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:

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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:

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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:

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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:

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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:

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Wrestle Kingdom IX
Date: January 4, 2015
Location: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 36,000
Commentators: Matt Striker, Jim Ross

So yet again I’ve been asked to do the biggest New Japan show of the year. I usually can’t stand doing these because I have no idea what’s going on and I really don’t care to know. However, this time the show has English commentary, which could be a solution to a lot of my problems. That being said, Matt Striker is on commentary and I don’t particularly care for him to put it mildly. Let’s get to it.

The pre-show match has Japanese commentary so I apologize for not knowing any stories that I may be missing.

Pre-Show: New Japan Rumble

As far as I can tell, it’s a fifteen man Royal Rumble with pinfall, submission or over the top eliminations and what seem to be one minute intervals. Tiger Mask is in at #1 and Yuji Nagata (remember him from WCW? There’s a good chance you slept through most of his matches) is in at #2. Tiger fires off kicks to start but Nagata bails into the corner. They go to a test of strength followed by a Nagata chinlock until Taichi, who appears to be a rock star and is flanked by lackey bandmates El Desperado and Taka Michinoku, are in all at once at #3, #4 and #5.

The match just stops as the trio gets in, as wrestling matches tend to do in this situation. Tiger Mask takes a microphone to the face and Taichi hits Nagata low for a fast three count from Taka. They can’t throw Tiger Mask over though and Jushin Thunder Liger (again, you might remember him but for much better reasons) is in at #6. The running palm strikes put everyone down and Michinoku is put in the surfboard with a dragon sleeper added for good measure. That always looked awesome.

We must have one minute intervals because Sho Tanaka is in at #7. I’m not sure why but everyone is coming in from the side of the big ramp for a reason that isn’t given. Well maybe it is but I don’t speak Japanese. Taichi is getting beaten up in the corner. Hiro Saito is in at #8 and looks to be about 172 years old. Liger charges right at him but gets caught by a slow motion spinebuster and a backsplash. No eliminations so far.

Another spinebuste and backsplash have Tiger Mask in trouble and everyone except Taichi and company pair off. Yohei Komatsu is in at #9 as Saito is getting double teamed. They really have to double team a guy that old and slow? Tanaka puts him in a chinlock as this is just a standard battle royal with no one trying eliminations. As the brawling circles around the ring, the wide shots showing how big the Tokyo Dome is really are impressive. This place is freaking huge.

Captain New Japan, a superhero/mascot character, is in at #10 and the ring is getting way too full. The Captain uppercuts everyone down and seems to be a crowd favorite. Tama Tonga (Haku/Meng’s son) is in at #11 and crawls along the mat ala Goldust, only to easily dump out Captain New Japan. Desperado hits Liger low and they head to the apron, only to have both guys get dropkicked out to the floor.

Yoshi-Hashi is in at #12 and comes out carrying a big stick, which doesn’t make it into the ring. The match slows way down again with a lot of people just standing around the ropes and now even fighting. Saito gets double teamed again as Liger and Taichi are fighting in the aisle. Manabu Nakanashi is in at #13 and takes his sweet time getting to the ring.

The ring is way too full again and Yoshiaki Fujiwara (65 years old and the inventor of the Fujiwara Armbar) is in at #14, limping out to Flight of the Valkyries. He headbutts Tiger Mask a few times and gets in a lockup with Nagata, which seems to be a big deal. A low blow and headbutt have Yuji in trouble and the 66 year old Great Kabuki rounds out the field at #15. The final grouping is Nagata, Tiger Mask, Taichi, Michinoku, Tanaka, Saito, Komatsu, Tonga, Hashi, Nakanashi, Fujiwara and Kabuki. In other words, WAY too many people.

Again, everyone stops to watch Kabuki get in, which takes far too long as he has to disrobe and play with knunchucks. Taichi and Taka go right for him with Taka taking red mist, sending him right into the Fujiwara Armbar for a submission. Everyone piles on Fujiwara for a pin as the field is getting thinned out quickly. Apparently the mist disqualified Kabuki, who probably couldn’t take a bump anyway. Taichi gets sunset flipped and jackknifed pinned by I believe Funaki and Komatsu (I lost track of who everyone was a long time ago) to get us down to eight.

Saito misses a middle rope backsplash and gets gang pinned as well. Are they really that worried about old guys sticking around? I believe Funaki and Komatsu (they’re two guys who look alike and are wearing identical black trunks) dropkick Tiger Mask out but get surrounded by Nakanashi and Nagata. Nakanashi, who looks like a gorilla, suplexes both of them down and racks Tanaka for an elimination. Tonga gets racked as well but Komatsu makes a save, allowing Tonga to small package Nakanashi for a pin. Tonga pays him back with a DDT and pin, leaving us with Hashi, Tonga and Nagata.

Tama tries a charge and gets backflipped to the floor, only to have Nagata wake up and suplex Hashi in half. Hashi comes back with a hard clothesline but Nagata hooks his kneeling armbar into a cross armbreaker, only to have Hashi get into the ropes. Back up and a bridging belly to back suplex gives Nagata the winning pin.

Rating: D+. I know New Japan is supposed to be the greatest promotion in the history of this planet and all others, but they’re not great at battle royals. That being said, this was clearly just a way to get everyone on the show, which has long since been a tradition on these major shows. However, I really don’t like the guys in their 60s being out there. I know it gives the live fans a thrill, but it looks really sad seeing these guys looking like they do and barely able to move.

We get a long, as in like nine minutes long, video recapping all of the matches. I have no idea what’s going on but it looks really cool.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: Time Splitters vs. Young Bucks vs. Forever Hooligans vs. ReDRagon

This would be like Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles. The Time Splitters are Alex Shelley and Kushida, Forever Hooligans are Alex Kozlov and Rocky Romero and ReDRagon, the champions coming in (as well as the ROH Tag Team Champions), are Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. The Time Splitters are a Back to the Future inspired team, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The Bucks are Matt and Nick Jackson and they like to use superkicks. One fall to a finish here. Striker’s advise on how to learn more about these teams: use the Google. So why does he get a paycheck for this show again?

Kushida and Fish get things going with Kushida taking him down by the arm. He rides Fish into a nice technical sequence until both guys try dropkicks. For once it’s not a standoff with Kushida hitting another dropkick, allowing Shelley to tag himself in for a knee to the ribs. The Young Bucks (members of the Bullet Club. Expect to hear that name a lot tonight) come in and are easily sent back to the floor.

The Time Splitters stay on offense but Fish sends Kushida into Shelley, knocking Alex off the apron. Kozlov tags himself in for a headscissors on Fish, followed by a double stomp for two. Fish makes a quick tag to kick Kozlov in the back before it’s back to Fish for a running forearm. It’s still weird to hear the crowd go silent to the point where you can hear almost every sound the wrestlers make. The Bucks try to double team Kyle but Nick winds up kicking Max in the face by mistake. Serves them right.

Back in and Nick tells Romero to suck it, only to have Kozlov kick him in the face. Everyone gets in the ring with Romero nailing everyone with clotheslines in the corner as Striker goes on about Black Tiger. Nick knees out of a double suplex attempt but it’s Kushida coming in to knock everyone down. Max gets taken down by a DDT and Shelley drops Romero with a running knee off the apron.

