AEW Five Fingers of Death 1/22- 1/28

AEW Collision 1/27/24

Eddie Kingston vs Willie Mack

MD: Collision was excellent. It was a balm. It was almost everything I want AEW to be and almost nothing I don't. I especially loved the linked Kingston and Danielson matches of course. Writing about Eddie is like virtually nothing else. Even for me, someone who is so doggedly and annoyingly analytical that I'll write paragraphs complaining about how Adam Page tries too hard to make his matches exciting too soon, can just relax and let go and write about the text as if it's real. Eddie will never see this, but I think back over the last few years about any other wrestling where I can just let go and lean into the mythos of the text itself as opposed to tearing at the structure and the execution and everything else, and there's not much. Jumbo vs Tenryu is comes to mind, with Tenryu trying to force Jumbo to come to grips with his own assumed hypocrisy and with Jumbo, unable to admit that he had been infected by the virus of violence that Choshu had brought a few years earlier, demanding the crowd cheer for his brutality like he was some sort of Roman emperor. That stuff is so primal and larger and life that you can just let go and write about the text for the sake of the text. 

You can do that with almost everything Eddie does. Where I struggle the hardest, actually, is when he's paired with a Japanese wrestler, because Eddie subsumes himself a bit too much in those waters. He's best when he's straddling worlds, undeniable in any but unwelcome in all. 

This was a Proving Ground match. A deserved opportunity. Ten minutes with the champ and you get a title shot. You're not just getting a title shot for the ROH title anymore either but for the Continental Crown. Mack did his homework. He wasn't about to let Kingston control the center and dictate the pace. He's size and power and speed and rushes in with a kick followed by one offensive shot after the next. So long as he can keep things moving, he has Kingston backpeddling. The second things slow down, Eddie pries his way back onto offense. Mack working from underneath doesn't lose his attributes (strength, size, speed) though and he's able to get back in it. He just learned a hard lesson that if you give Kingston a second, it's a second too much, though, and he tries to turn on the afterburners. In doing so, he takes out his own leg. From there, it's a matter of time. He puts up a valiant effort, but all it takes is to give Eddie half a breath, to let him recover just long enough to get his knees up, and the Uraken gets unleashed and for all the proof that Mack mustered, he simply didn't gain enough ground. 

Bryan Danielson vs Yuji Nagata

MD: People have rightfully gone high and hard for the finish here, with Nagata kicking at the damaged arm and Danielson kicking at the damaged leg, Nagata blocking/jamming Danielson, and Danielson having to readjust and throw a couple of fakes before going for the skull twice to set up the knee and get the win. It was a great sequence, one that felt adaptive and organic. It was counter-based and collaborative but not in a way that forced either wrestler to do anything that they normally wouldn't or that somehow broke any laws of wrestling physics. It didn't break the suspension of disbelief; it actually enhanced it. I often find that Nick Bockwinkel matches are full of things like that, of moments that subtly subvert expectations in exceptionally logical ways. You watch and it comes off as so simple and elementary and common sense that you wonder why it's just so uncommon in wrestling. Why aren't more people able to strive for such low lifts that create high emotional impact. Likewise, I watched that sequence and was left wondering why two thirds of the roster push for bigger and bolder and flashier and more devastating when they're leaving little bursts of brilliance on the table. 

The match itself was so phenomenally sound. It felt like a match that could have existed twenty years ago, and one that almost felt like a sampler, like something that touched upon so many individual elemental elements of wrestling, matwork, striking, limbwork, fighting spirit, brashness and bravery, stubbornness and prowess. If there was the occasional space in the execution of crossfaces, there wasn't any space to be found in the wrestlers' intent. They wore their hearts on their sleeves, Nagata the old man who had accomplished so much but that found something new to accomplish through the limitations of aging and Danielson who sees a finish line only partially of his making ahead of him and for all of his discipline, finds himself a glutton for sensation and opportunity and for every possible chance still remaining for him. And riding such emotions, the fans stayed with them the whole way. 

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death 1/8 - 1/14

MD: Brief programming note. Puerto Rico should be back this week. We ended up getting our hands on a bunch of footage not on Youtube so we've been trying to make sense of it all. It will help the project overall. Way too much wrestling going on right now. I'm not going to hit everything from the last week, but I am grabbing one match from Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision each. Only one will annoy you and I apologize in advance.

AEW Rampage 1/12/24

Eddie Kingston vs. Wheeler Yuta

MD: When I call Yuta a "rat boy", I do so with the most possible affection. I hope that's apparent. It's not that he's a direct heir to Yoshinari Ogawa, because he's not, but I just see the parallels. Honestly, here, he was more of a buzzing fly, just one with the technical precision of the ROH Pure Champion.

Yuta had both nothing and everything to prove. He's already the Pure Champion (with this being one of only maybe 5 times where the Pure Champion was in a situation to win the ROH World Championship as well). He recently defeated Shibata. He's been on a run on Rampage. On the other hand, Eddie is higher in the hierarchy and he just mowed through the rest of the BCC.

Eddie came in like the ace he is, forward looking, ready to lock up in the center of the ring. Yuta dodged him, too a powder, only engaged on his terms. The idea wasn't to break Eddie, I think, not like Claudio and Danielson and Moxley tried to do. The idea was to frustrate him, to annoy him, to draw him out. Yuta wanted to isolate his hand, and then, once started to work on it, he wanted to frustrate Eddie so much that he would want to use it on Yuta's face and chest again and again and again, creating a self-defeating but entirely human and understandable wedge that would allow Yuta to stay into the match.

It worked too. Yuta made himself as annoying and punchable as possible even as he chipped away at Eddie's hand. It let him stay in the match when Eddie should have been able to get some distance on him. It let him come so close with a top rope DDT following Eddie deciding that he had absolutely no choice in life and that he had to chop Yuta instead of doing something else. That brought Yuta close, but it wasn't enough to put Eddie away and without that, the good gameplan could only be so good.

All it took, after all, was Eddie catching him once. And he did, trapping the arms and throwing him over, ducking under and hefting him. The size differential was what it was. Yuta would deviate to try to throw a bomb or two to get Eddie in a position to put him away. All he had to do was chip away enough to lock in the seatbelt, but being brash and young and human himself, Yuta lost the plot down the stretch. That's the thing about Eddie: he's pretty punchable too when he's surviving all that you have to throw at him. Eventually, the goading shots of Yuta turned into things full of actual rancor. That meant he was playing Eddie's game, and when you play the continental champ's game, you ultimately lose.

AEW Collision 1/13/24

Dustin Rhodes vs. Willie Mack

MD: Every time they heat Dustin up for one last big match, it's a gift. That they keep on doing it is a testament to just how good Dustin is. That they're doing it this time around so he can face Christian Cage on Dynamite, well, that's a gift for me personally. Thank you for the gift.

This didn't go long, but I thought every exchange was more or less what it should have been. Dustin could hold his own against Mack's strength and speed and size early but it took little flourishes like putting a hand up to ask for a second or using the handshake to create openings. Mack, however, brought so much to the table, that he was able to not just get back in it but do a little dance before controlling in the corner or the Goldust taunt before hitting a standing moonsault.

He went for too much, too soon, however, and Dustin got back into it not by overpowering Mack, but by taking advantage of a mistake, which is what you'd want between these two. The problem with the Destroyer, as much as anything else, is not that it's inherently flippy or anything like that. It's that it usually makes the wrestler taking it do something that breaks the suspension of disbelief; either they have to move in a way that they normally wouldn't in any other match or they have to stay in a position for too long. Here, it made sense that Mack might be winded in that specific way after the missed moonsault, so I didn't mind it. It set up the finishing stretch of Dustin hitting some visually impressive power stuff (set up by believable experienced, finesse counters). To say I'm looking forward to Dustin vs Christian is an understatement. I hope it gets enough time on a show with at least two other title matches even if it's probably just a stop on the road to whatever Christian will be up to next. 

AEW Dynamite 1/10/24

Hangman Adam Page vs. Claudio Castagnoli

MD: Of my many pro wrestling islands, the one that feels loneliest is my dislike of many if not most Hangman Adam Page matches. Coming into his return in October 2021, I'd never even seen an Adam Page match. I had no preconceived notions. He won the title shortly thereafter and early in the reign he was up against Danielson and Archer those left me feeling fairly positive. The more I saw though, the more I started to pick up on patterns. You see something off in one match and that could be anything. You see something in two, and you still can't be sure. There are agents. There are multiple wrestlers with inputs on every match. There are weird nights and TV constraints and all sorts of other things. But you keep seeing it again and again and it becomes pretty clear.

A few things were apparent. He was almost entirely lacking low and mid-level offense. Everything he did was a bomb. No bodyslams or standing vertical suplxes or backbreakers or side slams or even things you'd expect from his character like corner clotheslines. Because everything he did was a bomb, that meant he would be throwing bombs too early in matches and there'd be nowhere to go, nowhere to escalate to. I'm almost certain this helped him get over because it made him look better than his peers that were playing by more conventional pro wrestling rules. It's the same reason why Suplex City Brock feels like such a towering presence. He's doing stuff no one else generally does at times that almost no one does them. It's also a reason why so many of the matches are unsatisfying on a rewatch and it screws up the balance of cards and shows as a whole.

