Lucha Underground – May 25, 2016: I Never Thought I’d See It Again
Lucha Underground
Date: May 25, 2016
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker
Last week’s show was uh…..well not exactly up to Lucha Underground’s normal standards. It did however give us a big match for tonight as Cage will be challenging Chavo Guerrero Jr. for the Gift of the Gods Title which Cage has a legitimate claim towards. Other than that you almost never can tell what you’re going to get around here. Let’s get to it.
The recap looks at Cortez Castro/Joey Ryan as cops, the Trios Titles and Cage helping Chavo win the Gift of the Gods Title last week.
Pentagon Jr. is on his feet and looks ready to go back to the Temple but Vampiro says he isn’t ready. A quick wrench of his arm has Pentagon slowing back down but he still says no fear. Vampiro says Pentagon can return to the Temple, though he’s not ready to face the monster.
Some Marines are here in an always cool move.
Matt Striker gets a phone call from someone who asks if he wants to be famous.
Joey Ryan vs. Mascarita Sagrada
The fans are WAY into Mascarita’s entrance, though that might be due to Famous B. doing the announcing. Joey isn’t interested though and kicks Sagrada in the head to take over fast. Mascarita sends him to the floor for the flip dive but Joey throws Sagrada down again. This sets up a trade as Joey gives B. his sucker for a business card. Back in and Mascarita throws him down and scores with a moonsault. Famous B. offers the referee a business card so Sagrada can kick Joey low…..but that doesn’t work on him for reasons I won’t go into. A tornado DDT puts Mascarita away at 3:14.
Rating: D. Just a comedy match here as Famous B. continues to screw up Sagrada’s career, which wasn’t exactly doing much in Lucha Underground to begin with. Joey is over with the crowd though and that’s going to get him somewhere given where things are going with the undercover cop story.
Famous B. consoles Sagrada.
Taya video with her looking at herself in lingerie and then putting on a dress to beat up masked men. That’s one thing I’ll never get tired of around here: even the goons are luchadors.
King Cuerno is in his office (or whatever it is) talking about how Mil Muertes thought he was king of the jungle. He gets up and we see Muertes stood up in a glass coffin as Cuerno’s ultimate trophy. Well that’s a bit creepy.
Gift of the Gods Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Cage
Cage is challenging and drops Chavo at the bell before firing off clotheslines in the corner. Vampiro doesn’t buy Striker’s claims of Chavo being one of the best in the world pound for pound. Vampiro: “When? When he was born and there were no other babies around?” Chavo’s dive is plucked out of the air so Cage can drive him into the barricade a few times.
Back in and Chavo gets a headscissors to send Cage outside, followed by a suicide dive to actually put Cage in trouble. A middle rope cross body just goes badly but Cage bangs up his knee trying a moonsault. Chavo is smart enough to start in on the knee but Vampiro wants Chavo to kick him in the head instead. The champ goes to the top so Cage gets up for an apron superplex. Cage snaps off a sitout Alabama Slam for two, only to get caught in a tornado DDT for the same.
A Liger Kick doesn’t do much for Chavo as Cage just blasts him with a discus lariat. Chavo gets up top again and sunset bombs Cage down, followed by the Frog Splash for two. Three Amigos are countered into a suplex powerbomb (as in Cage lifts him up for a suplex and then slams him forward into a powerbomb). A buckle bomb sets up a STEINER SCREWDRIVER (I never thought I would see that move again but my goodness is still looks amazing) to give Cage the title at 8:05.
Rating: B-. This was much better than I was expecting as Chavo actually wrestled instead of running away like a coward. Cage continues to be what Ryback should have been and I can’t imagine WWE won’t bring him back at some point in the future. Above all else though, STEINER SCREWDRIVER!!!
Cage gets right to the point: he wants a title match next week.
Johnny Mundo has attacked Fenix and will be taking his place in the Trios Titles match alongside PJ Black and Jack Evans.
Cortez Castro and Joey Ryan raid Dario Cueto’s office and find some cash, which Joey steals. Mr. Cisco comes in and isn’t happy with not being invited to the robbery. This earns him an arrest as Joey holds a gun on him. Uh….on what charge?
Taya comes out to announce the replacement.
Trios Titles: Johnny Mundo/PJ Black/Jack Evans vs. Rey Mysterio Jr./Prince Puma/Dragon Azteca Jr.
Mundo’s team is challenging. Jack and Dragon get things going with Dragon scoring off an early dropkick. Some very loud chops have Jack in even more trouble and a dropkick sends him into the corner for the tag off to Black. Puma comes in as well but gets elbowed down for two. Mundo and Black double backdrop Puma for two until the Prince channels his inner Davey Richards by throwing Evans into a DDT from Black and grabbing a neckbreaker to make the partners hurt each other. I’ve never liked that before and I still don’t here.
The hot tag brings in Mysterio to clean house before Dragon’s legdrop and Puma’s springboard splash gets two on Mundo. Evans gets kicked in the face but he kicks Puma in the back to take over again. Mysterio comes back in to send Mundo outside, followed by a slingshot hurricanrana from Puma as this picks up in a hurry. Evans charges into a boot to the face but is still able to cartwheel into a kick to Azteca’s head.
This sets up what looked like a super hurricanrana to Dragon who would land in another hurricanrana on Black. It would have been an awesome spot if both halves of it hadn’t been at least somewhat botched. The 619 on Black sets up the 630 but Johnny pulls the referee out. Mundo isn’t done yet as he kicks Rey low, setting up a double superkick from Johnny and Taya. The other two champs are kicked low and a top rope double stomp into an AA on Azteca.
Black hits a brainbuster called the Wellness Policy (I’m not sure what to think about that one) as we have a second referee. Somehow Puma backflips out of a belly to back superplex and makes the tag to Dragon. Taya has the referee though as Johnny is caught in a sunset flip for two. The distraction lets Evans blast Dragon with a chair to give Johnny the pin and the titles at 10:50.
Rating: B. Good match here as they really fir in with the Lucha Underground mold for the most part. Just let everyone go insane and do high spots to pop the crowd and the rest will be just fine. I’m not wild on these titles changing hands so fast as there’s really not much of a story in sight for them, though Mundo with a title will be fine.
Overall Rating: B. This was a bounce back show as they set up the big showdown between Cage and Matanza while also advancing some of the background stories. At some point they need to actually have these things start coming together so it’s a good step to have something like this happen. It’s not a blow away show but I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.
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Great Info. Thanks for sharing.!
That was a good show!
I love the title changes and I 100% agree with your Cage opinion KB. I secretly wish Cage/Ryback would become a NJPW tag team called The Death Machine( or something that is equivalently over the top) and let them wow Japan and Meltzer and prove that the japanofiles are a little full of themselves and snotty.
Anyway I hope Cage wins but we know he isn’t going to because we are definitely getting the huge Pentagon rematch at what I assuming will be Ultima Lucha II.
The new trios champs are perfect heels and have two ready to go feuds ready to go with the rematch from the champs or Fenix and some partners( I wonder who they could possibly be).
He’s been doing the Screwdriver for weeks on the show. Now you noticed it?
Well any time Chavo Guerrero suffers head injuries I take notice.