BRM Reviews the 4/20/2016 Lucha Underground

[Big Red Machine]

FENIX, DRAGO, & AREOSTAR IN DARIO’S OFFICE- very good segment.
It was all based on a nice callback to last year’s trios tournament (because continuity matters on this show!) and resulted in the signing of two big matches for tonight: Drago vs. Aerostar for an Aztec medallion and a trios tournament match pitting the Disciples of Death against Fenix, P.J. Black, & Jack Evans.

WINNER GETS ONE OF THE SEVEN AZTEC MEDALLIONS: Drago vs. Aerostar- 6.5/10
Really fun opener. Aerostar appeared to hurt his leg after slipping off the top rope and tumbling to the floor. I’m not sure if this was legit or not. He kept selling it throughout the match, but it wasn’t incorporated into the story of the match in any way.

JOHNNY MUNDO & TAYA IN JOHNNY’S GYM- okay segment.
Next week we’re getting Mundo vs. Cage in a steel cage with one of the Aztec medallions on the line.

TRIOS TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Jack Evans, P.J. Black, & Fenix vs. The Disciples of Death (w/Catrina)- 7.25/10
SOOOO much fun! Jack Evans is the best. Great action in this match, too.

DARIO STIRS UP SOME SH*T BETWEEN THE TRIOS CHAMPS- Also, he tells us that next week we will see the tournament finals, which will be a four-team elimination match for the titles between the champs and the three first-round winners. I hope this give this match the entire show.

CATRINA SCOLDS THE DISCIPLES OF DEATH FOR LOSING- She says “give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just destroy you right now!” Then one of the Disciples ripped the other two’s hearts out. Catrina approved. We got lots of special effects. The other two turned into big puddles with some remains (think what happens when a vampire gets staked True Blood) while this guy seemed to undergo some sort of slight transformation.

LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE MATCH: “The Monster” Matanza Cueto(c) (w/Dario Cueto) vs. Mil Muertes (w/Catrina)- no rating… disappointing segment.
Striker and Vampiro call attention to Dario’s key.
They brawled and the crowd loved it, even with the lack of DQ for interference and weapon shots. Mill did manage to not only take Matanza off his feet but dominated a good part of the match. The finish had them brawl on top of Dario’s office and Mil hit his finisher through the roof of the office for what I guess was a double ref stoppage. Dario was very upset at the thought that his brother might be dead.
The reason I didn’t like this was that it really felt like they rushed to this match and then did this finish specifically to avoid having to do a real finish. Maybe it will turn into an important part of the story later on, but as of right now, that’s the way I feel about it.

CAPTAIN VASQUEZ MEETS WITH COUNCILMAN DELGADO- meh.
He tells her that his “employer” wants her to drop her case against Dario. It is pretty much confirmed that this “employer” is an individual involved in illicit businesses of some manner. Captain Vasquez was quite unhappy about this.
This stuff just feels so disconnected and different from everything else that’s going on that I really don’t know how to feel about it, but I am leaning towards dislike.

In her office, in addition to the picture of Bael listing him as deceased there were also picture of Big Ryck, Alberto, Blue Demon Jr., Hernandez, and someone else (all guys who have left the promotion under circumstances that the bookers weren’t thrilled with) listing them all as “missing.” This was brilliant, as it not only unofficially “explained” their absence, but was also pretty funny.

A great show from LU, even though I was disappointed with the main event.

[cero2k]

FENIX, DRAGO, & AREOSTAR IN DARIO’S OFFICE- very good segment.
It was all based on a nice callback to last year’s trios tournament (because continuity matters on this show!) and resulted in the signing of two big matches for tonight: Drago vs. Aerostar for an Aztec medallion and a trios tournament match pitting the Disciples of Death against Fenix, P.J. Black, & Jack Evans.
I thought they would in a way hint at the king of trios and i marked out

DARIO STIRS UP SOME SH*T BETWEEN THE TRIOS CHAMPS- Also, he tells us that next week we will see the tournament finals, which will be a four-team elimination match for the titles between the champs and the three first-round winners. I hope this give this match the entire show.
well there's that and the cage inside a cage match

LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE MATCH: “The Monster” Matanza Cueto(c) (w/Dario Cueto) vs. Mil Muertes (w/Catrina)- no rating… disappointing segment.
Striker and Vampiro call attention to Dario’s key.
They brawled and the crowd loved it, even with the lack of DQ for interference and weapon shots. Mill did manage to not only take Matanza off his feet but dominated a good part of the match. The finish had them brawl on top of Dario’s office and Mil hit his finisher through the roof of the office for what I guess was a double ref stoppage. Dario was very upset at the thought that his brother might be dead.
The reason I didn’t like this was that it really felt like they rushed to this match and then did this finish specifically to avoid having to do a real finish. Maybe it will turn into an important part of the story later on, but as of right now, that’s the way I feel about it.
I loved this match, I had chills running through while watching this, this was the best of Matanza since he debuted. Loved the rivalry between Catrina and Dario and the ending was perfect IMO to protect both men and really escalate the ownership feud. I initially felt they rushed pentagon vs Matanza, but after the last weeks, this match wasn't forced anymore, Matanza has taken on hardcore, speed, and strength, and i think it helped build all three contenders in different ways, Pentagon needs to come back more careful, Fenix while he lost, was able to hang with Matanza, and Muertes wasn't defeated like the rest.

