BRM Reviews the 11/5/2014 Lucha Underground

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- we get promos by the three guys who jumped Johnny Mundo and Prince Puma at the end of last week's show. Ricky Reyes' new name is Cortez Castro. Ezekiel Jackson's name is The Boss, and the other guy is named Cisco. Wait. No. Zeke Just changed his name to "Big Rick."
Johnny Mundo comes out to fight them. Cortez and Cisco fight him, but Big Rick just walks away. I guess he doesn't want his cigar to go out. The two heels get some chair and threaten Johnny, but Prince Puma comes out to make the save. Dario Cueto shows up to make this an official tag team match.

JOHNNY MUNDO & PRINCE PUMA vs. CASTRO CORTEZ & CISCO- 6/10

KONNAN AND PRINCE PUMA BACKSTAGE- Konnan tells Prince Puma to stay away from Johnny Mundo because "his fight is not your fight." Konnan also tell shim to remember that he only has one friend in the business, and that is Konnan himself. Even though his mask, you could tell that Prince Puma was a little conflicted about this.

MIL MUETRES VIDEO PACKAGE- very disappointing. Vampiro promised us backstory, but we didn't get any.

SON OF HAVOC & IVELISSE vs. CHAVO GUERRERO JR. & SEXY STAR-

This week, Vampiro is talking about the great respect everyone in Mexico has always had for the Guerreros. Last week, he had said that the only one of them that everyone didn't hate was Eddie. Well... which is it?

They recap last week's Son of Havoc vs. Sexy Star match by telling us that Son of Havoc needed to "pull the tights and cheat" to get the win. They conveniently leave out that Sexy Star JUMPED HIM FROM BEHIND! Whoever booked last week's segment is a total dumbass.
The same Matt Striker who just criticized Son of Havoc for pulling the tights last week is perfectly okay with Chavo pulling son of Havoc's facial hair.
This Sexy Star vs. Son of Havoc crap is really pissing me off. They say that Havoc "isn't showing any respect" for her. Why? Because he dragged over over to the corner to make a tag? They are imposing everything they can on this to make Son of Havoc out to be some sexist pig and ignoring any evidence to the contrary (like, say, the respect he clearly has for Ivelisse), but they are completely ignoring Sexy Star's immoral behavior.
To paraphrase what I said during my review of that AWFUL VKM an Christy Hemme segment from TNA Final Resolution 2007, if you are trying to do an angle whose goal is to prove a social point, you need to be careful that your social crusader is 100% in the right, because if you don't, people will reject it for being full of sh*t, and you will have actually hurt the point that you are trying to prove.
Lucha underground has failed at that. Rather than being the strong woman capable of fighting a man that last week's video package made her out to be, Sexy Star is a cheap imitation thereof. Who does all the work fighting the big mean misogynist here? CHAVO. The man. Sexy Star then tags in only AFTER Chavo has hit him with the Frog Splash, and all she does is picks up the pin... which is exactly what a heel manager would do. The announcers described this as "chivalry" on Chavo's part. Bullsh*t. The announcers even pointed out that Chavo did all the work. How is anyone supposed to like Sexy Star after any of this?
Ivelisse, on the other hand, did not need any man to fight her battles for her. She fought Chavo cleanly. SHE is the female role-model that this company so desperately wants Sexy Star to be. All Sexy Star does is cheat, then stands there and shakes her tits.

And speaking of tits...

BLUE DEMON JR. & KATRINA BACKSTAGE- the way they started this whole thing off, switching to her POV shots while she was walking up to him, and shadowy shots of her tits to let us know she was a hot chick was kind of cool, and the music was great, but it completely lost me once she seemed to magically disappear, then reappear in front of Blue Demon Jr. Katrina (AKA Maxine, of terrible NXT match infamy) is apparently an associate of Mil Muertes, who was sent to give Blue Demon Jr. "a taste" before he suffers a thousand deaths. But instead of giving him a taste of her, she tried to taste him. Not even him actually, because what she tried to do was sexily licks his cheek.. except it didn't work because he is a luchador, famous for wearing a face-covering mask. You see the problem here.
Blue Demon was not okay with this, as he angrily wiped his mask afterwards.

KONNAN & PRINCE PUMA VIDEO PACKAGE- now THAT is a backstory. You hear that, Vampiro!

BLUE DEMON JR. vs. MIL MUERTES (w/Katrina)-4/10
Striker tells us that "Katrina seems to fill up our screen with some kind of dark seduction." Remember last week, when Matt Striker didn't sound like a hack? Those were good times.
Katrina's job is apparently to hold Mil's favorite napkin or something. It was weird. Mil Muertes jumped Blue Demon Jr. from behind. You know... that thing that Sexy Star did last week. But, for some reason, Muertes is a bad person for doing it,but Sexy Star can do no wrong.

