Lucha Underground Review 4-8-15       

Hello again everyone and welcome to another look into the Temple where Pentagon Jr. looks at Brock Lesnar’s legacy of broken arms and says “Meh, I can do better”, Lucha Underground! This week we keep calm and Trios on, Sexy Star faces Super Fly in an impromptu mask match, and Prince Puma defends his Lucha Underground championship against the hunter, King Cuerno! That’s a pretty solid lineup, so lets get down to business. If you haven’t read my reviews previously, I’ll list the segments and matches for you in order of appearance and then give some of my key takeaways from the show after. There is also a link to the show at the bottom of the page if you weren’t able to watch yet. Let’s Lucha everyone!

What Happened?

Recap of Pentagon Jr.-Sexy Star-Super Fly storyline

Recap of Son of Havoc-Ivelisse-Angélico storyline

Recap of Prince Puma v. Cage

Dario Cueto backstage segment with Prince Puma and Konnan,

Ivelisse, SOH and Angélico v. Fenix, Drago, and Aerostar (Son of Havoc pins Drago)

Backstage segment Konnan, Prince Puma and Johnny Mundo

Sexy Star defeats Super Fly in a Mask v. Mask match

Super Fly unmasks and gives his mask to Sexy Star, Pentagon Jr. attacks and “breaks” Super Fly’s arm

Prince Puma defeats King Cuerno to retain LU Title

Post-match big brawl between Hernandez, Puma and Mundo and Cuerno, Cage and Tejano

Cueto being Cueto

We all have that friend who’s kind of a jerk but can be funny when his jerkiness is directed at someone else, right? Usually this behavior is excused by the victim with “Oh that’s just so-and-so being so-and-so”. That’s how I feel about Dario Cueto when he’s being his smarmy, jerky self. First of all it’s never at my expense so I always find it hilarious. Secondly, even when it’s at the expense of luchadores I like, I excuse it with “That’s just Cueto Being Cueto.”

This week Cueto had a couple of those moments. In the opening segment, Cueto met with Konnan and Prince Puma backstage to inform them Puma would need to find two partners to join him in the Trios tournament next week. I like that Cueto explained he wants the Trios titles to feel as important as the big strap (take that, Vince McMahon!) That makes the tournament seem that much more special. Cueto then told Puma he’d be facing a team led by King Cuerno next week, and that he’d meet King Cuerno in the main event this week. Then Cueto got better/jerkier and told Konnan and Puma that Cuerno would have his Trios team members ringside with him tonight, and the match would be for the Lucha Underground title! The message being that Puma better find partners quickly to have his back in the main event. I like how Cuerno plays up being intimidated by Konnan while also confidently trying to screw him and his protégé at every turn. Cueto has this evil boss character down pretty well, and continues to be one of the highlights of the show for me. We’ll see him get even more evil later in the show.

Love Trio-angle?

Last week Dario Cueto put together the interesting but highly dysfunctional team of Son of Havoc, Ivelisse, and Angélico and added them to the Trios tournament despite their objections. This team should be entertaining to watch both for their individual skills and the likelihood that they’d blow up as a group. Luckily for them the team announced to face them also has some teamwork issues, with Fénix joining Drago and Aerostar, who are in the midst of an intense best of five series that has grown more heated with each contest. On paper both these teams have some serious talent, but which could overcome their personal issues.

That was really the story of the match. At various points throughout Drago and Aerostar blind-tagged each other and attempted to show up the other. On the other side Ivelisse was tagging in her teammates with slaps to the face, because love. The match wasn’t all personal drama though, there was, as you’d expect from this caliber of talent, some excellent wrestling. Ivelisse hit an awesome kick where she brought her leg up behind her and over her head to kick Fénix in the face. Fénix put Angelico into a tree of woe like position hanging from the second rope to the outside and then dropped an elbow on him from the top, which was an excellent spot! There were lots of great moments throughout.

The culmination of the personal issues factored into the end of the match as Son of Havoc went to tag Ivelisse in but she dropped off the apron, apparently leaving him high and dry. At the same time, Drago and Aerostar were arguing on the opposite side of the ring, which allowed Son Of Havoc time to recover and hit them both with a flying elbow! SOH then landed the shooting star press on Drago to get the win, while Ivelisse looked both pissed and bewildered and Angélico just looked amazed that his team had somehow gotten the victory. The team advances to the Trios Tournament final, which will be a Triple Threat Elimination match to determine the champions.

Unmasked and Broken

Following a backstage segment we’ll discuss later and a break, Sexy Star and Super Fly were standing in the ring preparing to face off. Dario Cueto came out of his office with a microphone and you just knew this wasn’t going to be good for those two. Cueto announced that he knew Sexy Star and Super Fly were friends, but he wanted to see aggression! The only way he could be sure he’d get that is to give them something to fight for, and Cueto announced the match would be a mask vs. mask match! That’s a huge stipulation that usually takes months of buildup in a heated rivalry to get to in Lucha Libre.

This is an excellent way to show how Cueto will do anything to get his luchadores to elevate their level of violence. It instantly turned a friendly match into a bitter battle. The announce team of Vampiro and Striker did an excellent job of explaining how much this type of match means in Lucha Libre, the importance of the masks for each competitor, and how this was not a typical way to get to the match. This also begs the question, “Will Cueto be punished by the ‘Gods’ for this slap in the face of tradition?” Cueto has made a point in the past of fearing angering the “Gods”, and this seems like a move that would do just that, so time will tell.

