Project Lucha Underground: Season 1, Episode 5: “Boyle Heights Street Fight”

Good Morning!

Howdy! Welcome back to Project Lucha Underground Season 1. The Pequeño household is in the middle of a bunch of projects here, with garden clearing, mulch laying, and grass encouraging all taking center stage. We’ve also begun Mission: Mission: Impossible, in which we watch all the Mission: Impossible movies before the final one drops in theaters next week. I also just finished up Andor, and am gonna try to get the wife to watch that with me since Rogue One is her favorite Star Wars movie. 

On top of all that, we’re hoping to check out the new Final Destination flick, Bloodlines, which I’m told is not related to Roman Reigns despite the title. But that’s neither here nor there. We’ve got Lucha to watch, and less time to watch it (because of all the other stuff we’re also watching.)

Last Week On Lucha Underground

Episode three was pretty good, if a little uneven! Couple good matches in King Cuerno versus Drago and Fenix versus Pentagon, Jr. and some plot moving stuff too. Prince Puma caught some strays during Johnny Mundo’s match against Big Ryck, and Mundo got beat down and put through a table to end the show. Ivelisse challenged Sexy Star, adding to the women’s roster and keeping the spotlight on Star for now. We still haven’t seen what Dario Cueto’s key is for, but Mil Muertes’ pal Catrina seems to know. King Cuerno had a solid debut, and I think that wraps everything up. 

My one big critical observation was that it kinda felt like a reset. We didn’t build on too many stories that will keep rolling as we move forward. But I guess that’s not really the case. Star remains the focal point of the women’s division, and I think her matches against Ivelisse and Son of Havoc and her beating at the hands of Chavo Guerrero keep that intact. And I guess Johnny Mundo would be considered the main protagonist of the show alongside Prince Puma, and they’re clearly being set up to continue their bro-lationship despite Konnan telling Puma to distance himself from Johnny. I guess the best thing to do is keep watching to see what develops, so let’s go ahead and do that.

So let’s get back underground!

Lucha Underground: Season 1, Episode 5: “Boyle Heights Street Fight”

All Images from El Rey Network

After a recap of weeks past, we got to visit Dario Cueto in his office. Konnan told Cueto that he was there representing Prince Puma, but Cueto wasn’t having it, as Big Ryck’s crew doesn’t answer to Cueto. Konnan requested a match between Big Ryck and Prince Puma, but he didn’t want a regular ass match, he wanted a street fight. No rules, anything goes, things of that nature. Cueto agreed, Konnan took a big swig of Cueto’s drink again -- so far Konnan has declined a drink twice and taken Dario’s both times. Cut to a little spider for some reason, and we headed into the Temple for…

Match 1

Mil Muertes versus Drago

You know I love me some Drago, but these two probably have the best presentations of anyone in Lucha Underground, and that’s saying something. Drago approached this fight a lot like the one last time against King Cuerno, trying to use his speed to evade Muertes while getting hits where he could. Speaking of, King Cuerno watched this fight from atop Dario Cueto’s office, not really reacting but observing. Mil Muertes dominated, although Drago might have gotten more offense off than anyone else so far in a match against the big guy. Unfortunately, a couple successful strikes led to Drago climbing the turnbuckle only to be speared out of the goddamn air by Mil Muertes. A Flatliner finished off the blue dragon, and Mil Muertes won by pinfall. 

This was pretty good for what ended up being a glorified squash! Drago’s look sometimes fools me into thinking he’s bigger and more dominant than he is, as the last couple matches we’ve seen show he’s better at playing Little Mac than Mike Tyson, so to speak. 6/10 lucha masks for this contest. 

After the match, Catrina did the face-lick she’s fond of, and King Cuerno continued to observe from above. After the ring cleared, and Drago remained unconscious on the mat, Cuerno stalked down to the ring, yanked the dragon to his feet, and hit Drago with a Fireman’s Carry into a sitout powerbomb, which probably has a name but since we hadn’t seen it yet, nobody used it. 

After a replay of the Johnny Mundo video package where he works out in a poorly lit gym, we ended up following Dario Cueto into the locker room, where Mil Muertes and Catrina were hanging out. Cueto congratulated the pair, but Catrina called out Cueto, saying that “Mil Muertes learned long ago that you can’t keep darkness locked away forever.” Does Cueto have skeletons in his closet? A horrible alter ego, like some kind of Jekyll and Hyde situation? WHO’S TO SAY?

Match 2

Son of Havoc (w/Ivelisse) versus Mascarita Sagrada

We got us a mini match! Mascarita wasn’t having any of SoH’s taunts, going right after the taller competitor. Ivelisse saved Havoc’s bacon a couple times, pulling the bearded fella out of the way of the mini-estrella. Gorilla presses, standing moonsaults, and taunting followed as Son of Havoc gained the upper hand, but a mysterious lady in vinyl appeared on the steps of the Temple, distracting commentary as she watched the match. She took off as quickly as she popped into the Temple, though, so we didn’t get any immediate follow up. 

