NUMBER TEN…

• Pentagon Jr. vs. Fenix – (EP4 11/19/14)
  

Before the match, Pentagon grabs the mic and thanks Dario Cueto for finally giving the respect no one in Mexico would give him. He looks for a little revenge here after being pinned by Fenix last week. Kicks lead to trading nearfalls to start. Fenix lands a standing moonsault. They both come up trying to trip each other which leads to a stalemate. Headscissors though takes Pentagon to the floor as Fenix unleashes the twisting moonsault plancha. Back in, he delivers a springboard legdrop on Pentagon for 1-2-NO! Pentagon fires back with a superkick, but then Fenix wants to walk the ropes and drills Pentagon with a dropkick. Fenix misses a corner charge and lands on the apron to hit Pentagon with a springboard lucha armdrag. Back to the floor, Fenix is back on the attack with a corkscrew moonsault plancha. Back in, that gets two. Pentagon catches Fenix with a backcracker for two. Next, they do the spot where Fenix handsprings off the ropes and catches Pentagon with a cutter that we saw last week. Always on the defense it seems, the PENTAGON DRIVER gets 1-2-NO! Over in the corner though, Fenix missile dropkicks Pentagon off the apron. With Pentagon down on all fours, Fenix PUNTS HIS HEAD. Vampiro shouts the obligatory GOOAAAALLLLLLLL! That only gets two as well. Pentagon fires back with the Sling Blade for 1-2-NO! Wheelbarrow faceslam gets two. Pentagon looks for something up top, but Fenix pops up and enziguri kicks him silly. Fenix then springboards up onto the top rope and brings Pentagon over for the SUPER SPANISH FLY for the three-count. (7:55) Great showcase match for Fenix pulling out all the stops. ***¾

NUMBER NINE

• Cortez Castro, Cisco, and Bael vs. Aerostar, Argenis, and Super Fly – (EP12 1/28/15)
  

Kind of a random six-man tag here. Super Fly starts out against Castro and headscissors him out to the floor where he moonsaults on top of the Crew. Back inside, Super Fly runs the ropes with Cisco and then armdrags him over. Bael meets Argenis with a series of elbows. Tag to Cisco, he tries to get all lucha with a monkey flip and winds up getting kicked in the butthole. Aerostar tags in and hits a nice springboard tilt-a-whirl headscissors on Cisco. As Argenis is on the second rope, Aerostar leaps off his shoulders for a flying body press onto Cisco for 1-2-NO! AWESOME. Cisco draws in Super Fly, but disposes of him. That leads to a series of face washes and dropkicks from the Crew on Aerostar in the corner. Cisco then delivers a SoCal Curb Stomp done right as the Crew dominate Aerostar for a while. Hot tag to Argenis, he’s nailing the Crew with superkicks. Sunset flip powerbomb to Cisco gets two. Cisco avoids a dropkick and catapults Argenis into an enziguri. As Argenis falls back onto Cisco’s knees, Bael delivers a flying double stomp for two. Aerostar gets a tag and springboard splashes Bael. In comes Super Fly, he heads to the floor to brawl with Bael and Castro. Argenis dives on all of them. Cisco wants to have some fun too, but Aerostar thinks it would be cooler to make him fly with a springboard headscissors on the whole bunch! AWESOME. Not to be outdone, Aerostar springs off the second rope and does a somersault plancha onto the other five. THAT’S SO LUCHA. Even after all that and looking like the hero, the Crew sneak that flapjack/codebreaker finish on Aerostar for the win. (10:54) This reminded me of WCW in 1997 with some of their lucha libre style matches. Just an awesome eleven minutes of fun. ****

NUMBER EIGHT

• Cage Match: Johnny Mundo vs. King Cuerno – (EP18 3/11/15)
  

