Project Lucha Underground: Season One, Episode Four "Thrill of the Hunt"

Good Morning!

Howdy! Welcome back to Project Lucha Underground Season 1. I really need to decide on a day to watch LU and have a more regular schedule, or we’re gonna be watching this show long past the debut of AAA guys in WWE. Not that there’s a hard deadline or anything, I just think we’d all benefit from consistency on my part, you know? That being said, I think the next several weeks are pretty calm here in the Let’s Watch Some Wrestling studios…the next big stuff isn’t until June, when we’ve got AEW tickets, a wedding, and my wife heading to Europe. But that’s a ways off, so this is the time to really get into a rhythm, right? 

Last Week On Lucha Underground

Episode Three was an odd one, but by no means a bad one -- the main event was literally the best match in The Temple up to this point. “Cross The Border” spent a lot of time setting up Chavo Guerrero, Jr. as a villain after his double-cross of Blue Demon, Jr. I liked a lot of how they did this, though, especially since they let Chavo show a little vulnerability, like he’s maybe being manipulated. I could be reading too much into it, though, we’ll see. 

Match-wise, we had a mini-estrella pick up a surprise victory before getting beat up by Chavo, and a vanilla jobber get beat up by Mil Muertes. That main, though…Drago versus Fenix versus Pentagon, Jr. in a triple threat match? Yes, please. More of that!

We know from Johnny Mundo’s meeting with Dario Cueto that Mundo will face Big Ryck in the main event of this show, marking Ryck’s in-ring debut with the company. Big Ryck was known as Ezekiel Jackson in WWECW, the half-assed revival of the beloved Philly brand, and in fact was the last official champion of that brand before it was shuttered. He’s an odd duck: big but not huge, strong but not “holy shit” powerful, not terribly charismatic, not great in the ring or on the mic. I’d hesitate to even say he was serviceable, but he did have a presence. However, that’s all based on his Fed time; we’ll have to see how he looks in the Temple.

Anyways, let's go underground!

Lucha Underground: Season 1, Episode 4: “Thrill of the Hunt”

After our usual L.A. flyovers and some sweet mariachi music from the Lucha Underground temple, we were welcomed into the show by our announce team. They discussed Chavo’s heel turn a bit, and then Sexy Star was introduced, oddly, after she’d already gotten into the ring. She cut a short promo where she called out Chavo Guerrero Jr. for being a coward, for attacking beloved mini Mascarita Sagrada, for attacking her, and generally for being a turd. She then said she’d end the Guerrero dynasty, and Ivelisse was introduced as her opponent. Ivelisse had a mic on the stairs, and said Star wasn’t a badass and didn’t belong with the boys. 

All images credited to El Rey Network

Match 1

Ivelisse versus Sexy Star

“We’re not gonna be calling a lot of wrestling stuff here, we’re gonna see a lot of hair-pulling, punching, and kicking.” Are we? Are we gonna make dumb noises and squeal, “Cat fight wheeeeee” too, Matt Stryker? Sorry, sorry, I said I wasn’t gonna make a big deal about decade-old misogyny, it’s just annoying when there are capable wrestlers in the ring. And he even acknowledged that they’re both great luchadores early! Also, we learned that Son of Havoc was romantically linked to Ivelisse, after which Vampiro replied “I thought they were brother and sister,” and Striker fired back with, “Whatever floats your boat!” which made me chuckle. 

Ivelisse is good in the ring here, but there are a few times where the editing didn’t cut around spots where she was clearly waiting for a move to come to her. Star had some fun stuff, like a Matrix dodge under a lariat, but overall this was clunky, at best. The announcing got better (if still cringeworthy)  as the match went on, and Vampiro had a good line about how he “did the job” after being married for seven years. Ivelisse locked in a LONG choke spot, followed up by a chop battle ending with Sexy Star hitting a Codebreaker. Star got ⅔ Amigos, but Ivelisse argued with the ref after slamming Star’s face on the mat -- a mistake Star capitalized on with a quick rollup for the win.

