“Lucha! Lucha! Lucha! Lucha!”
The sound of the crowd located inside one Boyle Heights Temple… or me currently sitting at a table preparing to start this weeks episode of Lucha Underground? The decision is yours.
Good evening everybody! And welcome to another week of Lucha Underground. It is I, faithful Bobby here to catch you all up on the happenings of the fearless female foursome (my new nickname which is probably a fail but can stay for now) comprised of Sexy Star, Ivelisse, Catrina and Angela Fong. Wait a second, make that five because I always give some shout outs to Melissa Santos as well.
Trying really hard not to make this a 5000 word essay as per usual, so let’s jump right into the action as we open things up with some exotico on havoc action!
Melissa Santos promptly introduces our first competitor, Son of Havoc, and he stands in the ring alongside resident badass, Ivelisse! His opponent is known as… wait a sec. Ivelisse has a mic again and my excitement level grows to new heights. She screams for everyone to shut up, before popping at the fact that ever since Son of Havoc arrived at the temple, he has been made to look like nothing more than a joke. In his first match, he wrestled a woman, and last week he faced off against “half a man”. Ivelisse isn’t taking any prisoners tonight.
She screams out that he is sick of the disrespect! If the two of them wanted to deal with this treatment, they wouldn’t have signed a seven year contract to fight in this dump! Instead, they would be living in Nashville, likely in a biker gang taking down their enemies aka members of rival clubs (Note: I may have spiraled off into Sons of Anarchy talk again, let me stop).
Son of Havoc then takes the microphone and says he is challenging anyone in the back to come down to the ring if they have the balls, and face him man to man. Suddenly, out dances a new wrestler to the temple, Pimpinela Escarlata! Showing more rhythm than I could ever dream of, Pimpinela has the crowd on their feet. Unfortunately though, Ivelisse is disgusted. Son of Havoc doesn’t seem to be here for it either, as shown by his ambush from behind. Pimpinela gets the upper hand fast though, and absolutely DRILLS Havoc’s chest with a chop. Escarlata then latches hands and heads up to the top rope, walking across and leaping off with a crossbody… onto Ivelisse!
She rolls out of the ring, as Pimpinela gives jazz hands but then gets tripped up. Havoc nails a chop back, then Irish whipping Escarlata into the corner and continuing the assault. Pimpinela ducks another attack, as the crowd want to see a kiss! Irish whip into the opposing corner, as Pimpinela flips over and then climbs to the top. Escarlata with the leap… and nails an arm drag! Son of Havoc rolls outside, but gets met with a rolling senton off the ring apron. Ivelisse doesn’t appreciate any of this, but she doesn’t phase Pimpinela, who leaps off with a missile dropkick. She then proceeds to hop onto the apron and distract ol’ Pimp (another nickname I’m trying out) long enough for Havoc to take control with a hip toss into the bottom turnbuckle.
Havoc goes for the cover, but Pimpinela kicks out. Knife edge chop connects, as Havoc chokes Pimpi, before distracting the ref for Ivelisse to provide some extra help. They go for another Irish Whip, with Pimpinela flipping over the ropes, but unfortunately slipping off the ring apron and to the floor outside. Insert Ivelisse! She’s popping off with some kicks, as now she drags Escarlata over to be met with an elbow off the turnbuckle from Havoc. NICE! Son of Havoc taunts Pimpinela’s dance moves, then nailing a handspring elbow before missing a crossbody. Ivelisse provides some additional assistance for Pimpi to fall in a sunset flip, but just a two count.
The fan favorite fires up! A hip toss connects, as Ivelisse runs inside and receives one for herself. Here comes Mascarita Sagrada! He chases Ivelisse around the ring and to the back, as Pimpi kisses Havoc (I guess… weird camera angle) and rolls Havoc up for the three count! Mascarita and Pimpinela dance around the ring as Havoc and Ivelisse continue to plot their impending domination.
Back out to the ring we head, as Melissa introduces the next competitor making their debut in the temple… Famous B! New life mission – find out what the B stands for. Unfortunately for B, his opponent is the destruction causing Mil Muertes. BUT fortunately for us, Mil means Catrina! And Jesus, she looks better and better every week. The duo walk down the steps and into the ring as he kneels down and kisses the powerful stone carried in her palm. From there, Catrina removes his added costuming and we get underway as Muertes absolutely destroys Famous B with an early attack.