The match was a hard fought battle with Super Fly seeming to be willing to take liberties with the rules in order to protect his mask. He took advantage of his size and strength advantage and had Sexy Star on the defensive for the early part of the match. Sexy Star was eventually able to get in some offense and show why she belongs in the ring as much as the men. At one point Vampiro stated that Sexy Star once claimed her mask had helped her overcome suicidal thoughts, which is really deep personal information that you don’t expect to hear in wrestling commentary. That is another thing that just sets Lucha Underground apart from any other wrestling show.

Sexy Star eventually was able to wrap up Super Fly in a unique pinning package and get the three-count. Post-match, Super Fly looked devastated and Sexy Star looked equally so. We went to break with Super Fly honorably sitting on his knees and offering himself to Sexy Star to take his mask, as is tradition in Lucha Libre. After the break, Sexy Star was looking reluctant to take Super Fly’s mask, but honor dictated that she had to. She unmasked and for the first time we see Super Fly’s face. He’s a decent looking dude so actually unmasking may be a good thing for him.

The two shared a moment in the ring with Super Fly raising Sexy Star’s hand and Sexy Star compelling the crowd to give Super Fly some love. Out of nowhere Pentagon Jr. came into the ring, attacking Sexy Star and Super Fly and throwing Sexy Star out to f the ring. Pentagon gave Super Fly the package pile driver and followed up by “breaking” his arm. Sexy Star was trying to get in to save Super Fly but wasn’t able. Pentagon pointed at Sexy Star and implicated that she was next on his sacrifice list. This was a great way to give Super Fly some time off after his unmasking and to build the feud between Sexy Star and Pentagon Jr. That match will be excellent when it comes. Pentagon Jr. breaks more arms than Osteoporosis at this point!

Title Fight

The main event was a solid match between Prince Puma and King Cuerno for the Lucha Underground title! I’ve enjoyed seeing these two go at it in the past, and had high expectations for this one, but it was just good, not great. I think more time would have helped. It also suffered a bit from all the outside extra-curricular activities, as their Trios Tournament partners accompanied both men.

In an earlier backstage segment, Konnan had revealed that he had enlisted Hernandez to join Puma, which Puma seemed wary of. Then Johnny Mundo entered to tell Konnan and Puma that he would also join the team. This upset Konnan, so they have sowed the seeds for dissension already amongst the team. Now we would need to see who Cuerno’s team would be.

Puma entered first, with Hernandez and Mundo joining him. Puma was wearing a puma head in a mockery of King Cuerno’s elk head. That was a pretty awesome visual. I’m old school so think the champion should always enter last, but it’s a small thing and they did it to hold off on the reveal of Cuerno’s other partner. Cuerno came out alone first, and then the entranceway filled with smoke and out came Cage and Tejano to join King Cuerno’s Trios team. So looking ahead we’ll have Prince Puma, Hernandez, and Johnny Mundo against King Cuerno, Cage and Tejano in the Trios Tournament to determine the final Trios team in the Tournament final. That’s going to be a great match, but who will enter as the Lucha Underground Champ?

Cuerno took early control of the match, after Prince Puma went for a dive outside and was caught by Tejano and Cage, who tossed the champ into the air so Cuerno could deliver a vicious neck-breaker on the floor. Hernandez and Mundo came over to assist but Tejano held them off with his bull rope. Great visual there of Puma behind Cage and Tejano with Cuerno standing over him like a predator protecting it’s fresh caught prey.

From there the story was Puma trying to overcome the neck injury. He appeared groggy at times throughout the match. Eventually though, Puma was able to recover enough to get in some strikes and send Cuerno out to the floor. Puma then hit a dive over the top onto Cuerno, and everyone gathered around the fallen competitors. Cage grabbed Cuerno and placed him back in the ring, while Hernandez rallied Puma back into the ring.

Puma was still showing some grogginess and missed a slingshot type splash, which allowed Cuerno to gain control again. Cuerno got Puma to the point of setting him up for the thrill of the hunt, but Hernandez got up on the apron and Cuerno ended up dropping Puma to go after Hernandez, who rang Cuerno’s ears for the trouble. Neither Puma nor referee Marty Elias saw this, so Puma delivered a vicious kick to Cuerno, knocking him out. Puma then got into it with Hernandez, who was still up on the apron. Hernandez backed off but the point was made that Puma didn’t want his help. Puma climbed the top rope and hit the 630 splash and that was enough to get the pin.

Post-match, Puma was arguing with Hernandez and Cage took advantage by coming in and taking both men out. Then Mundo and Tejano came in and we had a brawl between all six men. The show ended with the two teams facing off across the ring, setting up nicely for what will be a fantastic Trios match main event next week.

The Wrap

There were some solid matches on the show this week. I would have loved to see the title match get a bit more time but it seemed like it was really done more to set up the Trios tournament match next week. That match should be great, and we’ll see if Puma and Hernandez can get on the same page along with Mundo. I could see those issues somehow leading to the team losing in the Trios match. Speaking of Trios teams with issues, do you think we’ll see Ivelisse patch things up with Son of Havoc and Angelico, realizing that they have a chance at gold if they can overcome their differences? This Trios tournament has been great so far and I look forward to seeing how it plays out over the next couple of weeks. That’s all for me this week folks! I’m writing from a coffee house in Coachella, and am off to enjoy some awesome music in the desert.

What did you think of the show? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, tell me what you like about the reviews and more importantly if there’s something more you’d like to see here. Have a good week everyone!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlz3Ndt056s