Project Lucha Underground: S1E12: “They Call Him Cage”

 

Good Morning!

Welcome back to Project Lucha Underground. I've got a hankerin' to do some Halloween decorating, but I really wanted to watch a Lucha Underground today and do a little writing, so here we are. It actually looks like it might want to rain, so maybe we'll hold off for a day or two.

It's nearly October, and that's a holy month at Let's Watch Some Wrestling HQ. We've literally watched over a hundred movies in the September/October Scary Season in years past, and while we're not going to try that soon, we've got plans to attend a performance of Dracula in ballet form, a three-day horror festival in Telluride, and a few dozen scary movies at home, too.

Oh! And to update our last conversation, we did in fact go to Tennessee! Dollywood was an absolute blast, with roller coasters, theme park food, and enough good energy to last at least a few weeks. We met my delightful niece, and the kid is a ray of sunshine, just like her mom. My brother in law and my sister are both doing well, and their doggos are as wonderful as ever. It was a refreshing trip for my soul, and I can't wait to see that kid again.

For now though, we've got some wrestling to watch. We've got a new antagonist, some new feuds to set up, and some backstory to establish.

So let’s get back on the clock.

Last Time On Lucha Underground

“Last Luchador Standing” was an oddly-paced Lucha Underground, one that had some big story beats and matches sandwiching some mediocre squash action. Look, they can’t all be winners, and even though part of this rewatch means going through the later seasons of Lucha Underground that I missed on the first go-round, we all know how this thing ends, right? I mean…the show’s not on anymore, guys, we’re not spoiling anything here.

But I digress! The big story beats were really big! The titular Last Luchador Standing was King Cuerno, finally ending his rivalry with Drago in a long last man standing match with a really unique finish -- Cuerno using a rope to lash a seated Drago to the ring post, preventing the blue dragon from standing and picking up the victory as a result. It was a good match, with a mostly clean victory, and I think it’s been one of the better feuds of this still-new promotion. 

The other big event was Big Ryck’s crew turning on their leader, and burning his goddamn eye out with a cigar in the process! As a cigar aficionado myself, I’ll have you know that this is not the preferred way to extinguish your stick, as the smell of singed flesh tends to overpower the otherwise pleasant aroma that a cigar produces. If you’re into that sort of thing, I mean. I’m aware enough to know most people don’t like ‘em, and therefore I limit my smoking to my backyard and the golf course. 

And with that, we’re all caught up! So, without further ado…

LET’S WATCH SOME WRESTLING!

Lucha Underground: Season 1, Episode 12: “They Call Him Cage”

That duct-taped weight bench can't be comfortable. I bet it chafes.

We opened, as we have been, with a recap of the last few episodes. Quick edits of The Crew’s turn on Big Ryck and Cage’s attack of Prince Puma started the show, and then we were sent into the Lucha Underground Temple’s Saw-looking gym, where Cage was lifting a large barbell as Dario Cueto walked in. Cueto told Cage that Cage didn’t just take the bull by the horns, he took it by the huevos. I don’t know what eggs have to do with wrestling, but that’s between them two, I suppose. Cage sent Konnan to the hospital on his debut, and told the world he wouldn’t wait in line for a title match. Cueto agreed with that sentiment, and would be granting Cage a match against Prince Puma for the Lucha Underground Championship. Cage came back with “No, Puma will be losing his title to Cage, cause I’m a machiiiiiiine.” Look man, I get that you have a gimmick, but machines fail all the time. I was literally a mechanic -- my job was to fix those failures. It’s not a given that you’ll win because you believe you’re a cyborg or a Terminator or whatever. 

Then we were in the Temple proper, with the house band rockin’ and our beloved [your mileage may vary] announce couple teased the main event and an interview between Konnan, Puma, and Vampiro. But first, we’ve got a match!

Opening Contest

I love these two, they're like evil PB&J

Mil Muertes (with Catrina) versus Fenix

I love Mil Muertes’ presentation as a Kotal Kahn-adjacent Aztec god. The cape, the collar, the shoulder pieces, they all add up to an old-school luchador out of time. Fenix quickly dodged a charging Mil to start, and Fenix gained the upper hand using his speed before Mil recovered and clobbered the little guy with a decapitating lariat. Mil Muertes was firmly in control after that, tossing the smaller luchador around and countering his speed-based offense with grapples and mid-air catches. 

