Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Lucha Underground 5/18/16 Review

This week's episode begins with a recap of everyone winning their Gift of the God's Aztec Medallions.

Cage enters Dario Cueto's office and is pissed about Chavo Guerrero stealing his medallion. Dario says that if Chavo puts the medallion in place, he will be in the match and not Cage. Cage joins him in the ring to stop Chavo from doing so. Dario brings out everyone with a medallion. His response of "spooky" at the sight of Siniestro de la Muertes is priceless. They all put the medallion in the title and leave. Chavo is last with the medallion and a steel chair. Cage dares him to enter the ring and when he does, Cage beats his ass. He takes the medallion and pulls it out of the bag, but IT'S A FAKE! Chavo nails him with a chair and puts the real medallion in place. he eats a nasty discus clothesline for his troubles.

Daga def. Argenis, Kobra Moon and Mascarita Sagrada w/ Famous and Brenda in 4:57
Famous B stops Melissa Santos' introductions, puts his arm around her and says that "he's got this" before introducing his client, Mascarita Sagrada. It's awesome that Sagrada is now from "Little Hollywood". Sagrada started hot, which was great because Famous B got to get in some fun comments on the outside. Most of the action is fast paced, but featured a few sloppy moments. Daga was the star, though Famous B was excellent at ringside. I love that he's mic'ed up. Kobra Moon hit Sagrada with Emerald Fusion and backed off so Daga could win. She clearly had the hots for Daga and that angle means I get more Daga, which is welcome. **3/4

Returning from break, we see Killshot getting ready in the back. Marty Martinez is a creep and comes up to him before saluting and saying that he's reporting for duty. Marty makes some more soldier references and points his fingers at Killshot's head like a gun. Killshot kicks his ass and takes him down. He rubs the bullseye on his mask and points at Marty with a "bang". Marty lays on the ground laughing because he's weird as fuck.

Killshot def. Marty Martinez in 7:08
Marty again creeped on Melissa during the introductions. He also took off his shirt and did a dance towards her. He nails his character. Despite that, the story of the match was Killshot. He's easily one of the more underrated guys in Lucha Underground. He nailed a Death Valley Driver on the apron, which along with a sweet fosbury flop, where the highlights of this. Marty got two on a Curb Stomp that would anger Seth Rollins. Killshot won with the storm cradle driver but Marty attacked after the bell and beat him up outside. He stole Killshot's dog tags and hit a second Curb Stomp. Good start to the feud as the match really picked up near the end. ***

Gift of the Gods Championship Match: Chavo Guerrero def. Aerostar, Joey Ryan, the Mack, Sexy Star, Siniestro de la Muerte and Texano in 8:31
The original Gift of the Gods Title match at Ultima Lucha last season was really good. Early on, we got fun moments from Joey Ryan as he tried to make out with Sexy Star just moments after shoving her to the mat. Sexy and the Mack continued their friendship with stereo flying headscissors before going at it themselves. Then everybody just goes at it while Sexy Star sells a leg injury outside. She then knocked Joey off the top before diving out onto everyone else. I believe Texano's new gimmick is just him yelling obscenities in Spanish. Chavo got a lot of "chickenshit" chants throughout. He found himself surrounded by everyone, who all got their shots in. I'm talking a Codebreaker from Sexy, Stunner from Mack, Texnano bomb and two springboard dives from Siniestro and Aerostar. Cage then showed up to get some, but instead went after the other six competitors. He took them all out, saving Joey for last with a screwdriver. He put Chavo on Joey and the three was counted. The match was solid but not on the level of last year's. ***

After the match, Cage handed Chavo the belt. Chavo scurried away as Cage got a microphone. He says that Dario Cueto agreed to defend the belt if he won it, which Chavo denies. Next week, Chavo defends against Cage.

Overall: 7/10. All in all, a pretty good episode. Even on weeks where there are no real standout matches, like this one, the show flows smoothly and they manage to advance the storylines and angles well. The matches were all fun and entertaining, making for an enjoyable hour.

If you do want to check out Lucha Underground, which you absolutely should, and don't get El Rey Network (like me), you can sign up for the streaming service Fubo.TV. It's a great way to support the company and channel while streaming the show online. You can sign up and get Lucha Underground right here with Fubo.tv!