Lucha Underground 3×19: Gods Among Men

Famous B is great

Matches

Texano defeats Joey Ryan (7:03, golden horseshoe to the head, OK)

Cage defeated Veneno (1:15, Drill Claw, not rated)

Matanza defeated Dragon Azteca (6:59, ref stop, good)

Developments

Dragon Azteca Jr. met his destiny. It turns out Dragon Azteca’s destiny is getting chokeslamed thru the bleachers to the floor. Not all of us are cut out for great things. Azteca put up a fight and survived longer against Matanza than others were managing at the start of the season, but the death match was nearly his own death. Azteca’s mentor Rey Mysterio appeared too late to do anything but check on Azteca. It was the first time Mysterio and Matanza were in the same ring since Aztec Warfare, and Matanza knocked down fans to get a hold of Rey. They fought for a few minutes, with Rey luckily backdropping Matanza thru the ceiling of the storage closet (the fall Fenix took in a death match in season 1.) Dario freaked out, immediately calling for the show to be over and everyone to leave.

Rey & Matanza are headed to a big match, assuming Matanza survived. Johnny Mundo and the Mack are headed to their own big match, an All Night Long title match. Mundo confidently declared the Mack wasn’t in shape to last a full show with him. Mack was good enough shape to surprise attack Mundo, then take out PJ and Jack with stunners in revenge for last week’s attack. Mundo sent security after the Mack, only for the Mack to give them all Stunners as well (in a very obvious Steve Austin homage.)

Dragon Azteca airborne

The other big match very obviously coming is Prince Puma versus Mil Muertes, once again. Vampiro opened the show by threatening revenge on Mil for his attack last week. Later, Prince Puma seemed tormented by thoughts of Mil and their Grave Consequences match. Catrina confronted Puma, and Puma bluffed that he was only distracted by visions of the pain and blood that was coming Mil’s way. Catrina wasn’t convinced or scared.

There were a lot of story this week. The last vision of this “half season” involved the Moth Tribe. First, Marty appeared to be stalking Melissa Santos, but then he was attacked by someone we didn’t see. Mariposa was revealed to be the attacker, and she tied up Marty much like Sexy Star was at the end of season one. Weirdly, Mariposa seemed happy with what Marty had done, and Marty seemed pleased with the approval. It wasn’t clear if Mariposa had new respect to Marty for attacking her last week, or if she liked the idea of Melissa as their next victim, or both.

The middle match on the show saw Cage face debuting luchador Veneno. This is sadly not the pride of Panama Veneno, but someone in a spider mask. Veneno got in a Argenis-like amount of offense on Cage, but was easily beat. Cage wore his new glove out to the ring, but not during the match. Still, the announcers pushed the idea that Cage was suddenly angrier and meaner. (It didn’t come across much in the ring.) Earlier, Councilman Delgado and Dario happily discussed their progress with the glove. Dario explained Cage felt more powerful with the glove, but the glove was actually becoming more powerful over Cage. Delgado said this would soon allow them to become Gods Among Men, though we have little more idea of how that’ll work.

the Temple works to Dragon Azteca’s advantage

Veneno losing the match wasn’t all his misfortune. Sexy Star attacked him after the match, and told Veneno to leave her alone. See, Sexy Star has been stalked by those spiders, and automatically assumed the mystery new spider themed luchador probably had something to do with it. I guess she could be right, but it seems unlikely. We’ve seen “Veneno” before: it’s the mask Captain Vazquez gave Officer Reyes to go back undercover to the Temple. Veneno is Cortez Castro, which you might be able to tell if you didn’t see the old vignette (shown as part of the previously to start the show.) The tattoo on his arm was exposed, and there was not a great deal of hiding his identity outside of the new outfit. We’ll have to wait and see if Joey & Dario can figure it out.

Joey Ryan was in the building, though as a secondary figure in the opener. Even as the announcers pushed the idea of Joey being a big underdog, he was fighting Texano pretty easily. Maybe Texano would’ve won eventually on his own, but it wasn’t clear. Texano did win, but it was only after some help. Famous B & Brenda came to the ring in cowboy gear and recruitment mood, and Brenda passed Texano a golden horseshoe to help him win. Texano still didn’t seem to be interested in Famous B’s services, but does seem to be interested in Brenda.

After the show ended, a El Rey commercial revealed Lucha Underground would return in Summer 2017. No date or even month was given, but that’s a lot longer then even my most pessimistic April 12th guess. Until they do come back, a run of selected best episodes will fill the gap.

Thoughts

the Temple works to Dragon Azteca’s disadvantage

This is a tough episode to evaluate, because it’s positioned as a finale it really doesn’t feel like anything final happened. The Marty/Mariposa/Melissa? stuff just started in the last 10 seconds, though at least it felt like the sort of teaser we got at the end of season 1. They’re early on in this new Cage story, and not much farther in the Texano one. They’re farther along in the Cortez/Joey stuff, but this is more clearly a storyline twist to prolong it, not anything approaching endpoint. Mundo/Mack’s big moment is their next one (and while they did a better job of hiding the audio edits this week, they didn’t do anything to let you know they’d be coming back with that All Night Long match whenever they resume.) Even Dragon Azteca/Matanza wasn’t as much a conclusion as another step to Rey/Matanza.

