Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 39 Ultima Lucha Tres Part 3

1. Last Luchadora Standing: Taya vs. Sexy Star

ER: So this worked better than it should have, and was probably Sexy Star's best actual performance. I think I've said in several other matches something along the lines of "This was probably the best possible match that _____ could have had with Sexy Star", and while I can't say she was actually good in it, for the most part, this felt like her best actual performance. All Sexy Star matches will always have that feeling of minding a toddler while he waddles around a playground: You're omnipresent and next to them at all times, but they don't really take your suggestions on what to do, and sometimes they'll stare at things overly long, and then they'll point and shout something unintelligible at something, and then they'll need help climbing steps, and they'll grab things that don't belong to them, and you don't really feel like you're needed there but need to be there constantly trying to catch them if they fall. Sexy Star kind of toddles around the Temple, and Taya follows her around, throwing herself through chairs and into grating and into tables and bleeding. For her part of things, Star slaps Taya with authority, lands a couple stomach kicks, and throws shots to the back of Taya's neck that actually look painful. They fall into a lot of things, chairs, the bleacher seats, a table, and it almost always looks good. I don't want to see Sexy Star wrestling anymore, but I appreciated that she tightened a couple things up in what should be her last LU match (unless season 4 is already planning on being the Season of Sexy!).

TL: Take a drink every time Striker says “war.” Seriously, it’s amazing. I remember saying it maybe a time or two too many during a recent PPW main event, but he’s in love with the word. Taya got one of my favorite Jeremiah Crane performances out of him in the Cueto Cup and so I am all in on her actually making a Sexy Star match good with her bumping and stooging. Taya even blades, which I am not surprised at in the least. God, hindsight is amazing here with Striker saying Sexy fights for what’s just and ethical. My favorite part about Eric’s toddler analogy is when I look up and see Sexy literally crawling around the ring as if she can’t find her favorite pacifier. They really do lay it in, at least, with the chops looking good even if the sound effects oversell their effectiveness. Sexy does lead Taya around by the nose everywhere; it’s amazing how much Taya is chasing her in this match. The garbage spots do look good, even if there’s a few times where things got telegraphed, but Taya really had a great performance here again. Now make sure there’s no more Sexy Star in Season 4. After the bullshit she pulled last year, she doesn’t deserve to be back, let alone get a push similar to what she got in Season 3.

2. Pindar/Vibora/Drago vs. The Mack/Killshot/Dante Fox

ER: I like this, very edgy subversive stuff here, an impressive Black Lives Matter allegory having every black member of the roster trying to save their America by waging global war against the Deep State Lizard People. It's some pretty revolutionary stuff here on hour 3 of Ultima Lucha Tres. And you know what? I really liked this as a title win for Mack/Killshot/Fox. The Lizard People have been really disappointing as champions, feels like they shouldn't need belts. But Mack's team winning felt like a great tecnico moment, and there aren't a ton of great tecnico moments in this fed that aren't immediately made bittersweet. I don't really know if the match was good, but it felt like a couple doors shutting that had been open for way too long. The Lizards haven't felt as big as they probably anticipated, so it's a good time to dial them back a bit, and the Fox/Killshot feud went on too long and I'd rather see their style as a team than as opponents. Mack came off - again - like a major star in the match, and they really messed up by not shoving him high up the card way quicker. It may get there eventually, but Mack is a guy they could make face of the company, and should. Although I can't believe that the cameras switched away and miss most of Vibora's bump off the Pounce. I don't think I've ever even seen Luchasaurus take a bump, so Mack making him fly off his feet feels like it should have been a big deal. Striker takes forever wrapping up a bootlace-as-secret-code story to just say that Fox and Killshot are working nicely together. I also really liked Pindar in this, he's been a great add to the roster, and I'd love for him to be repackaged. He is an awesome base, gets to show a little bit of personal lizard pride by refusing Kobra Moon's demand that he use a chain, and he's one of the few guys to opt to do a moonsault to sell a Stunner. Has anyone done a moonsault stunner bump? Rock would infamously handspring his way across the ring, but I don't know if I've seen a moonsault bump from it. Dante Fox's back still looks completely disgusting (his death match was filmed the day before!), and him doing a major flip dive over the buckles and just skidding on his back was gruesome. There was flayed skin hanging off. The match was okay, decent energy, but the actual moments and implications were the best.

TL: It wouldn’t be a professional wrestling match if all the available black guys in the fed didn’t wrestle in the same match together. Legit surprised Famous B didn’t come out with them. I’m all about the first few minutes of this match, where Fox and Killshot try their usual stuff but their injuries catch up and it becomes what I wanted most in this match: A Pindar showcase! He has a great little run here during the Lizard control segment, and then when Mack gets the hot tag and the tecnicos figure it out, it gets good. That shot of Fox’s back was absolutely disgusting. Pindar taking the fall was bleh because he looked the best in the match on the Lizard side, but he also made the finishing run look good. And yeah, it’s nice to see tecnicos do something cool without consequence. This was definitely a match where the moments were more important than the sum of its parts, but there was a good layout and everyone was used well. Surprised Drago didn’t get much of a showcase here. Fox is an insane person for going out there and doing his usual stuff with his back like that basically 24 hours after that match. Killshot was at least smart enough to take flip bumps onto his stomach most of the time.

