By John Moore
Lucha Underground TV
Taped January 31, 2015 in Los Angeles, California
The intro teaser showed the opening clip from episode 1, “A Darker Place”. Vampiro in a mental hospital, Mil Muertes beating Ivelisse in a world title match, AeroStar traveling through time from ancient Los Angeles, Drago having a nunchaku battle with “The Darewolf” PJ Black and “The Dragon Slayer” Jack Evans, Dragon Azteca Sr getting murdered by Angela Fong, Rey training a watermelon, and Dario Cueto feeding jabrones to Matanza was feature. And then Matanza happened and all of Lucha Underground fell apart, including the fall of the Fenix. The Worldwide Underground’s rise to Trios Champions was shown, and wheelchair pentagon getting oddly whipped by vampiro was reviewed. This was a 4 minute summary of all of the cinematics of season 2 ending with Puma challenging Rey to a dream match. This week’s episode was “Ultima Lucha Dos – Part 3”.
John’s Thoughts:: That clip almost made me shed a tear. Before Matanza happened, this was actually a cool season. It’s not just Matanza that’s the problem, the whole show has lost consistency; but safe to say, that clip had a lot of what was good in Lucha Underground, so the editors get a lot of credit for putting together a nice piece of work.
At a random pile of dirt outside Vampiro was talking to Pentagon Jr. Vampiro looked like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. He asked Pentagon if he was ready to face the monster at Ultima Lucha as Pentagon was on his knees. Pentagon said “si, maestro!” Vampiro told him “no” and said even though Pentagon jr claims to have cero miedo, Vampiro only saw fear in the eyes of Pentagon. Vampiro said it was now time for Pentagon Jr to destroy the man who was broken by the monster (Matt Hardy?, just kidding). Next to the dirt there was a cave and Pentagon asked what was inside. Vampiro said “fear”.
Pentagon Jr walked inside of the cave and did his pentagon jr hand signs. Suddenly strobe lights happened and many iterations of pentagon jr flashed in front of him.
Moore’s Power Ranger references: Yay! I missed this so much after this BS of a season 2.5. I can make Power Ranger references again! I forget if this happened in Mighty Morphin, but it also happened in Dino Thunder, when Tommy Oliver was forced to face his past when he had to fight the Green and White Rangers in order to become stronger. Ahhhhh That felt better! Thank you Lucha Underground!
As the seizure inducing lights flashed, Pentagon Jr invoked combat against the other pentagon juniors. The pentagon junior clones overwhelmed pentagon at one point until he heard the words of Vampiro. Vamp told him to destroy the broken man and to find the darkness within. He told Pentagon to become the darkness as Pentagon was dominated by the last Pentagon shadow clone. Pentagon did the three up three down hand sign and battled the last pentagon clone. Pentagon then had a badass beatdown on the last Pentagon with badass music. Pentagon unmasked the last clone to reveal that it was Vampiro. Vampiro said that Pentagon was ready. Vampiro gave Pentagon a candle and told Pentagon that it must be extinguished so “Pentagon Dark” can take it’s place. Pentagon Jr extinguished the candle. Cut to the Temple…
John’s Thoughts:: Where the hell was that the past few months. That was awesome! There’s the Lucha Underground we all knew and loved in season 1 in full force. Awesome cinematics and stories that make sense. Plus there were no fetish machines this time so that’s a plus. No more nitpicking, I’m going to try to enjoy this show. So far, so good!
El Conjunto Nueva Ola was the house band tonight as they took it to the floor this time to hype up the crowd. Matt Striker was more excited than usual as he introduced the band. Vampiro passed it to Melissa Santos….
The babyfaces made their way out first. Drago had his cool demon cranium overlaying his mask. AeroStar had a flamethrower. Really! He does this for big matches in AAA. The heels came out next looking like an awesome main event version of 3MB. PJ Black played the role of Drew Galloway by doing aggressive pelvic thrusts… [C]
Moore Live Event notes: Funny note! At the live show and they didn’t show this on the TV edit, AeroStar’s flamethrower accidentally lit the ring on fire and the referee had to stomp it out in hilarious fashion.
