BRM Reviews the 3/11/2015 Lucha Underground (disappointing)

[Big Red Machine]

PENTAGON JR. vs. ARGENIS- 4.75/10
“Fear Factor” is an awesome name for a move for a guy whose gimmick is “no fear.”

FENIX & CATRINA BACKSTAGE- so they seem to be building to a Buried Alive match. Not quite sure how I feel about that. It seems awfully quick to go there, but more importantly, I’m just not sure how I feel about a Buried Alive match in Lucha Underground. One of the things I have enjoyed most about Lucha Underground is the way they have blended a modern wrestling show with this mystical/spiritual/magical background. Mil Muertes is definitely a character who plays into that “world” (for lack of a better term), but he hasn’t actually ever been connected to the Aztec basis of this whole thing (the seven tribes, the gold in the title belt, etc.). We know something is up with Fenix’s tattoo, s perhaps that will help make the connection, but I am very wary about this whole thing. As with everything, in the end it will all come down to how they handle it, and I’ve seen them do enough things perfectly to have faith, but I’ve also seen them botch over things so royally as to be very concerned. We’ll see how it goes.
I should also note that the way Catrina disappeared means that Fenix might have hallucinated this whole thing… or perhaps Catrina is in some way magical herself rather than being merely being Mil’s harbinger as had previously been implied.

KONNAN VIDEO PACKAGE- AWESOME!
Also, he appears to be raising an army.

KING CUERNO DRIVES TO THE ARENA- hated it.
The whole “fifteen minutes to cage match” graphic was just so un-Lucha Underground, and if it hadn’t been for that and the “the Hunter arrives” graphic, I would have thought that they had made some deal to have their own guys do commercials like ROH does, and that this was King Cuerno doing a car commercial.

SINGLES MATCH WITH SON OF HAVOC AS SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: Ivelisse vs. Angelico- DUD!
There was some stuff in here that was kind of good (particularly the fast-count at the end, specifically to get Angelico off from on top of Ivelisse) and one or two of the spots where Son of Havoc showed Ivelisse some favor in ways that are technically according to the rules, but aren’t often enforced as such, but the rest of this was just such overbooked crap.
First all, execution-wise, I was totally confused by the not counting spots because it looked like he wasn’t counting when shoulders were down, but it looked like he was doing that for BOTH competitors. I also didn’t like the major inconsistency with Angelico’s willingness to hit Ivelisse. He was reluctant to chop her… but earlier in the match he was completely okay trying to knee her in the face… and then after being reluctant to chop her, he was perfectly okay trying to hit he with the Razor’s Edge? What sense does that make?

I also hated the little spot they did where he took out her knee… and then on the very next spot she had no problem jumping over an attempted leg sweep… which was done just so he could come back and kick her in the head. That was stupid.

The biggest failing of this match, though, was that I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to react to Son of Havoc’s bias (especially when it was blatant). Should I be upset because she doesn’t want his help, but he is going against her wishes and helping her anyway? Should I feel bad for him because Dario Cueto wants him to call it down the middle while his girlfriend is in danger? Should I be angry that he and Ivelisse have conspired to try to steal a match, or angry at Cueto for creating a situation to screw Angelico over? I had no idea because they never told me, so I just sat there kind of confused.
I think they really needed to do a backstage segment with Ivelisse and Son of Havoc to give us some inkling of what we were supposed to feel. Does she want him to help and will be angry at him because she lost? Will she be angry because he fast-counted her out of chivalry? Will she be angry at him for helping when it wasn’t wanted? Is he secretly happy that she lost? We don’t know. This was another example of where Lucha Underground’s rather unique format really could have helped (we can learn their secret thoughts without the suspension of disbelief issue of “well why don’t they just watch the tape of this week’s episode), but they completely failed to take advantage of it. Something like this would have at least let me know what I was supposed to be thinking in that whole “Son of Havoc isn’t counting” spot, so that even with the terrible execution, I could at least understand what was supposed to be going on.

MIL MUETES & CATRINA BACKSTAGE- decent.
So apparently it’s just a casket match, not a Buried Alive match. They tried to justify it by saying that his experience in the earthquake gave Mil claustrophobia, but that really doesn’t seem to fit in as well with the earthquake story as a buried alive match would.
I’m also not sure why Mil is supposed to be the villain here, and this segment really tried to humanize him a bit (including telling us his kayfabe shoot name, a concept which amuses me), which certainly didn’t help. Catrina has betrayed him and is now using his worst fear against him, capitalizing on his childhood trauma? That’ really heelish right there.
Catrina also disappeared rather quickly, and said that in the rubble after the earthquake was the first time that she and Mil met, which further fuels speculation that she is has some magical qualities.

