Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 40: Ultima Lucha Tres Part 4

ER: FOR THE RECORD, we've had this written up for over a month, but Phil and I have been going content crazy with the NJ/AJ handhelds and the WM weekend shows, so I kept putting off posting this. But I made it to the finish line, bitchez!

TL: A 100% honestly accurate text message conversation that happened before the final taping of Ultima Lucha Tres:

Vampiro: hey, bro

Striker: Sup, Vamp?

Vampiro: was thinking we ball out for the finale ya know?

Striker: I totally agree. Biggest show of the year!

Vampiro: got this sick suit I was planning to wear on the first date with that singer from Slapbak

Striker: Nice!

Vampiro: but she shot me down so I gotta wear it anyways and was thinkin about wearin it for the final ep, brother

Striker: Sounds good!

Vampiro: what sick threads you got?

Striker: I’m going to wear an official Lucha Underground T-Shirt. Have to stay on brand and let people know what show they’re watching!

Vampiro: cool bro you do you

I mean, I’m not even on camera when I do commentary and because I’m out there in front of folks, I feel bad if I’m not wearing at least a shirt with buttons on it. Gonna petition the owners that Eric and I only wear official PPW apparel at shows now that professional broadcaster Matt Striker thinks it’s fine to wear a t-shirt on the biggest show of the year.


Cage Match: Matanza vs. Dragon Azteca Jr.

ER: Azteca never felt like a guy who was supposed to hang with Matanza, and this match bore that out. We get a fun twist with DA getting thrown right through a side of the cage, crashing through it to the floor and technically "escaping" just a few minutes into the match. Naturally Dario says we can't have shenanigans like that, though I liked the false finish. The real finish has the return of Black Lotus, and I'll level with you: I really couldn't explain her role up through season 2, but now that we haven't seen her on TV in what has to be well over a year, my interest level in her storyline is probably not going to go any higher. She hits a big crossbody off the top of the cage, which looks cool, but honestly who in the crowd was flipping out about a Black Lotus return? Leading up to this match DA lost to Dante Fox, Johnny Mundo, Pentagon, and Matanza. The last person he beat was Chavo. I am not sure how he earned this match, and it was worked like he did not earn it.

TL: I knew what the finish was before the match even started. When you have a matchup where Dragon Azteca, Jr. has absolutely NO CHANCE against a guy like Matanza, but you’re hoping that the face gets his win on the big show of the year, you let the guy with overpowering strength throw the dude through the cage to the floor. Matanza looks like a badass, Azteca “wins.” I did like that the build to the false finish came after Matanza threw Dragon Azteca up against the cage a bunch, which really made that throw come off even better than it would on its own, which is still a great spot. After the restart and Azteca ripping off Cueto’s shirt, you get Matanza slamming Azteca around outside before throwing him back him in as Vamp asks a question about anaconda’s feeding habits. Striker was silent for a good five seconds before he started talking again. Why the hell does MATANZA need help winning a damn cage match? Especially when Azteca hadn’t beaten anybody in months? Super weird match. Black Lotus’ return only to find out that Dario Cueto was a liar seems like the biggest waste of time in wrestling history. How did Lotus not watch any episodes of the show and see Cueto lied basically every week? What a revelation.

Jeremiah Crane vs. Cage vs. Mil Muertes

ER: My god the insanity! This match delivered beyond what I was hoping for, turning into an epic big boy X-Division spotfest, that also had tons of blood and crazy weapons usage. This would have been awesome without the weapons, just three big lugs working stiff and crashing into each other, but the weapons were crazy and the spots around them nuts. So you get Crane's great yakuza kicks, you get all three crashing to the floor like big Nitro cruisers (Crane with his great low-pe, Cage with a big flip dive, Muertes diving off the tope), Muertes slams Crane shoulders first on a chokeslam, Cage drops people with his awesome driver combos, all great stuff. Once Crane brings in a heavy trash can then all hell breaks loose. Everybody takes rough can shots, Crane starts gushing blood, Crane gets chokeslammed through a table on the floor, and back in the ring Cage keeps bouncing around like he's 100 lb. less, pulling off a big rana and a perfect Asai moonsault (and Muertes pulls off a flawless spinning headscissors on the floor, so these guys are all just the lightest heavyweights). Things get crazier and grosser when Crane slams a bunch of wooden stakes right into the top of Cage's head. I've never seen anything like that before. It's like two dozen chopsticks were just sticking stright out of Cage's head, with blood starting to leak out down the sides of his head. My god. He even takes a DDT to hammer the stakes DEEPER into his head. What the hell, you guy!? Muertes goes through a sheet of glass and comes up covered in blood, but they decide to go for ultimate crazy and we get Crane getting superplexed off the top THROUGH Muertes and a couple tables. Holy cow. The singles match portion (with Crane eliminated) between Muertes/Crane was a nice cooldown, with two big tiring dudes beating each other up. I dug their strike exchange, love that Muertes snap powerslam, and love Muertes getting the win to return to dominance. He really should be the top monster in the fed, but damn I really love Cage in LU. Awesome battle of the Kongs.

TL: This was wild stuff for sure, but I had to rewind and see when Crane took the shot to start bleeding and…it was off Muerte’s plancha? That’s…an interesting time to blade. I loved how Muertes always looked dominant even when Cage or Crane would find an advantage for a minute. Three big dives to the outside? Muertes takes them both out with his. Crane and Cage set up tables? Muertes chokeslams Crane through the first one. (He also threw out his awesome twisting variation earlier in the match.) Muertes doing the tilt-a-whirl headscissors on the outside was one of the great eye-opening moments that made you remember how ridiculously athletic Mesias is for a guy his size. Oh, and then in a match full of sick bumps, Muertes is totally fine bumping through a damn pane of glass. I love the build with the table spot, too. Cage moonsault? Nah. Crane crazy splash? Nah. Cage superplexes Crane through Muertes on the table on the outside? DEFINITELY. I also find it funny Cage felt he needed to do Weapon X to finish off Crane, but considering how this match has gone, why not be sure? Singles portion was fine and I liked the Crane came back out after he was eliminated to at least try and get some revenge on Muertes, but ain’t nobody bringing him down. AND THEY FINALLY DO THE THING WHERE THE GAUNTLET PUTS OUT THE LIGHTS!!!! And it leads to Cuerno’s return! Love the staredown where Cuerno has stolen the glove and shows it off only for Catrina to hold up her stone like it’s just as good. High comedy. Awesome stuff here. Cage was close to the best I’ve ever seen him.

TL: The Mundo video that Taya made came off as incredibly try-hard to be goofy and cool. The only good part was when they showed Dario in front of his “I’m Kind Of A Big Deal” nameplate.


Career vs. Title: Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo

ER: A long, epic, blown out ECW style bullshit-filled stips match, which is what a big Lucha Underground stips match should be, though sadly I enjoyed the bullshit portions a lot more than the one on one pairing, and the bullshit peaked in the middle of the match. I loved the Worldwide Underground coming out to interfere. Jack Evans is a great kind of stooge: impossibly athletic, and able to convey grace and clumsiness. It's awesome to see him interfere with a million spin springboard kick, but also flee and run into a cameraman. Angelico makes his big return and gets revenge, Ricky Mundo triumphantly tries to save everyone and immediately eats a kick, referee Rick Knox hits a sloppy as hell flip dive on them, Taya is dressed in a cut up neon shirt and jean shorts like she just got dressed to leave the set of a bikini carwash movie, and it all leads to an awesome kick out where Puma hits the double knees and a springboard 450. Great near fall. But I thought everything after that part of the match was a bit too flimsy and anticlimactic, with Mundo overshooting some spots, and a big punch exchange that didn't look great. Puma winning was a nice moment, but then we cut away to a close up on Vampiro trying to do a cool satisfied evil look, but it reads like him standing there looking like the dumbest possible version of Krang's android body. And then we end up getting...

TL: The match did the usual indy standoff that I’ve not even remotely enjoyed one bit in LU but when it spilled to the outside, it picked up mightily. The spot where Puma missed a dive from the crowd railing to the apron and then hit a double springboard shooting star plancha to the outside in basically one motion is one of the best feats of athleticism I’ve seen in LU. Puma actually gets a lot more offense here than I thought considering when Mundo is in control, it’s normally compelling stuff. Instead, this gets worked more as a sprint and a bomb-throwing match. Then the bullshit happens. I liked that Puma’s go-to kick to the nuts gets blocked, that’s decent storytelling considering it’s how he got around stuff in the past. It gets crazy after that with Angelico’s return as he helps clear out the rubble and we get Rick Knox getting his tope con barely over the top giro. Then…they go to commercial. Amazing production. So now two of the worst punchers in LU start trading shots and we get a couple near falls back and forth while Striker points out Vampiro’s obvious turn that has been foreshadowed all year. Puma wins with a 630 after kicking out of everything Mundo had. Vampiro grins like he just let one rip and doesn’t care who knows it. He’s as proud of that fart as anything he’s ever done.

Career/Title vs. Career: Prince Puma vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: Dario just can't have Puma winning a title here, so we get his career put on the line again. And this match didn't really work for me, but I've also been "out" on Pentagon for awhile now. We get our ample assortment of their one loud shotgun handclap sound FX on kicks. We got those in the triple threat match, but a lot of those shots looked like they landed heavy. Here you can tell the shots weren't landing as the sound effect SLAPS kept happening, but there's little crowd reaction. The crowd is the true indicator on a big shot landing. We get our flipping piledrivers, and package piledrivers, and I really dislike Vampiro as an onscreen character at this point. That stupid master story has gone on far too long, and it's idiotic to just have him sitting out there like a doof providing bad commentary, but also apparently being super evil and sinister. None of it works. And I don't actually understand the fans' obsession with Pentagon.

TL: I actually thought it was interesting that the arm break spot came early because of the stipulation, but it made the match clunky and even in spots where the arm shouldn’t have been used at all, it got used in ways that made it look hokey as opposed to brave for trying to fight through it. Amazing that even in what’s obviously his coronation, Pentagon looked like he was half-assing it. At the time, it was somewhat obvious Puma was heading off to greener (yellower?) pastures, but I think they did him a disservice by making him go out like this. Booking him to lose like this because you felt Vampiro needed to be a part of a main event storyline again was better than a guy like Puma going out on his sword. Got it. After Vampiro pulls Penta out of the way of the 630, Striker offers a little kid to come over and do commentary instead of Vamp and I wish the kid took him up on the offer. Penta Driver. Fear Factor. New champ. Sure. Fine. Stoked to watch Ricochet in NXT with proper booking behind him. Penta promises to rule over LU with balls and zero fear, and I agree that it takes a lot of balls and zero fear to put on these types of performances when you’re getting such a strong push.

