every Lucha Underground season 1 episode, ranked

Wrestling fans tend to look back at years in terms of best matches and best wrestlers. It’d be easy to do to rank those for Lucha Underground as well, but this promotion is different in the episodes themselves have cohesive identities. I can’t separate one RAW from another months later, but many of this shows episodes come together on a common theme or shared events. I decided to take advantage of that, and rank every hour of TV in this first season.

Worst to best, so I can again take unfair shots at the second episode right away. Order was determined by “which ones seemed better when I thought back about it quickly”, and can not possibly be wrong. Being near the top isn’t necessarily bad; almost every one has something watchable.

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Volador defeats Sombra, life defeats Mr. Niebla, Shocker off

CMLL (MON) 08/03/2015 Arena Puebla [CMLL, Periodico Enfoque]
1) Black Tiger, Robin, Zaeta Roja b Espíritu Maligno, Guerrero Espacial, Saurón
Tecnicos took 2/3
2) Cancerbero, King Jaguar, Raziel b Lestat, Magnus, Pegasso
Rudos took 2/3. Lestat & King Jaguar feuded but neither man pinned each other during the match.
3) Marcela b Amapola [lightning]
Marcela beat Amapola clean with the Michinoku Driver. No title shot for Amapola.
4) Ephesto, Mephisto, Pólvora b Ángel de Oro, Titán, Valiente
Polvora attacked Angel de Oro early. Rudos took 1/3, Polvora pinning Angel de Oro clean. Polovra asked for another title shot, but the crowd and Angel de Oro said NO.
5) Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Rey Escorpión b Atlantis, La Máscara, Último Guerrero [Relevos Increíbles]
Atlantis replaced Rush. Mr. Niebla appeared to be in no condition to wrestle and had an awful performance which sank the match (not that the other five guys were doing much besides keeping Niebla out.) Escorpion’s team won 1/3, the last when Escorpion snuck in a foul on Guerrero. They made challenges as well.
6) Volador Jr. b La Sombra
Volador took falls 2/3 in the usual fashion: two short falls, and one long one with just about every move possible. Volador Spiral #1 finally got the win.

Main event was great. Show was just OK for the first four matches and the semimain was awful, and Volador and Sombra basically saved the show. (As much as it needs saving when you’re watching it for free.)

No word on Mr. Niebla going forward. The newspaper account doesn’t note Niebla’s behavior, but everyone in the match was very aware of it. He’s next booked in Guadalajara tonight and info from those shows are slow to turn up unless there’s in a fight. He’s currently scheduled in Arena Mexico on Friday.

Shocker is no longer scheduled on Friday or Sunday. Vangellys replaces him on Friday, and Rey Bucanero on Sunday. Not sure exactly what the issue is; if it’s just an injury, it’d seem like he could still show up on Friday to judge, but he might not.

CMLL also added Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Gran Guerrero versus Thunder, Rey Escorpion, and Dragon Rojo to Friday’s card (not replacing anything, so it’s a seven match card.) It’s no doubt related to the Anniversary plans. CMLL started a tease for Revolucionarios versus Guerreros in a cage match before shifting to Rey Escorpion versus Ultimo Guerrero. Maybe they’re bringing back to the original plans for the Anniversary show, but it’d be absurd to put Escorpion in six weeks after he lost his hair.

Today’s Arena Mexico card has the Sky Team versus Ephesto, Mephisto and Hechicero. This would seem like a set up for a title match if the Hijos del Infierno weren’t already getting one on Sunday. Stuka, Titan and Triton face Cavernario, Felino and Gran Guerrero in the semimain.

Sombra can’t be quite totally suspended in Mexico City if they’re still having him be the guest host on the Turibus today. Those are booked thru CMLL.

In addition to Sexy Star, her husband Jhony Gonzalez and Rey Mysterio Jr. also appear in the Latin America version of the ESPN Body issue.

+LuchaTV has their own interview with Rey Mysterio Jr., as does Rolling Stone.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

This week’s lucha libre magazine covers; looks like Box Y Lucha is back this week and next.

Televisa Deportes will be hosting video chats with AAA luchadors, starting with Psycho Clown & Villano IV on Wednesday, Myzteziz & Chessman on Thursday and Sexy Star on Friday. These have been region limited to Mexico in the past.

Blue Demon Jr. said he found out about his TripleMania match via social media (and AAA didn’t tell him.)

Lucha Underground has a great teaser for Ultima Lucha up.

Black Terry Jr. has highlights of Wasson versus Arez and Herodes Jr. versus Negro Navarro from the GIW show.

RobViper has a music video of this year’s Rey de Reyes.

Disturbio, Ciber Punk and Garrobo Punk are part of Lucha Caos, and will be appearing on the Chilanga Mask 08/16 show. There’s also interviews on Pagano and Trauma I on their match.

Fuego en el Ring catches up with Super Calo. This Sunday’s Guadalajara card looks like All Elite card because it turns it out is one, even though those words aren’t mentioned on the poster.

