Tag: recap

the matches

Johnny Mundo defeats Alberto el Patron (fin de mundo, 13:35, great)
Pentagon Jr. defeats Vampiro (rock bottom thru table on fire, 11:08, good)
Fenix wins the Gift of the Gods (Fire Driver on Jack Evans, 12:03, great)
Blue Demon Jr. defeats Texano Jr. (pinfall, 3:00, below average)
Mil Muertes defeats Prince Puma to win the Lucha Underground Championship (super flatliner, 17:39, excellent)

49 gifs can be seen here.

developments

A few!

Johnny Mundo and Alberto el Patron has much more of a brawl this time around, with literal dirt being thrown in faces. After a long even fight, Mundo knocked out the referee with a kick. (No referee was calling a DQ on this show.) Alberto put Mundo in the armbar and Mundo taped, but there was no ref to count it. Mundo eventually slipped free. Alberto tried the armbar again over the ropes, but it was broken up by Melina. Mundo landed the Fin de Mundo for the win. Mundo & Melina made out in the ring until an enraged Alberto broke it up. Alberto smashed Mundo’s face into the glass window of a door (replacing the one Mack & Cage broke last week), gaining revenge for Mundo’s similar act and blooding Mundo badly. Melina tried to break it up, but instead was spanked by Alberto.

Pentagon Jr. almost beat AntiPope Vampiro very quickly, destroying him with chair shots. Vampiro rose from a stretcher to continue, and the two had an insane thumbtack and light tube filled brawl. Vampiro appeared to be imperious to pain at various points Vampiro brought a table and fire into play, but it was he who went thru it courtesy of a bloody and ripped Pentagon. Pentagon demanded his Master reveal himself as a reward for his win. Vampiro instead revealed he was Pentagon’s master all along, even unknown to Pentagon. Pentagon did not question this, and immediately bowed down at Vampiro’s feet.

The Gift of the Gods was a crazy seven person match which included a more than seven people. An obsessed Marty ran into the ring and attacked Sexy Star at one point, but tapped out to La Mistica. (Sexy Star disappeared from the match after taking Big Ryck’s urange.) DelAvar Daviari surprisingly attacked Big Ryck, possibly for Ryck’s failures of late. Fenix put an end to the craziness with a Fire Driver on Jack.

Blue Demon Jr. is now an aging legend, near the end of his career willing to do anything to hold on and was not residing in South Beach. The announcers pushed the idea that Demon was a guy lived off his family’s name, while Texano (Jr.) had surpassed his father. The match, made no DQ, saw Texano dominate until Mr. Cisco and Cortez Castro got involved. Chavo Guerrero ran in as if for an incredibly unlikely save, until to instead ally with Demon and attack Texano. (The announcers emphasized the symbolism of Chavo attacking Demon way back in episode 2, then helping him here.) Demon ended up with an easy iwn.

Konnan was not present for the Prince Puma/Mil Muertes match, still removed from the board after the attack in earlier episdoes. Catrina was there, but was actually used as a weapon by Prince Puma in her only physical interference in the match. The Puma match against Mil Muertes had aspects of Mil’s other post return matches, with a fair amount of brawling around ringside, but it also had a lot of in-ring fighting as well. Muertes escaped the first 630 attempt, landed the second but Muertes kicked out, and missed a third. Muerte seemed to have the win with a Flatliner, but Puma kicked out. Puma went to the top again, but was pulled off in a super Flatliner for the title change. Mil, Catrina and The Disciples of Death stood in the ring together with all the belts to end the season.

Dragon Azteca did make it into the Temple to save Black Lotus, but it was too late. Dario Cueto walked in before Azteca could free Lotus, and noted their deal (?) meant Dragon Azteca would forfeit his life if he stepped foot in Dario’s Temple. Dario teased using the cage to free Matanza, and Dragon Azteca begged him to stop. Dario did, because it was a fake out – Black Lotus grabbed Dragon Azteca from behind and choked her one-time mentor out. Dragon Azteca told Lotus not to believe Dario, but Lotus instead gave Azteca the heart punch to the back, apparently killing Dragon Azteca. Dario freed Lotus, who now planned to leave this all behind, but Dario warned Lotus she started a war and only Dario could protect her. Lotus reluctantly agreed. Dario said they’d need a new Temple, and unlocked Matanza’s cage (with the Key) as they all perepared to flee.

