By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com
Last week, we got the first third of Ultima Lucha. In yet another Dario Cueto creation, the big supershow was split into a one hour show and then a two hour second part. First, he created the Royal Rumble and then the iron man match. Hopefully one day, his list of inventions rivals that of Thomas Edison. Cage beat The Mack in a hardcore match via a cinder block curb stomp, while the Disciples of Death defeated Team Havoc, and Drago won the main event beating Hernandez in a “fans strap the heel” match. It set the table nicely for the season, and possible series finale here.
The show begins with a tribute to the original rudo “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and a recap of the show’s history. We see Puma, his debut, his title win, and the history of Vampiro and Pentagon’s issues. Every match, including Texano vs. Blue Demon Jr. gets a history video to provide some context to everything. We even see a rundown of the Cueto-Black Lotus storyline, which will either be concluded or furthered tonight. Striker and Michael Schiavello are here to call the action. Our opener is Johnny Mundo vs. Alberto, with Mundo in slick red and black gear. Schiavello puts Alberto over huge and sounds perfect calling the action here.
Johnny Mundo vs. Alberto El Patron
Alberto chases Mundo, but Mundo stays on the floor. They fight out there near the window that Mundo smashed him through, and Alberto kicks him and smashes him into the wall below the window and then into the announce table. The left arm of Mundo is smashed into it a few times and Mundo runs under the ring. Mundo throws powder into the eyes and is rammed into the fencing and then the announce table. Alberto is tossed into the dirty wall and comes up covered in more dust.
Mundo gets some mounted punches on the floor for a 2 count. A reverse superplex prevents the End of the World and Alberto pounds the mat for a “si!” chant. We get a mini Frye-Takayama exchange that Mundo wins and uses to shove Alberto’s head into the buckle. Alberto moves away and gets some running lariats and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. A back stabber gets 2, but Mundo avoids the kneeling superkick for a Pele kick and a two count. Mundo gets a 2.5 count off a rope-hung back stabber. Flying Chuck misses and Alberto lariats him to the floor. A suicide dive by Alberto is countered by a kick and Mundo sending him to the floor.
Mundo gets an over the top corkscrew dive and a “this is awesome” chant. Mundo goes for a corner kick, but Alberto counters with a rope-hung double stomp. Alberto gets the armbar, but Mundo rolls through it and gets to the ropes. Alberto kicks his back and puts him in a tree of woe for stomach kicks. A corner shoulder charge is countered and sends Alberto into the post. Mundo counters a top rope exchange gets a surfboard double stomp and the End of the World for 2.5!
Mundo puts the ref in his place for a superkick, and Alberto gets the armbar! Mundo stomps out of the armbar, but Mundo is locked into a rope-hung armbar. Melina in some very short pants and a very small shirt comes down and hits Alberto with his title. Mundo and Melina share a kiss, but Alberto attacks Mundo. He clears out the fans and tosses Mundo into their chairs before tossing him through a glass door! Alberto grabs an attacking Melina and spanks her before grabbing his gold and holding it high. Mundo is shown caked in blood while Striker yells “holy shit!” Striker says this was violent, but Vampiro vs. Pentagon will be even more graphic. We get a quick recap of both Pentagon Jr. and Vampiro looking cool to set up their match.
We see Dragon Azteca enter the area that Black Lotus and Matanza are in. Dario tells Azteca that he broke the treaty and threatens him with Matanza’s key before revealing that he doesn’t need it – Black Lotus attacks Azteca under the belief that he killed her parents. She murders him with a blow to the spine and Cueto frees her and says that this place is too dangerous and he’ll have to build a new temple. Matanza is coming with them to protect her. This was bizarre, but great. Pentagon Jr. comes out in a new white, black, and red shirt – so someone is bleeding a ton on it. Vampiro comes out with the paint as the world’s most badass priest.
Pentagon Jr. vs. Vampiro – Zero Fear Match
Striker says he knows Ian, but he’s never seen this Vampiro before. He’s never seen this demon inside Ian while Schiavello says that it’s the most violent luchador of the past versus the most violent one of the present. Vamp eats a few chairshots to the back while Matt talks about him having six back surgeries and they fight to the top of the crowd. Vamp fights back with kicks and headbutts, but he eats an AA onto the concrete after Pentagon removes the mats. Pentago beats the daylights out of him with chairshots on the ground. The ref threatens to stop it, so Pentagon chokes him with a cord and Striker says it’s being stopped and we’ll go to a break.
After the break, Vampiro is loaded onto a gurney, but he rises and comes back to the ring to a huge “Vampiro” chant. Striker talks about Vampiro winning out over Ian here and he gets a spin kick. Vamp unleashes the tacks and slams Pentagon onto them! Vamp goes for a skytwister press and misses, landing on the tacks! Pentagon gets some light tubes and smashes Vamp’s head and neck before blood gushes from the wounds and Pentagon licks his own now bloody arm. This is easily the most disgusting act since Lynn-Corino in ECW.
