Lucha Underground
Date: February 25, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

There are a lot of stories going on around here and the main match tonight is Cage vs. Lucha Underground Champion Prince Puma in a non-title match for a potential future title shot. Other than that we have the continuing rivalry between Texano and Alberto El Patron over the AAA World Title. Let’s get to it.

A car pulls up and a woman is tied up in the back.

The house band plays us in. They really don’t need to exist.

The announcers recap recent events. I want to punch both of these guys in the face.

Aerostar vs. Drago

We get a rare handshake to start before Drago is sent to the floor ten seconds in, setting up a springboard dive from Aerostar. Back in and Drago rolls up a limping Aerostar for two but the selling lasts all of five seconds. That doesn’t sit well with Drago so he hits a springboard tornado DDT followed by a not great looking throw into a faceplant for two. Drago misses a charge into the corner and takes a running kick to the back.

A kick sends Aerostar to the floor with Drago hitting an even better flip dive as they’re flying fast so far. Aerostar pops back up and avoids a charge on the apron, sending Drago face first into the post. It’s Aerostar going up 2-1 on the dives, even though he almost leaves it short and crashes.

Back in and Drago hits a top rope hurricanrana before doing one of the most overly complicated dives into a cradle (Dragon’s Lair) that I’ve ever seen. The flips took nearly five seconds and only got a one count. The fans think this is awesome as Aerostar sunset bombs him out to the floor. A springboard splash back inside is good enough to pin Drago in a fast ending.

Rating: C+. RIDICULOUS (in a bad way) flips aside, this was the kind of match you want to open a show like this. Usually you would want something like this in the middle of a show but given that this is just 45 minutes long after commercials, there’s not enough time to build up a regular card. Very fun, but certainly not technically sound, match.

Aerostar helps him up and they shake hands again post match. Cueto comes out and says he enjoyed that. These two have fought twice now and it’s 1-1. This match was so entertaining that they’re going to face each other until someone wins two more times. The winner will get a unique opportunity. I could live with that idea, especially when it’s not something we see that often in today’s wrestling.

King Cuerno video.

Cage vs. Prince Puma

Non-title and you would think this would end the show. The champ goes right after Cage to start but is shoved down with ease. A discus forearm staggers Cage and Puma heads to the apron, only to eat a HARD clothesline, sending him back first onto the apron and head first onto the floor in a sick crash. The Cesaro apron superplex gets two for Cage and he catches a cross body with ease and throws Puma down with a fall away slam.

We hit the neck crank before he misses an enziguri and gets thrown down again. All Cage so far and a powerslam drops Puma one more time. Cage misses a moonsault though and an enziguri sends him outside. A HUGE running shooting star off the top stuns Cage again and sends Striker into full mark mode. The springboard 450 only gets two on Cage so he throws Puma around with a gutwrench suplex. He tries one too many though and gets hurricanranaed down.

A Phoenix Splash misses and Cage is all ticked off, setting up a wicked discus lariat to turn Puma inside out for two. Cage plants him with a sitout powerbomb for two more and we hit a Brock Lock. Cue the injured Konnan, who starts a Puma chant and draws Puma the full nine inches to the ropes. A powerbomb into a buckle bomb into Weapon X (a Gory Bomb into a downward spiral) is enough to make Konnan throw in the towel to give the match to Cage.

Rating: B-. This was more storytelling than a match and there’s nothing wrong with that. Cage is a monster and I’m really surprised WWE let him go off his developmental contract. He has the look and the power, but for some reason they didn’t see potential in him. You would think he would be perfect as a bodyguard for someone in a Matt Morgan style role. Either way, this sets up a big showdown at some point in the future with an easy yet good story.

After a break, Konnan tells Puma that he just did him a favor.

Sexy Star rants to Cueto about the Crew injuring her friends and promises to put them in hospital. Cueto’s offer: a match about Big Ryck next week with the winner getting to face the Crew. No man is allowed to help her next week either. Now THAT is some smart booking and an interesting way to get us to multiple potential conclusions.

Vinny Massaro vs. Pentagon Jr.

Massaro is a regular in California. Pentagon dedicates this match to unnamed master. A hard chop puts Massaro down to start and that double underhook driver is enough to give Pentagon the easy pin.

Pentagon powerbombs him through a table for good measure. The arm is cranked to keep up the evil streak.

King Cuerno vs. Johnny Mundo

This should be good but it makes no sense to have it as the main event when you had Puma vs. Cage. Mundo charges at Cuerno to start but eats a forearm. That just ticks him off more though as Mundo hammers away and hits a running knee to the face for two. A superkick knocks Cuerno off the apron and sets up a HUGE spinning flip dive to take Cuerno down one more time.

Back in and Cuerno slams Johnny down and drops a leg for two. It’s back to the knee as Striker determines that a corner is sacred for some reason. Mundo fights back with right hands and a spear for two with his knee not being in any noticeable pain. Cuerno tries to spin around Mundo’s arm but falls down on his face. To be fair though, that was quite the difficult looking spot. Thrill of the Hunt doesn’t work and Mundo kicks him down again. A superkick knocks Mundo into the corner but he comes back with a springboard knee to the chest.

The Moonlight Drive looks to set up the End of the World but Cuerno kicks Mundo to the floor. A good looking suicide dive sends Johnny into the barricade as this is really picking up. Now the knee is giving out. Convenient timing after all his high spots are done. Cuerno goes back inside for an even bigger suicide dive, driving Mundo’s spine into the announcers’ table. The third suicide dive connects and Mundo is DONE, but Cuerno can’t beat the count back in either for a double countout.

Rating: B-. Heck of a fight here but Mundo really didn’t look like he was able to hang in there with Cuerno, which really doesn’t hold up for the sake of a rematch. Those suicide dives looked great though and confirm Cuerno’s status as my favorite guy in this promotion. Really fun beating at the end but Striker continued to get on my nerves and brought it down a few pegs.

Mundo gets back up and dives between the ropes onto Cuerno’s back. A kick to Cuerno’s face drops him as well and they fight up the steps. Striker says Cuerno knows the jungle so well. That’s such an appropriate line because it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT’S GOING ON AT THE MOMENT. Mundo spears him through a wall (the Jungle Wall right Striker?) and that’s it.

Well almost all of it as we see the car from earlier again.

Overall Rating: B. Really solid episode this week as they set up a lot of stuff for the future and had some great action at the same time. There’s some real talent on this roster with Cuerno and Puma standing out, but guys like Cage and Pentagon have potential as well. The key to this show continues to be its logical, week to week booking which is the best thing a company like this can do: give you a reason to come back next week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

As a life long Flintstones fan, I’ve been waiting for a very long time for this movie to come out. The Scooby-Doo movie was actually pretty solid for a quick hour and a half sit through, but this is just fifty minutes long. I’m really not sure if this is going to work as well, but I’m going to give a list of thoughts/issues throughout the whole thing. Expect some rare Flintstones fan boy rage in this one. Let’s get to it.

So first and foremost, this thing’s full title is The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown. That’s quite the wordy title, and the movie is only 49 minutes long. At the end of the day though, that’s probably a good thing. This really isn’t very good and didn’t need to be made. There’s a really basic plot (Fred needs money, thinks sports entertainment (not wrestling. Unless I missed it, that word is never used) is an easy way to afford a vacation) and everything is wrapped up really fast. There are only two wrestling shows in the whole thing and less than five matches.

Of course the main thing here is the wrestlers, but there aren’t many to go around. The entire cast from WWE is:

John Cena: a relative of Mr. Slate (which means he’s actually related to Barney if this is cannon) who can throw around dinosaurs.

Rey Mysterio: a guy who works in an office and wears a mask for no apparent reason.

Undertaker: an undertaker, who messes with a tablet a lot.

Bella Twins: two girls from Bedrock. They’re in this about three minutes combined.

Daniel Bryan: just there for a YES cameo.

CM Punk: villain. More on him later.

Mark Henry: Punk’s lackey.

Vince McMahon: owns a raw fish bar. GET IT?

And that’s it. The wrestlers are pretty limited here, and it’s made even stranger by the fact that they’re not wrestlers. They’re just people Fred hires to be in his shows, meaning they don’t know how to wrestle a match. Undertaker and Cena use tombstones at one point but that’s the extent of the wrestling involved.

There isn’t much to the plot and I’ll spare the major spoilers in case you want to see this. There’s only a handful of decent jokes, such as Cena suggesting he take up music and Punk being obsessed with ice cream. The only other scenes that gave me a chuckle were Daniel Bryan and John Cena doing the Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck YES/NO bit (WWE meets Looney Tunes could have some serious potential) and Bam Bam being stronger than Henry.

The characters look really off for the most part, but at least it’s consistent. Wilma’s head is MASSIVE and it’s really distracting. As for the WWE people, Cena looked fine, Vince wasn’t wearing a suit and looks way out of place in anything else, Mark Henry looked homeless, and the Bellas look like they did back in 2008. On the other hand though, they pretty much nailed Undertaker’s look perfectly, save for him wearing pink trunks at one point and spending too much time on the tablet.

For the most part, the wrestlers are just kind of there. Cena does a few things (including having his theme song start playing for no apparent reason), Mysteiro could have been anyone, Henry is a standard lackey and the Bellas are run off by Wilma and Betty. The interesting character though is Punk, who has the only running joke (thinking Barney’s pet Hoparoo is a kangaroo. I didn’t say the joke was funny), bullies Barney and seems to be cruel to animals. I don’t think they were going over the top with him as he’s certainly the closest thing they have to a villain, but it was interesting given what’s happened since he left.

