Lucha Underground 3×33: Havoc Running Wild

same

Matches

Son of Madness beat Máscarita Sagrada (2:10, brainbuster, OK)

Marty beat Argenis (5:04, double underhook facecrusher, good)

Joey Ryan beat Sexy Star (5:29, kick, ok)

Son of Havoc beat Son of Madness (13:09, shooting star press, good)

Developments

Haveoc nearly wont he match a minute in

It’s the home stretch to Ultima Lucha and it’s easy to imagine a checklist of tasks to accomplish before those shows start this week. Announce matches for the year end run of shows? Check. Make some progress towards a Gift of the Gods match? Check. Brew up an insta-feud for any of your top people who don’t have an opponent yet? Check there too. Wrap up the feuds which haven’t really connected? Check and check.

This week’s show focused on two of those less spectacular feuds. The Son of Havoc/Son of Madness bit got wrapped up with out any more info on any invisible cults for the being. Madness faced and defeated Máscarita Sagrada to get back the jacket Havoc gave him after they beat Famous B & Dr. Wagner, then Havoc and Madness brawled to set up a Biker’s Brawl main event for an Aztec Medallion. (Paul London rescued/kidnapped Máscarita during this.) That was easily Madness’ best showing on the show, highlighted by his willingness to take some really painful looking falls. Havoc put him down with a bottle shot to the head and finished with a SSP. Havoc got his jacket back, picked up the Medaillion, and Striker was very definite that this feud was over.

The other issue fitting into this category, Son of Havoc and Cortez Castro, moved along at a rapid pace. Cortez attacked Joey Ryan after their match, then stormed into Dario’s office to take care of him next. Dario managed to sucker Cortez into a police themed brawl next week for another Medallion.

I”m going to miss this camera shot

Earlier, Striker (in something dubbed in) pushed the idea that Dario is now purposefully stirring things up between Sagrada/Madness/Havoc. Dario setting up Cortez/Ryan seemed more about Cueto escaping a confrontation. Striker still might be onto something, Dario is acting different and even acknowledged it: he told Matanza he was wrong to dissuade him from getting revenge on Rey Mysterio, because Rey had given him a 619 last week. (Dario costing Rey the match first was omitted.) Dario gave Matanza a match versus Rey in two weeks, as the main event of the 100th episode of this show.

The announcers confirmed Prince Puma versus Johnny Mundo as the main event Ultima Lucha 3 to start the show. One more match was added along the way: after Marty savagely beat and unmasked Argenis, he challenged Fenix to put up his own mask on the line at Ultima Lucha. Melissa didn’t seem to think this was a great idea, but Fenix attacked Marty and agreed to a mask vs hair match.

The other match on the show happened to be a Joey Ryan versus Sexy Star match. This is where Cortez attacked Joey, but Sexy also had a guest: Taya, sarcastically rooting for Sexy Star. Sexy took out Taya, but was distracted into the very rare Joey Ryan win. The commentary, taped over a year ago, of course did not reference any of the events this week. Neither did the social media – I mean, they went out of their way not to reference Sexy Star at all, never promoting her as appearing on the show and avoiding mentioning her in this match. It’ll be worth watching to see if it’s just something until the heat dies down or a permanent change; she’s still got a few more appearances left season.

Rest of The Season announced matches

episode 99: Joey Ryan vs Cortez Castro for an Aztec Medallion
episode 100: Rey Mysterio vs Matanza
episode 101: nothing yet
Ultima Lucha 3 (102-105): Johnny Mundo (c) vs Prince Puma for the Lucha Underground championship, Fenix vs Marty the Moth, mask vs hair, Ivelisse vs Catrina?

Stuff teased to the point where it’s clearly happening but hasn’t been announced yet: Gift of the Gods match (Paul London, Mala Suerte, Saltador, Son of Havoc, either Joey Ryan or Cortez Castro, two more spots), Mil Muertes vs Cage, Taya vs Sexy Star, Killshot vs Dante Fox

Thoughts

this looked like it sucked

Not my favorite show but I didn’t hate it as much as last week.

Joey Ryan seemed to work as well with Sexy Star as anyone on this show; maybe it was editing, maybe I’m just talking myself into it because he’s wrestled women so much, but it seemed to be a better showcase of what Sexy Star can do in a match. Unfortuantely, this was a week where we already saw what Sexy Star could do in one match and I’m not really interested in seeing any more of her. I’m putting an OK here, and could argue for higher, but evaluations of the quality of a match are completely useless at time: either you’re a Sexy Star True Believer who will want to watch this match whatever I saw about it, or you’re in the group of people who aren’t going to want to spend a moment’s time on Sexy Star no matter the quality. People’ve decided as soon as they saw her.