The match was very short, but got it's point across well.

POST-MATCH ANGLE- from what the announcers were saying. The aforementioned sacred napkin might be a rock instead. Muertes when to do something with it, but Chavo came out with a chair to make the save. Then...

SWERVE!
Chavo attacked Blue Demon Jr. He also beat up some refs who tried to stop him. Some clearly planted fans started chanting "Why, Chavo? Why?!" and you can tell that they were plants because they were also making an inquisitive hand motion. More nameless Luchadors came out to make the save, but they ate chairshots. Then Sexy Star came out to try to talk Chavo down and...

YEAH!!!!!!

TAKE THAT YOU F*CKING CHEATER!

As you might have guessed from my reaction, Sexy Star ate a chairshot as well, which did get a huge reaction from the crowd. The Vamprio pissed me off again by saying that Chavo has now "crossed the line." Why? Weren't you the guy who kept reiterating that this is 2014 and that men and women are equal etc. etc. etc. So why is it suddenly "crossing the line" for Chavo to hit a woman with a chair, but it was totally okay when he hit a bunch of men with the chair.

Blue Demon got stretchered off. Chavo even threw some punches at him while he was on the stretcher.Chavo's reason for turning seems to be family pride. This was actually really good. It just would have been so much better if they hadn't been so feministy about Sexy Star earlier. Or if they simply just hadn't referred to it as "crossing a line."

Not a good episode of Lucha Underground. The Chavo stuff at the end was good, but the Sexy Star vs. Son of Havoc feud SUCKS, and as I remarked at the end of last week's show, the Mundo & Prince Puma vs. Heel Owner's Cronies match felt like it was just standard wrestling fair, as opposed to what Lucha Underground had felt like before that point. The video package with Konnan does give me some hope that this will develop in an interesting way, though.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Vampiro- "This is Lucha Underground. There are no rules and regulations. This is straight from the streets like the showers of San Quentin."
Let's break this one down into two parts. Clearly there are rules in Lucha underground, as we have already seen people almost get counted out, among other things. As for the second part... I hope there aren't going to be any stabbings on this show.

2. Matt Striker tells us that Gory Guerrero "gave birth to Chavo Sr." and that "Chavo Sr. gave birth to Chavo Jr."
Matt Striker, our teacher, needs to go back to biology class.

[cero2k]

OPENING SEGMENT- we get promos by the three guys who jumped Johnny Mundo and Prince Puma at the end of last week's show. Ricky Reyes' new name is Cortez Castro. Ezekiel Jackson's name is The Boss, and the other guy is named Cisco. Wait. No. Zeke Just changed his name to "Big Rick."
Johnny Mundo comes out to fight them. Cortez and Cisco fight him, but Big Rick just walks away. I guess he doesn't want his cigar to go out. The two heels get some chair and threaten Johnny, but Prince Puma comes out to make the save. Dario Cueto shows up to make this an official tag team match.
Cisco is Lil' Cholo from the west coast promotions. I think he's done CZW too


BLUE DEMON JR. & KATRINA BACKSTAGE- the way they started this whole thing off, switching to her POV shots while she was walking up to him, and shadowy shots of her tits to let us know she was a hot chick was kind of cool, and the music was great, but it completely lost me once she seemed to magically disappear, then reappear in front of Blue Demon Jr. Katrina (AKA Maxine, or terrible NXT match infamy) is apparently an associate of Mil Muertes, who was sent to give Blue Demon Jr. "a taste" before he suffers a thousand deaths. But instead of giving him a taste of her, she tried to taste him. Not even him actually, because what she tried to do was sexily licks his cheek.. except it didn't work because he is a luchador, famous for wearing a face-covering mask. You see the problem here.
Blue Demon was not okay with this, as he angrily wiped his mask afterwards.
Demon has been using that mask for years and years, at this point i'm sure the taste the same

BLUE DEMON JR. vs. MIL MUERTES (w/Katrina)-4/10
Striker tells us that "Katrina seems to fill up our screen with some kind of dark seduction." Remember last week, when Matt Striker didn't sound like a hack? Those were good times.
Katrina's job is apparently to hold Mil's favorite napkin or something. It was weird.
commentary alluded that they're a couple, and i'm sure Mil Muertes is not a talker, so Catrina has more work than just holding the stone

The match was very short, but got it's point across well.

