El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Aniversario 1990 Part 1

Week 28: Aniversario 1990 Part 1

The date is July 7, 1990 and we have arrived at Aniversario 1990 ‘Un Reto Para la historia’! Taking place in Bayamon at two locations (Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez and Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel), with five matches at each site (and presented on screens for the fans in attendance). The event received a VHS release, although edited down for a two hour run time. Nine of the ten matches were included on the home video release, with the Mark Youngblood vs Rick Valentine match being the only one left off. There are edits to fit the event on the video release, although we get several of the matches in full for the most part. We’re going to review the first five matches in this installment and the remaining four from the home video release in the next installment. We are including a link to the home video release if anyone wants to watch the event that way, but we will include video links to the individual matches we are reviewing if you prefer to watch them that way. Here is the link to the home video release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfnUvfnxABs

I will briefly mention that the event started with a welcome by Hugo Savinocih (including a shout out to his mother who apparently was in attendance), where he presented  the commentators for the event (the teams of Lysette Santiago & Eliud Gonzalez and Hugo Savinovich & Hector Moyano will be doing commentary for the matches depending on which of the two sites the matches were occurring at). We also have the commissioners of the WWC Caribbean region and  the Puerto Rico Boxing and Wrestling Commision on hand, with each giving some brief remarks to open the event. 

MD: There’s something enjoyable about watching a video from 1990 where they rewind it and start it over. With the officials saying a little (but very little) there was a patina of authenticity over the event. Which makes it funny as the first guy out is Chicky.

EB: As Matt alluded to, our first match features Chicky Starr taking on Chris Youngblood. Originally it was supposed to be the Mongolian Mauler as Chris Youngblood’s opponent, but Chicky has stepped in. The Youngbloods have made a return to Puerto Rico for this event, although they are in singles action this go around. Let’s go to our first match of the night. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpYC0DmfqK

Chicky Starr makes his way to the ring, wearing his crown and doing his hand pose to the crowd. The crowd wastes no time throwing garbage at Chicky and this is just the first match of the night. Hector Moyano asks Hugo if he has any words for the crowd and Hugo asks the fans at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez to please behave themselves. Chris Youngblood comes out wearing his medicine man mask and he gets the crowd hyped up (the Youngbloods have always been strong fan favorites in Puerto Rico). The ring introductions are made, the ref checks both combatants and the bell rings. Both men circle each other and Chicky complains to the ref that Chris has something taped to his hands. The ref checks but finds nothing. They lock up and Chicky shoves Chris after they break. The ref admonishes Chicky for that (with Chicky protesting his innocence) and then both men briefly lock up again. Chris gets a quick side headlock and sends Chicky into the ropes, leading to a sequence that ends with Chicky being punched in the head. Chicky rolls out of the ring as Chris celebrates with some war dancing. Chicky gets back in the ring and complains it was a closed fist, but the ref disagrees. Chicky works a side headlock on Chris, leading to a shoulder block off the ropes. Another rope running sequence results in Chris armdragging Chicky to the mat. Chris works the armbar as Chicky complains his hair was pulled.

Chicky gets back on his feet and breaks the arm bar by yanking Chris down by his hair behind the ref’s back. Chicky feigns innocence at the hair pull as Hugo talks about the fans throwing things at the ring, indicating that it is not acceptable behavior and that there are fans that show their support with cheers and applause. They lock up once more and Chicky again uses a hair pull to take down Chris. The commentators talk about how Chris has the fans’ support, as Chicky again feigns innocence about the hair pull and even busts out a strut for the crowd. Another lock up ends with Chris bringing Chicky down with a hair pull, causing Chicky to complain about it and the fans to agree with Chris that he didn’t do it. Chris gets the crowd going with some claps and Chicky decides to step halfway out of the ring to yell at some fans. Chris uses the opening and kicks the middle rope right into Chicky’s groin. Chris follows up with a kick to the groin and plays to the crowd with a war cry. A dropkick knocks Chicky down. Chicky is slow to get up and asks the ref for a timeout due to the groin damage he’s incurred. Chicky tries to walk it off and continues to stall. A lock up leads to a knee to the midsection by Chicky, which is followed up with some short clothesline blows on the ropes to Chris. The blows send Chris to the outside, but Chicky stays in the ring, slightly hobbling around. Chicky catches Chris with a knee to the midsection when the latter gets back in the ring. A series of kneedrops gets a two count for Chicky. Come punches by Chicky draw a warning from the ref to watch out for the closed fist. Chris catches Chicky with several punches to the midsection, following them up with some chops in the corner and a backdrop. Chicky begs off, but Chris continues on the attack. Chicky manages to throw Chris outside but Chris comes back with a sunset flip attempt from the apron. Chicky tries to hold on to the ropes to counter, but the ref kicks Chicky’s grip loose and the sunset flip is completed. Chris gets a three count and the win in our opening match. The crowd cheers and starts throwing trash at Chicky again. 

MD: This was a substitution as Chicky was in for the Mongolian Mauler, and while Mauler has his goofy charm, this crowd deserved Chicky and Chicky deserved this crowd. Even before the match, all he did was stand there and do a Jimmy Snuka type pose with his hands and they belted him with trash. It was glorious. It was the first match on the card and they had a spotfest minis match coming after, so they kept it really simple, but the crowd almost made it impossible for them to do anything else; every lock up was electric. Every bit of comeuppance that Chicky experienced came with a huge roar.
He made sure to give them plenty to roar about too, running into armdrags or punches and eating a crotch shot as he was coming between the ropes. He took over with a knee and had some hard clubbers on Chris but they were pretty soon back to milking every bit of this. Chicky managed a redirect to send Chris out but he came back in with a sunset flip to win it. Just a few minutes but you could tell they knew what they had with the crowd and absolutely made the most of it for a short opener.

EB: Our second match features two teams of minis from Mexico, as Mascarita Sagrada and Aguilita Solitaria take on the rudo team of Espectrito and Piratita Morgan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHmb2FfZU3A

Eliud Gonzalez does the ring introduction for this match, and as he starts we can see Espectrito jawing at the crowd while standing on the middle rope. Eliud mentions that this is a meeting between ‘grandes en la lucha libre’ (large or greats in wrestling) even if of short stature. Espectrito and Aguilita start off for their teams. Espectrito shoves Aguilita off a lock up and strikes a bicep pose. Mascarita Sagrada is quickly in for his team and sends Espectrito out of the ring with a high roundhouse kick. Piratita comes in (they’re doing Mexican rules where you can come in without a tag once your partner is out of the ring) and knocks Sagrada down with a blow. Aguilita quickly does a tumbling routine into the ring to cut off Piratita and defend his partner. We get a nice counter move sequence between Morgan and Aguilita, ending with Morgan being dropkicked through the ropes by Aguilita. Espectrito and Mascarita are in for their teams and Espectrito does a series of takedowns on Mascarita. Espectrito brags to the crowd but another sequence of holds ends with Mascarita sending Espectrito to the mat. Eliud on commentary mentions that Espectrito reminds him of one of his commentating partners (clarifying that it is not Lysette he’s talking about). On that note, Eliud sends a hello to Hector Moyano and Hugo Savinovich who are doing the commentary for the other location. Espectrito hits a press slam and again celebrates after. Mascarita comes back with a flying headscissor takedown. A series of armdrag counters lead to Espectrito being tossed out of the ring.

Piratita and Aguilita are back in for their teams, with Piratita getting the better of Aguilita. Piratita hits a press slam and Espectrito comes in to do a celebratory pose again. It’s pretty clear that Piratita is bringing the power and Espectrito the attitude on the rudo side. Piratita kicks Aguilita out of the ring and Mascarita comes in for his team. As Mascarita faces Piratita, Espectrito runs in and kicks Mascarita from behind. They briefly double team Mascarita but Aguilita makes it back in and cuts off Piratita. Morgan and Aguilita engage in several armdrag counters, which leads into some pin attempts by both wrestlers and then to both men doing the front somersaults into a standing position stand off. The crowd sounds like they are enjoying the action so far. Espectrito tags in and kicks Mascarita into the corner. Espectrito lands some punches but misses a corner charge to the crowd’s approval. Mascarita does a snapmare takedown and tries to charge at Espectrito, but is shoved and sent flying back into the corner by Espectrito. A leapfrog by Mascarita leads to a flying armdrag takedown from the top turnbuckle  by Mascarita. A somersault off the middle rope leads to another armdrag takedown by Mascarita. A dropkick sends Espectrito to the outside as the crowd cheers. Mascarita plays to the cheering crowd but is blindsided by Piratita coming into the ring and hitting a dropkick. Piratita’s punches send Mascarita to the apron and Aguilita front flips into the ring. Before they can lock up, Espectrito changes in from behind and takes over. Espcetrito works over Aguilita, eventually hitting a backdrop and senton for a two count. Mascarita tries to break up the pin attempt and is met with a dropkick by Piratita. All four men are now in the ring and, as Espectrito and Aguilita are tied up fighting, Piratita hits a suplex and pins Mascarita. The ref makes the three count, the rudos have won the match, and the crowd is not happy with this result. Espectrito drags Aguilita over to the ring apron and proceeds to hit some more blows on Aguilita after the match. El Vikingo goes over and saves Aguilita by dragging him back into the ring. The rudo team leaves as the tecnicos are left laying on the mat. 

MD: These guys were announced as giants: big in wrestling but small in stature. This was all action. Every spot, every exchange, got a buzzing roar from the crowd. Things really sang when Espectrito and Mascara Sagrada were in there but Piratita and Aguilita held their own. There was just an extra bit of zing for every time Mascarita did something that felt impossible due to the standard rules of physics. There would be little moments of bullying but they were quickly overcome as the tecnicos flew around once again. I get that there needed to be some parity in finishes and there might have been some politics I don’t know about but it felt like a big downer to have the rudos win this one and leave the tecnicos laying with a post-match beatdown. At least have them turn it around and run them off?