Essentially this is WWE rules except there’s no door to escape through. Muraco and Snuka, Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer, Harley Race and Ric Flair, Taker and Mankind, and now Mundo versus Cuerno. Vamp throws in Sting versus Vampiro, but no. Nobody wants to eat the cage first. Who can blame them? They start running the ropes and go from corner to corner. Flying knee by Mundo gets two. Series of nearfalls lead to a stalemate. Cuerno takes over and splashes Mundo off the top rope for two. In a cool spot, Cuerno manages a hotshot ONTO THE RIM OF THE CAGE. Cuerno then takes out the knee and drop toeholds Mundo face first into the cage to set up a nasty CURB STOMP INTO THE CAGE. Mundo avoids some double knees up against the cage and hits the standing corkscrew moonsault followed by the break dance legdrop for two. Mundo continues with the offense and hiptosses Cuerno into the cage. Running knee gets two. Mundo misses the Flying Chuck, but counters the Thrill of the Hunt. He hoists up Cuerno on his shoulders and drives him into the cage a bunch and puts Cuerno down with the Finlay Roll and the standing SSP. Cover, 1-2-NO! Cuerno stops Mundo from climbing out with a powerbomb into the cage followed by a sitout powerbomb on the mat for 1-2-NO! Another try at climbing out. Cuerno nearly escapes, but he’s held by his mask! Fearing being unmasked, he gets pulled back into the cage with Mundo! Excellent psychology there. They beat each other up on the top turnbuckle until they both collapse. As they come up fighting, they take turns running each other’s faces into the cage. Mundo cuts off Cuerno with a SPEAR. Cover, 1-2-NO! One more climb to the top. Mundo slams Cuerno’s face off the cage rim until he can easily flip him back down to the ring. The win looks academic, but a true showman never knows when to quit. END OF THE WORLD OFF THE TOP OF THE CAGE!! Cover, 1-2-3! (13:41) Easily one of the best cage matches I’ve seen in ages. Definitely the best one I’ve seen this week, I’ll tell you that. Great psychology and a real battle between these two. They believably beat the crap out of each other and it showed from bell to bell. Thoroughly enjoyable match. ****

NUMBER SEVEN

• Lucha Underground Trios Title Qualifying Match: Prince Puma, Johnny Mundo, and Hernandez vs. King Cuerno, Cage, and Texano – (EP23 4/15/15)
  

Hernandez plays around with Cuerno to start. Texano catches Hernandez from behind, but Hernandez puts him in the tree of woe for Mundo to kick the crap out of him. Tag to Puma, he and Mundo deliver STEREO ENZIGURIS to Texano. Hey look, Shawn Daivari is sitting at ringside drinking some rum and coke. Puma fights off a double-team from Cuerno and Texano. Mundo tags in and Hernandez helps out as the match breaks down. Hernandez alley oops Mundo into a dropkick on both Texano and Cuerno. Mundo busts out a running knee on Texano and comes back around to nail Cage with a springboard knee strike. Texano though catches Mundo in a Spinebuster for two. They work over Mundo on their side of the ring for a bit until Cuerno superkicks Cage by mistake. Hot tag to Puma because neither guy trusts Hernandez. Texano gets thrown into Cuerno in a DDT position and Puma runs over to drop him with a reverse neckbreaker to finish the job. Mexican Superman takes out Texano and Cage with a plancha. Cuerno wants to fly on Hernandez, but Mundo and Puma pull him out to the floor for STEREO SUPERKICKS. Instead, Mundo and Puma do STEREO DIVES on Texano and Cage. Back inside, there’s an amazing series of corner clotheslines. I know that sounds ridiculous, but wrestling is VISUAL and seeing guy after guy get pounded in the corner is pretty awesome. Cage eats the Flying Chuck from Mundo to set up the Springboard 450 Splash by Puma. BENADRYLLER fails as Cage hoists up Puma for a press into a powerslam. Now everybody comes in one at a time from the floor to take out the guy standing in the ring. Puma stops all that with a Blue Thunder Driver to Cuerno. A quick try at the THRILL OF THE HUNT doesn’t work as Puma rolls up Cuerno for 1-2-NO! Meanwhile, Texano wraps the bull rope around his fist and belts Puma when he’s shoved through the ropes. THRILL OF THE HUNT! Cuerno covers for the win. (10:29) So Cuerno just pinned the champ as they advance to the trios title match. Bell to bell awesome action here. ****