ER: We get a lot of different storylines advanced in the final couple minute montage, like the lizard people actively choosing to be a far worse team by having Daga decapitate Pindar, the best member of the group. I'm glad Cuerno's back. The heavier guys have been my favorite parts of LU and this season could have only been better with him around. Oh and Godfrey shoots Dario. That's pretty big.

TL: Killing off Pindar is inexcusable. I have to imagine they figure out a way for Cueto to come back even from this: The show would be so much worse off without him as an authority figure, which is amazing sentence to say about a professional wrestling television show when WWE has four authority figures they can’t book well at all. Stoked on Cuerno’s return, stoked on more Rey and Matanza, stoked on Fenix and Melissa riding off into the sunset. But man, VAMPIRO has a master now? Get over it. Nobody cares.

TL: We will most likely be back with weekly’s come this summer when Season 4 starts airing. Considering this season was close to not happening, will be interesting to see how it’s done.

ER: Yeah, it's televised wrestling that still has guys I like. I see no reason to stop now. It's content, baby!

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 35: Cien

ER: I cannot believe there has been 100 episodes of this show, and I really can't believe that I have officially written about 100 episodes of this show. My goodness that is a lot of words written about Lucha Underground, with 3 different people. Props to Tim for crossing this threshold with me.

TL: Happy to have been here for the handful I’ve done. Always loved the work Eric, Phil, Matt, and all the other contributors have done on the site. I am definitely stunned that this show made it to 100 episodes in a way. Makes me wonder how many other feds could do 100 episodes of wrestling with such huge variations of quality. Hell, CWF Mid-Atlantic is blowing this out of the water on a regular basis and they’re about to do episode 150.

Sexy Star/Fenix/Cage/Prince Puma vs. Taya/PJ Black/Johnny Mundo/Marty "The Moth" Martinez

ER: This match had a comical amount of "I make your partner do a move to you" goofy mousetrap offense, but I liked it. It was just a 6 minute atomicos match but had a lot to like with all the goofiness happening. I liked all the moments where Mundo uses Taya as operation human shield, like rushing to tag her in when Cage gets into the match, or blatantly throwing her right into a big Cage lariat so that he is in a better position to attack Cage. The double teams were all goofy but they fit well into the match just because they were pulled off seamlessly, with both Puma pulling out some ridiculous combos, a crazy spinkick out of something that started like an armdrag, a big springboard kick, plenty of fun bits. We get a couple good DDTs, both Moth and Puma really took them on the side of their heads, really outside of Moth having to bump around for Sexy Star this was plenty fun. Also looking forward to Crane/Cage if it ends up happening as more than just a backstage beatdown.

TL: So, this is some really basic quibbling with wrestling booking. Okay. You have Fenix in a blood feud with Marty that is building to an apuestas match. Marty starts off the match with Sexy Star. He shows ass and basically has to tumble to his corner for a tag because he can’t handle Sexy Star. So this means, with Fenix going to a standstill with PJ Black in the next section of this match…that Sexy is being booked stronger than all three of them? Really? I just wanted to expand on Eric’s point about Marty bumping around for her because it’s just one of those things that seems really out of place with all the stories they’re trying to tell in this match. When everyone pairs off into the feuds they’re in at the end, it’s really fun, and I dug Puma doing a gainer off Mundo’s springboard kick. Looked really sick. A good little match, if not something that felt rushed.

TL: I’m such a huge fan of the corny-ass backstage segments that LU has. It’s really amazing that they even exist in a universe where Being the Elite is also a thing. I’ll take this overacting over tongue-in-cheek inside references at wrestlers being better than “The establishment” any day of the week. Also, if it becomes a three-way between Muertes/Cage/Crane, I’m in. Just don’t give Crane a bat.

Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: They're keeping the matches to 6-7 minutes this episode, which keeps things fast and avoids bloat. You know you're likely not getting a great match, but you don't get guys working themselves into corners either. I thought this was really fun, even though I'm bearish on Pentagon he's still a really nice base for Azteca, and I loved all of Azteca's crazy height and balance he would display, every time Pentagon would toss him into the air. Him landing on his feet on the top was super impressive, and I loved him getting tossed up onto the stage and running back and immediately hitting a beautiful rana to the floor. Azteca hit a big skytwister press to the floor not long before that, and back in they did some nicely done sexy dance fighting. Pentagon would cut off Azteca when he got too cute (like making him pay for a handspring attempt by hitting a double stomp), and the package piledriver was nicely planted. Azteca gets launched a few times postmatch by Matanza, a sure curse when an employer knows how great you take big throw offense. This episode is nice and brisk.

TL: One of my favorite things in lucha when I first started watching it was Hector Garza’s tornillo. It was so amazingly graceful and also looked like it completely wiped you out when it landed. Azteca hits a great one here, mainly aided by the camera angle, but it also gave me a reason to talk about one of my favorite moves. This is better than most Pentagon matches this season because Azteca’s offense is good and Penta knows how to take it, and Penta can be a good transition guy. Azteca landing on top in an ode to early Rey stuff was awesome, as was Penta hitting the Fear Factor to finish off it. Matanza tossing around people never gets old.

Matanza vs. Rey Mysterio

ER: Good match, as you'd expect. Rey sticks and moves until Matanza sticks him, and then we get a nice long Matanza beatdown, slamming the back of Rey's head into various surfaces, clawing at his eyes, cutting him off with a nice straight leg big boot, Rey tries to tangle him in the ropes and Matanza keeps beating on him with Vader-like full arm blows. The Code Red was a nice comeback and then we go a classic Rey run, big springboard senton and legdrop, big DDT, Matanza gets a chair kicked into his face in nasty fashion a couple times (I wonder how hard front of his mask really is? It doesn't seem pliable but I'm not sure it's protective), and I love Matanza finally just taking Rey out at the knees with the chair. End run was big with a couple large Matanza throws, a nice missed charge into the post, but Rey moonsaulting into the Wrath of the Gods. This match didn't necessarily seem like a huge deal, which is a shame since you had without a doubt the biggest wrestling star in the company versus a murderer who has never been beaten in a straight match, but in a vacuum the two of them matched up predictably well.

TL: Rey’s barrage to start this was fantastic and really made the match have a sense of urgency that can sometimes be missing in LU. Of course, Matanza is a great base for Rey’s offense, including snapping over on a springboard rana with a tight window. The baseball slide Rey bump is one of my favorite lucha bumps ever, right up there with the Estrada bump. Matanza just slamming Rey into whatever he finds appealing is great stuff, just overpowering him in every way possible. The Code Red off the top was nasty as all hell and a great way to get Rey back into it. Why does Matanza need a chair, though???? As Eric said, he’s literally killed a guy. Like he needs a damn chair. The rotating German Suplex is still an awe-inspiring spot even though I’ve seen it done so many times. Cool finish and I liked that Cueto made sure Matanza won. I do think it was treated like a big deal, but it didn’t get the pageantry that you expect from a monumental episode since it was rushed into from the previous match. It was definitely worked like a big match, and I liked the postmatch beatdown with the chair more than the chair stuff during the match due to there being more intent there, but I’ll like anything these two do together, really.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 32: The Cueto Cup

Mask vs. Mask: Veneno vs. Sexy Star

ER: Is this an unannounced MASK MATCH!? I honestly don't remember. I guess it's possible they announced it, but it seems crazy to start off a random episode (an episode where it's not even the main focus! The episode is about the Cueto Cup!!) with a freaking mask match. Oops and it's Cortez Castro. It's Cortez Castro everybody. This mask was mercifully short and we're all thankful for it. Can't these two shitty cops just kill each other in an ineffective standoff?

TL: It was announced, but it was a Joey Ryan skit, so I can understand Eric forgetting it. Might be the best Sexy Star match in LU history because it lasted 45 seconds and barely had her involved in it at all. I’m trying to think of the worst cop standoffs in movie/TV history but I’m drawing a blank. This is way up there, though.

TL: Okay, so Johnny’s manager/agent/stooge, whose name I’ve already forgotten, tries a power play on a guy with multiple homicides under his watch. Smart move. Johnny threatens to take the belt elsewhere, which obviously means down the interstate to Reseda. To be frank, there have been worse title defenses there considering Elgin’s been a champ there. And Adam Cole.

Prince Puma vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: The stock has dropped pretty big for both of these guys, for me at least, so I had low expectations. The whole Cueto Cup tourney has been mostly disappointing filler programming (we need to pad out some episodes of a longer season...let's do a huge tournament!!) with a couple standouts, but a finals is a finals and there should be excitement over them. And if anything, this was a match that was totally made by the crowd. The crowd was in love every step of the way, even when things got completely stupid. If you watched this on mute, you would miss out on the unironic love that the Believers have for these two. The match itself was a lot of things that I don't like about modern wrestling, peaking with a dueling Mexican Destroyer spot. I thought Pentagon looked bad through half of this; it was very noticeable at the beginning how they were trying to hide his poor looking offense by switching off to gimmick camera angles, and later he would do annoying little things like charge into Puma's boot in the corner...and come about a foot shy of boot. But again, the crowd loves these two and this felt like the right match for the setting. I liked a couple of the little moments, like Puma rolling through with a nice armdrag after Pentagon went for his driver, and the camera angle to catch the winning 630, Puma's northern lights rolled through to a deadlift vertical suplex looked insane, and outside of that silly dueling destroyer moment we didn't get any overkill. "Right match for the audience" may sound condescending, but that's not my intention. It wasn't my bag, but it felt right in the moment.

TL: First thing I notice here is that Pentagon Dark, who has this presence that plays bigger than he actually is, is SHORTER than Puma, who’s listed at 5’10”. I know wrestlers are generally shorter these days, but I got a kick out of it. It’s billed as a match that was three years in the making (which is true) and yeah, the crowd is definitely into it. I did like that there was a fight for the Pentagon Driver (aforementioned armdrag was slick as all hell). That dueling Destroyer stuff killed me, too. Just, okay, I want to make this clear to today’s pro wrestlers: Just because you can trade moves to build up heat doesn’t mean ANY move will do. Yes, even your precious Canadian Destroyer. Yes, when Misawa traded neck-breaking Germans with Kawada or Kobashi or Akiyama 20 years ago, it was just as dumb. It makes NO sense. NONE. I’ll say this about Striker: He did EVERYTHING he could to put this thing over as more than it was. Presentation matters, folks. But this fell flat in so many ways for me. I’m glad the crowd found a way to enjoy it, but it’s just not my thing.