Ivelisse looked stunned afterward, but no attacks or anything after the victory. The end sequence was weird, to me, as Ivelisse was arguing with the ref because she slammed her opponent’s head down and…was told she couldn’t do that? Between that and the clunky start, I’ll go 4 lucha masks outta 10 for this one. Cagematch rated it 4.67.

One last note: man, I love the crowd shots in Lucha Underground. The fans seem to be having a blast, and it’s nice to see such a diverse crowd showing up for a lucha show. The majority of fans are Latino, as one might expect, but there’s a bit of everything out there and it just makes me happy. But I digress…

After a break, we headed into the poorly lit locker room where Dario Cueto confronted Drago. Cueto admonished Drago for not winning last week, although he didn’t lose either. So tonight, Drago will be facing King Cuerno.

Pentagon, Jr. was announced in the ring for his match, but we got another intro/promo deal as the fans booed Penta. He complained that fans, bosses, and companies didn’t respect him, but thanked Dario Cueto for his respect. And now he’s gonna kill Fenix.

Match 2

Fenix versus Pentagon, Jr.

I don’t think we’ve been made privy to the fact that these two are brothers, but the chemistry they have from the bell is undeniable. A series of quick reversals and near-falls followed by a pose-off started the match, and then Fenix got some time to shine with a few dives in and out of the ring. After a wrist lock to the top rope, Fenix hit a cool top-to-middle-to-top rope springboard dropkick to the delight of the crowd. Penta got some strikes mixed in, but this was a Fenix showcase with a bunch of those corkscrew dives he became known for over his past couple matches. Penta did hit both a package piledriver and Canadian Destroyer -- finishers on most nights -- but climbing up the turnbuckle to do a throat slash was his undoing. Fenix confidently kipped up, hopped from the second to third rope, and took out Pentagon, Jr. with an Avalanche Spanish Fly for the win!

This match was a blast. I know that those familiar with both of these guys would expect nothing less, but imagine watching this matchup for the first time in 2018 after a steady diet of the Fed, WCW, and little else. Just fluid motion throughout, move after move seamlessly transitioning into one another until that finish. Great stuff, 7/10 lucha masks. Cagematch says 6.75.

After that barn burner, we got a video introducing us to King Cuerno. He justified himself by saying that what we call evil, he calls survival, and if we call him a predator, he calls us prey. He’s got a cool mask, trunks with antlers, a cape, and kind of a druish vibe. Druidic? That’s probably right. Basically he’s a heel, but in the vein of a Killmonger type. A justifiable heel.

Today, fans know King Cuerno as Santos Escobar in the WWE, although he’s more slender and less muscular in the Fed. He joined the Fed in 2020, where he came up through NXT as part of La Liga del Fantasma, but I don’t think he ever wore a mask there. His Cagematch page shows that most of his career was in Mexico, where he wrestled with a bunch of different promotions, including both AAA and CMLL, basically the WCW and WWF of Mexico. 

Match 3

King Cuerno versus Drago

Drago was in the ring as Melissa introduced him, this week in a gold-and-silver getup. While the standard way of thinking is that that’s a bad thing -- we mentioned it in the last show -- I figure it’s a 45 minute show that doesn’t have much in the way of theatrical entrances, why not save time when you can. King Cuerno got the more dramatic entrance, walking into the arena with a full deer head on his head. He’s also pretty jacked -- big for a luchador, maybe bigger than Drago. 

