By John Moore
Lucha Underground TV on El Rey Network
Taped in March in Los Angeles, California
In this week’s teaser video, Rey was training with Rey was shown from last week. Azteca thinks Chavo is a liar. Johnny Mundo demanded a title match from Dario. Joey Ryan reveals himself to Dario as a cop. Dario Cueto makes Rey Mysterio the guest referee to the Dragon Azteca Jr vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr main event. This week’s episode was titled “Brothers in Broken Arms”…
Sexy Star was in the locker room as Dario Cueto walked up to her and subtly bragged about Matanza defeating her friend The Mack. Sexy Star had the Gift of the Gods title on her lap. Dario wondered if Star was afraid for her friend or herself. Sexy Star said she will never be afraid again. Dario said he would be if he were her. Dario said Sexy Star is stuck in a quagmire now in that if she decides to endlessly defend her title, just like everyone in general, she would lose it. The other option would be to cash in the title to prove that she’s not afraid yet get destroyed. Dario said he’d choose to just defend the title. He said she would not be defending the title tonight and instead team up with Fenix, Drago, and Aerostar in an Atomicos Match (8-person tag) against the entire Worldwide Underground. Dario left and Johnny Mundo entered the scene to introduce himself formally to Sexy Star. Mundo gave Sexy Star an aggressive handshake and said he was going to be the next Gift of the Gods champion. Sexy Star returned the aggressive handshake with her ripped bicep. Mundo left and Sexy Star kicked a locker in anger…
At the Temple the Chimpz were still the house band which means we were still probably in our first or second day of tapings. Matt Striker and Vampiro checked in on commentary. Striker made a funny bad joke about the Chimpz being his prime-mates. They then talked about Dario putting Rey Mysterio in as guest referee for the Azteca vs. Chavo match. They cut to the ring with Sinestro De La Muerte already there. Prince Puma got a full entrance…
John’s Thoughts: Didn’t Sinestro power himself up by ripping the hearts out of two dudes? I guess that power up turned him into a singles jobber as opposed to a trios jobber. Can he transform back to the babyface jobber that the believers actually adore, and become the Mariachi Loco again? He’s the Mariachi, right?
1. Sinestro De La Muerte vs. Prince Puma. Puma and Sinestro traded right hands to start. Sinestro got around Puma’s agility a bit with a high knee. Puma came right back with a headscissors to a dropkick. Vampiro said there is a huge difference in Puma and is walking down a different road perhaps. Puma hit some chops on Sinestro and followed up with a kick to the back. Puma locked in a unique looking Kinniku Buster esque submission. Puma grounded Sinestro and hit a senton on him. Sinestro reversed a move into a flapjack and got double knees to Puma’s head.
Sinestro hit the Shining Wizard on Puma. Vampiro translated Sinestro De La Muerte as “Sinister Death”. Puma came back with a suplex and got a two count. Puma and Sinestro traded cool looking kicks with Puma coming up on top. Puma set Sinestro up for the 630, but Mil Muertes ran in and missed a Spear. Sinestro was caught midair ant planted by a Michinoku Driver. Puma didn’t go for the pin and instead hit Sinestro with the Flatliner, Mil’s finisher, for the victory.
Prince Puma defeated Sinestro de la Muerte via pinfall in 4:51.
Prince Puma’s arm was raised as he kept his eyes on Mil. Puma darted at Mil with a tope and the two wrestlers traded right hands. Mil tried to take the action to the ring but Catrina held Mil back by the neck. Striker hyped the Midcard Champions vs. The Worldwide Underground for later on… [C]
John’s Thoughts: Seeing this match made me think, we didn’t get to see so much of Puma in season two and it’s awesome to see him spotlighted again in season three. It’s also good to see the return of the enhancement match which is a vast improvement over sacrificing new wrestlers. It’s good that they are establishing a jobber roster with mobility to move the enhancement workers up the card if they wish. The commentary was a mixed bag, it was good in that the heavy-handed dark Puma comments were at least built up from the Vampiro cinematic from a few weeks ago. Striker just get’s too heavy handed sometimes and overkilled things, similar to how he killed the debut of “Military” Killshot from season two. Vampiro was good; Striker gets annoying which he tends to do sometimes.
