins. Did love all of the big bumps, which were totally crazy, that Puma fall into the ladder was bonkers, and Ryck was great, the set up for the nut shot where he tries to climb two ladders ruled. I always like Big Show in ladder matches and Ryck played a similar roll of a monster totally out of his element, but still dangerous. Nice bump by Cuerto in the post match angle too, that guy is just awesome.


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Lucha Underground Episode 4: Thrill of the Hunt Workrate Report

1. Sexy Star vs. Ivelisse

ER: Based on Star's pre-match promo it sure looks like they're setting up a huge Chavo/Star blowoff which is one of the things I'd be least interested in seeing. She even said she'd be getting vengeance for what Chavo did to Blue Demon and Mascarita Sagrada. Really, the woman who lost to M-Dogg 20 in 90 seconds is going to be the angel of vengeance, taking down Chavo? Hmmm. Vampiro and Striker call this match "anti-diva" which is a bit rich as I think the divas division is arguably the most talented it's ever been right now. I don't think Lucha Underground should be openly inviting comparison to WWE. Just do your own thing, people will notice if it's better or not. Match itself was weird, as they were doing stuff, but it didn't really move me at all. I really liked some of Ivelisse's stuff here. I haven't seen much of her since she was on Tough Enough, but she added a lot of nice little ticks to the match, like rubbing out her chin after taking a drop toe hold. Sexy Star has not done a ton for me so far in these episodes. The crowd seems into her so that's good, but I wonder if at some point they start thinking they backed the wrong horse.

PAS: Not much of a match, parts looked ok, but other stuff looked like pre-Finlay training WWE women's matches. I really like what they have done with rudo Chavo so far, and an inter-gender feud with Sexy Star is one of the least interesting directions it can go in. I am with Eric on the stupidity of the "anti-diva" comment, especially because it was followed with Striker saying something like "don't expect to see a lot of armdrags and takedowns here, this is going to be a lot of slapping and hair pulling".

2. Pentagon Jr. v. Fenix

PAS: Mixed bag match, this is similar to the three way match, as we just had a bunch of crazy spots one after another. I would have liked to see Pentagon try to slow this down a bit in parts, a little more brawling or grappling would have made the bigger spots look bigger. It need some valleys to go along with the peaks. I also thought some of the kicks looked bad, either connect better or do a different move. Although I did think Fenix's jumping enzigiri was pretty cool.

ER: Pretty much what I imagine most people expected to see: A whole bunch of stuff that looked cool, and a whole bunch of stuff in between that awkwardly got them into position to do stuff that looked cool. The cool stuff did look really cool though. That counts for a helluva lot in this type of match. I wouldn't really care about 15 minutes of this, but 5 minutes of it is plenty entertaining and again, the exact type of thing they should be putting on TV every week to set themselves apart. I agree with Phil that it would have been nice to see Pentagon try and be a rudo more, especially considering his rudo pre-match promo. He does the promo, but really didn't work any differently than Fenix except that he was a base more often. Again though, these guys do a lot of cool stuff, and it was supposed to be 5 minutes of cool stuff. Points.

PAS: Thought the King Cuerno vignette was pretty great. They are just killing it with the intro vignette's, really the thing about the promotion which is just head and shoulders over anywhere else in wrestling. I hope we get one for Fenix, Drago, and Pentagon Jr. at some point, as their lack of character development is really lacking compared to everyone else in this fed at this point. Not a ton Dario this week although I did like his interaction with creepy Drago here, that tongue is awesome looking.

ER: Gotta second the love for both the vignettes which really are on just another level, and Drago's look. When I found out they were using the generic name "Drago" instead of the awesome name of Gato Everready I was against it, but the guy looks cool. He looks like a Guillermo Del Toro creation, which is pretty perfect for the El Rey network.

3. King Cuerno v. Drago

PAS: My favorite match on the show, Cuerno was doing what I wanted Pentagon to, slowing down the match so Drago's big moments had more of an impact. I also thought his stuff was pretty violent, and the tope was awesome looking. Liked the finish with the arrogant hunter getting caught posing, that flippy cradle Drago used ruled. A little short, but I hope this feud continues.

ER: Cuerno is Hijo Del Fantasma, who I haven't seen since he left CMLL. This match was really fun and it left me wanting much more from each guy. Cuerno had some cool stuff including leveling Drago with a big fast tope. His strikes looked really nice too which was a nice change from the previous match. I actually liked how Cuerno didn't bump for an early fast headscissors, just staying on his feet and shaking his head. Don't need it as a regular spot but I thought it was a unique way to establish the size advantage. Drago has dizzying speed and it was really on display here. Loved all his roll throughs on things and his big bumps. Loved how he stood his ground before getting blasted by that tope. He wasn't afraid to lean into any of Cuerno's strikes. Both guys came off really well here.