Fenix ate a spear in the middle of the ring but managed to kick out, which I don’t think happens often in Mil Muertes matches. Mil responded by clubbing Fenix in the corner, but a top-rope superplex by Muertes allowed Fenix to take advantage of a bouncy landing. Fenix caught Mil Muertes with a surprise roll-up and got the three count for the victory!

The most devastating move in sports entertainment strikes again!

That couldn’t have been more than five minutes, but I was buying everything these two were selling in that short match. Given that they were both being presented as superstars, I wasn’t sure who was going to come out on top, although I guessed from the bell that Mil Muertes was going to be going over to start another win streak. Shows what I know! I’ll give this 6/10 lucha masks despite the match’s brevity; Cagematch says it was too short for a rating.

Beer bottles can't damage A MACHINE, man!

We came back from a break to a video of Cage being an action star in a junkyard, as some little guys try to attack him and he, uh, murders them. He’s also doing the voiceover, and he talks about how he’s earned what he’s gotten, and also that HE’S NOT A MAN, HE’S A MACHIIIIINE and they call him Cage. 

Match 2

The Crew just has a great look for its time and place

Argenis, Super Fly, and Aerostar versus Cortez Castro, Mr. Cisco, and Bael

The Crew is the first trios team on Lucha Underground that doesn’t feel like a random grouping of luchadores. On the other side of the ring is, well, a random grouping of luchadores. The baddies look the part, bringing a kendo stick to the ring and dressing like the Lil’ Homies figures I used to collect as a kid. Remember those? Or am I dating myself here?

I used to pay 50 cents a pop for these guys at Annie's Hot Dog stand in River Forest, IL

Matt Stryker and Vampiro performed a bit of victim blaming as this match got started, essentially saying Big Ryck got what he deserved when he was caught “sonning” The Crew by telling them to stay out of his way. I tend to disagree, but I’ve also never had henchmen. Rapid tags and flippy lucha action from the good guys carried this match, but the bad guys were alright as bases too. Aerostar’s hot tag in particular looked cool, as he got some fun Spider-Man-esque pounces from the ropes onto Mr. Cisco. We also got a cool two-man tower from the Mexico City squad, and Vampiro mentioning that means my “random luchador” comment was in poor taste, my bad. This is what I get for typing as I watch. 

Cool guys doing cool stuff!

Cisco uses a move the announcers call a “Curb Stomp,” but it’s less Seth Rollins and more Mexican Surfboard setup, pulling the arms back before planting a boot into the opponent’s spine. Sometimes those moves get sold as being terribly painful, but I gotta tell you, my back could probably benefit from one of those. 

Aerostar was getting pummeled but a great reversal into a backwards cannonball drop allowed him to get a tag to teammate Argenis. Argenis landed a Canadian Destroyer, called as a Sunset Flip, and since I have no good memory for when this show aired in contrast to, say, WWE stuff that was on TV at the time, I’m just gonna assume Matt Stryker didn’t know what to call these moves he’d never seen. That or I’m wrong and these moves just have several names. Who’s to say? 

The back and forth between the two teams escalated into a series of dives, and the pace really picked up as we got deeper into the match. A 3D-into-a-Codebreaker that FTR fans will recognize as a Shatter Machine ended the bout clean with a pinfall victory for The Crew.

I had a lot of fun with this match! Commentary used the time to put over all of the participants while still focusing their attention on the Crew, and the luchador team put themselves over with some bananas work in and out of the ring. Never a slow moment, and while the ending was kind of expected, the work was never diminished. I’ll go 6 lucha masks for this match; Cagematch went with a 6.95.

We're gonna tell you about what we're gonna show you!

After a break, Vampiro and Matt Stryker talked about his interview with Cage, and then about his upcoming interview with Prince Puma…which is gonna be played now. Konnan spoke for Puma, saying Puma was pissed off after surviving 19 other luchadores and Fenix in his last two matches only to be attacked by a punk like Cage. Konnan says Cage would have been sent to the hospital if Prince Puma had expected his attack. Konnan kept speaking for Prince Puma, and Vampiro decided to pick a fight with Konnan about that until the two had to be separated by Puma. I don’t think those two like each other too much. Before the segment ended, Vampiro warned Puma to be careful, and I don’t think he meant that in a “because I’m coming for you” kind of way. More of a “don’t trust Konnan” kind of way. Which, I mean, I’ve watched wrestling for years, and that’s just evergreen advice, kayfabe or IRL.

Puma doesn't talk much but he doesn't like kerfuffles.

This show has flown by! It’s main event time already!

Main Event

This is gonna go great, I'm sure!

