Found Footage Friday: SERDAN~! AQUILES~! VERNE~! MCCLARITY~! VILLANOS~! TEXANO~! SIGNO~! NAVARRO~!

Michel Serdan vs Aquiles Brazil 9/13/87

MD: We've covered two other matches from Brazil and they've both been tremendous. This was no different. If someone is just sitting on a bunch of Michel Serdan matches, please come forward with them. We'll watch them all. This was billed as his retirement match, one last fight in a cage against Aquiles to prove the better man once and for all. Aquiles cut a fun quick promo before the match saying he wanted Serdan to be calm because he was scared to face him. Serdan had a more celebratory one where he got to thank the fans. This was escape rules with rounds of all things. The cage was flush to the ring, so much so that there were no turnbuckle pads.

That came into play immediately as Serdan ran Aquiles right into the corner a couple of times to open him up. He was already bleeding when he ran him into the cage. He had wild sweeping strikes meant for the last row. I wouldn't call them conventional or even tight but they were very effective and dramatic, like he was riding the music of the roaring crowd. The round breaks served as potential transitions, but even more so were attempts out of the cage. That's when Aquiles got to first take over on Serdan, who had beaten him enough that he was satisfied and went to leave but was immediately pulled down. He quickly got color too though not quite as much as Aquiles (though he had the bald head to help it go a little further). From there they went back and forth, utilizing either escape attempts or round breaks as a way to fire back at one another, just repeatedly slamming fists into heads from every angle.

What a finish too. Aquiles managed to knock Serdan away and started to climb and you wondered, just for a moment, if he might get away. Serdan was there though, grabbing at his feet and it wasn't hard to see the rest of this playing out with Aquiles thrust back into the ring and Serdan rising victorious. However, the entire heel locker room rushed forth and pulled Aquiles over the top. The celebration that followed was one of the most jubilant ever in the history of heel triumphs. Though he was completely undeserving, Aquiles rushed back and forth, surrounded by the heels, arms in the air, as Serdan recovered, dejected, in the ring. I have no idea how they avoided a riot here; it was well-warranted. There's very little quite as beautiful in all of pro wrestling as a heel drawing heat with such exuberance and verve. I'm sure he got his comeuppance at some point but this is a world we only get a glimpse into so who knows what it was or when. I would have paid to see it though, that's for sure. 

Verne Gagne vs Roy McClairity NWA Chicago 8/6/54

MD: We had the first fall of this previously, but not the whole thing. It's a long 2/3 falls match, with a substantial first fall. Verne is Verne, dynamic, explosive, made for TV, carrying within him this bounding energy. You can see it in the way he moves. There was a promise of action in his matches, though, of course, it's the 50s, so that action never crosses a threshold from sublime to absurd in a way that more "action-driven" wrestlers from Race to Rocco to Angle to their modern counterparts can't claim.

A lot of the match was centered around McClaritiy trying to find an answer to the challenge of Verne, working hard to ground him and keep him in long holds, most especially a fairly complex grapevined leg stretcher. It meant that when Verne got an upper hand once again, he was more aggressive and frustrated than usual, looping in some chippy extracurricular bits of damage; for instance, in a toehold, he might slam the knee into the mat in a way that he might not have otherwise. It turned the crowd against him a little, or at least turned them more towards McClairity.

They were working the holds so hard and with so much spirit that without Verne's baldspot, it'd be hard to tell the two of them apart at times. The finish of each fall came down to battle over sleeper type moves, first Verne's straight on sleeper and then McClairity's cobra clutch. In the third fall, with neither able to get it on, McClarity went to the well with a side headlock one too often and Verne hit a 1954 belly to back suplex out of it (one that everyone seemed surprised by) to score the win. Between the underlying story of McClarity trying to contain Verne and Verne getting frustrated by it and just how hard they were working each hold, this felt a lot shorter than it was and remained enjoyable the whole way through.

Kato Kung Lee/Texano/Villanos IV y V vs Indomito/Signo/Tigre Blanco/Negro Navarro CMLL 1991

MD: Look, I love that we have all of these Monterrey matches. I've found something worth watching in 90% of them and some of them are legitimately great. We've got to see regionally pushed talents like Panterita and Arandu and more from the greats like Casas. But man, it can be so frustrating in the way lucha can so often be to see great builds to an apuestas match and then not even know if the thing ever happened, let alone having footage of it. The build to Indomito vs Texano was really good and this was another piece of that vexing puzzle.

They paired up for the primera, with Signo vs Villano (I think V; telling apart Villanos is my personal lucha weakness) really standing out as being smooth. Just a lot of fun talent here so it was nice to see them have their exchanges. The tecnicos took it and kept control into the segunda, though Indomito was dodging Texano for the most part, as well he should. Kato Kung Lee got to take advantage of sheer numbers involved in an atomicos match and did his usual shtick, just with more people to higher effect. Immediately thereafter the rudos had enough and swarmed. At times it was hard for Indomito to take center stage just because Navarro and Signo were there but once they got going, he honed in well enough on Texano and bloodied him. The comeback in the tercera was heated and focused on Texano rushing the ringing and getting his revenge. He hit a pile driver on the outside and back in the ring which was jarring especially because they weren't sold like death. Things built to a final exchange where Texano came in too hot and Indomito was able to get his feet up on the ropes for a cheap pin. Again, just a nice balance of blood and revenge and comeuppance denied. All building to a match that's not listed on luchawiki at least. Ah well. Lucha is a challenging mistress.

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New Footage Friday: New Old Lucha

Killer vs. Enrique Vera Torreon Coahuila 8/13/89

MD: Pretty good lost title match with some slight clipping but not enough to be egregious. The annoying ref and Dusty finish were worse. The primera matwork was ok. They stayed in some simple holds a bit more than I'm used to but they were working things at least and the fans were into it. Killer was billed from NY if I'm not mistaken so at least a few rowdy kids were happy to chant Mexico over and over. Vera had a wide array of pinning combinations and these sweeping Robinson backbreakers that he used often and to high effect. Segunda had rudo control after a jumping clothesline with Killer mainly making use of a nice elbow drop, which was especially nice off the ropes in a back springboard, which is what he used to take the fall. The big comeback moment was a back cross body off a corner whip. We lose the ending to it but I assume it was a missed knee drop by Vera (he had a good kneedrop too) which led to a long Killer figure-four. The finish involved a ref bump and Vera getting a visual win on a submission but the ref giving it to Killer instead. They avoided a riot by letting Vera hit the ref after the match at least.

Jerry Estrada/Espanto IV/Espanto V/Latino vs. Hurican Ramirez/Ramirez Jr./Rodriguez/Megatron Torreon Coahuila  8/13/89

MD: A little clipped and with the weird slow-mo freeze frame for big spots that makes you long for the gentle production touch of Kevin Dunn. This was a pretty classic set up though, given some color by Latino and Estrada having issues. Espanto IV and V were pretty new in 89 but they worked well in there, feeding and stooging for both Ramirez and Megatron. Rodriguez looked fine with good exchanges with Estrada and Latino and had a ballsy no hands dive (well, there was a hand but it was flailing wildly) at the end. The other big thing he did was eat a huge chairshot that turned the rudo beatdown into a rudo mauling. Estrada unsurprisingly bumped to the floor multiple times. The big comeback was a call back to the early Latino/Estrada issues and they went right into the dive train and the finish after that. I could have used a bit more in the way of revenge violence, but otherwise, this was pretty good stuff.

Hurican Ramirez/Hurican Ramirez Jr/Mano Negra vs. El Signo/Texano/Crazy Boy

MD: Ultimately, this felt like a slightly less hate-filled version of the Santo retirement match. It was Ramirez' match before he was willingly taking off his mask in a post-match ceremony (maybe due to rights issues?) and they started it quick with the rudo ambush/beatdown. Some good stuff here including a really nice missile dropkick. The comeback was Mano Negra, who is not someone I'm used to seeing as a tecnico, coming in with a couple of nice shots to break up a gorilla press slam. After that, it was celebratory tecnico dominance, with Ramirez Jr. looking good against everyone and the old man getting a rana or two. The rudos stooged up and down like you'd want them to. The dives at the end cleared the ring so Ramirez could have that last moment of triumph.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 37: Ultima Lucha Tres Part 1

ER: Striker: *Makes a bunch of jokes and goofy statements, switches to Owen voice* "Folks, all joking aside, war is hell."

