Lucha Underground – Season One Episode 33 – 24th June 2015
Death vs The Dragon
Two weeks ago Dario Cueto announced Ultima Lucha as a season-ending spectacular event, and promptly started trying to meddle with his performers in order to get the matches that he wanted to see. He’d wanted Johnny Mundo to be his franchise player and champion, so gave him an entire episode to take the belt from Prince Puma in an absolute classic last week. Puma retained though, meaning he currently doesn’t have the champion he wants going into the biggest shows he has promoted. He also doesn’t have the challenger he’d like either, after the man he’d banished from The Temple – Drago – used a loophole in his own ruling against him to not only regain his roster spot, but also earn a championship match at Ultima Lucha. Catrina and Mil Muertes aren’t happy with the current situation either, and have forced El Jefe into making Drago defend his #1 contendership against Mil in our main event this evening. Will it be the immortal Man Of A Thousand Deaths, or the Dragon who go to Ultima Lucha? Vampiro and Matt Striker are in Boyle Heights, CA to find out.
Striker and Vampiro start the show by announcing that the hotly-anticipated rematch between Johnny Mundo and Alberto El Patron has been booked for Ultima Lucha.
Sexy Star vs Super Fly
These two were friends, but then were forced to complete in a Mask vs Mask Match by Dario, which Sexy wound up on the winning end of. Super Fly initially seemed respectful of the decision and unmasked willingly…but in the weeks that followed it was revealed he had stopped talking to Star. He returned to The Temple a couple of weeks ago to cost her the Submission Match against her rival Pentagon Jr. As a result both athletes are coming for some payback tonight. A pre-match interview segment reveals that Fly has such an intense hatred for Sexy now that he even resents Vampiro for stopping Pentagon from breaking her arm.
Super is fittingly aggressive from the bell, pulling no punches and chasing his opponent around the ring to pummel her with big strikes. Something seems off about Star tonight; she seems to be moving in slow motion and almost blows basic things like running the ropes – and she is better than that. Almost everything they do looks Chavo/Blue Demon episode #1 levels of awkward, and even the usually hot Temple crowd are alarmingly subdued. Sexy picks it up with a perfect rope-run lucha armdrag…only to be slapped back down again by another massive palm strike. Once more she ups the stakes, and hits an UGLY flying crossbody to the floor. Seriously, she is so off the pace tonight. A lucha armdrag off the ringpost is a nice touch however, and she redeems herself with a much better crossbody block back into the ring. More sloppiness with a diving armdrag…before she awkwardly stands around wafting weak looking stomps at an uncooperative Super Fly. He eventually wins with a similarly awkward rolling powerbomb sequence at 07:27
Rating - DUD - This really wasn’t good; a contender for worst match of the season in fact. They didn’t click at all and it was pretty horrible to watch for the most part. Sexy Star was having a really off night and probably messed up more spots than she hit cleanly. For his part Super Fly didn’t look like he was helping her at all. His positioning looked weird, he didn’t seem to help her move him around…and for all his big talk in the interview he gave Vampiro his new found attitude didn’t amount to much more than standing around and unimaginatively slapping or kicking her. My biggest gripe with this, however, is how crap it made Sexy Star look. They just threw Pentagon’s undefeated streak and momentum under a bus to put her over…and they follow that up by having f*cking Super Fly, practically a non-entity for Season One, beat her with relative ease? A lot of Lucha Underground’s story-telling in Season One has been masterful…but their handling of Sexy Star has been almost uniformly abysmal.
Super Fly looks like even more of an idiot after the match by trying to tear Sexy’s mask off, but failing and just chucking her out of the ring instead.
We are set for a five-way match for an Aztec Medallion…but Pentagon comes out to antagonise Melissa Santos some more then refuses to compete. He doesn’t want a Medallion, he wants to offer his master something more; he wants to Sacrifice Vampiro! He gets right in Vamp’s face before officials separate them, and Penta leaves the arena. Vampiro returns to the announce booth again looking furious with himself for getting physically involved in the product…
Aero Star vs Marty Martinez vs Cage vs The Mack
The third Aztec Medallion is still up for grabs for the winner here, joining Jack Evans and the presumed-deceased Fenix who already have one. Cage and Mack have history going back to the Trios Tournament and aren’t big on each other…particularly since The Machine assaulted Willie in the locker room a couple of weeks ago. Marty The Moth is the x-factor here. On paper he is a rank outsider, having very quickly risen from deranged fanboy to part of the roster, despite his only match being a comprehensive loss to Prince Puma. He is big enough to hold his own with the likes of Cage and Mack however…so Aero truly is dwarfed by everyone else he opposes.