Now it’s O’Reilly diving off the apron at Shelley but eating a superkick for his efforts. Romero trips up Kushida and dives at Shelley, only to have Kozlov dive on both of them. Not to be outdone, Nick kicks the Hooligans down and Max hits a big corkscrew dive onto all of them. It’s the champs’ turn now as Kushida dives on everyone at once and the Time Splitters take over.

Back inside and the Splitters start using a bunch of Motor City Machine Guns moves, including Skull and Bones but with a Kushida moonsault instead of a splash (Outta Time). Kozlov breaks up an elevated Sliced Bread #2 with a tag (why not wait until after Nick was knocked silly?) but the Bucks start busting out the superkicks.

They have to flip out a double Doomsday Device attempt (that looked awesome) and it’s time for a superkick party. Nick loads up Romero for a tombstone and Max springboard flips into….nothing as he just lands behind Romero as he lands with the, I kid you not, Meltzer Driver. See because it’s an insider name. Kushida drops the champs with a double Tajiri Elbow but takes a double superkick for his efforts.

Fish saves his partner from More Bang For Your Buck and some running knees in the corner set up something like the Demolition Decapitator’s second cousin twice removed (a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker into a middle rope knee drop) for two on Shelley. ReDRagon hits a DDT into a wheelbarrow suplex (cool) on Nick and a super falcon’s arrow sends Max flying. Romero saves Kozlov from Chasing the Dragon (brainbuster/kick to the back combo) but Kozlov takes it a few seconds later for the pin to retain.

Rating: B. This was about what I was expecting and as usual with matches like this one, there’s a firm cap on how high I can rate them. The main things holding this back are the length of the match (cut out about a minute or two and it’s a lot better) and how similar some of the guys out there look. I kept losing track of who was in the ring and who I was watching as they look so much alike and you have to see the backs of their trunks to tell them apart. Still though, really fun opener and good stuff.

So far, Striker and Ross have just been glorified background noise. Then again, it helped that I was familiar with everyone in the preious match.

Jeff Jarrett/Bad Luck Fale/Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan/Satoshi Kojima/Tomoaki Honma

Jarrett’s team is part of the Bullet Club, Takahashi is a turncoat and Fale (pronounced Fah-lei) is a monster. Tenzan and Kojima are a legendary tag team and Honma used to be a death match wrestler in Big Japan. Surprisingly enough it’s Ross bringing up Tenzan vs. Savage at Starrcade 1995. It’s a brawl to start the Bullet Club in early trouble. A double headbutt has Takahashi in trouble and it’s Kojima….gently tapping his chest in the corner. The idea is that they’re so fast they hurt more but I didn’t buy it with Kobashi and I don’t buy it here.

Fale runs Kojima over in the corner and it’s off to Jarrett for a Jake Roberts short arm clothesline. Some big shots from Fale set up Takahashi for some cocky kicks to the back of the head. Kojima hits a quick Diamond Cutter and makes the tag off to Honma for some clotheslines and chops. He misses a falling headbutt attempt though and walks into a fisherman’s buster for two. Apparently Honma is a guy who never quits but isn’t that bright. There’s always a role for someone like that in wrestling.

Scott D’Amore (remember him?) uses a Karen Jarrett (remember her?) distraction to send in the guitar but Jeff hits Takahashi by mistake before taking a double belly to back suplex. Fale gets clotheslined to the floor and a 3D from Tenzan and Kojima sets up a falling headbutt from Takahashi (which, according to Striker, never hits. See, THAT is why you have English commentary) for the pin.

Rating: C. Totally acceptable six man tag here which didn’t stick around long enough to overstay its welcome. Jarrett is a great addition to any company, because even though he’s 47, he looks almost exactly the same as he did back in 1999 and wrestles a very smooth style. The rest of the match was fine and the kind of match you need to let the crowd breathe a little bit during a major show.

Toru Yano/Naomichi Marufuchi/Mikey Nicholls/Shane Haste vs. Shelton X. Benjamin/Lance Archer/Davey Boy Smith Jr./Takashi Iizuka

This place loves their tag matches. Benjamin’s team is part of Suzukigun, another big heel stable led by Minoru Suzuki. On the other side, everyone but Yano is from Pro Wrestling Noah, where Marufuchi is the GHC (World Heavyweight) Champion. Nicholls and Haste are an Australian tag team known as TMDK (The Mighty Don’t Kneel. Iizuka turned on former partner Yano to set up this match. Got all that? I do, because there’s English commentary (and Wikipedia) for a change.

It’s a brawl to start with the chubby Yano getting jumped by Iizuka. That’s fine with Yano, who calmly grabs Iizuka’s beard to slow him down. Yano rips off a buckle pad (remember that they’re columns instead of individual pads) but gets blasted in the head with it for his efforts. Thankfully Striker mentions that there’s a metal bar inside, even though the whole thing bent like it was made of paper. Off to Shelton for the Dragon Whip before Archer and Smith hit a Hart Attack with Lance playing Bret. Archer misses a charge into the exposed buckle and bounces head first off the buckle.

TMDK comes in to hammer on Archer and Smith (the Killer Elite Squad), including a powerslam to Smith. Back up and Archer gives Haste one of the biggest chokeslams I’ve ever seen but doesn’t cover. Instead it’s off to Iizuka vs. Marufuchi with Marufuchi firing off a quick series of strikes, only to have Shelton run the ropes and superplex him down. Everything breaks down and Iizuka brings in a foreign (maybe it’s domestic in this case) object but Marufuchi stops him with a superkick. TMDK adds a double gorilla press sitout slam, followed by an uppercut knee from Marufuchi to pin the knocked out Iizuka.

Rating: D+. I didn’t care for this one nearly as much, even though it was shorter. The story helped, but this felt much more like setting up something for later on. TMDK was good and looked like a polished team with potential, but Marufuchi felt more like a standard Japanese guy who would get on my nerves after more than just a few minutes. Yano was overweight and that’s about all I have to say about him. Archer and Smith continue to be a team that WWE seemed to miss the boat on, but the last time I said that it resulted in Tensai.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

This is treated as a big deal and you can only win by knockout or submission. I really hope this doesn’t turn into an MMA style match. Naturally, Striker immediately starts talking about UFC and MMA which takes away a lot of my hope. Suzuki is the head of the Suzukigun (Suzuki’s Army) stable. Both guys here are over 45 as age isn’t nearly as big of a deal in Japan. Striker and Ross immediately start calling these two the most important/best MMA fighters of all time, which really means nothing to me as this is a wrestling show, but if you can say they’re the same things online, why not in a company as well?

Feeling out process to start and they head to the mat for a fast paced exchange into a standoff. Suzuki gets on his back and kicks at Sakuraba but has to escape a Sharpshooter attempt by rolling into the ropes. They stay in the ropes for the better part of ever, which makes sense given that you can’t lose by DQ. JR won’t shut up about MMA until Suzuki grabs a triangle choke around the top rope.

They tumble out to the floor and start slugging it out on the ramp as Striker finally mentions the wrestling story here: Sakuraba helped Yano after Iizuka turned on him, triggering the feud with Suzuki. Now why did I have to listen to all that MMA talk first? Sakuraba grabs a Kimura on the ramp, which Striker describes as legendary. The referee breaks the hold and sends Sakuraba back to the ring. Striker and Ross talk about the twenty count in this match not two minutes after saying the match can’t end via countout. Well to be fair it’s better than just Japanese I can’t understand.