As for the Flintstones stuff, it’s pretty standard, uninspired stuff.  These characters could have been on any given cartoon and you wouldn’t notice the difference. Fred wants money, the girls don’t trust the boys because they know they’ll have a scheme, and that’s about the extent of their involvement. It feels like someone said “put the Flintstones in this” and someone who has watched all of two episodes of the show was in charge of them (to be fair though, you can pretty much understand the main Flintstones characters after watching five minutes of any episode). They’re there, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.

Overall, this really is just a thing. It’s not really funny, it’s not really good, and it’s basically just there to say WWE and the Flintstones are doing something together. The Scooby-Doo movie had WAY more effort put in and I had about a thousand times more fun watching it. This pretty much just came and went and only got a handful of chuckles out of me. It’s far from horrible as it’s not even 50 minutes long, but unless you’re a big Flintstones fan, there’s no need to watch it. The wrestlers aren’t enough of a factor to draw in WWE fans and you would be better off watching the Scooby-Doo movie instead.

Oh and one more thing: one of the main jokes in the history of the Flintstones is taking someone with a famous name and adding a rock pun. They’re doing a movie with WWE and no one brings up THE ROCK??? That’s the biggest layup joke you could ever make and there’s nothing there? Come on now.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Lucha Underground
Date: February 18, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Matt Striker, Vampiro

The company has changed in a hurry as the major story has gone from Puma and Mundo having individual feuds against Cage to Alberto vs. Texano, which has the potential to be something entertaining. Other than that we might be ready to find out who is Pentagon’s boss, which could be almost anyone. Let’s get to it.

We open with a quick recap of last week’s show, including Ryck’s awesome threats to the Crew.

Mil Muertes vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

No Catrina. This is over the debt that Muertes claims Chavo owes him after saving Blue Demon Jr. a few months back. Mil is sent outside but he quickly catches Chavo diving off the apron and drives him back first into the post. A dive takes Mil down again before Chavo takes him back inside to work on the knee. When did Guerrero turn face? He’s certainly wrestling like one here after caving in Sexy Star’s head with a chair. Vampiro: “Yeah this is a good idea. Tick off DEATH.”

Striker continues to be a step behind as he says Chavo seems to be focusing on the left leg. Given that it’s all he’s doing, I wouldn’t think anything SEEMS to be true here. Back up and Muertes punches Chavo in the face, only to be sent right back to the floor. Catrina slowly walks towards the ring as Muertes plants Chavo with an electric chair.

They’re playing up the idea that Mil isn’t himself without Catrina but he’s just naturally strong enough to muscle Chavo around. A backdrop sends Guerrero outside but Mil stops to look at Catrina, who has a rock which distracts him even more. Chavo comes in with a chair to the back for the DQ but Muertes doesn’t even move.

Rating: C. This was better than I was expecting and Muertes continues to be one of the more interesting characters. They’re really doing a good job of making him more of a tweener and Catrina makes things interesting as well. Granted she also makes them better looking but that could be because we can actually see her face.

Muertes gives Chavo a flatliner on the chair but Catrina won’t give Chavo the lick. Striker: “Defiance from the leather laden licker!” Just…..go away Striker. Muertes grabs her by the hair and then the throat but Fenix comes in to make the save. Catrina kisses Fenix and leaves with him as Striker continues to make the commentary more complicated than it should be.

Cueto praises the Crew for their actions and puts them in the main event tonight. If they want to stay there though, they need to prove that they can be violent like they were to Big Ryck all the time. Their opponents tonight: Pimpinela Escarlata, Mascarita Sagrada and Sexy Star in an anything goes six person tag. Cueto wants all three of them gone.

Son of Havoc and Ivelisse are in the ring and Ivelisse yells at him for losing all the time, meaning she’ll be fighting Angelico instead of Havoc.

Ivelisse vs. Angelico

Angelico checks some kicks to start but the camera jumps to Son of Havoc. So you would rather see a mask than a good looking woman? Good to know. A forearm is easily blocked and Angelico pins down both of her arms. He dips her back, much to Havoc’s annoyance, before allowing Ivelisse to kick him in the chest. Ivelisse goes to the middle rope and kicks Angelico in the face, finally ticking him off. Angelico just throws her into the air for a crash, prompting some breast implant jokes from Striker. Havoc finally kicks Angelico in the head, allowing Ivelisse to roll him up for a fast pin.

Post match Angelico hits on Ivelisse and shoves Havoc to the floor.

We get a sitdown interview with Texano, where he (in Spanish), talks about dominating AAA for two years (thankfully complete with clips) and is here to dominate Alberto. Vampiro doesn’t get a handshake and Texano looks like a star.

Texano vs. Super Fly

Texano speeds around the ring and catches Super Fly in the corner for some chops. A Rough Ryder gets two for Texano and an AA into a backbreaker on the knee, straight into a neckbreaker for the pin. Total “I’m here and awesome” squash.

Cue Alberto for the brawl and this time it’s Texano getting whipped with the bullrope. Referees quickly break it up but Striker suggests that the AAA World Title could be defending in Lucha Underground. That would indeed be a coup.

Cage comes into Cueto’s office and demands to be named Lucha Underground Champion. Instead he gets Puma in a non-title match next week. He also wants a good looking title belt when he wins it. Chavo Guerrero comes in and quits, but is told the doors are always open. Cueto really doesn’t seem to care, but says the gods aren’t going to be pleased.

The mystery woman finds whatever she’s looking for and says as a child, she wanted to kill it with her bare hands. Ok then.

The Crew vs. Pimpinela Escarlata/Mascarita Sagrada/Sexy Star

Anything goes. It’s a brawl to start with the Crew of course dominating and Escarlata starting against Castro. Some kendo stick shots have Pimpinela in early trouble and STOP CALLING HIM PIMPY! That sounds so stupid every time and doesn’t make me hate this character any less. Cisco kicks Escarlata out to the floor and nails Sagrada with a boot to the face.

Sagrada comes back with a top rope hurricanrana to take over before hitting a big dive to the floor. That just earns him another kick to the face before Castro sends him into the apron. Off to Castro vs. Star with the blonde taking a kick to the back of the head. Apparently Escarlata has been taken to the back, leaving Sagrada to get triple teamed. A curb stomp (not the running kind) onto a chair knocks the mini out cold and he’s taken out as well.

Since this is wrestling, Star is easily able to fight all of them off, including a low blow to Cisco. A tornado DDT to the floor plants Bael but Castro finally catches her with a running boot to the face. Star does the same to him before mostly botching a swinging fisherman’s neckbreaker. Cisco is back in and slams her down, only to get crotched on the top rope.

Her top rope hurricanrana eventually gets two but all three members of the Crew get back in for some destruction. Cue an eye patched Big Ryck though and things get serious in a hurry. Of course it’s just a distraction though, allowing Star to roll up Bael (with her feet under his shoulders) for the pin.

Rating: D. Blech. This was a big waste of time with the Crew getting beaten up WAY more than they should have and then losing on a fluke at the end. All three guys are still completely interchangeable and I was still having issues figuring out which one was which. Sexy Star deserves better than this and Escarlata still gets annoying in a hurry every time he’s out there.

Overall Rating: D+. They went with the B crew here and it really didn’t work for them. It was almost all about midcard stuff and that doesn’t make for a good show in this company. They have the kind of stars that can put on a good effort, but I need more Texano vs. Alberto and a lot less freakshow tag. This was a misstep for them, but the fact that it wasn’t their top lineup takes away a lot of the sting. We’ll call this one an aberration and move on.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

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

We’re in a new era for Lucha Underground as Alberto El Patron (Del Rio) debuted to close out last week’s show. I know Mundo is a fairly big name still, but Del Rio was World Champion in WWE just a few years back. At the end of the day, Del Rio is a far bigger star than Mundo and one of the biggest stars of recent years, meaning this company has by far its biggest signing. Let’s get to it.

Alberto is in Cueto’s office to start with the boss (as in the boss, not El Patron) admiring Alberto’s style. El Patron is willing to work here but there’s something he needs to get off his chest first. He doesn’t actually ask anything but says the next time he’s in this office, it will be for blood.

El Patron will have an open mic later tonight.

Fenix vs. Argenis

The fans are entirely behind Fenix but Argenis throws him into the air for what looked like a low blow. It’s nice to have them establish who the heel is right off the bat. A big dive through the ropes takes Fenix down again as Striker gives us a brief history of AAA. Fenix rises up and runs inside for that middle rope flip dive of his. Back in and Argenis superkicks him out of the air before planting him with something like a flapjack for two. A middle rope dropkick puts Argenis down but there’s no cover.

Instead Catrina comes out as Fenix hits something like Roman Reigns’ apron kick. Argenis shrugs it off and hits a missile dropkick and standing moonsault for two of his own. They head outside for a corkscrew plancha from Fenix, which Striker thinks turned Catrina on. Vampiro: “I know I’m turned on.” Back in again and Fenix crotches himself on a charge, setting up a powerbomb for two. The fans chant Lucha Fenix (awesome name actually. Ok so maybe it’s LUCHA LIBRE but mine sounds better) as he reverses a tombstone into a fire driver (sitout tombstone) for the pin.

