Lucha Underground – Season One Episode 10 – 14th January 2015
Law Of The Jungle
I’ll start this introductory paragraph with a note of thanks for all the kind, positive feedback I received following my reviews of the first nine episodes of Lucha Underground. The theory was I was going to review up to Aztec Warfare as a taster to see if there was an appetite amongst you guys for more LU on McXal’s Reviews – and I’m thrilled that you enjoyed my reviews. After a bit of a break, I’m ready to head back to The Temple for more Lucha Libre madness. The previous episode saw Prince Puma survive Aztec Warfare to be crowned the inaugural Lucha Underground Champion. He vows to be a fighting champion and is thrust straight into his first defence this week…against the explosive and exciting Fenix. The rivalry between King Cuerno and Drago continues as they meet in singles action once again, and the show will open with the debut of four new luchadors. Matt Striker and Vampiro are poised to greet us in Boyle Heights, CA.
El Jefe admits to Fenix that he has been extremely impressive in his time in LU so far. He rewards him with an LU Title shot tonight…but warns him if he doesn’t ‘destroy Puma and embarrass Konnan’ an opportunity like this won’t come around again. The mysterious Asian female is watching through the window…
Aero Star vs Argenis vs Angelico vs Cage
All four of these guys make their debuts here, will go on to play a significant part in Lucha Underground moving forward (if not under this gimmick for some of them!). Cage (Brian Cage of PWG notoriety) is a former WWE developmental talent and has received a few hype videos to promote his ‘Machine’ character, so probably enters with the most fanfare.
Cage throws all the smaller guys around…so they all team up to try and take him out. Argenis clears the ring momentarily…before getting utterly bewitched by Star who springboards multiple times into an armdrag. Torture rack neckbreaker from Cage to Angelico! Jackhammer on Aero gets 2! SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY ARGENIS! SPRINGBOARD BACKWARDS DIVE BY AERO! INSANE SUICIDE DIVE OVER THE TURNBUCKLES BY ANGELICO! GMSI by Cage…and apparently it’s elimination rules as Argenis is gone at 05:07. Discus lariat crushes Aero, and he’s the next out at 05:30. Angelico is the last man in Cage’s way, and he too is mowed down with the massive discus lariat. Cage wins at 05:57
Rating - ** - The three smaller guys all got to show off some exciting aerial stuff, but the match also left you in no doubt that the star of the show was Cage. Whilst admittedly being quite damaging to the credibility of his three opponents, the way he laid waste to everyone in the final moments of this match was a hell of an impressive way to debut.
Chavo Guerrero enters the ring to issue a public apology to Blue Demon. It’s completely disingenuous though and a ploy to swing a brass knuckle-enforced punch in Demon’s direction. BDJ sees it coming a mile off and lays Guerrero out with a steel chair.
King Cuerno vs Drago
These two rivals are tied at 1-1 in singles matches against each other, whilst the issue has escalated to such an extent that they’ve taken to stalking The Temple and encroaching on each other’s matches against other luchadors too. Cuerno eliminated Drago from Aztec Warfare last week…but still felt the dragon’s wrath as Johnny Mundo used one of Drago’s moves to eliminate him. Who will win the rubber match between them?
Drago knows he is faster – and uses that speed to get an early nearfall. Cuerno retorts by booting him out of the ring then taking him out with a TOPE ATOMICO! King pulls a table from under the ring and sets up for the Thrill Of The Hunt. Drago counters…and pescados straight into his face to take him down! He ducks a Cuerno chair shot then sprints up onto the roof of Dario Cueto’s office! FLYING SPLASH OFF THE ROOF PUTTING CUERNO THROUGH THE TABLE! The ref stops the match (officially a double count-out) at 03:21
Rating - *** - I know it was only three minutes long and went to a non-finish, but I really liked this. It built off their previous encounters extremely well; both guys fighting this exactly as you’d expect two familiar opponents and heated rivals to. Cuerno has been the aggressor throughout, so again it made perfect sense that he was the one bringing weapons into play…and just as with their first match when Cuerno got all the hype but Drago stole his thunder, the same thing happens again here as he tries to use a table only to be spectacularly taken out himself by the high-flying dragon. This feud isn’t over!