POST-MATCH ANGLE- from what the announcers were saying. The aforementioned sacred napkin might be a rock instead. Muertes when to do something with it, but Chavo came out with a chair to make the save. Then...

SWERVE!
Chavo attacked Blue Demon Jr. He also beat up some refs who tried to stop him. Some clearly planted fans started chanting "Why, Chavo? Why?!" and you can tell that they were plants because they were also making an inquisitive hand motion. More nameless Luchadors came out to make the save, but they ate chairshots. Then Sexy Star came out to try to talk Chavo down and...

YEAH!!!!!!

TAKE THAT YOU F*CKING CHEATER!
she started the match by attacking a dude from behind and you've turned her into the biggest heel in history. Just because she's fighting for women empowerment, doesn't mean she's already up top of the pyramid, i don't agree with the start of last week's match, but she's still fighting to get better and taking advantages, specially as insignificant as the one she did, doesn't make you less of a fighter or face for that matter, which is why i like that she lost her first match and that she still gets overpowered by dudes. This match wasn't she having Chavo do the work, it was her still being weaker, but Chavo gave her the pin, it's not like she was desperately asking for the tag to take the pin, just Chavo giving it to her. nothing wrong with that.

As you might have guessed from my reaction, Sexy Star ate a chairshot as well, which did get a huge reaction from the crowd. The Vamprio pissed me off again by saying that Chavo has now "crossed the line." Why? Weren't you the guy who kept reiterating that this is 2014 and that men and women are equal etc. etc. etc. So why is it suddenly "crossing the line" for Chavo to hit a woman with a chair, but it was totally okay when he hit a bunch of men with the chair.
because that woman was your partner earlier in the day and didn't come out to attack Chavo, but to talk some sense into him. The other wrestlers you could tell where trying to physically stop Chavo, not Sexy Star. Without getting in to a men vs women discussion here (since it could last ages), there is a difference between men and women being equal to partake in the same job against each other, and it's another thing to blast a chair in her face just because.

.

[Big Red Machine]

TAKE THAT YOU F*CKING CHEATER!
she started the match by attacking a dude from behind and you've turned her into the biggest heel in history. Just because she's fighting for women empowerment, doesn't mean she's already up top of the pyramid, i don't agree with the start of last week's match, but she's still fighting to get better and taking advantages, specially as insignificant as the one she did, doesn't make you less of a fighter or face for that matter, which is why i like that she lost her first match and that she still gets overpowered by dudes. This match wasn't she having Chavo do the work, it was her still being weaker, but Chavo gave her the pin, it's not like she was desperately asking for the tag to take the pin, just Chavo giving it to her. nothing wrong with that.

But that's not the angle they set up with the video package, and that's not the way the announcers are playing it up. They condemning Son of Havoc for his cheating, but make no mention whatsoever of her cheating. They say he needed to cheat to win? From what I saw in that match, she might not have ever gotten in any offense at all if she hadn't cheated to start things off.
What we are seeing in the ring and the story they are trying to tell us do not match up, and they do not match up in such a way that they are preaching to us in a way that comes off as full of crap.
I understand what you're saying, but I don't see her doing any better. All she got in on Son of Havoc was a counter or two. If she had managed to mount any of her own sustained offense against him, it would be one thing, but that's not what happened.

As you might have guessed from my reaction, Sexy Star ate a chairshot as well, which did get a huge reaction from the crowd. The Vamprio pissed me off again by saying that Chavo has now "crossed the line." Why? Weren't you the guy who kept reiterating that this is 2014 and that men and women are equal etc. etc. etc. So why is it suddenly "crossing the line" for Chavo to hit a woman with a chair, but it was totally okay when he hit a bunch of men with the chair.
because that woman was your partner earlier in the day and didn't come out to attack Chavo, but to talk some sense into him. The other wrestlers you could tell where trying to physically stop Chavo, not Sexy Star. Without getting in to a men vs women discussion here (since it could last ages), there is a difference between men and women being equal to partake in the same job against each other, and it's another thing to blast a chair in her face just because.
Again... that's not what the announcers said. Vamprio accused Chavo of being a "macho bastard" for doing this. It was clearly meant to be a man-on-woman violence thing. And it did work. The crowd reaction proves that (though that very idea is at odds with the Sexy Star vs. Son of Havoc angle) As I said: without Vampiro's comments, I would have thought this whole thing was awesome. Instead, I thought all of it but this one bit was awesome.
The same way that you guys react to WWE telling us that John Cena is doing the morally right thing, that is the way that I react to something like this Sexy Star angle or Bobby Roode whining that he deserves a title shot even though he just lost one clean.
.