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Csonka’s Lucha Underground Review 5.06.15

May 6, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka
8.2
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s Lucha Underground Review 5.06.15  

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 5.06.15 – Episode 26: The Best in The Business


OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ The Crew defeated Son of Havoc & Angelico @ 5:30 via pin [***]
~ DelAvar Daivari defeated Texano @ 0:14 via DQ [NR]
~ Cage & King Cuerno defeated Prince Puma and Hernandez @ 7:22 via pin [**¾]
~ Alberto El Patron defeated Johnny Mundo @ 13:30 via pin [****¼]


* Johnny Mundo and Alberto El Patron meet with Dario Cueto. They both think that they deserve a title shot, but can agree that Hernandez doesn’t yet. Cueto puts them over as the best in the business, and makes a match between Mundo and El Patron. The winner will face Hernandez next week to crown the real #1 contender. This perfectly fits Cueto’s character in that he’s only out to entertain himself by putting on the best show possible, but it completely devalues the “#1 contender’s match” that was held last week (and that was sketchy quality wise when it happened).

Son of Havoc & Angelico w/Ivelisse vs. Mr. Cisco & Cortez Castro w/Bael: This is simple follow up to Ivelisse, Son of Havoc & Angelico wining the trios titles. Cueto was pissed with the Crew because he gave them the titles on a silver platter after the now champions had to survive two other teams in an elimination match. Ivelisse was a spectacular bitch on the floor, yelling at her team explaining what they were doing wrong and when they needed to do. But later she was funny yelling at the Crew, “THAT’S WHAT YOU GET” when her men hit dives onto the Crew. The Crew, in a short match, got the double heat (first Havoc and then Angelico) but the Crew hit the double team lung blower on Havoc to score the win. This was a fun little match. I tend to hate the champions losing, but they have established that these champions are a completely dysfunctional unit and this was not a trios match. I do not think that it is perfect, but the story is that when Havoc & Angelico can work together they thrive, but when they aren’t they are vulnerable. Ivelisse played her character well on the floor, and while I do not like too many shenanigans, I think the finish would have worked better in protecting the champions if Bael was involved, since it’s not like Ivelisse could have stopped him. This was an overall fine way to kick off the show.

* DelAvar Daivari (Shawn Daivari in WWE & TNA) is in Cueto’s office. He’s a rich dude that likes to inflict violence. He gets to face Texano tonight. Cueto was not amused that Daivari spent time texting the whole time he was there.

* Konnan and Puma meet with Hernandez. Puma is not happy, and Konnan says he doesn’t appreciate him getting involved last week and thinks Hernandez was trying to cost Puma the title. El Jefe arrives and makes Prince Puma & Hernandez vs. Cage & King Cuerno for tonight, because he’s a spectacular asshole that way.

Texano vs. DelAvar Daivari: Texano rushed the ring and they brawled. Texano threw down the ref and got DQ’d seconds into the match. Daivari ended up running away, and this feud must continue. This was short and to the point to continue the feud. I liked it because in theory Texano is still pissed about DelAvar Daivari costing his team a shot at the trios titles, and he promised last week to kick his ass. They didn’t really need to start the match here, I just would have done the brawl, but that’s a small gripe.

Prince Puma & Hernandez vs. Cage & King Cuerno: Puma & Hernandez are not getting along, but Konnan is urging them to work together here. Cage & King Cuerno got a short heat on Puma, Hernandez got the hot tag and ran wild and hit a dive. He then stopped a dive by Puma as he was strutting around, continuing their issues. They reluctantly worked together down the stretch, but Puma did a great job of selling his frustrations. It broke down late with everyone in and hitting big moves, and then Hernandez pulled Puma into a dive by Cuerno, which angered Konnan. This led to Hernandez kicking Puma in the face and giving him a BORDER TOSS onto the apron! Konnan got pissed and looked to go after Hernandez and then Hernandez left. Cage then scored with weapon X and pinned Puma. This was a really enjoyable tag match that continued the issues with Hernandez, and also gave us the official turn. They need to be careful having Puma lose, he also recently lost in another tag match so they can’t overuse that. The Puma & Hernandez stuff came off well, Hernandez is clearly unlikable and now Puma will want revenge.

* Black Lotus thinks she’s ready to face the big bad, and informs El Dragon Azteca that he cannot stop her. He doesn’t want her to fall to the same fate as her parents (death). He says if she can take him down, she can leave. They have a kung fu inspired battle of student vs. teacher; she fails and he then promises her she will never be defenseless if she stays. She reluctantly agrees.

AAA Mega Champion Alberto El Patron vs. Johnny Mundo: The winner faces Hernandez next week to determine the #1 contender for Prince Puma’s title. Patron is working the Sting gimmick, wearing a t-shirt. He must be trying to sell shirts, because he dropped it late in the match and looked to be in great shape. MERCHANDIZING! These guys worked really well together. They had a great crowd, and worked this like it was a big time, important match. And that’s important because it was, as the winner gets one step closer to a title shot with the win. It had that feeling that they were throwing all caution to the wind in order to pick up the win here, starting with a deliberate pacing and then growing in intensity through out the match. Mundo hit the end of the world moonsault, but Patron survived by grabbing the ropes, which pissed off Mundo. Patron then got the arm bar, but Mundo just was able to get the ropes. They kept trading bit time moves for near falls, exchanged a lot of counters and then Patron scored with the superkick to a kneeling Mundo for the win. This was great, great stuff.

* We see Katrina in a room full of candles and a casket, discussing death and that the time for sleep is over. She then opens the casket to reveal MIL MUERTES IS ALIVE. Oh Fenix, you’re fucked son…

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

8.2
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
Once again, when Lucha Underground has what I feel is a weak show, they rebound very well the next week. I felt that they had a very good effort this week; the reveal that Mil Muertes is back, the continuing angle over the trios titles, Texano vs. Daivari, Puma vs. Hernandez and then they also set the stage for a new #1 contender next week. They capped it off with good wrestling (a great main event) and a show that felt important in the grand scheme of things.

I do want to say that they have to be careful, as they are getting into the bad parts of wrestling that anger people by having champions lose too often. Again, they have been largely careful about it, but having havoc and Angelico and then Puma lose on the same show felt very WWE to me. It is fine if it is kept to a minimum and is paid off properly, but they are getting close to overusing a lot of things that annoy me about the WWE product. It takes away a bit from the overall show for me, and hopefully this doesn’t be come a normal thing for them because they have really done a good job of avoiding it thus far.

This was a really enjoyable and easy to watch episode this week, and the kind of show I have come to expect from the promotion.

legend