STEEL CAGE MATCH: Johnny Mundo vs. King Cuerno- 7.25/10
You can win by escaping the cage. BOOOOOOO!
The match was great and all but this feud really didn’t feel like it needed a cage, and between this and the Casket Match next week, it really feels like they’re loading up on gimmick matches. This was only the second or third match of the feud. Maybe if they had spent more time building this up with Cuerno working over Mundo’s leg and trying to put him out for good (on Dario’s orders, perhaps?), but Mundo always managing to escape they could have built it up as the hunter finally getting his prey trapped in a cage (and then you can have Mundo cut promos about an animal being at its most dangerous when it is trapped and wounded and then it would have worked, but doing it like this just felt like a cage match for the sake of a cage match.

Overall, a very un-Lucha Underground episode of Lucha Underground. Dario Cueto never appeared, we got no follow-up whatsoever to Big Ryck vs. The Crew (or Sexy Star vs. the Crew, or Sexy Star’s feelings on her loss last week), no follow up with Prince Puma and Alberto El Patron, no new info on any longer-term angles like Cage ripping the title in half of the Matanza stuff (is Black Lotus dead? Last we saw her, she got kidnapped and stuffed in a trunk for knowing too much, but that was weeks ago). Mundo and Cuerno had a great match, but I expected a lot better, storyline-wise.
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Vampiro tries to tell us that the fans aren’t really chanting for Pentagon Jr.’s heelish ways. They just love the intensity of Lucha Underground. Maybe he could get away with that if they were just generically cheering, but he said this WHILE THE FANS WERE CHANTING PENTAGON JR.’S CATCHPHRASE.

2. Striker tried to tell us that Angelico has “captured the minds, the hearts, and the imaginations of every fan here at the temple.”
Yes. This third rate, generic babyface who is really kind of a dick when you get down to it is definitely the sort of person that captures minds, hearts, and imaginations.

3. Striker told us that “two weeks ago, Ivelisse earned a victory over Angelico,” completely leaving out a very important part of the story, which was that she only won because Son of Havoc interfered.

4. Vampiro- “I will confirm the rumors on the internet: In real life she is very tough in the ring, but shes’s also a hottie.”
“IN REAL LIFE!?” Yeah. Just sh*t on kayfabe. What was even point of saying “in real life?” Are both of those things not also kayfabe true?

5. Striker- “We can beat you over the head by telling you about gender equality and women’s lib, or you can just watches the matches and see for yourself.”
Except that you say this same thing EVERY SINGLE WEEK, WHICH IS BEATING US OVER THE HEAD WITH IT!

6. Striker begins to analyze the Angelico vs. Ivelisse match in terms of height and weight etc… except that he prefaces his whole thing by saying “gender aside,” which implies that gender IS some sort of advantage which totally destroys Striker’s whole deal about… what was it again? Oh yeah: “gender equality and women’s lib.”

[cero2k]

Overall, a very un-Lucha Underground episode of Lucha Underground. Dario Cueto never appeared, we got no follow-up whatsoever to Big Ryck vs. The Crew (or Sexy Star vs. the Crew, or Sexy Star’s feelings on her loss last week), no follow up with Prince Puma and Alberto El Patron, no new info on any longer-term angles like Cage ripping the title in half of the Matanza stuff (is Black Lotus dead? Last we saw her, she got kidnapped and stuffed in a trunk for knowing too much, but that was weeks ago). Mundo and Cuerno had a great match, but I expected a lot better, storyline-wise.

I've come to terms that LU skips stories every other shows. and they usually make a really good job bringing you back to the story like nothing

[Big Red Machine]

Overall, a very un-Lucha Underground episode of Lucha Underground. Dario Cueto never appeared, we got no follow-up whatsoever to Big Ryck vs. The Crew (or Sexy Star vs. the Crew, or Sexy Star’s feelings on her loss last week), no follow up with Prince Puma and Alberto El Patron, no new info on any longer-term angles like Cage ripping the title in half of the Matanza stuff (is Black Lotus dead? Last we saw her, she got kidnapped and stuffed in a trunk for knowing too much, but that was weeks ago). Mundo and Cuerno had a great match, but I expected a lot better, storyline-wise.

I've come to terms that LU skips stories every other shows. and they usually make a really good job bringing you back to the story like nothing

They often do, but that makes the shows feel very disjointed: Like there are two different Lucha Undergrounds. I think it'd be better to try to mix it up a bit, and to try to do something like what they did last week with the Angelico-Ivelisse-Havoc story: You do the match on show 1, the follow-up segment on show 2, then the next match on show 3. It makes it feel more episodic.