BRM Reviews the 1/4/2017 Lucha Underground

[Big Red Machine]

MIL MUETRES & CATRINA BACKSTAGE- she tells Mil that he needs to take out Vampiro in order to take out Prince Puma.

JEREMIAH CRANE & CATRINA BACKSTAGE- Crane reminds her that he beat Mil Muertes last week… or as he put it “the man you love.” Then she thickened the plot by saying “he’s not the one I love.” Hmm… interesting.

SEXY STAR vs. MARIPOSA- 5.5/10
When Mariposa was setting up for the Kudoh Driver, Matt Striker referred to is as both the Vertebreaker and the Cop Killah, but never by the name that the wrestler herself calls it.
Mariposa loses again. She has been booked like total sh*t since that No Mas match. Greatest warrior of the Moth Tribe my ass. Marty’s had a bunch more wins than she has.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Whoops. I shouldn’t have typed that. Sorry, Mariposa. My fault.
Marty “The Moth” Martinez shows up and attacks his sister. My hope is that this is because he wants to claim the mantle of the greatest warrior of the Moth Tribe, which will free her up to go babyface so that she can be the champion of the Moth Tribe that joins together with the other six to do whatever it is that they all need to unite to do.

THE RABBIT TRIBE WORSHIP MASCARITA SAGRADA AS THEIR DIETY- I approve of this twist.
They want him to be at ringside for their match. He tells them that they’re crazy.

THE RABBIT TRIBE vs. DRAGO, VIBORA, & PINDAR (w/Kobra Moon)- 5/10
The Reptile Tribe is billed as hailing from “when reptiles ruled the Earth.” This sounds so horrifically stupid. This was supposed to be the Rabbit Tribe vs. Pindar, Vibora, & Kobra Moon but she ordered Drago to take her place. They brought him out in chains, so he’s obviously still their unwilling captive… so why the f*ck would they set him free? Or even bring him here to The Temple where his friends might rescue him?
I really didn’t like the goofy drug addicts getting so much offense on our big scary monsters, and the whole “why doesn’t Drago just run away” question loomed over this match, making it hard for me to enjoy it much.

DRAGO’S FRIENDS SHOW UP TO SAVE HIM- and they do. Well that was fast.

SEXY STAR & THE MACK BACKSTAGE- a nice callback to the segment they had a few weeks ago when Sexy Star was going into her title shot.

DARIO CUETO & THE MACK IN THE LOCKER ROOM- I hated this. Not only did they take away the title match they’ve been building up all night, but they are taking it away just to go back to the “winner gets to pick the stipulation for the match” stipulation that they do WAY too often in LU (and it’s doubly frustrating when there is no reason to do a gimmick match in the first place).

WINNER GETS TO PICK THE STIPULATIONS FOR THEIR LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE MATCH: The Mack vs. Johnny Mundo- 4/10
Unnecessary overbooking in an already unnecessary match.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- The Worldwide Undeground beat Mack up while Johnny cuts a great promo on him announcing that next week we’re getting an All Night Long match. Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t seem to pick up on what exactly it was that Johnny was announcing.

MIL MUERTES ATTACKS VAMPIRO- Prince Puma casually strolls down the stairs to not make the save.

A very disappointing episode of LU.

[cero2k]

THE RABBIT TRIBE vs. DRAGO, VIBORA, & PINDAR (w/Kobra Moon)- 5/10
The Reptile Tribe is billed as hailing from “when reptiles ruled the Earth.” This sounds so horrifically stupid. This was supposed to be the Rabbit Tribe vs. Pindar, Vibora, & Kobra Moon but she ordered Drago to take her place. They brought him out in chains, so he’s obviously still their unwilling captive… so why the f*ck would they set him free? Or even bring him here to The Temple where his friends might rescue him?
I really didn’t like the goofy drug addicts getting so much offense on our big scary monsters, and the whole “why doesn’t Drago just run away” question loomed over this match, making it hard for me to enjoy it much.
I personally like that the Rabbit Tribe is not just a comedy act, even when they lose I rather have them be ca credible team than a joke, especially if we are to believe that they're one of the legendary tribes, which brings me to something i don't like, the constant mentioning of drug use, i feel it belittles the tribe and makes it seem more like a bunch of followers and not an actual tribe.

also, i didn't have a problem with DRAGO fighting, as we saw he is somewhat brainwashed already and realistically, he isn't hard to capture, it only took one try.


