3/15/14 Arena Mexico: Dalys la Caribena & La Amapola & Tiffany vs. Estrellita & La Silueta & Syuri
3/18/14 Arena Mexico: Dark Angel & Marcela & Syuri vs. Princesa Blanca & Princesa Sujei & Zeuxis
3/20/14 Arena Mexico, 2/3 Falls REINA-CMLL International Title: Syuri vs. La Amapola
3/21/14 Arena Puebla: Dark Angel & Estrellita & Syuri vs. La Amapola & La Comandante & Tiffany
3/22/14 Arena Mexico: Dark Angel & Goya Kong & Syuri vs. La Amapola & La Seductora & Mima Shimoda
Latin Dragon & Ultimo Panda vs. Frightmare & Hallowicked. Decent opener with the effort being more outstanding than the skill, but clearly some talent was on display. Although Panda is the only comedy wrestler, his antics tended to determine the character of the match, which was not for the better. He's not much of an athlete, and he's quick to make fun of himself about that, but the other three mostly made up for him. Frightmare & Hallowicked were more impressive as a team than individually with their cohesive double team moves, certainly the better team here, though Dragon may have been the most impressive individually. Panda hit a Panda (crucifix) roll with both opponents on his shoulders to set up the finish. *1/2
Amasis & Ophidian & Green Ant vs. Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy & Papadon. I can understand Panda making fun of his lack of athleticism on a show based around athleticism because it's obvious that he's not the caliber athlete of the others so there's no point in pretending that he is, but hoping fans are going to get into a speedy, flashy lucha tag by starting off with a wrestler, Cassidy, pretending to be so lethargic he can barely even stand isn't going to get anyone's juices flowing. Luckily, it was predominantly a showcase for the technicos. The high flying of Amasis & Ophidian took over once Cassidy got out of the way. Amasis was particularly impressive as an athlete, but Ophidian was a little more advanced offensively. Taylor was the only rudo that could really do the lucha style. Papadon was fine, but was basically a power wrestler who took flying moves. Cassidy fought like he was drugged, and was a total buzzkill, his "best" offense being falling on the opposition. This literally would have been a good match if they just tossed any non-descript student who could blend in and take a few bumps out there instead of grinding the match to a halt trying to find comedy where it doesn't exist. **1/4
PWR World Mini's Title Match: Mini Mariachi vs. Pierrothito. The minis tried to steal the show. A higher level of professionalism was evidence in the general quality of the work, but Mariachi choked on a couple of his biggest spots. Pierrothito had about 10 inches and 60 pounds on the former Octagoncito, and was bullying him when he had a hold of him, but no one expected him to win turning a tilt-a-whirl into a powerbomb, including the ref who had an "oh shit" moment after counting 3. The gave Pierrothito the belt, but then extended the match another 5 minutes for no reason, without any real storyline explanation as to why beyond Mariachi wanting another chance to remember to kick out. Mariachi took a few more moves before hitting the flash pin to retain. The best match so far wrestling wise, but something of a debacle. **
Cassandro vs. Matt Cross. They didn't totally gel, but both were individually good. Despite being an exotico, Cassandro's style had almost nothing to do with bringing out the homophobic aspects of his opponent's personality. Cross was actually the better athlete, but Cassandro's athleticism was much more fluidly integrated hitting ranas on the run as opposed to Cross' stand and leap gymnastic style. They did a good job of going back & forth without making it obvious who would win or when. **1/2
Bestia 666 & Damian 666 & Sabu vs. BLK Jeez & Ruckus & Homicide. Chaos. Damian's son Bestia 666 appeared to be the real deal. The match was mostly a showcase for Sabu though, and though that sounds like pure nostalgia, he did do his best to put on a good show. There was no structure or order or direction, but Sabu had the chair in play consistently, and was flying around, even if not as high as 20 years ago, and doing some of his famous table spots. Ruckus was the only rudo that bothered to do anything, showing some impressive athleticism in his own right. Certainly not what one would call a "good match", but it was entertaining for Sabu fans. *3/4
IWL World Heavyweight Title Match: Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. LA Park. A show saving main event. Even though both guys are closing in on 50, mainly due to Wagner, this had the aura and intensity of a legitimate big show main event title match where age was irrelevant, and, mainly due to Parka, the fun to get through the down periods. Wagner is in better shape than he was 15 years ago, and still at the top of his game. The same can not be said for Parka, who is quite chubby these days, but after what started out looking to be a one-man show by Wagner, Parka stepped it up and showed he can still work stiff and pull off some good spots. They displayed a lot of charisma, but they also worked and hit hard, keeping the fans into it throughout. Parka requires a slower pace, but is able to introduce enough shenanigans that his charisma can somewhat mask the down spots. The weirdest spot saw the ref semi-accidentally pinning Wagner in a sunset flip due to a fast count by Parka. Both men were unmasked during the match, but thankfully this didn't result in a DQ, nor did the low blow. ***1/4
AAA Reina de Reinas Title Match: Faby Apache vs. Taya
Mask Vs. Hair Match: Psycho Clown vs. El Texano Jr.
