Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 22: Fame & Fortune

ER: Having Voodoo Glow Skulls on every week really brings me back to high school. I had no clue those guys were still going. I wonder what the Pietasters are up to.

1. Daga vs. Mascarita Sagrada

ER: Striker keeps pointing out that Sagrada hasn't won a match since signing up with Famous B, but he's failing to mention that Sagrada is also getting far more opportunities than he did before. Yeah he was on the winning side of a couple six mans last season, but now he's getting into actual contender matches. I'm not sure how him losing those matches is any fault of Famous B. We might just have to come to terms with the fact that Sagrada is 65 pounds, and that *may* be holding him back. It's cute that Daga leaps way into ranas for him, but really either Striker is missing the point of this storyline, or more likely they have no actual idea what the eventual outcome of this storyline is going to be. And they probably should have picked a different fan to cut to than the girl who was laughing while Famous B was kicking the shit out of Sagrada. I know lucha cameramen are taught to look for cute girls in the crowd, but maybe there was a better time to show her?

2. Cortez Castro, Mr. Cisco & Joey Ryan vs. Killshot, Sinestro de la Muerte & Marty "The Moth" Martinez

ER:  Pretty hard for the LU crowd to muster a lot of energy for this one. Even Vampiro noted how quiet they were at one point. It wasn't a bad match, but it wasn't very good. I liked Moth and Cisco in this, but they were canceled out by Sinestro fucking up every single person's timing (man is he bad) and a few brief but epically goofy Killshot spots that required every person in the match to kill time standing in position so he could do some convoluted flip fuckery. "Killshot with the tactical advantage," says Striker. It's easy to get a "tactical advantage" when Castro wanders onto the apron near no other wrestler, and all the other wrestlers start to cluster in a specific spot, just so Killshot can then vault off of Castro onto everybody, but mostly his partners. It could not have come off less organic. Striker always talks about what an inspiration Sexy Star is, so it's weird to also talk about how much he likes The Moth. "I know Hank raped Debbie, and don't get me wrong I love Debbie....but Hank is kind of cool too! He invited me to a fun BBQ, let's me use his Hulu password and....I don't know I just like the guy!" I get it, Striker likes every worker on the roster and they all get him HYPED, but maybe the fed shouldn't have run a kidnapping/sexual assault angle so every person involved doesn't look like dumb assholes afterwards. Anyway, Cisco had a bunch of cool armdrags, Castro surprised me by bringing some nice strikes, and Moth really knows how to take stupid offense nicely. But this draaaaaggggged. At one point I thought we were well around the 15 minute mark, but we were barely 7 in. After the match Moth steals Killshot's stupid fucking dogtags again, and runs away, but Killshot is faster than Moth so has to do a Barney Fife run to pretend like he can't catch him. Ugh.

3. Sexy Star & Mariposa vs. Taya & Ivelisse

ER: This match wasn't very long, just 10 minutes, but boy did it feel long. It's like they went from editing things super tight to make all the matches seem as exciting as possible, to not editing them in any way and not piping in any sort of crowd noise. These last two weeks have had more stretches of silent crowd than any other episodes combined. These all just feel like quiet, slowly worked Smackdown matches. It's kind of a jarring change of pace. Taya is good at working opposite Sexy Star, though Mariposa and Star are horrible forced tag partners considering their past. I don't need them to be at each other's throats but they didn't even seem like they had a problem with each other. This whole thing was pretty dryly mechanical until it spilled to the floor and we get a couple of awesome bumps into chairs and a big Ivelisse dive. But even then the psychology was out the window as the winning pin would advance the winner to Ultima Lucha, but nobody felt like they were trying to scramble to get the pin. It felt like the wrestlers didn't know the rules and they just added them in after the tapings.

ER: Striker is now calling Prince Puma "The face of the franchise" which is weird since a few weeks ago he screamed "A new star is born!!!" after Puma got the pinfall in a six man. Both comments are weird, as Puma was clearly already a star, well before the 54th episode of the show. But saying he's now the face of the franchise doesn't sound right either, as up until this interview challenging Mysterio he hasn't felt like much of a focal point this season. Mysterio comes out and accepts the match, and I cannot deny that I'm excited for those two matching up in a singles. Curious if they'll work it tecnico/tecnico or if Puma will work subtle rudo. Actually, I'd flip out if Rey worked subtle heel, like a couple moments of Puma working faster than him leading to Rey landing an untoward kick or something. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I assume it will be tecnico/tecnico.


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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 16: Graver Consequences

ER: "Running an underground fight club? It's exhausting." "Have you ever run a city?" I didn't realize Lamas would be back and damn am I glad he got to be in a low talking contest with Dario. I got silly excited for all the hints of the mayor.

1. Mr. Cisco vs. Cortez Castro vs. Joey Ryan

ER: I was surprised that this match is for the final medallion. I hadn't realized they were through all the medallion matches already. They should have had a couple onscreen graphics or something. And as I type that the match just ends with a Joey Ryan roll up. Well that's lame. I hope Dario finds out about he and Castro and feeds their faces to Matanza.

PAS: Yeah the undercover cop stuff is so stupid, and has some of the lamer workers in the fed. Mr. Cisco deserves better.

2. Ivelisse, Son of Havoc  & Johnny Mundo vs. Prince Puma, Dragon Azteca Jr., & Rey Mysterio

ER: Was hoping for more out of this one, but it wasn't bad. I oddly wanted to see Rey matched up with Ivelisse, but he was kinda stuck with Havoc the whole match. A lot of Havoc's offense looked pretty light and bad, but he was really good about getting into position for the 619 in some different ways. There was also a cool moment where Rey hops onto Havoc's shoulders on a knucklelock and Havoc tries to shake him off by dropping to his knees. Azteca looked really good and he does some cool little "extra" strikes that I like. It's not enough for someone to run into his boot in the corner, they run into the right boot and he quickly kicks them with the left. Azteca moves real quick and his quickness stands out in a match with Rey Mysterio, so that's pretty impressive. When Puma gets the pinfall Striker weirdly says "A new star is born!!" in one of those lousy "WrestleMania moment!" soundbites, as if Puma wasn't a top 2 guy in the fed the entire first season. Man Striker is annoying.

PAS: This was fine, but for spotty juniors carried by Rey, Havoc is no Super Calo. I do like the Superfriend trios team. I miss Angelico and that is something I can't believe I am saying.

3. Graver Consequences: Mil Muertes vs. Matanza

ER: These guys know how to to a big match, and they brought out plenty bells and whistles for this one. This was arguably one of Muertes' best performances. He was the guy taking it right to Matanza. His right hands were blistering, he hit a big dive, an awesome spear into a bunch of chairs, took tons of big bumps onto numerous caskets (one over the top onto one, getting powerbombed onto one, and more), and just moving things along. Dario was a real champ in this too. Him grabbing Muertes' foot, getting yanked onto the apron and then taking a wild bump onto the apron and floor (that the camera almost missed, get your act together Rodriguez). I was not expecting that. He also takes a tumble from a Catrina slap. I really loved all the bumps into caskets, and jeez were the guys doing some back breaking labor throughout all of this, dragging those caskets around and throwing them into and out of the ring. Matanza also threw some of the best punches I've seen from him, his headbutts were great, of course all of his throws, and I loved the powerslam into the casket. A bunch of great stuff here. Now I just want even more!

PAS: This was a match of insane moments, I don't think it was as great a holistic match as the other big time Muertes match, but man were those moments awesome. Matanza choking Catrina and getting speared into chairs was incredible as was all of the awkward janky bumps on the caskets and the fist through the casket lid was one of the coolest wrestling visuals I can ever remember seeing. They left some violence on the table for next time, and I am excited to see it ramped up another level.

ER: Oh man I loved that scene with Lamas in the back of a limo. Who the hell can the mayor be!?  I loved all of Lamas' stammering and the shot of him in line with the lit cigar. Please don't let the mayor be Russo.


