Lucha Underground – Season One Episode 23 – 15th April 2015
Fire In The Cosmos
Last week a number of combustible personalities threatened to explode. Drago and Aero Star could barely control their growing dislike for each other when teaming as part of the Trios Title Tournament, and six men who will meet in the tournament this week completely overshadowed a Lucha Underground Championship main event between Prince Puma and King Cuerno. Tonight the ramifications of those outbreaks of violence will be seen, as the Drago/Aero Best Of 5 Series comes to a conclusion, and the final entrant into the finals of the Trios Championship Tournament will be decided as Puma, Hernandez and Johnny Mundo face Cuerno, Texano and Cage. Matt Striker and Vampiro provide commentary from Boyle Heights, CA.
Dario Cueto meets Aero Star on the roof of The Temple. He questions Aero’s motivations, and leaves with a reminder that ‘everything in my Temple has a price’…
King Cuerno/Texano/Cage vs Prince Puma/Hernandez/Johnny Mundo
The winners join the teams of Big Ryck/The Mack/Killshot and Ivelisse/Son Of Havoc/Angelico in the finals to crown the first ever LU Trios Champions. As we saw during last week’s main event, there is plenty of bad blood between these six. Puma and Cage have gone to war multiple times already in the short history of the promotion. Mundo and Cuerno contested a brief but violent rivalry which culminated in Lucha Underground’s first ever Steel Cage Match. Cage blames Hernandez for costing him his shot at the LU Title too. There’s even dissension on the side of the Lucha Underground Champion as well. Puma’s manager Konnan doesn’t trust Johnny Mundo and has never liked the mutual respect he and Prince share. Hernandez is Konnan’s old LAX running buddy and the man he has brought in to watch Puma’s back – will tensions rear their heads between Mundo and Hernandez? Will Johnny’s ego and desire to be Lucha Underground Champion damage his ability to be a good partner to Puma here?
Hernandez is making his in-ring debut for LU but looks supremely confident as he squares up to Cuerno. He easily dismisses all of King’s offence and gives him a colossal press slam which sends the Hunter running for cover. Mundo and Puma throw some tandem strikes at Texano, as the camera cuts to former WWE and independent worker Shawn Daivari sitting at ringside for some reason. The heels try to isolate Puma but can’t keep him pinned down and soon Hernandez is back dishing out more immense power moves. Tex lands a spinebuster on Johnny for 2! He then puts a half crab on the leg that Cuerno inflicted damage to during their rivalry – which the announcers pick up on and is a nice touch. Mundo runs through an awesome fight-scene near-miss sequence to escape the clutches of his opponents, bringing Prince in for some elaborate kicks. AIR MEXICO BY HERNANDEZ! Mundo and Puma stop Cuerno hitting the Arrow tope and give him a double superkick on the floor. STEREO CORKSCREW PESCADOS BY PUMA AND MUNDO! All six men pile back into the ring and start sprinting around at INSANE speed as the crowd goes nuts! SPRINGBOARD 450 FROM PUMA TO CAGE gets 2! Benadryller blocked…Discus Lariat ducked…so Cage lands a pop-up powerslam! SPRINGBOARD SPEAR from Johnny to Texano! Thrill Of The Hunt blocked with a roll-up by Puma for 2…as on the outside Texano knocks Mundo out with the bullrope! BULLROPE PUNCH ON PUMA! THRILL OF THE HUNT! Cuerno pins the champ! His team advance at 10:29
Rating - *** - I appreciated that these six guys got a little more time and thus were able to build a little more delicately to some of the bigger and more explosive sequences that came at the end. I’d argue that Cage was under-utilised (although we’ve seen a LOT of him in LU thus far), but everyone else absolutely nailed their roles. Hernandez is an imposing but limited big man, so hiding him in a six man like this where he can throw smaller people around like confetti is the perfect use for him. Cuerno got to look like a methodical bad ass like always, Texano continues to look like a classical rudo (something LU doesn’t necessarily have that many of), whilst Puma and Mundo have been the poster-boys of the promotion since the very first episode and continue to shine accordingly. I thought the finish was refreshing as it made two men who looked relatively weak in the way they lost their previous feuds (Cuerno and Texano) look intensely threatening again. I really like King Cuerno too, so I’m hoping a win over the champ will entitle him to another title shot in future too.