3. Ladder Match: Son of Havoc vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: This isn't very good, and has some absolutely brutal prop set up. The only interesting moment of prop set up is when Pentagon starts throwing a bunch of ladders into the ring and Striker brings up the Public Enemy match. Vampiro compares this moment to when he was in FMW with Terry Funk, and I genuinely don't think that Funk and Vampiro were ever around each other before WCW. I don't think Vampiro ever wrestled in FMW, and I don't think Funk ever wrestled in WAR, really don't think they would have ever been on tour with a company together, before WCW. But then again he has already stated that he got to see Misawa/Kawada matches while on tour with All Japan and...that never happened. The match reaches peak crazy when Pentagon delivers a package piledriver through opened chairs. It didn't lead to a finish. Pentagon proceeds to slowly set up several ladders, and it's completely interminable because the whole time you knew it wasn't going to lead to anything nearly as cool as Crazy Crusher vs. Hell Storm. And for a guy who is I guess spreading the devil's message of violence, Pentagon never actually feels very comfortable setting up all these ladders and tables. It leads to this silly moment where there is a ladder resting on the middle rope and within the rungs of an opened ladder, and he and Havoc are brawling slowly on it because it's rickety and they don't want to fall...but it's like 2 1/2 feet off the mat. This is no Bill Dundee hanging off a scaffold, this is more a red panda hanging off a low branch, and he's trying to recover, but he's just got his panda strength to work with, and eventually he falls...but it's like a 1 foot drop. This didn't work for me.

TL: Dark is gonna have to show me something here because after so much time giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying he’d bring it in a big match, this is the type of situation where he needs to show up. Vampiro bringing up tours of Japan he never went on goes into the JBL Honorary Hall of Fame right alongside “Riki Tenryu” and his drugged showdown with an inflated dinosaur he calls Godzilla during a WWE tour of Japan. Also, not a single ladder hit Havoc when Dark threw them in there, so that wasn’t even close to the Funk ECW chair stuff. Striker also makes an Art Vandelay joke. With as much as I’m talking about commentary, it should tell you what I think of this match. It’s literally setup spot after setup spot. Something happens, weak transition spot (they tried the Randy Orton/Evan Bourne RKO spot and it didn’t look good at all), guy sets something up. Rinse and repeat. Dark literally wrestles as if he’s not getting paid enough for this shit, and since I’m not getting paid at all for it, I’ll care just as much. For a match between two ultraviolent characters where one of them came up as a real-life backyarder, this was as anti-violent and plodding as anything you’d see on this show, but set up much like you'd imagine a backyard ladder match would be. You saw how the first night ended. You saw how the second night ended. I understand if the feeling was that they couldn’t top any of that, but at least go out and try. It’s the blowoff show. Literally no reason to hold anything back here. This was a hastily put together match but could have been much better than it had any right to be. As far as Dark is concerned, I’m out on him.

TL: Man alive, are they telegraphing what’s gonna happen to Puma here. I mean, if you read this site, pretty sure you are up to speed on current pro wrestling news, so it’s no secret what’s going to happen to Puma. If I was watching this when it aired not knowing what was going to happen, it wouldn’t have made me change my mind on Vampiro obviously looking to screw over Puma. It’s another part of this that I had watched previously in highlight form so I’m foggy on specifics, but we’ll see if my feelings change watching the finale.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

Read more!

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.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 33: Havoc Running Wild

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

Son of Madness vs. Mascarita Sagrada

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

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

Marty "The Moth" Martinez vs. Argenis

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

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

Joey Ryan vs. Sexy Star

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

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

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

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

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

COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

Read more!

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.


COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

Read more!

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.

COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 18: Evil Rising

ER: So Matt had another baby because he's crazy, and now his wrestling viewing time is even more limited. For SOME reason he was having a tough time prioritizing season 3 of Lucha Underground. So great friend Tim Livingston will now step in as my THIRD LU writing partner, diving bravely into the middle of a top 3 season of the series. I am grateful.

ER: The romantic in me likes that Mil Muertes is not Catrina's true love. Like there's some guy out there who she was truly in love with but went for Mil because he could help her career/allow her to live for many millenia/give her access to transportive powers. But she lives with the regrets of not jumping off that scary cliff with that other guy, because she knew people would talk, and maybe they'd say he wasn't right for her, that Mil was more in line with her career needs. But this other guy...maybe he made her laugh...maybe they kissed like...really well...maybe they just clicked. And she lives with those regrets, every day.

TL: I see it more like Catrina went to an evil summer camp years ago and had her first kiss and hasn’t had one nearly as good as that one in her life and is destined to relive it over and over. Very much a Wet Hot American Summer type of vibe, but with evil stones and Power Gloves. Mil wondering how Puma didn’t die and finding out it was Vampiro who kept him alive makes this quite the unbelievable story arc. Then again, so does Jeremiah Crane getting with Catrina. Guessing the only thing that’s gonna make her love him is he goes to the vault and shows her his matches against Finlay. That’ll probably just make her love Finlay, though, so who could blame her?

TL: The house band having an electric violin only makes me want to see an electric banjo in a mariachi band.

1. Mariposa vs. Sexy Star

ER: What more can you really say about Sexy Star matches at this point? We've already seen her and Mariposa match up before, seen them team together, they had an I Quit match, and here we still are. Mariposa swinging Star's head into the announce table several times was one of my favorite things to happen in a Star match, but we got plenty of clunky moments as well. My favorite clunky moment was Star throwing a few strange out of position body shots at Mariposa, which Mariposa doesn't even realize she should be selling, and then Star just pauses and hip tosses her. The double stomp finish is a good one, though I don't think I would trust stumbly bumbly Star to not just full force on my spleen. Striker and Vampiro tried to put over the history of these two, but they went out and had a match like "hey, this is who they said I was wrestling tonight". I don't really understand the Moth turn on Mariposa. Is he going to feud with her? Who's the tecnico? Are they writing her out as what else is really left for her? I'd rather see Moth as a big bumping goon against people his own size.