1. Fenix, AeroStar, and Drago vs. The Worldwide Underground of Johnny Mundo, PJ Black, and Jack Evans. Jack Evans yelled at everyone to start since that’s what he does. Matt Striker noted that Taya wasn’t with the Worldwide Underground since she was getting ready for her match against Ivelisse. The ref took control which set Fenix off against Johnny Mundo to start. The crowd chanted “Animo” for Fenix. Mundo teased a ball kick and tapped Fenix’s eyes. Mundo hit a flip on a grounded Fenix and Drago tagged in for some quick dodges. Drago hit Mundo with a Tornado DDT. PJ Black interjected himself without a tag to face off against Drago. After taking a few shots AeroStar tagged in. AeroStar hit a cool springboard roundhouse through the ropes with PJ draped on them. AeroStar corkscrew splashed Black. Jack Evans invaded the ring and gave AeroStar the ancient ninja technique made by Kakashi Hitake known as “1000 Years of Death”.
Moore Asides: 1000 Years of Death comes from the anime/manga known as Naruto. I’ve talked to Jack Evans and he is in fact a fan of anime. The move is more of a joke maneuver where the ninja takes his fingers and sticks it in the butthole of the opponent. You’re welcome!
Fenix drove Evans down with a superkick. The babyfaces stuck together and was about to do a trio tope con hilo, but referee Rick Knox stopped them to try to bring back order. The rudo team took advantage to isolate Fenix in the rudo corner to initiate the isolation game. Strike said Jack and Black was on the Attack. Mundo and Black gave Fenix a double gut buster. Vampiro liked PJ Black’s hair.
Jack Evans gave Fenix 1000 Years of Death. The trio trio-teamed to get a nearfall on Fenix. Striker noted how it was too tough for the one referee to control. Evans hit a roundhouse on Fenix. Fenix intercepted a flying Evans with a superkick. AeroStar hit Johnny Mundo with a top rope Canadian Destroyer. Fenix hit Mundo with a superkick. Fenix threw AeroStar like a rocket launcher to keep the outside rudos at bay. Fenix hit a cool Eddie frog splash on Mundo for a great nearfall.
Fenix sold shock after the nearfall. Fenix went for a German Suplex, but Mundo reversed into the rollup with the arms on the ropes. Fenix kicked out and Mundo met kicks from AeroStar and Drago. Drago kept PJ Black in check with a tope to the outside. Fenix hit a springboard 450 splash on Mundo and almost earned the pinfall with AeroStar providing leverage. Jack Evans pulled the ref away.
The ref pull drew great heat with an Evans Sucks chant. Fenix and AeroStar did several slaps on Mundo’s chest which caused Mundo to yell out “no otra!”. Mundo caught a midair Fenix with a roundhouse with PJ Black pulling AeroStar outside to use the belt as a weapon. PJ Black also hit Drago. Evans and Mundo also got their belts with Fenix inside of a tri attack. They hit Fenix with a tri-con-belt-to? That cheesy air guitar thing happened.
The bumped ref counted Mundo’s pin to a nearfall. Rick Knock ate a boot to the face. The underground kicked Fenix in the balls. They then did a trio backdrop on Fenix. Fenix talked about Fenix’s revival powers. The Underground did their bro arm shake causing the crowd to chant culero. Mundo laid the belt on Fenix in position for Starship Pain. Suddenly Angelico entered the arena on crutches. Angelico hit Mundo with a crutch.
Drago and Aerostar took out the other two rudos. Drago hit Black like a flying missile with a corkscrew Tope con hilo. AeroStar did a reverse springboard shooting star senton? Sick! Angelico banged on Mundo with his crutch. Fenix landed a Phoenix Driver on Mundo to earn the pinfall victory.