Rating: C. If you can accept that there will be less selling here than in an air conditioning store at the North Pole, you should be able to have some fun with these matches. Fenix is a fun guy to watch and Argenis is firmly in that second level of guys around here who can show up and have a decent match with almost no chance of winning. Seeing Catrina is never a bad thing either.

Catrina crawls inside and gets on top of Argenis, like she does to Muertes’ fallen opponents.

After a break, Catrina is in the back, talking to Muertes about how the power of 1000 deaths was too much for him. He lifts her up by the throat and says he needed nothing. Muertes storms off and runs into Chavo Guerrero. Chavo’s debt is due next week.

Big Ryck prays about killing the Crenshaw Crew, saying God won’t want to stop him after what they put him through. They were three Judases and their blood will be on his hands when he goes Old Testament on them. This was AWESOME and by far the best thing he’s ever done.

House band.

Son of Havoc vs. Johnny Mundo

I still want to know who Havoc is. Not the guy under the mask, but the father of the guy we’re watching. I wonder if he’s any relation to Halloween. He dedicates the upcoming win to Ivelisse, pretty much guaranteeing his loss. The fans are actually split here and Mundo takes over with a nice leg sweep, drawing the required Karate Kid line. Havoc slows things down before hitting a handspring elbow in the corner, only to miss a charge and fall to the floor. Johnny is right there waiting with a dive and the fans fire up again.

Ivelisse saves Havoc from being rammed into the post. Striker: “Everyone knows, happy life, happy life.” No that’s not a typo. Back in and Havoc misses another dive, possibly banging up his knee. Ivelisse trips Mundo up again though and Havoc takes over for the third time in less than three minutes. A backsplash gets two and it’s off to a bow and arrow hold.

Back up and Havoc gets pulled out of the corner, only to backflip onto his feet and hammer away at Mundo. Johnny nails him in the face to take over again as the fans think this is awesome. Given that they chant this every match, the effect is a bit weaker than they’re hoping for.

The End of the World has to be aborted and Havoc nails a springboard double stomp to the back, followed by a standing moonsault for two. Havoc hits a nice bicycle kick and a standing shooting start gets another two count. Mundo pops back up though and kicks Havoc on the top but can’t hook a top rope hurricanrana. Havoc takes WAY too long setting something up and his shooting star hits knees. The End of the World gives Mundo the pin.

Rating: B-. This was the same idea as the first match but with some selling thrown in for good measure. It also helps that Mundo is better in the ring and we had Ivelisse freaking out at ringside. Havoc getting closer and closer every time was a nice story and it made for a good match the whole way through.

Cuerno hits the ring to lay out Mundo.

Ricky Mandell vs. Pentagon Jr.

Vampiro thinks it’s Rick Martel. I’m digging this evil Pentagon character but I don’t see why he needs a mentor character to make it work. A backbreaker drops Mandell to start and some chops set up a double stomps for no cover. Ricky scores with a headscissors but spins into a dropkick to the chest. Now it’s time for the arm but first, Pentagon throws him up in a torture rack and drive Ricky stomach first into the buckle. The armbar makes Ricky tap and Pentagon snaps another arm.

Rating: D+. Total squash here but I’m still getting into this guy. He can break arms of low level guys for weeks until they give him a major story. I’m still curious about who this master is but it could range from brilliant to horrible and I can’t imagine anything in between. Nice squash here as we’re still early in this story.

Here’s Alberto, who is announced as the AAA World Champion for the first time on this show. He gets a HUGE reaction and goes into the crowd to be with the fans. That’s quite the moment and a great way to have him debut. Alberto doesn’t have to impress anyone because these people are all his family.

We get the brief version of his family history before he talks about being an icon to the Mexican people in the United States. Then the WWE stabbed him in the back so he’s here to work where everyone is equal. He promises to get the job done but El Texano, the man Alberto beat for the AAA Title, runs in and beats him down with the bullrope. I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Texano so far so this could be a good thing. Alberto is laid out to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a very important show for the company and a big step forward. They’re spent several months laying an awesome groundwork for the company, but they need some star power to bring in the viewers. Mundo is the biggest star in the promotion, but he was an Intercontinental Champion about five years ago. Alberto was WWE Champion less than two years ago and a much bigger star overall. Bringing him aboard makes Lucha Underground look more legitimate and the fans might be more willing to check it out now.

The rest of the show was its usual goodness with some exciting (though not necessarily high quality) wrestling and solid storyline development. I’m really hoping the Alberto move helps them out as they could use some more traction to guarantee the survival of the promotion. Good show here but it’s more important than high quality.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Triplemania 22
Date: August 17, 2014
Location: Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: 21,000
Commentators: Hugo Savinovich, Vampiro

Well I recently butchered a Japanese show so why not a Mexican show too? I’ve seen a few shows from AAA before and I’ve liked it so far, but that might be because I can understand a bit of Spanish so I’m not completely lost. I’m really not sure what’s going on here but a good wrestling show should be able to tell stories without being able to understand every single thing. Let’s get to it.

HOKEY SMOKE THERE’S ENGLISH COMMENTARY! Oh I feel a lot better all of a sudden.

The ring announcer welcomes us to the show. I think he says the show is being broadcast in the US as well as Mexico. One more note: AAA uses the six sided ring ala TNA.

Opening video, which is just shots of a lot of the roster. There’s a good chance I’ll know a lot of these people from Lucha Underground.

With music from Rocky Balboa vs. Ivan Drago from Rocky IV playing in the background (I already like this show), an SUV pulls up. Out walks Mexican legend Dos Caras (two faces) and his son, Alberto Del Rio (Alberto El Patron here). This isn’t really a surprise as Alberto was in the montage of faces in the opening video.

The father and son come to the ring with Hugo introducing Alberto and listing off all of his WWE accomplishments. Alberto talks about returning home (with a name graphic for Sexy Star) and belonging to Mexico. Seven years ago he went to the United States to pursue a dream but now he has been humbled by God. He claims racism in WWE and says it doesn’t matter if you have money or not. Dos Caras taught him how to be a man and nothing can ever take away his pride. He’s so proud to be Mexican.

Cue Konnan and Los Perros Del Mal (heel stable, coming out to Eye of the Tiger, making them awesome) with Konnan running down Mexico and Alberto in particular. Perro Aguayo Jr. makes fun of WWE catchphrases and my goodness they need to turn up the commentary volume as it’s being badly drowned out. He calls Dos Caras an old man and shoves him down so the brawl is on. The Perros being chased off with ease as Vampiro brings up an interesting point: Alberto can’t officially wrestle for 90 days. Alberto challenges Aguayo to a fight and says Perro Sr. should have raised his son better. The surprises belong to Alberto.

Aero Star/Jennifer Blake/Mascarita Sagrada/Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Mamba/Mini Abismo Negro/Sexy Star/Super Fly

The idea here is you have a masked man, a mini, an exotico (transvestite) and female wrestler with the idea being a strange combination tag match. This is the definition of a cultural difference but the matches can be fun. Star and Fly used to be teammates but have recently split. Sexy Star is half of the Mixed Tag Team Champions but the commentators call it the Women’s Title. Mamba recently beat Escarlata in a hair vs. hair match so there are even more stories going on.

The camera stays on a wide shot so it’s kind of hard to tell what’s going on. Super Fly accidentally kicks Sexy Star to the floor, allowing Aero to get a quick rollup for two. Fly is sent to the floor and the camera completely misses the dive. Off to the girls with Sexy taking Blake down by the hair but getting armdragged out of the corner and down to the floor. Negro, who is the mini but is taller than the top rope, gets caught in a spinning DDT from Blake, followed by a running seated senton from the apron to take Sexy down.

Off to the exoticos with Escarlata rolling around and walking the top rope into an armdrag to Mamba and a headscissors to Fly at the same time. The minis come in and Vampiro has to explain that usually there isn’t this big of a height differential. Sagrada climbs onto Negro’s shoulders and then the top of his head into a hurricanrana. Aero backdrops Fly to the floor and Sexy Germans Blake for no count. Blake gets two off something like a TKO but I can barely see what’s going on because of the stupid wide shot. Everything breaks down and the exoticos stop for some “comedy” with Escarlata getting two off a sunset flip.

Sexy and Blake trade rollups for two each before Aero hits a top rope Falling Star to the floor to take out Fly. Negro blocks a kiss from Escarlata so Pimpinela dives on…..someone the camera misses. The minis go at it again with Sagrada hitting a big dive onto Negro but Fly misses his dive a few seconds later. Blake dives over the top onto Super Fly, followed by a corkscrew plancha from Sexy. The announcers have issues with the sound and Escarlata finally gets to kiss Negro. Sagrada throws Negro in AJ Lee’s Black Widow for the submission.

Rating: C. Well that…..happened. I remember hearing Sean Waltman say there’s no psychology in lucha matches and that’s very clear here. This was all over the place with no particular rhyme or reason for anything that was going on. They were just doing random spots to each other and if they made sense then great but it didn’t really matter either way. I did however find Escarlata a lot easier to sit through here than in Lucha Underground, though that might have something to do with not having to listen to Striker call him Pimpy every ten seconds.

The announcers get the sound back and Hugo makes me laugh by asking why things always happen to him around tables.

Sexy Star dances post match.

World Cruiserweight Title: El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Daga vs. Fenix vs. Angelico vs. Australian Suicide vs. Bengala vs. Drago vs. Jack Evans vs. Joe Lider vs. Pentagon Jr.

