TripleMania XXI
Date: June 16, 2013
Location: Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

So this is the result of a deal I made twelve years ago to get a vote in a popularity contest on a wrestling forum. Yes I remembered the show this long and yes I’m just getting around to it. As usual I have no idea what to expect around here but that can make for some fun situations. Or a total disaster. Let’s get to it.

Note that I did not follow AAA at this point and my Spanish is bad at best so I apologize for not getting a lot of this stuff right.

Commentary, in Spanish, welcomes us to the show.

The opening video looks at TripleMania over the years, with various people offering thoughts.

We get the presentation of Antonio Pena’s urn, as always.

Dinastia/El Elegido/Faby Apache/Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Mamba/Mini Abismo Negro/Silver Kain/Taya

Escarlata tries to kiss the referee and we’re ready to go (with a whistle, as this company is a bit different). Mamba and Escarlata pull hair to start and have to be dragged away from each other. Kain drops Escarlata with a slap and gets kissed as a result, meaning it’s time to panic. Taya comes in and Negro hits her in the face by mistake, allowing Escarlata to clean house without much trouble.

Elegido (who seems to be a stripper) comes in, much to Mamba’s approval, and avoids a crossbody, allowing him to kick Mamba in the ribs. Kain accidentally dropkicks Taya and Elegido almost loses his trunks on a sunset flip from Mamba. After some hip swiveling, it’s off to Dinastia and Negro, with the former walking on his (own) hands and armdragging Negro to the floor.

The rest of Negro’s team gets headscissored as well but Kain is back up with a clothesline. Dinastia gets out of the Tree Of Woe and dropkicks Kain to the floor, setting up a suicide dive. That leaves Taya to come in and stun Apache (who finally does something), allowing for some triple stomping. Escarlata comes in and gets beaten down in Apache’s place, with Dinastia getting the same treatment.

Apache finally manages a pop up hurricanrana and Dinastia is back in with a kick to the back of Taya’s tights. Dinastia moonsaults onto Negro, setting off a train of dives. Even Taya moonsaults onto all of them before coming back in to powerbomb Apache. The moonsault hits raised knees though and Apache tiger suplexes her for the pin at 12:45.

Rating: C+. This is a case where I really don’t get the appeal, but the people in the audience certainly did. Escarlata has been doing this for a very long time and the fans seem to love the shtick so it’s hard to argue. Other than that, you got some nice flipping and it’s easy to see why Taya was a star for so long. She has that charisma to her and a great evil smile which worked very well.

Antonio Pena’s widow is presented to the crowd.

Heavy Metal vs. Chessman

For a Mega Title shot later tonight and Chessman jumps him before the whistle. Some chair shots have Metal in more trouble and a suplex gets two. Metal is back up with some clotheslines but Chessman heads outside and grabs a table. Another chair shot keeps Metal down and Chessman kicks at a cameraman as a bonus. Metal manages to knock him outside for a flip dive but Chessman hits a spear through the ropes to send Metal through the table.

Back in and a hanging swinging suplex gives Chessman two and it’s time for a ladder. A miniature wrestler is brought in and thrown at Metal, allowing Chessman to spear him through the ladder. The mini makes the save and gets a mini guitar smashed over his head, leaving Chessman to sitout powerbomb Metal for two. A backbreaker gets two but Chessman misses the corkscrew moonsault. Metal grabs la majistral (and not a great one) for the pin at 8:36.

Rating: D+. In theory this was a regular match but they had all kinds of weapons and some interference thrown in, which made it quite the mess. Metal barely had any offense until the end, when he won with a fluke rollup. Maybe the story plays out better if you know how we got here, but the match itself really didn’t work.

Tag Team Titles: Los Mexican Power vs. Angelico/Jack Evans vs. Drago/Fenix vs. Los Perros del Mal vs. Los Mamitos vs. Drago/Fenix

Elimination match for the vacant titles, Mexican Power is Crazy Boy/Joe Lider (escorted by a bunch of dancers), Los Perros are Daga/Psicosis and Los Mamitos are Mr. E (Eric Escobar) and Sexy Boy, who are escorted to the ring by some women. Angelico and Evans clean house to start but Power fights out of the corner with some cutters. The Mamitos comes back in to take over but the Perros cut them off.

Fenix and Drago get to take over, only for Angelico and Evans to kick them down as the circle of control continues. Angelico and Evans pile up five people so Angelico can hit a top rope splash. A big flip dive drops Fenix and Drago, but Los Mamitos catch Angelico with a powerbomb/neckbreaker combination for the elimination at 6:04.

Psicosis and Daga’s dives are cut off with chairs to the head but Power takes over on Los Mamitos back inside. Fenix and Drago get to clean house though and a double top rope double stomp pins Sexy Boy at 9:18 to get us down to three. Lider is back in with a running dropkick to Fenix and a bunch of chairs are brought in. Crazy Boy and Psicosis strike it out until Lider pulls Crazy outside. Crazy is draped over the barricade for a big dive from Psicosis, leaving everyone to get back inside to….well just beat on each other a lot.

A Spanish Fly takes Daga from the apron to the floor, leaving Crazy to reverse Death Valley Driver Psicosis for the pin at 14:08. So we’re down to Power vs. Fenix/Drago with Fenix hitting a big dive. Drago’s running Death Valley Driver into the corner gets two on Crazy and Lider’s neckbreaker gets the same on Fenix.

Back up and Fenix’s Canadian Destroyer gets two on Crazy, who sends Fenix outside. Power’s friend Nino Hamburguesa’s dive is cut off with a kick to the head, leaving Fenix’s springboard spinning dive to…well kind of connect. Hamburguesa dives onto Lider and Fenix and Drago runs Crazy over for two. Back up and Crazy grabs a full nelson and flips Drago forward into a rollup for the titles at 20:14.

Rating: C. It was long, there were a lot of people in it, and there was very little in the way of the match moving from one section to another. There is only so much you can do with so many moving parts and this wasn’t exactly worthwhile. As usual, there were some fun spots and the people are athletic, but I could have gone with a bit more structure.

Post match Vampiro comes out to present the new champions with their titles. Konnan comes out to address the fans and gets in Vampiro’s face but security separates them. Vampiro argues back and some shoving ensues until Konnan leaves.

Jeff Jarrett/Matt Morgan/Monster Pain vs. Los Psycho Circus

For the sake of simplicity, Monster Clown is “Monster” and Monster Pain is “Pain”. Monster Pain is led around by chains and looks a bit like Abyss. The Circus is Monster Clown, Murder Clown and Psycho Clown. Jeff (with Karen) seems to throw out tortillas to the fans and has to hold Karen back from arguing with someone. This seems to be about the USA vs. Mexico, because they’re psychotic clowns, but they’re PATRIOTIC psychotic clowns.

The Clowns start fast with stereo dives through the ropes, followed by a big dive off the top to the floor. We settle down to Murder and Morgan, with the former winning an exchange of shoulders. That’s enough to send Morgan outside so it’s off to Psycho vs. Jarrett. The Clowns take over on Jarrett and clothesline him to the floor so it’s Pain coming in to clear the ring with some big boots.

The villains take over on Monster and send him outside before ramming Psycho into the corner for two. Monster is sent outside, where he goes after another woman with Jarrett and company, earning a belt shot from a man whose name might be Richard Negrin. Back in and the Clowns give Morgan a triple low blow (that seems so excessive) before Murder jumps onto Pain’s elevated ribs.

Negrin comes in and gets beaten up as Karen goes after Antonio Pena’s widow. This goes as well as you would think, with Karen’s hair being messed up and a soda being poured onto her as a bonus. Karen gets brought inside where the Clowns put a witch’s hat on her and Psycho seems to give her a kiss. Another woman in the villains’ corner is brought in and given a three Clown What’s Up. Morgan and Pain come back in to wreck everything though, with a chokeslam finishing Murder at 11:46.

Rating: C+. This feels like a match where a backstory would have helped (granted, not the promotion’s fault as commentary was likely explaining it) as there were a lot of people running around doing all kinds of things here. The ending wasn’t exactly great though, as the Clowns were on a roll and then just lost out of nowhere. Jarrett was quite the heat magnet and it’s no shock he was such a big heel in Mexico.

Post match Psycho’s mask is ripped off for quite the heat.

Mega Title: Heavy Metal vs. El Texano Jr.

Texano is defending, with Pepe Casas and Silver Kain as the seconds. They go to the mat to start, with Texano grabbing an early leglock. The hold stays on as they roll outside, where Metal has to block a posting. Back in and Texano works on the leg, including wrapping it around the rope in the corner.

A bullrope shot to the leg sets up another leglock, with Metal going to the rope for the break. Metal gets kicked in the face but he comes back with a hurricanrana for two but Texano’s small package gets the same. Metal’s crossface (minus the crossface part, as he’s pulling the hair instead) sends Texano over to the rope so Metal drops a middle rope elbow for two instead.

A superplex gets the same but a top rope backsplash misses to give Texano an opening. Texano goes up this time, only to get dropkicked out to the floor. Metal is right there with a top rope flip dive, followed by a super hurricanrana back inside. A cross armbreaker doesn’t last long but another super hurricanrana is countered into a super Styles Clash to retain the title at 11:45.

Rating: C+. The ending was good and it makes sense that Texano would survive with the title as he was coming in with an advantage due to Metal wrestling twice. At the end of the day, it was a decent match, but it’s not like titles mean much around here. That’s just something that you have to get used to, as it’s such a different way to go from American wrestling.

Post match Texano goes to leave but gets cut off by Ray Mendoza Jr. (an unmasked Villano V). They get back in the ring and argue a lot, with Mendoza seemingly not thinking much of Texano. It seems we have a challenge and that’s that.

Abismo Negro is inducted into the Hall Of Fame, with his family accepting on his behalf.

Latin American Title: Blue Demon Jr. vs. El Mesias

For the vacant title. They go to the mat to start with Mesias working on the arm to little avail. Demon reverses into a leglock, which is quickly broken up and the grappling ensues again. Mesias grabs a headlock on the mat before sending him outside for the running flip dive. That means more stalling, as they aren’t exactly going at full speed thus far.

Back in and Mesias cuts him off again, followed by some slow chops in the corner. Demon comes back with a bulldog but takes too long going up, allowing Mesias to pull him back down. A running flip dive off the apron works a bit better for Demon and a suplex gets two back inside.

Mesias’ spear gets two, followed by a snap powerslam for the same. Demon DDTs him for two but Mesias catches him on top with a superplex for two more. Some raised boots cut off a diving Mesias and a lifting Pedigree gives Demon two. A super hurricanrana gives Demon another two and the weird non-turned over Sharpshooter makes Mesias give up at 18:55.

Rating: B-. This is the first match that felt like it mattered and came off like something big. It made for a good match as Demon can work well with anyone, as he certainly had the talent. Mesias was around for a long time in a variety of places, but he didn’t shine nearly as well as Demon did here.

Post match LA Park, the former champion, interrupts and…seems to acknowledge Demon as the champion. All three show respect.

Dr. Wagner Jr./Electroshock/La Parka/Octagon vs. Canek/Mascara Ano 2000/Universo 2000/Villano IV

Wagner and Canek start things off with Wagner’s headlock not getting him anywhere. Canek monkey flips him over so Electroshock starts in on the arm to no avail. Everything breaks down and it’s Wagner getting beaten down, followed by Electroshock taking a beating of his own. Parka gets double teamed as well as Dorian Roldan comes to ringside with a chair.

It’s back to Electroshock getting beaten up, with both his and Parka’s masks being untied. Octagon gets taken down and elbowed but manages to fight back, as does Electroshock. Canek and Wagner slug it out, with Wagner going for Canek’s mask. Parka gets the chair to fight back and we settle down to Ano missing a charge at Wagner. Ano gets low bridged to the floor and Wagner poses a lot, followed by a basement dropkick to Universo.

Villano comes in to knock Parka down but the 2000s comes in and chop Villano by mistake (Parks shakes their hands for the help). It’s off to Octagon vs. Ano, with Universo knocking Ano down in another error. Electroshock comes in to backsplash Canek for two, with the save allowing Canek to work on the arms.

Wagner hits a flip dive off the apron and Octagon dropkicks Ano as everything breaks down. That leaves Canek to tie up Octagon’s arms for two but Parka knocks Villano to the floor for a suicide dive. Canek’s Cactus Clothesline sends Electroshock to the floor and it’s off to Wagner vs. Universo. A chair is brought in but Universo doesn’t want it, which brings in Roldan to slap him in the face. Electroshock cutters Roldan and it’s a Wagner Driver to give Wagner the pin on Universo at 23:06.

Rating: C+. There wasn’t much in the way of tagging here, but it did tell a story with the villains dividing and conquering. The ending felt like a big deal with Roldan getting beaten up, as it came off like a turn for Universo. It certainly wasn’t boring and that’s more than you can ask for a lot of the matches on this show.

We get a special tribute to Hector Garza, who passed away less than a month before this show.

El Hijo del Perro Aguayo vs. Cibernetico

Hair vs. hair match with Daga/Psicosis and Dark Cuervo here as well. Aguayo jumps him on the floor to start fast before taking him inside for the corner choking. Cibernetico is already busted open and a ram into the post makes it worse. Some chairs are loaded up, with one of them smashing Cibernetico in the head. A bunch of tables are set up, with Aguayo being sent through one of them to start the comeback.

The seconds come in to help with the beating before Aguayo is sent over the barricade. Back in and Psicosis is piledriven onto a chair, with the medics getting beaten up as well. Thankfully some of the tables are thrown outside, with Daga being chokeslammed through one of them. Cibernetico’s spear gets two and he grabs a Stunner…but the referee gets bumped. Because THAT MATTERS IN A MATCH LIKE THIS.

A Boston crab makes Aguayo tap to no one, followed by…a Boston crab that makes him tap again. Cibernetico lets the hold go for no apparent reason and Aguyao kicks him low, as another referee (who saw the kick) counts two off a small package. Cibernetico’s low blow gets two more and a chokeslam through a table gets the same. A tombstone is loaded up but the referee yells at Cibernetico, earning a tombstone himself. Aguyao gets up and sends Cibernetico through another table and then double stomps the table onto him for the pin at 17:18.

