What To Watch When You’re Watched All The Lucha Underground On Netflix

there is a season 3! it’s not on that streaming service yet!

Hello! You’ve just completed watching two seasons of Lucha Underground on Netflix. And – yes, yes, I know you’re very upset about [redacted plot development], I understand. Trust me, you’re not alone, it was a big thing. Just take a couple breaths while I assure you that things change later on. Keep in mind that season two and season three were worked out close together, so they do have a plan. I can’t promise you that you’ll like that plan, but there is a plan.

Still with me? Let’s start:

There is a third season of Lucha Underground. It’s just not on Netflix.

  • About half the third season of Lucha Underground has aired. The entire third season will eventually be added to Netflix, but we’re unsure of exactly when that’ll be. We know the plan is to have S3 up when they start taping Season 4, but Lucha Underground hasn’t quite decided when they’ll be taping again, and a wide range of start dates (October to February) have been rumored. If you’re only going to watch Lucha Underground on Netflix, you’re going to have a long wait for new episodes.
  • New episodes are’t actually airing anywhere right now. El Rey, Lucha Underground’s TV home, gave Lucha Underground an unexpected midseason break. New episodes will resume airing on May 31st. It’s been a long wait for new episodes for us watching each week, but it does give you time to catch up.
  • Catching up isn’t hard to do, if you’re willing to pay a little. Individual Season 3 episodes are available for $3 each on both Amazon and iTunes. iTunes also offers a season pass, a nice discount if you’re going to get all 40 episodes.
  • El Rey will begin reairing Season 3 episodes, starting April 5th. If you don’t have El Rey, it’s part of the basic package for Sling TV and also available on Fubo.TV for US users.
  • If you live in Canada, Season 3 will start airing on TLN (Telelatino) on May 5th. You’ll be a little behind US viewers, but you probably already get the channel.

There’s other Lucha Underground adjacent content out there

  • Lucha Underground’s owned in part by Mexican lucha libre promotion AAA, where many Lucha Underground luchadors work when they’re not in the Temple. They’ve also recently had a greater Lucha Underground influence on their product, both in front and behind the scenes. It still looks more like a traditional lucha libre than Lucha Underground, but there’s enough familiar people to make it easy to jump on. It’s also an easy promotion to watch: they just have a single 70 minute TV show to keep up with, and a new episode is shared every Saturday night for free on their YouTube channel. The biggest stumbling block is the show is only freely available in Spanish. The focus is more on the matches, so you should be able to follow along as best as anyone who understands the commentary.

    This Saturday’s AAA TV show (04/01, Rey de Reyes 2017 Parte 2) is an easy jumping on point. It has three big matches, the kind you might see on a bigger Lucha Underground episode, but you won’t be missing much if you just start to watch now.

  • Many other luchadors, including some who used to be in AAA, are now instead wrestling around the independent promotions. Prince Puma (masquerading as some unmasked king named Ricochet), Brian Cage, Pentagon Dark (as Penta el Zero M), Fenix (as Rey Fenix) and many more are wrestling around the US and the rest of the world every weekend. They’re just as fun live as they come off as TV, and it’s a lot easier to buy a t-shirt in person than it is on Netflix. It’s impossible to keep up where everyone is working all the time, but they’re probably coming to where you live soon, especially if you live in the United States or the UK. Los Angeles’ PWG and Chicago’s AAW are good places to start if you’d rather just buy a video, and you can find more info on live appearances via everyone’s social media.
  • Lucha Underground itself has made noise about running their own non-TV shows this summer, but hasn’t announced anything final. There was word they might have a show at a music festival, but that deal apparently fell thru. Stars from the show are announced as appearing on a panel at Chicago’s C2e2 on April 23rd. More things may be announced; keep an eye on Lucha Underground’s social media.

Lucha Underground is it’s own unique show. Nothing else is quite like it, but there’s more out there with the people involved if you’re looking for it.

