#13
Son of Havoc vs. Angelico
Famous B vs. Pentagon Jr.
Drago vs. Aero Star 4:13. Already way better than any of the Drago/Cuerno matches, though I'd take Aero over Cuerno any day anyway. It was way too short, but just an all spectacle technico flying battle.
Johnny Mundo vs. Cage 10:03. Mundo adjusts his style to the opponent, sometimes for better & sometimes for worse, but this was the former as he was the spectacular one with Cage countering his flashy moves with his big power. Match was better than expected until Cuerno took Mundo's leg out for no reason for the DQ, only to have Dario restart it so a crippled Mundo would lose. Mundo still made a go of it, but the lack of mobility soon caught up to him.
#14
Fenix vs. Argenis 5:33. This should have been the main event, but one of the great things about Fenix is he wrestles every match more or less like it is, he's out there to make an impression. Argenis is a tag wrestler, so having this be short wasn't a terrible idea, but it was so short they just blew through all their high flying in an enjoyable game of top this. This was gas, but at the same time it was just so rushed it didn't have time to rise above stunt exhibition.
Son of Havoc vs. Johnny Mundo 8:47. Mundo was supposedly working on a blown out knee from last week, but did all his spots, mainly only favoring it when the opposition targeted it. Mundo tried to pull Havoc out of the corner feet first, but Havoc backflipped in midair to avoid. Havoc was "supposed to" win because Mundo was injured, but he can't even beat Pimpinela or Mascarita, he wasn't going to seize the day against even a compromised Mundo.
Ricky Mandell vs. Pentagon Jr. 3:41
#15
Mil Muertes vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Ivelisse vs. Angelico
El Texano Jr vs. Super Fly
Sexy Star & Pimpinela Escarlata & Mascarita Sagrada vs. Cortez & Mr Cisco & Bael
#16
Aero Star vs. Drago 4:56. These guys already seemed to be working better together from the experience of 2 weeks ago. This was certainly still technico spectacle, but felt more like a match despite still being to short to really recommend, as they did a better job of chaining things together. The match was more a showcase for Aero since he lost last time, and he wsa was tearing the house down with his creative flying. He did a great mid ring climb up plancha. There was a cool sequence where Drago chased Aero on the apron, but posted himself when Aero evaded by climbing up & backflipping into the ring then Aero followed with a tope. Aero did an interesting running sunset flip powerbomb where he stepped on Drago, who very theoretically tried to reenter with a shoulderblock, to help boost himself over top rope.
Prince Puma vs. Cage 8:41. Puma was still injured from their previous encounter, and only getting worse as Cage crunched him before he could ever really get going. Puma hit an amazing climb up shooting star attack, and a few other crazy moves, but mostly Cage just ran through him until Konnan resurfaced & threw in the towel.
Pentagon Jr. vs. Vinny Massaro 1:02
Johnny Mundo vs. King Cuerno 7:18. Much more of a competitive, back & forth match than Puma vs. Cage. Cuerno was attacking the injured knee, without forcing it. This was the best match of the show, and seemed recommendable until it just randomly ended with a count out.
#17
Fenix vs. Mil Muertes. Fenix jumped Mil with a rana off the handrail, but Mil couldn't take the bump. Mil did his best to let Fenix make the match with his flying, and most of his other moves require a lot less of Mil. The problem is it was super short, and once Mil took over that was it.
Big Ryck vs. Sexy Star
Alberto el Patron vs. Texano Jr. Their fathers probably would have been able to put on a better match in 2015 if Texano was still with us.
#18
Argenis vs. Pentagon Jr. 5:03. The first "competitive" match for the new aggressive arm breaking Penta. Argenis did a few things then Penta overwhelmed him with his viciousness.
Angelico vs. Ivelisse 6:13
Cage Match: Johnny Mundo vs. King Cuerno 13:41. Mundo's best asset is his diversity. While he's a master of no styles, he can adjust reasonably well to whatever opponent, stipulation, or situation the bookers throw at him. Cage matches outside of AJW will never be my favorite, but thankfully this was a lot closer to a Japanese (non Dragon Gate) cagematch than to a Mexican tight pulling contest. It had a reasonable amount of wrestling, and while there was brawling, it didn't just devolve into a bunch of skillless ramming. I'm kind of in the middle on this match, it wasn't boring, but at the same time it was mostly less captivating than a regular match would have been. It's almost as if Mundo knew this as well, he had the match won via escape, but decided to instead leap back in with a corkscrew moonsault attack off the top of the cage for the pinfall to try to put it over the top. ***
#19
Best Of Five Series #3: Aerostar vs. Drago 8:11. Match was finally a little longer, but it didn't feel like the time was used for anything significant. If anything, this was actually a lot less spectacular than the first two matches. Pretty good, but at the same time kind of disappointing.
Handicap No DQ Elimination Match: Bael & Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro vs. Big Ryck 6:17. In case you didn't realize they were jobbers, Ryck ran through Bael & Cortez the Killed then Cisco tried to flee only to be beat back to the ring by Star & chokeslammed onto a chair by Ryck.
Grave Consequences Coffin Match: Fenix vs. Mil Muertes 14:45. They did a good job building up this convoluted rivalry to give these two something to work with for their climactic death match of sorts, and these two really ran with it, doing a hatred filled, aggressive grudge match that just got more & more violent. Though Fenix was already an excellent worker who would go on to be in the conversation for best in the world, Mil stepping it up in a big way is really what made this match. He's had moments so far, but this was the first time his undead gimmick didn't just feel cheesy & second rate (even though he doesn't actually suck like other zombies), the gusto he worked with tonight made you feel like he was the Boricua Butcher. He was pretty creative here, constantly turning the surroundings into his weapons. Catrina coming out with Fenix had Mil so fired up he started with a tope. Fenix tried one later, but Mil blocked it with the coffin. Mil ripped Fenix's mask then disassembled the bottom rope (to his advantage, this helped keep it from ever turning into a wrestling match), busting Fenix open with the piece that connects the turnbuckle to the post. There were big moves & spectacular flying spots interspersed, but mostly this was a purposeful, well set up brawl. Fenix puts his body on the line like virtually no one else in the history of the sport, and tonight he took a vicious powerbomb onto the near side of the announcers table, which was never meant to breakaway, and an overhead belly to belly into the coffin set up in the corner, among other stunts. Fenix kept trying to comeback, hitting both a forward & backward flip off the bleachers, but Mil would cut him right off bouncing his head like a ball. One thing that really elevated the match is they didn't bother with near finishes. Had this taken place in the EWW, they would have done one move if we were lucky then spent a minute doing the slowest, most overdramatized hokey attempt to place the opponent in the casket, wash, rinse, and repeat. These guys seemingly had no interest in cheating death, which is why I hated the finish. For almost 15 minutes, they just wanted to kill each other, outside of being an occasional weapon, the coffin was no more than the final resting place once the deed was done. Finally, Catrina opened it, and that was basically that. Really, the only thing I didn't like about the match was this finish. While I'm glad they brought Mil back because he's an actual useful big man, I would have preferred any sort of nonsensical Voorhees reincarnation shenanigans to the very unconvincing falling off the apron into the casket after Fenix did a rope walk footstomp, especially waiting around for Catrina to lick the medallion and toss it in. Basically, Mil dominated the whole match, then was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, which really seemed cheap & defeated the whole purpose of trying to kill each other rather than simply trying to get the win any way they could. I think this match really needed another 5 minutes and, as much as I love Fenix's flying, he still needed to instead come up with some kind of bomb/driver or gimmick spot that could reasonably incapacitate Mil rather than Mil, to my mind, just winding up being "buried alive". Still, when I think of coffin matches that are actually worthwhile, this is the one that comes to mind. ***3/4
#20
Angelico vs. Son of Havoc 6:40. This has been the most disappointing program because everything involving Ivelisse is terrible, and everything revolves around her because she's so deliberate, obnoxious, and lacking in subtlty. Finally, these guys managed to do some interesting things that weren't completely drowned out by her wailing, but still the highlight was mostly Vampiro clearly being sick of her & constantly making fun of her. Finish was terrible though with Angelico down for seemingly 2 minutes from getting crotched while Havoc dumped Ivelisse before finally hitting the shooting star press for the win.
AAA Mega Title Bullrope Match: Alberto el Patron vs. Texano Jr. 8:22. Texano countered Patron's avalanche style Frankensteiner with an avalanche style powerbomb through a table.