Fenix, AeroStar, and Drago defeated The Worldwide Underground via pinfall in 11:45 to become the new Lucha Underground Trios Champions.
Drago and AeroStar patted Fenix on the back to celebrate their title win. Matt Striker insinuated that Johnny Mundo was the (kayfabe) reason behind Angelico’s injury. Striker deemed Fenix the first Lucha Underground Triple Crown Champion. He also hyped Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Black Lotus Angela Fong after the break… [C]
John’s Thoughts:: Maybe the low expectations helped make this episode so good so far. Nah! They shouldn’t have done any of that preceding BS, but anyway this was a splendid and smart match. Mundo and the gang continue to heel it up as much as they can heel. All three of them have taken the task of being heels and just oversell the hell out of it which for some reason works with their babyface movesets. The babyface team was cool too and dare I say more individualized than Rey’s dream team. I give Striker some credit for pointing out the Triple Crown thing because Fenix deserves something after being tossed aside by creative like the “4 a unique opportunity” guys.
The crowd had a unique Ultima Lucha Dos chant back from the break. El Dragon Azteca Jr (a.k.a El Dragon Sandia for my shot of the week) was already in the ring. Yes! They edited out his dumb entrance with the dumb cartoon dragon (this was the first time I saw the dumb headdress and I laughed out loud at it). From Hong Kong, Black Lotus was already in the ring too. Striker talked about not knowing anything (about her). Vampiro talked about ninjas, ugh (I roll my eyes when Pope D’Angelo Dinero does it too!)
2. El Dragon Azteca Jr vs. Black Lotus. Black Lotus ducked an incoming Azteca to send him flying. She worked on him in the corner. Azteca flipped away. Lotus rolled into a nice tilt-a-whirl huracanrana. Lotus dragged Dragon down with his mask and hit a top rope armdrag. Azteca retreated outside. Azteca also retreated inside of the ring when Lotus teased a tope.
Azteca grounded Lotus with a roundhouse. Azteca missed wildly with a tope con hilo. Lotus hit Dragon with an enziguri. She was then counter whipped into the wall. Azteca teased whipping her into the chairs and just simply rolled her in the ring softly? Lotus dodged a crossbody and hit a low dropkick to lead to the nearfall. Black Lotus hit a few roundhouses on Azteca with some elbows. Azteca tossed her aside when she ran.
Vampiro used the Striker line of equal opportunity ass kicking. For some reason the announcers are doing that not-so-subtle thing of trying to invoke the storyline. Azteca went high risk and waited. Pentagon ran in for the DQ.
The bell rang at 4:12 to end Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Black Lotus in a no contest?
Vampiro was pleased at this no-contest. Striker wondered if Pentagon was aligned with Lotus, but Pentagon went to try to break Black Lotus’s arm. Vamprio nodded in approval as Pentagon broke the arm of Black Lotus. He then hit Dragon Azteca with the package piledriver. Pentagon broke Azteca’s arm too. His entrance theme followed as the crowd gave him a large Cero Miedo chant. Vampiro said he was not Pentagon Jr and was introducing the world to “Pentagon Dark”.
John’s Thoughts:: Not too bad, but still pretty mediocre. The editing and the camera angles really saved what was a terrible match from a live perspective. Dragon Azteca especially, tried to sell too long at moments during the match to allow Lotus to get into position many times. Pentagon Jr’s, now known as Pentagon Dark, interference was seen as the backstage guys pulling the hook on this terrible match. Props to LU’s editing and camera crew for making it passable around Lotus’s limitations.
Pentagon Dark was in the ring to cut a promo in Spanish (finally!). He told Vampiro Cero Miedo. He said last year at Ultima Lucha last year he beat his maestro aqui. He talked about pentagon jr not being ready for the monster and was humiliated. He spoke in the third person. Pentagon said his teacher gave him and taught him in the darkest parts of the universe. He said he faced his worst miedos. He said in the center of the temple he was stronger and more powerful than ever. Pentagon said Ian Hodgeskinson was destroyed by his maestro Vampiro, pero Pentagon Jr was also dead and shatter, torn apart by someone stronger and more powerful. Pentagon DARK. He said the battle cry will be stronger than ever! Cero Miedo! Pero (but) Pentagon Dark is not afraid of anything, unforgiving, ass kicking, and esta noche he was going to destroy Matanza Cueto por que “Yo Soy Pentagon Dark, es Cero Miedo!”
