Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,
Pro Wrestling Love vol. 66:
The Best of Lucha Underground
Objective: Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at http://gweproject.freeforums.net/) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.
Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.
Subject: This sixty-sixth volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the Top 5 countdown of the best pro wrestling matches to take place in Lucha Underground between 2014-2018. Lucha Underground was a TV show featuring a hybrid of American Pro Wrestling and Lucha Libre that aired on the El Rey Network from 2014-2018 in four seasons. Unlike most pro wrestling promotions, there was no touring or live events, it was 100% a television show. It featured luchadors from AAA, among others, the most prominent being brothers Fenix and Pentagon Jr alongside AAA mainstay the Puerto Rican brawler, Mil Muertes, known in AAA as El Mesias. Lucha Underground launches Fenix and Pentagon into the American consciousness and they now work for All Elite Wrestling. In addition, Lucha Underground exposed the world to the breath-taking aerial abilities of Prince Puma better known as Prince Puma and the original babyface hero of the show. You even have Rey Mysterio the first ever Lucha Libre megastar to crossover into American mainstream making a pit stop in Lucha Underground for some fun. Following the AAA brand of Lucha Libre, the television focused on blood-soaked brawls that incorporated 21 century Death Match tropes such as fluorscent light bulbs and panes of glass. Lucha Underground is not for the squeamish that is for sure. In a very sanitized pro wrestling world, the brawling-focused Lucha Underground was a refreshing change of pace. Lucha Underground felt like the true heir to ECW with their penchant for blood & guts and over the top characters. Just like ECW, cherry picking Lucha Underground matches to determine the best matches is the WRONG WAY to watch, the show should be watched episodically because the it is the characters and angles that are the focus of the show as it should be. This is a very fun promotion and enjoyed checking it out. You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.
Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.
Top Five Lucha Underground Matches of All Time
5. Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma - Lucha Underground 11/9/16 Casket Match
Towards the end of the match, we find out that Mil Muertes had stuffed Konnan, Prince Puma's manager, in a casket, which is probably what prompted this match.
I thought this match was helluva lot better than the title match from the Season Finale of the first Season. Really awesome brawl that never let up and each man just went for broke. Surprisingly there was no blood and no mask ripping, but this was still pretty awesome. Puma started it off red hot attacking Muertes on the steps and they brawl through the crowd. The advantage does not last long, Mil throws him through a door and the rout is on. Most of the match is Mil just beating the ever loving shit out of Puma, which is great, but they also do a great job timing the hope spots. Mil busts Puma into the ring bell, but Puma is able to return the favor. Puma's Achilles Heel was definitely too much furniture re-arrangement. He went to go get the Casket but ends up being powerbombed it! Wicked dent! Great sound! Another moment is Puma has an advantage and goes to set up tables on the outside, but he ends up being the one that goes through him. He should have been pressing his advantage. Mil uses the turnbuckle hook, but unfortunately that does not last long. There is a crazy spear through a table that is so devastating one half of the table falls on Puma's head. I did like Puma's comeback when Mil gets caught doing some furniture rearrangement by being the Casket in the ring. Two swift kicks to the head and then a big time 450 splash on the Casket! That's what I am talking about! Puma tries to put Mil in the Casket and ends up just shutting the Lid on him a bunch of times and hitting him with a chair. This is when he goes to set up the tables. He ends up taking Mil's Spinning Chokeslam into the Casket! Puma fights out of the Casket with a lot of kicks. They do Casket teases a lot better in this match than the typical Undertaker match.
Best spot of the match was Puma breaking his fall on Straight To Hell with his hands springing back up and Kicking Mil in the head. Enziguiri! Goes for the Dive but Mil sledges him with an elbow as he is shooting through the ropes. Puma starts attacking with a Steel Chair and Van Daminator! I love all the head-hunting! As I said earlier, Mil Chokeslams Puma through the tables he set up and the end is nigh. Mil drags out a second casket, the casket he put Konnan in and he stuffs Puma in this. They make it seem like this Puma leaving Lucha Underground. I dont know when he signed with WWE, but this seems like a plausible timeline. If this is his last match, then it was a helluva one to go out on. No downtime, just a kickass brawl! They did great respecting Mil's power advantage and Puma was using kicks to the head to set up dives. When he deviated or took too long thats when Mil made him pay with big slams. A simple story, but always effective.