SuperLuchas looks back to a mask match between El Brazo & Brazo de Plata versus the Corsarios (who’d turn out to be the future Savio Vega and Invader 4) and Dory Dixon versus Ray Mendoza.

Rico Rodriguez won Monterrey’s Reyes del Aire tournament.

Principe Condor lost his mask to Coyote Jr. in Oaxaca.

There’s a benefit show on 08/29 for a child named Brayan Alvarez.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 08/09/2015 Arena Naucalpan
1) King Man, Ovni, Skayde vs Bronco, Imposible, Príncipe Azteca
2) Hijo del Pantera & Pantera vs Diablo Jr. 1 & El Hijo del Diablo
3) Súper Nova vs Golden Magic
4) Cien Caras Jr., Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Oficial AK47 vs Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr.
5) Danny Casas, Dr. Wagner Jr., Veneno vs Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II

Dr. Wagner Jr. might have been on TripleMania, and instead he’s teaming with Veneno & Danny Casas. That’s a bit tough. (Wagner is also listed on a FULL show at about the same time.)

Not sure what’s really going to happen in the semifinal, since Hijo del Pirata will have to hurry back from Colombia to make it and Pirata Morgan Jr. seems not to actually work many of the shows he’s listed for (with Hijo del Pirata being in as a replacement or because they listed the wrong name to begin with.)

The two feuds IWRG’s been focusing on are dropped down to third and second to make it clear you shouldn’t really care about them. It’s convenient!

I think Mega Man gets crown throwing power when he defeats King Man. I’m hoping Bronco in the opener is the return of the CMLL one, though it’s almost definitely not. Ovni has been around Mexico City for years and it’s a safe bet all the unknown guys are Skayde trainees.

CMLL (MON) 08/10/2015 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger & Rey Samuray vs Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr.
2) Starman, Stigma, Tritón vs Okumura, Puma, Tiger
3) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Titán vs Kráneo, Olímpico, Ripper
4) Ángel de Oro © vs Pólvora [CMLL LH]
Angel de Oro 5th defense. Rematch from 13 days ago in Arena Mexico.
5) Atlantis, Mistico, Rush vs Mephisto, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
6) Último Guerrero vs Rey Escorpión

No Marcela/Amapola, but a title match and a singles match anyway. Rush being listed here seems notable, but he was listed this past week and didn’t work so who knows. Mr. Niebla wouldn’t be pulled until today and almost never update the Puebla lineup when there’s a change.

Opener could be great.

The Crash (FRI) 10/02/2015 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) Star Dragón © vs Mirage [The Crash Junior]
2) Ángel Metálico, Dinamic Black, Súper Nova vs Star Boy, Tony Casanova, Zarco
3) Fenix (AAA) vs Angélico, Seiya Sanada, Matt Cross [Trofeo X Gym]
4) ?, Pimpinela Escarlata, Psycho Clown vs Cibernético, Mamba, Taya
5) Pentagón Jr. © vs Bestia 666 [The Crash CRUISER]
6) El Patrón Alberto, Rey Horuz, Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Brian Cage, Daga, Hijo del Fantasma

Pretty loaded card for the Crash. Third match is interesting, with someone who looks a lot like of Son of Havoc and Sanada (ex-Wrestle-1, ex-TNA) in. Main even should be very fun.

As a lucha fan, one of the real costs of losing Lucha Underground would be losing the tasty AAA matchups which only seem to happen on outside shows. Aerostar and Jack Evans were in AAA together for years and have had as many singles matches there as they’ve had in Lucha Underground in a few months (1 each.) This is probably going to be Pentagon’s best Mexico singles match of the year because right now it’s his only one.

CMLL’s 82nd Anniversary show will be on September 4

Tonight’s Puebla broadcast mentioned the annual CMLL Anniversary show would now take place on September 4th. This is a major surprise: CMLL had quietly listed the show as taking place on September 18th 25th as part of their story writing contest. Recently, a reliable source had said the show would be moved to September 18th 25th, but I couldn’t get that confirmed.

September 4th is the earliest anniversary show since 2010, when Sombra beat Olimpico in a hastily assembled cage match on September 3rd. That seems like the most likely template for this year as well: this show is four Fridays away and there’s nothing remotely resembling an Anniversary main event being put together. The only thing CMLL’s set up is Ultimo Guerrero versus Thunder, which would die as a singles match. They do better with a cage match, but not at the same ticket prices as past years and they’re unlikely to fill the building. It’s also possible CMLL will run the Universal tournament final on that show, though it would have to overlap the En Busca de un Idolo final to work. There’s no strong options and the Anniversary name is going to have to carry the day.

This would be the only second first week of September anniversary show since 1963. That year saw EMLL run a second show on September 27th. They didn’t run a second anniversary in 2010, but they did have the Volador Jr. versus Mistico (I) Copa Bicentenario final, which was about an event in itself. Not sure we should expect anything extra this year.