NUMBER SIX

• Lucha Underground Trios Championship No-DQ Match: Son of Havoc, Ivelisse, and Angelico vs. Cortez Castro, Cisco, and Bael – (EP24 4/22/15)
  

Each member of the Crew gets someone to beat up around the temple for the first couple minutes. In the ring, Bael holds up Ivelisse to get whacked with the kendo stick by Castro until Havoc saves the day at the last moment. He gets a pair of dropkicks down in the corner for his efforts. From here, Bael takes Angelico over the balcony on top of Dario Cueto’s office. Castro is choking the life out of Ivelisse. Cisco is getting pretty sadistic trying to suplex Havoc from the stands to the floor. That winds up not working out so well though. Instead, Havoc runs Cisco into the barricade and flips off the barricade onto Cisco. Bael joins Castro in the ring and as they walk towards Ivelisse, Angelico COMES FLYING IN FROM THE BALCONY AND CRASHES ON THEM. HOLY ~!@*(!*(#$@*(!#*(!@!*(!. One of the rare holy crap moments that actually comes off looking amazing. Crowd entirely loses their minds and Vamp drops his headset and takes a lap around the ring. Now you’ve got some white hot babyface heat going for Team Havoc. Ivelisse starts caning the Crew. As Cisco rolls out, Castro and Bael are left to take what Havoc and Angelico have in store. Havoc lands the SHOOTING STAR PRESS on Bael while Angelico DOUBLE STOMPS Castro. It’s all over! (8:40) Okay, for real this time. Ladies and gents, we’ve got NEW Lucha Underground Trios champions. That reminded me of some really hot ECW finishes like the Pitbulls double dog collar match with Raven and Stevie Richards where everything fell right into place and ended well. Kudos to everybody here. This is what you love about wrestling. ****

NUMBER FIVE

• Lucha Underground Champion Prince Puma vs. Mil Muertes (w/Catrina) – (Ultima Lucha 8/5/15)
  

YES. I am excite. Of course Konnan would be here to support the champ if he hadn’t been carried off by the Disciples of Death in a casket a few weeks ago. Big ol’ brawl to start as they fight in and out and around the crowd. At one point, Muertes clears an entire section of fans and throws Puma into the empty chairs. Puma shows off his athleticism by doing a back flip off a guardrail and then springs off the apron to do a corkscrew roundhouse kick to Muertes. Out comes a table to be used later. Muertes attacks Puma again and turns the ringside steps on the side to powerbomb Puma. NASTY. Puma kicks a chair back in Mil’s face, but then takes a tope suicida only to eat the chair. Whether you like it or not, my mind went to Chris Benoit at the 2001 Royal Rumble with that spot. The chair gets wedged in the corner for something big. Muertes tries to fight off a cutter from Puma with a German suplex, but Puma flips out and lands on his feet to drill Muertes with a double stomp. Muertes catches Puma with one of his signature straight right jabs, but then SPEARS himself into the chair. BENADRYLLER to Muertes! Cover, 1-2-NO! Muertes avoids the Phoenix Splash and catches a couple shots to the jaw, but then grabs Puma for a snap powerslam for two. There’s a series of standing clotheslines in the corner on Puma until he falls to the mat. Puma fires back with a Pele Kick and hits Muertes with the Northern Lights and vertical suplex off the mat combo. Just amazing.

As Catrina lifts the Aztec stone in the air (just like Paul Bearer with the urn in the early days), Muertes powers up and SPEARS Puma through the ropes onto the table. When it doesn’t break, Muertes makes matters worse for Puma and drills him through the table with the powerbomb. Back in, that gets two. Muertes delivers a crazy Uranage. He calls for the SPEAR again, but Puma rolls out of the way and kicks Muertes down in position for the 630 SENTON. He connects! Cover, 1-2-NO! NOBODY HAS KICKED OUT OF THAT, I THINK. He goes up for a second one, but Muertes rolls out of the way. SPEAR to Puma! FLATLINER. Cover, 1-2-NO! Definitely no one has kicked out of the Flatliner. Puma delivers another series of kicks and heads up top, but Muertes is there to meet him. Puma knocks him back down, but Muertes pops up and catches Puma with a SUPER FLATLINER. Muertes covers Puma for the win and secures the LU title. (17:40) Afterwards, Catrina gives Puma the lick of death and then her Disciples of Death come out to celebrate with the new champ as they hold up their trios title as well. HUGE night for Catrina and her boys. You know what I just realized? The DOD’s mask has the same design as The Mask from the Jim Carrey movie. As Lucha Underground is known to do, they pull out all the stops and make these Mil Muertes main events as fun as they possibly can. Holy crap. ****

