Milenko Reviews Lucha Underground [Archive]

'Ravishing' Ned Flanders

08-29-2019, 05:49 PM

Season 1 Episode 1
Welcome To The Temple

Original Air Date:10/29/2014
Location: The L.U. Temple in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California.
Announcers: Matt Striker & Vampiro

The series premiere beings with a young man fighting several others with his face obscured by his hoodie. He's losing until a luchador in a green mask arrives and takes them all out. Once it's just the 2 of them the masked man puts out his hand and tells the other man to come with him. The scene ends with the 2 men leaving together as the Lucha Underground logo appears on the screen.

As the logo disappears a man in Aztec garb cam be seen walking out of a cave and through a field with 2 other men. As this fades the 2 men from previously are seen sitting in a locker room with the elder luchador tells the younger mam about the orgins or Lucha Libre in the Ancient Aztec Empire. This morphs into pictures of legendary luchadors of the past which turns into videos which then turns into a shot of the ring at AAA triplemania XXII.

We hear Dario Cueto introduce himself as we are shown a short video of some of what's to come. Then we are then shown video of him standing in the middle of the same Triplemania ring offering someone (I don't know who) a bag of money to sign a L.U. contract which he accepts. He then tells everyone in the audience he will see them at Lucha Underground.

We are then shown the roof of a building with the L.U. logo on a billboard as luchadors from all over the world walk to compete in The Temple. As were are given out first glimpses at the luchadors we will meet throughout the season we are given a look at the action in store. After a shot of the Lucha Underground title screen the opening credits appear on screen along with shots of Los Angeles. We finally are shown the inside of the Temple as we are officially welcomed to Lucha Underground by the gorgeous ring announcer Melissa Santos as a band plays the opening intro. The camera pans over to the announce table as Matt Striker & Vampiro also welcome us to L.U. as they hype of the first episode.

Melissa introduces us to Dario Cueto who walks to into the ring carrying a suitcase. He explains that he's invited fighters from all over the world to either kick ass or get their ass kicked. Dario says that in his Temple they honor ancient traditions like honor, courage & his personal favorite, violence. He goes onto say that the luchador who impresses him the most gets a signing bonus of $100,000 which he shows in the suitcase he has in his hand. He introduces the first match as one that shows the true foundations of Lucha Libre becuase the 2 men competing in it have Lucha in their very blood.

Blue Demon Jr vs Chavo Guerrero
(5 minutes 15 seconds)

A fun fast paced match between 2 legends of Lucha Libre. The match starts in the ring woth Chavo having the speed advantage & Blue Demon enjoying the power advantage. After a bit the action spills to the outside they get back into the ring and after a failed Diving Senton from the top rope Blue Demon is able to make Chavo submit.

Rating: * * * 3/4 out of 5 stars

Thoughts: I enjoyed the match quite a bit but in all honesty it felt like it never got out of first gear which is a shame as both men are 2 of the best at what they do. Still though a solid way to introduce Lucha Libre & L.U. to the world.

Segment
Konnan is in Dario's office and tells him that he has the best fighter in the world who happens to be from Boyle Heights. Dario saysche signed the former hottest free agent in the business named Johnny Mundo but he only did it to prove a point as the man doesn't respect his Temple. Dario sets up a match between Konnan's man and Johnny Mundo telling Konnan that if his man is able to make an example of Mundo he may get the $100K.

When we come back from the break we get a shot of Mundo doing pull-ups before Striker & Vampiro introduce to Konnan's man Prince Puma complete with a video package of him training as Konnan tells us his story.

Son of Havoc vs Sexy Star
(1 minute 32 seconds)
The match starts with Havoc saying he's not gonna wrestle a women and tells Star to leave his ring, get counted out amd live to fight another day. She leaves the ring like she's going to listen but slides back into the ring and jumps on his back to start things off. The rest of the short match has Star hitting a few moves but gets caught in a back breaker and getting pinned with Havoc pulling the tights.

Rating: N/A

Thoughts: it happened. I mean the video package for Sexy Star & the stuff from Havoc in the beginning was longer than the actual match so i really don't know what else to say.

Segment
A short locker room segment where Dario is giving Chavo flack for tapping out to Demon earlier in the night. He also says that because Chavo didn't finish off Blue Demon Jr he will have to bring in someone who will and ends with saying 1,000 deaths may be coming for us all.

Main Event
Johnny Mundo vs Prince Puma
(12 minutes 31 seconds)

The match starts slow with both men feeling each other out with some decent chain wrestling that ends with a pinfall attempt from Prince Puma. After that things quickly pick up speed with Puma catchung Muno with a rather impressive Spinning Hurricanranna that sends Mundo outside so he can catch his breath.

Once Mundo gets back in the ring he is able to take advantage as he lands kicks as well as a backbreaker before lifting Puma up and sending him throat first into the top rope followed by a spinning kick to the head that sends Puma to the outside. Instead of letting him catch his breath Mundo follows Puma outside and continues his attack for a few seconds before tossing him back into the ring. Mundo spends to much time playing to the audience and gets hit right in the chest by a dropkick from Puma that sends hin crashing down onto the apron and into the ring. Puma takes advantage and goes to the apron so he can hit Mundo with a Senton. This takes a lot out of both men but Puma is able to lock in a leg full nelson.

