By John Moore
Lucha Underground TV
Taped January 16, 2016 in Los Angeles, California
This week’s “previously on” recap featured the LAPD storyline again. Pentagon getting beat up in the strange rope machine, King Cuerno kidnapping Mil Muertes, Muertes reviving, and the 12 person tag team match was featured. This week’s episode was called “Six to Survive” after the elimination number one contender’s match tonight…
Vampiro and Matt Striker checked in on commentary and were joined by the Voodoo Glow Skulls again as the house band. Vampiro talked about his being a huge night. Striker said it was huge because of the Six to Survive match to face Matanza Cueto at Ultima Lucha Dos. He passed it over to Melissa Santos who introduced the elimination match with all of the wrestlers already in the ring…
1. King Cuerno vs. Ivelisse vs. Taya Valkyrie vs. Pentagon Jr vs. Fenix vs. Johnny Mundo in a Six-way elimination match to become number one contender for the Lucha Underground Championship. Melissa showed a bit of animosity towards Pentagon in reference to Pentagon trying to break her arm last season. Of course Pentagon got the largest babyface reaction of the rest of the crowd. Johnny Mundo threw his glasses at a fan and flipped him the bird before the match started.
Of course madness ensued with six wrestlers fighting each other. Ivelisse isolated Taya with Johnny Mundo assisting Taya by pulling her hair. Mundo hit the Moonlight Drive on Ivelisse to earn himself a nearfall. Mundo earned another nearfall after a Taya hit Ivelisse with a side slam. Fenix came in to give Mundo a superkick. He also kicked Taya in the booty. (Real life brothers) Fenix and Pentagon did a variation of the Dudley “What’s Up” on Mundo. King Cuerno took out Taya with a dropkick next.
Pentagon and Cuerno squared off with Cuerno hitting a multi-rotation DDT on Pentagon causing him to retreat to the outside. Mundo hit Pentagon with a corkscrew plancha. Cuerno and Fenix tried to have a battle, but Ivelisse interjected. Fenix and Cuerno threw Ivelisse on the people outside. Cuerno took down Fenix with a kick. Fenix sprung and hit a forearm on Cuerno. Cuerno hit Fenix with a huracanrana driver.
Suddenly, Mil Muertes entered the ring prompting Vampiro to yell “holy shit!”. Mil speared and worked on Cuerno with the ground and pound. Mil hit a release power bomb on Cuerno. Striker noted that Mil’s eyes were red. Johnny Mundo hit Starship Pain on Cuerno to earn the first elimination.
Johnny Mundo eliminated King Cuerno via pinfall 8:57 into the show.
The camera focused on Mil Muertes who was breathing heavy. [C]
John’s Thoughts: Are we going for another “all night long” match tonight? Maybe, but if so, Lucha Underground did a terrible job promoting it as such. The reason I say that is because this match felt slapped together and if we were going with analogs, last season did it much better with the build to Puma vs. Mundo. Criticisms aside, the action so far has been really good!
Madness ensued again with too many wrestlers to follow. Ivelisse had a battle with Fenix while Mundo and Taya battled Pentagon. Fenix ate a few of Ivelisse’s round house kicks. Pentagon escaped his predicament with low kicks to the shin. Fenix refused to fight a woman. Ivelisse took him out with a huracanrana. Ivelisse hit a roundhouse on Pentagon to send him to the outside. Taya baited Ivelisse into a Johnny Mundo high roundhouse. Taya and Mundo double teamed Ivelisse. Ivelisse intercepted Taya with a superkick and sent Mundo outside with a head scissors.
Ivelisse hit a few short arm roundhouses on Taya. Taya was knocked out with a kick to the temple. Taya hit a boot and body slam on Ivelisse. Taya went high risk and missed a moonsault. Ivelisse teased a huracanrana but was met by a northern lights suplex. Taya eliminated Ivelisse after a standing double stomp. [C]
Taya eliminated Ivelisse via pinfall 17:17 into the show.
