By John Moore
Lucha Underground TV on El Rey Network
Taped in Los Angeles, California
We got some of the same in the intro teaser. The LAPD is still looking to take down Dario Cueto. Son of Havoc, Ivelisse, and Angelico are not the Trios champs. In a newer clip, we got Chavo stealing his way into the Gift of the Gods and Cage helping him win so that Cage can have a singles opportunity for the title. This week’s episode was called “Enter the Mundo”…
At Pentagon Jr’s dojo, hey! Pentagon Jr is finally standing and not attached to strange machines. Vampiro asks Pentagon where he was going? Pentagon said “Estoy listo!” (I’m ready). Vampiro said that Pentagon was not ready. Pentagon said to stop him. Vampiro stopped Pentagon with some Krav Maga wristlocks (which Vampiro legitimately is trained in). Vamp said not to question him again. Pentagon said “Yo no tengo miedo” (I have no fear). Vamp said that Pentagon was scared. Pentagon said Cero Miedo. Vamp said Pentagon can go but he’s not yet ready to face the monster…
John’s Thoughts: I have to say, this story isn’t bad or anything, but the Pentagon Jr’s Maestro storyline isn’t as good as it was last year. In fact, all we get his him getting beat up in strange ways by Vampiro every week. First it was the candle, then the caning in the strange machine, and now he gets krav maga’d.
Vampiro introduced Matt Striker and himself on commentary as well as the Voodoo Glow Skulls who were serving as the house band for tonight. Vamp said it was crazy since we have two title matches tonight, the trios and the Gift of the Gods. Striker introduced guest marines who were in the temple in time for the Memorial Day episode. Vampiro gave Striker a Cell Phone with 423-GET-FAME on the dialer.
Joey Ryan was introduced first and Striker called him the transmitted disease of the Temple. Vamp talked about Ryan putting oil on his walnuts. Famous B stopped Melissa as usual in the introductions to introduce Mascarita Sagrada.
1. Joey Ryan vs. Mascarita Sagrada (w/Famous B and Brenda). Ryan kicked Mascarita before Famous B could finish the intro. After that kick he put his lollipop next to his oil-covered walnuts. Sagrada came right at Ryan with an armdrag. Sagrada then hit a nice Tope on Ryan to the outside. Ryan crotched Sagrada on the top rope.
Sagrada took advantage of a Famous B distraction but Ryan quickly recovered. Ryan acted like Warrior a bit by teasing a Gorilla Press. Ryan settled for a small Body Slam. Sagrada did a Fireman Carry Slam, Double Stomp, and Moonsault Combo to earn a good nearfall. Famous B distracted Marty Elias with his card. Sagrada tried to low blow Joey Ryan but Ryan showed the power of his crotch to no-sell it (it’s based on the Internet Meme since it got famous around the time this was taped). Famous B tried to distract again, but Ryan only got a nearfall off of the small package. Joey Ryan won with a tornado DDT.
Joey Ryan defeated Mascarita Sagrada via pinfall in 3:17.
Striker noted that Mascarita Sagrada won more matches before he hired Famous B. Famous B and Brenda went into the ring to check on Mascarita Sagrada. B said that Sagrada will get em next time. Sagrada stumbled around a bit…
John’s Thoughts: That was actually a pretty entertaining undercard match with Mascarita Sagrada getting to so some cool in-ring combos. Other than that it was ultimately filler as it doesn’t forward any story. At least Joey Ryan gets a win, but he might lose next week in the intro match, who knows?
A Taya Valkyrie vignette aired. Taya said in the mirror she sees confidence. She then went on to beat up the generico luchadores that everyone beats up. She said she sees dominance. She sees strength. She sees power. Johnny Mundo said he saw the perfect woman. Taya said she does too. The duo left in a convertible as Jonny Mundo did the Johnny Mundo pose. The screen said Taya – Perfection has arrived in Lucha Underground…
King Cuerno was chillin in his trophy room. He said you were sitting up there in your throne too long like you were king of the jungle. Cuerno said “you” forgot that it was my jungle that you inhabited. “You” was Mil Muertes who was now in a vegetative state inside of a glass covered trophy case coffin. Cuerno said that they all fall and become a part of the collection of the true king of the jungle. Mil stood there either dead or asleep…
Chavo and Cage made their introductions before the commercial break…[C]
John’s Thoughts: While the Taya vignette was a few weeks too late, it was still a pretty slick one with Taya beating up generic luchadores in a nightclub. I want to see AeroStar beat up generic luchador space aliens. The King Cuerno scene was cool too and it was cool to see him finally get a trophy. Seeing Mil Muertes as a trophy reminded me of Han Solo trapped in carbonite. I wonder if Catrina is going to be his Princess Leia.
