Lucha Underground – Episode #37: PenUltimaLucha

Lucha Underground – Episode #37: PenUltimaLucha
Date: July 22, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, CA
Commentators: Matt Striker, Vampiro
Follow @udkyle

Previously on Lucha Underground…

Dario Cueto disperses the ancient Aztec Medallions in various matches. Cage attacks Mack while Daivari and Big Ryck watch. Texano, acting for Mexico, saves Prince Puma from Chavo Guerrero and The Crew. Chavo responds by taunting Blue Demon about Texano being the new face of Mexico, leading to Blue Demon attacking Texano.

We open with a patch-wearing, cigar-smoking Big Ryck in Dario Cueto’s office. Cueto tells Ryck they haven’t seen eye to eye lately (there’s a few eye related puns through this whole thing playing off Ryck’s status as a cyclops), and recalls that Ryck was the first guy he gave big money, including the $100,000 payoff in the pilot episode of Lucha Underground. Cueto tells Ryck that he had big plans for him, but Ryck lost focus, and was been blinded by Daivari’s money. Cueto tells Ryck he wants him out of Daivari’s shadow and back in Cueto’s spotlight. He shows Ryck the last remaining Aztec medallion, and tells him he’ll reveal the purpose of the medallions tonight. He hands the last one to Ryck and tells him he’s going to have to decide what is more important to him; money or power. Ryck responds “why choose, when I can have them both,” and stares down Cueto. Cueto hands Ryck a stack of bills to go with the last remaining medallion and Ryck exits. Ryck’s one of the better actors on this show, and his backstage scenes and vignettes have been good because he’s such a menacing presence. I think he’s been marginalized as the season’s progressed just because he doesn’t really fit the Lucha style in the ring, and in that respect, he’s kind of limited in what they can do with him. But if, like I’ve suggested for weeks, the Medallions lead to a seven man match, that’s the type of match in which he can get spots in, and be protected at the same time, so he’s a nice final addition here.

No Mexican Dubwiser this week! It’s Sergio Arau on the bandstand!

Matt Striker and Vampiro recap the Prince Puma/Mil Muertes confrontation from last week. Vampiro says due to Konnan being stuffed in a coffin (so, he’s dead?), Prince Puma will break his silence and speak for the first time tonight. Striker sets the table for our first match, Johnny Mundo vs. Texano.

Match #1 – Johnny Mundo vs. Texano

The crowd chants “Johnny Zero” at Mundo as he comes out. The two trade some basic offense early before Texano gains the first real advantage of the match by popping up out of a sunset flip and leveling Johnny with a kick to the head. Texano is super over with the crowd in the temple tonight.

Johnny briefly regains control with an eye rake, but gets leveled with a superkick. Texano can’t capitalize, though, and Johnny regains control off an irish whip and pulls Texano under the ropes, about halfway off the apron and hits a stiff kick of his own, followed by a very cool modified neckbreaker off the apron. Johnny poses while Texano tries to get back in the ring, but Johnny charges him and knocks him off the apron into the guardrails outside with a running knee. Then Johnny gets on the apron, mimics taking a snapshot, and jumps off the apron to the floor, and into a spin kick that nails Texano who’s slumped up against the rail.

Back in the ring, Mundo hits a shining wizard for a near fall after some ground & pound. Texano fights out of a chin lock and takes control with some chops, and then hits a monkey flip on Mundo, out of the corner, in which Mundo does a full 360 and lands on his face. This looked so much more impressive than it should have. It’s good for a near fall for Texano.

At about the 4:57 mark of the match, Mundo regains control by crotching Texano on the ropes and hits a springboard enziguri, which is good for a near fall. After the two trade teasing moves, Johnny hits a Russian leg sweep and goes for End of the World, but Texano rolls under it. Texano takes control with an enziguri and sets Mundo up for his power bomb at about 5:50, but The Crew hit the ring and break it up by hitting Texano in the knee with a kendo stick. After the match, Mundo and The Crew stomp Texano until El Patron comes out to make the save. Texano and El Patron clear the ring and then stare each other down. Striker aptly teases their previous rivalry, Patron being the man who ended Texano’s reign as AAA Mega Champion prior to both coming to Lucha Underground

Winner: Texano via disqualification
Rating: **1/4
Reaction: This was basically a teaser for the Mundo/El Patron and Texano/Blue Demon Ultima Lucha matches. The action was entertaining while it lasted. I do think these two could put on a really nice show if they get a longer form bout next season. Mundo has excelled in his heel role during his LU run, and is arguably doing his best work. El Patron is so ridiculously over. The image of him in the crowd, with the crowd losing their minds while chanting “Si! Si! Si!” has to haunt WWE in terms of what they wanted Patron to be for them, and what he is now.