NUMBER FOUR

• Lucha Underground Championship: AZTEC WARFARE – (EP9 1/7/15)
  

Fenix and Johnny Mundo – both on Cueto’s bad list – enter the match to start. They go back and forth hitting each other with kicks and blocking each other’s attempts at dives on the outside. Mr. Cisco is #3. He pounds and beats on the other two and then punishes them with senton splashes. Cisco thinks he has an advantage by tossing out Mundo, but that proves not to be the case as Fenix comes back and runs him into the corner. END OF THE WORLD by Mundo gets Cisco eliminated at 2:18. Mundo and Fenix return to their battle as we go to commercial. When we come back, King Cuerno enters Aztec Warfare at #4. He rules the ring for a moment and blasts Mundo with a tope suicida. Fenix walks the ropes and flips onto Cuerno as El Hijo del Havoc heads down at #5. He puts Mundo on the floor with the others and hits a SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP. #6 is Pimpinela Escarlata. It armdrags everybody and kisses Fenix out of the ring. The ref gets cornered as Striker encourages he get him some. Geez. Cuerno saves the day, but he takes a dropkick to the floor by Escarlata. Prince Puma is #7. Oh look, the mystery Asian lady we’ve been seeing is watching this match from the crowd. He and Mundo meet in the center of the ring. Lionsault by Puma gets two. Mundo blocks a corner charge by Puma, but gets a springboard legdrop by Fenix. Ivelisse enters the match at #8. She is all headscissors and DDTs. Escarlata goes into kissing mode again and eats a dropkick for it. Ivelisse gets it a roundhouse kick and sets Escarlata up for a SHOOTING STAR PRESS from her boyfriend Son of Havoc for our second elimination at 9:16. Drago is your #9 entry. Much like Ivelisse, he’s all headscissors and DDTs as well. Cuerno seizes the moment though and enziguri kicks his biggest foe Drago down. He looks for the THRILL OF THE HUNT, but Ivelisse interrupts him for some reason with a kick to the gut, so Cuerno gives her the THRILL OF THE HUNT instead to eliminate her at 10:51. Bael enters the match at #10. Fenix and Drago take attention away from him as they start diving on people. BENADRYLLER from Puma to Son of Havoc sends him back to the locker room at 11:52.

