Reviews

Lucha Underground Review 05/18/16 by Mark McAllen

TJR Wrestling

Taped in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California this is Lucha Underground for Season 2 – Episode 17.

Cage barges into Dario Cueto’s office as Cueto is seen stuffing money in a bag. Cage complains about how Chavo Guerrero stole his ancient Aztec medallion and is hiding it from him. Cueto tells Cage that it is Cage’s problem, not his. He tells Cage to make sure he gets back his medallion because if Chavo places the medallion in the Gift of the Gods belt, then he’ll be in the Gift of the Gods Title match instead of Cage. Since Cage refuses to leave Cueto’s office, Cueto tells Cage to accompany him to the ring, right now.

Evaluation: Why did Cage wait two weeks to complain to Cueto about this?

Cueto and Cage head to the ring where Cueto introduces the Gift of the Gods concept to the audience. The winner of the title gets an opportunity to compete for the Lucha Underground Championship. It’s kind of similar to WWE’s Money in the Bank concept, but in Lucha Underground you can’t just “cash in” the Gift of the Gods Title at any moment. The match has to be scheduled ahead of time. Cueto announces that there will be a 7-Way match tonight between everyone who holds an Aztec medallion for the right to hold the Gift of the Gods Championship. Cueto calls out everyone who holds a medallion to the ring to place it into the Gift of the Gods belt. Texano, Joey Ryan, Sinestro de la Muerte, Aerostar, The Mack and Sexy Star all come out, place their medallion in the title and leave. Chavo is the last one to come out with the medallion he stole from Cage and he brought a chair with him. Cueto leaves the two men alone as he encourages them to “fight it out.”

Cage goes after Chavo right away, throwing him into the corner, punching him and kicking him while he’s down. Cage picks up the tiny bag that holds the medallion, but once he removes the medallion he notices that Chavo replaced the real medallion with a fake one. As Cage realizes this, he gets attacked from behind with chair shots from Chavo who afterwards places the real Aztec medallion in the Gift of the Gods Title. Cage clotheslines Chavo, but it’s too late. Cueto announces that Chavo is now officially in the match instead of Cage. Cueto: “Sorry, man.” Cage: “Dario, you should know by now. I’m not a man, I’m a machine.” Cage hits Chavo with his Weapon X finishing move and leaves.

Evaluation: It doesn’t make too much sense that Chavo could be entered into the match just by stealing the medallion and placing it in the GOTG Title. Wouldn’t that render all the qualifying matches useless? Shouldn’t all the luchadores and luchadoras just try and cleverly steal the medallions from each other instead of wrestling for them?

(Commercial)

Four Way Match LU

Four Way Match: Argenis vs. Daga vs. Kobra Moon vs. Mascarita Sagrada (w/Famous B & Beautiful Brenda)

Famous B did his best Paul Heyman impersonation as he introduced Mascarita Sagrada. The bell rings and we’re underway. Sagrada dropkicked Kobra who was lounging on the ropes, sending her outside the ring. Sagrada then took out Daga and Argenis with hurricanranas and spinning head scissors. It wasn’t long until Sagrada was stopped though as Kobra gained control and got a couple of nearfalls on Sagrada. Daga tosses Kobra out of the ring as it’s now Daga against Argenis. Daga hits Argenis with an enziguri kick before both men took the action outside the ring. Inside the ring Kobra and Sagrada go at it as Sagrada hits Kobra with a flying cross body. Sagrada goes for the pin, but it’s broken up by Argenis. Argenis hit Sagrada with a big powerslam, knocking Sagrada out.

Daga gets back in the ring and puts Argenis and Kobra in a unique submission move, kind of like a Gory Special into a pendulum. That looks really impressive. Daga holds it until Sagrada interferes. Daga takes out Argenis while Kobra puts Sagrada in a dragon sleeper which turns into her hitting a modified piledriver. Instead of going for the pin, Kobra slides into the corner of the ring allowing Daga to cover Sagrada. Daga does so and picks up the win after 5 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Daga

Post-match, Daga looks at Kobra confused as to why she would let him win. Kobra’s body language suggests that she’s taking a liking to Daga.