04/21 AAA TV Lineup (Tijuana)

AAA

AAA TV (FRI) 04/21/2017 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California
1) ?, ??, Faby Apache vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Soul Rocker
2) La Parka vs Ricky Marvin
3) Aerostar & Drago vs Killshot & Marty The Moth
Lucha Underground match
4) Australian Suicide & Bengala vs El Mesías & Pagano
5) Ayako Hamada © vs Taya [Reina De Reinas]
first defense
6) Hijo del Fantasma vs Kevin Kross [tables]
7) Psycho Clown  vs Dr. Wagner Jr. [EMW HEAVY]

Air Date: 05/06 & 05/13. Here’s the big list. AAA now has three tapings announced at once: Neza on Friday, SLP on the 12th and this one.

Just after AAA turns three belts into one, AAA might be adding another. The EMW championship, as best I can figure, is a new title. EMW is the local promoter of AAA shows (including this one), but hasn’t had their own title belts. It’s possible, even probable, this is a one off appearance for the belt (though it’d be better a Copa or a Trofeo in that case.) It’s also probable this is a title match just to give this matchup something different to do. They’re apparently going to be doing this match a lot in a short stretch:

03/31 Neza: Murder Clown & Psycho Clown vs Dr. Wagner Jr. & Monster Clown
04/12 SLP: Psycho Clown vs Dr. Wagner Jr. main event
04/21 Tijuana: Psycho Clown vs Dr. Wagner Jr. main event
04/29 Tlaxcala: card not announced, maybe not still happening (not listed on TV in upcoming events, with Puebla in it’s place.)
05/16 Pachuca: no card announced but saying they’ll have Psycho Clown vs Dr. Wagner Jr. main event

The same match on 3 out of 4 tapings, at least. These matches are not bad, no matter how much I’m going to complain about it, but they’re also not Dragon Lee versus Kamiatachi. You’ve seen one, you’re probably not getting a lot more out of the next two. An interesting midcard could help a lot.

This midcard is interesting! AAA TV is pushing this being the start of a new, Vampiro-rific, era of AAA. La Parka versus Ricky Marvin in a singles match that’s second on the card is definitely AAA being a new era. Four singles match on the show is definitely new, and much different than usual Mexican wrestling for a normal TV card. Fantasma & Kross is technically a Tijuana Table match, and I liked Tijuana too much to make a joke here. There are rarely gimmick. Taya gets a rematch for what used to be her title, a much quicker follow up on that sort of thing than normal. This is different.

The amount of matches and the stipulations involved overshadow how much less people are booked than their used to be. There are 22 people booked on this card. About one year ago, there was 36 luchadors on a similar show in Leon. There’s 22 here because AAA’s gotten Ayako and Kross and the LU guys to come in; they wouldn’t have much of a card without them.

Marty showing back up here is not a surprise, maybe only unexpected in that it took this long to happen after he impressed late last year. Killshot being on the show is a surprise. His Shane Strickland alter ego was just on The Crash show, and no one’s gone back and forth between the feuding promotions since this year. It’d probably be best for everyone if the promotions could get along and allow guys to work wherever but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. It’s possible that a thing that is a big issue in Mexico is not something a wrestler who works on the US indies is paying much mind to, and Killshot doesn’t know/care what he’s stepped into. It does help AAA & EMW to have a few outside/different names when The Crash is focusing on doing the same.

It’s notable that Marty & Killshot are being allowed to use their LU personalities here; being the guy in charge of those decision and AAA probably helps. AAA’s ran a Lucha Underground on Netflix commercial on TV each week since it’s aired. It’d be an advantage if they could get more LU guys to work their shows.

The mystery spots in the opener seem set up to be the other Apaches, listed as surprises because AAA might not know if they’re going to be there (and Tijuana’s commission has historically come down harder on no-shows, so it might be wise to be careful.) I think they might end up being Monster & Murder as back up, since they had slight issues with that new unnamed rudo group on the other side.

Following taping is scheduled to be 04/29 in Tlxacala but, again, I suspect that’ll change.

