Post by Slade on May 9, 2017 22:04:09 GMT -5
Season 1, Episode 30
From the Temple in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California
Commentary Team: Matt Striker and Vampiro
Ring Announcer: Melissa Santos
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The show opens with a shot of the Lucha Underground locker room. Matt Sydal is putting his boots on and talking to Aero Star about tonight’s Battle of the Bulls tournament. They wish each other good luck and Aero Star walks out of the room, as he is in the opening match. Sydal finishes putting his boots on and then starts his warm-up stretches when he is suddenly grabbed in a rear naked choke by Pentagon Jr. Pentagon Jr. says that he’s the biggest bull in lucha and he deserves a spot in the tournament, so Sydal’s going to have to give his up. Pentagon Jr. releases him and then bangs him up against a row of lockers. He walks him into the bathroom and then smashes his face off the sink and leaves him there.
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Dean Ambrose defeated Tyler Breeze, Aero Star, and Psicosis by pinfall. This match got the show off to a hot start as each luchador gave the fans something to get excited about. Ambrose gave Psicosis, Breeze, and Aero Star back-to-back-to-back suicide dives. Then Psicosis took out Ambrose with a corkscrew plancha, which was followed by Breeze taking both men out with a big springboard plancha, and that was followed by Aero Star taking everyone out with a springboard tope con hilo! There were multiple failed pinfall attempts and everyone looked like they might have the match in hand at one point or another. For instance, when Ambrose looked like he took Breeze’s head off with a lunatic lariat, Aero Star was there to break it up with a springboard diving headbutt. And when Breeze gave Aero Star the Beauty Shot, Psicosis was there to break up the pinfall with a Psycho Guillotine. He would pin Breeze after that, only to have Ambrose deliver a diving elbow drop to the small of the back to break it up. The end of the match sequence saw Aero Star climb the top rope with Psicosis down on the mat. Breeze climbed the turnbuckles on the inside and got into a battle with Aero Star. For a moment, it looked like he was going to superplex Aero Star, but he fought back and then executed an Avalanche Canadian Destroyer! Breeze’s eyes looked like they were glossed over. As Aero Star crawled over to make the cover, he was cut off with a basement dropkick to the ribs by Psicosis, which sent him out of the ring. Psicosis scrambled to make the cover, but then Ambrose broke it up and immediately executed the Dirty Deeds and then pinned him for the win.
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We go to a shot of the Lucha Underground locker room, where Dario Cueto is standing by with EMTs and a pair of police officers. The EMTs and wheeling Sydal off to take him to the hospital. Once they leave, Cueto hands a stack of cash to each LAPD officer to overlook the fact that his fight club is not properly licensed in the state of California. They accept the case, tear up their report notes, and tell him that there was nothing to see here. As they disappear. Cueto sees Pentagon Jr. walking into the locker room. He tells Pentagon Jr. that there has been an opening in the Battle of the Bulls tournament and asks him if he would like to take the spot. Pentagon Jr. confirms that he will take it.
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Prince Puma defeated Rey Mysterio Jr., La Parka, and Mil Muertes by pinfall. This match got violent quickly and it became obvious, rather quickly, that whichever luchador was going to win it would be the one who could avoid taking the most damage from weapons. The match also quickly took on the appearance of two singles contests with bitter rivals Rey Mysterio Jr. and Mil Muertes going to war with each other, and Prince Puma and La Parka doing battle with steel chairs. Occasionally, the two battles would cross over, as Mil Muertes gave Prince Puma the Reaper’s Trident spear, only to lose out on winning the match with a chair assault from the Chairman of Lucha Underground, and later Mysterio giving La Parka the Six-One-Nine and West Coast Pop, only to have Prince Puma superkick him out of the pin (and almost out of his boots). Mil Muertes absolutely brutalized Mysterio, but had the final nail in the coffin backfire on him, as he set up a table on the floor and prepared to powerbomb Mysterio through it from the ring apron. Mysterio grabbdr the top rope to block and then threw a few fists, finally countering the move with a hurricanrana that sent Mil Muertes off the ring apron and through the table. The fans chanted “Holy Shit” after that one. When Mysterio recovered and climbed onto the ring apron, he was met with a vicious chair shot that sent him tumbling to the floor. La Parka turned around and ate a pair of superkicks followed by a jackhammer. Prince Puma then went to the top rope and performed a 630 senton bomb and pinned him for the win. Prince Puma will join Dean Ambrose in the Battle of the Bulls Finals at Ultima Lucha.
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Next, we enter Dario Cueto’s office to find Bayley and Charlotte Flair meeting with him. They are bickering over Bayley’s interference in last week’s Luchadoras Championship title match. Flair called Bayley a cheater, to which Bayley responded by saying that she doesn’t like cheating, but that Flair was happy to accept Paige’s help to win the title by cheating and she wouldn’t allow it to happen. Flair demands another shot at the title. Cueto has a solution. Since Bayley has already expressed her interest getting a title match and Flair feels cheated out of her title shot, the two of them will face each other next week in a #1 contender’s match, with the winner getting to compete for the Luchadoras Championship against Awesome Kong at Ultima Lucha!