4. Johnny Mundo v. Big Ryck

PAS: I didn't like how Striker came out and called Ryck Suge Knight, you didn't see Gorilla Monsoon talk about how Razor Ramon was "just like Scarface", an homage is an homage only as long as it unstated. I thought Mundo did a fine job bumping around a big guy, but Ryck was worse then I remember him back in WWECW, some stuff looked stiff, but other stuff looked pretty loose. He looks awesome but they probably would have been better off with Uhaa Nation or No Limit Soldiers 4x4 in that role.

ER: Really wish they could have found something cooler for Ryck to wear than old sweat shorts and generic knee pads. I could see him pulling off a Big Bubba Rogers slacks-and-button-up looks in the ring. I thought Ryck looked better here than…well, most people commenting on the internet it would seem. He always had a nice shoulderblock and he breaks that out here, and Morrison is a guy who also makes shoulder blocks look good. Also dug the cravate he used here. Still the match kinda looked like it was waiting around for the run-in and sure enough that's what happened. Love Phil bringing up 4x4 as I always got sick joy out of seeing him in WCW. He had such an absurd build as he was 5'10" but like 400 lb., all in the arms and chest, and he always wore this spaghetti strap camouflage tank top that was so stretched that it always looked like a tube top. I really loved that one match he had against Knobbs where Knobbs blindsides him to start the match and then just stiffs him for 90 seconds before a run in.


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Lucha Underground Episode 3: Crossing the Border Workrate Report

ER: I really like that this show hired a lot of production guys that have never worked in wrestling before. That's maybe the absolute smartest thing they did. Bring in guys who don't just base their programming on how WWE films their programming. They have their own production knowledge, not just stuff that's been dug into their brains about how a wrestling show is "supposed" to look. It gives them a fresh feel and look right out of the gate. This was an enormous decision that they got right.

1. Mascarita Sagrada vs. El Mariachi Loco

ER: No clue who Loco is. He's a slender, average height masked guy wearing fantastic mariachi pants. Not sure which Sagrada this is, either, as after a minute of watching him he doesn't seem anywhere near as good as previous Sagradas. This didn't look like Tzuki, and it's obviously not the current El Torito, and he didn't seem as good as the original who I've seen working indies…so is this the guy AAA has been using the last few years? He seems…okayish. Loco bumped around for him using a bunch of over the top Shawn Michaels bumping. Sagrada hits a nice flip dive, but really can't properly get in place for any of Loco's super kicks. He's always too close or doesn't bump right for them. He somehow sells Loco's offense less than Loco sells Sagrada's. It blows my mind that Sagrada goes over clean here with a tight choke (a modified d'arce according to Striker, despite it not looking like any sort of d'arce) rolled into a pin. So Sexy Star loses in 90 seconds in her debut, but the guy weighing 70 lb. goes over clean to a guy twice his size? Eh, whatever. Match wasn't much. I'd rather see minis against other minis. Yep. Segunda Caida is pro segregation.

PAS: I agree with Eric, I have no problem with mini's in tags or trios with regular sized wrestlers, but it stretches it a bit in a longish singles match. It was also hurt by Sagrada not looking nearly as spectacular as other guys who have worn that mask.

ER: Vampiro is dressed up as Byz Lat #3 from his Shield background extra work. The on screen graphic also calls him "Announcer/Legend". I wonder whose idea that was. I dug Chavo's interview, really dug his attitude. Best interview I've seen from Chavo in…ever? I loved the interview being intercut with slo mo shots of him punching Blue Demon in the ear last week, and attacking him on the stretcher.

PAS: Yeah this Chavo interview ruled. Shots fired at Demon being a shitty dude who only got there on his daddy's coatails. Demon being a guy who even sucked in his prime? Chavo must have gotten the DVDVR Lucha 80's set.  Liked the Konan backstage interaction, I would dig the gimmick of AAA guys coming after Chavo for taking out luchadores, and I hope that is were they go with it, instead of having Demon or Sexy Star feud with him.

2. Ricky Mandel vs. Mil Muertes

ER: Mandel is apparently from beautiful Berrrrwyyyyyn, IL (cue Berwyn soundbite) and was trained by the Ballard Bros. I've never seen him before, but I like the way he takes a spear directly on his shoulder. And Muertes has a nice punch/chop combo. But this match was not good. Mesias is a guy I've really really liked in the past, but my word as Muertes everything is just wrong. Horrendous look (we talked about those brutal pants and that awful mask last week) but he has some insanely dated offense for a squash. A flatliner finish? Yikes. Katrina is easily the best thing about the act so far.