This was made all the worse in scenarios where Page was driving things and has a size or hierarchical advantage. That's when he starts throwing around death valley drivers and springboard clotheslines and the fallaway slam and his moonsault in the first few minutes. It's less noticeable and less of an issue when he's fighting from underneath against a bigger threat. While probably not ideal relative to punching up and fighting back, he can use those individual bombs as hope spots against a monster. Even better is when one is used for the actual comeback spot. However, he's not often put into that situation because of his place in the hierarchy and the overall presentation of his character. And he's been rewarded time and again by the crowd for narratively dubious pro wrestling for multiple reasons. On one level, he's probably giving a lot of them what they want, excitement and sensation and dominance. Cowboy shit. The coolest match possible. The incentives have never been there for him to adapt as opposed to just going with what got him over, even when he became champion and had different responsibilities. It's just not what I want out of pro wrestling and I don't think it's sustainable. Giving the crowd what it wants isn't the same as giving the crowd what it needs.

Despite all of this, I do like the guy behind the guy in general and I see the value to him. I like the idea of him. I like his out of character interviews. I think the whole notion of being an anxious millennial cowboy is interesting. It plays with the concept of modern masculinity in a productive way. It gives the AEW crowd someone to relate to, someone to cheer for. There's that notion that every day is a struggle which fits quite well with serialized storytelling after all. There are certain physical things that Page does that are executed well. Plenty of good stuff, plenty of tools. He can be a very strong half of a whole. He's been in a number of matches against guys who can either rein him in or that are built and presented in a way that naturally force him into better structures than what we see if he's left to his own devices. He'd be an amazing Stan Hansen opponent (which makes him a pretty darn good Jon Moxley opponent). That's the thing. If he had less going for him, he wouldn't be nearly so frustrating to watch when it's his turn to drive and he sails the car over a cliff.

And I try to watch, try to keep an open mind, but when I look at the patterns, I tend to dread his matches. Another guy who isn't dissimilar is Takeshita (slightly better post-heel turn but he's all bombs with no discernible sense of when best to place them and when not to throw them); their match together was one of my least favorite AEW matches I've ever seen. It was something that most people who watched it were over the moon on. And that's ok, but I felt like I was talking a totally different language from them, that there was no middle ground or understanding to be found (or at least it wasn't a two way street; it's not hard to understand why they liked it and it's maybe harder for me to express why I loathed it).

If you want a real simple shorthand for how much I'm going to like or dislike a Hangman match, one good rule of thumb is to look for where he positions the death valley driver. If it's within the first third of the match, I'm probably going to absolutely hate the match. If it comes later, the thing at least has a fighting chance.

Here, against Claudio, the move fit pretty well into the closest thing we have to an AEW TV house style (where you have a fairly complete initial heat and comeback with signature babyface spots heading towards an apparent finish before the heel turns it back around and they go into commercial break and a second round of heat). It was his big comeback spot after Claudio took the first third of the match. It was explosive and credible as a way to help Hangman get a flurry of offense. He'd hit the fallaway slam and a dive before Claudio was able to catch him with the amazing press slam to the ramp. Afterwards, Claudio brought things back down for the break and Hangman had to pull out bigger and bigger comeback spots against Claudio's unrelenting strength. This was one where not everything was placed exactly where I would have wanted it, but where the overall effect worked because the heel was big enough and larger than life enough to make up for the holes that are often found in Hangman's narrative toolset. If you're looking at the shorthand, take a look where the death valley driver showed up in the JD Drake match as well. I liked that one too.

Read more!

Wrestlemania Weekend Cherry Picking: CRASH

Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack

ER: This was fine, felt like a Lucha Underground dark match, a quick 10 minute pleaser that these three could probably have in their sleep. I think heel Callihan carrying a bat around with him is pretty effective, as when he tries to hit Mack in the face with it you buy it, because we've all see him hit someone in the face full force with a baseball bat. You want to get over a prop, you use it on a sap. "Don't worry honey, these guys don't want to hurt anybody, they just want to leave the bank with all of the money. Oh my god they shot a guard." Cage is fun throughout, I especially like a couple ways he no sells Callihan, like eating a chop and not blinking (while holding Mack in a Samoan drop) and earlier just running through a lariat. I don't think I've ever seen someone attempt a lariat only to have the other guy just sprint through it. Cage throws really heavy corner clotheslines, and I liked a spot where Mack was still in the corner, Cage went to clothesline Callihan who ducked, and Cage still clotheslined Mack. Still this felt rushed and everyone was coasting. They have more tricks in their bag than the average guy, so they can work an amusing coasting match, and it will still have things like Callihan throwing a stiff forearm shiver to Cage, hitting a nice sitout powerbomb, and a big vertical suplex spot, but coasting is coasting.

Rey Fenix vs. Flamita

ER: This goes just 5 minutes, which was likely annoying to those in attendance, but played as a fun WorldWide sprint to me. Fenix is really good for something like this, as his spots are always nice (big flip dive to start and followed up with this killer late rotation swanton in the ring) and Flamita hits a big moonsault to the floor. Flamita always finds Fenix works tight with kicks, and throws in neat little things that add to a sprint-y spotfest, like a great spit take while getting folded up by a Flamita superkick, or reaching out to grab Flamita's boot to try and stop Flamita from going up top. Those kind of things are great as typically you just get guys lying there waiting to get hit. Flamita works tighter strikes than a lot of flippers (I loved him kicking Fenix in the face when Fenix grabbed his boot), hits a mean 450, all fun stuff. This would be legendary if it happened on WCW Saturday Night, here it just gets complaints for going to short. Oh well.

LA Park/Damian 666/Psicosis vs. Garza Jr./Bestia 666/Mecha Wolf 450

PAS: Fun if sloppy rudo vs. rudo brawl. Match opens up with Rebellion Amarillo getting the upper hand on the LWO, including Psicosis taking a powerbomb into the crowd and through some chairs.  Lots of amusing shtick by both teams Garza Jr. has inherited his uncles hateful face and he does a lot of amusing begging off. Lots of nasty belt shots with PARK's big belt and we get a great fat boy Park tope and an awesome looking Mecha Wolf low missile tope. There was some real issues when guys were trying to apply moves, the LWO guys are pretty old and probably should have stuck to brawling, still it would be hard not to enjoy this.

ER: This was a bunch of fun, with fat old rudos (except Psicosis who looks exactly the same, the other two are clearly XXLWO at this point) going up against three young rudos of varying quality (I like Garza Jr. as a 0.6 Hector Garza, Wolf has some impressive spots, and Bestia usually leaves me cold). The big star of the match is clearly Park's belt, as it gets removed early and amusingly gets used by every member of the LWO to break up pinfalls. Park used it in the best way possible, to belt Garza as he's tearing off his tearaway pants. Bestia gets whipped in the face, Psicosis breaks up a pin from the apron, truly some excellent belt usage throughout. Park is a total megastar. I bet plenty of people in the crowd haven't gone out of their way to watch him since WCW, and he showed them what they've been missing. He completely engulfs Bestia on a huge dive, still somehow bumps big for a guy that size, and works a great spot where he gets frustrated and slaps the ref in the face. Psicosis is still Psicosis somehow, OPENING the match by getting powerbombed over the railing into a bunch of chairs, still crazy after 25+ years in the game. He still moves quick and fits in totally fine with the younger guys. I can't believe the LWO was literally 20 years ago. I think my buddy still has the t-shirt (though he's a poseur because he wasn't there the night the LWO party vignettes aired. Eddie always wins!).

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 3: Ultimate Opportunities

MD: I liked the opening scene with Azteca, Rey, and Chavo. Both the Casita and the rolling half crab were shot well for something like this. I get why Rey wouldn't want Azteca to go after Pentagon. I don't what bigger challenge Rey thinks they have though.

1. Matanza vs. The Mack

ER: Fun big man match up, and LU does big man go go go matches better than anyone. There's a match floating around of these two a year ago, and they go a little too long and both guys kinda run out of gas. This is a nice edited down version of that, so we get a couple big bruisers going at it with the help of an edit bay, and it's better for it. At one point Mack chops Matanza across the face and Matanza responds with a headbutt to his chest. I dug the hints on commentary that Matanza's mask might be loaded. "What's that thing made of?" Loaded mask is one of my favorite gimmick items. I liked Mack going for a second silly stunner, getting caught by Matanza and then we get that slowwwww deadlift German which I will never not love. Frog splash hitting knees > Tour of the Islands (Tour of the Temple?) is a satisfying ending. The season has begun with Matanza far more vulnerable, which completely tosses out all of last season, but makes for a more workable character.

MD: Bombs upon bombs upon bombs. If WWE bought up Lucha Underground, they could run a Super-heavyweight Bruiserweight classic and the matches could probably be worked almost exactly the same as the CWC was. I'm not sure if that's a good thing in general, but it makes for an entertaining trainwreck, and in this case, an entertaining sprint. They did the usual good job in protecting Matanza while not having it be a squash by having Mack ambush him (he's more vulnerable but they always give a reason). The best part of this though was when Matanza hit that dangling pumphandle exploder suplex thing and Dario shouted "Break his neck. Next time, vertical. For the neck." If we're grading outside managers on syntax, Dario wins. I do really like how Wrath of the Gods can come out of nowhere and just end a match.