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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 14: Cage in a Cage

1. Cage Match: Cage vs. Johnny Mundo

ER: This had some nice moments, but overall didn't do much for me. The best parts were easily Mundo getting chucked wildly into the cage, peaking with him being powerbombed into the cage and sliding all the way down, like Sylvester leaping into a wall and missing Tweety. But a lot of this wasn't very good. For a longer match it didn't really build anywhere. We get silly cage match stuff like Mundo whiffing on a corkscrew moonsault off the top of the cage, even though up to that point of the match he had been trying to escape over the top of the cage. I mean Mundo wants nothing more than an Aztec medallion...but I guess just couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some flips! We also get Taya interfering with maybe the worst Singapore cane shots I've ever seen. I know she had to hold onto the top of the cage, but damn those shots were embarrassing. The selling was all over the map as no matter how much offense Mundo took, he was always the one doing something preposterous off the top. Cage's square driver finish looked nasty, at least.

PAS: Yeah this felt a little like a Smackdown cage match to end a feud which already had a PPV blow off. Mundo does some crazy stuff, but it never really distinguished itself. Taya does take a big beating although her taking a beating as a heel on the same show that Ivelisse takes the big beating as a face, is the kind of repeat itself booking that bugs me about LU. Finish was feud ending for sure.


2. Elimination Match: Fenix, Jack Evans & PJ Black vs. Mr. Cisco, Cortez Castro & Joey Ryan vs. Rey Mysterio, Prince Puma & Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Ivelisse & Son of Havoc

ER: This was really fun, often kind of a mess, could have been better, but was a totally enjoyable mess. Elimination style could have been good, but annoying that one pinfall meant the whole team was gone. And they shouldn't have made it 4 people in the ring at once. Just make it one on one with tons of dudes on the apron. Having 4 people in there at once means we almost immediately go to two guys lying around sucking wind after taking one move. The twisting springboard flip dive train was pretty great, although I feel bad for Dragon Azteca for somehow doing a twisting moonsault into 6 people and missing all of them. The cameras caught Rey's dive off the top perfectly, shooting it from behind so it looked like he flew 20 feet. Ivelisse hit a really great sunset flip powerbomb, Fenix had another stellar performance (man he makes that Azteca DDT look deadly), and this finally got really good once they got it down to two teams. Evans was en fuego throughout this whole thing, and it now officially the baddest bitch in the fed. Him vs. Rey is a bonkers dream match. Really wish we could have just gotten two separate trios matches instead of this jumbled, sorta rushed match, but there were too many bright spots throughout to get too down on it. I'm just grumpy we got robbed of two additional trios matches by them lumping the semifinals and the finals all into one match.

PAS: I dug this although it was very all over the place. Really dug the dive train, and the part of the match where everyone was taking nutty bumps to the floor. Thought the first two eliminations were kind of perfunctory, and we would have been better off with neither team in the match. Loved the final showdown fall, and Rey looks completely reborn in this fed.

ER: Loved the Pentagon/Vampiro final segment, with Vampiro burning him with evil candle wax (the melted wax looked killer on his mask) and Pentagon cruising out in some weird futuristic wheelchair while Vamp went back to his fat bloated zombie from the beginning of Zombie look. I like that depending on which way you view the segment you can see on man's exhausting rehabilitation, or also a man being harnessed for ultimate evil.

PAS: The hot wax reminded me a little too much of Body of Evidence the Madonna/Willem Dafoe BDSM erotic thriller.


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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 11: Bird of War

ER: So is the buddy cop Reyes/Ryan stuff supposed to be funny? There's some midi-sax music playing and they're cracking jokes about Matanza - a guy who Reyes witnessed eat a man's face - being released from the cage. I don't get it.

PAS: The cop stuff is some of the dumbest stuff they are doing in this fed (and they are doing some dumb stuff), it doesn't even make any internal sense and the acting in it is Spice channel bad. Joey Ryan is a pox on our house

1. Ivelisse vs. Kobra Moon

ER: I actually really liked this one. I guess it shouldn't be shocking as Ivelisse has been great so far, but Moon had a flat debut against Sexy Star and - even though any work against Sexy Star should immediately be discounted - it sucked some interest out of this one for me. And then they both went out and had a snug, nicely laid out match. Any pensiveness Moon showed against Star was gone here, as both ladies laid into each other with chops and knees. A lot of the rollups were held really tightly and there were moments were this felt like a mean fight, which I wasn't expecting. Ivelisse sold Moon's rope chokes well, and I kinda liked the hissing as a taunt to your opponent.

PAS: Yeah, Eric is riding alone on this one. I thought some of submission stuff was cool, and Ivelisse always works stiff, but Kobra Moon still looked in deep waters. Felt like a pretty decent WWE women's match from four years ago, and pretty good Alicia Fox v. Brie Bella level stuff doesn't excite me.


ER: Killshot video managed to be good and bad at the same time. Somehow they managed to incorporate his bad indy offense into him killing ISIS, and for that I love them. But who the hell was he shooting at? He fired upwards of 35 shots at ludicrous trick shot angles, practically doing an Annie Oakley Old West Shooting Show, but he would fire 5 shots in one direction, and then a terrorist from the same direction would burst onto the screen. For a guy who misses half his spots it would make sense for him to also have terrible aim. But having Killshot take down terrorists is a step up from showing somebody fighting three unnamed luchadors in a nighttime alley.

PAS: This was OK I guess, the gunshot special effect were really corny though and Killshot is a suck ass dude to get this sort of effort for.

2. Cortez Castro, Mr. Cisco & Joey Ryan vs. Marty the Moth Martinez, Mariposa & The Mack

ER: Fun trios match, if you ignore that Mack was mostly fine teaming with his "mortal enemies" who kidnapped and potentially sexually abused his best lil buddy. Mack was somewhat miffed when he didn't get the hot tag, but apparently didn't think to refuse to tag with the people who assaulted and held his friend captive. Does he just really want the trios belts that badly? Does he respect the spirit of competition so much that he will literally set aside ANY difference? Oh, that's right, we had a cooperative chop exchange between he and Marty. That should make his raped friend feel a little better.  So all of that shit is the stupidest shit possible, but right in the middle of it we got a great little Cisco/Mack roll around, a fun Cisco/Mariposa segment, Ryan dropkicking Moth right in the chin, and I like the way Moth and Mariposa work together. This was also the most work Cisco has gotten in a match and he looked killer. Post match Star at least shows some fire going after Mariposa, while Mack cheers her on. But why the fuck didn't Mack just do this himself if he wanted it for her so bad? Instead he just held the tag rope wanting the hot tag like a doof the whole match.

PAS:  Cisco is badass, and I loved his section with the Mack, but I totally agree with Eric that the Mack/Star v. Martinez siblings stuff in-ring is totally divorced from the back stage vignettes. In ring we have a testy little feud with some tag partners who don't get along. In the back Sexy Star is recovering from being stuck in a pit by Jame Gumb. It feels like they decided to film all the sexual assault stuff after the fact and retconned it in. It is pretty amazing that a show which can do so many thing so right, can do other stuff so blindingly wrong.

ER: Okay, Mysterio, Horus and Puma is a killer trios team. I am 100% on board for that.

3. Fenix vs. Matanza

ER: This was awesome. This is a monster I can get behind. Fenix just kept coming at Matanza and damn does Cobb just have some ridiculous strength. The way he caught Fenix on the tope was just unreal. He caught him with his side facing the ring! This was not a guy getting caught on a plancha, this was a man pulling a speeding bullet out of the air. all of his catches where he then adjusts mid catch, or AFTER the catch, before a slam are just incredible. That extra step to show you that Matanza has you now, and he can bend twist turn whatever while holding your corpse. He caught Fenix in mid air a few times, always pausing, turning his body in a new direction to show he was the one completely in control, and then just crushing him through the mat. This whole thing was just killer. And then full on tecnico Mil Muertes bursts into frame and I immediately get excited for a Clash of Famous Monsters. Killer stuff here.

PAS: Yeah this was the best Matanza has looked. Fenix got some offense in, but still got eaten alive. I also loved how Matanza was smashing his head against the floor like he was trying to open up a coconut, really violent looking and very different then you would normally see in a wrestling match. Muertes v. Matanza should be totally awesome. I love Clash of Titans matches and this has some of the coolest build up a match like that has ever had.

ER: Overall a good episode with the wrestling all delivering, which is all I can really ask for.


