Post by Slade on Apr 20, 2020 8:38:18 GMT -5
Season 4, Episode 09
From the Temple in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California
Commentary Team: Matt Striker and Vampiro
Ring Announcer: Melissa Santos
***
Our night began with Antonio Cueto standing in the ring. Beside him was the Gift of the Gods title belt, which was attached to a wood frame that was placed on a display tripod. Cueto said it was time for the holders of each of the Seven Ancient Aztec Medallions to come to the ring and place their medallions in the Gift of the Gods, thus guaranteeing their status as contenders for the Gift of the Gods. One at a time, the holders of the medallions – Andrade Cien Almas (with Zelina Vega), Eddie Guerrero, Jake Roberts, Rhea Ripley, Chris Jericho, Damien Priest, Braun Strowman (with Truth Martini) – and entered the Temple and placed them inside the belt.
Once all the medallions were in place and all the contenders were assembled in the ring, Antonio Cueto announced that the Gift of the Gods would be awarded next week to the luchador or luchadora who scores the most pinfalls or submissions in a match that will go ALL NIGHT LONG. However, he wants to give the Believers a little preview of what is in store for them next week, so right now, all the luchadores are going to have a battle royale and the winner will get a unique opportunity to use in their match next week.
BATTLE ROYALE MATCH FOR A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
Andrade Cien Almas vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. Jake Roberts vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Chris Jericho vs. Damien Priest vs. Braun Strowman
Andrade Cien Almas vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. Jake Roberts vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Chris Jericho vs. Damien Priest vs. Braun Strowman
The first luchador eliminated from the battle royale was Damien Priest, who was knocked out of the ring just seconds after the opening bell, when Strowman rushed him from his right side and dropped him with a running big boot. He was caught complete off-guard by the attack. Strowman then picked up Priest and took him over the top rope with a stiff lariat.
The second luchador eliminated from the battle royale was Braun Strowman. As the biggest, strongest and most threatening luchador in the match, he became the victim of a five-on-one assault. All the other luchadores teamed up to take him on. As it stood, Strowman held his ground by knocking everyone down with stiff right hands or big boots. However, the numbers advantage favoured the others and once Guerrero went for a diving crossbody, the tide turned. Strowman caught Guerrero, but as he held him there, Jericho hit Strowman with a missile dropkick. The loss of balance with the weight of Guerrero in his arms was good enough to knock him down. After that, the luchadores stomped away at him, hit some signature moves on him and then all five of them forced him to the ropes and dumped him over the top to the floor.
Rhea Ripley, the only luchadora in the battle royale, was eliminated next. It happened after she went on tear, nailing Almas with a hesitation dropkick, countering a Guerrero hurricanrana attempt into a powerbomb and then running over Jericho with a big boot before giving him the Riptide. Before she could pick him up, Roberts slithered up from behind and pulled her into a DDT. He quickly picked her up, tossed her into the ropes and then sent her over the top with a running clothesline.
The fourth luchador eliminated from the match was Jake Roberts. He was unexpectedly eliminated while trying to dump Almas out of the ring. Almas and Roberts were working on getting Guerrero up and over the top rope. Guerrero was crafty enough to grab onto the bottom two ropes and pull himself back in as they managed to get him over the top. Almas leaned over to try to keep at him, but Roberts decided to try pushing him out instead. However, Almas was able to get his legs under Roberts’ arms and around his torso in something like a wheelbarrow body scissors and take him over the top rope with him. Roberts hit the floor while Almas clung to the top rope and then lifted himself back up and over the top and into the ring.
Almas was eliminated mere moments later. He was gloating about his elimination of Roberts as a reaction to his manager, Zelina Vega, who was shouting and pointing at him for his excellent work. Her boasting to the Believers and feeding Almas’ ego had him let his guard down, making him a sitting duck. Jericho came up from behind, grabbed him by his collarbone and the waistband of his pants and flung him over the ropes and out to the floor.
Down to the final two, Guerrero was the last luchador eliminated. He was the master of lying, cheating and stealing, but he had this win stolen from him when Jericho cheated to win. After a good five minutes of these two hitting each other with their best moves and failing to eliminate each other, Guerrero sent Jericho tumbling over the top rope when he countered a back body drop attempt into a dropkick. Jericho went up and over the top rope and landed with a thud on the ring apron. As he teetering there on the edge, Sammy Guevara, who had come out to cheer for his idol, ran over and pulled a table out from under the ring and ducked under the apron where he wouldn’t be seen. Guerrero ran over and knocked Jericho off the apron with a baseball slide. A referee raised Guerrero’s hand and he celebrated his win. However, two other referees on the floor waved it off as Jericho was laying on the table and hadn’t touched the floor. They cleared him to get back in. Guerrero was standing on the second turnbuckle doing his trademark shimmy dance when Jericho ran over unseen, lifted him over the rope and out to the floor.