The crowd have Pentagon a huge Pentagon chant with Vampiro giving the Cero Miedo sign. Melissa Santos was in the timekeeper’s area and announced that the title match was happening now. After Pentagon was introduced, Dario Cueto led “The Monster” Matanza Cueto to the ring with the key…
John’s Thoughts:: I was afraid that they were going to skip that great Pentagon Jr promo. Pentagon Jr is hands-down Lucha Underground’s best promo giver and he doesn’t even speak in English. He just resonates charisma when he grabs a microphone. Pentagon Dark is truly Lucha Underground’s Steve Austin. Hell, he’s carving his own legacy out and it’s cool that they are finally getting back on track with him. Let’s hope the powers of post-production editing can save him from the boring Matanza (who’s simply just inexperienced, he’ll be great someday).
3. Pentagon Dark vs. “The Monster” Matanza Cueto in a match for the Lucha Underground Championship. Pentagon Jr started the action quickly with a Tope Con Hilo followed by a belt shot to the back. Matanza was already rolling around on his back. Matanza then ate a shin kick and a chop to the chest. Dario Cueto ran in Pentagon’s sight for the distraction. Pentagon used the camera cord to choke Matanza.
Vampiro argued at Striker to try to differentiate Pentagon Dark with Jr and that they were different iterations. Pentagon hit Matanza with a superkick and slammed him into the barricade. Pentagon slammed Matanza with a Death Valley Driver. The crowd quieted for Pentagon Jr’s loud slap. Matanza turned the tide a bit but ended up punching the turnbuckle. Pentagon then invoked Ric Flair woos from the chops. Matanza was then hit by a steel chair near the announce table. Pentagon did an air guitar with the chair.
Dario Cueto said to do it for the family! Marty Elias tried to calm Pentagon down during the beatdown. Pentagon then whipped Matanza into the wooden chairs. Striker said no one has dominated Matanza like this (eh…. Cage? Mil Muertes?). Matanza still had almost cero offense as he ate more strikes from Pentagon. Pentagon did the loud chest chop again followed by (safe) headbutts. Matanza was tossed into more chairs. Matanza took some chairshots to the knee.
Matanza still had almost Cero offense at this point and ate more kicks to the calf muscle. Dario Cueto yelled to remember momma and to wake up! Matanza ate a superkick. Matanza was hung in the corner and took a donkey flip to lead to a nearfall. Pentagon Dark dodged a crossbody and hit Matanza with a backstabber to get his next nearfall.
Dario Cueto told Matanza to wake up for the family! Pentagon set up a chair in the corner. Matanza reversed Pentagon and used Pentagon’s chair against him. Matanza hit Pentagon Dark with a pumphandle suplex. Matanza then did a moonsault and shooting star press for no reason (ughhh… he’s a heel monster!). Pentagon kicked out at two. Vampiro continued his trend all season of criticizing people for not hooking the leg. Matanza attempted a bridged pin from the German Suplex, but Marty Elias called it correctly in that Pentagon’s shoulders weren’t on the mat.
Pentagon Dark then stood face to face with Matanza and they had a striking battle. Pentagon hit matanza with a kick. Matanza then he put Pentagon Dark in position for a reverse twist powerslam. Pentagon kicked out at two. (not sure if it was wrath of the gods). Pentagon escaped and hit Matanza on the side of the head with a chair. Pentagon then went to the second rope to hit a nice looking Canadian Destroyer on Matanza.