TL: He also did the squinty eyes, because he was concentrating really hard on being serious. That’s how you know it’s real.

Texano vs. Famous B/Dr. Wagner Jr.

ER: The usage of Wagner in LU has been so weird. He's never been treated like a big deal even though he's easily a bigger star than anybody in the fed other than Mysterio. And he's brought back here as a surprise partner after last being seen 9 months prior. Anyway, this match was shaping up to be surprisingly killer. B takes a ridiculous hip toss from practically halfway up the Temple steps, just a huge bump and they couldn't have filmed it better. Texano looked more motivated than in maybe any other LU match he's been in, really connecting on his enziguiri, dropping Wagner with a huge powerbomb, really looking fired up. But things end super prematurely with some Brenda interference, leading a doofus like Texano to be distracted and rolled up. Also of note, Vampiro said Brenda was giving him a migaine, and Striker let him know "there are pills for that". Vampiro probably doesn't need the rundown on taking pills.

TL: Have this feeling Wagner only got the call here because his booking fee was too expensive otherwise. Also, this is before he lost the mask and turned into The Most Interesting Wrestler in The World, but it’s also really weird that he is a tecnico being brought in as a rudo’s mercenary. Famous B knows how to bump; PWG highlight videos have shown me that, at least. Imagine being Texano and having the career he had and was the supposed future of AAA when LU started and then be told going into Season 3, “You’re gonna take a shit pinfall against a manager on the opener of our WrestleMania.” Incredible. Wagner being brought in for this? Hilarious.

Hell of War: Killshot vs. Dante Fox

ER: The match is a 3 part stip, with First Blood being the first stip, No DQ as the second, and third is a stretcher match. It's a big batch of match stips, although I don't like First Blood or stretcher matches, as the best brawls just get way better once blood is involved. This match could get around that as there are still two parts of the match after the bleeding starts, but First Blood is usually lame. The psychology is all over the map as you would think guys would just be scratching and clawing and throwing punches to try and get blood, but most of the time that doesn't happen. I'd like to see a bunch of knuckle punches thrown at eye sockets, but we get a fun spotfest instead. Fox hits his ringpost moonsault onto Killshot (who was on a ladder), we get a fun hot potato section with a chair thrown back and forth and caught/dodged, Fox hits one of the crazier spots in LU history when he leaps from the second level of crowd with a legdrop to the apron while Killshot was sandwiched between chairs. So things are pretty wild even though most of the things done would not ever draw blood. Fox brings out a glass panel and they fight around that for awhile before Killshot goes through it off the top rope, cutting open his back, arms, hands, etc. Pretty grisly stuff. The No DQ portion has some more wild stuff, all the glass still in the ring so both guys keep getting cut up with each bump. Fox hits a nasty 450 onto Killshot (on a ladder) and Fox later gets planted with a DDT off the top. I still have no idea what Killshot's finisher off the top is supposed to be, he just jumps off the top and lands with his feet next to Fox. Is it a bad Bombs Away that doesn't connect? Is it a stomp to the face that doesn't come close to the face? I genuinely don't know what it's supposed to be. I've never seen it hit his opponent, whatever it is. Fox kicks out at 1, which seems appropriate for a move that doesn't make contact.

We get a barbed wire board and Fox eats a powerbomb into it, and a Storm Cradle Driver into the glass. This is getting pretty crazy. Striker hasn't been nearly as wretched as he was during their first match, but in the third fall we get a "in the vein of John McCain" which...I guess Striker just can't help being fucking awful. It's his natural form. Fox eats a death valley driver off the top onto the stretcher, and a double stomp off the top of the crowd also through the stretcher. They brawl to the band stage and Fox gets hit with a bottle, falling off through a giant sheet of glass (apparently just set up there by Dario to be an ass). Well, these two sure went out of their way to have an insane match, pretty huge start to Ultima Lucha. If this is (basically) the first match of a show, I have no idea what the other matches are going to do to live up to this. We had several moves off the top to the floor, several bumps into and through glass, bumps into barbed wire. I would already be exhausted if I had been there live (though they likely filmed these in a different order). Crazy start to Ultima Lucha.

TL: This is one of two matches from this show that I had seen previous, with the other being the main event. I’ll say this: The story didn’t really add too much to get here, as this seemed like a program where the gimmick and the end of the road dictated everything else. Seeing it in a vacuum isn’t all that different from seeing it with everything leading up to it.

First fall with First Blood is worked oddly like Eric mentioned because they don’t go for the blood right away. Hell, they sexy dance fight for a bit to start it out! Once Fox gets his moonsault spot out of the way, things finally fall into place with the stipulation a little bit with the chair stuff. And then they both work apron spots. And THEN they do a double springboard into a Spanish Fly. Like…what is the idea behind this match? Why even make it a First Blood fall? Killshot is a CZW regular, and I’ve seen him do a dive off the top of the Cage of Death through some absolute bullshit, but that glass spot was just nasty looking due to the setting. The glass pieces sticking in his back on close-up is nasty as all hell. I don’t understand why we got the 10 minutes of wrestling we did before we got to that, but that’s a damn good way to get first blood, at least.

The second fall sees them up the crazy, and it was here where I realized that both of these guys are absolutely insane. Eric hit all the details on the specific spots, but I’m just gonna say that when I first saw this match, I remember seeing this fall and being absolutely floored that these two were having THIS match. And that there was an entire third fall waiting. Watching it a second time, this is going to sound insane, but the Dante Fox kickout at 1 after the Killstomp worked better here than almost any match where I’ve seen that spot in years. Considering what the hell is going on in this match, if you aren’t amped up on all the adrenaline your body can process, that’s how someone kicks out at 1. (Although Eric equating Killshot’s finish with that wussy-ass mushroom stomp from Son of Havoc makes me smile; welcome to the club!) Fox agreeing to take that Storm Cradle Driver on the broken glass right after taking that powerbomb is absolutely insane.

The third fall somehow builds to an even higher crescendo thanks to, of all things, a gurney. The DVD off the turnbuckles to the gurney on the floor (with the absolutely insane visual of a chunk of Fox’s back left behind) and then the Killstomp that looks like it crushed the damn thing just added to the craziness of this match. The finish to this match is insane. This whole match was insane. I don’t know so much about the wrestling part of it, or what the hell Striker was saying at points with him being able to verbally masturbate over it being a war in a wrestling ring, but this was as visceral a wrestling match as you’ll see. I’ve seen plenty of deathmatches in my day, but this is right up there with the outright nuttiest things I’ve seen. I thought for sure that Killshot was going to take the lion’s share of the bumps because of his CZW background, but Fox went above and beyond here. Nothing will top this over the next three shows.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 36: The Rise of the Ring Announcer

ER: I really liked the opening Melissa Santos/Fenix segment, a lot. It came off like an updated take on Girlfight or something. The prior romantic scenes between Fenix/Santos came off silly, this came off downright steamy, like the George Clooney/Jennifer Lopez scenes in Out of Sight, or the Timothee Chalamet/Armie Hammer scenes in Call Me By Your Name. I thought their body language was really strong, loved the interplay of submissions, loved the sparring and grappling as metaphor for relationship dynamics, that gentle hair flop onto Fenix's face, thought all of it worked tremendously well. Now, if you think of it out of a vacuum it gets weirder, as you realize that Melissa Santos is going to be in the ring wrestling for the first time ever and they only announced it at the beginning of the episode where that was happening, and then you start thinking "Wait these two are locking in these tight go behinds and she's letting her hair seductively flop all over Fenix's face and...she hasn't even seen his face? This all seemed pretty intimate. It feels like they've been hanging out. And this whole time, during meals, during dates, during post training showers...Fenix has not removed that mask? How terrible must that mask smell?? Santos has let herself grow dangerously, emotionally close to a man who may have a Monster energy tattoo on his forehead for all she knows. But that's what thinking gets you. Follow your heart. The segment was good.