This is a ten way elimination match (oh joy) to unify Daga’s Cruiserweight Title with Fenix’s Fusion Title. You may know Hijo del Fantasma as King Cuerno, as well as a few other names from Lucha Underground. I’ll do my best to keep track of these guys but I make no promises whatsoever. From what I can tell, neither title ever changed hands in a singles match. That must be a cultural thing because it’s rather insane otherwise. Pentagon Jr. comes in as Sexy Star’s partner in the World Mixed Tag Team Champions while Evans and Angelico are the World Tag Team Champions. Fenix has a posse with him.

Thankfully there are only two people in the ring at once and the other eight stay on the floor until someone is sent outside. One last note: Ricochet (Prince Puma) was supposed to be in this match but is being replaced by Drago due to some flight issues. Bengala quickly sends Pentagon outside and follows him out with a huge moonsault, which impresses Vampiro greatly. Fantasma runs over Evans with a clothesline and Angelico comes in to help. Pentagon and I think Suicide double team Jack before Lider comes in, only to get knocked to the floor, setting up a HUGE corkscrew plancha from Drago to take down all ten guys.

Lider rolls Bengala up for two back inside but Bengala grabs a rollup of his own with a nice cradle for the first elimination. Pentagon powerbombs Suicide as Savinovich has no idea who all is in there. A big spinning DDT plants Pentagon before Drago runs the ropes to hurricanrana Fenix. That’s fine with Fantasma though as he gets his knees up to block Suicide’s Shooting Star. This is going so fast that you can really only call spots because there’s no story or flow to the match to speak of. Pentagon hits a running package piledriver (looked sick) to eliminate Suicide and get us down to eight.

Drago comes in and flips all around Pentagon but gets knocked to the floor. Evans backflips to avoid a clothesline from Pentagon and hits a kind of Pele kick, only to have Daga kick him down as well. Of course Jack isn’t interested in selling and loads up a 450 but has to bail out, setting up another package piledriver from Pentagon. Daga adds a suplex into a backbreaker for a double pin, leaving seven guys in the running.

It’s off to Bengala and Fenix to trade running kicks in the corner. That bores them so they try exchanging tombstone attempts until Bengala is dropped HARD on his head for an elimination. Doctors come out to check on Bengala as Fenix is backdropped into the air but turns around into a sweet hurricanrana. The fans, as they have been all night, are mostly uninterested. Either that or they’re very badly mic’d as there haven’t been many substantial pops over an hour into the show.

Fenix dives through the ropes into another hurricanrana on Pentagon but Fantasma jumps him from behind. A whip sends Fenix into a powerbomb into a backbreaker on the ramp, which doesn’t make a ton of difference here. Daga hits a suicide dive to take out Fantasma for a big crash. Well in theory it was a big crash as the camera missed it again. I can live with that a bit more in a major free for all like this, especially once it gets on the floor.

Fenix pops right back up and even Vampiro is saying he should still be down. A HUGE top rope hurricanrana and standing moonsault are enough to eliminate Pentagon, leaving us with Fenix, Daga, Angelico and Fantasma. Bengala is just being taken out. Angelico pounds on Daga in the corner as Fantasma goes outside, leaving no one for Fenix to handspring elbow. Angelico joins him on the floor, allowing Fenix to run from one corner to another for a huge double turn corkscrew dive. Daga hits a Canadian Destroyer and discus lariat to Fenix, setting up a rear naked choke for the submission.

Down to three now as Daga tornado DDT’s Angelico into a guillotine choke but Angelico powers up to his feet for the break. Angelico kind of break dances into a kick to the head to stagger Daga, setting up a running Razor’s Edge into the buckle. More doctors are out to check on Fantasma as Angelico gets the pin to put us down to one on one. Fantasma pops up and dropkicks Angelico to the floor for a big suicide dive. Vampiro: “He knocked that South African all the way back to Japan!”

Both guys crawl back in at the 19 count and we actually have a breather. Fantasma’s top rope sunset bomb is countered and Angelico gets two off another running Razor’s Edge into the corner. He loads up another from the middle rope but Fantasma slips off to escape a bad case of death. They chop it out on the ropes with Fantasma getting the better of it, setting up what was supposed to be a reverse hurricanrana but winds up just being Angelico taking a back bump. A fireman’s carry into a tombstone (called a flying inverted neckbreaker into a brainbuster by Hugo) is enough to give Fantasma the title.

Rating: D+. The high flying was fun here at times but the ridiculous amount of botches and complete lack of flow drove me crazy. They were all over the place and I get the idea behind a wild fight like this, but would a little bit of order have killed them? It doesn’t help that I have absolutely no idea if any of these guys are faces or heels as they all wrestle about the same style. Total mess but some fun high spots helped it a lot.

Commissioner Fantasma presents his son with the new green title belt post match. Vampiro implies that Hijo is a heel for the first indication of alignment all night.

We get the announcements for the Hall of Fame, which I don’t think are announced prior to the show. This year’s class include El Brazo and someone to be named later. Vampiro tells a nice story about Brazo’s family taking care of him when he showed up in Mexico when he was just 19 years old. AAA boss Joaquin Roldan presents the Brazo family with a plaque for the induction.

Video on Taya vs. Faby Apache for the Reina de Reinas (Queen of Queens, meaning the Women’s) Title. There’s a cool visual here with a chess board showing only two queens slowly moving closer to each other.

Reina de Reinas: Taya vs. Faby Apache

Apache is defending and has Drago in her corner while Taya has Sexy Star and some of Los Perros Del Mal. Referee Hijo de Tirantes (Son of Suspenders. Seriously) gets his own introduction, complete with flexing. Feeling out process to start with Faby easily taking the challenger down and cranking on the legs. It turns into a battle of hair pulling, which Vampiro excuses because it’s Mexico. A running double knee to the face has Apache in trouble early and we hit one of the only chinlocks of the night.

Back up and Faby superkicks a charging Taya to send her out to the floor. Tirantes, a known heel referee, won’t let Faby follow Taya out. Faby goes after her anyway but eats a fall away slam back inside. A fisherman’s suplex, with Taya being nice enough to lift her leg to be grabbed, gets two for Faby. Taya looks to have a busted nose as she gets two of her own off a facebuster. The champ grabs an Orton DDT but the referee stops the count at two to check on the injured nose. Works well enough I guess.

Taya is in the ropes so Faby charges, only to get caught in a kind of guillotine choke. The referee has no interest in breaking up the hold despite it being in the ropes so Faby escapes and puts on a rolling armbar instead. That goes nowhere so it’s off to a heel hook instead but Tirantes grabs Faby’s hair to break up the hold. Commissioner Fantasma is nowhere in sight. A superplex gets two for Faby as the referee just stops counting at two. It’s better than Nick Patrick’s overblown shoulder spasms at least.

That earns him a missile dropkick and draws in Sexy Star, only to have Faby drop her longtime rival with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Cue a second referee and Fantasma (senior) for some actual law and order. Taya misses a moonsault (on a broken nose remember) and gets kicked in the face for two. Taya comes back with a northern lights suplex and a double stomp for the pin and the title out of nowhere.

Rating: C. After all of the insane messes I sat through in the first two matches, this insanity was kind of a necessary step down. I can get behind a good crooked heel referee idea and that’s what we got here. Not a great or even a really good match but this is the best story I’ve seen all night.

Vampiro talks about all the hard work Taya has put in to get here, which really doesn’t jive with the whole crooked referee story or the fact that Taya was clearly the heel here. Then again, neither does Taya winning with a clean wrestling move after all the cheating but I’ll take what I can get.

The other inductee into the Hall of Fame is Rayo de Jalisco (Lightning from Jalisco) but Los Perros come out to jump Rayo Jr. Blue Demon Jr. comes out to help break it up and a big brawl breaks out.

A steel cage is lowered as the Star Wars theme plays. I’m digging this company’s music selections.

Video on the upcoming six way cage match where the last man in will either have his head shaved or lose his mask.

El Mesias vs. La Parka vs. Electroshock vs. Chessman vs. Averno vs. Blue Demon Jr.

This is in a cage and the last man in loses his mask or hair. Mesias is subbing for Jeff Jarrett, who is also missing due to travel issues. Averno, Mesias, Electroshock (I think at least as he wears a half mask) and Chessman (the reigning Latin American Champion) can have their heads shaved and the other two can lose their masks. Mesias is better known as Mil Muertes in Lucha Underground at the moment.

Averno and Chessman jump Mesias before everyone else make it to the ring and Electroshock gets the same treatment. Chessman climbs to the top of the cage and drops a leg to drive someone through a table. None of this is SHOWN OF COURSE because we needed to see Blue Demon high fiving fans. This company is making my head hurt. While all this is going on, La Parka has his admittedly awesome entrance to Thriller.

So everyone is in now and it’s La Parka getting the first advantage that we can actually see. Mesias is already bleeding and everyone not named Electroshock (or La Parka of course) jump La Parka. That’s fine with La Parka who gets to the top of the cage (having lost a boot somewhere in there) and is out less than two minutes after getting in. Electroshock is busted as well as the announcers finally explain the idea. Granted they’re not sure if Electroshock’s hair or mask is on the line either.

Averno tells Chessman to load up Mesias for a double team move but runs up the cage to make the second escape. We’re already down to four and Demon shrugs off all three other guys and makes it out. They’re flying through this match. Mesias superplexes Chessman down but Chessman pops up and grabs a guitar. Averno is back though and throws powder at Electroshock, allowing Chessman to nail him with the guitar. A spear from Mesias drops Chessman but he quickly pulls Mesias down and escapes.