EB: Our next match features a recently turned Scott Hall taking on Atkie Mulumba. Hall had his differences with Mulumba after a tag match and even hit the crucifix on El Profe, making him an enemy of Chicky Starr and El Profe. The rudo managers want Hall to pay for his betrayal and they feel Atkie Mulumba is the one to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDCazSSHZtM

The video begins with Hall standing on the middle turnbuckle, waiting for the entrance of his opponent. Atkie Mulumba is heading towards the ring, accompanied by El Profe. Hall plays to the crowd, getting them to rally behind him as Mulumba approaches. Atkie gets in the ring and Hall wastes no time in charging to attack. The bell rings as both men exchange blows, Mulumba grabs Hall and both men fight for several moments over control of a lock up. Eliud Gonzalez and Lysette Santiago are on commentary, with Eliud mentioning that Hall had said in interviews that he had thought about it for two weeks and Hall felt that the best thing to do was to face Mulumba. Atkie takes over with a couple of headbutts but Hall fires back with a series of punches, finishing it up with a tornado punch that knocks Atkie down. The crowd has been firmly behind Hall so far. Hall plays to the crowd as Atkie gets back up and slaps his belly. Hall goes to the outside to try to get at El Profe but Mulumba goes out to cut Hall off. Eliud mentions that surprisingly it seems Mulumba has some fans in the crowd as well. They lock up on the outside and briefly scuffle, and Atkie ends up ramming Hall’s head on the ring apron. 

Back in the ring, Mulumba sends Hall into the ropes and hits his flying clothesline. Mulumba chokes Hall on the middle rope, with El Profe pointing and encouraging Atkie from the outside. Atkie then rams Hall’s head into the top turnbuckle, followed by a headbutt and backrake. Hall comes back with a punch but is cut off with a kick and chops. Atkie gets a nerve hold on Hall and brings Hall down to his knees. The ref checks Hall’s arms and he keeps them up at the two count. Hall fights back and breaks the hold, firing off some punches and a tornado punch that staggers Atkie but doesn’t knock him down. Hall grabs Mulumba and slams him. Hall gets fired up again and signals to the crowd. Hall comes off the ropes with a blow onto Mulumba, and follows up with a clothesline. Scott starts doing the cross pose, signaling that he’s going for the crucifix. Hall sets up Atkie, but before he can lift him up, El Profe charges into the ring. Hall catches Profe with a punch and sets Profe up for the crucifix instead. Hall has Profe up but Atkie hits Hall to save Profe. Atkie has his totem in his hands and starts attacking Hall with it as the ref has called for the bell. The Caribbean Express quickly come out to fight off Atkie and make the save for Hall .The crowd cheers as Hall is back on his feet and goes outside to fight with Mulumba. Both men exchange several blows before Mulumba gets away and starts walking to the locker room. Hall gives chase and both men exchange blows once more. Atkie finally gets away and Hall returns to the ring and is declared the winner by disqualification. The video ends as Hall poses on the different turnbuckles towards the crowd. It looks like we may have a new fan favorite here in Scott Hall.

MD: Maybe I’m crazy (Esteban will tell us), but this felt like a starmaking performance for Hall. This is a guy who worked underneath a ton of great babyfaces for five years and wrestled his share of them, including Colon so recently. He was ready to push it over the top. He had the physical charisma necessary here, appealing to the crowd, selling, bounding back off the ropes with a forearm for a hope spot (that’s all it took), eating Malumba’s neckbreaker drop and his imposing choke over the rope with his tongue out, and then coming back with a huge bodyslam en route to Profe interfering and Malumba using his relic to save Profe and get dq’d. Post match, the Caribbean Express made the save, fully anointing Hall as a tecnico and Hall went right after Malumba, fully showing the crowd that he was a guy to get behind. I’d consider just giving him the win outright here, but I think they wanted to run this back and having the other tecnicos join him post-match had symbolic value. Maybe you didn’t need him in 1990 WWF with Warrior and Kerry, but I wonder now if they shouldn’t have brought him in to 91 WCW as this instead of the Diamond Studd. 

EB: Next we have the match for the Caribbean title as Leo Burke defends against Invader #1 in a boxing match.This specific rivalry stems all the way to the end of March (although the enmity between Chicky and Invader goes back even further) when Leo and Chicky won the Caribbean tag titles from the new Invaders. The two teams spent over a month feuding over the titles and it eventually transitioned into Burke challenging Invader #1 for the Caribbean singles title. Burke won the match using a boxing glove and since then has made it known he is a Canadian boxing champion, bringing (and using) the boxing gloves in his appearances. Invader #1 has finally secured his awaited chance to get back at Burke, but under the match conditions set forth by Chicky and Leo. Thus we have a ten round boxing match. Chicky and Burke believe they have Invader #1 right where they want him, but Invader #1 has Robocop and Invader #4 backing him up. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVDSTcVzBZw

Chicky Starr and Leo Burke are making their way to the ring, and quite a bit of trash and debris is being thrown at them by the fans. Hugo is making the ring intros as we cut to Invader #1’s entrance. We see Invader #1 come out with his boxing gloves on, followed by Robocop. The music playing is basically gunfire and explosion sounds with some of the Robocop music, along with some Robocop sound bites. Invader #4 is already at ringside (I’m guessing he led the tecnico procession). We hear Hugo make the announcement that also in Invader #1’s corner is none other than boxing champion Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho (I don’t know if it was announced on tv or if it was a last minute deal where Camacho was at the event and they asked him). Both combatants and their cornermen are in the ring as Camacho makes his entrance. The crowd roars at seeing Camacho, and he and Invader #1 touch hands. Camacho does some quick shadow boxing, has a brief chat with the ref, and then tries to also shake hands with Leo Burke. Leo turns his back on Camacho as Chicky dismissively waves at him to go away. Camacho does one last pose for the crowd and exits the ring as Hugo continues with the ring intros. Burke has Chicky in his corner, Invader #1 has Robocop, Camacho and Invader #4 (although only Invader #4 and Robocop are out there for the duration of the match). As the wrestlers prepare for the start of the match, Hugo asks the fans at ringside if they wouldn’t mind taking their seats. Chicky has some last minute words for Leo, while Invader #4 and Robocop seem to be going over some things in their corner. Both Burke and Invader #1 touch gloves as the bell rings, the first round has begun.

Both men feel each other out a bit to start, although it’s Burke who starts to get some punches in early on. Invader #1 starts sticking and moving a bit on Leo ,as Hugo mentions that you have to watch out for Burke as he tends to play dirty. Hugo also mentions that each round is two minutes followed by a one minute rest period. Invader throws a punch, with Burke responding with one of his own. Invader cinches up with Leo to stop the punch, and Burke takes  the opening to headbutt Invader. The ref warns Leo about doing that and Invader manages to shake the effects off before both combatants start circling each other again. Some punches are thrown before Leo grabs Invader to force him back into the corner, and again Burke takes the opening to headbutt Invader. This staggers Invader, who has to lay against the ropes to try to recover. It also looks like he’s been cut by the headbutt. Burke comes in with some punches, although Invader seems to have gotten his bearings and does some good footwork to avoid Burke’s punches. Just as the bell rings, Invader hits a drop toehold on Burke, dropping him to the mat. As both men go their corners, Burke seems to be complaining about the drop toehold, while Invader #4 is checking his brother’s face. The camera zooms in on Robocop patrolling the corner area as both cornermen tend to their fighters. 

Round two sees Invader come out quicker than Burke, with Invader circling Burke and landing some punches. Burke again decides to lock up with Invader and again throws a headbutt to break. This hit sends Invader tumbling into a sitting position on the middle turnbuckle. Burke tries to follow up but the ref stops him. The ref checks to see if Invader is good to continue and Invader is back on his feet (although looking a bit dazed). Leo comes back with some punches but Invader covers up. Invader does another quick drop toehold to take Burke off his feet. When Burke gets back up, Invader starts firing off a quick flurry of punches that sends Leo into a corner. As Invader follows in with another punch, Burke locks up to stop the attack and, for the first time in the match, breaks without a headbutt. It looks like Leo’s a bit hurt by the recent flurry, as he decides to go outside to gather himself. Chicky gives some words of advice to Leo on the outside and Hugo complains that Burke shouldn't be able to do this since it’s under boxing rules. However, as soon as Burke steps back into the ring, Invader catches Leo with another series of punches that result in Burke being knocked down. The ref sends Invader to the corner and starts his count on Burke. The crowd counts along but Burke is up before ten. Invader gives Leo no room to breathe as he starts attacking as soon as Leo is back up. Leo is backed into a  corner and locks up to stop the punches as the bell rings. Leo gets a cheap shot in after the break, with Invader responding in kind, and the ref has to break it up as the rest period starts. The cornermen again work over their fighters and the bell rings for round three. 

As both men advance towards each other, Leo spits a mouthful of water at Invader’s face. This gives Leo an opening to launch a series of blows that sends Invader into the corner. Invader is sitting down in the corner after those blows, so the ref gets Burke to go to a corner so he can administer a count on Invader, who is able to stand up before the ten count. Invader slaps his chest to signal he is good to go. Both men approach each other and start throwing punches, although Burke seems to be landing more of them at first. However, Invader shifts into another gear and starts throwing several punches, sending Burke stumbling into a corner. Invader continues with several unanswered punches as it looks like Burke may be knocked down. But once more a lock up occurs to stop the onslaught and Burke again breaks with a headbutt. As the ref chastises Chicky for his man’s tactics, Leo lands a punch on the dazed Invader that knocks him down. The ref counts as Invader starts to get back up, and you can see Robocop at ringside urging Invader to get up. Invader is back on his feet and both fighters start exchanging punches again. After a few moments, Invader is able to come back with a series of punches that knocks Burke down again. The crowd roars in approval, as trash continues to be thrown at the downed Burke. The crowd chants along to the count but Burke is saved by the bell as the count only reaches seven. Chicky has to come into the ring to help Burke back to the corner. You can also see one of the security guys trying to clear out the garbage on the mat with his weapon. Burke is so out of it that he completely misses the stool when sitting down and has to be helped back up by Chicky. Both cornermen tend to their fighters during the rest period, and if you pay attention you’ll spot Invader #4 undoing the snap on one of Invader’s boxing gloves.

Round four starts with some punches thrown (and a cup hitting Burke on the side of his head). Burke puts a stop to the punches with a knee to the midsection. Burke basically says to heck with the boxing and hits a knee rake to Invader’s face. He follows up with some stomps and kneedrops on the downed Invader. A headlock leads to Invader sending Burke into the ropes and hitting a dropkick on Leo. A clothesline follows as the crowd cheers. Invader goes after Chicky, who has jumped on the apron. As the ref goes over to get Chicky down, Chicky throws an object into the ring that Leo grabs. It looks like Leo has loaded his punch up. Burke grabs Invader and sends him into the ropes, ready to hit a loaded punch. Invader ducks the punch when he rebounds off the ropes and on the bounce back quickly takes off his boxing glove (remember, Invader #4 had unsnapped it during the last rest period). As Invader runs back toward Burke, he hits Leo right in the chest with a taped fist heart punch (if you've been following along with our walkthrough you know how dangerous Invader’s taped fist is). The ref starts his count and Burke is completely motionless on the mat. The crowd stars counting along and the count reaches ten. Invader has won the match and the Caribbean title. The crowd cheers and garbage again starts being thrown at the rudos. Both Invaders hug in celebration as Robocop does a fist pump on the outside.