TL: I can’t even begin to top what Eric just said so my only addition to this, whether it was good editing or camera cuts or what have you, is that Santos looked like she could go!!! I all of a sudden am into whatever that tag match is gonna be. This was one of the best examples of female empowerment the show has ever portrayed because this was natural as opposed to shoved down our throats like Sexy Star was. Santos came off as a big deal with this, which is what wrestling promos are supposed to do!

Dante Fox vs. Texano

ER: I liked this more than I expected, and it's true that Fox is typically more interesting when he's against more of a power base than another athletic flipper. Texano can get really lazy during routine moments, looking like a somnambulist going through simple sequences like a lazy clothesline/back elbow sequence, but he excels here at making Fox look strong. When a guy throws a lazy clothesline you wouldn't expect him to throw himself into a crucifix bomb, and Texano is good at working around fast Fox sequences, like all of the stuff on the apron that eventually lead to the run-up-ringpost moonsault. The match was a good Worldwide length of 5-6 minutes, and even though it got too move trade-y down the stretch I was pleasantly surprised overall. Famous B botches (in storyline) the ending and calls Texano the winner, so Dario sets up B vs. Texano for next week. B says his arm is still broke from Pentagon and Dario FINALLY gets a classic Dario line in (feels like it's been WAY too long) when he says "Well then it looks like it will be a...handicap match!" Pure gold. Dario hasn't felt fully "Dario" this season, and comes off really ineffective and less the all powerful manipulator. That line was needed.

TL: Striker makes a “Clerks” joke (“I’m not even supposed to be here today”) because of Dante and not only does it make me feel old but reminds me that Kevin Smith almost died mere days ago. I thought this was alright, but not a standout or anything. Fox doing a faceplant on an enzuigiri was amusing and then became even moreso when he just went back on offense after taking a bump that looked like it would have killed him. I’ve talked about how Texano has basically looked disinterested ever since when he first came to LU with Alberto Del Rio and was used to put him over not only in LU, but in AAA, so this really does feel like he’s collecting a paycheck at this point. Agree with the line usage, but in Dario’s defense, he was in jail, man. He’s seen some shit. Just not the same guy anymore.

Marty "The Moth" Martinez/Mariposa vs. Fenix/Melissa Santos

ER: Still really surprised that this match wasn't announced at all in advance. Do they advertise? Maybe they advertise and this was announced. It feels like a pretty big match within the LU universe. And it was really fun, although after all the wins and big moments they gave to Sexy Star it's ridiculous that they can't give Santos a good moment. Moth has been licking and rubbing on her for a couple seasons now, and while she's a non-wrestler that never stopped Sexy Star from wrestling. Give her a fucking pinfall, who are we protecting here? Anyway Fenix works a nice match against the two, including hitting an actual good looking Lethal Injection and hitting a wild twisting dive to the floor. Santos getting into the match was a great moment, with Moth running into a perfectly timed high kick from the apron and the gets Irish whipped into elbow smashing Mariposa. The tandem offense didn't look great but the moment was still good.

TL: This WAS announced in advance, but Eric, much like me when I’m trying to burn through reviews, most likely fast-forwarded past the 20-second mention of it from a couple weeks ago by Striker and Vampiro. So…what I’m trying to say is that Eric made the right decision in skipping past how this match got announced in the first place. Striker says Fenix has a “legendary mask” like he’s Atlantis or something. Mariposa is so sudden with her offense, it’s amazing to think she’s been doing this for two decades. One thing in addition to Melissa doing the job in this match: There’s now absolutely no doubt that Marty is gonna lose. Had Melissa gotten a pin on Mariposa, at least you could have seen a more level playing field. Melissa’s offensive moments were definitely cool, but the way this ended was a bit too much.

ER: We get a rundown of the epic card for the 4 episode (!) Ultima Lucha extravaganza, which should make for plenty of fun. Although how absolutely ridiculous does Ivelisse vs. Catrina look at this point?? The last Ivelisse match aired 6 months before this episode, and Catrina has never wrestled in the fed. Does anyone watching even remember why they made that match?

TL: It’s a huge card, but to be honest, I’m really only looking forward to the main event, the cage match, and the Fox/Killshot match. There’s gonna be a lot of filler for me to get into.

Paul London vs. Mala Suerte vs. Saltador vs. Cortez Castro vs. Drago vs. Son of Havoc vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: This was a pretty cracking spotfest, one of the best Drago performances in awhile, a continuation of Paul London as an extremely relevant wrestler after a few years in the woods, some great Saltdaor stuff, just a ton of fun. Drago was the centerpiece of this whole thing, either tying things together and finding things to occupy time. I loved him sprinting across the ring after London leading to London doing his bananas springboard tope en reversa to the floor. he easily could have just stood there doing nothing since London was going to do the spot anyway, this made things feel more immediate. Saltador got some nice moments and I especially loved him getting backdropped into London (who was slumped in the corner). We got a couple big dives, everybody moved in and out of it smoothly, a couple nice saves, just a fun spotfest. We do get a dumbo ending with Havoc and Pentagon getting simultaneous pinfalls, but Dario comes out to announce a ladder match between the two, which is fine.

TL: I like that this match was basically laid out like an atomicos or a cibenertico, as it never really let up and gave everyone some shine. If you’re gonna do a damn seven way, you might as well take advantage and sprint. And yeah, they sprint, big time. London looks great in this match, like a true Droog. I wish he would talk shit in Cockney gibberish slang between moves. But my guy in this match? Saltador. All his offense looked crisp as all hell. He had this great springboard legdrop that looked snug when it landed and he had a great dive. Also looked great taking down Pentagon to start. I don’t like the ending either, a true bait and switch bullshit ending, but we got to see Dario yell “LADDER MATCH!” in a way that made me smile. He must have known tapings were winding down, man. He went for it in this episode.

ER: I love all the backseat of a limo scenes with Dario, and they're only better with Godfrey. I don't know who they can get to be the cigar smoking boss, but considering the programming on El Rey can we PLEASE make it Fred Williamson? We all know everyone in power is a rich old white man, so LU needs to flip the script and present us a rich old black man as the one in charge. If it's Fred Williamson I will happily go back and watch every second of every single Sexy Star moment, and not complain.

TL: Fred Williamson is awesome, but considering he’s done voiceovers for WWE highlight packages before, I’d look at the budget and just not pull ANY punches: KEITH. DAVID. MAKE IT HAPPEN, CHAVO. I NEED Keith on this show, man. Also, I love how in the span of two mintues, Dario adds two more matches I’m actually fine with for Ultima Lucha in the three-way and the ladder match. He might be getting it back just in time for the biggest show of the year, baby.


COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 30: Bloodlines

1. Paul London/Mala Suerte/Saltador vs. Ricky Mandel/Taya/PJ Black

ER: This is just the goofy mess it should have been. Rabbit Tribe kept trying a bunch of silly double teams, with some of them working and some not (which, due to their gimmick, some of their stuff really shouldn't work all the time), but they're approaching it the right way. I usually dislike the "man wrestler turned on by woman wrestler" spots, but I was amused by London diving to get in the way of a potential Taya bronco buster. Maybe it just felt like he fully committed to the spot, really gleefully wanting it. So I suppose charm and committment is the key to making assault funny! I dug Jack Evans' sign ("If I was in the match we would have won by now") and Mala Suerte hits a kind of tornillo dive from the apron over the ringpost. This was fine.

TL: Wait, did Striker seriously say about Paul London, “He took the pill that made him bigger?” Like, he accused him of doing steroids or something? And then he immediately redeems himself by dropping WINK MARTINDALE’S name, which I know popped Eric like it did me. Just wait till I help turn SC into a “High Rollers” blog. We’re really close to becoming a Supermarket Sweep blog, anyways. On to the match, which is indeed a Rabbit Tribe trios match. The aforementioned Taya corner spot sure is something. Jack Evans as a character in a Looney Tunes episode with his signs is right up my alley. Enjoyable to say the least, as Rabbit Tribe has found a way to make the goofiness work. In the postmatch skit, really wish Evans had his whiteboard with him.