Boyle Heights Street Fight, Lucha Underground Title Match: Prince Puma vs. Cage 12:13. Easily the best of their matches so far. Cage stepped it up here, wrestling more confidently & competently. His execution was on point this time, and with Puma now healthy, the match was more back & forth, so Cage didn't blow himself out using Puma as a dumbbell. Puma took some ridiculous bumps, including an amazing shooting star bump off the apron when both charged from opposite sides but Cage caught him with the lariat. Puma tried to comeback with a rana off the apron, but Cage caught him in midair & hoisted him into the post. My favorite of the many highlights were Puma hitting a shooting star attack to the floor and putting Cage through the table with a swandive 450 splash to the outside. Unfortunately, as is always the case, the more they tried to find purpose for the obstructive hangers on, the more it just felt like forced hokem. There was a whole series where Cage had Puma beat, including a series of mount punches & a powerbomb on a garbage can, but refused to cover & pro wrestling refs refuse to actually ever do the job of a ref & stop a match. Lucha Underground presumably wants their new title to mean something, but rather than put everything into winning it, they prefer Cage to be so completely indifferent he instead picks a fight with Hernandez? This led to the predictable lame outside interference, with Konehead using his geriatric weapon, then a newly reincarnated Puma hitting the 630 for the win. Even though Puma is the guy we want with the title, I'd rate this higher if Cage just won the match when the victory was there. ***1/4
#21
Angelico vs. Johnny Mundo 7:45. The most underrated Lucha Underground match of the season. While people talk about a lot of predictable & mediocre matches that took place here, somehow the one that's truly unique & progressive gets little love. Mundo & Angelico employed a completely sequence & combo laden perpetual motion striking style that is based more on martial arts movie choreography, running, jumping, & flying at one another & actually avoiding strikes then getting hit by others, rather than traditional lazy as hell pro wrestling striking choreography where they just eat single shots to prove how manly they are. This is the sort of match that, while occasionally a bit deliberate because they didn't want to actually hit each other when they weren't supposed to (or more practically in a single continuous take, you don't have the benefit of really setting up the camera angles & editing the footage), was extremely difficult to pull off, and showed what pro wrestling could be if wrestlers were actually interested in challenging themselves in the striking department rather than just standing around throwing the same strike at the same spot with the same velocity for 15 minutes, somehow connecting with more or less all of them, & calling that some kind of evolved, high end standup war because they reddened each others chests. Mundo was really on fire in the first half of season one, seemingly doing a different style match every time out until they screwed things up & made him a heel. Angelico, on the other hand, hasn't had a chance to impress so far, but we knew he had talent, it's just that he's always in the same bad situation, stuck with two many people and one unbearable distraction. Getting him in there with someone he could not only take seriously, but also experiment with, brought out the best in him, but unfortunately, he was right back to being chained to Ivelisse. While combo based striking was a large portion of the match, even when they did do more traditional pro wrestling sequences, it was more in the back & forth counter oriented World of Sport style. The match was a little short in the traditional sense, ending when Mundo countered the avalanche style Frankensteiner by slamming Angelico out of the air jackknife style then hit the end of the world, but they packed more movement into this than most guys do in 30 minute "epics". It's really disappointing that this was a one-off, as getting other people interested and involved in this style could really improve wrestling as a whole. ***3/4
Best of 5 Series #4: Aero Star vs. Drago 4:28. Mostly Aero hitting big flying moves & going for the pin after everything trying to finish the series. Drago was more aggressive here, instead using a few kicks & slams.
2/8/15 Trios Title Tournament: Big Ryck & Killshot & The Mack vs. Pentagon Jr. & Sexy Star & Super Fly 10:59
#22
Trios Title Tournament: Angelico & Ivelisse & Son of Havoc vs. Aerostar & Drago & Fenix 8:13
Mask vs. Mask: Sexy Star vs. Super Fly 5:47. Super Fly may not be the most exciting luchador, but really. He never gets to do anything, now is forced to lose his match in a 5 minute impromptu mask match to a talentless woman where he again gets to do nothing, and then to add further insult Penta breaks his arm since he evaded that fate previously.
Lucha Underground Title Match: Prince Puma vs. King Cuerno 9:03. Cage & Texano catch Puma doing his tope con giro & toss him to Cuerno for a midair reverse neckbreaker, then Cuerno proceeds to launch a deliberate leg attack. Puma comes back with another tope con giro, and this time Munto has his back, taking out Cage & Texano with his corkscrew & landing on Cuerno with an elbow drop. While the match had those couple good spots involving the seconds, for the most part it also didn't work because the focus of the match was thus so often elsewhere. Cuerno is a competent worker who should be a good opponent for Puma, but his deliberate disseminations probably require more time & effort put into them, other wise he's just a less spectacular version of the majority of the AAA guys on the roster.
#23
Lucha Underground Trios Tournament Match: Cage & King Cuerno & Texano Jr. vs. Johnny Mundo & Hernandez & Prince Puma 10:30. One of the things I like about Lucha Underground is it isn't just a bunch of random trios matches. That being said, I certainly don't mind an action packed spotfest, and while this would have been considerably better if it was just a tag match, or if they merely had a real wrestler instead of Hernandez, there were enough guys here who are more than capable of showing off to keep things moving. The problem for me is they didn't really have much chemistry, and the sequences were pretty remedial by lucha standards, when they were even doing sequences at all. This was more a match of stops & starts that had its moments, but never really came together. Since we haven't seen many 6 mans, I can see why people thought it was good, but apart from the star power this is basically quality filler on any Mexican show. Even though Mundo is one of the least experienced at this style, he was totally at home, and was involved in all the best sequences.
Cage vs. Son of Havoc vs. The Mack 5:57. Not the ideal pairing, 3 guys who have good offense, but aren't able to make each other look better. Fun little match with strong efforts all around though. Highlight was Cage catching Havoc's tope and turning it into a brainbuster.
Best of 5 Series #5: Aero Star vs. Drago 10:16. I feel like the series may have helped these two get over, but it didn't really get there in terms of match quality. This would have been great for one of the earlier matches, even without the couple big spots they used to elevate it, but it shouldn't take 5 matches to work up to a full on lightning match. This was, of course, mostly a big spectacular spotfest, but in their defense, rather than seeming like midcard fun this sort of match is in Mexico, they did magage to rise to the level of the main event and make this one feel urgent & significant. Again, it was Aero going for tons of pins, trying anything he could to finally end this series, and Drago being the one who was willing to diverge from the technico battle to show some aggressive behavior, including working Aero over with mount punches. The two spots that made the match were Aero stopping Drago from putting him through a table on the floor, scoring with a climb up body press, and Aero taking a great bump on the flip DDT that set up Drago winning with his dragon's tail cradle. Overall, this series was disappointing, mostly due to the matches being ridiculously short. That being said, while neither do enough different things to really be super effective singles players, this sort of series that develops chemistry while forcing them to not just wrestle the same match is exactly what they need to help get them closer to the high level in singles that they have long been at in tag. ***
#24
Sexy Star vs. Pentagon Jr. 7:02. For real??? Weeks of building Penta up as an arm breaking killer only to have him job to a useless diva?
Lucha Underground Trios Title Tournament Final Three Way Elimination Match: Angelico & Ivelisse & Son of Havoc vs. Big Ryck & Killshot & the Mack vs. Cage & King Cuerno & Texano Jr. More of a frantic finishing sequence than a match, but better than expected. Cage did a moonsault attack to the floor. Good performance from Angelico.
Lucha Underground Trios Title Tournament Final No DQ Match: Angelico & Ivelisse & Son of Havoc vs. Bael & Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro 6:39. Previous match was miles better, this was mostly an unskilled brawl around the building. Havoc did a moonsault off the guard rail then Angelico did a balcony plancha.
#25
Fenix vs. Killshot 6:00. This was already better than the Drago/Aero series outside of match 5. It was, again, too short, but it was very energized & urgent with Killshot trying hard to get over having started midway through the season & Fenix just being excellent as usual. Killshot couldn't always keep up, but they wasted no time & both were really busting it. Fenix landed on his feet to counter an avalanche style released German suplex.
Famous B vs. Ricky Mandel vs. Argenis vs. Vinny Massaro 0:13
Lucha Underground Championship Next Challenger Decision Match: Hernandez vs. Cuerno vs. Cage 4:55. Moth's entrance where he runs in from the crowd in between actual wrestlers & screams Marty The Moth is here scores the full Scurlly 10 on cringeworthy factor.