So it’s Mesias vs. Electroshock as the final pairing and they stare each other down. Mesias’ tombstone doesn’t work an Electroshock nails an RKO, only to have Mesias make a quick save. Mesias sends him shoulder first into the cage but can’t escape either as Electroshock pulls him down. Vampiro: “What a bump.” An Alabama Slam plants Mesias and draws about the 1000^th OH MY GOD of the night from Vampiro. They chop it out on the top rope until Mesias hits something like a super Backstabber, allowing him to escape for the win.

Rating: D. Well let’s see. Or don’t see actually, which is the case with the big spot through the table. Other than that, the majority of the match was spent on quick escapes and people fighting with no reasons given. That’s one of the major issues of the night: I have no idea why these people are fighting most of the time. English commentary is nice, but these guys are REALLY bad at giving us backstories.

Electroshock has his head shaved. Mesias gets back in and a brawl breaks out.

Now we have clowns bringing out ice cream. Vampiro is annoyed that he doesn’t get one. I have no idea what the point of this was. Apparently these two are part of the Psycho Circus, which we’ll get to now.

Video on Psycho Clown vs. Texano Jr. which is part of a long feud between Texano and the Clown. Psycho had a few World Title shots at Texano earlier in the year but kept getting screwed out of the belt. Thank you Wikipedia, as the announcers just say it’s a generational battle.

El Texano Jr. vs. Psycho Clown

This is mask vs. hair and Texano’s World Title isn’t on the line. He’s also taken the hair of. Psycho’s brother and father so there’s a long story here. Hijo de Fantasma is in Texano’s corner and might slip him a foreign object. It’s a brawl to start as the Spanish commentary is bleeding in. Psycho sidesteps Texano to send him outside, setting up a nice suicide dive. It’s Texano up first though and a chair to the ribs slows the Clown down.

Back in and Texano goes after the mask before just blasting Psycho in the head with a chair twice in a row. Fantasma hands Texano a spike of some kind and we’ve got a LOT of blood early on. Back in and we get more stabbing as Vampiro talks about hatred between these two but, as usual, doesn’t explain WHY they hate each other aside from they apparently have for a good while. Psycho fights up but gets tripped by Fantasma as the referee is being very lenient.

Texano bites at the cut on the forehead and rips away with the spike even more. Mini Clown was dropped somewhere in there as Psycho kicks out of a rollup with feet on the ropes. Now it’s off to the knee but Texano opts for the bullrope. I can’t even get away from that thing in another country. Cue Monster Clown (over 400lbs) with a towel and a few guys in suits. Another referee comes down and I guess the first one was corrupt? If he was he didn’t seem to be very good at it.

Psycho gets a quick rollup for two but Texano stomps him right back down. The Clown is getting fired up though and scores with a powerslam for two followed by a hurricanrana for the same. Texano gets thrown to the floor (guess how much we saw of it) and taken down by another suicide dive. This time it’s Texano getting chaired in the head to show a bad cut of his own. Something like Kevin Owens’ Cannonball over the ropes connects but Texano comes back with chair shots of his own in the ring.

Fantasma helps as well and loads up a table but Psycho gets a breather with right hands to the ribs. A HUGE superbomb through the table gets two on Texano and the fans are actually stunned. Commissioner Papa Fantasma FINALLY comes out and ejects his son before Texano rolls through a high cross body for two. A wicked Batista Bomb gets two for the champ but Psycho throws him to the floor and dives over the referee to take Texano down in a huge crash. Vampiro looks STUNNED in a great visual.

Since selling isn’t a thing around here, Texano pops up and hits a flip dive of his own (better one too) to put the Clown down one more time. Back in and Texano hooks a chinlock with two knees in the spine….before just letting go. Psycho grabs White Noise for two and it’s time for another table. As per Wrestling Law, Texano is able to suplex Psycho through the table because the Clown introduced it. Texano gets crotched on top and taken down with something like a running Codebreaker for two.

A superplex drops the Clown as the stamina (and lack of selling) here is remarkable. Back up again and Texano misses a bullrope shot and gets caught in a Canadian Destroyer (Vampiro: “I have never seen this before!” Hugo: “A flipping neckbreaker!”) for a very close two. Time for yet another table and Texano puts him up on top, but gets caught in a SUPER CANADIAN DESTROYER THROUGH THE TABLE to finally give Psycho Clown the pin.

Rating: B. Well that was……REALLY long. They easily could have cut out about five to ten minutes from this and made this feel a lot tighter. I got the idea behind the match with the Clown doing whatever he could to get revenge and finally beat Texano by taking him to a place he’s never had to go before. It’s good stuff and by far the best match of the show, but it could have been a classic brawl if you cut out some of the filler, which felt like they were just extending the match more than once.

The Clown family comes into the ring to celebrate as Texano is shaved, despite trying to run off. The bloody guys FINALLY shake hands after staring at each other for the better part of ever.

We get a quick video showing the four people in the main event: a fourway elimination match for the Copa Triplemania XXII. From what I can tell the Cup has been a thing before, but my goodness this doesn’t feel like much of a main event.

Copa Triplemania XXII: Cibernetico vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. El Hijo de Perro Aguayo vs. Myzteziz

Elimination rules. Myzteziz is the original Sin Cara and Wagner is returning after some issues with the organization. He also has his son, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner in his corner. Apparently the Cup hasn’t been defended in thirteen years. Oh yeah this is a lame out. Everyone goes after Wagner to start with Perro sending him into the crowd for a beating with a cup. Back inside, Myzteziz, who now has his back and chest covered in tattoos, gets chopped into the corner. Perro knocks Wagner up the ramp with a chair and Cibernetico joins in.

Everyone gets back inside and Perro just throws the chair at Wagner’s back. He bites the Dr.’s shoulder before switching over to Myzteziz but can’t get the mask off. Instead Perro ties him in the Tree of Woe as Cibernetico does the same to Wagner. That goes nowhere so Aguayo blasts Myzteziz in the face with a chair. Wagner has a huge hole in his shoulder and Vampiro says you can see the bone coming out of the skin.

Myzteziz, who is busted wide open, finally does something by dropkicking Cibernetico down and hurricanranaing Perro out to the floor. A 619 drops Aguayo but the Dr. gets back in and kicks at the other masked man. Myzteziz kicks him in the bad arm as the fans rally behind Wagner. They head outside with Dr. hitting a cannonball off the apron, followed by a catapult to send Myzteziz into the post. Back in and Cibernetico misses a charge in the corner and gets caught in a Samoan drop. Wagner’s arm is just GONE and it’s clear that he needs to get out of there.

Wagner gets back up and rips at Myzteziz’s mask to the point that you can see both eyes. Myzteziz goes for the Dr.’s mask in turn as Vampiro keeps saying something looks wrong with Cibernetico. The very bloody Myzteziz dives into a cutter to give Wagner two but he gets caught in La Mistica (Fujiwara Armbar). That brings Perro back in to break it up though and everyone takes shots at Wagner. It’s almost uncomfortable how much they’re focusing on him. Myzteziz tries an Asai moonsault onto Perro but hits raised boots.

Back inside and Wagner’s son breaks up a chokeslam, only to eat one of his own from Cibernetico. Wagner goes after the knee but takes a chokeslam for the elimination and a big reaction. That makes Cibernetico smile for the first time and he looks like a completely different person. There’s a chokeslam to Myzteziz for no cover but the second attempt is countered into La Mistica for an almost immediate tap. It’s down to Myzteziz vs. Perro and Aguayo has to break up an early Mistica attempt. The referee breaks up a chair shot from Perro but a quick low blow gives Aquayo the Cup.

Rating: D. The only reason this is so high is the artery that Myzteziz (so glad I don’t have to type that again) tapped into during the match. This felt like a gang beating on Wagner and a lot more real than it should have been. The match wasn’t even entertaining and felt like a major downfall after the previous war. It’s a perfect way to cap off such a messy show.

Perro celebrates but here’s Alberto again. He rants about Perro ruining the evening for so many legends, but Aguayo will respect El Patron. Alberto talks about wanting to fight no matter what no compete clauses he has. Perro jumps him but gets caught in the cross armbreaker, which still should be called Destiny. Los Perros run in for the save but Alberto is the biggest hero that has ever heroed in the history of Mexico.

Not shown on the PPV, but Rey Mysterio showed up in a video post show, saying he was ready for his great exit. This has yet to happen about six months later.

Overall Rating: D-. Yeah the Psycho Clown match was really good, but hokey freaking smokes this was a borderline disaster. There were six matches on this show with a ridiculous THIRTY TWO wrestlers in the ring, not counting run-ins and Alberto. There is so much packed into this show, but somehow it feels like nothing happened. Let’s see. Alberto debuted, some cruiserweight titles were unified, some guys got their heads shaved and a heel wins a competition that hasn’t been around in thirteen years. What in the world was this show supposed to be other than an ad for Alberto?

I’ve liked the AAA that I’ve seen before but this was such a mess and a disaster that it’s almost impossible to get much out of it. Yeah Del Rio looked good, but shouldn’t Psycho Clown get a shot now? In theory the hair means more than the title, but it feels really anti-climactic. This show needed to slow down and breathe for a LONG time (and it’s not like they didn’t have time with nearly four hours) instead of just pouring in another multi-man match.