This is not an Ultima Lucha, nor was it trying to be one. I didn’t think it was as good as the pre-Aztec Warfare break episode from season 1 either. As a more normal Lucha Underground episode, with one big match and nudging along a lot of other storylines (like the Texano/Cage final from two weeks ago), this was fine LU work, but building it as something it was not didn’t do it any favors.

The problem with this episode was Dragon Azteca/Matanza just wasn’t at the awesome level as other shows with one big match and a couple of shorter ones. This was a fully powered up Matanza and it doesn’t make sense for him to do an even fight with Dragon Azteca, at least this point, but but it didn’t allow them to build much drama. Azteca was having enough problems staying alive that there was never even an idea of what a Dragon Azteca win would look like. They covered this up with the big scenery breaking bumps. (You’d think the fans would’ve been given a heads up the bleacher destruction, but those guys looked like they had no idea their seat was going to be demolished. Matanza taking the same bump Fenix did in the same kind of match was a little less impressive, but they were smart to do it in a way where Matanza got taken out by being over aggressive, almost not because Rey did anything.) This was not the epic of other death matches, and it’s a problem that Dragon Azteca hasn’t had an epic match yet on his own, but the highlights should look great when they use them for other shows.

The other two matches were missable. They did a great job of moving lots of things forward – you can see the next batch of big matches starting to take shape – but the action on this show was skippable. The Texano/Joey match didn’t work. Joey seems like he should be on that Argenis level of guys who are easily dismissed, and Lucha Underground wants us to be so impressed with Texano, but they end up having a six minute match as equals. Famous B’s antics were more entertaining than the match.

Dario’s got to re-enforce this floor before this happens again

I wonder if they had a time issue, realizing the main event wasn’t going to go as long as other big singles matches and trying to add time elsewhere. Texano/Joey felt longer than it needed to be, and the Mundo/Mack segment felt like Mundo was stretching for some reason. I can at least grasp the idea of giving Mack an impressive moment – he’s not been a real title challenger until this moment, so have him take out everyone – but it felt a little too much like your local indie doing a recreation of one of their favorite Attitude Era segments. Maybe some of that time could’ve gone to Cage versus Veneno (who’s name Striker couldn’t remember by the end of the match), but I guess Cage has to win dominantly if he’s been powered up. I dunno, it just didn’t all work together for me, even though I appreciated having a sense of direction for where all these ideas are going.

(Maybe some of that time could’ve been used on Dante & Killshot, who looked really great and have disappeared off the map for the last month. They wouldn’t have been on next week either with All Night Long, and their momentum is going to be down to zero by the time we see them next.)

I’m not sure where the show is going. Announcing “Summer 2017” is the bare minimum they could’ve announced and called it announcement, a three-month range which could mean anything and probably means no one’s actually figured out specifically when it’s coming back. (If you’re not locking in a day, or even in a month, you’re not locking in much.) A lot can change between now and then, though the one thing that won’t change is that footage will be more a year old once it starts airing again, and maybe longer than that. Lucha Underground isn’t dead, but they’ve already burned a lot of time when they could’ve been trying to grow themselves. Going into a shell for around six months means negative growth. I expect they’ll be back as promised, but I wonder which people (fans and talent) will be lost in the break.

Casas wins on his birthday, LU midseason finale (and some guesswork about the return)

Casas wins

CMLL (SUN) 01/08/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Domingos Familiares]
1) Destructor b Micro
Destructor took 2/3.
2) Black Sugar & Fugaz b Gitano & Relámpago
Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Évola & Thunder Boy b El Yaqui & Reycko
Rudos took 2/3, Thunder Boy sneaking in a foul on Yaqui.
4) El Divino, Explosivo, Javier Cruz Jr. b Destello, Espectrúm, Rey Trueno
Destello replaced Infierno. Tecnicos took 2/3.
5) Joker, Sádico, Vaquero Jr. b Frezzer, Furia Roja, Omar Brunetti [Relevos Increíbles]
Team Joker took 2/3. In the third, Omar dove onto Vaquero, the referee got knocked down, and all the rudos started fouling each other. Joker came out on top of Freezer for the win. Freezer & Furia Roja demanded a rematch against Sadico & Joker to determine the best team of rudos.

Those four rudos do indeed meet this week.

CMLL (TUE) 01/10/2017 Arena México [CMLL, Culticon, ESTO]
1) Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico b Fantasy & Stukita LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 10 DE ENERO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 1/3.
2) Cancerbero, Disturbio, Grako b Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante, Robin LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 10 DE ENERO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 1/3. Principe Diamante still hasn’t won.
3) Forastero, Okumura, Virus b Blue Panther Jr., Pegasso, Stigma LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 10 DE ENERO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 1/3.
4) Ephesto, Hechicero, Niebla Roja b Dragón Lee, Stuka Jr., Titán LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 10 DE ENERO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 2/3.
5) Negro Casas b Máximo Sexy LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 10 DE ENERO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Casas took 2/3, sneaking in a foul in the third.
6) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero b Atlantis, Mistico, Volador Jr. LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 10 DE ENERO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)

An all rudo night, which must’ve been odd for the tourists. Fourth match looked fun. Singles match was quick but nice.

