Lucha..Lucha..Lucha..Lucha..
Hey everyone, I hope your week is going well, I’m back for another week with a Lucha Underground review, the show is really building to something special and as we draw nearer and nearer to Ultimo Lucha, my excitement rises. It will be sad once it’s all over, but with recent news and situations developing I think we could have an active off season, but more on this later, I plan on padding this column since it is a bit late. I got some news and other things going on in the business to speak on. Now I’m travelling with work, so as I sit writing this now, its a late night in a hotel. I also wanted be candid and say for the record, when people comment on post or reach out, I may be late in responding because I do work nights, so bare with me in that aspect. The good news is our busy season shouldn’t stretch too much longer, and I have some ideas on how to keep this column going during Lucha’s off season, anyway enough of that let’s get into the show.
The show starts off the best way possible, PENTAGON JR., he is having an interesting discussion with Dario Cueto. Cueto tries to persuade Lucha Underground’s most dangerous man into competing in a match for one of the medallions. Jr is awesome, shakes his head and wages his finger no, after Cueto continues trying to sell his agenda, Jr keeps it real by telling him, he and his master have no use for them. He also adds if he wanted them he would have broken his arm and taken all of them, this was so freaking great by the way. He then talks more of his masters wishes and says he will not be satisfied until he gets his hands on Vampiro then exits.
Bengala is in the ring and we are reminded we haven’t seen him in some time, I think it’s because he got his arm broken but I’m not sure, I don’t really remember him that much. I wasn’t super excited about this match until I found out he was facing Daivari, and I really hope Daivari goes over here.
Match 1 = Bengala VS Daivari
This was a decent opener, as I stated I don’t remember much of Bengala so I really had no emotional attachment to his character, I think they knew that might be a factor because he came right out of the gates with a dive. It’s not long before Ryck who is still paired with Daivari starts to interfere. Daivari’s work style is pretty simple here, mostly dastardly strikes and simple heel heat tactics. Bengala hit a big DTT and transitioned nicely into a technical pin attempt and honestly I thought this would be a surprise finish, but Daivari barely kicked out here. I will say Bengala does pick it up as we go on, hitting a nice dive on a surprised Ryck garnering a nice pop, and eventually uses Ryck to transition into the finish. Daivari calls Ryck to help him cheat, but Bengala force Ryck to strike Daivari then hit hits him with a belly to back suplex pin for the win.
Winner = Bengala
Eh, this was ok but I’m bias and a Daivari fan and I feel as though he was just straight up jobbed out. Even the way the match was worked it wasn’t super interesting because I has no emotional attachment to Bengala, like seriously they might as well have debuted someone new because I really had to think hard of who he was. I will say this was not Daivari’s best effort and I feel they could have came up with a better story than the one they came up with, but it was a decent way to start the show.
Next During a commentary segment Vampiro leaves the announce table. He claims he must do something and heads to the ring. He cuts a promo on Pentagon pretty much re stating what he said last week, his time is gone and that he is a family man now. He does begin to talk about Pentagon, and in awesome fashion and a really disrespectful fashion Pentagon comes out right in the middle of his speech, this was freaking awesome and I’m happy they are finally booking Jr so solid. During their exchange Jr punked Vampiro by poking fun at his name and trying to make him weak, this back fired and caused Vampiro to snap and return to his Vampiro roots. He grabs Jr and chockes slams the hell out of him and stands in the crowd as all the fans begin to mark out for his return, Piro makes it very clear he will be facing Jr at Ultimo Lucha.
Once we return we get a deep promo from sexy star, she is going through the past history between her a Superfly in her head, it is intended on pumping up for their match later tonight. I will say this was interesting because this is the only vignette that I have seen thus far that didn’t fit. It fits story line wise, but the editing was crude and almost looked like a wwe style production, the music didn’t add anything either and almost took away from the message, and add the fact you could tell it was just spliced in didn’t make it feel natural like all the vignettes before this, I will take into account I am not the best Sexy Star fan though.
Next we have the match I have been waiting for, if you are caught up on my reviews you know I have mentioned I am missing King Cuerno, not only that, I know they were pushing for him to have a match with Killshot, and since both use the hunter style, i thought this rivalry could really go some where. I was not disappointing with finally seeing my boy Cuerno return to the temple, and Melissa introduced kill shot as his opponent.
Match 2 = King Cuerno VS Killshot
This match was everything I wanted it to be, this was technical warfare and I loved every freaking min of it, except for commentary. THIS IS THE ONLY TIME I HATED STRIKER AND VAMPIRO. I literally watched this match back without any sound because they would not SHUT UP and let the match build on its own. I get it, these guys have a different style, and they run a slower pace but let the true fans catch the little details and enjoy the vibe, commentary killed this, they were going on long rambles and missing calls on BIG spots and were over talking the crowd and your personal reactions, I freaking HATED this. Again I had to turn the volume off just to enjoy it since I really love looking into fine detail. Anyway back to the important thing the match, I loved it. Killshot comes right out of the gates, even though Cuerno seemed to have the momentum, Killshot did not stop attacking and begin to look like he had Cuerno’s number. He hit a nice counter to stop a Cuerno dive, and also hits a nice ranna on Cuerno on the outside. Cuerno does return by hitting a nice body slam on Kilshot, not in the ring but on the apron edge, it was freaking nasty and I wish striker wasn’t talking during it. Killshot is really going to be something, and even though I see Cuerno as the veteran here, I enjoyed Killshot fire even though Cuerno was the ring general. After being impressed by Killshot my boy Cuerno comes back and hits a nice reverse hurricanrana spiking Killshot into the mat head first. Afterwards he transitions nicely into his arrow dive and we go into the finish. Once they get out more back and forth, Cuerno locks in a surf board then pulls down killshot wrapping his arms around his throat for the choke. It didn’t take long for Killshot to tap and the match ends by submission.