Commercial Break

The Rick Rude of the 2015 Wednesday Night Wars, Hernandez, is in Dario Cueto’s office. Cueto tells Hernandez he’s not a big fan of museums, but he is a fan of art. And Cueto wants Ultima Lucha to be a work of art, which is why he’s starting it a week early, thus making it a two week event starting next week. It should be noted Cueto’s mixing a drink the whole time he’s talking, and hands Hernandez a Miller Lite. Cueto says Hernandez will be a part of the event by facing Drago in a match to finally settle their score. But Cueto says the blow-off won’t be a normal match. Hernandez asks if it’s a strap match. Cueto replies “not exactly,” and says that he’s received a lot of tweets from fan saying they hate Hernandez. Hernandez replies that the feeling is mutual. Cueto says that he said from the first day, the temple is open to anyone, so he wanted to give the fans a chance to get in on the action. Cueto says that he’s going to surround the ring with fans and give them all straps, and if either Drago or Hernandez end up outside the ring, the fans will get to beat them with these straps. Cueto says he calls it the “Believer’s Backlash” match. Hernandez tells Cueto that he hopes Cueto has insurance, and pops the top on his Miller. Hernandez continues, that if any of the fans try and hit him, he’ll paint the canvas red with their blood. Cueto, looking absolutely thrilled, says that sounds like a masterpiece. The two toast each other. Well, my interest in this Hernandez/Drago match just went up ten fold. I have to see what this match looks like and how they pull this thing off. Hernandez carried his part here well enough. I still can’t fathom why he’d quit this company to attend the death rattle of TNA.

Match #2 – The Mack vs. Cage

Both men are already in the ring when Melissa Santos does her intros. Cage starts with a hip toss into a back breaker and just dominates early with a back elbow, a clothesline, and an uppercut. Cage continues with a headbutt and whips Mack to a corner and charges, but Mack dodges, hits a sunset flip, and scores the pin for the win. That literally came from nowhere, and the whole match lasted about 40 seconds.

Winner: The Mack via pinfall
Rating: N/A
Reaction: The story here is Mack has stolen two wins from Cage via flash pin.

Cage loses it after the match and begins pounding Mack, but Mack fights back. The seldom seen Lucha Underground security tries to come out and break up their brawl, but Cage and Mack just beat the hell out of the security and begin fighting up the temple steps. Dario Cueto comes out of his office and screams at the two to stop fighting. He tells them that if they want to fight each other so badly, he will gather up all the objects laying around the temple and dump them at ringside so they can use them to tear each other apart. Cueto announces to the live crowd that Ultima Lucha will start next week because it’s so big, they will need two weeks to complete it, and that the first match will be Cage vs. The Mack in a Falls Count Anywhere match (with lots of hardcore).

An edit is then made to eliminate Cage and Mack, and we cut to Cueto again in front of the live crowd on the mic saying that he will explain what the Aztec Medallions mean now. Cueto makes his way towards the ring and Striker throws it to commercial before the big announcement.