EMT’s rush out to offer medical assistance to both competitors before we cut to commercials.
A hype video for Fenix plays, promoting him as an un-killable ‘Bird Of War’…to a showreel of spectacular highlights from his brief Lucha Underground career thus far.
Prince Puma vs Fenix – LU Title Match
As we saw at the start of the night, Dario Cueto has been impressed with Fenix thus far. He’s put in some incredible performances, dived off the office roof, performed admirably in Aztec Warfare despite being the first man in…and even beaten Prince Puma a couple of weeks ago in fighting for the ‘Unique Opportunity’. El Jefe isn’t a typical heel and is happy to reward talent if they do crazy, violent sh*t – like Fenix. He has rewarded him with a shot at the LU Championship tonight, and is even pulling for Fenix not only to win, but to embarrass Konnan and destroy Puma. What condition are both of these men in after the effort they put in during Aztec Warfare?
As you’d expect, the opening minutes are contested at high speed and consist almost entirely of near-miss flips. Fenix stops Prince diving to the floor, only for Puma to do the same right back to him. RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR by Puma! Fenix no sells it totally…CORKSCREW PESCADO nailed by him! Back in the ring with Fenix peppering the champion with strikes. He looks to have heavier strikes than Prince and has him on the run as a result. Puma throws some kicks back in the challenger’s direction; gaining enough distance to land a standing moonsault for 2. Fenix shows amazing agility to miss a step-up enzi strike then somehow land back on his feet and hit the same move without any room to jump at all. HIGH ANGLE LETHAL INJECTION gets 2 for the challenger! BENADRYLLER by Puma…into a Red Star Press for 2. Nothing can separate these two, and even slumped on their knees they won’t stop throwing slaps at each other. Puma blocks another Lethal Injection and rolls through into a brainbuster! PHOENIX SPLASH MISSED by Prince, with Fenix capitalising to hit a Kobashi-plex to drop him on his head. 450 SPLASH NAILED! FENIX DRIVER BY PRINCE PUMA! Fenix palm strikes hard to stop him hitting the 630, then hops on the opposite turnbuckle to TIGHTROPE WALK ALONG THE TOP ROPE AT HIM! TOP ROPE ROUNDHOUSE KICK BY PUMA! 630 SENTON! Puma retains at 12:09
Rating - **** - Another awesome, if slightly mindless, Lucha Underground spotfest to wrap up the show this week. Fenix is the breakout star of these first ten weeks of the promotion and is rattling off one stellar performance after another. He was at it again here, beautifully adapting his usual fiery underdog routine to become an athletic and dangerous threat to the unknown, enigmatic and supposedly ‘inexperienced’ (in character at least…I’m aware it’s Ricochet under the hood) champion. I could have done with a little more depth in the story-telling and slightly less focus on doing one cool spot after the next…but this is free TV, and Lucha Underground is trying to build their rep on nutty highspot matches like this so one has to modify expectations accordingly. All in all this was great fun.
Cage sprints out to ruin Puma’s celebrations. He brutally beats down the champion and stands over him triumphantly as the show ends.
Tape Rating - *** - A strong follow-up episode to Aztec Warfare last week. In an hour timeslot (including commercials) there simply isn’t enough time to catch up with the whole roster in a single week – but what we saw here all made perfect sense and didn’t waste airtime at all. Cage arrived and looked every bit the ‘Machine’ he has been hyped up as. Blue Demon got revenge on Chavo Guerrero for their issues going back to the debut episode. The Cuerno/Drago saga stepped up intensity again. Finally the Cueto-sanctioned main event gave us the kind of spectacular, athletic and relentless action that LU is starting to nail down as their signature ‘style’. After an inconsistent first few weeks it feels like the promotion is really starting to find it’s feet now.