If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. Aztec Warfare is LU's version of the Royal Rumble, only with twenty participants and eliminations by pin/sub instead of over the top rope. Last year's A.W. crowned the first champion and this year's had new champion Fenix defending his title from the #1 position, while former titleholder Mil Muertes got the advantageous #20 spot. (Notably, this was recorded before the Royal Rumble so any parallel booking was entirely coincidental on LU's part.)
LU does a great job with the intertwining storylines and touched on just about everything at some point. The match started with Fenix and the Temple debut of Rey Misterio Jr., getting a great ovation from the fans in attendance. There were several quirky spots, including Joey Ryan handcuffing himself to the guadrail so he couldn't be brought into the ring for an elimination. The Johnny Mundo/Cage feud came up as Mundo threw Cage through Catrina's office window, plus Jack Evans and P.J. Black ganged up on Drago until Aero Star entered the match to help.
Pentagon Jr.(not allowed in the match by Catrina) attacked Mil with a chair as he was entering, leading to the big man's quick elimination. However, Dario Cueto made a last-minute change and entered his monster brother Matanza as #21. This was the very definition of a monster push as Matanza single-handedly eliminated the ENTIRE remaining field, taking out Fenix with little difficulty. The wrestlers attacked black-ninja style(one at a time) until Rey and Prince Puma double-teamed him...but even that wasn't enough. Rey scored a few eliminations over the course of the match, but the size difference was too much and Matanza defeated him to become the new champion after nine straight eliminations(!).
It was an exciting, action-packed match which put the Royal Rumble to shame. I haven't caught a great deal of LU, but this episode definitely turned me into a fan.
The cinematic promos are a bit wacky for my taste but the in-ring action is fantastic.
"Call him a paragraph 'cause he's too short to be an esse." I howled at that.
The comedy spots were strong. Joey Ryan's handcuff ruse backfired the whole show. Jack Evans splatted into the ring. Mundo tried to get into the fun and was rebuffed. Willie Mack hit the Austin Stunner.
Pentagon's chair attack was glorious, and Matanza did all that including a standing SSP. WOW.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Operation Put The New Guy Over HARD was a complete success.
9 guys. The next highest total was Rey with 3.
He did a standing SSP, he pinned Texano with his own finisher, he got Ryan into the ring by bending steel......only way they could've done more is if he had actually killed someone during the match. Like bite out Argenis' throat or something.
I cannot wait for some follow up this week. We're getting Sexy Star v. Mariposa and TUT/DoD, but I think they might mention Matanza's slaughter last week.
I didn't get a chance to watch the show, so I'm going by that gif you posted of Quintin Jackson giving Arona The Last Ride. Now it looks to me as if Jackson (most likely unintentionally) hit Arona with a pretty hard headbutt.