Lucha Underground Title vs. Drago's Lucha Underground Career: Drago vs. Prince Puma 9:28. Drago made the most of his big opportunity, getting main events 2 weeks in a row. This would have been a nice way to elevate him, except he's not really a champion, and it's extremely difficult to push a guy your stupid stipulation has sent back to AAA. While Drago doesn't have the familiarity or chemistry with Puma he has with Aero, Puma makes up for it by being the top level flyer. Puma might not be the deepest wrestler around, but at least he's able to keep things interesting by variying his spectacle considerably from match to match. It's tough for Drago to really stand out here because Puma is simply a better athlete & has so many more flying moves, but both guys worked hard, and Drago was able to bust out a few different things, for instance a reverse Frankensteiner, which Puma took a great bump for him on. The stakes of Drago either winning the title or being banished from The Temple arguably added something to the match, but they really lost me with the cheesy ending, which seemingly was only lacking some Tirantes shenanigans. Puma accidentally took the ref out lifting Drago into a fireman's carry, then Drago managed to really creatively work his way into an impressive Canadian destroyer that would have won if there was anyone to count. Instead, Hernandez sauntered out as slowly as possible then charged Puma, forcing Puma to either avoid him and allow Hernandez to take Drago out with a big roidy should have been spear but instead was just a feeble push into the corner, or to bite the bullet himself & lose the title, which he should have just lost anyway, to the almighty shove of doom. Puma saved himself, and while I'm glad Drago wasn't really gone because he's one of the best, if not the best, of the second tier of workers here, the fact that Drago literally sat out 1 night of actual tapings almost reaches the silliness of Hulk Hogan "ignoring Paul Orndorff's calls for a week", even though the big breakup match was about an hour after their previous match together. Anyway, this was a fun match, but while 9 minutes of all out action is still better than 35 minutes of stalling, a nice sprint with a pitiful ending also isn't my idea of a big title or a career match. ***
#26
Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco vs. Son of Havoc & Angelico 5:24
DelAvar Daivari vs. Texano 0:12
Cage & King Cuerno vs. Puma & Hernandez 7:24
Alberto el Patron vs. Johnny Mundo 12:17. A couple interesting moments, but actually getting time was negated by generally being too American oriented with a bunch of lame restholds & general cheese in the 1st half. Mundo tried, but Alberto adds nothing to the match, really. Alberto did try, he wasn't just throwing a punch then doing a lap like in TNA, it's just that he's one of those Okada-esque robots who moves like he had lumbar fusion, and thus makes everything he does 2 times less impressive. I liked Patron pulling the covering on the side of the ring out when Mundo did a pescado, trapping Mundo between that & the ring long enough for Alberto to hit a step up enzuigiri. Mundo broke the ring steps, I assume accidentally, taking a back body drop to the floor.
#27
Aero Star vs. Jack Evans 8:30. I don't know why Evans didn't go further in this promotion, he seems the perfect fit because he's an English speaking guy that's not only one of the best athletes in the sport, but he's spent the majority of his career working with these guys in Mexico. He's done a good job adding a bit of striking & judo in between his amazing flying because early in his career his offense, while certainly cool, was so feathery, but now it has more credibility. Evans was completely stealing the show from Aero, though this was a good match where Aero had his moments as well. There was a neat sequence where Evans avoided a whip into the corner by backflipping onto the apron, but Aero knocked him to the floor with a triangle dropkick & hit a tope con giro. Evans did a 450 splash off the guard rail. Evans was really provoking the fans in between his athletic feats without killing the pace too much. The match was really a showcase for him, and one assumed Aero was moving further down the ranks, but then Aero killed him with a top rope Canadian destroyer for the win. ***1/4
Aztec Medallion: Fenix vs. Sexy Star vs. The Mack vs. Killshot vs. Cage vs. Cuerno vs. Pentagon Jr. 10:15. Chaotic spotfest that was more fun than truly successful. The push of Sexy is so beyond ridiculous, Cage & Cuerno double teaming her can't even keep her from doing the same few lame things she fumbles through every week. The pace was high & everyone got there spots in, but actually that felt like a problem in general because they had so many people involed that the people who actually have move sets only had time to get in their usual stuff, while 5 workers hid against the apron. In the later stages, more workers were involved because they were laying around in the ring instead, but it never felt like they really took advantage of the numbers or possibilities. They tried with Cage doing his tope catch brainbuster to Fenix, but instead waiting for Killshot to spike it with a pescado. The spot would have been way more impressive had it been more spontaneous, rather than waiting for Killshot to see it then run back & forth to get his momentum up. Penta doing a package piledriver to Fenix with Star on his back was also really slow to set up. Otherwise, Fenix vs. Pentagon was the only stuff that was really impressive. The other 4 guys added things, but it felt like they just threw them out there blind rather than really working out the setup, timing, & choreography to really make this work. ***
Hernandez vs. Alberto el Patron 5:08. Mundo threw Patron through the window to Dario's office then served him up for Hernandez to pin.
#28
Prince Puma vs. Marty the Moth Martinez
Texano vs. DelAvar Daivari
Ladder Match, Lucha Underground Trios Title Match: Angelico & Ivelisse & Son of Havoc vs. Bael & Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco 13:41. This match had one of the great daredevil moves ever with Angelico saving the match for his team knocking Castro off the ladder with a missile kick off the balcony. Unfortunately, the match had a very low skill level & no drama because Crew were only trying to win on the few occasions it was convenient to set up the near finish. While less of Ivelisse is always more, this essentially being a handicap match led us down the path of Crew dominating with a bunch of stomps, and watching, waiting, setting something else unskilled up while Havoc & Angelico made their way back to their feet. There were a couple other highlights. Dario's boarded up window was turned into a weapon, later Cisco did a tope through the empty window frame. There was a great spot where they tried to dump Havoc off the ladder, but he landed on the middle rope into a quebrada. Havoc came up short on his shooting star press so he wasn't able to break the table with it. You could see the retarded finish of the cripple Ivelisse being the one who finally made it up the ladder a thousand miles away, and as much as you steeled yourself for it, it was no less terrible & preposterous.
#29
Johnny Mundo vs. Aero Star 6:35. Should have been good, but Mundo is playing heel now, and basically just stomped & elbowed between delays.
Lucha Underground Title Match: Prince Puma vs. Hernandez 12:46. Konnan had a lot of useless advice, but I laughed at him telling Puma to let Hernandez blow up, he has no conditioning. Puma intercepted Hernandez's dive with a chair shot & hit a corkscrew moonsault attack off the guard rail.
Death Match: Mil Muertes vs. Fenix 9:13. Mil returned from the dead again, now dressed all in black. This was more about reestablishing him as stronger & more maniacal than ever than trying to have a great match. It was still very entertaining, but it was veering toward a jobber match as Fenix's spectacular attacks were having no impact on Mil initially, and then just a little as the match progressed. Laying this theme out right from Fenix's opening tope where Fenix bounced off Muertes like a backboard, it took Fenix hitting a spectacular quebrada for Mil to begin selling to the extent of at least going down and not getting back up instantaneously from Fenix's flying. That being said, Mil was still just savaging Fenix with everything he did, whether it be the chair shots or the powerslam, and you never felt Fenix had any real chance because this wasn't a match where you could escape with a flash pin. Fenix finally gained a little traction with a great footstomp off the guard rail, but Mil still came almost right back with a hip toss to the floor & a plancha. The ref wasn't supposed to stop the match, so they went to a commercial break after Mil powerbombed Fenix through the balcony roof. The disciples that were newly accompanying Mil & Catrina dragged a limp Fenix back for Muertes to kill him again with the flatliner. Both guys gave impressive performances given what the match was, but this was more one way carnage than competitive drama. ***
#30
Aztec Medallion Match: Jack Evans vs. Argenis 6:08. Some cool moments from Evans, mainly just there to get him in the win column.
Lucha Underground Trios Title Match: Angelico & Ivelisse & Son Of Havoc vs. Big Ryck & Cage & DelAvar Daivari 7:39
Submission Match: Pentagon Jr. vs. Sexy Star 9:35. It takes a run in from Super Fly for Penta to barely manage to beat a slow unskilled 3 foot woman who can't throw a proper strike & has no real submissions. Ridiculous.