Quick chain wrestling started things off, with Cuerno no-selling several strikes and walking through a hurricanrana afterward. Both wrestlers played into the hunter/prey metaphor, with Cuerno really acting like he was stalking his target. There’s a great spot where Drago ran towards the ropes and Cuerno just threw the ref down, only for Drago to repeat the spot and step off the back of the ref into a head scissors, tossing Cuerno from the ring and `following up with a flip over the top rope. After a step-up enziguri, Cuerno looked to have the match won and rolled Drago back in, but posing allowed Drago to recover. Drago squeezed out of a hold, sprinted to the ropes, and springboarded off the middle rope into a very smooth looking arm drag that he sort of double-rolled through into a pin that pulled Cuerno’s leg over Drago’s shoulder for the pinfall. Good stuff!

This was a really good match with a story told in the luchadores’ movements. Drago was the underdog here and fought like it, taking his shots when he could but moving like he knew he could be caught and taken down at any time. That end spot was fantastic, and Cuerno popped right up and ran after Drago as the winner rolled out of the ring. Cuerno looked strong in his debut, Drago stayed strong with a quick win, everybody went home happy. 6/10 lucha masks for this match. Cagematch didn't rate this one because it went six seconds under the five minute threshold for rated matches.

After the match, we saw Prince Puma working his abs as Konnan joined him in the gym for a chat. Konnan reiterated to Puma that he shouldn’t get involved in the match between Johnny Mundo and Big Ryck, for his own good. Puma doesn’t speak, so he just kinda looked concerned after Konnan left.

Main Event

Johnny Mundo versus Big Ryck

Big Ryck was already in the ring as the main event was announced, with an unlit cigar in his mouth, which feels like a waste.

Johnny was about a head shorter than Ryck, but Mundo started off showing that his quickness was going to keep him competitive in this match. Johnny was in control for the better part of this match, with Ryck occasionally overpowering Mundo until Johnny slipped away. Mundo did hit Moonlight Drive, and Ryck had just about the least convincing kick out I’ve ever seen…not so good, big man.

Ryck had Mundo set up for a choke slam, and Mundo was able to wriggle free and hit a springboard kick that sent us back to the locker room, where Cisco and Cortez (Big Ryck’s associates) beat the hell of Prince Puma, throwing him against the lockers and kicking him while he was down. It was a little weird that commentary dropped out for this part, but it was more of a pre taped cinematic than a live cutaway. 

After that, the pair ran out of the locker room and into the arena, where they attacked Johnny Mundo to force the disqualification. Mundo fought back, but ultimately ate a big lariat from Ryck and got beaten down and put through a table. The baddies stood tall over Mundo’s corpse to end this week’s show.

It was a good enough match before the DQ, so we’ll be generous and give it a 4/10. Cagematch didn't rate this one either, so you're gonna have to trust me.

Closing Thoughts

Not the best episode of Lucha Underground, but a pair of good matches lifted the show. I can see that they’re betting on Sexy Star for the long run, and I’m interested in seeing what other female talent they bring in for future matches -- I legitimately do not remember any other women in LU, save for a late season run by an AEW star to be named later.

It felt like they tried to maximize in-ring action for this episode, with 3 ½ matches padding the wrestling section of our program. Segment-wise, there wasn’t a lot that didn’t immediately get resolved in this episode. Drago got the match he was threatened with, King Cuerno was introduced and debuted, and Konnan’s warning to Prince Puma was heeded, but the good guy still ate shit at the end of the day. 

That also means that, aside from the main event angle, we’re going into the next episode relatively clean. Maybe some new storylines are set to debut, so they wanted to make sure to tie up this first four before moving along. I guess we’ll find out next time.

So Long For Now

Follow me on BlueSky for updates and live watch-along commentary for AEW Dynamite and Collision (occasionally). And, if you’re looking into purchasing anything from a smart fridge to a new drill, check out the tech writing I do over at SlashGear -- my 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 Season 1: Episode 3, plus some 'Mania Weekend thoughts

GCW/DDT

Good Morning!

Howdy! Welcome back to Project Lucha Underground Season 1. I had to take a little break there, what with a million wrestling shows last week, my wife’s road trip to Portland for Phish, and Triller+ dropping a free trial combining to take up all of my free time. And speaking of ‘Mania Week: I don’t know about you, but I got to watch some great stuff! 