Argenis was in his usual set up role, being the mask técnico who gets bet to set up a match with a much bigger técnico. He got much more offense in this time, which probably is directly related to him being willing to bleed a whole lot to get over this angle. Marty’s opponents are doing a lot of bleeding to set up this feud, and it’s a good stab (sorry) at making him look like more of a threat to Fenix in a feud where no one would expect him to actually win. Blood made an Argenis match more dramatic, so it’d probably do a lot for the apuesta one.

a rare LU Argenis highlight

This show was the first one where Son of Madness seemed to be defined as a wrestler at all, and it also appeared to be the last episode for him. They got the most out of the one night deal: he got a finisher over in the opener, and he got back to in the main event to give Havoc some to kick out off. Madness doesn’t have the athletic ability of Havoc (few do) but he was willing to battle and willing to take punishment. They did a good job of making it feel like a brawl, feel different than a normal match, and the camera work was added to that feeling.

It still was missing something and I’m not sure I’d recommend it strongly if it turned up on YouTube. I still didn’t like two clones wrestling. They don’t look the same, but they look close enough to being the same in a frantic fight where it was a little difficult to follow the action some of the time. (Maybe they should’ve made Madness a color swapped version of Havoc? Maybe it wasn’t as much a headache on the HD version?) The announcers also put a lampshade on an problem here: this bikers match is no different than the police match, no different than many matches, expect they happened to park a couple bikes around the end. This was a feud which didn’t connect being put to bed in a generic fashion.

 

CMLL & insurance, Taya talks about AAA, The Crash introduces Pierroth & Rush

CMLL (TUE) 08/29/2017 Arena México [CMLL]
1) Fiero & Sangre Imperial b Grako & Templario LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 29 DE AGOSTO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Fiero fell hard out of the ring on an attempted super headscissors reveal on Templario. He was strechered away but did not appear seriously injured. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Nitro, Sangre Azteca b Astral, Pegasso, Stigma LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 29 DE AGOSTO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
3) Drone, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Puma, Tiger, Virus LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 29 DE AGOSTO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 2/3
4) Pólvora b Titán [lightning]
Polvora Driver for the win
5) Ephesto, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero b Dragón Lee, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr.
Rudos took 1/3
6) Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Diamante Azul DQ Gran Guerrero, Pierroth, Rush
Diamante Azul replaced Niebla Roja. Rush fouled Diamante Azul.

Matches 1, 3 and 4 are said to be the best.

No Niebla Roja there, and Niebla Roja isn’t on the lineups for next week. Something’s up.

CMLL’s press conference yesterday was to announce the Segura Popular insurance plan will now include CMLL luchadors, referees, vendors, and all other staff working at the building. This is the same insurance that’s been announced with AAA and others in the past. Atlantis, who hasn’t been seen in a while, noted CMLL already covered in-ring injuries but this would extend coverage to any illness outside the ring.

Atlantis was also asked about Dr. Wagner Jr. losing his mask. Atlantis was surprised Wagner lost it, and guessed Wagner though he’d win and then come challenge Atlantis – because Atlantis has the most valuable mask in lucha libre. (They asked him if he was including Hijo dle Santo & Blue Demon Jr., and he said yes.) Atlantis is still recovering from leg surgery and will only begin rehab on 09/07. He’s still hoping to be back in the ring by the end of the year but it doesn’t sound like a definite thing.

Taya’s interviewed on today’s Talk in Jericho. The interview is recent but not from this week; the only mention of TripleMania during the interview is Taya jokingly wishing her friend Lady Shani would beat up Sexy Star in their title match. (Everyone knew there was a good chance something was going to happen and it’s incredible AAA put Shani & Sexy in that match together.) Jericho does briefly mention the situation after the interview and rips Sexy Star.