Muertes continues to pummel him, then dragging B over to the ropes where Catrina spins him around and snaps the back of his head off the ropes! She begins pounding on the ring apron, firing Muertes up to continue his absolute domination as he slams Famous B down. Mil fires up and then DRILLS B with his running spear, before hoisting him up and dropping down with the flatliner for the quick victory. In comes Catrina, as this time we get a different spin on her post match tactics! Mil picks Famous B up and locks him in a full nelson as she sensually struts over and latches her hand around his throat. Catrina then proceeds to execute the #LickOfDeath, which cannot be sanitary at all, especially when not having a mask in between the contact… yet it does add to her mystique perfectly and thus I support it (as long as she remains healthy and agrees to this).
In the midst of a match pitting Drago against King Cuerno, Drago gets taken down with a dropkick. Suddenly, in walks Queen of FCW, Angela Fong, aka our mystery woman in black, as she approaches the ring through the crowd this time. Angela scouts the action between both competitors as the match continues, and Drago eventually leaps to the outside with a huge dive taking our Cuerno! This doesn’t look to please her, as she angrily storms off to the back and the bout continues on to see Cuerno emerge victorious via Thrill of the Hunt!
It’s time for the main event! Melissa Santos introduces the following tag team match, as Chavo Guerrero slowly walks out first. Once inside the ring, his tag team partner, Pentagon Jr. follows suit and has some pretty funky music. Next up, their opponents!~ First up, Sexy Star! Sexy walks down the stairs in her fancy coat, blowing a kiss to the fans and executing a bit of posing as her partner, Fenix, then pops out. Oh I’m 100% into this theme song too. Fenix hops inside the squared circle as he and Sexy Star look ready to go.
All four stare offf with one another, as Fenix takes Pentagon down quickly with a superkick and Star decks Chavo with a dropkick! Fenix with a huge springboard dropkick, but Pentagon now has Sexy by the hair. He sends her outside and turns back around, noticing Fenix ready to go. Huge flipping hurricanrana scores! Chavo now getting inside the ring to go one on one with Fenix, as both men lock up and Guerrero takes the early advantage with a snapmare. Fenix tries to counter out, and eventually does as he connects with a dropkick.
Tag into Sexy Star! She hits a dropkick and nails a few shots to follow up, but then Chavo knocks her down. He grabs her by the hair and tags in Pentagon, who continues choking her. Tag back in to Chavo, as he taunts her until she slaps her way out and tags Fenix back in. Fenix now going crazy with a comeback, and nails a SICK kick. Chavo immediately gains control again, tagging in Pentagon. Nasty powerbomb gets a two count, as Sexy Star begs for a tag.
Fenix unfortunately gets taken down with a chop to the chest, before tagging back into Chavo who leaps in with a kick. The two taunt Sexy Star, before Chavo locks in a chokehold and nails a dropkick. Pentagon in now as the crowd gets behind Fenix, and he nails a handspring cutter! Spin kick follows up and Sexy Star tags in! She takes both men down with some punches and kicks, mudhole stomping Chavo and giving Pentagon a headscissors. Sexy Star hits a boot, but then gets taken down. Chavo goes for a Boston Crab, but Fenix leaps off the top rope with a mule kick and takes out Pentagon in the process.
Sexy with a HUGE twirling DDT! She then ascends to the top rope and hits a spinning dive to Pentagon outside! Back inside the ring, Chavo gets thrown out and Fenix nails a humongous spinning takedown (because I have no other name to use) to take out all three! Chavo rolls back into the ring as Sexy climbs up top. She jumps with a crossbody, but he catches her and slams her down to the mat. Chavo is climbing. Noo…. Ahh! Fenix kicks Chavo outside. Back in, Sexy flips through a Powerbomb attempt by Pentagon and looks to be going for a code red… but he stops that and instead looks to signal for the Easy Driver. Fenix runs inside and hits a superkick, thus sparking Pentagon to fall into the code red! Star drags him over to the corner and Fenix leaps off with a huge set of knees as she hooks the leg and gets the three count! Chavo is certainly not happy at all.
