The Lucha Libre Thread

[robbo9292]

Two things about underground what made me like it and not like it

 

like it

 

1: the action was something new for an american influenced audience

2: like mentioned the commentary team worked well

(oh and i thought son of havoc was delirious but i guess it is matt cross)

 

not like it

 

1: the soap opera feel with the backstage segments

2: striker repeatedly saying that johnny mundo hasn't stepped into a ring for 3 years, if that was the case he wouldn't have been as good as he was

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Loving Lucha Underground. The production is wonderful, and they really know how to present their wrestlers as stars. Its truly unlike anything else out there. That Dario Cueto is fantastic. Love it when someone that you have no prior knowledge of turns up and blows people away. He's great.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Never really seen any lucha apart from the stuff on WWE/WCW. I gave Lucha Underground a watch because I saw that John Morrison was in the main event, but man, I loved the whole thing. Had no idea who anyone was apart from Morrison and Chavo, but just about everyone impressed me.

 

Except for Blue Demon Jr., anyway. I gather from the commentary that he's some kind of luchadore legend, but he was slow and awkward. Chavo actually looked a lot better than the last time I saw him on Raw. Somehow looked a bit younger and definitely better shape.

 

Sexy Star was an interesting character. I like the idea of her being the face of female empowerment or whatever that video is about, but she lost me with the line "All women are sexy."

 

 

She's sexy, folks.

 

Dario Cueto, obvious smarmy heel but he plays it excellently. Even though the heel owner thing is played out, it'll be okay with a character as believable as that.

 

Excellent main event, instantly made me a fan of Prince Puma. Glad Mundo won and they didn't immediately go for the upset win over the established star.

 

I liked the backstage bits, done in that telenovela style. Every wrestling promotion does the invisible camera thing, I like how they went for the big production in doing it. Nice juxtaposition with the grungy arena (or Temple, which is a cool little gimmick).

 

Things I didn't like include the weird decision to randomly go to shots of Matt Striker while he's calling a match. On another Striker-related note, making out as if Mundo hadn't wrestled in 3 years because he hasn't been on US TV. They were presenting an adult-orientated product, there's no need to insult the audience's intelligence like that. Especially when Striker even mentions using the Internet to learn about these lucha stars.

 

Also, Konnan looks fat. That's okay, because it looks like he's just going to be a manager (especially given the hip surgery thing, which I didn't know until I came here). But Big Zeke has joined the roster and he looks like he's packed on the beef. The similarities between him and Ahmed Johnson continue to grow.

 

Can't wait to see Episode 2 of Lucha Underground!

[Zebra Kid Mark]

Echo the thoughts of everyone that loved episode 1. At first I hated the backstage promos but then I took them for what they were and enjoyed the change. Hope more Luchadores from AAA are featured in it rather than just American guys.

 

Roll on Episode 2. Lucha! Lucha! Lucha! Lucha!

[tiger_rick]

Episode 2 was on Wednesday 5th November. It's on WatchWrestling dot ch. Looking forward to that tonight.

[Benno]

Worth noting the copy and paste sites running that 8000 viewers figure are missing a lot of context. For one thing, that's just one demographic (18-49) so the real number will be slightly bigger.

 

It also still was the 2nd highest rated they got that week. ElRey is a new channel which at the moment isn't available in many homes. Apparently the Spanish language version broadcast elsewhere will have done a lot better.

 

Things I didn't like include the weird decision to randomly go to shots of Matt Striker while he's calling a match.

I believe the random shots of the announcers are where they're editing down the matches to acceptable length.

 

I've never really understood the Striker hate but good god was he annoying this week reminding us all he knew how to pronounce BLUE DAMON.

 

Overall though, I've really enjoyed the presentation. The dramatic show open/close really works, although I could do without them focusing on Chavo. Such a dull dull wrestler. Konnan is ace though, parlaying how shit he looks into this grizzled veteran manager gimmick. Big fan.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Apparently there was a tease for Rey Mysterio to eventually come in as the bloke who "discovered" Prince Puma. If you hear the Konnan interview, he mentions "a good friend of mine who you will know" found him. Puma vs Rey Mysterio would be amazing with that production they have. Imagine all the cool shit they could do with Rey.

[Linus]

Hey, it's that new thing again. Slightly less new, but still a thing!

 

The show started with a recap of last week and some stunning shots of LA by night. This is what I pay for! Well, you know what I mean...