Commercial Break

Cueto is in the ring with something on a stand, covered by cloth. Cueto says that the seven Aztec Medallions make up what he calls “The Gift Of The Gods.” Cueto pulls the cloth away to reveal a pretty cool looking seven panel title belt. Cueto then says that the luchador who holds the Gift Of The Gods can obtain a Lucha Underground Championship match whenever they want. However, Cueto makes a point that he likes to promote his matches, so there’s no silly “cash this in whenever you want” Money In The Bank type stipulation to this opportunity. Cueto says that the title holder can cash it in whenever they want by informing him so he has a week to promote the match, but the title also is an active belt, meaning the longer a luchador waits to cash it in, the more he will have to defend the belt against other luchadors. Cueto says that once the opportunity is used, the medallions are redistributed, and the battle for the medallions (and the belt) begins again. Cueto says that the first title holder will be decided by a seven way match amongst the medallion holders at Ultima Lucha. Cueto then calls for all seven luchadors who hold medallions, introducing them one by one. Jack Evans, Aerostar, King Cuerno, Bengala, Sexy Star, and Big Ryck all make their way to the ring. Cueto then has them ceremoniously put their medallions into slots on the belt, one by one. Vampiro, moved by this scene, poetically says “this is like old school, like ancient.” Cueto thanks them and tells them all to leave his ring. Striker points out that there’s one slot missing a medallion. Cueto acknowledges the missing medallion, saying that the first one was won by Fenix, but then laughs and says that Mil Muertes destroyed him. Cueto says that he has no choice but to put Fenix’s medallion back up for competition tonight, and he will do so in a battle royal. Cueto says that this, being Lucha Underground, there’s a twist, and for this match, it’s that when there are two competitors left in the battle royal, the winner will be decided by pinfall or submission.

All of a sudden Fenix’s music hits and he comes walking out of the back. Cueto tells Fenix it’s good to see him, but he’s too late to claim his spot. However, since Cueto is feeling generous, Fenix can enter the battle royal.

Reaction: There’s a lot of information that was given out here. So the medallions make up a title belt called the “Gift of The Gods” which works like a Money In The Bank briefcase but without the instant cash-in stipulation. We have a seven way match for the title set for Ultima Lucha. And this gimmick will continue to exist as an annual tradition each season (presuming there are more seasons). Ok, that’s fine. I’m not crazy about the name of the belt, but it looks cool, and conceptually it’s fine. Then we learn that Dario has redefined the concept of a battle royal to a pinfall/submission match between the final two entrants left standing. I have no issue with that at all, it’s actually a fine idea. The whole Fenix is out, but then he comes down to the ring and has to compete in the battle royal part of this reeked of Russo. He’s either in the medallion match, or he’s out. This is obviously filler to get them one last solid main event match before Ultima Lucha, without blowing any of their matches for that card, but this set up could have been a lot smoother.

With about 15 minutes left in the show, this battle royal will get some time.

Commercial Break

Match #3 – Aztec Medallion Match: Battle Royal

The participants are:
1) Fenix
2) Killshot
3) Argenis
4) Famous B
5) Mascarita Sagrada
6) Vinny Mazzaro
7) Ricky Mandel
8) Super Fly
9) Delavar Daivari
10) Marty The Moth Martinez

Vampiro points out that this is Marty’s third time trying to win a medallion.

Famous B shines early hitting a pedigree and a legdrop (complete with Hulk Hogan poses) on Argenis.

Ricky Mandel sneaks up behind Famous B and tries to toss him, but Famous B reverses it.

Elimination: Ricky Mandel eliminated by Famous B

Argenis charges Famous B and gets backdropped to the apron. Famous B hits an enziguri to knock him off the apron.

Elimination: Argenis eliminated by Famous B

Killshot kicks the shit out of Vinny Mazzaro and hits a rolling RKO on Famous B which pops the crowd. Killshot climbs to the top rope to hit a move on Famous B and Daivari shoves him off the turnbuckle and to the floor

Elimination: Killshot eliminated by Delavar Daivari

Marty catches a corner dropkick from Mascarita Sagrada. Vinny Mazzaro hits a massive lariat on Famous B and poses. Daivari toss him out to the apron and hits a neckbreaker off the rope that knocks Mazzaro to the outside.

Elimination: Vinny Mazzaro eliminated by Delavar Daivari

Super Fly gets put over the ropes and onto the apron by Daivari. Mascarita Sagrada gets back dropped over the ropes and onto the apron by Fenix. Mascarita charges Super Fly and monkey flips him off the apron to the floor, eliminating both men.

Elimination: Super Fly eliminated by Mascarita Sagrada
Elimination: Mascarita Sagrada eliminated himself

The final four is Fenix, Daivari, Marty, and Famous B. Marty tosses Famous B, but Famous B skins the cat and gets back to the apron. Marty tries to push him off with his foot and Daivari runs over and helps. They eventually pry him loose from the ropes and he falls off the apron to the floor

Elimination: Famous B eliminated by Delavar Daivari and Marty Martinez

Daivari and Marty make a pact and team up to take out Fenix, but Fenix flips out of a double back drop attempt, hits Marty with an enziguri, and then counters a toss attempt by Daivari, and tosses Daivari.