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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 10: El Jefe is Back

ER: Weird that Striker didn't point out that Chingon is Robert Rodriguez's band. You'd think he'd have all sorts of face slap worthy facts to spout. But I really liked Dario back in the temple, and liked him telling Pentagon that maybe he wasn't "champion material". Pentagon's reaction was understandable, but check out Cueto's awesome instincts when he clutches his arm in tight to his waist to try and prevent Pentagon from breaking it. How many times have you see wrestlers lock on something like a surfboard, and the wrestler taking the move willingly goes along with the sequence and just holds his arms up for his opponent? And here's a non wrestler who gets it.

1. Taya & Johnny Mundo vs. Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro

ER: This seemed like a match long internal battle wherein Mundo tried to throw the worst clothesline possible. Castro had a nice kick on Taya to start, and then he had some meh kicks the rest of the match. Cisco had some nice moments with Mundo, really dug his big punch. Taya isn't that good when she's not taking big spills, her timing is all wonky and her moveset is loose. If we're going on the sliding Sexy Star scale then she's excellent. But in these matches she's not much. And why the hell were they already hinting at a "feuding tag partners" thing with Taya/Mundo. We don't even know who she is or why they're teaming, just that they've been affiliated since her debut. And now in their first actual tag together he's tagging himself in and stealing pinfalls. It seems like they not only skipped a few steps, but skipped steps to get to an angle nobody would want to see.

PAS: I like Taya's look and I think she fits well with Mundo as a pair of sleazy heel crossfit trainers, but she is really tentative and off looking in the ring. She takes huge bumps, she should probably just be a Sherri Martel like valet, not everyone has to be a wrestler. Mr. Cisco is my favorite under the radar guy in this fed, just so fun to watch.

ER: Man, Marty the Moth has a wildly punchable shitty face. He's like the Mark Teixera of LU. And look at that, we see Mariposa in action beating up unknown luchadors in suits. Hey good idea, guys!! Showing debuting workers beating up random luchadors is LU's "We know who that is!!!"

ER: I still don't know how they haven't gotten any bourbon or scotch companies to sign up as LU sponsors. Cueto would be so great at wedging the brand name into the sketches. "Oh Catrina, I didn't see you there. I was lost in my...Woodford Reserve" (Dario looks at camera before Catrina quickly turns his head toward her).

2. Elimination Match: Ivelisse, Angelico & Son of Havoc vs. Disciples of Death

ER: Oh god these scrubs are still around? Were there only two trios teams at this set of tapings? The gold one takes a cool fast bump through the ropes to the floor. Is that Argenis? He jumped into Angelico's flying knee nicely as well. The purple one was decidedly worse than the gold one. I think he fell over before even being hit by an Angelico flip dive. Angelico had a bunch of cool stuff throughout, dug his run up the apron, jump to inside middle rope knee. His knees usually look cool, though, so this isn't news. Son of Havoc's body presses land pillowy soft but damn him hopping on two DOD members off the top rope was neat. And then his two topes were the first time the match really felt any sort of real excitement or energy. What is the point of DOD again? Also, I assumed at the beginning of the season that they were building to a "Catrina loses her wig" spot, but now I'm pretty sure that she's too serious for that to happen. But it's getting really distracting seeing her holding onto her hair every time she has to take a bump.

PAS: Yeah there were occasional moments from the DoD but man what a nothing group they are. They need to cut bait on these guys, I like the idea of Muertes and Catrina having lackeys, but they need cool costumes and way better wrestlers under them, and they need to be built strong, not like goofball jobber scrubs. I liked Angelico in this too, can't believe he has turned into a wrestler I don't mind watching, his early IWRG days were a tire fire.

3. Sexy Star vs. Mariposa

ER: What the fuck was the point of this? So Moth and Mariposa held Sexy Star captive for some time, then we don't really hear about any of it, and then they just fight with no real build up, both women look bad, and then the match ends. It was mercifully short, but this feud and the Mariposa character are DOA. This violent kidnapper with her savage creep brother just kind of throws some goofy ass stomach punches and whiffs on a sloppy moonsault, while Sexy Star just does a bunch of bad rope running. This was all embarrassing.

PAS: I kind of like Marty the Moth, he is a total sleaze, but Sexy Star is a black hole of interest. Also I feel a little weird about them pushing her as this feminist hero the whole first season, only to have her kidnapped and presumably sexually abused in between seasons. Whole thing just rubs me the wrong way.

4. Pentagon Jr. vs. Matanza

ER:  Boy Matanza (btw "Matanza Cueto" sounds realllllly stupid. Let's just keep the monster on a first name basis, shall we?) is going to be a real tough character to book going forward. Will fans respond to a character in 2016 who sells no offense from anybody? Will he just operate at an untouchable level above every other worker? They have to create a weakness for him at some point, but what will it be without being something silly like Undertaker's urn? Are we going to have somebody melt down Dario's key to harness Matanza's powers? Cobb is a beast and his deadlift throws are awesome, we get our NOAH rail ride/LU guy tossed through chairs spot that I love, but I could see the Matanza character getting real difficult real fast.

PAS: It might be the end of great main event matches, but I thought that was a pretty impressive one sided beat down. Pentagon Jr. will be back I assume and this sure as heck gives him a incentive to come back strong. I liked Pentagon Jr. using the X arm signal, often that Russo break kayfabe stuff irritates me, but here it looked like a guy who was afraid for his life.

ER: Pretty flat episode after some very good ones. Maybe we need that breather episode so we don't get too spoiled. Or something. Dario's segments were a welcome return on this show, and that's really the only thing that kept this episode from being completely terrible. The Sexy Star feud would be a dud even if it was not Sexy Star in the feud, and the Disciples of Death still appearing on TV in any capacity - let alone still competing in matches where Striker talks about how evil they are - is a head scratcher. Famous B wouldn't even give these assholes his card. If anything though the episode set up a couple of future stories that could pay off down the road, with a new trios tournament and Vampiro potentially bringing back Monster Pentagon. But we shall see.


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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 5: The Machine

1. Jack Evans vs. PJ Black

ER: I liked this, while also disliking it. I didn't think Black looked very good, but while Black was looking kinda meh, I was loving Evans doing his best to make Black look murderous. Evans bumping for a limp spin kick and taking a roaring elbow like a gunshot and getting launched on a slow lift German looked really good, and I loved him doing dickish things like clotheslining Black's legs while he was on the top rope. But then when Evans would go on offense his stuff would miss just as bad as Black's, maybe even worse. Poor Black had to literally run halfway across the ring to catch a springboard kick to the face. Evans would have fallen about 4 feet short. I like Evans' in his new Dragonslayer shit talker persona, but this match fell pretty flat.

PAS: This was kind of a mess, Evans is at his best getting beat up and selling for bruisers, or in a tag team working as Ricky Morton or a hot tag. These 50/50 matches with high flyers he has been booked in LU really don't showcase his strengths. PJ Black brings nothing to the table,  just a weird waste of money and an example of this feds weird WWE washout hard on.

ER: "I'll turn you from a jobber to a robber". Dug the Famous B late night infomercial, and especially loved that it wasn't him beating up luchadors in a dusty bar. I guess he served his time doing short match job duty in season 1, but now his arm must be all healed from Pentagon and now he's selling life advice and get rich quick schemes in the hood.

2. King Cuerno vs. Killshot

ER: Barf. Wasn't looking forward to seeing Cuerno working 50/50 with Killshot of all people. The sound sweetening was absurd in this match, but kind of hilariously inconsistent. You'd get two superkicks in a row that sounded like brutal bullwhip sound fx, but then they would just let a sloppy Killshot jumping knee go silent. I mean if you're going to make 5 bad Killshot strikes sound like a sledgehammer hitting metal siding, you may as well make all of them sound like that. Killshot had some flat out embarrassing moments in this, among them an astoundingly stupid breakdancing legsweep kick that...well honestly I have no fucking clue what it was supposed to be. The best was him hitting some sort of ace crusher off the apron but he...slipped? or something so ended up kinda slapping Cuerno's tummy and dragging him down by the arm and left Cuerno with no clue how to bump it. Killshot's specialty is doing moves that look like he takes more damage than his opponent, but this one took the cake. This is a taped fucking show, and THIS made the cut!? What kind of Killshot offense was edited out?? Cuerno was made to look like a boob doing even stevens elbow exchanges with this goof. Killshot has no clue how to get in position for anything in the ring. At one hilarious point he is on the mat and needs to get to the corner for the next spot, so starts rolling there, but rolls the wrong way at first so has to loop back around to get to the right corner. He's just rolling around the ring, like ghost Kobashi is giving him invisible Kobashi rolls. It's incredible. Is Killshot fucking with us? Five episodes into this season and we've already had two featured Killshot matches where he took over half the match. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

PAS: Yeah this was stinko, if Cuerno can't drag you to something good, they need to feed him to Matanza.

