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The 7 - Pro Wrestling - Lucha Underground #10 - 01/14/2015
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#1 Posted on 15.1.15 0116.18
Reposted on: 15.1.22 0118.07
Wednesday night is wrestling night. Now that Lucha Underground and NXT are going head to head, hump day is unquestionably the best night of the week for squared circle action. Tuesday comes in a distant second, as neither WWE nor TNA are stinking that particular day up. But enough bitterness about the mainstream, the temple doors are open and it's time to worship!

We open with recaps, first reminding us of Chavo's attacks on Blue Demon & Sexy Star over two months ago, complete with the mostly ignored detail that Mils Muertes initially destroyed Blue Demon before Chavo laid into him with the chair. We also get a clip reminding us that Fenix pinned new Lucha Underground champion Prince Puma in the ten man elimination match that lead up to Aztec Warfare. The recap includes an unaired clip of Konnan chastising Puma for missing an opportunity. (Dear WWE: Please steal this. Adding original material to recaps would make them much more enjoyable.) Finally, we see Prince Puma pinning Johnny Mundo to become the first ever champion.

The show proper starts with Fenix sitting in Dario Cueto's office. Cueto admits that he's been impressed with Fenix's time in Lucha Underground. He's giving Fenix a chance to rise from the ashes by defeating a man he's already beaten before. Fenix insists he fights for himself, not Dario. Cueto acknowledges this and informs him that that's why he's giving him a title shot against Puma. Cueto instructs Fenix to destroy Puma and embarrass Konnan. As Fenix leaves, we catch sight of Angela Fong lurking outside of Cueto's office, seeming to have heard the entire conversation.

"Live" in the temple, Matt Striker and Vampiro welcome us back. They confirm the title match tonight and also note that there will be a "confrontation" between Chavo Guerrero and Blue Demon. But first, Dario Cueto has opened the doors for four brand new luchadores who will be in action right now.

Out first is Aerostar who looks like a futuristic version of Captain America. Wikipedia informs me that the red-white-and-blue luchadore has been wrestling since 2003 and took Super Fly's mask last month, so I like him already.

His first opponent is Argenis who Striker claims Vampiro has described as a combination of Silver King and Dr Wagner. Vampiro describes Argenis as "conflictive", which he seems to think means that he fights in a variety of styles, including high flying, brawling, and wrestling.

Wikipedia informs me that Argenis is the brother of the original Sin Cara. Hopefully he fairs better on American soil. He has three other brothers that wrestle, one of which goes by Mini Murder Clown.

The third man to make his entrance is Angelico. In last week's thread, I jokingly described him as someone who's probably friends with Justin Gabriel, as they both hail from South Africa and have heavenly ring names. The joke is on me as Angelico is wearing butt ugly dayglo ring gear of the sort Justin Gabriel would be proud to sport. He also looks like a complete douche. Striker describes him as "a Zach Sabre / X-pac blend"

Finally, "from the 559", we get the debut of Cage, whom we saw an impressive hype video for a few weeks back. According to Wikipedia, Cage is 6'0", 230lbs, but he's completely jacked and looks much bigger than that. He looks like the sort of hoss Vince McMahon has wet dreams about, but the closest he's come was losing a couple of televised matches in TNA. He was mentored by Kanyon, against whom he made his in ring debut against, so I suspect he might actually be able to wrestle.

Argenis starts things off by charging Cage but gets shoved halfway across the ring instead. Angelico takes a run at the big man but instantly gets dropped with a shoulder block. Finally, Aero Star takes a go but gets tossed straight up in the air and dropped on his face. Cage plays to the crowd but then turns into a triple kick from all three opponents, who then lay into him with clubbering forearms.

They whip him across the ring but he holds on. Aero Star is whipped into him but eats a boot to the face. Angelico whips Argenis toward Cage but the luchadore is elevated up and over to the apron. Angelico ducks a huge clothesline and shoves Cage into the ropes where he gets kicked in the gut by Argenis. Aero Star then goes for an over-the-top-rope 619 to Cage's face, followed by a flying knee to the face from Angelico that sends the big man out to the floor.