2. Chavo Guerrero Jr vs. “They Call Him” Cage for the Gift of the Gods Championship. The crowd gave Cage the terminator claps. Cage dominated early on with clotheslines in the corner. Chavo retreated to the outside to set Cage in pursuit. Chavo tried to take advantage, but Cage lifted him in chokebomb position. Cage escaped and caught Chavo in a crossbody attempt. Cage slammed Chavo on everything outside.
Chavo turned the tide with a huracanrana to the outside. Chavo followed up with a successful tope. Striker noted how people were cheering Chavo’s lucha libre. Chavo hit Cage with a hanging DDT. Cage monkey flipped Chavo. Chavo came back with a low dropkick. Cage caught Chavo off the crossbody again, hit the rolling Samoan drop, but missed the moonsault.
Chavo earned a nearfall off the dropkick. Vampiro complained about Chavo not hooking the leg. Chavo wrenched on Cage’s calf and dominated Cage at this point. Cage took down Chavo with a lifted roundhouse. Cage then followed up with his deadlift suplex. Cage hit Chavo with a European Uppercut. Cage earned a nearfall after a sitiout Alabama Slam. Cage did the throat slash and went for a TKO. Chavo escaped that and the discus clothesline and earned a nearfall off a tornado DDT.
Cage powered out of the double underhook. Chavo hit Cage with a rolling liger kick that Cage no-sold into the discus clothesline. Chavo broke the pinfall with the rope break. Cage went to the second rope for a superplex but Chavo fought off. Chavo hit a sunset flip bomb on Cage. Chavo hit the frog splash and Cage kicked out. Striker said this might be Chavo’s best match. Chavo did the Eddie shimmy. Chavo hit two of the Three Amigos. Cage hit some powerbombs. Cage hit Chavo with a modified Michinoku Driver to earn the victory.
Cage defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr via pinfall in 7:56 to become the new Gift of the Gods Champion.
Cage tossed Chavo outside and posed. He grabbed the mic and said that he was cashing in his Gift of the Gods for a match next week. He said he’s walking out Lucha Underground Champion and that he’s not a man, he’s a machine…
John’s Thoughts: That was a pretty odd match. It was actually well wrestled, but it was a bit odd to see Cage dominated by Chavo Guerrero of all people. What made it odd was when Cage faced Prince Puma or Johnny Mundo, they would be dominated most of the match with their advantage coming after long stretches of being beat up by Cage. Good title match, but odd to see Cage dominated so much.
Taya was talking with PJ Black and Jack Evans in the locker room. Taya said that they would love Johnny’s surprise. The surprise was a beat up Fenix on the floor who was supposed to be their tag partner for the Trios Championship match tonight.
John’s Thoughts: Poor Fenix. Killed by Matanza one night and beat up off screen on another.
Jack Evans asked what was Johnny thinking since they had a title match tonight. Johnny said the surprise was that they had a new partner. Johnny Mundo, PJ Black, Taya, and Jack Evans did a four way arm shake and Evans said “Boom”. Mundo said he forgot something and kicked Fenix one more time. They then all did air guitars like Bill and Ted. Mundo smirked on his way out…
Joey Ryan and Cortez Castro were looking through Dario Cuetos things in the next scene. Ryan said now was their chance due to Dario’s hot ninja not being around. Joey Ryan stole some of Dario Cueto’s money. Mr. Cisco walked in on them and said it was bullshit that they didn’t tell him about robbing Dario Cueto. Cisco said he was telling. Joey Ryan pulled out a gun and Cortez Castro detained Cisco. Castro/Reyes said that Francisco Garza was now under arrest…
John’s Thoughts: The LAPD storyline never really seems to go anywhere but at least some of the bad acting from Reyes and now Mr. Cisco can be funny. I’m actually really intrigued to see the new trio of Mundo, Evans, and Black.