Ivelisse again cheated on Havoc’s behalf, but Sagrada got revenge (?) with a dive out of the ring that would have ended with him on his head if Ivelisse didn’t reposition herself to catch him. The commentary obviously played this as an intentional Sagrada attack, but it looked pretty gnarly to me. Fortunately, nobody died! 

Mascarita Sagrada hit a top rope dive on both Son of Havoc and Ivelisse, and then caught Havoc back in the ring with a tilt-a-whirl head scissors that rolled into a pin for the victory! 

You know, this match wasn’t half bad! It’s hard to call a mini match -- sometimes they feel like a carnie thing from a bygone era, usually used for a cheap pop or even cheaper heat. Other times you gotta respect the athletes taking part in the match, and the long history of mini-estrellas in lucha libre. Mascarita Sagrada held his own here, taking a lot of offense and doling out his own in dives and assisted maneuvers. Overall, I’ll go with a 5/10 for this one.

No time for vignettes here, as we rolled straight into the next match.

Match 3

Sexy Star versus Chavo Guerrero, Jr.

Star has had issues with Ivelisse, Son of Havoc, and Chavo Guerrero already, and we’re only on episode five of this series! Vampiro let us know that Blue Demon, Jr. is already on the mend after Chavo attacked the masked legend with a chair a couple shows back. Chavo did exactly what you’d expect after his heel turn -- lots of pie faces, forced kissing, shoves. Star retaliated by knocking him out of the ring, grabbing a steel chair, and kicking the ref in the wiener when the ref dared to suggest he couldn’t do that. So that’s a DQ, obviously.

Pentagon, Jr. then arrived and yanked the chair out of Star’s hands, but after a delay Penta allowed Chavo to grab Star. Fenix then ran into the arena, flying up the top rope and springboard kicking Penta’s chair into his face. Fenix hit Chavo with an enziguri, and he helped Sexy Star up and over him into a pop-up head scissors on Penta. The good guys posed as Chavo begged off up the stairs, and that was that.

Not a match to be rated, but a really fun segment regardless. You always love to see a good guy make a save in wrestling, and if we get a tag match with the four of these luchadores, it’s bound to be fun.

And again, no intermission, right into the main.

Main Event

Big Ryck (w/Mr. Sisco and Cortez Castro) versus Prince Puma

Seems a little unfair to do a street fight and have two guys with chairs accompany one of the competitors, but what do I know? Vampiro blamed Konnan for Puma getting into this situation, but Puma’s not gonna back down. Ryck got a really cool entrance, lit from behind and flanked by his associates. Puma came down the stairs, looking a little nervous but not scared. The two faced off and Puma got a handful of strikes off before getting absolutely merc’d by Ryck. Puma got a little offense in before Sisco and Cortez interfered, giving Ryck the upper hand until Puma hit a crazy looking corkscrew dive out of the ring and onto all three of his enemies. 

The match was 80% Ryck slowly beating on Puma with his pals interfering when needed, and for some reason Cortez bled despite barely being involved in the fight. A kendo stick helped Puma even the odds after a lengthy beating that saw Ryck seated on a chair in the corner, but Ryck would fight back as his buddies grabbed a ladder and table. Puma looked about to get murdered on that ladder when Johnny Mundo appeared on the balcony and flew into the ring to make the save! Incredibly cool shit.

Mundo proceeded to get Puma off the ladder and dump Cortez and Sisco from the ring, and then tackled Ryck with a Thesz press and punches. Johnny cued up a chair, but a quick roll from Ryck led to Mundo laying out Puma. The goons took out Mundo, and put Puma through a table to end this show the same as the last: with Big Ryck and friends standing tall.

Prince Puma had some good hope spots, but in the end the odds were overwhelming, even with Johnny Mundo’s help/chair shot. Mundo did roll in after the baddies left so he could check on Puma, so I don’t think any ill will was intended.

A good street fight has a few things -- interference, weapons, and some fun spots. Even though the pacing of this was kinda slow, it did tick all those boxes, and Johnny Mundo’s dive from the balcony of the Temple into the ring was phenomenal. 6/10. This was the only match from this show that Cagematch gave a rating to, and it was a 5.8/10.

Closing Thoughts

So next episode we’ll get to see if this is like every other wrestling show ever, where nobody can watch the show and understand that the accidental attack was just that. I assume Prince Puma won’t trust Mundo immediately; I also don’t trust Konnan to not blame Mundo for Puma’s loss. 

This was a solid episode. No big standout matches like in previous ones, but good stuff and heavy lore building happened throughout. Sometimes you just gotta keep things moving, and it’s always good to establish your heel faction early on so that the good guys can assemble against them, Avengers style.

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 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!