Lucha Underground – Season One Episode 39 – 5th August 2015
Ultima Lucha: Part 2
It doesn’t feel like too long ago I was marvelling over Mundo vs Puma in the first ever main event, and now here we are at the season finale. We are about to see season-long storyline arcs blown off in spectacular fashion in one last critcally-acclaimed, feature-length episode. Will Pentagon succeed in ‘sacrificing’ the veteran Vampiro in order to learn the identity of his Master? Who will leave Ultima Lucha as the ‘pride of Mexico’ as two storied wrestling families collide when Texano and Blue Demon Jr. lock horns? Can Prince Puma survive the entire season as Lucha Underground Champion, or will the immortal Man Of A Thousand Deaths, Mil Muertes, prove to be one challenge he can’t overcome? And what of El Dragon Azteca, who defied an ancient prophecy to step into The Temple looking to rescue his protégé Black Lotus from the clutches of evil promoter Dario Cueto? For one last time we return to Boyle Heights, CA. Matt Striker is on commentary, and since Vampiro is competing tonight he is instead joined by respected combat sports broadcast journalist Michael Schiavello.
Johnny Mundo vs Alberto El Patron
No screwing around, we are coming straight out of the gates with arguably the biggest match of the entire show. Mundo and Alberto are, to the American audience, Lucha Underground’s top stars. Having achieved significant success in the WWE, their presence in The Temple adds legitimacy and credibility to the promotion, and from the moment Alberto stepped into Lucha Underground it has felt like they were on a collision course. Johnny liked being the ‘poster boy’ of the promotion, main eventing at will and clearly positioned as the top star. A top draw and champion all over the world, El Patron coming to The Temple changed that…and Alberto knew it. He teased Johnny for never having grabbed the ‘brass ring’, and backed up his words during their outstanding first back on Episode #26 by beating him. That caused Johnny to snap, eschewing the love and respect he had built up with the Believers and violently turning on El Patron; throwing him through a glass window whilst he was fighting Hernandez for #1 contendership to the LU Championship. Alberto would get his revenge, returning from injury during the infamous ‘All Night Long’ title match between Mundo and Puma to cost Johnny the belt. Two huge egos, but only one can leave satiated by victory on the biggest night in Lucha Underground’s history…
Mundo is fearful of the threat his opponent poses and spends the first minute trying to run away. He can only run for so long though; eventually Alberto catches him and smashes him into the wall of the very same office he was sent crashing into weeks ago. Johnny takes cover under the ring…then comes up throwing a handful of dirt and dust into El Patron’s eyes. With the AAA Champion on the deck Mundo doesn’t give him any respite – mounting him with strikes and knees; denying him the chance to get back to a vertical base. Fin Del Mundo blocked though, and Alberto counters with the inverted superplex. Now both looked winded from fighting at 100mph from the first bell…so stand dead-centre of the ring throwing punches. Alberto breaks that sequence with the Lungblower then lines up the Superkick he beat Mundo with last time! Tonight Johnny dodges and levels him with a roundhouse kick instead. ELEVATED LUNGBLOWER BY MUNDO! He’s stealing Alberto’s signature moves and almost beating him with them. But he MISSES a 450 splash, to be smashed over the top rope with a running clothesline. This is completely frantic action, which still doesn’t stop as Johnny counters an attempted tope suicida with a jumping knee. RUNNING PARKOUR DIVE TO THE FLOOR! El Patron’s face is bloodied and bruised…and he angrily storms back into the ring with ROMPE DESTINOS! Mundo makes the ropes! Kicks rain down on the bad arm instead only for Mundo to bate Alberto into whacking his own arm against the ringpost. HANGING DOUBLE STOMP BY MUNDO! Right in the ribs too! FIN DEL MUNDO! EL PATRON KICKS OUT! ARMBREAKER! SUPERKICK…BUT MUNDO DRAGS THE REF IN THE WAY! MOONLIGHT DRIVE COUNTERED TO ROMPE DESTINOS! JOHNNY TAPS! But the ref is unconscious so can’t see it. Mundo’s arm is hurting so much he’s almost in tears yet still he fights to his feet. HANGING ARMBAR IN THE ROPES! IT’S MELINA! MELINA IS HERE! SHE NAILS ALBERTO WITH THE AAA MEGA TITLE BELT! FIN DEL MUNDO! Johnny wins at 13:36
Rating - **** - An unrelenting and spectacular way to start a major show. This was completely different from their last match, which had a slower pace and told a more traditional story of two elite fighters trying to prove who the superior athlete was. Instead we had a fight between two guys who hated each other and wanted to beat their opponent senseless. Mundo antagonised and riled the tempestuous Alberto, and continually capitalised whenever he made errors. It was a vintage rudo performance from Johnny, and the perfect slimy heel foil for the rampaging El Patron who went all out to break his arm. The finish was overbooked, but given that El Patron was the AAA Champion giving him an element of protection was understandable, and LU luring Melina back onto a major pro-wrestling stage for the first time in several years was certainly a real coup. Another great match regardless of the finish, and a superb end to a fantastic season from two of the big guns on the Lucha Underground roster.
