This week’s episode of Lucha Underground featured two major Championship matches. Alberto El Patron defended his AAA Heavyweight title against former champion Texano. While Prince Puma with Konnan took on Cage in what would prove to be the climax of their feud.
The show opens with a match between Son of Havoc and Angelico. This is their second meeting on the show. This is the continuation of the angle involving the two of them and Ivelisse who is Havoc’s girlfriend. This angle has been very good because the matches have been very good.
Havoc is yet to win a singles match since debuting on LU. So that’s part of the story here. The two have yet another great match. The best spot of the affair is the corner rope dive by Angelico. With Havoc on the outside Angelico jumps over the corner of the ring and clears it by a few feet to land on top of Havoc. It has to be amazing to watch live.
After a few near misses Havoc gets Angelico laid out in the middle of the ring and is looking for his finisher 450 splash from the top. He gets handed a mic, at which point Vampiro jumps out of his chair and starts yelling for him to not waste time. Havoc takes a moment to say that Ivelisse is the reason he is losing and he dumps her. Angelico does not move despite the massive delay and Havoc hits his splash to win.
It was a great opening match that could easily become a main event as these two have tons of in ring talent. Havoc probably needs a new look to be taken more seriously. His mask makes him look like a cheap Luchador. Angelico is the finished product. He’s got a natural confidence and a great look. He’s an incredible worker. How he is flown under the radar to this point is shocking. WWE is really missing out with him, but hopefully LU will not.
The show cuts to a promo from Dario’s office. He has signed Hernandez formerly of TNA and sometimes known as Super Mex. They have a hilarious handshake exchange to end the segment. Any Dario segment is TV gold.
They then cut to Konnan training Puma for his big match. Hernandez comes by and Konnan acknowledges him while Puma and Hernandez have a strange introduction.
Next up is the match between Texano and Patron. This is a bull rope match, but not in the traditional sense. The winner just has to get a pinfall or submission, it’s basically no rules where both guys are connected by a bull rope. They have a very similar match to the one they had a few weeks back on the show, including Patron getting to hit Texano with his own bull rope.
They battle back and forth in a really short match considering the stakes. The finish comes when Patron secures an arm bar while hanging over the top rope. Texano taps really quickly and this feels like the end to their feud, at least in LU.
This was an ok match. Del Rio wrestled with his shirt on, which seemed odd. He did that a few weeks ago as well. It’s hard to get invested here because it would seem odd for the AAA title to change hands on LU despite the partnership of the two companies. At the same time this is really high quality stuff between two top performers, which is never a bad thing and it’s allowing them to perfect their match together.
The main event was up next. Puma and Cage would battle for the LU Heavyweight title. Dario cut a short promo with the new, and much improved, title belt. The crowd was really excited for this and the match was very high octane from the opening bell.
There was very little that happened in this match that was not impressive. Puma did a 450 splash off the top rope on to Cage who was laid out on a table. This was not only a great spot, but executed to perfection. The best move of the match by far.
Cage was controlling the match, and in the late going he attacked Konnan on the outside by slamming him into a steel barrier. Konnan appeared to be out of it. Cage then hit his Discus Clothesline, but Puma survived. Then he hit the Weapon X slam, which probably should have ended the match, but then things went a bit haywire. Cage didn’t go for the pin. He instead started pummeling Puma with fists.
For some odd reason he got up and started taunting Hernandez who was sitting ringside. Hernandez approached the ring and the two got into a shouting match. This was utterly confusing. Konnan then slid into the ring and hit Cage with his new Cast Iron Cane. This sent Cage into the corner.
Puma got back to his feet and Cage fell into a position so that Puma could land his big splash and get the win. Konnan and Hernandez exchanged a look and Puma got awarded the new title belt.
This match, although fun to watch, was highly overbooked. A few weeks back Konnan was shown making this new cane, so it was obvious it would a weapon used in the match and likely in future matches, which is fine. It’s a gimmick and that’s never a bad thing. Yet, it was just too obvious that it would be used to get to the finish.
The ending of the match just lacked logic. Cage started the dispute with Hernandez out of nowhere. It didn’t make any sense. He was in the middle of a title match. It also doesn’t make sense that he hit a finisher and not attempt a cover. The proposed strategy that Konnan had been hyping was silly as well. Puma got destroyed for a good portion of the match and likely should have lost. Where was the plan in that?
It would be silly to suggest that Konnan knew Cage would decide to engage Hernandez and that’s when he would strike. LU made Cage look a little soft here and it wasn’t necessary.
What probably should have happened was Cage should have hit the Weapon X and Hernandez should have yanked the ref. Cage would then go to attack Hernandez and Konnan could have then hit him with the cane. After that they toss Cage back in and Puma, who doesn’t know what happened, hits his splash and gets the win. Hernandez and Konnan hit the ring and help Puma put on the new belt.
As they celebrate Hernandez attacks Puma and Konnan pretends he doesn’t have anything to do with it until he jumps in and hits Puma with his cane. Puma is left laying with his title belt and the plan becomes obvious. Konnan was softening up Puma by having him battle Cage and also wanted to get Cage out of the picture. Hernandez is Konnan’s real guy and now he can be a heel with him, while Puma becomes the natural baby that he should be.
LU can then have Hernandez and Cage battle for the #1 spot and then eventually fans are treated to a payoff. The way they did it was ok, but it made Cage look bad and it continues on the cloudy heel face situation within the company. It looks like this situation will go something similar to what is suggested above, but fans will just have to tune in and find out.
Overall it was very entertaining show. LU seriously has to start thing about running a second show or expanding to two hours though. Matches need more time to breathe and they need to show off their roster a bit more.