Rating: D. Yeah this didn’t work, with the no selling and the violence and all that stuff just not clicking. It was one of those matches where they both got beaten up so much in the end that it was hard to accept one of them surviving. They were going with the insanity and it made for a rough match, especially with the match going so long. Not a good main event.

Post match Cibernetico gets his hair cut, even doing some of it himself. Aguyao celebrates and someone much younger gets their head shaved too.

Overall Rating: C. There is such a culture shock between what American fans tend to see and what they get here. While the main event dragged it down, the rest of the show was at least decent with the athleticism being rather good. I can also accept that I didn’t get a lot of the show due to the language barrier. The backstories here could have helped a good bit, though what we got was good enough. It felt like a big show and I did enjoy enough of it, so we’ll call it acceptable.

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Uncensored 2000
Date: March 19, 2000
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden, Mike Tenay

I might as well take another look at some of the shows on the WCW YouTube channel so we’ll go with something from the terrible days of the promotion. Well terrible is kind of a stretch, as I’ve always had a soft spot for this year. This is the show that tends to be more hardcore and violent, and in this case it’s YAPPAPI time. Let’s get to it.

The opening video looks at Lex Luger hurting Sting and various other people, so tonight Sting is back for revenge. The other big matches: Hogan vs. Flair and Sid vs. Jeff Jarrett. That’s…really not a great lineup.

Various people arrive, including someone we don’t see in a limo. That’s never good. Like, at all.

Schiavone: “We’re getting ready to break some heads!”

Cruiserweight Title: Psychosis vs. The Artist Formerly Known As Prince Iaukea

Prince, with Paisley (better known as Sharmell) is defending and we’re in the weird unmasked Psychosis (with Juventud Guerrera) era. Hold on though as the bell rings and some music plays, with Chris Candido coming out to join commentary as a surprise. Psychosis starts fast by knocking Prince outside for a big dive (Candido: “I can do that.”) but Prince is right back inside to hammer away. A running shoulder drops Guerrera for two and Prince sends him outside as Candido wonders where his own (unnamed) valet is.

Back in and Prince pulls out the hair a bit before dropping a knee for some near falls. A super hurricanrana drops Prince and they….I’m not sure what it was supposed to be but Psychosis snaps off a gordbuster. Paisley offers a distraction so Juventud kisses her, earning a whipping with his own shirt. For some reason Paisley tries to take his belt off as Psychosis hits a guillotine legdrop. Psychosis lets up on the pin for no apparent reason, allowing Prince to hit a middle rope DDT and retain at 7:21.

Rating: C-. Like most Prince matches, this wasn’t bad, but it was really, really dull. There was nothing about the Prince that made you want to see him and having him do this gimmick didn’t make things any better. Psychosis was little more than a random challenger and he added almost nothing. Finally you have Candido, who felt like a total afterthought and did pretty much nothing here, which sums up a lot of his time in WCW.

Bam Bam Bigelow isn’t sure what the Wall is doing but he’s going to stop him tonight.

XS vs. Norman Smiley/The Demon

XS is Lenny Lane/Lodi, now a couple of stereotypical party guys, but Miss Hancock comes out for commentary. She’s not happy with her for turning her down so she’s managing Smiley and Demon instead. Smiley comes out of Demon’s casket, but gets scared by the pyro. It’s a…well not really a brawl to start but Demon and Lodi fight to the floor and Norman (in Demon paint) gives Lane the Big Wiggle.

The spinning slam is broken up so Norman brings in the Demon, who gets caught in the wrong corner. A double clothesline gets Demon out of trouble and it’s back to Norman, who is quickly caught with a Skull Crushing Finale. The Demon makes the save and Norman’s Conquest gives Norman the win at 3:42.

Rating: D-. Why was this on pay per view? XS was as low level of a team as you can get and yet they were at least a regular team. Smiley and the Demon might have teamed together occasionally but it was there for the gag of Smiley as a demon and nothing more. It wasn’t funny and thankfully it was short, with Hancock sounding more like a heel than anything else here.

Post match XS blames Hancock for the loss and seem to try kidnapping her, with Demon and Norman making the save so Hancock can dance.

Billy Kidman, with Torrie Wilson, apologizes to Booker (not T., which we’ll get to later) before their tag match. Booker says if Kidman is going to be there, he needs to be there.

David Flair and Crowbar, both in neck braces, want Daphne to stay in the back. She agrees and then smiles once they leave.

We recap the Wall’s recent path of rage, involving him beating up people like Bam Bam Bigelow, David Flair and Crowbar, with Bigelow (Wall’s mentor) standing up against him. I’ve heard far worse stories.

The Wall vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

They slug it out to start and Bigelow hits a splash in the corner, followed by a clothesline to cut Wall off. A top rope headbutt connects for two but Wall is right back with a big boot. They fight out into the production area, with Wall chokeslamming him through a table for some sparks and a DQ at 3:20.

Rating: D. What was that? Well other than another TV style match which happened to be on the pay per view that is. The idea of Bigelow trying to stop the monster is fine, but could you at least let them have a decent fight first? The match didn’t even make it four minutes and Wall never felt in any real danger. Why was this here?

Immediately after the match, Crowbar and David Flair jump the Wall, with Crowbar getting him up onto the scaffolding. Wall chokeslams him through the stage in a pretty awesome crash. Ah, that’s why the match was there. Wall gets to do his signature look, which is NO WAY like Bubba Ray Dudley’s look after he powerbombed people through tables. We pause for Crowbar to be put in an ambulance as wrestlers watch.

Brian Knobbs dedicates his Hardcore Title match to Bigelow and Crowbar. Uh, thanks?

Hardcore Title: Brian Knobbs vs. 3 Count

3 Count is defending in a gauntlet match. In one of the most bizarre choices of all time (and this is WCW), Knobbs’ theme music at this point is….a rock version of My Sharona. Naturally since this is WCW, they don’t seem to get the definition of GAUNTLET match, as 3 Count goes after Knobbs at the same time. They jump Knobbs together to start but he easily fights back with trashcan shots.

The Pit Stop puts Moore and Karagias down but Helms, wearing a mask to protect a broken nose, is immune. I’m not sure that makes sense but Knobbs is sent into a ladder, setting up some splashes off of said ladder. Knobbs is back with a fire extinguisher and a chair to Helms for the first pin (Knobbs’ music plays because even WCW doesn’t get it).

The table is pulled out and Karagias is powerbombed through it for the second fall. Another table is set up but Helms is back in with a dropkick to Knobbs…whose foot it is in the ropes so it doesn’t count. In a hardcore match. Which is called a gauntlet but isn’t. Knobbs throws a ladder over the top onto Karagias and drives a trashcan onto Moore for the final pin and the title at 6:55.

Rating: D-. Do they not know what a GAUNTLET match is? If you want this to be an elimination match then fine, just call it that instead. But no, the idea is to just call it a gauntlet match when that has nothing to do with anything. You might as well say Knobbs is challenging in an Icepick Donkey match, because it has as much to do with a gauntlet as this mess did. It wasn’t even like Knobbs was in any danger here, even with 3 Count’s cool dives off the ladder. Oh and one more thing: BRIAN KNOBBS IS WINNING A TITLE ON PAY PER VIEW IN 2000. Stop that!

Harlem Heat 2000 is ready to…..I have no idea, as it’s Big T (Ahmed Johnson) yelling. Now, you might remember earlier that I said his name was just “Booker”. That’s because the story is Booker has lost the rights to the Harlem Heat material, which somehow included the middle initial T. I’m not kidding.

Vampiro talks about doing bad things and how people like Fit Finlay drive him to do them.

Booker/Billy Kidman vs. Harlem Heat 2000

Torrie Wilson, J. Biggs (Clarence Mason) and Cash (a big bodyguard) are here too. Ray stomps on Booker to start as Biggs talks about how he doesn’t care what happened to Crowbar. Kidman comes in for a dropkick so it’s off to Big T., who powers Kidman down. Booker fights up but the numbers game gets to him. Kidman is taken outside and held so Big T. can dive over the barricade to take him down.

That’s fine in theory except Big T. barely clears the barricade and only grazes Kidman, who doesn’t even leave his feet while Big T. faceplants. And that’s his post WWF run in a single moment. Back in and Big T. spinebusters Kidman for two but Kidman bulldogs Ray out of the corner. The Book End plants Ray with Big E. making the save, followed by a double spinebuster. Kidman dives in for the save and Ray is sent outside. That leaves Booker to kick Big T. into a rollup for the pin at 6:59.

Rating: D. And that might be the second best match of the night. That dive summed up everything about Big T.’s time here, as it was just embarrassing to see what used to be one of the coolest looking stars in years reduced to an embarrassment because he can’t do it anymore. Just dreadful here, with Booker and Kidman looking fine as a team but having absolutely nothing to work with on the other side.

We look at the Wall attacking Crowbar again.

Recap of Vampiro vs. Finlay. Vampiro is the young punk and Finlay is here to teach him some respect.

Vampiro vs. Fit Finlay

Falls Count Anywhere. Finlay hammers him down to start and hits a clothesline for a bonus. Vampiro is back up and hits a top rope spinwheel kick to drop Finlay, who shrugs it off again. Instead Finlay grabs a chair, which the referee takes away, allowing Vampiro to kick Finlay down again. They go outside and Finlay is sent into the announcers’ table but Vampiro gets too cocky and is sent over the barricade.

The fight heads out into the concourse and into the men’s room (where Finlay had promised to take him). Finlay slams a stall door onto his head but Vampiro is back with a trashcan to the ribs. Vampiro climbs onto the top of a stall but gets trashcanned out of the air. Now it’s time to go back into the concourse and even outside, which doesn’t last long. Finlay backdrops him onto the concrete but gets sent into concrete column. The Nail In The Coffin (Michinoku Driver) finishes for Vampiro at 8:39.

Rating: C-. I guess the idea here was to have Vampiro become a future star but…he just wasn’t very good. The spinwheel kick looked good but the rest was just a bunch of standard hardcore stuff. That doesn’t really make me want to see Vampiro do anything and he doesn’t exactly stand out. Finlay was his usual good self and Vampiro isn’t totally awful by any means, but he isn’t this next big thing that WCW seemed to think he was going to be.

Vampiro goes back into the arena to celebrate with the crowd.

Jeff Jarrett gives the Harris Twins a pep talk but they seem confident.

Disco Inferno and the Mamalukes are ready to retain the Tag Team Titles.

Tag Team Titles: Harris Twins vs. Mamalukes

The Twins, still part of the NWO, are challenging in a No DQ match. Vito and Ron start things off with Vito taking over to start, as Disco Inferno is already annoying the rest of commentary. Don comes in and hammers away but gets pounded down. A low blow drops Vito, who is right back up to knock Ron down. Johnny comes in for a double double ax handle to the chest, followed by something like the Harris’ H Bomb to Ron.

Don is back up to send Johnny outside and into the barricade, followed by a side slam back inside. The slow beating allows Johnny to fight back up with a clothesline, allowing the needed tag off to Vito. House is cleaned and a top rope elbow gets two, followed by a Hart Attack for two. Vito is sent outside so a double flapjack can connect for two more. A double spinebuster gets two more with Vito making the save. Inferno comes in and hits Ron in the face with the belt for two, leaving Ron to hit Johnny with the belt. The H Bomb gives Don the pin and the titles at 8:47.

Rating: D. The fans’ silence during this match sums up the issue: the Harris Twins are a perfect example of a team who is fine on paper but falls apart as soon as you get away from said paper. They’re just so, so, so boring and there’s no way around it. At the same time you have the Mamalukes and Disco Inferno, which a story that has gone on for so long that it stopped making sense months ago without ever being interesting in the first place. Boring match and the Twins winning the titles is about the worst result imaginable.

Fit Finlay says he beat respect into Vampiro but the better man won tonight. Now keep the fire burning from here on out.

Team Package (Lex Luger/Ric Flair/Elizabeth in a terrible name) is ready for Sting and Hulk Hogan tonight.

We recap Dustin Rhodes vs. Terry Funk, with Rhodes attacking Funk to continue the Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes feud. This resulted in Funk pulling out a chicken and saying it was Dusty’s son. Funk then knocked Rhodes out with the chicken, because that was a thing. Therefore, it’s bullrope match time.

Rhodes promises to make Funk bleed and retire him.

Dustin Rhodes vs. Terry Funk

Texas Bullrope match and yes Funk brings a chicken with him. Funk does a Foghorn Leghorn impression and says he thinks he sees a chicken in the ring. The only difference between Dusty and Dustin is Dusty is a lot fatter, but Funk has Dustin’s younger brother here. Cue a man in a chicken suit, causing Dustin to run up the aisle, where Funk hits him in the head with the chicken.

The bell rings and Funk beats him into the ring, where Funk whips him with the rope. Some left hands in the corner have Rhodes in more trouble and the cowbell to the head gets two. A low blow gives Rhodes a breather and he knocks Funk into the ropes to keep up the beating. Rhodes pounds him down on the floor and they finally bother attaching the rope about four minutes into the match. A belly to back toss gives Rhodes two and the bulldog onto the cowbell gets the same.

Cue the Chicken to go after Rhodes, who beats the Chicken up, complete with clucking sound effects. Funk is back up with a low blow and of course he wants a microphone. He’s changing the rules and now it’s an I Quit match (the previous rules said you could only win by pinfall). The referee doesn’t like that so Funk hits him with the cowbell and demands that Rhodes quit. Rhodes finally quits, which doesn’t count, so he hits Funk in the head with the cowbell again. A piledriver onto the cowbell gives Rhodes the pin (which counts) at 9:01.

Rating: D+. I have no idea what to make of this, as it wasn’t a bullrope match for a good while, but then it was kind of an I Quit match and then Rhodes won by pinfall, as is usually the case. Oh and something about a chicken. Throw in the fact that we’re doing Rhodes vs. Funk (of any generation) in 2000 and acting like fans care is bizarre enough. Even in Florida.

Sid expects Jeff Jarrett to do something stupid and he’s ready to move on to bigger and better things. Was that insulting to Jarrett? I’m not sure.

We recap Sting vs. Lex Luger, which involves Luger breaking A LOT of arms (as in probably six or seven people, many of whom were wrestling in casts on this show). Now it’s time for Sting to get revenge.