3. Texano vs. Mr. Cisco, Cortez Castro & Chavo Guerrero

ER: I hate handicap gauntlet matches. They always go short and always end with the people who seemingly have the advantage being made to look completely incompetent. Cisco loses immediately to a superkick (not even a cannon firing sound effect superkick like in the last match, you know, when superkicks were just used to set up other moves), poor cop Castro fares a little better, and Chavo barely eeks out the win after Castro holds Texano's legs down. You know, Texano, the guy who worked even with superstar Daivari last season. The guy now running through the team who one week ago were competitive with the top tecnico trios team in the fed. This was a mess of stupidity, almost designed to be as ineffective as possible, while also presenting the least interesting match possible. Money!

ER: Man Dario blows everybody else on this show out of the water. Him being scaled way back has really caused the show to suffer this season. Even if the wrestling was bad in some season 1 episodes,  you could always count on a couple vignettes in Dario's office with him cockily swirling scotch or making great facial reactions to tecnicos he was screwing over. Now he barely pops up every other episode.

PAS: I loved the speech, I just wish it wasn't in service to some mystical Golden Child horseshit. Still the show has been hurt by his absence.

4. Johnny Mundo vs. Cage

ER: "Love him or hate him, he's in shape." Okay, Vampiro. And you still think he weighs 320, right? That would put Mundo around 275? This match was okay I guess, but this season even more than last feels like there's just zero regard to selling in matches. There was just no rhyme or reason to what was keeping each man down in this match, or what would allow them to pop up to hit a move of their own. One twisting slam from a fireman's carry would put Mundo down, another would allow him to hop up and hit a spinny flippy kick. Still not sure why they sweeten the sound on some strikes but need some others just flapping in the wind. I liked Mundo kicking Cage's legs out from him while climbing the turnbuckles, liked Mundo's rope jump tornillo, and this flew by quick enough, and Striker's references were really obnoxious and ehhhhhhh some wind is being taken out of the sails here. And I was really hoping Mundo would get a rave trash valet for no reason, so my wish was granted! Hurrah!

ER: Ladder match next week should be good, at least? Right?

PAS: Let's hope so this is a bunch of poop shows in a row.

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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 4: Cero Miedo

ER: They're doing a pretty decent job at building to the eventual Ivelisse/Catrina throwdown. I'm not sure if they're going to play it for comedy by having Catrina lose her wig, or play it like some sort of noir Bound scenario. Probably the latter.

1. Angelico, Ivelisse & Son of Havoc vs. Chavo Guererro, Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro

ER: Ehhhh this wasn't much. It wasn't bad, but some of these guys have a decent ceiling w/ a low floor, so you can expect some lows occasionally. I forgot how much I missed Cisco on TV, the guy is a real MVP in these type of matches. He feeds Angelico really nicely (really jammed right into that running knee) and even with some miscommunication on an armdrag he makes it look more like a violent move than a mistake. I liked Chavo and Ivelisse going after the others' legs to play up their Season 1 injuries, and this doesn't have much to do with anything but Ivelisse had awesome pants on. Havoc had a rough night, throwing some embarrassing standing clotheslines (I think that's what those were) and some stuff with pillowy soft landings.  The dive train was a real mess with Angelico coming far closer to plowing into the dad in cargo shorts than he was to hitting Castro, Havoc's moonsault barely grazed, and this kinda just limped to the finish.

PAS: Yeah this was OK, but these teams had way better matches last season with Bael in there instead of Chavo, and Chavo is a lot better then Bael. Yeah this was the worst Son of Havoc has looked, I am shocked how much I have enjoyed Matt Cross in this fed, but this was the Matt Cross I have been indifferent to for the last decade.

ER: Boy that Joey Ryan/Castro "act off" was just about the least convincing thing possible. These guys showing off their acting chops is brutal. "I've always been a better cop than you...because I get the job DONE." Yeeeeeesh. Picture that line in a Treat Williams CBS docudrama. It's possible James Caan could make that line cool, but even then I imagine the cameras would cut and Caan would immediately yell "What is this fucking SCRIPT!?"

PAS: Yeah if you're going to do this stupid cop shit, hire someone who can write some lines, it's LA every guy working at the Sprint store has a NCIS New Orleans spec script, you can't find anyone who can at least script B- cop speak?

2. Joey Ryan vs. Cage

ER: Striker says Cage isn't like one of those Crossfit guys, he's just a normal guy. Yep, looks like any ol' normal guy. Just a regular Joe. Though Vampiro calls him 320 lb. which is just as hilarious. The match is plenty of fun though, even if they don't really follow their own narratives. Cage was especially fun, throwing big lariats with nice follow through, a tight powerslam, big missed corner charge, and putting a nice exclamation point on things with a nasty Screwdriver. "If it's a scoring thing, Joey has more nearfalls in this match than Cage does." Oh my god shut up Striker. But I thought Cage looked really explosive throughout, so it was (mostly) easy to tune Striker out.

PAS: Joey Ryan is who we thought he was. I am not sure Cage v. Mundo is going to be any good but both guys have surprised me so far in this show.

ER: It's fitting that this show is on El Rey, as Dario's backstory is basically the plot of Q: The Winged Serpent, except pro wrestling fleshes out the non-Aztec lore instead of Michael Moriarty as Jimmy the screw up. If this fed ever approaches a scene as great as Moriarty negotiating with cops over Quetzalcoatl's whereabouts and capture, then I will be on cloud nine.

PAS: Poor Rey. Stuck spouting this nonsense. Rey is an all time legend in wrestling, this is like watching Al Pacino in Jack and Jill.

3. Prince Puma vs. Pentagon Jr.

ER: Killer stuff with a bad finish that was already played out in the 90s, that the fans saw coming a mile away. These two work great together so the match itself was wonderful. Pentagon got a nice long non-gimmick match and beat Puma's ass, and I loved Puma using his speed to keep slipping away. Puma moonsaulting into a Pentagon dropkick was just crazy, Pentagon's chops were nasty as hell, Puma hits a big dive, loved the Pentagon corner flip backstabber, I mean basically everything these guys did looked great. I was really into it all. Then Pentagon plants him with that nasty package piledriver, and starts setting up a surfboard instead of going for the sure win. You can hear fans start to go noooooooooo as we all saw shenanigans coming, and sure enough, instead of just stretching him all nasty like, he goes for a stupid pin which leaves his shoulders down. This was maybe the loudest groan I've ever heard from the LU crowd, as right when the 3 was counted most people knew exactly what had happened, because again, that shit was played out 20 years ago. I know popular culture can recycle itself and seem fresh again, but "innovative wrestling finishes" don't ever seem fresh again. A real fart noise to end a cool match.

PAS: This was pretty good up until the end, but it felt a little inconsequential for such a big match. They normally do a good job delivering on big matches in a way that lives up to hype, this felt like a Nitro main event. For the first time ever Hulk Hogan v. Bret Hart, three minutes later the NWO Wolfpack runs in. That finish is stinky, since when is that even a Pentagon Jr. move? It would have worked way better if he had just going for the arm break and had Puma roll him up.

ER: Just when you thought Sexy Star couldn't possibly screw up anything worse than she already has, she delivers two of the worst possible reads you will ever hear. She had about 5 words to attempt to not mangle, and brother, she mangled every single part of it. Not HEEEM....HERRRRRRRR, complete with shaky finger point. Was this a one and done take? What could the other takes have possibly looked like? Did Sexy Star win a sweepstakes? Is she like Batkid, and the whole fed is just banding together to give her the experience of a lifetime?