TL: Damn it all, my first match reviewing Lucha Underground and it’s a Sexy Star match? This is quite the initiation process we have here at Segunda Caida. Really can’t wait for the pledging ceremony, where I’ll probably be forced to watch every Tiger Ali Singh/Antonio Inoki match. At least this match is with Mariposa, who is someone I’m betting Star can’t try and get unprofessional with. Man, it’s been a while since I’ve really heard Matt Striker commentary, but his overpronounciation of Spanish accents is extremely grating. Sexy actually throws a nice rana and does a pretty dang good tope con hilo through the middle ropes that Mariposa takes like a champ. Striker says Sexy has the “lucha advantage,” whatever that is. Sexy’s arm looks legit messed up, which means irony is absolutely the theme of this match. Mariposa’s ridiculous inverted Indian Deathlock while kicking Sexy in the head is amazing and someone needs to steal that. I love Cheerleader Melissa so much. Sexy finishes with an alright double stomp, but this match didn’t really have much to it. Marty then comes in afterwards and chokeslams his sister because this show doesn’t have enough male-on-female violence in the first place, I guess.

TL: The Rabbit Tribe gimmick is funny if only because I feel Paul London actually got told to do drugs before coming to the tapings. Would much rather watch Special K matches, though. Although now I’m thinking about watching Low Ki going crazy on Mala Suerte and I’m all about it. Gotta love Mascarita Sagrada curling literally more than his own bodyweight.

2. The Rabbit Tribe (Paul London/Mala Suerte/Saltador) vs. Drago/Pindar/Vibora

ER: This was a bunch of fun, mostly until Vibora got involved with his lizard Lance Hoyt vibes. I really love Pindar's mask, and Steve Pain is awesome. Love the Pindar/Suerte match-up. Cholo was one of the best things about the earlier seasons so it's nice to have him back, and that springboard headscissors was slick. Pindar hits a violent powerslam, but we can never get too far into overdrive as Vibora is always right there waiting to slow things down. Post match Aerostar/Fenix run-in was fun, but they're going to have to get pretty creative to work around luchasaurus. I hope they can find the right balance.

TL: Haven’t seen either Pinda (Steve Pain) or Vibora (Austin Matelson) before, although Striker sells Vibora as a 7-footer (he’s 6’5”) and now I wonder if I can book myself (at 6’3) as the 7-Foot Broadcaster. Lifts probably don’t help at the table. Vibora gets the “Luchasaurus” chant after Drago gets a short showcase spot or two, as he got forced into this match thanks to Kobra Moon’s insistence. The match has some Rabbit Tribe goofiness, although the reptiles do a cool double team big boot/Towerhacker Bomb (one of my favorite moves). Drago almost kills Saltador dead with a flipping neckbreaker to finish. Another match that kinda dragged through the steps towards a finish, mostly thanks to the big guy. I’m with Eric on Pain, though. Dude looked good. Drago gets saved post-match by Fenix and Aerostar, with Aerostar doing some ridiculous acrobatics as per usual, including an outside-in springboard into an assisted Codebreaker. I mean, if you’re gonna go big, at least go as big and ridiculous as possible.

ER: You need the lifts for when we walk out, then you need a phone book on you chair so that the 7' tag plays while sitting down. There you have it. 7 Feet of broadcasting fury!

TL: I’ve worked for two baseball teams in my life and for six years I’ve seen some absolutely ridiculously complex handshakes between teammates, which made the camera work on the handshake between Sexy and Mack look more overchoreographed than the handshake itself, an extremely difficult task. Someone really loves their jump cuts in the editing room.

3. Johnny Mundo vs. The Mack

ER: Fun match with a really poorly executed finish. And I'm not sure when Mack is going to completely tilt all the way into "Al Snow working 1999 WWE tribute spots at minor league baseball stadiums", but doing the stunner and people's elbow are probably way better for his body longterm than flying kicks and moonsaults. I thought this was supposed to be the title match, but instead we get a "winner picks the stipulation for the title match that will air in several months" match. This felt like whatever a touring match would be between these two. I liked Mack's sit out powerbombs, did not like Vampiro honing his Austin Power's impression during the match. That interference at the end took forever. Mack looked like a doofus.

TL: I find it really odd it took so long for Mundo to get the title considering he’s probably easily the most marketable talent they have on the show, but hey, what do I know? It’s not like he got a role on a hit Netflix show or anything. They REALLY play up the racial/socioeconomic difference on commentary and I get really uncomfortable for a moment as Vampiro sticks his foot in his mouth. I loved Mundo’s WWECW singles run, as he did well with the long TV matches, and this is very reminiscent of those. Pretty boy bully athleticism to play to his advantages (he stops himself on a springboard that was really nifty), gives Mack some big moments, and does some good transitions (liked the cat and mouse with the stuff under the ring). Agree with Eric on Mack’s sitout powerbomb, which looked sick and was very Spirit Bomb-esque. Really don’t get Marty Elias taking that much time looking outside the ring, but yeah, that finish took way too damn long. Was really hoping the “All Night Long” stip was a Lionel Richie karaoke contest.