Niebla Roja out of the Guerreros?, CMLL injury updates, LU-ish show in Toronto, Octagoncito

trouble with the Guerreros

CMLL (TUE) 03/28/2017 Arena México [CMLL, Notimex]
1) El Coyote & Grako b Magia Blanca & Sangre Imperial LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 28 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
rudos took 1/3
2) Dalys, Metálica, Reyna Isis b La Vaquerita, Sanely, Silueta LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 28 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudas took 2/3.
3) Sagrado, Skándalo, Virus b Esfinge, Soberano Jr., Tritón LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 28 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 1/3. Triton continues his losing streak.
4) Bobby Villa b Titán [lightning] LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 28 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Bobby Villa won 08:02 via counter dropkick
5) Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Máximo Sexy b Puma, Terrible, Tiger LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 28 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 1/3
6) Atlantis, Matt Taven, Valiente b Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 28 DE MARZO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Tecnicos took 1/3. Gran Guerrero & Euforia had problems with Niebla Roja and attacked him by the end of the match.

Niebla Roja is as confused by what happened as anyone else. Niebla Roja has been feuding with Dragon Lee and a split comes out of nowhere. Roja’s been part of the Guerreros almost since the moment he redebuted in spring of 2012, starting off as a Ultimo Guerrero’s protege. He’s been much better as a rudo than his tecnico run as Angel de Plata; Roja getting shuffled to another rudo group seems preferable than to him going to the tecnico side. The recap says nothing is certain until Ultimo Guerrero weighs in. Niebla Roja teams with Gran Guerrero and Ripper on Sunday.

A CMLL press release has injury updates on five luchadors, including one who it wasn’t clear was still around. Super Halcon Jr. hasn’t been seen in CMLL since last May 6th, with no word why he disappeared at the time.  CMLL now says Halcon went under a retina operation in 2014 so he’d no longer have to wear glasses, but something went wrong and he underwent a second operation the day after his last match. He’s still recovering ten months later and CMLL doesn’t offer a time table for his return.

There’s also no longer a schedule for Okumura’s return. He was originally supposed to be out a few weeks after suffering a neck injury in training. Rest hasn’t healed the neck, and he’s returned to Japan to undergo surgery. It’s not clear how serious the surgery is, which would great affect when he would return. They do say he’s planning on returning.

Shocker is back in the gym training to come back. CMLL explains he’s been slow coming back because, after his jaw surgery, he had a bad fall while in the US and needed another surgery. That had to suck. Ephesto’s blood poisoning is said to be from a bad injection (??), and he’s recovering on schedule. Estrellita is also recovering well after her fall on Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.

CMLL says this Saturday’s Arena Coliseo, with Euforia vs Caristico, happens to be the 74th Anniversary show for the building. They make a lesser deal about that every year.

Lucha Underground Season 3 starts on TLN on May 5th. They’re going to be closer to being on El Rey than usual, may even catch up if they air multiple episodes a day.

Smash Wrestling & Lucha TO announced a Lucha Underground themed show on 05/28 in Toronto. Aerostar, Drago, Son of Havoc, and The Mack are listed as wrestling and Vampiro is the host. Matt Cross being billed as Son of Havoc and Willie Mack as the Mack suggests this show is approved by Lucha Underground, so maybe they’re making progress at getting guys booked off the show.

Octagoncito has apparently quit AAA. The original Octagoncito says he’s teaming with his replacement, who will now be going as Mini Rey Mysterio, on a 03/31 show in Tijuana. The last time Octagoncito was on TV, the angle was him complaining about how he wasn’t getting a shot against Dinastia. Near the end of 2016, in a newspaper article, Octagoncito said he felt the minis were being forgotten by AAA and was considering leaving, which gives this report a little credible. Using the name Mini Rey Misterio is more surprising; there’s a couple of (fake) Rey Misterios on that show, so maybe Rey Misterio gave him the name.

AAA officially announced Verano de Escandalo will take place on 06/04 in Ciudad Juarez. This had been announced on the last AAA show in Juarez. No matches are announced or even hinted at yet. (Maybe Mundo/Argenis?) Tickets are on sale, running from 150 to 1400 pesos (or $8 to $74).

Aerostar says he’s changed his focus to the tag team titles. He and Drago face Cuervo & Scoria on Friday, which is currently not listed with anything on the line but figures to be made a tag title match given the pattern of changes on recent shows.