Rey Mysterio vs. Johnny Mundo

ER: This was a pretty wonderful match with some pretty historic levels of bullshit. My memory is spotty (as this show has somehow existed for a few years now) but I think this is the first time Dario has actually gotten physically involved in a match (I think he fought with Catrina but I don't think he got in the ring to alter an outcome), and I think this was the first time we had an appearance from Lucha Underground Security. The match itself was really fun, with Rey coming out fast as the aggressor and really pasting Mundo out of the ring and following to the floor with hard elbow shots. and Mundo was really great about using his body as a twisting, crashing weapon. Vampiro takes about 3 minutes and digs his heels in on a really terrible analogy about a jukebox, where I guess Mundo is a jukebox and Rey is a song on the jukebox and the analogy isn't working but he's convinced that the more he talks about the analogy the more the analogy might make sense, and it's the quietest we've ever heard Striker as he's completely letting Vampiro die on the vine and Vampiro just keeps rolling with it. The bullshit gets really fun, with Dario stopping a ref's count and then pie facing Mysterio. This has to be the first time he's gotten physical with a non-Matanzas wrestler, right? Rey sets up the 619 on him, but Mundo gets to Rey and splats him with his finisher that usually overshoots. We get big Dominic running out to double leg Mundo, then paste a member of Lucha Underground Security with a running elbow smash on the escape. Love it.

TL: Holy crap. Vampiro sets this one up as Rey as LeBron James, saying he’s “come home” to get back to his roots. That is a hell of a statement. And Vampiro’s made a lot of statements. Between that and the jukebox thing, along with Striker in the previous match, I’m looking to see if there’s a SAP feed. Rey plays his hits pretty well, with the face-first bump under the bottom rope and the slick baseball slide into the headscissors. He even pulls out the Dragonrana suicida he used to do with Eddie. It was not the pace I was expecting, to be honest. Was expecting more of a control segment from Johnny, but this being a 50/50 match was pretty good for me. I have no idea how there was a Rey Mysterio Canadian Destroyer in this match, but here we are. The worst security in the history of pro wrestling can’t even deal with Dominic. The Dario stuff was at least funny, and Johnny wins on a bullshit finish, which is 100% on brand. Definitely entertaining, definitely creative.


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 31: The Cup Runneth Over

ER: Did we know that Dario knew that Veneno was an undercover cop? I don't think we did. So Sexy Star gets another big stips match, though I doubt I'll be so offended by seeing Cortez Castro have to sell for her. This needs to end with Castro being unmasked, and the rest of the season spent with Dario holding him captive in some secluded shack, beating him with chains Vic Mackey style. This season feels like it has lacked Dario nefarious corporate takeover machinations. It is also revealed to us that we, the viewers, have lost a "Loser Still Has to Listen to Slapbak" contest.

TL: See, I again wonder why Cage just doesn’t do EVERYTHING with the glove on. Imagine him running the squat rack with that thing. Katrina doesn’t really convince me that she should have it, to be honest. And yeah, Sexy Star getting an apuestas match just seems like a giant trap to me. Like, they want me to care, but I have no reason to.

Fenix vs. Prince Puma

ER: I don't know if I really liked this match, but it felt like the exact big indy main event epic that they needed to have in this spot. It didn't really feel like an LU epic main event, definitely felt more like a modern indy big match epic, but "big match epic" felt right in this spot. I think it was more enjoyable than a lot of big match epics as it really only went around 10 minutes, even though these two can fit a lot of stuff into "just" 10 minutes. At minimum it was high energy even if it didn't totally add up to much, and I would have rather had Fenix get the big win. The crowd was going nuts through the whole thing and that added to the atmosphere (and Steve Agee fondling a large photo of Marty Martinez also added...something...to the atmosphere), and the speed they worked made played out spots like the (Mexican?) destroyer look really good. Naturally we get a standing strike exchange, but both guys were really laying it in and clonking each other in the head with hard elbows, and the double KO spot looked really good. Fenix hits a killer fast German suplex and a great kick to the back of the head, but hits Moth with a moonsault to the floor, allowing Puma to take over. Puma's finishing run all looked good, and lead to the huge nearfall where Fenix kicked out of a nasty captured leg driver.

TL: I’m all about this right here if they DON’T go the route of Puma/Fox, but we shall see. And 90 seconds after some neat chain stuff, they go right into the strike exchange that makes me want to turn off all indy wrestling. Just because both guys are over doesn’t mean you need to do a strike exchange. However, after that, things actually settle in and it really turns into a better match than the opening moments told for me. I'm getting really sick of Vampiro being a part of anything in 2017, and Muertes having to stare him down seems like an affront to everything Mil has become. Great finishing stretch, the Puma 630 where he pops up right after he hits it reminds me of all those times Barry Bonds stole a base and popped up after he slid. Just so athletic and smooth. Yeah, didn’t think I’d like this, but ended up being pretty fun.

Pentagon Dark vs. Mil Muertes

ER: Muertes is jumped by Cage backstage and gets his ribs smashed with a weight plate, which feels like both a great 80s angle and also like the only natural way that Cage can attack a man. If Cage were a video game boss you know you would have to dodge weight plates that he was throwing. So Muertes goes into the match with hurt ribs, which is good as I can't buy Pentagon as a threat to Muertes at this point. His stock has fallen way too much in my estimation, so giving him injured ribs to attack is a good use of Pentagon. I thought Pentagon looked pretty sloppy to start, stumbling into an armdrag attempt (which Muertes then refuses to go along with finishing the armdrag in an awesome spot) and throwing some slow kicks to the ribs (Pentagon may be the guy who the SMACK sound F/X are used most for). But his flip dive is nice and Muertes absorbs it all on the catch. Back in the ring and Muertes hits a great chokeslam and roughs up Pentagon on the floor. A fat Canadian stares down Muertes but Muertes still gets to spear Pentagon, powerslam him and continue roughing him up. Pentagon gets a comeback way too easily after all the damage he took, and he even superkicks Catrina from the apron (he looked more like he tried to shake toilet paper off his boot, but that sound F/X gunshot says otherwise) and hits the double stomp on those injured ribs for the win. I thought Pentagon looked mostly pretty bad here, and even with the rib injury I didn't buy him holding up through Muertes' offense. But, can't deny the crowd reaction for him. I just want more big deal Muertes main events.

TL: I agree that Cage using the glove to sneak attack Muertes was well done, although the weight stuff just makes me want to watch Enforcers matches. Cage as new-age Bill Kazmaier works to an extent. And yeah, I get what Eric is saying about Pentagon, but he’s basically done what all wrestlers who get over do: Minimize effort to their most over spots and only turn it on when the atmosphere dictates it. He’s been obviously coasting during this season, so the hope is that he turns it on in a big spot against Mil. I agree that Pentagon got a bit too easily back into the match, but I bought it a bit considering Mil came in hurt. At least more than I would have had Mil not been hurt. Sucks that’s Mil is not in the finals and that he’s onto a Cage match instead. Pentagon has phoned it in big time and it’s sad to see, to be honest.

ER: Dario says he wants Mysterio and Mundo out because he loves when guys talk shit about each other (his words), and Mundo gets some pretty good digs in at Rey ("Dominic must have gotten his size from his mother" is a pretty sick burn). Eventually we devolve into a pretty great locker room clearing brawl. Moth gets kicked down the stairs, Cage wrecks Mundo with a powerbomb, Vinny Massaro gets TV time by punching Joey Ryan around ringside, Rabbit Tribe eat carrots, Killshot and Fox look shitty while brawling, Puma hits the 630 onto 20 guys. I would have been fine with 10 more minutes of this.

TL: Absolutely howling that the security folks just let Rey not only knock Mundo out of the ring, but then LET HIM DIVE ONTO HIM, and THEN they go get him. And then one of them has to take a bump for Sexy Star. I’ve seen some bad professional wrestling security before, but that takes the cake. However, everything that happened after that was AWESOME. One of the best locker room clearing brawls I’ve ever seen. Just madness from start to finish and you get the pair-offs that will most definitely look towards Ultima Lucha III. Great stuff.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 29: The Hunger Inside

ER: I have to wonder if Cueto feeding Matanza a big plate of raw meat is an inside joke. When we were just starting Phoenix Pro Wrestling, my pal Josh (PPW owner/booker) drove down to meet up with JR Kratos and Jeff Cobb to film some things, and go over plans for the first few shows. And he said at one point that day the two of them ate this huge bowl of raw looking meat, while chatting, just getting that protein.

TL: So last episode, I was either uninterested (three matches with three indy standoffs to start off will do it to you) or Eric made all the good points already so I’m gonna jump right in and be all about this week’s episode. I hope. Matanza wanting raw meat that bad just makes me want sashimi, and also makes me want to go back to Japan. Hey! Jeff was in Japan in December! He ate steak! I don’t know if it was raw, but he ate steak! Gonna say with 100% confidence that this scene was the thing that got him to Japan. Deductive reasoning at its finest, baby.

1. Pindar vs. Fenix

ER: This delivered just about what I wanted, with Pindar dropping a bunch of big slams and powerbomb variations, hard elbow shots to the jaw and back of the head, and Fenix almost killing himself. My favorite part of the match was actually Kobra Moon choking Fenix in the corner while the ref was distracted. She really got that arm wrapped around his neck and sunk it in from a position of leverage. That choke is pro wrestling right there. Pindar threw some nice knuckle punches at Fenix's dome. Pindar still looks like Dirk Benedict at the end of Sssssss, and to my surprise we don't get a dozen shots of Melissa concerned for Fenix (just one!). Luckily, Pindar is base-y as hell because Fenix could have died doing that Spanish fly off the top. Finish is awesome with Fenix just jumping both knees first right into Pindar's guy, the way I used to jump off the back of the couch onto my poor father.