John’s Thoughts: I have a feeling that this is going to be all night long. That last sequence was pretty fun and Ivelisse had a good showing here. It’s also a shame that Lucha Underground has executed a lot of lower card parity booking because Ivelisse if made to look special can surely stand out. Ivelisse probably ended up being put on the shelf due to Angelico’s injury as well.
Pentagon worked on Taya while Fenix had Johnny Mundo. Mundo hit a springboard thrust kick on Fenix on the outside. Pentagon kicked Taya with the “shattered dreams” kick. Pentagon then hit his loud chest slap. Pentagon kept in pursuit at ringside and nailed Taya with a superkick. Just like Fenix earlier, Pentagon kicked the butt of Taya as well. Johnny Mundo called Pentagon in the ring to end the onslaught.
Pentagon and Mundo traded forearms against the ropes. Pentagon won the battle. Taya grabbed Mundo’s foot to allow Mundo to hit a flying kick on him. Fenix grounded Mundo with several kicks. Taya took out Pentagon with an armdrag. Fenix kicked out of the combo that eliminated Ivelisse. Taya and Mundo teamed up to dominate Pentagon and Fenix. The Luchador brothers escaped with kicks on their opponents. Pentagon Jr. eliminated Taya after a package piledriver. [C]
Pentagon Jr defeated Taya Valkyrie via pinfall 27:07 minutes into the show.
John’s Thoughts: Never mind, this is quite a bit different from last year’s “all night long” match. They are using the commercial breaks to separate this single elimination match into possibly five separate matches. I have to say, this is quite the innovative approach. The only nitpick I have is regarding the promotion of this match.
Fenix, Johnny Mundo, and Pentagon Jr were now stuck in a three-way elimination match. The trio chopped each other in the middle of the ring. It was an extended chop battle. Fenix hit a huracanrana to end it and Mundo almost earned a pinfall via the spinebuster. Pentagon retreated to the steps to recover. Johnny Mundo hit a gutwrench sitout powerbomb to earn his next two count. Fenix baseball slid out of the ring and hit a kick on mundo. Pentagon took them both out with a Tope con Hilo.
Pentagon and Fenix got up first to start another chop battle. Fenix ended this one with a superkick. Fenix then hit a cartwheel huracanrana on Pentagon. Johnny Mundo rested on the ring apron. Mundo snuck in with a springboard corkscrew crossbody. Mundo took a wooden chair and put Pentagon on it where he gave him the running knee. Mundo got a two count after a corkscrew flip on Fenix in the ring. Mundo kept Pentagon at bay with a dropkick. Mundo hit a standing Spanish Fly on Fenix to earn another two count.
Mundo planted Pentagon with a hanging Moonlight Drive to get a nearfall off of pentagon. Mundo followed up with running knee strikes to both of the Lucha brothers. There is lots of flipping of the bird tonight. Pentagon put Mundo on the top rope and Fenix hit him with a foot stomp to the back. Fenix and Pentagon double teamed Mundo and pinned him with a unique double team pinfall slam.
Fenix and Pentagon Jr eliminated Johnny Mundo via pinfall 39:48 into the show.
Mundo was fuming after the double team loss. Marty Elias forced Mundo to leave the ring as he contemplated attacking Fenix and Pentagon Jr. [C]
John’s Thoughts: Some nice stories are being told in the ring tonight. This last sequence showed some awesome chemistry between real-life brothers, Pentagon Jr and Fenix. So far this is an improvement over last week’s show. I wouldn’t mind seeing a Pentagon and Fenix tag team/trio down the road after this sequence.