ER: Whoaaaaaaaaa. There is a LOT to unpack in these two last segments. And both of these are among the most entertaining LU non-wrestling segments of all time. The Bagel Bites ad. What can be said about this? Havoc and Sagrada hanging out together in Havoc's basement....."apartment".....Havoc clearly hanging out in jammy pants, and then Havoc's mom interrupts the hang sesh with their favorite snack, Bagel Bites! And then we end on Sagrada saying "Thank you, Mrs. Havoc!" With the delivered-with-a-straight-face "Mrs. was my mother's name. Call me Linda." And then we get a nice little Taya/Mundo/Dario segment with Taya showing her loyalty AND getting to correct Dario that PJ Black is actually, in fact, a DAREwolf. Duh. Great couple minutes of non wrestling right there.

MD: As endearing as Son of Havoc and Sagrada and Bagel Bites may be, I think that they did a very solid job building Son of Havoc up between the finale and the premiere and this is two steps backwards. In other vignette news, Taya was great interacting with Dario, pointing out the coke, sure, but with the great "Actually, he's a darewolf" line too.

2. Texano vs. Cage

MD: Texano feels like such a non-factor in the promotion now. Santos sure seems excited about announcing Cage for some reason. This, to me, felt like weightless go-go-go action. Cage focused on the neck to some degree but it wasn't even worth the announcers pointing out because the match didn't call for Texano to sell it. Dario came out after the match to announce this as a best of five series to kill time. Texano, having lost, was happier about that than either Cage or I am.

ER: Since Phil isn't watching anymore, this feels like a good time to bring up his regular complaint of "this fed really loves to book similar matches on the same show. We already opened with a power guys sprint so it's weird to have one right after". 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, but they were both selling things like Petey Williams. But lucky us, we'll get to see 4 more chances to get it right!!!

MD: I have absolutely no idea who Ricky Mandel is or why he wants Dario's cool pictures.

ER: Mandel is returning from having his heart ripped out as the least member of the worst stable in LU, the Disciples of Death. Dude's got nothing to lose, may as well just sip a soda and flip through some cool Dario pictures.

3. Aerostar, Drago & Fenix vs. Jack Evans, PJ Black & Taya

MD: I thought they did a pretty good job mixing a Lucha Underground style spotfest trios match with all of the Jack Evans character stuff. I thought PJ Black made for a solid base for Aerostar in particular. I loved the spot where Aerostar evaded a Black corner charge by bounding up onto the ropes and then shifted around and hit a diving armdrag. They also had the great spot to end the match where Black tried to springboard in and Aerostar springboarded from the other corner and caught him with a rana, that was absolutely made by Black's stupid Darewolf scream.

I could probably make ten gifs of petulant Jack Evans but I won't do that to Eric; people should at least check out the goofy entrance though. I love the interactions between the three of them. His reactions to everything were great. It made a nice through story in the match to switch things up (which was good since we've had a lot of bombs and spots on the show already). I thought the payoff was a little frustrating as he just shrugged it off to be where he needed to be to catch dives at the end. I did like how the post match beatdown and save tied everything together. Logical booking is the best.

ER: I thought this was pretty nothing. A lot of guys seemed to be arriving too early at their marks, and there were some weird moments where guys seemed like they were holding way back against Taya. Jack Evans looks like crossfit Necro Butcher so I am in love. His schtick was plenty amusing here and I thought it played great with the team. Drago seemed a step behind, but Aerostar made up for that with a few fun Aerostar-doing-Aerostar moments that Matt covered nicely. This whole thing just felt way too scant, especially for the two major trios teams in the fed. Seems like all the trios teams are way underperforming, especially when compared to the first season. They all have moments you can point to, but none of them have been clicking.

And I wouldn't have minded Jack Evans reactions gifs. Not one bit. Matt's trying to blame me for not wanting them. Don't make me the bad guy, Matt.

MD: The Rey as special ref who wants to be loyal to his apprentice but doesn't want him to win and face Pentagon deal is actually pretty clever. It's the sort of shades of grey booking you don't get in wrestling nearly as much as you should.

COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 24: Ultima Lucha Dos - Part I

ER: Matt is going to join me on all of Ultima Lucha, and then before long we'll actually get started on Season 3!

MD: I had seen these back when they aired, but rewatched them now. I had been MOSTLY unspoiled. I knew something big was going to happen with Sexy Star because everyone was mad about it but in general, that was it.

1. Falls Count Anywhere: The Mack vs. Cage

ER: I thought it was going to be a 4 way match, but it looks like it's a 4 man tournament for the unique opportunity? That's probably way better. I'd rather see 3 singles matches than one 4 way. Mack and Cage especially always work nutso against each other. And lo and behold these two go nuts on each other here. Match morphs from a wild IWA-MS brawl into a WWF 1999 hardcore division match and back again, with the crazy ramped up early as - with Cage slumped on the bottom rope - Mack hits a crossbody through him to the floor, sending Cage onto his head from ring to floor. Crazy looking spot. They bash each other with various stashed weapons, though I'm disappointed in Cage's lack of performance vision, as Mack blasts him with a guitar and Cage's head gets stuck inside, but Cage quickly tosses it off. Man, a weapon getting stuck on your dome is a GIFT. Terry Funk would have staggered all the way around the ring with his head inside that guitar. Both guys take wild suplex bumps on the floor, Mack gets put through a table, and the finish plays off their crazy Ultima Lucha match from last year. Didn't really need the Stunner spots as that feels more like Al Snow working a match after a minor league baseball game than two guys having a violent brawl in the Temple, but overall this was real good.

MD: I'd say this was about 2/3rds of real good. This felt like some sort of alternate reality where roided up guys stayed the norm in wrestling as opposed to the general sense of scrawn we have in the WWE these days, but that they were still big tape traders and worked a super indy style. It's big video game wrestling, like when you had the option to give the Big Show Rey Mysterio's moveset. In general, it's absurd. In this vacuum, though, it sort of worked. I thought it did fall apart a bit in the back third when Mack would do things like a shooting star press after being power bombed through chairs. I thought they'd be playing up the fact Cage was going for the kill and Mack was there to have fun. The finish worked despite that, because the zeitgeist with this match was fun. Mack won BECAUSE it had that major league baseball post-game match feel. One advantage Lucha Underground has is writers, real writers, ones who are able to play with continuity, both within the match (as in the case of the beer slip) and in general (with the cinder block that Cage was going to use before said slip). This was one way to get the crowd going at least.

2. Boyle Heights Bar Fight: Texano Jr. vs. Son of Havoc

ER: This wasn't as good as that. Things would have felt more violent without all the styrofoam tables and sugar glass, but even the stuff that was actually violent like Texano blasting Havoc in the balls with a chair didn't come off very violent because Havoc was up a moment later doing moves on the apron. The fake weapons and props came off hokey, and the normal wrestling in between stunt falls was weak. Havoc breaking out a barely-connecting springboard back elbow in a "bar fight" would certainly be hysterical and incredible if you were a live onlooker to an actual bar fight, but here it just comes off lame. Texano takes a big bump off the apron through a bar set, which was probably really painful, but looked silly with bottles effortlessly breaking yet not cutting anybody. In the ring Havoc breaks a bunch of champagne bottles to dust just by stomping on them, and boy was this stupid.

MD: Best part about this was how excited Dario was about it. I thought he was going to revenge the Village People and not a barfight when the saw the two of them in the ring. Actually, Dario might have been the best part of the first match too, where he was able to step out of the office and just watch with glee. I like the idea of Son of Havoc so much more than what we actually get. There's diminishing returns at play here as we were already desensitized from the first match. I'm just glad Texano lost after being the one to go through the bar.

3. Falls Count Anywhere: The Mack vs. Son of Havoc

ER: Pretty disappointing match, and the FCA stip didn't seem necessary. In theory it makes sense that this match would be shorter and less exciting, considering each guy went through their own big match right before this. But that doesn't make it fun to watch. I liked Havoc hitting knees on a shooting star attempt, but it didn't matter as he eventually just won with the shooting star anyway. If I had a choice, I would rather be on the receiving end of a SSP from Son of Havoc, than do a backflip landing teeth first on someone's knees. But my choices are just those of one man.

MD: Again, Dario is the big winner here, declaring this a Falls Count Anywhere match too just because. Eric mentioned the shooting star press onto the knees and what really made that work was the camera angle. I'm not sure I've ever seen that spot look so good. To Havoc's credit, he'd sell the ribs afterwards and into the post match. I don't think I can really give you a dramatic reason for why Havoc won though. He just sort of did.

ER: After saying he would have turned down 250K rather than relinquish his LU title shot, I was pretty happy to hear that Son of Havoc was being screwed out of his title shot. After all, if he ever won the title could you really trust that kind of man with it? And oh SHIT it's Dr. Wagner Jr.!?!? Ohhhhhhh man that's awesome. That means LA PARK could be a future possibility right!?

4. Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Son of Havoc

ER: Dr. Wagner Jr. has always been one of my favorites. When I first started watching lucha he immediately stood out to me with how expressive he was through his mask. Maybe that's a bunch of hokum, I don't know. But it's always stood out to me. This match was short and obviously wasn't meant to be a "great match", just Dario screwing him over. But again, a pro wrestler turning down a suitcase full of money in favor of a title shot? Dario was probably right to teach him a lesson in Net Earnings.

MD: Of course, Havoc was going to turn down the money. He's the Tommy Dreamer/Mikey Whipwreck hybrid who's in it because he loves the Temple and all that. Dario was gold again in this. Like I said, I came in unspoiled and this was a huge surprise. Wagner just feels important. I appreciate them bringing him in far more than if they had brought in Ryback or someone with more US star power. Cage not selling a guitar on his head notwithstanding, there's a level of acting and commitment with the Lucha Underground "cast" that you don't always see, and it's appreciated. Famous B and Brenda couldn't have been more committed. As for the match itself, it made Wagner look great in a debut, gave Havoc a hope spot that he desperately needed, and fit what they were trying to do.

