Reviews

Lucha Underground Review 04/20/16 by Mark McAllen

TJR Wrestling

Taped in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California this is Lucha Underground for Season 2 – Episode 13.

Fenix is shown sitting in Dario Cueto’s office. Cueto tells Fenix that he was lucky he survived his match with Matanza two weeks ago. Cueto: “But I guess you are the man of endless lives, and I am the man of endless opportunities.” The camera pans over to reveal that Drago and Aerostar are also in Cueto’s office sitting next to Fenix. Cueto says that he needs one more team for his Trios Tournament, and that they would be the ideal team. However, they lost in the first round of last year’s Trios Tournament because Drago and Aerostar couldn’t get along. Instead, Cueto pairs Fenix with PJ Black and Jack Evans (they’ll be taking on The Disciples of Death later tonight). Knowing Drago and Aerostar get along much better know, Cueto says that he plans on testing how strong their new relationship is when he has them face each other for one of the seven ancient Aztec medallions. And that match… is next.

Mexican rock band El Conjunto Nueva Ola kick off this week’s episode with their musical stylings as our commentators Matt Striker and Vampiro welcome us back to The Temple. Striker reminds us that tonight’s main event will be Mil Muertes will be taking on Lucha Underground Champion Matanza for the LU Title.

Aerostar Drago

Aerostar vs. Drago (Winner earns one of the seven Aztec medallions)

Last week Texano defeated the debuting Daga for the one of the medallions. This will be for the second. Both men quickly trade reversals and pinfalls early on. The two reach a stalemate and stare down each other while the crowd shows their appreciation. Aerostar springboards off the ropes looking to catch Drago off guard, but Drago catches him with a kick to the head. Aerostar gets to his feet quickly, runs up the turnbuckle and hits Drago with a corkscrew crossbody. This time Drago recovers quickly and takes down Aerostar with a springboard armdrag. This match has been very even so far. Impressed with their evenly combated back and forth, Aerostar looks for a handshake. Drago goes to shake Aerostar’s hand, but dropkicks him instead.

Drago runs at Aerostar in the corner, but Aerostar dodges. Drago follows his momentum and heads outside of the ring. Aerostar looks to springboard off the ropes and dive on Drago, but he slips and falls to the floor. That looked like a legitimate slip up, but it didn’t come across as awkward or cringe worthy because the announcers played it off as something that’s going to happen when you go for a high risk maneuver. Drago rolls Aerostar back in the ring, but Aerostar hits a hurricanrana sending Drago back outside. Aerostar tries again for a springboard off the top rope onto Drago and nails it this time. Both men get to their feet and Drago keeps Aerostar on the outside. He rolls himself back into the ring and this time he hits a big dive over the top ropes onto Aerostar.

Back in the ring, Drago catches Aerostar in the ropes and hits a Randy Orton-esque DDT. He goes for the cover, but Aerostar kicks out at two. Both men get back to their feet and after hitting a big dropkick on Drago in the corner, he sits him up on the top turnbuckle. Aerostar gets to the top rope adjacent from Drago, walks along the second rope to Drago and looks for a hurricanrana. However, Drago throws him off the turnbuckle and hits him with a missile dropkick. They get to their feet and trade blows until Aerostar gains the upper hand and hits a double knee jawbreaker (codebreaker). Aerostar then hits a springboard splash for the win after 7 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Aerostar

Evaluation: Exciting opening match! Usually the opening matches don’t get over 5 minutes, so I’m happy this got the time it did. 7 minutes of these two wrestling feels like 15 minutes due to the fast pace. I really like the way Striker and Vampiro handled Aerostar’s slip up. Every wrestler executing every move perfectly is unrealistic. Mess ups happen. It should be talked about by the announcers as a natural part of what happens/could happen when you step in the ring. Kudos to those two.

(Commercial)

Johnny Mundo’s shown working out backstage when Taya comes to see him. She said that she just spoke with Cueto and she got him to put Mundo in a match for one of the seven ancient Aztec medallions. The match is next week and it’s against Cage in a steel cage. Cage in a cage. Mundo said he’s going to shut down the machine once and for all.

