Winfree’s MLW Anthology: The Lucha Bros. Review 6.14.20

Hey everyone, Robert Winfree here with another edition of MLW’s ongoing Anthology series. Up for this one, Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. the Lucha Bros. Should be an interesting one, those two can definitely go and are prone to indulging in some insane stuff.

Match #1: Rey Fenix vs. Pentagon Jr. (2018)

This is from the debut of the MLW Fusion show. Fenix and Pentagon play with the crowd, Fenix offers a handshake but Pentagon declines with a Cero Miedo. Pentagon takes off his right glove and we get to it. A bevy of kicks from Pentagon then they trade roll ups, Pentagon lands a super kick, and another one. Fenix fires back with a super kick and they hit roundhouse kicks on each other for a double down. That’s certainly a way to kick off a match.

Fenix lands a back elbow once we’re back on the feet. Springboard arm drag from Fenix, really nice one as well. Pentagon to the outside, Fenix tries a dive but Pentagon avoids it and hits a chop. Pentagon sets for a dive, Fenix avoids it and hits one of his own and both men are down. Kick from Fenix and he escorts Pentagon around the ringside area. Fenix posts Pentagon into the ring post. Back in the ring now, Pentagon winds up countering a springboard move with a mid-air dropkick to the small of the back. Pentagon with kicks to the knee, Fenix rolls out to try and buy himself time. Outside the ring now, Pentagon with chops as he’s got Fenix set on the ring post. I imagine that’s about to backfire. Indeed, Fenix avoids the third one but then tries his own chop that Pentagon avoids and both men have chopped the steel post. Fenix jumps to the apron and hits a hurricanrana into the crowd.

It bears noting, the crowd is certainly very into these two. Fenix charges into another super kick and we’re back in the ring. Fenix with a pump kick, then a jumping kick in the corner. Multiple springboards from Fenix then he hits a missile drop kick for a near fall. Fenix up to the top, Pentagon avoids him, they hit the other corner and Pentagon hits a rolling lung blower for a near fall. Sling blades from Pentagon, that gets a near fall, Fenix tries a roll up, Pentagon escapes and lands a super kick to the kneeling Fenix. Kicks from Fenix now, but Pentagon cuts him off with a superkick, then Fenix hits him with a rolling cutter for another near fall. Fenix up to the top rope, Pentagon cuts him off with an enziguri. Pentagon drags Fenix up, Fenix jumps to the top rope and hits a slightly sloppy Spanish fly for another near fall. That wasn’t the ugliest one of those I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t terribly clean.

Powebomb back breaker from Pentagon to take control. Canadian destroyer from Pentagon, but that also only gets a two count. Poor Petey Williams, his finish has been destroyed at this point. They trade blows from their knees, and up to their feet. Flurry of strikes from Fenix, Pentagon catches him off fo the ropes with a huge amplitude powerbomb, then hits the armbreak, into the Pentagon Driver to wrap up the match.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Pentagon Jr. defeated Rey Fenix via pinfall at 15:03

Rating: 4 Stars

The rating is a bit generous, but 3.5 felt too low and I don’t want to break things down further than half stars. These two clearly know how to work together, it’s just a question of how much you enjoy the style they bring. The closing sequence got a bit spotty, but that’s basically par for the course these days and apart from the Spanish Fly spot it was executed very well.

Next week will be a look at Steve Corino and the Extreme Horsemen.

