wrestling / Columns
The 8 Ball: Top 8 Lucha Underground Performers
Let’s start this column off with some advice. If you haven’t watched Lucha Underground yet, fix that. It’s my favorite weekly wrestling show by a wide margin. Loved it instantly. Got a look and energy all its own. And you do not need to get the El Rey Network to see it. If you have a Univision affiliate, which is pretty much every television market in the U.S.A., then you get the Spanish language broadcast. Seriously, type “Lucha Underground” into your DVR search and you’ll most likely see it come up at 4 p.m. on Saturday on some channel you’ve never watched. You probably even get it in hi-def. If that doesn’t work you can watch a slew of LU matches on the YouTube.
Admittedly, lucha libre is a different flavor. It’s highly choreographed and sometimes hopelessly frantic. If you’re watching in Spanish and you don’t speak the language, you’re going to miss some stuff, but LU Spanish language announcer Hugo Savinovich is a blast even with a language gap. With that, this is the first time the Magic 8-Ball is tackling a Lucha Underground question. It won’t be the last. Above all things, wrestling should be fun. LU succeeds wildly at it.
Some folks who just missed the list are aerialists Drago, Angelico and Aerostar. All of them do ridiculous stuff in the ring, though that’s fairly common in LU. Of the three, Angelico might be the one who turns into a contender. Alberto El Patron (don’t call him Del Rio) has arrived. Jack Evans is going to show up soon. So is former AAA champion El Texano Jr. The roster is getting deep. Seriously, start watching it. You won’t be sorry you did.
In case anyone wondered whether the former John Morrison/Johnny Nitro has still got it, he does. Hard to believe it’s been more than three years since he left the WWE. Mundo’s one of those guys who deserved a bigger push in the E. Sure, his promos are wooden, but he has everything else. Just put him with a hot chick who can talk, like in MNM (one of the best and most underrated tag teams of the past decade), and he’s golden. Lucha Underground mostly lets him bring the action. You know who likes action? People. Mundo brings action like this and this. Got to figure sometime this year he locks up with Alberto El Patron, which should get all wrestling fans geeked out. Johnny Mundo’s next chapter is going to be worth watching.
First off, she’s appropriately named, though that’s not why she’s on this list. In Lucha Underground there is no women’s division. It’s girls against boys out there (which brings me to this segue featuring one of the more underappreciated great bands of the 1990s) and Sexy Star has held her own. She’s got some high wire moves, which immediately makes her different from the vast majority of WWE and TNA female wrestlers. Never understood why more women didn’t follow in Lita’s footsteps in that regard. Anyway, Sexy Star is looking to throw a hurricanrana party every time she hits the ring. She might be the most likely person on this list to get a contract offer from Vince McMahon in the next year.
Here comes the muscle. Cage is half bodybuilder, half wrestler. Actually, he’s got a surprising number of moves considering that he clearly spends a lot of time throwing around free weights. He’s not the tallest. I suspect his listed height of 6’0” is a little generous. Yet the muscle lets him wrestle big. Looks like he could be the base guy for a family of Chinese acrobats. Fun fact: back in FCW he was known as Kris Logan and tagged with Justin Gabriel. He’s bounced around bit – TNA, PWG – and looks like he’s found a home in Lucha Underground. He’s a nice contrast to the aerialists that litter the roster. He also seems like he might be one of those guys who’s kicking it up a notch now that he’s in his 30s. It’s not an overly young man’s game. Cage is looking like a powerhouse with some workrate.
Better known as El Hijo del Fantasma in Mexican wrestling, Cuerno brings a nice mix of mat-based wrestling, brawling and aerial moves. He won his feud against Drago and is inching toward Lucha Underground title contention. I especially like his deer headdress. I don’t know if this deer head is related to Al Snow’s one-eyed deer head, Pierre, but a guy can hope. Cuerno’s another wrestler who should be entering his prime right about now. It takes a while for most guys to put everything together in the ring, even those who grew up in the business like Cuerno. He’s already established himself as one of upper level competitors in Lucha Underground and I expect he’s going to be one of the foundational guys in the promotion moving forward.
“It” factor is hard to define. Ivelisse has been paired so far with LU jobber Son of Havoc, who really is too good to remain a jobber forever. Despite not being on the winning side, Ivelisse has got “it.” We’ve seen her wrestle a little bit in LU, but she held the Shine Women’s Championship for almost all of 2014. PWI recently ranked her #7 in its Female 50. She’s got looks and ring chops. So far LU has been a slow burn on her. When she fully let’s it go in the ring, I’m guessing fans are going to mark out. Yet the reason I’ve got her above Sexy Star on this list is Ivelisse is quality on the mic. She’s the best talker on this list (well, the next selection might be her equal, but I can’t say for sure since he only speaks Spanish). Ivelisse cuts a better promo than most WWE Divas too. She’s in a great place, since LU seems to want to change our perception of what women’s wrestling can be.
Currently Pentagon Jr. is winning squash matches, establishing himself as a true badass. Can’t wait to see where it’s headed, because he’s excellent. He looks like a mix between Daniel Russo (aka the Karate Kid) and a native of Skull Island. As you can see above, he can hit a gorgeous tope suicida. That shot is from an early episode of LU and that particular match, in my opinion, is the one that demonstrated without question that Lucha Underground is going to be a blast every week. Pentagon Jr. also can twist a guy like a pretzel and strike better than anyone on the LU roster. He’s already becoming the favorite of Lucha Underground geeks, the anti-hero who the fans are sure can take anyone if he gets the chance. Someone start making “Pentagon Jr. 3:16” signs.
Now we come to Pentagon Jr.’s real life little brother. Fenix is a high flyer and still a relative baby in the business at age 24. Yet you can see this guy has all the qualities necessary to carry forward the high energy lucha libre style. He made the final two of LU’s Aztec Warfare match, where he lost to Mil Muertes (aka El Mesias). Subsequently he got a cheap rollup victory over Muertes 1v1 and now they’re headed toward a full-blown feud. That’s a huge step up for this kid because Muertes/Mesias is a bit a legend in Mexico (first-ever AAA World Heavyweight Champion, also still technically the Wrestling Society X champion from back when he was Ricky Banderas). The Fenix train is just leaving the station, so get on board.
Most know him better as Ricochet. I thought he was the wrestler of the year in 2014 and he’s only going to get better. Lucha Underground puts him on television on a regular basis, which is something anyone who likes pro wrestling should get excited about. For instance, check out the photo above. It’s a little disorienting. Puma and Johnny Mundo look like they’re bending time and space. Puma’s 630 splash is a thing of beauty and I’ll bet my last nickel one of these days he’s going bust out an 810 splash. He’s the first Lucha Underground champion because of course he’s the first Lucha Underground champion. The promotion couldn’t have picked a better talent to make its signature star. Dude rocks out every time he hits the ring. Seriously, watch LU for a couple of months and see if Pumachet isn’t one of your top five favorite wrestlers.
I take requests.. The purpose of this column is to look forward. What could be? What should be? What is and what should never be? What would make more sense? 411 has plenty of columns that count down and rank things that happened in the past. This is not one of those columns. The Magic 8-Ball is here to gaze into the future. If there’s someone or something you think should be given the 8-Ball treatment, mention it in the comments section. I might pick it up for future weeks.