8/9/15
Dinastia & Drago & Goya Kong & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Daga & Mamba & Mini Psycho Clown & Sexy Star
Blue Demon Jr. & La Parka vs. Electroshock & El Mesias
AAA World Trios Title Three Way Steel Cage Match: Averno & Chessman & Cibernetico vs. Angelico & Fenix & Jack Evans vs. El Hijo del Fantasma & El Texano Jr. & Pentagon Jr.
S1E1
Blue Demon Jr. vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. 5:15
Son Of Havoc vs. Sexy Star 1:46
Johnny Mundo vs. Prince Puma 12:33. Ricochet made his debut as Konnan's spectacular new protege Puma here, with the announcers lying about Mundo having taken a 3 year hiatus (since leaving the EWW), when in fact he worked for at least a dozen promotions in each of the following 2 years. Though Johnny had a new last name, as always, you were supposed to recognize him as Morrison, and the match was wisely designed to get Puma, who you somehow weren't supposed to recognize as Ricochet despite the tattoos, over as this generations Rey Misterio Jr. It was a good straight match, with ample time devoted to displaying Puma's athletic counters, a bit of brawling on the outside to show how the LU style is "different", or actually the same as all the Lucha Konnan has been associated with since he discovered ECW, and obviously spectacular flying including Puma's swandive 450 splash. Mundo is at once the most interesting wrestler in the promotion because he is able to alter his style based upon what the opponent brings, but can also be frustrating at times, and this was one of those cases. Half Mundo's offense was quite impressive, and he wasn't particularly outshined by Puma when he was doing things, but the other half was WWE filler 101, and this is where he just seemed like a relic. The match was definitely short enough that a better wrestler would have excised the chinlock and other useless holds, but while it never seemed like the blowout match that was really trying to sell people on LU & get them tuning in every week, they at least did enough to make you tune in next week. I was surprised that Mundo got the victory, it seemed obvious if you're going to create a new Tiger Mask to not job him immediately, but otherwise this was one of the better booked LU shows with no outside interference or screw jobs, saving the angle of the double cross on the promised cash & Cueto's thugs beating down the main eventers for after the contest had been decided. ***
S1E2
Johnny Mundo & Prince Puma vs. Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco 8:22. Mundo & Puma win with a double 450 splash.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Sexy Star vs. Ivelisse & Son Of Havoc 5:36
Mil Muertes vs. Blue Demon Jr. 4:22
S1E3
Mascarita Sagrada vs. El Mariachi Loco 4:39
Mil Muertes vs. Ricky Mandel 2:39
Fenix vs. Drago vs. Pentagon Jr. 7:47. It took 3 shows, but Lucha finally arrived on Lucha Underground. A crazy, wild, all out high flying spotfest that probably could have been something truly special if not for being less than 8 minutes. The lack of actual wrestling on this show was crazy, after starting with 2 jobber matches, this surely could have gone 15 minutes, but that's about how much actual wrestling than we got in the entire 45 minute program. I always prefer quality to quantity though, and given what they had to work with, they did as much as they could, just overflowing the match with awesome sequences full of risky spectacle. It was totally in Fenix's style, never slowing down & not wasting time on pedestrian maneuvers. Penta did a few strikes & power moves, but was definitely trying to fit in with Fenix & Drago's style than be the change of pace. This could have been a 2 on 1, but I love how the Lucha Bros approach these situations. They make their work against each other often be their best by simply taking it to the opponent & not thinking about who that opponent actual is, as you would in a real fight where protecting yourself & winning are what's important. The highlight of a match full was Fenix doing a plancha from the balcony, a "30 foot drop" according to Vampiro. Fenix pinned Penta with a reverse Frankensteiner. ***1/2
S1E4
Sexy Star vs. Ivelisse 6:21
Fenix vs. Pentagon Jr. 7:56. While technically longer than last week's 3 way, it was nowhere near as spectacular or all out without the switching off to keep the insane pace. This felt more like they knew they weren't going to have a match of the year because the promotion insisted on trying to cram 2 other matches plus the displaced pole dancers into 45 minutes, so they just had fun. They tried to ease into things & do some actual lucha sequences rather than just blow through their dives because that's all they truly had time for. Their chemistry is great, and it was all very well done, a great success toward continuing to get both over as two of the must see performers in the league. Looking at it from that perspective, they were new to the US, and this match won over a lot more fans, but from a current perspective obviously they've had a lot better matches here & everywhere else since. My favorite spot was Fenix doing the missile kick to the floor with Penta on the apron, as while he has a couple better dives even in this match, it was one of those unique, crazy, I just want to win even if I cripple myself in the process kind of spots that separate Fenix from sane high flyers. Fenix got the victory with an avalanche style Spanish fly. ***
Drago vs. King Cuerno 4:54. Nice showcase for Drago's flying. Despite this being his debut, they had so little time that Cuerno was basically just his Saturday morning jobber.
