Post by Slade on Sept 1, 2019 14:54:25 GMT -5
Season 3, Episode 24
From the Temple in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California
Commentary Team: Matt Striker and Famous B (sitting in for Vampiro)
Ring Announcer: Melissa Santos
***
We begin this week’s show inside Antonio Cueto’s office where he meets Mustafa Ali for the first time. Cueto tells Ali that his reputation as a luchador is outstanding and asks him what brings him to the Temple. Ali says that he wasn’t quite getting the opportunities he felt he deserved in his last stop on the lucha circuit, so he figured he would find a new place to ply his trade, and he heard that Cueto’s Temple is where the best luchadores in the world come to fight. He wants to compete against the best to prove he’s the best. Cueto admires his attitude and tells him he’d like to have him compete here but says that the needs few weeks are booked solid and there are no openings for a newcomer. However, injuries and even strange disappearances happen from time to time, so he tells him to stick around tonight because if this is where he is truly meant to be, then the gods will find a way to make it happen.
***
VS. VS. VS.
FIRST ROUND MATCH IN THE DARIO CUETO LUCHADORES CUP TOURNAMENT
Psicosis vs. Magnum T.A. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Andrade Cien Almas
FIRST ROUND MATCH IN THE DARIO CUETO LUCHADORES CUP TOURNAMENT
Psicosis vs. Magnum T.A. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Andrade Cien Almas
Magnum T.A. defeated Psicosis, Dr. Wagner Jr. and Andrade Cien Almas by pinfall to advance to the round of eight. Magnum seemed like the odd luchador out as he was the only one not born, raised, and trained in Mexico. His in-ring style stood apart from his three opponents who were all very adept at traditional Mexican lucha libre. High-flying moves abound as Piscosis performed a corkscrew plancha on Magnum, Dr. Wagner Jr. performed a slingshot corkscrew crossbody on the both of them, and Almas performed a double-jump springboard corkscrew moonsault onto all of them. Almas was a surprise entry into the match and received a warm welcome from the Believers. He looked very good here and came close to winning the match when he executed La Sombra on Magnum T.A. Unfortunately for him, Dr. Wagner Jr. broke up the pinfall. Wagner and Almas got into a heated exchange and ended up brawling outside the ring with their managers, Famous B and Zelina Vega, getting into the act as well. With them out of the way, Magnum was able to secure the win after he put his knees up to block a Psycho Senton from Psicosis. Right after that, he got up, gave him a back body drop, a dropkick and a belly-to-belly suplex to get the win.
***
VS. VS. VS.
FIRST ROUND MATCH IN THE DARIO CUETO LUCHADORES CUP TOURNAMENT
Drago vs. Samoa Joe vs. Super Crazy vs. King Cuerno
FIRST ROUND MATCH IN THE DARIO CUETO LUCHADORES CUP TOURNAMENT
Drago vs. Samoa Joe vs. Super Crazy vs. King Cuerno
Samoa Joe defeated Drago, Super Crazy and King Cuerno by submission to book his ticket into the second round. As was the case in the first match of the evening, Joe was the odd one out for being the only luchador not trained in the art of the traditional Mexican style of lucha libre. However, it didn’t present a problem for him. The Samoan Submission Machine used his slow and methodical style to his advantage, maximizing the pain felt from his powerful offense, as when he gave Drago a snap powerslam, threw Super Crazy hard into the mat with a uranage, and gave King Cuerno a release dragon suplex. That said, the match wasn’t dominated by Joe. Drago had a brief run of executing variation of the DDT on everyone in sight. King Cuerno took his time to strike with maximum impact, delivering an Arrow from the Depths of Hell to Drago and executing a diving splash on Super Crazy. The extreme maniac himself executed a springboard moonsault from the ring to the floor onto all his opponents. He also performs a trifecta of moonsaults on Samoa Joe to try to win the match, but Joe kicks out of his pinfall attempt. At the end of the match, it looked like King Cuerno was going to win the match as he executed his finisher, the Thrill of the Hunt, on Drago. At two and a half, he was pulled out of the pinning position by Samoa Joe, who applied the Coquina Clutch. Joe brought King Cuerno to the mat and applied a body scissors to ensure he could not escape, which in turn delivered him the win.
***
The Godfather is doing bench presses as he works out in the Lucha Underground training gym. He is surrounded by many beautiful women who are in awe of his strength. As he sits up, one of them named Clarisse hands him his water and another one named Roshanda hands him a towel that he uses to wipe the sweat from his brow. He sees Shayna Baszler enter the room. She ignores him, but he calls out her name and tries to strike up a conversation with her. Baszler is disinterested. The Godfather casually brings up the match from two weeks ago between Baszler and Sensational Queen Sherri. Baszler says nothing, does not acknowledge how he helped her out by eliminating her Macho King problem, and does not thank him for the help. She starts to walk away and as she does, he says not to worry, that he’s got her back. She doesn’t respond and gets started on her workout. Then, The Godfather grabs his pimpin’ vest, hat, and cane, and tells his Ho Train that its time to get to work.
***
VS. VS. VS.
FIRST ROUND MATCH IN THE DARIO CUETO LUCHADORES CUP TOURNAMENT
Fénix vs. Ultimo Dragon vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Pentagon DARK
FIRST ROUND MATCH IN THE DARIO CUETO LUCHADORES CUP TOURNAMENT
Fénix vs. Ultimo Dragon vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Pentagon DARK
Pentagon DARK defeated Fénix, Ultimo Dragon and Mustafa Ali by pinfall to advance to the next round. Again, this match featured three luchadores trained in the traditional Mexican style of lucha libre. Unlike in the previous two matches, one of them got the win.