Aero Star goes for a flying cross body but Angelico shows some impressive strength in catching him. Before he can do anything with him, though, Argenis hits a springboard dropkick to Aero Star's back, sending everyone to the mat. Aero Star takes a powder while Argenis lays into Angelico.

Angelico reverses an Irish whip and leap frogs Argenis, then goes for a monkey flip, but Argenis stops, so Angelico rolls through to his feet. Presented with such a good target, Argenis punts the South African right in the ass. Head scissors takes Angelico out of the ring just as Aero Star makes his return. He ducks a punch, then grabs Argenis' hand for a tango, springboarding off the top rope into a hurricanrana. Aero Star goes for a handspring springboard elbow but Argenis just drills him with a German suplex that gets Vampiro excited. It's only good for two.

Cage tries to get back in the ring but Argenis kicks him right off the apron. Angelico tries a sneak attack but catches a kick to the gut. Angelico reverses a corner whip (and seriously, the way this guy reverses whips might be the douchiest wrestling maneuver I've ever seen) but Argenis simply hops up and takes a seat on the turnbuckle. Angelico tries to land a haymaker but catches a foot to the face. Argenis grabs him by the hair but Angelico nails him with a Pele kick that sends the masked man crashing to the floor.

Angelico wants to fly but his momentum is stopped dead by a clothesline from Cage. Cage puts Angelico up in the torture rack but changes it into a neckbreaker. Argenis tries to go up top but Cage just boots him back to the floor. Cage then goes up to the second rope and suplexes Argenis from the apron three quarters of the way across the ring.

Aero Star tries for a somersault dive off the top but Cage catches him in suplex position (!!!), holds him briefly, then jackhammers him. Holy shit that was impressive. It's only good enough for two, however.

Cage tries for a corner splash but Argenis slips out of the way and kicks him in the face. Argenis then lands a top rope frankensteiner to send Cage back to the floor. Springboard moonsault to the floor cements the end of Cage's momentum.

The other two men are back in the ring. Angelico tries to charge after Aero Star but catches a 619 to the gut. Aero Star then lands a top rope springboard trust dive that justifiably draws a "That was awesome!" from Striker and a "Holy Shit!" chant from the crowd. Angelico then tops that by running across the ring and nailing all three men with a no hands dive over the corner post! Then he bows the crowd and shrugs his shoulders because he's a douche.

Angelico rolls Aero Star back in the ring but it backfires as Aero Star hits an around the world, tilt-a-whirl head scissors takedown. Aero Star tries to follow up with a corner whip but Angelico evades over the top, then nails him with a flying double knee into the corner. Argenis meets him with a palm thrust but Angelico comes back with a rapid fire kicks. He goes for a 'rana but eats a one handed choke bomb instead. He doesn't get a chance to capitalize, however, as he turns around to receive a pump handle sit out facebuster from Cage, who pins him for the first elimination.

Aero Star immediately goes for a head scissors takedown but Cage is having nothing of it and just throws him face first to the mat. Cage powerbombs Aero Star, holds on, picks him back up and then just throws him into Angelico, who's standing in the corner. Aero Star then gets his head ripped off with a discus clothesline for the second elimination.

Cage goes for a backdrop but Angelico rolls over him. Cage jumps over a leg sweep attempt but catches an kick to the back of the head from the ground. Angelico tries to hit and run but gets completely murdered by another discus clothesline to end the match. Afterward, the victor gets on the mic and informs us that they call him Cage "Because I'm not a man, I'm a machiiiiiiiiiiiine."

-Commercial Break-

We come back to find Chavo Guerrero sitting in a chair in the ring, holding a mic. He states that he made a mistake two months ago, ruining the friendship between himself and Blue Demon. He wants to apologize and requests that his rival come out so that he can apologize to him in person. Demon is out and somehow looks more intimidating wearing a dress shirt and slacks than his normal ring gear.