Prince Puma © (with Konnan) versus Cage for the Lucha Underground Championship

Vampiro made a point of saying that Puma didn’t need Konnan while the two were headed down the Temple steps. “I guess the only thing that can contain a Puma…is a Cage” was a helluva good line from Stryker as Cage entered the arena from the smoky side door. Puma flew at Cage from the rope before the big guy got into the ring, but once they both got inside the ropes Cage started to kick the snot out of the champ, tossing him around like a rag doll. 

We quickly hit the first submission hold, but Cage didn’t stay on it too long before resuming his beatdown of the masked Prince. Every bit of offense seemed to be reversed or countered by Cage, with the Machine either evading or catching Puma and slamming him to the mat.

Just a little twist and his head will pop right off!

A spinning DDT got Puma to Hulk Up in the middle of the ring, and the little guy started to get some high-flying offense to connect. Puma’s attacks continued to be few and far between, but he got a near-fall from a meteora before another Cage onslaught. A top rope maneuver that got caught and turned into a Jackhammer was pretty damn cool! A rolling pin break that turned into a two-footed stomp was ALSO cool, especially as it came after Cage just muscle-ing Puma up for a pair of power bombs!

Two to the face...for two!

Cage hit an F5 that solidified who he was kinda emulating throughout this match, but Puma managed to kick out and hit a series of strikes to slow the larger grappler down, laying him out with a suplex that only got two. The fans were fully into it by this point, although I don’t think they were quiet at any point in the fight, really. A ref shove by Cage dropped Puma from the top turnbuckle, and then a quick kick to the champ’s little champ led to a disqualification. LAME!

Kick 'em in the wiener and give 'em a piledriver, I always say.

I say LAME but after the match, the ref was attacked and Cage went after Prince Puma, setting him up for a powerbomb. Konnan made the save, breaking his cane on Cage’s back, and Konnan got absolutely destroyed for his trouble. Cage laid out Konnan with the title, and then tore the title in half as Konnan was laid out with a crimson mask to end the show.

I think this was a felt backup, but who's to say?

I hate a DQ finish to end a good match, and this was definitely a good match. Cagematch went 6.6, but I thought it was 8 lucha masks good, if you don’t count the fact that we didn’t get a clean finish. But then again, sometimes the bad guys are just out for blood, and maybe Cage never wanted a title. The rivalry needs to build, and a non-finish followed by a title destruction AND bloodying Puma’s manager feels like Cage doubled down -- a hat on a hat, if you will. I’m looking forward to seeing where this rivalry goes next!

Creeper.

A final shot of Dario Cueto watching that attack through the blinds of his office was abruptly broken when Cueto was shoved from behind by that mysterious lady in the vinyl catsuit we kept seeing in past episodes. She told Cueto she’s looking for a man who owes her, and Cueto stumbled over his words to say it wasn’t him -- he pays his debts. Cueto said he’d allow her to question anyone in his temple, and he would help her himself, if he could get a name. She said she only had one word: Matanza. Cueto said the word means nothing to him, in the least convincing way possible. With that, the lady disappeared, and the show came to a close.

I don't know no Matanza, and neither does anyone else!

Closing Thoughts

This was a really good episode of Lucha Underground, tip to tail! The opening match was a quick one, but it was a good first fight between the heroic Fenix and the big bad Mil Muertes, and things just picked up from there. From the trios match that established The Crew while also letting some of the underutilized luchadores shine, to the main event that pitted flippy hero Prince Puma against a guy spamming the Reversal button in Cage, to the world-building throughout, I thought this whole episode was a blast. I’m really looking forward to more Mil/Fenix, the return of a one-eyed Big Ryck, and a pissed off Prince Puma looking for revenge. Also, what’s a Matanza? We’ll find out soon, I hope!

OUCH!

So Long For Now

Hey, thanks for reading! Follow me on BlueSky for updates on Let’s Watch Some Wrestling, as well as live watch-along commentary for most episodes of AEW Dynamite (and occasionally Collision). And, if you’re looking into purchasing anything from a smart fridge to a new drill, check out the writing I do over at SlashGear -- my automotive, tech, and tool-related lists are heavily researched, and ranked after thorough aggregation of expert opinions, reviews, and my own experience as a professional auto mechanic, an unprofessional handyman and a somehow even less professional homeowner. 

Until next time…Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!

Project Lucha Underground: S1E9 "Aztec Warfare"

 

Good Morning!