MD: This was tremendous. Probably the Puerto Rico MOTY so far based on what we have footage of. Probably the best pro wrestling boxing match ever too. First, it was just an amazing spectacle pre-match. You had the trash flying for Burke and Chicky. You had Invader (unmasked) come down with the other Invader (masked), Hector Macho Camacho, and Robocop. Everyone got an introduction. It was wild.

As for the fight itself, they played it fast and loose in the best pro wrestling way. That meant that Burke got multiple advantages through cheating, first through headbutts whenever they were caught together in the ropes, but also with a water spit after a round ended, and by getting a knee up towards the end. Invader could milk a ten count and make fighting out of the corner visceral and gripping like no one in wrestling history, with Burke a top notch stooge to carry his side of things. They had a nearfall, of sorts, at the end of the second to last fall when Invader fired back and dropped Burke, only for the bell to ring mid-count. The fans hated that in the best way. And then, after Burke hit the knee and they really leaned into the pro wrestling with knee drops and a full on dropkick/clothesline comeback by Invader, they had Chicky interfere, Burke load the glove, and Invader to duck his shot off the ropes, lose his own glove, and hit the Heart Punch for the explosive win. Really great stuff. 

EB: The last of the five matches we are covering in this installment is the battle of the monsters between Abdullah the Butcher and Zeus. Abdullah’s reputation and history in Puerto Rico is well known, but it looks like the tecnicos have recruited an unstoppable monster in his own right to challenge Abdullah. How will this match go? Let’s find out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpnyOlQUF8k

The video begins with Abdullah reaching the ring area and Chicky tumbling to the floor, it seems Zeus was out first and had attacked Chicky when the the rudo manager had made his way to the ring (also, it looks like Chicky and Abdullah have made up from last year’s turn). Zeus and Abdullah start fighting at ringside as the crowd roars. Zeus starts choking Abdullah as Hugo makes the ring introductions for this ‘choque de trenes’. Zeus ‘lands’ some headbutts and gets back into the ring. Abdullah is a bit stunned but is able to recover and get into the ring. Zeus is up one the ropes working the crowd but sees Abdullah get in the ring and gets ready to face off. The ref tries to call the match to order as Hugo mentions that Abdullah typically uses his size advantage but he won't be able to here against Zeus. The crowd gets hyped and starts chanting Zeus a both men lock up. Zeus starts ‘landing’ some blows to Abdulalh’s head, followed by a choke (although it looks more like he’s trying to shake Abdullah awake). Zeus briefly picks Abdullah up in a bearhug before pushing him back into the corner and punishing Abdullah further with his signature blows and chokes. The ref tries to get Zeus to back off but is shoved away. Abdullah is sitting on the bottom turnbuckle as Zeus finally backs off. Abdullah gets back to his feet and catches Zeus with two karate thrusts to the throat that knock Zeus down. 

Abdullah moves in but Zeus catches Abdullah with some of his signature windmill overhead strikes. Zeus chokes Abdullah back onto the ropes and proceeds to throw some overhead blows that cause boos to be heard from the crowd. Abdullah counters with a throat thrust and follows up with a headbutt. Abdullah uses the opening to grab a spike from his boot and tries to hit Zeus with it, but the blow is blocked. Both men fight for control of the spike, with Zeus gaining control of it. Zeus throws some blows with the spike to Abdullah’s head. Abdullah is bleeding as Zeus drops the spike and proceeds to put Abdullah in a bearhug. Abdullah rakes the eyes to break the hold and he starts biting Zeus in the forehead. The crowd is more muted, the hype from the beginning having cooled down a bit as the match has progressed. Abdullah knocks Zeus down with several thrusts and then hits an elbowdrop for a one count. Both men slowly get back to their feet as Hugo mentions that the crowd is backing Zeus (although who knows if that is still the case after the signature offensive flurries we have seen so far). They lock up against the ropes and Abdullah sends Zeus into the ropes for a shoulder block. Both men stay standing after the impact and Zeus remains standing after Abdullah attempts another shoulder block. Zeus hits a clothesline that knocks Abdullah back into the ropes. Zeus charges in and goes for his choke, a headbutt and then sends Abdullah into the ropes for a clothesline attempt. Abdullah grabs Zeus’ arm to block the hit (not sure if Abdullah is getting tired of selling these signature moves), but Zeus does another of his signature chokes to push Abdullah back onto the ropes. A bearhug is briefly attempted, followed by another choke that Abdullah breaks up with an eye rake. A series of thrusts knocks Zeus down and Abdullah does a standing choke with one of his boots on Zeus’ throat. Abdullah follows up with a nerve hold, but Zeus eventually fights out of it. 

Abdullah attempts a charge but is flipped over by Zeus. Abdullah is down and Zeus goes for a mega combo of choking while throwing his signature overhead strikes at the same time. The ref gets Zeus to break the choke and holds him off as Abdullah gets back to his feet. Zeus charges back in but Abdullah catches Zeus with a punch to the groin. Abdullah hits a punch to the midsection and follows up with a kick right to the groin. Zeus is down and Abdullah rakes Zeus’ eyes on the bottom rope. Zeus eventually gets to his feet and both men start exchanging blows. Abdullah catches Zeus with a couple of headbutts and sends Zeus through the ropes to the outside. Zeus tries to grab Abdullah’s legs but is grabbed by Abdullah and forced back up on the apron. However, Zeus fights Abdullah off and slaps on a bearhug from the ring apron. The ref tries to get Zeus to break the hold (since he is on the apron and Abdullah is inside the ring) but Zeus shoves the ref away three times. Abdullah manages to fight Zeus off to break the hold, but Zeus succeeds in dragging Abdullah to the outside this time.  Both men fight on the outside as the ref counts. They continue fighting (including Zeus hitting Abdullah with what looked to be one of the barricades at ringside) as the ref reaches the full count. Both men have been counted out. The video ends with both men still fighting in the aisleway.

MD: There are some positive things you can say about this one. First, it made a lot of sense to bring Zeus in. He had been the focus of three big WWF PPVs in 1989 (Summerslam, Survivor Series, and then the No Holds Barred cage match). There’s something to that. Abdullah sold his stuff exactly as well as you’d expect him too, recoiling, melting away in the corner. All of Abby’s offense looked great. The throat shots, the elbow drop, headbutts, whatever he did. And, to Zeus’ credit, he sold it all pretty well. He bumped for Abby and then sold for him, especially the throat shots. And last of all, it was a very impressive visual when he lifted him up for a bear hug. Abby was so good at doing what he did that he got the crowd back once or twice even.

But man, did Zeus have the absolute worst offense ever. Big sweeping shots are fine, but they have to at least look like they connect a little. It’s Abdullah. Just hit him. These are some of the worst strikes I’ve ever seen and the match is full of them. They tease the fork but Zeus blocks it and when he tries to strike back with it, there’s no attempt to actually stab or use the pointy part; he just does his same sweeping arm-waving with the fork in his hand. It still wasn’t as bad as I was expecting though and I think if you just keep your eyes on Abby whenever Zeus is on offense and both of them whenever Abby is fighting back, there’s some real stuff to appreciate (if not exactly enjoy) here. I was glad when they stumbled outside and ended it, however.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we continue our review of Aniversario 1990. Four title matches await us, including Robocop making his second appearance of the night backing up the Caribbean Express ,the Rougeaus making their debut in CSP as they challenge the Super Medicos, the AWA Women’s title is on the line in Puerto Rico, and the highly anticipated ‘Reto Para la Historia’ Universal title match between Carlos Colon and TNT.

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Found Footage Friday: JERRITO~! MASCARITA~! WARREN BOCKWINKEL~! KABUKI~! THE V~?

Mascarita Sagrada vs Jerrito Estrada AAA 2/20/94

MD: Bit of a wonky finish, though one that was set up well enough and that led to a bigger match down the road, but didn't do the match any favors. That's not to say the match wasn't really good because it was. Jerrito leaned on Mascarita Sagrada well from the first second power bomb all the way to the end, which, given MS' physical charisma and explosiveness, created a fairly unique sense in a lucha match outside of the normal rhythms. I had the feeling that he really could come back at any point, as opposed to just designated transition points. Likewise, even while he was in the midst of a comeback, I got the sense that he could get cut off, either by Jerrito dodging or just being a brick wall, or, to play into the overarching story, by Espectrito snatching a leg from the outside. The camera was somewhat erratic on those big moments causing the viewer to leave certain things up to the imagination. We saw MS fall to end the primera but it was only on reply you really saw that trip from the outside. The finish had him fed up at the interference (which was not overbearing necessarily but was just frequent enough to add something without taking away too much attention from the match) and waste a dive towards Espectrito but I have no idea if he completely missed or just got a bit of him or what. The countount and title change came as he was trying to get another pound of flesh. Where the match actually was hurt was by elongating the segunda instead of giving MS a pin to go along with one of his comebacks, and having the dive and the countout be in a tercera instead. I'm sure there was some mindset to it but it raised expectations that something off was going on and took me out of the match a little. Still, another great find.

Warren Bockwinkel vs Billy Varga Los Angeles 5/23/53

MD: We just have a handful of Warren Bockwinkel matches on tape. This one has a little audio problem (Jimmy Korderas talking about TNA overlaid over it for part of the first fall) but otherwise is very watchable. Good gritty holds throughout, but each one had real progression. There was maybe just a little bit more narrative than I was expecting at points. Bockwinkel won the first fall with a drop toe hold into a leg submission but lost the second as Varga leapt over the same trick attempted. Then, right as the time was going to expire in the third, Bockwinkel went for it again only for Varga to counter. I liked Bockwinkel's counters of counters here too. Early on Varga went hit an up and over headscissors takedown out of a hold, but Bockwinkel got an arm up to block it the second time; that sort of thing. There was a great short armscissors in there too. I would say that there was less kinetic energy than in the French matches from a few years later. For instance, in that short arm scissors, Varga tried to escape by rolling and was rolled back by Bockwinkel using leverage and slamming his leg down. In a French match it would have led to lifts and much bigger rolls. Likewise though things were just starting to heat up and get to scrapping as the time ran out, it really needed another minute of them hitting each other. They had only just started. Still, a lot of good holds and wrestling in here and a nice look at the elder Bockwinkel as the measured veteran and Varga as an energetic crowd favorite.

