The first match had Tyler Breeze taking on Adam Rose. On some levels this match seemed like just a way for the two superstars to play to the crowd rather than, you know, wrestle. Tyler Breeze needed a win to get back on track to whatever he was on track to (The main roster?) but does it really feel like a big deal since Adam Rose loses on pretty much every other show every day of the week? I mean, I'm used to seeing Adam Rose lose on Raw and Smack Down!, Main Event and even Superstars but now I feel like Adam Rose is going to start showing up and losing everywhere. TNA. AAA. Lucha Underground. NJPW. I could go on. So while Tyler Breeze did get his much needed win, it would have been nice to have it over someone with more... credibility than Adam Rose, who seemingly loses to everyone. How about we try switching things up a bit and move Adam Rose back to NXT and send Tyler Breeze to the main roster for a bit?
Points Awarded: 3
There was a backstage segment with Enzo, Big Cass and Carmella that I wasn't too crazy about, but then there was also an interview with Alexa Bliss who says she had to recover from a nose injury but will be back to take that NXT Women's Title. She wasn't very convincing in the way she spoke, so let's hope she is better in the ring than on the mic. I'm not awarding or taking away points here, I just wanted to point out that every time I think of Alexa Bliss saying "nose injury" all I can think of is "nose job", which probably makes me a bad person.
NXT Tag Team Champions Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy take on Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton in the second match. Dawkins and Fulton are dressed like amateur wrestlers, one even has the Rick Steiner head gear on. They've basically not been seen before (I think) and so on some level they're kind of like a jobber tag team... which is funny because not that long ago the tag team of Murphy and Blake felt like jobbers. So in some other universe where Murphy and Blake aren't tag team champions this is kind of like a jobbers vs. jobbers match. Really though, it's a desperate move by whoever booked it to basically show off the "skills" of the tag champs. If you watched Takeover Rivals with the rematch and weren't convinced that Murphy and Blake are a serious tag team (I'm not convinced myself) then this is kind of like NXT's way of saying, "See how good they are!" while I just search for an eye rolling emoticon to tweet. Murphy and Blake, for whatever reason, remind me of when Ryder and Hawkins were aligned with Edge back in the day and, yes, I can see a main roster scenario where Murphy and Blake end up as cronies to Seth Rollins should J&J no longer wish to wrestle. But I don't see them as being on the same level as The Usos or Vaudevillains or Ascension even. Pretty much any tag team in WWE has more of a chance to be champions in my eyes than Murphy and Blake with the exception of anything involving Heath Slater. I can understand why this match happened it just didn't have the desired intent for me.
Points Awarded: 1
In a backstage segment, Bayley wishes Charlotte luck and the worst off of all the Flair children responds by saying she doesn't need luck Sasha does and storms off. On the other side of Bayley appears Emma (who I don't recognize right away) who says that she went to the main roster dancing and popping bubbles and then was sent back to NXT. Hey, some wrestlers on the main roster would love to be in NXT right now Miss I forgot to mention that time I got caught stealing at Walmart. Emma basically says Bayley needs to get serious and Bayley looks as if she's thinking about it. I actually liked this segment better than anything else on the card so far because I really like Bayley. I want to see Bayley beat Charlotte before Charlotte goes to the main roster and appears on Total Divas, where she belongs. I want to see Bayley beat the ever-loving snot out of Emma as well now. And the fact that I feel this way about any of the "divas" on the WWE roster is a miracle since I only really like a female wrestler who is in WWE but isn't officially signed to a talent contract yet (Come on Trips, sign Blue Pants already) I might have said it before. I might have not. But I will continue to say this until it happens. The way that the majority of the fans felt when Sami Zayn finally won the NXT Title (I didn't share the same level of excitement) is how I will feel when Bayley finally wins the NXT Women's Title. Believe that. All of these points are for Bayley, who is perhaps the most interesting character in all of WWE.
Points Awarded: 6
The third match of the night saw Baron Corbin defeat Tony Briggs and the fact that Corbin is back to squashing jobbers shows you that WWE has no idea what to do with him. I loved that number one contender tournament but it might have done more harm than good in the long run. This match was also used to further the ongoing drama between Alex Riley and Kevin Owens, as Owens came out during the match and taunted Riley. Yes, the cameras spent more time focusing on those two than the match itself. Lame. I never really liked Alex Riley and at least on commentary I can block him out. So needless to say I'm looking forward to seeing Kevin Owens beat the hell out of him. Even though this match/segment played out poorly here, I am pleased with the fact that the eventual Owens vs. Riley match will lead to either the complete and utter destruction of Alex Riley, in which case he is ultimately wished the best in his future endeavors, or he proves he can actually wrestle and hang with the big boys which seems less likely to me but, hey, why not.