On top of that, the commentary was almost more of a burden than a good thing. I’ve never been a fan of Savinovich’s commentary and somehow Vampiro was the better guy out there tonight. I have no idea what the stories were for most of these matches and it’s really annoying having to try to figure it out based on the few clues you can pick up. I really didn’t care for this show and it really hurt what I thought of the company as a whole.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Hulk Hogan and Saturday Night Live Edition.So here’s something you may not know about me: my uncle is a stand up comedian, and he’s actually a pretty good one.  His name is Rich Hall (You Europeans may know him better as Otis Lee Crenshaw, a character he often plays) and he was good enough to win an Emmy Award for writing on the David Letterman Show and appeared as a cast member on Saturday Night Live for a season back in the mid 1980s.

Well as you may know, Saturday Night Live’s 40th Anniversary is coming up and VH1 Classic has been airing a marathon of almost every episode of the series (it’s almost over now).  On a whim, I searched through my cable box for anything my uncle was in and recorded his episodes from the marathon.  The last one had some special guest stars: Hulk Hogan and Mr. T., from the night before Wrestlemania.  They were in a sketch together with my uncle and it very well may be the most amazing thing I’ve seen since…..eh since the last NXT special but it was still cool to see.

Lucha Underground
Date: February 4, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

The big stories at the moment continue to be Cage going after Puma’s Lucha Underground Title, even ripping the belt apart on the last show, as well as the Crenshaw Crew switching allegiance from Big Ryck to Dario Cueto. Maybe they can use the money to buy some clothes that actually set them apart. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Cueto giving away Ryck’s money and the company going insane ever since. This led to the Crenshaw Crew turning on Ryck and burning his eye to start their feud. We also look at last week’s title match.

Mariachi El Bronx, the house band, plays us in.

Son of Havoc vs. Angelico

Before the match, Ivelisse says she’s tired of reading these tweets on social media (just call it Twitter) saying Son of Havoc sucks because she does not date losers. Striker calls Havoc the SD Jones of Lucha Underground. The bell rings and we pass nine seconds, meaning Striker is already wrong. They start fast with Havoc working on a wristlock until Angelico spins all over the place as the announcers start talking about UFC.

Angelico hits some running knees but Ivelisse grabs his foot (lucky guy), allowing Havoc to hit a spinning face plant for two. Havoc gets two more off a standing moonsault and stops a comeback with an atomic drop. The announcers don’t want to call it anything because they’re pests who fail at having personalities. Angelico comes back with a dropkick and a HUGE dive over the top to knock Havoc onto the ramp.

Back in and the fans are still behind Havoc as he charges into a boot in the corner but blocks a superplex attempt. A shooting star doesn’t work but Havoc lands on his feet because he can. That was just cool looking. Angelico catches him on the top but his Razor’s Edge is countered into a hurricanrana for no cover. Ivelisse gets on the apron for a kiss and a distraction, but Angelico kicks out of an O’Connor roll to send Havoc into her ribs, setting up a rollup from Angelico for the pin.

Rating: C. I lost track of who to cheer for about halfway through the match. Havoc was doing heelish things but hit face high spots, including landing on his feet on that shooting star. That’s the kind of thing you would expect to see from Shelton Benjamin back in the day and Havoc made it look easy. Having a chick like Ivelisse should make you the biggest heel around but psychology has never been this company’s strong suit.

Ivelisse storms off without Havoc.

Dario is talking to someone we can’t see and says he hasn’t seen him since Aztec Warfare. The mystery man must be ready for some action, and it’s Johnny Mundo. He’s in the main event tonight against Cage, so Johnny tells Cueto to get another title belt.

Video on Pentagon Jr. practicing martial arts. I’ve never heard of the discipline including tilt-a-whirl backbreakers. His new tagline is No Fear.

Famous B. vs. Pentagon Jr.

Pentagaon hits a quick kick to the head and a LOUD chop in the corner but a springboard armdrag puts him down. That’s fine with Pentagon who kicks B. in the head again setting up a package piledriver and an armtrap armbar for the submission.

Pentagon snaps the arm back, presumably breaking the shoulder. He pledges his loyalty to his master, whomever that may be.

Cueto is looking at his key again and tells someone off camera that the Black Lotus is coming for them. He has to protect the temple from a cancer.

Drago vs. Aerostar

You shouldn’t be back in the ring a week after losing a last man standing match. I know it wasn’t a devastating physical loss but you should be off TV for a bit. Drago cranks on the arm to start and hits a quick dropkick to the side of the head. A hurricanrana takes Drago down, setting up a springboard double stomp for two.

Striker goes into Harry Potter mode to talk about Aerostar hitting a huge dive from the middle rope over the top to take out Drago. Back in and Drago hits a quick dropkick for two before Aerostar might have injured himself while attempting to duck a leapfrog. Aerostar bails to the floor and gets hit by a big spinning dive before a running Blockbuster gives Drago the pin.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but again the commentary really dragged this down. Striker and Vampiro are like a more wrestling centric version of Tenay and Taz: they get so far off topic but throw in an occasional reference to something related to the match to officially do their jobs, but it’s much more about whatever jokes and lines they can get in to amuse themselves.

Fenix is working out in the back when Catrina comes in to tap him on the back. She asks why he has a tattoo on his chest, thinking it might protect him from having nightmares. It won’t save him from Mil Muertes though and she kisses him. Catrina warns him not to say anything about this or Muertes will bury both of them alive. Ok then.

Johnny Mundo vs. Cage

Cage has the ripped up title around his neck. Mundo tries to speed things up to start but gets slammed down with a shot to the ribs. A spinning kick to the head staggers Cage for two before Mundo starts hammering away with right hands. Cage bails to the floor and catches a hurricanrana before throwing Mundo into the post. Granted it didn’t look like there was much of an impact but it did in fact happen. Cuerno is shown watching from the balcony.

Back in and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker stays on the injured spine. Cage jumps from the middle rope to the top rope for a moonsault in another scary looking display of athleticism. Johnny stands up and hits a spinning kick to the face, followed by a Shining Wizard for two. A Scorpion Death Drop (thankfully referred to as such by Striker instead of the Slop Drop) gets the same but Cage catches him in an Alabama Slam (not Jam Striker. I knew he’d screw up soon enough) for another near fall.

The Flying Chuck (which may or may not be called the Book of Revelation. That might just be Striker overthinking everything again) drops Cage again but he rolls away from the End of the World. That’s fine with Mundo who hits a big spinning dive over the corner. This draws Cuerno out of the balcony to trip Mundo for the DQ.

Rating: C. This was similar to last week’s main event and again it’s a good sign that Cage can do so many things in the ring. It’s not a masterpiece or anything like that, but Cuerno vs. Mundo should be fun. Cuerno has been one of my favorites in this company and I’d love to see him in there with a more talented guy.

Cuerno crushes the knee against the post and cracks it with a chair. This brings out Cueto to restart the match, causing Striker to imitate the Terminator. Mundo actually fights back with some kicks while holding onto the top rope but gets caught in an old school Brock Lock, sending Johnny right back to the ropes. A bunch of rights and lefts in the corner have Cage reeling and the Moonlight Drive gets two. Back up and an F5 (Metalingus, also the name of Edge’s theme song) gets two more but a Gory Special into a Downward Spiral is finally enough to pin Mundo. Don’t bust out big moves like that F5 if it’s not the finish.

The credits roll but we go back to Cueto’s office. Someone knocks on the door but Cueto says go away. A familiar voice says we’re just getting started. In walks Alberto El Patron, but you already knew that. Now that’s how you end a show.

Overall Rating: C+. That ending helped a decent show get better. This episode was much more about starting up new stories than the wrestling, though the in ring stuff wasn’t bad. Mundo vs. Cuerno is an interesting idea and should give us some good matches. I can also get behind anything with Catrina who is a great non-wrestler. Throw in more Ivelisse and I don’t have many complaints here, other than commentary of course.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Lucha Underground
Date: January 28, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

This is becoming a more interesting show by the week as there are things changing, even though it seems like it’s staying the same. Cueto now has his hired goons and gets to be Vince with a Spanish accent. Other than that we have Prince Puma having to fight off Cage, meaning we might be hearing from the champ tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the Crew turning on Ryck and joining Cueto last week.

Quick recap of Cage attacking Puma a few weeks back.

Cage is lifting weights in the back when Cueto comes up to praise him a bit. Cueto says Puma is defending his title tonight. Cage: “No. That means he’s losing it tonight.”

Mil Muertes vs. Fenix

The fans are way into Muertes. Granted they’re also way into Fenix. It’s almost like these fans are very easily entertained. Or they’re plants. This is a rematch from when Muertes beat Fenix to earn the last spot in Aztec Warfare. Fenix hits some running knees in the corner but Muertes just nails him with a right hand to the jaw.

An overhead suplex sends Fenix into the corner as the announcers get into an odd argument over how many moves Striker can call. Muertes keeps hammering away and throws Fenix off the top for two. Mil takes him up top for a superplex but Fenix interlocks their legs as they hit the mat and gets a VERY fast three count.

Rating: D+. I’m not a fan of that kind of booking and I never have been. Fenix was getting squashed here and then they have him get a quick pin for the surprise win. They did the same thing with Drago vs. Cuerno a few weeks back and I didn’t care for it then either. It’s also not a good sign that they’re already repeating finishes.