#11 is Cortez Castro. I think he would look more intimidating with a goatee. Bael and Castro rule over Puma and Mundo for a while. Ricky Mandel is your #12 guy. Striker tries to act like he’s actually a possible dark horse winner here. Meanwhile, Puma gives Bael a Northern Lights suplex, holds on for a suplex, and then lands a standing SSP for the pinfall at 14:11. Mundo lands the running knee strike to Castro to knock him out for the pin at 14:31. Big Ryck comes down at #13 and he is pissed that nobody in his crew was able to succeed. Commercials! When we return, Ryck immediately gives Mandel a URANAGE for the elimination at 15:26. Drago goes after Ryck and gets pitched onto Cuerno’s shoulders for the THRILL OF THE HUNT at 15:47. Since Drago is no longer here, Mundo catches Cuerno with a crucifix to send him to the showers at 15:58. Pentagon Jr. enters in at #14. He shows us his stuff like the Sling Blade, the powerbomb on the knee, and the backdrop into a powerbomb to Fenix. For some reason, Big Ryck breaks up the pin. Super Fly is your #15 entrant. He hits headscissors on people and planchas onto Pentagon. Armed with a chair, Chavo Guerrero Jr. enters in at #16. He immediately KO’s Super Fly and pins him at 19:38. While they were allies, Chavo destroys his alliance with Pentagon and blasts him with the chair as well to send him out of here at 19:52. #17 is Mascarita Sagrada. He’s got headscissors and armdrags for Chavo and Fenix. Sagrada looks to dive on Fenix on the floor, but eats a NASTY dropkick during the dive. Sexy Star enters in at #18. Naturally, she goes for Chavo. To the floor they go, Sexy Star does a somersault dive off the apron onto Chavo. Meanwhile in the ring, Sagrada and Big Ryck have a showdown. It doesn’t go well for the little hero as Big Ryck DESTROYS him with a sliding clothesline to take care of him at 23:13. El Mariachi Loco comes in at #19. He’s more of the same with the lucha-style armdrags. Big Ryck stuns him real good with a clothesline. Mil Muertes comes to the ring with Catrina as our final entrant. NOBODY CAN TOUCH HIM. My favorite guy in the promotion. I just wish he had a better finish. He hits Mariachi with the FLATLINER because that guy has got to go at 25:26. We have a showdown between Big Ryck and Mil Muertes for a shoulderblock battle. It goes nowhere as the other luchadores break it up. While Mundo and Puma do all the work, Chavo throws him out trying to pin Big Ryck. Fenix breaks up Chavo’s pin attempt with a 450 SPLASH and hits Chavo as well. He helps Chavo hold Big Ryck down to eliminate him at 26:56. Stealing his thunder, Chavo destroys Fenix with the chair to get rid of him at 27:21. Sexy Star jumps on Chavo again, but he slams her on the chair. Now Chavo wants to take care of this once and for all as he places the chair on her face and heads to the top turnbuckle. HEY WAIT A MINUTE! Blue Demon Jr. returns and knocks Chavo off the top rope. As Demon provides the distraction, Sexy Star nails Chavo with the chair. Cover, 1-2-3! Chavo is gone at 29:05.

Final Four: Mil Muertes, Prince Puma, Sexy Star, and Johnny Mundo. Puma and Mundo attack Muertes when he goes after Sexy Star. When they take him down with STEREO SUPERKICKS, Sexy Star has headscissors for both Puma and Mundo. She don’t need no man! It’s all irrelevant though as Muertes SPEARS the crap out of her to send her back where she belongs at 30:49. Now both Puma and Mundo want to take down Muertes. Puma gets caught in the ropes as Mundo leaps over Muertes and splashes him down to the floor. In the ring, when Mundo can’t superplex Muertes, Puma joins in and takes Muertes down to the mat. Puma gives Mundo the BENADRYLLER. No cover though. Catrina gets involved. Muertes ducks the Flying Chuck and Catrina gets knocked out. Welp, good luck having that long relationship conversation, Mil. Mundo pleads with Muertes that he didn’t mean to kick her. While Muertes is distracted by his own rage, Puma flies in with the SPRINGBOARD DOUBLE KNEES. With Muertes down, Mundo and Puma take turns hitting SPRINGBOARD 450 SPLASHES. They dogpile Muertes for the pinfall at 33:55 as it comes down to Puma versus Mundo. Puma hits the backflip and headscissors Mundo over. Mundo fires back with the Rolling Half Crab, but Puma makes the ropes. Flying Chuck gets shoved out to the floor though. They meet up on the top turnbuckle where Puma gives Mundo the SUPER SPANISH FLY. Cover, 1-2-NO! Now Mundo makes his big move out of the corner with the Reverse Headscissors! END OF THE WORLD! Cover, 1-2-NO! I think Mundo wants the Super Spanish Fly as well, but Puma knocks him down in position for the 630 SENTON! He hits it! Puma collapses back on top of Mundo for the 1-2-3! (39:52) Ladies and gentlemen, as you undoubtedly knew there would be, we have a NEW Lucha Underground champion. Afterwards, Mundo shows the boy some respect and raises his arm in victory. Konnan comes out and embraces Puma to congratulate him on his big win. This was booked really well as they were successfully able to interweave the feuds into the match much like you might see in a Royal Rumble match and move the stories along. We didn’t see a ton of nearfalls throughout the match which you see all the time especially in independent wrestling shows as they left all that drama to build towards the end with Puma and Mundo so that the nearfalls really meant something. This was way more fun than this year’s Royal Rumble, which is about as good a compliment you can ask for a show that’s only two months old. ****¼