Johnny Mundo vs. Big Ryck 4:39
S1E5
Mil Muertes vs. Drago 3:58
Mascarita Sagrada vs. Son Of Havoc 4:53
Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Sexy Star 2:12. Highlight was Vampiro complaining that Penta saved Chavo because "You can do better than Chavo!"
Boyle Heights Street Fight: Big Ryck vs. Prince Puma 11:19. Ryck is supposed to be their Sapp, except they don't want the matches to totally suck, so they strap him with two henchman in order for the opponent to actually be able to do sequenes & moves. The problem is the cowardly heel is the one who is constantly bailed out by his cronies not the guy who is supposed to be striking fear into everyone's hearts. This is why 911 just did the chokeslam & we were done with him. Mundo made a great entrance jumping off the balcony into the ring to save Puma, but predictably wound up accidentally costing Puma the match when his chair shot backfired.
S1E6
Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Son Of Havoc 4:48
Mil Muertes vs. Famous B 1:10
King Cuerno vs. Drago 4:26. These two work well together, with Cuerno's deliberate pace helping to accentuate Drago's speed, but never get any time.
Fenix & Sexy Star vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Pentagon Jr. 9:18. The problem with this match was evident right off the bat as Fenix hit a great rana counter on Penta then Chavo came in & locked in the chinlock. It just felt like all Lucha Bros efforts were undermined by Star who is energetic but has no technique & Chavo who doesn't have to suck but prefers not to exert himself. Fenix did an amazing dive that was something like a springboard corkscrew moonsault attack but really defied description.
11/8/14
AAA World Cruiserweight Title: El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Aero Star vs. Angelico vs. Bengala vs. Jack Evans vs. Joe Lider vs. Steve Pain vs. Super Fly
Copa Antonio Pena 2014 Eight Man Royal Rumble Lumberjack Match: Myzteziz vs. Australian Suicide vs. Blue Demon Jr. vs. El Zorro vs. Fenix vs. La Parka vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Villano IV
11/15/14
Dinastia & Faby Apache & Nino Hamburguesa & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Eterno & Mamba & Mini Abismo Negro & Taya Valkyrie
Street Fight: Averno & Chessman & Cibernetico vs. Monster Clown & Murder Clown & Psycho Clown
El Texano Jr. & Perro Aguayo Jr. vs. El Mesias & El Patron Alberto
S1E7
King Cuerno vs. Super Fly 3:28
Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Fenix 5:43. Chavo has Fenix using the side headlock, oy. At one point Vamp asks why the Fujiwara armbar is working, and I just want to scream because Chavo is too interested in getting another rest to just roll. Fenix hit a beautiful torneo & Chavo had a couple nice counters to his flying moves, but basically this was filler.