#31
No DQ Match: Blue Demon Jr. vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Famous B vs. Super Fly
Bengala & Mascarita Sagrada & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. The Disciples of Death
Lucha Underground Title #1 Contendership Mask Four Way Match: Drago vs. Cage vs. King Cuerno vs. Hernandez 10:34. Drago stopped Hernandez's swandive move & took him out with a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor then spewed mist on Cuerno leading to the victory.
#32
Iron Man Match, Lucha Underground Title Match: Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo 38:36. These two were friends, but the new, more aggressive version of Mundo clearly valued the title above even Puma's life. While only the vestiges of Mundo's initial babyface character remained, he thankfully went back to doing an actual wrestling match rather than constantly pausing to tell us how great he is, instead playing heel by increasingly incorporating dirty deeds. This is no surprise in the sense that what makes Mundo the most interesting wrestler in the league is he does something different every time out, and while he's not the most talented or athletically gifted guy here, being unpredictable really sets him apart. Puma got a flash in on Mundo early, and Mundo's win at all costs side began to show when Puma, who was on his back, grabbed Mundo's leg as he was going up for the end of the world & tried to counter with a kneebar, but Mundo bridged & held on to the top rope to even things at 1 fall a piece. Mundo found a wood crate under the ring, but Puma Michinoku drivered him through it. There turned out to be a crowbar inside, and Mundo cracked Puma's skull with it to go up 2-1. Granted, this should be life threatening and certainly match if not career ending, but at least they made it worth multiple falls, as Mundo proceeded to pin an unresponsive Puma after the moonlight drive & end of the world to go up 4-1. Of course, Mundo could have gotten 10 more falls if he didn't just stand around watching Puma lay on his back. Due to this spot coming so early, Puma never really got going in this match. I mean, he did some spectacular stuff, as always, but they weren't so much working together as simply doing Mundo's match with Puma lending it a spectacular spot now & again. Puma eventually made a brief comeback, but Mundo continued to crush the cranium with a reverse neckbreaker onto the apron & a charging ladder. I liked how they had Mundo doing an arm attack early, but shifted to the head when that wound up panning out instead, it just seemed less plotted than the usual didactic wrestling match. Mundo eventually decided to just ride out his lead & told the Generalissimo wannabe to strike up a tune, but given unlimited time, Puma finally tackled him off the stage through the 4 tables it took him ages to set up a while back. This spot that was supposed to be Puma's big comeback didn't really come off right, as Puma took about as much impact as Mundo did given they wound up pretty much side to side & went through simultaneously. However, in order for the story to play out the way they wanted, Puma emerged more or less unscathed, while Mundo came up bloody, & Puma dragged him back into the ring and ran off two pinfalls. Mundo continued to try to get the cheap win by running out the clock until Alberto El Jabroni jumped him & served him up for Puma to pin with a swandive 450 to even things at 4. After the contest stopped completely so Jabroni could cut a promo during a match he wasn't even wrestling in, Mundo fired up for the final 3 1/2 minutes, and this was the first time since the early portion where both, for better or worse, seemed to be at full force fighting an even, back & forth battle to get what would likely be the deciding fall. There was an interesting spot I've never seen before where Mundo set up a sort of avalanche style Frankensteiner (Puma was on the 1st), but when Mundo jumped, Puma ducked & ran out of the corner, leaving Mundo to crash on the top rope & backflip into the ring, holding onto the top rope so he really didn't even take a bump. This still might have been a neat finish had Puma gone right to winning with his 630, instead of this happening like 50 seconds later with nothing significant in between. This was written to be the match of the season, I mean it had all the we're doing a great match stuff built in, and certainly the effort & calibre of wrestling from the two performers was there, but for me it was just way too overbooked. After the early portion, they pretty much stopped having any kind of sequences, and instead just went from one big spot that was laid out for them to the other, without much useful, or at all, going on in between, as we see in every gimmicky WWE match and increasingly too many in New Japan since Naito can't be bothered doing more than a handful of things in 30 minutes. This was a lot better than the stuff I'm referencing, but nonetheless, it has the same problem of just relying on a few big things & failing to build any momentum or have any consistent action (granted this was LONG). The viewer just kind of spends the whole match waiting for the guy who is down to decide to come back, and then he'll likely be fine, while the other guy will be injured until it's his time to shine again. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of drama somehow, but It just doesn't feel very organic or interactive, and is never really surprising because you are just waiting for the comeback you know will happen any time, given there's really only two options, continuation of the plodding beat down or lead change. I enjoyed the match, but I was increasingly less invested in it, as I saw it was another of those, handful of cool stunts, stretched over 30+ minutes type of ordeals. As that kind of match goes, this was still quite impressive, but I'd rather see guys building up a match through a lot of consistent, solid wrestling than a taking some big risks & not doing much else. It was good, don't get me wrong, but this much talent given this much time should produce a lot better. ***1/2
4/10/15
Marco Corleone & Maximo & Rush vs Rey Bucanero & Shocker & Terrible
Volador Jr. vs La Sombra. The #1 aspect that made the Volador/Sombra program one of the best ever was the amazing pace they pushed. It wasn't so much the moves, which were awesome, but the fact they somehow managed to do most of them off a full sprint. Volador incorporated heel tactics ripping Sombra's mask off, but wasn't slowing the match down with rudo punking or brawling. Now that Sombra is the heel, as with the other top working Ingobernables Naito, the spot merchant has turned into the stall merchant, and the match totally dragged for the 1st 2 falls as Sombra took 20-30 seconds between moves disrespecting Volador or laying around. I never thought I'd say this with these 2, but I was bored. They eventually still did most of their great spots, but the match had no awe factor now because it had no flow or intensity. The 3rd fall was very good if you've never seeen their previous matches, but just had a seen it done in such a more exciting & meaningful structure before feel. ***
CMLL World Women’s Title: Syuri vs Marcela
4/17/15
La Sombra & Marco Corleone & Maximo vs Rey Escorpion & Thunder & Ultimo Guerrero
Mistico & Valiente & Volador Jr. vs Barbaro Cavernario & Mr. Niebla & Negro Casas
#33
Sexy Star vs. Super Fly 6:35
Aztec Medallion: Aerostar vs. Cage vs. the Mack vs. Marty Martinez 9:10. 3 good performances largely underminded by the labored cornball performance of the "Hi, Mom, I'm OVERACTING" Moth. Cage caught Aero's swandive body attack & tossed him to the floor with a fallaway slam onto the others. Mack gave Cage an exploder onto the apron then a frog splash to the floor.
Ultima Lucha Next Challenger Decision Match: Drago vs. Mil Muertes 8:52. While admittedly a lesser version of Mil vs. Fenix, it was an important match for both men, Mil showing he could have a good match without Fenix to spice it up & take crazy bumps for him, & Drago doing a speed vs. power match rather than technico lightning spotfests. Drago pulled out some different moves such as the shiranui & swandive tornado DDT, and took some big bumps, though the chemistry & timing with Mil wasn't yet at the level of their better matches with other opponents. Mil mostly brutalized him, of course, including a powerbomb on a table that didn't give way. ***
#34
Delavar Davari vs. Texano Jr. 6:10
Drago vs. Hernandez 6:43
Alberto el Patron vs. Marty Martinez 0:54
No DQ Lucha Underground Title Match: Prince Puma vs. Chavo Guerrero 4:55. Chavo busted out the chinlock, talked to Konnan, faked a hamstring injury, & got pinned with a 630. It is an accomplishment of sorts that he managed to be the 5th best worker in his biggest singles match of the season.
#35
Cage vs. the Mack 4:01. Good athletic heavyweight battle. The sort of match where the very short length is reasonable. Cage's was more on point here, even though he theoretically had a tougher opponent to work with than usual. Mack got the flash pin upset to put him into the mix.
Mil Muertes vs. Son of Havoc 7:09. The sort of match that's entertaining, but much more impressive the less you've seen of these two. Both do good moves & execute well, but two guys who just have stuff to do doesn't make for a particularly organic or surprising contest. More spots such as Havoc backflipping out of the chokeslam, which we don't see every week since no one else uses it, is where I'd like these guys to be.
Aerostar & Alberto el Patron & Drago & Sexy Star vs. Hernandez & Jack Evans & Johnny Mundo & Super Fly 9:27. I don't have any hopes for any match involving Star or Hernandez, who not surprisingly managed not to be on the receiving end, but Aero, Drago, Evans, & Fly got this off to a good, big lucha spotfest start with fast, high flying sequences. Mundo had a nice end of the world save for Evans on El Jabroni's flying armbar, but never really got going, mostly being programmed with Star. It was too short & up and down to really get there, but it was more than half good.