PAS: Remember when the vignettes were cool? Outside of Vampiro in the insane asylum, everything this season has stunk. Another below average episode. Come on LU give me some love.


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Lucha Underground Episode 28: Shoots and Ladders Review

1. Marty "The Moth" Martinez vs. Prince Puma

ER: This wasn't bad. Moth has an annoying face, and his pratfalls are a bit too dramatic, but he did a good job of involving himself while Puma set up a springboard, and he threw a nice lariat, also threw some poor looking superman punches in the corner. I'm curious where they go with him as debuting him in a (non-title) match with the champ and having it worked fairly even *should* be a big deal, but I don't see his jokester persona as a main event gimmick. Konnan was good at ringside, "He wants to joke? Treat him like a joke!" but Vampiro working his "feud" with Konnan is always lame.

PAS: I like Martinez better as a unnerving creep, then a happy go lucky Colt Cabanaish dude, and that seems to be the direction they are going with him, sort of a wrestling version of Jake Gyllanhall in Nightcrawler. Nice clothesline, and I am surprised how much offense he got.

ER: Mundo was kind of a dud during the interview, but thankfully he had Vampiro there who completely made the segment. It's actually shocking how good Vamp is during this interview segments.

PAS: Yeah Vampiro is awesome as an interviewer, I am a guy who once made $100 writing a magazine article about Vampiro, he is a guy I find fascinating so I am glad he has found a role which keeps me from having to watch him wrestle.

2. Delavar Daivari vs. Texano

ER: LU has a kind of odd habit of putting bigger marquee matches into the middle segment of the show. Daivari cost Texano's team the trios titles, the two went at it last week, but here they're tossed into the middle of the show in Daivari's debut match....and they work a match with no hate, as if it were mid-show filler. Whatever heat these two had during that initial run-in is just G-O-N-E. For two guys that hate each other we start with a dull arm wringer segment and really never get that hot. There's a punch exchange that is just brutal. Texano eventually tightens up, but the first several punches from both men were just winged a foot wide. Daivari looked awesome during his debut run-in, but that is seeming like an outlier performance every time he appears. Also damn, Ryck is really getting around. He'll put out for anybody with money! Odd they turned him tecnico by having his eye get burnt out, but then just have him shack up with Daivari.

PAS: Yeah this was a stinker, this feud is probably the most disappointing in ring feud in this fed. I like Davari's gimmick, but he really should just be a manager at this point, his in ring stuff stinks.

ER: Loved the Catrina/Dario segment, and loved that Dario didn't act like a weenie; just calm, practical. "I can make that happen" as he grips his key. Really well done.

PAS: Dario as evil psycho works better then Dario as ineffectual stooge. Awesome re-intro of Chavo too, I don't know how this Matanza and Black Lotus stuff will actually turn into a wrestling match, but it has been pretty cool so far. Who is playing Dragon Azteca? It would be a cool role for a Villano or Negro Navarro if he gets in the ring.

ER: Chavo is back and this show must have gained some sort of whiskey sponsorship. Everybody on this show was constantly holding a rocks glass. Whiskey sponsorship on Dario's office would be great, and I would kill to listen to Dario insert ads for Woodford Reserve.

3. The Crew vs. Ivelisse, Angelico & Son of Havoc (Ladder Match)

ER: This was super fun and featured the absolutely most crazy wrestling spot of the year. Angelico running and doing a Crouching Tiger dropkick of Dario's office to send Castro flying off a ladder will be burned into my brain. So crazy. The camera pulling back really showed how fucking far he leaped, it looked amazing. Castro also deserves full credit for hanging in there until Angelico actually made contact. The urge to bail early must have been strong. I did a slo-mo back and forth frame by frame Zapruder film study of it. What's great about the spot is that it would have worked well if Castro had bailed early. Angelico would be hurt from the miss, Castro would be hurt on the fall. Still could have taken both men out. But Castro hung in and everything looked awesome. This should play over and over on Lucha Underground commercials. Angelico looked great throughout this, throwing some actual nice whipping punches, connecting on all his leaping knees (including a weird one where he jumps up the apron and into a ring like a praying mantis), also had a rad flip dive onto a ladder that squashes Castro underneath (while Bael escaped. Hmmmm a theme of Castro leaning into everything. Good for him). Cisco has been a top three guy in this whole fed which I wouldn't have guessed going in. His table bump was huge, his offense looks great. I'm a big Cisco fan. Ivelisse limping down the stairs was a good moment, Havoc hits a crazy asai moonsault and then catches chin on an attempted shooting star through a table....this was just plenty crazy and too much fun.

PAS: Yeah this was way better then the trio title tournament final. Mr. Cisco is so great, the bump into Dario's office followed by the crazy tope through the window, might have been my favorite spot of the match, even more then the lunatic Angelico dropkick. I also loved how vicious he was starting the match out, he just throws Havoc into the stairs and starts pounding on him. It would have been nice for the shooting star to be hit more cleanly, but otherwise the finish run was near perfect, just a great build to the big moment of Ivelise crawling up the ladder to grab the belts. This fed is really great at doing gimmick matches, which is not really something I normally like in lucha.


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**NOTE: That ladder match was easily good enough to nab a spot on our 2015 MOTY List, so I'm gonna go ahead and link to that:

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Lucha Underground Episode 26: The Best in the Business Workrate Report

ER: I liked Mundo calling him "Fernandez" and Dario casually correcting him. Still seems odd for Hernandez to be a guy instantly pushed over most guys upon debut. I know most of these things can be explained by "but Dario!!" but sometimes it just feels like a weird choice for the fed.

1. Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro vs. Angelico & Son of Havoc

ER: Everything in this match was just...off. It seemed like every move by every wrestler *just* missed. Angelico flies over the Crew with a flip dive, Havoc whiffs completely on a split legged moonsault to the floor (taking a way more painful looking spill into the seats), most of Angelico's knees squirt off to the sides, Havoc breaks out all sorts of feather light leg sweeps, even Cisco's spill to the floor sees him going through the wrong ropes...everybody just seemed to be working on different pages. Some of the Crew's double teams looked decent, but this was arguably the worst Havoc and Angelico have looked, and it came in the same match at the same time. Poor showing. It is impressive how over Havoc has gotten, although in this match the crowd seemed mostly interested that Ivelisse was sitting with them.

PAS: I liked this better then Eric did, I thought the Crew looked really good, and had less problems with Havoc and Angelico. I really liked Angelicos kick combos, the leg sweep enzigiri was cool. Mr. Cisco is one of my favorite guys in this fed, he is such a great combo of violent and stoogeish, kind of a short hispanic Arn Anderson.

2. Delavar Daivari vs. Texano

ER: Boy any of the viciousness these guys showed during their trios altercation was out the window here. That was some bad looking brawling. Like Abyss level strikes lobbed a foot past each guy's head. Cow bell shot look decent, but man. This looked bad. I did like Melissa Santos' scrambling "oh SHIT" while Texano rushed the introductions.

PAS: Yeah this sucked, I loved the brawling during the trios match but this was some weak shit. I like the Shah of Sunset gimmick Davari is working, but this was weak shit.

3. King Cuerno & Cage vs. Prince Puma & Hernandez

ER: Hey this was amusing even though it didn't get much time. Cuerno and Cage are good at feeding Puma, Cuerno hit his big tope which we haven't seen in a bit (even if it had a pretty dumb set up since  it required Hernandez to push Puma into the tope, meaning that when Cuerno started setting up the move there wasn't anybody there to actually do the move to). Cuerno is really great at putting over Hernandez. His bumps all look super painful, and speaking of painful bumps how about Puma getting powerbombed on the apron? Yikes. Also, Vampiro needs to stop trying to feud with Konnan.

PAS: That apron powerbomb was nasty, super happy that Cuerno got his tope back. Would like to see him actually have something to do in this fed. Isn't there someone else he can hunt? Do they need to bring in Los Thundercats?