Sting vs. Total Package

This is a lumberjack match, with the wrestlers Luger has injured standing around the ring. Oh yeah and it’s THE TOTAL PACKAGE now instead of Lex Luger, because that was the big change he needed. Before Sting comes out, Luger apologizes to the lumberjacks for breaking their arms. He has a backup plan though and brings out his own lumberjacks, who have their own unnecessary casts.

Luger jumps Sting to start and the fight is on, with Sting knocking him outside. Back in and Sting gets to stomp away and the jumping elbow gets two. Luger is sent outside and the lumberjacks (including Doug Dellinger) get to stomp away. Back in again and Sting is sent outside for a change, with Luger’s lumberjacks hammering on him. Cue Tank Abbott (no cast) to knock Dellinger out and leave, because Abbott is a weird guy.

All of the lumberjacks brawl to the back, leaving Luger to chinlock Sting, as Ric Flair and Elizabeth come out. Flair and Vampiro (who was apparently still there) brawl at ringside until Flair gets inside to chop Sting. This goes as it has gone for over ten years now but Luger ax handles Sting down.

Elizabeth hits Sting in the back with the baseball bat so here is Jimmy Hart, with a Hulk Hogan weightlifting belt, to chase her off. Luger loads up the Rack but Vampiro hits him with the bat (the referee looks at it happen and glares at Vampiro, allowing Sting to hit the “Stinger” Death Drop (as Schiavone can’t even get that right) for the pin at 7:01.

Rating: D-. I’m sure he was on a huge contract and all that, but who in the world thought it was a good idea to put Lex Luger in this prominent of a role in 2000? The guy hadn’t been interesting in a very long time at this point and while the arm breaking thing was something different, it was still only going to get him so far in yet another match with Sting. The fact that this was the third decade in which they had been working together in some fashion isn’t a great sign, and the results showed badly.

Tank Abbott says he took out Doug Dellinger because he can, and accuses Dellinger of taking his money.

We recap Jeff Jarrett vs. Sid for the World Title. Jarrett keeps getting title shots and has a history of cracking Sid with a guitar. End of build.

The limo door is opened but we don’t see who is in it.

The format has been changed, as this match was scheduled to go on last. Sid’s response? “Oh let’s go.” And he heads to the ring.

WCW World Title: Sid vs. Jeff Jarrett

Sid is defending and Jarrett’s US Title isn’t on the line. Before Sid shows up, Jarrett goes on a rant about how he’s tired of getting ripped off so he has something up his sleeve. He also promises that the NWO girls will show some skin if he wins the title. Sid drops him with a clothesline to start and then pounds him into the corner for the right hands. The chokeslam is broken up with a rake to the eyes so Sid takes him outside for a slam onto the announcers’ table. The beating goes into the crowd before Sid chokes against the barricade.

Cue the Harris Brothers to jump Sid, even going inside to stay on him, as Jarrett argues with the referee in the aisle. Back in and Jarrett pounds him down, followed by the sleeper. That’s broken up so the Harris Twins offer a distraction, only for Sid to send Jarrett into the belt (as held by Don) for two. The chokeslam is broken up with a low blow and the referee gets decked (because that matters in this match). The guitar to the head knocks Sid silly and Jarrett calls in….crooked referee Slick Johnson. Hulk Hogan follows him out and cleans house, including dropping the leg on Jarrett so Sid can get the pin to retain.

Rating: D. So not only did they have a terribly dull match, but somehow, HULK HOGAN is needed to beat Jeff Jarrett. Hogan drops the leg and puts Sid on top for the pin. This is getting into 1995/6 territory of Hogan having to be there to save everyone and that’s one of the last things you want to see happen. Sid was even fine as champion, but it doesn’t matter when you’re having Hogan wedged into the top spot over him.

Post match here is Scott Steiner (apparently the person in the limousine) with a guitar to Hogan’s back. The villains wreck Hogan but Sid is up for the save. Cue Ric Flair and it’s time for the strap match.

Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan

Strap match, four corners variety. Flair whips and stomps away to start as Jimmy Hart (with his eyes bugging out) comes to the ring to play cheerleader. It seems to work as Hogan fights up and hammers away but Flair manages a cheap shot back inside. Some choking with the strap has Hogan in more trouble but he’s back up to whip away with the weightlifting belt.

The beating continues on the floor before Hogan rains down the right hands in the corner. A bite to the head busts Flair open and Hogan keeps hammering at the cut. Flair manages to go up and gets slammed down, with Hogan sending him outside for a clothesline. Hart gets in some whips as the squashing continues. Cue Lex Luger to chair Hogan down and leave, allowing Flair to whip Hogan back to ringside. A low blow drops Hogan again and Flair unhooks himself for the sake of chasing Hart.

They hook up again with Hart getting in as well, only to get taken down. Flair goes after the knee and drags Hogan to two corners and then a third before using a foreign object to knock Hogan silly. That’s enough to break the chain so the corners are broken…and Flair covers Hogan for two. That triggers the Hulk Up and Hogan knocks him silly to get three buckles but Luger is back. Hogan boots him down and drops a leg to pin Flair at 14:26 (the referee is fine with this).

Rating: D-. There’s a clip from Family Feud where the question is asked “Do you understand the concept of this game?”. That’s what I’d want to ask here, as it seems like they just kind of changed the rules halfway through. That’s dumb enough on its own, but they tried to do the same thing in the other match involving two people being tied together (because they did that same gimmick twice in about an hour). Hogan gets to slaughter Flair again though, because that’s what he did most of the time, and if that involves changing the rules as they go, so be it. Horrible main event, which shouldn’t be a surprise whatsoever.

Hogan touches the fourth buckle to really rub it in. Posing ends the show. Wait: why was it a big deal that they changed the order of the last two matches? That was treated as some kind of a big plot point and it didn’t seem to matter at all.

Overall Rating: R. For Reset, which is what this company did three weeks later. On April 10, WCW decided to tap out and completely relaunch everything, because the place that the shows were at, spearheaded by this one, was so bad that they didn’t think there was a way out. Think about that for a second. This show was so bad and put the company in such a place that WCW just blew up its continuity and started over. It might not seem possible to get that low, but WCW decided that was the best course of action.

And really, can you blame them? The matches ranged from passable at best to WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE, with rules literally being changed in the middle of matches and the same pairings we’ve seen for years now being trotted out again and again. The end result of the main event was Hogan pinning Flair to win a match where you have to touch all four corners. This was meant to be celebrated due to reasons beyond my comprehension.

That’s on top of the Harris Twins as the Tag Team Champions, XS, Psychosis and David Flair getting pay per view time, plus a group named Team Package and a fight over the letter T. This show was an all time disaster and I can’t blame them for just giving up. Hogan is doing some of his worst stuff here and unfortunately he’s not alone. I have no idea what good came out of this show, and apparently neither did WCW.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Thunder
Date: May 17, 2000
Location: Cajundome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Attendance: 3,066
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

I saw this on the WCW Vault channel so let’s take a look at this again. Thunder is of course an all time disaster of a wrestling show and we are at the point where WCW has more or less given up. The draw for this show is the Millionaires Club vs. the New Blood, with WCW thinking the fans would get behind the old rich wrestlers. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of recent carnage and chaos with no context whatsoever. This feels like a scene from a sitcom where someone is tasked with making a simple film but instead goes nuts and turns it into some art house deal which makes no sense but they blame the audience for not getting it (Diane did it on Cheers).

Opening sequence, featuring a countdown to the start of thunder. Isn’t the point of thunder that you don’t know when it’s going to start?

The New Blood arrives in a school bus, because that’s cool. Shane Douglas takes roll because Eric Bischoff has put him in charge. This leads to a fight with Konnan and here is the Millionaires Club, plus the Misfits In Action, running in for the brawl. Hulk Hogan, all in black with FUNB on his back (oh 2000 WCW, you glorious disaster), steals the keys to the bus.

Commentary welcomes us to the show and tells us that Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo aren’t here tonight. Dang I picked a good one.

Here is the Millionaires Club and the Misfits In Action, with Hulk Hogan saying they just stole the keys to the bus. Whatever Shane Douglas had planned is out the window because the Millionaires Club is booking the show tonight. Cue the New Blood, with Douglas telling Hogan to shut up. Hogan mocks Billy Kidman for the match at Slamboree and wants a rematch at the Great American Bash. If Hogan wins, he gets a World Title match at Bash At The Beach (DUN DUN DUN) and the match seems to be made.

As for tonight, Hogan wants to face Horace, but Jeff Jarrett cuts them off, saying he wants his World Title back. Cue champion Ric Flair (who would win and lose the title again before the end of the month) to deck Jarrett with the title and the big brawl is on again. So The Millionaires Club has already outsmarted the young, athletic guys and beaten them up twice inside of five minutes.

In the back, Konnan and Shane Douglas argue again, with Konnan and the rest of the Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera and the Disco Inferno) walking out.

Misfits In Action vs. Filthy Animals

We also get Major Gunns, who is rather quickly oogled. Corporal Cajun plays to the crowd to start but gets jumped from behind, only for Inferno to get caught in the wrong corner for some running splashes. Gunns comes in for a chest to the face before it’s back to Guerrera for some dropkicks to Stash’s leg (with Schiavone getting Stash’s rank wrong, even if PRIVATE STASH makes more sense).

Mysterio comes in to take over on Rection (because…yeah that’s his name) in the corner, but the Bronco Buster is cut off. A powerbomb out of the corner drops Mysterio and it’s off to Loco vs. Konnan. Cue Shawn Stasiak (who is also part of the New Blood) to jump Loco for the DQ at 3:18.

Rating: C. Why do I have a bad feeling that this is going to be the best match on the show? You had a bunch of talented wrestlers in the ring here but there is only so much you can do when the match barely gets three minutes, especially with interference for a DQ ending. Also, it might be nice to have commentary explain why Stasiak was out there, but I’m assuming it just a battle of the stables.

Post match the MIA gets beaten down but Booker T. makes the save. Gunns gives Loco mouth to mouth. This allows commentary to talk about her lung capacity, because this is what WCW 2000 was like. And that’s the real reason this match existed: to put Major Gunns over.

The Millionaires Club is happy, though Lex Luger goes to deal with something.

Booker T. is happy to be with the Misfits In Action and their FUBAR (FU Bischoff And Russo) shirts. He’s ready to declare all out war.

Hulk Hogan vs. Horace

This is a rematch from Nitro where Horace used a chair to win. Before the match, Hogan says he never did anything to deal with Horace’s father (Hogan’s brother) and now it’s time to teach Horace something. In the back, Horace decks Kidman so he can take Torrie Wilson with him. Hogan jumps Horace on the way in and hits a clothesline to send Horace outside. Horace is sent into the steps and Hogan whips out a table but takes too long, allowing Horace to fight back.

That lasts all of three seconds as Hogan fights back and Heenan and Tenay get into it over Hogan giving Horace chores when he was a kid. Heenan: “You have servants for that!”. Back in and Hogan whips him with a belt, followed by a clothesline with said belt. Wilson gets up for a distraction and gets in a kiss on the cheek from Horace, which draws Kidman out to jump Horace. Hogan is back up to chair Horace in the back, sends Kidman through the table, and gets the pin at 3:56.

Rating: D. And yeah there you go: Hogan squashes Horace and beats up Kidman at the same time, just to show you that this isn’t so much a competition as much as it is the Millionaires Club having target practice. I get that Horace wasn’t going to be the next big thing, but this was domination and that doesn’t help anyone but Hogan. Also, Stasiak interfering in the previous match draws a DQ but Hogan can use a belt, a chair, and shrug off interference and the referee is fine with it?

Post match Hogan kisses Wilson, who seems to love it. Just in case you didn’t get that Hogan is the star here.

Lex Luger is in a car and wants to go find a gym. He’s told “go down here and make a right, you can’t miss it”, which is quite the detailed set of directions.

Post break, Luger winds up at a gym and finds Chuck Palumbo lifting so Luger beats him up with a muscle bar and various other things. Luger whips him with a belt, which is the second segment in a row with the same weapon. He drops a 40lb weight on his ribs too and then throws it away, totally showing that it isn’t fake in the slightest. Luger pours a protein shake over him for a bonus as the New Blood gets humiliated again.

Ralphus and Norman Smile have “t-sherts fer sale” in the parking lot because they need to eat.

Hardcore Title: Terry Funk vs. Ernest Miller

Funk is defending and calls Miller out. Miller comes to the stage and threatens to whip the old piece of junk, earning himself a DDT for two. A neckbreaker gets the same but Miller kicks him in the head and they fight to the back. They brawl with various items and a chair to the head drops Funk. We hear about Funk’s career, with Heenan sounding very respectful of him, as Funk comes back with a trashcan. A bag of popcorn to the head rocks Funk and he gets sent into a steel door.

The door is slammed down onto Funk before Miller lifts it up. Tenay: “If he hadn’t lifted the door, how could Funk have kicked out?” They go outside where Miller spins a rake around and hits him in the face. Smiley and Ralphus t-shert stand is broken up and Funk beats on Ralphus’ car with a chair. Funk breaks that up and throws him into the (open) hood of the trunk. Smiley tries to sell Miller a shirt and gets yelled at, so Smiley chairs him into the trunk, where Funk gets the pin to retain at 5:41.

Rating: C+. This started off lame but then Funk turned into his usual amazing self and got the stupid thing over. WCW’s hardcore stuff was stupid and Bischoff going after Funk and the Hardcore Title wasn’t much better, but sweet goodness Funk could make it work just due to talent, willpower and effort. Far more entertaining than it had any right to be.

Post break, Normal Smiley and Ralphus are arrested for selling bootleg merchandise.

Here is Mike Awesome with a stretcher to announce that he’s facing Diamond Dallas Page in am ambulance match at the Great American Bash. He wants an ambulance match right now though and we have a taker.

Scott Steiner vs. Mike Awesome

Steiner’s US Title isn’t on the line in an ambulance match. Steiner says that he’s not in the Millionaires Club or the New Blood but wants to give Awesome a beating. Awesome gets knocked to the floor to start where he grabs a chair to throw inside. Steiner pulls that out of the air (dang) and throws it back at Awesome. Some suplexes drop Awesome and Steiner gets the Recliner but Goldberg’s music starts playing.