NUMBER THREE

• Johnny Mundo vs. Alberto El Patron – (EP26 5/6/15)
  

Winner faces Hernandez in a number one contenders match. Headlocks and shoulderblocks to start as these two are feeling each other out. El Patron delivers the first blow with a dropkick to the back of the neck. Mundo fires back with a spear and some punches. To the floor, Mundo tries a pescado and lands inside the ring apron thanks to El Patron. With nowhere to go, Alberto hits him with an enziguri kick as Mundo slumps to the floor. Back in, that gets two. After El Patron squeezes on a chinlock and Mundo starts to stand up, El Patron throws him down by his hair and kicks him in the ribs. Alberto misses a moonsault causing an offensive flurry from Mundo. THIS IS MY WORLD, declares Mundo. Flying Chuck gets two. El Patron fights out of a cobra clutch looking hold and backdrops Mundo to the floor. Looks like the steps broke his fall and could have wrenched his knee. Nevertheless, El Patron catches Mundo with a tope suicida of his own! Back inside, they come up punching each other. El Patron shuts down Mundo and delivers a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Mundo then grabs the ropes to prevent the German suplex and causes Alberto to go crashing through the ropes to the floor. Corkscrew plancha by Mundo! He sends El Patron back into the apron and then tosses him into the barricade. In the ring, El Patron stops Mundo up top and delivers the Reverse Superplex for 1-2-NO! It could be Cross Armbreaker time, but Mundo knows it’s coming from all the noise. There’s a nice little rollup sequence that leads to Mundo nailing Alberto with the running knee. END OF THE WORLD! Cover, 1-2-NO! El Patron grabbed the bottom rope. With Mundo fairly frustrated, El Patron is able to apply the CROSS ARMBREAKER out of nowhere! Oh, but Mundo manages to roll over and reach the bottom rope for the break. Also frustrated, El Patron puts the boots to Mundo over and over again. He even puts Mundo in the tree of woe for some kicks. Mundo avoids a charge though as he sits up and missile dropkicks Alberto from behind. Almost like a double stomp there. Cover by Mundo, 1-2-NO! Another series of reversals until El Patron lands the LOW SUPERKICK to Mundo! Alberto collapses on top of him for the 1-2-3. (12:18) Hmm, looked to me like a double-pin situation. El Patron is announced as the winner, but look for a Dusty Finish next week and they’ll make the #1 contenders match another triple-threat. Really good match here as they left it all in the ring and then some showing that they really are the best workers in the promotion. ****¼

NUMBER TWO

• “All Night Long” Match: Lucha Underground Champion Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo – (EP32 6/17/15)
  

It’s not quite an entire hour, but this episode is completely devoted to these two gents to settle this once and for all. Striker calls this an “All Night Long” match, but iron man sounds cooler and “all night long” sounds a little too Ric Flair. There are no disqualifications or countouts. Winner of the most falls will leave tonight’s program with the Lucha Underground title. Striker and Vamp do a great job of reminding us of the history between these two characters. Puma extends his hand out for Mundo to shake and Mundo obliges without throwing a punch at him despite being the heel. Konnan is conspicuous by his absence here. We get some feeling out mat stuff to start for the first several minutes. It’s never really slow, but knowing you have to go for a while makes no sense to try and go 100 mph so early into the contest. Puma picks up the pace with the backflip headscissors and hits a corkscrew plancha out on the floor. After a break, they trade counters in the ring until Puma gets a victory roll for the first pinfall at 5:22 shown. (Puma: 1 | Mundo: 0)