Evaluation: That was an okay match. That submission move by Daga that he locked into Kobra and Argenis was really cool. That’s about it though. It was a short match that’s purpose was to create a story between Kobra and Daga. I can get behind a Kobra and Daga pairing if they decide to go that route. I like Kobra and I’ve only seen one of Daga’s matches, but from what I saw (vs. Texano) I was incredibly impressed. Daga is very talented, so if it means I get to see more Daga on my screen more then I’m all for it.

(Commercial)

Killshot is putting on his gear backstage when he’s confronted by Marty “The Moth” Martinez. Marty lets Killshot know that they have a match tonight and that he hopes Killshot’s “ready for battle, soldier.” Marty puts his hands on Killshot a couple times forcing Killshot to take Marty down. Killshot leaves and while on the ground, Marty laughs manically.

Mexican rock band El Conjunto Nueva Ola play Marty to the ring while the crowd chants “creepy bastard” at him.

Marty vs Killshot

Marty “The Moth” Martinez vs. Killshot

After messing with him for a bit, Marty tosses Killshot out of the ring. As Marty gets out of the ring to continue the attack, Killshot hits him with an enziguri kick. Marty falls to the floor and Killshot looks to capitalize as he gets in the ring and dives over the top rope onto Marty. However, Marty catches him and powerslams Killshot on the floor. Marty picks up Killshot and rolls him back into the ring.

Marty gets in total control of the match as he hits Killshot with an exploder in the corner and gets a nearfall on him. Eventually Killshot counters Marty and begins to fight back. He nails Marty with a kick to the side of the head and a stunner. Killshot goes for the cover, but Marty kicks out at two. Now back to their feet, Killshot hits Marty with a big superkick. They battle on the apron outside the ropes as both men evenly trade blows. They do so until Killshot connects with a big Death Valley Driver on the apron. That looked like it hurt.

Marty and Killshot are knocked out and have a tough time getting to their feet. The referee gets to a count of nine before both men roll their bodies into the ring just in time. Marty’s seen bleeding from the mouth/nose. Weary, Marty and Killshot trade a series of punches in a “boo, yay” sequence until Marty gets the upper hand with a clothesline. Marty hits Killshot with a curb stomp an goes for the cover, but Killshot kicks out at two. Frustrated, Marty hits Killshot with clothesline after clothesline until Killshot catches Marty and hits him with his finishing move, “Killshocked.” Not too clever of a name but it looks devastating and is enough for Killshot to pick up the victory after 7 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Killshot

Post-match, Marty attacks Killshot from behind and tosses him outside the ring. He throws Killshot into the barricade, then picks him up by his feet and swings him into the ring post. Marty rolls Killshot back into the ring and hits him with a curb stomp off the top rope. Marty takes Killshot’s military dog tags and taunts him with it.

Evaluation: I liked that match. They did a good job for the time they were given and made the most of their 7 minutes. I thought Marty and Killshot did a good job of telling story throughout in having Killshot behind for most of the bout, visibly seeing Marty get frustrated and then having Killshot pull out the win at the end. The cheapshot from Marty after the match means this feud is just getting started and I’m looking forward to where they take us.

(Commercial)

It’s main event time!

7-Way Match for the Gift of the Gods Title: Texano vs. Joey Ryan vs. The Mack vs. Sinestro de la Muerte vs. Aerostar vs. Sexy Star vs. Chavo Guerrero

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.

The bell rings and we’re underway as all seven wrestlers attack one another, eventually spilling outside the ring. Sexy Star and Joey Ryan are left alone in the squared circle as Ryan offers Sexy his lollipop. Sexy politely says no with a kick to the gut. Sexy gets a nearfall on Ryan, forcing Ryan to snap and start hitting Sexy. Chavo gets in the ring and tells Ryan to stop, when Ryan does so Chavo rolls up Sexy for a quick pin attempt, but Ryan interrupts. As Chavo and Ryan argue with each other, Sexy and Mack team up by taking down Chavo and Ryan with simultaneous spinning head scissors.

Right as it looks like Sexy and Mack (who are both friends) were about to fight one another as the match is every man/woman for themselves, Texano tugs on Sexy’s leg from under the bottom rope and pulls her out of the ring, saying to her that “he’s got this.” Texano and Mack go at one another until Texano covers Mack for the pin and is interrupted by Aerostar. Texano unzips Aerostar’s shirt exposing his chest and lays into him with hard chops, but Aerostar counters and hits Texano with a springboard DDT. Aerostar goes for the cover, but to no avail as Texano kicks out.