The FantasticaMania luchadors are headed out to Japan today. Judging from social media, they were already in Dallas or wherever they’re connecting from around noon, and should be in Tokyo later tonight.

Today is Lucha Underground episode 319, Gods Among Men. This is the last before a hiatus. Matches announced:

  • Texano versus Joey Ryan
  • Cage versus TBA
  • Dragon Azteca Jr. versus Matanza in a death match (video to set it up)

Previous death matches include Mil Muertes putting Fenix thru the floor to the floor below. Dragon Azteca Jr. needs a mental health check. (For other reasons, this is an infamous match, and we’ll see how they handle that aspect when it airs.)

This is being promoted as a midseason finale. In no way was this meant to be a midseason finale. Texano versus Joey Ryan, and Cage versus [name redacted] are not the kind of matches you would seem on a midseason finale. Someone decided this was going to be it, and there may be decent reasons for it, but it wasn’t the plan when they put this together. It’s going to be judged by that finale name (and it’s going to be judged because people rightly assumed the All Night Long match would be this week), and there’s nothing wrong with that criteria, but I would suggest not expecting anything special just because they belatedly attached “finale” to it.

There’s been no statement or even suggestion from Lucha Underground or El Rey when they might be back. It will be a big mistake if they don’t announce something tonight; you can’t let people check out without making sure they know when to check back in. I don’t know anything for sure, but I did find a hint in the upcoming show listings. Next week (01/18), El Rey will air the first two episodes (“The Top of the Ladder”/”A Unique Opportunity”) from the Lucha Underground marathon on Thanksgiving. The following week (01/25), El Rey will air episodes three and four (“Aztec Warfare”/”Grave Consequences”) from the same marathon. That’s a pretty easy to follow pattern. The Thanksgiving marathon was 24 hours (22 episodes, a couple two parters in there). If LU just runs the same order of episodes, two hours at a time, the last repeats would air on April 5th, and Lucha Underground Season 3 would return on April 12th.

April 12th is a bit longer than I had heard, but still am unable to confirm. The pattern doesn’t exactly work either: both two hour episodes would either neither to be cut up, or rescheduled, or they’d have to give them an extra hour that night. Think of April 12 as the latest possible date Lucha Underground could return, and it’ll probably be back a few weeks before that. (April 12th would put the finale on August 30th – coincidentally, days after TripleMania. Again, I think it’ll be a little sooner than that, but that gives you a range.)

Lucha Memes Chairo 8 on 01/29 in Arena Naucalpan
1: Hechicero vs Dr. Cerbero
2: Silueta (c) vs Keira [REINA IJ]
3: Raymond Rowe vs Rush
4: Demasiado, Diva Salvaje, ? vs Demonio Infernal, Black Dragon, Dragon Negro

The mystery person is an exotico to form a new trio.

The Sam Adonis & Ultimo Guerrero vs Stuka Jr. & Mistico match in Orlando will take place on a show at 04/01 at 3pm.

There’s a benefit show for Tlaxcala luchador Batman.

LigerFever has a translation of Demus’ great interview in CaraLuchas on New Year’s Day 2016.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 01/17/2017 Arena México
1) Acero & Aéreo vs Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
2) Magia Blanca, Robin, Sensei vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Cancerbero, Nitro
3) Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma vs Sagrado, Tiger, Virus
4) Rey Cometa vs Puma [lightning]
5) Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Johnny Idol vs Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Vangellys
6) Blue Panther, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs La Máscara, Pierroth, Shocker

Things are going to be even worse than usual on Tuesdays for a little while. There’s little hope for that main event, but Cometa/Puma is good and the tercera should be good.

CMLL (TUE) 01/17/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Mágico & Vaquero Jr. vs Gran Kenut & Joker
2) Princesa Sugehit, Silueta, Skadi vs Dalys, La Comandante, Zeuxis
3) Esfinge, Fuego, Tritón vs El Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
4) Dragón Rojo Jr. © vs Ángel de Oro [CMLL MIDDLE]
17th defense
5) Carístico, Kráneo, Negro Casas vs Marco Corleone, Mephisto, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

Caristico, Kraneo, Marco and Mephisto repeat from this week. Marco/Kraneo and Carsitico/Mephisto could work, though Caristico/Kraneo would be fun too.

This is Angel de Oro’s 3rd challenge in Dragon Rojo’s title reign. Dragon Rojo has been champion for so long that Oro’s first challenge was in 2012. Dragon Rojo is going to be crushed if he ever loses this belt. He probably won’t on this show.

CMLL Puebla: 2017-01-09

Recapped: 01/10/2017

What happened: Negro Casas unmasked Carístico to set up the expected singles match. Pequeño Violencia cheated to beat Shockercito, which appears to have started a feud between them. Ripper pinned Blue Panther Jr. to keep their issue going.

What was good: Nothing. There were highlights around but this is a show you can pass on without a second thought.

Where can I watch it: It’s on CMLL’s channel. Read More