Points Awarded: 2 for flinching
Sami Zayn's selfie video from Canada about how he needs to find himself made me kind of hate him a little bit. Could Sami be returning as a heel or is it just me who is sour on this guy when he talks too much? I'm not going to give him any points, or award any for that awkward CJ Parker-Alex Riley backstage segment either. Alex Riley might have something to prove next week against CJ Parker though so I'm ready for that.
Solomon Crowe defeated Bull Dempsey in the fourth match of the show and if you thought creative ran out of ideas for Baron Corbin how about Bull Dempsey? The guy is now a jobber for new talent? That seems fair. This just makes me further want to see Bull Dempsey and Baron Corbin join forces to become a tag team, whether or not it's on the main roster as Paul Heyman Guys. Solomon Crowe didn't get a lot of time to fight here but you kind of knew he was going over Bull and that made the match that much more awkward because instead of being happy and appreciating the work of Solomon Crowe more time was spent thinking about how badly WWE has screwed the pooch with Bull Dempsey now. The guy went from WCW Goldberg to WWE Goldberg pretty fast. Still, I'll throw these guys some points since I did get to see Solomon Crowe and he isn't injured any more.
Points Awarded: 4
In the main event, Sasha Banks retained the title against Charlotte in their rematch from NXT Takeover Rivals. I'm pleased with this match because now Sasha can move on to other opponents hopefully. One of the reasons why I liked that Sasha Banks won the title because it was that "anyone but Charlotte" mentality. Seeing Charlotte here though just felt like more of the same, as if I had to scream at the television "Why won't she just go away!!" So please, have her fade into the background with the Bellas on the main roster now, I beg of you WWE. Sasha vs. Bayley needs to be next in the cards. So this match itself won't get any points because Charlotte was in it, but since it will hopefully be the end of Charlotte in NXT and since WWE wasn't dumb enough to actually put the title back on her I will give it some points.
Points Awarded: 2
Total Points for NXT This Week: 18
The first match on Lucha Underground this week saw Mil Muertes taking on Fenix. This match was built around the idea that Catrina, who eventually came out during the match, had turned her back on Mil Muertes and sort of unoffically aligned herself with Fenix. It was actually a good match for as long as it lasted and it started out hot. The high-flying quickness of Fenix could not match the power of Mil Muertes here though and it struck me as most interesting when Mil Muertes got the win. I expected this to be the match where Fenix defeated Mil Muertes and thus moved on with Catrina, sort of leaving the loser behind, but Mil Muertes winning gave it that twist you only can find in Lucha Underground. Post match, Catrina was called to the ring by Mil Muertes and she was thrown into the corner before Fenix managed to make the save. The story of Mil Muertes is that he emerged from rubble some odd years ago and as such Catrina was carrying around a rock in a little bag that was a piece of that rubble. It sort of held power over Mil Muertes much like Paul Bearer used to hold the urn over The Undertaker. Fenix hit Muertes with that rock to knock him out, Catrina gave Muertes the Lick of Death and then Catrina also kissed Fenix. The post match bit was how I expected this match to actually end, and as was pointed out prior to the match this was actually the rubber match between these two so Mil Muertes now holds a 2-1 lead over Fenix. On one hand it feels like it would have made more sense for the match to end how I suspected it would with Fenix winning and that could have saved the post match part entirely but since it did play out as it did it leaves me more interested as well because it wasn't as predictable. Basically, it was a pleasing finish but not what I thought it was going to be.
Points Awarded: 5
There were a pair of backstage type promos that really caught me as well. First, we saw Ivelisse in the office of Dario Cueto with Son of Havoc and somehow Angelico too. Ivelisse said she beat Angelico and thus deserves a title shot. Ivelisse for Lucha Underground Champion? Show me where and I will sign. Cueto said she couldn't be number one contender with just one win, especially since Son of Havoc helped her win that match. Really, Dario Cueto? Then why/how did Cage get a title shot against Prince Puma?? Cueto sets up a match for next week with Ivelisse vs. Angelico and Son of Havoc will be the referee. Squee!! Also, in the backstage area where Prince Puma is kicking some boxing bags Alberto El Patron comes in and talks to him about finding that fire inside of him in order to beat Cage. El Patron tells him to watch his match tonight because if Prince Puma still has that title El Patron will be coming for it. I liked how this put a target on the back of Prince Puma, and the champion should have a target on his back, and it was Prince Puma selling it as "Great, just ANOTHER thing I have to worry about now" without saying a word. On the other hand, Angelico didn't say a word in the previous segment but was yelled at by Cueto to shut the door so it kind of made him look like a goof. I kind of feel like Angelico is a goof anyway though so it works for me. Two really well put together segments that just go to show you how wrestling can be done right when not in the ring and without the long winded rants typically presented to us far too often by WWE and TNA.