Sinestro de la Muerte enters the ring and takes down Aerostar with a spinning elbow. Sexy is seen bidding her time outside the ring, letting Aerostar and Sinestro wear each other out. Aerostar hits Sinestro with an enziguri kick and springboard dives outside the ring onto Texano and Chavo. Sinestro follows suit and does the same. Now Ryan heads to the top rope, but Sexy pushes him off, heads to the top rope herself and lays out everyone with a flying crossbody.

Everyone eventually makes there way into the ring and get nearfalls on one another. We see Mack and Sexy teaming up some more before Chavo attacks both of them from behind and hits a frog splash on Ryan. He goes for the cover but Ryan kicks out. Everyone surrounds Chavo as he pleads for them to re-think what they’re about to do. Mack, Sexy, Texano, Sinestro and Aerostar all hit their signature moves on Chavo before Cage comes out. It looks like he’s going to hit Chavo with his Weapon X finisher, but he starts taking out everyone else instead. Cage clears out the ring until it’s just Ryan and Chavo in the ring with him. Cage hits Ryan with a big standing suplex into a piledriver and then drags Chavo’s body over Ryan’s for the cover. The referee counts to three and Chavo wins after 9 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Chavo Guerrero

Post-match, Cage throws the Gift of the Gods Title on Chavo as Chavo gets his wits back together and escapes the ring with the belt. Cage congratulates Chavo and tells him that he spoke with Dario Cueto. Cage said that next week, Chavo’s going to be defending the Gift of the Gods Title against him.

Evaluation: That was a fun match. I’m not a big fan of the idea of a 7-Way match as it means we’re going to see a lot of people “recuperating” at ringside doing nothing. We saw a lot of that in this match, but everyone involved still found a way to make it entertaining. I wasn’t a big fan of how it ended though. I understand why Cage would do it, but he just ruined everyone else’s shot at the GOTG Title too. Plus, I’m not the biggest Chavo fan when he’s a singles wrestler. I don’t think he has any realistic shot of winning the Lucha Underground Title nor do I think he’ll keep the GOTG belt for too long.

Vampiro is shown torturing Pentagon Jr. by elevating Pentagon with a harness and whipping him with what looks to be a kendo stick. Vampiro is then shown taking out a barbed wire bat and just as he’s about to beat Pentagon with it, the screen cuts to black and the Lucha Underground logo pops up.

Evaluation: I see Pentagon revolting against his master in the near future. I like where this is going. I also like how they’re keeping Pentagon relevant while he’s “out of action” from the beating he took from Matanza.

Game ball goes to…

Marty “The Moth” Martinez – No one really stood out too much for me in this episode, but after going through the show again I’ve got to give the game ball to The Moth. He was a part of my favorite match of the night against Killshot and he dominated most of that match. He also did a good job in the pre-match confrontation he had backstage with Killshot. He really brings the creep factor wherever he goes and gives it 100%.

Final Thoughts

– This was just an okay episode of Lucha Underground. I was expecting a lot more from the main event, but I probably shouldn’t have considering a 7-Way match is obviously going to be all over the place. It wasn’t just the match though because I thought every one did a solid job. Like I mentioned above, I thought the ending was pretty anti-climatic and lackluster. It’s pretty obvious that Chavo won’t hold on to the belt for too long and even if he does I’m not too happy about it just because I’m not a big Chavo guy.

– This episode set up a lot of new stories and rivalries for the future. I like the possibility of Kobra Moon and Daga becoming a pairing. The more of those two I get to see on a weekly basis, the better. I’m also liking this feud between Marty and Killshot. It’s just getting started and it’s already got a lot of heat behind it after tonight.

– The closing of the show with Vampiro torturing Pentagon Jr was very intriguing. It seems like Vampiro has totally gone insane and Pentagon’s going to revolt once he’s healthy. Maybe we can see another hardcore match between the two akin to their match at last year’s Ultima Lucha.

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Next week we’ll see Cage take on Chavo for the Gift of the Gods Championship. It wasn’t announced, but I also think we’ll likely get fallout from last week’s Graver Consequences match and figure out what King Cuerno is up to. Hopefully we get more PJ Black, Jack Evans and Drago too. They haven’t been used too much this season. I’d like to see them take more of a prominent role in the show.

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.