WrestleCircus mentions they’re not allowed to book AAA wrestlers as long as they’re using Penta & Rey Fenix. If this tactic is supposed to get people to stop booking those guys, it doesn’t seem to have worked: those guys are working at least a half dozen shows this weekend.

Luchador Dardo Aguilar has passed away. He wrestled for EMLL in the 70s & early 80s, and part of Super Muneco’s AWWA promotion and a trainer later on. Quien es quien has a quick bio from a couple years ago.

Martinez promotions in Texas is back on 04/09 with Rey Horuz & Low Rider vs Black Taurus and the debuting Lucifer Black. Lucifer Black is said to be an ex-AAA and ex-CMLL luchador and talked very slow in a promo. No idea who it is but, to take a shot in the dark, I wonder if it might be the former Mortiz. He did jump from CMLL to AAA to team with Taurus for a while before Mortiz dropped out of AAA.

There’s a video on the tie up the new Arena Mexico Freedom Bar is doing with the Turibus & CMLL.

+LuchaTV has Angel de Oro, Rayman, Black Terry and Crazy Boy on their podcast.

LuchaWorld has the latest news update.

Segunda Caida reviews the latest LA Park vs Rush.

Juventud interviewed Sexy Dulce & Ronnie Mendoza on his show. Dulce says she still doesn’t know who she’s facing in her debut match that’s only three and half weeks away.

Lineups

IWRG (SUN) 04/02/2017 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fireman vs Atomic Star
2) Cadilac vs Skanda
3) Alas de Acero, Aramis, Shadow Boy vs Avisman, Demonio Infernal, Hip Hop Man
4) Emperador Azteca vs Eterno
5) Demasiado, Diva Salvaje, Nigma vs Diablo Jr., El Hijo del Diablo, Imposible
6) Freelance, Heddi Karaoui, Veneno vs Súper Mega, Trauma I, Trauma II
7) Herodes Jr. © vs Danny Casas [IWRG JUNIORS]
first defense

Eterno and Azteca in a singles match sounds fun.

CMLL (TUE) 04/04/2017 Arena México
1) Flyer & Sensei vs Camorra & Espanto Jr.
2) Eléctrico, Fantasy, Shockercito vs Demus 3:16, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
3) Astral vs Virus [lightning]
4) Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs Black Terry, Negro Navarro, Sangre Azteca
5) Guerrero Maya Jr., Máximo Sexy, Rey Cometa vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
6) Carístico, Marco Corleone, Valiente vs La Máscara, Pierroth, Rush

Arena Coliseo champions Negro Navarro & Black Terry make it back to Arena Mexico. Both have been back in Arena Mexico as part of Elite, Toryumon and nostalgia shows, but I think you have to go to Navarro to find 2001 on a regular Arena Mexico show and 1996 for Terry – or maybe that that was the mysterious Guerrero Maya. You might have to back to 1989 to find him under his own name on a normal CMLL show, but it was still EMLL back then.

CMLL (TUE) 04/04/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino & Explosivo vs Exterminador & Maléfico
2) Robin, Star Black, Star Jr. vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Canelo Casas, Furia Roja
3) Esfinge, Soberano Jr., Tritón vs Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
4) Ángel de Oro, Johnny Idol, Titán vs Bobby Villa, Luciferno, Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas

They did a foul finish with Volador last night in Guadalajara, but the recap isn’t clear who he’s feuding with.

AAA (FRI) 04/14/2017 Arena Naucalpan
1) ? vs ??
2) ? vs ??
3) Big Mami, Faby Apache, Niño De Cobre vs Goya Kong, Lady Shani, Máscarita Negra
4) Joe Lider & Súper Fly vs Aerostar & Drago and Atomic Boy & Dizzy
5) La Parka, Psycho Clown, Texano Jr. vs Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Pagano

A non-TV show in Naucalpan. Fourth match is confusing billed as a battle between promotions when they’re all from the same promotion. DTU’s Nino de Cobre has been popping up on AAA spot shows of late. I wonder who they get to work the opening matches.

