Lucha Underground – Season One Episode 17 – 4th March 2015
A War Started In Mexico…
This week we’ll see some of Lucha Underground’s highest profile rivalries take centre stage. Mil Muertes gets a rematch against Fenix, looking to avenge the loss of weeks earlier with the presence of Catrina looming large over both competitors…whilst our main event features the in-ring debut of Alberto El Patron against his big rival from AAA in Texano. Vampiro and Matt Striker are ringside in The Temple, to take us through another hour of lucha libre madness taped in Boyle Heights, CA.
Dario Cueto can barely contain his excitement at El Patron’s debut in The Temple. He wants to give Alberto a warm-up match so he has more time to promote the ‘money’ match versus Texano…but El Patron is insistent. He gets his wish; the main event is Alberto vs Texano.
Mil Muertes vs Fenix
The only singles pinfall defeat Mil has suffered thus far in LU was a shock upset against Fenix. Enraged by that, and provoked by Catrina implying that Fenix’s power to overcome death was too strong for even Mil – he marched into battle with Chavo Guerrero looking to end his career. Although victorious (via DQ) the end was marred by Catrina refusing to give Guerrero the Lick Of Death…then kissing Fenix in front of him when the Bird Of War rescued her from Muertes’ clutches. These two are 1-1 in singles matches (Mil defeated Fenix to win a Unique Opportunity mini-tournament ahead of Aztec Warfare earlier in the season) – and the rivalry is only escalating.
No Catrina, no pomp and no pageantry about Muertes’ entrance. He wants to ambush Fenix in the aisle…so Fenix DIVES DOWN THE STAIRS INTO A FLYING RANA ON THE FLOOR! It drives Mil back into the ring, and Fenix gives chase aerially once more with a springboard leg drop for 2. MUERTES ELBOWS HIS HEAD OFF! Irate at Fenix’s dalliance with Catrina it seems, Mil is exceptionally violent with him here – pulverising him with frightening strikes and almost putting him through the ring with a TKO. The knockout punch grounds him again…as here comes Catrina! Her presence sparks a response from Fenix, who double stomps Muertes out of the ring and flies again with a SPRINGBOARD CORKSCREW MOONSAULT to the outside! TUMBLING ACE CRUSHER from the outside of the ring back inside gets 2! ROPE RUN SUPER CODEBREAKER BY MIL! Is Fenix dead!? Staring directly at Catrina he drags Fenix into the Flatliner to seal the win at 05:46
Rating - *** - Their best match together thus far, largely because they got a little more time and seemed to be given more creative license to bust out insane stuff. Fenix was outstanding and innovative as he always is but it was actually Mil’s performance which I really liked here. He was as intense and smart about delivering his character as I’ve seen him so far in his LU run – somehow combining super-human feats of violence with the very real and human emotion/motivation of wanting to kick someone’s ass for trying to take his girl. This one is still building…
Mil Muertes summons Catrina into the ring but she again refuses to give a fallen adversary the Lick Of Death. Mil manhandles her in the corner…as Fenix grabs the mysterious stone which controls him. He whacks Muertes in the head with the stone! Then kisses Catrina again! LICK OF DEATH ON MIL!
Konnan stands in the rain, as a video package promises that ‘revenge is coming’
Ivelisse has marched into Cueto’s office with the laughable claim that beating Angelico makes her #1 contender to the LU Title. Dario laughs it off and puts her in a rematch with Angelico next week, and makes Son Of Havoc guest referee for it…
Prince Puma is in training, perhaps for his pending title defence against Cage. Alberto El Patron admires his work, but warns him he’ll need to be more aggressive if he wants to beat The Machine. Oh, and if he does survive that then Alberto wants a shot at the belt too…
Big Ryck vs Sexy Star
Both of these individuals have beef with The Crew, but don’t play nice with others and want the chance to face Castro, Cisco and Bael on their own. Since both want this ‘prize’, El Jefe sensed an opportunity and is making them compete for it. The winner gets the handicap match with The Crew. Is there anyway Star can overcome the astonishing size difference here?
