By John Moore, Prowrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Lucha Underground on El Rey Network
Aired July 18, 2018 – Season 4 Episode 6
Taped February 2018 from Los Angeles, California at the Union Central Cold Storage Warehouse
This week’s “recently on Lucha Underground…” video focused on Antonio Cueto handing out Gift of the Gods coins, The Worldwide Underground vs. Reptile Tribe, Mil and Cage from last week, and the build to this week’s Lucha Underground title match. This week’s Lucha Underground was titled, “Break the Machine”…
Matt Striker and Vampiro checked in on commentary with Mariachi El Bronx as the house band. Striker provided hype for Pentagon Dark vs. Brian Cage for the Lucha Underground Championship…
Paul London and the Rabbit Tribe made their entrance. Paul London was now wearing black colored gear. His opponent is the debuting Dezmond Xavier…
1. Paul London (w/Mala Suerte, Saltador) vs. Dezmond X for Aztec Medallion #7. Mala Suerte and Saltador ran across the ring for a distraction which allowed Paul London to get the first shot in due to Xavier being distracted. London was fighting a bit more aggressively. London tied Xavier in the ropes and then hit a basement dropkick into the head of Xavier. Xavier fended off London on the apron. Xavier hit the Rabbit Tribe with a sitting springboard moonsault. London got out of the way and got a nearfall after a sunset flip on Xavier. Xavier caught London with a back elbow.
Xavier hit London with a CQC combo and ended it with a running cutter. The Rabbit Tribe held the legs of Xavier to give London a bit of an advantage. London took too much time on the top rope which allowed Xavier to hit a standing Frankensteiner on London. London blocked a tornado ddt. Xavier hit London with his signature waterfall kick. Xavier teased the Final Flash but London got out of the way and hit a meteora stomp on Xavier. London did a rabbit pose. Xavier rolled up London for the surprise victory.
Dezmond Xavier defeated Paul London via pinfall in 4:15 to win the final Aztec medallion.
Matt Striker called this win an upset. Xavier got the coin in the red bag. Striker advertised the main event title match heading into the commercial… [C]
John’s Thoughts: A bit odd to have the “new” Paul London lose after his murderous transformation, but Xavier is a good guy to put over due to his upside. The match was a bit disappointing because it was about to get good but then it ended. I said this about Dezmond’s Impact match against Brian Cage a few months ago. I’m looking forward to seeing what Xavier brings to the table since he’s done nothing but impress since he appeared on television in Impact last year and it’ll be cool to see him mix it up with a lot of people in LU who can match his athleticism. One highlight of his Impact career was defeating Drago in last year’s Super X Cup. Lucha Underground wrestler Sammy Guavara was also in that entertaining tournament.
Antonio Cueto made his entrance to The Temple and he had the Gift of the Gods belt set up on an easel. Antonio Cueto advertised the Gift of the Gods match for next week. Cueto talked about how he’s promoted events for over 40 years and he has never seen so many main eventers together in a single ring. He said next week’s match will be epico. Antonio then started the Gift of the Gods medallion insertion ceremony. The wrestlers that qualified for the title match include Dragon Azteca Jr (Snake Medallion), King Cuerno (Deer Medallion), Ivelisse Velez (Moth), Dezmond Xavier (Rabbit), Son of Havoc (Aztec/Dragon Man?), Willie Mack (Eagle), and Mil Muertes (Skull). Antonio talked about how he thinks seven is an unlucky number so he was making next week’s match a six way instead of a seven-way match. Antonio booked an impromptu over the top rope battle royal with the winner choosing who will not wrestle in next week’s GotG match.
2. Gift of the Gods elimination battle royal. Madness ensued. Mil tossed out Cuerno early on. Mil then tossed Ivelisse on Cuerno to eliminate her. Mil easily tossed out Xavier. Mack and Havoc teamed up to eliminate Mil and Azteca. The trios champions were left in the ring by themselves. Matt Striker talked about how both men were good guys. Since Havoc is a legit good dude he decided to Tope Con Hilo everyone on the outside to give the win to Mack.
The Mack won the Gift of the Gods elimination battle royal in 1:45.