Vamp feels that was a quick count on Mundo. He takes over working an overhead wristlock on Puma. Mundo gets drilled with a dropkick though as Puma escapes. Standing moonsault on Mundo gets two. Mundo stops a flying bodypress though with a dropkick and starts cranking on the arm again. Puma stops him dead in his tracks with a nice cutter. Mundo ducks a flying bodypress. He looks for the END OF THE WORLD, but Puma pulls him down by his feet. Puma wants to roll him up, but Mundo counters and falls into the ropes yet still manages to pin Puma in a really cheap HEEL moment at 9:22 shown. (Puma: 1 | Mundo: 1)

Of course, Vamp has NO problem with that finish. After another commercial break, Mundo slows the pace down a little bit punishing Puma. He switches gears to work on the back now. During a fight in the corner, Puma float over the turnbuckles and headscissors Mundo to the floor. Mundo crawls under the ring. As Puma pulls him out, a chair and a gimmicked box comes out with him. Puma then puts Mundo through the box with King Cuerno’s THRILL OF THE HUNT finish. Once they get up, Mundo finds a crowbar and whacks Puma across the side of his head. Yeah, that’s game over. He rolls Puma inside the ring to take the lead at 13:02 shown. MOONLIGHT DRIVE scores another pinfall for Mundo at 13:34 shown. As if that’s not enough, the Flying Chuck leads to the END OF THE WORLD as Mundo takes a steady lead at 15:30 shown. (Mundo: 4 | Puma: 1)

This is where Mundo’s cocky attitude starts to really show forth. It’s pretty awesome to watch. He tells the ring crew he’s parched, so he takes a few moments to drink some water before throwing the bottle in Puma’s face. Puma avoids a corner charge though and delivers a somersault into a leaping DDT. That little comeback was just a bit over the top for me. It didn’t look desperate at all. Over to the apron, Mundo gives Puma a reverse neckbreaker to send him crashing to the floor. After another commercial break, Mundo pulls out a ladder and runs into Puma’s face. He then moves some furniture around as he sets up some tables side by side. Mundo climbs the ladder and crawls over to the edge of the balcony, but Puma fights up and meets Mundo in the crowd as they brawl around – culminating with a suplex by Puma on the balcony. Puma goes down and completes the double stack of tables. He heads up to the balcony to meet Mundo, but he takes a superkick down to the floor missing the tables. Mundo uses the ladder to get across to the bandstand where the hipster Mexican band traditionally plays. He grabs a mic and starts running down Puma. Mundo demands the band play a song while he takes a water break. Here comes Puma to meet Mundo on the bandstand. A 2×4 gets pulled away from Mundo as Puma whacks him on the top of his head. With Mundo staggering backwards, Puma climbs up and KABONGS Mundo with the guitar to bust him open. Once Mundo stands up, Puma charges him as they both fall off the stage down onto the DOUBLE STACK OF TABLES. After a holy crap chant, we take a commercial break. When we return, Puma drags Mundo back into the ring for a pinfall at 28:26 shown. (Mundo: 4 | Puma: 2)

They both stand up trading blows. Mundo wins the slugfest, but Puma fires back with a couple kicks and lands the Spinning Samoan Driver for another pinfall at 30:09 shown. (Mundo: 4 | Puma: 3)

Knowing Puma has his number, Mundo slides out to prevent any further pinfalls as they play cat and mouse for a while. Puma manages to catch Mundo with an enziguri kick and try a Phoenix Splash, but Mundo rolls out of the way and heads up the stairs to get away. When it looks like he’s just going to let the time run out, ALBERTO EL PATRON RETURNS and runs down Mundo at the top of the steps! Alberto kicks Mundo down the stairs and throws him into walls and announce tables. It’s a violent scene, man. He rolls Mundo back inside the ring as Puma delivers the Springboard 450 Splash for the three-count at 34:10 shown. (Mundo: 4 | Puma: 4)