#36
Aztec Medallion: Bengala vs. DelAvar Davari 3:31
Aztec Medallion: Kill Shot vs. King Cuerno 6:07. Killshot faked the no touch tope con giro, instead handspringing off the apron into a rana.
Aztec Medallion: Sexy Star vs. Super Fly 0:33
Sexy Star vs. Marty Martinez
#37
Johnny Mundo vs. Texano. Mostly a hard hitting encounter. Mundo did a swinging neckbreaker with Texano on the apron.
The Mack vs. Cage
Lucha Medallion reallocation battle royal
#38
Falls Count Anywhere: The Mack vs. Cage 7:43. These two showed up late, but have made some nice contributions. Mack has been held back by not really having a role, but his flash pin over Cage last week helped make him relevant, and he was pushing Cage this whole match. Mack had a couple big highlights spearing Cage through a door & Ligerbombing him off the apron through a table. The fans went nuts the whole time, but it never developed into an actual match. I mean, they just brawled around the building for 7 1/2 minutes & called it a night when Cage curb stomped Mack through the most gimmicked block ever, which literally turned to powder. Cage deserves credit for selling as much as he did, and while the effort was really good, because this was so ridiculously short & had no in ring action, this again felt more like a lead up than the actual blow off. ***
Lucha Underground Trios Title Match: Angelico & Son of Havoc & Ivelisse vs. Trece & Barrio Negro & Siniestro de la Muerte 6:20. Angelico did a plancha off the balcony.
Believer’s Backlash Lumberjacks With Straps Match: Hernandez vs. Drago 8:46
Johnny Mundo vs. Alberto el Patron 13:35. These guys went hard trying to deliver a back & forth spotfest, but el Jabroni still moves like he had lumbar fusion, hence little of what he did actually looked good. Mundo did enough spectacular moves to keep it somewhat interesting before the shenanigans, but Okada's matches are more watchable than el Jabroni's even though el Jabroni is less technically inept because at least Okada realizes he doesn't have much to offer & allows the opponent to do everything to make the match, rather than just getting totally outclassed insisting on trading spot for spot.
Pentagon Jr. vs. Vampiro 11:08. Pentagon was the most misused of the better wrestlers in the league all season, so it only seems fitting he end it in an unskilled thumbtack bloodbath with a broken into virtual retirement big name of the yesteryear, who wasn't a decent worker in his heyday. Vampiro, has always been, a performer who did care & do his best to entertain. To his credit, this wasn't any sort of nostalgia match, he went out there & engaged in a brutal war, similar to an old Terry Funk doing death matches because his days of being able to go hold for hold with Jumbo & Tenryu, much less the younger generations, are long gone. Vampiro fought a smart match, doing a few big moves, even a somersault senton and a modified avalanche style belly to belly where he didn't actually take a bump himself, to help disguise that he was mostly just standing around letting Penta hit him with objects. In terms of sheer violence, this was a sick match for a mainstream US promotion, but this was nothing beyond the most basic Z grade death match 101 stuff. I mean, I rate Penta among the best in the world, but you could have replaced Penta with Ian Rotten or Zandig or backyard hack of the week and the match would have had nothing more or less going for it. There's no denying it takes a certain kind of nut to take a bump through a burning table, but there's also no denying doesn't make for an actual good wrestling match.
Gift of the Gods: Fenix vs. Aero Star vs. Jack Evans vs. King Cuerno vs. Sexy Star vs. Big Ryck vs. Bengala 12:03. If this was just a four way with Fenix, Aero, Evans, and Cuerno or Bengala it likely would have tore the house down. However, with Star, Ryck, and an appearance from the loathsome Moth, this was almost two different matches, one crazy, fast highly athletic spotfest and one remedial waste of time. There were some great spots here such as Fenix turning Aero's plancha off the apron into a powerslam, but later Aero hitting it off the balcony.
Blue Demon Jr. vs. Texano Jr. 3:00
Lucha Underground Title Match: Prince Puma vs. Mil Muertes 17:39. The first half of the match took place on the outside, which was obviously more to the benefit of Mil, as it was brawling based, with Puma getting into free space enough to keep it interesting with his flourishes. While the basic athlete vs. monster story was apparent from the get go, it was just never really that effective on the outside. Fenix was considerably better at making something out of the limited resources than Puma was, with his too dangerous bumps other's smartly avoid helping Mil seem unstoppable in the short term. Puma had one great spot where he climbed up the wall & backflipped to get free then climbed up the apron & hit a corkscrew kick. Mil cut off a tope with a chair and powerbombed Puma on the stairs, but overall, the early portion was too reliant on these few big spots because otherwise they were just kind of walking through the building aimlessly exchanging strikes like you've seen on every ECW & wannabe show for the past 2 decades. I know Konehead & the Lucha Underground bookers think this is somehow oh so amazing, but there was a reason Heyman made this the style of Grunge & New Jack rather than Malenko & Guerrero. The match really picked up when they finally entered the ring because there's really not much you can safely do on stairs, but give a gifted athlete such as Puma his proper platform, and it's no surprise when he quickly makes something happen. That being said, Mil also seemed much more formidable in his ability to manhandle Puma & toss him around aggressively with a ring to run in & throw Puma on, when Puma didn't simply free himself of Mil's clutches and outwit him with his speed & athleticism. The second half was quite good with everything done with vigor. Mil speared Puma off the apron through a table then powerbombed him through what was left of the table & dragged Puma back in for a near fall. Muertes survived a 630 & avoided another, while Puma survived the flatliner, both men's finishers finally failing. Ultimately, Mil recovered from Puma knocking him off the ropes with a headbutt in time to intercept him with an avalanche style flatliner to take the title. The fact that this actually had time made a big difference, but the promotion's insistence on forcing brawling kind of counteracted that. The match was ultimately fairly complete even though honestly almost everything of importance, intensity, and suspense took place once they finally just got in the ring & had the actual power vs. speed wrestling match they were mostly just forcing on the outside early on. While no classic, having the title finally change in the last match of the season, and having it do so cleanly to a reasonably positioned guy who, while not as talented, has been good whenever he needed to be at least keeps the league on the right track going into the second season. ***1/4
Black Tiger & Robin & Zaeta Roja vs. Espiritu Maligno & Guerrero Espacial & Sauron 15:19
Cancerbero & King Jaguar & Raziel vs. Lestat & Magnus & Pegasso 13:27
Lightning: Marcela vs. Amapola 7:07
Ephesto & Mephisto & Polvora vs. Angel de Oro & Titan & Valiente 9:03
Relevos Increibles: Mr. Niebla & Negro Casas & Rey Escorpion vs. Atlantis & La Mascara & Ultimo Guerrero 10:51
Volador Jr. vs. La Sombra 22:09 [2:05 & 3:15 & 16:49]. Volador was the greatest working rudo (until they turned him back technico for no good reason) because he pushed the pace & did exciting, highly skilled things rather than stalking around between every move & doing unskilled things. Unfortunately, rudo Sombra paces the match like he's already in the EWW, so even though Sombra should theoretically be hitting his prime & Volador should be at best toward the end of his, the discrepancy between the two is actually widening in Volador's favor. The match is kind of uneven & doesn't really flow because of Sombra, but Volador basically lets Sombra waste as much time as he wants in between moves as long as the sequences themselves are as fast & athletic as ever. When they are actually doing something, the speed, athleticism, & fluidity of the sequences is as breathtaking as it gets in lucha libre, and all their greatest spots are here. That being said, the match feels more like an exhibition than ever because you aren't exactly trying to win when you stop fighting the moment you get the opponent down. Sombra takes things more seriously as the match progresses, and the 2nd half of the 3rd fall is fantastic. As always, they do a wonderful job of having an answer for whatever the opponent throws at them to the point it seems both are better of when they aren't the one who is initiating. Though these two have fought countless times, they always mix up the order of the spots & throw cool new moves, counters, & twists in, so even though there's never really a story & you are always watching the same style (athletic encounter of the highest magnitude) all of them feel unique. Some of the highlights outside of the expected included Sombra hitting a cartwheel overhead kick & Volador slingshotting himself to the floor for a Frankensteiner. Volador hits the super Frankensteiner here as one of his big near falls, and he generally seems to be coming closer to winning than Sombra, though that may simply be because he actually appears to be trying to win. After countless great moves, Volador finally puts Sombra away with a sweet Volador spiral. ***3/4
Dinastia & Drago & Goya Kong & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Daga & Mamba & Mini Psycho Clown & Sexy Star 8:45
Villano III & Villano IV & Villano V vs. Monster Clown & Murder Clown & Psycho Clown 11:13
AAA World Trios Title Three Way Steel Cage: Averno & Chessman & Cibernetico vs. Angelico & Fenix & Jack Evans vs. El Hijo del Fantasma & El Texano Jr. & Pentagon Jr. 9:30
Blue Demon Jr. & La Parka vs. Electroshock & El Mesias 8:19
Hair Vs. Hair: El Patron Alberto vs. Brian Cage 15:19
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Myzteziz 19:52
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.