In the interview, Taya says she’s still under contract to AAA but “I don’t know where I stand right now with Mexico. I’m taking some time off.” Taya’s explains the sequence of events as Johnny bringing the belt, Johnny telling Taya they were keeping the belt, Taya messaging Dorian to find out what was going on, Dorian saying not to worry about it, and Taya finding out she was no longer champion the next day via social media. Taya didn’t like losing the belt and seems to have really not liked Sexy Star getting it, but says she would’ve filmed a promo for whatever AAA wanted to give it up if they had just asked her ahead of time. Taya’s bigger issues were Vampiro ripping her on social media and Vampiro saying Taya wouldn’t show up to defend the title – attacking her professionalism after she had professional loyalty to stick with AAA while her friends had left really hurt. Vampiro apologized to Taya at Comic Con, and it sounds like she’s at the point where should could tolerate working with him if she had too but still doesn’t like him all that much.

La Aficion has an interview with Dr. Wagner Jr., who says he wants to be called Rey Wagner. The idea, as explained by Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., is the younger Wagner will be the only Doctor now. I’m not sure that’s going to stick.

Angelico didn’t wrestle in Nuevo Laredo, with the promotion saying he had a shoulder injury. Maybe that’s why we didn’t see him on TripleMania at all?

The Crash’s press conference officially introduced Rush (& Pierroth) to the promotion. Both Rush and the promotion emphasized Rush was still in CMLL, was only working in The Crash via permission from CMLL and would not be working in any other additional promotions. The tease was for a Penta/Rush match. The match actually announced on the show was Jack Evans versus Bestia 666 in a hair match, to take place on 11/04 in Tijuana. They also announced a return to Mexico City on 11/11, and a Guadalajara date on 11/03. No venues were announced.

Today’s Lucha Underground episode is episode 3×33, 98 overall, “Havoc Running Wild”. Matches on the show

There’s also something with Matanza and Dario.

I’m pretty sure Joey Ryan faces Sexy Star on the show. It hasn’t been announced but, based on stuff coming up, this is the only episode that match can air. Get your jokes ready?

This episode looks a lot more like moving pieces around for Ultima Lucha. The next few episodes seem to follow that way: it’s about half setting things up and half big matches for feuds not considered important enough for the last few episodes (or that just have to be resolved to get to things they really want to get to.)

The annual CMLL minis party happened.

Rey Escorpion has been added to the AAA/EMW show in Tijuana on 09/08.

Aeroboy talks about where his name and mask came from.

Los Guerreros were filming something.

Guerrera Isis & Estrella Negra published an article about lucha libre in the magazine of the Instituto Mexicano de Cultura. There’s a lot of anthropology students who seem to write about wrestling but Guerrera Isis is actually a luchadora so I’d be interesting in reading this one.

LuchaTalk talks about TripleMania.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 09/05/2017 Arena México
1) Fiero & Magia Blanca vs Espíritu Negro & Grako
2) Pegasso, Star Jr., Starman vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Cancerbero, Nitro
3) Lady Maravilla, Princesa Sugehit, Sanely vs Amapola, Dalys, Tiffany
4) The Panther vs Misterioso Jr. [lightning]
5) Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther, Johnny Idol vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Pólvora
6) Carístico, Diamante Azul, Stuka Jr. vs Negro Casas, Shocker, Terrible

Negro Casas & Shocker teaming up should lead to a tag team title match but usually leads to one of them getting hurt. I think Caristico & Stuka is the best possible team of challengers and won’t actually challenge.

CMLL (TUE) 09/05/2017 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Divino & Explosivo vs Guerrero de la Muerte & Ráfaga
2) Flyer, Magnum, Príncipe Diamante vs Artillero, Difunto, Metálico
3) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Silueta vs La Seductora, Metálica, Zeuxis
4) Kráneo, Pierroth, Rush vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
5) Marco Corleone, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Kojima, Último Guerrero

Kojima getting the usual bit of working every possible show for a while. Weird CMLL has two women’s matches on Tuesday but split up Zeuxis & Sugehit.

The Crash (WED) 09/13/2017 Auditorio Miguel Barragan, San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
1) Látigo, Pegazus, Tiago vs Arkángel Divino, Astrolux, Rey Celestial (Puebla)
2) Keyra © vs Chik TormentaDiosa QuetzalChristi Jaynes [The Crash WOMEN]
3) Drastik Boy vs Sami CallihanMr. 450Sammy Guevara
4) Jack Evans & Willie Mack vs Black Taurus (Indie) & Último Ninja
5) The King © vs Flamita [The Crash CRUISER]
first defense
6) Daga & Penta Zero M vs Pierroth & Rush and Máscara & Máximo and Bestia 666 & Garza Jr.

Rush & Pierroth start. I think you’re going to see them as a tag team a lot, just so they don’t have to stick in Pierroth on his own. Fenix/Flamita has some history and should be great.