Lucha Underground – Season One Episode 24 – 22nd April 2015
Trios Champions
The last four weeks of Lucha Underground programming have largely been building towards this episode, where we’ll see the first ever LU Trios Champions crowned. Promoter Dario Cueto views these new belts as prestigious prizes and has meddled heavily with his talent roster to secure a high profile line-up. Big Ryck brought in his cousin, The Mack, and associate Killshot to make-up the first finalist team. The second finalists are another Cueto brainchild – forcing bickering rivals Angelico, Ivelisse and Son Of Havoc into a team for his own amusement. The third team are a fearsome heel unit, with the silent hunter King Cuerno handpicking ‘The Machine’ Cage and the ultra-successful, newly-arrived rudo Texano to join him. One of those teams will make history inside The Temple tonight. Matt Striker and Vampiro are there to witness it, taped in Boyle Heights, CA.
Black Lotus is still training with her mysterious masked mentor, where she has been for the last eight weeks. She thinks she has learned enough under his tutelage and is now ready to fight, so he puts her to the test against a gang of shadowy thugs in a Kill Bill-esque training fight scene. Despite showing promising technique the sequence proves she is not yet ready…
Sexy Star vs Pentagon Jr.
Even the non-tournament action tonight comes to us directly as a result of events that transpired in earlier rounds. Sexy was forced (by Dario Cueto) to team with Pentagon in the tournament, but found him an unwilling and selfish comrade…who tried to break the arm of their other partner (Super Fly) when they lost. Star saved Fly on that occasion, and was rewarded only by being forced into a Mask vs Mask showdown with her friend by Cueto. She kept her mask, but then watched in horror as the evil Pentagon crashed the aftermath and broke Super’s arm at the second time of asking. Last week things escalated further when Penta tried to break ring announcer Melissa Santos’ arm too. Sexy was able to rescue her before the damage was done and is now putting her own body on the line to put an end to Pentagon’s violent ways.
Nice continuity shown as Melissa is limping this week, and applauds Sexy during her entrance whilst shows visible distress when introducing Pentagon. The crowd are amazingly hot for this! It’s a strong start for Star who explodes out of the blocks and hauls Penta down with strikes and stretches. Pentagon’s response is to f*cking PUNT her in the ribs! He superkicks her into the corner, but she shows courage to counter his cannonball senton to stomp his head into the turnbuckles. Again Penta comes back with a violent kick; this time to the base of the spine. Sexy tries to flip off the top rope, but is caught in a DOUBLE UNDERHOOK PILEDRIVER for 2! Sacrifice blocked! Star leaves the ring to recover before exploding back in to land a tilta-whirl DDT. TOPE CON HILO by Sexy! She drags herself back into the ring…only to be shutdown again with a POWERBOMB LUNGBLOWER COMBO! And still she refuses to be trapped in The Sacrifice. Pentagon tries to finish her off, but is countered into a lungblower by Sexy…and that’s enough for her to get a shock win at 07:03
Rating - ** - I’m rather torn on this one. On the one hand it’s the best Sexy Star has looked in her entire Lucha Underground tenure. Since her debut they’ve pushed her as this pioneering competitor who fights men as often as women, but inside the ropes made her look lucky, foolish and often completely inadequate compared to her male competition. Tonight she came off like a bad ass, surviving the best shots Pentagon had, continually countering his finishing move and finding a way to win. My problem with the match, however, is that I don’t view her character as worth going over Pentagon. Penta is a star, is completely unique and has come alive since running this arm-snapping path of rage character. Booking him to have a pretty even match with Sexy Star before losing clean, bearing in mind how bad Star has looked before, is devastating to his momentum. His reaction in The Temple was thunderous here, and he was as hot as ever following the attack on Melissa Santos last week. My view is he should have crushed Sexy Star – not put her over. My favourite parts of this were Sexy showing her courage and toughness whilst he beat the sh*t out of her…although I’m not sure what that says about me!
Johnny Mundo is training in the locker room, but is interrupted by Alberto El Patron for another tense conversation. He mocks Mundo for not being in the Trios Title finals, and for failing to beat Prince Puma in the finals of Aztec Warfare…then implies that he isn’t a guy who can grab the brass ring. Johnny shoves him away, so El Patron leaves still smirking.