The show closed with a scared Dario and Lotus cleaning out the cash, papers, and red bull from his office and leaving in a hurry. They were last scene escaping in a truck, pulling a horse carriage – where Matanza was breifly glimpsed inside.

Other characters also got individual epilogues.

• Fenix left in a firebird (car), being stalked by King Cuerno in his truck.
• Marty Martinez, more crazy than we’ve seen him before, threatened an apparently kidnapped Sexy Star that “you won’t like me when you meet my sister”
• Angelico, Son of Havoc and Ivelisse vowed to win the trios championships back before driving off on motorcycles (Ivelisse and Havoc together.)
• Aerostar and Drago shared an intense handshake before exiting the temple. Drago again appeared to turn into flame as he flew away, and Aerostar blasted off like a rocket.
• Pentagon asked his master where they were going now, and Vampiro told him it was a dark place.
• the white hoodie character was seen putting on the Dragon Azteca mask, and spray painting a question mark on the Lucha Underground billboard.

The season ended with the lights coming down on the Temple as Dario looked pained, then smirked.

thoughts

A fantastic finale. There were four strong matches, and an even stronger finale few minutes. We still don’t totally know if Dario was lying to Black Lotus, but we sure know she belives it. We even got a little hint on the behind the scenes of season 2: the Lucha Underground Temple we knew is the past, and they’ll be somewhere new next year. The question mark on the Lucha Underground sign struck people as a clear Rey Mysterio Jr. teaser during the filming. It may end up that way, but it seemed to be more about the mystery of where Lucha Underground would be next.

Michael Schiavello was the fill-in for Vampiro and did well in the role. It’s a different mix than Vampiro, but Schiavello was very prepared. He knew the characters, knew the backstory, and seemed as excited about the show as someone who’d watched the season to this point. It’d be strange, though not imposible, for Vampiro just to flip back to being Ian the Wacky Announcer after tonight’s match and Schivello would be fine in the role.

I assume Hugo’s calling the two hours on his own on Unimas. I hope he made it one piece.

Puma/Muertes was an epic title match. It had a good amount of brawling into the crowds, and super natural characters, but it also felt the most like something which would fit at Wrestlemania among all the matches on this how. It’d be the main event, a pretty strong main event, and they didn’t really kick out of finishers enough to be a recent WWE match, but they did pretty much everything else. Prince Puma looked incredible in this match, and Mil’s done the best possibly the best work of his career in this run. This match might not be placed above Grave Consequences, and Puma/Mundo might be the better Puma title match, but it also might not be. I could see it either way. It’s worth rewatching easily.

Mundo/Alberto was a great hate filled match which took surprising advantage of the dirty scummy nature of the temple. (Both men could’ve used a shower about 3 minutes in.) It’s a little hurt from being a out of control brawl on a show with a lot of out of control brawling, but it felt superior to their previous match up until the finish shenanigans. Crowd reacted well to Melina’s return, but having Johnny win and then be destroyed by Alberto was very 50/50. It’s a tough spot – Johnny’ just turned, Alberto needs to get revenge if he’s a top guy, and maybe the indecisive nature of the finish will set up a rematch in season 2. I don’t know what’s the blow off stip for putting faces thru glass – maybe it’s first blood, maybe Pentagon has some scarier ideas.