Elimination: Delavar Daivari by Fenix

Marty and Fenix reset as a referee hits the ring and holds up the medallion. Marty gains the first advantage with a dropkick into a nearfall. Fenix fights back with a series of kicks into a nearfall. Fenix goes for a springboard and Marty catches him in mid-air and slams him. Fenix rolls to the outside, and Marty starts playing to the crowd and teases going for a dive, before stopping last second and flipping off the crowd to tremendous heat. Marty plays such a great dick. He takes a series of bows for his antics to more heat.

Fenix gains control with a triple jump springboard into an arm drag, which sends Marty to the outside, and then Fenix hits a big dive. Back in the ring, Marty gains the upper hand and goes for a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but in a really awkward spot, Fenix holds on and turns the tilt-a-whirl into a pin and gets the win.

Winner: Fenix via pinfall
Rating: **
Reaction: Boiler plate battle royal. The pinfall/submission stipulation at the end was a nice add-on, but they didn’t do much with it. Marty and Fenix only went a couple minutes. Part of why this probably suffered was how jobberific the talent in the match was. It was clear Fenix would win from the start.

After the match, Fenix celebrates with the fans while Marty pouts. Fenix then runs the stairs to where the Gift of the Gods Title is being displayed and inserts his medallion into the final slot. A disgruntled Dario Cueto emerges from his office to watch this, clearly annoyed by the outcome.

Commercial Break

We are back and Vampiro tells us Prince Puma will break his silence momentarily, but first Striker and Vampiro give the last big plug for the Ultima Lucha card. I have to say that the hype package for Ultima Lucha is better then anything WWE has done to hype a PPV card in a long time. The interweaving of video of guys doing awesome things with Striker and Vampiro screaming about how awesome everything is, is perfect, and the graphics are very well done.

Melissa Santos announces Prince Puma, who comes to the ring in a new black and red mask. Puma grabs the microphone and gets ready to speak, but Mil Muertes’ music hits before Puma says a word, and Muertes, dressed in a suit with the mask (an awesome look for him), and Catrina appear at the top of the temple stairs. Puma lays the belt down in the ring and challenges Muertes to come fight him. Muertes takes a couple steps down the stairs, but then stops and the Disciples of Death hit the ring and attack Puma three-on-one. Puma fights them off, though, with a barrage of kicks, and hits one with a GTS. All three roll outside, and Puma hits a corkscrew dive wiping them out.

Puma gets back in the ring and points to Muertes to get in the ring and fight him. Mil runs down the stairs (any time Mil Muertes runs is awesome) and jumps in the ring to engage Puma. Mil catches a running enziguri and a back kick for his troubles. Puma climbs to the top rope and stares a hole in Catrina before hitting the 630 splash on Muertes. He then poses with the title, standing over Mil’s body to end the show. Catrina stays on the temple stairs surveying what just happened.

Final Thoughts: As a stand alone there’s not much to this show. It was almost exclusively hype for Ultima Lucha. But that’s ok, because they’ve done a fantastic job building the event. If Ultima Lucha was airing as a PPV, it would really have card of the year potential. It starts next week. We don’t know which matches will air on what night other than Mack vs. Cage will open the event, and presumably, Puma vs. Muertes will close it, although it’s conceivable El Patron vs. Mundo closes it since they’re bigger stars. The final card is as follows:

• Lucha Underground Championship: Prince Puma (c) vs. Mil Muertes
• Alberto El Patron vs. Johnny Mundo
• Gift Of The Gods Championship – Seven Way Match: Fenix vs. Aerostar vs. Jack Evans vs. Sexy Star vs. Bengala vs. King Cuerno vs. Big Ryck
• Believers Backlash Match: Drago vs. Hernandez
• Lucha Underground Trios Championship: Son of Havoc, Ivelisse, and Angelico (c) vs. The Disciples of Death
• Pentagon Jr vs. Vampiro
• Texano vs. Blue Demon Jr
• Falls Count Anywhere: The Mack vs. Cage

If you’ve never watched Lucha Underground before, I would implore you to check it out the next two weeks. These shows should be killer. The July 29 show will be a standard one hour Lucha Underground show. The August 5 show will be a two hour finale.