9/25/15: Ephesto & Luciferno & Mephisto vs. Angel de Oro & Rey Cometa & Triton
Dark Angel vs. Princesa Sugehit
Mask vs. Mask: La Sombra vs. Atlantis
Mercurio & Pequeno Universo vs. Acero & Ultimo Dragoncito 12:46
Esfinge & Oro Jr. & The Panther vs. Raziel & Skandalo & Super Comando 10:28
Dalys la Caribena & La Amapola & Zeuxis vs. La Vaquerita & Marcela & Princesa Sujei 12:17
Bobby Z & Dragon Rojo Jr. & Thunder vs. Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Mr. Niebla 12:11
La Mascara & Marco Corleone & Rush vs. Maximo Sexy & Super Parka & Valiente 11:13
NWA World Historic Welterweight Title: Volador Jr. vs. La Sombra 24:57 [2:41, 3:16, 19:00]. I was curious how they'd approach this knowing it was their last match since Sombra left CMLL to join the circus. Their earlier matches were so amazing because they were both driven to test the limits of what they could do together, so they were always trying faster & more complicated sequences & counters & just keeping the action rolling & flowing. The later matches after Sombra turned rudo were more autopilot, constantly starting & stopping as they still did cool moves & sequences (though Sombra was much less spectacular taking much of his flying out of his arsenal) but Sombra would stop after most to kill some time & whatever momentum they'd built up. This match had some aspects of both, but was much more toward the good old side. Sombra cashed out on his mask before cashing in, losing it to Atlantis on 9/18/13, so this is their only match where both are unmasked. Sombra was just brawling early, with some assistance from Rush, and literally won the 1st fall without doing anything interesting. This trend was continuing until Volador finally took over on the outside, running from one side to the other & leaping over the security wall for a tope con giro. All the matches in this series had been serious athletic contests, mano a mano, but here when you thought it was going to take off, Rush broke up the pin pulling Baby Richard to the floor after Volador's backcracker for the DQ. The seconds were then ejected & a wrestling match ensued. Though the 1st 2 falls were the lamest they've ever done together, these two have never cared about these falls anyway, and even in their best matches they're something they can't wait to get out of the way. What mattered here was the 3rd fall was the most driven they've been together since before Volador's ill fated mask loss, and very well might be the best 3rd fall they've ever done together. Sombra gave by far the best effort I've seen from him since his heel turn, actually trying to win the match despite the useless Ingobernables groups indifference to things that actually make watching wrestling worthwhile such as trying & succeeding. He dusted off all his old flying moves, and was up for matching Volador for speed, athleticism, & pace. Every spot was a great spot, and no one could gain any advantage. They just kept going back & forth, and the sequencing was much better here, as they sometimes played off what had already been done. For instance, Volador hit a sweet rana off the apron that sent Sombra crashing into the guard rail then tried for another, but Sombra avenged, catching him & throwing him into the rail. Sombra then tried his springboard Dragonrana, but Volador turned it into a powerbomb. This 3rd fall was totally insane, with every move being some crazy aerial stunt or big finisher. I was just shaking my head thinking where the hell has this been the past 2+ years? Despite the endless near finishers & near falls, they weren't trying to force the drama with all the usual overwrought lucha histrionics either, they just let the athletic action speak for itself, which was so fitting because the action is what's separated this series from the beginning, and you know what, the crowd was super into it & totally cared about what they were doing. Sombra finally took over, but couldn't believe Volador kicked out of his top rope superplex & Sombra driver. He gave into temptation & paused to give the cutthroat sign after he elbowed himself out with a rapidfire barrage in the corner, and that gave Volador the second to recover & take Sombra out with his backcracker & Volador spiral. Sombra tried to congratulate Volador after the match, but Rush & Mascara had returned & they shoved him aside & put the boots to Volador, reinstilling their belief in meaninglessness of it all. Sombra wound up leaving by himself after he refused Rush's offer to take the belt he didn't earn. If these two never wrestle each other again, at least they left it all in the ring for this final night. This series seemed to have peaked & been in steep decline, but this match forces us to reevaluate things totally, as there are a handful of contenders for their best match together, and this is actually one of them. ****1/2
S2E1
Gift Of The Gods Title Match: Fenix vs. King Cuerno 7:48. A nice way to start the season off, but this should have been the main event, and gotten 12 minutes. For a pretty good if all too repetitive worker, Cuerno is so ridiculously outclassed by the athleticism & creativity of Fenix it's almost sad. Luckily, Cuerno does the best thing he can do, which is mostly just stay out of the way & let Fenix do all sorts of things you don't see anywhere else. Great flying from Fenix, and good hard hitting offense from both men, but it was just too short to really get there. Unfortunately, Cuerno takes the title, which I was pretty unhappy with, debuting a new finisher that's a tombstone variation.
Lucha Underground Title #1 Contendership: Ivelisse vs. Angelico vs. Son Of Havoc 6:10. This is where the title starts to go downhill, after the worthy champion Puma held it all season 1 and defending against reasonable contenders, now we have a #1 contenders match with 3 wrestlers who barely even worked a singles match last season, much less won one. Angelico was on here, doing some nice quick reactive sequences with Havoc, bu then Ivelisse would get involved, and it would just be waiting.
Lucha Underground Title Match: Mil Muertes vs. Ivelisse 4:33
S2E2
Johnny Mundo vs. Killshot 4:25. This should be the longest match on the show not the shortest. Good while it lasted. Mundo boosted Killshot over him for a leapfrog, kicking his leg back at the same time so Killshot landed in a low blow.
The Mack vs. PJ Black 4:43
Pentagon Jr. & Prince Puma vs. Barrio Negro & El Siniestro de la Muerte & Trece 7:33
S2E3
Kobra Moon vs. Bengala 2:47
Jack Evans vs. Drago 7:20. Shockingly pedestrian with Evans doing almost no flying.
Last Luchador Standing Match: Fenix vs. King Cuerno 11:20. While the list of pro wrestling concepts MMA has rendered passe is too numerous to count, the last man standing match has to be at the top. I mean, the unstated goal is almost for each guy to suffer double figure concussions, and can you name me one MMA match in history where someone was actually out for 10 seconds? This isn't one of those situations where the illusion makes for better pro wrestling either because it encourages the thing that most ruins matches, standing/laying around doing nothing. That being said, this was better than their match two weeks ago because the gimmick matches are treated as events, and thus get more time, effort, and have more stunts. Cuerno also wrestled a much better match this time, doing a better job of using his high impact moves and strikes to present an alternative style and actual path to victory over an opponent who is far superior athletically. Fenix was again fantastic, doing so many different rope walking, balancing, and springboarding flying moves I lost count. Obviously, there was a huge difference in the quality of the offense, but also Fenix kept things moving by not looking to give the ref opportunities to count, while Cuerno would land 1 kick and then just wait for Fenix to get up at 8. Cuerno took a big bump off the ladder through a table for the finish. ***
S2E4
Angelico & Ivelisse & Son Of Havoc vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco 5:55
Cage vs. Joey Ryan 4:07
Prince Puma vs. Pentagon Jr. 7:54. A great matchup for both due to Penta being an excellent rudo who actually supplies interesting offense rather than crappy brawling, and one who can fly and do enough athletically to keep the sequences unpredictable. These guys worked really well together, and were a pleasure to watch, doing a nice job countering one another, with Puma striking or countering enough to get his flying off, and Penta finding some nice power counters for it. Unfortunately, the match was way short, with a cheesy unbelievable finish of Penta not realizing he pinned himself in the Romero special. They are trying to do some silly story about Penta undermining himself by being too concerned with injuring people to just win the match, but way more than the brevity, it was precisely trying to get over that unnecessary concept with the ill conceived finish that kept this from being anywhere near the match it could have been. ***
S2E5
Jack Evans vs. PJ Black 3:52
King Cuerno vs. Killshot 5:29
Chavo Guerrero Jr. & The Crew Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco vs. Texano 5:45
Johnny Mundo vs. Cage 7:54. Mundo tried to use his athleticism to counteract Cage's power. There was a cool spot where Cage caught a kick & tried to slam Mundo's leg, but Mundo planted his hands & countered with a cartwheel kick. These guys didn't have the best chemistry, but the match was pretty good until the stupid finish of Taya rescuing Mundo (wasn't Mundo just rescued by Melina at the end of last season???) because another creepy plastic woman that can't work is exactly what the league needs.