Dario told Matanza to remember momma again. Vampiro pulled out a barbed wire bat out of nowhere to pass on to Pentagon Dark. Dario Cueto entered the ring to cause Pentagon to drop the bat. Pentagon teased breaking Dario’s arm but his back was hit with the barbed bat from Matanza. Matanza Cueto wins with the wrath of the gods.
Matanza Cueto defeated Pentagon Dark via pinfall in 11:28 to retain the Lucha Underground Championship.
Vampiro walked around ringside looking a bit dejected. Dario called Pentagon basura (trash). Vampiro entered the ring to check on his student. Pentagon pushed away Vampiro in anger. Striker brought up how Vampiro’s introduction of the bat could have cost him the match. This led to commercial… [C]
John’s Thoughts:: This match was better than I thought it was. When I left the arena that night, I was disappointed in this match. Either they did some good editing or we’re just used to worse from Matanza. Matanza is progressing well, but he still suffers from being the World Champ. He just can’t deliver the amazing weekly matches that his predecessors Puma, Mil Muertes, and Fenix can be relied on to produce. It’s also odd to see Matanza’s new style being a guy who just gets beat up a lot only to get fluky/underwhelming wins after Dario Cueto distractions. This was a better match than I expected given how bad their first encounter was, but this promotion has to get the belt off this faux-monster as soon as possible.
Back to the temple, Matt Striker made some shoutouts to some internet fansites. Vampiro popped pills. Melissa Santos introduced Taya first followed by Ivelisse. Vampiro couldn’t speak to sell the last match. Striker did his “pioneer” speech on intergender matches… [C]
4. Ivelisse vs. Taya Valkyrie. Ivelisse hit some aggressive shoulder rams in the corner on Taya and then hit Taya with a Dragon Screw. Striker slammed Taya on the second turnbuckle. Vampiro was back on commentary and commended Taya for coming from Canada and making a name for herself in Mexico, similar to Vamp. Taya recovered and slammed Ivelisse into the hard camera area. Taya gave Ivelisse a DDT on the steps. Ivelisse drop toe held Taya into the chairs. Vampiro was acting drunk/stoned on commentary.
Ivelisse blocked an Irish Whip into the barricade and fought into the north audience area. Taya reversed Ivelisse and slammed her into the announcer table. She then called herself the wera loca (crazy white chick). Taya pummeled Ivelisse on the bleachers. Ivelisse delivered some shots to the gut of Taya and dragged her down the steps. Ivelisse dodged an incoming Taya and countered with several front kicks.
Ivelisse hit Taya with a German Suplex. Ivelisse hit the Sunset Flip bomb on Taya for the nearfall but suddenly the lights went out and Catrina teleported in. Catrina was in ring gear and laid some punches on Ivelisse. Catrina hit Ivelisse with an underhook atomic drop and then teleported to the top of Dario’s office. Taya hit her berserker boot finisher to pick up the pinfall victory over Ivelisse.
Taya Valkyrie defeated Ivelisse via pinfall in 6:47.
Taya celebrated and was replaced by Catrina’s teleportation. Catrina told Ivelisse that death comes to everyone. Even you… “Bitch!”… Catrina gave Ivelisse the lick of death… [C]
John’s Thoughts:: I’ll give Taya come credit here, she had a good match without getting thrashed like a crash test dummy. She’s a good worker and had a good match with Ivelisse. The ultimate angle from this is obviously with Catrina who was using her powers in the temple. That worked right?
A Prince Puma vignette aired where he beat up some generic thugs. The background of the vignette mostly consisted of Konnan soundbites from Season 1. Prince Puma talked about wanting to become the next Rey Mysterio from Konnan’s words. One of the clips of Konnan “dying” by being placed in a coffin, because that’s what happens in pro wrestling. Puma did some cool Wushu moves against the genericos. Rey said he was one of the pioneers who paved the road for people like Puma, ending with that promo of Rey calling Puma still a prince. Prince Puma ended the vignette with a wide sweeping kick to lead to commercial… [C]
John’s Thoughts:: This episode so far has been a good nostalgia episode for Lucha Underground, implementing the techniques that made them so great pre-Aztec-Warfare. This would have been good to splice into the last two Ultima Lucha parts but instead they decided to make those two shows wastes of time. This was a nice vignette and much better than what they taped for this spot, which was a Paul London vs. Daivari match.