Great Kabuki vs The V AJPW 8/30/88

MD: Usually we only look at the stuf that's at least good on paper, but sometimes we have to cover the strange and bizarre or disastrous. Late 80s- early 90s All Japan is not exactly known for crazy gimmicks. You'd get the occasional show with Land of the Giants or the Blackhearts but this feels a step further than even that. The V was Don Sanders who we have spotty results for over the 84-93 period doing enhancement work in the Southeast. This looks like his biggest actual run, fifteen matches in 88 including a tag spot low on the card with Rocky Iaukea against Taue and Nakano on a Brody Memorial Show. As best as I can tell, this is the only footage of him in the gimmick that's ever slipped out. V was an 83-85 American TV show about lizard people aliens that dressed up like humans in orange-red jumpsuits and tried to conquer Earth. That's the gimmick. Sanders had a purple jumpsuit with a black mask and at the start of the match he'd pull it off to reveal a lizard mask underneath it. The main event of this show was a Hara/Tenryu vs Jumbo/Yatsu tag that came in #47 on the DVDVR 80s set. And down on the undercard was this guy doing working this absurd gimmick and making "V" peace signs as he revealed his lizard face to the world.

It's what inspired Kris Statlander's green-face make-up but Sanders wasn't the galaxy's greatest alien. He was a guy who could be led through a fairly simple match on the mat with Kabuki with a monkey flip and a leap-up turn around cross body off the second rope and one of the world's worst dropkicks ever, right to Kabuki's gut (not intentional). Kabuki's someone who excels in tags or six-mans against guys who will scrap with him, but that isn't always the most dynamic undercard house show singles match wrestler. Here, it seemed to be about surviving the night as much as anything else. The two guys filming this were pretty into the V though, ironically or no, counting the pinfalls and oohing and ahhing for the offense attempts. At least someone was having fun with this thing. But hey, now have footage of one of the most bizarre footnotes in 80s All Japan. It's not all Ikeda and Ishikawa killing each other. Sometimes you guys come to the blog for that sort of thing too.

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New Footage Friday: New AAA 4/30/95!

PAS: Roy Lucier continues to do yeoman's work uncovering lost classic stuff, including this AAA show which wasn't in circulation.

AAA 4/30/95

Mascarita Sagrada/Ninjita vs. Los Espectritos (Espectrito I/Espectrito II) 

MD: Fun, long minis match. I'm generally a stickler for the standards in lucha, 2 out of 3 falls matches, both parties getting pinned in tag matches, etc., but I probably would make exceptions for minis matches. This was standard structure and I'm not sure it helped things. The timing on the pinfalls didn't do anyone favors. The finish, instead of being dramatic with Mascarita Sagrada sneaking in a pin, had to be extended to Ninjita getting pulled back in by MS post-dive for the countout. Plus it was all more back and forth without that serene lucha moment of comeback (I could see them saving that for later in the card). Little things. That said, the match still worked, and a lot of that was due to the credibility of both sides. The Espectritos (especially I) were great bullies, great bases, able to take back over at a moment's notice or sneak in a well-timed bit of interference to keep the advantage. There was a power bomb in there where Espectrito I just picked up MS like he was nothing at all. And the tecnicos could believably take back over at a moment's notice, turning literally any physical contact into an arm drag just like that. For the first half of this we had a bunch of Ninjita when you really wanted MS in there, but halfway through the segunda we got what we wanted and he was spectacular. This took up most of the first quarter of the two-hour show and I can't imagine anyone complaining about too much it.

PAS: This was cool stuff, you don't normally see minis get this much time, and the Espectritos have plenty of stuff to fill that time. They just toss Mascarita Sagrada around like he is a wrestling buddy, Espectrios are both little people, but it looks like Rey vs. The Big Show when they are in there with Mascarita. Both technicos of course are armdragging and ranaing machines. Most mini's matches of this era have a pretty high baseline, and this doesn't push it pass that level but no shame in that. 

Aguila de Acero/Super Calo/Winners vs Los Diabolicos (Angel Mortal/Marabunta/Mr. Condor) 

MD: Fairly complete trios match here. I was definitely higher on the Diabolicos than the tecnicos. They were a well oiled machine, both feeding early in the primera and especially during the beatdown in the segunda. Some timing issues from the tecnicos, not getting up on the ropes at the right time, coming into the ring too early during the beatdown and having to stand around, Aguila de Acero coming into the ring too late for the fast count finish which meant the submission lasted way too long. I didn't mind the finish otherwise. When you're looking at this as a card instead of a bunch of individual matches, you need to switch things up and while it got over Pepe Casas more than any of the wrestlers, it's obvious the fans were pretty happy by it. Also, there were a couple of good dives to set it up and a nice tangible feeling of mild dread when post-dives, it ended up two on one for Calo.

Los Power Raiders (Power Raider Azul/Power Raider Blanco/Power Raider Negro/Power Raider Rojo/Power Raider Verde) vs. Heavy Metal/Juventud Guerrera/Karloff Lagarde Jr./Perro Silva/Picudo 

MD: Yeah, this was a mess. You knew it'd be a mess coming in but it wasn't as fun of a mess as I was hoping. The rudo side controlled most of the match, with little hope spots peppered in and there was a lot of talent there but they just didn't mesh. A long beatdown is fine, good even, if the rudos are on the same page and if they keep things moving and interesting. Here they kept Verde in there for way too long and there were a bunch of moments where Juvi just seemed at a loss. He was teaming with Lagarde and he'd hop up on the second rope to do something, and Lagarde would take things in another direction and he'd just have to hop back off. That sort of thing. The focus of the finish was on Perro Silva and Rojo but given the rules of the match, they were absent for most of it. I'm not saying there's not a situation where that could work but I don't think this was it. When things were moving, this was fine, but if this was going to be chaos anyway, I'd actually want more and not less.

La Parka vs. Jerry Estrada - FUN

PAS: This had been out there on a AAA yearbook, but I hadn't seen it before so I figured I would write it up. This was mostly a Tirantes match, which is about my least favorite kind of lucha. Most of the match was focused on Tirantes slow counting for Parka and fast counting for Estrada.  We did get three crazy Parka dives, an almost Sabuish flip dive off the top, a great tope, and a big plancha. Estrada hits a crazy tope into the second row, so we did get a lot of good even with all of the Tirantes. 

El Hijo del Santo/Octagon/Perro Aguayo/Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Blue Panther/Psicosis/Scorpio Jr/Shu El Guerrero

MD: The good stuff. As always, when you get this level of talent and experience and charisma in the ring, it really can't go wrong. Even Perro, who was more physically limited at this point, is such a character, so hard hitting, so spirited and fun that you just can't look away. He's such a folk hero, out there slapping hands on the way to the ring, and then mentoring Rey later. Rey's amazing, of course. What stands out the most to me is how comfortable and willing he is in his role. There's no sense at all of a Napoleon Complex. He doesn't veer in the least, leaning into all of his strengths and vulnerabilities (which are, of course, narrative strengths). Panther hammed it up against Octagon and showed flashes later, like hitting the double stomp or a huge slap on Perro as insult to injury. He was so broad and versatile in the 90s and doesn't get a lot of credit for that anymore relative to his maestro rep. Santo was smooth as could be. Shu was a great bully and Scorpio a perfectl y acceptable stooge, and even Octagon didn't bug me much. Of course, Psicosis was the guy I really wanted to see and he didn't disappoint. Just the perfect mix of basing (feeding and catching Rey) and attitude (shadow boxing on the apron) and flash (amazing twisting senton to end the segunda). It doesn't have a real finish but since it has an awesome and brutal surprise angle, it's hard to be too upset about that.

PAS: Just a murderer's row of legendary all time great luchadores (and Octagon, although he is fine here). I really loved the first fall, with tremendous exchange after tremendous exchange, including some great Rey vs. Psicosis stuff, ending with one of my favorite Star finishes ever, with Perro running around stomping all of the guys in the star. Rudo beatdown in the second and beginning of the third fall was nifty if a bit formless, and we get a wild finish run with tons of crazy dives, and constant switching of the camera from one bit of mayhem to another. Santo/Negro angle at the end was really cool, and pretty unexpected. Too bad Santo's family put a kibosh on the gimmick, because what potential that had. 

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New Footage Friday: POWER TWINS EXPLODE! MASCARITA! FLAIR! OLE! GRUNDY'S EXPLODE! VAMP! CHICANA!

 Ric Flair vs. Ole Anderson NWA 10/17/81

MD: I've never heard anyone talk about this one, so it's new enough for our purposes. We don't have nearly enough 80-81 babyface Flair for my liking, so every bit helps. There's a different energy to him than in later years, or the same energy but channeled differently. It's a strap match where they spend the first chunk with Ole trying to grind on holds (maybe because this followed what was likely a chop-heavy Wahoo vs Piper match) and then later escalate to the win attempts and using the strap as the weapon. The crowd and the later match violence make the earlier parts ok even if they're not what you immediately want. They flub it once and Ole touches all corners and that gives the fans some confusion but everyone recovers and the run-in finish still feels pretty satisfying. 

PAS: I always enjoy when Ole works an arm, he has a really workmanlike sadism to him, like a cruel prison guard in a movie.  He doesn't really care this is a strap match, he is going to tear up the arm and there isn't much anyone can do to stop him. Babyface Flair has a real kinetic energy too him, and his fired up comeback is like something you would expect from Eddie Guerrero. The strapping near the end was nasty stuff and I like how both guys got more desperate. This was a really good match, a chance to see Flair against a rare opponent and see how he adjusts to a different type of match. 

Vampiro Casanova/Sangre Chicana vs. Solomon Grundy/Aaron Grundy 92

MD: Hey, if we count Flair and Ole as cousins, this is a family feud week on NFF. This was a parejas match where the losing team had to then fight in an apuestas match. Aaron is Mike Shaw and he starts out hugging Vampiro before going full rudo on him. Chicana bumped and stooged for Grundy well enough but he was definitely the least featured guy in this one. I liked Shaw's vertical big splash foul as it felt like a very appropriate lucha finisher. They built well to Grundy vs Grundy though there's never a lot to these post-tag apuesta matches. This was fun but not as fun as a straight tag between these guys would have been.

PAS: You want to see more Sangre Chicana in the mix when you look at the on paper match up, and we got a whole heck of a lot of Vampiro. I enjoyed the Grundy's use of their fat, and I agree the splash foul was great stuff. Still this underwhelmed for a big stips match, and the final showdown was much more about the outside interference than two fat guys in overalls hitting each other. 