Melissa Santos introduced Fenix initially but Taya interrupted her and introduced Johnny Mundo instead. Melissa looked pissed. The Trios Champs were out after…[C]
John’s Dragon Azteca Attire Jab of the week: Okay! I’m not the only one who finds Dragon Azteca’s gear lame. Here’s a jab that I saw on the internet recently and it’s not mine but I thought it was funny. They said that Dragon Azteca looks like a green parrot eating a watermelon.
3. Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, and PJ Black (w/ Taya Valkyrie) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr, Prince Puma, and El Dragon Azteca Jr in a trios match for the Lucha Underground Trios Championship. Jack Evans started off the match against El Watermelon Azteca. Jack Evans said he hates dragons and did some jumping jacks. Evans baited Dragon with a test of strength and hit a low knee. Dragon Azteca hit a dropkick on Jack. Azteca hit a few slaps on Jack’s chest. Azteca hit a nice armdrag followed by a huracanrana.
Evans got a flapjack on Dragon but Dragon hit a springboard kick to send Jack outside. Azteca mocked Jack on the inside of the ring and told him to get inside. Puma and PJ Black tagged in. Puma tried a few of his cool dodges but Black hit a low thrust kick on Puma’s core. Jack tagged in and dropkicked Puma in the Tree of Woe. Mundo hit Puma with a spinning roundhouse. Black earned a nearfall after a footstomp.
Mundo earned a nearfall after a backtoss. Evans did a shooting star off of Puma to earn a nearfall of his own. Prince puma had Black and Evans fumbling around to escape and made Black DDT Evans off the cutter. Mysterio and Mundo tagged in. Mysterio did a cool carousel huracanrana to pop the crowd. Puma and Azteca did combo kicks on Mundo. Evans broke puma’s pinfall. Puma tried to pop Azteca up for his pop-up DDT, but Mundo used his core strength to block bending over.
PJ Black eventually hit a pop-up cutter for the two count. Puma grounded Black with a back kick. Jack Evans hit a spinning roundhouse on Puma. Rey grounded Evans with a huracanrana. Mysterio was dragged around by Mundo in electric chair position but he got ranna’d too. Puma and Black were knocked out in the ring. Jack Evans went high risk but Puma stopped him from doing something. Puma hit Evans with a pump kick. Evans came back with a cool caporieta flip. There were a bunch of cool huracanrana afterward.
Rey set Black up for 619 and hit it. Puma hit 630. Mundo pulled Marty Elias out of the ring to break the count. Mundo low blowed Mysterio and he and Taya kicked him in the face. Evans and Black gave Puma and Azteca low blow kicks. After more creative low blows, Johnny hit Starship Pain. Prince Puma kicked out for a really really cool nearfall. Mundo tried for a super German but Puma flipped out of it. Azteca tagged in and his huracanrana was blocked.
Azteca hit the sunset flip but Taya distracted the referee with a chair. Jack Evans ran in with a chair and hit Dragon Azteca in the back with it. Johnny Mundo picked up the win after that.
Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, and PJ Black defeated Rey Mysterio Jr, Prince Puma, and Dragon Azteca Jr via pinfall in 11:30 to become the new Lucha Underground Trios Champions.
Jack Evans did a victory lap around the ring as the trio celebrated their title win. This ended Lucha Underground with new trios champs…
John’s Thoughts: That was a pretty nice title match and great introduction to the new trio of Mundo, Evans, and Black. If you take a few minutes to think about it, inside of that ring you had some of the best high flyers in the world in Mundo, Evans, Black, Mysterio, Puma, and even Azteca to some extent. What the rudo trio did well is essentially what Evans and Mundo have done well as rudos throughout their Lucha Underground runs, which is to maintain their high flying but oversell on the heel stuff. The Young Bucks have superkick parties, these three have low-blow parties.
This week’s episode was much better than last week. In fact, if this show were two hours this would have been a great second hour of last week’s show. The intro match was okay. The middle match was surprisingly decent. The main event was really fun. It’s fun to have fun matches in Lucha Underground and I’m glad we are finding a way to not have Matanza main events. It also looks like Lucha Underground is starting to see that Matanza main events aren’t the way to go too. Check out my LU Hit List coming soon and Will Pruett’s member exclusive audio review of the show later today.
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