Episode 35 – Fuel to the FireStriker mentioned something last episode which hinted at it being around the 4th of July and I realised that until that moment I had no clue as to when this originally was happening. So, after a (very careful) bit of research, just for my own reference and to help me keep track of the timeframe, the date of this episode was July 8th, 2015.
Recaps of:1) Mil Muertes' Rebirth, return, and rise.
2) Cage taking out Mack to join Daivari’s Trios team
3) Catrina and the Skull Mask Gang taking out Ivelisse, Havoc, Angelico.
4) Bertie and Mundo
And we start with… a ninja? Close enough, it’s Penta. He’s in, I assume, a secret lair built on top of a mountain.
Welcome to another episode of ‘
Gecko tries to guess the filming tricks and techniques’.
Penta’s outfits are predominantly black and white, the scene reflects that with the only real colour being from the orange spotlight which draws the focus and stops him from blending into the background.
Penta is talking to his master, explaining that ‘he’ is refusing to face him and is not the man he used to be. We finally get a bit of a look at the Master, sort of. We first see his silhouette, and then shots of his legs as he tells his… disciple? Student? Pupil? Padawan? That he must destroy the man that he is now.
Penta says that he wants to destroy him in the ring at UL. The Master (I’m guessing not the Doctor Who one, but I can’t be 100% on that) tells Penta to attack his weakest point, his ego, and then he’ll have no choice but to be Penta’s sacrifice.
Penta corrects his Master by telling him that Ian Hodgkinson will be his sacrifice.
Interesting. Until I come up with a better idea, I’m still, still, going with Vampiro(s dark side) being the Master somehow. Hey, it could happen. And it wouldn’t be the stupidest thing wrestling has ever done.
And I’ve just worked out the Ian Hodgkinson bit: If Penta gets rid of the Ian part, all that’s left of him is the Vampiro bit.
Into the Temple we go, Mexican Dubweiser are tonight’s band as commentary give us a clue as to what we can expect tonight, including the first atomicos tag match and a Vampiro sit down interview with Penta.
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The Mack vs CageThis could be a fun, hard hitting one. If I could be bothered, I’d count the “OH!”’s from the crowd in the first 30 seconds of the match. Everything was getting one, and not in a sarcastic way.
Stalling vertical suplex by Cage, that was impressive being done on a bigger than usual guy.
Vamp sounds kinda drunk.
Mack misses a frog splash, Cage hits a discus clothesline that flips Mack and I really thought it was over right then.
Mack slides under a big boot and drags Cage down into a schoolboy rollup to get the sudden win!
A relatively short match, but huge fun. Wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch of this one.
You know when you accidentally pause a video at the right/wrong time?
A – Mack might be a Vampire, which completely distracted me from B – the middle finger and C- who is grabbing him? (it’s the ref)
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Catrina wandering around in the dark and finds her way to Son of Havoc in the locker room. Her trademark tap on the neck leads into her letting Havoc know that her Disciples of Death will soon be after his gold, but tonight Death is coming for him.
Ivelisse interrupts the sultry ear whispering, beard pulling action and tells Catrina to back off. (You had your chance Ivelisse and you blew it).
She tries to grab Catrina, but a lights out vanish leads to Ivelisse and Havoc ending up in a compromising position just in time for Angelico to walk in
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Commentary runs down what we have set for UL so far.
Vampiro sit down interview with PentagonVamp starts the interview by apologising to Penta, saying that his time has come and gone and he should not have got involved in his business. His first question is a big one: Who is the Master?
Penta looks at Vamp for a few seconds before turning away again without speaking.
Vamp says he was kind of expecting to not get an answer for that one. He says that Penta is violent, aggressive, and hurts people. He gets that and it reminds him of himself when he was younger.
Penta agrees that they are a lot alike and both liked the pain of others. But who is he now? Is he Vampiro or a coward?
That gets Vamp riled up, but he stays in control and explains that he’s a different person now, his time was in the past and that isn’t who he is anymore.
Despite more goading from Penta, Vamp still refuses the challenge for UL and Penta finally leaves.
This whole thing was well done. The music being there throughout the whole thing and then increasing in intensity during the video clips was great. The old footage of Vampiro was a nice touch. And both of them did a good job getting their stuff across. Penta is at a disadvantage (for me anyway) with his non English promos, but the gestures, body language and intensity make up for it.
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Mil Muertes w/Catrina vs Son of Havoc w/Angelico & IvelisseIvelisse is still on crutches.
I do like the belts, but I think they’re a bit too tall and would look better if they were squashed down just a touch.
Again, this could be a good one, but in a different way. I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m a fan of Havoc and I’m looking forward to what he and Mil can do together.
They both suit being all in black, but it would be nice if one of them (probably Havoc) had an away strip to use.
Yeah, Catrina, you keep pounding that mat as long as you want to!
E-C-Dub! E-C-Dub! E-C-Dub! (with much higher production values)
Whoever makes the commentary table should put their name on it as advertising and focus the marketing on the toughness of it because it seems to be indestructible.
Ivelisse is hobbling away as Mil just beats Havoc round the ring. Havoc looked like he was heading for the door of Dario’s office for sanctuary.