TL: Pindar as a base for Fenix’s shenanigans makes me giddy coming in. I have absolutely no idea what Vampiro’s talking about with Fenix’s black and white attire. Pindar with a fantastic quebradora that Fenix bumped crazy for. In fact, that’s just the beginning of an AWESOME run of Pindar offense. The spinning wheel kick in the corner is one of my favorite moves I’ve seen in a long time and was very Jerry Flynnesque. The monkey flip with Fenix doing the AJ Styles “wait until the last possible second to tuck and roll” bump was insane. Even Pindar’s crazy-ass Royal Butterfly slam just looked cool. Then Fenix one-ups him with his ridiculous springboard sole butt to the face, which basically always looks good. That Spanish Fly was definitely problematic, but Pindar snapping off for the bump was masterful. I really hope we get to see more of him this season. Great start, even with Fenix off his game.

TL: Jack Evans with a wired jaw is high comedy to me considering his body is basically made out of rubber. Still a better promo not being able to talk right than PJ.

2. Dante Fox vs. Prince Puma

ER: I'm so tired of writing up matches like these. I don't know what to say anymore. Big moves were hit, usually really well! Strikes were exchanged, dives were done; some of the moves looked really painful, but they probably weren't because neither guy seemed to have much trouble taking a move and then doing a move. Sometimes moves didn't hurt, and other times just doing a move might make you lie on the mat and breathe hard. At one point I actually forgot who was who, as it didn't really matter in terms of following along with the action. You knew cool things were going to happen, and after about 10 minutes of cool things then one of the guys would be pinned. Both men may as well have been wearing Green Man jumpsuits, as it really didn't matter who was doing what. This was the sexiest of the sexy dance fighting. Do you remember years and years ago, when (I think) Eric Bischoff suggested making pro wrestling an Olympic sport, with judges and points systems? A lot of us within our circle laughed it off and knew it would just be cooperative gymnastics specifically appealing to judges instead of crafting something interesting. Well, this - and a lot of popular current wrestling style - is cooperative gymnastics specifically appealing to judges. This is wrestling seeking star ratings and chants, all that's missing at this point is breathing heavily while holding your pose at the end of your Bolero routine. These two should enter some kind of swing dancing competitions or something. There's a whole touring circuit out there that's missing them.

TL: So this has all the makings of all of the crazy athleticism of Ricochet/Ospreay, matches that I actively disliked due to the choreography. Also, Striker calling Puma/PJ Black a five-star matchup is such pandering bullshit it makes me take him less serious than ever. And yeah, this match doesn’t start off the way I’d like it to, as both guys do the dive tradeoff as the substitute for your normal indy standoff; selling not even optional, more like non-existent. Something finally happens when Puma catches the Fox moonsault, only for it to be a DDT that looked sick enough that if it got no-sold, I would have just skipped the match entirely. Fox grabbing a chinlock after four minutes, with the way this match started, would make Kevin Owens laugh out loud. Randy Orton doesn’t even have the balls to do that. Then, when Puma goes right back on offense, it’s as if the Fox “control segment” didn’t even matter. And now they go into a damn rollup sequence and then a ludicrous kick-trading sequence. AND THEN THEY SELL FATIGUE TO TRADE ELBOWS. Good lord almighty. One of the reasons Dragon Lee/Kamaitachi at least worked was that they built up to stuff in a way and sold high impact stuff in a way that at least made sense. This was a cherry picked version of that match where selling only mattered to remember the next sequence. Striker also literally calls a brainbuster a “modified Jackhammer” in this match. I know Puma’s moving on. You know Puma’s moving on. I am moving on from this match because it’s just not even close to the type of wrestling I can enjoy. I’ll just say this: Ricochet going to NXT is going to 100% work out for my personal enjoyment of him because they’ll figure out the best way to tone him down and accentuate his strengths. At least until they sign Ospreay in a year or two.

TL: Oh, so NOW they figure out Cage killed a guy with the power glove. This is the worst police department of all time. I do think it’s hilarious they somehow got the TV feed from Cortez’s match as Veneno, as if they can access the shows at any time. I have a feeling they can get the Tom Magee/Bret Hart match.

3. Johnny Mundo vs. Dragon Azteca Jr.

ER: [I'm not sure what happened, as I wrote this up some time ago and when I went to post, I had nothing written for this match, no memory of what happened in it, no clue what happened to whatever I originally wrote]

TL: We get a close look at Ron Funches and the Mysterio family in the crowd, with Dominic looking big. Striker references them often in this one, so I figured I’d just get it out of the way now. This match coming in was something I’d be interested in if Dragon literally works this like Rey would against Mundo, but instead, he gets off to a good start with an enziguiri and then a springboard rana that Mundo rolls outside for with a ridiculous bump. I have no idea why Azteca would do a forward roll before trying a pescado rana, but Johnny’s sick spinebuster counter off it is another great Mundo transition spot. Mundo’s control sequence is fun with his sliding knee and his always good-looking springboard kick. Azteca works really well from underneath here, and when he is able to vault Mundo to the floor, he hits a truly insane somersault plancha over the ringpost, complete with awesome camera shot. I also love Dragon’s unique kick counters, as he slides towards the corner off a whip and then just catches a charging Mundo in the face. I also love a good Toyota Roll, and Dragon does a great one here. Azteca also busts out the prawn hold from the top rope, which always looks nasty. Of course, Mundo trips up Dragon on the top and finishes with The End of the World (this one more of a headbutt than a splash). This was your normal good Mundo match. Postmatch, Mundo tries to go too far with the chair around Dragon’s neck, only for Rey to save him and take him to the back…which leads to Mundo coming back out and getting in Dominic’s face, with Dominic actually saying, “You know who I am.” Then he eats a belt shot while Rey gets held back by Johnny’s posse. It’s a great heat-seeking move, to be honest, even if it was telegraphed and the Mysterio family did no favors with their acting. Feel like this was a way better build-up than any of the “true fight” stuff from the weeks before.

TL: Yeah, this had way more meat for me to dig into this week, even if the only match I truly got into was the opener. Next episode has the Mil Muertes/Jeremiah Crane match that has had a build and is supposedly quite good, so we’ll see how well that stacks up.


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 27: Fade to Black

TL: I know it’s not the season for it anymore, but for me to be watching this show with so many scenes on rooftops during the Christmas season and not make an “Up on the Rooftop” reference means that I just left content hanging out there for you guys and for that, I am sorry. I really am. Also, this has both the most substitute teacher-looking Vampiro so far and PJ Black flipping the bird towards Puma. I don’t really have much else for that. Just that it happened.

1. Pindar vs. Cage

ER: I was looking forward to this match, but oh well, now we got Pindar as a bracket buster. The ref leaned into that big Cage lariat, and it's getting pretty annoying how they've been taking every other week off as it concerns DQs. Pretty sure every match last week had some kind of interference.

TL: Pindar being announced from a different time (“When Reptiles Ruled the Earth”) makes me wonder why more wrestlers don’t try things like that. The Vaudevillains should have been billed from “When Motion Pictures Were Turned with a Hand Crank” or something to that regard. “When Two Bits Were a Common Form of Currency.” “When The Wright Brothers Finished Their First Flight.” Anyways, you reading this took longer than the match, as Cage didn’t want to take off the Power Glove and knocks out Ph.D. Justin Borden and Pindar with it before the DQ. Borden is nuts for letting Cage essentially do a one-armed Screwdriver to him since Cage did it with the glove on. Can’t wait for there to be a DQ next week for a closed fist.

2. Dante Fox vs. Son of Havoc

ER: The Dario inconsistent rulings really are made more annoying when they come back to back. He's cool with Cage/Pindar not actually having a match, but THIS match we ALL need to see? And also, can anybody confirm that Vampiro has ever even been in the same room as Misawa? He's brought it up three times this season, and I can't recall any kind of AJPW tours that he was on pre-NOAH split, and I know he never showed up on a NOAH tour. I think there's an honest chance that I have been in live attendance more times, AND appeared in photographs more times with Misawa than Vampiro has. And as long as you zoned out during all of the move set up, this match totally delivered. Some of the set ups were just awful, really glaring "Hey could you wait there for me to hit this move? Sure, just return the favor for me by awkwardly rolling 6 feet over so I can hit a moonsault." But the big moves were ridiculous, and I'm glad Fox got the win after some of his lunacy. He does a massive flip dive that overshoots Havoc (he overshoots his flip dives so much that I'm almost starting to think it's on purpose), weird stuff like jumping onto the top rope knees first to do a strange Spanish fly variation, that brutal leg drop from the top rope to the apron (really I'd love more wrestlers aping Damien Wayne than Kenny Omega) and then taking a coconuts death valley driver from the apron WAY far away onto the floor. He really felt like he was pulling out all his tricks and while I hated a lot of the transitions in the match, I'm glad his crazy was rewarded.

TL: This match-up is something I’m definitely lukewarm on, but mainly on the Havoc side. Fox is a guy I’ve liked more than I haven’t but there’s too much here for bad habits to present itself with. Fox busts out his absolutely insane somersault plancha over the ringpost that he’d hit in Reseda and the aforementioned leg drop, but I actually liked him looking up to the ceiling before he hit the Swanton which made me think he might actually hit something hanging down. He’s just insanely athletic. Lo Mein Pain is normally a goofy set up but he hits it well here. This match really does devolve into inconsistency with the transitions to Son of Havoc’s offense because he takes SO much time before trying to hit something. The time it took before that apron DVD was just mindnumbingly long. I’ve talked about how much I love the Mushroom Stomp, but Havoc hits one so lightly here I thought he slipped. The flashes of good don’t make up for the inconsistent overall construction of it. It’s pretty obvious that Fox being in there with the right guy means it’s going to be awesome, though. Havoc’s just not the guy.

TL: Benjamin Cooke is basically a Paul Heyman-like talking head that can blow smoke up asses and is just sleazy enough to make you think he can get you a job on…well, a show like Lucha Underground, actually. Very meta. Need more Johnny Mundo talking about Ghost Dad 2 and less screen time to guys that aren’t gonna add much to stories.

3. PJ Black vs. Prince Puma

ER: Boy this did just nothing at all for me. Worse, it annoyed me. That strike exchange annoyed the hell out of me. I mean my god was that stupid. And it went on forever. Just big leaping spinny kicks and knees and bad forearms and a neverending sequence of guys spinning from a strike just to hit their own spinny strike. And they were selling how tired they were, so it was done in an almost preposterous slow motion. This kind of strike exchange can still work within the Low-Ki/Red Jackie Chan fast countering style, but I thought this "we're exhausted but we're having a war using the least efficient strikes to do so" looked horrible and embarrassing. The spots weren't nearly as impressive as the previous match, and those move and strike exchanges were the worst of modern wrestling.