MD: At the end of the day, I think all of this really did elevate Havoc. He's in a much stronger position than at the start of the hour and they can get more mileage out of him in the next season because of it. Some of the in-ring execution could have been better, but it was an effective wrestling show and we don't always get that all that much in 2016.


COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 20: The Contenders

1. Marty The Moth Martinez vs. Killshot

ER: This was my kind of Killshot match! It was only a minute long and never made it into the ring! They brawl on the floor and Moth hits a brutal powerbomb, launching Killshot painfully into the guardrail (the one in front of the fans who are up a level), then takes a nasty bump into the announce table as they were getting counted out. The end of the segment, however, is truly embarrassing as Moth tries to steal Killshot's super duper special dog tags, and they fight over them with Killshot pulling Moth's hair as Moth screams. But Moth escapes with them, and then they do one of those silly overplayed WWE standoffs, where one guy is in the ring and the other is standing on the entrance ramp, and the camera darts back and forth at their faces as the glower and flare nostrils and breathe spittle out of their mouths. Except the Temple is really small, so they're standing like 6 feet apart from each other. In WWE you at least have a guy way up on the stage, but here the ring entrance is just right next to the ring. So Killshot is glowering at Moth like "you got away this time!" but Moth is basically standing a quick jump away from him. Killshot just could of hopped out and tried to wrest his precious dog tags away some more. So...so so stupid.

ER: At any given hour of the day you can find 60 years of televised cop shows on TV, and I challenge you to find any sort of procedural that is as terrible as these LU cop segments. I mean this is a genre with literally thousands of hours to lift from, there's just no excuse for it being this bad. Cisco tries, and the bead of sweat running down his temple was a nice visual, but Ryan and Castro are just brutally bad. I still have no idea what tone they're going for, as they haven't succeeded in any sort of tone I can think of. Lynchpin for the End of Days? Is this going to evolve into Dario doing some sort of Pacino in Devil's Advocate type of spiel? That could work, actually...

2. Nunchucks Match: Jack Evans & PJ Black vs. Aerostar & Drago

ER: This had the feel of a jumbled mess for awhile, a sloppy tag with a silly stip. Aerostar looked clumsy, Jack Evans had to wait around ages for Aerostar/Drago to hit some unnecessarily complicated offense, just felt like a bit of a mess. Evans being a loon saved things for awhile, and everybody wiping out while Evans/Black went for the nunchucks the first time snapped me awake. But a couple minutes later, when Drago got a set of nunchucks, suddenly things got completely awesome. The visual of Drago whipping the nunchucks around was great, then he whips Evans in the face and does a flip dive onto everybody, Aerostar hits a huge crossbody off the office (filmed from behind so it looked like he launched 20 feet out), the sound sweetening actually made sense for once on the nunchuck shots, and Drago's finish was killer: Misting Evans for what felt like forever (where was he keeping all of that!?) then hitting his slick armdrag/roll up pin off the top for the win. This whole thing really went out on a high note.

3. Prince Puma, Rey Mysterio, Son of Havoc, The Mack, Texano Jr., & Sexy Star vs. Fenix, Ivelisse, King Cuerno, Taya, Johnny Mundo & Pentagon Jr.

ER:  Everybody's reaction to Pentagon's return was kinda strange. As he destroyed Chavo the rest of the match participants just kinda stood around in the ring giving knowing smiles. Were they supposed to be more in awe of a supposed quadriplegic returning, walking again, and wrecking Chavo? They all acted like they had no clue who this dude was, but were just admiring this guy laying a beating on Chavo. That oddness aside, this was a real fun match. If you give it the proper amount of time it's really hard to mess up a big multiman match. Sexy Star stuff was kept to a minimum, and she even got to hit a nice flip dive during the trainwreck sequence. Fenix was probably my favorite in this, this fed has really been an awakening for him. Mundo and Texano take a couple big bumps to the floor (love Mundo bumping in sunglasses), Taya takes a big bump past the ringpost and down the steps, the dive train was really great, Mack had several nice moments (he's really great in these kinds of matches), and yeah, this probably could have had 10 more minutes added to it and really gone for broke. Super fun match.

COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

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!!!
LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 15: No Mas

ER: Man it's good to have Dario back in the Temple every week. His facials and little ticks when he talks to Catrina are so good. And he pronounced Matanza the same as "Ibiza". Mah-tahn-thuh.

1. Marty "The Moth" Martinez vs. The Mack

ER: Moth goes down pretty easy in this one, though he gets a couple big moves in (Mack is nuts for taking that exploder into the turnbuckles all vertical like that), but this was the Mack show. Big suplexes, great clothesline, one of the best spinning heel kicks you'll see, super fast flip dive. Glad they keep spotlighting Mack but I'd like to see him start to move up the card.

PAS: This was a fun 3 minute match, and I love watching The Mack, but I have no idea why you run this match if Mack was going to stop interference in the main event. We already saw The Mack get his revenge at the beginning of the show, why is it a big deal to see him beat on the guy some more 45 minutes later.

ER: Dario was really great broomsticking with Sexy Star. I mean if you're going to do a long Sexy Star vignette that's how you do it. Leave her to occasional one word answers and let Dario wander slowly around the office expounding on his plans to have Mariposa tortured.

PAS: This show is full of people carrying Sexy Star is she a make a wish kid or something. Is this the wrestling version of Batkid?

ER: Damn Phil Mencia didn't even wait until the body was cold to steal my Sexy Star-as-Batkid joke from earlier this season!

2. Sinestro de la Muerte vs. King Cuerno

ER: Boy they're really committed to this, huh? Not sure Cuerno is recoverable at this point. He's like the go-to guy to make look like a joke. Maybe the last remaining DoD member will be better outside of his group?

PAS: What a bummer, I guess this is why Cuerno wanted to leave. Sinestro didn't look any better in singles, one problem with taping this far in advance is they can't call audibles when stuff isn't working.

ER: There is a chance Sagrada can lift more than me.

3. Mascarita Sagrada vs. Cage

ER: Well, can't fault Famous B for getting Sagrada a chance at a medallion. This went as it should have. Sagrada gamely got tossed around, and I liked the crossface choke he locked on Cage after spinning all around him.

PAS: Feels like they were trying to get a GIF to go viral. Match made a fine GIF

4. No Mas: Mariposa vs. Sexy Star

ER: Well as I saw there was still 20 minutes left in the episode I'm sure I wasn't the only one not totally looking forward to a 20 minute Sexy Star match. This promotion can be really good with smoke and mirrors but Star has been immune to all of that so far. No matter how much they hack up her matches they still end up looking terrible. So I figured they couldn't have filmed an 80 minute match and hacked it down to 20, this had to have been a 20 minute match. And I really enjoyed it. We certainly had smoke and mirrors, but you need that kind of thing in these matches. Whatever was lacking in Star's strikes and general clunkiness was made up for by some clever uses of props, blood, an amusing tour of the Temple, and some satisfying run ins. Chair shots are one thing, but Star ups the ante by bashing Mariposa's vagina with a chair. This felt like the No Mas equivalent to a victim of sexual abuse exacting revenge. We not only get her bashing Mariposa's vagina with a chair, but several kicks as well. When in Rome. Star bleeds and Mariposa's mask ripping was really violent. The tour into the rafters was a fun way to stretch time as we get some fun dangling spots, Mariposa kicking a camera guy, and some fighting on ladders. The Moth/Mack interference was handled really well in both instances, as Moth halted a Sexy Star advantage, but Mack never gave the advantage back to her. He merely kept Moth away from her. She was still doing all of the work on her own, Mack was just giving her unfettered access to Mariposa. It would have been real easy for Mack to run in, stun Moth and then do something to Mariposa, but it was handled very smart. Early in the match the fans were shitty and chanting for Mariposa, which, no matter how limply the Star character has been portrayed, can only be seen as "trying to be cool". So the "FUCK YOU" into the mic was arguably Sexy Star's greatest moment in LU, as every single person in the Temple, even presumably the kewl kids chanting for Mariposa earlier, erupted and jumped out of their seats for Star at that moment. That's huge. This was all put together really well, and was far more satisfying and well done than I could have ever imagined. Now let's just move on.

PAS: I thought this whole storyline was super gross, your feminist hero was kidnapped and sexually abused and then she settles it in the wrestling ring. I guess this was their attempt at wrestling I Spit on Your Grave and they did a decent job covering up for Sexy Star's limitations. Crippled Vampiro is better then Sexy Star and that was a better match, but I was impressed at how well this was done. I thought the blood was a really great visual and the FUCK YOU was a great moment. Still Sexy Star really blows, Mariposa had to feed her arm for both cross armbreakers and neither of them looked good at all. Also it was a weird move to use to avenge rape, feels like a series of chairshots or a spike to the eye would have worked better.


LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 11: Bird of War

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

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

1. Ivelisse vs. Kobra Moon

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Fenix vs. Matanza

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

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

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


LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 9: Aztec Warfare II

AZTEC WARFARE II, w/ Fenix, Rey Mysterio, King Cuerno, Argenis, Johnny Mundo, Joey Ryan, Prince Puma, Jack Evans, Taya, Cage, Mascarita Sagrada, Marty "The Moth" Martinez, Drago, The Mack, Chavo Guerreo Jr., PJ Black, Aerostar, Dragon Azteca Jr., Texano, Mil Muertes, & Matanza

PAS: This is a pretty flawlessly put together match of this type. Really great individual moments weaved in with some big action, and a pair of great debuts. Rey comes in and is immediately the best guy in this fed, he has such immaculate timing on all of his spots and really knows how to pick and choose big moments in a crazy match like this. Rey was always a great Royal Rumble worker and is a perfect choice to be the longest lasting guy in a match like this. Jack Evans may have been my favorite guy in this, just lunatic bump after lunatic bump including a bunch of them in the periphery. There is a part where Mack and Cage are exchanging shots in the ring and you see Jack fly down a flight of stairs head first. Only real complaint was the Pentagon Jr. v. Mil stuff, Mil has been booked so strong in this fed, that there really should have been a bigger beatdown before he got pinned. Couple of chairshots (especially those mediocre ones) shouldn't have done it. Matanza debut was pretty perfect, I like the mask and blood splattered gear and he looked great mowing people down with throws. I also loved the little mini-match with Rey, reminded me of the great Rey v. Mark Henry matches, I hope we get to see those two get a longer showdown int he future. After a slow start LU has really been cooking the last couple of weeks.

ER: The crowd reaction to Rey's entrance was incredible. It was like the wrestling fan version of Oprah giving out cars to her audience. I get it. I'd have done the same. And that starts off what turns into a relentless, crazy, and most importantly satisfying rumble style match. Rey Rey is really just kind of this style, and he's rightfully treated like a major deal throughout. Even other tecnicos would hit their moves, but then feed a guy to Rey for a splash and pinfall, and it was fun watching guys feed Rey's offense or just try and get in a shot with him. Like Mascarita doing a neat floatover pin to put the icing on a Rey pin, or guys setting up opponents for Rey to do a 619, or setting up his awesome belly slide splash to the floor. Rey moved around like 2004 Rey, taking big bumps (love his new missed 619 Fuerza bump, here with perfect rope pulling timing from Taya) and flawless execution. Damn, people. Mysterio. Fenix got some nice moments including his gorgeous rope run tornillo and being on the receiving end of Cuerno's devastating tope. Can't believe someone would have the stones to just sit there and wait to be nailed by that. I liked Mundo's crew of zero body fat assholes, all taking big spills and not needing to be cool heels, just being unlikeable. Evans especially takes some amazing falls in this match, getting hiptossed from the next level of seats, taking a screaming headlong sprint down the flight of stairs, splashing into nothing, just a crazy showboat performance. Taya continues to impress me by at least taking moves at full strength. Guys don't have to gently place her down the same way they do with Sexy Star. Taya also shows plenty of good instincts, like wisely pinning Cage in an unorthodox way to avoid putting Cage in the awkward position of having to move himself away from the ropes. It takes smarts to not make your opponents not look like an idiot like that.

I loved Joey Ryan's fool proof plan that he didn't think about at all, as the second he puts the plan in action it immediately and painfully backfires, with guys superkicking him, Drago misting him, Sagrada getting powerbombed into him, Famous B handing him a card and him not being able to avoid a sales pitch (imagine being locked up and unable to duck behind a window as Jehovah's Witnesses walk up your driveway). I think Chavo was a SUPER underrated part of this match, as he was incredible at running traffic, surviving, and just mugging and schticking through things. I loved him regularly throwing guys to the wolves, loved him ducking down behind the ring skirt to avoid being seen, really putting a level of personality on display that a lot of guys in the fed don't have. And then we get a couple of big debuts as Rey Horus makes a nice impression as Dragon Azteca Jr., going through some cool spots and a nice slingshot rana to the floor. And of course Jeff Cobb finally debuts as Matanza. I remember Phil and I bringing him up well over a year ago, the first time Matanza was even brought up on air. "Who is available that would even make sense as Matanza!?" And we both thought of Cobb, right away. Is he the same height as me? Yes. But the guy is a legit physical freak, and I really love his bloody coveralls and mask. He looks like a final boss monster in Manhunt. And here he gets to showcase all of his skills, his reverse momentum powerslam, catching Rey mid rana, hoisting him back up, shifting him into powerslam, going back the other direction with it. He manhandled Rey for so long that as the sequence kept going some guy audibly screams "WHAT!?" in the crowd. I do wish they didn't have Matanza eliminate like 8 guys in a row, each person getting in one by one to fall to their doom. Crowd started getting restless around the 3rd elimination, figuring that nobody was going to stop him, and even started booing hard at one point, and it felt like more of a "we are rejecting this" kind of boo as opposed to them booing a heel (which the crowd really does tend to do).

It's hard to establish one man as being THIS dominant as where do you go from there? Cobb is clearly more talented than Zeus, but when you make a man with no actual weak points, able to withstand any type of offense, how do you go about beating him? What will his weakness turn out to be? You had Cage going through a window which was a holy shit heel turn spot last season, but here Cage is back 100% unscathed literally moments later. And I understand why they got Muertes out of there so quickly, and it was smart to not have him cross paths with Matanza, but MAN that was a shitty way for him to get taken out of the match that quickly. A couple of weak ass Lance Storm chairshots from Pentagon and then a splash from Rey. That's all it takes to eliminate Mil freaking Muertes? That was laaaaaaame. So some guys get eliminated too easily, too quickly, and that's one flaw in having a pinfall elimination rumble instead of over the top. You give up high flying moves (which this fed clearly thrives on), but guys also have to be definitively beaten to be eliminated, instead of teamed up and tossed over. Still, we got enough violence and wild spots to make your brain gloss that kind of stuff over.

ER: So there were a couple of stumbles down the stretch, and that keeps this from being completely great, but overall for an hour of wrestling television? Things don't get too much better than this. The show is on a nice little run after going through several weeks of some of their lower points. This right here is the show that made us want to write up every episode in the first place. Great "full show" match, easily landing on our 2015 MOTY List.


COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 7: Death Comes in Threes

ER: Alright, Sexy Star opens the show, and then Willie Mack shirtcocks it into frame!

1. Marty the Moth Martinez vs. The Mack

ER: Good to see Mack back on TV and this was good for being short and interrupted. Odd of Vampiro of all people to mention that Mack doesn't spend much time in the gym. Mack clearly looks like a guy who works out. Vampiro looks like a divorced dad at a Blaze Ya Dead Homie show. Mack's strikes, lariat and flying kick all looked great, and Moth hit a bonkers dive, just no hands and crazy distance and Mack manned up and absorbed it. That dive was right up there with Cuerno's best topes.

PAS: Yeah this was a pretty good battle of thick dudes with nice high spots. By far the best Moth has looked and that dive and his finishing second rope curb stomp were both super cool. Still this was mostly just a set up of for the angle, and while the outfit looked cool, it is still leading to more Sexy Star, still a Moth v. Mack gimmick match would be great

ER: Really nice straight Fenix vignette. No comic book nonsense, no mythical hokey backstory, just an actual really good video showing motivation, cool spots, and training. Reminded me of a few great Fenix spots I had forgotten, easily showed the highs and lows of the character, didn't feel the need to make him a literal phoenix soaring over mountains and like wearing giant talon hands or some shit......but I can't really deny that Jack Evans getting jumped at the urinal, Drago kicking out a lightbulb, and then everybody in the room producing nunchucks from their person was not awesome as hell.

PAS: Yeah the bathroom brawl was closer to the kind of LU vignettes I like. Drago didn't turn into a CGI dragon or anything, he just kung fu kicked some lightbulbs and broke out some nunchucks.

2. Cage vs. Taya

ER: Not totally sure how I was supposed to feel about all of this whole thing, but I actually kind of liked a lot of it. Yeah, I'm not sure how a small woman getting the shit beaten out of her is still somehow supposed to be the heel, so if you think about it in that way then the whole segment is immediately completely idiotic and misguided. In a vacuum though, Cage did a lot of impressive things, and Taya took some legitimately nasty stuff. That superplex from the middle rope to the floor was just absolutely disgusting. Any person that can take a spot like that and not shit out their spleen earns my respect, whatever that means. That spot was sheer lunacy. But Cage didn't hold back, so we didn't have to see him work like he was in a Sexy Star match, gently setting her on the mat for fear of hurting her. Quite the opposite, really, which is kind of weird to see, but hey in storyline this was the match Taya wanted. Taya is a pretty lousy seller, as there's no nuance whatsoever, just take a big move and lie there dead, but once she's on her feet again she's sprinting around like the match was just starting. But taking some of these moves full force is impressive on its face so I was just constantly at odds throughout the whole match. This was a tough match to have opinions on. I could take literally every part of this match and write two separate reviews, one praising it and the other completely trashing it, and they would both come out looking pretty accurate. "How awesome did Cage look after getting two bottles broken over his head!?" "How stupid were those bottle spots?! Not only did a potential huge weapon spot get used as a throwaway moment during an intergender squash, but the ridiculous glass shatter sound effects were hilarious, and somehow glass didn't even make him bleed!!" Both sentences seem right to me. "That superplex spot was maybe the craziest spot in a promotion who has a history of having the craziest spots. Amazing." "How can you do that spot and not have Taya leave dead on a stretcher? How does the match continue after that!? So stupid." Both sentences seem right to me. So I guess I'll say, "I really hate intergender stuff, I thought Taya earned tons of respect for taking such a nasty beating, I thought the whole segment made Cage look like a monster, I find it somewhat stupid that you're building up a top babyface to look like a monster by destroying a woman." Maybe the most I have enjoyed/disliked a segment.