DARIO CUETO & THE MACK IN THE LOCKER ROOM- I hated this. Not only did they take away the title match they’ve been building up all night, but they are taking it away just to go back to the “winner gets to pick the stipulation for the match” stipulation that they do WAY too often in LU (and it’s doubly frustrating when there is no reason to do a gimmick match in the first place).

WINNER GETS TO PICK THE STIPULATIONS FOR THEIR LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE MATCH: The Mack vs. Johnny Mundo- 4/10
Unnecessary overbooking in an already unnecessary match.
This worries me, I can't see Mack winning the title, but to close out the mid-season with an all night long match between the two makes me think he may win it. I didn't mind this match and waiting for the next week, but surely Mack should have won to makes us think that he actually has a change to win next week.

i liked the show (even after watching WK11), but i felt it was badly booked. All backstage stuff did excite me

[Big Red Machine]

THE RABBIT TRIBE vs. DRAGO, VIBORA, & PINDAR (w/Kobra Moon)- 5/10
The Reptile Tribe is billed as hailing from “when reptiles ruled the Earth.” This sounds so horrifically stupid. This was supposed to be the Rabbit Tribe vs. Pindar, Vibora, & Kobra Moon but she ordered Drago to take her place. They brought him out in chains, so he’s obviously still their unwilling captive… so why the f*ck would they set him free? Or even bring him here to The Temple where his friends might rescue him?
I really didn’t like the goofy drug addicts getting so much offense on our big scary monsters, and the whole “why doesn’t Drago just run away” question loomed over this match, making it hard for me to enjoy it much.
I personally like that the Rabbit Tribe is not just a comedy act, even when they lose I rather have them be ca credible team than a joke, especially if we are to believe that they're one of the legendary tribes, which brings me to something i don't like, the constant mentioning of drug use, i feel it belittles the tribe and makes it seem more like a bunch of followers and not an actual tribe.
I don't have a problem with them looking credible. I just think that the two big scary monsters were the wrong guys for them to look credible against.

also, i didn't have a problem with DRAGO fighting, as we saw he is somewhat brainwashed already and realistically, he isn't hard to capture, it only took one try.
Yeah, but he wasn't ready for it. The next time they try to capture him, he'll be ready. As for the brainwashing thing, if that's the case then they shouldn't have had the chains. It just doesn't go together. Either he is brainwashed and doesn't need them or he isn't brainwashed and therefore does. Having both is like a contradiction.

DARIO CUETO & THE MACK IN THE LOCKER ROOM- I hated this. Not only did they take away the title match they’ve been building up all night, but they are taking it away just to go back to the “winner gets to pick the stipulation for the match” stipulation that they do WAY too often in LU (and it’s doubly frustrating when there is no reason to do a gimmick match in the first place).

WINNER GETS TO PICK THE STIPULATIONS FOR THEIR LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE MATCH: The Mack vs. Johnny Mundo- 4/10
Unnecessary overbooking in an already unnecessary match.
This worries me, I can't see Mack winning the title, but to close out the mid-season with an all night long match between the two makes me think he may win it. I didn't mind this match and waiting for the next week, but surely Mack should have won to makes us think that he actually has a change to win next week.
There is no way he's winning it. They'd be insane to take it off of Mundo so quickly. The problem with Mack winning here is that he then gets to pick the stip so you've got the babyface with an advantage. I also think they're wasting a story by doing this with no build. The idea that Mundo doesn't think The Mack has the conditioning to go All Night Long is a good one, but they've never ever played that up aside from one passing comment by Striker during the match about how Mundo appears to have better conditioning than Mack.