$100,000 Dollar Ladder Match: Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo vs. Big Ryck 19:35. While mostly just chaos, they rolled out enough interesting & uncommon spots to keep it entertaining if you could suspend disbelief. Mundo gave one of his better performances here because the props brought out his creative side, even doing a ladder assisted corkscrew. Puma & Mundo did their best to work around Ryck to have a good match, leaving him on the outside as much as possible. Ryck is so inept he even needed Cisco & Cortez to climb the ladder for him, and before long this was a 4 minus 1 man. Mundo leaned a ladder on the ropes & climbed up for a tope con giro, which was one of the spots that was kind of cool for being different even though it was actually a lot slower than the regular version because you have to be careful climbing a ladder that's not upright & not being held. I liked Puma's tope con giro through the ladder a lot more. Puma took a ridiculous bump when Ryck press slammed him through a ladder drapped across the apron & guard rail to the floor. Unfortunately, this left Mundo to finish against the assorted minions, resulting in a different but rather anticlimactic finale where Mundo did a springboard onto one ladder & kicked down the ladder that Cisco & Cortez were on for the win. ***
S1E8
10 Way Match: Fenix vs. Big Ryck vs. Drago vs. El Mariachi Loco vs. King Cuerno vs. Mascarita Sagrada vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Prince Puma vs. Son Of Havoc vs. Super Fly 10:49. They split the night up into two 10 man matches with the winners meeting, loading the 1st one which ended in a pinfall (so they could do all their dives) with all the guys that can actually go and the second, which was over the top to the floor, with all the guys that should go, like home & stay there. It was an amazing aerial spectacle with literally everything that didn't involve Ryck being a highlight. Sure, this was contrived because they avoided the downfall of these big matches where the ring is overloaded with guys who thus have no room to do much beyond throw their lame punches by just isolating two or three performers, essentially doing a Michinoku style 5 vs. 5 except it was every man for himself. Basically one luchador would do a flying move to the other then a new guy would do his flying move to the guy who hit the last flying move (thus eliminating the opportunity for the pinfall) until everyone ran out of cool things they wanted to do. This format meant that you had 7 or 8 guys just standing around on the outside ready to dart in for their sequence, but it maintained the feel of a lucha match, & being a crazy high flying extravaganza, the skill, timing, and athleticism are probably what you want if you are watching this league, not the usual unwatchable dopes hanging on the ropes that we got in the second match. Even if this was sort of the personification of purolucha style US indy wrestling in theory, it was several steps above in that it was extremely well executed & it felt like they were doing their own thing & being creative rather than just rehashing what they saw on the last DVD they watched. It was annoying that the announcers once again laughed off everything Mascarita did (especially when they then put over Star who is about the same weight with none of the skill), as he was doing great stuff such as a rana to the floor, and even if he wasn't totally serious, they were really accentuating the wrong tone. Overall though, the pace was tremendous & everyone had ample opportunity to shine. Fenix & Puma have the most to offer in this match, and Fenix got to break out from the pack here with the pin on the Prince. ****
10 Man Boyle Heights Battle Royal: Mil Muertes vs. Bael vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Cortez Castro vs. Famous B vs. Johnny Mundo vs. Mr. Cisco vs. Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Ricky Mandel vs. Sexy Star 10:59. Most of the match was an excuse for Mundo to show off a variety of ways to avoid hitting the floor. It finally got interesting when it came down to him Mil & Chavo, with Mil doing a ridiculous release German on Chavo when Mundo sunset flipped him.
Mil Muertes vs. Fenix 5:47. The winner enters Aztec Warfare last, loser enters 1st was a good angle, but by the time they were done presenting it they had little time for the actual match, which was unfortunate because these two have good chemistry.
#9
Lucha Underground Title 20 Man Aztec Warfare Match: Prince Puma vs. Bael vs. Big Ryck vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Cortez Castro vs. Drago vs. El Mariachi Loco vs. Fenix vs. Ivelisse vs. Johnny Mundo vs. King Cuerno vs. Mascarita Sagrada vs. Mil Muertes vs. Mr. Cisco vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Ricky Mandel vs. Sexy Star vs. Son Of Havoc vs. Super Fly 39:50. Dario Cueto's no rules Royal Rumble variant allows for actual wrestling by making elimination by pinfall or submission, thus making this more of a 3 way type of match where they cycled through which 2 or 3 guys were going to be involved at the moment, with the rest twiddling their thumbs on the outside than the typical battle royal where they either get rid of guys as quick as they enter or the ring just fills up & there's no room to do much beyond the typical phony flatfooted pulled punches. Fenix & Mundo started, and they got Cuerno, Havoc, Puma, & Drago in early, so the spectacular spots just kept coming. The better wrestlers were also going way out of their way to do as much work for the lesser ones as possible, taking great bumps for them in particular to make their offensive segments more passable. That being said, the Pimpinela's & Ivelisse's of the world have no business ever being in the ring with the Fenix's & Puma's, so the match was going to be up & down, as virtually any big match is likely to be. The first half was a lot better than the 2nd half because the match got bogged down with brawling between all the crew guys, and then lazy Chavo just one shot eliminating a bunch of guys with the chair, including Fenix, who stole the show as usual, until Star eliminated Chavo with the chair. Things finally picked up again with the final entry Mil going against Puma & Mundo, and even with that huge advantage, Mil was eliminated almost shockingly quickly, especially given his monster gimmick, giving the two biggest stars in the promotion, Mundo & Puma, a nice stretch run where Puma survived the end of the world & took Mundo out with the 630 to become the first ever Lucha Underground Champion. ***1/4
#10
4 Way Elimination Match: Cage vs. Aerostar vs. Argenis vs. Angelico 5:59. Spectacular lightning match, but ridiculous having 3 eliminations in 6 minutes. Aerostar & Argenis made the match, which wound up just being a showcase for Cage, who got all 3 eliminations. It's ridiculous to be wasting so much time on Ryck when you have guys like Cage & Muertes, so this wasn't the worst booking, Cage can actually do things with these guys that are impressive both offensively & defensively & facilitate a quality encounter. On the other hand, most of the good workers are lesser versions of Fenix & Puma, as is the case with Aerostar & Argenis, and the promotion would be way better if they could figure out how to do anything with any of them instead of serving them up as fodder & then wasting our time with Star, Chavo, Crew, etc.