Video on Cage and how determined he is to destroy everyone around him. The video shows a bottle being broken over the back of his head and then punching a guy in the face. Oddly enough, this worked.

Argenis/Super Fly/Aerostar vs. Crenshaw Crew

Oh dear now I get to try to figure out who these people are. I believe Super Fly vs. Cortez gets us going. Not that I’d know because the commentators have to get in their backstories instead of talking about what’s in front of them. Either that or they don’t know either. Everything quickly breaks down and Super Fly dives on everyone. Striker’s first commentary about what’s in front of him: “WOW!” Come on we can’t even get WHAT A MANEUVER?

Cisco and I think Argenis come in (not that Striker seems to know his name) and things speed up again with Argenis getting two off a belly to back suplex. Cisco gets in a shot to the face and it’s back to Cortez who takes a hurricanrana, allowing for the tag to Aerostar, who climbs onto Argenis’ shoulders on the middle rope for a HUGE cross body. Since this is a lucha match though, Cortez is up in three seconds and kicking Aerostar in the face. Super Fly gets drawn in but the referee is fine with the faces double teaming. Cisco helps his partner to kick Aerostar down in the corner and send Fly to the floor as this is a big mess.

Cortez (gah or is it Cisco? Why do they have to wear the EXACT SAME CLOTHES?) stomps on Aerostar’s back before it’s off to Cisco for a bite to the mask. Bale gets two off a butterfly suplex and Cisco cranks on a chinlock. The fans get behind Aerostar as he fights up and climbs the ropes for a jumping back elbow to the jaw. Double tags bring in Bale and Argenis with the latter hitting a springboard hurricanrana and a sunset flip with Cortez and Bale having to break up the cover.

Cisco comes back in with a springboard double stomp for two as this match needs to end already. Argenis backdrops him down and makes the tag to Aerostar for a springboard splash. Everything breaks down and Argenis dives onto a bunch of people at ringside. Aerostar hurricanranas Cisco off the top onto the big pile before running inside for a springboard flip dive, drawing Striker’s third WOW of the match. Back in and the 3D into the Codebreaker is enough for Cortez to pin Aerostar.

Rating: C+. I’ve heard the criticism over the years that lucha libre has almost no psychology and it’s all about getting in your spots and doing the finish. I’ve never seen that criticism embodied more in a single match than this one. Yeah it was a fun match, but it was spot spot spot, pop up in four seconds, bunch of flips, finish. Oh and GET THE CREW DIFFERENT CLOTHES! I probably got every name wrong in the match, but at the end of the day, Cortez, Cisco and Bale are three versions of the same guy so it really doesn’t matter.

We get another sitdown interview with Vampiro talking to Konnan and Puma. Vampiro asks Puma how he’s feeling after winning the title but Konnan cuts him off to say Puma is mad after beating everyone and then getting jumped by Cage. Konnan, looking like he’s gained about 100lbs of neck fat since he left TNA, says Cage is going to the hospital. Vampiro is tired of Konnan answering for Puma and they get in each others faces. Vampiro looks ancient.

Lucha Underground Title: Prince Puma vs. Cage

Konnan is at ringside for the first time. Puma dives on Cage during the introductions and hits a nice middle rope hurricanrana to take Cage down. That’s fine with Cage who just runs him over with a clothesline and starts driving shoulders in the corner. Cage slaps on a half nelson with a chinlock and grabs a swinging neckbreaker for no cover. A victory roll gets two for Puma but a headscissors is countered into a sitout Alabama Slam for two.

Cage’s powerslam is countered into a tornado DDT but he just muscles Puma over into a butterfly suplex. Puma kicks out of a superplex attempt but dives into a Jackhammer (cool spot) for two. The big man busts out a middle rope moonsault, and a good one at that, for two of his own.

Back up and Puma hits some kicks but gets caught in a triple powerbomb, only to roll through the third and hit a basement dropkick before collapsing. They stagger up and Cage is launched face first into the middle buckle but comes back with a northern lights suplex into a snap suplex (minus the snap) for two. Puma loads up the 630 but Cage shoves the referee into the ropes and hits Puma low for the DQ.

Rating: B-. Good match but it was only there to set up a rematch. I liked the idea of Cage being the unusual power guy to the high flying champ and it will be a good win when Puma pins him to retain the title. It’s not a great match but it makes up for some weaker stuff earlier by actually having a story.

Cage hits him with a Downward Spiral as Konnan gets up on the apron. He breaks the cane over Cage’s back and takes the worst title shot I’ve ever seen. Cage rips the belt in half for the best move of the night. Seriously that thing was ugly.

The mystery woman from recent weeks shoves Cueto into his chair and says he’s looking for a man. Cueto tells her to question anyone she wants but she says something that sounds like “retonza.” He doesn’t know what it means and she disappears with a woosh sound effect to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show was all over the place. You had some decent wrestling, some matches that felt like they went on forever, some storyline development, and some booking that made me want to rip my hair out. That being said, Lucha Underground is still really good at getting in a lot of stuff in the span of an hour. I’m also really liking the sitdown interviews. Yeah they’re short but they do a really good job of advancing stories in a hurry. I still wouldn’t mind Vampiro and Striker being replaced by drunken antelopes but you can’t have everything.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Lucha Underground
Date: January 21, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

As the first Lucha Underground Champion, it was only a matter of time before Prince Puma found his first challenger. In this case it’s the monster non-luchador Cage, which is a great choice for a monster for Puma to slay before he moves on to his next opponent and likely the first major feud. Let’s get to it.

We look back at Cuerno vs. Drago last week and tonight it’s last man standing.

Cortez Castro/Cisco vs. Pimpinela Escarlata/Mascarita Sagrada

Escarlata dances a lot and the referee isn’t sure what to do. The Crew starts double teaming Escarlata but he comes back with a wristdrag/headscissors combination to take over as Big Ryck is shown scowling in the crowd. Cisco misses a running dropkick in the corner but Castro sneaks in a kick to the head, allowing Cisco to hit a running shot to take over.

A senton backsplash gets two for Cisco and it’s back to Castro for two of his own off a suplex. It’s off to Sagrada (who I watched on a Raw from 1997 earlier today so he’s got to be up there in years) for a top rope hurricanrana but Cisco kicks him in the face. Well the mask but close enough. Sagrada hits a big dive to the floor to take out Bael and Escarlta kisses Cisco to the floor because he’s a comedy character you see. A huge dive takes the Crew down but they pop back up again for a 3D into a Codebreaker to pin Sagrada.

Rating: D. Well at least they’re keeping the comedy guys together instead of letting them go all over the show. The Crew has taken a major step backwards in the last few weeks and I was kind of liking them not being around any longer. I don’t know why I’m supposed to care about any of them as they’re interchangeable lackeys for Big Ryck.

The snarling Ryck gets in the ring after the match and hands Cisco his cigar. He wants everyone to hear this: someday he’s coming after the gold and doesn’t care who is carrying it, because everyone must appear before the judgment of Big Ryck. The Crew jumps him from behind and destroys Ryck before putting his cigar in his eye. They all leave and are shown going into Cueto’s office.

After a break, Cueto pays off the Crew for taking care of Ryck. So we have some hired goons, which makes more sense for them as they’re really not interesting because they don’t have characters, so make them guns for hire.

We get a sitdown interview with Cage, who doesn’t care if people like him or not. He’s here to make money and win titles. I love how this company is built around making money. That’s little more than a plot point occasionally but here it’s one of the major reasons for everything happening. I like that bit of realism every now and then and it’s working well. Vampiro nearly gets in Cage’s face during the interview but Cage’s intensity convinces Vampiro that he’s the real deal. He’s good as a monster for Puma to conquer before probably dropping down to the midcard or leaving and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Super Fly vs. Pentagon Jr.

Time for the standard high flying lucha match of the week. Pentagon runs him over to start but eats a superkick as Striker says Pentagon builds his entire career off being different from Octagon. I thought he did it by being the second person to use the Pentagon character but that’s just me. Super Fly superkicks him down but takes one of the loudest chops I’ve ever heard to send him outside.

Something like an AA on the floor has Super Fly in even more trouble but a double clothesline back inside puts both guys down. A Tajiri handspring into a wristdrag puts Pentagon down and Super Fly hits a cartwheel into a moonsault over the top for a big crash. Back in after about two seconds and Pentagon kicks him in the face for two as the selling still isn’t a strong suit around here. A package piledriver of all things is enough to knock Super Fly out cold for the pin.

Rating: C-. Decent match here but the lack of selling is starting to get on my nerves. You could at least stay on the mat for a few seconds after a big spot but it doesn’t see to be something done in lucha libre. That being said, it’s certainly more exciting this way and more of a roller coster ride to the end, which is the style they seem to be going for.

Post match Pentaon Jr. says he was misled by Chavo and is going to bring in the one man that he knows he can trust to help him out. As is the case in wrestling, no name is given.

El Mariachi Loco vs. Sexy Star

Loco’s character is actually funny as he was a cook in a Mexican restaurant and just showed up one day. Feeling out process to start with Star hooking a big headscissors and Loco bails to the floor. Back in and a bicycle kick stuns Loco but he drop toeholds her down. A hard chop in the corner has Star in trouble until she low bridges him to the floor. Striker: “How stupid is that guy?” Star hits a huge cross body from the top to the floor but Loco drops her throat first across the top rope. Loco misses a Swanton though and gets small packaged for the pin.

