Lucha Underground S02E10: El Jefe Is Back
RECAP- good. One line that caught my eye was Vampiro declaring about Matanza that â€"this guy is evil.†WE have evidence for that, but what evidence does Vamp have? He seems to rush to judgment WAY too quickly.
OPENING SEGMENT- good
Dario announces a trios tournament starting next week. He then claims to have a brilliant idea to determine #1 contendership to the Lucha Underground Championship but is quickly interrupted by Pentagon Jr. Pentagon Jr. demands a title match. Dario says no a pushes his buttons so Pentagon Jr. threatens to break Dario’s arm with his arm-breaker of death move. This makes Dario give in.
Vampiro seems to approve of Pentagon Jr.’s actions.
JOHNNY MUNDO & TAYA vs. MR. CISQO & CORTEZ CASTRO- 4/10
The Crew pulls off the upset. Cage came out and kind of chased Mundo away, although you can probably debate how much of an effect this had on the victory since it didn’t directly lead to the finish. Always nice to give a team like The Crew a win every once in a while.
HISTORY OF THE MOTH TRIBE, AS TOLD BY MARTY THE MOTH- good.
They like money. The mask of Mariposa has been passed down through the generations to their deadliest warrior. She is in charge of protecting their gold. Also, she will lead to them to rule over the other tribes once again.
CATRINA VISITS DARIO- the teasing of Matnaza vs. Mil Muertes begins!
Black Lotus is now acting as Dario’s bodyguard. The Red Bull is back on Dario’s desk… and there is a similarly posed, larger golden bull on the shelf behind Dario’s chair. Hmmm…
Catrina showed up. Dario was very diplomatic with her. She insisted that at some point Mil Muertes would be coming for Matanza. That seems like an Ultima Lucha main event to me.
ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE LUCHA UNDERGROND TRIOS TITLES: Son of Havoc, Ivelisse, & Angelico(c) vs. The Disciples of Death (w/Catrina)- 6/10
Catrina contributes to Ivelisse’s elimination to further that angle. Striker tries to be clever by saying that Son of Havoc is â€"cross†about this. Catrina tried to similarly affect the finish but Ivelisse came back out and kicked her in the head.
REY MYSTERIO JR. VISITS DARIO CUETO!- exciting.
BIG focus on the gold bull.
Rey says he is here because of Dragon Azteca. Dario quickly says â€"it was great to see him back in action during Aztec Warfare.†Rey sees right through Dario’s sh*t. Rey says he means Dragon Azteca Sr. Dario says he doesn’t know the guy. Rey thinks Matanza killed him. Dario swears to Rey that this isn’t true. And he’s right. It’s not. Rey doesn’t seem to believe Dario.
Dario insists that whatever beef his father had with Dragon Azteca Sr. doesn’t exist in this current generation. He says he wants both Rey and Dragon Azteca Jr. to compete in the temple… but he warns them that they should leave the past behind.
SEXY STAR (w/the Mack) vs. THE MARIPOSA (w/Marty â€"the Moth†Martinez)- no rating. Fine segment.
Marty grabs Sexy Start and throws her into the ring right in front of the referee but there is no DQ. I get that it is kind of part of their gimmick that they look innocuous at first but in reality are quite deadly, but can we PLEASE find some ring gear for Mariposa to wear that doesn’t look like pajamas?
Mariposa wins in about two minutes with the Kudoh Driver because you can stick the moth in Cheerleader Melissa, but you can never take Cheerleader Melissa out of the moth. (EDIT: that first part came out wrong)
After the match, the Moth jumps The Mack while he is checking on Sexy Star (what the hell am I watching that I have to type these words in this order?!), and Mariposa takes the Mack down with a running big boot, followed by a really stupid-looking double-team kinda-sorta wheelbarrow splash.
DARIO LETS THE MONSTER OUT OF HIS CAGE- so Dario is the one walking around with the title (presumably so that Matanza won’t break it, as Dario said last season that this would be very bad). Dario tells Matanza that he wants him to break Pentagon Jr.’s back so that Pentagon Jr. never dares to return to the Temple.