Demon takes a seat and Chavo tells him that he's sorry. "I'm sorry I didn't expose you for the fraud you are. I'm sorry I didn't rip that mask off your face. I'm sorry, Blue Demon, I'm sorry that I did not remove your mask and cover your face with a mask of your own blood."

As he's saying this, Chavo is slipping on a pair of brass knuckles, a weapon that's been missing from wrestling for far too long. I'm sure Commissioner Regal approves. Chavo swings wildly but Demon takes him down and lays into him with punches. Demon lays in with the kicks, then picks up a chair.

Chavo begs off but Demon is having none of it and nails him in the head with the chair. (Chavo did put his hands up and it wasn't an especially hard swing.) Demon picks up the other chair as the crowd chants One More Time! in Spanish. This one goes over Chavo's back. Blue Demon has had enough and heads to the back as Striker informs us that we're getting the rubber match between Drago & King Cuerno after the break.

--Commercial Break--

King Cuerno makes his entrance first. Drago soon follows and the ref calls for the bell. Things start out so quickly that I'm curious as to if they cut out a lot of the feeling out process. The very first move is a frankensteiner from Drago that gets two. Fifteen seconds into the match and both men are acting more like they're ten minutes into the battle.

Multiple slaps from Drago, but a backhand attempt is blocked and then countered with an enzuigiri that takes Drago out of the ring. Tope con hilo floors the dragon as a kid in a Drago mask looks on in dismay. Seriously, you can buy a Drago mask?! Where?! I checked the Lucha Underground section of the El Ray store but it's completely devoid of merchandise.

Anyway, King Cuerno moves to the other side of the ring and pulls a table out from under the ring. Cuerno rolls Drago back into the ring and to the apron on the other side, then picks him up in a fireman's carry. Drago wiggles out and then drop kicks Cuerno off the apron before nailing a corkscrew barrel roll that takes out Cuerno.

Twenty five minutes into a three and a half minute match, Drago is too exhausted to capitalize. We then get a blaringly obvious edit as we go from Drago leaning on the apron and Cuerno still on the floor one second, to Drago on the ground and Cuerno pulling a chair out from under the ring the next. Drago ducks the wild swing and superkicks Cuerno, laying him out across the table.

This revitalizes Drago who, despite being too exhausted to make it back into the ring seconds earlier, now has the energy to sprint up the stairs to the top of the temple. He heads to the roof of Dario Cueto's office, which looks to be a legitimate 15' from the ground. Drago doesn't give himself enough time to reconsider his life choices, diving onto Cuerno with a massive splash. Drago's face/forearms hit the floor and knock him out as well and the ref counts both men out, approximately three hours and 95 minutes after they last left the ring.

In all honesty, that was probably the worst match they've had on this show. And it was probably a damn good match that was just butchered in editing. I hope they decide to put the full match up on YouTube, because what they showed didn't justify the carnage at the end.

--Commercial Break--

Before the main event, we get a video package on Fenix. In a nice touch, playing on Fenix rising from the ashes, they include several clips of Fenix getting nailed with big moves, only to come back and win the match.

Fenix is out first for the biggest match in his Lucha Underground career, as the announcers reiterate that Fenix has a recent victory over the champion in the ten man match. Prince Puma makes his entrance as we take one last commercial break, so as to allow the match to air uninterrupted with just over 14 minutes remaining.

They start off with a handshake, then lock up. Lots of flippy floppy back and forth until Puma finally lands his back handspring head scissors takedown, but Fenix cartwheels out of it and lands on his feet. Fenix tries to steal Puma's own move but Puma steals Fenix's counter and we have a standoff.

More back and forth and Puma finally dropkicks Fenix in the face for the first successful offensive maneuver of the match. Fenix rolls to the floor, but he's playing opossum because when Puma goes for a dive, Fenix jumps up to the apron and kicks him in the face.

Sky high springboard missile dropkick sends Puma rolling out the other side of the ring. Fenix wants a dive, but this time Puma is up on the apron to kick him in the head. Puma follows up with a springboard missile dropkick of his own that sends Fenix rolling out the other side of the ring. Puma hits the first dive of the match with a twisting tope suicide, landing on his feet.