Cortez Castro was summoned by Dario Cueto. Dario Cueto walked up to Castro and gave him a random hug. He said he wanted to see how his man Cortez Castro is doing and is sorry that they lost “Francisco”. He said he doesn’t know who killed him but will do whatever it takes to bring the real killer to justice. Dario Cueto blamed Big Ryck (Ezekiel Jackson) because Mr. Cisco burned his eye with a cigar. He said he’s glad to at least have Cortez Castro and life must go on. Cortez Castro walked out looking conflicted as Melissa Santos could be heard outside introducing him. Dario Cueto told Cortez Castro to win this one for Mr. Cisco.
John’s Thoughts: That’s the Dario Cueto we all know and love.
Matt Striker called this a “Bonus Match”. Cortez Castro looked like he wasn’t prepared for the match. Pentagon Dark was his opponent…
2. Cortez Castro vs. Pentagon Dark. Pentagon glared at Vampiro before the bell. Castro had the advantage as far as striking was concerned but soon powered through and kicked Castro in the shin. Pentagon glared at Vampiro again during his signature “shhhhhh” chop. Pentagon won with the package piledriver…
Pentagon Dark defeated Cortez Castro via pinfall in 1:08.
Pentagon Dark kept pointing at Vampiro after the match. He also broke Cortez Castro’s arm per his usual ritual. The crowd was as hot as usual for the guy with overwhelming “Cero Miedo” chants. Yay! We’re getting a Pentagon Promo. Pentagon said it doesn’t matter who wins, the old man Chavo, or the skinny [bleep] Dragon Azteca (it was a bleeped Spanish word so I can’t transcribe that). They would both suffer the same fate, broken bones. He said he doesn’t care since he doesn’t even respect his own mother in the ring. “Por Que Yo Soy Pentagon Dark! Es Cero Miedo!”…
John’s Thoughts: More enhancement matches, but who said enhancement matches were a bad thing. They had to hit the reset switch on Pentagon and Puma and the best way to do that is have them beat credible jobbers. Another thing missing from season two was Pentagon Jr’s extremely proficient promo ability where the guy doesn’t even have to speak English for the English speaking audience to understand him due to him oozing huge amounts of charisma! If I were WWE, seriously, once Pentagon Jr is retired from pro wrestling hopefully decades from now, that they bring him in as a performance center coach to teach foreign and domestic wrestlers as to how to control an audience with minimal effort…
The wrestlers were introduced for the atomicos match.
John’s Thoughts: An atomicos match (translated “Atomic Match”) is AAA’s term for an 8-person tag. AAA usually handles it differently in that usually it’s required to have four different types of wrestlers like a Male, Female, Mini, and Exotico (transgender).
3. Fenix, Aerostar, Drago, and Sexy Star vs. Johnny Mundo, Taya, PJ Black, and Jack Evans (a.k.a The Worldwide Underground) in an Atomicos (8-person tag) match. Marty Elias was the ref and had a hard time containing Sexy Star’s fury. Sexy Star started off with Taya. Taya and Sexy Star did some evasion to start with Taya hitting the first shoulder block. Sexy Star dragged Taya down to the ground by the hair. Taya ran into a boot and huracanrana by Sexy Star. Jack Evans and Drago tagged in.
Jack Evans did a bunch of his cool flips while not talking. Jack Evans tagged in PJ black with a high five. Drago hit Black with a huracanrana. Drago slingshot Black into Aerostar. PJ fought out of the babyface isolation and managed to tag in Johnny Mundo. Mundo grounded Aerostar with a kick. Aerostar and Mundo dodged each other’s moves until Aerostar hit a springboard dropkick. Aerostar got the tag on Fenix but Mundo kept the action at a slow pace. Fenix hit a few kicks to ground Mundo.
Fenix hit a helluva kick on Mundo. Sexy Star was tagged in and thrown in Mundo by Fenix for the leg drop. Mundo rolled to his corner to cause the heels to pummel her. Jack Evans hit a top rope punch to the gut of Sexy Star. Jack Evans hit the 1000 years of death butthole poke on Sexy Star. Taya tagged in and hit some of her signature offense like the double knees in the corner. Mundo tagged in to continue the isolation onslaught. Sexy Star dodged to allow the heels to accidentally hit each other.
The babyfaces hit various moves on Mundo starting with an Aerostar springboard codebreaker and ending with a Fenix 450. Black broke up the pin initiated by Drago. Sexy Star got the blind tag on Drago and she entered the action. Aerostar took out PJ Black as Mundo dominated Sexy Star in the ring. Mundo teased an outside tope but was caught by Fenix who hit everyone outside with a corkscrew plancha. Sexy Star and Taya fought in the ring. Taya was thrown outside. Sexy star hit Jack Evans and put him in the Gory Special. Mundo kicked Star which caused a roll up victory for Jack Evans.