S2E6
Kobra Moon vs. Sexy Star 2:59
Pentagon Jr. vs. Prince Puma 4:56. Mostly a Puma highlight reel before Muertes randomly ran in and took both out with a double flatliner.
Gift Of The Gods Title Ladder Match: King Cuerno vs. Fenix 16:41. One of Cuerno's most effective performances, as his methodical pace actually worked to an extent as both an effective strategy, slowing Fenix down with big slams onto the ladders that Fenix could sell while Cuerno stalked, and a logical, winning one because the brutality factor was cranked up so high. Fenix had a hot start, but after that Cuerno took over with violence, and more violence, not only slowing Fenix with his brutality, but also, as Vampiro described, "breaking his ass" pushing him off the guard rail onto a ladder. While I don't like Cuerno's gimmick in general, his style was reasonable for a match that was mostly gimmick spots. While he didn't do a lot of climbing, that's a good thing in a ladder match, removing as much of the most contrived aspect as he could, and it generally felt a lot less like he was screwing around rather than trying to win tonight. As Cuerno matches go, he made good contributions and it was his best singles match so far in Lucha Underground by a wide margin. Of course, it's mostly Fenix, who did a sweet tope con giro off the stage and took all sorts of crazy bumps. There are high flyers who can get more rotations on a flip, but Fenix incorporates his flying with such fluidity. He's got such great balance, as seen by all his rope walk moves, but no matter what he's doing, he's doing it fast and totally in step. Fenix won after putting Cuerno through a table with an avalanche style Frankensteiner. ***1/2
S2E7
Marty Martinez vs. The Mack 3:24
No DQ Match: Cage vs. Taya 6:59
Lucha Underground Title: Mil Muertes vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Prince Puma 11:57. Pretty much everything here was impressive, if not amazing, and they packed a lot into 12 minutes, but the action rarely transcended beyond spectacle. I liked Mil better in this 3 way because he could be the total wrecking ball, without the entire match just being his powerhouse offense. Penta & Puma sort of ganged up on him, but in an interesting way where they would take him out momentarily then commence trying to beat each other, and these were, of course, the best portions of the match. Though partially because Mil is the indestructible force, what I liked better about this match than the typical 3 way is there was a lot more of all 3 guys going at it at once, which forced them to be a little more creative, rather than just having someone randomly lie around for minutes at a time trying to hide. Puma did a better job of countering Mil than Penta, so it was easier for him to get his offense in. The pecking order was basically, Mil, Puma, than Penta, but Puma did sell for Penta, and Penta made the most of his offense with 3 dives. Puma had the big highlight with a shooting star attack off the guard rail. They continued the goofy idea that Penta was too concerned with injuring opponents, with Penta taking too long getting around to trying to break Puma's arm rather than just pinning him after the package piledriver, which allowed Mil to take him out with a spear, and soon pin both with the double flatliner. ***1/2
S2E8
Lucha Underground Trios Title vs. Lucha Underground Careers Match: Angelico & Ivelisse & Son Of Havoc vs. Barrio Negro & El Siniestro de la Muerte & Trece 4:55
Bullrope Match: Texano vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. 6:04
Lucha Underground Title Match: Mil Muertes vs. Fenix 13:39. These guys are really developing their chemistry, and this was the best they've worked with one another, really seeming on the same page, & doing a nice job with the transitions and counters. I liked this more than their Grave Consequences match, partially because the casket mainly just deterred from that match, but it also felt they reached a slightly higher level here in their interplay. They did a better job laying this match out to build up to landing big spots than we see in Lucha Underground. Fenix, in particular, would try to stun Mil with a strike to provide the opening for one of his flying moves, which was still almost always countered early on, often in brutal fashion, for instance his tope being greeted by a chair. The match found a nice balance between being a brawl & being a spotfest, partly because many of the spots fit in both categories, but also because it was an intense grudge match that they really went out of their way to put over as a war. Mil busted Fenix up early, but this was a very back & forth match. Even though Mil was doing a lot more damage with brutal spots such as the spear off the apron, he wasn't going on runs either, which made Fenix seem more competitive than he probably was. Fenix eventually ripped Mil's mask, prompting Striker to scream "And the face of death has been revealed!", though all we really saw was his hair. In any case, this mostly just pissed Mil off, and he promptly mauled Fenix with ground and pound. Fenix got the chair away from him, using it to set up his big near fall with a double jump 450 splash. Fenix is always the underdog who refuses to give up in this series, and here it paid off as when it looked like Mil had him dead to rights, he managed to counter the flatliner into a flash pin to take the title. ****
S2E9
Lucha Underground Title Aztec Warfare Match: Fenix vs. The Monster Matanza Cueto vs. Aero Star vs. Argenis vs. Cage vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Drago vs. Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Jack Evans vs. Joey Ryan vs. Johnny Mundo vs. King Cuerno vs. Marty Martinez vs. Mascarita Sagrada vs. Mil Muertes vs. PJ Black vs. Prince Puma vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Taya vs. Texano vs. The Mack 35:37. Aztec Warfare would have been a great way for Muertes to lose the title without tarnishing his undead gimmick, but it's silly to have the title on the line here a week after Fenix won it from him. Nonetheless, this was the match of season 1, and season 2 was off to an amazing start with the debut of the legendary Rey Mysterio Jr., the best flyer of the '90's generation starting off against the best flyer of the current generation, Fenix. Rey was really motivated for this match and matchup, and this was a fantastic pure high flying lucha start with some nice sequences including Fenix having an answer for the 619. What was dumb was bringing Argenis back to lose almost immediately to Rey, who rightfully scored many pinfalls throughout a match that was rightfully largely about him, until it wasn't. They really frontloaded the match with Mundo & Puma also in early, and Joey Ryan being the only inferior performer, though he didn't actually even participate since he handcuffed himself to the guard rail so he couldn't be eliminated. Even though there was a lot more talent involved this season, the actual match wasn't nearly as good as last season's, as it was way too overbooked, even in the early portion before things became patently ridiculous. It wasn't allowed to evolve organically and just have good action in most portions because there were so many specific angles to get over that it was really just going from one overplotted point to another, with some crazy high spot in between, maybe. This really handcuffed performers such as Evans who are never given any reason for being. Evans did take a great bumb off the bleachers from a Drago arm drag, and an amazing avalanche style Canadian destroyer when Aero eliminated him. Overall, one of the big problems is no one was getting eliminated, so there were actually different pockets of action, but we only saw what was "important" to the storylines. That's an exaggeration, but it felt that way because the storylines were increasingly so overwhelming. Puma quickly made his presence felt with a springboard shooting star attack to the floor. Predictably, Taya, who sucks at least ten times more than even Star & Ivelisse, got a hero's welcome, but then Mascarita entered, and Striker, of course, couldn't resist immediately making him seem foolish and irrelevant doing his best Pacino "Say hello to my little friend" immitation. Rey tapped Cuerno to an armbar just as Evans was entering #8, but then Mundo began turning it into a gringos vs. locos match, until Cage came out and spoiled his fun going right after him. Mundo seemingly won that battle though, using Cage's head to shattered Dario's window. Surprisingly, Cage recovered and took Mundo out with weapon X, allowing Puma to eliminate Mundo again this year with a shooting star press. Mundo came back and turned a "cement" block into powder on Cage's head, allowing Taya to pin him, because obviously Taya is the one who should be getting a huge win over the machine, however dubious, and when Vampiro described this as giving a whole new meaning to the word blockhead, I really wanted him to mention the booker. Mysterio's protege Rey Horus made an impressive debut at #18 under the gimmick of Dragon Azteca Jr, getting a minute and a half to shine with some actual uninterrupted wrestling. Muertes entered last, but Penta, who Catrina snubbed from this 20 man match for the title even though he's inarguably a top 5 contender, took Mil out with a chair, leading to Rey already getting a pin on him, with the help of Puma. Catrina then blamed "master" Vampiro for his protege Penta taking Mil