Rating: D. So wait, is Star supposed to be someone in way over her head or the chick that can wrestle with anyone? Loco is a guy that passes a hat around for tips after a match and used to work in a restaurant but Star can’t hit a big move on him for a pin? That’s not quite what I expected from someone they’re pushing like her, but it could have been a lot worse.

King Cuerno vs. Drago

Last man standing. Cuerno charges into an enziguri to start and Drago dropkicks him out to the floor. A high flip dive takes him down for six before Drago hits something like an Orton DDT from the top rope for six, sending Cuerno rolling back to the floor. Drago loads up a dive but gets caught in a Bubba Bomb but Cuerno throws him back inside instead of letting the count go up.

Two German suplexes into a brainbuster get eight on Dragon and Cuerno just kicks him in the head to stagger him again. Back up and Drago hits something like a running Blockbuster before having the referee drop down as a launch pad for a hurricanrana. Another hurricanrana sends both guys to the floor with Drago getting up first. Back in and Cuerno just kicks Drago’s head off to put him down again. A legdrop gets six or seven before Cuerno throws him outside and loads up a table.

Drago fights back with some rapid fire strikes but gets rammed head first into the post four times in a row to slow him right back down. Cuerno loads him onto the table but Drago pops up and kicks Cuerno down for a break. Not that it matters as the King slugs him down and hits the Thril of the Hunt off the apron through the table for…..eight? Cuerno is livid so he hits a running dropkick to a seated Drago in the corner. Instead of letting the referee count, Cuerno ties Drago to the ropes for the ten count to win.

Rating: B-. It’s a good and violent match but I’m not wild on Cuerno winning like that. Much like Sexy Star, they don’t seem to know what kind of a character they want him to be. He’s been vicious and violent but is now getting cheap victories like this one. Then again, Cuerno is one of my favorites in Lucha Underground and I want to see him move on to something fresh.

Cuerno puts the deer head on Drago to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Again they’re doing a nice job of mixing things up instead of just having the same characters out there every week. It’s a good lesson that only NXT and Lucha Underground seem to understand, which is one of the best things they could do. Good, fun show here which flies by just like it does every week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Lucha Underground
Date: January 14, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

We’re kind of at the start of a new time for Lucha Underground as we have a champion for the first time ever. Last time, Prince Puma won Aztec Warfare, lasting nearly a full hour, to become the first champion. The questions now are who challenges him and what about Puma’s evil mentor Konnan. Let’s get to it.

We recap Mil Muertes taking out Blue Demon Jr. after Chavo couldn’t do it. This led to Chavo going nuts and destroying Sexy Star with a chair.

Recap of Prince Puma winning Aztec Warfare and the Lucha Underground Title last week.

Cueto is in his office and tells Fenix that he’s impressed the boss. Fenix started at #1 in Aztec Warfare and nearly won the whole thing. It’s Fenix’s destiny to be here and tonight, Fenix has a chance to rise from the ashes. Fenix says he fights for himself rather than Cueto, but the boss says seize this opportunity before someone else does. The mystery woman is seen looking in through a window.

Aero Star vs. Cage vs. Argenis vs. Angelico

Star is a superhero, Argenis is a standard luchador who looks like a taller Rey Mysterio, Angelico is from South Africa and (Brian) Cage is a fairly well known indy guy who looks like he should be a WWE musclehead, making him completely different from anyone else in the promotion. I don’t know any of the other three and can’t find anything significant from any of them. This is under elimination rules.

Cage throws all three opponents around to start so they triple team him against the ropes. Angelico hits a nice running knee to the face but the three not named Cage start fighting amongst themselves. Argenis kicks Angelico low, leaving us with Aero Star vs. Argenis with the superhero hitting a hurricanrana. Star tries a Tajiri elbow but gets countered into a release German suplex. You would think someone else would have tried that before.

Angelico kicks Argenis off the top rope but Cage takes his head off with a running clothesline. A torture rack neckbreaker puts him down as well and a superplex sends Argenis flying. Star goes up top but dives into a Jackhammer (another move that needs to be adopted as a finisher) but it’s Argenis knocking Cage to the floor. He takes Cage out with a huge springboard moonsault, followed by Star hitting a huge Stardust Falling Star to take both of them out.

Angelico dives on everyone and stops to take some bows. With Striker talking about popping the ratings like the tool he is, Star spins around Angelico into a headscissors, only to have Angelico slam him down. All four get back inside with Cage planting Argenis with a pumphandle faceplant for the elimination. Cage powerbombs Star but picks him up and throws him at Angelico in the corner, setting up a discus lariat to eliminate Star. It’s Angelico vs. Cage now with Angelico kicking him from the mat, only to take a big old clothesline to give Cage the final pin.

Rating: C+. Cage didn’t have to do anything other than power moves here and the match worked as a result. Let the other three do the high spots and then give it over to the muscle guy for the other kind of impressive looking offense. Other than Ryck and maybe Muertes, there really isn’t a big power guy in the promotion so this works well for a change of pace.

Cage calls himself an animal.

Back from a break with Chavo Guerrero Jr. sitting in a chair in the ring. He made a mistake a few months back by ruining the friendship between the Guerreros and Blue Demon Jr.’s family. He asks Demon to come out here for a face to face (mask?) apology. There’s even a chair for Demon to sit in. Demon is skeptical as he should be but eventually sits down.

Chavo apologizes but turns his back, revealing a pair of brass knuckles. He swings at Demon but the old guy takes him down for some horrible looking right hands. Demon picks up a chair and weakly hits Chavo in the head for revenge. The fans chant OTRA VEZ (one more time) and that’s exactly what they get. Demon, ever the hero, flips Chavo off.

Drago vs. King Cuerno

Drago scores with a quick hurricanrana and Cuerno stays on the mat for a bit. Back up and Drago just smacks him in the face before sending him to the floor for a big dive. I’ll give them this: they can hit some good looking dives. Cuerno pulls out a table but can’t hit the Thrill of the Hunt off the apron. Instead Drago sends him out to the floor and hits another big dive, which seems to be the basis of his offense. Again Cuerno pops up and grabs a chair, only to get knocked onto the table. Drago goes up to the top of a balcony and hits the biggest dive yet to drive Cuerno through the table for a double countout.

Rating: C+. The match was fun enough but Dragon is clearly just a spot monkey. Unfortunately he’s a spot monkey in a company almost entirely based on high spots. He does well enough, but Cuerno needs to knock him off already to get him a better opponent. Cuerno is too good to waste on a guy as generic (for around here) as Drago.

Video on Fenix.

Lucha Underground Title: Fenix vs. Prince Puma

Fenix beat the champ a few months back. Striker says this is the first time the title has been on the line, just a week after it was won in the first place. He doesn’t seem to think before he speaks a lot of the time. Feeling out process to start with Fenix diving over a monkey flip and Puma diving over all of Fenix. A headscissors sends Fenix to the floor but he blocks a dive with a kick. That’s becoming too common of a spot.

Back in and Puma hits a springboard missile dropkick to knock him back to the floor, setting up another big spinning dive. Fenix says my turn and runs inside for a dive of his own. They really don’t care much for selling in this company. We see AAA boss Dorian Roldan in the crowd. Back in again and Fenix kicks him in the back for two, only to get kicked in the back of the head for the same. The champ takes over with a kick to Fenix’s back followed by a standing moonsault for two.

Off to a torture rack over the back before he slams Fenix down for another two count. Fenix pops up with a spinning enziguri and the Tajiri handspring into a cutter (which still looks stupid) to make Puma hold his neck. A TKO (that’s a better move) is countered and Puma hits a quick enziguri to take over. They slug it out from their knees with Fenix getting the better of it, only to have the handspring cutter countered into a pair of suplexes.

Puma totally misses the Phoenix Splash and gets caught in a half nelson suplex for two. Fenix’s 450 (stolen from Puma) gets two so Puma uses Fenix’s piledriver for the same. The champ loads up the real 450 but gets crotched down. In a REALLY stupid move, Fenix goes to the adjacent corner and tries to walk the ropes for some reason, allowing Puma to kick him in the head and nail the 450 to retain the title.

Rating: B-. I remember hearing a Sean Waltman interview where he says there is very little to no psychology in lucha libre. Based on this match, I can’t say I disagree with him. This was one of the biggest spotfests I’ve seen in a very long time and it gets dull after a few minutes. A lot of the stuff they do is just stupid with that rope walk among the worst. I mean…..WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT???

Post match Cage runs in and jumps Puma. A spinebuster and double powerbomb leaves Puma laying. The commentary here is horrible though as they’re going over the points of how Cage doesn’t need any history or Mexican blood to make an impact around here. This is being said as Puma is bouncing off the mat. Stop getting your talking points in and pay attention to what’s in front of you.

Overall Rating: C+. This show isn’t there for people who like in depth stories and that’s a nice change of pace from some of the other stuff you get. Cueto sending in Cage (assuming he did) is a good idea and Puma facing off against every heel he can find is a good thing and makes whoever takes the title off of him look like a monster. The other than I liked here is that they’re splitting up the roster, as we don’t have the same guys every week. Mix it up and give us something to look forward to.

On the other hand, they need to mix up the style a bit more. There are too many high fliers around here and some ground guys would help a lot. That’s why I like Cage: he’s the polar opposite of what we get from most of the rest of the roster and he stands out as a result. It’s still a good show but it needs some adjustments.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6