Alberto El Patron gets on the mic for a minute. If Mundo wins this match, Alberto will kick his ass and take the Lucha Underground title. Same goes for Puma, but of course you already knew that. Three minutes remain in the TV time limit. All of a sudden, it’s Steamboat-Rude from Beach Blast 1992 with the nearfall sequences. Not quite as intense, but still fun. Mundo catches Puma with the running knee and even the Standing Spanish Fly, but can’t get the pinfall. Up in the corner, Puma avoids a Super Headscissors and collapses on the other end of the ring. 60 SECONDS LEFT! As Mundo gets to his feet, Puma charges with the thrust kick. Puma heads up top and lands the 630 SENTON for the final pinfall as time runs out at 38:35 shown. (Puma: 5 | Mundo: 4) So once again, Puma regains the LU title. This is the Lucha Underground version of Steamboat versus Rude iron man challenge. While Puma won the match, Johnny Mundo carried this thing and made it as entertaining as possible. He’s got the heel swagger down. He knows how to be a dick and does it well. Alberto El Patron’s appearance only added to this match for me. Just an excellent piece of work here. ****¼

AND THE NUMBER ONE MATCH FROM LUCHA UNDERGROUND SEASON 1:

• ‘Grave Consequences’ Match: Mil Muertes vs. Fenix (w/Catrina) – (EP19 3/18/15)
  

Some ‘Day of the Dead’ hipsters bring the casket out to ringside. I should mention that the match stipulation has a fancy name, but it’s a casket match. Muertes interrupts Fenix’s entrance with a tope suicida and beats him around ringside to start. He stretches Fenix in the ropes directly above the casket, but Fenix kicks him back. Fenix misses a sliding dropkick on the apron, but does not miss a somersault plancha. This just pisses off Muertes as he smashes Fenix’s face off the casket and throws the flower arrangement set up by the Day of the Dead people at Fenix. After Muertes moves the furniture around, Fenix elbows him a bunch and lands a DDT onto the casket. He wants a tope suicida of his own, but Muertes blocks that with the casket! He’s so pissed off right now. The mask is nearly ripped off of Fenix. Muertes unscrews the turnbuckle connector and cracks Fenix’s skull. Well, we’ve now got more blood on this show. The blood is pouring down Fenix’s face as Muertes chokes him with the steel turnbuckle connector. Back on the floor, Muertes stops to look at Catrina before taking Fenix up the stairs where his blood is splattered onto the fans. They head over to a balcony where a suplex down to the floor gets teased. Muertes decides to throw Fenix into the air conditioner holder hanging from the rafters instead. Back to ringside, Muertes settles for a powerbomb onto the announce table. And hey, it didn’t break! Muertes takes another look at Catrina and walks right past her to bring the casket into the ring. Muertes gives Fenix a belly to belly throw onto the casket in the corner to lay in some serious dents on both the casket and Fenix. Muertes bites the cut and spits a bloody loogie into the air. GROSS, but AWESOME.

Fenix catches Muertes charging at him with a superkick and heads up top, but Muertes runs and brings him down with a Super Codebreaker. The casket is set back on the truck, but Muertes and Fenix fight up into the balcony again. A wooden chair gets used on Fenix’s head, but he enziguri kicks Muertes down to the floor. Somersault dive off the balcony! Just when things look to turn around, Muertes reverses a whip into the barricade and then smashes Fenix’s face off the barricade REALLY HARD. Another superkick stops Muertes, but it takes two to put him down to a knee. Moonsault press off the barricade! COME ON FENIX~! While they trade blows, Fenix ducks one and Catrina gets wiped out by Muertes. That stops Muertes in his tracks for a moment. Striker seems to think Muertes is feeling some remorse here. In any event, they fight up onto the ring apron where Fenix slaps, kicks, and double stomps Muertes until he rolls into the casket opened up by who else but Catrina. Before she shuts the lid, she licks the Aztec stone and tosses it inside and shuts the lid to give Fenix the victory. (14:45) Excellent storytelling, violent as hell, and a perfect ending to the Fenix/Muertes/Catrina feud. This also had a great use of the casket. The less times you go for the win in a casket match (or any type of match for that matter), the more dramatic the attempts at victory become, and they handled that very well here as they only tried to put one another in the casket once. Anyways, loved this and strongly recommend you check this out. Even if you don’t know the entire backstory, I think you’ll find it enjoyable all the same. ****½

LET’S HOPE THERE’S A SEASON 2, AMIRITE?