We cut to the back where Tank Abbott imitates Goldberg’s entrance. Steiner stands still and watches the whole thing as Abbott comes into the arena. Cue Rick Steiner to help Abbott beat up Scott, with Awesome getting up to help. Cue the Goldberg monster truck into the arena, with Scott throw Abbott and Rick onto the hood. The truck drives away (no driver is seen) and Awesome jumps into the ambulance, which is enough for Scott to win at 4:54.

Rating: F. When I watch these shows, it starts to make me wonder just how much they spent on this nonsense. Not only did they have two vehicles in the match, but Awesome basically walked out, making the ambulance COMPLETELY unnecessary. I know it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it’s that “oh who cares” mentality that helped kill WCW.

The New Blood continues bickering.

Chris Kanyon is in a halo in his hospital room and has weakness in his extremities. Now he doesn’t want to wrestle anymore because he just wants to walk again. Mike Tenay asks why Kanyon got involved in the cage match at Slamboree, where Mike Awesome threw him off the cage to injure him.

Kanyon keeps mentioning Diamond Dallas Page and Tenay brings up their history, but Page is up walking around while Kanyon is here. It’s true that Page has done a lot for him and he was here with him the night of the injury. Since then, Page is on the road wrestling but he’s calling multiple times a day. He hopes Page survives. Say it with me: then Kanyon turned on Page.

Kronik calls Shane Douglas, who wants to fight him in a three way dance. The New Blood walks out on him.

During a break, Kronik broke into Douglas’ locker room and dragged him to the ring.

Bryan Clark vs. Bryan Adams vs. Shane Douglas

So this is a triple threat instead of a handicap match due to reasons. Kronik double teams him to start and Clark hits the Meltdown (pumphandle powerslam), followed by Adams hitting an F5. Cue the Wall with a table so Douglas can go through it, setting up High Times (double chokeslam) to give Clark the pin at 3:05.

Rating: D-. As much as I enjoy seeing Douglas get beaten down, it makes me wonder why this was a thing that happened. It was another case of the old guys getting to wreck one of the “new” stars (ignore that Douglas had been around since the mid 80s) and make him look worthless. Other than making the Millionaires Club look great, how does this help anyone?

Here is World Champion Ric Flair (for the fifteenth time) and he can’t believe it happened again. Flair puts over Jeff Jarrett as a great wrestler and says he got lucky to win, but that’s what he did. He respects Jarrett, who isn’t the World Champion anymore. Now though, Flair needs to get his personal life in order. His son has been corrupted by Vince Russo, a skinny little Italian kid who grew up in New York. Like everyone else, Russo wanted to be like Bruno Sammartino, the champion of the WWWF (yes he got the extra W in there).

Then Russo’s dad bought him the cable and he saw Ric Flair in Atlanta and that’s what Russo wanted to be. Russo’s dad panicked because a good Catholic boy can’t be like the Nature Boy. Russo had no muscles, girlfriends or long limousines, so he could he be Flair? Now Russo is grown up and the only thing he has is a checkbook. Russo couldn’t control anyone from Flair to Sting to Hulk Hogan but he still wanted to be Flair.

But he’s still just a skinny little boy with no muscles and now Flair is the champ again. Now the title belongs to the old generation again (oh that doesn’t sound as good as WCW thinks it does) and the title is all that matters. Since Russo can’t have Flair, he’s trying to do it through Flair’s son. Cue Jeff Jarrett to interrupt to say he’s sick of hearing this and the brawl is on.

Cue Crowbar and David Flair to jump Flair (with Daffney screaming as only she could) but Arn Anderson runs in with a pipe for the save. Anderson says he’s old school too and last week, Russo opened up a sleeping dog. Anderson wakes up grumpy and he was happy with working backstage, doing whatever he could.

The reality though is he’s a wrestler and when he comes home and sees one of his kids playing with matches, he doesn’t care about women’s groups, because he’ll take off his belt and whip some discipline into his son. David needs to stop listening to that guy from New York City because he’s 0-everything. Anderson holds up the Four Horsemen sign and says it’s time for a Horsemen beating. Sweet goodness that Horsemen song is still amazing.

Other than that though, this was straight fire from Ric, who was doing one of those promos that makes him sound like he’s a cross between insane and the most passionate man in wrestling. That’s one of the reasons he’s a legend, but it brings up the big problem: he’s doing this to deal with Vince Russo. Put him against pretty much anyone else (excluding Jarrett because it just wasn’t going to happen) and this would have been outstanding stuff. As it is, it’s just more proof that Flair could still bring it when he was trying.

Vampiro is in the back with a Sting mask…which he lights on fire.

Here is Sting in the ring to say he’s this close to snapping. Tonight, he’s taking Vampiro out right here in Louisiana. Cue Vampiro to say “Stinger”, which Tenay interprets as “he just called him STEVE”, and ask about Sting not finishing the job in the cage last night. Maybe there is a little bit of Sting that likes Vampiro and wants to be like him. Vampiro challenges Sting to an Inferno match at the Great American Bash, where you have to light your opponent on fire to win. Sting: “You’re psycho man.”

They aren’t doing that match, but Vampiro says sting doesn’t have a choice. Then the ropes, or at least some parts of them, light on fire. Ignore the guy with the blowtorch lighting them on fire on camera of course. Then the fire goes out so Sting stands on the ropes to pose. So Sting is Undertaker and Vampiro is Kane? That’s bad.

Shane Douglas is worried about Bischoff and Russo being mad at them and sends Jeff Jarrett to fix things.

Crowbar/Jeff Jarrett/David Flair vs. Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

Non-title and Ric is in street clothes after Daffney’s screaming music plays by mistake. We cut to the back where Anderson has been beaten down by David and company so here is Jarrett to jump Ric on the stage. Ric fight back and they get inside but here are David and Crowbar to beat Ric down. David Figure Fours Ric but here is Kevin Nash….and Ric small packages Daffney for the win at 1:23.

Post match Ric gets the Figure Four on Daffney and Nash no sells a chair shot from Jarrett. With the villains dispatched, Ric collapses on the ramp, which Flair has said was part of a legitimate inner ear issue and not a storyline.

The New Blood gets on their bus but the Millionaires Club runs in to TURN THE BUS OVER (because that’s a thing) and the Goldberg monster truck charges at the bus to end the show.

Overall Rating: F. WOW. Normally I would say I have no idea where to start, but in this case, it’s somehow all about Bischoff and Russo. The whole point of this show is that the two of them weren’t here and the New Blood was completely massacred by the Millionaires Club all night as a result.

That’s where we are: a group of young, talented wrestlers got beaten up by the old (and also talented) wrestlers because Bischoff and Russo weren’t there to save them. Meanwhile, the Rock, HHH, Benoit, Jericho, Angle, the Hardys, the Dudleys, Edge and Christian and more were tearing it up on Raw and Smackdown. It’s a miracle WCW lasted as long as they did. Flair’s promo was awesome, but as usual that’s not enough to save this mess.

Oddly enough, for some reason I remembered a lot about this show, which I’ve only seen once since it originally aired. I remember Luger saying “great set man” to Palumbo in the gym, the Hogan kiss and the bus being overturned. I’m not sure what that says, but there are memorable points even in this kind of a wretched show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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TripleMania XXV
Date: August 26, 2017
Location: Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Commentators: Kevin Gill, Gabe Ramirez

This is of course AAA’s biggest show of the year and heck if I know why someone requested it. Granted it might have been more than a few years ago that someone wanted me to look at it so there is probably something big that stuck out. I have no idea what is going on here but these shows have been hit or miss to say the least. Let’s get to it.

Keep in mind that I don’t follow the promotion so I have no idea what is going on with characters, backstories etc.

A bunch of men, I believe the broadcast team, is introduced.

The ring announcer (one of the four) introduces a bunch of people in costumes. I’m guessing these are sponsor mascots or something? Wrestlers are with them and handing out things to the fans so they’re certainly supposed to be good.

We get some English commentary from Twitch, which confirms that we are still on the preshow here and yes those are sponsor mascots.

La Parka, Faby Apache and Vampiro seem to be judging the first match. Ignore the arena being mostly empty, with almost no noise whatsoever for an almost eerie feeling.

Pre-show: Llave de Gloria: Dragon Solar/Pardux/Solaris/Ashley vs. Hahastary/Bronco Gonzalez/Chicano/Fetiche

This seems to be the finals of some kind of tournament as independent wrestlers are fighting for a contact. It’s a brawl to start with Ashley’s dive being left short on the floor. She’s fine enough to get back in and hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on…someone commentary doesn’t feel the need to identify (which makes me think they don’t know who is who here). Instead they give a basic explanation of rudos vs. technicos as everyone gets in a shot to just about everyone else. Even commentary points out that there is one winner to the whole thing so the team aspect is pretty much worthless.

Ashley dropkicks Chicano (thank goodness for names on the back of gear) down but Chicano elbows her in the face. Solaris comes in for a save with a hurricanrana but gets dropkicked out of the air. Everything breaks down the Chicano team takes Ashley down, including a slingshot powerbomb.

Solar gets in some hurricanranas for a breather and it’s Ashley coming back in to pick up the pace. Solaris and Pardux come in with stereo missile dropkicks and Ashley hits a big dive onto most of her opponents. Fetiche is backdropped onto a pile of people on the floor, followed by a corkscrew dive from Solaris. Back in and Solar rolls up Gonzalez for the pin at 6:40.

Rating: C. This was a VERY weird one as they didn’t bother trying to do anything more than have a big exhibition of spots. Ashley stood out a bit more than anyone else but commentary clearly had NO idea what was going on here or who was who. That makes things all the more confusing, and I spent most of the match trying to figure out their names. Granted there wasn’t anything more here than having a bunch of people trying to get noticed, which only worked well enough.

Pre-Show: Llave de Gloria: Angel Mortal Jr./Tiger Boy/Villano III Jr. vs. Angelikal/The Tigger/El Hijo del Vikingo

Same idea as the first match but three on three and thankfully there are a lot more fans in the building for the entrances. For some reason we start with music in the background as Tigger and Villano get things going (commentary seems a lot more familiar with this batch). They flip around to start and neither can get anything more than a fast one, as you might have expected.

Angelikal comes in to hurricanrana Mortal as the pace stays fast. Angelikal clears the ring by himself before being pulled outside, allowing Vikingo to come in. Vikingo climbs the rope for an anklescissors out of the corner to Tiger. Mortal comes in and launches Vikingo into a hurricanrana to tiger on the floor.

Back in and Villano and company start taking over on Tiger’s arm. A double electric chair missile dropkick hits Angelikal and a springboard Codebreaker into a wheelbarrow suplex gets two. Angelikal is right back up with a hurricanrana, leaving Vikingo and Tigger to hit running flip dives to the floor. Back in and Tigger and company hit a 450/moonsault/shooting star press for the triple pin at 7:33.

Rating: C+. Much like the opener, this was a bunch of people trying to get in as much as they could to showcase themselves. Unlike the opener, this one didn’t have as many people around and it made things that much easier to follow. If nothing else, commentary knowing who they were watching helped just as much. Do this alone instead of both matches and it’s a much better pre-show.

The ring announcer (as translated by Ramirez) welcomes us to the show and pitches the official program. The Spanish broadcast team is introduced (the matching ties are nice) and so is the president of the company.

The National Anthem is played, with a live military band.

The announcer hypes up the crowd about the main event.

The opening video (with the camera just pointed at the screen) looks at TripleManias past, set to Dream On by Aerosmith.

We get some banners of various deceased legends, including company founder Antonio Pena (whose wife, the president, is holding his urn, because that’s not at least a little creepy).

Hernandez/La Hiedra/Mamba/Mini Psycho Clown vs. Big Mami/Dinastia/Estrella Divina/Mascara de Bronce

This is an Atomicos match, which I believe means a man, a woman, an exotico (man dressed as a woman) and a mini. Bronce starts with Clown (not that much shorter) and sends him outside for a good looking step up flip dive. Mami comes in but gets dropped by Hernandez, only to come back with a kiss. Everything breaks down fast and Bronce breaks up Hernandez’s slam attempt on Mami (and he was struggling).

Clown sends Bronce outside for a bit flip dive, followed by a springboard corkscrew dive from Dinastia. Hernandez cuts off Bronce’s dive and powerbombs him onto the pile, followed by Hernandez hitting his own huge dive. Mami dives off the middle rope to crush everyone and it’s time to head back inside. Hernandez and Bronce fight to the back and Clown rolls Dinastia up for two. Dinastia’s standing moonsault gets two, with Mamba making the save. Hiedra gets in a chair shot to Mami though and Mamba steals the pin at 6:56.

Rating: C. This was all over the place and in this case, that’s exactly the point. These things are designed to be pure chaos with everyone going all over the place and it went well enough. The dives were impressive and the fans were into a lot of it, making it a rather fun opener. Just maybe don’t have the villains win to kick off the show?

The ring announcer again polls the fans about the main event.

Reina de Reinas Title: Lady Shani vs. Ayako Hamada vs. Rosemary vs. Sexy Star

Star is defending and this is one fall to a finish. Of note, Rosemary is from Global Force Wrestling, because that was a thing at this point. Rosemary suplexes Star to the floor to start but Shani and Hamada take Rosemary down. Back up and Rosemary slugs away but Star is right back for some shots to everyone. Hamada grabs a chair and takes out Star, only to have Shani kick the chair into Hamada’s face.

Now it’s a trashcan being thrown…well in the vicinity of the ring, as Hamada doesn’t clear the top rope in a bit of an embarrassing miss. Rosemary grabs a full nelson with her legs on Shani and Hamada cranks on one of Shani’s legs for a tap….but that doesn’t count because it’s a double submission so we keep going (I’ve always thought that should be an elimination or something, as it’s hard to fathom tapping to two people not having some kind of consequence.).

Shani is put in a chair and has a trashcan put on top of her but topples over due to unconsciousness. Star comes back in and gets WHACKED with a trashcan lid. She’s fine enough to powerbomb Hamada out of the corner for two, with Rosemary having to make the save. Shani is back up with some kicks to Rosemary, who pulls her into something of a Last Chancery. That’s broken up by Star, who gets Stunnered by Rosemary. Star is able to Iconoclasm Rosemary off the top and grabs a cross armbreaker to retain at 9:57. She takes her sweet time letting go too.