The Godfather was supposed to compete in this match. He was the first luchador to enter the ring. However, just as he finished asking the Believers to light a fatty for this pimp daddy, he was attacked by the “Macho King” Randy Savage and Sensational Queen Sherri. Savage did most of the dirty work, attacking The Godfather’s knees with his royal sceptre and then brandishing the ring bell off the Pimp Daddy’s skull. The assault continued all around ringside until Savage brought a table out from under the ring and placed The Godfather on it. Then, Sherri climbed to the top turnbuckle and dove away from the ring to put him through it with a splash.
With The Godfather unable to compete, Antonio Cueto appeared and announced that he had a replacement luchador ready to jump into this match and revealed that is would be the debuting Mustafa Ali. The newcomer to the Temple ingratiated himself to the Believers early on. First, Ali took the brunt of an Asai moonsault from Ultimo Dragon. Then, Ultimo Dragon was taken down with a tope con hilo by Pentagon DARK. Next, Pentagon was taken off his feet with an over the top rope moonsault plancha. Finally, Ali climbed to the top turnbuckle and wiped out the entire field with a corkscrew moonsault plancha. Another moment in the match that brought the Believers to their feet and made them chant “This is awesome!” was when Ali and Fénix executed stereo Spanish flies from opposite corners of the ring on Ultimo Dragon and Pentagon DARK, respectively. As the match wore on, it was hard to get a sense of who might win this thing as everyone appeared to be equally up to the task. After 17-minutes of riveting action, Fénix went to the top rope and executed La Garra del Fénix (a diving double-knee drop to his seated opponent’s chest) on Ali and covered him, but Pentagon broke it up. He would go on to hit Fénix with a pair of slingblades before executing a superkick and a Fear Factor package piledriver. The pinfall attempt was broken up by Ultimo Dragon, who then executed a Dragon Combo and then an Asai DDT on Pentagon. He went for the pin, but Ali broke it up. He gave Ultimo Dragon a spin kick and then a tilt-a-whirl DDT. After that, he climbed to the top rope and executed an imploding 450-degree splash. He nearly won the match, but Fénix prevented it by running over and executing a jumping double-foot stomp to his back. Fénix climbed the turnbuckle. When he reached the top, he was shoved down to the floor by Pentagon, who then climbed the turnbuckle and executed a diving Mexican destroyer on Ali and held him down for the pinfall that won him the match.
***
VS. VS. VS.
FIRST ROUND MATCH IN THE DARIO CUETO LUCHADORES CUP TOURNAMENT
Prince Puma vs. Ultimate Warrior vs. PJ Black vs. “Classy” Freddie Blassie
FIRST ROUND MATCH IN THE DARIO CUETO LUCHADORES CUP TOURNAMENT
Prince Puma vs. Ultimate Warrior vs. PJ Black vs. “Classy” Freddie Blassie
Prince Puma defeated Ultimate Warrior, PJ Black and “Classy” Freddie Blassie by pinfall to earn the final spot in the semi-finals of the Dario Cueto Luchadores Cup. This match could arguably be viewed as the opening round’s group of death as most of the luchadores were heavily favoured to make it past the first round. Ultimate Warrior might have even be the odds on favourite to advance considering how dominant a competitor he is. However, on this night, maybe as a stroke of bad luck, he didn’t find himself in the ring at the critical moment when the match ended. Ultimate Warrior was dominating to start. He gave everyone jumping shoulder tackles and running clotheslines. He got them all in different corners and charged in to hit them with running clotheslines. He picked up Black and gave him a gorilla press drop and then executed the Warrior Splash. He made the cover and almost won the match in record time for a fatal fourway match, but Prince Puma broke it up with a running shooting star press. Puma stood face-to-face with the Warrior and showed no fear. They traded blows. Of course, Warrior came out ahead, but he send Puma into the ropes. Puma ducked a clothesline and performed a springboard tornado DDT. Puma was on fire and a few knee strikes and kicks later, had successfully knocked Warrior out of the ring. A point came in the match when all four luchadores were brawling on the outside (this came after Puma earned a roar of approval from the Believers for executing a springboard shooting star press onto all his opponents). Blassie and Warrior were engaged in a brutal fight on the outside, which allowed their opponents to go inside and fight for a few short minutes alone. It was at this time that Black attempted a 450-splash, but Puma rolled in out of the way. When they got up, Puma hit a superkick and then quickly went to the top rope to execute the 630-degree senton and make the pin for the win.
***
We end this week’s show in the oval office. POTUS and Agent VKM are watching a large television screen play back last week’s main event. We see Roman Reigns giving Rey Mysterio Jr. and Dragon Lee a double spear and then we see him serve up another big spear for El Hijo del Fantasma and pin by for the decisive victory. When the video ends, Agent VKM looks to the President and asks him what he thinks. The President is gushing with praise. He says that he’s found himself a tremendous sports entertainer. He is pleased at how easy it looked for him to defeat three luchadores of Mexican descent. The President asks him what he has planned next. Agent VKM says that this first agent in the field will make all the luchadores look weak in comparison by winning the Dario Cueto Luchadores Cup. After that, he and his other agents who have yet to enter the field will concentrate on taking all their precious championships. The President is delighted by this news and congratulates Agent VKM on Operation MEGA’s early success. He is confident that it won’t be too long before the Temple is torn down and all the luchadores are sent back to Mexico where they belong.
***