ER: I actually thought this was a great Vampiro performance, which isn't really a sentence that I find myself typing that often. Vampiro bumped all around the ring and ringside for Aaron Grundy's fatness, and when it was time to fire back he threw actual good punches and then shook his fist out after! It is wrestling fact that any wrestler who shakes out their fist after a punch - regardless of quality of punch - is automatically a Good Wrestler. There are zero examples countering this. You shake out your fist after a punch, you are good. Similarly, if you are a heel and point to your head after doing basically anything, you are automatically a Good Wrestler. This whole thing is chaos, as the Grundy's are attacking each other and Vampiro is attacking Chicana, loved when Aaron hit Solomon on the apron with a chair and then turned right around and hit Vampiro. This is a man with a strategy! The chaos was fun even though it made for a bad traditional match, I loved how the big splashes looked and loved the constantly shifting allegiances. Also, looking at Shaw, and it's unfathomable that Vince didn't get excited seeing him as an overalls wearing hillbilly. That is a wrestler look Vince adores, and it's so weird he opted to turn him into Bastion Booger, with gear that just cannot be explained by anyone. Shaw looked cool with the shaved head and beard, but apparently Vince saw him with the shaved head and thought "You know? Ditch the beard. Also, the eyebrows."

Konnan/Mascarita Sagrada/Wendi Richter/Power Twin 1 vs. Mario Savoldi/Espectrito/Madusa/Power Twin 2 IWAS 7/93

MD: Absolute blast. There was so much going on here, so many spots, so much riffing and goofing, with Ted Petty (unmasked) being a grade A stooge. You could hear a ton of chatter here, and some of that was Konnan directing traffic, but a lot of it ended up sounding like a Popeye cartoon or Army of Darkness or whatever, with Madusa muttering at everyone and just all sorts of foolishness. Power Twins explode was not something I knew I wanted to see but they really leaned into it. This was all over the place, from some really good mini action to Madusa just ambling around the ring with no one letting her do anything, and it fell apart multiple times, but it was so wildly entertaining that it was exactly what we needed during this insane week.

PAS: This was a bunch of fun, really the perfect kind of touring match to bring to a place like the Philippines. I am really surprised that these kind of AAA mixed matches never caught on in the US, great way to fill a card and multi man matches are a great way to hide limited workers. I think Power Twin vs. Power Twin was my favorite part, as they had almost a Brazos interaction with each other with both guys alternating as the aggrieved Super Porky. I thought the heels playing catch with Mascarita was fun, and the payoff of Espectrito being too heavy to lift was great. Fun Petty performance too, it is strange he ended up only getting to big leagues late in his career, he was such a talented performer.  

ER: I agree with Phil, the AAA man/woman/mini/exotico match was one of my favorite match formats in lucha, and always played great in front of non-lucha crowds (I always remember the great version of that match that happened in Hustle). This one is a bizarre and cool twist on that format as it replaces the exotico on each side a freaking POWER TWIN! Adding a large adult twins to either side of a multiman just automatically makes a match recommendable. One unheralded great thing about the Power Twins was that not only did they wear matching singlets and have the same shaped body (I've never understood that, do they eat they exact same meals and do the exact same exercises and walk the same number of steps? How are twins this old still this identical?) but they are also balding in the EXACT same way and that rules. It's easy to like a match where it looks like everyone is having a fun time together, and these people were clearly loving performing in front of this crowd. The fans ate up all the Sagrada/Espectrito exchanges, and they brought a lot of unique shtick that really impressed me. What impressed me was the fact that it seemed like everyone in the match was wholly involved in the shtick, they were all working the bit. Often you get one guy who is good at it (and here that was Ted Petty and stunningly Madusa) and the others work a straight match and let that guy work his shtick. But we had some great group effort on bits here, and that's where the match excelled. I loved Madusa's chatter, she was so good at setting up cheating or setting up Petty to do something fun. Ted Petty worked this match like a more pratfall comedy version of The Sheik, and well, obviously that was going to be great. My favorite thing was when he ran into the ring to attack a Power Twin, and then immediately after paused, wondering if he had attacked the correct Twin,. Honestly the main thing this was missing - and would have been legendary - is if the Power Twins had switched teams at some point and then did a "we're upset because nobody noticed" bit. 

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Lucha Underground Season 4 Episode 21: Ultima Lucha Cuatro - Part 1

TL: We have gone from this series being one of the most sought after pieces of wrestling IP in a really long time to it being available for free on Tubi to watch from the built-in service that comes with my Smart TV. Just in time for us to put this show to bed for good over Ultima Lucha Cuatro. It's been so long since I've watched this I had to go back and read what I wrote for the last couple episodes to familiarize myself with it again but even then, I'm not sure I'll get there. This is very much going to be in-the-moment, based on the ringwork stuff from me. Character work be damned.

ER: So detective Vazquez has lived through a thousand years of society and she's just a cop? The things she must have seen, the dynasties she saw fall...and she's an LA detective? Are there vampires that just open their own paint store?

TL: For being 1,000 years old, Vazquez looks fantastic. Good for her. Extremely happy that her and Aerostar completed the pendant, as they're now going to be able to withstand a guard attack while traversing the Hidden Temple for their lost tribal icon. Hoping Olmec makes an appearance on commentary tonight.

ER: Lots to talk about in just the intros, because Vampiro makes the most ridiculous faces for the duration of Matt Striker's opening spiel. Vampiro was acting like he was reading along with a script, and was making these bug eyed affirmative faces every time Striker would finish a line. Also, it just hit me that Vampiro has hair. He was a big fat guy who voluntarily was shaving his head, intentionally looking like the boat zombie from Zombie!? Nobody shaves their head just to look cool, it's always a choice that's made for them. But Vampiro has hair and he makes reaction faces bigger than the biggest Jeremy Borash TNA reaction faces. Also, Melissa Santos' had a great dress/headband combo, very flattering and a cool style.


The Rabbit Tribe (Paul London/The White Rabbit/El Bunny) vs. Sammy Guevara/XO Lishus/Ivelisse vs. The Reptile Tribe (Jeremiah Snake/Daga/Kobra Moon)

ER: This kicked ass, the kind of bananas match you want from a LU multiman. I do wish the Rabbit Tribe hadn't been eliminated so early, but I like what they did while they were there. This could have been a real mess, but it turned out to be the best kind of mess. All of the jumbled attacks worked well when everyone was in the ring together, Jeremiah throwing big straight kicks at anyone on his path, then tossing his own team to their death. Jeremiah THROWS Kobra to the floor with a powerbomb, bouncing her right off White Rabbit, who just picks her up off the ground and throws her into the ringpost. Two great back to back bumps from Kobra, and the craziest one was yet to come. The dive train was cool, with El Bunny hitting a tiny tope con hilo while Ivelisse held open the ropes, then Ivelisse bent over the top rope while standing on the middle rope so Guevara could vault over her onto the pile (the camera guy really zoomed right up Ivelisse's birth canal, so I can only assume this episode was guest directed by Larry Clark), then Ivelisse flipped over the ropes to cap it off. I dug how everyone scattered, giving every side of the Temple a cool view of different action, but Sammy and Kobra Moon fight up to the top and get a great tease where Guevara almost throws her right off...before hitting a nutso Spanish Fly off the camera stage instead. Even though the move was performed perfectly and everyone was in place to catch, it's still flat out nuts. Plus, they did a great job in editing to not show the actual floor until they were flying off, so you had no idea if there were seven people or zero people down there to catch them. There were some strong pinfall saves, nice kicks to the back of the head, great use of fake blood when White Rabbit jams his gloved fingers down Guevara's throat, an awesome bit where XO fights back against the whole Reptile Tribe, just a ton of fun. This match really felt like season 1 LU, which is nothing but a big compliment.

TL: It's so wild to see Killer Kross go from LU to Impact to becoming The Next Big Thing in NXT in the span of like 18 months. I remember when he called out Batista at Bloodsport and kinda scoffed, but now he's pretty undeniable, and as if on cue, he destroys all six of his opponents only to eat a quintuple superkick. Guevara's excitement is so palpable here, and it's really wild to me that he got used as fodder for Jake Strong like he did. The big Spanish Fly dive was really well done, and him getting the first pin to eliminate the Tribe was a nice touch, but again, with how Kross was built up throughout the season, it seemed like a waste of him here, which unfortunately seems to be this season's MO. The blood was a great touch, like Eric said, but I would have just liked to see a Kross/Guevara singles match, especially with how much Guevara has impressed in his AEW run. The final fall started off really well with the Ivelisse near-fall, and even dug Vampiro's comparison to a World Cup match where a team gets a red card and has to play with 10. Okay, the timing of the near falls here has been REALLY good, and has done a good job of building up the challengers as underdogs, and XO's fire out of the corner really played up, and the extra shot by Jeremiah to give Daga the submission was a nice touch. The booking was a bit much, but the match was exactly what it needed to be given the stips. Feels like the least interesting team won, though.


Ricky Mundo vs. Taya

ER: This is exactly what it should have been: a mostly one sided massacre to blow off a story that never had legs. Once Mundo's creepy doll got involved this went beyond a dark obsession story into something into something eyerolling with no chance of an interesting payoff. And so, the only answer was to have Taya take everything in a short match. I liked Taya landing heavy on a couple crossbodies, the curb stomp looked good, and the post match table spot with Taya letting out her ruined wedding aggression was the best this was going to be. It's smart to know your limits and I'm glad they didn't make this into some overblown epic that it was never going to be. They spent the correct amount of time on it, and you need that kind of smart editing.

TL: I'm not really into this at all because of Ricky more than anything, but Taya showed some nice fire. I wish it was more one-sided than it actually was, with a Taya steamrolling being more emphatic, but LU has always been about the hand-holding for references to previous parts of the storyline, so given that, they hit all the right notes and Taya stood tall. As Eric said, was exactly what it should have been.


Mask vs. Mask: Son of Havoc vs. Killshot

ER: This didn't work for me. It never felt like an actual big stip match, really it didn't feel any different from any other singles match these two have had against any other LU opponent. There were big spots, but every LU match with these guys has the exact kind of big spots that this match had, this match just had less of them (so I guess that means that they are more important?). Plus, the big spots didn't really look that great. Havoc's three big moments all saw him land physically short with his arms in front of him, with Striker even having to cover for his short SSP landing by saying he got Killshot with his head. The camera stand dive looked big, but Guevara's Spanish Fly 20 minutes earlier off that same camera stand looked way bigger. I liked the superplex onto the gurney, but the set ups for all these spots felt like they could have been tightened up in editing. The big shock is when Dumb Donald finally takes off his knit cap to reveal Shane Strickland!

TL: The matches that led up to this left a lot to be desired, even though I came away from them thinking Killshot was at least trying to do a bit more than just throw out spots, and figured maybe the blowoff could lead to something more focused, but the focus came more from them remembering walking through their more complicated sequences. And then after the first Killstomp, it slows to a halt once the gurney gets involved, with them chewing up airtime more than them building up to big spots including either that or the table Havoc introduces. I think the play was for the match to be more deliberate than the Hell of War match, which was basically like a 20-minute adrenaline shot, but instead, it came off plodding, and knowing both the Hell of War match and what Sammy did earlier in the night, not even that Havoc splash in the table came off as good. The superplex into the gurney was pretty damn insane, but for Havoc to survive that, a Killstomp, and then a Storm Cradle Driver seems a bit much. The only thought in my head is "I really hope this doesn't end on a roll-up" and I'm holding on tight. I think the reason I'm not feeling this match as much is because I've seen a lot of the stuff they've done better either earlier in the night (strikes, dives, nearfalls) or in previous matches including either guy, but hey, if you're gonna finish a guy, a Shooting Star Press on a guy tied to a gurney will get it done. "History has been made!" says Matt Striker, and I agree, this match is now in my past. There just wasn't enough drama here for me to buy into the nearfalls, nothing was really earned. It came off flat and hollow. And wouldn't you know it, it's Jermaine Strickland, who basically drops the mic and heads for NXT mediocrity, which I guess is better than what can be said for most folks on this show. At the very least, it got the women in the crowd ready to cry, which is what you really need from an apuestas match. But not before Dante Fox shows up in stolen valor for their tribute to the troops as Strickland heads for Orlando.


TL: It really does feel like we're crawling to the finish line of this marathon, but I also feel like, especially given how the finale of previous Ultima Luchas have gone, we're going to see something absolutely wild given the environment they're working, which is really all you can ask for a show doing its swan song. At least send us home on a high note, even if it's been more slog than passion project this season.


COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

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Lucha Underground Season 4 Episode 17: The Moth and the Butterfly

TL: Oh my God, the opening cinematic with Aerostar telling Melissa he's seen the end of everything was extremely bad. Cringey bad. Like the SNL guest who can't read the cue cards off camera bad. Melissa had to have been fed every line she said. Aerostar, bless his heart, is doing what he can with this.

XO Lishus/Joey Ryan/Ivelisse vs. Paul London/The White Rabbit/El Bunny

ER: The return of Mascarita Sagrada to LU can only be a good thing, and Killer Kross finally makes a TV match, a fun late addition to the fed. This was a jump up from last week's trios match. The Rabbit Tribe is a fun stable and the mix of London/Sagrada/Kross is a twisted WAR team that totally works. Sagrada vs. XO Lishus was not a match I realized I wanted, but damn was it fun as hell as it was happening. Paul London bumps around for Ivelisse as well as any man in the fed has, a nice recovery for her after a sloppy performance last week. We got a huge London dropkick to the floor and a Sagrada stopped momentum dive to Ivelisse that somehow looked good. And they did a fun thing all match long by having Kross glower from the apron, with it practically a known conclusion that he was just going to end things the moment he stepped into the match. He did, and they finished on an awesome visual, Kross choking out Joey Ryan with a mandible claw, wearing gimmicked gloves with bloody fingers, like he was gouging into Ryan's esophagus.

TL: I'm stoked to see what Kross does here as the White Rabbit. Mascarita and Paul bring it more often than not, but Kross is here to be brooding and explosive (supposedly). The London unitard/powder white face paint combo is the right kind of weird. Ivelisse getting the hot tag here was certainly a choice. XO LIshus and Sagrada paired off somewhat nicely, and Sagrada just in general came off really well here. One of the better examples of his size not being played up as something of a detriment. I agree that the match-ending mandible claw visual was awesome, and shows how presence and intent goes a long way. The stuff surrounding this was fine, but the Kross payoff was about as good as it's gonna get. It's so weird that they bring him in now with only a few weeks to go and he goes over that strong, but my thought is they take the trios titles...and then the company folds? Sigh.

Killshot vs. Son of Havoc

ER: So I forgot what had been going on between Killshot and Son of Havoc, or if they even had anything, but Striker tells me this is a big match so I'll go with it. They did work it as if it were more important than the #1 contender's match last week, so maybe this is a big deal. They use way too much sound sweetening, but there was good stuff here. Son of Havoc hits a big tope and he's always landing too close to the Temple steps, and I could see these two stepping up and having a fun mask match. They felt like they had big match formula down in a good way here, even if I don't like some of their offense.

TL: Seeing Strickland as Isaiah Scott now in NXT allows him to show off some more personality but the offense still doesn't work with me yet. He needs to tighten things up a bit, and this match doesn't bode well for two guys who like to try stuff that come off incredibly choreographed. And while this did have hints of that, they didn't try to do as much as I thought! It at least had good intentions, and I thought for sure there was going to be a few spots that got too cute. This was fine. And now we get to see it again as an apuestas. THAT'S probably going to be when they get too cute and I yell and scream, but whatever.

TL: Moth gets some promo time and looks way more comfortable in pre-taped segments than with a live mic. Reklusa is a great wrestling name for Chelsea, too.

No DQ: Marty The Moth Martinez vs. Mariposa

ER: This was great, easily one of the best LU matches in this cursed season. I think we'll have to do an actual ranked Season 4 Top 10 matches list when we're done with this. There's a strong chance that I won't have anything from this season on our MOTY List, and there have been strong representatives from the other 3 seasons. There were many reps from season 1, several from season 2, less in season 3, but none so far 17 episodes in to season 4. This came damn close, a really fun and violent brawl with Mariposa taking a cruel beating and firing back with some inventive comebacks. We built up to a couple of very strong nearfalls, more effective than anything I can remember this season. Martinez really beats her up, and I think it actually worked better because they have been presented as having a weird relationship for their entire time in LU. They've established that we could really expect these two to treat each other however, so the intergender thing worked for it. Mariposa took a great beating and bled, got slammed into walls and even powerbombed on the floor! Her comebacks were logical and violent, at one point burying Moth in about 15 chairs, all throwing hard at him, and late in the match she punts him right in the balls as payback for his shot to the crotch at the beginning of the match. I get the Reklusa interference (and love the name too) but I was enjoying the match so much that I was hoping they'd build to something more special for a finish. But this was good, and the postmatch beating Marty gave her felt edgier than LU has felt in awhile. Fans are super hot for the Moth/Pentagon title match, and even though Pentagon is probably the guy I'm least interested in watching on this current roster, I am now foolishly excited for that match.

TL: Oh HELL YES. MORE CHEERLEADER MELISSA. Low key, she's been one of the best match for match performers in the show's history, and I'm stoked to see her get a showcase match here. The start was great, the headbutt from Mariposa, the low blow, the vicious beatdown and mask ripping in the corner by Marty, Mariposa flying into the stands and then SHE BLEEDS ON THE CHAIR SHOT. And then Martinez whips her headfirst into the table like a goddamn madman and this has my attention pretty easily from the get go. Marty then powerbombs her into the grate and then sits out on the floor with it; a sequence that looks kinda blah in other matches, but because of the carnage on the outside so far, really fits in as Marty dominating her early on. They're going for it and it's like they woke this show up a bit. And then the madness of that chair pileup spot during the Mariposa comeback, and Vampiro literally jumping for joy as Mariposa rains down two dozen or so thrown chairs on Marty. I can't get over how much this rules, to be honest. When she set up the chair, I thought she was gonna go crazy and hit the Kudo Driver through it, but the Samoan Drop was nasty as all hell, too. Amazing near falls in this match on her two attempts. Then Marty retains with Pentagon's Fear Factor to retain after Reklusa interference to rub it in. Spectacular stuff, an absolute burst of energy on a show that has long needed it, easily the best match this season. Mariposa remains one of my favorite wrestlers in the history of the show, and even though for whatever reason they didn't give her much to work with in-ring, she absolutely crushed it every time she was given an opportunity to shine. Marty is gonna die for us in the Cero Miedo match (let's be honest: he ain't topping Vampiro from the first one) and that will be fun but man, even without spoilers, it's easy to see how things are going to end up. Five more episodes to go...

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 33: Havoc Running Wild

TL: Really enjoy when Dario can show off the acting chops, as he gets all into making Rey vs. Matanza finally happen. As well he should.

Son of Madness vs. Mascarita Sagrada

ER: Quick match to set up the main event, which is fine as I don't have tons of interest seeing Sagrada face guys in a singles match. Havoc runs out to jump Madness, which isn't very honorable. Madness wasn't unprofessional during or after the match, feels weird for Dario to give Havoc a chance at an Aztec medallion. And they clearly had tons of ideas for Madness, as they brought him in, immediately had he and Havoc fight...then nothing until bringing him back a couple months later to fight Havoc again. We don't really know WHY Madness has it out for Havoc, other than they dress the same and he's the only guy we've seen him against. This is pretty dumb.

TL: Mascarita Sagrada wearing a biker vest is one of the most Lucha Underground things ever. Very happy they didn’t have him come out on a Big Wheel, which is something I would have 100% expected. Madness needed a win somehow, and a regular old vertical suplex (it was supposed to be a brainbuster, but it looked like a damn suplex more than anything else) gets the job done. I GUESS there had to be a blowoff between Madness and Havoc, but did anyone really want it?

Marty "The Moth" Martinez vs. Argenis

ER: I really liked the Argenis/Pentagon Dark match (from Ep. 22, the last time we saw Argenis), and especially like Argenis in that match. His stock continues to rise as he works another match that - just like that Pentagon match - could have been a squash match but instead was turned into something more memorable and meaningful due to Argenis. Here he bumps big for all of Moth's big slams, and I loved his comeback, snagging Moth's foot during a leapfrog to make him faceplant, then kicking him in the chest while he recovers. Argenis hits a big flip dive (and I still get scared thinking someone is going to bust open the back of their head on those temple steps) and a nice rana on the floor. Mariposa throws him into the post, and he takes a nice post bump, and comes up bleeding. We don't actually get a lot of blood in this fed (or wrestling in general anymore), so it really made the match feel like a bigger deal to me, and made Argenis look tougher for lasting as long as he did. I'm game for a Fenix/Moth Mascara contra Caballera.