Points Awarded: 3
Big Ryck vs. Sexy Star was the second match of the show and since it was booked last week it was odd to not see it in the main event but in an earlier segment the main event spot was given to Alberto El Patron vs. Texano Jr. On paper (and by that I mean the computer screen) this is not a match that I was looking forward to for a number of reasons. Forget about the fact that it's man vs. woman. Forget about the fact that Sexy Star is out-sized in every sense of the word here. The winner of this match is fighting for the right to face The Crew in a three on one match. Yes, that is the "prize" for winning this match. So I didn't have high hopes going into this match but I fell in love with it as soon as it started. Big Ryck started by telling Sexy Star to just lay down and she then hit him with shots he no sold. Ryck tried to actually do something on offense once or twice but wasn't ever really successful. At one point, Star ended up outside the ring and Big Ryck told her to just stay out there and take the count out loss. In the end, Big Ryck just ended up using his brute strength to hold the shoulders of Star down to the mat for the three count. No real moves put on her and no real damage done, which is how this needs to play out because if Ryck is going up against The Crew it would seem as if he's turning technico. I was not looking forward to Big Ryck just tossing Sexy Star around like a rag doll but that wasn't what happened here and instead the match was the best possible scenario. Post match The Crew came out to beat up Big Ryck but as Star tried to fight them off she seemed to take the worst of it, thus pleasing those who wanted to see a woman beat up by men for whatever sick reasons. I'm not sure when the Big Ryck vs. The Crew match will take place, but I feel now like maybe Star will end up getting involved and that bothers me. Unless this finally turns Star heel, which is how I feel she should be portrayed anyway.
Points Awarded: 4
In the main event, Alberto El Patron took on Texano Jr. and the commentators both did an excellent job of playing up the history of these two men from Mexico coming into the United States (Imagine a promotion that actually acknowledges something outside of it, even if LU and AAA are friends) as well as the history of their fathers fighting each other in Mexico. It was a good back and forth match that was worthy of being in the main event slot, as it felt like either man could win as they were both technically making their in ring debuts in Lucha Underground. Texano Jr. took off a turnbuckle pad but was caught by the ref so as the ref put it back on, Texano Jr. wisely used that time to work over El Patron with a bullrope wrapped around his fist. As Texano Jr. tried to avoid the disqualification the end came when Alberto El Patron just threw the rule book out the window and began violently whipping Texano Jr. with the bullrope for the immediate DQ. I watched the match between these two in AAA where Alberto El Patron captures the title and that was a different match than this one. I think my biggest fear going into this match was that it would be closer to that one and as such seem like just so much of a repeat. In some ways, I even liked this match better than the AAA match between Texano Jr. and Alberto El Patron. The ending was acceptable as well because it allows neither man to look bad in defeat and also allows the feud to continue which in some ways it must. I remember Matt Striker teasing at one point last week (I think it was last week) that the AAA Title could be defended in Lucha Underground and this feud might just have to come to that, which I am perfectly fine with.
Points Awarded: 9
Before the show ends, King Cuerno was in the office of Dario Cueto setting up a cage match between Cuerno and Johnny Mundo for next week. So we have that and the Ivelisse rematch scheduled and I'm not sure whether or not the match between The Crew and Big Ryck will be next week or not but Lucha Underground has done a good job of building up long term feuds and characters (Something I was critical about in their early episodes) as every show now just feels like it has such a stacked card. And you could just put something as simple as Drago vs. Pentagon Jr. on a show for a good lucha libre display but these matches have so much behind them now it just makes it that much better, so for that I give Lucha Underground a plus two.
Points Awarded: 2
Total Points for Lucha Underground This Week:
***Lucha Underground Wins Week 3 23-18***
(Lucha Underground Leads 86-60 Overall)
No comments:
Post a Comment