Mundo powers out of it & goes for Puma's knee. He changes up to head punches which gives Puma the opportunity to get to his feet and knock Mundo to the outside with an enziguri. This time the action stays on the outside as they fight around the ring and up to the announce table with Vampiro getting excited & Striker telling him to relax. Mundo leaps onto the table and flips over Puma's back and when Puma turns around and leaps up Mundo throws him face first into the metal ring post and it sounded like it hurt.

The fans chant Mundo's name as well as this is awesome as Puma gets rolled back into the ring followed by an immediate pinnfall attempt by Johnny. Puma kicks out & Johnny immediately going for a rear chin lock to keep Puma grounded. This works for a minute or two but Puma gets put and picks up speed hitting a European uppercut on Mundo who hits Puma in the kidney as soon as he turns his back. Mundo goes for a back drop but Puma lands on his feet and floors Johnny with a spinning kick to the temple. This leads to ann exhange of counters from both men that ends with Puma hitting a standing shooting star press and going for the pin only for Johnny to kick out.

Both men get to their feet with Johnny using his height & power advantage to land heavy blows to the back of Puma's neck as well as his head before powering him into the corner where he rains downs punches to Puma's head that knock him down. He gets up and goes after Johnny only to be hit by clothesline after clothesline and a spinning heel kick that sends Puma to the mat followed by a running knee to the face with Johnny going for another cover with Puma kicking out at 2.

Sitting there Johnny signals for his finishing move The End of the World[/I] as Vampiro says it in Spanish. Mundo pulls Puma into the corner but before he can jump to the top rope Puma grabs him and rolls him up for yet another near fall. Both men again get to their feet with Mundo going for what i'm guessing is the Moonlight Drive corkscrew neckbreaker. Puma escapes it and sends Mundo into the ropes followed by an elbow to the jaw but Mundo is able to quickly recover and hit Puma with a springboard kick to the face.

Both men are down but Mundo crawls into a cover for the 5th near fall of the match. Mundo pulls Puma to his feet and goes for a big move but Puma elbows Mundo in the head, sending him into corner. Puma runs at him but is thrown over the rop rope. Mundo goes for a fist to the head but Puma ducks and hits an elbow to the midsection before jumping over top rope for a roll up. Mundo rolls the rest of the way through and hits Puma with another knee to the face semding him down to the mat. Mundo quickly forvfor the finish but Puma rolls out of the way causing Mundo to have to land on his feet with Puma hitting a springboard double knee drop and going right for the pin giving us nearfall number 6.

Puma gets up and after hyping himself up a bitche goes to the apron & goes for a springboard 450 but lands face first on the mat when Mundo rolls out of the way. This gives Mundo the opportunity to hit the Moonlight Drive to give us another nearfall. Mundo pulls Puma up and goes for a powerbomb but Puma is able to get out of hit and land on his feet only to be hit with a standing Spanish Fly quickly followed by The End of the World for the pinfall and the win.

After the match there's a mutual show of respect from Puma & Mundo until Dario Cueto comes to the ring with the $100K. He opens the suitcase and tells Johnny he's earned the $100K but when Johnny goes to take it Dario slams it shut. Johnny goes after him & the suitcase until 2 men attack both Puma & Mundo from behind with a 3rd slowly getting to the apron. With the 2 men concentrating on Mundo the 3rd man grabs Puma from behind and clubs him on the chest before pushing him towards his partners in the ring who land a flapjack/code breaker combo on Puma. The man on the outside climbs into the ring and looks aroud as the other two men attack Mundo who's laying in the corner. They pick Mundo up and toss him to the other man who lands a pretty vicious choke slam that leaves Mundo laying.

After the action Cueto gets back on the Mic and brags about more than just Luchadores will be competing in his Temple & that the 3 men who just took out Puma & Mundo work for him. As the credits roll the obvious leader snatches the $100K out of Dario's hand.

Rating: * * * * 1/2 out of 5 stars

Thoughts: The match was everything it should have been. Both men went all out for twelve and a half minutes without slowing down at all. If the first match was a look at Traditional Lucha Libre this one was a look at modern Lucha Libre. My only issue was the 7 near falls. 7 in 12 minutes seems a bit much. Eventually a pinfall attempt stops having the same impact if there's so many in such a short amount of time.

Show Rating: * * * * out of 5 stars

[U]Final Thoughts
For a series premiere i enjoyed this quite a bit. It had a little look back at history both in a video package at the start as well as in the first match between B.D.J. and Chavo. We found out that the women will be fighting the men which honestly surprised me a bit as you'd think with sponsors and all that jazz they'd have to be careful with that. The main event & the aftermath accomplished something I've not seen WWE do in quite a while & that'a end their show with me wanting more which in my opinion is what a televised main event is supposed to do. I'm excited to see where this show goes from here as they started quite well.