Dario Cueto emerges from his office with a smirk on his face. He is excited about crowning new Trios Champions next week, and wants a sneak preview right now. An impromptu triple threat featuring a member of each finalist team is hastily booked, and we go to commercials with Cuerno, Texano and Cage all arguing about who will represent them.
Cage vs The Mack vs Son Of Havoc
I suppose this would explain why Cage was the least utilised of the six men in the previous match. As Cueto just outlined, this is to serve as a preview for the finals of the Trios Title Tournament next week – when Cage, Cuerno and Texano will join Mack, Killshot and Big Ryck, plus Havoc, Ivelisse and Angelico to crown the first champions. Cage is at a disadvantage here having already competed, but is the most physically dominant of the three. Mack has some size to him as well of course, but is making his singles debut for Lucha Underground so therefore has a new environment to get used to. Son Of is technically on a hot streak, having pinned Angelico in his last singles outing and also won the qualification match for his team a couple of weeks ago.
Havoc is dwarfed by the other two men but is wildly more popular with the Believers. Mack drops Cage with a running neckbreaker and keeps the beatings coming with a slingshot dropkick in the corner. SOH gets involved with a standing moonsault for 2. The Mack lands an exploder suplex, but is caught on the top rope by Havoc. FRANKENSTEINER…sending Mack into a somersault senton on Cage! Willie then returns the favour on the masked man from earlier and hits a standing moonsault of his own. Havoc powerbombs Cage and Mack into a Temple Of Doom, which is a bit silly. Surely they could’ve planned that spot a little better? The crowd are right behind him though and he tries a tope suicida on Cage…only to be CAUGHT and suplexed onto the floor. Mack stops Cage hitting Weapon X, before Son Of misses the SSP! WEAPON X on Havoc! The Machine wins at 05:56
Rating - * - I wasn’t a big fan of this one. Son Of Havoc produced a few spectacular moments, but on the whole it felt awkward, clunky and rather poorly laid out. Two of these guys have worked extensively in PWG and it felt a little bit like a Reseda spotfest, but rather than an intimate, vocal crowd cheering their every move Cage and Mack were largely greeted by silence. Spot followed spot followed set-up spot with very little to connect anything together and nothing to really draw you into the action. Lucha Underground has SO many brief little sprint matches like this. The good, memorable ones are those that give you a reason to care about the action and I simply never felt that. Here’s hoping the tournament finals next week are better.
Shawn Daivari gives that a standing ovation. Are LU bringing him in? Is there seriously a spot on the roster for him? And why on earth are people applauding him so?
Dario Cueto admits that Drago has impressed him. He reminds the Dragon that a Unique Opportunity is at stake, and plays more mind games with him as we prepare for the main event.
Pentagon Jr. invades the ring, and instructs Melissa Santos to announce that he is making another ‘sacrifice to his master’…AND IT’S HER! She screams in terror as he makes a grab for her arm, and even Vampiro motions to get up from the announce booth! Sexy Star runs in before Vamp needs to do anything however, and saves Melissa before Penta can break her arm. A smarmy Dario Cueto replaces her as ring announcer for the main event.
Aero Star vs Drago – Best Of 5 Series Match 5
It started out as a competitive rivalry where they traded wins and showed great respect to each other. El Jefe liked their chemistry as opponents so much he converted their series to a Best Of 5, and stoked the fires of ambition by putting one of his ‘Unique Opportunities’ up for grabs for the victor. Competition intensified, the score now stands at 2-2, and the level of dislike between the two men has escalated to such an extent that it essentially cost them their place in the Trios Championship Tournament when they couldn’t get on the same page and finally succumbed to defeat to the Ivelisse/Havoc/Angelico team. The last ‘Unique Opportunity’ saw Mil Muertes granted the #20 spot in Aztec Warfare, but what makes them so unique is that there is always a twist to the plot. The loser of that last ‘Unique Opportunity’ match (Fenix) entered Aztec Warfare first; a cautionary tale for both men tonight…
An early brainbuster puts Drago right into the ascendancy…and unlike earlier matches he lurches to the ground alongside his rival and looks to work some submissions to grind home his advantage. Outside-in springboard senton brings Star back into the equation, but as he tries another move off the ropes Drago tree of woe’s him to hit a baseball slide. Aero knocks his rival out with a springboard dropkick, and dives out after him with the BACKWARDS SPRINGBOARD SENTON! Striker and Vampiro both note the (relatively) slower pace to this one and attribute it to the weeks of damage they’ve done to each other. Drago hits a swinging front slam then a swinging DDT in his quest to slow the pace even further, only for Star to quicken things right back up by running the ropes into a seated hilo across the back! Springboard Splash – the move that has earned him two prior wins – lands, but only gets 2 on this occasion. Back to the outside we go; not with a dive from Drago but instead with a dropkick to the leg then a basic body slam on the floor. He pulls a table out from under the ring, and Dario Cueto is essentially applauding him for doing so! Aero turns the tables and sets Drago up on it! ROPE RUN SPRINGBOARD SPLASH FROM THE RING, THROUGH THE TABLE, TO THE FLOOR! Striker, Vampiro, Cueto, Daivari…everyone marks out for that! Both men are slow to emerge from that car crash, and return the ring going for the kind of flash pins which saw Drago win match #4. They trade weary forearms, before Drago explodes with the FLIPPING DDT! DRAGON’S TAIL! DRAGO WINS! He takes the series victory at 10:16
Rating - **** - Probably an overly generous rating, but this was by a distance the best and most substantive match of the series. The references to the previous matches were well-done, the way in which both had altered their approaches since match #1 were logical, the table spot towards the end was utterly insane and was the first time any of their matches really had The Temple rocking. The finish was a little sudden and at times it did feel very rehearsed and artificial. However, given the promotion they are competing in this was, stylistically, a very strong main event combining the action and highspots with the kind of emotive substance that I just said was lacking in Cage/Mack/Havoc. In my opinion Drago has shown a greater range of skill and story-telling in the series, comfortably able to throw the dazzling aerials around, but also competently showing greater degrees of anger and strategy within the bounds of his ‘dragon’ character. He has got more aggressive and grounded as the series has worn on. Aero Star realised his flying skills are what gives him the edge on Drago so has gotten more and more ambitious with each passing match, whilst the Dragon’s goal has been to close him down, minimise the distance and keep him grounded. Sometimes you have to work to find it, but amongst the spot chicanery there really is some awesome in-ring story-telling to be found in this company.
Drago helps Aero to his feet, and the two show respect to each other once again at the culmination of their series. Dario Cueto steps into the ring to reveal the Unique Opportunity – and it is that Drago is getting a shot at Prince Puma’s Lucha Underground Title. But with a catch; if he loses he is banished from The Temple for life!
Tape Rating - *** - There’s a definite hiccup in the middle of this episode with the misfire that was the triple threat prelude to the Trios Title finals, but everything else on this show really delivered. The 6-man that started the show, and the Drago/Aero war that finished it were real spectacles in very different ways. Pentagon’s angle took it’s most intense and exciting twist yet as he pursued Melissa Santos (the first time she has been involved in Lucha Underground storylines) – and even teased getting Vampiro physically involved too. If you’re not watching every episode and/or aren’t a big fan of the Drago/Aero Star series then this show is skippable…but skipping a show in an episodic series which flows so smoothly from one week to the next seems a real shame to me.