out, slapping him and banishing him from the broadcast booth. However, Dario Cueto made his first appearance of the season, adding his brother, The Monster Matanza Cueto, aka Jeff Cobb, as a special 21st entrant. I'm not sure I've ever seen a match or a promotion go downhill so quickly by including a guy who is actually a reasonable performer, but his monster gimmick was so detrimental to everyone that'd spent a season and a half promotion. Cobb is a strong, wide guy, but he's definitely shorter & lighter than Mack, who isn't a tall guy himself, yet Mack is never portrayed as, well, anything really, he's another guy that's just there waiting to be given something to do in a league where Muertes & Cage are the resident monsters. Six of the remaining combatants immediately ganged up on the Jason Voorhees wannabe Matanza, and a previously serious, if over the top, match immediately turned completely cartoonish as Matanza threw them all off like Kong breaking the chains. Matanza then ended Fenix's title reign out of nowhere with a powerslam. Before we could take a breath and even comprehend that were were going to get a new champion, Matanza pinned Mack and Aero with German suplexes & Texano with a Ligerbomb. Matanza then broke the steel that Ryan was handcuffed to, which at least put up slightly more resistance than Ryan himself. Azteca's big impression was quickly by the wayside, as he also failed to even get Matanza off his feet, and fell to a chokeslam. Chavo tried to pal up with Matanza, but lost to a lariat and standing moonsault. The final members of the feeble resistance, Rey & Puma, tried to gang up on Matanza, but Rey was dispatched to the outside, and Puma was pinned in a German suplex before Rey was even up. Rey got Matanza down to his knees twice, and actually connected with the 619, but then Matanza turned his diving hurracanrana into a powerslam to take the title. There were a lot of good performances including Puma, Rey, Fenix, Evans, & Azteca. I would have given the match ***1/2 had it ended literally with no end at the start of the 20th entry, but basically everything that happened after that was so retarded that I'm wondering if I should even recommend it at all anymore? ***
S2E10
Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco vs. Johnny Mundo & Taya 4:30
Lucha Underground Trios Title Elimination Match: Angelico & Ivelisse & Son Of Havoc vs. Barrio Negro & El Siniestro de la Muerte & Trece 9:26
The Mariposa vs. Sexy Star 1:25
Lucha Underground Title Match: The Monster Matanza Cueto vs. Pentagon Jr. 3:59. This title match was way less competitive than the rare Hogan appearance on WWF Superstars. To add insult to injury, Penta was stretchered off.
S2E11
Ivelisse vs. Kobra Moon 6:30
Trios Tournament First Round Match: Joey Ryan & Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco vs. Marty Martinez & The Mack & The Mariposa 8:31
Lucha Underground Title Match: The Monster Matanza Cueto vs. Fenix 4:48. Another total jobber match that was only as "long" as it was because Dario wanted Matanza to hurt Fenix. They spent a season and a half building Fenix up to championship level only to turn him into a guy who can only manage to momentarily stun the opponent once in a title match?
S2E12
Killshot vs. Argenis 4:35
Aztec Medallion Match: Texano vs. Daga 7:04. Daga wanted to make an impression in his debut, so they more or less went all out. They have good chemistry, and even though it was a short match, they developed it pretty well. Daga is always useful, and Texano was way more impressive here than in probably any of his previous Lucha Underground matches. Even though it was way rushed, unlike the main event, this generated some actual drama and made you care about the couple near finishes they had time for.
Trios Tournament First Round Match: Dragon Azteca Jr. & Prince Puma & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Cage & Johnny Mundo & Taya 12:53. Had quite a few highlights, but never came together beyond spectacle, largely because Mundo is the only rudo who is really meant to take all these flying moves. Cage was fine, but ideally he throws the opponents around and has a teammate other than Taya who actually isn't a zero who just does a lame strike then poses. Cage & Mundo had their disagreements as expected, but I can't say that detracted from the match the way I expected it to.
S2E13
Aztec Medallion Match: Aero Star vs. Drago 6:36. Arguably the most spectacular of their matches, even though it lost some steam when Aero slipped off the top to the floor trying a tope. The speeding up of the video they've been doing the past few weeks is really distracting, especially with guys who already move so fast, they just wind up looking kind of silly when they do any nonlinear motion.
Trios Tournament First Round Match: Fenix & Jack Evans & PJ Black vs. Barrio Negro & El Siniestro de la Muerte & Trece 9:09. Evans finally gets a role... as the guy who doesn't want to tag in.
Lucha Underground Title Match: The Monster Matanza Cueto vs. Mil Muertes 7:01. Putting two no sellers together forced both to actually sell, and this was an intense brawl with some vicious shots, particularly from Mil. In a finale so gimmicked only the WWE could be proud, Mil flatlinered Matanza through the most gimmicked giant perfectly cut square door on the roof of Dario's office, and the match ended with neither being seen again.
S2E14
Aztec Medallion Steel Cage Match: Cage vs. Johnny Mundo 13:29. Lucha Underground series tend to get better as they go along, but for the wrong reasons as the early match(es) in the program are shorter, semi throwaways, mostly just building up to the 1 match of an actual reasonable length. Striker immediately asserted that a cage match means finality, but how could they resist the potentially lucrative sequels to Cage In A Cage called Machine In A Machine and Mundo In A Mundo? In any case, this was better, but there was so much poorly done interference that it was losing momentum down the stretch rather than climaxing. Cage, of course, did a number of impressive power moves, and was getting the better of the match, though Mundo always knows how to keep himself competitive in these matches where doing a lot more selling than the opponent is the better setup. Mundo had some big highlights when he did get something in such as the avalanche style moonlight drive and Spanish fly. The first half was good, but increasingly, the match was more about Taya than Mundo, or Cage, or the match, and Cage was selling more for Taya, which was preposterous. She's taken over from Ivelisse, who mercifully stopped her banshee shreiks, as the wrestler who detracts most from a match she's not actually involved in, it's like she's their little kid and they can't do anything without checking on her endlessly. Cage is potentially finishing Mundo off, but they're worried about her climbing fences. Taya is so inept that she can't even make a Singapore cane shot rise to the level of impact expected from the fetish porn she's more constructed for, and forcing Cage to actually sell this nonsense really kills his gimmick. Mundo missed the end of the world off the top of the cage, but then Taya was way late getting into position, so Cage had to again look foolish waiting for her to leap at him with a body attack off the top of the cage. Taya pulled out handcuffs, and Vampiro said, "This is how they're gonna screw him, I'm hoping." Cage handcuffed Taya though, and drivered Mundo on a chair for the win.
1/9/16 Lucha Underground Trios Title Trios Tournament Final Four Way Elimination Match: Ivelisse & Son Of Havoc vs. Dragon Azteca Jr. & Prince Puma & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Cortez Castro & Joey Ryan & Mr. Cisco vs. Fenix & Jack Evans & PJ Black. An interesting format in that they did it as a 4 way with tags only to your own teammates. This was supposed to just be a big wild spotfest with some of the best flyers in the world, but of course, instead of focusing on former champions Puma & Fenix or new aquisition Rey, who is arguably the most well known luchador in the US if not the world, they had to feature Ivelisse, who has no good offense and doesn't take. She wasn't terrible, but none of these guys should be selling to her, so of course all they do is slow down to half speed in order to try to put her over, with Ivelisse getting the 1st elimination over Cortez, who certainly no longer seemed like a killer. And it just felt like watching ESPN as the announcers bent over backwards asserting the opposite of what you could clearly see. Thankfully, after Evans took a great bump for Ivelisse pretty much singlehandedly turning a sunset flip into a destroyer, Black broke up the pin with a superkick and Evans pinned her, assuring the new champions would be a team with 3 actual wrestlers. The elimination of Ivelisse was everyone's cue to actually start to care, and the pace pretty much tripled with some beautiful back & forth sequences between Fenix & Azteca. Puma began to go off until Evans low blowed him after his 630, but then Rey took over and pinned Evans with a slightly sloppy split-leg moonsault. The last few minutes had the sort of great flying the match promised, but there was only 1 reason we didn't get a whole match of that. Both matches on this show should have been good, but they tried to force what hasn't worked from day one rather than just take the easy path and let the numerous good wrestlers just do their thing.