Another commercial break since the opening match and segment with Cueto went long.

(Commercial)

Fenix Disciples of Death

Jack Evans, PJ Black & Fenix vs. The Disciples of Death (w/Catrina)

This is the final first round matchup in the Trios Tournament. The teams who have advanced so far are: Joey Ryan & The Crew as well as El Dragon Azteca Jr, Prince Puma & Rey Mysterio. PJ Black and Trese kick off the match. PJ gets Trese in an arm lock and tries tagging in Evans, but Evans refuses. Evans: “You’re doing so well! Keep going!” Black hits a superkick and gets a nearfall on Trese. While Siniestro de la Muerte is outside the ring, Fenix springboards off the ropes and hits him with a big corkscrew crossbody. Black tries again to tag in Evans, but Evans is stretching and doing jumping jacks. Evans: “I don’t want to get injured!” Evans finally tags in, but it caught by Siniestro who trips him up and pulls him by his legs into the ring post, crotch first. Ouch.

All three members of the D.O.D. team up on Black in the corner with frequent tags. PJ eventually escapes the corner and makes it to Fenix for the hot tag. Fenix takes out Siniestro with dropkicks and springboard attacks. Fenix goes the cover after a brainbuster, but Siniestro kicks out at two. Siniestro counters Fenix and gains control. He tags in Barrio Negro who tears at Fenix’s mask. Poor Fenix. He’s the only masked wrestler in LU who constantly has people trying to rip his mask off. Fenix gets out of Negro’s clutches and tries to tag in PJ, but Evans puts his hand in front of PJ’s and gets tagged in. Evans takes out the D.O.D. with a series of kicks including a Pele kick. Fenix now tags himself in and hurricanrana’s Negro into a rollup, but Negro kicks out. Fenix uppercuts Negro wo’s sitting at the top turnbuckle. While Negro is dazed, Fenix runs up the turnbuckle and hurricanrana’s him into the middle of the ring. Fenix then tags in PJ who hits a springboard 450 splash. He goes for the pin and almost gets the three count until Siniestro breaks it up. I thought that would be it.

The action spills outside and PJ leaps over the top rope onto Siniestro and Trese. While he was in the air, PJ made the tag to Fenix. Negro is alone in the ring and before Fenix can enter, he gets cut off by Evans who tells him that he’s going to show Fenix how it’s done. Evans kicks Negro down and does an amazing handspring dive over the top ropes onto everyone outside the ring. Fenix then hits his own springboard 450 splash onto Negro for the win after about 10 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Jack Evans, PJ Black & Fenix

Evaluation: Another good match. I love Jack Evans and his heel antics. I thought him not tagging in right away was funny and even at the end of the match when Fenix got his hand raised, he ripped the refs hand off of Fenix had him raise his hand instead. I don’t see PJ being a heel for too long. You can already see him and Fenix siding with each other over Evans. There were plenty of great spots and they kept the match interesting with the drama going on inside the ring. Great job from the winning team and the D.O.D.

(Commercial)

Back in El Jefe’s office, Cueto is talking with the Trios Champions: Son of Havoc, Ivelisse & Angelico. Cueto tells them that they won’t be facing the winners of the Trios Tournament for their titles. Instead, they’ll be in the Trios Tournament. He said that he’s given them a bye to the finals; so next week will be a four-team Trios match for the Trios Championship.

Catrina is backstage with the D.O.D. She tells them that Mil gave them one last chance and they’ve failed miserably. She tells them to give her one good reason why she shouldn’t destroy all of them right now. Siniestro then turns on Negro and Trese, killing them by ripping their hearts out. Now I catch Striker’s hint during the Trios match when he said Siniestro was the heart of the D.O.D. Smooth Striker, real smooth.

(Commercial)

It’s main event time!

