BRM Reivews the 11/19/2014 Lucha Underground
Posted: Nov 20th, '14, 14:45
RECAP VIDEO- a great video package of all of the important moments in the Dario Cueto/Jonny Mundo/Konnan/Prince Puma saga.
We open with a band randomly playing. If these keeps up, they’ll have to change the name of the promotion to WSMex.
Actually, it just now occurred to me that this might be El Mariachi Loco’s band.
Matt Striker tells us that everyone is focused on Chavo Guerrero Jr.’s heel turn. Clearly not everyone, because there was no mention of it in the recap video.
Striker puts over Sexy Star’s return after Chavo hit her with a chair two weeks ago. Striker was very subdued about this, which seemed off. Also, if you are going to have her off TV for a week after the chairshot, you might as well put that idea over on last week’s show.
SEXY STAR PROMO- great babyface stuff, but again, if she is going to cut this fiery promo vowing revenge on Chavo, why not build up the idea on last week’s TV show that Chavo’s chairshot put her out?
IVELISSE PROMO- FAN-F*CKING-TASTIC! She is an AWESOME heel. This was just a reminder of how dumb WWE was for letting her go, and how much dumber TNA was for not hiring her when they had the chance.
SEXY STAR vs. IVELISSE- 5/10
Ivelisse and Son of Havoc are, according to Matt Striker, a couple. Vampiro said he thought they were siblings. I’ll pretend that was a shot at the Menagerie.
Ivelisse locked in a fish-hook and the ref started to count. She didn’t break it, so the ref just stopped counting after four. DISQUALIFY HER, YOU IDIOT!
Other than that, the match was pretty good, with a finish that sets up perfectly for a rematch that will hopefully get more time than this match got.
Striker’s commentary was not good. Too much focus on the “festival of flesh” (yes, he actually said that) and flat out saying in the beginning of the match there would be less wrestling and more hair-pulling going on.
DARIO CUETO TALKS TO DRAGO IN A DINGY BATHROOM- awesome. Cueto says he isn’t impressed with Drago, so Drago had better show him something, because he hates having his time wasted. Cueto booked Drago against some guy whose name I didn’t catch, but Cueto’s tone made this guy sound impressive. Drago responded by drooling green liquid from his mouth and walking away. Cueto was scared, but then put his game face back on.
Drago’s gear looks just as cool up close as it does from far away.
PENTAGON JR. PROMO- Great!
He said that no one in Mexico respected him… not even the other Pentagons. That made me laugh. He thanks Dario Cueto for finally showing him the respect he deserves, and vows to make an example out of Fenix.
PENTAGON JR. vs. FENIX- 7.75/10
Matt Striker says the only place we can see these two wrestle each other is Lucha Underground. Don’t they both work for AAA? He also called the temple a “carnal carnival; an arena of atrocities.” Meanwhile, Vamprio was busy talking about Kenta Kobashi.
The match as pretty much all flips and nearfalls, but I’m fine with that. Falls just short of last week’s main event for the title of best match in Lucha Underground so far.
KING CUERNO VIDEO PACKAGE- not so good. Those shots of him standing on the roof, looking like a superhero kind of killed it for me. They felt out of place with the rest of the video package.
DRAGO vs. KING CUERNO- 5.5/10
Cuerno grabbed the ref and roughly threw him to the ground. This was not a DQ. Both guys looked great. Drago won with an AWESOME roll-up.
KONNAN REMINDS PRINCE PUMA THAT JOHNNY MUNDO’S FIGHT IS NOT HIS FIGHT- Prince Puma doesn’t seem like he will listen.
JOHNNY MUNDO vs. BIG RYCK- 4.5/10
They did a great job telling the Big Man vs. Little Man story, but the match was rather short. As they were getting ready for the finish, we cut to backstage and see Prince Puma watching the match. He was jumped from behind and beaten up by Cortez Castro and Cisqo. The two henchman then came out to the ring and stopped Johnny from hitting Starship Pain, causing a DQ. Mundo fought off the henchmen, but got taken down by Ryck, then suffered a gang beating and got chokeslammed through a table. Vampiro did a good job selling this as being dangerous. Striker, on the other hand, got way too melodramatic, saying “Johnny Mundo is out… and he may never wake up from this nightmare.
Another awesome show from Lucha Underground. The action is always at least solid, and the feel of the show is really coming together, between the backstage segments, the “set,” (as it were) and the whole atmosphere of the show.
I’ve been a bit hard on him in this review, but throughout the show, Striker kept saying things that would really annoy me in any other promotion, but they really mesh with the feel of Lucha Underground perfectly. Just little things. For example, he said that it “looks likes” Pentagon Jr. has a weight advantage over Fenix. In any other promotion, the announcers should easily be able to look up everyone’s weight and know for sure. In Lucha Underground, though, such things are not a matter of record. Not even a private record. Because there is no record.
Similarly, he was wondering if maybe Sexy Star had a concussion from that chairshot two weeks ago and she shouldn’t be wrestling. In any other promotion, I would get unhappy because they should have (both kayfabe and not kayfabe) tested her for a concussion after the chairshot. If she had one, they obviously wouldn’t be letting her wrestle, and if they didn’t there is no problem and Striker should realize that.
In Lucha Underground, though, things are unregulated. Dario Cueto is just providing entertainment in the form of a sort of underground fight club that adheres to the ancient warrior traditions of Lucha Libre. The competitors all choose to fight on their own. They don’t need a doctor’s note to say that they are okay before they can fight. If Sexy Star got a concussion, but she still wants to fight, we wouldn’t know about it, and no one could stop her (this also made her look like more of a babyface).
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Striker- “double knees to the face, breaking the code.”
