Csonka’s Lucha Underground Review 6.17.15

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

Lucha Underground 6.17.15 – Episode 32: All Night Long

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– All Night Long Lucha Underground Title Match: Champion Prince Puma defeated Johnny Mundo @ 38:30 (without commercials) {5-4} [****¼]

All Night Long Lucha Underground Title Match: Champion Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo : It’s fitting that these two men face off once again, because they have been intertwined since the birth of the promotion back on October 29th, 2014. In the first ever Lucha Underground main event, Johnny Mundo defeated Prince Puma in a quality match that set the stage for several episodes to come. The two had a respect for each other, but Puma mentor Konnan did not approve of the friendship. They teamed together, they teased issues and then met again on January 7th. Both men were part of the first ever Aztec Warfare match (Lucha Underground’s play on the Royal Rumble match). The match was a great reinvention of the traditional Rumble match, and played off of the promotion’s feud and angles to that point. It came down to Puma and Mundo battling one on one to become the first ever Lucha Underground Champion. Puma evened the odds and scored to win to earn the title and the respect of Mundo. At the time I mentioned that this also left the window open for the two to face off again down the line, and here we are.

The players are the same, and the title is on the line, but the narrative has changed. Puma is the reigning and defending champion, working with mentor Konnan to grow as a performer and to keep the title against all challengers. But Mundo is now a rudo, turning on Alberto El Patron and tossing him through the window of Dario Cueto’s office. Mundo and Cueto had a rocky relationship early, but have now agreed to put the past behind them and move forward together as Cueto wants Mundo to be the champion at the big Ultima Lucha. Will the newly motivated and Cueto supported Johnny Rudo be enough to take the title from Prince Puma? They’ll fight “all night long” to see who will be the champion heading into Ultima Lucha…

Surprise to no one, they had a really good match. Puma scored the first fall, but Mundo came back and rattled off four consecutive falls. He did so with a cradle and holding the ropes, using a crow bar on Puma, the moonlight drive and then the starship pain. We were 16-minutes in and Puma looked to be on is way to losing the title. Puma, desperate to score a pin, speared Mundo off of the bandstand through four tables to get his second pin of the match. Two minutes later he scored with the spinning Michinoku driver to make it 4-3 Mundo. Four minutes later, the springboard 450 evened up the match. Mundo had tried to run away to play prevent defense, but the returning Alberto El Patron got involved and stopped Mundo from running, which led to the tying fall. I generally dislike the interference, but it makes complete sense here and also sets up the big Patron vs. Mundo match, which we will get coming from this. The one good thing about Lucha Underground is that it never feels odd when someone wins without using their finish, and that is an aspect that is appreciated. Puma made the big comeback in the final seconds and hit the 630 to put Mundo away and keep the title.

It’s not easy to put on a long match in 2015, as many wrestling fans are not conditioned to sit through them. Also, but announcing that this match would last the whole show, you can set yourself up for fans not caring in the early portions. They worked a bit conservatively early, but between the multiple falls (which were done well) and the pacing of the final half of the match and the placement of the big moves, I felt they succeeded in delivering a very good match and overall show. What also adds to the success is the play off of the established relationship between the guys from the very first show, the fact that Mundo was a great heel and Puma is so easy to root for along the integration of Patron. It all made sense, it all worked and we got a great match out of it. It’s you’re going to do a one match show, this is the way to do it.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”