2. Jeremiah Crane vs. Mil Muertes

ER: YES! This was the match I was waiting for. After hearing all season from people who attended the tapings that "this season was the craziest yet" I have now spent 29 episodes being mostly disappointed. And it wasn't due to high expectations, the action just seems nowhere near as good as the first season. This match felt like the closest we've come to the best brawls of the series. I just love Mil in these crowd brawls. He's bigger than the guys we typically see moving through the crowds, so these shots from above feel more like helicopter shots of Godzilla wrecking everything in his path. The match starts at the top of the temple steps and there might not be anybody better than Crane at violently flying through rubble. He can bring violence, but he's best at inviting violence onto his own person. Muertes throws him through the bleachers, brutally through the chairs, in a fun moment he flapjacks Crane on the stairs' handrail and Crane slides all the way down to the floor bent at the waist. Muertes is a beast, and as he beat Crane with meaty fists I actually liked Stryker pointing out "this is why middleweights typically don't fight heavyweights". Crane goes for his bottom ropes tope and Muertes literally doesn't budge, Crane just bounces off of him. We get a bunch of chairs involved including hard shots to the side of the head and nasty spills into them. In an absolutely nuts spot Crane sets up a table on the floor and takes too long leering at Catrina, allowing Mil to come crashing to the floor with a spear. And the spear doesn't actually break the table! Crane goes flying and Muertes just bulls grossly into the table, later slamming Crane through the bent up table. Crane doesn't go down easy and I wouldn't expect him to and didn't want him to, and we get an appropriate amount of violence. This was everything I wanted out of it.

TL: So this match is supposed to be one of the highlights of this season from what I heard coming in, but that’s really all I heard. No specifics. This has also had a nice little build and is the first thing I saw when starting up these reviews with Eric. The fact it starts with Mil jumping Crane from behind during his entrance makes it stand out immediately. Then, they just absolutely beat the crap out of each other from that moment on, and as much as I’m hot and cold on Crane, when he decides to bump big and sell, he’s as good as anyone on the planet. This match basically requires it since Mil wants revenge for the cheap win earlier in the season, so Crane is from underneath and takes a great beating. The bottom rope tope suicida where Crane just bounces off Muertes is one of the best spots I’ve seen in quite a while. Muertes no-selling the spit chop gets a pop from me, and an even bigger pop when Crane readies the cannonball only for Muertes to freight train him. I mean, this is an absolute mauling by Muertes. Considering what we had seen Crane do in the tourney matches before this, it’s as if the bookers made this match to force him to sell. The best thing this match does is reinforce that Crane just keeps coming forward, but you just can’t do that against Mil, and when he goes down from the chair shots, it’s a big deal considering what Crane had absorbed all match. Then, as Eric mentioned with the table, Crane got a bit too happy he was finally on offense and took that nasty bump through the table off the spear. And then another powerbomb through the half-broken table. Crane’s comeback with the choke and then the cannonball through the table was well earned, but good lord almighty, THIS is the Crane I want. Mil Muertes is amazing. One of the best matches in LU history, and while the All Night Long match was definitely surprising in a way that made it better than it probably was, this match is right there with it, maybe even more so.

TL: FBI agent coming into Cueto’s office and it ISN’T Burt Macklin? No dice.

3. Texano vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: This was fine considering the dropped stock of both guys (for my personal viewing), and I'm happy Pentagon advanced as I actually could have seen something ridiculous like Texano advancing to the finals. The Famous B stuff feels far too distracting considering they have seemingly been involving Pentagon in "serious" angles. So having him out in a serious fight with Brenda screaming at ringside for most of the match feels off. But I liked the horseshoe finish and Pentagon made the punch count. The arm breaking stuff is pretty stupid at this point, and having Pentagon break Brenda's arm to a huge babyface reaction makes a lot of the "under-advantaged women fighting for themselves" stuff they've done seem pretty pointless (if it hadn't already felt that way). Sexy Star has taken up too much time on TV being "a superhero to abused girls everywhere", and a bunch of dudes still jumping up and down while Brenda screams in pain seems like we went through countless bad segments for nothing. But I guess it's kewl because Pentagon has zero fear? I'm glad he was able to finally stand up to Brenda.

TL: I guess they had to figure out a way for Texano to basically go 50/50 with Dark considering how he was booked in the tourney, but this match didn’t really do much of anything for me considering they had to get Famous B and Brenda involved. Have no idea why Pentagon of all people needs to be winning a match with a foreign object, but that’s what this match ended with. (I agree that it was a good shot, though.) Just one of those matches that advanced nothing. Postmatch was disturbing and rendered Sexy Star pointless, so at least that happened.

TL: Eric absolutely no-selling the amulet stuff with Katrina that’s obviously a rip-off of Legends of the Hidden Temple is beyond me. Considering he’s the only person I know who loved that show more than me, I would have at least expected a Purple Parrots reference or something.


ER: We are now slowly transitioning into a Legends of the Hidden Temple/Supermarket Sweep blog. Gotta do a crowd opinion poll and see how many people would be down for show reports. We can count how many awkward high fives occur between the pre-teen members of the opposite sex, chart the disappointment on partners faces when they get stuck with a dummy partner on the Steps of Knowledge, report on Kirk Fogg's improv abilities as he stretches for time while interviewing contestants about their crystal horse collection....this feels like a dangerous suggestion.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 28: Booyaka! Booyaka!

TL: Sooooooo, the house band has a wrestling song that chants “THIS IS AWESOME!” throughout it and, well, I’m really at a loss for words.

1. The Mack vs. Texano

ER: My god the Texano experiment will never end. I think he might be my least favorite non-Sexy Star featured player in LU. He has so many featured matches! And he's really bad now! Also, according to Vampiro, he's gotta be at least 290. Which means I guess Willie Mack is around 375? Vampiro is using his magic scale again, probably the one given to him personally by Misawa after another one of their successful tours together. I really liked Mack here, but hated their mirror sequence stuff just because Texano is so slow. Texano hits a feather light crossbody that looked like he was trying to avoid making contact with Mack. I'm sure somebody has been actually keeping track of this, but it feels like Texano has had as many matches in LU as anyone. That's crazy.

TL: Hey! A standoff at the beginning the of the match! Never seen that before. That needs to be absolutely shelved, along with tower of doom spots and Malenko/Guerrero rollup spots. I would add fighting spirit spots, but that would put probably 90% of pro wrestlers out of work today. Vampiro having trouble saying “Quebradora” is something else, too. My favorite thing five minutes into this match is, without a doubt, The Mack’s swinging body slam. Texano advancing after what the Mack did with Mundo is really a puzzling decision considering how over he got, but hey, what do I know? Texano has obviously not been that motivated since the Alberto El Patron stuff now that he’s being lost in the shuffle in AAA, so him dogging it on LU is not a surprise. Really a blah match.

TL: Good lord, we have a Havoc/Madness standoff that’s not nearly as good as any Sons of Anarchy standoff, and that was the trashiest of Golden Age TV shows outside of maybe Season 2? Ireland is Season 3 right? Yeah. Season 2.

I also just watched a bunch of crazy Paul London PWG promos that came up on my YouTube recommended (HYBRID DOLPHINS, BABY!), so him opening up a giant box only to find a rabbit’s foot is pretty good, as is playing checkers on Saltador.

2. Drago vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: Plenty of fun, even though I really can't begin to fathom a millennia old lizard man trading flippy reversals with a purveyor of the dark arts. Shouldn't they be doing more world bending things than steadying each other on the ropes so one of them can do a kewl move? But, at least the moves were cool. Drago flies nuttily to the floor, and Pentagon brings his vicious side back with a nasty dropkick in the ropes, his far more plausible take on the one winged angel (dropping the electric chair start point makes it so much better), and planting him with a package piledriver for the win. Pentagon also dumped himself on his head at one point while Drago sort of did a blockbuster. Drago has been diminishing returns for awhile now, but Pentagon can still be interesting with the right guy. And I liked the post match feelings, with Pentagon attempting to break Drago's arm, Aerostar saving his friend, Drago laying him out and Aerostar getting his arm broke. Relationships are complicated. Sometimes it's difficult to tell why a friend or loved one is upset with you, or why they seemingly joined a lizard gang against their will. Closure is important for all parties.