Mack bumped his fist on his heart to show respect to Havoc for being a cool friend. Striker noted that it does make sense since he won’t eliminate Son of Havoc. Willie Mack talked about how he’s afraid of no man, but “Mil Muertes scares the shit out of me”. Mack eliminated Mil. Red dress Catrina walked away. Mil blew a gasket and clotheslined Azteca and Cuerno randomly and was going after Ivelisse. Mil beat up everyone… [C]
John’s Thoughts: What an odd match. Antonio talked about how he was so excited to have seven main eventers in the ring and they couldn’t even get past two minutes. Weird. While the match was bad, the one positive I do like was how the ending of it established Mack and Havoc as honorable babyfaces and overall cool dudes. Mack’s decision to eliminate Mil Muertes was also completely logical.
Vibora and Kobra Moon (a.k.a. Thunder Rosa) made their entrance. Melissa billed them “from when reptiles ruled the earth” (so you can bill people from a time?). Johnny Mundo is billed from Slam Town of course…
3. Vibora (w/Kobra Moon) vs. Johnny Mundo (w/Taya Valkyrie). Johnny low kicked Vibora but Vibora responded with punches. Johnny hit Vibora with a Superman Punch to the back of his head. Taya distracted Vibora. Kobra Moon responded by distracting Johnny. Kobra Moon and Taya then went on to brawl in the ring with Taya dominating Kobra. Johnny Mundo low blowed Vibora and hit him with a flying Chuck. Johnny hit his signature running knee and standing moonsault. Vibora lifted Johnny out of the pinfall and rolled to his feet while holding Johnny. Vibora hit Johnny with a Twisting Death Valley Driver (Murphy’s Law).
Vibora hit Johnny with a face wash. Vibora hit Johnny with the Burning Hammer. Johnny flipped away from a chokeslam and hit two consecutive huracanrana variations. Vampiro sounds like he wants to go to sleep (what the hell Vamp?). Johnny went high risk and teased a dive on Vibora. Johnny then pulled a surprise by hitting Kobra Moon withe the Impact Elbow. Taya and Johnny Mundo gave Vibora middle fingers. Taya distracted Justin Borden which allowed PJ Black to hit Vibora with a steel chair. Johnny then set up and hit Vibora with Starship Pain. Vibora kicked out of Starship Pain. Nice false finish! The crowd started to get behind Vibora.
Johnny hit Justin Borden with a superkick. REF BUMP!!! Johnny was about to superkick the corner of a chair into the throat of Vibora but Drago ran out for the save. Daga cleared the rest of Worldwide Underground with a steel chair. Vibora ducked a chairshot and hit two superkicks to Johnny. Vibora hit Johnny with a chokeslam and standing moonsault. Marty Elias ran out to count the pin and Johnny kicked out. Ricky Mundo pulled Johnny outside to recover. Vibora hit both men with a Golden Triangle Moonsault. Impressive. Johnny caught Vibora with a triple kick combo. Vibora responded with a headbutt. Johnny came back with a roundhouse. Vibora caught Johnny and hit him with a jumping Chokeslam for the victory.
Vibora defeated Johnny Mundo via pinfall in 8:51.
PJ Black came back hit Vibora in the back. Taya Valkyrie hit Kobra Moon with a (protected) chair shot to the head. Drago and Daga ran out for the save. Daga hit Ricky Mundo with a hesitation dropkick. More brawling between the two factions ensued. The teams brawled heading into commercial… [C]
John’s Thoughts: Let me get the bad out of the way first. The Worldwide Underground are mid-card comedy babyfaces that cheat? Are the Reptiles supposed to be technico now? That was confusing and the overbooked stuff around the ref bump is starting to get TNA bad at this point. What was really good was the emergence of Vibora. Is this the same guy we saw three years ago? That guy was a slow, lumbering big man (akin to Baron Corbin) with a terrible looking mask. This guy upgraded to a cool face mask (now with an open mouth) and was doing some great moves for a big man. The crowd went in chanting “Luchasaurus” and came out chanting “Vibora”, that’s a great showing of how Vibora won everyone’s respect. Either three years of indie experience helps or maybe he just couldn’t breathe well in the bad full-face mask.
XO Lishus was shown having their own 70s workout montage. XO even replicated that famous scene where the dancer sits in the chair hand has the water dropped on her (I had to look this up since it was before my time. It was a Flashdance reference). Jack Evans was peeking into XO’s workout with a confused look on his face. Jack Evans talked to himself and seethed saying that no one embarrasses him. Jack then noticed that Ricky Mundo’s creepy burnt doll was on the ground which meant Ricky Mundo was also there. He was sitting right next to Jack. Ricky wondered what Jack was doing.