A brief aside for ‘Mania Week!

I watched a lot of stuff last week, as I’m sure a lot of you did. And before we dive into episode three of Lucha Underground, I just wanted to mention a few of the matches I saw, in case you might have missed them. Before we dive in, I should point out that I’m in no way an authority on these performers, as I’m just dipping my toes into the worldwide scenes that so many people make a living talking about. But if you’re here reading this, you probably know what I’m about, and you’ll know that I went into all the shows I watched this week with an open mind, a blank notebook, and high hopes for everyone to put on some great matches in what’s probably the biggest event of their year!

DDT/GCW

DDT is a promotion I’m just getting into, in part because of its goofy nature and in part because my sweet Cinnabon son Konosuke Takeshita hails from there, and still participates in a lot of their shows. DDT put on a solo show on the 18th that featured Take versus MAO in the main event, and that was a really good match! Other highlights included Nick Wayne of AEW participating in a fun six-man tag match, and “Murder Grampa” Minoru Suzuki taking on a literal doll named Yoshihiko for a title. If you go into that match with the right (silly) mindset, you’ll have an absolute blast.

GCWxTJPWxDDT

The silliness continued for much of the DDTxTJPWxGCW card on the 19th, in a triple-promotion crossover show that included Yoshihiko in tag team action, Takeshita teaming up with ‘Mania week workhorse Masha Slamovich, and a tag team match involving mini superstar Microman teaming with the giant Yukio Naya against our second favorite murder cowboy 1 Called Manders and beloved pop princess turned murder aficionado Maki Itoh.

I caught the main event of Joey Janela’s Spring Break that featured the legendary Sabu, and it was definitely hard to watch. That being said, I’ve never been a big deathmatch guy, but I am old enough to have been the target audience for ECW in its heyday, and Sabu absolutely got the sendoff he deserved. 

I stayed up way too late to watch the Clusterf*ck show on the night of the 19th/morning of the 20th, and while it was a blast it had WAY too much dead time setting up and taking down a steel cage. Respect your audience, man. People are tired, drunk, and ready to head home! It was a fun show, as you’d expect from a Royal Rumble style match that included basically every performer that showed up in Vegas for the weekend. 

I had some trouble streaming Effy’s Big Gay Brunch, a staple of ‘Mania Week for years now, but I was able to find the lauded Kidd Bandit vs Zack Sabre Jr. match from the show. It was everything I read and more, a real credit to both Kidd Bandit’s growth as a performer coming back from a long injury, and to ZSJ’s ability to work with a talented partner in a match I don’t think a lot of people expected to be as good as it was. Great stuff, definitely one of the best of the week.

What else…what else…oh! Bloodsport! I watched this one tip to tail and it was decidedly not my stuff. I did appreciate what they tried to do on the show, and I enjoyed ZSJ vs Jonathan Gresham’s technical work a lot. I heard a lot of chatter after the fact about Natalya vs Miyu Yamashita, but I didn’t think that match really stood out above anything else on the card. To be fair, I’m not high on Nattie in general, so I may be biased.

I saw two awful matches on the WrestleCon show. Mickie James cut a weird promo on Dave Meltzer’s rating system and proceeded to kinda force a sing-off on a seemingly unsuspecting Maki Itoh? I felt really bad for Maki and cringed through this one, only to flip back to see Minoru Suzuki fight Butterbean for about a minute before turning it off. No thanks, this show!

I did not make time for the Deadlock Pro Wrestling show, and I’m regretting that now that my Triller trial has ended. Hopefully some of the matches pop up on YouTube soon; I’ve heard good things about both the Grizzled Young Veterans/Violence is Forever street fight and the lucha tag match that featured THE BEAST MORTOS and Rey Horus.