TL: I don’t know when Argenis became one of the better transition guys in Lucha Underground, but he wrestles the way I want guys to transition on offense. He comes up with nifty ways to get back on offense from basic things (huge sucker for a trip off a leapfrog attempt) and then, as Eric says, he’ll bump HUGE to feed the heel. It’s really basic stuff, but he does it in really great ways. I mentioned Dario’s acting chops earlier, but the cutaways to Melissa saying, “Marty! What are you DOING?” is cringe-inducing. Argenis bleeds buckets because he just wants us to like him that much more before Marty finishes him off. Really happy to see Marty booked like an honest-to-God rudo and actually make him bleed and take a mask. An apuestas match I can really get behind.

Joey Ryan vs. Sexy Star

ER: How does the sound effects guy sleep at night after adding those ridiculous sounds to Sexy Star's slaps? She knows her way around some awful offense (I cannot think of someone with a worse legdrop), but I did really like her throwing Ryan by his chest hair. Striker gets all giddy talking about areolas, but the joke was her clearly throwing Ryan by grabbing clumps of his chest hair. I didn't hate this. I expected to hate this. That has to count for something.

TL: So Sexy Star gets 80% of the match, and then eats a superkick and loses. And when Joey DOES win, Striker calls it “The biggest win of his LU career.” I also expected to hate this more, but it was just there. That’s better than most Sexy Star matches I can talk about.

Boyle Heights Biker Brawl: Son of Madness vs. Son of Havoc

ER: The feud that continues, for reasons we might never know! I really liked the first half of this, both guys took dangerous bumps to the floor, stiff trash can shots, Madnes hits an insane slingshot double stomp to the floor (and Havoc was not lying close to the ring, Madness really went a long way to stomp a hole in him), Havoc getting shoved into the crowd, Madness bumping down the riser seating, big dive from Havoc. All of that kind of stuff has contributed to the best kinds of LU brawls. So I really loved all the stuff that went to the floor, but I didn't love a lot of the stuff in ring. Havoc has really weak offense, which tends to look weaker - and sillier - in the middle of a wild brawl. The driver on the trash can was pretty rough, but the stuff with a hammer and beer bottle just comes off ridiculous. If they had given me some more reason to actually care about why Havoc was willing to hit another guy in the face with a bottle, it could have been a major moment, but other than knowing that these two likely have some kind of a past, that's all we know. They've had two matches, the second one ending with a bottle to the face. It feels like I should know more about those motivations.

TL: That double stomp over the top to the floor made my eyes wide. That’s a ridiculous idea and it looked absolutely rough as all hell. A lot of this stuff looked reckless, which adds to the fact that it’s a street fight. The footprints on the back from the Havoc double stomp was a cool aesthetic. The back body drop into the steel grating was sick. It does lose a lot going back into the ring considering what the first part of this match brought on, and Havoc bouncing around as if he didn’t take a bunch of punishment is par for the course for him. At least the Mushroom Stomp looked good this time. This ended up being a good match, but they could have done a lot more if they made the end of the match look more like the first half of the match.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 23: Family First

ER: My gosh you guys! Fenix and Melissa Santos are getting steamyyyyyyyy. They were acting like cute high school kids, with Fenix cruising up in his custom Camaro (I have to imagine the highway patrol would not recommend driving in a mask, as your peripheral vision is of utmost importance on the road) and suddenly the garage gets super windy as Melissa's hair swoops around. These wild eyed kids.

TL: I think what makes this unbelievable to me is that Fenix would drive that type of car, although it does vibe with Eric’s description of literally every movie we grew up watching depicting high school romance. If Fenix was wearing a jean jacket, I would have thought it was too on the nose. Marty is still psychotic, don’t you know. Don’t get why you have to bang your head through glass to prove it, but there you have it. Psychotic Marty Martinez. Psychomoth. Okay, how come he wasn’t just Psychomoth from the start?!? Shoutouts to Melissa for the wardrobe change before the opener.

1. Vinny Massaro vs. Cage

ER: Glad to see Massaro in an actual match, and it was a fun one. Vinny has always been able to crack a jaw with a forearm, and he blasts Cage a few times here. Cage is a beast and leans in to everything, all of Vinny's lariats and elbows, and throws back. Vinny works in one of my favorite spots from his old trainer Mike Modest, when Cage tries to slingshot him back in the ring Vinny just lets go of the ropes and gives Cage an eyepoke (Modest would usually throw a forearm). But Cage catches a lariat and slams Vinny on the apron. I liked Vinny's hope comeback and liked how the Temple crowd was getting into it. Naturally he goes for the Power Glove, misses, and Cage spikes him with the screwdriver. Postmatch Vinny gets busted open and chokeslammed from the ring to the floor. Vinny does not do well in Lucha Underground post match.

TL: Vinny Mass out here taking it to Cage and getting some offense in! He lights up Cage a bit with some nice forearms and then even gets a nice STO. With Cage basically on one leg, this is at least fun, especially to see Cage power through it to make some of this stuff work. Vinny took some pretty sick bumps, including the aforementioned chokeslam, where he really took a nasty fall. So sad to see the pride of Sicily go so soon.

TL: I’m now starting to see what Eric was talking about with these voiceovers, as the cheesiness is definitely apparent. Mundo going the full Johnny Lawrence is inspired, though.

2. Marty the Moth Martinez vs. Saltador

ER: Not loving how Saltador-heavy this match was, as working the LSD gimmick basically just means a sorta boring wrestler now also wrestles badly. It doesn't really work. And Moth isn't really a good style match for him, as they both brought out bad aspects of each other. It's fun watching Moth bump around for armdrags and run into a superkick, but he's a big guy and I like him more against other big guys. Here instead of throwing bombs and big bumps he broke out a bunch of indy offense, like a big silly chokeslam into his own knees while he takes a back bump. That stuff is almost always dumb. The powerbomb into the railing was sick, but didn't seem to mean anything to the context of the match.

TL: Saltador going full on tripped out World of Sport chain wrestling madness is going to get a win from me, even if I’m not a big fan of the mind games shtick. I get the disconnect Eric is talking about, but at least he’s playing up to the gimmick. Striker playing up the sensuality and Marty getting turned on by the violence just makes me shake my head, though. This match made me feel a bunch of different weird ways. It had some decent Marty offense. And the postmatch stalker collage is a bit much, but hey, character development!

3. Pindar vs. Mascarita Sagrada

ER: Pindar was a good choice for this match, as I'm both excited to see him advance (although I was half expecting them to let Sagrada advance improbably far in this tournament) and get more singles matches, but he's also a good base for Sagrada's insanity. Throw all logic out the window and just accept that a super sturdy guy is going to be taking flip bumps for a 60 pound man. Sagrada hits a nutso flip dive rana through the ropes and slaps Kobra Moon. Vampiro - I assume quoting Trump at a recent campaign rally - says he "slapped the bitch out of her". Pindar hits him with a stiff yakuza kick and an amusing flapjack cutter. Pindar was also benevolent enough to not recklessly destroy the little guy.

TL: Pindar continues to be one of the best bases in LU history by being right there for all of Mascarita’s offense and hitting some really nice power offense. He even does the damn Harley Race/Brock Lesnar high knee bump in the corner and I am all in. The Sagrada tope suicida con Dragonrana is an insane spot. And then he does the rope walk diving rana to the outside. The Pyramid Driver into the flapjack to finish by Pindar was ridiculous. This was very fun professional wrestling to watch.

4. Mariposa vs. Fenix

ER: This is probably the best showing in LU for Mariposa, which is a sentence that probably nobody cares about. Vampiro says "Mariposa has been beaten down all her life," which...is not something that has ever actually been implied in any of the Mariposa sketches. I assume Vampiro does not actually watch these shows. But Mariposa looked good, and Fenix is a nut getting spiked on a tornado DDT. Mariposa gets a nice rana to the floor, but really the match was pretty inconsequential. Moth comes out after and Fenix hits a wild dive on everybody.

TL: Mariposa seems extremely underutilized when Sexy F’n Star is getting all that run and she shows again why in this match, pulling out some fun as all hell offense and going toe to toe with Fenix with the highly contrived lucha sequences. I like that she got a bunch of offense in at least, but it was a sudden finish. Bleh way to end just to get to that dive.

ER: Is this tournament going to take place over the rest of the season? Tying up 32 guys like this seems like a really bad idea. I'm sure things will pick up a bit once we get through these first round matches, but we still have EIGHT first round matches to go. That's just too much. And tying up this much time on a cup that looks as silly as that really shows a major lack from the props department. Is this whole thing literally for just a title shot? Dario has stopped random matches to give title shots before. Now he wants to tie up 3 months of TV to reward one? This ranks right at the bottom of Dario ideas.

TL: Quick math shows that they have to go two more weeks for the first round, two more weeks for the second round, then maybe one more week for the third round? So five weeks at least? That’s a lot of tournament to watch, and I love me some tournaments. This might be a chore, though. We’ll get through this, my friend. Together.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 10: Ready for War

1. Believer's Backlash: Famous B vs. Mascarita Sagrada

ER: This was exactly what it should have been and very fun. Famous B put on a helluva show with pratfall bumps, weapons improv and amusing vain comedy. He took all of Mascarita's shots and made them look gold, bumping huge on a football helmet headbutt, tripping and falling into a giant bag of popcorm, really just doofing it up all around the temple. Brenda gets piefaced, Sagrada hits a big elbowdrop of a step ladder on the announce table, and this was as long as it should have been. I would have liked to see some more random fan weapons used. And I always wondered how that worked. Do fans really bring their own objects to use as weapons, or does the fed pass them out? It would be a hilarious visual to see a bunch of wrestling fans milling about the street all carrying makeshift clubs and frying pans. I assume we'll see pictures of fans waiting in line for this taping spread across InfoWars as PROOF of an unpatriotic liberal uprising.

MD: I'm sure it's been done before but this was the Let's Make a Deal version of the "Fans Bring the Weapons" match. I loved the guy with the football. I also really love B's Jimmy Hart style jacket for Wagner. In a promotion where they tout Chavo Guerrero Jr. as a lucha legend, the Arrogance can was the most self-aware thing they've ever done. It's telling that it was proclaiming an awareness for 1991 WWF TV as opposed to actual lucha libre. My favorite bit was the magic wand and hat though. I would have been perfectly happy if that was the finish. They went on after that but not really to the match's detriment. Anyway, this was hugely feel good, a season ending sort of thing. I'm curious what the follow up will be.

MD: I'm not sure if Eric caught it but Daga got killed off screen. This is a wrestling promotion where people get killed off screen by members of the reptile clan. Also embarrassing fart jokes, so there you go.

ER: I completely missed that. Just like I missed Ryck apparently being killed in a comic book. And the Jack Chick tract detailing Vampiro's dark arts propaganda.