The champ wants another dive but Fenix follows him into the ring and catches him with a dropkick, sending Puma to the floor this time. Fenix then lands a Drago-esque corkscrew barrel roll.

Striker notes that AAA's Dorian Roldán is sitting ringside, but doesn't bother to mention what any of that means. (For those not in the know, which included me before looking it up on Wikipedia, Dorian is the nephew of AAA founder Antonio Pena and is co-owner of the company.)

Fenix rolls Puma into the ring and lights him up with forearm shivers. He hits the ropes and Puma throws a dropkick, but Fenix stops short and lets Puma crash and burn. Puma dodges a running knee but catches a kick to the back which Striker refers to as a "victim kick". Vampiro notes that he almost lost usage of his legs after Fit Finley kicked him so hard that it knocked his lungs out.

Fenix goes for a cover and only gets two, so he kicks Puma in the back again but Puma kicks out of the next pin attempt before the referee even starts the count. Striker talks about how Fenix isn't actually trying to pin Puma but is only forcing him to waste energy kicking out. Vampiro challenges that and says Fenix is going for the win. Wikipedia informs me that Vampiro is a 16 time champion, but Striker has somehow held 18 different titles, so I'm not sure who to believe.

Fenix lands a couple of forearm shots and then whips Puma into the corner and follows up with a huge flying forearm/corner splash combo. He then picks Puma up in what looks like it's going to be a powerbomb but instead is turned into a German suplex that drops Puma flat on his ass. Fenix goes for another pin but only gets two.

Puma breaks out of an Irish whip attempt and hits a spin kick, followed by an axe kick, which causes Vampiro to follow his '90s WCW-turned-current-century-WWE star theme by referencing the time Booker T rocked him with the same move.

Mafia kick from Puma, followed by a snapmare and then a return victim kick. Puma hits a little bunny hop double stomp, followed by a standing moonsault, as Striker explains the physical intricacies of the victim kick.

"The victim kick, softening up the spine. If the spine hurts, it forces you to bend over. That compromises your diaphragm, making it harder and harder to breathe."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" ask Vampiro. "You get kicked in the back and it hurts."

Puma goes after Fenix with kicks, punches, and chops. Striker references Arn Anderson teaching him that those little punches and chops make it impossible for your opponent to catch their breath between bigger moves. Case in point: Puma picks Fenix up in what Striker describes as a "bow and arrow crucifix surfboard submission", which he then turns into a facebuster that's almost a back-to-back variation of the kryptonite krunch. Puma rolls him up after that but still only gets two.

Chop from Puma but an Irish whip is reversed. Puma holds the ropes and Fenix goes for an enzuigiri. Puma ducks the first attempt but Fenix comes around again and nails it on the second try. "Helicopter enzuigiri" is the call from Striker, which I like because variations of that move are used enough on this show for it to have a name.

Fenix is the first to his feet but Puma reverses a whip. Puma hits the handspring off the ropes into a cutter, though, and gets another very close two count.

Fenix goes for a Samoan drop but Puma pushes off. Fenix immediately kips up but gets an enzuigiri for his trouble. Puma picks him up and nails the gut-kick variation of the Go 2 Sleep, then lands a running Shooting Star Press for two.

Back and forth slaps and forearms until Fenix lands a spinning knife edge chop to the neck. He goes for another handspring cutter but Puma catches him, flips him around, nails a northern lights suplex, then rolls it into a vertical suplex, again only getting a two count.

Puma drags Fenix to the corner and takes flight, but misses a twisting 450 splash. Fenix hits a German suplex, then rolls into into a half-nelson suplex but Puma kicks out. Vampiro noted Dr. Death using that move on him in Japan.

Fenix comes off the top with a 450 splash which Striker claims he stole from Prince Puma, which Vampiro takes exception to. "Did he steal it from Prince Puma or did Prince Puma steal it from... who... Jushin Liger, maybe? Delfin? Great Sasuke?"

