Lucha Underground – November 12, 2014: Viva El Nitro Flashback
Lucha Underground
Date: November 12, 2014
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker
Off to episode three now as this promotion is actually looking good to start. The main story seems to be Chavo Guerrero as a monster heel, even though he’s 0-1 in singles matches so far. I’m assuming he’s going crazy due to his family’s legacy wearing him down, but it could be that he watched his TNA promos and has been bored out of his mind. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Chavo’s loss on the first show and then him going psycho last week. The other major stories are covered as well.
Konnan is in Cueto’s office and says he’s bringing in three new guys: Fenix, Pentagon Jr. and Drago. Cueto is worried about Konnan’s recent visa issues but Konnan assures him that they’re cleared up. The boss puts those three guys in a triple threat tonight, which pleases Konnan very much.
Blue Demon Jr. is in stable condition at the hospital after last week.
Here’s Cueto to open things up. He’s heard people complaining about a lack of lucha in Lucha Underground. Well tonight he’s going to fix that with this man: El Mariachi Loco. He plays a mean trumpet but he’s crazy as well. Dario discovered him at his favorite Mexican restaurant, and maybe he’ll play a song after his match.
El Mariachi Loco vs. Mascarita Sagrada
Sagrada is one of the most famous mini wrestlers of all time. Mariachi asks for time out as soon as the bell rings before asking for a test of strength. That goes as well as you would expect so Sagrada dropkicks his knee out and hits a spinning headscissors to take over. An armdrag sends Mariachi to the floor, setting up a suicide cannonball. Back in and Sagrada nails a top rope hurricanrana for two.
Mariachi has had enough of this and throws Sagrada down by the ears to take over. He nails Sagrada a few more times and dances a bit before planting Sagrada down. Sagrada avoids a swanton and plants him with a spinning DDT. Back up and he tries another but has to settle for a guillotine into a small package to pin Mariachi.
Rating: D+. Here’s the thing: these matches can be fun and I get that they’re a bigger deal in Mexico, but small wrestlers are comedy guys in America. You can explain the history and tradition all you want, but most fans are going to see them as comedy guys and people who lose to them are going to be jokes. They have to be careful with these things or fans are going to stop caring when these segments come on.
Chavo comes in and destroys Sagrada in a far less violent attack than last week.
Video of Chavo’s path of rage in the last two weeks.
We get a sitdown interview with Chavo, conducted by Vampiro. He thinks Chavo has always been riding on the Guerrero’s coattails. Chavo says he’s been living through his family and for the first time he’s going to do it his own way. Vampiro brings up Chavo tapping out in the first Lucha Underground match. Guerrero says Demon Jr. is only famous for his father and that he’s here to make his own name. He’ll do that however he can and Demon knows that Chavo is better than he is.
After a break, Chavo comes up to see Konnan. Apparently the people in Mexico aren’t happy with what Chavo did to Demon and it’s going to get worse when they find out what happened to Sagrada. Konnan leaves and Catrina comes up to kiss his cheek, saying Muertes is coming for him.
Video on Mil Muertes. He was trapped in the rubble caused by an earthquake in 1985 but the coldness and death comforted him. That day, he changed from Pasquel Mendoza, but now he’s Mil Muertes. That’s certainly a different kind of origin story.
Ricky Mandel vs. Mil Muertes
Mandel sidesteps Muertes to start and fires off some right hands, only to get speared in half. Some chops in the corner allow Catrina to snap Mandel’s throat across the middle rope. Striker enjoys Catrina slapping the mat. Mandel makes a brief comeback but dives into a right hand to the face, setting up a Downward Spiral for the pin. Just a squash.
Cortez and Cisco don’t let Johnny Mundo in to see Cueto. That earns Cisco a superkick and Cortez a ram into the wall, allowing Mundo to get into the boss’ office. He wants Big Rick next week and Cueto seems to be ok with it.
Big Rick takes money from Cueto, who wants Mundo in the hospital next week.
Weekly video on Prince Puma without much new information.
Pentagon Jr. vs. Drago vs. Fenix
Drago is a blue dragon with a cool looking match, Pentagon looks like a combination of Super Calo and La Parka, and Fenix has rooster spikes on his head. One fall to a finish. Pentagon quickly kicks both guys to the floor and dives over the top to knock them down again. Fenix kicks him in the face to stop a charge though, right before he backdrops Drago onto Pentagon.
With both guys on the floor, Fenix busts out Hector Garza’s corkscrew dive to the outside. Back inside, Drago and Fenix both miss some strikes until Drago hits a spinning DDT. Pentagon gets back in but misses a big kick, allowing Fenix to hit a very spinny and flippy armdrag. Drago is still on the ground as Pentagon throws Fenix into the air, allowing Fenix to flip forward into a hurricanrana. Awesome looking spot.
Drago comes back in for a running flip DDT, only to have Pentagon hit a kind of gutwrench piledriver for two. Fenix takes Pentagon down with a Tajiri handspring into a cutter ala Jay Lethal, which I still can’t stand. Everyone is down for a bit until Drago gets caught in a Tree of Woe, allowing Fenix to take Pentagon down in a huge top rope hurricanrana. Fenix counters a rollup but gets caught in a backstabber from Drago.
Pentagon rolls out to the floor for a huge dive from Dragon. Fenix one ups both of them though by climbing onto a very high wall for a VERY HUGE dive to take both guys down. Back in and Fenix charges into the post, setting up a package piledriver from Pentagon to Drago. A reverse hurricanrana from Fenix to Pentagon is enough for the pin.
Rating: B. Take three guys, give them about eight minutes and let them go insane. It wasn’t supposed to be anything technically sound or coherent and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s exciting and the kind of thing that’s going to make the fans want to come back, which is the kind of thing you want when it’s still very early in a series.
In the office, we get an inner monologue from Cueto about how he needs to deal with Mundo. Someone comes in and stands in front of him. Cueto looks at the key around his neck and says he isn’t afraid of anyone, including whoever is in standing there.
Overall Rating: C+. This show gets more like NXT every week and that’s a good thing. We have regular stories that bring in new characters to keep things fresh and a bunch of different stories going on at once. Good episode here and I want to keep going with the series, which is more than I can say about some wrestling I watch anymore.
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