TL: ANOTHER STANDOFF! You have to be kidding me. Who’s laying this show out? I do like Pentagon being more of a jerk to Drago here, making Drago do too much and making mistakes because of it. This is fine, but Pentagon was definitely breezing through this one. I didn’t feel too much with this match, mainly because there wasn’t much of a story being told outside of Drago not really being in Pentagon’s league. Poor Aerostar. You’d think him being able to travel through time and space would have made him see that one coming.

3. PJ Black vs. Rey Mysterio

ER: I thought this was really great, Mysterio's best showing since the loser leaves lucha match, and maybe PJ's best showing ever. Black worked as a kind of 80% AJ Styles and Mysterio is somehow ageless despite having no knees a decade ago. Rey has no problem flying to the floor early, and I thought Black's timing was really good throughout, loved the superkick to counter the 619, and I love that torture rack type drop he gave Rey. They manage to make some typically dance-y spots look real smooth, including one of the only examples I can think of rolling through a top rope rana actually making sense. I've seen that used many times, and it's always terrible, always a guy taking a full back bump and then just rolling through the move anyway. It always looks stupid. And then, these two go and Black smoothly rolls through it, timing it perfectly and not absorbing any impact of the rana, actually doing the reversal properly where everybody else has failed. The ref bump even worked from a logic standpoint, as Black went for a powerbomb and Rey quickly reversed it into a wild tornado DDT, clonking the ref during the tornado portion. It worked because it was done so quickly that the reversal actually seemed like a surprise, so it makes sense that the ref wouldn't be expected to suddenly have legs being swung into the side of his head. The interference was over the top, but at least Mundo made it count and booted Rey right between the eyes to break up the pin. Eventually though, Black reveals that he's never watched a Rey Mysterio match before in his life, as he tries to give him a crucifix bomb. He does not successfully hit that crucifix bomb. I thought this whole thing was really good.

TL: You’ll never guess what this match starts off with. Unreal. I always love La Atlantida, and PJ doing the Atlantida drop was fine even if he couldn’t get it locked in the first time. Rey Mysterio, 30 or so years in, is still such a ridiculous bumper it makes me laugh. Eats a great Black superkick as Eric mentioned, as Rey is the best wrestlers ever at picking his spots in a match, and it always makes his opponents look good because of it, giving credence to their offense. I have nothing to add about the finish. Easily thought it was best match of the episode, and even Rey playing through his greatest hits works well, as it definitely did here. Like Rey more as a phoenix allegory than a Jesus allegory but they already have Fenix, so I’ll believe Rey as Jesus.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 19: Gods Among Men

ER: Dragon Azteca is fully invested in reality sports competition mindset, because HE'S NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS. But it's weird to do a "death match" without even advertising it ahead of time.

TL: Who’s on the other line with Dario on the red phone? Is it RobRod? Also, Metalachi playing literally the most played mariachi song of all time 100 episodes into this dang thing make me think they’re running out of songs. If they play “El Cucaracha” next week, they should just stop having house bands on the show.

1. Texano vs. Joey Ryan

ER: Boy, Texano sure is a guy who will come out and have a match on TV every couple of weeks. There were some nice things, Texano's elbow drop, Texano taking longer to flip over the ropes to the apron than 60 year old Flair, big slingshot senton, etc. But this was definitely a 2017 match featuring Texano and Joey Ryan. I did like the giant horseshoe punch finish. We're going to have big horseshoe finishers and power glove heart punches. I'm pretty okay with that.

TL: Joey goes right to the lollipop in the crotch and then does his best (more like worst) Toru Yano impression, and I keep wondering why Texano, who literally was one of the biggest stars in Mexico a couple years ago, is curtain jerking here. Texano with a big delay on the hilo, and then we get a very basic Joey Ryan control segment. Famous B makes his way down to ringside and he might be the best worker in the match now. He starts doing a dance that reminds me of the dance the cheerleaders did in BASEketball when the Beers traveled to San Antonio. Then Striker makes a “Blazing Saddles” reference and doesn’t even say the best line in the movie. Then a horseshoe gets involved. Sure. Best bump in the match was from Famous B when Texano shoved him to the mat post-match.

TL: Mundo says the words “upstart fight league” and I can’t stop giggling because it sounds like someone put in “phrase for opposite of ‘new sports entertainment company’” in a Google search and that’s what popped up first. I know they wanted WWE-type talent at the top for LU, but bringing along the way-too-long promo by Mundo only to have Mack come out and start stomping a mudhole, throwing out stunners, and beating up security guards is even too derivative for this company. One of the things that drew me in to LU in the first place was them doing angles just a little bit differently, and this was, well, not that.

2. Cage vs. Veneno

ER: Wow, what a let down. I hear Melissa Santos announce Veneno and I got really excited. I don't read any LU spoilers, and the actual Veneno is one of my very favorite indy lucha guys. I watched a 2017 Veneno match just a few days ago that was great! So Veneno gets announced...and we get Ricky Reyes under a mask. This is like when WCW had a jobber named Manny Fernandez. Not thee Manny Fernandez. You'd see a match list with Eddy Guerrero vs. Manny Fernandez and then it turned out to be just some tubby white guy. But this match was a fine competitive squash. Reyes snapped off a decent rana and some nice kicks, Cage obliterated him with shoulderblocks and the absurd screwdriver. Sexy Star runs in after to hopefully start a feud with Reyes. If they have to have her on TV (which, does anyone actually know WHY they have to have her on TV? Because it can't actually be their choice, right? They are being forced to, by someone, for some reason?), I'd be happy if she was feuding with someone I don't care about, away from the main events.

TL: Cage has the Power Glove and the only thing I want now is to see is him use it to play Excitebike. Ricky Reyes was definitely the least of the Havana Pitbulls to me, and while he does a few neat things in the match, Cage gets in the usual and finishes with a screwdriver that hits flush. It’s fall in my world, which means squash is welcome. Needed more glove work, though. Sexy Star run-in to boot down Veneno does nothing for me, as it shouldn’t.

TL: Catrina and Puma have talks about visions and I envision this not going anywhere constructive. Glad to see the absurd martial arts back on my television, though.

3. Death Match: Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Matanza

ER: This was a blast, even though it went much shorter than I expected it to. I don't fully understand the reason to make it a "death match", and it wasn't really different than any other match where guys brawled around the Temple, but it was good. The Temple has plenty of areas that are ripe for creative crowd brawling, and they did some cool things with it. Azteca hit a mammoth flip dive that easily could have seen him smack a step, and Matanza lugged him up the Temple steps like he was carrying a dead body! Great visual. The brawling at the top was fun, with Matanza eating a rana that threw him into the railing, Azteca getting tossed onto a support beam and dropping down with a flip dive, and then Azteca getting backdropped through the bleachers in an abrupt but violent finish. Rey comes out wearing tight jeans, which is weird as my eyes have gotten so used to him with baggy kneebrace-covering pants the last 15 years, and we get more nice brawling. Matanza takes a huge backdrop through some storage building and Dario's flip out was great. "Everybody out of the Temple!" I kind of wanted 10 minutes of him ushering people out, like parents coming home early and unannounced to their kid's out of control party. Just Dario muttering to himself and checking every corner of the Temple for stragglers.