TL: Yeah, a few minutes in and I’m echoing Eric’s sentiments. They run through a Reseda Standoff that has been seen WAY too many times before and then Puma goes through a long control segment that just doesn’t grab me. Black busts out a reverse suplex into a Dragon Clutch and it just makes me want to watch a Low Ki match. If this was a straight up sprint that went six minutes and had just insane athletic moves from both guys, it would be way better than this. The match starting with Puma’s comeback should have been the match but with everything at a breakneck pace. I really hate that there are moves with WWE-related buzzwords like “Wellness Policy.” It’s just so petty and makes you look minor league. OH CRAP, THAT STRIKE EXCHANGE IS TERRIBLE. All those kicks not putting anyone down, two guys who can’t throw strikes throwing strikes…I’m trying to talk myself into this match and that took me out. I’m now actively just waiting for the end of it. Black pops up back for a counter after taking a super poison rana. Sure. The Puma 630 was super low and tight, which was cool, but this match was just not even remotely close to being “amazing” like Striker said it was. Guessing Meltz Is feeding him lines at this point.

ER: PJ Black gets a match against Rey Mysterio on the very next episode, and Dario tells him that "he will finally be able to show the fans what he's all about." He was literally JUST in the main event of this show, and lost a "war". What more can he honestly be about that he hasn't shown in his 18 or so LU matches so far?

TL: Don’t get why Cueto would even take three calls from Cooke, let alone 18. If someone was trying to call me that many times, I’d fire the wrestler he represents. Easy peasy. Hate booking a match where you put a guy in Black’s position, where you either make Rey look weak because you want to make Black strong for some reason, or you book a completely predictable match against a guy who’s supposed to be the most legendary figure in the company. Just an odd booking choice and a complete lapse of judgement in resources.


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 25: Left for Dead

ER: Despite not being excited for the eventual match, I really enjoyed the Dante Fox package. The torture room stuff after Killshot left him behind was straight out of Syriana, dudes just punching and kicking him in the face, even going so far as to have him about to be beheaded! Am I just forgetting, or is this the first actual time they've explained why Fox has a problem with Killshot?

TL: It was definitely well done and told a better story than most have been told this year. That is, except the Power Glove. ALL HAIL THE POWER GLOVE. I really don’t understand why there aren’t more packages like this to get you involved in storylines. This told you everything you wanted to hear and hardly any words were said. Plus, yet another guy on a rooftop in Boyle Heights, so they have that going for them. Having it be Killshot in an elevated position is pretty damn good, though. Nice little add on.

TL: Update on Vampiro not saying Sergio Arau’s name correctly: Still can’t say it correctly.

1. PJ Black vs. Sexy Star

ER: Normally it could be written off as an annoying Matt Striker quirk to bring up Jim Breaks in a Sexy Star match, but now it's appropriate since they are both documented piles of shit. PJ is far too generous here and it was probably his best LU performance. He launches himself 2/3 the way across the ring on a rana, takes her flimsy armdrags, gets shoved off the top to the floor and crashes spectacularly. He also drops her with a brainbuster that is nastier than any move she has ever performed. So of course if keeps her down for just a couple seconds. Thankfully for PJ, Taya comes out to interfere, or else PJ would have had zero chance against the bravest woman to ever enter this cruel world. Star hits him with brass knux for the rarely seen LU DQ, but I care not about the stupid finish, as it means I no longer have to see her in the tournament.

TL: Sexy Star has a staff for some reason now. An even better line than the Jim Breaks is Striker saying “Sexy putting her ego aside!” before hitting a plancha. I also wonder how Borden can be outsmarted by ANYONE given he’s got all those degrees. AND THEN SHE HITS BORDEN WITH THE KNUCKS? Good lord was that unnecessary. Much like this match. Because Sexy Star, even in defeat, has to look this strong. Unreal. I’ll never get this.

TL: I fast forwarded through the Real Fight Rey/Johnny package but got a still screen of Mundo on a rooftop training, which makes me wonder why LU doesn’t just open a rooftop dojo.

2. Son of Havoc vs. Son of Madness

ER: If they never build to a Loser Shaves Beard match then they have truly failed. With his black mask and dark beard, Madness looks like Phineas of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and he's clearly a bump freak as he takes a hip toss from the Temple steps to the floor. They do a pretty stupid missed clothesline spot in the corner, just dancing around and missing clotheslines over and over, but Madness hits a cool spear through the buckles and kneels on Havoc's throat, so whatever. I don't really like Havoc's offense, but the two do a nice job of exchanging their respective offense, and regardless of the offense the nearfalls were effective. Madness has a cool jackhammer, Havoc takes his nice back of neck ropes bump into a cutter (far more decent than that stupid cutter set up from Jay Lethal) and we build to a fast dive from Havoc. So we get a nice, effectively built match with a skin of the teeth win from Havoc, which is all perfectly acceptable. I probably would have felt a little more throughout the match if we had a little backstory on Madness. We know that his father or mother is Madness, and that he wanted to take out Havoc. And I kinda hate that some kind of biker doppelgänger wanted Havoc's blood, and Havoc responded with handsprings.

TL: Wish that Madness would have kept the vest on the entire time just so folks could tell the two apart better, but then you could really tell the two apart after a while via the glorious beard. This was a pretty good match in a lot of ways. Madness had some cool spots and did a good job of being a foil for Havoc’s offense, and this was actually one of the better matches of the first round when it’s all said and done. We now have a vest stealing storyline, which is probably a mid-tier sartorial storyline in the annals of wrestling. To be honest, I’m not topping Eric’s line about the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. And you probably skipped this to go on to the next match.

3. Prince Puma vs. Ricky Mandel

ER: This ended up being pretty rewarding for a 90 second match. Puma pump kicks him at the bell and plants him with a rolling brainbuster, and we get a nice unexpected kick out from Mandel. The match easily could have just ended there, but I like that they gave him a little something with the kick out. He also gets to hit a nice superkick, although Puma just kind of cracks his neck, hits another pump kick, and then a sick driver to end it. I appreciated that Mandel kept his sunglasses on the whole time.

TL: There’s a Phoenix Pro Wrestling regular named Kenny K who wrestles with his sunglasses on and he’s one of the best workers in the company, pretty easily, too. So I thoroughly enjoyed Ricky being such a schlub he kept the glasses on the entire time. I can get behind Hoodie Puma big time, much like people got behind Hoodie Melo. Fun squash right here.

4. Dante Fox vs. Dragon Azteca Jr.

ER: These matches always leave me hollow. Some of the stuff looks good, none of it means anything. Fox takes a couple of great bumps onto his head (including a great one on the floor), but who actually cares, because he sells his jaw more after a few weak Azteca forearms than he ever sold his head. We get big moves and small moves, and moves where you're not totally sure who took the move but it doesn't matter anyway because both guys sell it the same. Both men lie on the mat, surely unable to go on for another second, but then they are able to!! They get up and then the other one does a move that also looks like it hurts both of them! They're both so tired, but then they're both not that tired! This was a backdrop for a Worldwide Undergound attack on Rey, which was a fine beatdown and more interesting than the sexy dance fighting happening in the ring. I was fully expecting a Killshot run-in, and it never happened. But we did get ample thigh slaps and that one sound effect that LU uses.

TL: I’ve always liked AR Fox, as he was one of those just insane athletes that made things look good and he emoted well, but in context against another guy that’s similar to him, it doesn’t stand out. I do think it’s funny that guys are gonna sell elbow strike exchanges like they’re the most important thing in the match, but can’t be bothered to sell anything else even for a few seconds. And then Azteca sells his back being out during the run in only to hit the tope to clear everyone out. I’m kinda trying to find logic here, but it ain’t there. So we’re gonna move on and let this be.

TL: I'm running a bit short on patience with the LU style in a lot of ways. It seems like the worst possible super indy/PWG-style matches for a majority of this, and even plodding matches, if there's a bit of selling, I'm way more of a fan of than the style that has kinda permeated most of the matches I've seen this season. I hope this changes up the rest of the tournament now that there is less riff-raff, but there's a couple matchups that I'm probably not gonna be looking forward to that are going to definitely live up to these expectations.

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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 7: Payback Time

1. Matanza vs. Killshot

ER: I think this has to be the best possible Killshot match we can hope for. He's stumbly and doesn't really get nuanced selling, but his comebacks were built nicely into the match, and Matanza crushed him when he needed to. Matanza started by just steamrolling him, as he should, and I loved Killshot escaping a possible suplex by grabbing onto Matanza's fingers and bending them back. That makes a helluva lot of sense. He gets too cute and tries headbutting the monster, and that awesomely leads to Cobb throwing his great thrust headbutt, and then his awesome deadlift ragdoll suplex. I wish Killshot didn't almost immediately come back after taking those two moves, but it least he came back by Matanza running headlong into Killshot's boots in the corner. It wasn't like Killshot just got up and went on offense. The top rope teases were all good, with Matanza catching him up top, and teasing a freaking tombstone off the middle rope, and I loved how Matanza got kicked into and trapped into the ropes, and that DDT he took was sick. The whole sequence looked really good. But Matanza is too much for Killshot, blasts him with an awesome running uppercut and splats him into the mat off his powerslam. Match went the perfect amount of time, and I really loved how it was structured.

MD: Yeah, ok. So this was good enough that, between this and the Marty match, I'm now questioning if Killshot is actually as bad as we thought he was. It doesn't mean that he's not, probably, the worst guy in the roster in the multi-man spot-driven matches, but he was able to do a bs-laden brawl building to big moments with Marty, and here he was able to do an underdog match vs a monster well. I think the guy just needs some contrast, which can be a real problem in Lucha Underground sometimes (see the next match). What I liked out of him the most in this one was the detail work. He came in selling the damage from the WMD match, weeks later, got his advantages with little things, like snatching a finger or kicking out a leg, and was constantly fighting out of everything that Matanza was trying to do with him, throwing shots and making Matanza early his big moves. That's the way to look strong in defeat and to look the person who beat you look even stronger. That sequence ending with the DDT was especially great. I think it actually put a smile on my face which was a weird feeling for a Killshot match.

ER: Any good will Killshot gained in the match is immediately forgotten as AR Fox debuts and Killshot does this hilarious Helen Keller selling by feeling his face and body.

MD: I'm going to just forget about the post match, but pro wrestlers no selling hugs is always kind of funny visually.