Chris Jericho was declared the winner. Antonio Cueto informed him that for winning this battle royale, he would begin the ALL NIGHT LONG match with one pinfall earned already. Then, he said that there is only space in the ALL NIGHT LONG match for six luchadores, so for Jericho’s unique opportunity, he may choose one luchador to cast out of next week’s match. Jericho didn’t take long to think about it. He finally got his revenge on Jake “The Snake” Robert by kicking his “big fat ass” out of the match.
Roberts was upset and vowed revenge until Cueto told him that “for every unique opportunity lost, there is another unique opportunity gained.” His consolation prize for not competing in the ALL NIGHT LONG match for the Gift of the Gods is the unique opportunity to challenge AJ Styles for the Mash-Up Wrestling Men’s World Championship at Aztec Warfare! Roberts was elated. Jericho and Guerrero, both of whom had been held hostage for nearly an entire year by Roberts, were understandably upset. They rushed around him to voice their complaints, but Cueto didn’t care. He ignored them as he walked into his office and slammed the door shut.
***
Back in the Lucha Underground locker room, Damien Priest sits in front of an open locker door. He is crouched down over his knees and his head is hung low. Suddenly, the lights in the room flicker off and on. He looks up as this is going on. The lights go back to normal. He looks around and doesn’t see anyone, so he drops his head to look at the floor again. Suddenly, Catrina turns the corner around the bank of lockers and mentions that he didn’t have much of a showing out there. He looks up at her and asks who she is and what it matters to her. She says that she’s heard him say that he plans to live forever. He corrects her and says that he will live for forever. She laughs and says that probably won’t happen. Then she disappears before his eyes. He stands up and looks at where she was just standing. Then, he gets a hand on the shoulder and turns around. There she is. She leans in real close, pulls his face down near hers. They are about an inch apart when she says, if he truly wants to live forever, she can make it happen. He seems mesmerized, like he’s caught in a trance. As he leans in to kiss her, the lights flicker off and on again. When they come back on, she is gone.
***
VS.
Ivelisse Vélez vs. Shayna Baszler
Ivelisse Vélez vs. Shayna Baszler
We got a solid 10-minute contest out of these two luchadores. Ivelisse was the fan favourite who fed off the energy of the Believers as she attempted to collect the win following a springboard tornado DDT, a diving crossbody block, a series of superkicks, and her Desert Eagle sunset flip powerbomb. However, Baszler would not stay down for the 3-count. She came roaring back every time. In the later stages of the match, she would stomp on Ivelisse’s right arm after twisting it into pretzel on the mat, thus softening it up for a litany of other holds and maneuvers designed to wear her down. A series of short-arm jumping knee strikes followed by a bridging northern lights suplex nearly put Ivelisse down for the count, but she kicked out at the last moment. It was only delaying the inevitable, as less than a minute later, Baszler would go on to win by submission via the Kirifuda Clutch. With the win, Baszler would wait for the results of the next match to see who her next opponent would be, with the winner of that match earning an opportunity to face Asuka for the Mash-Up Women’s World Championship at Aztec Warfare.
WINNER : Shayna Baszler
***
VS.
Taya Valkyrie vs. Mercedes Martinez
Taya Valkyrie vs. Mercedes Martinez
Another match between luchadoras that would go about 10-minutes. These two luchadoras had a stiff, hard-hitting affair that saw them spend about as much time outside the ring as they did inside it. They battled all over the Temple including up onto the bandstand above the the Temple’s floor entrance. It was teased that either or both luchadoras would be thrown from that platform, but neither did. However, a microphone stand was used by Taya as a weapon, hitting Martinez across the back and choking her out with it. Martinez in turn put Taya’s head through a snare drum and gave her a thrust kick. The match wasn’t contested under falls count anywhere rules, so they had to eventually make it back into the ring. There, Martinez would execute a falcon arrow for a near fall. She attempted a frog splash but landed on Taya’s knees. Taya got up after that and executed her Valhalla curb stomp to knock Martinez out and get the pinfall victory to guarantee her a meeting with Shayna Baszler for a chance to face Asuka for the Mash-Up Women’s World Championship for the second time.
WINNER : Taya Valkyrie
***
Back in the Lucha Underground locker room, Chris Jericho is packing up gear from his locker and getting ready to go home. Sammy Guevara comes along and congratulates him on winning the battle royale. Jericho thanks him and says that he’s not such a bad kid after all. Guevara tells him that he’ll be there for to support him any time. He always has and always will. Jericho says he’ll remember that, then asks him if he saw that bullshit decision by Antonio Cueto to give Jake “The Snake” a shot at the MUW Men’s World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho says that he is the best in the world so he should get the match against AJ Styles at Aztec Warfare. Guevara’s about to speak, but Jericho cuts him off saying that he needs to go file his complaint with Antonio Cueto and make him see that he should get the one-on-one match for the biggest prize in the Mash-Up Wrestling Universe instead of a match against five other luchadores for a lesser title.
***
VS.
LUCHA UNDERGROUND TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIPS MATCH
SUPER FRIENDS vs. PINNACLE OF SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT
Aero Star, Fénix & Drago vs. Hulk Hogan, Roman Reigns & John Cena
It was a raucous atmosphere inside the Temple for this big Trios Championship match. The Lucha Super Friends had been on a title reign unlike any other in Lucha Underground history. They had successfully turned away all challengers for more than a full season of lucha. However, earlier this season, they suffered a loss in a non-title match against the Pinnacle of Sports Entertainment, who were their challengers in this title defence. The stakes were huge. To overcome this group of legends, they would have to have the lucha of their lives.
They did everything they could, overwhelming their opponents with triple teams, and attacks in quick succession at the outset. The pace was blistering fast but came to a screeching halt when Aero Star dove off the top turnbuckle into a Samoan drop by Roman Reigns. The Big Dog turned the ring into his yard, punishing his opponent with ease. He tagged out to Cena, who later tagged out to Hogan, each of them bringing more punishing offense. Aero Star was cut off from his corner and made to suffer in a big way. Cena showed that could hang with the luchadores when he went to the top rope and executed a diving leg drop to Aero Star as he tried to get up, and then took Drago down with a rarely seen hurricanrana when he entered the ring to stop a pinfall attempt from happening.
Despite the great amount of damage the sports entertainers inflicted upon Aero Star, they couldn’t put him away with for a 3-count, even after Hogan was brought into the ring to hit an atomic drop, big boot, bodyslam, and running leg drop. Fénix committed the cardinal sin of breaking up the pinfall, which caused a Pier 6 brawl. Drago sent Cena to the outside with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown. Reigns dumped Drago out to the outside with a big lariat. Fénix dropkicked him through the ropes and out to the floor, then turned around in time to duck and lift Hogan over the top rope with a back body drop. He then took out everyone on the floor with an over-the-top-rope moonsault plancha into the pile. When they all got up, Aero Star took them all down with a springboard diving trustfall senton.
After that, Aero Star was finally able to tag out. Drago and Fénix went to work, making frequent tags, and keeping up a blistering pace on offense. There was a moment when Fénix really shone, as he hammered Reigns, Hogan and Cena with a variety of superkicks, roundhouse kicks and enzuigiri kicks, then La Garra del Fénix on Hogan, followed by a brainbuster to Reigns, and then jumped onto the top rope to cut off Cena’s high risk maneuver attempt with a Spanish Fly. It was a real breakout moment for him. However, Reigns broke up his pinfall attempt, and he tagged out moments later.
Drago came back in and came close to winning the match with a running blockbuster neckbreaker on Hogan, but he kicked out and hulked up. Several punches a few clotheslines and a big boot later, and Hogan went to the corner to tag out. Reigns came in and ran over Drago with a spear. Fénix saved him from eating the pinfall, but this led to another Pier 6 brawl. With all luchadores and sports entertainers in the ring. Aero Star made a blind tag and climbed to the top rope as Drago was dropped with a superman punch and pinned. The referee didn’t count it so Reigns got up and saw Aero Star leaping off the top rope to attack Cena. Reigns ran over and dropped him with a spear out of mid-air! Then, he tagged Hogan back in, who hit the ropes, dropped the leg across Aero Star’s chest and made the cover as Reigns kocked Drago off the ring apron and Cena kept Fénix at bay. 1…2…3!
WINNERS : The Pinnacle of Sports Entertainment
***