Back in and Sakuraba fires off a bunch of kicks and Suzuki looks mildly annoyed. He’s back up at eight though so Sakuraba goes back to the kicks. Suzuki slaps him in the face a few times, probably due to bad psychology for not going after Suzuki’s bad arm. Sakuraba hooks a cross armbreaker but Suzuki gets in the ropes. Again that shouldn’t matter but it’s something you have to live with.

Suzuki takes a nine count (why it’s in English is anyone’s guess) and it’s time to no sell! You knew this was coming at some point. Even kicks to the arm have no effect because adrenaline heal potentially broken arms. Suzuki kicks him in the face, setting up a rear naked choke for the referee stoppage.

Rating: D+. Yeah whatever. I’ve never cared for this style of a match and I still can’t stand it here. I watch wrestling to see wrestling, not old guys doing MMA style stuff. I’m sure I just don’t get some cultural thing here and the Japanese fans seemed to like it but I just do not care about stuff like this. JR and Striker loved it though and it’s very annoying hearing them casually talk about wrestling and then get WAY into the MMA style match.

Never Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Togi Makabe

Never is an acronym for “New blood, Evolution, Valiantly, Eternal, Radical” and this is basically a midcard title. Makabe is insane and Ishii is a guy who wrestled forever before finally winning a title last year. Ishii is defending and comes in with a heavily taped shoulder. They go right to the short range forearms that you see in ROH and my head begins to hurt again. Ishii powerslams him down as this is already a hard hitting brawl. Chops and right hands are no sold for a bit until more chops actually put Makabe down.

Makabe says bring it on and the chops have no effect. Ishii sells some right hands and takes the ten weakest punches in the corner that I can ever remember. They slug it out again until Makabe hooks a quick northern lights suplex for two. Back up and it’s the champ’s turn to no sell forearms and Striker says this is the answer to “is pro wrestling real?” The answer to that would be no, because people don’t usually growl at you when you repeatedly hit them in the head.

Ishii powerbombs him down for two but walks into a discus lariat to change control again. A German suplex (Striker calls it a German suplex hold for some reason) gets two for Makabe so he loads up the super German, only to get knocked into a Tree of Woe. Makabe does a pretty awesome looking situp and a top rope Samoan drop (not a fireman’s carry drop Striker) is good for another two. A huge lariat only gets one for Makabe and frustration is starting to set in.

He’s so frustrated that he no sells a German suplex but gets clotheslined for two. They trade more standing clotheslines until Makabe FINALLY goes after the shoulder…..which doesn’t have much effect. A chop and seated clothesline get two for Ishii and a dragon suplex gets the same for Makabe. They trade more forearms and shout at each other in Japanese until Makabe ax handles him in the chest. About the 38^th clothesline gets two more for Makabe and a top rope knee drop of all things gives him the pin and the title.

Rating: C-. This is a hard one for me to grade as I completely get the idea behind the match but I can’t stand it. It’s cool to see people beat each other up, but that growling at each other and no selling the strikes drives me up a wall. All I ask is that you at least stagger a bit and act like it had an effect. Otherwise, it looks like a waste of time, especially when the forearms don’t look all that hard. I’ve never been a fan of this style and I don’t think I ever will be. The ending was questionable too as this needed a big spot, and the Ivan Koloff’s old finisher doesn’t quite do it.

Ads for upcoming shows.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

This is basically the Cruiserweight Title and Omega, a member of Bullet Club with the Young Bucks in his corner, is challenging. Ross likens Omega to Brian Pillman as he’s a bit off kilter. Taguchi has been feuding with Bullet Club since the team’s debut, when Prince Devitt (Finn Balor, which Striker mispronounces) turned on Taguchi to found the team. They take each other up to the ropes with only Taguchi (called the Funky Weapon) offering a clean break.

They speed things up until Taguchi hits a Rear View to take over but first, a Rude hip swivel. Omega’s hurricanrana attempt is countered into an ankle lock before Omega is quickly sent to the floor. The Bucks offer a distraction and Omega blasts Taguchi in the eyes with cold spray (used to help with injuries after matches). JR: “That’s not too cool.” Striker: “No but it is too sweet.” It should be noted that Bullet Club does the Too Sweet hand sign to make it even better. Omega gets two off a running elbow in the corner. Nick Jackson: “You’re the worst referee in the business.”

Taguchi blocks a suplex attempt but Omega shows off a surprising amount of power by just muscling him up. He walks around instead of covering though and JR gets back into his old form by asking why Omega isn’t covering. Kenny misses a spinwheel kick and Nick trips Taguchi, only to have the champ sidestep a charging Omega, sending him into the Bucks. Taguchi hits a big dive of his own, making him seem more like a standard cruiserweight. Back in and Omega escapes Three Amigos before taking out Taguchi’s knee.

Kenny’s cover gets two and SWEET GOODNESS his eyes are freaky looking. They’re bugging out of his skull before he loads up a buckle bomb, only to have Taguchi hurricanrana him into the buckle for a sweet counter. Back up and Kenny dropkicks him out of the air, followed by a sweet gutwrench sitout powerbomb for another near fall. A faceplant gets the same on Kenny and it’s back to the ankle lock.

Taguchi mocks the Too Sweet sign but Kenny blocks what looked to be a torture rack attempt and hits a hard German suplex. He throws Taguchi onto his shoulders for an electric chair but drops him down into a driver (the One Winged Angel. He’s a Final Fantasy fan?) for the pin and the title.

Rating: B. This took its time but got rolling eventually. Omega certainly deserved the win here as he was blowing Taguchi out of the water for most of the match. The visuals on his face were outstanding and made the match that much better. Really fun match here with Kenny being all confident but just knocking Taguchi silly with all his his high powered offense. I had a good time with this and liked it a lot more than I was expecting to.

Tag Team Titles: Hirooki Goto/Katsuyori Shibata vs. Doc Gallows/Karl Anderson

Anderson and Gallows are defending and part of Bullet Club, meaning they’re accompanied by Tama Tonga and the Bullet Babe (Gallows’ wife, indy wrestler Amber O’Neal). Goto and Shibata beat them to win the World’s Strongest Tag League in 2014. JR compares Karl Anderson to Arn Anderson which is some of the highest praise you can get.

Goto and Anderson, former partners, start things off with a stalemate out of a quick sequence on the mat. The challengers are in trouble early as they’re sent into each other on the apron and Gallows kicks Goto’s head off for the early advantage. Back in and the champs hit a pair of splashes for two on Goto with a leg lariat getting the same for Anderson.

The monster Gallows comes in (it’s amazing how much better he is with some intensity instead of just being a standard big man) to exchange some clotheslines with Goto and the champ goes down. Off to Shibata who nails a running dropkick as everything breaks down. The champs take running dropkicks in the corner and a double belly to back suplex gets two on Gallows. Anderson comes back with a backbreaker, setting up a standing Demolition Decapitator for two on Goto.

A reverse 3D gets the same on Shibata but Goto breaks up a Tornadoplex (AJ Styles and Tomko’s old move, where Gallows loads up a spinning suplex with Anderson adding a spinning side slam) and AA’s Anderson onto his knee. Gallows chokeslams Shibata for the same but the challengers pop up to double team the monster. A bunch of kicks from Gotp set up a running kick to the chest for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C. This wasn’t bad but I didn’t get a big feeling from the title change. Goto and Shibata feel like any two guys who happen to be fighting the champs. The problem here though is I’ve only been told about the history here. A video package of the champs being dominant and then losing to Shibata and Goto in the tournament final would have helped, but the talking about it is far better than nothing.