ER: Loved Muertes beating the hell out of Vampiro, but really hoping it doesn't lead to any kind of feud. Still, Muertes needed a cool moment, and coming out just to rush Vampiro felt kinda cool.

TL: Even more than that finish, I REALLY don’t get how Vampiro couldn’t get out of the Flatliner while telling Puma “No!” but dug Muertes whooping up on him nonetheless. You’d think after dealing with Konnan that Puma would have learned his lesson messing with the carniest of luchadors, but man he’s really playing Lucha Sting here to a T. If Vampiro turns on him, he’s got nobody to blame but himself.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 16: The Battle of the Bulls

1. The Mack vs. PJ Black vs. Jeremiah Crane vs. Cage

ER: Man these 4 ways are starting to run together. And I don't think this was a very good one, even though I like most of these guys. The set up for stuff showed too many cracks: Cage catching dives and turning them into vertical suplexes is cool, but Crane made it too obvious he was jumping off the apron trying to get suplexed; Mack's flip dive is impressive as hell, but not as much when everybody completely whiffs on the catch and everybody (Striker included) pretends he nailed them all. Obviously there will be fun moments, it would be near impossible for these guys to not do SOMEthing cool. Mack moonsaulting onto a pile of guys or Crane getting powerbombed onto guys is expected 4 way fun. Crane does a sick double underhook piledriver on Black, and then Vampiro says "I saw Misawa beat Kawada with that move so many times when I toured All Japan in the 90s". I mean...almost every word of that sentence is 100% complete bullshit. Misawa never did that move, Vampiro never worked AJ the same time as Misawa, it's literally something that never happened, and something he didn't see happen. Is this like Berenstein/Berenstain Bears or that Sinbad genie movie? People are going to claim Vampiro was in AJ during that one and only tour where Misawa did a bunch of sit out double underhook piledrivers?

MD: As bad as anything else with these four ways is Striker giving one or two word summations of wrestlers. Ultimately, I'm with Eric on this. Lots of cool stuff, especially from Cage and Mack. Obviously, we weren't going to get Cage in WWE, but we came real close to Mack and I kind of wonder what a world where he got in there would look like. He'd probably be rounding out the six mans with Titus and Crews vs the New Day knowing them, but that'd still be a lot of fun. If you watch wrestling for acrobatics and feats of strength, this is for you. We generally don't. I guess, if nothing else, I thought they protected everyone well. Cage looked like he was in a class all his own; Crane got to hang with these guys which is important since he's relatively newly debuted; Black was mainly there to bounce off people. And after all of the spots and chaos, it ended about as anti-climatically as possible, though still in a way that refocuses things towards Mack vs Worldwide Underground. This was fun as usual, not great in the least, and the worst thing about it was definitely the commentary.

ER: Should I read too much into Mexicans warring against Lizard People? I assume if anything had actually come of those Russo rumors we would have already been dealing with a Pepe-masked authority figure.

MD: I can't get past the fact that they were looking for Drago in the stalls. What if they found him? How awkward would have that been? I chalk this up to Aerostar being an alien and not having proper boundaries. What an interminable bathroom fight.

2. Cage Match: Sexy Star vs. Johnny Mundo

ER: The woman who "inspired a generation"!! This is the first cage match in LU history, yes? I cannot imagine a more legendary person getting to honor the gimmick. "Strength, athleticism? I think they're equal." Yeah, Striker. She's probably about as strong as a man twice her size, and certainly isn't the clumsiest person in the fed facing a legit parkour loon. Man, I hate women. Matt Striker and Sexy Star have officially made me hate women. What a predictably awful match with a wonderfully excellent shitheel finish. We spend the whole match with both trying to escape (until Sexy jumped off the top with a crossbody when she could have escaped, then we got Striker retconning how Sexy Star would NEVER want to run away and escape, she confronts all of her problems HEAD ON!!), and if you thought Star's strikes looked bad on solid ground, then brother you better soak in those kicks while standing on the ropes. The sound engineer has never been so shameful with the sweetening. I liked Star's rana off the top in reaction to Mundo yanking her leg. The rest was awful. UNTIL we get to the perfect finish, with Mundo yanking off Star's mask sending her running for cover (you see, millions of young girls Sexy Star has inspired, her mask is her identity), and Mundo escapes with ease, rubbing it in before hopping to the floor. He even throws in a both arms up victory lap run to his belt. The only thing that salvaged this horror.

MD: I watched this on 2x Speed. I'm not going to remind Eric about the season 2 Cage vs Mundo cage match (Cage in a Cage, that's the name of the episode), mainly because I barely remember it. So, slightly different misogynistic take than Eric: the only way this possible could work, and the way it occasionally works, is if Mundo is brutally beating Star with the cage as a weapon. Why? Because she can't actually do anything. She can't hit her spots. She can't sell well. She can't draw sympathy. So it falls on Mundo to drive everything by being mean and cruel. Obviously, that has its own issues as we are fairly decent human beings, so this just had no leg to stand on. The "babyface refuses to win the match and leaps back into the ring instead" trope works better if 1.) there's no title on the line and 2.) the babyface is Jeff Hardy, not Sexy Star, whose entire character is about winning the title again. I will say this though: the great challenge of Season 3 has been to work with her, and I think what we've seen over the last few episodes is that Worldwide Underground, at least, have gotten better at cracking that code. You can learn a lot about a wrestler from how he works in a near-impossible situation and they've done about as well as could be expected. Mack showing up at the end to transition things was almost a relief, as was Sexy Star in the ring Dana Brooke posing her way right out of the main event scene.