Ryck urges Sexy to lay down…then stands there looking annoyed when she refuses and throws ineffective right forearms in his face. She tries a flying crossbody instead, and actually takes Ryck off his feet! Sadly he then kicks out so forcefully she actually gets propelled straight out of the ring! Ryck teases giving her the Book Of Ezekiel…but instead muscles her to the deck and holds her shoulders down for a more sporting pinfall at 01:52
Rating - DUD - I still don’t think Lucha Underground are getting it right with their presentation of Sexy Star. She’s supposed to be a champion of intergender wrestling and competing on an equal footing with male athletes…yet she never ever gets presented as on their level, and every one of her opponents treats her like a joke. I’m not saying she should have an ‘even’ match with Big Ryck, but I am querying why the hell this was booked in the first place. She looked totally silly flailing around like a child in front of him, then lost without him actually hitting a single move on her. I’m unsure how this promotes Sexy Star, intergender wrestling or even Big Ryck at all. And all of that is before you get to the ridiculous fact that they are fighting over the ‘prize’ of fighting three men termed ‘rabid dogs’ in a handicap match!
The Crew surround the ring almost as soon as the match ends ready to ambush Ryck. Star tries to help and she too gets beaten senseless…
Alberto El Patron vs Texano
Both of these men made their first appearances in The Temple three weeks ago. El Patron was given an open microphone by Dario Cueto as part of his signing bonus, but had his time curtailed by Texano who has travelled from Mexico looking to avenge the loss of the AAA Mega Heavyweight Title to El Patron. Payback on Alberto is his sole motivation for being in Lucha Underground, and he hasn’t had to wait long to get that opportunity. Presumably a win here would give him plenty of ammunition to petition the Triple A office for a rematch at the title too.
Texano tries to use his power to negate El Patron’s height advantage, and puts him on the ground early after a cheap series of boots to the face. Alberto’s response is to roll back the years with a running hurricanrana! He tosses Tex to the floor for to nail a tope suicida up the aisle. Texano takes advantage of the environment outside the ring though; planting the AAA Champion with a DDT on the floor then drilling his skull into the ringpost. Those shots slow AEP meaning this time as he runs across the ring Texano is able to drop him with a flat dropkick to the sternum. He wants to make a statement by using Alberto’s own tactics against him…so starts attacking the arm, stretching it hard around the ringpost. El Patron hits a superplex despite that, but has taken so much punishment that he struggles to get back to his feet. Eventually he does land the Backstabber for 2 only for Tex to duck the low superkick and hit straight back with a spinebuster. He exposes a turnbuckle bolt and as the referee attends to that Texano pulls out his bullrope; using it to batter Patron around the head. Double stomp by Alberto to keep him at bay! Rompe Destinos countered to the LIGERBOMB by Texano! ARMBREAKER! SUPERKICK! Texano kicks out! He grabs at the bullrope again…but his path is blocked by El Patron and a tornado DDT. Alberto DESTROYS Texano with the bullrope, leading to a DQ at 12:18
Rating - *** - Not the most imaginative of finishes, and not the first time Lucha Underground has booked their way into progression of a feud with a frustratingly uninspired non-finish. The match before the aforementioned lousy finish was a welcome and enjoyable change of pace though. Without giving away all of the family silver these two presented a believable and relatable ‘heavyweight’ clash, with a drastically different pace to a lot of other high profile LU matches from the likes of Mundo, Puma, Fenix and Drago. They didn’t have to break their backs or fly all over The Temple yet still came off as real stars. I’d have liked to have seen a little more of a story told…but it certainly always felt like this was a grudge match between two real rivals, which was the main purpose.
Texano is flogged into the dirt by an irate El Patron, who stands tall despite technically losing his debut
Dario Cueto has summoned King Cuerno to his office. Mundo is fed up of being attacked from behind, so El Jefe is booking them into a Steel Cage Match next week. Cuerno promises to return with Mundo’s head stuffed and mounted…
Tape Rating - *** - I wasn’t a fan of the Big Ryck/Sexy Star segment, and was slightly confused that there was no mention of the cliffhanger surrounding Black Lotus’ abduction which Episode 16 ended on...but this show started and ended extremely well. Both the Fenix/Muertes and Alberto/Texano feuds have come about very organically and feel completely natural…and that helped ensure that even though both bouts here were very much ‘building’ to a bigger blow-off rather than our final destination, both of them had plenty of quality and are worth seeing.