The Fourth Rope show, Heels Have Eyes, was another one I stayed up way too late to watch, but really enjoyed. Kazeem Famuyide from the Masked Man Show podcast was fantastic on commentary, and his booth with David Otunga and Ernest “The Cat” Miller was a blast to listen to. The card on this one wasn’t stellar and featured some, um, questionable performers, but it was still a decent time and I’m hoping promoter Westside Gun continues to improve and develop as a wrestling showrunner, because he seems like a cool guy who’s genuinely interested in pro wrestling.

Is that everything? Dragon Gate had a number of shows, but the one I caught, a cross-promotional show between Dragon Gate USA and Pro Wrestling Revolution, featured two great matches and a handful of good ones. The main event was a fantastic six man tag match, but the tag team title match featuring the Lucha Solos and Los Hermanos De La Jungla was probably my favorite match to come out of the weekend. Just dudes flying into the seats in a small venue, dangerous but never worrisome spots, incredible speed and athleticism…a great watch from start to finish. I didn’t think the Lucha Solos had it in them from a purely visual perspective, but they proved me VERY wrong!

Alright, I think that’s everything I can remember! Oh, and John Cena won a belt in a wet fart of a ‘Mania ender. At least night one ended with a flurry of wiener punches and some interesting story directions. The women’s triple threat between IYO SKY (best music in wrestling), Bianca Belair, and Rhea Ripley was by far the best match of that whole event, although these days the less we talk about the Fed the better. BUT I DIGRESS!

El Rey Network

Last Week On Lucha Underground

Johnny Mundo and Prince Puma got jumped by the new faction consisting of Cortez Castro, Mr. Cisco, and Big Ryck! Debuting monster Mil Muertes destroyed Blue Demon, Jr. in the main event, and then Chavo Guerrero was shamed into turning heel after his episode one loss to Blue Demon, Jr., attacking both Demon and Sexy Star at the end of episode two! Truly, the drama never ends in the Temple. Let’s go Underground!

*One last note: I’ve always read wrestling reviews written in present tense, but that feels really weird for a show that aired like a decade ago. So I’m going to try my best to keep these reviews/recaps in the past tense, and I’m sorry for any errors that slip through. Also, although this might not come through in my writing, I’ll hold off on checking Cagematch scores until after the episode is over, to keep myself from seeing spoilers and to keep my review numbers more honest. I’ll go back in during my edit and pop the scores in then.

El Rey Network

Lucha Underground: Season 1, Episode 3: “Cross the Border”

We returned to the temple to an empty ring and an excited crowd, but then we cut to Konnan peering through the blinds in Dario Cueto’s office. Konnan promised Cueto that he was bringing some big names to the arena: Fenix, Pentagon Jr., and Drago. Cueto liked it, but he wanted these three to face each other, and I’m inclined to agree! 

We then cut back to ringside, where Matt Striker and Vampiro updated us on Blue Dragon Jr.’s condition after the attack by Chavo Guerrero, Jr. the week prior. Melissa Santos then introduced Dario Cueto to the crowd, and he emerged from his office -- a thing I love about this show -- before grabbing the mic as a real big guy in a mask ran around the ring. Cueto introduced said guy as El Mariachi Loco while addressing complaints he’d heard about a lack of lucha libre on his lucha libre program. Cueto also promised that El Mariachi would play a song after he won his upcoming match, and then he left as Mariachi’s opponent arrived -- “mini” wrestler Mascarita Sagrada! 