In her office, in addition to the picture of Bael listing him as deceased there were also picture of Big Ryck, Alberto, Blue Demon Jr., Hernandez, and someone else (all guys who have left the promotion under circumstances that the bookers weren’t thrilled with) listing them all as “missing.” This was brilliant, as it not only unofficially “explained” their absence, but was also pretty funny.
I think the fifth man was daivari, can't think of another bold guy that didn't come back

[Big Red Machine]

DARIO STIRS UP SOME SH*T BETWEEN THE TRIOS CHAMPS- Also, he tells us that next week we will see the tournament finals, which will be a four-team elimination match for the titles between the champs and the three first-round winners. I hope this give this match the entire show.
well there's that and the cage inside a cage match
That is exactly the type of match that can wait a week. It doesn't need to be on the same show as this. If you have two hot main events, why put them on the same show?

LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE MATCH: “The Monster” Matanza Cueto(c) (w/Dario Cueto) vs. Mil Muertes (w/Catrina)- no rating… disappointing segment.
Striker and Vampiro call attention to Dario’s key.
They brawled and the crowd loved it, even with the lack of DQ for interference and weapon shots. Mill did manage to not only take Matanza off his feet but dominated a good part of the match. The finish had them brawl on top of Dario’s office and Mil hit his finisher through the roof of the office for what I guess was a double ref stoppage. Dario was very upset at the thought that his brother might be dead.
The reason I didn’t like this was that it really felt like they rushed to this match and then did this finish specifically to avoid having to do a real finish. Maybe it will turn into an important part of the story later on, but as of right now, that’s the way I feel about it.
I loved this match, I had chills running through while watching this, this was the best of Matanza since he debuted. Loved the rivalry between Catrina and Dario and the ending was perfect IMO to protect both men and really escalate the ownership feud. I initially felt they rushed pentagon vs Matanza, but after the last weeks, this match wasn't forced anymore, Matanza has taken on hardcore, speed, and strength, and i think it helped build all three contenders in different ways, Pentagon needs to come back more careful, Fenix while he lost, was able to hang with Matanza, and Muertes wasn't defeated like the rest.
Doesn't matter. They still could have taken more time to build them up so that you wouldn't have to do a non-finish here. It was too early for someone to even dominate Matanza like Mil did here. They should have held off on this match. They've got, like five or six more months left this season.

[cero2k]

Doesn't matter. They still could have taken more time to build them up so that you wouldn't have to do a non-finish here. It was too early for someone to even dominate Matanza like Mil did here. They should have held off on this match. They've got, like five or six more months left this season.

no they don't, we're exactly half way through the season, it's only 26 episodes. I'm not disagreeing that it felt soon, but that didn't make it disappointing at all, it was freaking awesome and it could mean that there are bigger plans for the the future than just Mil vs Matanza, and he wasn't super dominated, only equaled

[Big Red Machine]

Doesn't matter. They still could have taken more time to build them up so that you wouldn't have to do a non-finish here. It was too early for someone to even dominate Matanza like Mil did here. They should have held off on this match. They've got, like five or six more months left this season.

no they don't, we're exactly half way through the season, it's only 26 episodes. I'm not disagreeing that it felt soon, but that didn't make it disappointing at all, it was freaking awesome and it could mean that there are bigger plans for the the future than just Mil vs Matanza, and he wasn't super dominated, only equaled

In the beginning he was dominated. I fully understand why they did it, but I would have rather had the one MEGA match with a real finish. I mean... how is MIL MUERTES VS. MATANZA, FIRST TIME EVER FOR THE LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE not you Ultima Lucha main event?

[cero2k]

because the main event for Ultima Lucha will surely be even bigger. I used to think why are they doing Puma vs Mundo so soon, well they knew why

[Big Red Machine]

because the main event for Ultima Lucha will surely be even bigger. I used to think why are they doing Puma vs Mundo so soon, well they knew why

Yeah, but... at this point, I can't possibly conceive of anything that would be bigger (and I honestly don't think that sticking a gimmick onto this match would make it feel bigger), and by this point in the season, we should be able to at least see some direction.

[cero2k]

because the main event for Ultima Lucha will surely be even bigger. I used to think why are they doing Puma vs Mundo so soon, well they knew why

Yeah, but... at this point, I can't possibly conceive of anything that would be bigger (and I honestly don't think that sticking a gimmick onto this match would make it feel bigger), and by this point in the season, we should be able to at least see some direction.

Matanza and Muertes are not the biggest stars of LU, I can think of 3 other men who have bigger reason to challenge for the title at the main event of Ultima Lucha if Matanza is still the champ by then.

Last year we didn't see Muertes going for the title until the last 3/4 weeks.

[Big Red Machine]

because the main event for Ultima Lucha will surely be even bigger. I used to think why are they doing Puma vs Mundo so soon, well they knew why

Yeah, but... at this point, I can't possibly conceive of anything that would be bigger (and I honestly don't think that sticking a gimmick onto this match would make it feel bigger), and by this point in the season, we should be able to at least see some direction.

Matanza and Muertes are not the biggest stars of LU, I can think of 3 other men who have bigger reason to challenge for the title at the main event of Ultima Lucha if Matanza is still the champ by then.

Last year we didn't see Muertes going for the title until the last 3/4 weeks.

Are they the two biggest stars? No. But the two of them facing off for the title is the biggest possible match.

[cero2k]

Are they the two biggest stars? No. But the two of them facing off for the title is the biggest possible match.

right now as of april 22nd, yes. but it won't be bigger than Rey/Azteca seeking revenge, it won't be bigger than Pentagon's revenge. It's LU, just give it time

[Big Red Machine]

Are they the two biggest stars? No. But the two of them facing off for the title is the biggest possible match.

right now as of april 22nd, yes. but it won't be bigger than Rey/Azteca seeking revenge, it won't be bigger than Pentagon's revenge. It's LU, just give it time

Rey/Azteca seeking revenge feels more like a big backstage moment to me, not a big match. As for Pentagon seeking revenge, that feels a bit more like it should be the big season three storyline to me, but even if it is a season 2 thing, I still don't think it's bigger than Mil vs. Matanza.