Fenix goes for a dragon sleeper but Puma reverses, picks Fenix up and hits the belly to belly piledriver. He's barely able to drape his arm over Fenix though, so it's yet another near fall. Vampiro does a nice job selling that Puma wasn't going for the one arm pin due to lack of experience but because he was too beat up to pin him properly.

Prince Puma signals for the 630 senton but Fenix stops him short with a leaping palm thrust. Fenix then climbs up to the opposite turnbuckle, as Puma straddles the ropes. Fenix runs across the rope but eats a superkick from Puma(!!!). Puma then nails the 630 senton for the pin and the win.

Puma barely makes it to his feet and hasn't even had his hand raised before he's pearl harbored from behind by Cage. Cage wails on him with punches, then hits a running discus clothesline. He picks Puma up and throws him down with a leg whip spinebuster, followed by a double powerbomb. He then celebrates with the champ lying crumpled at his feet, as we fade to black.


Really good show for the most part. The editing of the King Cuerno vs Drago rubber match was definitely the low point of the series thus far, but the other two matches were absolutely fantastic and more than made up for it. The Chavo/Blue Demon confrontation was nicely done as well, not being drawn out any longer than necessary.

Cage shows a lot of promise and I suspect he'll put on a really good match with Puma when the time comes. We're obviously going to get a fourth Cuerno vs Drago match sometime in the future and, editing issues aside, this feud is far more interesting than the Dean Ambrose/Bray Wyatt feud that was crammed into an equally short amount of time. The biggest thing to take away from this show, however, is that Angelico is a douche.
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Matt Tracker
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#2 Posted on 15.1.15 0940.06
Reposted on: 15.1.22 0943.02
Is this the first two-man commentary team where both were wrestlers? They are very good, talking up the matches as they had, adding details about strategy, dropping names all the time, and playfully sniping at each other. It's a very natural sounding delivery despite Vampiro's "brothers" and Striker's "creating space/distance." The latter is a cover for the obvious choreography which I don't mind; virtually every space-creating spots lead to a fantastic move.

"Stop talking like an English teacher."

I suspect Drago was hurt in his match's beginning. Cuerno talked to him after the initial dive, and Drago was down a long time even with the editing. I also think that close-up of Chavo's brass knuckles was shot after the fact. But the editing doesn't rattle me. I'd much rather have that as needed than constant split screens for replays.

That trust dive was nuts. The dive over the turnbuckle was nuts. The table splash was nuts. Fenix and Puma seemed to be deadlifting each other a few times, and that's nuts given their flying ability.

I'm not sold yet on Cage, but I like his distinction among the luchadores. He and the smaller guys can put together impressive moves, like that turnbuckle leap into a Jackhammer.
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#3 Posted on 15.1.15 1003.23
Reposted on: 15.1.22 1004.36
Enjoyed the show. I have strongly different feelings about the announcers but Vampiro's spaciness was entertaining last night. I don't think it's possible to diagram his sentences.

    Originally posted by Matt Tracker
    I suspect Drago was hurt in his match's beginning. Cuerno talked to him after the initial dive, and Drago was down a long time even with the editing.


That's possible, but this match was also heavily edited - it was actually a best of three falls live which TV turned into one fall - so some of it might have just been selling for stuff we hadn't seen.


    I also think that close-up of Chavo's brass knuckles was shot after the fact.


Yea, that was a bit too perfect. They do a bit of reshoots for the Spanish version so maybe that was another.
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#4 Posted on 15.1.15 1042.31
Reposted on: 15.1.22 1044.03
    Originally posted by Matt Tracker
    Is this the first two-man commentary team where both were wrestlers?


And Josh Matthews walks away with his head hung low.

I've watched a few of Brian Cage's indie matches on YouTube and he seems to have a good grasp of the basics and some impressive explosive offense. I can't imagine Kanyon would hand over the Mortis gimmick to someone he didn't feel would do it justice.

There were a few moments in the show where I suspect Vampiro's commentary was added post-edit because it sounded suspiciously like video game commentary, but overall I enjoy their dynamic. The "bad" parts are just them being bad, not being yelled at over headsets.
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