Thoughts: Starting off with the main event, I found it to be enjoyable overall, but some parts did feel slow and/or lacking a little. Until the dives toward the end, it didn’t grab me in the excitement that Lucha Underground matches usually do. Now I completely understand you can’t exactly have the men doing insane moves to Sexy because it defies the laws of gravity, but even when Fenix was legal I felt it came off more like a match we’re used to seeing on free TV in terms of how the action went with a lot of methodical pacing and heel tactics coming into play. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but based on some of the previous main events we had seen, I’ve kind of set myself up to expect a lot of craziness (in a good way) from matches in the promotion.
That’s not to say the craziness didn’t ensue, because things definitely picked up towards the end. Sexy’s DDT and dive outside, followed up by Fenix’s were breathtaking. I know that her moveset has its detractors, and I won’t fight against it because for the most part she did stick to kicks and shots with a headscissors in between, but those two towards the end really took my breath away, and I just love seeing her being given such a platform. It’s honestly gotten to the point where I’m not even surprised seeing her mix it up with the guys anymore, and that’s what I love the most about it all.
Do I want to see her do some different things? Yes. We got a little taste of new material tonight, but the impatient part of me just wants more more more. I think she’s skilled in the ring, and regardless of how her moveset comes off, I really love the presence she brings. Even when she walks out from the back in her coat, she just brings a certain aura to the screen that I don’t get from anyone else. It’s cool!
Ivelisse getting to speak more is also a cool thing, primarily because I’m in love with her promo ability. She just sounds like such a cocky badass when she has something to say, and she really knows how to rile the crowd up without having to play the “Mean Girls” type role we see from a lot of heels in womens wrestling. It’s just something different and I really enjoy it.
Even though I think it might come off a little strange when she talks down about women facing men, I feel like it does fit her character. She doesn’t want to see women facing men and getting lauded for it unless it’s HER that’s doing the beating. So in her character’s eyes, Son of Havoc facing a woman is something to find unfair because the woman getting that opportunity isn’t her. It just works for me, and I absolutely love the two of them together. I kind of wish he’d win some more matches, but as long as the pair keep appearing and rocking this look they’ve got going on (with added mic time), I’m not complaining one bit.
Oh, and her interference is A+. If I had a recommendation for their tapings in January (unless I just imagined they were taping then), I want to see them in handicap matches. WWE did it briefly with Paul Burchill and Katie Lea, where the two of them would be allowed to face a male superstar 2 on 1. Given how much she interferes, I want to see it transitioned into that because I think it’ll put a new spin on the intergender aspect and not take anything away from Sexy Star. With Ivelisse’s, you could paint it as being sort of cocky and heelish in that they’re outnumbering a male opponent to get the upperhand, whereas Sexy’s is more about being understood as her wanting to be seen as equal and fighting against the odds.
Not as much to say on Catrina and Angela this week, but I am, of course, continuing to love their roles. We didn’t get a Catrina promo this go around, however, given the frequent nature of them, I’m okay with it. I do want to see her be given the opportunity to rock a microphone in the temple like Ivelisse did tonight, but because of the mystique their characters bring, I can see why they might be against it for now. Still, to me, her handling it would be fine and not take anything away from their forceful presence. I pretty much just want to hear Catrina talk every day of my life, okay. Is that too much to ask?! Just kidding. But in all seriousness, I love her role. I’m sure eventually it will lead to the ring, but for now it’s allowing her the platform to establish herself before that day comes and I’m 100% here for it.
I’m starting to wonder what’s up Angela’s sleeve, because last week I thought perhaps she’d enter a feud with Ivelisse… only this time it wasn’t Son of Havoc’s match she was scouting, and Mascarita wasn’t there either. My guess is that she’s just looking at everyone in an attempt to sink her teeth into whoever impresses her the most. Being that it could very well be someone who hasn’t debuted yet, and I have no earthly idea who all is contracted to Lucha Underground that hasn’t been on screen already, I’m not going to even fathom a guess. Much like Catrina, I hope we eventually get to see Angela compete down the road. For now though, the shock of Angela Fong being in wrestling again hasn’t yet worn off, so I’m just going to keep sitting back and going “Holy crap, it’s queen of FCW, Angela Fong” every time she walks out in that black leather, and I’m going to love every second of it.
That’s it for this week! Join me again next time (hopefully) when we have another fun filled hour of Lucha to discuss!~
Bobby
