Lucha Underground – Season One Episode 7 – 10th December 2014
Top Of The Ladder
The title of this episode really says it all. Our main event this week throws together three men who have been at odds since LU began – with that $100,000 briefcase that Dario Cueto promised right at the beginning of the LU journey at stake. Big Ryck, Johnny Mundo and Prince Puma go to war in the highest stakes Lucha Underground match so far! Matt Striker and Vampiro will call the action from Boyle Heights, CA. Danny Trejo is at ringside too!
King Cuerno vs Super Fly
Last week we saw Cuerno get his LU career back on track by avenging his debut loss to Drago. Tonight he looks to follow up with victory over the latest LU debutant to cross the border from AAA in Super Fly. Interestingly, as this was taped in October of 2014 Super works with his mask on – but by the time this aired he’d actually been forced to unmask in AAA.
Once again Cuerno works as the anti-luchador, trying to work at a slower pace to ground a high-flying adversary. It appears that the hunter has become the hunted too, as he has Drago watching ominously from the Temple balcony! Gradually Fly increases the pace, tripping King to the floor where he can nail him with a handspring moonsault over the ropes! Cuerno immediately returns to the ring and shuts down his momentum with a jumping knee strike. He stares into Drago’s eyes as he scoops Super up for the Thrill Of The Hunt to score an emphatic win at 03:24
Rating - ** - There were quite a few vast chops and switches in camera angles here, which makes me think that a fair bit of this one was left on the cutting room floor. It seems odd that Super Fly would come from AAA to be resoundingly squashed in such a manner – but it certainly adds to the reputation of King Cuerno. Cuerno is great fun to watch as the polar opposite to guys like Drago and Fenix. He wants to work slow, he wants to use strikes and holds rather than explosive dive sequences – and this match emphasised that element of his work well.
A vignette delves deeper into Pentagon Jr.’s past next. Having excelled in Mexico, he travelled to Japan to train in other, darker martial arts – becoming lethal in unarmed combat. It ends with him violently snapping a scrubbers arm…
Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Fenix
We saw these two collide in our main event last week, and it was Fenix who walked away with the last laugh after his Garra Del Fenix diving knee drop enabled Sexy Star to defeat Chavo’s partner Pentagon. Penta and Chavo feel disrespected back in Mexico so are looking to use LU to build a new legacy…so losing to popular luchadors like Fenix actively hampers that. Both Pentagon and Sexy Star are at ringside with their partners of last week…
As you might expect, Guerrero looks to use his power and technical skill to make this a mat-based encounter. In a great moment, he counters La Garra Del Fenix very early – rolling through last week’s finish into a half crab (which Striker refers to as the ‘White Out’, referencing the Kerwin White gimmick). Guerrero targets Fenix’s leg leaving him unable to fly and limping heavily. Brainbuster blocked though…and the injured Fenix wearily scales the ropes. SKY TWISTER PRESS TO THE FLOOR! And he’s still selling that leg! He tries to return to the ring with a springboard move but gets nowhere near his usual hang-time and is easily ambushed with a mid-air dropkick by Guerrero. SPRINGBOARD SUPERKICK by Fenix…only for Pentagon to jerk his bad leg from under him when he tries to climb the ropes again. Frog Splash wins it for Chavo at 05:43
Rating - *** - What an awesome little match this one was. They packed heaps into barely five minutes of wrestling, and it was great to see that Fenix can actually work pretty well as well as being an amazing high-flyer. His job selling the leg was layered and thorough; with some breathtaking and subtle variants on moves he’s performed effortlessly in his previous outings inside the Temple. This is the sort of match Chavo is best at, and reminded me in some ways of his best matches with Rey Mysterio back in WWE.
Chavo’s celebrations are short-lived, as Sexy Star grabs the microphone to warn him that Blue Demon Jr. has recovered – and is coming back to Lucha Underground for him.
Matt Striker introduces a video package for the newest competitor to enter the Lucha Underground Temple. He’s not a super hero, he’s not super-human and isn’t descended from Aztec warriors or Lucha legends. He’s not a man either – but prefers to be called a ‘Machine’! It’s a hype video for the forthcoming debut of PWG star Brian Cage (shortened to simply ‘Cage’ in LU).
Big Ryck vs Johnny Mundo vs Prince Puma – Ladder Match
The first man to climb a ladder and grab the $100,000 stuffed into a suitcase suspended above the ring will be declared the winner. Mundo thought he’d earned the $100k signing bonus promised by Dario Cueto when he defeated Prince Puma in the first ever LU main event. But El Jefe swerved him and instead gave the money to his hired guns Ryck and the Crenshaw Crew (Castro and Cisco). Since then Mundo and Puma had formed something of an alliance to battle the Crew, much to Konnan’s annoyance. That came to an end two weeks ago when Mundo inadvertently nailed Puma with a steel chair, costing him a win in the Boyle Heights Street Fight against Ryck. Last week Johnny ambushed Cueto in the bathrooms to demand the money he was promised and taking his precious key as ‘insurance’. Backed into a corner and with Ryck, Mundo and Puma having to be held apart inside the ring, Dario felt he had no choice – and booked these three in a Ladder Match, offering up another hundred grand that he’d previously promised to Ryck as a bonus for signing his LU contract.