Melissa Santos introduced Prince Puma first as we got back to the temple. Prince Puma had his black mask on for this match under the Puma pelt. Vampiro compared Puma’s relationship to Rey with his and Great Muta’s. Rey Mysterio was out next. Rey Mysterio wore an El Rey Network shirt with 619 on the front. Striker announced that the next commercial break was the last and the Dream Match was next… [C]
5. Prince Puma vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. Rey and Puma shared a handshake before the bell. Matt Striker brought up Rey’s myriad of leg and neck injuries that plagued the latter part of his career, interesting. Rey opened with a takedown. The two luchadores had a chain wrestling sequence. Puma showboated a bit and hit an armdrag. Rey came back with his signature huracanrana but Puma landed on his feet like a cat (or a Puma). The crowd chanted “This is Lucha!”.
Rey initiated several different kicks to keep Puma grounded. Vampiro said it was unique to see Rey be the aggressor in a matchup. Rey went for another signature headscissors but Puma stopped it mid-way to pop Rey up into a codebreaker. Puma hit Rey with a European uppercut. There were dueling 619 and 323 chants. 323 is Downtown LA’s area code. Rey kicked out of an improvised pin at two. Rey blocked the monkey flip and ended up fighting from the electric chair position to send Puma outside.
Puma held the chair by staying on his feet until Rey huracanrana’d Puma into the barricade. Rey slid through the bottom rope for a splash on Puma. Rey hit the seated senton followed by the springboard crossbody to earn a nearfall. Puma ate a knee to the gut. Rey rolled through the sunset flip and hit a very awesome crossbody into a tornado DDT on Puma to earn a nearfall. Vintage Rey Mysterio. Striker talked about talking to Dominic earlier in the day about his famous Dad (a name familiar to people who remember that weird Smackdown angle back in the day).
Puma fought out of the corner and hit a nice front dropkick to turn the pendulum back to his side. Prince Puma went for a suplex but had to settle for an elbow. Rey fought out and hit a 619 variant on Puma’s gut. Puma blocked a head-scissors and hit Rey with a northern lights into a suplex. Rey stopped Puma from going high risk and had a battle with Puma on the top rope. Puma lifted Rey Mysterio into Razor’s edge position. Rey escaped. Puma converted into the fireman’s carry. Rey jumped into a reverse frankensteiner. Vampiro complained about leg hooks again after Rey’s nearfall.
Rey and Puma traded lethargic punches to sell the fatigue. Puma gained the upper hand with a few European uppercuts. Puma reversed some of Rey’s signature offense into the sideways lungblower. Rey kicked out at two after eating a Blue Thunder Bomb. Prince Puma went for the benadryller, but Rey escaped and set Puma up for the 619. Puma ducked and hit a spinning roundhouse to set Rey up for the 323? A springboard 450 followed with Rey getting a really really close nearfall. Matt Striker tried to blow out his voice at this point. Prince Puma lifted Rey and nailed him with the Benadryller. A “This is Awesome” chant ensued. Prince Puma hit a smooth running dropkick which set up Rey for the 630. Puma took his time and Rey moved out of the way. What the hell Striker? Stop trying to compare this to Michaels vs. Flair, this is not a retirement match! Rey Mysterio drilled Puma with the West Coast Pop to earn a nearfall.
Puma took a boot head on and went for another benadryller. Rey went for the 619 but was caught by Prince Puma. Puma pulled Rey and went for the tombstone. Rey fought out hard and nailed Puma with a stiff headscissors. Rey hit Puma with the 619 and West Coast Pop to pick up the victory on Prince Puma.
Rey Mysterio Jr defeated Prince Puma via pinfall in 16:36.