Welcome back to Project Lucha Underground. It’s been a good week over here! We watched AEW Forbidden Door and Dynamite, and had a good time with both. Forbidden Door, if we’re being honest, is probably one of the AEW PPVs I’m willing to miss annually, if only because I’ve never followed New Japan Pro Wrestling with any real consistency. So, oddly, the main complaint that I saw on socials about this year’s edition of Forbidden Door was actually a positive for me: that the show was heavily skewed in the favor of AEW. I watch AEW, so this was for me, and the addition of some NJPW guys without having the show become a showcase for them made it more interesting for me. Standout matches for me included the eight-woman tag match during Zero Hour, Fletcher vs Takahashi, ZSJ vs my close personal friend Nigel McGuinness, and the steel cage match that ended the show, but I wasn’t mad at any of the matches on the card. It’s all good stuff, as we say.

It’s been days since that show, though, and since the churn of North American Professional Wrestling Machine never ends, we had Dynamite on Wednesday from the former ECW arena in Philly. Darby Allen nearly died, but won in a brutal match against Claudio Castignoli. Cope and Christian united against FTR to set up their match at All Out, and we saw some tension in the Don Callis family between my sweet Cinnabon Son Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada. A face turn is coming, I can feel it!

With Will Ospreay, Nick Wayne, and Swerve Strickland all falling to injuries -- or “injuries” to take some time off for surgeries and recovery -- it does seem like an opportune time for AEW to focus on its women. Fans have been clamoring for more than one goddamn women’s match on Dynamite, as well as for a tag division to be implemented. Why not now? We’ve got at least ten potential teams, and showcasing what I believe to be the strongest roster in American pro wrestling isn’t a bad idea, even if things get scaled back a little when the boys get healthy again. Or not! You’ve got at least four hours of programming a week, let half the roster get some reps!

Oh! Also, after that first show in the AEW residency at the 2300 Arena, Tony Khan surprised ECW legend Taz with a little tribute that made everybody cry. Take a look!

Now wipe the tears from your eyes, and let’s get back on the clock.

Last Time On Lucha Underground

“A Unique Opportunity” was kind of a reset, useful for our purposes as we’d just come back from our little break. We had two ten-person matches, opening the show with a 10-person match won by Fénix, and following up with a ten-person battle royale won by Mil Muertes. Dario Cueto had been teasing a unique opportunity --

-- and this was the payoff: a match between the two battle royale winners. The winner got to enter a new match type last, giving them a distinct advantage, while the loser would enter first. A pretty solid match between the winners closed the show, with Mil Muertes picking up the clean victory. 

We also got some tension between Konnan and Prince Puma, with the former really leaning into the heelish tendencies that Vampiro has been warning us about since the start of Lucha Underground. Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and Sexy Star continued their rivalry through the context of a battle royale, as did Drago and King Cuerno.

Overall, it was a solid show to set up a mysterious new match type which, given the title of this episode, might be introduced tonight! Only one way to find out. LET’S WATCH SOME WRESTLING!

Lucha Underground: Season 1, Episode 9: “Aztec Warfare”

Aztec guys doing some Aztec warfare

We opened up with a little recap of “A Unique Opportunity,” with Dario Cueto narrating over some Aztec warriors battling in a field. I say narrating, but really it was just the dialogue from the last episode, where he explained that the Aztec Warfare match was going to be for the Lucha Underground championship. 

Our mariachis have been mariachi-napped!

After that, we got the more familiar Los Angeles flyover shots along with the title card and credits. Inside the temple, things were intense from the get-go, with folks dressed in Aztec garb dancing to drum beats provided by the band, which was either our usual mariachi/punk guys in new outfits, or a replacement. This must have aired after the new year [it did: January 7, 2015, to be exact] because we were wished a happy new year by our commentary team! That’s nice. And yeah, we’re doing Aztec Warfare tonight! 

I just thought this was a cool shot

Dario Cueto was then in the ring, welcoming us to his temple. He had the Lucha Underground championship belt resting on his shoulder, and told us 2015 was gonna be huge for LU. He said he invented this Aztec Warfare match, prompting the fans to chant the match name as Cueto explained the rules. We start with two wrestlers, and every 90 seconds another luchador would enter. Eliminations are pinfall or submission, and since he loves violence, anything goes!

We knew Fénix was going to be the first entry, and by “random draw,” Johnny Mundo pulled number two. I don’t know that we’ll have time to cram anything else in this show unless we get a bunch of quick eliminations, so let’s get to it!