NEXT WEEK – Drago challenges Prince Puma for the Lucha Underground Championship, but his career will be on the line at the same time,
King Cuerno/Texano/Cage vs Son Of Havoc/Ivelisse/Angelico vs Big Ryck/The Mack/Killshot – LU Trios Title Tournament Final
Ryck, Mack and Killshot were the first team to book their place in this match. Ryck brought in his cousin and a masked associate as his new crew after being stabbed in the back by Cortez Castro and Mr Cisco previously. Next were the unlikely trio of Havoc, ex-girlfriend Ivelisse and Angelico. As they feuded with Angelico the Havoc/Ivelisse relationship fell apart, and none of the three were winning many matches. Dario Cueto was not impressed and forced them to team up or leave The Temple. And despite struggling to get on the same page (Ivelisse actually walked out on the match) they beat Fenix, Drago and Aero Star to make it here. Cuerno, Texano and Cage probably enter as favourites, having survived a tough opening round match against Hernandez, Johnny Mundo and LU Champion Prince Puma; showing surprising amounts of skill and copious amounts of villainy to do so. This is fought under elimination rules; with only one member of the team needing to be pinned to constitute a full elimination of that trio.
Cage makes a beeline Killshot, the smallest man in the match, as the bell rings…but is thwarted as Kill and Angelico team up to drop him with kick flurries. DOUBLE suplex on them by the Machine! Cuerno and Texano show impressive teamwork to land a double lungblower combo on Angelico for 2. Ivelisse hurls abuse at her partner for that but is helpless on the apron as the Cuerno/Texano/Cage group successfully isolate both Ang and Killshot. Mack and Havoc get tags…SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY BIG WILLIE! Discus Lariat from Cage to Havoc! He starts down with Ryck in a battle of the bulls…and EASILY scoops up Big R for a slam! TOP ROPE MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR BY CAGE! Angelico flies off the apron to hit a flying knee on Texano, knocking him into Shaun Daivari (who is ringside again). Daivari attacks Texano and THROWS HIM THROUGH CHAIRS! Meanwhile Ryck MURDERS Ang with a lariat on the floor. KILL STOMP ON TEXANO! In a huge shock, Killshot pins Texano at 08:03 to eliminate his team. Ryck, Mack and Kill are on the same page and use that unity to isolate Angelico. Ivelisse looks to have injured her ankle as she can barely walk, whilst Havoc doesn’t seem remotely interested in getting onto the apron to help his partner either. Somehow Ang fights away from the two big men…only to find his path to a tag blocked with a Lumbar Check from Killshot. STANDING C4 by Kill for 2! He sets Havoc up for a reverse super rana but SOH clings to the ropes. Ivelisse genuinely can’t walk, but somehow climbs the ropes to hit a TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR ON RYCK AND MACK! THEY CATCH HER! TOPE SUICIDA BY HAVOC TO TAKE THEM DOWN! FALL OF THE ANGELS ON KILLSHOT! ANGELICO WINS! It’s over at 13:43 (shown)
Rating - *** - At times this wasn’t overly fluent and definitely felt like nine competitors who don’t have much experience teaming up trying to piece something together. This was miles away from the kind of speed and elaborateness that promotions like Dragon Gate can produce in set-piece multi-man environments like this. But, once again credit goes to Lucha Underground’s writing for keeping things interesting. I don’t really care much for Daivari, but putting Killshot over Texano was a huge surprise. Texano has been a top guy in AAA, so having him put over a mysterious unknown in only his second ever LU match instantly gives us a new star on the rise. M-Dogg/Matt Cross has floated around on the indies for a long time without really enjoying the kind of success he’d have liked. But going under a mask and allowing the LU team to write for him has revitalised his career. Against all the odds this dysfunctional three-way angle with Ivelisse and Angelico has really captured the imagination of the Believers – who went crazy when they won. Ivelisse obviously got badly hurt somewhere in there too, so to drag her ass up the ropes to hit that dive at the end showed amazing courage. Compared to some of the other major event matches LU have run (Grave Consequences, Aztec Warfare) but it was constant action, certainly never felt boring, and felt to a real feel good finish.
Dario Cueto emerges from his office, completely flabbergasted that Ivelisse, Angelico and Havoc pulled off that victory. But he has one more surprise to announce – it’s that their first defence is right now, in a No DQ Match against The Crew!