Winner = King Cuerno
As I said I loved the match, and even though it was for one of the Aztec medallions I personally didn’t care, I know they are using those so we care, but I was so hyped for this match already I forgot it was on the line at all. Honestly it is clear Cuerno is the better hunter and is the better ring tactician but man, Killshot gave him a go. I really feel they should revisit this and as commentary stated, among talking during the whole freaking match, Killshot did an amazing job hunting the hunter, and I hope they exploit this in the future.
Match 3 = Sexy Star VS Super Fly
Now I don’t have words to describe what I saw but I just didn’t feel it, so basically they trot out Superfly after hyping this match, and even though I wasn’t that excited to see it he loses in 2 seconds. Like literally, they lock up, he drop kicks her which is how they have started all of their matches, and then next thing you know she throws him down in a lame arm hold and he taps out like a pansy in 3 seconds. He pretty much tapped before she applied the lock and I didn’t like it at all, it looked terrible, and I think Fly showed his ego here. Again I am not in to Sexy Star, I was but man its just so stale, I understand her plot and her why they are running with her story, but they need to freshen this up ASAP.
WInner = Sexy Star
Next out comes Marty the Meh, I mean Moth and he basically grabs Sexy Star’s new medallion she just won, and challenges her for it. After showing she is a strong women, she takes the match and we have a new match.
Match 4 = Sexy Star VS Marty the Moth
So this was ok, a little better than I expected but again I’m just not into it, I respect the character I just wish they had more story to offer. I won’t spend too much on this because I don’t have too much to offer in terms of positives to say, and that is a bit un fair, but I can’t help how not into any of this I was, I get it they are trying to book her different, they are trying to do something for women fans, but man its like un interesting. Moth is meh but I also know that is his character, and as far as the medallions I knew Star would win won from the beginning because she is like women Cena. To some this up Star beats the Moth with the same “armbar” she used on Super Fly, but its not an armbar it looks lame and un convincing.
Winner = Sexy Star
Now we get an update on the match card so far for Ultimo Lucha and it looks awesome. I am pretty sure there will be more matches added so I won’t do a complete rundown yet, but it looks amazing.
Finally dario comes out to promote the Ultimo Lucha Main Event which is Mil Muertes and Puma for the title. He calls Puma and Muertes to the ring for a face of so we’ll get a tease as to what might happen at Ultimo Lucha. This was done perfect, Cueto acted this out perfectly. basically Puma and Mil Muertes comes out, then Catrina and the Deciples come down as Cueto is desperately trying to preserve the fight for the PPV. The deciples then attack Puma causing Konann to come out and use his cane, he does take out the deciples but Muertes hits Konann in the stomach with his own cane, and then Catrina hits him with her stone. Puma is beat down and being chocked as he watches Konann being put in a casket and then Puma gets dropped with a flat liner to end the show. This was freaking amazing and really ended the show on a high note. I can’t wait for Ultimo Lucha and I hope you enjoyed the show.
News And More….
So Hernandez has taken his heel turn a bit into a shoot. It is being reported that he basically told TNA he was done with Lucha Underground. They did not do any digging and just trusted him on this, like I said when I heard he was on impact I assumed he must be done with the company but as it turns out he was not. Lucha Underground basically told TNA they can not use any of the footage they shot with Hernandez and did not accept a deal TNA tried to cut to use the footage. Since he joined the Beat Down Clan (lamest name ever for a faction) it really hurts what impact can do as far as editing episodes together. I can’t help but wonder exactly how they will piece together shows with one of their main story lines ruined. Personally from a heel perspective, I loved this, and I laughed my ass off when I found out, nice one Hernandez.
As I stated above I am traveling with work so I was a little late on the show, the good news is while driving I was able to catch up on some podcasts and news. Steve Austin had Eric Van Wagenen on his podcast and it was a treat to listen too. They started out talking about how they met on tough enough, and personally I think they were ribbing WWE’s new rendition of the show now, especially with all the talks the USA network is extremely disappointed in the ratings. After the guys shot the shit they moved on to more important things like LUCHA UNDERGROUND, i can’t stress to you enough, if you are a LUCHA fan you need to listen to this interview. He goes into how they found Dario Cueto, some of the history of finding the building, and how the roster came together. It was interesting to hear some of the ills they went through as well, like how the whole direction of the show was changed because some of the roster could not get past the boarder for the first round of tapings. The stories about Dario Cueto are fantastic, and it really proves he is the best character on the roster, it also talked about his transition into wrestling, one thing I will give away, apparently at a show Dario was just destroyed by a crowd. He went back stage and couldn’t believe that someone in the crowd told him his mom’s pussy tasted like sour milk. I laughed so hard and can picture the culture shock of first getting into wrestling and wrestling crowd,I will leave this hear because I want you guys to check it out for your selves. Also quick Fenix and Pentagon Jr are actual brothers in real life, definitely check this out podcast for insider info, I heard it on youtube.
The season 2 Scenario
The good news, Eric clearly states that El Rey wants them to return for season 2 and has offered them a deal already, this is why it was originally reported that season 2 was a lock by some media. here is the problem, production wants to keep the quality of the product in its current state, however it would be hard to do with the current deal on the table from El Rey. Even though DVD’s, more exposure, and a lot more opportunities are on the table, the offer El Rey put up is not conducive to keeping the product as quality as it is, so with that being a situation they are looking for other offers. Netflix could be possible as well as pairing with other networks, and he made it clear they are committed to preserving the future of the product. Also to paraphrase Eric, he states he hopes Lucha Underground is the last television and reality show he will work on because he wants it to succeed.
Well I hope you enjoyed this weeks Review, I will see you guys next time.
– GRAINBELT JONES