Lucha Underground Championship: Matanza (w/Dario Cueto) vs. Mil Muertes (w/Catrina)

As they do every week, the El Rey Network’s YouTube channel uploaded this week’s main event in its entirety. You can watch the full match below.

I like how Cueto wears the key to the cage he keeps Matanza locked in around his neck. It’s monster vs. monster. The bell rings and we’re underway! The two men stare each other down before Mil throws the first punch. They’re pretty much the exact same size. Mil gets the advantage on Matanza as he beats him down with punches until Matanza falls to his knees. That’s the first time we’ve seen Matanza out-powered. Matanza gets back to his feet and counters Mil, hitting him with a big clothesline.

Both men trade reversals until Mil catches Matanza with a scoop slam and continues to punch at him while he’s down. From underneath Mil, Matanza grabs Mil’s throat and begins to choke him until they both let go of each other and get to their feet. Mil attacks Matanza some more in the corner and dominates him once again. Cueto starts yelling at Matanza to “kill him now!” Matanza looks for what is becoming is becoming a signature move of his, the back-to-back-to-back gutwrench suplexes. He hits the first two but Mil fights out of it before Matanza could hit the third. Mil then tosses Matanza like a rag doll over the top rope and outside the ring. He goes for a suicide dive onto Matanza and nails it perfectly.

While Matanza’s down, Mil gets on top of him and starts punching away at his face. He eventually stops when Cueto interferres and forearms Mil’s back. Mil slowly walks toward Cueto and picks him up from his neck. However, this gives Matanza enough time to get to his feet and jump Mil. This time Catrina hits Matanza on the back of his head. Matanza puts his hands around Catrina’s throat, but gets hit by Mil with a steel chair across his back. The action spills up the steps as both men swing at each other with cans as the ascend The Temple. They throw each other on to the top of Cueto’s office. Mil tries to throw Matanza off, but Matanza fights it. They both struggle to throw each other off until Mil goes for his signature move, the Flatliner, on the top of Cueto’s office. Mil nails it and send them both through the roof of Cueto’s office! Wow! I was not expecting that. The crowd’s freaking out. That’s all she wrote as this match is a draw after about 8 minutes.

Result: Draw

Evaluation: That was a really fun “big man” match. The flatliner spot through Cueto’s roof was really cool. It would have been better if the hole they created in the roof wasn’t such a perfect rectangle. That took away from the moment a bit for me, but still a cool spot. I loved how much of a beast Mil Muertes looked like coming out of this match. He dominated Matanza for the majority of the match and technically did not lose to him. Since it was a draw this means we’ll definitely be seeing a rematch between these two for the belt, maybe with a stipulation added on to it.

We head over to the office of the woman who sent undercover detectives Joey Ryan and Cortez Castro to The Temple. Ryan and Castro were sent to The Temple to look into the suspicious activities behind Dario Cueto. A man walks into the office and tells the woman in charge that “his employer” feels it would be in her best interest if she dropped the case against Cueto. Basically threatening that if she continues to pursue this case she’ll be a target of his “powerful” employer.

Game Ball goes to…

Aerostar – I liked his match with Drago tonight the best. Aerostar stood out to me on an episode that was from top to bottom quite good. For that, he gets the game ball.

Final Thoughts

– An all-around good episode from LU. Similar to last week, all three matches got around the same time and all were fun matches.

– Interesting to see that Siniestro de la Muerte is the member of the Disciples of Death who’ll be getting a push.

– It was refreshing seeing Black, Evans, Drago and Aerostar again. It felt like a long time since we last saw them on LU.

– Another great job by Lucha Underground in setting up big matches for next week. Mundo vs. Cage in a steel cage should be great and hopefully the conclusion of their feud. It’s been fun while it lasted, but it’s time to move on. The four team Trios match should be wild too.

__

That’s it for me. Thanks for reading. If you like Lucha Underground and have other friends who enjoy the show too, then give this review a share. I appreciate any thoughts or conversation in the comment section below.

Pictures used above are courtesy of Lucha Underground.