Melina and Mundo kiss in the middle of the ring…but have their Edge & Lita moment ruined by an irate El Patron. Credit to Johnny, he’s selling his arm through all of this! MUNDO SMASHES MUNDO THROUGH CUETO’S OFFICE WINDOW! Payback is a b*tch! Melina gets a spanking from Alberto…then rushes to tend on Johnny who is GUSHING blood.
SIDENOTE – Alberto El Patron opted to re-sign with the WWE so didn’t return for Season Two. Going out by putting Mundo over was a fitting way for him to end what has been an extremely respectable run with Lucha Underground. The Texano mini-feud was forgettable and it’s disappointing that we didn’t get to see him work more of the roster (Puma, Fenix and Pentagon Jr. all come to mind)…but on the whole he delivered exactly what El Rey, AAA and LU as a promotion needed him to. Every time he appeared in an episode he FELT like a big deal. He carried himself like a major star, made episodes he wrestled on feel like significant events…and crucially in his two major marquee matches with Johnny Mundo he delivered outstanding performances. He leaves with his head held high, and also wasn’t ‘written out’ with any sense of permanency (e.g. B-Boy/Bael). If the season-on-season diminishing budgets could stretch to cover his asking price, he’d definitely be welcome back into The Temple…
El Dragon Azteca rushes into the cells, where he hears the breathing of Matanza and finds the captive Black Lotus. He doesn’t know that Dario Cueto is there too though, and El Jefe appears to remind him that the punishment for breaking the ‘ancient treaty’ and entering his Temple is death. He acts like he’s going to unleash Matanza…but instead it’s Lotus who murders Azteca with the DEATH STRIKE to the spine from inside her cell. Evidently she believed Dario’s story about Dragon murdering her parents. Convinced of her loyalty, Dario releases Lotus from her cell. Apparently by killing Azteca she has started ‘a war’…meaning they have to flee and build a new Temple. Only he and Matanza can keep her safe...
Pentagon Jr. vs Vampiro – Cero Miedo Match
Say what you will about whether booking Vampiro to wrestle a marquee match in 2015 is smart, or voice your opinion on whether you think this is wasting the undoubted popularity of Pentagon – but the buzz around the building when Melissa announces this match is up next is palpable. The Believers want to see this as much as anything else on the card; the sign of a well-booked storyline. When Pentagon arrived in The Temple he was a joke. The least desirable of the trilogy also featuring Fenix and Drago, he lost matches, complained about being overlooked and sought a mentor who could reignite his career. Chavo Guerrero didn’t work, but soon after he found guidance in the form of a new, unseen ‘Master’…and never looked back. He unleashed a path of destruction across Lucha Underground, breaking arms and risking careers; pledging Sacrifice after Sacrifice to ‘the Master’. When Vampiro got involved to stop him breaking Sexy Star’s arm, Penta began to eye up his greatest ‘Sacrifice’ yet. His Master has promised to ‘reveal himself’ once Pentagon has proved his worth…and he thinks that will be tonight when he sacrifices the ‘living lucha legend’ (their words, not mine), Vampiro. In his late-40’s, well into semi-retirement having had multiple major spinal surgeries and recovering from a reported battle with cancer, does the ageing warrior Vampiro have anything in his tank to stop the younger, hungrier and extremely dangerous man he faces?