Son Of Havoc/Ivelisse/Angelico vs Cortez Castro/Mr Cisco/Bael – LU Trios Title No DQ Match
Once again the twisted mind of El Jefe takes us to unexpected and violent places. Castro, Cisco and Bael are known to be in his pocket and were conspicuous by their absence from the line-up of the original tournament field. They now do get their chance to be Trios Champions…in a no rules environment, against a team who have already competed once, with one member who is competing on what looks to be a busted ankle. In other words, The Crew are red hot favourites!
The Crew swarm the ring and maul the battle-weary champions. Ivelisse looks in agony as Castro beats her into the ring apron, and it’s quite uncomfortable to watch. She falls back into the ring, completely unable to stand and left at the mercy of Cortez wielding a Singapore cane. Havoc rescues his ex-girlfriend, and takes the beatings on her behalf by taking a bootscrape flurry in the corner. Bael and Angelico fight up The Temple steps, onto the balcony then onto the roof of Cueto’s office! KENDO STICK CAMEL CLUTCH from Castro to Ivelisse! BRAINBUSTER OFF THE GUARDRAIL from Cisco to Son Of! Somehow he survives that and hops onto the rails for a FLYING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! ANGELICO HITS A RUNNING DIVE OFF THE ROOF OF CUETO’S OFFICE INTO THE F*CKING RING! HOLY SH*T! The crowd goes absolutely nuts! On one leg, Ivelisse grabs the Kendo stick and NAILS each member of The Crew. FLYING DOUBLE STOMP BY ANGELICO! SHOOTING STAR PRESS BY HAVOC! THEY RETAIN! It’s over at 06:39
Rating - **** - I get accused of over-rating Lucha Underground matches all the time, so I’m sure this will be no exception, but I loved every second of this. Sometimes pro-wrestling doesn’t need to be about pristine technique, flawless selling or sixty minute broadways. It’s supposed to be about emotion, drama and physical theatre…and did this match ever have those qualities in abundance!? Ivelisse taking a beating on a broken ankle was, again, a phenomenal display of toughness. The Angelico dive spot was all over Twitter the day after this originally aired, and it still looks stunning three years later. And the emotion in the building as Ivelisse, Havoc and Angelico put aside all their differences to overcome injustice, unfairness and seemingly insurmountable odds was palpable. The place EXPLODED with their victory in a way I don’t think it has for anything else in LU’s brief history.
They actually dedicate several minutes of run-time (on a show which runs less than 45-minutes those are very precious) to the new champs’ celebrations which only add to how special the moment feels. And credit to the three of them too, as despite an incredible ovation from the audience they do not break character; each celebrating separately rather than together, and shoving each others arms away when invited to raise them as a team in the middle of the ring.
SIDENOTE – I read in an interview that Ivelisse actually broke her ankle in rehearsals for this match earlier in the day, therefore actually contested everything we witnessed here with a severe injury. I’m actually a little torn on how I feel about that. I think she’s an amazing talent, and I’m in awe of her toughness to simply strap up her leg and go wrestle for twenty incredibly dramatic minutes despite such a serious break. But Lucha Underground is an expensive production, presumably with plenty of staff and the like. Was there no opportunity to spot how badly hurt she was and stop her going out there? Should she not have been protected from herself and made to sit out? And similarly, was her decision to compete a selfish act, which now leaves Lucha Underground with new champions who can’t actually defend their belts as she’s injured? In truth this main event was an incredible moment to witness, and I don’t know if anything they could have rewritten on the fly could have felt as emotionally rewarding as watching her survive the leg injury, and her team overcome all the odds to score a memorable victory. But I am amazed she was allowed to put herself in this position…
Tape Rating - *** - I’m cautious about going too high on my rating for this episode, since I think some people may not like it as much as I did. Starting with the opening match, I actually really liked the wrestling that Sexy Star and Pentagon Jr. gave us…but I absolutely loathed the booking and the finish left a sour taste in my mouth. The Trios Title Tournament final was a lot of fun and had some great moments, but fell a little short of the epic bout LU were looking for (and have delivered with these event matches in the past). The bonus main event was thrilling however. If you’re a fan of the LU style and picked the show up later in their run then it is well worth going back to check out. Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay here is that, in an almost ECW-esque manner, the rabid, cult-ish atmosphere the fans created hugely enhanced the in-ring action.