Vamp eats a big kick and Pentagon gets more tubes. Vampiro is walking around like he’s about 100, and a victim in a slasher film on El Rey. Vamp and Pentagon exchange chops before Vamp hiptosses Pentagon into the light tubes! Vamp nearly rips the mask clean off of Pentagon, licks his blood and smashes the tubes onto Pentagon – whose white shirt is being put to good use now. Pentagon trips him up, and they fight up top for a super belly to belly by Vampiro!
Vampiro is a bigger star in this one match than he ever was in WCW, and it’s amazing to see his legend grow in retirement. Pentagon appears to have lost a war with an axe murderer in the corner while Vamp gets a table and a lighter. Vamp eats a spinebuster through the flaming table and in one of the scariest scenes in a while, the extinguisher blast goes from the far side of the right, not the side close to him – so it doesn’t hit him at all. He stops, drops, and rolls to the floor and his skin is clearly singed. Pentagon Jr. wins this unholy war. Vamp calls him a crazy MFer and wants him to break his arm – so Pentagon Jr. obliges! He calls out to his master and Vampiro tells him that he’s here, and he’s proud of his son.
Some will say that this story makes no sense, but they’ve been planting the seeds for “Vampiro” to be a separate part of “Ian”. It’s a bit like Batman and Bruce Wayne – one is a mask and the other is the real person, or for wrestling, the three faces of Foley. In terms of having these two men go to war in a battle of generations, you don’t really have to look much further than the Cactus vs. Funk wars where you had two men who had the underlying respect as Vamp and Pentagon had at least on one side with Vampiro saying that Pentagon Jr. was just like him in his prime. This was the most violent match on US television in ages, and given his age and many injuries, Vamp looked far better than I expected going in.
Gift of the Gods Title Match
Striker talks about the history of the medallions while Ryck debuts new red and black tights with Evans taking a crazy bump to the floor. Ryck teases a dive and everyone comes in to kick his ass – glorious. Aerostar gets an around the world headscissor onto Fenix and lands a dive to the floor. Fenix catches Aero coming off to the floor with a gorgeous powerslam. Tornado kick from Evans hits Cuerno and a 450 dive to the floor is met with a kick. Bengala gets a draping butterfly backbreaker and hits Sexy, but Ryck prevents a pin. Ryck gets a facebuster before a group piles on to prevent a pin. Ryck tosses Sexy onto Evans on the floor.
Big Ryck gets a series of muay thai knees on Bengala and attacks he and Fenix on the floor. Aerostar goes op to the top of a third story structure and dives onto a pile. Sexy goes for something, but Marty flaps behind her and she chops him before going for a Fujiwara armbar. He goes near Melissa Santos, who doesn’t want this creep anywhere near her. Sexy Star dives onto a pile while fans do the Lucha Dragons’ “lu-cha” bit – so at least that’s over to one audience in wrestling.
Sexy Stars gets a flying rana to Ryck after avoiding a corner charge. Cuerno kicks her, stands on her, and hits the Thrill of the Hunt. He tosses her aside to go to war with Fenix. Bengala gets a monkey flip to Fenix tossing him into Cuerno in the corner. Bengala gets a corkscrew dive, but Cuerno lands the ARROW DIVE TO BENGALA! Evans get s front choke to Aerostar , but Aero turns it into the 187, but Sexy Star kicks him to prevent a pin. Sexy rolls him up in a wacky lucha cradle for 2.
Ryck kills her with a Ryck Bottom. Daivari attacks Ryck with a chair, leading to an Evans springboard 450 for 2! Cuerno kills Evans with a lariat and a 450 sell. Cuerno gets a dragon sleeper surfboard, but Fenix dives onto them. Evans gets a series of crazy kicks and Cuerno is sent to the floor while Evans gets 2 off a bridge to Fenix. Standing octopus hold is executed onto Fenix, but he turns it into a Fire Driver for the win! Fenix wins the Gift of the Gods title and holds it while Cuerno looks like he’s ready to kill him.
Texano vs. Blue Demon Jr.
Texano comes down to face Blue Demon Jr. Blue Demon has The Crew with him, and they’re now upscale with new suits and blue ties. Striker says that he now aligned himself with them to extend his success. Demon asked Cueto to make this a no DQ match, so it is – and we’ll see it unfold after a break. Texano gets lariats and a superkick and a senton for 2. Texano chops away in the corner while Striker says Texano earned his legacy while Demon had his handed to him.
Tilt a whirl backbreaker to Demon and a seated powerbomb gets 2. The Crew attacks and Chavo comes down to save…Demon from any further abuse and hits Texano with the chair. Demon hits him with it as well and wins this short match. Striker says the aging veterans have aligned to regain their glory. Mil Muertes vs. Prince Puma is up next! But first, we get a slick chant-heavy video hyping up Puma. Mil Muertes comes down in new black, white, and purple gear that looks five million times better than his old blue and black pinstriped gear. Puma comes down amid his people without Konnan.