PAS: I was leaning more towards the hate part of this. I agree that superplex was cool, but the entirety of this match was a big roid guy beating the shit out of a woman while the crowd cheered. It was the Ray Rice video of wrestling with worse selling. What is the wrestling logic of this anyway? What exactly did Taya do to deserve this beating? Jim Cornette or Jimmy Hart would terrorize a territory for months before they get their comeuppance, Taya shows up last week, interferes a bit and then she gets brutalized like Patricia Arquette in True Romance. I know Rodriguez is a Tarantino acolyte but Gandolfini wasn't the hero.

ER: Dammmmmn Brenda! I'm unsure where these are going, since Famous B is a "Recently Retired World Renowned Underground Fighter", but I am loving them.

3. Prince Puma vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Mil Muertes

ER: Awesome match, as it should have been. Three ways as a rule stink, but we've had some talented guys over the past year figure out some nice ways around the more annoying aspects of the match structure. And in a match like this where three guys are go go going, you don't end up with many moments of "Hey where's so and so been for 4 minutes?" and it never devolved into a neverending series of men pulling legs of men pinning other men. My only complaint is that now that the fed is sweetening sound on practically every damn strike, can we maybe get a new sound effect for "strike", or at least a range of sounds? They have one sound for humans making contact with each other, and it makes a stiff superkick sound exactly the same as one of Taya's slaps from earlier. Surely there's a way to differentiate from handclap, gunshot, thunder, right? Plus I want to imagine a man standing just off screen wearing a vest and suspenders, timing the coconut halves to the sound of Muertes' big horse hooves pounding across the mat, or when the table got lit on fire during the Pentagon/Vampiro match that same man would be off camera crinkling cellophane against a microphone. The blind viewers at home would be put right into the middle of that crackling fire! But jeez either only save the sound effects for the most brutal strikes, or show a little range. Anyway, threse three guys went crazy in this match. Puma decided he was going to break out every flying twist in his playbook, so we had gonzo stuff off Dario's office, him running down rails like he was in XXX, just hitting dive after dive after dive. It was crazy. It was awesome. Muertes was an absolute killer in this. If you're gonna sit in a skull throne and glower over everybody, you better turn it on when you're in the ring, and that was no problem. Just as Ambrose and Reigns worked to dispatch the monster Lesnar, I loved Pentagon and Puma working to keep Mil down. The barrage of superkicks could have easily been played silly, and instead came off looking like they were taking turns using a shovel to beat a body they were about to bury. Pentagon was kinda odd man out here as his moments of shine didn't look as good, and the big parts of the match seemed more about Puma/Muertes, but I found myself liking his team work moments with Puma the most of his stuff. I did love his wild bump through the chairs, and his brawling in general. I was hoping he would snap Puma's arm, but wasn't complaining to much when Muertes hit him with a bullet train of a spear. This was a pretty breathless sprint right here, most of it playing like a highlight video. I probably rewound this one more than any match in recent memory.

PAS: I loved this too. Muertes is a hell of a big match wrestler, one of the better big match guys of the decade. With his big LU matches and the two Parka v. Mesias brawls he has a hell of resume. It had a great pace, and the one thing a three way does is allow people to sell big moves, but not slow down the action at all. I am not a huge Ricochet fan, but I like Prince Puma, not exactly sure what the difference is, but Puma is a little less shticky and the matches have less bloat then some of his indy stuff. Pentagon Jr. is super cool, great atmosphere, but I am still waiting for his breakthrough match. He was really fun here, but I kind of want him to be crazier, and I thought he was the third of these guys. I loved how this finished the story with Muretes looking strong, and it set up next weeks match great. Really looking forward to another Fenix v. Muertes match.


LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

***ALSO, to no surprise, we're adding the triple threat match to our 2015 ongoing MOTY list. It was really good.***

Read more!

Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 2: The Dark & The Mysterious

1. Johnny Mundo vs. Killshot

ER: D'oh! I know I was cursing myself last week when I kept saying things like "They featured all the most important people on the first episode!!" Then right out of the gates they give me the double middle finger Killshot appearance. But really, as a whole, this wasn't bad. Killshot has really poor body language and sometimes appears to be moving in slow motion, but he also hit some of the better sequences I've seen from him here. Mundo is clearly way better as a heel as he tends to tighten some things up, and it was satisfying seeing him blast Killshot with a big elbow. The Killshot DDT off the ropes was real nasty, and him being in the wrong place kind of added to a couple moments of this match, like when Mundo hit the springboard kick that Killshot almost forgot to turn around for. This was probably the best match anybody could have hoped for.

PAS: Naw bruh, this stunk, it didn't have the blown spots one might expect from these guys, but this was also clearly chopped to shit. I can only imagine how bad the uncut version of this match is, lets hope there isn't a Lucha Underground Classics show in 10 years where we see the full versions of all the matches. I don't know if a good opponent for Killshot exists, but I know Johnny Mundo is the worst possible opponent for him. Also if you are debuting Justin Gabriel why have Killshot do a shitty 450 the match before, Gabriel is all 450, he is more 450 then the pair of guys working Mr. 450 gimmicks (WHAT UP JERELLE CLARK!! I SEE YOU HAMMETT!!), don't snatch that dudes only thing.

ER: Oh hey, Sexy Star is back. But as long as the Moth keeps her tied up and away from a wrestling ring he'll be the biggest tecnico in the company.

ER: PJ Black pulling over to fight skinny motocross guys in a motel parking lot was a little silly, but I guess you gotta give a guy something to do in vignettes. Darewolf? There wolf. There castle. Maybe he was actually supposed to do an Airwolf gimmick and the printer messed up the shirts? I know if he brought out an eye-patched Alex Cord as his manager it would be a clear upgrade over whatever a Darewolf is supposed to be. Wait was Jan Michael Vincent the wrong one legged man who Ace signed instead of Gowen??

PAS: This was one of the lazier vignettes. Don't we already have a biker stable? Don't we already have a smooth chested ex-WWE midcarder with long black hair and elaborate kick combos? When LU writers are out of ideas they just have someone randomly street fight luchadores, it has lost its luster a bit.

2. The Mack vs. PJ Black

ER: Fun debut for Black, and naturally the whole time the match was going on I was getting ready to type about how they really backed themselves into a corner by booking the debuting Black against a guy who should be featured more prominently, and how this is a step backward for Mack after having his big match with Cage at Ultima Lucha, and how he really needed to be seen winning after taking the curb stomp through the cinder block, and how he's now gonna have to take another loss and blah blah blah I was totally wrong and should have had more faith that this is not TNA and they won't just bring in any old WWE worker and immediately push them as a far bigger star than their existing talent. This was exactly the way the match should have been handled: a nice back and forth match with a decisive Mack victory, showing Black that he has his work cut out for him in this new company. Mack has potential superstar written all over him and it seems like the company realizes it. Some of Black's capoeira looked a little dodgy, but Mack was always right there with a big kick or chubby moonsault to snap me out of it. Fun stuff.

PAS: Mack looked good as usual, I loved his open hand Ronnie Garvin chops, but I am not going to give them too much credit for not doing the dumbest booking move. I was amused at how Vampiro shit all over Black and his stupid gimmick on commentary, but I don't really get the point of having an announcer do that.

ER: I'm not sure who Moon Kobra is. I couldn't recognize her from her chin/eyes. I don't think the promotion was hurting for another female as I'm not interested in seeing even more intergender matches, but if this is a step toward a woman's division I'd be happy with that.

PAS: That vignette was exactly the same as PJ Black's without the motorcycling, this fed really has a problem with doing the same thing multiple times on one show.

3. The Disciples of Death vs. Prince Puma & Pentagon Jr.

ER: Decent match, although not a great way to make your trios champs look very formidable. I like the storyline idea of Muertes the Insatiable trying to take out the people who he views as his biggest competition, but DOD didn't ever come across as very threatening even with the handicap advantage. That aside this is the best I remember the DOD looking, with the one in a white skull mask (sorry don't know their names) throwing some especially snug strikes. Puma does some crazy dives to the shock of everybody. Although I really don't like Pentagon as a put upon guy fighting the odds, I like him more as lawless monster serving a master for purposes of evil. Having him on the short side of a handicap match is just opposites day, and took away from things for me, even though the ring work wasn't bad (though it did feel choppy and a little disjointed at times).

PAS: This felt like a very lazy bit of RAW booking. Feuding tag partners in a handicap match is a lame-o wrestling trope I can't imagine anyone actually liking. Thought the work was fine, although the DOD are pretty much the Cruel Connection at this point.

ER: Final segment was really cool and exciting, and right when I heard a voice off camera I thought it sounded like Rey. I avoid spoilers as best as possible for this show, but I had heard Rey rumors. This is exciting stuff. So even though it was a clear step back from last week's debut, it was still a pleasant (and quick) hour of TV.

PAS: I am jazzed for Rey, but I would rather not have him stuck in the dipshit tar pit of the Dragon Azteca storyline. Still Rey is the best.


LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE GUIDE

Read more!