Before we get into the match itself, we probably need to talk about minis. While little people have been involved in wrestling for almost as long as carnie wrestling has existed, the “mini-estrellas” of Lucha Libre are largely credited to one man. Antonio Peña came up with the idea for smaller versions of popular wrestlers while he was with Mexican wrestling promotion CMLL in the 1990s; hence, characters like Mascarita Sagrada and Octagoncito playing off of Mascara Sagrada and Octagon. When Peña left CMLL to create rival promotion AAA in 1993, that idea went with him, and since Lucha Underground is a AAA project, here we are. There’s a LOT of baggage and history to go through around this subject, and I’m sure more knowledgeable people have tried to parse through it. I’m not that guy, so we’re just gonna treat this as a wrestling match (to the best of our ability). Oh, also, AAA got bought up by WWE over WrestleMania weekend, so that’s a thing we’ll probably see some fallout for over the coming weeks. But I digress…

El Rey Network

Match 1

El Mariachi Loco vs Mascarita Sagrada

El Mariachi Loco started off by laughing at his competition, and after some taunting Loco ate a quick shining wizard from his opponent. Mascarita’s moves are lightning fast, and he turned the tables on his taller opponent pretty quickly! A couple rest holds after a dive by Sagrada led to Mariachi getting the upper hand to the boos of the crowd, with some backbreakers and slams to his opponent. A Jericho cocky pin led to a two count, and then Mariachi went up for a dive but Mascarita Sagrada rolled out of the way and absolutely planted Mariachi Loco with a tilt-a-whirl DDT. That led to a two count, and a second tilt-a-whirl ended with a choke that slowed the Mariachi down and got him on the mat. That led to a quick roll-up victory for Mascarita Sagrada!

I would go 4/10 for this just because it was more of an angle than a match, as we’ll soon see. It did establish that mini-estrellas aren’t going to be treated as a complete joke in the Temple, and El Mariachi Loco wrestled a simple heel match to put Mascarita Sagrada over. [Cagematch gave El Mariachi Loco vs Mascarita Sagrada a 5.14]

As I said, this match was all about the post-match angle, in which Chavo Guerrero, Jr. rushed into the ring and attacked a celebrating Mascarita Sagrada from behind. I didn’t mind the attack as a way to further cement Chavo’s heel turn, but Vampiro deciding to play “heel commentator” and celebrating Chavo “kicking that little guy in the head” seemed out of character. I mean, unless Vampiro’s character was just a dickhead, in which, well played.

After a break, we showed some of Chavo’s lowlights over the past two shows before we cut to a pre-taped sit-down interview between Vampiro and Chavo in the middle of the ring. Vampiro went right after Chavo, but not for the attacks -- he went after Chavo’s reputation for riding the coattails of his family. Chavo acknowledged the Guerrero name, but claimed that this would be his chance to strike out on his own apart from his family. Chavo said that Blue Demon Jr. was the one riding his dad’s coattails by inheriting his mask, and that the  Guerreros were known for taking people they didn’t like out, so we shouldn’t have been surprised by his actions. Chavo claimed Blue Demon Jr. was the big deal that El Rey Network wanted to draw viewers, while Chavo was an afterthought. (In hindsight, that seems a little funny to me, as American wrestling viewers at that time and even now would be more familiar with Eddie and Chavo than they would Blue Demon Jr.) Long story short, Chavo would put legends of the hospital to win a title in the Temple. So, you know, pretty standard post-turn heel promo.

El Rey Network

After the break, Konnan met Chavo in the extremely poorly lit hallways of the Temple. Chavo thinks they’re cool, Konnan thinks otherwise. La Raza in Mexico already knew what happened to Blue Demon Jr., and they would soon know what Chavo did to Mascarita. Konnan advised Chavo to disappear, and as he walked away, the already shitty lighting began to flicker, and Mil Muertes appeared in front of Guerrero. Just a jump scare, but Catrina was next to pop up after another light flicker. She told Chavo that he took something that belongs to Mil, and that someday “you two” will belong to Mil Muertes. She licked Chavo on the cheek, as is her wont, and that was that. 

El Rey Network

Ricky was already in the ring when we cut to his announcement, which is never a good sign for a wrestler. Mil Muertes got an incredibly dope backstory video narrated by Catrina, explaining that Mil was buried in the very real 9/19/85 earthquake that hit Mexico City. When he, a little guy at the time, emerged from the rubble, he brought death with him. The kid they got for this vignette was comically out of his acting depth, but I digress. Catrina held out the stone in the velvet cloth that she’s shown him before -- I think it was implied that the stone was one from the rubble he crawled out of. 

