I Saw Lucha Underground...

[Hard Hit Prince]

and it was awesome!

Really, if there's a time for you to start watching it, is this week as they presented a different match, known as "Aztec Warfare", where it's basically a twenty man pinfall/submission Elimination Battle Royal, to crown the first Lucha Underground Champion.

Say what you want about Matt Striker, but he's actually great to get new viewers as I felt I knew what happened in the past months, only by him explaining what's "The Crew", the Puma/Mundo story, the Chavo Guerrero and Blue Demon Jr. arc and, my underrated feud favorite, the King Cuerno/Drago. Really an interesting concept and the guy that owns it (kayfabe), Dario Cueto is just awesome as fuck. I hope they don't get to AAA on this.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

King Cuerno/Drago has become one of my favorite feuds as well. Good show.

 

[Vega]

I'll watch it right now.

I don't like Striker that much myself, but as you said, two buddies of mine who are casual viewers liked Striker's commentary. There's something working.

 

[therockiswwf]

Striker once said the stairs weighed 300 pounds. He sucks. Better than Booker though. That 20 man elimination thing sounds Vince Russo-ish to me.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

Striker once said the stairs weighed 300 pounds. He sucks. Better than Booker though. That 20 man elimination thing sounds Vince Russo-ish to me.

Not.a.chance. Russo wouldn't book that good of a match. Give it a try and you'll shut yourself up, also Striker toned down a lot for this and he seems to really fit in.

Replying on something without watching it and being critical of it, is just, dumb.

 

[therockiswwf]

I'll watch it. I'm just skeptical. That's a lot of people in one match which is a Russo kind of thing. I'll be pleasantly surprised if it's not a clusterfuck.

 

[A11oftheLights]

Was Mascarita 'The fat midget power ranger' Sagrada in the match? I'm only just passed the first match of episode 3 and am a big fan of Prince Puma, though i dont like the name. Really enjoy it as the pace isnt ridiculous and it isnt a spot fest. Chavo is a bore tbh.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Striker can go fuck himself in this episode. So bad.

 

[MrHashasheen]

On looks alone, Drago, Cuerno and Puma need to be the top guys in this company.

Also, this match has so many blatant spots and miscues I'm staggered they let it air as is.

 

[MrHashasheen]

The luchadoras are doing better spots than the men.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Fuck me, they play to the crowd way too much. It's a battle royal, it's for a championship, focus on the fucking match.

 

[A11oftheLights]

On looks alone, Drago, Cuerno and Puma need to be the top guys in this company.

Also, this match has so many blatant spots and miscues I'm staggered they let it air as is.

no just no

 

[John McCass]

Lucha Underground is a great show. It has plenty of good in ring workers and performers. But,it needs more time for the show. It can be elongated to 2 hours a week. They have that much workers to put on a 2 hour show. It will get success in near future.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Was Mascarita 'The fat midget power ranger' Sagrada in the match? I'm only just passed the first match of episode 3 and am a big fan of Prince Puma, though i dont like the name. Really enjoy it as the pace isnt ridiculous and it isnt a spot fest. Chavo is a bore tbh.

If you're really digging Puma enough to care to dig out more of his matches outside of Lucha Underground, then check out any full matches you can find(DailyMotion is a good source besides youtube) of an indie wrestler named Ricochet.

Puma is simply just Ricochet in a mask with a different(better) name(I guess to feel more "Lucha", even though he's from Paducah, KY), and his stuff under the Ricochet name in companies like Dragon Gate, DGUSA, Evolve, and PWG is lightyears better than the stuff he's done on Lucha Underground. He's on the very shortlist of best indie workers on the planet and definitely worth your time if you're interested

 

[Gelgarin]

I gave it another go based on the thread. Decided to count the guys who managed to display a single iota of personality during the 50 minute match and compare it to the number of guys who did superkicks.

Safe to say that superkicks won and I was unimpressed.

 

[Bagpipes]

I've watched every episode of LU to date, all I can ask is that if you watched the latest episode with the Aztec Warfare match and didn't like it, go back and watch some previous episodes.

There's so much more to this promotion than what was displayed on the most recent episode. The vignettes they run and the backstage segments are phenomenal and the singles matches tend to be really good. This week's show was a lot different than usual, I honestly didn't care for the 20 man match, but its nice to see they crowned a champion, which should open up a lot more main event level storyline potential.