TL: Azteca has grown on me and my love for Matanza knows no bounds whatsoever so to say I was pumped for this one coming in is an understatement. That whipping back suplex Matanza has is such a sick move. The body control for all his stuff is absurd. That flip dive Eric mentioned was absolutely insane, like 1995 Sabu-level crazy. Then after the dead body carry, Azteca does the Spiderman flip dive near the balcony and this might as well be taking place at your favorite ECW venue. Then the chokeslam to finish through the bleachers by Matanza. If 2017 is indeed the Year of the Sprint, this is one of the best street fights you’ll see this year. The post-match stuff with Rey was great, as Rey, even three decades into his career, is still going to take the most ludicrous bumps ever to get something over. That powerbomb into the balcony was ridiculous. Then Rey backdrops Matanza through the roof of the storage shed in a transfer of ludicrous bumping powers and Dario CLOSES THE TEMPLE DOWN. I wanted some fans looking at their phones trying to get an Uber or a Lyft only for Dario to take the phone and chuck it to the floor defiantly. “Dario, I paid for this show AND the next, though! Here’s my ticket!” And then Dario takes it from the guy and rips it up in front of him. That’s how you get payback. More Rey and Matanza is fine by me.


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 17: The Gauntlet

ER: So Vampiro has a split personality, but when does he find the time to apply all that grease paint and Spirit Superstore fake blood? What does he do with his XXL plaid shirts and bomber jackets when he is dark Vampiro?

MD: I'm more confused why the house band only knows La Bamba.

1. Jeremiah Crane vs. Mil Muertes

ER: Man, we see guys eat pump kicks with gunshot sound FX every damn week, and now one of those is enough to put down Muertes, just because he got hit with a flexible stick first? That's stupid as hell. I wanted this match, a match I was genuinely excited for once Callihan debuted with LU. At least somebody somewhere probably made a gif of Crane eating that shoulderblock in a loony way (Matt!! Make a gif out of Crane eating that shoulderblock!).

MD: Yep. This has been the match I've been looking forward to for weeks. Obviously, they'll go back to it at some point, but this was just a tease. As will become utterly evident in the next match, Muertes (and Matanza and to a lesser extent Pentagon) singles matches are a different beast than almost everything the promotion offers and there was a real chance here. Just not the time and the place. As always, however, I do like just how much is going on storyline wise. This match had a point in existing. The Catrina/Ivelisse/Crane stuff will continue (and loop back into Muertes at some point), but the direction now is Puma vs Mil.

And here's Eric's gif.

https://j.gifs.com/58YQZv.gif

ER: I don't know who Johnny Mundo's Stan is, but I like that Sexy Star clearly doesn't trust this guy...yet then gets excited because that same guy gives her a hat box with her name spelled out in serial killer magazine letters. "Oooooooooo someone left a present for meeeeeeee?" This is why you got kidnapped and molested for 6 months, Sexy Star. I'm now thinking Moth was just casually hanging out in his van and forgot he had left the sliding door open and Sexy Star just wandered inside, and he took it as a sign.

MD: I was just thinking how glad I was that they were moving off of Sexy Star and then we get this. Past the debut of the Holy Armlet of +2 Enhanced Aggression at the end, Stan's probably the best part of this episode. Just saying.

2. Jack Evans/PJ Black vs. Angelico/Son of Havoc

ER: Real shame, as this whole thing clearly fell apart right when Angelico torched his elbow on a nasty landing. Everything up to that point was really fun, the minute after the elbow injury was unfortunate and showed everybody nervously scrambling. The first 90 seconds of Evans/Angelico stuff felt like that first time you saw Low Ki/Red, just crazy Jackie Chan stunt fighting. I'm really liked Evans working as a Memphis stooge with actual break dancing ability. I have to imagine they had a lot of neat things planned in this that went right out the window with the injury. Although I'm kind of shocked how poorly everyone handled the injury, a lot of standing around awkwardly, then Evans slowly rolling Havoc in and hitting a slam, and then a sloppy phoenix splash. They couldn't have improvised anything better?

MD: This is a night of disappointment. When I saw that this was 2x2 my initial thought was that we'd get something with some real heat and the crowd would have something to react to. I knew it wouldn't be a full Southern tag, but it made sense that Havoc would get beaten on a bit and Angelico would get to have a hot tag. That's just how tag wrestling works. Was there an injury? Maybe, but I think what happened instead is this: they clipped it. We hear about this now and again, that a lot of the LU matches go longer than what we see, but rarely do I get a real sense of it. Here, I did. Striker went on about how they'd been beating on Havoc for a while, when he'd really just come in and then immediately went into his comeback with the neckjam back off the ropes. In a tag match, the heat is everything. That's not just southern tags either. It's lucha. It's 100% lucha, which is all about anticipation and payoff. You can't have any sort of payoff without building anticipation and that's the heat/beatdown. That's Lucha Underground in a nutshell; they'd cut out the absolute heart of a match in order to create a "good parts version" because they don't understand it's the heart. I don't know. Either I'm right or Eric's right, or we're both right which is probably a worst possible scenario.

ER: Oh dear, that Sexy Star acting. I wonder how many takes they have her go through, if they do some crazy Kubrick-esque 70 takes and just try to piece together the best parts of each one ransom note style, or if they just shoot one knowing it's not going to get any better. Her final clenched teeth ARRRRGHHHHH made me think of Sexy Star as Cathy, just looking at that sky high inbox and releasing a bad hair day ACK!

MD: I am increasingly getting a kick out of how people speak English to Sexy Star and she responds in Spanish. I cannot think of a situation in either real life or any other movie/TV show I've seen where that's happened as a commonplace thing that we're just supposed to accept as normal.

3. Cage vs. Texano

ER: I was pretty prepared to dislike this one as their other three matches have been mostly snoozefests, and after this match went less than three minutes I was ready to declare it the most pointless match series in wrestling history (even though I liked the finish of Cage being knocked loopy and busted open by the turnbuckle, just thought it came WAY too early). But then MF Dario comes out with one of his best promos, with several funny little riffs, and with Cage knocked loopy and bleeding we get match 5...RIGHT NOW. And then both guys finally break out against each other and since Dario made it anything goes, they do anything. I thought Texano looked awful in the "match 4" portion of this, constantly looking like he was thinking of the next move, major disconnect in his face and movements. And some of that is still present in "match 5" (like that weird spot where he takes a bump over the top, but just made it look like he ran at the ropes with the intention of bumping over them; nothing in his movements made it look like he was going to do a move to Cage, but Cage moved, just lazy set-up), but it mostly didn't matter as he took heavy knuckles right to Cage's cut and Cage started getting wild color. Cage totally owns this match, the guy is nuts. He hits a huge dive to the floor that Texano mostly whiffs on, landing Cage's face inches from the Temple steps. They brawl through the crowd and Cage takes a spinebuster on the bleachers (Texano had taken a suplex), and then an awesome backwards bump off the second level, and eats a heavy crossbody. Cage takes the awesome LU signature bump through the chairs, both guys stupidly eat chairshots, Cage lands his great discus lariat, and that screwdriver finisher is just nasty. We had to sit through 4 totally forgettable matches to get to the keeper, but hats off to them for having a keeper.

MD: I was thinking to myself (a common occurrence for this episode apparently) how rushed some things lately have been, like the debut of the Rabbit Tribe in a random match after weeks of promos, and likewise how drawn out this has been, three matches, plus a four man and interference in another. And lo and behold, they get the picture and take the thing home. Again, I hate being that guy but the blood sort of made this. It's so relatively rare in 2017 and even and especially in Lucha Underground, where there are so many situations where it might make sense that they don't actually go there. It's a basic truth of wrestling: less is more. If you hold something back, when you actually go to it, it means something. It made the fall of the fourth match completely believable. It made the relative peril that Cage was in for the start of the fifth match believable. When he fought back, it actually meant something, and all of that played into the escalation of the match, getting bigger and bigger right up until the Steiner Screwdriver which ended it. Boy were those chairshots stupid in 2017, though.

ER: LOVED the show ending meeting with Cage in Dario's office, with Cage getting presented with a black Power Glove (It's so bad!!!) and I just love the idea of Cage with a 2017 Lex Luger metal plate gimmick. I need to have him kill a couple of guys with heart punches and I will be officially over the moon. I also love how the case containing the glove was glowing whenever it was opened, as if it contained Marsellus Wallace's soul. Terrific segment.

MD: Wherever this is going, I hope there's lots of fake lightning.