Match 2

Mil Muertes vs Ricky Mandel

Ricky actually got a little offense in, hitting a few lariats that made Mil shake his head, but Mil Muertes took over quickly with a spear and never looked back, dragging Mandel around the ring and slamming his head into the turnbuckles. Ricky tried to fight back but was clearly overwhelmed, and even a dropkick led to a little hope. That hope was quickly quashed when a top rope attempt got Ricky uppercutted in the mouth. Flatliner, pinfall, Mil Muertes wins. Catrina followed up with a lick to the corpse of Mandel, and a smooch to her partner/client/pal Mil Muertes.

 

El Rey Network

I mean, it was a squash. Meltzer doesn’t rate squashes, Cagematch doesn’t rate squashes. I, a brave wrestling blogger, will rate this squash a 7 for its effectiveness in showing Mil Muertes’ power. He took a bit of offense early which -- in the hands of a good booker -- could show that an early barrage by a faster opponent might give said opponent hope for a quick victory over Death himself. The Spear could have ended things, but dragging Ricky around showed Mil’s confidence and rage at allowing himself to be hit, and the Flatliner is a solid power finisher, although I could see a Tombstone being fun too. Anyways, yes, 7 star squash -- which is different from a 7 star match, for sure.

El Rey Network

A cut to the cinematic cam for some hallway waiting with Cortez and Sisco. They were guarding the door to Dario Cueto’s office until an absolutely shredded Johnny Mundo walked over. Some threats were made, Mundo replied with a superkick to one man and a full on beating to the other, eventually leading to Johnny tossing the goon through Cueto’s door. Johnny was surprisingly mellow after getting in, considering Cueto stiffed him on the briefcase o’ cash and sent his goon squad after Mundo. All Johnny wanted was to provide the violence Dario said he wanted, in a match with Big Ryck. Cueto said sure, you got it, main event. Johnny thanked him and on his way out said after Ryck, Cueto would be next. 

 

El Rey Network

More drama after the break, as we saw money exchanging hands. Cueto said he didn’t care how much it cost, but after next week Cueto wanted Mundo in the hospital. 

 

El Rey Network

After that, we saw another video package for Prince Puma that was pretty similar to the week prior, with Puma training while Konnan talked up Prince Puma’s ancestry. 

Main Event Triple Threat

Drago vs Pentagon, Jr. vs Fenix

Let’s get this out of the way first: I am a HUGE mark for Drago’s mask and gear. I don’t understand how it all works together -- there’s a jaw part that comes off, and then he’s got a long black tongue that flops around…the whole presentation is just cool as all hell. I mean, look at this:

 

El Rey Network

IT’S SO COOL! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!

Alright, anyways, this was Drago’s first match in Lucha Underground, as well as Pentagon, Jr. and Fenix! During their entrances down the “Walk Of Faith,” the main stairway from the locker room to the ring, Vampiro mentioned that visa clearances would allow the fans to see more of these three in the Temple, which is another kinda funny thing in hindsight considering Fenix’s visa issues during his time with All Elite Wrestling. These days, you can see Fenix wrestling as Rey Fenix on SmackDown, and Penta el Zero Miedo on Raw. 

 

El Rey Network

Apparently the WWE doesn’t own the Triple Threat name, or didn’t at the time, because Matt Striker called this match by that name. Or, it could just be Striker’s Fed showing, although he also called it a Three Way Dance in the ECW style. This match started at 100mph with dives, flips, and a gorgeous corkscrew drop from Fenix onto the other two wrestlers. From there, we got a lot of the “wrestling hole,” a term coined by my lovely wife. It basically means we lose wrestlers in a multi-person match to allow for one-on-one action while the spares recover, lost to space and time. Fortunately, these three absolutely had chemistry with one another, leading to some outright amazing spots that probably blew younger me’s mind when this aired for the first time. It was, however, a little sad to see Penta do the Zero Miedo hand signal to no chant along.

