No homework due tomorrow, so I was able to watch Lucha Underground more or less on time this week, and what an episode it was.
We start out with recaps of Mundo & Cage's issues as well as the problems between Texano and Chavo Guerrero. We then get a new video revealing that Vampiro is still operating as Pentagon Jr's master, ordering him not to stop until he takes what is his, not letting anyone stop him, not even "her", referring to Catrina.
Jack Evans is already in the ring. He takes the microphone away from Melissa Santos and introduces himself as the Dragon Slayer, vowing to make Drago his bitch. His opponent is the Darewolf PJ Black. Pretty much the match you would expect from these two, with an impressive strength showing from Black who catches Evans in a tilt-a-whirl into a guillotine choke but then lifts him up into a suplex.
Drago comes out and tries to distract Evans with nunchacku display from the balcony (the same spot he stalked King Cuerno from last year) and it almost works as Black hits the Black Diamond elevated cutter, but Evans kicks out at 3-3/4, drawing Drago down to ringside. Drago tries to hit Evans with the dragons breath but Evans dodges and Black takes the mist to the face, allowing Evans to get a backslide for the victory. Black sits in the ring, holding the chucks, as Drago walks away.
Next up is a commercial hyping... Famous B? For seriously? He vows nobody will remember you when you die, but he can change that by making you famous. Because he's Famous B. Call 423-GET-FAME to find out how. (I called. You get a recorded message from Famous B followed by a chance to leave a message about why he should choose you for his next client. I hope Bull Dempsey gives him a ring.) He says he'll turn you from a jobber to a robber. Somehow this video simultaneously reminded me of Cryme Tyme and New Day. I'm convinced that Lucha Underground could get Roman Reigns over. Okay, that really shouldn't be hard at all. I'm pretty sure I could get Roman Reigns over in less than a month. Lucha Underground are so good that I think they could get HHH over with the Internet.
The second match of the night is a title-free battle between Gift of the Gods champion King Cuerno and Killshot. These two briefly feuded last year with Cuerno coming out on top in their one singles meeting. This match is actually quite a bit different than you might expect. There's a bit of high flying, including a beautiful Arrow from the Depths of Hell that I think went about a quarter mile out of the ring. Mostly, though, it involved both men countering moves and then kicking the living shit out of their opponent.
Cuerno looks to be going for a tombstone but Killshot fips it over and alley oops Cuerno up into essentially an reverse Code Breaker. Killshot goes up top but misses a corkscrew moonsault and gets nailed with the Thrill of the Hunt, giving Cuerno the victory. Afterward, Cuerno beats Killshot down and looks like he's going to hit a package tombstone but Fenix makes the save and Cuerno immediately bails.
Not only are we getting 4 matches tonight, the third match is a guantlet match between Texano and The Crew. Mr. Cisco is up first but he gets distracted by Chavo yelling instructions, allowing Texano to superkick him and get the victory in a matter of seconds. Undercover cop Cortez Castro fares much better but eventually falls to a sitout powerbomb. Chavo, of course, immediately jumps Texano from behind but still can't fell the worn down Texano until Castro wraps the bullrope around Texano's legs, holding him down while Chavo gets the pin. The Crew then run off with Texano's bullrope still in hand.
375 miles from Boyle Heights, Matanza is having breakfast, much to the dismay of whomever he's eating. Dario Cueto tells Black Lotus the story of how Matanza saved his life. Their mother was a wicked woman who abused her children. One day Dario Cueto had enough and told her to stop, so she came after him with a hot iron. Dario thinks she would have killed him had Matanza not picked up the bull statue that always adorned Cueto's desk, using it to beat their mother to death. On that day, Dario realized just how much he loves violence.
Catrina is walking backstage when she's called out by Pentagon Jr. He demands that Puma be taught a lesson. She teleports into the ring and tells him to go teach him one. Pentagon demands a match and Catrina asks why he thinks she'd give him anything after he broke Mils Muertes arm. Pentagon attacks Catrina but she fights back with martial arts, though she eventually succumbs and finds herself in position to have her arm broken. He threatens to break her arm but she teleports away again. She then tells him that he has his match with Puma but putting his hands on her was the biggest mistake he's ever made.
Main event time as Johnny Mundo is out first, followed by Cage. A good back-and-forth match, as you'd expect from these two. The finish comes after Cage hits Weapon X but Taya Valkyrie comes running down, sliding a lead pipe into the ring then jumping up on the apron on the other side, yelling "Remember me?" at Cage. Mundo eventually recovers and knocks Cage unconscious with the pipe to get the pin. Afterward, he sets Cage up in the corner and Taya nails him with flying double knees, followed by Mundo hitting the End of the World.
For those that don't know Taya, she trained with Lance Storm, not only graduating from his normal training session but also appearing on his reality show World of Hurt where she received advanced training. After a WWE development deal fell through, she went down to Mexico where she became the first ever non-Mexican Reina de Reinas (Queen of Queens) champion in AAA. She's on day 550+ of her reign, so Nikki Bella has nothing on her.
Of course, even with 4 matches we can't just roll the credits. King Cuerno storms into Catrina's office and attempts to cash in the Gift of the Gods championship in order to get his world title match. Catrina insists they had a deal but Cuerno doesn't care. Fenix isn't going to die and he's tired of being hunted. Catrina tells Cuerno that's too bad because he already has a match next week. Against Fenix. With the title on the line. And she hopes he can fly because she already knows Fenix can and it's a ladder match.
The opening video of Vampiro's emergence from Ian thanks to Pentagon suggests that he's going to get involved again soon. When Puma got Pentagon in the armbreaker last week, Vampiro stood up from the announce table. If Mil or the Disciples go after Pentagon because he put Catrina in the breaker, I can see Vampiro running (slowly) to the rescue.
Kudos to the announce team to pointing out Cage's cardio and turning into a strategic component of the match. He WAS breathing heavy midway through.
Jack Evans is going to die so hard.
Killshot and Cuerno had a scary and ugly botch on the ring apron. Cuerno might own the loudest hits on the roster; his kicks sound like firecrackers.
"Stick to your comic books and Pink Floyd."
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by InVerseCatrina is walking backstage when she's called out by Pentagon Jr. He demands that Puma be taught a lesson. She teleports into the ring and tells him to go teach him one. Pentagon demands a match and Catrina asks why he thinks she'd give him anything after he broke Mils Muertes arm. Pentagon attacks Catrina but she fights back with martial arts, though she eventually succumbs and finds herself in position to have her arm broken. He threatens to break her arm but she teleports away again. She then tells him that he has his match with Puma but putting his hands on her was the biggest mistake he's ever made.
I love what they did with the subtitles for this segment. It was a really dynamic and interesting way to deal with having to include them.
$3 an episode in HD, Season passes much cheaper. Episodes go up the day after they air. The first episode of this season is free until March 28th. I have no real need to buy episodes but might anyway to use up the iTunes credit I've had sitting around since like 2010.
I liked this week's episode more than the last few, but nothing's come close to that first episode yet. I can see in the future though and things get interesting over the next four episodes.
Dammit! That show last night was good, hell it was great and it got a 3.8. Austin is doing something interesting. His feud with the Rock is the best thing I've seen in a year. It's so much fun watching these two.
Thread rated: 7.06
#