Vampiro comes out dressed as a demonic Pope and looks utterly terrifying. But his entrance is so elaborate that it pisses Pentagon off…and he starts the match by whacking the veteran across the spine with a steel chair. More chair shots follow, making it immediately apparent that Penta has no qualms about going after Vamp’s back and neck. Vampiro looks for respite in the crowd (and already looks completely gassed by the way), only for Penta to give chase and beat him through audience. POWERSLAM ON THE EXPOSED CONCRETE FLOOR! Then he starts SMASHING CHAIRS INTO VAMP’S SPINE! The ref tries to stop the match and get some medical attention, only to get shoved away so Penta can choke at him some more with electrical cable. Doctors eventually try to stretcher Vamp out…except the old-timer doesn’t want to go! He defiantly hobbles back into the ring and has the crowd going nuts as he lands a spinning heel kick…then pours thumbtacks all over the canvas! BODY SLAM INTO THE TACKS! VAMPIRO MISSES A CORKSCREW SENTON – AND LANDS IN THE TACKS TOO! Pentagon is f*cking pissed now! HE SMASHES LIGHT TUBES OVER VAMP’S HEAD! Then he starts CARVING into Vamp’s skull when he refuses to go down. Still Vampiro stands, despite endless stiff strikes raining down on him. HE HIPTOSSES PENTA THROUGH MORE LIGHT TUBES! He then shows the ultimate disrespect by ripping a huge hole in Pentagon’s mask. LIGHT TUBE SMASH INTO PENTAGON’S EXPOSED FACE! Both of these guys are covered in blood and climbing the ropes! Vampiro grabs Penta…BELLY TO BELLY SUPERPLEX INTO THE GLASS AND TACKS! The masked man is on the run and Vamp wants to finish him off – by bringing out a table and lighter fluid. But Penta grabs him…JUDO THROW THROUGH THE FLAMING TABLE! VAMPIRO IS ON FIRE! HOLY SH*T! Stage hands legit have to extinguish his clothes, before Pentagon covers (Cero Miedo is also Falls Count Anywhere it seems) for an extremely bloody victory at 10:56 (shown).
Rating - **** - I’m well aware this style of wrestling isn’t for everyone, and that many will have hated the spectacle of an extremely talented young luchador wasting his time ‘garbage wrestling’ with a barely mobile old-timer they haven’t seen since WCW. But, for all my reservations about booking this, I’ve invested in the story – and the match delivered exactly what I wanted. Pentagon has been a sadistic maniac all season, so it only stands to reason that he’d be a violent sadist in the biggest match he’s had. Vampiro rightly acted like a man who was fighting for his life. His opponent was trying to cripple and break him – so he had to reach deep into his own dark soul just to survive. Yes it was bloody, trashy, exceedingly un-athletic and needlessly violent…but I will staunchly argue and defend that they were telling a damn fine story here and merely used the blood, guts and gore as an accessible, achievable vessel through which they could tell it. I completely understand if you didn’t like this, and I’m not going to stand here and say it was my favourite match of the season. But it was a spectacle and substantially over-delivered on what I was expecting, on the biggest show of the year, in front of an amazing crowd. My hats off to the guts and toughness of both men.
We’re not done though. Vampiro screams at Pentagon and demands that he finish the job he came here to do. He extends the arm, so Pentagon can give him THE SACRIFICE! Penta calls on his Master to reveal himself…and to the surprise of everyone Vampiro grabs a mic and announces that he has been Pentagon’s hidden teacher. He proclaims that Pentagon is now ‘ready’…
Fenix vs Jack Evans vs Aero Star vs Bengala vs King Cuerno vs Sexy Star vs Big Ryck – LU Gift Of The Gods Title Match
Who feels sorry for these guys having to follow those last two matches? We now know what is at stake for the seven Aztec Medallion holders here. They are competing for the ‘Gift Of The Gods’ Title, which in turn will give them the opportunity to challenge the Lucha Underground Champion whenever they’d like. What an assortment of talent we have competing here too. Fenix has been a stand-out of the season, but is still recovering from the devastating injuries he suffered at the hands of Mil Muertes in their Death Match weeks ago. Big Ryck was a top star early on, but Dario Cueto believes he has lost his focus and needs to prove why he warranted such a major investment way back during those initial episodes. King Cuerno has also hovered on the periphery in the last couple of months, having failed to recover from high profile losses to Johnny Mundo in a Steel Cage and Prince Puma for the LU Title. Is this the springboard he needs to relaunch his career? Sexy and Aero, on the flip side, come in arguably in their best form all year…whilst newcomers Evans and Bengala would be considered wildcards, simply because we haven’t seen them compete in The Temple too often.