Aztec Warfare

Fénix versus Johnny Mundo versus Mr. Cisco versus King Cuerno versus Son of Havoc versus Pimpanela Escarlata versus Prince Puma versus Ivelisse versus Drago versus Bael versus Cortez Castro versus Ricky Mandel versus Big Ryck versus Pentagon, Jr. versus Super Fly versus Chavo Guerrero, Jr. versus Mascarita Sagrada versus Sexy Star versus 

Both guys started out with kicks and finisher whiffs, with the announcers noting that a quick elimination was on both luchadores’ minds as another guy would be there in 90. And so it was, with Mr. Cisco heading down the stairs next. “This lil’ cholo’s rolling solo,” said Matt Stryker, and I kinda love that as a line. Cisco yeeted Mundo, but after a little back and forth with Fénix, Mundo flipped into the ring with End of the World to get the first elimination on Cisco. 

After a commercial and some more one-on-one brawling, King Cuerno was #4. Son of Havoc followed at #5 as I realized I’m not a play by play guy, but I'll do my best while keeping track of who’s in and who’s out. After all, I did have a private YouTube channel commentating WWE2k24 matches involving veterinary personnel, making me about as qualified as 80% of wrestling announcers...but I digress.

#6 is beloved exotico Pimpinella Escarlata, who got a really nice intro from Vampiro about judging folks by the content of their character. #7 was Lucha Underground’s main character, Prince Puma, who immediately cleared the ring to take on Johnny Mundo for a bit. Some solid work between those two and Fénix passed the time as our announce team noticed the mysterious vinyl-clad lady was in the crowd again, and then Ivelisse ran down the stairs as the 8th entrant. Ivelisse immediately made her presence known with a flying head scissors on King Cuerno and a DDT on Fénix, and then set Pimpi up for an elimination by her partner Son of Havoc. 

My guy Drago entered at #9 shortly after, and he went for a quick pinfall on Fénix and then Mundo but came up short. Ivelisse tried to attack King Cuerno as he got Drago in a fireman’s carry, but that just got her eliminated by the hunter. She’s gone and Bael is in at #10, and we’re told he’s a real b-boy from the streets and therefore knows how to throw hands, which … is that how that works? I thought b-boys were, like, dancers? I dunno, but in my digression, Prince Puma rolled up Son of Havoc for the elimination, and Cortez Castro strolled in at #11. Castro and Bael started working together to do some damage until Ricky Mandel entered the brawl and went after both of them, and Prince Puma was eventually left alone with Bael in the middle of the ring for another pinfall elimination. Johnny Mundo then let Puma have a breather as he worked Cortez Castro into a pinfall elimination just before Big Ryck showed up at 13, just a little too late to employ his henchmen. 

Back from a break just in time to watch Big Ryck murder everyone in the ring and pin Ricky Mandel, then Cuerno eliminated Drago and Mundo rolled up King Cuerno. Penta then rolled in at #14 and we’re keeping things moving smoothly, with eliminations and new entrants balancing out nicely. Penta ran wild when he got into the ring, and had Fénix set up for elimination when Ryck booted him in the head, leading both me and the announcers to ask, uh, why, dude? It’s an elimination match, and it’s not like you get paid by the pin. Super Fly was next to enter at 15, but Mundo, Puma, and Fénix all hit a little offense on the new fella. Puma was draped on Ryck’s back as Chavo Guerrero hit the ring at 16 with a chair in tow, and he immediately laid out Super Fly and Penta, and racked up a pair of eliminations. Mini extraordinaire Mascarita Sagrada headed out in the #17 slot as we went to commercial.

Game to get in the ring with anyone, Chavo and Mascarita Sagrada matched up in the otherwise cleared ring, with Sagrada dominating. Fénix and Mascarita paired up next, and both of them left the ring just as #18 Sexy Star met Chavo in the ring. A quick back and forth led to them both leaving the ring and Big Ryck and Mascarita Sagrada re-entering the ring, which went about as well as you’d think it would for Mascarita -- he was quickly destroyed and eliminated. El Mariachi Loco scurried down the steps with the #19 entry, and he distracted Ryck from beating on Johnny Mundo for a bit.

Some action between the remaining luchadores ended with Big Ryck absolutely murdering the Crazy Mariachi as our final entrant, Mil Muertes, headed down the stairs with his pal Catrina. So we’re full up and it’s all eliminations from here on out, with Mariachi eating a Flatliner to take Mil Muertes’ first pin. Mil Muertes stared down Big Ryck next, with both men failing to take each other off their feet before most of the remaining talent entered the ring as our drummers added to the intensity of the moment.