King Cuerno vs. Drago 3:20. These guys have been waiting for the bookers to provide them with enough time to have a good match, and while this was spectacular from start to finish with a bunch of dives including Drago putting Cuerno through a table with a balcony dive, they're still waiting as that led to a double count out.
Lucha Underground Title Match: Prince Puma vs. Fenix 12:09. The two best workers in the league met in the first ever defense of the title, and while they went all out, it was a bit disappointing. Both showed great flying, but they didn't quite have the timing & chemistry with one another that they normally have in their better work. Between their cooperation being a bit awkward & the match largely being an exchange of really difficult to perform gymnastic moves, it had more of an exhibition feel than a do or die for the gold feel. This was still very enjoyable, but I know their styles can mesh a lot better than they did here. Despite all the crazy flying, maybe the most interesting spot was Fenix rope walking from corner to corner thinking he could hit an avalanche style move, but Puma knocking him off the ropes with an enzuigiri. Puma then won with the 630, and Cage came out & left him laying. The match definitely got better as it went along, but I'd like to see a rematch, or better yet, a series. ***
#11
Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco vs. Mascarita Sagrada & Pimpinela Escarlata 4:47
Pentagon Jr. vs. Super Fly 5:10
Mariachi Loco vs. Sexy Star 3:49
Last Luchador Standing: King Cuerno vs. Drago 11:23. Now they finally had time, but this format was terrible, so most of it was devoted to the ref counting. The whole match was start & stop because the ref started a 10 count between literally every move, even though it's essentially the same 10 count to respond that wrestlers have in every match, yet most times the ref doesn't even invoke the rule once per match. It's a shame because I like these guys, and they did a bunch of good moves in between the tedium. Cuerno put Drago through a table with his thrill of the hunt. Finish with Drago not being able to get up because Cuerno held him down with a rope was straight from the Vince playbook of "creative" ways to ruin a match.
#12
Fenix vs. Mil Muertes 3:48. Fenix did a great job of getting Mil over as a wrecking ball, taking crazy bumps where he constantly let Mil knock him out of the air. Mil was just destroying him, but Fenix got a flash pin after Mil hit an avalanche style brainbuster.
Bael & Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro vs. Aerostar & Super Fly & Argenis 10:53. Aero did an avalanche style Frankensteiner to the floor. He was the MVP, so of course he got pinned.
Lucha Underground Title Match: Prince Puma vs. Cage 10:18. This was basically the match Fenix/Mil could have had if they got time, with Puma taking massive bumps & showing some great flying. Puma did a great job adding a ton of urgency to his speedy aerial attack because there was no margin for error against The Machine. He got off to a quick start only to have Cage counter with a devastating shoulderblock when Puma was in midair. Cage was really rolling from there, thwarting most of Puma's attempts to comeback with some kind of big power move. Cage used a lot of energy constantly hoisting Puma, and was sucking wind in the 2nd half. The finish was super lame with Cage getting himself DQ'd when Puma was ready to hit the 630. Isn't that the tactic of the cowardly heel rather than the fearsome one who leaves them laying & rips the belt in half? ***
10/14/14 Arena Mexico: La Comandante & Makoto & Narumiya vs. Estrellita & Goya Kong & Princesa Sujei
10/19/14 Arena Mexico: Dalys la Caribena & Dark Angel & Makoto & Narumiya & Zeuxis vs. Estrellita & La Amapola & La Vaquerita & Marcela & Princesa Sujei