Lucha Underground – March 11, 2015: Cages Are Cool

Lucha Underground
Date: March 11, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

This show is getting better and better every week and this show might be one of the better shows with Johnny Mundo vs. King Cuerno inside a cage. That sounds like the recipe for a big spot to end the match, which could be insane given Mundo’s high flying abilities. We’ve also got all the other guys running around who can blow your mind on any given night. Let’s get to it.

We open with a series of quick recaps on Pentagon Jr., Son of Havoc/Ivelisse and King Cuerno vs. Johnny Mundo.

Pentagon Jr. vs. Argenis

This is a small step up for Pentagon as Argenis is the brother of the original Sin Cara. Feeling out process to start with Argenis kicking Pentagon in the leg to block a monkey flip. A superkick sends Pentagon to the floor, setting up an Asai moonsault to put both guys down on the floor. Back in and Pentagon gets all ticked off but heads up top and eats a right hand to the face. A hurricanrana gets two for Argenis as Striker calls the referee the Iron Mike Sharpe of officiating due to his constant injuries.

Pentagon kicks Argenis down and hits a VERY loud overhand chop to the chest. A gorilla press into the corner (cool move) knocks Argenis silly and Pentagon puts him in a reverse Tree of Woe for a dropkick to the back of the head. Argenis gets superkicked as Striker randomly mentions Josh Barnett of New Japan. A big flip dive over the top takes Argenis down again and it’s the package piledriver into the arm lock for the win.

Rating: C. I like Pentagon being all angry and evil, but his matches have almost no flow to them. He’d be a good option as a higher level deadly heel and it seems that’s where he’s headed. They couldn’t just keep feeding him jobbers though so Argenis, who to be fair isn’t that higher up on the food chain, was a good step up.

Pentagon snaps the arm to continue his custom.

Catrina goes in to see Fenix and tells him that Mil won’t stop until Fenix is destroyed. Therefore, Fenix must bury him.

We get a cool video of Konnan welding together a new metal staff and destroying things with it. Revenge is coming. I said it was cool. I never said it made sense.

We see King Cuerno driving to the arena. That kind of kills the hunter image.

Ivelisse vs. Angelico

Son of Havoc is referee, which Vampiro doesn’t get for some reason. Striker thinks this has Cueto’s fingers all over it. Good grief those two make my head hurt. Angelico kisses her hand to start and takes her down with ease but gets caught in an armdrag. They do the same sequence again minus the kiss before Ivelisse hits a nice hurricanrana to send Angelico to the floor, setting up a big corkscrew dive.

Back in and Angelico sends her hard into the corner but misses a running knee. Vampiro thinks Havoc pulled her out of the way, which makes me think Havoc did no such thing. Angelico blocks a knee bar but gets rolled up for a very slow two. Some sunset flips don’t work for Angelico but he keeps pulling her down onto his chest to give Ivelisse two counts. Back up and Ivelisse chops Angelico to his knees but Havoc blocks Angelico from doing the same to her.

Angelico’s delayed suplex is countered into a guillotine choke but he just rubs her back instead of being in pain. Now Angelico gets somewhere close to serious by kicking her in the head but Havoc breaks up a crucifix bomb. Ivelisse snaps off another hurricanrana for two but Angelico swings at Havoc, only to nail her by mistake. Ivelisse is out cold and Angelico gets the easy pin.

Rating: D-. Well that happened. We get the idea that guys and girls fight here, but they’ve done a horrible job at making the girls look entertaining. You would think the best idea here would be to have Sexy Star vs. Ivelisse a few times, but instead we’ve had to be reminded that the girls are nowhere near as good as their male counterparts. Thanks for clarifying that Lucha Underground. I never would have gotten it otherwise.

Catrina comes in to see Muertes and warns him of a Grave Consequences (casket) match against Fenix next week. Death is coming for Muertes.

King Cuerno vs. Johnny Mundo

Pinfall, submission or escape. Since the announcers don’t bother to explain what happened between these two, Mundo pinned him in Aztec Warfare and Cuerno has been hunting him since. Cuerno beat the tar out of him in a regular match that ended in a double countout, so lock them in a cage. They slug it out to start with Cuerno throwing him into the corner but getting dropkicked for two.

Back up and it’s a standoff, much to the crowd’s delight. Mundo sends him into the corner and takes him down again as the fans are in Cuerno’s corner all of a sudden. Granted this is a pretty easy crowd to please so it’s not that shocking. Cuerno gets two off a top rope (in the middle instead of the corner) and we hit the armbar. Now the fans like Mundo but Cuerno shuts them up by sending him into the cage. He continues the theme by rubbing Johnny’s face against the steel before going to the cage, only to have Mundo get to the top for a slugout.

Mundo gets knocked down but Cuerno misses a running double knee into the cage. The breakdancing legdrop gets two and Mundo throws Cuerno into the cage. That earns a holy chant, though I’m not sure why. Mundo escapes the Thrill of the Hunt and hits a Regal Roll, followed by a standing shooting star for two. Cuerno pops back up and catches Mundo trying to escape, setting up a Batista Bomb off the cage wall for another near fall.

This time it’s Johnny going up for the save but he has to pull Cuerno up by the mask. They kick it out on the top rope until both guys crash down to the mat. Back up and Cuerno is sent into the cage over and over before a spear gets two for Johnny. They fight to the top again with Cuerno chopping Mundo’s chest off. Johnny throws him back to the mat but stops climbing down to hit a big corkscrew plancha for the pin.

Rating: B. Really fun spot fest cage match here with Cuerno throwing everything he had at Mundo before the big spot at the end. The match was missing drama though as there were only one or two near falls. Other than that though, I don’t have many complaints here and this was a good big gimmick match for a promotion of this size.

Overall Rating: B. Another good show here but the Ivelisse match brings things way down. She’s gorgeous and talented, but no one could survive booking like she was in tonight. It’s still a really good show though and they’re more than capable of keeping an entertaining show going. There was no Alberto, Texano or Cueto tonight, which means they’re firmly in the NXT mode of going from one part of the roster to the other.

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