Rating: C-. It was pretty much just a bunch of weapons stuff while commentary praised Sexy Star as being this huge deal. As for the match, there was little to no flow or story to it other than Star making a comeback at the end. Rosemary and Hamada are capable of more and I’ve seen Star be ok. Shani was billed as a hardcore specialist and that was only kind of on display here. It wasn’t horrible, but the ending was out of nowhere and it felt like they were told “go do stuff and then finish it now”.

Oh and one more thing: the armbreaker that Star used on Rosemary wound up being a shoot, legitimately injuring Rosemary and more or less banishing Star to the indies for the rest of her career. Pretty much, no one of note was going to put up with her attacking a wrestler for no valid reason and that was it. The title would be vacated a few weeks later as Star was done with AAA. If a wrestler legitimately attacks someone else in the ring without just cause, I’m not sure what kind of a future they would be expecting to have.

With THAT out of the way, Martha Villalobos, a legend and former champion, comes out to present Star with the belt in a moment I’m sure AAA won’t want to have back immediately.

The ring announcer shills the program.

Vampiro and someone who seems to be a sponsor are here to announce the winners of the Llaves a la Gloria. Third place is Ashley, second is El Hijo del Vikingo and the winner is….Angelikal. As a bonus, Vampiro has the rest of the contestants get inside, where they are told they will be the first group of students at the new AAA school.

Tag Team Titles: Andrew Everett/DJZ vs. Monster Clown/Murder Clown vs. Aerostar/Drago vs. Dark Cuervo/Dark Scoria

Cuervo/Scoria are defending and this is one fall to a finish. The Clowns whip out a belt to start the whipping but Aerostar and Drago take over on DJZ. An assisted tornado DDT gets two on Everett but the champs are back in to double clothesline Drago. Back in and the Clowns get to clean the ring save for Aerostar, who gets whipped with the belt. Aerostar fights back and sends the Clowns outside for the suicide dive.

Cuervo and Scoria hit dives of their own, followed by the rather large Murder Clown hitting his own big flip dive. Back in and Murder Clown gets caught on top with a Tower Of Doom. Aerostar is raised up the lighting grid and then asks to go even higher. We get some near falls but keep cutting up to Aerostar as they keep going up. He finally hits the dive to clear out the pile and three wrestlers run in for a beatdown.

Commentary doesn’t know who they are and they’re ejected just as fast (Apparently they’re El Poder del Norte, a heel stable. Thanks review from someone else, because commentary is rather worthless on this show.). The champs fight back but a third Clown (he has purple hair) comes in to help take them out. Cuervo and Scoria fight back, only to have Marty Martinez (from Lucha Underground) run in and help the Clowns as well. A top rope splash gives Murder the double pin on the champs for the titles at 13:28.

Rating: D+. The huge dive was impressive looking and there were some cool spots, but this was another match where it felt like they weren’t really doing much of anything until the ending when everything went nuts. The Clowns felt like the bigger deal but the whole match felt like a bunch of teams thrown out there for the sake of having a Tag Team Title match. Well that and so Aerostar could do a crazy dive because he seems to be a little nuts.

Post match the Clowns keep up the beating and Marty leaves with the purple haired clown.

We get a speech from the President of the company (the widow of founder Antonio Pena), who talks about wrestlers who have passed away during the TripleMania years.

We get a video on the wrestlers who have passed away. Nothing wrong with something like that.

BUY MERCHANDISE!

Torneo TripleMania XXV

So from what I can tell this is a ten trios (30 people) battle royal with lumberjacks. It also seems that there are teams from different eras to give it a bit of a theme. We’re also doing staggered entrances ala the Royal Rumble (90 second intervals), so it’s Team Ex-AAA (Heavy Metal/Pirata Morgan/Villano IV) in at #1 and Relevos Incredibles (Australian Suicide/Faby Apache/Pimpinela Escarlata) in at #2 to start. It’s a brawl to start as the lumberjacks (with straps) get into it on the floor.

Los OGT’s (Averno/Chessman/Super Fly) are in at #3 and a lot of stomping/near eliminations ensue. Granted I’m not completely sure who is almost out as, again, commentary seems to have no idea who is who, but why let that stop you? Los Vipers (Histeria/Maniaco/Psicosis), who even I’ve heard of, are in at #4 and Psicosis has a huge snake around his neck. The Vipers start cleaning house as I don’t believe anyone has been eliminated yet. Los Guapos (Decnis/Scorpio Jr./Zumbido) are in at #5 as this is rather hard to keep track of, a statement commentary makes as well.

A high crossbody completely misses for I believe Histeria and Los Perros del Mal (Halloween/Joe Lider/Mr. Aguila) are in at #6. We get some rapid fire pinfalls (no names mentioned and no word on if those individuals or their teams are out) and the Mexican Powers (Crazy Boy/Lanzelot/Nina Hamburguesa) are in at #7. They get to clean house for a bit, including the nearly 400lb Nino coming off the top with a missed Swanton, until La Parka y sus Amigos (La Parka/Argenis/Bengala) are in at #8.

As they come to the ring, everyone gets on Nino for the pin, followed by Los Vipers getting to clean some house. Los Leyendas (Blue Demon Jr./El Cobrade/El Intocable, the Legends) are in at #9 and get to clean more house. Team GFW (Moose/Bobby Lashley/Jeff Jarrett) are in at #10 to complete the field….or at least they should be, as it’s just Lashley on his own.

Lashley gets to wreck some people on the grounds of he’s Bobby Lashley, but the clock starts counting down again. Commentary is confused (it’s not that hard) and it gets even worse when no one comes out. Moose comes out on his own and just kind of stands around awkwardly, which isn’t his style.

Jarrett finally comes out and…..yeah there’s no way around it: Jarrett was very out of it (quite possibly drunk) at this show, to the point where he can barely get down the steps to the ring. To his credit, he would take time away from the ring shortly after this (and at least one other incident) and reportedly got clean, so good for him for dealing with his problems. As for tonight though, Jarrett takes FOREVER to get to the ring, as he is throwing tortillas to the crowd, which isn’t going well whatsoever. For some reason Moose and Lashley are fighting each other on the floor as Jarrett gets inside. Jarrett punches a bunch of people and kicks Parka low, leaving him the only one standing.

Parka finally gets up and slugs it out with Jarrett as we actually have something resembling a match for a second. A DDT plants Jarrett for the pin (POP) and we pause for Parka’s music, even though the match isn’t over. Commentary isn’t sure what is going on (shocking) as Jarrett is yelling at fans. The rest of the OGT’s clear house and go for Parka’s mask….until Chessman shoves Super Fly (his partner) off the top and out. So we’re down to Chessman, Averno and Parka, but Averno hits Chessman (again, his partner) low for a pin. Then Parka small packages Averno for the final pin (thank goodness) at 26:41.

Rating: F. I spent the better part of half an hour watching this and I have no idea what was going on. The problem is that commentary didn’t seem to either, to the point where there might have been five names mentioned here, with most of them being Team GFW. I’m sure this was about getting Parka a moment and having a bunch of names in there, but it’s a case where if you aren’t already a fan, this isn’t going to make things better. The fact that the only reason I knew most of the names was the show’s Wikipedia didn’t help, but it isn’t like there was commentary or a graphic to tell me who was involved.

On top of that, it was a terrible battle royal, where the rules weren’t clear, some people (Lashley/Moose) just left, I had no idea who was eliminated (or how to eliminate someone for that matter) and nothing was clear in the slightest. You can do something like this with the Gimmick Battle Royal, but that was about four minutes, not almost twenty seven (longest of the show so far). Absolutely horrible here and one of the worst matches I’ve seen in a very long time for more reasons that I can count (ok I can count them but I don’t want to waste any more time on this mess).

Post match La Parka, Bengala and Argenis get a belt, with Parka getting all of the glory.

El Mesias vs. Pagano

Street fight and they start in the aisle (as commentary didn’t seem to think this match was scheduled next) with Mesias knocking him into the ring. Pagano scores with a spinwheel kick, as commentary is surprised he included a wrestling move. A springboard bulldog drops Mesias again but he’s back with a shot to the face. Back up and Pagano knocks him into the corner, only to get sent outside.

Mesias gets in some chair shots as we get at least the third arena wide shot of the match (about five minutes in). The beating goes around the ring, with Mesias sending him into a trashcan. They go up the aisle with Mesias getting a suplex but having a beer thrown into his face. Back to the ring they go, with some barbed wire being brought in because of course it is. Pagano gets the better of a slugout and runs him over, setting up a Russian legsweep.

Mesias is knocked outside so Pagano hits a running flip dive, followed by a hanging piledriver back inside. And now the barbed wire, which Pagano puts in front of his chest on a missed moonsault. Pagano is back with a Regal Roll into a Lionsault, which has commentary questioning the impact of the barbed wire. Mesias is knocked outside for an apron dropkick as things slow down.

They get back inside with Mesias whipping out a barbed wire bat, which is kicked away. The fans are rather displeased as Mesias hits a faceplant onto the bat. Back up and Pagano gets in a bat shot to Mesias’ knee….which is enough to warrant a referee stoppage at 16:40, because I guess just covering Mesias was out of the question?

Rating: D. This was slow, plodding, didn’t get overly violent until near the ending and then had a dumb finish on top of that. If Mesias is hurt then it’s understandable, but it was his leg. Have Pagano cover him for a fast pin instead of just stopping everything cold in a street fight. Other than that, this just wasn’t good and both guys appeared to be moving in slow motion for a lot of it. If you want this to be some violent match then go there rather than do something this lame.

Post match Rey Escorpion, in street clothes, comes in to deck Pagano and then go after Mesias, who is on a stretcher.

AAA World Title/AAA Latin American Title/AAA Cruiserweight Title: Johnny Mundo vs. El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Texano Jr.

Mundo (John Morrison/etc) is defending, comes out to Born In The USA, and this is a ladder match. Fantasma would go on to become known as Santos Escobar while Texano would go on to continue to be known as Texano Jr. The challengers chop it out to start and Mundo gets knocked down for trying to bring in some weapons. Texano grabs a chair to blast Fantasma and starts ripping at the mask, allowing Mundo to add a top rope elbow.

Mundo dropkicks a ladder into Texano and superkicks Fantasma for a bonus. A pair of tables are set up at ringside but everyone realizes that there are belts to grab and go for the ladder. Texano clears the ring, leaving Fantasma to load a table against the barricade. Mundo dropkicks Texano off the top but gets knocked off a ladder (which was nowhere near high enough anyway as the belts are WAY up there). Fantasma hits his great dive into Texano into (but not through) the leaning table.

Texano is back up and sends Fantasma through the table, followed by a Swanton onto Fantasma onto the broken table. With Fantasma VERY busted open, Mundo goes up but gets pulled down by Texano. Mundo bridges a ladder on the middle rope but takes too long posing, allowing Fantasma to dropkick him down. Fantasma drops Texano onto the bridged ladder, seemingly busting him open too.

The ladder is set in the middle as the belts come down a bit. Mundo’s climb takes too long as well and Texano shoves the ladder over, sending Mundo down and onto (not through) a table at ringside. Fantasma dives over a ladder bridged into a standing one to forearm Texano, only to get knocked into the ladder. More tables are set up in the ring, with Fantasma backdropping Texano onto the bridged ladder for a nasty crash.

Cue Kevin Kross (Karrion Kross, Mundo’s lackey) to make the save but Mascara de Bronce comes out to stop Kross, who was climbing for some reason. Now it’s Hernandez (another Mundo lackey, or stooge as commentary puts it) to get knocked outside as well, leaving Bronce to hit a heck of a springboard moonsault to take him down.

Kross chokeslams Bronce onto the apron but Fantasma takes him down. Mundo ladders Fantasma in the face but all three wind up climbing. Fantasma knocks Texano down for a big crash, leaving Mundo to get in a low blow to drop Fantasma as well. All three belts are pulled down and Mundo retains at 22:49.

Rating: B. It wasn’t a classic or anything but for a triple threat ladder match with a bunch of interference, this could have been a lot worse. Mundo feels like a star and has the gold to prove it while the other two felt like they had him multiple times, only to come up short. Maybe it was everything else being so bad/horrible, but I had a good time with this one as Mundo feels like a much bigger deal here than in WWE.

Post match Mundo brags about his win and calls out…Vampiro. Mundo throws down the title and here is Vampiro to interrupt. Vampiro won’t look at him, as Mundo demands that Vampiro put the belt on him. Mundo yells at him, spits at him and shoves him, which is finally enough for Vampiro to grab a chokeslam. With Mundo on the floor, Vampiro threatens violence before leaving as well.

With everyone else gone, Fantasma and Texano trade chair shots to the head and both are left laying. Well that was cringe inducing.

Video on Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Psycho Clown, both of whom have been training rather hard. They don’t seem to like each other.

Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Psycho Clown

Mask vs. Mask and this is billed as the biggest lucha match of the decade. Hold on though as a woman has to sing the National Anthem before we’re ready to go. We’re ready to go and Clown misses a dropkick, allowing Wagner to clothesline away as commentary isn’t sure how many falls this is (it’s one). Wagner chokes away in the corner before they go outside, with the brawl heading into the crowd.

Back in and Psycho hits a spinwheel kick as the fans aren’t sure who they like here. Wagner ties him up on the mat but Psycho is right next to the ropes. We get the expected mask ripping before Wagner hits him in the head with the chair. Psycho is busted open so Wagner enjoys some of it on his hand. There’s another chair shot to knock Clown even sillier, as commentary wonders what happens if you rip off a mask in a mask vs. mask match.

They head outside with Wagner slowly beating on Psycho, who can barely stagger away. Clown gets knocked up and back down the apron but manages to make a comeback with some clotheslines back inside. Clown knocks him outside and hits the dive but the running flip dive only hits mat (instead of Wagner’s son, who is ringside as well). Back in and Clown rips at Wagner’s mask for a change before whacking him in the face with a chair.

A hanging DDT gets Wagner out of trouble for two. Clown gets a quick rollup for two, with commentary pointing out how slow the referee has been to get into position (Jesse Ventura would not approve). Wagner knocks him outside and hits the big flipping dive, setting up a Samoan drop into the fans.