Match #2 – Triple Threat for the MLW World Tag Team Titles: Lucha Bros. vs. The Dirty Blondes (Liam O’Brien & Michael Patrick) vs. Jason Cade & Jimmy Yuta (2018)

Commentary says this is elimination style for the vacant titles. Per usual it seems, the Lucha Bros are over. Oh, this is also anything goes rules. Even commentary is confused about the rules we’ll be under. We start with Pentagon, Patrick, and Yuta. Then Fenix blind sides Cade with a super kick. Things break down quickly as everyone winds up getting kicked. The Dirty Blondes come out on top of that and attack Yuta and Cade. Fenix winds up double teamed but Pentagon gets in on that. The Dirty Blondes and TBD square off, back body drops to TBD. Fenix and Pentagon in now and they land super kicks to all four others. Now they’re outside so the Bros set for a dive but they’re cut off by the Blondes. Instead it’s Cade and Yuta who hit dives onto the pile of bodies. Patrick with a rolling senton off the apron onto everyone. Cade winds up double teamed by the Blondes but Yuta breaks up the pinfall attempt. O’Brien takes down Pentagon and Fenix with clotheslines, then suplexs each of them individually. Sentons from both men to Fenix but they can’t put him away. Cade flies in with a knee strike, then an assisted tornado DDT to Patrick. They double team O’Brien and eliminate that team after top rope attacks.

Fenix and Pentagon attack now with chops in the corners. Running clotheslines and then they take Cade and Yuta down with super kicks. Assisted splash to Yuta but Cade saves the match for his team. Pentagon and Fenix get chopped by Cade now but they hit him with stereo super kicks. Yuta winds up on the tree of woe, hanging over Cade and Fenix catapults Pentagon into both of them but that just gets a two count. Cade and Yuta counter the finishers of Pentagon and Fenix. They double team Pentagon but Fenix saves the match with a diving punch on a cover. Fenix tosses both Cade and Yuta onto the apron but they kick him then hit a double drop kick together. Double team to Fenix but Pentagon saves the match now. Pentagon and Cade square off with strikes. Pentagon walks into a super kick this time, then hits Cade with one. Sling blade from Pentagon. Cade comes up with a knee strike but when he tries a hand spring attack Pentagon drop kicks him mid move. Yuta in now, he avoids Pentagon for a bit but gets kicked in the back. They trade rear waist locks, then Yuta with a Samoan driver but Fenix breaks up the pin attempt. Fenix with a super kick to Yuta, then a drop toe hold and a kick before he hits a second rope hurricanrana into a blue thunder driver but Cade breaks up the pin. Fenix with kicks to Cade, Cade lands a knee strike then hits the springboard code breaker but Pentagon breaks up the pin. That formula is getting a little old to watch at this point. Pentagon to the outside, Cade dives onto him. Yuta sets to dive but Fenix cuts him off with a drop kick. Fenix to the top rope now, Cade in with a hurricanrana and they hit the elbow drop to splash that eliminated the Dirty Blondes but this time Fenix kicks out.

Cade and Yuta can’t believe that. They haul Fenix up and then he avoids a discus clothesline that takes out Yuta. Pentagon hauls Cade up for a super kick assisted Pentagon Driver but that only gets two as Cade kicks out. Fenix pulls Yuta up and they set for the stomp assisted package piledriver, then Fenix dives onto Cade as Pentagon pins Yuta.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Lucha Bros defeated The Dirty Blondes and Team TBD at 16:48

Fenix and Pentagon pose with the belts post match, and share their celebratory tequila with the fans.

Rating: 3 Stars

The Dirty Blondes didn’t really add much to the match, cutting them could have given us a more focused chaotic sprint. The whole elimination gimmick seemed there just because they wanted a bit more chaos, I’m not sure it really added a whole lot to the overall match. The Lucha Bros were easily the most over thing here, and I think it hurt some of the near falls because you didn’t really believe Cad & Yuta were going over at any point once the bruiser team was eliminated.

Not a bad little look into the Lucha Bros all things considered. Thanks for reading, I’ll be back for the next one of these. Extreme Horsemen, I mean really, I’m not sure that could get any more derivative and dated.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

A better offering this week, the singles match was a good choice as Fenix and Pentagon work very well together. Their Tag Title win was actually a slight step down I think, neither of the other teams were really on par with those two but it wasn't a bad match by any stretch of the imagination, just one that never really seemed to find a real flow or story. If you're not familiar with these two this will serve as a fairly good introduction to them, which is about all you can ask for these anthology episodes.