4. Alberto El Patron vs. Johnny Mundo

ER: This was fine, probably the best possible non-gimmick Mundo singles match. Vampiro really needs to stop pushing "knee injuries" in Mundo matches, as he's never going to listen. I get the temptation as Mundo took a nasty spill to the floor, his leg crashing off the wood ring steps in a loud way, even breaking through and splintering one of the steps in a great visual. I loved AdP capitalizing and immediately smashing him with a tope. AdP brings back the Finlay ring skirt spot, and it's crazy that nobody immediately stole that once he retired. Also loved the AdP arm bar after he was playing possum. Mundo actually sold that surprise armbar nicely as it continued to play into the rest of the match (even while Vampiro just kept bringing up his blown out knee. Seriously every single match Vampiro thinks Mundo's knee is just blown the fuck out.), and the match was capable. They filled the allotted time just fine.

PAS: I liked this more then Eric too, what a grump. This felt like the kind of undercard match which would steal a WWE PPV. Nothing remotely lucha about it, but a bunch of cool little additions which put it over the top. Don't know if the ring steps thing was planned, but that into the tope was an awesome bit of wrestling improv if it wasn't. Also really enjoyed the possum armbar and ring skirt spot. Patron is just killing it this year, loved all of his LU stuff and he had a stone cold classic with Roderick Strong in ROH. Totally reinvented himself, makes me think about what similarly misused WWE guys could do with a release. Is there a big time Carly Colon run waiting for us?

ER: Hopefully they explain why Katrina is back with Muertes, or what her plan was from the beginning. It's a little convoluted if we end up getting "it was her plan all along to latch onto a guy and have that guy kill Muertes....so she could then bring him BACK".


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Lucha Underground Episode 24: Trios Champions Workrate Report

ER: I enjoyed the Angela Fong captive lights off training vignette, although in this story the Shaw Bros. and/or Kill Bill stuff is maybe a little on the nose.

1. Pentagon Jr. vs. Sexy Star

ER: God I thought this was really terrible. Star in a long singles is just death as she has no clue how to pace things. Here she sells practically nothing and has no idea how to transition from one move to the next. The most she sells in this match? When Pentagon kicks out of a pin. Seriously, she stomps all over him in the corner, drags him to the middle of the ring, pins him, he kicks out...and then she starts selling like she's been in a war. Drags herself away, holding her stomach, struggling to get up. I had to rewind to see if I missed him doing something unsavory after his kickout. But nope, she just randomly decided to start selling something for the first - and last - time in the match. The rest of the match is just Pentagon striking her or hitting a big move, both of them lying there, and then her getting up and doing a move. It results in her hitting a nice dive at one point, but damn was this match awful. Just horrible layout and then to top it off, a real pointless, rushed result. Pentagon actually gets a bunch of real, actual heel heat, and the next week his actions are already avenged. At this point I reallllly wish Sexy Star was just not around, as all of the booking revolving around her is clearly far and away the worst thing on LU. And that's not even counting Striker and Vampiro talking in their Owen voices for half of the match.

PAS: Yup this stunk, they are trying so hard to make Sexy Star a thing, but it isn't going to happen. Pentagon had no business losing, especially to someone Big Ryck treated like a joke. They go back and forth each week to whether she is a serious competitor or not, she is one of the five worst wrestlers on the roster, and continually placed in big angles. She has the feel of a nepotism push, like she is Mark Burnett's long lost illegitimate child.

ER: Boy that cameraman was really running circles around Mundo/Alberto in that segment. What the hell was that?

PAS: I liked the segment, but I felt like popping a dramamine afterwards.

2. King Cuerno, Texano & Cage vs. Angelico, Ivelisse & Son of Havoc vs. Big Ryck, The Mack & Killshot

ER: Wow I was surprised at how awful this was. You look at that list of names and go "man I hope Killshot isn't in a lot of this" and then Killshot is in this more than any other person. And boy did he look like clearly the worst guy in this fed. Every name I wanted to see more of got dispatched quickly, and every name I did not want to see got the bulk of the time. Willie Mack continues to be a bright spot and I really hope this turns into tons more gigs for this guy. He literally gets better every time I see him. He throws so much into everything, from a standard clothesline to a big fat guy tope. Texano really made Daivari look good, flying hard into a ringpost and spilling out nicely into chairs. But holy shit Killshot. Everything this guy does looks bad-to-horrible, from his offense to the way he stumbles into position to take moves to the embarrassing mannerisms he makes before hitting a move. Here he got to finish off Texano with his finisher "leaping off the top and landing with both feet on either side of your opponent". It's a devastating move that he also uses on the indies. Havoc's offense looked extra pillowy soft (can we just retire that cartwheel elbow into the corner?) here, and there were way too many clunky sections of this. Maybe the clunkiest was that awkward portion where Angelico was in the corner, and Mack, Ryck and Killshot took turns sloooooowly running towards him and finding ways to miss him and fall to the floor. Man all of that looked bad. That's a fairly good way to sum this one up: A lot of that looked bad.

PAS: I watched this with my wife, and she was really irritated by Angelico's overacting while selling. It didn't bother me as much, I suppose that is because I am used to wrestling being an art form aimed not for television audiences but for the back rows of arenas, more like a filmed play then a movie. Still LU is clearly a TV show, so maybe he should tone it down a bit. Liked this a bit more then Eric, thought Big Ryck and the Mack were both great in this, and the Davari v. Texano beat down was pretty violent, still Killshot man, what a turd.

3. Angelico, Ivelisse & Son of Havoc vs. The Crew

ER: Well, this was pretty fun. You may have noticed Angelico's dive. It's still just bizarre to me that this fed doesn't do replays. That dive was the kind of spot you show a dozen times from every single conceivable angle. You bring in extra cameras to make new angles. You watch that Angelico dive and think, what if his foot slips? How easily could you imagine him losing his footing and then crashing down into the ropes and apron? Just a total lunatic spot, one you want to rewind, put into slow motion, then rewind again. Awesome. Cortez looked good here, dropping some nice knees on Ivelisse, and doing an ill-advised but nutty suplex over a ringside barrier into a steep drop on Son of Havoc (which Havoc didn't seem to mind too much, seeing as he was up running around and doing a moonsault seconds later). We'll see where they go with these trios titles as several of the trios matches have been really fun, if we get regular 10+ minute action then these can be a real treat.

PAS: That Angelico dive was so insane, that it made the whole show. Probably the greatest balcony dive in wrestling history, so many of those spots are a guy climbing for a long time to a really high place, take a moment soak in the crowd cheers and fall down. This was awesome because it was a leap not a fall and it pretty much came out of nowhere, no big set up, no four table to break a fall, just some crazy leap to nowhere.


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Lucha Underground Episode 19: Grave Consequences

1. Aerostar vs. Drago

ER: Jeez Louise man. Aerostar. You guys are lunatics. Were parts of this rehearsed as hell? Yah. Do I care? Nooope. Aerostar hits the wild reverse cannonball off the top to the floor, one of the crazier spots I've witnessed. Everything after that is sweet cream cheese frosting. Aerostar sticks the springboard dropkick and then breaks out some Crouching Tiger ropewalk action. Drago pulls out a wild corkscrew moonsault over the top, Aerostar ends it with a great hands-at-side springboard splash. These two continue to innovate, and it's a blast to watch.

ER: Konnan as Hoy Quarlow vignettes continue to rule as this fed has somehow made me interested in seeing Konnan get some sort of vengeance. And nobody with a brain should have interest in anything Konnan. But here I am lord, I'm interested in Konnan!

2. The Crew vs. Big Ryck

ER: This is a 3-on-1 elimination match with no DQs according to Striker. And it's kind of disappointing. The dude gets his eye burnt out, and really comes back and everybody wrestles the same as if these three guys hadn't burnt his eye. It's fairly short for an elimination match, and really aren't they all? Always frustrating when elimination matches get the same length as singles matches, not accounting for the extra bodies that have to believably be pinned. I do like Ryck going wild with weapons, crashing Cisco's body through a chair, violently beating everybody with a busted cane, but for three men Ryck was made to look way too unstoppable. I mean if he tore through these guys this easily what's really stopping him from ripping Cueto's office door off the hinges and gutting him!? I still like The Crew's corner dropkicks but really they looked like total weiners here.

PAS: That was some great looking pomp and circumstance to set up the casket match. Having it brought down by spooky Day of the Dead mimes really added to the match. So much cooler then any of the fancy Undertaker entrances.

ER: Totally agree with Phil there, usually wrestling doesn't get these kind of cool visuals. These days we just get 80 shots of guys standing in the same frame as the Wrestlemania sign.

