It might not help that this aired the night before Thanksgiving and that I usually get around to watching it and reviewing it within the following days (which were busier than usual this time around), but I am one day going to catch up and review these episodes as they air. Maybe they'll take Christmas or New Year's Eve off??
Highlights are shown of Drago defeating King Cuerno in Cuerno's debut match. Unless Cuerno goes on a losing streak this decision still makes no sense to me. Chavo Guerrero Jr. says he is here to stay and footage is shown of him once again from a few weeks back when he hit Sexy Star with a chair. (For the record: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Sexy Star is quite possibly the match I'm looking least forward to in all of wrestling right now. I'd rather see TNA invade WWE and Bobby Lashley, MVP and Kenny King vs. A New Day and I DO NOT want to see that happen) Johnny Mundo and Prince Puma are also recapped from last week with Big Ryck and his henchmen. The stable really needs a name and if it doesn't get one by the end of this episode I might just have to get clever and give it one. Hey, look, Chris DeJoseph is a co-executive producer. Wasn't he Big Dick Johnson in WWE? Big Ryck & the Johnsons anyone??
Konnan starts things off in the office of Dario Cueto. There are a lot of pauses in their back and forth talking, and when the segment ends they basically have booked Prince Puma vs. Big Ryck in a street fight. It felt a little bit drawn out, but not because of what was said so much as how they said it.
Amidst chants "lu-cha lu-cha lu-cha" the house band is shown and they have a killer sax. Vampiro and Matt Striker check in on commentary as I wonder why no WWE fans ever chant "sports entertainment *clap clap clap clap clap*". Striker throws it to the ring and we are going to have a match right away. This is definitely a better pace than the opening segment as getting right into the action can never be bad for a professional wrestling promotion. Ever.
Mil Muertes is given a full introduction with Catrina and as much as I dislike Sexy Star, I feel as if Lucha Underground could quite possibly have the most compelling female characters with Catrina and Ivelisse. Matt Striker again makes the point that it feels aa if the temple drops in temperature when Mil Muertes enters. If The Undertaker is not officially retired then he might take issue with this idea. Muertes' opponent is revealed as Drago and this should be interesting since Muertes needs a strong win here, and yet Drago just went over clean last week against a debuting talent.
Match 1: Mil Muertes (w/ Catrina) vs. Drago
Both Striker and Vampiro agreed early on that this was going to be Muertes' toughest challenge to date in Lucha Underground. Umm... take that everyone who he has faced before now! (Which includes Blue Demon Jr. mind you) This was built up as a match of speed vs. power and it went as such. Mil Muertes has been seemingly everywhere in professional wrestling that represents lucha libre and even TNA, but he's still just a big dude who has some quickness to him. His power in undeniable and I've liked every character he has ever portrayed. Drago is a perfect example of the fast paced, high flying lucha libre lifestyle. His ring gear resembles Ultimo Dragon, but his entrance gear is a site worth seeing. A short time into this match, King Cuerno was shown looking on, presumably stalking Drago after last week. Mil Muertes hits his finisher and pins Drago clean as King Cuerno just looks on. Nope, Cuerno gets up, gets into the ring and hits his finisher (probably) on an already knocked out Drago. Looks like King Cuerno vs. Drago is not yet over.
This was actually a really good match and everyone needs to take note on how feuds can be built without there having to be DQ and non-finishes. I really suspected King Cuerno would have interfered at some point in the match, but he didn't and that helped to cure my WWE way of thinking.
So far, this has been the best episode of Lucha Underground I've seen but it also might be due to the fact that these characters have somewhat of a backstory now that they didn't have back in episodes 1 and 2.
A promo was shown for Johnny Mundo who said he is known by many names. He should rebrand himself as "Johnny Nameless" or "Johnny Anonymous". What would those be in Spanish? A quick google search pulls up Johnny Anonimo which somehow sounds better to me than the second half of Telemundo. The video basically summed up how great he was in WWE, but then he didn't wanted to play the political game and kiss ass so he left to pursue his other passions. (Which reminds me I need to track down that Hercules movie he did and watch it finally) He said that when he heard Lucha Underground wanted the best he decided to answer their call. Plus he heard The Miz wouldn't be here.
(This was actually a nice piece on the former JoMo and perhaps it should have aired, you know, before now to help re-establish himself)
A brief interaction is shown "backstage" between Catrina and Cueto. Catrina says that Muertes learned long ago that you can't keep true darkness locked inside. This is either going to lead to it being revealed that Cueto is a former luchador who killed someone in the ring and he refuses to wear the mask again ("Billy Madison" storyline) or he has Sloth in his basement ("Goonies" storyline) Either way, I kind of like that Mil Muertes and Catrina have something on Cueto. It makes them seem less like heels and more into that vague, do whatever they want position.
Back in the temple, we are headed into our next match. Son of Havoc is introduced with Ivelisse and while I love Ivelisse (she is probably my favorite female in all of professional wrestling right now) I really wish Son of Havoc could have been anything but whatever he is. Matt Cross deserves better. Sort of. I wonder if these two were on the same season of "Tough Enough" together. They probably were, right? Maybe they're even dating in real life or married, who knows.
Mascarita Sagrada is given his introduction next and, yes, Son of Havoc has been given both women and now minis as his opponents in this place where the best supposedly come to fight the best. How come El Torito didn't have to go through "Tough Enough" to get to WWE?