The Worldwide Underground defeated Fenix, Aerostar, Drago, and Sexy Star via pinfall in 8:59.
Taya was selling a leg injury on the outside. The Underground went to check on Taya while the faces checked on Sexy Star who was selling an eye injury.
John’s Thoughts: I’m not a fan of putting so many good talents in one match, but when done right it can be fun without stretching their talent thin. This was a fun atomicos match and it’s not something we see too often. The various wrestlers managed to all tell their own stories which are a plus. I think Jack Evans is protecting his jaw but I’m not sure.
Mil Muertes was kneeling at his shrine. Sinestro De La Muerte was kneeling at Mil and Catrina said he was sorry. Catrina said unfortunately he has failed them for the last time. Catrina broke his neck which caused him to electrify. She then sucked his soul which looked like white smoke and she blew his soul into Mil which I guess powered him up. Catrina held up the rock and said she wants Mil to do the same thing to Prince Puma…
John’s Thoughts: So Catrina wants Mil to lick and suck Puma’s soul? Alright? Also, I hope that jobber soul energy doesn’t hurt Mil since when Sinestro powered up with the silver and gold guy’s energy, he just kept losing matches…
Dragon Azteca came out first wearing my favorite bad Lucha Underground costume. Chavo came out through the heel ground entrance. Rey wore regular referee clothes which was actually a bit weird to see since its Rey as a refJohn’s Thoughts:
John’s Thoughts: Dragon Azteca should embrace the watermelon and call himself El Dragon Sandia jr, the Watermelon Dragon!
5. El Dragon Azteca Jr. vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. with Rey Mysterio Jr. as guest referee. We had ten minutes in the show left after the break. Chavo and Azteca traded waist locks. Azteca escaped into a wristlock. Chavo reversed into a headlock. Chavo went for the pin after the takedown and complained to Rey that he was doing a slow count. Azteca fought out with an armdrag. Striker pointed out how this slow pace favors Chavo. Chavo hit some European Uppercuts on Azteca.
Azteca fought Chavo and hit a springboard armdrag on Chavo. Azteca locked in a triangle armlock on Chavo. Chavo converted it to a headscissors on Azteca. Vampiro went into some of the Jeet Kune Do and Krav Maga intricacies that he’s noticing. Chavo went for a pin in the ring and then put the boots to Azteca. Azteca eventually escaped with a springboard armdrag again but met a clothesline from Chavo. Chavo fought into a roll through half Boston Crab. Azteca got the rope break and Chavo complained to Rey that Azteca tapped. Chavo provoked Rey and eventually hit him with an axe handle strike.
Striker said Chavo was dumb for risking getting disqualified. Azteca hit the huracanrana rollup for the victory.
El Dragon Azteca Jr. defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr via pinfall in 7:00.
Rey taunted Chavo. Chavo tried to blindside Rey but got caught into the 619. Rey held up Azteca’s hand in victory. Vampiro said that a ref shouldn’t have punched Chavo. The credits rolled and the show finished…
But wait, there’s more! We had Black Lotus at some Buddhist shrine. Black Lotus said that she destroyed the man that killed her father, who no longer walks this earth. She said her work at the temple is not done. Before he could take the mask of his killer it was stolen from her. She said she’s sending the “Black Lotus Triad” to destroy Pentagon Dark and show him what fear war really like. She was then surrounded by three ninja dudes…
John’s Thoughts: A bit slow. In fact it wasn’t that great of a match, but it wasn’t horrid! There’s that! Also, Azteca needs to be built up because he was a victim of Lucha Underground doing a bad job with new wrestlers in season two. A victory is a victory and a victory is good for the guy who is a work in progress. Azteca reminds me of Apollo Crews in that the guy is great in the ring from an athletic standpoint, but he still has yet to find a character that defines himself.
This was a good action-packed episode of Lucha Underground. I would have flipped the Atomicos and Main Event to end on a higher note, but Rey Mysterio is still a novelty so there’s that. Dario Cueto was good tonight, the commentary was solid. Vampiro seems to have returned as an underrated good announcer. I’m still not fully won back but I like that Lucha Underground is reminding me why I liked the show in season one as they are doing more season one things. I’ll have my audio review up soon as well as my LU Hit List to point out the strengths and weaknesses of this show.
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