2. Fenix vs. Aerostar vs. Drago

ER: This had moments but really just made me want to see Fenix/Drago. Aerostar is one of the most creative and gifted high flyers in wrestling history, but here he looked flat out bad, and unsure of himself. In stunt work they say the second you start thinking too much, is the second you get hurt. Well Aerostar looked like he was thinking too much the entire match, making guys wait around for preposterous amounts of time before hitting his moves, some of which weren't worth the wait. One of the amusing things about him is not ever knowing how he's going to land even while he's in mid air. He has a way of flipping the script and landing a weird armdrag when you're expecting a mere body press. But here he just slowed down the action. Fenix looked great and it's incredible how much he's improved since the start of LU. 3 ways almost always stink but here he was really great glue, knowing when to change the pace, knowing when to break things up, he's been great in everything the last year. Here he gets his nose busted (I missed when it happened) and came back into the ring spitting blood after hitting a boss superkick. All of his stuff really hits flush and his base work is awesome. He's really becoming a guy I'd like to see match up with anybody.

MD: My favorite thing about LU is that every match has stakes. Every match has purpose. That was a saving grace here, because this was sort of frustrating. On the one hand, I really do just want to see Aerostar do spots. I think a trios place is a more natural one than this though. I didn't notice him dragging things down as much as Eric did, but this sort of match just isn't a good thing in general. There wasn't a lot of weight to anything in it except for Fenix's bloody face. That's true for the multitude of superkicks, for the double submission (and the weird Rey Bucanero reference by Striker), the insane double stomp to the back of Drago's head. It was a lot of noise and a lot of kick outs and a lot of guys recovering from really nasty stuff too soon. It should be noted that you can't take anyone out in a match like this unless you do some sort of flipping headdrop.

ER: So apparently there is a centuries old tribe of just every kind of reptile person? As I look at my old V lunchbox with Marc Singer, the math on this does start to check out. We also get Vinny Massaro re-debuting, eating pizza in a bathroom. It's awesome to see him on TV. I've been seeing him work indies for practically 20 years now. His jobber work in season 1 was really good, though they're kind of getting to the point where it seems like they are introducing new characters every week, but still having matches with the same people every week.

MD: I am all about the Cobra Moon/Drago interaction though. I started to try to mentally work out the different tribes in my head for a minute before giving up. I really hope there's a series bible somewhere with all of them listed out though. I'm glad Eric knows who the pizza guy was, because I didn't. I'm not sure we need Bastion Booger levels of humor in 2016 though.

3. Mil Muertes vs. Prince Puma

ER: It took awhile, but we finally get our first classic LU match of the 3rd season. And probably their best match since the Cuerno/Muertes death match. Hmmmm what's the constant variable here? This is really Muertes' first match of the season (there was a short Argenis squash several weeks prior) and it's great, and really he's never looked better in a LU ring. This whole thing was tightly worked, super fast paced and flat out exhausting. Muertes does a couple things in this match that I never realized I wanted, like stopping the momentum on a Puma handstand headscissors and just lobbing a brutal knee to Puma's stomach. They worked this like two men familiar with each other, and it benefitted from that. Muertes knew Puma's tricks more than anybody yet, and Muertes wasn't going easy on him. Muertes worked at practically the same speed as Puma which is insanely impressive. Loved Puma dodging out of a running Muertes to send him to the floor, and then hitting two of his wild dives. But again, Muertes' offense (to me) looked as good as it's ever looked, and he just levels Puma with a spear and then pops him with a straight right and then punches him up the seats through the Believers. Muertes' strikes were on point and as he cockily stomps back to the floor, and then Puma flips out the crowd by leaping from the back row down the stairs and crashing through Mil. The stuff in ring was tight, loved the finish run with Muertes missing the post charge, and getting his head kicked into the post to KO him for the 630. Puma gets his big comeback win, and suddenly I'm more hyped about LU again (even though I really just want Muertes working singles main events every week).

MD: If Lucha Underground had a well-defined main event house style, this would probably be it and this would be a solid TV match within its confines. There feels like a bit of repetition between Muertes and Matanza where the early chunk of their matches (the shine, I suppose) consists of the babyface trying to figure out how to chip away at them. Here, Puma used his superior speed and agility to dodge moves and keep an advantage. Finally, he got a little cute with it and flipped off the guard rail right into a spear (I'm not calling it the Reaper's Trident). Muertes then put a beating on him (heat), including the fun visual of battering him up the stairs. He got distracted by the stone, Puma leaped off on them and then they went to bomb-throwing for the rest of it. I can't get over how amazing Muertes' cut off punch is. The twisting chokeslam is great too. That's why the flatliner is so frustrating as a finisher. It's got a cute name but almost everything he does is better and more fitting the character than that. I liked this ending with Puma dodging a big shot in the corner once again (and it's nice that he dodged a spear because that was how Muertes took over in the first place). I thought this was pretty good for what it was, but I did sort of feel like a roadmark to a bigger payoff.

MD: Chavo Classic is always great to see. I've spent a lot of time with him on NWAOnDemand lately including the amazing Sheepherders vs Guerreros match. I do get a bit of a kick out of the "Mexico Remembers" stuff. I guess he has a lot of faith in Aiden English siring the next member of the Guerrero wrestling family. I thought this segment worked and it upped the stakes.  Boy do I ever love stakes.

ER: And I appreciate Matt making me google that Aiden English is in fact married to Shaul Guerrero.  Good for him! (Aiden English, not Matt)


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 5: The Prince and The Monster

1. Ivelisse vs. Mariposa

ER: Striker is stunned Moth is out with Mariposa, because Moth was in a BRUTAL match against Killshot. Moth must not remember too much about that as he was not acting any differently than he did before that match. And really, he shouldn't be. That was three weeks ago. Guys have come back from getting their arm broken by Pentagon quicker than that. If there's any shocking returns from that weapons of mass destruction match, it's Striker being allowed to return to commentary. I liked this match, even if it didn't really feel like a "Lucha Underground" match, whatever that means. I think Ivelisse is a real good underdog, even if Mariposa could have been more punishing. Ivelisse is always really good in submissions, and I dug the inverted cloverleaf used here. Also really liked the finish (even if it was pretty stumbly), with the top down camera actually being useful as it showed Ivelisse trying to kick her legs to slip out of the Gory special, finally doing so, and then leaving Mariposa in a perfect position to hit the sunset flip powerbomb. I like that moved used as a flash pin. Match had execution problems, and was a little slow, but I thought it worked.

MD: It's almost pointless to harp on Striker at this point, but he just has that special ability to grate. Here he talked about past Ivelisse opponents Mil Muertes and Sexy Star on equal footing. Those two, very similar, very difficult opponents. This promotion hitching their wagon to Sexy Star is really one of the more bizarre  things any fed has ever done. They could have admitted their mistake any time and bumped her back down the hierarchy, but they just keep digging in their heels. As expected Marty the Moth was a great valet presence throughout this, but almost too great compared to the presence of those in the ring. It's tough to have him affiliated with Mariposa as it's too easy for him to outshine her. I think she's been overall good with what she's given, and think she's hit a good note with her surreal body language. But the body language could be distracting her from actual ring work, as her offense seems more subdued than what we've previously seen from her (as Melissa).

ER: Dario's reaction to Mundo's abs reveal was perfect. It was a combination of disdain for him showing his abs in his office, combined with an undeniable admiration of Mundo's abs, all while feigning disgust. The appropriate reaction.

2. Cage vs. Texano

ER: This is the 2nd match of the 5 match series that did not need to happen. If you could choose a 5 match series between any two guys in LU, how many combos would you have to make before you got down to Cage vs. Texano? Match wasn't very good, either. Texano really is a total zero in LU. I'm sure there are many viewers who have no clue he's any kind of deal in Mexico. I like Matt's use of the word "weightless", because as I was watching this I was thinking about how nothing they did had any weight to it. It was like that Eric Bana Hulk movie, with Hulk just jumping and bouncing around off things. The weight was wrong. Obviously they were in there doing the moves, and I liked Cage's bump to the floor and big suplex into the ring, but they were both selling things like Petey Williams. And lucky us, we'll get to see 3 more chances to get it right!!!

MD: Texano isn't a big deal? Isn't he the youngest and longest-holding super mega ultimate champion ever or what not? Is that better or worse than being Rey Cometa and having the company you work for forget you're a champion? I'd rather see Rey Cometa vs Cage, though. That's for sure. Here, the most painful thing is either Vampiro hyping this up or the dueling chants. Or maybe the This is Awesome chant. Or the Ridiculously Huge Package reversal out of the suplex by Cage. I did think this built better than the first one, but I lament that Texano isn't teaming with Terrible and Rey Bucanero against Stuka, Angel De Oro and Guerrero Maya, Jr on the third match of a Tuesday Arena Mexico show and wish that someone hadn't given Cage this specific set of Create-A-Wrestler offense just to see if they could break the game's graphic engine because he's so massive.

ER: "What we have, is a lot stronger than what you and Son of Chaos had." Ivelisse makes poor choices in men, but it appears that Sami Callihan at least has a name (Jeremiah). Unless he is Son of Jeremiah. I'm glad people don't refer to me as Son of Franklin.

MD: I am morbidly fascinated to see Sami Callihan vs Sexy Star too. Actually, an eventual Sami Callihan vs Son of Havoc match would be fun. Wait, are we getting Sami vs Marty soon? This is a rare time on LU where I'd rather see a match than a skit.

3. Prince Puma vs. Matanza

MD: I think we all knew where this one was going. More often than not Lucha Undeground booking will take the path of least resistance. Obviously after last week (and the week before) this was ending with Muertes coming out. In the meantime, however, they made the most of the time that they had and this felt like a big main event, one of the biggest they could put on. Puma comes off like both a star and a world-beater. Matanza is an absolutely force of nature. Everything that Puma did to Matanza felt earned and credible. There wasn't the suspension of disbelief issues we saw in some of the other wheel-made matches this season. At the same time, Matanza created the palpable anticipation that he could take back control at any moment. There were two instances where he picked up Puma like he was a baby and there was absolutely nothing Puma could do (except for get lawn-darted into the metal). The dangling ragdoll German is probably the best move of 2016, with Wrath of the Gods a close second. In some ways this match was fortunate for not needing a finish. It meant that they could tell a story of Puma overcoming the odds through strength and skill and sheer will power without having to actually go through with it. Him basically deadlifting Matanza up after the Northern Lights was a really memorable moment and it was matched shortly thereafter by Matanza just eating a kick to the skull so that he could cradle suplex Puma. I ran high on this as an incomplete match but a great spectacle. One note on commentary: Vampiro, while amiable and often entertaining is the absolute death of analysis; Striker will feed him a thought about strategy or try to make sense of something they just saw and Vampiro will shrug it off with some empty platitude about just surviving or something.