ER: I actually do remember the name of that Cage in a Cage episode, but I also do not remember a thing about that match. Looking it up, my first sentence of the review was "This had some nice moments, but overall didn't do much for me." The math on me not remembering this match checks out.


COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 14: The Bulls of Boyle Heights

MD: I could watch Dario backstage with people all day. Angelico doesn't portray a tough guy well at all, but there's enough weight built up in his grudge with Mundo from time alone that all of this works. I like that he has to go through one more hoop to get to him. I swear that 2017 WWE wouldn't think through a character enough to run with the Bull theme with Dario like they're doing here. It's obvious that his plan was having Angelico and Matanza in the 4 way next week.

1. Cage vs. Texano vs. Joey Ryan vs. Dr. Wagner Jr.

ER: Oh good, I was hoping we'd get some additional Cage/Texano interactions outside of their best of 27 series. And this got a decent amount of time. And was not very good. We did get a lot of Texano/Cage interactions, which we've already seen just...way too much of, and it's still not working. When Texano is announced, Striker said, "One word: GREAT." Texano may have the biggest gap in "actual output in promotion" versus "how promotion wants him to be perceived" in the fed...if it weren't for one TINYYYYYY person in LU illustrating that same thing times 10. Wagner is one of the most charismatic men I've ever seen live, and I'm wondering why it's not coming through on LU. Is it because they want you to think everybody is a big charismatic star? Is it the differences in lucha filming vs. professional high end LU filming? Is he just being portrayed here like "just another guy"? Is it because he was saddled with Famous B - who is amusing in his role but makes a legitimate star like Wagner come off as bottom rung? Wagner still moves like a star, still seems like he has that charisma, but the way they're using him it could really be anybody under that mask. Cage looked pretty impressive here, that moonsault to the floor was nuts (and everybody was nuts for standing right under it), and for what felt like a throwaway match (even though it's part of a larger match concept) Cage came off pretty big here.

MD: This was a typical Lucha Underground multiman. You can't help but contrast it to the match later in the night and while that one had more fun character interactions, this was less stilted and choreographed. I thought both Cage and Texano came off pretty well here, actually. There's zero hook to Texano in lucha underground and generally seeing him here just makes me wish he was teaming with Terrible in CMLL still, but he stood tall against everyone for a decent amount of time. I get what Eric's saying though. I think the problem with Wagner in LU is that he doesn't really get to be Wagner. Everything about this promotion plays against his strengths. He's not a guy who can just come in and hit spots endlessly and then get out of the ring so the next person can take over. It's those dead spaces between spots where he can play to the crowd and make things mean something (or not mean something in a way that makes him look good, which is a Wagner special) where he excels. Even Vampiro pointed out that this wasn't really Wagner's style of match. These things were made for Cage to hit spots though. He was physically astonishing in this match, to the point where I stopped really caring whether or not this was good. Catching Ryan in mid-air and jackhammering him is insanely impressive. It was nice to see the rope come back into play for the finish as it had annoyed me how little its use mattered in the match itself.

MD: The second she told Reyes that he had to go back to the Temple, I was rooting for her to put him under a mask. That they're actually going with that shows how on point this show can be at times.

2. Sexy Star vs. PJ Black

ER: "You can't help but get behind Sexy Star!" You might think that was the case, Striker, but I suppose I just despise poor downtrodden women. That's something about ME that needs work. After all, if I can't get behind this one brave woman, who am I, and what wrong steps have *I* taken as a human? But this match was probably upper tier for Sexy Star. She has no idea how to transition, and no idea how to make up the size difference, and sometimes it's pretty clear she doesn't know how to fall for certain moves, but Black at least knew how to build to her bigger spots and they crafted a nice nearfall off the Styles Clash kickout. I liked Star's rana, and I liked PJ bragging on the top rope to set up his huge nasty drop onto the turnbuckles, and yeah, this was fine. You know she's going to win, and you know the commentary is going to be ridiculously over the top while praising her contributions to the history of womankind, but the match overall worked.

MD: In general, I wish they just moved Star over to Taya. If this had to happen, hwoever, I'm with Eric that the match overall did work. Most of that was on Black, his arrogance (including cheating when he didn't even have to), and is general unwillingness to sell for her unless she really earned it. He seemed to be putting an extra bit of oomph into everything too, which is not something people do with her. I came out of this wondering if I haven't been undervaluing Black. It's a shame he keeps injuring himself on basejumps or whatever. All that said, I'll be honest: I tend to watch Sexy Star matches at 2x speed, so my views on them are suspect.

ER: So Kobra Moon of all people is getting her own stable of reptilians? They're now building her up as some sort of millennia-long leader, when up til now all she's done is lose short matches and flirt with boys. It's a long con, people.

MD: I was wondering how this meshed with her and Daga from last season too. I think the line is that she ate him whole? Still, I'm all for the expansion of the mythos, and even more so the fact that they rationalized spending the money to actually make a GiJoe Serpentor throne in 2017.

3. Marty the Moth Martinez vs. Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. The Mack vs. Mil Muertes

ER: This didn't end the way I was expecting it to, as with the participants I assumed this would be a guaranteed path for Mil Muertes. And Muertes looked pretty awesome in this, loved his big uppercuts, and the showdown with Moth. Moth standing up to him and getting clocked in the jaw, then later speared through the ropes was terrific. Azteca and Mack matched up nicely, and that tornado DDT Azteca hits is insane. The ending was pretty stupid, with Azteca getting almost a visual pinfall on Muertes, then goes up to hit something else, waits there forever for the Matanza run-in (couldn't they have edited that closer together), and then other people just kill time being inactive while Matanza does his thing. His ragdoll slamming of Azteca was cool, but didn't love how it played into the match, with Mack then kind of just vulturing the win.

