I will never fully understand Mexico’s fascination with death. It all dates back to the ancient Aztec civilization. They had a perspective on life and afterlife that is remarkably different from the perspectives of many modern cultures. Today most people, myself included, believe that the afterlife is determined by how a person lived. In contrast, the Aztecs believed that a person’s afterlife was determined by how that person died. Keep in mind most of them, if not all of them, were warriors. They also believed that death was just a portal to the underworld, a place from where a plethora of gods ruled the earth. More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now central Mexico, they encountered natives practicing rituals that seemed to mock death. The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during their rituals. The skulls were used to symbolize death and rebirth. Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it, staring at it face to face with disdain, impatience and irony. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake. I suppose that, philosophically speaking, what the people were embracing was Mexico’s fascination with death as a metaphor for life.
Tonight’s show starts us off with a video package recapping Big Ryck’s feud with The Crew, the Drago-Aerostar best of five series matches and the Muertes-Fenix storyline for tonight’s coffin match.
Vampiro and Striker are with us on commentary and Melissa Santos informs us that the first match will be match three in the best of five series between Aerostar and Drago. Each man has one win. Aerostar is first to come out, followed by Drago.
Drago vs. Aerostar
Match number 3 of the Series
Whenever you work a best of five you have to be innovative and change it up every time you meet in order to avoid redundancy. Not a lot of wrestlers have the ability to do that (with some guys if you’ve seen one match you’ve seen them all) but kudos to these two for doing something different and exciting tonight. They started off kind of slow but once they got going they pulled off some really cool spots. I was genuinely excited to see what they would do since their last two matches were full of back and forth action.
Aerostar gets a series of rolling armdrags to begin the match. I appreciate their talent and creativity, they made the sequence of armdrags look great. Love matches that start off this way. Drago takes him down and applies an Indian Deathlock. Alabama slam from Drago off the ropes. Nice. Drago gets kicked to the outside and Springboard cannonball thrust dive from Aero! Dang that looked hard. The aerial camera view is a thing of beauty. Aero gets a leaping kick before nailing a springboard dropkick that sends Drago to the outside. Suicide dive and the match is picking up. Drago hoists him up top and hits a draping DDT that looked similar to the one Owens did on Neville back in December. Sick. Randy does them from the second rope but these guys do it from the top. They are vey dangerous and always look like someones neck got broken. Aero misses a dive and eats a corkscrew dive over the top from Drago. He gets a huge ovation for that one. The two trade kicks until Drago is caught up in the ropes and eats a double foot stomp from the top. Aerostar misses a splash and Drago dives to the outside and takes him out. He gets a running sitdown poweromb, but doesn’t cover in order to sell how exhausted he is. Aero walks from one corner to the other on the second rope to hit a top rope hurricanrana. Crowd is wowed. That was cool. Wrestling should be a spectacle. Springboard splash gets him the one, two, three. His splash is similar to Rey’s but better, in my opinion. His chest crashes as he freefalls against his opponent’s body with his hands behind his back. Crowd is having a blast. They shake hands. Always great to see sportsmanship among talent. With tonight’s win Aerostar needs one more victory to win the series ( and a “unique opportunity” ) but I’m sure Drago will win the next one. Vamp hypes up the Grave Consequences match.
Konnan and his heat-forged weapon cane are back and kicking butt while he tells a story about how position is everything in war as he plays a game of chess. For those of us who may not know, it is well documented that kings used to teach their soldiers military strategy through concepts used in the game of chess. The board itself was literally a blueprint to the battlefield. It’s amazing how one can learn strategy from chess, as strategy concerns itself with a plan of action designed to win a war and that is exactly what chess is. It teaches us tactics and the conduct of engagement. I have a genius little brother who was Grandmaster and taught me all of this. He takes after his older brother. After more beatings and chess, we see that the person he’s been talking to all along is Prince Puma, who understands the lesson and looks ready for war. Good stuff, love these vignettes. A Pentagon Jr. hype video airs showcasing many of his package piledrivers. That is one sick move. If you want to see moves like that in WWE don’t hold your breath because you just might die of asphyxiation. Lucha Underground now has Cricket as a sponsor.
We return to the arena for a three on one elimination match. The Crew is mid-ring to battle Big Ryck. Striker lets us know eliminations occur via pinfall, submission or stoppage.
Big Ryck vs. The Crew
Handicap Elimination Match
I thought this would stink but it was surprisingly decent. The Crew takes turns beating down Ryck, diving through his face feet first through the corner ropes. Striker says they call that “The Treatment”. Ryck fights back briefly, throwing one of them through a chair between the second and third turnbuckles but gets double teamed with a double foot stomp from the top rope/DDT combo that looked pretty awesome. Bael grabs a kendo stick and hits Ryck hard in the back but Ryck hulks up and no sells it. Instead Ryck gets the kendo stick and starts chopping everyone, pinning Bael and eliminating him. Ryck then double suplexes the two remaining members of The Crew and clotheslines Cortez hard with the kendo stick between his arm. That was unique. Cortez is eliminated. Cisco is the only one left and tries to leave, but Sexy Star throws him back in the ring! That’s one tough woman. He gets a stiff forearm to the face and blades. I miss blood in WWE. Juicing is part of what made the attitude era great. Cisco is eating some really, really stiff shots. Finally, Ryck hits the Uranage through a chair for the win. Sick spot. No love from Big Ryck who threw him against the chair with power. Somewhere in the city of angels Cisco is lying down tonight recuperating his back.
Next week will be Night of Champions for Lucha Underground as Alberto El Patron will defend the AAA World Heavyweight Championship against El Texano Jr. and Prince Puma will defend the Lucha Underground Championship against Cage. That’s going to be a treat.
We get a detailed Day of the Dead introduction before the match. A group of people come out looking like Tim Burton’s cast of Night Before Christmas. Great set from costume design to the painted faces. They are seen bringing a large black coffin painted with a large skull of death in the middle. The Day of the Dead is an integral part of Mexican culture, a celebration of death that is particular to its national identity. During the period of one week popular belief is that the deceased visit friends and relatives on earth and enjoy once again the pleasures of this life. To facilitate this, Mexicans visit the graves of families and friends and adorn them with colourful flowers and “offerings” of food (In particular the sugary “bread of the dead), spices, toys, candles, and drinks amongst other things. I love our culture but this is my least favorite thing about it. In some of the states they dress up just like they dressed up for tonight’s set with their faces painted as skulls and walk around in the streets to celebrate. Millions of people come out. Millions. In a country as socially and geographically diverse as Mexico, there is significant regional variation in the nature of the festivities: the southern states are more likely to focus their efforts on processions and public commemorations of death but in the northern states the decoration of altars in homes and tombs of the deceased is more popular. Urbanisation, too, plays a large role in regional variations. For the south and rural areas the period holds far greater social and cultural significance than in the north and large cities; families and communities in rural areas will often spend large parts of the year preparing for the occasion. What’s ironic and peculiar to the culture is they are celebrating life and not the sober mourning of their families passing. While contemporary observance of the day includes traditional masses and prayers, today it is dominated by carnivalesque rituals much different, to far greater extent, from those of the orthodox Catholic celebrations found in western Europe.
Needless to say Mil Muertes comes out to one heck of an entrance and is introduced as the man of a thousands lives. Fenix comes out second with a nice reception from the crowd. Ladies and gentlemen it is time for our main event.