Striker talked about Rey being the best and asked Vampiro what Rey meant to Lucha Libre. Vampiro said that Rey was the king. Puma and Rey soaked in the moment and shared a respectful embrace in the middle of the believers in The Temple. As Puma was about to leave Rey pulled him back to tell him to soak up the moment in front of the 323. Rey said he was going to leave first to make this Puma’s moment. The crowd chanted “Thank You Rey” as Puma sold an emotional moment in the middle of the ring. Matt Striker closed the show and gave his outro introductions. He just kept talking until Pentagon Dark hit Vampiro with the bat while superkicking Striker.
Pentagon slammed Vampiro’s head on the announce desk. There were spread out boos from the crowd. Vampiro bleed from the head because of the bat. Pentagon continued the onslaught with several shots to Vampiro’s back with the bat. Pentagon tore up Vampiro’s head even more with the barb. Pentagon topped off the attack with a roundhouse to the head. He grabbed some of Vampiro’s blood and licked it. Pentagon Dark said that at Ultima Lucha things have changed because Vampiro is no longer Pentagon’s masestro. He is his own maestro ahora. He said he wanted to see Vampiro humiliated in front of everyone by Pentagon at his feet. He said the blood from his face is his comida (his meal). “Por Que, Yo Soy Pentagon Dark, Es Cero Miedo!” Pentagon continued to rip up Vampiro’s face as his entrance theme played. He drank more blood as the credits rolled.
But wait?! There were post-Credits! The LAPD arrested Dario Cueto and brought him to the back of a white van. The Van drove off as The Temple was seen in the rear windows. Dario Cueto held his head down as the back windows filled with police car lights. Dario Cueto lifted his head and showed that he had a sadistic smile. “To Be Continued…” flashed on the screen as Season 2 was now over!
John’s Thoughts:: That was a very good match between the past and present of the fast paced, high-spot style. The build up to this match suffered from the lack of build, but probably the Lucha Underground writers would attribute that to a lower episode count. That aside, this was a good and smart match to work around Rey’s obvious limitations which Matt Striker laid out on the onset of the match. Because Rey was so limited, I couldn’t help but imagine how much better this would have been if it was in 2010 before Rey’s devastating injury bug hit him. This match worked overall and lived up to the dream match expectations. It didn’t surpass it, but it met it. This actually works better for those who didn’t see Rey at his best and the cool moments in this encounter where when he did pull out the old school Rey spots with the best being early on with the rana into a tornado DDT Spot.
This episode surpassed my expectations greatly, and I was there. The edit crew deserves a lot of credit for making what I thought was a disappointing overall experience, into a passable and pretty good overall final show. This also points out how useless Part 1 and Part 2 were as they were more “one night only” Lucha Underground shows as opposed to a triple season finale. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get an epilogue cinematic sequence but the Dario Cueto getting arrested by the LAPD was a nice artistic shot, even though I still think the LAPD thing was mas stupido. This seemed more like a mid-season hiatus as opposed to a true season finale.
Thank you for reading along with me all season. I’m really intrigued as to what Will Pruett and I will come up with in a few hours, so make sure to check out the season recap podcast that we are about to record exclusively for Dot Net Members. With that, talk to ya’ll very soon!
TV programs (and for that matter, cinema) are like sausages – better to enjoy the final product than to watch them being made. Your attendance at the production of LU is probably coloring your reviews in ways you may not yet appreciate.
I also believe you are being hypercritical of Matanza. He is what he is supposed to be – an assassin for his criminal brother.
I take LU on its own terms – a TV show about an illegal underground fight club run by a murderous criminal. It airs on a network which sandwiches this show between B-movies of the monster/horror genre. The reason I enjoy LU is exactly because it is neither WWE nor high work-rate programs like NJPW’s Super Juniors or Super J-Cup. LU presents a dose, small dose, of Mexican style “wrestling” to an American audience wrapped in a cheesy story about crime and the supernatural.