The new champs sit down in the ring to pose.

AJ Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito

Styles is Bullet Club and Striker plays up the two broken necks from Styles Clashes. AJ goes right after him at the bell and tries the Clash but Naito sends him to the apron. They head outside with AJ moonsaulting to the floor but landing on his feet. Back in and Naito hits a top rope dropkick but AJ comes back with a Stunner on the leg to slow down the high flier. Psychology is fun.

A Robinsdale Crunch sets up an Indian deathlock as AJ keeps mixing up the offense. I love it when people avoid just doing the same moves over and over because there are so many different things you can do. Naito comes back with some right hands and a neckbreaker out of the corner. The knee gives out though and AJ hits that springboard forearm (love that move) to take over again.

AJ tries a suplex into a neckbreaker but slips up on the landing. Yes, people do botch things in New Japan too. A wicked German suplex on Naito looks to set up a faceplant but Naito rolls through for two of his own. Styles pops back up and crotches him on top but Naito backflips out of a belly to back superplex. It jams the knee again though and AJ puts on the Calf Killer (which Striker screws up by calling it the Calf Killer), eventually sending Naito diving to the ropes for the break. AJ fights out of something like a German suplex but gets caught in a dragon suplex for two.

Naito’s leg is suddenly fine so AJ Pele’s him down for a lack of selling. Sunday Bloody Sunday (a single arm implant DDT which used to be Devitt’s finishing move) looks to set up the Clash but Naito backdrops him to the floor. After a quick breather, AJ sends him into the buckle but collapses, allowing Naito to hit a slingshot dropkick. He loads up a top rope Frankensteiner but gets caught in a super Styles Clash (now with 100% less neck breaking) for the pin.

Rating: B. I liked the match and AJ’s offense made perfect sense, but having him in the finisher leg lock and then Naito hitting dropkicks and trying high risk offense made my eyes roll. What good can AJ do if Naito won’t keep selling the leg injury? They had a good story going here though and the action was good enough. Solid match and one of the better AJ matches I’ve seen in a good while. See what happens when you get away from the overrated TNA roster?

Video on Nakamura vs. Ibushi. The two fought as junior heavyweights where Ibushi won a big showdown, so tonight they’re fighting as heavyweights for Nakamura’s Intercontinental Title. This match has received rave reviews with Meltzer giving it five stars (You knew he was giving something on this show five stars) so I’m curious to see how great it is. I’ve only seen one Nakamura match and I liked it quite a bit so hopefully this lives up to that standard.

Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi

I still can’t quite describle Nakamura but he seems to be something like a Dean Ambrose who marches to his own drum. Ibushi is a very high flier who does a lot of cool looking flips. Nakamura comes to the ring in a robe and a crown to a huge reaction. He certainly has more charisma than almost anyone else tonight. I get a kind of Mick Jagger feel from him and that’s a very high compliment.

They slowly feel each other out by throwing some kicks and Nakamura drives him up against the ropes for some knees to the ribs. The champ offers him a handshake but pulls him in for a knee to the ribs, only to miss the Daniel Bryan running knee. Kota takes him down into the corner and puts his boot on Nakamura’s face, which is apparently a Nakamura signature. That would be proven correct as Nakamura does the same thing to him ten seconds later.

Another knee to the back of the head sends Ibushi to the floor as JR talks about Mr. Wrestling II. Off to a cravate from the champ and we hit the chinlock. Nakamura steps it up a bit and gets some two counts without breaking the hold. That’s a new one. Back up and Nakamura slaps him in the face over and over before they do the face to face staredown. A Backstabber puts Kota down but a hurricanrana sends Nakamura outside, setting up a huge moonsault to the floor.

Back in again and a springboard missile dropkick sends Nakamura sprawling across the ring. Nakamura backflips him to the apron, which Striker attributes to his “veteranness.” Now a normal person would just use the word “experience” there, but Striker seems to prefer to invent words that are more complicated than they need to be in an effort to sound smart. Ibushi’s second missile dropkick attempt is kicked out of the air and a front suplex sets up more knee strikes to Kota’s head.

Another running knee attempt misses and a great looking springboard hurricanrana gets two on the champ. A dragon suplex (WAY too popular of a move tonight) sets up a standing corkscrew moonsault for another near fall. Something like a Chick Kick sends Nakamura into dream land and a Last Ride sitout powerbomb (cool) gets the third straight two count. Kota misses the Phoenix Splash (moonsault into a 450) though and a big knee to the back of the head knocks him silly and both guys are down.

Back up and Nakamura stomps away but Kota just smiles at him. Kota just unloads on him with right hands and Nakamura shoves the referee down for no apparent reason. There’s a cross armbreaker on Kota but he fights up and viciously stomps Nakamura’s face to escape. A reverse T-Bone suplex sends Nakamura flying and Kota hits the champ’s running knee for two. Nakamura is all ticked off now and it turns into a slugout until Nakamura drops down so Kota can hit a standing double stomp. That was a horribly telegraphed spot.

Kota takes him over to the apron, springboards up to the top and muscles the bigger Nakamura up for a German superplex. Ok that made up for the double stomp. Freaking awesome move there. Somehow it only gets two and therefore Nakamura is going to retain. Nakamura headbutts out of something called the Phoenix suplex and elbows Kota in the head.

A middle rope knee to the back puts Kota down but it’s time for FIGHTING SPIRIT, which is Japanese for no selling. They both try knees and collide in a good spot before a fireman’s carry driver (Lucha Underground’s King Cuerno’s Thrill of the Hunt) sets up Nakamura’s running knee to retain.

Rating: A. Here’s the match where I get in trouble. I really liked this one and it’s by far the best match of the night so far, but giving this five stars is a BIG stretch. That would put this on the level of CM Punk vs. John Cena from Money in the Bank, Flair vs. Steamboat (pick one), Undertaker vs. Shawn in the Cell and Hart vs. Austin at Wrestlemania XIII? There’s no way I can see that happening, but this is Meltzer talking about Japan so you have to expect a lot of over hype.

The match itself was indeed very good though and Nakamura thankfully can do more stuff than just the knee strikes. Not a lot more mind you but at least he can mix things up. Ibushi’s strength surprised me here and he looked like someone who could succeed anywhere. Really good match here and worth checking out. It’s not as good as it’s hyped up as, but most matches rarely are.

Nakamura bows to Ibushi post match and grabs the mic to say……I have no idea actually. Striker offers some websites to find out the translation, because the idea of having a translator there on sight is too complicated I guess.

We recap Tanahashi vs. Okada, which is the NJPW equivalent of Rock vs. Austin. They’ve fought time after time now and traded the title for years. Tanahashi is the old guard and Okada wants to be the new top guy.

IWGP World Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada

Tanahashi is defending. Okada, 27 here and known as the Rain Maker, has an entrance video of gold coins falling for a nice touch. He also has Gedo, one of NJPW’s bookers and a famous tag wrestler, in his corner. Tanahashi, basically a superhero, plays air guitar on the way to the ring. They lock up after a minute of circling each other until they trade wristlocks. Tanahashi takes him down into a headlock but Okada reverses into one of his own. The champ tries another headlock but gets countered into a headscissors for a stalemate. They’re going for the big match feel here and they’re off to a good start.