PAS: I thought the vignette with the earthquake backstory was really cool, and I have faith in Muertes to turn it up when he gets a regular match, but man does he need an outfit redesign stat. Pretty much the only guy on the show with a bad look too, really stands out.

3. Drago vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Fenix

ER: This match was pretty damn stupid, but stupid in a way that kind of made it critic proof. Guys did stuff, heads were landed on, some things looked bad, many things looked good. About 30 seconds in most of my evaluative brain just shut down because why bother? Fenix had the hands down spot of the match (year?) with his flapjack turned into a ridiculous rana. Holy cow that looked amazing. And we finally find a good use for the overhead camera, as Fenix's dive off the top of the stage looked like he was base jumping off a cliff. Dug all the dives, got pretty tired of guys jumping onto their own heads while another guy was touching him (thus classifying it as some sort of "Driver") until one of them got 3 counts instead of 2 counts. Still, this was a perfect kind of match to set them apart, so it was necessary.

PAS: I have a couple of minor nits to pick. I think they would have been better off just running out Pentagon Jr. v. either technico for an opening match. Would have allowed either Fenix or Drago to stand out a bit more. We at Segunda Caida are John Lithgow in Footloose when it comes to 3-Way dancing, and I still think the tag on the second show is the feds best match, but this kind of nut house match is what they need to stand out. I really like Pentagon Jr. as a violent asskicker, more then as a spot guy so I hope I get to see more of that side of him. Despite my slight issues, totally enjoyed the bat shittedness of the whole thing. Lucha Underground was something I was hesitant about before it happened, but they are 3 for 3 for entertaining shows so far.


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Lucha Underground Episode 2: Los Demonios Workrate Report

1. Johnny Mundo/Prince Puma v. Cortez/Cisco

PAS: I enjoyed Zeke as Suge Knight, I think it is a fine wrestling role we haven't seen much of. He really needs to get some double breasted suits. This was better then the Puma/Mondo match the week before, we had some tag structure to build the big spots around, and the heel time was a fine bumping stooging, hard hitting squad, and did a nice job letting the flashy babyfaces shine. That missed tornillo by Mundo was lunatic, and I liked the finish. Great opener which the gave some time too.

ER: Agreed about Zeke needing some double breasted suits. The cigar is a nice touch, but a tight black t-shirt and jeans just makes him look like a bouncer. And yeah, this was a better match in every way than the hyped main event from last week. I really liked everybody here, the tag team format suits Reyes/Cholo much better than singles matches as Cholo can bump (loved his corner Psicosis bump) and Reyes has crisp looking offense but no real good way to string it together in singles matches. Both guys complement each other nicely and the team makes them greater than the sum. Mundo has really impressed for a guy who took tons of time off the last few years. From simple things like his nice forearm shots, to stuff like the crazy high speed tornillo to nowhere, he really comes off like a star in this show so far. Match a lot to like, with plenty of cool spots strung together nicely.

I was also amused how during this match Matt Striker would babble on with some cliches and/or bullshit, and Vampiro would call him out on it using 4 words. At one point Striker was making a big deal over what a large "style clash" this was, and Vampiro just goes "And what style is that?" forcing Striker to actually explain and think out his babbling. At another point he's just talking for ages about bar fights and saying hack stuff like "it's always the guy you least expect in a bar fight who punches you in the nose, and I've been in countless bar fights" and Vampiro just goes "Well I've never been in a bar fight, so…I wouldn't know." Also how lame is it for your announcer to casually pretend he's been in "countless" bar fights?

PAS: Liked Konan as grizzled trainer again this week, and I thought they did a nice job slowly working a heel turn, Vampiro needs to stop overselling Konan as evil on commentary though.

2. Sexy Star/Chavo Guerrero v. Son of Havoc/Ivelisse

PAS: Served it's purpose by giving Sexy Star a win, and shorthanding a relationship between Sexy Star and Chavo for the final angle. Liked Evalise's super kick.

ER: Fun little match. Chavo has looked really good the last two weeks, loved him yanking Son of Havoc's beard and breaking out the corner kappa kick. Also impressed by Ivelisse, someone I haven't seen since she was on Tough Enough. The wrist clutch superkick looked great and kind of surprised I haven't seen it before (though it was similar to one of Booker T's old kicks that never looked good). Camera crew seems to know what they are doing and the directing is really good at covering up sloppy spots. Havoc looked like he somewhat whiffed on a running knee and they really picked the best angle to cover that up, without looking like they cut to an awkward long shot. They did this on another spot that looked somewhat off. I don't like their use of the random sky cam cutaway, but they actually seem further ahead of any other wrestling promotion at blown spot coverage. That's a huge feather. I also loved the need for Vampiro's analysis of Striker calling him just "Havok" during the match: "Technically Matt, this is not Havok. This is Havok's son."