Ryck is wrestling in trunks for the first time all year, which looks extremely weird. He thins the herd by throwing body after body out of the ring with ease…so all six opponents turn round and gang up on him! Aero hits Déjà Vu on Fenix…STEP-UP SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! He tries another dive off the apron, but this time the Bird Of War catches him with a powerslam on the floor! SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP by Jack…misses everyone and leads to him getting punted by Cuerno. Sexy tried to dive at Bengala, only for the ‘endangered species’ to knee her in the vagina! Big R makes it worse by press slamming her over the top rope! Schiavello describing Ryck’s clumsy, clubbering striking as anything resembling ‘Muay Thai’ is extremely generous. Aero Star has vanished from proceedings, and reappears on the top damn balcony of The Temple (higher than anything Angelico has jumped off even!). SUICIDE DIVE FROM THREE STORIES UP TO THE FLOOR! Sexy wants a dive…but Marty The Moth is here! Holy sh*t does this guy ever love him some Aztec Medallion action! She tapped him out in mere seconds a couple of weeks ago and he wants payback! LA MISTICA! That has Marty running for cover again. TOP ROPE DIVE TO THE FLOOR BY SEXY! FLYING HEADSCISSORS ON RYCK TOO! But she turns her back on the Hunter…who snatches the chance to drop her with Thrill Of The Hunt. ROPE RUN DOUBLE JUMP CORKSCREW PRESS by Bengala! ARROW FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL! Bodies are scattered all over The Temple, so credit to Jack who tries to capitalise by isolating Aero and make him tap with a guillotine choke. BOOK OF EZEKIEL on Sexy! Delavar Daivari runs in next and destroys Ryck with a steel chair, apparently envious of his success. SPRINGBOARD 450 SPLASH by Evans! King Cuerno tries to snap Jack in half with his Dragon Surfboard…only for that to be broken with a springboard double stomp by Fenix. FIRE THUNDER DRIVER! Fenix wins! He is the inaugural Gift Of The Gods Champ at 12:12.
Rating - **** - This is perhaps a generous 4*, because after the intense action of our opening two matches this did feel a little more vapid and a lot more like a conventional highlight reel spotfest. But the overwhelming majority of it was clean as a whistle, you had seven competitors working extremely quickly and choreographing extremely complex little sequences, so the way they pulled it all together was undeniably impressive. Aero’s dive almost from the ceiling was amazing (and rather unfairly forgotten about by the end), Ryck looked as good as he has all year by manhandling six smaller workers at the same time, Sexy Star was as believable as she has been all season as the ultimate, gender-defying fighting queen, Bengala and Jack were good for a few high spots, Cuerno was decent but under-utilised (story of his season)…and Fenix was absolutely the right call to win, as he stood a chance of being Lucha Underground’s break-out star before he was mismanaged in the aftermath of Grave Consequences. Even the run-ins made sense in that they didn’t detract from the action substantially, and were entirely in keeping with stories told in the run-up to Ultima Lucha. I’m starting to sound like an LU fan-boy, but again I thought that despite some limitations this was another success.
The production team make a point of showing King Cuerno intensely and jealously staring at Fenix as he celebrates. Make a note of that – it will be important next year!
Texano vs Blue Demon Jr.
Do you still need toilet-break matches when it’s a TV show with commercials? This is the pay-off of the much-maligned ‘Mexico’ storyline and sees the battle between representatives of two famous Lucha Libre families, each claiming that they represent Mexico. This all started way back in the early episodes, when a frustrated Chavo Guerrero failed to recapture his major promotion glory days and looked over-the-hill in a sad defeat to the ‘legendary’ Blue Demon. Frustration turned to anger, and after violent attacks on popular Mexican stars like Demon, Sexy Star and Mascarita Sagrada – he was forced into exile after a warning from Konnan that the ‘families in Mexico’ were coming for him. We didn’t see Chavo for weeks, until he profited from the Black Lotus situation to trade her life for safety and Cueto-funded protection from ‘Mexico’. Finally, after failing to take the LU Title from Prince Puma, he was attacked by Texano – who announced that he was ‘Mexico’ and coming for payback. Blue Demon, also back in The Temple, mocked Guerrero…who in turn goaded Blue Demon as a past it has-been who ‘lives in Miami’ and needs Texano, a real Mexican representative, to fight his battles. Manipulated by Chavo, BDJ turned on Texano – with a petty, insecure insistence that it was he that was ‘Mexico’ and an insistence that they do battle here tonight. Confused? That’s because it isn’t very interesting, doesn’t make a huge amount of sense and was a storyline arc which represents one of the low-points of the series. Still, it gets Texano and Demon (prominent and popular stars in Mexico) on the show for the UniMas audience. ‘Due to his legendary status’, BDJ has requested that this match be No DQ as well.
Demon has The Crew with him, and is announced as ‘The Original Rudo’, ‘now residing in Miami, Florida’. Texano starts hot, fighting off Castro, Cisco and Demon…but unable to secure the win with the Ligerbomb because he is essentially fighting a 3-on-1 match. Chavo Guerrero limps in, injured and wielding a chair…and he nails Texano too! He apparently wants to make peace with ‘Mexico’ for his sins earlier in the Season; ceremonially handing Blue Demon the chair by way of an apology. BDJ whacks Texano with the chair once more – then covers for the win at 03:00.