They head into the corner and Okada nails him in the face, causing Tanahashi to go straight at him with forearms. He heads to the middle rope though and a hard running elbow knocks him down to the floor. A big boot knocks him over the barricade and an Orton DDT brings him back to the floor. They fight up the ramp where Tanahashi has to block a tombstone attempt. Instead it’s a jawbreaker to stagger Okada but he comes back with something like a Roode Bomb. JR brings up that Tanahashi has a bad back and neck, which is exactly the reason they brought him in.

Back in and Okada elbows him in the jaw but misses a backsplash. A middle rope Swanton gets two for the champ but he gets caught in a majistral cradle into a choke. Again, staying on the neck. A slingshot hilo gets two for Okada and things slow back down. They slug it out with Okada getting the better of it until they grab each other by the hair. The champ heads to the top but has to elbow out of what looks like a Samoan drop, setting up the High Fly Flow (Five Star Frog Splash) but Okada rolls away.

Something like White Noise onto the knee gets two for Okada but the Rain Maker (the move, not the person. It’s a wristlock into a big clothesline, which has been named Best Wrestling Move two years in a row in the Observer. For the life of me I don’t understand the huge appeal. It’s just a clothesline) is countered into a rollup for two. A dragon screw leg whip takes Okada down again and Tanahashi dropkicks the knee out to send Okada outside.

This time it’s Okada being sent over the barricade and getting taken down by a huge cross body. Striker: “Dare I say a Wrestle Kingdom moment???” JR’s silence is glorious. Back in and Tanahashi teases a Rain Maker but takes him down with a Sling Blade (spinning clothesline neckbreaker), only to have Okada pop up and try a tombstone, but Tanahashi reverses into one of his own. High Fly Flow hits Okada’s back and a second hits the chest for a very close two. The camera goes over to a shot of the title in a very nice touch.

Okada kicks away from an attempted Texas Cloverleaf but gets caught in another Sling Blade. Tanahashi mocks the Rain Maker post but walks into the real thing for two, which is the first time he has ever kicked out of it. They slug it out from their knees until Tanahashi reverses a tombstone into a rollup for two. A big slap staggers Okada but he grabs a backslide of all things for two, only to get caught in a German suplex for two.

Okada hits an even bigger bridging German for two more. The Rain Maker is countered into a dragon suplex for two and a big old dropkick catches Tanahashi in the jaw. JR is in full on main event mode here and it’s really working. Tanahashi twists the knee around two more times with Okada in the ropes, setting up the High Fly Flow for no cover. Instead he cranks on the knee even more, setting up a High Fly Flow to a seated Okada, followed by a fifth High Fly Flow to retain the title.

Rating: A-. So when Tanahashi does it it’s a classic but when Cena does it, he’s repetitive and only knows a few moves? I really don’t care for the repetition of a move to get a pin but it’s how main events work today. The knee work didn’t really go anywhere here and Tanahashi never even hooked the Texas Cloverleaf.

I need to get on something more positive here because it sounds like I hated this match. It’s the same rating I gave to them at this show two years ago and it’s about the same level as the previous one. This was a good, back and forth fight with both guys looking like big stars. I wouldn’t call this a classic, but it was certainly worthy of ending the biggest show of the year. They hit a point near the end with the suplexes that got me far more into things and kicking out of the Rain Maker was a nice touch.

Post match Okada leaves but Tanahashi gets on the mic to shout at him. I’m not sure what he’s saying but it doesn’t seem to be angry or mean. With Okada gone, Tanahashi seems to thank the fans but they won’t let him leave. He gives us some air guitar and collapses in a nice bit. We get a quick translation of his comments to Okada: Okada is a long way from being the ace and Tanahashi is proud of his performance. That’s kind of a heelish comment no? He takes a few more minutes to leave and we’re out of here.

Overall Rating: A. As usual, I liked the show but I have no desire to keep watching it full time. There are some very good and entertaining matches on the show and the wrestling is more than good enough to warrant sitting through this once. The worst match for me was the Suzuki match but that’s much more due to me not being a fan of the style than anything else. It’s definitely an excellent show and lived up to (most of) the hype it had. There are a lot of people I’d keep watching on here and that’s not something I often say.

Striker and Ross were fine on commentary though nothing outstanding. They were definitely a positive for the show and experience as a whole as the Japanese commentary can get annoying in a hurry since it’s just gibberish to me most of the time. Striker had some annoying moments but he was FAR better here than he usually is in Lucha Underground. Ross sounded like an old, grizzled veteran but he got into the main event, which is all you really could ask from him at this point. They could have been better, but they were a very welcome addition.

Overall I did like the show and I can see why its fans are so passionate about this company, but it’s just not something I care about enough to keep watching. For the most part I have no reason to care about most of these characters because I don’t follow them enough. The strong style still gets on my nerves and I can’t imagine ever becoming a fan of it. I like my wrestling more character based than in ring based and that’s really hard to do here when I can’t understand what’s being said most of the time.

One last thing: cutting this down to under four hours is a GREAT move. I remember one of these breaking five hours and it felt like a nightmare slogging through the whole thing. Three hours and forty five minutes (not counting the pre-show match) is acceptable for the biggest show of the year and the show never felt like it was dragging. Really good show though and worth checking out if you have the time.

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Lucha Underground
Date: January 7, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

After taking the holidays off, we’re back for the biggest match in Lucha Underground history: Aztec Warfare, which sounds like a battle royal/Royal Rumble style match with the winner becoming the first Lucha Underground Champion. A title is a good idea and they couldn’t go much longer without having a belt around here. Let’s get to it.

We open with shots of people walking through the hills to reach the Lucha Underground temple. This turns into Cueto recapping the previous show where Mil Muertes earned the last spot in Aztec Warfare by defeating Fenix, meaning Fenix enters first.

Aztec dancers and drummers bless the temple.

Cueto is in the ring to talk about how this will be a blessed year for Lucha Underground. The fans chant for AZTEC WARFARE as Cueto explains the rules: it’s basically a twenty man Royal Rumble with 90 second intervals but eliminations can only occur by pinfall or submission and anything goes. This could be a long one.

Lucha Underground Title: Aztec Warfare

Fenix is in at #1 and Johnny Mundo is in at #2. Cueto makes sure to emphasize that Mundo is number TWO. Johnny blocks an early kick and sweeps out the leg, only to miss a standing Shooting Star. Back up and a superkick sends Johnny to the floor but he runs back in to clothesline Fenix over the top as Cisco is in at #3 (the intervals aren’t quite ninety seconds but close enough). Cisco hammers on both guys because he’s a fairly basic lackey. Mundo gets kicked to the floor so Fenix picks Cisco up and hits a kind of running Death Valley Driver into the corner, setting up the End of the World to eliminate Cisco.

Back from a break with nothing changed and King Cuerno coming in at #4. Fenix goes right at Cuerno but superkicks Mundo by mistake, only to get monkey flipped back by the King. A huge suicide dive takes Mundo down again and the fans are way into this. Fenix enziguris Cuerno off the apron and hits a big flip dive as Son of Havoc is in at #5 in WAY less than 90 seconds. Mundo grabs him by the beard and pops Havoc in the jaw, only to have Son of send him to the floor for an even bigger flip dive.