MD: As much as I liked Marty interacting with everyone, there was a heck of a lot of him putting his head down for a while so Azteca could leap over him or just hanging out so that he could eat that big spear shot off the apron. Him staring down Mil like a madman was the best part of this. Mil looked a step above everyone else. The guy just exudes star power in this gimmick. He moves just a little slower than everyone but everything feels so deliberate and impactful. Again, I did like how Azteca hit his crazy spinning DDT the first time and then got destroyed on the second. The show uses blood relatively sparingly so seeing Dario come out with the gimmick was a striking moment. I can't wait for Rey vs Matanza. I can wait to see Mack and Cage up against each other again considering they just did that towards the end of last season.


COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 12: Every Woman is Sexy, Every Woman is a Star

ER: We're back with the LU reviews!

MD: The delay on these were my fault. Even though I knew it was coming Sexy Star winning took enough air out of my sails that watching LU became a chore.

1. Rabbit Tribe (Paul London/Mala Suerte/Saltador) vs. Fenix/Aerostar/Drago

ER: Rabbit Tribe entrance is just trippy enough to work, and Cholo worked so damn hard in the early LU seasons that I want him to still have a job. That superkick on Fenix was perfectly timed, the no look cannonball got dangerously upside down, Suerte hit a huge plancha to the floor through everyone and a goofy cross-ring dropkick and then a gorgeous powerslam on Fenix. Cholo/Fenix is an awesome match up, good to have the guy back on TV. Fenix had a wild kung fu movie dropkick on Saltador in the corner, and I loved Aerostar arm dragging Fenix into a cannonball. Nice debut for the Tribe, nice defense for the fliers.

MD: After weeks of vignettes, this is maybe not how I'd debut the Rabbit Tribe? While it's good to have them look strong against the champs, a squash would have served better here. That's one of those things you get from LU a lot. They do a lot of things well but miss the basics now and again. There was a sense that any of the champs could overcome any of the Rabbits one on one, but that the Rabbits working together could take down any of the champs. Ultimately though, the champs working together > the rabbits working together (which again, isn't the best for a debut, even a heel one). The hierarchy is always weird in LU though. Everyone is just a little interchangeable. I could have used a bit more heel control to keep this from feeling like a normal weightless LU trios match and it was very weird that London didn't come off as the biggest, most focused upon, star of his group. Also, I didn't like Striker bringing up so much of his past because it doesn't quite sync with him being part of one of the ancient tribes. They need to bridge that gap if they're going to do that. In general, this was fun though. Lots of good spots well executed and a story that was loose but present enough to make this work for what it was. I can't wait to see these guys interact with Jack Evans (or Famous B/Brenda or Marty/Mariposa or Dario or a bunch of the other characters at the Temple). I thought the post match Kobra promo was nice and quick and kept the storylines moving.

ER: Boy they're really trying to make me buy this whole Sexy Star: Deserving Champion nonsense. I want her to get crushed.

2. Dante Fox vs. Killshot

ER: I liked this one until I didn't. They started off with well done sexy dance fighting and devolved into brainless head drop trading. I think things probably peaked with Fox hitting two big dives, and then getting kicked in the face on the third. From there we get a lot of things with complicated set-ups and dangerous landings. Fox is good at taking stuff on the side of his head, but it happens enough with him then hopping up to do his own offense, that it's a little tough to care about his head. They set up a ridiculous death valley driver from the top rope to the apron, then Killshot does his awful double stomp that always sees his feet land nowhere close to his opponent's body. Nearfall gets a major shock reaction from the believers, as they assumed that was it. Fox shows them how silly they were to get sucked into moves meaning something in a Fox/Killshot match by popping up and hitting his own finishers, which Striker already knew the names of. Favorite part was Striker saying "I'm not often at a loss for words but..." in the middle of talking non-stop for 10 minutes.

MD: I'm with Eric on this. I was giving this a pass early on despite the choreographed natured and the fact that Killshot, depsite being a precise military sharpshooter has to flip and roll about in the least disciplined way before he does every single move. I liked the match with Marty and the Matanza spin the wheel one, but he's got the worst habits of anyone on the show. That said, I was giving it a pass because they effectively portrayed the heavy choreography as the two wrestlers knowing each other so well. Then it just escalated more and more with less and less selling. Both guys were so into hitting their stuff that the crowd had no idea who to cheer for. I think they're doing a shades of grey sort of thing where Killshot might have really done Fox wrong and might be the bad guy but Fox came in seeming that way and both guys worked so spot-heavy that any sense of roles ended up completely out the window. After the DVD/Double Stomp kick out and the Storm Cradle Driver roll followed by consequence-shrugging-off rope running I was done. I checked out completely. What a mess. What shitty wrestlers who completely miss the point. Just terrible.

MD: Thankfully, we get some Dario talking segments after this. As always, I love how he's consistently wiping his nose. I got a kick out of the little bits of comedic music in the Mundo talk. I also like the obvious fact that the Triad sent enforcers to fix all of Black Lotuses screw ups but she's too thick to realize that and she thinks she's still in charge of the situation. That's how I'm reading it at least. I'll take what i can get between these two matches.