Back in and a top rope superplex gives Wagner two, followed by Clown’s Samoan drop getting the same. Wagner shrugs off a kick to the face though and hits the Wagner (Michinoku) Driver for two more. Another Wagner Driver gets another near fall and the fans are rather interested. Clown grabs a superplex of his own into a Backstabber and a Code Red gives him the pin at 28:40.

Rating: B+. What mattered here is it felt like a struggle as these two did not want to lose everything. It made the match feel that much more important and I don’t think anything else could have come close to headlining. Clown is someone who has felt like a star every time I’ve seen him, but Wagner has always felt like a legend. The ending felt like a very big deal and that is how you want your main event to go. The action was more than good enough, but the atmosphere made it feel that much bigger.

We get the big ceremony of the unmasking, but first Wagner has to announce his real name (Juan Manuel Gonzalez Barron) and hometown (Torreon). He praises Clown and talks about being a legend, before unmasking and thanking Clown. There are kids crying in the crowd as Wagner huddles with his family. As Wagner and company leave, Clown stops him to say it was an honor and praise Wagner. Clown celebrates and we get a highlight package of the main event to end the show.

There really isn’t a translation to this kind of thing in America, but egads it comes off like the biggest deal in the world in a situation like this. Wagner is a legend and now everything about him has changed because of one match. That’s a pretty major deal and they treated it as such with the post match time.

Overall Rating: D+. The last two matches are very good and they bring the show up about as high as it can go. The problem is that everything before that was an absolute disaster with one of the weakest stretches I’ve ever seen as there wasn’t a good match to be seen in the first two or so hours of the show show. I’m not sure what went wrong, but if this show didn’t have the two main events, this could have been an all time disaster. As it is, it’s WAY too long and not good, but at least it could have been worse (barely).

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IMG Credit: WWE

Wrestling Society X
Date: January 30, 2006
Location: WSX Bunker, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Bret Ernst, Kris Kloss

Thanks a lot people. This is what I get for agreeing to do almost any show ever. Wrestling Society X was a short lived (as in ten half hour episodes) concept of an underground wrestling organization that wrestled in a bunker (kind of a forerunner to Lucha Underground) but also tied in musical acts. The gimmicks were insane to the point where the show was taken off the air for being too insane. This is a one off as I have no desire to ever do more than a single episode. Let’s get to it.

The announcers welcome us to the show and hype up the WSX Rumble for the right to fight of the WSX Title next week.

Matt Sydal vs. Jack Evans

Yeah you see some big names in here. The ring announcer is one of those guys who feels the need to shout EVERY SINGLE WORD. Sydal has Lizzy Valentine (an indy wrestler) in his corner. Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde is on commentary to tie into the music concept. Sydal kicks him away to start as the announcers explain how wrestling works. Wylde panics over the idea of someone being sent to the floor and a big flip dive drops Evans again.

We get the required discussion of how hot Lizzie is and Sydal kicks him in the face for two. A Gory Stretch with Sydal leaning Evans down and pulling on his head for good measure looks rather impressive but Jack slips out and kicks him down. The cartwheel into a flip dive drops Sydal again so Sydal comes back with a pumphandle driver (inverted powerbomb according tot he annoying announcers) for two. Lizzy grabs the foot and gets dragged inside, allowing Evans to hit a tornado DDT into the 630 for the pin at 3:21.

Rating: C. Nice high flying match here (typical indy style but not bad) but the commentary was rather annoying. Wylde was losing it for every move and didn’t exactly come off as anything but a guy watching wrestling for the first time. If you don’t hype up what he does, what’s the point in tying him in to a wrestling show? But yeah, Sydal looked good here, as you would expect.

Video on some tag teams coming to WSX:

Doin It For Her (Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black, the latter of whom is better known as Seth Rollins)

Trailer Park Boyz (Nate Webb and Josh Evans)

And that’s it. Ok then.

Justin Credible is ready to have his night.

New Jack promises to beat Hamrick up.

Teddy Hart is the past, present and future of wrestling.

Kaos (nobody) and Aguliera are focused.

We go over the rules for the Rumble, which has 45 second intervals, over the top eliminations, and tables, live electrical wires and an EXPLODING STEEL CAGE at ringside. Oh and despite there being over the top rope eliminations, you have to pull down contracts above the ring to win, with the two winners facing off for the title next week.

Ring announcers: “AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLEEEEEEETY DIFFERENT!”

WSX Rumble

Justin Credible is in at #1 (of ten) and Teddy Hart is in at #2. Hart throws a bottle at him and scores with a dropkick to start. That earns him a superkick and a crotch chop as the announcers hype up the explosives. A springboard moonsault takes Credible down and it’s Kaos in at #3. Hart and Credible double team him, which Wylde doesn’t understand. A shooting star press/backbreaker combination drops Kaos again and here’s Vampiro (billed as a WCW Champion, which is true but misleading as he was a one time Tag Team Champion) in at #4 to clean house.

Back from a break with Puma (the future TJP) having come in at #5 and been eliminated almost immediately, plus Alkatrazz in at #6. That goes nowhere so 6-Pac (X-Pac of course) is in at #7. X-Factors abound as Sydal calls 6-Pac a gentleman and it’s Hamrick (a southern guy) is in at #8, wearing street clothes because New Jack is chasing him around. New Jack comes in (I believe at #9 but he might just be here) and knocks Hamrick through a table for the elimination.

New Jack is eliminated for some reason so he comes back in with the guitar and breaks it over the referee’s head, freaking Wylde out even more. Vampiro powerslams Kaos as New Jack beats Hamrick up a bit more. Cue Luke Hawx to suplex Kaos into the wire for an elimination, right before New Jack dives onto Hamrick to put him through a table. Youth Suicide completes the field at #10 in his first professional match. Hart is tossed out and we have ladders now, though I’m not sure if eliminations are still a possibility.

We’re down to Credible, Vampiro, 6-Pac and Youth Suicide as Alkatrazz was eliminated somewhere around the explosion. Suicide goes up but gets powerbombed onto some tacks so 6-Pac gets the first contract. Wylde goes to ringside as Suicide goes up, only to have Credible shove him into the exploding cage. Credible and Vampiro go up with Vampiro winning a really lame slugout and pulling down the other contract for the win at 12:17.

Rating: F. WOW. I actually sat there for a second with my jaw hanging open at how horrible this was. This was the same nonsense where someone looked at ECW without realizing what made it work (as much as it did work) in the first place and thinking they could do any of this stuff. Just complete garbage here going for shock value instead of any kind of skill, which isn’t exactly surprising given the concept of the show.

The show is off the air less than three seconds after the match ends.

Overall Rating: F. This show ran 19:18 and I feel like I’ve wasted that much of my time. The opener was watchable at best but this was terrible overall, with the “names” not exactly putting in effort and a main event concept there for shock value rather than anything worthwhile. It’s not surprising that the show got canceled so fast and that’s best for everyone. There is talent on the roster, but everything else is such a mess that it doesn’t matter whatsoever. This wasn’t wrestling, at least for the most part.

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Lucha Underground
Date: November 30, 2016
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

It’s time to get back to focusing on one of the more interesting members of the roster as tonight we’re looking at Pentagon Dark. Black Lotus and her tribe are going after Pentagon so maybe we can get a bit more clarification on what’s going on with their story. One of the problems with Lucha Underground is they have so much going on that it’s hard to keep track of the individual stories. Let’s get to it.

We open with a much needed recap of Black Lotus vs. Pentagon Dark. This includes Pentagon breaking Dragon Azteca Jr.’s arm and Lotus sending her cronies to eliminate Pentagon from Aztec Warfare.

Vampiro and Pentagon run into each other in the back, meaning it’s time for flashbacks. Pentagon is threatened and doesn’t seem pleased.

The announcers open us up but Vampiro doesn’t have anything to say.

Pentagon Dark vs. Black Lotus/Black Lotus Tribe

Gauntlet match with Pentagon vs. all four in turn. First up is Doku, who walks to the ring with her arms folded for an odd look. Doku fires off some chops in the corner and a hard kick to the ribs, only to get dropkicked across the ring. Pentagon starts getting more serious so the kicks and chops get even harder. Well at least louder, with one sending Doku out to the floor.

A gorilla press toss sends Doku face first onto the apron and a sick kick to the thigh has her in even more trouble. Back in and Doku scores with a good looking spear followed by a top rope elbow. She tries it again though but Pentagon is waiting on her and breaks the arm for the win at 6:12.

Before we get back to the match, we see Catrina coming up to Jeremiah Crane in the back and taunting him about Ivelisse. It seems that they have a past and Catrina thinks he’s not over her.

Back in the arena, Pentagon promises to break Lotus’ arm as he waits for the next member of the tribe. That would be Yurei, who again is named for the first time here. The match (which is treated as an individual match instead of part two) starts fast with Yurei sending him outside for a big dive. They’re certainly giving the women some solid offense here.

Pentagon is sent into the chairs and hit in the head with a metal sign. Back in and Pentagon starts wrenching on the knee but Yurei comes back with a hurricanrana. A tornado DDT looks to set up something out of the corner, only to have her dive into the package piledriver. One more broken arm later and Yurei is done at 7:22 (13:34 total, not counting breaks between falls).

Before the third fall, Matanza is working out when Dario comes in. Next week Matanza will get his rematch for the title but the monster wants Mysterio.

The third entrant is Hitokiri, which translates to Assassin. A dropkick sends Pentagon outside and a big moonsault press has Pentagon in even more trouble. Hitokiri starts banging away with a chair and Pentagon is in trouble. Vampiro is getting turned on by the violence and Pentagon is thrown through some chairs. Again. Pentagon is slammed onto the exposed concrete and you can see his body being broken down.

One heck of a kick to the ribs slows Hitokiri down and now it’s her turn to go through the chairs. Her body being in a broken heap is quite the visual. An AA onto the concrete has Hitokiri reeling but she sends him into the post. That’s enough time for her to go up to the top of Dario’s office for the HUGE dive (the first woman to do so) and both are down. Back in and the Package Piledriver is countered into a standing Canadian Destroyer for the pin at 11:55 (25:29 total).

Actually we’re not done as Black Lotus gets to face the broken Pentagon as well. Lotus kicks the referee down and the entire tribe surrounds Pentagon. Things get even more personal as Lotus breaks Pentagon’s arm, bringing a smiling Vampiro to his feet. Cue Dragon Azteca Jr., who the women leave alone to break Pentagon’s other arm. No match with Lotus and I won’t add any time because the bell never rang.

Rating: B. I liked the match but I still don’t have much of a connection to this story. It’s such a complicated and at times intense story but the other problem is it rarely gets any attention. This is the story that’s been going on in the background instead of getting the main focus. That doesn’t make it bad but at least it’s an entertaining match, especially with the Tribe breaking Pentagon down and making him fight until he just couldn’t do it anymore.

Prince Puma wakes up in his coffin and Vampiro is waiting on him. Vampiro: “Come with me.”

Overall Rating: B. These one match shows are fun but you don’t want to do two of them in three weeks. I need a little more variety than this to really get into things, especially with how many stories are going around in this promotion. I’m also not sure where they’re going with Pentagon, who is one of the most over acts in Lucha Underground but is just kind of there on the side while everything else goes on.

Here’s my main issue with this season: what is the big story? You have Dario being evil and serving his master (whoever that is), Pentagon vs. Black Lotus vs. Dragon Azteca Jr., the cops running around, Matanza vs. Mysterio and the title picture but none of those feel like a bigger story than the rest of them, which is a problem. Still though, good show this week as the season is starting to get back on track.

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Lucha Underground
Date: October 26, 2016
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

The countdown to Aztec Warfare is on and that means things are about to pick up around here. The problem with this season so far has been the lack of any meaningful story but the entire roster contending for the title in one match should get us somewhere. If nothing else it would be nice to see something other than one random challenger a week. Let’s get to it.

This week’s opening recap looks at Texano vs. Cage, Johnny Mundo getting a Gift of the Gods Title shot and Ivelisse’s boyfriend Jeremiah. These things are a great refresher and a solid preview of things to come tonight.

Sexy Star comes into Dario Cueto’s office and demands her Lucha Underground Title shot next week. Dario admires her huevos but says she has to defend the Gift of the Gods Title against Johnny Mundo tonight. If Aerostar, Fenix or Drago interfere, they’re banned from the Temple forever.

Marty Martinez vs. Ivelisse

Marty smiles as Ivelisse forearms him in the face and a middle rope crossbody is turned into a powerslam. As the beating goes on, Vampiro says Marty weighs 300lbs. I know wrestling weights are gimmicked but that sounds insane. Mariposa gets in a few bites (thereby freaking Melissa Santos out) and Marty elbows Ivelisse in the face. A few strikes stagger Marty but Ivelisse’s guillotine choke actually brings him down. Well at least a little down until he knocks her silly with a spinebuster. A full nelson slam puts Ivelisse away at 4:20.

Rating: D+. Lucha Underground is normally pretty good with their intergender matches but in this case it was Marty destroying one of the best women in the promotion. Ivelisse never had a chance here and Marty, who isn’t much of a star in his own right, basically squashed her. What happened here?

Post match Jeremiah comes in and cleans house until it turns into a brawl, likely setting up a tag match. Jeremiah seems to apologize to Ivelisse for interfering but she’s not pleased.

The Rabbit Tribe, including Paul London, is coming soon.

Jeremiah is still apologizing and suggests he join the Temple. The idea of them fighting together seems to appeal to Ivelisse.

And now, let’s make things interesting. We go to the inside of Councilman Delgado’s limo when Dario gets in. Dario says someone’s ascension is complete (they might be talking about their boss but it’s not clear) and Delgado talks about needing a host body. It seems that the series between Texano and Cage will be for the right to be the host so Delgado hands Dario a box…..which I assume contains a soul? Now THIS is Lucha Underground!

Texano vs. Cage

This is match #3 in a best of five series with Cage up 2-0. Texano goes right after him (because he’s desperate) and a clothesline sends Cage outside. A whip into the eternally empty wooden chairs makes things even worse for Cage so he throws Texano right back. Texano pops back up as well and sunset bombs Cage over the top and back onto the floor.