Puma and Mundo reform their alliance to target Ryck…so he walks out and leaves them to fight amongst themselves. He simply waits on the floor for one of them to make a move for a ladder – then jumps Mundo when he does so. Prince and Johnny scale the ladder early, only for Big to shunt them both to the mat. It seems that Ryck doesn’t enjoy climbing ladders, so he calls out the rest of The Crew to do the climbing for him, which is unique. Mr Cisco nearly makes it…only to be shoved off the top all the way to the floor! Back body drop into a ladder from Johnny to Prince! LADDER RUN TOPE ATOMICO TO THE FLOOR by Mundo wipes out the entire Crenshaw Crew. Tables are set up right in front of Danny Trejo; soon followed by a massive ladder! Striker ponders why Mundo is wasting his time fighting Castro and Cisco – but remember, Johnny said that he wants to prove he’s the best rather than take the money! Puma stops him diving off the mega-ladder onto Cisco…TOPE CON HILO OVER MUNDO, THROUGH THE LADDER, INTO RYCK AND CORTEZ! Mundo tries to shove the ladder down after Puma…but he stands rigid and unharmed by going through the centre parting. I’ve never seen that before! Together they climb up a ladder again, but before either of them can grab the suitcase Puma hooks them up for an ACE CRUSHER OFF THE TOP! That’s the cue for Ryck to return and methodically stomp them into the dirt, whilst his cronies position the huge ladder between the apron and the lower wall of the Temple. Mundo tries to fight off both Cortez and Cisco, and does so successfully by press slamming Mr C off the top rope and through two tables on the floor! Mexican ladder stand-off between Mundo and Big R…and back comes Puma with a springboard Chocolate Rain! Castro leads him onto the corner, only to be given a HANGING CHOCOLATE RAIN THROUGH A TABLE! LADDER LEAPFROG CORKSCREW PRESS from Mundo to Ryck! FIN DEL MUNDO ON A LADDER! 630 SENTON ON THE SAME LADDER BY PUMA! That is surely the end of Big Ryck? It’s not! He catches a Puma dive out of the corner and powerbombs both opponents through another ladder! Book Of Ezekiel on Puma! PRESS SLAM THROUGH THE MASSIVE LADDER ON THE FLOOR! PUMA IS DEAD! Ryck needs two ladders and still looks uncertain trying to climb for the money…and takes so long that John is able to recover. Mundo knocks him off the ladder…before a fan runs in and pulls Johnny down. He removes the mask…and it’s B-Boy! I think he’s called something else in the LU universe, but evidently he’s the newest member of The Crew! Mundo superkicks him down the aisle then SPRINGBOARD SPIDERMAN LANDS on a ladder back inside the ring! He kicks Castro and Cisco away…AND GRABS THE BRIEFCASE! Mundo is the winner and is $100,000 richer at 19:32
Rating - **** - This is the first time LU tried to run an ‘event’ match like this, i.e. whereby they feature a central bout which takes up the vast majority of the show. It absolutely delivered and more than justified the air-time investment. This was the culmination of six episodes worth of animosity and escalating tension between Mundo, Puma and the Crenshaw Crew and made for compulsive viewing. Of course Johnny and Ricochet did most of the grunt work, but then again they are world class athletes and experienced in this type of environment…whereas Big Ryck is a muscled up meat head who really doesn’t have much exposure to major matches like this. Being a little rude he didn’t contribute much, and required not only his opponents but also three other guys who weren’t even involved (Castro, Cisco and B-Boy…who is apparently known as ‘Bael’) to do the work. BUT, there were some epic set-piece bumps, some courageous sequences from multiple individuals, and they produced a few things I’d never seen in ladder matches before. This felt perfect in the lawless, anything goes, blood-lust environment of Lucha Underground and was as outright entertaining as any match they’ve done…
Dario Cueto emerges from his office to congratulate Mundo on his win, and to demand his key back. Johnny obliges…but not before punching his lights out! What will the ramifications of that be?
Tape Rating - **** - More than half of the episode is taken up with the thrilling main event, making it an easy one to recommend. Mundo and Puma produced some amazing moments in their Ladder Match and continue to deliver on the top billing Lucha Underground has given them. That’s not to say it was a one-match show either, because I really liked Chavo/Fenix as well. After everything we’d seen in the six episodes leading up to this, it was nice to get an episode heavily focused on in-ring action and paying off some of the stories they’ve told thus far. And like all the best ‘pay-offs’, they left you with more than enough questions to have you coming back for more. What’s next for Drago and Cuerno? When is Blue Demon coming back for Chavo? And what will the consequences be after Johnny Mundo laid his hands on El Jefe?