CMLL Martes de Nuevo Valores: 2017-03-21 

Triton moonsault

Recapped: 03/24/2017

Matches: 

Cholo & Inquisidor beat Bengala & Leono (rudos 2/3, 17:51 [8:12, 2:51, 6:48], ok)

Nitro, Sangre Azteca, Skándalo beat Magia Blanca, Sangre Imperial, Starman (rudos 1/3, 15:21 [8:24, 3:19, 3:38], below average)

El Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat The Panther, Drone, Tritón  (NGD 2/3, 14:38 [4:49, 3:46, 6:03], great)

Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Virus in a lightning match (Sacrifica Maya, 9:59, good)

Negro Casas, Puma, Tiger beat Luciferno, Mephisto, Pólvora   (Team Casas 2/3, 14:50 [3:41, 4:22, 6:47], good)

Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Carístico, Dragón Lee, Marco Corleone (Guerreros 1/3, 12:17 [5:26, 2:04, 4:47], good)

What Happened:

this didn’t go well

Nothing much!

Team Casas beat nearly the national trios champions in a very good match.

Guerrero Maya defeated Virus with less than a second left. It was amazing timing.

Magia Blanca was hurt when Nitro whiffed on catching him on a headscissors.

The Panther replaced his father in the tercera.

Ultimo Guerrero went into about the eight row of the crowd to confront a fan for completely unclear reasons; whatever happened must’ve happened while they were showing post fall replays. Nothing came of it, with Caristico brawling with UG to pull him back to the ring.

Thoughts: 

perfect timing

One of the best CMLL Tuesday shows in a long time, with fun midcard matches. The main event was good too but, if it had something like Cometa/Cavernario to end it, it would easily be better than Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.

I really liked both of the big trios matches, and I’m keep changing my mind on which one I’d rather better. (Part of the problem was forgetting to write down the ratings I had live; new format needs some work.) There were a lot of little things to like about the NGD match; the setup to Panther/Sanson sequence setting up Triton’s 450 splash was well down. Cuatrero stands out an athlete even with athletic flyers like the three here. The Dinamitas are at the stage where they’re constantly adding something, trying something new and it makes each match worth checking out. It really works that they’re facing the Panthers a lot lately, because it feels like when those Panthers debuted against Tiger & Puma and also kept surprising. Triton also looked great in this match, working hard even as he’s finishing up here and they’re having him lose every night in Arena Mexico. It’s a good sign for his US work. Forastero made things easier for himself by cutting out the ramp running part of his dropkick. It’s a trade of a little bit of the drama for a lot of difficulty.

The Casas trios match was a rare chance to see Puma & Tiger as tecnicos. (Negro Casas played Negro Casas, kind of existing beyond tecnico/rudo status at this point.) They worked nearly as well there as they do on the rudo side, and showed off great teamwork. This match felt more dramatic coming to the close. Nothing was really on the line, but this came off as the replacement for the owed title match, and was worked like the titles were on the line at the end. The huracanrana to end the second fall didn’t go well, but the third fall finish came off much sharper.

The Panther learn his old partner’s move

Guerrero Maya and Virus went about eight minutes without touching the ropes. They never actually bounced off of them, but used them for flying spots to get to the finish. The only problem with the match was it felt paced for a twenty minute match and they had half that amount of time, so they spent eight minutes working their way around in holds and the last two minutes trying to fit in the things the fans expected. The mat work was well done if not creative, but also a little lost on this crowd and probably much more appreciated by the people watching on YouTube. The timing of the finish was incredible, so unexpectedly perfect for CMLL that I can’t believe it was actually meant that way – like it was supposed to be a draw and the referee counted too fast for once. Everyone played it off like that was the finish (and it makes not much difference either way.)

The main event was a usual main event, with both teams getting in their high points but not too much to the match. Dragon Lee seemed on and the Guerreros were sharp. It made the match better than usual for this spot, but not something I’ll remember a week from now.

nice set up for the kick

I think Magia Blanca overshot his target on the headscissors, but veteran maestro should’ve done a lot more to catch him. He may physically be unable to do so, he moves quite slow, but maybe that’s a reason not to put him out there. The biggest upset is they played out the third fall mostly normal instead of the usual quick to the end bit when there’s an injury.

It was nice to see Cholo is alive. Bengala didn’t appear to be thrilled to be in another boring opener, especially to take the Cholo Driver at the end.

push up revenge