Maybe 30 seconds after Havoc, Pimpinela Escarlata is in at #6. They’re not even trying on the times. Escarlata dropkicks Havoc down and does a flashy rope walk as Striker gets on a soapbox to talk about tolerance for people like Pimpinela. Yes we get it: he’s different. Let it go already. The referee gets acosted in the corner but Cuerno saves him from Escarlata. Prince Puma is in at #7 and goes right after Mundo with a Lionsault getting two. Fenix drops a top rope legdro as the mystery woman is shown watching from the entrance. Speaking of women in the entrance, Ivelisse is in at #8.

She plants Fenix with a tornado DDT but gets choked by Escarlata. Striker: “This is kind of hot too!” Ivelisse kicks Escarlata in the head and Havoc pins Pimpinela with a Shooting Star to clear the ring out a bit. Ivelisse kicks Cuerno down and Drago is in at #9. The ring is starting to get full but it’s really helping that they can go outside. Drago fires kicks at Fenix and DDTs him for two. The King is watching in the corner as Drago cleans house, only to sneak up on Drago with an enziguri to the back of the head. The Thrill of the Hunt eliminates Ivelisse and Bael is in at #10, giving us Fenix, Mundo, Cuerno, Puma, Drago and Bael.

Drago sends Fenix and Cuerno outside before taking them both out with a big dive. Puma Superman Punches Havoc down and a superkick is good enough to eliminate the biker. Things keep going as Puma dives over the top to take Mundo down and Cortez Castro is in at #11. He suplexes Puma down as the Crew starts taking over. This is going by so fast that it’s hard to do anything other than play by play. Cuerno dropkicks someone we can’t see on the floor (presumably Drago) and Ricky Mandel is in at #12. Puma kicks Bael in the head and something like a Jackhammer sets up a standing Shooting Star for the elimination.

Mundo leg lariats Cortez and a running knee to the head takes out another member of the Crew. Big Ryck is in at #13 and we take a break. Back with Ryck getting in and running over Puma and Mundo before a Rock Bottom eliminates Mandel. Drago comes in to try his luck but Ryck gorilla presses him into the Thrill of the Hunt from Cuerno for the elimination. Cool spot there. Cuerno poses too long though and gets crucifixed by Mundo for the pinfall.

Pentagon Jr. is in at #14 and unleashes the clotheslines before getting caught in Ryck’s full nelson. Mundo and Puma superkick Ryck though, only to have Pentagon powerbomb Puma onto his knee. A HUGE powerbomb plants Fenix for two but Ryck makes the save. Even the announcers aren’t sure why he did that and for once I can’t argue with them. Well I could but they’re right so why bother. Pentagon kicks at Ryck and Super Fly is in at #15. Mundo enziguris (WAY too common of a move in this match) Puma by mistake and Super Fly dives over the top rope to take Pentagon out.

Ryck clears the ring and blasts Mundo in the face, only to have Puma make the save. It’s Chavo Guerrero Jr. in at #16 with a chair in hand, which knocks Super Fly silly for an elimination. Pentagon gets the same treatment to clear the ring out a bit more. Mundo chases Chavo to the floor and gets nailed in the ribs with the chair for his efforts. Mascarita Sagrada is in at #17 and we take another break. I know they’re trying to get everyone in there but they really could have left out Sagrada and Escarlata. They’re comedy/fun characters and that’s not something I need to see in this match.

Back with Sagrada dropping Chavo with a pair of cross bodies until Fenix chops him against the ropes. A hurricanrana puts Fenix on the floor but he dropkicks Sagrada out of the air to block a dive from the apron. Sexy Star (unfortunately without the entrance) is in at #18 and kicks Chavo off the apron. We get Big Ryck and Sagrada in the ring because it’s funny or something. The masked man’s sunset flip attempt goes as well as you would expect it to and Ryck just crushes him for the elimination.

El Mariachi Loco is in at #19 and nails a nice springboard missile dropkick to stagger Ryck. Loco, Fenix and Mundo have a quick three way sequence with Loco climbing the ropes into a wristdrag on Mundo. Now Loco hammers on Puma but stops to dance, allowing Ryck to take Loco’s head off. Mil Muertes is in at #20, giving us a final grouping of Fenix, Mundo, Puma, Big Ryck, Chavo, Sexy Star, Mariachi Loco and Muertes. That’s not bad actually.

Muertes cleans house to start and the Flatliner drops Loco for the elimination to get us down to seven. We get the big showdown with Ryck vs. Muertes, allowing Striker to imitate Gorilla Monsoon talking about the immovable object. All seven get back in to break up the brawl though and Johnny hits a quick End of the World on Ryck but Chavo throws him to the floor. Puma adds a standing Shooting Star but Chavo throws Puma outside as well and covers, only to have Fenix hit a 450 onto Guerrero’s back, setting up a double pin on Ryck. Chavo pops up and blasts Fenix in the head with the chair with the pin.

With five left, Sexy Star gets in Chavo’s face and dropkicks him down, only to have Chavo slam her onto the chair. He puts the chair over her face and goes up but Blue Demon comes in for the save, allowing Star to chair Chavo in the head for the elimination. The final four are Sexy Star, Johnny Mundo, Mil Muertes and Prince Puma and we take a break.

Back with all four in the ring and Muertes going after Star but Mundo and Puma make a quick save. Star headscissors the heroes down but eats a spear for the elimination. Mundo charges at Mil in the corner, which Striker calls ironic because I don’t think Striker knows what ironic means. Puma takes Johnny down with a Zig Zag but Mundo hits a cross body to send Puma to the floor.

It’s Johnny taking it to Muertes in the corner but Puma comes in for a double superplex on the big man. Catrina trips Puma and gets pulled to the apron. Muertes intervenes and ducks the Flying Chuck, which knocks Catrina out cold. Mundo drops Muertes and the heroes hit back to back springboard 450 splashes for a double pin to get us down to one on one. This is one of the best possible options they could have.

Puma draws first blood with a dropkick. Vampiro says he can’t call the match because he’s too busy watching. Thanks for showing up Vamp. Mundo slides through the legs and grabs a half crab. Vampiro, ever the sage, says Puma’s experience will help him escape, not two minutes after calling Puma a rookie.

Johnny is sent to the apron and they both head to the top with Puma planting him with a C4 (top rope flip downward spiral) for two. If Puma wins, there’s no reason that shouldn’t be the finish. They head back up top with Mundo hitting a reverse hurricanrana (zero reaction from the announcers), followed by the End of the World for two. Mundo loads up his own C4 but gets crotched down, allowing Puma to hit the 630 for the pin and the title at 53:45.

Rating: B+. Well that rocked. I can’t emphasize enough how important it was for this to be pinfall or submission. Instead of having just a normal battle royal, it feels like Puma actually defeated everyone else and is the last man standing. The other thing I liked about this was how you really felt a lot of people could win. I could easily have seen Mundo, Puma, Ryck, Muertes or even Cuerno winning this, and that’s the most important thing you can have in a free for all like this.

Mundo and Puma shake hands as Konnan comes out to end the show.