ER: I really loved this match, an easy standout in season 3 so far. I even liked the run-in finish as I didn't want either guy to lose definitively, thought it set up more Puma/Muertes nicely, loved how Dario shouted at Marty Elias about it suddenly being a DQ; yeah, that last part felt Austin/MacMahon-y but I thought Dario's execution made it. And I thought the match itself was really really good, easily the best Cobb LU match. Match was smartly worked and had some wonderful big moments, with Matanza doing his relentless Olympian Michael Myers bit while Puma scrambles to stay ahead. I loved Puma's body language as he dodged Matanza and nailed the punt from the ring apron, loved his kicks and strikes to keep Matanza at bay and loved what Matanza would do when he would get ahold of him. Cobb/Matanza's multi lift German is my favorite move in wrestling, just as Tamon Honda's Dead End suplex was my favorite the first time I saw it. Making a man think about his own body's imminent accordioning obviously appeals to me. Matanza could very well just be watching a lot of early 2000s NOAH while lounging in his cage during his downtime, as he catches a Puma high kick with his neck and then destroys him, right out of the "Things Tamon Honda does that make me flip out" handbook. But I really loved how these two matched up, was into the match enough that I had actually stopped thinking about Mil Muertes' inevitable run-in. The northern lights into a deadlift suplex was such an unexpected holy shit moment, and I had just gotten sucked into the thing. Once Puma hit the 630 I actually thought he could win this thing. Loved this.

MD: With Joey Ryan's "What am I, a detective?" line, I've decided that it's a writer and not the wrestlers coming up with the one-liners. Outside of Jerry Lawler's jokebook, wrestling hasn't had consistently good one-liners in twenty-five years. And hey, it's only twenty years since the Craig "Pit Bull" Pittman vs Cobra left behind storyline. I wonder what Pittman's doing right now, actually. I'd watch him over Killshot any day.

ER: (Silent praise and admiration for Matt invoking memories of the Craig Pittman/Cobra angle. This is what that "hands together with sparkles around it" emoji was made for)


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 4: Brothers in Broken Arms

MD: I am ahead of Eric now, which is frustrating because I can't just crib off of his notes. That's not to say that Lucha Underground is work, but you definitely have to be in the right mindset. This started with Sexy Star and Dario talking. I love that they call atomicos matches atomicos matches. Why doesn't CMLL ever run them? Why didn't they run Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero, Euforia, and Niebla Roja vs Rush, Sombra, Mascara, and Marco (or Naito) when they could have? I'm really not looking forward to Mundo vs Star one-on-one when that happens, but at least they're building to it.

ER: FYI you guys, Sexy Star was really bad in that opening segment. Just thought you'd be interested in knowing that. Her line reading always sounds like she's phonetically screaming English, as if she's not actually saying real words, just jaggedly combining sounds together to form objects similar to words. Her kick to the locker door didn't even convince the locker that it had been kicked.

1. Sinestro de la Muerte vs. Prince Puma

MD: Way, way, way too competitive. Apparently Dr. Wagner, Jr. is the only one who can properly squash anyone anymore. This match was supposed to be Puma looking strong against Muertes' crony, to the point that Catrina was going to kill him. I'm not saying it should have been a total squash and it did get across the idea that Puma was more intense now, but Sinestro took way too much of this. Striker's commentary was too staged too, as if he was expecting Mil to run in and was just waiting for the cue. Puma doing the flatliner was cute and I hope it leads to Mil doing the 630.

ER: Decent enough WorldWide squash to pace us until Puma's match with Muertes, until it suddenly didn't turn into a squash and Sinestro got a lot of offense. I thought the opening punch exchange was awful, looked like two guys having a hoedown. Once we got into move trading I dug it, both guys worked fast sequences well and Sinestro was adept at taking Puma's offense. I liked this missed interference spot by Muertes, leading to Puma finishing off Sinestro while glaring Muertes down. The wild dive after the match was great.

MD: Dario's "I'm kind of a big deal" nameplate is awesome. I wonder what the story behind it is. I bet that it's Mascarita Sagrada's secret santa present for him. Passive aggressive Castro is better than scared Mr. Cisco acting. Dario using Pentagon Dark like Teddy Long would use the Undertaker was good too.

2. Cortez Castro vs. Pentagon Dark

MD: So Puma can't get a squash against the guy that they're killing off (literally), but Castro gets completely squashed by Pentagon despite needing to be a quasi-protagonist in all of this police drama stuff. Beats me, though I'll admit Pentagon needed to look strong. I would have flipped the layout of those first two matches.

ER: See, they CAN do squash matches correctly! Here's the obligatory Phil throwback spot where he points out them running the same angle and same match on the same show. I have no idea how I'm supposed to feel about Castro at this point. Am I supposed to be rooting for him? They're not giving me a whole lot to root for. Also noticed JR Kratos just sitting in the crowd, not really reacting to Pentagon's promo. But I loved one guy's reaction to Pentagon saying that in the ring, he doesn't even respect his own mother. Some guy just had total disbelief on his face.

3. Aerostar, Fenix, Drago & Sexy Star vs. Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, PJ Black & Taya

MD: The best multi-man lucha tags all have a central storyline running through them. Here, it should be to set up Sexy Star and Mundo? That's not promising and frankly, it barely matters because they don't focus on it anyway. They started with Taya and Star instead, with Taya having her share of chants. That's not too surprising given how thoroughly into her character she is. All of the beginning of this was goofy. At one point PJ Black was fighting against superior tecnico odds which is generally not something your heel should be doing? Then they had some heat on Sexy Star, her getting the hot tag to show up Mundo, a fun comeback with Aerostar looking awesome on dives (again), and Mundo making sure Sexy Star lost in the end, continuing their program. I'm not sure where Eric is going to fall on this, but it felt like a mess to me. The destination forwarded the program but the journey was all over the place.

ER: I thought this was fine. The guys I expected to look good looked good, and the people I expected to stink, stunk. Sexy Star looked terrible throughout. This was not unexpected. I was hoping her interactions would be limited to one or two opponents, because she has a knack of making everybody else look stupid by waiting around for her. So, we had a lot of guys waiting for her to get in the right position, or wait far too long in one place for her to finally do a move. The match needed more Fenix, my personal favorite in the group. And when he was in I thought he looked awesome. Evans made me laugh with his neverending string of handsprings leading to a tag out. Even Striker made me laugh right after when he said "Some of Jack's best ring work". Mundo and Black rotated between throwing out something real good, and something overly rehearsed. At one point Black threw a kick about 2 feet to the right of Drago, clearly because it was just meant to be swept aside. I hate when those kind of cracks show. Drago had some nice glue moments, coming in low and fast on dropdowns and keeping a real snug and fast headscissors on Black. Aerostar always seems like he makes up flying moves as he goes and I love him for that. Sometimes they look a little dodgy, but it's worth it for the spectacular moments. So yeah, this was kind of a mess, but the mess all came from expected sources.

MD: I'll let Eric talk about soul stealing and broken necks (or let him not talk about it).

ER: I mean, this match was one of Sinestro's more dominant performances, so it's weird for them to so casually be done with him now. There have probably been 10 lousy Sinestro performances that lead to him not getting his neck broken, so it's weird they just now realized the last of their lightning babies was a dud. I'm unsure how much strength you can gain by stealing the soul of losers, but at least they had the decency to break his neck so he doesn't have to go through life not having convenience store doors open for him. It's possible Muertes will just trade it for some pogs anyway.

4. Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Chavo Guerrero

MD: Azteca gets credit for selling the arms early on. People sure recover from Pentagons' broken arm treatment quickly so it was nice to see some lingering aftereffects. I'm always irrationally glad that Rey has his "Jr." back. Look, this was all fine and everyone played their respective roles well, but when the most memorable part of a match is Vampiro, on commentary, babbling on about haunted houses and Aztec warriors, then maybe there's something lacking in the match.

ER: I liked this more than Matt, mainly because I thought Chavo looked great. He's probably the most undeserving guy who gets dumped on by fans of the show, and I think he's mostly delivered throughout his LU run. This match may have failed if the goal was to make Azteca look like he actually deserves and has a shot against Pentagon, but at least it continued to confirm how good Chavo can be. All his mat stuff looked good, his clothesline out of the corner was great, really he was awesome at steamrolling Azteca. Again, not sure it's in their best interest to have Azteca steamrolled, but I didn't mind.

(neither of us mention Black Lotus and her ninjas)


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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 26: Ultima Lucha Dos - Part III

1. Fenix, Aerostar & Drago vs. Jack Evans, Johnny Mundo & PJ Black

ER: Really great match in terms of tecnico craziness, and without a dud PJ Black performance this could have been one of the great modern spotfests. So let's enjoy it for what it was, a tremendous showcase for Fenix and Aerostar. Drago seemed to have a problem overshooting things this match, but his heart was in a kind and crazy place. Evans was kind of going into business for himself, stealing some attention by doing silly things like bumping bigger delivering a move than the guy actually taking a move (at one point he catches Fenix on the top rope, and then goes flying off the apron with nobody bringing it up, felt almost Teddy Hart-ish). But damn Fenix and Aerostar. Those guys seem like they're just making up their looniness as they go, and I love them for it. Aerostar walks around the ropes like he has fly paper on the bottom of his shoes, and Fenix was just great glue centering this match. Didn't care tons for the Bullet Club style home stretch where all the illegal stuff happens and then some other guy interferes to cancel out the cheating, and Striker makes dogshit shoehorned 3rd Bass references, but whatever, Aerostar and Fenix are awesome.