Back in and the no selling continues with Cage throwing him down in a fall away slam. A top rope superplex puts both guys down in a heap and Cage is the first to cover for two. Cage’s pumphandle faceplant gets the same so Texano hits a middle rope leg lariat for his own near fall. This is a bunch of trading spots and that’s all it should be. A buckle bomb sets up an F5 on Texano and the kickout frustrates Cage even more. With Cage at his wits’ end, Texano grabs a small package for the pin at 7:45.

Rating: C+. I’m a big fan of that ending as they were beating the heck out of each other until one guy puts the brakes on and goes in a completely opposite direction for the pin. It’s good psychology and works almost every time. I’m sure we’ll see these two fight again but it’s nice to keep them from fighting on every single show. In other words, this isn’t Cesaro vs. Sheamus.

Dario is looking in the box (What could that possibly look like?) when Rey Mysterio comes in. Rey wants to face Chavo Guerrero in a Loser Leaves the Temple match. Dario agrees and says you have to put a dog down for its own good. Now anyone other than a wrestling face would see that something is up with a statement like that but Rey is cursed with being an idiot.

Gift of the Gods Title: Johnny Mundo vs. Sexy Star

Star is defending. It’s a change of pace this time as Star tries to stay away to start, only to get taken down into an amateur wrestling contest. This goes badly for the champ and Johnny kicking at the legs make it even worse. A botched looking neckbreaker puts Sexy down again and a running knee to the face gets two.

Johnny goes Backlund with a crossface chickenwing before putting Star on the top rope and elbowing her in the face. You don’t see that very often but it’s happened twice on this one show. Johnny tries a moonsault but lands on raised feet to FINALLY (ok they’re four minutes into the match) give Star an opening. Star goes with some weak looking right hands to the face and a failed monkey flip because YOU CAN’T MONKEY FLIP JOHNNY MUNDO! Yeah doesn’t have quite the same ring.

Mundo spears the referee by mistake and of course Star chokes Johnny out a few seconds later. Cue the Worldwide Underground to lift Star up so Johnny can charge at her, sending her flipping over and down to the mat (Chikara’s BDK used it as their finisher, Ragnarok). Another referee comes in as the Underground leaves (So he was watching the match to see the ref bump but not the interference?) to count two, meaning Johnny knocks him out too.

The Underground wraps a chair around Star’s neck but before they can Pillmanize her, it’s the Mack running in with a bunch of Stunners. Star chairs Mundo in the head for two and I can hear Vince Russo’s laughter in my head. Johnny misses the split legged moonsault but pulls out a pair of brass knuckles to knock Star out for the pin and the title at 11:43.

Rating: D. I know this is a promotion where the suspension of disbelief has to be stretched but the idea that the referees didn’t catch on to ANY of that cheating is too much for me to take. This was Sexy Star vs. the World (wide Underground) and it really didn’t work. Mundo cheating to win once or twice at the most would have been fine but this was two people interfering, a chair, two ref bumps and brass knuckles. There’s a line you can cross where it’s too much to take and this match jumped over it.

Prince Puma is working out when Vampiro comes in to say beating Mil Muertes was a great first step. Vampiro brings up Muertes killing Konnan, which Puma finds due to Vampiro’s hatred of Konnan. Puma seems to think about it to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This wasn’t a strong episode on the wrestling side though we’re starting to get back on the right path with the storytelling, which is where Lucha Underground shines. You can tell there’s going to be some big stuff coming at the Aztec Warfare show and that’s a good sign going forward. This show wasn’t a good sign though and that’s quite the fall after last week’s strong outing.

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Lucha Underground
Date: September 7, 2016
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

We’re already back for the third season as the second felt like it ended in a hurry. Last season wrapped up with Dario Cueto being arrested in what felt like a mid-season finale and the very quick return backs up the theory that it wasn’t supposed to be the big ending. Hopefully we can get some resolution to the storylines here instead. Let’s get to it.

Dario Cueto is exercising in his jail cell when a guard lets him out. He’s given his personal objects back……BY THE HONKY TONK MAN??? I can totally live with this, even if it’s just a one off cameo. Dario gets in a limo where Councilman Delgado tells him that the charges have been dropped. The big boss, whoever that is, tells Dario to never waste his time again. Dario looks terrified.

The announcers welcome us to the show with Vampiro saying his only job is being an announcer. I’m sure.

Dario and Matanza are in the ring with the boss announcing Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Pentagon Dark. That should get a bigger build no? That brings Dario to his brother, who has destroyed everyone in his path. Dario has a new toy: Dario’s Dial of Doom. It’s a big wheel with wrestlers names on it. Whoever it lands on gets to face Matanza, provided they haven’t challenged for the title yet. Therefore, Mysterio isn’t eligible. It’s already time for the first spin.

Lucha Underground Title: Son of Havoc vs. Matanza

Matanza is defending. Havoc starts with the dropkick into the corner but a crossbody just bounces off the monster’s chest. A missed charge sends Matanza into the post and out to the floor as Striker compares the champ to Bruno Sammartino and Joe Louis. Havoc follows him out with an elbow around the post for a low blow as Matanza is already selling WAY more than usual, which is a good sign going forward. Dario is worried about his brother and says this should be baby food.

Back up and Matanza slams him down to set up a standing moonsault. A guillotine choke has Matanza in trouble and Havoc pulls him out to the floor again. They’re doing a really good job here of making Matanza seem vulnerable and that’s going to keep the fans more into the match. Havoc grabs a cross armbreaker followed by something like a Lethal Injection. The shooting star only gets two and that’s probably going to wrap up Havoc’s chances. A quick Wrath of the Gods retains Matanza’s title at 7:20.

Rating: B-. This was an interesting choice for the season opener as Son of Havoc gets a chance at the title while Matanza doesn’t get to show off as much as usual. I’m not sure if this was the best way to get the fans going but again it seems like this is the start of a second half instead of a fresh season.

PJ Black, Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans and Taya come in to see Dario with Mundo demanding a title shot. Dario says no because they recently lost the Trios Titles. We see the team laying out Angelico and crushing his leg in a car door. Odds are that writes Angelico off TV. Dario still won’t give him a title shot so Mundo will settle for the Gift of the Gods Title. Still no, but Dario gives Taya a shot at Sexy Star instead.

Ivelisse is in the ring to talk about how Catrina cost her at Ultima Lucha. That means it’s time for a challenge to a match at Ultima Lucha Tres. Catrina appears on the balcony and says bring it on so Ivelisse says Catrina is dead.

Gift of the Gods Title: Taya vs. Sexy Star

Taya is challenging and Striker mentions that the Gift of the Gods Title has never been successfully defended. Now that’s the kind of stuff he should be telling us, not dropping Henry Godwinn references. Taya grabs a front facelock and the announcers debate Johnny Smith vs. Johnny Saint.

Some double knees to the face gets two on Taya but she misses a moonsault. Star makes her comeback as Striker asks what would happen if Taya won the title instead of Mundo. Striker: “Sometimes there’s no time for pants.” I’ll let you imagine the context. Cue Mundo and company (the Worldwide Underground) but Evans collides with Taya to give Star the pin at 5:38.

Rating: C. This was fine. It’s really cool that the title just happened to be on the line between two women but it’s something that so many others on the roster want. Mundo’s quest for the title with lackeys by his side could make him an interesting high level heel for the season and he can easily back it up in the ring. Not a great match here but it set some stuff up for the long term.

Star gets beaten down until Fenix, Drago and Aerostar make the save. You can almost guarantee an eight person tag.

Dario is on the phone when Marty the Moth comes in. Apparently Marty had some people help Dario in prison but Dario never wants his time in jail mentioned again. Marty wants to be Lucha Underground Champion but instead he gets Killshot next week in a Weapons of Mass Destruction match. There’s something very unique about the idea of no one knowing what happens in these backstage segments. It’s like no one watches the show which doesn’t make a ton of sense, but at least it’s something they stick with all the time.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Pentagon Dark

They stare each other down to start until Rey sends him outside. That just earns him some chops but Pentagon stops to glare at the referee. The fans don’t seem sure who to cheer for as Pentagon was getting close to being the anti-hero last season but cut it off at the end. A big superkick drops Mysterio, only to have Pentagon take too much time on top and get hurricanranaed down.

Pentagon takes it outside again but Mysterio pops right back up with a tornado DDT on the floor. That earns Rey a pumphandle driver for two back inside with Striker going into a weird tangent about Rey having his kids’ college paid for and there being no reason for him to kick out. Another superkick blasts Rey but Pentagon stops to yell at Vampiro, who just sits and stares. Vampiro gets out of his chair and walks away as Mysterio escapes the package piledriver. The 619 and a middle rope Canadian Destroyer of all things puts Pentagon away at 8:34.

Rating: B-. Another good but not great match here as the Vampiro vs. Pentagon story continues for no real logical reason. My guess continues to be that Vampiro has a new protege to take down Pentagon (Puma would make sense) but I really could go with Pentagon being done with Vampiro altogether. Oh and Pentagon should have won here. That really doesn’t need much of an explanation.

Pentagon goes for Rey’s arm but Dragon Azteca Jr. makes the save.

Puma is thinking about the loss to Mysterio when Vampiro comes in and says Puma has been off since he lost to Mil Muertes. If Puma wants to be back to his old self, he needs to beat Muertes. Puma was expecting Vampiro to ask him to get rid of Pentagon (Kentucky boys think alike) but Vampiro says it’s all about Puma to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. I know I’ve said it multiple times already but this felt like the start of the second half of the season. We really didn’t get any major plot developments other than Dario already being out of prison. Most of the stories are picking up where they left off and that’s a good thing as so many of them felt incomplete. It’s a good next episode though and they have a lot of places to go as this season goes on.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s WWE Grab Bag at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Lucha Underground
Date: July 20, 2016
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

We’ll wrap it up here with the season two finale and the final part of Ultima Lucha Dos. That means Pentagon Jr. challenging Matanza for the Lucha Underground Title, Taya vs. Ivelisse and Rey Mysterio vs. Prince Puma in a major battle of the generations. They’ve got their work cut out for them to top what they did last year and I’m not sure they can pull it off. Let’s get to it.

We open with a long recap of all the major events this season, which really was divided up into two parts with the pre and post Dario return. Also there’s a lot of stuff that was basically forgotten, including Aerostar being a time traveler. They really do pack a lot of stuff into this and it’s done a great job of making me want to see the big finale.

Vampiro is in full Emperor Palpatine mode as Pentagon Jr. bows to him before the title match. Pentagon has to destroy the monster that broke him but there is still fear inside him. Vampiro takes him to a room full of Pentagons, who the real Pentagon must destroy. With those imposters easily dispatched, it’s time for the big showdown with the masked master. Pentagon rips the mask off and Vampiro says he’s ready but not before changing his name from Pentagon Jr. to Pentagon Black.

Trios Titles: Drago/Fenix/Aerostar vs. Johnny Mundo/Jack Evans/PJ Black

Mundo and company are defending but there’s no Taya. Johnny gets in a backbreaker to start on Fenix and it’s quickly off to Drago who gets in a spinning DDT. Black comes in sans tag but misses his top rope Lionsault. Aerostar’s corkscrew crossbody takes Black down again and a slingshot corkscrew splash gets no count as the referee actually remembers who is legal. It’s off to Fenix who superkicks Jack before the good guys clean house, only to have the referee stop the triple dive because they’re not legal.

The distraction lets Fenix get stomped down in the corner as the champs take over. Evans comes in for a whip to crotch Fenix before a double belly to back suplex into a neckbreaker gets two. Everything breaks down again as Striker keeps talking about the referee, which has gotten more attention here than anything else. Jack’s springboard is broken up with a superkick and a Canadian Destroyer plants Johnny.

Aerostar dives on the other champs and Fenix hits a great looking frog splash for two on Mundo. A slingshot splash from Aerostar and the springboard 450 from Fenix add up for two. The referee goes down so Mundo keeps getting beaten up until his partners FINALLY help him out with a belt shot to Fenix’s head. A triple belt shot to the head gets two (seriously?) so Black kicks the ref in the head.

The champs go nuts with Chikara’s BDK’s Ragnarok (Evans and Black hold Fenix up by the arms while a running Johnny flips him forward for a big crash onto his back) but there’s still no referee. Johnny puts the title on Fenix’s face but here’s Angelico on crutches to take Mundo out. Aerostar gets back up and springboards into a reverse moonsault to drop Evans. Another crutch shot sets up a Fenix Driver (Fire Thunder Driver) for the pin on Mundo at 11:50. That makes Fenix the first Triple Crown Champion.

Rating: B. Good choice for an opener here with a group of people going all over the place with a bunch of high spots and insanity. Angelico coming out made sense as Johnny won the title in the first place cue to Angelico being injured, presumably by Mundo in the first place. The referee stuff got a bit annoying as the story came out of nowhere but then was dropped halfway through the match. Still though, good opener here and that’s why you have matches like this one.

Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Black Lotus

So Lotus mistakenly thinks Azteca’s father killed her parents and is out for revenge, which actually makes sense for a change. They start fast with some running flips and a headscissors to send Dragon down. As Vampiro says Lotus is sexy and turning him on, Azteca baseball slides her to take over for the first time. Azteca misses a flip dive but easily whips her into the barricade with some force. Back in and Dragon misses a high cross body (he isn’t the most accurate) to give Lotus two, only to have him pop back up with a roaring elbow. Azteca goes up but Pentagon of all people runs out to crotch him at 4:20.

Rating: D. I think we’ve seen our first Ultima Lucha match to be sacrificed due to time restraints. To be fair though, it’s not like this match had the biggest build in the world. This story has been kind of all over the place and the announcers can’t talk about it because they haven’t seen any of the buildup. You can barely talk about this one but Lotus looked fine while they lasted.

With Vampiro’s blessing, Pentagon breaks both of their arms. After a break, Pentagon says he’ll destroy Matanza with the new knowledge his master gave him. Now he’s Pentagon Dark and ready for anything, including taking down the monster because there is zero fear. Actually, let’s just do the title match RIGHT NOW.

Lucha Underground Title: Matanza vs. Pentagon Dark

Matanza is defending, Dario is in his corner and there must be a winner. Pentagon immediately hits a flip dive over the top to put the champion down. Vampiro keeps talking about the differences between Pentagon Jr. and Pentagon Dark as Pentagon knocks Matanza around ringside, including a hard whip into the barricade. An AA (not a Death Valley Driver announcers) has Matanza in even more trouble and he punches the post to make it even worse.

