Lucha Underground – June 22, 2016: All Hail The King

Lucha Underground
Date: June 22, 2016
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

We’re just a few weeks away from Ultima Lucha Dos and a lot of the card still needs to be set. The official length hasn’t been announced yet but the rumor says four hours over three weeks, which is an upgrade over last year’s three hours. Also it’s about time to start going somewhere with these storylines because time is running out on this season. Let’s get to it.

The opening video recaps the Gift of the Gods Title, most recently held by Cage, who failed in his cash-in attempt against Matanza. We also look at the stories for Famous B. and Black Lotus.

Dario Cueto talks to a masked man named Night Claw, who is from the same Aztec tribe as Prince Puma. Tonight the seven Aztec medallions will be awarded but Dario gives Night Claw one for free. Dario isn’t letting him off that easily though as he reminds Claw that the Jaguar tribe was the first one to be wiped out by the gods.

The announcers tell us that Night Claw debuts at Ultima Lucha Dos.

Aztec Medallion: Daga vs. Mascarita Sagrada

I have no idea what they’re going for with Sagrada but it’s getting annoying at this point. Kobra Moon is watching from the balcony. Daga throws him down for two to start and a snap suplex gets the same. A Russian legsweep sets up a cobra clutch crossface to make Sagrada tap at 2:13.

Famous B. superkicks Sagrada and hits him with a shoe. B. promises to get a new client and make him famous. Hopefully this gets rid of this story because it’s really not interesting.

Dragon Azteca Jr. is in Dario’s office and accuses the boss of being a liar. That gives Dario an idea: Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Black Lotus at Ultima Lucha Dos. We’ll see who is the true killer that night.

Aztec Medallions: Joey Ryan/Cortez Castro/Mr. Cisco vs. Killshot/Marty Martinez/Siniestro de la Muerta

Remember that Cisco now knows his partners are cops. Before the match, Marty returns Killshot’s dog tags as a peace offering. Cortez and Marty get things going with Marty doing the Moth pose. It’s off to Joey for a fight over the lollipop until Killshot comes in to make things more serious. A handstand walk sets up a dropkick to send Joey into the corner, meaning it’s off to Cisco vs. Siniestro. Some armdrags put Sinistero down and a powerslam gets two.

We get a Buzz Sawyer reference from Striker but Vampiro “won’t put that over at all.” Sinistero trips Cisco, which Striker calls a Canadian trip. Cortez comes in for a bottom rope tornado DDT on Marty, who is taken down again by a middle rope hurricanrana from Cisco. Everything breaks down and it’s time for the dives with Marty posing instead of jumping.

Castro and Cisco put him on the floor with a double clothesline before Killshot uses Castro as a launchpad to moonsault onto everyone else. Back in and Cisco hits a reverse hurricanrana (Rewind Rana according to Striker. I kind of like that.) on Killshot but Joey tries to steal the pin to start a brawl. The distraction lets Marty curb stomp Cisco so Killshot can add a top rope double stomp for the pin at 8:04.

Rating: C. This was fine but I’m getting a little tired of the Aztec Medallion shows. The strength of Lucha Underground is in its storytelling and we’re really not getting that in these thrown together matches. Yeah Joey, Cisco and Castro have a story but that can’t really be addressed here because the announcers don’t know about it. The match was fine but nothing all that interesting, which makes for a dull show when that’s all you get.

Marty steals the dog tags back.

Aztec Medallions: Sexy Star/Mariposa vs. Ivelisse/Taya

Taya and Star get things going with the latter grabbing a front facelock. That goes nowhere as Taya reverses into a keylock before they trade some armdrags for a standoff. A double tag brings in Ivelisse and Mariposa with Ivelisse putting on a headlock until she’s pulled into the buckle. For a little change of pace, Mariposa ties her arms between Ivelisse’s legs for something like a Sharpshooter. Cool move.

Ivelisse is quickly out and it’s off to Taya vs. Mariposa for a rather intriguing matchup. Star comes in before anything happens though and armdrags Taya from the top. Everything breaks down and Star hits a running seated senton off the apron to drop Taya again. Taya gets thrown into some empty chairs as this breaks down into a brawl like it probably should have in the first place.

Ivelisse dives down onto Mariposa and it’s back to Taya vs. Star in the ring. A DDT drops Taya but Star won’t tag in Ivelisse. La Majistral gets two on Ivelisse and we hit the pinfall reversal sequence. Everything breaks down again and Taya spears her partner by mistake so Mariposa hits Ivelisse with a White Noise to give Star the pin at 9:45.

Rating: B-. I liked this a lot more than I was expecting with the women showing that they could have a compelling match with some pairings that are actually intriguing. I could go for Taya vs. Mariposa down the line with Taya being all about fitness and perfection and Mariposa being something like the female Mankind. There’s something interesting there and it could be entertaining down the line.

Here’s Prince Puma for his first ever speech in the Temple. Puma gets right to the point: he’s been thinking about Ultima Lucha and there’s only one match people want to see him have. Ever since he started training, people have been asking if he can be the next Rey Mysterio but Puma doesn’t want to know if he can be Rey Mysterio. He wants to know if he can BEAT Rey Mysterio so the challenge is issued. Rey comes out and says he’s a pioneer of all this, but at the end of the day he’s El Rey (Spanish for The King and a nice plug for the network) and Puma is still a prince. However, Rey needs to know if he’s still the best so the match is made.

Overall Rating: C+. This show continued the roll towards Ultima Lucha with one of the big matches being set up. For once this feels like a major match actually worth looking forward to as Rey could probably nail it for a show like Ultima Lucha. I’m starting to get excited for the show, which is apparently going to run for three weeks over four hours, which gives them a lot of time for a lot of the matches. Hopefully next week is a storyline show though because they’re running out of time to wrap up a lot of this stuff.

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