MD: They've really done an amazing job moving wrestlers up and down the card in Lucha Underground. It doesn't always work, which is why we had an inconsequential Mil Muertes match earlier but Drago and Fenix have been at the top and that makes them in a trios with Aerostar feel all the more important. I think this match sort of highlights how I look at LU differently than Eric (and certainly Phil). I have a hard time distancing myself from the fact it's a TV show with wrestling matches. That's the thing that we've been all but programmed to hate and rebel against, certainly since 98-99 and how that idea killed things we loved, but that's really what we're dealing with, and when it works, it works. In that regard, the Angelico return felt like a big, earned moment, and I think it worked almost solely because the beatdown had gotten into overkill. If the beatdown hadn't gotten that annoying, the comeuppance wouldn't have mattered as much. To me, the bigger problems in the match were the inconsistency of the ref's actions. It makes sense (begrudgingly) when a ref is trying to keep a tecnico acting tecnico but those lines just aren't drawn in this show. They set up a big transition with a ref stopping the babyfaces so really, the match should have been over immediately, later on, after the ref got pulled out. If they're going to introduce an element, they should be consistent with it. Past that, this was fun and action packed with the crazy spots Eric mentioned. I could have used a little less butt-based offense, a little less collaboration, and a cooler looking triple team Invasores battering ram, but it's not like any of these guys are Kraneo.

2. Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Black Lotus

ER: I couldn't begin to explain (or care about) the Black Lotus story, and I'm pretty burned out on intergender matches (especially singles matches), and I had never seen any Angela Fong matches before, so was not too excited by this one. I like Azteca and thought he had some pretty nice stuff here. He set her up nicely to succeed, and I think about half the time she did. There were some ugly moments like her flimsy elbows, but I liked how she ragdolled after Azteca's response elbow. Azteca worked fast and crazy, that missed springboard 450 to the floor was just nuts. I don't know how someone's ankles don't just shatter after that. I thought Lotus' sliding knee looked good and she took a brutal bump into the ringside barrier, but after a bit it was a little annoying seeing Azteca bumping so hard and fast for her offense, and there was a lot of stuff they both made look clunky. I wasn't too crushed when Pentagon came out for some arm breaking, though it's a bummer that Azteca was just an afterthought.

MD: I get that they consider 2 and 3 part of one big season and that it set up Pentagon vs Rey to start S3, but having Sid come down and destroy someone is never a very good way to make a grand debut. Just too much weirdness here, with the announcers as clueless as Eric about the ongoing storyline and the intensity coming and going far too much considering MURDER was on the line. I do think this match, as much as any they've done, highlighted the Street Fighter II sort of feel they say they go for where a man and a woman can just face off like it's Chun Li vs Ryu or something and you're barely supposed to notice. Sexy Star overcoming adversity to be a symbol is too primal a part of her character for that. We were supposed to buy Black Lotus as an equal threat and I'd say that they managed it 75% of the time as opposed to Eric's 50%. That said, I had forgotten this had gone so long in my first watch and I've already forgotten most of it again a few days later.

3. Pentagon Dark vs. Matanza

ER: This didn't actually do much for me, which is a shame as I obviously like both guys. The Vampiro-as-Master thing, and characters who can't be hurt always end up problematic, as they usually just start selling for reasons never explained. Add to that, the structure of the match just bored me after awhile, even if I liked a lot of the moves being done. We get literally 8 minutes of Pentagon control to start, and other than insisting on being called "Dark" and the S&M vignettes with he and Vampiro, he didn't act any more vicious than we had previously seen. Shit, last season he almost lit a guy on fire. Here, he added some weird campy, swishy strut. Did anyone else notice that? He did it several times so it had to be intentional, just braining a guy with a chair and then doing a little Charles Nelson Reilly walk. Matanza took a big beating on the floor, taking some wild bumps into chairs, taking chairshots to various body parts (I loved when he went for almost a desperation double leg and Pentagon nailed a chairshot while he was rushing in), all sorts of chops and leg kicks, big tumble into the barrier.....but it just went on way too long. Matanza goes from a guy who can never be kept down for more than a move or two, to a guy who just takes an 8 minute beating, for reasons, I suppose. So Matanza takes an overlong beating, then starts throwing Pentagon around (though here more than any other time it's way too obvious that - just because he CAN do them - Cobb should not be doing standing shooting star press/standing moonsault). I'll never tire of Cobb's stopped momentum suplexes, but then the finish was just lame as Pentagon gets distracted by Dario (why does he hate Dario again?) and Cobb hits him with a barbed wire bat and that's all she wrote. Real disappointing. The beatdown went on so long, Matanza sold until he didn't, Vampiro looked like an exhausted Guardian Angel, and overall it just kinda bored me.

MD: This is another case where the story and the execution weren't quite in sync. I'm actually pretty torn on the Pentagon stuff from this episode. It was just all over the place tonally. He destroyed Dragon Azteca, Jr. and Black Lotus, both of whom are fairly sympathetic. He lost here, while dominating and being extreme or what not, but also playing to the crowd and drawing cheers. He got upset after the match. Then at the end of the show he came out and killed Vampiro and that was the way they ended it. It was all over the place. If they had pulled the trigger and gave him the title, it would have been one thing. This doesn't feel like the best way to tease a face turn to the crowd and then make try to make him more evil. It was just muddy all around.

Just from sheer results alone, it's a big deal that Pentagon was able to dominate Matanza so thoroughly. That, in and of itself, made the Dark transformation feel more meaningful, and that was, very much in how they protected Matanza so far. While I think the beatdown had to drone on annoyingly in the trios match, I agree with Eric that it was too long here; they could have gotten the same point across in half the time and everyone would have probably looked better for it (Pentagon's offense wouldn't have seemed inconsequential. Matanza wouldn't have had to work from underneath for so long). I'm a bit torn on the shooting star press too. I really disliked acrobatics which happened in the Mack vs Cage match after some nasty shots. Here, though, I think it might have added to the unreality and surreality of Matanza, the inhuman nature of him, that lumbering final boss who's not just strong but impossibly (and improbably fast) in the way that you punch the wall in frustration. That said, I didn't buy the finish. Vampiro needed to screw up more, maybe? It was nice, however, to see Dario's best Jimmy Hart impression as the sacrificial lamb who was saved at the last moment. No, this was just too all over the place. Frankly, I think they would have been off shifting this transformation earlier in the season and running Grave Consequences II with Mil and Matanza here instead.

4. Taya vs. Ivelisse

ER: I think I like both of these two more as trios workers. I think they've almost always added a bunch to their trios matches, but here they just have a very standard, so-so singles match. Some of the brawling was good, some of it was sloppy. A lot of the "brutal" kicks that Striker was rubbing one out to didn't come off as heavy as he wanted them to. And then we get interference leading directly to the finish for the 4th straight match as Catrina teleports, derp derp.

MD: I don't have a ton to say about Taya vs Ivelisse. Taya is 100% into her character and she's a really good heel act because of it, but I'm with Eric that she's better as part of a team. The first chunk of the match was built around Taya's short ddt onto the chair, which I thought Ivelisse sold well, but then the announcers seemed to completely miss it. I don't know. I thought this was about as effective as it could be, but like almost everything else on the card, it suffered from a "mid-season" sort of feel and the interference that goes along with that. This show was painfully lacking in finality.

5. Prince Puma vs. Rey Mysterio

ER: I liked this quite a bit, still have no idea how Rey is working the way he's working. Weren't his knees just powder like a decade ago? Puma was in a tough spot as the storyline and announcing were pushing this all the way as a passing the torch match, but the crowd seemed way into Rey and didn't seem to care if a torch was passed or not, they just wanted to see a hot match. The match didn't land with me as well as it did for others, I thought some of the rehearsed stuff came off too rehearsed, and I didn't think it came anywhere close to Rey/Ki. Most matches don't come close to Rey/Ki, but it felt like a lot of the people over the moon for this match were mostly shocked that Rey could still go like this. And again, it is shocking that Rey can go like this, but we've seen him in a MOTY within the past year. But we got to see some pretty spectacular stuff here. It still boggles my mind how they manage to land on their feet after doing a headscissors over the top rope, that's like a vaudeville stunt that would have made someone famous. I rewound Rey's belly slide splash to the floor a few times, I've never seen it land so damn violently. I have no clue how Puma didn't shit his pants. I liked the struggle through some of the things they did, loved Puma going for splash mountain and Rey kicking him in the kidneys to get out of it. Ugh then fucking Striker actually had to start calling shit a "I'm Sorry, I Love You" moment. Twice. And then fucking Vampiro did. Shut the fuck up. Let this be its own shit. I wanted to vomit when he said it. The finish is nuts, loved how it played out with the 619 getting caught but turned into a gross reverse rana, and then Puma going all SUWA/Psicosis on that balls out top rope rana. Good lord that looked neck breaking. I'm not totally sure why Rey went over here. Rey is one of the all time greats, a true legend, and everybody knows that. They spent so long building this up as Puma's big star making moment, that him losing just makes zero sense.

MD: It's weird but I kind of miss Konnan as part of Puma's act. I think he would have added something here, maybe even more than he would have subtracted. Before I go on a tangent, let me say that I liked the match a lot. Rey's smoothness is outright amazing to me. It's not just that he hits incredibly complex things cleanly, but he does it with such physical purpose. It's always with the right emphesis or the right positioning and so often it takes into account his own selling appropriately for the point in the match he was in. Also, I had completely forgotten how great his punches could be because he never used them much.

It's hard to sort of babyface vs babyface matches sometimes, because you have to seek out something other than shine/face/comeback to use as an analytic model. Here, though, there were a number of story threads, including escalating intensity, Puma's youth vs Rey's experience, and Rey going for the 619 and Puma going for moves out of the fireman's carry. Going back to these gave the match narrative touchstones and it became far more than a 50-50 spotfest.  I don't entirely mind the finish because it gives Puma something else to shoot for. Again though, that's a bit of a mid-season thing.

I have to add that the very worst moment of wrestling I can think of all year was when Striker went on about the "I Love You Man" moment. What referential madness. That's the only word for it. Pure madness. He couldn't have stepped further outside the moment of the match if he ... actually, I can't even think of a way he could have broken up the flow of the match and undermined any actual emotion in that moment more. It was that bad.

ER: I honestly do not give a shit about Pentagon turning on his master. He already almost lit him on fire a year ago, I don't care about their relationship, it never made sense from go. Here he canes him out of paralysis or something, and makes him "darker", even though he didn't do anything different than he did previously. So Vampiro takes some nasty as hell bat shots and bleeds like somehow only fat guys can bleed, but....I don't care. Pentagon came back and cut a redundant babyface promo about how he was Pentagon DARK, which sounds like a new Mountain Dew flavor, and then he lost. Again. Why do I care that he can make a fat retired wrestler bleed?

MD: I think so much of the strength of Ultima Lucha I was that they didn't know they were coming back, so they made sure to tie things off, down to the closing montage. Here, this closed more like a mid-season break. They should have spent a minute doing another montage just to hanmer home that what happened on this show mattered.


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