3. Blue Demon Jr. v. Mil Muertes

PAS: Liked Mesias's new gimmick, but I think he needs a cooler mask. You only get so much out of a Demon match, but if this is it for him I think he served his purpose. Pretty surprised he did a clean job, El Ray must be paying real money. Muertes had his moments, his knock out punch was pretty cool, but man spear into a flatliner has got to be the most played out finisher combo ever.

ER: Phil brings up the Muertes mask needing some work, but somehow completely misses those total disaster tights. Pin stripe blue? It looked like he was sporting the bottom half of a seersucker suit southern lawyer gimmick. I never thought I would want somebody to go back to a corset wearing goth gimmick. This match was pretty bad, but it had some elements I liked. I like Demon's short right hand, like the sound sweetened chops, especially when saved for their heavyweights, and I really dug the interference of Katrina. I'm not sure who she is but she had real presence and a good look. Loved the short kick to Demon's face and the drop down choke while wearing heels was impressive.

PAS: I thought the ending angle came off better in execution then it read on paper. Chavo was a great hateble sleaze, and the chair shot on Sexy Star looked nasty, and I imagine was pretty safe. WWE doing no man on woman violence, and no chairs to the head for so long, really helped this angle seem like a step too far. I hope this is it for Blue Demon, and as a Chavo fan, I want to see what he does with a top heel role.

ER: Again want to give it up to the direction/camera crew as I think they shot the chairshot to look really devastating. Sexy Star fell really well for it and I think the low camera shot was really best for it. Really impressed by the technical work so far on this show.


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Lucha Underground Episode 1: Welcome to the Temple Workrate Report

ER: I'm an actual El Rey and lucha fan, so if this show is marketed towards anybody, really I'm their prime audience. El Rey is actually a pretty cool channel. You get random Starsky & Hutch episodes shown in incorrect order with a different episode playing than the one the guide says it is (last week I saw a good one with Richard Lynch as a serial killer offing cab drivers), it's got cool movies like From Beyond and Switchblade Sisters, and now lucha. Cool stuff.

The opening makes it look like it wants to be Def Jam: Vendetta, just a bunch of guys in jeans and hoodies fist fighting in a warehouse. Then there's all this weird stuff about Aztec Warriors and the history of our seven tribes, which if anything is at least unique.

PAS: I am long past being interested in evil promoters, but I did like the B-Movie sleaziness of Dario. He really felt like a guy who must have a long career as Danny Trejo's cartel boss in direct to video action movies. I am going to lean positive for now on the cinematic interludes. I could see it being something which might bother me if it gets too silly, but for now it definitely distinguishes it from WWE while still feeling like it exists in the narrative world of professional wrestling, rather then feeling like an action movie.

ER: Is it weird to think this is the exact same building that Wrestle Society X was filmed in? The building looks similar and the stage with the band looks identical. I actually dug WSX so this is not a bad thing to me.

Promoter/Owner Dario Cueto kind of looks like a slick hispanic David Strathairn; slicked back hair, a briefcase full of $100,000. I like the slant of "rich business man offers money to wrestlers so they can fight for his amusement". I'm a big fan of "fight tournament" movies, where some guy with an island or drug empire brings in all the best talent to fight for him while he's not having sex with dead eyed women. Although if I was compiling a list of "men to fight for my amusement" I'm not sure how Aaron Aguilera would end up on the list...

1. Blue Demon Jr. vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

PAS: I get why they wanted to open the promotion with a battle of two scions of legendary lucha families,  but Demon is bad and putting him in the role of legendary maestro is a just poor casting. This would have been so much better if I had been Chavo vs. Villano IV or V and the storyline could have worked exactly the same (obviously Santo would have been perfect, but he wasn't available). Match was pretty weak, and I really hated the Foley art on the slaps, made it sound super fake.

