By John Moore
Lucha Underground Hits
Vampiro: He wasn’t the primary focus on the show, but he was extremely effective in everywhere he was on the show. On commentary, he covering up a lot of Matt Striker’s weaknesses while also providing good complements to Striker’s strengths. He was most effective in the post-credits cinematic where he continues to insert himself into the role that Konnan played in Season 1 as Prince Puma’s mentor. Vampiro is showing how effective he is from a character perspective in a totally different way than he did when interacting with Pentagon Jr. I was afraid at the end of Ultima Lucha Dos that we were going to see a rehash of the Pentagon vs. Vampiro drama due to Lucha Underground seemingly running out of ideas but they are taking a different approach while also launching Puma back into the main event scene. What he also did was simple, he planted the seeds for Grave Consequences 3. Will this be called “Gravest Consequences”?
Sami Callihan: This was an effective way to introduce him to the temple in a way that didn’t have him eat a loss like every new luchador did in Season 2. Including Season 2 characters where they are rebooting them, Lucha Underground is playing the long game with new characters and they aren’t being presented as losers to the audience. Killshot, Dragon Azteca Jr, and Matanza are reaping the rewards of this methodical build and it looks like Sami Callihan will see the same rewards.
Cage vs. Texano: Another good encounter between Cage and Texano with a nice surprise victory. The announcers did a good job here making the key to victory each warrior’s stamina. I wonder if that plays into the soul transfer storyline but it works to protect Cage and Texano from an in ring perspective. First and foremost, Cage and Texano have something to do as they were sadly forgotten by the end of Season 2. I expect Texano to win the next one leading to a rubber match for the “Ultimate Opportunity” where the reward is probably having their soul eaten by a god/demon.
Dario’s Magic Spirit Box: This thing really intrigues me. Lucha Underground Executive Producer Eric Van Wagenen said once in an interview that Lucha Underground was based off of a Japanese manga and this magic box thing just screams Anime/Manga stories. It reminds me of where Kingdom Hearts or Naruto ended up. This also seems to be their retcon for what I think may be the role that they wrote for MVP before he was released from the company (I’m just speculating based on what MVP has said in an interview). This battle for the souls also makes Texano vs. Cage have more of a meaning.
Lucha Underground Misses
Johnny Mundo vs. Sexy Star: This was disappointing for the amount of expectations between these two wrestlers. Sexy Star started off as really bad but this past year has seen her ascend to the status of a main event level talent after her “No Mas” match. Johnny Mundo can do everything in the ring and have a good match with everyone. This match was good in ring wise but it was ultimately disappointing mostly due to the lack of consistency in the rules. This was not a No-DQ match which was verified by Marty Elias keeping Mundo from using chairs. This match had ref bumps and refs getting beaten up in plain vision of the other ref. It reminded me of bad TNA and the only thing that this was missing was Jeff Jarrett running in with a guitar. We did get PJ Black running in with an imaginary Guitar so that must count…
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