Some chairs to the back (including a La Parka guitar strum) knock Matanza around ringside and Pentagon whips him through some chairs. Matanza gets in a few right hands, only to be superkicked up against the barricade. Pentagon throws him through more chairs as this has been about 95% Pentagon through the first five minutes.

More chair shots to the leg keep Matanza in trouble on the floor and they FINALLY head inside. Dario: “Matanza! REMEMBER MAMA!” Matanza takes a third superkick and a running Codebreaker for two. A Backstabber gets the same so Dario is holding up the key. Pentagon wedges a chair in the corner (because wrestlers never learn) and is quickly sent head first into it for Matanza’s first major offense.

Matanza sends him flying with a pumphandle suplex and a standing moonsault gets two. Pentagon stands up after a German suplex and tells him to bring it. That means superkick #5 to the champ before a modified Wrath of the Gods (not an Irish Car Bomb Matt) gets two. Pentagon goes outside and stops a dive with a chair to the head, followed by a Canadian Destroyer to really knock Matanza silly.

Vampiro gets up and hands Pentagon a barbed wire baseball bat (the next logical step) but Dario knocks it out of his hands. Pentagon goes for Dario’s arm but Matanza hits him (weakly) in the back with the bat and hits Wrath of the Gods to retain at 11:32. The fans are NOT happy with that ending and swear quite a bit.

Rating: B. Uh what? No seriously, what was that ending? Pentagon completely dominated Matanza the whole match, shrugged off most of his offense and then gets beaten by two moves? That felt like they had no idea how to get out of this and just said “oh just have him hit his finisher to retain”. No build to it, no logical storytelling, no reason for Pentagon to lose that fast.

This match needed another five minutes or so and a lot more offense from Matanza if you’re going to go with that ending. Having Pentagon lose after a hard fought war is fine but having him lose after he basically squashed Matanza for ten minutes isn’t. If nothing else it makes your unstoppable monster champion look weak instead of like the killer he’s supposed to be. A recharged Pentagon is a great choice to give him a fight but they toned Matanza WAY too far down this time and it hurt the story a lot.

Post match Vampiro goes to help Pentagon but gets shoved away.

After a break, Vampiro takes his medicine, saying he failed.

Taya vs. Ivelisse

Basically they’re the two best women in the promotion (not named Sexy Star that is) and they’ve been feuding for a few weeks so here’s a match. Ivelisse takes her into the corner and drives Taya face first into the middle buckle ten times in a row. Vampiro keeps trying to get back into things as Taya knocks Ivelisse face first into the apron to take over on the floor.

Taya is sent into the chairs and they fight on the steps before crashing down. Back in and Iveliss kicks her down a few times before grabbing a release German suplex. A bridging German suplex gets two and there go the lights. Back with Catrina in the ring and hitting a double arm DDT drop (think a Bubba Bomb but a double arm DDT instead of a full nelson). The lights go off again and Catrina disappears, allowing Taya to hit a double stomp for the pin at 6:20.

Rating: C-. The match was fine enough but another screwy finish is a little annoying. It also doesn’t really settle anything between Taya and Ivelisse but rather sets up something for the next season, which seems to be the problem with this whole show: not a lot is actually being decided here in favor of setting something up down the road.

Post match Catrina appears again to give Ivelisse the Lick of Death.

We get a voiceover from Konnan of all people, talking about finding a new protege to train. Apparently he’s talking about Prince Puma, who gets a highlight video including beating up people in some warehouse. This turns into a quick video setting up Puma vs. Rey Mysterio.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Prince Puma

The King vs. the Prince and I’m fine with this as the main event as it really is a dream match by Lucha Underground’s standards. Rey even has the El Rey network logo on his back for a nice touch. They start fast (of course) and it’s time to flip around a lot into a standoff. A headscissors from Rey is countered and Puma shakes his finger as we’re at another standoff.

Rey changes the plan a bit with some kicks to the head but the sitout bulldog doesn’t work. The fans cheer for different area codes before Puma bends Rey around his shoulders for a modified torture rack. Rey is able to escape and send him outside for that sliding splash under the bottom rope. The West Coast Pop gets two and a big springboard tornado DDT gets the same for Rey.

Mysterio tries a top rope hurricanrana but gets muscled up into a series of rolling suplexes (variety pack) for two. With nothing else working, Puma takes him up top for a super Razor’s Edge but since there’s no way that can happen, Rey gives him a reverse super hurricanrana for a near fall of his own. They slug it out with the fans being split on who to cheer for in a good sign. Another sitout bulldog is countered into a huge Backstabber, followed by a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. That move can’t win anywhere.

The spinning kick to the head puts Rey in 619 position and Puma actually pulls off the move steal for a change. A 450 (not a 630 Striker) gets two and I feel like I’m in a math class. Puma gets two more off a fireman’s carry into a kick to the head and goes up top. With Striker saying it’s the I’m sorry, I love you moment, Puma misses the 630 and crashes down instead. Rey enziguris him into a 619 but Puma grabs the boots and spins him into a Tombstone. That’s countered as well into a reverse hurricanrana (I don’t think I’ve seen that before) to set up the 619 and a top rope West Coast Pop puts Puma away at 26:28.

Rating: A-. I’m ok with Puma winning here as it’s basically the end of Creed: Puma is the future but he’s still got work to do to be the luchador he wants to be. This was a sweet wrestling match and felt like a main event level match. Given the way the title match ended, this was absolutely the right call for the main event as it doesn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth to end the show.

Puma goes to leave but Rey says these are Puma’s people and leaves him to pose.

The announcers wrap it up but Pentagon hits Vampiro with the barbed wire bat and superkicks Striker (should have gotten a bigger pop). The bat is raked across Vampiro’s head for some blood before Pentagon hits him over the back (covered in a rather thick looking jacket) with the bat. They go inside where Pentagon licks the blood and kicks Vampiro hard in the head. Pentagon says he’s the new master and licks some more blood before kicking Vampiro in the face again.

We go outside and Dario Cueto is ARRESTED. The police van pulls away as Dario lifts his head up and smiles to end the season. No really, that’s the end of the season. No other stories are addressed and we’re out for another few months.

Overall Rating: B. On its own, this is a strong show with a very good main event, an acceptable World Title match and a good Trios Title match. The only bad match is less than five minutes and I can live with seeing Catrina getting a little more physical if I just have to. I like the way they changed things up by going with the dream match for the good ending instead of having the fans boo the show out of the building when Pentagon lost. That’s smart and a sign that someone knows what they’re doing instead of just going ahead with their plan and dealing with the fans hating it.

Unfortunately, this was more than just a regular show. As soon as last season’s finale ended, this became something everyone wanted to see. There was a huge set of expectations to go with this season and it made this finale a show with a lot additional weight on its shoulders. That’s where things took a bad hit here.

All season long there were stories built, be it the big ones like Dario having a master, Councilman Delgado and everyone talking about what a big deal this was. Then there were individual ones like Marty the Moth vs. Killshot, Aerostar being from the future or whatever else you want to name. At the end of it though, all we get is this one storyline development that seems more like a teaser than any major change.

A term I’ve seen used to describe this show is “more like a mid-season finale” and I really can’t disagree. At no point did this feel like some big conclusion. Instead was much more like a show where we come back in six weeks to see what they have next. I think a lot of that has to do with knowing a third season is guaranteed though as last year was kind of up in the air, meaning they had to pack a lot into the first finale.

Overall this season was kind of all over the place. It started off with Dario and Matanza having to get back to the Temple and focused on Mil Muertes and Catrina in power but that wrapped up pretty cleanly and was barely mentioned again. The titles started changing hands a lot more frequently to keep things moving but it never felt like there was a big moment coming at the end of the season like with Muertes’ inevitable title victory. It’s still a good season but it seems like it cracked under some of the pressure, which they’ll need to fix next time around.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s WWE Grab Bag at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Lucha Underground
Date: May 25, 2016
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

Last week’s show was uh…..well not exactly up to Lucha Underground’s normal standards. It did however give us a big match for tonight as Cage will be challenging Chavo Guerrero Jr. for the Gift of the Gods Title which Cage has a legitimate claim towards. Other than that you almost never can tell what you’re going to get around here. Let’s get to it.

The recap looks at Cortez Castro/Joey Ryan as cops, the Trios Titles and Cage helping Chavo win the Gift of the Gods Title last week.

Pentagon Jr. is on his feet and looks ready to go back to the Temple but Vampiro says he isn’t ready. A quick wrench of his arm has Pentagon slowing back down but he still says no fear. Vampiro says Pentagon can return to the Temple, though he’s not ready to face the monster.

Some Marines are here in an always cool move.

Matt Striker gets a phone call from someone who asks if he wants to be famous.

Joey Ryan vs. Mascarita Sagrada

The fans are WAY into Mascarita’s entrance, though that might be due to Famous B. doing the announcing. Joey isn’t interested though and kicks Sagrada in the head to take over fast. Mascarita sends him to the floor for the flip dive but Joey throws Sagrada down again. This sets up a trade as Joey gives B. his sucker for a business card. Back in and Mascarita throws him down and scores with a moonsault. Famous B. offers the referee a business card so Sagrada can kick Joey low…..but that doesn’t work on him for reasons I won’t go into. A tornado DDT puts Mascarita away at 3:14.

Rating: D. Just a comedy match here as Famous B. continues to screw up Sagrada’s career, which wasn’t exactly doing much in Lucha Underground to begin with. Joey is over with the crowd though and that’s going to get him somewhere given where things are going with the undercover cop story.

Famous B. consoles Sagrada.

Taya video with her looking at herself in lingerie and then putting on a dress to beat up masked men. That’s one thing I’ll never get tired of around here: even the goons are luchadors.

King Cuerno is in his office (or whatever it is) talking about how Mil Muertes thought he was king of the jungle. He gets up and we see Muertes stood up in a glass coffin as Cuerno’s ultimate trophy. Well that’s a bit creepy.

Gift of the Gods Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Cage

Cage is challenging and drops Chavo at the bell before firing off clotheslines in the corner. Vampiro doesn’t buy Striker’s claims of Chavo being one of the best in the world pound for pound. Vampiro: “When? When he was born and there were no other babies around?” Chavo’s dive is plucked out of the air so Cage can drive him into the barricade a few times.

Back in and Chavo gets a headscissors to send Cage outside, followed by a suicide dive to actually put Cage in trouble. A middle rope cross body just goes badly but Cage bangs up his knee trying a moonsault. Chavo is smart enough to start in on the knee but Vampiro wants Chavo to kick him in the head instead. The champ goes to the top so Cage gets up for an apron superplex. Cage snaps off a sitout Alabama Slam for two, only to get caught in a tornado DDT for the same.

A Liger Kick doesn’t do much for Chavo as Cage just blasts him with a discus lariat. Chavo gets up top again and sunset bombs Cage down, followed by the Frog Splash for two. Three Amigos are countered into a suplex powerbomb (as in Cage lifts him up for a suplex and then slams him forward into a powerbomb). A buckle bomb sets up a STEINER SCREWDRIVER (I never thought I would see that move again but my goodness is still looks amazing) to give Cage the title at 8:05.

Rating: B-. This was much better than I was expecting as Chavo actually wrestled instead of running away like a coward. Cage continues to be what Ryback should have been and I can’t imagine WWE won’t bring him back at some point in the future. Above all else though, STEINER SCREWDRIVER!!!

Cage gets right to the point: he wants a title match next week.

Johnny Mundo has attacked Fenix and will be taking his place in the Trios Titles match alongside PJ Black and Jack Evans.

Cortez Castro and Joey Ryan raid Dario Cueto’s office and find some cash, which Joey steals. Mr. Cisco comes in and isn’t happy with not being invited to the robbery. This earns him an arrest as Joey holds a gun on him. Uh….on what charge?

Taya comes out to announce the replacement.

Trios Titles: Johnny Mundo/PJ Black/Jack Evans vs. Rey Mysterio Jr./Prince Puma/Dragon Azteca Jr.

Mundo’s team is challenging. Jack and Dragon get things going with Dragon scoring off an early dropkick. Some very loud chops have Jack in even more trouble and a dropkick sends him into the corner for the tag off to Black. Puma comes in as well but gets elbowed down for two. Mundo and Black double backdrop Puma for two until the Prince channels his inner Davey Richards by throwing Evans into a DDT from Black and grabbing a neckbreaker to make the partners hurt each other. I’ve never liked that before and I still don’t here.

The hot tag brings in Mysterio to clean house before Dragon’s legdrop and Puma’s springboard splash gets two on Mundo. Evans gets kicked in the face but he kicks Puma in the back to take over again. Mysterio comes back in to send Mundo outside, followed by a slingshot hurricanrana from Puma as this picks up in a hurry. Evans charges into a boot to the face but is still able to cartwheel into a kick to Azteca’s head.

This sets up what looked like a super hurricanrana to Dragon who would land in another hurricanrana on Black. It would have been an awesome spot if both halves of it hadn’t been at least somewhat botched. The 619 on Black sets up the 630 but Johnny pulls the referee out. Mundo isn’t done yet as he kicks Rey low, setting up a double superkick from Johnny and Taya. The other two champs are kicked low and a top rope double stomp into an AA on Azteca.

Black hits a brainbuster called the Wellness Policy (I’m not sure what to think about that one) as we have a second referee. Somehow Puma backflips out of a belly to back superplex and makes the tag to Dragon. Taya has the referee though as Johnny is caught in a sunset flip for two. The distraction lets Evans blast Dragon with a chair to give Johnny the pin and the titles at 10:50.

Rating: B. Good match here as they really fir in with the Lucha Underground mold for the most part. Just let everyone go insane and do high spots to pop the crowd and the rest will be just fine. I’m not wild on these titles changing hands so fast as there’s really not much of a story in sight for them, though Mundo with a title will be fine.

Overall Rating: B. This was a bounce back show as they set up the big showdown between Cage and Matanza while also advancing some of the background stories. At some point they need to actually have these things start coming together so it’s a good step to have something like this happen. It’s not a blow away show but I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.

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