Vampiro is still silent and motionless as the match wins, presumably still wrestling with his internal demons. Marty trying to pal up with Star only to have the Spaceman whip him over with a headscissors is quite fun. Their thunder is stolen by Mack and Cage lugging the sh*t out of each other however. FLYING MOTH DIVE by Martinez! TRIPLE SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY AERO! He tries to take flight again, but this time is caught by Cage and THROWN back over the top rope into the laps of Mack and Marty. It seems Aero is trying to win this match exclusively with springboard moves though, as seconds later he’s back on the ropes again to hit a springboard dropkick (and then a springboard senton) on Willie for 2. He’s so small it just isn’t doing enough damage however and Mack soon squashes him with the Samoan drop/standing moonsault combo. Cage makes it worse by back suplexing him into the apron, whilst Striker makes idiotic comments about The Moth having proven himself inside the ring. WHEN?!?! He shows some of his ‘Aztec Pride’ with a springboard Moth armdrag for 2…before Mack hits back with a pop-up elbow. DISCUS LARIAT from Cage to Mack for a HOT nearfall! Aero Star tries some moves which aren’t off the ropes, so it doesn’t count and Cage duly ignores his offence. The Machine crawls through the ropes…where Big Willie gives him an EXPLODER SUPLEX ON THE APRON! FROG SPLASH TO THE FLOOR BY MACK! The Moth is ready to fly too! Sadly for him he takes too long and is in prime position for the TIGHTROPE WALK SUPER RANA! Aero wins with the springboard (obviously) splash at 10:17
Rating - *** - Aero Star does entertaining dives, but he is by some way the least interesting character of these four at this stage. The Mack and Cage are quietly putting together a solid little rivalry, and given that they are both big dudes who like to throw crazy spots around (and also familiar enough with each other having spent years in PWG together) you suspect they could put together a decent match. Their interactions were the clear highlight of this match. I quite like The Moth as well. The deranged fanboy act is a character we don’t yet have on the Lucha Underground landscape, but he’s also big and athletic enough to believably hold his own.
Trios Champions Angelico, Ivelisse and Son Of Havoc try to work out together, but as usual only end up arguing with each other. Catrina seductively interrupts, soon joined by copious special effects and the creepy presence of the Disciples Of Death…who beat the champs down. Mil Muertes is there too, leaving the broken bodies behind to begin his walk to the ring.
Already making his walk is Drago, but he doesn’t get to complete his entrance before he is attacked from behind by Hernandez. He is one of the men Drago beat to become #1 contender, and he viciously flogs Drago with a belt leaving him in a broken heap on the canvas just seconds before his match.
Drago vs Mil Muertes
As we stand right now Drago is #1 contender to the Lucha Underground Championship at Ultima Lucha. He won that right, and his career back, two weeks ago by overcoming King Cuerno, Cage and the aforementioned Hernandez. But as he celebrated Catrina had made her way into the boss’ office demanding an explanation for why Mil Muertes has been held out of the LU Title scene all season. Under a certain amount of duress, Cueto agreed to make Drago defend the #1 contendership here – meaning Prince Puma will defend against the winner of this one at the season finale.
Drago demands to be allowed to fight rather than relinquish his title match but cuts a forlorn figure as Muertes instantly manhandles him into the corner. Impressively he counters with a Shiranui…but Mil instantly gets up and throws him down once more with a suplex. Drago refuses to stay down and gamely looks to increase the pace…so Muertes SPEARS THE F*CK OUT OF HIM! Now bending double and struggling to stand, still Drago keeps fighting. SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR NAILED! And again Muertes gets right back up; this time throwing the Dragon through several rows of chairs! Drago tries to get to his feet…SO MUERTES SPEARS HIM INTO THE WALL! POWERBOMB ONTO THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! Vampiro actually has to help Drago up just so he can get his headset back…but in doing so feeds him to yet more punishment from the Man Of A Thousand Deaths. DRAGON’S TAIL…MUERTES COUNTERS AND CLUBS THE SH*T OUT OF HIM! ANACONDA VICE FLATLINER! Mil Muertes is going to Ultima Lucha at 10:04.
Rating - *** - Having Hernandez attack Drago before the match reeked of rushed booking trying to give two prominent luchadors something to do for Ultima Lucha, but the match that followed was really good. This had a lot of the qualities that the Muertes/Fenix matches had, in that we got to see Mil rampage around the Temple like an unstoppable behemoth whilst a smaller, more athletic wrestler takes crazy bumps for him and gets to look like a total warrior in the process by refusing to quit and continuing to fight. They built the drama so well here – with Drago perpetually trying something to fight Muertes, but constantly met by escalating levels of violence from his immortal adversary. You felt absolutely desperate for poor Drago when, having survived Hernandez and the horrific attack Mil dished out on the floor, he somehow found a way to hit the Dragon’s Tail in one last hopeless attempt at upsetting the beast…only for Muertes to easily roll out of it and smash him about some more.
Catrina administers The Lick to Drago…as Konnan and Prince Puma stride to the top of the Temple steps. Champion and challenger for Ultima Lucha stare each other down as the show ends.
Tape Rating - ** - The shocking opening match certainly dragged down my enjoyment of this episode, but everything that came afterwards went a long way towards redeeming it. Even if you don’t watch the whole show, finding ten minutes of your time to watch the hard-hitting Drago/Muertes main event shouldn’t be too challenging. Ultima Lucha is starting to take shape now – with Puma/Muertes for the title, Mundo/El Patron in a grudge match plus the seeds sewn for a Disciples Of Death Trios Title shot, Hernandez/Drago and Mack/Cage. Not every episode a TV show puts out can be solid gold – but as long as they continue to build our story and progress towards the end goal I have no issue.