The Gift of the Gods match was last never ending chain of spots match to end the season on. Just a cacophony of moves by everyone. I think this did more for Bengali than any match he’s had so far, just looking spectacular on his giant tornillo. Aerostar has climbed to a lot of high places and jumped off them all this year. Cuerno got in his tope one more time. Jack didn’t seem to get as much time as everyone else, but he looked good in what he did. The match was built around a surprising amount of Big Ryck early on, and the urange on Sexy Star looked rough. (In real life, it’s said she was hospitalized. No idea what happened, but it looked like he didn’t do much to protect her at all on the move.) They tried to do the big guy fending off a lot of little guys bit with him, and there was some mixed success. The ending sequence with Fenix & Jack Evans was superb. This was the third different single elimination 4+ man match Fenix’s won this season (pre-Aztec Warfare & for the Medallion, plus also the three way in his debut), which feels like it should be a thing. On the tapings, they had done more teasing a Big Ryck/Davairi issue than had made the screen, and it really felt random. Marty at least is random, so his actions make as much sense as ever. Similarly, they teased Cuerno versus Fenix when the show was filmed, but only the briefest glance made air at the end of this match. The ending vignette made up for it.

Pentagon & Vampiro was less enjoyable for me than most because I was unhappy about how much it much it was about Vampiro – like, almost all about Vampiro’s heart for continuing, for taking the shots and for being tough enough to keep going. It makes sense for Striker to call it that way, Vampiro’s been at his side for the last eight months, but the point of this felt should’ve been to make Pentagon and instead he was a lesser part of his own match. I want to see Pentagon as a top guy, not as guy falling at his knees to salute someone else. This may be the long road to get to that point, but there’s still a while to travel. The match itself was the sort of insanity seen in the Mexican hardcore feds, with Pentagon pulling out the same gouging technique he used on Arez on Vampiro’s forehead this time. Vampiro’s zombie like no-selling worked for his character in this match and definitely worked for the crowd. The match itself was as strong as it could’ve been, and stronger than would’ve been expected, but it’s also something I don’t want to see more than once a year.

Demon/Texano was the weakest match by far. All the character stuff they threw in with Blue Demon and the suit wearing Crew was great, but the problem is it’s still Blue Demon in the ring and that’s not much. A Demon & Chavo union against Texano is the least interesting teaser for season 2. Chavo & Demon being part of the on screen part of the show made a certain amount of sense for season 1, when they were potentially recognizable faces to new viewers (and new investors) regardless of what they had to offer, but a season 2 wouldn’t seem to need those sort of crutches – or, maybe the given the state of things, they need more of those.

The epilogue was fantastic. It wrapped up a lot, gave a few needed teases (we had to see a glimpse of Matanza and we did) and it did a great job of setting up mysteries for the future. CHIKARA’s done bits like this at the end of their seasons with mysteries set up, but we got a bit of conclusions and a bit of spacemen blasting off to parts unknown.

I don’t know where Aerostar is headed. I don’t where any of this is headed. I hope we see each other again when we get there.

matches

Cage defeated the Mack in a falls count anywhere match (7:42, curbstomp thru a concrete block, GREAT)

Trece, Barrio Negro, Siniestro de la Muerte [O] defeated Angelico, Son of Havoc, Ivelisse [X] (c) to win the Lucha Underground Trios Championship (6:19, pinfall, OK)

Drago defeated Hernandez in a Believer’s Backlash match (8:46, top rope splash, good)

developments

Black Lotus related story book-ended the show. The show began with Lotus revealed to still be in a cell, working out in preparation of freedom it doesn’t look like she’ll ever get. Dario Cueto checked up on her, and relayed quite a bit of plot. Lucha Underground isn’t the first experience his family has had with combat sports: his father made his money in underground fightning, using Matanza “the Monster” Cueto as his fighter. Dario also claimed it wasn’t Matanza who killed Lotus’ parents, but Dragon Azteca himself. (Black Lotus’s father led a triad in Hong Kong, who were at war with Dragon Azteca’s mercenaries, and set this all up for the irony of using one enemies’ daughter to kill another.) Lotus seemed like she might believe Dario’s story.

Dragon Azteca showed up at the temple to close the show, but was prevented in from a mystery man in a white hoodie. (The white hoodie guy was taller than Dragon Azteca and appeared to be light skinned.) Dragon Azteca blamed himself for Lotus being captured, White Hoodie told him Puma had freed Lotus once and could do it again, but Dragon Azteca said Puma had other things to do now. White Hoodie offered to do it himself, but Dragon Azteca insisted on doing it himself. The White Hoodie warned ‘the prophecy’ said Dragon Azteca would die if he entered the temple. Dragon Azteca said he may die, but “El Dragon Azteca” would never die.