[cero2k]

WINNER GETS TO PICK THE STIPULATIONS FOR THEIR LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE MATCH: The Mack vs. Johnny Mundo- 4/10
Unnecessary overbooking in an already unnecessary match.
This worries me, I can't see Mack winning the title, but to close out the mid-season with an all night long match between the two makes me think he may win it. I didn't mind this match and waiting for the next week, but surely Mack should have won to makes us think that he actually has a change to win next week.
There is no way he's winning it. They'd be insane to take it off of Mundo so quickly. The problem with Mack winning here is that he then gets to pick the stip so you've got the babyface with an advantage. I also think they're wasting a story by doing this with no build. The idea that Mundo doesn't think The Mack has the conditioning to go All Night Long is a good one, but they've never ever played that up aside from one passing comment by Striker during the match about how Mundo appears to have better conditioning than Mack.

i swear that Striker has made mention in some matches (maybe battle of the bulls) that mack looked gassed, but surely there is no way that was intentional. I agree that something like that could be better built

[Big Red Machine]

The more I think about it, the more it feels like the right match to end the half-season on is Prince Puma vs. Mil Muertes.

[cero2k]

The more I think about it, the more it feels like the right match to end the half-season on is Prince Puma vs. Mil Muertes.

if the feud is to end there, yes, otherwise I feel that ending the Mundo/WWU vs Mack/Star feud is better. the thing that i don't like is that it's an all night long match, there is no time to go over all the other stories going on. Puma/Muertes, Cage, Pentagon, Matanza/Rey, they're all stories that i feel we need to mention if we're going to be gone for a while

[Big Red Machine]

The more I think about it, the more it feels like the right match to end the half-season on is Prince Puma vs. Mil Muertes.

if the feud is to end there, yes, otherwise I feel that ending the Mundo/WWU vs Mack/Star feud is better. the thing that i don't like is that it's an all night long match, there is no time to go over all the other stories going on. Puma/Muertes, Cage, Pentagon, Matanza/Rey, they're all stories that i feel we need to mention if we're going to be gone for a while

Without the All Night Long stip, though, I don't think WWU vs. Mack & Sexy (especially if it's just Mundo vs. Mack) is anywhere near big enough to end a half-season.

[cero2k]

The more I think about it, the more it feels like the right match to end the half-season on is Prince Puma vs. Mil Muertes.

if the feud is to end there, yes, otherwise I feel that ending the Mundo/WWU vs Mack/Star feud is better. the thing that i don't like is that it's an all night long match, there is no time to go over all the other stories going on. Puma/Muertes, Cage, Pentagon, Matanza/Rey, they're all stories that i feel we need to mention if we're going to be gone for a while

Without the All Night Long stip, though, I don't think WWU vs. Mack & Sexy (especially if it's just Mundo vs. Mack) is anywhere near big enough to end a half-season.

agree, the cage match would have IMO, it's been the title feud since they started with the Gift of the Gods, so it does feel deserving

[Big Red Machine]

if the feud is to end there, yes, otherwise I feel that ending the Mundo/WWU vs Mack/Star feud is better. the thing that i don't like is that it's an all night long match, there is no time to go over all the other stories going on. Puma/Muertes, Cage, Pentagon, Matanza/Rey, they're all stories that i feel we need to mention if we're going to be gone for a while

Without the All Night Long stip, though, I don't think WWU vs. Mack & Sexy (especially if it's just Mundo vs. Mack) is anywhere near big enough to end a half-season.

agree, the cage match would have IMO, it's been the title feud since they started with the Gift of the Gods, so it does feel deserving

Yeah, it's been the title feud for a while, but Mack has felt like a supporting character the whole time. He's not Johnny Mundo. He's P.J. Black. It'd be like if the Triple H vs Legacy blew off Hunter vs. Orton in February and then had Dibiase get the title shot at Mania.