#190: Fenix vs. Mil Muertes, Lucha Underground: Grave Consequences (3/18/2015).
This is a Grave Consequences Match, or in other terms, a Casket Match.
During the first season of Lucha Underground – which, 10 years later, is still some of the most captivating wrestling TV I’ve ever watched – Fenix and Mil Muertes had a bitter feud in the beginning. It focused on the fact that Fenix represented a real phoenix – incapable of dying – while Muertes was the walking representation of death itself. This is the blow off match between the two, where the Phoenix will either live his last life, or Death itself will be put to rest.
Muertes – the man of 1,000 deaths – looks like an old school Lucha heel. Fenix – the man of 1,000 lives – became a huge hit with me in LU, years before he made an impact in AEW with his brother, Pentagon, Jr.
Muertes runs the ropes and hits a Tope to Fenix to start things out. He bashes Fenix in the head and smashes him across the announcer’s table. He brings Fenix into the ring, and kicks his head in. More clubbing blows to the head, and now Muertes stretches Fenix in the ropes. Fenix kicks Muertes in the chest, and moves the casket out of the way. Fenix looks for the Drive By, Roman Reigns style, and Muertes avoids it.
Fenix kicks Muertes in the head, then hits a nice Senton to the floor onto Muertes! Muertes chops Fenix on the spine, then slams him off of the casket. Muertes takes a flower stand and hits Fenix in the head with it. Fenix fires back with a DDT on the edge of the casket. Fenix returns to the ring for a Tope, and he lands head first into the casket, which Muertes has lifted off the ground. He goes to rip the mask off of Fenix, tearing a good chunk of it already.
Muertes tears a piece of the ring ropes off – the turnbuckle hook – and he stabs Fenix right on top of his head with it. He even licks it afterwards, as Fenix is now busted open. Muertes with another shot to the head with it. He chokes Fenix on the apron with it, as the camera pans to his head, which is almost entirely exposed now due to the mask rip. They fight up the steps of the Temple, and Muertes throws Fenix into the steel railing.
Now on top of the stage, Muertes tosses Fenix over a banister, and onto the wall. Muertes signals that he’s going to suplex Fenix off of it, but Fenix is able to reverse it. They throw shots at each other, until Muertes slams Fenix’s face off of a part of the ceiling. Fenix tumbles down the bleachers, and Muertes is right there with him. At the announcer’s table, Muertes lifts Fenix up for a powerbomb, and drills him atop the table.
Inside the ring, Muertes drags in the casket from the floor. He sets it up against the turnbuckle, as the crowd chants for Fenix. He tries to fight back with forearms, but Muertes launches him over head, and he damn near goes through the metal casket lid. Muertes bites at the open wound of Fenix. Fenix is able to hit a superkick out of nowhere, and now he goes to the top rope. Muertes connects with an uppercut strike, followed by a top rope Code Breaker. Muertes’ tights are covered in Fenix’s blood.
Neither man has attempted to open the casket thus far. Fenix is leaking like a faucet. Muertes pulls the casket back to the outside, and then he drags Fenix to the upper deck of the crowd. He strikes Fenix hard, and stalks him like a predator. Muertes breaks wooden chairs across Fenix’s head. Fenix is able to trap Muertes on the banister, and then kick him to the seating area below. Fenix stands on the railing, and connects with a diving senton! Muertes gets back on the advantage by irish whipping Fenix into the wall and railing. He slams his head hard repeatedly into the railing, and eats a series of superkicks by Fenix. Fenix stands on the railing, and he connects with a beautiful moonsault!
They exchange more hard shots to each other’s head, until Muertes accidentally lariats Catrina – his former valet who’s sided with Fenix recently! Fenix takes advantage of this and kicks Muertes in the head. Back in the ring, Muertes takes a chunk of Fenix’s head off with his teeth. Catrina is back to her feet. Muertes stands on the casket and looks for a suplex, as she opens the casket lid. Fenix with repeatedly slaps, and a kick to the jaw.
Fenix goes to the top rope, and walks them over to Muertes, with a double stomp to Muertes’ back, and he falls into the casket! Catrina takes a lick of the stone that Muertes carries around, and she tosses it inside the casket, and shuts the lid! Fenix has survived Grave Consequences. The procession of death comes to ringside, and they carry Muertes away, as Catrina looks on.
I always have a blast whenever I get to watch Lucha Underground, and this match remains one of my favorites in the show’s history. It’s a great big man/little man battle, and both guys play their parts to perfection. Fenix is fantastic as the smaller babyface in peril, getting his shit rocked for most of the match, bleeding like a sink, and nearly having his entire mask ripped off. Across from him is Mil Muertes, who was as close to a boogeyman as you’ll ever see. Big, monstrous, bloodthirsty – he moved like mist in this match, always right behind Fenix, and never giving him a chance to breathe.
This played off the themes of the feud very well, too. Fenix, being a man who allegedly has 1,000 lives, coming face to face with Muertes, Death himself, is a great story to tell, and watching Muertes try to maul Fenix like he’s nothing, and Fenix fighting valiantly with every piece of his soul, was fucking rad. It helps that this match was also brutal as hell. While certainly not as flashy as the Killshot/Dante Fox “Hell of War” match from Season 3 – which, in my opinion, is the most violent wrestling match to ever air on TV – this one made up for it with impact.
There weren’t many flashy sequences here, but it did have was smaller moments that hit much harder. Every shot Muertes inflicted on Fenix looked like it hurt, and it genuinely felt like Fenix was fighting against a force beyond his control. It’s little things like this that made the first season of Lucha Underground so damn good to begin with. Fenix and Muertes had the match of the season, and arguably one of the best matches in LU history.