 

The Cholo Goons from last week were in the ring with thir bawss Big Ryck. He was smoking a fag. So evil. They said their names were Cisco & Cortes Castro. Ricky Reyes & Li'l Cholo would have been fine. Big Ryck told us his name is Big Ryck. They said some stuff.

 

Johnny Mundo hit the ring and beat himself up some choloons. Big Ryck took a very slow powder to the stands, where he sat smoking his fag. Prince Puma came out to even up the sides, and EVIL OWNER Dario Cueto came out of his office and said that, as they were fighting, they may as well do it in a match. He then went back into his office, like an angry headmaster.

 

This match was full of MOVES~! And it was pretty good. It was back and forth until the choloons got the heat on Mundo, who was Ricky Mortoning like a pro. They made the hot tag so Prince Puma could Robert Gibson and he was pretty hot, heterosexually you understand. It was a bit nu-wrestling but I liked it. Puma & Mundo won with simultaneous pins, which is a lucha staple that I loves. The crowd were really into it, which is always nice.

 

Backstage, in one of those beautifully-filmed vignettes, Konnan told Puma that he needs to stay away from Mundo. Puma ought to do him a deal  he'll stay away from Mundo if Konnan will stay away from sammiches.

 

They did a great job of building Mil Muertes, who Cueto has brought in to defeat Blue Demon, although on last week's showing a strong wind stands a good chance of that.

 

Hey, it's a mixed tag match! It's Son of Havok and Ivelisse versus Chavo Guerrero Jr and Sexy Star! Stryker called Son of Havoc plain old "Havok" at one point and Vampiro shot back, "no, Havok is his mom". I laughed. They noted that men & women fight each other in lucha underground because it's "equal opportunity, brother". I'm not sure that's how it works but I'll let it slide.

 

It was a fun little match, with Chavo and SoH starting out, before Ivelisse got in and put the boots to Chavo. They really got the heat on Chavo here, until Sexy Star tagged in hot. Didnt last long, and SoH beat her up a bit. Ivelisse tagged in and she and Star went back and forth until SoH came back in for a missed standing moonsault, which brought Chavo back in. Chavo did a rolling Liger kick. Nice.

 

Ivelisse came in and then she and Star got into it, which led to Star Thesz pressing Ivelisse in the face with her fanny on the outside. Back in the ring, Chavo was on top, and he tagged Star in for the revenge pin on SoH for last week.

 

After, Chavo and Star took the accolade (not Rusev's) of the crowd, who chanted "Eddy!" Which was nice. The only bad thing about this was SoH did not get to use his Black Scorpion voice at any point. Booo, sir, booooo!

 

Backstage, Blue Demon was warming up (very slowly) for his match with Mil Muertes. A mysterious woman appeared out of nowhere with a message from Muertes. The message was to lick Demon on the mouth. At no point in my 20 (T-W-E-N-T-Y) professional wrestling matches did any of my opponents send a hot woman to lick my mouth. Thanks, you fucks.

 

We got a vignette about Prince Puma. Konnan talked of a friend - who we all know (presumably it's Rey Rey) - who discovered him, and then it got a bit monterrery jack, with Puma being descended from a renegade tribe of Aztecs or something. I assume they were so renegade they couldn't tell a puma from a jaguar. Or didn't care. Anyway, this was good.

 

Hey, it's main event time!

 

Blue Demon was already in the ring, presumably because showing his entrance would take forever. Muertes came out with the mystery woman, who is called Katrina. Katrina, it must be placed on record, is FUCKING FIT. Seriously, Lana might have nothing on Katrina. She,s all about that bass, and her milkshakes you know the rest. Actually, can you imagine if Lana and Katrina had a fight? We might find out whos the hardest between them, although if I was between them I'd be the hardest. That joke comes to you courtesy of 2002 and Men & Motors. I thank you.

 

As hot as Katrina is, and I cannot tell you just how hot she is, she cannot make up for Mil Muertes being shit. He is awful. He has a Mil Mascaras-inspired mask, and the announcers mentioned his famous family so I guess they're going for that. As you might expect, with Muertes being shit, and Demon being way old, this sucked. Muertes won with a flatliner DDT.

 

Muertes put the fists to Demon after the bell, until Chavo made the save with a chair. Chavo then TURNED on Blue Demon, and waffled him. Two refs ran in and got the same treatment, as did two jobbers, one of whom was wearing pleather like my TV shows were still on the air.