What code? What the hell is he talking about? Is this supposed to be Jericho reference, or is this supposed to be one of those TNA deals where there is some backstage “code” not to do something that we have never heard about before and never hear about again?
We open with a band randomly playing. If these keeps up, they’ll have to change the name of the promotion to WSMex.
Actually, it just now occurred to me that this might be El Mariachi Loco’s band.
Matt Striker tells us that everyone is focused on Chavo Guerrero Jr.’s heel turn. Clearly not everyone, because there was no mention of it in the recap video.
Striker puts over Sexy Star’s return after Chavo hit her with a chair two weeks ago. Striker was very subdued about this, which seemed off. Also, if you are going to have her off TV for a week after the chairshot, you might as well put that idea over on last week’s show.
SEXY STAR PROMO- great babyface stuff, but again, if she is going to cut this fiery promo vowing revenge on Chavo, why not build up the idea on last week’s TV show that Chavo’s chairshot put her out?
IVELISSE PROMO- FAN-F*CKING-TASTIC! She is an AWESOME heel. This was just a reminder of how dumb WWE was for letting her go, and how much dumber TNA was for not hiring her when they had the chance.
SEXY STAR vs. IVELISSE- 5/10
Ivelisse and Son of Havoc are, according to Matt Striker, a couple. Vampiro said he thought they were siblings. I’ll pretend that was a shot at the Menagerie.
Ivelisse locked in a fish-hook and the ref started to count. She didn’t break it, so the ref just stopped counting after four. DISQUALIFY HER, YOU IDIOT!
Other than that, the match was pretty good, with a finish that sets up perfectly for a rematch that will hopefully get more time than this match got.
Striker’s commentary was not good. Too much focus on the “festival of flesh” (yes, he actually said that) and flat out saying in the beginning of the match there would be less wrestling and more hair-pulling going on.
DARIO CUETO TALKS TO DRAGO IN A DINGY BATHROOM- awesome. Cueto says he isn’t impressed with Drago, so Drago had better show him something, because he hates having his time wasted. Cueto booked Drago against some guy whose name I didn’t catch, but Cueto’s tone made this guy sound impressive. Drago responded by drooling green liquid from his mouth and walking away. Cueto was scared, but then put his game face back on.
Drago’s gear looks just as cool up close as it does from far away.
PENTAGON JR. PROMO- Great!
He said that no one in Mexico respected him… not even the other Pentagons. That made me laugh. He thanks Dario Cueto for finally showing him the respect he deserves, and vows to make an example out of Fenix.
PENTAGON JR. vs. FENIX- 7.75/10
Matt Striker says the only place we can see these two wrestle each other is Lucha Underground. Don’t they both work for AAA? He also called the temple a “carnal carnival; an arena of atrocities.” Meanwhile, Vamprio was busy talking about Kenta Kobashi.
The match as pretty much all flips and nearfalls, but I’m fine with that. Falls just short of last week’s main event for the title of best match in Lucha Underground so far.
KING CUERNO VIDEO PACKAGE- not so good. Those shots of him standing on the roof, looking like a superhero kind of killed it for me. They felt out of place with the rest of the video package.
DRAGO vs. KING CUERNO- 5.5/10
Cuerno grabbed the ref and roughly threw him to the ground. This was not a DQ. Both guys looked great. Drago won with an AWESOME roll-up.
KONNAN REMINDS PRINCE PUMA THAT JOHNNY MUNDO’S FIGHT IS NOT HIS FIGHT- Prince Puma doesn’t seem like he will listen.
JOHNNY MUNDO vs. BIG RYCK- 4.5/10
They did a great job telling the Big Man vs. Little Man story, but the match was rather short. As they were getting ready for the finish, we cut to backstage and see Prince Puma watching the match. He was jumped from behind and beaten up by Cortez Castro and Cisqo. The two henchman then came out to the ring and stopped Johnny from hitting Starship Pain, causing a DQ. Mundo fought off the henchmen, but got taken down by Ryck, then suffered a gang beating and got chokeslammed through a table. Vampiro did a good job selling this as being dangerous. Striker, on the other hand, got way too melodramatic, saying “Johnny Mundo is out… and he may never wake up from this nightmare.
Another awesome show from Lucha Underground. The action is always at least solid, and the feel of the show is really coming together, between the backstage segments, the “set,” (as it were) and the whole atmosphere of the show.
I’ve been a bit hard on him in this review, but throughout the show, Striker kept saying things that would really annoy me in any other promotion, but they really mesh with the feel of Lucha Underground perfectly. Just little things. For example, he said that it “looks likes” Pentagon Jr. has a weight advantage over Fenix. In any other promotion, the announcers should easily be able to look up everyone’s weight and know for sure. In Lucha Underground, though, such things are not a matter of record. Not even a private record. Because there is no record.
Similarly, he was wondering if maybe Sexy Star had a concussion from that chairshot two weeks ago and she shouldn’t be wrestling. In any other promotion, I would get unhappy because they should have (both kayfabe and not kayfabe) tested her for a concussion after the chairshot. If she had one, they obviously wouldn’t be letting her wrestle, and if they didn’t there is no problem and Striker should realize that.
In Lucha Underground, though, things are unregulated. Dario Cueto is just providing entertainment in the form of a sort of underground fight club that adheres to the ancient warrior traditions of Lucha Libre. The competitors all choose to fight on their own. They don’t need a doctor’s note to say that they are okay before they can fight. If Sexy Star got a concussion, but she still wants to fight, we wouldn’t know about it, and no one could stop her (this also made her look like more of a babyface).
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Striker- “double knees to the face, breaking the code.”
What code? What the hell is he talking about? Is this supposed to be Jericho reference, or is this supposed to be one of those TNA deals where there is some backstage “code” not to do something that we have never heard about before and never hear about again?