Rating - DUD - Thankfully they kept it brief, and one should remember that LU had to book this on the fly when they couldn’t use Chavo because he got injured. When he first arrived in The Temple I really liked Texano. He seemed a great, simple, relatable villain and contrasted well with Alberto. But after being spectacularly jobbed out to El Patron his stock has slipped further and further. I didn’t like him randomly being turned into a de facto tecnico during his lousy feud with Daivari and he was never going to succeed getting sucked into the silly ‘Mexico’ storyline and lumbered with the ageing Blue Demon as an opponent. I’m thankful we haven’t had too much precious airtime wasted on these guys, I’ll give credit for using Chavo and making an attempt to close a storyline that has been running since the very inception of the show…now lets move on to give Texano and Chavo better things to do next time around.
Prince Puma vs Mil Muertes – LU Title Match
This is your Ultima Lucha main event. Puma has held the gold since Aztec Warfare way back on Episode 9, fighting off all challengers big and small, surviving Street Fights, All Night Long, dragons, hunters, machines, moths and everything in between. The rookie, descended from blood of the original Aztec tribes, raised Boyle Heights itself, has taken The Temple by storm – without speaking a word and under the tutelage of prominent Lucha Libre pioneer Konnan. But this is his gravest challenge yet, and one which many think he cannot survive. Mil Muertes, the immortal Man Of A Thousand Deaths, appeared to have been bumped off when Fenix literally killed him to win Grave Consequences. But it was all part of Catrina’s masterplan to harness Fenix’s power of ‘A Thousand Lives’ to enhance Mil’s power – and he returned to The Temple darker, more powerful, and more ominously unstoppable than ever before. He hasn’t been beaten, and has barely even bumped since returning; flanked by Catrina and her Disciples Of Death, he has marched at an unrelenting pace towards the summit of Lucha Underground. ‘All men, immortal or not, crave power’, Catrina told Dario Cueto when demanding this match. With the Disciples now Trios Champions (and El Jefe himself about to flee The Temple with Lotus and Matanza), if he can defeat Puma tonight he and Catrina truly will hold all the power in LU. Their task was made even easier when, two weeks ago, they unceremoniously killed off Puma’s mentor; wheeling the fallen Konnan away in the very casket that Muertes himself had been left for dead in. Prince Puma has been called ‘death-defying’ man times. He’ll need to live up that mantra in every sense of the word if he is to survive Ultima Lucha…
Instantly Puma makes an error in engaging Muertes in strikes and punches rather than maintaining distance and working his speed. He is punished by getting unceremoniously dumped out of the ring and mercilessly dragged into the crowd. They brawl across the bleachers with Prince gamely giving his best to hang in there with the monstrous challenger. Back at ringside, he literally picks up Catrina and starts USING HER AS A WEAPON! Her stiletto heels rattle Mil momentarily…so Muertes punishes him further with a nasty whip through the first three rows of chairs. Prince starts almost defying gravity to fight Muertes – back flipping off the wall then corkscrewing off the apron to knock him back with a flying enzi strike. He wants to use a table, but hasn’t done anything like enough damage to do so. Mil stops him with a POWERBOMB ONTO THE RING STEPS! Somehow Puma isn’t dead…and tries to take a run-up for a tope suicida. MID-AIR CHAIR SHOT TO THE FACE! That renders the champ unresponsive. Muertes now makes his first mistake and takes an age to set up a steel chair in the corner. It gives Puma valuable seconds to recover, which he profits from to counter an attempted German suplex into a standing double stomp. KNOCK-OUT PUNCH by Muertes! Spear attempted, but Puma leapfrogs sending Mil into the chair! BENADRYLLER 2POINT…gets 2! Phoenix Splash misses, Knock-Out Punch blocked…before Mil shuts Prince down once more with a powerslam. The champion rolls out of his clutches though, tumbling into a back flip kick! The atmosphere in The Temple is scorching as both fighters battle on the apron with the table positioned dangerously just below them. MUERTES HITS A SPEAR THROUGH THE ROPES, THROUGH THE TABLE! AWESOMEBOMB THROUGH THE TABLE WRECKAGE TOO! Back in the ring Prince tries to block the Flatliner…so Mil gives him a rolling Flatliner slam instead. And still the rookie champion refuses to quit. He swings kicks for all he’s worth then climbs the ropes going for broke! HE LANDS THE 630 SENTON! BUT IT BARELY GETS A 2-COUNT! 630 SENTON AGAIN…BUT MIL MOVES! MURDER SPEAR! FLATLINER! PUMA KICKS OUT! HE JUST WON’T DIE! Muertes is trembling with rage, balling up his fist and punching the champ for all he is worth. He snares Puma in the corner as the champ risks it all yet again. ROPE RUN AVALANCHE FLATLINER! IT’S OVER! Darkness descends onto The Temple, and Mil Muertes rises as your new champion at 17:39