3. Sexy Star vs. Johnny Mundo

ER: Thank goodness Johnny had Taya planted in the crowd to help him beat the big bad Sexy Star. This stunk. Star has the least effective offense in the company, and they worked a straight match. Mundo tried literally carrying her at certain points, but it's too big a task. Luckily Mundo's flipping finisher never connects anyway, so he didn't have to worry about pulling, as all moves performed on Sexy Star must be pulled lest we break her brittle bird bones.

MD: Shoot, you know what? This wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. For one thing, Mundo is willing to bump around the ring for Star, making her stuff look passable when it really, really shouldn't. He did suprisingly well positioning her about during the matwork segments too. I think what impressed me the most were the transitions. Every time she ended back on offense it was either due to a miscue from Mundo or due to her taking advantage of his positioning with a quick trip or kicking out of the leg, something like that. It was believable and well put together. No, I don't think Mundo (or the structure) carried this to being actually good, but given the result I'd take "Not nearly as bad as I was expecting" at this point. The finish was a little anti climactic. It would have been better if Taya was banned from the arena and snuck in under a mask or something. But hey, Star had a one week reign, right? So whatever works.


COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 3, Episode 11: Aztec Warfare III

AZTEC WARFARE III

feat. Matanza, Johnny Mundo, Son of Havoc, Jeremiah Crane, Pentagon Jr., PJ Black, Mariposa, Rey Mysterio, Dr. Wagner Jr., Marty "The Moth" Martinez, Jack Evans, Sexy Star, Ricky Mandel, Mascarita Sagrada, Famous B, The Mack, Joey Ryan, Mil Muertes, Kobra Moon, Drago

ER: Ugh. I knew it was happening. The second Matanza got eliminated I checked my notes to see who was still left in the match, and even though I was watching alone, I groaned aloud "Oh, nooooo," into the darkness of my living room. I don't think anybody can make a reasonable argument that she looked better than one person in this match. There were a couple guys like Mascarita and Mandel who got eliminated immediately, but we've seen those two before and know that not every piece of offense they do looks like garbage. You cannot say that same thing about Star. She looked so bad in this, botching the simplest roll ups and looking completely ineffective. I have no idea why LU is going all in on Sexy Star. I haven't known for the entire duration of LU. And they really should have had the few Sexy Star superfan plants sitting separately, and not so obviously cutting to their reactions. Bush league move from a fed who often gets those little details right. But obviously they lose all logic when it comes to her.

It's also weird how much of a non-factor Wagner is. For a guy who cares about his image so much, it's weird to see him treated like he was essentially Super Calo in WCW. And my do some of Mundo's flips look bad. At once point he vaulted off PJ Black's back, flipped, and landed on his own head.

The rest of the match had plenty of nice moments. Matanza adding an extra spin to his Wrath of the Gods. All of Crane's kicks. Rey yanking Famous B into the ropes by his necktie and Famous B's subsequent selling of the 619. Jack Evans perhaps with the performance of the match, flying into things like a lunatic. Shout outs to Matanza's chair bumps. Moth's huge dive. Mack's giant flip dive. I even enjoyed that fun run in from Fox Force Four. But shit man, that ending.

MD: This is all Johnny Mundo's fault. He originally had 12. I really liked that initial skit bit too, with Taya playing the moll with the camera and Dario ripping up the number. It was especially great that Melissa still called it random draw too. That said, it meant he became 2 and Sexy Star became 12. Now, then, the counter point to this is that she could have been in the entire first half of the match too. While I'm harping on the beginning, Striker is the worst. Yes, we get it that we see the backstage stuff and he doesn't, but the idea that he's just getting word that Mundo isn't cashing in when Dario, basically the only other person who can give him word is accounted for is just goofy. What, the Lucha Underground Championship Committee sent him a telegram?

Look, Eric bitched about Sexy Star for a paragraph and then spent like, five other sentences talking about the rest of the match. You can see it right there. I have to lean into the pre-match detail here.

In all seriousness, I agree about the nice moments. There were a ton and Matanza was behind a lot of them. Him dragging Mundo in to the ring to give him a German; him grabbing Son of Havoc's (who can often wrestle bigger than he is) beard and then some of the choreography between the two just before Crane came in; him taking out everyone pissed off after Pentagon ambushed him on the floor; the tease with Mariposa; the way he just killed Crane with that German (even if that meant Crane left too early); getting slapped(!) by Marty; the double twist Wrath on Sagrada; the spinout Belly-to-Back to get Wagner and the double pin and stare off with Mil that followed; and him just destroying Rey. This was Matanza's match.

In general, I love the amount of thought they put into this. There was always another set piece, always another bit of action, always interaction between wrestlers, and frankly, even for as small a group as LU, a lot of these match ups did seem fresh. Marty, especially, getting to interact with all sorts of people, or just a little bit of Pentagon and Wagner trying to work together against Rey. The Rey/B stuff was tons of fun. The ninjas vs Pentagon bit was fun. The problem is that they didn't manage the negative space well. They kept things moving along at such a pace that nothing ever set in enough to mean as much as it should.

Striker was pretty terrible throughout this. For instance, calling Worldwide Underground "One Powerful Luchador" together was a great way to undercut one of their lead heels and title holders in Mundo. Then there was the post-match spiel as he carefully read his pre-written book report on Sexy Star winning. Brutal. They didn't frame the moment well either. They faded to black way soon. Good booking decision or bad booking decision, the value in putting Sexy Star over is in milking the moment. They're usually good at that, but here it just faded to black, so that the last image you saw was basically this:

(https://j.gifs.com/xGw96B.gif)

I know I associate this miraculous title win with bagel bites. What about you?