3. Mil Muertes vs. Fenix

ER: Casket match time, baby! Muertes starts things with a big ass dive and eventually attacks Fenix with a respectful funeral arrangement (I predict Phil will make a joke about Bodie buying flowers for Deangelo Barksdale's funeral. Don't let me down buddy). Fenix goes for a dive and Muertes throws the fucking casket into his face. Was not expecting that one. Fenix gets busted straight open and Muertes chokes him with the ring rope support eyelet. Back in and Fenix gets hurled recklessly into the coffin (propped up in the corner) and leaves a spectacular dent in it. This match really got special when things moved into the crowd, and there was honest to god competent crowd brawling. Not just one guy walking while loosely holding the other guy by the hair, these two were fighting all around, taking mean spills; the fist fight at the top of the arena looked great with both men throwing bombs while standing on the edge of a steep fall. Fenix gets launched headfirst into a heating duct, and really Fenix made this section by bumping around painfully into everything, flying into rails, going headfirst into surfaces, getting splatted by a powerbomb. Mil beat him around the arena and Fenix engaged, and it was beautiful. The double stomp finish into the coffin was great, and while I wish they would have figured out the ending a little better so Catrina didn't just immediately get up from the lariat, that is a minor complaint and this whole spectacle was wonderful. Best LU match so far.

PAS: This was really awesome, I haven't particularly liked either guy a ton in Lucha Underground before (have loved some AAA Mesias), so I was really surprised at how great this was. This was the first time that Muertes has looked like a real killer, all of his little stuff landed with real force, and the big moves like the throw into the coffin were awesome looking. There is this great moment where Muertes is just smashing Fenix's head into the guardrail, like he is trying to open up a coconut. Bloody main even spectacles are one of my favorite kind of wrestling matches, and we haven't had one as good as this is quite a while.

PAS: One of the cool things about Lucha Underground, is the because they have access to the entire AAA roster, they can have guys come in, work a story and leave. One of the big problems with the WWE is that they have the same guys every week, and they only leave if they get hurt or join the UFC. Muertes can be buried alive, disappear for four months and then come back as a bigger deal. It is the kind of thing that the territory system allowed, which is missing in wrestling otherwise.

***ER: We've added the casket match to our Match of the Year list, and decided that for now it's the #1 match that we've reviewed this year. Will it stay #1 all year? No way to be sure, but we've already watched a lot of wrestling in the first 3+ months of the year so it landing at #1 at all is a feat in itself, and we're confident that at the end of the year it will still stand out as being one of the most unique, memorable and great matches of the year.***

2015 MASTER LIST

LUCHA UNDERGROUND MASTER LIST

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Lucha Underground Episode 15: Eye for an Eye Workrate Report

1. Mil Muertes vs. Chavo Guerrero, Jr.

ER: Well. This was…okay? Kinda felt like treading water. I liked Chavo's plancha. The best stuff all happened post match as Muertes punches a chair out of Chavo's hands and then lands his best right hand of the match. It is kinda funny that Russo rumors circulated last week and this week we have Muertes choking Catrina and almost doing his finisher on her (yes yes I know these were taped months ago). I also liked Fenix and Catrina's super sloppy drunk person make out sesh.

PAS: I liked Chavo in this fine and this was the best in ring match of a pretty weak show. Don't really know if we established Muertes and Catrina's relationship enough to have their break up mean a ton. Also have no idea who the face and who the heel in their relationship is.

ER: I've gotten so used to the low hanging fruit advertising aimed at us dummy wrestling fans that I mostly just tune out and fast forward if possible, but man is it a little jarring seeing gory Lucio Fulci movies advertised on TV during wrestling.

2. Ivelisse vs. Angelico

ER: This was amusing for what it was. Ivelisse's stuff looked good, if unlikely. I liked how supportive and helpful Son of Havoc was. It's refreshing not seeing the jealous man angle. I like the idea of loser Son of Havoc being the jobless stay-at-home boyfriend who still doesn't really do his share of the chores.

PAS: No idea why you'd do two breakup angles back to back. This seemed like sort of a waste of time to me, although Angelico does have some sleazebag charisma.

3. Super Fly vs. Texano

ER: Not really the debut path I would have taken for Texano, working mirror sequences with a flier, but whatever. Now the post match stuff with Patron was great. Texano laces into him with a couple stiff shots on the floor and Alberto goes off and beats him with nasty shots with the bull rope wrapped around his fist.

PAS: Texano's finisher is really dumb looking. I also really dug the post match brawl. I haven't seen any of the Patron v. Texano matches in AAA, but this made me want to check some of them out.

4. Bael, Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco vs. Pimpinela Escarlata, Sexy Star & Mascarita Sagrada

ER: I thought this served its purpose. Dario set up The Crew with some theoretical tomato cans, two of whom they dispatched easily and the other they toyed with too long. Pimpi got dealt with first and I really liked the way he sold being choked out by the kendo stick. Cisco generously bumps a bit for Sagrada but eventually they hit a rough curb stomp and nasty apron powerbomb on him and B-Boy finally does something that looks decent by yakuza kicking Sagrada on the floor (the overhead camera shot betrays us again as Sagrada does a dive but it doesn't look like much with that view). That leaves us with The Crew taking on Sexy Star, and some stuff looked better than others but I thought this was effective if they actually plan on continuing to push Star. Ryck comes down the temple stairs looking like one hoss motherfucker, allowing Star to get a reverse roll-up on Bael (jeez he could have at least attempted to get one of his shoulders down for the pin. He was leaned way up into her ass crack so that it didn't even look like a pin). Striker even made a Donovan Morgan reference, which is weird.

PAS: I would have rather seen the first part of this match be a little more even until they started taking people out. Pimpi is a great brawler, and he falls really fast. I did like the curbstomp on the chair, if you a writing someone out, that is a nasty way to do it. There were moments in the Sexy Star match, but other stuff did not look good.

ER: Kind of a flat show this week. Most weeks the hour breezes right by but this one kind of dragged. Not much good in the wrestling department and not much to the backstage segments.

PAS: Yeah this was the worst show they have done. Also really odd booking having implied sexual assault in three separate segments. Really hurts the main event threatened rape, if that is an undercard spot too. Really feels like the part of Foley's book where he had a bloody match planned against Gilbert and they ran a first blood battle royal as the opener.


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Lucha Underground Episode 12: They Call Him Cage

PAS: Cage really needs a manager, what is Jeff G. Bailey doing these days.

1. Fenix vs. Mil Muertes

PAS: This is the best Muertes has looked, (not literally, his pants still suck) I really liked his jabs and big right hands and all of his throws looked good. Fenix mostly just stuck and moved which kept him from doing some of his dumber more elaborate stuff. Still have no idea why they had a David v. Goliath opener, on the same show with a David v. Goliath main event

ER: I thought this match was awesome. Both guys laid in shots, Fenix bumped all over, and everything looked cool. Perfect little WorldWide match. Fenix peppered in a couple stiff elbow shots, great running knee and then of course spectacular leans into everything Muertes throws. I rewound a couple different moments in this which is always a good sign. Loved how Fenix bumped that running punch from Muertes, loved how he took the spear, loved him getting dumped by a deadlift suplex and really loved him getting plopped on his head in the corner from a belly to belly. Really liked both guys in this. Just a perfect short match.

PAS: They are still great at the vignettes, as Cage as crazy street fighter crushing bottles with his hands is the best use of him

ER: This was great, loved that shot of Cage looking at the camera while a dude ran up and broke a bottle over his head and Cage no sold it. This episode is off to a killer start.

2. Argenis, Super Fly & Aerostar vs. Mr. Cisco, Bael & Cortez Castro

PAS: Really fun match, the crew are one of my favorite things in this fed, even Bael looked a little better then he had in the past. Just balls to the wall stuff, with Aerostar breaking out a little from the pack, he really moves smooth, just effortless flow with all of his moves, and some really nutso dives. I liked the AAA trio (although it ignores the Aerostar v. Super Fly mask v. mask beef) they should give them all matching gear and a gimmick. I could see this matchup a ton of different times.

