Matches
Jeremiah Snake, Daga, Kobra Moon beat The White Rabbit, El Bunny, Paul London and XO Lishus, Sammy Guevera, Ivelisse to retain the Lucha Underground Trios Championship
(7:55, good)
* 6:05 Sammy Guevera cradle Paul London
* 7:55 Daga armbreaker XO Lishus
Taya Mundo beat Ricky Mundo
(4:01, Indian deathlock w/chinlock, ok)
Son of Havoc beat Killshot in a mask vs mask match
Killshot was unmasked as Lt. Jermaine Strickland
(14:07, SSP, great)
Status Check
Champion: Marty the Moth (1 defense)
Gift of the Gods: Jake Strong (0 defenses)
Trios Champions: Reptile Tribe (Kobra Moon, Daga, Jeremiah Snake) (3 defenses)
Died This Season (15): Jeremiah Crane (casket), Fenix (casket/lifeforce absorbed), Mr. Pec-tacular (sacrificed), Cortez Castro (sacrificed), Máscarita Sagrada (murdered by Rabbits), Vinnie Massaro (sacrificed), Pizza Guy (sacrificed), Vibora (beheaded), Mala Suerte (sacrificed) , Saltador (sacrificed), Benji the Agent (murdered by Ricky), Angelico (implied to have been murdered by Ricky), Catrina (fell off a roof), Joey Wrestling (sacrificed), Jack Evans (sacrificed), Capitan Vazquez (disintegrated)
Resurrected (2): Jeremiah Crane/Snake, Fenix
Developments
Killshot is Lt. Jermaine Strickland, who left his fellow soldiers behind and was wearing a mask to hide his shame. We learned all that after Son of Havoc defeated Killshot in the main event mask versus mask match. Killshot made the tactical mistake of bringing the same stretcher from the Hell of War match into the ring, and was eventually strapped in place for Son of Havoc’s winning shooting star press.
Killshot/Strickland ran into a uniformed Dante Fox on leaving the Temple. Fox gave a non-explanation/explanation of why he wasn’t around (he had a mission), while Killshot explained that this was the last Fox or the rest of would see his face. Fox dismissed Killshot with a salute, and Killshot walked out of the Temple and Lucha Underground forever.
The other matches had less permanent endings. The Reptile Tribe remain trios champions, though with some events working out in their favor. Paul London was trying to finish off Sammy Guevera when he tripped over El Bunny and Guevera took advantage to eliminate the Rabbit Tribe. The White Rabbit blamed London, but had thrown El Bunny in London’s path. The White Rabbit took out Guevera with Down The Rabbit Hole anyway, leaving Ivelisse & XO Lishus to battle 2 on 3 against the champions. That didn’t last long. The Reptile Tribe are the first team to successfully defend the trios championships at Ultima Lucha.
Taya & Ricky seemed over but not complete. Taya got revenge on Ricky in one of the more one-sided matches seen on an Ultima Lucha. It wasn’t a squash, but it was barely competitive. Ricky never felt close to winning and got put thru a table after the match. The problem for Taya is she decided to keep Rosa the doll after the match. Rosa seems like the real threat, so Taya may still be in danger.
Meanwhile, Aerostar is up to – something. It’s not clear what, but his goal tonight was to restore the amulet that had been held by Catrina and Captain Velazquez Vazquez. Aerostar had already gotten Catrina’s half after her death. He met with Captain Velazquez Vazquez at her police office, mentioned giving the amulet to her father a thousand years ago, said she did well with the extra time, but now he could see the future clearly and knew he needed the amulet. Velazquez gave the amulet to Aerostar and ceased to exist. Aerostar mentioned that while she was told the amulet would only grant immortality to females, that was a lie her father had told her. That wasn’t really relevant here, so it’s obviously coming up next episode.
It was fairly obvious that Captain Velazquez Vazquez and Aerostar were never in the same room at the same time. The actress playing Velazquez Vazquez had – like Angelico – relocated to Europe in between seasons. LU edited footage from previous scenes in that office in, flashback sequences and an arm double to stitch something together. It wasn’t quite Frankenstein’s monster but the stitching were hard to miss.
The other meta note is El Rey seems pretty loose on letting profanity go now. XO got in one back in the No Mas match and again here, as did Taya in her match.
Next Week
Dragon Azteca Jr. vs Fenix in a 2 out of 3 falls match
Mil Muertes vs the Mack in a death match
Johnny Mundo vs Matanza Cueto
Pentagon Dark vs Marty the Moth Martinez in a Cero Miedo match for the Lucha Underground Championship
Thoughts
This was a good show but didn’t feel as great as some of past Ultima Lucha shows.
I’m conflicted about the Taya match. Having a four minute one sided match makes sense from the standpoint that Ricky didn’t suddenly become a feared Lucha Underground opponent because he had the doll around. The doll didn’t make him stronger, it just made him do things he wouldn’t have had the courage to do prior, so it logical Taya would not have too big of a problem beating him. It’s just also an underwhelming situation for an Ultima Lucha match. The story is definitely not ending here – not when we already know there’s a vignette with Taya and Rosa to come – but I like bigger matches for Ultima Lucha.
(I don’t think I get a vote, but I vote “don’t include any vignettes from Ultima Lucha 5 in the season 5 trailer”, should that be that a possibility. It’d be a lot more fun next week if I didn’t know I was getting something with Taya and the doll or the others ones I won’t mention, and it doesn’t really help anyone to have a season to anticipate Daga with a sword. For a promotionally legally concerned about giving away the in-ring results of what they’re taping, I wish they would be more concerned with not giving away the out of the ring results as well.)
The trios match was good action while it lasted, but the trios titles matches on Ultima Lucha seem to get the short straw. This was no different, feeling so edited that even I could notice it. Sammy Guevera made an impression in the short time he was actually on this series this year. The rest of this was character building for characters I have no idea if we’ll see again next season. It was at least interesting that the trios titles ended up with the Reptile Tribe, since Jeremiah Crane/Snake was definitely someone who wanted off this show before taping started and now appears to be locked in. I guess they can change trios champions again.
Killshot/Son of Havoc was a match I appreciated more for the effort then strongly liked. It’s rated as Great because I’d feel foolish putting it any lower, but it’s not one of my favorites. It’s strange to me: I’ve liked Killshot in the last couple of seasons, I really liked Shane Strickland seeing him live in between Season 3 and Season 4, and yet what he’s been doing this season hasn’t appealed to me nearly as much. The slowed down style seems fine in person but hasn’t come across as well to me on this show. When I find a few more hours, I’m going to have go thru some MLW shows or somewhere to see if it’s just the Lucha Underground presentation or something that’s not connecting with me elsewhere, or if it’s just as simple as the mask match drama being minimized when the finish is well known. This match had some impressive spots and the big kicks outs needed in a big match. It seemed not to have a lot in between at times, leaning heavily into setting the next spot up. This wasn’t as cold as last season’s ladder match with Pentagon & Son of Havoc, but the Killshot/Marty and Killshot/Fox matches from last season. I’m being tough on a match that I thought was good, and it’s more about how high a bar they’ve set.