A double stack of Chavo and Fénix eliminated Big Ryck next, after Ryck ate top rope moves from both Puma and Fénix. With the biggest threat (non-Murtes edition) out, things felt a little more uncertain. Chavo grabbed another chair and gave Fénix the old el kabong and pinned him. Sexy Star challenged Guerrero to drop the chair, and he refused so she just went after him anyways. She dominated briefly before Chavo scoop slammed his rival onto the discarded chair, and then he placed that chair onto her face and headed to the top rope -- but then a returning Blue Demon made the save and distracted Chavo long enough for Sexy to lay out the villain with his own chair and pick up the pinfall.

No, seriously, look behind you!

That left Sexy Star, Prince Puma, Johnny Mundo, and Mil Mascaras as our final four competitors as we headed into the final commercial break. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but Aztec Warfare kinda rules.

Our Final Four

We came back to a brawl that ended with Star laying out Mundo and Puma, but when she hyped herself up to take on Muertes she underestimated his speed and was broken in half by a spear, allowing Mil Muertes to eliminate her.

Welp, she's dead

Johnny Mundo went after Muertes next, with Puma recharging his stamina meter in the corner. He recovered and took an unexpected ZigZag to the back of his noggin, and the three went back and forth for a bit before Puma was knocked from the ring. Mundo got Mil Muertes up on the turnbuckle, and the good guys hit the big man with a superplex to knock the wind outta him. Catrina tried to distract Puma, but he pulled her up to the apron and threatened a slap before dodging a Muertes charge. Muertes stopped himself before knocking Catrina off the apron, but Johnny Mundo hit a Disaster Kick from the corner and caught the woman on the side of her noggin, knocking her down. He seemed apologetic to Mil, and was almost chokeslammed before Puma hit a meteora, and the good guys hit a pair of flippy moves to get the dual pinfall. 

Buddies!

So good guy vs good guy in a rematch from the first episode of Lucha Underground, very cool. Puma looked gassed until the pair locked up, and then he hit some offense as Matt Stryker desperately begged Vampiro to chime in with some commentary. “This is awesome” chants hit as Puma struggled to get out of a half-crab, and he responded by breaking the hold (rope breaks are legal in an anything goes match?) and yeeting Mundo out of the ring. 

A super Spanish fly knocked Mundo down but not out, and Mundo grabbed an ankle a couple times before Puma was able to again mount the top turnbuckle. The pair traded punches before Mundo landed a poison ‘rana, and then ran to the other side of the ring for End of the World, which Puma miraculously kicked out of. Puma was dead in the corner after that, and Mundo got him up on the turnbuckle once more. Puma somehow got a health potion, and shoved Mundo off the turnbuckle before hitting his 630 and winning the inaugural Lucha Underground championship match! The crowd went bonkers as Prince Puma celebrated alone and then with Johnny Mundo, and even Konnan came down to cheer on his champ.

The first Lucha Underground champ. No one can ever take that from you, baldie.

That was rad! A pinfall and submissions battle royale has the potential to be a slog, but frequent eliminations kept the ring and surrounding area mostly clear, and I felt like everything went smoothly. The rivalries we’ve been building all season were highlighted, we got a return in Blue Panther, and the guy who most feels like the focus of this first season of Lucha Underground got a well deserved win. I enjoyed the hell out of this first ever Aztec Warfare match, and would go as high as 8 luchador masks out of 10. Cagematch says … 8.31, so I guess we’re in agreement!

Closing Thoughts

One match for our hour-long weekly show worked for this particular event. I don’t know that AAA/Lucha Underground ever planned on doing PPV shows this early into the promotion, but if it went on to really build an audience I could see this being their Royal Rumble. Hell, it even took place around the same time as that WWE staple. I liked how we used last week’s show and this one to announce Aztec Warfare, establish its importance, figure out the first and last entrants, and then blow the whole thing off. With the season running around 40 episodes, having a big event to mark the first quarter feels about right to me. We’ll see if that trend continues or if this is just a thing LU does when they have a big event.

So Long For Now

Hey, thanks for reading! Follow me on BlueSky for updates on Let’s Watch Some Wrestling, as well as live watch-along commentary for most episodes of AEW Dynamite (and occasionally Collision). And, if you’re looking into purchasing anything from a smart fridge to a new drill, check out the writing I do over at SlashGear -- my automotive, tech, and tool-related lists are heavily researched, and ranked after thorough aggregation of expert opinions, reviews, and my own experience as a professional auto mechanic, an unprofessional handyman and a somehow even less professional homeowner. 

Until next time…Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!