ER: Man I wasn't expecting this to get 10+ minutes but I'm glad it did! Tons of crazy stuff in this. Aerostar standing on Argenis shoulders, while Argenis himself stood on the ropes, to deliver a crossbody was nuts and something I've never seen. Also loved the corner dropkick sequence that saw the Crew each get to attempt to scrape Aerostar's mask off onto their boots. We had some wild dives, Cisco getting rana'd off the top onto everybody, the weird Striker overhype for Argenis (a couple weeks ago he compared him to Silver King and Dr. Wagner, who he is absolutely nothing like, and this week he compares him to Hijo Del Santo), Cisco continuing to be a chubby little bump machine and doing a bunch of nice little things (loved how he really went for the legs on drop downs), and arguably the most I've ever enjoyed Cortez/Reyes. This episode is on a freaking roll.

PAS: I know I don't want to see Vampiro v. Konan in the ring, but I did enjoy their face off. I am a fan of Konan on this show and I like all of the history you felt in that face off. Maybe they could do a poor mans Eddie Marlin v. Tommy Gilbert match cowboy boot match.

ER: Boy, for two guys I never liked in their prime, and two guys I know would be horrible now……I really want to see a Vampiro/Konnan fight now. I really liked their interactions throughout this interview, and maybe if they know their own extreme limitations they can hobble something out? I love old guy fights so if it's them potatoing each other for a few minutes I could see me loving it more than anything else they've ever done.

3. Prince Puma vs. Cage

ER: This match was weird as I enjoyed the ring work of both men, while at the same time had a major problem with the match structure. In a vacuum, both guys looked good. Cage got to do his power offense and had some neat little ways to cut off offense, loved his little shoulder shrug to block Puma offense, loved him burying his shoulder into Puma's stomach in the corner, then shaking him off. A lot of Puma's stuff looked nice, he really lands with accuracy and it makes his flying stuff look better than most. But the problem was they've presented Cage as this bulldozer street fighter and now he's wrestling the same as Fenix. It's that horrible Abyss paradox where he's larger and can bump, but would bump exactly the same no matter if he was wrestling Chris Sabin or Rhino or Sonjay Dutt. Here Cage breaks out his 2nd rope moonsault and bumps all over for Puma, which is impressive, but completely absurd. I hate this even stevens kind of thing anyway, but when there's this kind of size difference you just can't work this kind of match. And this is a corner they backed themselves into when having a couple large guys in a fed made up of a bunch of smaller guys. Phil mentioned earlier they booked a David & Goliath undercard match on a show with a David & Goliath main event. And then the main event goes and just has a layout the same as any other guys in the fed.

PAS: Agree with Eric, this was Cage trying to prove he could work at the same speed as Puma, while Puma is trying to throw suplexes. Big Ryck is a much smarter worker, and this match would have been way better if Cage worked it like he worked the vignette street fight. Did like some of the spots, and the finish with the nasty Konan blade job ruled, but I wanted the match to be better.

ER: So that mystery Asian woman may be a vampire. I would actually kind of love if they added in a From Dusk Til Dawn crossover story, because why not. Who will Matanza (?) be? Will he be immortal? Whatever the case I loved how Dario sold this whole exchange. I think this was actually my favorite episode of the series so far.

PAS: I wonder if Matanza is the monster being kept in the basement with the key. I wonder who is going to play him, seems like they already have too many giant characters, although Kongo Kong would be awesome in this fed


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Lucha Underground Episode 11: Last Luchador Standing Workrate Report

1. Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco vs. Pimpinela Escarlata & Mascarita Sagrada

ER: I've actually been liking Cisco a lot during his LU run and I thought he looked great in this. He bumps way bigger than Cortez and I think he has a bunch of really great offense. He takes moves way better than the other guys and this match was a good showcase for that, as Pimpi has a few moves that require both heels to bump at the same time and Cisco always looked better. Sagrada was also downplayed as he hits a couple ranas and a flip dive (which B-Boy bumps terribly and makes it look like he got barely grazed with a Nerf football). I like how the rudos isolate him and make the most of the size disadvantage. I still like what Pimpi is bringing to the fed (even though I've seen him getting dumped on a lot). I always think he looks fine and again, Cisco made a lot of his stuff look great.

PAS: I really enjoyed this, the crew added in a lot of nasty looking cheap shots, and Pimpi may not have the athletic juice of his younger days, he still knows how to lay it in, time comebacks and elicit sympathy. I am adding my voice to the praising of Cisco. What the fuck happened to B-Boy? He was always a guys who's instincts I questioned a bit, but his execution was always good, he has looked awful in every moment of action in this fed, did he have a stroke or something?

ER: Post match and everybody turns on Big Ryck and jumps him, brutally burning his eye with his own cigar. Nasty stuff. I'm not sure what to make of the turn but Ryck seems an odd guy to be a babyface in this promotion as it's a little tough to regularly get behind a guy who won't be an underdog in any situation. Maybe Cueto digs the "strength in numbers" thing but still curious about storyline reasons for Dario paying fat stacks of cash to take out the other guy he was paying cash. Striker is still WWE conditioned as he states Ryck has been taken to a "medical facility".

PAS: I have enjoyed the look and vibe of the backstage stuff in this fed, but the motivations have often been lacking. Cueto has great delivery, but nothing he does makes any sense. What happened to the monster he had locked up anyway? Why did he pay one group of thugs to take out another thug he payed to take out John Morrison? I am worried we are getting the same lazy writing that has plagued wrestling for the last 20 years, with a slightly flashier package.

ER: Cage interview sure wasn't much. This man has not been given the gift of speech. He had an almost comically bad delivery. Vampiro looked absurd, like Vic Mackey going under cover to stop a Byz Lats drug ring.

PAS: I like Vampiro as an aggressive interviewer. He is better in that role, than at commentary.

2. Super Fly vs. Pentagon Jr.

ER: Kind of an aimless match with a couple of cool spots. A lot of this was centered around Pentagon attacking Super Fly's leg, and Super Fly yelling about his battered leg, but outside of yelling and holding his leg after getting kicked it never seemed to bother him too much. We do get a bunch of fun superkicks that just made me want a Chris Adams style superkick match, and Pentagon does his brutal dropkick to a moonsaulting opponent, but this didn't add up to much for me.

PAS: I liked this more then Eric. Pentagon is at his best as a nasty asskicker, and I like him beating on dudes better then flying around trying to match spot for spot with guys like Fenix.


3. Sexy Star vs. Mariachi Loco

ER: This felt like the kind of match they should have had when Sexy Star debuted. Instead this match was spent acting like Star has always been an equal to her male counterparts, when they could have just done something like this the first week and had it established that she's equal. That said I liked this match and Star's comebacks and offensive runs were logical, and she even brought some stiff work especially with some kicks to the face. I dug all her armdrags and her capitalizing on Mariachi's mistakes made sense in the match.

PAS: Yeah this was pretty good, Sexy Star was really laying it in, and Marachi Loco was good too as a bumbling heel bumping around. Not really sure where they are going with her now that the Chavo feud is over, but I wouldn't mind Pimpi turning heel and a feud between those two.

4. Last Luchador Standing: King Cuerno vs. Drago

ER: Well this was disappointing, but I'm also a guy who dislikes Last Man Standing matches more than a lot of people. It's a stip that just constantly interrupts the action, with a big move and then lying around waiting. There have been LMS matches that I've enjoyed but usually with me it just ends up getting in the way of what could have been a fine normal match. And it doesn't help when you have a goofy ending where apparently it counts as a guy not being able to stand, when the other guy is physically preventing him from doing so? That took what could have been a brutal finish in a No DQ match, into a confusing finish. Both guys have shown a good rhythm together, and this stip took away that rhythm, as instead of a grueling match it just came across as a restart after every move. We still got big spots like the Cuerno tope and a sick Michinoku Driver to the floor, I just don't think overall the stip helped them.

PAS: I didn't mind the pacing as much as Eric, Cuerno is already deliberate, which is what I like about him, so the pauses kind of worked with the pacing of his matches. The pace differences is what I like about this series. Still that was a pretty dumb finish. Especially if this was supposed to end the feud. This show had some fun action, but it really made me question their booking


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Lucha Underground Episode 9: Aztec Warfare Workrate Report

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

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

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


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