Lucha Underground Episode 38: UltimaLucha - Part I Review

We get a return engagement from Tomk for this final pair of episodes

1. The Mack vs. Cage (Falls Count Anywhere)

ER: Well this was awesome and completely exceeded the high expectations I had for it. These guys laced into each other and it's as if every move they did was the exact move the crowd was hoping for. This would have been good in a vacuum but it was even better because they both clearly understood who they were working for. They worked in a little comedy and personality, but never lost the viciousness. The brawling through the crowd was some of the best of its kind, punching and throwing each other into spots instead of walking gingerly together. Fans scrambling out of the way added to the insanity. Cage getting speared through a door was totally unexpected and Cage took it like a lunatic, almost like he wasn't expecting it either. The way the camera shot it, and how fast he flew back through the door, it was like he was being sucked out of an airplane at 30,000 feet. All of the bumps and spills on the floor were nasty, and then Cage goes and does an inside out superplex over the guardrail onto the balcony. Jeez. I was hoping they wouldn't go the cinderblock route when I noticed them, since I thought Ambrose/Rollins already pulled off the best worked block spot. But they did and while it exploding was pretty silly, it made sense as a match finish. These two have been real standouts in multi mans and I was just really wanting a brutal singles match, and they totally delivered.

PAS: Yup this was pretty great, they have done a really nice job with the non-luchadores in this fed. I have enjoyed Mack or Cage way more in this context then any other. Mack especially comes off like a hugely charismatic star. It was smart of them to recognize that and move him quickly out of the Big Ryck and Killshot group (and to relegate Killshot to the jobber battle royal last week). I haven't seen any really great lucha matches from Lucha Underground but they really know how to do insane brawls. I also liked how this didn't even bother to go into the ring, most of these brawls have a section where they go into the ring for the finish, the advantage of LU being a television product, is that they could do away with that trope.

TKG: I really like that at this point I feel like I know where stuff is in the Temple. The way I knew various JAPW buildings so during this kind of crowd touring match you know where guys are going to end up. 

The Miller sponsorship continues to amuse me. There was a point where Steve Austin was one of the biggest figures in popular culture and the WWF with Austin was drawing huge attendance and ratings. The WWF wasn't able to negotiate for a beer sponsorship then, while these guys can pull that off? Or did the WWF not want a beer sponsorship because they somehow thought Miller wasn't as prestigious as Lugz boots? Can't be that, it's the WWE, if Bill Saluga wanted to host RAW, they would be thrilled and treat Saluga as a giant star. Gawd, the Saluga/Kane skits... You can call me Glen or you can call me Isaac...

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

ER: Is one of the DoD really named Barrio Negro? This whole thing threatened to get good at a couple points, but there were too many little problems all throughout for them to overcome. First, Ivelisse has a leg injury. That is fine. We've worked around it well enough to this point, gives their team some character depth. But here we had evil beings named the Disciples of DEATH...who had to noticeably work around her injured leg. When one of the DoD goes for a sub on her he has to go out of his way to grab her healthy leg. If I was a Death Disciple, I would probably be a cruel evil being who would take advantage of every single one of my opponent's weaknesses. I'm not saying I want her hurt leg further injured, but I would take a weak, super fake looking submission on the hurt leg over the already flimsy submission we ended up with. These men are created out of lightning! But then we get moments of "Oh we can't work over that leg, that's her leg that's actually hurt". Their characters are manufactured out of lightning for the sole purpose of murder! Second, the promotion still does no replays. This is a multi-camera shoot. They have at minimum three different recorded angles of Angelico's dive. But I guess this show is a "movie", not a sport event. Movies wouldn't show replays of significant moments. But that is also a fucking stupid approach to pro wrestling. I don't need the WWE overkill of constant "earlier tonight" reports all throughout Raw, but you have a skinny human being hurling himself off of a balcony, and you should be showing that more fucking times than Brian Lee going off a scaffold through tables. Whatever. I liked Havoc's consecutive dives, loved the Angelico dive (duh), but the DoD are pretty boring and I'm not looking forward to more of them. Any idea on who they are? I'm curious if it's good workers working poorly in a gimmick, or just poor workers.

PAS: This was the least of the trios title matches they have run, you could see the seams a little bit in this match formula. Angelico's big dive is crazy as usual, but at this point you are just waiting around for him to do it, it isn't the shock that it was the first time, it is turning a bit into a New Jack thing where the whole match is the song and the dive, and these Angelico matches don't even have a cool song. DoD are kind of cool looking, but otherwise pretty lame and sticking random jobbers under the mask (I think its Ricky Landell, Argenis and Marachi Loco) really hurts, I feel like better performers would have been able to do something with the gimmick.

TKG: Back around 2003 or so there was an amusing editorial written to the observer website complaining about Gabe Sapolsky winning booker of the year. The guy complained that all Gabe did was hire cream of the indy scene and the put them in dream match ups, that wasn't what booking was about. Booking was about having to put together a card with an ex wwf midcarder past his prime, the cousin of his favorite ring rat, a steroided guy afraid of muscle tears, the money mark's son, a regional star who can't bump any more and two green kids who can't run the ropes. Not about having a super talented roster but rather hiding the roster's weaknesses. One thing that can be said about Lucha Underground is they were fucking great at hiding guys weaknesses. It's a fed with 4 tough enough wash outs that found ways to make all of them semi compelling. They created a pretty entertaining face tag team here where you essentially knew everyone's story and their relationship to other members of team and found way to book them to work a midcard version of what are essentially  Public Enemy v Gangstas v Eliminators formula send crowd home happy ECW main events. Nicely put together crowd popping spots where no one gets exposed.

ER: I enjoyed the Miller Lite plug within the context of Cage/Mack. Thought they integrated it as well as possible. But damn Striker's Miller toast followed up with "Mmmmmmm that's so refreshing! So good!" is just about the opposite of the spectrum. Nice read, Velma. Not as good as Vampiro drinking out of a clearly empty can and saying "That's good beer, brother."

3. Hernandez vs. Drago (Believers Backlash Match)

ER: Fun match with a totally absurd stipulation that totally worked as a unique stip. It's not something we need to see regularly, but I loved that we got to see it. On paper it seems like a stip that is almost inviting something to go terribly wrong. What if somebody is throwing a blow and Hernandez turns around and takes a strap right to the eyeball!? My friend Sean went to an indy show in a bar years ago, and there was a weapons brawl. There was a boombox getting used, and at one point the boom box was on the floor and Sean moved it so nobody would trip over it...followed almost immediately by somebody getting power bombed onto it, because they hadn't realized it had been moved. So now you give belts to 20 fans...that's some guts on Hernandez to take numerous runs through that gauntlet. What if you get some guy being a loose cannon all excited because he's gonna be on TV?? You can argue that it got in the way of a good singles match at times, but I think it's a testament to how underrated Hernandez is that he put it over as well as he did. And also, that fucking tope into mist-and-then-floor was insane. People will be talking about the Angelico dive but this was just as crazy but in a different way. Striker had some nice moments during this, and I especially like him explaining why Hernandez was able to get out of his Drago Clutch.

PAS: This was also a pretty great gimmick match, it is too bad Hernandez may have burned his LU bridges, because he really hit his groove here as an asshole heel. You don't usually see a guy work as both monster and comedy stooge and he does both well. Also damn does he take a beating, not only does he get the skin strapped off his back by random fans, but that missed tope was one of the crazier bumps in a fed full of crazy bumpers. 

TKG: I've seen a ton of fans with straps as lumberjack matches over the years. It's not a match that always translates well outside of live audience, Seen some good ones. Seen some bad ones. They're matches that I've seen guys who do workrate sprints struggle with. You kind of need a heel who knows how to work like kneepadless Budro or Austin Idol to really pull them off. As ideally they're about the heel and the fans, and need a heel who knows lots of ways to mime taunts at fans and lots of ways to do googly eyed stooging when getting whipped by fans. I realize that I've been watching Hernandez' career disinterestedly since 1999. Saw him working like Rod Price in FMW on Texas indies, watched him working as part of a fake Sheik tag team in AJPW, watched him blow up trying to be a roided workrate wrestler in ROH, watched him work as workrate fake Angle in AJPW when Red was working fake Rey, watched him work as fake JAW Heavyweight tagged with Homicide in TNA, am watching him here. Somewhere between TNA and Lucha Underground he picked up some mid 90s Austin Idol tapes and instead of studying the mic work, studied the in ring stuff. and he's been all about the Fargo strutting and miming since he showed up in Lucha Underground. He was the perfect guy for this match. As pretty much everything in ring was a mess but all the fan Hernandez interactions were great.

This if course wasn't a one man Hernandez show and a ton of credit needs to be given to the ponytailed plant among the fans. According to Fredo he's a local worker who he has seen work as Fidel and he was amazing here. Always in the right place, snoring big, setting up the big spots, set up the fans refuse to hit the face spot (which is really key to match working), kept on feeding himself to Hernandez, bumped big, ate dives, and just directed traffic. A star making performance. I know nothing about him but his sense of ring awareness makes me want to seek out his work.

So I was looking up to try to figure out who was the other guy in the Double Iron Sheiks with Hernandez and according to multiple internet listings it was Beau James' cousin KC Thunder which is ridiculous. I refused to believe it at first but Zellner claims that accurate. Hillarious as KC Thunder is guy who works as spectacularly great superheavy Austin Idol in U.S.A. but worked nothing like that in AJPW where he was doing gaijin w suplexes. Amusing that Hernandez spent majority of career trying to work like K C Thunder in Japan , while it looks like Hernandez's real strengths maybe in emulating KC Thunder in the US.