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 10: Ready for War

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Grave Consequences: Mil Muertes vs. Prince Puma

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

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

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

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

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


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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 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.

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

1. Ivelisse vs. Mariposa

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

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

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

2. Cage vs. Texano

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

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

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

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

3. Prince Puma vs. Matanza

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

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

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

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


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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 17: Crime & Punishment

ER: Having Dario mug in the ring during the Aztec medallion intros was a somewhat out of character but funny bit. "Aerostar!! Welcome back to Earth!" Making fun of the interchangeability of the Disciples of Death, egging on Chavo and Cage may have been the best ("Fight it out guys, fight it out!!"). Again, Dario out there riffing and cracking jokes was a little off considering the punishment he and his brother went through last week in Graver Consequences, but the guy is funny and charismatic so it's fun to see him riff.

1. Argenis vs. Daga vs. Kobra Moon vs. Mascarita Sagrada

ER: This was perfectly acceptable, if flawed. Everybody did something I liked and something I disliked. Daga hit a nice shoulderblock and a really great rolling flip dive to the floor, but then took ages to set up a silly double submission on Argenis and Moon. Moon would throw a great dropkick but then do some clunky stalling (though these may be character directives that I just don't understand yet or aren't being communicated well), Sagrada took a fine beating, with him getting tossed and spun neck first into the bottom rope, and Argenis doing a Backlund lift into a driver on him looked sick. So yeah, some fun stuff, some problems. This was definitely a 4 way match between some low level guys.

2. Marty the Moth Martinez vs. Killshot

ER: Martinez deserves a lot of credit in this one for taking some of Killshot's stupid indy offense and making his other stuff look good. But damn there are so many guys in this fed I'd rather see get 8-10 minute singles matches than Killshot. The way he boings and sproings out of offense makes stuff that should look really devastating just look fun and painless. He takes a nasty release German at one point, and an exploder into the buckles, and then just kinda bops around like he's covered in Flubber. He takes a curbstomp and makes it look like Boogaloo Shrimp perfecting a new breakin' move. Moth takes a ridiculous DVD on the apron and some sort of neck duck driver from Killshot, leans into all of his thigh slaps, takes a great spill off the apron after a sidekick, really tries to make Killshot look good. But they seem ointent on the Killshot hardsell this season, so I'm sure we'll get more of these "feature" matches with his athletic brand of bumbling.

3. Gift of the Gods: Texano vs. Joey Ryan vs. The Mack vs. Sinestro de la Muerte vs. Aerostar vs. Sexy Star vs. Chavo Guerrero

ER: These Gift of the Gods matches haven't been very good so far. 7 guys is too many. In a trios match you have a few guys waiting on the apron because they're not tagged in. In this match you have guys lying around selling or waiting on the floor because...they just don't want to win, I guess? Mack looked good in this, Aerostar had some cool moments (I mean, throw Aerostar in a match and he's going to do a couple cool things). His falling meteorite is a crazy awesome flying move, and I liked when he was rope running at one point he found a way to kick an opponent on the floor with both feet, while not missing a beat running. That's impressive. This whole match existed to set up the Cage/Chavo angle, which feels like a weirdly roundabout way to just get to a cage/Chavo match that was set up out of nowhere anyway. Let's take several weeks to have qualifying matches for entry into this match, to set up a match between a guy who was and a guy who wasn't supposed to be in this match.

ER: The Pentagon/Vampiro sadomasochism stuff is getting weirder and weirder. I like where it will eventually wind up, with an even more violent Pentagon emerging to take on Dario and Matanza. But this went on a bit too long.

ER: Pretty nothing show this week.  If you had to skip one, this wouldn't be a bad pick.

PAS: WILL DO!!!
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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 12: Three's a Crowd

ER: Dario crushed it in that opening segment. "No, I like my plan better" and "Yeah yeah we know. You're a machine" were classically delivered. He really knows how to play off of wrestling acting.

PAS: Dario is really great, the material he is stuck with is really hit or miss, but I just love his delivery.

1. Argenis vs. Killshot

ER: Striker says it's been many months since we've seen Argenis, and then in the same breath talks about how we saw him in Aztec Warfare. You know, a few episodes ago. It feels like half the episodes this season have opened with a freaking Killshot match. Vampiro talks about how Killshot's movements have been more "military" since coming in with new gear. A) what the fuck is military movement in pro wrestling, and B) how can anything Killshot does be compared to any kind of military? Was it his kick that whiffed? Was it his double somersault ace crusher? Was it the Argenis superkick he sold by not realizing he had been kicked and continuing to climb the ropes? Striker and Vampiro are now ONLY talking about Killshot as a soldier, something not mentioned until last week. Every fucking thing he does now relates to an IED blast or PTSD. It's fucking awful.

PAS: I thought this was the best Killshot has looked,which is an incredibly low bar. His new gear is kind of cool, and I suppose him having some gimmick is better then no gimmick. Still Killshot is still Killshotting.


2. Daga vs. Texano

ER: Did somebody get hurt in this one? Was there a clip? Or do both men just have the magical ability to look good one moment and then like really bad pro wrestlers the next, usually with neither looking good at the same time. Early on Daga sells a move by awkwardly holding his groin, and then spends most of the match selling his left arm despite no work being done on the arm, and then would spent a couple moments not selling the arm...but then would go right back to selling the arm. He also had multiple moments of bumping moves before they came close to hitting him, like when he just waiting to be kicked off the ropes to the floor, but fell off before Texano got there. Or later when Texano threw some of the worst lariats I've ever seen, and they would have looked bad even if Daga hadn't already been bumping them before they made contact. I mean that segment where Daga takes a mistimed bump when Texano barely grazes him with a lariat, followed by Daga taking a flip bump from a lariat before it reaches him, was one of the very ugliest things I've seen on LU. I don't even know if I'd expect to see something that embarrassing in a Sexy Star match. For a guy I've liked before, Texano sure has gotten the very least out of a lot of guys so far. Daga is one of those guys who wrestles with an extreme disconnect. Sometimes his stuff looks good, but he always looks like he's thinking about how to execute the move, and what step comes next in his routine, instead of making it look like a natural exchange between two bodies.

PAS: I thoughts parts of this looked pretty good, they were definitely working pretty stiff although the LU sound sweetening was working over time. I agree that those clotheslines looked terrible, but I think this mostly achieved what they were shooting for. Nothing I would ever watch twice, didn't really make me want to see either guy again, but no need to slur them with the Sexy Star curse.

ER: Why the hell is Muertes still hanging out with the Disciples of Death? Shouldn't he have murdered them by now for making him look like such a poor supervisor? They love their comedy skits, so have Muertes in a shortsleeve button up and bad necktie, telling the DoD that their poor performance reflects poorly on him as their supervisor. "I created you from lightning, and trusted you to accomplish the clear goals I set out for you. But I don't want to spend my time micromanaging you, telling you how to do every step of your job. Productivity is DOWN, and we need to get better." And then he makes their heads explode like in fucking Scanners. There, I just took 20 seconds to write a better shitty "real life job" sketch than the police officer nonsense they're running.

3. Rey Mysterio, Dragon Azteca Jr. & Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo, Taya & Cage

ER: Fun match, although maybe I had expectations higher than I realized, as I was left hoping for more. I actually thought it was a match that succeeded far more at the little things, with then"big spots" leaving me a little flat. Little story and character moments like Rey getting yanked off the apron before the hot tag, or Cage rebelling against his forced tag partners by using Taya as a weapon and tagging in Mundo by slapping him, those kind of moments hit HUGE. But some of the big spots came off flat and overly planned. Dragon Azteca made a nice match debut, some of his spots looked really good (Mundo tossing him in the air only for him to grab a DDT on his way down looked awesome) but needs to tighten up his strikes. At one point he kicked Cage in the stomach to break something up and Cage hadn't realized he'd been kicked. They built to the Rey hot tag really well, and I oddly got really excited for a Rey/Taya singles. Taya has the charisma to pull off being a good Rey opponent, and I dug Rey's interactions with her in this. The go home stretch was good, the build to it was good as happened as it should have, I was just left a little...well I guess I wanted more. I'm difficult.

