The show begins with El Dragon Azteca Jr and Rey Mysterio training in a dingy gym, preparing for a fight bigger than Pentagon Dark. Chavo Guerrero runs in the ring, reminds Rey of the history they have with one another before he counters Dragon Azteca with a rolling single leg crab, not letting go of the hold until Mysterio screams at him to cease the hold. This plants a seed for the later segments in the show and a major match for next week, so with that said, it was enjoyable and furthered future angles, so it was an absolute success from my estimation.
Rating: 3.5/5
The usual intro from Striker and Vampiro takes place while the band is playing before we get to another edition of "Dario's Dial Of Doom". He cuts a scathing promo on Son Of Havoc, who was the previous challenger to his brother Matanza Cueto before spinning the wheel once more. The Mack gets chosen, and man do these two have a great match! Not the usual athletic high spots we see from Matanza, but he had no shortage of physicality, not afraid to go strike for strike with his opposition. After a highly competitive match, Matanza gets the win with Wrath Of The Gods. The match certainly served a purpose, as it books the champion as an unstoppable force and does not make Willie Mack look weak in the end at all. Very solid, I hope these two have another match in the near future.
Rating: 4/5
Son Of Havoc and Mascarita Sagrada are in his mother's basement, watching the Famous B promo package from last season over and over again until Havoc's mom enters the room, telling the two that she's gonna be baking Bagel Bites. Unusual shameless advertising and definitely a weird segment, but it was amusing and was not too far fetched in the realm of this show. There's a difference between entertaining and poor comedy in wrestling, and this was one of the better examples of well thought-out comedy.
Rating: 3.5/5
Dario Cueto is allegedly doing shady business with substances in his office when Johnny Mundo demands a Lucha Underground title shot, rejecting the Trios Title match. Mundo leaves upon Dario's refusal and Taya takes advantage of the opportunity, inserting herself into the Trios Title main event. I was intrigued as to where this was gonna go and laughed immensely when Taya pointed out the strange circumstance with her boss and white powder on his nose. Again, very strange segment, but a pleasant kind of strange.
Rating: 3/5
Brian Cage and Texano were ready to compete against one another when Dario Cueto makes another appearance, this time adding an "Ultimate Opportunity" stipulation to the match, and to find out what it meant, one of them had to win to find out. It was a solid match, with excellent sequences of spots and false finishes. Cage obtained the victory, and Mr. Cueto announces a best of five series between the two with the aforementioned stipulation added to it. They had a pretty good match and if these two can have even better matches as the series progresses, then I'm positively on board with it. I like these type of angles in wrestling, so no matter what I'm gonna be interested.
Rating: 3.4/5
The main event is in moments, but before the last commercial break, Dario is in his office possessing a collection of morbid and deathly images that immediately catch his attention. El Dragon Azteca Jr makes a connection between the "vacation" and the photos before requesting a match with Pentagon against his mentor's wishes. Dario pencils in the match before Ricky Mandel asks for a match as well. However he sees the pictures and is excited before his boss hands them to him as a consolation prize for not having a match, I guess. Chavo Guerrero asks for a conversation with his employer before we get to the commercial interruption and our main event of the evening.
Rating: 3/5
Aerostar, Drago and Fenix defend against PJ Black, Jack Evans and Taya for the Trios Championships in what was a highly entertaining match. Some more cynical fans and wrestling journalists alike will probably nitpick the match for not being too serious, but I personally enjoyed it, as the comedy was well-timed and when things had to get physical, there wasn't any deficits in that department neither. The match concluded with a successful title defense, but the Worldwide Underground attack the champions after the match and to add insult to injury, attack Sexy Star when she came to the rescue. The two teams brawled to close out the festivities from the Temple.
Rating: 3.5/5
Rey Mysterio meets with Dario in his office, begging him not to pit his protege against Pentagon. Mr. Cueto obliges and has El Dragon Azteca face Chavo Guerrero instead. Afterwards, he explains his student's importance to his tribe and pens in Mysterio as the special guest referee for the match next week. I don't know about the people reading this, but that makes me very intrigued knowing the history between all three men. On top of that, there is no doubt in my mind that it's shaping up to be an exciting contest!
Rating: 4/5
I was thoroughly enthralled by this show, although it is one of their weaker episodes since the series began. That is the beauty and genius of a very solid show however, because even on its worst day, it is still exceptionally compelling television. I'm always left longing for more at the end of every episode.
Full Show Rating: 3.99/5
This is the resolution of this review, so before I sign off, ROH Episode #261 and Impact Wrestling will be reviewed tomorrow night! This is Cameron Mcdonley, your Local Hero, the Review Guy saying goodbye everybody!
