The SmarK Rant for Lucha Underground S01E32 – “All Night Long”

The SmarK Rant for Lucha Underground – S01E32

“All Night Long”

(06.17.15)

I always forget about this show when I’m looking for something to watch on random nights like tonight. Just got a few episodes left to wrap up season 1 and I PROMISE I will try to get it done.

Your hosts are Matt Striker & Vampiro

The concept for this episode is pretty straightforward: An Iron Man match that runs through the entire show, and whoever has the most pinfalls or submissions by the end of the episode is the champion. I’m very interested to see what the LU twist on this gimmick is going to be, actually.

Lucha Underground title: Prince Puma v. Johnny Mundo

Mundo takes him down and goes for the arm to start, and then slams him off a double leg takedown for two. Puma tries for the single-leg and Mundo hits him with a mule kick to escape while Vampiro goes on a rant about Konnan given the slightest provocation (take a drink). Puma tosses Mundo and hits the first dive of the match and we take a break.

Back with Puma and Mundo trading cradles for two, and Puma snaps him into a rollup for the first pin at 5:30. Johnny with a neckbreaker for two and he slugs away on Puma, but Puma gets a standing moonsault for two. He goes up and Mundo catches him with a dropkick on the way down, for two. Vampiro is of course cheering for Mundo because Puma is Konnan’s protégé. Mundo goes back to the arm and beats on that while the crowd calls him “Johnny Zero” in a clever bit of snark, and Puma hits a cutter to escape that but can’t cover. Puma springboards off the top and misses a bodypress, and Mundo fakes his finisher and then cradles Puma and grabs the ropes for the pin to even it up at 9:00.

We take a break and return with Vampiro very proud of Mundo’s cheating, but Puma rolls him up for two. Mundo with a backbreaker into a legsweep for two, and a shining wizard gets two. They slug it out on the top rope and Puma takes him to the floor with a rana, and Johnny pulls a wooden toolbox out from under the ring. So Puma gives him a death valley driver onto the box, smashing it, and Vampiro is so excited that he wants to go hit somebody with a chair. Speaking of which, Mundo finds a crowbar in the wreck of the toolbox, and just WAFFLES Puma with that, knocking him out cold, and throws him into the ring for the pin at 14:12 to go up 2-1. That looked SICK. Hopefully it was gimmicked. Moonlight Drive gets another pin at 14:40 to make it 3-1. End of the World gets another pin at 15:46 and it’s 4.1 and the crowd is getting pissed. Johnny is parched and stops for hydration while Puma fights to recover from the crowbar to the head, and he rolls out of the corner with a desperation DDT and both guys are out. Puma retreats to the apron to recover, and Johnny gives him a Rude Awakening onto the apron and Puma drops to the floor like a crash test dummy. That was INSANE. We take a break after that and even Vampiro thinks that’s too much.

Back with Mundo finding a ladder under the ring and he smashes that into Puma’s head to further concuss him, and then sets up a pair of tables in the tunnel while Vampiro drops an important foreshadowing detail, talking about the “Jekyll and Hyde” of his own brain. Johnny climbs the balcony and Puma manages to follow him up and slams him in the crowd to buy time. Then he piles up another pair of tables onto the previous ones, but Mundo superkicks him off the balcony. Luckily Puma misses the tables. Johnny parkours over to the house band with the ladder (sadly not yelling “PARKOUR!” while he does it) and stops to cut a promo, then demands that the band play a song to run out some time on the clock. But Puma fights up the ladder while the band plays, and borrows a guitar for a quick El Kabong on Mundo. And then he spears Mundo off the stage and they both go flying down through the tables below and yeah, we should probably take a break after that.

Back with Puma hauling Mundo’s body into the ring for the pin to make it 4-2 at 28:42. They slug it out and Johnny tries the springboard kick and misses, and Puma hits a GTS and spinning Michinoku Driver to make it 4-3 at 30:17. So now Mundo decides to run out the clock and goes to hide in the crowd, as it turns into a game of chase until Mundo gets back in the ring and walks into a high kick. Puma goes up and misses a Phoenix splash, however, and Mundo decides cowardice is the better part of valor and runs away into the crowd again. But then Alberto El Wifebeater returns and kicks Mundo’s ass, tossing him down the stairs and into the desk, and Puma hits a 450 to tie it up at 34:14. So Alberto promises to come for the eventual champion and leaves again. I feel very icky just watching this scumbag these days.

Mundo slugs away with time running out, but Puma rolls him up for two. Mundo backslide gets two. Sunset flip gets two for Puma. Mundo with a shining wizard for two. Puma goes for his finish, but Mundo catches him with a Spanish fly for two. They fight to the top and Mundo tries a rana, but misses and takes a flipping bump to the mat off the top turnbuckle, allowing Puma to make the comeback with 30 seconds left. Puma goes up, hits the 730 splash, and retains the title 5 falls to 4 at 38:38 as time expires. And there’s no wacky twist or anything, as they sign off with Puma successfully keeping his belt. This one started as a relatively normal match and then just got crazier and crazier after the crowbar to the face and never slowed down again. ****1/2.

Hey, it’s just one match this episode, but it’s a hell of a match!