4. Sexy Star vs Mariposa - Lucha Underground 5/4/16 I Quit
Vampiro does an excellent job putting I Quit Matches by saying he has always shied away from them because he is too afraid to say "I Quit" so he might just die instead. Fuck yeah, thats some damn good shit. Technically, this is a "No Mas" match. I liked that Lucha Underground gives their own name to their gimmick matches. Mariposa means Butterfly, I admit I used Google Translate. Mariposa is Cheerleader Melissa for all the SHIMMER fans and TNA fans. Sexy Star is a pretty famous AAA Luchadora, for me the most famous, but I could be wrong when I would watch AAA randomly from like around 2010 she was the one I always remembered.
Sexy Star let it fucking rip in this match. I will be honest, the first couple minutes leave a lot to be desired. It is not really all that interesting, kinda go through the motions, here's a couple submissions. Sexy Star just starts wailing on Mariposa on the outside and that's when my interest piqued. I thought Mariposa could have been more heelish and dont know how much covering her face hurt her ability to tell that story. Sexy Star was selling like a million bucks and was just all fire. The best thing Mariposa did was was rip the mask and then they climbed the Scaffolding. This is when the match went from good to great. Sexy Star started bleeding and by the end of the match she was a fucking mess. Mariposa did all these teases like she was going to throw Sexy Star off the Scaffold and they showed how high the fuck up they were and Vampiro sold it so well. It was really great. I hate heights and it was freaking me out. So that was really awesome work. They come back down. Marty "The Moth" Martinez is Mariposa's brother and he is tormenting Sexy Star. He brutalizes her in the crowd. Then The Mack comes in and Mack Trucks this prick and now we are down to Sexy Star and Mariposa. I loved everything Sexy Star did. They trash can attacked was great, just so damn heated. I love how revved she was up and the blood really was flowing by this point. The transition back to Mariposa was not quite as strong as I want.
The best part of the match and maybe one of the best moments in wrestling history...Mariposa has Sexy Star in an Inverted Texas Cloverleaf and the ref asks her if she wants to quit and Sexy Star screams "FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" This was the CHOSHUUUUUUUUUU of the 2010s! The Crowd and ME popped fucking huge!
Sexy Star punts her in the Cooch. Sleeper! HELL YEAH! GO SEXY STAR! Marty The Moth back in! FUCK YOUUUUUUUUU! THE MACK STUNNER! OH HELL YEAH! Sexy Star snaps her arm with a Cross-Armbreaker and Mariposa says No Mas! Sexy Star SHOVES THE REF! APPLIES THE CROSS ARMBREAKER AGAIN! HELL YEAH! Then throws her out of the ring like yesterday's garbage! Great visual of a bloody, battered Sexy Star victorious!
If you don't love this match, there's only one thing I can say to you, FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
3. Pentagon Jr. vs Vampiro - Lucha Underground 8/5/15 Street Fight
Calling all Vampires, watch this match pronto! This was sick, twisted violence at its best. Total gorefest. Deathmatch Wrestling at its best. Matt Striker is the drizzling shits, just try to ignore him and his Ian bullshit, its fucking Vampiro in there, brutha. A Cero Miedo (Zero Fear) match is just Lucha Underground name for a street fight. Pentagon Jr breaks people's arms to appease a mysterious Master. He was going to break Sexy Star's arm but Vampiro stopped him. Now it is on!
Vampiro had been watching some Ghost BC and came out dressed as the Black Pope with his face paint. It was cool as hell. One of the best entrances I have ever seen. Pentagon Jr has such a cool look too.