Rating - ****1/2 - Not as universally acclaimed as Aztec Warfare, Grave Consequences or All Night Long…but I thought this was a classic match, standing up there to be compared with the very best matches the entire first season has produced. This blended a number of classic pro-wrestling story-telling themes together beautifully – good vs evil, size vs speed, power vs agility…you name it, this contained elements of it. These two men have barely said a word between them all year, yet conveyed incredible emotion as the intensity of this one continued to escalate. Puma fought heroically; a hometown rookie standing alone in the face of supernatural forces he couldn’t overcome yet refused to back down from. Muertes pummelled him from the outset (I loved how Puma instantly looked worse without Konnan in his corner, paying off the angle where they wrote Konnan out weeks ago), and constantly cranked up the violence as the champ defiantly brought the fight back to him at every turn. I could have done with them having a little more time so the big moments (like the table spot, or Puma’s horror bump on the steps) had room to breathe and could be sold more effectively…but that’s a minor gripe. By the time we reached the false-finishes at the end The Temple was a riotous place to be. You didn’t need to have watched the entire year of programming to ‘get this’. Yes the action was cutting-edge, but at it’s core this was old-fashioned pro-wrestling story-telling at it’s very best. I adored this one…
Muertes celebrates, as from a cloud of smoke Trios Champions the Disciples Of Death come to join him. Catrina holds the Death Stone aloft to herald the dawn of her ‘Age Of Death’…
What comes next is a STUNNING piece of film which wraps up storylines for the entire cast, whilst moving them into position for a possible Season 2 if approved. Dario Cueto and Black Lotus stuff bags full of cash from his office before fleeing The Temple, towing a trailer behind their car and offering us our first glance at ‘The Monster’ Matanza (his eyes only). Fenix admires the Gift Of The Gods Title before driving away…not knowing that King Cuerno is following him close behind. Marty The Moth has had a mental breakdown, is furious about people thinking he is a joke, and has apparently kidnapped Sexy Star. He promises to introduce his sister too. Son Of Havoc, Angelico and Ivelisse agree to return for their Trios Titles before biking away from The Temple. Drago and Aero Star extend the hand of friendship to each other, then share equally spectacular and supernatural exits towards the heavens. Vampiro promises to take Pentagon to a ‘much darker place’. The unseen hooded figure, the man we saw fighting in the streets in the very first cinematic montage of the series, apparently another protégé of El Dragon Azteca, sombrely dons his fallen master’s mask and spray-paints a huge question mark over the Lucha Underground banner. We end on the smiling face of Dario Cueto…
TO BE CONTINUED…
Tape Rating - **** - This feature-length episode was an emotional rollercoaster to get through, which packed in plenty and really did offer something for everyone. ‘Sports Entertainment’ fans got to see Alberto and Mundo tear it up, hardcore fans had the Vampiro/Pentagon bloodbath, spotfest lovers had the Gift Of The Gods Match, old-school Lucha Libre fans got to see Blue Demon Jr. compete…and it all built to a spectacular championship main event which was the embodiment of everything that made this first season of Lucha Underground so enjoyable. This is a big, ambitious project with a massive cast, a universe incredibly broad in scope…and therefore incredibly difficult to close off with a single episode, even a three-hour double-header. In many ways Ultima Lucha was as big and ambitious as Lucha Underground itself. Surely Vampiro wrestling in 2015 would be a mistake? Putting your two biggest stars in the opening match? Ending the season with the ‘hometown hero’ losing his title? On paper none of this makes sense. But it really worked. Blue Demon Jr. piss-break match excluded, they knocked this one out of the park. They reaped the rewards of a season of telling great stories, because they had an audience full of people who were fully invested in these characters they were watching compete. Lucha Underground is unorthodox and unlike any other pro-wrestling product out there. But at it’s heart all it has done is presented action people want to see, featuring characters they like, logically progressing from one situation to the next and making you care about their fates both in the ring and out. Congratulations to El Rey and Lucha Underground on a spectacular season finale which I can’t rate highly enough.