Match 2: Son of Havoc (w/ Ivelisse) vs. Mascarita Sagrada
After a commercial break, an image is shown promoting the Prince Puma vs. Big Ryck street fight for later on in the show. I'm not watching this at night, so it seems weird for me to say "later on tonight". The commentators wondered what it said about Son of Havoc to want to fight a woman and a mini, but they fail to note just how the matches are booked. In theory, it feels as if Dario Cueto is the matchmaker and as such Son of Havoc should just be put in these matches by Cueto more so than by his choosing. It's just another one of those little things that bothers me. Vampiro also pointed out that Son of Havoc was not that much bigger than Mascarita Sagrada. A woman is shown watching on from the steps and they made note of not knowing who she was but since they did point her out I suppose she wasn't just a well dressed fan. Son of Havoc dominated and seemed like he could have ended it at any time which made me on guard for a quick roll up and win for Sagrada. However, Sagrada instead went outside of the ring and landed on Ivelisse. This somehow gave him a Red Bull and he went after Son of Havoc as if the match had just started despite the commentators just moments before noting the match had to have taken a toll on his body. I feel like I tempted fate by thinking it earlier, but Mascarita Sagrada did get the cheap pinfall. Well, this match was filler and I would have much rather seen Ivelisse wrestling.
Matt Striker noted after the match that all you have to do is show up if you want to rock n roll. I believe he just called out Heath Slater. The image was shown again for the main event, but then also a new image was shown for Sexy Star vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. which is up next. Well, I don't know what Lucha Underground would consider to be their "big show" or version of a pay-per-view but that match just seems like it came up too fast and without enough build before hand. Don't you generally want to at least wait a week before having that match? Announce it this week, put it in next week's main event slot... Ahhh, but it is Chavo Jr. vs. Sexy Star and I don't really care about it so I'm moving on.
Sexy Star is introduced for the next match and we know this will be her Wrestlemania. Hahahaha. Can someone please seriously tell me why Sexy Star is so "sexy" yet she wears a mask?
Match 3: Sexy Star vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Chavo Jr. dominated and when it looked like Sexy Star might be building for a comeback, she grabbed a chair. The referee warned her not to use it and she hit him with a low blow and was given the DQ. Before she could get her hands on Chavo Jr. though, Pentagon Jr. came down and wasn't sure who to hit with a chair. As it looked like Chavo Jr. and Pentagon Jr. were about to beat down Sexy Star, Fenix came out and made the save.
There are several factors that need to be discussed coming out of this match. First off, now we have the inevitable Sexy Star/Fenix vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr./Pentagon Jr. tag team match to "look forward to" as it makes sense for Chavo Jr. to make some friends if Mexico is coming for him for what he did to Blue Demon Jr. But doesn't the low blow and DQ make Sexy Star the heel here? I feel like if she was truly the face in this, the "good gal" if you will, then she would have wanted to get the clean pinfall victory over Chavo Jr. because in some ways that would seemingly hurt him more than chairshots or whatever other physical damage she could do.
Also, this match showed for the second time tonight that Matt Striker and Vampiro may not be bad commentators on their own but as a team they really need to get it together. Earlier on, Matt Striker was trying to say that payback is a bitch but instead said that "Payback is an Ivelisse", inferring that Ivelisse is a bitch. Vampiro had to point out that payback was a bitch, just sort of over-explaining the point that Striker was trying to make. During the aftermath of this match, Fenix did an inverted 619 on the ropes (Think of it as if Rey Mysterio went clockwise then Fenix went counterclockwise) and so Matt Striker called it the 916, which makes sense, and then Vampiro chimed in with "619, yeah!" I swear if these two weren't shown at ringside sitting next to each other I'd think they were doing commentary from two different locations without being able to hear one another.
If nothing else (and it's only wishful thinking) I can only hope that this feud leads to Chavo Guerrero Jr. trying to unmask Sexy Star so we can once and for all find out if she is indeed sexy or just another uggo under a mask. (And, no, I don't care enough to google search for pictures of her without her mask on)
The street fight is hyped again and I'm wondering how this will play out with Big Ryck and not his Johnsons (Remember the nickname I gave his stable earlier?) but then I assume Johnny Mundo will come into play and Prince Puma has been warned to stay away from him so it's kind of all about to come to a head.
WTF is Boyle Heights anyway??
Big Ryck is introduced with Mr. Cisco and Mr. Castro but there is still no cool stable name so I shall stick with Big Ryck & the Johnsons.
Match 4: Big Ryck vs. Prince Puma Boyle Heights Street Fight
Big Ryck had the advantage early on with his size and power. When Prince Puma began to fight back, the Johnsons got involved to take him down. Eventually, Prince Puma seemed to be in control of all three men but then the numbers finally got too much of him and it just became a huge beat down. Johnny Mundo made the save, but as he went to hit Big Ryck, Ryck ducked and Prince Puma was hit instead. This lead to the end of Prince Puma and the match as PP went through a table and Ryck score the pinfall.
I have to admit that the idea of this being an accident will lead to tension between the two and that's kind of been done too many times BUT the fact that Big Ryck comes out of this looking like a beast is all that really matters here. Having two dominant monsters like Big Ryck and Mil Muertes definitely makes for an interesting Lucha Underground.
Final Thoughts: This was actually a really solid show as the nonsense level of it didn't go on any longer than it really needed to and there were some solid matches from both the lucha libre side and the hardcore wrestling side (Lucha Underground has always loved the violence) My biggest problem with Lucha Underground right now- which is nothng to do with them specifically- is that I always feel like they're rushed in their delivery and movement of storylines because they have to just try and fit so much into such a short time. I'm not sure what their deal with The El Rey Network is but if more talent is going to come into Lucha Underground (Alberto Del Rio has already thrown his name into the hat) then I believe they need a weekly two hour slot to fill.
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