LUCHA UNDERGOUND TITLE MATCH: â€"The Monster†Matanza Cueto(c) vs. Pentagon Jr.- no rating, meh segment.
I kind of don’t want this match to go move than three moves. It goes a bit more than that, but I don’t think Matanza needed more than one â€"real†â€"pro wrestling†move to put Pentagon Jr. away. Matanza’s finisher is called â€"Wrath of the Gods.†I’m going to pretend that this is an MTG reference, because it certainly does destroy all creatures.
Pentagon Jr. is hurt so Vampiro goes to check on him after the match. Matanza boots Vampiro in the head, then gives Pentagon Jr. a powerbomb through the announcers’ table while Dario looks on with approval. Paramedics stretcher Pentagon Jr. off and take him to an ambulance.
A few thoughts here:
1. I’m going to disagree with Striker here and say that taking a lungblower does count as being taken off of your feet.
2. I don’t like the fact that there are uniformed paramedics in LU. I’d rather they be plain-clothes paramedics who volunteer at the Temple because they are fans of underground fight club. Here, they came off like the officially-assigned and state-mandated paramedics at an official sporting event.
3. I get what they are doing with the booking here, but I think I would have paced it a little differently. I would have had Dario offer anyone a title shot tonight and have some jobber take it and get murderized, then take what they did tonight and do it next week. I think that adds in an extra layer of â€"you’d have to be completely crazy to challenge this guy†before our resident guy who falls into that category, Pentagon Jr. (there is a quote about bravery and stupidity that could well describe him), does just that and gets murderized.
4. I REALLY like what they did with Vampiro here, and that extra little shot of him as he was kind of getting up and rubbing his eyes made you wonder if this violent experience has caused Vampiro to awaken inside of Ian Hodgkinson once again (and he will take Pentagon Jr. away for more training in the dark arts, all building up to Pentagon Jr.’s return and once again challenging Matanza (or possibly Mil Muertes).
A good show from LU. They definitely established one thing tonight: there are monsters running around the Temple and somewhere, at some point, they will need to be slayed.
OPENING SEGMENT- good
Dario announces a trios tournament starting next week. He then claims to have a brilliant idea to determine #1 contendership to the Lucha Underground Championship but is quickly interrupted by Pentagon Jr. Pentagon Jr. demands a title match. Dario says no a pushes his buttons so Pentagon Jr. threatens to break Dario’s arm with his arm-breaker of death move. This makes Dario give in.
Vampiro seems to approve of Pentagon Jr.’s actions.
JOHNNY MUNDO & TAYA vs. MR. CISQO & CORTEZ CASTRO- 4/10
The Crew pulls off the upset. Cage came out and kind of chased Mundo away, although you can probably debate how much of an effect this had on the victory since it didn’t directly lead to the finish. Always nice to give a team like The Crew a win every once in a while.
HISTORY OF THE MOTH TRIBE, AS TOLD BY MARTY THE MOTH- good.
They like money. The mask of Mariposa has been passed down through the generations to their deadliest warrior. She is in charge of protecting their gold. Also, she will lead to them to rule over the other tribes once again.
CATRINA VISITS DARIO- the teasing of Matnaza vs. Mil Muertes begins!
Black Lotus is now acting as Dario’s bodyguard. The Red Bull is back on Dario’s desk… and there is a similarly posed, larger golden bull on the shelf behind Dario’s chair. Hmmm…
Catrina showed up. Dario was very diplomatic with her. She insisted that at some point Mil Muertes would be coming for Matanza. That seems like an Ultima Lucha main event to me.
ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE LUCHA UNDERGROND TRIOS TITLES: Son of Havoc, Ivelisse, & Angelico(c) vs. The Disciples of Death (w/Catrina)- 6/10
Catrina contributes to Ivelisse’s elimination to further that angle. Striker tries to be clever by saying that Son of Havoc is â€"cross†about this. Catrina tried to similarly affect the finish but Ivelisse came back out and kicked her in the head.