Overall Rating: A-. I’m really, really digging this company as they’re going with a niche style show but knocking it (mostly) out of the park. The stories are there and the feuds can intertwine very well. It also helps that you have stories that all seem important rather than all of the stuff being there to fill time until we can get to the big stuff. They rolled the dice here and it really, really worked. Great match and a great show.

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Lucha Underground
Date: December 17, 2014
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

The main story coming out of last week is Johnny Mundo taking the $100,000 in the ladder match and then laying out Cueto. It’s hard to say where things go from here, but the main story seems to be the continuing feud with the boss because that’s how wrestling works anymore. Let’s get to it.

We open with a bunch of the roster in the ring and Dario Cueto coming out to address them. Everyone in the ring will be competing in a Lucha Underground ten way match, as well as another ten competing in a ten way match of their own. The winners will receive something much more valuable than money.

Drago vs. Big Ryck vs. Prince Puma vs. King Cuerno vs. Mascarita Sagrada vs. Fenix vs. Mariachi Loco vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Son of Havoc vs. Super Fly

One fall to a finish. It’s a big brawl to start with everyone going after Ryck but he shoves all of them away. Sagrada actually puts Ryck in a hammerlock and kicks his legs out, only to have…..something happen to him. I’m not sure what because the camera was on Vampiro and Striker. It doesn’t help that Striker is starting to lose his voice. Actually wait. That’s a REALLY good thing.

Everyone goes after Ryck again before Pentagon backdrops Drago onto Fenix. Sagrada misses a kick to Pentagon’s head before both guys head out to the apron. The little guy monkey flips Fenix down on the floor before Super Fly hits a huge moonsault from the top to take out Pentagon again. It’s Son of Havoc vs. Puma in the ring with both guys flipping around a lot until Havoc headscissors him down onto the bad ribs.

Puma sends him right back to the floor and hits a big flip dive before high fiving Danny Trejo. Ryck comes back in to wreck some people, including throwing Drago onto Super Fly and Pentagon. Everyone else gets their heads taken off with clotheslines. Puma and Fenix dropkick Ryck out to the floor before they trade running kicks to the jaw. Cuerno comes in to make a Tower of Doom to take down Fenix and Puma, only to have Havoc hit a shooting star on Cuerno for two.

Fenix hits a big flip splash for two on Puma, leaving us with Drago vs. Super Fly. Cuerno makes the save but Drago hammers him down, only to get kicked in the face. The Thrill of the Hunt is good for two as Mariachi Loco comes back in and superkicks Cuerno down for two. Pentagon grabs Loco for a package piledriver (called a Muscle Buster by Striker) for two more.

Sagrada comes back in to hammer on everyone but Puma throws him into the air for a kick to the ribs (it would be a punt Vampiro, not a field goal). Not that it matters as Ryck drills Puma with a clothesline, only to have everyone go after him again. Drago gets knocked to the floor for a great looking dive from Cureno, followed by the parade of dives to put most of the people down. Fenix hits a kind of 619 to Ryck but Puma kicks him down a second later. Puma hits the 630 on Ryck but walks into a tornado DDT from Fenix. A sitout tombstone is enough for Fenix to pin Puma in a pretty big upset.

Rating: C+. This was fun but it was so insane that it was hard to keep track of. The dives are always cool to see, but I’m not wild on the lack of focus on the storyline and the emphasis going onto the insanity with the dives and flips. Yeah they’re fun, but eventually people are going to stop caring because they’ve seen them before.

Battle Royal

Mil Muertes, Sexy Star, Ricky Mandel, Pimpinela Escarlata, Cicso, Johnny Mundo, Famous B., Cortez Castro, Bael, Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Well, it is different. Bael is the recently debuted B-Boy. Star dives through the ropes to go after Chavo during the entrances before throwing him in for the first time. Mundo is quickly thrown over the top but hangs on as only he can. Famous B. (I don’t know who he is either) is thrown out early as Escarlata takes down Cortez and Cisco, only to get dropkicked by Star.

There goes Mandel as this is a mess so far. Striker calls Escarlata him and her in the span of five seconds, only to have Escarlata be eliminated a few seconds later. Chavo throws Star to the mat before pulling on her hair. A high cross body goes badly for Star and Chavo easily eliminates her. Mundo gets knocked to the apron but manages to fight off all three members of the Crew. He even manages to eliminate Cisco and Cortez, allowing Muertes to spear Bael and dump him.

We’re down to Chavo, Mundo and Muertes with Guerrero getting the early advantage. Mundo fights back but misses a dropkick, allowing Chavo to monkey flip him to the apron but Johnny hangs on again. Muertes grabs Chavo for a German suplex but Mundo sunset flips him, sending Chavo flying. Vampiro: “I haven’t seen that since All Japan!” Then watch TNA because I’ve seen it there at least three times, but I guess that doesn’t count because it’s not from Japan.

Catrina trips up Mundo and Muertes sends him to the apron, only to have Johnny springboard back in. Chavo gets crotched on the ropes, setting up the Flying Chuck for the elimination by Mundo. We’re down to Muertes vs. Mundo and the slugout is on. Johnny is knocked back to the apron but grabs Muertes by the leg. Striker of course talks about Catrina’s skirt.

A knee to the face staggers Mil and Mundo sends him to the apron. Some kicks to Mil’s ribs have him in trouble but he knocks Mundo down on the apron. Johnny just keeps kicking though and gets back in, setting up an enziguri to put Muertes down again. The End of the World hits knees though and Johnny comes up limping, allowing Mil to clothesline him (of course called a Lariato by Striker because….well because he’s Striker) out for the win.

Rating: C-. This is another match where I really don’t know what I’m supposed to say about it. It’s a battle royal and not a particularly interesting one. Yeah the right guy won and it likely sets up Fenix vs. Muertes for something, but at the end of the day, most battle royals just aren’t that interesting, this one included.

Here’s Cueto with something this promotion has needed for awhile: the Lucha Underground Championship. He’s come up with the most brutal match ever: Aztec Warfare. On the first show of the new year, the winner will be crowned the first ever Lucha Underground Champion. That brings him to Muertes and Fenix. They’ve battled to get here, but now they’re facing each other for….the final spot in Aztec Warfare. The loser however will enter last. It sounds like a Royal Rumble from here.

Fenix vs. Mil Muertes

Muertes knocks him down to start and hammers away on Fenix’s back. A very bouncy springboard armdrag (with Muertes just standing there like a nitwit) takes Mil down before a missile dropkick sends him out to the floor. Fenix follows him out with a big corkscrew dive but both guys are down. Back in and the spear takes Fenix down as the announcers keep talking about Catrina looking good. Fenix pops back up with a handspring into a kick to the head, only to have Muertes plant him for two. Another handspring into a cutter gets two for Fenix but he springboards into a European uppercut. The Flatliner gives Muertes the win.

Rating: C. Just a basic power vs. speed match here and more proof that Muertes needs a better finisher. It’s just not a good move for a guy that strong to use as a finisher. Change him over to something like a spinebuster or just that spear, but get him away from the same thing Mr. Anderson uses.

In the back, Cueto looks at the title and says the gold in the belt comes from each of the Aztec tribes. He tells someone off camera that they can’t touch it to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. The show was fun for the most part but I’m really not wild on them basically throwing out most of the stories for a one night competition to set up another competition. Now hopefully they can tie things back together with the stories to make it all come full circle, but I’m starting to lose faith in these guys. I’m just not feeling this idea of going for a fun show rather than setting up lasting stories. It makes them feel a little desperate, which isn’t a good sign. Hopefully I’m looking too deeply into this, but I’m not wild on this show.