Lucha Underground’s top two babyfaces squared off in the ring for the one on one match for the number one contendership. I think Pentagon made fun of Fenix’s mother (which is a hilarious thought, since they have the same mother). Pentagon locked in a cool crossbow like submission on Pentagon. Fenix escaped and hit a cool cloverleaf move. Pentagon had a cool piledriver position submission on Fenix. Fenix escaped and hit the RKO. Fenix locked in the dragon sleeper on Pentagon. Striker noted that this targets Pentagon’s back injury.
Fenix flipped Pentagon with his signature tightrope armdrag. Fenix flew at Pentagon with a corkscrew top rope Tope. Fenix got Pentagon in the ring after struggling to earn a one count. Fenix was placed on the top rope and Pentagon punted Fenix’s chest. Pentagon hit Fenix with an awesome reverse huracanrana for the latest nearfall. The crowd chanted “this is Lucha”. Pentagon went to the top rope and met a Fenix uppercut. Fenix yelled “Animo!” and hit Pentagon with a Frankensteiner. This earned him a close two count.
The crowd traded Animo and Cero Miedo chants. Pentagon hit Fenix with successive sling blades. Fenix ended that attack with a superkick. Fenix was on the apron and ate a Pentagon superkick. Pentagon nailed Fenix with a snug Canadian Destroyer on the outside. Pentagon recovered first from the driver. Pentagon went for his three up three down driver, but Fenix countered and hit a reverse backpack piledriver on Pentagon. Fenix laid a hand with little strength left in him on Pentagon to earn the next nearfall.
Both brothers kneeled on their knees and had a face slap battle. They took the slap battle to their feet. Pentagon won with the slaps. Fenix and Pentagon then traded thrust kicks. Pentagon hit another Canadian Destroyer on Fenix. Pentagon then hit the Package Piledriver on Fenix to earn the victory and become the number one contender.
Pentagon Jr defeated Fenix via pinfall to become number one contender to the Lucha Underground Championship.
The camera showed Vampiro was sweating as his apprentice won. Vampiro told Striker that he was enjoying this moment. Suddenly Dario Cueto used his key to lead Matanza to the top of the steps. Pentagon Jr grabbed a microphone for a promo and told Dario he wanted to tell him something. Pentagon said that at Ultima Lucha he was going to break todos of his brother’s bones. Pentagon said to show how badass he is, he was going to break Dario’s bones as well. He then said he wanted you to listen why because he is Pentagon Jr and he is Cero Miedo, with the crowd filling in the Cero Miedo part. The crowd chanted Cero Miedo to close out the show…
John’s Thoughts: I was starting to get extremely depressed about this show, but Lucha Underground comes right back with the type of main event that Season 1 was so famous for. There was not a bad moment in this match and that battle between the two luchador brothers was really cool It was a complete match all by itself. It started off as a battle of submissions, then it had kicks, then it had slaps, then there were drivers and a few Canadian Destroyers. This was a fun main event to the main event. It also has me wondering how awesome it would have been if Mil Muertes were still the top monster and Matanza were not in main events.
All good things said about this match, Season 2 is still a bit frustrating to watch when you think that they could be promoting this a bit better within the show. Pre-Matanaza, they were so good at making you want to watch more and more every week and they didn’t do a great job making you want to see this match. Even though he only speaks in Spanish, Pentagon Jr is an extremely talented promo and that’s something that was missing in the build, or lack thereof, of this match.
With Ultima Lucha coming up on July 6, I hope we get Lucha Underground trying to tell stories again. We need Pentagon Jr giving great promos along the way as well as slow (enough) builds towards the undercard matches which we still have no idea about. There were some good seeds planted in this match with Fenix against Mundo, Cuerno against Muertes, and Taya against Ivelisse. It’s tough with only one hour and a lot of wasted time in the past few weeks but if the writers saw their flaws in the past few episodes, I’m sure they can possibly pull off a good build with efficient use of time. I may or may not release a Hit List this week due to it being a one match show, but maybe I can with it actually being five separate matches separated by commercials. Also make sure to check out Will Pruett’s member exclusive audio review on this fun Six to Survive show…
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