REY MYSTERIO JR. VISITS DARIO CUETO!- exciting.
BIG focus on the gold bull.
Rey says he is here because of Dragon Azteca. Dario quickly says â€"it was great to see him back in action during Aztec Warfare.†Rey sees right through Dario’s sh*t. Rey says he means Dragon Azteca Sr. Dario says he doesn’t know the guy. Rey thinks Matanza killed him. Dario swears to Rey that this isn’t true. And he’s right. It’s not. Rey doesn’t seem to believe Dario.
Dario insists that whatever beef his father had with Dragon Azteca Sr. doesn’t exist in this current generation. He says he wants both Rey and Dragon Azteca Jr. to compete in the temple… but he warns them that they should leave the past behind.
SEXY STAR (w/the Mack) vs. THE MARIPOSA (w/Marty â€"the Moth†Martinez)- no rating. Fine segment.
Marty grabs Sexy Start and throws her into the ring right in front of the referee but there is no DQ. I get that it is kind of part of their gimmick that they look innocuous at first but in reality are quite deadly, but can we PLEASE find some ring gear for Mariposa to wear that doesn’t look like pajamas?
Mariposa wins in about two minutes with the Kudoh Driver because you can stick the moth in Cheerleader Melissa, but you can never take Cheerleader Melissa out of the moth. (EDIT: that first part came out wrong)
After the match, the Moth jumps The Mack while he is checking on Sexy Star (what the hell am I watching that I have to type these words in this order?!), and Mariposa takes the Mack down with a running big boot, followed by a really stupid-looking double-team kinda-sorta wheelbarrow splash.
DARIO LETS THE MONSTER OUT OF HIS CAGE- so Dario is the one walking around with the title (presumably so that Matanza won’t break it, as Dario said last season that this would be very bad). Dario tells Matanza that he wants him to break Pentagon Jr.’s back so that Pentagon Jr. never dares to return to the Temple.
LUCHA UNDERGOUND TITLE MATCH: â€"The Monster†Matanza Cueto(c) vs. Pentagon Jr.- no rating, meh segment.
I kind of don’t want this match to go move than three moves. It goes a bit more than that, but I don’t think Matanza needed more than one â€"real†â€"pro wrestling†move to put Pentagon Jr. away. Matanza’s finisher is called â€"Wrath of the Gods.†I’m going to pretend that this is an MTG reference, because it certainly does destroy all creatures.
Pentagon Jr. is hurt so Vampiro goes to check on him after the match. Matanza boots Vampiro in the head, then gives Pentagon Jr. a powerbomb through the announcers’ table while Dario looks on with approval. Paramedics stretcher Pentagon Jr. off and take him to an ambulance.
A few thoughts here:
1. I’m going to disagree with Striker here and say that taking a lungblower does count as being taken off of your feet.
2. I don’t like the fact that there are uniformed paramedics in LU. I’d rather they be plain-clothes paramedics who volunteer at the Temple because they are fans of underground fight club. Here, they came off like the officially-assigned and state-mandated paramedics at an official sporting event.
3. I get what they are doing with the booking here, but I think I would have paced it a little differently. I would have had Dario offer anyone a title shot tonight and have some jobber take it and get murderized, then take what they did tonight and do it next week. I think that adds in an extra layer of â€"you’d have to be completely crazy to challenge this guy†before our resident guy who falls into that category, Pentagon Jr. (there is a quote about bravery and stupidity that could well describe him), does just that and gets murderized.
4. I REALLY like what they did with Vampiro here, and that extra little shot of him as he was kind of getting up and rubbing his eyes made you wonder if this violent experience has caused Vampiro to awaken inside of Ian Hodgkinson once again (and he will take Pentagon Jr. away for more training in the dark arts, all building up to Pentagon Jr.’s return and once again challenging Matanza (or possibly Mil Muertes).
A good show from LU. They definitely established one thing tonight: there are monsters running around the Temple and somewhere, at some point, they will need to be slayed.