Top 10 Lucha Underground Season One Matches
10) Son Of Havoc/Ivelisse/Angelico vs Cortez Castro/Mr Cisco/Bael (LU Trios Title Ladder Match – Episode 28)
9) King Cuerno vs Drago (Last Luchador Standing Match – Episode 11)
8) Johnny Mundo vs King Cuerno (Steel Cage Match – Episode 18)
7) Johnny Mundo vs Prince Puma (Episode 1)
6) Alberto El Patron vs Johnny Mundo (Episode 26)
5) Son Of Havoc/Ivelisse/Angelico vs Cortez Castro/Mr Cisco/Bael (LU Trios Title No DQ Match – Episode 24)
4) LU Title Aztec Warfare Match (Episode 9)
3) Prince Puma vs Mil Muertes (LU Title Match – Episode 39)
2) Fenix vs Mil Muertes (Grave Consequences Match – Episode 19)
1) Prince Puma vs Johnny Mundo (LU Title All Night Long Match – Episode 32)
Where do I even begin in trying to sum up my thoughts on a spectacular, stunning and overwhelmingly enjoyable first season of Lucha Underground? Over recent months I’ve been getting more and more emails and comments asking me why I’ve been falling further and further behind on my ROH reviews. And I understand that – to many I’m the guy who does Ring Of Honor reviews. I am hugely grateful for that reputation, and I certainly still fully intend to catch up on ROH. But, to be frank – I just don’t enjoy the product like I used to. This isn’t an ROH column, so I won’t go into my thoughts on why, but that’s where my head is at. With a young family, a job which sees me travel plenty and work long hours my free/wrestling reviewing time is at a premium…and there is only one promotion which has had me actively excited to come back and watch their product; Lucha Underground.
There are so many ways one could choose to compliment Lucha Underground. You could praise the unique cinematic style, the bold and ambitious characters, or maybe you love the roasting hot crowd inside The Temple. To me it comes down to the power of good, thoughtful, old-fashioned story-telling. Whenever I review matches and shows I find myself talking about telling stories time and time again. That should be what pro-wrestling is all about. That’s the strength professional wrestling has over real-life combat sports. In MMA Ronda Rousey can get destroyed in mere seconds and have her reputation battered. In boxing PPV mega-money bouts can fizzle out in seconds, or drag out for endless anti-climactic rounds if one fighter or another sets out intent on spoiling. Wrestling is a work – so it should ‘work’ itself into positions where fans give a sh*t about what they are watching, then knock them dead with high quality action. For the most part, that was Lucha Underground’s great skill throughout Season One. I have never in my life enjoyed Vampiro as a wrestler, and his commentary work was, at best, rather strange. But I’ll be damned if, through the power of strong characters and well-executed story-telling, I wasn’t completely caught up in the drama of a gore-filled hardcore match between he and Pentagon by the time Ultima Lucha came around. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a single Ring Of Honor review of mine where I praised Ricky Reyes (Cortez Castro) or Matt Cross (Son Of Havoc) for their charisma, in-ring skill or my desire to watch them compete. Yet they were involved in among the most dramatic moments of the entire Season as they blew the roof off the building going after the Trios Championship.
Another skill Lucha Underground has showcased in abundance is ‘reinvention’. They continually took everything you thought you knew about pro-wrestling and presented their own unique slant on it. When WWE does whacky, zany characters it comes off as silly, campy and childish. Yet Lucha Underground has dragons, spacemen, immortals, teleporting face-lickers, lucha ghosts, hunters, tigers and more – and give no f*cks about that. Drago gets banished from The Temple, explodes into flames and flies off right in front of his boss…who doesn’t bat an eyelid. LU play these most ridiculous of situations in an entirely straight-faced manner, and is all the better for it. They are completely comfortable in this comic book world they’ve created for themselves, and actually some of their weakest moments have come when it comes to presenting ‘real’ characters like Sexy Star, Hernandez, Delavar Daivari, and anything to do with the ‘Mexico’ storyline. Their power to reinvent didn’t just stop at the abstract concept of ‘presentation’. In very real terms they could reinvent something you thought you understood. Aztec Warfare was a hugely innovative and exciting update on the age-old Royal Rumble concept. Casket Matches have almost become a joke…until Grave Consequences came along and delivered one of the best matches of the year. Converting the Iron Man Match into a TV-time-remaining episode concept was a brilliant idea. And perhaps the greatest of all reinventions – Dario Cueto, El Jefe, revolutionised what a ‘heel authority figure’ should be.