Eventually they both end up down in the ring. Catrina approaches Angelico, which bring Ivelisse round to stop her doing whatever she’s doing. Catrina is equal opportunities and turns her attention towards Ivelisse.
Angelico looks a bit disappointed/confused by the lack of attention. Never mind, there’s somebody else who wants to get close to you:
The SMG beat down Angelico as the ladies try to choke each other (which only really works for Catrina).
Havoc has to come help out, which leads to him getting back in the ring just in time for a spear and flatliner to allow Mil to pick up the win.
Yup, another fun one. A bit chaotic and uncontrollable, which fits Mil’s personality perfectly.
Catrina probably ends up with a load of beard hair in her mouth by licking Havoc.
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Texano in the ring with a mic. He says that he’s never been a nice dude, but he has always been Mexican(o). He goes on about how he likes hurting people, and he can’t be trusted, but he never turned on his own people.
He doesn’t like Blue Demon, Sexy Star, or Mascarita Sagrada (how can you not like him?) but he hates Chavo and challenges him to a match at UL and he won’t take no for an answer (he pronounced the ‘w’ in answer which amused me) even if he has a broken leg.
The Goons attack him from behind and beat him up until Blue Demon (
yay) slowly jogs to the ring. He scares them off by… ducking a double clothesline.
Cisco grabs a chair and slides it into the ring, which allows BD to grab it. Why would you do tha… oh. I see.
BD smacks Texano in the head with the chair and goes to work on him before grabbing a mic and claiming that Texano is not Mexico, HE is Mexico. Texano vs BD at UL.
I’m guessing this wasn’t the original plan and things got changed due to Chavo’s injury.
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Atomicos: Alberto El Patron, Sexy Star, Drago, Aerostar vs Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, Super Fly, Hernandez.
I know it’s a case of each person is there because they’ve got a rival on the other team, but the faces feel randomly picked whereas the heels actually sort of fit together and make sense as a team.
Ok, I admit that looking like a team doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll work as a team…
Back to the film references. You know that bit in whichever Indiana Jones film it was where you had the guy with the sword doing all the impressive display stuff and when he was done Indy just shot him?
Evans is the guy with the sword, Bertie is Indy, the sword moves are flips and martial arts, and Indy’s gun is a slap.
Striker says the word book which is the prompt for Vamp to plug his book.
With the speed that some of this stuff happens, it’s amazing that they don’t screw up more than they do.
Ooh, nasty landing for Drago. He overshot on a top rope corkscrew moonsault to the outside, so the group only caught his legs which pivoted his head into the ground. And he looks like he might slowly roll all the way backstage.
Sexy Star goes up top. Honestly it’s a 50/50 on whether this ends well or not.
You can see Mundo getting in position and he trips Bertie to stop him from diving. Bertie chases him up the steps, through the crowd and out a random door.
Aerostar hits his springboard splash on SF, but it looks like Evans or Hernandez was supposed to grab him as he goes back for another go and does get grabbed this time. In the background, you can see Sexy Star helping Drago back to ringside.
Bertie wanders back to the ring down the steps and Mundo sneaks back in a different way.
Mundo rolls through a Sexy Star crossbody and pins her after eventually finding a spot on her that he feels comfortable grabbing for extra leverage.
That’s a 100% record on fun matches tonight with each bringing something different.
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Commentary lets us know that next week there will be a face to face confrontation between Puma and Mil, but wait… who is that skeleton in the background?
A sneak kick followed by chairshots takes down Vamp, then Penta announces to his master that tonight he is dedicating this sacrifice to him. He is going to destroy this shell of a man.
But Vamp is back on his feet, I don’t think this is going to be as straightforward as Penta thinks. Or maybe it will as another kick sends Vamp into the crowd.
Penta wanders off to grab…
This can’t possibly end well.
He says he’s not afraid of Vamp, Vamp is afraid of him. If Vamp doesn’t accept his UL challenge, his family and the whole world will see him burn.
He gives Vamp one week to decide and we end with perfect timing as Penta blows out the flame and the screen.
A fantastic episode, really enjoyed that one.
Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions- I still have to stop myself from typing ‘Mascaras’ instead of ‘Muertes’ after the word Mil. That would be a very different take on the character.
- Carlito fan is there again. I was actually thinking recently on whether I’d spot any distinctive repeat fans like you get when other places have a ‘home’ venue.
- I don’t know if I’ve said it before or not, but Mil is one of those people who manages to seem bigger than he probably is.
- Not seen Black Lotus for a while. I guess escapology wasn’t part of her training… or maybe she just really likes her roommate after getting to know him a bit.
- The SMG are a nice addition to Mil and Catrina and more effective than druids.
- Eh, let’s be optimistic and say this could be a good thing for BD. Not being overly familiar with his history, but at this point in time he feels like he should be a boss who has his underlings do all the dirty work and only gets involved at the end for a humiliating slap.
- I didn’t see Penta’s pyromaniac side showing up. I didn’t even know that was one of his hobbies, unlike Vamp who has shown that side in the past.
- After a couple of weeks taking it easy, we’re back to going full tilt again in the final build to UL. Next time: The Beginning of the End.
- Late, late addition: Me doing final edit for this - "Ah, that's what the episode name was all about."
. The only real issue that can pop up with Tubi is VPN based since they took the easy way out with GDPR and just blocked Europe.
