Greeeeeetings! Yes I know, this is late. Unfortunately life got in the way and there were tests I needed to go fail (Okay, I scored a D but it’s the failing thought that counts).
Anyways, enough about me… another Wednesday has passed and that means my personal favorite promotion, Lucha Underground, has bestowed upon us another episode to enjoy!
This week, Catrina takes the night off… BUT(!) we head back into the ring as Sexy Star faces Ivelisse in our first ever womens singles match for the company. Because I’ve delayed your recapping already with my awful test-taking, I’m going to jump right into the action and not stall any longer (promise!).
We immediately begin the show off with ring announcer, Melissa Santos, in the ring and ready to announce some lucha action. Also in the ring is none other than Sexy Star, making her grand return after being taken out of action by a vicious chair shot two weeks ago at the hands of Chavo Guerrero.
GASP!
Sexy Star has a microphone, and she speaks in Spanish but we are treated to subtitles at the bottom. She calls him a stupid coward and proclaims that the next time she sees him, he better bring that chair again because that’s the only way he will EVER beat her. She is going to embarrass him for what he did to Blue Demon. She is going to kick his ass for what he did to Mascarita Sagrada! And ultimately, for laying his hands on her, she with the hands of a true queen will FINISH the Guerrero Dynasty.
I need resuscitation.
Her opponent? Ivelisse! Ivelisse steps out from the back AND she has a microphone too! What have I done to deserve this blessed gift from the lord and savior of Boyle Heights? Ivelisse demands everyone shut up and her music stop playing because she has something to say. She makes fun of Sexy Star’s emotion and claims that Sexy got exactly what she deserved for messing with someone tougher than her. She can’t believe Sexy Star thinks she belongs with the boys, and proclaims Star to in no way be the baddest luchadora around here.
She steps into the ring and insults Sexy Star for hiding her “ugly face” behind an equally as hideous mask. Ivelisse feels that deep down in her core, Sexy Star (and all of the people in the temple) know that SHE is the baddest bitch in this building!
Take my money, Lucha Underground. Take it all. Take it now.
With that, Ivelisse blows a kiss and makes fun of Sexy Star, but ultimately receives a smack across the face for her troubles! We now get underway as Ivelisse charges and takes her down as the crowd goes wild! Sexy with a headlock from the get go until Ivelisse fights out and goes for a hip toss, but Sexy counters into one of her own! Arm drag! A little off spot, but they recover as Sexy Star matrixes through a clothesline attempt and nails a kick to the midsection! Hurricanrana! Front dropkick!
She charges for Ivelisse, but Velez moves out of the way and slams her face first into the corner. She starts choking Sexy Star out before taking her to the center of the ring and tossing her across the canvas. The crowd now begins an 80% Sexy Star/20% Ivelisse chant, as Velez tries to score the pinfall but ultimately isn’t able to. She slams Star’s face into the canvas and drags her around, before hoisting Sexy up as Star fights out! They trade kicks as Ivelisse takes control once again and starts nailing a few shots to the chest. She goes for a cover, but only gets a two.
Chin lock now applied, with the addition of a nose rake! Sexy tries to fight out, but Ivelisse is fish hooking! Star finally fights out as they trade shots and nasty chops. Sexy Star with a codebreaker! Both women try to reach a vertical base with the crowd split 50/50. Clothesline! Back elbow! Clothesline again! The crowd is into Sexy, as she mimics Chavo Guerrero’s multiple suplexes for just a two count. Sexy Star rakes on the hair, which sparks Ivelisse to SMACK the taste out of her mouth. Guillotine into a DDT! Just another two. Ivelisse can’t believe Sexy has kicked out, but this just goes to piss her off even more. She argues with the ref, but this allows Sexy Star to drop toe hold and roll her up for the win. Sexy celebrates, as Ivelisse lives to be angered another day!~
Thoughts: I’m a little split on this week as a whole, but just a little as I still very much enjoyed what we got. We’ll start off with the positives first and foremost… I LOVED the promo work! I am obsessed with the fact that they allow Sexy to speak spanish and give us a translation below. It also speaks to how well she can portray her emotions and really get into the acting aspect considering she has to use her facial expressions to sell what she’s saying to the audience who can only speak English… and that’s no easy task when 85% of your face is covered with a mask.
To me, it also continues to differentiate her from a lot of her fellow luchadors around (as if she needed anything more to do so) and just completes the full package of being a star overall. Her promo came off so strongly, and I’m beyond excited that it looks like they’re going to fully commit to this being an intergender feud and treat it as any regular program we’d see between two guys or two girls.
Ivelisse absolutely killed me as well. We needed this after how limited her introduction was, and I felt she by far delivered with the ball she was given to run with. Her promo was on fire, especially the part where she stood on the steps and screamed for everyone to shut up because this was her time to speak. I’ve never really gotten to see her work a mic like this on FCW or TNA from what I can remember, so I was kind of blown away at how much she’s grown as a performer since the days of Tough Enough. I loved her delivery of the “baddest bitch” line, in particular. She just really shined overall and it pains me that no company swooped her up (for good) when they had the chances. I’m just going to count it as a blessing in disguise though, because I kind of want to hear her scream that she’s the baddest bitch in the building on a weekly basis.
The match as a whole was a little off for me personally. Maybe I was so amped from the promos, but there seemed to be a lot of small edits here and there where you could tell the shot was changing to cover something up. I didn’t think it was a bad match at all though, but the edits did distract me a bit if I’m being honest. However, I’m not going to be one of those people that point blame at anyone because like I said a few weeks ago, this is a brand new promotion and a lot of people might just need time to click with their fellow roster members in order to find out what will work and what won’t.
I think as time goes on (especially when we get past the first batch of episodes taped which is where I will really be intrigued to see the growth), everyone will shine even brighter and we’ll get to see so much more than we’re getting now, which is already great in its own right. I mean there’s no way to improve your product than to test things out and see what works, and the same can be said when it comes to facing someone new in a ring, especially in an environment like this where you can’t face off on live events to speed up the comfortability. The more you get to work with them, the better your matches become and I really hope we get to revisit Ivelisse and Sexy in a singles match down the line when they get time to work more.
Overall I still felt this was a very good week if only for the promos. Ivelisse and Sexy Star both rocked that mic like nobodies business, and the future is looking bright in the form of an intergender feud between Star and Chavo Guerrero. I just hope they can still find a way to utilize Ivelisse because she is too good to be set aside. You embrace intergender, so maybe have Son of Havoc take out his frustrations over losing to Sexy Star on Ivelisse? I don’t want to take away the specialness of Sexy Star wrestling men, but I think that could actually work in its own right because there would be an actual story behind it since the tale was that he recruited Ivelisse as backup and she hasn’t gotten the job done yet, whereas he at least beat her in their singles match on the premiere.
The moral of this story, however: Catrina and Sexy Star’s roles are perfect… just give me more Ivelisse please!