In the ring we saw some incredible moments, and were privileged to watch some genuinely incredible talents deliver remarkable things. Johnny Mundo, for many the MVP of the first season, was consistently excellent (against a variety of opponents) from the very first episode, and his presence gave the promotion an air of legitimacy when many were ready to write it off as another Wrestling Society-X farce. Ricochet, a name with value and reputation on the indies and in Japan, bravely came in and allowed himself to be repackaged as a silent rookie character. It could have been a career-killing move, but thanks to good writing (eventually) and a number of stunning in-ring performances he too should be congratulated for a tremendous year. Luchadors boldly crossed the border from Mexico and similarly eschewed their legacy and reputations to allow El Rey to give them new identities. Ricky Banderas became Mil Muertes, El Hijo del Fantasma became King Cuerno…and wound up being two of the most memorable and well-liked characters on the show. Others brought their existing characters and were embraced, accepted and even beloved in a brand new market; chief amongst them Fenix, Drago, Aero Star and (of course) Pentagon Jr. LU also had a knack for taking undiscovered, unpolished or unloved gems from other places and turning them into something special. Independent scene veterans like Willie Mack, Brian Cage, Matt Cross, Ricky Reyes, Lil’ Cholo, B-Boy and more were given chances to shine like perhaps they never had before. Talents who’d had brushes with WWE developmental like Ivelisse, Catrina, Black Lotus and Marty The Moth were given a ball to run with – and became some of the most memorable characters in the promotion. This hasn’t just been a place to tell great stories, have great matches and do crazy things – this has been a legitimate breeding and discovering ground for talents.
No television show is flawless though, and Lucha Underground has certainly been no exception. It has been a breath of fresh air and shot in the arm to many of the tired tropes and standards we hold professional wrestling to…but it has not been uniformly perfect. I’ve already touched on the hideous ‘Mexico’ storyline – which was far too prominent and dragged down veterans like Chavo Guerrero and Texano who would have been far more useful doing ANYTHING else. The producers also have a penchant for picking up and putting down workers like toys to be played with dependent on what story they are trying to tell, rather than thinking about long-term growth of a performer or character. Characters would be all over your TV when there was a story to be told with them, but then dropped almost without mention when they weren’t needed, only to resurface weeks later as if nothing had happened. Big Ryck, Cage, Hernandez, King Cuerno, Aero Star, Pentagon, Sexy Star and, most tellingly Fenix (who could have been HUGE in the aftermath of Grave Consequences had he been managed better) all had this problem at points during the season. Matt Striker and Vampiro’s commentary could best be described as ‘divisive’. There is no doubt they improved as the season went on – and for the record I’d say at no point were they as unbearable as Kevin Kelly in ROH, or Michael Cole on Raw (in my opinion). But at times they were hard to listen to, and Vampiro’s general style is definitely an acquired taste that not everyone will get on board with.
I’d also like to take issue with the insane contracts talents were being asked to sign. Some had reported SEVEN YEAR contracts, with all kinds of stipulations around whom they could work for, how they could be released, how they could extract themselves from those deals should they want to. People made fun of Hernandez when he returned to TNA, but in his defence, getting OUT of Lucha Underground seems like a minefield and unfairly restrictive on performers when this is a company who operates only a limited taping schedule, has no live events, doesn’t pay when they aren’t working and only has one season at a time budgeted and signed off. At this point, with bundles of El Rey/UniMas/AAA cash and heaps of critical acclaim it doesn’t seem such a big deal. But by the time the end of Season 3 comes around, budgets have been cut, Season 4 was an unknown, no new content had been taped for almost a year but MAJOR talents like Ricochet can’t get out to perform in ROH, sign for WWE or be anything more than a part-time act in New Japan, it doesn’t sound quite so amusing.
So not everything was a home-run swing…but on the whole I can’t help but come away feeling like I’ve rediscovered my passion for pro-wrestling. I didn’t love everything…but this is a company which gave me so much which I had a blast with. I can’t remember many times in recent years when I’ve been on the edge of my seat in amazement at the drama that is unfolding in front of me – but between the Trios Tournament Finals episode and Grave Consequences, LU did that twice in the span of just a few episodes. The quality may have dipped in the weeks leading up to it, but did ANY major show deliver like Ultima Lucha did in 2015? There is so much to enjoy and recommend here. In making my ‘Top 10 Matches’ list, there were another 15+ that I really liked and was sad not to include. Lucha Underground isn’t the easiest promotion to track down (especially in the UK). But it is on iTunes in some parts of the world, same for NetFlix. Germany has a hard-copy release of Season 1 (which I hope is successful enough for it to be released over here too). You can find it if you look hard enough…and believe me it is worth the effort. I can’t wait to return to The Temple for Season 2!