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Lucha Underground
Date: December 10, 2014
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

We actually have a major match tonight with a $100,000 ladder match between Johnny Mundo, Prince Puma and Big Ryck. This has the potential to be a major match, which might be exactly what the company needs as their ratings haven’t exactly been the best. Granted that’s probably because not a lot of people have the El Rey Network. Let’s get to it.

We open with the usual recap, focusing on the ladder match and Sexy Star getting some revenge in the tag match.

Danny Trejo is still here, likely because this is still the same taping.

King Cuerno vs. Super Fly

There’s a Jimmy Snuka joke in there somewhere. Cuerno jumps him to start and the beating is quickly on. Drago is watching from the crowd as Cuerno runs Super Fly over again for two. A dropkick gets another two as this is firmly in squash territory. The fans are entirely behind Cuerno as Striker brings up Super Calo for some reason before talking about why Fly did a certain “bump.” Fly knocks him out to the floor for a big dive but Cuerno just kicks his head off. Cuerno sees Drago and loads up the sitout Death Valley Driver for the pin.

Rating: C-. I still like the Cuerno character but I’m not thrilled with him feuding with Drago. It just doesn’t seem like a huge challenge to him as Cuerno has just mauled everyone he’s been in there with so far. Hopefully they give him a new feud soon after he destroys Drago. Super Fly didn’t do much for me here.

Solid video on Pentagon Jr., who we’ve seen a few times now. They play him up as a modern day Samurai.

Fenix vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Chavo has Pentagon Jr. with him but Fenix counters with Sexy Star. The fans are split on who they like better here, which isn’t the best sign given that Chavo likes to beat up women. Fenix dropkicks him into the ropes to start and a second one gets two. Off to a Fujiwara Armbar on Chavo for a few seconds followed by the springboard double knee to Chavo’s chest, only to have him roll into a half crab. Pentagon Jr. pulls the rope away but not far enough as Fenix gets the break.

Chavo wraps the leg around the post before just punching Fenix in the face. Back up and Fenix sends him to the floor and hits a big corkscrew dive onto both Jrs. They head back inside with Fenix diving into a slam for two, followed by the Frog Splash for the pin. Sexy Star didn’t do much here.

Rating: C. Not bad here but there’s a limit to how good a Chavo Guerrero match is going to be. He’s another guy that we’ve seen for so many years and there’s just nothing all that interesting to him anymore. It’s not that his matches are bad or anything, but he’s totally maxed out on how far he can grow.

Sexy Star says he (meaning Blue Demon Jr.) is coming back.

Cage (Brian Cage from PWG) is coming. He doesn’t have any special powers because this isn’t make believe. The guy is incredibly muscular and could be a good change of pace from all the high flying.

Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo vs. Big Ryck

$100,000 ladder match set up by Cueto giving the hardest worker bonus from week #1 to Ryck. Johnny then threatened Cueto and demanded his money, so this $100,000 is Ryck’s contract bonus. Mundo has also stolen Cueto’s mysterious key. Konnan is announced as being in Puma’s corner but he’s nowhere in sight.

Ryck gets double teamed to start as Striker tries to cover the history of ladder matches. Mundo nails a running kick to Puma’s face, followed by a hard knee. Ryck knocks Mundo off a ladder but Puma baseball slides the ladder into him to take over. Now it’s Mundo pulling Puma down from the ladder but has to avoid the ladder being shoved at his head. Striker says that the briefcase doesn’t have to be airbrushed to signify its significance. This has been Matt Striker’s Weekly Shot At WWE, Thereby Making Him Look Like A Stupid Jerk.

The big man finally gets back in and knocks both guys down with a ladder. Cue Cisco and Cortez to do the climbing, which actually makes sense. Puma and Mundo come in for the save as an ECW chant starts up. They shove the ladder over, sending Cortez down onto Cisco and Ryck in a big crash. Puma is whipped into the ladder against the ropes, setting up a big dive from Mundo to put all the heels down again.

It’s table time, allowing Striker to talk about ECW again. Mundo pounds on Puma’s chest and sets up the required huge ladder on the floor. He climbs up to dive through Cisco on the tables but had to fight off Puma instead. They wind up on the apron but Puma dives through the ladder to take out the villains in a nice spot. Totally choreographed of course but nice. Mundo and Puma head back inside to fight over the ladder with Johnny being sent into the corner with the ladder going into his ribs.

Puma goes for a climb but Mundo is right there (which Striker chalks up to experience. You know, instead of just calling it common sense), only to eat a Diamond Cutter (yes a Diamond Cutter, not an Ace Crusher like “I KNOW MOVE NAMES!” Striker). Ryck and company come back in and bridge a ladder into the other ladder like a platform. Mundo is whipped face first into the platform before being catapulted into it again.

The ladders go down as Ryck just mauls both guys. Now we have a table in the ring as the lackeys double team Mundo. They load up something off the top but Johnny slams Cisco through the tables on the floor to get a breather. Ryck and Mundo both pick up ladders and bang them together with Johnny getting the better of it. Cortez is back up though and loads up a superplex on Puma, only driven through the table by the double knees.

Mundo is waiting on Puma with a ladder to the face and the masked man falls out to the floor. Striker: “It doesn’t matter how many t-shirts you have or how popular your podcast is. It’s about THIS.” Mundo dives over a ladder with a corkscrew dive onto Ryck and follows it up with the End of the World onto Ryck onto the ladder. Puma nails a 630 to the same target before knocking Johnny out to the floor.

Instead of climbing though he puts Johnny on a ladder over the middle rope in the corner. Johnny fights up but gets dropped ribs first into the ladder, only to dive into a Ryck powerbomb. Ryck drops Puma onto Johnny onto the ladder before throwing Puma through another ladder at ringside. He climbs up two ladders in the middle of the ring but Mundo very slowly goes up. Why Ryck didn’t just grab the briefcase isn’t clear but I’d assume it’s due to the script saying he’s not supposed to.

Mundo knocks him off but “a fan” in a mask comes in to shove him down. He takes off the mask to reveal himself as indy wrestler B-Boy (not named) but Mundo beats him up on the floor. Cisco and Cortez go up a ladder but Mundo snaps Ryck’s neck across a rope and springboards up to another ladder. A kick knocks the lackeys’ ladder down and Mundo gets the briefcase.

Rating: B-. This was long and felt like they had a big checklist of spots that they wanted to get in before the end of the match. The overbooking got old in a hurry but at least there was a story to the match. Mundo winning is the logical ending and I’m sure he’ll have to deal with B-Boy now, but it’s still only so good compared to some of the other matches like this that we’ve seen over the years.

Post match Cueto comes out and wants to have a business relationship with Mundo but first, he wants the key back. He demands that Mundo put it around his neck but Johnny puts it upside his head to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was better for the most part due to the last third being spent on a big match but they need some fresh blood. The problem is these stories just kind of keep going with no real end or goal in sight, which can run out of steam at some point. On top of that, having one major match like this, while entertaining, isn’t a good idea on a one hour show because it keeps a lot of people off the show. Cut a few minutes off this and give us a quick promo or match instead. It would keep the show a bit more fresh. It’s a good episode but there are some tweaks they need to make.

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