Lucha Underground Review 3-18-15

Hello again everyone and welcome to another look into the world of creepy little kids in dead people makeup and insane bumps off coffins, Lucha Underground. Those two things were of course part of this week’s main event, the coffin match between Mil Muertes and Fénix to officially settle their feud. Also this week we get another match in the Drago v. Aerostar best of 5, and Big Ryck looks for his revenge on the Crew. March Madness indeed! This week I was just happy to be home to watch the show and write about it after an insane week and a half at the day job. Pro-tip kids, never quit a job because you think it’s too easy in order to take a “more challenging position”, unless you also enjoy hitting yourself in the head with steel chairs, in which case go for it. Ok, enough about work, this week’s show was highly enjoyable so lets get to it, shall we? As always I’ll break down the show in chronological order than give my thoughts on the main happenings. Let’s Lucha!

The Rundown

Recap of Big Ryck and Sexy Star issues with Crew, Drago-Aerostar best of 5 series so far, and love/hate triangle with Catrina, Mil Muertes, and Fénix

Aerostar defeats Drago via pinfall (takes 2-1 lead in best of 5 series)

Konan teaches Prince Puma chess or something

Big Ryck defeats The Crew in 3 on 1 Handicap Elimination match

Fénix defeats Mil Muertes in Coffin match

The 2 in 2 and 1

A couple of weeks ago after Aerostar defeated Drago, Dario Cueto announced since each had a win against the other, they’d go best of 5 with the winner getting one of Dario Cueto’s “Unique Opportunities”. This week we got the third match between two competitors whose familiarity with one another is really starting to show in the ring.

The chemistry between these two is spectacular and their similar styles work very well together. It was smart booking to make this a best of five in order to maximize that rapport. The match tonight was another counter-filled back and forth affair that; to my surprise; saw Aerostar get the victory to take the lead in the series.

After the match, the two again had a show of respect and honor in the ring with a post-ring handshake. It’s worth noting that Drago was a little hesitant to shake Aerostar’s hand this time around though. Could this be leading to a heel turn for Drago?

King takes Pawn

Another week and there is another edition of Konnan teaching us the Art of War. This time he uses chess to teach Puma and us how to conquer an opponent. The chess analogy is a bit old hat by now, but I thought this promo was alright. I’m not sure how chess will help Puma beat Cage, since I’m pretty sure Cage is the type who throws the chess board, the table, and the person who’s playing him the moment he loses his first piece.

Cage and Puma will meet next week for Puma’s Lucha Underground title. Presumably Puma will have a new belt to show off for that match. Whether he’s able to keep it remains to be seen though. I can see a scenario where Konnan turns on Puma, or I can see Puma winning and them holding that scenario for later.

History

Cage vs. Puma won’t be the only championship match on Lucha Underground next week. For the first time ever, the AAA Championship will be defended in Lucha Underground! Alberto El Patron will defend his title against man he took the title from, Texano. This is obviously a huge match and a big deal for Lucha Underground. Their ratings are likely to shoot up as a result of having this match next week, and they are hoping those people that tune in for the first time to see this historic defense like what they see enough to come back for more.

I am betting this leads to an even bigger following for Lucha Underground and I can’t say enough how much they deserve it. With the two title matches, next week’s show is going to be incredible and I can’t wait to see it.

Crewed Awakening

The Crew had every advantage this week in their long built up match with Big Ryck. Three on One, Elimination, No Disqualification…none of it mattered. They were dealing with an angry, one-eyed beast of a man. Ryck systematically took out his former running mates and overcame the numbers game to finally put an end to this feud. He got a bit of help from Sexy Star in bringing the last member of the Crew, Mr. Cisco, back to the ring when he realized he was on his own and tried to bail.

When Sexy Star gently escorted Mr. Cisco back to the ring, Ryck gave him a vicious Ryck Bottom (that’s what I’m calling his finisher and you can’t stop me) onto a steel chair. That looked seriously painful. I’m glad this feud is over so Ryck can move on to better things.

I’m curious to see what happens next for the Crew. Losing a match like this doesn’t bode well for them, and I’m sure we’ll see Dario Cueto giving them hell for it down the line. I don’t buy them as credible threats right now and they will need to do something to make them credible again.

We Want Cueto

Speaking of the shifty boss, he was not around this week. I’m not sure, but I think this may be the first episode without Cueto. I know he’s an ancillary character, but he brings a lot to the show and I missed him on my TV. Hopefully next week we’ll get some Cueto.

I See Dead People

The coffin match main event was one of the best matches yet in Lucha Underground. I’ve loved the rivalry between Fénix and Mil Muertes and I’m kind of sorry to see this feud wrap up, but man was the blow off mach worth it. They made a big deal of the match, as they should have. The coffin was brought out by a slew of characters in traditional Dia De Los Muertos costumes, and you could definitely tell from everything from the crowd to the wrestlers entrances that this was a huge match.

Throughout the match, the two thrived by exhibiting the qualities that make their characters so good. Mil used his heavy hitting, rough style to beat the living crap out of Fénix for most of the match. At one point he even took off the turnbuckle and used it to beat on Fénix till he showed color. Mil also ripped the mask half off Fénix and was just vicious throughout the match. He was great at showing his anger throughout.

Fénix for his part did what his name implies he would, coming back again and again only to have Mil Muertes beat him back down. There were some great spots involving the coffin and several points where I was quite concerned for Fénix’s health. It was quite the showing.

The fulcrum on which this match turned was of course Catrina. She came out with Fénix and was active at ringside during the match. I thought this whole story was leading towards Catrina luring Fénix in and then betraying him when it mattered most. I was surprised when she didn’t turn on him. Fénix won when Catrina held the coffin open for him as he kicked Mil Muertes into it. She gave the mythical stone of Mil Muertes a lick of death and then slammed the lid shut on the man of 1,000 deaths, allowing the man of 1,000 lives to win. Somewhere, Chris Jericho is reading his list of 1,001 lives and deaths.

This was an outstanding, violent match and was everything I hoped for when they announced it last week. Now we see if Catrina stays with Fénix or if she moves on again. Also how will Mil Muertes fair when he is on his own? The culmination of this feud is going to lead to some very interesting storylines down the road, I think.

The Wrap

That’s all for me this week. What did you think of the show? Were you surprised when Catrina didn’t turn on Fénix? Did you miss Cueto’s smarminess the way I did? What did you think of Drago’s reluctance to shake Aerostar’s hand after their match?

Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading once again. It’s good to be back after missing last week due to work stuff. I’m very much looking forward to writing about next weeks show! Have a good week everyone, and remember, never lick a coffin stone! There’s sooooo many germs on those things!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQCgzeLhC-U