ER: This was an excellent start to UltimaLucha and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for the finale. Everybody is clearly busting ass and if this is it for them, I have a feeling they're going to go out with a bang.

PAS: Yeah career matches for Hernandez, Cage and Willie Mack make this a hell of a show, although they really could use some more actual lucha in this fed to mix up the brawls, three variations of street fights in one show is getting a little ECWish, they should have had something like Aerostar v. Jack Evans or Aerostar v. Drago in the middle.


LUCHA UNDERGROUND MASTER LIST

Read more!

Lucha Underground Episode 37: PenUltimaLucha Review

ER: You'd think Ryck would want to rip Dario's arms off at this point, but I still loved their segment and I wish they almost threw even more eye puns into the mix. "Well Ryck you know I'm the type of man who always crosses his t's and dots his....well you know what I mean."

1. Johnny Mundo vs. Texano

ER: Hey look at that, take Texano away from Daivari and suddenly you have a very watchable Texano again. This was a fun hot six minute match, bunch of cool looking spots and sore slappy thighs. I dug Texano's backwards bump into the guardrail, with Mundo then kicking him into the rail again. Mundo's springboard roundhouse looked good, Texano's big kick to the chest looked good, and this was the right match to work knowing it would end in a run in. Patron looks insanely fired up right now and this is energy I've never seen from him. Love it. He's an easy guy to root for right now. And yes, Vampiro did say that Mundo was 6'3" 260 lb.

PAS: Yeah this was a very fun TV match, maybe the best Texano has looked in this fed. I really liked Mundo working over the head and that crazy bump he took on the sunset flip. There was some serious leg slapping, and maybe even some sound sweetening, but otherwise this was boss. I liked the face off between Texano and Patron, in a enemy of my enemy kind of way.

2. The Mack vs. Cage

ER: Oh man what a freaking disappointment. These guys have been lacing into each other in multimans and then a sloppy little sunset flip ends it after nothing. Maybe there was more filmed? Doesn't seem like it. Postmatch scrum was nice though, with security flying everywhere, fans scrambling out of the way, but hopefully the match this sets up ends up delivering.

PAS: Post match brawl was fun, but they should have just gone to a double count out or something because that match was a turd.

ER: "I like to promote my championship matches", yes apparently Dario only announces his mask matches and loser leaves town matches immediately beforehand, but NOT his championship matches. And now we get the luchadors getting their medals presented. The first member of the team has TWO minutes to make it through the temple to find the Helmet of Gengis Khan. If they find one of the temple guards they MUST give their medallion before being allowed to continue.

ER: I'm not totally sure why Fenix had to relinquish his temple medallion, as Dario says Muertes destroyed him but he seemed fine to me. But I guess he just wanted to take it away? I dunno, Dario's logic can be a little hard to follow sometimes.

PAS: Yeah it makes sense to strip him of the medallion if he was hurt, but have him stripped, then come out and win a jobber battle royal to get it back is dumb

3. Battle Royal for Final Medallion

ER: Weird little jobber battle royal, could have probably used more Nasty Ned or State Patrol. Not sure what the point was, but it was fun while it lasted. Vinny took a nasty neck snap over the rope on his elimination, Daivari went over at high speed, but this was kind of weird that this was a thing.

PAS: The Famous B push was a little odd, having a jobber do the pedigree is a weird shot, I imagine the fired Tough Enough producer has some scores to settle.

ER: This was kind of a spinning wheels show, as I'm excited for UltimaLucha but really the two minute video package was more effective at building excitement than anything that happened in the rest of the episode.

PAS: Yeah this was a waste of time, they are building to Ultima Lucha OK, but at least have a good match or something


LUCHA UNDERGROUND MASTER LIST

Read more!

Lucha Underground Episode 35: Fuel to the Fire Review

ER: Loved Pentagon meeting with his Master in the dojo, but really this Master sounds like a tough customer. You think he would be more unhappy with his slave looking like such a weenie against Sexy Star and a tubby commentator.

1. The Mack vs. Cage

ER: Oh man Striker calls Mack "lucha Ron Funches". That's awesome. Funches is a huge wrestling fan so I bet that tickled him. And this match was awesome. Two big guys who can move, simultaneously working a fast spot match and a power offense match. Right out the gate they slam into each other with double clotheslines and it makes this crazy sound, just two slabs of meat slamming into each other (oh man picture Kal Rudman saying a sentence like that...). All their power moves looked great, Cage holding a long vertical suplex, Mack doing a running vertical suplex, Mack hitting a nasty shin kick to Cage's jaw, Cage laying Mack the fuck out with his awesome discus clothesline (I've been critical of Cage in the past, but his discus clothesline ALWAYS looks great). These guys have been perfect foils for each other in LU, and they left me wishing the match was twice as long. This was about as much fun as you can cram into 5 minutes.

PAS: Yeah this was an awesome short Nitro match, I loved them coming out and slamming each other with clobbering lariats early. I have no problem with this going short as it was clearly setting up a big Ultimo Lucha match, the show is much more like a pre-PPV Raw then it ever was before, although it is a fine pre-PPV Raw.

ER: Vampiro was a bit too scripted in the Pentagon interview, but overall I liked it. I liked the humble approach Vampiro attempted to take, and liked the subtle reveal that Pentagon has the psychic power to magically place his chair back in a seated position.

2. Mil Muertes vs. Son of Havoc

ER: Damn, Muertes waiting in the ring and freaking Son of Havoc gets his entrance shown?? That shouldn't be. And I have no godly reason why they felt the need to make Havoc look so strong against Muertes. They needed to give Havoc a knee injury, and then have him distracted by taking out the Disciples of Death, and THEN Muertes was able to gain an advantage over him. It's structured really poorly as Havoc goes on his big offensive run after getting powerbombed meanly on the announce table and thrown through dozens of ringside chairs. I don't dislike Havoc, and I like him as part of their trios. But Muertes needed to just steamroll him here. What's even more odd is it was never pushed as Havoc having a chance. Striker said once that it would be maybe the biggest upset in LU, but even when Havoc was controlling things they were talking about how Muertes was going on to face Puma at Ultima Lucha. So we have Havoc looking really strong against Muertes but not really getting credit for it, and your big monster working underneath in a match against him. It just did not make sense to me.

PAS: It does seem weird that Havoc has gone from a jobber to a guy getting so much offense against the biggest killer in the fed. Muertes is really good at working in these type of matches killing flyers and I though this had some cool moments, but this did need to be closer to the second Fenix v. Muertes match.

ER: Didn't see the Blue Demon heel turn coming but that makes me infinitely more interested in Demon than I've ever been. So that counts for something.

3. Albert El Patron, Aerostar, Drago & Sexy Star vs. Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, Super Fly & Hernandez

ER: Man this fed is good at multi mans. This had everything you could possibly want, with Alberto looking like a big deal, Aerostar hitting this loony springboard reverse frog splash type thing to the floor....I mean good lord it looked weird and awesome. Drago brains himself on a tornillo, Sexy Star hits her own tornillo after setting it up for what I can only guess was several minutes edited down to still feel too long. Evans bumped all over the place in equally humorous and awesome fashion, and then was outbumped by Super Fly who took a big hiptoss over the top to the floor. Splat. Finish got a little silly with Evans having to move himself away from the ropes on the Patron armbar to stay in it longer, and then Mundo beating Sexy Star by holding the tights. The level of protection SS gets in this fed is flat out absurd.

PAS: This is the perfect kind of match to set up a big show, throw everyone in the ring and let them go after each other. I did think parts of this looked bad, especially the Sexy Star parts. Jack Evans is a loon and just takes everything in the worst way. Aerostar is a guy with a bunch of really pretty dives, although I did wish we got to see him and Super Fly go at it a bit, I know their feud isn't LU canon or anything, but I did love stuff like Piper and Valentine going after each other in Royal Rumbles.

ER: I think the Pentagon beatdown crossed a line for me. Not a moral line, but more just taking something so far that it gets eyeroll-y. Him ambushing Vampiro was awesome, kicking him hard in the back of the head, kicking him around at ringside. But then he gets a can that actually says "GASOLINE" all around it (I imagine he also keeps his money in burlap sacks with $$$ printed on the side) and douses Vampiro with it, threatening to light him on fire. Can you imagine if somebody did this in Vince Russo WCW? It would be getting mocked to this day. I really don't see how this is any less stupid than Tank Abbott holding a knife to Big Al's throat and threatening to kill him. The beatdown on Vampiro looked SOOOO good. But threatening to light a man on fire? My god that is just so stupid. Several weeks ago Pentagon went after Melissa Santos and it was shocking, over the line and within the realm of believability. It made Pentagon come off like not only a loose cannon, but a real scumbag, and a man with no code who is completely unpredictable. Now I know this promotion is clearly not going for believability. They have ghosts and the living dead and a dragon, and - maybe the most unbelievable thing possible - they attempt to make Sexy Star appear like a credible pro wrestler. But to expect anybody to get emotionally invested in a real person getting lit on fire in front of an audience...that's just so silly. At this point why didn't Pentagon just drop an anvil on Vampiro's head?

PAS: This fed does a bunch of goofy shit which irritates me, but honestly lighting a guy on fire is part of the narrative world of pro wrestling. This wasn't that far off from the Sheik, Lawler and virtually the same as the kind of stuff that they do in Big Japan. As a crazy threat it was fine, and I did like the out of nowhere attack. I have way more problems with all the goofy Black Lotus stuff then I did with this.


COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND LIST

Read more!