Mil Muertes vs. Prince Puma – Lucha Underground Championship
Muertes starts with punches and stomps, but he eats a flurry of kicks and a headscissors. Mil sends him to the floor and into the stands. They fight onto the steps and Muertes gets sent into the crowd. Catrina gets involved and Puma grabs her to spin her around and use her heels as a weapon! Puma is sent ass over teakettle into the chairs on the floor. Puma runs up the wall to avoid a wall smash, and we see the giant red welts on Mil’s side.
Puma gets a table and sets it up, but eats a gut punch. A fan yells at Puma to “fight, goddammit!” – well, at least Lucha Underground fans care a lot. Muertes grabs the giant wooden staircase and plants it ringside before powerbombing him into them! Puma dropkicks a chair into his face on the floor, but eats a much harder chairshot going for a suicide dive. A jumping knee gives Puma some hope as does a double stomp out of a German suplex flip counter!
Puma charges into the corner and eats a hard punch. Puma avoids a charge and sends Mil into the chair while a one-man Alarm Clock gets 2.5! A phoenix splash misses, but a snap powerslam from Mil gets 2! Puma lands a back-rolling Pele kick out of a corner charge counter before getting a deadlift-up suplex for 2.5 resulting in a suplex city chant. A big right hand hits Puma on the apron, but a high kick hits the challenger. Mil fights back with a Big E spear from the apron through the table – and they hit on the corner of the table! Mil powerbombs him through the remnants of the table and lifts him into the ring for a 2.9! Mil gets a spinning uranage and slams him down violently.
Puma avoids a spear with some parkour and hits a series of big kicks. Muertes lands for the 630, which hits for a 2.9! A second 630 misses and the spear hits resulting in a twist and a flatliner for a 2.9! Puma kicks away in the corner and goes for the 630, but the stone is lifted so he rises. Puma goes up top, but eats a super flatliner – Mil Muertes wins the gold! The Disciples of Death enter the ring while Striker talks about the Age of Death in Lucha Underground.
Black Lotus and Cueto grab all they can from his office, before he rushes in to grab the red bull. They leave in a limo and in the trailer, we see a wall destroyed and finally catch a glimpse of Matanza. Back at the Temple, Fenix leaves with his title in a slick gold Trans-Am before being hunted by Cuerno in a Chevy truck. Marty has kidnapped Sexy and says she’ll meet his sister. Angelico and Havoc promise to get the gold while he and Ivie leave for one last ride. Drago and Aerostar say they’ll meet again as Drago bursts into flames. Vampiro and Pentagon Jr. meet and says they’ll take things to a very dark place. El Dragon Azteca’s mask is seemingly placed on a new owner and we see a Lucha Underground? sign. Dario Cueto is shown in front of the Temple one last time as the lights go out and a To Be Continued notices pops on the screen.
Wow. This was a stellar show overall – with only the Demon-Texano match dragging it down in any way, and that was short. While the show’s future is uncertain, the to be continued notice seems to indicate that it will be continuing in some form or fashion – it just isn’t known when. It’s been a real treat to cover the show from day one, and I’m very thankful to Dave Meltzer for bringing me into the fold to cover it and to Josh Nason for helping me provide the most image-intensive coverage of the show online.
The show itself has raised the bar for expectations when it comes to backstage promos. After decades of seeing them done the same way from nearly every company, we have one treating the show as a drama that happens to involve wrestlers – and it changes things in big ways. For the first time in decades, we were presented with characters that in most cases, had never been seen before in North America. The producers found a way to craft interesting, if at times corny stories, but everyone fit their role nicely.
If the show doesn’t go on, then at least guys like Pentagon Jr. have now established themselves in the U.S, and it’s amazing to see how over he was nearly instantly as a babyface despite being the most vile act on the show. He’ll be able to get solid bookings in the U.S. for years now thanks to just this one season, while Ricochet’s stock rose quite a bit. Johnny Mundo showed that he could be more than he was in WWE even if his acting still isn’t quite up to snuff. Alberto came off like a legend here at times, and that holds even more true for Vampiro. His character has morphed from reformed crazy man to someone who has embraced the crazy, and every story turn made sense for his character.
They even found a way to make the long-tired heel owner a completely fresh act. Dario was greatly aided by having an actor play him who had no background in wrestling, so he played it as another role – as a result, he was a better actor than 99% of people in wrestling and gave the character a good mix of sinister and silly. The overarching storylines were nutty, but interesting and even with Black Lotus turning heel, it was done so in a very logical way that can be explained away later as her believing Cueto due to the confinement and developing a bit of Stockholm syndrome.
Lucha Underground deserves far greater ratings success than it got, and hopefully it will get a new lease on life in either streaming media like Netflix or Hulu or a Blu-Ray release. Given the sheer size of the show and it being shot in HD, a digital or streaming release is far more likely. Hopefully the entire back catalog is put back up on some on demand services – as that was the only way for myself and many others to actually watch this gorgeous show in HD. The closing montage alone was beautiful and far more artistic than anything WWE has done even with their new mandate to treat things like they’re shooting movies.
To see the roughly 500 screenshots taken for the show, just click here.