The match is insane and they are so efficient. Everything kickass and no downtime. Pentagon beats the shit out of Vamp. Not letting his disrobe and just attacking him with a steel chair. They do some good crowd brawling. Vamp gets a brief comeback to let you know the Old Man still got it, but Pentagon is rocking. He exposes the concrete and Pentagon FUs him on the concrete and then more chairshots. The ref calls the match and they stretcher Vamp out only for Vamp to attack the EMTs and it is on! Vamp hulks up and here come the tacks. The Fluorescent Light Tubes up the ante a thousandfold! I dont know how they work and if they are gimmicked or not, BUT I dont think so. Pentagon breaks it over the back of his neck and head. Vampiro is a BLOODY MESS! FIVE ALARM! Somehow he is bleeding from the eye too, I dont know how. They way they have worked this entire match has been awesome. It feels like a war. I like how the bumps are few and far between but they are earned. They selling like they are fighting through pain. Vamp hiptosses him on the next light tube. Then rips the masks. He CROWNS Pentagon with the Final Light Tube. HOLY SHIT! Pentagon has tapped a gusher! Well his Mask got replaced by a Crimson Mask. Pentagon BALLSHOT! Love it! They tussle on top. Vamp Super Belly to Belly Throws Pentagon from the top to the Tacks & Glass Shards! HOLY SHIT! How do they climax this blood-soaked mayhem! Well how else! A FLAMING FUCKING TABLE! Pentagon Throws Vamp through the Table Ablaze! Vamp is on fucking fire! Like how shit! Dude was on fucking fire! Pentagon pinned him! Great finish! Terrific violent brawl, loved every minute.
2. Prince Puma vs Rey Mysterio - Lucha Underground 7/20/16
The Dream Match of Lucha Underground. They did a great job building Prince Puma as their Ace Babyface and with Rey Mysterio leaving WWE to work Lucha shows this was a huge score for Lucha Underground. What's funny is this match feels a lot bigger here than lets say Rey vs Ricochet going 20 on a random RAW. Really shows how much promotion, build and context matter in pro wrestling.
I thought they did a fabulous job working this Lucha Dream Match. Lots of great symmetry (the opening classic Lucha Libre sequence was just awesome!) that one would expect given this is babyface vs babyface but they added a lot of scouting wrinkles. They brought up that Puma was a big fan of Rey growing up and that's plausible, give that Ricochet is only 6 months older than me so he could have been watching Rey since he was 7 years old. With Rey being his idol, Puma knows his offense and has seen zillion hours of tape. We see that a lot with how Ricochet counters the around the world hurricanarana, the bodyscissors bulldog and the 619. All staples of the Mysterio repertoire that were converted into high impact offense for Puma. Rey is one of the best counter-wrestlers of all time himself and was no slouch in this match. I loved the Hurricanarana over the top rope, managed to hold position on the floor and then hit the rana proper into the apron. Sick move. Anyone familiar with Rey knows his classic belly slide into a belly flop bump onto the floor. I love he turned that stock bump into a offense in his later years. We see Rey slide on his belly and hit a splash on Ricochet. I feel like Rey dropped a lot of muscle mass when he left WWE and he looked leaner and quicker than ever now. There was a great Tornado DDT counter by Rey. They teased the Splash Mountain/Rana Reverse that was a staple of 90s Rey but ended up with a Dragonrana. Weird that Ricochet landed on his feet but still sold the move. It took a little starch out of the nearfall.
I thought the 619 into a Springboard 450 was a terrific nearfall for Ricochet. Ricochet following up with a missed 630 and he CRASHED AND BURNED! He ate it fully on that miss. It was cringing to hear Matt Striker call Ricochet's pause the "Im sorry, I love you" moment. I get the need for the pause because he did need to miss that move but alluding to Shawn/Flair I didnt like. I LOVE that Rey brought the Spike Hurricanarana back. WCW fans will remember that's how he won most of his matches. I love the snap and how compact the the final pin is. They did a great job building to the eventual winning 619. Puma catches the second attempt and Tries for a Tombstone but Rey hits another Spike Hurricanarana! Ricochet was BUILT for these bumps. He doing a great job making these Ranas and that one DDT look gnarly! Hats off! 619, Spike Rana into that tight package pin! 1-2-3! Excellent. This is a dream match that delivers in spades!