A lot less plot in the matches, which were just good matches where people won or didn’t win. There’s nothing you need to know from Cage and Mack, besides Mack has a good Stone Cold impression. There’s nothing you’d be surprised by in Hernandez and Drago: the lumberjacks all refused to attack Drago and very enthusiastically attacked an overwhelmed Hernandez. Angelico made his big leap in the trios title match, but the match turned on the stone. Catrina used the mystical power of the stone to raise her team from death (or semi-consciousness), and she used the physical aspect of it being a STONE to whack Ivelisse in the head to set up the win.

Ultima Lucha matches remaining

Prince Puma (c) faces Mil Muertes for the Lucha Underground championship
Alberto del Rio versus Johnny Mundo
Fenix vs Sexy Star vs Aerostar vs Big Ryck vs Jack Evans vs King Cuerno vs Bengala for the Gift of the Gods
Pentagon Jr. vs Vampiro in a Cero Miedo match
Texano Jr. versus Blue Demon Jr.
(they also taped a battle royal; the commercial for next week indicated it’ll air.)

thoughts

Cage dropped down a little bit after his really big start. Most of that has come on the two losses to the Mack. This win, and how it came about, should raise him right back up and maybe bring Mack with him. Both guys looked outstanding, destroying each other and any door that happened to be in the way. The beer bash was hilarious and the cinderblock finish looked brutal, and this was a really good start to UltimaLucha.

LU is not most wrestling promotions, so this may be a vast coincidence, but the original story of LU letting Hernandez amicable leaving the promotion after season one made complete sense. Hernandez had a title program, lost to a midcard, and really didn’t have any direction left for him in Season 2. This didn’t have to be it, but it wouldn’t cause any problems if it was it. But then everything had to get messed up.

It’s pretty cruel the match where Angelico, Son of Havoc and Ivelisse won the trios titles also may have ended their reign. Ivelisse still hadn’t gained any mobility back at this point – in real time, she just starting wrestling again this past week – and even limping over to face off against Catrina look like immense struggle. The tornado rules allowed the Angelico dive to happen organically, but it also made this match a harder to take seriously competitive. (The numbers didn’t feel as overwhelming in the ladder match, for whatever reason. It felt like it hard more form to it.)

The Disciples sharp new masks looked great. Striker really emphasized the power of the stone, telling us how Catrina raising the stone raised them up, and Catrina dropping the stone made them drop. He said all this, but we mostly just saw Catrina during it. I don’t mind looking at Catrina, but it was very odd we didn’t see the Disciples actually doing those things (which seemed to be actually happening, but off camera.) I do enjoy the stone as a punching people device.

The strap match is now obviously the end for Hernandez, but it didn’t seem as clear as a ending for him as I had pictured. He still got to look strong, he still got to escape Drago’s cradle, he could’ve come back pointing out he had the numbers way against him (and maybe that inspires him to start a trio or something.) It still does work as an end, and it worked as the match. The lumberjacks did not hold back at all, didn’t seem nervous, and appeared totally dedicated to their job of strapping Hernandez just as hard as they possible could. I don’t know if this match was Hernandez’s idea or someone else’s idea, but Hernandez seemed to pretty much regret the idea after just the first time out. It was some good relief in the match and it set up Drago’s comeback well. I don’t think that match works nearly as well without the lumberjacks out there and maybe that’s a first time ever thing for a lumberjack strap match.

Progression, even sometimes confusing progression, is a welcome sight. I’m not sure who the white hoodie man is, but I’m guessing he’ll end up being the new Dragon Azteca by the time next week is up. Saying the Cueto’s were involved in underground fighting actually weirdly grounds Matanza and this whole storyline more to reality (or at least comic back reality?) more than it has in the past. That’s a good thing. They moved the story far enough along that it feels like they get a good conclusion out of it, though I also suspect it’s something intended to carry into season 2.