Lucha Underground Review - June 28, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mil Muertes def. Veneno in a Cueto Cup First Round Match

I don't think we have seen much of Veneno at all in Lucha Underground, so it was absolutely the right move to have Muertes make short work of him here. Moreover, it was cool that before the bout, we saw Catrina backstage demanding that Muertes capture the Cueto Cup, so he now as a motivation to win the whole thing. Killer Muertes is the best Muertes. Having this go any longer than a minute would have been a waste, so this was wisely booked.

Paul London def. Vibora by Count-out in a Cueto Cup First Round Match

This may have been London's singles debut in Lucha Underground and it was smart to have him work with someone a lot less experienced in Vibora. Sure, the guy is a freak of nature and has size, but there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to his work in the ring. Thus, the interference from London's stablemates helped protect Vibora's weaknesses. I thought for sure Vibora would win, but I'm kind of glad he didn't and now we can see London and his buddies take on Kobra Moon for the Trios Championship in the near future.

Taya def. Joey Ryan in a Cueto Cup First Round Match

Lucha Underground tends to make the intergender matchups fairly believable more often than not and this was another one of those times. Ryan isn't a tremendously credible competitor anyway, so I could buy into each of Taya's nearfalls. There wasn't any prior bad blood between these two, so it wasn't much more than just a match, but it was decent for the time they were allotted and Taya advancing to potentially face her boyfriend for the Lucha Underground Championship is an interesting story.

Jeremiah Crane def. Killshot in a Cueto Cup First Round Match

After several short matches early on, this was exactly the type of competitive contest I was craving for. It appeared to be a weird clash of styles on paper, but they created exceptional chemistry together and produced a very exciting match. The pace was chaotic, the audience was engaged in the action, and both guys had spectacular showings. Furthermore, Killshot was protected in defeat after being distracted by his rival Dante Fox, allowing Crane to advance. I'm also happy we received some continuation of Crane's forgotten storyline with Catrina and Muertes on this show.

Overall Show

The first three tournament matches were pretty straightforward and did nothing to pique my interest the way Lucha Underground normally does, but the main event was entertaining enough to salvage this show for me, along with the awesome video package for the upcoming Rey Mysterio vs. Johnny Mundo match with comments from other wrestlers. Certainly seek out Crane vs. Killshot and said video package, but feel free to skip the rest.