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VS. VS. VS.
Bad News Brown defeated Fénix, Juventud Guerrera, and PJ Black by pinfall. This match was an exciting contest featuring plenty of high-flying. Three out of four of the luchadors were ready and willing to fly through the air at all times, inside and out of the ring. Black took Brown down with a springboard plancha outside the ring. Later, he would land a 450 splash on Guerrera to nearly win the match. Fénix took out everyone with an Asai moonsault. Later, he walked the tight rope from one corner to the next to give Black a frankensteinner, and at another point, he delivered a diving elbow drop to Brown’s heart to nearly win the match. Guerrera took everyone out with a corckscrew plancha from the top turnbuckle. Later, he executed a double-springboard hurricanrana to Black and then a swanton bomb on him to nearly win the match. Meanwhile, Bad News Brown didn’t take fly ever. He just wanted to batter and bruise everyone. He served up gutwrench and belly-to-back suplexes, backbreakers and gutbusters to everyone. He gave Fénix a Lou Thesz Press, dropped Guerrera hard onto the mat with a flapjack, and gave Black a running powerslam. The end of match sequence came when Black gave Guerrera a crucifix cutter. As he pinned him, Fénix nailed him with a basement dropkick to the face. He went up to the top rope, but Brown shoved him off the turnbuckle, sending him crashing down to the floor. Brown gave Black a series of jujitsu kicks that knocked him out of the ring and then drilled Guerrera in the head with a Ghetto Blaster just as he was getting back to his feet. He pinned Guerrera for the 3-count and the win.
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Dario Cueto is in his office on the phone. He’s having an important discussion about money, but it isn’t clear with whom he is speaking. A knock is heard on the door, so he excuses himself from the phone conversation. “Macho King” Randy Savage walks in and tells Dario Cueto that he hasn’t had a match in nearly a year, so he wants to get in the ring to knock the ring rust off before his important match against Eddie Guerrero at Ultima Lucha. Cueto is more than happy to have him compete in the Temple before then – he sees the dollar signs – and offers to give him a match next week. Savage accepts. Cueto asks him when he would like his next match after that and Savage says that he only needs one to knock the ring rust off.
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Baron Corbin defeated Kurt Angle, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Pentagon Jr. by pinfall. One of the main stories that played out in this match was the match-within-the-match that seemed to be taking place between Angle and Nakamura. They were constantly grappling and trading holds. Matt Striker and Vampiro noticed a trend in which Angle would do only enough to Corbin or Pentagon Jr. to remove them from the ring and go after Nakamura. Nakamura would fight back and they would trade moves and holds until either Corbin or Pentagon Jr. came back into the ring to attack the two of them. It seemed almost as if he thought he was only competing with Nakamura and he was on a mission to pin or submit him, and only him. As a result, Nakamura rarely found himself with the advantage, and was most often on the defensive. Corbin and Pentagon Jr. took advantage of Angle’s tunnel vision to constantly gain the upper hand until they were left to square off against one another, in which case they would punish each other, with Corbin throwing painful fists and Pentagon Jr. delivering stinging open-palm chops to the chest. The final sequence of the match saw Pentagon Jr. put Angle and Nakamura down with sling blades. He charged at Corbin to give him one, but he countered with the Deep Six. Corbin was knocked out of the ring by Angle, who then applied the ankle lock to Pentagon Jr., threatening to get him to tap out. He leaned down into it, opening himself up for a Bomaye from Nakamura. However, it appeared as though he was setting Nakamura up because he let go of the hold and avoided the knee strike. Then, he gave Nakamura an Angle Slam! Nakamura rolled out of the ring after the impact. Angle went to the ropes, looked down and celebrated hitting his finisher on Nakamura. As he was doing that, Corbin came into the ring and knocked Pentagon Jr. out of it with a running big boot. Then, he nailed Angle with one right after he turned around to face the centre of the ring again. Corbin wasted no time in picking up Angle and planted his face into the mat with the End of Days and pinning him for the win.
After the match ended and Corbin collected his Ancient Aztec Medallion, we saw Kurt Angle get up and he appeared extremely frustrated and angry at himself. We also saw Pentagon Jr. get up off the floor, appear to get agitated at Vampiro, then walk over to the broadcast position and act like a bully towards him. He asked why Vampiro took such delight in seeing him lose, then knocked his headset off of him and slapped him across the face. That last move angered Vampiro and get him to get up out of his seat. Pentagon Jr. dared Vampiro to hit him and offered him a free shot, but Vampiro thought the better of it. He clenched his fist, but then turned and walked away. Pentagon Jr. laughed and claimed that Vampiro was full of fear.
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Programming note: Next week, on Lucha Underground, we’ll also see the Lucha Underground debut of “Macho King” Randy Savage. And, in the main event, we’ll see Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair, with the winner going on to Ultima Lucha to challenge Awesome Kong for the Luchadoras Championship. Tune in next week to see those matches and more.
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