PAS: I liked this more then Eric did, I thought this was pretty pitch perfect for a spotfest trios match. Rey looked incredible, he looks like he has regained 75% of his speed and he was just bolting around the ring. It is incredible that Rey is as old as he is and he looks athletically on the level of kids like Azteca and Puma. Loved all of Cage's power spots, slamming two guys at once, catching Puma in mid air in suplex position, he sometimes overdoes it in singles but is a great multiman guy. Just exciting spot after exciting spot, with a little bit of story and a superstar team working great together.

ER: Feels like they're going to Matanza/Muertes far too soon. I guess they don't have anywhere else to build to, they're clearly the two big monsters and everyone wants to see them go up against each other. It just feels like these two won't meet JUST one time, so maybe I'm not as excited for this match, assuming it will be just something to set up another match? I dunno. But I liked the almost oddly touching moment between Dario and Matanza, with Dario telling him he's the most valuable thing in the world to him. It's a sentence that can be viewed as both exploitative, or strongly affectionate, which is why it was so good.


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Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 8: Life After Death

ER: Dammmmn Fenix and Catrina bring the sensuality, with tender arm caressing and neck touching and gentle tear wiping. I bought in. You can't fake upper arm caressing or waist touching. Shit's real.

1. Ivelisse, Angelico & Son of Havoc vs. Disciples of Death

ER: We get another major stipulation literally mentioned as an afterthought, as Melissa Santos does ring intros and as she's exiting the ring goes "Oh, the team of Ivelisse, Angelico and Son of Havoc have agreed to leave the temple forever if they lose." Oh. Okay! It immediately telegraphs the ending, although it would have been quite the hilarious boner if it hadn't. I mean, they hadn't wrestled on TV in a month, and I can't think of a more last minute way to announce a major stip like being gone FOREVER, so by doing that either you immediately reveal the result (which is what happened),  or you treat a major stip - again - like an afterthought. So stupidity aside, and it was stupid, the match was fun. Short and rather inconsequential, but fun. Disciples of Death are second only to Sexy Star in terms of Striker's commentary not ever matching up to anything we've ever seen. "This team is hate personified" "Don't be alarmed by their violence" This is a team who has beaten Pimpi teaming with a mini, lost to Puma/Pentagon without ever even having an advantage despite them being on the privileged side of a handicap, and then got handily beaten here. This is not a team anybody is scared of. Billy Zabka's skeleton gang looked far more menacing biking after Ralph Macchio. They aren't violent, they don't wrestle any bit out of the ordinary. They have never, ever looked threatening. Nothing at all about them is "the embodiment of pure evil". One of them did a really nasty stretch muffler on Ivelisse. That, I liked. Your tecnicos all looked good with Ivelisse standing out, as she has better facials than the other members of her team it's easier for her to make stuff more meaningful.

PAS: This was fine, the Ivelisse, Angelico, Havoc team have turned into a consistently entertaining act. Ivelisse is by far the best in ring female act in the fed and has been able to make the otherwise terrible mixed matches tolerable. The Disciples of Death are such goobers, a total zero. I like the idea of Muretes having a group of evil henchmen, but if you put jobbers like Ricky Mandel and Argenis under spooky masks you just have masked jobbers, and every time they wrestled they felt like that. I hope this is the end of this concept.

2. Bullrope Match: Chavo Guerrero vs. Texano

ER: This was a weird culmination of a pretty bad, very rushed feud. A few weeks ago Texano dominated a 3 on 1 handicap match and lost due to cheating. That kind of thing tends to lead to a cage match or something, but he's a whipmaster so for whatever reason it leads to a bullrope match. I guess that's his special match? They do a decent job, but this whole feud was dead out of the gates anyway, and a bullrope match doesn't tend to be a good visually violent match. I'm sure getting smacked with a thick rope hurts like hell, but it's a violence that hurts more the next day than to the TV audience watching at home. Still, this had moments. Chavo was effective getting yanked around by the rope, off the top, splitting his uprights; Texano took a nice spill through the ringside chairs, and spills through ringside chairs have officially become their version of a NOAH rail ride or a WWE ring steps bump. I like it. The chairs bump is the best of the three as you get tons of motion, like getting tossed into a swimming pool but you get rows of chairs rocking and sprawling. So yeah, okay enough match for what it was, and hopefully the feud is over. Texano has really been quite the muffled fart in LU so far.

PAS: I like Chavo, and I think he has had some nice character moments in this fed but he hasn't really delivered a great match, this was the closest to a good match, as there was some nice violence, but this could have used some blood or a bit more ferocity. I would have no problem if we never see Texano again.

ER: Muertes finally dispatches the Disciples of Death (at least two of them), flipping out and chucking them all around the locker room. I mean that's what happens when you summon a trio of jobbers from the netherrealm. You don't have Hogan recruit Joey Maggs and Frankie Lancaster to do his bidding.

3. Fenix vs. Mil Muertes

ER: Great great big match feel from the guy who has been probably the best big match worker of the last year plus. These guys both know how to read the room and that's important in a big match epic. It's not that far removed from just doing heatless spots in a questionable order. But this whole thing built and Fenix was really able to bring the fight to Muertes the Insatiable. Muertes would stomp him down and pound him through the mat but Fenix was so great in the struggle, so great at fighting back and surviving. Once masks started getting ripped you knew this shit was heating up. That's a thing we've seen a lot in actual lucha, but I don't believe that's a road they've traveled down in LU, as right when Mil started ripping into Fenix's mask it had an Oh Shit feel to it...and once Fenix started ripping Mil's mask it had an OHHH SHIIIIIIT feel to it. Once Muertes spears the shit out of Fenix off the apron things really start to feel real, and as they brawl through the crowd and the bloodied up Fenix is rubbing through people, Muertes just ups the ante by awesomely shoving Fenix into the crowd as he's running towards him on the rail. That was not what I was expecting. Just a bullying, tossed off shove right into the crowd. The fans help Fenix back, and the lunatic runs right back onto that rail, launching himself at the farthest point right into Muertes on the floor. Muertes gets pissed and back in we get nastiness like a DDT off the top rope and a vicious urunage. You haven't seen a urunage this awesome since grumpy old man Hiroshi Hase wrestled a trainee. But Fenix keeps fighting, and just when he's down that's when he sneaks in a superkick, or a rabbit punch, tricking Mil into punching a chair, just annoying Muertes with his mere survival. I was not actually seeing his victory coming. I was looking forward to a long Muertes reign, just a dominant monster on top of his throne. Fenix getting the win was a big surprise and a nice moment, but now I'm wondering what the angry godlord is going to do to get his title back. There's something special about not just an epic, but a main event epic, and this totally delivered.

PAS: This was a killer match, that is three great matches this pair of guys had in 2015. I am pretty sure Fenix got his mask ripped in Grave Consequences too, but Fenix tearing Muertes's mask and blooding him up was a great moment. Fenix is awesome at throwing in crazy highspots in ways that fit in perfectly,  there are a lot of guys in LU who do cool shit, no one makes it matter as much as him. Muertes is so great, he is maybe the best guy at working at vulnerable monster since Vader (Brock is great, but I think I would take Muertes over him.) Great overcoming the odds victory, which makes the goofy post match a little worse, they should have let the victory soak in a bit.

ER: They announce that Aztec Warfare is now for Fenix's just won title, and Fenix is now the #1 entrant, and Mil is now the #20 entrant. That kind of stuff is starting to feel way too overdone and "The Authority" when I'd rather just see Mil murder somebody. We'll see how that works, but this show was mostly a win, and you can argue with that main event it was a major win. And this show needed a win after the last few weeks.

PAS: I totally agree, that kind of stuff is very bush league heel authority figure stuff. This fed is at its best when it does its own thing, and there is no need to book like a tossed off RAW episode. This is the same instinct that brings in guys like PJ Black, and it isn't a good one.


***Muertes/Fenix is an easy add to our 2015 Ongoing MOTY List, because apparently every time these dudes match up it manages to be completely great***


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