2. Marty The Moth Martinez, Jeremiah Crane, The Mack, Ivelisse & Mariposa vs. Cage, Texano, Dante Fox, Killshot & Argenis

ER: This was fun until the faceplant finish. It's a shame it was only 6 minutes as 10 people could milk this for way more fun. Plus short match time + large amount of match participants = Striker feeling the need to talk louder and faster to get his hack jokes in. Crane made a nice debut, Cage looked killer and hit one of his best 360 lariats, Mack hits his giant fat guy dive, Striker reminds me I still have two Cage/Texano matches to watch, and everything is flowing wonderfully...and then we get an immediate rudo turn by Fox, at the exact same time we're getting an injury angle (?), with Ivelisse rolling to the floor holding her ankle going Not Again! Dante Fox hits one of the most improbable drivers possible to turn on Killshot, really moving through several points of dance just to go through the trouble of getting him on his shoulders. Grab an arm, now the other, cross them, extend them, curl them tight to the body, now lift! It took as long for me to type that as it did for Fox to physically go through the motions. It looked terrible. Killshot has only been tolerable when matched against a larger dude who he can bump for. Now he'll be matched with a guy the exact same size as him doing the exact same flips. Yuck. Fox's inverted cannonball to the floor was sick though.

MD: With the exception of Argenis, everyone here had some sort of purpose or issue. Some of that is Marty just being an all out scumbag who pisses off everyone, but in general it highlights the strength of the promotion. I'm with Eric on Killshot. I've liked him well enough in a cinematic brawl or in a mismatch but he's the last guy you want in one of these multiman flipfests. I thought Crane looked good in his first actual match though you ended up forgetting him in the morass. It probably wasn't the best way to introduce the crowd to his stuff. As disposable Lucha Underground wrestling goes, this was fun, sure.

3. Grave Consequences: Mil Muertes vs. Prince Puma

ER: They've had a lot of fun with this gimmick and this match was no different. The match wasn't as good as the first one, but probably better than the one with Matanza. Puma starts it off big by jumping Mil and leaping from the back of the temple down into the crowd. All of the spots with the casket are always super impressive. That thing looks heavy as hell so it adds a lot of realism to the stuff they're doing around it. And all the spots into that casket always look back breaking. Both men bounce off it in painful ways, but that's not enough as Puma decides it's best for him to go through several tables. The chokeslam off the top through tables looked nuts, the spear through a table was great (with a piece of table almost hanging in air before dropping across Muertes' head), and Puma even made "normal" moves look devastating, like the flatliner on the floor. Muertes' big gimmick stip matches are as close to a guarantee as you can get to a good match. Although, am I the only one who thought this match just kind of...happened? The build really didn't seem strong, it just felt like the time of the season dictated the match. "Well, a Grave Consequences match has taken place about 10 episodes into the other seasons, so it's time to do another one!" Felt much more like Hell in a Cell happening because it's the month that Hell in a Cell happens, much less like "this match NEEDS to be Grave Consequences!"

MD: I'd rank this one in the middle as well. I did like the callbacks to Konnan. I don't know if he's on the outs with LU at this point or what (I think Vampiro replaced him in AAA), but if he is (and wouldn't he be on TV if he wasn't?), they deserve all the more credit for referencing him for the sake of story despite that. I was more into the general build for this than Eric. Vampiro goading Puma into it happened over a span of weeks and it certainly seemed big enough. Part of that depends on where they go from here, though.

I think the familiarity helped relative to the first one with Fenix. We know these characters a lot better by now. They've presented Puma as a star from day one. It made sense that he'd be able to hang with Muertes, even as he bounced off him, and I thought Puma wrestled well as an Ace fighting a monster in his own match.

The set pieces more or less made this. The 630 onto the coffin was crazy. The ring hook was gnarly. The powerbomb onto the coffin earlier in the match almost made the long, long time that Muertes took to set things up forgivable. It's telling that Eric, without the two of us comparing notes, picked a few completely different moments to highlight. I don't think I've actively got excited for anything on this show quite like the handstand reversal out of the Flatliner, though. That's probably the spot of the season.

They gave it all gravitas at the end by not doing a skit after the match like they normally do. So, yeah, I thought this felt weightier than Eric, but a lot of it does depend on where things go from here.


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 6: The Open Road to Revenge

MD: The camera shot for all of Chavo's chairshots was pretty surreal. I get what they were going for but it felt like a video game cut scene. They should mock up some old grainy footage of Chavo, Sr. vs Dragon Azteca, Sr. The company can be such a weird mix of history and fiction sometimes. That's where Vampiro and Striker bringing in just a bit too much real history (like they'd do in the main with the WWE Cruiserweight Title) hurts things instead of helping. They're in a surreal alternate reality with life-prolonging magic rocks and Black Lotus ninja clans. Just run with it.

1. Famous B & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Mascarita Sagrada & Son of Havoc

ER: My, Wagner and B certainly had to be mighty generous in this one. It's more than a little silly to have a star as big as Wagner come in and bump all over the ring from armdrags, headscissors and crossbodies from Sagrada. Sagrada is talented but his stuff is light even for a tiny guy. His crossbodies looked like when my cat got outside and I had to chase him down to bring him back in. He got up on a fence and then jumped off onto me. Now, I have a really big cat. He's a Maine coon and is close to 19 pounds. But it was still a 19 pound cat jumping onto a 160 pound me. It's not like Doc needs to be in every main event, we've been seeing him in main events for years and years. But his fees can't be too cheap, and it's odd seeing him work Sagrada in his first full match. Still I got so annoyed watching Sagrada run his game that I started reacting the same as when everybody has to be super gentle with Sexy Star, it made me turn against Sagrada.

MD: Boy, was Brenda super produced here, and that production was "Call him a baby repeatedly." There's a WWF match from January 92 or so where Dibiase was feuding with Santana (El Matador) for just a little bit and it's a Manager Cam match so the entirety of the match was focused on Sherri and not on the ring. It basically is Sherri shouting "Teddy Bear!" for ten minutes. Granted, it's Sherri so there are still moments of it working, like when she proclaims that she always liked Tito when he's menacing her and then immediately that she was lying and she always hated him when Ted cuts him off. But yeah, too much one-note Brenda. Wagner gave a lot but maybe not too much since spirtually, he was held back by being in there with Famous B, right? I still think they could have done more with Havoc after the end of last season. Anyway, this kept things building at least, with B cockily pinning Sagrada while checking his pulse. It'll be nice when he gets his comeuppance and Wagner's a definite step up from Blue Demon for the guy in that same sort of role in the company.

2. Jack Evans vs. Sexy Star

"[this match] should be nothing short of amazing!"~Matt Striker

ER: It was. It was a failure in just about every way. We get our second match in a row watching a person with implausible offense taking 2/3 of the match, they're still trying to push her history of abuse which is just uncomfortable as hell in a wrestling show context, and we have the continuing annoyance that nobody can beat Sexy Matanza. The only parts of the match that worked were when she would capitalize after Evans was goofing around. The best, most logical moment of the match, was Jack doing several handsprings into a corner eyepoke, but Sexy Star turning the tide and doing several turnbuckle aided corner sentons. That's the stuff we should be seeing more from Sexy Star, just some move spamming to downed opponents; instead we get her offense treated as not just equal, but usually MORE powerful. Evans bumped all over the place for her (I mean, it IS Evans) and she can't return the favor, because she's just not good. So it's that same neverending feeling of watching someone good have to reallllly overextend themselves to make Sexy Star look good, and there's just no satisfying payoff. She rarely encounters adversity on screen, and it all just makes me actively root for her failure. Which then makes me feel like a creep. I hate it.

MD: Sometimes the fact that Striker knows nothing about CMLL annoys me more than it should. I don't have the first idea the difference between a hilo and a giro and a tornillo but I know what Ultimo Guerrero's Senton De La Muerte is called. Good on Evans for getting the Star Destroyer name over. His blockbuster looked really nasty too, but that was probably more because Star couldn't physically take it and just crumpled instead. I thought all the BS at the end was effective and Evans bumped big for her and looked overall pretty good (though maybe the face puppeting was a bit too much for what this was). If they're building Sexy Star up for a title match, her going through all of Worldwide Underground isn't a bad way to do that. It's traditional and episodic. I just wish it wasn't her. Aerostar's dive was the highlight of all of this. The trust fall back headbutt thing is always insane to begin with but he really tucked himself up this time around.

3. Pentagon Dark vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Rey Mysterio

ER: Would have rather seen a singles match with any combo of these guys, but I say that almost every time. And this match was good enough, but it all leads to Chavo and Rey feuding. And I like Chavo in LU a lot more than most, but there are so many other Rey matches and feuds that I'd rather see at this point. At this point in Rey's career I want fresh matches. It feels like we're one bad landing from not getting Rey at this level of quality, so I'd rather not see him use his remaining bullets against a guy he's faced probably 50 times already. I also still don't think I understand Pentagon "Dark". He was definitely more vicious as just Pentagon Jr., now he's just way more hammy. I think I liked the Pentagon House Blend more. We do get some fun spots mixed in with the clunky 3 way moments, and I really liked the finish with Chavo yanking Rey's leg and then taking a nasty superkick off the apron, leading to Rey taking the package piledriver. But you still had Rey doing all sorts of kung fu earlier in the show in a segment with Chavo, and here he just tried to roll Chavo up a couple of times. Psychology goes out the window in these matches. And poor Dragon Azteca Jr. couldn't be much more dead in the water. Chavo dominates him last week and he only gets his shot at Pentagon because of interference, and on this show he's just silently taken out without even getting his singles match. Not that he would have fared well anyway, but that would have been better for Pentagon. That guy could use an actual singles match win over someone.

MD: For a three way, I liked this. Some of that was Chavo's personality (a hyena behind the lion, which is how Vampiro put it in the best bit of commentary on the show). Some of it was Rey being Rey, hitting stuff that he shouldn't be hitting at his age and physical state and making it all look awesome. Ok, look, I do know what a tornillo is and his was great. I'm not sure I've seen that dive look as good from him in a decade plus. Some of it was just how well it was laid out (there was just one moment towards the end where I thought Rey was gone from the match for too long). Pentagon and Chavo were different but both equally effective bases. I liked the double 619 attempt set up because that's Rey just being tactical. No one else in wrestling could pull that off. I'm with Eric that Pentagon's stuff can be too hammy now. He shouldn't have been banging on the chair to get the crowd into it. He should have been killing Chavo instead. This felt like a big win that Pentagon needed and I like the set up. Sure I'd rather see Rey vs other people but Rey coming in with a bad leg is good enough that I'll happily see it with Chavo once again.




COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

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