ER: I like to think that I did less bitching, and more "writing justified complaints".


COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 8: Gift of the Gods

MD: Eric fell a little behind on these which gave me the excuse to fall a lot behind on them. I had hit the point of Sexy Star exhaustion, I think. Let's see if we can't power through this part of the season though.

ER: Dario is drinking a pretty impressive amount of whiskey when Sexy Star comes in. Those are some big tumblers he has and it was still filled up over two fingers. This consumption may offer some insight into why Dario keeps thinking it's a good idea to keep Sexy Star around.

1. Marty The Moth Martinez vs. Ivelisse

ER: Here's the obligatory Phil throwback spot where he points out them running the same angle and same match on the same show. On a show with a big intergender main event, we have to open the show with a big intergender opener. And I thought this was a really good and really smartly worked match. Marty has quickly turned into one of my favorite guys in the fed, and while we don't get his big bumps in this one, we get to see him show off with some offense, and feed into Ivelisse's offense in satisfying ways. She takes tons of huge slams, and laces into him with strikes to make the size difference seem less silly. Her running knee looked great and her kicks to a kneeling Moth landed with a great snap. Nothing overstayed its welcome, and the whole thing arced wonderfully. We get Sami Callihan's debut and he makes it count with an awesome pump kick into Moth's jowls. Sami/Ivelisse vs. Moth/Mariposa is actually something I want to see.

MD: I'm writing this after having seen the entire show. As such, yes, it's nuts they did both intergender matches in the same hour. Parts of the narrative, like the male being stronger and having an obvious advantage and the female getting her biggest moment with some sort of choke showed up both times. The problem, especially, was that Ivelisse is so much more believable in the role, especially because she has the killer strikes that Star simply doesn't. Marty's reactions to everything are my favorite thing about Lucha Underground. I'd watch him ham it up over even the best Aerostar dives every week if I had to choose. Sami is such a breath of fresh air too. It's Lucha Underground so there's nothing pure about it. I'm more than happy to see a guy who can have world class matches show up.

ER: I think that's Paul London in the white suit, but I still avoid tapings results. I've seen him recently working a shitty bearded lame sunglasses asshole gimmick on the indies, and the person in the white suit certainly seemed like a shitty bearded lame sunglasses asshole.

MD: I haven't seen Paul London wrestle in years. Him bounding about in a rabbit gimmick spouting goofy Lewis Carroll lines seems as good an addition to the mix as anything else. Like I said, not lucha purism here.

2. Cage vs. Texano

ER: This is the 3rd 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 this was probably the best of the three so far, with both guys taking some big bumps on the floor. Even then it totally devolved into Cage 2 count NO Texano 2 count NO Cage 2 count NO! bullshit. And lucky us, we'll get 2 more chances to get it right!!!

MD: This is another reason I let myself get distracted. Cage sure hit a lot of offense here. That might have been the story, that Cage was just too much and Texano, with his back against the wall, outmatched, hit a quirky roll up. I thought some of the transitions back to Cage being on offense were good, but they didn't at all come together. I'm well past the point of caring here. At least this is all leading up to godly spiritual possession or something, right? The freakshow plot aspects of LU are the draw, not something to live in spite of.

ER: Dario clearly seemed three sheets while talking to Rey. And it's understandable that he is this smashed, as he has to continually convince himself that he has made the correct choice in keeping Sexy Star this strong.

MD: I love how Dario isn't just a straight out one-dimensional bad guy. He's got his motivations. Rey brings him money. He's the biggest draw he has and he knows it. Therefore he'll treat him differently than everyone else. Dario's at least two-dimensional.

3. Johnny Mundo vs. Sexy Star

ER: This was probably the best we could hope for out of a Sexy Star match, even if I think the smoke and mirrors went on far too long. And the fact this is maybe the best of the endless parade of Sexy Star matches is made even more impressive because she turns in one of her most putrid performances. For the first 4 minutes Mundo totally broomsticks her, just a total Weekend at Bernie's performance inside a wrestling ring. All the matwork is done against a total corpse, and all the broomsticking is definitely for the best as when she actually tries to do anything it's a mess of terrible strikes, stumbling to take offense, and taking forever to perform her own offense. She even spun the wrong way on a rolling elbow, which is just wonderful and amazing. It had some built-in good moments that any corpse could have performed, like Mundo moonsaulting off her feet after backdropping her off the top. Her chairshot on Mundo lead to a good kickout as I was greatly afraid of having to sit through Matanza vs. Sexy Star. So yeah, I think all the run ins and kickouts eventually wore out their welcome, but the overall presentation was as good as it could have been, and a really impressive Mundo performance. He was given a pretty impossible task and turned it into a very good segment.

MD: As far as BS Attitude Era matches go, this wasn't so bad. I am not an execution guy at all. I like the showmanship of pro wrestling. I like the easy way more than the hard way most of the time. I like the symbolic representation. If you can't let me suspend my disbelief at least a little though, you've got a problem. This was put together well with the impossible odds and Star and Mundo both being well protected, but especially with the contrast of the Ivelisse performance, it didn't quite meet me half way. I'm still not convinced that we're not going to get Matanza vs Star at some point either, so I'm not taking Eric's consolation prize to heart.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

Read more!

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

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

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

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

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

2. Jack Evans vs. Sexy Star

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

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

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

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

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

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




COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

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)


COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!