 

El Rey Network

Fenix got to be the first to do something insane with the unique Lucha Underground architecture, flying off the top of Dario Cueto’s office onto Pentagon Jr. and Drago. Penta and Fenix followed that spot with a package piledriver and brain buster, respectively, onto Drago, putting him out of the ring, and allowing Fenix to get a clean shot at Pentagon Jr. Fenix leapt up onto Pentagon’s shoulders, gave him some quick punches to the top of the noggin, and whipped him over with a poison ‘rana for the pinfall victory. 

Man, that was so good. Like, 8/10 good. The moves were flawless, the execution perfect, and the speed of the action was relentless. [Cagematch says 7.23 for this one.] It’s on YouTube, take some time out of your day to check it out:

 

After Fenix got to celebrate in the ring, we got one last cinematic to close out the show. Dario Cueto was pacing in nearly complete darkness, but it was still clear he was in a cell. Cueto sat on a stool, and as he played with a key hanging on a chain from his neck, he said that he wouldn’t be intimidated by anyone -- not Johnny Mundo, and “not even you.” As he said this, a large shadow moved to cover Cueto in darkness. THIS is why I love this show! The cheese, the hamminess, the fat you could trim to just make it a bland, normal wrestling show. All these metaphors are making me hungry. 

El Rey Network

Closing Thoughts

The first half of this show was dominated by Chavo Guerrero, with both of the matches being sorta connected to him -- the first by his attack on Mascarita Sagrada, and the second by his accused connection to Mil Muertes. I understand that, at the time, Chavo was probably one of the bigger names on the show, what with his WWE connection to American fans as well as his family and international experience. It just kinda sucked that the wrestling portion of our telenovela was so tied to one character, especially this soon in the series. But we established his newfound heeliness, and got some decent character development in the process. Chavo is probably the most interesting character on the show right now, aside from Dario Cueto, and I think he’s got more motivation than he’s letting on.

We know our main event for the next show will be Johnny Mundo versus Big Ryck. If I had to guess, I’d say that Cortez Castro and Mr. Cisco will probably get involved, with Prince Puma making the save based on Episode 2. This show featured what I can confidently say is the best match in Lucha Underground to this point, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do to match or surpass it. I’m into the Catrina stuff, liking the Chavo story, and think they’re doing well keeping guys like Prince Puma and Johnny Mundo on our radar. It’s hard to do, considering they only have like 45 minutes per show to work with!

I looked up Drago out of curiosity, as I think most of us are familiar with Fenix and Pentagon Jr. from AEW and now WWE. Turns out there are eight Dragos out there, including one that is now Dragon Lee on WWE. Actually, only two of the Dragos on Cagematch’s list have any matches on their profiles, so I guess they never transferred the character, which is a pretty common occurrence in lucha. 

The guy we’re looking for, the Lucha Underground Drago, still wrestles at 49 years old. He even teamed up with Aero Star and Gravity against the Gunns and Juice Robinson on AEW Collision back in September of 2023! He goes by Dios Del Inframundo now, which translates to “God of the Underworld.” So yeah, dude went from the coolest mask in Lucha Underground to, basically, Satan. Because that was the only lateral move available to him, and he didn’t want to regress. And in case you were worried that Drago’s mask game slipped as he transitioned into the literal ruler of Hell, here’s a recent pic from his Instagram:

 

Instagram

Dude’s still got it.

So Long For Now

Follow me on BlueSky for updates and live watch-along commentary for AEW Dynamite and Collision (occasionally). And, if you’re looking into purchasing anything from a smart fridge to a new drill, check out the tech writing I do over at SlashGear -- my 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!