wrestling / TV Reports

Csonka’s Lucha Underground Review 11.26.14

November 26, 2014 | Posted by Larry Csonka
6
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Csonka’s Lucha Underground Review 11.26.14  

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

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Lucha Underground 11.26.14


OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Mil Muertes defeated Drago @ 4:00 via pin [**]
~ Mascarita Sagrata defeated Son of Havoc @ 4:00 via pin [**½]
~ Chavo Guerrero defeated Sexy Star @ 2:00 via pin [NR under three minutes long]
~ Boyle Heights Street Fight: Big Ryck defeated Puma @ 12:00 via pin [**½]


* Previously on Lucha Underground…

~Episode One Review~
~Episode Two Review~
~Episode Three Review~
~Episode Four Review~

* Konnan meets with Dario Cueto, and says he stopped Puma from coming here and taking him out. Konnan refuses to drink with Cueto, because Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro attacked Puma. Konnan then wants a Boyle Heights Street Fight between Ryck and Puma. Cueto agrees and then Konnan takes his drink and enjoys the beverage.

Drago vs. Mil Muertes w/Catrina: Muertes has been positioned as a bad as, taking out Blue Demon Jr and then last week destroying a jobber. Drago defeated King Cuerno last week. They worked a simple power vs. speed match, which made perfect sense. King Cuerno was watching on from high above the ring, “stalking” Drago following last week’s loss. This felt like the best match Muertes has had thus far, although that’s not saying much, and that was because he had a good opponent to work with. This was short and overall fine, but I wasn’t thrilled with Drago losing so quickly after two very good outings. I felt as if it really cut off his momentum. Cuerno then came to the ring and laid out Drago, apparently this feud must continue.

* We get a Johnny Mundo video package. He refused to kiss ass and play politics, so he was cut off just as he was at the edge of greatness. He’s here because Lucha Underground wants the best, and he feels that he’s the best.

* Somewhere backstage, Cueto meets with Muertes. He praises his victory, and Catrina says that you cannot keep darkness locked away forever, and grabs at the key he wears around his neck.

Mascarita Sagrada vs. Son of Havoc w/Ivelisse: It appears as if they are keeping Havoc and Ivelisse as a pairing, which is cool. Commentary discusses how Havoc had previously faced a woman and now gets a mini. Havoc sold well for Sagrada, but Ivelisse tripped up Sagrada allowing Havoc to take control. Ivelisse got involved a few times overall as a mystery woman (identified in the comments by daman077c as former WWE Diva Angela Fong) watched on during the match. Commentary mostly ignored her, and didn’t even speculate as to who she was. Lots of fun highflying from Sagrada, and again Havoc sold well for him and made it look good. Sagrada scored the roll up and victory, much to the dismay of Havoc. Another short match, but they worked a good pace and it was fun for the time given.

Sexy Star vs. Chavo Guerrero: This was set up on episode two. Chavo and Star successfully teamed to defeat Son of Havoc and Ivelisse. But later that night, Chavo turned heel on Blue Demon Jr and destroyed him with chair shots. Star tried to calm Chavo and talk sense into him, only to eat a chair shot.

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And that’s why we are here. Chavo bullied Star early, she then decided to fuck off with this wrestling stuff and got a chair to get some revenge. The referee made the huge mistake of trying to stop her, and got kicked in the balls for the DQ. Post match, Pentagon Jr. got involved and took the chair from Star. It looked as if Star was about to eat another chair shot, but Fenix ran out to make the save and run off the heels. I’ll just assume that we get a tag team match next week, which I am fine with.

Boyle Heights Street Fight – Prince Puma vs. Big Ryck w/Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro: Last week Big Ryck faced Johnny Mundo in the main event. Konnan warned Prince Puma not to get involved, but Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro jumped him backstage and then attacked Mundo. No DQs or countouts in this match. Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro are at ringside and have chairs with them. Well that’s not very sporting of them. Much like the opener this was a speed vs. power match. Cisco and Castro got involved, which makes sense here, but at the same time they really should have dropped Ivelisse getting so involved in the earlier match to make it mean more. It came off as lazy and repetitive booking to me. Puma was able to fight them off, but that allowed Ryck enough time to take back control and slowly beat down Puma. I appreciate the story they are telling, but I feel as if Puma is being wasted here because they have so many other guys he could work with. I would have preferred a tag match with Mundo and Puma teaming, because then they could work with Cisco and Castro again and limit Ryck’s involvement. About six-minutes into the match, Ryck instructed Cisco and Castro to work over Puma for a while as he took a seat. Puma made his own comeback for a while and ran wild with a kendo stick, but Ryck and the goons beat him down and introduced a ladder and table. Mundo then did this insane dive off of the upperdeck into the ring and made the temporary save. Mundo then accidentally hit Puma with the chair, allowing Cisco and Castro to take him out. Ryck then put Puma through the table and covered for the win. While not a fan of Puma losing here, it does make sense. Ryck and the Crenshaw Crew are a unit and fighting as a team for money. They had the advantage the whole time and Mundo also accidentally took out Puma with the chair shot. It made sense at the very least. The match was a garbage handicap match with a few cool moves thrown in, nothing to write home about, but decently entertaining.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
While nothing on this show was what I would call straight up bad, this was a weak show as far as the in ring work goes. I loved that they have worked to minimize the opening talking stuff, if they can use the preview video and then something short like they did this week for a set up, I can deal with that going forward.

The previous episodes had at least one good to great match that you could remember; I simply felt that this week’s show lacked that. The good news is that the episodic feel the show is there, and is what carried this week’s presentation. King Cuerno and Drago is not done, Chavo and Star was revisited and is not done as we got new players in the feud who already have a past on the show (Pentagon Jr and Fenix). They are continuing the Puma-Mundo vs. Crenshaw Crew feud, and now Puma has a reason beyond Konnan’s string pulling to question their unity. Finally, Mil Muertes and Catrina seem to know something about Cueto’s secret and what the key he wears has to do with it. I am appreciating their presentation of storytelling so far.

Overall I’d have to say that this show felt very average, and I’d say the weakest of the series so far. It wasn’t bad, the storytelling was there and really carried the show, but it simply lacked in the ring.

legend