 

Sexy Star then hit the ring and pleaded with Chavo to see sense and he DESTROYED her with a chair shot. This ut the announcers in a tough position because "equal opportunity, brother" means it shouldn't be any worse than the other poor saps who got chaired. *Shrug*

 

Chavo then sat on his chair and admired his handywork. Some EMTs came and put Demon on a stretcher and Chavo tried to pull him off. Unnecessary, I thought. The ambulance then took Demon away and the show went off the air with the fans chanting, "why, Chavo, why?"

 

This wasn't, overall, as good as last week's but still a Good Show. The closing angle was overdone and Chavo is probably the wrong man for that turn at such an early point. But, still, its a change, innit?

[Statto]

FYI Linus, as I know you've been away a while, Katrina used to be in WWE (well, on NXT). Forget why they let her go.

 

First couple of weeks of this has been pretty enjoyable. I was always a bit if a mark for Ezekiel Jackson, now he's a cigar-smoking top heel. What's not to like?

[IANdrewDiceClay]

She was Maxine in WWE. She was everyones favourite at the time. All the boys remember Maxine. No idea why they didn't put her on the main roster. She's got star quality and looks really good. They did well with the casting on this show. Once Chavo and Blue DAY-MOAN gets cycled out, this thing will be excellent across the board.

 

Maxine's big bloke is Judas Messias from TNA I think.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Apparently Chavo has a lot of influence backstage and is an agent/liaison with the production company. He won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Its also taped well in advance, so he will be gone soon. There's a countless roster and only one hour of TV. So nobody outside of Puma and Morrison will be there all the time. They'll be cycling them in and out.

[tiger_rick]

I really enjoyed episode 2. Love the opening shots - they remind me of a 1980's film opening. I like the TV format too. The've ended both shows with heels looking strong so you have to tune in next week to see them get their comeuppance. That's smart.

 

I also really like the backstage skits. They're brilliantly different. Read a report last week and saw a comment on here that they are like a bad soap opera but I think that's nonsense. They're like an old wild west film and they fit beautifully.

 

The opener was a good match with Big Zeke looking on smoking his cigar and looking pretty cool. The commentary was good and they built a back story for Cortez and Cisco without really knowing a lot about them. Nice explanation of why the name "Cortez" is meaningful. It seemed a bit soon for Puma (Pew-ma not fucking Poo-ma) and Mundo to beat them so decisively but that finish was so beautiful with the synchronised 450's that you can't complain. Vampiro's comment that Puma is like a "human videogame" is spot on. The guy is incredible.

 

The mixed tag was decent. Ivelisse held up her end really well. Funny commentary about Havoc too including Vampiro calling him an "ugly bastard". Sexy Star's hurricanrana looks great but it's like the Van Daminator in the setting up. Striker's line about Chavo trying to touch hands with his Uncle Eddie made me vomit in my mouth.

 

Strange that Blue Demon is being positioned as being important and yet he's the person they've told us nothing about. That backstage bit was cool. Lucha masks make great HD shots. Catrina was fit as fuck. Did great at ringside too. Mil Muertes/Judas Mesias is still shit. He's got such an odd look too. His arms, shoulders and pecs are pumped. His belly's a bit podgy and then his arse is that of a 30-stone bloke. The editing of the match didn't help him. Despite the commentators pointing out how much jeopardy Blue Demon was in, he only ever absorbed one or two moves before a comeback so Muertes got no momentum.

 

The post match angle was really excellent but fucking hell, it's Chavo. Even though he did a great job - he's still fucking Chavo. Funny how in MMA and Boxing doctors come in and assess fighters. In wrestling, they just stick them straight on stretchers!

 

Negatives: Disappointing how little we got of Cuerto. Big Zeke's involvement was short too. The crod sound great with the orchestrated booing but, holy shit, do they need to stop putting them on camera all doing a thumbs down like it's 1987.

[Zebra Kid Mark]

Another good second episode. Blue Demon Jr hasn't impressed me much but I assume his best days are behind him however to completely contradict myself I would still like to see more of him as he is one of the only genuine luchadores on the roster. 

 

Prince Puma is great from what they've shown and after seeing him live twice for RPW I know he is capable of much better things. I enjoyed the Chavo turn, the chair shot to Sexy Star was vicious. I re-watched it about 4 or 5 times. Chavo is boring but I'm going to give him a chance, I wish he ditched the Frog Splash though and used the gory bomb like he used when he was the cruiserweight champ.

[Brock Goldberg]

Very impressed with the first two shows.

 

Great presentation. The shows have a nice flow to them. Good use of backstage skits to move things along and keep interest.

 

Prince Puma and Sexy Star have both looked great so far.

 

Will continue to watch.