Jack said he was scouting his enemy’s every move. Ricky said they could have used Jack’s help against the Reptile tribe. Jack said Johnny already understood that Jack doesn’t deal with reptiles and that he was allowed to sit this one out. Jack told Ricky and his “dirty ass doll” to mind their own business. Jack left the room. Ricky’s dirty ass doll said it didn’t like Jack Evans. Ricky agreed. The doll said that Ricky should do what he did to Angelico to Evans. Ricky said he can’t because Johnny wouldn’t like that. The doll said, “who’s in charge of your life, Johnny or you?”…
John’s Thoughts: Okay. Creepy dolls. It does have me intrigued at least and it’ll be interesting how high up the card this pushes Ricky Mundo up to. What I do hope we see more of is Jack Evans and XO Lishus. XO Lishus has been the most fun newcomer of Lucha Underground and that 70s training montage was great.
Melissa Santos handled ring introductions for the title match. Out first was “They Call Him” Cage. Out last was the world champion… [c]
4. Pentagon Dark vs. Brian Cage for the Lucha Underground Championship. Pentagon pet his title like it was his precious before the match. Striker said Cage has the power advantage while Pentagon has the “evil” advantage (wut?). Vampiro said Pentagon has the dark advantage (what a strange commentary exchange). Cage pushed Pentagon off the apron and brawled with him on the outside. Pentagon took down Cage with a few low kicks. Cage came back with punches. Cage continued to beat up Pentagon at ringside. They brawled to the commentary table. Striker properly sold it while Vampiro looked like he was about to fall asleep.
John’s Thoughts: Oh Vampiro… He was like this in the last match too. Somebody give the man a pillow.
Okay, I’m distracted. Suddenly a more energetic Vampiro could be heard on commentary but Vampiro’s lips were not moving. Thank you, post-edit voice overs. Pentagon gained the advantage and he choked Cage with a camera cord. Cage back suplexed Pentagon on the ring apron. Cage tossed Pentagon into the wooden chairs. Cage tied Pentagon’s mask on the steel barricade. Cage then stole Matt Striker’s chair. Pentagon freed his mask from the barricade and gave Cage a superkick. Pentagon then hit Cage with the Sling Blade. Pentagon hit the footstomp on Cage to get a nearfall.
Cage escaped a Fear Factor attempt and hit Pentagon with a high knee. Cage hit a pumphandle Falcon Arrow on Pentagon. Cage then hit Penta with a buckle bomb. Cage hit Pentagon with his deadlift suplex. Cage got a two count. Pentagon escaped a hold from Cage and hit Cage with the lungblower. Pentagon blocked the Tornado Claw with a codebreaker. Cage hit Pentagon with a wheelbarrow slam on Pentagon. This got Cage the nearfall. Pentagon hit Cage with an enzuigiri, kick, and two Canadian Destroyers. Pentagon hit Cage with the Fear Factor for the victory.
Pentagon Dark defeated Brian Cage via pinfall in 6:49.
Cage recovered and went for the Tornado Claw but Pentagon dodged and hit Cage in the head with the title. Pentagon gloated and held the title in the face of Cage while he was going for his Arm Sacrifice move. Cage used his raw strength to overpower Pentagon and escape the hold. Cage gave Penta an F5 on the title belt. Cage told the crowd that you can’t break his arm because he’s not a man, he’s a machine. Cage held up the title and tossed it on Pentagon. No post-credits this week…
John’s Thoughts: A decent match, but a bit too short to be a compelling world title match. This also stood out as disappointing given how Lucha Underground has had some great matches all season. So given the great build to this match and the capabilities of both main eventers, this was a disappointment. I did like it at the end how Cage powered out of Pentagon’s sacrifice arm breaker and the no-selling at the end by Cage was good in keeping Cage in the title picture. I hope that this isn’t the end of this feud because these two are capable of much more.. Another thing that detracted from this match was Vampiro being very sleepy and odd on commentary. What made things even more odd was that it wasn’t storyline, they had to obviously overdub him tonight.
This was hands down the worst episode of the season. Every single match had a huge glaring negative to it. This wasn’t a horrible episode overall because there were a lot of good booking moments tonight, but there was just so much bad counterbalance. Hopefully next week’s show picks things back up because Season 4 has been really good so far and this was the one bad standout. Dezmond Xavier was a good add. The highlight on the positive end was Luchasaurus proving that he is actually a good wrestler. Luchasaurus was great tonight. I’ll be by later for the Dot Net Members with my members exclusive audio review to the show.
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