1. Mil Muertes vs Fenix - Lucha Underground 3/18/15 Casket Match
In my opinion, the most famous match of Lucha Underground, so famous is that I sought it out and watched it back in 2015. My recollection is that this rocked! The story of this match is that Fenix was the first man to beat Mil Muertes (Thousand Deaths in English), but it was kinda flukey. In the following match, Muertes' manager, Catrina threw the Magic Stone to Fenix and he clobber Mil with it. Catrina gave Mil the Lick of Death and then snogged Fenix. So Catrina, who is pretty jacked, was she a wrestler?, is with Fenix. Mil is doubly pissed for losing to this pipsqueek and losing his woman. Fenix is such a great babyface. AEW has really squandered Pentagon & Fenix thus far. Big charisma in both!
Muertes Suicide Dive for the red hot start! Muertes is Mesias for TNA & AAA fans and in my research, I found out he is Puerto Rican, which I didnt know. Mesias is kicking ass and he is looking better than I remember from TNA watching. Fenix uses a quick kick to gain control, but tries to set up for a long run to dropkick but Muertes moves out of the way and Fenix bumps on the apron. Fenix uses another kick to the head to set up a Swandive over the top to the floor. That's what Fenix needs to do against the bigger and more powerful. Big aerial assault with lots of velocity to create momentum to compensate for his lack of mass.
Muertes rises from the dead and Chops the hell out of Fenix's back. Slams his head into the Casket. Stop calling it a box you fucking idiot, Striker. Muertes beats Fenix with the Floral Arrangement I enjoy that. Fenix DDTs Muertes on the Casket. Fenis goes for another dives but ends up spearing the Casket! Muertes had lifted the Casket as a shield . Sick spot, probably the best of the match. Muertes tears the mask of Fenix almost clean off. Then does the bottom turnbuckle and smashes the turnbuckles into his head. The crowd chants "We Want Blood". Hell Yeah! Lucha Underground is best violent brawling territory of the 2010s. Muertes gnawing at the cut while choking him with the turnbuckle. This is fucking awesome! He beats Fenix up the stairs. This is a fantastic heat segment. Fenix is selling like a million bucks. They are up in the balcony. Muertes slams Fenix face-first into some metal vent duct. Damn! They teased a big highspot, but nada. Muertes POWERBOMBS Fenix on the announce table, but it doesnt break! That hurt! Fenix is selling like a million bucks while bleeding like a stuck pig.
Muertes has dragged the Casket into the ring. Fenix takes a wicked bump, a back drop into the Casket and that's quite the dent. Back to biting the cut! Spitting Fenix's blood. Best Lucha Underground match of all time, baby! Superkick by Fenix! Got to go for headshots! Muertes big time Uppercut! Codebreaker from the top by Mil Muertes! Blood is just spurting from Fenix, who is selling so damn well. Mil wooden chair throws to the head! I love Chair Throws! Another big head kick by Fenix. It has been his best offense. Just keep trying to kick his head off. This sets up the Bleacher dive on Muertes. Kick to head->Dive is his best offensive combination. He deviated it from it again and back to getting slammed into the metal railing, repeatedly. Superkick to the head again and Moonsault from railing to Muertes. Head Kick->Dive! Keep it up! They slug it out. Muertes accidentally decks Catrina. He hestiates and Fenix Enziguiri! Head kick! Muertes bites the cut in retaliation! Catrina opens the Casket as they are struggling over a Suplex. BIG ROUNDHOUSE KICK TO THE HEAD! Fenix walks the ropes and Double Stomp! Catrina Lick Of Death to the Magic Stone and throws it into the Casket.
If Catrina still wants to be in wrestling, a promotion should look into picking her up, she has a great presence and charisma to her. Fantastic bloody brawl. Muertes was a powerhouse, horror movie monster come to life and just destroying Fenix. Fenix, bloody & battered, just kept fighting back and I loved the Kick To The Head/Dive Offensive Combination that was the theme of the match and that was ultimately the finish too! One of the best matches of the 2010s!