ER: Matt Striker on commentary is talking about lucha history, giving fans some background on what makes lucha what it is, really presenting it to a crowd that has never seen lucha libre before. And I can't think of many worse luchadors to show a lucha libre first-timer, than Blue Demon Jr. I definitely liked this more than Phil, though. For a 5 minute Worldwide match it was better than fine. We had some cool opening matwork (with Demon actually selling the knee over 3 minutes later as a callback!), Chavo hit a cool float over armdrag, and big props to the camera work for cutting a couple frames to kind of smooth out a Demon headscissors. Both guys take kinda cool bumps to the floor, with Demon sprawling out after a Chavo headscissors. Also dug Chavo going for a triangle in the ropes, and Demon power bombing him off the top to get out of it. I also kind of dug the Foley effects on slaps, because they were timed right and consistent. They did effects for Demon's slaps, but also when he was clapping to get the crowd into it. Made Demon seem like a guy who just threw some big bombs. I thought the effects were done well enough that I would be shocked if a casual viewer even noticed.

2. Sexy Star vs. Son of Havoc

PAS: I get the gimmick, and I kind of get why Sexy Star is going to have to work her way up to a win so I didn't have a problem with her losing. But man having her squashed in 90 seconds by a dude who looks like a 6:05 TBS jobber they would bring out for Manny Fernandez to potato,  puts a damper on the whole thing. Also probably a mistake to name your feminist hero Sexy Star, lots of names are getting changed in this fed, no reason to keep that one.

ER: They really are pushing her as an abused woman out for revenge. "She trains for every girl who no longer needs to be afraid" kind of stuff. Robert Rodriguez is about as big of a cult movie fan as you can get. You'd think with his involvement her character especially would be one that he would focus on. He HAS to be a fan of the movie Ms. 45. They're already pushing the abused woman strikes back angle, they might as well go full tilt with the thing. But my god it is unfathomable to have her lose in 90 seconds in her very first match in the promotion. Son of Havoc is M-Dogg 20, under a mask and leather vest and with an awesome gigantic beard making him look like a SAMCRO prospect who doesn't make it out of his second episode. He's a good opponent for Sexy Star as he really whips around on her headscissors and leaps into her cross bodies. But good lord there is no way he's going to be a pushed guy in the fed. If you didn't want her to beat a guy who will be appearing in the fed regularly, why not just bring in a one and done jobber for her to beat? Are they actively trying to appeal to the next generation of guys whose fathers wanted Bobby Riggs to shut Billie Jean King's bitch mouth? Just completely incomprehensible booking.

3. Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo

PAS: This isn't the kind of wrestling I eagerly seek out, but for a juniors spotfest, it was a fun juniors spotfest and definitely was a representative of the style they are looking to do. I actually thought Puma held back a little bit, I have seen him do crazier shit for much smaller audiences, and I am surprised he didn't empty his bag of tricks. I like Konan as the grizzled veteran trainer, he seems too crippled to actually get in the ring again, so I have no beef with him as a mouthpiece.

ER: This was a plenty fun spotfest although yeah I agree with Phil as Ricochet didn't come close to breaking out some of the coolest stuff he could do. You could tell Mundo (the former John Morrison) was breaking out every single trick he's ever used. Mundo takes a fantastic bump of an enziguiri, basically doing a Hamrick bump to the floor as he somersaults through the ropes. Awesome. Puma tries to outdo him by getting crazy height from getting slingshotted into the post. Puma does a back handspring into a flipping dropkick and Matt Striker compares the style to World of Sport. Striker comes off like a guy who has a lot of references, and wants to use those references even if they don't actually apply to what's happening. He later hypes up a giant "THIS! IS! LUCHA! UNDERGROUND!! after Puma does a dive feint by hand springing off the ropes. Probably could have saved that for an actual big dive. Duane Kuiper didn't scream loudly when Barry Bonds lazily flied out to right. Still after about the first 6 minutes of doing a bunch of go nowhere parity stuff we get a bunch of big spots. They were kind of pushing Puma as the main guy here but Mundo was really the one getting all the spots to shine. Still, plenty of fun stuff, and this is definitely the kind of match they need to be doing to set them apart.

PAS: Finishing angle wasn't much, I think they should have had Dario's gameplan a little more ambiguous for a couple of weeks. Let him wander around holding the briefcase and menacingly sipping scotch before he broke out his own stable of dudes.

ER: Yeah it was a bit disappointing to already show Dario is withholding the money briefcase. And also disappointing that he was choosing his own stable and filled it with Ricky Reyes and Lil Cholo. Big Zeke looked mammoth and I dug plenty of his matches on Superstars several years ago, be nice to see him shine again.

PAS: Overall I enjoyed this, and I am really looking forward to them bringing in dudes like Pimpinela and Mesias who I really like

ER: I still had a good time watching this. One episode in and it already looked clearly better than something like TNA. It had its own style and presentation, clearly trying to present itself as something different instead of a cheap knockoff. I'm definitely interested in watching more.


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