If you've watched previous episodes and still don't like the promotion, to each his own. I've been trying to like TNA for years and just can't get into it. But, if you're basing your opinion of the LU promotion on the latest show, I strongly encourage you to at least watch one other episode.

 

[Gelgarin]

Nah; I've seen almost all of it. I was really impressed to begin with, but it went downhill quickly and I gave up shortly before Christmas.

Credit where it's due, the backstage segments are legitimately outstanding. Unfortunately they're not enough. When a two minute segment with an authority figure and a manager drinking scotch is a highlight of the broadcast there's a problem. We're ten broadcasts in, and by my recollection only about four wrestlers have been given an opportunity to talk (Sexi Star got a speak, but it was in Spanish so it doesn't count), the rest of the time the wrestler just stands there looking stoic whilst Konan or Dario talk at them.

So few of the guys in the promotion have been given any kind of personality. The production seems to be under the impression that a distinctive look can take the place of a character, but that only works when the wrestler in question knows how to play a character in the ring, and nobody in this promotion does except for Mil Muertes, Chavo and Big Rick. Strip the costume away and basically everyone else is a completely vanilla indy guy who thinks flips are more efficient than psychology as a method to get over.

Character aside, the storytelling is also really half assed. I'll reiterate that the production values are great, but the stories themselves don't justify it. There was a fantastic moment early on where Konan informed Chavo of impending repercussions from AAA, but then it never went anywhere. Pentagon became aligned with Chavo for literally no reason, and no effort was ever made to explain it. About the only storyline with any kind of content is Mundo against the Authority, and we've all seen that a hundred times before.

The wrestling is very mixed. There's some legitimately good guys (Muertes, Drago, Mundo) and some (Phoenix, Phoenix, Fenix) who are fucking atrocious. There are too many superkicks, too many planchas, way too many guys standing still waiting for other guys to jump on them and too many "alternative" talents who bore me to tears. Big Rick is profoundly mediocre, but I found myself begging for his involvement just because it meant something different.

I'm not inherently adverse to indy wrestling and I'm not inherently adverse to Lucha Libre (just). I used to greatly enjoy Dragon Gate, which had a strong lucha influence. But I am adverse to spotty, move spammy, illogical wrestling broadcasts with little to no story. As such, LU probably isn't for me.

 

[ABMorales787]

If you hate Superkicks, I suggest staying away from anything Young Bucks related then.

 

[Gelgarin]

Oh believe me, I do. They're dreadful.

I actually saw them live once at a Dragon Gate show - the superkicks looked considerably worse in person.

Seriously though, I don't actually hate superkicks. I hate that almost every kid on the indies who grew up watching HBK has integrated it into their move set, so on a full card you're guaranteed to see half a dozen, almost none of which will be sold properly. It is the most overused move in the industry.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

way too many guys standing still waiting for other guys to jump on them

Called "pulling an Uso"


Easily one of my biggest pet peeves.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Oh believe me, I do. They're dreadful.

Cover-your-eyes awful. I have NO IDEA were their superiority complex comes from, or why on fucking earth the big boys extend offers to them.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Cover-your-eyes awful. I have NO IDEA were their superiority complex comes from, or why on fucking earth the big boys extend offers to them.

But the smarks love them with their super kickey kicks and flippy flips.

I personally have no strong opinion on them as wrestlers, they can entertain me on occasion but they have some pretty big egos for two guys who never made the big leagues.

 

[ABMorales787]

Cover-your-eyes awful. I have NO IDEA were their superiority complex comes from, or why on fucking earth the big boys extend offers to them.

Lucha Underground gave them a shitty offer. I know that because they made it public knowledge. So not only have they burned their WWE bridge but now the AAA one too.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I remember WM 8 when HBK did it on Tita Santano and it stood out and looked like a distinct and deadly finisher. Them's was the days.

 

[Uncle Sam]

On the Young Bucks:

There's the argument that they're actually brilliant meta-heels because they do superkicks and unnecessary flips and lift from DX and the nWO deliberately to piss people like Gelgarin and NorCal off. The "ego" would, in this scenario, obviously be part and parcel of that.

Case in point: