Thursday, March 31, 2016

Lucha Underground Review - Aztec Warfare 2 - March 23rd, 2016

AZTEC WARFARE 2

It's Aztec Warfare week. A 20 Man Royal Rumble style match except you have to actually be pinned to be eliminated. Every minute or two, a new entrant enters the match. Last year, the winner became #1 Contender to the Lucha Underground Title, but this year it's for ALL the marbles per Catrina. The winner of this will walk out the Lucha Underground Champion. This announcement was made last week when Fenix shockingly defeated Mil Muertes to become the LU Champion. To stack the odds against the young man even more, Fenix enters first and Muertes enters last. I think that's all that needs to be covered to preface this thing so let's dive right into it.

#1 Fenix

#2 Rey Mysterio

Wow. We start off this year's Aztec Warfare with a Dream Match in the form of Fenix against Rey Mysterio. They get a few minutes to do their thing and it rules. There's a cool 619 attempt countered into an arm drag by Fenix.

#3 King Cuerno

Cuerno is the third entrant and he cleans house on both Fenix & Mysterio before hitting a huge dive to the floor on Fenix. This allows Mysterio time to recover and he comes out of nowhere the sliding frog splash off the apron to the floor as the bell rings for the fourth entrant to come out.

#4 Argenis

Argenis is in and gets a nice exchange with Fenix. Fenix goes for a springboard and gets caught with a kick for his troubles. Mysterio jumps back in the fray and it spells the end for Argenis. 619, frog splash, game over.

#5 Mundo

YAS! Mundo, Mysterio, & Fenix do their thing here as Mundo enters the temple to try and win Aztec Warfare. Lots of good stuff goes on here between these three.

#6 Joey Ryan

The Sleaze Master himself comes down and doesn't even attempt to get involved in the action, instead, he handcuffs himself to the railing to avoid the risk of getting eliminated.

#7 Prince Puma

PUMAAAAA. Shit goes bonkers here. Shooting star press to the floor on three men. Just unreal stuff like Cuerno countering Puma's blue thunder bomb into a hurricanrana. It's a momentary flurry for Cuerno as he stalls Puma's momentum, but gets caught by Mysterio and Rey Rey forces him to tap.

#8 Jack Evans

The man himself! Jack Evans enters the chaos and gets jumped by Mysterio, Fenix, & Puma. Mundo tries to join on, but gets pushed away however he eventually makes the saves for his fellow heel friend Jack Evans. They start to do some double team work as the 9th entrant is revealed.

#9 TAYA

Taya is here and it's now 3 on 3 as she's obviously with Mundo after last week and Mundo has aligned himself with Evans so it's turned into a trios match of sorts for a minute or two. Mundo ends up isolating Rey as the clock ticks down.

#10 CAGE

Oh shit, Mundo has fucked up now. Cage is the 10th entrant and it's perfectly timed as he makes the big baby face save for Mysterio. Cage goes nuts on Mundo and cleans house. Taya comes to help and she & Mundo double team Cage and Mundo THROWS HIM THROUGH THE OFFICE WINDOW!

#11 Mascarita Sagrada

The sensational Mascarita Sagrada is #11 and Mundo takes him out as well, being the dick that he is. Cage re-emerges around this point, bloodied from the window incident, and nails Mundo with a Weapon X on the floor. Prince Puma gets back into the mix around here as well and hits a Shooting Star Press on Mundo to eliminate him.

#12 Marty Martinez

Marty the Moth is next out and he gets HEAT, man. Major heat. Just for his existence, so you know when he took everyone out and got time to shine, the crowd laid it on him even more.

#13 Drago

The boos turn to cheers as Drago enters to a great response. Drago spews mist in Joey Ryan's face as Rey Mysterio and Sagrada work on Marty and eventual eliminate him thanks to some good teamwork.

#14 The Mack

Marty is leaving as The Mack comes out and OH BOY! STUNNER TO MARTY! Mack finally gets to the ring and comes face to face with his rival from last season, Cage. A huge big fight feel develops from here and they go at it in a way reminicent of their matches last year.

#15 Chavo

Chavo comes in with a bang and eliminates Sagrada with the camel clutch. Johnny Mundo returns out of nowhere and hits cage with a cement block which allows Taya to pin him. Taya's moment doesn't last long though as Fenix nails her with a suplex for the pin.

#16 PJ Black

Shit gets wild here with Black, Evans, and Drago going at it in an aerial assault on the floor. Drago backdrops Evans on the floor and it was NASTY. So nasty that Evans started bleeding from his back, as a result. PJ gets springboarded into the post, but he & Jack manage to regain the advantage which leads perfectly to our next entrant.

#17 Aerostar

AEROSTAR is here to help Drago and he HITS A FUCKING CANADIAN DESTROYER OFF THE TOP ROPE ON JACK EVANS! oh MY GOD! Jack gets eliminated off that meanwhile his new found partner PJ eliminates Drago. This leaves PJ & Aerostar to fight it out one on one.

#18 Dragon Azteca Jr

Lord o' mercy and I thought Angelico was fast. Azteca comes in like a house of fire taking out everyone and hitting a flip over the corner post onto Mack on the floor.

#19 Texanoo Jr

Texano comes out swinging a bullrope as he goes after Chavo Guerrero. The intensity carries over to a spot where he dives out of the ring onto everyone. Texano is on a roll and eliminates PJ Black via a powerbomb.

#20 Muertes

And here we go, former Lucha Underground Champion Mil Muertes is the final entrant, but before he can get to the ring, PENTAGON JR ATTACKS HIM FROM BEHIND WITH A CHAIR! This is payback for Catrina not allowing Pentagon in Aztec Warfare for no reason whatsoever. Pentagon rolls him in the ring following his assault and Rey hits a frog splash. Rey covers and Puma presses down for extra leverage. Mil is gone! Catrina is obviously pissed and starts yelling at the mighty Vampiro. He rises up from the commentary booth, AW SHIT! CATRINA SLAPS HIM! WHAT!

The fight to the finish continues and the clock is counting down again for some reason and DARIO CUETO EMERGES FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON! WHAT IS GOING ON? Catrina is even more pissed now as Cueto says this is his temple so he can do what he wants and there's a 21st entrant. It's his brother who has been locked in a cage since last season, MATANZA CUETO!

#21 Matanza Cueto

Matanza dominates everyone in ruthless fashion. Fenix is eliminated first which means there WILL be a new Lucha Underground Champion. Mack is next after a DIRTY german suplex that dropped him right on his head. Aerostar suffers the same fate. Texano is eliminated with a powerbomb. Matanza is taking everyone out! He spots Joey Ryan and breaks him free and eliminates him. Azteca Jr puts up a fight, but is taken out as well followed by Chavo who tried to make a deal with him. Puma gets destroyed which leaves Matanza and Rey alone. They fight it out for a minute or two giving the fans one last ray of hope, but eventually Mysterio is put down as well and Matanza Cueto is the winner of Aztec Warfare 2 and your NEW Lucha Underground Champion!

So, I really enjoyed this show. The hour flew by and it was well paced with a lot of action and storytelling mixed together. They highlighted just about every major feud and created a new star in Matanza Cueto in a matter of minutes. It was extremely well put together and although it had a few slow points, it's still something well worth checking out.

Match rating - ***3/4

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